《National Forensic Doctor》 Chapter 1 - 1 1 Uncle 17 ?1: Chapter 1: Uncle 17 1: Chapter 1: Uncle 17 In front of the window was a pot of green ivy, its leaves plump and bursting with vitality. Two old desks were pushed together in front of the ivy. In the middle, there were piles of books, and an old-fashioned desktop computer with a sticker of Haier Brothers on the back of the tower. In the corner of the desk, there was a half-bald broom and a dustpan with a crack in it. That morning, the sunlight was bright, making the green of the ivy even more lush. Jiang Yuan arrived at the office, pulled out his chair, sat down, started the computer, and while waiting for it to boot up, he poured himself some water and also gave a bit to the ivy. He patted the dust off the desktop, and by the time he was done, the computer had started. He cleared his throat with a habitual cough, opened a page to a novel¡ªhe had reached chapter 403 yesterday and could continue today. Jiang Yuan was the new forensic doctor in Ningtai County. He was tall and clean-cut. And somewhat idle. He had imagined forensic doctors wearing white lab coats, rushing to major crime scenes¡ªwherever there was a case, there he would be. In reality... Jiang Yuan had been reporting for half a month, had read more than ten novels, had assisted on three or four cases, but had yet to see a single body. He opened the novel to continue reading. There were only him and his master in the forensic office, his master was close to retirement, often arriving just in time for work and then paying no mind to what he did. After all, without a body, a forensic doctor was just basic manpower. ... ¡°Bang!¡± The door was thrown open. The visitor glanced at the literate-looking Jiang Yuan sitting in front of the computer, then strained his eyes again, ¡°Uncle Wu hasn¡¯t arrived?¡± ¡°Captain Liu. My master is probably still on the way,¡± Jiang Yuan lifted his head and replied. Captain Liu was the head of the second squad of the criminal police team. He glanced around the small office, pulling out his cellphone to make a call, and said, ¡°Then you come with me first, there¡¯s a body!¡± Jiang Yuan stood up, both excited and horrified. It was starting, his career was finally beginning. Indeed, at that moment, a screen popped up in front of him: ¡°A host¡¯s first body detected, task issued: perform a full autopsy to assist in solving the case.¡± Jiang Yuan feigned composure and followed Captain Liu out of the office. Yes, he had a Forensic Medicine System. Since graduating from medical school and passing the civil service exam to return to his hometown in Ningtai County, he had seen this system. However, having worked for half a month with no activity from the system, waiting for a body was truly aggravating. If he, Jiang Yuan, were not a law-abiding citizen, he would have considered producing a body himself. Ningtai Middle School, fifty meters east of the front gate. Police officers who had arrived earlier had already cordoned off the area with caution tape, and a tent was set up in the middle to block the outside view¡ªit looked quite official. ¡°Xiao Jiang, you do some preliminary work first, your master will be here in fifteen minutes,¡± Captain Liu was still not entirely confident in Jiang Yuan and reminded him. Jiang Yuan complied, placing the investigation kit and white cloth he carried with him in the corner, breathing lightly twice. He then looked inside the tent. Lying there was an obese man with a potbelly, wearing a pair of Red Dragonfly shoes, several buttons on his plaid shirt had been ripped off, his pale belly exposed. Not a single wound was visible on his entire body; he had just died mysteriously¡ªa truly mysterious major case. Jiang Yuan took a step forward, then noticed that the deceased¡¯s neck was twisted, revealing a bloody, mangled hole, and a face... profoundly familiar. Startled, Jiang Yuan exclaimed, ¡°Uncle Seventeen?¡± Chapter 2 - 2 2 Holmes ?2: Chapter 2 Holmes 2: Chapter 2 Holmes The body didn¡¯t answer Jiang Yuan, but that didn¡¯t hinder Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. Uncle Seventeen was a distant cousin of his father¡¯s family. They didn¡¯t see each other often, but they would always meet during the holidays. Coupled with his distinctive build, Jiang Yuan was confident he hadn¡¯t mistaken his identity. For a moment, Jiang Yuan felt his emotions fluctuate. He then couldn¡¯t help but recall his father¡¯s words when urging him to return to his hometown for a public service exam, ¡°Our hometown is filled with relatives and acquaintances; everything is more convenient there. It¡¯s much more comfortable than living in the big city.¡± Indeed, his father was not wrong¡ªeven as a forensic doctor, he could encounter a relative¡¯s body. ... Shortly thereafter, the senior forensic doctor Wu Jun arrived at the scene. He was wearing a white lab coat with a slightly protruding belly, resembling an old office cadre, squinting his eyes to look around. Then he lifted his head to glance at Jiang Yuan and said with a smile, ¡°Little Jiang, have you arrived first? Will you bring over the investigation box?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve brought it.¡± Jiang Yuan was exceedingly eager, having already carried a large black case from the investigation vehicle, thick and heavy with a sense of quality to it. Upon opening it, neatly arranged on the top lid hung pliers, tweezers, bone saws, chisels, hammers, and bone shears, while the bottom was haphazardly divided into three areas, messily containing cotton, gauze, syringes, measuring tapes, stainless steel lunch boxes, towels... ¡°Get a few extra masks and distribute them to everyone. One for each person.¡± Wu Jun put one on himself, and after seeing Jiang Yuan hand out masks to the police officers at the scene, he asked in an instructive manner, ¡°Do you know why the first thing we do is distribute masks to everyone?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°They serve as protective gear and also prevent contaminating the scene.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the textbook reason,¡± Wu Jun put on a third glove over his already double-gloved right hand and said, ¡°Another reason I have you give masks to everybody is to cover their expressions.¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback. Wu Jun continued, ¡°Police officers and forensic doctors, we¡¯ve all seen our share of bodies. Some people, especially the young ones among you, can¡¯t control their facial expressions while talking. If someone were to laugh and it happens to be caught by the media or the public, that could spell trouble. Therefore, the most numerous item in my investigation box will always be masks. Everyone at the scene should put one on before we talk.¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly understood. Only then did Wu Jun bend down to begin surveying the scene. Jiang Yuan also followed suit by putting on two more pairs of gloves, and then said, ¡°Master, this person... the body, I recognize.¡± ¡°Oh? How so?¡± asked Wu Jun as he observed the body¡¯s position, turning his attention to Jiang Yuan. ¡°It looks like Uncle Seventeen,¡± Jiang Yuan exhaled. Wu Jun fell silent for two seconds before asking, ¡°Are you certain?¡± ¡°Double chin, big belly, large nose, and a big mole on the side... it should be Uncle Seventeen.¡± Jiang Yuan described conservatively. ¡°Condolences for your loss. Tell me about Uncle Seventeen,¡± said Wu Jun as he lowered his head and then said, ¡°Thermometer.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze shifted away, and he fetched a thermometer from the investigation box for Wu Jun, before continuing, ¡°Uncle Seventeen should be 50 years old this year; he¡¯s the youngest son of my grand-uncle. Born in the year of the Pig. His family moved to the family housing of the county¡¯s first middle school quite early. He opened a small restaurant nearby and has a car. He likes to smoke and has some debt issues...¡± As Wu Jun listened, he continued to examine the body, instructing Jiang Yuan to take notes. He also requested a biopsy needle and syringe, in order to collect blood and urine for later use. It wasn¡¯t long before the chief of the Criminal Police Squad arrived at the scene, followed closely by the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations and the chief of the county bureau, both arriving in haste. ¡°Has forensic reached any conclusions?¡± the chief personally inquired, with the deputy director, the chief of the Criminal Police Squad Huang Qiangmin, and several squad leaders from the Criminal Police Squad including Captain Liu following behind him. Murder cases receive the utmost attention among criminal cases, especially newly occurring ones. When it comes to assigning resources based on administrative level, they are considered hundreds of times more significant than ordinary cases. In recent years, the occurrence rate of murder cases has clearly been on the decline, but the level of attention they receive from the police has risen sharply. Wu Jun stood up leisurely, stuck out his belly, and said, ¡°The cause of death is preliminarily estimated to be cranial injury due to the insertion of a sharp instrument into the back of the neck; currently, no other wounds have been found. We¡¯ll need to perform an autopsy for a thorough examination.¡± The chief responded with a ¡°Hmm¡± and also started to observe the scene for himself. Wu Jun continued, ¡°There are signs that the body was moved, and there is very little blood on the ground. Therefore, the victim was most likely dumped here...¡± ¡°It¡¯s very possible that it was a crime of passion followed by body dumping,¡± Huang Qiangmin, the chief of the squad, offered a judgment as soon as Wu Jun was nearly done speaking. The chief nodded slowly, observing the police officers taking photographs and collecting blood and trace evidence, and asked, ¡°What information do we have on the victim now?¡± ¡°The deceased was 50 years old, born in the year of the Pig,¡± Wu Jun reported in the same tone as before. The gazes of the chief and others automatically refocused on the forensic doctor. Wu Jun calmly looked at the crowd and stated, ¡°The deceased lived in the family housing of the county¡¯s first middle school, ran a small restaurant, owned a car, liked to smoke, and had some debt disputes.¡± Captain Liu, who was bending down to examine the wounds, involuntarily straightened up, looking at Wu Jun in surprise, ¡°Old Wu, impressive! You¡¯ve deduced all this¡ªyou¡¯re like Sherlock Holmes. But about the restaurant and the smoking, did you infer that from the greasy smudges and tobacco stains on his fingers? How did you figure out the debt disputes?¡± Wu Jun smiled without speaking, looking quite pleased with himself. Chapter 3 - 3 3 Opening the Third Chamber ?3: Chapter 3 Opening the Third Chamber 3: Chapter 3 Opening the Third Chamber Mortuary. The hearse swiftly delivered the body and left, leaving a weighty corpse placed on the gurney. ¡°As a forensic doctor, you have to start with moving bodies,¡± Wu Jun said, hands behind his back, a smile he couldn¡¯t quite contain on his face. ¡°Your build is really suitable for moving bodies.¡± His classmates in the big cities had been living a life free of moving corpses for over two decades, but Ningtai County was a place where people didn¡¯t stay. New forensic doctors would come and go; throughout the year, he rarely enjoyed the luxury of having others move bodies for him. The worst luck was when there were no bodies to examine while a new forensic doctor was present, only for them to show up after the doctor had left. Jiang Yuan, pushing the cart, asked curiously, ¡°Doesn¡¯t the county bureau have an autopsy room? The kind that looks bright and white once lit up...¡± ¡°Like in the TV dramas?¡± Wu Jun shook his head and said, ¡°Wealthy cities can afford that, but our small county town shouldn¡¯t even dream of it. For our autopsies, we don¡¯t just need an autopsy room; we also need equipment like refrigerated cabinets to store the bodies. If we¡¯re a bit more particular, we need ventilation equipment and a washing area to be maintained and managed. It¡¯s easier to rent from the mortuary. If the county bureau is willing to spend an extra hundred thousand or so to fix up the autopsy room, that would be enough.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be inconvenient for collecting evidence and such?¡± ¡°We generally just draw some blood or take some stomach contents. In a county this size, how far can it really be? Convenient parking is more important,¡± Wu Jun said with a laugh. ¡°Anyway, corpses aren¡¯t picky.¡± Jiang Yuan looked down at his Uncle Seventeen and thought to himself that Uncle Seventeen, when visiting their home for the New Year, seemed rather fussy. Of course, he probably wasn¡¯t in the mood to be picky now. ¡°Next time you come by, remember to keep a pack of cigarettes in your pocket and occasionally buy some pastries to build relationships. If you get on well with the people from the mortuary, it makes work easier,¡± Wu Jun said as he walked alongside, pressing the elevator button and instructing Jiang Yuan in a low voice, ¡°The mortuary is also a workplace.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°Okay.¡± Ningtai County Mortuary had set up the autopsy room in the basement. Fortunately, there was an elevator to take them down, which was convenient. However, the flickering red emergency lights in the dim corridor were slightly unsettling. The inside of the room was well-lit with large tiled floors and smaller tiled walls. In the center was a stainless steel autopsy table. To the left upon entry was a wash basin along with a long row of stainless steel cabinets. If you weren¡¯t looking carefully, you might think it was a regular household kitchen decor. Then, Wu Jun stepped forward to help, pushing the gurney next to the autopsy table. He stepped on a lever to elevate the gurney to the level of the autopsy table and slowly slid the body onto the table before saying, ¡°Go check if the family members have arrived. If they have, call them over to proceed with the autopsy.¡± Jiang Yuan replied promptly, his eyes fixed on Uncle Seventeen. Uncle Seventeen, robust and well-fed, now lay supine on the stainless steel table, his belly protruding high, shining white. Under the bright light, one could see the fine hair standing on end, which made Jiang Yuan feel a chill, but more than that, a sense of distress overwhelmed him. ¡°The phone is by the door,¡± Wu Jun reminded Jiang Yuan indifferently, not saying much else. Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze, walked to the door, picked up the landline phone, and dialed out. In China, autopsy of a body requires notification of close relatives who must be present and sign off; in practice, it is often non-blood relatives such as brothers-in-law, uncles, or sons-in-law that arrive. When direct relatives do come, it is usually necessary to prepare an extra trash can. Soon enough, someone was led in, looking around bewildered and fearful. ¡°Uncle,¡± Jiang Yuan recognized the man. He was Uncle Seventeen¡¯s brother-in-law, his Aunt Nineteen¡¯s husband. They must have met a couple of years back at a family ancestral worship. ¡°Jiang Yuan!¡± the uncle greeted him with a warmth that contained an emotional charge, looking at Jiang Yuan across the corpse of his elder brother with a gaze filled with feeling. ¡°Your Uncle Seventeen left us suddenly, but thankfully you¡¯re the medical examiner. Make sure you do it well for him...¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get started,¡± Wu Jun interrupted their talk, handed Jiang Yuan a full-body surgical gown to put on over his clothes, lifted the white sheet off the body, and asked, ¡°Just to confirm, this is indeed Jiang Jiancheng, correct?¡± Uncle Jiang retched before saying, ¡°It should be.¡± ¡°Sign here. Write down the ID number as well,¡± Wu Jun watched the family member sign, then collected the documents before turning to Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°Not everyone dares to perform an autopsy on someone they know. If you don¡¯t want to do it, that¡¯s normal.¡± ¡°I can,¡± Jiang Yuan had already prepared himself psychologically before coming in. Now, while his heart was filled with mixed emotions, he didn¡¯t want to simply retreat. Wu Jun checked one more time, then nodded, ¡°You go first.¡± He also wanted to assess Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities. If Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t continue or made a mistake, Wu Jun would be there to teach him. This was how he had educated the new forensic doctors that had come before. Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression was serious, betraying slight nervousness and hesitation. When it came to autopsies, Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience wasn¡¯t extensive, but the few practices he had in school had earned him his professors¡¯ praise, and he was called ¡°exceptionally talented.¡± If the body hadn¡¯t belonged to his Uncle Seventeen, he might have been more composed. ¡°First, examine the exterior of the corpse,¡± Jiang Yuan took a deep breath of stale air, his frown fleeting, before immersing himself in the task, placing a notebook aside as he spoke while examining the body, ¡°Deceased Jiang Jianfeng, age 50, male, height 169 cm, weight 188... there is a crescent-shaped birthmark on the left buttock, approximately 5 centimeters long...¡± ¡°Then comes the general state record. The rectal body temperature is...¡± Jiang Yuan kept his head down and worked, noting down conditions of the scalp, baldness, until reaching the pupils, conjunctiva, nasal cavity, teeth... Most of the exterior examination had already been completed on the scene. Jiang Yuan was simply proceeding in an orderly fashion, reading the earlier parts aloud, while he gave the conjunctiva and teeth etc. another careful examination. This method pleased Wu Jun, who nodded and said, ¡°Well done... Have you performed a dissection before?¡± Jiang Yuan answered, ¡°I¡¯ve done a few cases in school.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Nowadays, many students in schools can only do one case.¡± ¡°I participated in a few dissections when I was following a professor on a project.¡± ¡°Oh, have you performed a ¡®three-cavity¡¯ dissection?¡± Wu Jun referred to the cranial cavity, thoracic cavity, and abdominal cavity, which house the body¡¯s important internal organs, blood vessels, and nerves, and are crucial for forensic pathologists in determining the cause of death. Jiang Yuan affirmed, ¡°Yes,¡± and added, ¡°I¡¯ve done it twice.¡± ¡°Then you do it,¡± Wu Jun handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan, then said, ¡°You might know this, but I¡¯ll remind you just the same, be careful when you make the incision, don¡¯t cut your own hand. The temperature in the dissection room is too low, and the blade is sharp. You won¡¯t feel it if you just cut yourself. The way to tell is whether blood comes out, the body won¡¯t bleed, so if there is bleeding, it can only be from you...¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, then looked again at the body in front of him, adjusted his posture, picked up the scalpel, lowered the blade to the neck, and made a straight line all the way to just above the pubic symphysis... Uncle Seventeen¡¯s body was heavy, requiring a deep cut, and the lifted fat was both yellow and white. The excessively long midline incision was far more brutal than one typically sees in films or television. This method was also commonly used by forensic doctors in China, differing slightly from the Y-shaped incisions common in the United States. Following this, Jiang Yuan began to separate the chest muscles, then proceeded to cut along the cartilage boundary lines that connect the ribs to the sternum. As the autopsy proceedings began, Uncle Jiang, tense with nerves, took a deep breath and then, as his complexion changed, turned around and vomited. Chapter 4 - 4 4 Uncle Seventeens Legacy ?4: Chapter 4 Uncle Seventeen¡¯s Legacy 4: Chapter 4 Uncle Seventeen¡¯s Legacy Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun¡¯s expressions remained unchanged. Wu Jun merely glanced at the floor to ensure the family member¡¯s vomit hadn¡¯t contaminated it before expressing satisfaction. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan proceeded to lift the chest cavity and opened up the abdomen, exposing the deceased¡¯s intestines... He worked slowly and methodically. Things learned in school were after all school things, and now, as Jiang Yuan faced his first real-world application, it felt to him like a test as well. Wu Jun assisted with his actions, making notes, but mostly he observed Jiang Yuan¡¯s technique. For Wu Jun at his age, autopsy had become a task of significant physical labor, and he was more than willing to have a new colleague take on the heaviest part of the work. However, he also needed to ensure the job was handed down properly, at the very least so as not to affect the case itself. Seeing Jiang Yuan working smoothly, Wu Jun let him carry on further. Watching Jiang Yuan step by step perform the organ examinations on the deceased, removing each organ after inspection, weighing it, and then moving on to extract tissue samples for subsequent lab tests. In the end, after all organs had been removed, both men breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°I¡¯ll cut the stomach now,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then took hold of the deceased¡¯s stomach and sliced it open with a knife. The food spilled out in profusion, the acidic putrid smell wafted through the air, escalating the unpleasant odor to another level. The uncle who had just caught his breath took one look and immediately returned to hug the trash can, contributing an even richer array of smells. But compared to the smells he was vomiting out, the odors emanating from the corpse were always a notch more potent. To put it more concretely, a living person¡¯s vomit is nothing more than the partial expulsion of stomach contents, whereas an autopsy lays bare all the contents of a dead person¡¯s gastrointestinal tract. The two are not even on the same scale. Wu Jun turned and took a conical flask, ready to collect the stomach contents. The material inside could not only help pinpoint the deceased¡¯s time of death but also aid in determining the location of death and other information. Jiang Yuan jostled the somewhat thick-walled stomach, and at that moment, a glittery object surfaced, resembling a glowing bun. Jiang Yuan subconsciously touched it with his hand, and a line of information appeared in his mind: Received Uncle Seventeen¡¯s legacy: Egg Fried Rice cooking technique (Lv3) ¡ª This was Jiang Jianfeng¡¯s specialty dish, refined over many years of contemplation and improvement. Jiang Jianfeng could make a delicious bowl of egg fried rice with a standard ratio of one-third oil, one-third vegetables, and one-third eggs. The cost of ingredients was far lower than the market average, the taste was still good, healthy and environmentally friendly, satisfying many customers. The shiny dumpling flickered twice and disappeared instantly, without any hesitation. ¡°Did you see that?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Wu Jun abruptly. Wu Jun, puzzled, asked, ¡°What?¡± Jiang Yuan immediately knew that the glowing bun was only visible to him, so he casually changed the subject, ¡°There¡¯s a lot of stomach content and it¡¯s not well digested.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± agreed Wu Jun, and then he continued, ¡°Let me take over from here.¡± At this stage, it was impossible for Wu Jun to entrust all the forensic work of a homicide case to a rookie. Especially when it came to determining the cause and time of death, he was not quite confident in Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan reluctantly stepped aside ¨C after all, it was his Uncle Seventeen, and he felt he could do it with more care... In contrast, Wu Jun worked much faster. He swiftly stitched a few incisions, then found a mortuary brick to place under the neck of the deceased, beginning the examination of the neck. The injury at the cervical spine was quickly exposed for all to see. After a careful observation, Wu Jun said, ¡°Hangman¡¯s fracture. Take a photo, from multiple angles. This is the fatal injury.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even need to take off his gloves, just rinsed them briefly, then picked up the camera on the table and began to snap away. At this point, Uncle Seventeen probably didn¡¯t care about contamination anymore. After taking the photos, Jiang Yuan took a closer look at the cervical spine. The hangman¡¯s fracture is actually a fracture of the axis, which is the second cervical vertebra, so named because it was commonly seen in hangings in the old days. However, the hangman¡¯s fracture does not only occur in hangings. The fragile structure of humans means that all kinds of trauma can cause a fracture of the axis. In the case at hand, it was the entry of a fruit knife into the neck that led to the fracture of the axis. ¡°A small fortune in an unfortunate situation,¡± Wu Jun said with a tsk. The hangman¡¯s fracture is one of the quickest ways to die; most of the time, the bisected axis pierces the brainstem, bringing instantaneous death without a trace of fear. From this perspective, it seems to be a little lucky. In the end, Wu Jun also took samples of the brain tissue, performed an examination, and then handed the autopsy report to the little uncle to sign, ¡°It¡¯s over, you can sign and go back now.¡± By this time, the little uncle had emptied his stomach and, not daring to look, bowed his head, asked a couple of questions, signed his name, and fled the autopsy room. Wu Jun, who had seen many such scenes, smiled indifferently, then called for Jiang Yuan to help clean up and put the stitched body back into the refrigerated morgue. Chapter 5 - 5 5 Suspect ?5: Chapter 5 Suspect 5: Chapter 5 Suspect The body was discovered in the morning, and the autopsy was almost finished by afternoon. After changing his clothes, Wu Jun pulled Jiang Yuan aside to a secluded spot and whispered, ¡°Find some cardboard or something and make a fire.¡± ¡°Make a fire?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was still filled with images from the autopsy, and he couldn¡¯t quite grasp the idea right away. ¡°Find them and I¡¯ll explain,¡± Wu Jun waved his hand. Jiang Yuan went out without a word and came back with two cardboard boxes, which he handed over to Wu Jun. Wu Jun tore up the cardboard and lit it with a lighter. Once the flames were up, he rubbed his hands together and said, ¡°Let¡¯s jump over the fire to ward off the bad luck.¡± ¡°This is...not necessary,¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated. ¡°Don¡¯t be so skeptical, I¡¯ve seen a lot of things...¡± Wu Jun said, and then he started trotting like a corgi, jumping vigorously over the fire. ¡°You too,¡± Wu Jun beckoned, signaling Jiang Yuan to jump over the fire as well. Jiang Yuan said reluctantly, ¡°Today is my ¡®Uncle Seventeen¡¯, there¡¯s really no need... Uncle Seventeen is actually a nice guy, always smiling at everyone whenever he goes back to the village, whether he knows them or not...¡± ¡°What if he made some new friends last night?¡± Wu Jun stood on the other side of the fire, his face lit by the flames and his shadow flickering. After considering it for two seconds, Jiang Yuan took a running start and leaped over the fire. Only after both cardboard boxes had burned down did Wu Jun light a cigarette, staring pensively at the dying fires before telling Jiang Yuan, ¡°I¡¯m going to report to Captain Huang. You clean this up and then check if the cafeteria still has any food. If not, buy some instant noodles or something and bring it to the office next to the autopsy room, we¡¯ll make do with that for a meal. That¡¯s the life of a police officer, you¡¯ll get used to it.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed without any fuss. ¡°The cafeteria is this way,¡± Wu Jun pointed out the direction and connected a call. He nodded to Jiang Yuan and then held the receiver to his ear, saying, ¡°Captain Huang, the cause of death is confirmed as a fracture of the second cervical vertebra, no other injuries. The estimated time of death is around 7 a.m.... There are no ante-mortem wounds, but there are signs of postmortem movement...¡± After listening for a while, once Wu Jun finished reporting the autopsy findings, Jiang Yuan went to borrow tools to clean up the ashes, then headed to the cafeteria. Autopsy work is physically demanding, and he was already famished. The funeral home has a cafeteria, a restaurant, and a small supermarket. The restaurant and supermarket are targeted at the relatives of the deceased, and the prices are steep. Many arrive early, coming up the mountain before dawn, and by noon there are plenty of people who can¡¯t hold out, ready to be fleeced. The cafeteria, on the other hand, is for employees to dine in, it¡¯s not large and the charges are reasonable. The forensic doctor is considered an external staff member of the funeral home. Jiang Yuan went inside, flashed his badge, and received a temporary meal card. When he approached the serving area, he saw that the one serving the food was a young girl with a long ponytail. She had just stood up, not wearing a mask, and greeted him with a smile, ¡°This is all the food that¡¯s left. We didn¡¯t know you were coming. You¡¯re the new forensic doctor from the county bureau, right?¡± ¡°Yes. How did you know?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled briefly, then looked down at the available dishes ¡ª just some stir-fried greens and bean sprouts, both looking less than appetizing. ¡°I just heard the new forensic doctor was especially tall, and other than people from the funeral home, we only have people from the Civil Affairs Bureau and the Religious Affairs Bureau visiting our cafeteria, it¡¯s easy to keep track.¡± The girl with the ponytail flashed her dimples with a smile, then added, ¡°If you¡¯re not in a hurry, shall I cook some noodles for you?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze then fell on the small kitchen at the back of the cafeteria ¡ª just a couple of simple stoves and some side dishes stored in containers beside them. Looking at the kitchen environment, Jiang Yuan felt an urge, ¡°Do you have rice? Can I make some fried rice myself?¡± The girl with the ponytail hesitated for a moment, looking up at the tall and neatly dressed Jiang Yuan, then quickly grinned, ¡°Our little unit is not that formal, but not many are willing to cook for themselves. Are you sure you can handle this kind of stove?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then come on in,¡± the girl lifted the cover on the right side and looked up at Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°Even if you¡¯re cooking your own fried rice, you¡¯ll still have to swipe for the price of egg fried rice.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Jiang Yuan responded and entered the small kitchen, picked up the large spoon, and momentarily felt oddly adept. The girl with the long ponytail brought over some rice and eggs, and Jiang Yuan used two eggshells to alternately scoop out the yolks and beat them before pouring into the rice for about four or five bowls¡¯ worth. Then he lit the stove, poured oil, and began to stir-fry... At school, the most Jiang Yuan had ever done was add an egg to instant noodles, but now, as he played with the spoon, he was quite skilled. The long-ponytailed girl watched his movements, frowning slightly. When she saw Jiang Yuan adding vegetables, she couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°It¡¯s okay to use more ingredients.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, swirled the spoon, and still picked up only a tiny bit of diced radish, saying, ¡°No need, this is enough.¡± Long ponytail: ¡°You don¡¯t have to be so polite.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°I¡¯m not being polite.¡± Their conversation ended somewhat abruptly. Jiang Yuan focused solely on making fried rice. He himself had no real cooking skills, relying entirely on Uncle Seventeen¡¯s legacy, and at this moment, he was also using ingredients extremely sparingly, just as Uncle Seventeen would have done... Watching him, the long-ponytailed girl felt a slight pang of sadness... such frugal egg fried rice must mean that past life was quite difficult. What a pity. ¡°I¡¯ll leave a portion for you to try.¡± Jiang Yuan calculated and made three servings of egg fried rice, scooping out portions for himself and Wu Jun, and then served a bowl to the young girl. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not necessary... I¡¯ve already eaten,¡± said the long-ponytailed girl, looking at the golden, translucent egg fried rice in the bowl and feeling even more moved. An egg fried rice that was enough for three people was quite incredible. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and said nothing more, carrying his food container and leaving. Watching Jiang Yuan leave the canteen, the girl with the long ponytail looked down at the fried rice and thought it actually looked quite presentable. She turned, took a spoon, scooped out half, and began chewing. Involuntarily, she found herself nodding. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect it to be quite tasty,¡± the long-ponytailed girl mumbled to herself and decided to save a small portion for the cook to try. Once she made that decision, she happily hugged the other half and began to ¡°taste¡± it voraciously. ... ¡°The flavor is really good, huh? Has the mortuary¡¯s cook improved?¡± Wu Jun took a bite of the fried rice Jiang Yuan brought back and praised it. ¡°There were only some greens left in the canteen, so I made the fried rice,¡± Jiang Yuan said, scooping another couple of bites of the rice and lifting his bowl in the direction of the morgue as a tribute to Uncle Seventeen. Wu Jun¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°You should have said earlier that you had this talent...¡± ¡°I only learned to make fried rice. It¡¯s from Uncle Seventeen,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Wu Jun. Wu Jun paused, looked at the fried rice again, hesitated for a few seconds, then shook his head and finished it off wolfishly, drinking two sips of tea before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go back later. You sort through the photos, fill out the autopsy report, and see if there¡¯s anyone coming back to help out voluntarily.¡± Jiang Yuan responded with an acknowledgment. Wu Jun glanced at Jiang Yuan, then slowly said, ¡°Captain Liu found traces of cleaning agents in the kitchen of the deceased¡¯s restaurant, and later found bloodstains. At the moment, the prime suspect is the deceased¡¯s wife...¡± ¡°Auntie Seventeen?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s face showed surprise, but it wasn¡¯t very intense. The husband was dead, and the murderer was the wife. In any country, this was a likely scenario, and all Jiang Yuan could do was sigh. Seeing that Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotions were relatively stable, Wu Jun nodded and continued, ¡°The Second Team went looking for the murder weapon. All the colleagues at the precinct have gone to the scene. We have to stay at home.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, quickly finishing off the rest of the rice in his bowl. Chapter 6 - 6 6 Fingerprint Identification ?6: Chapter 6: Fingerprint Identification 6: Chapter 6: Fingerprint Identification The Criminal Police Team¡¯s yard was much quieter than usual. In a county like Ningtai with a population of several hundred thousand, the likelihood of major cases occurring wasn¡¯t high. Throughout the year, there were only about ten to eight unnatural deaths, and among those, the ones that ended up being criminal cases, namely murder cases, were usually only one or two. That was why, even though this case seemed simple, the Criminal Police Team was in full deployment mode. When Jiang Yuan returned to the office, he saw that the fourth floor where the Criminal Investigation Division was located was empty, except the door to the trace evidence office was open, with someone busily typing away at their keyboard inside. ¡°Make sure to write a detailed report. This case might end up a death penalty case, and the requirements for a capital review are very strict.¡± Wu Jun reminded Jiang Yuan and then added, ¡°Back when we worked on a case, there was a piece of evidence that was a plastic oil drum. Two years had passed since we closed the case, and suddenly we got a call asking why the drum in the picture was white, but the actual evidence was yellow.¡± As he booted up his computer, Jiang Yuan listened and asked curiously, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Why? Because the actual evidence had aged and the plastic had changed color. We had to make supplementary materials.¡± Wu Jun paused and then continued, ¡°The point of telling you this is to say that the verification for death penalty cases is much stricter than for other cases. Lots of eyes are watching, so it doesn¡¯t hurt to set a higher standard.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed smoothly. After a pause, he asked, ¡°Should I avoid involvement because of my relationship with Seventeen Uncle...?¡± ¡°Only close relatives need to do that.¡± Wu Jun¡¯s definition of close relatives varied within different legal texts. The scope was broadest in administrative law and narrowest in Criminal Law, limited to spouses, parents, children, and siblings. Reassured, Jiang Yuan focused on his work. Soon, his desk was neatly covered with a series of photos. Seventeen Uncle¡¯s intestines, Seventeen Uncle¡¯s heart, Seventeen Uncle¡¯s brain slices, Seventeen Uncle¡¯s stomach contents... Jiang Yuan carefully selected and labeled them. For the police officers, the complexity of case processing often far surpasses that of solving the case. Just like with the current homicide, even if the case details were simple and clear, and the suspect confessed, there was still a countless number of paperwork to be done during the processing phase. It wasn¡¯t until close to the end of the work day that noise started to drift in from the yard. Jiang Yuan looked outside the window and saw that all three cars from the Criminal Police Team had returned; Captain Liu of the second squad even stood in full gear in front of the middle police car as if he were preparing for battle. Seventeen Auntie was thin and had a blank look in her eyes as she was handcuffed and shuffled out from the back seat. To be honest, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have many good or bad memories of Seventeen Auntie. Before he took his civil service exams, he had studied medicine in another city for five years. Even before that, he had spent three years at a boarding high school, so his impression of Seventeen Auntie was much less vivid than his impression of Seventeen Uncle¡¯s belly... ¡°The suspect has identified the murder weapon as a chef¡¯s knife, which was thrown into a trash can outside the community,¡± Wu Jun stood up to look downstairs and took the opportunity to update Jiang Yuan on the case. Jiang Yuan exhaled slowly. With the case progressing to this stage, solving the case was basically concluded, particularly for those where the murder weapon was discarded and then identified separately, which was many times more difficult to overturn than those based solely on confessions. ¡°What about disposing of the body? She couldn¡¯t have moved it alone, could she?¡± Jiang Yuan asked another question. ¡°Her brother helped move it, using the tricycle and cart from their shop to transport vegetables,¡± Wu Jun paused and then added, ¡°He¡¯s been caught too and has confessed.¡± With that, the case had both physical evidence and confessions, making it a near ironclad case. As Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts wandered, a semi-transparent system interface popped up. Task: Perform a comprehensive autopsy to assist in solving the case. Task reward: Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method ¡ª Loop Pattern Identification (LV3). Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes widened at the sight and then watched as a silver dumpling flew into his forehead. A flood of information aggressively forced its way in. The Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method was one of the single finger fingerprint analysis methods and was one of the first to be adopted in China. It is specifically used to deal with situations where there is only one fingerprint of a finger or even just a fragment of a fingerprint. Similarly, there are several other methods, including the Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method in China, and the Bartley Single Finger Fingerprint Classification Method in other countries. There is no superior or inferior method; they primarily differ in the way fingerprints are categorized and classified, and the analysis methods vary slightly. In simple terms, it was a technique for matching fingerprints. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes gleamed with excitement. Fingerprint matching was the hallmark of trace evidence investigation, and indeed, it took significant time and effort to learn. The system¡¯s direct offering greatly increased his sense of happiness. But matching fingerprints wasn¡¯t an easy task. Those devices that supposedly take any random fingerprint photo, enter it into the computer, and whirr away to find a matching print don¡¯t yet exist. The established fingerprint automatic identification technology (AFIS) used internationally, whether it¡¯s Japan¡¯s NEC, the United States¡¯ COGENT, or France¡¯s Morpho, all involve manually marking the features of the fingerprint found at the scene, that is, what¡¯s known as feature points. Then they match these feature points automatically in the system and score them according to similarity, from highest to lowest, to produce a list of candidates for review. This is because fingerprints can be deformed due to pressure and other factors, often in a nonlinear way. Many times, fingerprints can also be translated, overlapped, and poorly preserved, which is all too common. Moreover, fingerprints found at a crime scene are frequently incomplete. In short, fingerprint automatic identification technology requires manual preprocessing of the fingerprints. Devices like employee time clocks only know how to match two fingerprints to determine if they are the same, but their recognition rate is nowhere near what the police need. At this moment, Wu Jun only saw Jiang Yuan with a distracted look and gently coughed twice, saying, ¡°There¡¯s nothing much to do now. If you want to leave, go ahead; I¡¯ll handle the rest.¡± ¡°Uh... is that okay?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated. He wanted to try out the new technology he had acquired but thought that trying it at home would not be an issue either. ¡°We just have this much work; when it¡¯s done, it¡¯s done,¡± said Wu Jun, proudly lifting his chin. Compared to the police officers below who were just starting to get busy, the forensic doctor¡¯s busy work had already ended. Chapter 7 - 7 7 Embrace of the Tai River ?7: Chapter 7: Embrace of the Tai River 7: Chapter 7: Embrace of the Tai River Jiang Yuan changed into casual clothes, mounted his electric bike, and leisurely rode back home. The advantage of working in one¡¯s hometown is the proximity to home; even if you live on the outskirts of the city, a short ride on an electric bike is all it takes, and you can enjoy the scenery along the way, relishing the riverside views without any traffic jams. As far as urban landscaping is concerned, Ningtai County has done quite well. The Tai River area, in particular, has been heavily invested in for design, construction, and maintenance. This can be seen from a simple statistic: in just half a month since Jiang Yuan started his job, the relevant departments have cracked down on five couples shaking their cars in excitement along the Tai River¡ªoutsiders who had come specifically for the view. Locals in the know prefer Siningshan for such activities, where the scenery is equally stunning and the terrain more complex, with fewer people and hardly any supervision. Jiang Village lies at the foot of Siningshan, cradled by the Tai River, once famous for its dense water fields and known throughout the surrounding areas. Nowadays, it is famous for the surrounding demolitions due to the scenic area. Jiang Yuan¡¯s family land was also completely appropriated, and the new houses were scattered across several residential areas within and outside the city. Mr. Jiang chose to live in the Jiangcun Residential Area, which was closest to the original location of Jiang Village. This community housed the most people from Jiang Village; living there, with apartments above and below all filled with village folk, daily life was not much different from the days when they worked the fields in the village. Jiang Yongxin built a large stove in his kitchen, with the chimney slightly modified and a powerful range hood installed above. He used coal and firewood as fuel. The cast iron pot in the middle was big enough for a sheep in diameter and deep enough for a goose, quite fearsome... and also quite delicious. As Jiang Yuan entered Jiangcun Residential Area, he constantly nodded to people on both sides, parked his bike downstairs, and headed to the elevator, where someone was already waiting. ¡°Mrs. Hua,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted her. A middle-aged woman from the same village but not within the five degrees of kinship was uniformly addressed as Auntie or Mrs., followed by their own name. Mrs. Hua smiled briefly, then couldn¡¯t wait to ask, ¡°Was your Seventeenth Uncle really stabbed to death by his wife?¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback, and said, ¡°The case is still under investigation, I cannot say.¡± ¡°So it is true?¡± Mrs. Hua clenched her fist, her toes already itching to spread the news. Jiang Yuan, remembering the information overload he faced every time he came home for the holidays, knew he couldn¡¯t give any hints. He patiently repeated, ¡°The case is still under investigation, I cannot discuss the specifics, nor can I tell you whether the information you¡¯ve received is true or false...¡± ¡°So it¡¯s not true?¡± Mrs. Hua obviously wasn¡¯t ready to give up. Tsk. The elevator doors opened. Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to leave the elevator and quickly pulled open his own door¡ªresidents of Jiangcun Residential Area were accustomed to not locking their doors during the day, which saved the hassle of knocking. They just needed to shout upon entering. As Jiang Yuan entered his home, he shouted, ¡°Dad, I¡¯m back.¡± This apartment knocked together four separate units into one, and Mr. Jiang¡¯s favorite traditional wood-fired stove was in the eastern kitchen. Given the location, one had to speak up to be heard. ¡°Heard you,¡± Mr. Jiang shouted back from afar while holding a towel, wiping his hands as he came out, and then called out, ¡°His Auntie, he¡¯s here.¡± ¡°I ran into young Jiang on the way.¡± Mrs. Hua followed in after Jiang Yuan, greeting them familiarly as she plopped down on the sofa. The complete wipeout of Seventeenth Uncle¡¯s family was gossip of a different caliber, not something to be compared with mundane things like someone¡¯s daughter-in-law cheating or someone¡¯s son getting caught soliciting services. At that moment, Mrs. Hua felt almost a sense of mission, determined to ensure that the residents of Jiang Village received accurate information. ¡°Have some tea, eat some sunflower seeds. We didn¡¯t prepare much at home...¡± Mr. Jiang, who was quite the figure of a town elder, spoke as if his words were steeped in warm water. Unconcerned, Mrs. Hua waved her hand dismissively and continued to Jiang Yuan, ¡°I heard they¡¯ve closed the shop of your Seventeenth Uncle, and that people have been searching his house. I can¡¯t even reach your Seventeenth Aunt¡¯s phone, I left a message in my friend circle, and she didn¡¯t reply. Tell me, what¡¯s happening with them?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure.¡± What could Jiang Yuan say when the questions posed contained more information than he knew? All he could do was remain calm and collected in response. Creak. Someone else pulled open the door and came in directly. ¡°Uncle. Bro. Auntie. What are you guys talking about? Is it about Seventeenth Uncle?¡± This time it was Jiang Yongxin, Jiang Yuan¡¯s cousin, who ran a car wash downstairs. Mrs. Hua glanced at Jiang Yuan, winked mysteriously, and chuckled, ¡°Just chatting nonsense.¡± Jiang Yongxin chuckled twice and looked at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Bro, let¡¯s chat about Uncle Seventeen.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t really talk about that...¡± Jiang Yuan repeated to Jiang Yongxin what he had just told Mrs. Hua. Jiang Yongxin listened intently and then said with enthusiasm, ¡°So, you actually know the situation but can¡¯t say anything?¡± Jiang Yuan felt helpless; it was as if he had spoken to no avail. He simply stood up and waved his hand, ¡°I¡¯ll go help out in the kitchen.¡± Mr. Jiang from Jiang Fuzhen followed with a happy laugh, also calling out to the two behind him, ¡°Help yourselves to food and drink.¡± Mrs. Hua and Jiang Yongxin didn¡¯t mind and quickly engaged in a fervent discussion. Before Jiang Yuan even entered the kitchen, the front door creaked open again, and a familiar yet strange greeting was heard, ¡°Is Fuzhen at home? I¡¯ll take a look around.¡± Jiang Yuan and his father acted as if they hadn¡¯t heard and quietly proceeded to the kitchen. As expected, the lively discussion in the living room only grew louder. Inside the kitchen, chunks of beef slowly simmered in a big pot over the firewood, the slightly yellow beef fat quivering under the bubbling water. ¡°Hungry? Want me to cut you a piece?¡± Mr. Jiang from Jiang Fuzhen asked his son. Jiang Yuan touched his stomach and nodded. The autopsy he performed today had been quite comprehensive, and the workload was consequently immense; the single-serving fried rice with less oil and less egg at the funeral parlor was hardly enough to fill his stomach. Mr. Jiang chuckled, took a small knife from the stove, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, prodded into the pot to fish out a tender piece of beef, and slowly cut it off, casually handing it to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had his plate ready and began to eat as he blew on the hot morsel. His mother had passed away early, so it was his father who looked after him. Stews and braised meats were his favorites and also what Comrade Jiang Fuzhen excelled at cooking back in the day. However, unlike many parents, with the wealth from the early demolition compensations, Mr. Jiang had plenty of time to study cooking. His culinary skills had improved over the years, and he was now a gourmet among the Ningtai Demolition Group. The beef today was cooked rather well, with a light taste that was not greasy; a simple touch of salt satisfied both the palate and the stomach. ¡°Tired?¡± Mr. Jiang from Jiang Fuzhen opened a can of beer, handed it to Jiang Yuan, then opened one for himself, and started drinking with a clinking sound. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°Not really, there are many people more tired than me.¡± Mr. Jiang laughed, ¡°There aren¡¯t many people in the whole country who are more relaxed than me, and sometimes I still feel pretty tired... Anyway, just see for yourself, if you really don¡¯t want to do it anymore, buy a sports car to drive, get married like the other youngsters in the village, and just coast through life.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll consider it,¡± Jiang Yuan knew his dad was just rambling. Compared to himself, Comrade Jiang Fuzhen cared more about holding an official position; getting his approval to resign would at least need the exchange of two grandsons. ¡°Fuzhen! Fuzhen!¡± Someone started calling from outside again, ¡°Your third uncle is here.¡± ¡°Help yourself to some meat. It¡¯s lively today, almost as if it¡¯s your Uncle Seventeen who passed away at our place,¡± Mr. Jiang wiped his hands on his pants, told Jiang Yuan again, and then went back to the living room to greet the guests. Soon, the number of visitors stopping by kept piling up, reaching a level of bustling commotion. Jiang Yuan sighed, went straight out the back door, and took the fire escape to the top floor. The rooftop house was decorated according to his father¡¯s preferences, purportedly as a ¡°wedding house,¡± but it remained a bachelor¡¯s pad to this day. At the moment, it was a good spot for Jiang Yuan to seek some solitude, practice a newly acquired skill, and read a novel. Chapter 8 - 8 8 Comparing Fingerprints ?8: Chapter 8: Comparing Fingerprints 8: Chapter 8: Comparing Fingerprints The old desktop computer whirred and creaked as it operated. A whoosh of warm air blew out from the case, dissipating into the room. In a moment, the right side of the LCD screen displayed the top 20 fingerprints with the highest match value. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He took a sip of tea and then clicked to examine the first fingerprint. These past few days, due to the murder case of Uncle Seventeen, the entire criminal police force had been running at full capacity. Suddenly things had eased, and Jiang Yuan had returned to the routine of a forensic doctor¡ªappearing to have little work to do. Meanwhile, he was gradually getting proficient with the newly-acquired system reward, ¡°Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method¡ªBow Pattern Identification (lv3)¡± through practice. After some exercises with his study workbook and public materials, Jiang Yuan decided to put his skills into practice: first, to identify a bow-patterned fingerprint, and then determine to whom it belonged. For the first step, he chose a fingerprint collected from a robbery case in the neighboring city of Longli County. The reason he didn¡¯t choose a fingerprint from a murder case was the ¡°all murders must be solved¡± principle, which means these cases are given great importance, especially before becoming cold cases, with fingerprints undergoing thorough comparisons. The fingerprints from murder cases that remain in the database are bound to be extremely challenging. If Longli County had an unsolved murder case with a suspected perpetrator¡¯s fingerprint lifted, that print would first be compared multiple times by the local trace examiners. If it didn¡¯t match, efforts would be made to lift additional prints on-site. If all attempts failed, the municipal Criminal Science and Technology Squadron would be called in for assistance, or even directly approaching the provincial department was possible. If the print remained unmatched at the provincial department level, with the case still unsolved, then every year or two, the department and ministry would organize special fingerprint comparisons for major cold cases. Participants would often be forensic experts from the criminal technology talent pools of the provincial department or the ministry¡¯s youth talent pool. Jiang Yuan had already experienced the LV3 egg fried rice, so his expectations for the LV3 bow-patterned fingerprint identification weren¡¯t that high. The egg fried rice tasted great, but it didn¡¯t glow. By that logic, LV3 bow-patterned fingerprint identification must be impressive, but not godlike. Moreover, the fingerprint databases he had access to were limited. Starting with a murder case as the first fingerprint to analyze, Jiang Yuan thought, would be too easy for a setback. In contrast, a robbery case seemed more suitable for the time being. On one hand, ordinary robbery cases wouldn¡¯t reach the provincial department¡¯s level of major cases. On the other hand, the seriousness with which robbery cases were handled at the county bureau level determined the initial forensic officers would be serious enough when lifting fingerprints. The fingerprints uploaded to the database were surely highly relevant to the case. That said, Jiang Yuan was quite surprised when he first opened the fingerprint image for this case. The print was lifted under unknown conditions, not only blurty but also incomplete, amounting to only about half of a normal fingerprint. Fortunately, more of the fingertip area was preserved, providing a basis for comparison. Beyond that, distortion of the fingerprint was not even worth mentioning. This was vastly different from the fingerprints left by ordinary people when clocking in for work. Without some level of professional expertise, it¡¯s not just about marking characteristic points, even determining which finger it was could be difficult. As expected, none of the 20 automatically matched fingerprints by the system matched. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t discouraged. Such fingerprints were uploaded to the system precisely because the local trace evidence examiners had trouble matching them. The reason for the local failure could be technical issues or perhaps the database simply didn¡¯t contain the corresponding fingerprints. If it was the latter, there was nothing Jiang Yuan could do but hope that the scope of the bureau¡¯s fingerprint database was larger... And that¡¯s what he was banking on with the former. For the forensic officers making fingerprint matches, effort was essential; only by putting in the effort was there a chance to rely on luck. Jiang Yuan closed the fingerprint comparison page and re-opened the suspect¡¯s fingerprint image, this time using Photoshop. He observed the state of the incomplete fingerprint carefully and then started to adjust the contrast and brightness. Jiang Yuan¡¯s adjustments were so meticulous that even a slight enhancement in the clarity of the fingerprint image took half an hour. However, sharpening the ax wouldn¡¯t delay the work of chopping wood. Once Jian Yuan had everything ready, he took a closer look at the fingerprint image, and the direction of the lines became much clearer. He then made a slight adjustment to the center of the fingerprint. The center point was uncertain due to the severity of the fingerprint¡¯s incompleteness. If Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t adjust it, the system would automatically estimate a center point. Watching the patterns¡¯ flow, Jiang Yuan redefined the center point and then returned it to the software, adjusted the settings, and hit confirm once more. Another 20 fingerprints, none of which matched. He adjusted the center point again and compared once more... This time, Jiang Yuan immediately noticed the third fingerprint on the list. To ordinary people, at a glance, fingerprints might all seem similar, especially those classified as bow-patterned or tented arches¡ªit can often be very difficult to distinguish. But for someone who has been looking at fingerprints continuously, different fingerprint characteristics become as familiar as freckles on an old sow¡¯s face after a while. Jiang Yuan directly opened the third fingerprint, enlarged it, and placed it on the right side of the computer screen, then opened the original fingerprint and placed it on the left side. When the two fingerprints were placed side by side, their similarities became unmistakably evident. At this point, it was no longer just about looking at characteristic points but rather about judging the degree of similarity between the fingerprints. When it comes down to one-on-one, the human eye¡¯s ability to differentiate is much stronger than a computer¡¯s. ¡°Got a match!¡± Jiang Yuan muttered to himself, feeling a wave of relief as he casually submitted the matching fingerprint. According to the rules, his submitted print would go to the provincial department experts for review. Once they confirmed it was accurate, they would click submit, and someone would notify the corresponding front-line unit to arrange for the arrest. Of course, it¡¯s no problem for the local criminal police to make an arrest if they want to do so. That was beyond Jiang Yuan¡¯s concern; he stretched languorously, got up to stretch his muscles, and checked the time, contentedly waiting for the end of his workday. Life as a forensic doctor without bodies was simple and pure. Chapter 9 - 9 9 Trace Evidence ?9: Chapter 9 Trace Evidence 9: Chapter 9 Trace Evidence The sun set, and the evening sun dipped below the horizon. The veteran police dog Heizi, having run outside all day, dragged his weary body back to his kennel, quietly waiting for tonight¡¯s beef, chicken leg, and mixed vegetable stew. He was a second-class meritorious service dog with food allowances, assisted by public security partnerships, averaging 75 yuan per meal, regardless of the weather. Captain Hou patted Heizi¡¯s head and, dragging his own exhausted frame, returned to the office at the Criminal Police Detachment, boiled a pot of water for himself, made a bowl of instant noodles, tore open a stick of ham sausage, and devoured it ravenously. Halfway through the meal, his cell phone rang. ¡°Hello?¡± Captain Hou frowned. On the other end was an even-keeled female voice, ¡°Captain Hou? This is the fingerprint station at the General Criminal Police squad. We have a result for a fingerprint collaboration inquiry from your county. I¡¯m sending the details to you now. Please take a look...¡± Captain Hou responded blankly, hung up the phone, and hurried to check the message on his police device. After just a glance, Captain Hou dropped his noodles, strode out the door, and ordered, ¡°Ping, get some people together, we¡¯re making an arrest.¡± He had the habit of leading by example. He did so as a squadron leader, and the same went for being a detachment leader. Ping, who was called, shoved a couple more bites of noodles into his mouth, called the detectives of his team to depart, grabbed his coat, and while walking out asked, ¡°What¡¯s the case?¡± ¡°Last year¡¯s July 15th robbery case. The provincial team sent back the fingerprint match; the guy is at Tuo Mountain Forest Farm, a forest worker there, clocked in just this morning.¡± Captain Hou talked as he moved, ¡°The road there is rough; take the pickup.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Ping acknowledged, then clicked his tongue twice, ¡°Playing hide-and-seek right under our noses, huh? Did this forest farm just join the fingerprint network this year, or what?¡± Nowadays, many industrial and mining enterprises are required to install and network biometric identification systems, typical examples include coal mines, some even to the extent of iris recognition systems. However, Captain Hou shook his head, ¡°The fingerprint has been in the system for a while, it was just matched today. Let¡¯s arrest him first.¡± The group hurried down the stairs, and Ping, who had been running around all day, started the pickup truck, exhaled a breath, and asked, ¡°Should we bring Heizi? It might be useful to have him at the forest farm?¡± Captain Hou looked towards the kennel where Heizi was chomping on a chicken leg, savoring it, and hesitated, ¡°Let¡¯s leave him be, Heizi¡¯s exhausted, let him rest. We¡¯ll go and assess the situation first.¡± Ping rubbed his sore back, gave a wry laugh, and turned the ignition key. The pickup drove up the mountain. People climbed the mountain. It was in the wee hours of the morning. The sky was already bright when the suspect finally signed his name on the interrogation record. The forest worker in his twenties, whose only insight into anti-surveillance was gleaned from movies and TV shows, lost his initial luck as reality set in, and he was led by the nose by the police for the rest of the time. Captain Hou, who had stood watch all night, exhaled a breath of relief, with a flicker of tired optimism sparking within him. The robbery case was one of the eight serious crimes stipulated by the Criminal Law. The so-called Major Case Unit designation comes from this. For such cases, the police department has always given utmost priority. Last year, in an effort to solve the crime, Captain Hou had worked tirelessly for days without finding any useful leads... Now that the case had been cracked and the suspect arrested smoothly, Captain Hou, as head of the Criminal Police Detachment, felt a great sense of accomplishment. After some thought, Captain Hou took out his cell phone and called Huang Qiangmin from the neighboring Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. The phone rang thrice. ¡°I want to thank you, Captain Huang,¡± Captain Hou said earnestly. Huang Qiangmin was a bit taken aback, ¡°Did I upset you or something?¡± ¡°No, honestly, I¡¯m truly grateful,¡± Captain Hou¡¯s voice carried more sincerity. He was making a thank-you call, best to not get into the usual banter. Huang Qiangmin laughed, ¡°Thankful for what?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Captain Hou was surprised, then inexplicably laughed. After his laughter subsided, he shared the results of the fingerprint collaboration and the arrest with Huang Qiangmin and commented, ¡°Speaking of this case, we were pieces away. The victim reported the crime the next day, and it just so happened to rain that night, wiping away many pieces of evidence. Of course, it made the culprit let their guard down, thinking we had forgotten about the case, ha...¡± This time, Huang Qiangmin fell silent. Several seconds later, Huang Qiangmin slowly said, ¡°So, you¡¯re saying that you¡¯ve cracked a robbery case that had been unresolved for some time?¡± ¡°Right. I personally brought the perpetrator back. Thank your forensics team for me, and I¡¯ll take you out to dinner when I have a chance,¡± Hou Lejia said with a chuckle as he ended the call. Clutching the phone, Huang Qiangmin shoved it hard into his pocket and turned to head up to the fourth floor, where the Criminal Science Squadron was located. He really wanted to see just how these forensics team members, who always seemed to be complaining, had managed to clinch this case. The forensics office. Yan Ge, cradling a steaming cup of tea, sipped the hot liquid while critiquing the fingerprint before him, ¡°It¡¯s too blurred; they dusted powder on leather. What were they thinking? Who does fingerprint collection this way now...¡± ¡°Yan Ge! Wang Zhong! Have you acquired some new expertise?¡± Huang Qiangmin scrutinized his surroundings, his eyes sharp like a stray cat¡¯s. ¡°Captain Huang.¡± Both forensic technicians jumped in alarm and rose to their feet. ¡°What¡¯s with you two, day in and day out? Are you too idle?¡± Huang Qiangmin spoke with severity. The two forensic technicians were utterly panicked. What inappropriate thing had we done? We often do these things and never get reprimanded... Those in the Criminal Police who frequently worked with forensics were used to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s ¡°military training¡± relatively infrequently, but precisely for this reason, they were all the less accustomed to his strictness. ¡°Matching a fingerprint is a good thing, but don¡¯t you know to report to your superiors first? Where is your organizational discipline?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s brows furrowed, and he looked as fierce as if he were about to catch a mouse. Both Yan Ge and Wang Zhong were confused and shook their heads together. Yan Ge asked quietly, ¡°What fingerprint did we match?¡± This time, Huang Qiangmin was genuinely puzzled. After a moment of thought, he said, ¡°Longli County cracked a robbery case, a backlog case, and found a suspect through fingerprint comparison. Old Hou called to express his thanks. Wasn¡¯t it done by you two?¡± ¡°No,¡± Yan and Xiao Wang shook their heads again, with some difficulty. ¡°Go and ask around,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he decisively took a seat. He was starting to feel like he was on the verge of solving a case, eager for results or at least to find a proper lead. Reluctantly, Yan Ge and Wang Zhong each made their calls. Forensic technicians often had tasks to assist in inquiries; it was a standard procedure. Not long after, the two hung up their respective calls and returned to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression grew stern as he looked at the two of them, their demeanor so formal that it triggered a flurry of speculations in his mind. ¡°The message I received...¡± Yan Ge cleared his throat twice, approached Huang Qiangmin, and glanced involuntarily in the direction of the forensic doctor¡¯s office, ¡°The one who did the fingerprint comparison is probably from our team, Xiao Jiang. Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan... Which squad is he from?¡± For a moment, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t place the person. He was the head of the Criminal Police Detachment, overseeing several Criminal Police squads, the Police Dog Squad, the Criminal Science Squad, the Anti-Drug Squad, and so on, with hundreds of officers and dogs under his command¡ªnot particularly sensitive to new faces. ¡°He¡¯s the new forensic doctor who just reported for duty, the really tall one,¡± Xiao Wang said. ¡°Now that you mention it, I know who you¡¯re talking about.¡± Huang Qiangmin only then matched the name to the face. It was true he had over a hundred detectives under his command, but forensic doctors were consistently few in number; moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s height always left a strong impression. After figuring out who was involved, all three fell into silence again. With their extensive experience in forensics, what baffled Yan Ge and Wang Zhong was this: it was one thing to assist another unit with fingerprint comparison, but quite another to succeed where that unit had failed. In a nutshell, assisting with fingerprint comparison didn¡¯t necessarily mean the fingerprints were difficult to work with. It could also be due to the fact that the other unit¡¯s fingerprint database lacked coverage. Nowadays, there was no such thing as a nationwide fingerprint database. Even within each province, they only maintained fingerprint databases covering a portion of all fingerprints. So, most forensic police officers would first search their own city¡¯s criminal fingerprint database, then, if necessary, the vehicle registration databases, identity information databases, and so on; if still fruitless, they would request assistance from the provincial office or other units. The type of fingerprints that couldn¡¯t be matched due to database limitations was something Yan and Xiao Zhao were familiar with. But succeeding with tough fingerprints based purely on brute force was something they saw less often. ¡°Let¡¯s go meet him.¡± Huang Qiangmin got up and walked out, with Yan and Xiao Wang following without hesitation. Chapter 10 - 10 10 Power Rankings ?10: Chapter 10: Power Rankings 10: Chapter 10: Power Rankings Not only Huang Qiangmin, but Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, who had somewhat caught on, also followed into the forensic office. Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk was to the side of the door, and with a turn in one direction, everyone could see the fingerprint images on Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen. Two dense clusters of black and white lines, one on the left and one on the right, resembled scrambled bundles of yarn, dizzyingly complex to observe. Huang Qiangmin and the other two tacitly moved to stand behind Jiang Yuan, their movements light as civets and utterly soundless. Across from them, Wu Jun lifted his head and noticed the three¡¯s actions, gave a start, then simply buried his head back in his own work. Compared with a rookie like Jiang Yuan, the old guard officers present were all cunning as foxes with keen instincts and mutual familiarity, knowing each other¡¯s gut feelings with the slightest shift of their seats. Jiang Yuan was conveniently wearing headphones, listening to music inside, oblivious to the outside world while comparing fingerprints. Fingerprint analysis is an extremely focus-demanding task. Especially when working with fingerprints from the database, seldom can one succeed on the first attempt. The routine method of marking these old fingerprints usually proves fruitless, as the responding evidence officers have surely tried those same or similar steps before. It¡¯s like a tough problem that can¡¯t be solved with textbook methods; one must deform the approach. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be listed among the tough problems. But how to modify, and whether the chosen modification is correct and equivalent, is a true test of one¡¯s skill. Jiang Yuan, who had achieved a level 3 arch pattern identification, was far from being overwhelmingly powerful and still had much trial and practice ahead of him. Having just finished a murder case, the workload at the forensic post was relatively light, giving Jiang Yuan the peace to focus intently on fingerprints. In Huang Qiangmin¡¯s view, Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions were reminiscent of his daughter beautifying pictures: those black and white lines kept enlarging and reducing, at times shifting, quite complex in appearance. Longing for answers, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help but look back at Yan and Xiao Wang. The two evidence officers looked even more stupid and dumbfounded than usual, staring fixedly at Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen like a pair of dazed cats. With just a glance, Huang Qiangmin understood what was going on. It was like a wild beast beside its prey, tension seizing the prey¡¯s entire body; a boss beside a secretary, tension seizing the secretary¡¯s entire body; a wife beside a husband, tension seizing the husband¡¯s entire body; a teacher beside a student, tension seizing the student¡¯s entire body¡ªYan and Xiao Wang seemed to be bracing for some impending horror. Clack, clack. Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingers tapped twice more, confirming a new characteristic point. Yan Ge and Wang Zhong stretched their necks to look, their expressions akin to elementary students tackling ¡°the chicken and rabbit cage¡± problem for the first time, a mix of curiosity and apprehension. Huang Qiangmin glanced at them, feeling an unexpected pang of sympathy. The economy of Shannan Province was average at best, and Ningtai County was a small county town. Yan and Xiao Wang, like many county-level criminal investigation officers, had conventional academic backgrounds, but their knowledge was both broad and shallow. After being assigned to evidence collection, they received little systematic training, at best attending some workshops, fumbling along behind their seniors in getting the job done. In such an environment, some rely on self-study to grow rapidly, and the province¡¯s fingerprint experts have mostly followed a similar path. However, most, like Yan and Xiao Wang, lacked learning opportunities and occasionally the motivation to learn, ultimately just becoming another cog in the police force. By contrast, Jiang Yuan seemed more focused and confident. Captain Huang cleared his throat softly, drawing Jiang Yuan out of his immersion. ¡°You helped Longli County with a robbery case¡¯s fingerprints?¡± Captain Huang waited for Jiang Yuan to remove his headphones before he asked. Jiang Yuan paused for a moment and nodded in affirmation. Captain Huang couldn¡¯t help but express his approval, ¡°The college students nowadays are impressive, capable and educated. But... why are all the fingerprints you matched from Longli County?¡± Huang Qiangmin drew out his words, his tone clearly hinting at something. ¡°Maybe they uploaded more fingerprints, I just downloaded theirs,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t very well admit that he had randomly picked one nearby within the easy targets. Huang Qiangmin nodded: ¡°Assisting our fellow departments is also good, hmm, are you currently matching fingerprints here?¡± ¡°Yes, I picked a cold case at random...¡± ¡°Where from?¡± ¡°Uh... Still from Longli County.¡± Jiang Yuan was quite adept at reading people¡¯s facial expressions. After all, as a forensic doctor, he had to pay attention not just to the faces of the dead but also to the living. Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t trying to hide his suspicions at all. He now suspected that Jiang Yuan had some shady connection with Longli County, so he directly asked, ¡°Do you have family in Longli County?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then... forget it, just process some fingerprint comparisons for our Ningtai County.¡± Huang Qiangmin had a solid and straightforward style, and he directly made his request. ¡°Okay.¡± Jiang Yuan obediently agreed. Then seeing Huang Qiangmin seemed interested in watching, he said, ¡°Fingerprint comparison might take quite a long time, it¡¯s not something that can be done in a moment. Do you have any requirements for the type of case?¡± ¡°Prioritize cold cases. Do it well, and when you have results, report directly to me!¡± Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t too sure about Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability, but in a place like Ningtai County, it was easier to find a man with a six-pack than a forensic doctor with technical know-how. After giving Jiang Yuan his phone number, Huang Qiangmin nodded to Wu Jun and said, ¡°Tell him about our force ranking.¡± Then, without paying any mind to Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, Huang Qiangmin left the room. Jiang Yuan looked at Wu Jun with a face full of curiosity, ¡°Force ranking?¡± The name sounded a bit too fantastical. Wu Jun smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s the performance assessment chart created by our Shannan Province¡¯s Public Security Department. It¡¯s called that. It ranks each of the prefecture-level cities within the province, then the counties and districts within the cities, and even the towns and villages within the counties. The items assessed are all the same and quite detailed. Just open your police terminal, and you can see it. To use a trendy term, it¡¯s our police KPI.¡± Jiang Yuan was somewhat stunned and said dumbfoundedly, ¡°KPI isn¡¯t as ¡®trendy¡¯ as ¡®force ranking¡¯. They really call it that?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Wu Jun nodded emphatically and then continued, ¡°The force ranking is now our guiding beacon. Do well, and the leadership gets promoted and awarded collectively. Do poorly, and the leadership has to give a self-criticism at the staff meeting, make guarantees, and if they still don¡¯t meet the requirements, they face reassignment or dismissal. And it gets tougher at each level, with specific demands.¡± Unlike other government departments, the performance assessment mechanisms within the public security system are notoriously complex. Apart from Shannan Province, other provinces and autonomous regions also have similar ranking systems, although the names may vary; for instance, Zhuhai has a ¡°Police Force Capabilities Ranking.¡± (Note) Qinghe¡¯s force ranking is extremely detailed with more than 30 police departments and over 600 sub-items, all assigned different weighted scores, updated in real-time, and subject to competition. For criminal cases alone, there are various categories ranging from homicide to property crimes. Wu Jun roughly introduced it and then said, ¡°At the level of the county criminal investigation brigade, you might have a total of around 1000 points for the year. Solving one robbery cold case or any of the other seven major types of cold cases can get you about 30 points, and there are additional bonuses for serial cases. Homicide has the highest points; solving a homicide cold case and apprehending the culprit can get you from 70 to 100 points. Property crime cases, like theft, solving one case might earn you about 0.1 to 0.5 points; solving serial cases or apprehending the culprit gives you a bit more...¡± ¡°You just mentioned homicide and robbery cases as cold cases, what about current cases?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Current cases for the eight major crimes have a penalty system,¡± Wu Jun paused and said gravely, ¡°This is truly terrifying. For instance, for a current homicide case, it¡¯s 100 points. If a murder occurs and you solve it and catch the person, that¡¯s the full 100 points. Two or three cases happen, and you solve them and catch the persons, still, you get 100 points. But if there are two cases and one remains unsolved, you lose 70 points; if both are unsolved, you lose 140, three unsolved takes 210 points, and so on...¡± ¡°So, if there are 10 unsolved murder cases, wouldn¡¯t you lose 700 points?¡± ¡°In theory, yes.¡± ¡°And in practice?¡± ¡°In practice, the city will tolerate up to five unsolved cases, at the county level a maximum of three; if those aren¡¯t solved, the criminal investigation brigade captain is due for replacement.¡± ¡°So if you successfully solve a homicide cold case, doesn¡¯t that mean you earn as much as a tenth of the entire brigade¡¯s score?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. Doctor Wu laughed with a ¡°heh¡±: ¡°Don¡¯t be modest; you could make up a fifth of the score and even get commended for meritorious service. Our team last year had just over 700 points, including some basic points. Do you know when our team last solved a homicide cold case? Two years ago. And yes, fingerprints are important, but they have limitations and not every case will have crucial fingerprint evidence, and not all matches are guaranteed. Even for other serious crimes, if you can match one, you¡¯re the biggest donkey in the production team, the one that gets to choose the female donkeys first.¡± ¡°No wonder...¡± Jiang Yuan now somewhat understood Captain Huang¡¯s mood; he had practically earned Longli County thirty or forty points. Wu Jun explained generously: ¡°Helping other units solve cases also earns points; this falls under cooperation. If one plays a key role, you could get a quarter or a fifth of the points... Essentially, solving cases is good, but it¡¯s always more satisfying to solve cases for your own unit than for the neighbors.¡± A quarter was still a lot less than solving a case on your own, but it allowed you to outdo other counties. Jiang Yuan started to catch on; no wonder Captain Huang wanted his master to introduce him to this force ranking. But next, he didn¡¯t know how to choose the cases. Wang Zhong cleared his throat at this point and said, ¡°I know of a case...¡± Note 1: Indeed, some provinces have created ¡°force rankings¡± with identical names and functions as described, with slight differences. Chapter 11 - 11 11 Intentional Injury Case ?11: Chapter 11 Intentional Injury Case 11: Chapter 11 Intentional Injury Case ¡°Xiao Wang also really likes fidgeting with computer software. Whenever our county had a case requiring collaborative investigation, it was Xiao Wang who arranged for it to be handled,¡± Yan endorsed Xiao Wang while simultaneously justifying the reputation of our county¡¯s only two trace investigators. Wang Zhong, however, smiled shyly and humbly said, ¡°What I do can¡¯t compare to Doctor Jiang. You do fingerprinting hands-on, while I mainly just run the fingerprint database.¡± The fingerprint database is constantly updated, and the primary responsibility for this lies with the trace evidence police officers from various locations. They are in charge of taking photographs of collected fingerprints, archiving them, writing descriptions, and sometimes even manually processing them before entering them into the fingerprint database. Additionally, fingerprints from older cases that predate the use of computer systems also require manual verification and other procedures in order to be included in the database. Periodically running old case fingerprints through the database is one such method. Suspects who were previously unmatched might one day be caught for drunk driving or a brawl, and then be identified. Even crime suspects who obtain something like a temporary residence permit could lead to a lonely fingerprint finding its match, fulfilling the role of a matchmaker. Furthermore, a person who commits a crime in another region might not be found in the local fingerprint database but may have fingerprint information in a database elsewhere. Such fingerprints don¡¯t necessarily have to be complicated; oftentimes, when trace evidence officers receive a request for assistance, they just need to roughly mark the key points using the most traditional methods, then run the database. Throwing a dart and seeing if it sticks can sometimes yield a hit. Running the database has also become a routine for most ordinary trace evidence officers. If Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the system, it would be good enough to just be able to run the database for the first few years. Therefore, he said warmly and sincerely, ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a white cat or a black cat; as long as it catches mice, it¡¯s a good cat.¡± Wang Zhong immediately felt that this young man, Jiang Yuan, was decent and easy to work with, so he made an even more self-deprecating comparison, ¡°In terms of catching mice, you¡¯re a Bengal cat, and at best, I¡¯m just a Ragdoll.¡± The people present looked at Wang Zhong¡¯s cheeks, rough from years of working on-site and staying up late, and then at the fair and gentle Jiang Yuan, sinking into a diplomatic reverie. ¡°You just mentioned a case?¡± Wu Jun reminded him. ¡°Right, right, right.¡± Wang Zhong organized his thoughts before saying, ¡°It¡¯s an old case from over a decade ago, a case that left a deep impression on me when I was running the database. The case itself is simple: a group of high school graduates were drinking farewell drinks, got drunk, and got into a conflict with a passing young man. As a result, they were hit with a stool and ended up flipping over. Sadly, the student who got hit was blinded in one eye, and that escalated to grievous bodily harm.¡± ¡°You said blinded in one eye, and I remember now. Back when the college entrance exams were in July, scores were coming out and the weather was hot, everywhere you had students causing trouble after drinking beer. The college acceptance rate was low that year, and students who had nowhere to go, including those who were retaking a year, were looking for trouble everywhere. The worst case was this one; the student who got hit was a top student and had gotten into a junior college. I guess getting beaten up had something to do with it too.¡± Doctor Wu reminisced about the past with some emotion, ¡°It was my mentor who did the forensic examination.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the case. At the time, we speculated that the suspect might have been a visiting student from another region or someone who came to work, and ran away after the incident,¡± Xiao Wang nodded. Yan Ge felt that the case from over a decade ago was a bit too remote for him since he hadn¡¯t seen the files, so he asked directly, ¡°Wasn¡¯t there a special case team set up?¡± ¡°The county set up a special case team, but mainly for investigation and inquiries; they never zeroed in on a suspect,¡± Wang Zhong replied. ¡°What about at the city level?¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t reach the city level.¡± ¡°Back then, we didn¡¯t implement decentralization. Qinghe City Bureau basically didn¡¯t handle casework,¡± Wu Jun explained. In earlier years, provincial and city bureaus provided guidance on casework rather than handling cases directly. To put it plainly, they did not directly manage cases. For instance, the Provincial Bureau, with a staff of just a few hundred people, couldn¡¯t handle major cases due to its small size. Even regular work required borrowing staff from districts and counties; it was more practical to leave cases to the districts and counties and focus on technical organization work themselves. The staffing situation at the City Bureau was a little better, and in recent years they had been required to take a more hands-on approach in handling cases and so forth. However, in backward areas like Anping City and Shannan Province, what should be done and what could be done in reality were two different things. Therefore, not only did the aforementioned grievous injury case from over a decade ago not reach the City Bureau, but even now, serious injury cases must have a significant impact before a city-level special case team is organized. Of course, if it had been a murder case, that would be a different story. ¡°There were also issues with the fingerprint evidence,¡± Xiao Wang continued, ¡°At that time, fingerprints were lifted from the stool leg used as a weapon by the suspect, but the stool leg was made of round steel tubing...¡± ¡°Oh...¡± Yan and Jiang Yuan simultaneously showed a dawning realization. The photography and lifting of prints from cylindrical surfaces have always been a major challenge in criminal investigation fieldwork. The curved shape causes serious deformation of the fingerprint, and the curved surface causes significant reflection issues during photography. Although it¡¯s still possible to obtain fingerprints, their completeness and accuracy are substantially compromised. ¡°Back in the day, fingerprints were probably fixed using sectional photography, so the deformation must be significant...¡± Yan Ge guessed, then sighed, ¡°We even trained in methods like using a special device to photograph the curved surfaces of cylindrical objects, which rotated and snapped pictures. In the end, only the provincial capital bought one. You had to jump through hoops just to use it, but now it¡¯s simpler¡ªjust open your phone and take a panorama, which is even better than that machine¡¯s results!¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but give a wry smile as he casually opened the software on his computer and looked up the case file. The four fingerprints left by the suspect quickly appeared on the screen, drawing everyone to lean in and take a look. Within just a few seconds, Yan Ge and Wang Zhong both abandoned hope. The clarity of the image was passable, but there were many interruptions. Needless to say, making a judgment would surely be extremely challenging. The most problematic aspect was that both sides of the fingerprint showed obvious spreading; the lines in the distorted areas were distinctly wider and thicker. With such conditions, the first step would necessarily be to correct the distortion of the image before even attempting to mark the fingerprint. That level of difficulty was certainly advanced. In Yan Ge¡¯s assessment, forget about him and Xiao Wang, even if it were sent to the city or even the provincial authorities, the outcome was uncertain. Wang Zhong, who had been following this case closely since the initial search, eagerly said, ¡°The advantage with this case is that except for these few continuous prints, all others found on the weapon have already been excluded. Additionally, a sketch artist was consulted at the time to draw the suspect. Although years have passed, having both the fingerprint and a sketch should make confirmation easier.¡± Those present couldn¡¯t help but nod in agreement. This was indeed an advantage. The number of cold cases that could be solved through fingerprinting was limited, and securing a conviction even less likely. Plus, having a sketch, along with the involved parties and eyewitness testimonies, would mean that if the fingerprint matched, suspects could be apprehended and the case closed immediately. Of course, this all hinged on matching the fingerprint. Old Yan, Xiao Wang, and Wu Jun all turned their gazes to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but chuckle to himself. ¡°It seems that Jiang Yuan is confident,¡± Xiao Wang suddenly felt a bit envious of Jiang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. The main reason he was smiling was that the fingerprint left by the suspect happened to be a loop pattern. If not for that, he might have had to hand off the case. As for the difficulty, based on his recent experience with fingerprints, it seemed within reach. Just not something he could achieve overnight. At that moment, Wu Jun laughed heartily and said, ¡°Solving a case is one thing, but rest is another. Let¡¯s not rush into it today. It¡¯s a cold case after all; a day or two won¡¯t make a difference...¡± His interruption was deliberate. No matter what, Yan Ge and Wang Peng were the forensic experts in the team, but Jiang Yuan was a forensic doctor and also his disciple. It wasn¡¯t appropriate for the younger forensic doctor to be working on fingerprints in front of two experienced forensic police officers. ¡°Indeed, you guys must be exhausted from dealing with bodies these past few days, take it easy,¡± Yan Ge laughed and then left with Wang Zhong. After Wu Jun and the others left, he took a sip of water from his cup, looked at Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°No need to rush, it¡¯s almost time for lunch. Pack up, eat. Are you going to stir-fry something yourself today?¡± Jiang Yuan really wasn¡¯t in a hurry and asked, ¡°Can I stir-fry something myself at the canteen here?¡± Wu Jun waved his hand dismissively, ¡°No need to bother them, the K-9 unit has a kitchen.¡± Jiang Yuan: .?????. Chapter 12 - 12 12 Rottweiler ?12: Chapter 12 Rottweiler 12: Chapter 12 Rottweiler The police dog in the K-9 Unit of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment is named Dazhuang, a Rottweiler about four years old, strong in build, with a square and somewhat bald face, and a daily food standard of 45 yuan. Compared to Heizi, the police dog from Longli County next door, Dazhuang is younger, more handsome, and stronger. However, because of its youth, it has no medals of merit on its chest, nor any community-building projects to its name. As such, its daily food allowance is 30 yuan less than Heizi¡¯s. Dazhuang was unaware of this, so its mood remained very stable, and it showed simple happiness in its eyes upon seeing someone approach, with its tail floating lightly up and down. ¡°Dazhuang, sit!¡± The instructor seemed to think the dog wagging its tail was a bit undignified, and he came over from the other side of the wall, loudly reprimanding it. Jiang Yuan looked in the direction of the voice and saw a tall, slender policewoman with long, thin legs, a straight back, and a slim waist turning around. That instant... Jiang Yuan felt her face resembled that of a Rottweiler. Her face was square, her brow bones prominent, her ears flat, and with almond-shaped eyes that were dark and tinged with brown, she looked somewhat worried. ¡°Li Li, can I borrow your kitchen to fry some rice? Do you have rice and eggs?¡± Wu Jun greeted her nonchalantly and took the opportunity to introduce Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°My apprentice, whose fried rice is quite delicious.¡± Li Li nodded politely at Jiang Yuan and then said, ¡°Take a few eggs from Dazhuang¡¯s basket first; there¡¯s also meat in there. I¡¯ll have the food delivery replenish it this afternoon.¡± Upon hearing his name, Dazhuang sat up even straighter. This wasn¡¯t Wu Jun¡¯s first time freeloading off Dazhuang. He laughed and responded, then asked, ¡°Have you eaten? Join us for fried rice?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± replied the policewoman Li Li readily, adding, ¡°This will give me some time to cook for Dazhuang.¡± Engaged in conversation, the three then entered the kitchen of the K-9 Unit. In terms of infrastructure, the conditions of the K-9 Unit were a bit worse than those of the detective team. The training ground for the police dogs was paved with hardened earth, and the walls surrounding the yard were made of the simplest red bricks and cement. Judging by the craftsmanship, it might have even been the dogs themselves who did the work. The K-9 Unit¡¯s standalone kitchen consisted of nothing more than two flat houses. It likely dated back to the eighties or nineties. It could be said that Ningtai County, a small county under a prefecture-level city, had not achieved much during the era of competitive advantages. The equipment inside the kitchen was complete, especially a large pot matched with a powerful stove that indeed looked very professional. However, Li Li pointed to an ordinary small stove next to it, saying, ¡°Use that one, this side is for cooking Dazhuang¡¯s meal. How much meat should I cut?¡± ¡°No meat needed. I can only make vegetarian fried rice,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°I need eggs, rice, some green onions, and oil. Should I make extra for the dogs to eat?¡± ¡°No need. Your fried rice is too nutritious, it can¡¯t be fed to the dogs.¡± Li Li then took ingredients from the refrigerator, dividing some rice for Jiang Yuan, tossing all the pig¡¯s trotters into Dazhuang¡¯s food bowl; dividing some eggs for Jiang Yuan, tossing all the chicken fillets into Dazhuang¡¯s food bowl; dividing some green onions for Jiang Yuan, tossing all the chopped broccoli, carrots, and cabbage into Dazhuang¡¯s food bowl... The 45 yuan food standard for the police dogs was purely for food expenses, just like the 75 yuan for the meritorious dog Heizi and the 19.3 yuan for the rookies¡ªit didn¡¯t include utilities such as water, electricity, gas, nor did it have to cover rent and labor costs. Therefore, it always seemed sufficient. In comparison, Uncle Seventeen¡¯s egg fried rice, using one jin of rice for three servings, had a core cost of 1.2 yuan; half an egg had a cost of 0.5 yuan; with oil, green onions, seasoning, etc., 0.8 yuan was more than enough¡ªthe total cost for Jiang Yuan and his companions amounted to 2.5 yuan, with an average food expense of about 0.8 yuan per person... However, Uncle Seventeen¡¯s Level 3 egg fried rice skill still made the meal look and taste wonderful. In contrast, Li Li¡¯s cooking skills probably didn¡¯t even reach Level 1, a fact that could be guessed from the way Dazhuang sniffed and ate, and from Li Li¡¯s ravenous eating. ¡°Come by whenever you have time.¡± Li Li, after gobbling down a few bites and taking half a glass of water in one gulp, patted her chest and said to Wu Jun, ¡°Captain Wu, you¡¯ve found a real talent this time. This is someone who can get things done. Can we borrow him for our unit? Look at Dazhuang, while other dogs scramble to eat, he seems to prefer leaving leftovers...¡± ¡°Staffing decisions are not up to me,¡± Wu Jun said with a smile, quickly finishing his fried rice, stood up to pick his teeth, and said, ¡°We¡¯ve got work this afternoon, so you¡¯ll be left to clean up the dishes.¡± Wu Jun, now full and satisfied, called Jiang Yuan and left, moving as adeptly as a regular in the alleys of Sanlipu. Looking back at Dazhuang, Jiang Yuan saw the dog calmly eating its 45-yuan meal. It was neither fast nor slow, its expression as serene as a car fueling itself. ¡°It¡¯s a bit odd for a female officer to name her own police dog Dazhuang,¡± Jiang Yuan chatted as they walked. Wu Jun chuckled and replied, ¡°The name was probably given by her predecessor. They used to say, the first dog would be Dazhuang, the second Er Zhuang, and so on, all in tidy order.¡± ¡°What about Er Zhuang? Out on duty?¡± ¡°Another dog came in, and the plan stopped,¡± Wu Jun said with a shrug. ¡°Captain Huang thinks that dogs are too expensive. One is enough, and the remaining money is better spent on hiring more auxiliary police.¡± Jiang Yuan thought about it and nodded in agreement. At noon. Jiang Yuan took a half-hour nap then got up, opened the fingerprints of the intentional injury case suggested by Xiao Wang in the morning, enlarged them, and began to study them closely. The suspect left behind four consecutive fingerprints, which varied in terms of clarity and completeness. Deciding which fingerprint to focus on was the first consideration. If completeness were to be the criterion, the little finger¡¯s print would likely be the most complete, but it also had the highest probability of not finding a match. This is because the chance of sampling the pinky for fingerprinting is the lowest; in many places, when issuing temporary residence permits and the like, it¡¯s the thumb or index finger that¡¯s used, as is the case with fingerprint time clocks. Conversely, the index finger¡¯s print had the lowest completeness of the four fingerprints left by the suspect, and it was also the most deformed, with a wide spread of distortion. Jiang Yuan pondered briefly before magnifying the image of the index finger and starting his analysis. The marking difficulty of the little finger¡¯s fingerprint was relatively low. Of course, with Yan and Xiao Wang¡¯s skills, they probably still couldn¡¯t produce it since it was segmented from a cylindrical object. But since they had participated in fingerprint events in previous years, they should still be able to mark it correctly. Therefore, the main reason the little finger failed to find a match was most likely due to an absence of records in the fingerprint database. It was a situation that could not be compensated for with technology. On the other hand, the fingerprint most likely to have never found a match due to the technology itself was the index finger¡¯s print. This fingerprint was severely deformed; one could imagine when the suspect was hitting someone with it, the grip must have been so strong that some of the fingerprint¡¯s ridges were squeezed together and others spread apart. It was as if a winding mountain road had been flattened by a giant¡¯s stomp. Jiang Yuan still decided to open Photoshop and tried using ¡°Edit-Transform¡± in Photoshop-CS5. This step was akin to trying to restore a mountain road onto a flat surface, bringing it back to its original spacing and dimension. Jiang Yuan first tweaked the image by 5% towards the center, felt it wasn¡¯t enough, adjusted it to 10%, then to 20%, before tweaking it back a little... All these operations lacked a specific template to refer to. Ordinary fingerprints have a reference ridge width of 0.52 millimeters, but to be honest, this reference value had limited guiding significance, especially when making micro-adjustments by 1%. A number representing the average was not particularly meaningful. Moreover, as the fingerprint had been segmented and photographed, and the technical skills of the crime scene police were not very strong, the different photos seemed to have angling issues. Usually, this wasn¡¯t a problem, but now the slight adjustments showed insufficient synchrony. All these issues combined resulted in Jiang Yuan¡¯s repeated attempts failing to find a match. As closing time approached, Xiao Wang came over again, conspiratorially leaning towards Jiang Yuan and whispered, ¡°I checked, and this case has been involved in three fingerprint events without any results.¡± ¡°The provincial ones?¡± Jiang Yuan paused his mouse. ¡°The first one was provincial, and the last two were municipal,¡± Xiao Wang paused before chuckling. ¡°The first time was still during the Horseshoe Mirror era, when there was no automatic fingerprint system. From the second time onward, they had one, but the results were the same.¡± The Horseshoe Mirror is a handheld magnifying glass, similar to a microscope head, which requires one to peer through one end with their eye. Traditionally used in fingerprint matching, document inspection, and even evidence searching, it could also be paired with a camera for photographing and extracting fingerprints. Before the advent of automated fingerprint identification technology, the Horseshoe Mirror was the most powerful tool in a trace examiner¡¯s arsenal. The ¡°Horseshoe Mirror era¡± Xiao Wang referred to was before the widespread use of automated fingerprint recognition technology. During that era¡¯s fingerprint events, fingerprint experts were no longer creatures sitting in front of computers with sparse hair; instead, they were creatures holding a Horseshoe Mirror in one hand and a fingerprint card in the other, also with sparse hair. The matching of fingerprints relied largely on rich experience and memory. Listened to Xiao Wang¡¯s words and nodded slightly. From his understanding, the current case fell into the category of those that had received relatively high attention but not the highest priority. With a serious injury case having lingered for over a dozen years and having received this level of criminal investigation resources, it was likely at the end of the line. ¡°I¡¯ll run it one more time.¡± Jiang Yuan re-edited the characteristic points of the fingerprint he had just adjusted, then handed it over to the automatic fingerprint identification system to process. Soon, a list of candidate fingerprints appeared on the right side of the screen. Jiang Yuan and Xiao Wang looked through the 20 listed candidate fingerprints from top to bottom, unsurprisingly ending in disappointment. ¡°This is just chancing it now, I guess, even if there¡¯s a match, it won¡¯t be among the top ones.¡± Xiao Wang had average technical skills, but he did seem to have some insight. Jiang Yuan agreed, ¡°Indeed, with such a large degree of adjustment, the order given by the system doesn¡¯t lend itself well as a reference. The 50th ranked fingerprint might be the suspect¡¯s...¡± ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, let¡¯s just drop it. I¡¯ll look for other cases later.¡± Xiao Wang sighed and started walking back. Jiang Yuan held the mouse, moved it to the right a bit, and after thinking about it, he changed the number of fingerprints on the candidate inspection list to 150. With this adjustment, the system now provided over seven times the original number of matching fingerprints with each query. And the further down the list, the lower the probability of a fingerprint being a match. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a rush. Having made his decision, he patiently started examining the fingerprints. Suddenly, a semi-transparent system prompt appeared in his field of vision¡ª Task: Find a match for the Liu Yu injury case to assist in solving the case. Task Content: The victim needs consolation, the perpetrator needs punishment, and both need peace of mind. Help them. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. He had already prepared himself to grind through this intentional injury case, and now with the system¡¯s boost, he was even more equipped to settle in for the long haul. Chapter 13 - 13 13 Banquet ?13: Chapter 13 Banquet 13: Chapter 13 Banquet ¡°Excluded.¡± ¡°Exclusion...¡± Jiang Yuan occasionally clicked the mouse, removing the fingerprints he reviewed from the list. By doing so, the next wave of matches provided by the software wouldn¡¯t be repeated. Despite this, the complexity of fingerprint matching remained unchanged. Every time Jiang Yuan re-marked characteristic points, he had to review 150 fingerprints, an average of 30 seconds each, which meant an hour for each set. This complexity was due to the fingerprints themselves. For unrelated prints, a glance would be enough to turn the page, but the computer-matched prints had relatively higher similarities, and excluding them required more scrutiny. However, such is the nature of the fingerprint matching task, especially with complex prints, always wavering between ¡°Did I mark the characteristics correctly?¡± and ¡°Does the fingerprint database contain this print?¡± Jiang Yuan was no exception. On the fourth adjustment of the prints, he couldn¡¯t help but pause. ¡°I should make a major adjustment,¡± Jiang Yuan unconsciously blurted out. Initially, he made minor adjustments within a 20% range, but as he excluded more prints, by the third batch of 150, the prints matched by the system were greatly exaggerated. Many, to the naked eye, appeared entirely unrelated¡ªafter two transformations, one couldn¡¯t expect the system to sort them accurately, otherwise Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have to review up to 150 fingerprints. At that moment, Jiang Yuan thought of his colleagues. They surely knew how to make fine-tuning adjustments. In terms of patience, police officers working with fingerprints were no less capable. Spending several hours looking at fingerprints was nothing; during fingerprint battles, officers involved would analyze prints for 15 to 20 days. Expert analysts might review hundreds of thousands of prints, so reviewing a few thousand for a single case was standard procedure. Jiang Yuan gently moved his fingers, shrinking the suspect¡¯s fingerprint inwards by 30%. This proportion was certainly exaggerated. Normal deformations wouldn¡¯t reach that extent, but considering the 150 candidate prints, with the probability of a match significantly decreased in the latter half, Jiang Yuan decided to go with a ratio that a regular fingerprint expert wouldn¡¯t choose. Of course, the 30% wasn¡¯t arbitrarily chosen; Jiang Yuan still made the adjustments based on the more stable central areas. After swiftly marking new characteristic points and clicking confirm, Jiang Yuan waited briefly before seeing the refreshed list of candidate prints for review. As usual, he looked from the top down. Not surprisingly, the first prints lacked sufficient similarity. Jiang Yuan quickly clicked ¡°Exclude¡± and continued scrolling down. Having seen the suspect¡¯s fingerprints many times, he had memorized them, allowing him to make judgments just by looking at the matched prints on the right. If proving a match required broad consideration, proving an exclusion was relatively simple. The presence of apparent dissimilarities was enough to click exclude. This time, it took Jiang Yuan only twenty minutes to reach the 90th print. As he habitually right-clicked, he paused. The 91st fingerprint, particularly the upper middle section, gave Jiang Yuan a sense of de?ja? vu. He sat up a bit straighter and began a more meticulous verification. The degree of difference between two fingerprints could be vast or negligible. In fingerprint identification, to declare identity, you first need to find at least 8 matching characteristic points, and secondly, there must be no discrepancies, or the discrepancies must be explicable. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s case, meeting the two standards for declaring identity was extremely challenging, but including fingerprint correction to reach the count of eight¡ªhe finally achieved it. Jiang Yuan efficiently uploaded the edited images, added an explanation for declaring identity, hit confirm, and then took a long, relieved breath. He had actually found a match. Moreover, finding a match at the 91st position among a set of candidate prints made the low probability success all the more gratifying. Leaning back in his chair, Jiang Yuan grabbed his cup and gulped down a full glass of water, feeling as refreshed as if he had drunk an entire bottle of chilled beer on a bitterly cold day, his forehead twitching with the sure signs of cognitive overload. ¡°Any results?¡± Wu Jun looked over from the opposite office, and judging by Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, he had a hunch. Jiang Yuan smiled proudly and humbly added, ¡°Just uploaded it, waiting for expert verification.¡± ¡°Then there¡¯s a decent chance,¡± Wu Jun said genuinely surprised, then looked intently at Jiang Yuan again and remarked, ¡°Actually, since this case is our county¡¯s own, if you found the person, you should report directly to Captain Huang, no need to go through expert verification.¡± ¡°A check would be reassuring, the fingerprint deformation is quite severe,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, pausing before saying with a smile, ¡°And there¡¯s no rush for this one day.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± said Wu Jun, sighing with emotion, ¡°If you¡¯ve found a match this time, it¡¯s like solving a serious injury cold case.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled obligingly. While an injury case¡¯s gravity couldn¡¯t be compared to a homicide, it was still one of the eight serious crimes under the Criminal Law. Coupled with being a cold case, any officer who solved such a case would, at the very least, be the shining star in the detective squad for several months. Wu Jun, a mere forensic doctor, had had his moments of glory relying on his extensive experience and the tag as the only one in the county. But seeing Jiang Yuan now, he couldn¡¯t help but feel envious¡ªif only he had had such a level of expertise in his youth, and if only he had been so tall, wouldn¡¯t he have been able to marry a wife who never cursed, never hit anyone, didn¡¯t ask for a salary, and cooked delicious food, willing to clean the house? ¡°Let¡¯s go home,¡± Wu Jun suggested, glancing at the time and rising listlessly. It was now half-past six in the evening, past the regular quitting time, but in the detective squad¡¯s floor, officers in their respective offices were still working in silence. The two men emerging from the forensic office looked at each other, tiptoed, and locked the door behind them. ¡°No bodies to inspect means we¡¯re off work for today. Need to go home and do laundry,¡± Doctor Wu said lightly, speaking in a low voice as he walked away. Jiang Yuan nodded and replied, ¡°I¡¯m heading back for a banquet.¡± ¡°Shh,¡± Wu Jun pulled Jiang Yuan down the stairs before relaxing and chatting, ¡°What banquet?¡± ¡°Uncle Seventeen¡¯s banquet.¡± Jiang Yuan glanced back at Wu Jun and invited, ¡°Do you want to come?¡± ¡°Why would I go... it¡¯s your Uncle Seventeen...¡± ¡°It¡¯s because of your expertise.¡± ¡°Even so...¡± Wu Jun stopped mid-sentence, then after a pause said, ¡°I¡¯ve been a forensic doctor for half my life, and this is the first time a client has invited me.¡± ¡°Are you going?¡± Wu Jun shook his head helplessly and dug into his pocket, saying, ¡°Help me contribute a share, just give him half a pack... half a pack of cigarettes will do.¡± Jiang Yuan took the half-pack of Yuxi cigarettes Wu Jun handed him, waved goodbye, and headed for the parking spot to ride his electric bike home. Chapter 14 - 14 14 Dont Reach Out When Taking Photos ?14: Chapter 14 Don¡¯t Reach Out When Taking Photos 14: Chapter 14 Don¡¯t Reach Out When Taking Photos Jiangcun Residential Area. Before reaching the entrance, the crackling sounds of firecrackers had already reached my ears. Ningtai County was a small county, and although one could ride an electric scooter from the city center to the foot of Siningshan, as soon as you crossed the Tai River, it was considered the countryside, where city bans were useless. The propaganda slogan at the entrance of the residential area was still ¡°Return straw to the field, fertilize the land,¡± and many of the nearby green spaces had also been turned into vegetable plots. From a more humane perspective, everyone was still trying to maintain their original way of life as much as possible. In the first few years after the demolition, there were old men who drove their sons¡¯ newly bought Land Cruisers to farm, only to come back and curse that Japanese cars just weren¡¯t up to par. In recent years, more land was taken away, and everyone¡¯s attitude gradually became more placid, and their car purchases shifted from Land Cruisers to Cayennes and then to Continentals, gradually blending into the mainstream. ¡°Yuanzi is back.¡± Outside the small grocery store at the entrance of the neighborhood, a group of about a dozen idlers who were too lazy even to play mahjong, saw Jiang Yuan from afar and asked loudly, ¡°Who did you guys dissect today? Where did someone die?¡± Jiang Yuan slowed down and answered placidly, ¡°No dissections today.¡± ¡°Then what do you do all day long?¡± ¡°If there¡¯s no dissection, there¡¯s nothing much to do, I can do whatever I want.¡± Doing fingerprinting was his, Jiang Yuan¡¯s, own choice and couldn¡¯t be counted as part of a forensic doctor¡¯s job. The loafers and the aunties at the entrance of the grocery store praised unanimously, ¡°See, that¡¯s why they say being a civil servant is good. You look at those working for government agencies, they can make money without doing anything all day. How can that compare to a worker¡¯s life? Take those renting the apartment above me, a bunch of young people, all coming back only after it gets dark, young couples going out early and coming back late together, they come home so tired their faces are black with exhaustion.¡± ¡°The youngsters renting my place are the same, some even ride bikes, but not as fast as me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, you¡¯ve got to be an official. Look at those bureaucrats from the demolition office, strutting around like they own the place. When they were tearing down the eastern part, my tree was clearly ten centimeters thick, but they insisted it was nine and underpaid me a good amount!¡± ¡°My son just didn¡¯t study hard enough. I had no choice but to find him a temporary bank job. At first, two boxes were not enough, and he had to keep taking deposits, claiming it was business for savings accounts. Once deposited, it would be 500,000 or 800,000. Our house was stuffed with oil gifts from the bank, couldn¡¯t even use all of it. By the way, if any of you brothers want to fry something, come over to my place for some oil.¡± ¡°No need, no need, it¡¯s the same everywhere, stuffed with oil.¡± Listening to these conversations, both foreign and familiar, Jiang Yuan felt as if he had returned to the village. He had been boarding at school since junior high, and by the time he finished college and returned, he had completely missed the days when the Jiang Village people moved from poverty to wealth, and then from rich to extravagantly rich. He smiled politely, passing by the grocery store slowly, going past another group of aunties occupying the square and a group of young and middle-aged people at the courier station, until he reached his own building. Across from his home, in the public hall, a lively funeral ceremony was being orderly conducted. Bald monks, long-haired Taoists, and short-haired priests each occupied a corner, showing off their skills. Jiangcun Residential Area had been affluent for more than a decade, with many pious believers, so it had long become a battleground for various factions. It wasn¡¯t just that Uncle Seventeen died an unnatural death requiring extra payments for the crossing of spirits; even when a cat died in the village, there would be people ready to hold an elaborate funeral service. Jiang Yuan¡¯s father, Jiang Fuzhen, was as usual helping out in the kitchen, his cooking of beef and mutton was unparalleled in the village. Once such an image was established in the village, one couldn¡¯t avoid actively participating in weddings and funerals. Jiang Yuan was also used to these activities. After parking his electric scooter, he found a place to wash his hands and face and then willingly went to help in the kitchen. He was in charge of slicing potatoes and shredding radishes all year round. ¡°Busy today?¡± Jiang Fuzhen skimmed the scum off the beef and came over to ask. Jiang Yuan had just put down the knife and was shaking off his hands, ¡°Not too busy, I did some other things.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t cut up any bodies today, right?¡± Jiang Fuzhen asked again, and Mrs. Hua by his side also looked over. ¡°I didn¡¯t. I¡¯ve been at the unit for so long, I¡¯ve only seen a body once,¡± Jiang Yuan gave a detailed explanation. Mrs. Hua couldn¡¯t help but pat her chest, reassured, then she changed her expression, trying to hide her embarrassment, and wailed, ¡°Uncle Seventeen... Oh, thinking of Uncle Seventeen, my heart feels so heavy. It hasn¡¯t been long since the good days, sigh...¡± Jiang Yuan waited calmly for her to finish crying, then asked his father, ¡°Uncle Seventeen and Aunt Seventeen are both gone, who¡¯s hosting the memorial?¡± ¡°Your Uncle Five is in charge. The gift money went to expenses, it¡¯s for Uncle Seventeen¡¯s kid¡¯s education fund, it¡¯s Jiang Le, you remember him, don¡¯t you?¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, stirring the beef pot as he spoke. Mrs. Hua suggested, ¡°Jiang Yuan, remember, take some photos later. Your younger generation are all out there studying. Some of us don¡¯t see each other more than a few times a year. Take the chance to snap a few pictures when you can, get a good look, at least get familiar with each other¡¯s faces.¡± Jiang Yuan responded and once he finished chopping the vegetables, he heard someone calling for a photo session. As soon as Jiang Yuan left the kitchen, he saw a dozen young people, cheerfully standing under a tree, striking poses. The photographer that had been hired reminded them, ¡°Let¡¯s stand a bit to the right. The left side might catch the monks in the frame.¡± ¡°If we catch them, just Photoshop them out,¡± a girl said as she posed. The photographer, amiable as ever, explained, ¡°The monks¡¯ shaved heads tend to reflect light. We can Photoshop out the bald heads, but the reflection makes everyone¡¯s face look bigger.¡± The girl quickly moved out of the shade and upon seeing Jiang Yuan, waved eagerly, ¡°Cousin Six, come to the center. Did you just get off work?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan approached. ¡°Let me take a picture with my brother first.¡± As Cousin A spoke, she made a scissors gesture in front of her face and pulled Jiang Yuan, chanting, ¡°Let¡¯s do it together.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s flip our hands,¡± Jiang Yuan made a scissors gesture too but turned the nail side toward the camera, explaining, ¡°You can extract fingerprints from photos, so this gesture is quite dangerous.¡± Being obedient, Cousin A flipped her fingers and then bragged to a few non-Jiang classmates who had come to play, ¡°My brother is a forensic doctor. He performed the autopsy on Uncle Seventeen.¡± ¡°Forensic doctor... forensic doctors are really quite handsome,¡± a few of the non-Jiang classmates gathered together, snickering with giggles. A girl who had been taking a selfie while doing a peace sign paused, looked at Jiang Yuan, and boldly said, ¡°Forensic Brother, look at the picture I just took. You said fingerprints can be extracted from photos, but even if they are extracted, others can¡¯t use them, right?¡± ¡°Generally speaking, that¡¯s true, but fingerprints are with you for life. Who knows...¡± Jiang Yuan decided to make it sound more serious, and said, ¡°Someone could potentially use your fingerprints to unlock your phone.¡± The girl¡¯s thoughts shifted, and she was instantly alarmed, hastily adding, ¡°But I have posted so many photos to my social media.¡± ¡°Photos that have been beautified are fine,¡± Jiang Yuan reassured her easily. ... Chapter 15 - 15 15 A Peaceful Funeral ?15: Chapter 15: A Peaceful Funeral 15: Chapter 15: A Peaceful Funeral ¡°Please accept my sympathies.¡± ¡°Please be consoled.¡± Jiang Yuan followed his father to the coffin, bowed in silence for a moment, then quickly walked out. Jiang Fuzhen sighed as he walked, ¡°With the father gone and the mother imprisoned, it¡¯s the child who suffers most. And your elder uncles and aunts, too¡ªthey¡¯re going to have a hard time.¡± Aunt Seventeen¡¯s case had not yet been pronounced, but it was foreseeable to everyone that, even if Aunt Seventeen was not sentenced to death, she would spend a considerable amount of time in prison. Their son, Jiang Le, was still in school and now became both the most heartbroken and the most hurt. Although the people of Jiang Village were wealthy, there was a limited amount they could do about such a situation. Jiang Yuan also could not bear to see such scenes. Leaving the hall, he felt his emotions settle a bit only once he returned to the kitchen. ¡°Your Seventeenth Uncle¡¯s problem was that he was too frugal,¡± reminisced Jiang Fuzhen. ¡°Back when the village wasn¡¯t doing so well, he was the type who wouldn¡¯t even skim the scum when boiling meat. Later, he even opened a small restaurant, which was really unnecessary. He said the restaurant earned quite a bit, but that didn¡¯t take into account the rent and the labor of both him and his wife, not to mention the initial costs and interest. Later on, he used the money from the demolition compensation to partner up and open another restaurant, invested more, and lost who knows how much... It was understandable when your Seventeenth Aunt lost her temper with him.¡± ¡°I thought Seventeenth Uncle looked quite plump,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°He fattened up on the leftovers from the restaurant,¡± Jiang Fuzhen curled his lip in disdain. ¡°Being frugal is one thing, but acting like that even when he had money, it¡¯s no wonder your Seventeenth Aunt blew up on him.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much of an impression or understanding of his Seventeenth Uncle, but given the skill in making fried rice he had acquired, it was very likely that what his dad said was true. ¡°Try this.¡± His father fished out a piece of beef for Jiang Yuan and sprinkled a little more salt on it. Adding salt to the meat while cooking can make the meat firmer, chewier, and less tender. Therefore, people who prefer a stronger taste and a firmer texture, such as many Mongolians, would add salt before cooking the beef or mutton. In contrast, those who like soft and tender meat should do the opposite. The beef cooked by Jiang Fuzhen was tender without falling apart, easily tearable by hand yet chewy when eaten. Jiang Yuan nodded as he enjoyed it. ¡°Bring a plate over to the young people there.¡± After Jiang Yuan had a couple of pieces, Jiang Fuzhen loaded a large plate with the slightly yellowed fat beef and handed it to Jiang Yuan. The freshly cooked beef was slightly bouncing in the plate, like a heart muscle when touched. Jiang Yuan took the beef directly to the square, where it was indeed welcomed by the youngsters who didn¡¯t fancy formal dining. ¡°It would be even better with kebabs,¡± Cousin A bit into a piece of meat, her appetite somewhat sated, and began to make new requests. ¡°I¡¯ll get some,¡± responded one of her male classmates eagerly. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be great if we had some crab?¡± Cousin B looked at another male classmate who had come with her. ¡°I¡¯ll go,¡± he said, wiping his mouth and running off. In a short time, the group of youngsters surrounding Jiang Yuan was faced with a pile of plates, eating and chatting casually as if picnicking, quite relaxed. That was, until Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. Watching Jiang Yuan pull out his phone, Cousin A quickly swallowed the meat in her mouth and asked eagerly, ¡°Brother Jiang Yuan, is there another body?¡± Jiang Yuan could only smile then got up and walked aside to answer the call. ¡°Jiang Yuan, did you find the suspect for that intentional assault case?¡± Captain Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice, penetrating and rapid, filled Jiang Yuan¡¯s ear. ¡°Um,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°The fingerprints matched, and I¡¯ve submitted them to the system for expert review...¡± ¡°The expert has confirmed it,¡± Huang Qiangmin interjected. ¡°It¡¯s good as long as you did it. Yeah, good work...¡± As Captain Huang spoke, his voice seemed to drift farther away. Jiang Yuan continued with ¡°Yes,¡± waiting for further instructions, but all he heard from the headset was the sound of chaotic orders: ¡°Get the second squad up and head to Qingbai City directly, to the suspect¡¯s house. The third squad, go search the suspect¡¯s parents¡¯ house carefully. I¡¯ll send a letter now, make a call ... If the person isn¡¯t found, the two teams should head straight to the power station. Be discreet, build a good relationship with the local police, be sweet-talked, and report back at any time...¡± In the midst of those orders, Captain Huang ended the call with Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan pocketed his phone, looked up at the darkened sky, and sighed for the detectives of the second and third squads. Heading out now, if they caught the person, they would go straight to the interrogation, case work, and preparation of various pieces of physical evidence; if they didn¡¯t catch the suspect, as per Captain Huang¡¯s orders, they would have to stake out at the suspect¡¯s workplace and other potential appearances before going back to the previous cycle... ¡°Brother Jiang Yuan, are you going to your office?¡± Cousin A¡¯s best friend offered him two skewers, hopeful in her gaze. Jiang Yuan accepted the skewers, took a bite, swallowed, and then said, ¡°No need to go, it¡¯s none of my business.¡± Whether the criminal investigation squad needed to be involved in pure field work like catching suspects depended solely on whether there was sufficient manpower and whether the member in question was young and robust as an ox. For now, it seemed Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t needed as basic labor. Of course, the fact that capturing the suspect came with scene investigation, filming, and other roles was both reasonable and advanced. Taking photos and videos on the spot, and even collecting physical evidence, was very beneficial to subsequent case proceedings. However, in actual practice, such extensive scene investigation was often taken on by the detectives themselves¡ªif necessary, they could also collect fingerprints, gather evidence containing DNA samples, and so forth... This very practical operation was like using mules as oxen and oxen as donkeys, where everyone was a big draft animal, envious of none. Evening. The detectives from the second and third squads of the Criminal Police Brigade of Qinghe City Ningtai County Bureau rushed anxiously to Qingbai City, 200 kilometers away, flattering the local police as they prepared to lay out their surveillance and other tasks. Jiang Yuan and the relatives and friends attending Seventeenth Uncle¡¯s funeral earnestly ate their skewers and scrolled through TikTok. Before dawn. Liu Wenkai, with his adrenaline surging, closely watched the suspect returning home and initiated the arrest operation with a firm shout. The night sky twinkled with stars, a gentle breeze blew, grass swayed by the roadside, and occasional sounds of clinking glasses and chatter came through. Nightfall. Liu Wenkai and the officers from the second and third squads hurried back to Ningtai through the night, their weariness from the jolting journey goes without saying. Jiang Yuan turned onto his side, pursing his lips and frowning as if he had encountered an insoluble mystery in his dream. All in all, it was a calm funeral. Chapter 16 - 16 16 Re-examination ?16: Chapter 16 Re-examination 16: Chapter 16 Re-examination The morning in Ningtai County was still veiled in a hint of mist. Jiang Yuan rode his electric bike into the yard of the Criminal Police Brigade, his arms already a bit damp. ¡°Morning,¡± a passing officer said to Jiang Yuan with a natural smile. Jiang Yuan was startled momentarily but quickly responded, ¡°Morning.¡± This was the first time he had been greeted on the road since he had been at the unit. The police officer looked somewhat familiar, but Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t recall his name or department. Shaking his head, Jiang Yuan turned to enter the building, receiving two more nods and greetings along the way. Although everyone was in a hurry, his mood unconsciously lifted. Upon entering the office, Wang Zhong and Yan Ge were already seated inside. ¡°Doctor Jiang sure is impressive, so much up his sleeve,¡± Yan Ge praised with a click of his tongue, and also used the respectful title of ¡®Doctor Jiang.¡¯ Honestly, that showed a lot more respect than ¡®Xiao Jiang.¡¯ In a local police force where there was no money, no power, and no promotions, respect was the most precious commodity. Hearing Yan Ge¡¯s words, Jiang Yuan immediately realized that the suspect from yesterday¡¯s Liu Yu assault case must have yielded results. ¡°Did we catch the person? Did you review it?¡± Jiang Yuan looked on expectantly. ¡°We caught the person. As for the review, see for yourself,¡± said Yan as he handed Jiang Yuan several fingerprint cards. Yesterday, when Jiang Yuan was matching fingerprints for the ¡°Liu Yu assault case,¡± he first made several fine adjustments; secondly, he only marked eight characteristic points, which meant a review was needed. According to regulations, the match of eight characteristic points is just the standard for investigation. In other words, if there are eight corresponding characteristic points in the fingerprint, the Criminal Police Brigade can consider it a match and proceed with the arrest, interrogation, and issue a warrant for arrest, and so on. However, to advance to the litigation stage and use the fingerprint as evidence, a fingerprint appraisal report must be issued with a minimum of thirteen matching characteristic points and no exclusions. But now, with the actual person available, comparing fingerprints again becomes much simpler. After all, the quality of fingerprint impressions themselves is questionable. On the other hand, even the best fingerprint impressions cannot demonstrate all the details of the fingerprint. Yet, with the actual person present, multiple impressions will naturally reveal more details. Reversely, using fresh impressions from the actual person to match the fingerprints left at the crime scene evidently makes a match more likely. Jiang Yuan took the fingerprint cards and glanced over them, feeling quite at ease. Indeed, using logical thinking one could assume that someone from the detective team had already reviewed the fingerprints; otherwise, putting everything else aside, Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, both trace examiners, would surely be too overwhelmed to play guessing games with him. Speculation aside, Jiang Yuan pulled out a magnifying glass from his drawer, pressed down on the fingerprint card, and looked at it closely. Just one look was all it took for Jiang Yuan to confirm the match. He had been looking at the original fingerprint too long, and just having worked on it recently, it was already etched in his mind. Still, Jiang Yuan opened his computer, pulled up the fingerprints from the ¡°Liu Yu assault case,¡± and scanned them again. This time, he was primarily checking for any exclusions. Is it possible for two identical fingerprints to exist in the world? Theoretically, strictly speaking from theory alone, it should be possible. It¡¯s a matter of probability¡ªin a large enough number set, a monkey randomly hitting keys on a keyboard could theoretically type out a Shakespearean play. But if there is at least one characteristic point in the fingerprints that does not match, then both theoretically and practically, those two fingerprints can be excluded from being identically matched. Jiang Yuan carefully compared the fingerprints from start to finish and didn¡¯t find any reason to dismiss them, then easily marked out 13 characteristic points, took a breath of relief, and smiled, ¡°The review has no issues, it should be determined to be the same.¡± Yan Ge, who had initially wanted to enjoy the spectacle, gasped an intake of cool air at Jiang Yuan¡¯s final action. This exact same task, he had been suddenly notified of last night and had already done once¡ªas for why it was him who got pulled out of bed to do the review instead of Jiang Yuan, naturally, it was because he was an old hand at trace inspection, the most qualified to produce fingerprint identification reports. It definitely wasn¡¯t because Captain Huang Qiangmin of the criminal police had any ulterior motives, worried about using up the precious combat power of the police force. But precisely because he had done it last night, Yan Ge found himself doubting life even more after seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s final action just now. He did indeed have a bit of a decreased IQ late at night, but to spend about ten minutes on a fingerprint identification, that could be said to be very reasonable, right? How long had it just taken Jiang Yuan to mark the characteristic points? Unintentionally, Yan Ge began to recall the terror of being dominated by all sorts of people during his school days. After a long while, Yan Ge let out a breath of turbid air and said, ¡°A 20-year-old cold case, and it was cracked by an office worker like you...¡± ¡°We¡¯re all office workers.¡± Doctor Wu corrected, ¡°We all crack cases.¡± Yan Ge said, ¡°The case that Jiang Yuan cracked today... well, it should be counted as yesterday, could probably be bragged about for a lifetime. Aggravated assault, an accumulated case, and it¡¯s notorious... I¡¯m guessing there are still quite a few people in the bureau who remember this case. Especially the local-bred leaders in our bureau, who back then almost all mobilized...¡± ¡°I just found a lead, most of the work was completed by others in the team,¡± Jiang Yuan fully utilized the fake modesty skills he¡¯d learned in school. Old Yan just chuckled and said casually, ¡°Without the lead you found, the others wouldn¡¯t have had any work to complete at all, okay? They had already knocked off, then got called back to work overtime, without even getting extra pay.¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent, unsure if he should be modest or pass the responsibility at this time. ¡°Bang bang!¡± Wen Kai, the leader of the second squad, poked his head in the door and said with a smile, ¡°Jiang Yuan is here, you worked hard yesterday.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t hard for me...¡± Jiang Yuan had eaten skewers and drunk beer last night, indeed not feeling it was hard. Wen Kai¡¯s face was red and flushed, all from staying up all night, and he said, ¡°If it weren¡¯t for you matching the fingerprints, this case would likely have been dead. Putting this in a story, it would be called meriting the highest contribution!¡± Jiang Yuan changed the subject, ¡°How about the suspect? I mean, what kind of person is he?¡± Jiang Yuan had only matched the fingerprints and confirmed the identity of the suspect, not knowing anything else. As a young newbie, he was naturally curious about criminal suspects. After pondering for a bit, Wen Kai then said, ¡°Just an ordinary person. Also quite unlucky. He had a pen pal in our Ningtai County and after finishing the college entrance exam, ran over to meet the pen pal as soon as possible. But when he arrived at the agreed time and place, he didn¡¯t find the pen pal, waited a whole day, and was in a very bad mood. Then he happened to come across the half-drunk victim, words were exchanged, and in the conflict, he hit too hard, and that¡¯s how the tragedy happened.¡± ¡°The pen pal?¡± ¡°After that incident, knowing that he had seriously hurt someone, he never contacted the pen pal again,¡± Wen Kai paused, then continued, ¡°His pen pal also never wrote another letter. But in their heart, they probably blamed themselves for not showing up.¡± ¡°So, apart from the criminal suspect himself, no one knew he had been to Ningtai County.¡± Wu Jun summarized on the side, then let out a heavy sigh, ¡°It¡¯s his bad luck, but also his good luck.¡± ¡°Ordinary people can¡¯t withstand such luck,¡± Wen Kai said indifferently, ¡°As soon as the person was put in the car, they just broke down crying, saying that they were too scared to fall in love, too scared to get married, too scared to take out loans to buy a house; they needed to save money for their parents, and they had to avoid appearing on any social media... asking us why we hadn¡¯t come sooner...¡± Hearing this, Yan couldn¡¯t help but lament, ¡°At the time of the incident, this person had just taken the college entrance exam, so now he must be around 40, and seemingly has his whole life on hold.¡± Wen Kai curled his lips and said, ¡°At that time, I asked him a question, and it stopped his crying.¡± Yan cooperated and asked, ¡°What question?¡± Wen Kai replied, ¡°I asked him why he didn¡¯t turn himself in earlier.¡± Chapter 17 - 17 17 Bonus Points ?17: Chapter 17 Bonus Points 17: Chapter 17 Bonus Points A few people chatted for a while, and then the sound of leather shoes tapping on the floor tiles ¡°clack clack¡± came from the corridor. Everyone could guess a bit, so they sat upright waiting, and soon saw the detachment leader Huang Qiangmin, bringing a few people into the office. ¡°Yo, you all have gathered together,¡± Huang Qiangmin entered with his people, looking in a great mood. ¡°Detachment leader.¡± ¡°Captain Huang.¡± Wu Jun and the others all stood up. ¡°Please sit, please sit,¡± Huang Qiangmin gestured with his hands, pressing down in the air, and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, this time the fingerprint work was well done, a 20-year-old cold case, not easy at all, really not easy. When this case came out, I was still working at the police station, following my master everywhere to check for clues, it¡¯s fresh in my memory...¡± Yan Ge¡¯s blood surged to the front of his body as he listened on the side; in terms of age, he wasn¡¯t much younger than Huang Qiangmin, and even their memories were quite similar. Twenty years ago, he was also working at the police station, following his master to check for clues... Yet now, their fortunes were worlds apart. ¡°This case was solved swiftly and cleanly, and everyone has seen it,¡± Huang Qiangmin seriously spoke to Jiang Yuan, then added, ¡°What I¡¯m here to ask you now is what are you thinking for the future. If you want to do fingerprint analysis, I think that would be suitable as well...¡± Yan Ge¡¯s blood that had just started to calm down, rushed forward again like a mad dog turning back. However, no one paid attention to Yan Ge¡¯s thoughts. For Huang Qiangmin, the leader of the criminal police detachment, there were several swords hanging over his head, and the ¡°combat power ranking¡± was definitely a very crude one¡ªclumsy and blunt, but a headache-inducing burden when it fell. Jiang Yuan was able to solve a case using fingerprints, and it was a cold case at that, which represented the high-level combat power Huang Qiangmin had longed for. Just by numerical calculation, solving this one case would increase the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s points from the current 565 to a direct jump to 600. The ¡°combat power ranking¡± is a points system under the big data model, complex in its specific calculation mode, undergoing unknown changes every year, every month, every day ... But one thing is very powerful¡ªit¡¯s an immediate feedback mechanism, just like young people playing video games; you fight a monster, capture a person, and immediately get feedback. It lets all criminal police squads, agency offices, and even county and city bureaus see it immediately. As for the ¡°Liu Yu Assault Case,¡± once the criminal police team completes the case handling and the prosecution side confirms the reception, the points for solving the robbery cold case will be in hand. It¡¯s a conservative estimate that a 20-year-old cold case that has been repeatedly listed as a major case could be worth an additional 30 points normally. At the same time, capturing the person also earns points. For such an old serious injury case, bringing the criminal in for 10 or 15 points is also appropriate. In other words, this case could rake in half the points of a murder case with one stone killing two birds. Not to mention the significant benefits to the criminal police team, the entire bureau¡¯s points could rise several notches because of this. As for how difficult it is for the criminal police detachment¡¯s points to go from 565 to 600 and above, if you think of it like gaokao scores, there¡¯s no problem at all. If you consider the end of the year as the gaokao, right now this is akin to the criminal police detachment¡¯s practice exam score going from 565 to 600 and above. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face bloomed with smiles, which was not hard to understand. In previous years, Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment had also been able to solve a few cold cases. Without considering the type that just falls into their lap, to solve a case like this under the condition of having clues, a dozen or so people from a criminal police squad working for a month, plus another team of people working another month, and then solving the case would already be considered quick. But one must consider that, with the constant occurrence of new cases, allocating what¡¯s equivalent to three months of a criminal police squad¡¯s work hours and consuming that many case-handling resources is significant. Within the original 565 points of the criminal police detachment, there were also points deducted; ongoing police force deployment to solve current cases is essential to maintain these 565 points. To have any surplus for other efforts is truly not easy. It¡¯s like a gaokao student knowing their weakness in a subject, yet finding the time and effort to improve it is not a simple task, as you need to keep up with the review progress while maintaining scores in other subjects to avoid losing ground elsewhere. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to solve an old cold case almost single-handedly, from Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective, it was like getting extra points for the gaokao, and they were at the Olympiad level. Suggesting Jiang Yuan transfer to trace evidence analysis was Huang Qiangmin¡¯s way of trying to ensure a place at a prestigious school. However, Jiang Yuan shook his head without hesitation, saying, ¡°I still want to be a forensic doctor; I¡¯m relatively familiar with fingerprints in the trace analysis field, and I can do it whenever I¡¯m free.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine too.¡± Once Huang Qiangmin confirmed Jiang Yuan was still willing to continue with fingerprints, he became very happy, then smiled at Wu Jun and said, ¡°Old Wu, this little apprentice of yours is now for everyone, don¡¯t hog him all to yourself.¡± Wu Jun laughed heartily, patting Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, and said, ¡°Free for all to use, as long as someone helps me move bodies.¡± Huang Qiangmin laughed and said a few more words, then stood up and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, keep up the good work. If there¡¯s something your master can¡¯t handle, come find me.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan readily agreed. ¡°One more thing,¡± Huang Qiangmin looked at the other three people, then said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°This case had a bounty back in the day, but the reward amount was updated just a few years ago. I looked at it, and it totals 10,000 yuan, well... I¡¯ll have them follow the procedures later...¡± Jiang Yuan nodded happily. Seeing that Jiang Yuan did not have a disappointed expression, Huang Qiangmin left reassured. The police force allows both financial and spiritual rewards, but the emphasis is still mainly on spiritual rewards. Bountied cases are valuable, whether they are a few thousand or tens of thousands, it¡¯s not under his control. After Huang Qiangmin left, Xiao Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief, patting his chest and saying, ¡°Never thought Captain Huang could be quite amiable when he smiles, what a shame about his old dimple on the left.¡± The image spontaneously emerged in everyone¡¯s mind, and suddenly they lost the desire to speak. Xiao Wang then turned to ask Jiang Yuan, ¡°Do you want to find another fingerprint to work on? I wonder if there are any with high bounties...¡± ¡°No need to think about the bounty right now, directly solving cases are more interesting,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, and Xiao Wang was immediately busy again. Before the results were even brushed up here, reminders popped up in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind: Task completed: Matched in the Liu Yu assault case, assisted in solving the case. Reward: Crime scene investigation (LV4) Chapter 18 - 18 18 Gang Theft Case ?18: Chapter 18: Gang Theft Case 18: Chapter 18: Gang Theft Case Jiang Yuan sat in his chair, savoring the new skill he had acquired. Unlike fingerprinting, crime scene investigation is a basic skill that nearly every police officer must master. It could be said that every officer, to some extent, is involved in crime scene investigations. However, skills in the direction of criminal investigation all share one characteristic: once you start to delve into details, the difficulty and the demands shoot up. For example, the crime scene investigation skills that a ordinary police officer at a local police station must have are more oriented towards small-scale and comprehensive scenarios. The specific skills required by traffic police or criminal investigators differ significantly. Large-scale crime scene investigations usually require professional command, such as when raiding an office involved in telecommunication fraud. The toughest part is how to secure evidence before the criminals can destroy or hide it. Incidents that occur in public places pose even more challenges to crime scene work. In theory, a crime scene should be investigated like scenes depicted in movies and TV shows, where professionals equipped with specialized gear meticulously inspect the scene. For instance, marking evidence systematically, planning the route to enter the scene in advance, and even laying down transparent boards for investigators to walk on, all to minimize the impact on the crime scene. But in reality, police departments that can afford professional crime scene investigators and gear typically start at the municipal level, and it¡¯s not just a matter of budget¡ªsome county-level police departments in the south may be financially sound, but if they don¡¯t see enough fatalities or frequent major incidents, even the most professional staffers won¡¯t have opportunities to improve. They either get transferred elsewhere or simply become redundant. Also, for common minor cases, getting colleagues and superiors to cooperate with the requirements of crime scene investigation is no easy task. The crime scene investigation skills that Jiang Yuan had previously mastered were mainly geared towards forensic scenes. Common ones include cases of homicide or personal injury. For different types of cases, there might be specific studies on crime scene investigation for illegal medical practice, and such. As for skill level, it¡¯s merely introductory at best. In Uncle Seventeen¡¯s cases, Jiang Yuan¡¯s contributions could be very limited. However, the newly acquired skill considerably boosted Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence. If that delicious and affordable fried rice with eggs were LV3, wouldn¡¯t this LV4 crime scene investigation be akin to abalone egg fried rice? ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Wang Zhong nudged Jiang Yuan, then said, ¡°I found a case, take a look and see if it¡¯s suitable for you.¡± ¡°Is it from our county?¡± Jiang Yuan looked up and asked first. Doctor Wu said beside him with relief, ¡°Xiao Jiang can do it. He¡¯s starting to show a sense of ownership.¡± Filled with envy, Wang Zhong sighed, ¡°After all, there¡¯s a reward of ten thousand. To be honest, I¡¯ve been working for such a long time, and this is the first time I¡¯ve seen someone from the Criminal Investigation Unit receive a reward. Last time, when the Chief made a statement about a murder cold case, they even gave the criminal investigators 100,000.¡± For a murder cold case with any leads, the detective unit and the county bureau tend to follow up quite actively. A typical example was the stakeout at a fugitive¡¯s home on New Year¡¯s Eve, which was miserably long, yet full of anticipation. Most of the cold cases were also solved with such crude methods. To the detectives of Ningtai County, technical methods had always been nothing more than a supplement to a supplement. Actually, Jiang Yuan did not care about the ten thousand. But he really liked this sense of honor. For someone from Jiang Village, trying to legitimately increase one¡¯s wealth was extremely difficult and lacked cost-effectiveness. You could be struggling hard, and then the land in your family gets requisitioned again. Especially when one¡¯s father is from Jiang Fuzhen, this difficulty and lack of cost-effectiveness multiplies. The name ¡°Fuzhen¡± is not just for show. However, as one of the Jiang Village People, it was extremely difficult to feel a sense of honor. If you did a good job, you would be accused of exploiting your family¡¯s wealth and status. If you did an exceptional job, it was commonly assumed that you had used money to achieve it. In schools and workplaces, simple rewards became precious. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the case first. When the rewards come, I¡¯ll cook fried rice for everyone,¡± Jiang Yuan felt money was not important and so decided to acknolwledge his team by personally cooking fried rice as a token of his gratitude. Wang Zhong listened and shook his head helplessly, pulling out the case file and saying, ¡°Take a look at this, will you?¡± Wang Zhong often screened cases and paid close attention to those that could be solved directly through fingerprints or where fingerprints were a key clue. But his capabilities were limited, and so were the cases he could solve with his screenings. Now that Jiang Yuan had joined, he felt as though he¡¯d gained a blissful cheat code. Jiang Yuan glanced briefly at the case files and said, ¡°Is this a theft case?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t look down on theft cases,¡± Wang Zhong detected Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone and replied. ¡°This is a key case in our county. A group of people used a modified vehicle with a storage tank and stealthily siphoned oil from trucks at highway service areas. Some reported it to our Ningtai County and several nearby counties. It is essentially a series of cases. Cracking this case would mean solving more than a dozen cases at once.¡± Now somewhat knowledgeable, Jiang Yuan replied with a smile, ¡°As for thieves, if you don¡¯t catch them red-handed, they probably won¡¯t confess.¡± ¡°At least it¡¯s connected to several cases. Moreover, my hunch is that their car is custom-modified, so it¡¯s unlikely they only committed a few crimes and called it quits. There is probably a possibility they are committing crimes nationwide. Gang theft is pretty significant, right?¡± Wang Zhong said with a slight lack of confidence. He had chosen this case with a certain idea in mind because he had spent a considerable time on the fingerprints without success. On one hand, he felt regret, and on the other, he wanted to see how Jiang Yuan compared them and whether he could succeed. However, as he mentioned, the cost-effectiveness of a gang theft case was still relatively high. If one were to rank them by combat power, a fresh theft case would be worth about 0.1 points, which seemed low. But when you consider the concept of gang theft, the score could double or even triple. In other words, solving one case could be equivalent to solving something worth 0.2 or 0.3 points. Furthermore, gang theft often meant there were multiple thefts, so solving one instance often meant solving multiple instances. With some luck, one could potentially close dozens of cases in one swoop, which made the cost-effectiveness rise even more. Going a step further, catching a suspect could bring about 1 point of KPI per person. If the gang was large enough, this could be a significant contribution. Last but not least, units like the criminal police team had clear targets for the number of cases solved each year. Typically, they would fill the gap with a series of theft cases. As for Jiang Yuan, he had no particular preferences or goals, big cases or important cases did not make much difference to him. After making some casual remarks, Jiang Yuan settled down comfortably and singled out 5 fingerprints with a loop pattern from the numerous prints involved in the case, saying, ¡°I am better at dealing with these for now; I won¡¯t handle the rest yet.¡± ¡°Then you do that first,¡± Wang Zhong didn¡¯t understand why Jiang Yuan would only work on loops, assuming it was some sort of quirk, but now he was watching intently, more interested in seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s specific methodologies. Chapter 19 - 19 19 Cant Be Too Idle ?19: Chapter 19 Can¡¯t Be Too Idle 19: Chapter 19 Can¡¯t Be Too Idle Jiang Yuan took out the first fingerprint, which was only the front half of a print and somewhat blurred in location. Facing such a fingerprint, the first thing Jiang Yuan had to do was determine which finger it came from. After that, it was time to process the fingerprint image. Lastly, it was marking the characteristic points. Since acquiring fingerprint skills, Jiang Yuan had used them several times and just started to feel adept at it; his operations were now notably smooth. The enlarged yet somewhat blurred fingerprint image, under Jiang Yuan¡¯s mouse, was continuously magnified and reduced, with occasional changes in color levels, brightness, and contrast. At the same time, Jiang Yuan kept marking the characteristic points. Wang Zhong only felt dazzled and after watching for a while, he couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. The PS software was built with incredibly powerful functionality, complete with numerous shortcuts to help users improve efficiency. But for onlookers, if the user didn¡¯t explain or clarify their actions, they could be left dizzy after a flurry of shortcuts. Just like Wang Zhong¡¯s situation at that moment. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m heading back,¡± Yan Ge, sitting with even less interest, gave a shout before heading back to his own office to get busy. Wu Jun naturally looked towards Wang Zhong with a smile, ¡°Xiao Wang, aren¡¯t you going back to work?¡± ¡°Work... I¡¯ll watch for a bit, learn some more, then go back to work,¡± Wang Zhong replied. He didn¡¯t understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation very well, but he knew that Jiang Yuan was processing fingerprints. This kind of operation, even if Jiang Yuan explained it to him thoroughly, he wouldn¡¯t remember, and even if he did, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it anytime soon. In any case, Wang Zhong just stared blankly, learning as much as he could. At least he could learn something now; before, when Wang Zhong was following Yan Ge, there was nothing left to learn. During the image processing, Jiang Yuan casually marked four characteristic points. After completing this step, he chose another corner, marked another five points, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s start with these, run it and see.¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s head spun even without getting into the groove, as he saw Jiang Yuan already set the software to run. Soon, twenty fingerprints appeared on the candidate list. Jiang Yuan eliminated each one and made new marks. Wang Zhong quickly grew weary of watching. The work of forensic evidence comparison, like matching fingerprints, was inherently tedious. This process was like someone searching for a hedgehog¡¯s twin. He could pluck eight spines and compare them all over the world. If that failed, he might pluck a few more or mix some with the first eight or form new groups to continue the worldwide comparison until he found a match, then check if all the spines were identical. There was an old saying: Eight more, and yet eight more, each spine unique, tough and long. Jiang Yuan patiently compared for the whole afternoon. When it was time to leave work, he finally declared the first fingerprint comparison a failure. ¡°Let¡¯s go home,¡± Jiang Yuan packed up, ready to leave work on time. Wang Zhong felt as if he were an enthusiast who had sat through a long afternoon of theoretical physics lectures¡ªhazy and tired. He felt he should be excited and thrilled, yet his body and brain thought otherwise, leading him to question his very existence. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t worry about it too much; he was going home to eat meat and incidentally shared with his father the reward he received. ¡°Getting a reward so soon after starting work isn¡¯t bad,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, evidently pleased. While talking, he took out his phone, called Mrs. Hua, and said, ¡°Do you know how much young people make nowadays? Is over ten thousand a lot?¡± ¡°It should be quite a bit. Our neighborhood rents a two-bedroom apartment for about one or two thousand. Depends on the decoration,¡± Mrs. Hua naturally replied, ¡°I rented out a place in the provincial city not long ago, and it only goes for three or four thousand a month. It¡¯s actually not worth it when you think about it...¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I thought. But back in my day as a farmer, ten thousand was a huge sum. Now, I have no idea, just watching the money flow into the account, not knowing if it¡¯s a lot or a little.¡± ¡°Well, you are from Fuzhen, so it must be plenty,¡± Mrs. Hua responded. ¡°I heard from my son. He solved a case at his job a few days ago and was rewarded with ten thousand yuan. I was wondering if bonuses were really that high these days? Ha ha ha, I guess they must be pretty good...¡± Hearing this, Mrs. Hua¡¯s tone changed, ¡°Do policemen get such high rewards?¡± ¡°I thought the same. Never heard of it before. But he solved a case from 20 years ago, something they call a ¡®cold case¡¯ on TV.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite impressive,¡± Mrs. Hua remarked. ¡°Yeah, his superiors praised him too. I just wanted to ask around, in case money has devalued these last two years...¡± Fuzhen laughed heartily and ended the call. Jiang Yuan glanced at his dad, ¡°Don¡¯t you go to the vegetable market every day?¡± ¡°Just confirming. You don¡¯t know how bad inflation is, right, I forgot to ask...¡± Jiang Fuzhen picked up his phone on the spot and redialed. After a brief pause, a mechanical voice came from the phone: The number you are dialing is busy... Jiang Fuzhen revealed a satisfied smile. ... The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived at his workplace and launched an attack on the second fingerprint. No results. The third day. No results again, just like yesterday. The fourth day. Jiang Yuan gave up on the second fingerprint and began comparing the third one. Compared to the first two fingerprints, this one was also partial, but the partial section had relatively more detail, like a healthy-colored, plump-spined hedgehog. So, Jiang Yuan focused more on the detailed parts. Starting point, bifurcation point, pores, short ridges, meeting points... Jiang Yuan enlarged the fingerprint image so much that a single screen only displayed a part of it. He gently moved the mouse, carefully tracing each feature. Wang Zhong finished his routine work and, as usual, came over to look. He stared at Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation, feeling like he could do it yet also like he couldn¡¯t. It was like facing a physics problem, knowing the formula and feeling that what he wrote was reasonable, but when trying to think about it himself, his brain felt like it was in a vise. While watching, Wang Zhong fell asleep again. He was awakened only by Jiang Yuan saying ¡°Got it,¡± like a cursed toad suddenly opening his eyes, and he asked, ¡°A match?¡± ¡°It should be this one,¡± Jiang Yuan said, vaguely pointing at the screen. Wang Zhong leaned in, surprised, and while Jiang Yuan double-checked, he anxiously made comparisons. ¡°How is it?¡± Jiang Yuan politely asked. ¡°It seems... like a match?¡± Wang Zhong was uncertain how to respond. For him, matching fingerprints in a new case was common, but matching fingerprints in an old case, even if it was a current case¡¯s old fingerprints, was rare. If it had been Wang Zhong who made the match, he would probably be jumping up and shouting by now. But Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem to have any intention of celebrating. For him, the fingerprints in this case weren¡¯t simple, but they also weren¡¯t difficult. This was normal. Despite what Wang Zhong said about a series of thefts, compared to a major assault case like the ¡°Liu Yu injury case¡± with significant social impact, they simply couldn¡¯t compare. The fingerprints involved had at least been meticulously sifted through by experts from Qinghe City. And this ¡°highway rest area oil theft series¡± sounded low-level, although it had a wide scope, the trace examiners involved in the investigation were mainly from the county bureaus. Even if certain county bureaus had experts, the cases might not necessarily be assigned to them. In Ningtai County, for example, if Wang Zhong was handling it and he couldn¡¯t crack it, then it simply couldn¡¯t be done. ¡°This guy seems to already be in prison,¡± Jiang Yuan opened the information of the matched suspect and saw a traditional prison photo with small eyes, a flat nose, a lean figure, thin lips, and slanted eyebrows. ¡°He was imprisoned a month ago. No conflict in timing,¡± Wang Zhong hurriedly glanced at it and breathed a sigh of relief, then looked at the charge and said, ¡°Look, he was in a nightclub fight that caused minor injuries. The money he spent in the nightclub likely came from stealing oil.¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°So now?¡± ¡°You should call Captain Huang. With the evidence, when you inquire, you¡¯ll probably be able to pull out a few members of the gang,¡± Wang Zhong said while pursing his lips: ¡°Captain Huang will be especially happy when he hears you¡¯ve solved another case.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve just been a bit idle recently, with no other cases...¡± ¡°You can¡¯t say that.¡± Wu Jun, who had been lounging comfortably, changed his expression instantly upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words. Jiang Yuan paused, then smiled awkwardly, ¡°Forgot, we can¡¯t say we¡¯re too idle, can we?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that word...¡± Wu Jun sighed, lowered his head, and involuntarily glanced at his phone, as if it could start ringing at any moment. Chapter 20 - 20 20 Crime Scene Investigation ?20: Chapter 20 Crime Scene Investigation 20: Chapter 20 Crime Scene Investigation Wu Jun sighed deeply, stood up tall, strode to the door to shut and lock it in one fluid motion. Upon returning, without heeding Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, Wu Jun pulled out a small box from the drawer, opened it, and revealed a red Guan Yu pendant that was but an inch long and half an inch wide. The pendant had two red cord strings at the top, meant for hanging around the neck, but Wu Jun simply stretched and hung it on the back of the office door. ¡°Come and pay your respects,¡± Wu Jun said, ¡°and remember to watch your words in the future.¡± ¡°This...¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated before asking, ¡°Is it appropriate to worship Guan Yu inside the station?¡± (Guan Yu: a deity worshipped in Chinese folk religion, popular Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese Buddhism. Gangsters often worship Guan Yu to pray for blessings.) Wu Jun, with a stern face, asked, ¡°Do you know where I got this Guan Yu from?¡± ¡°Where... did it come from?¡± ¡°Eight years ago, the Hong Kong Police Force came to Shan Nan Province for a police exchange, and an officer sold... well, more like half-sold, half-gave it to me,¡± explained Wu Jun as he clasped his hands together and bowed to Guan Yu, continuing, ¡°You know, our entire national police system is actually learning from Hong Kong. The Shenzhen Police Force learns the best, having the most exchanges and the money too, so they replicate it quite well. And frankly, over the years, there¡¯s been a lot we could learn from the Hong Kong Police Force.¡± ¡°Watching TV dramas, it seems like forensic doctors in Hong Kong are also very impressive,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he walked over. Wu Jun curled his lip: ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know about that; they didn¡¯t send any forensic doctors last time.¡± ¡°So, did you learn the technique of worshiping Guan Gong through the exchange?¡± inquired Jiang Yuan, noting that the Guan Gong pendant was made of agate and thinking to himself that it seemed rather unpretentious. Ignoring Jiang Yuan¡¯s comment, Wu Jun directed, ¡°First spit three times, then bow; fewer cases means less work for us and a more harmonious society, right?¡± Jiang Yuan spat three times and obediently followed with his hands clasped together, bowing deeply. At his home, there were plenty of decorations like Guan Gong, Bodhisattvas, Maitreya Buddha, the Three Pure Ones, and crosses made from various materials such as jadeite, Hetian jade, or different kinds of gemstones, without much attention to particularities. After watching Jiang Yuan finish worshipping, Wu Jun checked the time, let out a sigh of relief, stored the pendant back in the box, tucked it into the drawer, reopened the office door, and then said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°In acquiring knowledge, we can¡¯t confine ourselves to what¡¯s written in books, right?¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, ¡°Right, right, right.¡± Looking at his phone with satisfaction, Wu Jun remarked, ¡°See, no phone calls have come through. What does this tell us? It shows that our worship just now was effective.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and quietly started reading the novel ¡°Great Doctor Ling Ran.¡± That evening, a call from Captain Huang Qiangmin came to Jiang Yuan, informing him of progress in the gang theft case¡ªthe suspect imprisoned had confessed to multiple accomplices. For the next two days, all the updated news revolved around the gang theft case. The suspect brought back by the criminal police force got his fingerprints taken again, which were then compared with the prints left at the crime scene, increasing the number of confirmed cases. In criminal cases, the saying ¡°every thief has a careless moment¡± is quite common. Modern people are aware that fingerprints can trace back to them, and that any place might have surveillance cameras, but when it comes time to commit the crime, those who are constantly mindful to conceal themselves remain a minority of a minority. Wearing gloves while committing crimes is easy, but before and after wearing gloves, one cannot guarantee not touching objects at the scene. Some suspects, after finishing their deeds, remember leaving something behind, or accidentally touch doorknobs or similar items... Being absent-minded and making careless mistakes are common to everyone, not only in ordinary work and life but also throughout the criminal process and the lifespan of a criminal¡¯s career. Plus, with multiple testimonies and physical evidence like modified vehicles, it¡¯s very difficult for several individuals to escape some part of the responsibility. During this phase, Jiang Yuan¡¯s role was merely to assist in the recheck and comparison of the work. Previously hard-to-match fingerprints now had real people to compare with, which made the process much easier. The younger members of the gang had also left a deep imprint within the official system. Next time they committed a crime, there would be no worries about mismatches! A week went by, and just as Jiang Yuan began pondering how to spend the weekend, Wu Jun¡¯s phone started rhythmically vibrating. Wu Jun glanced at it, his expression changed, and he promptly answered, saying, ¡°Captain Huang.¡± After a few words, Wu Jun ended the call and with a clear voice announced, ¡°There¡¯s been a murder. Prepare in three minutes; take my investigation kit and we¡¯ll take the Crime Scene Unit¡¯s Iveco to the crime scene.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± replied Jiang Yuan, his heart pounding eagerly. Wu Jun also showed a grave expression. After getting his gear ready, he touched the Guan Gong box in the drawer, sighed, and said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°You see, praying can hold things off for at least a week, but in the end, we can¡¯t escape it.¡± ... Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan traveled in the Crime Scene Unit¡¯s Iveco, adapted for fieldwork, as quickly as possible to the scene. The Crime Scene Unit¡¯s vehicle is essential at the county bureau level, something that had to be acquired no matter how strapped for funds. Wealthy bureaus could afford professional and large vehicles, while less affluent ones could make do with modifications. Inside the vehicle, various equipment was ready, including an assortment of investigation kits, evidence bags, a variety of tapes, powder, tags, and more. It also provided space for storing corpses, saving the technicians a lot of preparation time. Jiang Yuan was slightly nervous and exhilarated. He had completed a full five-year forensic studies course at the medical university. Attending lectures, reviewing, working on projects, writing papers¡ªhe had gone through the whole process, but he had only seen one corpse at a crime scene. Going to a scene again, it would be false to say he was not excited. Arriving at a small red brick building in the suburbs, the police officers who had arrived earlier had already established control. Several police cars were parked haphazardly below, and some officers were dispersed, speaking with people lounging around or walking in the yard. Jiang Yuan flashed his credentials and, carrying a case, quickly ascended to the third floor with Wu Jun. The room where the incident occurred was less than ten meters from the staircase, and the area was chaotically surrounded by residents of the building who were rubbernecking. Jiang Yuan, who had just obtained Level 4 Crime Scene Investigation credentials two days prior, involuntarily furrowed his brows at this scene. Since he was still a newbie, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the authority to say anything. He flashed his credentials again and entered the room with his head down. Housing from thirty or forty years ago was generally smaller in size, about forty square meters, with the living room getting indirect light. A larger bedroom had ample lighting, but it was cramped with several police officers and a body lying across the room. Fortunately, the smell of the fresh corpse was still bearable, making the room¡¯s environment somewhat tolerable. ¡°Suit up first.¡± Wu Jun¡¯s expression was serious as he signaled Jiang Yuan to open the investigation case. Jiang Yuan donned a face mask, gloves, cap, and goggles, then stood beside Wu Jun, taking the opportunity to observe the corpse. The deceased was wearing only a pair of briefs, half-naked on the bed with a knife in his chest, bleeding profusely. Looking down, Jiang Yuan saw that the blood had almost soaked the dirty carpet in the bedroom, while an evidence technician was painstakingly taking photographs from above down. Criminal scene photography is a specialty in itself, especially before the popularity of digital cameras. Officers armed with professional cameras had to use as few rolls of film as possible to convey rich information, which took years of practice to master. Specifically during photography, complete criminal scene photography includes photos of the scene orientation, overall, center, and details, as well as technical methods like opposite shooting, cross shooting, and segmented shooting. However, after film rolls fell out of favor, the role of crime scene photography in small localities was quickly superseded by evidence technicians. If needed, detectives, forensic doctors, and even traffic police could all take on the task. Of course, basic standards still had to be maintained, especially for major and serious cases, where officers strived to follow protocol as much as possible. For example, photographing a corpse had to be done vertically, not at an angle or indiscriminately like an ordinary person taking a photo. After the photography was finished, Jiang Yuan proceeded with the external examination of the body with his mentor Wu Jun. Being a forensic doctor requires the accumulation of extensive experience. Even after five years of medical school, Jiang Yuan still had to learn gradually from Wu Jun. Wu Jun also took several photos, particularly of the items around the body, before turning to Jiang Yuan and asking, ¡°Do you recognize this body?¡± ¡°I...¡± Jiang Yuan nearly ran out of breath, glanced helplessly, and said, ¡°How could I possibly know everyone.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a native of Ningtai County, you could run into an old classmate or friend.¡± After Jiang Yuan took a careful look, Wu Jun sighed regrettably and said, ¡°If you really don¡¯t recognize him, we¡¯ll have to start from scratch. I¡¯ll have you take notes.¡± ¡°One male corpse, 170 centimeters in length... pale skin... black hair, intact scalp...¡± Wu Jun spoke while also checking Jiang Yuan¡¯s notes, nodding again and again. Jiang Yuan¡¯s records were quite standardized, even more detailed, such as noting the orientation and posture of the body at the beginning, and adding ¡°no jaundice¡± after mentioning pale skin... From Wu Jun¡¯s perspective, Jiang Yuan, able to do this much, seemed more like a colleague than an apprentice. Jiang Yuan himself felt increasingly committed as he wrote. The range and depth of the newly acquired skill ¡°Crime Scene Investigation (LV4)¡± was much greater than he imagined. It included not only the typical scene investigation but also the forensic investigation and trace examination, among others. Within forensic investigation, surface examination of the body was also included. As a result, the skill ¡°Crime Scene Investigation (LV4)¡± was proving to be hugely significant. Jiang Yuan suppressed his inner thoughts and earnestly completed the external examination with Wu Jun. Next, they began to collect and examine DNA evidence. DNA evidence refers to potential sources of DNA on physical evidence, commonly including bloodstains, seminal stains, saliva stains, or isolated droplets of blood, and so on. Jiang Yuan started around the body, collecting hair and skin flakes. Although there was a high probability that they belonged to the victim, only testing would confirm it. Trace evidence around the body was usually considered more reliable, thus warranting extra careful examination. Wu Jun was getting older; though not yet suffering from poor eyesight, his sensitivity to scrutinizing small evidence was somewhat diminished. On the contrary, Jiang Yuan had a keen eye and quickly collected various pieces of evidence, several of which Wu Jun had not even clearly seen. Seeing this, Wu Jun took the opportunity to straighten up and relax a bit. Bending over to examine evidence at a half-raised bed was particularly uncomfortable for someone his age. Jiang Yuan, a recent graduate, was at his physical peak, full of energy. He had also just acquired a new skill, so he didn¡¯t feel tired at all. After thoroughly collecting evidence around the body, he started gathering blood evidence. He first chose a clot of blood near the deceased¡¯s thigh, dipped a cotton swab in the blood but didn¡¯t place it directly into the evidence bag. Instead, he took out a piece of filter paper, wrapped the cotton swab in it, and folded it into a triangle. Just this one action caught the attention of the evidence technicians and Wu Jun nearby. Others quickly understood why he did this. A blood-soaked cotton swab placed directly into an evidence bag risks contamination and seepage of blood out of the bag, causing secondary contamination¡ªbiological materials can¡¯t be stored in plastic evidence bags to prevent decay. Furthermore, the blood-dried cotton swab becomes difficult to examine and reuse with time. However, wrapping it in filter paper changes the situation. The blood seeping out of the cotton swab is readily absorbed by the filter paper, and there¡¯s no worry about further leakage thanks to the paper¡¯s absorption capacity. In the lab, cutting just a piece of the filter paper is sufficient for DNA testing, and the rest remains well-preserved. Understanding is one thing, but for crime scene technicians accustomed to tossing multiple cigarette butts into one evidence bag, no one had informed them this method was an option. ¡°Where did you find this apprentice?¡± the crime scene technician asked Wu Jun in astonishment. Wu Jun remained calm and shook his hips slightly, slowly saying, ¡°Some operations, I just haven¡¯t bothered to do myself.¡± Chapter 21 - 21 21 This Feather ?21: Chapter 21 This Feather 21: Chapter 21 This Feather As the trace evidence investigators arrived at the scene, the captain of the Criminal Police, Huang Qiangmin, Deputy Director Zhang Tao, and Director Guan Xi, also successively rushed over. All three of these figures rarely appeared, especially the director himself. Although he seemed to be busy in the office building on a daily basis, ordinary officers seldom had the chance to speak with him. Except in the case of a murder. For a county bureau, a murder case was almost always the most important case. In other cases, the director might not show up at all, or even need to sit in his office to hear the report. But once a murder occurred, not only did the director have to be present at the scene, but he also had to sign the scene examination report. Because of this, he couldn¡¯t avoid getting to know about the case even if he wanted to. However, Ningtai County usually only had one or two murder cases per year. The emergence of two consecutive cases now caused the director¡¯s brows to furrow even more deeply. ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡± the director asked while getting dressed, addressing Huang Qiangmin beside him. As the head of the Criminal Police, Huang¡¯s daily work was much more about management than field operations. The only exception was murder cases, where he was the designated on-scene commander. And the first one to be put under pressure, undoubtedly, was the captain of the Criminal Police. Without any hesitation, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°The victim, Xue Ming, 36 years old, was a manager of a logistics company. Currently single, the house where the crime took place belongs to the victim¡¯s parents... Around 11 p.m., his sister was returning home from work and stopped by his house to pick up a package she had stored there. That¡¯s when she discovered the body and called 110 to report it. The officers from the second team arrived at the crime scene and found signs that it had been cleaned up. The wardrobe had been rummaged through and the victim¡¯s phone was taken. However, based on valuable items left at the scene, we believe we can rule out breaking and entering or robbery. It¡¯s likely the work of someone familiar...¡± He spoke quite detailedly and directly stated his own speculation. This was Huang Qiangmin¡¯s habit. The director and deputy director, being removed from frontline duties, needed clear information to avoid misjudgment. Director Guan Xi simply nodded his head, and once he was fully dressed, took the lead and entered the room. After a brief observation, Director Guan Xi approached the body and asked Wu Jun, ¡°Old Wu, how¡¯s it going? Tell me what you think.¡± Unlike other technical police officers who came and went, Wu Jun, having served nearly 30 years as a forensic doctor, was familiar with the leaders both past and present. In murder cases, the importance of the forensic doctor was indisputable. Wu Jun was prepared and, after contemplating briefly, stated, ¡°The victim was stabbed in the chest cavity; major blood vessels in the chest were ruptured, leading to death by exsanguination. There was a significant loss of blood. I specifically checked the bathroom; there were signs of washing, but a large amount of cleaning fluid was used to rinse it...¡± The director listened and nodded, instructing after Wu Jun finished reporting, ¡°Make sure to collect the evidence as meticulously as possible. If necessary, expand the scope of the investigation...¡± After speaking for a while, Director Guan Xi turned to Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°The bureau will provide support for you guys. Don¡¯t have any concern...¡± After the director finished speaking, the deputy director said, ¡°We need to protect the crime scene well. I see that the residential area here is quite complex. We must preserve the opportunity for re-examination of the scene... Likewise for the forensic doctor, based on the initial examination of the scene, re-examine to check for any oversights...¡± Huang Qiangmin listened attentively to the instructions from the director and deputy director, then turned his head to start giving orders. He specially took a team, merged with the K-9 unit, and expanded the search area together, looking for the murder weapon. In the meantime, police officers investigating the victim¡¯s social relationships and those looking for video clues nearby also scattered to begin their tasks. Huang Qiangmin kept a stern face and a straight posture, continuously communicating with the various teams. In the eyes of ordinary people, solving cases seemed to be full of intellectual competition, danger, and mystery. But to detectives, solving cases was more about burning through funds and physical stamina. Those mysterious and intricate locked-room murders, and the obvious atrocities of serial killings, might occur at some place and time, but for the police in less prominent locales, such cases were often followed through movies and television. For ordinary police officers, the most difficult murder cases to handle were random killings. These cases, with their high degree of chance, could indeed result in a lack of clues and unsolvable situations if the criminal was lucky enough. However, with most other murder cases, the ability to solve them was not just about luck but also about resources. Speaking of today¡¯s case, Huang Qiangmin had only taken a quick look at the crime scene and didn¡¯t dare to claim full confidence, but he still felt somewhat assured. A crime committed by someone familiar meant that following up on the victim¡¯s social relations could likely yield clues. Additionally, the body was discovered quite early, only a few hours after the incident. Starting with the surveillance footage from the surrounding area could potentially lead to clues. Furthermore, the disappearance of the victim¡¯s phone could indicate the presence of information unfavorable to the killer within it, and based on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s experience, remotely accessing the victim¡¯s WeChat or text messages could very likely provide vital leads... Huang Qiangmin¡¯s approach to solving the case was crystal clear, but this did not lessen his sense of tension. Those who had been police officers for a long time knew that solving the case was never the issue; the real challenge was always in handling the case. Finding the suspect, arresting, and interrogating them was just the beginning. Securing evidence and forming a complete chain of evidence were more crucial and difficult. Especially in murder cases, one didn¡¯t have to wait for the death penalty review process. The demands of the earlier second and first trials, as well as the preceding prosecutorial review, were all made with extreme rigor. Because of this, the first thing Huang Qiangmin arranged was the search for the murder weapon. Besides, luck was an elusive factor. Those unsolved murder cases, would you consider them complex? Perhaps they truly were, but to say they were utterly unsolvable seemed not quite accurate. And from another perspective, were the solved murder cases simple? Huang Qiangmin commanded with a stable yet tense demeanor. As the captain of the Criminal Police, he was responsible for hundreds, if not thousands, of cases each year, but murder cases still brought a profound sense of pressure. ¡°This pubic hair doesn¡¯t belong to the victim,¡± Jiang Yuan said at that moment, plucking a hair from the deceased¡¯s crotch area, his voice reaching Huang Qiangmin¡¯s ears. Chapter 22 - 22 22 Xue Mings Legacy ?22: Chapter 22 Xue Ming¡¯s Legacy 22: Chapter 22 Xue Ming¡¯s Legacy Huang Qiangmin was in charge of the scene and, upon hearing what Jiang Yuan said, immediately walked over and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Looking at its shape, it¡¯s a pubic hair from a female,¡± Jiang Yuan explained, using tweezers to pick up the hair and observing it under the light before placing it into an evidence bag. Since the victim was male, the sudden appearance of a female pubic hair was obviously a very important clue and piece of evidence. Director Guan Xi came over and asked, ¡°You said looking its shape, can you determine it just from the shape?¡± ¡°Female pubic hairs are generally shorter and also a bit coarser. Compared to the victim¡¯s, they are easier to differentiate,¡± Jiang Yuan elaborated. Director Guan Xi let out an enigmatic smile and coughed twice, ¡°There¡¯s some truth in that...¡± One of the young technicians at the scene, still eager to learn, chimed in: ¡°Armpit hair and beard hair are also curly.¡± Yan, who was dusting for fingerprints, burst out laughing, ¡°Xiao Yang, you¡¯ve got a lot to learn.¡± A mysteriously knowing smile appeared on everyone¡¯s faces in the room. Xiao Yang¡¯s face fell, and he murmured, ¡°Using experience to judge isn¡¯t reliable, there should be some science to it.¡± Director Guan Xi, agreeable and curious, asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Tell us, what¡¯s the scientific basis?¡± ¡°Pubic hair is more elastic, the cross section of armpit hair is oval, and the cross section of a beard hair is triangular with higher hardness...¡± Jiang Yuan replied offhandedly. Comrade Xiao Yang was stunned on the spot, ¡°Someone actually studied this?¡± Director Guan Xi smiled satisfied, then addressed Deputy Captain Huang Qiangmin, ¡°Send the evidence to the lab as soon as possible, the evidence chain must be solid.¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded immediately, he had also been worrying about the evidence. To the police, biological materials provide high-grade evidence in physical proofs. Especially DNA and fingerprints, which are highly specific and widely accepted. During the litigation phase, physical evidence with DNA is also held in higher regard. Nowadays, judicial departments are required to prioritize physical evidence over testimonies, which is an indirect way to emphasize the importance of DNA evidence. Jiang Yuan passed on the evidence bag and continued to get on with his work. The Director and others lingered for a while longer before stepping out to speak in hushed tones. The scene investigation, trace evidence, and forensic doctors gradually left the scene as well. After sunset. Jiang Yuan and another young officer together lifted the body onto the Iveco and took it back to the morgue. Wu Jun followed in the vehicle as well. The mortuary at night was eerily terrifying. The dark pine trees that looked robust in the daylight now seemed to induce all sorts of imaginings at night... The elderly gatekeeper rubbed his eyes as he opened the gate for them, and with a mischievous grin, he gave directions, ¡°Don¡¯t take the left path, there are more ghosts there.¡± The young officer accompanying him shuddered and couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°What¡¯s that about?¡± The gatekeeper replied indifferently, ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, go on take the left. It makes no difference to me.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take the right,¡± Wu Jun said with emphasis. The young officer released the brakes and turned the steering wheel to the right, but couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°He must be displeased for having to open the gate for us at night and is just trying to scare us, right?¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Wu Jun replied. ¡°Are there any other possibilities?¡± After thinking for a bit, Wu Jun suggested, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a blessing from the Bodhisattva?¡± The young officer was bewildered for a moment before understanding the pun Wu Jun was making and was left speechless. Together, the three of them hurried to the autopsy room as fast as they could. As the bright white light flickered on and the stainless steel autopsy table glinted with a silver sheen, it was remarkably comforting. Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan busied themselves with the preparations for the autopsy. In bigger cities, some busy districts might require queuing for a body autopsy. But for a place like Ningtai County, there were virtually no civilian autopsies and few cases of homicide or abnormal deaths, so having one body meant they could work uninterrupted. As for pulling an all-nighter, faced with an unexpected homicide, everyone was on edge, not just those who were already up or about to be. Similar to the last autopsy, after getting the victim¡¯s brother-in-law who arrived later to sign the document, Wu Jun still let Jiang Yuan carry out the procedure. He hoped to give Jiang Yuan some practice, but of course, he was also too tired from the field work to stand up straight. Watching Jiang Yuan pick up the scalpel, Wu Jun advised, ¡°We forensic doctors make large incisions on the body; you can confidently make larger movements; it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and first looked over the body carefully. While the body was at the scene, though it was cooling down, it still felt warm to some extent. Now, relocated to the stainless steel autopsy table, the body¡¯s human attributes seemed greatly diminished. Jiang Yuan also felt slightly uneasy. This was the second body he had handled since beginning his job, and a completely unfamiliar one at that... Reflecting on it, Jiang Yuan felt the body of his Uncle Seventeen was a bit more familiar. Grasping the scalpel tightly, he pulled it in one smooth motion from the neck of the body down to the pubic symphysis. The skin that had peeled back showed red, white, and yellow tones, which lessened Jiang Yuan¡¯s tension significantly. The deceased¡¯s brother-in-law, who had come to bear witness, couldn¡¯t handle it; he glanced once and his expression soured. The young officer, who had just helped lift the body with great vigor, also bowed his head, frowning tightly and reluctant to look closely. Wu Jun handed a trash can to the brother-in-law of the deceased to prevent him from getting upset and said, ¡°Nowadays, people are eating all day without exercising, resulting in a high body fat percentage, which means more fat...¡± There seemed to be an apologetic tone in his voice, which only twisted the brother-in-law¡¯s expression even more. Wu Jun shook his head and returned to the autopsy table, commenting to Jiang Yuan a body away, ¡°I¡¯m not good at comforting people either. It would be better if we had a female forensic doctor.¡± ¡°Would a female forensic doctor be more gentle?¡± Jiang Yuan reflected on his student days when half of his classmates were female, but when it came to job hunting, most chose to take the civil service exam or to interview at forensic institutes, with the remainder typically targeting forensic positions in the prosecutor¡¯s office. Wu Jun looked down at the cut on the body and, while assisting Jiang Yuan, said, ¡°Definitely a better talker than me. Just not as durable when it comes to lifting bodies.¡± Jiang Yuan, too busy to talk, sliced along the rib with the scalpel, then lifted the sternum and began making incisions along the dorsal side of the sternum. Unlike the careful maneuvers of physicians, forensic doctors are less delicate and more forceful in their actions, leading to the sound of flesh being cut echoing in the quiet autopsy room. The victim¡¯s brother-in-law didn¡¯t dare lift his head, wishing he could cover his ears. ¡°If you really can¡¯t stand it, just wait outside the autopsy room,¡± Wu Jun said, unable to force someone to watch an autopsy and disliking the smell of vomit from family members. The brother-in-law of the victim shuffled his feet twice, then froze. ¡°There¡¯s nobody outside, I... I¡¯m scared...¡± ¡°Make your own decision,¡± Wu Jun said, his attention always on Jiang Yuan. He assisted Jiang Yuan seamlessly, their cooperation almost instinctive. ¡°A single stab into the chest cavity. There are scratches on the ribs; it must have been with great force.¡± Jiang Yuan opened the chest cavity, observed the inside, and made his judgment synchronously. Wu Jun nodded in agreement, ¡°A lethal blow. A slight deviation could have hit the ribs...¡± After verifying the fatal wound and allowing Wu Jun to take photos, Jiang Yuan lifted the peeled chest muscles, found the other end of the skin wound, and continued taking photos. Then, Wu Jun handed Jiang Yuan a soup ladle, ¡°Scoop out the blood in the chest cavity and weigh it.¡± Jiang Yuan used an ordinary ceramic soup ladle to gradually scoop the accumulated blood from the chest cavity into a stainless steel basin. Once it was nearly clear, he placed the stainless steel basin on an electronic scale to weigh it. The scale wasn¡¯t specialized either; in other words, it was just an ordinary electronic scale Wu Jun had bought from the market. If one ignored the presence of the body, the entire process was actually quite ordinary and acceptable. ¡°Around 850 milliliters. Plus the blood left in the room... How much blood would there be in the room?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Wu Jun while making his assessment. ¡°At least that much,¡± Wu Jun estimated from experience. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Then added together, that¡¯s about 1700 milliliters, enough to cause death. So, the cause of death was the stabbing through the aorta leading to severe blood loss and death?¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Wu Jun looked at Jiang Yuan as he finished examining the thoracic cavity, then pointed at the dark spots on the body and said, ¡°Can you estimate the time of death?¡± ¡°Roughly 8 to 10 hours ago? So, the person died around four or five in the afternoon?¡± Jiang Yuan pressed the hypostasis, which faded but recovered, indicating it had reached the second stage of diffusion. Combined with other factors such as body temperature, he then offered a judgment on the time. Estimating the time of death can be easy or difficult. For today¡¯s corpse, which was in a room at ambient temperature and hadn¡¯t been dead for long, various methods could ascertain the time of death without much difficulty. But if the time since death were a bit longer and the environmental temperature more complex, determining the time of death would become a scholarly pursuit. The accompanying police officer, a young recruit sent by the second squadron, quickly sent a message to the team leader after hearing Wu Jun¡¯s words. ¡°Make sure to clarify the cause of death,¡± Wu Jun reminded, then said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Continue, please.¡± Jiang Yuan uttered a sound of acknowledgment and silently continued to open the abdominal cavity and proceeded to remove and weigh the internal organs. While doing so, a shiny object fell out of the kidney. Jiang Yuan had encountered a similar shiny object once before. Last time, he had received a legacy from his great-uncle, a level 3 special fried rice dish. Frankly, Jiang Yuan found it quite practical. Even in his generation, where there was no longer a need to set up a street stall to make money, occasionally cooking for oneself was a skill worth having. And this time... Jiang Yuan lightly touched the shiny object, and a system prompt flashed before his eyes: Xue Ming¡¯s legacy: Camping (LV2) ¡ª This was Xue Ming¡¯s favorite hobby and something he excelled at. Whenever he drove to an unfamiliar place, what Xue Ming wanted to do most was to pitch a tent and brew a pot of ordinary tea. However, most of the time, driving was Xue Ming¡¯s job, and he could only fantasize about the pleasure of camping in his mind. After switching jobs, the chances for Xue Ming to go camping had become even rarer. Xue Ming¡¯s most proficient skills, in order, were: using various tools to start a fire, determining wind direction with any tool at hand, stopping blood with a sanitary tampon, collecting water with a variety of tools, building a tent with various tools... Jiang Yuan smoothed out Xue Ming¡¯s abdominal cavity with his hands as a way of saying thank you. Turning around, Jiang Yuan began to open the cranium of the deceased. In theory, a forensic doctor doesn¡¯t need to perform a full autopsy on a body if the cause of death is clear. Like today¡¯s body, the cause of death was almost certain: exsanguination due to a ruptured aorta caused by a sharp weapon. In theory, after opening the thoracic cavity, perhaps only opening the abdominal cavity was needed to complete the task. However, Jiang Yuan, still a novice forensic doctor, did everything by the book. Wu Jun was also keen to let him practice, even if it meant staying a few extra hours. After opening the cranium, finding no brain hemorrhage or cranial base injuries meant there was no need to slice the brain as if slicing foie gras. Even so, the time they spent was considerable, and by the time everyone emerged from the autopsy room, daylight had broken. After hurriedly stepping over a fire basin, news gradually came back from several squadrons¡ªno progress. Even the unique hairs found by Jiang Yuan in a special location yielded no matches. The atmosphere within the detective unit became taut. Chapter 23 - 23 23 Special Gameplay ?23: Chapter 23 Special Gameplay 23: Chapter 23 Special Gameplay Noon. After freshening up and taking a brief nap at home, Jiang Yuan immediately rushed back to the criminal police brigade. As he entered the yard, he could feel the heavy atmosphere. Several officers of the second level, who were at home, had deeply furrowed brows and whispered in grave tones. They hurried past, exhaustion evident in their eyes. Police ranks are different from military ranks. Below the white shirt, rank is generally not linked to leadership positions. This includes the bureau chief, for whom rank represents years of service. However, for the average police officer, high seniority often means being the main force. In major cases like murder, entrusting the case to the younger officers with a single stripe could make anyone uneasy. Jiang Yuan was one of those young officers with a single stripe, not even familiar with the dogs in the police station, with the possibility that the person he had spoken to most was perhaps the detective team leader, Huang Qiangmin. Wu Jun hadn¡¯t returned yet, and not wanting to feel the pressure in the office, Jiang Yuan turned and headed straight for the police dog squad. Dazhuang, the police dog who had also been busy all day, was lying in front of his kennel, his ears drooping even lower than usual. Li Li was busy cooking in the kitchen, and through the windows, the door, and the reflection of the sunlight, one could see her graceful figure, elegant movements, and stunning long legs and slim waist. ¡°Jiang Yuan?¡± Li Li eventually turned around, her Rottweiler-like face completely shattering the previous impression. ¡°Woof.¡± The real Rottweiler, Dazhuang, also barked. ¡°Dazhuang, sit.¡± Li Li waved her hand and then asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Did you guys stay up all night yesterday too?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I slept for an hour in the morning, didn¡¯t feel like eating at the cafeteria, and thought of coming over to make some fried rice with egg.¡± Li Li laughed, her thick eyebrows noticeably bouncing as she responded, ¡°That works out, make one for me too. I can¡¯t even keep up with making dog food. I was just thinking about maybe just cooking an extra chicken drumstick...¡± Dazhuang¡¯s eyeballs shifted towards Li Li, paused for a moment, then turned away again. ¡°I¡¯ll make the fried rice.¡± Jiang Yuan said, rolling up his sleeves and getting started. Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice was not only economical but also quick to make, giving off a vibe of a night market champion. Jiang Yuan quickly whipped up a pot of fried rice, and even made some tea with the kettle in the kitchen. The skill of brewing tea was a legacy of his new acquaintance, Xue Ming. However, as part of camping skills, the tea he made was nothing remarkable. ¡°Hold on a moment, the dog food will be ready soon, too much meat, it takes time to cook.¡± Li Li explained. Jiang Yuan placed the fried rice on the table, took a few sips of tea, and asked, ¡°Can I pet the dog?¡± ¡°You might get bitten, but feel free to pet him if you¡¯re not afraid.¡± Li Li, rolling up her sleeves, half-scared Jiang Yuan with her words. Li Li¡¯s arms were actually quite attractive when seen without looking at her face. They gave the impression of a dancer¡¯s arms: pale, glowing, slender, with some muscle definition. The several scars stood out, but upon closer inspection, they didn¡¯t seem very deep, and held a certain seductive quality that could entice a man to become infatuated... Jiang Yuan used his forensic experience to assess the depth of the scars, which reassured him somewhat, and he said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll give it a try.¡± With that, Jiang Yuan stood beside Dazhuang, eager to begin. Seeing this, Li Li called out, ¡°Dazhuang, let him pet you.¡± Dazhuang¡¯s ears drooped instantly, his body sprawled, and his tail began to wag slowly. Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand promptly covered Dazhuang¡¯s forehead, and exerting a little pressure, the dog blissfully closed his eyes. There¡¯s a saying: The Rottweiler, balding pooch, strokes so smooth, and fur so tough, although the hair is coarse, it glistens so, with teeth of pearly rows. ¡°Trained ones really do feel different when you pet them.¡± Jiang Yuan praised. The dog could be fierce like a raging fire when provoked, but was as gentle as a fawning dog when calm, its bald head nuzzling and nudging, occasionally sticking out its tongue, adorably endearing. ¡°Time for meal.¡± Li Li carried out a large bowl of dog food. Today¡¯s dog meal included a generous amount of beef, each piece the size of a walnut, a reward for the police dog¡¯s work the day before. In addition to that, the proportion of chicken meat and vegetables was also significant. The bowl was piled high, giving off the sense that the meal expenses had exceeded the usual budget. ¡°I¡¯ll get the fried rice.¡± Jiang Yuan conscientiously served the frugally-priced 0.8 yuan per serving of fried rice and poured a cup of tea for each of them. Then they started to gobble down the golden-brown fried rice and sipped their tea ravenously. Meanwhile, the Rottweiler next to them ate its meal, bite by bite. It looked neither fully enjoying it nor willing to give it up, like a dog who had sacrificed a lot, perhaps had resisted, but had ultimately been tamed. Feeling sorry for the dog, Jiang Yuan said to Li Li, ¡°I made too much rice today, should we give some to Dazhuang? I only used oil and eggs, very little seasoning...¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t finish, give it to me, fried rice is not for dogs.¡± Li Li nonchalantly pushed away Jiang Yuan¡¯s excess fried rice and ate it heartily. Jiang Yuan could only stroke Dazhuang¡¯s head again before finishing his meal and heading back to his office. Wu Jun had actually arrived and was squatting in front of a small electric stove, boiling something while rubbing his eyes. He was getting on in years, and staying up all night on duty was very exhausting, let alone performing an autopsy. ¡°Jiang Yuan is here.¡± Wu Jun greeted. ¡°I went to the dog squad to make some fried rice, have you eaten?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Ate a little, don¡¯t feel like eating more. My stomach¡¯s not great.¡± Wu Jun said, motioning with his hand, ¡°Let¡¯s not bother with anything else, just have a red-boiled egg.¡± He blew on his breath, scooped a red-dyed egg with a spoon, set it on the table, and gestured for Jiang Yuan to take it. Jiang Yuan asked without surprise, ¡°What¡¯s the tradition here?¡± ¡°Eating a red egg after seeing a dead body wards off evil spirits. Nothing special.¡± Wu Jun also scooped a red egg for himself, cracked it open, and set it upright on the table. When the egg had cooled a bit, Jiang Yuan also cracked his egg, slowly peeled it, and ate it. The boiled egg tasted perfectly ordinary, leaving behind a pile of red shells. ¡°Back when crime scenes had bodies, the canteen would always cook red eggs,¡± Wu Jun said as he ate. ¡°Why stop?¡± ¡°Too many dead, the canteen found it a hassle,¡± Wu Jun said. ¡°Now the homicides have decreased, but unnatural deaths have increased, either falling from heights or consuming pesticide.¡± Wu Jun finished the red egg in a few bites and added, ¡°We¡¯d better hurry and organize the materials. We¡¯ve got a busy day ahead. If we can¡¯t find any leads, don¡¯t expect to sleep tonight.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan said, his mood becoming heavier. The pressure to solve cases was suffocating the criminal investigation team at this moment. The so-called golden 72 hours for homicide cases refers to the crucial first three days from the onset of an investigation, which is when the probability of solving the case is highest. There¡¯s considerable scientific basis for this. On one hand, the shorter the time lapse, the more crime scene traces and physical evidence remain, making it easier to find various clues and connections to the case. Including eyewitnesses and informants, their memories tend to be most clear and accurate within the first 72 hours, deteriorating rapidly thereafter. On the other hand, during the first three days after the crime, the perpetrator is most active and psychologically vulnerable. Whether they made preparations before the crime or how well-prepared they were, their psyche, during the first three days following the crime, is always greatly affected. Anticipating the potential consequences, the criminal may try to cover up, hide, or even inquire about the crime, resulting in substantial interaction with the outside world and being the easiest to catch; past this time, the emotions and psyche of the criminal gradually stabilize, hiding places get fixed, etc. Even if the suspect is identified, arresting and interrogating them becomes more challenging. Moreover, the fatigue level of the police officers handling the case accumulates over time. In today¡¯s environment, solving a homicide case comes with mounting pressure. Officers directly involved in investigations are typically working overnight. After two or three days of such persistence, fatigue reaches its peak. If a suspect is apprehended within three days, the officers, gritting their teeth, can continue through the interrogation. But if they can¡¯t catch anyone, their morale plummets, and recovering takes exponentially more time. For a recent homicide in Ningtai County, 24 hours had passed without finding any new leads, a disconcerting trend. ¡°The DNA from the hair was sent for assistance, but the results weren¡¯t good,¡± Wang Zhong, who got the news first, quietly came to the forensic doctor¡¯s office. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both looked over. Wang Zhong spoke in a low voice, ¡°There¡¯s a match from the provincial DNA lab. But there is an alibi. She works in a KTV, handled by the Public Order Brigade previously, and she was out of town with a client at the time of the crime.¡± ¡°If she was out of town with a client, how could her pubic hair end up on the victim¡¯s groin?¡± Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and asked the key question. Wang Zhong chuckled softly, ¡°She was with the victim in the morning, took 500 yuan. Then she drove to the provincial city. We¡¯ve also got photos from the traffic police; it¡¯s her driving on the highway, and moreover, there are witnesses in the car with her...¡± ¡°Such a comprehensive alibi?¡± Wu Jun, a bit curious, followed up, ¡°Was she delivering takeout, bringing witnesses along?¡± ¡°Two people, 2000 each,¡± Wang Zhong held up two fingers. Wu Jun clucked, ¡°What a difference between the county and the provincial city, quadrupling the price.¡± ¡°Special services cost extra,¡± Wang Zhong corrected. Wu Jun shook his head, ¡°Times have changed. Nowadays, I¡¯m partnered with Xiao Jiang. Every time we go out together, our pay doesn¡¯t increase by a cent.¡± Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t keep up, he turned stiffly to look at Jiang Yuan, then said, ¡°Checks at her workplace and residence didn¡¯t yield anything. No matching fingerprints or traces found. The video surveillance around the old residential area where the victim lived isn¡¯t plentiful either, no useful footage has been found, and the investigation into the relatives isn¡¯t complete, but I don¡¯t expect much there either...¡± ¡°So what now?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus was still on the case, his second homicide, which still evoked a strong sense of involvement from him. Wang Zhong was silent for a moment before saying, ¡°From what I hear, the current investigative direction remains starting from the victim¡¯s social connections; the final outcome is hard to predict... However, if there are no results by tonight, there will probably be a full deployment.¡± The Ningtai County Public Security Bureau didn¡¯t have so-called detectives or crack investigators boasting sky-high case-solving records. Confronting cases, they all employed standard procedures. If there was anything like a big gun, it would be the human wave tactic. In large cities, even if solving a live homicide case is difficult, the most that is usually done is to set up a task force and call in some personnel, topping out at a few dozen or a hundred people. But in small county towns, a live homicide is the top priority, and deploying a thousand officers to investigate is normal¡ªit¡¯s not examining a thousand people, but dispatching over a thousand staff to investigate. If necessary, they could take DNA from everyone at a university. At such times, it¡¯s not just the criminal investigation team; from local police stations to agency staff, all would be deployed, with some bureaus even borrowing personnel from other units. Jiang Yuan frowned slightly. To carry out a search meant becoming basic labor. With his LV4 crime scene investigation skills, he could potentially be the strongest on-site investigator in the county, and he ought to choose a direction most likely to yield clues. ¡°Let¡¯s do a reexamination,¡± Jiang Yuan volunteered. A repeat investigation was a natural duty for crime scene investigators and a basic requirement for forensic doctors to revisit the scene. Jiang Yuan remembered the previous investigators¡¯ operations and already had a plan in mind. The crime scene officers from the same squadron, whether in terms of technical skill or dedication, were all average. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s LV4 crime scene investigation skills, he was bound to uncover something missed. Although he wasn¡¯t sure whether these places held clues, his sense of duty involuntarily swelled in the face of a stalling investigation. Chapter 24 - 24 24 Starting from Scratch ?24: Chapter 24 Starting from Scratch 24: Chapter 24 Starting from Scratch In the afternoon, after a bit of preparation, Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong each rode their own electric scooters to the crime scene neighborhood. Located in the suburbs, the red-brick buildings still carried a sense of the times, and the two-way four-lane road was lined with large trees of uncertain species on both sides and in the middle. Sparse shrubbery proved that maintenance levels nearby were quite average, but the trees, planted with time, still maintained the basic quality of a residential area. This was in the far suburbs of Ningtai County, but due to some nearby factories, it was more prosperous than many places within the county itself. Of course, prosperous but not bustling. As far as the eye could see, there were clusters of old residential complexes and new temporary buildings, keeping the environment on par with an old industrial area. Small shops were the mainstream commercial model nearby, and the facades of these shops were mostly old-fashioned, hardly stimulating the desire to consume. And these shops, too lazy to even tidy up their storefront curtains, similarly lacked the desire to install security cameras. Municipal construction had come to a halt here as if frozen in time. The old roads and traffic were still well-maintained, but probably only to the standards of the past, with almost no appearance of any new or improved infrastructure. The crime scene¡¯s complex appeared even more desolate compared to other complexes on the same road. Only at the main entrance, were a few old men gathered, looking suspiciously at everything around them. The complex¡¯s other two main gates were now locked up with heavy chains. What used to be measures for the convenience of residents were now considered the scapegoats. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Seeing Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong trying to enter on their electric scooters, an old man bravely blocked the path with his body. ¡°Police,¡± they replied, having changed into plain clothes, and each showed their police badges for inspection. The old man frowned, ¡°I¡¯ve heard that there are scammers who make fake police badges these days, are you swindlers...¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t believe us, call 110,¡± Wang Zhong suggested, adding, ¡°We are here to revisit the crime scene. Would you like to be a witness?¡± The old man had already taken out his phone ready to dial 110 but stopped, puzzled, ¡°What?¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to take a look at the scene, see if there¡¯s any evidence left. You just stand inside and watch; you¡¯ll just need to sign something later,¡± Wang Zhong explained succinctly. In China¡¯s system for criminal case scene investigation, the investigating authority must invite a third-party individual to witness the inspection and examination activities at the crime scene. This is different from the system often depicted in film and television from the United States. The United States uses a self-authentication method for police officers, with mandated on-scene audio recording to ensure the fairness and standardization of the scene investigation. By contrast, Japan and Russia also use a witness system for scene investigations, with varying differences. Simply put, countries with witness systems require that every case¡¯s evidence gathering is overseen by someone unrelated to the case, to minimize the occurrence of false evidence. In countries like the United States, without a witness system, it is up to each police officer to self-regulate; if false evidence is presented, it could cast doubt on all cases handled by that officer. Even though it wasn¡¯t perfect in practice, as police officers, Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong both adhered to the standards. In fact, randomly picking one or two passersby didn¡¯t quite align with the spirit of the crime scene investigation witness system. Essentially, the system requires finding individuals with a certain understanding of the scene and of criminal investigation who are unrelated to the case to serve as witnesses, and the more often they can witness repeated examinations of the scene, the better. However, in the current context where the public is uninformed, there are no economic compensations for witnesses, police officers are incredibly busy, and the judicial system¡¯s standards are not very high, such requirements are clearly impractical. Law enforcement would rather have cooperative, sensible witnesses who do not hinder the investigation or leak information. The couple of old men, not yet retired but already living in retirement due to the decline of local enterprises, were quite suitable. This was far more compliant than using auxiliary police as witnesses. The few old men at the entrance might be idling away or possibly interested in the crime within the complex, and after a good period of questioning, they reluctantly watched as two seemingly young old men entered the building where the crime had occurred. Wang Zhong, who had taken the keys from the office, casually lifted the police cordon, unlocked the door to enter, then locked it again after changing clothes. The two old men, who were in fact retired due to age, were instructed to stand in the corner, not to speak, move, or take photos. ¡°Where do we start?¡± Wang Zhong hadn¡¯t planned on coming; he didn¡¯t have much confidence in conducting a reinvestigation, but since Jiang Yuan had ideas, he followed along. Jiang Yuan looked around and said slowly, ¡°Let¡¯s start from the beginning.¡± As he spoke, the system¡¯s translucent interface unfolded: Task: Start from the beginning. Task details: Conduct a repeat examination of the Xue Ming case scene to obtain clues and evidence. Jiang Yuan stared at the system interface for a few seconds, until it disappeared. ¡°Start from the beginning?¡± Wang Zhong was a bit perplexed by what he heard, then leaned closer to Jiang Yuan and whispered, ¡°Is that necessary?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s give it a try,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he set up the equipment and picked up a glass from the doorway shoe cabinet, dabbed a cotton swab with some water, and began to gently wipe it. Despite having known each other for only a short time, and his own experience being slightly deeper, at heart, Wang Zhong respected Jiang Yuan. Skills like fingerprinting show the disparity in ability all too clearly. After standing idly for a moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s movements rendered Wang Zhong speechless. Ordinary crime scene technicians in Ningtai County¡ªor rather, when they wipe a glass¡ªsimply run a cotton swab around the rim. This method, while possibly picking up DNA, has always been only a perfunctory practice. Or rather, it¡¯s a common practice for those lacking capability. However, the way Jiang Yuan wiped glasses was something Wang Zhong had only seen on rare occasions. Jiang Yuan would first dip the cotton swab in water, squeeze it to a semi-dry state, and while wiping, he wouldn¡¯t move over a large area but choose a spot on the rim and rub the swab up and down, ensuring an even pressure as he wiped three to four times, aiming to pick up any potential DNA on the surface. After finishing one spot, he would move a distance away and wipe another point repeatedly until he had completed the DNA extraction from the glass. Such an approach naturally took much longer than sweeping around the rim, but the likelihood of extracting DNA was also much higher. Wang Zhong had never tried Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of swabbing for DNA, but from the various details of Jiang Yuan¡¯s performance, Wang Zhong knew that Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill level was indeed higher than that of the crime scene technicians in the team. For instance, a semi-dry cotton swab is better at transferring DNA than a dry one, and also more effective than one saturated with water. It¡¯s about not being too dry or too wet. To put it in terms Northerners would understand, think of the cotton swab as a bath scrubber: using a completely dry scrubber on dry skin won¡¯t scrub away much dirt, nor will a fully wet one, since it just slides around. You need a semi-dry scrubber for semi-dry skin to get the best effect and remove the most dirt. For those not from the North, think of the cotton swab like a tongue: licking dry skin with a dry tongue won¡¯t transfer much, nor will a soaking wet tongue work well. You need a semi-dry tongue to lick semi-dry skin for the best effect and to achieve the optimal friction. Similarly, Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of wiping at a designated spot was much more effective than a sweeping motion around the rim. To again use the Northerner¡¯s understanding, it¡¯s like scrubbing a specific spot with a bath scrubber versus using it in a sawing motion¡ªthe amount of dirt removed is incomparable. And for non-Northerners, licking one spot is much more effective than randomly licking everywhere. Since Jiang Yuan really had the know-how, Wang Zhong kept his questions to himself and simply followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead, assisting him. After several years at the criminal science team¡¯s trace evidence position, Wang Zhong had long understood that some things may seem comprehensible when you see them, even quite understandable, but that doesn¡¯t mean you can think of them on your own. Coming up with an idea doesn¡¯t mean you can apply it correctly, using it correctly doesn¡¯t mean you can do it well, and doing it well doesn¡¯t mean you can do it quickly. To use an analogy that anyone who has gone through nine years of China compulsory education would understand: there are only five formulas in Euclidean geometry, only about a hundred words in Newton¡¯s three laws; most people could understand them after a lesson, but when facing a problem, it¡¯s not a given that they¡¯ll know which formula to use. Even if they figure it out, using it correctly is not guaranteed, nor is using it well or quickly. Wang Zhong, who was used to investigating crime scenes, was caught off guard by how detailed, skillful, and swift Jiang Yuan was. Fortunately, he had grown accustomed to assisting Jiang Yuan with fingerprints. What was once awkward became smoother with practice, and as he worked, it even started to feel quite comfortable. Chapter 25 - 25 25 Frantic Wiping ?25: Chapter 25: Frantic Wiping 25: Chapter 25: Frantic Wiping He cleaned the cups, then the glass, followed by the mirrors, cleaning the rough after the smooth, the fine after the rough, the soft after the fine, the hard after the soft... The work of crime scene investigation, when looked at broadly, involves a variety of aspects, but delving into details, it consists of many minute tasks. Policemen often say that solving a case is a matter of accumulating resources, and this is particularly evident during the on-site investigation phase. Take for instance the collection of DNA and fingerprints. Laypeople often believe that if a criminal suspect leaves DNA or fingerprints at a crime scene, the crime scene investigators will find them, but in reality, there is no advanced equipment capable of accurately detecting all fingerprints and DNA within a certain area. Fingerprints, for example, come in three types: patent, plastic, and latent. The first two types are visible to the eye, while the latter, as the name implies, require special means to be seen. These methods vary depending on the material on which the fingerprint is found, and can involve different techniques such as powder, small tubes, fuming, chemical reagents, or varying chemical reagents... Given this, to retrieve a fingerprint, a crime scene or trace evidence technician must first determine where fingerprints might be present, then observe¡ªwhich can be done with the naked eye, aided by light or angle, by breathing on a smooth surface, or by using a magnifying glass or ultraviolet light. Only after pinpointing the location of a fingerprint does the process of lifting it with powder or extracting it chemically with iodine fuming, silver nitrate, or other reagents begin. Therefore, if there were truly a ¡®Spiderman¡¯ who had climbed across the ceiling, the likelihood of crime scene investigators finding fingerprints on the ceiling is quite low. The complexity of DNA analysis exceeds that of fingerprint collection by far. After all, fingerprints are visible; DNA sometimes can be seen, and sometimes it¡¯s purely a matter of guessing. For instance, it¡¯s common to extract DNA from a victim¡¯s toothbrush, but the officer performing the extraction cannot see anything¡ªit¡¯s merely a guess that DNA is likely present on the toothbrush. For other items with a lower probability, such as shirts, bedsheets, or other personal clothing, or objects like cups and bowls, the presence of DNA is entirely a guess. The strength or weakness of crime scene investigation skills becomes very apparent at this point. Some investigators think from the perspective of the criminal suspect, guessing their movements and resting spots to find potential clues in an orderly manner, while others just pack up shirts and bedsheets indiscriminately to send back to the laboratory, or randomly cut out pieces without considering their relevance... But in general, the more people involved in the investigation, the stronger their capabilities, and the more time and effort invested, the higher the probability of discovering clues and evidence. In Wang Zhong¡¯s view, Jiang Yuan¡¯s operating techniques were very strong, but he felt it was only suitable during a homicide investigation. For a mere theft case, conducting an operation like Jiang Yuan¡¯s would be almost impossible. The cost of processing a single DNA test, for reagents alone, is nearly 100 yuan, and the number of tests that can be performed in a given time is limited¡ªthere might be such a long queue for biological samples that it would be impossible to get to... ¡°Let¡¯s clean the bathroom again,¡± Jiang Yuan said, having just finished processing the bedroom as the sky began to darken. Wang Zhong, slapping his head and pointing to a large box full of evidence bags, said, ¡°Why don¡¯t we come back tomorrow? There are already hundreds of these, and if we send them all to the lab, they¡¯re going to lose their minds.¡± Jiang Yuan explained, ¡°More than half of these probably won¡¯t yield any DNA, so they won¡¯t use up any reagents. The killer was too meticulous¡ªlook at the bedroom, so many fingerprints have been wiped clean. Plus, with all the blood the victim lost, the killer must have spent a lot of time in the bathroom, rinsing mops and possibly even washing up or doing laundry. The chances of finding DNA in the bathroom are quite high.¡± ¡°Xiao Hu and the others guessed the same and cleaned it thoroughly,¡± Wang Zhong said. ¡°They still cleaned too carelessly,¡± Jiang Yuan countered. He had observed Xiao Hu and others¡¯ handling of the body and saw no need for reservations now. ¡°Sigh... alright, I¡¯ll do an extra shift with you today,¡± Wang Zhong conceded. He hadn¡¯t noticed before, but now he was beginning to realize that the crime scene investigators on the team were indeed a bit haphazard, much like his own fingerprinting skills¡ªthe best review he could give was probably ¡°functional.¡± Just in the last few hours, the overlooked fingerprints that Jiang Yuan had found may not break the case, but they had already proved that his and Yan¡¯s ¡°functional¡± level was insufficient. ¡°Uh...¡± The old man at the door couldn¡¯t sit still any longer. ¡°We need to go home for dinner.¡± ¡°Just sign here and you can go,¡± Wang Zhong, who hadn¡¯t expected the elderly man to stay long to begin with, replied routinely. Witnesses are often like this: either completely unwilling to get involved, or they wander about and talk aimlessly, or they lack patience. Without the desire to educate, Wang Zhong simply brought over the crime scene inspection record, flipped to the signature page, had both men sign their names, then let them out the door. He only cautioned, ¡°What you¡¯ve seen and heard today, you can only discuss in court or when questioned by relevant departments. You cannot disclose it otherwise, or you¡¯ll face criminal liability.¡± The two old men left, impatiently nodding and saying ¡°yes, yes, we know.¡± Wang Zhong, used to this, nodded and closed the door, returning to assist Jiang Yuan with the DNA and fingerprint collection. The poor lighting in the bathroom made the cleaning even more challenging. But Jiang Yuan was energetically scrubbing away. Becoming a level 4 crime scene investigator didn¡¯t just improve his practical skills, but his cognitive understanding as well. Various criminal theories essentially suggest one truth: the longer a criminal stays at a crime scene and the more they do, the more mistakes they are likely to make. The perpetrator this time seemed to meticulously clean the crime scene and even calmly took a shower, but according to Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding, this only reflected the perpetrator¡¯s amateurishness and arrogance. With current DNA technology, even sweat can be used to identify someone, and it¡¯s absolutely impossible to clean a bathroom to flawlessness in a very short time. If the person had been even slightly professional, they should have at least wrapped the bathroom in plastic and carried away the plastic afterwards to bury or burn it, which would have resulted in far fewer traces of evidence. However, that would have left traces of tape or adhesive... Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t actually sure where he might pick up the perpetrator¡¯s DNA. He was young and had good stamina, so he scrubbed furiously. Scrubbed. Scrub scrub... Jiang Yuan was still in the rookie excitement phase, having just acquired the crime scene investigation LV4 skill. The scene he was truly investigating was the one before him. Naturally, he took full advantage of the opportunity to practice and experiment. In the skill set of crime scene investigation, technique is undoubtedly very important, meticulousness is indispensable, and on the other hand, physical strength, energy, and concentration are the keys to reaching a higher level. Was it like how Xue Huaiyi fell out of favor with Empress Wu Zetian because he became too experienced and skilled, and was hence looked down upon? Certainly not. In the same way, the Zhang brothers wouldn¡¯t lose favor for being young and reckless. Wang Zhong was lacking in many of these skills, but although he was a bit weary, he made an effort to keep up, inspired by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan took particular care in cleaning the bathroom ceiling and corners. The farther he went, the more meticulous and confident he became in his work. This house didn¡¯t have a separation between the dry and wet areas, but the bathroom was quite small, so the likelihood of water droplets splashing onto the walls and ceiling during a shower was not low, and it was impossible to thoroughly clean it in a short time. The only question was whether he could pick up any DNA. It was likely that any blood traces had been washed away or destroyed, but the perpetrator was probably an amateur if they thought all DNA traces could be washed away. An ordinary person who commits an unplanned murder usually wouldn¡¯t learn the relevant skills in advance. Even if they did, they might not learn them thoroughly or diligently, and then it would be only natural for a diligent and well-trained police officer to catch them. Night fell. Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong, carrying bags big and small, returned to the police station, heading straight for the DNA laboratory. Nowadays, with the increasing number of cases being solved using DNA, the police department¡¯s investment in DNA laboratories was also growing. Even in a poor county like Ningtai, following various subsidies and policy guidelines, a DNA laboratory was established in accordance with the standards provided by the ministry. This was also the department that consumed a lion¡¯s share of the police budget, the three-person laboratory devouring over 10% of the annual funds, and it was still on the rise. However, contrary to what Wang Zhong had expected, the DNA laboratory simply accepted the piles of evidence bags without any objections. They didn¡¯t even scrutinize or critique the biological samples Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong brought in. ¡°How come ¡®Old Qian¡¯ from DNA has become so easygoing?¡± Wang Zhong followed Jiang Yuan to the forensic doctor¡¯s office and mumbled his observation. In the forensic doctor¡¯s office, Wu Jun hadn¡¯t gone home either, like most of the criminal investigators. He sat in his office, organizing the data collected during the day. Standing up to rub his eyes, Wu Jun slowly said, ¡°The captain was angry this afternoon. The problem now is the lack of clues. The DNA lab is eager for you guys to send over samples so they aren¡¯t left with nothing to do.¡± Jiang Yuan laughed upon hearing this, ¡°Not working at night means having nothing to do?¡± ¡°The captain hasn¡¯t gone home,¡± Wu Jun said. ¡°If they don¡¯t find something soon, they will have to reassess the scene themselves.¡± Wang Zhong looked at Jiang Yuan, clicking his tongue twice, and said, ¡°It would be a waste of time for them to go. With their level of crime scene investigation, and I don¡¯t mean to brag, they could handle mundane cases, but...¡± Wu Jun cut off Wang Zhong, ¡°You think they don¡¯t know that?¡± ¡°Uh...¡± Wang Zhong found himself at a loss for words and quietly returned to his own office. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was quite satisfied. He tidied up and laid out his cot directly in the office. It wasn¡¯t until noise disrupted the detectives who had been up all night. ¡°The DNA matched someone, and Captain Liu has taken a team,¡± Wang Zhong was the first to burst into the office, his eyes still rimmed with rheum. Chapter 26 - 26 26 Persevere and Redouble Your Efforts ?26: Chapter 26 Persevere and Redouble Your Efforts 26: Chapter 26 Persevere and Redouble Your Efforts ¡°Who matched the DNA?¡± Jiang Yuan climbed up from the collapsible bed, took a sip of water, and casually used the remaining water in the cup to wash his face, feeling somewhat more alert afterward. Wang Zhong chuckled and said, ¡°You seemed pretty confident yesterday.¡± ¡°They wiped it first,¡± Jiang Yuan replied naturally. In crime scene investigation, being the first to act is definitely an advantage; if done thoroughly enough, there might be nothing left for others to do. Moreover, whether or not one can wipe and detect DNA is all a matter of probability. When DNA technology was new, criminals didn¡¯t understand it; they¡¯d leave pools of blood at the scene, large amounts of seminal stains on the ground, and tufts of hair on the bed. Naturally, the success rate was high. Nowadays, the truly foolish criminals are becoming fewer, making it not so easy to work with ¡°trace¡± DNA testing. Furthermore, there is a particular sophistication to DNA testing in the lab, and Ningtai County¡¯s technology is far from reassuring. However, Wang Zhong smiled proudly, ¡°No need to be modest, we were the ones who found it.¡± Wu Jun glanced at Wang Zhong. ¡°We?¡± ¡°I followed the case all day yesterday... Ah, let me just enjoy this moment,¡± Wang Zhong said, letting out a heavy sigh. ¡°You have no idea, the feeling yesterday was like spending an entire day finishing holiday homework. Today feels like the teacher is checking the holiday homework in detail and there¡¯s a huge reward or punishment at stake!¡± Jiang Yuan was also quite pleased, not just because they got a match, but also because his newly acquired skill had proven its value. Thinking about the opportunity to gain more skills in the future, he couldn¡¯t help but take a big gulp of water and then asked, ¡°Where was the matched sample collected from? Does the suspect have a prior record?¡± Given that the DNA was a direct match in the database, it likely indicates a prior record, as DNA data is much less common than fingerprint data. Wang Zhong didn¡¯t keep him in suspense, ¡°The guy was caught once for causing trouble. The matched sample was taken from the mortar in the wall of the bathroom toilet. I think it must be the murderer.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the relationship with the victim?¡± Wu Jun asked. Wang Zhong said, ¡°On the surface, there¡¯s no relationship, but that¡¯s where the problem lies, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah, if there¡¯s no relationship, he wouldn¡¯t have gone to someone else¡¯s bathroom to take a shower,¡± Wu Jun also leaned toward Wang Zhong¡¯s judgment. The bathroom was obviously cleaned and disinfected by the murderer, and most of the samples previously collected did not yield DNA. Now that they¡¯d finally detected one, Wu Jun didn¡¯t believe it was a coincidence. Real-life cases don¡¯t have that many coincidences; instead, it¡¯s the slip-ups that tend to be revealed. ¡°Has the person not been caught yet?¡± Jiang Yuan was now somewhat worried about the capture. Wang Zhong said, ¡°Captain Liu is an old hand at capturing people. As long as the murderer hasn¡¯t gotten away early, he¡¯ll be caught and brought back.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t run. If he was willing to run, all those cover-ups would¡¯ve been a waste.¡± While Wu Jun speculated, he wasn¡¯t entirely sure either. Inside the Ningtai County Bureau, Wu Jun wasn¡¯t the only one lacking certainty. The most anxious of all was Captain Huang Qiangmin of the criminal police squad. On the one hand, he hoped for good news from Captain Liu; on the other, he feared his hopes would be dashed and he had to urge other detectives to keep working on various leads. He felt conflicted about this approach, but his experience told him any relaxation during the critical first 72 hours was not allowed. However, looking on the bright side, having significant leads was extremely good news, far better than the anxiety of groping in the dark like yesterday. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t sit still in his office either. He roamed aimlessly, strolling from the first floor to the second and all the way up to the fourth, where he arrived at the forensic doctor¡¯s office. The few people in the office had been relaxed, but they tensed up at the sight of Huang Qiangmin walking in. ¡°Carry on with your work; I¡¯m just taking a look,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with a hint of awkwardness, forcing a smile and then inquiring with genuine concern, ¡°How¡¯s work going? Are you tired from staying up all night?¡± He didn¡¯t think much of it, but his smile was pointedly directed at Jiang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯m a bit tired, the camp bed is a little small,¡± Jiang Yuan said whatever was on his mind. After all, someone with a system is bound to be a bit willful. Captain Huang was taken aback by the response; in his years of comforting the public, the usual official response he received was ¡°not tired¡± or something along those lines. However, considering Jiang Yuan had displayed impressive capabilities since joining the force, Captain Huang¡¯s smile returned and he kindly said, ¡°They say the young people of today are different, and indeed you speak differently than we old folks do. Ah, you¡¯re tall too, sleeping on such a small camp bed must be tiring... I¡¯ll think of something...¡± ¡°I went to the re-examination of the scene with Jiang Yuan yesterday...¡± Comrade Wang Zhong popped his head in. Since there were only two forensic technicians in the department, and Captain Huang knew them both well, he gave Wang Zhong a reassuring smile. But the corners of his mouth stretched into the 33.3-degree angle unconsciously adopted when facing cruel criminals, and he said, ¡°Well done.¡± Comrade Wang Zhong¡¯s heart suddenly clenched, feeling as if he himself was a heinous criminal who had been on the run for seventeen years and had just been caught. ¡°You can stay in the dorm for a while, the bureau¡¯s dormitories are quite tight, and I¡¯m afraid a single room is out of the question. I¡¯ll try to free up a bunk for you to use for naps...¡± When Captain Huang looked back at Jiang Yuan, his gaze was gentle, and the corners of his mouth curved into a 66.6-degree smile. ¡°No need for now,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, not fully grasping how scarce the bedding situation was within the police station, but he didn¡¯t actually need it. The Jiangcun Residential Area wasn¡¯t too far, and his reluctance to go home wasn¡¯t due to inability, but laziness. Wang Zhong blinked in disappointment for a long time. His home wasn¡¯t in Ningtai County, and despite working for so long, he had yet to receive a dormitory spot from the bureau. Wu Jun observed from the side, revealing a smile of understanding. Having been in the Ningtai County Bureau for two or three decades, he understood the ecosystem at hand all too well. To sum it up in one phrase: those in drought die of thirst, and those in flood drown. After all, the bureau¡¯s resources were limited, and so were its talent resources. Because of this, they were willing to provide more resources than the municipal bureau to retain talent, but to spare these resources, there inevitably had to be a significant amount of dry land. It was precisely because he saw through this ecological environment that Wu Jun caused a major stir a few years ago, threatening to transfer as a leverage to get the bureau leaders to solve his problem of receiving a deputy section-level treatment. After all, the professional and rarity level of forensic doctors was considerably high compared to other positions. By this account, Jiang Yuan¡¯s appearance could even be considered as a byproduct of Wu Jun¡¯s previous ruckus. In the midst of his smugness, Captain Huang¡¯s phone rang. Everyone lowered their heads and perked up their ears. ¡°Captain Huang, we¡¯ve caught the person, we¡¯re going to the scene for identification now,¡± Captain Liu¡¯s voice came through, laden with triumphant overtones anyone could detect. Only the murderer or eyewitnesses would theoretically know the details of the scene, so identification of the scene was in itself excellent evidence. ¡°Did you find the murder weapon?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked immediately. There was a moment of hesitation before Captain Liu¡¯s voice lowered a bit, ¡°The kid confessed, said he threw it into the Tai River.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to apply to the higher-ups now. Once you¡¯ve identified the scene, go confirm the location of the weapon and organize a team to dredge it up,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, not considering the cost at the moment. The Tai River was wide and not very deep, and its current wasn¡¯t strong, so there was a chance of recovering a metallic object dropped into it, and the police had experience in this area. Captain Liu agreed immediately and added in a lower voice, ¡°We also found some ashes in his house. This guy washed the bloody clothes and brought them home, then burned them. I asked him why he didn¡¯t just throw them in the river? He was worried about leaving his own DNA and such on the clothes. Throwing them in with the weapon, he feared they might be dredged up years later and used to incriminate him...¡± ¡°That cautious?¡± ¡°Educated folks,¡± Captain Liu said, smirking on the other end of the phone. ¡°Bad hearts think too much. Poor psychological quality. When we came knocking, he started talking nonsense. Captain Huang, we¡¯ve cracked the case.¡± ¡°Hmm, excellent work!¡± Huang Qiangmin encouraged him and after a few more instructions, ended the call. Turning back, Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan again and broke into a 66.6-degree smile, saying, ¡°Take the opportunity to get some rest. You can head home early today.¡± Seeing Wang Zhong poking his head around, Huang Qiangmin added another line, ¡°Jiang Yuan will get a good sleep at home. The young ones should try not to overexert themselves either, and the rest of us... we¡¯re old comrades now, let¡¯s keep it up and work to solidify the case today! Pin down the murderer!¡± Chapter 27 - 27 27 The Stranger Case ?27: Chapter 27: The Stranger Case 27: Chapter 27: The Stranger Case ¡°Are you really going back to rest?¡± Wang Zhong eyed Jiang Yuan packing his things, feeling a clear sense of heartburn. He occasionally arrived late or left early, but never because a leader told him to do so. And he envied that. Jiang Yuan rubbed his shoulders, justifying with confidence, ¡°There¡¯s nothing else to do here. Those army cots are too uncomfortable to sleep on, I need to go back and catch up on some sleep.¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s envy was so intense he felt like his nose and neck would break. Everyone knows how uncomfortable army cots are, and that overworking and staying up late can ruin your health and shorten your life... With a sorrowful tone, Wang Zhong said, ¡°Captain Huang offered you a dorm room, you turned it down¡ªthose dorm rooms are hard to come by...¡± Wu Jun cut off Wang Zhong¡¯s words, ¡°Jiang Yuan exerted himself all day yesterday climbing up and down, he really is tired. The case is solved anyway; there¡¯s still a lot Jiang Yuan can learn in processing a case, there¡¯s no need to rush.¡± Now that the case was cracked and the criminal suspect was apprehended, what followed was the case processing stage that the detectives greatly detested. Processing a case is extremely draining on one¡¯s energy. If solving a case is akin to eating a meal, then processing a case is like cooking and combining it with washing the dishes and cleaning up the table. Wu Jun didn¡¯t actually like the case processing either. His job as a forensic doctor mainly involved crime scene investigation, autopsies, and a bunch of toxicological analyses, etc. All in all, the total working hours could be covered in 20 hours; this time the work was smooth, and there wasn¡¯t much left. A few days ago, Wu Jun would naturally have assigned most of this work to Jiang Yuan¡ªthe purpose of hiring new staff was exactly that. But now, seeing how the Criminal Police Team¡¯s captain doted on Jiang Yuan, and considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s proactive re-investigation that led to significant results, Wu Jun felt there was no need to use Jiang Yuan as a beast of burden. Letting Jiang Yuan take a little break before putting him to work again also followed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s orders, and could be considered sustainable development. Wang Zhong really wanted to stress that he had also exhausted himself by climbing up and down all of yesterday¡ªalthough he hadn¡¯t achieved any tangible results, it was a question of capability, not a lack of effort... Watching Jiang Yuan quickly pack up his things and head out the door, Wang Zhong could only shout from behind, ¡°When the interrogation results are out, I¡¯ll let you know.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan waved, disappearing at the staircase. The interrogation took much longer than Jiang Yuan anticipated. It wasn¡¯t until the afternoon of the next day, around the time people were getting off work, that an update on the case came out. In front of Jiang Yuan instantly popped the task completion notification: Task Completed: From the Beginning Task Description: Perform a repeated investigation of the Xue Ming case scene to obtain clues and evidence. Reward Content: One skill expansion. Then, four skill options appeared in front of Jiang Yuan. 1. Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method¡ªLoop Pattern Identification (LV3) 2. Making Fried Rice (LV3) 3. Crime Scene Investigation (LV4) 4. Camping (LV2) Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes lingered on the third option for a while, but he chose the first option, the Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method¡ªLoop Pattern Identification (LV3). In an instant, this skill transformed into the Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV3). The dropping of the note on loop patterns meant that Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill now covered all types of fingerprints. A sense of relief unconsciously washed over Jiang Yuan. Being adept only at identifying loop patterns does come with many inconveniences in practice, and that is precisely why he didn¡¯t choose to expand Crime Scene Investigation (LV4). In his opinion, LV4 Crime Scene Investigation was obviously stronger than an LV3 skill, at the very least standing out from his colleagues in the Criminal Science Squad at LV4, reaching heights that might be unattainable for a regular technician even with their utmost effort. Jiang Yuan was confident in performing re-investigations precisely because of such a foundation. In contrast, an LV3 level skill didn¡¯t seem as dramatically superior; it was roughly equivalent to the peak state a technician could achieve solely through experience. At this level, Jiang Yuan felt anything but relaxed when matching fingerprints¡ªlike with the ¡°High-Speed Service Area Oil Theft Gang¡± case, where he had given up on matching two sets of prints. Of course, from a skill level perspective, expanding ¡°Crime Scene Investigation (LV4)¡± could have been the more cost-effective choice, possibly leading to a qualitative leap when upgraded to LV5. However, the direct case-solving nature of fingerprint identification appealed to Jiang Yuan even more. On the other hand, crime scene investigations were more time-consuming and tended to focus on current cases. From a high perspective of maintaining social stability and showcasing social justice, Jiang Yuan felt it was okay to wait a bit longer¡ªbeing the owner of the system, he thought his perspective should be elevated. Thump, thump. Wang Zhong knocked on the door and sauntered in, starting with, ¡°Did you hear?¡± ¡°You tell me,¡± Wu Jun replied, as if he had been waiting for this. ¡°Heh heh,¡± Wang Zhong chuckled and said, ¡°The murder weapon has been retrieved, it¡¯s a solid case now.¡± ¡°Really retrieved?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. Many of his family¡¯s houses had views of the Tai River. Although the flow wasn¡¯t fast, the river was so wide and several days had passed¡ªit was unexpected to still recover the murder weapon. Wang Zhong curled his lip and said, ¡°Frogmen and divers from out of town were brought in today. They pointed out where the weapon was thrown in while searching right there on the spot, and they just found it now. It cost more money than the car Captain Huang bought.¡± Huang Qiangmin drove a Pajero handed down from his unit. Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, recognizing the significance. This was just a part of a case, and they were willing to spend so much money; it was evident how high the investigation costs for a homicide case could be. If Ningtai County had a few more such cases, the police station would directly face a famine. ¡°Now that the murder weapon has been found, has the suspect fully confessed?¡± Jiang Yuan asked further, ¡°It was earlier said that the suspect had a very poor psychological quality, I thought the case would be finished the same day.¡± ¡°You¡¯re thinking too much,¡± Wu Jun said. ¡°This is a homicide case, likely to result in a death sentence, so everything must be done by the book. For instance, the criminal must be sent to the detention center; interrogation times must meet regulations, not exceeding the limit, no nighttime interrogations, no threats...¡± ¡°So, it¡¯s been done quite quickly this time,¡± Jiang Yuan realized. ¡°It¡¯s just so,¡± Wu Jun said while tapping his chopsticks, ¡°Let me put it this way, of all the homicide cases I¡¯ve encountered, the more premeditated the crime and the better prepared the criminal, the faster they confess once they¡¯re in the interrogation room. Their preparations stem from a fear of getting caught.¡± ¡°That seems quite reasonable,¡± Jiang Yuan followed Wu Jun¡¯s logic and nodded, then turned to Wang Zhong and asked, ¡°What was the murderer¡¯s motive?¡± ¡°This is where it gets interesting,¡± Wang Zhong had been waiting for this, he took pleasure for two seconds before seriously saying, ¡°The murderer was the victim¡¯s ¡®simpering lackey.''¡± Wu Jun, in his fifties, knew what a ¡®simpering lackey¡¯ was but still couldn¡¯t help but express surprise, ¡°Even prostitutes have ¡®simpering lackeys¡¯?¡± ¡°Unexpected, right?¡± Wang Zhong ate a few bites, swallowed, then continued, ¡°The suspect had been trying to persuade the prostitute to quit and turn over a new leaf but was always brushed off and even scammed out of red packets. He confronted the victim because the victim had helped introduce business, including the prostitute¡¯s trip to the provincial city to deliver takeout(prostitue) that afternoon, which was arranged by the victim.¡± ¡°He himself paid 500 for a session, but the one he introduced paid 2000 per session? Did he take a kickback?¡± Wu Jun asked. Wang Zhong nodded, ¡°Just that 500.¡± Wu Jun laughed, ¡°A freeloader, huh?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Wang Zhong shook his head and went on, ¡°The suspect found out about this, confronted the man claiming he wanted to persuade him to stop, a verbal confrontation ensued, and reportedly, the victim was quite foul-mouthed, leading to the suspect getting agitated and pulling out a knife. And just like that, a fatal strike, how outrageous, right?¡± ¡°Even more outrageous is taking a shower at the crime scene after a first-time murder. What was he thinking?¡± ¡°He was trying to erase the evidence, of course. This man is an upright graduate of The Great Learning. After graduation, he stayed home preparing for postgraduate studies, took money from his parents, and sent red packets to the prostitute. He claimed he didn¡¯t know the victim, just wanting to clean up the evidence, and after leaving the scene he kept hiding, hoping to evade punishment.¡± Wu Jun had heard even more absurd stories but couldn¡¯t help shaking his head at this one, saying from a different perspective, ¡°You know, today¡¯s case was actually committed by a stranger.¡± Wang Zhong coughed twice and quickly said in a low voice, ¡°Captain Huang had judged it to be an acquaintance crime...¡± ¡°You were the one who pointed that out,¡± Wu Jun glanced at Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong gave a bitter smile. ¡°All joking aside, if Xiao Jiang hadn¡¯t revisited the scene, this case might have been up in the air,¡± Wu Jun said meaningfully. Wang Zhong was stunned for a moment then agreed, ¡°Indeed, a crime by a stranger, without peeling off three layers, is very difficult to crack.¡± A stranger¡¯s crime implies no direct link or even intersection between the murderer and the victim. In other words, the murderer is not in the victim¡¯s relational network. Typically based on interpersonal relationships, the easiest cases for law enforcement to crack are those that follow this network. Once outside the relational network, whether the motive is for profit, a spur-of-the-moment thrill, or other reasons, the difficulty of solving the case increases significantly. Not only serial killer cases that turn into famous crimes pose a headache precisely for this reason¡ªif there are no witnesses or direct evidence, both solving the crime and achieving a conviction face tremendous difficulty. For the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, any case labeled with the words ¡°stranger¡± was a major headache, let alone a homicide.¡± ¡°Xiao Jiang¡¯s got something,¡± Wu Jun felt quite moved, suddenly thinking that the life he dreamt of, one without handling corpses, seemed both nearer and further away. Chapter 28 - 28 28 Arson ?28: Chapter 28 Arson 28: Chapter 28 Arson A murder case touches the heart of the entire police station. By evening, a streaming crowd heads to the cafeteria for dinner, including desk officers who are not often seen on the way to get food. Doctor Wu looked out of the window at this scene, revealing a smile of wisdom, and pulled out a lunch box from under the office cabinet, saying, ¡°I knew today was going to be busy, so I brought rice and eggs specially.¡± He opened the lid to show Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong, and sure enough, it contained leftover rice and raw eggs. The three of them nodded in unison, naturally walked downstairs, smoothly turned a corner, and made their way to the canine unit to eat. Greeting Li Li, who was training dogs, they slipped into the kitchen. Through the glass of the kitchen, one could see Li Li¡¯s impressive figure on the training ground; her graceful movements were like those in a movie, delightfully pleasant to the eye. Jiang Yuan counted the number of people, four, just enough for one egg each. Swiftly, he mixed the leftover rice, expertly heated the pan with oil, and started to stir-fry. Doctor Wu gave Jiang Yuan a helpless look, took the remaining five eggs, heated Dazhuang¡¯s pan, and as he fried the eggs, he said, ¡°Your Jiang Village wasn¡¯t in great shape before it was demolished. When I was a kid, cooking rice at home wasn¡¯t this thrifty.¡± Jiang Yuan thought to himself that his Uncle Seventeen aspired to be a capitalist, and although he met an untimely end, that extreme penny-pinching mindset was quite distinctive. ¡°Send an egg over to Dazhuang,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he stir-fried the rice, watching Dazhuang¡¯s agile figure outside the window. ¡°The food made by Captain Li might be too...healthy.¡± Although there was only Li Li in the canine unit, she was indeed the unit captain. ¡°Okay,¡± Doctor Wu agreed in one breath, then added, ¡°It¡¯s just that Dazhuang can¡¯t talk. Otherwise, he¡¯d surely end up slamming the table in front of the chief.¡± Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong thought the same and nodded simultaneously. Before long, the Rottweilers, having finished their training and panting lightly, returned. Dazhuang, not allowed in the kitchen, obediently lay down outside the door, two meters away, his nose twitching, a look of excitement on his face. Until he saw Li Li wield the big spoon. ... For several days in a row, the officers of the Ningtai County Bureau entered a tacit state of rest and recuperation. Living a life of arriving late, leaving early, and not working overtime was tacitly permitted in some teams during the few days immediately after the murder case had ended. The first and second squads, who were directly involved in the investigation, stakeouts, and arrests, were even given two days off, compensated for the overtime and late nights worked earlier. They had to take a break, or they¡¯d collapse from exhaustion. The first and second squads, responsible for major cases year-round, were composed mostly of seasoned officers from the criminal police team. Officers here refer to police over 35 years old, the age big internet companies consider unfit for overtime before sending them back to society. While these people can occasionally work like beasts, doing so for too long can indeed lead to collapse. Jiang Yuan also enjoyed several leisurely days before gradually returning to his normal work routine. Meanwhile, the backlog of cases in the detective squad seemed to be slowly rousing everyone back to action. Monday. After the morning meeting, Wang Zhong headed straight to the forensic office. ¡°Doctor Jiang, according to your request and Captain Huang¡¯s idea, I¡¯ve been through the archives these past two days and found a suitable case,¡± Wang Zhong greeted him with the case and then naturally fetched a broom from behind the door to start cleaning the office. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, a little embarrassed; he was originally the least experienced one in the room. ¡°No need, I¡¯ll just sweep around,¡± Wang Zhong firmly stopped Jiang Yuan and continued, ¡°Let me tell you about the case. Captain Huang¡¯s thinking is that we shouldn¡¯t let our resources benefit others. And your requirement is for bow-shaped patterns, preferably ones that can directly identify the suspect through fingerprints and thus solve the case...¡± Jiang Yuan could now handle all types of fingerprints, but, there was no rush to speak of the next case just yet. Seeing that Jiang Yuan did not oppose, Wang Zhong continued, ¡°I found a fitting case, but it might be a bit difficult. Take a look first.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan casually opened the software. Wang Zhong pulled out a notebook, tore off a page, handed it to Jiang Yuan, and introduced, ¡°You can enter the case by its number... This is an arson case, and it also happens to be an old case of over five years. Four greenhouses in Wen Township were burnt down in one go; there were no injuries, but the financial loss exceeded a million, virtually bankrupting the victim.¡± ¡°Wen Township is a poor area; over a million is not a small amount.¡± Doctor Wu frowned as he looked over. ¡°That¡¯s why I still remember it,¡± Wang Zhong said, continuing, ¡°Yan Ge and I collected several fingerprints from the origin of the fire, all of them incomplete. The case analysis meeting concluded that the focus of the investigation should be on someone familiar with the victims. At that time, we covered the entire village and the neighboring village, conducting interviews, collecting fingerprints, and so on, but ultimately, no clues were found...¡± While reviewing the case file on his computer, Jiang Yuan asked, listening to Wang Zhong¡¯s words, ¡°Since it was a major case, the fingerprints must have been examined by other experts, right?¡± ¡°Chief Shi from the Provincial Department¡¯s fingerprint division took a look at it,¡± Wang Zhong, knowing Jiang Yuan was not familiar with the individuals involved, continued, ¡°Chief Shi¡¯s full name is Shi Gang, and he is fifty this year, considered a very experienced trace evidence analyst. But I suspect Chief Shi didn¡¯t spend much time on this case; that year, there were several major cases in the province one after another, and subsequently, this one was put on hold.¡± ¡°Just the financial loss of over a million, and the partial fingerprints weren¡¯t even considered in the fingerprint challenge?¡± Wu Jun summarized. Wang Zhong nodded his head. Police resources are always limited. Even if the annual funds can be increased and some arrangements can be made, unless it¡¯s a major case, ordinary cases are always troubled by various financial and resource constraints. Just like the fingerprint challenge, in terms of spending money, the mere challenge itself doesn¡¯t cost much, but even if all the fingerprint experts in the province are pulled out for it, there is still limited ground they can cover. In a way, it¡¯s the high profile and major cases that are the big spenders of funds and resources, and it¡¯s precisely these cases that make the spending on ordinary cases even more constrained. Human resources are no exception. Having heard the conversation between the two, Jiang Yuan also expressed his uncertainty, ¡°Even if the experts didn¡¯t look at the fingerprints very closely, the likelihood of me finding a match now is not high.¡± Wang Zhong quickly said, ¡°I have an idea about that.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Experts require at least eight characteristic points to match fingerprints. If we only match six or seven points, and do it within the range of villagers near the collection site, we might be able to find the suspect.¡± This also counts as a desperate measure. If the criminal suspect is an ordinary villager, then as long as they find the person, a targeted interrogation might just yield some results. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Wasn¡¯t this method tried back then?¡± ¡°We did try it,¡± Wang Zhong admitted reluctantly, ¡°but the fingerprints were too badly damaged for us to extract enough characteristic points, and several hopeful fingerprints ultimately led to exclusionary conclusions after matching characteristic points. We couldn¡¯t really make demands of Chief Shi from the province; without eight characteristic points, they wouldn¡¯t give us an inconclusive result.¡± Making fingerprint comparisons on the spot and submitting fingerprints for a collective challenge are two different things; the latter must follow certain standards or regulations. An external fingerprint expert cannot engage in such special operations. However, at the same time, if Jiang Yuan were to perform this sort of special operation, it would also require deeper involvement from his colleagues. Jiang Yuan stayed quiet, downloaded the fingerprints from the original case, and began to look at them in silence. He first marked them in the usual way and ran several analyses, but couldn¡¯t find any identical fingerprints, meaning there was very little room for error. ¡°In that case, I need to talk to the officer in charge of this case. If we can only compare six or seven characteristic points, then the fingerprints can¡¯t be used as evidence, and the officer will still have to follow up on the case,¡± Jiang Yuan said, pausing for a moment, adding, ¡°Moreover, trying to find a match with only six characteristic points could indeed lead to misidentifying someone, of course, it¡¯s also possible that none of the six points will match...¡± Upon hearing this, Wang Zhong felt a headache coming on and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Did I come up with a bad idea?¡± Wu Jun calmly said from the side, ¡°You¡¯re assuming that Jiang Yuan will be able to find a match.¡± ¡°Right, right, right, that¡¯s what I was thinking at the time,¡± Wang Zhong said relieved. Wu Jun let out a chuckle, ¡°You¡¯re putting Jiang Yuan on the spot.¡± ¡°Eh, I didn¡¯t, I mean, I really didn¡¯t think that...¡± Wang Zhong hastily explained. ¡°Who is in charge of this case?¡± Wu Jun asked another question. ¡°It¡¯s Captain Wei... the deputy captain of the sixth team, Wei Zhenguo,¡± Wang Zhong said. Wu Jun uttered, ¡°Oh,¡± and added, ¡°Then no problem, Wei is easy to push around... easy to talk to; just arrange to have a chat.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go for fried rice at the K9 unit,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested, finding the Rottweilers¡¯ place to be very convenient; it¡¯s spacious, has a kitchen, and also offers a chance to pet dogs. Chapter 29 - 29 29 Consolidation of Cases ?29: Chapter 29: Consolidation of Cases 29: Chapter 29: Consolidation of Cases Police Dog Squad. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, Dazhuang couldn¡¯t even be bothered to bark anymore and just lifted his head as a form of greeting. If the dog won¡¯t initiate, Jiang Yuan can. Walking forward, he called out, ¡°Captain Li, I¡¯m going to pet the dog.¡± Li Li, who was hiding in the kitchen scrolling through her phone, didn¡¯t even lift her head and simply shouted, ¡°Dazhuang, let him pet you.¡± Dazhuang grinned, muttering something unintelligible, but still lowered his head. Jiang Yuan energetically stroked him for a while. The dogs handled by female officers were generally clean and hygienic, making their fur even more pleasant to touch. Once he had his fill of petting, Jiang Yuan proceeded to the kitchen to make fried rice, cracking eggs with a slap and explaining to Li Li, ¡°Forensic specialist Yan Ge and Wang Zhong are coming over, and also Captain Wei from the Sixth Squad.¡± ¡°I thought you¡¯d finally let go. Fine, as long as they don¡¯t pet the dog,¡± Li Li replied. Far from being unhappy, she actually seemed quite pleased. As a member of the police force, her police dog squad had always been on the periphery. Although it was genuinely quiet, it was indeed boring. Before long, the fried rice Jiang Yuan was cooking was ready, and Wu Jun and Wang Zhong arrived on time. A short while later, a dark-faced veteran police officer came around from the other end of the courtyard wall. Without saying a word, Dazhuang started barking enthusiastically. ¡°This dog...¡± The veteran officer cursed with a laugh, then waved to everyone. ¡°Old Wei,¡± Wu Jun greeted him and then, once he approached, introduced him to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Captain Wei is our vice captain of the Sixth Squad, a real veteran...¡± ¡°Vice captain sounds impressive but it¡¯s useless. You can call me Old Wei or Wei Zhenguo.¡± From a distance, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s face looked dark, but up close it was deeply wrinkled, with a somewhat chubby chin indicating years of fieldwork and recent signs of putting on weight. ¡°Captain Wei,¡± Jiang Yuan said, standing up politely. In the county bureau, it was common practice to bestow the title of vice squad leader to older officers. It held no real power, it wasn¡¯t an executive position, and it didn¡¯t even come with a pay raise¡ªit just sounded better. ¡°Old Wei will do. Recently, I¡¯ve been hearing Doctor Jiang¡¯s name everywhere.¡± Wei Zhenguo made a polite remark, then continued, ¡°Are you looking into the greenhouse arson case in Wen Township?¡± Wang Zhong quickly said, ¡°We just wanted to consult Captain Wei on the case.¡± ¡°Do you have any leads?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked, half-opening his eyes and looking at Jiang Yuan. He had spent half his life in the bureau and was crystal clear about the capabilities of the technicians there. Yet, it was Jiang Yuan, despite being a newcomer, who had demonstrated impressive performance in two consecutive cases, which intrigued Wei Zhenguo. Wang Zhong recounted the discussion from the previous day. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s expression turned serious, and he fell into deep thought. ¡°What do you think?¡± Jiang Yuan asked after waiting a bit. ¡°I understand what you¡¯re thinking¡ªyou want to pinpoint a suspect, and then I bring him in for interrogation to see if he¡¯ll confess?¡± Wei Zhenguo summarized. Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong glanced at each other and nodded. ¡°This is tough,¡± Wei Zhenguo said with a smile, but he shook his head and continued, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong to think that the culprit is likely someone from the area near the crime scene. And, since we did collect fingerprints back then, scanning them again¡ªeven if we can¡¯t pinpoint the suspect right away, there¡¯s a good chance of scaring one up.¡± Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong nodded again. ¡°We did that already, found nothing,¡± Wei Zhenguo answered plainly. Both were taken aback, and Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t see that. It¡¯s not in the records...¡± ¡°With the way you went about it today, after you¡¯re done, could you make a record?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked with a calm demeanor. ¡°Ah... this... ah!¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s disappointment was clearly expressed. This plan, which he had thought about for a long time, had already been attempted by others and proven to be a dead end. It was at this point that Wu Jun looked towards Wei Zhenguo and said, ¡°Captain Wei, you¡¯re a veteran detective. If you have any thoughts, just spit them out.¡± Based on Wu Jun¡¯s understanding of the criminal police, a veteran detective like Wei Zhenguo, if not brimming with cunning plans, certainly had plenty of accumulated methods for solving cases. Moreover, Wei Zhenguo must have had some ideas about this arson case, or else he could have simply refused over the phone¡ªthere was no need for him to come to the K-9 unit. Dazhuang wouldn¡¯t be stroking his fur. Wei Zhenguo tapped Wu Jun with his hand and broke into a smile, ¡°Old Wu is always overthinking. I do have an idea that I think we could try.¡± ¡°Go ahead,¡± Wu Jun urged. Wei Zhenguo elaborated, ¡°Arsonists usually don¡¯t just commit one crime. In my understanding, those who engage in this kind of thing have an addiction. Some of them, even if they tell themselves not to commit crimes, once they start a fire, where it spreads and what it turns into¡ªthey often can¡¯t control it.¡± He paused to let the others clear their thoughts, then continued, ¡°Five years ago, when working on the greenhouse arson case, I organized a few nearby cases involving fires to see if they could be linked, but the conditions were not quite right...¡± Wu Jun interrupted, ¡°Cases that couldn¡¯t be linked five years ago, can they be linked now?¡± ¡°Back then, I wanted to link the cases so that I could ask the provincial experts to compare fingerprints. If Jiang Yuan can compare fingerprints directly, then we can arrest the suspect first and then consider linking the cases,¡± Wei Zhenguo said earnestly. ¡°Before I came here, I checked again. Before the Wen Township arson case, there were three other small cases nearby, involving losses of just a few hundred to a few thousand, at most ten thousand yuan. Some collected incomplete fingerprints, others didn¡¯t collect any or didn¡¯t collect usable ones. None were matched to a person. But I think these cases have something in common...¡± Wei Zhenguo counted on his fingers as he listed, ¡°First, Wen Township is an isolated place with few outsiders, and the crime scenes are all outside the town, which makes it very likely that the perpetrator is a local or at least someone familiar with the area. Second, the number of arson cases in Wen Township and the surrounding area¡ªthree to four in three years¡ªis significantly higher than in other towns and regions in our county. Third, after the Wen Township arson case, no further arson incidents occurred there, which suggests that the suspect might have fled, explaining why the investigation couldn¡¯t find anyone.¡± ¡°So, we solve other small arson cases to see if we can tie them to the Wen Township arson case?¡± Jiang Yuan rephrased Wei Zhenguo¡¯s strategy. Wei Zhenguo nodded and said, ¡°My plan is actually similar to Xiao Wang¡¯s, an indirect approach, a flanking maneuver. However, investigating smaller cases is actually a bit simpler. We have the cases, so procedures for arrests and interrogations are easier to follow. Once we catch someone, we¡¯ll have the small cases to pressure them into revealing more. Even if my judgment is wrong, at least we will have solved some cases, right?¡± Everyone seemed much more relaxed and nodded in agreement. In fact, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s strategy was far more sophisticated than Wang Zhong¡¯s. The old detective¡¯s tactics indeed proved to be more mature. ¡°Let¡¯s have some fried rice first, and after we finish, we¡¯ll go back and look at the cases,¡± Jiang Yuan said spiritedly as he served fried rice to everyone. Wei Zhenguo took a bowl of fried rice, stared absently at the orange-yellow grains, and remarked, ¡°It¡¯s pretty rare to treat someone to this.¡± Chapter 30 - 30 30 Captain Wei is good ?30: Chapter 30 Captain Wei is good 30: Chapter 30 Captain Wei is good Jiang Yuan recorded several cases mentioned by Wei Zhenguo on paper before searching for them one by one in the computer. As Wei Zhenguo said, there were a total of three cases. One involved a forest and was a bona fide case of arson, but no fingerprints were captured. The other two did capture fingerprints, but one was a near-scrap tractor that had been set on fire, and the other was an uninhabited old house. The fingerprints found at the latter two scenes were very poor, incomplete and deformed, to say the least. Jiang Yuan guessed that the local police station¡¯s officers might have conducted the on-site investigation without considering the problem of fingerprints being burned; they simply dusted with powder and stuck on tape... When the fingerprints made it to the criminal investigation team¡¯s trace examination, regardless of whether they were taken seriously or not, Jiang Yuan knew from his accurate assessment of Yan and the others¡¯ skills, that such fingerprints were beyond their ability to process. Of course, there was no need to blame anyone. Just as most ordinary people can¡¯t get into top universities, can¡¯t get into key high schools or primary schools, don¡¯t have parents who are industry leaders, don¡¯t come from distinguished families, can¡¯t become elite in their field, nor have the incredible luck to get an external boost... The county bureau¡¯s requirements for technical officers certainly couldn¡¯t be TV drama level. Fingerprints that were not of major case caliber wouldn¡¯t catch the attention of expert bigwigs. Mere cases of a few thousand yuan in value could only receive conventional treatment. However, if these three cases could be linked to the previous greenhouse arson case, it would be a different story. ¡°Please, have a seat,¡± Jiang Yuan returned to the office. Wei Zhenguo followed him in. As a criminal police officer himself, he was also a busy man, but he still wanted to see Jiang Yuan¡¯s level of expertise¡ªtrace examination was the technical part most familiar to ordinary officers, who could generally manage daily tasks like comparing fingerprints on fingerprint cards. Jiang Yuan sat up straight, ready to take a good look at these few fingerprints. He first downloaded the fingerprints from the burned tractor case, and as he looked at the image, he fell into deep thought. This fingerprint caught his eye, giving Jiang Yuan a sense of familiarity. Jiang Yuan had spent a week going over the fingerprints from the greenhouse arson case, and now upon seeing this newly downloaded fingerprint, images began to form in his mind. The images weren¡¯t quite the same, but there was a certain degree of similarity. Considering factors like deformation and exposure to fire and sun, what Wei Zhenguo had mentioned earlier could indeed be possible. Both sets of fingerprints were incomplete in their own ways, making it difficult to prove they were from the same person. Combining the two into one was similarly challenging. Nevertheless, compared to the Wen Township arson case, the burned tractor case had three fingerprints collected at the point of origin, all with better integrity. Jiang Yuan shook his head and rubbed his fingers before picking up the mouse and skillfully dragging the fingerprint into Photoshop. Adjusting tones, contrast, and filtering background... Jiang Yuan now performed these tasks as smoothly as a fishmonger gutting fish, an abalone seller shucking shells, a stripper undressing¡ªan eye-dazzling spectacle. Captain Wei, who had previously seen trace examiners match fingerprints, was familiar with their hesitant and painstaking movements, which could easily lead someone to confuse a fishmonger for an abalone seller, an abalone seller for a stripper, a stripper for a fishmonger... ¡°This fingerprint is promising,¡± Jiang Yuan quickly marked 10 characteristic points and sent it for automatic matching. A column of 20 fingerprints appeared, and Jiang Yuan only needed to look at a few before stopping. He placed the two fingerprints on the same screen, tilted his hand to the left, and slowly said, ¡°The orientation is a bit off, but they can basically be confirmed as the same.¡± ¡°Eh, a match?¡± Xiao Wang jumped over to look first. ¡°The burned tractor case should be a match,¡± Jiang Yuan took another look and felt a wave of relief wash over him. He had compared fingerprints in the greenhouse arson case for a long time without finding a match and had even thought there might not be a corresponding fingerprint in the database. But today, this case tore through the layers of veil in an instant. The tractor arson case was matched, but it could potentially unravel a series of connected cases. Captain Wei, with a hiss, leaned over to look, murmuring, ¡°So fast...¡± He had come to see how Jiang Yuan worked with fingerprints, but he didn¡¯t expect that in such a short time, he would witness Jiang Yuan matching the prints¡ªCaptain Wei had also sent the relevant fingerprints to familiar trace examiners in Qinghe City, but as it was evidently not an easy feat for the city¡¯s examiners to match prints of this level. ¡°Does he have a history of arson?¡± Wu Jun was also curious to see if this case was, as Captain Wei had said, really the work of the same person. Jiang Yuan clicked on the detailed information but shook his head, saying, ¡°No. His fingerprints were collected when he reported his ID card lost at a local police station. Later, they caught him stealing with these fingerprints...¡± Every police station had the task of collecting fingerprints, which also featured in the ¡°power rankings¡± between the stations and the county bureau. When needed, regardless of what business you were there for, they¡¯d collect your fingerprints first. Captain Wei nodded lightly, pulled out his phone, and while sending a message, said, ¡°I¡¯m going to meet this person... Thank you for your hard work, Doctor Jiang.¡± As a veteran detective, a simple heads-up to his squad leader, backed by a couple of officers, was all he needed to proceed. While speaking, Captain Wei had already reached the door, waved his hand, and swiftly left. Wang Zhong watched Captain Wei depart, his expression suddenly growing somber, ¡°Jiang Yuan, Captain Wei seems to like you quite a bit.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°How can you tell?¡± ¡°Captain Wei is all bluster and stare with other people.¡± ¡°Is that so...¡± ¡°You should get along well with Captain Wei,¡± Wang Zhong sighed and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, seize the opportunity.¡± ¡°Is there something special about him?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled, looking at Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong sighed deeply again, ¡°Captain Wei, well... his daughter is very beautiful.¡± Chapter 31 - 31 31 Fond of Arson ?31: Chapter 31: Fond of Arson 31: Chapter 31: Fond of Arson Wei Zhenguo went out in the afternoon, and the next morning, he returned with heavier bags under his eyes and deeper wrinkles. Accompanying him was a youth of not yet 20, short and lean, with an air of indifference, only his eyes swiftly darting around. Once the formalities were complete, Wei Zhenguo immediately took the person into the interrogation room. The interrogation room of the criminal police team was on the first floor, merely a small room of thirty to forty square meters. In the center of the room were iron railings, with iron gates and locks dividing it. The half of the room by the door, enclosed by the iron railings, was the interrogation area, equipped with a desk, a computer, and chairs. The inner end was the suspect restraint area, with nothing but a single, lonely interrogation chair. The interrogation chair was euphemistically known in the industry as the ¡°tiger bench.¡± The chair was made entirely of steel, its base fixed to the floor, with ankle rings fitting snugly around the ankles of the suspected criminal, and armrests with wrist cuffs to enclose their wrists. A police rope hung from the backrest, which could tie the suspect¡¯s body to the chair. This whole restraint apparatus was not only to prevent suspects from becoming violent and harming others but also to prevent them from self-harm. For the police, any injury occurring within the interrogation room needed to be handled prudently, not something that could be simply explained away in a few words. ¡°Open,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, supporting the suspect with his hand, signaling a colleague to open the door. Click. The iron lock and door opened. Wei Zhenguo led the suspect inside and then motioned for his colleague to close the door. Click. The iron door and lock closed. After the two sounds had echoed, the suspect¡¯s indifferent expression had quietly vanished. Wei Zhenguo then pointed to the tiger bench and said, ¡°Sit down.¡± The suspect swallowed and asked, ¡°Why should I? What crime have I committed?¡± ¡°Enough talk,¡± Wei Zhenguo frowned, his brow so tight as if it could trap a skewer of lamb without dropping it. This time not indulging the other party, he restrained the person into the interrogation chair with the help of a colleague with little effort. Several clicks later, all the locks were in place, and the suspect couldn¡¯t help but frown as if he could squeeze a cotton swab between his brows. Click. Click, click. Wei Zhenguo and his colleague then opened the iron door to go out, closed the door properly and sat in the office chair across from it. The walls of the interrogation room were extremely thick and sound-absorbing. Once the outer door was closed, the room became completely silent. An unsettling silence. Even those who had been in the interrogation room before would feel oppressed upon reentering. Wei Zhenguo kept a stern face and let his colleague ask the questions first. After the routine questions of name and age, seeing that the suspect¡¯s emotions had somewhat stabilized, Wei Zhenguo ominously said, ¡°Lu? Xin, do you know how we caught you?¡± ¡°I...you¡¯ve got the wrong person,¡± Lu? Xin stiffened his neck. ¡°As people leave traces, geese leave calls. With such advanced technology nowadays, do you really think we don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve done?¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s voice rose as he said, ¡°I don¡¯t need a confession to send you away. If you don¡¯t admit it, you will be sentenced longer.¡± These words were half true, half false. Indeed, there might be convictions with zero confessions, not a few in number, but compared to physical evidence, the power and value of a confession were still greater. Not to mention, when leaders inquired about a case, the first question was always ¡°Have they confessed?¡± and the answer investigators most wanted to give was naturally ¡°They have.¡± Today¡¯s case was even more special, as Wei Zhenguo hoped to use a minor case to lead to a major one. Yet he had insufficient evidence not only for the major case but also for the minor one to conclude it. Although Jiang Yuan managed to match Lu? Xin through incomplete fingerprints, the requirements for conviction were higher than for investigation. Investigation only needed eight matching characteristic points on fingerprints, but identification required thirteen. Just that fact alone made the incomplete fingerprints insufficient. Not to mention, fingerprints as indirect evidence couldn¡¯t alone prove guilt. However, none of the anxiety or difficulties could be seen on Wei Zhenguo¡¯s face, which only showed wrinkles and darkness. ¡°Have you ever been punished by the public security organs?¡± asked Wei Zhenguo, knowing very well, for it was with this that the fingerprints were matched. Lu? Xin continued to be silent. ¡°I¡¯m asking you a question,¡± the police officer beside Wei Zhenguo barked. Lu? Xin was startled, and after a few seconds, finally said, ¡°Yes, I¡¯ve been punished.¡± It was precisely because he had been punished before that he knew the principle ¡°leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist¡± was real, especially during the trial phase. Resistance meant a heavier sentence, often several more years in jail. Similarly, this kind of information was all recorded; he couldn¡¯t hide it. Wei Zhenguo took over, his voice neither high nor low, and asked, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t everything dealt with already...¡± ¡°You answer what you¡¯re asked.¡± Lu? Xin¡¯s face was taut, and after waiting a while, he finally said, ¡°Just fighting, detention is all. I also took other people¡¯s stuff.¡± ¡°You got into a fight because you set the restaurant kitchen on fire, is that right?¡± ¡°Yes, it was an accident, they wouldn¡¯t let it go,¡± Lu? Xin said with disdain. Wei Zhenguo curled his lips, The information from the police on the previous case was inadequate; clearly, they had been fooled by this guy and hadn¡¯t dug deeper. A suspect in an arson case, setting fire to a small restaurant¡¯s kitchen, how could it be accidental? It was clear that after he came to the city, he got the itch again. Wei Zhenguo tapped the table lightly and said calmly, ¡°You¡¯re lying.¡± Lu? Xin looked innocently at Wei Zhenguo. ¡°You didn¡¯t accidentally start a fire in the restaurant kitchen; you did it intentionally. Your fingerprints are on the oil bottle found at the scene,¡± Wei Zhenguo said sharply, as he signaled a police officer next to him to show the photos. Across the railing, the breaks in the fingerprint weren¡¯t very clear; it was assumed to be a complete print. ¡°That was... that was when I grabbed the oil bottle during the fight.¡± ¡°What did you grab the oil bottle for?¡± ¡°I wanted to hit someone with it, but then I put it down again. I didn¡¯t use the oil bottle to hit anyone,¡± Lu? Xin replied fluently. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and said, ¡°Because you were thinking of using the oil bottle to start the fire, right?¡± Lu? Xin¡¯s gaze flickered, and he hastily said, ¡°That¡¯s not true.¡± ¡°You seem to like setting fires, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then how do you explain the fingerprints I found at this origin of the fire?¡± Wei Zhenguo took out another fingerprint chart and slowly said, ¡°Once could be a coincidence, but twice, three times? Do you think the judicial system is foolish?¡± Lu? Xin¡¯s lips moved, and his expression could no longer hold firm. He was now beginning to regret why he hadn¡¯t worn gloves... but when the mood struck, where could there be gloves handy? Besides, wearing them would be inconvenient and easily arouse suspicion if seen. Wei Zhenguo waited a sufficient length of time and then said with an oppressive voice, ¡°Talk.¡± ¡°I... I didn¡¯t...¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t confess, I¡¯ll convict you with the fingerprint evidence.¡± ¡°Not that, I...¡± Wei Zhenguo slapped the table with a ¡°smack¡± and commanded, ¡°Speak!¡± Lu? Xin¡¯s body shuddered, and after hesitating for several seconds and looking at both men, he finally said, ¡°I didn¡¯t really want to set fire, I just didn¡¯t like the look of that waste collection station, and while I was smoking, I just absentmindedly lit the paper...¡± Recently, he had just this one incident of arson, and the damage wasn¡¯t significant; the fire was put out not long after he left. He figured that it must have been the waste collection station owner or some helpful citizens who extinguished it. For a case of this level, Lu? Xin believed he wouldn¡¯t be sentenced too harshly. Wei Zhenguo and his colleague exchanged glances, silently communicating with each other. The case Lu? Xin was confessing to clearly wasn¡¯t one of the few that they were handling. This meant that the Lu? Xin they were dealing with was a habitual offender who had committed more crimes. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s heart stirred, but he showed no emotion on his face as he looked at Lu? Xin and said coldly, ¡°Tell it in the order of time and place.¡± ¡°Yes. This March, in Xihong District, at the Wulipu waste collection station,¡± Lu? Xin, having started confessing, seemed to relax and began to give a detailed account. ... Chapter 32 - 32 32 takes after Me ?32: Chapter 32 takes after Me 32: Chapter 32 takes after Me Wei Zhenguo repeatedly questioned for over half an hour, untangling the timeline and chain of evidence for the arson case at the waste collection station, before he paused to take a sip of water. The case was still considered minor and had occurred in Xihong District, which was also Lu? Xin¡¯s hometown. Wen Township was where his maternal grandparents lived. He also knew the principle that ¡°rabbits don¡¯t eat the grass around their burrows,¡± so when he got the itch, he¡¯d go to the towns and villages down the river from Wen Township to play with fire. After setting a big fire, he finally took to his heels and fled. In Xihong District, Lu? Xin was mostly well-behaved most of the time. It was only recently that he couldn¡¯t resist any longer and set fire to a waste collection station, involving financial losses that may only amount to a thousand yuan. From the police¡¯s perspective, such a minor case was one of many, a waste collection station catching fire didn¡¯t even warrant filing a report. Now, with the dangling carrot of high case solving rates, local police stations prefer to solve the case before filing it... Wei Zhenguo, at any rate, had no control over it. Even if he were to lead, he couldn¡¯t classify an unclear case as an ¡°arson,¡± which would be purely self-torment... Of course, if the case were solved, then arson would be categorized as arson, and not a point less should be added to the score on the combat power rankings. The total score would even leap up due to it being a series of cases. Wei Zhenguo narrowed his eyes as he looked at the young man across from him, speaking in a deep voice, ¡°Besides this case, talk about the others as well.¡± ¡°There are no others,¡± Lu? Xin said quietly. Wei Zhenguo chuckled, ¡°Do you think we only know about one of your cases? If it were just one case, would I bother traveling hundreds of miles in the middle of the night to stake you out?¡± According to Lu? Xin¡¯s usual character, he would have eight hundred retorts to throw back at this moment. But whenever he moved and the iron ring on his hand clinked, and his feet always felt cold, the usual retorts that came naturally to him just couldn¡¯t be spoken. ¡°Arson can carry a sentence of up to 10 years. Hmm... In Criminal Law, the charge for arson is exactly that: arson. You set fires, so confess honestly. Spend a few years behind bars, behave yourself, and maybe you¡¯ll get out in one or two years. If you resist and refuse to confess, the story I tell to the prosecutor¡¯s office will change, ten years... You¡¯re only 20 this year. In 10 years, you¡¯ll be 30, having spent the best decade of your life in prison. Do you want that?¡± Wei Zhenguo had interrogated more criminals than he had met women, and he knew exactly how to hit Lu? Xin¡¯s weak spot. He confessed to the minor cases, aiming to get through this interrogation at the least cost, but for Wei Zhenguo and his colleagues, his confession was the beginning of the dam breaking. It was like a con artist scamming a customer out of a small sum of money, in order to use that foothold to swindle even more. Lu? Xin¡¯s face was now utterly out of his control, and his head involuntarily jerked forward, filled with regret... yet uncertain about which moment of the past he regretted. ¡°Go on,¡± pressed Wei Zhenguo, his voice bearing down on Lu? Xin once more. ¡°I... I do have one more...¡± The speed of Lu? Xin¡¯s confession increased, and his mood, paradoxically, lightened a bit. It was the relief of the other shoe finally dropping, and the release from fear. Wei Zhenguo gazed at Lu? Xin with an intense look, waiting for him to clearly state the second case, then slowly said, ¡°Continue.¡± Lu? Xin struggled, ¡°No, I...¡± ¡°Remember this case?¡± Wei Zhenguo pulled out a photo from a thick stack, showing it to Lu? Xin once again, this time the photo was from the tractor arson case. Next to the ignition point of the tractor were Lu? Xin¡¯s fingerprints, a very compelling piece of evidence. Feeling powerless to resist and noticing the stack of photos Wei Zhenguo had just brought out, Lu? Xin had no choice but to continue confessing. Just as Wei Zhenguo had guessed, Lu? Xin had somewhat of an antisocial personality. Since childhood, he enjoyed setting fires, burning insects, and as he grew up, he took pleasure in starting wildfires, deliberately igniting large items or even buildings. But because he set those fires purely for enjoyment, the time, location, and scope of the fires tended to be random, which made the cases difficult to solve, and he himself had never been caught. It was inevitable that his audacity grew. However, when he sat on the cold ¡°tiger bench,¡± the courage that had inflated over the years burst like a balloon, rapidly deflating. ... In the evening. Wei Zhenguo walked out of the interrogation room with a buoyant step, his excited ebony face beaming with a slick glow, his stomach aching from hunger. Arson is one of the ¡°eight major cases,¡± and although the cases committed by Lu? Xin were of lesser value, the quantity was still considerable. In total, five cases had been dug out, which rounded up, equated to a junior criminal of the first rank. Moreover, there was also a greenhouse arson case worth a million. The only pity was that the forest arson case didn¡¯t seem to be Lu? Xin¡¯s doing, and due to insufficient evidence, they couldn¡¯t pin it on him. But no matter how you look at it, solving a series of arson cases was a very good achievement. According to the scoring system of the force ranking list, the greenhouse arson case in Wen County was worth thirty points. The other cases, depending on their nature, were worth at least twenty points each. The captured Lu? Xin was worth another ten or eight points. In other words, by handling this set of cases, Wei Zhenguo could theoretically add fifty or sixty points to the Criminal Investigation Team¡¯s strength. In reality... because there were caps on various types of cases, the total points of the Criminal Investigation Team might not increase by as much as sixty, but it would still be very impressive. Perhaps more points than Wei Zhenguo would earn from a year¡¯s worth of cases. No matter from which angle, today belonged to those days when the heavens were doling out favors, and all he had to do was laugh and open his mouth to catch them. Wei Zhenguo remembered Lu? Xin¡¯s eyes with gentleness. Such an obedient criminal; if all criminals were this compliant, the police profession would be much more popular. Then looking at Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s gaze became even gentler, ¡°Doctor Jiang, please make sure to get that fingerprint identification report done later.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation, then turned towards Wang Zhong beside him. ¡°We¡¯ll do it together later.¡± Wang Zhong understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s hint and responded clearly. Wei Zhenguo nodded happily and added, ¡°I should be taking you out for a meal, but my daughter has already brought me food. If you need any help in the future, be sure to come to me, and don¡¯t be shy!¡± ¡°Not at all, not at all,¡± Wang Zhong answered hastily, eagerly tugging Jiang Yuan aside, then lowered his voice, ¡°Keep an eye out in a while, I¡¯m not just boasting.¡± Soon, a female officer approached briskly. The female officer had short, neat hair and fair skin. In contrast with the rough old men around her, she stood out like a shining beer bottle bottom amidst jagged stones. She drew eyes as she walked straight up to Wei Zhenguo, called out ¡°Dad,¡± and handed over a substantial food container. ¡°Alright, no need to deliver next time, I can sort out something to eat myself,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, but still he opened the food container with a face full of bliss, not caring that it contained canteen food; instead, he smiled proudly at everyone and then patted his head, saying, ¡°I forgot to introduce, Jiang Yuan, this is our new forensic doctor, Wei Yin, my daughter.¡± ¡°Hello,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded politely to Wei Yin. ¡°Doesn¡¯t feel like it, does it?¡± Wei Zhenguo was keenly observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression. Jiang Yuan glanced at Wei Zhenguo¡¯s dark face and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Perhaps her skin takes after her mother...¡± ¡°The skin actually takes after me,¡± Wei Zhenguo abruptly pulled up his shirt, revealing his fair belly, and said, ¡°It¡¯s just that my face has tanned.¡± Chapter 33 - 33 33 Losing the Car ?33: Chapter 33 Losing the Car 33: Chapter 33 Losing the Car Evening. In the esteemed, heavy, and enormous traditional wood stove, a sheep stewed with a bubbling sound. Jiang Fuzhen was naturally generous. When he was young, he was willing to share half of any wild rabbits he caught with friends, and now that he had money, inviting people to eat sheep was of course not an issue. As the invitations became frequent, Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s sheep-cooking skills improved remarkably, attracting even more friends to share the meal. Inadvertently, it almost entered a near-perfect virtuous cycle, with the only drawbacks being the expense and time spent. The moment Jiang Yuan stepped into the house, he could smell the fresh aroma of the sheep meat. Unlike chefs outside who chase efficiency, Mr. Jiang, who stayed at home, always had ample time to do all sorts of preparatory work, such as skimming the blood foam. Many people wait until the froth accumulates before skimming it off with a few spoonfuls, then allowing the small amount of remnant froth to rise and fall with the sheep meat. Mr. Jiang didn¡¯t do it that way. He always stood by the pot, skimming off the froth from the very beginning, as much as it formed. Sometimes, this process could last up to half an hour. Such an approach not only reduced the gaminess of the meat but also controlled the tenderness. After all, boiling a sheep, although simpler than roasting one, still required considerable skill. In the large pot, bigger than a goose and wider than a sheep, white meat tinged with red and red meat tinged with white gently swayed and floated... Just looking at this, one would hardly realize it was a legitimate residential family kitchen. ¡°Yuanzi is back,¡± greeted the relatives and friends who came over for the sheep, casually, with two of them bringing their own bowls, chopsticks, and condiments, while the others were less particular. ¡°Sorry for making a mess at your place,¡± a few said courteously. Jiang Yuan waved his hand naturally, ¡°There¡¯re just two guys at home. It can¡¯t get much messier.¡± Back in the village, he often dined at many houses, and not only would people bring something when coming to eat rabbit, but they would also bring gifts for no reason at all, often resulting in a meal coming together from the items several families brought over. Jiang Fuzhen also came out of the kitchen and glanced over, saying, ¡°You¡¯re back just in time, it¡¯s almost ready to eat. Did you perform an autopsy today?¡± ¡°No bodies today,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°If there¡¯s no body, you can grab and eat with your hands. If you¡¯ve operated on someone, don¡¯t touch the big basin of sheep meat. Whether you¡¯ve done an autopsy or not, remember to wash your hands,¡± Jiang Fuzhen drew a line for Jiang Yuan, then after a while, he brought out a big basin of sheep meat. Jiang Yuan sat among the crowd, holding his chopsticks and eager to try. ¡°You can start with the rib chops,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said cheerfully. ¡°Today we have a 32-pound castrated ram. I reckon the small chops here will taste better.¡± Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s hand made a couple of motions in the air, and by the time he retracted his elbow, the small chops had all found their way into everyone¡¯s bowls and plates. Jiang Yuan had a plate in hand, sprinkling salt and pepper, the black and white peppered salt named ¡®pepper salt¡¯ mingling on top of the sheep meat, seeming to enhance its freshness. The meat was tender without being mushy, chewy without being tough. The first bite sent a wave of freshness rushing to the nostrils, while the satisfying feel of fat hit straight to the forehead. ¡°Mr. Jiang¡¯s sheep meat is still the best, not gamy at all, and fragrant,¡± one politely took a moment to comment amidst the busy eating. The rest were just burying their heads and eating vigorously. Jiang Fuzhen only smiled in the kitchen, while also attending to the remaining sheep meat. He was getting old and could barely eat two pieces of meat before stopping, especially lamb, which was rather fatty and greasy. If he ate it for two days straight, his stomach and intestines would suffer. But he still loved to cook it and watch his son and the villagers eat together. It was a dream he had cherished since his youth, a sense of happiness that only dared to exist in his imagination. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was completely different. At 22 years old, working a job that was mentally demanding yet physically active, he was at an age where he could eat anything. It didn¡¯t matter if it was beef, lamb, pork, or chicken; as long as it was tasty, he wouldn¡¯t refuse. Even if it wasn¡¯t well-made, he could eat till he was seventy percent full before stopping his chopsticks to critique. Everyone chatted while they ate, creating a rather harmonious atmosphere. When it came to familiarity, at least those present had known each other as neighbors and relatives for twenty years or more. Perhaps it was because of this familiarity that the conversation quickly turned to the newest topic of interest¡ªForensic Expert Jiang Yuan. ¡°Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re a police officer now, hey? How many cases have you cracked?¡± Mrs. Hua, who didn¡¯t eat much, was more interested in chatting. Jiang Yuan chuckled twice and said, ¡°I¡¯m a forensic doctor, I¡¯ve just been involved in a few cases.¡± ¡°What cases?¡± Mrs. Hua immediately pressed on, taking the opportunity to serve herself a bowl of soup. Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I can¡¯t talk about the cases.¡± ¡°The police have their regulations,¡± a young person nearby explained knowingly. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and said, ¡°Case details must be kept confidential.¡± ¡°Oh right, Yuanzi is a cop now. Do me a favor.¡± Uncle Thirteen, who had been silently devouring several pieces of lamb, looked up, took a couple of sips of soup, and sighed contentedly before saying, ¡°I had an electric bike stolen, been gone for half a year now. I reported it but it wasn¡¯t recovered. Can you help me find it?¡± Since the relocation, the people of Jiang Village had become wealthier, and many had bought cars. However, considering the road conditions and distances in the county, many preferred riding electric bikes for daily commutes. This included Jiang Yuan, who also rode one to work. And cases of electric bike theft... they were always frequent and had an extremely low resolution rate. Jiang Yuan put down the lamb and said, ¡°Uncle Thirteen, police officers and their duties vary. Electric bike theft is generally within the jurisdiction of the local police station.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re all colleagues, right?¡± ¡°I can ask around for you,¡± Jiang Yuan mused. If he enlisted the help of Master Wu Jun, perhaps he could make a call to the police station. After all, whenever there was an unnatural death within the jurisdiction, it required a forensic doctor¡¯s involvement, and Wu Jun knew quite a few people. Uncle Thirteen frowned and said, ¡°Asking or not doesn¡¯t matter to me; I just want my electric bike back. It was a Ya Shi Tai, cost over five thousand. I picked a good one on purpose, and it was gone before I¡¯d ridden it much. Your aunt has been nagging me to death about it.¡± Jiang Yuan sighed, ¡°Not every police officer can help people find their things. Electric bike theft is one of the more complex types of theft cases.¡± ¡°I bet it was stolen by those junk collectors who often come around here. Why don¡¯t you check them out for me?¡± Uncle Thirteen¡¯s eyebrows twitched as he spoke animatedly, ¡°The property management keeps records of names and such, I¡¯ll go ask...¡± When Jiang Yuan heard the mention of checking on people, he was alarmed. Investigating individuals was no longer an infraction but a legal violation. He quickly interjected, ¡°Don¡¯t... don¡¯t rush, let me ask around for you first.¡± Whether he could find the electric bike or not, getting involved in investigating individuals was greatly frowned upon, something that the newcomer Jiang Yuan wanted to avoid discussing at all costs. Jiang Yongxin, who ran a car wash downstairs, raised his hand while eating meat, ¡°Count me in too. I¡¯ve lost two.¡± ¡°Does one I lost the year before last count? I lost one then too,¡± Mrs. Hua jumped in, unwilling to miss out on the excitement. Chapter 34 - 34 34 Ill Make a Phone Call ?34: Chapter 34: I¡¯ll Make a Phone Call 34: Chapter 34: I¡¯ll Make a Phone Call A sheep was only eaten a quarter of the way through when every person in the room related at least one story of a stolen electric bike, either their own or someone they knew. If you averaged it out yearly, the number wouldn¡¯t be surprising; there had been even more bicycle thefts during the bicycle era. Still, the total number was quite high. ¡°Did the surveillance cameras downstairs capture the theft?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as he ate the sheep, showing a bit more concern. ¡°They did capture it, and we filed a report, but we couldn¡¯t find anyone. By the way, can you ask someone to do facial recognition?¡± Jiang Yongxin, who ran a car wash downstairs, was young and quickly thought of new technology. Jiang Yuan was expressionless: ¡°I don¡¯t know; I¡¯ve never seen facial recognition at the station.¡± Jiang Yongxin was a bit disappointed and said, ¡°The conditions in our county are still too poor.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have facial recognition in the city either. In the domestic train stations and airports, with tens of thousands of people flowing through, when would facial recognition be used?¡± Jiang Yuan said helplessly. ¡°But other countries have it; can¡¯t we learn to develop our own in China?¡± Jiang Yongxin was incredulous. ¡°We in China are also developing gait recognition... but we don¡¯t have that either, forget about it. Even if we did, it wouldn¡¯t be used to find your electric bike.¡± Jiang Yuan dipped his lamb in the spicy sauce, feeling a little fed-up. For the police, solving electric bike thefts was slightly more troublesome than solving ordinary thefts. Because electric bikes can move on their own and carry the suspects, disposing of them is simpler than disposing of ordinary stolen goods, and the crimes are generally committed and fled from more quickly. With careful operation, it¡¯s usually very hard to catch someone. Even if someone were caught, securing evidence and successfully prosecuting the suspect is also very hard. In fact, most ordinary thefts end up with no follow-up after the police report is made. This can be proven with a simple description¡ªwhen the police officers from the station lose their own phones, they just buy new ones. Furthermore, the attitude of the general public towards thefts is different from that of the police. The general public hopes to recover their losses and ideally punish the thief. Therefore, their primary goal is to recover the stolen items, with finding the perpetrator being secondary. Conversely, the police focus on securing evidence first, then locating the suspect, thirdly prosecuting them, and only lastly on recovering the stolen items. If it¡¯s a murder or serious case, securing evidence, which is the primary task, is just about a passable performance. If they can¡¯t catch the suspect, they¡¯ll just have to chase after them¡ªsometimes a suspect may flee after committing a crime, and if they can¡¯t be arrested, there¡¯s nothing that can be done. However, for theft cases, just securing evidence clearly isn¡¯t enough. Not only would the victims be unsatisfied, but the police would be too. It¡¯s like putting in a day or two, maybe three days of effort for nothing. In theft cases, the police must achieve the first three goals all at once: secure evidence, catch the person, and manage the prosecution. Only then is their work begrudgingly deemed complete. Yet even so, it still fails to meet the minimum expectations of the person reporting the theft, which is to recover the stolen items. But even if the stolen items are recovered and all four goals are achieved, such an operation is still of minimal gain for the police. They would have just solved a case worth a few thousand yuan, caught one or a few minor offenders, and recovered a loss of a few thousand yuan. Therefore, in small towns with a perennial shortage of police resources, thefts like these are always considered low-priority cases. Only if there is a sudden spike in reports over a period, indicating a gang operation or a series of related crimes, might there be slightly more enthusiasm in addressing them. This, of course, is provided that there are no new murders or other major cases to deal with. And for the officers directly involved in these cases, thefts are not only unappealing but also annoying. Such cases are not only disregarded by them, but also looked down upon by their colleagues, hence fingerprinting requires waiting, forensic field work needs pleading, watching videos is strictly DIY, everywhere they¡¯re faced with the lowest priority of engagement... Moreover, they can¡¯t complain, because grumbling would be seen as foolish¡ªnot knowing one¡¯s place. Fingerprint experts might be working on murders, robbery cold cases, or a series of arson cases. If you try to make demands for a current electric bike theft case, do you really expect to cut in line? Luckily, Jiang Yuan himself could lift fingerprints and also understood crime scene investigation... For these kinds of electric bike theft cases, having these two skills was enough. The smart and cautious, those with executive prowess, go to pursue higher education, commit murder, steal hearts, not pilfer electric bikes. ¡°I¡¯ll ask someone to help later, see if we can recover one or two, maybe a few electric bikes,¡± Jiang Yuan said cautiously. Nevertheless, he felt it was nice to do something for the people of his village. Relatives should always have some exchange of favors, and since he, a young forensic doctor, couldn¡¯t always expect to contribute in ways that cut to the heart of the matter. The mood in the room lifted. Mrs. Hua even praised, ¡°Being a civil servant is different, isn¡¯t it? You can be of help, unlike my Junye who just loiters without working, doesn¡¯t take exams for civil service jobs, can¡¯t even find a wife...¡± Jiang Yuan, observing Mrs. Hua¡¯s increasingly spirited demeanor, found it necessary to remind her, ¡°Auntie, the electric bike you lost the year before last won¡¯t be found this year, for sure.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, I¡¯m not short on money.¡± Mrs. Hua waved her hand nonchalantly and continued, ¡°And it¡¯s not necessarily lost forever. A thief can¡¯t go on thieving forever, nor only for just a year, right? Unless their family also had their property demolished, how else could they afford not to steal?¡± Jiang Yuan felt Mrs. Hua was wrong, yet not by much. Jiang Yongxin quickly finished off the ribs in his hands, wiped his mouth, and asked more eagerly, ¡°Jiang Yuan, when you get the people together, I¡¯ll go ask the property management to access the footage.¡± Having lost two electric bikes this year, he still had hope of finding them. More importantly, he not only ran a car wash but also a car and electric bike parts store, so he was doubly frustrated with thefts and the surrounding security situation. Jiang Yuan looked out the window at the sky and said, ¡°It¡¯s too late now, we can¡¯t just summon people whenever we want. Um... I¡¯ll make a phone call first.¡± Jiang Yuan thought of Wei Zhenguo, and that¡¯s who he called. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s Team Six dealt year-round with property invasion cases related to theft and was thus the proper criminal investigation team. Wei Zhenguo, who had left just a few hours ago and thought there might be unfinished business with an arson case, picked up the phone quickly and cheerfully asked, ¡°Doctor Jiang, you were saying...¡± A faint smile appeared on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, ¡°Captain Wei, you mentioned before, if there¡¯s anything I need help with, to come to you...¡± Chapter 35 - 35 35 Going Personally ?35: Chapter 35 Going Personally 35: Chapter 35 Going Personally Afternoon. Crime police squadron leader Huang Qiangmin made another round on the fourth floor. His main purpose was to have a talk in the office of the forensic doctor. Lu Jianfeng, the leader of the criminal investigation team, enthusiastically accompanied him. Lu Jianfeng, too, had been a technical star in the criminal investigation field. But that was more than a decade ago. At that time, Lu Jianfeng, who conducted drug tests, established Ningtai County¡¯s first drug testing laboratory and solved a series of drug-related cases, earning numerous merits. However, as drug cases have become less frequent in recent years and the demand for chemical testing has always been low, drug testing has almost become a mere formality. Consequently, Lu Jianfeng¡¯s work focus has shifted more and more towards administration. Huang Qiangmin praised the recent performance of the criminal investigation team, radiating high-intensity smiles, especially commending Jiang Yuan for his ¡°readiness to take charge.¡± In the county bureau, forensic doctors were naturally sought-after, and high-level trace examiners were even more so. A high-level trace examiner could point directly to the culprit, saving everyone a lot of legwork and effort. Enhancing the rate of case-solving wasn¡¯t only the foundation for gaining recognition and awards but also improved everyone¡¯s job satisfaction. To put it in a grander scale, it even enhanced everyone¡¯s sense of identity with the police profession. Solving cases was never just a mere job or task. This has been unchanged from ancient times to the present. The daily special allowance of a hundred or so yuan has never been the reason for working overtime. Once the crowd had dispersed, Wei Zhenguo arrived with a smile. With his team behind him, Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°Mu Zhiyang, you¡¯ve met him before, let him follow you for these two days. Go to the police station, take some inquiry records, watch some videos and such, all no problem.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t really let an old detective follow him around looking for electric bikes, and smiled at Mu Zhiyang, who was about the same age, saying, ¡°The Mu surname is quite uncommon.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also not common in our local area. Apparently, the Yellow Emperor had a minister named Li Mu, and his descendants used his name as their surname; that¡¯s how it¡¯s been passed down. I¡¯m from out of town.¡± Mu Zhiyang obviously had plenty of experience introducing his surname. Wei Zhenguo summarized from the side, ¡°The young people who come from other places have simple social relations, which makes them suitable for doing the job. With no family burdens, they are good for overtime. Educated, they handle cases well. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan asking, I wouldn¡¯t have let Mu Zhiyang come over even if others wanted him.¡± Jiang Yuan thus expressed his thanks once again, and added, ¡°I¡¯ve finished with those fingerprints, I¡¯ll let Wang Zhong send them to you later.¡± The police cases were never-ending, and the task lists of each criminal investigation team were never empty. Similarly, the lists of fingerprints that needed to be processed were also never-ending. Unlike the fingerprints of unsolved cases, each new case could involve a large number of fingerprints, most of which aren¡¯t conclusive. The detectives in charge of solving the cases wanted to compare as many prints as possible, but technical police officers in the criminal investigation team could never fully meet their expectations¡ªeven in homicide cases, it¡¯s not possible to process all kinds of evidence with unlimited detail, let alone other cases. While Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t a trace examiner, he could pick and choose which fingerprints to process, helping Wei Zhenguo get a few more sets done in advance, effectively compensating with the resources of the sixth squad. Mu Zhiyang, who had gotten a good deal, happily followed Jiang Yuan and began watching the surveillance videos in the office. The footage Jiang Yuan had copied from the property management included records from a total of 8 cameras over the past three months, a massive volume of data. Even the police, let alone the property management staff, couldn¡¯t be bothered to watch all these recordings. Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan each took on the footage from four cameras, playing them at high speed on the screen, which soon made their heads spin. After a long while. ¡°Found it, this is... this is Jiang Yongxin¡¯s electric bike,¡± Mu Zhiyang, being more experienced, managed to zero in on a timestamp after a while, watched it once, replayed, then paused to say, ¡°It¡¯s a violent lock-picking.¡± Jiang Yuan paused his own video and turned to look. There was a man in a jacket, walking past a row of electric bikes, pretending to make a phone call while he wandered and selected a vehicle. In about tens of seconds, he chose one of the electric bikes, glanced around, took something out of his pocket, then sat on the bike, inserted it, twisted it forcefully, and the bike started up. ¡°Is this stealing?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled. Mu Zhiyang nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s a forced lock-pick, counts as theft I guess, just not very technically involved. The key he¡¯s using is a universal key, and there are several types of universal keys¡ªflat, cruciform, and so on. He finds a pin tumbler lock that¡¯s not a free-spinning lock, inserts the universal key, twists it forcefully, and breaks the cylinder inside, then just takes the bike.¡± ¡°Lock cylinders can be broken like that?¡± ¡°These cylinders are made of brass. His universal key is made of steel, some even made of alloy steel. As long as it¡¯s not a magnetic lock or a free-spinning lock cylinder, it can be broken,¡± Mu Zhiyang made a note in his notebook and added, ¡°He didn¡¯t wear gloves but also didn¡¯t touch anything other than the electric bike.¡± ¡°What a pro, clean and efficient,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked as he used his LV4 crime scene investigation skills to scrutinize the scene on the video and couldn¡¯t find any slip-ups from the thief. This was also one of the reasons why electric bike theft cases weren¡¯t welcomed. Thieves who used brute force to pick locks, as you might guess, didn¡¯t possess high technical skills, but stealing an electric bike was so straightforward that they hardly needed to leave much information behind. One of the fundamental principles of criminal investigation, Locard¡¯s exchange principle, says just that: Whenever two objects come into contact, there is always a transfer of material. Thus, something is always taken away and something else is left behind. The problem with electric bike thieves is exactly this¡ªthe only thing touched is the electric bike, which is then entirely removed, leaving behind only footprints... Footprints, unlike fingerprints, can¡¯t be directly used to locate a criminal; at most they can be used for corroboration. Moreover, after such a long time, footprints in a public place would definitely not be preserved. If it weren¡¯t for the video footage, judging solely by the crime scene Jiang Yuan saw, solving this case would be harder than a murder case¡ª even if there¡¯s no evidence left at a homicide scene, you can still search for a motive through personal relationships. In fact, most murder cases are solved this way. But with electric bike theft, how could there be any personal ties involved... Of course, as a whole, stealing an electric bike could never be as complicated as a murder case. The suspect¡¯s alertness is limited, their operational capabilities limited, appearing in surveillance footage, which is also telling in its own right. If one really wanted to pursue this crime scene, it wasn¡¯t without hope¡ªone could follow the surveillance footage from the day of the incident, track it through other cameras, and there was a pretty good chance of finding some leads. If there was no hope on the road, one could follow it to where the suspect lived or might pass by again, then have someone stake it out or directly employ the detectives¡¯ ultimate tool of canvassing, there¡¯s ultimately a chance of finding the person. However, these methods were not something Jiang Yuan could use. ¡°Let¡¯s watch the next video,¡± Jiang Yuan said after only a brief moment of contemplation, giving up on this scene. His goal was merely to help retrieve a few electric bikes, not all of them. ¡°Then, let¡¯s continue watching the footage,¡± Mu Zhiyang said, unfazed. He had helped people retrieve items before; some were easy, others truly troublesome. By checking the alarm records for Jiangcun Residential Area, they quickly came upon another daylight theft case of an electric bike. The thief was the same person, using a similar method. The only difference was that this time he had also pried open a U-shaped lock and tossed it into a nearby trash bin. ¡°Here,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out and immediately made a note. ¡°The video¡¯s from a month ago too; the discarded U-shaped lock is probably long gone,¡± Mu Zhiyang said regrettably, ¡°Residents reporting late, and police not securing the scene properly is also a problem.¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand and fast-forwarded the surveillance video a few seconds, then pointed at the screen and said, ¡°While he was picking the U-shaped lock, he touched the lower part of a pole.¡± The pole was made of I-beam steel, and the position where the thief¡¯s hand was inserted was on the inner lower side, a place that most people don¡¯t normally touch, and therefore, it was very likely that fingerprints were left there. However, after a month, the condition of fingerprints is already shrouded in uncertainty¡ªa presence or absence of fingerprints is quite normal. ¡°Shall we go over now?¡± asked Mu Zhiyang. ¡°No rush, let¡¯s review some more first. We¡¯ll collect samples all at once later on,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. ¡°Should we ask the local police to go over first?¡± ¡°No,¡± Jiang Yuan promptly refused, adding, ¡°It¡¯s been too long; I¡¯d rather go personally to feel assured.¡± Mu Zhiyang had no objection, though he felt it unnecessary. Chapter 36 - 36 36 The Love of Gold Powder for Hermes ?36: Chapter 36: The Love of Gold Powder for Hermes 36: Chapter 36: The Love of Gold Powder for Hermes The 8 surveillance cameras at the Jiangcun Residential Area covered both the entrance and exit as well as the two e-bike parking spots inside and outside. The indoor e-bike parking spot was equipped with a rain shelter, while the outdoor one was in the open and street-facing, but that didn¡¯t deter the thieves. After watching the video surveillance for a long time, Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan noticed that there were only three people who came to steal electric scooters. One was a man in a raid jacket who might have left fingerprints underneath the I-beam. He looked to be in his twenties and mostly used a master key to violently unlock the bikes. After coming several times, he no longer showed up, probably fearing he would be recognized by security. The other two, more violent, had come a total of twice. They would drive up an electric tricycle at night, park it next to the outdoor parking spot, snip the fuse next to the battery of any unlocked scooter, attach a magnet to the horn to disable the alarm, and then haul it away. If the e-bike was locked to a pole, they would cut through the chain lock or U-lock with hydraulic cutters, then lift it onto the tricycle and steal multiple e-bikes at once. Jiangcun Residential Area was located on the edge of the county town. The southern bank where the county government was situated was relatively bustling, while the northern bank consisted of newly built residential areas and streets with incomplete amenities. Once the suspects stole the e-bikes and made a few turns, they were essentially out of the city, leaving no place to begin a search. ¡°They lack technical skills,¡± commented Jiang Yuan after he finished watching the surveillance videos and transferred the footage of the moving crew throwing cigarette butts and trash into the roadside drain to his phone. His prior imagination, or assumption, that starting an e-bike required lockpicking skills, wasn¡¯t reflected in the methods used by either group. Moreover, from an efficiency and practicality perspective, the methods employed by the two groups were actually better than using lockpicking. Because technically lockpicking still takes a bit of time. Even the fastest lockpicking is just like the first group¡¯s violent method¡ªtwisting a couple of times to unlock, impossible to be any faster. And if the lockpicking is even slightly slower, it might well attract suspicion. Mu Zhiyang said leisurely, ¡°They¡¯re stealing e-bikes; what technical skills could they have? There are even lousier ones who don¡¯t understand violent unlocking. They just loiter on the streets, looking for e-bikes whose keys were forgotten to be removed and immediately ride them away...¡± ¡°What if they don¡¯t come across an e-bike with keys left in the ignition?¡± ¡°Go home, eat some noodles, and continue playing on their phones,¡± Mu Zhiyang replied with a curl of his lip. ¡°There are also those who specifically steal batteries, which aren¡¯t that much more sophisticated.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re saying these three still have their ambitions?¡± ¡°Exactly. Notice that the two with hydraulic cutters always prioritize cutting the lock head. Why? Because lock forks can be made very hard, but lock heads are more complex in design, so they can¡¯t be too hard. If they are too hard, they can¡¯t be manufactured or the cost would be too high. That¡¯s the idea...¡± Mu Zhiyang was repeating what he had heard, but he explained it clearly. In the end, theft prevention is all about cost-effectiveness. A 20-yuan U-lock can only deter passers-by, not the raid jacket types who pick locks violently. A 60-yuan U-lock, if positioned correctly, can generally fend off raid jacket types but not those who move house with hydraulic cutters. The built-in alarm system for e-bikes is similar. Alarms with their own power source are more practical than those drawing power from the battery. Alarms with two horns are slightly more troublesome than those with just one. However, even the best security system is vulnerable to the right person, especially standardized security systems¡ªthey are like the ¡°sample problems¡± in textbooks. No matter how difficult the sample problem, it can only prevent those who don¡¯t study, not the clever and studious ones. The best anti-theft mode for an e-bike involves the owner making some personalized changes to the security system. No improvement or enhancement is necessary; just some changes in location or mode can significantly increase the chance of theft prevention. It¡¯s like slightly modifying the example problems in textbooks, changing numbers or such, to stymie students who haven¡¯t studied seriously or aren¡¯t clever enough. But when it comes to stealing e-bikes, the level of serious study and cleverness is limited, as can be seen from the clues they leave behind. Even the worst students who can score 120 in math wouldn¡¯t be so careless. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang each rode an electric scooter and first reported to the Zoumadao Police Station near Jiangcun Residential Area. Thanks to the sociable Comrade Mu Zhiyang, they smoothly procured the assistance of an auxiliary police officer to accompany them. Although the auxiliary police officer had a prefix of ¡°auxiliary,¡± within the current grassroots judicial system, he was expected to do all kinds of work and was capable of handling various tasks. Zhou Ta, wearing a uniform with an FJ-prefix badge, was over 40 and had 15 years of policing experience. Zoumadao Police Station was also afraid that Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, two youngsters, wouldn¡¯t know any better, which is why they sent Zhou Ta. Compared to ordinary officers, Zhou Ta had quite good social skills. After walking a short distance, he became familiar with Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, and then said, ¡°The work of crime scene investigation is something I often do too. In fact, if it¡¯s just about scanning for fingerprints, you could just have mentioned it. We could have gone over to scan them, no need to come over specially ...¡± ¡°I want to try scanning them myself,¡± Jiang Yuan explained politely. ¡°The fingerprints on that I-beam have been there for a month; I¡¯m not sure if they can still be scanned.¡± As soon as Zhou Ta heard this, he immediately dropped the subject and switched, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not necessarily about scanning fingerprints. If you ask around on the street, you might also find the person. Those who steal electric bikes for a living don¡¯t cover their tracks well. If you¡¯re willing to put in the effort, someone is bound to confess.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try next time,¡± Jiang Yuan said. He was just helping his relatives look for the electric bike, and having Mu Zhiyang and Zhou Ta make a trip was already quite troubling, there was no need to be indebted to others for a favor. Moreover, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand the affairs of the streets, and owing someone a favor for this was bound to be complicated. With a few words, Zhou Ta discerned Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude and cheerfully entered into casual conversation. He patrolled the area daily, knowing exactly which restaurants had clean dishes and which supermarkets had rats. He was quite entertaining when he spoke. Upon reaching the scene, Zhou Ta, dressed in his duty uniform, went with great enthusiasm to take notes at the scene, while Mu Zhiyang squatted next to the I-beam with Jiang Yuan, bent over to take a look, and said, ¡°How can you tell if there are any fingerprints left now.¡± ¡°You can use a magnifying glass or something like ultraviolet light to see,¡± Jiang Yuan, setting up the investigation kit he brought along, said casually. ¡°Given our situation today, we don¡¯t need to go through that trouble, just direct powdering will do.¡± In the midst of talking, Jiang Yuan began selecting tools with precision, taking out a bottle containing golden powder and then a fluffy, soot-black brush. After reexamining the location in the flipped photograph, Jiang Yuan dipped the brush in the gold powder and gently flicked the handle, causing the 400-mesh copper powder to fall delicately onto the still fairly smooth steel surface. From Mu Zhiyang¡¯s perspective, Jiang Yuan¡¯s dusting was especially even, and combined with his preliminary work, it felt almost like a ceremony. ¡°Being technical really is different. What you¡¯re doing is pretty meticulous; we usually just use silver powder,¡± Mu Zhiyang, who as a detective also often had to scan for fingerprints at crime scenes. It was always simpler to do it himself for minor cases than to ask for the crime squad to come over. Jiang Yuan examined the surface of the I-beam and said, ¡°Silver powder sticks well and is suitable for many situations; it¡¯s the all-purpose powder. But with today¡¯s light background, gold powder provides a better contrast.¡± ¡°Your brush seems different too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s made of pure gray squirrel hair. It cost over 200, specially ordered,¡± Jiang Yuan answered. ¡°Over 200 for a lousy brush?¡± Mu Zhiyang exclaimed in surprise. ¡°Gray squirrel hair is known as the Herme?s of brush hair,¡± Jiang Yuan said, flicking the brush. ¡°Look at the tips of the hair, so fine and straight, and also soft, which makes it less likely to damage the fingerprints.¡± ¡°This is your Herme?s?¡± ¡°Because in make-up brushes for women, gray squirrel hair is also the best. It¡¯s gentle for dusting fingerprints, and it feels comfortable on a woman¡¯s face too,¡± Jiang Yuan then added. ¡°It pairs best with gold powder.¡± While talking, Jiang Yuan leaned down, steadied his right hand, and using the tip of the gray squirrel hair brush, he gently brushed away the gold powder from the surface of the I-beam in an action as tender as applying eyeshadow to a beautiful woman. As the excess gold powder was brushed away, several incomplete fingerprints appeared before the two of them. Chapter 37 - 37 37 Evidence Collection ?37: Chapter 37 Evidence Collection 37: Chapter 37 Evidence Collection Mu Zhiyang also crouched down, closely examining the few fingerprints. The partial fingerprints were mainly from the tips of fingers, with the middle parts not completely pressed, making the total area also seem small. ¡°Has the time been too long?¡± Mu Zhiyang was somewhat disappointed. A brush costing over two hundred, used for the expensive copper powder, yet it didn¡¯t reveal a complete fingerprint. Jiang Yuan first took out a camera to take as clear photos as possible before standing up, looking directly at the fingerprint patterns captured, and slowly said, ¡°They are partial, but we should be able to gather a dozen or so characteristic points.¡± Mu Zhiyang, on tiptoes, looked at the fingerprints and said with surprise, ¡°The shape is incomplete, and the ridges are blurry, yet you can still identify a dozen characteristic points?¡± ¡°You should see the fingerprints I worked on for the arson case the other day.¡± Jiang Yuan leaned down again to take a few more photos of the fingerprints, then started to photograph the crime scene. Mu Zhiyang slapped his forehead, ¡°You talk about my power of association...sigh, it¡¯s only you. If someone else came, this case really wouldn¡¯t be easy to handle.¡± The same fingerprints, if retrieved by the county bureau¡¯s crime scene team, would certainly be sneered at by trace examiners. Otherwise, what to do? In such a dog¡¯s state, no matter whether it¡¯s Yan or Xiao Wang, matching would not be possible. Even if the completeness of the fingerprint was slightly higher, both would probably be unwilling to work on it. A complete fingerprint can be matched by anyone with hands, but partial fingerprints, the more incomplete, the more troublesome they become. If they¡¯re as partial as those in an arson case, it¡¯s not just about being troublesome anymore, it would also drain the energy of expert trace examiners... Solving cases in such a brain cell-burning fashion, if it was only about a few stolen electric bikes, the investigating officers would feel embarrassed. Jiang Yuan doing it himself meant far less nonsense, he politely said, ¡°It¡¯s because I only work with fingerprints. If the police station investigates, they should have other methods, right?¡± ¡°There are methods, but it doesn¡¯t mean the case will be cracked. Thefts of electric bikes are often committed by drifters, staying in one place for a while, moving on once the money runs out or they feel danger, like they¡¯re on a tour.¡± Mu Zhiyang somehow felt a bit envious. Zhou Ta, who had just finished making the crime scene record, came back and heard the latter part of Mu Zhiyang¡¯s words, agreeing, ¡°Indeed. Some people also know the saying, a rabbit doesn¡¯t eat the grass around its burrow.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll match the fingerprints as soon as possible.¡± That¡¯s all Jiang Yuan could do. If delayed too long, even if the fingerprints were matched, the suspect running away would still be an issue¡ªyet another real-world complication. Even knowing where the suspect is, the procedures for handling cases in another jurisdiction, the time and effort involved, as well as the funds being spent¡ªall are troublesome. Imagine two police officers, possibly four, driving to another city maybe a thousand kilometers away, communicating with the local criminal investigation department, asking for assistance in the investigation and apprehension of the suspect. During this process, they would spend a lot of money on fuel, tolls, overtime, and accommodations. In the end, if they brought back a petty thief who stole a few electric bikes and might not even catch the person... Whoever thought about it, their heart would feel heavy, wouldn¡¯t it? Compared to the younger Mu Zhiyang, Zhou Ta had an even harder time understanding Jiang Yuan. However, he was used to working more and talking less. After helping Jiang Yuan tidy everything up, he hurried to the parking area outside the residential complex. Once there, the three of them donned gloves and masks and started to rummage through the drain, trying to find the cigarette butts and trash seen in the video. The three people, with two large bags, quickly stood up satisfied. ¡°With such pollution, probably only the cigarette butts are useful.¡± Jiang Yuan sighed. There were quite a few cigarette butts in the drain, which he all picked up and then collected into small evidence bags, one by one. This action alone took Jiang Yuan over a quarter of an hour. Mu Zhiyang watched tiredly, took off his gloves, covered his nose, and then disgustedly let go, asking, ¡°All soaked in trash water, can you still test for DNA?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Cigarette butts can preserve DNA very well,¡± Jiang Yuan carefully observed the cigarette butts and said, ¡°As long as they don¡¯t grow mold, DNA can be extracted from cigarette butts that are 10 years old.¡± ¡°That powerful? Why? Is it because it gets soaked in during smoking?¡± Mu Zhiyang, who followed his master on cases daily, had not paid attention to this before. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°One reason is the long duration of smoking, and another is that the structure of the cigarette butt is good, resistant to external erosion. When it¡¯s time for DNA testing, shredding the cotton inside also makes it easier to get results.¡± ¡°So we always say at the station, committing a crime requires learning, you see, it¡¯s this era, yet there are still people who leave cigarette butts at the crime scene. We also deal with cases like this, foolishly leaving evidence everywhere...¡± Zhou Ta shook his head with a chuckle. Compared to the old auxiliary officer Zhou Ta, Mu Zhiyang had a clearer view, saying, ¡°They don¡¯t mean to leave evidence; they just don¡¯t have the time to care. Once I followed master on a murder case, where the murderer, running out of the alley after the killing, still holding the blood on his hands, smoked a cigarette and threw the butt directly in front of him. They know, but at that moment, they can¡¯t think of these things. They¡¯re too nervous.¡± ¡°That makes sense. Thieves are relaxed, quick-witted, and it¡¯s hard to find evidence.¡± Zhou Ta added. ¡°Thieves have more repetition, high proficiency. Most people who commit murder are done after one or two times, with no opportunity to practice,¡± Mu Zhiyang began to summarize. ¡°Murder is complicated, the crime scenes are often messy, with bodies... it¡¯s like a large project. Theft is a small project. People who start with large projects are definitely prone to make mistakes,¡± Zhou Ta likewise summarized some experiences. Jiang Yuan lifted the evidence bags and said, ¡°Let¡¯s head back. I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll be able to match any DNA.¡± ¡°Do your best and let destiny do the rest, that¡¯s how it goes,¡± Zhou Ta, having run around for so long, also hoped for a result. However, compared to success, he was more touched by the experience of failure. Jiang Yuan simply nodded; after all, this was his first time running a complete case. Chapter 38 - 38 38 Not Captured ?38: Chapter 38: Not Captured 38: Chapter 38: Not Captured Forensic office. The Devil¡¯s ivy was spirited, stretching its thick and long leaves. Its roots were desperately absorbing water, trying to make its stems as rigid as possible, especially under the sunlight where they could stay stiff for longer periods. In front of the desk. Jiang Yuan sat upright, his eyes level, placing Xiao Wang beside him, and began to diligently identify the characteristic points on the fingerprints they had just received. Xiao Wang looked even more serious. In the grassroots police force, there¡¯s a saying: ¡°If you¡¯re a cop, don¡¯t be a detective; if you¡¯re a detective, don¡¯t be a technician.¡± Those referred to as technicians are the trace evidence investigators, crime scene technicians, and substance analysts in the criminal investigation department. The reason is that technicians often have to double as regular detectives. They need to be on the scene when necessary, run errands when needed, and when there¡¯s a shortage of hands to apprehend criminals, the first ones to be summoned are the technical officers. Xiao Wang used to like quoting this saying, but after Jiang Yuan arrived, Comrade Xiao Wang unexpectedly discovered a phenomenon. Since beginning to work on fingerprints, Jiang Yuan had never been ¡°apprehended.¡± The detective team¡¯s work is never-ending, especially when there are homicide cases, when even the squadron leader might stay awake with everyone for three days and nights. Ordinary officers would be happy to snatch a nap and even smile in their dreams. But Jiang Yuan was invariably sitting in the office. Even Xiao Wang, as long as he was with Jiang Yuan, had never been reassigned. What surprised Xiao Wang even more was that none of the leaders had ever issued an order concerning this, but whether it was within their own criminal investigation squadron or the other detective squads, even the ones who usually liked to take advantage of situations, seemed to have an unspoken agreement¡ªnone had ever requisitioned Jiang Yuan for regular duties. Without anyone saying so, Xiao Wang understood why. Because Jiang Yuan could directly identify criminal suspects with their fingerprints. With this skill, which squadron leader wouldn¡¯t frequently need his service in the future? Even those who cared little for personal relationships wouldn¡¯t have the nerve to casually pull Jiang Yuan away. In the police force, rank has its place, as does seniority, but at the heart of it, the tasks everyone looks down on the most are also the ones they can¡¯t escape from. In a nutshell, we¡¯re all solving cases, so who is to say who is more noble? Naturally, those who can solve cases are more noble than those who cannot. Xiao Wang aspired to be one of the noble ones. Xiao Wang sat up straight, intensely focused on Jiang Yuan¡¯s motions. As he watched Jiang Yuan mark the characteristic points, he tried to mimic on his own leg, attempting to understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process. Fingerprint comparison often boils down to logical thinking. A break in the pattern could be a characteristic point, a noise point in the image, or an incomplete section from the print taking process. Deciding what it ultimately is can be a true test of one¡¯s reasoning. Simple fingerprints are fine regardless, but with difficult ones, you first need to construct enough related content in your mind. ¡°Let¡¯s run it and see.¡± Just as Xiao Wang¡¯s thoughts surged, Jiang Yuan finished marking and let the software do the matching. Knowing that Xiao Wang was watching, he explained deliberately. Xiao Wang was startled and asked, ¡°You finished marking?¡± ¡°Yes, marked a dozen or so, should be enough.¡± ¡°This seems less complicated than the arson case,¡± Xiao Wang said spontaneously. From his perspective, both the fingerprint from today and from the arson case were extremely challenging. Just for learning purposes, Xiao Wang had been ready to follow Jiang Yuan for another week. Yet, Jiang Yuan had completed the first round of marking in under half an hour. At that moment, Jiang Yuan laughed and said, ¡°Of course, the fingerprints from the arson case may have been difficult to detail due to being burned. The extraction wasn¡¯t great either.¡± That last comment was his true critique. The county bureau¡¯s conditions were poor¡ªnot just in one aspect, but in every single one. The department¡¯s computer made a creaking, groaning noise, Xiao Wang¡¯s attention was no longer there. He recalled the details of Jiang Yuan¡¯s marking that he had just seen, feeling his head filled with muddle, as if he had just sat through a mathematics exam, finishing all the multiple-choice questions, but couldn¡¯t recall any answers when comparing them with a classmate. Jiang Yuan followed the software¡¯s list, verifying each fingerprint one by one. Xiao Wang composed himself and slowly followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace, watching intently. Before he got halfway through, Jiang Yuan swiftly changed to another fingerprint. Apparently, the previous one had been ruled out. Xiao Wang frowned slightly, then continued to follow Jiang Yuan as he moved on to the second fingerprint. Not halfway through, he stopped again. And again, he stopped. Xiao Wang rubbed his eyes, feeling a weary burn, his spirit exhausted. This feeling was like being in school, listening to the teacher discussing test papers with such focus, only to hear halfway through, ¡°The rest is simple, no need to go over it...¡± Xiao Wang straightened up, his gaze strong and determined¡ªconsidering himself a grown man, and moreover, a proud people¡¯s policeman, he believed he had become incredibly strong! ¡°Match found.¡± Jiang Yuan rechecked the sixth fingerprint, then couldn¡¯t help but slap the desk and stood up, stretching. A smile slowly spread across Xiao Wang¡¯s face, ¡°Matched already... that¡¯s fantastic.¡± Jiang Yuan, too, let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the one who left the fingerprints was a habitual criminal. Otherwise, with this as the sole lead, it would have been quite difficult to pin him down. ¡°Cai Bin... this guy has been detained three times for stealing electric bikes,¡± Jiang Yuan glanced at the record, quite surprised, ¡°Caught three times, yet he still resorts to forceful lock-breaking every time, not an iota of improvement.¡± ¡°What, would he have progressed to stealing motorbikes?¡± Wu Jun, hearing that the fingerprint matched, came over for a look and commented, ¡°Criminals like this, when they upgrade, they tend towards gang activities. Especially after serving time in prison, they¡¯re more likely to take that route.¡± Jiang Yuan recalled the videos he had watched and replied, ¡°He doesn¡¯t seem like he operates with a gang. Every time, he just steals one bike and leaves. The value of the stolen bike isn¡¯t always high, and there¡¯s no accomplice waiting...¡± ¡°Maybe no gang wants him,¡± Wu Jun interrupted Jiang Yuan nonchalantly. Xiao Wang glanced at the suspect¡¯s photo on the computer screen with an inexplicable sense of sympathy, ¡°If it hadn¡¯t been for Jiang Yuan, no one would have caught him. The case value is too low, and there are too few leads.¡± Jiang Yuan took that as a compliment and promptly phoned Wei Zhenguo and Mu Zhiyang. The cigarette butt had to be tested for DNA; who knows how long it would take to be queued, it¡¯s best to catch one if possible. Chapter 39 - 39 39 Swarm ?39: Chapter 39: Swarm 39: Chapter 39: Swarm The next day. As soon as the early morning meeting ended, Jiang Yuan got dressed neatly and went downstairs to wait for Wei Zhenguo and the others. The target of the arrest was just an electric bike thief, so there was no need to mobilize at night. However, even though it was just catching a petty thief, Jiang Yuan was still a little nervous. He had never been involved in an on-site arrest before. Jiang Yuan¡¯s nervousness dissipated after Wei Zhenguo and others arrived. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a bit too many people?¡± Jiang Yuan saw a group consisting of 7 men and 1 woman. Including himself, that made it 8 men and 1 woman. Based on the videos Jiang Yuan had seen, the suspect¡¯s build and movements were on the weaker side. Among the 9 people present, including the female officer, they all looked capable of pinning down the thief. Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°When you¡¯re catching someone, it¡¯s better to have more people. We¡¯re soldiers, and when soldiers catch thieves, we use three to four times the number of people to pin them down! Just follow me later.¡± In truth, Wei Zhenguo was somewhat protective of Jiang Yuan. A forensic technician who was as good with fingerprints as him was like a cake falling from the sky for Ningtai County. Wei Zhenguo was keen on having as big a bite as possible... As for whether Jiang Yuan wanted to participate in the arrest or had any experience, Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t really care. After all, just bringing more people was good enough. The same went for those leaders in the bureau who were incompetent but loved to play around. They used the same approach when participating in arrest operations. The 9 people drove in two cars without turning on sirens or flashing lights, silently arriving at a small residential complex by a bridge. After getting out of the cars, they saw two more officers in duty uniforms getting out of a car parked by the roadside. ¡°Captain Wei,¡± the officers approached with enthusiastic greetings. ¡°Gu,¡± Wei Zhenguo shook hands with him, then introduced the others, ¡°Gu is the deputy chief of Pizhou Police Station. These are colleagues from our team, and Xiao Jiang is a rookie in the criminal investigation squad... Do we have the suspect¡¯s location under control?¡± ¡°He should be at home. We have a record of his home address, we sent someone to observe yesterday, and the lights were on at night. He probably hasn¡¯t woken up yet,¡± Gu said as he looked at the crowd of 9, clicking his tongue twice, ¡°How big is the case?¡± He didn¡¯t ask for details, just the severity of the case. For ongoing cases and even unsolved cold cases, everyone is usually cautious about the details. Unless necessary, they won¡¯t speak too specifically, as such information is both a resource for case handling and for securing a conviction. This is adhered to well, even by the officers from the county bureaus. Wei Zhenguo smiled and replied, ¡°It¡¯s not a big case.¡± Seeing how many people Wei Zhenguo had brought and his serious demeanor, Gu said, ¡°The suspect lives in an old residential area, which is relatively complex. If you need more people for surveillance, we have a few on duty in the station¡ª¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough, we¡¯re just being cautious.¡± Wei Zhenguo declined the offer and asked Gu to lead the way. The group of 11 people split up into three groups, approaching the target complex from both front and back directions. The so-called complex had only three buildings, ranging from 20 to 24 stories high, but since they were all tower blocks, with more than a dozen apartments per floor arranged in a square around a long central courtyard, surrounded by safety staircases on both the inside and outside. This kind of environment might look simple, but it was complicated to control. Both the front and back gates of the complex, plus two garage doors, all allowed vehicle and pedestrian access. The same was true inside the complex. Parking was available on the ground level, and there were walkways in the underground parking lot. Moreover, there were two entrances leading to the underground parking lot from the apartments. With four elevators in each building, located on the eastern and western sides of each building, and at least one reaching the underground parking, plus two safety staircases in each building and an additional two in the parking garage, the residential complex felt like it had endless pathways. Listening to the property manager¡¯s introduction of the complex, Jiang Yuan imagined scenes from Hong Kong police and gangster movies in his mind. If today¡¯s arrest was discovered and the suspect escaped, what would follow could be an aerial shot from the top of a 22-story staircase in the shape of a square, watching as both parties climbed up and down the stair railings, back and forth, left and right... They could even jump over the railings, risking their lives to leap between floors and down to the ground. The dimly lit stairway could make the pursuit through the safety staircases thrilling, highlighting the tension and anxiety. If it were possible to drive a car or open doors, the film could further develop into a car chase or a room invasion, with about thirty extras from the three buildings, enough to make a movie, no problem. There was no readable expression on Wei Zhenguo¡¯s face. His police uniform was a bit wrinkled, just like the wrinkles on his face. But as for his gaze, the Wei Zhenguo who walked outside was obviously more confident than when he was in the office. ¡°Two people at each of the front and back gates, one at each garage, carry walkie-talkies, and be ready to provide backup at any time. Oh, and remember to turn on your bodycams,¡± Wei Zhenguo instructed as he walked and listened, promptly dispatching the officers accordingly. The remaining 5 people then regrouped and took an elevator straight up to the 12th floor. The door opened, and a young couple looked up to see 5 police officers in uniform, their eyes a bit glazed. ¡°One on each side of the corridor,¡± Wei Zhenguo commanded briefly before leading the team to the suspect¡¯s door. The door number was 1209. ¡°Knock on the door and say there¡¯s a water leak downstairs, and you need to check it out,¡± Wei Zhenguo instructed, as he and the others took positions on either side of the door. The person looking through the peephole should only be able to see the old property manager. From inside the door, an irritated voice soon came through. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but breathe a sigh of relief. If the person was there, the chances of making an arrest were very high. As Jiang Yuan mulled over this, after a brief exchange of words through the door, it clicked open. Without a signal, two strong officers swiftly entered the room and pushed the unsuspecting suspect against the wall. ¡°Police. Don¡¯t move. What¡¯s your name?¡± several voices demanded, stern and heavy. ¡°Cai Bin...¡± ¡°Cai Bin, you¡¯ve committed a crime...¡± As the handcuffs were secured, the officers continued to press, ¡°How many people are in the house? Is there anyone else here?¡± ¡°Yes... my wife, no, I mean, my girlfriend is inside.¡± Cai Bin raised his voice and shouted, ¡°Yun, it¡¯s the police, it¡¯s nothing to do with you, don¡¯t move around...¡± Jiang Yuan stood by, watching, with nothing to intervene in. The suspects had no resistance at all, they just yelled out a couple of times, making the whole arrest smooth like a drill. ¡°Nervous?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked, as he had the policewoman accompanying him bring out the suspect¡¯s girlfriend and then walked over to Jiang Yuan with a smile. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, ¡°A bit.¡± ¡°Most arrests are just like this,¡± Wei Zhenguo muttered, saying, ¡°The ones who violently resist are usually of two types, those who have committed major crimes and those who are truly innocent. So, when you face violent resistance, keep an eye out during interrogation.¡± Jiang Yuan glanced at Cai Bin, who was firmly pressed down, and nodded again. ¡°Let¡¯s head down,¡± Wei Zhenguo then signaled to the officers stationed outside to gather at the entrance of the complex to wait for the car. The officers who had been guarding the front and back doors and the garage slowly walked back. 11 people congregated together, surrounding the two suspects at the entrance of the complex in the early morning, extremely conspicuous. Cai Bin, with his hands cuffed, twisted restlessly, looking at the large group of police officers, his body full of question marks. Two or three officers arresting one thief is quite normal. But seeing 11 officers swarm in like this, there had to be some issue. The more Cai Bin thought, the more distressed he felt, and he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why are you arresting me?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you know what you¡¯ve done?¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s eyes pierced through Cai Bin. Cai Bin counted the number of officers again, shaking his head vigorously, ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything, you¡¯ve got the wrong person, really...¡± ¡°Got the wrong person? Think about it again. I won¡¯t ask you right now,¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s stern face wrinkled up, resembling a stern Bao Qingtian, as he gestured around and spoke slowly, ¡°Do you think we are so idle that we¡¯ve come out here to play?¡± ¡°No, I... it¡¯s not like that...¡± Cai Bin felt as if ghosts of injustice were clinging to him. ¡°We¡¯ll discuss it back at the station,¡± Wei Zhenguo pointed at the law enforcement recorder, looking every bit like someone who did things by the book. And the more by-the-book Wei Zhenguo¡¯s approach, the more uncomfortable Cai Bin felt. Even Cai Bin¡¯s girlfriend couldn¡¯t help but cast a suspicious look, re-evaluating Cai Bin. Chapter 40 - 40 40 Extremely Happy ?40: Chapter 40 Extremely Happy 40: Chapter 40 Extremely Happy ¡°He confessed.¡± By mid-afternoon, Wei Zhenguo came over with a beaming smile to bring good news. Jiang Yuan had been reading a book, and he couldn¡¯t help but stand up and express his surprise, ¡°That fast?¡± ¡°He thought he had gotten involved in some major case and promptly spilled the beans about stealing electric scooters, terrified of being wrongfully accused,¡± Wei Zhenguo laughed heartily. ¡°When we inquired further about the specific number of cases, with his fingerprints in hand, he coughed up six cases in one breath. Even the route of fencing the goods was exposed.¡± ¡°Captain Wei is impressive. It seems having more people on the team does have its benefits,¡± Jiang Yuan immediately offered a compliment. After all, they were working on a case he took on. ¡°Having more people is definitely better, yes. Most suspects, when they see three or four of us standing together, don¡¯t put up much of a fight. But if you show up with just two people, they¡¯ll think, ¡®Why not give running a try?''¡± Wei Zhenguo shared his experience and continued, ¡°What I feared the most today was stumbling into the lair of thieves. These petty thieves are different from those who commit major crimes. Some of them just love to call up their buddies. Their offenses are minor, so they¡¯re not so wary of each other... I once worked on a case where five guys rented a room, slept on bunk beds, and the money these five people combined made was less than what a factory screw-tightener earned. But you ask them, and each one thinks they¡¯re having the time of their life, so happy.¡± ¡°In a university dorm, the total living expenses of the male students might also be less than what a screw-tightener makes,¡± said Jiang Yuan. Xiao Wang, the fingerprint analyst who always worked in the forensics office, couldn¡¯t help but snicker, ¡°That¡¯s really true.¡± Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°Anyway, we must be prepared for the unexpected. If they were having a gathering or something... It¡¯s no big deal for some rough guys, but if Doctor Jiang gets hurt, the loss would be too great.¡± Jiang Yuan hurriedly said, ¡°That won¡¯t happen...¡± ¡°Better safe than sorry,¡± Wei Zhenguo seriously insisted. ¡°Really, as long as you can find the leads, no matter if you hand them over to me or someone else, we¡¯ll sort everything out clearly for you. Oh, about that case I just mentioned¡ªI haven¡¯t finished speaking about it.¡± ¡°There¡¯s more to it?¡± ¡°Of course, we deployed 11 people today,¡± Wei Zhenguo chuckled twice before continuing, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about Cai Bin¡¯s girlfriend first. She¡¯s not a major problem¡ªjust lazy and gluttonous, hooked on Cai Bin because he has an apartment. She spends her days scrolling on her phone, occasionally going out shopping. When Cai Bin comes back from a theft, he buys groceries and cooks to serve her. Judging from her personality and daily life, she probably hasn¡¯t taken part in theft or fencing the loot...¡± Listening in, Xiao Wang summarized, ¡°He¡¯s stealing electric scooters to support her?¡± ¡°Pretty much. Then, based on the leads Cai Bin provided for fencing the goods, we¡¯ve just nabbed two more people and recovered several dozen electric scooters and tricycles, along with over a hundred batteries. Now we¡¯re continuing to follow this lead to catch more people, and I expect we¡¯ll find even more. Once the case is closed, I reckon we¡¯ll be able to return stolen items to quite a few people.¡± This time, Wu Jun couldn¡¯t sit still any longer. Leaning forward with his teacup, he commented, ¡°Looks like you¡¯ve knocked down a good number of dates with that stick.¡± Wei Zhenguo smiled, ¡°It¡¯s like casting a net early and catching a big fish unexpectedly.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t we also organize these sort of theft task forces every year? Last year it was domestic burglaries, the year before it was pickpocketing on buses... This year, considering the scale of their operations, it might just be the scooter theft task force. It¡¯s like we made a preemptive strike.¡± ¡°That¡¯s hard to say, though, with the current situation, they might just go all-in on creating cyber fraud task forces,¡± Wu Jun took a sip of his tea, reaching a conclusion that was quite likely. Cyber fraud cases now make up more than 50% of all reported cases, and the amounts involved are even higher. Compared to that, theft cases are relatively minor. Wei Zhenguo fell silent for a moment and had to admit the possibility. Compared to the cyber fraud cases involving thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, the outcry over stolen electric scooters wasn¡¯t as loud. Wei Zhenguo shook his head, ¡°Anyway, solving a case is always good news.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Actually, when we set up specialized task forces, we followed a similar process: start with a small-time thief to get the lay of the land, then follow the clues from there. Our county¡¯s cases aren¡¯t so convoluted... Oh, right...,¡± said Wei Zhenguo, suddenly slapping his thigh. ¡°Doctor Jiang, those two who used hydraulic cutters and a tricycle to steal the scooters¡ªCai Bin says he knows them. We¡¯re heading out to arrest them now.¡± Jiang Yuan laughed, ¡°Looks like I raked through trash for nothing.¡± ¡°Not at all, when it comes time for sentencing, having DNA evidence makes a world of difference compared to not having it,¡± Wei Zhenguo reassured him, tilting his chin up. ¡°Plus, once those two are apprehended, if we have DNA evidence on hand, we can definitely tie them to more cases, making things much easier than conducting interrogations with no evidence to back us up. If only every case could have such solid physical evidence, I¡¯d gladly dig through trash every day.¡± ¡°Then you might as well hire a janitor,¡± Xiao Wang chimed in, amused. Wei Zhenguo let out a hearty laugh that deepened the wrinkles on his face. Turning back, Wei Zhenguo looked at Jiang Yuan and asked with a smile, ¡°Doctor Jiang, any new leads today?¡± ¡°Today...¡± Jiang Yuan glanced down at his computer screen, where the novel ¡°Great Doctor Ling Ran¡± was displayed, and couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit sheepish. Had he been too relaxed today? Wu Jun cleared his throat twice, trying to diffuse the situation, ¡°Captain Wei, about that string of cases you just talked about, isn¡¯t that going to keep you busy for a week or two? What more leads do you need?¡± ¡°We won¡¯t need that long. Ten days at most...¡± Knowing that Jiang Yuan had no new cases to work on, Wei Zhenguo immediately spoke seriously: ¡°Doctor Jiang, if you have some time to spare, could you help me look at a case?¡± ¡°Which case?¡± ¡°The 326 missing person case. The Ding Lan missing person case,¡± Wei Zhenguo answered quickly. Jiang Yuan began to search on his software while Wu Jun and Xiao Wang gathered around to look. ¡°Jiang Yuan mainly deals with arch pattern fingerprints,¡± Xiao Wang felt obliged to clarify for Jiang Yuan, especially since ¡°Forensic investigations do have their focuses...¡± ¡°That...¡± Jiang Yuan had to interrupt Xiao Wang, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve been studying other types of fingerprints for a while... I should be able to work on those too.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous task had progressed from LV3 arch pattern fingerprint identification to LV3 full fingerprint identification, As arch patterns are less common compared to other patterns, obtaining the Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV3) meant Jiang Yuan¡¯s scope had greatly expanded. Xiao Wang found it hard to believe this, recognizing that Jiang Yuan was skilled, but the idea that he could have mastered previously impossible types within just a few weeks was beyond his understanding. Xiao Wang knew few experts, but he believed they all had their quirks. When Jiang Yuan said he specialized in arch patterns, Xiao Wang easily accepted it. Now that Jiang Yuan claimed he could overcome this limitation, Xiao Wang felt unsettled. Jiang Yuan blurted out casually, ¡°I¡¯ve been catching up extensively lately... Captain Wei, please continue with your case.¡± Chapter 41 - 41 41 The Case of the 326 Disappearances ?41: Chapter 41: The Case of the 326 Disappearances 41: Chapter 41: The Case of the 326 Disappearances ¡°The 326 missing person case... It was from three years ago,¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s tone was tinged with reminiscence, as he slowly continued, ¡°You know, to file a missing person case, there are certain requirements. By the time the case came to me, there were already many troubling signs.¡± Wei Zhenguo had clearly reviewed the case details, he paused briefly and resumed, ¡°The victim, Ding Lan, was an accountant at a factory. On the 26th of March, she worked overtime until about 10 pm, then left the factory for home. She didn¡¯t show up for work on time the next day, but her colleagues thought she was just running late. It wasn¡¯t until that afternoon that they tried to contact her. Living alone as she did, it wasn¡¯t until the evening of the 27th that her family reported her missing, and even then, the case wasn¡¯t immediately filed. Later, a few people who set out to look for Ding Lan found her bicycle behind a municipal flowerbed, about seven or eight meters from the roadway.¡± ¡°That would be grounds for opening a case,¡± Wu Jun interjected. ¡°Yes, the abandoned bicycle means there¡¯s more to the disappearance,¡± Wei Zhenguo sighed, ¡°Afterwards, our squad conducted some search efforts and also lifted fingerprints from the bicycle, but we never made any progress and the case ground to a halt.¡± ¡°Let me look at these fingerprints.¡± That was all Jiang Yuan had in terms of investigative skills. Fingerprints were his sharpest tool, much sharper than the forensic doctor¡¯s own skillset. Wei Zhenguo must have called him in on this case for that very reason. Upon opening the integrated police service platform, there was a long list of fingerprints related to the 326 missing person case. Among them, the most important were the fingerprints collected from the bicycle, totaling several dozen and belonging to multiple individuals, scattered across the handlebars, frame, and tire. It could be said that the person who collected the fingerprints did so with considerable diligence. But similar to a previous assault case, the cylindrical material of the bike frame meant that the collected fingerprints were severely distorted, making them hard to match. Coupled with the large number of fingerprints gathered from the victim¡¯s home, the total number of fingerprints involved in the case easily ran into the dozens. Without a clear direction for the investigation, handling these dozens of fingerprints was going to be a real headache. Wei Zhenguo was clearly aware of this and could only explain, ¡°Ding Lan¡¯s bicycle was often borrowed by people in the office. The cashier and another financial staff member used it frequently. Also, Ding Lan was quite casual in her social interactions, with numerous relatives, friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends. We know of four ex-boyfriends living in the county alone...¡± ¡°Romantic entanglements?¡± Wu Jun speculated blindly. With no body and the case not being a major special case, he had no recollection of it after two years. Wei Zhenguo shook his head: ¡°Her several ex-boyfriends all parted on amicable terms, none had a history of violence... Honestly, after recording their testimonies, the investigation stalled, and there was practically no follow-up. If not for the peculiar circumstances of that abandoned bicycle, this case might not have even reached me... But it was precisely because of the oddity of the abandoned bicycle that I¡¯ve kept the case in mind...¡± As Wu Jun listened, he suddenly felt a sense of resignation: ¡°In our country, a so-called perfect murder could simply be replaced with a missing person case. Just the time it takes to file the case can consume the crucial 72 hours, and without a body, much of the evidence can¡¯t be found. Moreover, not as many resources are invested.¡± Wei Zhenguo nodded gravely, exchanging a look with Wu Jun: ¡°You feel it too?¡± Wu Jun uttered a thoughtful ¡°Hmm...¡±, and said, ¡°There¡¯s no way the bicycle would just be discarded by the roadside without reason. But there are other explanations, the most critical issue is... there¡¯s no body.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Wei Zhenguo sighed again. Jiang Yuan understood and expressed his surprise, ¡°Captain Wei, you think there¡¯s a murder involved here?¡± Wei Zhenguo replied, ¡°Too bad a hunch doesn¡¯t count.¡± Despite his youth, Jiang Yuan frowned and said, ¡°Regardless, a person has truly gone missing. We have to find her.¡± Wei Zhenguo gave a bitter smile: ¡°The difference between a missing person case and a murder case is vast.¡± Wu Jun also said from the side, ¡°There are issues with fake disappearances. For example, eloping with a boyfriend, running away due to financial problems or escaping debts, or actively participating in pyramid schemes and strange religions. And then, there¡¯s what you young people say, taking an impromptu trip, experiencing a love that¡¯s meant to be...¡± ¡°Right, our police resources are limited, and so is our energy. Without definite evidence, it¡¯s impossible to actively convert a missing person case into a homicide case,¡± Wei Zhenguo said. Wei Zhenguo and Wu Jun, one after another, laid out the situation for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan hesitantly asked, ¡°What counts as definite evidence?¡± ¡°A corpse,¡± Wei Zhenguo said. ¡°The tradition here is that you need to see a body to open a case. Without a body, it¡¯s impossible to throw the finances, possibly millions, into investigating a single case.¡± The high-pressure mandate to solve homicide cases is the primal force driving the police to solve cases regardless of cost. However, the fact that they can spare no expense for homicide cases doesn¡¯t mean police funds are unlimited. On the contrary, because funds need to be saved for serious cases like homicides, the budget for ordinary cases becomes even tighter. And before a body is seen, a disappearance case is just an ordinary case. The resources it can receive are only those allotted to ordinary cases. ¡°The victim¡¯s position was an accountant. Were there any financial issues?¡± Wu Jun raised another question. Wei Zhenguo sighed, ¡°The initial investigation shows no major issues, but there are some minor discrepancies with additional reimbursements. In short, it¡¯s not completely clean. But the factory side doesn¡¯t want to delve into it, and we don¡¯t have the manpower to do so.¡± ¡°Fond of socializing, loves to have fun, had several ex-boyfriends, and isn¡¯t very cautious with money,¡± Wu Jun shook his head. ¡°Cases like this are indeed tough to convert to homicide. Who knows, she might just show up one day, smiling and telling you it was all a joke.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been three years, and she hasn¡¯t popped up,¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s expression grew much graver. ¡°So, what do you need me to do now?¡± Seeing the mood was low, Jiang Yuan stood up again. Adjusting his emotions, Wei Zhenguo pondered and said, ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking. When we investigated this case before, our focus was on acquaintances. We considered the possibility of an acquaintance committing the crime, taking into account issues of romantic entanglement and the like. In summary, we followed the personal relationships. Now, let¡¯s set aside that old route and focus on this bicycle.¡± When it comes to case investigation, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s thoughts became extremely sharp, and his brows furrowed deeply as he said, ¡°The only flaw in this case is the bicycle. If it weren¡¯t for this one lying in the bushes, it might have been difficult to even file the disappearance case. And to conceal this bicycle would actually be very easy to do; either ride it away or discard it by the roadside, and it might get taken by passing people, leaving no trace.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded as he listened. This kind of case analysis was still very fresh to him, a forensic doctor who graduated from a medical academy. ¡°Therefore, this bicycle signifies that the case might have occurred spontaneously and could involve a crime of passion. If a crime did take place, there¡¯s a high chance that the bicycle might contain a significant clue, like, for example, the fingerprints of a criminal suspect,¡± Wei Zhenguo looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°To be honest, I considered this aspect three years ago, but back then, matching fingerprints was even harder than now...¡± As Wei Zhenguo described, a semi-transparent system interface popped up in front of Jiang Yuan. Mission: Full-Scale Match Mission Content: Wei Zhenguo believes that a clue to the disappearance case of Ding Lan #326 may lie in the fingerprints on the bicycle. Please match the fingerprint samples collected from the bicycle and attempt to solve the case. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes twitched. Good grief, matching all the fingerprints on the bicycle, disregarding the seventy to eighty percent fingerprints already matched, the rest are the problematic ones¡ªit¡¯s really only by assuming a major criminal case has occurred that one would have the patience to work through all of them. Chapter 42 - 42 42 Is it Appropriate ?42: Chapter 42: Is it Appropriate? 42: Chapter 42: Is it Appropriate? ¡°How do we... get started?¡± Wang Zhong conscientiously stood beside Jiang Yuan. Having eliminated the fingerprints that had already been matched, there were still over a dozen left, likely left by several people. This workload was a big case even for fingerprint analysis. ¡°Do you remember this case?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Three years ago, Wang Zhong was already a fingerprint analyst, and one of only two in the county bureau. Wang Zhong shook his head, saying, ¡°I don¡¯t quite remember; it wasn¡¯t a particularly notable case. When we compare fingerprints, we don¡¯t necessarily have to look at the case details, we can just match the fingerprints directly.¡± Wang Zhong was very much like the type of student who only celebrated passing grades, working incredibly hard when his scores were far below 60, but easily giving up when his scores were clearly above 60. When it came to matching fingerprints, his attitude was the same¡ªif he could match them, great; if not, he was very good at consoling himself. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to concern himself with that. He found a notebook to keep records and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s first categorize these fingerprints to see how many people they belong to, and then pick the appropriate ones to match.¡± ¡°Okay, so we record them according to the numbers in the photos?¡± Wang Zhong also grabbed a notebook and sat down. Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a grunt and focused his attention on the fingerprints, occasionally stretching out his hand to flip and compare them. Most of the fingerprints on the bicycle appeared in pairs. Apart from the owner Ding Lan¡¯s fingerprints, there were multiple pairs on the handlebars, the frame, and under the seat. In reasoning about the crime scene, one could imagine these fingerprints were probably left by someone or some people when abandoning the bike. It might even be possible to infer the situation at that time. However, this kind of reasoning merely circulated in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind. Jiang Yuan was new to the place and he wasn¡¯t from a criminal investigation background; he lacked both experience and knowledge in investigation, reasoning, and solving cases. In contrast, most young officers in the various squads of the Criminal Police Division were formally trained. Even the younger generation of assistant police often came from the provincial police schools, working while taking exams, waiting for their chance to be officially hired. Once they got a spot, they were ready to go. At the higher levels of the city bureau and provincial department, there were no shortage of graduates from the People¡¯s Public Security University and the Criminal Police Academy¡ªthese are the top two police universities, with graduates excelling in intelligence, physical ability, technical skill, and knowledge. Yet, entering the workplace, they still had to follow the old policemen step by step to learn. Jiang Yuan, a newcomer from a medical university¡¯s forensic program, didn¡¯t think he was more Sherlock Holmes than his colleagues. Without the sudden advent of a forensic system, Jiang Yuan guessed he would only be able to honestly wait for corpses in the office or do odd jobs with the criminal police team, or assist Wu Jun in some injury assessment work. But with the system, Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation was completely different. Still, he only wanted to make good use of his current advantages. Using the strategy of the famed Comrade Zeng Guofan, for a beginner, building a solid stronghold and engaging in blunt combat is actually the quickest shortcut. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to identify which fingerprints could be whose. He just sorted them, arranged them in order, and went on to match them one by one. By the end of the day, Jiang Yuan had only completed the three sets of nine fingerprints. The challenge of the fingerprints was not high; similar to cylindrical metal objects, the fingerprints left on the bicycle were about an LV2 level. In comparison to Liu Yu¡¯s injury case, which was the one caused by the post-college entrance exam celebration, the fingerprints left on the round stool were at least a strong LV3 level. However, Liu Yu¡¯s injury case involved grievous harm and issues such as the college entrance exam and youth, so it was attended to by high-level experts from the provincial and city levels. It remained unsolved due to the high degree of fingerprint imperfection. This time, Ding Lan¡¯s disappearance case was not in the same dimension at all. This case, at best, received attention from Comrade Wei Zhenguo, the deputy squad leader of the sixth squad. Technically, it never really received good support. For Jiang Yuan, unless there were no corresponding fingerprints in the database, matching them wasn¡¯t difficult. His slow progress was mainly due to the severe distortion of fingerprints on cylindrical objects, which required more time to adjust. ¡°Jiang Yuan, are you heading back?¡± Wang Zhong popped into the office, curiously asking, ¡°How many fingerprints did you match?¡± ¡°Three persons¡¯ fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, meaning he had processed the nine fingerprints, each belonging to one of Ding Lan¡¯s colleagues. ¡°Impressive,¡± said Wang Zhong with some embarrassment. Theoretically, these were fingerprints he should have matched before but failed. Jiang Yuan¡¯s accomplishment in just an afternoon showed a substantial gap in their capabilities. Jiang Yuan smiled modestly, ¡°Just lucky.¡± Wang Zhong shook his head, then extended an invitation, ¡°How about dinner together tonight? It¡¯s been a while since we arrived, and we haven¡¯t really had a chance to talk.¡± ¡°Sure. Who¡¯s coming?¡± Jiang Yuan agreed readily. ¡°I invited a few people around our age. Do you want to invite Wei Yin as well?¡± Wang Zhong winked. Jiang Yuan laughed, ¡°Captain Wei¡¯s daughter? I don¡¯t even have her contact information.¡± ¡°You can find Wei Yin¡¯s number in the internal contact book. You can also add her on WeChat from the large group,¡± Wang Zhong encouraged. ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled, opened his phone, pulled up the large WeChat group, searched for Wei Yin and selected ¡®Add Friend.''¡± Wang Zhong watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s smooth operation, startled. In a team full of bachelors, teasing and encouraging like this usually ended with the teased admitting shyness. Wang Zhong hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to not flinch at all. What surprised Wang Zhong even more was that within minutes, Wei Yin had accepted Jiang Yuan¡¯s request on the other end. Watching Jiang Yuan type with ease, Wang Zhong fell into confusion¡ªwas it my school that was the wrong fit? Chapter 43 - 43 43 Jiang Village People ?43: Chapter 43 Jiang Village People 43: Chapter 43 Jiang Village People Because Wei Yin was coming, Wang Zhong specially chose a high-class restaurant. The kind with private rooms. And he ordered lots of beer. Playing with the department flower and her bestie used to be just in Wang Zhong¡¯s daydreams, but now that it had come true, he was daydreaming even more. Before long, Wei Yin arrived with her bestie, gracefully greeting Jiang Yuan, then chatting with the few who had arrived early with great poise and openness. As someone who worked in administration and was also beautiful, she knew many people and could strike up a conversation with anyone. She¡¯d talk with one group for a while, then laugh with another, quickly causing Wang Zhong to become distressed. ¡°Hey, I think it might not work out,¡± Wang Zhong said, transitioning from dominating the dining scene to receding into an invisibility, as he sat down next to Jiang Yuan, beginning to seem listless. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. This was his first time attending a colleagues¡¯ gathering since joining the company, so naturally, he wanted to appear as sociable as possible. Wang Zhong sighed, ¡°With us being so outnumbered... I¡¯m afraid I may never have my day in the sun, sigh...¡± Jiang Yuan followed up on his sentiment, casually saying, ¡°Don¡¯t be so pessimistic.¡± ¡°How can I not be?¡± Wang Zhong had a sip of beer, his emotions becoming more agitated: ¡°Just look at Huang, almost wearing tight shirts even in winter to show off his abs. And you, tall, handsome, and with good skills... And Guo Haitao, just you wait and see¡ªsoon the restaurant manager will be here to fawn over him...¡± Right as he was speaking, someone knocked on the private room door. ¡°A rare guest, a rare guest. Captain Guo graces us with his presence...¡± The restaurant manager entered with a smile, pulling out a box of Zhonghua cigarettes and handing them out all around. Police officers often smash smokers, and even Wei Yin and her bestie started to smoke one, blowing smoke rings for fun. ¡°Not captain, I¡¯m just a gofer. It¡¯d be a joke if others heard you; we¡¯re just having private fun, no need for all this fuss,¡± Guo Haitao accepted the cigarette, lighting it for both of them. ¡°How can I not make a fuss? If people knew, they¡¯d think I have no manners,¡± said the manager, bending down to light a cigarette, and after a few more words with a laugh, servers brought in fruit platters and beers. The manager eagerly instructed them to place them on the table, saying, ¡°A fruit platter and beers, just a small token of my regard, a small token of my regard...¡± Guo Haitao modestly declined, much like relatives handing out red packets during the New Year. ¡°Just leave the fruit platter; we don¡¯t need the beer, we can¡¯t finish it all,¡± Wei Yin intervened, ending the back and forth. Guo Haitao became more resolute, ushering both the manager and the beer out of the private room, then turned back with a smile, ¡°Shopkeepers are too shrewd, didn¡¯t expect to be recognized... Alright, the formalities are done, let¡¯s enjoy ourselves.¡± ¡°Chief Guo has quite the network.¡± ¡°Chief Guo is something else.¡± Everyone snacked on little watermelons and cherry tomatoes while teasing Guo Haitao. Wang Zhong joined in the praise, then turned back to Jiang Yuan to lament, ¡°We tech guys really don¡¯t have a role to play in these kinds of settings.¡± ¡°We could try to lift the manager¡¯s fingerprints; maybe he has a criminal record, and we could lock him up,¡± Jiang Yuan offered up a sensible suggestion. Just as Wang Zhong¡¯s mood peaked, he burst into laughter, rendered speechless. Jiang Yuan also picked up a bottle of beer to drink. He, too, had only graduated recently, but found dining and chatting with classmates quite different from socializing with colleagues over a meal. As Wang Zhong drank more, he began to liven up, Wei Yin and her best friend seemed to fit in extremely well the whole time, and even when several male colleagues close in age coordinated with each other, their moods were still manipulated by her, like green rookies entering the interrogation room for the first time. The group ended dinner amidst laughter and chatter. Once they stepped out of the restaurant and felt the breeze, they all staggered slightly. ¡°Let¡¯s get a taxi. I¡¯ll call taxis for everyone,¡± Guo Haitao, who loved the limelight, was also good at seeing things through to the end. Someone politely said, ¡°No need, I¡¯ll take the bus back, it¡¯s all the same.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wearing pants. Take a taxi, it¡¯ll be less trouble,¡± Guo Haitao was referring to police pants. Nowadays, unless on duty, police officers try not to wear their uniforms. Some would even change out of their uniforms just to go downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes, or they¡¯d throw a coat over it. However, most officers who wear the uniform are accustomed to wearing their police pants all day long. Not only do they wear police pants while on duty, during interrogations, on patrol, but also when going home after work, almost as if they want to wear them in the shower, to the point that even the police dogs in the station are bothered by the reflection of the pants, colloquially referred to as ¡°blinding the dog¡¯s eyes.¡± But wearing police pants while having had a drink still made people a bit more concerned, and everyone tried to avoid it as much as possible. The colleague in police pants waved it off, ¡°No worries, the lighting is so dim at night, if someone stares at your pants, it¡¯d be best if they recognized these are police pants.¡± Several people broke into laughter, and amidst the commotion, someone said, ¡°If anyone should be wearing police pants, it should be Wei Yin.¡± ¡°I have everyone here to protect me,¡± Wei Yin confidently rallied everyone to her side and added, ¡°You guys should also keep your eyes to yourselves, spotting a white shirt is the real danger.¡± Guo Haitao laughed heartily, ¡°The white shirts we see around here are probably all salespeople.¡± In the police force, only officers ranked as a third-tier police supervisor or above are allowed to wear white shirts. Those below that rank wear sky-blue shirts. And, as a senior police rank, one generally has to be the chief of a municipal bureau to be a third-tier police supervisor, while in Ningtai County¡¯s bureau, even the chief wears a blue shirt. However, police academies and higher-level police departments have a relatively higher number of white shirts. To the officers from the county bureau, seeing a white shirt is like seeing an imperial envoy. Despite the slim possibility, the aura of fear was successfully amplified by Wei Yin, and everyone started behaving and looked down, ready to call a taxi. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have a friend give you guys a lift.¡± ¡°There are quite a few of us though,¡± Wang Zhong reminded him. ¡°No worries, we¡¯ve got cars in the county,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he made a phone call. The area of Ningtai County isn¡¯t vast, and due to its location in a busy district, you¡¯d only have to wait as long as it takes for a Didi to arrive, when a nice row of four Alphards pulled up in front of the group. Yuan, Jiang Yongxin got out of the lead car. He was considered a go-getter in the village, running a car repair shop and a car rental business while also offering shuttle services for the village people. Ever since Jiang Yuan solved the electric bike case and, despite not receiving a single penny in return of stolen goods, Jiang Yongxin started addressing him with respect as Yuan. ¡°Count from the front to the back ¨C the four cars will head in the directions of east, south, west, and north. Everyone can get in whichever car goes their way,¡± Jiang Yuan, who himself disliked driving, always called for a village car for transport. Wang Zhong and the others were still a bit awestruck by the Alphards. Seeing Jiang Yuan about to get in a car, Wang Zhong hurriedly stopped him, saying, ¡°Isn¡¯t calling these cars a bit too extravagant?¡± ¡°They¡¯re our village¡¯s own cars, I usually just account for it, no worries,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he greeted Jiang Yongxin and got in a car. Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t help but mutter, ¡°That¡¯s the Jiang Village people for you.¡± ¡°There are rich and poor in Jiang Village too,¡± Jiang Yongxin came over to welcome the guests, smiling, ¡°There are even those in Jiang Village who¡¯ve squandered their wealth until they have only two or three houses left. But Yuan¡¯s family is exceptionally wealthy; his dad being called the Wealth of the Town isn¡¯t just by chance, it was decided at his birth.¡± ¡°Get in the car, get in the car,¡± Wang Zhong urged without further ado, choosing the first car to sit in, while others murmured ¡°Jiang Village¡± and filed into the cars one by one. The four cars started smoothly, taking everyone back to their homes and deeply engraving the concept of ¡°Jiang Village people¡± into their minds. Chapter 44 - 44 44 Former Boyfriends ?44: Chapter 44 Former Boyfriends 44: Chapter 44 Former Boyfriends For two consecutive days, Jiang Yuan had been focusing all his attention on processing the fingerprints from the Ding Lan case. Having cracked several cases in a row, including one highly noticeable murder case, the label of ¡°rookie¡± had nearly been scrubbed entirely clean from Jiang Yuan or, rather, it was shining brightly. Now, at least within the Ningtai County Bureau, most people had heard the name ¡°Jiang Yuan.¡± The most direct impact of this was that no one would ask Jiang Yuan to do menial chores anymore. Even Wu Jun, seeing Jiang Yuan busy with the fingerprints for the Ding Lan disappearance case, didn¡¯t require him to do other tasks. The attribute of ¡°being able to solve cases¡± was still very impressive at the grassroots county level, and ordinary police officers, willing to voluntarily work overtime for a case, also would not encroach on the time of ¡°case-solving¡± Jiang Yuan. As for the Ding Lan disappearance case, the fingerprints could indeed only be handled by Jiang Yuan. There were too many complex fingerprints; the two trace examiners from Ningtai County couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of them, let alone finish them. If they wanted to ask for assistance from provincial or city level trace examiners, the case, by virtue of being a disappearance, wouldn¡¯t qualify. To a certain extent, one could say this problem was a bit of a thankless task. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t under pressure, not like Wei Zhenguo or Wang Zhong, who always had daily tasks to deal with and could only occasionally carve out some free time, which wasn¡¯t all devoted to case work. Most humans would take any chance to relax if they could. If everyone liked to seize every opportunity to study and work, there wouldn¡¯t be sweaty crowds in the dimly lit conference hubs of Hongdeng Street, Pink Salons, and Neon Night Clubs, and likewise, if everyone seized every moment to study and work, those places would not exist. Of course, the role of the Forensic Medicine System should not be underestimated. Even without the help of skills, its mere presence made Jiang Yuan more focused. Even Wu Jun, looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s work, couldn¡¯t help but comment, ¡°If I had been as single-minded as you in dissecting bodies when I was young, I would have been transferred to the city bureau long ago.¡± ¡°Is being a forensic doctor at the city bureau better?¡± Jiang Yuan took a sip of tea, giving his eyes a break. Wu Jun pondered for a moment, then said, ¡°Salary¡¯s a few hundred more, at least.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even blink an eyelid, ¡°Then there¡¯s no difference.¡± ¡°When it comes to welfare housing allocations, the county bureau¡¯s allocation is in the county, the city bureau¡¯s is in the city,¡± Wu Jun mentioned, glancing at Jiang Yuan and suddenly losing some enthusiasm, waving his hand, ¡°For you Jiang Village people, maybe there¡¯s no difference either.¡± ¡°My family doesn¡¯t have many houses in the city,¡± Jiang Yuan clarified. Wu Jun chuckled, finding the conversation quite dull, and pointed to the computer screen, ¡°How¡¯s the fingerprint work going? If you find any clues, let Wei go investigate it. Too much evidence isn¡¯t necessarily a good thing.¡± ¡°Another day and I should have all the processable fingerprints done. Looks like the timing¡¯s about right, too.¡± Jiang Yuan glanced at his notebook again, then took out his phone to call Wei Zhenguo. It wasn¡¯t long before Wei Zhenguo ran up. Climbing four flights of stairs in one go, Wei Zhenguo was somewhat out of breath but looked quite pleased as he asked, ¡°Got results?¡± ¡°Most of them. There are a few I haven¡¯t finished. I¡¯ll work on them a bit more and see how many matches I can get by tomorrow.¡± Jiang Yuan took a few freshly printed pages, stapled them together, and handed them to Wei Zhenguo. At the top of the paper was the name of a reformed convict. ¡°Inciting trouble, getting into fights... goodness, to have a match with someone like that, and you didn¡¯t call?¡± Wei Zhenguo stood rooted in place upon seeing the first entry, visibly eager to act. ¡°He¡¯s dead,¡± Jiang Yuan provided an irrefutable answer. Wei Zhenguo had a different perspective. He glanced through Jiang Yuan¡¯s records, furrowed his brow, and said, ¡°He left his fingerprints when he was still alive. Ding Lan disappeared on March 26th, and he¡¯d just been released from prison not long ago. If this case was committed by him... it could well be an unsolvable case now.¡± At that moment, Wei Zhenguo felt a bit regretful for having sought Jiang Yuan¡¯s help, having wasted so much of his time. If the result was a dead end, it would be quite embarrassing. Jiang Yuan, inexperienced, didn¡¯t think too much about what would follow, but simply said, ¡°Look at the following.¡± ¡°Hm... inciting trouble, assault... another one?¡± Wei Zhenguo only then noticed the second person among several short segments farther down who matched the description. ¡°He¡¯s also dead,¡± Jiang Yuan added. ¡°That¡¯s not right!¡± Wei Zhenguo cried out, saying, ¡°On just one lousy bike, the fingerprints of two dead men, and both are career criminals?¡± As a detective, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s mind raced through a string of cases. Gang crimes, unequal division of loot, silencing by murder... ¡°This man died of cancer. Acute pancreatic cancer, he had surgery and chemotherapy, stayed in the hospital for half a year, endured a lot of suffering,¡± Jiang Yuan stated. ¡°I specifically called, his mother said so.¡± Jiang Yuan was not entirely insensitive, and his detailed explanation was also meant to prove that, at least regarding the death of the second person, there was not much doubt. Wei Zhenguo sighed, feeling the same worry. If this person had led to Ding Lan¡¯s disappearance, it could just as likely have resulted in a death case. The third person on Jiang Yuan¡¯s list seemed relatively normal, a young man who had only received administrative punishments and was currently still alive. Seeing this, Wei Zhenguo couldn¡¯t help but shake his head, ¡°How did she, a young girl, get to know these people.¡± ¡°Social media, I guess.¡± In this regard, Jiang Yuan adapted much better than Wei Zhenguo, and continued, ¡°I looked at the statements you took before, and several of Ding Lan¡¯s ex-boyfriends, they all met through social media.¡± ¡°This...¡± Wei Zhenguo seemed to be taken back to the beginning of the case when one ex-boyfriend after another popped up, making the case instantly complicated and confusing. Just one bicycle toppled over in the greenbelt was simply not enough to track so many leads. Even more worrisome, if a crime did occur, the suspect might not have left fingerprints on the bicycle. As for social media... Although social media does keep records, extracting those records could be more trouble than one might imagine. It¡¯s feasible if you can get information through the internet or phone, but many companies do not offer such convenience. Instead, police officers need to travel to their jurisdiction, apply for records through the local police, and because of the queues, it usually takes a week or two per trip. If you want to check all the mainstream social media platforms, a criminal investigation squad wouldn¡¯t be able to handle any other cases for that month. Starting with the fourth person, the fingerprints belonged to people who were relatively ordinary, at least without criminal records. Jiang Yuan pulled out as much information as he could from the police database, his access wasn¡¯t high, and some was queried through Wu Jun¡¯s phone, but the problem remained the same. Hoping to find conclusions from such simple information, perhaps Sherlock Holmes could, but Jiang Yuan could not. Wei Zhenguo also felt his forehead heat up from reading so much, and said helplessly, ¡°When I opened this case, there were no leads, so it was set aside. Now there are too many leads, and I don¡¯t know where to start. They say fortune comes in cycles; it seems we¡¯re stuck today.¡± ¡°If there are no particularly prominent leads, then just investigate them one by one,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who dealt with fingerprints in just such a way. In fact, forensic technology was generally quite crude, hardly ever the sort of genius method that would amaze onlookers at first glance. Many forensic technologies are second- or third-hand, or even fourth- or fifth-hand, starting from the halls of science to university labs, then to private companies and eventually becoming popular in the industry, before someone might introduce them to the forensic field. There are many reasons for this, one of which is that the forensic field has a high cost of trust, demanding technologies that are more mature and stable. In short, it¡¯s okay to be a bit slower; technologies that can steadily get the job done are what the forensic field prefers. Wei had just started accepting the technology of Jiang Yuan, experienced his direct approach to suspects, and now, when he spoke of the ¡°one by one¡± strategy, he seemed somewhat stunned. ¡°Investigating is the bread and butter.¡± Wei grinned, rubbing his greased hair, his gaze turning fierce: ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll go have some dealings with these ex-boyfriends.¡± Chapter 45 - 45 45 This Person is Not Right ?45: Chapter 45 This Person is Not Right 45: Chapter 45 This Person is Not Right Provincial capital. Changyang City. The broad roads and the annoying noise of tires, from East Market to West Market, from South Foothills to North Source, there wasn¡¯t a quiet place anywhere. The blue of the sky and the white of the clouds were still acceptable, but the grey of the ground and the white of the walls always felt tainted. The pedestrians on the street came in all shapes and colors, but apart from the beauties showing off their long, white legs, the rest of the men and women, old and young, all seemed to exude a labor-class weariness. Shuitian Bar Street. ¡°If you think of anything else, just give me a call,¡± Wei Zhenguo closed his notebook and stood up expressionlessly. ¡°Got it.¡± The young man opposite him crossed his legs and called out, ¡°No need to see me out.¡± Wei Zhenguo chuckled, stepped out of the dim room, took a couple of deep breaths and unconsciously lit up a cigarette. Outside, the sunshine was splendid, warm on the skin, making it hard to understand why these young people would rather lounge in a basement playing music, and particularly the unpleasant kind. ¡°Master, that kid was pretty arrogant,¡± grumbled Mu Zhiyang who was following him, looking like he couldn¡¯t bear any slight at his young age. Wei Zhenguo put away his notebook and let out a sigh, ¡°He¡¯s not the one, don¡¯t stir up trouble.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say I wanted to cause troubles,¡± Mu Zhiyang defended himself. Back when he was in school, he would have confronted such students, but now that he had a uniform, he felt more constrained, ¡°It just seems to me that this kind of person is highly likely to commit a crime. They¡¯re on the fringes of society, and with just a little conflict, they can easily lose control.¡± Wei Zhenguo glanced at him, ¡°Just control yourself, that¡¯s enough.¡± ¡°At least do a background check or something, I think we could bring him in for questioning.¡± Wei Zhenguo just shook his head wearily, ¡°No need. Taking him in means involving the local police station, don¡¯t hassle them for nothing.¡± They had been running around the city for two days and then went to the provincial capital, Changyang, to look for people, which was exhausting enough. Mu Zhiyang pursued, ¡°Why is it unnecessary?¡± ¡°Instinct.¡± ¡°No way, Master, you¡¯re the one who told me not to rely on instinct, but on logic.¡± Wei Zhenguo was amused, and gave his notebook a pat before continuing, ¡°So let¡¯s talk logic. Logically speaking, this guy is undocumented and not very cunning. Facing the two of us, doesn¡¯t he seem a little too composed?¡± ¡°I think he¡¯s clueless.¡± ¡°Those who play music without getting anywhere were called drifters in our time. A drifter seeing a cop from their hometown would show some emotional fluctuation. If he had committed a crime, especially a major one, his kind of person might either lose control or resist stubbornly. He wouldn¡¯t be able to remain as nonchalant as he was today,¡± Wei Zhenguo explained from experience, using it as a teaching moment for Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang pondered the point, nodding slowly. ¡°Let¡¯s move on to the next one,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, flicking his notebook. Ruling people out was one of the most basic yet exhausting police tasks. He didn¡¯t like it when he was young, and he still didn¡¯t like it now that he was older; it just had to be done. Wei Zhenguo met two more people while making calls and searching for addresses; it was getting dark. ¡°This Ding Lan is quite the social butterfly... that¡¯s what you mean by a social cattle. She knows too many people.¡± Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help remark, ¡°And these are only the ones we¡¯ve found. If the criminal is the law-abiding kind, just committing this one case, how would we ever find them? That¡¯s assuming there¡¯s a case at all.¡± ¡°There is a case,¡± Wei Zhenguo glanced at Mu Zhiyang, ¡°A girl who was still working normally, dating her boyfriend, calling her parents, and then suddenly disappeared without a trace, no news for three years, cutting off contact with parents, relatives, and friends... You say she¡¯s a social butterfly, would a socialite do that?¡± Mu Zhiyang was taken aback and slowly shook his head, ¡°No, if she did that, she wouldn¡¯t be a social butterfly.¡± ¡°Exactly. And, if a girl who never had a boyfriend was deceived emotionally by a man and suddenly chose to run away from home, it might be more credible. Ding Lan had so many boyfriends, would she be easily deceived?¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s tone shifted, adding, ¡°Regardless, three years is far too long to maintain a honeymoon period.¡± ¡°So, Master, are you suspecting this is... a murder case?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked in a low voice. Wei Zhenguo sighed, ¡°A murder... a murder isn¡¯t what I¡¯m afraid of, I¡¯m worried...¡± ¡°Worried about what?¡± ¡°What if it¡¯s unlawful detention?¡± Wei Zhenguo looked at Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang shivered as he followed Wei Zhenguo¡¯s line of thought. Having been a cop for a long time, even if one hasn¡¯t personally handled certain cases, just by reading the files and knowing some public information, one can see a lot of darkness. And many aspects of that darkness are utterly inhumane. A beautiful girl, unlawfully detained for three years¡ªjust thinking about her fate was chilling. In fact, Mu Zhiyang thought it doubtful that a pretty girl could endure three years of unlawful detention, and it was hard to say whether not surviving would be luckier or more tragic. ¡°Let¡¯s walk faster, another interview and then we can rest,¡± Wei Zhenguo glanced at the street sign, taking the lead. Mu Zhiyang hurriedly followed, saying as they walked, ¡°The provincial city has its own troubles. It¡¯s so big that the time it takes to find one person here is enough for us to find three back in Ningtai.¡± ¡°To even find someone in the provincial city is good, some people even go out of town,¡± Wei Zhenguo replied. ¡°What about those out of town? Do we go on a business trip to find them?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked. ¡°If push comes to shove, we¡¯ll start with a phone call,¡± Wei Zhenguo said. ¡°Captain Huang couldn¡¯t possibly approve more funds, right?¡± Mu Zhiyang was aware that his master¡¯s trip this time had already been specially authorized. Wei Zhenguo took a couple of breaths and chuckled before saying to Mu Zhiyang, ¡°Kid, this is what you have to learn. The more impossible it seems, the closer we are to the truth.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Wei Zhenguo nodded and said, ¡°Just blow your own trumpet like this when talking to the leaders, and you can ask for more funds, got it?¡± Mu Zhiyang initially thought he should write down his master¡¯s words, but now he wasn¡¯t sure if he should. Knock, knock, knock. The two knocked on the door of Room 4 on the 12th floor. The man who answered was the interviewee for this visit, Tan Yong, a divorced man in his thirties, sturdy and with rough skin, an average Joe. ¡°We are from the Ningtai County Bureau. We have a few questions to ask you...¡± Mu Zhiyang introduced themselves, following the procedure, and asked, ¡°May we come in to talk?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Tan Yong replied briskly, letting them inside. Mu Zhiyang, seeing that the man showed no signs of resistance, felt somewhat disappointed inside. After a few more questions, and learning that Tan Yong¡¯s Luqiao Group Engineering Company had once sent him to the factory where Ding Lan worked, he could have come into contact with her bicycle. This made him relax even more. All the people they had interviewed had fingerprints on Ding Lan¡¯s bicycle, and those who had no work or life intersection with her¡ªa stranger¡ªwere more likely to raise the alarm. Looking back at his master Wei Zhenguo, Mu Zhiyang saw he had no questions to ask, so he proceeded with the routine questions. Once they had covered everything necessary and left contact information, the two bid farewell and left. Tan Yong politely saw them to the door. ¡°Alright. We can go back and rest,¡± Mu Zhiyang pressed for the first floor, watching the elevator doors close, feeling the lazy fatigue of being on a business trip. ¡°There¡¯s something off about this man,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, watching the elevator numbers counting down, his muscles tensing up gradually. Mu Zhiyang turned to Wei Zhenguo in surprise, and responded almost instinctively, ¡°But this person is a state enterprise employee, with no criminal record...¡± Wei Zhenguo slowly shook his head. ¡°Then what¡¯s off about him?¡± ¡°He¡¯s different from the others.¡± Mu Zhiyang knew Wei Zhenguo meant the others they had interviewed and tried to recall, saying, ¡°Others in the state enterprises too... The others are mostly younger, and although Tan Yong is over 30, he¡¯s not the oldest one we¡¯ve interviewed...¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that kind of different,¡± Wei Zhenguo shook his head again. ¡°Then what is it...?¡± ¡°This Tan Yong...¡± Wei Zhenguo frowned deeply, repeating, ¡°This Tan Yong... is uglier than all the others.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Think about it carefully. All the people we¡¯ve seen today, including those from yesterday and the day before, they all have decent looks. As long as they¡¯re male, they all look better than you,¡± Wei Zhenguo said while texting and quickening his speech, ¡°But this Tan Yong, he¡¯s uglier than you.¡± Mu Zhiyang was slightly amused but dared not laugh, and reluctantly said, ¡°Being ugly doesn¡¯t mean he¡¯s a bad guy.¡± ¡°Being ugly, there¡¯s no reason for him to have touched Ding Lan¡¯s bicycle,¡± Wei Zhenguo texted, speaking and thinking all the while, ¡°Now, looking back, those who have touched Ding Lan¡¯s bicycle and left fingerprints mainly fall into three categories: her office colleagues, four in total, whom we haven¡¯t seen this time; her female friends, a very few; and the third category, whom we previously thought could be ex-boyfriends or men she met on social apps. But as the trip goes on, I¡¯ve noticed these men all have one thing in common¡ªthey¡¯re relatively good-looking. Except for Tan Yong.¡± Falling into step with Wei Zhenguo¡¯s line of thought, Mu Zhiyang began to grow tense too: ¡°That¡¯s true, you¡¯re right. Is Ding Lan someone who¡¯s into looks, someone whose standard for men is their appearance?¡± ¡°What her standards are for finding men, we can confirm later with her colleagues and friends. But the men who¡¯ve touched her bicycle, they all look better than you... except for Tan Yong!¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to stress that...¡± Mu Zhiyang grimaced with a wry smile, then hesitated before saying, ¡°But Tan Yong had been to Ding Lan¡¯s workplace on a project. It¡¯s possible he came into contact with her bicycle unintentionally...¡± ¡°Yeah, you make sense. We can¡¯t alert the suspect... We need to find evidence first,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, with a gleam in his eye. Chapter 46 - 46 46 Squatting, ?46: Chapter 46 Squatting, 46: Chapter 46 Squatting, When Wei Zhenguo¡¯s call came, Jiang Yuan was sitting at home having dinner. After answering the call, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Understood, I¡¯m heading back to check now,¡± and immediately got up to change his clothes. To verify fingerprints and related information, it was more convenient to return to the office. Watching his son leave the table, Jiang Fuzhen, who was dipping beef into Hunan chili sauce in an unorthodox way, grew anxious, ¡°Has someone died? Why don¡¯t you take some food for the road? You¡¯ll be working overtime and staying up late at this hour, and the food outside is no good... ¡± ¡°No one¡¯s dead,¡± Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, ¡°I can¡¯t say whether there is a death or not. As for food... I¡¯ll take some with me.¡± Heading to the office at this time meant there would definitely be no food in the canteen. It also wasn¡¯t appropriate to go to the K9 unit to find the Rottweilers. Working on fingerprints seemed easy but was actually a very mentally taxing task; without eating, one would soon become restless with hunger. ¡°You should drive instead, it¡¯s not safe to ride your electric scooter at this time,¡± Jiang Fuzhen then pointed to the key cabinet. Jiang Yuan hesitated for only two seconds, considering he was going to work on Ding Lan¡¯s missing person case, and Ding Lan had been riding a bicycle... He obediently opened the key cabinet and chose a key for a white G63. Old man Jiang Fuzhen had no particular preference for cars, as long as they were tough, big, and sturdy. By contrast, having just graduated from school, Jiang Yuan cared even less about vehicle brands and such. It wasn¡¯t until he parked in the county bureau¡¯s parking lot and was observed by two colleagues who had joined at the same time as him, that he realized something. ¡°You guys haven¡¯t finished work yet?¡± asked Jiang Yuan first. The two looked at each other and smiled wryly, the one in front said, ¡°It just got dark, why would we get off work? Do you technicians have it that easy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s busy when it¡¯s busy,¡± Jiang Yuan felt it was unfair to let other technical police officers take the blame, adding, ¡°Mainly I¡¯m a forensic doctor, and it¡¯s been okay these past few days. Look, I¡¯m back again.¡± ¡°So that means there really have been a lot of cases lately.¡± The two of them felt somewhat more balanced upon hearing this, then glanced at the big G behind Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Yours?¡± ¡°It belongs to someone in the family,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t lie about this kind of thing. The two of them clicked their tongues in envy once more. ¡°By the way, I brought some meat. Heat it up and give it a try. My dad made it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, taking out a food container from his backpack and handing it to them. Jiang Fuzhen was extraordinarily generous when it came to sharing food; he had prepared enough boiled beef for Jiang Yuan¡¯s colleagues as well. An immediate brightness appeared in their eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll go up first,¡± said Jiang Yuan with a wave of his hand, following the usual office route upstairs, where he saw almost all of the offices were lit, with varying numbers of people inside. Some were working overtime writing reports, some on cases, some evading public grain duties, each with their own anxieties. When Jiang Yuan first started working, he was reluctant to work overtime and didn¡¯t have much overtime work to do, but now he fully understood everyone. At the moment, it might be a crucial time to solve the Ding Lan case. Wei Zhenguo was downstairs nibbling on pancakes, so naturally, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t drop the ball either. Considering Ding Lan might still be alive, Jiang Yuan had no choice but to press forward. One could imagine that the officers working overtime, whether at this moment or on some other day, shared a similar or identical mindset to his. Forensic office. Turn on the computer, enter the password, spread out the boiled beef, arrange the white pancakes, pour some chili sauce and salty vegetables. On the screen, several fingerprint charts unfolded. Jiang Yuan meticulously reviewed them once, then confirmed them again. Fingerprint work was extremely detailed, and the more crucial the moment, the more important it was to ensure accuracy. After carefully comparing the fingerprints and quickly taking a couple of bites of beef, Jiang Yuan called Wei Zhenguo and said, ¡°Tan Yong only left one fingerprint, on the handlebar of the bicycle. This... could be explained as an accidental touch. Of course, if he¡¯s strong enough, it could also have been used to move it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s enough. I¡¯ll have a talk with him,¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s voice came through the phone somberly. Jiang Yuan responded with a ¡°Hmm,¡± and reminded, ¡°Just a fingerprint isn¡¯t enough evidence.¡± ¡°I know, let¡¯s stake out for two days and see what happens.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we ask Captain Huang for reinforcements?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have any evidence yet, it¡¯s hard for Captain Huang to provide support,¡± Wei Zhenguo stated clearly. ¡°I¡¯ve called the brothers from Team Six to come help.¡± Wei Zhenguo knew that if he had Jiang Yuan call Huang Qiangmin, then Captain Huang would most likely send support. No need for anything else, just on account of the last murder case, an officer like Jiang Yuan was qualified to call for reinforcements from two teams. However, so far, the Ding Lan case hadn¡¯t really started to show itself. Even though, in his view, Tan Yong was detestable and had great suspicion, working in criminal police for a long time one would know that these were still far from the core of the case. Calling over the criminal officers from his own team, they would just barely have enough hands, it was just going to be a bit more difficult for everyone. Wei Zhenguo merely adjusted his tone, and gave an extra reminder: ¡°However, I haven¡¯t told the brothers from Team Six what case I¡¯m specifically investigating. Doctor Jiang, you also be careful to keep it confidential, don¡¯t notify anyone just yet.¡± Jiang Yuan subconsciously acknowledged, then asked, ¡°Are you worried about a leak?¡± ¡°In our small county town, there are a myriad of intricate relationships. And Tan Yong works in a state-owned enterprise, if by chance he knows one or two well-informed people... In any case, let¡¯s keep it a secret for now, don¡¯t tell anyone. It¡¯s the safest way.¡± This was a lesson Wei Zhenguo had learned over many years as a county town criminal officer. The ecological system in a county town was decidedly different from that of cities and even provincial capitals. Due to its scale, it was larger and more complex than townships and villages, with deeper hidden personal relationships. And the threat of criminal cases, even to the extent of capital punishment, was enough to activate every single relationship. ¡°Got it. I understand,¡± Jiang Yuan knew the importance and responded again. He thought for a moment, then said in a low voice, ¡°If you¡¯re sure about the scene, call me over. I¡¯m rather confident about crime scene investigations.¡± ¡°Good, no problem,¡± Wei Zhenguo felt oddly reassured. At this moment, however, the image of his wife involuntarily surfaced in his mind. Shaking his head, Wei Zhenguo put away his hot phone, looked over at Mu Zhiyang beside him, and asked, ¡°Any results?¡± ¡°Hmm... During the crime, Tan Yong¡¯s main job was to manage the construction of the slope protection for Ding Lan¡¯s factory. I just checked, the area and the volume of earthwork for this slope protection are substantial, if... if someone wanted to bury something in there, it would be very hard to find,¡± Mu Zhiyang hid in the back seat of the car, covering his laptop with his clothing, not letting a sliver of light escape. Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t follow Mu Zhiyang¡¯s line of thought but instead questioned him further, ¡°What about other things? He couldn¡¯t possibly stay on the construction site all the time, right? Did he go home?¡± ¡°He probably went home. The construction site only left color steel rooms for the workers,¡± Mu Zhiyang looked at Wei Zhenguo curiously and whispered, ¡°Master, what if someone was buried in the slope protection?¡± ¡°If someone was buried, we have no evidence to dig it up now.¡± ¡°Ah... so what do we do now?¡± ¡°Just keep watching,¡± Wei Zhenguo lifted his head, gazing toward the light in the 12th-floor apartment, his eyes squinting as if he were asleep. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help feeling disappointed, ¡°Just keep watching? That¡¯s too... too passive.¡± Wei Zhenguo let out a sneer, too lazy to reply. ¡°In TV reports, when they talk about major cases, they¡¯re always dealt with in a thunderous manner...¡± Mu Zhiyang said. ¡°Do you know why major cases require a thunderous approach?¡± Wei Zhenguo wrapped himself tighter in his coat, adjusting his position slightly. Mu Zhiyang: ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Because the higher-ups set tight deadlines. Three days, seven days...¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s voice was soft as he said, ¡°With time so tight, if they don¡¯t use a thunderous approach, what else can they use?¡± ¡°This...¡± ¡°Our biggest advantage this time is that we have time. Three years have passed, if she¡¯s dead, she can wait. If alive...¡± Wei Zhenguo continued faintly, ¡°If alive, and assuming Tan Yong is the suspect, by watching him, Ding Lan could continue living.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°To prevent him from killing someone to silence them, and then wait to see when he brings food for Ding Lan.¡± Mu Zhiyang thought his master might be a bit delusional and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°It¡¯s been three years. Even if she¡¯s alive, it¡¯s impossible for him to bring food often, right? Buying some biscuits or similar foodstuff, they can last a very long time.¡± ¡°He won¡¯t store a lot of food,¡± Wei Zhenguo glanced at Mu Zhiyang, mentally muttering ¡°young pup,¡± then said, ¡°If he illegally detained Ding Lan, was it just to let her live off his biscuits?¡± Chapter 47 - 47 47 Trial and Error ?47: Chapter 47 Trial and Error 47: Chapter 47 Trial and Error Wei Zhenguo was a very adaptable man. At least, to Mu Zhiyang, his own mentor was quite adaptable. He knew well the survival logic of the lower strata of society and was skilled at dealing with all kinds of people; he used petty thieves as informants to solve bigger cases, and occasionally caught a few to pad his case-solving statistics. But this time, the stakeout and surveillance had really made Mu Zhiyang question his life. For three consecutive days, Mu Zhiyang had rested only one night, spending the rest of the time enduring in the car, to the point that later on, when he used a bottle to relieve himself, he could aim without looking down. What made Mu Zhiyang¡¯s predicament indescribable was that his mentor, Comrade Wei Zhenguo, had spent even more time on the stakeout, slept even less in the car, and was even more accurate when it came to peeing. Just when Mu Zhiyang thought he couldn¡¯t hold on any longer for the nth time, the car door was suddenly opened. ¡°Captain Wei.¡± Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile, squeezing into the back seat. ¡°How did you get here? How did you find this place?¡± Mu Zhiyang stared at Jiang Yuan, looking bewildered. In the criminal police brigade, an ordinary criminal policeman like him was roughly equivalent to a mule-level beast of burden, with nothing to do but slog away. A more senior criminal policeman was like an ox-level beast of burden, who had their head down working hard but also got some care, whereas the ordinary technicians were probably donkey-level beasts of burden, hardly capable yet forced to work hard. However, Jiang Yuan was different now. Having been through homicide cases and having stood out multiple times in solving cold cases, Jiang Yuan was at least a horse, a beast of burden too valuable to do grunt work yet too precious to spare from it. Why would such a Jiang Yuan turn up at a stakeout site? Jiang Yuan mumbled, ¡°I asked Captain Wei. I heard you were short on people, so I came to help you keep watch.¡± ¡°This...¡± Mu Zhiyang suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, as if his mule inability had burdened the horse. ¡°I don¡¯t have any other work on my hands now.¡± Jiang Yuan shifted and sniffed, saying, ¡°The smell inside this car isn¡¯t great.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit better if you lower the right side window.¡± Wei Zhenguo offered a pitiable solution. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll get used to it in a bit.¡± Jiang Yuan, too, had spent time in the countryside and, after frowning, stopped fussing about the smell. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s help, Mu Zhiyang and Wei Zhenguo dozed off in the car for a while. By evening, the three of them followed the car as Tan Yong got off work, then left under the cover of night, handing over the stakeout duty to two other detectives from the sixth team. The next day was another day of tailing and stakeout. Wei Zhenguo had previously been indifferent, but he felt a little embarrassed in front of Jiang Yuan and explained, ¡°This is the clumsy method, it takes time, wears people down. If you¡¯re too tired, go sleep at the hotel for a night...¡± ¡°No worries. I¡¯m not yet at the point where I can¡¯t hold on.¡± Although Jiang Yuan was also tired, compared to Wei Zhenguo and Mu Zhiyang, who had been watching for several days, he was relatively fresh. Besides, Jiang Yuan had a lighter responsibility, being there just to help. Despite this, Wei Zhenguo still felt quite touched. He was used to being a beast of burden and now wanted to train his disciple as well, but he didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to show such initiative. Wuu wuu wuu... The vibrating sound of a cellphone woke Wei Zhenguo up. ¡°Captain Huang?¡± Wei Zhenguo picked up the phone and answered. ¡°Yeah, is Jiang Yuan with you?¡± Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t offer any greetings and asked immediately. ¡°Yes, he¡¯s with me.¡± Wei Zhenguo quickly replied. ¡°Is he safe?¡± ¡°He¡¯s safe. We¡¯re on a stakeout.¡± ¡°Are you following up on the Ding Lan disappearance case?¡± Huang Qiangmin continued. ¡°Yes.¡± Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t bother guessing how Huang Qiangmin got the information. He took the confidentiality of the case very seriously, but it was still difficult to keep secrets from the chief of the criminal police. ¡°How far have you gotten?¡± Wei Zhenguo pondered his tone for a moment and said, ¡°We¡¯re planning to keep an eye on a suspect for a while to see if we can find substantial evidence...¡± Huang Qiangmin sighed upon hearing the word ¡°stakeout,¡± and then interrupted Wei Zhenguo, asking, ¡°How much longer?¡± ¡°This... we¡¯re not quite sure right now...¡± ¡°You¡¯re going to stake out for another week? You want Jiang Yuan to stake out with you for another week?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s anger surged, ¡°In a week¡¯s time, how many fingerprints could Jiang Yuan have processed? This is a waste of police resources!¡± Criminal detectives stake out on cases, sometimes for a day and a night, sometimes for ten days to half a month, and there are cases that go unsolved even after longer stakeouts. Usually, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t be so strict about the time of ordinary officers. But wasting Jiang Yuan¡¯s time was clearly intolerable for Huang Qiangmin. Keeping Jiang Yuan in the office didn¡¯t require him to crack any major cases every day; even working on small series cases greatly increased the number and quality of cases solved. Laypeople think it¡¯s easy for detectives to solve cases, but in reality, a detective squad of more than a dozen people, managing to solve around a hundred cases a year, is already operating at full capacity. That¡¯s an average of 10 cases per person, which includes serial cases and cases that practically solved themselves. In comparison, the quality of cases solved by Jiang Yuan was much higher, and with evidence like fingerprints, the cases were easier and more solid to handle. As far as Huang Qiangmin was concerned, having Jiang Yuan stake out on a disappearance case with Wei Zhenguo was like using a fine steed in training to plow the fields like an old ox. Wei Zhenguo felt aggrieved and said softly, ¡°I told Jiang Yuan to go back, but he doesn¡¯t really want to...¡± ¡°It¡¯s normal for young people like Jiang Yuan to be curious about police work, and it¡¯s beneficial for his development to occasionally experience various policing activities, but that¡¯s not a reason to have him stake out for a week with you.¡± Huang Qiangmin suppressed his anger and changed his tone, ¡°Alright, is there anything you can do to wrap this up quickly?¡± He didn¡¯t want to forcibly pull Jiang Yuan back either. Young people today are independent and proud; stories of them quitting on a whim or ¡°cleansing¡± the workplace are not unheard of. On the other hand, with Wei Zhenguo leading several people to solve cases in the provincial city, Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t want to solely hold them back. Thus, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s first thought was to enable Wei Zhenguo to neatly conclude the case. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s spirits lifted ¨C this was an invitation for him to make a request. After only a brief mental deliberation, Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°Captain Huang, the suspect Tan Yong is with the Luqiao Group¡¯s subsidiary construction company. If you could find a way to send him on a business trip, a slightly longer one, say about half a month, and have the company arrange for someone to cover his duties, I believe the suspect may slip up.¡± This solution had long been a contingency plan for Wei Zhenguo, only he didn¡¯t have the power to influence Luqiao Group. Of course, Huang Qiangmin also lacked the authority to influence Luqiao Group. A large company in the provincial city would never heed the orders of a county bureau¡¯s criminal police chief. However, purely for operational needs, if someone could help adjust things, Huang Qiangmin still had ways to make it happen. As long as the police authority is cleverly applied, its depth and breadth can be quite substantial. For companies like the construction company, they can be easily influenced as well. ¡°I understand. Try to have a result within a few days on your end. Also, take good care of Jiang Yuan, especially when making arrests. Notify me in advance, and I will help you get some more people over there.¡± After speaking, Huang Qiangmin hung up the phone without leaving Wei Zhenguo room for negotiation. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and wasn¡¯t bothered by it. He had to follow Huang Qiangmin¡¯s orders, but he really wasn¡¯t too concerned about Huang¡¯s attitude. Being a seasoned detective, with his age, experience, and education, he felt like a non-commissioned officer in the military, ascending through the ranks, but it was all the same. It was rare to be promoted to a fourth-level non-commissioned officer, and becoming an officer was even less likely. ¡°Alright, we should have a result in another day or two,¡± Wei Zhenguo put away his phone and breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°We¡¯re not staking out anymore?¡± Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t understand. ¡°Right, if Tan Yong is up to something, then the most likely places where he would set up a detention point are near his home or his workplace. If we send him on a business trip and have someone cover his work for a few days, we should be able to see something.¡± Wei Zhenguo said with a smile, ¡°Aren¡¯t you looking for thunderous action? Isn¡¯t this it?¡± ¡°This... this is far from the thunderous action I had in mind,¡± Mu Zhiyang muttered, shaking his head, ¡°So, our days of staking out have been for nothing?¡± ¡°You think this is watermelon planting? You plant and always get melons? This is the cost of trial and error.¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyelids felt three years older from exhaustion, ¡°So, we¡¯ve been testing errors all these days?¡± Wei Zhenguo looked unfazed, ¡°We are the cost of trial and error.¡± He emphasized the word ¡°cost.¡± Chapter 48 - 48 48 Wooden Sliding Door ?48: Chapter 48 Wooden Sliding Door 48: Chapter 48 Wooden Sliding Door The stakeout continued unabated. It wasn¡¯t until the early morning of the next day that Tan Yong finally came downstairs and got into his Pajero. Following him from behind felt like tailing the captain to work. Mu Zhiyang, as usual, followed suit. Not long after, he vigorously woke up Wei Zhenguo, who sat in the passenger seat. The forcefulness of his pat seemed to carry a hint of personal grudge. ¡°What?¡± Wei Zhenguo woke up alarmed. ¡°Tan Yong changed his route; it¡¯s not the way to his unit,¡± Mu Zhiyang said. Over these past days, they had followed Tan Yong¡¯s car every day and had memorized his route well. Wei Zhenguo spent a few seconds looking at the ceaselessly flowing traffic, and the first thing he did was to notify the other team to come for a rendezvous immediately. Jiang Yuan also sat up straight, curiously watching the scene ahead. Stakeouts and surveillance like on film and television were all that he had seen before and, over the past couple of days... they seemed quite ordinary indeed. Considering traffic conditions in Changyang City during rush hours, even a dual six-lane road would be congested. If a driver glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed the cars in the two rows behind, that would already be impressive. Moreover, Wei Zhenguo had chosen a white Volkswagen, a model strongly resembling many on the road, such that to the untrained eye, without examining the rear, one couldn¡¯t differentiate the specific models of the numerous Volkswagens surrounding them. Tan Yong clearly had no experience in counter-surveillance. When getting in and out of the car, he would thoroughly check his surroundings and even inspect his tires, but that was all. While driving, there was virtually no sign of vigilance; he wouldn¡¯t change lanes without reason, nor would he deliberately time his passage through traffic lights. Mu Zhiyang easily kept up with Tan Yong, watching him make a detour to the market, purchase some items, stash them in the trunk, and then drive back... Wei Zhenguo wiped his face with a tissue dipped in mineral water and said earnestly, ¡°Keep a close eye on that creep¡¯s behind.¡± ... Tan Yong drove his car into a residential complex less than one kilometer from his home. The complex was slightly dated, without a separate design for pedestrians and vehicles. As Tan Yong approached the gate, he paused briefly, and the barrier lifted automatically. ¡°You park on the street; I¡¯ll follow on foot and we¡¯ll stay in touch by phone,¡± Wei Zhenguo said hastily as he opened the door and got out. Jiang Yuan followed suit, exiting the car as well. Wei Zhenguo hesitated and said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, go with Mu.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help you, it¡¯s too dangerous alone,¡± Jiang Yuan knew that Wei Zhenguo was concerned about him getting hurt. Compared to Mu Zhiyang, a police academy graduate, his own operational skills were admittedly subpar, but letting Wei Zhenguo tail Tan Yong by himself was indeed risky. Without firearms on hand, two persons tracking one increases the safety factor considerably. Wei Zhenguo licked his lips and silently gestured to follow, entering the complex. Then in a low voice, he said, ¡°Stick close behind me and don¡¯t act on your own.¡± He had gotten older; any claims of solo combat capability were purely nonsense. With the physical fitness of his youth gone, he had no confidence in facing someone like Tan Yong, a man who regularly worked on construction sites, by himself. Wei Zhenguo ran headlong into the complex. The complex¡¯s pedestrian gate was simply left open, and the greenery inside was lackluster, revealing the decay of a matured estate. Jiang Yuan ran inside and could still see the tail of the Pajero from afar. ¡°Run faster,¡± Wei Zhenguo gasped as he kept an eye on Tan Yong¡¯s car, skirting around a building. Jiang Yuan quickened his pace even more, yet he dared not run too visibly for fear of being discovered. Luckily, the residential area wasn¡¯t large, and after the Pajero had traveled just a few hundred meters, it slowed down once more and turned towards a building in the corner of the complex. Tan Yong got out of the car, put down the parking barrier, and reversed into a designated parking space in front of the first floor¡¯s greenery. He then directly opened the lock on the fence in front of the small garden, as well as the interior security door, revealing a ground-floor apartment with a front garden. ¡°Building 7. Just one unit. The northernmost apartment on the first floor of Building 7, Unit 1¡ªsend a message to Mu Zhiyang,¡± Wei Zhenguo panted like an old ox, resting his hands on his knees, staring intently at Tan Yong from behind a bush of roses. Jiang Yuan also ran until he was exhausted, half-kneeling on the ground, quickly sending out the message, then looking at Wei Zhenguo¡¯s dark face through the evergreens, thinking how the fresh flowers complemented the cow dung perfectly. ¡°Grains, oils, vegetables, meat. All food,¡± Wei Zhenguo frowned as he watched Tan Yong unloading his car, and said, ¡°This guy is divorced..., no children, his parents live in the countryside, bringing so much food here... there¡¯s definitely a problem.¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What do we do next?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t arrest anyone yet. If we catch him but have no evidence, it would only be hitting the grass to scare the snake away,¡± Wei Zhenguo took out his mobile phone and began typing a text message, simultaneously instructing, ¡°Ask Mu Zhiyang to get back in the car and keep following Tan Yong¡¯s vehicle. I¡¯ll find someone to pick the lock.¡± He was determined to see for himself what was inside the house. Jiang Yuan did as he was told, while Mu Zhiyang, who had just run into the residential area, saw the message on his phone and could only turn around and run back to the parking spot, even more exhausted. About half an hour later, Tan Yong finished unloading and returned to his car, starting the engine to head home. Wei Zhenguo reminded Mu Zhiyang and watched as Tan Yong drove away, then began to wander around Building 7. Jiang Yuan, not understanding, asked in a low voice, ¡°So now we are...¡± ¡°Checking for cameras. These things are really cheap now,¡± Wei Zhenguo scanned the area, found nothing, and then made another call. Wen Ming, a criminal police officer from Ningtai County, arrived quickly at Building 7 with the locksmith. ¡°Open the door,¡± Wei Zhenguo ordered directly. The locksmith, carrying a large box and looking very familiar with Wei Zhenguo, glanced at him and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t get me involved in this.¡± ¡°What could possibly happen?¡± Wei Zhenguo replied arrogantly, at this point reticence would be futile. The security door lock was of good quality; the locksmith busied himself for quite a while before he managed to get the door open, revealing another security door inside. ¡°This lock is no good, just having a solid door is useless,¡± the locksmith muttered. Wei Zhenguo, growing impatient, asked casually, ¡°How much for the doors?¡± ¡°Two doors? If you know where to buy, several thousand, if not, two to three thousand I guess,¡± the locksmith replied. ¡°That guy¡¯s monthly salary is just a few thousand yuan,¡± Wei Zhenguo snorted, bolstering his confidence further. The door opened. Inside was the standard layout of a four-bedroom, one-living room apartment. Changyang City¡¯s real estate isn¡¯t cheap, but this complex was built early on; if purchased at the initial sale some ten-plus years ago, it would have been in the ballpark of a few hundred thousand yuan. ¡°Spread out and search,¡± Wei Zhenguo, seeing the ordinary interior of a residential home, frowned slightly, feeling a bit at a loss. However, for Jiang Yuan, this was an all-too-familiar scene to investigate. Having toured the interior, Jiang Yuan first took out his phone to snap some photos, then lifted the carpet laid between the balcony and the living room, saying, ¡°There¡¯s a basement.¡± A wooden sliding door was revealed to the three of them. Chapter 49 - 49 49 Rescue ?49: Chapter 49 Rescue 49: Chapter 49 Rescue ¡°There¡¯s a lock, open it.¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s expression grew much more serious. The lockpicker wordlessly set to work and swiftly picked the lock on the sliding door. Having been staking out the location for several days, Wen Ming also sensed something, took a deep breath, exchanged a glance with Wei Zhenguo, and then forcefully slid open the door. A vertical shaft was revealed before everyone¡¯s eyes. ¡°Notify Mu Zhiyang and have them follow Tan Yong closely. I¡¯ll send them backup, and once reinforcements arrive, proceed with the arrest,¡± Wei Zhenguo grabbed Wen Ming and continued, ¡°Don¡¯t rush, I¡¯ve checked the surroundings. The nearest building is 30 meters away, and there are no other entrances or exits. We¡¯ll also wait for backup.¡± ¡°I can go down first, and you guys cover from above,¡± Wen Ming said, excitedly pulling out his baton. ¡°We don¡¯t know the situation below, just you alone, how will you deal with it...¡± Wei Zhenguo still wasn¡¯t at ease whether Jiang Yuan should go down or stay above. Wen Ming had been through numerous arrests, but Jiang Yuan had only received basic training... Jiang Yuan looked at the two men and said softly, ¡°This sliding door uses a padlock.¡± Wei Zhenguo and Wen Ming were both momentarily taken aback. ¡°That¡¯s a good point,¡± said Wen Ming as he drew out his baton again. A padlock can only be opened from the outside, which normally would mean no accomplices of Tan Yong would be in the basement. Of course, nothing is absolute, but the risk had become relatively lower. ¡°Let¡¯s go down and have a look. Be safe, don¡¯t try to show off,¡± said Wei Zhenguo, no longer insisting on waiting for reinforcements. If reinforcements arrived, the ownership of the case could potentially be transferred. This was the provincial capital, and any director from a local police station had a higher rank than him. Wei Zhenguo and his colleagues had been staking out for so long, and although their original intention was not for merit, he couldn¡¯t bear the thought of success slipping away. Wen Ming was even more eager now. After responding, he swiftly slid down the shaft. ¡°There¡¯s another door,¡± Wen Ming reported from below, his voice muffled, ¡°It¡¯s a corridor that only allows one person to pass, with an iron door.¡± ¡°Mahjong?¡± Wei Zhenguo called the lockpicker by his nickname. ¡°I charge by the lock, you know,¡± said the lockpicker, playful yet clearly curious. The iron door down below was quickly opened, and after Wen Ming walked a few steps inside, he encountered another iron door. Upon opening it, a woman¡¯s cry of surprise came from within. ¡°Damn Li Liang!¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s eyes suddenly widened. The presence or absence of people in this basement made a huge difference. Or rather, if there were people inside, the basement was no longer just a basement; it had become a true dungeon. Below, Wen Ming¡¯s voice was frantic as he spoke, and the woman¡¯s voice gradually turned to sobbing. Wei Zhenguo quickly pulled out his phone and sent out several messages, then shouted down, ¡°Wen Ming, be careful, is there any danger?¡± ¡°No, there are no weapons below,¡± Wen Ming replied, then called out, ¡°There are three women, locked up, we¡¯re unlocking now, and then we¡¯ll come up.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Wei Zhenguo texted frantically, and when he heard voices from below, he too drew his baton. Three women emerged one after another from the vertical shaft. Wei Zhenguo looked intently, and the last one to emerge was indeed Ding Lan. Compared to the Ding Lan in the photos, the real person who had just climbed out of the shaft looked even more emaciated, her complexion was pale and lackluster, but visually, her physical condition still seemed to be healthy. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked Ding Lan, suppressing the excitement in his heart. ¡°My name is... I¡¯m Ding Lan,¡± Ding Lan replied in a soft, timid voice. Wei Zhenguo and the others weren¡¯t wearing police uniforms, and Wen Ming¡¯s announcement might not inspire much trust. Wei Zhenguo sighed softly, ¡°Don¡¯t be scared, we are police from Ningtai County Bureau...¡± Upon hearing Ningtai County, Ding Lan couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and burst into loud sobbing. She cried with her face covered in tears, mucus streaming out without any awareness, completely devoid of any image. Influenced by her, another woman also started crying, shaking all over, uncontrollably hugging the nearby Wen Ming, smearing him with her tears and mucus. The third woman, hiding behind the other two, appeared somewhat stupefied, looking numbly at the scene unfolding before her, with a lifeless gaze as if she hadn¡¯t yet grasped the situation. ¡°Don¡¯t run around just yet, our colleagues will be here soon to take you out,¡± Wen Ming said gently. ¡°Okay. Okay!¡± Ding Lan, shivering with excitement, managed to choke out two words before crying even louder. Wei Zhenguo also exhaled several times. For this case, he harbored many thoughts and tangled emotions. To be honest, finding Ding Lan, successfully finding her, and rescuing her involved no small amount of luck. If Tan Yong had been more patient, Wei Zhenguo and his team weren¡¯t sure how many more days they could have continued their stakeout. Moving further back, if Tan Yong had been slightly more attractive, fitting Ding Lan¡¯s criteria for a partner better, or even if he had been Ding Lan¡¯s ex-boyfriend, Wei Zhenguo wouldn¡¯t have had the chance to pinpoint Tan Yong. Going back even further, if Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t taken the fingerprints one by one, if Wei Zhenguo hadn¡¯t reopened this case, what would have become of Ding Lan¡¯s life? Wei Zhenguo dared not dwell on these questions in detail. He feared even more to carefully consider what choices and judgments he had made when faced with an unsolvable case three years ago. If only things had been different... Wei Zhenguo shook his head to avoid these depressing thoughts from continuing to assail him. After a while. Only after the initial emotional outpouring subsided did Wei Zhenguo ask the closest woman, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Li Xiangyuan.¡± This was the first woman who had climbed out, about 20 years old, hugging herself and trembling non-stop. ¡°Where are you from? Where did you live before?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked gently. The young woman hesitated for a few seconds before replying softly, ¡°In Changyang.¡± Wei Zhenguo nodded and turned to the third woman, asking, ¡°And you? What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Wang Junru.¡± ¡°Where are you from?¡± ¡°Changyang.¡± Wei Zhenguo nodded slightly, while comforting the three women, he took out his notebook and quickly jotted down some notes, but did not formally question them. As the brief conversation proceeded, the emotions of Wei Zhenguo and the three captive women stabilized somewhat. ¡°I¡¯ll go down and take a look,¡± said Jiang Yuan, holding a flashlight and descending into the shaft. Chapter 50 - 50 50 After the Disaster ?50: Chapter 50: After the Disaster 50: Chapter 50: After the Disaster The vertical shaft was about four meters deep. Below the chiseled cement floor lay the rough earth layer. The vertical shaft only allowed one person to climb up and down, and at its narrowest point, just one person could pass through. Once at the bottom, the area widened slightly, presumably for construction convenience. The horizontal shaft had a greater volume of earth removed, sloping down more than two meters. The main part of the basement was two meters high, covering an area of about ten square meters. It even had a ventilation system retrofitted from a chimney. Although the air was still foul, it was capable of supporting long-term survival. What was even more surprising was that there was a computer in the dungeon. It couldn¡¯t connect to the internet, but it appeared to be used for entertainment. Jiang Yuan recalled the three disheveled and unsettled women who had just climbed out, their expressions not quite their own, and he felt every inch of his skin and blood vessels tighten. Jiang Yuan merely glanced inside from the doorway before sensibly stopping in his tracks. He was certainly curious, very curious indeed. But as of now, the less than ten-square-meter dungeon was brimming with evidence; and in his hands, apart from a flashlight and a cellphone, he had virtually no proper investigation equipment, not even a single evidence-collection board for the crime scene. Stepping inside now would mean that the room would be filled with his footprints. In the case of a minor offense, lacking specialized equipment, there were countless ways to gather evidence. For example, for bedsheets smeared with strange substances, some officers would roll them up with their hands or tear them off and stuff them into a plastic bag ¨C and that was considered evidence. However, today¡¯s case had no connection to minor offenses; hence, even a single footprint on the ground could be critically important. Wen Ming might have been in a rush to save people earlier, possibly not paying attention, and as a result, he had walked around the scene. However, as long as it was limited to his footprints, it wouldn¡¯t cause too much trouble. Still, it must be limited to Wen Ming¡¯s footprints. Otherwise, if three to five people entered the ten-square-meter dungeon, the footprints and fingerprints, even other traces inside, would become a mess. That would amount to the complete destruction of the crime scene. Therefore, even though Jiang Yuan wanted to conduct the scene investigation himself, he had to stop at the door. After taking some photos, he used warning tape to seal off the entrance. He then began to collect fingerprints and footprints from the door lock and other locations on the spot. To Wen Yong or Wei Zhenguo, today¡¯s case might have already sealed Tan Yong¡¯s fate, but in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, it wasn¡¯t necessarily so. Indeed, if it were a trivial case, Tan Yong would more likely be condemned, but once the case escalated to the possibility of the death penalty, the rigorous demands for evidence would be of an epic scale. Although the end result might still be favorable, the questioning process in the middle would surely leave an indelible mark on the conscience of every police officer involved in the case. The police and criminals often exist within an information gap. Many issues with cases also arise due to this layer of discrepancy. For instance, at the moment, everyone would assume Tan Yong¡¯s DNA could be scattered throughout the dungeon, but this assumption is utterly unsound¡ªif Tan Yong wore protective clothing every time he entered the dungeon. Some might say, what about when he has sex? First off, he might not engage in sex at all. What if he couldn¡¯t get aroused? And even if he did have sex, what if he liked doing it while wearing a protective suit? Others might argue, what kind of pervert does that! They should look back at this dungeon. After collecting a few fingerprints and footprints as a basic precaution, Jiang Yuan carefully exited the dungeon and climbed back up to the surface. At this time, four officers from the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team also arrived at the scene. ... ¡°Damn, Li Liang!¡± ¡°Holy shit!¡± The police officers who entered, upon seeing the deep underground shaft and the three terrified women, were completely overwhelmed. It¡¯s said that police have seen much of society¡¯s darkness and are quite resilient. But ordinary officers haven¡¯t been specifically trained to witness such darkness; their ¡°experience¡± with it develops step by step. And today, the scene they encountered undoubtedly refreshed their understanding of society¡¯s dark underbelly. ¡°This is just...¡± ¡°Do such people really exist?¡± The four officers stood in the four-room apartment, looking here and there, their every cell cursing silently. Jiang Yuan felt even worse. Compared to the detectives, he had experienced less but knew more, and the scene in the basement made it easy for him to imagine an abundance of disturbing details. ¡°How¡¯s the situation with Mu Zhiyang?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, looking past Wei Zhenguo yet unable to muster any comforting words as he watched the trembling Ding Lan. Wei Zhenguo also quickly snapped out of his distress, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll make a call and check.¡± With that, Wei Zhenguo took out his cell phone and intended to go to the bedroom to make the call. The three women naturally followed him, moving in unison. Wei Zhenguo paused, then with a smile reassured, ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m just making a call.¡± Ding Lan looked up at him with a pitiful gaze, tears welling up and falling one by one. ¡°Come on, have some water first. Wait a bit longer. When the car arrives, we¡¯ll head back,¡± Wei Zhenguo hurried to comfort them. ¡°We want to call our families...we want to use the phone,¡± Ding Lan took the opportunity to ask. ¡°We¡¯re already contacting your families. With such a big incident, I think it¡¯s better to speak in person. What do you think?¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s years of experience as a veteran detective were kicking in. The three of them looked at each other and hesitated. Indeed, after being kidnapped for so long, suddenly calling home out of the blue could yield unpredictable results, and none of them had any idea what that could entail. This uncertainty immediately dampened their urge to call. Wei Zhenguo breathed a sigh of relief. Today¡¯s case was too big, and the situation at the scene too complex. The best course of action would be to take their statements and then give them access to phones. Taking advantage of this moment, Wei Zhenguo sent a message to Mu Zhiyang and waited for a response. Soon, Mu Zhiyang called back, breathless, ¡°Master, we¡¯ve captured the ugly one.¡± ¡°Good! That¡¯s good news. Were there any complications? Did you encounter any danger?¡± Wei Zhenguo fired questions one after the other. ¡°No, everything went smoothly. The four of us pounced on him and cuffed him right away,¡± Mu Zhiyang said. ¡°Everyone is safe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great. Pay attention to the procedures. The prosecutors¡¯ office might get directly involved in this case...¡± Wei Zhenguo whispered a few words of caution before hanging up, his body feeling lighter. With that, the main component of the whole case could be considered successfully resolved. Wei Zhenguo turned back to look at Ding Lan and the others who were still not at ease and couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of relief from having survived a catastrophe. Chapter 51 - 51 51 The Devil Among Men ?51: Chapter 51 The Devil Among Men 51: Chapter 51 The Devil Among Men A squadron of patrol cars entered the residential community, quickly surrounding building number four with police tape. After several phone calls, Wei Zhenguo handed over command of the scene, merely arranging for Ding Lan and the others to take a car back to the police station. Soon, the crime scene examination vehicle from Changyang City arrived, with several technicians entering the building as well. ¡°How¡¯s the situation down there?¡± The oncoming team leader of the crime scene investigation, Cao Zhouquan, dressed and checked his gear while looking towards Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan. ¡°One of our detectives has entered the dungeon, but nobody else has gone past the last iron gate. I¡¯ve attached warning tape, and also collected fingerprints from several doorknobs. I wiped a few cotton swabs.¡± Jiang Yuan succinctly answered his question. The crime scene investigation team leader, Cao Zhouquan, had a wide face, the look of a traditional middle-aged heartthrob, the kind that could easily lead someone astray. He did not expect Jiang Yuan to resist delving into such a major case and not enter the dungeon, thus regarding him with newfound respect before confirming again, ¡°You didn¡¯t go in at all?¡± ¡°No,¡± Jiang Yuan responded. ¡°Not bad at all, quite patient,¡± Cao Zhouquan nodded, recognizing that the crime scene technicians from the county could retreat from difficulties, which was quite commendable. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was sensible, Cao Zhouquan politely said, ¡°Well then, if you think of anything else, just let me know.¡± From across the window, Jiang Yuan watched as Ding Lan and the others got into the police car, then said, ¡°You might want to dig up the area far from the computer desk to see if there¡¯s anything buried underneath.¡± Team leader Cao Zhouquan frowned, ¡°Buried what?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, maybe a body.¡± Without holding back, Jiang Yuan directly added, ¡°The space down there is very cramped, and that particular spot is noticeably empty. The captive probably knew there was something there¡ªI¡¯m guessing, but you can ask them.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Cao Zhouquan sighed, ¡°We¡¯ll focus on checking that area later. If you think of anything else, let us know.¡± ¡°Um...,¡± Jiang Yuan called out to Captain Cao Zhouquan. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°The basement doesn¡¯t look big, but the amount of work seems significant. Even if Tan Yong is physically strong, digging it out alone would¡¯ve been very difficult. Additionally, the chisel marks on the inside look rather messy and shallow, not like the work of a strong man...¡± This time, Cao Zhouquan interrupted Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°You suspect Tan Yong made the woman he was holding captive dig out the basement?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Alright... not surprising. We will collect evidence on that later,¡± Cao Zhouquan said. He stopped what he was doing and asked further, ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have much evidence in hand; the next steps are up to you.¡± Jiang Yuan was keen to join the forensic examination; he was confident he could do better than the average technician, but given the busy scene before him, he wisely did not speak up. At this moment, Cao Zhouquan also realized that Jiang Yuan was somewhat extraordinary. In just a few sentences, Jiang Yuan had, based solely on observation, deduced the main evidence in the case¡ªskills that suggested he was more than capable of conducting on-site forensics without having entered the site himself. Cao Zhouquan questioned himself, admitting that even several years back, or even now, he might not have had Jiang Yuan¡¯s patience. Considering the credit for solving the case, the decision he would have made was even more uncertain. With such abilities and knowing to wait for the fully equipped crime scene investigation team to arrive before taking action, Cao Zhouquan politely thanked Jiang Yuan, before calling an apprentice and heading down the vertical shaft. Another technician, carrying equipment, followed; both of them twisted and wriggled their way into the shaft like malfunctioning Mario characters. It was only after Wei Zhenguo and the others went down that he came over in surprise, asking, ¡°There¡¯s a body down there?¡± ¡°Very likely. But we¡¯ll need to dig it out to know for sure.¡± Jiang Yuan realized he was a bit late in mentioning this and asked, ¡°Should we inform Captain Huang again?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s leave it be; if there¡¯s a murder case, they¡¯ll have to handle it. We can¡¯t manage that,¡± Wei Zhenguo shook his head. The Criminal Police team never chased after the number of cases; in theory, they wouldn¡¯t want major or important cases either, as the pressure and costs of handling such cases far outweighed any potential rewards. The squad leader of the crime scene investigation team, Cao Zhouquan, stayed a long time in the basement, with technicians constantly busy going up and down. When Cao Zhouquan eventually emerged, his traditionally handsome middle-aged face was covered by a gas mask. ¡°We found a body, preliminarily identified as a young female... sustained a blunt force trauma to the back of the head, undoubtedly a homicide...¡± The squad leader provided a brief report, reciprocating Jiang Yuan¡¯s self-restraint. Wei Zhenguo asked, ¡°Have you found any traces of Tan Yong?¡± ¡°Fingerprints, footprints, and seminal stains, plenty of them,¡± the squadron leader gave a definitive answer. Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan exchanged glances, finally relaxing. Although Tan Yong was a pervert, he at least wasn¡¯t perverted to the extent of not having sex nor was he perverted to the point of having sex in protective gear. It could be said to be a silver lining in his dark life. Slowly, a system prompt also appeared before Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes: Mission Complete: Full Matching Mission Content: Wei Zhenguo believed that the clue to the disappearance case 326 of Ding Lan might exist on the fingerprints on the bicycle. Please match the fingerprints collected from the bicycle, and attempt to solve the case. Mission Reward: Forensic Anthropology (LV3) Jiang Yuan accepted it calmly. Forensic Anthropology is indeed a bona fide branch of forensic science. However, compared to Forensic Pathology, its practical difficulty level is much higher. If we go by the classifications of Western countries, like the United Kingdom, forensic anthropology is categorized as a science rather than medicine. Therefore, students who studied forensic anthropology in the United Kingdom, do not possess a medical practitioner¡¯s license. To introduce the various branches of forensics in layman¡¯s terms, the most common and in highest demand is forensic pathology. It addresses the issue of cause of death, answering, ¡°How did this person die?¡± Next is forensic clinical medicine, which is frequently used and resolves the issue of living body injuries, answering, ¡°How was this person injured?¡± Then comes forensic material evidence which is used from time to time and solves the problem of human tissue and bodily fluids, asking, ¡°Why is this poop here?¡± Forensic Anthropology is probably the knowledge forensic doctors are most reluctant to use. It indeed addresses the question of ¡°What is this?¡± Ranging from the most basic queries such as if the remains belong to a human or another primate, whether it¡¯s a man or a woman, if the individual was old or young, all the way to ¡°Who is this?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills in forensic anthropology were nothing to write home about, which was the case for most forensic department graduates. The majority of them learn gradually while on the job. Looking at the newly acquired skill, Jiang Yuan tentatively asked Cao Zhouquan, ¡°The body today, where is it being sent for an autopsy, and can I participate?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask for you, but I doubt it¡¯s possible,¡± Cao Zhouquan said honestly, ¡°For a single homicide, an autopsy could just be done in the district. But with a case like this, given its potential impact, forensic doctors from both the city and district will be involved. I¡¯ll ask for you anyway.¡± According to the police jurisdiction regulations within Shannan Province, a case falls under the jurisdiction of where it occurred. Therefore, if a body is found in Changyang City, the case will be registered in a district of Changyang City. The City Bureau usually does not register cases directly, since it corresponds with the City Procuratorate and the City Intermediate Court. If a case is judged there, appeals will go to the Provincial Higher Court, which is both highly troublesome and unnecessary, and it would attract a lot of criticism. However, the three senior forensic doctors in Changyang City Bureau always provide support wherever a homicide occurs, and for cases involving multiple homicides or those with significant impact, they will perform the autopsies themselves. Generally speaking, within the criminal investigation department, collaboration is frequent, even across different cities, and relationships are well-maintained. The belief that all criminal police around the world are one family holds true¡ªthere are numerous times where officers have to collaborate in capturing suspects and conducting investigations in different locations. As for interpersonal relationships, most criminal police officers are graduates of police academies, and the majority work within the province. Each province typically has just one or two police academies. In Shan Nan, for example, there is only the Shannan Police Academy. Digging to the root, ultimately everyone is classmates. It¡¯s common for everyone to work on a case together, share a barbecue, sing ¡°Golden Shield forged in blood¡± together while drunk, and end up crying buckets. Wei Zhenguo had also obtained approval from Captain Huang Qiangmin before contacting the local criminal investigation team. Once the entire handover was complete, he too let out a big sigh of relief. ¡°At least there¡¯s an explanation now,¡± Wei Zhenguo sat back in the car, feeling utterly drained. Jiang Yuan could only partially understand and followed his remark with a question, ¡°Has this case been weighing on you for a long time?¡± ¡°How should I put it... at the time, it was a routine case,¡± Wei Zhenguo looked out the window, speaking slowly, ¡°Including myself, we considered all sorts of possibilities, but we truly never thought... we¡¯d actually encounter such a pervert. A devil among men.¡± ¡°At least it¡¯s solved now.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Then try to relax a bit, at the very least, we¡¯ve solved a case today,¡± Jiang Yuan tried to buoy Wei Zhenguo¡¯s spirits. ¡°Yes,¡± Wei Zhenguo smiled painfully, ¡°My wife also went missing back then.¡± Chapter 52 - 52 52 The People of the Underworld ?52: Chapter 52: The People of the Underworld 52: Chapter 52: The People of the Underworld ¡°This...¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know how to comfort others, and the words of Wei Zhenguo had an even greater impact on him. The case of Ding Lan¡¯s disappearance had just been concluded, and a body had been dug up. Now, with Wei Zhenguo speaking of his wife¡¯s disappearance, it was all too easy for people to start thinking in the worst possible direction. Wei Zhenguo lit a cigarette, the smoke swirling around him, before he said, ¡°I was away on a business trip, and when I got back, she was gone. Her phone was disconnected, vanished without a trace. Captain Huang and the others have been looking too, but to no avail. As for the clues left behind... you could hardly call them clues. Heh, maybe Doctor Jiang could take a look later.¡± ¡°Okay... Okay.¡± Jiang Yuan dared not say how much he could help. The disappearance of a detective¡¯s wife would surely have mobilized a tremendous search effort from the department, yet they had found nothing, so this wasn¡¯t a problem that could be solved with just talk. ¡°Let¡¯s go, get some sleep at the hotel and be ready for tomorrow; there¡¯s still plenty to do.¡± Wei Zhenguo was merely venting his emotions and didn¡¯t actually expect Jiang Yuan to be of much help. Jiang Yuan had stood out in the criminal investigation team of Ningtai County, but in Changyang City, his expertise was less pronounced. There were many technical experts in the city bureau and the provincial department. Even Huang Qiangmin had been called in before, but still no clues were found. As a detective, Wei Zhenguo was acutely aware that some cases just couldn¡¯t be cracked, and sometimes when they were solved, it was down to luck. It¡¯s like in TV shows where a case happens and forces from all sides swiftly converge and directly pinpoint the essence of the case... Truth be told, that is indeed the ideal procedure and approach to solving a case. But in reality, some cases aren¡¯t immediately discovered upon happening, and even when discovered, they aren¡¯t always treated with the urgency they deserve. And even with attention, various mistakes often occur... Even Wei Zhenguo himself, when unable to find his wife, did not first think of reporting it and preserving evidence. Even as a detective, he didn¡¯t immediately consider that a major case affecting his whole family was about to unfold around him. Starting the vehicle, Wei Zhenguo drove back to the hotel. One by one, everyone returned, and although there was much to say, they all chose sleep first. Jiang Yuan was no exception. Despite his mind being full of thoughts, he couldn¡¯t resist sleep and only truly woke up the next day. The next day. Noon. The sun climbed high, its bright light casting a warm glow everywhere. In the small lobby of the modest hotel, the crowd handling check-ins and checkouts were relaxed, many with smiles on their faces, suggesting they had a good night. The Devil¡¯s ivy on the small coffee table was lush and watered, clearly well-cared-for. A few detectives, just recently shrouded by the shadows of society, suddenly found themselves in the sunlight, momentarily feeling out of place. ¡°Feels like we¡¯ve been battling in hell and just returned to the world of the living,¡± Mu Zhiyang said, enjoying a bottle of Moutai. Wei Zhenguo stretched and said, ¡°At most we just did a bit of odd job in hell.¡± ¡°Seems like it, we only caught Tan Yong,¡± Mu Zhiyang replied. ¡°That kind of scum, even one is too many,¡± Wei Zhenguo said with a sigh. Knowing why his mentor was downhearted, Mu Zhiyang quickly asked, ¡°Did you guys take care of Tan Yong?¡± Wei Zhenguo grunted and said, ¡°We did, I¡¯ll go over to check on him later, do the handover.¡± ¡°Good that it¡¯s taken care of,¡± everyone was quite pleased. The stakeout had been tough, but there was some result at least. As they chatted, the group walked out and sat down in a small restaurant. Once Jiang Yuan was settled, he casually asked, ¡°What was Tan Yong¡¯s initial motive for the crime? Was it unrequited love for Ding Lan or something else?¡± This was an answer that evidence couldn¡¯t provide, and Jiang Yuan was somewhat curious too. ¡°Pretty much. Ding Lan likes handsome guys... the word that Little Mu said...¡± Wei Zhenguo patted his head, having forgotten the word. ¡°Face-con.¡± Mu Zhiyang added. ¡°Right, that¡¯s the word,¡± Wei Zhenguo said. ¡°She changed boyfriends so quickly and probably had one-night stands frequently, but her criteria was always for these face-cons...¡± Mu Zhiyang said softly, ¡°Master, that¡¯s not how you use the term.¡± ¡°In any case, seeing how often Ding Lan changed boyfriends, Tan Yong developed lustful desires,¡± Wei Zhenguo lit a cigarette and began puffing smoke. ¡°According to his confession, he once gave Ding Lan a gift, which she rejected, and she also declined his invitation to dinner. Then, Tan Yong started harboring other thoughts.¡± The other detectives watched as Wei Zhenguo started smoking, each reaching for a cigarette... they took all of Wei Zhenguo¡¯s cigarettes and began to cloud the air with their own smoke. Jiang Yuan silently took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from his pocket and threw it on the table; he didn¡¯t smoke, but he had money. Mu Zhiyang unceremoniously tore open Jiang Yuan¡¯s Zhonghua and handed one to Wei Zhenguo, saying, ¡°Master, please continue.¡± ¡°In the end, he must have encountered Ding Lan on the road, stopped her, and when they didn¡¯t see eye to eye, Tan Yong assaulted her, and later, forced her into his car,¡± Wei Zhenguo sighed and said, ¡°Tan Yong said he originally wanted to leave Ding Lan by the highway to scare her but couldn¡¯t resist raping her.¡± The men listened in silence, none of them in the mood to comment. ¡°That house was originally obtained by Tan Yong years ago to settle a debt, later, due to housing purchase restrictions, he registered it under the name of a distant relative from his village. He took Ding Lan there, initially planning to kill her and bury the body; later... reportedly under Ding Lan¡¯s pleas, he decided to dig an underground chamber, which Ding Lan helped dig.¡± Wei Zhenguo shook his head, ¡°After that, the three women, including the deceased, were all prostitutes. Duped by Tan Yong to be toyed with, they also had to dig in the underground chamber. If we hadn¡¯t caught him this time, he might have kidnapped more people to expand the chamber.¡± ¡°The dead woman, was she killed by Tan Yong? Because she didn¡¯t obey?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked. ¡°Tan Yong won¡¯t admit it. He just said that one day when he went there, he found her dead. He didn¡¯t ask for details, and it¡¯s impossible to get any. However, this answer might not be sufficient,¡± said Wei Zhenguo. Mu Zhiyang scoffed, ¡°Just because he says he didn¡¯t kill her, it means he didn¡¯t? The underground chamber is full of his evidence.¡± ¡°The higher-ups certainly want to make it an ironclad case, getting a confession is still very important. Of course, the main reason Tan Yong won¡¯t confess is that he doesn¡¯t want to die,¡± Wei Zhenguo took a deep drag on his cigarette. In this land, a confession is always considered more important than physical evidence, especially outside the judicial system. When a murderer keeps repeating ¡°I am innocent,¡± even if all the evidence points to them, to many people, convicting them, especially sentencing them to death, is still imperfect. For the detectives, getting a confession and having the suspect admit guilt was crucial, and they tended to favor achieving this whenever possible. Mu Zhiyang curled his lip and said, ¡°He can still avoid death like this?¡± ¡°Who knows. But if he can get off the murder charge, there¡¯s a good chance he¡¯ll get a suspended death sentence,¡± Wei Zhenguo mentioned, and seeing that the meal had arrived, he waved his hand, ¡°Let¡¯s eat, don¡¯t talk about them anymore. Later, I heard that the provincial authorities are sending someone over; we should all tidy up when we get back.¡± ¡°The provincial authorities?¡± Jiang Yuan seemed puzzled. The title of the provincial authorities sounded significant, but in reality, they didn¡¯t have much personnel. Ordinary homicide cases did not draw their attention. Of course, the current case had significant impact, but as it seemed to be concluding, the remaining investigative steps were at best a formality. Unless... Jiang Yuan speculated, ¡°Did they find out something new during the investigation?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Wei Zhenguo agreed, ¡°It¡¯s impossible for those who dwell in the underworld to always play by the rules.¡± Chapter 53 - 53 53 Able to Solve the Case ?53: Chapter 53: Able to Solve the Case 53: Chapter 53: Able to Solve the Case After lunch. Wei Zhenguo, with his team, leisurely made their way to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. As a significant unit within the provincial capital, Changyang City¡¯s Criminal Police Detachment was comprised of several criminal police teams, ranking at the same level as Ningtai County¡¯s criminal police team. Additionally, its subordinate Criminal Science and Technology Center was sizable, with the largest and most diverse range of laboratories. In terms of sheer quantity, it was several times larger than that of the provincial department. Furthermore, the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had its own office building¡ªtwelve stories tall¡ªexuding an air of distinction unattainable by small local police stations. Inside the building. A small conference room. Air conditioners were whirring, protesting against the excessive number of people in the room. Chairs temporarily brought in cluttered the space, even displacing the Diao Lan plant on the windowsill. Only a few leaves remained, sparsely scattered on the ground, resembling helpless little crayfish being washed. At the moment, over ten detectives were seated, the most conspicuous of whom was sitting close to the door, a man with a slicked-back hairstyle, his dark hair gleaming¡ªit was the two-bar three-star insignia that caught the eye. Everyone entering the room who saw him shuddered, sensing his extraordinary presence¡ªat his age, his rank was indeed quite exceptional. Upon entering, Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze involuntary wandered over the man¡¯s slicked-back hair and neat shirt. Other detectives generally sported easy-to-manage short hair and rather untidy and dirty shirts, but this man had meticulous hair and a spotless shirt. It was as though there was a hairless cat among a group of long-haired ones, an odd sight indeed. ¡°Now that everyone is here, let me introduce you all,¡± said Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, sitting inside. ¡°This is our provincial Criminal Investigation Bureau¡¯s Third-Grade Senior Police Inspector, Gao Qiang, and the Fourth-Grade Senior Police Inspector, Liu Jinghui.¡± As Jiang Yuan and the others arrived, he promptly began the introductions. Liu Jinghui, the young hairless cat with the slicked-back hair, stood up politely and nodded to everyone. Next to him was Gao Qiang, unremarkable in appearance, probably in his forties, wearing dirty and nondescript clothes. Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu then introduced Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan, among others. Wei Zhenguo stood up very sociably, apologizing to everyone, saying, ¡°I¡¯m not too familiar with the roads, so we might have come a bit slowly. Sorry to have kept you all waiting.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, we timed our arrival perfectly,¡± Yu Wenshu curtly finished the topic and then began introducing his team of detectives. In this tiny conference room, detectives from three different levels were gathered, leaving everyone aware that the case must have taken a significant turn. Within the police system, the Provincial Department, City Bureau, and County Bureau were not in a hierarchical relationship but merely provided business guidance to each other. This resembled the relationship between various governmental departments like the Agricultural Department, Finance Department, or the Education Bureau. The County Education Bureau followed the City Education Bureau¡¯s business directives, but when it came to matters like personnel and financial authority, the County Education Bureau answered to the County Government, and the City Education Bureau to the City Government¡ªthey were not subordinate to each other. Similarly, the detective team of a county bureau had personnel authority under the county bureau and county government, operating independently of the city¡¯s Criminal Police Detachment. The city bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Detachment, with its own detective teams, could only command its teams. When it came to county bureaus, the most they did was supervision or provide business guidance. At the Provincial Department¡¯s Criminal Investigation Bureau or its General Criminal Investigation Team, the nature of the relationship didn¡¯t change much, and business involvement was even less. Most provincial Criminal Investigation Bureaus didn¡¯t handle cases themselves; they were just another ordinary department within the Provincial Department. However, within such a concentrated Provincial Criminal Investigation Bureau, its personnel were not necessarily all experts or highly skilled, but those dispatched to supervise cases were certainly not ordinary. The involvement of the Provincial Criminal Investigation Bureau also accumulated the excitement among the detectives present. ¡°Next, I¡¯ll read the relevant documents on the 326 missing person case, now referred to as the 326 kidnapping and murder case, as well as the arrangement for restructuring the special case team... I will serve as the head of the special case team, with deputies including Gao Qiang and Liu Jinghui,¡± said Yu Wenshu, whose duties in the city bureau were roughly equivalent to those of Huang Qiangmin in the county bureau, only one hundred times larger in scale. Wei Zhenguo, deputy squadron leader from the Criminal Investigation Brigade Sixth Squadron of Ningtai County Bureau, and Jiang Yuan, along with others in the meeting chaired by Yu Wenshu, had no chance to perform and merely listened as he read out the documents and spoke. It took nearly ten minutes for Yu Wenshu to bring the topic back: ¡°According to expert analysis, we preliminarily believe that in the 326 kidnapping and murder case, the main perpetrator, Tan Yong, didn¡¯t just participate in one homicide.¡± Whirring. That was the sound of an electric fan. Everyone remained calm. Seeing people from the Provincial Department appear was akin to finding a man dressed in your clothes in the bedroom closet¡ªhe surely wasn¡¯t there to fix the air conditioning. Similarly, if there had been only one victim in Tan Yong¡¯s case, sending two people from the provincial department would seem redundant. ¡°Director Liu, please proceed,¡± Yu Wenshu yielded his place. ¡°It¡¯s fine for me to speak from here,¡± Liu Jinghui stood up and said, ¡°There are several doubts in the 326 murder case. First, the main perpetrator, Tan Yong, claimed that he kidnapped Ding Lan because he was furious over an unrequited love affair. His intent was to scare her by leaving her by the side of the highway. However, after an impulsive action led to rape... After the rape, he initially intended to take Ding Lan back to his house to kill and bury her. Instead, influenced by Ding Lan¡¯s pleas, he settled on digging a basement to imprison her.¡± Chapter 54 - 54 53 Cracking the Case_2 ?54: Chapter 53: Cracking the Case_2 54: Chapter 53: Cracking the Case_2 Liu Jinghui swept his keen gaze around and said slowly, ¡°The most unreasonable part here is that Tan Yong brought Ding Lan back to Changyang City. There are toll stations and random inspections on the way from Ningtai to Changyang City. Taking such a huge risk just to bring Ding Lan back to his own vacant house for murder and burial doesn¡¯t make sense. During his confession, Tan Yong must have hidden something crucial.¡± Liu Jinghui looked at the reactions of the surrounding criminal detectives and continued, ¡°Tan Yong is in construction. He knows how to use engineering vehicles and is familiar with construction sites, so he had many options for disposing of the body. He claimed that he dug the basement to bury the body, but because of Ding Lan¡¯s pleading and voluntary service, he decided to switch from burial to excavation... Is that more difficult and risky than burying a body in the wild or on a construction site? Is it necessary? Especially since the excavation of the basement required machinery that Tan Yong had to bring in, which was not easy.¡± ¡°Additionally, Tan Yong has committed at least four crimes, including the female corpse we dug out from the basement, who was also a prostitute. The following three cases of kidnapping prostitutes left very little evidence, showing his thoroughness in thinking. Why then did he leave fingerprints on Ding Lan¡¯s bicycle?¡± At this point, Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze turned towards Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan curiously watched Liu Jinghui. This was his first time being involved in a special case team. ¡°What¡¯s Director Liu¡¯s deduction?¡± Yu Wenshu knew Liu Jinghui liked to reason and had also proven his capabilities in the criminal investigation bureau through multiple deductions, so he didn¡¯t challenge his ¡°authority.¡± Liu Jinghui looked around and, seeing no response, felt somewhat disappointed. He slightly lifted his chin and said, ¡°I¡¯m inclined to believe that Tan Yong told part of the truth.¡± ¡°You may speak,¡± Yu Wenshu prompted. Liu Jinghui nodded with satisfaction and continued, ¡°First, the fingerprints suggest that Tan Yong¡¯s kidnapping of Ding Lan was indeed impulsive, but not random. Choosing Ding Lan as the kidnapping target wasn¡¯t as convenient as taking a prostitute. He could have easily chosen his victims at random within the provincial capital to commit his crime.¡± Liu Jinghui paused briefly then added, ¡°Also, as the first woman imprisoned in the basement, Ding Lan¡¯s uniqueness could explain why he went from planning to bury her to deciding on excavation and imprisonment.¡± Some people nodded in agreement, but most remained calm. Liu Jinghui had so far only made ordinary inferences, which many present could do¡ªonly most were not bold enough to state them confidently. Liu Jinghui enjoyed squinting his eyes with pleasure. What he liked most about reasoning was the explosive power it could unleash from calmness. After briefly describing the case, Liu Jinghui finally voiced the word he had been holding back: ¡°But! All these answers still don¡¯t explain why Tan Yong would return to Changyang City!¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s suddenly raised voice drew everyone¡¯s attention. Several detectives also frowned in thought. ¡°Indeed, he could have disposed of the body locally, gone to a construction site he was familiar with, or even to other counties, but going back to Changyang was the least advisable,¡± a detective from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment said thoughtfully. ¡°He travels frequently and must have seen the road checks in the provincial capital.¡± ¡°Correct. Tan Yong¡¯s company is a subsidiary of the Luqiao Group and is involved in construction projects all over the province, including highways, national roads, toll stations, and checkpoints... So, his choice to go to Changyang City must be underpinned by a solid reason,¡± Liu Jinghui stated, sharing his logic. ¡°I believe Tan Yong had a proven, reliable method of disposing of bodies.¡± The detective who had previously spoken asked, ¡°Maybe he just happened to think of a construction site in Changyang City that was suitable at the time, like one where they were digging a hole?¡± ¡°To take the risk of being caught en route, driving over 100 kilometers?¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head firmly. ¡°Merely a hypothesis or guess wouldn¡¯t be enough to make a cautious engineer make such a decision. If it weren¡¯t for a verified disposal method, and if he hadn¡¯t found it effective before, Tan Yong¡¯s best option would have been a construction site in Ningtai County. There, he was in charge of sites, and it would have been more convenient and less exposed than going to a site in Changyang City managed by others.¡± This was a very persuasive argument, and the questioning detective had no choice but to nod. ¡°The only certainty is that only with a verified disposal method would Tan Yong be so determined to risk being discovered on the road and return directly to Changyang City after the crime occurred. I suggest we re-interrogate Tan Yong immediately, using Ding Lan as a breakthrough to find out his disposal method,¡± Liu Jinghui said decisively, full of confidence. Everyone could only listen quietly. At that moment, Yu Wenshu said, ¡°Then let¡¯s proceed as Director Liu has arranged and interrogate Tan Yong again. Make him believe he has been charged with murder; it will make him more willing to talk. Director Liu, is that what you mean?¡± Liu Jinghui replied, ¡°Exactly. Another point, I think we should also ask what Tan Yong did specifically after kidnapping Ding Lan. Since he decided to escalate his crime, why didn¡¯t he go back and take care of the bicycle? Did he forget, or did something else happen? I suspect he was delayed by something.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do that,¡± the squad leader made the final decision, setting the course of action. The provincial headquarters also played a significant role. Liu Jinghui smiled modestly at everyone, waiting for the squad leader to wrap up before being the first to leave the meeting room. Jiang Yuan watched the shiny bald head disappear, then left the meeting room. Once he was in a quieter place, he couldn¡¯t help but turn to Wei Zhenguo and ask, ¡°Is that really okay?¡± Wei Zhenguo smiled as expected and said, ¡°Does it feel very powerful?¡± Jiang Yuan whispered, ¡°He has no evidence at all!¡± Yes, based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°many years¡± of forensic experience, the first thing he noticed was that throughout the meeting, Liu Jinghui talked about reasoning, speculation, and deduction, but not once mentioned evidence. Looking around, Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°That¡¯s why Director Liu is most famous for his deductive style. He doesn¡¯t care about the evidence; he always relies on reasoning to solve cases, then lets other officers chase down the evidence.¡± Jiang Yuan, whose entire academic and professional life had revolved around evidence, was at a loss for words upon hearing Wei Zhenguo¡¯s description of Liu Jinghui. He simply repeated, ¡°Is that really okay?¡± Wei Zhenguo, pulling Jiang Yuan away, emphasized, ¡°The senior detective of the provincial police department decides how to solve a case however they please. The key is, they can solve the case.¡± Chapter 55 - 55 54 Trace Evidence ?55: Chapter 54 Trace Evidence 55: Chapter 54 Trace Evidence Early morning. Jiang Yuan woke from his bed, feeling energized and relaxed, almost as if he hadn¡¯t participated in the special case team. In fact, there wasn¡¯t any part of it he could participate in. As far as forensic work was concerned, the city bureau had experienced forensic doctors who would attend green corpse scenes wearing only masks; there were also dedicated ones, doctorate holders in forensic medicine who could perform an autopsy in two weeks¡¯ time. When it came to detectives, there was no shortage of stellar individuals in the city¡¯s criminal police detachment who had cracked major cases, as well as rough men who were social butterflies. The likes of Jiang Yuan from Ningtai County, however, weren¡¯t used like beasts of burden but were instead under the care of the detachment leader. Knowing they had been on stakeout for many days, he granted them a few days to catch their breath. Wuu wuu wuu... Wei Zhenguo¡¯s phone call came through, the moment it was answered, he shouted, ¡°Come down for breakfast. The fritter shop at the door.¡± Jiang Yuan let out a wry smile, turned over, and nonetheless got out of bed. After the case was cracked, the accommodations had drastically improved. Typically, detectives on business trips would share a twin room and stay in budget hotels. This time, Wei Zhenguo booked single rooms for everyone, and the decision about where to stay was no longer guided solely by cost. At the very least, this indicated that their budget had increased somewhat since the case had been escalated to the special case team. Downstairs, the fritter shop was the liveliest spot. In the boiling hot oil, the dough strips stretched and kicked, constantly expanding and growing several times their original size in just a few seconds. The hot oil, like rising desires, used the most intense methods to make the duo of dough strips swell up, increase in size, change color, become fragrant, and also lose their moisture, stickiness, and the original appearance of flour. ¡°Three fritters, a bowl of tofu pudding, a bowl of soy milk. Some side dishes, and an egg,¡± Jiang Yuan ordered a bunch as he patted his stomach. Wei Zhenguo sipped on his soy milk, clicking his tongue in admiration, ¡°It¡¯s great to be young, I can¡¯t eat like that anymore.¡± ¡°Since there¡¯s not much going on,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, ¡°can I go do an autopsy?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all bones now.¡± Wei Zhenguo looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Captain Yu over there will definitely trust their own forensic doctor more than anyone else; even if you did the autopsy, he wouldn¡¯t acknowledge it.¡± ¡°I can work on bones now,¡± Jiang Yuan had just acquired the skill of Forensic Anthropology LV3, and he was definitely capable. Wei Zhenguo, however, advised against it, ¡°Better not go. If you did and something went wrong, you¡¯d be the easy scapegoat.¡± Next to them, Mu Zhiyang said, ¡°They won¡¯t baby someone else¡¯s livestock. Moreover, they don¡¯t know you.¡± ¡°Exactly, when I was on loan here before, they used me ruthlessly,¡± Detective Wen Ming, who had come with them, also expressed his sentiment. Everyone might be used like beasts of burden, but those at home were handled with more care. Jiang Yuan could only bow his head and drink his soy milk. In Ningtai County, his skills were far superior to his colleagues, but in a provincial capital like Changyang City, that was no longer the case, so there was no need to rush to do an autopsy. The detectives quietly had their breakfast, and for a fleeting moment, they even savored the tranquil passing of time. ¡°I want to follow their crime scene inspection, to check the evidence,¡± Jiang Yuan said, having finished his soy milk and come up with a new idea. ¡°Director Liu doesn¡¯t seem to have made any arrangements for us. Is it possible for us to do it?¡± ¡°You can certainly do that,¡± Wei Zhenguo replied, puzzled, ¡°But what exactly do you want to do?¡± Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, ¡°I want to see Tan Yong¡¯s car.¡± ¡°His car? Are you thinking of finding out where he might have been through his car?¡± Wei Zhenguo quickly grasped the idea, but he wasn¡¯t optimistic, ¡°The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment must have already scrutinized his car.¡± ¡°Even better, we can check it again without disturbing their own inspection.¡± Tan Yong still had no intention of confessing, so relying on the current evidence to investigate was the most direct approach. Moreover, the LV4 skill in crime scene inspection was Jiang Yuan¡¯s strongest skill at the moment. By examining Tan Yong¡¯s car, Jiang Yuan might find more clues¡ªthe likelihood of solving a case increased with more clues unearthed, bringing him closer to breaking the case. Wei Zhenguo contemplated for a moment, then nodded and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll accompany you to find the crime scene investigation team.¡± ... Two hours later. Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo, and Mu Zhiyang were standing in front of Tan Yong¡¯s Pajero. The captain of the crime scene investigation team, Cao Zhouquan, received a call and came out. He had a good impression of Jiang Yuan and greeted him with a traditional smile, which seemed very hearty. He then joked half-seriously, ¡°What, you¡¯re not convinced? We¡¯ve cleaned every inch of Tan Yong¡¯s car; it¡¯s not like we left it untouched.¡± Jiang Yuan stood outside the underground cell, able to resist going in, a matter that Cao Zhouquan had brought up for the past two days. It was also the topic he was now addressing. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and replied, ¡°Our Xiao Jiang has some ideas. Captain Cao, don¡¯t take it the wrong way.¡± ¡°No problem, if you want to do it again, I have no objections. Besides, you¡¯ve left that huge basement to us; cleaning the car for you again is no big deal.¡± Cao Zhouquan was always generous in his actions and words. Finishing, he shouted, ¡°Du Lei!¡± Turning back to them, Cao Zhouquan introduced, ¡°The one who cleaned Tan Yong¡¯s car with me before was Du Lei. This time, he¡¯ll clean it with you.¡± Though Cao Zhouquan said he didn¡¯t mind, it seemed he still minded a little, hence why he called out for his reliable subordinate. Anyone tasked with cleaning evidence from a murder case, especially in a place like Changyang City, surely couldn¡¯t be a novice. Beep beep beep. A balance scooter rolled up directly in front of Jiang Yuan. ¡°Du Lei.¡± On the balance scooter, Du Lei was dressed in uniform, his spine thin and long, seemingly so fragile it could break with a kick. ¡°Xiao Jiang and the others want to clean Tan Yong¡¯s car again. You go with them,¡± Cao Zhouquan instructed straightforwardly. Du Lei frowned as he looked at Jiang Yuan and the others, saying, ¡°We¡¯ve basically dismantled everything inside, even the wheel fenders underneath...¡± ¡°I want to look for trace evidence,¡± Jiang Yuan said, making no attempt at concealment, as he gestured and added, ¡°Because this car has driven over rough roads, it¡¯s more likely to have retained debris from the scene, such as fragments, seeds, pollen, or hair and feathers. If we take a look inside, we might find something.¡± His level LV4 crime scene investigation skills were demonstrated at times like these. Jiang Yuan spoke with confidence, and more importantly, his reasoning made sense. Cao Zhouquan asked in slight surprise, ¡°Does your county bureau have a Trace Evidence Laboratory?¡± Forensics laboratories tend to be simple, many of them on par with high school chemistry labs; usually only the DNA laboratories are a bit more expensive. The establishment of any laboratory depends on the needs and the staff within the unit. Many laboratories are set up around the personnel available ¨C if there are specialists in a certain field, a corresponding laboratory is built, just like the drug testing laboratory in Ningtai County, which was established due to the demand at the time and because the captain of the criminal investigation team, Lu Jianfeng, had the talent in this area. Hearing Jiang Yuan confidently mention the Trace Evidence Laboratory, Cao Zhouquan couldn¡¯t help but be taken aback, considering the expense associated with such a facility. Jiang Yuan simply shook his head at Cao Zhouquan, ¡°Ningtai County doesn¡¯t have a Trace Evidence Laboratory.¡± Cao Zhouquan, a man of calm demeanor, almost laughed, ¡°If you don¡¯t have one, then what are you talking about?¡± ¡°We can use the one in Changyang City, or send it for inspection to the provincial Trace Evidence Laboratory,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested. ¡°The one in the city is just for show. Trace Evidence Laboratories are complicated, costly, and require a lot of equipment; even the provincial lab doesn¡¯t do a very good job,¡± Cao Zhouquan shook his head and said, ¡°That¡¯s why I said there¡¯s no need to dismantle it further. There¡¯s no point in exerting all that effort for nothing.¡± ¡°Whether trace evidence is usable mainly depends on the extraction process. There¡¯s a lot of room for error in laboratory operations.¡± Jiang Yuan, no longer holding back, emphasized again, ¡°As long as we can extract something, any laboratory stands a chance of making it work.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± Cao Zhouquan had no further objections and blandly agreed. After all, he wasn¡¯t the one doing the work. Chapter 56 - 56 55 Theres Only One Way to Huashan Since Ancient Times ?56: Chapter 55: There¡¯s Only One Way to Huashan Since Ancient Times 56: Chapter 55: There¡¯s Only One Way to Huashan Since Ancient Times Evening. The western sky was aglow with a reddish light; the iron trees by the road were swaying their green branches; the wall-climbing green ivy was undulating its green leaves. Inside the garage. Underneath several vehicles that had been gutted, people in coveralls squirmed. Du Lei brought Jiang Yuan straight to the traffic unit. Changyang City¡¯s traffic unit was also not lacking funds. A few years ago, they had purchased four standard sets of traffic accident scene investigation equipment and two enhanced sets. Compared to the piecemeal equipment bought by the criminal investigation brigade¡¯s scene investigation team, the equipment in the traffic unit¡¯s kit was much more comprehensive. Just for extracting physical evidence, they had portable multi-spectral light sources, biological detection devices, ultraviolet digital cameras, portable microscopes, chassis inspection instruments, vehicle EDR data readers, and so forth. Comprehensive professional equipment is the basis for a thorough professional investigation, but, these devices also demand comprehensive professionalism from the scene investigators. Du Lei had brought Jiang Yuan over also to show him around, hoping he would realize the difficulty and retreat. Next, he took Jiang Yuan for a tour around the traffic unit¡¯s garage and said, ¡°What do you think? If you really want to dismantle cars, you¡¯ll have to use professional equipment and instruments. To be honest, there are some devices here that I¡¯m not very familiar with. I have to learn as I go. In the traffic unit, those who can handle the full set of equipment are all old masters. Unless you ask Brigade Chief to personally request someone, it¡¯s unlikely you¡¯ll be able to get anyone.¡± Jiang Yuan, having understood Du Lei¡¯s meaning and after scanning his surroundings, felt confident and replied, ¡°I don¡¯t have anything else to do anyway, so I might as well stay here and work on the cars.¡± ¡°Do you know how to use these devices?¡± Du Lei asked. ¡°Most of them, yes. Like this portable multi-spectral light source device, it¡¯s used to find bodily fluids, hair, fibers, glass fragments, dust fingerprints and footprints¡ªthe same kind as what we use in scene investigations, with xenon lights, 13 wavelengths...¡± Jiang Yuan said while demonstrating its use. The traffic team had been notified in advance and remained silent as they watched Jiang Yuan operate the equipment smoothly. Jiang Yuan casually demonstrated two more devices before stopping and saying, ¡°I¡¯ll also need a micro-evidence investigation kit. It should have surgical instruments, a ray detector, and a micro-vacuum cleaner would be ideal...¡± Watching and listening, Du Lei gradually relaxed, straightened up, and said, ¡°You don¡¯t have anything in your county, but you know everything?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and responded, ¡°Learned a bit before.¡± ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll have the captain find a set for you,¡± sighed Du Lei, then chuckled, ¡°If you really find a clue through this car, that would be impressive.¡± Du Lei pulled out his phone and made a call back, requesting Tan Yong¡¯s Pajero to be towed directly to the traffic unit. At the same time, he asked someone to find a micro-evidence investigation kit... ¡°Given the situation from three years ago, we can only search for clues in this car now,¡± Jiang Yuan casually remarked. ... ¡°Now, we can only search for clues through elimination and reasoning,¡± declared Liu Jinghui in front of everyone. Hundreds of criminal police officers and auxiliary police, including Wei Zhenguo and Mu Zhiyang, loudly acknowledged the order and went on to investigate hundreds of companies, units, and construction projects related to Luqiao Group in the vicinity. According to Liu Jinghui¡¯s theory, to develop an effective body dumping plan, or rather, to have a stable body dumping route, one first needs a stable route. Therefore, short-term construction projects were not the focus of this investigation. However, what truly mattered remained unclear to Liu Jinghui. He sat in his office, poring over information gathered from various sources, especially the investigation notes, and thought it over carefully. After a while, Liu Jinghui stood up, took a pen, and started circling areas on the wall map. There was no one in the office. Liu Jinghui was pondering and muttered to himself: ¡°For a stable body-dumping channel, the traffic can¡¯t be too bad... No, that¡¯s not right, after all, the frequency of visits isn¡¯t too high. Yeah, it definitely can¡¯t be too bumpy; no matter how you package a body, you can¡¯t risk any exposure. So, that rules out the really remote mountain roads...¡± ¡°An operational unit that¡¯s unstable, prone to shutting down production... that might actually be useful. But if they have cameras year-round, he¡¯d probably have to think twice...¡± ¡°Access to the highway is best, preferably without a toll booth, let alone a checkpoint, or there¡¯s always a chance of getting caught. But it¡¯s not absolutely certain. If I were to dispose of a body, where would I bury it? Hmm... If it¡¯s not water, it¡¯s got to be a pit; there needs to be something ready-made. Digging on the spot is too exhausting. Digging a three-meter pit, you would almost wish the corpse could dig itself...¡± ¡°Right, he had to go back there repeatedly; he¡¯d likely even go during non-business hours. He must be driving his own car...¡± Liu Jinghui was drawing on the map and regained his energy, then he started looking through piles of interview records. Outside his office, the detectives were coming and going, their numbers dwindling over time. By the early morning, the outside offices were empty, yet Liu Jinghui remained spirited. Especially as he felt he was getting closer to the truth, his spirits soared even more. Tired as he was, he was still excited. Excited as he was, he was still tired. The next day, the detectives continued to gather evidence and interrogate Tan Yong. Liu Jinghui was still tirelessly engaged in mobilizing his brain, thinking and analyzing possible body-dumping sites. The places first suspected of being body-dumping grounds were once again measured by the detectives¡¯ footsteps. Although there were no results yet, Liu Jinghui believed that he was getting closer to the truth, step by step. The busy work of investigation went on for almost a week. Liu Jinghui¡¯s meticulous shirt also started to look neglected. Exhaustion began to show on everyone¡¯s faces. As the main axis, Liu Jinghui was marinated in the taste of coffee and tea, with hollow cheeks, swollen eyes, but he still managed to hold on. For detectives investigating current murder cases, it was common for the team to work through a week, and it was even more understandable for a case as important as a backlog that may be a serial murder case. Although the Chinese police system does not highlight serial murder cases and create various profiles for serial killers like foreign countries do, when they do occur, it¡¯s only appropriate for them to be afforded a high level of attention. The increasing number of people assigned to the special task force for the 326 kidnapping and murder case indicated that the superiors were continually deploying more resources as the case progressed. Monday. Once again, it was time for the all-hands meeting, which was now taking place in the large conference room. Liu Jinghui walked into the conference room with confidence, holding a stack of documents. He saw that in the front row, seven or eight people had formed a group and were discussing something heatedly. Without haste to start the meeting, he approached with an affable look and smiled, ¡°What are you discussing so enthusiastically? Any progress on the case?¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan found a potential hidden spot for the corpse using trace evidence. It¡¯s quite compelling!¡± Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu said, unable to contain his excitement as he held a report. Liu Jinghui smiled again, maintained his smile, and approached, ¡°Let me have a look.¡± Chapter 57 - 57 56 In summary ?57: Chapter 56 In summary 57: Chapter 56 In summary The large conference room. The air conditioning whirred, blowing forcefully enough to make the Diao Lan in the corner sway. The Diao Lan seemed unhurried and composed as it stretched out gracefully, its appearance like Zhao Feiyan having found a job in heaven and earth, or Pan Jinlian having discovered her second fortune in a live broadcast room... When the wind changed slightly, the leaves and branches of the Diao Lan experienced less wind, their posture becoming firm and strong, akin to Pan An strutting through the streets, or Wang Xizhi drunkenly calling out over the mic. Liu Jinghui took the report from Yu Wenshu¡¯s hands, only to see it filled with dense numbers and charts. Liu Jinghui flipped directly to the last page and found a paragraph written boldly: ¡°In conclusion, there is reason to suspect that the Apricot Valley Copper Mine, located 25 kilometers west of Changyang City, is the site where the body was hidden.¡± In that instant, Liu Jinghui felt like he had suddenly become a martial arts master, with his temples throbbing painfully. The Apricot Valley mine was within the search range designated by Liu Jinghui, who had a strong impression of it. Indeed, in today¡¯s meeting, Liu Jinghui had planned to arrange for people to go to the Apricot Valley Copper Mine. He was confident that with one more round of inspections, he would be able to narrow the search area from 25 locations to within ten, and then, at most by the third round of inspection, to within three to five locations. By then, bringing in police dogs or other technical methods would grant a great chance of finding Tan Yong¡¯s burial site. This was an intelligence-storm style advancement, a classic example of solving a case with meticulous thinking. However... Liu Jinghui stared at the thick report in his hands. Those cold numbers and those stiff charts were like crib notes for cheating, causing annoyance and frustration. When had elegant detectives disappeared, only to be replaced by these silly, simple-minded fools! ¡°Talk about this ¡®in conclusion¡¯ part,¡± Liu Jinghui shook the report and couldn¡¯t help but look up at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind Liu Jinghui¡¯s attitude. He had been busy for many days and had just received the report, excitedly saying, ¡°I conducted a thorough inspection of the suspect Tan Yong¡¯s vehicle and reached the following conclusions...¡± ¡°The suspect¡¯s vehicle is that Pajero, right? Wasn¡¯t it already inspected? A second inspection could be contaminated by the first, couldn¡¯t it?¡± Liu Jinghui interrupted Jiang Yuan. ¡°I mainly collected trace evidence, mostly from places that would not or are not easily contaminated,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui laughed, ¡°What parts are that pure?¡± Nearly a hundred people were sitting in the conference room, all craning their necks to listen, and naturally, some laughed along. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t laugh, calmly looking down at the center of Liu Jinghui¡¯s large bald spot, saying, ¡°The first piece of evidence was obtained from the third layer of paint on the left front fender of the suspect¡¯s vehicle. It¡¯s assumed that the vehicle ran over roadside gravel, which hit the fender, embedding tiny particles of stone powder into the paint there. When the suspect later treated the area, a new layer of paint was applied, inadvertently protecting this piece of evidence.¡± Liu Jinghui paused, asking, ¡°The third layer of paint?¡± ¡°Yes, I found that Tan Yong¡¯s Pajero had many spots of partial repainting, so I decided to scrape off the layers of paint from these areas, including the topcoat, middle layers, base coat, putty... Some vehicles may have several layers of paint applied, and we collect as many layers as they¡¯ve applied. Then, using a microscope, we search for trace evidence layer by layer.¡± Liu Jinghui was overwhelmed when he heard this, and the first thought that came to his mind was, ¡°This is far from elegant.¡± At this time, a leader who knew a bit about scene investigation asked, ¡°Do we really need a microscope? The workload would be enormous. Would it work if we just used tape to pick up the traces?¡± ¡°Ordinary tape won¡¯t do because we¡¯re searching for trace evidence, which is often measured in milligrams, so the glue from the tape can cause contamination. In the end, the evidence we find may turn out to be unusable,¡± Jiang Yuan explained. ¡°This...¡± The leader listening felt a chill run through his scalp. Jiang Yuan saw that there were no further questions, ¡°Page three has a detailed description of this piece of evidence. Its content matches the mineral composition records of Apricot Valley Copper Mine. The trace evidence was analyzed at the Trace Evidence Laboratory of the provincial bureau with a newly purchased fluorescence analyzer, which requires a very small amount of sample for testing...¡± It was also Jiang Yuan¡¯s first attempt at collecting trace evidence since acquiring the systematic skills, so he carried out the entire process with great meticulousness. As Liu Jinghui listened to Jiang Yuan reciting those technical terms, he felt a mix of impatience and had to admit that the answers he got were extremely tempting. After a few seconds of thought, Liu Jinghui gestured with his hands and said, ¡°So, your conjecture is that when Tan Yong drove past the Apricot Valley Copper Mine, his car¡¯s wheels rolled over the pebbles on the side of the road, splashing up the stones, which were actually ore that hit the front fender of his car and incidentally embedded in the paint surface. Moreover, when Tan Yong got his car fixed, he happened to not handle it diligently and simply painted over it?¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent for a moment. The conference room with over a hundred people suddenly became exceptionally quiet. It was then that Jiang Yuan had his words ready, ¡°Tan Yong¡¯s car was old, and moreover, he frequently visited construction sites, so he always went to very familiar repair shops for car maintenance, where many areas were handled roughly.¡± Next, Jiang Yuan addressed the second question, ¡°The roadside of Apricot Valley Copper Mine is littered with pebbles, left behind by trucks that used to haul ore. The bigger pieces should have been cleaned up already, but there¡¯s still a lot of finer ore left, which can be seen at the site.¡± Then came the third question, Jiang Yuan said slowly, ¡°Apricot Valley Copper Mine is the end point and doesn¡¯t lead to any other place. Therefore, if Tan Yong went to Apricot Valley Copper Mine, it would surely have been his destination.¡± Compared to the voluminous report, Jiang Yuan¡¯s simple reasoning made Liu Jinghui slightly more comfortable, but only slightly. Liu Jinghui hummed in acknowledgment and asked, ¡°Then why do you think Apricot Valley is the burial site?¡± ¡°Mineral particles from evidence item 3 were obtained from the rear right door and have a similar origin to evidence item 1. The plant fibers from evidence item 4 are consistent with the vegetation of Apricot Valley. These can all be used as indirect evidence to indicate that Tan Yong went to Apricot Valley multiple times. Furthermore, these pieces of evidence all date back to more than three years ago. Other particles found in the car either came from outside Changyang City or from the construction sites where Tan Yong worked, making them less likely to be from the burial site,¡± Jiang Yuan spoke at a measured pace. Halfway through Jiang Yuan¡¯s explanation, Liu Jinghui had already begun to accept it. The burial site must be a place visited multiple times, which was a point he had already determined. Moreover, Apricot Valley Copper Mine had been within his scope of consideration, so it was hard to say how much of his questioning was to challenge Jiang Yuan. Nevertheless, solving the case was important, and Liu Jinghui could not help but lower his head to read Jiang Yuan¡¯s report, which took quite some time. Not until there was a buzzing of quiet conversation in the conference room did Liu Jinghui look up and say, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s adjust today¡¯s meeting goal, focusing on Apricot Valley Copper Mine. Gao Qiang, could you arrange that?¡± Gao Qiang, the third-level senior police superintendent who had been low-key these days, didn¡¯t hesitate when Liu Jinghui called on him. After clearing his throat twice, he stood up and said directly, ¡°Let¡¯s first divide into several groups...¡± Chapter 58 - 58 57 Meritorious Service ?58: Chapter 57: Meritorious Service 58: Chapter 57: Meritorious Service Noon. The scorching sun hung high, beaming down intensely. The rocks atop the mountain were so hot from the sunlight that they seemed to sear like a young man¡¯s groin. The sandy gravel and shattered ore on the ground shook under the breeze, coarse and rough, even the dogs scorned it. ¡°Dazhuang, sit down.¡± Li Li¡¯s voice was both light and crisp, like a breath of wind that soothed everyone¡¯s hearts. The exhausted and overheated detectives of Changyang City sought shade from the light, and hearing Li Li¡¯s voice was like having their hearts cooled in an air-conditioned room, instantly comfortable. ¡°Which unit are they from?¡± ¡°That voice... Such a soft-spoken girl as a police officer, she must sweet-talk the suspects to death.¡± ¡°Actually, when you think about it, being a dog isn¡¯t so bad.¡± During rest time, a group of people simply chatted idly as they sat. The leaders also moved a few rocks to sit on the ground, turning a deaf ear to the discussions of the officers beside them. The command vehicle was right there with air conditioning, but no one suggested retreating inside for a rest. Today¡¯s operation involved multiple parties: people from the provincial office, Changyang City Bureau, Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, forest public security, local police stations, and also a few journalists invited by Liu Jinghui and others, plus several units of police dog squads. In such circumstances, even those who feared hardship and fatigue didn¡¯t want to show weakness in front of everyone. At the very least, they shouldn¡¯t become a laughingstock in front of the dogs. ¡°Let¡¯s rest for another fifteen minutes, and then we start heading into the mine. The police dogs can rest for an extra fifteen minutes,¡± said Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, who was today¡¯s on-site commander. The case was too big, not to mention its far-reaching facets, but even the social impact it generated demanded everyone¡¯s heightened attention. At times like this, even a fruitless effort wasn¡¯t feared, what was feared was a lifetime of fruitless efforts. Liu Jinghui wiped his sweat and responded. As soon as they entered the mountain, he became noticeably quieter. The abandoned mine was much more complex than the report had indicated. Even with nearly three hundred people gathered, which clogged the path up the mountain, once they spread out inside, it was still like following one¡¯s wife on a weekend shopping spree¡ªutterly bewildered, aimless, clueless, unsure where to stop... Not far off, under the sparse shade of roadside trees, Dazhuang struck a similar figure. In front of him was his familiar food bowl, filled with de-boned chicken thighs, fresh chicken cutlets, large chunks of beef, and an abundance of vegetables. Without even lowering his head, Dazhuang could smell the familiar scents, unquestionably prepared by Comrade Li Li with her long legs¡ªgorgeous presentation, exquisite taste. Under normal circumstances, with a little mental preparation, Dazhuang would contentedly dig in. But today was different. Today, sitting beside Dazhuang was Heizi, the meritorious dog from Longli County. In Heizi¡¯s food bowl lay de-boned chicken thighs, large chunks of beef, even larger chunks of beef, eggs, tender yolks, diced fruits, and even more vegetables, along with yogurt... The sheen and look of the food alone were enough to make any dog drool. Besides, Heizi had another bowl, filled with meat porridge and mysterious contents. When have you ever seen a dog with two bowls? There are no stray dogs, no pet dogs, no police dogs, and certainly no military dogs! One dog, one bowl, each carrying its own bowl and lined up to follow commands, eating just one meal a day¡ªthis is the standard for police dogs, and it¡¯s the most basic knowledge Dazhuang has learned since he joined the police force. It is the cornerstone of all the knowledge he has acquired. Today, the cornerstone was shattered. The dog from the county next door really had two bowls! It wasn¡¯t just Dazhuang who was stunned; on another side, the police dogs Hu Zi and Bao Zi from the Changyang City Police Dog Detachment were also staring with eyes as big as copper bells at Heizi in the middle. Heizi, nonchalantly wagging his tail and looking straight ahead with a slightly raised head, seemed to pay no attention to the gazes around him at all. Meanwhile, whether it was Dazhuang, Hu Zi, or Bao Zi, they all stood with their tails rigid, their heads in disbelief. Li Li, looking at her own police dog¡¯s expression, couldn¡¯t help but squat down and persuasively whisper, ¡°Dazhuang, we shouldn¡¯t compare ourselves with others. It¡¯s getting old and needs to stay healthy. We¡¯re on a mission, and eating too much can make you sleepy, which is not conducive to performing well.¡± The dog trainer from the neighboring county could only squat down and persuade: ¡°Being a police dog, it¡¯s not about how much you eat or wear, but about combat effectiveness. It has been awarded second-class merits, so a slightly higher daily food budget is normal, isn¡¯t it? If we earn a second-class merit this time as well, you¡¯ll also get to eat food worth 90 yuan each day, how does that sound? Good, isn¡¯t it?¡± The police dogs remained silent. Half an hour later. At the trainers¡¯ command, the police dogs started searching in the designated directions. Jiang Yuan craned his neck to watch. He hadn¡¯t been sent out and stayed near the ¡°leadership group,¡± ready for consultation. Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment issued orders one after another, and only after everything was on track did he take a sip of the hot tea he had brought and then turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°Are you nervous, Xiao Jiang? This time we¡¯re following your ¡®script¡¯.¡± Snapping back to reality, Jiang Yuan hurriedly said, ¡°Not at all, I just did some insignificant work.¡± ¡°Speaking of that term, I heard about trace evidence twenty years ago, but when it really comes to solving cases, the number of times it has played a crucial role can be counted on one hand,¡± Yu Wenshu commented thoughtfully, ¡°From now on, even the slightest clues are leads to solving crimes.¡± ¡°I only understand the extraction of trace evidence; I don¡¯t know how to survey a crime scene or perform analyses. For that, we rely entirely on the provincial department¡¯s trace evidence laboratory,¡± Jiang Yuan had to modestly admit. Yu Wenshu, however, pointed to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°You hit the nail on the head. Our detachment¡¯s trace evidence laboratory, when they report to me, always talk about how many tests they can perform, how rich their testing methods are, but they don¡¯t mention scene investigation. They don¡¯t talk about their ability to collect trace evidence at the scene. They don¡¯t bring it up, and our detectives don¡¯t understand it either. If the two sides can¡¯t work together, how can we solve cases?¡± ¡°Technicians don¡¯t understand the field, and field officers don¡¯t understand the technical side,¡± Gao Qiang, a third-grade senior police superintendent from the provincial department, nodded in agreement. ¡°It¡¯s like taking fingerprints; a good sample is essential for forensic technicians to utilize their skills. Oh yes, Jiang Yuan is also very good at trace evidence examination; he led the resolution of case 326.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s main profession is forensic doctor. When I first joined the police force, technicians were all like Xiao Jiang: versatile, able to handle fingerprints and footprints, conduct autopsies, work with poisons, even analyze gun cases if necessary...¡± Yu Wenshu spoke with increasing admiration as he looked at Jiang Yuan. Nowadays, the tough, combat-ready detectives are no rarity, with police academy graduates generally possessing good physical health, while detectives who have been in the force for a while may not stay in top physical condition. Ordinary technicians are also not unique, with university graduates aplenty. As soon as there¡¯s a job opening with a permanent position, people rush for it, and with some training, anyone with a related degree can handle the routine work. But those who can truly use their technical skills to solve cases, rather than just follow up after the fact, those technicians are indeed very rare. In the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, there are certainly many experts, but who would refuse the addition of more? A general is happier the more skilled warriors are under his command. Before Yu Wenshu could speak again, his walkie-talkie crackled to life at his waist. ¡°We have a situation at location number 4, we¡¯re preparing to send someone down the well.¡± In the background of the walkie-talkie, the sound of police dogs barking could be heard. Liu Jinghui, who had been silent up to that point, leaned over to pull out a map and quickly set it up on the spot. ¡°It¡¯s a ventilation shaft. It¡¯s 60 meters deep,¡± said Liu Jinghui as he exhaled deeply, casting a complex glance at Jiang Yuan. Chapter 59 - 59 58 Digging up a Corpse ?59: Chapter 58 Digging up a Corpse 59: Chapter 58 Digging up a Corpse The Apricot Valley Copper Mine was a copper mine developed after the founding of the nation. Its scale was not small, production was high, and resources were depleted quickly. By the turn of the century, it was no longer worth extracting here. What followed was a variety of surface backfilling. The subcontractor whom Tan Yong worked for had taken on this project. However, due to reasons such as the return of project funds, the surface backfill work would occur in spurts, pausing intermittently and not proceeding continuously. Clearly, this afforded Tan Yong a great opportunity. For the purpose of backfilling the air shaft, the company had already opened up the access route to that area, and vehicles would come every so often, making Tan Yong¡¯s presence not at all conspicuous. There were no gatekeepers or guards here anymore, so with completely free entry, the security for disposing of bodies was significantly heightened. Moreover, the backfilling that took place every now and then meant that after Tan Yong dumped a body, he didn¡¯t even need to cover it up properly. The personnel lowered down the mine didn¡¯t take long to confirm the presence of the first corpse. A young, dismembered female body. The Criminal Police officers, who had been busy for many days, were invigorated by the discovery. The dogs guarding the pit barked softly, baring their teeth. Only Heizi remained as composed as usual, embodying the tranquility of an old dog. ¡°Using dogs to find bodies is really useful.¡± Liu Jinghui stood beside Heizi, looking down at the dark air shaft, wanting to touch Heizi but not daring to do so. Heizi¡¯s handler restrained him, saying, ¡°These days, police dogs tend to be all-rounders, best equipped with abilities in tracking, searching, and attacking. Heizi is smart and learns quickly, and his skills are on par with specialized dogs.¡± ¡°There¡¯s such a consideration?¡± ¡°Yes, specialized dogs require more frequent deployment, high demands on the handlers, and a lot of physical stamina from the dogs. Besides, the cost of keeping police dogs is indeed quite high, so all-rounders provide better value for money, especially for smaller units.¡± Heizi¡¯s handler was seconded from Longli County to help with the search, focusing more on the search itself. Liu Jinghui only pretended to be at ease, but when the female corpse actually appeared before him, he couldn¡¯t maintain his composure. ¡°Judging by the state of decay, the time of death is over three years, the exact time will have to be determined back at the lab. We¡¯ve collected the larger pieces of the body, there are still smaller fragments that will take some time,¡± said the forensic doctor from the city bureau, who had gone down the mine and come back up looking dusty and disheveled. Several leaders nodded gravely. Liu Jinghui responded with a noncommittal grunt. Originally, finding the body confirmed his judgment and reasoning¡ªthat Tan Yong had killed more than one person. But now, everyone¡¯s focus was no longer on Liu Jinghui. ¡°Good job,¡± said Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, patting Jiang Yuan heavily on the shoulder, a weight lifting from his heart. No matter what, the case had occurred in Changyang City, within their jurisdiction. Liu Jinghui and Gao Qiang were sent by the provincial department as reinforcements, and the detectives from Ningtai County were just a fresh force pulled from below. Ultimately, the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was still the main body responsible for the case. Now that the case was seeing the light of day... no, it should be said that the truth was being unearthed, Yu Wenshu truly had to thank Jiang Yuan. With an affable expression on his handsome middle-aged face, he said, ¡°Later on, if you have any thoughts or suggestions, you¡¯re welcome to come and talk to me...¡± ¡°I¡¯d like to go down and help,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at the air shaft. Yu Wenshu was taken aback, ¡°But it¡¯s all dismembered bodies down there.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t often get the chance to work on cases like this,¡± Jiang Yuan added with a brief explanation. Yu Wenshu then expressed understanding, saying, ¡°Alright, it¡¯s good to be young.¡± He agreed, and made arrangements for Jiang Yuan to be placed in a basket chair and slowly lowered into the shaft. Those below had no objections. Who would willingly do the grim task of excavating body parts if not compelled? The more experienced the forensic doctor, the less he is willing to deal with such distressing cases. It was only a young and fearless person like Jiang Yuan who would volunteer himself. Down in the pit. The diameter of over ten meters meant an area of over a hundred square meters. Four people crouched inside, each responsible for a patch of ground the size of a small living room, plus the well walls, which were not smaller in area. Jiang Yuan wore a gas mask and four layers of gloves, carefully picking up fragments of bone while he shoveled the earth. After three years of decay, most of the human tissue had been reduced to bones, though they had not yet evolved into stark white skeletons. However, the time and the internal environment had begun to make the bones brittle, somewhat like long-stored peanut brittle¡ªif one wasn¡¯t careful, the brittle bones would certainly break into more pieces. As they dug up more earth and excavated more bones, large chunks of construction waste started to appear. At the same time, several broken ribs also emerged next to a large piece of concrete. ¡°This must be the layer of soil at the bottom where the body was dumped. Everything above has been backfilled.¡± The senior forensic doctor sighed, ¡°This job won¡¯t be done quickly. We¡¯ll need machinery. At the very least, we¡¯ll need a rotary hammer and a cutter.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get whatever you need,¡± said a detective calmly nearby, ¡°Now that we have two bodies and the three kidnapped people, we need to collect any evidence in such cases. Come help me lift this.¡± Jiang Yuan came forward to help, using a crowbar with others to pry a piece of concrete aside, and then carefully picked out the ribs from inside. A slightly dim ball of light rolled into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. Chen Manli¡¯s legacy: Culinary [Dog] (LV5)¡ªCooking for the stray dogs around her was Chen Manli¡¯s most relaxing moment. No matter which city she worked in or in which community she rented, Chen Manli¡¯s first consideration was always how to purchase the right ingredients to make delicious and nutritious food for her beloved dogs. Chen Manli felt that humans were ugly, evil, filthy, dirty, and hypocritical, only those dogs wagging their tails were so sincere, so lovely. Jiang Yuan felt somewhat dazed. To him, a level 4 Crime Scene Investigation skill was already quite impressive, something he could infer from the performance of the scene investigators from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. So, just how powerful would a level 5 skill be? But the purpose of the Culinary [Dog] skill really puzzled him. Could it be that the winner in life was Dazhuang? ¡°Xiao Jiang. Come up and rest,¡± the senior forensic doctor called to Jiang Yuan, and they both got into the lift basket. Jiang Yuan came back to his senses and asked, ¡°Are we not continuing? There are still bodies down there, right?¡± ¡°Tan Yong has come to point out the scene,¡± the senior forensic doctor paused, then added a reminder, ¡°This is a huge project. There was a time during the early backfilling when concrete was directly poured in. Take it easy. It¡¯s not something that could be finished in one or two months.¡± Jiang Yuan thought about it; Tan Yong didn¡¯t even know how many bodies he had dumped or how long it had been going on. All that backfill needed to be dug out, which was a massive undertaking. Sometime later, the lift basket was pulled up to the wellhead, and Jiang Yuan and the others were taken directly to rest in the hollow. After a while, they saw a prison van, escorted by two police cars, driving up to the foot of the mountain. Next, Tan Yong needed to identify the body dumping site on camera. On one hand, this served as a confession, but more importantly, it verified that the criminal suspect was indeed the murderer. This was also one of the reasons why the case had to be kept confidential; there are always some details within a case that outsiders must not know. But Jiang Yuan had no intention of watching. Having personally been down to the cell, he had a clear understanding of Tan Yong¡¯s brutality and antisocial level, and there was no need for him to ¡°appreciate¡± it up close. ... ¡°Doctor Jiang.¡± Wei Zhenguo ran over and pulled Jiang Yuan aside. ¡°Has Tan Yong confessed? How many people altogether?¡± Jiang Yuan forcefully pried Wei Zhenguo¡¯s fingers apart. ¡°Tan Yong broke down today when he heard the interrogation officer mention ¡®Apricot Valley Copper Mine¡¯s ventilation shaft¡¯ and confessed to a total of six murders, including the basement,¡± Wei Zhenguo sighed, ¡°The other five are all here.¡± ¡°How long?¡± ¡°Three years.¡± ¡°So, he murdered five people over three years, then escalated to kidnapping and murder?¡± ¡°Seems like it, averaging one person every six months,¡± Wei Zhenguo shook his head and let out a long sigh. Jiang Yuan looked at the abandoned mining area in front of him. Under the sunlight, it seemed to reflect a metallic luster that was somewhat dazzling, and his eyes involuntarily became moist. ¡°The case is almost wrapped up. Let¡¯s head back. If we don¡¯t go back soon, Captain Huang will be worried sick,¡± Wei Zhenguo coughed twice and said. ¡°Yeah, let¡¯s go home.¡± Chapter 60 - 60 59 Wang ?60: Chapter 59 Wang 60: Chapter 59 Wang The fifth day of the lunar month. Northward expelling the Rat¡¯s bane Propitious for moving, housewarming, seeking offspring, receiving livestock, relocation, burial, and adding to the family Wu Jun solemnly put the almanac back into the drawer, then took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and a lighter, and stood in front of the window, above the hanging orchid, with a ¡°click¡± he lit up a cigarette. The Zhonghua cigarettes were left in the office by Jiang Yuan, originally for visitors to help themselves to, but Wu Jun, reluctant to use them, had put them away in Jiang Yuan¡¯s drawer. When Jiang Yuan later saw this, he specially bought a carton to give to Wu Jun. Wu Jun didn¡¯t feel right accepting the whole carton, so he only took one pack. After all, he was Jiang Yuan¡¯s mentor. Back in the early days of his career, the mentor-apprentice relationship was quite close; it wasn¡¯t just about offering cigarettes, but daily tasks like carrying footbathing water and emptying chamber pots were also normal. However, in recent years, old customs like that had fallen by the wayside. Now, there were only two Zhonghua left, indicating that he had indeed taken too few at the time. Hiss... Wu Jun smoked slowly but deeply, nearly finishing the cigarette in one go, finally taking a deep drag before forcefully stubbing it out in the flowerpot, letting it keep company with the dozens of other stubs. Just another ordinary day... Wu Jun turned to start his work, but his glance suddenly caught a row of familiar figures. Jiang Yuan, along with Wei Zhenguo and others, dressed in casual clothes, walked in from the main entrance. A smile couldn¡¯t help but form on Wu Jun¡¯s lips as he muttered to himself, ¡°I was just saying, the cigarettes are almost gone, it¡¯s about time he returned.¡± Having said that, Wu Jun contentedly stretched and leisurely walked to the cabinet in the corner of the office. From amongst a pile of rice and cooking oil, he took two red eggs, then pulled a small rice cooker from the cupboard, poured in a bottle of mineral water, dropped in the eggs, and set them to boil. By the time Jiang Yuan knocked and entered the office, Wu Jun had just taken out the eggs. ¡°Come on, have a red egg,¡± Wu Jun said cheerily, beckoning with his hand. Having just spent several hours in the car, Jiang Yuan was indeed a bit hungry and took the small bowl Wu Jun passed without thinking much, asking with some confusion, ¡°Do you normally boil red eggs just for fun?¡± ¡°Do I look that idle?¡± Wu Jun waved a hand dismissively and asked, ¡°Was the trip smooth? How was it in Changyang City, didn¡¯t offend anyone, did you?¡± ¡°Everything was fine,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, a bit bewildered by the barrage of questions, then he peeled the egg and laughed, ¡°The case was cracked a long time ago, it just took too long to find the body...¡± ¡°No need to go into detail, ongoing cases, especially those handled out of town, are the most troublesome,¡± Wu Jun mainly wanted to remind Jiang Yuan, and then he sat back down on his chair, turned on the computer, and started his day¡¯s work. Jiang Yuan smiled, peeled the shell off an egg, and then asked, ¡°Master, should I leave you a red egg?¡± ¡°No need, I haven¡¯t touched a body in days. There haven¡¯t been any in the county either,¡± Wu Jun refused while waving his hand, then said, ¡°You should relax these next couple of days, don¡¯t be too tense, it¡¯s not good for you. Oh, by the way, Ding Lan¡¯s family came by to express their gratitude, you and Old Wei should pose together with the banner for a photo later.¡± ¡°Eh, is that necessary?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not mandatory, but it¡¯s rare for a family to bring a banner. You¡¯d lose out if you don¡¯t get a photo, who knows when that will happen again,¡± Wu Jun said. ¡°Ding Lan¡¯s parents are quite thoughtful, they¡¯ve taken the banner to the political office, must have asked around, it¡¯s quite rare.¡± Banners prepared for photo ops by the media don¡¯t really do much for the police. For the entire police system, the media is most interested when problems arise. No matter how perfect a case is, the media typically can¡¯t be bothered to delve deeply into it. By contrast, the political section within the police department does recognize the value of banners. It can be said that they are the most effective way for ordinary people to express their thanks to the police. When it¡¯s time for evaluation, a letter of thanks and a banner can lead to a commendation or even a third-class merit award. Of course, under normal circumstances, average officers rarely receive this level of recognition. An online bulletin or a public commendation, at most an advanced worker award, is usually the highest reward. Jiang Yuan poured himself a cup of tea, hesitating a bit before asking, ¡°What about Ding Lan? Has she been seen?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t seen her, she¡¯s said to be reluctant to go out. But that¡¯s just hearsay,¡± Wu Jun had seen a lot, but he still couldn¡¯t get used to cases like this one. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, and after a moment¡¯s thought, he added, ¡°At least Ding Lan still has family to look after her. The other two who were rescued, they never went home in the end.¡± Wu Jun had heard it too and let out a sigh. ¡°With no parents left, there¡¯s nowhere to call home. Moreover, there¡¯s that complicated past to contend with.¡± Jiang Yuan lowered his head to peel an egg. For a police officer, this was essentially as far as one could go. In fact, Wei Zhenguo had done much more than what his job required. But the scars of society can never be erased by the efforts of an individual. Meet people. Meet Huang Qiangmin. Meet people. An entire morning was basically spent on social activities. The Ding Lan case was simply too shocking. For many officers, it was the kind of case they had heard of but never actually seen. Jiang Yuan was back, so there were always people willing to come by and ask a few questions before relaying them to their office colleagues. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the police dog squadron,¡± said Jiang Yuan as soon as it was noon, immediately getting up to pack his things. He was quite curious about the power of a Level 5 skill. By the time he arrived at the police dog squadron, Li Li and Dazhuang had already returned. When the Rottweiler detected Jiang Yuan¡¯s scent, it politely wagged its tail. Like detectives, police dogs frequently travel as well. Sometimes, even within the boundaries of Ningtai County, reaching a location with poor road conditions could take several hours. From the provincial capital back to Ningtai County, the Rottweiler seemed to adapt even better than Jiang Yuan. ¡°Not a bad tail wag,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked, looking down at the Rottweiler, before directly calling out, ¡°Dazhuang, let me pet you.¡± Dazhuang hesitated for a moment, seemingly confused by the mixed signals, and looked somewhat at a loss. When Li Li heard the commotion, she came out and helplessly said, ¡°Dazhuang, let him pet you.¡± Only then did Dazhuang bark once, plopping its two yellow paws forward and lowering its black shiny head, sticking out its tongue with a purring sound. Jiang Yuan vigorously rubbed the Rottweiler¡¯s big bald head before saying, ¡°Captain Li, how about I make some dog food for Dazhuang today?¡± Li Li cast a skeptical glance. ¡°Do you know how? Dog food needs to be nutritionally balanced. Dogs are different from people. The taste is not important; what¡¯s important is nutritional balance. Protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins¡ªall have to be included...¡± As she spoke, Dazhuang¡¯s eyes drooped downwards. The Rottweiler, with its floppy ears, droopy eyes, and smacking lips, looked even more pitiful at that moment. Jiang Yuan rubbed Dazhuang again vigorously, laughing. ¡°I¡¯ll make you something special today.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan went into the kitchen and adeptly took out various ingredients from the refrigerator. Li Li followed him somewhat embarrassedly, helping to rinse and peel... Then, Jiang Yuan began by dicing duck meat and soaking it in warm water; he cored an apple, chopped red cabbage and cucumber into fine pieces, and mixed them with a few drops of oil. Meanwhile, he put sweet potatoes into the steamer and asked, ¡°Do you have any butter?¡± Li Li, already dumbfounded, looked at Jiang Yuan just like Dazhuang at the door, with a blank stare, asking, ¡°Is that necessary?¡± ¡°Having it should make it taste a bit better,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Li Li chuckled good-naturedly. ¡°Actually, making dog food doesn¡¯t need to be so methodical. I usually just put in whatever is available...¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Dazhuang barked loudly. ... Chapter 61 - 61 60 s Calmness ?61: 60 chapters Calmness 61: 60 chapters Calmness ¡°Mash the sweet potatoes into a puree. While it¡¯s hot, add some butter and then pinch in some cream cheese.¡± ¡°Throw in an egg yolk too.¡± ¡°How about millet pumpkin porridge? Don¡¯t make too much.¡± Jiang Yuan explained his actions as he went along, sharing some skills with Li Li on the side. Dazhuang had been with Li Li for quite a few years, and it must not have been easy getting by with such plain meals every day. It¡¯s nice to have a good meal once in a while, but the daily diet shouldn¡¯t be too shabby either. However, Li Li clearly didn¡¯t catch Jiang Yuan¡¯s hint. She watched Jiang Yuan cook with serious attention, then licked her lips and said, ¡°Let¡¯s make more of the millet pumpkin porridge, and we can eat what¡¯s left.¡± Jiang Yuan looked up sharply at Comrade Li Li. Li Li shot back a glare, as fierce as a Rottweiler, and said, ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Fried rice can be dry, it makes sense to pair it with millet pumpkin porridge.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite reasonable indeed,¡± Jiang Yuan looked back at Dazhuang, who was looking meek and obedient, and silently added another egg yolk to its meal. While waiting for the dog food to steam, Jiang Yuan went on to make fried rice for the three of them, Uncle Seventeen¡¯s version. It was at times like this that Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice showed its strengths. It was not only economical with ingredients but also didn¡¯t take much effort. With a little spare time, it was quickly whipped up. In comparison, preparing the dog food took a bit longer. Of course, once it was done, the presentation of the dog food was much better than that of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice¡ªan intact egg yolk, a variety of beans, tender meat, and vegetables of red, green, and purple hues. You didn¡¯t even need to taste it; just smelling the aroma and seeing the appearance made your mouth water. Culinary Artistry [Dog] (LV5) never deceives me. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think about Chen Manli, the owner of the stray dog. If it hadn¡¯t been for the encounter with the devil, her life might have gradually returned to peace and happiness with the solace of the stray dog, becoming spiritually fulfilled and smoothly progressing... ¡°Some people, they¡¯re worse off than dogs.¡± Jiang Yuan scooped out three servings of millet pumpkin porridge, setting it together with the fried rice and dog food. Li Li looked at the fried rice, then at the dog food, and then at the millet pumpkin porridge, and asked with suspicion, ¡°Are you talking about us?¡± ¡°No. How could that be. It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Jiang Yuan quickly denied. ¡°Police dogs are provided for, with food and boarding included. It¡¯s normal for people to be worse off than dogs,¡± Li Li said, eyes fixed on the dog food. While speaking, she pinched out an egg yolk and added, ¡°Three egg yolks are too much. If a dog eats too many egg yolks, it can lead to gastrointestinal discomfort, sometimes diarrhea, vomiting, acute pancreatitis. Eating them long-term can cause weight gain and is bad for the cardiovascular system...¡± As she spoke, Li Li tossed the egg yolk on top of her own fried rice. The orange-yellow fried rice with an orange-yellow egg yolk on top suddenly looked much more appealing. Li Li nodded in satisfaction, picked up two bowls of dog food, and called Dazhuang over, ¡°Look, other dogs have two bowls of food, so you can have two bowls as well, right?¡± Dazhuang sat upright and attentive, looking straight ahead. It was trained and, despite being tempted, drooled without turning its head. ¡°Good boy, Dazhuang. Look at the food your Uncle Jiang Yuan made for you. Here¡¯s an egg yolk, here¡¯s a sweet potato cheese ball, and this is sliced duck meat...¡± Li Li pointed at the dog food, introducing it to Dazhuang while swallowing her saliva and smiling, ¡°Just smelling it is delicious, isn¡¯t it?¡± Dazhuang barked eagerly once. Li Li chuckled twice, patted Dazhuang¡¯s head, and said, ¡°Go ahead, eat.¡± As soon as Dazhuang heard the command, it buried its head and started gobbling up the food vigorously, pushing forward. A trained police dog, usually practicing biting and tearing, now appeared ferocious as it chomped down on the food. Li Li turned to get her own fried rice, and glancing back at Dazhuang¡¯s gusto, couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit envious, ¡°It never ate the food I made this quickly. Actually, eating too fast is bad for the health, even for dogs...¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun exchanged a glance, each silently digging into their rice. Li Li sighed and could only sit down to eat, and for some reason found the egg yolk she had snatched from the top to be especially delicious. Li Li watched the rice in Dazhuang¡¯s bowl, which was drenched with food, and then looked at Jiang Yuan and Doctor Wu sitting in front of her, restraining the urge to move her greedy hand. The pleasure that Uncle Seventeen¡¯s egg fried rice brought to taste and spirit quickly dissipated the negative emotions. In the large police dog squadron, three people and one dog were all eating contentedly. The wind, passing through the red brick walls, made a whining sound. Amid the sound of the wind, the Rottweiler also issued a contented whine. The wonderful moment brought by the food ended with a clang of teeth hitting metal. After finishing the meal, Dazhuang was still a bit dazed, looking at his two thoroughly emptied bowls with a puzzled expression in his dog eyes. ¡°All right, you¡¯ve finished eating,¡± Li Li said as she stood up, let Dazhuang release the food bowl, and patted its head, ¡°Take a break now, we¡¯ll eat again tomorrow.¡± Reluctantly lifting his head, Dazhuang looked at Li Li, then at the food bowl, then at Jiang Yuan, and then at the food bowl again, before sheepishly stepping away. ¡°Good dog,¡± Li Li said as she rewarded the Rottweiler with another pat on the head. Jiang Yuan also finished his fried rice and laughed, ¡°It seems that Dazhuang really enjoyed his meal.¡± Just as Li Li was about to speak, she saw a black shadow swiftly streak past her side. With a weight of over 100 kilograms, Dazhuang stretched his body and with a single leap, he pounced on Jiang Yuan, sticking out his long tongue and attempting to lick Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. Jiang Yuan: ...I can¡¯t give you my first kiss, and firmly pushed Dazhuang away. Li Li rushed forward to grab hold of Dazhuang. Dragged by Li Li, Dazhuang whimpered like a robust maiden torn from her lover, wailing. Doctor Wu shook his head; dogs really do prefer the young, pah! Jiang Yuan and his master prepared to leave. Li Li waved goodbye, but Dazhuang took the opportunity to bolt out. Before the three could react, Dazhuang bared his teeth and pressed against Jiang Yuan¡¯s leg. ¡°Woo woo woo woo...¡± Dazhuang used his strong yellow paws to grip Jiang Yuan¡¯s heel and vigorously rubbed his head against Jiang Yuan¡¯s foot. Dazhuang wrapped his paws around Jiang Yuan¡¯s leg, headbutting the ground... And vigorously wagged his thick black tail while sticking out his buttocks. With a flushed face, Li Li felt that she had not trained Dazhuang well enough. It was just a meal, wasn¡¯t it? But as she thought about the egg on that fried rice, even after just being satisfied, her throat suddenly filled with saliva again. She suddenly felt a bit envious of Dazhuang, who hugged the leg so openly... ... Chapter 62 - 62 61 Good News (Part 2) ?62: Chapter 61 Good News (Part 2) 62: Chapter 61 Good News (Part 2) Afternoon. The devil¡¯s ivy in the office looked a bit wilted. Its leaves lay limp on the surface of the water, only the tips of its roots perked up, as if the tender body were enticingly lifting its buttocks, somewhat provocative. In the corner of the windowsill, the feather duster stood diagonally, its bristles bright and erect, as though wielding some authoritative power, exuding a proud air. Wu Jun answered a phone call, then beckoned to Jiang Yuan, ¡°The person scheduled for an injury assessment has arrived, let¡¯s go together.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan quickly agreed, picking up his cap and getting up. Watching Jiang Yuan obediently put on his police cap, Wu Jun gave a slight nod of approval. His trainee was not only skilled but also of good character, respected the rules, and was comfortable to work with. Wu Jun intended to mentor him closely. Injury assessment is the most routine work for a forensic doctor, especially in smaller towns where there are very few homicides a year and even fewer abnormal deaths. Most cases involve injuries. Moreover, with the deepening of public awareness, people now understand that if they are injured, they can lie on the ground and choose a car to take them away, and if the injury is serious enough that they can¡¯t use their phone, they can let someone nearby help them choose a hospital. The socialite from earlier years who would briskly wipe off the blood and continue to drink and eat skewers has long since disappeared from sight. However, injury assessments can be conducted either in the town or at a judicial appraisal office in the city, which helps distribute the workload so it isn¡¯t too heavy. When Jiang Yuan first joined the job, he encountered the body of Seventeenth Uncle and later showed his expertise in fingerprint analysis, which meant he had less experience with injury assessments. Compared to forensic pathology¡¯s corpse dissection, Forensic Clinical Medicine is relatively less challenging. If during exams Forensic Clinical Medicine presents troubles due to its broad scope, once at work, everything is manageable¡ªif you forget something, just turn to a book or search Baidu. Those coming in for an injury assessment often lack the ability to hover over the forensic doctor¡¯s shoulder, asking what he¡¯s doing. ¡°If you encounter any problems later, talk to me privately. Don¡¯t discuss anything in front of the injured party or their family, especially judgment on the level of injury. Don¡¯t express your opinion,¡± Wu Jun instructed Jiang Yuan as they walked, explaining, ¡°The focus of an injury assessment is the individual, which can easily lead to disputes.¡± ¡°Understood, Master.¡± Wu Jun nodded and continued teaching, ¡°Minor injuries do not bear criminal responsibility, and the associated civil compensation is not of the same magnitude as for light injuries. The essence between second-degree light injury and first-degree light injury isn¡¯t significant, but when it comes to sentencing, second-degree might end up with a year and a half of imprisonment, while first-degree could go up to three years. Both plaintiffs and defendants keep a keen eye on this report, which is the most critical thing to be careful about.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded again. Wu Jun smiled and then led Jiang Yuan downstairs to the injury assessment room. The injury assessment room of the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron was located in an annex building about half the size of a classroom. It was divided into two rooms, each with a door plate; the inner room was the examination room, and the outer room was the reception area. The examination room had only one bed, a chair, and a movable screen. The outer room was equipped with a normal desk and chair, along with a computer, printer, etc. The overall design of the injury assessment room was in shades of blue and white, which if described, slightly resembled the infirmary from a Japanese movie -_-||. Wu Jun sat down in the reception area, booted up the computer, and asked Jiang Yuan to hand out several forms for the injured party and their family to fill out. After a while, once the signatures were completed, Wu Jun led them into the examination room and had the injured man sit on the bed. The injured man looked to be in his thirties, maybe forties; it was hard to determine his age since he was alive. His gaze was dull as he stared at the door, only lifting his eyelids when he saw Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan enter. ¡°Please sit,¡± Wu Jun said calmly, similar to when he dissected bodies. He took out a pair of gloves and quietly put them on, then asked, ¡°Where is the injury?¡± ¡°Almost had my son¡¯s head cracked open,¡± the injured man¡¯s mother lamented emotionally, ¡°My son is a programmer, I asked him to resign and come back home, isn¡¯t this helping build our hometown? Then there was this traffic accident, and he got beaten...¡± ¡°Where exactly was he hit?¡± Wu Jun asked, focusing on the facts. ¡°Right on the head, look here, it¡¯s been stitched already. When he was first injured, it was all torn flesh and blood...¡± The injured man¡¯s mother stepped forward, took off her son¡¯s cap, and a scar from the stitches appeared at the top of his forehead. ¡°Two centimeters by three centimeters, roughly 6 square centimeters, and concerning the location...¡± Wu Jun eyed the injured man¡¯s hairline and suddenly lapsed into thought. After a brief reflection, Jiang Yuan understood why Wu Jun was contemplative. For Forensic Clinical Medicine assessments, the head and face aren¡¯t the same location¡ªthey are divided into head and facial injuries. A facial wound reaching 4.5 square centimeters meets the criteria for second-degree light injury, while a head wound must be at least 8 square centimeters to meet that criterion. For most people, distinguishing between the head and face is quite simple: inside the hairline is considered the head, and outside the hairline is the face. Now, a programmer with a receding hairline, with an injury of 6 square centimeters above the brow ridge by about a finger¡¯s width, should it be classified as a second-degree light injury or as a minor injury? At that moment, Wu Jun took out a ruler again and began measuring the distance from the injured man¡¯s eyebrow line to the base of his nose. Jiang Yuan silently agreed, indeed, in this situation, one must consider him as bald. And for a bald person, the hairline is determined by the distance from the base of the nose to the eyebrow line¡ªif it¡¯s 8 centimeters, then the position of the hairline is 8 centimeters above the eyebrow line. Jiang Yuan watched as the injury on the programmer was classified within the effective area of the face. Second-degree light injury locked in! The corners of Jiang Yuan¡¯s mouth twitched involuntarily as he observed that the programmer¡¯s forehead seemed unusually narrow. The truth is, an equal division of the facial thirds, including the upper, middle, and lower thirds¡ªfrom the hairline to the eyebrow line, from the eyebrow line to the base of the nose, and from there to the chin¡ªis a standard of facial aesthetics. The length of these thirds for most people will slightly deviate. The programmer in question had a naturally shorter upper third compared to the middle third. But because of the receded hairline, when undergoing the injury assessment, he seemed to have gained an advantage. Had it been someone with the same facial structure but thick hair and no receded hairline, the injury would only be considered a head injury and would be classified as a minor injury. A misfortune may turn into a blessing! This might be considered good news for him. Chapter 63 - 63 62 - Since Were Here Already ?63: Chapter 62 ¨C Since We¡¯re Here Already 63: Chapter 62 ¨C Since We¡¯re Here Already ¡°Minor injury, second degree.¡± The conclusion given by Wu Jun matched exactly with what Jiang Yuan had guessed. This was a very direct judgment. It didn¡¯t matter where the hairline used to be, because now, you couldn¡¯t find it anymore. Since it was gone, you could only base it on the standard three levels¡ªshaving the head was useless; the hairline still existed. ¡°Come back for the report later. It won¡¯t be ready today.¡± Wu Jun pointed outside the window and said, ¡°Come directly here tomorrow and just call the number on the wall.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± the patient responded. The patient¡¯s mother still seemed somewhat unconvinced and asked, ¡°A minor injury first degree is more severe than a minor injury second degree, right? Can it be assessed as a minor injury first degree?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be done.¡± Wu Jun pointed to the injury and said, ¡°It just meets the standard for a minor injury, second degree. If you think it¡¯s not appropriate, go to the city and get another assessment.¡± ¡°His head was cracked open; you didn¡¯t see it at the time¡ªblood was everywhere.¡± The patient¡¯s mother said while pulling out her phone, thinking of showing Wu Jun the video and photos. In the standards for injury assessment, we mainly look at the area and degree of the injury; the amount of blood isn¡¯t considered. Additionally, in court, the difference between minor injury first and second degrees isn¡¯t that big; it still depends on the circumstances. These videos and photos would be more useful if shown to the police officers handling the case, or to the prosecutors, rather than us,¡± Wu Jun said persuasively as he ushered the people out. After the people had left, Wu Jun let out a sigh of relief, turned to Jiang Yuan who had been silent and said, ¡°You see, I could be a bit tougher in attitude, but the tone still has to be gentle. When it comes to injury assessment, it¡¯s a big deal for ordinary families, many of whom are anxious and agitated.¡± Jiang Yuan responded understandingly, ¡°Those who come for injury assessments are involved in ongoing cases, many of which are probably full of rage looking for an outlet.¡± ¡°Exactly, that¡¯s the thing,¡± Wu Jun slapped his thigh and said, ¡°As forensic doctors, we can afford to be tough during autopsies, but when it comes to injury assessments, we have to have an understanding of human sentiments.¡± Jiang Yuan laughed upon hearing this and said, ¡°So, the doctor-patient relationship in forensics isn¡¯t simple either.¡± ¡°Those who purely do pathology have it simpler, but in our small county, we don¡¯t have the conditions for that,¡± Wu Jun said, knocking on the table twice, ¡°Moreover, the people we meet doing injury assessments are far more complicated than the patients doctors meet. You see, a patient might threaten to hit a doctor, but those we assess for injuries have just been in fights.¡± ¡°Or they might have been the ones beaten,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked. ¡°At least they become braver and, with some knowledge in Forensic Clinical Medicine, they know where to hit you.¡± Jiang Yuan was speechless at first but then thought it over and realized that Wu Jun was right. Wu Jun sat down in front of the computer to fill out some forms while also calling Jiang Yuan over to watch. Nowadays, injury assessment reports are printed out from computers and then stamped. In a few empty fields, Wu Jun entered the patient¡¯s name, age, ID number, and other information. Finally, in the box for assessment opinion, he wrote, ¡°Based on the above, the injury of the assessed person Li Bingshou is classified as a minor injury of second degree.¡± As the printer buzzed to life, the first half of the injury assessment process was considered complete. Having finished his contemplation, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°So, where should one hit?¡± ¡°What?¡± Wu Jun, being older, couldn¡¯t keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought. ¡°So, during a fight, where should one hit to have the upper hand in an injury assessment?¡± Jiang Yuan summarized the question. Without much thought, Wu Jun said, ¡°The fleshy areas, of course¡ªlike the belly, the butt, that sort of place.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that just like fighting with a child?¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. ¡°Normal people wouldn¡¯t fight like that.¡± ¡°Well... if you want to differentiate from children,¡± Wu Jun pondered seriously for a moment and then said, ¡°Then you find a way to control the other person¡¯s body. You could use one arm to trap the other person between your thigh and your elbow, and then hit their butt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still a child¡¯s move... oh...¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly realized what Wu Jun meant and couldn¡¯t help but give him a thumbs-up. Thump, thump, thump! A police officer led someone in and greeted, ¡°Doctor Wu, someone is here for an injury assessment.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Wu Jun, who was about to leave, had to sit back down and let the person enter. ¡°Said it was a traffic accident, you guys check it out, I¡¯m heading back.¡± The police officer waved his hand and turned to leave. A man in his fifties or sixties entered, looked left and right, then bracing himself on the table, said, ¡°I got hit by someone, and they won¡¯t pay up, is that why I come to you?¡± ¡°We only do injury assessments, which is to determine the extent of your injuries. Please fill out your information first.¡± Wu Jun gave a brief explanation. The man grumbled as he filled out the forms, groaning and moaning, ¡°I got hit by a car, I¡¯m so dizzy, and my head hurts, I can¡¯t even sleep at night because of the pain.¡± ¡°Your head, huh. Which part, let me see.¡± Wu Jun waited for him to finish the paperwork and put on his gloves before standing up. ¡°Right here. Just here.¡± The man used his finger to point at a spot on his forehead. ¡°Alright, sit still.¡± Wu Jun held his head, turned it left and right to inspect it, and then pressed down, saying, ¡°There¡¯s no external injury, no swelling...¡± The man stood up with a ¡°huff¡± and said, ¡°How can there be no injury when a big car hit me directly? How can I not be hurt? It hurts so much at night that I can¡¯t sleep.¡± ¡°We forensic doctors do injury assessments based on objective injuries, like external injuries for instance. You¡¯re saying you have a headache, or dizziness, that¡¯s all subjective feelings, which can¡¯t be used to assess injuries.¡± Wu Jun explained politely. The man frowned and said, ¡°So it doesn¡¯t count unless there¡¯s a cut, right?¡± ¡°Something like that,¡± Wu Jun replied, seeing that the man was getting a bit agitated, so he stood up and said, ¡°Let me check your eardrum to see if there¡¯s any issue.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The man quickly sat up straight. Wu Jun took an auriscope and bent down to examine the man¡¯s ear canal. ¡°The eardrum is intact, not injured,¡± Wu Jun stated truthfully. The man stared at Wu Jun, furrowed his brow, huffed, and walked out the door. Seeing this, Wu Jun was a bit worried, pulled Jiang Yuan along, and followed behind at a distance. They had only walked a few dozen steps, still within the range of the outbuilding, when they saw the man take a few quick steps, then hurl himself at the wall with a ¡°thump.¡± With a loud bang, the man braced himself against the wall, then deliberately hit his forehead against it three more times; blood gushed from his forehead. After those blows, which made the man¡¯s head reel, Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun were also left dizzy and gobsmacked, unable to react in time. ¡°Want external injuries? External injuries are easy to get!¡± the man muttered to himself, staggering toward the direction of the injury assessment room. He trudged along with his head lowered, covering his forehead with one hand, his steps unsteady, his emotions running high. Walking past Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun, who were rooted to the spot, he even reached out and tousled one of them. ¡°That...¡± Wu Jun grabbed his hand but didn¡¯t know what to say. As the two men locked eyes, Wu Jun¡¯s gaze was full of astonishment, while the other man¡¯s expression kept changing. Everyone was a bit embarrassed. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m heading back,¡± said the man who had just busted his forehead but ultimately shouldered it all. Just returned from Changyang City and suspecting his mind was at its peak, Jiang Yuan suddenly grabbed the man¡¯s other hand, eagerly saying, ¡°Since you¡¯re here, let¡¯s do a tox screen before you go back.¡± Chapter 64 - 64 63 Peaceful Years ?64: Chapter 63 Peaceful Years 64: Chapter 63 Peaceful Years Hearing that a drug test was to be performed, the man who had just gashed his forehead suddenly paled and said in a panic, ¡°I won¡¯t do it, I won¡¯t do it. I won¡¯t do the injury assessment either.¡± Old detective Doctor Wu originally thought it was just something Jiang Yuan said offhand, but the man¡¯s reaction was unexpectedly strange. ¡°You don¡¯t want to give me an injury assessment? You¡¯re also framing me for drug use? Aren¡¯t you afraid I will sue you?¡± the man said, attempting to break free and run out. ¡°You¡¯ve split your head open, don¡¯t you want to bandage it up?¡± Wu Jun didn¡¯t confront him head-on, speaking with a smile and making a sign with his hands. As a result, the man became even more panicked and bolted towards the door. Just like a fish rushing into a net, he ran straight into the arms of a group of police officers at the doorway. This was the office area of the detective squad. As Doctor Wu raised his voice and gestured, the detectives who saw him immediately set aside their tasks and encircled like a net. The man¡¯s forehead was engorged with blood and he became even more agitated: ¡°I don¡¯t want a forensic doctor to bandage me. Let me go, I¡¯ll get an assessment somewhere else.¡± However, all he could do at that point was to struggle in the embrace of the detectives. Like a shrimp grasped by crab pincers. Doctor Wu hadn¡¯t expected this turn of events but watched Jiang Yuan with a mild gaze. The man¡¯s emotions were clearly off, as he began to resist again: ¡°I won¡¯t do it, won¡¯t do it. I have the freedom not to.¡± ¡°Stop moving. Keep it up and I¡¯ll slap a handcuff on you.¡± The detectives weren¡¯t as gentle as Doctor Wu, their voices rougher. The injured man couldn¡¯t break free no matter how much he struggled, his strength waning. He sighed deeply and simply sat down on the floor, defiantly saying, ¡°I came here to have my injuries examined after being hit by a car. You must all be in this together... this is injustice, injustice...¡± ¡°Move him into the room. I¡¯ll call Captain Lu.¡± Wu Jun, with his extensive experience, knew that the more a person made a scene, the more likely they were hiding something. Jiang Yuan followed the other two detectives, helping to carry the man to the injury assessment room. Not long after, the leader of the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron, Lu Jianfeng, rushed over excitedly. When Lu Jianfeng started his career, it was at the height of the new drug boom. He established Ningtai County¡¯s drug testing laboratory and played a significant role in bringing down several drug traffickers. But ultimately, Ningtai County was just a small town with limited consumption power. After the peak period of new drugs had passed and a few rounds of intensive screening were conducted, the drug testing laboratory had less and less business. Lu Jianfeng, the squadron leader, almost became a community anti-drug ambassador. Finding it difficult to come across a suspected drug user, Lu Jianfeng hurried over with a large box. Nodding to Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan from his squad, he enthusiastically took out an assortment of variously packaged rapid test kits. Then, Lu Jianfeng picked out a square kit among the many rapid test kits, with an earnest look that resembled a regular at a hotel who hadn¡¯t been there in weeks. ¡°Let¡¯s start with a simple one, these are pretty straightforward,¡± Lu Jianfeng said as he tore off the square box¡¯s wrapper. On it, three sets of words read ¡°Positive,¡± ¡°Negative,¡± and ¡°Invalid,¡± each corresponding with a tic-tac-toe-like pattern of squares. Below that were rows of small text labeling: ¡°Morphine,¡± ¡°Methamphetamine,¡± ¡°Ecstasy,¡± ¡°Ketamine,¡± ¡°Cannabis.¡± Lu Jianfeng, smiling, said, ¡°Just need a urine sample and we can begin. If not, we¡¯ll test hair, and if you dispute it, we can test a blood sample...¡± ¡°I really haven¡¯t taken drugs.¡± The man with the gashed forehead became increasingly anxious and angry, exclaiming, ¡°I just wanted to scam some money, is this necessary? Really necessary?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s have it then,¡± Lu Jianfeng laughed, clearly enjoying himself. Considering the man was babbling but had no smell of alcohol on his breath, it suggested Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment was likely accurate. In no time, Lu Jianfeng merrily began to test the urine, akin to how a pregnancy test is conducted. The injured man, sweaty hands clenched, sat on the chair refusing to speak. It didn¡¯t take long for the results to appear. ¡°Methamphetamine, huh,¡± Lu Jianfeng sighed. ¡°You¡¯re a bit unoriginal. To still be using meth now, and without even a single friend to join you.¡± ¡°You... you tested wrong...¡± The injured man looked as if he would never lie down in a coffin even if he saw one. Lu Jianfeng didn¡¯t mind and said, ¡°If the test is wrong, then just test it again. If that doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll draw blood. I think you¡¯re hallucinating, man. You got high and came to the police station to swindle us?¡± ¡°I¡¯m out of money.¡± The man with the broken forehead wasn¡¯t very convinced. ¡°Ran out of money and came to the police station, huh, this isn¡¯t the first time we¡¯ve come across this.¡± A detective next to him chuckled: ¡°So this is ours now? Come on, let¡¯s move to another spot.¡± This officer was from the third squadron, and at the moment, he seemed to have hit the jackpot, warmly taking the arm of the man with the broken forehead, and giving Wu Jun a series of thanks. Doctor Wu said, ¡°It was Jiang Yuan who noticed it. The kid has a sharp eye, otherwise, he might have gotten away.¡± The officer thanked Jiang Yuan as well: ¡°Doctor Jiang is amazing. Thanks a lot.¡± Catching a drug user now was an incredibly fortuitous event, and everyone felt boundless joy. Jiang Yuan courteously smiled, like a newcomer to the professional world. After he returned to the office in the evening glow, he stuffed a pack of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes from his drawer into his master¡¯s hands. ... After work, Jiang Yuan rode his little electric scooter home. Following the river, the shadows of the trees retreated, the evening breeze caressed his face, and the passing time was beautifully serene. It wasn¡¯t until he reached Jiangcun Residential Area and got close to the local convenience store that the mix of greetings and curious noisy voices forced him to stop. ¡°I was out on a trip,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t disclose the specifics to everyone, so he explained it this way. ¡°You have to travel for your job as a forensic doctor?¡± Auntie Thirteen shouted from her shop: ¡°Is it someone from our county who died somewhere else?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not exactly like that,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, and then pondered to himself: to his own surprise, Auntie Thirteen¡¯s guess was somewhat accurate. Uncle Six¡¯s wife then said, ¡°How many days has it been since Jiang Yuan has been home? A long trip, was it?¡± She was from his grandfather¡¯s generation, and Jiang Yuan stopped and said, ¡°About two weeks.¡± ¡°Then you dissect one body a day, that¡¯s over a dozen people dead in these two weeks?¡± Uncle Six¡¯s wife exclaimed, ¡°No wonder you¡¯ve been so busy.¡± ¡°There haven¡¯t been that many deaths,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a laugh. ¡°Then why haven¡¯t you been home for so many days?¡± Uncle Six¡¯s wife frowned. Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice got softer, ¡°Yes, it has been pretty busy.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a forensic doctor, isn¡¯t it all about dissecting bodies?¡± Uncle Six¡¯s wife continued to inquire, with people around her nodding in agreement. Jiang Yuan was caught off guard and said, ¡°It¡¯s not just about dissecting bodies.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you finish Uncle Seventeen¡¯s body in one day? In over ten days, don¡¯t you have to handle over a dozen bodies?¡± Uncle Six¡¯s wife easily completed the logical loop, tapping on the door of the convenience store with a knowing look. The crowd gathered around Uncle Six¡¯s wife and began wildly speculating: ¡°A couple rented my house a few days ago, agreed on everything, and then vanished, not answering calls. Who knows if they¡¯re dead.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, the other day I went to the market, and an old lady who sold fruit had it all rotten. When I went back, she was gone, don¡¯t know if she¡¯s dead too.¡± ¡°My husband went out to play cards yesterday and hasn¡¯t come home yet, also don¡¯t know if he¡¯s dead.¡± Taking advantage of the heated conversation among the crowd, Jiang Yuan continued pedaling his little electric scooter. Looking at the building of his home from a distance, he felt a warm familiarity. Chapter 65 - 65 64 Fireworks ?65: Chapter 64 Fireworks 65: Chapter 64 Fireworks Returning home, what hit me was still the steaming scent of lively bustling activities. Upon close consideration, it was indeed the smell of life and warmth. Old man Jiang Fuzhen was grilling on the terrace with several others. The door between the living room and the terrace was left open, allowing the charcoal, the grilled meat, and the seafood aromas to pour into my nostrils. ¡°How lively. Uncle Four, Auntie Five... Mrs. Hua, Aunt Liu...¡± Jiang Yuan greeted each of them, changed shoes, and made his way to the terrace. ¡°You just said you¡¯d be back, but didn¡¯t know when, so for dinner, I just made barbecue, fresh whenever you walk in. Have a bowl of sheep soup first,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said it was for dinner but beside the barbecue, there was still a pot of sheep soup simmering with bone-in cuts from which the meat had been picked off, crack open at the center¡ªfew seasonings were added yet, the froth was skimmed off as pristine as always, making the sheep soup clear to the bottom, which might fool someone into thinking it wasn¡¯t thick enough. In the sheep soup, Jiang Fuzhen also put a couple of small rib sections, unlike other cuts, the clean bones with ribs kept some chewiness even after prolonged cooking, feeling tender when bitten into yet requiring a bit of jaw work. Jiang Yuan, with a warm bowl of sheep soup in hand, sat down smilingly beside the grill, took a few sips of soup, and a bite of meat, and then listened to everyone bragging. Mom left early, and I had been living with dad ever since; the most perfect afternoon was to cook a pot of sheep soup and talk around the stove with the people from Jiang Village. Back then, the sheep soup was simply broth made from bones, and the rare piece of scrap meat would be put in my bowl by dad. And, no matter what our living conditions were, we were always thrilled if anyone didn¡¯t disdain our sheep soup and was willing to come to our house for a drink. The bragging noises of the people were the best way to disperse loneliness and desolation. Having finished a bowl of sheep soup, the pent-up malice, anger, confusion, and doubts in Jiang Yuan¡¯s heart seemed to have been whisked away with the wind. ¡°Here, have a skewer.¡± Uncle Three enthusiastically stuffed three skewers of meat into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. ¡°Thanks, Uncle Three.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled back. A dog, following Uncle Three¡¯s hand, came up to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, sniffing his hand and clothes with curiosity. The dogs raised by Jiang Village People were mixed breeds, with purebreds among them, but the majority were mutts. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t like the look of purebreds, but they couldn¡¯t control the purebreds¡¯ nocturnal and diurnal activities, so that even the best-bred dogs would, after some time, still produce mutts. Over time, the Jiang Village People gave up the pursuit of dog breeds and started to develop their own sense of aesthetics. For instance, this dog right here, the body shape of a Papillon with a hint of Pomeranian, and possibly even some Shih Tzu genetic mix. Looking at its head, it seemed to have some local mongrel in it too. Jiang Yuan casually stroked the dog¡¯s head, which had fur softer than a Rottweiler¡¯s, but its head wasn¡¯t as bald as a Rottweiler¡¯s. The dog stretched its neck, sniffing desperately at the scent on Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm. ¡°You¡¯ve got quite a nose there, I¡¯ll make you some food in a bit,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he patted the dog¡¯s forehead, planning to review LV5 dog food recipes again. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, Jiang Fuzhen swallowed the meat in his mouth and said, ¡°If you¡¯re cooking, make something for everyone; there are so many of us, it¡¯s better to have a meal together.¡± ¡°I was thinking of making something just for the dog,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a wry smile. Jiang Fuzhen calmly replied, ¡°What humans eat, dogs can eat, your Uncle Three¡¯s dog isn¡¯t picky.¡± Jiang Yuan explained, ¡°I¡¯m planning to make dog food, prepared according to a dog¡¯s dietary needs.¡± ¡°Dogs eat what people eat. We¡¯re not picky eaters,¡± Jiang Fuzhen continued, tossing a bone under the table. The Papomshi dog whimpered as it took the bone, sniffing Jiang Yuan¡¯s sleeve and nibbling at the bone with an excited demeanor. Everyone nodded in agreement. What else could Jiang Yuan say? To argue further would just be laziness. However, the information contained in LV5 cooking [dog] skills was very comprehensive, and there was a wide variety of dog food recipes. Following the ingredients available in the fridge, Jiang Yuan chose a type that was harmless to both humans and animals and started cooking in the large pot at home. Turns out, the large iron pot picked by the old man, which could cook a whole sheep in the city, was also ample enough to cook food for 10 pigs in the countryside. It was perfect for large-scale cooking. Small amounts of diced beef, small cuts of mutton, and plenty of vegetables were washed and set aside, each ingredient treated separately and stir-fried individually. As it was dog food, only a few seasonings were used. Nevertheless, when it was nearly time to serve, Jiang Yuan borrowed a technique left by Great-Uncle Seventeen and added salt, pepper, and other seasonings to the portion meant for the people... Aside from the Papomshi¡¯s meal, the rest of the food, prepared in a mix-and-match style, was served in dishes. Everything was ready, and as Jiang Yuan turned around with the food, he saw several people already standing at the kitchen door. ¡°Smells amazing,¡± Uncle Three said, holding the dog and licking his lips as he stared at the food in the dish. Mrs. Hua also nodded her head, ¡°The food that Jiang Yuan made smells delicious, it looks great, diverse too. Youngsters nowadays, they really know a lot.¡± Jiang Yuan, with a smile, made room for others, and said, ¡°Whether it¡¯s tasty or not, you¡¯ll know once you¡¯ve tried it. One serving per person, let¡¯s serve ourselves, the outermost one is for the dog.¡± ¡°This little bugger is getting a treat today,¡± Uncle Three said playfully as he nudged the Papomshi while showing an extremely happy attitude. He was older than Jiang Fuzhen and stayed busy collecting rent, going from downstairs to upstairs, from one residential area to another with the Papomshi by his side. Even when going out for a barbecue, he took the dog with him, showing their true bond. Placing the dog¡¯s food on the ground, the Papomshi, sniffing the aroma, was already getting excited. Unlike Dazhuang, who had years of training and a trainer¡¯s restraint, it couldn¡¯t wait any longer and started jumping up and down while barking happily. Worried about disturbing others, Uncle Three hurriedly shouted, ¡°Stop barking, or you won¡¯t get any!¡± The Papomshi protested with two ¡°woofs,¡± its bright eyes wide like saucers. Jiang Fuzhen chuckled and said, ¡°Let it bark if it wants to; the basement is just full of knick-knacks, and the sound won¡¯t carry far.¡± Uncle Three finally moved his foot, allowing the Rottweiler to eat. The half-arm-length dog seemed desperate to stuff itself into the food bowl. Inside the room, only the ¡®huff huff¡¯ sounds of eating remained, and the barking ceased. A few people watched the dog and couldn¡¯t help but laugh. They each took a stack of food and began eating in the dining room. In the blink of an eye, within the room, only the ¡®huff huff¡¯ sounds of eating remained, and the talking ceased. The group ate with such immersion, as if competing with the Rottweiler in a race. Jiang Yuan himself found the taste extremely good. The meat and vegetable rice contained a variety of ingredients, each processed and maintaining their original flavors. Just this alone was something you¡¯d find in very high-end restaurants. Moreover, the combination and preparation of the ingredients were meticulously crafted, and during the cooking process, the flavors were further enhanced... ¡°The rice Jiang Yuan cooked today could be served in a restaurant,¡± Mrs. Hua, to everyone¡¯s surprise, was the first to finish. With a slap of her basin, she wiped her mouth and said, ¡°It tastes much better than the Michelin-starred restaurants I visited abroad.¡± ¡°Honestly, that carrot, we buy the exact same ones at home, yet the flavor here is different.¡± ¡°The meat was cooked just right too, not too soft and not too firm, perfect.¡± ¡°Probably fits the dog¡¯s bite just right...¡± When everyone had their fill, more than half of the food in the pot was left. ¡°There¡¯s so much left, what should we do?¡± Mrs. Hua looked at the leftover food, her expression one of worry. ¡°I remember there are stray dogs at the back door, we can give the leftovers to them.¡± Jiang Yuan had intentionally cooked extra, planning to feed the stray dogs. It was clearly stated in Chen Manli¡¯s legacy that her cooking skills were meant for stray dogs. Jiang Yuan indeed didn¡¯t have to follow it exactly, but he felt it was something he could do when he had the opportunity. Mrs. Hua, however, was somewhat reluctant, saying, ¡°Why prepare it for stray dogs? Stray dogs eat from the trash anyway. Just divide it among the villagers, and it¡¯ll be gone.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t just give it away to everyone just because we have leftovers at home,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°Otherwise, you all can take some back, and I¡¯ll give the rest to the stray dogs.¡± Though he said this, Jiang Yuan first set aside a large portion of the dog food, keeping it for the stray dogs. Without hesitation, the remaining food was promptly divided up by Mrs. Hua and others. Afterward, everyone helped clean up the kitchen and the balcony. They also placed pots, pans, ladles, and bowls into the massive dishwasher before departing one after another. Only the Rottweiler continued to follow the packed boxes of people, but when its owner was about to leave with it, the Rottweiler suddenly barked twice and turned to run. Uncle Three, taken aback, called out, ¡°Iron Hammer, we¡¯re going home, where are you running to?¡± The Rottweiler, upon hearing this, only ran faster. Uncle Three smiled awkwardly, twisting his aging waist, and chased after the dog. Fortunately, the houses in Fuzhen were large but fairly square, so it didn¡¯t take long for Uncle Three to corner the dog. ¡°Woof. Woof woof!¡± Iron Hammer growled and bared its teeth. Smack! Seeing it bear its teeth, Uncle Three slapped it hard. In the countryside, people didn¡¯t have many niceties when raising dogs¡ªa dog that dared to bare its teeth got a good beating. The Rottweiler looked cute and was usually quite favored, but knowing its name was Iron Hammer, it naturally knew the power of its owner¡¯s iron fist. Memories flooding back, it immediately curled up. ¡°That¡¯s what I thought, we¡¯re going home.¡± Uncle Three picked up the dog and then waved goodbye to the people of Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan. Iron Hammer perched on Uncle Three¡¯s shoulder, the big eyes of the Kazalan breed seemingly shedding real tears. ¡°Woof, woof, woof.¡± Iron Hammer desperately barked at Jiang Yuan. Its voice could still be heard even as the elevator door closed. Jiang Yuan cleaned up and, carrying the remainder of the dog food, went to the back door. There were three stray dogs that passed by, eating leftovers from who knows whom at the back door. Jiang Yuan placed the food he had made a little further away and quickly left. Watching from a distance as the three stray dogs hesitated, Jiang Yuan inexplicably felt a hint of Chen Manli¡¯s emotions. After returning home, Jiang Yuan went to his desk, took out his notebook, and quietly turned to the latest page. He had a habit of recording significant transactions. In earlier years, when his family had debts and sometimes had to buy on credit, Jiang Yuan was worried his father might forget someone¡¯s account, so he kept his own records. This habit continued to the present, and when Jiang Yuan had free time or felt restless, he actually liked to look at the account book. Turning the pen in his fingers, he thought for a moment, then Jiang Yuan wrote down a line on the newest page: Received my first travel allowance in life, 180 yuan per day, for 13 days, amounting to 2340 yuan. Also, received support from my father, 20000 yuan. Total amount of 22340 yuan. Chapter 66 - 66 65 Commendation ?66: Chapter 65: Commendation 66: Chapter 65: Commendation Monday. Upon arriving at the office, Jiang Yuan could see Wu Jun wielding a feather duster, cleaning the place. Bowing his head, he unlocked his phone to check the ancient almanac; indeed, today was auspicious for ¡°offering sacrifices, traveling, and cleaning the house.¡± Jiang Yuan felt that at this rate, by checking the ancient almanac every day, he would know Wu Jun¡¯s movements. Of course, even knowing what Wu Jun was up to was of no use after all. ¡°Master, let me help you,¡± Jiang Yuan offered proactively, ready to work. Wu Jun uttered an ¡°aiyo¡± as he hopped off the chair, waved his hand, and said, ¡°I can do my own work; you don¡¯t need to busy yourself. If you have spare time, you should read some books. You¡¯re so good with fingerprints and can handle crime scene investigations, but you¡¯re still not familiar with our main business. If it gets out, people might think I¡¯m holding you back.¡± Jiang Yuan laughed and said, ¡°Fingerprints and crime scene investigations can be self-taught. Autopsies and the like aren¡¯t something I can just find opportunities for.¡± ¡°You have a point. When I first started working, there were a lot of bodies. In our Tai River, bodies would often float down from upstream, hard to tell whether they were accidental falls, suicides, or murders. Back then, resources were scarce, and counties along the river would squabble endlessly...¡± Wu Jun said, a nostalgic look on his face as his grip on the feather duster relaxed. Jiang Yuan sat at his desk, pressed the power button on his computer, and contentedly waited for it to boot up. These past few days, he hadn¡¯t had many tasks, mostly writing reports. Fortunately, with Wang Zhong¡¯s help in daily tasks, it wasn¡¯t too challenging. Wu Jun also made a cup of tea, kicked back leisurely, and quietly contemplated the relationships between people and the world, society, and the ancient almanac. Just as the office atmosphere had shifted to a relaxed state, a person walked in, interrupting Wu Jun¡¯s contemplations. ¡°Old Wu, Jiang Yuan,¡± the squadron leader, Huang Qiangmin, stepped inside, beaming with a smile. ¡°Captain Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both stood up. ¡°Good news.¡± Huang Qiangmin emphasized his joyful demeanor before turning to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Your team¡¯s investigation into the Ding Lan case has been remarkable, and everyone is actively applying for rewards. Here at the Ningtai County Bureau, Wei Zhenguo is getting a third-class merit, and you are receiving a commendation.¡± He kept it simple, not mentioning the Provincial Department or the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, merely announcing the commendations for Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was momentarily stunned before quickly expressing his thanks, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to receive a commendation.¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile stayed fixed at a warm 55.5 degrees as he regarded Jiang Yuan. A commendation is the lowest level of formal recognition within the police system, but it is still not easy to come by. Ordinary detectives might take many years to receive one, which is often the result of accumulation over time. Every step in a case, from responding to reports to sentencing¡ªwhether finding clues, collecting evidence, deducing investigative directions, making arrests, interrogating, or conducting additional investigations¡ªrequires teamwork and a step-by-step process from the police officers. Some know exactly who deserves credit for what, and which steps were particularly praiseworthy, while others may feign ignorance. Seeing that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t trying to claim undue credit or quibble over merits, Huang Qiangmin held him in even higher regard and said with a smile, ¡°Whether a commendation or a third-class merit, for us right now, the impact is almost the same. The most important thing is to receive it. Once you get it once, there can be a second time, and next time, you might have another opportunity...¡± After leaving that possibility open, Huang Qiangmin called for Lu Jianfeng, the head of the criminal investigative squad, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s have a ceremony together. Make it formal.¡± Lu Jianfeng cheerfully agreed and continued to summon people to help. In no time, the small meeting room was adorned with banners, artificial flowers arranged, and the photographer stationed with a large camera. Shortly after, Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan, both neatly dressed, arrived in turn. All three donned their dress uniforms, the rarely used formal police attire. Compared to the more commonly seen service uniform, the dress uniform for men featured a sash over the right chest, giving a sharp and proper appearance. Even Wei Zhenguo, with the enhancement of the formal attire, seemed less out of place when he smiled. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s nice,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he straightened the buttons on Jiang Yuan¡¯s neck and patted Wei Zhenguo on the shoulder, adding, ¡°This time, you took initiative and uncovered key clues and evidence, caught the criminal suspect, and found where the murderer hid the body. It¡¯s truly rare. Just wait a moment; the chief will be here soon, and we¡¯ll all take a group photo...¡± The ceremony for the award of the third-class merit and commendation took place in the small meeting room. The police system, unlike the military, doesn¡¯t excessively indulge in fanfare or elaborate ceremonies. If there¡¯s a chance occurrence like a major conference or a motivating assembly, typically, they¡¯ll schedule the awards then. Most of the time, for awards like third-class merit or commendation, gathering just a small group counts as a celebration. Huang Qiangmin took out the red leather-bound certificates from his briefcase, handed them to the chief, who then passed them to Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan, respectively. Third-class merit came with both a medal and a certificate, while a commendation only included a certificate, not a medal. Jiang Yuan opened his certificate to find his name, ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± clearly written, with ¡°Personal Commendation¡± inscribed as the award level, and a large red seal stamped on the right side. At the same time, a semi-transparent system interface popped up before Jiang Yuan: Reward: Personal Commendation Reward Details: One optional reward (upgradable) Taking advantage of the time when everyone was following the procedure for the photo shoot, Jiang Yuan clicked to see the ¡°optional reward.¡± At that moment, a list of options appeared: Criminal Image Technology (Level 2) Document Inspection Technology (Level 2) Trace Inspection Technology (Level 2) Biological Evidence Inspection Technology (Level 2) Audio-Visual Material Inspection Technology (Level 2) Electronic Data Inspection Technology (Level 2) Lie Detection Technology (Level 2) Toxin Inspection Technology (Level 2) ... Jiang Yuan looked at the long list and first curiously opened Lie Detection Technology (Level 2). At that moment, a new row of options appeared: GKT (Guilty Knowledge Test) (Level 3) CQT (Control Question Test) (Level 3) POT (Peak of Tension Test) (Level 3) R/IR (Relevant/Irrelevant Question Test) (Level 3) Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but almost clicked on one. Lie detection, when you talk about it, is really cool. It just doesn¡¯t seem very useful at the county bureau. He thought about how these lie detection techniques still needed to be paired with corresponding polygraphs, and the supporting technology wasn¡¯t very accurate, not to mention even lower admissibility in court... Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then clicked on Criminal Image Technology (Level 2). Sure enough, upon opening, a host of image technologies was listed: Scene Photography (Level 3) Evidence Photography (Level 3) Image Enhancement Technology (Level 3) Image Analysis Technology (Level 3) Forged Image Inspection Technology (Level 3) ... Frankly speaking, whether it¡¯s Criminal Image Technology or Document Technology, these are skills that can solve cases, and in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, they could definitely play a considerable role. However, as Jiang Yuan looked from top to bottom, what he wanted the most was image technology. Using surveillance and visual technology to solve cases is the simplest and most direct method currently, and is almost the best investigative model. Compared to that, technologies like lie detection or electronic data inspection that either have not yet been developed in Ningtai County or are more easily supported, are also quite good. But in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the utilization rate of image technology would clearly be higher and easier for other colleagues to accept when developed. Jiang Yuan selected Image Enhancement Technology (Level 3). The so-called image enhancement can be understood as making a blurry image or video clearer. Image analysis, on the other hand, is the capability of extracting numerical data from images, such as measuring a suspect¡¯s height. Jiang Yuan already had some skills in image enhancement after acquiring fingerprint abilities, but what he now received was clearly much more professional. This skill is somewhat similar to the technology in movies and TV shows, where the video isn¡¯t clear enough to see the license plate, and the beautiful or handsome character shouts, making the blade clear. However, despite how in movies and TV shows, a beautiful or handsome character just has to shout to achieve this, in the real world, especially places like the Ningtai County Bureau, not a single person could do such a thing. Even if the chief yelled until he was hoarse, no one could... heh heh heh... Of course, now that Jiang Yuan had learned the image enhancement skill, he could not make out a license plate just by shouting, nor could he make it clear after shouting a few more times. What he could do was to use Photoshop or the WBY Criminal Investigation Image Processing software, among others, to de-noise, sharpen, filter, etc., making the image somewhat clearer. To move beyond existing software to the stage of algorithms, it would take Level 4 or even Level 5 knowledge. ¡°Work hard, and if there¡¯s anything you need me to do, just come straight to me...¡± Huang Qiangmin saw that Jiang Yuan was a bit distracted and couldn¡¯t help but feel pleased, his mouth corners rising up to a 66.6-degree angle. While the difficulty of receiving a personal commendation is indeed the lowest level in the awards system, in all fairness, to receive an award like this is not easy. Without Huang Qiangmin¡¯s effort, whether the higher-ups would give the commendation and when was hard to say. Huang Qiangmin saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and felt that he understood his hard work, which left him immensely satisfied. After a bit more conversation and some photo-taking, along with applause, the chief added, ¡°Send a copy of the photo to the Honor Room later to hang on the wall... Your team should also pay more attention to the young police officers. Young people nowadays have access to a lot of information, they value individuality and focus on personal development; we need to adapt our thinking in a timely manner...¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Huang Qiangmin agreed. The chief said a few more words, urging everyone to continue working hard and achieve new merits before his expression turned serious, and he left. Chapter 67 - 67 66 Floating Corpse ?67: Chapter 66: Floating Corpse 67: Chapter 66: Floating Corpse Monday. It was pouring rain. To get to work, Jiang Yuan had specifically taken his dad¡¯s Land Cruiser, forging through water all the way, which was quite arduous. Upon entering the police detective squad¡¯s yard, he saw that the usually crowded parking spots were mostly vacant, probably not everyone had the cheek to borrow a car from their father. Braving the rain, he dashed into the building and then into the office, only to find Wu Jun warming himself by an electric heater, sipping tea with slurping sounds. ¡°You¡¯re here early,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked, surprised; he thought Wu Jun would be late. Wu Jun grunted in acknowledgment but then asked, ¡°Did you bring a raincoat?¡± ¡°No, I used an umbrella, just for a short distance...¡± ¡°Today is not a good day for anything, you should be prepared for the unexpected,¡± Wu Jun interrupted Jiang Yuan, tossing him a raincoat, ¡°Keep it, the rainy season is upon us. Wouldn¡¯t be surprised if corpses turned up.¡± ¡°This...¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit taken aback, ¡°Are you worried someone might slip into the water?¡± ¡°Anything¡¯s possible, anyone too. Culverts can drown people, sewers can drown people, flash floods can drown people, sometimes crossing the street can drown people,¡± Wu Jun shook his head, pausing before adding, ¡°On rainy days, people tend to get depressed easily. In small places like ours it¡¯s not so bad, but in Changyang City, people fall from heights all the time; no idea what they¡¯re all thinking.¡± Jiang Yuan also sat by the heater to warm up, mentally preparing himself. Outside the window, the pitter-patter of rain was hitting the panes with a constant snap. Through the glass, visibility was less than 20 meters. The heavy rain lasted all morning. By noon, the rain had lightened a bit, but no one was keen on going out. Jiang Yuan decided to shut the door and just cook fried rice on the heater, boil some instant noodles, and then ate them with Wu Jun, alternately spooning fried rice and slurping noodles. They had only eaten half when the phone in the office rang. ¡°A body¡¯s been washed up by the Tai River,¡± Wu Jun got up, showing no particular emotion. ¡°It¡¯s actually happened?¡± Jiang Yuan was still somewhat surprised. ¡°Sooner or later it was bound to happen; it¡¯s the same every summer,¡± Wu Jun sighed, slipping into a raincoat right there in the office, muttering, ¡°Trouble never starts in Ningtai County, but upstream cities always have their share of misfortune. Everyone knows when there¡¯s heavy rain, yet they all think it won¡¯t be them who dies.¡± Jiang Yuan quickly shoveled a few more bites of fried rice, sipped two mouthfuls of soup with a hissing slurp, reluctantly put down his chopsticks, and began to put on his raincoat. With a corpse, you have to go immediately; it¡¯s the hardest part of being a forensic doctor, even more annoying than the foul smells. Especially for the older forensic doctors, this aspect is loathed and endured without remedy. The raincoat Jiang Yuan received was slightly small; he awkwardly put it on, but luckily it was still quite effective, at least keeping his clothes underneath dry. By the banks of the Tai River. Underneath a highway bridge. There was a sharp curve here, and at the same time, the river widened and the current slowed down somewhat. The highway bridge was built here, casting a vast area of flat land. With no wind or rain, it was a precious spot during a storm. ¡°The body is still soaking in the river; we can¡¯t pull it out; afraid it¡¯ll slip off the hook,¡± the only two police officers present pointed towards the riverbank. Wu Jun hurried over for a look and saw a pale body, half-wrapped in some unidentified aquatic weeds, with its lower half submerged in water, bobbing up and down, caught in a cove on the riverbank. The water in the cove flowed slowly, with reeds and other aquatic plants in front as a barrier, making it relatively stable. The main reason the body remained there was due to a fishing line that was hooked onto it. The other end of the fishing line was tied to a fishing rod, now locked onto the ground. ¡°Discovered by two fishermen. They reported it immediately,¡± a police officer pointed to an SUV not far away, where two men were each holding their arms across their chests, looking gloomy as they sheltered behind the vehicle. Only when the officer beckoned did they, somewhat unwillingly, run over. ¡°Such heavy rain and you guys came out to fish?¡± Wu Jun looked at the two men shivering with cold and shock, and couldn¡¯t help asking. The man who ran over first wiped his face and said, ¡°The time I¡¯ve set for fishing has been agreed upon with my wife since last month, not even wind or rain, not even if knives were falling from the sky, could keep me away.¡± ¡°Can you actually catch any fish?¡± Wu Jun asked. ¡°Occasionally.¡± ¡°Even if you don¡¯t catch anything, you still come.¡± Their answers were quite resolute. Wu Jun sighed, took another look at the body in the river, and asked, ¡°How was the body discovered? Did you fish it out, or what?¡± ¡°It floated down onto the surface and got tangled up in my fishing line,¡± said the angler, a slightly fat man who dared not glance at the body. ¡°With such a large body floating down, you didn¡¯t see it coming beforehand?¡± Wu Jun pressed on. ¡°With such heavy rain and the wind blowing, it¡¯s hard enough to keep an eye on the float, let alone anything else,¡± the angler said confidently. Wu Jun actually found his explanation quite reasonable. In such heavy rain and strong wind, not watching the float would mean the trip was in vain. ¡°Come help me with the hook, let¡¯s get the body out of the water first,¡± Wu Jun called to Jiang Yuan, taking an extendable rod from the trunk of the car, screwing it tight, then attaching a large iron hook to the front end. They carried it, front and back, slowly hooking the body from the riverbank. Wu Jun at the front made sure the hook was firmly attached and gave it a gentle tug, then shouted, ¡°One, two, three...¡± Jiang Yuan exerted force from the back, Wu Jun pushed from the front, and together they pulled hard, revealing half of the body. There was only half a corpse! The pants on the corpse were also only half-intact, the grayish-white lower legs and feet were wrinkled, having been soaked for a long time. As for the upper half, because of the break, the remaining bit of the abdominal cavity had already been washed clean. A gust of wind blew, sending waves of foul odor directly into the nostrils of Jiang Yuan and the others. The eyes of the two fishing men widened as if they had caught a fish, and after several seconds, they ran away with a retch. ¡°I don¡¯t want the fishing rod anymore!¡± said the angler with a painful pout. His companion also frowned and confirmed, ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t want it anymore? You just said...¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t know it was half a corpse before,¡± the angler almost shouted. The two police officers from the local station also retreated to a distance. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun had nowhere to go. Donning masks and gloves, they silently moved the body onto the bank, where a plastic sheet had been prepared. Wu Jun stepped forward to remove the iron hook from the body, then straightened the corpse out a little. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun first looked at the upper half of the body, that is, the severed part of the corpse. The cut edges were not very smooth, but there were also some even cutting marks. Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan looked at each other, their expressions turning solemn immediately. If there were cutting marks, it was very likely a homicide. ¡°I¡¯ll notify Captain Huang,¡± Wu Jun said as he took off his gloves, stood upwind for a while, then finally took out his phone to make a call. Jiang Yuan changed his gloves and began taking photos of the body and the surrounding environment. The difference between an ordinary unnatural death and a homicide was too great, especially now in the pouring rain and wind. Despite the fact that the river¡¯s edge was currently one or two meters above the water level, who knew when it might become submerged. Soon, Wu Jun finished the call, put on new gloves, and came back, saying, ¡°Captain Huang and his team are on their way. These next few days are going to be tough.¡± Chapter 68 - 68 67 Unreassured ?68: Chapter 67 Unreassured 68: Chapter 67 Unreassured The whirring speedboat struggled along the Tai River. Two criminal police officers, with safety ropes fastened around their waists and grasping tightly onto the speedboat, did their utmost to search the river surface visually. The thunderstorm reduced visibility significantly, at most to a mere twenty meters, which was not only dangerous but also inefficient. However, because a body¡ªor rather half a body¡ªwas spotted, no matter how difficult or tough, they had to search the Tai River thoroughly. The worse the weather, the more the criminal police team dared not relax; come tomorrow, when the weather calmed, if the body was damaged or even lost, what then? And as long as this recent murder case remained unsolved, the entire criminal police team could pretty much forget about discussing work performance or political achievements for the year. Huang Qiangmin stood by the shore, his neck adorned with a pair of binoculars, glaringly of little use, as he strained his eyes on the river surface. He knew the chances of a successful search were slim, but solving a case was such that many actions with low chances of success, when persistently accumulated, ultimately led to success. Regarding murder cases, the only thing Huang Qiangmin could do, the only thing he could do, was to seize every opportunity and invest further. Snap! A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the tumultuous river waters, and in an instant, everything around became even darker. ... The mortuary. Jiang Yuan donned a gas mask before entering the autopsy room. The seasoned forensic doctor, Comrade Wu Jun, didn¡¯t have such high standards; he simply wore a surgical mask and started busying himself. On the stainless steel autopsy table laid half a corpse, pale white in color, like milk diluted with water. The skin of the body was wrinkled, and the severed part at the waist was ghastly white, with the flayed skin reflecting a unique sheen. Seeing Jiang Yuan come in, Wu Jun looked up and said, ¡°Weren¡¯t you studying Forensic Anthropology recently? Now it¡¯s time to apply what you¡¯ve learned.¡± Jiang Yuan previously acquired Forensic Anthropology Skills (Level 3) and had yet to apply them, but indeed it spurred him to read extensively. Compared to his capabilities in forensic pathology, Jiang Yuan was already gaining confidence in forensic anthropology; standing opposite Wu Jun, he asked, ¡°Shall I conduct the autopsy?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go first. The difficulty of this... this half a corpse, is somewhat high,¡± said Wu Jun, who was somewhat worried even for himself facing the half-body, naturally he was even more uncertain about letting Jiang Yuan take direct action. Unlike with typical autopsies, where forensic pathology knowledge is applied to address the question of ¡°how did they die.¡± Forensic Anthropology, first and foremost, seeks to answer ¡°who is this.¡± To be honest, the problems that Forensic Anthropology aims to solve are inherently more challenging than those in forensic pathology. To make a comparison, forensic pathology is like a multiple-choice question, whereas forensic anthropology is akin to an essay question, requiring elaborative answers. The forensic doctor must meticulously dissect information from the body, then answer the following basic questions: Is this a human? Male or female? What race or ethnicity? How old? What were their height and weight, and what did they look like? What were their distinguishing features? Who are they? Many of these questions are not issues when dealing with a living person, with numerous ways to find answers. But it¡¯s not so simple when faced with a corpse. Wu Jun methodically cleaned the body¡¯s surface, making meticulous records, and then wheeled over a portable X-ray machine to take scans of the lower half of the body. ¡°It seems to be a relatively young male,¡± Wu Jun inserted the X-ray film into a light box in front of him, tapped the pelvic area, and with a sigh, casually asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°If I only gave you this X-ray of the pelvis, how would you determine the gender?¡± ¡°With the pelvis, a male¡¯s pelvic shape is more narrow and slightly taller. Females have a broader and shorter pelvis. A male¡¯s pelvic inlet is heart-shaped, while a female¡¯s is round or oval. Also, the angle of the pubic arch, males have a smaller angle, possibly 70 degrees, while females range from 90 to 100 degrees...¡± Jiang Yuan spoke swiftly and confidently. The pelvis is the easiest to use for sex determination, with numerous identifying features. To put it simply, it¡¯s easier and more accurate than using the head¡ªor more professionally, the skull¡ªespecially for forensic doctors. Wu Jun was quite satisfied with Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer and continued, ¡°Next, let¡¯s use skeletal age to determine the age. Do you know how to do this?¡± ¡°We only have the lower half of the body, so we should use the pelvic bones to determine age, supplemented by long bones,¡± replied Jiang Yuan, who possessed Level 3 Forensic Anthropology skills. However, to be in charge of this autopsy and to determine information such as the age of the corpse, he would have to rely on taking X-ray images, or stripping the flesh from the body to observe the bones directly. Considering the current situation, the former is obviously less destructive and more practical. The only tricky part was that only the lower half of the body remained, and the best bones for age determination are carpal and metacarpal bones, followed by the clavicle and sternum, then the pelvis, and finally the long bones of the limbs. With just the available pelvis and lower limbs at their disposal, they had to use the difference in the medullary cavity to fit formulas. ¡°23 to 25?¡± Jiang Yuan pressed the calculator and provided a result. ¡°Hmm...¡± Wu Jun paused, his expression blank, as he silently calculated for himself. After a while, Wu Jun lifted his head, not revealing the outcome, then said, ¡°Calculate the height too.¡± Jiang Yuan operated the calculator, ¡°The full length of the femur is 43, multiply it by a coefficient of 2.36, that¡¯s 1015, plus 680, exactly 169 centimeters, a height of 1.7 meters.¡± Calculating height based on long bones is quite accurate and simple. Having reached this point, along with the weight of the upper half of the body, the direct deductions that could be inferred were nearly complete¡ªmale, 23 to 25 years old, height 170 cm, weight 130 pounds... All of these details were insufficient to solve the ultimate question: Who are they? However, it was enough for Wu Jun to look at Jiang Yuan with newfound respect. ¡°You young people learn fast,¡± Wu Jun sighed longingly. Jiang Yuan replied modestly, ¡°I also made use of... various resources.¡± ¡°Ah, back when I was young and wanted to learn, finding a book was a challenge, I could only follow my master around dissecting bodies, what we called learning from practice...¡± Amid Wu Jun¡¯s reminiscing, he handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Your turn to dissect.¡± The initial apprehension had clearly dissipated. Chapter 69 - 69 68 The Blue-Black Bus ?69: Chapter 68 The Blue-Black Bus 69: Chapter 68 The Blue-Black Bus Jiang Yuan did not immediately proceed to perform the autopsy. First and foremost, what needed to be done was to determine the time of death. The method most familiar to the public is the temperature of the corpse, but that¡¯s for bodies that have just died. By the time the body was at the scene, a thermometer had already been inserted into the anus, although it wasn¡¯t much use. Other than body temperature, the other criteria for judgment, it could be said, were a summary of statistical studies. For instance, the skin of the corpse in front of him had already swollen and shriveled, and at the same time, rigor mortis had softened. Looking at the transport process, skin had flaked off in several places. Jiang Yuan made a rough judgment, ¡°The recent water temperature was probably just over 20 degrees, so the time of death should be within 2 to 5 days?¡± Determining the exact time of death for a corpse, especially the accurate time of death, is an extremely difficult task; it could even be said that it¡¯s the forensic doctor¡¯s work with the highest possibility of error. In many TV shows or movies, forensic doctors who can give a time of death calculated by the hour with just a glance are either incredibly skilled or can only be explained by the plot. In reality, forensic doctors facing a corpse within 12 hours, or at most 24 hours, can still give a relatively accurate time of death, such as 4 to 8, or 6 to 12 hours. However, for bodies that have been dead for over a day, determining an accurate time of death requires many favorable conditions. And making mistakes is not uncommon. An extreme example is the case from 1977 at the University of Kansas, where Professor Bass examined a corpse with a gunshot wound to the head. Because the muscles were well-preserved and had a healthy pink color, Bass concluded the time of death was within a year. However, the corpse turned out to belong to Colonel William Shy, who died during the Civil War, with the body preserved in a sealed lead coffin. It was a body from 1864, 113 years different from Professor Bass¡¯s estimated time of death. As a result, Bass founded the famous ¡°Body Farm,¡± but even that did not entirely solve the problem of determining the time of death. Many forensic doctors make mistakes when determining the time of death, yet the accuracy of this determination greatly impacts the progress of an investigation. Jiang Yuan giving a time frame of 2 to 5 days seemed quite reasonable to Wu Jun. After noting Wu Jun¡¯s confirmed answer in his notebook, Jiang Yuan stood erect and examined the corpse on the autopsy table. Ordinary autopsies, which Jiang Yuan had performed several times before, usually involved opening three cavities. And normally, by the time all three cavities were opened, the cause of death should have been found. Occasionally, one hears of negative cases, which in layman¡¯s terms means that no cause of death was found in the body. Further examination of the limbs and other areas, however, often provides answers. However, the half-corpse Jiang Yuan faced today didn¡¯t have a single cavity left. It meant that none of the usual places for a normal autopsy had been preserved on this body. To be honest, as Wu Jun handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan, he also found himself slightly at a loss about where to begin. In his view, there weren¡¯t many particulars left to consider in the autopsy of such a body. ¡°I¡¯ll start with the pelvic cavity,¡± Jiang Yuan said softly after he had positioned the body correctly. Wu Jun grunted his acknowledgment. Inside the pelvic cavity of a normal male corpse, there would be a bladder, testicles, prostate, vas deferens, and urethra, among other things. However, today¡¯s corpse had a chaotic mess between the legs¡ª not only was there bloating and rot, but it was likely that fish from the river had nibbled on it, or that it was dragged out along with the internal organs of the abdominal cavity. In short, the usual organs were not preserved. Still following the normal procedure, Jiang Yuan separated the soft tissue outside the peritoneum from behind the pubic bone and then cut open the peritoneum to observe the condition inside the pelvic cavity. He found nothing. Without a word, Jiang Yuan continued with the process of localized dissection, smoothly cutting along. Performing a forensic autopsy sometimes resembles solving a puzzle. The person solving the puzzle is looking for a result, but the thought process isn¡¯t there from the start. At that time, you can only list all the conditions and then think according to the conditions. This is also a big difference between a forensic doctor and a medical doctor. For medical doctors, they often have to plan before surgery; there is no saying of opening the abdominal cavity and thinking while searching. But forensic doctors don¡¯t have as many examination conditions as medical doctors do. Forensic doctors often adopt the simplest and most direct approach¡ªflip it open and look. They have to see a clue before they can follow it and further draw conclusions. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun were busy cooperating with each other, their eyes unblinking as they stared at the autopsy table. What they were hoping to see were certain features, such as surgical scars indicating bladder surgery or varicose vein surgery, which could further narrow down the scope. Or perhaps, the victim had suffered a sports injury, such as scars on the ankle, which would also be a good entry point. Of course, the best scenario would be to find a prosthetic, like an artificial foot with a serial number. By contacting the relevant company, they could immediately get information such as the name and age. ¡°The color here doesn¡¯t look right,¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly stopped cutting and set the knife aside. Wu Jun, who was slightly farsighted, frowned and looked over. ¡°Here... the lymph nodes have turned black,¡± Jiang Yuan flipped the skin of the corpse open, then moved the muscles that interfered with judgment, exposing the lymphatic vessels in the thigh. The lymph, which should be white or milky yellow, now appeared dark green and black. Wu Jun drew closer to inspect and involuntarily nodded, ¡°Indeed, it has turned black. Take a sample.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan clipped a bit into the specimen bag and then flipped the skin on the outside, saying, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be cancer. There¡¯s no obvious swelling, nor the characteristics of cancer cells.¡± ¡°Hmm, for someone in their twenties, the risk of cancer is lower,¡± Wu Jun pressed on the location of the lymph nodes, frowning, ¡°It really doesn¡¯t look like a lesion...¡± Jiang Yuandao, ¡°Could it be a tattoo?¡± ¡°A tattoo?¡± Wu Jun¡¯s mind was a bit slow to process. Reminded by Jiang Yuan, he started nodding, ¡°Tattooing piercing through the dermis is possible... but there¡¯s no tattoo on the outside.¡± ¡°The tattoo was removed, but the color in the lymph nodes remains,¡± Jiang Yuan pulled some more of the deceased¡¯s skin over, saying, ¡°If you look carefully, you can actually see some traces. They¡¯ve been heavily blistered.¡± Wu Jun listened and slowly nodded. To forensic doctors, tattoos themselves were a very good identifying feature. The legendary United States Marines all have tattoos for the very purpose of making it easier for forensic doctors to identify bodies... However, Wu Jun was not very familiar with tattoo removal, asking, ¡°Can they now be removed so cleanly?¡± ¡°Laser tattoo removal has a certain probability,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to the corpse¡¯s thigh and said, ¡°The area of his tattoo wasn¡¯t large. Looking now, you can see a few marks. It¡¯s been removed quite cleanly and there are no scars. It must have been done in a hospital; there might be records.¡± ¡°This line of thought is good. I¡¯ll call Captain Huang. There shouldn¡¯t be many cases of laser tattoo removal on the thigh in hospitals,¡± Wu Jun said as he took off his gloves, washed his hands briefly, and began to make a phone call. As soon as the call connected, Wu Jun shouted into the other end of the phone, ¡°... It¡¯s at Fengshi Point, the position where when you naturally let your hands hang down, your fingertips touch on the thigh, move a little bit toward the side of the leg, a tattoo about the size of three coins, preliminary estimate.¡± Chapter 70 - 70 69 Looking for Someone ?70: Chapter 69: Looking for Someone 70: Chapter 69: Looking for Someone The rain outside the window persisted, its constant patter still audible as multiple teams of detectives, under the watchful eyes of the cameras, drove off to various hospitals. The bleak sky, the pouring rain, and the determined figures departing without looking back, greatly pleased the photographer, who took photos while saying to Huang Qiangmin waiting in the lobby, ¡°I¡¯ll think of a catchy name for this series of photos; the publicity effect will be terrific.¡± Huang Qiangmin, twisting his neck, glanced at the side profile of the photographer and slowly said, ¡°Perhaps a follow-up shot would be even better.¡± ¡°Huh? Well, actually, we already have enough photos...¡± The photographer, listening to the rain outside, hurriedly put on a more pleasant smile. ¡°Go ahead, follow the group from Qinghe City and bring back more photos, that¡¯s better for publicity.¡± Huang Qiangmin handed him a raincoat and watched him step out the door and into the rainy scene. The news from the frontlines kept coming back, eliciting mixed feelings of worry and relief. The good news was that records of laser tattoo removals were kept at all the hospitals, and with careful searching, they could usually pinpoint the location of the tattoos. The bad news was that so far, no record matching the victim had been found in any hospital. Liu Wenkai, the captain of the second squad, was searching through files in an office at Qinghe City First People¡¯s Hospital. As the administrative center of the Qinghe District, people from Ningtai County with major health issues would give priority to seeking treatment in Qinghe City. The distance between the two places wasn¡¯t far¡ªjust dozens of kilometers¡ªand those with vehicles could get there quickly, with many public transport routes available as well. Qinghe City was also a city through which the Tai River flowed, located upstream. Of course, many people from Ningtai County also went to Changyang City for medical treatment, but with so many hospitals in Changyang City, it was much more difficult to conduct the search. Liu Wenkai shared the same thoughts as Huang Qiangmin; they would start with the hospitals in Qinghe City and Ningtai itself, and it wasn¡¯t too late to consider heading to Changyang City or even further upstream cities if they couldn¡¯t find anything locally. Sitting next to the computer, Liu Wenkai watched the doctor trace back through medical cases all the way to the year before last, still finding nothing, his impatience evident as he scratched his head in frustration. ¡°Can you search using keywords like ¡®leg¡¯ or ¡®Fengshi Point¡¯? Find all the cases related to those,¡± Liu Wenkai chimed in with a suggestion to help. The doctor glanced at him and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you make us software like that.¡± ¡°Then your software is way too outdated,¡± Liu Wenkai retorted, then added, ¡°Don¡¯t miss anything, please take your time.¡± ¡°Not in a rush anymore?¡± ¡°In a rush? How could we not be? What year are you up to now?¡± ¡°Almost the year before last. Around Chinese New Year, there are more people getting tattoos removed.¡± Liu Wenkai¡¯s expression grew more somber. The forensic doctor had estimated that the victim was 23-25 years old, which, traced back three years, would mean the victim was 20-22 years old at the time. The likelihood of tattoo removal would clearly decrease further back in time. As an experienced detective, he knew the types of tattoos that minors typically got. A single tattoo on the thigh of a male, only the size of a fist, was not at all characteristic of the tattoos minors had. ¡°Maybe he didn¡¯t have it removed here. There are many places for tattoo removal nowadays, some beauty salons offer it too...¡± the doctor said, continuing his search while speaking. Liu Wenkai interjected, ¡°The forensic doctor said it was removed very cleanly.¡± ¡°Oh, then it might¡¯ve been done in a hospital. But still, not necessarily our hospital.¡± ¡°We¡¯re checking each hospital; please take another look. If we really can¡¯t find it, we¡¯ll deal with it then,¡± Liu Wenkai said, managing to keep his temper in check. He knew there was a possibility they wouldn¡¯t find anything, and in fact, it was uncertain whether the victim had died in Ningtai County. But for them, there was no option of not checking; they had to search each hospital one by one. As the doctor grew weary from searching, he started to mumble, ¡°Actually, some beauty salons do a pretty good job with removals these days. Mainly, how clean the removal is has a lot to do with the ink used when getting the tattoo. Black and dark blue are usually easy to remove cleanly. Those mixed colors, though, they¡¯re tricky. And then there¡¯s the matter of individual physical constitution¡ªI¡¯ve seen some almost completely removed with just one session, and others who went through a dozen or twenty sessions and still couldn¡¯t get it right, giving up in the end. Some people have scar-prone skin; the tattoo gets removed, and then they are left with scars...¡± As the doctor spoke, his pace slowed, and he came to a halt. Liu Wenkai, alert, stood up and went over. ¡°See if it matches,¡± the doctor said as he opened up a profile picture from a file. Liu Wenkai did not tell him that the body was only half intact, and he didn¡¯t make a sound, merely said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a look at the tattoo first.¡± The doctor then found another photo. Indeed, there was a string of cursive English letters on the right side of the thigh, bunched together and darkly inked. Just by location, it seemed to be the same person. Upon a careful look, the doctor read aloud, ¡°I believe. I believe?¡± ¡°Believe what?¡± Liu Wenkai asked. ¡°Who knows what he believed, if it even means anything. This tattoo was removed the year before last,¡± the doctor said as he pulled out the file and printed it for Liu Wenkai, adding, ¡°This looks like something done at a random street tattoo shop, not high quality.¡± As he frequently dealt with tattoos, his opinion was relatively professional. Liu Wenkai nodded slowly and then took out his phone, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll make a call, thank you very much.¡± As he spoke, he dialed a number. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Huang Qiangmin answered the call promptly. ¡°Found him, the victim¡¯s name is Zhou Lei, 24 years old, with an ID number. I haven¡¯t looked at it yet; I¡¯ll send it to you soon...¡± Liu Wenkai said, clearly elated. For such a case, confirming the identity of the victim was a significant, phase-defining victory. In most similar cases, following the victim¡¯s social network often results in a high probability of cracking the case. Elaborately designed crimes are, after all, rare. Even if the assailant conceived a meticulous plan, actual culprits who could carry it out perfectly were extremely rare. Cases without any mishaps were even fewer. In his experience, Liu Wenkai found it was the seasoned thugs and ruffians, the regulars in and out of the police station, who could barely manage to keep their emotions and expressions in check when facing the police. Most murderers don¡¯t know how to interact with the police. That¡¯s why door-knocking and questioning are often necessary tasks for the police officers. Making a call or inviting someone over made it easier for the person to mentally prepare, increasing the difficulty of interrogation or questioning. ¡°All right, I¡¯m heading out. Be sure to keep this confidential, don¡¯t tell anyone else. If someone asks, just tell me, okay?¡± Liu Wenkai urged, before hurriedly taking his leave. Elsewhere, the entire detective squad was invigorated, especially the few officers in Qinghe City who gathered together, volunteering to work overtime, assigning themselves tasks, and bustling about with newfound purpose. Chapter 71 - 71 70 Skryts Nut ?71: Chapter 70: Skryt¡¯s Nut 71: Chapter 70: Skryt¡¯s Nut Evening. The rain had eased up slightly, prompting Liu Wenkai to drive off. The further verification was left to the criminal police behind him; as a frontliner, his job was to find a direction and charge forward. The fine raindrops, driven by the wind, struck the windshield like intermittent streams of urine, making visibility alternatively clear and blurry. Fortunately, there were few cars on the road, and with clenched determination, Liu Wenkai focused on driving, arriving at his destination faster than the navigation had predicted. The destination was a hot pot restaurant spread over two floors of operation. The parking lot downstairs was not devoid of cars¡ªquite a number of people were braving the windy and rainy weather for a meal. Before getting out of the car, Liu Wenkai addressed the other three passengers, ¡°Our target is Zhou Lei¡¯s girlfriend, Wang Na. She is currently the prime suspect, but we¡¯ll start with questioning. Pay special attention to the males around Wang Na. If Wang Na is the murderer, we have to consider she may have an aplice. It¡¯s very rare for a woman to n and execute a murder alone. Additionally, disposing of a body requires physical strength and equipment.¡± Zhang Enze, sitting in the passenger seat, said, ¡°Let¡¯s also pay attention to the kitchen equipment, to see if there¡¯s anything that could be used to dismember a body. The upper half of the corpse hasn¡¯t been found yet.¡± ¡°Yeah, watch out for anything that slices or chops,¡± Liu Wenkai added. ¡°Thatst part just made my skin crawl,¡± Zhang Enzeined, ¡°Just protect the crime scene and be decisive when making an arrest. Ah, we¡¯re a bit short on manpower to guard both entrances.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to make do with what we have today. No one else cane up from the precinct¡ªhighways are closed. Even if we ask Qinghe City for support, they couldn¡¯t send anyone,¡± Liu Wenkai could have waited until tomorrow, since the body had already been drifting for several days, and if the murderer hadn¡¯t fled before, there was no reason they would choose to do so today.¡± However, after years working on major cases, Liu Wenkai knew that oftentimes, coincidences happen just like that. Besides, weather is unpredictable. The current conditions may be bad, but they didn¡¯t affect the execution of their mission, and they met the basic requirements for action. If they waited until tomorrow, who knew if the weather would worsen? If a heavier storm camepared to today, even making an arrest would be difficult. It was also due to this uncertainty about the weather that he disliked stakeouts; he decided to make the arrest in theplicated interior of the hot pot restaurant. Of course, another main reason was that today was not a definitive arrest operation, but an investigative action primarily for questioning. Liu Wenkai was just wary that the questioning might turn into an arrest. In this weather, catching someone who had fled would be difficult. The four of them disguised themselves as customers and sat down in the hot pot restaurant. Then, without ordering, Liu Wenkai imed they were waiting for someone, dismissed the waiter, and whispered, ¡°Wang Na is at the front desk, the cashier near the door. I¡¯ll go find the manager to arrange a room for us and then call Wang Na over. Xiao Zhao, follow me.¡± Liu Wenkai said this as he went through the waiter to find the manager, then waited with Xiao Zhao in the resting area of the back passageway. Zhang Enze and another criminal police officer took a seat in an elegant booth about ten meters away. A faux vine partition separated them from the front desk, but they still had a clear view of the kitchen area. After a long wait, Wang Na finally got up and headed toward the back passageway. Zhang Enze and the other criminal police officer quickly followed suit. The group sessfully ushered Wang Na into the passageway, closed the door behind them, and cornered her in the cramped supply room. ¡°Tell me, what¡¯s your rtionship with Zhou Lei?¡± Liu Wenkai¡¯s eyes sparkled. To this young woman barely in her twenties, regardless of how many escape rooms or murder mystery games she¡¯d yed, Liu Wenkai was confident he could interrogate her thoroughly and show her what it¡¯s like when someone who has looked into the profound darkness of humanity pierces through lies. ¡°Zhou Lei is my ex-boyfriend,¡± Wang Na frowned and said, ¡°The red packet money he gave me was voluntary. Calling the police after a breakup is really tasteless.¡± Liu Wenkai also frowned; she seemed to be ying the part well. Zhang Enze asked, ¡°When was thest time you saw Zhou Lei?¡± ¡°What¡¯s this about?¡± ¡°When a police officer asks you a question, you should answer properly. If you don¡¯t want to talk about it here, we can go to the police station,¡± Liu Wenkai regained hisposure and once again took the more assertive approach. Wang Na looked around, but there was no colleague to help her, so she said, ¡°It¡¯s been over a week, I think. I can¡¯t remember clearly.¡± ¡°Where did you meet?¡± ¡°Right here in the shop. He came to me, and I told him that since we¡¯d broken up, he should stop nagging and leave,¡± she said. ¡°Was there a conflict?¡± ¡°No. What exactly is this about?¡± Watching Wang Na¡¯s expression, Liu Wenkai decided to drop a bombshell and said bluntly, ¡°Zhou Lei is dead. Didn¡¯t you know?¡± ¡°Dead?¡± Wang Na showed a surprised expression. ¡°Is he really dead?¡± Liu Wenkai frowned again. ¡°What do you mean, ¡®Is he really dead¡¯?¡± ¡°I mean¡­ just¡­,¡± Wang Na hesitated for a few seconds and then said, ¡°Just the other day, Zhou Lei sent a message saying he was going to die. I found it quite disgusting. It seemed like he was just crying, making a scene, and then threatening suicide, so I just¡­ I blocked him¡­¡± ¡°What did he send? Show me,¡± Liu Wenkai urged. Wang Na hesitantly took out her phone, went to the WeChat contact cklist, and selected Zhou Lei¡¯s avatar, a squirrel from the Ice Age. A line of text appeared before everyone: I can¡¯t hold on anymore. Life has always been harsh for me, and now, it¡¯s be utterly colorless. I once believed that everything would get better. You used to be the rainbow in my life; now, you are not anymore. I¡¯m leaving, and it¡¯s likely that no one will even know about it. Just like Scrat got its acorn, it¡¯s meaningless now. Liu Wenkai and Zhang Enze looked at each other, both bing silent. This WeChat message could be considered a standardst word, and from the perspective of a criminal investigator, Wang Na¡¯s behavior did not appear to be that of a liar. ¡°What does it mean that ¡®Scrat got its acorn¡¯?¡± asked Zhang Enze. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Scrat is the squirrel from Ice Age, which is a Hollywood animated movie. That squirrel is always chasing an acorn, never managing to catch it,¡± said Wang Na, realizing the seriousness of the situation, she became more careful. Liu Wenkai was slightly irritated. ¡°He sent you that kind of message, virtually a farewell note, and you still blocked him?¡± ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t think he would actuallymit suicide. I thought it was some sort of tactic he¡¯d learned somewhere. He normally seemed like a cheerful person¡­¡± Wang Na spoke softly. ¡°If I had known, I definitely would have tried to talk him out of it.¡± Liu Wenkai sighed heavily, as if re-examining a deep darkness, then pulled out his notebook again and slowy said, ¡°How was his rtionship with his parents? Have you ever met them? Did Zhou Lei have any other rtives?¡± Even with a farewell note, it could notpletely prove that Zhou Lei¡¯s death was a suicide; there remained the issue of the dismembered body to be resolved. Wang Na spoke softly, ¡°I never met his parents, but I heard they divorced a long time ago and both remarried. Zhou Lei wouldn¡¯t go back for the holidays; he was raised by his grandmother, who passed away a couple of years ago.¡± This was yet another piece of evidence supporting the suicide theory. Zhang Enze shook his head silently and asked, ¡°Have you two ever talked about any significant ces? Especially around the Tai River area?¡± Wang Na reflected for a moment and said, ¡°He was quite fond of Traveler¡¯s Bridge over there. He used to say he wanted to buy a house there.¡± Chapter 72 - 72 71 Better to Return ?72: Chapter 71 Better to Return 72: Chapter 71 Better to Return Traveler¡¯s Bridge is on the eastern side of Qinghe City. The river here is not wide, but it is quite picturesque, and the straight beam bridge amodates both vehicr and pedestrian traffic. With both river and mountain views nearby, it is a nice recreational spot within Qinghe City. By the time Liu Wenkai and the others arrived, it was already 10 p.m. The street lights lit up the bridge surface, which in the rainy weather seemed to lead to an unknown destination. The distant mountains were lush but their heights were indiscernible, as were their ridges and valleys, only the lights faintly outlining some contours of the mountains. Liu Wenkai was the captain of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade Second Squadron, and both the First and Second Squadrons of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment are responsible for solving major cases on a daily basis. As a seasoned detective captain in his forties, Liu Wenkai¡¯s daily routine revolved around variousplex cases. He drove over the Traveler¡¯s Bridge and then drove back, havingpleted a basic observation. With only Liu Wenkai and Zhang Enze in the car, Liu Wenkai did not bother to conceal his thoughts, ¡°Neither side is a bustling area. It¡¯s quite possible that someone could jump off without being seen.¡± ¡°The same applies if someone were pushed,¡± added Zhang Enze. Liu Wenkai nodded, then sighed, ¡°If it were homicide followed by dismemberment, then this wouldn¡¯t be the primary crime scene. Itcks the conditions for dismemberment. After all, it¡¯s a ce with peopleing and going, not convenient.¡± ¡°So, if we can find Zhou Lei on the CCTV from two or three days ago, we can preliminarily conclude that hemitted suicide,¡± Zhang Enze reasoned. ¡°Pretty much,¡± said Liu Wenkai, counting on his fingers, ¡°The deceased, Zhou Lei, was penniless, had no savings, no house, no debts, and as it seems now, no friends or rtives, no stable job, and his girlfriend had also broken up with him. That basically eliminates themon motives for murder such as money, passion, or revenge.¡± Zhang Enze¡¯s cheeks sank as he listened and unwittingly looked out at the rain,menting, ¡°That¡¯s pretty tragic.¡± Liu Wenkai quietly grunted in agreement, and with a flick lit up a cigarette, turning to look the other way, ¡°Sometimes I think it¡¯s pretty meaningless.¡± Zhang Enze fell silent, and it wasn¡¯t until the cigarette was finished that he cracked open the window a bit, flicked the cigarette butt out, and then asked, ¡°How do we exin the dismemberment?¡± ¡°There are boats on the river with propellers,¡± Liu Wenkai said wearily, ¡°It¡¯s nothing new, ships on the Tai River shuttle back and forth through several rivers. If theye across a body, they might not report it.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go check the surveince footage,¡± said Zhang Enze, not bothering to discuss searching for the ships. If it were a murder case, for the sake of the integrity of the investigation, they would normally ask every boat that had passed through the Tai River in the past few days, but if it were a suicide, this would just be an unnatural death case. To then invest arge amount of police effort over a long period would not be so easy. Without a word, Liu Wenkai took out his phone, made a report to Huang Qiangmin, then, braving the rain, drove to a restaurant near the bridgehead to ask the owner for the surveince video. ¡­ Ningtai County. With the news from the front line ryed back, Jiang Yuan was quite surprised and specifically went back to the morgue, pulling out the corpse to re-examine it. The waist section of the body, where it was broken, was rtively smooth overall, but upon closer inspection, the muscle bundles varied in length, and skin ps on the broken edges indicated that the cutting object was not very sharp. Jiang Yuan¡¯sck of experience meant he could not directly and urately deduce the tool from the state of the body¡¯s fractures. However, now with the information from the front line in mind, the exnation involving a boat propeller did make sense. Especially the remaining vertebrae, where the unevenness of the bone breakage suggested a higher level of blunt force. This was also consistent with the cutting pattern of a boat propeller. Of course, just by analyzing the fractures, it was impossible to determine that the boat propeller was the sole weapon. But the knowledge of forensic anthropology also would not rule out the possibility that a propeller was used to dismember the body. Jiang Yuan examined the body twice in a row, finally letting out a breath. He changed his gloves and took another set of photographs, then slowly cleaned up the remains. He washed the autopsy table and the floor with water, then soaked them in bleach. The autopsy instruments used had to be soaked as well, just for a longer period of time. Only after tidying up the autopsy room did Jiang Yuan wash his hands again. It was then that Wu Jun, hands behind his back and wearing a mask, casually strolled in. ¡°How is it?¡± Wu Jun asked cheerfully. ¡°Makes sense,¡± Jiang Yuan said, washing his hands. He then asked, ¡°Can¡¯t find the rest of the body? How should we look for it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve called the counties and cities upstream and downstream to ask if they¡¯ve received the other half, but no news yet. However, if it was a suicide, the body shouldn¡¯t have gone missing,¡± Wu Jun paused before adding, ¡°If it really is gone, then we¡¯ll have to reconsider the cause of death.¡± Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. Indeed, if it was a suicide, and the body was severed by a boat propeller, the upper half of the body should have turned up. Especially with the recent heavy rains, the body couldn¡¯t just vanish into thin air. Of course, it was also possible that the heavy rains had swept half of the body into the jurisdiction of Ningtai County, while the upper half might be elsewhere. But as long as no one was deliberately hiding it, it should appear within a few days¡ªin this line of reasoning, the only ones who might hide the body were the vessels that had mutted it. However, with half of the body already lost, hiding the upper half seemed rather pointless. ¡°Alright, stop thinking about it. In my experience, some things just don¡¯t happen ording to logic or probability. Especially with murder cases, your logic, your odds, they¡¯re all useless. Murder itself is an improbability,¡± Wu Jun continued after a pause, ¡°Let¡¯s wait another couple of days and see.¡± Everyone had worked overtime in the rain before because a murder case needed to be cracked urgently, trying to capitalize on the golden 72 hours. Now that it¡¯s almost proven not to be a murder case, there¡¯s really no point in rushing anymore. Jiang Yuan did what he could and could only clean up the autopsy room and return to the Criminal Police Detachment. The next day, some detectives brought back the video from the day of the incident. Jiang Yuan went with Wu Jun to the video office to watch it. The surveince video had been sorted; the technicians in the video office simply pulled up screenshots and footage, which easily identified Zhou Lei in the video. The young, 170 cm tall, 130-pound Zhou Lei alive. He could be seen exiting a taxi, slowly walking to the bridge edge, lingering, returning to the edge, then step by step moving towards the center of the bridge until he was out of surveince. Thus, the suicide was essentially confirmed. Another day passed before news of the upper half of the body finally came; it was discovered on a reed ind several kilometers away. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun went to retrieve the body together. The condition of the body, already so dposed it was unbearable to look at, made it hard to imagine what it had been like just a few days earlier. This time, after a simple external examination, they first opened the chest cavity. The huge left and right lungs seemed to rebound, puffing up from the chest cavity, with indentations from the ribs still visible on their surface. Jiang Yuan pressed with his finger, leaving a mark, and then pressed with his palm, feeling as though he was kneading dough. ¡°Aquatic Emphysema,¡± Jiang Yuan stated simply. Wu Jun nodded. This was an important sign of drowning, caused by the desperate breathing before death, making the drowning fluid, mucus, and air turn into foam, which ultimately gets inhaled into the alveoli. The time of drowning usually exceeds 6 minutes, a process both painful and protracted, with aquatic emphysema being one of the proofs. Jiang Yuan made another cut in the lung, and watched as arge amount of foamy drowning fluid gushed out. Thankfully, the body was already so decayed that the stench was overpowering, almost perfectly masking the odor of the fluid. At that moment, a shiny orb rolled into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand: Zhou Lei¡¯s legacy¡ªSwimming (Doggy Paddle) (LV4)¡ªIn the vige¡¯s little river, Zhou Lei learned to swim with his friends and became particrly good at it. He even used his swimming skills to save another friend. After moving to the city, he found that his best swimming technique became a target of ridicule, so he stopped wanting to swim. And in thest moments of his life, faced with the turbulent river, Zhou Lei could have chosen to struggle, but why bother? Why not just go? Why not go to see grandma. Jiang Yuan let out a deep sigh. Forensic doctors always see toote, can change too little. Yet, like ordinary people, they find no time to mourn for themselves, aster people mourn them; thoseter mourners don¡¯t take heed, thereby dooming yet others to mourn as well. Chapter 73 - 73 72 Smoke Shop Robbery Case ?73: Chapter 72: Smoke Shop Robbery Case 73: Chapter 72: Smoke Shop Robbery Case Weekend. The rain was intermittent. Water in the ditches along the roads rushed forward, carrying fallen leaves, mud, and insects with it, towards the far-offnd of dreams. Jiang Yuan shuffled in his slippers and raincoat, meandering through the small square to the nearby swimming pool. The people of Ningtai had a tradition of enjoying sports, so a Changyang businessman had invested in building a swimming pool and gym here. The people of Jiang Vige were the main patrons within several kilometers and had gradually taken to this fashionable way of spending, with almost every household owning a membership card. Uncle Wu at the swimming pool had even reduced part of the rent to allow for more frequent water changes in the pool. Jiang Yuan had the day off and, reflecting on Zhou Lei¡¯s various actions from the past few days, he simply threw himself into the pool and used the doggy paddle. His Level 4 crime scene investigation skills could locate every single hair in a bathroom. That same Level 4 doggy paddle, when employed in the pool, was like a rapid current, whooshing forward, almost as if a booster had been added behind himpared to his usual swimming techniques. The bigger the sshing, the more people took notice. And it was true that the doggy paddle didn¡¯t look graceful. A few young people, probably there to hang out together, started pointing andughing at Jiang Yuan. They were too far away for him to hear exactly what they found funny, but Jiang Yuan guessed it was probably his swimming style. Jiang Yuan continued to swim, with thoughts of Zhou Lei¡¯s legacy in his mind. Being mocked for swimming was likely the part that Zhou Lei least understood and was least willing to ept¡ªJiang Yuan could rte to Zhou Lei¡¯s feelings because he had experienced something simr when he first left Jiang Vige. For Zhou Lei back then, it probably would have been hard to understand why people would mock something like the style of swimming, much like mocking an ent in Mandarin or in English. If it doesn¡¯t hindermunication, what¡¯s the point of mockery? But since everyone seemed to enjoy doing it, it vaguely proved that mockery did have significance, at least for those doing the mocking, it was of value. Whoosh. Jiang Yuan turned around and continued to swim rapidly with the doggy paddle. His own swimming proficiency, if the frog stroke was considered his most skillful, was barely Level 1. In contrast, the newly acquired doggy paddle greatly improved his swimming. This technical innovation might not be conducive to practicing for an Olympic championship, but it was certainly beneficial to his daily life. A few people from Jiang Vige recognized that it was Jiang Yuan beingughed at in the pool and quickly surrounded the group ofughing young people at the poolside. Being a resident whose property had been subject to demolition came with its own troubles, such as being mocked. Usually, there was nothing they could do about being mocked outside, but it was a different story on their home turf. The dozen or so people from Jiang Vige quickly gathered, including several idle middle-aged men twirling skewers, their necks craned to watch¡ªif it weren¡¯t for the demolitions, these guys would¡¯ve been known as the vige idlers. Now they were wealthy and idle folk. ¡°Don¡¯t fight now,¡± Jiang Yuan called out as he saw the crowd growing, poked his head up, took a nce, and climbed out of the pool. Three boys shielded two girls behind them, their thin chest muscles tensed, bravely confronting the dozen or so people from Jiang Vige. The boys were not under the influence, their breathing a bit rapid due to emotions rather than drugs. The two girls had good figures, no tattoos, no track marks, no cosmetic surgeries. ¡°Disperse. Come to my houseter for somemb,¡± Jiang Yuan called out, and the idle middle-aged bystanders all nodded andughed. Father and son of the Jiang family had long been rooted in Jiang Vige and highly valued neighborhood rtions, hence they held considerable prestige. When Jiang Yuan spoke, everyone was toozy to ask more, and the gathered crowd dispersed as quickly as it had formed. Jiang Yuan also ignored the young people who were still in shock, turned around, and dived back into the pool. He was still using the doggy paddle, but this time, no oneughed at him. Monday. The atmosphere within the Criminal Police Detachment had clearly rxed a lot. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, life in the detective squad was simr to vige life; during major cases, it was like the farming busy season when the big animals were all valued, feasting and bustling about like calves; but when there were no significant cases, the big animals were like they were let loose to roam, the whip still being waved around, but mostly not in as much of a rush to crack down. The footsteps of these big animals would naturally slow down a bit. Wu Jun, for example, once again picked up his feather duster and tidied up his desk, not because of the almanac, but to ¡°drive away the bad luck.¡± Jiang Yuan switched on hisputer and began filling out the report from before. ¡°How about cooking some red bean and coix seed porridge at noon? It can remove dampness and ward off bad luck,¡± Wu Jun said as he took out red beans and coix seeds from the corner of the room. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelid twitched at the sight, ¡°You have red beans in the office? And coix seeds too?¡± ¡°Better safe than sorry.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you afraid the detachment leader will see them?¡± Jiang Yuan said helplessly. ¡°If he really sees them¡­¡± Wu Jun simted the scenario in his mind, sighed, and then said, ¡°If it reallyes to it, we¡¯ll just invite him to have some together.¡± Jiang Yuan was speechless. Wu Jun chuckled and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay, as long as the two of usmit the ¡®crime¡¯ together, it¡¯s safe.¡± ¡°Master, you¡¯re over fifty. We need to be more reliable,¡± Jiang Yuan said, feeling insecure about Wu Jun¡¯s assurance. Wu Jun patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, when I retire, you¡¯ll be even safer. It¡¯s not easy to recruit a forensic doctor in our small county.¡± ¡°Then when you retire, I¡¯ll set up a barbecue grill in the office,¡± Jiang Yuan joined in the banter. After all, how could those who werepensated from demolitions lose at bragging? While they were joking around, Lu Jianfeng from the Criminal Science and Technology Center knocked on the door and came in. Inrger units like Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, there would be a Criminal Science and Technology Detachment with various squadrons within it, such as the crime scene investigation squadron, trace evidence squadron, and so on. Rtively speaking, the leaders of the Criminal Science and Technology Detachment or the directors of the Criminal Science and Technology Center would wield more power. But in a small unit like Ningtai County, the title of squadron leader was akin to the group leader in school¡ªnot something that held much weight. Lu Jianfeng¡¯s attitude towards the forensic doctor was even warmer, and with a smile on his face, he said, ¡°Thank you for your hard work these past few days. This recent unnatural death case was moreplicated than a murder case, which no one expected. Thankfully you guys identified the deceased early on; otherwise, the whole team would have been exhausted¡­¡± Wu Jun nodded and said, ¡°At the time, I thought it was a dismemberment case. I don¡¯t know which ship was involved, but people are indeed bolder now. Twenty years ago, they probably would have called the police.¡± Lu Jianfeng didn¡¯t continue down that line of thought, cleared his throat twice, and said, ¡°Speaking of which¡­ another case came up a couple of days ago. Jiang Yuan, why don¡¯t you take a look at it?¡± ¡°What kind of case do you need Jiang Yuan for?¡± Wu Jun directly asked. ¡°It¡¯s the robbery case at the tobo shop from a few days ago. All the officers were sent out, and the crime scene wasn¡¯t properly processed. Now that the homicide is out of the way, we really need to take a good look at this robbery case,¡± Lu Jianfeng said, clearly frustrated. Cases had their time sensitivities, but when a murder and a robbery urred simultaneously, it was difficult for the robbery case to receive any extra resources at all. Wu Jun asked, ¡°What about the ones from the crime scene investigation?¡± A couple were busy with other cases, one has a fever,My idea is to have Wang Zhong go along with Jiang Yuan,¡± Lu Jianfeng said, spreading his hands. ¡°Running after cases in the pouring rain, everyone is worn out.¡± Having a forensic doctor and a trace examiner run a crime scene investigation was highly unreasonable, yet incredibly realistic. The staff at the county bureau was never enough. ¡°Leaving now?¡± Jiang Yuan stood up. ¡°Heading out now, I¡¯ll find you a car¡­¡± Lu Jianfeng said in a rush. ¡°No need, I drove here today,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took out the keys of the big G from the drawer. Chapter 74 - 74 73 Obstacles ?74: Chapter 73: Obstacles 74: Chapter 73: Obstacles Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store. This ce is located in the northern suburbs of Ningtai County, just a few kilometers away from Jiangcun Residential Area. The shop was not veryrge, with a total area of about 20 square meters, and inside it was still aplete mess. The shop owner, a woman in her forties or fifties, leaned against the rolling shutter door with ss shards under her feet,menting, ¡°Damn it, they robbed me of several sacks of tobo and carried off a lot of liquor. If we can¡¯t get it back, our work for the past few years will have been for nothing.¡± ¡°Did they use sacks for transport? One on the inside and one on the outside to hand over the goods?¡± Jiang Yuan stood outside the shutter door, surveying the surroundings while asking. ¡°One was packing on the inside, and one was carrying on the outside; both of them had knives and made me stand in the corner,¡± the female shopkeeper pointed to the spot and whispered, ¡°They robbed for a long time, and no one came to help.¡± ¡°The one who was carrying things outside, did he evere into the shop?¡± ¡°He just stood at the entrance, didn¡¯te in, but he did gesture with that long knife,¡± the shopkeeper mimicked the action with the knife. Jiang Yuan nodded indicating he understood, then asked, ¡°Did anyone else see this? It went on for a long time.¡± ¡°It was pouring rain that day. I came over in the morning and couldn¡¯t leave. I didn¡¯t see anyone passing by.¡± ¡°Who usually buys tobo and liquor from your shop?¡± Jiang Yuan continued his line of questioning. ¡°There are passersby from the street, people from the nearby residential buildings, and the barbecue and crayfish shops down the street. When their customers need cigarettes, they call me, and I have my husband deliver them, just to earn an extra buck or two for the trouble,¡± the shopkeeper continued, pausing for a moment before adding, ¡°I often have cash on hand, and they robbed all the cash too.¡± While pondering, Jiang Yuan recorded the shopkeeper¡¯s replies and asked another question, ¡°Is there any surveince?¡± ¡°There is, but you can¡¯t really make out anything. That day, in the rain, the three robbers all wore hooded sweatshirts with their mouths covered. They came in and started hauling away my best tobo¡­¡± The shopkeeper¡¯s emotions red as she spoke. ¡°Three people?¡± Wang Zhong sought confirmation. The shopkeeper nodded, saying, ¡°Yes, three of them, one stayed in the car, and two did the carrying. Have you encountered any cases of robbery involving three people?¡± ¡°Just making sure. Right, our colleagues have already copied the surveince footage, haven¡¯t they?¡± Wang Zhong quickly diverted the topic with a single sentence. Compared to an experienced detective, Wang Zhong was still a greenhorn, but he was aware of many of the basic questions. Jiang Yuan knew why he asked this. Typically, the amount that could be stolen from a tobo shop was limited. Three people robbing, plus the need for a car, was not very cost-effective. Even robbers consider the cost-benefit ratio. Of course, this gang had hit the jackpot robbing Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store because the owner had just moved arge stock of goods from the warehouse. From this perspective, the trio¡¯s coboration in robbing Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store was very likely not a simple premeditated crime, and not the kind of robbery that goes ¡°Let¡¯s buy some hoodies and rob a tobo shop.¡± They must have known some details about Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store in advance. If this line of reasoning were taken as the basis for finding clues to locate the suspects¡­ that would be very troublesome. Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store was open for business, and the owner did not intend to hide the inventory information. Those who knew about it included not just people close to the owner, the owner¡¯s family and friends, but also the regr customers in the neighborhood, meaning the barbecue shops, crayfish shops, and even their own regr customers¡­ Furthermore, it¡¯s possible that during a barbecue, a friend of a friend might have mentioned it offhand. Unless there are no clues to be found, the Criminal Police Brigade would definitely not want to pursue this lead. Carrying his crime scene investigation kit, Jiang Yuan began to sweep from the entrance. A few onlookers, who had been persuaded by Wang Zhong to keep their distance, came over afterward to assist Jiang Yuan. Wang Zhong had previously followed Jiang Yuan in sweeping a secondary crime scene and had uncovered key evidence that solved the case. With that experience, Wang Zhong not only did not doubt Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene investigation skills, but had great admiration for them. Crime scene investigation could be said to be the foundation of forensic science. The forensic doctor needs to do crime scene investigation work, so does the Trace Evidence Laboratory, but not many are actually good at it. Facing the rapidly evolving technology of today, a professional crime scene investigator has a very limited knowledge. Not to mention the level of education in schools, even the length of education is not sufficient for most crime scenes. In the field of technology, experience is often overshadowed by new developments. A truly solid, reliable technician who can quickly master new technology is also unlikely to remain in the county bureau for long. The head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, Lu Jianfeng, did pull Jiang Yuan in because there was no one else avable, but it was also because he coveted Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills. Both of them swept into the store and found mostly footprints. As for fingerprints, Jiang Yuan¡¯s specialty, there were many found, but not a single usable one. Without even checking the surveince, one could assume that the three robbers who knew to wear hoodies would surely be wearing gloves as well. As for trace evidence, in such cases, it still counts as a ¡°y small dragon¡± technique¡ªtoo expensive, requiring assistance from the provincial office or Changyang City¡¯s Trace Evidence Laboratory, and a need to queue up. Without ast resort, team leader Huang Qiangmin would definitely be reluctant to approve it. Therefore, only homicide cases could truly bring out all investigative measures. ¡°Let¡¯s ask the nearby merchants and collect more surveince videos from around here,¡± Jiang Yuan naturally thought of video. The so-called three treasures of a detective are video, cell phones, and DNA. Even without Jiang Yuan¡¯s image enhancement skills, in street-level cases like this, the first thing to collect would still be surveince footage. However, videos vary in quality and proximity; generally, more is not always better. Typical detectives work with a few properly located and suitable videos, which is enough to solve the case. But given the location of Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store and the heavy rain during the incident, even these small requests were hard to meet. The first thing Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong looked at was the surveince video from across the parking lot. All it showed was the blurry rain, a white van arriving, and a white van leaving¡ªpractically no clues at all. ¡°The only certainty is that the car headed north,¡± Wang Zhong sighed after watching. North of the suburbs, that¡¯s the national highway. So, the only useful and avable surveince would be from the nearby area. Jiang Yuan paused the video several times but could only frown and ask, ¡°Were the police from the local station the ones who arrived when the case happened? Did they look for surveince footage? Did they see the license te number?¡± Jiang Yuan was considering the possibility of image enhancement. Wang Zhong said, ¡°Yes, they saw it, but it was a fake license te.¡± ¡°They thought of everything, didn¡¯t they?¡± Jiang Yuan was quite surprised. ¡°Yeah, there are many small and branching roads around the northern suburbs. They could easily change it somewhere and then switch it back. There¡¯s no way to trace them,¡± Wang Zhong murmured in a low voice, slightly dejected, feeling like his crime scene investigation was in vain. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was still okay. With his multitude of skills, he needed to think about how to flush out the three robbers cost-effectively. The rain had lessened a lot. Jiang Yuan readjusted his hat and said, ¡°Let¡¯s collect more videos first. I¡¯ll process them slowly when I get back.¡± Wang Zhong followed his lead but couldn¡¯t help muttering resentfully, ¡°They sure picked a good time. It was pouring rain during the crime, and it happened just when the detective team was busiest. Any evidence that might have been left could have been washed away by the rain¡­¡± His perspective was that of a pure technician, which made him feel particrly helpless. An experienced detective might follow traditional patterns¡ªlike the method and style of the crime¡ªto track down the perpetrators. But from Wang Zhong¡¯s point of view, this rain had rendered ny percent of his efforts useless. In his estimation, Jiang Yuan would probably be eighty percent useless as well. After copying nearly ten sets of data in one go and making a round trip, they saw the female store owner standing at the entrance of the tobo and liquor store, eagerly waiting for them. As they approached, she quickly handed each a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of water, asking, ¡°Did you find anything?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try our best to find it for you,¡± Wang Zhong, who was wearing aw enforcement recorder, pushed the offerings away, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we take robbery cases very seriously, and we all hope to solve them.¡± ¡°I know, I know,¡± the shop owner nodded repeatedly, then continued, ¡°We¡¯re just a small family business. Don¡¯t be fooled by the storefront and warehouse; all the money we¡¯ve earned is invested here. My husband and I used to be workers, starting from our teens until we were 30. Moving from Changyang to Qinghe and then to Ningtai, we¡¯ve finally settled down. Look at me, I¡¯m fifty years old, and we only bought our home a few years ago, with a mortgage¡­¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t cry¡­¡± Wang Zhong was shaken by the shop owner and quickly handed over some tissues, asking, ¡°Where¡¯s your husband? Why isn¡¯t he helping you with the store?¡± ¡°My husband went to the stockroom for inventory. A lot of the liquor there was consigned to us, and now that they¡¯ve heard we¡¯re in trouble, they¡¯reing over to take their goods back. Some are even forcing us to settle the ounts. He couldn¡¯t stand it and went to return the stock,¡± the shop owner said as she blew her nose, her emotions somewhat eased. Wang Zhong let out a sigh and managed a weak smile, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll go back and check the surveince. We¡¯ll inform you if there¡¯s any news.¡± ¡°Can you recover the stolen goods?¡± the shop owner clung to a sliver of hope. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best,¡± Wang Zhong replied. Jiang Yuan added, ¡°If we catch them quickly, there¡¯s a chance they haven¡¯t had time to dispose of the loot.¡± Chapter 75 - 75 74 Determining the Source ?75: Chapter 74: Determining the Source 75: Chapter 74: Determining the Source On the way back, Wang Zhong became silent and taciturn. The streets flooded with water, with few pedestrians and not many vehicles. Yet, Wang Zhong just stared out the window, his eyes looking empty. As they were almost back at the CID, Wang Zhong asked a question, ¡°Are we really so useless?¡± Jiang Yuan tactically furrowed his brows, ¡°We?¡± ¡°I mean us technicians. Look, if one condition isn¡¯t met, we¡¯re straightaway unable to solve the case. Take for example, when there¡¯s heavy rain¡ªsurveince footage is useless, fingerprints can¡¯t be collected, footprints won¡¯t match¡­¡± Wang Zhong muttered, saying, ¡°I know that a lot of major unsolved cases remain so because of heavy rain. But when we actually encounter such a case, it still feels quite ufortable.¡± Jiang Yuan uttered an ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you understand?¡± Wang Zhong was somewhat disappointed. They were all technicians; they should have been able to empathize. Jiang Yuan drove on, eyes fixed on the road ahead, and said, ¡°I understand, of course, but it¡¯s a feeling of powerlessness, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Right! A sense of powerlessness. That¡¯s a good summary. That¡¯s exactly it, so you do understand¡­¡± ¡°But today¡¯s case hasn¡¯t reached the point of powerlessness yet,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Wang Zhong¡¯sment. Wang Zhong sat up straight and asked, ¡°Hasn¡¯t it? With such heavy rain¡­¡± ¡°It didn¡¯t rain inside the store,¡± Jiang Yuan said, ncing at Wang Zhong. ¡°Wasn¡¯t our focus on inspecting the inside of the store?¡± At that, Wang Zhong had a sudden realization¡ªright, today¡¯s inspection focus was the inside of the store. Eagerly, Wang Zhong asked, ¡°Did you pick up any fingerprints, or anything else?¡± ¡°Probably not fingerprints. We¡¯ll see when we get back.¡± Jiang Yuan had several ns in mind but didn¡¯t voice them. Some things are too exhausting to discuss in the abstract; they can easily devolve into debates. It¡¯s better to present results than to talk about them. Wang Zhong became a bit more enthusiastic and, after parking the car with Jiang Yuan, hurriedly followed him towards the office. As they approached the office building, Jiang Yuan took a turn and entered the K9 unit¡¯spound. Wang Zhong was surprised, ¡°Using a dog?¡± ¡°Have you eaten lunch?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Wang Zhong in response. ¡°Oh¡­ oh, I forgot,¡± Wang Zhong said, a bit embarrassed, and touched his head. ¡°Then should we have lunch first? Fried rice or get something from the canteen?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll make it ourselves, eat with the dog. I promised Dazhuang earlier,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wang Zhong¡¯s eyebrows creased, ¡°Out of what you just said, I only understood the first part.¡± While they were talking, Dazhuang already came bounding over, pulling on his leash. The sound of the chain being pulled tight instantly rang out, setting off a more sensitive trigger than gunfire by the ears of the police officers. Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t help but step back, cing his hands in front of his chest defensively. Dazhuang barked once and, without even looking at Wang Zhong, crazily wagged his tail at Jiang Yuan. His dog face was full of expressions begging for affection¡ªmournful, delighted, eager to please. ¡°The vegetables and meat are ready,¡± Li Li also came out of the kitchen upon hearing themotion, then looked at Wang Zhong and asked, ¡°One more?¡± ¡°Make some noodles. If you cook a bit more sauce with the vegetables, it¡¯s also very tasty. The master and I can¡¯t eat too much,¡± Jiang Yuan, with his mastery of level 5 canine cuisine, could be very flexible in his cooking. Wang Zhongughed a bit sheepishly, ¡°I can just have instant noodles. It¡¯s the same.¡± ¡°No need,¡± Jiang Yuan waved it off. Having Wang Zhong eat instant noodles next to them while level 5 dog food was being served would be more miserable than Dazhuang. Don¡¯t have him steal Dazhuang¡¯s foodter, affecting the growth and development of the police dog. ¡°Then I¡¯ll help out,¡± Wang Zhong once again expressed his enthusiasm to help. At this moment, noticing Wang Zhong about to touch the ingredients, Dazhuang couldn¡¯t wait and barked out loud, causing the leash to rattle loudly. ¡°Dazhuang, sit down,¡± Li Li yelled. Dazhuang reluctantly sat down at the door, eyes fixed on Wang Zhong with a look that said, ¡°Just you try and touch it.¡± Wang Zhong swallowed, quickly moving to Li Li¡¯s side. Li Li looked calm, her eyebrows drooping like a Rottweiler¡¯s, and she patted Wang Zhong¡¯s shoulder adeptly, ¡°Quit it. When Jiang Yuan cooks, even I¡¯m not allowed to help. The dog has grown ups, and has his own ideas now.¡± Wang Zhong chuckled awkwardly. ¡°Pass me a phone stand,¡± Jiang Yuan said, as he set up the phone to y the surveince video from Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store on loop in front of the stove. Watching the video on the phone wasn¡¯t very clear, but Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too concerned about it. He could enhance the image or a specific point in the video by reducing noise, coborative filtering, and other methods. Yet, for Jiang Yuan at present, it wasn¡¯t the technique that mattered, but where to apply it. In the video, the robber was brandishing a sharp de, wrapped up tightly in a hoodie, revealing only their eyes. From start to finish, no matter howboriously they breathed, there was no inclination to reveal their face. For this case, techniques like noise reduction or coborative filtering were clearly useless. Seeing a face required x-ray vision¡ªa clearly forbidden ability! Instead, Jiang Yuan wanted to use this as a reminder for himself about where enhancement was genuinely needed. Fatty meat was being stir-fried, beef was being boiled, and seafood was being steamed¡­ Jiang Yuan methodically handled the ingredients, and both Li Li and Dazhuang salivated as they watched. Simultaneously, he was pondering every aspect of the video in his mind, prioritizing the problems he had identified. He had many options to choose from, not ack of clues. Many pieces of information that appeared in the video were worth investigating. For example, the hoodie could likely be purchased online, and if its origin could be confirmed, the suspect¡¯s information might be traced. The suspect¡¯s shoes were exposed several times, and the bup sacks used to transport the cigarettes could provide another direction for investigation. Of course, what Jiang Yuan paid most attention to was the weapon in the suspect¡¯s hands! A short de, half the length of a forearm. It was apparent that the de had been sharpened by hand, yet even so, it wasn¡¯t easy to simply buy such a long pair of knives. However, whether the source of the knives could be determined, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure. That would depend on the specific analysis of the images. Once the meal was ready, Jiang Yuan first dished out Dazhuang¡¯s portion, subconsciously ncing at Dazhuang. Dazhuang instantly pursed his lips, as if wanting to show his smile to Jiang Yuan, appearing cleverer than anyone else. Chapter 76 - 76 75 The Dagger ?76: Chapter 75: The Dagger 76: Chapter 75: The Dagger Forensic office. The pine trees outside the window were washed by the rain to a glossy green, looking as tender, moist, and fleshy as recently circumcisedds. Inside, the little Diao Lan had grown a bit more, its drooping leaves hiding the cigarette butts in the flowerpot, which also looked shiny. Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan entered the office together, their first move was to open the window and stand in front of the Diao Lan, with the former saying, ¡°Let¡¯s have a smoke.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk was upwind, unaffected, so he just grunted in agreement, powered up hisputer, and opened the software, ready to makeparisons. When he first acquired the Image Enhancement skill, Jiang Yuan had tried it too, but without a suitable case, he never got to use it. After copying the video he had just watched into theputer, Jiang Yuan pulled it to the middle part and started to create a close-up of the robber¡¯s dagger. Perhaps to intimidate the victims, the two robbers responsible for carrying showed their knives periodically, constantly waving them in the air. This gave Jiang Yuan a lot of options to choose from. As for image enhancement technology, at present, there are mainly two technical approaches. One is spatial domain image enhancement, which is the most direct and ¡°natural¡± enhancement method. Simply put, it enhances pixels. The more pixels an image has, the more the image is naturally enhanced. The mostmonly used method is histogram processing, which can be understood as adding pixels automatically based on probability theory. Of course, specifically, it¡¯s about concepts and techniques such as gray-scale histograms, point operations on gray-levels, histogram transformations, and histogram equalization. Beyond that, basic gray-level transformations, smoothing spatial filtering, sharpening spatial filtering, and so on are also on par with histogram processing technology. The other technical approach is frequency domain enhancement, which involves treating the image as a two-dimensional signal, and then filtering and enhancing it by changing the frequency domain. This epasses the famous Fourier transform, the Walsh-Hadamard transform, cosine transform, wavelet transform, and so on. These technologies, when Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand them, were like gibberish, but once he got the hang of it¡­ theputer treated it like gibberish. The old officeputer probably never anticipated that it would bear the brunt of everything. Straining with all its might, it roared, howled, and trembled as it was besieged by a deluge of data and bombarded by ever-changing technical methods. Its once imperious breath became feeble Its once clear screen began to flicker, and its once cool body turned scorching hot. ¡°You really need anotherputer here,¡± Wang Zhong remarked as he watched theputer that entered a semi-crashed state upon delivering half a result, shaking his head. ¡°Can¡¯t add a newputer though. I heard Wei Yin say that the clerks have to sign several times just to buy printer paper,¡± Jiang Yuandao said. ¡°Getting new equipment is definitely tough, but as long as you solve a few cases¡­ Hmm, do you and Wei Yin still contact each other privately?¡± Wang Zhong found it unbelievable. Jiang Yuan looked at him strangely and said, ¡°There¡¯s no private contact, just WeChat.¡± ¡°You guys chat on WeChat in private?¡± Wang Zhong was shocked. Jiang Yuan waved it off, ¡°It¡¯s just an asional chat. Breaking a case would mean new equipment?¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s train of thought was derailed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, ¡°It depends on how you put it. If you say, ¡®Give me a newputer, and I can solve three backlog cases,¡¯ Captain Huang will surely get you one in a hurry.¡± ¡°Depends on which three cases,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice came from the other side of the office. Wang Zhong, with his back to the office door, felt his calves go weak. He turned around with difficulty and said in a low voice, ¡°Captain Huang, I thought¡­ I mean¡­¡± ¡°No problem, as long as it solves the case, I don¡¯t mind hurrying,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile curled up to 44.4 degrees, his head tilted as he looked at Wang Zhong like a cute little crocodile, and asked, ¡°But it should be at least three serious cases, right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ That¡¯s the idea¡­¡± Wang Zhong smiled as if his chrysanthemum had just been burst by a beauty, unsure whether tough or cry. ¡°Any progress on the case?¡± Huang Qiangmin then turned to Jiang Yuan, his smile automatically rising to 66.6 degrees. In the past, he rarely visited the fourth floor where the Criminal Investigation Squad was located. As a support squad, it wasn¡¯t a high priority for the captain of the criminal police. Even for Dazhuang from the K9 unit, the captain would visit from time to time. Since Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s attitude had noticeably changed. To Huang Qiangmin, someone who can directly solve cases is a different kind of presence. Why are the second and first squads given more attention? Simply because they can crack cases, big ones, and they can ovee tough challenges! Now, Jiang Yuan could also solve cases, big ones, and take on tough challenges, so naturally, Huang Qiangmin woulde to check on him from time to time. In a ce like the criminal police unit, tangible rewards are limited and not suitable to win people over. Huang Qiangmin had understood this a long time ago. Otherwise, if it came down topeting in terms of money and ie, there are even professional fingerprint outsourcingpanies in society today. Brilliant fingerprint experts who want to make money can join them and get paid per case, easily earning millions a year. Therefore, Huang Qiangmin now paid more attention to giving Jiang Yuan the equivalent of a spiritual massage. ¡°Still running; it¡¯s not turning out,¡± Jiang Yuan mumbled, pointing to the blurred screen and the overheatingputer. Wu Jun added, ¡°It¡¯s been half an hour, it¡¯s been so noisy my ears can¡¯t take it anymore.¡± Huang Qiangmin asked, ¡°What exactly are you doing here?¡± ¡°Image Enhancement. The surveince video we copied back isn¡¯t clear enough, and I want to see the details of this knife. I think the pattern on this part of the hilt, if made clearer, might be matched with simr pictures. Maybe we can find the source of the hilt.¡± Jiang Yuan opened his phone, erged the image, and showed it to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin understood and his eyes changed once again. Whether or not the case could be solved with this information, he was extremely interested in Image Enhancement. ¡°Where did you learn image enhancement from?¡± Huang Qiangmin was half curious, half pleased. ¡°Just picked it up at school,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, somewhat reluctantly. Huang Qiangmin could only believe him and couldn¡¯t help but express his admiration, ¡°The young people these days are something else. When we recruit new people this year, I¡¯ll have to take a closer look¡­ How much longer will it run?¡± ¡°Almost done.¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to the progress bar, which was at 99%. 10 minutester. The progress bar waspletely red, and an image showed up. On the hilt of the knife was a distinctive dark pattern. The stem was intertwined, extending eight tentacles. ¡°I¡¯ll search it up,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he opened Baidu and dragged the image into it. Chapter 77 - 77 76 Holding Head in Hands ?77: Chapter 76: Holding Head in Hands 77: Chapter 76: Holding Head in Hands ¡°Monthly sales: 48 items.¡± Jiang Yuan found a Taobao seller through the pictures. Seeing the sales figure, everyone breathed a sigh of relief; the volume wasn¡¯t veryrge, so it was very likely that only one piece had been sold in their city. However, if it had been brought in from out of town, that would be more troublesome. After another search andparison, Jiang Yuan could basically confirm that the pattern on the dagger was unique to this seller. At this point, Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, clicked on Taobao¡¯s chat service, and asked, ¡°Should we contact the seller directly through chat?¡± His hesitation was due to considering how to approach the matter. If the other party didn¡¯t believe him, how could he prove his identity¡­ Captain Liu interjected, ¡°We should take this robbery case seriously. Let¡¯s do this: first contact Taobao officially to get the seller¡¯s formal contact information. We can then make an official inquiry, to prevent him from withholding information or causing other issues.¡± Captain Liu spoke and then took out his phone to start making arrangements. Nowadays, Taobao sellers are duly registeredpanies with addresses. A polite phone call is generally enough to get them to provide relevant information. If they encounter stubborn ones, they¡¯ll go on a business trip without hesitation. Being a detective who solves cases sitting in an office¡­ that¡¯s unique to Jiang Yuan. Wang Zhong and the others excitedly browsed the seller¡¯s store. As a police officer who had participated in the case from the start, Wang Zhong once thought that they might never find a clue. Who would have thought, Jiang Yuan, just through a pattern on a dagger, would find a breakthrough. Although it was very possible that the suspect would not have the knives mailed directly to their home, with this clue, further investigation into materials and delivery information meant they were getting closer to solving the case. Indeed, Wang Zhong felt that the three robbers likely hadn¡¯t thought through this detail. In this day and age, criminals who still use such foolish methods to make money can¡¯t be that meticulous in their thinking. If one is truly meticulous, even if they contemted crime, robbery wouldn¡¯t be their first choice. There are plenty of criminal methods with lower risk and higher profits. To go for a few hundred thousand and face a prison sentence of over three years, such a criminal¡¯s way of thinking must be somewhat straightforward. This time, although the three robbers had left him at a loss, it was only because of the heavy rain and a coincident murder case that they had the slimmest chance of escaping punishment. Under normal circumstances, such a case would attract the full attention of the first and second squads; a bunch of detectives would scrutinize it from all angles. Then, the case might not be solved through the knife, but through personal rtionships, vehicle information, channels for disposing of stolen goods, or maybe simply by scanning through surveince footage with a team. Of course, it was Jiang Yuan who delivered the key blow in this case. Purely by technical means, relying on two part-time scene investigators and an old, decrepit machine, in less time¡­ With such a high return on investment, no wonder Captain Liu¡¯s expression had be more genial. The third day. Noon. After lunch, the yard downstairs was bustling with noise. Members of the second, fourth, and sixth squads and the entire canine unit were gathered, almost fifty people in total, armed with various police equipment, standing in therge courtyard with more than ten police cars behind them, an imposing sight. Jiang Yuan was also neatly dressed, his cap fitted snugly, and upon Captain Liu¡¯smand, stepped into one of the cars amidst the snapping of photographs. Wang Zhong also took his ce in the driver¡¯s seat, and in the back sat Yan Ge and Wu Jun. Over ten police cars left the Criminal Police Brigade in procession. Wu Jun, watching the convoy exit the main road, lit a cigarette with a snap and, with a sense of emotion, said while looking outside, ¡°It¡¯s been quite some time since I¡¯ve seen such a big scene. Feels good. Kind of exhrating, huh.¡± While driving, Wang Zhong also excitedly said, ¡°A team deployment looks so cool. I just saw Captain Liu carrying a gun.¡± ¡°The scene won¡¯t be fun though,¡± Wu Jun casually threw out a dampener. ¡°The good looks onlyst until the first half. When we get to the site and it¡¯s all chaos with dozens of people, it¡¯s like a madhouse¡ªsome are trying to reach the heavens, others to burrow into the earth, and you have to haul them back. You¡¯ll be leaping all over the ce.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh at the thought of this scene. Therge force kicked up rolling clouds of dust, rising and falling. The convoy drove north to Zhonghe Zhuang on the outskirts of the northern suburbs before they heard Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice from the walkie-talkie, ¡°Attention all units, the criminal suspects are all concentrated at Xiaolin Farmhouse Joy in Zhonghe Zhuang. Each unit should report after getting into position ording to the n. Once you¡¯ve entered the vige, move quickly. Also, I want to remind everyone that there are seven suspects confirmed, and we cannot allow a single one to escape.¡± The standard for the criminal police team¡¯s arrests is three to four officers per suspect. In the criminal police team, those legendary solo fighters who bravely battle numerous bandits are the subjects of criticism. The textbook procedure, bought with the blood and lives of countless individuals, dictates using overwhelming numbers to take down the few, deploying honorable teams to capture these petty criminals, conveying to society through proper punishment the clear boundaries of humanity. This time was no exception. After a breakthrough in the investigation, Huang Qiangmin decided to capture the three robbery suspects along with the individuals involved in the transactions of stolen goods, all in one go. But this significantly increased the number of people to be arrested. Adhering to the principle of expecting the unexpected, Huang Qiangmin called for threepanies at once. Those tasked with control were in charge of positioning, those responsible for arrests conducted the apprehensions, and the armed officers were there to prevent any idents. Huang Qiangmin demanded a clean and efficient arrest operation. The orders were clear, and the preparations were thorough, but as it approached time to make the arrests, various worries were inevitably rising. Wu Jun and Yan Ge, who were experiencedrades, stayed in the car, ready to provide support at any moment. Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong were the younger technicians, also known as the hefty young workhorses, and were arranged to guard the checkpoints. No sooner had they taken their positions than they heard shouting from the courtyard. ¡°Let go.¡± ¡°Get down!¡± ¡°Move again and I¡¯ll shoot.¡± Just as Wu Jun had said, the once silent and formidable team immediately descended into chaos with the start of the arrests. The sound of threatening to shoot made Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitch uncontrobly. Although it¡¯s popr belief online that a police handgun can¡¯t kill a person with one magazine, forensic doctors know that some people, if you really hit them, will truly dare to die. If they brought back a corpse, it wouldn¡¯t be considered a clean and efficient operation. Squeak. The rear door of the farmhouse quietly opened. A young man around 20, not even noticing his shoces hade undone, sneaked out the door tiptoeing. Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong exchanged nces, silently advanced two steps, and blocked the checkpoint. On their left and right, two criminal police officers each mimicked their actions, advancing to block the alley, pulling out their batons, eyes fixated on the young maning out from the back. After walking two more steps, the young man looked back calmly, then worriedly pulled out his phone to have a look. After that, he resolutely clenched his teeth, held his head high, and puffed up his chest¡­ He then locked eyes with six pairs of criminal police officers¡¯ eyes. To be precise, he first made eye contact with Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong, then with the officers on the left, followed by those on the right. Squeak. The young man went back inside the farmhouse. ¡°Lie down on the ground, hands on your head!¡± The shouting inside started to intensify once again. Chapter 78 - 78 77 Pattern Innovation ?78: Chapter 77: Pattern Innovation 78: Chapter 77: Pattern Innovation ¡°Squat down and stay still!¡± ¡°Lie down, face down.¡± ¡°Hands behind your back!¡± In the farmhouse yard, there were nothing but shouts. If one didn¡¯t dwell on the content, the level of excitement was almost like riding a roller coaster. Of course, the expressions were simr as well. Jiang Yuan followed a group of technicians from the Criminal Investigation Unit into the yard, and all seven suspects had already been handcuffed. In the yard, several hundred square meters ofnd were covered with fruit trees, but it was uncertain whether they bore apricots, pears, or some other variety of fruit. At the time, they were only the size of testicles, some hanging in pairs, others standing alone, or in threesomes, swaying on branches, flexible yet resilient. The tables under the trees were all empty. A few idle police officers sat down, but most were still wandering around the yard. Wei Zhenguo beckoned Jiang Yuan over and whispered, ¡°The three baldies are robbery suspects.¡± After Jiang Yuan confirmed the source of the knives through surveince video, detectives had been staking out near the residence of the three robbers. And this farmstead was exactly where the three robbers hade from, so they were immediately confirmed as suspects in the robbery case. But all three were bald¡­ curious, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Why are you all bald?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, looks recently shaved?¡± Wei Zhenguo said and went over to ask directly, ¡°Why did you shave your heads?¡± The criminals who had just been pinned to the ground and handcuffed were still figuring out how to resist interrogation, and were taken aback by such a question: ¡°Just felt like shaving.¡± ¡°Is this your gang¡¯s hairstyle?¡± Wei Zhenguo pointed and asked, ¡°Like a uniform?¡± ¡°No¡­ that doesn¡¯t count. It¡¯s not that,¡± was the reply. ¡°Realizing now that gang-rted offenses carry heavier sentences? Toote,¡± Wei Zhenguo pressured them on the spot, sending shivers down the baldies¡¯ spines. Some timeter, detectives searching the yard found three knives used in the crime hidden under the seats of a van. A few officers who were informed of the case details heaved a sigh of relief. Having found the knives, the evidence chain was practicallyplete. Next, even if these three robbers didn¡¯t confess, they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape conviction, as there was already a foundation for a verdict without a confession. Of course, obtaining a confession was still ideal. Shortly after, detectives confiscated arge quantity of contraband, including tobo and alcohol, from a warehouse behind the house and from the basement. The four suspects with hair had varying expressions on their faces. The middle-aged man in the LV shirt coughed twice and said, ¡°Uh, we¡¯re running a legal agritourism business here, and we have tobo and alcohol for sale normally¡­ for everyday business.¡± Huang Qiangminughed upon hearing this and approached, saying, ¡°Can you provide the ount books, tax receipts, purchase orders, and invoices for your so-called legal business?¡± The middle-aged man in the LV shirt¡¯s mouth seemed glued shut, sticky and unable to open properly. After a while, the middle-aged man finally asked, ¡°How did you find this ce?¡± ¡°Oh? You think your spot is so hidden that I couldn¡¯t find it?¡± Huang Qiangmin chuckled. Once again, the middle-aged man was at a loss for words. Truth be told, he had been in this business in Ningtai County for nearly three years, and it had always been safe and steady¡ªNingtai County being a strategic point with frequent movement of people and goods southward and northward, he had indeed been enjoying his work. The middle-aged man¡¯s mind was quick, and his gaze soon shifted to the three bald men. The influx of so many police officers and their immediate questioning of the three men surely had a reason. Jiang Yuan watched with interest, but at that moment, a system interface popped into his mind. *** Task: Follow the vine to find the melon. Task content: Using the stolen goods to solve more cases and to provide assistance in returning the recovered items to their rightful owners. *** At first nce, the task sounds simple, but it¡¯s anything but easy to aplish. Just looking at the pile of stolen goods in front of them, there were hundreds of items. Besides the cigarettes and alcohol rted to the robbery case, there were various kinds of jewelry boxes, watches,puters, cell phones, cameras, luxury handbags, and so on. They were spaced out loosely, stretching out over ten meters. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but feel a headacheing on. ¡°That¡­ I¡¯m not with them,¡± the young man on the far right regained hisposure and whispered. His courage mounting, he shouted again, ¡°I came to enjoy the farmhouse fun, just wanted to have a look inside, I¡¯m not part of their gang.¡± Wei Zhenguo looked at him with a half-smile and asked, ¡°You say you¡¯re not with the others, so who are you with?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not with anyone, I just happened to be passing by here¡­¡± ¡°Coming to the farmhouse for fun by yourself? Seems a bit too leisurely,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, easily seeing through his lie. The young man on the right faltered and murmured in a low voice, ¡°I came here alone to unwind, just so happened to end up here¡­¡± Wei Zhenguo interrupted him again, asking, ¡°How did youe here?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You came by car, didn¡¯t you? Which car is yours?¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s not necessary toe by car,¡± the young man said, his voice growing softer under Wei Zhenguo¡¯s mocking gaze. Jiang Yuan listened to their conversation and nced at the footprints on the ground, then took a stroll around. In a little while, he found a car key from a bush and asked, ¡°This is yours, isn¡¯t it?¡± With a Level 4 crime scene investigation skill, this kind of task was quite easy for him. Given the chaos just moments ago, even if the other party had buried the key, Jiang Yuan would have been able to find it. The young man fell silent. Wei Zhenguo smiled and said, ¡°You¡¯d better think carefully. If you don¡¯t im it now, it will be considered unimed stolen goods, andter you won¡¯t be able to retrieve it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s mine,¡± the young man had no choice but to give in. Two crime scene technicians took the car key to conduct a search on the car. Wei Zhenguo then took the young man¡¯s phone, pressed his fingerprint to unlock the screen lock, and handed it to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Take a look.¡± Jiang Yuan took the phone and started checking it. As he browsed through it, a smile began to form at the corner of Jiang Yuan¡¯s mouth. Wei Zhenguo grew curious and asked in a low voice, ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°After he stole the items, he first tried to sell them on his social circle,¡± Jiang Yuan opened a social media post and showed it to Wei Zhenguo. The text above the photo grid was ebullient: ¡°Thanks to Brother Long for making a purchase worth tens of thousands of yuan at once and for getting a Coach wallet as a gift. Wishing Brother Long joyous nights and daily happiness¡­ The goods I brought in today have arrived, if interested chat directly¡­¡± Further examining the grid revealed bejeweled earrings, a Gi bag, AJ sneakers, and a tablet¡ª an eclectic mix of items. ¡°This is an outright confession,¡± Wei Zhenguo couldn¡¯t help remarking. ¡°What I did was¡­ innovative,¡± the young man argued back, once again refusing to ept defeat. Chapter 79 - 79 78 Ultraviolet Reflection ?79: Chapter 78 Ultraviolet Reflection 79: Chapter 78 Ultraviolet Reflection Whether they were convinced or not, the youngest one was still singled out and had to go through his social media, item by item, recognizing the stolen goods. Wei Zhenguo took advantage of his youth and threatened, ¡°If you don¡¯t admit it, for every item you sell on your social media, I¡¯ll charge you with one count of theft and one count of selling stolen goods. Multiple charges, heavy punishment. By the time you get out, if you still have any hair,e find me to chat.¡± Despite being outmatched, the young man clenched his teeth and said, ¡°This isn¡¯t reasonable¡­ Besides, why are you only targeting me¡­¡± ¡°So who should I target?¡± Wei Zhenguo muttered. The young man turned his head and saw the LV-wearing middle-aged man staring with dog-like eyes, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel intimidated. Wei Zhenguo let out augh and called the Rottweiler over, ¡°Let¡¯s see if you can sniff out this guy¡¯s stuff, and then we can hit him with a heavy charge.¡± He had singled out this fellow as the breakthrough. Among all the people present, if even one of them spilled the beans, the others, no matter how stubborn, could only expect to receive a harsher sentence. This principle was well understood not just by Wei Zhenguo, but by the suspects too, yet they could only stare with bulging eyes, unable to speak. Dazhuang, dressed in a ck tactical vest, let out a ¡°woof¡± and began to search through the stolen goods in earnest. Li Li led Dazhuang, her face serious as she picked out items. The expression on the face of the young man nearby became increasingly rigid. Wei Zhenguo feigned a sigh, ¡°We used to see thieves selling stolen goods in night markets before, but now it¡¯s really different, eh? Straight to selling in social media circles,plete with a record. Right,ter we should check his payment records, we can directly trace the amount of money from the stolen goods sold.¡± The remaining middle-aged men, the actual homeowners of the farmhouse, were also listening with veins bulging in confusion and frustration. Indeed, what¡¯s with the young people nowadays? Being so casual about being a thief? Posting stolen goods in their social media circles, do they really think they¡¯ll never get caught in their lifetimes? Seeing their expressions, Wei Zhenguo chuckled, ¡°Surprised, aren¡¯t you? You¡¯re still thinking about how to conceal it, and here we have someone openly selling it all on social media. I bet when I go back and look through the phone, I¡¯ll definitely find conversations where he admits the goods are stolen. You might even be implicated.¡± He was addressing the LV-wearing middle-aged man. The LV-d man struggled to say, ¡°I truly don¡¯t know him.¡± ¡°New model, chat records are enough,¡± Wei Zhenguo raised his phone slightly. The expression of the LV-wearing middle-aged man was incredibly grim; indeed, he was not very familiar with this young man, but their transaction was actually confirmed through WeChat. If anything, he was somewhat prepared for anti-surveince, but this young man could easily drag him to jail for many years. Wei Zhenguo suddenly remembered something his daughter said a few days ago, and couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°They say that the young generation is here to purify the workce. I think so, using social media to sweep away all you flies and dogs¡­¡± The few truly young people in the room all turned their gazes over. Is this what ¡®purifying the workce¡¯ means? Is it supposed to be used like this? ¡­ What was neat and orderly on the way out had turned into disheveled chaos on the way back. A total of 7 suspects were transported back in seven cars. There were no specialized prison vehicles, just two officers in the backseat and a handcuffed suspect between them, shaping the standard posture. Experienced cops would pick and choose, taking the frail suspects in their own cars. Once they¡¯d sit on either side and mp them with their elbows, they¡¯d feelpletely rxed. Youngsters like Mu Zhiyang had no choice but to wait until the seasoned detectives picked their lot; whatever was left, fat or thin, they¡¯d haul into the car, roll down the window, space out, and cool off naturally. Jiang Yuan spent more time in the farmhouse. He was the one who first wiped down the scene. ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning, since the ce had long served as a hub for fencing stolen goods, it¡¯s very likely that the people who hade through were connected to the case. The fingerprints he collected might not match anything currently, but that didn¡¯t matter. If these peoplemitted crimes elsewhere or were careless even once more, the fingerprints left here could very well reveal their slip-ups. After working with fingerprints for a long time, you start to feel a certain ¡°all for one and one for all¡± nobility. You can¡¯t help it; the fingerprints you collect may not always immediately match those stored in the database. And often, the fingerprints you do match are those collected by others. And the experts in fingerprints, after finishing local ones, inevitably had to work on those from other ces. In the end, most of their time was spent working ¡°for everyone¡±. Wang Zhong, Yan Ge, and several field officers obediently helped Jiang Yuan with the fingerprinting. In simr past cases, they had handled things quite carelessly, but there wasn¡¯t much to say about that¡ªtheir skill levels were limited. A little better or a little worse in handling wasn¡¯t much of a difference for them. But Jiang Yuan truly had the ability to process fingerprints. Moreover, his proficiency had reached a significant level¡ªthis is critical because if you¡¯re just at a score of 60, you might only be able to barelyplete the job. Initiative wouldn¡¯t be high, and since people¡¯s energy and time are finite, a 60-point expert couldn¡¯t possibly cover all daily cases, let alone unnecessary ones. Even experts scoring 70 wouldn¡¯t bother withrge-scaleparisons for minor cases due to limited uracy. Only at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level, with just a nce, could you know whether the task was doable. Only at that level is it worth investing significant time and effort on smaller cases. Of course, Wang Zhong and Yan Ge wouldn¡¯t think so much about it. They just knew Jiang Yuan could do it and was willing to do it now, and that was sufficient. While everyone began dusting for prints, Jiang Yuan¡¯s techniques were gradually influencing them all. In the past, when someone like Wang Zhong processed fingerprints, it was simply about dusting with silver powder or maic powder, sometimes even dabbing with adhesive tape. But with Jiang Yuan on the scene, the first time someone ripped tape with a ¡°swish,¡± he walked over. ¡°Is this for collecting on a metal dish? Covered in film?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at it and said, ¡°Direct adhesion must be difficult, right?¡± ¡°It can still pick some up, just it¡¯s likely to be iplete,¡± admitted the junior technician, feeling somewhat embarrassed. He was also self-taught and knew his work was average but didn¡¯t know how to improve it. Jiang Yuan talked only about the technique, not other issues. After observing for a bit, he suggested, ¡°Try using ultraviolet light first.¡± ¡°Can ultraviolet light reflection really reveal it?¡± The police technician had never considered this option. Jiang Yuan exined, ¡°Roughly. If the fingerprints consist mainly of sweat, the varied absorption rates create significant contrast. If that doesn¡¯t work, then use maic powder, fluorescent powder, or even super glue. However, because ultraviolet light is non-destructive, it¡¯s best to start with that.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I see.¡± The technician felt like he was learning something new and, feeling slightly embarrassed to admit it, he proceeded as instructed. The others watched silently, and after seeing how visible the fingerprint became under UV light, they all took mental note for future reference. Chapter 80 - 80 79 Serene Atmosphere ?80: Chapter 79 Serene Atmosphere 80: Chapter 79 Serene Atmosphere Afternoon. Sunlight scattered across the courtyard, creating a peaceful atmosphere. There were only six detectives, all working diligently to send seven individuals and even more to prison. ¡°Maic powder will do.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with the ultraviolet light first.¡± ¡°For this¡­ ninhydrin.¡± Jiang Yuan had been at the crime scene for several hours and easily gained authority over the scene. In the beginning, a few were not quite used to his style, but gradually, they became familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s way of working. At that moment, the crime scene resembled a workshop or an office where the presence of a highly skilled technician eventually directed everyone toward the same or simr technical standards; otherwise, work could not proceed. In terms of fingerprints alone, those that the crime scene investigators from Ningtai County collected were to be processed by Yan Ge and Wang Zhong. Their requirements were simply rity and uracy¡ªif they didn¡¯t seed, there wouldn¡¯t be much discussion, just an eptance of their own shorings. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s demands in this area were quite different, because he knew what he could achieve. Therefore, his demands for fingerprints to bepared and processed into the database were naturally much higher. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan was able to provide clear methods to obtain the distinct fingerprints. Many scene investigators, since leaving school, had truly never enjoyed such ¡°instruction.¡± Ninhydrin for fingerprint visualization, for example, is supposed to be the mostmonly used technique¡ªboth in textbooks, ssrooms, and many crime scenes. It¡¯s a chemical reaction, quiteplex in nature, but as for the results, ninhydrin is capable of clearly revealingtent fingerprints on light-colored paper, tickets, and even wooden items. It¡¯s an extremely effective and extraordinary solution. But in actual crime scene investigations, detectives rarely use this method. It¡¯s no exaggeration to say that for the majority of crime scene investigations, the mostmonly used, or even the only used method, is powder dusting. ¡°One brush sweeps across the world¡± is the daily reality for most crime scene investigators. They don¡¯t even bother changing the type of powder. Today¡¯s crime scene investigators are technicians from the criminal investigation team. Under very rare circumstances, they would use ninhydrin and super glue fuming. Today, with the entire team mobilized, so many technicians came out. Normally, for many minor cases, the responding detectives and station officers would scan fingerprints at the scene and enter them into the database, and many of them don¡¯t really know how to use ninhydrin or super glue fuming. In fact, because of its rarity of use, the technicians from the criminal investigation team are not very proficient with ninhydrin and super glue fuming. This is easily understandable¡ªif a person takes the same route to work every day and can arrive smoothly, unless there¡¯s an unexpected situation and the usual route ispletely blocked, why would they change paths? The technicians from Ningtai County are like this; if fingerprints can be revealed with powder, they certainly will be revealed with powder. They don¡¯t even bother changing the type of the powder. Only if the surface is not smooth, like on textiles, where fingerprints cannot be revealed with powder, and only if the fingerprints are important, would a technician consider using ninhydrin. It¡¯s like sticking to the usual path unless severe weather conditions destroy the road or an unexpected event causes a traffic jam. Nevertheless, the ones who previously analyzed fingerprints were Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, but now it¡¯s Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan is like an employer demanding on-time arrival and constantly seeking to reducemuting time. It became very important for the technicians at the scene to choose the right method if they wanted to meet this standard. Of course, what¡¯s important is that they are also willing to reducemuting time or, in other words, are willing to cooperate with Jiang Yuan to improve the quality of fingerprints entered into the database. In forensic science and technology, this is akin to a martial arts secret manual¡ªit¡¯s both a means to secure a livelihood and a tool for self-improvement. People generally prefer to do things well. And doing anything well is always a bit difficult. Take ninhydrin: anyone who¡¯s studied three or four years at a police academy can boldly im, ¡°I¡¯m familiar with this.¡± But when you actually ask, ¡°Which kind of ninhydrin form do you usually use?¡± eighty percent would be stumped. Only someone like Wang Zhong, who has truly used ninhydrin, could easily whip up a form with 1g of ninhydrin and 100g of anhydrous ethanol, adding, ¡°We used to use acetone more, but it¡¯s strictly regted now, and it¡¯s not easy to get a lot of it¡­¡± Jiang Yuan responded unforgivingly, ¡°I suggest adding ether.¡± ¡°Oh, a form with ether? Add¡­ 60g?¡± Wang Zhong pondered the form, clearly not very sure of it. Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°You need 2g of ninhydrin, then add 33.5g of anhydrous ethanol, followed by 66.5g of ether. Since thetent fingerprint we are working on is on a gluey substance, adding ether will make it significantly clearer. The one-to-one hundred ethanol form you were just using works fine on paper, but it won¡¯t be effective on gluey substances.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it slipped my mind, I¡¯ve learned this form before.¡± Wang Zhong smacked his forehead. He had learned it, but after several years of use, he simply couldn¡¯t recall the form. Wang Zhong then prepared the ninhydrin solution on-the-spot and applied it to a kraft paper bag. Jiang Yuan moved his lips but did not make any further requests. The color development time for ninhydrin is one to two hours, but there are other methods to speed up the process. However, since there was still plenty of time, Jiang Yuan saw no need to be nitpicky. With no further questions asked, Jiang Yuan proceeded to work on non-smooth surfaces on his own. Detectives typically look for fingerprints on smooth surfaces. Or to put it another way, based on their skill level, if they can rify fingerprints on smooth surfaces, it¡¯s already no small feat. Jiang Yuan then took a glue gun out of the crime scene kit. He sprinkled powder on the LV monogrammed leather bag from which he wanted to lift fingerprints, then raised the glue gun and sprayed a thick, gluey substance, using a blow dryer to apply heat. The nearby crime scene investigators were stunned. ¡°Do we even have this equipment?¡± A crime scene investigator wondered, filled with questions. ¡°Found it in the storage,¡± said Jiang Yuan, holding the glue gun. He began to stride around, adding, ¡°I guess it was bought as aplete set.¡± ¡°Certainly, nowadays everything is packaged¡­¡± The investigators watched with a sense of helplessness, suddenly feelingpletely unaware of the bureau¡¯s resources. Chapter 81 - 81 80 Rolling Knife Meat ?81: Chapter 80 Rolling Knife Meat 81: Chapter 80 Rolling Knife Meat Woof. Jiang Yuan pushed open the door to the K-9 unit, and Dazhuang greeted him excitedly. As for the six officers from the criminal investigation squad working in the yard, they kept their heads down, busy at work, without even lifting their heads. Because the smoke shop robbery and fence case involved so much evidence, under the coordination of Captain Huang Qiangmin, the criminal investigation squad came to work at the K-9 unit directly until all the evidence was secured. After everything was photographed and collected, they would return to the office. For the past couple of days, Jiang Yuan had beening directly to work at the K-9 unit. Dazhuang was particrly happy about this, waiting for Jiang Yuan every day, and would bark loudly as soon as he arrived. Jiang Yuan patted the Rottweiler¡¯s head and praised, ¡°You¡¯re sensible. I¡¯ll give you two extra chicken legster.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t give it too much, its training intensity has increased recently, just enough to maintain its figure.¡± Li Li also heard Dazhuang¡¯s bark and came out from inside. Jiang Yuan looked at Li Li and indeed, when it came to maintaining one¡¯s figure, Li Li was absolutely the role model in the criminal police brigade. As for raising Dazhuang¡­ ¡°Did you eat Dazhuang¡¯s chicken leg again and forget to make it up to him?¡± Jiang Yuan made an urate judgment. Li Li and Dazhuang¡¯s eyes drooped a little at the same time, then she added, ¡°Your colleague ate it too.¡± Jiang Yuan patted Dazhuang¡¯s head again and sighed, ¡°It¡¯s alright, we¡¯ll get some beef and eggs instead, they are just as tasty.¡± Dazhuang barked ¡°Woof,¡± which fully expressed its trust in Jiang Yuan, itsints about Li Li, its expectations for a dog¡¯s life, its worries about humanity¡¯s collective pivot, its vignce against the development of the capitalist world, the uncertainty about the future of the technology industry, the ignorance and unease towards the modern financial system, and its understanding and judgment of the international situation. After patting Dazhuang¡¯s head once more, Jiang Yuan entered the yard to see a line of people, all bending over and keeping their heads down. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Jiang Yuan asked the youngest, Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong grunted, which fully conveyed the boundaries of his capabilities, ¡°Almost done, just another couple of days.¡± ¡°Not bad, not bad, you¡¯ve all worked hard. I¡¯ll get something for everyone to eat,¡± Jiang Yuan said, his spirits lifted. With so many fingerprints entering the database this time, all highly relevant to the fence case, the likelihood of uncovering more cases from them was very high. Of course, this was something that the police officers in the criminal investigation squad could all see, which is why they were all working so hard. Jiang Yuan sincerely prepared a meal for everyone. After eating with the Rottweiler, he joined them in their work. These past few days, the detectives in the brigade were all working overtime like crazy. The concept of 996 or anything simr is meaningless in grassroots police stations; it¡¯s simply that there¡¯s no opportunity to speak up, and even no permission to discuss it publicly, just unnoticed. While all major intepanies have sessively stopped the 996 schedule, the phenomenon within the police stations has only intensified. Criminals do not have Sundays, so the police have to dedicate their whole weekends as well. It was the same with this robbery case. The three suspects pped their heads and decided to shave them bald together; they pped their heads and decided to rob a smoke shop together. And with every p of their heads, they added anotheryer of workload for the detectives working on the case. Especially since they refused to confess, the detectives could be described as pressed for time with a heavy workload. Captain Huang Qiangmin of the detectives frequently appeared in therge office, asking about the progress as often as thrice a day. The pressure of such attention at its peak was evident when Captain Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t even have time to wander into the criminal investigation squad on the fourth floor, but instead, his ¡°speeches¡± could asionally be hearding from the first and second floors of the office building. ¡°Don¡¯te back to see me if you can¡¯t find it!¡± ¡°Keep interrogating, why are you asking me? The confession has to be verified at all times!¡± ¡°They¡¯re all nailed on sure-things for prison, why are they still being stubborn? What use is their stubbornness?¡± What angered Huang Qiangmin the most was that the three bald robbers were clearly doomed, yet they still refused to confess willingly. This situation, in grassroots police stations, often leaves one feeling as if full sess is yet to be achieved. It was the familiar journalist, holding a camera to take photos, who even said after putting down the camera, ¡°I remember during previous interviews, when the criminal suspect had fully confessed, their weeping and sobbing looked very good. Should we take a series of photos showing their remorse¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin knew what the journalist wanted, it was that kind of scene in movies and TV dramas, where at the final stage, the wrongdoer admits their errors and shows repentance. After all, social education should start with reflection. But with these tough nuts to crack, Huang Qiangmin said helplessly, ¡°It¡¯s precisely because it¡¯s rare to encounter such situations that they get interviewed. Normally, criminals tend to make various excuses and are reluctant to admit their guilt.¡± ¡°So, can these people today admit their guilt?¡± the journalist pressed on, dissatisfied with the response from the captain of the criminal police. Huang Qiangmin shook his head and added, ¡°We don¡¯t know yet. The reason we invited you this time is that the fencing case itself is quite significant, with arge scale involving numerous provinces nationwide, and there will not be a small number of current and umted cases. It¡¯s worth reporting.¡± ¡°Whatever you say,¡± the journalist responded with an appearance of following instructions. Huang Qiangmin could only force a smile, even feeling like there was a hint of mockery on the journalist¡¯s face? But that¡¯s how it is withypeople. As if without a confession from the suspect, there¡¯s always some doubt. Those intellectuals who can be psychologically broken after a few words do exist, but for the likes of dim-witted robbers, it¡¯s hard to say if they even have psychological defenses¡­ Thud thud. Jiang Yuan knocked and entered. Huang Qiangmin, with his tense face, turned around to see Jiang Yuan and his expression lightened by exactly 22.2 degrees, asking somewhat warmly, ¡°Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s it going?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve processed the evidence, and from preliminary calctions, the items involved in the fencing are connected to at least over 20 cases¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was simple, but the content was quite significant. Huang Qiangmin misunderstood and thought that Jiang Yuan was only talking about how many fingerprints were lifted, so he said, ¡°Those involved in fencing, there¡¯s still value in digging deeper into the associated cases¡­ Okay, just put the file down, I¡¯ll sign itter.¡± Jiang Yuan also had a slight misunderstanding, thinking that Huang Qiangmin wanted to handle it on the spot and assign tasks immediately. Huang Qiangmin had a way of turning his office into a meeting room and casual chatter into a case analysis meeting, something he would do almost every month. It could be said to be a very impressive, quite exemry performance at work. ¡°Just a moment, I¡¯ll have it brought over,¡± Jiang Yuan said, seeing the reporter with therge camera next to Captain Huang Qiangmin, and assuming without surprise that Comrade Huang Qiangmin was preparing to strike a cool pose, he made a call to the team upstairs. In a while, a row of seven or eight detectives from the homicide squad, each carrying one or tworge boxes, as if they had just been fired, stood in front of Huang Qiangmin, then stacked up the cardboard boxes. Turning around, they were about to go back for more. Huang Qiangmin quickly stopped them and asked, ¡°What is this¡­?¡± ¡°These are all extracted from the stolen goods, which can pinpoint the cases of the criminal suspects,¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand, looking both exhausted and rxed, saying, ¡°In total, 22 cases, possibly involving six to ten groups of criminal suspects¡­¡± Question marks began to rise in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind: ¡°Suspects? New suspects?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°22?¡± ¡°Six to ten groups.¡± Finally grasping the situation, Huang Qiangmin picked up a file and started to read, his lips curving into a 90-degree smile, giving an impression of an old crocodile¡¯s sense of security. ¡°You found the criminal suspects through the stolen goods?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked after a moment, wrestling with the process of the investigation. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°From what I¡¯ve observed, many criminal suspects are quite cautious before and after the theft, but they let their guard down when ites to fencing the goods. That¡¯s when they¡¯re more likely to leave fingerprints. There indeed seem to be quite a lot of matches, though I¡¯m not sure if we have enough manpower¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have enough, I¡¯ll find some,¡± Huang Qiangmin said through clenched teeth, ncing at the journalist who had set up his camera, then adopted a fierce everyday expression, stating, ¡°Cases linked together like meat on a kebab stick, we just need to bite down hard.¡± The journalist pulled out a notebook, wrote down a couple of sentences, and then pped his hands enthusiastically, ¡°Well said, Captain Huang, I think this line could use a little more polish¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded happily, only catching someone on the phone before shouting: ¡°Liu, you owe me and it¡¯s time to pay.¡± ¡°Wang Zhong, you owe me.¡± ¡°Old Zhu, you owe me¡­ Oh, I owe you, never mind then, carry on with what you were doing.¡± Chapter 82 - 82 81 Returning the Loot ?82: Chapter 81: Returning the Loot 82: Chapter 81: Returning the Loot First team, second team, third and fourth team. Fifth team, sixth team, seventh and eighth team. ¡­ Throw them among the thieves and they disappear. Teams of criminal police were dispatched one after another, quickly filling up the case handling center, then moving people to the detention center to the point where thetter didn¡¯t want to take any more. Of course, the detention center never really wanted people whether there was an issue or not. Because they were short on manpower, Jiang Yuan also ran a couple of trips for physical examinations, then to the detention center to transfer people¡ªyoung and middle-aged men and women of themunity¡¯s main force with good health were the only ones who could be sent to detention. Those with poor health or too young in age would require the right opportunity and conditions to get in there. After all these operations, a month had passed. Finally, when thest suspect was brought for prosecution, the Diao Lan in the office had grown a whole meter. Monday. Jiang Yuan arrived half an hour early at the office and cut a part off the Diao Lan, casually cing it in a water bottle. As the saying goes: spend long enough in an office and you¡¯ll learn to garden, cultivating new species, whether you¡¯re human or not. Only those who spend all day staring up at their superiors and scolding their subordinates, those who mess around with male-female, male-male, female-female, transgender rtions, and all sorts of rtionships, are the ones who have the time to see what others are doing and yet can¡¯t even keep a potted nt alive. Wang Zhong was guarding the office and rushed over when he saw Jiang Yuan arrive, just in time to see him cut off a branch of the Diao Lan. ¡°Wow, you¡¯re even arranging flowers!¡± Wang Zhong, whose speech had been bing increasingly pleasing, hurriedly came over to help and said, ¡°If you had told me earlier, I would have sorted this flower for you. I always like messing around with nts at home¡­¡± As he spoke, Wang Zhong took the pruning shears from Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands and snip snip, trimmed off all the Diao Lan¡¯s excess leaves and branches. Outside the window, some elementary school kids¡¯ singing happened to drift in: Listen to me say thank you, it¡¯s you who warms up the four seasons. Listening to the melody, Wang Zhong felt it was quite fitting, turned around with a smile and said, ¡°Speaking of thanks, I heard that Captain Huang is organizing a ceremony to return the stolen goods.¡± ¡°Seems like it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, not knowing why as he took the pruning shears and started to trim the Diao Lan into a rounder shape. Wang Zhong smiled and said, ¡°Well¡­ ording to the order, the return of the tobo and liquor store goods would be in the first batch.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s caution had increased markedly since he had been in the criminal police team for so long. His eyebrows raised slightly as he asked, ¡°Did someone ask you for a favor?¡± ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s not that, I didn¡¯t take any money,¡± Wang Zhong exined hastily. Jiang Yuan frowned at Wang Zhong, picturing the image of the female store owner in his mind and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°If you didn¡¯t take money, then you¡¯ve got a big problem.¡± ¡°No¡­ How could, it¡¯s not what you think,¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s exnation was almost desperate. After rambling for a bit, he finally said dejectedly, ¡°It¡¯s the store owner¡¯s daughter who came to see me specifically. The girl is still studying, saying how her mother is having such a hard time, constantly in tears¡­ Of course, I expressed my sympathy¡­¡± ¡°Still studying?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression became serious. Was this the prelude to making a major mistake? ¡°She¡¯s in college, of legal age, there¡¯s nothing between us, just purely¡­ purely¡­¡± ¡°Making a request?¡± Jiang Yuan helped Wang Zhong finish his sentence. ¡°Don¡¯t be like that, I¡¯ll bring her to youter, it¡¯s really just because I think her family has it tough,¡± Wang Zhong insisted, his face red. Jiang Yuan chuckled, ¡°So what do you want me to do?¡± Wang Zhong hurriedly said, ¡°Can you talk to Captain Huang for me? Just have the tobo and liquor store¡¯s goods returned in the first batch, which actually meets the requirements set by the Political Office, just to make sure they are not squeezed out. In our team, Captain Huang listens to you¡­¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan replied without fuss, and then thought, ¡°Then this afternoon, I¡¯ll just push them to settle the returns as soon as possible.¡± His main task of ¡°following the vines to get to the melon¡± involved returning the confiscated goods back to their rightful owners. However, even in a county town like this, with so many cases and assets involved, it wasn¡¯t easy to handle freely; at the very least, fulfilling the task of signing off needed to be prioritized. If it weren¡¯t for the fear of losing the interest of the journalists, this task could have been dyed for a much longer period. Afternoon. Jiang Yuan first waited with Wang Zhong in the case hall for Sheng Ying, the daughter of the female store owner of the tobo and liquor store. Sheng Ying was quite tall¡ªat least one meter seventy-five¡ªwearing t shoes made her look exceptionally tall even in the hall. Her skin was especially fair, with long stretches exposed and no wonder Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t keep his eyes off her. After all, he was a trace examiner, and unmarked skin deserved extra attention. ¡°Officer Jiang.¡± Without needing Wang Zhong¡¯s introduction, Sheng Ying hurried over to greet him. Jiang Yuan nodded and ncing at Wang Zhong, said, ¡°Actually, you don¡¯t need toe here. I¡¯ll go talk to Captain Huang, you and Wang Zhong stay here.¡± Still a student, Sheng Ying stood somewhat uncertainly before murmuring, ¡°Then I¡¯ll thank you by inviting you to a mealter¡­¡± ¡°No need,¡± Jiang Yuan waved off and pressed the elevator button. Seeing this, Wang Zhong turned to Sheng Ying and said, ¡°Officer Jiang is like an awesome cheat mode, with him on the case, it¡¯s definitely going to be fine. To tell you the truth, Captain Huang is quite good at his job but a bit quirky, often dragging things out, just like that illnessmon to leaders, no one is targeted¡­¡± ¡°Captain Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted Comrade Huang Qiangmin, the captain of the criminal police team, who had just stepped out of the elevator. Wang Zhong¡¯s ears trembled in shock upon hearing that. A slight turn of his head and he saw Captain Huang with his lips angled up at exactly 44.4 degrees. ¡°What is it?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked, looking at Jiang Yuan. ¡°The daughter of the victim in the tobo store robbery case heard about thepensation and wants to be listed in the first batch,¡± Jiang Yuan summarized the situation simply. Huang Qiangmin gave an ¡°Oh¡± and nodded, ¡°Alright, since you guys have brought it up, we¡¯ll arrange it ordingly.¡± ¡°Thank you, thank you¡­¡± Sheng Ying¡¯s face showed happiness as she thanked both Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong. ¡°There¡¯s another thing,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, not paying attention to her but calling Jiang Yuan over, ¡°Good timing to catch you, I¡¯ll talk to you about it now.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°Our province is nning to organize a fingerprintpetition soon. The specific time is within this month; prepare yourself to represent both Ningtai County and Qinghe City in thepetition.¡± ¡°Me?¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at himself in surprise. ¡°Who else but you?¡± Huang Qiangmin smiled at a 99.9-degree angle like a crocodile that had snagged an antelope, telling Jiang Yuan, ¡°In the next few days, get well versed with fingerprinting and stay in good form. If you can make a name for yourself in one go, it¡¯ll be easier for you to be a chief inspector in the future.¡± Chapter 83 - 83 82 Fingerprint Expert Specialist ?83: Chapter 82: Fingerprint Expert Specialist 83: Chapter 82: Fingerprint Expert Specialist ¡°Madam, you wouldn¡¯t want everyone to know that the store sells contraband cigarettes, would you?¡± At the scene of the contraband recovery event, there were people openly purchasing recovered goods. After being stored for such a long time and due to improper preservation, many of the recovered goods had be oddly shaped, and some products¡¯ original channels or even owners had changed. Cigarettes and alcohol, normally considered stablemodities, seemed to have depreciated. The female owner of Xinfa Tobo & Liquor Store didn¡¯t care about that. She was under a lot of pressure, but she was absolutely thrilled to recover such a batch of cigarettes and alcohol, and was certainly unwilling to sell them off cheaply. The female owner and her daughter each grabbed a corner of the banner and presented it to the police officers at the scene. The officers, beaming with smiles, epted the banner, while the cadres from the political department were even more excited, taking photos frantically with their cameras and cellphones. Cigarettes, alcohol, bicycles, cars,puters, condoms, antiques, herbal medicines, gold and silver coins¡­ As long as the scale of the contraband recovery event wasrge enough, the variety of returned goods could be exceedingly strange. Jiang Yuan, who had just spent several days poring over ¡°Fingerprint Science,¡± watched the intiffs from various ces with delight. It should be a happy asion for someone toe to the police station joyfully and leave the criminal police squadron just as happily. Pfft. A faintly blue screen unfolded before Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes. Taskpleted: Follow the vine to get the melon. Task description: Solve more cases through the recovered goods and provide assistance to return the goods to their original owners. Completion: 85% Task reward: Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV4) Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but feel a hint of regret. Had he known the rewards were based onpletion percentage, he would have dug into his own pockets and returned the goods to the intiffs himself. That way, wouldn¡¯t the reward for the fingerprint analysis method be heading towards an LV5 standard? Spending the amount of one or two houses for an LV5 skill was practically a windfall. An LV5 dog food is tastier than an LV3 fried rice with egg. By such standards, an LV5 fingerprint analysis method might reveal its name with just one nce at the fingerprint. Thinking about it, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but chuckle to himself. ¡°You change expressions so quickly,¡± Sheng Ying came over to thank him. Jiang Yuan nced at her, still exposing her long white legs and arms, shimmering greasily under the sun, probably well-maintained. Jiang Yuan closed the system screen and said, ¡°Just thought of something. Where¡¯s Wang Zhong?¡± Sheng Ying replied, ¡°Officer Wang came out to talk to me for a bit, then hurried back to work. He seems very busy.¡± ¡°Everyone¡¯s busy today.¡± No matter the event, as long as it¡¯s a group activity, the police force naturally develops a fiercepetitive spirit and a strong sense of collective honor, which for the officers trantes into a sudden increase in workload and inexplicably varied tasks. Youngsters like Wang Zhong are always the main workforce, endlessly bustling with useful and useless tasks, never stopping until the event is over or the leaders leave the scene. Sheng Ying could understand Wang Zhong¡¯s busyness but didn¡¯t quite grasp why Jiang Yuan seemed so leisurely. She couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Don¡¯t you have things to do? Shouldn¡¯t you be at the same level as Wang Zhong?¡± ¡°I have other matters to prepare for.¡± Indeed, Jiang Yuan received ¡°precious big livestock¡± level treatment, not needing to exhaust himself over every small matter. However, Sheng Ying brightened up and said, ¡°It must be the fingerprintpetition, right? I heard about it. You have to be quite skilled to participate, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a fingerprint conve,¡± Jiang Yuan corrected her. ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as apetition, nor is there a ranking.¡± Of course, actually there would be a ranking, and there would certainly be a need forparison, but the principle of presenting a united front would not change. Sheng Ying chatted with Jiang Yuan for a while until Wang Zhong returned. Only then did she reluctantly say goodbye and leave. Wang Zhong sighed deeply as he watched Sheng Ying leave, her skin wless without a single scar: ¡°If only I hade back sooner. Who knows when her family¡¯s tobo and liquor store will report another incident.¡± ¡°You already have her phone number, added her on WeChat, and even know which school she goes to, don¡¯t you?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong¡¯s expression instantly turned bashful: ¡°What¡¯s the use of knowing all that.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Forget it, go look for Captain Huang. He¡¯s waiting for you in the political department.¡± Wang Zhong sighed again. Jiang Yuan patted Wang Zhong on the shoulder as a gesture offort. He knew that Wang Zhong had thoughts, Wang Zhong also knew that he had thoughts, and probably even Sheng Ying knew that Wang Zhong had thoughts. But after this whole line of thinking, the conclusion they¡¯de to was decidedly one that Wang Zhong would not want to ept. This too was a conclusion reached through deduction. So, deductions and all, were the most unreliable. Political Department. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan enter, Huang Qiangmin immediately started pping with a smile on his face. Following which, several other officers also stood up to p, their smiles looking as practiced as can be. Jiang Yuan looked at everyone, his face expressing confusion. ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan, congrattions, you have been honored with Qinghe City¡¯s expert in fingerprint specialization¡­¡± The director of the political department beamed as he stuffed a yellow certificate of honor into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands and then began taking photos. Huang Qiangmin was also neatly dressed. After taking a few photos with Jiang Yuan, he walked up to him to take a picture together. ¡°Captain Huang, how did thise about?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Huang Qiangmin, puzzled. ¡°It¡¯s to facilitate your participation in the fingerprint task force,¡± replied Huang Qiangmin directly, then added, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s also a genuine honor. A city-level expert isn¡¯t too overstated, but there are only a few in our bureau with that title.¡± ¡°I see, thank you,¡± Jiang Yuan said, showing a slightly happier demeanor. As expected, the director of the political department and Huang Qiangmin were both even more pleased by this. ¡°Aim for the provincial expert title as soon as possible. When that timees, we¡¯ll organize a big celebration for you throughout the bureau and celebrate properly,¡± said the director of the political department as he straightened Jiang Yuan¡¯s shirt, showing his affection. A city-level expert title was basically just for show, not very useful, and given out rather casually; still, obtaining one did mean that one had some substance. This time, Huang Qiangmin was concerned that Jiang Yuan would be at a disadvantage when he got to the provincial office, so he found a way to get him a title. After all, criminal police live on honor. For excellent subordinates, privatepanies can offer raises, public servants can get promotions, but for police officers, especially criminal investigators, aside from getting honored, there¡¯s not much room for raises and promotions. In the entire Criminal Investigation Division, apart from the division chief who is considered a leader, intermediate positions like team leaders or deputy team leaders, deputy division chiefs, or instructors have no real significance. They are equivalent to group leaders in a ss; they can lead a team and work hard themselves, but they can neither manage people nor money. Comparable positions, like police station chiefs or leaders of other departments, are also numerous monks for few porridge bowls¡ªhard to obtain. And sometimes, good performance doesn¡¯t guarantee one gets the position. As for higher-level positions, they require more political than professional ability. Just as the ¡°Police Anthem¡± sings, the road of loyalty is bathed in blood and glory. Ultimately, what police pursue in their dedication and bloody battles is glory. Huang Qiangmin, having been a policeman for decades, had his own understanding and cognition of the profession and the path of a policeman. The only thing he could offer was honor. ¡°Work hard when you get to the provincial capital, and earn some honor for our Ningtai County.¡± ¡°We¡¯re departing on the 3rd, everything at home is arranged. If you need anything, juste to me.¡± ¡°Finish up with the fingerprint work ande back early, don¡¯t let them lead you by the nose with their nonsense.¡± Huang Qiangmin took this time to give Jiang Yuan careful instructions, like a crocodile brooding over its eggs. Chapter 84 - 84 83 Identifying the Same ?84: Chapter 83: Identifying the Same 84: Chapter 83: Identifying the Same Changyang City. Under the scorching sun, traffic surged, the glossy ck silk stockings roamed the streets, and the tender long white legs swung back and forth. Jiang Yuan opened his eyes, climbed up from the hard bed, and waited a few seconds before realizing he was already staying at the Provincial Department¡¯s guest house. He drew back the curtains, outside was a lush expanse of greenery, presenting a beautiful scene that reflected generous watering. Jiang Yuan stretched and slowly folded his quilt, then took even longer to wash and dress. Two days into his stay in Changyang City for the ¡°Province-wide Fingerprint Information Case-Solving Operation,¡± Jiang Yuan hade to understand that thezy mornings were the most rxing time of the day, almost the only time to rx. Once he stepped out the door, he had to maintain his police appearance and demeanor with pride. The office, on the other hand, was another kind of terrifying freedom. You could eat, drink, and dress as you pleased, and shout as you wished, as long as you could match fingerprints with that kind of freedom. More than thirty fingerprint technicians from across the province gathered together, working themselves to the bone. Each person had to examine three thousand fingerprints a day to meet the average. Zhu Huanguang, a police officer from Changyang City, was the province¡¯s king of fingerprint matching, routinely examining over 6000 fingerprints daily, an incredible feat to outsiders. In fact, Zhu Huanguang could spend 14 hours a day reviewing fingerprints, averaging 500 fingerprints per hour, which amounted to 8 fingerprints per minute, giving roughly 8 seconds of observation time for each fingerprint. Under this intense work rate, he had already solved four cases from other cities and counties. ording to tradition, or rather, as per the normal development of fingerprint case-solving operations, the number of cases solved was bound to increase over time. This is because the experts¡¯ familiarity with the fingerprints would slowly grow, and as time went on, more and more cases would be solved. This was one of the reasons why fingerprint case-solving operations were continuously promoted. In the past, fingerprint experts worked individually in various units, and not only did theypete with each other, but they also had to attend meetings and do other misceneous tasks that anyone in the unit could do, preventing them from focusing solely on fingerprintparison. The fingerprint operation was different. During the fingerprint operation, the provincial department or ministry covered amodation, round-trip travel expenses, and business trip allowances, bringing fingerprint experts from all over to focus solely onparing fingerprints and thereby umte familiarity with them, continuously increasing the probability of solving cases¡­ The fingerprint experts were also very happy. They were all in their thirties and older, sleeping in dormitories, eating in canteens, not having to worry whether their wives were happy, whether their children had done their homework or if their parents had quarreled. They didn¡¯t need to read the mood of their leaders or deal with their colleagues¡¯ petty schemes. Every day, what they faced were dozens of familiar yet strange faces, hundreds of familiar yet strange fingerprints, and the ¡°Unsolved Cases Solved Rankings¡± on the wall. Life couldn¡¯t be morefortable. The reason why such a mutually beneficial event still had a time limit was mainly because the provincial department was worried about working the experts to death. Of course, the experts¡¯ states and case-solving efficiency varied. For example, on the office¡¯s ¡°Unsolved Cases Solved Rankings,¡± behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s name, the number of cases solved was a clear zero, ranking himst alongside a dozen other technicians. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem to be in a hurry. Upon arriving at the office, he first brewed himself a cup of tea before surveying his surroundings. Comrade Zhu Huanguang was engrossed in his work; fingerprints flew across hisputer screen. Next to him, a female colleague was applying eye drops to herself. Beside her, a chubby colleague was eating a pancake, his screen also flickering with scrolling fingerprints. Honestly, the state of this office looked very much like a study room for an over-aged college entrance exam, no matter how you looked at it. ¡°Xiao Jiang, you still haven¡¯t broken your zero, not in a hurry?¡± The uncle at the next workstation looked over with a teasing smile. He had bummed half a pack of Zhonghua from Jiang Yuan the day before, and they had be fast friends. Jiang Yuan smiled and turned to him, ¡°Don¡¯t you also have a zero?¡± ¡°I¡¯m used to it,¡± said the uncle with a grin. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you guys.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯d better hurry up and catch up,¡± said Jiang Yuan,pleting his daily banter, and turned his attention to the screen. Before long, in the study room¡­ no, in the ¡°Provincial Fingerprint Information Crime-Solving Operation¡± office, only the sound of keyboard and mouse clicks remained. Jiang Yuan sat back in his chair, also gazing at theputer screen, and after marking a characteristic point, he would look at many other fingerprints. The fingerprintparisons during the operation differed markedly from routineparisons. First, the fingerprints selected for the operation were those sent from various locations, with limited numbers and quotas, along with an entry and exit mechanism. To put it simply, petty cases were rejected, those without the benefit of time were not considered, and fingerprints that hadn¡¯t undergone multiple matches by respective local forensic teams were also excluded. Therefore, the fingerprints that made it into the operation were either from significant crimes orplex ones that were difficult to solve. Some of the fingerprints could be as sparse as one-fifth or even one-sixth of a normal fingerprint, yet still required an attempt to match. For these challenging fingerprints, relying on the fingerprint matching system was pointless. This was something that ordinary forensic technicians could do, there was no need to go through the trouble of filling out various reports and then submitting them to experts for processing. For this reason, the fingerprint experts in the office, when dealing with difficult fingerprints, set the number of candidate prints directly at 200 or even more than 300. It was tantamount to maximizing the role of humans, or rather, maximising the workload on humans. Prints that would normally be filtered out by software were now being scrutinized all over again by human effort, and it had to be the highest level of expertise in forensics. But without this approach, most cold cases would be impossible to solve using regr software systems. This represented one of the significant differences between criminal investigation technology and ordinary technology. While ordinary technology might prioritize cost-effectiveness, willing to sacrifice some functionality to ensure cost and efficiency, criminal investigation technology also considered costs and sought a return on investment, but at times, would spare no expense to solve a case. This logical conflict had been troublesome for the experts from the beginning. However, this quandary did not affect Jiang Yuan. All he wanted was to simply match fingerprints, which he was indeed doing. At that moment, a fingerprint resembling a parallelogram passed by in front of Jiang Yuan. A fingerprint he had seen the day before immediately sprang to mind, which also featured the umon parallelogram pattern and belonged to a rare and perverse rapist. Although, the fingerprint that had just flicked past on the software system showed no connection with the one viewed the day before¡ªit appeared while Jiang Yuan wasparing prints for a robbery case. But the first thing Jiang Yuan thought to do was to bring the two together for a manualparison. Both fingerprints were incredibly blurry. While they both appeared to have a distinct parallelogram shape to the human eye, the software system did not agree with this assessment¡ªthe points, grooves, and ridges inside these prints only matched by less than 30%. Yet, the direction of the ridgelines was consistent. This indicated that one of the fingerprints was blurred exactly at a critical area and might have severe deformation, and the other print was likely in a simr condition. As Jiang Yuan thought andpared, and after triple-checking, he finally lightly clicked the right mouse button on the right side, marking it: determined as identical. Instantaneously, a continuous ¡°ding-dong¡± sound arose from every corner of the office. All the experts present who hadn¡¯t turned off the notifications became aware of a new development¡ªsomeone had made a determination of identity on a fingerprint. Chapter 85 - 85 84 Long-standing Frustration ?85: Chapter 84 Long-standing Frustration 85: Chapter 84 Long-standing Frustration When ordinary trace examiners handle cold case fingerprints and produce results, they must submit them to fingerprint experts for review. Some provinces and cities have dedicated organizations like ¡°Fingerprint Expert Committee¡± for fingerprint review. However, most consider using expert manpower a waste and adopt a model where a designated person collects fingerprints, then assigns them to experts for matching, and finally consolidates their opinions, as in Shannan Province. However, during a fingerprint battle, there¡¯s no need for such formalities. Everyone present is an expert, and skipping them to consult other experts would not only be troublesome but might raise doubts among them¡ªwhether actively participating in a campaign organized by the provincial department might cast doubt on one¡¯s expert status. It also aims to increase everyone¡¯s job enjoyment and help them learn from each other. During the fingerprint battle, the experts present review each other¡¯s work. As long as 11 expertsplete the review and the majority vote ¡°agree to identify,¡± the fingerprint matching is considered sessful. The provincial department¡¯s fingerprint desk can then send a letter to the local detective team to organize an arrest. However, even if 11 experts havepleted the review, the fingerprint match will remain in the system, awaiting further review by other experts. If subsequent experts continue to choose ¡°agree to identify¡± or if the majority chooses ¡°agree to identify,¡± it won¡¯t affect the follow-up actions for that fingerprint match. But during the entire process, if someone chooses ¡°identify exclusion,¡± it may enter into a new round of discussion and judgment. For this reason, selecting ¡°identify exclusion¡± is a decision made with extreme caution, as it is only chosen when there is strong confidence and a solid basis for judgment. Li Zemin, the uncle next to Jiang Yuan, clicked on the system¡¯s message notification as soon as possible. Always slow to get into the zone due to his age, he couldn¡¯t keep up with the younger generation, hence he often loafed during the first few days and only started to make an effort after three or four days into the fingerprint battle. However, Li Zemin was still very concerned and curious about other fingerprint experts¡¯ identifications. The target fingerprints in the fingerprint battle¡¯s database are not simple. Most of the fingerprints are key ones that have been read andpared by the experts. No county bureau would casually provide a key fingerprint from a major case to the provincial department without multiple attempts. And naturally, the experts involved in the fingerprint battle weren¡¯t easy to deal with either. Being top-notch experts in the trace examination field within a province, with a wealth of experience and professional skills, they would first choose the methods they were best at, pick fingerprints they were most likely to match sessfully, and then spend several hours or even days attempting to match fingerprints. Most fingerprint experts, during the 14-day period of a fingerprint battle, consider it quite a sess if they can do one or two such matches. And toplete such a match, fingerprint experts naturally have to use all their tricks. Li Zemin¡¯s favorite thing was to watch his colleagues exert all their effort while pretending as if nothing were happening. There were a total of 12 notifications in the system messages, indicating that 12 cold case fingerprints had been cracked. Li Zemin had already agreed with the first 11 notifications. There wasn¡¯t much to say about that; the first batch of fingerprintspleted were carefully studied and self-reviewed by the experts, and few were willing to spend a lot of time achieving someone else¡¯s ¡°identify exclusion.¡± Thetest system notification, upon clicking, revealed two fingerprints that, to Li Zemin¡¯s expectation, could be easily identified as the same after a brief assessment. Positive matching is rtively easy, like asking an ordinary person to find two pigs that look most alike in a group¡ªit¡¯s naturally very difficult. But if you bring two pigs to them and ask if they look alike, most people can give a reliable answer. Not to mention experts. Li Zemin lightly manipted the mouse and clicked ¡°agree¡± on thetest system notification. Then, Li Zemin looked at the detailed fingerprint information. At that moment, Li Zemin noticed that the person who signed off on ¡°identify as the same¡± was Jiang Yuan next to him. ¡°Lucky guy,¡± Li Zemin muttered to himself and continued to look at the fingerprints. The first thing Li Zemin noticed was the quadrteral structure of the fingerprints. He couldn¡¯t help but smile and again praised Jiang Yuan¡¯s good fortune. However, when he saw the details of the characteristic points of the two fingerprints, Li Zemin¡¯s brow furrowed involuntarily. Well done, well done¡­ Li Zemin couldn¡¯t help but turn his head to look at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Did you do this fingerprint match yourself, and it wasn¡¯t chewed out by the software?¡± The matching in the software system has its rules. The most basic principle is the matching of a certain number of characteristic points. More advanced systems can use a scoring system, releasing a match when it reaches a certain score. But as Li Zemin looked at the two fingerprints, even when brought together, they didn¡¯t seem to have enough characteristic points to match. However, by human standards, or rather, byparing not just characteristic points but also structures like points, lines, and nes, they could indeed be determined to be the same. This could be said to be a very old-fashioned way of fingerprint matching. Before the era of automaticputer system matching, this was essentially the method everyone used. It¡¯s just that it¡¯s be lessmon now. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes were glued to the screen. As he manipted the mouse, he said, ¡°I was looking at some other fingerprints when I suddenly saw it. I pulled it over for aparison, and it matched up.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ve got a good memory for fingerprints.¡± Li Zemin smiled, understanding what Jiang Yuan meant. It was quite normal to think ofparing a fingerprint with such a unique quadrteral structure upon encountering one. But really, when ites to fingerprint structures, within such a small area, just one square centimeter, besides quadrteral fingerprints, there could also be pentagonal, hexagonal, circr, and other structures. One would need to have a deep memory of fingerprints to achieve this. ¡°Luck was on my side.¡± Jiang Yuan replied curtly, very much in a perfunctory manner. Li Zeminughed heartily and patted Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Now you¡¯re in luck. You¡¯re young and have already scored a victory in the fingerprint battle. No more pressure for you from now on. The pressure¡¯s all on us old guys.¡± While he was speaking, others also agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°determination of sameness¡±, and the ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Leaderboard¡± projected on the wall at the front of the office was immediately updated. Jiang Yuan¡¯s name rose by more than twenty ces, reaching a middle position. To his right, in the column for his achievements, the number ¡°1¡± appeared definitively. Li Zemin¡¯s name was still behind, and he had only a ¡°0¡± in his achievements. But he wasn¡¯t worried, for going from 0 to 1 was never difficult. Li Zemin even had time to continue reviewing the case that had just been determined to be of the same person. ¡°It¡¯s the strong aggravated molestation of a minor girl case from Miao River County. This person hasmitted three roaming offenses, right? I thought it seemed familiar!¡± Li Zemin took a sharp breath and eximed. Many people looked over, but most only heard the noise and were somewhat moved by it. Within the umted cold cases of the provincial office, there were numerous significant cases, and human memory is, after all, limited. However, there were forensic officers from Miao River County present in the office, and one of them stood up and came over to ask directly, ¡°Did you solve 515?¡± ¡°Not me, Jiang Yuan got the match. It¡¯s from Ningtai County Bureau, right?¡± Li Zemin stepped aside and introduced Jiang Yuan, ¡°Qian Ming Yu is a fingerprint expert from Miao River County, and he¡¯s had 20 years on the job as well.¡± ¡°20 years doesn¡¯t help. I¡¯ve been focused on case 515 for several years. All three victims were middle school students. After the incidents, the parents came looking for our bureau numerous times. Eventually, the victims couldn¡¯t stay in the county any longer. They moved away one after another, only asionally calling to inquire¡­¡± Qian Ming Yu seemed slightly younger than Li Zemin and sighed as he spoke. Jiang Yuan stated matter-of-factly, ¡°I came across a quadrteral fingerprint,pared it, and determined it to be the same.¡± ¡°Let me see, from where?¡± Qian Ming Yu, more familiar with Li Zemin, directly looked at hisputer. Li Zemin gave up his ce and took a nce himself, saying, ¡°From Wan Xiang City, it¡¯s a bit far.¡± Wan Xiang City and Miao River County were located at the western and eastern ends respectively, virtually spanning the bounds of Shan Nan Province. Qian Ming Yu gave a heavy ¡°Mhm¡± and nodded to Jiang Yuan before taking out his phone and saying, ¡°I¡¯ll give our squad leader a heads up. This case has been a sore spot in our county for a long time.¡± Chapter 86 - 86 85 The Core ?86: Chapter 85: The Core 86: Chapter 85: The Core The office returned to tranquility, like a study room, where asionally someone would unt a disy of affection, seemingly drawing everyone¡¯s attention, but once the incident passed, it would generally be forgotten. The work in front of everyone was, at that moment, the most important thing. Jiang Yuan too returned to his seat and continued to select fingerprints that were suitable for him. He specifically looked for more obscure fingerprints, those with less than ideal conditions, forparison. Compared to standard forensic analysis, he was also able to utilize ¡°Image Enhancement Technology (Level 3)¡± to process the fingerprint images. In fact, the current automatic fingerprint identification system also processes images. Refinement, de-noising, ridge separation, and ridge extraction¡ªall of these operations are automaticallypleted in the background by theputer, sparing the forensic technicians from too much concern. But given the current level of technology, an automatic fingerprint identification system cannot outperform the manual skills of an expert. Jiang Yuan directly pulled up a surveince-like posture and selected an image that was as blurry as the bottom of a pot in just a moment¡¯s time. Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer tower thus began to stir. Ao ao ao¡­ The tower Jiang Yuan was now using was fairly well-equipped, being a newputer centrally purchased by the provincial department. However, after it was assigned to the forensic workstations, it had practically never exerted its graphics card and CPU for over two years. At Jiang Yuan¡¯smand, its fans whirred furiously, the noise almost crying out: Why am I so hot? I¡¯m scared. Jiang Yuan stood up, waved a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes at Li Zemin next to him, and invited him, ¡°How about a cigarette outside?¡± Li Zemin found Jiang Yuan¡¯s machine noisy too, and keen to bum a smoke, he immediately followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s steps. Stepping out of the office, they exchanged a cigarette and began puffing smoke into the air. Jiang Yuan only took mouthfuls of his cigarette, mostly holding it with his hand while staring nkly ahead. Li Zemin didn¡¯t care much, only after finishing one cigarette did he let out a satisfied sigh, lit another, and asked, ¡°Why is yourputer so loud?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I¡¯m doing image processing. Is it too loud?¡± Li Zemin knew a bit about it and looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Processing fingerprints that loud, your skills must be quite impressive.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can do Image Enhancement like the surveince videos, trying it on fingerprint images to see if it works, but I¡¯m not yet sure about the results.¡± ¡°If it works, they should set up a separate space for you, or find a ce specifically for you to process images,¡± Li Zemin remarked with emotion, ¡°You young people are really impressive, unlike us, who struggled to death learning about fingerprints back in the day¡­ By the way, to what extent can your technology enhance images?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say, the blurry ones will be a bit clearer, but it¡¯s targeted,¡± Jiang Yuan did not borate much, as he had not truly experienced it himself. In general, using Image Enhancement technology on fingerprints is a bit like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Whether it¡¯s suitable or not, he himself couldn¡¯t be sure. However, one thing was certain. During the period of the fingerprintpetition, the dozens of fingerprint experts on site were, in reality, inpetition with each other. Whening across a fingerprint, the first thing they considered was whether other fingerprint experts had seen it and why it hadn¡¯t been matched. What was the reason for its non-matching? If the reason for non-matching was an issue with pairing, then even the best feature points one contributed would be useless. If the fingerprint was too degraded, it meant that if others couldn¡¯t match it, it was very likely that one couldn¡¯t either. It was for this reason that some fingerprint experts proposed a strategy for the fingerprintpetition: ¡°Don¡¯t work on the clear ones, don¡¯t work on the too vague ones, just try the ones in between.¡± It sounded simple, as if it was a strategy one could spin around oneself, but with careful consideration, it was a highly valuable strategy. In such circumstances, working on very clear fingerprints was, in fact, not of value. The same was true for the too vague fingerprints. Only those of moderate rity were the focus of the work of many fingerprint experts. However, considering how many fingerprint experts were eyeing these moderately clear fingerprints, that focus also became a difficulty. Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to process more blurred images thus became uniquely his own. Back in the office, Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer had stopped roaring. The fan was turning weakly, like a special trader who had just entertained a crowd, breathing heavily just to prove it could still breathe, while taking pride in the substantial results fetched from its recent work. Jiang Yuan looked at the fingerprint image on the screen, noticing many more distinguishable ridges than before. Jiang Yuan nodded in satisfaction. Images weren¡¯t feared for being blurred, the fear was having no pixels to work with, all needing to be filled in, making truth and deception indistinguishable in forensic imaging. An image as blurry as the bottom of a pot was instead simpler; processing the pixels that could be processed, with the rest being usable. Jiang Yuan tried to choose the more urate parts of the image to support, then identify the feature points, and finally run the software. The first time, 100 fingerprints, no match. The second time, Jiang Yuan selected new feature points, refreshed with 200 fingerprints, and on the 47th one found a simr fingerprint. Simr, not identical, because both fingerprints had been processed, and there weren¡¯t many ces where the feature points matched. But such situations were mostmon with challenging fingerprints. For the same reasons, if the feature points could easily match, why would they be sent to the provincial department, and enter the fingerprintpetition? Here, theputer¡¯s automated judgments were relegated to a secondary role. The corepetitiveness of fingerprint experts alwaysy in human judgment. The current fingerprint automatic identification system was, in essence, a numerical system. It did not make image judgments but instead assigned values to images to make numerical assessments. Frankly speaking, the fingerprint automatic identification system recognized endpoints and bifurcations; it was effective for most feature points, but for some traditional features, like dots, hooks, crosses, bridges, inds, broken lines, etc., the systemcked discernment. Furthermore, aspects like the flow direction of the ridge lines or the pattern type, which are not easily articted, posed even more of a challenge for the system. In the environment of the fingerprintpetition, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have to dwell on theputer¡¯s feature points; he annotated ording to the traditional Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, then right-clicked to select ¡°Confirm as Identical.¡± Ding-dong. In the office, the prompt for a new message rang out in unison. Li Zemin instinctively looked toward Jiang Yuan next to him, only to see Jiang Yuan slowly opening a new pack of Zhonghua. Chapter 87 - 87 Listing Remarks ?87: Listing Remarks 87: Listing Remarks At the stroke of midnight on July 1st, ¡°National Forensic Doctor¡± was on the shelves. I can¡¯t help but reminisce about the time my first book went on sale¡­ Lately, I¡¯ve been prone to looking back, perhaps worried that I won¡¯t be able to break through anymore. When I asionally nce at the group chat, many old readers are still there. Many of them don¡¯t really read my books anymore, but they persist in chatting in the group, which is both heartwarming and sad. Breaking through has always been tough for an author. When I decided to write a new book, I couldn¡¯t help but look back at my previous works. Often, I find it hard to determine if what I¡¯m continuing is correct, if my breakthroughs are outdated, if there is a path to follow, or a new path to forge for the direction I¡¯m moving in. The inspiration for ¡°National Forensic Doctor¡± came from ¡°Crime Scene Investigation,¡± or the American TV show CSI. It¡¯s a show from almost 20 years ago, and I can hardly remember the stories now, but I¡¯ve always been interested in the technical aspects involved in the show. Crime investigation themes, or rather, crime dramas have always been my interest. I¡¯ve also always had the idea of writing a detective novel. But in the past, when people mentioned detective novels, the first thing they thought of was Sherlock Holmes, they talked about Conan, they discussed reasoning¡­ A detective novel from a liberal arts student! Byparison, TV shows like CSI tended to showcase more of the technical stuff. Perhaps that¡¯s just one of the differences in the ways film and novels are presented. However, the medium of online novels actually has many advantages. Especially the well-known technical genre, which I¡¯m very good at, may be better suited for writing a detective novel from a science student¡¯s perspective. Let the technology do the talking. That is how criminal investigations are conducted nowadays, after all. However, during the writing process of this book, I also encountered many difficulties, both expected and unexpected. For example, the various ¡°can¡¯t say¡± and different kinds of confidentiality, talking with some policemen, forensic doctors, or criminal investigators, and inevitably hitting upon a ¡°Ah, this can¡¯t be written,¡± or ¡°Can¡¯t talk about the specifics of this¡±¡­ Even when downloading papers, I often find that I can¡¯t download or read them. I guess that¡¯s one of the reasons many authors are deterred from venturing into this field. Of course, I always believe that the most important thing about a novel should be that it¡¯s interesting. A novel that can¡¯t engage people, that doesn¡¯t evoke a desire to read, what value does it have? Fortunately, the market always provides significant feedback. In the world of online novels, the readers¡¯ ratings, subscriptions, rewards, and votes are the biggest evaluation system. I hope to win everyone¡¯s approval. Tonight, my value will be determined by the readers. Please be kind. That¡¯s all. Chapter 88 - 88 86 The Fruits of Battle ?88: Chapter 86: The Fruits of Battle 88: Chapter 86: The Fruits of Battle Li Zemin casually clicked to open the new message alert and, after tapping once more, two fingerprints appeared quietly on the left and right sides of the screen. However, unlike the ¡°identical¡± fingerprints Jiang Yuan had determinedst time, this time the fingerprint on the left could be described as a blur that reached the sky. Li Zemin couldn¡¯t help but rub his eyes and said in surprise, ¡°It¡¯s blurred to this extent?¡± ¡°Most of the blur is actually noise; once processed, it¡¯s not so exaggerated,¡± Jiang Yuan simplymented. Li Zemin clicked his tongue twice and leaned closer to the screen on the left, examining it carefully. After a while, Li Zemin raised his head with a couple of more clicks of his tongue and clicked approve on the right side of the new message. He too had identified them as identical purely based on ridge patterns and types, but he hadn¡¯t used this method in a while. Looking up again, Jiang Yuan¡¯s count of victories had already changed to ¡°2,¡± meaning that 11 experts had already agreed on the match. ¡°Old already,¡± Li Zemin pped his forehead and looked around, only to find that Jiang Yuan and the Zhonghua cigarettes were nowhere to be seen, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s mainputer was wailing again. Li Zemin hurried out of the office and found a few guys puffing away in the shade on the balcony ahead. ¡°Taking a break, I see,¡± Li Zemin said with a grin as he walked up to them. ¡°Want one?¡± Jiang Yuan offered a cigarette to Li Zemin. ¡°Sure thing,¡± Li Zemin happily epted the cigarette and said with a smile, ¡°The image you processed just now was pretty impressive. With image processing skills like that and now working in trace evidence, it¡¯s a waste.¡± ¡°Waste what, image processing is all just smoke and mirrors,¡± Qian Ming Yu from Miao He County¡¯s trace evidence department, impressed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent hit on case 515, said, adding, ¡°Not to say that imaging isn¡¯t good for solving cases, but fingerprints are the king of evidence for solving crimes. If you¡¯re good with fingerprints, there¡¯s no need to waste time on imaging. Plus, staring at a screen all day could ruin your eyesight.¡± With that, everyone present burst intoughter. Between those who work with fingerprints and those who work with imaging, it¡¯s really hard to say who will ruin their eyesight first. ¡°What was the case Jiang Yuan just cracked? I rushed out so quickly that I forgot to check,¡± Li Zemin asked again. He had been too focused on the soft Zhonghua cigarettes and hadn¡¯t clicked to see the detailed information. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It was an arson case, at the Fumin Building in Changyang City.¡± ¡°No wonder it was a fingerprint from an arson case,¡± Li Zemin nodded and asked, ¡°How about the suspect? The one who was matched.¡± ¡°Serving time in prison. For arson,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Li Zemin paused, then chuckled, ¡°Well, it seems there¡¯s no problem then.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed and offered him another cigarette. Li Zemin puffed away and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to have one?¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°Someone said that passive smoking still absorbs nicotine or whatever, I¡¯ve quit.¡± ¡°Then the cigarettes you bought are going to be a waste,¡± Li Zemin said with a hint of regret as he took a deep drag. ¡°That way, there¡¯s more for everyone else. Plus, it¡¯s an excuse to get some fresh air,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. ¡°That¡¯s the right way to think, broaden your path,¡± Li Zemin said, looking at Jiang Yuan with admiration. Working as a criminal police officer for so long, one understands human rtionships well. The types of people he admired the most were those who were either excellent in business or in handling people and matters. And Jiang Yuan, when offering a Zhonghua, had both qualities. After bumming a couple of cigarettes with the others, Jiang Yuan returned to his office, where the howling of his mainputer had ceased. The mainputer, which had never done such hard work before, sounded like it was panting, and when Jiang Yuan started to move the mouse, the fans spun wildly as if to say: Can you hurry up? Jiang Yuan ignored the sounds of the mainputer, and with focused calm, started to mark the characteristics on the processed fingerprint image. This time, he was dealing with a terribly blurred blood fingerprint, perhaps taken from ss or something, still showing some reflections. To the naked eye, the overall quality was very poor. However, after image processing, it was barely presentable. Yet, even such a fingerprint image would be nearly impossible for an ordinary trace examiner to mark now. The so-called image enhancement is a concept simr to beauty camera apps. Turning a pitch-ck fingerprint into a clear and fair fingerprint with distinct lines is fundamentally the same as transforming a pitch-ck face into a fair one with clear outlines. However, image enhancement in criminal investigation is a bit more special, with specific requirements for the distortion and changes in lines. After processing the image, marking the feature points requires avoiding certain special areas. Jiang Yuan had to be extra careful with his markings because of this. Li Zemin rubbed his ears with a somewhat amused look at Jiang Yuan beside him, then at theputer that asionally emitted a noise as if it hadn¡¯t yet recovered its strength. Truth be told, the noise is really annoying, but if it actually leads to a fingerprint match, then even if the director came, he¡¯d have to put up with it with cotton in his ears. Of course, the most direct solution should be to switchputers or to provide a dedicated space. Someone was probably alreadyining, maybe even someone who would call the director directly. Li Zemin thought that Jiang Yuan probably didn¡¯t care too much about this. After all, everyone is serving the people. If the machine is worked to the bone, doesn¡¯t that show the depth of the person¡¯s dedication? As long as results are produced, calling the director over to take a look might be even better. As he was thinking this, he saw the head of the fingerprint department, Yang Ling, entering the office. The Fingerprint Department of the Shannan Provincial Department is a section-level organization with single-digit staffing, mainly ying a role in transmitting information up and down the chain. Activities such as fingerprintpetitions are also organized and arranged by the Fingerprint Department. Yang Ling, the head of the Fingerprint Department of Shannan Provincial Department, in her thirties, is a high-achieving graduate of the Criminal Police Academy. She is skilled and capable, with a solid grasp of social niceties, and she easilymands a team of nearsighted middle-aged and elderly trace examiners. As she entered the office, Yang Ling wore a full smile on her face, and upon reaching Jiang Yuan, she whispered, ¡°Jiang, do you have a moment?¡± Using the title ¡°Teacher¡± was a sign of utmost politeness. Looking up to see it was Yang Ling, Jiang Yuan also returned the smile, but hesitating briefly, he said, ¡°I¡¯m really sorry, could you wait for a minute? This looks promising.¡± ¡°Understandable, understandable,¡± Yang Ling immediately nodded. During the fingerprintpetition, reading fingerprints was of utmost importance, and she didn¡¯t need to rush every second. Out of politeness, Yang Ling simply walked around the desk to stand beside Jiang Yuan. From her position, she could also see the fingerprint image on Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen. The two images on the left and right did indeed bear a striking resemnce to each other. Yang Ling¡¯s expression became much more serious. The cases here, if taken outside, are each capable of affecting many people¡¯s hearts. Even situated within the department, seeing various cases every day, Yang Ling could not dare to take them lightly. Moreover, despite the department holding a fingerprintpetition every few months, bringing together several dozen fingerprint experts to work day and night for half a month, only managing to solve over 50 cases was still worth noting. Divided amongst each fingerprint expert, on average, it was about one case per person. And everyone with an averaged-out wage should know that averaging one case per person means that many experts end up with nothing. Not getting results isn¡¯t an issue; if an expert could be assured of sess after 14 days of effort, there wouldn¡¯t be so many unsolved cases piling up in the department. Correspondingly, the fact that the fingerprint Jiang Yuan was working on looked promising meant that Yang Ling would neither dare nor wish to interfere with his work. Jiang Yuan continued to check back and forth, eventually opening the original bloody fingerprint for a closer look. About two to three minutester, Jiang Yuan finalized his submission for ¡°confirmed as the same,¡± heaved a sigh of relief, and looked at Yang Ling, saying, ¡°Sorry about that, I was just at thest step.¡± ¡°No problem, no problem,¡± Yang Ling waved her hands dismissively, ncing once more at Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen from the corner of her eye. At that moment, she saw the number of experts ¡°agreeing¡± with Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°same identification¡± rising swiftly in the lower right corner of his screen. Many people noticed that the head of the fingerprint department, Director Yang, had arrived, and it was only natural for them to take a nce at the newly updated message. After seeing the new message, agreeing with Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°same identification¡± was a matter of course. On the wall in front of the office, projected by the projector, the ranking of results showed Jiang Yuan leaping to second ce, just one result behind the first-ranked Zhu Huanguang. ¡°Earlier, were you looking for me regarding something?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Yang Ling. Chapter 89 - 89 87 What Was It Again ?89: Chapter 87 What Was It Again 89: Chapter 87 What Was It Again ¡°¡±¡± ¡°Hmm¡­the matter¡­the matter is actually quite simple¡­I just saw that you were working on a blood fingerprint, what case is it?¡± Yang Ling did not immediately answer Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, but instead posed a new one. In her understanding of fingerprint experts, if there was something difficult to discuss, just talking about fingerprints would suffice. After chatting about fingerprints for a while, and once they were pleased, all conversations would be easier. Jiang Yuan, unaware of Yang Ling¡¯s approach, simply opened the screen and said, ¡°It¡¯s a case from over a decade ago, a robbery that involved killing a taxi driver. This fingerprint was collected on the outskirts of Changyang City.¡± ¡°A homicide case from Changyang City?¡± Yang Ling was surprised by Jiang Yuan¡¯sposure. Jiang Yuan¡¯s surprise was more directed at the skill of image enhancement. He had not expected that a technique initially intended for surveince video and the like, whenbined with fingerprint identification, would prove to be so powerful. Suppressing his personal emotions, Jiang Yuan grabbed the mouse, opened the case description, and continued, ¡°It¡¯s a 16-year-old homicide case. The criminal police from Changyang City obtained this bloody handprint from the rear passenger window, photographed it for record-keeping, but it was never matched.¡± The key words he mentioned might sound ordinary to ayman, but the experts present all frowned upon hearing them. For instance, the bloody handprint collected by the criminal police, the mention of photographing and record-keeping, sounded extremely unprofessional¡ªreferring to the police. The fingerprinting environment in earlier years was like this, with many fingerprints not properly collected, the capabilities of practitioners insufficient, and marked by overconfidence, resulting in many fingerprints that could have been direct tickets to prison for the criminals, yet failed to send them there. At this moment, Li Zemin was looking at his ownputer screen. He had already evaluated Jiang Yuan¡¯s new findings, but was still focusing on the fingerprint, studying it himself, and said, ¡°Jiang is indeed armed with special tactics, perfect for dealing with these potsticker-like fingerprints.¡± ¡°Call me Xiao Jiang, or just Jiang Yuan is fine,¡± Jiang Yuan hastily responded with modesty. In this office, there were many experts old enough to be his father, and only Section Chief Yang Ling and he were the youngest. Even Yang Ling was about ten years his senior. But at the moment, Yang Ling was the person least concerned about age. Solving homicides in a fingerprint battle is no easy task. In fact, any cold case homicide is very difficult to crack. Given the current level of attention to homicides, each one is like a giant elephant painted with a target. As it passes by, no one can ignore it. Basically, the only reason it can¡¯t be brought down is the inability to do so. The homicides that enter the fingerprint battle are usually cold cases with key fingerprints, having beenpared by countless people. A 16-year-old cold case would definitely have entered the system before she took office. Yang Ling didn¡¯t think there was any element of luck involved in this. ¡°Congrattions, congrattions,¡± Yang Ling started with pleasantries, then quickly added, ¡°Wait a moment, I¡¯ll make a phone call to the office to have them expedite the issuance of a letter. This should be our first homicide fingerprint of this fingerprint battle, right?¡± ¡°It is the first homicide case, and Jiang Yuan has taken the lead,¡± Li Zemin already started working on his behalf. Yang Ling¡¯s expression softened considerably. She nodded with a smile and then took the phone out to make contact. Besides pushing the office to issue the letter quickly, she would certainly have to report to her superiors. The two most important tasks for a police officer are undoubtedly homicide cases and ¡°other tasks assigned by superiors.¡± Now that there¡¯s news of a breakthrough in a homicide case to report to higher-ups, it¡¯s doubly important and also a crucial moment to highlight the significance of the fingerprint department. Yang Ling came and went, and therge office area quickly returned to serenity. Those who are fingerprint experts typically have the temperament to stay seated and focused, and generally speaking, their social skills are¡ªput nicely¡ªdiminished. Even with such significant news as the solving of a homicide, there was still no atmosphere of discussion, only the light from the ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Ranking¡± board in the front right twinkling away. Jiang Yuan looked again at the just-matched homicide fingerprint. This was also his first cold case homicide fingerprint match. The owner of the fingerprint was a career criminal, repeatedly imprisoned for violent crimes, and had only quieted down in thest few years. ording to the records, the suspect had aged, started collecting social security retirement benefits, and entered the stage of doting on grandchildren. The homicide hemitted, along with its dreadful social impact and subsequent serious injuries, was enough to ensure that all his hopes for the future would be shattered. To match this fingerprint, Jiang Yuan employed the level 4 Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, tried the level 3 Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, and utilized level 4 image enhancement¡ªit was a full disy of his equipment. It was only with two level 4 skillsplementing each other that Jiang Yuan could handle it with such ease. In terms of sheer strength, Jiang Yuan should also be considered the peak within this office. A provincial powerhouse! And he was among the top tier. ¡°¡±¡± Three victories already surpassed most of the experts participating in this operation. Based on past experience, the bottom ten or so experts might not achieve even one victory. Fingerprintparison is a task where good fortune ys a part in achieving the best results, but if one can¡¯t perform the task well, then luck is meaningless. Even Jiang Yuan himself hadn¡¯t expected to match three fingerprints within a single day. Jiang Yuan was engrossed for quite a while before he opened the special folder for the operation and silently began to sift through fingerprints. Fingerprints smeared into a lump of bronze, a clump of silver, a pool of gold, and the S-level fingerprints smeared into scallion pancakes, the SS-level fingerprints smeared into spicy soup, and the most formidable, the legendary SSS-level fingerprints smeared into a piece as solid as an iron disc¡­ Which fingerprint should he choose? Whirr¡­ Theputer tower made an inexplicable noise, likely because the heat umted inside the case was too much, and the fans were actively trying to push some of it out. Jiang Yuan frowned. With his LV4 Image Enhancement skills, he judged that the brokenputer tower beneath him was probably at its limit with the silver fingerprint. If it broke down in the middle of work, just being halfway through and it breaking would be infuriating. And it could also disrupt the work of others. At that moment, Yang Ling walked back into the main office with a smile. ¡°Expert Jiang,¡± Yang Ling called out deliberately, her enthusiasm tinged with a hint of informality as she broached the subject. ¡°I¡¯ve been following up on the three cases you solved, and the results are remarkable.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look up. Yang Ling grinned to herself, thinking that experts all had their ways. Counting on her fingers, she said, ¡°For the first case, Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigade dispatched three cars and a dozen people all at once to make arrests in Wan Xiang City. On their part, Wan Xiang City was also prepared with two cars and even mobilized their technical surveince to confirm the suspect¡¯s location.¡± ¡°The suspect in the second case, the arson case, has basically confessed. He¡¯s been in prison for several years now. When he was taken out for questioning and saw that even people from the prosecution office were there, he hardly resisted and only requested leniency in sentencing.¡± ¡°The third case, the murder with the bloody handprint, Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment just recently organized and mobilized dozens of officers and they have gone to establish a defense.¡± Yang Ling mentioned only the specific cases, not the fingerprint campaign, so as not to upset other experts. Listening to this, Jiang Yuan felt utterly ted; to sit and sift through fingerprints was one thing, but actually seeing the cases being solved elevated his mood by several magnitudes. ¡°That¡¯s wonderful,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°However, I have a request, though I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s reasonable.¡± ¡°Please, tell me,¡± replied Yang Ling politely. ¡°I would like to buy a newputer. If the provincial office can¡¯t provide one, I can buy it myself. The currentputer¡¯s image processing capabilities are inadequate; it¡¯s very time-consuming and inefficient¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­ that¡­¡± Yang Ling was a bit taken aback. It was not unusual to ask for a newputer, but to offer to buy one himself was something unexpected. However, it¡¯s still a request from an expert, and it aligned with the goals of the operation; Yang Ling felt inclined to amodate as much as possible. She pondered for a moment and said, ¡°How about this? I¡¯ll find you a betterputer from another office for you to use temporarily. If that still isn¡¯t satisfactory, then we can think of another solution.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Jiang Yuan answered indifferently, not caring where theputer came from, and politely inquired, ¡°When you came over earlier and asked if I was avable, what specifically did you need?¡± ¡°That¡­.¡± Yang Ling¡¯s mind suddenly went nk as if it had been bitten by a crocodile, and she also asked herself: What did I need again? Chapter 90 - 90 88 See the Outcome Tomorrow ?90: Chapter 88: See the Oue Tomorrow 90: Chapter 88: See the Oue Tomorrow ¡°Jiang, do you think thisputer will do?¡± Yang Ling led Jiang Yuan directly to a workstation in the Intelligence Department¡¯s office. The work station had been cleared, the drawers locked, and everything on the desk taken away, leaving only aputer including the mouse, keyboard, and other items. ¡°I¡¯ve installed all the software you mentioned earlier. Do you want to give it a try? If it doesn¡¯t work¡­ we¡¯ll discuss further,¡± Yang Ling said with a hint of concern. The Intelligence Department was quite serious about their very expensiveputers. It took quite some talking from Yang Ling to borrow one. If Jiang Yuan said it wasn¡¯t good enough, she really didn¡¯t have a way to get a better one on short notice. It¡¯s true that the provincial department¡¯s funding was sufficient, but purchasing such electronic devices, especially expensive ones, required going through many procedures. During the fingerprint operation, it definitely wasn¡¯t possible to acquire one. A few police officers from the Intelligence Department were also casting sidelong nces at Jiang Yuan. From their perspective, whatever image enhancement Jiang was up to, it was all like showing off in front of Guan Gong. A few of them even looked at Jiang Yuan as if he were a clown. Jiang Yuanpletely ignored the gazes of others. Based on his life experience, when poor, the only people who would look him and his father in the eye were the rtives in his vige. When his family became wealthy due to some uncontroble forces, those who would look him and his father in the eye were still only the rtives in his vige. To other unrted people, their judgement and actions were also unrted. Jiang Yuan turned on theputer, opened the software, then went on to ess the folder specifically for the operation, selected a blurred fingerprint, and began preliminary processing in Photoshop. The so-called blurred fingerprint, to put it elegantly, looked as sloppy as crap. The purpose of using the software was to find the lines within the messy crap, wipe away what was not needed and, ideally, clean it thoroughly. The process was quiteplicated, and had to be done inyers. The main concern was not to be too aggressive, lest the important details get washed away with the unwanted elements. Photoshop had features likeyering, as well as sharpening and noise reduction, but it still fell short for dealing with the sloppy mess of a fingerprint. Fortunately, there were many other image enhancement techniques and even various algorithms for further enhancement. Jiang Yuan rolled up his sleeves and got to work, causing the new mainframe to start whirring. No matter how good or expensive a micrputer was, it could only groan when processingplex images. This was like a 50-kilogram youngdy, no matter how well trained or highly configured she was, if she faced a 150-kilogram opponent, she could only wail. ¡°It looks like it¡¯s working. It might still take a while though,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up and said to Yang Ling, who was next to him. As Yang Ling heard the loud roaring sounding from theputer¡¯s mainframe, she rubbed her ears and asked, ¡°Is this okay? The noise is pretty loud.¡± ¡°This is normal for image processing.¡± The surrounding Intelligence Department technicians, who had gathered at some point, seized the opportunity to speak up, ¡°Our machine is admittedly loud, but it¡¯s a normal kind of loud. Your machine is old, its sound is probably cracked.¡± ¡°There is a screeching noise,¡± Yang Ling acknowledged, recalling the sound. ¡°Also, when ites to time, this machine saves quite a bit of timepared to yours. It is less likely to crash. If needed, you can multitask and look up something else¡­ though I wouldn¡¯t rmend it¡­ If Jiang needs, he could open anotherputer, one for processing images and another one solely for office work¡­¡± The technicians from the Intelligence Department smiled, not at all bothered by the whistling sound of theputers. Yang Ling had been a bit displeased with the technicians¡¯ck of regard, but on hearing ¡°Jiang,¡± she looked up to see that all their faces, which had been as dung before, now resembled the dung itself. Yang Ling frowned suddenly, ¡°Oneputer will be enough. If we need more, we¡¯lle back for it.¡± As she spoke, Yang Ling started to walk back with Jiang Yuan. The technicians from the Intelligence Department were taken aback and quickly tried to convince them, ¡°Don¡¯t rush, the image isn¡¯t processed yet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, we¡¯ll have someonee to move theputerter.¡± ¡°Theputer can stay here; Jiang can just work here. It¡¯s just a matter of one workstation¡­ And our team¡¯s Xiao Yu makes excellent coffee¡­¡± ¡°During the fingerprint operation, the experts are primarily working together in one ce.¡± Yang Ling, without any hesitation, opened the door and urged Jiang Yuan to leave. ¡°It could indeed be rather noisy to have theputer in the main office.¡± Jiang Yuan, in no rush, walked at a leisurely pace, making a new request. If possible, he didn¡¯t want to disturb the other fingerprint experts. Yang Ling nodded in agreement, ¡°Indeed. How about this: the pantry next to the big office is quite spacious. I¡¯ll have someone clear out the print room and put thisputer in there. We can temporarily move the printers out without affecting others. The only hassle is you having to move back and forth, Jiang¡­¡± ¡°That arrangement will be best,¡± Jiang Yuan was quite satisfied. He hadn¡¯t imagined having a private office as that would be too out of touch, but still, Jiang deliberately asked to save face, ¡°Will it be too much trouble?¡± ¡°No, if I exin it to everyone, they should be able to understand,¡± Yang Ling said as she took out her phone to make arrangements. Back in therge office, Jiang Yuan returned to his desk and, after waiting for a while, theputer borrowed from the Intelligence Department was installed. Jiang Yuan first went to retrieve the newly processed fingerprint images, then returned to his desk to begin marking the characteristic points on the fingerprint image. If he couldn¡¯t produce results right away, he would go back to the break room to reprocess the image before returning to therge office to mark the characteristic points. The roar of the mainframe would asionally sound off, butpared to before, it was much less disturbing to everyone and was within an eptable range. It was only in the eyes of a few veteran forensic experts in the room that Jiang Yuan¡¯s special treatment was slightly irksome. However, this thought simply flitted through everyone¡¯s minds. Each expert in the room, being technically specialized and from different jurisdictions, received more than their fair share of special treatment at their own units, so it wasn¡¯t as if Jiang Yuan had received his special treatment without reason. The reason for his special treatment was hanging on the wall. Three achievements tied for second ce, one of which was an unsolved murder case. Even though the fingerprintpetition¡¯s ranking did not specifically distinguish murder cases, those in the police force inevitably held solving murders in higher regard. Time passed with the clicking of mouse and keyboard and the roaring of the mainframe. By the end of the workday, most people from the provincial office had gone home on time. But the detectives called in from various ces were still busy with their own tasks. The fingerprint experts in therge office had no intention of returning to rest either. The provincial office provided everyone with single-room dormitories, but after traveling long distances to Changyang City, they surely didn¡¯te just to sleep in a single bed. Moreover, as of today, at least half of the experts had not matched a single fingerprint yet, and the majority of the rest had only matched one. With such results, naturally, everyone was not satisfied. In fact, if a few people started working extra hard, a whole group would join in. Weren¡¯t they all experts? Even Jiang Yuan had no intention of going back. Three achievements were far from satisfying to him, especially after getting familiar with new skills, Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence had grown even stronger. The fingerprint that was blurred into a mess at noon had been processed repeatedly by Jiang Yuan without a match, but he was not discouraged. He took another thin-smeared blurred fingerprint and continued processing. After repeated attempts, in the early hours of the morning, a partially damaged fingerprint appeared before Jiang Yuan. ¡°Identify as the same.¡± Jiang Yuan marked it without hesitation, but in therge office, there were only a few ¡°ding-dong¡± sounds. Those who were still in therge office at this time were forensic experts intent on making a breakthrough; they didn¡¯t want their own train of thought to be interrupted, nor were they particrly concerned with the achievements of others. After resting for about fifteen minutes and having a cup of tea, Jiang Yuan returned to his desk to see only two ¡°agrees¡± in the corner of the screen. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan was neither anxious for others to ¡°identify the same¡± nor in a hurry to go back to rest, and he started working on another fingerprint. Since everyone was workingte, why not join them? After all, he was still the youngest among the dozens present. At 3 a.m., Jiang Yuan matched his fifth fingerprint in the currentpetition. At 5 a.m., Jiang Yuan matched his sixth. At 7 a.m., Jiang Yuan matched his seventh. By then, even the mostmitted experts had gone back to their dormitories to sleep hours ago; it was impossible to get the agreement of eleven experts. Looking around, Jiang Yuan saw that therge office was empty, and only theputer in the break room was still emitting its final roar. Only then did Jiang Yuan return to his dormitory, satisfied. Everything else would have to wait until tomorrow to be resolved. Chapter 91 - 91 89 Empty Scroll ?91: Chapter 89 Empty Scroll 91: Chapter 89 Empty Scroll The Provincial Department¡¯s office building was solemn and elegant. From the gate to the entrance, a vast expanse tens of meters long was devoid of anything but air and solemnity. The entire Shannan Province Provincial Department had a staff allocation of just over 500, for leaders at various levels, and various offices. By the time it got down to the operational level, there wasn¡¯t much left. Fortunately, the Provincial Department could also requisition staff from lower-level departments. With an order, policemen from various cities, states, and districts would continuously converge upon the Provincial Department, requiring neither allocation of positions nor sries. There were alwaysints from the city and county bureaus about all sorts of requisitions. However, as for the individuals, some liked it, some didn¡¯t. Zhu Huanguang quite liked being requisitioned by the Provincial Department; at the very least, he didn¡¯t have to do housework or pretentiously tutor pretentious kids anymore. Additionally, it felt great to be among the top-ranked experts. This was also the reason Zhu Huanguang preferred being requisitioned to the Provincial Department rather than somemittee. Even if going to themittee meant a daily allowance of 180 yuan, and the Provincial Department had no suchpensation because it was in the same city, Zhu Huanguang was happier to participate in the fingerprint blitz organized by the Provincial Department. Entering therge office area, Zhu Huanguang first looked up at the ¡°Cold Case Clearing Leaderboard,¡± and, seeing his own name still at the top, couldn¡¯t help but smile. People, after all, need to be ranked in something to feel alive. When he was younger, Zhu Huanguang used to look at wealth ranking lists too. However, after seeing so many fools end up in jail, he realized that wasn¡¯t reliable. Later on, as his work gradually improved and he received praise from his superiors, he slowly started to understand various standingmittee meetings¡­ Now, Zhu Huanguang hade to respect the ss rankings of children. The only thing he still cared passionately about were various business-rted leaderboards. To be ranked first in the province-wide fingerprint challenge was indeed a very eye-catching honor. His usually reticent wife would asionally recognize the importance. Zhu Huanguang turned on theputer and proficiently booted up the software. In the time it took to pour himself a ss of water, he casually opened new messages. He cleared new messages at set times every day. Unlike some people who constantly wanted to know how others were doing, Zhu Huanguang treated these peer reviews like leisure activities. It was also about measuring up thebat strength of his current peers. At his level, by looking at the fingerprints done by his peers, he could almost guess their areas of expertise and strength. For example, the first fingerprint in front of him was as smudged as the bottom of a pot, yet still made a match, indicating that this person excelled at image processing. In the context of the fingerprint battle, if one wanted to make more matches, the right approach was to avoidpeting on the same business line as other experts. For instance, now that there were those skilled in image processing, those who excelled in this kind of ¡°pot-bottom¡± fingerprint, one should avoid doing simr fingerprints. This could significantly improve the sess rate¡­ Zhu Huanguang nodded lightly, agreed with a click, then grabbed a rag and started tidying up his desk, clicking on the second fingerprint, hmm¡­ Smudged like excrement, yet it made a match, indicating this person also excelled in image processing. Zhu Huanguang clicked on the third fingerprint, smudged like a messybination of pot-bottom and excrement, yet it still made a match, indicating¡­ Indicating that someone had processed three fingerprints in one go! Zhu Huanguang immediately looked closer and saw the same name after each of the three fingerprints: Jiang Yuan. Impressive! Zhu Huanguang then looked at the time the fingerprints werepleted¡ªthetest ones were marked past seven in the morning! Truly impressive! Zhu Huanguang marveled repeatedly. He had seen all sorts of experts, thepetitive types, Zhu Huanguang had seen them all. He had even met a real Swiss roll¡ªa Chinese person who grew up in Switzend, studied in the United States, and then came back to develop in China, working on fingerprints for over a dozen hours in one stretch, quite efficient, but these people were after all a minority. The fingerprint expert market in Shannan Province was originally rather harmonious, friendly, and in. Unwillingly, Zhu Huanguang looked towards Jiang Yuan¡¯s spot, finding relief that the guy hadn¡¯t arrived yet. Good, there was still a chance. Zhu Huanguang took a deep breath, decided to quickly handle the remaining few new messages, and then startedparing the fingerprint from yesterday. Although he was a bit slower than Jiang Yuan, working on fingerprints was never a race of uniform speed. He too had matched four fingerprints in one go a few days prior. That yesterday¡¯s work had hit a snag for an entire day was also within the realm of normal. Zhu Huanguang withdrew his hand, moved the mouse, and there was the next fingerprint, still as blurry as pancakes made by his wife. Zhu Huanguang¡¯s expression immediately turned sour. He nced out of the corner of his eye and surely, he saw the familiar name, Jiang Yuan. What a genuine surprise, an astonishing fellow beyond words! Zhu Huanguang sat up straight, and with a cautious demeanor and attitude, he began topare the fingerprint. As expected, it matched perfectly. Moreover, the fingerprint was of considerable difficulty. Zhu Huanguang was performing a directparison, and confirming via the ridge patterns required a bit of effort; as for reverseparison¡ªhe couldn¡¯t even begin to process an image of this caliber in the first ce. ¡°Here, take it,¡± Zhu Huanguang muttered under his breath, but still clicked confirm. Looking up again, he saw on the ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Leaderboard¡± located towards the front right of therge office area, Jiang Yuan¡¯s name had already jumped to first ce, with a score of ¡°7¡±. Zhu Huanguang, ranked second, had a score of ¡°4¡±, while the experts in third, fourth, and fifth ce each had a score of ¡°2¡±. The cumtive achievements of the top five experts already amounted to 17 matched fingerprints, more than thebined total of the next 40 experts. This was a normal urrence in the fingerprintpetition. A few experts with strong skills, good luck, and in top formpleting half of thepetition results was usual. It was as if these experts, if ced in a lower-level municipality topete in a fingerprint battle, would sweep their peers just as easily. As Zhu Huanguang contemted this, he suddenly heard a whirring noiseing from the direction of the break room. It was faint and unclear, but listening intently, it was indeed the familiar sound of a fan. In a moment, Jiang Yuan walked into therge office. Zhu Huanguang frowned at the clock; it was just past nine in the morning. Did he only sleep for two hours? Is it necessary? Li Zemin, who was next to Jiang Yuan and usually went to bed and woke up on schedule, asked in surprise, ¡°You went back sotest night. No, you just returned this morning. Why are you here already? Not sleeping? Take care not to drop dead.¡± ¡°I slept for two hours. I¡¯m not that tired anymore,¡± Jiang Yuan paused before exining, ¡°I suddenly thought that I could let the software run the images first. When I wake up fully, I can refine the images. That would save time and not dy work.¡± ¡°Is that possible?¡± Li Zemin asked with elderly skepticism. ¡°Of course. Just need to set up the sequence and n ahead,¡± Jiang Yuan said, giving Li Zemin a few exnations on the jargon. Li Zemin looked as if he smoked too much, his eyes nearly zed over. Jiang Yuan sat down, booted up theputer, and also began to quickly process each new matched fingerprint one by one. After returning to the break room, Jiang Yuan lined up all the carefully selected top-tier fingerprints, locked the screen, and headed straight back to the dormitory. During the fingerprintpetition, the provincial office didn¡¯t impose attendance restrictions on the experts. Those who were here were highly self-motivated, and realistically, the experts were all working frantically; there was no need for concern on that front. Jiang Yuan went back to his dormitory and slept soundly. Only the newputer in the break room, like an indefatigable exemry worker, buzzed as its fan spun. Left in therge office, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s mood didn¡¯t rx but grew more anxious instead. Indeed, when young people talk about lying t, they intend to make the middle-aged lower their guard. In matters that genuinely offer benefits and the chance to demonstrate capability, like civil service exams, public institution tests, teachers¡¯ qualifications,peting for the ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Ranking,¡± one contest is more fiercelypetitive than the next. They¡¯re just the same as the young people twenty or thirty years ago. Chapter 92 - 92 90 The Wind Rises ?92: Chapter 90: The Wind Rises 92: Chapter 90: The Wind Rises The wind was picking up. Li Zemin clutched a Baisha cigarette, standing in the corridor, gazing at the sky with a mncholic expression. Above was a dusty yellow sky, thick dirt swirling in the air; the world seemed muddied as if a horde of demons was dancing. Sands flew, pebbles rolled, fine dust filled the space between the buildings, blurring them as if specters were roaming¡­ A figure emerged from the distance, slowly making its way forward, step by step. The pace was firm, the movements slow, leaving footprints like a giant, like a titan, like the descent of Thor, or rather, like Section Chief Yang Ling. ¡°Whoa, take it easy,¡± Li Zemin quickly tossed away his cigarette and steadied Yang Ling, who was about to fall. ¡°Thanks,¡± Yang Ling brushed the dust off her body, to no avail, and could only offer a wry smile, ¡°The wind is too strong.¡± ¡°Indeed, it even blew away my cigarette,¡± Li Zemin said with some regret, mourning the loss of his 11-yuan Baisha, which he had bought himself. Thinking so, he couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°I thought it was Jiang Yuaning back just now. Hisputer has stopped; I wonder if he got the timing right.¡± ¡°He should be back soon, he¡¯s eating.¡± ¡°Huh, food at the canteen now?¡± Li Zemin eximed in surprise. ¡°He ordered takeout, but they wouldn¡¯t let the delivery in at the gate. I went to pick it up,¡± Yang Ling exined, shaking the sand off her clothes before adding, ¡°He even ordered a Japanese set meal, either 398 or 388. He¡¯ll probably arrive after he¡¯s done.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you join him for a bite? No, I mean, didn¡¯t he invite you to have some?¡± ¡°Heh,¡± Yang Ling knew Li Zemin was trying to tease her and replied openly, ¡°I¡¯m not used to eating sashimi, and I don¡¯t dare get used to it either, since my house hasn¡¯t been demolished.¡± Li Zeminughed heartily, ¡°I could get used to smoking Zhonghua, I just feel too embarrassed to take it outright.¡± ¡°You have your shy moments,¡± Yang Ling wasn¡¯t very familiar with Li Zemin, but she knew this group of fingerprint examiners; they were the kind with a thieving heart but no guts ¨C steadier than seasoned detectives, speaking less frivolously, and liking to be overly familiar and particrly intimate. True enough, Li Zemin seemed pretty happy with the banter. Walking into therge office, Yang Ling nced at the ¡°Cold Case Clearance Ranking Board,¡± seeing Zhu Huanguang¡¯s name having climbed up to 5 victories. However, the gap between him and Jiang Yuan¡¯s 7 victories was still quite apparent. Yang Ling wandered through various thoughts, not saying a word, turned on theputer connected to the projector, inserted a USB drive, and began to operate. Soon after, another ranking appeared beside the ¡°Cold Case Clearance Ranking Board.¡± ¡°Homicide Cold Case Ranking.¡± At the top of the list was still Jiang Yuan, with 2 cases solved. Yes, besides the bloody handprint taxi robbery and homicide case, there was another murder case in the files Jiang Yuan had sifted through the night before. In the 2nd and 3rd spots were two other experts, each having solved one murder case, also unraveling them from the previous night into today. Zhu Huanguang¡¯s list of solved cases included no homicides; he was tied with the vast majority of other experts far down the list. The entire ¡°Homicide Cold Case Ranking¡± only listed three people with achievements, yet Yang Ling was quite pleased with this. She had not publicized this ranking earlier, fearing that the low number of solved homicides wouldn¡¯t look good. Now that she released it, the fact that 4 homicide cold cases had been solved filled her with satisfaction. In the past, solving even a single murder during such a fingerprint blitz would qualify as a sess. Even when the ministry organized a fingerprint blitz that gathered the nation¡¯s top fingerprint experts, not many unsolved murders were cracked. The provincial department¡¯s goals for such a blitz were typically lower. While it would be ideal to solve murders, they couldn¡¯t just chase after that alone¡­unless the number of cases met a certain expectation. For instance, four murder cases? Yang Ling gazed joyfully at the ¡°Homicide Cold Case Ranking¡± on the wall, not needing to say a word, as all the experts in the office could surely understand her thoughts. Woo woo woo¡­ Theputer in the break room called out again, its voice growing from soft to loud; after a brief groan, it escted to an unabashed howl. Jiang Yuan walked into the office; his tall figure briefly cast a shadow over the projector, and then he moved past it, nodding to Yang Ling before returning to his seat. He plugged in a USB drive and copied the images that theputer had processed in the past few hours. Jiang Yuan looked over each image following the annotations. Yang Ling came over and smiled at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Jiang, are you tired? You could have rested a bit more.¡± Not far away, Zhu Huanguang felt the same way and even nodded subconsciously. Jiang Yuan, with the casual demeanor of a young man, simply said, ¡°I am quite tired, but it¡¯s okay. I see everyone is workingte¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re not aste as you.¡± Li Zemin pointed to the leaderboard and said, ¡°You¡¯ve taken the top spot in both lists; what are you rushing for?¡± Yang Ling cleared her throat and turned to Li Zemin, ¡°Expert Li, for each fingerprint Jiang matches now, a case is solved, a victim and their family receivefort, and one or several criminals are punished¡­¡± ¡°I spoke wrong, I¡¯m sorry,¡± Li Zemin quickly apologized. Yang Ling then resumed her smile and said to Jiang, ¡°Jiang, let me update you on the progress of these cases.¡± Jiang¡¯s attention was indeed captured. Regardless of how busy they are, no criminal investigator is uninterested in their cases. The same is true for fingerprint experts; they all strive for the resolution of cases. On this point, all the experts present were in agreement¡ªeveryone hoped that their work would contribute to the advancement of a case, and if it could be a key breakthrough or piece of evidence, the sense of achievement was even greater. Yang Ling didn¡¯t talk about honors or bonuses¡ªshe had neither prepared nor necessarily expected any, but she knew that just mentioning the cases was enough to satisfy these forensic experts. Even the strongest fingerprint experts in the province were no exception to this mundane desire at this moment. Standing in front of Jiang Yuan, Yang Ling spoke in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, ¡°Let¡¯s start with the second murder case you matched. This one could likely be a premeditated murder. The fingerprint you matched is currently suspected to belong to the deceased¡¯s wife¡¯s lover. The local criminal police have gone to apprehend the suspect; further news is probably noting until tomorrow¡­¡± ¡°A crime of passion?¡± Jiang learned only now about the direction the matched fingerprint pointed. Yang Ling nodded and said, ¡°This case is 6 years old. I caught up on the situation when I came here; it¡¯s very likely the deceased¡¯s wife and her lover have already broken up. So it¡¯s as if someone died for nothing¡­¡± She then talked about three other cases, which took less than ten minutes in total. By the time she finished and left, Jiang had umted boundless energy. ¡°Let¡¯s roll it up,¡± Jiang straightened up and began to finely edit the copied fingerprint images. He was now fairly adept at it, and since the images were fingerprints that had been basically cleaned up, the fine editing took about ten to twenty minutes and then they were ready to be used. Simr to the marking of ordinary fingerprints, the finely edited fingerprints were first marked for features and thenpared by the system¡­ The difference was, if theparison yielded no results, the image was pulled back for further fine editing, followed by re-marking¡­ Compared to ordinary fingerprint images, the ones that required additional processing were somewhat moreplex and time-consuming. But precisely because such blurry images wereplex and difficult to handle, once they were rified, the chances of a match increased. After all, the local forensic units at the municipal and county levels seldom had the capability to process simr fingerprints, which meant they alsocked the foundation forparison, unlike the clearly imaged ones that have beenpared countless times: if they don¡¯t match, they just don¡¯t match. After examining fewer than 1000 fingerprint images, Jiang matched the first fingerprint of the day. Seeing the number behind ¡°Outstanding Case Solving Ranking¡± change to 8, Jiang showed no sign of stopping. Not just continuing with the smooth procession of fingerprint analysis, he scanned the case details and picked out a homicide fingerprint from thetter images. This was a dumpsite murder case; the victim had been strangled to death, the killer had not been found, nor were there any suspects. The fingerprint was lifted from the neck of the corpse, too smudged to be of any use, but as it was a key piece of evidence, it had beenpared by several experts before they finally gave up. As mentioned before, fingerprintparisons in homicide cases are always held at a higher standard. Jiang, feeling a sudden rxation in his spirit, had the urge to challenge another homicide fingerprint. Aim for a new high! Chapter 93 - 93 91 I Wait for You ?93: Chapter 91 I Wait for You 93: Chapter 91 I Wait for You The fingerprint image, pale and proper, looked like a youngdy who had just stepped out of the inner chamber. But Jiang Yuan knew that this seemingly perfect fingerprint had been a blur, like an African-Americanedian, just a few hours earlier. He had painstakingly restored it to its current form using aputer borrowed from the provincial Intelligence Department, spending a considerable amount of time and employing LV4 Image Enhancement skills. This monumental restoration effort was akin to transforming a tabby cat into a ragdoll cat. If one were to detail the story behind the person to whom this pale fingerprint belonged, the image would turn dark and sinister. Jiang Yuan performed a routine feature point marking. After scanning 300 fingerprints without a match, he stopped. This fingerprint was quite special. It was obtained from the back of the deceased¡¯s neck cor, a feat that would have required considerable skill from a forensics technician given the technology avable a few years ago. Nevertheless, the technician who worked on the case at that time had still failed to find a match for this fingerprint. Staring at the fingerprint that seemed as if it had undergone cosmetic surgery, Jiang Yuan fell into deep thought. He could imagine the force applied by the fingers of the killer, the owner of the fingerprint, as they attempted to strangle the person beneath them, pushing their strength to the limit. Correspondingly, the deceased must have also struggled with all their might, tensing their muscles, tightening their skin to resist the killer¡¯s assault. Therefore, this was a fingerprint that had undergone bidirectional deformation on a soft surface, and now that the characteristic points had been marked and didn¡¯t yield results, the next standard step would be to adjust the deformation. Based on the pattern and structure, manual adjustments were typically made, essentially relying on trial and error to find a match. Some fingerprints could be worked on for months by a forensic investigator, while others, attached to major cases, could be experimented with for years. Jiang Yuan himself had matched fingerprints this way before, back when he had enough relevant information and circumstances to test with. However, after looking at this particr fingerprint over and over, he didn¡¯t feel there was room for adjustment. It wasn¡¯t that it couldn¡¯t be adjusted, but because both the application and receipt of force involved deformation, the difficulty of trial and error was significantly increased. Moreover, the forensics technician of the current case was clearly an expert; Jiang Yuan figured that whatever he could conceive of trying, the other party had likely already attempted. Without resorting to conventional methods, which direction could he take to achieve an unexpected breakthrough? This was a fingerprint of only about one square centimeter that had been pored over and yed with for months, even years, trying toe up with a new, previously unthought-of tactic¡ªby no means an easy feat. Fingerprints involved in homicide cases are truly challenging. While Jiang Yuan was deep in thought, the system¡¯s semi-transparent interface silently popped up in front of him. ¡­ Task: Persistent Pursuit Task Details: During the fingerprint confrontation period, give your utmost to solve as many cases as possible. Current progress (8*2) ¡­ Judging from the content, 8*2 probably referred to the total number of cases and the number of homicide cases. Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought was briefly interrupted, and as he returned to his contemtion, he nced at the fingerprint and couldn¡¯t help thinking: actually, there was no need to consider the entire fingerprint. This specific fingerprint had been taken from the neck, and while the curvature of the neck might not be noticeable at ordinary times, when being strangled to death, it would likely be pronounced. Jiang Yuan boldly extracted a small section of the fingerprint and marked it. In other words, he had discarded most of the painstakingly collected fingerprint from the crime scene. He only kept the most stable part. After this small section of the fingerprint was meticulously marked for characteristic points and scanned into the software, the results gave Jiang Yuan a glimmer of hope. He now used the Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method to process this small section. The Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method and the Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method each had their strengths and differences. A distinct feature was that the Qingdao method divided fingerprints into 68 subcategories, whereas the Chongqing method had 24. This difference made the Chongqing method more essible to beginners, while the Qingdao method was more suited for manual sorting throughrge quantities. Scanning a fingerprint every few seconds, he quickly went through over a hundred of them. As he continued, Jiang Yuan sat up straight, focusing on one fingerprint, carefullyparing it. Li Zemin, sitting beside him, noticed and stopped what he was doing to observe Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation. He was somewhat eager to learn from Jiang Yuan¡¯s technique. However, Jiang Yuan had no intention of hiding his process. Fingerprintparison is very personalized work, especially the handling of difficult fingerprints. After reaching this step, making a judgment involved more than just skill. Skills can be learned, but judgment epasses a wide range of factors. While Li Zemin was still pondering Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process, Jiang Yuan moved his mouse and unexpectedly chose ¡°Confirm as identical.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a match?¡± Li Zemin eximed in surprise. He was aware that Jiang Yuan was working on a homicide case. Jiang Yuan took a sip of tea, moistening his throat, then said, ¡°Well, you can see if it¡¯s a match or not.¡± ¡°You have a point,¡± Li Zemin replied as he turned back to his own screen, surrounded by the continual ¡°ding-dong¡± notifications. The morning was pleasant, with many eagerly awaiting the arrival of new messages. When they saw it, many clicked to take a closer look. Jiang Yuan¡¯s name was like a refreshing cup of coffee poured over everyone¡¯s heads. Comfortable. Alert. Full of energy. After carefully reviewing the fingerprint images several times, Li Zemin slowly marked his agreement under ¡°confirmed identical¡±. Turning his head, Li Zemin looked at Jiang Yuan with utter surprise and asked, ¡°This quickly? Is image processing really that useful?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled. How could he answer? Should he say that his speed was due to his truly strong skills, already at the provincial elite level? Or should he mention that the skills in image processing have to bebined with fingerprint techniques, and that his image enhancement abilities were also at the level of the weaker provincial elites? ¡°Fancy a cigarette?¡± Jiang Yuan offered, pulling out a pack of Soft Zhonghua. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± As expected, Li Zemin was diverted by the change of subject and got up immediately, following Jiang Yuan out. In front of the building. Under the ssical-style pavilion, several smokers from the provincial office were inhaling nicotine. Seeing Jiang Yuan and Li Zemining over, they smiled amiably. Jiang Yuan nodded as well, then lit up a Zhonghua with Li Zemin, iming the other side of the pavilion for themselves. Among the provincial office smokers, one who saw the Soft Zhonghua in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand immediately frowned and, ignoring the looks from his colleagues, spoke up with dissatisfaction: ¡°Got it so good? These days, what are all these lower units thinking? Everyst one¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m from Jiang Vige.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t let the man finish his sentence, passing a Zhonghua over with typical Jiang Vige people¡¯s sociability. The middle-aged man remained in his serious, frowning pose as he took the cigarette, slightly stunned. The expressions of the others brightened somewhat, but they were also quite surprised to receive the cigarettes. Li Zemin wasn¡¯t too fond of the provincial office¡¯s ways either. Watching the scene unfold, he couldn¡¯t help but crack a slight smile. ¡°From Qinghe?¡± The middle-aged man who had pocketed the cigarette wanted to confirm. ¡°Yeah, from Jiang Vige, Ningtai County,¡± Jiang Yuan replied nonchntly as he lit his cigarette in front of the smokers. As the Soft Zhonghua was casually exhaled without much value, the men grimaced with pity. But thinking of Jiang Yuan¡¯s identity as a Jiang Vige person, they refrained from making anyment. ¡°Jiang Yuan!¡± A policeman with all his shirt buttons tightly fastened, stepped out from the provincial office building with extreme seriousness in his stride. It wasn¡¯t until he got closer that Jiang Yuan and the others recognized him and Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile, ¡°Director Liu.¡± The fast-approaching man was none other than Liu Jinghui, the deputy provincial-level senior police superintendent known for his deductions. He entered the pavilion, gave a reluctant nod to the middle-aged men engulfed in smoke, and greeted, ¡°Director Hong.¡± Then he turned to ask, ¡°I just looked at the police alert, did you match the fingerprint on the cor of the Mount Wulong wild man?¡± From Liu Jinghui¡¯s description, it was evident that he was highly attentive to the case, not only having set up rted alerts but also having a clear understanding of the victim¡¯s condition. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate to reply, ¡°It matched with another homicide case. The victim was found at Mount Wulong.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one, that¡¯s the one¡­¡± Liu Jinghui tapped his finger twice, visibly bing more excited. His colleagues from the provincial office meanwhile looked at Jiang Yuan curiously, expressing their surprise, ¡°You matched a murder case? Are you here for the fingerprinting campaign?¡± ¡°Yes. People of Qinghe.¡± Jiang Yuan reused the term that was just asked of him. The crowd all understood, and the first middle-aged man to speakughed heartily, ¡°Got quite the temper, but that¡¯s to be expected from someone from Jiang Vige. Sorry about earlier, I thought you were some young guy seconded here to mark time. I didn¡¯t realize you were here for the finger-printing campaign, such a young fingerprint expert is rare to see.¡± ¡°And you even matched a murder case.¡± Another person stood out, giving a thumb up. Li Zemin chimed in, ¡°Three of them.¡± ¡°Three what?¡± ¡°Matched three murder cases,¡± Li Zemin said, holding up three fingers. The crowd murmured in amazement. The middle-aged man took a puff of the just-lit Zhonghua, grinning from ear to ear, ¡°I truly didn¡¯t recognize Mount Tai before me. Let¡¯s get acquainted, my name is Hong Wanjun. The brethren all call me Hong Qi, Hong as in Hong Qigong, and Qi as in the Qi from Hong Qigong. It¡¯s said that my temper, to put it nicely, is hating evil as if it was personal, but put bluntly, it¡¯s that I manage to offend people everywhere¡­¡± Jiang Yuan shook hands with him and exchanged WeChat numbers. At that moment, Director Liu, who had been building up his emotions, took advantage of a pause to say, ¡°Jiang Yuan, you need toe with me.¡± ¡°Where to?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, puzzled. ¡°To investigate the Wu Long wild man case. This case is definitely not a simple case of an outdoor corpse disposal,¡± Liu Jinghui dered emphatically. ¡°I believe there¡¯s more to this case; it¡¯s very likely a series of murder cases¡­¡± ¡°Are there more bodies?¡± Jiang Yuan asked in surprise, thinking he hadn¡¯t seen that in the case description. Liu Jinghui seriously said, ¡°No bodies, it¡¯s possible that the other bodies were disposed of more effectively. But from the treatment of this one corpse, it¡¯s evident that the murderer and body disposer has plenty of experience. Moreover, the discovery of this corpse was also quite coincidental; it was found by a lost hiker, not on the regr patrol route of mountain rangers, and the nearby area isn¡¯t suitable for travel¡­¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we go capture the suspect now that we¡¯ve got a match?¡± ¡°Too much time has passed,¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head slightly and exined, ¡°You should be able to see for yourself, the matched suspect was released after serving his sentence six years ago. In six years, there¡¯s been no trace of him, and he¡¯s been involved in another murder. Such a person, it will be very difficult to find directly. However, the Wu Long wild man case has certainly opened a new direction for investigation, and now I¡¯m inviting you to join me in setting up a new special case team¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu, I¡¯m currently participating in the fingerprint campaign,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui. He didn¡¯t like Liu Jinghui personally; to him, deductions were neither mysterious nor reliable. Liu Jinghui¡¯s method of deduction before evidence was even less to his liking. Under such circumstances, Jiang Yuan naturally wasn¡¯t keen to join Director Liu in forming any special case team. However, Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes were filled with sentiment as he looked at Jiang Yuan and enunciated each word, ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you!¡± Chapter 94 - 94 92 Shannan Province Fingerprint Exchange Group ?94: Chapter 92: Shannan Province Fingerprint Exchange Group 94: Chapter 92: Shannan Province Fingerprint Exchange Group Two cigarettester, when I returned to therge office, Yang Ling hade again. In Shannan Province¡¯s department, the fingerprint post was actually a rtively marginal sectionpared to the office, police supervision, legal affairs, and finance and equipment departments. As a sub-unit under the criminal police corps, it was just a small division at the level of a section,parable to a bleak fish in a reservoir. In terms of the entire ecosystem, its existence was necessary, and at certain times, it could even be said to y a significant role. But in terms of size and degree of attention, it really wasn¡¯t worth mentioning. However, status was not immutable. When a bleak fish was hooked, the attention it received would peak, just as the value of a fingerprint expert who solved a case through fingerprints would also reach its peak. And when a bleak fish was hooked continuously, the situation would change again. This was just like a fingerprint expert constantly solving cases, continuously solving murder cases¡­ Yang Ling now looked at Jiang Yuan as if he were a Taihe Baiqi Dolphin. If Jiang Yuan dared to die suddenly, she would immediately erect a stele for him. ¡°Went for a smoke? Actually, we should have a smoking room in our building, butter there wasn¡¯t enough space, so it was moved outside,¡± Yang Ling greeted Jiang Yuan and fervently said, ¡°I came over to ask if everyone has any requests, whether you arefortable with the food? How about the living amodations?¡± She was looking at Jiang Yuan as she spoke, but if anyone else had the nerve to make a request, she could still¡­ reject it. ¡°Everything¡¯s fine, no requests,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, sitting in front of theputer with processed fingerprint imagesid out, ready to continue working. Indeed, he was preparing to resume work. If he were seekingfort in life, the services in Jiang Vige were better than those in the department. Seeing this, Yang Ling was even more pleased. As long as Jiang Yuan was willing to continue with fingerprints, she was in a good mood. This fingerprint campaign would be a sessful one, one that the entire system would remember vividly. ¡°Then let¡¯s all continue working; I won¡¯t disturb you anymore.¡± Yang Ling said this and walked to the front of therge office, then took out her phone and snapped a couple of photos of the leaderboard. At the moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s name was still at the top of the leaderboard for solving cold cases, with a score of ¡°9¡±. Zhu Yaoguang, ranked second, had a score of ¡°6¡± and had once again identified a fingerprint match. Frankly, given the technical strength of Shannan Province, this number was already quite impressive. In previous years, by the end of a fingerprint campaign, the number one fingerprint expert would have solved only about five or six cases¡ªrarely would the total reach double digits. The reason it was consistently so was that identifying six or seven, seven or eight fingerprints usually meant working to the point of exhaustion. Zhu Yaoguang, for instance, would only work this exhaustively for the first two or three days. After establishing a lead, or after it waspletely lost, his daily work time would drop to twelve or thirteen hours, rarely exceeding fourteen or fifteen hours. But this year, due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s sudden emergence, Zhu Yaoguang had been working sixteen, even seventeen or eighteen hours a day for several days straight. With this level of intensity, once the fingerprint campaign was over, Zhu Yaoguang would need to rest for at least a month or two before returning to normal work at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. During that time, he would celebrate the New Year, write various annual summaries and reports, and after working normally for another month or two, he might have to go to Beijing to participate in the fingerprint campaign organized by the ministry. And the normal work of a fingerprint expert cannot possibly be focused on solving cold case fingerprints for such long periods of time. Thus, the number of cases an expert with high proficiency could solve each year was also limited. Of course, the number of solved ordinary cold cases could never be as thrilling as those involving murder. Yang Ling¡¯s photo emphasized just that. Under the words ¡°Murder Case Cold Cases Leaderboard,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s three achievements were quite striking. Although below his name, the other two experts only had one achievement each, and farther down the list was empty, Yang Ling excitedly posted the photo to the ¡°Shan Nan Province Fingerprint Exchange¡± group. Therge group, with over 400 members, instantly boiled over with excitement. ¡°Special murder case leaderboard for this year¡¯s fingerprint campaign?¡± ¡°Solved 5 murder cases? That¡¯s impressive.¡± ¡°Which unit is this ¡®Jiang Yuan¡¯ expert from? 3 murder cases? Or did he solve a series of cases?¡± Yang Ling watched the discussion in the group, smiled silently, walked out of therge office, stood in the corridor, and replied, ¡°Jiang Yuan is a forensic doctor from Qinghe City Ningtai County, and he¡¯s also very good at fingerprints. Quite young, but he has already matched several cases, and in this fingerprint campaign, he has outperformed. Jiang Yuan has consistently matched 3 murder case fingerprints this time, solving three cases ordingly.¡± There were leaders in the group, and Yang Ling didn¡¯t care whether they saw it or not, she just released some information to test the waters. Of course, the majority in the group were ordinary forensic technicians, and most of them were more concerned with the numbers on the ¡°Cold Case Solving Leaderboard¡± and ¡°Murder Case Cold Cases Leaderboard¡±. But amid the vast number of chat messages, seeing Yang Ling¡¯s reply, they paused for a moment. ¡°How many days has it been, and he¡¯s matched fingerprints in three murder cases already? Which cases were so easy to match?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit too incredible, and he¡¯s a forensic doctor?¡± ¡°When you say that, I take offense. What do you mean by ¡®which cases were so easy to match¡¯? Wait till I post the image.¡± Thest to speak was He Guohua from Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic. This person must have had the fingerprint image saved on their phone, as it only took a moment to send out a bloody palm print and to dere in the group, ¡°Come on, this is the fingerprint image from a robbery and murder case involving a taxi that Jiang Yuan just solved, a blood palm print collected from the rear window; let¡¯s see if it¡¯s easy to match.¡± As a district forensic technician, He Guohua was one of the first technicians to encounter this fingerprint, and he had stored it in his phone for several years, havingpared it for just as long. Most forensic technicians have a simr habit; they carry with them the fingerprints from cases they deem significant, studying them whenever they have time. Sometimes, while on the bus with nothing else to do, they¡¯d take it out and look it over. When working on other cases, if they encounter a simr situation, they would alsopare them. Although many attempts by many people ended in failure, this behavior was universally prevalent across the country without anyone teaching or promoting it; it just inexplicably existed. This behavior was even beyond the reach of authoritative institutions. Despite the leaders of the police system often appearing to have absolute authority, how many leaders could genuinely inspire their subordinates to work wholeheartedly on something? And which of them could prevent their subordinates from doing so? He Guohua tossed the blood fingerprint image into the group chat and began to type furiously, saying, ¡°The suspect in this case was apprehended today. The interrogation went smoothly, and the basic facts have been confessed. I¡¯ve seen my fair share of cases solved purely by fingerprints, but how many of you have seen a match at this level of difficulty?¡± There was silence in the group for quite a while. After a moment, someone said, ¡°To make it out when it¡¯s smeared like that is indeed remarkable.¡± Thatment, like opening Pandora¡¯s box, livened up the group chat once again. ¡°Remarkable? I think it must have needed some special treatment, or did they adjust the original fingerprint card somehow?¡± ¡°iming a match just from looking at this image seems a bit exaggerated.¡± ¡°The caught suspect probably never expected it. Who would¡¯ve thought that with fingerprints this smudged, they¡¯d still get caught?¡± As the questions piled up, He Guohua added, ¡°The image had to be processed multiple times before marking a match. Everyone can see just how difficult it was.¡± A person who went by the name ¡°Wan Xiang City ¨C Criminal Investigation Division ¨C Forensic Wang Yulin¡± also spoke up, saying, ¡°We deployed several vehicles yesterday to arrest a suspect in a case, who was also caught because of fingerprint matching. It was Jiang Yuan who made the match, following a directive from the provincial office.¡± Immediately after, someone else spoke, ¡°Jiang Yuan also made a match for us on an arson case, with the criminal already in prison who then made a full confession.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see the fingerprint image.¡± ¡°Yeah, show us the matching fingerprint images, let¡¯s have a look.¡± The topic shifted quickly, and as everyone in the group was forensic, they soon began sharing fingerprint images. Yang Ling thought for a moment but did not stop them. The group was created for forensic experts within the province to exchange information, and sometimes, she would notify people via WeChat before sending out official letters. Exchanging fingerprint images within the group wasn¡¯t a frequent urrence, but it was stillmon practice. Several fingerprint images were posted in the group one after another. The distorted, lumped, and smeared fingerprints timidly, loudly, and dazedly appeared in the group, immediately quelling everyone¡¯s enthusiasm for chatting. ¡°Is it really that exaggerated?¡± ¡°Specializing in smudged fingerprints, eh?¡± ¡°You know, I¡¯ve got a couple of fingerprints I¡¯d like to show to Jiang, is Jiang in the group?¡± If one or two challenging fingerprints were usually just fodder for conversation, the continuous posting of images solidified Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation in the group. Who didn¡¯t have a few smudged fingerprints lying around these days? Clean, easily processed fingerprints might not always find a match, while blurry, messy ones presented an even higher difficulty in matching. Despite this, some fingerprints from major cases were left behind, or even inherited, to be continuously sent out by forensic experts for examination attempts. As expected, Yang Ling¡¯s phone began to ring. ¡°Director Yang, the smudged fingerprint from our county¡¯s robbery-homicide case, can you show it to Jiang? If it can be processed, it would fulfill a long-standing wish of ours,¡± came a very blunt yet logical request from the other end of the line. Yang Ling smiled slightly and responded to the caller, ¡°Captain Ren, I¡¯m aware of the case you¡¯re talking about, it¡¯s also in our database¡­ Yes, I¡¯ve specifically mentioned your case in this fingerprint contest, but unfortunately, it didn¡¯t match¡­ I¡¯m not entirely sure whether Jiang Yuan, or Jiang, has handled this case, but let me ask for you¡­ Alright, I¡¯ll inform you if there¡¯s an update.¡± Yang Ling hung up the phone and let out a sigh. Before she could catch her breath, another call came in. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll mention it to Jiang.¡± ¡°No problem, I¡¯ll ry the message to Jiang.¡± ¡°Yes, of course, it will definitely receive extra attention¡­¡± Yang Ling managed several phone calls in one breath, her phone growing hot from the activity, before the flow of calls finally started to dwindle. And her spirits were high. ¡°If only every day were a fingerprint contest,¡± she thought quite naturally. In therge office, Zhu Huanguang was momentarily dazed, nearly hitting his head on the monitor. At this point, if he didn¡¯t sleep, he feared he might literally drop dead. Zhu Huanguang took a sip of water and slowly stood up. Before leaving, he nced at the leaderboard once more. There, he noticed that Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements had silently increased to ¡°10¡±. Chapter 95 - 95 93 The Evil Fruit ?95: Chapter 93: The Evil Fruit 95: Chapter 93: The Evil Fruit Night fell. Dark clouds nketed the sky, with neither moon nor stars to be seen. The wind grew colder, and the half of his body leaning against the car door soon started to feel the ache in his bones. Cao Chujun shifted his body, his spine crackling with creaking sounds. His apprentice, seeing this, whispered, ¡°Master, why don¡¯t you go back to the hotel and rest for a while? I¡¯ll call you if anythinges up.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that delicate. I¡¯m just old, not dying,¡± Cao Chujun said as he moved his body around. ¡°Let¡¯s just wait. Once it¡¯s time to act, if we can seed in one go, we won¡¯t have to suffer here anymore.¡± He felt quite miserable, but it hadn¡¯t reached the point where he couldn¡¯t bear it. In his younger days, he would stake out suspects for up to a month at a time, living out of a car. Cao Chujun was the captain of the third team of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, and retirement was just around the corner. A new fingerprint identified by Doctor Jiang from Qinghe had pulled Cao Chujun out of his warm office building and brought him all the way to the grasnds. At this moment, he was too focused on the case to care about any physical difort. His heart was full of eagerness! ¡°I know¡­ Master, rest assured, the three men we¡¯ve brought along are all good at making arrests, and one of them is even a retired soldier,¡± his apprentice, an old detective himself, reassured. He understood that this case was a thorn in his master¡¯s side and now that there was a chance, he didn¡¯t want to make any mistakes. Cao Chujun nodded slightly, knowing he was getting a bit anxious, and tried to suppress it as much as possible. Being a detective usually means having one or two cases that are always on your mind. It¡¯s not always clear why those cases stick, but they just do. You always hope to solve them. The longer such cases linger, the more anxiety they often cause. Because everyone knows that the longer a case drags on, the harder it usually bes to solve. And once a detective gets old, retires, and goes home, the cases leave with him. New officers will have a hard time investing themselves in the case as he did and won¡¯t have the same context to understand the specifics. As a result, these cases be much harder to crack. And when all the participants in a case, from the victims to the victim¡¯s rtives, from the perpetrator to the investigators, have all gone, the case itself virtually ceases to exist. Cao Chujun had seen many an old detective leave with regrets; the more he saw, the less he wanted to leave with regrets of his own. However, the case remained unsolved due to ack of clues, and he could do nothing about it. Who would have thought, just as he was about to give up hope, hope suddenly emerged. A fingerprint challenge organized by the provincial department revealed a remarkably young forensic doctor from Qinghe City Ningtai County. He had managed to match the fingerprint that Cao Chujun had given up hope on. When the call for assistance arrived from the provincial department, Cao Chujun felt the urge to cry. He didn¡¯t know how many experts had looked at this fingerprint. It had been in the provincial fingerprint database for many years. Cao Chujun had always believed this fingerprint would never be matched. But now, as he approached the end of his career, on the brink of retirement, he was surprised to have his wish fulfilled. Cao Chujun looked out the window at the bright lights, feeling as calm inside as a drunkard. His heart was beating fast. ¡°He¡¯s out,¡± the apprentice called out softly. Cao Chujun immediately sat up, alert. Across the street, from the KTV¡¯s ss observation elevator, a staggering figure emerged. ¡°It¡¯s this guy!¡± Cao Chujun had seen the photo and memorized the face in it. The man was dressed rather well¡ªan old fellow in a shirt and vest with slicked hair, staggering but seemingly just a normal old man. This was the man who, thirteen years ago on a rainy night, had robbed a single mother and, due to her resistance, beat her to death. To this day, Cao Chujun still remembered the victim¡¯s only son, a ninth grader about to take the middle school exams, who was utterly bewildered upon hearing the news. The boy¡¯s grades were said to be good, but he did poorly on the exams andter entered the workforce¡­ No one could understand why someone would kill another person for a few tens of dors. At the time, the case remained unsolved. There was no motive for revenge, no dispute of interest, and no surveince on that rainy night. Only after the fingerprint was matched did Cao Chujun begin to glimpse the truth. The brutality of an old thug had caused many to suffer the consequences. ¡°Act cautiously,¡± Cao Chujun advised his apprentice in a low voice. He feared that if they spooked the prey this time, the old thug might vanish for good. Such a creature, without home, job, affection, or ties, had simply disappeared back then, leading the police to overlook him as a suspect. And Cao Chujun did not want to endure another round of waiting. The apprentice nodded slightly, quietly opened the car door, and along with several officers, they moved in. ¡°Old Qian!¡± the apprentice called out, drawing the attention of the old thug. Four officers, from four different directions, quietly pounced. The drunk old thug hardly had time to react before he was pinned down by the officers. ¡°Police, don¡¯t move.¡± It was then that the familiar phrase was shouted. The apprentice looked back at his master, finally allowing himself to rx. If there had been any slip-ups this time, he would never have forgiven himself. ¡°I¡­ what are you arresting me for?¡± the old thug writhed. By now, Cao Chujun had approached, and upon hearing his question, he couldn¡¯t help but twitch the corners of his mouth and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you remember the woman from Gongyuan Alley?¡± The old thug was stunned, and his whole body went limp! Cao Chujun¡¯s grip on the thug¡¯s arm trembled as he struggled to control the tears welling up in his reddened eyes. He often dreamt of the boy, who could have done well on his exams under his mother¡¯s watchful eye. He could have gone to high school, The Great Learning, and gotten a good job after graduation, married, taken care of his mother, possibly had some minor conflicts with his daughter-inw, but the smart son could handle them¡­ He looked up at the sky, and as the clouds dispersed, the stars twinkled faintly. ¡­ Chapter 96 - 96 94 Goosebumps ?96: Chapter 94 Goosebumps 96: Chapter 94 Goosebumps Changyang City. In the garden of the provincial office, the flowers were bright red and garish, as tacky as Chunghwa cigarettes. Li Zemin nced at the flowers outside the window without relish, then turned back, picked up a Chunghwa cigarette, and gently sniffed it. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just go and smoke it? I¡¯ll be busy for a while.¡± Jiang Yuan saw Li Zemin¡¯s actions but didn¡¯t intend to leave his seat. He had just re-marked the characteristic points of a fingerprint and felt hopeful about finding a match. It was time to make significant progress. Li Zemin shook his head: ¡°No rush, I¡¯m just smelling it. I¡¯ve got my own work to do.¡± Since the fingerprintpetition began, more than half the time had psed, yet Li Zemin hadn¡¯t matched even one fingerprint. And the number of fingerprint experts apanying him had plummeted from several dozes to just a dozen or so. If Li Zemin couldn¡¯t match a fingerprint soon, he would fall into the final single digits. Although it was said that the oue of a fingerprintpetition didn¡¯t define a hero, nor did it require one to match a fingerprint, as a fingerprint expert, not matching a single one in fourteen full days couldn¡¯t help but feel like wasted time. Li Zemin took a deep breath, resolved to pay close attention this time, and strove to match a fingerprint. Then he could go out and smoke, smoke as much as he wanted, even a whole pack¡­. Ding dong. In the big office, the dispersed ¡°good news¡± alert went off here and there. Some people always liked hearing the sound of sess, and whenever the ¡°ding dong¡± was heard, it meant¡­ Li Zemin nced at Jiang Yuan subconsciously and saw hisputer screen was indeed devoid of the fingerprint image. Then, he saw Jiang Yuan crack a slight smile and slowly unwrap a fresh pack of Chunghwa cigarettes. ¡°Care to step outside for a bit?¡± Jiang Yuan made a familiar invitation. Li Zemin was taken aback, instinctively clicked on the new message, and sure enough, the fingerprint needing review had been submitted by Jiang Yuan. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s step out.¡± Li Zemin stood up readily, knowing that smoking with Jiang Yuan meant being able to smoke however he pleased. By that time, at the top of the ¡°Cold Case Clearance Leaderboard,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s tally had reached 12. And on the ¡°Homicide Cold Case Leaderboard,¡± the four contributory ¡°captures¡± by Jiang Yuan also caught everyone¡¯s attention. Yang Ling was standing in the corridor and followed as soon as she saw Jiang Yuane out. As the head of the provincial office¡¯s fingerprint department, her own level of fingerprint identification could only be considered mediocre; it might be decentpared with the average forensic technician at a county bureau, butpared to experts handpicked from the entire province, it didn¡¯t stand out at all. For that reason, even during the fingerprintpetition, Yang Ling wouldn¡¯t walk around the big office. Fingerprintparison is a private affair; one expert, oneputer was sufficient, and there was no need for an additional leader¡¯s presence. However, in recent days, Yang Ling had received too many phone calls from around the province. Given her position, requests from various ces or calls for assistance from local authorities were normal, but the recent requests had been a little different. Especially during the fingerprintpetition, there were explicit requests for Jiang Yuan to examine certain fingerprints from their jurisdictions¡­ Had it not been for the frequency of such calls, Yang Ling would have initially ignored them. ¡°Jiang,¡± Yang Ling immediately emerged from the corner when she saw Jiang Yuane out. ¡°Chief Yang,¡± both Jiang Yuan and Li Zemin greeted her. ¡°Taking a break? Shall we walk together?¡± Yang Ling came over with a warm smile and said kindly, ¡°Are you tired? It¡¯s been a week since you arrived in Changyang City; you should be getting used to it by now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°It¡¯s your first time taking part in the fingerprintpetition, right? If there is anything you¡¯re not used to, just let me know. Matching 11 fingerprints is really quite astonishing¡­¡± ¡°12 now,¡± Li Zemin seized the opportunity to boastfully interrupt Yang Ling¡¯s words. Although he hadn¡¯t matched any fingerprints himself, he was still proud of Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements. Yang Ling was surprised: ¡°You just matched another one?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, I didn¡¯t have time to check my phone just now, but the colleagues in the office should have processed it¡­¡± Yang Ling slightly reorganized her thoughts; the points she prepared to say had been jumbled by their exchange. Once in the elevator, few colleagues in police uniforms were present, so Yang Ling remained silent. After stepping out, Yang Ling said, ¡°Jiang, I¡¯ve received a few calls; they¡¯re self-rmended fingerprints from various police stations. When you have time, you could take a look.¡± ¡°Self-rmended by the police?¡± Li Zemin interjected, asking, ¡°Aren¡¯t they in the current fingerprint database for thepetition?¡± Yang Ling said, somewhat helplessly, ¡°They are. But after hearing that Jiang has worked on several smudged fingerprints, they wanted him to look at simr ones they¡¯ve submitted. I feel that since Jiang is proficient with these types of fingerprints, having a few more options is pretty good.¡± ¡°These folks are quite adroit,¡± Li Zemin spoke up on Jiang Yuan¡¯s behalf. Yang Ling nodded in acknowledgment and continued, ¡°Please help out a bit, Jiang. It¡¯s the leaders from various ces making the calls. If not for the monk¡¯s face, then for Buddha¡¯s sake¡­¡± Both she and Li Zemin seemed to take the matter seriously, whereas Jiang Yuan appeared indifferent; he was still emotionally caught up in the state of fingerprintparison. Human attention is limited, and this also applies when utilizing Level 4 fingerprint identification skills. It wasn¡¯t until Li Zemin reminded him that Jiang Yuan realized, and said, ¡°There¡¯s no problem in examining fingerprints, but I can¡¯t guarantee a match.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for sure,¡± Yang Ling sighed with relief, and went on to exin, ¡°I also think that Jiang is quite strong at handling blurry fingerprints, which is why I specifically referred him to you¡­¡± She did have a point there. In terms of fingerprint identification expertise alone, Jiang Yuan might be leading the expert group, but that didn¡¯t necessarily trante into overwhelmingly better results than everyone else. The results he had achieved so far had much to do with his adept use of Level 4 Image Enhancement technology. As is well known, Image Enhancement involves techniques such as Fourier transform, Walsh-Hadamard transform, gray level histograms, gray level point operations, spatial smoothing filters, and sharpening spatial filters. However, these techniques are often confusing to fingerprint experts. One confused face against another, the advantage is naturally considerable. Jiang Yuan actually appreciated Yang Ling¡¯s rmendation. The fingerprint database in the fingerprint contest was huge, totaling more than tens of thousands¡ªfor dozens of counties and several dozen municipal districts across the province, each submitting hundreds of cold case fingerprints. And indeed, the software systemcked an option for ¡°blurry¡± fingerprints. On the way back, Li Zemin reminded him, ¡°The fingerprints referred by Yang¡¯s department are likely from murder cases; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t bother making such a call. Some of the fingerprints might even be in the national database.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see how it goes,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t make any promises, but the fingerprint work over the past few days had certainly boosted his confidence. In therge office, thepetitive atmosphere persisted. The air wasden with the strong scent of caffeine, the subtle aroma of tea mixed with the lingering smell of smelly feet¡ªa distinctive feature umted over a week in a bustling office. The messy desks also bore no rtion to their initial tidiness. The most noticeable change was in the appearance of the experts, whose once neatly pressed uniforms had reverted to their most practical form. The alterations at the cor, cuffs, and even the chest were telling of the experts¡¯ self-management abilities. Those who were good at internal affairs and took good care of their clothes, those who gave up, werezy, andined of illness every day, couldn¡¯t be experts or participate in the fingerprint contest. And even if they did enter, they were unlikely to achieve good results. Those who did get good results, like Zhu Huanguang, were bursting withpetitive spirit and full of self-confidence. Even with half the results of Jiang Yuan, Zhu Huanguang showed no sign of rxing. His approach was simple: use every moment others spent resting, sleeping, smoking, or even going to the bathroom for fingerprintparison. Even if his efficiency was a bit lower, there was a chance to catch up bit by bit. That¡¯s what Zhu Huanguang thought, and what he did. He even secretly resolved that starting today, as long as Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t return to the dorm to rest, he wouldn¡¯t rest either. Even if Jiang Yuan did go back to rest, he would work on fingerprints for at least an hour more before returning; if he felt good, he could even do two more hours. That way, he could spend an extra hour or two on fingerprints every day, yielding more than ten extra hours over the course of the week. Rounded up, that was the equivalent of two extra dayspared to the average expert. Zhu Huanguang made up his mind, turned off the software notifications, put on headphones, and focused on working on fingerprints. Time ticked away, second by second. As night fell, one by one, the experts in the office started to leave. Zhu Huanguang, however, managed to match his eighth fingerprint of the trip, averaging more than one match per day. This achievement would have been considered top-notch in previous years. After waiting for a moment for his results to be confirmed, Zhu Huanguang lifted his head satisfied and looked towards the leaderboard at the front of the office. On the ¡°Cold Case Resolution Leaderboard,¡± the number of matches next to Zhu Huanguang¡¯s name had been updated to ¡°8.¡± Zhu Huanguang smiled slightly, then adjusted his mood and, with a positive mindset, looked at Jiang Yuan¡¯s tally. Jiang Yuan¡ª14. Zhu Huanguang inhaled deeply. Actually, it was within his expectations. Jiang Yuan was outstanding and worked hard, and he had not gone back to rest until now. It seemed perfectly normal to have two more matches¡ªa total of three matches a day. Without wanting to dwell on it, Zhu Huanguang nced at the ¡°Murder Case Cold Case Leaderboard.¡± On this ranking, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s name was absent, which was rted to the type of fingerprints he had chosen in the past few days. As for Jiang Yuan¡­ Jiang Yuan¡ª6. Zhu Huanguang couldn¡¯t help but rub his eyes. Beneath the ¡°Murder Case Cold Case Leaderboard,¡± the number of matches next to Jiang Yuan¡¯s name remained at ¡°6.¡± At this moment, Zhu Huanguang realized that the additional two matches achieved by Jiang Yuan were both murder cases. To solve two murder cases consecutively? Six murder cases in a week? The thought of this number gave Zhu Huanguang goosebumps all over. Chapter 97 - 97 95 Persistent Pursuit ?97: 95 Persistent Pursuit 97: 95 Persistent Pursuit The central air conditioning unit hummed as it expelled air, providing little cooling but pretending to work hard, much like Zhu Huanguang¡¯s son when he studied. The devil¡¯s ivy on the windowsill was thriving, its pale roots pearly and plump inside the transparent bottle, tangled messily amid the water. Therge leaves, stirred gently by the air conditioning, resembled buttocks being patted by a fitness trainer. Without realizing it, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s gaze shifted to Jiang Yuan. Although still young, Jiang Yuan, a fingerprint expert, remained seated in his cubicle, eyes zing as he stared at theputer screen, exuding an intense killing vibe. Just in the past week, Jiang Yuan had identified the killers in six homicide cases, four of whom had already been captured, and it was highly likely they would be sentenced to death. The remaining two probably could not escape either. Moreover, these homicides had all been matched within thest three or four days, implying that, in thest few days, Jiang Yuan had sent a person to their death each day. Such ferocity was truly terrifying and awe-inspiring. Zhu Huanguang trembled with envy. He couldn¡¯t help but think how wonderful it would be if he could trade his son Zhu Xiaoguang¡¯s college entrance exam scores for murderers. No need to talk about a one-to-one exchange¡ªa ten-to-one bargain would him twenty or thirty criminals, a tremendous contribution indeed. Creak. Jiang Yuan stood up and pushed back his chair. Not many people were left in therge office, and the sound of the chair was quite grating in the empty room. Some experts couldn¡¯t help but look up, disgruntled, ncing over before realizing it was Jiang Yuan and quickly returning to their work with an indifferent pout. Jiang Yuan went back to his dormitory to rest. Zhu Huanguang noticed Jiang Yuan carried items like a water cup as he left, likely indicating he wouldn¡¯t return to work further. For a moment, Zhu Huanguang also thought about heading back to the dormitory to rest. He could casually browse his phone, flirt with girls, call home, scold his son Zhu Xiaoguang, and sweet-talk his wife; it all sounded quite joyful. But just as he was about to stand up, Zhu Huanguang sat back down. Targets set shouldn¡¯t be easily revised, otherwise, what difference would there be between him and Zhu Xiaoguang! Evening. Upon returning to his dormitory, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t wait to get to bed and sleep. The pressure of the fingerprint challenge was overwhelming, bearable for a day or two but, after a week, it was exhausting both mentally and physically. It became clear why fingerprint challenges were only two to three weeks long. On average, two weeks were sufficient to drain an expert¡¯s vitality, and one more week could even be enough for a vacation. There had to be some giveback. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was too tired to think about much before he fell into a deep sleep. The following week was almost a repeat of the previous one. The difference was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving pace slowed down, but all the cases he cracked were homicides. On thest day of the fingerprint challenge, Jiang Yuan had matched a total of 18 fingerprints on therge office¡¯s leaderboard, of which 10 were from homicide cases. The expert with the next highest total behind him was Zhu Huanguang with 10 fingerprint matches, but none from homicide cases. The expert ranked second in the backlog of homicide cases had matched 2 homicide fingerprints, while the third ce expert still only had one. The final count for matched fingerprints in backlog homicide cases came to 15, in the order of 10, 2, 1, 1, 1. That is to say, among the more than forty experts who participated in the fingerprint task force for half a month, a total of only five people matched the fingerprints found at murder scenes. Jiang Yuan alone matched the number of murder scene fingerprints, which was exactly twice that of the other forty or so peoplebined. These were highly exaggerated figures, which not only in Shannan Province but also across the nation, amounted to legendary proportions. As a result, the news spread very widely in a very short time. However, those in the police circles who heard of this were not surprised. In fact, all those who heard the news reacted with both astonishment and a sense of inevitability. The astonishment was due to the number of fingerprints Jiang Yuan matched, while the inevitability stemmed from the fact that legendary fingerprint experts were indeed capable of such feats. From a certain perspective, fingerprints are like solving puzzles; a puzzle is thrown out, and its difficulty propagates from no one knowing the answer, to a few knowing it, to a group knowing it, to many knowing it, and so on. The so-called experts are simply in the process of continually elevating their propagation level. When a fingerprint expert surpasses various levels and reaches the top tier within a province, he naturally dominates in the fingerprint task force of the provincial department. This is also true for national fingerprintpetitions. Whenever a powerful fingerprint expert develops a new technique, he often achieves overwhelming results, solving many previously unsolvable fingerprint puzzles and thus matching arge number of fingerprints, which leads to cracking many cases that were previously unsolved. At the same time, as his fame and the new technique he developed spread, more people master the technique, and the number of matching fingerprints in the database quickly decreases, until bnce is restored. Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°rification battle¡± technique had already spread before the end of the fingerprint task force, including fingerprint experts like Zhu Huanguang who were in fact already researching and developing it. When the Director announced the end of this fingerprint task force session, there was a round of apuse in therge office. Many people were pping, while looking towards Jiang Yuan. Only those deeply entrenched in the field understand how difficult it is to achieve this level of sess within it. The Director was also pping as he walked up to Jiang Yuan, nodding at him with a smile, ¡°Each generation has its own talents; I never expected to meet such a young fingerprint expert on this asion¡­¡± He earnestly rambled on for several minutes, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotions gradually shifted from excitement to calmness. Unlike team leader Huang Qiangmin¡¯s promise, the Director¡¯s offer was bigger and more well-rounded, not only buttered but sprinkled with sesame seeds, and it even seemed like you could smell it. Jiang Yuan was so impassioned and emotionally stirred that he felt like analyzing another hundred fingerprints on the spot. ¡°Ding! Task Completed: Persistent Pursuit Task Content: During the fingerprint task force period, do your utmost to solve multiple cases. Current progress (18*10) Task Reward: Bloodstain Analysis (LV5)¡± ¡­ The system¡¯s voice helped Jiang Yuan regain some rity. This was something tangible and more useful than the Director¡¯s promises. His expression became more serious as he carefully reviewed the contents of the Bloodstain Analysis. It was a basic skill for a forensic doctor and a very important one. Theoretically, by using bloodstain analysis, one could reconstruct every action taken at the time of a murder. The moreplex the situation and the more detailed the reconstruction, the higher the difficulty would be. Across the room, Minister Xu looked at the young man in front of him, so young, the same age as his eldest grandson who still stayed upte ying games every night. However, the young man in front of him, after receiving his praise, remainedposed and calm, albeit slightly excited at first, and quickly settled down, truly a technical genius. He stopped making promises and patted the young man on the shoulder. This moment was also perfectly captured by the photographers who were ready. Chapter 98 - 98 96 Where Is Daddy Going ?98: Chapter 96 Where Is Daddy Going 98: Chapter 96 Where Is Daddy Going After a dinner that was more about ceremony than substance, fingerprint experts from various regions gradually left the venue, heading back to their dormitories, and some even went straight home. The experts who had cracked homicide cases, as well as those like Zhu Huanguang with top-ranked matching fingerprints, were specially retained for photographs and interviews. Some people might be anticipating awards for their achievements, but for the moment, no one was actually discussing this topic. Jiang Yuan was still eagerly studying LV5 Bloodstain Analysis. Bloodstain Analysis is very useful, but the stimulus of LV5 is even stronger. Thinking of Dazhuang¡¯s enthusiasm for dog food, one could almost envision how the sprayed bloodstains would connect to the killer. ¡°Expert Jiang, pleasee over here,¡± another journalist appeared, dragging Jiang Yuan off to take photographs. Then, the journalist repeated a series of questions that previous reporters had asked, and had Jiang Yuan change into various police uniforms that were borrowed for another series of photographs. Li Zemin seized the opportunity to hug Jiang Yuan, taking many photos together. ¡°Hey, you¡¯re leaving already? This fingerprint battle ended so quickly,¡± Li Zemin said with a cigarette in his mouth, his face filled with worry as he patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder and made a reverse V-sign to the reporters ahead. Behind them was a ranking board printed inrge format from the fingerprint department. On the left side was the ¡°Homicide Backlog Ranking,¡± with Jiang Yuan in first ce and a battle count of 10; Li Zemin was ranked 35th, with a battle count of 0. On the right side was the ¡°Backlog Case Solving Ranking,¡± with Jiang Yuan in first ce and a battle count of 18; Li Zemin was ranked 35th, with a battle count of 0. Both looked very happy, and took many more photos in front of the ranking board. Li Zemin said he wanted to take them back to show his brothers that he hade out to join the fingerprint battle following the top-ranked fingerprint expert, causing chaos together. As for his own ranking and battle count, they didn¡¯t matter. Jiang Yuan was also quite moved as he yfully pped Li Zemin¡¯s back. The 14 days of the fingerprint battle were pure and joyful; he just worked on fingerprints, asionally went out for fresh air, had chats, and then at night, he slept soundly without having to think about how many murderers would die because of his work. The rity of the world¡¯s darkness and light seldom appeared so distinctly before Jiang Yuan, directly affecting him. During this time, Jiang Yuan was spared from worrying, like in school, that some half-grown boy would suddenly rush out to drag him off to y, or at home wandering aimlessly with boring descendants of wealthy families, or being cornered by strange people pushing weird investment projects. Li Zemin was also a greatpanion. Unlike Jiang Yuan who was devoted to fingerprints and almost always on call, Li Zemin was more easy-going and had a youthful vibe that was rare among the group of experts. ¡°Come visit Liyuan City when you have time. We are close to Pingzhou, with mountains and grasnds, and the meat is really delicious¡­¡± Li Zemin warmly invited Jiang Yuan, bidding him a reluctant farewell. Having no achievements, he naturally didn¡¯t have to deal with interviews or awards. On the other hand, while it was quite enjoyable to be away from home for half a month, by the time it came to returning, he was indeed missing his friends and family. His clothes smelled, he was fed up with Changyang City¡¯s food, and the cigarettes he brought with him¡­ it was time to find a ce to stash them. Jiang Yuan said goodbye to Li Zemin, putting on a tough facade, and handed him two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes priced in the 30s, then watched the departing ride-hailing car with a tinge of sadness. The bustle of the fingerprint battle was sharply different from the bustling celebration that was now taking ce. ¡°Jiang Yuan. Congrattions to you.¡± In a somewhat mncholic moment for Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui appeared behind him. ¡°Director Liu?¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. To be frank, Jiang Yuan was not fond of Liu Jinghui. Especially his distrustful approach to evidence utilization, which is quite rare in today¡¯s police world. However, seeing a familiar face like Liu Jinghui at this particr moment provided Jiang Yuan with a veryfortable feeling, even somewhat on point. ¡°I have a gift for you.¡± Liu Jinghui smiled, handing Jiang Yuan a bag, saying, ¡°Congrattions on being top-ranked in battle achievements. This time, you must receive at least a second-ss merit.¡± He pointed to the ¡°Homicide Backlog Ranking¡± behind them and said, ¡°In previous years¡¯ fingerprint battles, experts who matched four or five homicide cases would straightaway receive second-ss merits. You were impressive this time, with 10 homicide cases, I saw several leaders thrilled beyond words. The criminal police forces everywhere were kept busy. Counting per person, thousands must have stayed up through the night.¡± ¡°Were they all caught?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help asking. ¡°Almost. Unless there were other cases outstanding, for the most part, the primary suspects could be found,¡± said Liu Jinghui, familiar with such cases, ¡°The characteristic of old, unresolved cases is that they are difficult to solve, but capturing suspects isn¡¯t something to worry about. Over time, as cases remain unsolved, many murderers start leading ordinary lives concerning firewood, rice, oil, and salt. From what I¡¯ve seen, the more significant the case, the more these suspects love to live such trivial, ordinary lives. When the arresting officers arrive, their anger¡­ as if their dream life is copsing, there¡¯s less resistance¡­¡± Liu Jinghui took a deep breath, reveling in the moment with a cruel smile, ¡°I most enjoy seeing their tears and pleas.¡± Jiang Yuan was filled with longing and felt that he should probably enjoy it too. After a while, Jiang Yuan realized he was holding a bag and quickly picked it up, asking, ¡°You also brought a gift, what is it?¡± ¡°A sleep mask to make sleeping a bit morefortable. Just a little token, nothing much.¡± Liu Jinghui smiled sincerely. Jiang Yuan opened it to find indeed a sleep mask, which didn¡¯t look very expensive. After hesitating for a moment, he epted it. And yet, he felt a bit strange inside. Back in his dormitory, he had trouble sleeping and often thought about getting a sleep mask, but he would always forget when working and remember again when trying to sleep¡­ How did he manage to sensibly gift it just like that? No matter what, it came from a fourth-grade senior superintendent from the provincial office. The fact that they sent it over was worth more than the sleep mask itself. ¡°What¡¯s your n foring up?¡± Liu Jinghui asked. ¡°I¡¯ll see what the higher-ups arrange,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, you¡¯ll probably be taking a few more photographs and then publishing them in the newspapers for several days straight, then attending various meetings and award ceremonies. You may even do speeches at some units. The most troublesome part is that you might be assigned to some extremelyplex cases,¡± Liu Jinghui said. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s calm expression, he continued, ¡°Byplex, I don¡¯t mean theplexity of the case, but rather theplexity of interest distribution.¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback and asked, ¡°What case?¡± ¡°You should be asking why it¡¯s you,¡± Liu Jinghui gave Jiang Yuan a moment to think and then went on, ¡°We had an agreement on the Wu Long Savage case, remember? You said to wait until after the fingerprint campaign, and now that it¡¯s over¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu, I never promised,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a wry smile and a shake of his head. Although homicide cases were quite high-end, Ningtai County surely had enough of its own, and it wasn¡¯t necessary to follow the unlikeable Liu Jinghui everywhere. Liu Jinghui gave Jiang Yuan a deep look, seemingly guessing his thoughts, and said in a light tone, ¡°The Wu Long Savage case has gained some notoriety in our province, far more interesting than those homicides in your Ningtai County. Besides, how many resources can a county bureau have? In the end, you won¡¯t be able to skip the meetings you¡¯re supposed to attend, and who knows where you might be seconded to¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had to admit, Liu Jinghui was not only adept at reasoning but also pretty good at persuading others. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll go and get ready. I¡¯ll take care of things at your county bureau. After our trip to Mount Wulong, just in time for your medal award ceremony ¡ª nice andfortable,¡± Liu Jinghui said and then turned to leave. ¡­ After afortable night¡¯s sleep with the sleep mask on, Jiang Yuan saw Liu Jinghui and a Great Wall pickup truck waiting at the dormitory entrance the next morning. The blue Great Wall pickup, with its rear cargo area covered, was dirty and battered with worn tires, looking weatherworn. Jiang Yuan had called Master Wu Jun the night before and decided to follow Liu Jinghui to Mount Wulong. But seeing the sorry state of the Great Wall pickup, he began to doubt his im of abundant resources. ¡°That¡¯s how it is at the department, if it works, they won¡¯t rece it with a better or newer one,¡± Liu Jinghui motioned for Jiang Yuan to get in the vehicle and drove off. ¡°Is it just the two of us?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, resigned to the situation. Liu Jinghui, eyes fixed on the road ahead, said, ¡°If we find something, we¡¯ll call people in. If not, at least we won¡¯t lose too much face, right?¡± Jiang Yuan¡­ I don¡¯t trust you at all. ¡­ As Jiang Yuan followed Liu Jinghui to Mount Wulong, police detectives from various ces, and even experts from outside the province, were flocking to Changyang City. Blurred fingerprints were not unique to Shannan Province. A single fingerprint campaign had solved 10 homicide cases in 14 days, which not only shocked the policemunity but also attracted many experts to emte. However, for well-known reasons, fingerprint experts typically are not very familiar with techniques like image enhancement, such as Fourier Transformations for different types of signals including continuous non-periodic, continuous periodic, discrete non-periodic, as well as discrete periodic, and their mastery of these is often not proficient. Therefore, after several days of trying, they all hurried to Changyang City, hoping to learn from Jiang Yuan. Most of the experts thought that Jiang Yuan might possess a rtively simple technique to easily transform blurred fingerprints. The police detectives and their leaders who charged over had even more straightforward ideas: asking Jiang Yuan to do a few fingerprintparisons or to help process fingerprints were excellent propositions. But no one expected that, just after the fingerprint campaign had ended, Jiang Yuan was gone. Where was he? Chapter 99 - 99 97 A Good Place to Kill ?99: Chapter 97: A Good ce to Kill 99: Chapter 97: A Good ce to Kill Mount Wulong. The mountain is tall, vast, and covers arge area. Exiting the highway of Liyuan City, without entering the urban area and circling the city for dozens of kilometers, one could see the massive Mount Wulong lying on the horizon, stretching so far that one cannot see the end. In fact, it really is impossible to see the end. The expansive Mount Wulong crosses several cities and even provincial boundaries, with the most central part being made up of primeval forest structure designated as arge natural reserve. Conversely, the main peak of Mount Wulong is a 5A tourist attraction of Liyuan City, with temples built on the mountaintop and holiday vis at the foot of the mountain. Close to the suburbs, there are some farms offering countryside experiences. And the majority of human activity areas stop there. Liu Jinghui drove his beat-up Great Wall pickup directly to a vige at the foot of the mountain, then parked the vehicle in the yard of a countryside inn. Jiang Yuan sat in the car until he felt dizzy, growing more and more doubtful about Liu Jinghui¡¯s reliability. But by now, it was evening, and it felt like there was no chance to leave even if one wanted to. The countryside inn chosen by Liu Jinghui was in a secluded corner of the vige. Once it got dark, it truly was like a chessboard sky with a hook-like moon, resting your head on the Milky Way as you dream, listening to the chorus of frogs from all directions. Where light reached, one could see the red bricks and green tiles, refreshing and pleasing to the eye. Looking further away into the darkness, it was pitch ck, and you couldn¡¯t even spot a dead person on the wall. There were no other guests at the countryside inn, and the owner and his wife arranged rooms for both of them before heading off to rest. ¡°Let¡¯s sleep first, we¡¯ll talk about anything else tomorrow,¡± Liu Jinghui said, having driven for an entire day, his eyes so tired they could barely stay open. Jiang Yuan just managed to ask in a low voice, ¡°Did you bring a gun?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t bring one, it¡¯s not necessary.¡± Liu Jinghui pulled something out from behind him, handed it to Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°Take this for self-defense.¡± ¡°This¡­ a sprayer? Why didn¡¯t you give me a wolf-repellent spray.¡± Jiang Yuan took the item Liu Jinghui handed over and nearly chuckled when he saw it. A small ck canister, clearlybeled ¡°Tear Gas Sprayer,¡± was indeed a police-issue spray. ¡°You have to buy the wolf spray yourself. This one is powerful,¡± Liu Jinghui showed his own sprayer to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°When we enter the mountains tomorrow, what use will our small police pistols have? Batons and such also won¡¯t have room to be wielded, this is far more useful. If you encounter a bear, spray it in the face; it might even work.¡± ¡°If a bear gets close enough to my face and I whip out a can of pepper spray, I really am¡­¡± Jiang Yuan sighed, feeling emotionally drained, he waved his hand and went back to his room to sleep. At this point, there was no need to argue about weapons anymore. The next day. At the break of dawn, the crowing of a rooster woke Jiang Yuan up. Jiang Yuan dressed neatly and went outside to see, and in the glow of dawn, a red-crowned, colorful-feathered big rooster, stood on the red brick roof of a chicken coop, proudly crowing to the sky: ¡°Dog brother, dog brother¡­¡± The countryside inn owner also got up and stood in the courtyard, punching towards the direction of the rising sun. Jiang Yuan looked at the owner, then at the rooster, and asked, ¡°Is that rooster edible?¡± The owner slowly stopped his punches, hesitated for a few seconds, and said, ¡°It¡¯s raised to be eaten, but this chicken is over two years old, too big, you guys won¡¯t be able to finish it¡­ ¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one. We¡¯ll eat it together,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask for the price, just gestured with his hand and said, ¡°Get it ready now, we¡¯re in a hurry to leaveter.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll call my wife to start the fire and boil some water,¡± the owner said, intentionally taking a detour to the chicken coop, not even ncing in the big rooster¡¯s direction as he caught the wing of the frantically pping rooster. The big rooster struggled in panic while the owner sped his hands together, muttering under his breath, ¡°Chick chick don¡¯t me me, you are but a meal for the farming folk¡­¡± By the time Liu Jinghui woke up, the chicken was already stewed. ¡°Oh, chicken for breakfast. It¡¯s a bit tough, though,¡± Liu Jinghui woke up to the aroma of the stewed chicken, in a good mood. Jiang Yuan sat at the small table, seemingly oblivious to Liu Jinghui, staring at the pot of stewed chicken as if he hadn¡¯t heard him speak. The owner nced at Jiang Yuan cautiously, feeling a murderous aura all over him, then whispered to Liu Jinghui, ¡°This is the rooster that crowed this morning. Your friend saw it when he woke up and asked me to kill it and cook it.¡± Liu Jinghui was startled for a moment, suddenly beginning to understand his boss¡¯s mood. ¡­ After the meal, the two men made some preparations and waited for two guides to arrive before starting their journey into the mountain. Seeing locals leading the way and others helping to carry luggage, Jiang Yuan felt a bit more at ease. While walking, he said, ¡°I thought that when the Provincial Department got involved, they would at least call on the local county bureau or something like a police station. Are we really just conducting our own investigation?¡± ¡°The Wu Long Wildman case has beenunched three times,¡± Liu Jinghui replied while walking. ¡°Thest time I initiated it, over 20 people went into the mountains, but their efficiency was low, and they caused irreversible damage to the crime scene. Besides, outside the mountains is the local police station, and inside the mountains is the forestry police¡ªit¡¯s quiteplicated.¡± Jiang Yuan remained silent. He had just visited the Provincial Department and knew that it was rare for them to handle cases alone. Most of the time, if the Provincial Department wanted to show concern, they would send a couple of police officers to the local area, much like Liu Jinghui¡¯sst case with Tan Yong. If necessary, they could directly take over the local criminal police team. This time, Liu Jinghui had asked Jiang Yuan for assistance, and though he said it was the two of them, from the Provincial Department¡¯s perspective, it was as if he was handling the case independently. Liu Jinghui, with his delicate understanding, quickly grasped what Jiang Yuan was thinking and said, ¡°This case is famous because both the victim and the person who discovered the body have a certain social influence. The victim was a columnist using the pen name Li Sanqiu, who specialized in writing about life in deep mountains, expeditions, and reclusion.¡± Seeing that Jiang Yuan was unaware, Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°The hiker who discovered his body is from Changyang City, a¡­ should be called a camping intermediary, or an outdoor equipment retailer, I guess. He often organizes outdoor activities and has created and joined many groups. After identally discovering the body, he posted a lot about the ¡®Wu Long Wildman¡¯ case, sharing many posts and photos, attracting attention nationwide.¡± ¡°That would bring a lot of curious people just to take a look,¡± Jiang Yuan immediately realized, fearful that the state of the crime scene was probably not good. ¡°Yes,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed. ¡°Initially, the preservation conditions for a body and crime scene in the wilderness are poor. After being subjected to public spectating, conducting a second, third examination of the crime scene made things even worse. And unfortunately, the initial examination of the crime scene was conducted by the local police station, and the work was done very shoddily¡­¡± Jiang Yuan twitched his mouth involuntarily and admitted, ¡°I thought you didn¡¯t care about evidence.¡± ¡°Even deduction needs some basis,¡± Liu Jinghui guessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion of him and seemed unconcerned as he continued, ¡°Anyway, after the case escted, it got the attention of the Provincial Department, whoter dispatched a more capable team. Eventually, it was confirmed that the victim was Li Sanqiu, and it had nothing to do with wildmen. But by that time, the hikers and wildman enthusiasts no longer believed in the official report. Instead, it attracted the attention of Li Sanqiu¡¯s readers and the cultural media.¡± Walking on a narrow path that could only fit one person, Jiang Yuan gasped for breath and asked, ¡°So, what are you hoping I can find?¡± ¡°Fingerprints would be best,¡± Liu Jinghui chuckled. ¡°I know you¡¯re also very good at investigating crime scenes. Once, by revisiting an old crime scene, you cracked a homicide case. If you can re-investigate and find any clues, that¡¯d be great. If not, we¡¯ll settle for any trace evidence we can use.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ well, I¡¯ll give it a try when we get there,¡± Jiang Yuanplied. The skills Liu Jinghui mentioned were exactly what he was good at. To be honest, Jiang Yuan did not dislike using these skills to solve cases. Liu Jinghui nodded and stopped talking to save energy. 200 meters above the vige in elevation, they entered the depths of the primeval forest. Here the trees grew tall and thick, with vines intertwined and dense, deep grass and other unknown nts trying to fill every remaining space. The barely existent path was also mostly covered, forcing the guides to wield machetes to make their way. Insects, snakes, and other creatures unloved by humans were everywhere, quickly bing bearable. Despite the difficult path, the area they walked through could hardly be called a virgin forest; it was a secondary forest that had regrown after logging decades earlier, evident from the dominant tree species in the vicinity. Jiang Yuan observed quietly while deep in thought. Investigating a crime scene in the wilderness is vastly different from a city. In an urban setting, a drop of blood spilled can be urately analyzed even after ten years. But in the wilderness, bloodstains can disappear within just ten days to half a month. Earthworms, ants, microbes, and various other creatures both familiar and alien to humans would emerge, say a quick ¡°Good job, boss,¡± and then be gone. Simrly, technological methods like DNA testing are difficult to apply here¡ªa deposit of semen on the ground wouldn¡¯tst much longer than its expiration date. Only traditional items like cigarette butts and syringes, preferred by clumsy thieves, retain a shred of value. In cities where dealing with bodies can be very difficult, bodies in the wilderness do notst very long either. Wild boars, bears, and microbes can easily consume a corpse until nothing is left. In the wild, burial actually helps preserve a body. In this ce, a missing person is truly lost, and luck is the only thing that may bring them back. Even discovering a body is a matter of luck. Like with this Wu Long Wildman case¡ªif a hiker hadn¡¯t happened to go up the mountain, ventured deep into Li Sanqiu¡¯s remote dwelling, and decided to rest there for two days, the body might have never been found. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan looked ahead at Liu Jinghui. The man likely had simr doubts and perhaps was even considering the possibility of finding more bodies. Just as a tiger that easily captures a human will include humans in its diet and attempt to eat more of them, or a shark that has tasted human flesh will do the same, a person who has killed easily and without punishment will add humans to their list without any taboo. Mount Wulong was indeed an ideal ce for murder. Chapter 100 - 100 98 Embedding ?100: Chapter 98 Embedding 100: Chapter 98 Embedding ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± It was a little past five in the afternoon. The two guides, dragging and hauling, managed to get Liu Jinghui onto a small teau by the edge of a cliff. He was getting on in years and could keep up with the first half of the mountain trail but was virtually copsing like a dead dog for thetter half. Of course, in Liu Jinghui¡¯s own words, he was just ¡°too tired from driving yesterday.¡± Jiang Yuan was equally exhausted. Taking advantage of the dying light of the sunset, he quickly snapped a series of photos and observed the surroundings carefully before the sky rapidly darkened. Jiang Yuan then helped prepare for camping. His Level 2 camping skills finally came into y. Although not as at ease as the two guides, it still significantly sped up their overall progress. The cliff here had been artificially cleared. Although it was also covered with nts, they weren¡¯t very tall and allowed some light to filter down. Behind the tform made up of severalrge rocks was a cave extending three to four meters deep. It too had been tidied up, with a fire pit and a small amount of wood, branches, and leaves prepared in advance. The group quickly cleared a space on the small teau. Once they had established a foothold, they set up a small tent, fetched water from the mountain stream, and started a fire. The cave behind the small teau was the primary crime scene of the ¡°Wu Long Wildman Case¡±, but none of the four people mentioned this. They first busied themselves with organizing the ce where they would stay. An experienced guide sprayed arge amount of insect repellent on the ground of the small teau. Instantly, a variety of colored insects crawled out from underneath rotting branches and leaves, staggering into the nearby thickets. Liu Jinghui¡¯s face changed slightly at the sight, and he asked, ¡°Does no onee here anymore? Last time I was here, it was the same¡­¡± The experienced guide replied, ¡°We took the path previously used by the herbalists. And the caves around here were also prepared by them for their own use.¡± The other guide, somewhat nostalgic, said, ¡°When people are out and about, if they encounter rainy weather or get sick or injured and can¡¯t make it back in time, they stay in the caves for a night or two. They light a fire, boil some water, and whenever someonees byter and has some time, they add some wood to the fire¡­ There are ces like this at the foot of the mountain too, but they¡¯re rarer now.¡± ¡°What about now? It couldn¡¯t have beenpletely abandoned, right?¡± asked Liu Jinghui. ¡°At least you guys would stille here.¡± ¡°Right now, we only take jobs from guests like hikers or people who enjoy trekking¡­ Those trekking usually don¡¯t take this route. It¡¯s too remote. If it weren¡¯t for this incident, I wouldn¡¯t take this path in a few more years,¡± the guide exined while chopping down several saplings with a hatchet, seemingly to prevent future trouble. But everyone knew that if they returned next year, this ce would be covered with saplings again. ¡°What about the vige? The people in the vige below the mountain stille up, don¡¯t they?¡± Liu Jinghui had asked a simr question before, but this time he purposely brought a new young guide and wanted to ask again. The young guide, about 20 years old, didn¡¯t take it seriously and simply answered, ¡°Vigerse up mostly because someone in their family is ill and they need to gather some herbs for treatment. They don¡¯te as far as here. We¡¯ve walked eight or nine hours to get here, clearing paths along the way. The vige is now mostly older folks; they can¡¯t afford to exert themselves like that.¡± Liu Jinghui uttered a thoughtful ¡°Hmm,¡± and then turned to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Shall we then go into the cave and start the investigation? It¡¯s better to stay inside the cave tonight. We should inspect all therger areas by evening.¡± He had been here before and knew that staying outside the cave would be troublesome. The mountain environment, unlike outside, was cold, damp, and could make one sick. There were also poisonous creatures and wild animals whose whereabouts were unknown. However, he brought just Jiang Yuan and two guides this time, rather than therge team he hadst time, in order to minimize the impact on the crime scene. Jiang Yuan nodded; he was there to conduct crime scene investigation and had no reason to shirk his duties. Liu Jinghui sent the two guides to fetch water and cook, then turned to Jiang and asked, ¡°You¡¯ve seen the previous photos, where shall we start?¡± Jiang Yuan had viewed the photos on his iPad during the journey. They were the most useful evidence preserved from before¡ªthough in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, they were not particrly helpful. The first and second groups of police officers who ascended the mountain virtually found no valid evidence aside from the bodies. The forensic doctors involved had a hard time proving the identities and made little progress in the field of forensic pathology. Because the bodies were iplete, the current spection was that the fatal injuries were to the abdomen, and unfortunately, the soft abdomen was most appealing to wild animals. Before the bodies could dpose, the visiting animals had hollowed out the abdomen, which contained the death information, into arge hole¡­ Of course, that wasn¡¯t surprising. Given the current situation, any footprint left on the ground could be obliterated by insects, fungi, or other strange things. The types of evidence that detectivesmonly relied on had no reason to exist in such an environment. Jiang Yuan waved his shlight around, hesitated, and said slowly, ¡°Fingerprints are unlikely, DNA is hopeless, the most probable would be physical evidence, like stic packaging, or metal objects. I¡¯ll start by searching the ashes of the burnt fire. Don¡¯t touch anything.¡± Video, cell phones, and DNA¡ªthe three treasures of the detectives. Jiang Yuan felt that the cell phone had the best chance of being found. For example, if while rummaging, he happened to pull a cell phone out from underneath the cave, that would be ideal. Dreams unfulfilled. Jiang Yuan sat next to the fire pit, put on his gloves directly, and slowly sifted through the ash inside. To be honest, the ck ash and such had been mostly eradicated by nature, but branches or some food that had been smoked and roasted actuallysted a little longer. However, considering that the police had also made a fire and barbecued herest time, what Jiang Yuan found was difficult to attribute to anyone specific. Despite that, he first sifted through this area, then went around looking for clues and evidence. The searchsted half the night. Barely resting overnight, as soon as the sun rose the next morning, Jiang Yuan hurriedly took the time to review the evidence he found yesterday. It was all rather uninspiring. Jiang Yuan sat by the fire pit, poking the fire with a stick, frowning in thought. This ce was not like a residential building where one could wipe everything clean; even if someone tried to clean the cave, they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to scrub anything significant. The diverse varieties of microorganisms could easily obliterate all biological evidence. Extracting some soil to perform a chemical analysis back at theb might yield some results, but I¡¯m afraid it would be of little help to the case. Liu Jinghui also woke up, washed up with cold water, then turned back and spoke in a gentle voice, ¡°Find whatever you can. Calling you here was a long shot anyway. Not to mention the previous groups of detectives, even I came herest time with several technicians, and we found nothing.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need Liu Jinghui¡¯s reassurance; he simply rubbed his shoulders and stood up, saying, ¡°There¡¯s nothing to see in the cave, I¡¯ll go have a look around.¡± ¡°Let Xiao Yang apany you.¡± Liu Jinghui called the more experienced guide to follow Jiang Yuan to inspect the nearby area. Of course, the main focus was the ravine where the body had been found. Looking around until noon, Jiang Yuan returned to the fire pit, found the fire dwindling, so he gathered more firewood and rebuilt the fire structure. While doing so, his gaze fell on one side of the wall. The color of the wall here had changed slightly, which most people would subconsciously attribute to the fire pit¡¯s effect. But with a Level 2 camping skill on record, Jiang Yuan could easily judge: that wasn¡¯t the case. If the fire from the fire pit had affected the growth of organic matter on the wall, it should have been the part closest to the fire pit and mes to be affected first. However, the area on the wall where the color change was most pronounced was positioned further inside. Upon this realization, Jiang Yuan immediately went forward to closely examine the cave¡¯s wall surface. With the crime scene skills he had, the wall must have been contaminated to some degree, as for what¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s gloved fingers gently touched it, and his attention was quickly diverted. What contamination. What color. Jiang Yuan pried apart a section of vine and clearly saw a half-ck object embedded in the wall. Peeling away the soil next to the half-ck object, a not-somon word shed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind: bullet. Jiang Yuan immediately took pictures with his camera, set up a tripod, switched to photo mode, then brought over the crime scene investigation box to carefully strip the soil, nts, and stone chips around the half-ck object. A fragmented bullet was firmly lodged about 30 centimeters up from the bottom of the cave wall. Chapter 101 - 101 99 Involvement with Guns ?101: Chapter 99: Involvement with Guns 101: Chapter 99: Involvement with Guns Gun-rted case! Jiang Yuan was busy with the evidence collection phase and had no time to think further. Only when the half-ckened bullet dropped into the evidence bag did his head start buzzing. As a detective of the new age, phrases like ¡°gunshot case¡± were seldom heard. Instead, the term ¡°gun-rted case¡± was already quite telling. For the grassroots police officers, in most cases, ¡°gun-rted¡± merely indicated the involvement of firearms, and it likely did not reach the point of actually using the guns, let alone cases resulting in death by shooting. Even when it came to gun-rted issues, there were different levels. Not counting toy guns with less than 2 joules of energy, the mostmon were imitation guns, followed by air guns, then homemade iron shot guns, a bit more advanced were homemade shotguns, and more advanced than that¡­ Generally speaking, that was as advanced as it got. At most, it would escte to old firearms, which would already attract significant attention. Once there was touching upon ¡°real¡± firearms, all police units treated it as seriously as a murder case. All the above referred to gun-rted cases. ¡°Real¡± shootings, in many ces, hadn¡¯t been heard of in years. The bullet trace examination reports of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Squad had turned yellow with age, and the technicians had gone on to part-time clerical work long ago. But the bullet Jiang Yuan had extracted was a genuine bullet. So, the Wu Long Wilderness case was about to be a bona fide shooting case. Jiang Yuan secured the evidence, then stood opposite the campfire, making a single-handed aiming gesture toward the other side. Based on the angle and position where the bullet became embedded, Jiang Yuan deduced that the perpetrator must have been standing when they shot through the seated Li Sanqiu¡¯s abdomen. The bullet then lodged into the wall of the cave about 30 centimeters above the ground and shattered. Jiang Yuan sighed lightly, and after searching around the bullet again, he found no further evidence. On the cave walls here, there wereyers of soil, stones, nts, insects, fungi, or moss present; searching clearly and quickly was unrealistic. Jiang Yuan packed up the tripod and camera, then stepped out of the cave, calling out to Liu Jinghui not far away. Liu Jinghui had gone to get a higher vantage point; meanwhile, the guide hade over but was stopped by Jiang Yuan¡¯s gesture. He didn¡¯t offer an exnation. Detectives who had served for a while had a high level of discretion, especially when it came to not revealing information to outsiders. Although Liu Jinghui appeared close by, it took him more than ten minutes to return, during which he fell twice, dirtying his clothes beyond recognition. Despite this, when Liu Jinghui reached Jiang Yuan, he subconsciously straightened his shirt before asking, ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk inside. You guys wait out here,¡± Jiang Yuan said, leading Liu Jinghui into the cave alone. Going from outside to inside the cave, one¡¯s vision darkened abruptly and took a while to adjust. At this moment, Jiang Yuan took out the evidence bag containing the bullet and held it up for Liu Jinghui to see. Liu Jinghui¡¯s pupils dted instantly, as if toyed with by the contrasting light inside and outside the cave. ¡°Did you just find this?¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression was calm, as if he had expected it all along. Sherlock Holmes-like deducing enthusiasts were like that, only they were allowed to throw out surprisingments, nobody else was permitted to bring forth evidence outside of logic¡­ Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°The entire evidence collection process was recorded on camera.¡± Jiang Yuan switched on the camera, showing it to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui only nced at the bullet¡¯s position before handing the camera back to Jiang Yuan. Standing opposite the campfire, he imitated Jiang Yuan, looking past the fire and gesturing twice, then slowly said, ¡°The perpetrator shot standing up.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Then there was someone else present at the scene.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. ¡°Li Sanqiu was a cultured man who enjoyed seclusion but was polite. If there was only the perpetrator and him, he would instinctively stand up to greet them or at least make a bowing motion,¡± Liu Jinghui spected. ¡°Only if someone else was there, engaged in conversation, could the perpetratore in and shoot him from a superior position.¡± Jiang Yuan neither agreed nor disagreed, as he was more inclined to let evidence do the talking. ncing at Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What should we do now?¡± ¡°What¡¯s your suggestion?¡± Liu Jinghui, no longer annoyed by the interruption, held Jiang Yuan in very high regard at this point. Such crucial evidence had been overlooked in three iterations of the Wu Long case, which spoke volumes in itself. Jiang Yuan was not at allcent and simply said, ¡°My suggestion is to call for backup. Get more people involved; different numbers of people will result in different approaches.¡± ¡°Are you looking for more crime scene investigators? Or trace evidence analysts? Maybe experts in bullet trajectory analysis?¡± ¡°It would be best to have a scene investigator who is familiar with bullet trajectory analysis. This bullet definitely needs to be sent to theb below for examination, which I am not capable of.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then added, ¡°As for the number of people, that¡¯s up to you. The approach varies with the number.¡± ¡°Someone who will follow orders?¡± ¡°As long as they can get the job done. Whether they want to follow orders or not, that¡¯s not something you decide, right?¡± Jiang Yuan was very clear-headed at this moment. His rank was too low, his experience too shallow and young, and he was not familiar with the local situation. If the technicians who arrived were willing to listen to him, that would be great, but if not, it wouldn¡¯t really affect anything; he could conduct the investigation on his own. Local crime scene investigators were likely mediocre at best. Just like the ones from Ningtai County, who might even fail to detect the evidence in the restroom, one could not expect them to be as meticulous and dedicated in theplex conditions of the mountains as they would strive to be in simpler circumstances. Many people live their entire lives without ever achieving a perfect score, and clearly, it¡¯s not because they don¡¯t want to. Liu Jinghui easily guessed what Jiang Yuan was thinking and said earnestly, ¡°Just tell me what kind of people you need, and I¡¯ll try my best to get them for you. Don¡¯t worry about other factors. We¡¯re dealing with a firearms-rted homicide now; we have the leverage to request resources.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get several obedient crime scene investigators, one or two who understand bullet trajectory analysis, and turn the cave inside out. Also, check the stream. In addition, we could use another dog, like a cadaver dog, to look around for any other bodies or scattered remains,¡± Jiang Yuan said, looking around without making any overlyplicated demands. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, the cavern was not sorge, and a day and a night had been spent searching it meticulously. Although two more days could be spent for an even more thorough search, digging three feet into the ground if necessary, with key evidence like the bullet found, the direction of the search should naturally change. However, this was an issue of investigative direction, which fell within the natural jurisdiction of Liu Jinghui. Jiang Yuan was reluctant to encroach upon it lightly. Liu Jinghui also rified his thoughts, nodded, and went to retrieve his backpack stored in the cave. Then he pulled out a satellite phone and motioned for the guide to help look for a signal. In no time, Liu Jinghui came back, nodded, and said, ¡°We¡¯ll have peopleing up tonight. The department is organizing manpower now, with more toe tomorrow and the day after.¡± ¡°Peopleing tonight¡­ It¡¯s not from the police station at the foot of the mountain, is it?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°No, I made it clear we need someone capable of crime scene investigation. Liyuan City is close by, and they can quickly draw people from the city and district bureaus,¡± Liu Jinghui replied, somewhat excited, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s next? What are you nning to do, and do you need any help from me?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll search the bottom of the cave again. In the afternoon, inspect the location where the body was found.¡± The bullet Jiang Yuan had just found was at the bottom of the cave, which, ifpared to a residential home in the city, would be at the height just above the skirting board and below the wall outlets. This location is typically overlooked by people passing by in their daily routine. Moreover, because of the damp and cold conditions, the bottom of the cave is amon habitat for many organisms. Liu Jinghui gave an ¡°Hmm¡± and stood by the central fire pit in the cave, quietly observing. ¡°After being shot, Li Sanqiu may have stumbled out, or may have been dragged out of the cave. You¡¯ll know when you get there; sleeping there at night makes a huge difference. The killer probably didn¡¯t want the corpse, blood, and contents of the abdominal cavity to contaminate the cave environment,¡± Liu Jinghui spected, then asked, ¡°So, why did they shoot and kill Li Sanqiu?¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan quietly looked back at Liu Jinghui. With no one to y along, Liu Jinghui quickly lost interest and said bluntly, ¡°Anyone who makes it to this spot, if they¡¯re not hikers, has a problem¡­ But to shoot and kill Li Sanqiu, that¡¯s quite aggressive.¡± ¡°Cold weapons can easily cause injury,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out from a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective. There are many online videos exining that if an attackeres at you with a knife, your best strategy is to run away, which is very wise. However, there are few exnations to the attacker that when you aim to knife someone who has nowhere to run, the victim¡¯s counterattack can easily injure the attacker, even leading to a reversal of roles. When forensic doctors examine bodies killed with cold weapons, the first thing they distinguish are defensive wounds. Some bodies have as many as twenty or thirty defensive wounds, which means that even if you want to kill an ordinary person, you may need to strike dozens of times. This can easily fatigue the attacker and lead to mistakes. In short, it is easy to be killed, but killing someone is not so easy, and killing someone without injury requires even more strategy. Liu Jinghui understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s point and, after thinking for a moment, said, ¡°We previously mentioned there was a third person by the fire. This suggests that there were more people on the killer¡¯s side. Additionally, Li Sanqiu was sitting, implying he didn¡¯t anticipate an attack. Attacking with a numeric advantage, prepared against the unprepared, and even using firearms suggests at least one thing¡ªthey¡¯re not short of bullets and are skilled with guns.¡± ¡°Perhaps,¡± Jiang Yuan replied without having seen the evidence, yet he did not refute Liu Jinghui¡¯s theory. ¡°That¡¯s a minor issue,¡± Liu Jinghui said, tapping the fire pit with his finger. ¡°The key question is why they left the body so easily. I¡¯ve just climbed up to check, and if you walk another one or two hundred meters into the mountain, although it¡¯s challenging, throwing the body far from the path would substantially increase the safety. At least it wouldn¡¯t be possible for a passerby hiker to discover it.¡± Chapter 102 - 102 100 The Path ?102: Chapter 100 The Path 102: Chapter 100 The Path ¡°Last time I was here, I already thought about this problem. Of course, at that time I didn¡¯t know that Li Sanqiu had been shot to death.¡± ¡°The basic operation of killing someone and disposing of their body is something modern people should all understand. With such good conditions in the mountainside, simply dragging the body to a cave entrance is just a waste.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true that there are few people around here, but after a period of time, there will always be someone passing by, and it¡¯s not easy for a body to bepletely consumed by animals. Once it starts to decay, animals won¡¯t eat it anymore¡­¡± ¡°Even if you threw it downstream in this ravine, it would be much better than leaving it out like this. The chances of it being discovered would be a lot smaller.¡± Liu Jinghui stood at the entrance of the cave, muttering nonstop. Jiang Yuan, who was busy inside the cave, soon could not bear to listen any longer. In his view, such reasoning without evidence was like ying a game¡ª even if you guessed correctly, you still needed evidence to support it. Therefore, shouldn¡¯t the first consideration be the evidence? However, since Comrade Liu Jinghui was a senior police officer with the rank of Senior Fourth Level, Jiang Yuan did not think it appropriate to just tell him to shut up. Tired of listening, he simply said, ¡°Why not give it a try?¡± ¡°Try what?¡± Liu Jinghui was still very appreciative of Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinions. ¡°I heard previously that a prosecutor from the procuratorate, to prove that arge suitcase could fit a corpse, actuallyy down in it himself, using the same evidence suitcase that had contained a body¡­¡± Before Jiang Yuan could finish speaking, Liu Jinghui already understood. Liu Jinghui stroked his chin in thought and said, ¡°You mean, the two of us should simte disposing of a body here?¡± Jiang Yuan clearly saw the guide not far from the entrance taking steps back. ¡°You can y the role of the body and let two guides help with disposing of the ¡®body¡¯.¡± Jiang Yuan looked Liu Jinghui over and added, ¡°Considering you were so tired just from climbing earlier, maybe skip the heavy lifting.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ you have a point,¡± Liu Jinghui slowly nodded, then exined, ¡°I mean, disposing of a body is too tiring, and that might be the reason. Let¡¯s give it a try.¡± After saying this, Liu Jinghui called the two guides over and proposed that he y the corpse to be disposed of by the two of them. The more experienced guide was relieved and held back the eager younger guide, saying, ¡°Carrying is more tiring than dragging, it¡¯s different from what was agreed upon.¡± Liu Jinghui hurriedly nodded in agreement: ¡°I know, this is an unreasonable request, because the case has reached¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need more money,¡± the more experienced guide interrupted. Jiang Yuan smiled, turned around, and went back into the cave to continue digging through the dposed leaves and mud at the bottom. The soil in some areas was so soft one could poke a finger through it, and it was all as dark as could be. asionally, a centipede or simr insect would crawl out, and he had to feel grateful just to recognize it. From afar, the sounds of Liu Jinghui¡¯s yelps started to rise. His weight had reached around 150 or 160 pounds, and he felt quite heavy oncepletely rxed. Beyond the immediate tform, the surrounding environment featured various hills and slopes, tree stumps, roots, bushes, vines, and so on. The two guides did not indulge Liu Jinghui: one grabbed his arms and the other his legs, bumping him across both the level and uneven terrains. After a few rough impacts, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Struggling to his feet, he said, ¡°I can¡¯t do this anymore, let¡¯s switch roles. I¡¯ll carry people¡­ I¡¯ll pay more! More money should do it, right?¡± About an hourter, Liu Jinghui returned to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, his body as dirty as if he had just been molded by the goddess N¨¹wa herself, with cheeks smeared with mud and water, roasting by the fire, his body trembling slightly. ¡°Too tired?¡± Jiang Yuan was organizing evidence bags. ¡°Tired. Very tired,¡± Liu Jinghui breathed out, his eyes shining as he said, ¡°But it further proves one thing.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°As long as you have a certain amount of energy and strength, disposing of a body is not a problem,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°And the energy and strength I¡¯m talking about should be possessed by anyone who is able to make it here sessfully.¡± This logical deduction was somewhat interesting. Jiang Yuan stopped what he was doing and looked toward Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui, rubbing his sore shoulders, upper arms, elbows, forearms, wrists, chest, back muscles, pelvis, thighs, knees, calves, ankles, and toes, concluded, ¡°My verdict is, these people had the capability to dispose of the body but disdained to do so.¡± ¡°Is that consistent with your previous judgment?¡± What Jiang Yuan meant was, you endured this suffering for no good reason. Liu Jinghui understood nevertheless and with a calm smile replied, ¡°Disdaining to dispose of a body is different from not having time to do so.¡± ¡°Not because they didn¡¯t have time to dispose of the body?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that they didn¡¯t have time. Walking in the mountains is not so rushed. Taking a few steps faster or slower can make a difference; our simtion just now could have been done in forty minutes with poor execution. If done more quickly, twenty to thirty minutes would suffice.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, indeed, if one wanted to move faster on these kinds of mountain paths, it was indeed possible: it just involved more crawling, dirtier clothes, and some injury, but whenpared to the risk of a body being discovered, this was much more eptable. Liu Jinghui loved this feeling of being acknowledged, and it made him feel wholly invigorated. His injuries were still painful, but he bravely said, ¡°Another thing, something I¡¯ve been considering since yesterday.¡± Cooperatively, Jiang Yuan gave an affirming ¡°Hmm.¡± Liu Jinghui said, ¡°If they were more meticulous and had thought about disposing of the body, they could have carried a gun and forced Li Sanqiu to climb by himself to a ce they deemed safe and suitable for body disposal, and just shoot him dead.¡± Jiang Yuan thought it over; Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning had some merit. Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t finished speaking when he continued, ¡°Looking at the results, I think they might not have intended to hide the fact that they were involved in an armed murder.¡± ¡°ording to what you¡¯re saying, these are desperadoes,¡± Jiang Yuandao said. ¡°Exactly, desperadoes,¡± sighed Liu Jinghui before picking up the satellite phone again and dialing. For him, finding a direction in the ¡°Wu Long Wild Man Case¡± was the greatest achievement, and Liu Jinghui had already prepared for a long-term stakeout. ¡°Where are you now? Can you make it on time? Okay, then be careful, and it¡¯s fine toe up in batches,¡± Liu Jinghui advised before adding, ¡°When youe up, bring some big roosters. Buy them from the vige at the foot of the mountain.¡± The policeman on the other end of the line clearly became nervous, ¡°Did you run into something unclean? Should we bring donkey¡¯s hooves or something?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just that I find the big roosters raised at the foot of the mountain to be quite tasty,¡± Liu Jinghuiughed. The person on the other end hung up the satellite phone, feeling unsettled and confused. After finishing the call, Liu Jinghui gave Jiang Yuan a victorious gesture, saying, ¡°No need to rush. You guys continue with the investigation, and we will walk this path again. We¡¯ll definitely find some clues.¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised at Liu Jinghui¡¯s confidence, but having a confident leader in the team didn¡¯t seem to be a bad thing, especially since the man had thought of something as trivial as buying big roosters. ¡°Also, bring some seasoning,¡± Jiang Yuan reminded him, ¡°Our bags are full of evidence bags and survey boxes; we don¡¯t have any seasoning.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Liu Jinghui replied with another OK gesture, then made another satellite call, disying expandable funding extravagance. In the following three days, over a dozen people thoroughly excavated the cave and its surroundings. They ate 10 big roosters. All were one or two-year-old roosters, stewed from the morning, and by noon when we ate them with rice soaked in the rich broth, the taste was extraordinarily good. If it weren¡¯t for the limited water supply in the mountain streams, and theck of resupply from logistics, living near the caves would have be quite enjoyable. On the third day, two search dogs and two colleagues from the provincial office arrived, and Liu Jinghui reassembled three search teams, each led by a senior sergeant from the provincial office. Two teams advanced forward, and one team went back, searching slowly. Even though a long time had passed, since firearms were involved, they intended to search the surroundings again, even if it was just a formality. Liu Jinghui changed into a new set of fatigues but still slogged through the mud and water with his team. The paths in the mountains did not be easier to navigate with more people; on the contrary, at slippery spots, one fall would lead to a whole string of them. Nevertheless, everyone continued to move forward with their heads down. When the order to enter the mountains was given, none of the policemen were willing, but now they were already there, and theints became fewer. Police are, after all, a disciplined force. There might be some leniency in normal times, but inplex environments like this, those with clear heads knew that this was when leaders really made life-or-death decisions. The team walked for another day and settled down in a smaller teau cave, where they ate two more big roosters. Liu Jinghui then called over the two guides and asked, ¡°We¡¯ve spent three or four days walking these small paths, just wandering around the mountains. Let¡¯s try taking a different path.¡± ¡°With so many of us,¡± the guide said with difficulty, ¡°These are old hunter¡¯s paths. Taking any other routes would only be more difficult, and there are some I don¡¯t even recognize anymore.¡± ¡°Are the mountains thatplex?¡± ¡°Of course, this is just the periphery of the primeval forest. It¡¯s even more dangerous inside the primeval forest.¡± A thought struck Liu Jinghui, ¡°The primeval forest is a protected area, right? How far is it from here into the primeval forest?¡± ¡°Not far, a few hundred meters, maybe a kilometer or two, but the paths are tough to navigate, and with so many years gone by, people haven¡¯t gone into it much anymore. Who knows if the paths are even passable.¡± ¡°There must be a way through somewhere; it¡¯s not like the path would just end as we walk,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought shifted slightly, and he instructed, ¡°Let¡¯s head outwards, but not on the same path back. Think about it, how should we arrange it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s going to be far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of far, but it can¡¯t be too far,¡± Liu Jinghui flicked bugs from his trousers, pondering, ¡°Three days to get out is fine, four days works too, but no more than five.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll have walked out of Liyuan City.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll cost more.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui readily agreed. Jiang Yuan could only follow the team. Havinge this far, it was no longer possible to turn back. Thankfully, satellitemunication kept them connected to the outside, and a team of technicians, lugging a few big roosters, took a full three days to finally see signs of human habitation. Standing on the ridge, the guides too were covered in mud. Basking in the sun, they rxed and said, ¡°We¡¯vee out on the west side of the protected area. That ahead should be Langgu County. If we keep going west, we¡¯ll directly enter Ping Zhou Province.¡± ¡°Crossed provincial borders?¡± eximed Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui in unison. Chapter 103 - 103 101 Thawing ?103: Chapter 101: Thawing 103: Chapter 101: Thawing Cross-province cases invariably grew moreplicated. But for the ¡°Wu Longye case,¡± it meant that new clues might emerge. The bulk of the data and assessments so far had been based on Shan Nan Province. Now, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui naturally wondered if there could be new evidence and data in Ping Zhou Province, days away by travel. The days spent here had all been on mountain hunter paths, suggesting that the murderer might have used them to travel between Pingzhou Province and Shan Nan Province. And cases that had urred in Pingzhou Province hadn¡¯t been factored into their scope of observation before. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Langgu County first,¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t let his excitement cloud his judgment. Looking as he did now, even if he were to make his way to the provincial hall of Pingzhou to rify his identity, it would be difficult, and he might even end up as aughing stock for years. A group hastened down the mountain, informing the local bureau in Langgu County in advance, and finally boarded a vehicle that could aid their travel. Upon arriving at the guesthouse, they cleaned up, and after looking presentable, Liu Jinghui borrowed a car with a driver and headed for Pingzhou. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t apany him. Instead, he sorted out the evidence and stored it in Langgu County¡ªfreezing what needed to be frozen, desating what should be dry, and swiftlyparing with the internal database where possible. This process was quiteborious, especially the procedural work; not a single detail or signature could be omitted from the forms. Jiang Yuan, unfamiliar with Langgu County and unconvinced of the local criminal investigation team¡¯s capabilities, wasn¡¯t ready to subject such crucial case evidence to their ¡°stress test.¡± He meticulously followed protocol for each item, much to the annoyance of the captain of the Langgu County criminal investigation team, who signed each sheet with exasperation. A few hourster, once all tasks werepleted, Jiang Yuan crashed in the guesthouse, sleeping furiously. Upon waking, he found Liu Jinghui sitting at the edge of his bed, looking at him eagerly. Jiang Yuan shivered all over. ¡°You¡¯re awake?¡± Liu Jinghui looked as if visiting a gravely ill patient, putting down his phone and saying, ¡°I¡¯ve checked, and Li Sanqiu indeed wasn¡¯t the first victim. Last year, Ping Zhou Province also found a body, death by gunshot, but the head was carried off by an animal, and the identity remains unconfirmed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s rather twisted,¡± Jiang Yuan sat up with the covers around him. ¡°It is sick. These people havee to treat murder as a trivial matter,¡± Liu Jinghui nodded in agreement. ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking about them,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at where Liu Jinghui sat; the man had moved a chair over and was as stable as Mount Tai, obviously determined to wait until he awoke. Liu Jinghui waved a hand dismissively, ¡°No need to be embarrassed, I know you were tired and let you sleep a bit more. Don¡¯t feel too bad about it.¡± Jiang Yuan had spent enough time on the road with Liu Jinghui to have a handle on his temperament. He sighed and asked, ¡°The body you mentioned, how was it identified as a gunshot wound? Was the weapon the same?¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°Different. The body here was hit in the chest by a shotgun pellet, with steel pellets lodged in the ribs.¡± ¡°Ours was a 9-millimeter pistol bullet.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know how to identify ammunition; this conclusion had been ryed by the technicians back at headquarters. And from the perspective of the case, the difference between pistol bullets and shotgun pellets was quite significant. In China¡¯s current environment, those who possess handguns outside ofw enforcement are considered dangerous individuals. The 9-millimeter bullet is particrly special and not asmon as shotgun pellets, which still exist in significant number today. In some ces, it¡¯s even allowed to hunt wild boars. Maybe that¡¯s why Pingzhou didn¡¯t bring up the shooting case for a public investigation¡ªone of the reasons, at least. Of course, the inability to identify the victim due to the missing head is probably a more important reason. Jiang Yuan got up, washed his face, and asked, ¡°Are we considering a joint investigation now?¡± But Liu Jinghui¡¯s answer remained negative, ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s necessary.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look over, ¡°Why not?¡± After an exhausting roundabout trip, skipping a joint investigation meant starting all over again? Liu Jinghui anticipated Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts and exined, ¡°We might as well start from scratch. I¡¯ve looked carefully at the case here in Pingzhou, and there¡¯s basically no new information. Working with them would just be a hassle.¡± ¡°Even the firearms information?¡± ¡°When we solve the case and it¡¯s time to prosecute, let the prosecutor¡¯s office handle it,¡± Liu Jinghui gestured confidently, then adjusted his freshly changed shirt and tie, took a deep breath, and said, ¡°Let¡¯s walk the hunters¡¯ paths again.¡± ¡°Walk it again?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s face fell. The journey had already taken its toll¡ªif it weren¡¯t for the nutrients from the roosters, he would have lost at least ten pounds. Thinking back on their careful trek, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°We were very careful the whole way, it¡¯s unlikely we¡¯ll find anything new on a second pass¡­ Do you have a new target?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a different path,¡± Liu Jinghui suggested. ¡°What path?¡± ¡°The opposite one,¡± Liu Jinghui relished proving his deductions before others. Counting off on his fingers, he said, ¡°First, let¡¯s review the information we know¡ªthis is a gang of desperados.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Liu Jinghui counted off a second finger, ¡°Next, what is their purpose in traveling the hunters¡¯ paths? I reckon it could be one of three things: drug trafficking, poaching, smuggling. I¡¯m leaning toward poaching.¡± ¡°And then?¡± ¡°Then, we¡¯ll walk the poaching trail again, which can prove their route,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°I have already asked colleagues from the provincial office toe help us determine what the suitable poaching trails are like. After that, let¡¯s try to see if we can find the body¡­¡± ¡°If we find it, does that prove it was the work of poachers?¡± Jiang Yuan understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s line of thought. Liu Jinghui nodded, saying, ¡°Poaching happens here in Mount Wulong every now and then, but this group must be of the more deep-rooted kind. If they kill on sight, the number of cases they have on their hands must be pretty high¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listened and just felt so tired. It wasn¡¯t just retreading the poachers¡¯ trail that was exhausting¡ªvery exhausting¡ªbut Liu Jinghui¡¯s investigative n was also tiring just to think about. Retracing the poacher¡¯s trail and having to find a body¡­ Bodies aren¡¯t that easy to find. The two bodies we¡¯ve found so far were discovered by chance, and if we assume there are other bodies¡ªJiang Yuan estimated that it is indeed likely that there are more dead near the poaching trails¡ªbut given Mount Wulong¡¯s environment, theck of reports of body discoveries isn¡¯t due to no one encountering them, but rather because wild animals are much more thorough in their search than humans. In short, Liu Jinghui still proposed an excellent theory, but to prove his theory, it would require an exhausting effort! And it would be someone else who gets exhausted. Liu Jinghui was all too familiar with technicians like Jiang Yuan, but he justughed, saying, ¡°Otherwise, we catch them from another end, targeting the poachers, and those involved in the trafficking of stolen goods¡­ If I were to handle that, I¡¯d rather leave it to the local criminal police.¡± In his words, Liu Jinghui¡¯s stance seemed a bit lofty once again. Jiang Yuan took another big gulp of water, expressing his slight annoyance, ¡°Do you have any good method for finding bodies?¡± Liu Jinghui countered, ¡°Do you have any method?¡± ¡°Get a couple more dogs?¡± Jiang Yuan said, feeling it was not reliable even as he spoke. Liu Jinghui also said, ¡°The natural environment has too much impact on police dogs. The two cadaver dogs we used the other day were already very professional.¡± Jiang Yuan curled his lip: ¡°If dogs don¡¯t work, what do you suggest we do?¡± ¡°I think you could find it,¡± Liu Jinghui confided in Jiang Yuan, ¡°I have confidence in you.¡± Jiang Yuan looked up at Liu Jinghui, wondering if being rated ¡®better than a dog¡¯ was meant as an insult. ¡°Just kidding,¡± Liu Jinghuiughed, then continued, ¡°This time I¡¯ve had someone buy some convenience foods and some meat to bring along¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s examine that body first,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°The headless corpse you just mentioned, hit by a hunting rifle.¡± ¡°Alright then. I will prepare the travel equipment.¡± Actually, Liu Jinghui did not see much necessity in it. He was more trusting of Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprint abilities and his ability to investigate a scene, but he didn¡¯t consider Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills in forensics to be extraordinary. This was also normal, as young detectives just entering the field often do not know their strengths and it¡¯smonce to go down the wrong path. Those who reveal their talents are indeed the lucky ones among them. For Liu Jinghui himself, the skill he discovered was his ability in logical reasoning. However, Liu Jinghui had no objection to Jiang Yuan performing an autopsy. With a phone call, it was all arranged. Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan arrived at the mortuary of Langgu County, starting his first autopsy out of town. The autopsy room at Langgu County was even more rudimentary than the one in Ningtai County. The dissecting tables, with an air of antiquity about them, were built like dining counters in a student cafeteria. When a body was ced on them, the fluids that flowed out had trouble draining smoothly. The body was in the process of defrosting and inevitably started to dpose; the poor venttion in the room made the stench even worse. The coroner from Langgu County, Li Zhen, looked very old with wrinkled skin clinging to his lean muscles, giving off the impression that he was in his seventies or eighties. Perhaps ustomed to the environment, Li Zhen wore only a mask and offered Jiang Yuan one as well, saying, ¡°You made a requestst night, so I extracted the body. Frozen solid, it hasn¡¯tpletely defrosted yet.¡± The body, discoveredst year, had been lying in the ice coffin of the mortuary for a year. The parts of the exterior that still had skin had turned a blue-ck color, and a pattern of decayed veins had started to appear, indicating that gaseous by-products of decay were infiltrating the blood vessels, beginning to stain the venouswork. Jiang Yuan, without hesitation, pulled out his own gas mask and said, ¡°I¡¯ll wear this.¡± ¡°You young people,¡± Li Zhen mumbled, ¡°Back when we were conducting autopsies, masks were hardly ensured. I see some now even wear protective suits¡­¡± ¡°Times have indeed improved,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, turning his attention to the corpse. Li Zhen, being around the same age as Jiang Yuan¡¯s master, Wu Jun, and having spoken on the phone prior, was happy to skip pleasantries and directly introduced, ¡°No head, no personal items that could prove identity. Middle-aged female, has given birth, rtively tall, with an initial estimate of a height between 165 to 170 centimeters and weighing around 60 kilograms, likely engaged in some sort of physical activity.¡± Li Zhen paused here, the same as what Jiang Yuan had seen in the autopsy report, based on very fundamental principles of anthropology. Gender and age were rtively easy to determine, childbearing history was simple to pinpoint¡ªmost women who have given birth exhibit one or more bean-sized pits on the back of the pubic symphysis known as ¡®parturition pits¡¯¡ªif it¡¯s there, she¡¯s given birth; if not, other indicators are examined. As for height, weight, and the like, these could be calcted quite urately with the long bones intact. Jiang Yuan felt somewhat relieved. What worried him most was if Langgu County¡¯s coroner had a profound expertise in forensic anthropology, then conducting another autopsy would be a pointless exercise and a waste of time. However, it was clear that Li Zhen was not adept at forensic anthropology. In that case, it was necessary for Jiang Yuan to perform another autopsy. Chapter 104 - 104 102 Slender ?104: Chapter 102: Slender 104: Chapter 102: Slender The morgue refrigeration units in Langgu County could reach temperatures of negative 18 degrees Celsius. With this basic condition met, it was eptable even if the autopsy room conditions were slightlycking. However, even if a body was preserved at negative 18 degrees, there would still be some changes. For example, this particr corpse had taken on a blue-ck color, and in the worst areas, the skin color hadpletely changed to that deep blue-ck, somewhat reminiscent of a Qing Dynasty official¡¯s uniform. If the entire body turned this color, it might give off a faint zombie-like impression. Secondly, the fingernails underwent significant change. Toypeople uneducated in forensic science, the nails of this long-stored corpse appeared to have grown ¡ª again evoking that slight, traditional Chinese zombie touch. However, those who had studied forensic science would understand that the nails hadn¡¯t grown; it was the fingers that had shrunk, making the nails seem longer. Jiang Yuan observed the body, and Li Zhen observed him. In terms of age alone, Li Zhen was almost three times older than Jiang Yuan. In terms of seniority, Li Zhen was a peer of Wu Jun in forensic medicine, who would have given him a scolding back in their younger days. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t fly now. Furthermore, since Jiang Yuan had been brought in by someone from the provincial department, Li Zhen had to give him face, if not for the monk then for the Buddha. But beyond these social niceties, Li Zhen didn¡¯t have a high opinion of Jiang Yuan at all. Lacking experience was an objective fact from Li Zhen¡¯s perspective. Young forensic doctors had seen and worked on fewer corpses, which meant theycked experience. And in forensic medicine, much of it actually stems from practice, with emphasis on details and an understanding of life. For instance, worn knees could result from work, running, or illness. Li Zhen could tell at a nce, whereas forensic interns would be clueless. This was even more the case in forensic pathology, and stepping further into Forensic Anthropology, the details became even more intricate, beyond even Li Zhen¡¯s expertise. And Jiang Yuan¡­ Li Zhen simply scorned him in silence. He didn¡¯t wish to speak harshly; he just watched Jiang Yuan work, waiting to respectfully see him off once he was satisfied. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t much need Li Zhen¡¯s assistance either. As long as the other party didn¡¯t interfere or ramble, Jiang Yuan was grateful. The twoplemented each other well, making the atmosphere in the autopsy room surprisingly harmonious. The customary external examination of the body didn¡¯t provide much information. Jiang Yuan quickly moved on to examining the bones. There was nothing left in the corpse¡¯s abdominal and thoracic cavities, and the skull ¡ª or rather the head itself ¡ª wasn¡¯t there at all. The pelvic cavity was a mess, likely due to wild animal predation, but most of the bones were intact, enough to reconstruct the shape of the pelvis. Li Zhen¡¯s main contribution was reconstructing the pelvis, thus determining the sex and reproductive status of the corpse. However, these were basic forensic tasks that weren¡¯t extraordinary or problem-solving. Jiang Yuan sorted through the bones, thinking hard. The difference between Forensic Anthropology and other forensic techniques is that the former focuses more on a particr point rather than the whole. In short, theprehensiveness of Forensic Anthropology serves the parts. Or to say, it is actually quite difficult for Forensic Anthropology to cover every aspect. After all, the longer the time since death, the better approach is to determine some information through the bones, and use that to infer the dead person¡¯s identity. It¡¯s not about tirelessly trying to capture moreprehensive information. Some information is ultimately difficult to obtain. Pursuingpleteness itself is inappropriate. For Jiang Yuan, the corpse in front of him actually provided plenty of information already. But identifying her still seemed to be a difficult task. ¡°It¡¯s tricky without the skull. With the skull, we might be able to identify her through dental records or something,¡± Li Zhen suddenlymented, offering Jiang Yuan a way out. In the words he taught his apprentices: if you can¡¯t do it, just don¡¯t. Single-mindedly insisting on it is amon rookie mistake among young forensic doctors, as if tirelessly working would somehow produce the answer. In Li Zhen¡¯s experience, performing an autopsy without a clear direction was often futile. Looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach, though he might have some idea, Li Zhen doubted whether an inexperienced young man could achieve anything substantial. Especially seeing Jiang Yuan fiddling with the arms and moving the legs around, Li Zhen found it almostughable. Autopsies were never a business of haphazardly hammering east and clubbing west¨Cit was utterly¡­ ¡°Marfan syndrome,¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly straightened up and said. Li Zhen, being older, took a few seconds to grasp what had been said and repeated, ¡°Marfan syndrome?¡± ¡°Yes, tall stature, thin limbs, very little subcutaneous fat¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listed the matching features, then pulled the corpse¡¯s arm down and added, ¡°And the hands stretch beyond the knees.¡± Each of these traits, on their own, sounds quite favorable, butbined, they are sufficient to make one suspect Marfan Syndrome. In modern poptions, the incidence of Marfan Syndrome is rtively high, and many people know of carriers of this gic disease around them. Because the symptoms often align with modern aesthetic standards, some individuals with Marfan Syndrome are quite popr. Particrly in youth, many are selected as athletes due to their long limbs and height. However, the destructive nature of Marfan Syndrome is also very direct. Various skeletal abnormalities, such as funnel chest or scoliosis. Heart conditions associated with the aorta and mitral valve, as well as eye problems and so on, all cause extreme pain for individuals with Marfan Syndrome. The older they get, the greater the damage. Li Zhen recalled the key points rted to Marfan Syndrome and thenpared them one by one. Eye problems¡­ the head was gone. Heart disease¡­ the heart had been removed. Spine and sternum¡­ were all intact. The several points that could easily bring it to mind were problematic, but proving it was Marfan Syndrome was not difficult; the real challengey in thinking to prove it. Li Zhen and Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze fell on the deceased¡¯s hands. Wearing gloves, Jiang Yuan took the deceased¡¯s hand and made her hand form a fist¡ªthe thumb inside and the other four fingers outside, unlike a normal fist. Under this fist position, the tip of the deceased¡¯s thumb extended beyond the ulnar edge, which is the side of the palm where the little finger is. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes involuntarily lit up. If this were to be a clinical diagnosis, further examination and testing would be necessary. But on the forensic autopsy table, this finding was already sufficient. For certainty, Jiang Yuan grabbed the deceased¡¯s right hand and wrapped it around the left wrist. In this movement, normal people¡¯s thumbs and pointers either cannot touch each other or can only barely touch. But the thumb of an individual with Marfan Syndrome can easily cover the pointer finger¡­ ¡°It is indeed Marfan Syndrome.¡± Li Zhen couldn¡¯t help feeling annoyed: Why hadn¡¯t I thought of that before? For a forensic doctor, Marfan Syndrome is definitely not an unfamiliar condition, although for Li Zhen, it was somewhat difficult. In Langgu County, there are very few carriers of the Marfan Syndrome gene, or if there are, they rarely die in the county. In his previous autopsies, Li Zhen had also encountered bodies involving Marfan Syndrome. It was normal, perhaps, that he could not recall immediately¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll call Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took off his gloves. Li Zhen remained silent. The body was right there. Jiang Yuan had noticed what he had missed¡ªit was a pure disy of technical superiority. He had no response. With another body without a head, Li Zhen always thought, ¡°It¡¯s a pity there are no teeth,¡± ¡°There are no imnts in the body,¡± and ultimately he failed to detect Marfan Syndrome. It wasn¡¯t all that strange. ¡­ On the other side, receiving the call, Liu Jinghui was also a bit startled. His mind quickly turned, and he understood the value of what Jiang Yuan had discovered, asking, ¡°Should we check the medical records to narrow down to this person?¡± ¡°In the missing persons records, look for females over 30 years of age with a history of childbirth, over 165 centimeters tall, having Marfan Syndrome¡ªthe number shouldn¡¯t be too many,¡± Jiang Yuan articted without going into too much detail. With Marfan Syndrome as a basis, locating the person should be easy. Liu Jinghui agreed and hung up the phone, then continued staring ahead in a daze. Across from him, a poultry vendor, giddy with excitement, had just bundled up arge rooster, boasting, ¡°Our Langgu County¡¯s chickens have always been famous. I collected these chickens from the countryside, each raised for at least a year or two. Look at these ws, look at this beak¡­¡± He brought the redbed rooster close to Liu Jinghui, pointing insistently. Liu Jinghui coughed twice: ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve had a change of ns¡­¡± The poultry vendor¡¯s face darkened, and the chicken he was holding dared not crow: ¡°I¡¯ve collected these especially for you from the countryside.¡± ¡°I know, but the thing is¡­¡± ¡°Let me tell you, eating chicken is part of life,¡± the poultry vendor argued, shaking the rooster to make it nod, adding, ¡°Chicken is good for men.¡± Chapter 105 - 105 103 Again a Hiking Enthusiast ?105: Chapter 103 Again a Hiking Enthusiast 105: Chapter 103 Again a Hiking Enthusiast Jiang Yuan got the conclusion that it was Marfan Syndrome, yet he continued to perform the autopsy slowly and meticulously. Performing autopsies in a different location wasn¡¯t easy. Once the body was thawed, it was best to finish the job in one go, because freezing and then thawing it again would be even more troublesome. Furthermore, second and third autopsies could increase the difficulty for oneself and others who followed. That was because the forensic doctor conducting the repeated autopsies had to additionally determine whether the injuries were caused by the case itself or by the previous forensic doctor. On one hand, confirming the identity of the body was one matter, but he still wanted to find more evidence. It couldn¡¯t possibly be that he had to walk the old hunting trail again. Jiang Yuan genuinely wished his workce could be more permanent. The autopsysted until mid-afternoon, and Langgu County¡¯s forensic doctor, Li Zhen, couldn¡¯t hold up any longer. He leaned on the dissection table, resting his weight on it as if to draw on it for support. Jiang Yuan watched the semi-turbid liquid that had soaked the body dampen Li Zhen¡¯s clothes and after soaking through, it started to drip steadily. ¡°Mr. Li, your clothes are wet,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but remind him, while rinsing the floor below with water. Li Zhen stood up somewhat groggily, waving his hand and saying, ¡°I¡¯m old and tired from not having a nap after lunch. I¡¯ll be fine after washing my face.¡± In the current environment, even washing one¡¯s face was difficult. Of course, having any desire to sleep in such an unpleasant environment was also impressive. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what to say and simply suggested, ¡°I¡¯ll speed up. Let¡¯s get this finished as quickly as possible.¡± ¡°That would be best,¡± Li Zhen replied, and then added, ¡°Actually, just finding the identity of the body should be enough.¡± ¡°Hmm, relying solely on the identity of the body probably won¡¯t solve the case,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t go along with his suggestion, adding, ¡°The killer likely killed at random.¡± ¡°Random killings are troublesome,¡± Li Zhenmented. ¡°Indeed,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed. With that, the dissection room became much quieter. Despite talking about finishing quickly, it still took another hour to wrap up. Li Zhen then went to call the part-time technician from the funeral home to help out, and with three people working together, the body was put back into the ice coffin and the dissection table and floor were cleaned. The strong stench subsided, and Jiang Yuan looked again at Li Zhen¡¯s clothes, saying, ¡°Cleaning those clothes is going to be a hassle.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Li Zhen imed, before blinking and then adding, ¡°Actually, let me teach you a trick of mine.¡± ¡°A trick?¡± ¡°For clothes like these, don¡¯t rush to wash them right away. It¡¯s best to hang them up for a day before washing,¡± Li Zhen exined, tugging at his surgical gown and smiling. ¡°This way, the smell diminishes as much as possible.¡± ¡°Oh, really?¡± Jiang Yuan said, surprised. Li Zhen nodded, saying, ¡°There¡¯s not much I can teach you about autopsies, so consider this a little secret from me.¡± Feeling satisfied after sharing his tip, Li Zhen felt he had regained the demeanor of an experienced forensic doctor and happily went off to shower. Once Jiang Yuan had tidied everything up and returned to the guesthouse, he smelled the familiar scent of chicken soup. ¡°Jiang Yuan is back. Just in time for chicken,¡± Liu Jinghui called out from the kitchen on the other side of the courtyard, weing Jiang Yuan with enthusiasm. ¡°There¡¯s more rooster?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. Shouldn¡¯t normal people switch up their meals? Liu Jinghui, seeming to have anticipated the reaction, jovially responded, ¡°There¡¯s other food, too, but chicken has its own appeal. I bought some chili peppers. This time I¡¯m making spicy chicken, it¡¯s delicious. That¡¯s all Liu and the others know how to cook right now.¡± The guesthouse in question wasposed of a four-story building and a two-story building, forming a simple but functional courtyard. Following Liu Jinghui out of the kitchen were several technicians who hade along. During the journey, they had forged friendships and honed their skills in preparing rooster stew, now putting their expertise to good use. ¡°And this time, I even bought an old hen, especially for making soup. It¡¯s been boiling for four or five hours,¡± Liu Jinghui said with a smile that carried hints of exhaustion. Jiang Yuan sat down politely, took a sip of the soup courteously, and asked politely, ¡°Have you identified the victim?¡± ¡°We have,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression grew more serious as he sat across from Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°The victim¡¯s name was Su Qin. She was from another province. She had Marfan syndrome, so she kept up with physical exercise and enjoyed hiking. She was a backpacker. But as far as social rtionships go, she was quite lonely. Her immediate family is all gone; her mother passed away, her father divorced and remarried, losing contact as well, and it was her cousin who reported her missing.¡± ¡°Another backpacker?¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and then asked, ¡°What about her child? She had given birth before.¡± ¡°She got divorced, and the kid stayed with her ex-husband. They hardly had any contact and didn¡¯t live in the same city,¡± Liu Jinghui paused and then added, ¡°Another important clue is that Su Qin didn¡¯te here on her own.¡± ¡°Did her travelpanion return?¡± ¡°No, the travelpanion is the one who reported her missing, which then informed her cousin.¡± ¡°No one knew they were at Mount Wulong?¡± ¡°They filed a report locally; it was probably just recorded.¡± ¡°What about after that? They could have checked phone records.¡± ¡°They traced it as far as Pingzhou. The familyter filed a missing person report there as well,¡± Liu Jinghui said with little else, clearly having not delved deeper into the questioning. Jiang Yuan uttered, ¡°Hmm.¡± One tends to realize with a bit more experience in handling cases, the majority of cases that are solved are simply solved. Those that aren¡¯t solved are full of all sorts of unfortunate coincidences, difficulties, and inconveniences. Investigating a case always involves a mixture of serendipity and inevitability. It¡¯s like when a day is particrly bad, you find that everything you do from the morning on goes wrong. On a particrly good day, everything seems to go right. Of course, as a detective, you don¡¯t need things to go smoothly all the time. It¡¯s enough if things go right just once at a critical moment, and the case can be cracked. As for a criminal, they might get away with it once or twice, for a year or two, but all it takes is one slip-up and they¡¯re caught. However, like most cases, someone definitely pulled a fast one in this one too, but Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t talk about that, and Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask. In this world, most of the time, everyone is cutting corners, including Su Qin¡¯s rtives, her cousin, her ex-husband. They are all just as deceitful. ¡°What¡¯s the situation with the travelpanion?¡± Jiang Yuan pressed on. Liu Jinghui pursed his lips and said, ¡°Sun Jingyi. That¡¯s her name, also divorced, also has a child, but her family rtions are a bit closer. She was reported missing about three dayster. Under normal circumstances, both of them likely met with misfortune together.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± From the information avable now, the number of unjust dead in Mount Wulong was probably not small. ¡°What¡¯s our next step?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. At this point in the case, things had started to be a bit clearer. If this were a criminal investigation unit, it would be time to determine the investigative approach. They could opt for a stakeout, a sweep, or a broader inquiry. However, no matter which strategy was chosen, it was hard to say it was a sure thing, and there were always certain risks involved. For instance, staking out an old hunting trail was betting that these people would continue toe and go along that path, but this was just a guess, not a certainty. If the other side stopped using that route or only passed by every few months, it would be a waste of manpower. Furthermore, if they did happen upon this desperate group, wouldn¡¯t they have to engage in a jungle warfare? No matter if the firepower of this group matched the Vietnamese or if the jungle in Mount Wulong was asplex as those in tropical regions, the police always aimed for a peaceful arrest first and foremost. Liu Jinghui, who had clearly put thought into it as well, skipped the life-threatening choices and said, ¡°I¡¯m nning on organizing a search team, starting from where Su Qin¡¯s body was found and searching toward the direction of the old hunting trail. We¡¯ll see if we can find any more bodies or remains. Also, since both Su Qin and herpanion were out as backpackers, their personal gear and food are likely to have been taken. Maybe we can look into that.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Although a sweep was time-consuming,bor-intensive, and not cost-efficient, at this point in the case, it was a rather reliable option. At this moment, Jiang Yuan understood why Liu Jinghui was drinking chicken soup so contentedly. Organizing a rtivelyrge search team with some level of expertise would definitely not bepleted within a day. In fact, it took three days of waiting before Pingzhou managed to put together a search team. Together with a civilian search party from Shan Nan Province that had been waiting in Langgu County, they slowly advanced into Mount Wulong. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan followed the team from Pingzhou, armed with plentiful supplies. Chapter 106 - 106 104 Tomb ?106: Chapter 104 Tomb 106: Chapter 104 Tomb Noon. Only when the sun was shining high did a sliver of light peak through the thickets, warming one¡¯s entire body. A squirrel leaped from the treetops, caught a glimpse of the people below, and immediately halted, using its bushy tail to firmly cover its face. At the same time, on the other side, a wild pheasant fluttered its wings, making a sound that drew attention, transitioning through a series of steps to a higher point on the slope, trying to hide itself. Jiang Yuan heard themotion but only nced over, toozy to locate the exact source. The terrain andndscape of Pingzhou were quite different from Shan Nan, which was only dozens of miles away. The forests here were rtively dry, and the higher elevation harbored different wildlife. Creatures like squirrels and pheasants weremonly seen, making the environment feel somewhat more cheerful than the forests on the Shan Nan side. ¡°If I weren¡¯t so sick of chicken soup, I¡¯d shoot that stupid thing,¡± the technician trailing behind Jiang Yuan remarked, even mimicking the gesture of holding and firing a gun. ¡°I think you¡¯re the one who is sick of living,¡± Liu Jinghui, who had fallen two steps behind from the front, said: ¡°In Mount Wulong, there are ¡®pheasant assassins¡¯ you know.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°White-crowned Long-tailed Pheasant, it¡¯s a kind of wild pheasant, a national first-ss protected animal, on the same level as the giant panda,¡± Liu Jinghui mimicked the motion of firing a gun and said, ¡°You think you¡¯re shooting amon pheasant, at worst you¡¯d get fined, but then a White-crowned Long-tailed Pheasant flies up¡­ Bang, 5 years. Bang Bang, 10 years. Pheasant assassins.¡± The technician, as if plunged into the scenario, suddenly felt anxious. The search team pressed on, enduring and slow. Previously they had followed a hunting trail, where at least there was a path. But now, to carry out a search, even just expanding the territory slightly, became significantly more difficult. Fortunately, Liu Jinghui swiftly adjusted the strategy, exploring only those ces passable by normal people. Assuming the desperate fugitive would also stick to paths meant for humans. With this modification, the search was able to proceed in an orderly fashion. Beginning from where they discovered Su Qin¡¯s body, the team members gradually spread out. This area was still close to human settlements, where road conditions were passable and several paths meandered through the dense woods. asionally, they came across various discarded items like stic water bottles, which were now being collected as evidence. After trudging for most of the day, the remaining search party members were visibly growing impatient. Jiang Yuan and others like Liu Jinghui who¡¯d traversed the old hunting path had grown ustomed to the darkness and depth of the thick woods, but the newly recruited searchers, despite some experience, weren¡¯t necessarily adept in dealing with deep forest wilderness, which bred grumbling. Just as Liu Jinghui pondered how to reorganize the team, the police dog at the forefront began barking excitedly. Woof, woof, woof woof¡­ Liu Jinghui, as eager as if he were responding to a leader¡¯s call, quickened his pace, taking small, brisk steps and not forgetting to pull Jiang Yuan along. Jiang Yuan too, as if about to meet a leader, grabbed his investigation box and followed quickly, weaving through the row of people to the front. Today¡¯s mission included local cadre dogs and police from Pingzhou, and now it was a German Shepherd¡ªthe ck and tan, full of energy and promise, younger than Heizi, more capable than Dazhuang¡ªwhose stance suggested it might at any moment earn a second-ss merit and feast on an infinite buffet; it was growling low at a copsed bank beside the road. The bank, just beside the road, was two to three meters high and extended for about ten meters. It was a cliff on the slope above, which would turn into a small waterfall during rainy days. The area that the Shepherd had found was in the middle section of the bank, and there were clear signs of human-induced copse. Upon closer inspection, a fewrge trees stood between the bank and the trail, easily overlooked if one wasn¡¯t paying attention. But with so many people in the search team, they wouldn¡¯t possibly neglect such a conspicuous man-made feature. ¡°Photograph it, record it, dig it up,¡± Liu Jinghui ordered with a somber expression. He already had a guess as to what was inside. He knew that he was pursuing desperate ouws, aware that they acted boldly to the point of outrageousness, with no considerations at all, but the sight of one body after another was still hard to stomach. Jiang Yuan and several forensic investigators stepped forward and began to dig. Even if it was just a mound of earth copsed from the embankment, it could reveal a great deal. If there was a body¡­ It took only a few shovels for a body to be uncovered. Jiang Yuan, as a forensic doctor, naturally stepped forward and switched to a small shovel and brush to diligently excavate. ¡°Female body.¡± Although the body had been reduced to bones, Jiang Yuan easily discerned its gender. Liu Jinghui nodded, the time and gender matched, so he ordered the idle search personnel, ¡°Look around and see if there¡¯s a campsite that could¡¯ve been used for rest, or any abandoned equipment.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± An official from the provincial office in Pingzhou was also dispatched to liaise. Even though criminal police at the provincial office level had moved on from frontline work, interactions between neighboring offices were inevitable. In terms of work, there was still a disy of mutual assistance. And the details involved in this case were indeed chilling. Jiang Yuan and two other crime scene technicians gradually recovered the skeleton, making necessary records as they did so. For instance, the depth and manner of burial suggested that there may have been only one person who buried the body. The fact that no pit was dug but rather a slope was shoveled down also indicated the attitude of the buryer and their ¡°earth-moving capabilities.¡± But regardless, this was the first buried body that they hade across in this case. If it were an isted incident, the question would be why; if not, were there more bodies that had been simrly concealed in the underbrush? Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind uncontrobly drifted to these questions, causing him to stand up straight and stretch his back. Liu Jinghui came over to check the body and asked, ¡°Any thoughts?¡± ¡°Under these soil conditions, the body would return to dust in about 20 years or so,¡± Jiang Yuan said without turning his head, ncing at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Without even the bones remaining?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s buried like this,¡± Jiang Yuan gestured toward the ground. ¡°In 20 years, not even the bones would remain.¡± ¡°In that case¡­¡± ¡°If they started killing at the beginning of this century, the earliest bodies would have disappeared by now,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed and squatted down to begin collecting the bones. Liu Jinghui paused before saying, ¡°It¡¯s unlikely, such a group could not have operated for 20 years. Even internal strife and changes in leadership would lead to their natural dissolution. It¡¯s not so easy for a criminal group to survive 20 years.¡± ¡°Criminal groups naturally dissolving? That¡¯s too optimistic.¡± ¡°You have a point,¡± Liu Jinghui fell silent, then said, ¡°This time, we should be able to catch them.¡± ¡°Mm,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, his head down as he continued his work. This time, he was prepared to extract soil and insects from the ¡°grave¡± as well. It was a tedious job. In fact, many criminal police officers have a habit of sweeping up everything indiscriminately when collecting evidence, but this bes meaningless once it reaches theb. For instance, if there is evidence in a trash can and they bag the entire can, it¡¯s unreasonable to expectb technicians to examine every single item inside¡ªthe police officers and technicians work in the same department, and any extreme expectations from either side would be unrealistic. Therefore, the proper way to process the contents of a trash can is to sort the items into the appropriatelybeled garbage bags. If a crime scene technician sorts the contents of a trash can into 100 evidence bags, they end up with 100 test reports. But if they dump everything into one ck stic bag, they end up with just a pile of trash. Jiang Yuan was even more meticulous, especially when dealing with the area surrounding the body. During a Level 4 crime scene investigation, not a single small item was overlooked. As Jiang Yuan was engrossed in the ¡°grave,¡± the search team continued forward until the nned time, then regrouped to return. A portion of them moved on to find a ce to camp. From the many search team members, most would return to Pingzhou, with only a few continuing the search. Although Liu Jinghui¡¯s initial request had been met with the discovery of the body, the team had already been assembled, and it would be a waste to end the search within a day. It was better to keep searching. The reasoning was easy to justify, as the body they found could not yet confirm whether it was Sun Jingyi, Su Qin¡¯s travelpanion. Searching for another day or two was just a matter of caution. Jiang Yuan made it back to Langgu County before dark, heading straight for the mortuary¡¯s dissecting room. The evidence he carried was logged into inventory, and the bones wereid out on the dissecting table. Li Zhen also arrived, her face showing signs of fatigue. Chapter 107 - 107 105 Human Bone Puzzle ?107: Chapter 105: Human Bone Puzzle 107: Chapter 105: Human Bone Puzzle Disposable coveralls, 3M masks, doubleyered rubber gloves¡­ Jiang Yuan dressed neatly and arrived at the autopsy room just as Li Zhen was astounded. It was like seeing a well-wrapped, walking corpse. ¡°I only wear a disposable protective suit when I work on highly dposed bodies,¡± said Li Zhen, ¡°You guys in Ningtai County must be really wealthy.¡± Disposable coveralls are what the medical staff wore during the mask period, with a purchase cost of over a hundred per set,fortable to wear and offering very strong protection. Compared to disposable protective suits, wearing disposable coveralls is like being protected by 105 strong men,pletely surrounded by muscle and an overwhelming sense of safety. On the other hand, a disposable protective suit is akin to being personally protected by Sun Er Niang¡­ As leaders rarely participate in autopsies, the majority of purchases are usually for disposable protective suits. Only when leaders are willing to go to the front lines do some units purchase disposable coveralls in small quantities for their use. Wearing a filtering mask, Jiang Yuan spoke in a muffled tone, ¡°I bought this myself, from online shopping a couple of days ago.¡± ¡°You bought it with your own money?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Li Zhen was puzzled. Jiang Yuan nced at him disdainfully, ¡°I don¡¯t want corpse fluids to get on me.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the big deal if you get some on you?¡± Li Zhen started to ask cautiously, ¡°Are you in a rtionship?¡± Jiang Yuan was also taken aback by the question. Li Zhen hurriedly said, ¡°If you are in a rtionship, you should¡¯ve said so earlier!¡± He tried to push Jiang Yuan aside, but Jiang Yuan, being a robust young man, was much stronger than him, a somber and aging forensic doctor, and couldn¡¯t be moved. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the body then. Hey, it¡¯s not easy for us forensic doctors to date. Back when I was dating, I bathed all the time, fearing my date might smell something on me and feel ufortable. Because of our profession, several girls introduced by rtives broke it off, unable to ept it,¡± he reminisced. ¡°While matchmaking, I once met a very beautiful girl. Just then, I encountered a green corpse and my master took the lead, trying not to let me assist¡­ It still fell through in the end.¡± ¡°I¡¯m all dressed up, it¡¯s fine,¡± Jiang Yuan shed his gloves, not exining that he was single, quickly moving on. Li Zhen noticed, ¡°Double rubberyers? That¡¯s really luxurious¡­¡± He himself wore stic gloves on the inside, like the ones used for eating crawfish, cheap and somewhat practical but ufortable. ¡°I¡¯ve also taken a couple of boxes extra to store in the cab. If you want to use them, just take them,¡± Jiang Yuan offered. ¡°There¡¯s no need. I can¡¯t bring myself to use such expensive disposables. Even the wealthy wouldn¡¯t spend like that,¡± Li Zhen shook his head. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Some luxury clothes are one-use only. Clothes and pants that can¡¯t be washed, worn once and then tossed. Like Gi¡¯s swimsuits and umbres that can¡¯t touch water.¡± Li Zhen scoffed, ¡°They should be the ones making protective suits then.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°They are doing it. PRADA, Gi, they both make protective suits and masks.¡± ¡°At luxury prices?¡± ¡°Of course, a mask can sell for over a thousand.¡± ¡°Sometimes, I really want to crack open the heads of some luxury brand moguls to see what¡¯s inside, to study what they¡¯re thinking,¡± Li Zhen put on his gloves, rubbing his hands together, ¡°We¡¯re just too remote here, not a tourist spot, unable to attract those designers. Otherwise¡­¡± Jiang Yuan, while he spoke, had already started arranging the bones in order. Boneset dposition requires documentation during collection and even more so in sequenced cement. Especially with ¡°grave¡± burials like this where bones were naturally aligned at death, picking them up in order from top to bottom already eased most of the setup effort. The focus should be on the position of small bones. The hyoid, carpal bones, for instance, are both small yet significant. A broken hyoid, for example, would be a great find, suggesting the likely cause of death was strangtion, or ¡°mechanical asphyxia¡± in official terms. Once the connective tissues were gone, hand bones would disintegrate into 27 pieces, 54 for both hands. With muscles and soft tissues gone, defensive wounds could only be inferred from the bone condition. Arranging the bones was like solving a puzzle. Those with obsessivepulsive disorder might find it very satisfying. Jiang Yuan was arranging the bones and in passing, inspected them as well. Next to him, forensic doctor Li Zhen was lending a hand, asionally making small talk with Jiang Yuan. His demeanor was very calm; a forensic doctor who has seen too many bodies is like a teacher who has seen too many students,posed. If it had been a fresh body, he would undoubtedly have had to help flip it over again and again. This flipping wasn¡¯t just a figure of speech, but an actual part of the job. Moreover, it was a very demanding task. Facing a body, a forensic doctor inevitably has to turn it over several times. That means literally turning the body over and over, like flipping an egg. But bodies are heavy, almost like flipping an ostrich egg. This is an exhausting job. Bodies be heavy after death, but to examine the back, to look for rigor mortis, to observe blood flow and other aspects, one must flip the body multiple times. From this standpoint, female forensic doctors or older forensic doctors really struggle with this exhausting work. Just the task of flipping a body alone is quite challenging. Now, dealing with only the bones was simpler, and since they were allbelled, Li Zhen assisted by handing them over and arranging them, quickly putting everything in ce. Once the body was arranged, there was an odd sense of familiarity; Jiang Yuan was not afraid. ¡°Sun Jingyi is all set up, is it her?¡± Li Zhen couldn¡¯t even be bothered to check for himself. He had already witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°expertise¡± in forensic anthropology and didn¡¯t want to embarrass himself, let alone waste mental effort. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to expend much mental energy on this body either. He had already reviewed the relevant information before he arrived, madeparisons while collecting the bones, and now focusing on verifying, said, ¡°It can essentially be confirmed as Sun Jingyi. Sun Jingyi once fractured her lower leg, it happened when she fell off a horse while traveling. Look at the left anterior tibia of the body, this scar is from the break.¡± After checking, Li Zhen nodded, saying, ¡°If it¡¯s not a coincidence, then it can be confirmed.¡± ¡°I asked the family to take pictures of the X-rays and send them to me. Let me find my phone.¡± Jiang Yuan said, about to remove his gloves. ¡°Wait!¡± Li Zhen shouted suddenly, pulling open the door and calling, ¡°Xiao Wang, Xiao Wang,e help press the phone.¡± Turning back to Jiang Yuan, Li Zhen spoke earnestly, ¡°You use 3M rubber gloves, right? Are you really willing to take those off just to check your phone? If I had gloves this good, I¡¯d wash them and go home to sleep with my arms around my wife!¡± Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow, having thought that Doctor Li didn¡¯t have a wife, so he found one after all. He said helplessly, ¡°It¡¯s not like that¡­¡± ¡°It is like that, how is it not? Back in the day, we even reused washed rubber condoms; do you know those were thicker than your gloves? If you weren¡¯t firm enough, it could literally push you back.¡± Li Zhen was panting, ¡°Now that we¡¯ve got better conditions, we still shouldn¡¯t waste like this; those gloves use up so much rubber.¡± ¡°I¡¯m doing the inspection one more time.¡± Jiang Yuan went back to the autopsy table with great respect, picking up the bones, inspecting them one by one to make full use of the pairs of rubber gloves. However, apart from the tibia, no new findings were made. Skeletonized remains are quite different from fresh bodies. A normal forensic doctor examines a fresh body for pathological reasons, rarely concluding with negative results, meaning that a cause of death is usually found. But with skeletonized remains, it¡¯s normal not to find a cause of death. Including the remains of Sun Jingyi in front of them, there were no bones that could provide evidence to rify the cause of death. ¡°Let¡¯s leave the body here for now, shall we take a look at the personal belongings?¡± Jiang Yuan once again sought Li Zhen¡¯s opinion. ¡°Whatever you want.¡± After Li Zhen agreed, he added, ¡°Do you want to take a break? You¡¯ve been running around all day.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s review everything first, then decide whether to rest or not,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who was also feeling a bit tired. Having traveled such a distance to Langgu County and endured much hardship on the old hunting paths, he was here for the case and felt resting now would not be worthwhile. Li Zhen then helped him put the bones back into the box. Jiang Yuan continued to collect the bones in order, and when he picked up the skull, a shiny ball rolled into his hand. Sun Jingyi¡¯s legacy: Sketching (LV2) ¡ª Sketching was the skill Sun Jingyi practiced the longest. She once wanted to use it to enter The Great Learning but realized the examination for art students was equally stringent and failed to gain admission. However, she still enjoyed drawing in her daily life. She liked to go to the mountains with her friends for plein air painting; she loved life. Although her sketching wasn¡¯t of a high standard, her works felt warm andforting. Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, especially when he heard the words warm andforting, feeling inexplicably distressed. He silently thanked Sun Jingyi in his heart, raised his hand, and gently closed the bone box¡¯s lid. Chapter 108 - 108 106 Discovery ?108: Chapter 106 Discovery 108: Chapter 106 Discovery The funeral home at midnight, with the wailing wind sounding like a procession of ghosts, the fallen leaves whirling in the sky, unwilling to leave and yet hesitant tond, as though they held many unfulfilled wishes. In the funeral home at midnight, the flickering lights, viewed from outside, intertwined patterns of light and shadow like a splendid cage set by fate; turning to look behind oneself, there was the pitch-ck night and the hazy sky, always feeling like something might suddenly jump out and say to you, ¡°Hey!¡± The funeral home at night was always filled with the sounds of doors and windows rattling, locks cking open, and the neverending drip of water¡ªdrip, drip, drip¡ªno matter how carefully they were repaired during the day, various unexpected issues would still arise at night. Inside the dissection room on the basement floor, the bold music never stopped: ¡°Running naked, running wild, racing through the streets¡­¡± A rendition of ¡°The Bund¡± carried Li Zhen back to his youth, filled with indulgence and nostalgia. Back then, as a young forensic doctor, Xiao Li was assigned to Langgu County, a college graduate that was the talk of the entire county! In just one month of working, Xiao Li had performed autopsies on nine corpses. When eating at a restaurant, the owner would even give him an extra couple pieces of braised pork ribs. While listening to the song, Li Zhen felt as if he had returned to those days. Thinking back to the rudimentary conditions then, some cases required on-the-spot autopsies when facilities werecking; he would find himself dissecting on the floor of the deceased¡¯s bedroom, opening chests, abdomens, and skulls. Back then, kneeling before the corpse, his young back would ache with exhaustion; if he had to do the same now, Li Zhen would immediately add another broken-backed corpse. Where like now, he even had an office in the funeral home¡ªno wind, no rain, although a bit cold, hiss~~~ ¡°These are all that were dug out from the grave,¡± Jiang Yuan finished examining thest piece of cloth and put it back in therge evidence box on the small table, then couldn¡¯t help but stand up and arch his back, slowly twisting and stretching. He didn¡¯t dare move too much, for fear of waking up the ¡°neighbors¡± in the surrounding boxes. Li Zhen was already exhausted and casually slumped on the adjacent dissection table, even striking a strangely nonstandard yoga pose that was a bitical, like a corpse that had been haphazardly posed. He had been intently listening to the music, but upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice, he lifted his chin like a prideful, reclusive old and scrawny cat that didn¡¯t care to bother with others. ¡°Just sleep when you¡¯re done. There¡¯s a camp bed inside; you can open it and sleep if you¡¯re too tired.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ ¡°¡­If there¡¯s a camp bed, why would you sleep on the dissection table? That¡¯s too cold.¡± Jiang Yuan had been focused on organizing the evidence and hadn¡¯t noticed before, but now turning to look, it felt like he was chatting with a vintage corpse. He looked at that stainless steel dissection table and couldn¡¯t help shivering! Li Zhen chuckled, ¡°You didn¡¯t look closely; I lined it with an army coat underneath.¡± ¡°You keep that army coat in the dissection room, and it¡¯s always draped on the dissection table; it must¡¯ve steeped in the vor by now. Besides, it¡¯s too bulky, almost enough to dress a corpse.¡± ¡°This originally was to cover corpses with. The family didn¡¯t want it, and at that time I was just starting to date and had no money, plus it was just before Chinese New Year, and I couldn¡¯t afford new clothes¡­¡± Even forensic doctor Li himself couldn¡¯t figure it out¡ªback then he was young, he used the army coat to cover the person underneath whom he dissected, found out the cause of death, and quickly helped solve the case, catching the murderer. When the family came to im the body, they threw away the army coat. Because normally, in such situations, the family would yearn to burn everything associated with the deceased, not wanting to see anything rted, probably because the memories would be too painful. So he kept the army coat, and it just stayed with him ever since. He wasn¡¯t afraid, in fact, it became oddlyforting. Jiang Yuan calcted Li Zhen¡¯s age, then estimated when he had been dating, and suddenly felt a deep respect for the army coat beneath him¡ªit was not just a coat anymore; it was a talisman! ¡°Are we really not going home?¡± Jiang Yuan asked again. Li Zhen gestured outside with his thumb, ¡°If you¡¯re scared, you can go out for a stroll!¡± Jiang Yuan thought about it; the room was the dissection room, managed by the police department, while outside was the funeral home, overseen by the civil affairs department. No matter how he considered it, the dissection room seemed more secure. ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m scared; it¡¯s just that sleeping here doesn¡¯t feelfortable.¡± Jiang Yuan found the camp bed and quickly realized that indeed, it was not long enough. ¡°Then just keep working,¡± Li Zhen suggested and then flipped over, starting to text his wife and opening ¡°All-People Karaoke¡± to sing ¡°Sweet Honey.¡± ¡°Sweet Honey, sweet honey¡­¡± The dissection room filled with forensic doctor Li¡¯s pinched singing voice, and Jiang Yuan shivered uncontrobly again! Lying on the dissection table and singing ¡°Sweet Honey¡± felt morbidly macabre. Jiang Yuan brought another box of evidence to the table, spread open the logbook, and donned a new pair of gloves¡ªLi Zhen was busy preparing to sleep, no longer paying attention to him. Compared to the items in therge evidence box, the significance of the items in this box was much lower. The evidence from therge box had been unearthed from that hasty grave, including the victim Sun Jingyi¡¯s clothes, a few personal items, and soil from under the corpse¡¯s abdomen, among others. These pieces of evidence had also been sent off for examination, belonging to the most focused on and the most likely to yield results. The box of evidence Jiang Yuan now had on the table came from outside the grave, ranging up to a kilometer from the grave, and consisted of items that had been found during the search. There were four boxes like this, and anywhere else, they would have been seen as the results of garbage picking, but here, every item had to be carefully scrutinized before being dismissed. The most striking evidence among them was a cigarette butt. If it belonged to the criminal, it would be equivalent to the perpetrator volunteering their identity card number. As it turned out, it was just the search team¡¯sck of professionalism that had caused the issue. Someone, during the search, had sneaked in a smoke, carelessly discarded their cigarette butt in the woods, and then diligently stomped it out. Really, there wasn¡¯t much to say about it; the search had been going on for more than a day, and it wasn¡¯t realistic to prevent smokers from smoking, especially outdoors. Additionally, the search team wasn¡¯t a professional police squad, just specialized search and rescue teams like the local Blue Sky Rescue Team and other semi-official organizations, without relevant training or duties. In such challenging conditions, they weren¡¯t easy to manage either. When they were smoking, they also didn¡¯t know that a body might be uncovered here. Jiang Yuan set aside the cigarette butts and tissues that had been imed by someone. There were still many items left in the box, including unimed stic bags, lighter cases, mineral water bottles, shoe soles, fish hooks and fishing lines, bags, fabric bags, torn clothing, food packaging bags, and boxes¡­ Jiang Yuan took them out one by one for inspection. Afterward, he would dust each for fingerprints, then wipe for DNA. This work could be done by any other crime scene technicians or experts, but very, very few could actually do it well. Even the act of moistening a swab with water to create the semi-dry condition needed for DNA wiping was a minor task few were willing to perform. People might have learned that it was the better approach, but typically, they would just take a swab and rub it quickly over the surface and be done. As for the wiping technique, cing the samples in appropriate evidence bags, and sending them for testing on time, even fewer could do these well. These were all incredibly tedious and meticulous tasks with no guaranteed results. Like trace evidence, the core of DNA testing actually lies in the extraction of the test material. Speaking of extraction, it wasn¡¯t necessarily difficult ¨C it just required attentiveness, patience, and proficiency; still, in reality, there were not many who could do it. Some were simply toozy, while others were just overloaded with work and had to rush. In this respect, crime scene technicians were no different from primary school students. Teachers and parents constantly admonish them to write neatly, be diligent, and not be careless, and they also hope the children will take initiative and do more homework. In truth, among the kids in a ss, it was very likely that not a single one could meet all these criteria. Even for children under intensive study routines, only a handful could maintain it. At that moment, Jiang Yuan was like the most proactive and diligent primary school student in the ss. He was very spirited and motivated. Using his newly acquired sketching skills, he drew a diagram marking the distribution of evidence around Sun Jingyi¡¯s grave, and although it was just a tool diagram, it was surprisingly pleasant to look at. Then, he began processing the evidence itself. Out of habit, he started with fingerprints. Whether to start with fingerprints or DNA was asionally debated; everyone criticized the other side for not being diligent enough, and usually, it was whoever arrived first got to process first. Jiang Yuan was still more familiar with fingerprints. He scanned item after item, past Nongfu Spring, past Wahaha, past Ice Dew, and when he got to a bottle of Nongfu Spring, Jiang Yuan fell into deep thought as he looked at the fingerprint that had been scanned. He took the fingerprint and held it in his hand, staring at it silently. This fingerprint was about three-quarters the size of a normal one and was ratherplete, with rtively clear friction ridges¡ªa fingerprint this clear could easily be matched by anytent fingerprint examiner if there were corresponding records in the database. It didn¡¯t seem like a fingerprint that had been gone over during a fingerprint battle. Yet, he felt it was somehow familiar. An expert¡¯s recollection of fingerprints was somewhat like a yboy¡¯s memory of an ex-girlfriend. Jiang Yuan pushed his thoughts further and further back until suddenly, a fingerprint popped into his mind! The Wen Township arson case! After tying together multiple cases, several arson cases that had urred in Wen Township were solved, except for one. That particr case involved forestnd and had gone unsolved. Jiang Yuan immediately took out his phone and began to search. In his memory, the arsonist had confessed to several cases but not this one, leaving the case temporarily shelved. The fingerprint extracted from that case was quite blurred, but whenpared with the one before him¡­ there were many simrities! ***(gibberish cursing)!!! Indeed, the teacher was right, efforts never go to waste. Jiang Yuan excitedly nudged Li Zhen, the forensic doctor who had just dozed off on the autopsy table! Chapter 109 - 109 107 Investigation ?109: Chapter 107 Investigation 109: Chapter 107 Investigation Shan Nan Province, Qinghe City, Ningtai County, Wen Township. Jiang Yuan got out of the car and looked around at the somewhat familiar environment, feeling both affectionate and a sore butt. Driving hundreds of kilometers in a Great Wall Cannon was definitely a vibrational mistake. ¡°Let¡¯s go directly to the scene,¡± Liu Jinghui said. He was older, less energetic, his back was weak, and his body was no longer resilient or enduring. The fatigue from the drive would have had him wishing to find a hard bed and pretend to be dead if it weren¡¯t for the case at hand. When he first saw Director Liu, he was refined and conceited like a national grade II protected animal, the Red-bellied Tragopan. Now, he was more like an old hen, caught by its owner and ready to have its feathers plucked. The young officer following them responded with a ¡°Sure,¡± and then in a nervous and soft voice said, ¡°Director Zhang is here!¡± Liu Jinghui looked up to see Zhang Tao, the deputy director of criminal investigation at the Ningtai County Bureau, getting out of the car anding over to greet him. Liu Jinghui had to force a smile back on his face and moved forward to wee him: ¡°Director Zhang has arrived.¡± When working down from the provincial office, relying solely onpetence doesn¡¯t work, and brute force is even less useful. It¡¯s better to be tactful, both firm and gentle. Jiang Yuan and the others waited patiently, his mind still on the case details. Then he was nudged in the arm by the young officer beside him, signaling him to look over. Jiang Yuan turned his head to see that Director Liu might have mentioned him because Director Zhang was looking his way. Being new, he felt a bit of tension, but the thought of his system and his father straightened him up almost instantly, making his posture even more upright. Director Zhang seemed to smile at them. His smile was warm yet ruthless. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of the beauty queen from his university days, his smile carrying a simr mystique, as if he were smiling just at Jiang Yuan. After a while, once the leaders finished their chat, the group began to ascend through the woond. Compared to the dense forest of Mount Wulong, the woond of Wen Township was like a little brother who hadn¡¯t even begun to sprout. The fast-growing forest stood tall and dense, yet the undergrowth was not thick, so walking through was not only unobstructed but ratherfortable. Dappled sunlight, a gentle breeze. This left those who had juste from the old forest feeling a bit unustomed. After crossing a ridge, the woond began to feel more enveloping, as years of growth had matured this area. Although climbing was inconvenient, there were wide mountain paths more than a meter across that were frequently traveled. ¡°Starting a fire here is practically suicide,¡± Liu Jinghuimented as they walked. ¡°That¡¯s why the case was filed so quickly,¡± Director Zhang said. ¡°It¡¯s a pity we didn¡¯t catch anyone in the end.¡± ¡°There are always unsolvable cases. Our case hit a dead end, which is why we¡¯ve sought your help,¡± Liu Jinghui took the opportunity to butter up a bit. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± Deputy Director Zhang Tao was clearly pleased,ughing heartily. Everyone else joined in theughter immediately. The joyfulughter and satisfied expressions brought the mood to a climax, as if Liu Jinghui had made a dozen peopleugh on his own, a remarkable feat. ¡°Arson cases are always difficult to solve. Honestly, even if I were given a current arson case now, I wouldn¡¯t dare to say I¡¯m confident in solving it,¡± Liu Jinghui easily steered the conversation, saying, ¡°We should all prepare ourselves for this one.¡± ¡°Certainly, certainly.¡± After the simple talk, they arrived at the scene of the Wen Vige Forestry Farm arson. By now, young saplings had sprouted, their tender, delicate greens begging to be touched. Jiang Yuan and several crime scene investigators treaded carefully among the nts and searched the area within the fire¡¯s boundary, but they found no solid evidence. The previous arson had not covered arge area, but because it was an act of arson, it was considered quite significant. However, fingerprints extracted from the crime scene remained unmatched, and the case ultimately became a cold case. If it hadn¡¯t been for Sun Jingyi¡¯s murder case, this arson might have just disappeared in the cold case files. Regardless of the oue of the original arson case, it was now linked to Sun Jingyi¡¯s murder and the entire series of cases in Mount Wulong, ensuring the suspect couldn¡¯t vanish. At this point in time, the origin and destination of that bottle of Nongfu Spring were all figured out ¨C its production date was just a few months before Sun Jingyi¡¯s murder, and neither its sales address nor its distribution channels could eliminate the possibility of the suspect¡¯s involvement in Sun Jingyi¡¯s case; all these signs and coincidences were enough to excite the ¡°special task force.¡± Ever since the case of the wild man on Mount Wulong came to light, clues had been few and far between. Now, as new leads emerged and new murders were uncovered, the attention on the special task force had increased significantly, along with the pressure. At this moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to link an old arson case to the current investigation undoubtedly reinvigorated everyone¡¯s spirits. As for whether the arson had no connection to Sun Jingyi¡¯s case, if solving the arson could lead to solving the murder, and thereby resolve the entire series of cases, then the problem would have been greatly simplified. Never mind the difficulty of an arson case that has gone unsolved for years ¨C that is based on the premise of the arson case itself. When the arson case became the key to a series of serial murders, itsplexity simply did not exist in the minds of Liu Jinghui and others. After briefly examining the arson site, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t consider employing any borate schemes. With a grand gesture, he said, ¡°Director Zhang, could you fingerprint every cadre and resident in Wen Township?¡± The permanent poption of Wen Township was only twenty thousand. Fingerprinting them all wouldn¡¯t take much time or effort. For solving murder cases, there are ample instances of DNA matching being done for all adult residents of a town; fingerprinting costs much less byparison. Of course, if anyone could now suggest a clever method that could save the station and Ningtai County from spending millions on the investigation, they would certainly earn a big red flower or even several. But no one, including Jiang Yuan, made any noise. Cold cases are not so easily cracked with cleverness. If money can solve a case, one should be thankful. Collecting fingerprints naturally couldn¡¯t be justified under the guise of solving a case, but such matters no longer required Liu Jinghui¡¯s attention, as the local government had plenty of mature and calm deception¡­ clever ns. By the afternoon. The banner proiming ¡°Advanced Township in Provincial Fingerprinting Work¡± had already been hung up, and not a single word was false. Liu Jinghui had secured this one and only quota for the entire province. Everyone in Wen Township was exhrated. It was a provincial-levelmendation, and the word ¡°advanced¡± clearly hinted at progress. As for the part in the middle, was it important? To show its importance, Wen Township¡¯s government office distributed a truckload of apples, which were set beside the busiest intersection. After fingerprinting, everyone could take an apple and were allowed to choose it themselves, which caused hundreds of meters of queueing. Liu Jinghui of the provincial office instructed on the scene, ¡°We must learn from the Baiyin case and resolutely prevent fingerprints being taken on someone else¡¯s behalf¡­¡± Wen Township promised, ¡°We will closely monitor and make good use of the basic-level cadre¡¯s familiarity with the local popce. For migrant workers and permanent residents, we will adopt a system where the unit takes charge, and responsibilities are subcontracted¡­¡± Ningtai County also mobilized almost all of its staff, rushing to Wen Township and monitoring all the roads, especially the routes leading into the mountains. For such cases, Liu Jinghui had his own ideas and experience. He didn¡¯t believe that covert investigations would be smoother. It¡¯s true they would cost less, but as a criminal policeman, why would he spend everyday calcting such economical details? He would deal with the chief¡¯s reprimand when the time came. At this moment, Liu Jinghui believed that striking like thunder would increase the chances of catching the criminal. Even if fingerprinting the whole township yielded no results, for Liu Jinghui, it significantly narrowed down the scope. Because Wen Township was remote and still quite a distance from Mount Wulong. The local forestry farm had no direct connections to the one at Mount Wulong. At this time, if fingerprints from both ces matched, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t consider it a coincidence. In fact, his intuition told him that this person was the murderer and there was a high possibility that they were from Wen Township. Old hunting trails on Mount Wulong weren¡¯t exactly inessible, but typically only herb gatherers, hikers, and ¡°hiker-targeting gangs¡± frequented them. It was too coincidental for an arsonist to be near the victim¡¯s grave site during a coincidental time. And the attractiveness of Wen Vige Forestry Farm was even lower than Mount Wulong,cking even the potential for poaching or smuggling. Liu Jinghui¡¯s n was, if they couldn¡¯t obtain the person¡¯s fingerprints, to start checking the household registration in Wen Township, begin with video collection, exclude migrant workers, and the remaining people shouldn¡¯t be too many. Such an approach would naturally be a massive effort, but Liu Jinghui had been through and organized muchrger-scale searches, so he wasn¡¯t concerned. The collected fingerprints were to be handed over to trace analysts for entry into the fingerprint database forparison. By the next afternoon, there was no news of the prime suspect in the arson case, but several petty thieves had been caught¡­ Director Liu was feeling some pressure. Jiang Yuan was also feeling some pressure. But he still made sure to rest, prioritizing sleep. The next morning. Theughter and y of the children next door at the guesthouse woke Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan sluggishly got up and sat by the window. Watching the innocent and cute children outside, he felt a sense of relief. So, he took out his pen and notebook he always carried with him and made a brief record: Ie: Apanying Provincial Officer Liu Jinghui on a business trip, subsidy of 3,600 yuan. Additionally, during a WeChat conversation, father transferred a meal allowance of 10,000 yuan (eat well), and during the same conversation, sent 20,000 yuan as a bribe (for wining and dining leaders), and a bank transfer for work allowance of 10,000 yuan. Total: 43,600 yuan. Expenses: Treating leaders to water, 20 yuan. Spending 800 yuan at a farmhouse for treating a leader to chicken. Online purchases of protective suits, masks, mosquitos, and other work necessaries, 6,100 yuan. Individually improving meals, 4,800 yuan. Total: 11,720 yuan. New surplus: 31,880 yuan. Chapter 110 - 110 108 The Lethal Hormone ?110: Chapter 108: The Lethal Hormone 110: Chapter 108: The Lethal Hormone ¡°Fan, let¡¯s go, time to get our fingerprints taken.¡± A friend from the vige rushed into the hardware store, gave a shout, and waited for him toe out. Chen Fan, rubbing his eyes, emerged from the back of the store and frowned, ¡°Why the hell do we need to get our fingerprints taken? I haven¡¯t done anything wrong. Why should I have my fingerprints recorded?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you see the street office announcement? Every shop owner has to get fingerprinted, and if we don¡¯t¡­ they didn¡¯t say what¡¯d happen, but I¡¯m worried they might shut us down.¡± His friend from the vige said with a grin, ¡°Come on, our identity information has already been sold to who knows how manypanies. Every damn day there¡¯s this message conning me into opening a store in Northern Myanmar. What¡¯s there to be scared of with fingerprinting?¡± ¡°The scammers are always telling me to go do seafood business in West Harbor, saying I could make a year¡¯s earnings in a month.¡± Chen Fan spoke lethargically, his speech slowing, his body so heavy he looked as though he couldn¡¯t move a step. ¡°Seafood business, my ass. It would be more like selling abalones. Are youing or not? Let¡¯s go, we have to do it anyway. There¡¯s no escaping it.¡± Something about what was said struck a chord, and Chen Fan asked again, ¡°Do we absolutely have to go?¡± ¡°The government employees and public institution workers have all been done already. As for us shop owners, we¡¯re listed in their books; you can¡¯t avoid it.¡± His friend didn¡¯t want to wait in line alone and egged him on, ¡°If you don¡¯t go now, they¡¯ll juste looking for youter.¡± ¡°I just won¡¯t go. What can they do, shut my store down?¡± ¡°They can shut you down for missing a fire extinguisher in your store¡ªwhat do you think?¡± His friend referred to a past incident for which Chen Fan had been fined an amount equal to several feasts of crayfish. Chen Fan grunted in acknowledgement, then after thinking it over, said, ¡°You go ahead, I want to sleep a bit more. I¡¯ll goter. You head on, I¡¯m dead tired.¡± ¡°What were you up tost night?¡± ¡°Just wanted to win a game before sleeping. I nearly pulled an all-nighter.¡± Chen Fan turned and went back to the rear store. His hardware store was handed down from his father, an old-fashioned front-store-back-factory set-up. With a bit of skill in instation and repairs, and willingness to make house calls, along with letting regr customers buy on credit, business in the township was actually quite good. But that wasn¡¯t the only source of ie for Chen Fan. His most profitable craft was making air guns, also known as air rifles. They were typically the high-pressure type that could shoot birds and rabbits. Of course, the main selling point wasn¡¯t hunting but replicating the look of guns like the M16, AK47, etc. Still, the shooting feature had to be present, otherwise people would just buy real Legos. Why spend Lego money on knock-offs from Wen Township? However, this craft was bringing in less and less ie. In the past, he could dismantle the air guns into parts, call a courier, mix in a few mechanicalponents and ship them off. Now, with courier inspections getting stricter and many peers being taught a lesson, those daring and willing to purchase were also dwindling. Realistic guns were turning into gun-rted charges, which was a real headache. Chen Fan was indifferent, but the truth was, earning less was a fact. Necessitated by circumstance, he would sometimes join his uncle¡¯s hunting trips, which was a return to the familial trade. But after joining a few times and seeing more, he started to fear it. Those used to the sight of blood were truly wild. Back at the workshop behind the room, Chen Fan stared nkly at thethe in front of him. He feared his fingerprints might be left at some crime scene. Maybe not now, but what about in the future? Therefore, he reasoned, if he could avoid providing fingerprints, he would. If it really came down to it, destroying his fingerprints was also an option. Chen Fan had once seen a boss who had destroyed his fingerprints with sulfuric acid. It wasn¡¯t just painful¡ªit could also ruin a hand. However, the effect was undeniably good. From then on, whatever he did, he did with ease and without fear. Grinding his hands against thethe was one way to go about it. At the very least, that would ruin his fingerprints, and then naturally, they couldn¡¯t be recorded. But that was quite risky. The real fear was not hiding them, but raising suspicion instead. Chen Fan looked at thethe, lost in thought. After pondering for a while, he steeled himself and thought, ¡°Of all the thirty-six stratagems, fleeing is best. I might as well just get out of here now, in case there really is troubleter and I fall into the hands of these cops¡ªthat would be walking right into a trap.¡± If anyone askedter, he would simply say he didn¡¯t want his fingerprints taken, no big deal. As for grinding off his fingerprints, there was no rush now¡ª it would interfere with escaping, and it would certainly be excruciating. If he really injured his hands in the process, that would be a loss not worth the risk. Chen Fan counted on his craftsmanship for a living, earning money to y around with women. Thump, thump, thump. Someone knocked on the front door a few times before the doorbell rang incessantly. Voices called out, ¡°Boss? Is the boss here?¡± Chen Fan hesitated for a moment before pulling out his cell phone to check the surveince camera, only to see several people in uniform wandering around the shop. There was nothing to say about this; Chen Fan simply yed dead, pretending he wasn¡¯t there. Meanwhile, the voices of a few people in the front of the shop were transmitted through the surveince,ing out of the phone: ¡°What if the person isn¡¯t here?¡± ¡°Make a call. Dial the number on the door.¡± As Chen Fan listened to the uniformed officers speak, he couldn¡¯t help but smirk, taking out another cell phone and switching it to airne mode. ¡°Can¡¯t get through.¡± ¡°Should we check the next ce first?¡± The corners of Chen Fan¡¯s mouth twitched involuntarily, as he thought to himself, that¡¯s more like it. Before that thought had even settled, Chen Fan saw one of the people, the tallest, say, ¡°I¡¯ll scan the boss¡¯s fingerprint and have a look.¡± Chen Fan was startled, then he heard someone in the surveince ask, ¡°Where should we get it from?¡± ¡°From the cashier¡¯s. It should all be the boss¡¯s fingerprints.¡± While speaking, the tall figure began to busy himself with the task. Chen Fan looked down at his own hands, then at thethe, suddenly feeling a bit relieved. Good thing for Bai Luo¡¯s ten dexterous fingers. In the front of the shop. Jiang Yuan nced at the cash register and recognized one of the fingerprints right away. Mobilizing hundreds of people to fingerprint over twenty thousand citizens of Wen Township¡ªwasn¡¯t it all for this very fingerprint he was looking at now? It could be said that this was the fingerprint Jiang Yuan was most familiar with at the moment. ¡°That¡¯s it. Let¡¯s move on to the next one,¡± Jiang Yuan said, turning around and walking out without changing his expression. There were four police officers on the scene, which was enough to arrest someone. However, with the situation of the enemy unknown and the officers by his side unfamiliar, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t said a word. After stepping out, and walking two steps forward, Jiang Yuan finally took out his phone and said to the police officers beside him, ¡°You guys handle this, I¡¯m going to make a call.¡± He dialed Liu Jinghui directly. A quarter of an hourter, both ends of the busiest shopping street in Wen Township were blocked. Liu Jinghui, wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, followed a team of armed police directly toward the hardware store¡¯s backyard. He dared not take the lead himself. Yet, he couldn¡¯t feel at ease watching such an important suspect from the back either. As for Jiang Yuan, he stood obediently among the crowd, standing with the people and craning his neck to watch. The suspect was very likely armed with a powerful standard-issue firearm, and in such a situation, Jiang Yuan, who had never attended police academy, indeed did not even have the qualifications to secure the scene. ¡°Police!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t move!¡± ¡°Hands on your head!¡± ¡°Kneel.¡± ¡°Face to the ground!¡± The sudden burst of shouts, with the fresh scent of lethal pheromones, sent Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotions surging in an instant. Chapter 111 - 111 109 Eyewitness ?111: Chapter 109 Eyewitness 111: Chapter 109 Eyewitness Wen Township hadn¡¯t seen this much excitement in a while. Thest time so many residents happily gathered around to watch was when the feed store on the east side of the road caught fire. mes shot into the sky, drawing arge crowd for rescue, with the smell of roasted corn wafting for miles, greatly enhancing everyone¡¯s sense of participation. Chen Fan¡¯s five-metal shop was also a well-known establishment in Wen Township, representing the highest end of the local heavy industry and possessing certain core technologies. Sometimes, nearby repair shops would even seek technical support from it. ¡°I never expected the five-metal shop to be involved in that.¡± The surroundings were in disarray, filled with locals discussing in the local dialect. Jiang Yuan asionally understood a phrase and, surprised, turned around to ask, ¡°Involved in what exactly?¡± ¡°You¡¯re an outsider, you wouldn¡¯t understand. They were involved in that,¡± a local said with a hehehe chuckle. ¡°Not in that, in that other thing,¡± another local corrected. ¡°Ah, it¡¯s that thing within that thing¡­¡± someone else chimed in standing out. Despite the tight security, no shots were fired. Jiang Yuan nced down at his cell phone; almost 20 minutes had passed. By now, if the suspect hadn¡¯t fired any shots, they likely wouldn¡¯t at all, or they didn¡¯t have a gun. After waiting a moment longer, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone buzzed to life. ¡°Come on in. The fish isn¡¯t big, but it¡¯s feisty,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice couldn¡¯t hide his excitement. ¡°Alright. Be right there,¡± Jiang Yuan was also curious about this person¡¯s circumstances and wondered how much they could influence the case. The police officers cordoning off both sides of the shopping street began to withdraw, allowing the public to enter and dispersing the crowd. The shop owners along the street rallied their spirits, summoning all their energy to hawk their wares: ¡°Mops for sale, basins for sale, stainless steel shovels¡­¡± ¡°Beer, sunflower seeds, soft drinks¡­¡± ¡°Brooms, mops, pot scrapers, roach and rat poison, dog sters¡­¡± ¡°Selling chicks here¡­ good chicks¡­¡± Each owner tried to take advantage of their colleagues¡¯ offering to the heavens to create a climax in sales. Police officers from various ces stopped to watch or got enthusiastically dragged into the shops by the owners. Two snipers leisurely climbed down from the rooftop. The older sniper was calm and collected, like anguid gecko. The younger one seemed a bit dejected, looking around as he climbed down, probably regretting that he hadn¡¯t been able to y a more significant role and that a second-ss merit had eluded him. Behind the five-metal shop, within the confines of a tall red brick wall reinforced with a concrete wall, it looked quite sturdy. Although the surrounding shops and residences all had a tendency to get close to the five-metal shop and squeeze into the remaining space, they were all blocked by the shop¡¯s red brick wall. Only after entering the back yard of the five-metal shop could Jiang Yuan see a dimly lit but spacious workshop. The most conspicuous was a CNC machine tool; there were also very old, second-handthes, boring machines, and other machinery¡­ In one corner of the workshop, there were arge number of express boxes piled up, revealing various machined parts such as gun barrels, gunstocks, pressure gauges, air pumps, valves, screws, washers, and so on. And on a few tables covered in ck leather where the lighting was better, several air rifles, yet to be assembled, were visibly ced. ¡°This brazen?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. The entirety of Wen Township¡¯s shopping street was norger than a ce with a thousand bodies, and now it was filled with over a hundred police officers. The ring density of the force and the ongoing production of firearms seemed somewhat incautious. Chen Fan said dejectedly, ¡°I was just about to clean up.¡± ¡°How would you clean up? Is there anything in this workshop of yours that¡¯s not banned?¡± Director Liu scoffed, casually pointing around and saying, ¡°You¡¯ve already got a dozen assembled guns here, not to mention all these parts. Why do you have so many? Have you gone mad?¡± Chen Fan muttered, unable to speak out. He wanted to defend himself but also feared being hit. An hour ago, he had been a happy five-metal shop owner; now, a life in prison loomed before him, the change in his emotions tooplex to describe. And deeper down, there was something even more frightening. He felt both lucky and panicked. Director Liu¡¯s tone grew more solemn, ¡°As I said earlier, don¡¯t even think about resisting us. Resisting won¡¯t do you any good. You know how firearms are defined, right? Anything over 2 joules per square centimeter is considered a firearm. Do you know how many firearms are here?¡± Chen Fan shivered but remained silent. Director Liuughed haughtily. Previously, he would have simply had Chen Fan taken away. But this time, his goal wasn¡¯t Chen Fan; it was the more significant serial murder gang. So now, it was crucial for Chen Fan to start talking. After pondering for a short while, Director Liu continued, ¡°You¡¯re not talking, so I¡¯ll tell you. ording to our firearms control regtions, scattered gun parts are defined as follows: sets of parts that can be assembled into aplete gun are counted as one firearm. If they can¡¯t be assembled into sets, then every thirty pieces are counted as one firearm. Now you, you own this factory¡ªhow many pieces are in here?¡± Chen Fan trembled, looking at Director Liu in disbelief. Director Liu looked at Chen Fan with a sympathetic gaze. Actually, Director Liu had lied; the way he described counting parts was applicable to the smuggling of firearms, not the manufacturing of firearms. But Chen Fan had evidently not studied this area. Director Liu confidently concluded this from Chen Fan¡¯s reaction, and he felt immensely relieved. ording to his n, if Chen Fan had known the details¡ªif he knew how the Criminal Law differentiated between illegal firearms manufacture and smuggling in terms ofponent parts¡ªthen Director Liu would have simply yed the bad cop and turned the interrogation over to someone else. Now it seems that Chen Fan, being ignorant about the business, indicates that he¡¯s a youth who has never undergone reformation in prison. Indeed, he still has significant weaknesses on the path of crime, and that was an opportunity not to be missed. Liu Jinghui immediately picked up a screw from the table beside him and said, ¡°With so many parts you have here, if I were to count all of them, and if I were to fabricate them all by the standards of firearms, how many guns would that make? You¡¯d be eating prison food for life.¡± Chen Fan struggled to raise his head, his face turning deathly pale. Jiang Yuan looked at him and felt somewhat frustrated. Chen Fan clearly had the capacity to independently manufacture mechanical products and the ability to earn money, yet he chose to fabricate firearms and had started doing so without even reading the relevant sections of the Criminal Law¡ªof course, had he read them, he might have decided not to manufacture firearms. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°We didn¡¯te here just to catch you. Cooperate with us, give up some of your suppliers and clients, and the parts here that can be considered general-purpose, I¡¯ll count as general-purpose¡­¡± Chen Fan grasped at this like a lifeline, hurriedly saying, ¡°Yeah, these parts are manufactured for other purposes, not for making guns.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what you say,¡± Liu Jinghui looked at him coldly. Under Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze for several dozen seconds, Chen Fan lowered his head once again. Seizing the moment, Liu Jinghui immediately brought Chen Fan to the Wen Township police station, put him on the ¡°tiger bench,¡± and began an impatient interrogation. The tiger bench somewhat resembled arger version of a baby¡¯s high chair, designed to secure the wrists, ankles, and back. The baby chair is meant to prevent infants from falling while eating, while the tiger bench is to prevent a suspect from bing agitated and acting irrationally. Director Liu¡¯s interrogation skills were nothing extraordinary within the scope of the provincial headquarters, but they were far too sophisticated for a criminal like Chen Fan, who had never even been in a detention center. Within just an hour or two, Chen Fan spilled the beans, selling out his suppliers and clients thoroughly. At that time, Chen Fan still thought he had been caught for his involvement in manufacturing firearms. Liu Jinghui took a sip of water, adjusted his emotions, and delivered the most lethal thrust of the day, ¡°You¡¯ve made so many air guns; didn¡¯t you ever think of hunting or something?¡± ¡°No¡­ just asionally, hunting a rabbit or something,¡± Chen Fan said with trepidation, not daring to deny itpletely. ¡°We found more than just rabbits in your house,¡± Liu Jinghui had prepared long for this thrust and wouldn¡¯t allow Chen Fan to dodge it easily. ¡°That¡¯s impossible, definitely not¡­¡± ¡°This is a minor issue, it¡¯s meaningless for you to lie,¡± Liu Jinghui suddenly frowned, appearing as if he felt wronged. Chen Fan quickly recalled, perhaps there were still some uneaten wild chickens left in his fridge? He often went hunting in the mountains, following his uncle, and asionally going up the mountain to test his guns. Once up there, it was natural to shoot whatever he saw; it was impossible not to shoot a wild chicken if he saw one. As hunting became frequent, there were always leftovers that he hadn¡¯t gotten around to eating. Then Chen Fan remembered the medicinal liquor he had steeped, which contained eagles and snakes. In fact, it wasmon for households to steep liquor with venomous snakes, and in Wen Township, quite a few people used eagles for steeping liquor. Those who had been caught usually just had their goods confiscated and were fined, but at this point, Chen Fan felt he could only admit even more. Under Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze, Chen Fan bravely admitted, ¡°I might as well confess, I have hunted eagles as well, for liquor steeping.¡± ¡°What else?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also shot birds, just a few sparrows and such.¡± ¡°Then you might want to think about it some more¡­¡± After extracting information about several pieces of game from Chen Fan, Liu Jinghui slowly sheathed the interdiction¡¯s second heavy sword of the day, ¡°Where did you hunt these?¡± Bewildered, Chen Fan answered forcefully, ¡°Just around our township.¡± ¡°Does Wen Township have these animals?¡± Liu Jinghui looked into his eyes. Chen Fan faltered, murmuring, ¡°Yes, there are.¡± ¡°Have you ever been to Mount Wulong?¡± ¡°No,¡± Chen Fan immediately shook his head, his motions quicker than before, and more agitated. He then started to defend himself, ¡°Mount Wulong is a nature reserve. I definitely wouldn¡¯t go there. I just roam around home.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression suddenly turned grim as he said in a deep voice, ¡°You¡¯ve never been to Mount Wulong? Yet we found a mineral water bottle with your fingerprints on it in Mount Wulong.¡± Only then did Chen Fan suddenly realize he had been caught because of the fingerprints; his face turned white in an instant. At that moment, he had the sudden urge to bolt, but as he struggled, he felt his hands and feet were bound. His back turned cold, his face pale, he looked at therge words in the interrogation room: leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, saying, ¡°I, I¡­¡± ¡°Think it through before you talk,¡± Liu Jinghui, having gleaned some of Chen Fan¡¯s thoughts from his expression, saw that he was about to lie and cut him off directly. Chen Fan fell silent. Liu Jinghui allowed the atmosphere in the interrogation room to solidify before quietly asking, ¡°How many have you killed?¡± Chen Fan¡¯s heart trembled, panic surging within him. ¡°If you don¡¯t speak up, I¡¯ll have to count them all against you¡­¡± ¡°That won¡¯t do!¡± Chen Fan felt he had figured it out; he swallowed nervously and cautiously said, ¡°I¡¯m just a go-between, really, I should be considered a witness, just a tainted one.¡± The concept of a tainted witness doesn¡¯t exist in the country. Liu Jinghui, of course, didn¡¯t borate, just looked at Chen Fan and said, ¡°So what did you see?¡± ¡°I¡­ I saw them killing people,¡± Chen Fan said in a low voice, his emotions extremely intense. Witnessing murder had put a great deal of psychological pressure on Chen Fan. Jiang Yuan, at that moment, stood outside the interrogation room, watching the surveince footage, seemingly calm as he casually twirled a pen in his hand with great dexterity. His fingers were slender, and the pen spun like the des of a fan. Upon hearing the suspect begin to speak, Jiang Yuan¡¯s pen fell, ttering to the floor. Bending down to pick it up, he straightened himself, and in that moment, his heart settled back into ce. Chapter 112 - 112 110 The Hunters ?112: Chapter 110 The Hunters 112: Chapter 110 The Hunters ¡°What I saw with my own eyes, I witnessed twice,¡± Chen Fan said, pulling his neck in as he recalled the scenes of that day. Confessing to a crime is like urinating, once you start, even if it¡¯s sporadic, it¡¯s hard to stop. Encouraged by Liu Jinghui, Chen Fan slowly continued, ¡°The first time, it was two hikers, the adventurous kind, both with big backpacks, looking very professional. They caught Hu using an air rifle to shoot birds and started shouting, scaring off Hu¡¯s birds.¡± Liu Jinghui listened quietly. Chen Fan paused briefly, then went on, ¡°I saw Hu and the others were displeased, so I went up to show off and I barked at them. They talked about environmental protection and such, saying that even frogs are protected species, let alone wild chickens¡­¡± ¡°Who is Hu?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know his name, I just followed my uncle in calling him that.¡± ¡°Your real uncle? What¡¯s his name?¡± Without much hesitation anymore, Chen Fan replied, ¡°Chen Deling.¡± Liu Jinghui signaled the clerk to record everything clearly, then said, ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°Yes, I was running errands for them, trying to curry favor, and was arguing with them when I noticed Guo making a nking move¡­ Guo is also a reticent person, I just know him as Guo.¡± Liu Jinghui nodded, asking, ¡°He made a nking move, and then what?¡± ¡°Then, just like when hunting, he had a double-barreled shotgun, the break-action kind, where you break it open at the barrel and load two bullets. Guo is the heavy gunner in the team, the shotgun is for hunting wild boars and bears.¡± When Chen Fan talked about firearms, he actually seemed a bit excited, licking his lips and saying, ¡°Guo¡¯s double-barreled shotgun uses number 12 bullets, one shot to a bear¡¯s head can blow off half the skull.¡± Liu Jinghui had someone pour a ss of water. After drinking, Chen Fan continued to recall, ¡°I was still talking when I noticed Guo had loaded his bullets, then ¡®bang, bang¡¯ two shots, both hikers were blown away.¡± ¡°Guo shot both people?¡± ¡°Yeah, Guo hit them in the chest and abdomen, they struggled for a while and then died.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± ¡°Then they made me put on gloves to check the backpacks, organized anything useful, and dragged the bodies to the side of the road, covered them with leaves or something, and carried their bags as we continued hunting¡­¡± Chen Fan¡¯s voice trailed off solemnly. Liu Jinghui asked many more details, especially about the location of the bodies. Liu Jinghui hoped to get this case pinned down as well¡ªif they could find any human remains at the crime scene, such as a bone, then their investigation and interrogation would be considered sessful! The rest, catching the poaching criminal gang, Director Liu was rtively more confident about. No matter how crafty the criminal gang was, they were extremely powerless against the crushing force of the state apparatus. This process was like searching for a body in a septic tank; knowing it¡¯s in the septic tank is the most important part. As for the disgusting, troublesome, and perhaps lengthy process of retrieving the body, as long as the steps before are done correctly, the subsequent steps will inevitably yield results. ¡°What about the second time?¡± Liu Jinghui asked casually, his tone even. Having gotten to this point, Chen Fan could not make any more waves. Chen Fan himself knew this, leaning back, he seemed to rx, ¡°The second time, it was also two people, two female hikers. One of them was quite pretty, looked like the school beauty from my school days.¡± ¡°And then what?¡± ¡°Then, it was more or less the same as the first time. They happened upon us while we were hunting, those two women were babbling on, and Hu went up to them, directly took out the woman in front.¡± ¡°With what did he ¡®take her out¡¯?¡± ¡°NZ75, it¡¯s the Northern Industry¡¯s copy of the CZ75.¡± Chen Fan exined as clearly as possible. In the monitoring room, Jiang Yuan searched online and found that the NZ75 uses 9mm bullets. ¡°After the woman in front was killed, what then?¡± ¡°Hu just had us drag her to the side of the road as well. Then¡­ since the other woman was more beautiful, they made her carry all the stuff and use it on the road. By the afternoon, when the woman was too tired to walk, they raped her, and then killed her, taking away the remaining useful items and leaving the rest for me to deal with.¡± In just a few sentences, those in the room were stunned. Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression remained unchanged, but his heartbeat seemed to skip a beat. Even as an experienced detective, he still felt an involuntary difort, and even a bit nauseous, akin to a physiological revulsion, upon hearing such things. This was not merely wanton behavior, but the height of indifference and horror. In the monitoring room, Jiang Yuan thought of the condition of the bodies. It¡¯s very difficult to prove rape with skeletonized remains; if the perpetrators had not been caught, no one would have known that the victims had such encounters before their death. ¡°Did you participate in the rape?¡± Liu Jinghui asked. ¡°No,¡± Chen Fan quickly responded. ¡°What about the others?¡± ¡°Just Guo and Liu. It was their demand.¡± ¡°What about Hu?¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t participate either,¡± Chen Fan whispered. ¡°Old Hu just likes hunting.¡± ¡°So, you witnessed two murders but saw four people get killed?¡± Liu Jinghui summarized Chen Fan¡¯s testimony. Chen Fan nodded, then added, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What did you do afterwards?¡± Liu Jinghui asked. ¡°I took the unwanted supplies and trash they left behind, carried it to a deep pool of water, and weighed it down with stones. I also dragged the bodies down the hillside and buried them with soil.¡± At this point in his confession, Chen Fan¡¯s ount matched the cases of Su Qin and Sun Jingyi that the special case team had on hand. Although the details of the initial Li Sanqiu case were still unclear, the framework of this series of crimes was already basically in ce. Liu Jinghui pressed on eagerly, hoping to obtain more information. Meanwhile, outside, the police were organizing into teams. Some were heading to the old hunting trails on Mount Wulong, searching for the whereabouts of the items Chen Fan had mentioned, and many more were preparing for the arrest. With Chen Fan¡¯s descriptions, the face of the gang grew increasingly clear. They were a group of old hunters living in the mountains, five in total. Since hunting was banned in many ces and guns were confiscated, they hade together to hunt privately and sell their game for money. They targeted endangered protected animals specifically because they could sell for higher prices. Gradually, they began receiving more orders and earning more ie. With their growing profits and fueled by their interests, the gang spent most of their time in the mountains throughout the year. They were like anglers, but hunters instead. And they killed people. Because of his uncle, Chen Fan took on the job of supplying the hunters. Food, drink, utilities, medical supplies, tents, and more had to be supplied from outside the mountains, including a range of fixed suppliers for guns and ammunition. Like Chen Fan, who consistently supplied air rifle parts and bullets and helped with reloading. The interrogation was ongoing, and Jiang Yuan stepped out of the monitoring room. The room was too crowded; the air felt stale and suffocating. In the courtyard of Wen Township Police Station, police officers from various units were interacting with each other. Different police categories from different units, like detectives, public security, inspectors, and political officers, were chatting happily, oblivious to each other¡¯s knowledge of the case. Most people here were unaware of the specific case details, and there was no need for them to know. Their task was clear: to perform checks, searches, and make arrests, all of which they were very familiar with. As Jiang Yuan strolled by, he suddenly felt somewhat out of ce¡­ ¡°Jiang Yuan.¡± Wei Zhenguo suddenly appeared, happily grabbing his arm. ¡°Captain Wei!¡± Jiang Yuan eximed, surprised. Encountering a colleague from the police station in such an environment felt unexpectedlyforting. He immediately realized that since he was back in Ningtai County, and with Liu Jinghui assembling forces for such a significant case, it would certainly include personnel dispatched from Ningtai County Bureau. Wei Zhenguo was in a good mood as well and patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder vigorously, whispering, ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard, and you look thinner. Everyone says you¡¯ve earned merit, but you haven¡¯t evene back. How is it, working with the detective king? Fun?¡± ¡°A bit tiring, but okay,¡± answered Jiang Yuan, whose emotions were on the edge. The moment he heard ¡°you¡¯ve worked hard,¡± his eyes felt inexplicably moist. But seeing a familiar face was still bothforting and joyous. Wei Zhenguo, an experienced man, could tell from Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression that he had seen too much ugliness. Young people, especially those new to policing, who came from a more conventional education, were at their prime. Even if they encountered messiness online, they might not empathize fully. But having lived through it, it was different; they were undergoing the transformation from a rookie cop to a veteran. Forensic doctors saw this even more directly and acutely. One never truly limates to the darker facets of society. Criminals always seem tomit repulsive acts just when you think you understand and have seen it all! Wei Zhenguo gave Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm a forceful pat. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s have a smoke.¡± He pulled Jiang Yuan along and called over some other officers, like Mu Zhiyang, whom he knew rtively well. Several detectives from Ningtai County Bureau gathered under a pomegranate tree, puffing away around the bright red pomegranate bonsai. In a short while, the bonsai pot became littered with an umtion of cigarette butts. The detectives seemed cheerful as if they had transformed their surroundings, and when they started sharing recent stories from their units, each of them wore a rxed smile. Among them, Jiang Yuan smoked the Changbai Mountain cigarette handed to him by Captain Wei. His heart inexplicably calmed. He suddenly realized that he wasn¡¯t the only one with pent-up emotions. Nor was he the only one standing on the front lines against darkness. They were in this together. Chapter 113 - 113 111 Death Roll ?113: Chapter 111: Death Roll 113: Chapter 111: Death Roll The wind picked up. The swirling sands threw the police officers, who were gathered around the pomegranate tree, pine tree, broli, spider nt, Diao Lan, Mimosa, and cactus smoking, into a moment of panic. They quickly stubbed their cigarette butts into the flowerpots and looked for ces to shelter from the wind. At the entrance, Huang Qiangmin drove up. ¡°Sorry for the rush, there¡¯s a meeting I need to attend,¡± Huang Qiangmin casually exined to the visiting officers from the provincial headquarters before striding over to Jiang Yuan. ¡°Captain Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted him promptly. ¡°Goodd, you really did us proud, not bad at all!¡± Huang Qiangmin embraced Jiang Yuan, rocking him back and forth. Wei Zhenguo and others promptly got out of the way. This gesture, known jokingly within the detective squad as the ¡°death roll,¡± was only done when he was particrly excited, and it was usually bestowed on police officers who hade through life-and-death situations. Jiang Yuan, being rocked side to side by Huang Qiangmin, couldn¡¯t help but smile. One particrly endearing quality of the police force was the closeness among colleagues ¨C much closer than in ordinary workces, especially among detectives. During investigations, they ate and lived together; while transporting criminals, they squeezed into a crowded, airless Santana, forging close bonds rapidly. Those with good rtions really did have a strong bond. Many times, these work rtionships were the main motivation for working under the scorching sun, going bald from stress, and working overtime without pay. After embracing Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin let go and examined him closely. He looked Jiang Yuan over as minutely as a boyfriend in a long-distance rtionship might study his girlfriend after traveling thousands of miles by train to see her. Seeing that his spirit and physical condition were good, and his eyes were clear ¨C not looking like he¡¯d been led astray by some viin outside ¨C he breathed a sigh of relief. He had anticipated Jiang Yuan would shine in the fingerprinting initiative, but he hadn¡¯t expected him to dazzle quite so brightly! Solving ten longstanding homicide cases in the fingerprinting initiative was undoubtedly a great achievement. Unsolved murder cases are unbearably painful. Year-old unsolved cases can sometimes be more agonizing and heartbreaking than death itself. The number of families destroyed by such cases is far beyond ten, affecting many others deeply. Justice might be dyed, but it won¡¯t be absent. That is where all hope lies. ¡°Well done! Impressive! All our officers are proud of you. Your master has been particrly cheerfultely, even told you to eat more red eggs.¡± Huang Qiangmin, like a gentle crocodile, wore a 66.6-degree smile and couldn¡¯t resist giving Jiang Yuan another hearty p on the back. If only his mouth were bigger, it felt as if he would have liked to bite Jiang Yuan¡¯s head and shake it to fully express his affection and joy. Jiang Yuan felt even more warmth andfort around Captain Huang. It was part of Captain Huang¡¯s charm. But the arm he was pping hurt due to his strength. All Jiang Yuan could do was grin sheepishly. Looking jovially at Jiang Yuan, his team¡¯s precious gem, Huang Qiangmin then turned to the others and said, ¡°I¡¯m going inside to get the assignment. You guys take a break; we¡¯ll probably be heading out soon¡­ Catch up a bit.¡± Seeing that Captain Wei¡¯s Changbai Mountain cigarettes were all smoked, Jiang Yuan then pulled out his soft-pack Zhonghua cigarettes and distributed them to everyone. Huang Qiangmin grabbed one first and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll leave after I finish this one.¡± One by one, the group pressed their Changbai Mountain cigarettes into the pomegranate tree¡¯s pot and switched to the Zhonghua cigarettes Jiang Yuan handed them. Going on a business trip for manualbor, as long as you don¡¯t tuck your head into your pants, you¡¯re at a loss if you move. Talk, smoke, earn 180 a day, and ck off whenever possible. That¡¯s happiness. Though a bit monotonous. Huang Qiangmin entered the police station, and when he came back out, Liu Jinghui followed. Liu was still polite to Huang Qiangmin, respecting him for lending Jiang Yuan to them, a bit like a tenant being courteous to theirndlord. So, while Director Liu showed no special favors to the head of Changyang City¡¯s detective brigade, Huang Qiangmin, the squadron leader, received an extraordinary wee. And this exceptional treatment urred in front of his colleagues from the provincial headquarters. This gave Huang Qiangmin immense face. As he walked out, he stood tall, with his lips curled into a 55.5-degree smile, looking very smug. The suspect inside, Chen Fan, had already been nearly wrung dry. He had confessed to cases involving the suspected deaths of four people, the hunting of over ten national protected wildlife species, gang rape, illegal use of firearms, illegal manufacturing of firearms, wildlife trafficking, and so forth¡­ Unless the murder he himselfmitted, for the other cases, Liu Jinghui estimated that in order to ¡°earn a significant contribution,¡± Chen Fan would confess to anything. At this point, the capture of the primary suspect was put on the schedule! ¡°We¡¯ve arranged for you to go to Jingye Town,¡± Liu Jinghui signaled to the people around him, then pulling Jiang Yuan aside, said to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin drew Jiang Yuan to his side before asking, ¡°Why go to Jingye Town?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a hotel there which is outwardly marked as four-star, but in reality, some of the rooms and facilities are extremely luxurious; it¡¯s the favorite ce of those five old hunters.¡± Liu Jinghui murmured softly, ¡°As Chen Fan confessed, every once in a while, they head to the Jingye Town Xinhong Grand Hotel to enjoy themselves.¡± ¡°Is there a fixed time?¡± ¡°It¡¯s impossible to have a set schedule when entering and leaving the mountains. However, each time they stay in a separate small building in the hotel, which is close to the mountain, and there could easily be side doors and the like. Your trip over there will need to rify the terrain and environment.¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded slowly. Liu Jinghui¡¯s tone became more solemn, and he said, ¡°I¡¯m inclined towards capture outside the mountains, with Jingye Town as the first priority. By handing this task over to you in Ningtai County, I am also taking responsibility. You must be thorough with your work. Those five are extremely brutal and have weapons; one cannot be too careful.¡± Liu Jinghui, saying this, nced toward Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin, without needing to say anything, immediately said, ¡°Jiang Yuan is a technician; he hasn¡¯t even fired two bullets and won¡¯t be sent into the field.¡± Jiang Yuan actually wanted to volunteer, having joined the police with fervor, he longed for a big battle in these peaceful times. Opportunities like this were indeed rare. But upon second thought, Jiang Yuan decided against it. Although he had received some training before joining, it was truly minimal. Compared with his colleagues who graduated from the police academy, who had at least two or three years of practice and several years of work experience, hisbat ability could not bepared. And in the face of a No. 12 hunting shotgun, a bulletproof vest could guarantee nothing. If he insisted on volunteering, he might end up needing his colleagues to protect him. Therefore, Jiang Yuan chose to stay silent. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui breathed a sigh of relief; his biggest worry was that Jiang Yuan, in youthful vigor, would insist, which is why he had given the order to Huang Qiangmin. Upon hearing Chen Fan describe the methods of murder, as well as the firearms and supplies used by the five men, Liu Jinghui immediately dismissed the idea of capturing them in the dense forest. The risk was too great. Even if the armed police were called in, searching was a challenge, and a sessful capture would be even more so. Looking back on forest manhunts since the founding of the country, including the famous capture of the two Wangs, even with thousands of people searching the mountains, it could take a very long time. Compared to that, these old hunters had literally lived in the woods all their lives, part of a hunting tribe. The mountains surrounding Mount Wulong were their home turf. Even though the two Wangs were formidable, they were escaping in unfamiliar forests without a safe haven. The five hunters knew Mount Wulong all too well. The Mount Wulong range, spanning two provincial borders, is not a small hill; the main range alone stretches over a hundred kilometers, with an evenrger associated area. Just walking around the old hunting trails on the edge, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui felt it a struggle, let alone venturing into the protected areas, which could be a prolonged endeavor. Moreover, the firepower of these individuals was also formidable. The 9mm pistols had a crushing advantage over the police¡¯s ssic small-caliber weapons. Double-barreled shotguns also possessed tremendous power in urban street battles. What Liu Jinghui was most wary of was that the five hunters had also carried Savage M110 rifles. This rifle, standardized in the ¡¯50s and ¡¯60s, boasts two superior parameters: high precision and low price. With various modified models included, over 3.4 million Savage M110 rifles have been sold globally, synonymous with good quality at low cost. It also sold well in the country in earlier years, including models that could mount scopes. In light of this, suggestions from the armed police were to first ¡°drive¡± people away from Mount Wulong under the guise of exercises. The protected zone deep within Mount Wulong had harsh conditions; it was suspected the hunters would not want to venture in for long unless necessary. To avoid capture, they would likely exit the forest early and head to a hotel. Apart from Jingye Town, they had spots in several other towns surrounding Mount Wulong, truly embodying the saying, ¡°A cunning rabbit has three burrows.¡± Liu Jinghui was currently considering theirck of timely information. Whether it was the incident in Wen Township or the situation with Chen Fan, or the exercises of the armed police, if any insiders tipped them off, the information could easily be leaked. But Liu Jinghui analyzed that the hunters were fringe elements of society¡ªto that extent of evil, even cultivating the habit of killing without batting an eye, they would need a significant amount of money to smooth interactions with normal people, let alone insiders. An expression that read ¡®I¡¯ll kill you if we disagree¡¯ could make ordinary people cry and scare a leader to death. ¡°Set off early, prepare thoroughly. Avoid confrontation and use of force if possible,¡± Liu Jinghui reiterated his instructions and added, ¡°If the armed police can be dispatched, they will send support; if not, it¡¯s all on you.¡± ¡°Understood, we guarantee toplete the mission,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression turnedpletely solemn; this case truly required them to risk their lives. Jiang Yuan, standing by Captain Huang¡¯s side, hearing the conversation, couldn¡¯t help but feel a surge of emotion, growing excited until his palms involuntarily clenched into fists. Chapter 114 - 114 112 The Trap ?114: Chapter 112: The Trap 114: Chapter 112: The Trap Rustle, rustle, rustle. Jiang Yuan walked along the hotel corridor, his feet sinking into the soft, blue-patterned, plush carpet, with nearly floor-to-ceiling ss windows at his side. There were curio shelves in the corridor as well, holding authentic, original ¡®Guiguzi Descends the Mountain¡¯ blue and white porcin pieces. A series of Western oil paintings hung on the walls, featuring exposed flesh, halos, and inscriptions. Outside the window, the scenery was mesmerizingly beautiful. The trees were lush and green, with the imposing Mount Wulong in the distance, its peaks extending endlessly, while the nearby gardens were intricately carved, withyers of rolling hills. The best part was the hotel¡¯s periphery¡ªa constantly flowing rapid stream that brought in a light sound of water, creating afortable ambiance. Jiang Yuan stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing into the distance, his mind upied with thoughts while admiring the beautiful view. He hade with the squad leader, Huang Qiangmin, to inspect the Xinhong Grand Hotel¡¯syout. His heart was both excited and uneasy. Although he did not know what their opponent would be like, having seen the mutted corpses and bones, he could already imagine it. Deep down, he was a bit afraid that the murderer mighte here, yet he also hoped that they would. ¡­ Because of its proximity to Mount Wulong, Jingye Town served as an important passage for those journeying to the mountain; furthermore, many herbal medicine processing factories were scattered throughout the area, branding it as the herbal medicine hub of the Mount Wulong region. However, after getting to know the surrounding cities near Mount Wulong, one would find that each township, county, and city imed the title of herbal medicine distribution center for themselves. There probably weren¡¯t as many herb collectors in Mount Wulong as imed. However, some hikers specifically rested in Jingye Town, making theirst preparations for uing hikes or explorations. Xinhong Grand Hotel was not the best in Jingye Town, but because they hosted a dragon, visitors could sing karaoke, y cards, get foot massages, full-body massages, soak in baths, and dine¡­ The hotel was perfect for staying a few days, blurring day into night without ever needing to leave. This was what Chen Fan had told them, as it was the hotel most frequently visited by their group of five. As Jiang Yuan stood there, an image surfaced in his mind: two drunken men staggering across the hallway, supporting each other as they approached him, their faces darkened and necks reddened from the sun, followed by three others, two side by side, with one trailing slowly behind¡­ In the hunting party, Guo and Liu liked to gamble, visit brothels, smoke, and drink strong alcohol. Chen Fan¡¯s uncle, Chen Deling, was a penny-pincher who liked to save money and rarely paid for outings and entertainment. The group¡¯s leader, surnamed Hu, had simple pleasures¡ªjust hunting. He would only eat and rest upon arrival here, refraining from superfluous activities, always the one pushing them to head into the mountains. Then there was one surnamed Wang, who gambled, visited brothels, smoked, drank, was stingy, and also loved hunting. All of them were excellent shots. The special case team was divided over this hotel. Some spected that the group of five likely had multiple residences and only dealt with Chen Fan here. However, the local chief, Huang Qiangmin, who was responsible for Jingye Town, did not agree. He generally disapproved of the practice of overestimating their opponents. Overestimating meant higher input; one or two times was manageable, but frequent overestimates would revolt the police department¡¯s budget. Though indeed, these five hunters were formidable, with murder methods described in case reports that could shock anyone, Huang Qiangmin still considered them to be meremon felons. Their brutality in the mountains didn¡¯t imply they could be as cautious as spies when making contacts. The fact that they asionally switched amodations was already diligent enough; thinking of changing hotels in such a small town as Jingye to entertain different guests was excessive to the point of breakdown. After arriving at Xinhong Grand Hotel, Jiang Yuan found himself agreeing with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s opinion. Staking out a hotel and a whole town were two fundamentally different concepts. Thetter required much more work and posed a greater risk. If the group of five had not actually stayed at the Xinhong Grand Hotel, it would be necessary to readjust the defensive arrangements¡ªafter all, their second hideout was still unknown. As for the Xinhong Grand Hotel, Jiang Yuan had thoroughly scoped out the ce several times. His scouting wasn¡¯t simply just scoping; utilizing the skills passed on from Sun Jingyi, with his Level 2 sketching ability, Jiang Yuan replicated each of his scouted points on paper through sketches. Combined with the hotel¡¯s own floor ns, the criminal police team could more conveniently discuss and strategize tactics on paper. And they seriously discussed tactics. For the criminal police team, this was a supremely serious issue. Although nning and strategizing were typical for arrests, the discussions usually revolved around the likelihood of sess. For most apprehensions, except drug enforcement, deploying three or four times the number of suspects was already an excessive safety measure. In reality, at the scene, if we didn¡¯t say 80% of suspects simply surrendered, the asional ones that ran or attempted to escape were primarily pursued. Those who actively resisted were rare encounters for the criminal police team, maybe once in a year and a half. But guns changed everything. A double-barreled shotgun, for instance, could fire through a door and turn the person on the other side into a sieve with the simple pull of a trigger. Additionally, not many had experience dealing with firearms. Even for someone like Huang Qiangmin¡¯s generation, when they became police, guns had already be quite rare in the market. This, in fact, was the critical issue. The greatest advantage the police have over criminals is experience. A police officer encounters more criminals from recruitment to maturity than the national ser team scores goals, whereas suspects¡ªespecially those who have not been ¡°educated¡± in prison¡ªoften appear inexperienced. The most typical example is in murder cases, where countless individuals arrogantly design what they believe to be the perfect murder¡ªthose who plot murder after sleepless nights, especially in cases intending to kill someone close to them, do so after much contemtion. Yet the vast majority of these cases are solved within 72 hours. The reason is simple: experienced officers, after just a few words with the suspect, can make them extremely nervous. How then could their meticulously nned murders be wlessly executed? If someone bes nervous during apany¡¯s annual meeting speech or can¡¯t rx during a ss activity, then expecting to perform well during their first murder or to be unrestrained when facing the police for the first time is too naive. They might as well consider attending some sort of ss first. The Ningtai County Criminal Police Team¡¯s group of officers is now in need of a training n simr to CS. Fortunately, a squad of armed police arrived quickly. The squad¡¯s captain, Zhou Gang, who was under 30, was younger than most of the criminal police present. He wasn¡¯t tall, but he was very strong, and his exposed arms were firm and hard. Seeing him and his team members carrying a variety of long and short rifles, everyone, for a moment, had the urge to call out ¡°Daddy.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t enter the scene yet; you can go to the hotel in batches to check out theyout,¡± Huang Qiangmin, who was acquainted with Zhou Gang, discussed the situation before talking work. Zhou Gang replied with a ¡°Okay.¡± Huang Qiangmin then said, ¡°The criminal suspects don¡¯t have strong social ties as they live in the mountains year-round. However, they spend a lot at the hotel each year, and I¡¯m worried that the hotel staff might be tempted to tip them off.¡± As the captain of the criminal police, he had dealt with many people in society and was naturally more suspicious. ¡°Control everyone and rece them with our men, if possible?¡± Zhou Gang stood straight, resembling a robust pine tree, and gave his suggestion straightforwardly and forcefully. Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, a neer, was experiencing close contact with armed police for the first time and felt quite envious. What young man doesn¡¯t dream of carrying a gun! Huang Qiangmin pondered and said, ¡°We have already taken the owner into custody, but they should have familiar waiters. I don¡¯t want to make arrests as soon as we enter; it could easily spook them¡­¡± ¡°Let the owner choose the people,¡± Zhou Gang said. ¡°Exin to him properly that he¡¯s dealing with a four-life case. Does he dare to take on that baggage? If there¡¯s a problem with the people he chooses, then he can weigh the consequences himself.¡± Zhou Gang¡¯s second suggestion after arriving was just as upromising, but Huang Qiangmin thought about it and couldn¡¯t help but nod, ¡°That could work¡­¡± The Xinhong Grand Hotel boasts four-star status, but in reality, it¡¯s just a local hotel, with its boss Luo Xin Hong¡¯s influence only extending locally. In the local area, he is considered capable. A chunky local boss. Having investigated the daily routine of the boss, they could determine that he had no special rtionship with the suspected wild men of Mount Wulong beyond that of a customer who spends a lot of money. Luo Xin Hong had also paid attention to these individuals and had some idea about them; he knew for sure they were not decent folks. After all, who spends like that if they are living a normal life? But he was a hotel owner and naturally wouldn¡¯t be foolish enough to report his own customers. Customers spending money made him happy. As long as they didn¡¯t cause trouble in his hotel, whatever they did outside was none of his business. Luo Xin Hong was utterly baffled when he was apprehended. Though a humble local boss, in doing business, he especially knew what could be touched and what couldn¡¯t. He worriedly calcted his own situation, wondering if he would go to prison. If he had to serve a year or two in jail, he could reluctantly ept it; his sworn enemy Da Hai had done time and came out all the more impressive. But serving twenty years was game over. If it was a two-year sentence, good behavior could mean getting out in just over a year, with money stilling in, and the business could barely keep running. However, a twenty-year sentence meant the hotel would definitely be carved up by others, and he would face having little money to spend in prison, not to mention not knowing who would take care of his wife and child. Everyone knows that prison is a ce where money flows like water, with themissary alone costing tens of thousands. Without Captain Huang saying much, Luo Xin Hong was already scared wet. Whatever Captain Huang said, he nodded along. Look, even the armed police were deployed. Zhou Gang, with his gun, watched as Captain Huang negotiated. Jiang Yuan quietly took out Huaxia cigarettes and distributed them to everyone. After forting¡± the boss, Captain Huang came over to confirm the arrest n with Zhou Gang. He took a Huaxia cigarette as well. ¡°Regarding the arrest, my idea is this. Let¡¯s put men in the hotel first, so we can ensure basic area control¡­¡± ¡°Next, for the specific arrest timing, the first opportunity I suggest is one hour after they enter the hotel, the second during their mealtime, and the third when they¡¯re asleep.¡± ¡°I still want to capture the five people alive as much as possible¡­¡± Zhou Gang listened to him speak, nced at the suspect sketches Jiang Yuan had drawn on-site, looked back at Jiang Yuan with a somewhat strange expression, and then tapped on the sketches with his finger. ¡°They have guns; I can¡¯t guarantee we¡¯ll take them alive,¡± Zhou Gang said. ¡°Of course, we must prioritize everyone¡¯s safety,¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded in agreement. ¡­ What followed was the stakeout. One day, two days, three days¡­ On the fifth day. ¡°Target spotted.¡± ¡°Target spotted.¡± ¡°Target spotted.¡± Chapter 115 - 115 113 A Small Get-Together ?115: Chapter 113: A Small Get-Together 115: Chapter 113: A Small Get-Together Evening. A dirty Toyota Land Cruiser drove from the direction of Mount Wulong, entered the county road, and then as if it were another ordinary day, it made its way into Jingye Town. The hunting group of five was not short of money. In recent years, they had even rented and bought several courtyards at the foot of Mount Wulong, stored many vehicles, and stashed basic supplies, doubling as warehouses. Every time they came down the mountain, no matter which courtyard they arrived at, the group could easily process their prey and then drive into the city. Although the police distributed in several surrounding towns and viges were aware of this information and had collected as much vehicle information of the group as possible, inquiring with the DMV about the relevant vehicles, they still couldn¡¯t guarantee that they would encounter any vehicles from their list. This Toyota Land Cruiser was on the list, but it was only as it neared the Xinhong Grand Hotel that a criminal police officer stationed there noticed it and reported to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin, who had been waiting for so long that his calves had slimmed down, scrambled up from his recliner. With a single hand swinging the walkie-talkie, he shouted, ¡°All units, take your positions. This is not a drill, not a drill, target sighted, savage has arrived!¡± He looked like a frustrated director who, having finally seized the megaphone and spent a whole night with the third female lead, was about to begin shooting, weary yet excited and exuberant. Everyone rushed to their predetermined posts, and Huang Qiangmin hurriedly picked up his cellphone to report to Liu Jinghui. Only when his subordinates began to report that everything was normal did Huang Qiangmin realize how much his shin hurt from bumping into the corner of the table; he didn¡¯t even have time to rub it and now limped toward the mand center.¡± It was the room on the 6th floor of the main hotel building with the best view. In a short time, the entire Xinhong Grand Hotel had escted into a huge trap. The two backpackers who were checking in at the lobby were sent directly to their rooms and barricaded inside. Several passageways were locked without hesitation, and each was guarded by inclothes police officers. The waiters selected by the boss were all assigned to the second floor and the bar next to the service desk, just to create a familiar atmosphere, in order not to rm the old hunters with their sensitive noses. And the few employees beyond were all reced by police officers. Especially the most important front desk, both staff members were police officers, who had also undergone several days of intensive training and could now easily handle check-ins and check-outs. Watching that dirty Toyota enter, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s first impulse was to order an assault. But he knew that was just a stress reaction from his brain under tremendous pressure. To initiate an assault now would truly be a gamble. Everybody wanted a live capture, but what if they charged and the group fought back? Given their experience with killing, the likelihood of them not shooting was virtually nonexistent. ¡°As long as we get past the lobby, everything afterward will be easy,¡± the instructor said reassuringly by his side. Huang Qiangmin nodded slightly; indeed, the lobby was the most dangerous step. He stood on a balcony shadowed from the light, looked for a few more seconds, and then turned back to look at the surveince screens. With the operation of several technicians, at least three cameras were trained on the group¡¯s movements. You could see that, within the hall, several people had stiffened movements in a short period. The waiters the boss had picked were obedient enough, but now they knew they were working for the police and panicked, fumblingly terrified, which couldn¡¯t be helped. The same went for the police officer they ced on the second floor, whose neck was turning in an unnatural way. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand gripped the walkie-talkie tightly, ready to order an assault at any moment. At this point, there was no use inining about ¡°poor acting¡± or ck of psychological quality¡±¡ªit all came down to whether a fight would break out. Nheless, the group of five went through the registration as usual, looking rxed. God knew how much time passed before the group got their room cards, picked up their luggage, and confidently found their way. From the walkie-talkie came a soft report: ¡°They¡¯re in.¡± Huang Qiangmin too let out a soft sigh of relief. The group¡¯s room was surrounded by strategically ced assets to minimize the chances of friendly fire at this stage. Therefore, Huang Qiangmin was much more reassured. Yet there was still a need to wait. If possible, his greatest wish was to apprehend the five without any casualties. In the distance, several armed police soldiers silently climbed onto the roof, setting up sniper rifles and scopes. Jiang Yuan watched from below with several detectives and suddenly said, ¡°That younger one on the western rooftop, I think I¡¯ve seen him before.¡± ¡°You remember him?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked Jiang Yuan. They were stationed at the hotel¡¯s westernmost entrance, with Jingye Town at their back. This was the side farthest from Mount Wulong, supposedly the least likely direction for the group to escape. Huang Qiangmin had brought the majority of his criminal investigation squad over. Although he wanted to look after Jiang Yuan, he couldn¡¯t just ignore such a strapping young man¡¯s help, so he ced him and Wei Zhenguo at the West Gate. Overall, the west side was more rxed than the east, and the mood of Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, who were also defending, was rtively stable. Jiang Yuan looked at the pitch-ck gate and whispered, ¡°A few days ago, during the capture of Chen Fan, it seemed like he was seen there. At that time, he looked a bit disappointed.¡± Wei Zhenguo couldn¡¯t help but crack a smile, ¡°Disappointed because he didn¡¯t shoot?¡± ¡°Possibly.¡± Mu Zhiyang chuckled twice, ¡°The second-ss merit that was within grasp slipped away. Snipers are the easiest to earn second-ss merit.¡± ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be easy to hit the target,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°That¡¯s when it¡¯s time to test him. If he hits, it¡¯s second-ss merit; if he doesn¡¯t and goes back, won¡¯t his superiors chew out his eardrums?¡± Mu Zhiyang said, chatting with the others as if telling a story. They were far enough away not to be affected by their conversation, and it wasn¡¯t time to act yet. The real issue was being too tense. For vile criminals like these, the criminal officers had seen and heard it all and wouldn¡¯t feel scared unless¡­ they were carrying guns. As the saying goes, bullets don¡¯t have eyes and tend to hit the spine. If you go home paralyzed from the neck down, pride is out of the question. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s hand was also on his holster, and he said softly, ¡°If we encounter any suspects trying to escapeter, it¡¯s the same. Hit them and it¡¯s second-ss merit, miss and just be a three-year simpleton.¡± Wen Ming couldn¡¯t help but pull out his issued pistol to look at it before saying, ¡°Last year, I only fired 10 bullets. I hadn¡¯t even gotten the feel of the gun before they took it back.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Mu Zhiyangforted him, saying, ¡°Even if you hit with all 7 bullets in one go, the person might feel nothing and just run away. The small pipsqueak guns are no joke.¡± ¡°Are you talking about me?¡± Wen Ming looked disdainfully at Mu Zhiyang, ¡°You were issued with a Type 05, right?¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face fell immediately. Indeed, the Type 05 pipsqueak,pared to its predecessors, had taken things a notch too far. They say it couldn¡¯t kill a dog. The specific story goes that on a freezing, dark morning, a SWAT officer fired 6 shots with a Type 05 revolver at an approaching mad dog, hitting with every shot. Yet the dog, seemingly oblivious, kept running past him unslowed. And looking at the data, the story seems quite credible. The Type 05 police revolver has a muzzle energy of 111.8j. What does that mean? Normally it takes about 80j to hurt a person, so with a bullet, you¡¯d better not shoot from too far away. Also, preferably don¡¯t shoot through denim, as it might just tear the clothes off. Besides, the Type 05 can also shoot riot control rounds, rubber bullets, with a muzzle energy of 16J. These bullets are quitefortable to use regardless of distance, with a low chance of prating denim. Official data shows that from 50 meters away, there¡¯s an 80% chance it can still shoot through a 0.1mm thick cowhide paper. So, next time someone says a 20j air gun is just a toy, you can mention the Type 05 police pistol. Even when loaded with rubber bullets, its muzzle energy is only 16j, and you¡¯re talking about air guns with 20j ¨C does that make sense? Of course, when used as clubs, both types of pipsqueak are pretty reliable. One weighs over a pound, the other two. Secure it with anyard, swing it in a circle, and the destructive force is astonishing. ¡°Sigh.¡± Wen Ming and Mu Zhiyang sighed in unison. Wei Zhenguo also carried a pipsqueak but was used to it and was as calm as ever, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s total it up. Mu Zhiyang, your ¡®Dog Ignored¡¯ has 6 bullets, Wen Ming, your magazine holds 7, mine has 7, and Jiang Yuan has another 7. We fire all 27 at once, even a Tibetan mastiff would go down.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, ¡°Good thing it¡¯s not winter. These guys won¡¯t be wearing bear skin coatsing at us.¡± ¡°It¡¯d be no fun if they¡¯re wearing bulletproof vests, just drag it out and call the sniper,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, half-joking, and muttered to himself, ¡°I wonder how our colleagues in the Northeast handle their guns. The Type 05 probably can¡¯t prate a thick cotton-padded jacket.¡± After a few moments of chatting and jesting, the mood among them rxed somewhat. ¡°As I just remembered,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°you all loaded 7 rounds in your magazines, right?¡± The first generation of pipsqueak had a weak spring, and although they could hold 7 bullets, it wasmon to only load 5. Jiang Yuan pulled out his gun to check and nodded, ¡°7 rounds.¡± ¡°Good, if there¡¯s actually a situation, no need for a warning shot, just shoot directly,¡± Wei Zhenguo said. Mu Zhiyang also added, ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need to be so tense. If they didn¡¯t even give us a 92 pistol, what does it tell you? It means our position isn¡¯t dangerous, and if the suspects break through, they won¡¯t choose our direction¡­¡± As he spoke, the walkie-talkie at his waist crackled, and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was strong and tense: ¡°The leader has escaped, all units be alert, he¡¯s running westward, West Gate be on guard! West Gate be on guard!¡± Everyone who was chatting suddenly felt their adrenaline surge, their foreheads heating up. In that moment, Jiang Yuan, holding the unfamiliar gun, felt his hands trembling. He forced himself to recall the bones from autopsies to calm down just a little. Damn! Chapter 116 - 116 114 Indifference to Life and Death ?116: Chapter 114 Indifference to Life and Death 116: Chapter 114 Indifference to Life and Death Hu ran with his head down in a wild dash. He was not tall, with a dark face and reddened neck, his body covered with scars and marks. Hu didn¡¯t much care about his appearance; to him, the scars were more like memories. For instance, the w marks on his shoulder were inflicted by a leopard. It was a beautiful creature, with a bushy tail that reminded him of a woman¡¯s behind, as seductive as a she-leopard. Hu vividly remembered his attempt to capture a green peacock alive, which eluded him twice. On the third try, he pounced without regard for the torn cheek or the ripped neck and firmly grasped it in his hand. The three scars that resulted were nothing more than bragging rights to him. This time, trying to break out, he didn¡¯t know what price he would have to pay. Guo and the others were likely the cost already. So reorganizing the team didn¡¯t seem anything out of the ordinary to him. Those who lived by hunting in the mountains had long since grown indifferent to life and death. Hu too had experience in reassembling teams. His only worry now was being shot dead like prey; aside from that, as long as he retained at least one arm and one eye, he could continue to hunt. Legs weren¡¯t essential, either; he could always hire someone to carry him, making for a rather leisurely and retired hunting method. He had reached the age for retirement anyway. Of course, legs were necessary on the run. Hu asionally changed direction, edging closer to the high northern wall. With his experience, a moving target like him in this position was hard to hit. Given only one shot, he would never fire on prey in such a state. As he neared the western gate, Hu grew moreposed and drew the NZ75 pistol tucked behind his waist with his other hand. He knew there had to be police lying in wait ahead, but he wasn¡¯t the least bit scared. To be blunt, the increase in adrenaline these city cops experienced was slower than his own urination with prostatitis. Just like when he had first escaped, as soon as Hu realized something was amiss and burst through the window, the surrounding police seemed dumber than a stunned hare. The third floor was indeed quite high, but disregarding such arge window was simply unbelievable. Hu had only taken a gamble to begin with; to jump was risky, but to not jump meant being pinned down just like those four foolish birds. Hu had won his gamble once again. He slowed his run slightly, already simting the scene that was about to unfold in his mind. ¡­ Just around the right time, Mu Zhiyang was the first to spot Hu. ¡°Herees a stout runner, speeding like a thief,¡± Mu pointed in a direction, and at the end of the road, indeed, there was a figure dashing like crazy. ¡°If you¡¯ve got safety on, turn it off now,¡± Wei Zhenguo remained rtively calm, flipping off his own gun¡¯s safety. ¡°My gun doesn¡¯t have a safety,¡± Mu, watching the approaching figure of Hu, who resembled a wild boar, suddenly lost confidence. Wen Ming consoled him, ¡°No worries, even if your benevolent gun misfires, it can¡¯t shoot through your thigh.¡± Mu didn¡¯t have time to banter back. He drew his gun, adopting a shooting stance, and said, ¡°As long as he doesn¡¯t have a gun in his hand, the few of us can easily pin him down¡­¡± Before he finished speaking, the stout runner hurtling toward them pulled out a pistol from behind his back. The gun looked ck, big, and thick, clearly more powerful than a small blunderbuss. Jiang Yuan could even identify the model, ¡°NZ75.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± Mu, watching the man draw closer, began to panic. Jiang, with less experience in arrests, didn¡¯t know exactly how difficult the situation was but remained cool, saying, ¡°The boss used an NZ75 for killing. 9 millimeters, 15 rounds.¡± ¡°Four bullets each, and one of us might get spared one,¡± Mu quickly solved the arithmetic problem. Wei clenched his mrs, stepping in front of Jiang and leaning against the gate pir, whispering, ¡°Shoot when he¡¯s closer. If we just hold him back, reinforcements will surely arrive.¡± Jiang asked, ¡°How close?¡± ¡°15 meters. It¡¯s currently about forty or fifty,¡± Wei exined, ¡°Any further won¡¯t do. These kind of desperados can take hits better than wild boars.¡± Mu peeked out and saw the opponent had reduced his speed, obviously also preparing to sprint. The scar-ridden face drew ever nearer, and Mu became anxious, unable to resist asking, ¡°How far can his 9mm shoot?¡± His Type 05 small blunderbuss also used 9mm rounds, but they were shorter than normal. ¡°We¡¯re already within range,¡± said Jiang, leaning against the column next to the western gate, recalling the data he had seen on the NZ75. The muzzle energy was 450 joules, and after 50 meters of travel, the bullet still carried 410 joules of energy, while the benign Type 05 could lose enough energy after the same distance to potentially not prate cardstock. Mu peeked out again, muttering softly, ¡°Maybe¡­¡± ¡°Shut your mouth,¡± Wei Zhenguo snapped as he yanked Mu Zhiyang back. It was the very moment that Mu Zhiyang got pulled back when Hu pulled the trigger. A sh of gunfire, and the corner of the pir shattered into fragments, unsurprisingly piercing through Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face. ¡°Shots fired!¡± ¡°Shots fired!¡± The radio erupted in chaos. Criminal detectives might look dashing on TV, but in reality, they¡¯re often the legmen buried in case files, doing a lot of running around and handling countlessplex tasks, with hardly any experience in fiery battles. Until now. Bang. Bang bang. Hu¡¯s shooting was both urate and ruthless, pinning four detectives behind the pir with four bullets. Out of his four bullets, three hit the edges of the pir, and one grazed past it, hitting the ground, which was even more dangerous. The four people, including Jiang Yuan, didn¡¯t dare to stick their heads out. Hu had proved with his skill that whoever did would get killed. Mu Zhiyang, his face covered in blood, served as evidence, pressed firmly against the pir by Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo, a lifetime cop, was for the first time holding a pistol, unable to raise his head because of the gunfire. ¡°Shots fired at the west gate, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s injured,¡± Wei Zhenguo said calmly into the radio. ¡°Be right there,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was incredibly subdued; he was out of moves. Wei Zhenguo grunted in response, bent his knees, reached out, and fired four shots toward Hu¡¯s direction, pop, pop, pop. The small pistolcked power but had a fast firing rate. By the time Wei Zhenguo stood up, Hu had only returned two shots, clearly affected. ¡°25 meters away. Another 10 meters,¡± Wei Zhenguo informed everyone of the distance he had just seen, then promptly changed to a spare magazine. Mu Zhiyang wriggled out from behind Wei Zhenguo, regained someposure, clenched his gun, and said, ¡°Together.¡± Wei Zhenguo grunted, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll count one, two, three, and we¡¯ll run out and shoot together.¡± Hu was still closing in. Wei Zhenguo and the others didn¡¯t really have a choice. If they continued to hide behind the pir, once someone got close, a tactical move could take out everyone here. Even if it didn¡¯t kill everyone, it wouldn¡¯t be a happy ending. If they all ran out together, the most likely oue was that Hu would shoot one or two at close range. But Hu would definitely be left behind as well. The brave wins when paths cross in narrow alleys¡ªthere might be better choices at this time, but Wei Zhenguo was no tactical genius, and his head was still buzzing a bit. The remainder of his wit was only sufficient for the final countdown. ¡°One, two, three¡­¡± Jiang Yuan bowed his head, with no time to consider anything else, just listening to themand and following Wei Zhenguo as he stepped out. Hu was now just 10 meters away. Used to hunting, he wasn¡¯t surprised by the prey¡¯s desperate struggle and raised his hand to tighten his grip on the trigger. Bang. Hu¡¯s first bullet was fired. Bang. From a rooftop in the distance, a sniper also pulled the trigger. Bang bang bang. Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo fired at the same time. The bullet¡­ prated the chest, throwing off Hu¡¯s bnce, and he involuntarily fell to the ground. At the same time, Mu Zhiyang, who had leaped out from behind the pir, let out another cry of ¡°Ah!¡± ¡°Hold down this dog,¡± Wen Mingmanded without a second thought, tossing his emptied gun at Hu¡¯s face and throwing himself on top. Chapter 117 - 117 115 Dont Dissect Me ?117: Chapter 115: Don¡¯t Dissect Me 117: Chapter 115: Don¡¯t Dissect Me ¡°Cuff him. Drop the gun, drop it,¡± Wei Zhenguo, being older, didn¡¯t have the adrenaline surge as quickly as Wen Ming. Falling two body-lengths behind over a distance of nearly ten meters, he shouted urgently. Wen Ming, with his blood running hot, didn¡¯t care for caution. First, he forcefully twisted Hu¡¯s arm, then kicked away his gun. Just as he was about to reach for handcuffs, Wei Zhenguo caught up. ¡°Cuff him, cuff him first,¡± Wei Zhenguo cked the cuffs onto Hu from behind, then flipped him over, only to see a hole in Hu¡¯s chest, blood gushing out, and the man was clearly breathing more out than in. Still in the throes of action, Wen Ming was pressing down hard on Hu¡¯s neck with his elbow, embodying the posture of one ready to ¡°tear apart tigers and leopards barehanded.¡± ¡°He¡¯s dying, let go, let go!¡± Wei Zhenguo pped Wen Ming¡¯s arm hard and pulled him away. In such a tense moment, actions are instinctual, with no time for careful thought. The situation was akin to thest minute of a middle school or high school exam when you realize you haven¡¯t written your name or have copied the answers onto the wrong sheet, and you¡¯re 80 percent certain the teacher will collect the papers on time. What do you do first, and what do you doter? For Wen Ming, Wei Zhenguo, and Jiang Yuan, it was time to make crucial decisions. Mu Zhiyang had been shot twice, and due to blood loss and fear, he had already passed out. ¡°Block the bleeding, don¡¯t move him. I¡¯ll be right there.¡± Jiang Yuan had stuffed two rolls of bandages into his pockets when he left. Now, he took them out and wrapped Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder tightly before checking the wound. Arge chunk of flesh had been torn from the inner side of his left arm, but Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, if the shooter had aimed just two centimeters to the left, Mu Zhiyang would have been dead for sure. Now, it was nothing more than a flesh wound. The first to arrive as reinforcements were armed police, two of them holding rifles and running for two or three hundred meters. When they arrived and saw no one standing, their hearts skipped a beat, and they loaded their weapons. ¡°Put on the safety catch, it¡¯s over, the crook¡¯s been shot.¡± Worried that the nervous armed policemen might identally fire their weapons, Wei Zhenguo quickly reminded them, then shouted into the radio, ¡°It¡¯s over. The ringleader¡¯s been shot and is down, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s been shot again; call an ambnce.¡± ¡°Shot again?¡± On the other side of the radio, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s heart which had just settled, now leaped three inches above his head in a tense spasm, ¡°How could he be shot again¡­ What¡¯s the situation? The ambnce is on its way!¡± ¡°It was a shootout, it¡¯s hard to say right now,¡± what else could Wei Zhenguo say? He didn¡¯t want to trade life for life either, but the situation hade to this. ¡°You twoe over and help.¡± Jiang Yuan called out, beckoning the two armed policemen over. The two armed policemen were very young, having run from the nearby parking lot. There was originally a six-person team there, in case the gang of five realized they were ambushed and tried to break through to the cars. With the news that the leader had broken out, the parking lot team leader only dared to send two as reinforcement. This wave of policemen had always anticipated they were fighting a five-man enemy, not expecting the arrest of the other four to go so smoothly, nor foreseeing that the leader¡¯s escape route would be so decisive and different from their expectations. ¡°Hold pressure on the wound, don¡¯t move it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, with no needles or medication at hand; this was the best immediate arrangement he could make. After wiping his hands on his clothes, he rushed to Wei Zhenguo¡¯s side. Hu¡¯s lungs must have been punctured, his breathing was haggard, the look in his eyes dim, but his expression was still one of indifference. Jiang Yuan still wrapped Hu¡¯s chest with bandages and then had Wen Ming apply pressure, after which he checked for other injuries. At a nce, it seemed like Hu had been hit by four or five bullets, perhaps seven or eight. Mu Zhiyang got shot the moment he was in sight; it wasn¡¯t clear if rifle 05 had even fired, and the remaining three had discharged all 21 rounds without care if the target had fallen or not. The ringleader was bleeding profusely, and Jiang Yuan had a hard time discerning the location and type of wounds. For the living, his options were limited; he still resorted to the one-size-fits-all bandage wrap. Wrapping bandages on a crook seemed pretty reasonable, after all. After managing a few of the more heavily bleeding spots, the second wave of reinforcements arrived, this time consisting of four detectives. Compared to the two young armed police soldiers, the detectives looked much older and heavier but were experienced. On seeing the situation, they knew what was going on. Two of them came forward to help, one started contacting the others on the walkie-talkie, and another began to set up yellow police tape to mark off the area. By this time, Jiang Yuan had finally rxed and returned to Mu Zhiyang¡¯s side. Hu¡¯s life and death were crucial to the case, but Mu Zhiyang was more important. Perhaps it was the growing noise around him that caused Mu Zhiyang to twitch his eyelids and struggle to open his eyes. The first thing that he saw was Jiang Yuan. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s expression softened, but then he was awakened by intense pain, and soon after, he began to murmur in terror, ¡°Don¡¯t cut anymore, I¡¯m still alive, I¡¯m still alive.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t hear clearly and leaned his head closer. Mu Zhiyang said with a sorrowful face, ¡°Don¡¯t perform an autopsy on me¡­¡± ¡°No one¡¯s performing an autopsy on you, it¡¯s not time yet.¡± Jiang Yuan was amused and chuckled, but theughter quickly faded from his face. If it hadn¡¯t been for that sniper, he might really have been preparing to perform an autopsy on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s body. If they had been unlucky, that is. ¡°The ambnce is here, let¡¯s get to the hospital first.¡± Wei Zhenguo came over, his clothes already drenched in blood. Seeing Wei Zhenguo stabilized Mu Zhiyang¡¯s emotions considerably, and he finally had the opportunity to ask, ¡°Where am I injured?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve torn a piece of flesh from your left arm; don¡¯t touch it.¡± Wei Zhenguo pried his hand away and added, ¡°You¡¯ve got some abrasions on your chin from the brick wall and were bleeding, but it¡¯s stopped on its own now, not so serious. You understand, right? Just rx and head to the hospital.¡± Looking pitifully at Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang joked, ¡°If it¡¯s nothing serious, then don¡¯t let Jiang Yuan apply bandages on anyone, really. My heart was scared to a stop.¡± ¡°Got it, got it,¡± Wei Zhenguo cated him like a child as he lifted Mu Zhiyang onto a stretcher and then into the ambnce. The ambnces had been contacted in advance, two in total, and both were fully utilized this time; one took Mu Zhiyang, the other took Hu, speeding towards the town hospital. ¡°How long till the doctor arrives?¡± Jiang Yuan followed and got into Mu Zhiyang¡¯s ambnce, asking Wei Zhenguo sitting opposite him. Wei Zhenguo was checking his WeChat and looked up to answer, ¡°Doctors from Qinghe City First Hospital are on their way. About two hours, I guess. Mu Zhiyang is probably all right. Whether the thief boss canst that long, well, that depends on how tough his own luck is.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Mu Zhiyang, who had once again fallen into a slumber, and said, ¡°Handle it in town for 2 hours without dying, then the thief boss won¡¯t die either.¡± ¡°Yeah, if he dies, it¡¯s his own fault. If they hade at a fixed time, we would have been ready with personnel. He picked the day; no one could have had doctors on standby for him,¡± said Wei Zhenguo, pushing off responsibility, yet his mood was still somewhat tense. Suddenly no one in the ambnce spoke, leaving only the beeping of the monitor, making everyone¡¯s thoughts feel more disquieted. Today was destined to be a day filled with unrest. There were people to interrogate, new leads to follow, and Liu Jinghui should be on his way here. But even for him, this case might be quite overwhelming. Only now, looking at the unconscious Mu Zhiyang lying before him, did Jiang Yuan start to feel a bit of fear afterward. He had been too busy being tense before. Once he calmed down, he realized his back was drenched in sweat, his limbs felt weak, and he almost wished he could lie down beside little Mu. His heart was throbbing loudly, as if it was working hard to keep up. Chapter 118 - 118 116 Fatigue ?118: Chapter 116: Fatigue 118: Chapter 116: Fatigue ¡°Don¡¯t dissect me. Don¡¯t dissect me!¡± Mu Zhiyang cried out as he opened his eyes. To any human being, being vivisected is the ultimate horror. Even detectives who are well-informed about such matters feel increased fear when they think about it. For Mu Zhiyang, yesterday¡¯s experience was the most horrific in his life, so much so that it continued to haunt his dreams. ¡°Nobody is dissecting you. You¡¯re fine,¡± a soothing voice came from beside him. Mu Zhiyang breathed a sigh of relief, then sensed something wrong, and upon a closer look, the face before him was indeed Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan! ¡°Oh my god¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s soul practically jumped out of his body from shock. ¡°It¡¯s all good, we came to see you,¡± Jiang Yuan gently pressed him down, as if smoothing over a corpse. Beep beep beep beep. The monitor beside Mu Zhiyang began to sound off. A nurse poked her head in and frowned in reproach, ¡°What are you doing? The patient just had surgery, don¡¯t roughhouse with him, and don¡¯t make inappropriate jokes.¡± ¡°Alright, alright,¡± Wei Zhenguo agreed from the side. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s soul slowly wafted back into his body, and he looked at Jiang Yuan with pitiful eyes, saying, ¡°Doctor Jiang, I called you ¡®Jiang,¡¯ I get it, but please don¡¯te see me again, my heart really can¡¯t take it¡­¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed. Wei Zhenguo added, ¡°You owe Jiang Yuan a big thanks for stopping your bleeding. The doctors said if you had lost any more blood, it would¡¯ve been really troublesome.¡± ¡°Thanks, Jiang,¡± Mu Zhiyang quickly said, ¡°I¡¯m not unreasonable, I¡¯m just genuinely scared.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Wei Zhenguo patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, speaking earnestly, ¡°Being a forensic doctor, therees a moment when you are bound to be disliked, it¡¯s normal.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. Mu Zhiyang hastened to say, ¡°I don¡¯t dislike you, I didn¡¯t mean that¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, being disliked by people is inevitable,¡± Jiang Yuan patted Mu Zhiyang¡¯s unharmed arm, looking very philosophical about it. If it weren¡¯t for the corners of Wei Zhenguo¡¯s mouth that involuntarily began to curl into a smile, Mu Zhiyang might have actually taken it seriously. After visiting Mu Zhiyang, Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo hurried off to a meeting in Qinghe City. Among the gang of five, Hu was still in aa, and none of the remaining four were tough guys. Or rather, the individual interrogations had created a prisoners¡¯ dilemma where none wanted the others to get an advantage. When theymitted the murders, they acted swiftly, and when it came to snitching on others, they did so just as swiftly. Of course, each was only willing to confess to the crimes they did not participate in, creating a perfect closed loop as the four took turns throwing each other under the bus. In just two days, they confessed to 6 murder cases involving 12 victims. The case with the most killings involved three people killed in a single incident. As the case developed to this extent, Liu Jinghui¡¯s special investigation team also rapidly expanded to hundreds of members, half of whom entered the old hunting path to search for bodies and physical evidence. They wouldn¡¯t be back for a month. The thought alone was enough to tire Jiang Yuan out. When I saw Liu Jinghui again, he also had the look of exhaustion. ¡°How is Mu Zhiyang doing?¡± As the most seriously injured officer in the operation, Liu Jinghui also remembered his name. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°He¡¯s a bit shaken up mentally, but physically, he¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good.¡± Liu Jinghui rubbed his temples, smiling self-deprecatingly, ¡°I now really wish I could lie down in a hospital, but no one¡¯s giving me that chance.¡± ¡°Is the situationplicated?¡± ¡°Complicated but notplicated, just a lot of things to deal with. I just met with a few members from some city¡¯s hikers¡¯ association, and showed them a few photos that are suitable for viewing.¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head and said, ¡°Now there are eight hikers proven dead, and the higher-ups are also afraid of causing panic.¡± Wei Zhenguo curled his lips and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t they go on an adventure? A serial killer should be considered a part of the peril, right?¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s mouth twitched slightly, then he slowly said, ¡°Your point does hold some logic, but you can¡¯t say that, mainly because we haven¡¯t brought these people to justice in time.¡± Wei Zhenguo shrugged. Jiang Yuan coughed twice and asked, ¡°Have the bodies been brought back?¡± ¡°No?¡± ¡°No. Up to now, not a single body has been found.¡± Liu Jinghui nodded slightly and said, ¡°These guys don¡¯t just abandon the bodies. They throw some enticing soup ingredients on the bodies, concocted by that Guo himself. It¡¯s said to attract wild boars and bears very easily.¡± ¡°So the bodies are all gone?¡± ¡°Not only that, theye back after a while to check the situation and then deal with the remaining remains. It¡¯s not like what we thought, that theypletely threw them away and didn¡¯t care.¡± Jiang Yuan thought more about it and asked, ¡°How do they deal with the remaining remains?¡± ¡°They add more soup ingredients and often try to move the bodies. However, with more people going this time, let¡¯s see if they can find any residual remains.¡± To confirm a homicide case, it¡¯s best to find the body. Although in some cases, verdicts can be reached without a body, those are still the minority. Liu Jinghui, ustomed to working in arge unit, actually did not want to be the one to break the rules. Solving a case with the existing conditions was what he liked to do the most. Jiang Yuan felt a slight regret; if he could personally dissect and analyze the body, he might be able to read even more information. Perhaps, he could get his hands on two more inheritances. Liu Jinghui noticed it; if it were another officer expressing regret, Liu Jinghui would surely have told him off. But with Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui still wanted to provide constion. He handed a bottle of mineral water each to Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo, saying cheerfully, ¡°Even if a body came now, you probably wouldn¡¯t have the time for the autopsy. In a few days, I n to hold a determination gathering. Then, I will present medals to several of you who earned honors.¡± Jiang Yuan had shown enough merit during the fingerprint battle and was looking forward to it. He asked directly, ¡°Has it been confirmed?¡± ¡°Confirmed. You get a second-ss merit, the sniper gets a second-ss merit, Mu Zhiyang gets a third-ss merit, and, remember Zhu Huanguang during the fingerprint battle, he gets a third-ss merit too.¡± After finishing, Liu Jinghui specifically pointed out, ¡°Yours is not for this time. When the entire case is over, there should be another chance.¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised, ¡°I can receive another one?¡± ¡°Not counting this time, you can definitely get another one,¡± Liu Jinghuiughed, then said, ¡°It depends on your performance; if you make new contributions, maybe you canbine them for another second-ss merit. If not, we¡¯ll see how much more we can dig out from this case.¡± Second-ss merits in the police system are not as difficult as in the military, but they are still far from simple. For someone like Mu Zhiyang, if he had broken an arm and sustained a serious injury, he might have been eligible for a second-ss merit. Or, if Mu Zhiyang had faced the criminal alone, stayed in the fight despite light injuries, and subdued the gang leader by himself, he could also get a second-ss merit; otherwise, just like now, it could only be third-ss. Of course, a third-ss merit is also excellent, and most officers end at third-ss merits. Those who receive second-ss merits, though not explicitly stated, are generally given priority for promotion and significant attention. And as for the explicitly stated benefits, one can receive a full pension, give their children an extra 5 points in college entrance exams, and receive a bonus of 10,000 yuan¡­ Just from the bonus to the pension and the extra points for children¡¯s college entrance exams, one can tell that these honors are truly awarded at a low rate. Jiang Yuan thanked Liu Jinghui and thought back to thest time he received an award. This time, he really needs to carefully consider the system¡¯s reward. Chapter 119 - 119 117 Work Hard ?119: Chapter 117: Work Hard 119: Chapter 117: Work Hard Changyang City. Policemen from various ces continued to gather. Including the four bandits who were captured alive, the half-dead gang leader had also been transferred to Changyang. The conditions here were better, allowing for more thorough interrogation and treatment. Liu Jinghui, based on the testimonies of these individuals, divided the special case team into three temporary task forces: a major crimes task force, a poaching task force, and an economic crime task force. Yet, it was thetter economic crime task force that ended up using the most manpower. Decades of poaching had enabled the group of five to nearly monopolize the output of Mount Wulong, hence developing a distorted industrial chain. Contrary to initial assumptions, the adoption of a killing spree by the gang of five was actually a result ofpetition among various poaching squads. During the initial phase of the poaching ban, squads that had once helped each other gradually started confronting each other over game, territory, money, and even methods of poaching, resulting in constant friction and eventually adopting a dark forest strategy¡ªshoot on sight. After relentlesspetition, within the Mount Wulong region, especially the elite protected areas and nearby, only the gang led by Hu remained. However, more people became attached to the industry chain. They helped with processing and selling fur and bone products,ter began selling meat, and then opened exotic dining restaurants and conducted pseudo-rituals and worship activities¡­ Smugglers, medicine sellers, art traders¡ªindustries that could make money were bound to infiltrate. After more than a decade of development, some who engaged in illegal business had grownrge and strong enough to be legitimate, making the work required for investigation and prosecution even more substantial. As the economic task force expanded, detectives from the major crimes task force gradually brought back some evidence. There were several bones, some clothing, primarily the tools and items the victims had carried, such as lighters, mosquito repellent, Liquid Borneol, and so on. The group of five typically stored these useful supplies in safehouses or transit houses nearby. They were ustomed to stashing unused supplies during short-term poaching trips, in order to resupply on longer expeditionster on. Such long-term nning was only possible because their poaching operations had been too smooth, allowing them to be increasingly reckless. When the number of murder cases revealed through interrogation increased to 11, with 26 lives taken, the ministry was shocked and sent personnel to supervise the case. Liu Jinghui, who was usually responsible for overseeing cases around the country, finally experienced being supervised himself. Jiang Yuan went to the forensic office of the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team to examine the evidence retrieved by the major crimes task force, one by one. There were thirteen bones in total, including vertebrae, tibia, phnges, and metatarsals, unevenly distributed. They were of little help to the case, but through DNAparison, six victims were identified. Six hikers. And those everyday items essentially belonged to the hikers as well. Herb gatherers ustomed to the mountains and even ordinary people living nearby had heard some mountain legends and would not touch the belongings of the group of five, reducing the frequency of their presence on their routes. Most importantly, the equipment and supplies carried by the locals were not of high quality. Apart from some perishable food items, the group of five did not care for their belongings. The hikers were different, however, with their lighters being Zippo, theirmps Petromax, their textures spiked, and their cups from Snowpeak. The group of five did not like hikers who came to the mountain, but they quite liked their belongings, cleaning and using them. Just by looking at their possessions, these five¡­ were truly reckless and brutally vicious. Jiang Yuan came to the forensic office of the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team. The evidence had already been wiped down, and DNA reports hade out. There was a limited amount of evidence left containing victims¡¯ DNA, but considering that some items had been used often over several years and still retained DNA, it indicated the offenders didn¡¯t take it seriously. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t understand DNA, but they simply weren¡¯t afraid. Otherwise, disposing of the items would have been the safest option. Ye Tianhe, a forensic doctor with the Changyang criminal police, stood filling out forms and said casually, ¡°Without a body, all these pieces of evidence are circumstantial. They could simply say they found them, and you¡¯d have no way to proceed.¡± ¡°Right, they didn¡¯t even properly dispose of the bodies.¡± ¡°The disposal was already adequate, they even knew how to scatter misleading substances. If they wanted to hide it even more, they¡¯d raise a few pigs.¡± As Ye Tianhe spoke, he shook his head, ¡°That wouldn¡¯t work either, it would create more ws.¡± Hearing Doctor Ye mention raising pigs, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but stiffen up for a moment. Pigs were toomonce, but as omnivores, they could chew up bones, causing a human body to disappear without leaving any trace of evidence, which was always unsettling to hear. To say it was wless would be far from the truth for the group of five, but their level of secrecy was actually quite high. It could only be said that most serial killers were pragmatists, selected by time and environment. Jiang Yuan felt somewhat exhausted afterpleting the autopsy of the bones with Doctor Ye from Changyang City. The experiences during this business trip had indeed exposed Jiang Yuan, a new forensic doctor, to too many dark aspects of society. His job also seemed to be heavier. Normal people would feel ufortable at the sight of human bones. Yet at that moment, Jiang Yuan actually felt that these bones provided him with a sense of security. Even though as a forensic doctor he dealt with those who had already passed away, his work was still meaningful¡ªto swiftly identify the perpetrators, bring them to justice, and let the victims rest in peace. So that they could find their proper resting ce. So that they could return home. ¡­ That afternoon, the police station was visited by an elderly couple. Both had sunspots on their faces and seemed to be around seventy. They were dressed in hemp clothes, supporting each other as they came along, wailing mournfully. ¡°Child,e home, child,e home.¡± Their voices were so hoarse that it made people tremble inside. Doctor Ye spoke up, ¡°These are the parents of Li Sanqiu. They lost their only child, are a bit superstitious, and have caused a few disturbances at the police station before, iming that without finding the murderer, their child couldn¡¯t reincarnate.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t bear to see the old couple¡¯s condition. He had a father and couldn¡¯t fathom the image of his father wailing alone at the police station if anything happened to him. So he resolved to live well, work diligently, and meticulously perform autopsies. ¡­ Chapter 120 - 120 118 The Box ?120: Chapter 118: The Box 120: Chapter 118: The Box Jiangcun Residential Area Beep beep. The car horn sounded twice at the gate of the residential area. Then, the passenger in the front seat got out of the car and began talking to the guard on duty. The Jiang Vige people chatting idly in front of the mini-mart turned their attention to this scene. ¡°Vehicles aren¡¯t allowed inside themunity, but outsiders always seem confused by that. There are so many kids around here, what if someone gets hit?¡± ¡°No worries, Uncle Neen is on gate duty today, he¡¯s probably giving them an earful right now.¡± ¡°Exactly, they should get told off. Back in the day when they couldn¡¯t afford cars, driving one into the vige was quite the spectacle. But now, it¡¯s just annoying with them driving in every day¡­¡± As they were talking, the gate to the residential area opened. Two cars entered one after the other. The people in front of the mini-mart turned to look and spotted two police cars. ¡°Is there some trouble?¡± Now the group that had been standing in front of the supermarket couldn¡¯t stay still, grabbing their phones to take photos and videos, and some started asking questions in chat groups. The police cars drove very slowly, and when they reached the snack shop, some neatly dressed officers got out and smiled, ¡°Could you tell us how to get to Jiang Yuan¡¯s house?¡± ¡°Are you looking for Jiang Yuan? He¡¯s probably not at home,¡± Mrs. Hua stepped forward, sizing up the officers from head to toe. ¡°No need to find Jiang Yuan, his father will do,¡± the police officer replied with a smile. Mrs. Hua looked at him suspiciously and asked, ¡°Who are you? Do you have ID?¡± ¡°We¡¯re from the political department of Qinghe City Bureau. My name is Qi Shanwei, here¡¯s my ID,¡± the talking officer answered, facing a messy array of questions from the crowd with an unusually friendly expression that the people from Jiang Vige rarely saw. In Mrs. Hua¡¯s mind, for some reason, an image suddenly appeared: a uniformed police officer or soldier, with a sympathetic look on their face, pushing a wooden box forward and saying, ¡°You raised a good son, the people are grateful to him¡­¡± As she was lost in her wild thoughts, she saw another officer get out of the car behind and take something covered with a red cloth from the back seat, which looked just like a wooden box. Mrs. Hua¡¯s head went ¡°ng,¡± as if it had been struck by a hammer, filled with panic, she blurted out, ¡°Did Jiang Yuan sacrifice his life?¡± Qi Shanwei was taken aback, hastily saying, ¡°No, no, he was honored for his merit!¡± Mrs. Hua was stunned for a moment and asked, ¡°Honored for merit and sacrificed his life?¡± ¡°Did Jiang Yuan sacrifice his life?¡± Ady in the back row didn¡¯t hear clearly and with a loud howl, blurted it out. A brief silence fell in front of the snack shop, followed by various cries of inquiry: ¡°Is he dead?¡± ¡°Did Jiang Yuan die?¡± ¡°How did he just die? Wasn¡¯t he bing a cop?¡± ¡°That¡¯s exactly why he died! I¡¯ll ask in the group chat!¡± ¡°What are we going to do now? With so many houses in Jiang Fuzhen, isn¡¯t there anyone to inherit them?¡± The murmurs in front of the mini-mart led to an evenrger flurry of spection online. The Jiang Vige group chat screen was flooded with messages at an unprecedented speed. The usually amiable Qi Shanwei was also stunned, hisplexion turning very sour as he shouted, ¡°He didn¡¯t sacrifice, he was honored for his merit, his merit!¡± ¡°How can you have merit without sacrifice?¡± Anotherdy shouted from the back. Everyone nodded in agreement. Qi Shanwei felt like he was going to lose his mind. He had been dealing with the ¡°Special Care for Police¡± in the political department for several years, but he had never encountered such a situation before. ¡°One can have merit without making a sacrifice,¡± Qi Shanwei shouted. ¡°Listen to me, everyone, please just listen to me first.¡± ¡°Is he disabled?¡± It was the samedy again, with another roar, taking away all of Qi Shanwei¡¯s intelligence. ¡°He didn¡¯t sacrifice, he isn¡¯t disabled, he simply did a great job solving a case, and that¡¯s why he was honored for his merit!¡± Qi Shanwei shouted three times before the olddies and gentlemen in front of the mini-mart started to understand a bit. Then, Mrs. Hua eximed, ¡°They¡¯ve started collecting donations in the chat group, what do we do?¡± ¡°How much should we give? Is gifting an even number appropriate?¡± ¡°Jiang died and you¡¯re only giving an even number? Are you even human?¡± Qi Shanwei¡¯s mind waspletely shattered, crumbling to pieces, as he said helplessly, ¡°Does anyone have Jiang Yuan¡¯s dad¡¯s phone number or WeChat? Tell him about the situation first, we¡¯ll be heading up there right away.¡± He then yelled again, urging his fellow officers to quickly dress up in festivity and followed by the youngest officer from the political department, carrying the box containing the medals of honor, closely behind. Thest two officers secured the vehicles and took out a bugle to y. The people of Jiang Vige had been frantically messaging in the chat group already, but hearing the bugle, they all popped their heads out and came down from their buildings. Some people still had a look of sorrow when they stepped out of their homes. ¡°Jiang Yuan?¡± ¡°Has Jiang Yuan left?¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan, such a good kid.¡± Havinge to his senses, Qi Shanwei shouted, ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan is in good health, free of illnesses and misfortunes, and has achieved meritorious deeds on the front line!¡± Everyone there was from the political department and had high political awareness, responding quickly by joining in the chant, ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan is in good health, free of illnesses and misfortunes, and has achieved meritorious deeds on the front line!¡± The wailing of the Jiang Vige people subsided and they gradually calmed down. ¡°Not dead?¡± ¡°It seems he truly isn¡¯t dead.¡± ¡°Has anyone called Jiang Yuan?¡± ¡°Oh my, let¡¯s hurry and see how Jiang Fuzhen is doing. Don¡¯t let anxiety get the best of you.¡± A group of people nervously followed Qi Shanwei, and began asking about the nature of the achievement and the award. Updates started flowing in the group chat in real time. It was then that Qi Shanwei finally breathed a sigh of relief and thought to himself, ¡°Things have finally returned to normal.¡± The sound of the military bugle was loud and clear. With solemn steps, Qi Shanwei knocked on the door of Jiang Yuan¡¯s home. Jiang Fuzhen, who had just woken up a few minutes earlier and had been roused by the vigers before he could make sense of the situation, came out after quickly wiping his face. Qi Shanwei asked, ¡°Excuse me, are you Jiang Yuan¡¯s father, Jiang Fuzhen?¡± Jiang Fuzhen nodded, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me.¡± ¡°Hello, uncle, we are from the political department of the Qinghe City Public Security Bureau, and we¡¯ve brought good news for you!¡± Qi Shanwei snapped a salute, and behind him, the bugle sounded once again, ying a tune. The people from Jiang Vige who had followed all the way were listening and by now had caught on to what was happening. Just like youngsters at a music festival, they nodded along to the rhythm. Stunned, Jiang Fuzhen asked in a low voice, ¡°Good news?¡± The bugle ceased, and just as Qi Shanwei began to speak, the people from Jiang Vige uniformly chanted behind him, ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan is in good health, free of illnesses and misfortunes, and has achieved meritorious deeds on the front line!¡± Jiang Fuzhen replied, ¡°Oh.¡± Qi Shanwei felt a headacheing on again. Then he heard Jiang Fuzhen ask, ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Qi Shanwei promptly answered seriously, ¡°We¡¯vee to deliver good news to you.¡± Behind him, a bugler took out a cellphone and began filming. ¡°A single person¡¯s achievement brings honor to the entire family. Congrattions, uncle. Your son, Comrade Jiang Yuan, fought tirelessly for 14 days in Shannan Province¡¯s fingerprint identification campaign, matching fingerprints from 10 homicide cases and 8 other cold cases. He has avenged the dead, brought sce to the victims¡¯ families, demonstrated justice, and restored fairness in society¡­ On behalf of Qinghe City Bureau, I would like to congratte you,¡± said Qi Shanwei. While speaking, Qi Shanwei uncovered the red cloth he was holding, revealing the que underneath. Qi Shanwei deliberately turned around so that the surrounding rtives and neighbors could all see it. ¡°Second-ss Merit Honoree¡¯s Family,¡± someone read aloud. Qi Shanwei nodded and then said to Jiang Fuzhen, ¡°This is a que made by our city bureau. May we help you hang it on your door?¡± ¡°Yes, of course,¡± replied Jiang Fuzhen, baffled as he stepped aside to make space. A young man from behind took out a drill and quickly fixed the que to the door of the Jiang family home. Below the que wasst year¡¯s couplet, which had not been torn down, with the horizontal scroll bearing the auspicious words ¡°umte Virtue and Perform Good Deeds.¡± ¡°Uncle, there is also a set of health checkup cards given to you by our city bureau. Please take them, and when you have time, go to the designated hospital for a checkup. With you in good health, Comrade Jiang Yuan can work with an even more peaceful mind,¡± Qi Shanwei said as he took out a big red envelope and handed it to Jiang Fuzhen. Jiang Fuzhen had seen plenty of good things before, but now, taking the red envelope from Qi Shanwei, he struggled to react, his hands trembling. ¡°Is my son Yuanzi really okay?¡± Jiang Fuzhen asked. ¡°He¡¯s fine,¡± Qi Shanwei replied with augh and a cry. ¡°We are here to thank the family of the hero. You¡¯ll know once you give him a call,¡± he added. ¡°I wish someone had called sooner,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, his heart finally settling down. ¡°There¡¯s also a banner,¡± Qi Shanweiughed and pulled out a banner that read ¡°Swift in Justice, Relieving the People¡¯s Worries.¡± Fully understanding the situation atst, Jiang Fuzhen took the banner in his hands, visibly moved, his lips quivering for a while before managing to say one word, ¡°Great.¡± Chapter 121 - 121 119 A Fathers Love is as Great as a Mountain ?121: Chapter 119: A Father¡¯s Love is as Great as a Mountain 121: Chapter 119: A Father¡¯s Love is as Great as a Mountain Apuse resounded throughout the hall, forcing a blush onto the faces of those standing on the stage. Jiang Yuan was ced at the very center of the stage; to his left was Mu Zhiyang, and to his right, a young sniper from the Armed Police, with Zhu Huanguang further beside him. The young sniper¡¯s cheeks were so red they were practically stewed. He could only be twenty-one or twenty-two years old. If he hadn¡¯t joined the military, he would probably just be graduating from The Great Learning and stepping into the life of job hunting, renting apartments, and having his dignity trampled on. But because of one shot that hit Old Hu, saving Mu Zhiyang in the process, he was rewarded with a second-ss merit, and his life had undergone a monumental change. The most fundamental aspect was that, if he wanted to retire, he was qualified for a transfer to another position. That meant he would have a post to fill upon retirement, a favorable condition hard toe by for the average soldier. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s cheeks, on the other hand, were bone white. He now hardly wished to recall the moment he was wounded. The ferocious gang leader and the bullets flying by were terrifying, and having seen his own wounds in the mirror, Mu Zhiyang felt even more frightened. This time, he truly owed his life to the decisive action of the young Armed Police soldier beside him. Had he hesitated for even half a second or aimed slightly off, Mu Zhiyang would certainly have been smoked by the subsequent 9mm bullets. Beneath the stage, even the leaders from the ministries were looking up at Jiang Yuan and the others. At the very least, for this moment, the ceremony guaranteed them all the spotlight. A leader from the provincial department ced a second-ss merit medal on Jiang Yuan. It was a bronze medal with the national emblem as its base, featuring five stars in the center and a multicolored ribbon of blue, yellow, white, and red. The medal¡¯s appearance was a bit rustic, but the sense of history and honor it brought made Jiang Yuan feel fulfilled and at ease. At the same time, a system prompt appeared before Jiang Yuan: Reward: Personal Second-ss Merit Reward Content: Image Enhancement Technology (LV5) (Adjustable) Jiang Yuan quickly realized that the Image Enhancement Technology (LV3) he had obtained as a personalmendationst time had been reced by LV5 Image Enhancement Technology. He tentatively clicked on the bracket on the right side, and sure enough, a list of options appeared: Criminal Image Technology (LV4) Document Examination Technology (LV4) Trace Inspection Technology (LV4) ¡­ The arrangement was the same asst time, the only difference being that the technology level had all be LV4, and if he chose a more detailed project, he would get LV5. Clearly, if Jiang Yuan wanted to change the reward skill he obtained, he now had at least one opportunity to do so. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment but did not make any changes. He had already experienced how useful Image Enhancement Technology was, and in the current era, Image Investigation was truly a powerful weapon for solving cases. It wasn¡¯t as useful in the mountains previously, but in the city, its use was immense. Moreover, the strength of LV5 technology was significant, and he decided to put it to use first. By now, Jiang Yuan had gained a clear understanding of the difference between LV1 to LV5. The most basic LV1 technology was about what a qualified professional should know. Within the entire professional system, it was beginner level, butpared to ordinary people, it was already a decent level of expertise. As of now, LV1 fingerprint technology was slightly better than Wang Zhong¡¯s abilities. LV2 was the skill level of a high-standard professional in a city. It was above average within the professional system and served as the backbone. In criminal investigation technology, the top level of a county or city bureau would hover around LV2. LV3 represented provincial experts, already first-ss in their industry. Most experts participating in fingerprint battles would have LV3 rted fingerprints expertise. Zhu Huanguang, who also received a third-ss merit, had a slightly higher than LV3 level. LV4 was the pinnacle at the provincial level, a national level expertise, signifying mastery of a certain technology. Zhu Huanguang was just a step away from LV4, or when attending the fingerprint battles organized by the ministries, the high-level experts there would have LV4 expertise. LV5 was the national pinnacle and represented international expert level within that skill, master-ss within the industry, a rarity in any country. Jiang Yuan could have chosen a broader range of technologies, such as LV4 Criminal Image Technology, but considering the various levels of expertise, he prioritized the narrower yet more advanced LV5 Image Enhancement Technology. Next time he received recognition for his achievements, he could choose again. Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts were simple and straightforward. For him now, solving ordinary cases within his reach was possible using any method, but when he encountered difficult cases, he needed breakthrough techniques. The award ceremony concluded, giving way to the formal oath-taking assembly. That was how it always was in the police system, except for model-level awards. Otherwise, it would either be a small celebration or piggybacking on the ceremony of various conferences. For the leaders, kick-starting the ceremony by awarding the meritorious police officers was quite uplifting. An oath-taking assembly was essentially about rifying several questions: What are we preparing to do? Why do it. What impact will it have on the nation, society, the collective, and individuals? Sometimes, certain leaders would also honestly state the conditions for awards and punishments, including details like the amount of travel subsidy. Breaking this process down, it was actually not much different from forensic anthropology. After the oath-taking assembly, police cars transported police officers from various counties and the city bureau to a new battleground. The majority of the organized officers specialized in economic investigation. The group of five involved in arge number of economic cases will be the focus of this round of investigation. The murder case was still in the deep-digging phase, and the interrogators at the examination group interrogated the four others besides Hu, as if it were their regr job, on schedule and punctually. Bit by bit, inch by inch, they extracted information. Chen Deling and the others were now implicated in the deaths of over twenty people; in terms of criminal cases, they had already faced the maximum penalty. However, with economic crimes, they still exhibited some resistance. From the police¡¯s perspective, while the murder case was important, enough effort had already been put into it; even deploying another 1000 officers wouldn¡¯t necessarily result in finding more bodies¡ªat this point, given the difficulty and scope of the entire series of cases, the economic crimes would likely need to be pursued over a long period. Jiang Yuan¡¯s task was finished, and he returned home. He was originally following Liu Jinghui on the ¡°Wu Long Mountain Wild Man Case,¡± and now that Li Sanqiu¡¯s case had been cracked, they no longer needed him. Catching a ride with Wei Zhenguo, he arrived back in Ningtai County by evening. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t notify anyone and just carried his bag back home. As he entered themunity and approached the entrance of the small supermarket, Jiang Yuan habitually paused but noticed that there were surprisingly few people chatting today. ¡°Uncle. Aunt.¡± Jiang Yuan called out broadly in greeting. The few people chatting turned to look in surprise: ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s back?¡± ¡°Alive and kicking?¡± ¡°Then no bullshit.¡± Hearing their hometown dialect, Jiang Yuan was puzzled but only smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m heading home first.¡± ¡°Go ahead, go ahead,¡± the Jiang Vige People in front of the small supermarket gestured with one hand and started to take out their phones with the other. By the time Jiang Yuan arrived home, he saw therge room, hundreds of square meters in area, already packed with people. Some were sitting, some standing, some walking back and forth. Various kinds of food and drinks were ced on several tables, and people chatted andughed while they talked¡­ Jiang Yuan was startled. What was this? Are they having a feast? Fortunately, Jiang Fuzhen appeared soon after and pulled Jiang Yuan inside, giving his shoulder several hearty pats. ¡°Jiang Yuan, good job!¡± ¡°Yuanzi, impressive!¡± The vigers in the living room began to praise him. Their words were simple, but their emotions were overflowing. To the Jiang Vige People, Jiang Yuan¡¯s emergence indeed filled a void for them. As a well-known wealthy vige in Shannan Province, with its fair share of wealthy individuals, the Jiang Vige People, apart from their wealth, didn¡¯t have any notable achievements or aplishments. A sense of aimlessness was prevalent among the young people; at an age when they should be making something of themselves in their twenties, the boys dreamed of racing their cars, while the girls thought about losing another 20 pounds to marry the team captain. Although the Jiang Vige People didn¡¯t really care about other people¡¯s opinions, Jiang Yuan¡¯s emergence nicelypensated for their internal sense ofcking. My Jiang Vige is the home of a national second-ss meritorious vige. ¡°Alright, since Jiang Yuan is back, we¡¯ll go to pay respects to our ancestors tomorrow morning,¡± dered Lao San Ye, pping his hands, as if to set the matter. Jiang Yuan somewhat understood, yet he was still somewhat confused, and could only ask his father, ¡°What¡¯s this¡­?¡± ¡°Celebrating you bing a second-ss meritorious citizen,¡± Jiang Fuzhenughed heartily. ¡°But¡­ it¡¯s not to the extent of paying respects to the ancestors, right?¡± Jiang Fuzhen said seriously, ¡°It is indeed. You earned this with your life on the line.¡± Jiang Yuan thought back and said, ¡°It wasn¡¯t that dangerous, but one of my colleagues did get shot.¡± The most dangerous moment was actually when he faced Hu in a gunfight, but honestly, it didn¡¯t need to be so dangerous; primarily because everyone was a newbie. Not only were the young Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang rookies, Wei Zhenguo and Wen Ming were novices in gunfighting as well. Even Huang Qiangmin, who arranged the defenses and traps, was a novice. The armed police were a little better, but even Zhou Gang and his team, who arrived that day, had not actually experienced a real gunfight. Jiang Yuan felt that if a simr situation arose in the future, it probably wouldn¡¯t be as dangerous. However, Jiang Fuzhen couldn¡¯t help but p his son on the back: ¡°How much more dangerous do you want it? Do we need to send a portrait for your father?¡± ¡°That wouldn¡¯t happen¡­¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s settled.¡± ¡°No, I just feel like paying respects to the ancestors¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s good for everyone to have some fun. It¡¯s been a long time since our Jiang Vige had a big event,¡± Jiang Fuzhen interrupted Jiang Yuan, his eyes ring. Jiang Yuan felt as if he could see a line written above his father¡¯s head: Today¡¯s fatherly love bnce is insufficient. ¡°I¡¯m going back to rest then,¡± Jiang Yuan said obediently and retreated to his room. Hum. As Jiang Yuan entered his room, his phone vibrated. He opened it and nced at a message, ¡°Your ount 2085 has received 100,000.00 RMB (Payer: Jiang Fuzhen, ount ending in: 1937).¡± His father had cashed in the meager remnants of his fatherly love for the day, tsk. Chapter 122 - 122 120 Isnt this a coincidence ?122: Chapter 120 Isn¡¯t this a coincidence? 122: Chapter 120 Isn¡¯t this a coincidence? ¡°Big brother Dog¡ª¡ª¡± ¡°Big brother Dog~¡± Jiang Yuan was awakened by the early crowing chickens and was stunned for several seconds before suddenly feeling as though he had traveled back in time, back to the foot of Mount Wulong. Back then, he was still an innocent youth, thinking that by climbing the mountain, with his sophisticated LV4 crime scene investigation techniques, he might find some trace evidence, and with luck, even scrape together some fingerprints, perhaps even smoothly crack the case. It must have been around three or four dozen roosterster, his files had already listed more than twenty murder cases. That¡¯s tantamount to wiping out two and a half groups of donkey friends trekking up the mountain. He himself had even gambled with his life once! To tell the truth, Jiang Yuan, who graduated from the forensic department of a medical university, feared most the professional death modes, the first was being infected by a corpse, the second was having his neck sliced by a murderer returning to the crime scene, and the third was getting cancer from inhaling too much formaldehyde from formalin. Gunshot, this kind of mode, Jiang Yuan had never even considered. All thanks to his teammates¡¯ effectiveness, it was thrilling, and thinking back, he still felt a bit scared. His heartbeat was still quivering. Jiang Yuan flipped out his phone and sent a WeChat message to Mu Zhiyang to greet him and thank him for the sacrificial offering to ensure safety. Then he got up and left the bedroom, just in time to see his father also groggily walking out of the door. ¡°Dad,¡± Jiang Yuan called out. ¡°Hmm,¡± Jiang Fuzhen nced at his son, then out of the window, just as the rooster crowed again. Jiang Fuzhen walked to the window, took another look outside, then back at Jiang Yuan, and asked, ¡°Want to eat rooster?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°For breakfast? We might not make it in time.¡± ¡°A stir-fried chicken leg can be pretty delicious,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said as he took out his phone and made a call, ¡°Old Six, is it your rooster crowing? I know it¡¯s for worshiping ancestors, but you¡¯ve got too many, kill a big one. I¡¯lle over and take two legs, fry them up for breakfast.¡± After the person on the other side of the phone agreed, Jiang Fuzhen went to the bathroom to wash his face twice, then ordered Jiang Yuan, ¡°You go heat up the pan; I¡¯ll go get the chicken and be back.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, turning to enter the kitchen. When he came out, he distinctly heard the crowing of the chickens outside had clearly changed. For breakfast, Jiang Yuan got to eat stir-fried green chili chicken legs with steamed buns and red chili sauce. With no woman in the house, the two men each brewed a cup of tea, eating with steamed buns, savoring their meal. The neighborhood was quiet, without a single crow of the chicken heard again. Around 7 a.m., teams one after another started to call out to set off. In terms of ancestral worship, the Jiang Vige people are professionals. Especially in the past dozen or so years, with the process of demolition, families really had not much else to do. But the importance of ancestral worship was constantly being elevated. It went from once a year to twice a year, and then to worshiping whenever there was a chance. The head of each family, in terms of cooperation and division ofbor in ancestral worship, was also continuously strengthening. What each family had to do, and what they intended to undertake, was all divvied up and vied for well in advance, on a cycle of a few years. This year, the only change was that Uncle Seventeen and Aunt Seventeen were no longer around, which necessitated a slight reshuffle. 9 a.m., at the Jiang Family Ancestral Hall in old Jiang Vige. The ancestral worship ceremony officially began. First, the old grandfathers and grandmothers dressed in opera costumes danced to strange steps. Then, several elders stood in the front row, offering sacrifices to the ancestors. A big rooster, a sheep, a big fat pig. Straight after them, two pairs of newlyweds, dressed in bright red wedding attire and hidden under red veils, stepped in front of the hall. This was an opportunity to get married during the ancestral worship ceremony. In most cases, these were couples who had already registered for marriage, or even held wedding ceremonies. But the auspices of ancestral worship were good, and the vigers were happy to have people hold their weddings simultaneously. By the time this whole process was done, it was already 10 o¡¯clock. Grandpa Three, looking at the time, shouted ¡°top schr bowing to ancestors,¡± and someone pushed Jiang Yuan forward. Joining him were the ques of homes of second-ss merit recipients. Following that, Grandpa Three had Jiang Yuan put on the medal for second-ss merit and then burn three joss sticks to report the joyous news to the lineage of ancestors. Jiang Yuan dutifully followed the instructions. Amidst the swirling smoke, Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotions were unusually calm. Suddenly, he really wanted to bow sincerely. This time when he left home, this medal for second-ss merit came with the breath of death. Just like those trekkers who had died, none had truly sought death. A simple trip, ordinary, nothing more than a hike in a different ce. Yet, it turned into a journey that marked the end of life. Death, often than not,y closer and more sudden than most people imagined. The final ceremony involved someone fixing the small que, about 30 centimeters long,beled ¡°Second-ss Merit,¡± to the entrance hall ceiling of the ancestral hall. Looking up, the ceiling of the entrance hall, which measured about a hundred square meters, was adorned with various sizes and types of honorific ques, some of which covered the smaller ones from previous generations. The most eye-catching que among them was, without a doubt, the one inscribed with the words ¡°Graduate of Imperial Examinations,¡± spanning 3.3 meters in length and 2.2 meters in width, with a jujube red background, ced right at the center of the main beam. Great-uncle stomped his foot, looking up and saying, ¡°Once our Jiang Family produces more talents, we¡¯ll expand this entrance hall and hang up more ques, leaving something for our descendants.¡± The young people by his side roared their agreement, full of vigor. But everyone knew that once they were back home, what they would contribute most to the country was their consumer spending. ¡­ Afternoon. Jiang Yuan took a set of keys for a Raptor from the key cab, drove it out from the underground garage beneath his apartment, and went directly to themunity canteen where he packed two boxes of cooked red eggs. Thinking it over, he also grabbed some leftover incense from ancestor worship and a few packs of Zhonghua cigarettes, before heading to his unit. He was on leave, but staying at home was too noisy, so he preferreding here directly. Taking the familiar route to the parking lot, and because he waste, the spot was a bit far away, Jiang Yuan called Wang Zhong,ughing, ¡°Zhong, I¡¯ve brought some eggs over; do you want toe and help carry them?¡± ¡°Oh wow, Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re back, perfect timing as I was thinking of stretching my legs.¡± Wang Zhong replied while sounds of moving a chair could be heard from his phone. Shortly after, Wang Zhong came running down, his face beaming with delight. Jiang Yuan stood on the truck bed waving and then lifted another box of red eggs, saying, ¡°Been away on a trip for a while, brought back some red eggs for everyone.¡± ¡°Forensic expert¡¯s red eggs, can¡¯t go wrong with that.¡± Wang Zhongughed heartily, then looked Jiang Yuan up and down, clicking his tongue and saying, ¡°Jiang, next time you have something urgent, just holler at me. This trip youpletely blitzed through Shannan Province¡¯s fingerprint stations; who could have seen thating? 10 murder cases; you have no idea how much saliva Captain Huang shed each day.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t the fingerprints I took part in the fingerprint operation included in our team¡¯s achievements?¡± Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow. ¡°Of course, they count, and you get full marks for that, it¡¯s just that everyone gets a share, right?¡± Wang Zhong shouldered a box of the cooked red eggs, striding energetically. Jiang Yuan also carried a box, along with some Zhonghua cigarettes, and followed Wang Zhong to the lobby where he set the box down and told the officer at the service desk, ¡°These are some red eggs I¡¯ve brought, anyone who wants some can just take them.¡± ¡°Oh, okay.¡± The officer was somewhat surprised. Wang Zhong, still carrying the box, said, ¡°This is our bureau¡¯s Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, the one mentioned in the fingerprint operation briefing for matching 10 murder cold cases.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in greeting and went upstairs with the Zhonghua. In the office. Wu Jun had reclined his chair all the way back and was dozing off. Jiang Yuan stopped Wang Zhong from waking him, opened a pack of Zhonghua, lit one, and waved it in the air a few times. Slowly, Wu Jun¡¯s eyes opened. ¡°Did you have a dream?¡± Seeing Jiang Yuan, holding the lit Zhonghua, Wu Jun felt a mix of surprise and disbelief, like a double blessing. ¡°Master, I¡¯m back at work now.¡± Jiang Yuan handed the Zhonghua to Wu Jun. Wu Jun took a few puffs, instantly alert, and sat up, ¡°Good kid, you¡¯ve finallye back.¡± ¡°I was called away by Director Liu at the provincial hall, got held up a bit,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. ¡°Yeah, Mount Wulong¡¯s wild man case, in the end, you guys turned it into the Hunter series of murders. Getting back this quickly is already pretty good. I saw the bulletin, did over twenty people die?¡± Wu Jun was always paying attention to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side of things. Jiang Yuan nodded, then added, ¡°The trials aren¡¯t over yet; probably more.¡± ¡°Have you had red eggs yet?¡± ¡°Had some. I brought plenty over to the office too.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile. ¡°Eat a couple more, and I¡¯ll have one as well,¡± Wu Jun cracked an eggshell, then asked again while eating, ¡°Did you jump over the fire yet?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± ¡°Well, do it in a while, need some joss paper?¡± Jiang Yuan was speechless: ¡°You still have joss paper?¡± ¡°Whenever I encounter more than two bodies, I usually burn some joss paper.¡± Wu Jun said, pulling a stack of joss paper from the bottom drawer and fishing out a Xuande burner from beneath the radiator. He locked the office door, set them up in the middle of the room, and lit them, ¡°Do both at once, we¡¯re in a new era, let¡¯s be efficient.¡± Jiang Yuan did as instructed, but he was skeptical about what Wu Jun called the new era. When the office door reopened, the officers who had received word came one after another to gawk, though officially they came to offer their regards. For a small ce like Ningtai County, not just 10 murder cold cases but even a single one would be a big deal. Jiang Yuan also made a point of visiting each office on the fourth floor, solemnly presenting the red eggs. As a member of the criminal investigation squad, Jiang Yuan was very keen to foster good rtions with his colleagues. And so, making his way to the image investigation office, Jiang Yuan witnessed an interesting scene. Two officers were going all out to help a young woman who was likely the victim, trying to find a clear image of a face from street surveince footage. They were struggling because the resolution of the surveince cameras in Ningtai County was generally low, and finding a clearer image was a real challenge. This was actually amon issue. Regardless of the increasing number of surveince cameras in the country, they were installed at different times. And since the costs of high-definition cameras are several times higher than those of standard ones, they are only installed at important intersections and checkpoints. Moreover, cameras exposed to the outdoor elements have to endure wind, sun, rain, and all sorts of changes in lighting and environment, so it¡¯s normal for their footage to be unclear. Officers involved in image investigation typically have to sift through plenty of unclear footage to find a clear image, which could often crack the case wide open. However, for Jiang Yuan, who had just upgraded to LV5 in image enhancement, wasn¡¯t this just the opportunity he needed? Chapter 123 - 123 121 The Steed ?123: Chapter 121: The Steed 123: Chapter 121: The Steed The victim appeared to be in her early thirties, with a sweet face and dressed appropriately. The half-exposed arm was pale, as if whitened like a peeled radish. Jiang Yuan noticed her anxious expression and guessed that her case might not be too serious. He had seen quite a few victims by now, and when it came down to a homicide, their expressions were always of sadness, numbness, and despair, seeking punishment for the offender as a way to regain their lost happiness. On the contrary, victims who appeared very anxious usually were involved in cases that the detectives were not too worried about. Of course, the two colleagues from the Image Investigation who were present seemed anxious. If it weren¡¯t for his newly acquired skill, Jiang Yuan might have been more likely to put down the egg and leave. ¡°Have a red egg, take a smoke,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a cheerful approach, extending the basket. ¡°Oh, Doctor Jiang. Heard you were back, but we¡¯ve been too busy to catch up.¡± The Image Investigation office had a total of three people, which was even one more than the Trace Evidence Team, but all were young and wore sses for nearsightedness. The speaker was Zhuang Wei, who had earned the nickname ¡°Four Eyes¡± when he reported to the Ningtai County Bureau over a decade ago¡ªback then, there were no detectives who wore sses regrly, which led to his nickname. Now, after so many years, Zhuang Wei was still one of the youngsters in the detective team, but the nickname ¡°Four Eyes¡± had been diluted and could no longer be exclusively his. ¡°I¡¯ve been involved in quite a few homicide cases this time, and the master told me to distribute red eggs to everyone on the first floor. The cigarettes have also been padded with yellow paper and burned.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, he handed out cigarettes. All three people in the Image Investigation office came over to ept them, and the two senior officers started to smoke but noticed thedy frowning and quickly refrained. The youngest officer, Gao Jiansheng, otherwise known as ¡°Third-Generation Four Eyes,¡± leisurely lit his cigarette. Despite his age, he was a local, already married, worldly, and the least perturbed by the situation. Unlike the two old bachelors in the office who, upon seeing a beautiful woman of a simr age, didn¡¯t even dare to smoke. ¡°What does it mean to pad a cigarette with yellow paper?¡± Seeing the recording paused and knowing that being anxious was useless, thedy curiously asked. ¡°It means rubbing the cigarette on the yellow paper.¡± Jiang Yuan took out a cigarette pack, ced it on the table, flipped it, and then continuously rolled it back and forth. Thedy sort of understood but was still a bit confused. ¡°Are you trying to get a clearer image of this person?¡± Jiang Yuan murmured, then asked. In theing days, if he wanted to work on Image Enhancement conveniently, he needed to build a good rtionship with his colleagues in the Image Investigation office. Zhuang Wei grunted in agreement, saying, ¡°This person should be a habitual offender, his stealing technique is quite skilled, and he knows how to avoid the cameras. We¡¯re thinking of getting a clearer photo, taking it to the nearby police stations to ask around¡ªsomeone might recognize him.¡± ¡°Not many thieves are still stealing on the streets these days,¡± Jiang Yuanmented. Zhuang Wei nodded in agreement, thenmented, ¡°It¡¯s almost like the left-behind elderly in rural areas. Younger, more capable ones either go into telmunications fraud or they quit the game. Those that remain either refuse to learn new things, can¡¯t learn, can¡¯t make money, and won¡¯t find a proper job¡ªthey don¡¯t even want to go to the big cities anymore.¡± ¡°It¡¯s normal, older people don¡¯t even like to travel, let alone go out of town to steal,¡± Gao Jiansheng chimed in with his life experience. ¡°I can do Image Enhancement to strengthen the images for you?¡± Jiang Yuan offered a couple of polite statements before outright stating his intention. Zhuang Wei slightly furrowed his brow; he had been working in Image Investigation for over a decade and was rarely encroached upon in his field of expertise. So, he looked at Jiang Yuan and inquired, ¡°A forensic doctor also learned about image processing?¡± ¡°I picked it up while working on fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan expressed frankly without any reservations, revealing his secret, ¡°Using Image Enhancement technology on fingerprint images before analysis improves both efficiency and uracy.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Zhuang Wei, admittedly curious, relinquished his ce in front of theputer. He indeed wanted to see what the newly famous forensic expert Jiang Yuan intended to do. Jiang Yuan took the seat without hesitation, looked at the surveince footage in front of him, and asked, ¡°Is any image okay? As long as I can see the face clearly, right?¡± ¡°As long as you can recognize the face, that¡¯s enough. We¡¯ve been following the clothes so far.¡± In fact, tracking through surveince footage is far from simple. First of all, surveince footage is never fully panoramic with no blind spots. Most art galleries and museums can¡¯t achieve this, let alone on public streets. Of course, certain streets in some cities might achieve this, and in such ces, thefts are usually unlikely to ur. Secondly, when walking on the streets, there will always be obstructions, sometimes branches, sometimes vehicles, sometimes too many people, and the person being followed may be too short. Additionally, entering buildings and riding in vehiclesplicate the task of following someone through surveince footage¡ªit¡¯s actually quite a painstaking venture. Of course, except for bootlickers! This also takes into ount the conscious avoidance efforts by the person being tailed. For instance, a single disappearance in a blind spot can cost the surveince officers an hour or two of their time to find the trail again. So, for Zhuang Wei and his colleagues, the decision to follow the surveince video and seek out high-quality cameras to capture appropriate images was questionable¡ªit wasn¡¯t wrong, it was just a waste of manpower, time, and energy. Many people who have lost their phones go to the police station to report the incident and always hope that reviewing the surveince video will help find the thief. Often, they tend to overestimate the capabilities of the police officers handling the case, as well as their patience and determination. For Jiang Yuan, however, this process waspletely unnecessary. Zhuang Wei and the others simply chose a clumsy method due to theirck of technical skills and insufficient pick-up prowess. Jiang Yuan had it easy. He simply found a video clip that revealed the suspect¡¯s full face, then enhanced the entire video. Next, he examined it frame by frame, selected a dozen or so images, and used image registration, followed by super-resolution fusion. In the end, all that was left to do was denoising and deblurring. In just a quarter of an hour, using a few software programs already on hisputer and finally, on Photoshop, the suspect¡¯s facial contours and expressions gradually materialized. The frenzied work of theputer didn¡¯t even take more than 5 minutes. The female victim pped her hands in glee, nodding vigorously, ¡°It¡¯s just like they show on TV. I knew it, they had just said there were none.¡± Meanwhile, Zhuang Wei and the others could barely keep their jaws from dropping in amazement. This type of story,mon on TV but rare in reality, is like watching the Dakar Rally. You know how they drive, but what does that have to do with your dailymute? Is it because your car is good enough? Or your driving skill is excellent, or perhaps your co-driver is exceptionally cooperative? The same is true for those working in image processing. In recent years, Image Investigation has be an esteemed field. A slightly more skilled investigator can truly solve cases. Such incidentsst urred when the concept of DNA was not yet widespread. But even the Image Reconnaissance Brigade from the provincial headquarters, during the time when Jiang Yuan participated in the fingerprintpetition and performed image enhancement, watched him in stunned silence. At that time, Jiang Yuan only possessed Level 3 image enhancement skills. In other words, Level 3 image enhancement was enough to outperform the provincial bureau¡¯s investigators. Level 5 image enhancement¡­ Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t even able to showcase his full potential this time. This was also because the skills required for image investigation were both highly specialized and popr. Being ¡°hardcore¡± means that it demands a high level of foundational knowledge, thus requiring a higher degree of education for professionals in the field. Those with higher education have more job choices and are good at passing exams. In an era where advancement often requires examinations, even if someone favors official positions, they might not choose to be a police officer. On the other hand, if one wants to make money, mastering top-notch imaging techniques, equivalent to Level 3 skill, would result in a hundredfold higher rewards at various inte giants or professional firms than what they would earn as police officers. Even more so, if one is determined to pursue a career in criminal science and technology, just working for apany that sells surveince equipment would be more rxing and profitable. If one¡¯s skills are even stronger, there is greater significance in working with big data. In a small county like Ningtai, where major streets were still not covered by surveince, only two images were needed to conduct analyses. In bigger cities like Changyang City, even a brigade-sized team of image investigators wouldn¡¯t suffice. In some cities, Image Reconnaissance Brigades were bingmon, established based on districts. But ultimately, as the number of surveince cameras increase, it¡¯s impossible to rely solely on human eyes to keep up with the footage¡ªwhether it¡¯s data processing or identification, technology is necessary to address these challenges. In such an environment, it¡¯s impossible for Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s imageb to have ultra-advanced geniuses. It¡¯s as if everyone else is a beast of burden, and in the profession of Image Investigation, that burden is akin to a horse. Other professions may have their donkeys, mules, and oxen, and some could still produce diligent, uining workers of outstanding quality in various aspects. But not those that require horses. The fast runners, the beautiful ones, those with long legs, big chests, long hair, hairless, or those with plump rears¡­ any outstanding trait guarantees they¡¯ll be poached elsewhere. Even the dwarfish ones could serve as pet horses. So, to put it more nicely, whether it was Zhuang Wei in his thirties or Gao Jiansheng in his twenties, they were all nags. As they aged, their breed was not going to change. ¡°Print it out?¡± asked the long-legged racehorse Jiang Yuan, havingpleted the image, turning to the others. ¡°Oh, yes, print it out,¡± Zhuang Wei was still somewhat dazed. With a series of mechanical noises, a photo of the suspect,plete with nose and eyes, was printed out. The rity of the photo itself was mediocre, and the printer was substandard, but one could still discern the person¡¯s face clearly. If it was just for passing around, it should suffice. Jiang Yuan picked up the leftover eggs and, saying ¡°I need to go to another office,¡± went off to busily attend to his own affairs. The few people in the image office looked at each other, not yet having recovered from the reality of beingmon workhorses. The reporting woman stood up, revealing her pale yellow hip-hugging skirt and even whiter legs. She called out with a warm face, ¡°Officerrade, can I add you on WeChat?¡± ¡°If you need anything, you can approach them, I¡¯m a forensic expert.¡± Jiang Yuan handed thedy a red egg and walked away. Clutching the egg, thedy took several seconds to realize what ¡°forensic expert¡± meant, and then, her grip rxed, the egg shattered. Chapter 124 - 124 122 A World Without Thieves ?124: Chapter 122 A World Without Thieves 124: Chapter 122 A World Without Thieves ¡°Gone that long?¡± Wu Jun sat by the office window, leisurely smoking a Zhonghua, with a pot of Diao Lan beside him that already had three or four cigarette filters stuck in it. To be honest, a week ago, Wu Jun didn¡¯t have the mood to smoke so leisurely. Being the only forensic doctor in a county was genuinely exhausting. Jiang Yuan ced the remaining red eggs on the table and said, ¡°I went to the Image Investigation office to see them working on the imaging, and I gave them a hand.¡± ¡°The work in imaging is also very troublesome,¡± Wu Jun remarked to show he understood, and then offered a cigarette to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Take it easy, don¡¯t be so anxious. We work in the county, not for money, not for fame. What we can get is a slower pace of life, to live more like normal people, right?¡± Jiang Yuan, hearing about living like normal people, couldn¡¯t help but smile slightly at Wu Jun and said, ¡°We¡¯re forensic doctors now, can we really live like normal people?¡± ¡°About that¡­¡± Wu Jun cautiously nced around, then stood up to close the door and took out his Guan Yu statue from the drawer, hanging it on the door, lighting the incense, and finding the time to take a drag from his Zhonghua, he said in a calm voice, ¡°In this life of mine, I¡¯ve done nothing to feel guilty about. I¡¯ve feared and worshipped what I should have, but as for your generation, I don¡¯t know.¡± Wu Jun pulled Jiang Yuan in front of the Guan Yu statue. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow and pay his respects. ¡°Right, you¡¯ve seen enough dead bodies this time. In the future, when youe across a case with ten or eight casualties, just pray to Guan Yu,¡± Wu Jun said, pondering for a moment to decide on a number, and then dered, ¡°When there are eight victims, pray once. Let¡¯s keep it safe.¡± Jiang Yuanughed, ¡°Where can you still find a case with eight dead these days?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you just encountered one?¡± Wu Jun said, ¡°There are plenty of psychos. If you look hard enough, you¡¯ll find them. Like this case, if it weren¡¯t for Li Sanqiu stumbling upon hikers, who knows when and in what condition the bodies would have been discovered next time?¡± Jiang Yuan had no choice but to pray to Guan Yu again and said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s put it away, lest someone sees.¡± ¡°Let them see if they see,¡± Wu Jun said, though he still carefully put it away and continued, ¡°Twenty years ago, there were many murder cases. Famous ones like the case in the central region, where the murderer wanted to retaliate against society and made homemade guns to kill randomly. Later, he even stole official weapons and killed quite a few people.¡± ¡°Anti-social personality disorder?¡± ¡°Perhaps. But the things this guy did back then aren¡¯t something people can¡¯t do now. He made his guns in a machine tool factory, using only a rtive¡¯s hunting license for the gunpowder¡­¡± Wu Jun prattled on. Jiang Yuan just brewed a cup of tea to listen, then read the newspaper for a while, and it was time to get off work! ¡­ The next day. The sun rose as usual. Work proceeded normally. Jiang Yuan also appeared at the office as usual. Wei Zhenguo showed up at the office, which was unusual. ¡°You did this, right?¡± Wei Zhenguo and Jiang Yuan were very familiar with each other, and he asked directly upon meeting. He was holding the criminal suspect¡¯s portrait, printed out yesterday. A middle-aged man wearing a hat, standing under a big tree, looking up at the sky with a somewhat silly expression, was captured by the camera. Jiang Yuan nced at it and nodded, ¡°I did this for the Image Investigation office yesterday, and it has reached your hands?¡± ¡°Yes, our team six used to handle more theft and break-ins. Since I just got back, the captain let me take it easy for a few days and handed me this case,¡± Wei Zhenguo exined casually. ¡°Is Mu Zhiyang doing okay?¡± Jiang Yuan had returned even earlier than Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo nodded, ¡°His arm function and everything are fine now, just still needs some rest. When Wen Ming brings him back, he¡¯ll stay in our Ningtai hospital for a few more days, and then he should be pretty much recovered.¡± ¡°There won¡¯t be any seque, right?¡± ¡°No,¡± Wei Zhenguo said and then looked over at Wu Jun, suggesting, ¡°If you¡¯re free, how about we work on this case together?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s feelings of guilt subsided quickly, and he asked curiously, ¡°Isn¡¯t this case already done?¡± ¡°It¡¯s done for the Image Investigation team, but for us, it¡¯s just the beginning,¡± Wei Zhenguo said with a bitter smile, ¡°Most importantly, we need solid evidence. Ideally, there would be video or photos capturing him in the act. Next, we need to prove that he was indeed present around the crime scene during the time frame of the incidents. Third is to see if we can find where he disposed of any possessions and photos to prove he hase into contact with the stolen goods. That¡¯s how weprise a fairlyplete case.¡± Jiang Yuan uttered an ¡°oh,¡± then asked, ¡°If I weren¡¯t helping with the search, how would you guys crack the case?¡± ¡°We might not crack it, or we might only catch evidence of one incident and try to dig deeper. If we really want to solve it, then we¡¯d stake out the scene, waiting for them tomit the crime, and catch them red-handed.¡± Wei Zhenguo casuallyid out several ns before stating, ¡°What I really want is to catch a big one.¡± ¡°A big one?¡± ¡°Thieves spread information very fast. If we use video surveince to catch and sentence Lao Juan, that suspect, then these guys will be extra cautious about cameras. The key surveince cameras might even be damaged,¡± Wei Zhenguo exined. ¡°Damaging the cameras could get them caught, right?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel like spending two or three months on such a small case,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, having dealt with major cases before, so he was somewhat dismissive of the petty thefts in the county now. Jiang Yuan then looked towards Wei Zhenguo, waiting for him to continue. Organizing his thoughts, Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°There are only about five traditional pickpockets left in the county, and one of them hardlyes out anymore. My idea is, can we use video investigation to nail down evidence against all five, then catch them all at once, and after that, the market will be quiet?¡± Wu Jun was now a bit curious, ¡°Really only five left? You know this, and they haven¡¯t been caught yet?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like I¡¯ve been busy recently,¡± Wei Zhenguo had said, then added, ¡°Actually, they¡¯re all habitual thieves. Don¡¯t be fooled by their ages, in their forties and fifties. Their skills are nothing special, and they aren¡¯t particrly brave. Some even tried their luck in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, but couldn¡¯t make it there, so they had no choice but toe back. Not capable of anything else, they spend all day just thinking about how to steal things. And they barely steal anything of value at all.¡± Jiang Yuan had some understanding of these middle-aged crisis-stricken thieves yesterday, and found it slightly amusing, but he didn¡¯t have an ounce of sympathy to offer. He thought for a moment and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just send the files over to me? If there are a lot of videos to watch, it might take some time.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll go get them,¡± Wei Zhenguo responded and ran off. It didn¡¯t take long before he came running back with the four-eyed guys of the first, second, and third generation. Having heard that Jiang Yuan was going to work on some image investigation, they all wanted toe and see. ¡°Where do we start?¡± Gao Jiansheng, the third-generation four-eyed guy, seemed even more eager than Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s start by looking for any existing footage of the crime. If we have that, just rifying the facial images a bit to identify who is who will be enough,¡± Wei Zhenguo also asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s start searching then,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who didn¡¯t waste any words and began searching the videos right away. Gao Jiansheng edged closer to Jiang Yuan, watching intently without blinking, eager to learn some secret techniques. The image enhancement Jiang Yuan performed yesterday had taken Gao Jiansheng some time to get his head around, but today, seeing Wei Zhenguo and recalling Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations from yesterday, his feelings werepletely different. Being one of the younger third-generation four-eyed guys and not having been at the county bureau for long, Gao Jiansheng still harbored some illusions about the technology. In this respect, he had something inmon with Wang Zhong. However, Jiang Yuan did not have high hopes for Gao Jiansheng mastering the image enhancement technology. Its value was much higher than that of fingerprintparison. Fingerprintparison greatly depends on talent, but it also has a high ceiling for those whopensate through hard work. With careful effort, and a bit of guidance, reaching level 2 performance is within normal expectations. If someone has a bit of talent in that area, or is especially hardworking, they might even have a chance to reach level 3. But image investigation technology doesn¡¯t work that way. Ultimately, it¡¯s mostly about mathematics, then physics, and also requires knowledge of algorithmic and otherputer technologies. So, without a strong theoretical foundation, an average person could work themselves to death and still only achieve level 1, without even a chance to approach level 2. Although it is said that starting to learn mathematics at 30 can lead to some sess, how many working people actually have the drive to start learning mathematics at the age of 30? Based on this, Jiang Yuan just continued to work on the videos on hisputer without any intention of exining. Because he didn¡¯t exin, Gao Jiansheng found it quite enjoyable to watch. It is well known that terms like Fourier can be depressing. If you don¡¯t mention it, you might not think about it. Jiang Yuan set up six screens to watch at the same time and, together with Wei Zhenguo, focused on three screens each. Before long, they caught the figure of a pickpocket stealing from someone on a surveince camera at the bus station. With a few keystrokes, Jiang Yuan captured all the footage of the thief in action. The video at this point didn¡¯t clearly show the thief¡¯s face. Jiang Yuan proceeded as before, first processing the entire video, then extracting a dozen or so frames separately to be enhanced for rity. There is an established routine for this, and existing software to operate it. To Gao Jiansheng, Jiang Yuan seemed to just press a bunch of shortcut keys, just like the day before. This made Gao Jiansheng quite happy. The expressions of the first- and second-generation four-eyed guys were also very uplifting. The process seemed quiteplex, but it wasn¡¯t entirely impossible to learn. If they learned this technique, it would be far too easy in the future to capture high-resolution images from videos and catch thieves. Jiang Yuan saw the expressions of the three men but pretended not to notice. In fact, his operation was not fixed, and as he continued working on other videos, the three of them would probably start to realize that. This kind of thing is a bit like using software for hacking. Normal hackers go about their business using software too; no one actually sits down and codes an entire software from scratch for personal use. But when it reallyes down to the depth of technology, it gets a lot moreplex. What Jiang Yuan was currently doing, for example, was mainly aimed at portraits. Sharpening blurry license tes, amon task in criminal investigations, involves an entirely different set of techniques. Of course, having a few tricks up your sleeve is always better than none at all. Jiang Yuan kept silent and just continued his work, digging out thieves. In a short while, Jiang Yuan had secured evidence of crimes for three thieves for Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo started off all smiles, but gradually, his expression turned mncholic. ¡°What are you thinking about, Wei?¡± Wu Jun asked curiously. Wei Zhenguo sighed, ¡°I¡¯ve actually been catching thieves for half my life, especially these pickpockets. I used to set up inclothes teams just to catch them. Now though, pickpockets can¡¯t go hungry. Those who can change professions have done so, leaving only these five clumsy thieves. Once we catch them all in one go, Ningtai City won¡¯t have any living pickpockets left on the streets.¡± Just as Jiang Yuan was processing the fourth one, he asked, ¡°Do you want me to leave a ¡®seed¡¯ for you?¡± ¡°No need, no need,¡± Wei Zhenguo hastily apologized, ¡°I was just running my mouth. Go ahead and catch them. If I ever feel nostalgic for pickpockets, I¡¯ll just go to Qinghe to watch.¡± Chapter 125 - 125 123 The Same World ?125: Chapter 123: The Same World 125: Chapter 123: The Same World The portraits of the five thieves had been extracted and printed into a booklet, which was handed over to Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo let out a sigh, took it, and left. His visage, weathered and indescribable, resembled a regr customer who watched a familiar and charming youngdy get married, slightly sentimental, a bit heartbroken, and somewhat provocative, but that did not interfere with his care for the other youngdies. Speaking of which, all five thieves had been personally apprehended by Wei Zhenguo. He didn¡¯t have a strong recollection of them, but now that they were mentioned again, their memories came flooding back. Lao Juan had naturally curly hair, quite handsome when he was young and shared a vague, unclear rtionship with the widow twenty years his senior living next door. Now he was older, his looks had declined sharply, and there were no more rumors about his affairs. Another was a miscreant from the vige, with three older brothers. As the youngest, his wife ran off with someone else after marriage, and he became idle and turned to petty theft. Another one was an orphan,cking elder guidance in the family. The other two also had their fair share of family issues. Thinking back on the information about these five, Wei felt a headacheing on. They kept making mistakes and never changed, always harboring a sense of blind luck. He had caught many thieves, and with his extensive experience and deep qualifications, Wei Zhenguo now mostly dealt with burries or gang theft, as well as itinerant thieves. Petty thieves like pickpockets were usually left for rookies to practice on. Because the value of the cases was too low, investigating such cases often turned out to be moreplicated than others¡ªif it¡¯s said that murderers always lose out during interrogations, then pickpockets belong to the profiting side in interrogations. Unlike murderers whock training, pickpockets are all too familiar with police stations and investigative centers. Many pickpockets started thieving at a very young age, would take a few years off, then resume stealing, rest again, and keep stealing. Having experienced many interrogations and suffered a fair bit, they often could weigh the pros and cons very well. Prison was inevitably in their future, but they always found ways to make their jail time shorter and morefortable. This kind of experience is truly foreign to most murderers¡ªtheir stint in prison is for life, simr to married people, for whom it¡¯s hard to get out and even harder to start over. However, this time with Jiang Yuan collecting evidence, Wei Zhenguo felt much more at ease. With Wen Ming and several other criminal detectives in tow, Wei Zhenguo went on a spree of arrests, eventually heading straight to a pickpocket¡¯s home and taking the person into custody. Thest pickpocket, Guo Jingbao, was at home eating watermelon. The condition of his home was quite good, with a color TV, refrigerator,puter, and even a crystal candle holder and a shaggy carpet in the bedroom. Although the style of the items at home was diverse, it was arrangedfortably. This was a thief who cherished his home. The stolen goods were well-kept, and the disparate items were arranged together in a way that looked quite appealing. The arriving police officers were somewhat speechless. With the skill he had for arranging and matching things in the bedroom, couldn¡¯t he do something honest instead of stealing? ¡­ After returning, Wei Zhenguo chatted with Jiang Yuan and the others, ¡°Thatst one surnamed Guo, his home was quitefortable, and when he saw us, he even insisted that police don¡¯t have the right toe into a house to arrest someone.¡± Jiang Yuan expressed his admiration. It was mainly because at his home it was just him and his dad, two grown men, and instead of any sense of artistry, the ce wasn¡¯t any neater than a pigsty if they managed to keep it somewhat tidy. ¡°This thief seems to know a bit about thew, but not quite,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked. ¡°They don¡¯t know shit about thew!¡± Wei Zhenguo expressed his contempt: ¡°Smart thieves should at least steal in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. Lurking in a county to steal, what kind of smart person would that be? Moreover, if they were really smart, after hanging around bus stations and train stations for thirty or forty years, watching people do business, shouldn¡¯t they have learned something? Why continue stealing?¡± Wang Zhong happened to stroll over andughed, ¡°Maybe he just enjoys a carefree and unrestrained lifestyle.¡± ¡°Azy and gluttonous lifestyle is more like it.¡± Nevertheless, recalling the arrest scene, Wei couldn¡¯t help butugh. ¡°When I got to his house, this fifty-year-old thief had everything clean and tidy, and the home was so warm, we almost thought we had the wrong person. There was watermelon on the table, with desserts spread generously around, living a morefortable life than us.¡± He even took photos, and as the others looked at them, believe it or not, it did look like a popr photo spot on social media. He seemed to be living earnestly. Stealing with effort, then acquiring furniture, as if living a clear and simple life. ¡­ ¡°I¡¯m off to interrogate,¡± Wei Zhenguo waved his hand and headed down to the investigation center to get busy. The conditions in the criminal investigation team¡¯s center were quite good, renovated a few years ago with the purpose of allowing anyone inside, once the big iron door closed, to have food, drinks, and work without needing to go out. This included both the criminals and the detectives. Wei Zhenguo pulled over Wen Ming and others, two of them interrogating one thief, aiming to dig up more cases. Interrogating petty thieves is just a bit of pursuit and pleasure. Otherwise, just charging for a small case with a few thousand yuan involved would be too troublesome for the prosecutor¡¯s office. Even petty thieves have their experiences, moments when they can¡¯t hold out, when they would cooperate a little and give up one or two small cases. Although this would increase their sentence, factors like ¡°good attitude of confession¡± and ¡°proactively confessing criminal facts¡± could lead to a reduction in their actual sentence, so it wouldn¡¯t increase by much. Chapter 126 - 126 123 The Same World_2 ?126: Chapter 123: The Same World_2 126: Chapter 123: The Same World_2 Entering prison like this wouldn¡¯t be too humiliating. Moreover, learning new knowledge in prison also requires time; a short sentence wouldn¡¯t be interesting at all. Of course, one couldn¡¯t really get trapped there; doing several years¡¯ time for nothing would be utterly not worth it. Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t do the interrogating himself. He just walked around the case center, seeing which team needed an extra hand, and would help out for the duration it took to poop. As he wandered around, Wei Zhenguo stopped at Guo Jingbao¡¯s interrogation room. ¡°I really haven¡¯t done anything wrong recently. It¡¯s too much the way you¡¯re arresting people.¡± ¡°No, I understand you want me to confess, that you have your tasks, but I really haven¡¯tmitted any crime recently. What could I even confess to?¡± ¡°You ask the police station¡¯s folks; haven¡¯t I been showing up lesstely?¡± Guo, with his assured arguments, brought the interrogation room to a standstill. Wei Zhenguo grew a little curious. Guo Jingbao was a person whose name made a memorable impression for its inness; he said his mother wanted him to always be clean and well-fed, so she named him Guo Jingbao. He managed to stay clean daily, then made himself well-fed by stealing. He had been caught a few times already. Probably during the era when Jin Yong¡¯s martial arts novels were all the rage, he imed the name Guo Jing, leaving out the character for ¡®full,¡¯ but every time he stole something, he was incredibly stupid, with the police solving the case usually within four hours. Thus, he had the nickname Stupid Guo. This clumsy thief who couldn¡¯t even leave Ningtai County was now making the case officers speechless with his retorts. Had he gone for training? Wei Zhenguo was somewhat astonished. Thinking this over, he made a call to an acquaintance at the train station police station, like Stupid Guo had mentioned. After some customary pleasantries, Wei Zhenguo got the confirmation that Stupid Guo had indeed rarely been seen at the bus station recently. Wei Zhenguo thought it over and made calls to two other acquaintances. One advantage of having fewer pickpockets was that the few left on the market were well-known to everybody. After some inquiries, Wei Zhenguo was surprised to discover that Stupid Guo had indeed not been active as a pickpocket recently. A pickpocket with thirty years¡¯ experience was starting to ck off? Wei Zhenguo found it hard to believe. As the saying goes, a dog can¡¯t stop eating shit, and for a Labrador, there¡¯s never enough shit. A thief of Stupid Guo¡¯s age would be at a critical time for saving for retirement; how could he possibly take a break? His home setup didn¡¯t look like one that was short on money. Wei Zhenguo thus was certain that Stupid Guo had another case on his hands. He knocked on the door, then entered. Wei Zhenguo nodded to the two officers conducting the interrogation and immediately asked Stupid Guo, ¡°Have you really notmitted any crimes recently?¡± ¡°I really haven¡¯t,¡± Stupid Guo insisted. ¡°Show him the video,¡± Wei Zhenguo signaled the interrogation officer. ¡°Now you¡¯re showing it?¡± the interrogation officer was puzzled. Normally, this kind of evidence is withheld, to pressure the suspect into confessing, unless they happen to confess to this particr case; otherwise, it¡¯s considered an insincere confession. An insincere confession, or a partial one, means that previous confessions wouldn¡¯t even count as voluntary, naturally having a significant impact on the possibility of a reduced sentence. This model forces you to keep confessing, non-stop, until you have nothing left to spit out, and only then do they give you a break, forcing you to resume confessing. Many petty thieves end up falling into this trap, trying to take a little advantage only to suffer a bigger loss. Even worse is when some interrogation officers create a bizarre atmosphere in the interrogation room, with offers like ¡°two cases for an eighty percent confession, three for seventy, and free shipping with ten or more,¡± enticing the suspect to confess to more cases. However, Wei Zhenguo had his own ideas and nodded again. The interrogation officer then yed the captured video footage. It showed Stupid Guo stealing luggage at the bus station. ¡°This¡­ I just took it without thinking,¡± Stupid Guo didn¡¯t even seem to think he was stealing. ¡°What was inside?¡± ¡°Nothing valuable, just clothes, shoes, stuff like that. These days, people¡¯s luggage isn¡¯t interesting.¡± ¡°There was a pair of headphones inside, wasn¡¯t there?¡± Wei Zhenguo had done his homework in advance. The victim had reported the theft, and one phone call made everything clear. After hesitating for a few seconds, Stupid Guo said, ¡°I just took a pair of headphones.¡± Wei Zhenguo asked, ¡°Besides that, what other cases have youmitted recently?¡± Stupid Guo lowered his head. ¡°None.¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s hackles rose with his detective¡¯s instincts; if he couldn¡¯t tell there was a case here, his decades on the force would have been in vain. Wei Zhenguo gave a snort and directly asked, ¡°If you haven¡¯t beenmitting crimes, where does your iee from?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t¡­ haven¡¯tmitted any crimes.¡± ¡°If you haven¡¯tmitted any crimes, where do you get the money for food and drink, for everything you use?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked again. The two young officers in charge of the interrogation understood and couldn¡¯t help but feel a jolt of energy. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯ve been saving money,¡± Stupid Guo said. ¡°From before?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Where is it saved? In Alipay, WeChat, or in a bank ount¡­?¡± ¡°No¡­ it¡¯s, you know, cash.¡± ¡°You saved it in cash?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°When did you save it, and how did you earn this money?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked calmly, unafraid that he wouldn¡¯t get to the bottom of it. After all, the majority of Stupid Guo¡¯s ie came from pickpocketing, and he would be caught once every two or three years; in faster times, he would end up inside once a year or two, a cycle of about four to five years. When he was younger, his rtives would help out, but at his age, no one bothered anymore. Therefore, saving money was a possibility for Stupid Guo. However, the influx of arge sum of money, or the source of an unexpected windfall, was certainly worth investigating. Stupid Guo tried to exin further, but when he couldn¡¯t make it clear, he simply stopped talking, ready to deny everything obstinately. Wei Zhenguo, sitting opposite, fiddled with his fingers and after about ten minutes said leisurely, ¡°Guo, we¡¯ve known each other for over 20 years, haven¡¯t we?¡± Stupid Guo still didn¡¯t make a sound. Usually, for small-time thieves like him, cooperation with the detectives was the norm; strong confrontation was out of the question. Especially since the officers were already ying good cop, if a small-time thief like himself didn¡¯t y along, even Stupid Guo felt it was inappropriate. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and said, ¡°When I started out, you were already a thief. Now you¡¯re getting older, and you¡¯ve pulled such a big stunt. Seeing you¡¯re not talking, I¡¯m guessing someone¡¯s life is in your hands, right?¡± ¡°No, Brother Wei, there¡¯s no need, is there?¡± Notpletely foolish, Stupid Guo finally spoke up, ¡°If you really need a brother to take the fall for a case, find someone usible. Can you really justify a murder case?¡± Wei Zhenguo observed Stupid Guo¡¯s demeanor and felt it was unusualpared to the past. Given Stupid Guo¡¯s age and history, it was clear he couldn¡¯t have suddenly developed a higher criminal acumen. What did this imply? It implied someone had taught him. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s interest was piqued; he asked a few more questions, confirmed his thoughts, and then left the room. The three people left in the interrogation room were perplexed, but Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t say to stop, so the two detectives continued their conversation game with Stupid Guo. Wei Zhenguo first found the image analysis office and then took them to find Jiang Yuan. What he needed to do was facial reconstruction. The two video segments already cut were both of Stupid Guo and another person. Young Gao Jiansheng took out the videos, still a bit embarrassed, and spoke quietly, ¡°We¡¯re still doing facial reconstructions, but we followed the method you showed us before. It seems a little clearer, but the face is still not visible, and we don¡¯t know how to adjust it.¡± ¡°The image is a bit moreplicated, the conditions of the camera itself are quite poor,¡± Jiang Yuan exined as he looked at it. ¡°There are many reasons why an image can¡¯t be produced. Many are caused by the surveince system itself, such as the sampling resolution, frame rate,pression quality, and camera angle control¡­¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you produce the image?¡± asked Wei Zhenguo, startled. Jiang Yuan made a sound of acknowledgment and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s not impossible, just a bit challenging.¡± Jiang Yuan began working with a new algorithm, quickly typingmands. In a short time, a semi-clear photograph with a visible face appeared in front of everyone. ¡°Damn!¡± Zhuang Wei, the original image analysis expert, couldn¡¯t help but curse. It seemed like everyone was doing the same work, yet it felt like they weren¡¯t in the same world. The eyes had managed it, but the hands, where should they go¡­ where should they be ced? Chapter 127 - 127 124 The Limit ?127: Chapter 124: The Limit 127: Chapter 124: The Limit Image Investigation is a criminal science specialty with a very high ceiling and a very low floor. Speaking of the ceiling, the technology for image denoising alone has already spawned countless noise and sharp image models, with more being added all the time. Different noise models and sharp image models,bined with different solving methods, have resulted in a wide variety of denoising algorithms. There are hundreds of them. For instance, the well-known BM3D noise reduction, DCT noise reduction, PCA noise reduction, K-SVD noise reduction, non-local means noise reduction, WNNM noise reduction, and so on¡­ But writing algorithms and building models isn¡¯t the highest level of expertise in Image Investigation. To effectively process the images and videos faced in Image Investigation, one needs not only a mastery of various algorithmic models but also considerable experience in procedures and methods, as well as a significant grasp of rted technologies. Of course, such high standards are hard to meet, not just within the province, but nationwide. In ces like Ningtai County, most of the time, the existence of an Image Office is only to satisfy the bare minimum requirement¡ªfinding surveince videos and keeping tabs on people. asionally losing track is no big deal. Zhuang Wei and the others were originally working just to meet the bare minimum requirement. Now, Jiang Yuan had shown them the existence of something close to the upper limit. And leaping over this chasm would inevitably be very painful. Seeing it but not being able to touch it was truly frustrating. Jiang Yuan took out another set of videos, nced at the third generation of Image men, thought for a moment, and said simply, ¡°Different graphics and images require different methods. With current technology, there isn¡¯t a universal algorithm that can work with all graphics. Of course, one could try a fewmon modules, but the effects definitely won¡¯t be that good.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan took out a vastly different wavelet transform and started setting the parameters. The core of Image Enhancement is the algorithm, and using different software is essentially choosing different algorithms. For users, after selecting an algorithm, the most important task is setting a multitude of parameters. The recordings from cases are all different, and the required targets have different processing flows, all of which are easily addressed by human intervention but difficult for programs to resolve. Just like the video Jiang Yuan was watching now, which was a long-distance surveince video against the light. The two people who were the targets appeared in the lower left corner of the video, so they were somewhat distorted. These were aspects that the algorithms might not take into ount well, and Jiang Yuan needed to set parameters and define ranges and intervals for them. This process sometimes required assistance from other programs for judgment, or it was up to the user to make an experienced judgment. Jiang Yuan toggled on and off multiple software programs, entered arge number of figures before running the programs again. The third generation of Image men watched the process clearly, slowly sinking into despair. ¡°You didn¡¯t seem to enter so muchst time,¡± the first generation Image man Zhuang Wei politely asked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan gave a grunt and said, ¡°The video condition is a bit worse this time. Also, the algorithm used is a bit different; some software requires entering more parameters.¡± Last time, Jiang Yuan worked on theputer in the Image Office, where the software had fewer algorithms to choose from and fewer parameters to set. The software installed on Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer, naturally, was better suited for him. And it was moreplex. Zhuang Wei and the two others looked at each other, not quite knowing what to say. Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t bother with such things, just sat next to Wu Jun and calmly smoked two cigarettes as he listened to the printer whirring to life. ¡°I¡¯ll get it,¡± Wei Zhenguo jumped up and swiftly pulled over four prints from the second video like a seasoned young thief. This time, Jiang Yuan chose four frames to process together. This was also one of the reasons for the multitude of parameters, as video processing was moreplex, and extracting more images made it easier to get results. After looking at the spread-out pictures for a while, Wei Zhenguo could only shake his head, take pictures, and say, ¡°I¡¯ll show it to my colleagues. Maybe it¡¯s one of the new recruits.¡± Wei Zhenguo found two groups and sent out the photos. Jiang Yuan started packing his things and handed over items like the copy USB to Zhuang Wei. Theputer¡¯s roar had just quieted down when Wei Zhenguo¡¯s cell phone rang. ¡°Where did you get this picture from?¡± As soon as the call was answered, a voice immediately asked. Wei Zhenguo said with augh, ¡°Can¡¯t say that, the case is still under investigation. Did you recognize the person in it? Do you know the name?¡± After hesitating for a few seconds, the person on the other end said, ¡°It looks familiar; I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s him. Check for Zhang Wanjie in the database and see if it¡¯s him.¡± ¡°Is it your current case?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an old one, we¡¯ve listed him for pursuit.¡± ¡°Ha, let me take a look, thanks a lot, I¡¯ll treat you to a smoketer,¡± Wei Zhenguo said as he hung up the phone. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to be told; he had just finished working on the thunderingputer and opened the ¡°National Wanted Fugitive Information System,¡± entering the name ¡°Zhang Wanjie.¡± ¡°Robbery, snatching, burry, theft¡­ An infamous bandit without a doubt,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, his lips curling up with a smirk. His mood was like finding a beauty in a KTV during a random check to be a man, and a fugitive at that¡­ ¡°It¡¯s a B-level warrant from the ministry,¡± Zhuang Wei sighed, ¡°We just caught a B-level.¡± Warrants from the ministry are divided into two levels: A-level, which are the names listed by the ministry as key fugitives for capture, and B-level, which are the names listed at the request of provincial departments, with rewards and coordination all left to the provinces. However, for grassroots police officers, catching a B-level fugitive was already a very rare asion. For the Image Investigation Brigade, tracking down fugitives was actually routine work. Like the Image Reconnaissance Brigade of Changyang City, there were always officers looking for fugitives year-round, and their work was much like searching a database for fingerprints. Given the current state of surveince resources in the country, anyone had the capability to be the main character in a video; it all depended on who had the knack to spot them. Of course, that task was certainly not easy, especially for those on the ministry¡¯s wanted list¡ªwho couldn¡¯t be found by county bureaus, city bureaus, and were then reported to provincial offices before reaching the ministry. In this process, not every step might involve a desperate attempt, but variousparisons were unavoidable. Catching a fugitive without breaking a sweat was like getting a third-ss merit as easily as pie. Essentially, there was a touch of Versailles in it. Wei Zhenguo was only a step away from a fugitive and clenched his teeth saying, ¡°It only counts if we catch him; just having a lead is a waste.¡± ¡°Should we track using surveince?¡± Zhuang Wei eagerly joined in. Wei Zhenguo involuntarily looked at Jiang Yuan. ¡°They have an easier time looking than I do,¡± Jiang Yuan said practically. His main expertise was in Image Enhancement, and he wasn¡¯t sure how it worked with following surveince footage. Wei Zhenguo then gave Zhuang Wei a smile: ¡°It¡¯d be great if we could find this guy¡¯s hideout.¡± He didn¡¯t know how Stupid Guo became acquainted with Zhang Wanjie, but since Zhang was on the wanted list, he was likely very cautious. It was very possible that he wouldn¡¯t even tell Stupid Guo his hideout. Zhuang Wei enthusiastically invited Wei Zhenguo back to his office. In a ce like Ningtai County, it was rare toe across a fugitive in several years, so he was very proactive¡ªalthough it was also possible that Zhuang Wei and the others did not have the capability to unearth fugitives before, but just following the surveince, Zhuang Wei was up to the task. Wei Zhenguo was making a phone call as he entered the imaging office. The interrogation of Stupid Guo certainly needed to be intensified; Wei even had certain expectations for him. How could such a foolish thief be showing up at the bus station to meet a fugitive out of camaraderie? Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t believe it one bit. From the improvement in Stupid Guo¡¯s living conditions and the opportunity to express his artistic ir, as theft had be a daily hobby for him, it was clear that Stupid Guo must have found a new way to make a living, yet still remained as foolish as ever. Wei Zhenguo hoped to leverage Stupid Guo to pull more threads from this tangle. ¡°Let¡¯s see, we¡¯ll start looking along the route from the bus station,¡± Zhuang Wei sifted through more surveince footage from the cloud and began sifting through it bit by bit. Wei Zhenguo watched alongside, asionally helping to analyze the routes. While watching, Zhuang Wei clicked his tongue twice and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s luck seems really good, always managing to get onto these big cases.¡± Wei Zhenguo¡¯s eyes were fixed on the screen, and he chuckled without thinking, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because the technology he uses is far above the normal level.¡± Zhuang Wei was taken aback and, after giving it some thought, realized it was indeed the case. If the bus station video had been given to them, it would have been like a stone sinking into water without a trace; naturally, pursuit would be out of the question. As far as Zhuang Wei understood Image Investigation, unless the case went directly to the provincial brigade, the level of expertise at the Qinghe City Bureau was just average. But without solid evidence, how could the video possibly reach the provincial Image Reconnaissance Brigade? Zhang Wanjie might not know the details of the police system, but his long experience on the run could probably tell him where the safe boundariesy. Jiang Yuan, however, had precisely broken down this boundary and easily dragged him out into the open. With this understanding, Zhuang Wei¡¯s sense of loss deepened. It was a very high standard to clearly surpass colleagues and exceed the industry¡¯s average. Havinge to this realization, Zhuang Wei¡¯s tensed muscles rxed once more. Let it be. I¡¯m tired. Chapter 128 - 128 125 Captured in One Fell Swoop ?128: Chapter 125 Captured in One Fell Swoop 128: Chapter 125 Captured in One Fell Swoop It¡¯s strange, really. Just as Zhuang Wei, the first generation head of the surveince office, felt despair, an even more desperate situation urred. The suspect, Zhang Wanjie, couldn¡¯t be found. There was nothing odd about it; a camera had captured Zhang Wanjie heading south, but when they checked the cameras to the south, Zhang Wanjie¡¯s figure was nowhere to be found. Looking back and checking other routes, they searched high and low with no sess. Zhuang Wei, somewhat irritable, gazed at the screen. This lousy job was really too much to bear. Not only did itck any technical content, but it was also particrly draining¡ªmentally and physically. Some might handle it with more technical skill, but the exhaustion was definitely the same. With this kind of effort, one might as well be a fitness instructor at the gym. At the very least, there would be female trainees or muscr male and female trainees to share the fatigue¡­ ¡°This guy¡¯s been a fugitive for so many years, counter-surveince has be second nature to him. Let¡¯s try searching a bit further ahead,¡± Wei Zhenguoforted Zhuang Wei. ¡°Ugh, this is so annoying,¡± Zhuang Wei muttered, then pulled up the camera thatst caught the suspect before he disappeared. After a while, he chose the western cameras and estimated the walking speed, fast-forwarding a couple of frames before finally spotting a figure in the same clothing. He guessed that at the intersection, Zhang Wanjie had pretended to go forward but actually turned right. Wei Zhenguo immediately sat up straight and said, ¡°That must be him. Well done, old Zhuang.¡± ¡°Well done, nothing. It¡¯s just some useless experience,¡± Zhuang Wei replied with a slight sense of aplishment. But as the video progressed, Zhuang Wei quickly lost sight of the target again. Even with video surveince, they managed to lose track of the person. The sense of loss quickly engulfed Zhuang Wei, his keystrokes growing louder in frustration. ¡°Have a smoke, have a smoke,¡± Wei Zhenguo offered with a chuckle, presenting a Zhonghua cigarette to Zhuang Wei. ¡°I just can¡¯t find him,¡± Zhuang Wei said, epting the cigarette with a look of helplessness. Others might find excitement in watching videos; he felt exhausted to death by them. ¡°Take a break, take a break,¡± Wei Zhenguo suggested with a smile, knowing that¡¯s just how police work is: When you really want to get things done, it¡¯s as tiring as hell. He was used to these oues, working as a police officer in Ningtai County for so long. How could he not know the capabilities ofrade Zhuang Wei, the original head of the surveince office? In the past, he would¡¯ve been satisfied just to have ess to the surveince footage. Tracking someone through footage was traditionally reserved for major cases, or at least for ¡°cases assigned by the leadership.¡± It was a privilege. If you lost track, there were other ways to deal with that. Seeing Zhuang Wei¡¯s spiritless surrender, Wei Zhenguo imagined, ¡°I¡¯ll go do some work on the scene, see if I can gather more information.¡± ¡°Sure, let¡¯s look again when I get back,¡± Zhuang Wei said, swiftly closing the interface, not wanting to nce at the screen for another moment. When you¡¯ve been doing the same job for too long without any prospects for advancement, it can wear you down. Always doing the same thing¡ªwhen sessful, it¡¯s fine, but failure makes it all the more frustrating. It¡¯s a bit like ying a video game; at the beginning, you tolerate failure, but the more you y, the less patience you have for it. Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t have anyints either; he¡¯d dealt with far too many ridiculous colleagues over the years. Now, having a reliable partner like Jiang Yuan made Wei Zhenguo feel very satisfied. Even his apprentice, Mu Zhiyang, who was still recovering from an injury, gave him a strong sense of security. In these times, having someone willing to take a bullet for you was exceedingly rare. On his way, Wei Zhenguo resolved to train Mu Zhiyang well when he got back; he wanted Mu Zhiyang¡¯s value to reflect more than just taking bullets. The scene was a T-intersection with rtively wide streets. Both sidewalks had cameras, which didn¡¯t matter until someone disappeared. Once that happened, they had to check six cameras, significantly increasing the difficulty. Wei Zhenguo took out his phone to check the location where Zhang Wanjie had vanished, looked around, and then entered a diagonally located shop to request their surveince footage. The shopkeeper, with a face that looked prosperous from being generous, saw Wei Zhenguo¡¯s ID and shed a very nice smile. The shopkeeper was cooperative and without any fuss handed over the surveince footage, even offering a cup of tea with eagerness¡ªa stark contrast to the fact that they were just fined a few days ago, bearing no grudge against the police officer. Wei Zhenguo fast-forwarded the footage to three days before, checked his phone, set it to 2:40 PM, and began to fast-forward again. Minutes passed by quickly, and soon the target appeared under the shade of a tree in the camera¡¯s view. Zhang Wanjie was an experienced fugitive, but he was just that¡ªa fugitive. He had not undergone any professional training and couldn¡¯t avoid all the cameras. Besides, to be fair, there were so many cameras nowadays, especially those of various shops, that even 007 would probably need some of his gadgets to evade them. Wei Zhenguo watched Zhang Wanjie, who in turn was focused on his own phone. It was an instinctive act of counter-surveince by Zhang Wanjie, just a natural reaction. He waited under the tree cover, an area not monitored by cameras, for two or three minutes. After resting for a moment, Zhang Wanjie took advantage of arge bus passing by and crossed the street, weaving his way along the roadside. Wei Zhenguo breathed a sigh of relief, recorded the surveince footage with his phone, turned it off, thanked the shop owner, and continued tracing along the road. On the way, Wei Zhenguo sent the video from his phone to Zhuang Wei. After a while, Zhuang Wei replied on WeChat: ¡°Got it.¡± Wei Zhenguo waited on the spot and, in less than ten minutes, Zhuang Wei¡¯s call came through as expected. ¡°It¡¯s cut off again,¡± Zhuang Wei sent the specific time, along with another video forwarded from a cell phone, and Wei Zhenguo went to check it out on foot. The two coordinated in this manner, and had even noticed Zhang Wanjie changing clothes once, just barely tracking him to a residentialplex. The houses in theplex were possibly rented with the help of Stupid Guo. Wei Zhenguo shook his head privately, thinking how foolish criminals simply had no cost-benefit ratio. He didn¡¯t even know how much money Zhang Wanjie had given Stupid Guo. There weren¡¯t many cameras in theplex, nor were there any shops inside, so it became a bit more difficult to continue the search through camera footage. However, since they had narrowed it down to thisplex, the difficulty wasn¡¯t that great; it just meant having a team do a stakeout. This wouldn¡¯t be worth it for a petty thief, but for a ministry-level B-ss fugitive, it was without a doubt worthwhile. Of course, it would save even more time if Stupid Guo confessed. Wei Zhenguo stood inside theplex and called Huang Qiangmin. This was when the team leader showed his usefulness. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s question was as expected, ¡°Are you sure he¡¯s a B-ss fugitive?¡± ¡°Positive,¡± Wei Zhenguo was firm, for making a call then iming uncertainty was just inviting trouble on himself. With an affirming ¡°Hm¡±, Huang Qiangmin dered, ¡°Then no problem, I¡¯ll dispatch two squads to support you now. First cordon off the area and keep your identities hidden. I¡¯ll head over to the case center to take a look.¡± ¡°Roger that,¡± Wei Zhenguo immediately responded, ¡°With Captain Huang on the case, surely there will be no problem.¡± ¡°Cut the ttery,¡± Huang Qiangminughed and then praised, ¡°Wei¡¯s on a rolltely; like an old tree sprouting new leaves, you keep climbing higher.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just doing some fieldwork for Jiang Yuan,¡± replied Wei Zhenguo, who knew his own affairs well and smiled calmly. With nearly thirty years under his belt as a veteran detective, he had been a deputy team leader for about twenty-five or twenty-six years; could he even expect a promotion now? At his age, those who were inclined to take it easy had already done so; anyone else was looking to make a difference. Huang Qiangmin was in much the same state; his avenues for promotion were narrow too, so he understood Wei Zhenguo well, feeling a sense of kinship: ¡°Jiang Yuan has potential; it¡¯s rare to find someone from Ningtai County who¡¯s such an asset and willing to settle down here. Alright, let¡¯s arrest the suspect first, and afterward issue a press release about capturing a national B-ss fugitive, and establishing Ningtai County¡¯s record of zero pickpockets.¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s vision seemed to expand when it came to catching criminals. Wei Zhenguo chuckled, hung up his phone, bought a bottle of Pocari Sweat, and drank heartily while waiting for backup. When on duty outside, Wei Zhenguo liked to buy Pocari Sweat; it not only replenished fluids and the so-called electrolytes but was also convenient for relieving oneself¡ªbetween Gatorade and stakeout duties, you never knew which woulde first. Being prepared for anything was a veteran detective¡¯s credo. It wasn¡¯t long before about thirty people arrived at theplex, which only contained six buildings. Instructor: ¡°Building 4, apartment 201. There¡¯s a fire escapedder outside the window,¡± said the instructor leading the reinforcements, gun slung across his waist and speaking in a low voice, ¡°He¡¯s only been here for one day and is set to leave by car tomorrow. We¡¯re going straight in for the arrest.¡± The instructor of the detective squad couldn¡¯t make many decisions, particrly when the squadron leader was strong-willed, leaving the instructorrgely as a senior investigator, typically used for leading charges, showing the importance from above. Like today, where the reinforcements brought by the instructor came from several squads and even included three seldom-seen administrative staff. It was fitting for a leader at the instructor level to lead the team. Seeing the chaotic origins of the reinforcements, Wei Zhenguo knew the precinct was practically empty and asked, ¡°Has Stupid Guo confessed?¡± ¡°He has.¡± Not asking how Stupid Guo confessed, Wei Zhenguo only asked, ¡°Any other cases?¡± ¡°Yes, there¡¯s an ID falsifier who¡¯s from Ningtai. He¡¯s the one who summoned all these fugitives here,¡± the instructor replied, shaking his head in resignation: ¡°ording to Stupid Guo, the big cities are too cutthroat; he prefers toe back to his hometown. What a situation.¡± ¡°Has Captain Huang made a move on this ID falsifier?¡± ¡°His location isn¡¯t confirmed yet. Doctor Jiang is helping to look for him.¡± ¡°Then there shouldn¡¯t be any problem. Captain Huang must be pleased this time.¡± ¡°He¡¯s hoping for a big haul, in case this ID falsifier has something interesting. That¡¯s why he personally went over to see what he can,¡± the instructor proceeded at a steady pace, arriving at Building 4. Firstly, he had the building surrounded before ascending from both front and rear to the second floor. Zhang Wanjie had chosen this apartment with escape in mind, considering using the rear fire escapedder if needed. He hadn¡¯t expected that someone would just climb in through thedder¡¯s window. Given Wei Zhenguo¡¯s age, he wasn¡¯t on the front line, but when the front door was opened, he saw three strong men pinning down a naked man on a bed, while around four or five others rummaged around the room, searching high and low. Chapter 129 - 129 126 Catch the Pig ?129: Chapter 126: Catch the Pig 129: Chapter 126: Catch the Pig Criminal Police Detachment. Image Enhancement Office. Two pots of Diao Lan drooped their bodies, a delicate expression as if smoked by cigarettes, only to attract more cigarette butts to ravage. The hydroponic Scindapsus looked much cleaner, spreading its leaves without restraint, disying its form without any consideration. The 75-yuan-bought lucky bamboo seemed like a government-supported staff member, always wanting to say something in this smoky environment, to prove its existence and importance. Over a dozen men surrounded theputer, eyes fierce, almost like a group watching a rare pornographic film, their brows furrowed deep, their restlessness palpable, those little expressions that spoke of wanting to leave yet not wanting to go¡­ In front of theputer, Jiang Yuan operated with a look of helpless resignation. Stupid Guo recounted his meeting history with the youth named Xiao Ba holding a fake ID. Originally, by choosing a location with good monitoring conditions and tracking the surveince footage, it was possible to find Xiao Ba¡¯s residence and other location information. But unexpectedly, the parking lot where the two met had surprisingly poor monitoring conditions, and the nearby cameras were all in various states of disrepair. This wouldn¡¯t have been a cause forint in the past. Ningtai County had only so much budget; if more was spent on surveince, less could be spent by the bigwigs, leading to poorly maintained surveince systems that often lost systematic functionality, amon sight in many small eighteenth-tier towns. If it wasn¡¯t urgent, there were indeed solutions, like the blind cat killing a rat method: scanning the surrounding surveince in hopes of hitting the jackpot. There was also the option of reverting to the old detectives¡¯ stakeout tactics. And of course, there was the always revered ¡°investigative sweep¡± ¨C a reliable method believed in up until the era of interster colonization. Lacking other options, Huang Qiangmin would likely have made a difficult decision. However, as things go in the world, most negative emotions ultimately stem from having to make choices. Huang Qiangmin could choose to let Jiang Yuan enhance the image, try to restore the video conditions, and then he would have to obediently wait in the office, neither able to go out and hit the jackpot nor properly conduct a stakeout. And Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t guarantee he could enhance the image to a certain degree, or whether the image would contain the desired scenes¡­ At that moment, Huang Qiangmin was reminded of renting videotapes in his youth. The dark videotape covers always featured enticing images and colorful descriptions. Still, once yed, whether it contained content young people wanted to see was uncertain. But Huang Qiangmin would always choose to rent and watch anyway. Just like this time, everyone was waiting for Jiang Yuan to recover the video. For this group of burly men, it was quite an interesting experience. For Jiang Yuan, the experience was somewhat special. ¡°Don¡¯t stand too close,¡± Jiang Yuan reminded the big man beside him once again. The leader of the first squadron, Wu Junhao,ughed heartily, taking a step back, saying, ¡°My eyesight isn¡¯t good; I need to be closer to see clearly.¡± Sitting far away at the office desk, pretending to work, Gao Jiansheng, the third-generation leader, couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes. He was toozy to crowd around Jiang Yuan anymore¡ªfor what use was it for Wu Junhao if he could see clearly or not. Nheless, Zhuang Wei had to admit that Jiang Yuan looked genuinely cool enhancing the image, his movements quick and intriguing. ¡°It should be done in about fifteen minutes, guys. Do you want to sit down for a while, maybe drink some water?¡± Jiang Yuan turned around to look at the policemen from the first squadron. ¡°No worries. We¡¯re not in a hurry; we¡¯ll just watch and wait,¡± Wu Junhao said. The first and second squadrons of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment were considered the major case teams by default. The difference was that Captain Liu from the second squadron was known for being sharp and capable, while the leader of the first squadron, Wu Junhao, was somewhat more simplec. Since bing the squadron leader, he had a preference for recruiting strong, burly officers. Wu Junhao himself was quite generous, often inviting everyone for roujiamo or hand-grabbed pancakes¡ªa substantial treat considering the sry of a police officer, akin to the heroes of Water Margin feasting on beef. Over the years, the first squadron became known as the Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s strong arm. As for the environment in Ningtai County, the powerfully built first squadron proved to be very useful. Encountering any violent criminals or men wielding knives and causing chaos in the pedestrian streets, they soon understood the spirit of thew upon seeing a group of more than a dozen robust men close in on them. From this perspective, Captain Wu¡¯s first squadron could also be considered thew poprization team of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Today, with the inkling of a big fish caught in the, Huang Qiangmin immediately rallied the first squadron. In the division, the few remaining members of the second squadron, along with personnel from the fifth and sixth squadrons, were all led away by the instructor, afraid that they wouldn¡¯t have enough manpower to catch fugitives on the other side. But Huang Qiangmin kept the entire first squadron behind, just waiting for a result from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side to strike directly. It¡¯s just that Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t possibly work that fast. Though he did make it look quite dazzling. Jiang Yuan restored seven or eight frames of video in one go, then searched within for Stupid Guo. Due to only having a time range, not a specific time, and an uncertain location, Jiang Yuan had to restore videos from several time periods. However, a video like this doesn¡¯t need to be restored too clearly because all we need is to find images with simr body shapes, clothes, and colors to basically confirm it¡¯s Stupid Guo. Doing a clearer and more detailed image enhancement can save a lot of trouble. Image enhancement is actually not as simple as just a flick of the wrist; some algorithms require you to run them multiple times. You run it once, and the image will change. You have to run it a second time, a third time, and a fourth time¡ªrunning it over and over, adjusting the parameters again and again until you finally get a rtively clear image. To save time, Jiang Yuan made huge changes to the algorithms and parameters. In this change, the tough guys from the squad simply enjoyed the show, while Zhuang Wei and others were sweating profusely. ¡°Why did it change again?¡± ¡°How can you adjust the parameters like this?¡± ¡°What were my notes from yesterday?¡± When there are too many soul-searching questions, Zhuang Wei couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Jiang Yuan, the way you adjusted the parameters just now ispletely different from before.¡± ¡°Yeah, because the parameters I adjusted earlier still felt like the error was too big,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°It¡¯s also very different from the adjustments before that.¡± ¡°Uh, that¡¯s because I¡¯ve even changed the algorithms,¡± Jiang Yuan softly answered, but it still made Zhuang Wei¡¯s face turn red. His brain had been working for too long, so much so that he hadn¡¯t noticed what Jiang Yuan was doing. Of course, the main reason was insufficient expertise. If your skills are poor enough, everyone looks like an expert to you; if you¡¯ve read too little, everything appears to be an unsolved mystery; if your power is great enough, everything turns into a 404. Jiang Yuan was too busy to attend to Zhuang Wei. Enhancing images is not like processing fingerprints; it¡¯s extremely mentally taxing. On top of that, with a group of strong men waiting for the results, Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus was at its limit. After a while, he had produced several images, discarded a few, and then made some more. Cycling through this routine, the others just watched Jiang Yuan relentlessly typing away, finding themselves thinking they were in the presence of greatness, wondering what era this was, when their sojourn would end¡­ Theputer¡¯s central processing unit was roaring, making one wonder if it was about to crash at any moment. Huang Qiangmin silently sent a WeChat message to the office staff: ¡°Let¡¯s just buy a newputer for Jiang Yuan. One might avoid the first day, but not the fifteenth.¡± ¡­ ¡°Found it, it¡¯s right here,¡± Jiang Yuan finally pulled out the image. On theputer screen, Stupid Guo could be seen talking to a young man. Stupid Guo was older but smiled humbly, showcasing the basic skills of a petty thief. The young man standing beside him wore a id shirt, had thinning hair, and was carrying a ck briefcase with a hint of Japanese style, coupled with ck-framed sses that gave off an unmistakable subway vibe. Jiang Yuan ran the algorithm a couple more times to make the image a bit clearer, allowing a clearer view of Stupid Guo and the young man he was talking to. ¡°This must be Xiao Ba who went back to his hometown to start a business,¡± Huang Qiangmin stared at it for a while before having it printed out and distributed to every member of the first squadron. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan continued to process the video, first mapping the trajectory of id-shirt Xiao Ba to see where he went. Following him to the parts of the video that were intact, Comrade Zhuang Wei from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s image office finally had something to do. Wu Junhao confirmed Xiao Ba¡¯s direction and decided not to wait any longer; he stuffed the printed images into his pocket, turned to Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°Let¡¯s get in the car and head towards Shuixiu.¡± ¡°Yeah, make your moves based on the situation. The key is to catch both the person and the goods. I want his information as well; don¡¯t let him destroy his phone orputer,¡± Huang Qiangmin trusted Wu Junhao, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have waited for Jiang Yuan. He went to the site to avoid interfering with Wu Junhao¡¯smand. Such arrest operations are like catching pigs; when it goes smoothly, the pig doesn¡¯t move at all, seemingly without any resistance. But if things don¡¯t go well, and the pig gets away, it turns into a heart-pounding pig-catching race. Wu Junhao responded with an ¡°Alright,¡± walked to the door of the office, and shouted, ¡°Doctor Jiang, hurry up with it, and I¡¯ll give you a massageter.¡± Jiang Yuan was startled, ¡°What?¡± ¡°My massage skills are really good. Don¡¯t believe me? Ask the guys, right?¡± Wu Junhao called out. A dozen strong men echoed in unison, ¡°Yes!¡± Chapter 130 - 130 127 Serene Years ?130: Chapter 127 Serene Years 130: Chapter 127 Serene Years The scorching sun zed overhead. Skin seared by its heat. Car engines roared, air conditioning off. Vroom¡ª Exhaust spewed from the tailpipe, a plume of hot gases, nearly melting the asphalt below. Wu Junhao sat in the passenger seat, meticulously oiling his small shield, keeping it maintained. Yes, he had a small shield¡ªtransparent, round, andpact. Once strapped to the arm, this transparent circle became incredibly hard and powerful. Wu Junhao¡¯s Baton Shield Skill was quite renowned in Qinghe City. Various property managementpanies often invited him for demonstrations. In actualbat, Wu Junhao was a reliable enforcement guarantee for the assault team. When they reached the destination, Wu Junhao slowly lifted his head. Instead of the fierce expressionmon in television dramas, he calmly opened the walkie-talkie and said, ¡°The factory ahead is where our target is located. You¡¯ve all seen the photo, so keep a sharp eye out.¡± There was crackling static from the walkie-talkie, no one spoke. The members of the assault team might be careless in other tasks, but when it came to apprehending suspects, they were true professionals. Wu Junhao continued, ¡°This search wasn¡¯t easy. You¡¯ve seen what Doctor Jiang¡¯s gear can do¡ªit¡¯s almost magical. This time, we aim to catch a big fish.¡± Wu Junhao added, ¡°But no matter how important the mission, we all have only one life. If the person runs, we can chase again. We have so many brothers here; we not only need to have confidence in ourselves but also trust in each other. If you can¡¯t keep up or are uncertain, let go and let someone else take over.¡± At this point, Wu Junhao spoke again, ¡°Alright, the n has been discussed. No more talking. Those on internal duty stay in the cars to keep watch and maintainmunication. Everyone else, follow the n.¡± ¡°Car Two, received.¡± ¡°Car Three, received.¡± It was then that the others in the remaining vehicles acknowledged, rather nonchntly. For the assault team, an arrest operation was all toomon and routine. Wu Junhao himself disyed a solemn yet indifferent demeanor. He and the officer in his vehicle wore police uniforms, but the six people in cars Four and Five were in in clothes. Consequently, cars Four and Five parked a bit farther away. The inclothes officers snuck through gaps between other factories to block the target¡¯s back exit. Only after the officers blocking the rear were in position did Wu Junhao give a wave of his hand. Several cars drove up to the factory simultaneously, and a troop of police officers burst through the door. The factory door was open, a simple push and they were inside. The interior was spacious, a few machines thundering away, one man engrossed in his work in front of a machine. Upon hearing themotion, he looked up and was stunned to see a group of officers. Tools ttered to the floor from his hand before he quickly picked them up, contemting an escape without knowing where to run, clutch tightly onto a wrench in his hand. Wu Junhao and the others immediately identified him as the target. The features on the printed photo, Wu Junhao remembered them all too well. A contingent of officers, batons in hand, formed an arc and closed in. Wu Junhao was among them, his small round shield held in front, ready for action¡ª Arge circle closing in on a smaller one. The young entrepreneur who had returned from big cities stood foolishly with a wrench, intending to resist yet unable to control the trembling in his legs. At the same time, the inclothes officers guarding the back door also rushed in. Silent and swift, their experience told them to secure the escape routes first, like grabbing onto the legs of a piggy earmarked for ughter, rather than trying to block when the pig begins to charge¡ªwhich would be far too dangerous. A dozen burly men fully equipped encircled a single person by a machine, and the atmosphere grew tense with the threat of violence. In the end, the young entrepreneur threw the wrench down to the ground. ¡°Xiao Ba!¡± Wu Junhao shouted. ¡°How did you¡­¡± Xiao Ba couldn¡¯t believe it. ¡°Is your name Xiao Ba?¡± Wu Junhao was certain but still sought confirmation. Barely managing a nod, Xiao Ba replied faintly, ¡°Yes¡­¡± ¡°Put your hands on your head and squat down,¡± Wu Junhaomanded with ferocity. Without hesitation, Xiao Ba squatted, hands on head, curling into a ball for what felt like a bit more security, the shaking in his legs subsided somewhat. ¡°I won¡¯t run. I¡¯ll stay right here,¡± Xiao Ba said softly, his voice a bit whiny. Wu Junhao and the others exchanged looks, somehow feeling their intense emotions were wasted. It was like eighteen strong men gearing up to ughter a tiny chick. After such a formidable entry by so many people, the least you could do is pick up a stool and put up a symbolic fight. He dropped that wrench so eagerly; when he first picked it up, they half-expected him to use it. ¡°How did you find me?¡± Xiao Ba asked in disbelief, his voice low. ¡°Cut the talk and keep your head down,¡± Wu Junhao and his assistant both yelled. They had to shout¡ªthe emotions weren¡¯t so easy to control. ¡°I knew it, trust doesn¡¯t pay off in the end.¡± ¡°Are you guys going to handcuff me?¡± ¡°Please be gentle with the handcuffs; my skin tears easily.¡± Xiao Ba muttered, looking up at Wu Junhao and the others. Wu Junhao, holding his oiled, transparent small round shield, fingers rattling it, asked gruffly, ¡°What were you up to in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou?¡± ¡°I¡¯m really good with paperwork,¡± Xiao Ba protested, about to stand and reason with Wu Junhao. ¡°Head down.¡± A teammate beside him pressed him down. ¡­ The case center was as bustling as if it were Chinese New Year. The spider nts in the corridor stood tall and proud, growing lush and broad. Of course, it wasn¡¯t actually Chinese New Year, just the busy time before it. There were constantints about the shortage of manpower, and new people were arriving all the time. At the same time, people were still being rounded up outside, in an effort to finish before the New Year. Little Ba, who made fake IDs, once again provided a steady stream of ¡°clients¡± for the interrogation room. Just as Huang Qiangmin had predicted, Little Ba, who didn¡¯t really follow the rules of the underworld, indeed had kept a lot of ¡°material for ID making.¡± He had decided to return to his hometown to develop his business precisely because he had built up some customer resources and couldn¡¯t afford a house in the big cities. Additionally, unlike the older generation of criminals, Little Ba had learned how to take orders online, and had ovee geographic constraints, making his business quite sessful. If he hadn¡¯t been caught, Little Ba would have started preparing to build his own guesthouse, which would have conveniently serviced identity card applicants, offering a secure, one-stop shop for travel and ID services. Huang Qiangmin quickly rounded up four squads of detectives, and without much ado, identified information about three fugitives. Although these three were not as high-profile as the B-level fugitive from a few days earlier, their captures still brought a sense of joy at having gained something for nothing. It was like scavenging from the sea; albeit there was effort involved, it still felt like freeload. The tidees in. And it goes out. ¡­ Wednesday at noon. Wei Zhenguo, after squeezing everyst drop of usefulness out of Stupid Guo, packaged him up and handed him over to the prosecutors at the county prosecutions office. Compared to the other four middle-aged thieves, Stupid Guo¡¯s sentence was undoubtedly going to be much longer. It was likely that by the time he got out of prison, his mid-life crisis would no longer exist, and he would have reconciled with the world. When the five thieves were sent away, Jiang Yuan also got his newputer. A brand-new mainframe¡ªthetest model, albeitst year¡¯s version¡ªapproved for purchase by the county bureau. Jiang Yuan was nheless very pleased. After all, it was more than five years more advanced than his oldputer; given the purchasing habits of the county bureau, an eight to ten-year advancement wouldn¡¯t have been a surprise. Jiang Yuan happily installed all the necessary software and opened up a novel to read contentedly. Reading novels on a newputer was indeed a lot more fun! Seeing him so foolishly happy, Wu Jun felt cheerful too, and he took out a Zhonghua cigarette to smoke quietly on his own. The quiet office, the tranquil detectives¡¯pound, along with the thief-free Ningtai County¡ªwhat a splendid and prosperous time! ¡­ ¡°Love is eternal, even in death, it wouldn¡¯t be satisfying without a full release¡­¡± Wu Jun¡¯s phone vibrated and sang out loud. Wu Jun went to answer it, grunted a couple of ¡°hmm-hmms,¡± then took his time to finish thest half of his cigarette, flicking it into the flowerpot before turning to Jiang Yuan, ¡°We¡¯ve got to go, there¡¯s a case with a severed hand; let¡¯s check out the scene.¡± ¡°That¡¯s vicious. Is the person still alive?¡± Jiang Yuan immediately started packing his things, asking as he walked. ¡°Alive, sent to the hospital,¡± Wu Jun pocketed the remains of his cigarette, talking as they moved. ¡°The victim fainted, says he doesn¡¯t recognize the attacker, and so far, we haven¡¯t found the perpetrator.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression instantly became much more serious and earnest. The judicial systems at home and abroad differ greatly. Overseasw enforcement officers have to consider the litigation process first and foremost, because if that fails, even a seemingly solid case is worthless, as insubstantial as duckweed. Abroad, even if everyone knows who the assant is¡ªand the criminal knows you know¡ªif there isn¡¯t sufficient evidence, you can¡¯t convict them. Police officers, including forensic doctors, must strive to prove that the criminal is indeed the criminal. For domestic forensic doctors and detectives, however, their most important task is to solve the case¡ªwith a prosecution request made, there usually isn¡¯t much else to worry about. Therefore, not knowing the perpetrator and being unable to find them at the moment made the case instantly moreplicated. Jiang Yuan and his master arrived at the scene. It was a self-built courtyard, enclosed with walls over two meters high. There wererge iron gates, double-opening, with little stone lions crouched at the entrance. The scene inside the courtyard was bloody, withrge areas of blood sprayed across the ground. If this were a chicken ughterhouse, the blood would be equivalent to that of two chickens. However, the stench in their nostrils was unmistakably the unpleasant smell of human blood. Jiang Yuan first methodically put on a mask and gloves before entering the cordon with his master. The crime scene wasn¡¯trge, but they couldn¡¯t wander around at will. The crime scene officers had drawn their lines and were taking photographs when they noticed Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun, greeting them with friendly smiles. The internal briefing of the ¡°Mount Wulong Wild Man Case¡± had already been circted, and any crime scene officer with half a brain, upon seeing the clues Jiang Yuan had found at a scene, could only praise his expertise. Since today¡¯s case had no fatalities, it should be considered a minor case for Jiang Yuan. A few of the crime scene officers were curiously observing Jiang Yuan. They saw him standing in the middle of the yard, facing the pool of blood on the ground, taking a deep breath¡­ Chapter 131 - 131 128 Bloodstain Analysis ?131: Chapter 128 Bloodstain Analysis 131: Chapter 128 Bloodstain Analysis As a forensic doctor, even a young one, Jiang Yuan had gradually be immune to the unpleasant odors at crime scenes. Standing at the scene, taking a deep breath, he felt more a sense of poignancy than disgust. It was, after all, Jiang Yuan¡¯s first experience with a bloodstain scene. Though no one had died, a nce at it still invigorated him. This was also his first time applying LV5 Bloodstain Analysis. ¡°Jiang Yuan, do you see anything?¡± Wu Jun had put on his mask and cleared his throat. He knew it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s first bloodstain scene, so he needed to make sure Jiang Yuan was in a normal state of mind. Besides, Wu Jun was ready to see how well Jiang Yuan understood bloodstain scenes. After all, as a neer in the forensic field, it was normal to have things to learn. When asked, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t overthink it. He took another look around the scene to confirm his thoughts, then pointed to the pool of blood and said, ¡°The victim lost a significant amount of blood, and the steps leading into the house are stained with what appears to be runoff patterns, which suggests that this may be where the victimy down after being injured.¡± Wu Jun nodded. That was a basic assessment, and it would be the same even if there had been a fatality. Jiang Yuan then took a photo with his smartphone, adding, ¡°The blood around the pool has dried, while the center features more congealed blood. Just from the drying pattern of the bloodstain, the bleeding seems to have urred approximately four hours prior.¡± If this had been a homicide, the time of death could be estimated in a simr manner. As he spoke, Jiang Yuan jotted down simple notes in a paper notebook, lest he forgetter and make a fool of himself¡ªwhich had actually happened to a forensic doctor before. It was the stuff of nightmares, more frightening than seeing the victim sit up straight in the morgue. Wu Jun nodded again. Estimating the time of death had always been at the heart of forensic skills. Various theories and academic perspectives would inevitably extend in that direction. In theory, a forensic doctor could pick up a twig at the scene and think, ¡°How can I use this to determine the time of death?¡± And the impressive part was that it could indeed be used for that purpose. Of course, determining the time from the blood pool wasn¡¯t particrly significant in this case, as the victim was still alive, and the person who had reported the crime had done so promptly, leaving little question about when the incident urred. However, for a forensic doctor, every bit of information at a scene was highly valuable. Judgments that could be made undoubtedly had to be made. Following that, Jiang Yuan focused his attention on the morphology of the bloodstains. In Bloodstain Analysis, the morphology of bloodstains is more important than the content. And this held true in practice as well. Bloodstains have the power to traverse time and space, making them a technology closest to Sherlock Holmes. At a violent crime scene with arge amount of bloodstains, it often means that technicians could use them to reconstruct the crime scene. This reconstruction isn¡¯t just in name but an actual re-enactment of every step the offender took towards the victim and every action the victim took before bleeding out. At this moment, for instance, Jiang Yuan first walked over to where the spatter bloodstains were located. As the name implies, spatter bloodstains ur when blood shoots out onto an object and then sshes around. If one is really curious, they could try not using a toilet during a nosebleed and instead let it happen on the spot. The resultant nosebleed would exhibit spatter characteristics. But in Bloodstain Analysis, spatter bloodstains usually don¡¯te from nosebleeds¡ªas everyone knows. They often originate from ruptured arterial vessels and therefore are considered to indicate the initial position of an attack. So, to perform Bloodstain Analysis or to reconstruct a scene like a detective who can traverse time and space, one should start with spatter bloodstains. For Jiang Yuan, LV5 Bloodstain Analysis was the perfect skill for reconstructing the scene. Hence, he first went to check the spatter bloodstains, looked around, and couldn¡¯t help but smile. From his position, he could clearly see several drops of blood in a perfect round shape near a flowerbed not far from the spatter. Jiang Yuan immediately walked over to them. This spot was slightly away from therge pool of blood. The droplets were almost perfectly circr without any tails¡­ Blood droplets with tails, which look like tadpoles orets with longer tails, indicate one thing: the blood hit the surface at an angle. The longer the tail of a droplet, the smaller the angle at which it struck the surface. Just like aet-tailed droplet, it usually strikes the surface at an angle less than 30 degrees. But the tailless droplets, like the ones Jiang Yuan was looking at, fell vertically. One could imagine, at a violent crime scene, under what circumstances would blood fall vertically? Only when droplets fall from a static person or object will they form such perfect circr droplets. The victim, being hacked at, even with severed hands and gasping in a pool of blood, would have no opportunity to be still enough to drop blood vertically. Besides, the volume was different. Therefore, the tailless droplets most likely came from the perpetrator. Jiang Yuan further deduced that since the blood droplets on the ground weren¡¯t continuous, but rather just a few droplets, they likely didn¡¯te from the victim. In other words, the droplets beneath his feet were very likely to have originated from the murderer himself. That¡¯s why Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh. Luckily, he was wearing a mask. Sometimes, or rather, in the majority of cases, it may not be necessary to reconstruct the scene to suchplexity. Jiang Yuan squatted down, carefully took photos, then used a cotton swab to collect some of the blood, wrapping the cotton in filter paper, folding it into a triangle¡ªhis usual practice. The crime scene investigators around him had all seen this before; at this moment, they all turned their heads away. ¡°Young man, you really have sharp eyes,¡± Wu Jun walked over and expressed his admiration. He too could tell that those were likely blood traces left by the murderer. In other words, with those few droplets, the case was essentially cracked. Crimes of passion, when faced with modern technology, are just that simple and direct. As for why the murderer left behind blood traces, this actually ties into a matter of experience. In fact, simr situations ur at many crime scenes ¨C to put it simply, it¡¯s an issue of experience. First-time murderers or those brandishing a weapon often find it difficult to judge the extent of force feedback from their blow. Moreover, the weapon used is often not suited to the task at hand, coupled with the high stress of the situation, incorrect application of force leading to self-injury is quitemon. Plus, due to the role of adrenaline, the injured person won¡¯t immediately feel pain, leading to neglect in cleaning up the scene. Why is the primary crime scene always emphasized in police investigations? It¡¯s because, at the primary scene, the murderer is often prone to slipping up. And why are the locations of a serial killer¡¯s initial crimes sought out in the resolution of serial homicide cases? It¡¯s because that¡¯s where the murderercks experience and is most likely to reveal ws. Simrly, why does cruelty to animals abroad garner police attention and get recorded? It¡¯s because such acts are often closely linked to violent crimes, and additionally, may represent a killer¡¯s self-training. ¡°What can you tell from the blood droplets?¡± Wu Jun continued to probe Jiang Yuan, wanting to see if his understanding of Bloodstain Analysis was up to par. Jiang Yuan looked down at the other droplets and spoke slowly, ¡°Judging from the size of the droplets, they fell from a height of about one meter. It¡¯s possible the blood fell from the murderer¡¯s fingertips as his arms hung down.¡± ¡°Hmm, quite an urate judgment. The size of these droplets is actually not so easy to determine; there¡¯s not much difference between blood droplets falling from one meter to one meter twenty,¡± Wu Jun shared his experience. The higher the blood falls from, therger the droplet bes, but since the average person¡¯s hands, when hanging down, are just about one meter off the ground, that size of blood droplet receives more attention. A droplet from one meter twenty suggests a higher injury location, or that the murderer¡¯s height is unusual. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s current abilities, determining the height from which the blood droplets fell was effortless. He confidently said, ¡°Blood droplets from one meter resemble the size of a Starbucks straw¡¯s cross-section.¡± Wu Jun was taken aback. How would a forensic doctor who¡¯s never had Starbucks proceed? Thankfully, he knew the size of a droplet that fell from one meter, so he visualized the cross-sectional area of a Starbucks straw in his mind and nodded, ¡°Those Starbucks straws are quite thick, huh? I thought they¡¯d all be like those from AD calcium milk from back in the day.¡± Jiang Yuan understood and said, ¡°Next time, we¡¯ll have someone bring Starbucks from Changyang City, and we can drink coffee while working on the case.¡± Wu Jun nodded in agreement, then added, ¡°Right, we¡¯ll drink coffee and smoke Zhonghua cigarettes while we give the murderer a good lesson.¡± While they were talking, a detective brought someone to the entrance of the yard and called out, ¡°The victim¡¯s family member has arrived.¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun looked over to see a man in his forties following behind the detective, with his right hand wrapped in gauze. Their eyes lit up. Wu Jun first signalled to two detectives standing nearby; after they stepped out of the yard and walked forward a few steps, Wu Jun casually asked the man, ¡°How did you get injured?¡± The man¡¯s voice was hoarse as he replied, ¡°I struggled with the criminal and got hurt.¡± ¡°This is the husband of the victim, he just got bandaged up at a rtive¡¯s house next door,¡± said the detective who brought him, sensing the situation and grabbing the man¡¯s injured arm to show everyone as he spoke, ¡°It¡¯s not too serious, just some bleeding.¡± Wu Jun nodded, then inquired, ¡°Where did you struggle with them?¡± ¡°Just¡­ there¡­¡± the man pointed, right near the flowerbed. ¡°And how did you get injured?¡± ¡°The other party picked up a firewood chopper to sh at me, and I blocked it.¡± ¡°Where did you block it?¡± ¡°Just over there,¡± the man pointed again to the area of the flowerbed. Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan both smiled, thinking, No cast-off blood stains, and you dare im you blocked a knife? Chapter 132 - 132 129 Speaking for the Injured ?132: Chapter 129: Speaking for the Injured 132: Chapter 129: Speaking for the Injured The victim¡¯s husband, sensing that Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan seemed disbelieving, spoke softly to exin, ¡°I just blocked once, the injury wasn¡¯t serious. That person turned around and ran away immediately.¡± To block once would result in a cast-off pattern; to block several times would result in several patterns, unless there was no injury at all. Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan smiled even more oddly. This indicated that the man before them didn¡¯t understand Bloodstain Analysis at all. As everyone knows, cast-off patterns are very easy to identify. If you want to simte it, just take a cup of blood¡­ if not avable, urine can also be used as a substitute. Fill arge cup and ssh it against a white wall, and the bloodstain or the yellow urine stain that appears will resemble a cast-off pattern. Of course, if you just want to take a quick look, water can also be used as a substitute. And the man before them was obviously lying through his teeth. The spot he pointed to did have blood, but it didn¡¯t look like a cast-off bloodstain at all ¨C his im was punctured right there and then. You don¡¯t know Bloodstain Analysis, yet you dare tomit assault? The development of the modern criminal investigation field has long raised the threshold for violent crimes. If you run away immediately after the assault, it might take the police some time to zero in on a suspect. But to return to the crime scene, especially assuming the identity of an eyewitness, without even a basic understanding of Bloodstain Analysis, how could you possibly weave a convincing lie? Wu Jun lifted his chin and gestured to the two detectives behind him. The detectives at the scene were sharper than dogs; with a wrinkle of the nose and a furtive nce at each other¡¯s positioning, they moved forward in unison two steps and immediately seized the man¡¯s arms. ¡°Don¡¯t move, okay?¡± While the older police officer spoke, the younger one quickly sped the handcuffs onto him. The cold handcuffs, slightly heavy, felt as if one was being forced to grip a handle. The victim¡¯s husband¡¯s face turned sauce red instantly. ¡°I really just¡­ I only blocked the knife. Why are you arresting me?¡± The victim¡¯s husband struggled nervously a couple of times, wanting to yell for help but not daring to do so. The rural areas of the Beining tform, including Jiang Vige, value unity. In these viges, just calling out once would usually bring someone jumping to help. But the man hesitated, sticking to his own defense, ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can find a sketch artist. I can describe what that person looked like to you.¡± Wu Jun naturally wouldn¡¯t follow his train of thought and instead asked about the weapon, ¡°The person you mentioned, did he run with the firewood knife in hand, or did he discard it before running?¡± The man pondered for a moment and said, ¡°He ran with the firewood knife in his hand.¡± ¡°What route did he take to run away? From where to where? Point it out, please.¡± The man then randomly drew a route in the yard. Jiang Yuan stepped forward to inspect and found it to be wrong. The route you describe doesn¡¯t have any bloodstain evidence from the weapon being carried. Of course, the perpetrator could have wiped the blood off the de. But what to use to wipe it? Using one¡¯s own clothes would obviously be foolish, and hand tissues you carry are probably not sufficient. Moreover, where would you dispose of the used tissues? Carrying them around would be another hassle. If you really need to wipe the blood from the knife, a more appropriate method would be to use your own underwear, wipe it off, then put your underwear back on. Not only does it not hinder movement, but it also won¡¯t attract attention on the road. But even if that was the case, you would still need a ce to change your clothes and underwear. Wu Jun waved his hand dismissively, ¡°Nothing but lies, take him away.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t lie, I swear I didn¡¯t!¡± The man then shouted at the top of his lungs. The vigers, who had already gathered nearby, slowly closed in. The detectives, holding the suspect and concerned about the possibility of a struggle, wisely stopped in their tracks. Wu Jun dered loudly, ¡°Based on our preliminary investigation, we currently believe that Liu Xiuying was assaulted by her husband. We have also collected DNA evidence. After returning to the police station, we will provide further conclusions based on the evidence.¡± The vigers were curious, standing still and silent, simply watching the scenario between the men and the detectives unfold. With the support received, the suspect stood much firmer, shouting again, ¡°I didn¡¯t lie, you¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± ¡°Police can actually discern a lot from the bloodstains,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he turned and entered the yard, ready to give the vigers a discourse on thew. He was all too familiar with the viges and vigers of the Beining tform. Each vige here typically had a n hall, with close-knit social rtionships and a tradition of armed conflict. They wouldn¡¯t easily submit even to authoritarian power. On the other hand, the vigers could be both reasonable and unreasonable. To put it precisely, each vige had its own set of principles, which wouldn¡¯t necessarily change just because a neww had been enacted outside theirmunity. Jiang Yuan could only leverage their reasonable side. Entering the yard, he stood before a spray-like blood pattern and said, ¡°This is where the incident initially took ce. Based on the morphology of the blood, we can deduce that the victim¡¯s arm was positioned here, and the perpetrator held the knife with his right hand¡­¡± Jiang Yuan introduced what a spatter bloodstain was as if he were telling a story. Then, he came to the pool of blood, and said softly, ¡°After the victim was chopped, she retreated to this spot. She was in pain, terrified, and as she lost blood, her strength diminished. She probably gave up and sat here, resting her hand on the step. Everyone can see how the blood flowed.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at the man and said, ¡°At this time, the killer still had a weapon-wielding motion, so here, there are cast-off bloodstains¡­¡± He pointed to the wall, which indeed had scattered little tadpoles. Bloodstain tadpoles, at slow speed or high angles, will release many tails. At high speed and small angles, their tails merge into a thick, spindle shape, as well as elongated spindles. All in all, Bloodstain Analysis has been developing since the ¡¯50s, and it was quickly researched extensively. A room full of blood for someone skilled in this field is like countless slow-motion actions, which can lead to many conclusions. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind spending a bit more time to teach the vigers about bloodstain analysis. This was not only about educating the public but also about solving problems. Rather than both sides bringing out a group of people, cursing and yelling at each other for hours before being taken away by the riot police, Jiang Yuan would rather take the time to tell everyone about the crime scene. This was also an indirect way to show Wu Jun and his other colleagues his capabilities in Bloodstain Analysis. After all, it was a skill at the level of LV5, which would certainly be needed in the future. Proving it now could also help withter work. For the vigers, Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnations were one thing, but as time passed, their defiant attitudes naturally tended to soften. Since ancient times,moners do not fight against officials, and the vige at Beining tform was known for its fierce folk customs, but not for being fearless. Those who should be afraid, were in fact afraid. If it had been a strong confrontation, the surrounding vigers might have held on longer. Now, with a soft introduction, the vigers felt oddly at peace. Eventually, with the vigers watching, Jiang Yuanpleted a simple reconstruction of the crime scene¡ªit was unnecessary for case analysis, but he did it with ease, and the result pleased everyone. Except for the victim¡¯s husband. As he was led into the police car under the gaze of his fellow vigers, he nearly copsed. He now knew that, although there was no camera to capture it, it was as if a camera had caught everything. The police had determined that he was the one who had chopped the person, and the victim¡¯s husband couldn¡¯t think of any reasons to overturn the case. Both angry and scared, he said, ¡°My wife said she forgave me. I¡¯ll just treat her better from now on. What right do you have to arrest me? On what grounds do you arrest me?¡± ¡°Grievous bodily harm incurs criminal responsibility. Whether your wife pursues charges or not, it doesn¡¯t affect the case,¡± the detective who sat with him said with a disdainful nce. ¡°My wife¡¯s hand is broken, and now I¡¯m being arrested. What about my child? Will you provide for him? Do you care?¡± The man struggled, his tone full of anger. The detective pressed him down with one hand and shouted even louder, ¡°Your wife¡¯s hand is broken because you chopped it off! You¡¯re going to prison because you chopped off your wife¡¯s hand, aren¡¯t you?¡± The man¡¯s couragested only a moment. After being shouted at by the police, he immediately shrank into a ball. ¡­ Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun each had a cigarette, sitting in a car without air conditioning, finding their Zhonghua cigarettes less enjoyable than usual. What the man said at the end made no sense, but it was indeed a problem. Such bizarre, utterly irrational weirdness. Jiang Yuan considered it an eye-opener. The old forensic doctor, Wu Jun, inhaled Zhonghua smoke, and through the haze, he said, ¡°Although we solved the case, the victim whose hand was chopped off might not be grateful to us afterward. Instead, she might curse us just like that man.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded somewhat helplessly, having guessed as much from the fact that the victim had not named her assant. ¡°But what we do is useful. As forensic doctors, we don¡¯t need to indulge in too much human sentiment. To speak for the deceased and the injured, to do our utmost, to do our job well, to reduce wrongful cases in this world, to make sure that the dead die with rity, and the living live with understanding,¡± he exined. Jiang Yuan listened to his master¡¯s words, nodded earnestly, and said, ¡°In our first ss at The Great Learning, the teacher said that being a forensic doctor is best for bing open-minded. ustomed to the cycle of life and death, no problem is too big, and living a good life is better than anything else.¡± Wu Jun was choked by his own secondhand smoke, coughed a few times, and then continued with praise, ¡°Your Bloodstain Analysis is really good; it¡¯s solid. It shows you listened attentively in ss and studied hard. There aren¡¯t many young people like you nowadays. Keep it up, and you will certainly surpass me in the future.¡± Jiang Yuan silently pulled out another pack of cigarettes and offered it to his master¡­ Chapter 133 - 133 130 Business Trip ?133: Chapter 130 Business Trip 133: Chapter 130 Business Trip Police dog squadron. Red bricks, ck tiles. The sunlight filtered through the dense leaves and into the yard. Dazhuang enjoyed the dappled sunlight while craning his neck in anticipation. The bubbling steam rushed towards the roof, as if the rafters themselves were drooling. Dazhuang was also salivating, squatting at the door, gazing at Jiang Yuan¡¯s figure in the kitchen. The intelligence of an ordinary dog can reach that of a three-year-old child, while a specially trained police dog like Dazhuang can reach that of at least a five-year-old, and perhaps even a six or seven-year-old. Dazhuang raised his head attentively, his eyes focused, and his mouth seemed to split into a smile. He emitted gentle humming sounds, and the fur on his belly rippled, showing how extremely happy and excited he was at that moment. Actually, Dazhuang couldn¡¯t see the pot, let alone the freezer, fridge, or any sort of food; all he could see was the busy figure of Jiang Yuan. A figure radiating brilliance! Now Dazhuang would drool just at the sight of Jiang Yuan, enough to choke his robust throat. ¡°You little rascal, waiting to eat again,¡± Li Li came out and casually stroked Dazhuang¡¯s head. Dazhuang tilted his head to the side. Dressed in his specially tailored police vest, Dazhuang looked handsome with his cool tilted head, but he didn¡¯t even nce at Li Li. Li Li, already two steps out the door, couldn¡¯t help but stiffen in surprise. You¡¯re acting strange, buddy. ¡°Dazhuang,¡± Li Li¡¯s tone became slightly more serious as she fixed her gaze on Dazhuang. ¡°Woof.¡± Dazhuang quickly turned his head to look at Li Li, his face full of enthusiasm and obedience, almost aplete turnaround from just moments before. ¡°You sneaky little thing, you¡¯re quite clever, aren¡¯t you?¡± Li Li¡¯s slender fingers vigorously rubbed Dazhuang¡¯s slightly balding forehead. Dazhuang let her do as she wished. For him, the trainers would have days each month when they were particrly stern and difficult to please. He used to be able to smell danger in the air, and although he hadn¡¯t detected it this time, the trainer¡¯s tone of voice still revealed her mood. Dazhuang was pleased that he had navigated the situation sessfully. Next up, it was time to enjoy. Jiang Yuan prepared a full basin of dog food for Dazhuang, based on a hot stewed meat meal. In addition to traditional ribs and chicken breast, Jiang Yuan had also brought some beef steak out of his own pocket today. Dazhuang sniffed the aroma of the dog food, tears of bliss welling in his eyes. It was truly damp. ¡°Go ahead and eat,¡± Li Li couldn¡¯t bear to watch any longer and waved her hand, allowing Dazhuang to start eating. Dazhuang gave a thud of a bow, plunging his head into the bowl and making a loud noise. He didn¡¯t feel any pain, or perhaps there wasn¡¯t time to show it, as he opened his mouth wide and started eating fervently. The fragrant soup soaked the fresh vegetables, the fresh ribs stirred up the fresh beef steak, and the strong scent and rich tasteyered upon each other, all conveyed through a sense of smell 1,200 times stronger than a human¡¯s, taking Dazhuang¡¯s delight straight to the heavens. A dog¡¯s life, with no regrets! Jiang Yuan shared the beef steak with Li Li and Master Wu Jun. And he buried his head in eating as well. Li Li sat at the table, her back straight and elegant due to the need to cut her steak; the sunlight on her neck made her figure even softer and more attractive. She was also engrossed in her struggle with the steak. Her bun swayed gently, just as cute as Dazhuang. Wu Jun, on the other hand, cut the steak as if dissecting a body, first trimming the edges and setting them aside, then cutting the remaining steak into neat squares. Jiang Yuan recalled how Master Wu Jun liked to arrange things when dissecting¡­ Never mind, I can¡¯t think about it anymore, or the steak won¡¯t taste good. He concentrated on eating his own steak in front of him. On the te was the steak along with two slices of onion, a mushroom cap, a piece of broli, and two slices of carrot (the vegetables were all scrounged from Dazhuang¡¯s meals). The slightly charred steak was a wonderful sensation when bitten into. There was a sense of pleasure with each tear of the teeth. Though Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have Dazhuang¡¯s nose, he was quite the foodie too. The three humans and one dog chewed their food earnestly. Pacific times. After eating, Wu Jun leaned backzily, picking his teeth. Dazhuangy downzily as well. Li Li stood up to clear the dishes; carrying bowls inside, her silhouette was incredibly attractive, her police uniform figure-hugging, and her legs appeared to measure at least a meter two in length. Wu Jun noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze and joked, ¡°Do you have a thing for the youngss? Xiao Li is not bad at all, very reliable and hardworking.¡± Gazing at her silhouette, Jiang Yuan felt a bit of a ripple, but thinking of her eating manner, as if there was another Dazhuang beside him, he shook his head firmly. After the meal. Jiang Yuan received a big red apple that was originally meant for Dazhuang. Carrying the apple, he headed to his office. Wu Jun also took an apple, muttering, ¡°Apples are good, signifying safety and peace. If there are no cases, we can rest more. After lunch, we can finish work early.¡± Jiang Yuan thought that sounded quite nice and decided to go back and continue reading the novel he hadn¡¯t finishedst time. During his student days, he had plenty of time to read novels; after starting work, he hadn¡¯t even finished one book ¨C ¡°Great Physician Ling Ran¡±. Wu Jun began flipping through the newspapers. Jiang Yuan went to clear a batch of cigarette butts for the devil¡¯s ivy and watered it as well. He then turned on his brand-newputer. ¡°Ding-a-ling-a-ling¡­¡± The telephone rang. Wu Jun frowned as he answered the call. His expression then turned serious. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Received.¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll leave right away.¡± Jiang Yuan also closed the novel interface; at this rate, he was reading slower than the author could update. ¡°Xiao Yuan, pack up a bit, we¡¯re going on a trip to Longli County together.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ ¡°A murder case?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Yes, there¡¯s a somewhat tricky case. Doctor Wang from the city will also be going, calling us to help out.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood instantly heightened, slightly nervous, a bit excited, ready to show what he was capable of. Then he saw Master Wu Jun disying a deep contemtive expression, musing for quite a while before saying, ¡°I remember there¡¯s a ce in Longli County that makes really good pig intestine and chicken stomach stew¡­ What was its name again¡­ I¡¯m getting old, can¡¯t seem to recall it, but we¡¯ll go eat there together once we arrive.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ ¡­ Since they were going dozens of kilometers away on business, Jiang Yuan passed by his family home to inform his father, grabbed some clean clothes, and then his dad stuffed him with a lot of food. They still took the department¡¯s Skoda. No air conditioning. Wu Jun was used to it, but passing by the entrance of Jiang Vige and seeing so many luxury cars, then watching his silly disciple getting into the noisy Skoda, he felt a bit sorry for him and found himself liking Jiang Yuan even more. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun went straight to the criminal police brigade in Longli County and just happened to run into Doctor Wang from the city bureau. Doctor Wang from Qinghe City Bureau, Wang Lan, was a female forensic expert with short ear-length hair, appearing to be in her forties, rather thin, her dryness only a notch better than a dried corpse, yet her eyes were very sharp. The Qinghe City Bureau, as the supervisory unit of the Longli County Bureau, would be the first to send forensic support in the event of a murder. In fact, because the city bureau almost never got involved directly in case investigations anymore, the city bureau¡¯s forensic experts¡¯ main job was to provide support to various counties and districts. As a result, they umted experience very quickly, and over time, this led to an actual improvement in their professional abilities. In smaller county towns like Ningtai, there are a dozen or so unnatural deaths per year, with murder cases amounting to about three or four. The number of autopsies falls between the two figures, but it¡¯s still in single digits for the entire year. The situation for forensic experts at the Qinghe City Bureau is different. They travel all over the city. If a county bureau has a murder case, they head to the county bureau; if a district bureau has a murder case, they go to the district bureau, and often they only perform autopsies on the most important parts, which is both efficient andfortable. If Doctor Wang Lan from the city bureau were to handle all the work that Wu Jun used to do, she alone definitely couldn¡¯t cope with it. There was a considerable amount of physicalbor involved. However, as a forensic expert at the city bureau, Wang Lan¡¯s overall workload might be roughly the same, or even higher, but the physicalbor decreased significantly, which actually allowed female forensic experts to capitalize on their strengths and enhance the meticulousness of the autopsy process. Most autopsies are sufficiently thorough with just meticulous attention to detail. But the current situation was somewhat different. Wang Lan spoke sinctly as soon as she met Wu Jun: ¡°We¡¯ve called you here because we have a difficult task this time.¡± ¡°What, is the corpse heavily decayed?¡± Wu Jun, who had been a forensic doctor for twenty or thirty years, was also not keen on performing autopsies on highly decayed bodies. After finishing, he would feel sick for several days and couldn¡¯t even eat. But duty called, and there was no helping it. Wang Lan, however, shook her head, saying, ¡°The condition of the body is rather good, just one day¡¯s time. The main issue is theplexity of the environment of death. With just the forensic doctor and crime scene investigators from Longli County, it¡¯s impossible to handle everything. That¡¯s why I¡¯ve called you to assist.¡± ¡°What makes itplex?¡± Wu Jun asked. The forensic doctor from Longli County was named Ye, famously careless. Although by professional nature, a forensic doctor should be extremely meticulous or even nitpicky, Doctor Ye was careless, never making major blunders but continually small ones, and there was nothing anyone could do. So when Doctor Wang mentionedplexities, Wu Jun didn¡¯t take it too seriously. He remained very calm, an image of seasoned stability. Wang Lan knew the situation with Old Ye from Longli County¡¯s forensic department as well. It was like there was always a student in ss with poor grades. It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t learn, but they were just careless and sloppy in their work, yet it wasn¡¯t reasonable to just expel them for that. Wang Lan exined, ¡°This case is different. The victim was an elderly scavenger who died in his own yard. He had signs of being beaten while alive. And his yard¡­ there were multiple shelves with items overturned¡­¡± At this point, Wu Jun already understood, with a sense of rity, why he was summoned ¡ª manualbor. ¡°The items collected by the scavenger must be full of DNA information,¡± Wu Jun sighed. Wang Lan nodded, ¡°DNA and fingerprints are everywhere. Moreover, this old man had a bit of a personal hobby; he collected a lot of women¡¯s underwear and lingerie, which also contains a lot of DNA information.¡± ¡°All of this¡­ needs to be checked?¡± ¡°Yes, but currently there are no clues, so¡­ any piece of evidence that the murderer might have touched, we¡¯ll need to examine everything.¡± Wang Lan emphasized, ¡°A thorough examination.¡± ¡°Hmm,¡± Wu Jun finally understood the situation at Longli: they had hit a DNA goldmine. You could imagine, the work of collecting biological samples here was still rtively straightforward. Once DNA or fingerprints from various items matched, or if a match was found, they would likely need to bring people in for a second verification, followed by an in-depth investigation into whether there was an opportunity and motive for the crime, leading to a whole new set ofplications. ¡°This task is really¡­¡± Wu Jun shook his head vigorously. All Wang Lan could do was encourage, ¡°Let¡¯s work hard and try to process all the samples within 72 hours.¡± After speaking, she looked at the tall young man beside Old Wu. Wang Lan showed a warmly desated smile, ¡°You must be Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, right? Winning the second-ss merit in thest fingerprint campaign, that¡¯s truly impressive.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded politely, ¡°Thank you for thepliment, Teacher. I will continue to work hard.¡± Chapter 134 - 134 131 On-site Collection ?134: Chapter 131 On-site Collection 134: Chapter 131 On-site Collection Longli County, Longde Vige. This is the location of thergest urban-rural junction in Longli County and the corner with the most vibrant local industries and the most abundant human resources. And in the corner of the corner is the dead man¡¯s ce of residence, a tiny waste-picking hut, surrounded by a small courtyard fenced in with various construction waste materials. Simr temporary buildings are everywhere here, some built more neatly, striving yet failing to maintain the level of a rural household; many others are slipping in the direction of bing shanties. The deceased¡¯s waste-picking hut was one of those that were slightly more neatly constructed, and it was located right by the county road, not too far from where there were food stalls and rural restaurants. The rtively convenient ess was the capital the deceased had for surviving through waste-picking. Because he was elderly and had saved some money, he would also buy other waste-pickers¡¯ collections, making him one of the upper-ss figures among waste-pickers. However, once you walked into what looked like a decent courtyard from the outside, it waspletely chaotic inside. On the scene, you could still see specks of blood spatter scattered about. Jiang Yuan looked around and saw that most of it was cast-off bloodstains. Cast-off bloodstains are mostly caused by blunt instruments. The assant would attack the victim with a blunt object, blood would adhere to the object, and when the assant swung the blunt object again, blood would cast off around it. Cast-off bloodstains are diffused with rtively consistent sizes. A simple scientific experiment can clearly demonstrate cast-off stains: find a stick, take some bananas, mash them, add water and an appropriate amount of flour, mix until it resembles the viscosity of blood, and then swing the stick coated in the mixture to observe cast-off bloodstains. By examining the bloodstain patterns, one can trace the process of the elderly waste-picker being struck with a blunt object which likely was the cause of his death. ¡°The blood has been sampled. But it can be done again,¡± said Wang Lan, noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest in the bloodstains. Grassroots police don¡¯t pay much attention to bloodstain analysis because they generally don¡¯t need to concern themselves with the details of how a victim was beaten or killed; they want information on the perpetrator, preferably straightforward DNA or fingerprints. Just as Jiang Yuan and his colleagues were doing now. Everyone didn¡¯t actually know if the assant had left fingerprints or DNA clues, but they would invest considerable manpower and resources in searching for this slim hope. Domestic murder cases generally prefer clumsy methods for solving crimes, perhaps because the resources provided are overly abundant, so the most straightforward¡ªand even the clumsiest¡ªmethods be the mainstream approach to cracking cases. Such as canvassing, and full DNA and fingerprint testing, etc. This is unimaginable in Europe and America. Some countries in the Anglo-American system wouldn¡¯t allow an entiremunity to undergo widespread DNA and fingerprint testing. But under the domestic edict that murder cases must be solved, like in the current case, if no suspect is found once the DNA evidence is collected, they might have to conduct full DNA tests on the residents of the nearby urban-rural areas. Even if the results aren¡¯t ideal, they would still go through with it. However, these unsophisticated methods are solid guarantees for improving the sess rate of solving crimes; domestic murder case clearance rates are extremely high on a global scale. Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t need to exin to Doctor Wang how adept he is at bloodstain analysis. In fact, he had taken a look and could already make a certain description of the crime scene in his mind. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, after being injured, the elderly waste-picker was continuously attacked while trying to dodge and hide in hopes of avoiding the assault. During this process, the storage racks standing in the yard kept getting knocked over and scattered. These racks, all put together by the old man himself, were mainly made of wood, some half-finished pieces like wardrobes moved in, and open-style clothing racks used in clothing stores, etc. In any case, after the old man¡¯s modifications, they were all filled with various items, with clothes being the most abundant. Now, all these items were scattered around the courtyard, some stained with blood, some perhaps containing the DNA of the assant. A local detective from Longli County came over, seeing that Jiang Yuan was focused on the clothes, and said, ¡°These days, old textiles can sell for quite a bit of money, but the buyers usually have more requirements, often demanding a certain quantity within a certain time. The old man didn¡¯t have the physical strength, so he had to umte them to sell in bulk.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, ¡°I thought there would be a lot of packaging paper and the like.¡± ¡°That¡¯s premium stuff among scavengers, the old man kept it in the house,¡± the detective said as he opened the door of the little room. The room was self-built, so the height was quite limited, at most two meters tall, and the bed inside was also in the form of a traditional kang, probably a craft the scavenging elder learned when he was young. The room was mostly filled with cardboard, then some metal, and a few personal belongings. ¡°We¡¯ll need to collect DNA from inside the house as well, but the crime scene takes priority,¡± the detective said, ncing at Jiang Yuan with a friendly tone, ¡°Doctor Jiang, I¡¯m sorry to trouble you. I know you¡¯re quite busy with work here in the county and at the provincial level. We only requested assistance because we¡¯re swamped with this case.¡± Jiang Yuan politely replied, ¡°Mutual help is what we should do.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true, but this time when we asked for help, we specifically hoped for assistance from Ningtai County,¡± the detective said as he introduced himself, ¡°You might not remember, but you once helped us crack a cold case through fingerprints¡­ It was me who took over that case then.¡± ¡°What a coincidence,¡± Jiang Yuan recalled the cold case from Longli County; it was one of his first cases involving fingerprints. The detective nodded, then whispered, ¡°I¡¯m Zheng Xiangqian from the major crime unit here, directly in charge of this case. Whatever you need, you cane straight to me. This time, whether you want to collect fingerprints or forensic evidence, it¡¯s all fine.¡± Zheng Xiangqian handed his business card to Jiang Yuan. Strictly speaking, collecting DNA evidence is not really a forensic doctor¡¯s job, but the work of a technical officer at the crime scene. However, at the Qinghe City police bureau, the technicians doing scene investigations are all too basic; in terms of being meticulous with DNA, they might not evenpare to a forensic doctor. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s capability with fingerprints might be even more trusted by the detectives. Jiang Yuan took Zheng Xiangqian¡¯s business card, added him on WeChat, and returned to the yard to ask, ¡°That¡­ how tall was the victim?¡± ¡°Quite short, about one and a half meters tall. He was a bit hunchbacked,¡± Zheng Xiangqian, originally preparing to leave, stopped and asked, ¡°Do you have any ideas?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not be so formal,¡± Jiang Yuan said, and then added, ¡°I was thinking, if the height is appropriate, the items knocked over on these shelves by the victim during the assault could have hit the assant. And maybe it would be easier to extract DNA from the corresponding ces?¡± ¡°That¡¯s indeed the case,¡± Zheng Xiangqian agreed with a nod but didn¡¯t show much excitement. Jiang Yuan noticed and asked, ¡°Has someone else suggested this already?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Zheng Xiangqian replied, ¡°We¡¯ve been focusing on extracting DNA from these items from the beginning, but we¡¯re also worried we might not have collected everything, which is one of the reasons we requested support.¡± If it were ordinary items, extracting DNA would be rtively simple, especially from household items in a storage cab, which normally shouldn¡¯t have any DNA because the traces left behind would have lost activity after being there a long time. Even if there is DNA, it should first be from family members; when you encounter DNA from other people, that¡¯s when you need to pay extra attention. But for a scavenger, the items are all picked up, and many are clothing items, which makes the DNA found on them very chaotic. And unlike what many people think, that having a piece of clothing in front of an examiner means all the DNA can be extracted from it. In reality, extracting DNA is still about choosing a small spot, wiping it or cutting the fabric directly, and then taking it to the DNAboratory for processing; it¡¯s not something that can be matched immediately. There¡¯s a very critical step here called purification, which involves selecting specific DNA fragments to amplify. In short, to test all the DNA on a piece of clothing requires sampling it bit by bit, hundreds or even thousands of times, and several or a few dozen times is not excessive. Even so, some DNA may still be missed during stages like purification. But regardless, the more DNA is extracted, the better. Jiang Yuan worked alongside Wu Jun, giving priority to items with bloodstains. Most of these bloodstains belonged to the victim, but there¡¯s a chance they could include the perpetrator¡¯s as well. As is well known, hitting someone, especially to the point of killing, runs a high chance of injuring oneself in the process. Jiang Yuan also made full use of his Bloodstain Analysis expertise, attempting to find some clues. This was not easy and could even be said to be extremely challenging. This crime scene, although notrge in area, wasplex to a degree that exceeded that of several ordinary crime scenesbined. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun, among others, quickly found themselves immersed in a vast sea of items. Chapter 135 - 135 132 Everyone is Quite Foolish ?135: Chapter 132 Everyone is Quite Foolish 135: Chapter 132 Everyone is Quite Foolish ¡°Tired, I need a smoke,¡± Wu Jun said, digging in the yard for a while; the aches in his back and waist were enough to convince him to stand up without hesitation and step outside to light a cigarette. This time, he smoked his own brand of Liqun, which was strong enough that just half a cigarette could numb him. Jiang Yuan came out to join him for a quick drag and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you just take a break outside? We can handle things in here.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Wu Jun surprisingly agreed without ado. Jiang Yuan was slightly taken aback; in his impression, Comrade Wu Jun was quite the hard worker, usually reluctant to ck off. Could it be that the sight of the garbage picker¡¯s tragic state had suddenly triggered a reexamination of life? Seeing the look on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, Wu Junughed and said, ¡°After all, for this trip, I¡¯m just excess baggage, so why put in so much effort?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true, considering your seniority,¡± Jiang Yuan consoled, though his wordscked sincerity. Wu Jun took a drag and chuckled, ¡°Counting you, there are three forensic doctors. Surely you don¡¯t really think they called me in to cut DNA?¡± Jiang Yuan felt awkward to say more; indeed, for the scene at hand, though the workload was not insubstantial, there really was no need to call in two forensic doctors. DNA material could be handled by the crime scene team. If the county¡¯s own team wasn¡¯t up to snuff, they could request assistance from the city bureau. For a homicide case of this level, they typically received as much support as possible. Of course, as things stood, Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun were this ¡°as much support as possible.¡± Possibly, Jiang Yuan was sought after for his expertise in fingerprints. As the provincial fingerprintpetition champion, who had also managed to solve 10 cold murder cases in one go, it was foreseeable that he would receive numerous invitations in the future. Longli County mainly invited them because they were too familiar with Ningtai County¡ªso familiar, in fact, that they knew about Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun¡¯s rtionship and felt awkward inviting Jiang Yuan without also inviting Wu Jun¡­ The role of Comrade Wu Jun, of course, had its uses; after all, an extra forensic doctor meant an extra set of hands, which was always a good thing. But if we¡¯re talking initial intent, they really wanted Jiang Yuan for his fingerprints and crime scene investigation skills. Wu Jun was dragged into it by association. Wu Jun saw this clearly as well and had no intention of proving himself. His skills were already well-honed, and from here on out, they would only decline. To exert himself as unskilledbor in another county seemed pointless. ¡°I¡¯m going to treat myself to a feast of chicken with pork intestines and stomach. If you¡¯re free,e join me. The county probably just has a modest meal, or at most a simple buffet,¡± Wu Jun said, finishing his cigarette, conscientiously collecting the stub, and strolling towards the shop. Jiang Yuan hurriedly followed, asking, ¡°Can we walk there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a few hundred steps ording to the navigation. Driving would require parking, so we might as well take a walk,¡± Wu Jun waved dismissively, greeting the people from Longli County, and ambled off on his own. It was already off-work time, and while police didn¡¯t really have overtime, the Longli County folks still felt awkward directing the forensic doctors from Ningtai County. While lost in thought, Wu Jun had already reached the end of the alley, like a young maiden unburdening others of their worries. Jiang Yuan went back to the yard to continue working. All the bloodstained items had been wiped clean, and the items judged possible to have been touched by the killer had had their samples taken. Next, Jiang Yuan¡¯s task was to lift fingerprints. Collecting fingerprints and DNA can sometimes conflict. For instance,tent fingerprints formed by sweat aren¡¯t as readily visible as blood fingerprints and require a UV light or simr to be spotted. On the other hand, sweat can also be used to extract DNA, which is a technology that has only emerged in thest decade or so. If the sweat is wiped away to extract DNA, then the fingerprint can no longer be collected. It¡¯s true that there are methods to lifttent sweat fingerprints without damaging them, but generally speaking, the difficulty is higher. For instance, the technicians from Longli County essentially had no ideas about this. It¡¯s not that they werepletely ignorant of the relevant techniques, but hearing about something and doing it, or doing it and mastering it, are worlds apart. Especially in a homicide case, it is not a ce for technicians to practice. So, if the technicians haven¡¯t practiced regrly, they won¡¯t attempt it at a homicide scene. The technicians present for fingerprintingrgely relied on the routine of dusting with powder. Or, to put it another way, if they were willing to attempt various methods, actively participate in training, and improve themselves day-to-day¡­ then their status and skills would naturally be different. In Longli County, there was no need for Jiang Yuan to give guidance. So, he just worked on the fingerprints himself. Once he¡¯d finished taking prints and photographed them, he would proceed to DNA. As a result, the process was even slower. As darkness fell and bright floodlights came on, Jiang Yuan¡¯s work became more difficult. UV lights and simr tools were affected, and capturing clear images of the prints¡¯ ridge details and patterns was challenging. Jiang Yuan stretched, falling into deep thought. Looking at thisplete disorder! This wasn¡¯t just a 72-hour job, it was a week¡¯s worth of work. As for the number of items in a garbage picker¡¯s yard, one could reference news articles about hoarders. For example, after neighbors could no longer tolerate it, the property management helped clean out a hoarder¡¯s two-bedroom apartment, filled with heaps of parcels and other items. It took a dozen people two days just to clear the items from the room. It should be noted that ¡°clear the items from the room¡± simply meant moving them out. If those dozen people had been technicians and had to dust every single item for fingerprints, wipe for DNA, and collect samples, not to mention doing it in more than one spot, consider how much time that would take. After busying himself for an entire day and night, Jiang Yuan finally realized: The criminal investigators from Longli County in charge of collecting evidence at the scene seem a bit dim-witted. Whether they¡¯re fond of ying dumb or are genuinely clueless, Jiang Yuan is starting to wear thin. It¡¯s only now that he remembered the master who went off to eat intestine and stomach chicken; he hurriedly made a call. ¡°Yeah, tastes pretty good, if you want to eat, go there yourself, they serve it as a midnight snack. I¡¯ll sleep a bit more; I¡¯lle over to help in the morning,¡± Wu Jun muttered a few words before hanging up the phone. Jiang Yuan then noticed that it was already the wee hours of the morning. He had never had to pull an all-nighter like this in Ningtai County. However, upon reflection, it made sense. He wasn¡¯t a local to Longli County, so naturally, they would exploit hisbor to the fullest before discarding him. ¡°Aren¡¯t you guys going to rest either?¡± Jiang Yuan looked around at the other technicians. Those present, who were all older than him, gave him a look that one might give to a silly child. Someone said, ¡°We¡¯ve already switched shifts.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ you¡¯re right,¡± Jiang Yuan felt like he was called over, yet it seemed like he wasn¡¯t¡­ So, all things considered¡­ he was quite foolish. ¡°Take a break; let¡¯s have a midnight snack togetherter.¡± Only regr technicians without any leadership positions or authority remained at the scene. Those with a bit of power had already gone home to get scolded by their wives, while the powerless technicians could stay at the scene with peace of mind, not even qualifying to be yelled at by their wives. This also proved another point: the grassrootsposition of a typical county bureau resembled that of a monks¡¯ temple. Although female officers join one or another of these monks¡¯ temples each year, considering the homicides and economic cases handed down from higher-ups yearly, when ites to hair loss from all the stress, the female officers would be frightened to jumping up and down. Jiang Yuan truly couldn¡¯t continue any longer. He stepped out of the courtyard, took off his mask and gloves, and sat down across from the small yard, staring nkly and foolishly into the courtyard. When a person is too exhausted, their mind doesn¡¯t want to work at all. It was the same for Jiang Yuan. Right now, he really didn¡¯t feel like thinking about why a scavenging old man had been beaten to death¡ª Was it a conflict arising from scavenging? But why did it happen in his own home? Moreover, no property was damaged, and there were no signs of rummaging through the rooms. It¡¯s more likely that the killer came with the intent to murder someone. But still, was a scavenging old man worthmitting murder over? Why go to such lengths? This was the most difficult part of the case, and why Longli County was so eager to call for reinforcements. Unless technical means were used to directly point to the killer, the usual strategies for solving cases were ineffective. Themon analysis of motives? There were no benefits involved; theft-inspired crime? There was no property to steal; a crime of passion? There was no lust involved. Jiang Yuan looked at the courtyard gate, recalling the bloodstains he saw earlier and began to analyze subconsciously. The murderer likely followed the scavenging old man into the courtyard but knocked him over upon entering. This was deduced from the initial bloodstains, which were primarily sttered on the ground, indicating a top-down attack. Afterward, the old man did not resist further but attempted to flee, knocking over many objects in the process. These objects ended up covering the ground, leading to the second wave of beatings¡­ Then came the third wave. Jiang Yuan pped his forehead; the continued beatings were mostly out of revenge and venting rage. Who had the scavenging old man offended? Jiang Yuan picked up his phone, then put it down again. Such a straightforward criminal investigation approach would not be overlooked by Longli County¡¯s investigators. Although they may be a bit dull from a forensic science perspective, they wouldn¡¯t overlook such basic concepts outside of their technical expertise. Jiang Yuan then extended his thoughts to his own field of expertise¡­ A prolonged beating and venting of anger suggested that the murderer would leave behind a great deal of evidence. In the midst of intense movement, sweat would fall, hair would drop, dandruff would fly, and in a fit of rage, the killer might blow his nose, sneeze, and if it were really an act of revenge, perhaps he would even weep bitterly and yell out, ¡°I¡¯ve taken my revenge!¡±? But where was the evidence? Or rather, with all the traces at the scene, how could one prove which were left by the murderer and not brought in by the scavenged items? The murder weapon and bloodstains! These two could not have been brought in by scavenged items. Now, the murder weapon had not been found, so the first choice was the bloodstains. The bloodstains on most of the items had been sampled, some of which were even done by Jiang Yuan himself. As for those not on items, the bloodstains on the walls and the floor were not within Jiang Yuan¡¯s earlier scope of work. The problem reverted to what Jiang Yuan saw when he first arrived and entered the premises: he was looking at the cast-off pattern of bloodstains on the wall when Medical Examiner Wang Lan from Qinghe City said, ¡°The bloodstains have been sampled.¡± Jiang Yuan now thought back to that moment, and the first thing that came to mind was the exhaustion from the past day and night, which sparked the thought: What does it matter whether Longli County¡¯s technicians sampled these bloodstains or not? It was better for him to sample them again himself. It would certainly be more cost-effective than wiping down every item in the scavenging yard! Chapter 136 - 136 133 Reconstruct the Scene ?136: Chapter 133 Reconstruct the Scene 136: Chapter 133 Reconstruct the Scene 2 a.m. There are no streetlights, and asionally a car passes by on the road, its headlights ring, its noise grating. In the sky, a few more stars than can be seen from the city center dot the expanse. However, few people bother to look up, and even fewer have the leisure to count them. Even the children are too preupied with their studies to care. The air still carries hints of a sweltering heat¡ªnot the actual temperature but more an atmosphere of restlessness. It¡¯s as if those workersing off thete shift all wear expressions of utter exhaustion. The vendors sellingte-night snacks by the road all have stony faces, half-heartedly soliciting passersby before wearily retracting their arms. Stray dogs loitering around hardly bother begging for food from the people passing by since the enthusiasm and initiative to feed them arecking at this hour, and the dogs are unwilling to risk begging for attention. Among those passing by, many are glued to their phone screens; some ride electric scooters, still holding phones, steering erratically without care, asionally losing bnce and stopping by the roadside to check their phones before moving on. In the yard of the scavenger, ring white lights have been switched on. Ordinarily, this would attract many onlookers, yet most just snap a photo and leave, not even interested enough to stay and watch. There are too many hot topics, too many ¡°melons¡± to dig into, and everyone is too busy to pay attention. Whatever happens in the urban vige, locals hardly care. Those who like to post on social media tend to avoid tagging the urban vige as their location. The death of a scavenging elder didn¡¯t stir any waves. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall life in Jiang Vige before its demolition. Back then, though everyone was poor, there was indeed an abundance of time. Being bothzy and poor somehow gave off a rxed and cheerful vibe. Life in the urban vige of Longli County, however, is different; here, people are not only poor but alsock time. The entire urban vige looks like what is left after an eviction. There¡¯s no hope in sight. The air is saturated with weariness and helplessness. Young entrepreneurs returning to their hometowns gain little besides the proximity to their families. Jiang Yuan sits under a tree, drinks a bottle of water, but still feels exhausted. However, he¡¯s young and doesn¡¯t feel like he¡¯s about to drop dead, so he should be able to make it through another all-nighter. Jiang Yuan looks at the technicians from the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron of Longli County not far away and feels a sense of helplessness. They work diligently, busily scurrying about like ants in a colony, yet their work seems to have no end. Jiang Yuan can¡¯t help but sigh. The skills of these technicians, at best, might reach LV0.8. If they are diligent enough, the likelihood of finding the murderer¡¯s DNA within a specified area is quite high, assuming the perpetrator actually left behind DNA. However, human energy is limited, especially when focusing on meticulous, minute tasks for extended periods of time. It¡¯s a challenge. The small yard of the scavenger amplifies the difficulty as if it were cubed. Had this been any other case, it might not have been so apparent. An ordinary house, an ordinary husband beats his ordinary wife to death¡ªsuch a domestic environment usually operates at a 2D level. If the crime urred in a house with full custom features, at most it would equate to a 3D level. Assuming it cost 150,000 yuan to fully customize the home,mitting murder therein would merely waste an additional 50,000 yuan of the police department¡¯s budget, at most. But what about the structure of the scavenging elder¡¯s small yard? It¡¯s 4D! Not only does it have a ne and height, the items within it also bear blood and DNA evidence. That is to say, when cleaning up evidence in the scavenger¡¯s yard, you can¡¯t just wipe the surface; you need to pick up theplex objects and clean the insides too. The ce where the scavenging elder was beaten saw items repeatedly struck, each impact oveying previous evidence, creating a staggering level ofplexity. To be even more thorough, one should consider the element of time, as different objects fell at different moments, with varying sequences, potentially contaminating the evidence differently at each moment. Lastly, and most importantly, even if these LV0.8 technicians could wipe away the murderer¡¯s DNA, proving whether it was contaminated on the day of the incident or beforehand is challenging. If it were up to Jiang Yuan, with his LV4 crime scene investigation skills, he might have some ways to distinguish, but for technicians below LV1, it¡¯s pointless to even contemte. Moreover, even if Jiang Yuan had LV4 crime scene investigation skills, he wouldn¡¯t want to use them for such differentiation. It¡¯s tooplex, how to exin it during court proceedings to judges and prosecutors? So, the best method of proof, Jiang Yuan thinks, is still to focus on bloodstains and the murder weapon. To put it bluntly, even though these men are now wiping DNA to the point of exhaustion, bending over until their bodies are almost crooked, the usefulness of their efforts is more difficult to establish than the DNA cleaning itself. Jiang Yuan decides to rescue them¡­ and in doing so, save himself as well. Jiang Yuan returns to the scavenger¡¯s small yard, stands at the entrance, and looks at the busy technicians. He clears his throat and says, ¡°I have an idea.¡± A group of technicians, who have be numb to their work, look at Jiang Yuan with lifeless eyes. ¡°I want to prioritize finding bloodstain evidence to see if we can find blood left by the murderer.¡± Seeing everyone looking his way, Jiang Yuan continues: ¡°If that¡¯s not feasible, we can also use bloodstain pattern analysis to determine which objects at the scene the murderer might have touched, which would narrow down the range for DNA testing.¡± Chapter 137 - 137 133 Reconstructing the Scene_2 ?137: Chapter 133 Reconstructing the Scene_2 137: Chapter 133 Reconstructing the Scene_2 Bloodstain pattern analysis is equivalent to reconstructing the crime scene. And by reconstructing the crime scene, one can ¡°see¡± the route the murderer took within the scavenger¡¯s yard, as well as most of their actions. As a result, objects that were closer to the murderer are more likely to be contaminated with the murderer¡¯s DNA. The expressions of several technicians changed from numb to a bit excited and then numb again. ¡°This is not the same as the task assigned to us by our superiors.¡± A crime scene technician named Hou Xiaoyong was the first to speak. Jiang Yuan replied unhurriedly, ¡°The task given to you by the criminal police team couldn¡¯t possibly be to swab DNA in a certain order, could it? Conducting a crime scene investigation, there are always priorities. Isn¡¯t this part of the responsibilities of crime scene technicians?¡± The technicians allcked confidence and had not expected this young forensic doctor from the neighboring county to be so assertive. One of the older technicians, Li, couldn¡¯t help but stand up, took the chance to stretch his back, twisted around, and said, ¡°Xiao Jiang, what if we miss or contaminate DNA following your method? Who would be responsible?¡± The young technicians from Longli County felt somewhat embarrassed and looked down. Their technical skills werecking, due to both their inadequate expertise and their overly strong ability to pass the buck. Now, they were even considering passing the buck to a forensic doctor from another county who was here to help them, which embarrassed the young technicians even more, especially since they had just enjoyed the food Jiang Yuan had brought and smoked his fine cigarettes. ¡°With the current environment, which DNA hasn¡¯t been contaminated?¡± Jiang Yuan said with a sneer. Two of the techniciansughed inappropriately. Indeed, with this crime scene, talking about contamination was moot. The items brought in by the scavengers were covered with unknown DNA. So many people¡­ Tall and young, Jiang Yuan stood out among the group. He said clearly, ¡°In this environment, bloodstains are the most reliable proof of identity. It¡¯s all a gamble anyway. If I had to choose, I would bet that the murderer¡¯s DNA is in the bloodstains first. Second, betting on bloodstain pattern analysis is better than betting on the condition of the whole scene.¡± The other technicians looked at each other hesitantly, not wanting to swab DNA aimlessly to no avail, only to be scolded in the end. ¡°Moreover, focusing on bloodstains first is also to preserve the most crucial evidence as soon as possible. Anyone making such a decision during a scene investigation is absolutely correct, and no one could fault it upon review. Or perhaps, you could make a phone call to confirm?¡± Although young, Jiang Yuan was not naive; he was there to help, not to take the me, so he kicked the ball back. The technicians were inclined to agree with Jiang Yuan. Having direction was surely better than just mindlessly working hard. The technicians exchanged looks. The young crime scene technician Hou Xiaoyong spoke up again, ¡°Doctor Jiang, can you reconstruct the crime scene?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply was short and forceful. ¡°Reconstructing the crime scene is no simple task¡­¡± Hou Xiaoyong couldn¡¯t help but mutter. Among them, it was Hou Xiaoyong, the crime scene technician, who was closest to bloodstain pattern analysis. But he only knew the basics, far from being able to reconstruct a crime scene. The kind of expertise seen on TV, analyzing a scene at a nce¡­ is very rare in reality and sometimes nonsensical. The job of reconstructing a crime scene is not only a matter of ability; it involves issues of face and image, even status. In real-life crime solving, reconstructing the crime scene¡ªrecreating the scenario of the murder or the attacker assaulting the victim¡ªthough cool, requires a meticulous step-by-step reconstruction process, followed by a detailed report that forms a several thousand-word document. Then, they might face a critical blow from the culprit. ¡°You got it wrong, I didn¡¯t do it like that at the time!¡± If any crime scene technician received such feedback from a murderer, their emotional state would definitely crumble. Theughter from the team¡­ they wouldn¡¯t even have to imagine it. Thus, inadequately skilled crime scene technicians, even if they know a little about reconstructing crime scenes, dare not perform the task. Once done, should they pray that the murderer is caught, or hope that the murderer is killed on the spot? Only a very few can smoothly get through the professional awkward phase of reconstructing crime scenes. And by the time they are known to others, they are usually already experts. Hou Xiaoyong suspected that Jiang Yuan was not aware of the numerous issues he would face when reconstructing the crime scene. After all, Jiang Yuan was even younger than him. But on second thought, it¡¯s only if the reconstruction failed, if it was wrong, that those problems would arise. And if the reconstruction seeded, the so-called problems would no longer be problems. Given Doctor Jiang¡¯s expertise in fingerprint analysis, Hou Xiaoyong did not dare to speak carelessly. All the technicians present knew that Longli County had managed to borrow Jiang Yuan only because he was young, using the pretext of needing a forensic doctor. Once they had borrowed him, they hadn¡¯t even shown him the body before bringing him to the crime scene. What the county truly wanted to borrow was Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprinting skills. With this thought, Hou Xiaoyong said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, if you say you need to alter the order of evidence collection to gather fingerprints or something, I think the higher-ups might be more inclined to agree.¡± He was essentially hinting to Jiang Yuan how to apply for permission. Jiang Yuan acted as if he didn¡¯t understand, and at this point, the same line could be used again ¡ª he wasn¡¯t from Longli after all. How could he go to the leaders for approval without proper standing or convincing rationale? ¡°You guys could consult the leaders, or we just get to work,¡± Jiang Yuan felt either way was fine. As he said, leaders usually demand the technicians to search for clues, fingerprints, and DNA at the scene. There are few who would be meticulous enough to arrange the order of the scene investigation. But they would need to understand that, too. ¡°How long do you need?¡± Hou Xiaoyong asked. ¡°Till morning. Six hours should be enough,¡± Jiang Yuan checked his watch (a simple and unadorned Nautilus) which effectively set the time to around 8 o¡¯clock in the morning. Hou Xiaoyong nced at it and inexplicably felt a sense of affinity. Nowadays, young people who still wore watches tended to be viewed as mature and dependable. ¡°I¡¯ll call Captain Zheng from the Major Case Squad. If he wants to report it to the Battalion Commander, let him do it.¡± Hou Xiaoyong didn¡¯t want to call Battalion Commander Hou Lejia at two in the morning for this matter. Even though they were rted, it wasn¡¯t necessary to disturb his sleep. Soon, Hou Xiaoyong finished his call and returned. A few people stood waiting. ¡°Captain Zheng has no objections, let¡¯s do it,¡± Hou Xiaoyong said. ¡°Let¡¯s aim to wrap this up within five hours to leave some time for organizing,¡± Li, the most senior technician, suggested a slight alteration. ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed at once. ¡°What do you need us to do?¡± Li, the senior technician, was actually deferring to Jiang Yuan out of respect for his reputation as a fingerprint expert, humbling himself to ask for instructions. Any person, no matter by what means, who can solve ten murder cold cases, is an impressive figure in the detective force. After all, military exploits are earned throughbat. And in the police force, solving cases is the greatest aplishment. ¡°Start from the entrance,¡± Jiang Yuan decisively said. He promptly returned to the entrance. Starting from the beginning, he walked and narrated step by step: ¡°The murderer followed the victim inside, bringing a weapon and closing the door behind him¡­¡± ¡°Why?¡± Hou Xiaoyong asked after only the first step, sounding like an earnest student with a question. Donning his gloves, Jiang Yuan gently closed the door and exined: ¡°Because there are bloodstains on the back of the door. If the door hadn¡¯t been closed, blood should have been found on the outside of it. Of course, this is a bloodstain madeter.¡± Hou Xiaoyong eximed, ¡°Ah!¡± and then, realizing, uttered, ¡°Oh!¡± With such an exnation, it became clear to him, although he had not thought about it beforehand. The others also nodded in suddenprehension. ¡°Later, microscopic evidence can be collected here, which will help in analyzing the type of weapon. However, let¡¯s still follow the murderer¡¯s actions for now¡­¡± Jiang Yuan continued, gesturing forward, ¡°The murderer knocked the elder down to the ground, then swung the weapon to strike¡­¡± Chapter 138 - 138 134 High-end ?138: Chapter 134: High-end 138: Chapter 134: High-end Late at night. Even the owls were asleep. After hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, the group of technicians found renewed vigor in their work. In the small courtyard of the scavenger, near the entrance, several technicians gathered together, standing behind Jiang Yuan, listening to him while observing the bloodstains on the ground. Under the illumination of the floodlights, the color of the blood was somewhat distorted, but the sense of brutality could still be vaguely felt. The spot Jiang Yuan pointed to was one of the few areas on the ground not covered by objects, with several conspicuous blood spots. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like there are any ssh-like bloodstains here either.¡± Hou Xiaoyong, who had also studied Bloodstain Analysis, was not very proficient and only knew some well-known concepts. Jiang Yuan only nodded slightly and said, ¡°The books say that ssh-like bloodstains often indicate the primary crime scene, the starting point of the attack. But at today¡¯s scene, the weapon used by the killer clearlycked lethality, which suggests from another perspective that the killer¡¯s initial intention may not have been to kill.¡± Jiang Yuanpared on his own head and then said, ¡°From the cast-off bloodstains around here, one could actually deduce that the assant used a blunt object, and look at the velocity of the cast-off stains. It¡¯s clearer on this wall.¡± So, everyone turned to examine the bloodstains on the wall. On the surface of the wall built with red bricks and cement, the majority of the bloodstains were oval and streak shaped, with some fine blood spots in front of them. ¡°These are characteristics of rtively high-speed bloodstains, suggesting that the blunt object was not very heavy but likely quite long,¡± Jiang Yuan analyzed as he observed. The technicians nodded along, indicating they knew these widely understood concepts. ¡°So, the first strike might not have caused bleeding. Nor did it produce ssh-like patterns,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Hou Xiaoyong, answering his question. Hou Xiaoyong nodded slowly in understanding. Indeed, if one is hit on the head with a blunt object, it doesn¡¯t necessarily bleed immediately. ¡°However, after being struck, Zhang Hong, the scavenger who died, did attempt to escape. The handprint here with blood on it was pressed ontoter, showing that he moved forward abruptly,¡± Jiang Yuan exined and pointed forward, ¡°The appearance of cast-off patterns here indicates that the second blow broke the scalp.¡± Jiang Yuan took two more steps forward, and in front of him was a pile of copsed items. ¡°This is where the seventh blow left its mark. Take photos first, collect the bloodstain evidence, and the rest can be gathered slowly and put aside forter,¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand in front of him, marking a specific area. Hou Xiaoyong and the others, who had been following Jiang Yuan to learn about crime scene reconstruction, were perplexed. ¡°You ask.¡± ¡°You ask.¡± The technicians exchanged nces with each other. A senior technician, tired of passing nces back and forth, gave a stern look with fiery eyes, signaling everyone with a re, ¡°Are you going to ask, or not? If you don¡¯t, I¡¯m not dealing with it. What are you pretending for? Who will answer when you¡¯re askedter?¡± Hou Xiaoyong sighed and voiced his query, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you mean by the seventh strike?¡± ¡°It means that ording to my judgment of the sequence of blows at the crime scene, this is where the seventh strike urred,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Didn¡¯t we just say that there was no bleeding from the first strike, and the second strike caused bleeding? It should be the third strike next, right?¡± ¡°The bloodstain from the third strike, I estimate, is on the ground; it has to be lifted to be seen,¡± Jiang Yuan answered. This response was actually understandable to everyone. When the elderly man entered the door, the shelf was intact, and everything was properly ced on it. It was through the attacker¡¯s assaults and the victim¡¯s evasion that arge number of items fell from the temporary and unsteady shelf. So, the bloodstain from the third strike got buried under items, which anyone could figure out. What was different was how Jiang Yuan determined that the topmost was from the seventh strike. Hou Xiaoyong held back for a few seconds, but still felt he couldn¡¯t restrain himself and asked, ¡°Never mind the third strike¡¯s bloodstain, but how can you be so sure that the top one is the seventh strike and not the sixth or the tenth?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled warmly and softly said, ¡°I counted them out. I hadpleted the crime scene reconstruction in my mind before exining it to everyone.¡± Hou Xiaoyong was dumbfounded. Perhaps the fatigue from staying up too long was dulling his judgment and intelligence. If he could get 8-10 hours of sleep, he felt he could certainly reconstruct several steps as well. However, this is precisely the misunderstanding all difficult problems present to poor students. Watching a teacher or someone else¡¯s problem-solving steps, students who follow along step by step, tend to fall into the illusion that they have learned. But, in fact, students who follow the steps sequentially are still very far from truly learning. Most math problems are not solved in a step-by-step fashion, but by first looking at the requirements at the end or middle, and then figuring out how to meet them with the preceding steps. Crime scene reconstruction is simr; no expert in Bloodstain Analysis actually guesses where the first and second steps are. It would be too foolish and create too much unnecessary burden. Like the first step, ording to what Hou Xiaoyong learned, it seems necessary to look for ssh-like bloodstains, but as per Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, the first strike didn¡¯t produce any bleeding. How to proceed then? And as for the second step, if one needed to find the second strike, would it be viable to analyze each and every bloodstain? That would require eliminating the possibility of other bloodstains being the second strike. It¡¯s too troublesome and unnecessary. The correct approach is to first determine whether the bloodstains are from the early stage, the middle stage, or thete stage, or whether they urred before or after andmark event. Positioning the definite bloodstains first and then gradually filling in the rest is the rtively clear step in solving the puzzle. However, this sort of thing is like a crossword puzzle; it requires an overall control. To some extent, if you cannotpletely reconstruct a crime scene, you won¡¯t be able to reconstruct even half of it. Hou Xiaoyong and other technicians, in fact, have not received training in crime scene reconstruction. Domestic forensic science personnel currently have many ways to learn. The mostmon but most basic is the curriculum in schools, which is fundamental. Although it might not be used in practice, not learning it severely limits the potential for further development. For example, Bloodstain Analysis would involve some high school physics and chemistry knowledge, such as momentum and angr velocity, which high school students actually spend months and hundreds of problems to understand. A forensic science technician who has not mastered the necessary knowledge and tries to cram at thest minute is unlikely to understand it at the same level. Besides the educational methods avable after leaving school, reading books and apprentice-style learning at their unit are the two mostmon patterns. In addition, various training activities organized by units are gradually bing the mainstream way for technicians to improve. Techniques like extracting DNA from sweat now sound simple andmon. But these were also vigorously promoted around 2008 and before that, not only were the technicians unable to perform it, but the DNAboratory¡¯s equipment and reagents might not have supported it either. Something like reconstructing a crime scene belongs to a more high-end level; aside from seeking a master to teach you, it¡¯s pretty hard to self-learn through the other methods mentioned. That¡¯s why TV series keep on showing it, because it seems impressive. Basic forms of Bloodstain Analysis are indeed touched upon during training, but Hou Xiaoyong and the others are not particrly studious types. Overall, when Jiang Yuan announced that he hadpleted the crime scene reconstruction, the technicians all fell into deep thought. Most of them wondered: how is he nning to fool us? Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, ¡°Take anotheryer off here.¡± The technicians, all silent, put on their gloves and removed anotheryer. ¡°Still not there, take off one moreyer.¡± They followed suit. The pressure from the stack of items was immense, akin to dealing with three girlfriends who find you all at once. ¡°This should be where the third strike left its mark.¡± Jiang Yuan also made a note in his notebook. People nced over, not understanding, but could only trust Jiang Yuan. If you can¡¯t mentally calcte 857 divided by 648 ande up with an answer, then you¡¯re forced to ept the result that someone else suggests. ¡°This is where the strikes happened in theter stage.¡± ¡°The position of the bleeding is very particr.¡± ¡°From here, the perpetrator entered an excited state.¡± Jiang Yuan intermittently described the crime scene, and unlike a performance, his most important task at the moment was evidence collection. As they continued like this, a tiny blood spot caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. ¡°Wait,¡± Jiang Yuan stopped a technician who was about to step forward. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°This blood spot, if you look at where itnded and its velocity, it¡¯s not from the same event as the other nearby blood spots,¡± Jiang Yuan noted by just ncing at it. At this moment, the other technicians looked somewhat bewildered and nk. They saw no difference; it looked exactly the same¡­ ¡°All the blood spots have trajectories that are basically parabolic in the air. If this blood spot came from the victim, it might have taken a smaller angle.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, he had several photos taken of it. ¡°You suspect this is from the perpetrator?¡± Hou Xiaoyong caught the implication. ¡°At least it is blood that sttered onto the perpetrator and then sshed out. But most likely, it¡¯s the perpetrator¡¯s own,¡± replied Jiang Yuan as he carefully collected the blood spot in front of him. Hearing him say this caused a stir among the other technicians, who once again gathered around to watch. ¡°The perpetrator was injured? How did that happen?¡± Hou Xiaoyong asked anxiously. Jiang Yuan nced at him and said in a low voice, ¡°During the crime, the victim might have fought back, maybe something sshed up and hit somewhere, or perhaps the weapon injured the perpetrator¡­ Jiang Yuan did not intend to exin; to him, a drop of blood could determine many things, and there was no need to find fault. If someone left a bloodstain at the scene of a violent crime, they should exin the situation at the police station no matter who they are! Chapter 139 - 139 135 Very Reasonable ?139: Chapter 135 Very Reasonable 139: Chapter 135 Very Reasonable ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s the killer¡¯s blood?¡± Hou Xiaoyong had already taken off his gloves and pulled out his phone. The squadron leader didn¡¯t deserve to be woken up over the sequence of the crime scene, but if the killer¡¯s blood was found without notifying the squadron leader, then get ready to be chastised. Jiang Yuan nced sideways at Hou Xiaoyong and once again downgraded him. For a technical investigator to say something so unprofessional, rating him LV0.8 was really overestimating him, and it was unfair to other technicians in Longli County. He, Jiang Yuan, was not like the ¡°vampire forensic doctor¡± who could lick a bloodstain and then read off the killer¡¯s ID number, blood type, hobbies, sexual orientation¡­ Actually, even a vampire forensic doctor couldn¡¯t do that because Europeans don¡¯t have ID numbers. Jiang Yuan frankly stated: ¡°All I can say is, this bloodstain is quite unique, and there is a high possibility it belongs to the killer or an eyewitness. It could also be the victim Zhang Hong¡¯s blood. We¡¯ll know after a DNA test. Bloodstain DNA testing should be quick.¡± Ordinary DNA might take several hours to process, but using bloodstains and blood scabs for DNA can be directly amplified, and results cane out in three to four hours. Hou Xiaoyong, rated as an LV0.6 technical investigator, pped his forehead, said ¡°You¡¯re right,¡± and hurriedly called the squadron leader. ¡°Let¡¯s continue,¡± Jiang Yuan had little interest in the police captain of Longli County. He was just a workhorse borrowed from the next county, who hadn¡¯t fed on any prime fodder, nor had anyone y music for him while massaging; he just did what a workhorse should do. Currying favor with the production team¡¯s leadership was not a workhorse¡¯s job. Of course, the local workhorses of Longli County still cared very much about the production team¡¯s leadership; they became very enthusiastic and actively involved in the work. ¡°We¡¯ll scan this area now,¡± Jiang Yuan continued as if reconstructing the scene. Using a single bloodstain alone was still not very reliable. Moreover, theoretically speaking, if there is one bloodstain, the probability of there being another from the killer is rtively high¡ªJiang Yuan believed that the bloodstain found just now should belong to the killer. There were no signs of a third person at the scene, so a bloodstain that was not from the victim naturally could be the perpetrator¡¯s. As for the origin of the perpetrator¡¯s blood, Jiang Yuan first guessed that it was likely that the perpetrator began by using his own fists. Using one¡¯s own body to strike the other is a more venting form of expression than using a weapon. It¡¯s just a bit rough on the hands. Unscathed fists in movies belong to the handsome guys; the not-so-handsome ones tend to hurt their hands when hitting people. Fists are harder than cheeks, referring to the bones, not the skin. Jiang Yuan kept looking and recording wave after wave. By then, the technicians from Longli County were starting to grow dissatisfied. Once again, Hou Xiaoyong, chosen by the group, suggested, ¡°Forensic Jiang, since we¡¯ve found someone else¡¯s bloodstain, shouldn¡¯t the following inspections be more meticulous?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed. Then, picking up another item, Jiang Yuan quickly made a record, waving his hand to start the next batch. Hou Xiaoyong reminded him, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you look again?¡± ¡°Look¡­ at what?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Hou Xiaoyong in return. Hou Xiaoyong carefully said, ¡°I was just thinking¡­ from my understanding, shouldn¡¯t a longer observation time increase the chances of discovering something?¡± ¡°The thought isn¡¯t wrong,¡± Jiang Yuan looked deeply at Hou Xiaoyong, now rated as an LV0.5 technical investigator, and said, ¡°Come with me.¡± Hou Xiaoyong looked back; the technicians who had egged him on all turned their heads away. Hou Xiaoyong cursed them silently for being unreliable and could only follow Jiang Yuan to the object they had just revealed. ¡°What can we deduce from this cast-off blood pattern?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Hou Xiaoyong. Hou Xiaoyong was stunned for a moment, then whispered, ¡°Didn¡¯t we just discuss this¡­ ¡± ¡°We¡¯ve discussed that it could be caused by a blunt object, right?¡± Jiang Yuan coaxed. Hou Xiaoyong nodded. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°Besides being caused by a blunt object, what else could there be?¡± Hou Xiaoyong didn¡¯t answer, and Jiang Yuan patiently waited for him. It wasn¡¯t bad for a workhorse to get a break once in a while. Hou Xiaoyong, hoping for the squadron leader toe and see him working hard, could only rack his brains and say, ¡°It can also indicate the strength used.¡± ¡°What else?¡± Jiang Yuan asked with a smile. ¡°This¡­ I don¡¯t quite remember,¡± Hou Xiaoyong admitted. ¡°It can indicate a left or right preference,¡± Jiang Yuan said softly. ¡°Right, right, so the killer is right-handed,¡± Hou Xiaoyong nodded vigorously, uttering a professional term and sighing with relief. ¡°Hmm, and looking at the shapes of these bloodstains, what can we deduce?¡± Jiang Yuan persisted. Hou Xiaoyong then froze again, like aputer that had crashed. What could he deduce? Whatever he could¡¯ve deduced he had already returned to his teachers. More questions? Jiang Yuan then exined in detail: ¡°First, you need to focus on the size of the bloodstain because blood droplets of different weights will be thrown at different distances¡­¡± ¡°Secondly, and this is why I particrly pay attention to cast-off bloodstains, it¡¯s because within the cast-off patterns, one can often find the perpetrator¡¯s blood. Think about why that might be?¡± ¡°Right, it¡¯s because the perpetrator¡¯s hand was bleeding. When moving, it¡¯s easier to create blood spatter, which is also why I asked you to pay attention to the pattern¡­¡± Under Jiang Yuan¡¯s instruction, Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s eyes gradually began to ze over. He was never a good student keen on learning, let alone the fact that Jiang Yuan had just unloaded so much information in one go¡­ it was overwhelming. Finally, Jiang Yuan paused to take a sip of water to moisten his throat. Then, looking at the conch shell in his hand, he said, ¡°We¡¯ve been looking at this bloodstain for quite some time now, it should be considered meticulous.¡± ¡°Meticulous, indeed,¡± Hou Xiaoyong quickly nodded, then shuffled his feet and said as he walked away, ¡°I¡¯m going to see if Captain Hou has arrived yet¡­¡± He realized that he had misspoken earlier and was subjected to an outpouring of information from Doctor Jiang, which he had to passively ept. Yet he seemed to have no upper hand over Jiang Yuan, and could only endure it. Compared to being praised by Captain Hou, studying was far more terrifying. Never mind. Dawn was breaking. Captain Hou Le of Longli County¡¯s Criminal Police had just arrived. ¡°Sorry, so sorry.¡± Without entering the crime scene, Hou Lejia stayed outside, shaking hands with Jiang Yuan repeatedly, then engaged warmly in small talk. Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand was gently squeezed and lightly shaken¡ªmight as well take it as a wrist exercise. The pleasantries concluded. Hou Lejia then said, ¡°The bloodstains that Forensic Jiang Yuan¡­ I mean, that you examinedst night have been rushed to Qinghe City. We¡¯ll probably hear back soon. How about we grab something to eat while we wait for the results?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan replied without reservation. Although the crime scene hadn¡¯t beenpletely processed, with the current manpower, it would take a week to finish given the site¡¯s size. Police officers still need to live. Hou Lejia and the others understood as well, previously not minding the heavy workload as it wasn¡¯t their jurisdiction; now, realizing how efficient Jiang Yuan was, Hou Lejia had outgrown his initial narrow-mindedness of a one-time use mindset. ¡°Get that restaurant owner to deliver a few portions of the pork intestines and stomach chicken over here.¡± Hou Lejia summoned Hou Xiaoyong and gave the instructions with care. Hou Xiaoyong followed orders confidently. Everyone feels self-assured when doing what they¡¯re good at. The pork intestines and stomach chicken were delivered steaming hot in a y pot. The restaurant owner seemed adept at business, arriving personally on an electric tricycle, bringing foldable tables and chairs, as well as utensils, along with him. They set up the tables and chairs on the street, a few dozen meters away from the yard, by the side of another fried rice food cart, and ced the y pot with the pork intestines and stomach chicken in the center, surrounded by dipping sauces. Pork stomach chicken is already a renowned dish, with the pork stomach creating delicious broth and the chicken soup being equally savory. Sprinkled with a generous amount of ck pepper, the blend of vorsbined with a deliciously spicy aroma makes it a worthy match for any dish alone. The only drawback to the pork stomach chicken as a standalone dish might be its texture. But with the addition of pork intestines, this downside is instantly alleviated. As the lid of the pot is lifted. The rich aroma wafts out. Everyone¡¯s stomachs start to grumble. Casting off their uniform tops and sitting around the pot in their sleek, shiny dress pants, they gathered. Hou Lejia lifted a cup of tea and said with a smile, ¡°We¡¯re in humble conditions today, so allow me to substitute tea for wine in thanking Forensic Jiang Yuan¡­¡± Jiang Yuan stood up with his cup, took a small sip in cooperation, and then focused on eating his meal, appearing every bit the reticent technician he was. Jiang Yuan knew that his mentor, Master Wu Jun, only got to enjoy a few canteen meals with the city¡¯s forensic team; he should not expect more, just focus on doing his job well. However, Hou Lejia was showcasing his ability to schmooze, amiably building rapport, talking about how great his rtionship with ¡°Crocodile¡± was, sharing amusing stories that happened between the two counties, and then expressing gratitude for Jiang Yuan¡¯s assistance. If there had been alcohol on the table, Hou Lejia might have been able to sweet-talk Jiang Yuanpletely. Once Jiang Yuan had eaten his fill, he promptly brought up the case and said, ¡°Captain Hou, I think I can wrap up with the bloodstains here in a bit. I¡¯ll rest for a while, then I¡¯d like to help my mentor with the autopsies.¡± Hou Lejia was slightly surprised, ¡°You can finish that quickly?¡± ¡°The items for DNA might take a week or two to clean up, but I don¡¯t think it¡¯s that significant anymore,¡± Jiang Yuan replied bluntly. Hearing this, Hou Lejia came to understand that Jiang Yuan was choosing his tasks, thinking what if this was his own technician¡­ Oh, but he isn¡¯t their technician. Hou Lejia pondered for a few seconds, then realized it wasn¡¯t a bad thing after all¡ªafter all, Jiang Yuan had identified a distinctive piece of scabbed blood. Changing his tone, Hou Lejia said, ¡°The autopsies should be all done, no issues there, which is why we need to focus on breaking through from the scene of the crime¡­¡± ¡°Let me first review the autopsy reports and report back to my mentor,¡± Jiang Yuan said, still eating his tripe and never lifting his head. Those present understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s stance: If you want to give unreasonablemands, I¡¯ll walk away. Hou Xiaoyong shifted in his seat, suddenly feeling a bit gleeful. Since Captain Hou was reprimanded too, it felt much more justified and normal that he himself had been reprimanded. Hou Lejia sensed Jiang Yuan¡¯s dissatisfaction in his words but swiftly smacked his own head, ¡°Look at my memory, my poor brain, always thinking of useless stuff. You haven¡¯t even done an autopsy with your mentor yet since you got here. Let¡¯s get that arranged right away.¡± Chapter 140 - 140 136 Dissecting the Corpse ?140: Chapter 136: Dissecting the Corpse 140: Chapter 136: Dissecting the Corpse Visiting Master Wu Jun naturally meant that he couldn¡¯t go empty-handed. Jiang Yuan ate the pig stomach and chickenbo and found it quite delicious, so he called the owner to make another portion. After paying extra, he carried away the hot pot and even the bowls and chopsticks. Hou Xiaoyong, following the captain¡¯s orders, drove Jiang Yuan to the mortuary and brought the pig stomach and chickenbo along. The hot pot was piping hot, especially noticeable in the small car in the early morning. As Hou Xiaoyong was about to arrive at the mortuary, his expression changed slightly and he said, ¡°Where do you n to eat the pig stomach chicken?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been to this mortuary before¡­¡± Jiang Yuan replied halfway before he caught Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s expression and realized,ughing, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we won¡¯t eat next to the corpses.¡± ¡°Is that so? Hahaha, I might¡¯ve overthought it.¡± Hou Xiaoyong had also just finished eating and was no stranger to corpses, but the thought of the pig stomach chicken made his stomach churn. Jiang Yuan felt for him and once again assured him, ¡°Corpses all contain germs, and it¡¯s not possible to sterilize them. So things like our gloves, once they¡¯ve touched a dead body, it¡¯s bad for them toe into contact with the living and such. It¡¯s not sanitary, nor is it respectful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Hou Xiaoyong smiled ruefully, ¡°I was just thinking, I¡¯ve seen forensic doctors eat at the autopsy table before, it must have been staged.¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Jiang Yuan pondered. Hou Xiaoyong waited for a while but did not get the response he expected and looked at Jiang Yuan, his stomach churning again, ¡°Do you really eat at the autopsy table?¡± ¡°It depends on which autopsy table you¡¯re talking about. If there are no corpses on it, it¡¯s washed thoroughly with cleaners. Then, of course, there are no contamination issues,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. If this had been when he first started working, he might have thought about it more, but not anymore; he was used to the presence of the dissection room in his daily life now. Hou Xiaoyong, of course, could not get used to that idea and continued woodenly, ¡°If there¡¯s no corpse on the autopsy table, then there¡¯s also no issue of disrespect. Therefore, does it mean we can eat on the autopsy table?¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and quoted something Master Wu Jun once said, ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter much, mainly because forensic offices don¡¯t have designated dining areas.¡± Hou Xiaoyong didn¡¯t know how to respond. When they arrived, he watched Jiang Yuan carry the pig stomach and chickenbo into the elevator and couldn¡¯t help but feel anxious for the food stall owner. Thankfully, Jiang Yuan had paid for the pot and the kitchenware; otherwise, what would they have done with the hot pot upon returning it? ¡­ The dissection room. Doctor Ye from Longli County, Medical Examiner Wang Lan from Qinghe City Bureau, and Master Wu Jun all eagerly awaited the pig stomach and chickenbo. Upon meeting, Wu Jun grinned and said, ¡°Just now, Ye kept telling me how delicious the pig stomach chicken was, and I was worried that if you spilled it on the way, I¡¯d die of hunger right here in the dissection room.¡± Jiang Yuanughed out loud but quicklyposed himself, saying, ¡°That sort ofment could easily be misunderstood if it gets out.¡± ¡°No way, it really smells quite nice,¡± Wu Jun said, leading Jiang Yuan into the dissection room. As he entered, he saw on the stainless steel autopsy table a bodyid out, with its hair and beard shaved off. The scalp had been peeled back, partly covering the face and forehead, the skull was sawn open horizontally, and the brain was already removed. Jiang Yuan nced at it without looking further and asked, ¡°Any conclusions yet?¡± ¡°Beaten to death with a stick,¡± Doctor Ye said nonchntly, hastily cing the hot pot on a dissection bed some distance away. The dissection room in Longli County was evenrger than the one in Ningtai County, with three dissection beds inside and significant space between them, a ratherfortable setup. Medical Examiner Wang Lan from Qinghe City Bureau followed the protocol and said, ¡°The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, leading to fatal brain injury.¡± These were words that could be directly included in the appraisal report, but they were clearly not as detailed as Doctor Ye¡¯s exnation. Jiang Yuan nced at Doctor Ye and then at Master Wu Jun and asked, ¡°The murder weapon hasn¡¯t been found yet, has it?¡± ¡°Right, the body is covered in marks from a severe beating, indicative of venting anger,¡± Wu Jun said as heid out the bowls and dishes, each with its own dipping sauce, and then sat down, adding, ¡°We suspect it¡¯s something lighter than a steel pipe, more flexible, like a thin wooden stick or something simr.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°You guys go ahead and eat, I¡¯ll check the body.¡± With that, he changed into his clothes and his own gloves and leaned over the body to begin his examination. The cause of death was quite clear; the cranial injuries were distinctly evident. However, since the murder weapon wasn¡¯t found at the scene, identifying its type and appearance became a top priority in the forensic work. Because the murder weapon is held in the killer¡¯s hand, finding it makes it much easier to prove the killer¡¯s identity. Sometimes a distinctive weapon can break the case wide open. Jiang Yuan proceeded to examine the body, following the usual sequence of an autopsy. If it weren¡¯t for his intent to take a look, Wu Jun and the others would have moved the body to the morgue hours ago. The body bore signs of being beaten all over. It wasn¡¯t just the arms, legs, and back that were struck; the chest and stomach were also hit, and even the groin had been battered multiple times. ¡°The beatingsted a long time?¡± Jiang Yuan asked slowly. Wu Jun was eating a piece of tripe, and when Jiang Yuan asked, he chewed and replied while eating, ¡°That¡¯s another reason we guess the weapon was rtively light. If it were too heavy, the victim would have died earlier.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall the scene at the scavenging courtyard, where he had repeatedly sifted through the items, which now yed vividly in his mind. Almost instinctively, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°PVC pipe?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­possible,¡± Wu Jun, who was drinking soup, paused and then nodded, saying, ¡°Very possible¡­¡± Wang Lan looked over in surprise and asked, ¡°Did you see a PVC pipe?¡± ¡°There were some pressed down in the yard. And there was a small pile by the entrance,¡± Jiang Yuan connected the dots and said, ¡°It¡¯s very possible that the murderer picked up a PVC pipe to use as a weapon upon entering.¡± ¡°Possible,¡± Doctor Ye also expressed agreement. However, it couldn¡¯t be definitively determined that it was a PVC pipe yet, but cing it at the top of the list was still no problem. Meanwhile, a shiny dumpling trickled out from the head of the corpse. Jiang Yuan reached out to catch it and saw a system message sh: Zhang Hong¡¯s Legacy: Waste Sorting (LV4) ¡ª Waste was something Zhang Hong was most familiar with. He was adept at categorizing items and cing them in his courtyard. Typically, he sorted by the value of the items, but after the government implemented waste sorting regtions, he quickly learned this method too. The learning method was simple: just rummage through enough garbage bins and remember the various types of waste inside. In Zhang Hong¡¯s eyes, not only was everything inside the garbage bins trash, but everything outside as well. Chapter 141 - 141 137 Search ?141: Chapter 137: Search 141: Chapter 137: Search Jiang Yuan had finished dissecting the body, cleaned everything up, and ced it into the refrigerated coffin, just as the three adults had almost finished their feast of pig intestines, pork belly, and chicken. Everyone pitched in to clean the instruments and the autopsy table. After soaking and scrubbing them with detergent and washing their hands thoroughly, they also tidied up the pots and pans that had been used for eating. The autopsy room was once again clean and tidy, brightly lit and, if used for sleeping, it would surely be much cleaner than a five-star hotel. In the end, Jiang Yuan held the casserole dish that had contained the pig intestines, pork belly, and chicken, and asked, ¡°Where should I put this?¡± ¡°Put it in the cupboard, we can use itter to collect stomach contents or something,¡± Doctor Ye casually decided to appropriate the casserole dish. The dish Jiang Yuan ordered wasrge and filled with about 10 jin of food, which would be enough to fit an ordinary person¡¯s stomach contents without a problem. Wang Lan, a female forensic doctor, was quite disgusted by the other forensic doctors¡¯ indifference to mixing meat and vegetarian dishes and fanned her nose with her hand, saying, ¡°Stop messing around, the name of the dish is still on the casserole.¡± Doctor Yeughed heartily: ¡°What does that matter?¡± Wang Lan rolled her eyes: ¡°This is supposed to be one of Longli County¡¯s famous eateries, right? If county leaderse to visit, they might just decide to have a meal there. And then, afterward, they see your autopsy and realize that you¡¯re presenting stomach contents in a casserole from that very restaurant¡­¡± Before Wang Lan could finish her sentence, everyone burst outughing. ¡°If only that could really happen,¡± Doctor Ye said with a tinge of regret. The group also imagined the scene for a moment, their minds wandering. If the leader were to vomit, they¡¯d just clean it up. When ites to which profession least fears getting their workce dirty, forensic doctors would be the first, and probably no one would dare contest that. Wang Lan was also amused and rxed her expression somewhat, saying, ¡°So, let¡¯s not put the casserole in the autopsy room.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t do it,¡± Doctor Ye sighed, ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that just now.¡± ¡°Right?¡± Doctor Ye nodded: ¡°The autopsy room is public property. It¡¯s not right for me to put my personal casserole there. Once the leaders are done using the casseroles, I can take them and use them.¡± This time theughter had all four of them rolling. Behind the deep green path of the funeral home, the four people¡¯sughter echoed, boundlessly happy. ¡­ Back at the guesthouse they were staying in, Jiang Yuan bid his master Wu Jun good night and they each returned to their rooms to sleep. One advantage of the rundown guesthouse in the poor county was that it didn¡¯t exceed standards, allowing each person to have a room to themselves, which was more amenable to the older men used to snoring, farting, and smoking. If they were to go on a business trip to a big city, the detectives would have to share a room, significantly lowering their quality of life. Only at times like this would you realize that your seemingly respectable leader and young colleagues, who appeared polished and dignified, snored and ground their teeth in their sleep, bing more and more unattractive the more you watched. And it was also during these times that you could fully sympathize with women¡¯s grievances. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t set an rm and simply used mouthwash before falling into bed. A day and a night¡¯s worth of onsite investigation was wearying, not just from theck of sleep, but the focused judgement required was truly exhausting. Jiang Yuan was relying on his youth to behave willfully, but at this point, once he let his emotions go, he couldn¡¯t hold on any longer. Meanwhile, Longde Vige was in chaos. Longli County had organized a team of almost 300 people and had entered Longde Vige to begin aplete DNA testing procedure. Testing clotted blood for DNA was the quickest way to get results, but when the results came back and there was no match, it rather puzzled them. Hou Lejia was decisive in this matter, immediately reporting to his superiors and then mustering thergest possible team to surround Longde Vige, starting with the junkyard cottage, to conduct DNA testing. A small team wouldn¡¯t suffice, as areas like Longde Vige, straddling urban and rural zones, were not only filled with all sorts of people, but also home to numerous young adults and industrial workers. Historically, these somewhat organized groups, ustomed to disciplinary constraints and with highly aligned goals¡ªyet without houses, cars, savings, or families¡ªwere easily incited. And as a policeman, Hou Lejia knew best the power of deterrence. In China, the police force is staffed at a ratio of either one per thousand or two per thousand, meaning that the number of police officers makes up approximately 0.02% of the poption, and that includes one-third traffic police and one-third armed police. With such a deployment, they could only rely on the power of deterrence. Over 300 police officers, most of them concentrated together, did present quite an imposing sight. Hou Lejia personallymanded and led the team, checking meticulously, point by point, fearing any person might be overlooked. No matter how many perpetrators there were, only one left behind DNA evidence; missing this individual would render all their efforts in vain. Though this task sounded challenging, the execution was even more difficult. Fortunately, Hou Lejia was experienced and managed to secure some officers from local police stations, which allowed them to systematically undertake the verification, area by area. By the time Jiang Yuan woke up, it was already noon the next day. When he arrived at Longde Vige, the local DNA testing was nearly halfwayplete. Jiang Yuan went straight to the crime scene, and as he approached the door, he heard Hou Lejia, the head of the local criminal police, on the phone: ¡°It can be done in two days.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s notpleted, I¡¯ll bring my head to you.¡± ¡°Old leader, look at the police in Beijing dealing with such cases, they start with more than a thousand people, even two to three thousand people ismon. How can wepare to them?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll try my best to save on investigation expenses.¡± After hanging up the phone, Hou Lejiained to the person next to him: ¡°They don¡¯t provide enough personnel or funds, and they just keep pressing for results. Where am I supposed to find these results!¡± Jiang Yuan briskly entered the courtyard, his mind still filled with the image of the Criminal Police Squad Leader¡¯s bloodshot eyes. It was obvious that he hadn¡¯t slept or eaten properly since he was woken up. Hou Lejia probably knew it would be like this, so he took the chance to sleep before any major action took ce. For criminal police officers, staying awake for 72 hours during a murder case with an unknown perpetrator is not umon. Although the Squad Leader has the title and seems like a leader, he is still a criminal police officer. Seeing Hou Lejia in this state, Jiang Yuan had a higher opinion of him; it always sounds impressive to organize a major operation, but it¡¯s difficult in practice. If it were a cultural event, one could use eloquent writing to describe it, and just wrap it up with a triumphant ending. Meanwhile, police operations are different; they are targeted from the outset, and without achieving the objective, how can there be any talk of sess? The scavenger¡¯s small courtyard. Almost no reduction in items was visible, but by number, probably more than a hundred items were already missing. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much, just quickly changed into his clothes, put on a mask and gloves, and silently joined the others. The day passed quickly. Hou Lejia¡¯s pressure was mounting, his eyes visibly reddening. Fortunately, the DNA sampling was finallypleted, and the team was able to withdraw without causing any idents, giving him a slight sense of relief. But it onlysted a few hours. In the evening, Hou Lejia found Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°The DNA didn¡¯t match.¡± Wu Jun seemed to have expected this, as he had been waiting in the courtyard, and now stepped forward to say, ¡°The DNA not matching could be because the target isn¡¯t in the samples.¡± He spoke diplomatically, essentially suggesting that the murderer was not among the sampled poption. If there was no oversight, it meant that the murderer did not live in Longde Vige. This wasn¡¯t surprising. Nowadays, people have a wide range of activities, and Longli County had clearly defined the area toote. But for Hou Lejia, this added immense psychological pressure. ¡°Well, now we need to make some adjustments to the direction of the investigation,¡± said Hou Lejia, ncing at Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun. The Criminal Science Squad of Longli County couldn¡¯te up with any good strategies. Forensic Doctor Ye Xiaoqun seemed clueless, merely nodding along; crime scene investigation had yielded nothing, and departments like trace evidence were ying dead. Hou Lejia was now looking at Jiang Yuan, hoping he could provide some new leads. If not, the case might be in serious trouble. As Jiang Yuan recalled the bloodstain analysis, although he had no clear ideas, he was even more convinced that the bloodstain he found that day was very likely the murderer¡¯s. ¡°I noticed that the road leading to Longde Vige has surveince cameras,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°Can we check all the vehicles and individuals that entered and left Longde Vige that day?¡± If they weren¡¯t in the vige, at least they had entered or left. Hou Lejia hesitated before saying, ¡°We¡¯ve discussed this. Longde Vige is a fringe vige with a lot of peopleing and going by bus or taxi¡­¡± ¡°The murderer likely had his own means of transport,¡± Jiang Yuan countered Hou Lejia¡¯s words. ¡°And it¡¯s probably a private car.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because the murder weapon hasn¡¯t been found. If he isn¡¯t from Longde Vige, he would have to either discard it or take it away to destroy it.¡± Hou Lejia realized the point: ¡°That¡¯s true. The weapon would have blood on it and smell strongly; taking a taxi would attract attention. I¡¯ll dispatch two people to follow up on this lead.¡± What he meant was using public transportation like buses and taxis, which would be noticed if there was a smell of blood. By asking a couple of people to inquire along the route, one could basically cover most possibilities without needing too much manpower. The rest of the manpower would naturally be directed toward the colorful process of searching vehicles for DNA. ¡°Thank you, Doctor Jiang, for your hard work,¡± Hou Lejia thanked Jiang Yuan and rushed off with his phone in hand. Jiang Yuan just smiled. Deep down, he knew perfectly well that Hou Lejia¡¯s emphasis on searching vehicles was more out of psychological concern. Since the search was based on the blood sample he had found, if that sample was mistaken, continuing to invest significant manpower and resources would turn it into a joke. Hence, when Hou Lejia asked Jiang Yuan, it was also to test his confidence. Jiang Yuan thus confidently gave him an answer. He himself was not afraid of such matters. Half of Longli County was turned upside down because of this. Just then, a private car driver, while undergoing DNA testing, provided a crucial clue. On the day of the incident, he had picked up his car from a parking lot not far from the crime scene and smelled a strong scent of blood nearby. Chapter 142 - 142 138 Closing the Case ?142: Chapter 138: Closing the Case 142: Chapter 138: Closing the Case The driver who provided the clue was a local, who drove to Longde Vige to eat pig intestine and chicken. In fact, most of the cars in the parking lot that day were there for the pig intestine and chicken. Although there were other food stalls and snack stands nearby, they catered to local residents and didn¡¯t have people specifically driving over to eat there. It was only this restaurant¡¯s pig intestine and chicken that was so renowned for some reason; it seemed as if visitors to Longli County felt their trip would be wasted if they didn¡¯t eat there once. With generous servings, truly delicious vors, and very affordable prices, the ce was always busy and had convenient parking nearby. As for the residents who originally parked there, there were actually very few, and most used their cars formuting. Hou Lejia swiftly sent a team to the parking lot to investigate the scene and obtained the parking lot¡¯s car entry and exit records, then cross-referenced them with the license tes captured on video. Jiang Yuan followed the Longli County police dog squad, searching for the source of the blood scent. The Longli County police dog squad currently has three dogs, one of which was in training, still a rookie. One was in its prime, a hardworking cker dog. The other was the meritorious dog Heizi, a two-time honoree that had two food bowls, as famous as the twice-honored Jiang Yuan. In terms of using police dogs, Longli County had some fame within the province. They did indeed make good use of them. Now, although Heizi was older and had reduced working hours, there was a new prime-age police dog, ¡°Cor,¡± to take over, and the third generation of police dogs was in training. It was rare in the province to see such a tradition of skills passed down through generations of dogs, old, middle-aged, and young. The dog deployed that day was the meritorious dog Heizi. Heizi¡¯s back was a straight line, with the Dobermann¡¯s characteristic pointed ears standing erect. With its head only slightly lowered, it led the way briskly towards the source of the blood scent. Heizi, who ate 75 yuan worth of food a day, didn¡¯t show its age at all. It was like men, women, and people of LGBTQIAPKDXREW in their forties still battling it out on the front lines of nightclubs, with only a defiant sparkle in their eyes, showing their resistance to growing old. Woof! Heizi barked, and seven or eight people rushed over immediately. Jiang Yuan also ran over, needing to make sure that some overly excited youngster didn¡¯t spoil the scene. No need to say it wasn¡¯t possible or couldn¡¯t happen; anyone who had been to enough crime scenes knew that there were all kinds of stupid thieves out there, as well as not-so-smart bumbling cops. Once at the location, they saw a clear drainage channel with no obvious bloodstains. ¡°I guess the suspect stood here and changed out of the bloody clothes,¡± said Captain Zheng Xiangqian of the serious crime squad, looking up for cameras and making his judgment. He squatted down to sniff closely at the ground, then stood up and said, ¡°Even took a pee here.¡± Heizi barked twice in what seemed like displeasure at someone taking its job. Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan had a moment of realization. Indeed, if the suspect didn¡¯t change out of the bloody clothes before driving into the city, being seen with blood on their person would spell trouble. Changing at the parking lot was a very appropriate ce to do so. At that moment, a young detective spected, ¡°Since he carried clothes with him, could it be a premeditated murder?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the young man. This guy belonged to the not-so-smart category, and his eager participation showed he didn¡¯t realize it. ¡°Premeditated murder, but bringing clothes and not a weapon?¡± Zheng Xiangqian muttered, shutting down that line of inquiry. This was about the direction of the investigation, and he wouldn¡¯t let a foolish kid interfere. From the current evidence, the likelihood of premeditated murder was too low. Plus, the basic fact was, the suspect already had a car, so why premeditate the murder of a scrap-picking old man? If there was a longstanding grudge, then surely they would¡¯ve used a weapon that could quickly kill. Even if it was just a beating out of anger, they could have been more prepared. Preparing clothes to change into for a parking lot entry and exit would just be foolish. Everyone ignored the foolish kid¡¯s remarks. Jiang Yuan put on a mask and collected samples together with Longli County¡¯s own forensics team from the drainage channel. The drainage channel was somewhat smelly, but to be honest, after dealing with corpses, dealing with a drainage channel was nothing. The smell of the urine from the previous day was even fainter in the channel. The only slight difort was that the work environment was too outdoorsy. The stares of people passing through the parking lot and of Heizi, the police dog next to him, made Jiang Yuan a bit embarrassed. After Jiang Yuan collected the samples, he stared intently at Heizi for a while. If he were familiar with this dog, and if it had been Dazhuang giving him such a stare, Jiang Yuan would¡¯ve plucked it bald. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Jiang Yuan ced the sample box in the car and informed Zheng Xiangqian. Although they might not be useful during the investigative stage, these items could y a role during the trial phase. Against a stubbornly resistantwyer, some could even have a major impact. Of course, running a DNA test when they got back andparing it with the DNA Jiang Yuan had previously swabbed was also a good additional precaution. The group had arrived excitedly, only to leave in disappointment. Not to mention finding the expected bloody clothing or the weapon, they didn¡¯t even get a small constion. Fortunately, the police officers who went out on another leads brought back some good news. It¡¯s not just good news, but also suspects, vehicles, and a heap of other messy physical evidence! ¡°So, the person has been apprehended?¡± Wu Jun, who had woken up from a night¡¯s sleep, hade directly to the Criminal Police Division from the guest house. Jiang Yuan muttered a ¡°Hmm,¡± and said, ¡°They¡¯re interrogating him now, a young man in his twenties.¡± Wu Jun gave the young Jiang Yuan a sidelong nce and said, ¡°So, is it a crime of passion?¡± ¡°It seems there¡¯s been some repetition.¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°I just saw members of the Major Case Squad go out, they must be going to conduct an investigation and gather evidence.¡± ¡°What else is there to gather evidence for? All that blood in the car sealed his fate. The murder weapon?¡± ¡°The murder weapon and the bloodstained clothing were burned together, reportedly a stic water pipe used for home decoration, a PPR hot water pipe, from what I heard them say,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, then added, ¡°The burning wasn¡¯t thorough, the remains were all collected.¡± Wu Jun couldn¡¯t help but chuckle softly, ¡°The guy had some tricks up his sleeve, huh? The murder weapon is always a tough problem to solve, but he wasn¡¯t professional about it. He should have practiced more in advance. How did he burn it? Where did he burn it?¡± ¡°At a camping site, lit inside arge iron drum,¡± Jiang Yuan was just as curious. Erasing evidence is something the clever ones have attempted throughout history. There are some interesting choices, like a dagger made of ice that melts away after the murder, leaving no weapon to be found (not a science lesson¡­ do not attempt). A stick made of stic, however, has a simr cleverness but isn¡¯t as straightforward during the act of murder. Burning it produces too much ck smoke. Two police officers from the Major Case Squad returned in a hurry with a young girl. The girl looked to be anywhere from 18 to 48 years old, wearing light makeup, with long pants, a white T-shirt, and appeared very clean. Her hair was tied in a high, slightly tousled, and yful ponytail. Jiang Yuan exchanged a nce with his mentor, understanding that the interrogation must be nearing its end. This newly arrived witness, whoever she was, might turn out to be a witness or something else. While Jiang Yuan was still guessing, Wu Jun went straight into the interrogation center to watch the surveince footage. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the cheek to go; there were many people there, and he wasn¡¯t in such a hurry. Not long after, the girl came out and left without hesitation. Some time passed before Wu Jun emerged with a grave expression. ¡°This is¡­¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but be curious. Wu Jun sighed, mumbled to himself, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go outside for a smoke and talk.¡± Jiang Yuan deftly unwrapped a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, handed one to Wu Jun at the door, and lit it for him. Wu Jun took a deep draw, exhaled the smoke, then inhaled it back in before exhaling again, and finally said, ¡°The murderer is the young guy we caught today, but the motive¡­ it¡¯s different from what we thought.¡± ¡°Is it because of that girl?¡± ¡°Yeah, after the young man split from hispanion, he saw this girl and started pestering her for her WeChat. She wouldn¡¯t give it to him, so he followed her all the way, and then Zhang Hong, a scavenger, saw them,¡± Wu Jun said, taking another puff of his cigarette and exhaling again. ¡°Zhang Hong stepped forward to stop the suspect, and the girl took the opportunity to run away. The more the suspect thought about it, the angrier he got, so he chased Zhang Hong back to his ce and beat him to death.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched as he listened, ¡°All this for that? Just couldn¡¯t swallow his pride?¡± ¡°What¡¯s making me ufortable isn¡¯t just that.¡± Wu Jun nced toward the gate and said, ¡°That girl who was harassed didn¡¯t even call the police afterward, and when the police found her yesterday, she didn¡¯t say a thing¡­¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent for a few seconds. A sense of debt isn¡¯t something thew requires. If someone doesn¡¯t want to acknowledge it, there¡¯s nothing the police can do. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°So how did you find this girl? Did the suspect tell you?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Wu Jun sighed, ¡°Otherwise, we couldn¡¯t rify the cause of death. None of them could.¡± Jiang Yuan knew he meant the suspect and Zhang Hong. This felt like a messed-up situation, and Jiang Yuan kicked the stair in front of him a bit too hard, wincing at the pain in his toe. The secondhand smoke was irritating, making him cough involuntarily. Wu Jun, however, was staring into the distance with a distant look in his eyes. After finishing his cigarette and stamping out the butt, Wu Jun patted Jiang Yuan on the arm and said, ¡°As long as the case is solved, that¡¯s what¡¯s important. Right and wrong, the twists of human nature, are tooplex to figure out. Let¡¯s just do the best we can.¡± Jiang Yuan responded with a nod, ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Master, shall we go get a meal of fat intestines and chicken gizzard stew? That ce isn¡¯t bad.¡± Chapter 143 - 143 139 Stacking Gold Ingots ?143: Chapter 139 Stacking Gold Ingots 143: Chapter 139 Stacking Gold Ingots ¡°Captain Hou, we¡¯re going back today,¡± Wu Jun said while smoking the Zhonghua cigarette provided by his apprentice as he lethargically made a phone call to Captain Hou Lejia of the Longli County criminal police. For the captain of the criminal police in his own Ningtai County, Wu Jun could mostly maintain a proper attitude, but when it came to the captain of the neighboring county, he treated him as an ¡°equal.¡± Besides, wasn¡¯t the hospitality in Longli County subpar? Hou Lejia was naturally a bit embarrassed and repeatedly said, ¡°This case has just been cracked, don¡¯t rush off, I¡¯ve really been too busy here. You know how it is, with current murder cases, the leaders are on our tails asking about progress. If I were to have a drink, I¡¯d get hung up and whipped¡­¡± ¡°We understand, mainly because our work here is also done, and we should get back to report,¡± Wu Jun said sycophantically, still smoking as he spoke, the epitome of worldliness. ¡°Stay a few more days, just two more days. I¡¯ll treat everyone to a good drink, guaranteed to be a good time¡­¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s voice sounded like he was pleading with a wealthy patroness, equally worldly in emotion. ¡°We appreciate the thought, but we really should head back. It¡¯s rare to get two days off; we can¡¯t waste them at the guest house,¡± Wu Jun said cheerfully, with polite empty words. After Hou Lejia tried persuading a couple more times to no avail, he hung up the phone reluctantly. Wu Jun also put away his phone and said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head out. Things are wrapped up here.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll call for the car,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, dialing out on his phone. Wu Jun asked, ¡°What about our car?¡± ¡°No air conditioning, do you still want to ride back in that?¡± Jiang Yuan gave Wu Jun a puzzled look. As Jiang Yuan spoke, he lit another cigarette for his master just as Jiang Yongxin¡¯s Alphard pulled up in front of them. ¡°Yuan,¡± Jiang Yongxin called out as he stepped out of the car, then opened the automatic door in the middle and proactively helped Wu Jun with his luggage. Wu Jun, looking at the sparkling new minivan, felt greatly pleased and said, ¡°Next time we go on a business trip for an autopsy, they should send a car to pick us up. It won¡¯t do if the car isn¡¯t good.¡± ¡°Keep dreaming,¡± Jiang Yuan said, smiling as he got in the car. Jiang Yongxin went around to the other side and climbed into the driver¡¯s seat. ¡°Why did youe to pick us up yourself? You could¡¯ve just sent ackey,¡± Jiang Yuan thanked Jiang Yongxin. Jiang Yongxin chuckled and replied, ¡°I usually drive clients around, mostly female clients primarily. I made an exception for you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re really stepping up your game then,¡± Wu Jun teased. Jiang Yongxin paused for a moment, then understanding,ughed loudly, ¡°You don¡¯t know, us Jiang Vige People were known for being daredevils back in the day. If our ce hadn¡¯t been demolished, I would¡¯ve ventured out to start my own business a long time ago.¡± ¡°You should¡¯ve gone to work at the demolition office from the start,¡± Wu Jun said, shaking his head with a smirk. Jiang Yuan also felt a sense of nostalgia. The older generation of Jiang Vige used to work outside; daring or not, if they didn¡¯t take the risk, the whole family would have nothing to eat but the wind from the northwest. Unlike now, where everyone stays at home doing nothing, in good health and full of vigor. They returned all the way on the highway. Jiang Yuan only dozed off for a little over half an hour in the car before they entered the territory of Ningtai County. Though thendscape of the two counties was quite simr, returning to Ningtai gave Jiang Yuan a more rxed andfortable feeling. Jiang Yuan stretchedzily, extended his legs, and opened a bottle of Nongfu Spring, gulping down nearly half before exhaling a breath and saying, ¡°I always feel like we¡¯ve been taken advantage of.¡± ¡°Not at all, we could¡¯ve at least made 1000,¡± Wu Jun gesturing to himself and then to Jiang Yuan, said, ¡°I take 400, you take 600.¡± Jiang Yuan almost choked on the water. ¡°I take 300, you take 700 would also be fair,¡± Wu Junughed, then added, ¡°This trip, let¡¯s chalk it up on Captain Huang¡¯s tab. Over at Longli, we¡¯re repaying his favor this time; let¡¯s just say we two are¡­¡± ¡°Labour export,¡± Jiang Yongxin understood quicker. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile. The Alphard dropped Master Wu Jun off at his home first, then took Jiang Yuan back to his ce. When they got back to the Jiangcun Residential Area, they saw the small square bustling with noise. The women weren¡¯t doing the square dance, the men weren¡¯t drinking morning and evening; there was an atmosphere of harmony. ¡°What¡¯s going on today?¡± Jiang Yuan had been away reading books for so long, he had no idea what new fads had taken over the vige. Jiang Yongxin chuckled: ¡°I thought you knew, otherwise why pick today toe back? Today is the folding of gold and silver.¡± Folding gold and silver is a ritual where people hand-make gold sycees and ingots, then burn them as an offering to their ancestors. The elderly men and women of Jiang Vige, with nothing else to do, oftene up with various activities to keep busy. Like burning paper money for their ancestors, it¡¯s a custom in Jiang Vige to fold it themselves. Of course, many viges like to do it themselves, believing that it is more effective and shows greater devotion. ¡°Are you going to fold some?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Jiang Yongxin. ¡°Of course. My grandpa is still waiting down there, he might be thinking of buying a tractor or something,¡± Jiang Yongxin said nonchntly. Jiang Yuanughed too, ¡°Then go ahead and fold, my grandpa also wanted to buy a bull back in the day.¡± Once Jiang Yongxin parked the car, the two of them went to the square together, found a random table and chairs to sit down at, and started folding the paper gold that was on the table. The paper gold was purchased by the vigemittee, and after folding, everyone could take it home or just leave it on the table. The people from Jiang Vige folded whenever they felt like it; they would fold for a while and leave whenever they wanted to. In some households, husbands and wives took turnsing here; one would be at home helping the kids with homework, and when they got frustrated, they¡¯de and fold some gold ingots to vent before switching ces. The peaceful time for the kids was the break between their parents¡¯ frustrations. As usual, Jiang Yuan¡¯s dad was in the big kitchen, boiling meat. The bubbling scent of the meat flew out along the air duct. As soon as Jiang Yuan smelled that familiar aroma, he knew his dad was inside. The spice form and the cooking time used by others were different from Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s, so the smell was not quite the same. After a while, Jiang Fuzhen came over like a real chef, one hand wiping a hand towel. ¡°Dad,¡± Jiang Yuan called out as he saw him. ¡°You¡¯re back,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, a man of few words in front of the other vigers. He sat next to Jiang Yuan before saying, ¡°By the way, I bought a newspaper with you in it.¡± ¡°A newspaper?¡± ¡°The Qinghe Evening News. Hey, isn¡¯t it on this table?¡± Jiang Fuzhen rummaged through the paper gold for a moment and indeed found a newspaper underneath, ¡°This one.¡± Jiang Yuan leaned over to look and saw the bottom half of the newspaper¡¯s headline, which boldly read ¡°Young Forensic Doctor Catches Glimpse of Serial Killer¡¯s Trail¡±¡­ ¡°This headline¡­¡± ¡°This headline is quite good, it¡¯s catchy, so people will want to read on,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen. ¡°I bought 1,000 copies to give out to everyone for free.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled as expected. As long as his dad didn¡¯t go from house to house forcing them on people, that would be a modest show-off. It made Jiang Yuan think of the time before social media, when something good happened in the vige, people had to inform every household personally. From this perspective, social media had greatly improved the efficiency of showing off, saving everyone¡¯s time, even though the saved time wasn¡¯t really used for anything important. However, making it into the newspaper seemed too important to be just shared over social media. So it made sense for Jiang Fuzhen to buy the food and newspapers and give them away for free. ¡°There¡¯s another thing,¡± Jiang Fuzhen coughed artificially a few times before pulling someone from behind him and said, ¡°This is your Uncle Yu Shan, remember him?¡± ¡°Hello, Uncle Yu Shan,¡± Jiang Yuan of course remembered him. Compared to a close paternal uncle like the seventeenth uncle, Uncle Yu Shan was one more step removed; they had different great-grandfathers but shared the same great-great-grandfather. In terms of blood rtion, he should be called a ¡®distant uncle,¡¯ but people no longer used that term. Uncle Yu Shan¡¯s son, on the other hand, was a male cousin to Jiang Yuan and fell into the fifth degree of mourning in Chinese kinship, but because they lived in the same vige, Jiang Yuan was more familiar with this cousin. ¡°Your Uncle Yu Shan has a problem and wants your help,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen, then turned to a slightly embarrassed Jiang Yushan next to him, ¡°Do you want to say it or should I?¡± ¡°You say it,¡± Jiang Yushan replied, looking a bit inarticte. ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Fuzhen pulled Jiang Yushan to sit down and continued, ¡°Your uncle lent some money to someone, and now that person has disappeared, and the money can¡¯t be retrieved. Your uncle has already reported it to the police, but there¡¯s no news, and he wants your help to find him.¡± He spoke both swiftly and clearly, and Jiang Yushan nodded repeatedly. Jiang Yuan nodded and instinctively asked, ¡°Is the person dead?¡± Jiang Fuzhen sighed, ¡°If he were dead, it would have been better, your Uncle Yu Shan wouldn¡¯t be so troubled.¡± Jiang Yushan nodded in agreement. ¡°So, are we looking for the person or his money?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°The person,¡± Jiang Yushan confirmed. ¡°He¡¯s a swindler, the police have said so, but he can¡¯t be found.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and before he could speak, a system interface appeared in front of him: Task: Find Person Task Description: A qualified forensic doctor should be able to use various details to locate a person (alive/dead). ¡­ Chapter 144 - 144 140 Ordinary Fraud ?144: Chapter 140 Ordinary Fraud 144: Chapter 140 Ordinary Fraud Jiang Vige hall. Stacks of paper-made gold and silver treasures filled the room, gleaming brightly. It was like the cave of Alibaba and the Forty Thieves. Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands were also covered in gold dust, so he could only rub his eyes with the back of his hand. He pulled out the notebook he carried with him. Usually, this notebook was for recording the information of the deceased. Today, he made a slight exception. ¡°Which police officer told you that the other party was a fraudster?¡± Uncle Yu Shan busily said, ¡°It was our county bureau¡¯s police officer, from the economic crime investigation squad. I also pulled some strings, so I was able to find out the results.¡± ¡°Results of what?¡± ¡°Well, the scammer, of course. He swindled money and seduced women, tricking several people out of more than 800,000 yuan,¡± Uncle Yu Shan said, shaking his head continuously. Jiang Yuan frowned; the amount was indeed significant. If it was purely about swindling money, there should have been a police officer who had conducted some investigation. ¡°How much money is involved on your end?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t use the word ¡°scammed¡± to prevent the situation from bing a mess if it turned out to be a financial dispute. Uncle Yu Shan looked dejected as he said, ¡°The first time, 180,000 yuan. He took two weeks to pay me back, with an interest of 2,000 yuan. I let it slide since he treated me to a seafood meal, and that seafood meal cost more than 2,000 yuan.¡± ¡°The second time, I loaned him 300,000 yuan. He paid me back alright, taking a full month, with 3,000 yuan interest.¡± ¡°The third time I loaned him 600,000 yuan, then he borrowed another 120,000 yuan from me, didn¡¯t pay a cent of interest and never returned the money; he ran away.¡± Jiang Yuan silently did the math; my goodness, the scammer swindled more than 800,000 yuan in total, and Uncle Yu Shan alone contributed 720,000 yuan, truly the major shareholder. Speaking of money, Uncle Yu Shan¡¯s heart ached, but he continued, ¡°He also deceived several young women.¡± Uncle Yu Shan, getting more agitated as he spoke, ¡°The owner of the tea shop where I often drink tea got tricked by him, and he also managed to charm two other young girls who came to the tea shop. In addition, a female restaurant owner I know was naively slept with¡­¡± Uncle Yu Shan counted on his fingers as he continued, ¡°A beer girl, the owner of a beauty shop who is friends with the restaurant owner, and a school teacher. The most outrageous part is that when he said ¡®let¡¯s travel on a whim,¡¯ he met a girl on the road and just slept with her.¡± As he spoke, the crowd around them grew. Even though they had heard the story several times, when it got to this point, the onlookers still got excited. It was quite a thought, hmph¡­ ¡°What does the girl he traveled with do for a living?¡± someone curiously asked from the side. ¡°Not working, I guess, she said she was studying for the civil service exams. With such brains, she¡¯s studying for the civil service exams,¡± Uncle Yu Shan said, his whole body bing even more agitated, a mix of anger and envy. ¡°As long as he didn¡¯t swindle money from these girls, it¡¯s not illegal,¡± Jiang Yuanmented sensibly. ¡°He did swindle them,¡± Uncle Yu Shan asserted, ¡°At least, the restaurant owner was taken for 100,000 yuan by him. He said they were investing in a restaurant together. In which mall, he imed to have connections to get a good spot and needed to pay a deposit first¡­¡± Jiang Yuan slightly furrowed his brow, then asked, ¡°Was your deal with him purely a loan? Did you sign an agreement?¡± Police cannot get involved in financial disputes; this is specified by the ministry. Uncle Yu Shan hesitated for a few seconds, then said, ¡°We signed an agreement, but he used a fake name. The ID number and name matched, but it wasn¡¯t his own.¡± Uncle Yu Shan seemed hesitant, as if he felt this made things more difficult. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief, understanding why the police officer had so easily determined it was a scam. From the beginning, it was aimed at deception, straightforward fraud. And the restaurant owner¡¯s involvement likely amounted to contract fraud. Had it been a real person with a real ID, borrowing money for a real project, failing to repay on time could have easily turned into a civil dispute. Civil disputes go to court, followed by execution uponpletion of thewsuit. Although there¡¯s a solution, both the force and the punishment mechanisms are much weaker. However, in civil disputes, there¡¯s usually an executor avable for enforcement, even if it¡¯s a debtor-dodging version of an executor. As for the type of scammer Uncle Yu Shan encountered, once they take off, they¡¯re basically untraceable. If they don¡¯t get caught up in another caseter on, the likelihood of the scammer being caught is not high. ¡°Give me the contact information for the Economic Crime police; I¡¯ll ask around first.¡± Jiang Yuan guessed that the police might have other materials, such as statements from other victims and evidence, etc. Uncle Yu Shan took a pen, intending to write in Jiang Yuan¡¯s notebook. Jiang Yuan hastily handed him a piece of gold paper, saying, ¡°Write on this.¡± Writing on gold paper doesn¡¯t seem right¡ªit¡¯s like writing for the dead,¡± Uncle Yu Shan didn¡¯t put the pen to paper. Jiang Yuan thought to himself that there weren¡¯t a few dead on his notebook either. Despite saying that, he still found a new piece of paper for Uncle Yu Shan. After Uncle Yu Shan finished writing, Jiang Fuzhen pulled him aside and asked, ¡°Was this scammer handsome?¡± ¡°How handsome can a 40-year-old man be? The hair that should fall out has fallen out, the skin that should sag has sagged,¡± Uncle Yu Shan seemed to have his own concerns, he said fiercely, ¡°It¡¯s just a full set of GUCCI, even wearing a Gi hat, Gi clothes, shoes¡ªanyone can wear those, right?¡± Jiang Yuan carefully stored the paper with the Economic Crime police¡¯s phone number and code he had been given. Then he quietly walked away and first made a call to Wei Zhenguo. Economic crimes have their characteristics and particrities; Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very familiar with them but understood the gist in his heart. Besides, although forensic doctors are police officers, there is still a gap between the Economic Crime police and the detectives of the Criminal Police team. There¡¯s a saying that all criminal police are one family, and likewise that all technical investigation police are one family. As for Economic Crime, they arepetitors amongst themselves. Wei Zhenguo answered Jiang Yuan¡¯s call, heartily saying, ¡°This case, it¡¯s manageable, I¡¯ll ask around for you.¡± After hanging up, it wasn¡¯t long before he called back. ¡°Definitely a swindler, a case has been filed and the Economic Crime division is working on it, but they haven¡¯t cracked it yet, that¡¯s the situation,¡± Wei Zhenguo spoke withposure to Jiang Yuan, apparently ustomed to such matters. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Can you push it forward?¡± ¡°I can urge them, but they¡¯ve also got a major case on their hands recently and a backlog of cases. Without direct clues, it¡¯s rather difficult to push forward.¡± ¡°There are phone numbers, photos, and even fingerprints¡­¡± Wei Zhenguoughed: ¡°The fingerprints collected in the Economic Crime¡¯s cases are also sent to your Criminal Investigation team to queue for processing. If they don¡¯t get a match back, they themselves won¡¯t handle it.¡± Jiang Yuan came to understand that in the end, the Criminal Investigation team would bear the responsibility. Speaking of which, with several major cases popping uptely and Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent trip to the provincial capital, the Criminal Investigation team was probably overwhelmed. Therefore, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°So, should I go back to the Criminal Investigation team first and match those fingerprints?¡± ¡°The fingerprints probably won¡¯t be of much help, but you can give it a try. I¡¯ll go in personter to ask around andmunicate,¡± Wei Zhenguo said casually, his easeing from deep experience and his years working on property-rted cases. If it were Jiang Yuan who went, it would be difficult to predict the reception he might receive. Jiang Yuan then continued making golden yuanbao. Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yushan came over, also started folding yuanbao and talking. Jiang Yuan briefly exined the situation, and Jiang Yushan expressed understanding. Knowing there was a lead made him happy as he folded the yuanbao. He even discussed with Jiang Fuzhen about making yuanbao for the Great Ancestor together. To Jiang Yushan, a loss of several hundreds of thousands wasn¡¯t unbearable; it was the matter of being deceived that was truly disheartening. As they folded, Jiang Yushan eventually broached the topic, ¡°Swindlers these days are really unavoidable.¡± Jiang Yuan thus prompted, ¡°How so?¡± ¡°This person I know, called Peng Haoguang, was truly generous at the tea house, even bought a whole salmon for everyone to enjoy,¡± Jiang Yushan said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯ve been around so long and still can¡¯t bring myself to treat others like that.¡± ¡°But¡­ wasn¡¯t it in a tea house?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, confused. ¡°Oh, you haven¡¯t been there,¡± Jiang Yushan smiled briefly then quickly turned serious again, ¡°You see, selling tea in a tea house is a slow process. Regrs like to spend time at the tea house. You drink tea, chat; the regrs converse among themselves, and new customers, if they like, can join the chat or if not, just get ignored.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, the owner needs to entertain with conversations. Sometimes they¡¯ll buy some snacks; I also like ordering takeout to bring there¡ªmung bean cakes, sushi, and whatnot. But a whole salmon is too expensive, and I don¡¯t even like it,¡± exined Jiang Yushan. Jiang Yuan understood, ¡°That¡¯s quite a bait heid out.¡± ¡°More than that¡ªhe also treated us to Haido, Little Sheep hotpot, hand-pulled pf, foreign liquor, KTV, all sorts of things¡­¡± Jiang Yushan sighed, ¡°I actually liked the guy. If he hadn¡¯t left, well, now with this mess, I¡¯m embarrassed to go back to that tea house.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ Chapter 145 - 145 141 Into the Warehouse ?145: Chapter 141: Into the Warehouse 145: Chapter 141: Into the Warehouse The next day. The sky was high and the air was fresh. I fed Dazhuang. I petted the dog. During work hours, Jiang Yuan headed to the office area of the Economic Investigation Brigade. Wei Zhenguo also arrived just about the same time, meeting him right at the entrance. ¡°You¡¯re here quite early,¡± said Wei Zhenguo with a chuckle. He was very willing to help Jiang Yuan. He even felt it was rare to be able to assist Jiang Yuan and was therefore particrly proactive. Jiang Yuan smiled in a student-like manner and said, ¡°I want to make a good impression on them.¡± ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need. Besides, we¡¯re helping them out,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, though as he led Jiang Yuan inside, he greeted everyone with a smile. In the morning office area, police officers wereing and going, each one ncing at Wei Zhenguo, and from time to time, there were inquiries. Fortunately, an Economic Investigation police officer came out to greet them, which saved at least two rounds of questioning. ¡°Let me introduce you to Li Suigong. He¡¯s the deputy captain of our Economic Investigation Squadron Three,¡± said Wei Zhenguo, self-deprecating to lighten the mood, ¡°Just like me.¡± Li Suigong smiled, ¡°There¡¯s no need for formal titles like deputy captain. Forensic Doctor Jiang doesn¡¯t need an introduction, his reputation precedes him¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get straight to the case,¡± Wei Zhenguoughed twice, feeling that pleasantries were not quite fitting. Li Suigong led them into the office and started up theputer while saying, ¡°You should be aware of the basic case details. We¡¯ve just recorded the victim¡¯s statement and are now waiting for a response from the Forensic Science Center in Changyang.¡± ¡°Do you use fingerprints to confirm identities?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°Not usually. Because we can¡¯t find the person,¡± Li Suigong exined, ¡°The difference between contact financial crimes and criminal cases is that in financial crimes, the suspects can be reached initially; it¡¯s a matter of how to confirm their identity.¡± Jiang Yuan listened and nodded in understanding. Criminal cases were usually about not knowing who did it and needing to find the person involved. Financial cases were different; it was known that someone did it, but it was necessary to confirm the true identity of that person. ¡°We generally use DNA and photos to identify people. DNA is more urate and faster. As for photos, we use facial recognition, and through image investigation checkpoints, we can often directly find the person.¡± Li Suigong said this and looked at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Right now, both DNA and photos have been sent to Changyang City, but they¡¯re still not processed. We have to wait until they are processed before we can proceed.¡± When Jiang Yuan heard about photos and facial recognition, he immediately perked up and asked, ¡°How are your photos processed?¡± ¡°As long as they meet the requirements for facial recognition.¡± ¡°What are the requirements for facial recognition?¡± ¡°The facial features need to be clear, like passport photos are the best. Of course, under normal conditions, it¡¯s not possible to achieve that, so the match rate might be lower. The clearer it is, the higher the match rate.¡± ¡°Matching with what?¡± ¡°Mainly image investigation checkpoints,¡± Li Suigong pointed outside the window, ¡°It¡¯s like vehicle checkpoints; now many cities, especially at high-speed train stations and airports, have image checkpoints. Later on, we take the photos we have in hand,pare them with the photos taken at the checkpoints around the country, and that makes it easier to find the suspect.¡± It¡¯s essentially a static version of facial recognition. Recognizing people as they move through a crowd is not easy. But if you photograph each person passing by and thenpare the photographs, it bes simpler. Facial recognition and image investigation checkpoints are just such a simplified approach. Jiang Yuan mostly understood and said, ¡°Can I take a look at your photos here?¡± Li Suigong hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°Well, you can have a look. These photos were taken by your Criminal Science and Technology Squadron. They¡¯re all from surveince cameras.¡± As he spoke, Li Suigong pulled up several photos from aputer folder. Jiang Yuan looked at them on the screen; they were all taken by high-definition cameras with quite good resolution. Even to the naked eye, distinguishing faces was not a problem. ¡°This rity isn¡¯t enough?¡± asked Jiang Yuan, not understanding. ¡°Facial recognition mainly looks at the face. And the clearer we make it on our end, the higher the probability of recognition. Otherwise, if we put it into the cklist database and don¡¯t hear back for a long time, the lead will go cold,¡± Li Suigong said practically. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. The case was not a big one, and once sent to another province or city¡¯s database, they could only wait passively. It has to be recognized by the system and confirmed manually before they would report back here. Blurry pictures made things difficult for everyone. If there were false rms, it would be their own side that ended up exhausted. So, they had to do a good job here initially. If their side had photos with high enough facial rity, theparison would be easier. From this, Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts turned to fingerprints. Fingerprintparison requires the suspect¡¯s fingerprints at one end and urate collection at the other. The level of fingerprint collection in Ningtai County was never high. In the future, it really needed to be given more thought. Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts dispersed and then refocused as his gaze returned to the images in front of him. ¡°You said earlier that the photos have been sent to Changyang City? Can I see what their finished product looks like?¡± Jiang Yuan made another request. He could actually see stacks of folders with different names on his side, but without the host¡¯s permission, it was clearly inappropriate to click them. Li Suigong gave Wei Zhenguo a wry smile before adding, ¡°Your requests really are demanding. Fine then. I just so happen to have a case from before, where the criminalter made the news. Let me find it for you.¡± He took up the mouse again, rifled through files, and brought up a new picture. Indeed, it was a close-up portrait. ¡°Done by the provincial Image Investigation Brigade?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as he looked. ¡°Yes. This one is actually quite well done. The case was a major one, so we made a special request for it and the image was enhanced a second time,¡± Li Suigong said with a sigh. Ningtai County doesn¡¯t have its own Image Investigation team, which means they have to ask others for assistance, and that tends to be the most emotionally draining part. Jiang Yuan listened and nodded in understanding. Now with aparison, he understood better. What Image Investigators do seems simple. They extract a suspect¡¯s headshot from surveince footage or photographs and iste it. If the resolution of the headshot is sufficient, it can be used as it is. Obviously, that¡¯s not usually the case. So, the second step is to enhance the image: to reduce noise where it can be reduced and repair where possible. Jiang Yuan had seen the level of work carried out by the provincial Image Investigation team¡ªa fixated level of LV2. As mentioned before, those who are really good at working with images and facial recognition equipment are both prestigious and profitable. ¡°I¡¯ll handle this image,¡± Jiang Yuan had been prepared to take on the task, and he was just checking the specific requirements. Li Suigong looked at Jiang Yuan skeptically, then at Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo, with a calm and rxed demeanor, said, ¡°Second-ss merit.¡± ¡°All right then. How should I send you the photo?¡± Li Suigong stopped fussing in the face of a ¡°second-ss merit.¡± There are actually quite a few people with second-ss merits in criminal police. Given the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s allocation, about one person gets it every one or two years. But within the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron, or among the technicians, it¡¯s quite rare to be awarded a second-ss merit. Li Suigong wasn¡¯t certain what Jiang Yuan was good at, but since the man was willing to take on the task, he didn¡¯t mind doing a bit of copy-paste. Jiang Yuan looked at the image and said, ¡°Upload it to the intr; I¡¯ll work on it directly from my phone.¡± ¡°You can do it on your phone?¡± Li Suigong was surprised. ¡°I¡¯ll operate myputer from my phone, just give me a minute,¡± Jiang Yuan said, having already installed the necessary software earlier. And indeed, merely enhancing facial rity wasn¡¯t a particrly high requirement. Ordinary people can operate the software after just a few days of training. In the provincial Image Investigation Brigade, not everyone reaches an LV2 level. The work of regr team members is mainly operating software and following procedures. Jiang Yuan sat nearby and within a few minutes, hepleted the image enhancement. He didn¡¯t use any special methods; it was basically just the full automation of the software. The enhanced image, once back on the intr and opened on aputer, was indeed several levels clearer than before. ¡°What you¡¯ve done here¡­ it¡¯s really quite good,¡± Li Suigong said, his eyes lighting up. ¡°Can this be sent over now?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Of course, this rity is enough, more than enough,¡± Li Suigong replied eagerly and sat down saying, ¡°Just a moment, I¡¯ll send the image to the cklist database.¡± So Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo sat and waited. To keep the two from getting bored while he worked, Li Suigong said, ¡°Now, the cklist database has high-risk individuals, special personnel, and submissions from different units. It¡¯s quiteplicated, but the efficiency isn¡¯t bad¡­¡± ¡°So if a criminal suspect passes through a facial recognition checkpoint, it will trigger an alert?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°That¡¯s about the gist of it. The checkpoints take snapshots, and if there¡¯s a match, it sends a notification, then we manually verify it here, and afterwards, we can report it,¡± Li Suigong exined. ¡°Generally, once the initial location is confirmed, it¡¯s much easier to find the person.¡± ¡°That means there¡¯s still a need to go there afterward.¡± ¡°Not necessarily. Say, if Changyang airport¡¯s facial recognition alerts us, and we confirm the person boarded a ne, then we just ask the police at the destination for assistance. Usually, we prefer to send our own personnel, though,¡± Li Suigong chuckles. Wei Zhenguo smiled understandingly¡ªmoney was usually at stake in economic investigations. Li Suigong finished quickly and with a p of his hands said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, I wonder if you¡¯re still busy on your end?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not busy, go on,¡± Jiang Yuan caught on immediately. Li Suigong, slightly embarrassed, admitted, ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got a lot of images piled up here; could I ask for your help in processing them?¡± Now he truly believed in the person with ¡°second-ss merit.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation, simply stating, ¡°For bulk processing, I¡¯ll need to go back to my office to do it.¡± ¡°No problem at all. Should I upload them to the intr now?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, then returned with Wei Zhenguo. Li Suigong, eager to please, saw the two men out, adding, ¡°I¡¯ll notify you as soon as there¡¯s news on the case!¡± Chapter 146 - 146 142 Buy Shares ?146: Chapter 142: Buy Shares? 146: Chapter 142: Buy Shares? Office. A ce where Devil¡¯s Ivy thrived. Devil¡¯s Ivy reflecting off the clear surface of water. Spider nts cradling cigarette butts in flowerpots. The air conditioning was blowing. Outside the window, Dazhuang and Wu Junhao¡¯s shouts could be heard. The K9 unit and the first squadron bathed together in the sunlight, sweating as they ran towards the ze of the sun. Happy and content. Jiang Yuan sat back in his seat, opened the images sent over the intr, and looked through them one by one. Wu Jun had long stopped paying attention to him, even taking on a lot of other work proactively¡ªfor his wonderful illusion of getting paid without working, it onlysted a few weeks before shattering, and because it was short-lived, there were no withdrawal symptoms. Especially since Chunghwa cigarettes were great to smoke, and the bonus smelled even better. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, copied out the images and tried to process them in batches first. Since the demands weren¡¯t high, allowing the software to automatically process the noise was enough. Soon, the mainframe started howling. Jiang Yuan stood up, unwrapped a fresh pack of Chunghwa, and called out to Wu Jun, ¡°Master, want a cigarette?¡± The office was as noisy as if there was a dragon or a fat man snoring inside, and Wu Jun certainly didn¡¯t want to stay there, either. Seeing the soft Chunghwa, Wu Jun gave a fair assessment, ¡°At least the newputer sounds better than the old one.¡± Indeed, the oldputer sounded like a dragon or a fat man being ughtered, much more shrill. The two went straight up to the rooftop. Wu Jun smoked a Chunghwa and enjoyed the breeze, suddenly feeling that this was the life he had dreamt of. And on second thought, it indeed was. No matter how much his sry was, his monthly budget for cigarettes and alcohol was fixed. The Chunghwa cigarettes asionally given to him by Jiang Yuan significantly elevated his standard of living. Byparison, work seemed more like an exercise to stretch the muscles. ¡°The pace has been pretty goodtely,¡± Wu Jun remarked, alert enough not to go on. A few cigarettester, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone alerted him that the image processing wasplete. Descending together, Wu Jun specifically took a dragon statue out of his drawer and formally paid his respects to it. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched, and he asked, ¡°Master, what¡¯s this new trick of yours?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t dismiss it; it really is a new trick. I asked the abbot of the temple about it,¡± Wu Jun replied, a bit smug as he carefully inserted the incense sticks, whispered, ¡°You know, online everyone¡¯s talking about cking off, right?¡± ¡°Mm-hmm.¡± ¡°Think about it, who¡¯s the best at cking off?¡± Jiang Yuan, looking at the dragon on Wu Jun¡¯s desk, ventured, ¡°Dragon God?¡± ¡°No, the Dragon King!¡± corrected Wu Jun. ¡°In the Dragon Pce, what do you find most other than turtles, crabs, and shrimp? It¡¯s fish. Other than cking, what else does the Dragon King do? Alright, let me try it first; if it works, I¡¯ll teach you the detailster.¡± As Wu Jun spoke, he opened a notebook and began to take notes. Forensic doctors, after all, are very meticulous. They wouldn¡¯t just do something simply because someone told them to. Even when praying to gods, Wu Jun would carefully make an analysis. Jiang Yuan even saw his master making a meticulous chart¡­ Jiang Yuan silently returned to hisputer and ran through the images again, one by one. The rity of most images had been significantly improved, though some were not done well. Jiang Yuan set those aside for individual attentionter. There were 35 images in total, involving about seven or eight cases, most of which were contract fraud. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very concerned about the case details, much like most criminal science personnel. Handling the evidence well was of the utmost importance. Havingpleted the tasks, Jiang Yuan still sent the images to Li Suigong over the intr and then called him up. ¡°Ah, Doctor Jiang. I was just about to call you,¡± Li Suigong answered with a smile; although Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t see it, his voice was brimming with warmth, ¡°I¡¯ve just received an alert. A crime suspect has been spotted at a checkpoint in Jianbei Province, and my colleagues and I are tracking them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s excellent news,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood lifted. ¡°Oh, what¡¯s the reason for your call?¡± ¡°The images you wanted, I¡¯ve finished processing and sent them over the intr. Take a moment to receive them,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°That fast?¡± Li Suigong was incredibly surprised. Over the past years, whenever he needed simr image enhancements, he had to apply to the provincial office. Since Qinghe City didn¡¯t have a fully formed Image Investigation team, and many other counties and cities just like Qinghe were the norm in Shannan Province. And so, Li Suigong was used to the routine of being happy just submitting images on Monday and getting them on Friday. Sometimes, when the office was swamped, receiving them the following Monday or even Friday was considered normal. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s speed, sending images in the morning and having them done before noon, was unheard of¡­ Li Suigong hurriedly opened the internalwork to look at the pictures. What he saw were portrait photos after portrait photos emerging, lifelike¡­ no, they should be called iparably clear, better quality than what the Image Reconnaissance Brigade had sent over. The colleagues in the office were extremely surprised when they saw them, and quickly asked Li Suigong to open the original photos to look. Unlike fingerprint images, when normal people see two facial images, they can easily distinguish whether it is the same person without any training. And theparison between the original images and the portraits undoubtedly drew a clear conclusion: Complete and clear image enhancement! ¡°Wow, the image you have created is, to be honest, I feel it¡¯s even better than what the Image Reconnaissance Brigade does,¡± Li Suigong was full ofpliments, ¡°So amazing, really amazing. You¡¯re much better than our province¡¯s Image Reconnaissance Brigade, their work, really¡­¡± Jiang Yuan just smiled. After joining the department, he realized that practicing technology for those who had it, and ying ser for those without, were both a way of life. He had dealt with the Image Reconnaissance Brigade of the provincial office during the fingerprint campaign, and they were indeed very subpar. And it was true, if the ceiling level for the provincial fingerprint experts was the top LV3, the skill ceiling for the provincial Image Reconnaissance Brigade was basically stuck at the bottom of LV3. And the gap between these two levels was enormous. Li Suigong, not knowing the levels but looking at the efficiency and oue, had not expected Jiang Yuan to be streets ahead of them. On one side, they couldn¡¯t produce anything in half a month, and even when they did, it was blurry, like a multiple times pirated adult film. On this side, it seemed as clear as if they were at the filming site¡­ Such a gap! He was thoroughly convinced, truly deserving of Second ss Merit. Some people are just born for this profession. Jiang Yuan, who naturally possessed the Forensic Medicine System, humbly said, ¡°Captain Li, if you need anything else, juste to me.¡± If they had such a technician, wouldn¡¯t their Economic Investigation Brigade be overflowing with bonuses, so much so that they would get criticized for showing off on social media? Li Suigong felt like he wanted to call him dad right away. ¡°Dad¡­ after this case is over, I¡¯ll tell you, Jiang, I¡¯ll offer you a cigaretteter. You Jiang Vige People have so much money, if there¡¯s anything,e to me right away.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed amicably. Jiang Vige people have a lot of money and may indeed need Captain Li¡¯s help a lot in the future. Li Suigong spoke effusively, almost as if he was ready to worship Jiang Yuan. The Economic Investigation Brigade didn¡¯t have a Criminal Science and Technology Squadron, they always used someone else¡¯s technicians. From that perspective, Li Suigong too had lived by his wits for a long time, and his words were pleasing. After hanging up the phone, Li Suigong was still full of energy, almost feeling like standing up and wrestling with someone. The colleagues in the office looked at Li Suigong with strange eyes. ¡°Li, you¡¯reying it on a bit thick with the ttery, aren¡¯t you? The guy¡¯s just a new forensic doctor,¡± they said. Li Suigong ignored him, sat down, and looked at the thirty-something photos in front of him with a heh heh hehugh, as if pure and simple photographs? These were steps of progress. Just think, if they could ask Jiang Yuan to help with image processing in the future, how much effort would it save, how many cases would it solve? And Jiang Yuan did such a good job! It was said to be much better than those arrogant ones at the provincial Image Reconnaissance Brigade. ¡°I¡¯ll upload them to the database first,¡± Li Suigong couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin to his colleagues. It was better if they misunderstood; it would save him the trouble of them wanting to snatch Jiang Yuan from himter. Li Suigong quickly finished uploading to the database and immediately stood up to search through the wall cab. Seeing Li Suigong¡¯s hurried manner, a colleague who had just entered the doorughed, ¡°What¡¯s this rush for? Did the teacher call the parents to school again?¡± ¡°No, I had put a pack of tea here before¡­¡± Li Suigong thought to bring Jiang Yuan something to solidify their rtionship. A pack of tea wasn¡¯t worth much, but it did show some thoughtfulness. The rest of the Economic Investigation office could guess Li Suigong¡¯s intent, and with a hint of skepticism mixed with inquiry, said, ¡°Li, you¡¯re not going to give gifts to the criminal department again, are you? Spending your own money for official business?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t I done enough for official business?¡± Li Suigong snorted, unconcerned, since Economic Investigation and Criminal Investigation were quite different. ¡°I have an extra pack here; you can take it,¡± one of the officers, having guessed what was going on, came over with a pack of tea, handing it over to Li Suigong with a grand gesture, ¡°Consider it my contribution.¡± ¡°You¡­,¡± Li Suigong was a bit helpless. Being cops, they all had too keen a nose. Just as he was considering, his phone ¡°ding-donged¡± with a notification. This alert tone was verymon, but it was specially set by Li Suigong. He immediately jumped to theputer, opened the internalwork, and started to check. There was new information on the case that Jiang Yuan was concerned about. The damn show-off, posing as a medical doctor in Qi Province¡­ Li Suigong¡¯s eyes spun as he said, ¡°Old Pu, if you really want in,e with me on a trip.¡± Chapter 147 - 147 143 Enough with the Case (Three More Updates) ?147: Chapter 143 Enough with the Case (Three More Updates) 147: Chapter 143 Enough with the Case (Three More Updates) Monday. Rain began to fall in Ningtai County. Abundant rainfall traveled from south to north, from east to west, turning the view outside the window into a waterynd. Leaning against the window sill, Wu Jun solemnly smoked a Yuxi cigarette and slowly said, ¡°If someone dies today, we¡¯ll be in trouble.¡± Jiang Yuan lifted his head from behind theputer screen and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that coincidental.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t jinx it,¡± Wu Jun waved his hand grandly and said, ¡°Speaking of coincidences, they tend to actually happen. I remember there was a case we worked on where that was exactly what happened¡­¡± Thus, Wu Jun began to tell an old story to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan silently reviewed the training materials on the screen. His understanding of fingerprint identification was constantly improving. However, the difference between criminal science technology and ordinary science or technology lies in the need for considerable external support. Perhaps it¡¯s because police don¡¯t favor going it alone, and no one has considered creating a technology that would allow officers to operate solo. On the contrary, criminal science technology often requires the cooperation of colleagues, even that of an entire system. Like with fingerprint technology, no matter how skilled Jiang Yuan¡¯s identification abilities were, they still relied on the fingerprint database. And the fingerprint database was something that was umted bit by bit. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, what¡¯s currently restraining the further development of fingerprint technology is the construction of the fingerprint database, as well as the input and annotation of new fingerprints. This, too, requires the coboration of the entire police system. In the field of criminal science technology, this usually manifests as various trainings. Exnation of thetest technology, promotion of newer technologies, use of more mature technologies¡­ The police system might be the entity most fond of organizing training in the country; even so, the strength of the police¡¯s grassroots force remains weak. And the task of entering fingerprints isn¡¯t just something that can be solved with extended periods of work; it also calls for more meticulous work nning and the dissemination of working methods. As it stands, the system is unlikely to impart such managerial skills. So Jiang Yuan tried to learn on his own. Bang. Captain Wei rushed in from outside. ¡°Is there a dead person?¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun turned their heads in unison and shouted in chorus. Captain Wei carefully nced behind him, thought for a moment, then said, ¡°No¡­ No one¡¯s dead, I think.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I thought so¡­ Luckily¡­¡± Wu Jun breathed a sigh of relief, stopped smoking, hurriedly sat back down, his hand silently touching the Guan Gong statue. Jiang Yuan looked at Captain Wei and smiled, ¡°Captain Wei, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Oh, that, Li Suigong has returned, bringing with him the suspect of the fraud case,¡± Captain Wei caught his breath and smiled, ¡°They¡¯ve taken him to the case management center.¡± Jiang Yuan looked outside, surprised, ¡°At this hour? Did they stay up all night to catch him?¡± ¡°More than that, they¡¯ve been running around for three days. I just found out; there was an rm at the Qi Province checkpoint, and Li Suigong called people to go, a one-way trip of 1200 kilometers, a round trip of 2500 kilometers. They even staked out for a day,¡± Captain Wei shook his head in admiration, ¡°Economic investigation is not easy.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go have a look,¡± Jiang Yuan quickly stood up. Upon entering the case management center, he saw Li Suigong and another police officer filling out forms, while their colleagues were already sprawled out dead asleep on the sofas. There weren¡¯t many people in the case management center, but there were always peopleing and going, looking over. Li Suigong just pretended not to see them. ¡°Captain Li,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted him eagerly. ¡°Jiang,¡± Li Suigong quickly shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, grateful to Jiang for the trip to Qi Province. Now that he had returned, he naturally wanted to show his appreciation even more. ¡°Don¡¯t be so formal. I heard you¡¯ve brought back someone?¡± Li Suigong nodded emphatically, then with some embarrassment said, ¡°We followed the person¡¯s trail, but we didn¡¯t expect that guy to have already transferred the money. The funds we managed to recover might not even amount to 300,000.¡± He actually knew it was impossible to recover all the money. And 800,000 might seem like a lot to the average person, but the various financial channels aren¡¯t there to serve the average person. That¡¯s why, from the beginning, Li Suigong didn¡¯t bother with the direction of the money flow. It was a matter of catching the person first, then asking and checking. Sure enough, there was only a little over 200,000 left. The rest of the money was either squandered by the suspect or somehow transferred. But ording to Li Suigong¡¯s experience, these kinds of fraudsters would rather go to jail than return the money. Jiang Yuan certainly wasn¡¯t one to insist on perfection. He shook Li Suigong¡¯s hand and said, ¡°Being able to crack the case is the best oue; the rest isn¡¯t entirely under our control. You¡¯ve worked too hard on this, traveling 2500 kilometers back and forth in just three or four days. That¡¯s quite demanding.¡± ¡°No worries, it¡¯s mainly the driver who gets tired.¡± Li Suigongughed. It was then that Jiang Yuan learned that the economic investigation team even had a driver. Indeed, it was a squad with ample funds. Captain Wei nced at Jiang Yuan with a look that said he hadn¡¯t seen much of the world, pulled him aside, and whispered, ¡°Captain Li, you get on with your work; we¡¯ll sit for a bit before leaving.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Li Suigong hurried back to his paperwork. Nowadays, solving cases was all about following the process; one wrong move and you¡¯d be buried in paperwork. Captain Wei then said to Jiang Yuan in a low voice, ¡°Nowadays, well-funded police forces all like to have drivers because they don¡¯t take up auxiliary police positions and can help with driving, carrying things, and whatnot. It¡¯s very practical.¡± ¡°So, there aren¡¯t enough auxiliary police positions either?¡± ¡°When are there ever enough personnel positions?¡± Captain Weiughed. Jiang Yuan also sent messages to his dad and Jiang Yushan. Both of them called back with questions. Jiang Yuan stepped out of the office area to talk freely. He didn¡¯t know much, and some of it was quite unfriendly to the victims. But for Jiang Yushan, just hearing that the suspect had been brought to justice was enough to make him very happy. Noon. Jiang Yuan was hesitating whether to treat Li Suigong to a meal or let him sleep first, then have another meal with Dazhuang, when the system interface suddenly popped up: Mission Complete: Find a Person Mission Details: A qualified forensic doctor, capable of finding a person (alive/dead) through various details. Mission Reward: Footprint Identification (LV3) Jiang Yuan knew at that moment that the suspect must have confessed. With the domestic mechanisms, once there was a confession and some physical evidence, during the litigation phase, the defendant would at most argue the severity of the sentence. There were almost no cases of escaping punishment. While he thought this, Li Suigong¡¯s call came through. ¡°The suspect has caved. We¡¯ll sort out the documents and rush to press charges. As for asset recovery, it might be dyed a bit,¡± Li Suigong exined to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan thanked him again and then ended the call, feeling that helping others was no easy task. Turning his attention back, Jiang Yuan carefully read the description of Level 3 Footprint Identification. The most notable feature of Footprint Identification is its extremely high extraction rate. Almost any crime scene would yield footprint traces. Inparison, while fingerprint and DNA technologies are more mature and reliable for confirming identities, in the current criminal environment, the extraction rate for fingerprints is only about 15% or less, and even lower for DNA. In cases where DNA and fingerprints cannot be obtained, footprints may be the only thing to rely on. Jiang Yuan casually mixed some cigarette ash into a paste, stepped in it, twisted his foot around, then stepped to the side, and began to observe the resulting footprint. Indeed, a flood of information rushed into his mind. Without hesitation, he got up and headed to the adjacent forensic office, opened the door, and asked, ¡°Brother Wang, do you have any cases with footprints for me to work on?¡± Footprint analysis was also part of forensic work. Wang Zhong was stunned by the request, then asked in confusion, ¡°What do you mean by ¡®cases with footprints¡¯?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been looking into footprint science recently and would like to find a case to work on as homework,¡± Jiang Yuan said humbly. Wang Zhong was instantly invigorated! Months ago, Jiang had said the same thing about fingerprints! And then he solved so many cases in quick session¡­ ¡°Yes, yes, yes, there¡¯s plenty; just give me a moment.¡± Chapter 148 - 148 144 Footprints ?148: Chapter 144 Footprints 148: Chapter 144 Footprints In the office. Theputer hummed loudly, and the desktop was a mess. Wang Zhong aggressively searched for cases, but his actual efficiency was not high. Primarily because cases were not categorized by footprints. As a form of evidence, footprints were rtively useful. Imagine in a case, a footprint matched the pattern and wear on the suspect¡¯s shoe¡ªit could corroborate that the suspect had been at the crime scene. However, footprints as clues were sufficient for active cases but somewhat inadequate for cold cases. Unlike DNA and fingerprints which have corresponding databases, footprints do not have a database. At this stage, the police database only contained footprints collected from the crime scenes, basically only usable on a case-by-case basis. Jiang Yuan watched Wang Zhong¡¯s operation and soon lost his patience, saying, ¡°How about this? Just extract the images of the footprints; I think I saw that was possible earlier?¡± ¡°You mean just look at the images of the footprints? Directly view the image library?¡± Wang Zhong didn¡¯t quite understand. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°Exactly, just disy the images of the footprints.¡± ¡°This¡­ Is it okay to not look at the cases?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll find a footprint I like first, then look at the cases,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°Alright.¡± Wang Zhong, not understanding what kind of footprints Jiang Yuan preferred, found the footprints image gallery and began flipping through them. Jiang Yuan stood nearby, studying the footprints in the images, as a flood of information came to mind. Height! Weight! Age! Foot characteristics! Gait characteristics! Wear patterns! Jiang Yuan wanted to find a unique footprint. Using footprints to solve cold cases was rather difficult, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t aim to solve a case with every footprint; that was unrealistic. However, Jiang Yuan believed that in such arge image library, with so many crime scene footprints, there must be one or two peculiar footprints to find. ¡°I¡¯ll do it myself,¡± Jiang Yuan said upon seeing that Wang Zhong wasn¡¯t performing any other actions; there was no need for him to keep pressing keys and interfering with Jiang Yuan¡¯s process. Taking Wang Zhong¡¯s ce, Jiang Yuan leisurely continued scanning through the images. Wang Zhong was pleased with this. He just watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions, wondering to himself: Could it really just be at the level of homework after ss? Probably something he just learned on the spot, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have never used it before. So, a newly learned skill couldn¡¯t be that great, right? Just as Wang Zhong thought about stepping away, with a squeak, Jiang Yuan pushed back his chair and stood up. ¡°Bring up this case to have a look,¡± Jiang Yuan moved aside, signaling Wang Zhong to operate theputer; he was not very familiar with the software here. Wang Zhong nced at the footprint image and with a look of surprise, said, ¡°Blood footprints?¡± Yes, the image in front of him contained a set of blood footprints. As is well known, it¡¯s not easy to leave a blood footprint with minor injuries. And with severe injuries and homicides, plus theplexity of a cold case, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be easy to crack. Even if it was solvable back then, now it¡¯s probably difficult as well. Wang Zhong returned to his seat, opened the case, read a few details, and quickly gave the ce back to Jiang Yuan. Yan Ge, also in the office, heard ¡°blood footprints¡± and got up toe over and take a look. Jiang Yuan, without any hesitation, sat down and began to read the case. The case wasn¡¯tplicated, in a Yang family household at Shanghe Vige in the suburbs of the city, the male head of the family, who was in the prime of his life, was found dead at home, the murder weapon being a sickle from his own house. The sickle had bloodstains on it but no fingerprints. Furthermore, no usable fingerprints or DNA were collected at the scene, but there were arge quantity of footprints. During the initial phase of the investigation, it was suspected to be a dispute among vigers, so all vigers were questioned, and their statements recorded. Footprints of the entire vige were also collected andpared, but nothing was found. Latterly, the direction of the investigation shifted to a burry, hypothesizing that the thief, when discovered, panicked, escted to murder, and fled. The responsible criminal police then swept all nearby thieves and paid special attention to thieves who had been active initially but disappearedter on, yet the case still remained unsolved. Jiang Yuan looked at a series of bloody footprints, and then, opened up the analysis on the footprints. Unsurprisingly, the analysis of the footprints was also over a hundred words long, obviously the work of an expert. ¡°Our trace evidence analyst from Qinghe City Bureau, Chen Wenming, has quite a reputation for footprint analysis. He handled this one.¡± The case wasn¡¯t even ten years old, and Yan Ge remembered it clearly, having been directly involved with the footprints. Jiang Yuan gave a grunt of acknowledgment and first skimmed to the conclusion: Height: 178-185 centimeters. Age: Between 18-23 years old The direction of the footfalls was consistent; the imprints of the forefoot and the imprint shapes on the heel were basically the same. There was no estimate for weight, but thenguage regarding age determination was quite extensive: In a full stride, the step wasrge, moving energetically and nimbly, with small step angles and consistent step widths¡­ The pronounced pressure points were on the inner side of the forefront, with imprints leaning toward the front¡­ estimating the age to be between 18 to 23 years old. The height was estimated by the length from the front edge of the toe imprint to the back edge of the heel imprint, in other words, based on the length of the foot. This was at odds with Jiang Yuan¡¯s own determination of the footprints. However, it was appropriate that there were discrepancies; if they perfectly matched, then Jiang Yuan¡¯s own analysis wouldn¡¯t theoretically contribute anything new to the case. ¡°Check who the responsible officer is. I¡¯ll give them a call to inquire,¡± Jiang Yuan humbly suggested. Wang Zhong saw through Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°humility¡± at a nce. As he found the phone number, he cautiously reminded him, ¡°It¡¯s Captain Wu Junhao from the first squad. Captain Wu is known for having a bit of a temper; try not to be too blunt.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, having a deep impression of the burly Captain Wu Junhao. As soon as he dialed, Wu Junhao¡¯s loud voice came booming out from the handset, ¡°Doctor Jiang, do you have some good work for your brother here?¡± Frowning at the screen, Jiang Yuan switched to speakerphone before saying, ¡°Captain Wu, I came across a cold case that you handled before, and I¡¯d like to discuss it with you.¡± ¡°Oh, talk¡­ just go around that son of a turtle!¡± Wu Junhao bellowed, before his voice shifted to augh, ¡°I¡¯m in the middle of catching someone, go ahead.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Do you remember the murder case of Yang Gan from Shanghe Vige?¡± Wu Junhao was visibly taken aback, ¡°Why bring up that case all of a sudden, did you find something rted?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve examined the footprints from that case, and I believe the murderer¡¯s height is quite peculiar. My judgment is that the murderer could very well be 193 centimeters tall¡ªan exceptionally conspicuous height.¡± This was the reason Jiang Yuan had chosen to pursue the case. In Shannan Province, the average height was quite tall, with men over 180 centimeters being amon sight on the streets. Nevertheless, a height of 193 centimeters would still stand out from the crowd, significantly narrowing down the range of possible suspects. Over the phone, the panting sound of running abruptly ceased. Wu Junhao inquired, ¡°193 centimeters is pretty tall. Chen Wenming estimated between 180 and 185. How confident are you¡­¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°The length and width of sports shoes are usually slightlyrger than those of leather shoes, though this is not a fundamental difference¡­¡± ¡°But starting from this point, I believe the sports shoes the murderer wore that day were a bit small¡­¡± ¡°Moreover, the actual size of the murderer¡¯s foot might be smaller than normal proportions¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, then directly asked, ¡°When you worked on the case, did you have any suspects who were around 193 centimeters tall?¡± Wu Junhao seemed to sink into his memories for a while. After a long pause, amidst the noise in the background, Wu Junhao said, ¡°I have to go back and check my notes.¡± Jiang Yuan reminded him, ¡°If they were 193 centimeters tall, you should have a distinct memory of them.¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ll check my notebook and let you know,¡± Wu Junhao suddenly became serious in the face of the specific case details. Jiang Yuan could only agree, and then, as he recalled those moments in movies and TV shows where the characters going to retrieve crucial evidence were always killed just in time, he quickly added a word of caution, ¡°Please be careful.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Wu Junhao replied loudly, moving the phone away and shouting, ¡°Catch that little bastard, don¡¯t bothering back for dinner if you can¡¯t catch him!¡± ¡°This kid runs faster than a rabbit.¡± ¡°Then you guys had better learn from dogs and corner him for me!¡± Chapter 149 - 149 145 The Suspect Outside of View ?149: Chapter 145: The Suspect Outside of View 149: Chapter 145: The Suspect Outside of View Wang Zhong felt a surge of energy coursing through his body. He never expected that Jiang Yuan would really deduce something from the footprints. Although his trace evidence skills were less than LV1, he had been a police officer for several years and understood clearly that if it were truly a suspect who was 193 centimeters tall, it would be rather easy to locate him. In other words, there was now a real possibility of cracking this long-unsolved murder case. The very thought of this possibility excited Wang Zhong immensely. In past years, Ningtai County would set aside one or two months to focus on clearing up a batch of backlogged cases, with the most critical unresolved murder cases often having just one target, and not necessarily being solved. And what Jiang Yuan had just done was merely to stand by his side for a few minutes. Although the case had not yet been officially solved, and it was even uncertain whether Wu Junhao could provide a list of suspects, Wang Zhong wholeheartedly believed in the analysis conducted by Jiang Yuan. In Wang Zhong¡¯s eyes, Jiang Yuan now represented the epitome of authority. ¡°Shall we continue?¡± Wang Zhong looked at Jiang Yuan eagerly, full of anticipation. ¡°Let¡¯s wait for Captain Wu,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. If Wu Junhao came back with a suitable suspect, the entire cold case would undoubtedly be promptly activated. With the resources of Ningtai County, when facing a cold murder case, a dedicated team would inevitably be formed. During the initial stage of a dedicated team¡¯s work, naturally, you wouldn¡¯t be able to take care of other matters. Therefore, if Jiang Yuan were to review other cases or open other cold cases now, it would not save time; on the contrary, it could potentially hinder his colleagues. Cases must be broken down one by one. Especially for those that require reports, evidence collection, arrests, and interrogations, no matter how simple, they will keep you busy. To solve a cold murder case means that at least one suspect must be punished. With the modern judicial system, deciding to execute or jail a member of themunity until death is not a decision that can be made lightly. Jiang Yuan returned to the office, turned on hisputer, and found several old cases with footprints, silently studying and pondering them. And indeed, although these cases were solved through other means, the footprints used as evidence forparison in theter stages could actually reveal many issues. It should be said that many real-life cases can be solved from multiple angles. The majority of criminals, even if they possess a certain awareness of counter-surveince, are only instinctively capable of countering LV1 or LV2 levels; faced with LV3 forensic technology, any tiny clue they leave can be dangerous. From the perspective of footprint analysis: If you¡¯re too tall, don¡¯tmit a crime; if you¡¯re too short, don¡¯tmit a crime; if you¡¯re too fat, best not tomit a crime; if you¡¯re too skinny¡­ being skinny is still manageable; if you have a disability, best not tomit a crime¡­ All these can be determined from the footprints. ¡­ ¡°Bang! Bang bang!¡± The office door was knocked on heavily. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both looked over, seeing the burly figure of Captain Wu Junhao. nking him were two stout men; the three of them stood together, with Wu Junhao using his body to block the doorway, while the other two stuck out their heads from over his shoulders, making it seem at first nce as though it was a creature with three heads. Like a three-headed ogre. ¡°Captain Wu,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up and asked, ¡°Have you thought of a suitable suspect?¡± ¡°I have,¡± Wu Junhao responded gravely. To any police officer, solving a cold murder case holds an almost sacred significance. Wu Jun also looked over curiously, as he was not aware of what Jiang Yuan had just been doing. Someone has died so soon? Wu Junhao spoke with a heavy tone: ¡°In my notebook, I had recorded a criminal suspect, a resident of Ningtai County, a high school student at the time from the County Third Middle School, a member of the basketball team, who had a conflict with the victim¡¯s son two days before the incident.¡± ¡°I was inquiring about any recent unpleasant encounters the victim¡¯s son had had, and he provided this information.¡± ¡°But when we contacted the other party on the phone, we specifically asked about his height, which was said to be 188 centimeters. His father brought him over for questioning, and he did appear to be about that height.¡± As Wu Junhao said this, his expression grew even more solemn. This suspect, who was 188 centimeters tall, had a father who was an official in the county¡¯s finance bureau, acquainted with numerous police personnel. When the father and son came that day for questioning, the father was articte and genial, and his height was beyond the 178¨C185 cm range set by Chen Wenming; they returned home quickly together. Thinking of this, Wu Junhao said in a low voice, ¡°At first, the case investigation started with the victim¡¯s socialwork; during theter stages, the focus shifted from burry or robbery to homicide. But we never considered the victim¡¯s son¡¯s connections¡­¡± One could say the teenager with the 188 cm height had just shed before the investigators¡¯ eyes without trulying into their view. Wu Junhao looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Does a height of 188 cm match with your judgment?¡± Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°It doesn¡¯t match.¡± An anxious police officer behind Wu Junhao blurted out, ¡°It¡¯s not your responsibility, we will definitely bring him in for questioning¡­ even if he¡¯s not 193 cm tall now.¡± ¡°I am more inclined to believe that the suspect falsified his height,¡± Jiang Yuan calmly interrupted, ¡°His actual height is 193 cm, but he reported it as 188 cm. We can measure it on the spot. While he could im he grew tallerter, if it indeed turns out to be 188 cm, it would actually reduce his suspicion.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Wu Junhao nodded and said, ¡°Let¡¯s do this, we¡¯ll go check him out now. If his height meets the standard, I¡¯ll bring him back.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan gave a firm reply. Without further ado, Wu Junhao turned and left, saying as he went, ¡°Gather everyone; let¡¯s go measure that kid.¡± Three robust men walked down the corridor, theirbined presence feeling like that of thirteen men. Wang Zhong also peeked out from his office. Once the men left, he quietly asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Did you confirm the person?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll know once we bring him in.¡± Jiang Yuan returned to his office, then called Captain Huang Qiangmin. Not unexpectedly, Huang Qiangmin had also received a report from Wu Junhao. ¡°Let Old Wu measure the suspect. Youe with me to report to the director,¡± Huang Qiangmin was always quick to act. Jiang Yuan felt a bit surprised and asked, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we wait until we bring the person in and then report?¡± ¡°The kid¡¯s dad works for the government, and he¡¯s been promoted in recent years; it¡¯s best to give Director Guan Xi a heads-up,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s lips pursed into a 180-degree angle, a fierce expression on his face. The magnitude of a murder case ispletely different; it involves human life, and no amount of attention is too much. Hence, Jiang Yuan quickly made the necessary preparations before meeting with a leader: drinking water, urinating, and straightening out his clothes. Finally, Jiang Yuan, dressed neatly, first went to Captain Huang¡¯s office, and then together they headed to the director¡¯s office. In not toorge an office, the director was examining the case file in silence for two or three minutes. ¡°We should be able to see a resolution soon, right?¡± the director put down the file and spoke with a serious look on his face. Huang Qiangmin hummed in agreement, nced at Jiang Yuan with the director, and said, ¡°If the suspect¡¯s height indeed turns out to be 193 cm, we should re-examine his situation and determine there¡¯s a significant suspicion of his involvement.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have to be as strict as 193; even 190 is more than what he imed to be, 188.¡± Sitting in his chair with a calm face, the director continued, ¡°The key still remains the case! The suspect¡¯s father, as well as his family rtionships, do not need to be dwelt upon too much.¡± ¡°Alright, understood!¡± Huang Qiangmin knew this would be the oue, yet hearing the director personally affirm it settled his nerves. ¡°Then let¡¯s wait together. You can have a seat on the sofa for a while, Wu Junhao should be arriving soon,¡± Director Guan Xi¡¯s demeanor went from serious to calm and then kindly, gesturing for the two men to sit down while he opened a file, reading it carefully again. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin exchanged nces; then Captain Huang gestured at Jiang Yuan with a 33.3-degree angle of his mouth, reassuring him. So, Jiang Yuanfortably leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes and rested. Huang Qiangmin breathed another sigh of relief; he was worried that the young ones these days were too casual, and it would have been awkward if they started watching videos on their phones right then. Suddenly, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mobile phone rang. He stood up and immediately answered it, turning on the speakerphone, ¡°Captain Wu, I¡¯m in the director¡¯s office, report directly to us.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Wu Junhao acknowledged, then carefully chose his words, ¡°I¡¯ve measured the suspect¡¯s height, exactly 193 centimeters.¡± ¡°Bring the person in, collect evidence on the spot; I¡¯ll call the prosecutor¡¯s office,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face was full of tion! At least up to this point, the murder investigation was going smoothly. Finding the perpetrator for the victim and clearing the false usation is the duty of the police. Another point, nailing a murder case could mean an explosive achievement for the year! The director also sat up straight, nodding in satisfaction toward Jiang Yuan and said to Huang Qiangmin, ¡°Immediately establish a special case team and solidify the investigation.¡± Chapter 150 - 150 146 Setting Up a Skynet (Vote for Monthly Pass) ?150: Chapter 146 Setting Up a Sk (Vote for Monthly Pass) 150: Chapter 146 Setting Up a Sk (Vote for Monthly Pass) The director said a special case team was to be established, and it didn¡¯t even have to wait until the next day; personnel were quickly assembled. Jiang Yuan was also called in, unsurprisingly, and sat in a corner of the meeting room, listening to everyone discussing the case. The murder case of Mr. Yang from Shanghe Vige wasn¡¯t an unfamiliar one. When it was an active case a few years ago, many of those present had been personally involved. And the fact that the case remained unsolved was likewise a personal experience for those present. This was never a pleasant memory. For many, the crime scene might not be etched in their minds, but it was buried deep in their memories. Digging it out now, the scenes of the past were still visible. ¡°If we¡¯re talking about footprint identification, Chen Wenming is quite well-known in the province and has solved several major cases. It should be said that his work is quite up to par.¡± ¡°The key is that using a footprint as the sole key evidence, even the only evidence, is still not enough. If it were a current case, we could look for the shoes from that time, blood-stained clothes and such. Several years have passed, and I¡¯m guessing that this evidence has been dealt with.¡± ¡°If this young man, Liu Chang, was the perpetrator, how did he get home, covered in blood¡­¡± ¡°The victim¡¯s backyard leads to a small river about thirty centimeters deep, where we found evidence of bathing, even with the use of shower gel.¡± ¡°I remember now, riverside houses are no good.¡± The discussion at the conference table, some looking forward and some reminiscing, was not stopped by Huang Qiangmin. The case had just begun, and it was the time for open discussion. There was no need to restrict discussion to a single direction without good cause. Jiang Yuan also listened quietly. His knowledge of this case might be the least among those present. He had not only never experienced this case, but he hadn¡¯t even looked at the dossier much. He had gone about it through the footprint database. As the discussion continued, someone from the corner voiced a doubt, ¡°The height of the suspect Liu Chang, it wasn¡¯t guessed after measurement, was it?¡± Despite the bustling discussion, the moment this cold remark was uttered, the meeting room instantly fell silent. Those were words that cut to the heart. Everyone turned to look and saw that the speaker was a staff member from the agency. Oh, that¡¯s nothing then. The crowd turned back and continued the discussion. No one believed that Jiang Yuan needed to fabricate evidence. Even if a mandate from heaven demanded the case be solved, there was no need for such a superficial fabrication. ¡°Now the key is to form a corresponding chain of evidence. If Liu Chang truly is the murderer, a footprint alone is not enough to convict him.¡± ¡°First we need to establish the time of the crime. This vige is a small ce; if the suspect had beening and going, he must have been out of sight for a significant amount of time.¡± ¡°How do you prove he wasn¡¯t there? First, we need to prove he was, and as I said earlier, transportation.¡± ¡°Find all his ssmates from that year. Boys of this age can¡¯t keep a secret to themselves. Moreover, looking at the crime scene, it¡¯s very likely a crime of passion, or idental death. In that case, he might have discussed it with his peers beforehand.¡± Upon hearing this, Huang Qiangmin sensed something and nodded, ¡°Both of these approaches are good. Miao, take a couple of people and dig into the suspect¡¯s rtionships with his ssmates. Take their statements.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Miao agreed, then added, ¡°Those ssmates of his should have a strong impression of him. A ssmate about one meter ny in height would probably be the only one they knew their whole life. Right, I can ask his ssmates about his height at the time.¡± ¡°Students also have physical examination reports, which should include their height.¡± With just a couple of casual remarks, two policemen had countered the staff member¡¯s suspicions. The discussion didn¡¯t linger on this and continued on with the case details. Jiang Yuan listened on the side, feeling as if his horizons were being broadened. As a police officer not from an academic background, he actually belonged to a minority within the current police force. While officers with academic backgrounds may fall short in other police branches, criminal investigation was where their expertise truly matched the profession. From motives to timing, psychological analysis during the crime, and even to the destruction of evidence, the group analyzed a plethora of details. If the case hadn¡¯t remained unsolved, Jiang Yuan might have thought they were discussing an old story. Huang Qiangmin also periodically allocated personnel, gradually expanding the scope of the investigation. With the clue from the footprint, the proposed ns were solidifying the foundation of the case. Outside the window. The sky gradually darkened. The sunset leapt into the sky, painting buildings and mountains with a magnificent and atmospheric hue. The small Ningtai County suddenly boasted a dazzling city skyline. Inside the conference room of the Criminal Police Squad. Arge was quietly cast out. All members of the three criminal police teams, along with the Crime Squad and K-9 Unit, naturally fell into working overtime. In the event of a current homicide case, everyone had to spring into full mobilization mode. And for a cold case homicide with prospects of being solved, no one dared to rx. Huang Qiangmin also progressively got into the swing of things. As the chief of the Criminal Police Squad, his workload was substantial; he not only dealt with cases within the entire county area but was also responsible for solving cases from the surrounding townships. In normal times, he didn¡¯t dare say which aspect he could rx. Only when everything needed to be very well-prepared, did he dare to initiate an investigation into cold cases. Typically, the scale would consist of two or three people conducting preliminary investigations, with a gradual follow-up thereafter. But today¡¯s case couldn¡¯t be handled that way, because they were about to face a fully-developed scene. Huang Qiangmin even thought, if Liu Chang¡¯s father, desperately seeking to survive and wanting to fight back, how could he press him back down again. Of course, the best n was to secure solid evidence and, with an overwhelming speed, to establish the case firmly, irond, so that the other party had no foundation for counterargument. ¡°In a moment, when everyone has time, call home to report you¡¯re safe and then turn off your phones if necessary. For the next few days, we will be focusing on this case,¡± Huang Qiangmin added extra instructions before he finally breathed a sigh of relief. This wave ofmanding had also been draining for him. Jiang Yuan also stood up. He didn¡¯t have any urgent tasks and could rest another night, ready to start busy work tomorrow morning. Before he left the conference room, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s phone began to ring. ¡°Hello, Miao,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as soon as he saw it was Wu Junhao calling and immediately answered the phone. Wu Junhao began to report loudly. Jiang Yuan had already reached the end of the conference room and just stood waiting for the news to emerge. The others were simr, Wu Junhao was not only on the front lines, but in theory, he was also the only one still in the fight. Soon, Huang Qiangmin said ¡°Good job,¡± and ended the call. Everyone in the conference room looked at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin slowly put away his phone, his hand still in his pocket, and after pondering for two seconds, he said, ¡°Wu Junhao has captured the criminal suspect Liu Chang. Liu Chang has confessed to his crimes without denial, giving it all away on the way here.¡± He didn¡¯t ry the full extent of Wu Junhao¡¯s report, but what he did say was enough. The police officers present couldn¡¯t help but smile. Some people started smiling, and then it turned into a bittersweetughter. Huang Qiangmin looked down at the table, at the notebook yet to be cleared away, his smile not showing teeth. The case was solved, and that was a happy oue. After all the discussions, it turned out that the beginning hadn¡¯t required them at all. ¡°Everyone sit back down; let¡¯s discuss how to wrap this up,¡± Huang Qiangmin shook his head. Even though the case was solved, there was still a lot of work to be done. However, the order and means had obviously changed. More importantly, the psychological pressure and sense of burden were entirely different. ¡°Good job,¡± one person patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder, praising him. ¡°Good job,¡± patting shoulders. ¡°Awesome,¡± patting shoulders. ¡°Impressive!¡± patting shoulders. A group of people almost went around the conference table, patting Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulders until they began to ache. Huang Qiangmin watched this scene with a smile, letting Jiang Yuan enjoy this special praise. This difficult cold case, which Jiang Yuan had solved through painstaking investigation, was a testament to his solid andmendable abilities. Huang Qiangmin himself didn¡¯t realize how his smile at the corner of his mouth was slowly spreading, almost reaching his ears. ¡­ Half an hourter. The nearly empty case handling center weed Liu Chang from the Finance Bureau, who had once been a youth. More than 7 years ago, he was an 18-year-old boy, but now, he was a 25-year-old young man. The greenness visible in photos was gone, reced by a tall figure, a smart suit, slightly prominent cheekbones, and an artificially mature hairstyle¡­ Overall, it was a rather handsome, social man¡¯s attire. In Ningtai County, he would probably be a top catch on the marriage market. Thinking about the time, he went to university and graduated around the age of 22, then passed the civil service examination in this county, and now, just two years in, it was time for him to be considered for promotion. The good days were just beginning. ¡°Come in,¡± Wu Junhao courteously ushered Liu Chang into the interrogation room. Formidable physical strength should facilitate reasonable conversation. If criminals were willing to talk, Wu Junhao might as well have exercised his brain. For a criminal like this, who couldn¡¯t help but confess everything in the police car, Wu Junhao was even more pleasant. Given a choice, he would use up a pound of muscle for Liu Chang to freely speak again. This was a murder case, after all; even a confession had to be formally and properly handled. Wu Junhao seated Liu Chang securely in the ¡°tiger bench¡±, taking care to amodate his build before standing up with a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s talk again¡­¡± ¡°I want to see that footprint expert, the police officer who figured out my height,¡± Liu Chang sat down and made his request. Chapter 151 - 151 147 Footprint Expert ?151: Chapter 147 Footprint Expert 151: Chapter 147 Footprint Expert Case Handling Center. The green ivy leaves in the corridor were dark, like an old green ivy that no one cared for. Several experienced detectives imparted their wisdom to Jiang Yuan. In the interrogation room, what should be said and what should not be said. In the interrogation room, the criminal suspect, Liu Chang, had just finished reading the ¡°Criminal Suspect Litigation Rights and Obligations Notice,¡± and was in the middle of signing it. In a murder case, even if it was a county public security bureau, each step was taken as closely as possible to the textbook. Otherwise, there were plenty of people eager to teach you a lesson. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Liu Chang.¡± ¡°Have you ever used any other names or nicknames?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Your ethnicity, date of birth?¡± ¡­ ¡°I want to see the footprint expert,¡± Liu Chang answered a few questions and suddenly stopped cooperating, shouting out loud. His expression was somewhat panicked, and his face was very pale. Wearing a pair of half-frame sses, he was, to be honest, quite a handsome young man. He was also tall, which was a considerable advantage. Sitting across from him, Wu Junhao, who appeared exceptionally strong and muscr in his police uniform, patiently coaxed, ¡°Didn¡¯t we agree, to begin with the statement taking, and someone would be here soon?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been so long, he should have arrived by now. If he¡¯s noting, just say it, don¡¯t lie to me,¡± Liu Chang¡¯s expression turned very serious. His pupils were constantly shifting. Wu Junhao, fierce in capturing criminals but gentle during interrogations, continued to persuade, ¡°There¡¯s no need to lie to you. If you want to see someone, we have to notify them first, and then theye over before they can meet with you¡­¡± ¡°You just said fifteen minutes.¡± ¡°And it hasn¡¯t been that long yet.¡± ¡°Then show me the time.¡± Wu Junhao tensed up again, it wasn¡¯t good to show the time during an interrogation; that was a basic rule of interrogation. ¡°Then I want to see my dad,¡± Liu Chang made a new demand, which changed the expressions of everyone both inside and outside the interrogation room. It¡¯s generally easier to trick a 25-year-old. Those who enter the interrogation roome up with all kinds of wild ideas. Those who imagine their offenses to be minor, and those who feel innocent, are numerous. Liu Chang believed that he was guilty of idental homicide and was convinced of it. Only then did we have a basis for dialogue. In a real interrogation room, there would at least be one fool. That was the so-called principle of the interrogation room. All of a sudden, Liu Chang¡¯s mind seemed to clear up a bit, which was the most nerve-wracking part. If he refused to confess, then the following case handling process would be difficult. It could be said, the happiness of the next one or two weeks for hundreds of officers depended on Liu Chang¡¯s attitude at this moment. As for Liu Chang¡¯s father, he was a 50-year-old seasoned yer in the officialdom, with a certain level of official rank, to say he was difficult to deal with was an understatement. ¡°You are already 25 years old, you don¡¯t need a guardian to apany you,¡± Wu Junhao suddenly stated, piercing through Liu Chang¡¯s sensitive heart. He had seen far too many boys who wanted to be men through words and shouts. A slight prick at the muscle rted to the ¡°troubles of growing up,¡± and they exploded on the spot. Liu Chang did indeed be angry, his hands trembling as he yelled, ¡°I want to see the footprint expert, right now!¡± No longer insisting on seeing his dad. Wu Junhao let out a sigh of relief but didn¡¯t dare to continue the interrogation. As it happened, Liu Chang¡¯s father was actually being held in an interrogation room next door. Liu Chang¡¯s father was much more experienced. He looked like a minor authoritative leader. When they had just captured him, he still wielded official airs, the fierce kind. Such people usually possess an iron will in most situations, like feces under the zing sun within a pile of stones¡ªsmooth to the touch, seemingly hard in the shell, but hollow when broken open. But to old Wu, he was not worried about interrogating Liu Chang¡¯s father. For people like him, the simplest method was to wear them down with persistence; even the hardest stool softens in water over a few days, stirring it lightly dissolves it away. An old hand with a past in power and money is quickly corrupted and has many weak points. On the other hand, young people like Liu Chang, with violent mood swings, were unstable and easily changed their stories. Juat a while ago in the car, he was providing a clear confession, but once inside the interrogation room, he changed, and who knows what peculiar behaviors he might disy next. People who havemitted murder have some psychological issues to a certain degree. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t want a clear murder case to turn into a confusing mess, as muddled as snot. Outside the interrogation room. The professionals had also realized that Liu Chang¡¯s emotions were uncontroble, and after hurriedly instructing Jiang Yuan a few words, they let him into the room. A group eagerly watched the surveince, fists clenched, as serious as if they were fans of the home team. Jiang Yuan knocked on the door and entered the interrogation room. Wu Junhao was using the biggest interrogation room, long and wide, with a third near the door barricaded by iron bars. Liu Chang sat inside, unable to find even a single window, and the overhead spotlights only exacerbated his irritability. The so-called ¡°tiger bench¡± was fully extended. A man of six-foot-four had to stretch the bench to its limit, and still, his legs spilled over. His arms,id on the table, also protruded too far, almost making it impossible to lock the handcuffs on. The two restraints behind him, however, posed no problem, but Wu Junhao had not put them on him. That thing was ufortable once put on, certainly more annoying than a seatbelt, and he was afraid that Liu Chang, ready to confess, wouldn¡¯t be happy about it. Before a criminal confesses, policemen always appear like considerate big brothers. Only once they have them in their grasp do the police show their fierce side. Mature policemen are usually like mature scoundrels. Chapter 152 - 152 147 Footprint Expert_2 ?152: Chapter 147 Footprint Expert_2 152: Chapter 147 Footprint Expert_2 Immature police often resemble immature scoundrels. Jiang Yuan was also quite tall, and the moment he entered the door, bathed in the bright light, it almost felt as if he saw himself sitting inside¡­ Liu Chang had a simr impression, in the blink of an eye, almost seeing another self walk in. Both seemed slightly stunned as they faced each other. Liu Chang, in his small town, was also a legitimate second-generation official, living a carefree life. ¡°This is our footprint expert, Doctor Jiang,¡± Wu Junhao gestured for Jiang Yuan to sit beside him and then introduced him to Liu Chang. ¡°How old are you?¡± Liu Chang¡¯s pupils constricted slightly, but he asked first. Jiang Yuan, upon seeing such a young suspect, although he had read the case file and heard about it all the way there, including having seen him from the outside, still found the direct, face-to-face encounter very strange. ¡°24 years old.¡± ¡°Younger than me?¡± Liu Chang suddenly looked at Wu Junhao with agitation! His feet were trembling: ¡°Who are you trying to fool? Bringing in a fake, do you think that¡¯s funny?¡± Wu Junhao was startled, then pped his own thick forehead with arge hand. ¡°You should have said something earlier, with so many people on hand, it would¡¯ve been more convenient to bring a fake. Do you think experts must be in their forties or fifties, better yet, grey-haired or balding?¡± Wu Junhao ran his greasy fingers through his hair and continued: ¡°Had I known, I would have brought in a bald police officer, instead of asking Jiang Yuan toe from so far. Our teamcks many things, but not age or bald heads.¡± Liu Chang was left speechless by his words. And he felt that this burly man did make some good points. He then scrutinized the young man across from him once more. ¡°How did you determine my height? I heard that the previous footprint expert was also a renowned footprint expert in the province.¡± His question was slightly professional, indicating he had indeed done some research beforehand. Jiang Yuan countered, ¡°Why do you care about this?¡± ¡°Just curious. I¡¯m quite a bit taller than the average person. When the incident happened, and I saw the footprints everywhere, I knew there was a problem,¡± Liu Chang stated somewhat calmly: ¡°Reporting a lower height was my own decision.¡± In that statement alone, Liu Chang revealed a lot of information. If what he said was true, it first of all suggested that Liu Chang was unaware of the previous fingerprint expert¡¯s judgment of his height. In other words, his father¡¯s connections had not extended to leaking case information. Chen Wenming had initially estimated 178 to 185 cm, and Liu Chang was simply too tall; otherwise, reporting 185 cm would have put him directly in the range of suspicion. At that time, the special case unit¡¯s scrutiny of him would certainly have been much more intense. Secondly, Liu Chang saying that reporting a lower height was his own decision implies someone made decisions for him in other matters. Most likely, it was his parents. In other words, this statement confirmed the parents indeed had provided cover. Finally, Liu Chang also exposed his psychological state. It¡¯s nothing new for young people to want to shape their own futures, to confront the world with their beliefs. However, some end up bing national fathers¡ªlike Sun Yat-sen. Others end up merely as murderers¡ªlike Qin Wuyang. Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Chang even more intently. From the feeling of their face-to-face encounter, could this guy be aspiring to achieve something? Thinking that getting away with idental murder might allow him to prepare for the next time? ¡°If you¡¯re not going to talk, neither am I,¡± Liu Chang felt he had a hold over Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled slightly, ¡°Judging height is actually a systematic task, it¡¯s all in the books.¡± ¡°But I want to hear it from you.¡± ¡°All right, the simplest thing is to determine height based on foot length. There are some empirical rules to it.¡± Jiang Yuan said slowly, ¡°For example, in ancient China, there was ¡®seven times standing, five times sitting, three times in a fetal position¡¯, which means the average person¡¯s height is seven times the length of their head, and the foot length is actually simr to the head length.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it said that some people have a nine-heads tall figure?¡± ¡°That¡¯s an exception. Let¡¯s stick to the general rule first.¡± Liu Chang acknowledged, ¡°Okay, so you multiply by 7?¡± ¡°People from Hu City multiply by 6.75, people from the Northeast by 6.876, Shaanxi residents by 6.734, Chongqing by 6.856¡­¡± Jiang Yuan gave aprehensive answer. ¡°But I was wearing shoes that day!¡± Liu Chang was particrly troubled by this detail. ¡°Moreover, the shoes were a bit smaller than the normal size, they were tight and not the same size as I usually wear.¡± ¡°You could tell?¡± ¡°I could tell,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°Shall I continue?¡± ¡°Please do.¡± ¡°To further determine height, you need to include the foot width data as well. Your feet are quite long, but wider than average. This is another detail.¡± Liu Chang, listening to the young forensic doctor speak with such confidence, began to feel some agreement: ¡°Chinese feet are generally wider than Europeans¡¯, so foreign brands of shoes often feel tight.¡± His own wide feet made shoe shopping challenging, a sentiment with which he deeply sympathized. ¡°Then there¡¯s the foot¡¯s surface area and the width of the metatarsal. Adding these two pieces of data to the equation gives you a regression form with a high degree of usefulness,¡± Jiang Yuan exined carefully, after all, it was all public information. ording to interrogation experts, spending a bit more time chatting with Liu Chang now was beneficial. Liu Chang frowned slightly hearing about regression equations, ¡°What you¡¯re talking about are still averages. How did you know my height is 193 centimeters?¡± ¡°The true conclusion should be between 191 and 195, I picked 193 because it had the highest probability,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. He further exined, ¡°It¡¯s really a matter of experience, in addition, there are impressions, stride length¡­¡± ¡­The leaders outside the interrogation room were confused and impressed, watching the conversation between the young forensic doctor and the young suspect, they felt the urgency that one might see in a TV drama. The situation was intense yet indescribable. ¡°Can you exin in more detail?¡± Liu Chang pressed. ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn to talk,¡± the burly Old Wu interjected, ¡°Let¡¯s first finish updating the interrogation record, then you guys can chat in detail afterwards.¡± ¡°Update what.¡± Liu Chang¡¯s body shifted slightly backward, but the iron chair prevented him from moving much, causing a slight frown. ¡°Let¡¯s start with why you killed someone,¡± Wu Junhao didn¡¯t follow the usual procedure and went straight to the question. Liu Chang curled his lips, ¡°Didn¡¯t I already say? ¡°This is an official interrogation. If you say it now, it¡¯s considered that you¡¯re showing remorse¡­¡± Liu Chang lifted his head slightly and said slowly, ¡°I was a fool at the time, shed with his son, exchanged a few insults, the kid was dressed in rags¡­¡± Recalling the scene from seven years ago, Liu Chang felt a hint of regret and shook his head, ¡°Anyway, I wanted to make up for it, happened to be heading that way that day, so I rode a bike to his ce, and there I ran into his dad, the old man came at me, I had to strike back, and identally¡­¡± ¡°How did you know where his house was?¡± ¡°The kid told me himself. He said to go down the county road, there are two lions with wings, that¡¯s their house,¡± Liu Chang¡¯s voice grew fainter¡­ Chapter 153 - 153 148 Understanding and Reasonable (three updates) ?153: Chapter 148: Understanding and Reasonable (three updates) 153: Chapter 148: Understanding and Reasonable (three updates) ¡°How did you get into the Yang¡¯s house?¡± Wu Junhao sat in front of the long table, his face seemingly kind as he asked. Liu Chang, in hiszy manner, said, ¡°I just pushed the door and entered. Their front door was open. I thought that kid was home.¡± ¡°When you encountered Yang Gan, the deceased, why did a conflict arise?¡± ¡°I was fiddling around and broke a jar in their house¡­ Yang Gan came up cursing, I couldn¡¯t¡­ I couldn¡¯t just let him, right?¡± Liu Chang¡¯s words were not entirely truthful. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t care, what mattered most to him now was to draw out the main thread of the story. Once the first round of statements waspleted, he could ask in more detail during the second round. By then, it wouldn¡¯t be Liu Chang¡¯s turn to be so capricious. ¡°What exactly did you do when you killed him?¡± Wu Junhao gradually moved to the key point. Liu Chang couldn¡¯t help falling into his memories. This scene had appeared in his mind more than once, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night. ¡°I could have gone abroad.¡± Liu Chang suddenly said out of nowhere. Wu Junhao responded quickly, with a ¡°Hmm,¡± and said, ¡°So why didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Because it was self-defense homicide,¡± Liu Chang¡¯s voice rose slightly, then fell again, ¡°I know, you definitely won¡¯t admit it.¡± ¡°You tell me, admitting it or not, that¡¯s up to the prosecutor¡¯s office and the court. If you don¡¯t say, who will know?¡± Wu Junhao coaxed Liu Chang as if pacifying a child. That¡¯s how police officers are, using all sorts of honeyed words before they gain the upper hand. Only when they¡¯ve got a firm grip on you, when they have evidence, do they suddenly turn into heartbreakers¡­ Liu Chang shook his head, waited a good while, and then said, ¡°It was his dad who wanted to grab the sickle first, I just got to it before him, but I didn¡¯t expect the sickle to be that long¡­¡± Wu Junhao instantly felt relieved. This motion aligned perfectly with the conclusions from the autopsy. Liu Chang, being a city kid, wouldn¡¯t know how to use a sickle, and failing to gauge its length was normal. The fact that Liu Chang could describe this action clearly basically proved that he was indeed involved in the homicide. Otherwise, such detailed actions in a killing would not be so easily verbalized. ¡°You cut the other party¡¯s throat, and then what?¡± Wu Junhao continued to inquire. Liu Chang¡¯s mouth curled into a smile for a moment, then quickly faded: ¡°I was young then, I didn¡¯t have any first aid knowledge, I just thought of running back home¡­¡± ¡°You took a shower,¡± Wu Junhao corrected Liu Chang, ¡°And you wiped off the fingerprints on the murder weapon.¡± Liu Chang was startled; this was the first time Wu Junhao had contradicted him. Liu Chang felt a slight surge of anger. ¡°I just didn¡¯t know what to do, so I did it subconsciously,¡± Liu Chang argued. Wu Junhao said calmly, ¡°You consciously eliminated evidence and quietly left Shanghe Vige.¡± ¡°I told you, I didn¡¯t know what to do.¡± ¡°During that time, did you make any phone calls?¡± Wu Junhao unexpectedly cornered Liu Chang again. Liu Chang¡¯s face tensed instantly. He had indeed called his father, and his subsequent actions were all taught by his father. Liu Chang now felt an extreme regret, wondering why he hadn¡¯t listened to his father, taken English seriously, and gone abroad to study¡­ ¡­ The first round of interrogation ended, and Liu Changpletely slumped in his chair. Jiang Yuan stood up and left, and when it was time for the second round of interrogation, he simply didn¡¯t enter. From Wu Junhao¡¯s attitude, it was clear that this round of interrogation would definitely not be as gentle as a spring breeze. The falsehoods spread earlier to coax Liu Chang into talking were presumably about to be retracted. Liu Chang¡¯s intense reactions were expected, but under the threat of a homicide case, he would eventually have to obediently talk, returning to his initial state, only now with a touch of sadness in the calm. In overall approach, detectives and the stock market are much the same. First they treat you with polite civility, even making you feel like you¡¯ve gained some negligible benefits. Thenes a gentle downturn to test your bottom line, and before you can react, they entrap you with a steep plunge. At this point, you do want to leave, but both the detectives and the stock market threaten you with the same rhetoric: If you don¡¯t listen to me, there will be no chance of redemption¡­ So, in an attempt to recover losses, more losses are incurred. Huang Qiangmin listened to an additional round of interrogation. By the end of the second round, he went to view Liu¡¯s father¡¯s interrogation records, and then he felt at ease. Members of the special case team were reconvened in the conference room. ¡°Our special case team might be the shortest-lived in history,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth curved above 66.6 degrees. If it were another topic, it might be a sad one. But given the circumstances, everyone genuinely smiled. ¡°It¡¯s better for the task force to be short-lived,¡± someone murmured. ¡°It would be great if it were this short-lived every time.¡± ¡°Following Doctor Jiang on several cases, they were all wrapped up rather quickly.¡± After someone uttered this truth, the gazes of those present involuntarily fell upon Jiang Yuan. Indeed, cases led by Jiang Yuan were resolved at a breakneck pace. Recounting Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills, forensic science was his main duty. Outsiders were unaware of the depths of his expertise. His proficiency with fingerprints had already been proven to be top-notch in the province; his crime scene investigation abilities were exceptional as well, and he also knew about bloodstains, seemingly outperforming Chen Wenming with footprints¡­ A group of criminal police began to mull over the same hypothetical; if they were the criminals facing a technician like Jiang Yuan, what would they do? Naturally, the best n would be to simply get rid of him. ¡°Now, let¡¯s discuss two matters. First, at this stage of the case, a few people continuing the investigation will suffice; we no longer need so many on the special case team¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin wound down his speech and quickly assigned new tasks to his troops. ¡°Second, I¡¯ve reported to Director Guan Xi.¡± Huang Qiangmin then looked at the detectives, but his eyes settled on Jiang Yuan as he continued, ¡°This murder case backlog hassted 7 years and is finally about to be cracked. The lead technician this time is Jiang Yuan, and I suggest we award him.¡± Once again, everyone¡¯s gaze simultaneously shifted to Jiang Yuan. In such a short time with the police department, Jiang Yuan had already receivedmendation, earned second-ss merit, and was now about to receive another award¡­it was an enviable feat indeed. To describe Jiang Yuan as the main force in the Shanghe Vige case was already Huang Qiangmin¡¯s way of saving face for everyone else. Frankly speaking, what had this historically brief special case team actually aplished since its inception? Jiang Yuan had directly identified the suspects. Wu Junhao did have some tough tasks, but they were truly limited. Catching a 25-year-old civil servant couldn¡¯t be that challenging. As for the suspect¡¯s prompt confessions, that was due to his own reasons, having nothing to do with Wu¡¯s effort or work capacities. In essence, Jiang Yuan broke the bread, kneaded it finely, chewed it up, and spit it out for Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao just had to swallow the bread. In this process, including Huang Qiangmin, everyone else was just spectating, unable to im any credit. ¡°That seems appropriate.¡± ¡°Doctor Jiang is truly badass.¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing to say against it.¡± The crowd nodded in agreement. The members of the special case team came from various departments and had only been assembled for a day. No one really expected to take any credit home. Huang Qiangmin nodded his head, happy that everyone was on the same page. ¡°Record everyone¡¯s statements,¡± Huang Qiangmin instructed the stenographer in the corner. Those who understood the situation couldn¡¯t help but smile, not taking it too seriously. Huang Qiangmin then gestured with his hand, ¡°Alright, if there¡¯s nothing else, you¡¯re dismissed.¡± No sooner had Huang Qiangmin finished speaking than someone knocked on the door. ¡°Come in,¡± Huang Qiangmin called out. The person entering was a young man, who after catching his breath, spoke softly, ¡°The victim¡¯s family has arrived downstairs, asking us to see them. It¡¯s the family from the Shanghe Vige home invasion murder case.¡± ¡°That was fast.¡± Upon hearing this, Huang Qiangmin understood and asked, ¡°Does Director Guan Xi know?¡± ¡°Director Guan Xi is currently receiving the victim¡¯s family.¡± ¡°Oh. I see.¡± Huang Qiangmin immediately felt relieved. Since Director Guan Xi was involved, it meant that the situation was quite positive. Otherwise, Guan Xi would definitely have waited for things to settle down before showing up. ¡°Jiang Yuan,e with me to see them. Is there anyone from Squad One here? Come with me,¡± Huang Qiangmin rapidly summoned his men. Three police officers from Squad One were present and promptly followed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s lead. ¡°News travels fast. It must be the ssmates of the suspect we questioned who leaked the information,¡± Huang Qiangmin analyzed the reason behind the victim¡¯s family¡¯s visit, a smile on his face. Rarely do you encounter such reasonable and pleasant victims¡¯ families. Upon entering the lobby, indeed there was an elderlydy, eliciting sympathy, apanied by her wooden-faced son. ¡°Huang,e over here.¡± Director Guan Xi waved amicably, beckoning Huang Qiangmin into the photo area, and said, ¡°The victim¡¯s wife, who single-handedly raised her son despite great difficulties, has heard that the case was solved and brought us two boxes of peaches from afar.¡± ¡°Homegrown, not worth much, so eat without concern,¡± the victim¡¯s wife looked significantly older than her actual age. In fact, she appeared to be just over fifty. But if Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t look at the file, it felt as though he was looking at a seventy-year-old woman. ¡°Even if they¡¯re homegrown, they are still saleable. Consider this as us buying them,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied politely. The victim¡¯s wife waved her hand in disagreement, ¡°No need for you to pay. We have plenty of peaches at home. I even use peaches to trade for manure.¡± ¡°Manure?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s brow furrowed, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I traded peaches for a bucket of manure, just dumped it at the tax office¡¯s doorway,¡± the victim¡¯s wife said bluntly, ¡°Their director even apologized to me.¡± Huang Qiangmin was stunned, ¡°You just dumped manure at the Finance Bureau?¡± Director Guan Xi was equally taken aback, ¡°You got an apology from the Finance Bureau¡¯s director?¡± Chapter 154 - 154 149 Danger ?154: Chapter 149 Danger 154: Chapter 149 Danger 6 o¡¯clock in the afternoon. As the workday ended, the off-duty police officers, now in in clothes, filed out of their offices, getting ready to head home. Breathing in the fresh air still soaked with sunlight, many felt as if they were emerging from another world. The cold murder case had been reopened. ording to tradition from past years, whenever such cases came up, everyone in the department needed to run even just to use the bathroom. A task force that couldn¡¯t sleep in the office for two weeks, the various functional units that didn¡¯t work overtime till dawn, they wouldn¡¯t even know how to write their reportster. In a normal situation, when a murder urred, it would upset the entire unit for a week and the task force for a month¡ªthat was standard. It¡¯s not that the case would definitely be solved within a month, but by that time, task force members who were going to copse from exhaustion had done so, and cases that weren¡¯t cracked basically slid into the file folders of unsolved cases. And in the past, once a case fell into the pile of cold cases, it was very hard to solve. This was one of the reasons why cold murder cases were given special attention. The difficulty was incredibly high. It¡¯s the case that the task force on current murder cases, despite having all the advantages, failed to solve, and it was cracked afterward. If it wasn¡¯t a case that led to another case, which in turn led to solving the case, there were a lot of areas that offered rich material for research. This time, the case was essentially solved in just one day. It wasn¡¯t just the task force that found this unbelievable, ordinary officers did too. Many were prepared to spend the night at the office, only to be told by their superiors they could go home, and some even felt a bit disappointed. Sleeping in the office for a week was undoubtedly a painful experience. But being able to stay away from home for a day, without seeing the wife or dealing with the kids, and sleeping with colleagues instead, was really a rare joy in life. In the end, they got neither the good nor the bad. A group of people, just like they normally would, walked out of the office building, out of the gates, and returned home. Their expressions were strange, inexplicable. Jiang Yuan was feeling a bit smug. Footprint identification wasn¡¯t very distinctive, but it covered a wide scope and was a goodplement to the various techniques Jiang Yuan currently mastered. Walking on the street, Jiang Yuan even observed the gaits of passersby. Men, women, young people, and the elderly, each group had a different way of walking. There was a ssic story where a footprint expert wanted to write a book solely discussing the rtionship between footprints and age. However, he found it difficult to determine the footprints of people around 20 years old. So, this expert specifically watched people¡¯s gaits along a certain path, then he saw a male around 20 years old who, while walking, suddenly leapt up. The expert had an epiphany. Jiang Yuan continuously confirmed his findings through footprints. Approaching the section of the road that led to Jiangcun Residential Area, which was under construction, Jiang Yuan looked at the chaotic footprints on the ground and could even guess the owners of certain distinctive prints. For instance, the one using a cane heading towards Building No. 1 was most likely Grandpa San. And then there was a young woman¡¯s footsteps, heavy and stout, which immediately brought the image of Sister Liutang to mind. There was also someone carrying a heavy load alone, definitely weighing around 100 jin, just like¡­ the weight of a corpse. Jiang Yuan was startled and scrutinized it closely. On the ground, it turned out that more than one person was carrying a load. Jiang Yuan frowned deeply. If it was young folks ying at romance, one set of footprints might be understandable. But two sets of footprints aligned one after the other, what was going on? It couldn¡¯t be a duomitting a ughterhouse case, could it? The more Jiang Yuan thought, the more he felt the danger. Jiang Vige was famously affluent and, naturally, it caught people¡¯s eyes. These days, although it was rare to hear of grand thieves by the river, gang robberies also only happened once in a while. But for Jiang Vige, rare seafood was within reach, and so should rare firearms be. Jiang Yuan¡¯s face was stern, and he wasn¡¯t in a hurry to get home anymore. He simply followed the two sets of heavy footsteps. After crossing the excavation area, the footprints of the two people continued for a while. When Jiang Yuan looked up again, he found himself at the building of his home¡¯s front door. At this point, there was no doubt that his home was definitely the most dangerous ce. Jiang Fuzhen was the wealthiest in the town, and now Jiang Yuan had also offended some people. At this moment, Jiang Yuan felt the most appropriate action should be to call the police. But he was out of patience and went straight to the elevator, taking a little caution by pressing the button for a floor two levels below his own. When the elevator door opened, Jiang Yuan cautiously stepped out and looked left and right before climbing up the fire escape stairs. At the entrance to his home. There was a hubbub of voices. Jiang Yuan frowned again and carefully poked his head out. Thest thing he wanted to see was a scene simr to what had happened at Uncle Seventeen¡¯s house. The door to his ce was open. A group of people¡­ seemed to be having a meal. And there was a rather festive atmosphere. Jiang Yuan quietly breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the fire service elevator, full of suspicion. ¡°Yuan, why did youe up the stairs?¡± Jiang Yongxin was greeting people at the door when he saw Jiang Yuan and called out to him. ¡°Jiang Yuan is back!¡± In the corridor, uncles were nodding happily at Jiang Yuan with wine sses in hand, filled with c mixed with white wine. If it weren¡¯t for the T-shirts they were wearing, Jiang Yuan might have thought they were at some Western-style cocktail party. It seemed to be just an ordinary feast. Besides, it probably wasn¡¯t his family that was the reason for the feast. Jiang Yuan was a bit skeptical again. Could it be that someone¡¯s wedding brought the bride and bridesmaids up here? But it didn¡¯t seem to be the custom in Jiang Vige. ¡°Jiang Yuan, Jiang Yuan!¡± Uncle Yu Shan and Jiang Fuzhen appeared together, havinge specifically to visit Jiang Yuan¡¯s home. Jiang Fuzhen said with a cheerful smile, ¡°Your Uncle Yu Shan was very polite and brought an entire cow for you. I¡¯ve got it cooking.¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly realized and smacked his forehead hard. He really was scaring himself for no reason. Who would be moving bodies around aimlessly, especially targeting his home? With that in mind, giving the gift of an entire cow seemed utterly normal. Jiang Yuan just had a slight question, ¡°Can our pot even cook an entire cow?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t cook the legs and head. We moved those to the storage room.¡± ¡°I see¡­ so the legs were taken off beforehand?¡± ¡°Right, we had someone carry them up.¡± Jiang Yuan heaved a sigh of relief. That made sense. The weight of arge cow¡¯s leg was pretty much like that of a patrol girl. The price was about the same, too. ¡°You didn¡¯t need to bring such a heavy gift, Uncle Yu Shan.¡± Jiang Yuan thanked Uncle Yu Shan. ¡°I had to,¡± Uncle Yu Shan said solemnly. ¡°We all got cheated by the same teashop, not just me alone. I shared the news that we caught the crook, and everyone was very happy.¡± Uncle Yu Shan looked refreshingly hale, not at all like someone who had just been cheated out of tens of thousands. Jiang Fuzhen smiled without saying a word and then asked his son, ¡°Would you like soup or meat?¡± ¡°I want both soup and meat.¡± ¡°Wait a moment.¡± Jiang Fuzhen went back to the kitchen, grabbed arge Da Hai bowl, chopped a few good pieces of meat for Jiang Yuan from the cutting board next to it, thendled soup into the bowl, poured the soup back into the pot,dled more soup, and sprinkled it with scallions, minced garlic, sizeable rock salt, and ck pepper powder¡­ A bowl of fragrant beef soup was now ready. Jiang Yuan picked up the Da Hai bowl, took a deep breath, and felt every cell in his body moring eagerly. Chapter 155 - 155 150 High Fall ?155: Chapter 150: High Fall 155: Chapter 150: High Fall Morning. After devouring another serving of pork ribs with soup, rice, a handful of pickled radishes, a bit of chili sauce, a hand-grabbed pancake, and a 200ml c, Jiang Yuan headed off to work, healthy and hearty. Last night, Jiang Yuan had briefly expressed his concerns. Though the renowned wealthy family in charge of urban demolition in the whole city, Jiang Fuzhen, often hosts banquets in the vige, there¡¯s no guarantee against life-threatening dangers knocking on their door. After seeing many cases, Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of idents had definitely changed. Jiang Fuzhen agreed and decisively decided to implement a full-time early warning intelligent defense system¡ªnotably, by getting two dogs. Jiang Yuan approved of his father¡¯s n and peacefully took the Alphard to the police office. Thesest couple of days had been swamped with cases, to the point he couldn¡¯t even be bothered to drive. Upon reaching the office, Jiang Yuan was quite lethargic, beginning by watering the office¡¯s green nts and then, putting on gloves, he cleaned the cigarette butts from the flowerpots on the windowsill, including the Diao Lan. Even though the cigarette butts would quickly umte again, it did look nicer for a few days. After watering nts, Jiang Yuan swept the floor, mopped, and wiped down desks, just like a diligent office newbie. He nowpletely understood the civil servants¡¯ obsession with office cleanliness, as, to some extent, the hygiene of the office space was the only factor a career person could control. Beyond that, every word seemed almost offensive. ¡°You¡¯re early today,¡± Wu Jun entered with a serious expression. ¡°Master, good morning,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, then asked curiously, ¡°Are you in a bad mood today? Shall I make you a cup of tea?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll have one,¡± Wu Jun sighed. ¡°Let¡¯s go with Longjing tea then.¡± Jiang Yuan prepared arge cup of the tea in a transparent mug and ced it before Wu Jun. ¡°Thank you,¡± Wu Jun took a sip and said, ¡°You didn¡¯t look at the almanac, did you?¡± Who checks the almanac all day long, seriously? Jiang Yuan mentally critiqued, then asked, ¡°What¡¯s special about today?¡± ¡°Everything is unfavorable,¡± Wu Jun coldly exhaled, his face looking as awful as a food blogger who¡¯d just been caught eating a great white shark. Jiang Yuan gave a solemn nod, replying, ¡°I see.¡± That was pretty much the extent of Jiang Yuan¡¯sprehension regarding ¡°everything is unfavorable.¡± His dad wasn¡¯t that superstitious; at home, they used the almanac to wipe tables. Wu Jun shook his head helplessly and added, ¡°On the bright side, at least it hasn¡¯t rained today.¡± ¡°The weather is indeed quite nice, and the sun is good,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed. Wu Jun said, ¡°But not too good. Under intense sunlight, bodies dpose faster and the stench worsens quickly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what you meant,¡± Jiang Yuan said, shaking his head, ¡°But it can¡¯t be that every time everything is unfavorable, someone dies. Our Ningtai County only has one or two murder cases a year.¡± ¡°But there are more than a dozen cases of unnatural deaths,¡± Wu Jun replied. ¡°That¡¯s true!¡± However, a dozen cases of unnatural death annually doesn¡¯t mean a dozen autopsies are needed. Generally, for most cases, a surface examination of the body is sufficient to determine the cause of death, so there would be no need for an autopsy. The few cases requiring an autopsy aren¡¯t necessarily murder cases either. Of course, when a murder case does ur, it bes another instance of the ¡®stay-at-unit¡¯ package. Knock knock knock. There was a knock at the door. ¡°Come in,¡± Wu Jun called out. ¡°Doctor Wu, Doctor Jiang.¡± The person who entered was the familiar Mu Zhiyang. His arm was in a cast, suggesting he wasn¡¯t quite well yet, but he looked remarkably spirited. Rosy-cheeked and bright, he appeared energetic just by looking at him. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but smile upon standing in the chilly forensic office. Wu Jun realized, ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you?¡± ¡°Me?¡± Mu Zhiyang, puzzled, pointed to his own nose. Wu Jun shook his head, smiling, ¡°Nowadays it¡¯s rare for someone to get shot, how do you feel?¡± ¡°Not too bad, it¡¯s kind of itchy,¡± Mu Zhiyang said with a goofy smile. ¡°That¡¯s luck for you. Some people go their whole lives without ever seeing a criminal fire a gun.¡± ¡°Now I¡¯ve got a great story to tell. Plus, I got a third-ss merit. It¡¯s been a profitable ordeal,¡± Mu Zhiyang seemed very happy. Wu Jun wanted to shake his head but then he thought that a third-ss merit actually was quite appealing. In the police workforce, if you don¡¯t move up the ranks while you¡¯re young, it only gets harderter on. For Mu Zhiyang to earn such an honor at his age, especially having been shot, was no small feat. It could actually provide him with some pretty good opportunities. ¡°I owe you one fromst time,¡± Jiang Yuan said, offering Mu Zhiyang a cigarette. Mu Zhiyang said nonchntly, ¡°You¡¯ve thanked me already, no need to mention it again. Besides, I didn¡¯t take a bullet for you or anything, I was just unlucky.¡± ¡°Either way, if you hadn¡¯t taken that bullet, one of us would have,¡± Jiang Yuan lit Mu Zhiyang¡¯s cigarette andughed, ¡°You¡¯ve had a tough time recently.¡± ¡°Paid leave isn¡¯t too bad.¡± ¡°You¡¯reing back to work already? Isn¡¯t that a bit soon?¡± ¡°My mom¡¯s been visiting every day, crying all the time, it¡¯s pretty annoying,¡± Mu Zhiyang must have been really fed up and he couldn¡¯t help butin, ¡°Hardly do somethingmendable and she wants me to quit. Ridiculous, isn¡¯t it?¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun looked at each other but didn¡¯t say a word. If they had been the ones who got shot, their families would do more than just nag about quitting. Thankfully, forensic doctors usually deal more with the deceased. Being a police officer is indeed a job with prospects that are not too conventional. In terms of power, it¡¯s extremely tough and difficult for an ordinary officer to be the head of a police station. In fact, most people don¡¯t make it that far. As for sry, a police officer¡¯s monthly pay is pretty transparent, and where there is money to be made, there¡¯s usually danger¡ªmuch more so than in regr industries. If there¡¯s any benefit, it¡¯s probably the slight authority thates with the police position and the social recognition. But the apanying restrictions and negative opinions might make those inside the force feel even more conflicted. All in all, for an individual in the police force, it¡¯s perfectly normal to asionally think about quitting. Neither Jiang Yuan nor Wu Jun were in a position to persuade Mu Zhiyang otherwise. A third-ss merit wasn¡¯t going tounch him onto a path to great sess, it would just make things a bit smoother. Mu Zhiyang knew this as well. After a couple ofints, he stopped grumbling and chuckled, ¡°I¡¯ll get this cast off in a few days and then it¡¯s back to work. Doctor Jiang, if you need anything, remember to call me.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed immediately. After all, the man had taken a bullet for him. Wu Jun clicked his tongue twice, thinking to himself, might this unlucky kid Mu Zhiyang have had a change in fortune after being shot? Throughout Ningtai County Police Department, everyone knew that Jiang Yuan solved cases quickly andpetently, and they were eager for his assistance¡­ the main issue was theck of cases. Little did they expect that as soon as Mu Zhiyang came back, he knew to put this team on the schedule. The kid was really broadening his path! ¡°Let¡¯s have dinner togetherter. I¡¯ll pick out something light, Cantonese cuisine that¡¯s good for post-injury,¡± Jiang Yuan said, looking at Mu Zhiyang¡¯s bandaged arm with a mix of feelings. The day that thug charged at them, even though they were four men, Jiang Yuan truly felt utterly unprepared. Indeed, it was true. If not for the armed police sniper¡¯s decisive shot, hitting the vital spot, the four rookies struggling to form a proper defensive line might have all been done for. Mu Zhiyang happily agreed and didn¡¯t leave until Jiang Yuan stuffed two packs of soft Zhonghua cigarettes into his pocket. Returning to his seat, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt a surge of energy throughout his body. Fear of danger apparently had a curious effect of doubling negatives to make a positive. A quiet day passed. After spending a few hours killing time together, the master and apprentice watched the sunset and exchanged smiles. It was time to clock out again. Wu Jun felt the day¡¯s events more profoundly, encountering Mu Zhiyang and ending up with a positive oue from negative circumstances. Just as he was reflecting, Wu Jun¡¯s cell phone rang. ¡°Hmm¡­ Captain Huang,¡± Wu Jun answered with a troubled expression. ¡°Wanghe Building, high-fall death, on the east side¡­e in from this position in the parking lot,¡± Huang Qiangmin gave a brief and clear rundown of the situation. Wu Jun sprang to his feet instantly, ¡°Understood. Wanghe Building.¡± After hanging up the phone, Wu Jun looked over at Jiang Yuan, who was already preparing his kit like an experienced forensic doctor. Chapter 156 - 156 151 Manner of Death ?156: Chapter 151: Manner of Death 156: Chapter 151: Manner of Death Wanghe Building. These high-rise buildings in the city center are the most bustling area of Ningtai County and also the location of the county CBD. They house the county branches of various banks, the ¡°headquarters¡± of numerous financialpanies, as well as real estatepanies, hotelpanies, some government departments, and local branches of state-owned enterprises, and so on¡­ The high-rise buildings had never been fully rented, and naturally, the variability of the rents was substantial. The worst managed of them all, Wanghe Building, had be a haven for pet cats and dogs. Ostensibly for breeding, they had made the entire floor reek unbearably. Jiang Yuan had previously joined a friend to y escape room games and practice archery at Wanghe Building. Compared to those arranged by local folks, the escape rooms seemed rather rudimentary. Jiang Yuan had managed to squeeze his way through from behind a wall to what he saw as an unrenovated, pitch-dark plot ofnd. Much more terrifying than the escape room itself. The first officers on the scene had cordoned off the area of the high fall. The yellow caution tape, the smooth za, and the naturally high-end stone wall surfaces appeared somewhat like a scene out of a TV drama. Outside the caution tape, a group dressed like office workers, young people from the county town, were frantically capturing videos and photos with their cellphones. Perhaps they sought to inject some excitement into their otherwise sparse social feeds. The victim was also a young white-cor worker. Dressed in a white shirt and ck trousers. Lying on his back, facing to the right, his face had turned into an indistinguishable mess. Fortunately, his brains had not spilled out but had sttered inside his skull, which would have been enough to deter most of the onlooking white-cor workers. ¡°Stretch the caution tape further. Drive away anyone taking pictures. If they don¡¯t leave, confiscate their phones,¡± ordered Huang Qiangmin, who had also arrived on the scene in his old Pajero, barking orders at the criminal investigators who had just arrived. Reinforced by their colleagues, the officers quickly extended the perimeter further, especially dispersing the onlookers nearby. People were still stretching their necks and taking pictures from the building above, until they were pointed out and persuaded to go back in. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun were observing the body with caution. Wu Jun, holding a ruler, was measuring on the ground, directing positions, while Jiang Yuan, acting as an assistant, was taking shots with the camera. Every now and then, Wu Jun needed to remind him, ¡°Here, here¡­¡± Unlike previous cases, for this one, both men were particrly diligent about taking photographs and measuring distances. This was because they were both well aware that the first thing to determine in a high-fall case was whether it was suicide, idental, or homicide. Additionally, the possibility of the body being thrown had to be considered separately. With so many criminal detectives dispatched, it was virtually an arrangement fit for a homicide investigation. There was no choice, really. Without taking an initial stance, like foreigners who¡¯d send only two regr detectives to take a look and call for backup upon finding suspicious points, wasting several hours of the golden 72-hour window would not be allowed. Under the pressure of solving every homicide, the detectives couldn¡¯t afford to waste those crucial hours. At this moment, if the forensic doctor dered it a self-inflicted high fall, the entire detective division could clock out two hours early. Buting to that conclusion was anything butfortable. It was precisely because Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan understood this that they approached the matter with such gravity. ¡°The injuries basically match the characteristics of a high fall,¡± Wu Jun announced after he had taken all the necessary photographs, just beginning to turn over the body to inspect the wounds. The features of high-fall injuries are actually easy to understand. The most significant aspect is that the damage is usually caused by a single instance of intense force. Of course, someone like Jackie Chan, who would tumble down from a building entangled in a mess, would not suffice, and further examination would be needed. But for a regr person, falling from a building is primarily about the impact of hitting the ground. At that moment, even if the body has multiple injuries, the direction of the applied force is supposed to be consistent. If it isn¡¯t consistent, then one must consider the possibilities of injury before death or the body being thrown. It essentially shifts the investigation towards considering homicide. Of course, there are other characteristics of high-fall injuries, but most of those are observed during autopsy. As long as Wu Jun could confirm it was indeed a death by high fall, he could feel somewhat relieved. In the city, most high-fall deaths are by suicide. That is, an abnormal death, but not necessarily a murder case. Jiang Yuan was taking notes nearby, reminding him, ¡°Doesn¡¯t the arm have a posture that looks like it was shielding to the side?¡± ¡°Yes, that suggests it was not a thrown body,¡± Wu Jun concurred. Being conscious during the fall clearly means it wasn¡¯t a body thrown down. Determining whether a body was thrown post-high fall at the scene isn¡¯t always easy. And generally, a thrown body indicates a murder. If you didn¡¯t kill them, why throw them¡ªthis line of reasoning is usually urate in the context of thrown bodies. Furthermore, being conscious during a fatal fall suggests it wasn¡¯t a state of intoxication such as being drunk. This brings it one step closer to being a suicide. As for whether it was an ident or suicide, from a forensic doctor¡¯s point of view, these are not easily distinguished. Even differentiating whether it was a voluntary high fall or if someone was pushed from a building is not an easy distinction for a forensic doctor to make. Although one could indeed infer a thing or two from the distance of the fall, what if the push wasn¡¯t far enough, or if the deceased had jumped on their own ord? To determine whether it was suicide, a more simple and urate approach would still be to judge from the deceased¡¯s state before death, as well as the investigation of the fall scene. Wu Jun then asked the police officer beside him, ¡°Has the fall scene been confirmed?¡± ¡°Not yet, we are still inquiring and checking the surveince.¡± The officer¡¯s reply was somewhat unexpected. Wu Jun frowned slightly, ¡°Didn¡¯t they jump from the rooftop?¡± Wanghe Building is an office building with a ss curtain wall. Its facade doesn¡¯t have design elements like residential balconies. Therefore, the most convenient ce to jump from would be the rooftop. Most of its windows are of a half-open design and are also positioned quite high. Given such a suffocating window design, it wouldn¡¯t likely be the choice of suicide jumpers. The officer grunted an ¡°Mm,¡± and said, ¡°There¡¯s a witness who saw someone jump from a high floor, but the exact floor is uncertain.¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s discuss that once it¡¯s found.¡± Wu Jun returned beside the body with furrowed brows. His feeling at the moment was rather unsettling. Ordinarily, someonemitting suicide, even if leaping through a window, would have some time to wrestle with their thoughts; some people wander around the fall scene for several hours or even more. If even the witness couldn¡¯t discern the floor they jumped from, it indicated the time spent in front of the window was definitely short. Those who rushed over immediately, not pausing for a moment before climbing out the window to jump, weren¡¯t unheard of, but were indeed rare. In other words, the case was starting to look less like a suicide. Huang Qiangmin, who had received the same information, looked rather grim as he walked over and asked, ¡°Is there anything you can tell from the body?¡± If there were defensive wounds, or any obvious injuries, one could directly consider homicide, and thus avoid the wild spection. However, there were none. Wu Jun squatted down and said, ¡°First, let¡¯s examine the exterior of the body. Let¡¯s see if we can find anything, shall we?¡± Examining the exterior in cases of high falls is not straightforward to decipher due to too many idental factors; the body might also have bounced a second time on the ground, making it even moreplex. However, that¡¯s what forensic doctors are there for. In the absence of better methods, they must resort to using the next best thing. Jiang Yuan was the one who remained stable. He was a lone dog with no specific tasks to tend to at home. Solving a murder case was just another task for him. Instead of joining Wu Jun in examining the body, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Master, I¡¯d like to wipe some adherents first.¡± ¡°Go ahead with the wiping,¡± Wu Jun readily agreed. Jiang Yuan then diligently took what was in front of him and began to wipe off trace evidence from the deceased¡¯s body. He was mainly looking to collect trace evidence. If the deceased had had a struggle or a physical altercation with the killer, there was a good chance that trace evidence would have been exchanged. Even if the killer had only given a push, it was possible to find traces. Of course, it was difficult. Jiang Yuan bowed his head to search for evidence, asionally tilting his head to check in the sunlight. The tool he most frequently used was a forensic mirror. This device, often referred to as a forensic miracle worker, was used by fingerprint experts, crime scene investigators, bloodstain pattern analysts, DNA specialists¡ªin fact, it was used for almost everything. Broadly speaking, it was just a magnifying ss not easily affected by light, but in the domestic forensic field, for a long time, it was basically the only tool they had. If forensic experts had more authority, different voices might have elevated it to the level of a PCR machine (an apparatus used for DNA analysis). ¡°Someone has taken a video.¡± A police officer ran to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s side, speaking loudly. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both looked up. Huang Qiangmin turned around and with a group of others, began to watch the video on a smartphone. The video on the phone was short; it basically captured someone falling from a window as soon as the camera focused on it. There appeared to be no one behind the window, in other words, was it an ident? Jiang Yuan¡¯s brows were tightly knit as he spoke, ¡°Keep the phone, don¡¯t give it back to its owner. I¡¯ll magnify it when I get back.¡± Huang Qiangmin agreed immediately and also reminded them to protect the scene upstairs. Jiang Yuan even insisted, ¡°After I finish here, I¡¯ll immediately scan for trace evidence. Keep the cordon as wide as possible.¡± Huang Qiangmin furrowed his brows and asked, ¡°Do you think it wasn¡¯t suicide? That someone was hidden in the video?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know; I just want to take another look,¡± Jiang Yuan really didn¡¯t know, but he just felt uneasy. Chapter 157 - 157 152 Clearing the Site ?157: Chapter 152: Clearing the Site 157: Chapter 152: Clearing the Site Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t go anywhere else and just followed Jiang Yuan, collecting trace evidence from the body at the crime scene before climbing up the building to collect trace evidence from the fall site. He neither worked nor spoke, merely following Jiang Yuan, watching him work. Older detectives like Wu Jun watched Huang Qiangmin¡¯s figure and gradually felt the pressure mounting. Huang Qiangmin was one of the more idealistic detectives. Although the word ¡°idealistic¡± might seem too sentimental when used to describe a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, it asionally found its ce within the police force. Without such ideals, the position of head of the criminal police detachment could be extremely painful. Both mentally and physically. Like at this moment, with the mobile phone video in hand, Huang Qiangmin could have proceeded with the case as a suicide. Because it was not merely a suspicion of suicide, there was concrete evidence to prove it was a suicide case. If subsequent evidence proved it to be homicide, it was simply a matter of reopening the case. Legally, both approaches werepliant. If onecked any ideals and considered only worldly gains and losses, closing the case would be the most normal and advantageous decision. Especially since, if this case weren¡¯t a suicide, it would either be a crimemitted by someone with a high IQ or a case where the criminal was incredibly lucky and the victim extremely unlucky. Regardless of which, the difficulty of solving the case would be formidable. And if the case remained unsolved, then all the numerous old cases solved this year and all the hard work done for Lin County and Lin City would be in vain. For an unsolved current homicide case, losing 300 points and getting a passing evaluation would already be a huge concession from the department. However, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s idealism didn¡¯t allow him to do that. Thus, in the eyes of several experienced detectives, Huang Qiangmin was nearly recklessly waiting for Jiang Yuan to gather evidence. ¡°Captain Huang, shouldn¡¯t we go back and discuss this first?¡± a policeman suggested, approaching him. A homicide was a very serious matter, and decisions about whether to file a case or initiate an investigation weren¡¯t ones that the head of a criminal police detachment could make alone. And by now, if Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t make a decision, the director and the vice-director in charge of criminal investigations were likely to show up. A high fall was automatically ssified as an unnatural death. But if the situation wasplicated, the director and the vice-director would customarily arrive as well. By then, Huang Qiangmin would have to make a decision and report to the director. Huang Qiangmin naturally understood his subordinates¡¯ implications, but after ncing at Jiang Yuan, he said only, ¡°You all go to the opposite building, check every office, and get the surveince video from the public rest areas. Do the same here at Wanghe Building; every high-level office must be checked.¡± This still indicated he was treating it as a homicide case. Seeing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s firm stance, the policemen no longer argued and turned to their tasks. After all, when the sky falls, there¡¯s a tall one to hold it up. Huang Qiangmin then took out his phone and sent several messages in quick session, continuing to follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. In the final analysis, he still trusted Jiang Yuan. If one were to count the number of cases solved, Jiang Yuan had solved more homicide cases on his own than an entire squad of policemen. If the timeframe was narrowed down a bit, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment had definitely solved more old homicide cases in the past ten years, but in the past five years, Jiang Yuan had solved even more. Despite doubts from others about Jiang Yuan¡¯s age and experience, Huang Qiangmin had seen everything first-hand. He had lived through the DNA boom of 2003. Back then, when the ministry first began promoting DNA, what was the result? Many police stations could solve a homicide case or an old case in a week. With DNA evidence particrly easy to obtain in rape cases, solving one every day was not an exaggeration. Countless serial rapists were thus caught. The power disyed by technological innovation at its initial burst was enough to stun anyone andpel belief in the impact of reality. In Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eyes, Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical prowess was potentially explosive, at least in Ningtai County. If this case turned out to be a suicide, then so be it. But if it truly was a crimemitted by someone of high intelligence, Huang Qiangmin believed that Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities could set them straight. ¡°Captain Huang, Director Guan Xi has arrived,¡± a policeman came to report. Huang Qiangmin nced back at Jiang Yuan, who was still intently examining the scene, then turned and headed for the entrance. Upon arrival, Director Guan Xi and the vice-director in charge of criminal investigations had just reached the scene. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Guan Xi asked immediately upon arrival, wanting to understand the scene first. ¡°A 27-year-old male named Li Jiangshu, death by high fall. Based on the information we¡¯ve collected so far, he worked at a travelpany in Wanghe Building, a private sector employee¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin spoke quickly, but briefly. Guan Xi listened closely and then asked, ¡°And the manner of death?¡± ¡°It¡¯s still not quite certain,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied, adding, ¡°We have video showing Li Jiangshu jumping from a window on the upper floor by himself. But we still have our doubts.¡± ¡°What doubts?¡± Guan Xi asked directly. Huang Qiangmin was silent for two seconds before replying, ¡°I¡¯m also waiting for the report.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Guan Xi actually had his own sources, and seeing that Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t speaking, he couldn¡¯t help but smile, asking, ¡°Raised by Jiang Yuan?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°You seem to trust him quite a bit.¡± ¡°I have to,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, revealing a wry smile. Guan Xi was taken aback and thenughed too. Being a leader himself, he suddenly understood Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mindset. In fact, the scene can be simply tranted. Huang Qiangmin is a Chinesenguage teacher, proctoring a math exam. At this time, the strongest student in the ss raises a question that there¡¯s an error in the third question of the math paper, and none of the ABCD options are correct. Although it¡¯s a very low-probability event, could you not report it? If you can¡¯t understand it yourself, you just have to wait for more information from the top, right? ¡°Let¡¯s proceed as if it¡¯s a homicide case then,¡± Director Guan Xi felt actually less pressure than Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was responsible for all the criminal cases in the county. The investigation of a current homicide case was his duty, the eight major types of serious crimes were his responsibility, and the county¡¯s crime-solving rate was also his ountability. But for the director, his most important duty was actually to maintain stability. Since Huang Qiangmin had decided to support Jiang Yuan, Guan Xi epted it and further helped him to sort things out. Huang Qiangmin appeared grateful and said, ¡°Then we¡¯ll expand the investigation first, if we can confirm it¡¯s a homicide we will file the case¡­¡± Setting aside the judgment of whether it was suicide or homicide, this case was just a high fall. As for cases of high falls, even if it¡¯s a homicide, they had dealt with many of them before. The officers from the Criminal Police Detachment acted swiftly. Those who needed to be questioned were questioned, those who needed to write down their report did so, and for those who didn¡¯t have time, they just took down their mobile numbers and took pictures to follow upter. The three squads spread out and facing the four buildings and the surrounding annexes, quickly disappeared without any trace. Jiang Yuan, oblivious to outside distractions, focused solely on collecting physical evidence. He didn¡¯t even know what he had collected; modern technology hadn¡¯t developed to the point where various micro-evidence detection instruments were portable. But like Huang Qiangmin, he was also somewhat aware that he might be facing a windmill, or indeed, a well-armored formidable adversary. So-called high-IQ crimes are actually rare in the domestic criminal investigation environment. Guys like Tan Yong were already very meticulous criminals. And for someone like the Baiyin case culprit, at most, theplexity of the case was around 60 or 70 percent. There were many loopholes, yet they were hard to grasp. But from another perspective, if a person ns a crime, they must think it over carefully and be well-prepared. Though most criminals¡¯ thoughts areughable, resulting in their capture during their amateur stages. But is there someone who escaped by luck in their first or second premeditated crime and gained experience, thus continuing tomit crimes? Perhaps, the real problem lies in the rarity of catching such people. Jiang Yuan had no criminal investigation experience. If he were to assess his own criminal investigation skills, a rating of LV0.5 would already be considered very high. If we were also to include arrest ability and case handling level, it couldn¡¯t go more than LV0.3. In this area, he was virtually useless. But Jiang Yuan knew that for any criminal, even a true high-IQ criminal, cleaning up the crime scene was very difficult. Especially in a public setting. The more time you spend, the more information you leave behind. The ssic Locard¡¯s Exchange Principle speaks to this: the criminal process is essentially a process of material exchange, where the offender, as a material entity, in the process ofmitting a crime, alwayses into contact and exchanges with various other material entities¡­ A crime will inevitably produce physical evidence, and in crime scene investigation, if no trace evidence left by the offender is found, it can only indicate a failure to find trace evidence, not that there is no trace evidence at the scene. Jiang Yuan had very strong crime scene investigation abilities, and precisely for this reason, he preferred to use aprehensive check to prove the nature of the case, Rather than make a definitive conclusion then and there. Wu Jun finished his tasks and, following Jiang Yuan, soon felt a stiff neck from looking down too much. Seeing how diligently Jiang Yuan was wiping at the fall site, Wu Jun said, ¡°How about I take the body to the funeral home first?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯lleter,¡± Jiang Yuan replied curtly, burying his head back into his work. Wu Jun coughed twice and reluctantly asked Huang Qiangmin for a more robust police officer to apany him as he left. Jiang Yuan continued wiping until it got dark, only leaving the scene when most people in the building were gone. As Jiang Yuan and the apanying officer stepped into the elevator, the corridor lights began to turn off one by one due to theck of people, leaving only the yellow light of the emergency exit glowing, which looked somewhat eerie. Chapter 158 - 158 153 Light Bulb ?158: Chapter 153 Light Bulb 158: Chapter 153 Light Bulb The funeral home at night. A cool breeze rustled through, filled with an eerie chill. At this moment, hiding in the woods of the funeral home, there was no need for air conditioning to feel the bone-chilling cold. On both sides of the road were towering pine trees, as thick as fat pigs, with branches as stout as a child¡¯s arm, each bearing an air of ¡°I¡¯ve lived here for a very long time.¡± Jiang Yuan got out of the car and walked towards the morgue, feeling a shiver run down his spine. This was his first time going to the morgue alone. Without a living soul beside him, not even a dead body in sight, he felt an emptiness inside and a tinge of anxiety. Thud thud. Jiang Yuan knocked on the door of the autopsy room. The burly man inside, who was helping to move the body, yelped in fright. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± Jiang Yuan called out, reminding those inside. ¡°Who¡­are you?¡± The stocky man seemed to recover slightly, but his crew cut was still scrunched up like a small tent, like a little steamed bun on his crotch, indicating that the little man inside him was also curled up, feeling uneasy. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± he replied, somewhat helplessly. Only then was the door to the autopsy room opened. ¡°You scared the hell out of me, I thought something was knocking on the door,¡± the strong man rubbed his chest. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t joke about it; after all, it was quite remarkable that anyone coulde to the funeral home in the middle of the night to apany a forensic doctor during an autopsy. Even as he walked over, looking at the pine trees, his heart skipped a beat. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t understand why funeral homes always liked to nt pine trees, or was it that the abundance of pine trees gave people hints of their association with funeral homes? ¡°Come on in first,¡± Master Wu Jun called from inside. The corridor lights that had just gone off flicked back on, startlingly so. ¡°This light, with both sound and light sensors, is really annoying. So sensitive, it turns off and then on again,¡± grumbled the burly man, locking the door behind him. ¡°The sound-controlled lights at the Wanghe Building crime scene today were flickering on and off non-stop, my eyes are barely holding up,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice trailed off as he spoke. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± The stocky man, also a detective, was puzzled by the change in Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I had just left the fall scene at the Wanghe Building, and when I got into the elevator, the lights in the hallway went off in sequence, ultimately highlighting the emergency exit¡¯s light. It was that old-fashioned kind of bulb with a yellowish light.¡± ¡°What do you find problematic about that?¡± the burly detective asked directly. ¡°With the hallway lights in Wanghe Building being so energy-efficient, would the light in the fire escape be left on constantly?¡± Jiang Yuan took out his phone and dialed a number, calling the police officer Li Wei with whom he had just parted. Li Wei answered quickly,ughing, ¡°Jiang Yuan, did you leave something behind?¡± ¡°Brother Li, let me ask you, when we left the Wanghe Building, I remember all the lights in the hallway were off. In the end, was it just the emergency exit light that was on?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ It should be,¡± Li Wei confirmed. ¡°Think back again, please.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ there should have been light shining through the small window of that fire door, casting a small square on the floor.¡± ¡°Do you remember the color of the light?¡± ¡°Yellow light, old bulbs, right? What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°It just feels pretty strange. Have you returned to the station?¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Jiang Yuan hung up the phone. Looking up again, he saw Wu Jun approaching with a scalpel, his expression dark and foreboding. The burly detective beside him was also frowning deeply. Jiang Yuan looked at the two men, and after a couple of seconds, voiced his suspicion, ¡°I think there is someone in the fire escape, otherwise the light wouldn¡¯t be on.¡± Having said this, it was only natural to derive such a conclusion. Wu Jun gently swayed the scalpel in his hand, and asked with clear enunciation, ¡°Returning to the crime scene?¡± The murderer returning to the crime scene put the forensic technicians at risk. Many murderers return to the crime scene with the intention of erasing evidence, and encountering technicians who are collecting it can lead to unpredictable choices. Of course, there are more twisted murderers who revisit the crime scene due to psychological reasons aftermitting the act. Either way, it meant that Jiang Yuan might have been in danger at that time. A technician focused solely on processing evidence, when attacked from behind, is practically defenseless. However, all these depended on the premise that there really was a murderer. The case had to be a homicide, not a suicide. Otherwise, it would just be a humiliating case of paranoia. And just one light wasn¡¯t enough to prove any of these suspicions. Realizing this, Jiang Yuan simply nodded and said, ¡°Let¡¯s look at the body first.¡± ¡°No rush, let¡¯s call Captain Huang first.¡± Holding a scalpel and covered in various fluids, Wu Jun stood at the door, gesturing to the burly detective beside him to make the call. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°I was just specting earlier. It¡¯s best to take another look at the scene¡­¡± ¡°And what if you run into someone at the scene again?¡± Wu Jun finished speaking and said with a very solemn tone, ¡°I¡¯m going to talk to you today as a master. So what if you guessed wrong? If you guessed wrong, you guessed wrong. Isn¡¯t there always someone who guesses incorrectly at each case analysis meeting? Does anyone get mocked for guessing wrong?¡± After pausing for a moment, Wu Jun continued, ¡°No face is more important than life. We¡¯re police officers, not heroes. The entire team and the whole station, hundreds of people, are working on cases day and night. Now that you have a lead and you don¡¯t report it, but instead go to the scene by yourself, is that appropriate?¡± Jiang Yuan was left speechless by his words. Indeed, he was a bit afraid of guessing wrong, afraid of making a mistake. He had made a guess earlier, but only after some mental preparation had he spoken out. Now, just a few hourster, not only had he not proven anything, but he had alsoe up with a new spection to prove the previous one¡­ In another situation, this might have resulted in a severe reprimand. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call got through. Wu Jun also put the scalpel back and removed his gloves. Standing a meter or two away, he said through the speakerphone, ¡°Captain Huang, this is Wu Jun. Jiang Yuan just arrived at the autopsy room. We suspect that he encountered someone at the defenestration site.¡± ¡°Who?¡± Huang Qiangmin was equally alert, his voice slightly altered. ¡°We¡¯re not sure yet¡­¡± ¡°Get to the point.¡± ¡°It might be the killer returning to the crime scene,¡± Wu Jun said, his voice much more rxed after voicing the thought. Now, the pressure was on Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was noticeably taken aback before regathering his thoughts and said, ¡°Exin the situation in detail.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll let Jiang Yuan tell you,¡± Wu Jun yielded his ce to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had been recalling the previous situation all this while and now sinctly rified the matter without any further rambling. Huang Qiangmin thought for only a short time before saying, ¡°Is your current location safe?¡± ¡°It¡¯s safe.¡± ¡°Good, pay attention to your safety and just stay there. I¡¯m sending people to search the Wanghe Building now.¡± ¡°I want to go over there,¡± Jiang Yuan also organized his thoughts and quickly said, ¡°Don¡¯t let anyone go up to the fire escape on the 28th floor. I want to see if I can find any footprints first.¡± The well-known Locard¡¯s Exchange Principle was in practice: if someone wanted to return to the crime scene, they might be able to eliminate some evidence, but they would also leave new traces. Jiang Yuan had just recently used footprints to solve a cold case, proving his ability to be even stronger than the average footprint expert. Huang Qiangmin immediately responded, ¡°Wait a moment, I¡¯ll send someone to pick you up.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan was not being pretentious. Although the chances of the killer reappearing were very low, and it was unlikely for them to dare attack a police officer, the current criminal investigation team should not be short of manpower. To refuse now, Jiang Yuan would more likely take away the burly officers by his side, leaving his master Wu Jun alone with the body. Taking advantage of the time before the officers sent by Huang Qiangmin arrived, Jiang Yuan put on his clothes and began the autopsy with his master. It wasn¡¯t so much about helping, but about getting an early understanding of the body¡¯s condition. Bodies from high falls do not necessarily look terrible on the outside. Especially those bodies that do not undergo a second rebound, the force is concentrated on one side, and under a very strong impact, the superficial damage on that side may not be severe. What¡¯s severe are the internal organs and bones. It¡¯s like deboning a chicken; you have to bash it first. After bashing, the chicken skin remains intact, but the bones inside have already shifted. This body was simr, with the vertebrae in the shoulder and neck area poking to the other side, while the skin on the neck and chest was still passable. The head also absorbed a significant amount of potential energy. The skull was fractured into several pieces, which only became clear after cutting open the scalp. Jiang Yuan recalled the ss at the fall site; the deceased seemed to have been clinging to the window, but whether the release was due to suicide, an ident, or someone influencing them in some way¡­ Jiang Yuan did not yet know. But judging by the body, the deceased¡¯s death was very swift, and there was not much readjustment of posture in the air. ¡°By the way, are there other videos?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Wu Jun directly. From the information he knew, the deceased had hung onto the ss for a minute or two; it was impossible that there was only one video. ¡°There are three more. Some people probably heard that mobile phones were being collected and were unwilling to provide theirs. Captain Huang is having people check social circles and WeChat groups,¡± Wu Jun, though staying in the autopsy room, was still well-informed. ¡°What about the victim? How is the family doing?¡± Jiang Yuan knew Wu Jun had seen the rtives. ¡°Seems like an ordinary rural family. The parents are somewhat slow-witted. Hearing of their son¡¯s death, his mother cried terribly,¡± Wu Jun shook his head and said, ¡°From what they said, the family has debts, and previously it was the victim who was repaying them.¡± As Jiang Yuan listened, he washed his hands and then closely inspected the deceased¡¯s clothing. The officers sent by Huang Qiangmin were nearly there. Two strapping men over six feet tall escorted Jiang Yuan back to the Wanghe Building. Jiang Yuan headed straight for the fire escape on the 28th floor. When there was no one and no noise, the lights were indeed off. Jiang Yuan silently sprayed the ground with forensic footprint reagent. This substance was essentially a fixative for dust; once sprayed, it could then be brushed with powder for coloring. At first nce, it made everything clearly visible. And in the fire escape, there was a light umtion of dust. Chapter 159 - 159 154 Footprints ?159: Chapter 154 Footprints 159: Chapter 154 Footprints The dust fixative purchased by the Ningtai County Bureau was made using a solvent of alcohol mixed with rosin. It¡¯s quite an old-fashioned fixative; its transparency is slightly poor, and the drying and fixing time is long. Jiang Yuan sprayed a row of fixative in the stairwell; the footprints in the back were clearly visible only after those in the front had been gradually sprayed. At this point, an ordinary crime scene investigator or trace examiner would typically sprinkle some powder to reveal the prints. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need this step; he just looked at the footprints and savored their originality. But he only took a brief look. Most of the footprints were likely left by the security guards. The security guards at Wanghe Building all wore leather shoes and small ties¡ªthey were not very practical, but they looked quite official. Jiang Yuan continued spraying fixative and ced the transparent forensic stepping board on an area without footprints, moving forward step by step until the stairs between the 27th and 29th floors werepletely covered. Next, Jiang Yuan set up the specially transported forensic footprint light source. ¡°Forensic footprint light source¡± sounds like a very professional piece of equipment, but in reality, it¡¯s just a high-powered LED light with a casing that allows for reasonable height and rotational angles. Of course, a lithium battery is essential, as it meets the demands for portability and battery life when used outdoors, and also ensures a proper price and profit margin. The footprint light source purchased by Ningtai County has a power of 100W and a color temperature of 6000K, which can basically simte natural daylight. When shone onto the floor, the footprints where fixative was freshly applied were revealed in all their minute details. Looking for footprints, fingerprints, or trace evidence actually involves a simr set of tools. The tools are indeed quite good and convenient, but before this, Jiang Yuan could hardly be bothered to bring them over. Like today¡¯s fall scene, which was just a few meters away, Jiang Yuan used natural light during the day and a portable light source in the evening to find a lot of trace evidence, feeling that there was no need for such arge light source. However, in the current situation, if they really encountered a criminal ¡°returning to the crime scene,¡± they would naturally use whatever equipment they had on hand. A typical murder case, or rather, the kind of murder that regr police can encounter, is usually the work of amateur criminals. Serial offenders, experienced in multiple crimes, are something most police officers might nevere across in their lifetime. But if there were indeed a criminal ¡°returning to the crime scene,¡± one could not confront them as if they were a novice. Anyone who reached this step could generally be described as calm andposed. And at a crime scene, calmness often means sparse traces. The footprint light source had a wide illumination area of about 1 meter, although its depth was quite vast, so Jiang Yuan scanned the area bit by bit. Wang Zhong, who hade along, saw Jiang Yuan move the light source twice and immediately ran over, taking over the task of moving the light source. Jiang Yuan thus expressed his thanks and then stood on a transparent footte, supporting his waist while resting and observing the many footprints before him. Compared to ¡°calmness andposure,¡± how could the police lose to a criminal? In terms of technology, the police force has never won. Having the lead in technology is something very rare for the police. Most of the time, what the police have is posure,¡± meticulous effort, and perseverance; it¡¯s about organization and implementation. Jiang Yuan restrained his desire to make rapid judgments and reviewed each footprint one by one. The security guards¡¯ footprints were the most numerous, but they were also of the lowest priority. Some of the guards¡¯ footprints were even stepping on the ones before them, from which one could infer the direction of their patrol. At this time, Jiang Yuan was also grateful for having notified the squad leader; otherwise, if he hade by himself, not only would the scene have been trampled by the security beforehand, but it would also have been difficult to prevent the guards from patrollingter on. If the murderer was a security guard¡­ Jiang Yuan shook his head, deciding to first focus on the footprints that weren¡¯t from security guards¡¯ leather shoes. There were three sets of footprints here, two sets were faint, and one set was deep. The two faint sets were approximately of someone around 30 years old, showing a top-down walking trail. The deep footprints were from bottom-up, hovering in ce for several steps, then walking out from inside to outside¡­ In fact, not just Jiang Yuan, but several people at the scene had noticed this line of noticeably fresh footprints. Inmon cases, it¡¯s usually ordinary detectives or forensic technicians who collect such evidence, meaning that collecting footprints, like collecting fingerprints, is a basic skill for detectives. Moreover, atmon crime scenes, detectives also select fingerprints and footprints to collect; otherwise, if they were to collect all fingerprints and footprints in a room, there wouldn¡¯t be enough technicians to handle them. It¡¯s only at a murder scene that one can afford such luxury. As for now, facing the row of fresh footprints beneath their feet, everyone recognized there was a problem. These were the footprints that, to date, seemed most likely to belong to the killer. The direction of the footprints also said a lot. This person came in at the 27th floor, stayed on the 28th floor for a while, then pushed open the fire door of the 28th floor and walked out. And if one went to look at the fire escape on the 27th floor, it bes clear that this person came in through the fire door on the 27th floor. Heading straight for the 28th floor, if it wasn¡¯t the killer, that would be too much of a coincidence. ¡°Door handle,¡± Wang Zhong reminded Jiang Yuan in a low voice, suggesting he check for fingerprints first. Jiang Yuan nodded. There were multiple footprints on the ground, so it could wait to collect themter. Jiang Yuan then stepped over to the fire door, turned on the light, and checked the door handle first. At a nce, it was a clean, stainless steel door handle that was particrly reflective. ¡°It¡¯s been wiped.¡± Jiang Yuan said softly. Wang Zhong was startled, ¡°That meticulous?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Although they were eager to find evidence, it couldn¡¯t be said finding fingerprint evidence was getting more and more difficult. Perpetrators with even a modicum of forethought would employ various methods to avoid leaving fingerprints. The simplest was wearing gloves, sometimes wiping the areas they touched, and there were even those who burnt their own fingertips. Wang Zhong looked somewhat disappointed, but Jiang Yuan could ept it. He stared at the footprints on the ground, slightly absent-minded. If they were the only ones present at the time, and that guy walked out again, with gloves on, the brim of his hat pulled down, plus a mask on¡­ ¡°Can you tell the age and height from the footprints?¡± Huang Qiangmin called out from the perimeter. Jiang Yuan quickly refocused and took another look at the footprints. ¡°Male, age between 45 to 49, of average build, approximately 170 centimeters tall¡­¡± Just an ordinary appearance. This was also the most troublesome aspect of footprint identification; the specificity it could reveal was just too little. Following Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead, Huang Qiangmin sent out a group text message and then, seeing that people around were not in a good mood, encouraged, ¡°People between 45 to 49 years old should not be numerous in this building. Let¡¯s start looking.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. Dust footprints weren¡¯t as informative as bloody footprints. Nevertheless, this was a step closer. As Huang Qiangmin said, narrowing down to the age range of 45 to 49 had already reduced the scope significantly. ¡°Is the age urate? Do we need to broaden the range a bit?¡± Wu Junhao, who had been standing nearby, finally spoke up. ¡°I was referring to full years of age, but if you¡¯re concerned, we can broaden the range by two years,¡± Jiang Yuan considered regional age-counting differences and amodated Wu Junhao¡¯s suggestion by rxing the age range by two years. However, in terms of uracy, determining age through footprints was indeed not as reliable as estimating height and weight. To speak of it, the simplest method of estimating age through footprints is something anyone can easily learn. It involves dividing the footprint vertically into four equal parts, where the innermost first line indicates an age range of 18 to 23 years, the second line indicates 24 to 29, the center line represents 30 years old, the third line is from 31 to 39, and the outermost fourth line is 40 to 49 years old. When Jiang Yuan made his assessment, he naturally took other information into ount, but getting it half right was generally close enough. ¡°Multispectral.¡± Jiang Yuan called out again. A police officer immediately ran out and brought back a multispectral imaging device. This device was also an aid in finding trace evidence. It was particrly useful for locating microscopic evidence. Many objects emit fluorescence under the right wavelength of light. Jiang Yuan adjusted the multispectral imaging device to a 450-nanometer wavelength and began searching around the fire door. Perhaps some fibers had been left behind. However, there were none. Chapter 160 - 160 155 Sneakers ?160: Chapter 155 Sneakers 160: Chapter 155 Sneakers Wu Junhao stood at the stairs above the 28th floor, watching Jiang Yuan below searching almost inch by inch, quickly bing bored. He was often on the scene, but such meticulous examination, he had never seen before. Yet, today¡¯s situation was exceptional, and Wu Junhao felt it was difficult to slip away. If he were to go out for some errand and return to find Jiang Yuan lying in a pool of blood, how could he exin? It would be quite a pity indeed. With long arms and legs like a giraffe, and a smart brain, but if poked with a knife, the iling, he guessed, would be simr to a short winter melon like a spotted deer. So, although bored, he had no choice but to stick around¡ªimages from various films unavoidably surfacing in Wu Junhao¡¯s mind. Those bodyguards going to the washroom, security guards betting on horses, mercenaries off to frolic with a few women, all came back to chilling scenes after taking a leak. Captain Huang Qiangmin, however, was patiently waiting by his side. He could have gone back already, but he chose to stay on site, and consequently, everyone else could but apany him. Wu Junhao shuffled over, shuffled over, and came up to Huang Qiangmin, saying, ¡°Being in tech is truly dull.¡± Huang Qiangmin nced at him and asked, ¡°You¡¯re the one who¡¯s bored, aren¡¯t you?¡± If it wasn¡¯t for sheer boredom, he would never have sought out the squad leader for a chat. Wu Junhao did not reply, only asking, ¡°Are we just going to wait like this?¡± ¡°Do you have any ideas?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll lead a team to search the building, floor by floor. Maybe we¡¯ll catch the murderer,¡± proposed Wu Junhao, eager to get out and about, not minding overtime work. Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°People are already on the search.¡± ¡°They won¡¯t search as thoroughly as I do. I can find anything, even in the most hidden nooks and crannies.¡± ¡°This building is huge. There are all kinds of public areas, bathrooms, lounges, store rooms¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin rambled on, unwilling to let Wu Junhao go out. There were already three squads of people at Wanghe Building and around the area; Wu Junhao¡¯s help was not needed at all. Moreover, having one more person from Squad One around was just a disruption. Wu Junhao frowned with a bitter face watching below, feeling even more miserable than Jiang Yuan who was actually doing the work. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go back,¡± said Jiang Yuan, having collected hundreds of evidence bags, concluding the inspection of the fire escape. Wu Junhao heaved a sigh of relief, as if released from bondage, and as he walked asked, ¡°Find anything?¡± ¡°Not sure. They¡¯re mostly trace evidence, invisible to the eye. We¡¯ll have to send them to Changyang,¡± replied Jiang Yuan, who could conduct a detailed crime scene investigation, but the examination of trace evidence still required a specializedb. Not to say he couldn¡¯t do it; even if he could, Ningtai County couldn¡¯t afford the equipment. There was no hope of getting a full set of new, better equipment. Should Captain Huang even agree, the auditors would break his legs. Of course, Huang Qiangmin never considered such matters. He directly pointed out someone, saying, ¡°Go with Lu Jianfeng to send the items to Changyang, and then wait there for their examination results. I¡¯ll call themter.¡± Lu Jianfeng, as the head of the Criminal Science Squadron, technically Jiang Yuan¡¯s direct superior, was now tasked by Huang Qiangmin to transport the evidence. However, it was just the way the Detachment operated internally; the squad leaders were akin to group leaders in a ssroom, handling homework, leading teams on tasks, but during major cases requiring collective action, they were the vanguard. Changyang City was the provincial capital, and the Criminal Police Detachment was more than just a rank above Ningtai County; amodating a request for testing would certainly require some sweet talk. But some kind words were sufficient. After all, the Tan Yong case happened just a few months ago, when the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment provided a dog and multiple criminal police officers including Jiang Yuan to support Changyang City¡¯s Criminal Police Detachment. The sense of gratitude was still fresh. ¡°Don¡¯t bother going home tonight,¡± Huang Qiangmin called Jiang Yuan again, saying, ¡°Just sleep at the office. I¡¯ll have the local station pay more attention to your home. Generally, it¡¯s no big deal. This is the safest and least troublesome way.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed readily. If he insisted on going home now, he might even need to take a bodyguard with him. Even so, home wouldn¡¯t be as safe as the office. It was better to stay at the office and work overtime through the night. Most importantly, there was still no concrete evidence to prove the existence of a murderer. Although Jiang Yuan, under the guidance of Master Wu Jun, could now ept the idea of facing embarrassment, he still hoped to minimize the repercussions before then. ¡­ At the county bureau. From the main entrance, one could see the brightly lit building bustling with busy personnel. Forw enforcement officers, standing three stations away, one could sense the aura of a murder case just looking at the police station today. In the forensic office, Wu Jun had not only made his bed on the floor, but had also enjoyed a good sleep. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan directly pulled Wang Zhong, dismantling and reassembling his ¡°high-specputer¡± in the adjacent Trace Examination Office, and then, he turned it on to enhance the video. In the Trace Evidence Office, Yan Ge, who was also working overtime, was initially stunned and then said helplessly, ¡°You don¡¯t want to disturb your master, so you use this engine to torture us.¡± ¡°My master has already fallen asleep, it would be too cruel to wake him now,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he offered a Zhonghua cigarette, smiling. ¡°Take a smoke, wake your brain up, I¡¯ll be done quickly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I told my wifest time as well,¡± Yan Ge said self-deprecatingly as he picked up a cigarette, soon finding pleasure in the stimtion of nicotine. Jiang Yuan pulled up the video that had just been uploaded to the internalwork today and sat down at his desk to start working carefully. Enhancing a video was much more difficult andplex than enhancing a photo. The simplest form of video enhancement was to enhance every frame of a video. An even simpler method was to take a few frames from the video, enhance them, and then analyze the target directly. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what he would find this time, so he was enhancing the video as a whole. In practice, this involved using software and algorithms to enhance the entire video and then checking the results. So far, the detectives from several teams had spread out and brought back 6 mobile phones, each with a video. The duration of the 6 videos focused on the time of the incident was not very long; the first video Jiang Yuan saw was only 3 seconds, and the longest one was just over a dozen seconds. The angles and distances of the shots varied greatly. Two videos shot from the ground floor were almost useless. The two videos shot from other buildings with a head-on perspective were not bad, but the remaining two videos also didn¡¯t reveal much. Jiang Yuan decided to take the two head-on videos and enhance them separately. Video enhancement algorithms can be run over and over again. And unlike what most people might imagine, video enhancement typically involves selecting one algorithm and running it many times, but it¡¯s not easy to switch to a different algorithm and run it again. Because the different principles of video enhancement often conflict with each other, running one and then another does not make the video clearer, but oftenpletely blurs it. Jiang Yuan, determined to get results, first chose a suitable algorithm and ran it for over an hour. Finding the effect unremarkable, he switched to another algorithm and continued running it aggressively. While the algorithm was running, Jiang Yuan went back to the office to sleep. Sleep for an hour or two, thene back and check again. Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, disturbed by the noise and having finished their work, decided to move their camp beds into the forensic doctor¡¯s office to sleep. After running the programs until morning, Jiang Yuan took out the video with the best conditions and started ying a game of ¡°Spot the Difference¡± frame by frame. Enhancing single images at this point was extremely challenging, but he eventually managed to make out something faintly. ¡°Is there a pair of shoes here?¡± Jiang Yuan called Wang Zhong over to look at the image on the screen. From a distance of several dozen meters, perhaps even a hundred meters, the mobile phone camera zoomed in as close as possible. The captured human figure was tiny, and looking through the ss curtain wall to see if there was a pair of shoes inside was¡­ But under high magnification, Wang Zhong actually saw a pair of sports shoes. ¡°Is that for real? Is there really a pair of shoes?¡± Wang Zhong was somewhat skeptical. ¡°And they are two-toned or multi-colored,¡± Jiang Yuan insisted as he pointed at the screen. He was confident in the results he had produced. ¡°Should we inform Captain Huang?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do that.¡± Jiang Yuan replied, feeling slightly relieved. Huang Qiangmin quickly came with his team to examine the image. The enhanced images and videos weren¡¯tpletelyprehensive. Much like a beauty camera, enhancing one part meant sacrificing another. So the images didn¡¯t look very good. And the only pair of shoes, from Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective, didn¡¯t really reveal much. It could be the killer, an eyewitness, or perhaps just an image error¡­ Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t utter a word, simply nodded in appreciation and then said, ¡°The social rtionships of the victim are ratherplex, we n to follow that thread first.¡± Following social rtionships to find the culprit has always been an effective method in murder cases. Especially for those killers who hide their tracks, it¡¯s often presumed to be someone the victim knew. In these traditional investigative methods, Jiang Yuan had no say. After some thought, he said, ¡°It will take a few more days for the trace evidence results toe out. I want to go look at shoes in the market.¡± As soon as he heard it, Huang Qiangmin understood that Jiang Yuan wanted to find shoes that matched the footprint evidence. If such shoes could be found, it would certainly help advance the case. Huang Qiangmin had seen other footprint experts do simr things, immediately agreed, and added, ¡°Make sure someone stays with you all the time.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t refuse, after all, he had work to do, and it would be a chance to have a chat with someone. Chapter 161 - 161 156 KPMG ?161: Chapter 156: KPMG 161: Chapter 156: KPMG Jiang Yuan and Wen Ming met up in the parking lot, getting into the car with somewhat bewildered expressions. ¡°Are we going shopping together?¡± Wen Ming asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t that kind of odd?¡± ¡°We¡¯re working on a case,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°So our case work specifically involves shopping?¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± Wen Ming sighed, ¡°That¡¯s how I used to pick up girlfriends¡­¡± Jiang Yuan and Wen Ming exchanged a look, then said, ¡°Should we find another person to join us?¡± ¡°Three men out shopping together?¡± Wen Ming¡¯s expression took on an uncivilized look. ¡°Mu Zhiyang still has a cast on his arm, right? Count him as half a person, so that¡¯s two and a half men¡­¡± Jiang Yuan said, pausing to send a WeChat message. ¡°Are you calling Mu Zhiyang?¡± Disgust was written all over Wen Ming¡¯s face; shopping with two and a half men somehow seemed worse than just two. ¡°I¡¯m calling Wei Yin,¡± Jiang Yuan said, putting down his phone. Wen Ming was stunned, then his whole body stiffened, ¡°You actually called the Master¡¯s daughter to apany you shopping?¡± ¡°Do you know any other female officers?¡± Jiang Yuan retorted. Wen Ming shook his head foolishly. Female officers¡ªwhere would male officerse into contact with them on a regr basis? The ones male officers could get in touch with were all tomboys. After a while, Wei Yin showed up in front of the two men in a white T-shirt. The T-shirt had Astro Boy on the front, not looking very formal. She wore khaki shorts that reached her knees. The style was casual, but her calves that peeked out were both white and slender. ¡°Senior Sister,¡± Wen Ming looked a bit embarrassed but energetically got out of the car to open the door for her. Sitting in the driver¡¯s seat, Jiang Yuan turned and handed Wei Yin a bottle of water, smiling, ¡°Sorry, we just don¡¯t want to go around looking like we¡¯re paired up shopping.¡± ¡°Are you looking to buy something?¡± Wei Yin asked casually, then gave Jiang Yuan another look, ¡°I heard you ran into danger yesterday, you okay?¡± ¡°Maybe I scared myself,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted with a slight embarrassment. ording to Master Wu Jun¡¯s pattern, as a police officer, constantly making judgments, one is bound to guess wrong sometimes. If you guess wrong, don¡¯t feel embarrassed. Most times, aside from you remembering your own previous judgments, everyone else has already forgotten. Jiang Yuan always thought the Master¡¯s words were sensible, but now it seemed others remembered something after all. Wei Yin chuckled lightly, then looked at the time and said, ¡°I can only apany you for two hours. Where do you want to shop?¡± ¡°Just searching for sports shoes,¡± Jiang Yuan replied as he drove, his expression turning a bit more serious as the case was involved. Wei Yin noticed and asked, ¡°Is it for the case?¡± Footprint analysis wasn¡¯t new to her. Jiang Yuan just grunted affirmatively, then added, ¡°I can¡¯t discuss the details.¡± ¡°I understand. Just tell me what you can,¡± Wei Yin replied with a smile, ¡°The more details you share, the more we can narrow down our search.¡± ¡°Just looking for sports shoes is fine. Once we get there, I want to check the soles of all their shoes.¡± ¡°That request¡­ is actually not that low,¡± Wei Yin nodded. Wen Ming interjected, ¡°Should we check online too?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll look onler. If we can¡¯t find them in the store, then we¡¯ll search online,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. ¡°Given the suspect¡¯s age, he probably prefers to shop in stores.¡± Jiang Yuan judged from the footprints that the criminal suspect was between 45 to 49 years old, extending it by two years, that is, between 43 to 51 years old. But this was the safe age range Jiang Yuan set; he was fairly certain that the suspect¡¯s actual age was within this range. However, looking at it more aggressively, Jiang Yuan leaned towards the suspect being on the older side. This was because judging age through footprints was also influenced by the suspect¡¯s muscr strength. From the point of the suspect revisiting the crime scene, Jiang Yuan believed that his muscr strength must be above average. This was because a person¡¯s confidence is undoubtedly affected by their physical condition. A physically weak suspect, or even an ordinary middle-aged man, wouldn¡¯t easily decide to revisit the crime scene. As the three talked, the Cruiser arrived at the county¡¯smercial street. Wei Yin naturally took the lead, striding ahead of Jiang Yuan and Wen Ming, from Nike to Adidas, from Peak to Hongxing Erke¡­ Inside the stores, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t lift a finger, letting the other two and the shop assistants bring out various shoes to flip over and check the soles. To facilitate the examination of the soles, Jiang Yuan would just buy two pairs of shoes straight away upon entering each store. Soon, the three were carrying their hands full of shoes. ¡°If we don¡¯t find it, it¡¯ll be time to change shoes for everyone in the squad,¡± Wei Yin mused with a chuckle. Wen Ming was getting anxious too, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve heard there¡¯s a database for shoe sole patterns, right?¡± ¡°Yes, using sole patterns to search for shoe models,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°but every year in the country, there are about 600,000 shoe sole patterns. Only a very small portion is entered into the database. Even for big-name sports shoes, not all are recorded.¡± Wen Ming was astonished, ¡°There¡¯s that many?¡± ¡°There are tens of thousands of official and unofficial shoe factories nationwide,¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It¡¯s not possible to rule out those small workshop factories.¡± Violent crime suspects who are still active today are often characterized by ¡°two lows and one high¡±¡ªthat is, low ie, low education, and high age. And these people, when they buy shoes, don¡¯t chase after brand stores all day long. Speaking of which, it¡¯s the people from the era when violent crimes were rampant in the past years, who are still willing tomit violent crimes today. Meanwhile, the new generation of young people prefer non-contact crimes like telmunication fraud when they get involved in criminal activities. The serial rape cases, which used to bemon, have be rarer since the new century began. There was a pause before Wen Ming asked, ¡°If it¡¯s not in the database, how do we check?¡± ¡°Just like we¡¯re searching now, if we can¡¯t find it, then there¡¯s no way to identify the person through the shoe print,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted frankly. Footprint evidence, in fact, is thergest volume of physical evidence managed in the country, already surpassing fingerprint evidence in quantity. But in terms of database management, footprint evidence is much weaker. Wen Ming sighed helplessly. He had been very hopeful about cracking another major case. Jiang Yuan and Wei Yin exchanged a smile, knowing that solving cases is never all smooth sailing. ¡°There are quite a lot of people over there, mostly elderly, I think,¡± Wei Yin pointed ahead, signaling a discount store. Nowadays, a store that perpetually has customers is definitely thriving. Several groups of people browsing inside instantly drew the attention of Jiang Yuan and the others. As they approached, they saw that it was a small shop replete with clothes, pants, and shoes. There were athletic shoes as well, mostly in ck, white, and gray color schemes, with some in dark blue, matching the aesthetic preferences of the middle-aged and elderly. Seeing no one to greet him, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate to start looking through the shoes himself. After going through seven or eight pairs, a sports shoe with gray and white coloring ended up in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. The pattern on the bottom perfectly matched the shoe print Jiang Yuan had extracted from the crime scene. Jiang Yuan discreetly nced at the brand: Bimawi. It felt trendy, but he guessed it probably wasn¡¯t a shoe factory in dire need of auditing. ¡°Has someone bought this pair of shoes before?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, suddenly thinking of how new the shoe print at the crime scene was, and how obscure the brand was¡­ The shop assistant frowned, ¡°So many peoplee in every day, how am I supposed to remember everyone.¡± ¡°Are you the only person here?¡± Jiang Yuan continued to inquire. ¡°Another one is in the storeroom,¡± the assistant replied, busy at the cash register. Then she asked, ¡°What do you do?¡± Wen Ming then looked at Jiang Yuan for confirmation with an inquisitive gaze; seeing Jiang Yuan nod, he stepped closer and said, ¡°Call your colleague back here.¡± As he spoke, he showed his police badge. The assistant panicked upon realizing it was the police, then quickly became excited and asked, ¡°Can I take a photo?¡± Wen Ming frowned slightly and said, ¡°You can take a photo, but call your colleague over first.¡± ¡°Okay, sure thing,¡± the assistant agreed, asking again as she did so, ¡°Did she do something wrong? What did she do? I always thought that girl was up to no good, getting herself involved in a case¡­¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the surveince video for your store?¡± Jiang Yuan interjected, cutting off the assistant¡¯s stories. ¡°Just¡­ right here,¡± she pointed to the cash register area. ¡°Do you remember when youst sold these shoes, or do you remember the day?¡± Jiang Yuan verified the surveince footage was recorded on the mainputer¡¯s hard drive before continuing with his questions. The assistant took a look at the Bimawi shoes and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have to check the records.¡± ¡°Please check,¡± Jiang Yuan stood and waited. The assistant pulled out a notebook from under the cash register and started flipping through it quickly. This store¡¯s sales were quite good, able to sell dozens or even hundreds of items each day, making it one of the most sessful shops in the area. But the assistant was quick and with a point of her finger, she said, ¡°Sold one the day before yesterday, along with a set of clothes, pants, and socks. It¡¯s rare to see someone buy a whole outfit¡­¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t make the sale?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Uh, it was my colleague,¡± the assistant replied. Jiang Yuan then patiently waited for the assistant¡¯s colleague to return, asked simr questions, and had her point out the person on the surveince video. The colleague, slightly prettier and dressed more stylishly, fiddled with the surveince on theputer for a while, then suddenly pped her forehead and recalled, ¡°He was sitting right at the door, asking me to fetch the shoes for him. He didn¡¯te inside.¡± ¡°How did he pay?¡± Wei Yin chipped in with a question. ¡°Cash, now I remember, that guy was pretty strange,¡± the prettier assistant admitted with an attractive smile. Jiang Yuan and Wen Ming exchanged looks, sensing a lead. Jiang Yuan was the first to ask, ¡°Did he touch anything when he was here? Did he have gloves on?¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t wearing¡­ I think, I can¡¯t remember where he touched,¡± the prettier assistant said, tilting her head apologetically. The other assistant nced at her dismissively and remarked, ¡°When trying on shoes, you have to hold onto a stool or something.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember that. So many people sit on that stool every day,¡± the prettier assistant shot back unapologetically. Jiang Yuan looked at the red stool by the door, knowing there wouldn¡¯t be any trace left to find. But¡­ ¡°There should be surveince in the mall as well,¡± Wen Ming mentioned, without needing a reminder from Jiang Yuan. Chapter 162 - 162 157 The Murder Weapon ?162: Chapter 157: The Murder Weapon 162: Chapter 157: The Murder Weapon Themercial street in Ningtai County was constructed in imitation of Nanjing Road. Of course, the level of prosperity and scale of the two do notpare, but the leaders¡¯ earnest intentions are praiseworthy. Overall, the centralmercial street of Ningtai County is simply a sealed off road, with shops on either side opening up and some buildings demolished formercial use to expand the business areas. At the same time, there are constantly little alleys and junctions in the midst of themercial street, dispersing crowds. Before online shopping became popr in the county, in terms of poption density alone, themercial street was not inferior to Changyang City in Shannan Province. The discount store that Jiang Yuan and his team had sought out was located at the corner of a small alley and themercial street. And it was in a surveince blind spot. ¡°This person has done thorough research on surveince cameras,¡± Wen Ming frowned as he stepped out of the police station. He had been a detective for several years and had never seen such a cunning criminal. Before this, the problems he encountered were mostly legal issues, procedural issues, and sometimes issues with the victims¡¯ families or superiors. The criminal this time gave Wen Ming apletely different feeling, like going fishing with a lure. You think there¡¯s a snakehead in the pond, so you bait the hook, using a fake frog, mimicking various movements of crawling animals. But whether there¡¯s actually a snakehead in the pond or not, before anything bites, is actually not known. Jiang Yuanforted the more experienced Wen Ming in return, saying, ¡°At least we got a sample of the shoe, we can go back and check other surveince cameras to see if there¡¯s anyone wearing shoes of this appearance.¡± The two employees of the discount store also described the appearance of the assant, but with thenguage used to describe an ordinary middle-aged man with amon face, it was really too ordinary andmon to be used as a basis for catching the criminal. Although Huang Qiangmin had applied to upper management for a portrait artist, everyone was not hopeful about it. At present, there are only two on-duty portrait artists in Shannan Province, and their workload is gradually diminishing. The problem with portraits is not whether they resemble the subject or not, it¡¯s rather difficult to use them to find a criminal; they are more often used in reverse confirmation. That is, after the suspect is caught, then they arepared with the portrait. But in cases with eyewitnesses, this approach is really unnecessary and superfluous. Some units even believe that portraits interfere with the investigation¡­ Taking the Baiyin case as an example¡ª The reason this case became nationally known was that it exhausted various criminal investigation techniques, which all turned out to be ineffective. The case had fingerprints, but they didn¡¯t match; it had DNA, with DNA collected from every male in the city, but still no match urred; it even had a portrait, and after the person was caught, the portrait was quite simr, but still no match during the investigation stage. After the case was finally solved, just in Su Province alone, 5 people were awarded first-ss merits, 12 received second-ss merits, 19 third-ss merits, and 24 receivedmendations. Some police officers can say that they devoted their entire career to this case. Perhaps some may say that in movies and TV shows from the country of the Statue of Liberty, portrait artists always seem impressive. That¡¯s because it¡¯s a country of immigrants. Nations of immigrants have a higher degree of diversity in appearance, making it easier for portrait artists to capture distinctive features. In many small ces, a certain gic expression may truly be unique to a single individual. For example, a t face, small eyes, a t nose, ck hair¡ªsearch throughout the entire town, and you may indeed find only one such person, or not many more. In some countries with ordered inheritance and extensive gic blending, a portrait artist¡¯s job bes much more challenging. Moreover, without being cultivated early on, by the time a portrait artist¡¯s skills gradually improved, surveince cameras had been installed faster all over the country. In contrast, in the country of the Statue of Liberty, people are unwilling to cede their privacy rights to the government, limiting the extent to which surveince cameras are set up. Due to differences in national conditions, police operating methods vary greatly as well. Out of respect for the homicide case, Huang Qiangmin invited the provincial portrait artist over. But the focus of the work was still on scanning surveince footage. A good dozen people were circled out and started scouring the monitors in the Image Investigation office. The surveince around themercial street, around the Wanghe Building, it¡¯s all one area when spoken of, but when youbine many days¡¯ worth of surveince along with different departmental surveince, it bes a huge number. If it weren¡¯t for a homicide, the integration of these surveince videos would be a huge challenge and burden without an Image Investigation Brigade. That¡¯s also the key reason for the widespread establishment of Image Investigation Brigades. With an Image Investigation Brigade, the primary benefit is the consolidation of usage rights for surveince cameras from various departments, reducing a lot of unnecessary internal consumption. As for Image Enhancement and such tasks, Image Investigation departments outside the capital city do not pursue these. They can¡¯t hire people, and even when they do, they can¡¯t retain them. Jiang Yuan also searched the footprint database through the pattern of the shoe sole and came up with nothing, indicating that the criminal suspect really bought a new outfit in the store and thenmitted the crime. This also indirectly implied that the suspect had a strong purpose and premeditated the crime. Therefore, following the traditional method, old detectives who crawl through personalworks along the lines of grievances and resentments became energized. If you premeditate a crime, there must be a reason, suggesting a motive. So if a motive could be found, or rather, people who had disputes, would that lead to finding the murderer? The victim was a young man, with a small social circle, even including his family disputes, there were not too many people involved. Several seasoned detectives immediately set off on their journey. Jiang Yuan was not optimistic about it. The reason was clear: although the crime was premeditated, typically, those who kill because of grudges or vendettas are ordinary people. This time, the suspect was far from ordinary. At the very least, they knew how to evade surveince. This skill wasn¡¯t necessarily hard to learn, but it certainly required practice, and more than just a little learning¡ªit had to be rehearsed. Street cameras are hardly hidden; they¡¯re starkly visible, yet even so, a regr person or first-time offender couldn¡¯t possibly avoid them all. Even the surveince at Wanghe Building was evaded by the killer, who probably entered through something like an employee passageway, avoiding the main entrance and lobby. Without surveince footage, there wasn¡¯t even a chance to perform image enhancement. There were no footprints or fingerprints. Jiang Yuan took out the photos of the autopsy his master took and went over them several times, to no avail. In the following days, some people began to question again whether it was homicide or suicide. At this point, the first batch of trace evidence sent to Changyang City had been returned. Not only Jiang Yuan, but nearly half of the Criminal Investigation Detachment¡¯s technicians gathered to study it. Trace evidence, after all, merely proved the existence of certain materials. Their meaning still needed to be analyzed and interpreted by everyone. Each report of the trace evidence was sealed in a kraft paper envelope. Inside were just a few pages of standard A4 paper, with tables, data, and analytical conclusions. Jiang Yuan tore open one and reviewed it before passing another to someone nearby. Detachment leader Lu Jianfeng personally brought back the reports, sitting next to Jiang Yuan as he watched him tear open the envelopes and remarked, ¡°Look at the service from thebs, a report in its own bag. These few hundred bucks weren¡¯t spent in vain.¡± Everyone could only smile wryly in agreement. As the case progressed, the pressure was felt by everyone. At this point, spending a few hundred on a piece of trace evidence didn¡¯t seem like much at all. Jiang Yuan looked through the first report without a word and handed it to the person next to him. The next person reviewed it and then passed it on. Everyone silently circted the reports. Whether trace evidence from different locations was meaningful or not was uncertain. Interpretation was also quite important. However, the focus was always on those substances and quantities that defiedmon exnation. Jiang Yuan, frowning, quickly flipped through half of the kraft paper envelopes. Just as he was feeling somewhat dejected, a conclusion in a new envelope caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. ¡°They found wood shavings in the trace evidence on the victim¡¯s chest,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out abstractedly, his eyes lighting up slightly. Lu Jianfeng immediately grabbed it to look and examined the photos specifically, gesturing to the location on Wang Zhong¡¯s chest and said, ¡°The position is interesting. Did the killer use a weapon?¡± Jiang Yuan turned directly to Wu Jun, ¡°Master, did you notice the swelling here?¡± ¡°The chest area? Indeed, there was some swelling. I took photos.¡± After answering, Wu Jun also took a closer look at the report of the trace evidence. As Jiang Yuan continued to look, a sudden thought sparked in his mind: ¡°It¡¯s a mop stick, isn¡¯t it?¡± Jiang Yuan murmured to himself. Suddenly, the thought process clicked for everyone. ¡°Very likely,¡± Lu Jianfeng pped his thigh and gestured with his hand, ¡°Take a mop stick, prod the victim¡¯s chest, and you could push him over. Check the position of the shoes in that video photo, does the distance match?¡± With the photos in front of them, everyone spread them out to see and nodded in agreement. ¡°But would the victim just stay quietly by the window and let himself be prodded? And why climb a window?¡± Gao Jiansheng from the Image Investigation office measured the distances while raising the question. ¡°A person in good shape climbing a window is either after money or has been wronged, or else, they were bullied?¡± Wu Jun analyzed one by one. ¡°In that case, other employees of the victim¡¯spany are suspects,¡± Lu Jianfeng deduced. Jiang Yuan naturally followed this line of thought, reminding, ¡°We¡¯ll need to find that mop stick! It¡¯s a weapon now.¡± Chapter 163 - 163 158 Crossroads ?163: Chapter 158 Crossroads 163: Chapter 158 Crossroads The mop handles on the 28th floor of Wanghe Building were all confiscated. To be on the safe side, the mops from the restrooms and storage rooms on the 27th and 29th floors were also collected. To be extra cautious, the mops from the first and second floors, including the two used by the security room, were likewise gathered. The murder weapon is given high priority during the trial of a homicide case, as it is an indispensable part of the evidence chain. Investigative agencies will obtain it whenever possible. Soon, the mop handle from the restroom on the 28th floor, which was very close to the incident scene, unsurprisingly stood out from the pile of mop handles. For a foreseeably long period, it would be properly preserved. With some luck, it mightst for several decades. Meanwhile, the discovery of new evidence allowed the case to take a significant step forward. The special case group was formally established atst. The group also submitted their request for filing the case report. This report had to be reviewed by the Legal Affairs Office, then signed by the deputy director in charge, before a case could officially be filed. Ideally, this would happen after sufficient clues were found. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin felt a slight sense of relief. No matter who bungled the case to its current state, at least he deserved to be praised for recognizing talent, right? If there was someone more clear-headed, they had to admit that Comrade Huang Qiangmin had foresight. The colleagues from the travel agency where the victim had worked, who were initially just casually questioned, were reexamined. Like going through a drill, they were interrogated one by one. The possibility that the victim had climbed onto the ss, whether for money, feeling wronged, being threatened, or some other potential reason, could only ur in two contexts. Either in his living environment or work environment. With sufficient manpower, a team headed to the victim¡¯s hometown for investigation in a Skoda without air conditioning. More people were set up to interrogate the employees of the travel agency. The employees from a small branch of a travelpany located in a county town, who had never seen such a scene, quickly gave in and spilled their entire life stories through sobs and tears. Liu Wenkai, the squad leader from the second squad responsible for the questioning, came out with a clouded mind. ¡°How did it go on your side?¡± Wei Zhenguo had juste out from the adjacent interrogation room and asked casually. ¡°Toads wooing swans, ugly in looks, promiscuous in actions,¡± Liu Wenkai shook his head and said, ¡°But there¡¯s nothing significant. How about you?¡± After a moment of thought, Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°Peacocks pursuing wild hens, shy in looks, trashy in deeds.¡± Liu Wenkai hadn¡¯t expected that Wei Zhenguo was actually pondering how to concoct idiom-like phrases. Liu Wenkai shook his head helplessly, and then quickly realized, ¡°You seem quite rxed, did you get something out of the interrogation?¡± ¡°Yes, half an hour before the incident, the victim withdrew 3,300 yuan in cash. It was an unauthorized operation, so the finance staff didn¡¯t dare to mention it in front of others when we questioned themst time,¡± Wei Zhenguo exined, and together with Liu Wenkai, they went to the small conference room to report to Huang Qiangmin, who was overseeing there. Hearing Wei Zhenguo¡¯s report, Huang Qiangmin immediately asked, ¡°No money was found at the scene?¡± ¡°No, the victim had no money on him, and there was no money found at the falling site either.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Then it¡¯s very likely that the money was given to the murderer. Moreover, if the victim withdrew the money himself, it indicates that there was a financial transaction between the victim and the murderer¡­¡± ¡°Usury!¡± ¡°Debt collection!¡± When considering the direction of money and adding in the factor of threats, the term ¡°violent debt collection¡± immediately came into view. In fact, the issue of the victim¡¯s family being in debt and the victim owing money on online loans was constantly under scrutiny, but it was not considered the main focus. The reason was simple: it wasn¡¯t worth it. Those working as criminal police have a deeper understanding of online loans and usury. Though violent debt collection does exist and happens frequently, the amount owed by the victim in online loans was just a few tens of thousands, most of whichprised interest andte fees. This sum, though it suffocated the victim, was nowhere near the level requiring violent collection methods. Especially since the victim, despite being in debt, managed to juggle loans between different online tforms, constantly borrowing new loans to pay off old ones. At most, he would have been subjected to phone debt collection, not at the stage for violent methods. As for the money owed by the victim¡¯s family, although the amount was not small, amounting to over 300,000 yuan and used for the victim¡¯s brother¡¯s wedding, house construction, and bride price, it was primarily borrowed from rtives and likewise did not escte to violent collection methods. However, now it had to be taken into consideration. Thinking over it, Huang Qiangmin ordered, ¡°Check which websites or such ces the victim borrowed money from,pile a list, and see if there are small sites where the debt may have been intentionally overlooked or forgotten to be repaid.¡± Certain very small lending institutions can create a substantial amount of debt in a very short time through extremely highte payment fees, penalties, and upfront interest cuts. Given enough time, it was indeed possible to umte an amount sufficient to justify violent debt collection methods. Additionally, some debtors who had borrowed money for a long time gradually discovered some ¡°loopholes¡± in the loan apps. They often intentionally defaulted, waiting for the loan apps to go out of business and hoping their debts would be canceled by default. Huang Qiangmin felt that thetter possibility was more likely. Otherwise, it should not escte to the extent of murder. Jiang Yuan, along with several other technicians, checked the deceased¡¯s phone and took the opportunity to review his credit history and bank transactions. There were only threemon loan apps on the victim¡¯s smartphone, which although at high interest rates, still fell within the realm of unscrupulous but legal methods. The credit report was naturally a mess, but the bank statements on the phone did not reveal any ie of suspicious origin. Checking bank statements was, in fact, for the purpose of investigating the loan apps. Nowadays, there are too many loan apps. Some show up on credit reports, but most do not. If the apps had been deleted from the victim¡¯s phone, then the most direct approach would be to check the bank statements. After all, when loan apps issue a loan, it inevitably gets deposited into a specific bank ount. However, searching through more banks was not going to be easy. Feasible, but difficult. Especially with small banks, they often require the officers to physically visit a bank branch to make inquiries. Some smaller banks even require visits to the ount-opening branch or the handling branch before disclosing any information. The sheer number of banks from the four biggest ones tomonmercial banks, local city banks, and even those only present in the province was immense. For this reason, Huang Qiangmin dispatched another team to run around for a whole day, yet they returned empty-handed. ¡°We¡¯ve been backtracking two to three years, and those small apps that send out collection agencies can¡¯t sustain for that long,¡± Liu Wenkai said disheveled at the case analysis meeting. Wu Junhao was an expert at this sort of thing. ¡°If he didn¡¯t borrow money, then there wouldn¡¯t have been any violent collections,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, spreading his hands. Huang Qiangmin frowned; this lead was the most promising so far, and if it were lost, all leads would be cut off, and they would have to start over. Liu Wenkai cleared his throat and proposed, ¡°I have an idea. Could it be that some minor app that Hu Lei had borrowed money from, a long time ago, sold the debt to anotherpany before or after going bankrupt?¡± Huang Qiangmin had actually considered this possibility before and responded with a simple ¡°Hmm,¡± then asked, ¡°How do we investigate?¡± This lead was not untraceable. If handed over to the economic crimes team, with tight scrutiny, results could emerge in one or two months, and with luck, even one or two weeks. But for a murder case, one or two weeks meant entering a different phase. From the perspective of solving the case, the probability of sess would drastically decrease. Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t have the means to expedite the economic crimes team, furrowed his brow, and then suggested through gritted teeth, ¡°What about asking the technical investigation team?¡± The Technical Investigation Brigade was akin to royalty within the police system. For most cases, no one bothered to enlist their assistance. The bureaucracy wasplex, and there were many demands for confidentiality. Moreover, despite its name being the ¡°Technical Investigation Brigade,¡± it primarily dealt with radio and telmunications technologies. And for this case, perhaps they could list all the phone numbers at the scene¡­ Huang Qiangmin was nomittal. If they were really out of leads, that might be a method worth trying. ¡°Otherwise, should we follow the money?¡± Jiang Yuan, who had been assisting in checking the smartphone apps, had given this considerable thought over the past few days. Huang Qiangmin looked at his capable detective, asking, ¡°How so?¡± ¡°The 3,300 yuan in cash was probably taken by the murderer,¡± Jiang Yuan said softly. ¡°If it was a violent collector, carrying cash back wouldn¡¯t be convenient. He might deposit it, or spend some locally, like on booking a hotel room¡­¡± ¡°It could also be used to pay for prostitution,¡± Liu Wenkai quickly added to Jiang Yuan¡¯s point, realizing everyone was looking at him, he hurriedly exined, ¡°I¡¯m just putting forward everyone¡¯s guesses. After all, there are big data systems for catching people engaging in prostitution¡­¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go to the banks and ask for the surveince videos from deposit-capable ATMs,¡± Huang Qiangmin quickly decided. ¡°And get the hotel surveince footage too. Wen Kai, you go look for the prostitutes.¡± Everyone agreed. Having some leads was better than none. And this was likely to be theirst chance to follow the recent leads, for in two or three days, once this angle had been investigated without finding anyone, the chances of the case bing a cold case would rise significantly. By then, cracking the case would be much, much harder. This was the first time Jiang Yuan had been involved in a case from start to finish. He felt a lot of pressure, but he had done his best in all aspects. Whether or not there were results, at least his conscience was clear. Chapter 164 - 164 159 This Person! ?164: Chapter 159 This Person! 164: Chapter 159 This Person! It was three in the morning. The wind outside the police station whistled through therge pine trees and the underbrush, sounding eerily like a host of ghosts knocking on doors. But today, the Criminal Investigation Department wasn¡¯t asleep. Lit up as if standing vigil, as soon as the wind reached the yard, it hastily dispersed. On the fourth floor. The light in the forensic office was on, the door open, but no one was there. Wu Jun had gone down to help in the cafeteria, while Jiang Yuan squatted in the video surveince office, his eyes nearly emitting a spectrum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet light. There were only so many hotels in Ningtai County, yet the surveince videos they had brought back were anything but few. Unlike some ces where surveince footage was often handled carelessly, hotel monitoring was multi-angled¡ªan area by the bar might be covered by two cameras, making it seem as though watching was futile, and yet you couldn¡¯t just not watch. Imbibing Goji berry tea, Jiang Yuan and several other technicians fixated on their screens, soon losing even the mood to chat. Now having determined that the suspect was there to collect a debt, this meant there was a high probability he was an outsider and the likelihood of him leaving immediately aftermitting the crime was quite high. Especially since witnessing the death would substantially increase his inclination to leave right away. Therefore, in order to reduce the difficulty of the manhunt as much as possible, it was best to identify the suspect as early as possible. Of course, this was predicated on the possibility of finding said suspect. Spread out in front of Jiang Yuan and the technicians were multiple sheets filled with information extracted from bills, listing cash transactions within specific timeframes. Naturally, they began their search by following these time frames. However, the prediction¡ªa medium-built, middle-aged male between 45 and 49 years old, possibly wearing ¡°KPMG¡± brand sneakers and single¡ªdidn¡¯t appear in any of these timeframes. A few slightly suspicious targetster, even double or triple arrivals, as long as the age and physique matched, were pursued by detectives for questioning. Nowadays, hotel check-ins required ID registration and a phone number, which provided a firm basis for following up with inquiries among hotel guests, making it not too difficult a task. However, no exhrating updates came back. Jiang Yuan himself was bing increasingly anxious. ¡°Take a break for a while, and if it¡¯s really no good, we¡¯ll think of another approach,¡± Wu Junhao said, bringing in a te of roujiamo, and after observing for a while, called everyone to grab somete-night snacks. ¡°Thanks, Captain Wu,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who was hungry, and quickly devoured a roujiamo. ¡°Eat as many as you like, there¡¯s plenty of pancakes. We¡¯ll have mutton soupter,¡± Wu Junhao said generously as he had used public funds to buy the snacks. As they talked, two young men pushed in a cart with a stainless steel bucket brimming with mutton soup on top. ¡°The cafeteria¡¯s meal delivery equipment is prettyplete,¡± Jiang Yuanmented with approval. ¡°The cafeteria usually has to deliver meals to the prisoners,¡± Wu Junhao said, tapping hisdle against the rim of the bucket, producing a clear sound that vaguely brought to mind iron bars and windows. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°Used by prisoners during the day and by cops at night. Efficiency maxed out.¡± ¡°That was back in the day. When I was an apprentice, catching criminals was so satisfying. It¡¯s not like now, watching surveince video for half the night and finding nothing,¡± Wu Junhao expressed his dissatisfaction. He had yed bodyguard and babysitter and had ended up waiting aimlessly, which understandably left him restless. But his frustration only unsettled him for a moment before he quickly started apologizing, ¡°I¡¯m just ranting. Sometimes catching someone also requires a bit of luck. Maybe the guy didn¡¯t even stay at a hotel.¡± Then, as if struck by a sudden idea, Wu Junhao spected, ¡°What if the guy went to a brothel instead? Maybe we should be checking ces like Feng Lou or spots that offer overnight services¡­¡± ¡°Captain Liu has already checked those out,¡± a detective nearby reminded him. Wu Junhao sighed in disappointment, ¡°Still, Liu¡¯s the one with the real experience!¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel like smiling, just kept gobbling down roujiamo and mutton soup. At three in the morning, quick carbs and fats were the undisputed kings. Michelin-starred establishments, intangible cultural heritage bearers stand no chance against street food vendors at this time. Or to put it another way, when people say that food from a street vendor tastes better than food from anywhere else, it¡¯s because the body instinctively cheers for quick carbs and fats. The same food, if eaten at noon, wouldn¡¯t taste nearly as delicious. This scientific experiment supports multiple repeated trials for validation. Jiang Yuan was quite hungry, and watching the videos was a significant drain on his energy. After wolfing down a roujiamo, Jiang Yuan found a moment to drag the progress bar, preparing to watch the surveince while eating pancakes. They had already watched the time segments in the record column two or three times over. This time, Jiang Yuan adjusted the timeline to the day of the incident, starting from the afternoon, and set the yback at double speed in the lobby of thergest Crown Holiday Hotel in Ningtai County. In doing so, he was actually still focusing on the shoes. The strategy they had determined before was to follow the money, looking for guests who had paid for their rooms with cash. In this day and age, guests who still conducted cash transactions were extremely rare. If someone¡¯s age and build matched, they would be listed as a suspect and subjected to further screening. However, after screening back and forth, the suspect list now had no one on it at all. Searching a third or fourth time wouldn¡¯t really make any qualitative change. Maybe everyone¡¯s judgement of the criminal suspect was fundamentally wrong. Perhaps the suspect didn¡¯t need to stay at a hotel, maybe they left Ningtai County immediately, or maybe they didn¡¯t use cash to stay¡­ Any possibility could exist, but deep down, Jiang Yuan believed that the criminal suspect would pursue a morefortable lifestyle. Because a suspect who returns to the crime scene is bound to be arrogant and conceited. If he dared to return to the crime scene and even dared to watch Jiang Yuan wipe the evidence for so long, would he leave Ningtai County overnight? As Jiang Yuan was thinking this way, he took a sip of the mutton soup and fast-forwarded the progress bar to the evening. If his guess was correct, during the afternoon time, the suspect was watching Jiang Yuan clean the floor. So, if he was going to stay in a hotel, he could only arrive in the evening. Theoretically, he would not change his clothes either. Because it would be safer and more conceited to take away the clothes worn at the crime scene for disposal. Trying to guess the suspect¡¯s mindset, Jiang Yuan chewed on the roujiamo, when a pair of grey and white sports shoes appeared among the crowd in the video. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even see the face of the person in the video, but he recognized those shoes at a nce, without the need for a closeup. Bixby! A pair of unremarkable shoes. Unremarkable nomenture, unremarkable design aesthetic¡­ In recent days, the image of these shoes had been suspended in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind; now seeing them again¡ª Jiang Yuan put down his roujiamo, hit pause on the video, and then yed it back at normal speed to watch it. Noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions, the others gathered around as well. ¡°A travel group? Right, travel groups handle registration procedures collectively.¡± In the video analysis office, Gao Jiansheng, who was watching the video with Jiang Yuan, pped his thigh, excited and yet pained. ¡°This person. Height, weight, age, they all fit. Looks like he¡¯s traveling alone. He¡¯s wearing Bixby shoes, and his clothes and pants also seem to be from that discount store,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out the suspect in the video. This was an average-looking middle-aged man. His face appeared somewhat old, with small eyes, a small mouth, and short hair, giving the impression of a security uncle from an old residential district on his way home after a shift. His exterior seemed calm. After entering the hotel lobby with the travel group, he handed his ID card to the tour guide, and then stood among the crowd, listening to their conversations and even spoke up once. ¡°He has been with the travel group all this way,¡± Wu Junhao said with a chill down his spine; this mode of entry and exit was something that no one had anticipated, and if it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan identifying the man¡¯s shoes, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to identify him. ¡°This is the video from the day of the crime. The travel group must have already left Ningtai County,¡± Wu Jun reminded solemnly. Ningtai County was not a tourist city, mainly serving as a transit spot on travel routes. Some travel groups would spend the day ying in Changyang City and then bring their members to stay overnight in Ningtai County to save on the huge amodation costs between the two ces. For this, Ningtai County had also developed a few artificial and semi-artificial attractions, asionally catching the interest of some travel groups. But no matter how good the service was, no travel group would stay in Ningtai County for two days. They would definitely leave the next day, and perhaps go somewhere else the day after. ¡°Jiang Yuan, call Captain Huang. Everyone else, secure the evidence, get the suspect¡¯s ID out, check the travel group¡¯s itinerary¡­¡± Wu Junhao ordered someone, directing the video analysis office to quickly spring into action. Chapter 165 - 165 160 Making Trouble for Someone ?165: Chapter 160: Making Trouble for Someone 165: Chapter 160: Making Trouble for Someone Noon. Wan Xiang City. Wu Junhao was handing out meat-filled tbreads one by one, as if the previous night had never passed. When it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s turn, Wu Junhao stuffed an extra bottle of milk to him and said, ¡°Xiao Jiang is still young, might still be growing, drink more.¡± ¡°If Doctor Jiang grows any taller, he¡¯ll need a special car just to sit in,¡± quipped a teammate from the same squad, polishing off a tbread in two bites. Wu Junhao affectionately patted the teammate¡¯s head, gave him a cigarette, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry too much about Jiang Vige People, let¡¯s all think about the capture n together.¡± They had confirmed the travel group¡¯s itinerary the night before at four in the morning, set off before five, and after a six-hour drive, finally arrived at the westernmost part of Shannan Province, Wan Xiang City. Compared to the scarce tourist resources in Ningtai County, Wan Xiang is a rtively major tourist destination in Shannan Province. The ce boasts mountains, waters, and cultural heritage, with solid infrastructure, making it one of the top choices for tourists visiting Shannan. The travel group to which Li Jianye, the criminal suspect, belonged was having lunch in Wan Xiang City at noon. After checking into the hotel, they were given free time. Wu Junhao¡¯s squad, mainly tasked with the capture, nned to apprehend the suspect inside the hotel. Bringing Jiang Yuan along was chiefly for him to recognize the person and the shoes. If by any chance they missed the suspect and couldn¡¯t corner him in the hotel, Jiang Yuan was also responsible for monitoring surveince footage and finding the person. Not far away, Coaster Lee was parked with the team¡¯s instructor inside. He was an old acquaintance of the deputy captain of the Wan Xiang City criminal police branch, currently chatting beside him while facilitating coordination between the two teams. Catching someone locally is somewhat easier with the participation of local police. An hour-long wait can be agonizing. At this moment, Wu Junhao began to regret deciding on the hotel for the bust, sitting in the car, watching the video taken by the team tracking the dining venue of the travel group on his phone, he muttered, ¡°This ce is quite suitable for arresting people too. In fact, if we could contact the bus driver, capturing everyone at a highway toll booth would work.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and kept silent. There were several ns considered on their way over, but settling on the hotel was due to considerations of time and error margins. Contacting the driver might give the game away, who knows if the suspect would overhear during a call. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan and his team needed time to travel here. The agonizing wait of over an hour was effectively a buffer in case anything unexpected arose. It wasn¡¯t feasible to rush over unprepared and unfamiliar with the area only to start the capture, and if the suspect escaped, they would bepletely at a loss where to begin chasing. Even now within the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, there were suggestions to track the target for some time. Since they were pushing for the death penalty, the evidence was not strong enough, and the evidence chain wasn¡¯t robust enough. But neither Wu Junhao nor Huang Qiangmin were willing to wait any longer. Li Jianye, following the travel group, had already reached Wan Xiang City. For the officers of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, tracking him any further was bing increasingly difficult, and what information tracking might reveal was also uncertain. They knew that the travel group would leave Wan Xiang within two days at most, venturing out of the province, making tracking even more challenging. The main problem was that everyone was totally unfamiliar with Li Jianye. Apprehending him could potentially yield much more information. The travel group¡¯s lunch took 30 minutes, followed by a brief rest before they all boarded the bus together. Having started from the local reception group in Changyang City, they had already traveled for over a week, developing a basic sense of discipline. Another 30 or so minutes to the hotel, and the criminal police from Wan Xiang City¡¯s team went straight into the lobby, watching a group of people check in. The criminal police from Ningtai County¡¯s team did not show up, fearing that their own might be recognized by Li Jianye. Since he had returned to the crime scene, the officers who frequented the crime scene might be remembered by him. The members from the first squad simplyy in ambush in the room reserved for Li Jianye. There were people arranged on both sides of the corridor as well, ensuring that as soon as Li Jianye stepped out of the elevator, he would be caught like a turtle in a jar. Wu Junhao was quite experienced and creative when it came to capturing suspects. Under hismand, the members of the first squad were not only armed with master keys but also carried hydraulic cutters, just in case Li Jianye entered the room and fastened the door chain. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the first squad¡¯s method of apprehending suspects was sheer overkill. Take theughing deputy captain holding the hydraulic cutter next to him; his job might sound like cutting door chains, but in reality, four exaggeratedly built men were now hiding in the bathroom inside the room. Jiang Yuan could hardly imagine what kind of spectacle the suspect, Li Jianye, would face once he entered the room. Gathering over twenty men, each heavier than a donkey and taller than a horse, to take down just one man, even Japanese movies wouldn¡¯t dare such a scene. Li Jianye, under everyone¡¯s watchful eyes, entered the elevator,pletely oblivious. Wu Junhao pped Jiang Yuan on the back and quickly stepped forward to block the elevator¡¯s path. There were six floors in total in the hotel building, with two people stationed at each floor¡¯s elevator lobby. Li Jianye¡¯s room was on the second floor; if he just normally stepped out of the elevator, he was as good as caught. ¡°He¡¯s entered the corridor,¡± the same voice came through the earpieces of Wu Junhao and Jiang Yuan simultaneously. Wu Junhao and Jiang Yuan immediately turned and went upstairs through the fire escape. Chapter 166 - 166 160 Messing With People_2 ?166: Chapter 160 Messing With People_2 166: Chapter 160 Messing With People_2 By this time, Li Jianye was actually cornered in the corridor, he just didn¡¯t realize it yet. The rooms on both sides of the corridor were empty with locked doors. Woo¡­ The electronic lock emitted a whirring sound as it unlocked. It was like the sounding of a horn, and more than a dozen strong men, bowing their heads and silent, burst out from both sides of the corridor. There was none of the romance of an arrest. None of the unspoken understanding between men. None of the struggle between spirit and flesh. There was nothing but the pure physical sounds of smacking. When Jiang Yuan arrived, he saw Li Jianye, who was about five foot seven inches tall, being pinned against the wall by two men at least six feet tall, forcing his face into a distorted shape. On either side of him, two men in tight clothes were using their shoulders to press tightly against his sides, pinning his arms down. Li Jianye didn¡¯t even have the chance to il his legs because two people were crouching on the ground, mping his legs with their strong arms. Li Jianye¡¯s calves were trapped in the armpits of the strong men, and the bends of his legs were being pounded with fists. At that moment, looking at the proportions of their bodies, Li Jianye¡¯s thighs were not even as thick as the arms of the men below. This was an activity where 220 pounds were pitted against over 2200 pounds, and what Jiang Yuan saw was like a pig being ughtered in the vige, even the process of handcuffing was akin to the knife that pierces the pig¡¯s heart, slow but resolute. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Wu Junhao asked Li Jianye after the handcuffs were securely on, pulling on the arm of the person whose neck was restrained. Li Jianye remained silent. ¡°You know what crimes you havemitted?¡± Wu Junhao said loudly. Li Jianye rolled his eyelids and saw Jiang Yuan, then with a sound of realization, said, ¡°You¡¯re from Ningtai County?¡± Just this one sentence made it clear to the detectives that this guy¡¯s crimes were definitely not isted incidents. Of course, given his level of proficiency and audacity inmitting crimes, it didn¡¯t seem like he was just a rookie who had only done it once. ¡°Take him back first.¡± Seeing this, Wu Junhao ceased questioning and started searching Li Jianye on the spot, even taking off his sweatpants¡¯ waistband. Li Jianye hade to the hotel with luggage, with all other items packed in his suitcase, which didn¡¯t need to be brought in and could be taken away as is. Both the person and the evidence were taken in one vehicle, while other officers stayed behind to take statements from the entire tour group to see if there was any evidence. Ideally, if there was an aplice, they could be taken back together. After several hours of travel, they returned to Ningtai County by evening. The entire criminal police team was in ce, all waiting for this individual. In terms of both number and mental state, they were more united than if they were awaiting a leader. ¡°Get his DNA, take his fingerprints, take impressions of his feet, take shoe prints¡­¡± Upon seeing the suspect, Lu Jianfeng, the captain of the criminal investigation squad, immediately came over to scan for physical evidence. At the same time, Wu Junhao began to present the evidence he had found. ¡°There are three different IDs, with matching bank cards, and phone cards, probably bought online,¡± Wu Junhao said as he disyed one of the first surprising items. ¡°A debt collector wouldn¡¯t need all of this. Aplete set like this doesn¡¯te cheap,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, scanning the items with surprise. ¡°It might¡¯ve been cheaper in the past, but now a set like this could go for tens of thousands of yuan. His are different.¡± Wu Junhao picked up the IDs to show Huang Qiangmin the photos. Huang Qiangmin looked closely and was surprised to see that they somewhat resembled Li Jianye himself. Given the rity of the ID photos, this slight resemnce could deceive many ces. ¡°This is a professional criminal. Check the IDs to see if they match any cases,¡± Huang Qiangmin adjusted the n for handling Li Jianye, directing Liu Wenkai, captain of the second squad, to begin the interrogation. Liu Wenkai and Wu Junhao, one with a pen and the other with strength, were the strongest lineup under Huang Qiangmin. If it were a crackdown on solicitation, Liu Wenkai shined, and he also had his own methods for interrogation. After receiving the orders, Liu Wenkai first went into the bathroom, faced the mirror, and carefullybed his slicked-back haircut. Then, he dug out a sizeable amount of hair wax, meticulously applied it once more, and finally used a hairdryer to set it in ce. Once he was ready, Liu Wenkai entered the interrogation room with steady steps. Gathering his momentum, Liu Wenkai was ready to show the suspect his authority. ¡°Get me a cigarette, and bring something to eat,¡± Li Jianye pre-emptively spoke, demanding goods. Liu Wenkai was slightly taken aback. Typically, in such an environment, making requests often precedes a confession. Yet Li Jianye before him¡­ Liu Wenkai quickly thought of a reason, ¡°Have you left DNA and fingerprints at other crime scenes?¡± They had checked Li Jianye¡¯s identity multiple times; the only indisputable chain around him was the biological information. Li Jianye paused, chuckled with a ¡°heh,¡± and pointing at Liu Wenkai with his finger, said in a manner full of street smarts, ¡°That¡¯s no fun.¡± Liu Wenkai understood these self-proimed street-wise old-timers all too well and simply smiled. He cancelled the strategy he had prepared while grooming in the bathroom and swapped it for a warmer smile, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket and cing it between Li Jianye¡¯s outstretched fingers. After lighting the cigarette for Li Jianye, Liu Wenkai said, ¡°If you¡¯re involved in cases, be straightforward. Speak up if there¡¯s anything you want to say. It¡¯s better than being corneredter on by others, used of bluffing and cheating.¡± The corners of Li Jianye¡¯s mouth twitched, and he looked down at his cigarette, saying, ¡°Li Qun, huh? The cigarette you chose is quite manly.¡± Liu Wenkai watched him and waited until he had inhaled half the cigarette in one breath before asking, ¡°So, tell me, do you know why we caught you?¡± Chapter 167 - 167 160 Sabotage_3 ?167: Chapter 160: Sabotage_3 167: Chapter 160: Sabotage_3 ¡°The person I stabbed in the building in Ningtai County?¡± Li Jianye¡¯s face showed indifference. Liu Wenkai instantly felt satisfied. Just this word ¡°stab¡± already indicated that the killer was very likely him. If he wasn¡¯t at the scene, how would he know that the victim Hu Lei was stabbed with a mop handle? ¡°What did you stab him with?¡± Liu Wenkai asked on the spot. ¡°A mop,¡± said Li Jianye as he smoked and blew smoke rings. Thus, the murder weapon was also confirmed. Liu Wenkai then asked about the motive, ¡°Why did you want to kill Hu Lei?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to kill him, I just wanted some money,¡± replied Li Jianye calmly. ¡°I pretended to be from a debt collection agency, told him to withdraw some cash. He only took out a little over three thousand. When I demanded more, he made such a fuss about it.¡± As Li Jianye spoke, he shook his head with a look of reproach as if ming the young man for not knowing any better. Liu Wenkai¡¯s eyelids twitched, ¡°Pretending to be from a debt collection agency, what do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I just posed as someone from a debt collection agency to collect money from those who owe high-interest loans. I used to work in a collection agency andter I thought, making money is so easy, why should I work for thepany? It¡¯s much better if I do it myself.¡± ¡°You demanded money without having any debt ims?¡± ¡°What need is there for debt ims? Just having the debtor¡¯s list is enough,¡± Li Jianye said with pride. ¡°Nowadays,panies are all so timid, just sting contact lists; what good does that do? If you go directly to their doors to ask for money, none of these people who took out online loans will refuse to pay.¡± ¡°So, you took the money but didn¡¯t settle their debts?¡± ¡°Settling debts is their business, why should it concern me?¡± Li Jianye said with a grin. Liu Wenkai wanted to say that this guy was basicallymitting robbery, but then, wasn¡¯t using the guise of a debt to rob actually more effective than outright robbery? ¡°Where did you get the list of debtors from?¡± Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t help but ask another question. ¡°They are sold online,¡± replied Li Jianye before smacking his lips and adding, ¡°The IDs were bought online too.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Liu Wenkai was made ufortable by Li Jianye¡¯s candidness. He took a moment to adjust his breathing before asking again, ¡°Hu Lei gave you more than three thousand yuan, but you still killed him. Why?¡± ¡°He climbed up to the window himself,¡± said Li Jianye with augh, his tone mocking. ¡°At the time, I was holding the mop handle, just nning to scare him a bit. But the kid climbed up himself and even threatened me, saying he¡¯d jump if I pressured him any further.¡± Li Jianye¡¯s eyes became dreamy as he reminisced, ¡°Watching him climb onto the window with no one else around, I startedughing.¡± Li Jianye then brought back his mocking smile, ¡°I thought to myself, isn¡¯t this just perfect¡­¡± Liu Wenkai waited a minute before asking, ¡°Perfect for what?¡± ¡°Perfect for a perfect murder. Don¡¯t people online always talk about this?¡± Li Jianye said as his smile faded, his tone regretful. ¡°But I shouldn¡¯t have stabbed him, should I? There was a mark on his chest during the autopsy? I just scared him a little, and when he didn¡¯t fall, I had no choice but to stab him.¡± Liu Wenkai watched his expression grow more and more pleased, more and more satisfied, and felt a wave of disgust inside. Liu Wenkai intentionally interrupted him, ¡°Did you return to the crime scene afterwards?¡± ¡°You found out?¡± Li Jianyeughed indifferently. Without answering, Liu Wenkai simply asked, ¡°Why did you go back there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not often you get to do such a beautiful job. I wanted to admire it, take a few photos, keep them as souvenirs.¡± Li Jianye¡¯s expression grew increasingly deranged. Liu Wenkai sighed. In other words, this guy still had evidence of his crime on his cell phone. At that moment, Liu Wenkai thought of the luggage he saw earlier, which also contained items like scarves and ropes, and he promptly stood up and went out the door, reminding Captain Huang Qiangmin outside, ¡°Captain Huang, the items in his luggage might be the murder weapons from the crime scene.¡± Chapter 168 - 168 161 Alarm ?168: Chapter 161 rm 168: Chapter 161 rm Liu Wenkai took out ab once again, scraped through his slicked-back hair, and then returned to the interrogation room to continue the interrogation. Upon his reminder, the technicians from the criminal investigation squadron immediately went to retrieve the suitcase and brought it to the meeting room. On the long table in the meeting room, they spread a clean white cloth. The items from the suitcase were taken out one by one, arranged,beled, and photographed. Jiang Yuan and three other technicians, wearing white coats, gloves, goggles, and masks, quietly observed the evidenceid out on the table. A blue scarf, a roll of climbing rope, two T-shirts, a belt, a stainless-steel hammer, a first aid kit, a toiletry bag, a towel, a razor¡­ To be honest, just a minute ago, everyone thought that the man¡¯s suitcase was filled with travel clothes and daily necessities. It looked like that too. But now, Jiang Yuan looked at them, and each item seemed like a potential weapon. The scarf and the rope could be used to strangle someone; if done with skill, even Emperor Jiajing was once nearly killed by a pce maid using a rope. Because the rope slipped, Emperor Jiajing did not die, which resulted in the execution of the participants by dismemberment. As for the hammer, there is no need to say more: put it on a construction site, and it is deemed a tool for safe production. However, using it tomit murder, it bes a deadly weapon like a small meteor hammer. Regarding the razor, the medications inside the first aid kit, and so on, it¡¯s even harder to say. There is no need to rify further. Jiang Yuan started scanning for evidence,municating directly with the evidence itself. The rope, the scarf, and even the fingerprints on the stainless steel hammer, were not easy to collect. If handed to Wang Zhong, he would be busy for quite a while. For Jiang Yuan, it was much simpler. After extracting fingerprints, he continued to collect DNA¡­ Once the suitcase had been thoroughly examined, he went to the monitoring room. There, he heard Li Jianye already bragging. ¡°I usually travel for fun, to see the great rivers and mountains of our country.¡± ¡°When I¡¯m out of money, I find someone on the list who owes a debt to the loan sharks, go straight to them and demand it. Usually, I can get a few thousand yuan ¡ª if that¡¯s not enough, I make them take out an instant loan and then withdraw it from the ATM.¡± ¡°Challenge me? As long as they don¡¯t resist when I beat them, it¡¯s all good. Ah¡­ this time was an ident. I generally don¡¯t kill people. This time it was just too tempting¡­¡± ¡°One stab and he fell to his death. If I had known, I would¡¯ve wrapped him in cloth first, then stabbed. Wouldn¡¯t that leave no mark?¡± In the monitoring room, more than a dozen police officers were watching. Hearing Li Jianye¡¯s voice, Wu Jun could not help saying, ¡°This guy must know he¡¯s a goner. It¡¯s just not clear how many cases he¡¯s connected to¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded slightly, adding, ¡°That¡¯s why you all need to be extra thorough when collecting evidence¡­¡± Mid-sentence, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s cell phone rang. Huang Qiangmin answered the call and immediately stepped out of the monitoring room, saying ¡°Yes, yes, yes¡­¡± as he walked. There was no need to ask; it was undoubtedly a call from the leadership. The rest didn¡¯t make much of it. A recently urred murder case, piled onto unresolved cases, and issues such as transient perpetrators, naturally warranted the leadership¡¯s attention. Soon after, Huang Qiangmin returned with a look of strange solemnity. ¡°Captain Huang, what¡¯s up?¡± Wu Jun asked, puzzled. ¡°It¡¯s triggered an rm ¡ª officials from the ministry areing to take a look,¡± Huang Qiangmin shook his head and added, ¡°You guys better get the collected evidence organized properly, for their reviewter on.¡± Wu Jun was incredulous, ¡°Which case set off the rm?¡± ¡°That I don¡¯t know,¡± Huang Qiangmin stretchednguidly, feeling quite rxed now. If the ministry¡¯s rm was triggered, they could take whomever they wanted. If someone from the provincial bureau came asking for the case, Huang Qiangmin would definitely not hand it over. But the ministry was different ¡ª they could easily grant second or first-ss merits and had sufficient funding for cases, so they were generally weed by the grassroots units. The case was theirs, and they wouldn¡¯t miss out on anything they deserved on their side. It also saved trouble. In the interrogation room, Liu Wenkai was touching his own hair, listening to Li Jianye¡¯s wild boasts. He had to y along and let Li Jianye boast. Prisoners who knew they were certain to die often had a strong desire to perform, and Liu Wenkai had seen many of them and could understand it. He had even encountered a farmer who, over some trifling matter in the fields, had killed a friend and, during the interrogation, with tears streaming down his face, insisted on talking about his farming techniques, fearing that those who came after him would forget. To him, criminal records were enough to immortalize a person. Li Jianye, however, got more and more carried away as he talked. Smoking a cigarette provided by the detectives, Li Jianye evenmented, ¡°Indeed, my criminal career wasn¡¯t perfect¡­¡± He was now starting to describe his life as a ¡°career.¡± The young detective next to Liu Wenkai was writing furiously, as the notes taken at this time were all valid. Liu Wenkai was even indulging him. Before long, Li Jianye initiated, ¡°Travel groups are a good thing. Not to mention the cheap fees, they also ept cash and even include meals and amodations¡­¡± ¡°How do you deal with the problem of too many people talking in a travel group?¡± Liu Wenkai asked a timely good question. Li Jianye nodded slightly and said, ¡°You¡¯ve got a good point. Actually, it¡¯s quite simple; you just join a cheaper group.¡± ¡°Cheap group?¡± ¡°Cheap groups have only old men and women, all with poor eyesight,¡± Li Jianye exined. ¡°With many people, what¡¯s there to be afraid of? They can¡¯t even see you clearly. Ah, I should have joined a cheaper group this time; I was too careless.¡± ¡°Even if you found a cheap group, you wouldn¡¯t have been able to escape.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not necessarily true. My main mistake was not nning to kill, but if I really wanted to, joining a group would have required more care.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°For example,¡± Li Jianye borated, ¡°you buy tworge suitcases. After the murder, you take the important parts with you, like the head or fingers. Then, on the tourist bus, you can go to any picturesque ce and toss them, and not even the gods would find them.¡± Li Jianye said cheerfully, ¡°Just think about it, the ces travel groups go, what kind of ces they are. When I traveled to Xi Guang back in the day and saw those caves, Iughed on the spot¡­¡± Puffing on his cigarette, he calmly said, ¡°As long as you get on well with the travel group, they can often help you carry the suitcases. Once, when I killed a child, I put the whole body in a travel case.¡± Liu Wenkai felt goosebumps all over his body listening to this, but he forced himself to let Li Jianye finish confessing before asking coldly, ¡°Was the Sea Shore Case your work?¡± The Sea Shore Case originated at a seaside resort where human finger bones were discovered, hence the name. Subsequently, several simr cases were found, and it was said that some of the murderer¡¯s bloodstains were also discovered. But since then, the perpetrator of the Sea Shore Case had vanished without a trace. ¡°Uh¡­ Some early undeserved reputation; I didn¡¯t expect you to catch on,¡± Li Jianye said, then erupted into loudughter. He felt exhrated. Of course, the most important thing was to take responsibility for his most significant case. The concern about someone else ¡°taking credit¡± for his work, as mentioned earlier by Liu Wenkai, was Li Jianye¡¯s biggest worry. It would be really frustrating if, once he was executed, someone else used his case to make a name for themselves, or even made the news with it. Li Jianye spoke up, detailing the matters without needing Liu Wenkai to prompt him. Outside the surveince room, Huang Qiangmin and the others were exchanging nces. No wonder it had triggered an rm at the ministry level; the Sea Shore Case was already quite notorious and was being supervised by the ministry. Chapter 169 - 169 162 Coming Out in Full Force ?169: Chapter 162: Coming Out in Full Force 169: Chapter 162: Coming Out in Full Force Dawn. Dewdrops lingered on leaves before disappearing. Time to go to work. A senior police officer from the ministry, several detectives from Binhai City, along with Director Liu Jinghui, a senior police officer from the provincial department, and two leaders from the Qinghe City Bureau, all arrived at the Ningtai County Bureau. The entire county bureau was mobilized, demonstrating their high degree of importance. In recent years, there had not been a single case supervised by the ministry in Ningtai County, hence it had been some years since any senior officials from the ministry had visited. Even Director Guan Xi had a hint of curiosity in his eyes. Simrly, Comrade Zhang Zhihong from the ministry was quite curious about the Ningtai County Bureau. After a somewhat restrained meeting, Zhang Zhihong asked, ¡°Which detectives solved the Seaside Case?¡± This person clearly understood the intricacies of the system; as a superior officer, if you push someone lower down in the hierarchy toe forward, it would embarrass both them and yourself. It¡¯s uncertain what the oue would be. Foreigners simply don¡¯t understand this principle, and that¡¯s why the Nobel Prize was awarded to just Tu Youyou. On the Ningtai side, they were very alert. At the sign from the director, the Deputy Director in charge of criminal investigation, Detective Captain Huang Qiangmin, along with Wu Junhao from the First Team, Liu Wenkai from the Second Team, and the young forensic doctor Jiang Yuan, all stood out. Zhang Zhihong spotted the tall and fair Jiang Yuan instantly. It is well known that if there¡¯s someone on the award podium for honors whose credentials and qualities do not match those of his colleagues, it goes without saying that the work aplished must be his. ¡°This youngrade,e here and tell us about the case,¡± Zhang Zhihong beckoned Jiang Yuan over. Jiang Yuan stepped forward without any sign of stage fright. He had been involved throughout the case, and if he had to talk about it, he couldfortably narrate it from beginning to end. ¡°This is our Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with a smile as he introduced him. ¡°Oh, I¡¯ve heard that the criminal suspect¡¯s shoes were identified by a police officer surnamed Jiang through footprints. Was it Doctor Jiang?¡± asked Zhang Zhihong, feigning ignorance. ¡°I was the one who identified them,¡± replied Jiang Yuan without a trace of modesty; in the system, once you learn the art of tit-for-tat, you¡¯re pretty much one of us. Zhang Zhihong nodded in approval, ¡°Not easy at all, the footprint identification is self-taught, right? I¡¯ve found that many people in our police system are self-made, and often have stronger adaptability than those formally trained experts¡­¡± Zhang Zhihong was also around 50, wearing sses, with every button on his cor done up meticulously, and he stood very straight. Jiang Yuan listened attentively, thinking indeed it was self-taught, or rather crammed into him by the system. ¡°Narrate the process of how you solved the case for us,¡± said Zhang Zhihong, easily steering the conversation back on track. At this point, the detectives from Binhai City also gathered around. The ministry supervises around 300 cases each year. Like the provincial department, the ministry also does not handle cases directly. With a few hundred people and several hundred cases to handle, it¡¯s obvious that it would be impossible for them to undertake all of them. In reality, once a case enters the ¡°supervised handling¡± list, there will be additional funding for handling the case, corresponding technical support, and even guidance for solving the case. These three support mechanisms decrease in order. Moreover, besides the handling funds provided by the ministry, thetter two might likely be coordinated from other regions. In any case, having resources to utilize is already a major advantage. However, cases included for supervision but not solved remain quite problematic. Like the Seaside Case. Due to the vile nature of the crime, the brutal methodology, and also because the body was unearthed on a vacation beach, it caused considerable social panic. It was precisely within the scope of the ministry¡¯s supervised handling. But supervision doesn¡¯t necessarily lead to a solved case. Criminal cases often have such situations, and in the end, some cases can never be cracked. A case overseen by the ministry that cannot be solved naturally leads to greater disappointment among the victims¡¯ rtives and society. It also means the waste of funds and manpower earmarked for supervision. Looking to restart an investigation would only be more costly. Therefore, for cases under ministry supervision, local police do whatever they can to solve them. It¡¯s also the time when a detective can truly exhaust every possible means to solve a case. In a way, it¡¯s an opportunity to have whatever support is needed. However, the more it is so, the more frustrating it is when a case remains unsolved. Tang Yazhan, one of the detectives from Binhai City, was the one with the most mixed emotions among those present. Tang Yazhan, 48 this year, had disheveled hair and was still an ordinary detective. Among those present, he had the lowest rank and was the least like a leader. By well-understood reasoning, he was the detective responsible for the Seaside Case. He had been in charge since the first body was found, through the consolidation of cases, to supervision by the provincial office and the ministry, and even after the special task force was withdrawn, Tang Yazhan remained, continuously tracking DNAparison results from various regions. Looking at the young figure of Jiang Yuan, Tang Yazhan felt veryplicated emotions ¨C a mix of bitterness and relief. He had always held a belief that the Seaside Case would be solved. One reason for that was a considerable loophole left by the suspect of the Seaside Case. During his final crime, he was interrupted, and in addition, the victim scratched him, leaving DNA evidence behind. Making a DNA match would solve the Seaside Case; this was what Tang Yazhan thought would be straightforward. However, ten years went by in the blink of an eye. Tang Yazhan was still waiting for news of the DNAparison, but at this point, he had be quite despairing. The murderer might have died, might have assumed a new identity, or might have left the country¡­ Whichever it was, Tang Yazhan didn¡¯t feel happy about it. Ten years, how many decades does one have in a lifetime! At this moment, a call from the ministry reached Binhai City. Tang Yazhan arrived in Ningtai County at the fastest speed, yet he had no idea what mindset to maintain. ¡°Let¡¯s talk while walking,¡± the director said, leading everyone toward the conference room. Meanwhile, he instructed to have the interrogation room¡¯s footage streamed to the projector in the conference room. After everyone took their ces, the young Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, under everyone¡¯s gaze, began to give a presentation that was not exactly a report. ¡°After suspecting that the criminal might return to the crime scene, we adjusted our investigative approach¡­¡± ¡°I searched around themercial street and, luck would have it, found the very pair of shoes worn by the suspect. Afterwards, we focused on the footprints and shoes and did some work¡­¡± ¡°After our attempts to find the person through the shoes proved futile, we started targeting hotels in search of the suspect¡­¡± Jiang Yuan did not follow the typical report format, and people like Huang Qiangmin felt there was no need to do so. On one hand, the ministry¡¯s people arrived quickly, and it¡¯s impossible to produce a standard yet impressive report in such a short time. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan and his team had indeed made a significant contribution by capturing the Binhai case criminal. Rather than churning out a nd and formic report, it was better to let Jiang Yuan present a raw and authentic ount. It would allow the senior leadership to see, hear, and understand the tremendous effort put in by the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Zhang Zhihong, Tang Yazhan, and others were indeed listening very intently. Liu Jinghui even adopted a ¡°he¡¯s one of our own¡± expression, leaning backfortably in his chair with a blissful look on his face. However, when it came to the criminal returning to the scene, everyone involuntarily changed their postures, their bodies tensing up without control. Some murderers and even thieves tend to return to the crime scene. But such incidents, while not umon, do not happen frequently. Or to put it another way, it¡¯s not often that a crime suspect is caught returning to the scene¡ªonce they¡¯ve be criminals, they don¡¯t voluntarily reveal all their criminal acts. Zhang Zhihong and Tang Yazhan, who were familiar with the Binhai case and had tracked it for ten years, knew even more about the criminal¡¯s brutality. When the topic turned to the ¡°KPMG¡± shoes, those present let out a few light chuckles before falling into silence. Tracking down a person through a shoe pattern is something many have heard of but seldom seen. Zhang Zhihong couldn¡¯t help but exim softly, ¡°He¡¯s got the spirit of Detective Zhou.¡± The local media reporters from Qinghe City quickly jotted down thisment. ¡°Shall we go see the suspect?¡± The director said, after Jiang Yuan finished his presentation, without offering any summary. This meeting wasn¡¯t meant to be very formal to begin with, and the purpose of Zhang Zhihong and others was to take away the murderer Li Jianye. The Ningtai County Bureau had no major objections to this, though they were not exactly thrilled either. Jiang Yuan had no need to concern himself so much; he simply followed along. During the walk, Zhang Zhihong quietly posed some questions to Jiang Yuan, who responded fluently. He was already skilled in several areas and had gained experience from multiple cases, now rapidly progressing through a phase of swift growth. Li Jianye¡¯s demeanor became even more outrageous. Upon seeing the Binhai City¡¯s criminal police, hepletely entered the ¡°I am invincible under the heavens¡± state. The reality was true: a person can¡¯t be killed twice, and when fear peaks, there is no more fear left. And Li Jianye¡¯s most fearful and exhrating moments had ended a decade ago. The few criminal police officers from Binhai City proceeded to start the handover process with the suspect. Zhang Zhihong from the ministry took charge of the coordination, asionally making phone calls. Liu Jinghui leisurely strolled up, following Jiang Yuan closely, then whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t be swayed by him; the ministry is not a good ce to stay.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t sway me to join the ministry,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui. When it came to swaying people, this one was top-notch. Last time Liu lured him into the mountains for a chicken meal, the owner of the farmhouse at the mountain¡¯s base nearly turned into a chicken trafficker. The memory was still fresh. Liu Jinghui immediately sighed in relief, then looked at Jiang Yuan with disdain, ¡°They can¡¯t take advantage of anything anyways.¡± Before Jiang Yuan could speak, Liu Jinghui added quickly, ¡°Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve arranged for you to be part of the expert group at the provincial office. You won¡¯t have to run around; we¡¯ll invite you whenever there¡¯s a case. Can you do that?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded, ¡°That works.¡± He was always willing to work on cases. ¡°Good. It might start with fingerprint-rted matters because you made your mark in the fingerprint battle. Later on, we can add other types of cases.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± As he said this, Liu Jinghui revealed a warm smile, handing Jiang Yuan a small box, ¡°I brought you an ultra-small earpiece. It¡¯s convenient to hang on your ear. You can answer calls without interference from ambient noise, and it doesn¡¯t go inside the ear, just sticks to it.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ He gave Liu a peculiar look. Last time he had even given him an eye mask. ¡°It¡¯s free, a reward from the department. I thought you might need it. You helped me a lotst time, and I haven¡¯t thanked you yet. I don¡¯t have as much money as you do, so take it.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡­ During thest crime scene inspection, there had been a moment when he considered getting a single-ear headset¡­ What a terrible old man. Nheless, he found himself involuntarily taking it from him. Liu Jinghui showed his fox-who-stole-the-hen grin again, then handed over a USB drive to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Since you¡¯re here, there¡¯s a case to look at. Have a look.¡± Chapter 170 - 170 163 A Single Map Shatters Everything ?170: Chapter 163: A Single Map Shatters Everything 170: Chapter 163: A Single Map Shatters Everything Boom! A bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, followed by the sound of thunder. The sunny weather suddenly turned gloomy. Jiang Yuan, clutching the USB drive, ran back to the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s building, with Liu Jinghui closely following. ¡°I actually have earphones,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed, leading Liu Jinghui back to the office. Whish whish. The downpour came suddenly, pelting against the ss with a rat-a-tat noise. Jiang Yuan hurriedly closed the windows and turned on hisputer. Liu Jinghui found a spot to sit on his own, as if he were a guest, watching Jiang Yuan bustling about, feeling a deep sense of security. ¡°Would you like tea or coffee?¡± Jiang Yuan politely asked after closing the window. ¡°Tea,¡± Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment. Jiang Yuan fished out a bottle of ¡°Tea ¦Ð¡± from under his desk and ced it in front of Liu Jinghui. The 40-year-old Liu Jinghui almost lost hisposure. But when he lifted his head and saw Jiang Yuan was already looking at the case files on the USB drive, he had to suppress his emotions. ¡°This case is fromst month, in a residential area in Yunchang City. The victim was a woman, 45 years old. She worked as an ountant at the ¡®Yunchang Evening News¡¯ and had a penchant for buying gold and silver jewelry. We suspect it was burry or robbery escted to murder,¡± Liu Jinghui briefly exined the case, hinting at itsplexity. Dealing with a case involving the media always required extra care. Add to that the victim was the ounting staff at her workce, and the level of caution had to be raised even more. ¡°Numerous fingerprints were extracted from the crime scene, but no bloody fingerprints were found, and none could be linked to the case itself. Also, there were bloody footprints at the scene that two experts from the provincial department had examined and concluded, which did not lead to identifying the murderer,¡± Liu Jinghui continued with his briefing. The case was evidently difficult, but Liu Jinghui was not particrly anxious. He had always handled difficult cases. Those cases where suitable fingerprints, potential DNA, or evidence like footprints and murder weapons could be technically pinpointed, would not end up with Liu Jinghui. As for cases that relied purely on deduction, Liu Jinghui was Shannan Province¡¯s sole ace in the hole. Of course, deduction did not mean disregarding technical support. Liu Jinghui¡¯s thought process was rather straightforward. He said, ¡°I think the personnel who conducted the crime scene investigation in Yunchang City were somewhatcking. The site had a lot of bloody footprints, but no bloody fingerprints were left, and other physical evidence like fibers from clothing were not found. I want to ask you to take another look.¡± The evidence found, including unknown fingerprints, as well as footprints and bloodstains, had already been examined by experts from the provincial department. However, these pieces of evidence were extracted by Yunchang City¡¯s site survey team. So, from Liu Jinghui¡¯s perspective, if the existing evidence was inconclusive, it was time to simply re-investigate the crime scene from scratch. He also hoped that by re-inspecting the crime scene, he could reconstruct his own assumptions about the case. Compared to fingerprints and the like, Liu Jinghui was freshly reminded of, and thus trusted, Jiang Yuan¡¯s effectiveness at crime scene investigation. In reality, Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to investigate crime scenes was indeed stronger than his fingerprint identification skills¡ªnot something the detectives of Ningtai County recognized, and not even Liu Jinghui saw at first, but having witnessed and vaguely understood, he developed a rtively correct appreciation. Jiang Yuan was silently flipping through the photo files on theputer screen. Liu Jinghui, slightly dissatisfied, tried to start a conversation several times but failed to get a response from Jiang Yuan. Considering himself a master of deduction, Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts quickly turned, and he said: ¡°Yes, I was just passing through and thought I¡¯d stop by. But I didn¡¯t intend to bother you. You know, since there¡¯s a business trip involved, and you¡¯ve been working several cases back-to-backtely, I thought I¡¯d take someone else from the scene investigation to take a look.¡± ¡°It just so happened that officials from the ministry wereing to Ningtai County, so I specifically came along. I trust your ability to investigate crime scenes. If I didn¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t havee all this way.¡± ¡°By the way, when I took over this case a few days ago, you were still working on thest homicide investigation. Who knew when you¡¯d solve it? Yunchang City couldn¡¯t wait any longer.¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand and with a nod, said, ¡°I know. You¡¯re overthinking it.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡®Overthinking it¡¯¡ªusually, those who say this are ming you for not realizing it sooner¡­ ¡°Ahem.¡± Liu Jinghui shifted his stance and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you rest for a day first? It¡¯s raining today anyway, so we can¡¯t proceed. We can talk about this tomorrow.¡± ¡°No need, I was already resting yesterday,¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand again. Liu Jinghui was processing his reasoning in his mind and exined, ¡°I understand, maybe I came in a bit of a hurry, and I didn¡¯t call ahead¡­¡± ¡°Is the crime scene well protected?¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui¡¯s mental fill-in. Liu Jinghui paused for two seconds before responding, ¡°The crime scene is all indoors, mainly in the victim¡¯s master bedroom, so it won¡¯t be affected by wind and rain.¡± ¡°If possible, it¡¯s best to cordon off the crime scene first. Stop people from going in and out for now,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought changed, asking, ¡°You have an idea? What is it?¡± ¡°I need to look at the photos of the scene again, study them, and then I can draw a conclusion,¡± Jiang Yuan stressed, ¡°Once I have a process of thought, we¡¯ll reconsider the crime scene issue. For now, just ensure that no one goes there for the next few days, keep the scene preserved¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t go for mysticism,¡± Liu Jinghui grumbled, deliberately adding, ¡°In TV shows and films, those technicians who indulge in mysticism often die before the resultse out.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui, slowly saying, ¡°I think there¡¯s an issue with the footprints. I¡¯ll mull it over when I get back.¡± Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t resist asking, ¡°I showed the footprints to Zuo. What do you think the problem is?¡± ¡°The previous experts only statically looked at the photos, right?¡± Jiang Yuan countered with a question of his own. Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment and gave a slight nod, ¡°Pretty much. How are you going to look at those footprint photos?¡± ¡°We might need to consider it moreprehensively. I don¡¯t have a definitive conclusion right now,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then he got to his feet and added, ¡°Director Liu, why don¡¯t you rest, and I¡¯ll give you the results tomorrow.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ okay,¡± Liu Jinghui had no choice but to stay quiet. However, it was raining outside, and Liu Jinghui had nowhere to go. Jiang Yuan also nced outside the window and then sat back down in his chair, silently viewing the photos on the USB drive. Liu Jinghui had crammed all the photos of the local crime scene investigation into the USB drive, and in terms of the number of photos, there were quite a lot. As Jiang Yuan was viewing them, the rain outside had stopped. After the rain, the air was exceptionally sweet. Jiang Yuan stood up, opened the window, and took in a few breaths of fresh air. Turning around, he saw Liu Jinghui looked as if he had been startled awake and had stood up. Seeing it rare for Liu Jinghui to be silent, Jiang Yuan shook his head and took the initiative to say, ¡°Director Liu, I have a hypothesis.¡± ¡°Oh, tell me,¡± Liu Jinghui quickly replied. ¡°I think that part of the bloody footprints at the crime scene were artificially created,¡± Jiang Yuan answered. Liu Jinghui¡¯s brows furrowed, ¡°Artificially created?¡± ¡°We need to look at this in context. The footprints here are the most distinct and seem to be entering, but in fact, they are made by the suspect walking backwards as he left,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to the picture on the screen, his tone bing increasingly certain. Different weights on footprints indicate different things. But static footprints can have multiple interpretations. We need to consider both the crime scene and the gait before making definitive judgments. The main thought here is that the stride of someone walking backward is definitely smaller. Liu Jinghui usually doesn¡¯t bother with technical details. He just sped through the deduction, ¡°Falsifying the crime scene means the suspect has real anti-surveince capabilities. And if he is trying to evade suspicion by faking the scene, it indicates that he is likely to be suspected, possibly a key suspect¡­¡± Jiang Yuan watched Liu Jinghui get into his deductive state and simply remained silent, observing. Liu Jinghui became more and more agitated as he spoke. After a while, Liu Jinghui turned back, looking at Jiang Yuan with a sigh, ¡°If the footprints indeed were disguised, it¡¯s very likely to be an inside job, the most suspicious would be the victim¡¯s husband. If that¡¯s indeed the case, then the case is cracked.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes were burning as he looked at Jiang Yuan. Chapter 171 - 171 164 Distant ?171: Chapter 164 Distant 171: Chapter 164 Distant It was getting dark. The green spider nts in the office stood steadfast at their posts. Dinner time. The downpour had turned into a drizzle, the flow resembling the urination of a sessful man: a spurt here, a stop there, never quite ending, and no telling when it would cease. The partymittee members of the Ningtai County Bureau were collectively hosting a banquet for leaders from the city bureau, the provincial department, and the ministries. The head chef of the county bureau¡¯s canteen pulled out all the stops too! Just for the cold dishes, he served up an assortment of creations: mustard duck feet, savory eggnt, snowke beef tongue¡ªall featuring exquisite ingredients and pronounced vors that were the star dishes in his arsenal. If it weren¡¯t for today¡¯s asion, as a chef with a formal position, the head chef would not have gone to such lengths. On regr days, he would casually whip something up for the buffet, and that would be that. In the head chef¡¯s view, a nearly perfect table of culinary delights was akin to a conversation between sessful men. It was the small Ningtai County echoing the grand provincial capital and the far-off Beijing, a wee from the small county to the big city but also a deration of the small county¡¯s pride. Liu Jinghui pulled Jiang Yuan along to the second floor of the canteen as well. Zhang Zhihong, who had flown to Changyang City and had ridden in the same car with him, waved with familiarity and said with a smile, ¡°Director Liu, I thought you should¡¯ve been here tonight. Have you sorted out what you had on your hands?¡± He knew that Liu Jinghui had been busy with a case recently. Liu Jinghui sat down with Jiang Yuan and said with a smile, ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to Jiang Yuan that the case was resolved.¡± ¡°Oh, how was it resolved?¡± Zhang Zhihong assumed that Liu Jinghui had either delegated the case elsewhere or handed it directly over to Jiang Yuan. Instead, Liu Jinghuiughed and didn¡¯t answer right away but stood up, picked up his ss, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll take the liberty of toasting the leaders of Ningtai County first. You have cultivated an excellent technical talent! Director Guan, let me toast you first.¡± Compared to the officials from the ministries, Liu Jinghuimanded more attention from the county bureau leaders. Director Guan Xi quickly stood up and clinked sses with Liu Jinghui, saying with a smile, ¡°You¡¯re too polite, Director Liu. What¡¯s this all about?¡± Liu Jinghui downed the wine in his ss before exining, ¡°I just brought over a case. It was a doubtful case in Yunchang City, and I originally thought of asking Jiang Yuan to inspect the scene to see whether any additional evidence could be found. This was because the existing leads had hit a dead end over there in Yunchang.¡± He spoke casually, but Guan Xi and the others listened intently. With many years of police experience, they all knew that if a city bureau couldn¡¯t crack a case, then the case was certainly quite difficult. If the case still couldn¡¯t be resolved after reaching the provincial level and needed people from lower levels, the challenge in such a case was more than just doubled. And the more nonchntly theplexity of the scene was described, the more it hinted at the intricacy of the scene. Guan Xi instinctively nced at Jiang Yuan next to him and then asked, ¡°And then? Did you take over the case, Director Liu?¡± ¡°I was under pressure. The technical leads were of no use,¡± Liu Jinghui said, pursing his lips, ¡°Footprints were examined, bloodstains too, personal rtionships were probed, and plenty of surveince footage was viewed¡ªall checked but nothing was discovered¡­¡± Liu Jinghui picked the details he could share and gave a rough ount before continuing, ¡°As you can guess, I handed the case to Jiang Yuan, and within a few hours, he solved it.¡± Truth be told, by the time Liu Jinghui was halfway through his story, everyone had a rough idea of the conclusion. But when Liu Jinghui announced the oue, everyone was still taken aback. Because this wasn¡¯t just a story¡ªit was a real event that had just happened. This had a more direct impact on people¡¯s hearts than a ser game that very likely had been fixed. ¡°How did he solve it?¡± asked Guan Xi, unable to help himself. ¡°Jiang Yuan found an issue with a piece of evidence, which directly pointed to the murderer. The evidence had been reviewed by experts from the provincial department, but Jiang Yuan took less time to examine it than they did.¡± At this point, Liu Jinghui stopped going into too much detail. The victim¡¯s husband worked at Golden Shield Company and had some investigative and counter-surveince experience. He was someone who had seen and handled crime scenes. So, when evidence tampering arose, Liu Jinghui¡¯s first thought was the victim¡¯s husband. However, these were not details to be discussed before a case was closed. Liu Jinghui¡¯s exnation was quite vague. Guan Xi and the others were not so much concerned about the case itself but turned their eyes toward Jiang Yuan. The current situation was like lending out one¡¯s cattle to a neighbor, only to have it till an entire field for them. Who could take that? And it was impossible to demand it back. Not to mention that they had no fallow fields to be tilled¡ª But on second thought, it wasn¡¯t exactly true that there were no untended fields. After all, they were in a county, and finding work for a strong beast of burden was surely possible. As Guan Xi pondered, his smile toward Jiang Yuan turned into a ¡®heh, heh, heh.¡¯ ¡­ The wine was pleasantly intoxicating. The dishes had reached the peak of a sessful man¡¯s subtle impotence. Liu Jinghui once again lifted his ss and drank deeply, then continued, ¡°I also came here for another purpose. That is to present Jiang Yuan with another second-ss merit medal. Yes, this time it¡¯s for the second-ss merit in the Wu Long ¡®Wild Man¡¯ case. ¡°We will certainly cooperate actively¡­¡± Guan Xi immediately expressed his stance. ¡°The leadership also hopes that we give this the attention it deserves, considering it¡¯s the second second-ss merit within a short period, which is no easy feat. My idea is to see if we have anyrger uing meetings, where we can do it beforehand.¡± Basically, it was standard procedure, to hitch a ride on a big meeting, and if there really wasn¡¯t any, then those bureau-widemendation meetings would do. If there still wasn¡¯t a suitable one, they couldtch onto a Mid-Autumn Festival concert or any other holiday event. Guan Xi agreed to it, as these were all minor matters. Liu Jinghui felt that Guan Xi didn¡¯t quite understand and added, ¡°Director Guan, do you have any time in the next couple of days? Because I was thinking of taking Jiang Yuan to Yunchang City. After we return, we could then arrange this¡­¡± Guan Xi thought about it and realized it was true¡ªif they didn¡¯t arrange something for the next few days, Jiang would have to make two trips. Guan Xiughed heartily and turned to the others, asking, ¡°What arrangements do you all haveing up?¡± The head of the political department said, ¡°Mainly training ssestely¡­¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s do it during the training ss, which is just the right size.¡± Guan Xi then asked, ¡°Training for what?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got a lot scheduled recently¡ªfingerprint, DNA, emergency medical aid, as well as legal training¡­¡± ¡°Fingerprint training, let¡¯s get Jiang Yuan involved. Isn¡¯t that a coincidence? Jiang Yuan is now one of our province¡¯s top fingerprint experts. Such a good resource¡­¡± Guan Xi had drunk a bit too much and was rambling slightly. Everyone was ustomed to it and patiently bore with him. On the other side, they also took the opportunity to report, ¡°We indeed had ns to invite Jiang Yuan to be a lecturer for us. At the time, we didn¡¯t know if Jiang Yuan would be avable.¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s just ask now.¡± Guan Xi was also very ceremonial. ¡°Exactly!¡± A rtively sessful man in his forties then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, please arrange it as you see fit.¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted before the man could finish, a sincere smile on his face. Earning another second-ss merit meant he could choose another batch of skills. And, theoretically, he was going to get a Level 4 skill. This was far more potent than a randomly given skill. With proper integration, it could significantly extend Jiang Yuan¡¯s range of capabilities. Liu Jinghui observed Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, which appeared quite happy. Once the award ceremony arrangement was set, Liu Jinghui gently nudged Jiang Yuan, hinting that when ites to gift-giving and reading people¡¯s minds, he too was a professional. ¡­ Two dayster. Two police cars arrived at the entrance of the Jiangcun Residential Area. After checking their credentials, the gatekeeper raised the barrier. The two police cars slowly entered the residential area. Because it wasn¡¯t segregated for pedestrians and vehicles, the cars moved slower than the people, and the people in front of the cars watched curiously. ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± When the cars reached the mini-mart, the uncles and aunties older than the detention threshold blocked their way. ¡°We¡¯re looking for Jiang Yuan. I¡¯ve been here before,¡± Qi Shanwei got out of the car. He worked in the Political Department of the city bureau and was regrly involved in police-family rtions. A special ce like the Jiangcun Residential Area also left asting impression on him. This time, as expected, some vigers recognized Qi Shanwei. Someone nodded and said, ¡°It was him who delivered the honor ques for the meritorious servicest time.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, yes, that slightly chubby policeman¡­ looks kind of simple and honest.¡± ¡°Not much hair either. I saw it when he took off his capst time.¡± The vigers¡¯ discussions were always carried out at full volume. Qi Shanwei¡¯splexion changed slightly, and he no longer wanted to talk to them, saying, ¡°That¡­ excuse me, let us through with our car, please.¡± ¡°Wreaths!¡± An auntie peered through the window, spotted the back seat of the car, and suddenly eximed. Qi Shanwei was taken aback and quickly said, ¡°Those are flower baskets, they¡¯re round with an added basket at the bottom¡­¡± No one was listening to his exnation anymore. The Jiang Vige people were all stirred up: ¡°Has Jiang Yuan been sacrificed?¡± ¡°Sacrificed again?¡± ¡°They say for the second-ss merit one gets it lying down, and for the first-ss merit, it¡¯s posthumous; it¡¯s so hard. The second-ss hero has just passed away like that.¡± ¡°What they mean is the military; it¡¯s not that tough for the police¡­¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan was such a good kid, to have gone just like that¡­¡± Qi Shanwei looked around in bewilderment. Those vigers who weren¡¯t shouting were furiously typing on their phones, unclear about what they were up to! No, rather, Qi Shanwei had a guess as to what they might be doing. But he didn¡¯t understand why they always thought so far ahead! ¡­ Chapter 172 - 172 165 No Sickness, No Disaster, Achieving Merits on the Front Line ?172: Chapter 165: No Sickness, No Disaster, Achieving Merits on the Front Line 172: Chapter 165: No Sickness, No Disaster, Achieving Merits on the Front Line Jiang Vige, which is seldom lively, came alive in an instant. The main reason was that there were too many idlers in Jiang Vige, just too idle indeed. ¡°Qi brother, what should we do?¡± The police officer following Qi Shanwei also got out of the car, then listened to the various ¡°mourning¡± sounds around him, and was baffled. It was the few elderly men and women, over seventy, blocking the front of the car who, although they couldn¡¯t use WeChat, still made time to take out their feature phones, dial a number, and yelled: ¡°Jiang Yuan really has sacrificed, I saw it myself, why would I lie to you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no misunderstanding, that daughter-inw from someone¡¯s family has better eyes than me, she saw the wreath.¡± ¡°A wreath can¡¯t be fake, it¡¯s just like the one the fat police officer brought overst time.¡± At this time, the police from the car behind also got out, with the same bewildered expression, listening to the voices all around. The driver from the car behind couldn¡¯t help but step forward in panic, reminding Qi Shanwei, ¡°What are we going to do about this? Let¡¯s not stir up trouble.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Qi Shanwei sighed deeply and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m familiar with this bit.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°All of you,e and shout with me.¡± Qi Shanwei gathered everyone together and took various items out of the trunk. Within a moment, the little team they had formed was holding up the sign ¡°Home of the Second-ss Merit Citizen,¡± shouting in unison: ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan is healthy, free from illness and cmity, making meritorious deeds on the front line!¡± ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan is healthy, free from illness and cmity, making meritorious deeds on the front line!¡± After shouting several times, the Jiang Vige people in front of the small supermarket all calmed down. Indeed, not only was Qi Shanwei familiar with this section, but they were also quite used to it. ¡°So, little Yuan isn¡¯t dead?¡± One elderly man stepped forward, wanting to confirm for himself. ¡°Not dead, he made meritorious deeds. Just likest time, free from illness and cmity,¡± Qi Shanwei replied to the elderly man, not daring to raise his voice. Then, hand over the phone to my brother. I told him, but he didn¡¯t believe me,¡± the elderly man handed over a senior¡¯s mobile phone, looking very earnest. Qi Shanwei subconsciously took the phone, sighed involuntarily, and then said into the phone, ¡°Elder, Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t dead. Comrade Jiang Yuan performed exceptionally in Wu Long¡¯s case, yed a key role several times in solving the case, pointed the direction for the investigation, and during the subsequent arrest, bravely fought the armed criminal to protect his teammates, exemplifying justice¡­¡± Qi Shanwei finished a long spiel in one breath, easing his mind, and gave the phone back to the elderly man. The elderly man thanked him, took the phone, and shouted loudly and proudly, ¡°See, I told you so¡­¡± Before Qi Shanwei could catch his breath, another elderly woman handed her phone to him and said, ¡°Tell my sister as well.¡± Qi Shanwei paused for a second, then sighed and said, ¡°Anyone else need to be told? I¡¯ll say it all at once.¡± A bunch of senior¡¯s mobile phones fell into Qi Shanwei¡¯s hands. ¡­ Qi Shanwei and several police officers walked woodenly at the front of the procession. Behind them was the agile fifty-year-old square formation team, their chattering andughter indicating that they were racking up lots of likes on social media. The sixty and seventy-year-old mixed square formation team followed closely behind, one hand clutching a senior¡¯s mobile phone and the other often vigorously waving in the air, mixing up the history of Jiang Vige with their personal struggles. Jiang Vige people under fifty, often collectively referred to as ndlords,¡± walked with their hands behind their backs, busily moving between different rental properties, not only showing new clients around with agents but also paying for utilities, fixing problems, cleaning houses, and disposing of trash. If they didn¡¯t own enough properties, they¡¯d have to work as security guards or cleaners to ensure a full workload, which naturally wasn¡¯t very satisfying. Therefore, the younger property owners in Jiang Vige usually opened supermarkets or small restaurants, or bought storefronts to run hardware or curtain stores, which were broad contact jobs that also allowed them to sit tight. And in the event of a significant incident in the vige such as this, the small supermarket and small restaurant owners often were the first to disappear into the crowd. Now that the sign ¡°Home of the Second-ss Merit Citizen¡± had been put out, they¡¯d partake in the vige-wide festivities, which were clearly more profitable than just bustling for cash. ¡­ Jiang Fuzhen did not sleep today, but its mood was stable. Because the son was asleep at home, and all the messages popping up on his mobile WeChat were simply telling Jiang Fuzhen one thing, it was time to cook meat. Jiang Fuzhen took a sheep out of the fridge, didn¡¯t bother to clean it, hung it from the kitchen rack with hooks, and pulled it along the track to the stove where it was ced to be filled with waterter. The sheep, chosen with great care, came from a friend¡¯s ranch, delivered at set times and then butchered by the local butchers of Ningtai County. After they were skinned and peeled, they were sent to the household. Because of the skinning process, as long as the butchering was clean, the meat would be spotless¡ªbefore any human interaction, the meat adhered to the fascia and the skin; why would it be deemed dirty? Even the freezers used by Jiang Fuzhen were quite particr, beingrge upright models from big brands. Whether the sheep were processed earlier for fresh meat, orter for meat that had gone through rigor to be tender, the technique varied slightly, but the vor was consistently excellent. Once the pot was full of water, Jiang Fuzhen leisurely lit the stove and prepared the green onions, ginger, and garlic, adding about half a basket of each. When the scum began to surface, Jiang Fuzhen leisurely skimmed it off, and by then, the outside folks had almost reached his doorstep. The newly installed early-warning defense linkage system at home¡ªtwo Dobermans¡ªwere already barking impatiently. These two young dogs had been online for a while, and the vigers were well ustomed to them, greeted them without surprise, and entered. Jiang Yuan got up and personally greeted the vigers. ¡°Jiang Yuan did pretty well, snagging another second-ss merit,¡± someonemented. ¡°Now he has two second-ss merit ques.¡± The vigers bustled around the entrance, looking here, tasting there¡ªhaving fun and enjoying themselves. It had been quite some days since they had feasted, and now they had found another opportunity. What was even more rare was that the guest of honor was still present. Everyone was very happy, now and then sending Jiang Yuan to fetch salt, now and then shouting that there wasn¡¯t enough meat. Anyway, having the merit winner do something felt like a real bargain. It would be even better if they could take some nice photos to share on WeChat Moments. Jiang Yuan was busy but not annoyed. In Jiang Vige, it was the greatest waste if no one ate the cooked mutton. Qi Shanwei and others were also invited to share the mutton meal, slowly brightening up as they ate. Because many people came, one sheep naturally wasn¡¯t enough, so people brought food from their own homes. And without needing help from Jiang Yuan or Jiang Fuzhen, they set up a sumptuous feast by themselves, featuring spiced beef, braised beef, dressed mini seafood, mature pickled seafood, barbecued pork neck, and stewed pig¡¯s head meat¡­ Differing fromst time, the people of Jiang Vige didn¡¯t make offerings to ancestors this time. Grandpa San specifically sought out Jiang Yuan and exined, ¡°Ancestors are rather busy too. Since we¡¯ve already obtained a second-ss merit this year, if we go offering sacrifices again, the ancestors might think we¡¯re reporting the same matter twice, which wouldn¡¯t be good. Better to wait till the end of the year and give a unified report.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed. ¡°Some of the old ancestors passed away quite confused, and who knows if they¡¯ve recovered down there. Next year, if you earn another merit, we¡¯ll report again. This year, we¡¯ll report only if you receive other merits,¡± Grandpa San further exined, concerned that Jiang Yuan might not understand. Jiang Yuan personally set off a string of firecrackers to properly express his emotions. Seeing that he was truly happy, Grandpa San then went off cheerfully for a stroll. Jiang Yuan was naturally happy. Who wouldn¡¯t be ted to be recognized with an award? And more so, since at the award ceremony the day before, he had gotten the chance to select a new skill: Forensic Pathology (LV4) This was the skill Jiang Yuan had chosen for himself. Technically, he could have opted for a more specialized subset of skills to achieve a higher rank, like LV5. But after much deliberation, Jiang Yuan restrained himself. No matter what, he, Jiang Yuan, was a bona fide forensic doctor, and forensic pathology was the most important skill for a forensic doctor. Having aprehensive grasp of forensic pathology was evidently vital for a forensic doctor. As for those more specialized LV5 skills¡ªin all honesty, after working on cases for this long, Jiang Yuan felt that these high-end skills were not very practical. For the average criminal suspect, there was no need for LV5 skills to catch them easily. Holding onto extra skills would be too wasteful. Regardless, Jiang Yuan had his new skill ready¡­ Chapter 173 - 173 166 Practical Combat ?173: Chapter 166 Practical Combat 173: Chapter 166 Practical Combat Ningtai County Bureau was exceptionally quiet. By six o¡¯clock in the afternoon, arge number of men and women in shiny trousers had joined the flow of traffic heading home from work. Even the buses were free of pickpockets, quietly carrying people in long trousers and those in shorts toward home. Jiang Yuan rode a joyless pedal motorcycle out of the parking lot like a middle-aged uncle, blending into the crowd as if he were an ordinary social creature of medium-torge size, heading home. Today was yet another day of cracking only a minor cold case. There was a sense of satisfaction, but not quite enough. It was like eating hot pot with a clear broth and leaving eighty percent full. Tasty, but it always felt like something was missing. In a nutshell, appetites had grown, and these cases that only resulted in two or three years of sentencing seemed unsatisfactory. Other relevant departments likely felt simr. For example, during interrogations of such criminals, police officers at the case-handling center would drag their feet, and prosecutors would merely go through the motions. The enthusiasm once seen in police officers when cracking serious or cold cases was absent; sometimes they even dragged their feet, seemingly hard to find. It was just as well that Jiang Yuan was a technician¡ªotherwise, he would have been driven mad by the tediousness of case handling. This nonchnt posture had defined the criminal police squad for several days. Like a water buffalo, when without work, it would submerge in water, blowing bubbles quietly, doing nothing but exhaling. Jiang Yuan did want to crack another homicide cold case, but after finding two fingerprints and failing to find a match after three days, he could only feel helpless. In the midst of this tranquility, Jiang Yuan seemed to have returned to his early days with the criminal police squad, reading novels and watering his spider nts. The bureau, seemingly noticing the officers¡¯ leisure, soon pulled out some prearranged projects. The first in line was fingerprint analysis training. Each county sent a trace examiner who arrived on time at Qinghe City Bureau. After reaching the dormitories, they were thrown into the conference room, each with a book, and began studying. In a disciplined force, as long as the leadership is willing, training can be taken very seriously. Ningtai County sent two people, Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong was a trace examiner who regrly participated in training¡ªthough his growth was slow and limited, it was through this method that Comrade Wang Zhong managed to maintain a level of LV0.9, ensuring the normalization of fingerprint work in Ningtai County. Trace examiners from Yan Ge¡¯s generation rarely participated in training anymore. Employees over the age of 35 were at the prime of their careers, meaning that from this point on, other than sry increases, their skills and proficiency werergely set. Various training activities did not favor such disobedient old hands, and both senders and recipients happily agreed on younger participants. Jiang Yuan, however, was participating in fingerprint analysis training as an instructor. In fact, Jiang Yuan was a major reason for this fingerprint analysis training session. Training requires teachers, and that¡¯s where it starts. In the past, simr training sessions in Qinghe City involved inviting fingerprint experts from outside to teach. Although the expense was not great, finding someone was not easy. In this era, information transparency is ever-increasing, and the pyramid shape of experts bes more apparent. Lower-level experts were reluctant to embarrass themselves by teaching, while higher-level experts were in too much demand. Qinghe City, just one of the prefecture-level cities of Shannan Province, was not notable in the hierarchy of cities, nor was it flush with funds. Furthermore, the City Bureau¡¯s training was not limited to fingerprinting alone. Over the years, Qinghe City had maintained only the bare minimum of fingerprint training, primarily focused on fingerprint collection. The foundation of fingerprintparison is fingerprint collection; every county and township collects a certain number of fingerprints each year, which seemingly have no direct use but actually help indirectly stabilize social order. However, the quality of collected fingerprints has always been a problem. The training focus of Qinghe City Bureau remained on this area. The training sybus Jiang Yuan received was also along these lines. Sitting in the trace examiner¡¯s office at the city bureau, Jiang Yuan looked at the sybus, somewhat silent. How to improve the quality of fingerprint collection¡­ this topic is more about management than technique. ¡°The textbook is outdated; we haven¡¯t had the chance to change it. You don¡¯t have to follow the textbook,¡± said Cao Keyang, the trace examiner from Qinghe City Bureau, cautiously. During the fingerprint campaign, he shattered ten homicide cold cases in one fell swoop. That kind of record, wherever you go, is highly respected. Other criminal police could console themselves with the difference in their specialty, but for Cao Keyang, a fellow trace examiner, there were not many ways to vent his emotions. Although younger and from a lower level in Ningtai, Jiang Yuan was more important to Cao Keyang than other experts from the province. Because he was a local officer, given the mobility of the current police force, Jiang Yuan was likely to stay in Ningtai or Qinghe City for life. They would have many chances to interact in the future. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead. Seeing that Cao Keyang¡¯s attitude was positive, he flipped through the textbook, probing, ¡°So, if I don¡¯t follow the textbook, I can talk about whatever I want?¡± ¡°Our training should still focus on fingerprinting. The attendees are trace examiners from various ces,¡± Cao Keyang quickly defined the scope, fearing that Jiang Yuan might deviate too much. Jiang Yuan was even more puzzled, ¡°Then¡­ do you have other textbooks?¡± Cao Keyang hesitated for two seconds: ¡°The ready-made textbooks are just those on the market¡­ Maybe you could just go ahead with your lecture? You can talk casually.¡± At this, Cao Keyang actually became hopeful. Honestly, he was quite interested in hearing about fingerprinting from the trace examiner who earned second-ss merit, or perhaps a forensic doctor¡¯s fingerprint teaching. Casual talk might better showcase his thoughts and ideas. ¡°Casual talk, eh.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t shy, and after some thought, he said, ¡°Then, I might just talk about practical fingerprinting?¡± The skills he had acquired were inherently geared towards practical application, something he was most familiar with during his working period. ¡°Practical application is good,¡± Cao Keyang nodded repeatedly and said, ¡°Then shall I go ahead and post this on the official WeChat ount? Our Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s official ount has agreed to give us a spot where we can publish an article.¡± Jiang Yuan said ¡°okay.¡± Cao Keyang then confirmed, ¡°What aspect of practical application would you like to talk about, for instance, current cases, cold cases, or a certain type of crime scene¡­?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go with cold cases. It might not be easy to find current cases on the spot,¡± Jiang Yuan replied after some thought. Cao Keyang responded once more and quickly sent out the message. At that moment, he was still far from realizing the specific implications of what Jiang Yuan had just said. The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived at the small lecture hall of the city bureau. In China, the ministry and provincial levels do not handle cases and are purely administrative. There are two types of city bureaus, one type handles cases, which is the trend in recent years, in line with the requirements of pushing police forces downward. However, a considerable number of city bureaus, like Qinghe City Bureau, still don¡¯t handle specific cases. As for the actual cases that ur within the jurisdiction of Qinghe City, those are handled by the district and county bureaus. Those that do not deal in practical matters naturally focus on theoretical ones. Institutions like Qinghe City Bureau are more active in organizing training and other activities. The bureau also has a specially built small lecture hall, like a mini auditorium ssroom, with corresponding teaching facilities, and it can also be used for meetings and social gatherings. Jiang Yuan was led to the lectern to sit down, and Cao Keyang approached to ask, ¡°Do you need a PPT?¡± ¡°Just project theputer screen,¡± Jiang Yuan, who had brought his ownptop, ced it on the table. Thisptop was also an old high-performance version provided by the criminal police team. Cao Keyang helped sort out the wires and then stepped back. There were already around forty people in the small lecture hall. Some were from the county bureau, some from the district bureau, and some were crime scene techs from the city bureau itself. Besides that, some ces had also dispatched regr police officers for training. In fact, training regr police officers is a major focus of the city bureau. Officers from local police stations, for example, often handle arge amount of fingerprint collection work. Before taking on this role, they might only know how to collect fingerprints with tape. Jiang Yuan also noticed the slightlyrger number of attendees and said softly, ¡°Are there non-specialist officers here?¡± Understanding his concern, Cao Keyang reassured him, ¡°It¡¯s fine, there are several sses. It¡¯s great that you¡¯re discussing practical application; it will show the other officers what actual crime scene investigation looks like.¡± Cao Keyang imagined that Jiang Yuan would use real-world cases he had worked on for his lecture. This piqued his interest even more. Fingerprint experts all nurture the aspiration that one day, they¡¯ll match fingerprints to a major unsolved case. Crime scene techs like Wang Zhong who rate at LV0.9 spend their daysparing fingerprints, hoping for this very thing. He only resorted to library searches because he knew hecked sufficient skills. To someone like Jiang Yuan, who has actually matched fingerprints from cold cases sourced from deep within the system¡¯s database, this achievement is practically a professional dream for crime scene techs. If this profession were to have a dream, it could only be this. Jiang Yuan was already seated at the lectern. It wouldn¡¯t be easy to adjust his lecture n at this point. Once Cao Keyang left, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, ¡°Let¡¯s get started then.¡± The audience obediently started to apud. Jiang Yuan smiled and then, speaking into the microphone and looking at the screen, said, ¡°Since this is my first time teaching, I thought I¡¯d start with something practical. As we do it, let¡¯s discuss any problems we encounter.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan initiated the software and the internalwork and said, ¡°I think fingerprints are like solving problems, like doing math problems. Let¡¯s start with a typical example to test¡­¡± During his talk, he selected a fingerprint. Crime scene techs with experience in fingerprint work started to realize what wasing. Was this guy going to match fingerprints on the spot? Cao Keyang was utterly confused; didn¡¯t we agree on ¡°practical application¡±? The difference between ¡°practical application¡± and ¡°actualbat¡± might be just one word, but the meaning could vary significantly. Furthermore, what if the fingerprint doesn¡¯t match on the spot? What if the fingerprint database doesn¡¯t have it at all? Had he considered these problems? While Cao Keyang internally cried out in rm, Jiang Yuan slowly articted: ¡°First, let me talk about fingerprint selection techniques, such as why I chose this particr fingerprint. First off, it¡¯s a somewhat challenging fingerprint. If it¡¯spletely without difficulty, there¡¯s no need to bother¡ªit certainly won¡¯t match any fingerprints in the database¡­¡± ¡°Secondly, selecting a fingerprint that pushes your own limits is also a good choice. This helps with personal improvement and maximizes the likelihood of a match.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t just talking off the top of his head; since acquiring the fingerprint skill, he had frankly experienced an improvement in proficiency. Although it was much slowerpared to the system¡¯s enhancement, he believed he would make significant progress with several years of persistence. Indeed, Jiang Yuan felt that pushing himself to his limits in fingerprint analysis was the most useful approach. The police officers in the small lecture hall listened withposed expressions since mere wordscked significant impact. At that moment, Jiang Yuan began to mark characteristic points. ¡°Let¡¯s do a trial run and see,¡± Jiang Yuan casually marked over a dozen characteristic points in just a minute or two. In the lecture hall, even the whispers that had been present at first had now vanished. Chapter 174 - 174 167 The real case ?174: Chapter 167 The real case 174: Chapter 167 The real case The small lecture hall of the Qinghe Bureau is located on the first floor of the office building. The indoor nts are somewhat withered, but no one cares. It, along with other unimportant departments, keeps its doors wide open, weing guests from all directions, including the uninformed public and police officers from various ces. However, the usage rate of the small lecture hall is still very high. As a bureau that values form over substance, the Qinghe Bureau pays great attention to organizing and reporting various activities. Otherwise, its existence would be almost meaningless. Today¡¯s lecture hall was also filled with quite a few people, and then a tall young man was speaking slowly as if he were a university student giving a presentation. But the atmosphere was somewhat different. The young police officer wore gray shoulder straps, indicating technical police, with a full police uniform that looked good on him. Although he wasn¡¯t the type of popr teen idol star of the moment, he still had the appearance of a genteel and sunny young man, further enhanced by the uniform. Sitting at the podium with a serious expression and speaking with ease, almost any photo of him could be used for publicity. Jiang Yuan also put on a pair of in sses for this training session even though he didn¡¯t have myopia, as his master had suggested that wearing sses would be better since he has a youthful face. Meanwhile, the police officers sitting in the audience looked at the projection screen with serious and solemn expressions, their facial muscles slightly twitching and their eyes wide open, straining to pay attention. The first round of 20 simr fingerprints were disyed on the right side of the screen in a vertical column. On the left, three-quarters of the screen disyed the fingerprint with the highest simrity ranking in full detail. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s take a look at the fingerprints returned in the first round,¡± he said. With one hand, Jiang Yuan pushed his unfamiliar sses up the bridge of his nose, and with the other hand, he clicked the mouse, erging the fingerprint on the left to full screen. The fingerprint projected on the screen was also quite clear. ¡°Okay, here we have an exclusion point,¡± Jiang Yuan said, clicking twice to further magnify the fingerprint. He then drew a small circle on the right side of the fingerprint with his mouse, indicating it to everyone. For fingerprints that have been matched, the standard is not how many feature points are consistent, but whether there are any inconsistencies among the feature points. It¡¯s easy to understand that if two fingerprints are the same, in theory, all of their feature points should be identical. So, if there is one feature point that doesn¡¯t match between two fingerprints, it can be determined as an ¡°exclusion.¡± That is to say, the two fingerprints are not the same, not from the same finger. Following this line of thought, Jiang Yuan eliminated two simr fingerprints in a row. At this moment, Cao Keyang from the Qinghe City Bureau, who was sitting in the front row, said, ¡°Teacher Jiang, maybe we should disy both fingerprints side by side forparison. It¡¯s not very clear seeing them excluded directly like this.¡± Jiang Yuan was quick to react, clicking twice to disy both the original and matched fingerprints side by side on three-quarters of the left side of the screen. ¡°My apologies, I was thinking about speeding up the process as the first few fingerprints can be eliminated quickly,¡± Jiang Yuan said sincerely. Cao Keyang felt an inexplicable sourness in his heart and hastily replied, ¡°No problem, it¡¯s not an issue on your end. Since we¡¯re lecturing, it¡¯s just better to go slower and clearer.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and continued, ¡°Let¡¯s re-examine the first two fingerprints.¡± Then, Jiang Yuan performed the same actions, circling on the right. What was different this time was that he also made a circle on the left. Consequently, the audience finally uttered coherent ¡°Oh¡± sounds. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan kept up the good work by circling the second and third fingerprints as well, before also dismissing them. The ¡°Oh¡± sounds from the audience slowly decreased. Technical staff with fingerprinting skills below level LV1 started to feel a sense of sourness in their hearts¡ªit was an indescribable feeling. They finally realized that Jiang Yuan had memorized the entire set of original,plicated fingerprints. So, the exclusions he had done were purely from memory. Without needing topare, having the original pattern in mind means that exclusions orparisons can be done very quickly. This wasn¡¯t actually that remarkable. If one had started preparing a few days in advance, spending a considerable amount of time, everyone could remember parts of the fingerprints¡­ But who would go to such lengths? Such intricate fingerprints couldn¡¯t possibly be expected to be memorized, one would assume. Even the fingerprints themselves would probably get annoyed, right? It was possible for a trace examiner who had focused on a particr difficult fingerprint over many years to gradually memorize its features, but even then¡­ While some people were lost in their thoughts, Jiang Yuan had already excluded three more simr fingerprints. Then, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°At this point, it is generally rmended to review all 20 fingerprints. But, we won¡¯t do that today because as the simrity decreases, the chances of finding a match be very low¡­¡± Cao Keyang was stunned. The audience was stunned. Why did this feel so familiar? It was like the time when they were still in school, looking down to pick up a pencil, only to bepletely lost when they looked up and heard the teacher¡¯s words again. Even thest sentence was the same: ¡°I won¡¯t go over the next steps, as they are quite simple, so let¡¯s skip them, but from this we can deduce that¡­¡± Jiang Yuan showed no intention of pausing. After the first round of fingerprint screening, Jiang Yuan brought up the original fingerprint again and said, ¡°Now let¡¯s mark the characteristic points for the second round.¡± Chapter 175 - 175 167 Real Case_2 ?175: Chapter 167 Real Case_2 175: Chapter 167 Real Case_2 Dazzling, Chaos that captivates the eye, Out of sight, out of mind, Worrying is pointless After such operations, Jiang Yuan re-marked the thirteen reference points. Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°The locations we just marked are the usual reference points, and since there¡¯s no match, it means that the previous crime scene technician did a decent job. The suspect didn¡¯t leave behind a very clearplete fingerprint for us to match. No worries, let¡¯s try again.¡± Simr to the previous steps, Jiang Yuan threw the marked fingerprint into the fingerprint database forparison. Soon, the data returned from the fingerprint database was again twenty fingerprints in a row. ¡°We still need topare them side by side, right?¡± This time, Jiang Yuan asked Cao Keyang, showing politeness. Cao Keyang nodded obediently and concentrated on watching the projector. This time, he felt like he was ready. At the three-quarters mark on the left side of the projector screen, two fingerprints were listed. With a light movement of the mouse, Jiang Yuan drew a small circle on the left, and then another on the right, and said, ¡°Discarded, right? Same idea as before.¡± ¡°The second one is discarded too.¡± ¡°Same, huh.¡± ¡°For the ones below, we don¡¯t need to circle each one.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan quickly pushed the fingerprints through. He tapped the space bar on the keyboard, and a new fingerprint would appear on the screen, recing the old one. Since Jiang Yuan was no longer circling, he would just nce at each one, say ¡°No,¡± and then hit the space bar again to bring up a new fingerprint. Cao Keyang initially stared intently but quickly fell back into the state he was in earlier: Eyes Chaos Eyes Worry For a moment, Cao Keyang almost thought he was scrolling through short videos. A screen full of inte celebritydies, and they all looked quite simr. Look at one, swipe it away. Look at another, swipe it away. In a daze, half an hour passed by. At that time, Jiang Yuan also re-marked the fourth set of characteristic points and said, ¡°Actually, the characteristic points we just marked weren¡¯t very necessary; it was just to show everyone.¡± ¡°In the future, once you get practiced and proficient, you can skip the marking pattern we just did, because the characteristic points we marked just now ovep with the previous ones. To just try it out this way isn¡¯t very efficient.¡± ¡°A more efficient method is actually to define a small area and then mark as many characteristic points as possible. This way, the uracy of the fingerprints returned will also improve. Of course, this makes it a bit more difficult.¡± ¡°Same method as before¡­¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, the sound of tapping the space bar resonated in the lecture hall. Not just Cao Keyang, but most technicians in the lecture hall felt somewhat numb. Jiang Yuan was doing it too quickly. Everyone was finding it hard to keep up. Yet they hadn¡¯t considered if Jiang Yuan were to match their pace while also exining the fingerprint process, aplicated fingerprint could take days to analyze. A training session onlysts a total of four hours over two periods. An older crime scene technician cleared his throat, seemingly intending to speak. The crowd held their breath and watched, waiting for this brave soul to raise a voice on behalf of them all. After all, it was training within a disciplined force, and if you upset the teacher, it was very easy to get into trouble. The tapping sound suddenly stopped. For almost half a minute, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t speak or make any moves. Such silence in the lecture hall made Cao Keyang, who had almost given up, involuntarily lift his head and look toward the projection screen. On the projection screen, there were still two fingerprints. The original fingerprint on the left, marked as a difficult one, was like ady wearing a bodycon dress, looking as if it barely covered her, yet nothing was revealed. The fingerprint from the database on the right was in and ordinary, like a frosty ¡®bossdy¡¯ in a professional suit, her gaze sharp, her demeanor rejecting any advances, with not a single w to be found¡­ ¡°It¡¯s a match, right,¡± Jiang Yuan added another sentence behind, as if it was part of the lesson. Cao Keyang was dumbfounded. What did he mean by it¡¯s a match? He looked at the original fingerprint on the left, then at the database fingerprint on the right. They looked quite simr. Almost identical. No ws. Indisputable. Then¡­ was he forced to conclude they were from the same person? In the end, were the bodycon beauty and the frosty ¡®bossdy¡¯ one and the same? Cao Keyang was bbergasted. And it wasn¡¯t just Cao Keyang, half of the police officers undergoing training were in a state of shock. At this point, Jiang Yuan started topetently draft an ¡°identification of sameness¡± forensic report and applied for a review. In a room of over forty people, everyone just watched Jiang Yuan fill out the form. Filling out the form¡ªthat part, everyone understood. ¡°Wait a moment for the review on this end, I¡¯ll find a phone number for the jurisdiction over here,¡± said Jiang Yuan, then he added to the trainees, ¡°Sorry for the dy, everyone. It¡¯ll just be two minutes. After all, we¡¯ve locked in a suspect, so I should make the call as a courtesy.¡± ¡°No problem, no problem,¡± a group of police officers wave their hands restlessly while sitting and standing. Jiang Yuan then switched back to the case details, found the contact information for the local police station, and started tough, ¡°It¡¯s from Miao He County, I¡¯ve spoken to them on the phone before, please hold on.¡± Jiang Yuan had matched prints from a cold case homicide in Miao He County during a provincial fingerprint operation and had kept the phone number for the captain of the Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigade. When Jiang Yuan made the call, the cheerful voice of Miao River County¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade captain soon came through, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what¡¯s the asion for you calling me? Is it good news?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve just matched a print to a routine case, a robbery from over six years ago¡­ Yes, the detailed information will be sent to you via the internalwork. Correct, correct, oh¡­ the review has passed¡­ you¡¯re wee, you¡¯re wee.¡± Jiang Yuan sat at the lecturer¡¯s seat, in a spot with good reception, and almost the entire conversation from their phones was heard by everyone present. The technicians in the room looked bewildered. The captain of the Miao River County Criminal Police Brigade has such a good temper? Can someone with such a good temper really be the captain of a Criminal Police Brigade? Also, what just happened? In the strange quiet, Jiang Yuanpleted the steps for sending information via the internalwork. ¡°All right, the review has also passed, so this robbery cold case from six years ago now has a new key clue. Next, it¡¯s up to Miao He County to locate and arrest the suspect. As for us, we¡¯vepleted our work ofparing the fingerprints for the case just now.¡± Jiang Yuan closed the web pages he had opened, finishing up thest of the tidy-up work. ¡°Let¡¯s find another typical fingerprint and repeat the technique we just tried, to see if it works,¡± Jiang Yuan began searching for another fingerprint. The guy who had just been clearing his throat couldn¡¯t hold back anymore, he stood up with a ¡°huff,¡± but what he wanted to saypletely changed, ¡°Just now, were we working on a real case?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan answered, adding, ¡°That¡¯s why the lecture is on practical application. That¡­ as for the content I shared, can you get used to my teaching style?¡± ¡°We can, we can, it¡¯s just, no, it¡¯s not¡­ didn¡¯t you, no, didn¡¯t you just solve a robbery case?¡± The throat-clearing guy seemed unable toe to terms with what had just happened. Soon, the small lecture hall was abuzz with chatter. Someone even sent a ndestine message: Bro,e see a master at work. Chapter 176 - 176 168 Look at the Case ?176: Chapter 168 Look at the Case 176: Chapter 168 Look at the Case A tall criminal investigator tiptoed in through the back door. The Qinghe Bureau¡¯s small lecture hall was only one and a half stories high, and to ess the back door, one had to use a dedicated fire escape, which was not a popr route under normal circumstances. But today, to sneak in during a lecture without the embarrassment of doing so in front of everyone, quite a few people had chosen to take the back door. There were probably more than twenty such people. All in all, that was nearly the manpower of an entire squad. If that many people were sneaking in illegally, it would take the effort of a whole battalion to apprehend them. At this moment, the one sneaking in through the back door was Chen Wenming, the leader of the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s Forensic Science Division¡¯s Trace Examination Group. He too had been unable to resisting over after receiving Cao Keyang¡¯s text message. Qinghe Bureau itself did not handle cases; the affiliated Criminal Police Brigade was mostly involved in guiding local police teams,piling various indicators and statistics from all over, setting various work requirements, serving the grassroots, and issuing orders from the higher-ups. In such an environment, the role of criminal science units stood out even more. For instance, what was supposed to be Qinghe Bureau¡¯s Criminal Investigation Squad was transformed into the more specialized Criminal Science Division, which also saw the elevation of the Trace Examination Group. Some county bureaus that couldn¡¯t handle or were inadequate in technical examinations would send their cases to the county Criminal Science Center. Take Ningtai County, for instance, whichcked its Document Examination Unit and had weak capabilities in tool mark examinations and virtually no capability in firearms trace examinations. The same was true for footprints examinations; at least in the past, Ningtai County would send its footprints cases to the Qinghe Bureau as well. Chen Wenming was the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s footprint examiner and a renowned expert on footprints within the province. The footprint cold case mishandled in terms of height was by the footprint expert Chen Wenming. And naturally, Chen Wenming too had heard about this matter. It had caused him to subconsciously avoid Jiang Yuan¡¯s training ss. Only after hearing about Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°real-world¡± fingerprinting story did Chen Wenming run over to observe. He was a well-known footprint expert in the city bureau, but as a trace examiner, he was also skilled in fingerprint analysis. In fact, Chen Wenming¡¯s fingerprint work was quite good; he merelycked a little something to participate in the provincial fingerprint contests. For this reason, Chen Wenming always felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s ¡°realbat ss¡± was slightly too sensational. Chen Wenming craned his neck to look down and saw that Jiang Yuan was staring at the screen and did not even nce his way. There were approximately 170¨C180 seats in the small lecture hall, but at that moment, about 50¨C60 people were seated. Almost half of them did not need to attend the training ss. Chen Wenming pursed his lips, then found Cao Keyang from his group and fumbled his way toward him. After a ss break, Cao Keyang had moved back to a middle seat. Still, his gaze was somewhat lost, and his mood remained a bit sour; he was too emo to pay attention to Jiang Yuan anymore. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Chen Wenming sat down next to Cao Keyang and asked in a low voice. Cao Keyang chuckled and replied, ¡°They¡¯re now marking the fifth feature point.¡± ¡°So that means four markings have been made and none matched?¡± Chen Wenmingughed. Making four feature point markings wasn¡¯t excessive. Generally, if a fingerprint collected at a crime scene did not match, the examiners would mark it three or four times, even four or five times, before giving up. If it were a critical homicide case, marking it a dozen or even twenty times would be considered normal. The frequency of markings for cold cases was even higher. Most trace examiners attempted fingerprint identification through trial and error. That was the most standard procedure. However, psychologically speaking, if marking four times still did not yield a match, the chances of a match thereafter seemed low. But then Cao Keyang defended Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Because it is a difficult fingerprint, marking it four times and getting a match in the previous ss wasn¡¯t exactly normal.¡± ¡°Under normal circumstances, one wouldn¡¯t even conduct fingerprintparisons on the spot like this.¡± Chen Wenming frowned. ¡°Fingerprintparison itself is somewhat random.¡± Cao Keyang immediately nodded: ¡°Right, that¡¯s what I think too.¡± ¡°Not getting a match in fingerprintparison is the usual thing. If there¡¯s no corresponding fingerprint in the database, no matter how well you mark it, what can you do?¡± Chen Wenming sighed. ¡°Exactly,¡± Cao Keyang agreed. ¡°This kind of live fingerprintparison can easily create a false impression among everyone, as if fingerprint identification resultse in just minutes.¡± Chen Wenming sighed again, then thought to himself that if it were not for the recent footprint issue, he would have taken the opportunity to address it properly. However, precisely because Jiang Yuan had recently challenged and overturned Chen Wenming¡¯s own footprint identifications, leading to the solving of a homicide, Chen Wenming felt it was not his ce to lecture Jiang Yuan now. To do so now would appear as if hecked the magnanimity to amodate others. Chen Wenming watched the screen, his expression a mixture of regret and pity, tinged with a sense of helplessness and fatigue. Young people can easily stray in the midst of glory and apuse. This in itself wasn¡¯t a big deal¡ªpeople grow by experiencing certain things¡­ ¡°This time, it didn¡¯t match either,¡± came Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice from the podium. Chen Wenming¡¯s lips twitched involuntarily. It was as expected. No matter how skilled the fingerprint expert, the likelihood of matching fingerprints was always not high. This was evident from the ever-growing database of suspects¡¯ fingerprints. If matching fingerprints was that easy, the database would have been empty long ago. Nowadays, even moderately intelligent criminals knew how to cover their fingerprints. Gone were the days, three or four decades ago, when bloody fingerprints were found everywhere. Of course, as viins grow clever, the techniques to catch them evolve as well, and the technology to lift fingerprints has also been improving. Techniques such as extracting fingerprints from stic or fabric have now be very sophisticated. However, the fingerprints extracted from these ces all have subpar conditions. To match these fingerprints, the difficulty had increased by countless times. Therefore, no matter from which angle one analyzes it, Chen Wenming did not consider ¡°practical¡± lectures a viable option. At this moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through again, ¡°Let¡¯s mark the characteristic points one more time.¡± Chen Wenming then adjusted his seat, preparing to watch carefully. Then, he heard Jiang Yuan say, ¡°When marking characteristic points, especially when doing so multiple times, we need to learn from our previous markings. So, what have we learned from earlier markings of characteristic points?¡± Chen Wenming was startled, a sense of astonishment arising within him: Can one really think like this? Jiang Yuan continued in a lecturing tone, ¡°Everyone look at the markings of characteristic points I made previously. It¡¯s easy to see that this middle part has been marked in multiple rounds of markings because the conditions here are rtively good, making it easier to find characteristic points, right?¡± Some people in the audience nodded in agreement. Jiang Yuan went on, ¡°If it¡¯s an ordinary fingerprint, there¡¯s no issue with our previous pattern of marking. It needs to be marked well. But now that we have marked several times without a match, I think we need to reconsider the range of characteristic points we mark.¡± Jiang Yuan drew a circle on the fingerprint with his mouse and said, ¡°These characteristic points inside have been marked by us multiple times before, and the fingerprints they matched also had average conditions. So this time, we won¡¯t mark the characteristic points in the circle.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit difficult this way, the difficulty increases by quite a bit, but in my understanding, increasing difficulty is actually a prerequisite for matching fingerprints. The harder the fingerprints in the database are to match, the easier it is to find a match.¡± The logic Jiang Yuan set forth did not much affect the new forensic investigators. Half of the people here usually focus on collecting fingerprints and have never matched one from the database. Now talking about increasing the difficulty to make it easier to find matches, as well as the underlying implications, is somewhat beyond theirprehension. Chen Wenming was quick to catch on. Although his fingerprint expertise was not high, his proficiency in footprint analysis was indeed top-tier in the province. And in his daily work, Chen Wenming had already discovered this principle. The footprints involved in cold cases, especially in major crimes, the simpler and more routine they were, the harder it was to find a match. When you think about it, if such footprints were easy to match, the previous forensic investigators wouldn¡¯t have left them until now. It turns out that the more challenging the footprints are to analyze, the easier they are to match. Especially footprints beyond the range of most people, once you find the right approach, the odds of matching increase dramatically. In a way, it¡¯s akin to introducing a new technology. Using new technology to thwart criminals thus leading to an ¡°easier to match¡± scenario. Chen Wenming nodded slightly to himself. It¡¯s no wonder he is the one who once miraculously outperformed me in a footprint analysis. He truly can summarize a thing or two. As for the specific ability¡­ ¡°This time it¡¯s quite challenging, so I¡¯ll do the marking first. The method used is also quite special, not very referential¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice was slightly rxed as he spoke and operated at the same time. Chen Wenming watched intently for a while and indeed found it to be a very special method¡ªone he had never seen before. Chen Wenming pondered. His level of forensic investigation was different from the others¡¯, and he naturally did not belong to the group that Jiang Yuan referred to as finding the difficulty too high. However, before Chen Wenming could figure it out, Jiang Yuan had already marked more than a dozen characteristic points in a row. ¡°Let¡¯s run it again and take a look.¡± After Jiang Yuanpleted the marking, he threw it into the software and even had time to take a sip of tea. Chen Wenming frowned and saw that twenty simr fingerprints popped up. Jiang Yuan still looked at them with incredible speed. After scanning more than a dozen fingerprints in session, it didn¡¯t take much time. Chen Wenming was getting impatient. This style of lecturing was entirely unappealing. He looked back and unexpectedly discovered that a group of people who usually didn¡¯t participate earnestly in the training were watching with utmost concentration. As thoughts churned in Chen Wenming¡¯s mind, when had forensic examination be something to gawk at? Even if it captured everyone¡¯s attention for now, how could it be sustainable? ¡°Matched.¡± The tapping of Jiang Yuan¡¯s spacebar had somehow stopped. Chen Wenming quickly looked up. Jiang Yuan then said, ¡°This fingerprint is linked to another cold case. Yes, these two fingerprints should be confirmed as the same, and then we can proceed with jointly handling the cases.¡± Joining cases implies the possibility of bringing forth more clues. For the investigation of the cases, it is, after all, beneficial. Then, Jiang Yuan began to fill out the identification report for the confirmed match. Police officers below were already shouting: ¡°Check out the case.¡± ¡°Make a phone call.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s face also revealed a smile, and he waved his hand from the podium, saying, ¡°No rush to make calls.¡± Afterpleting the identification report, he opened the case files. One was a burry, the other a robbery. Chen Wenming¡¯s eyelids twitched involuntarily. These two cases were indeed quite significant. Jiang Yuan also looked carefully for a while before suggesting, ¡°Since both cases are pretty serious, let¡¯s switch our approach.¡± So, Jiang Yuan brought out Photoshop. Chapter 177 - 177 169 Yearning ?177: Chapter 169: Yearning 177: Chapter 169: Yearning Fifty to sixty burly men fixed their scorching gazes on Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan adjusted his t-lens sses and continued. Photoshop is a really interesting software. Girls all like it a lot. Its applications are widespread, mainly because of its high degree of freedom, and additionally, it has great depth. The stories that stem from it can be well described with the phrase ¡°from entry to abandonment.¡± Of course, ordinary consumers typically only engage with the entertainment side of it, such as retouching photos or changing a scene here and there¡ªa work of an afternoon can be unted on social media, while half an afternoon¡¯s effort mightnd your leader on the trending searches. Those willing to spend an entire evening might graft a celebrity¡¯s head onto the body of some odd animal. Or they might remake a set of wedding photos, allowing the bride and groom and their friends to feel rightfully as though they are attending someone else¡¯s wedding. But on the flip side of entertainment, Photoshop can also be incredibly cruel. It can be used to forge official seals, and if used well, one could easily earn themselves a three-year stint in prison. It can also be manipted topile photos for ckmailing; Hunan Shuangfeng has developed this into an industry, specifically targeting officials, and its impact has been profound. Of course, it can also be used to solve cases, and it tremendously raises the difficulty of case-solving. During the provincial fingerprintpetition, Jiang Yuan ughtered hispetitors with abination of Qingdao-style Lv4 fingerprint analysis and Chongqing-style Lv3 fingerprint analysis, paired with image enhancement skills. His consecutive breakthroughs in cold cases actually meant that Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprint identification skills had greatly surpassed the average level of provincial experts. The fingerprints now before him exceeded the difficulty of typical challenging prints. ¡°Difficult fingerprints can often turn up surprises with a bit of Photoshop. PS, as we call it, is crucial in our criminal investigations for ensuring the uracy of images. Any modifications must follow a set of rules.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, most of his attention remained on operating the software. Hands-on traininges first, followed by exnation. Chen Wenming straightened his back, watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations for a while, and gradually, like Cao Keyang beside him, he rxed into a reclined position. Some things you perceive differently when viewed from another angle, which affects both your mood and sense of achievement. For instance, Cao Keyang at first watched stiff-back and felt extremely ufortable. Once hey down, it became much morefortable. Cao Keyang¡¯s suppressed emotions had all been released, and at some point, his face even took on a light smile. ¡°Everyone seems to be enjoying this quite a bit.¡± Chen Wenming nced around at all the forensic investigators t on their backs and couldn¡¯t help but sigh out of helplessness. The overwhelmingly advanced techniques significantly dampened everyone¡¯s enthusiasm for learning. A forensic investigator from the district bureau overheard Chen Wenming and disagreed, suggesting as he looked at the projection, ¡°Chief Chen, you need to look at it from a different perspective, and then you¡¯ll find it interesting.¡± ¡°What perspective?¡± ¡°Well, for example, I never knew fingerprint identification could reach this level. It¡¯s like a godly skill,¡± the district bureau¡¯s investigator, who was just a bit younger than Chen Wenming, said calmly. Chen Wenming still shook his head, replying, ¡°Dragon-ying technique.¡± Another forensic investigator, unconcerned, added, ¡°As long as it¡¯s cool, that¡¯s all that matters. Next time my nephew asks what I do all day, I¡¯ll actually have something impressive to brag about. It¡¯s not like you can be the hotshot you see on TV all the time; in reality, you¡¯re nothing special.¡± Cao Keyang nodded in agreement. In his heart, he naturally hoped to be such an identification expert, but such sentiments were unsuitable to voice, especially in front of colleagues and particrly not in front of a minor superior. Even if he couldn¡¯t achieve it himself, bragging about a colleague could also be a source of joy. Jiang Yuan was now considered one of their colleagues. Chen Wenming was even more aware of how difficult it was to learn fingerprint identification skills of Jiang Yuan¡¯s caliber. Photoshop skills were equally tedious and boring, requiring knowledge of mathematics and other rted subjects in thetter stages. Thus, Chen Wenming sighed again: ¡°To think that we¡¯ve arranged a half-day training session only to end up admiring his coolness.¡± ¡°There are plenty of training opportunities, no, I mean learning opportunities. That¡¯s what training is all about,¡± another forensic investigator whispered, joining the discussion. Up on the lectern, everyone wasn¡¯t really focusing on the specific technical details anymore. Some things, if you don¡¯t get them during the first lesson, don¡¯t expect to catch up in the second. However, when it came to the methods and extent achievable by advanced fingerprint identification, the crowd was still keenly interested. So now, the spectator seats were filled with more whispers and quiet conversations, and the smiles on everyone¡¯s faces had multiplied. Seeing the forensic investigators beside him opposing his view, Chen Wenming had nothing more to say. In fact, discussing the cutting-edge capabilities of a technology and its boundaries is a form of training in itself. Take fingerprinting technology, for instance. Now that it¡¯s possible to extract prints from clothing and bedsheets, it¡¯s crucial tomunicate these abilities to the frontline police officers. Otherwise, what¡¯s the use of having this research done only within theb? Simrly, training sessions for fingerprint collection are conducted by various levels of units every year. The aim is to reinforce training and raise the grassroots¡¯ awareness to perform better and do more. The expansion of the frontiers of DNA is even more obvious. In earlier years, DNA profiling was limited to blood, saliva, bodily tissues, and semen. Many ces began to promote the use of sweat around 2008. A decadeter, the updated knowledge for the police on the ground was that any spot touched by a suspect was worth trying. Today¡¯s training was originally intended as a session on fingerprint identification, which is why the first lesson was so disheartening. However, by the second lesson, more and more people began to treat it as a cutting-edge lecture, which turned out to be fantastic. After all, those who oftene to give cutting-edge lectures aren¡¯t usually cutting-edge themselves. And what Jiang Yuan showcased today, in the eyes of the criminal police specializing in trace evidence, could be called nothing less than beautiful. ¡°Alright, after processing it like this, let¡¯s run it again,¡± Jiang Yuanmented on the processed fingerprint image. Some of the forensic officers in the front row couldn¡¯t help butugh: ¡°It doesn¡¯t look anything like it anymore.¡± ¡°In fact, it¡¯s the exact same image; this can be directly proven. If the suspect¡¯swyer raises this point, we can conduct a criminal investigation certification¡­ Should we do it? It might take about ten minutes¡­¡± Jiang Yuan was courteous, always attentive to anyments and ready to respond. But the forensic officer in the front waved his hand: ¡°Don¡¯t mind me, just follow your own teaching outline.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really have a teaching outline, but seeing that this forensic officer wasn¡¯t particrly interested, he continued, ¡°Then I¡¯ll carry on. Now, it¡¯s a matter of marking the characteristic points again, and this time, we should still choose a smaller area¡­¡± ¡°As for which area to choose specifically, my advice is to judge based on the shape of the fingerprint.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve already uncovered two cases, with two sets of fingerprints for reference. From this, we can actually discern some of his habits of hand use.¡± ¡°Right, here we can actually apply a bit of the mindset used in footprint identification¡­¡± Jiang Yuan briefly mentioned this point, without borating further. After all, today¡¯s lecture was about fingerprint identification; it was best not to stray off topic. Chen Wenming couldn¡¯t help but sit up straight. In his usual fingerprint work, he indeed applied the mindset used in footprint analysis. It was a natural choice; humans have 10 fingers¡ªnormally¡ªand when using them, there are habitual movements, different maniption techniques, including preferences for using the left or right hand, using one finger or two, favoring the index and middle finger or the middle finger and ring finger, etc. However, unlike the development of footprint analysis, there are no standards and rules when ites to usage habits in fingerprinting. Everyone is figuring it out on their own. Chen Wenming was also figuring it out, but he didn¡¯t have many opportunities to apply it. At this moment, he really wanted to hear what Jiang Yuan had to say. Although the art of ying dragons was in a state where there were no dragons to y, he believed that absorbing the essence of that art would be excellent for ughtering cows and sheep. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue on the subject of the mindset used in analyzing footprints from fingerprints. Because the characteristic points of the fingerprints had already been marked, once they were sent back to the fingerprint database, the new results came back quickly. ¡°Look, after processing it this way andparing it with the existing fingerprints, the resultse out quickly, because it¡¯s a value assignment process. After processing with Photoshop, its value assignment can be significantly improved¡­¡± Jiang Yuan began to exin the key points. The forensic officers below were already anxious, with some shouting, ¡°Call first, call first!¡± ¡°I¡¯m dialing right now.¡± Jiang Yuan took out a cell phone from under the table, then added, ¡°No rush, the person is in jail.¡± After dialing and reporting the situation, the brigademander of the Miaohexian Criminal Police expressed his heartfelt thanks and happiness. Even if the suspect was in prison, the case was considered solved. Moreover, the suspect had to continue to be prosecuted and more charges would be added, saving the time and effort of a capture. Jiang Yuan also suggested to keep digging into the case, then he hung up the phone. The forensic officers in the audience listened with rapt attention. Especially thest part felt like a dream. Typically, brigademanders at the criminal police would chew up both the suggestion and the one who made it, spitting them out together. Jiang Yuan was somewhat used to the courtesy of brigademanders from other counties, but seeing everyone¡¯s expressions, he quickly adopted a more serious demeanor and said, ¡°Let¡¯s continue with the course¡­¡± ¡­ The vibration of a cell phone sounded out. Jiang Yuan nced at it and quickly exined, ¡°It¡¯s a call from Miao He County; I don¡¯t know if there¡¯s an emergency, I¡¯ll take it.¡± After saying that, Jiang Yuan answered the call. Over the earphone, the voice of the Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigademander was deafening: ¡°Jiang Yuan, thank you so much, we¡¯ve caught him.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great, congrattions to you.¡± ¡°It¡¯s congrattions to us. This case owes a lot to you for bringing a dead case back to life.¡± ¡°Has the suspect confessed?¡± ¡°Not yet, but it should be soon. We found some evidence at his home, so even without his confession, we are okay. It¡¯s just a matter of time,¡± the Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigademander exchanged pleasantries, and it took a while before he hung up. Turning around, he saw a room full of forensic officers with gleaming eyes. The long-lost passion was surging once again, as each of them fantasized about being the one making the call. Chapter 178 - 178 170 Swift and Decisive ?178: Chapter 170: Swift and Decisive 178: Chapter 170: Swift and Decisive ¡°That¡¯s it for today,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the time and announced, smiling as he stood up. p p p. With someone leading, the few dozen people in the audience all began to p vigorously. Training sessions aremonce, especially within the civil service system, where the number has increased over the years. However, sessions that truly leave an impression, even those that are enjoyed, are rare. The participants are all adults who can judge for themselves whether the trainer has substance and whether they are teaching with dedication. The training conducted by Jiang Yuan is in stark contrast to the ¡°guaranteed to learn¡± concept, but the impression it left was more profound than that. On the other hand, it also left a considerable impression on everyone about Jiang Yuan. Chen Wenming hesitated for a moment, unsure whether or not to chat with Jiang Yuan about the philosophy of fingerprint trails, when he saw Cao Keyang eagerly rushing over. ¡°Jiang, let me help you with your things,¡± Cao Keyang offered proactively, helping Jiang Yuan gather up his notebookputer and other items. ¡°Thank you for that,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, epting the help without ceremony since he did indeed have a lot to carry and it would be cumbersome on his own. ¡°Are we going to wander around the bureau or take a break?¡± Cao Keyang followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s footsteps, looking every bit the overgrown sidekick. Even though Cao Keyang didn¡¯t quite understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprinting work, that didn¡¯t stop him from thinking it was cool. If the fingerprinting was that cool, the man himself seemed to shine even brighter. This was the first time Jiang Yuan had conducted training for such arge group, and now that the tension had passed, he felt much more rxed. He smiled and said, ¡°If it¡¯s okay, I¡¯d like to put my things down first¡­¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Cao Keyang replied immediately, apanying Jiang Yuan along the way. Finding conversation topics among detectives is supremely easy; if you¡¯re at a loss for words, just start with some case. If discussing your own cases feels awkward, then talk about a well-known case. If you want to make it personal, detectives from different areas can talk about theirpensation and ie. This topic typically elicits dissatisfaction andment. If that¡¯s still not enough, then the conversation can turn to overwork and workload, guaranteeing a full spectrum of bitter-sweetmiseration. ¡­ Evening. Cao Keyang extended another dinner invitation to Jiang Yuan. ording to Qinghe Bureau¡¯s arrangement, someone like Jiang Yuan, who just came to conduct a single training session, could head back in the afternoon. Dinner and lodging expenses could be saved, a way to cut down on all forms of official expenditure. Cao Keyang and a few trace examiners from other regions wanted to keep Jiang Yuan around for a while longer, training aside. Everyone mostly wanted to get closer to an expert like Jiang Yuan, who could match fingerprints at a crime scene. Jiang Yuan was quite willing and brought along a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes for the asion. Working at the county bureau meant frequent interactions with the city bureau, especially for forensic doctors who often received support from city officials in homicide cases. Some city bureaus even require county forensic doctors to provide assistance with homicides that ur within city jurisdiction. Although Qinghe Bureau hadn¡¯t reached that point due tock of manpower and funds, the trend was heading in that direction. Before departing, not only did Wu Jun and Wei Zhenguo give Jiang Yuan various reminders, but Jiang Fuzhen also stuffed several packs of Zhonghua into Jiang Yuan¡¯s car. When Jiang Yuan arrived at the small restaurant agreed upon by the group, he opened three packs of the Zhonghua he¡¯d brought and ced them on the table, saying, ¡°Help yourselves.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too polite, Jiang Yuan,¡± Cao Keyang said, somewhat embarrassed since he was the one who had invited everyone. ¡°It¡¯s from Jiang Vige,¡± Jiang Yuan exined adequately. That made everyone rx immediately. ¡°You should have said so earlier¡­¡± ¡°Jiang Vige People still need to work.¡± ¡°Smoking Zhonghua does seem a bit wasteful.¡± Talking as they were, the group finally settled down at the table. The dishes came one after another. Cao Keyang brought up, ¡°We have a case¡­ We would like to ask Doctor Jiang for assistance.¡± ¡°A current case?¡± Jiang Yuan inquired. ¡°Yes, fingerprints from a current case. We haven¡¯t consulted any other experts yet,¡± Cao Keyang rified, understanding what Jiang Yuan meant and ryed all necessary information. What they were engaging in now was simr to what Huang Qiangmin and others had done before, which was to seek experts when in doubt. Compared to seeking help through the official channels such as the provincial fingerprint department, using personal connections to approach experts simplifies the process significantly. Moreover, it allows for choosing better experts. Experts like Jiang Yuan, who had made a name for themselves in the provincial fingerprint campaign, were undoubtedly the best choice. For experts, factors such as being the first choice and whether it¡¯s a current case are also important considerations. The difficulty of being the first choice for a current case is usually lower, and it¡¯s also easier to agree to assist. After all, fingerprints that the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s trace examiners couldn¡¯t solve would surely be of a lesser degree of difficultypared to those encountered during the fingerprint campaign. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have any ¡°expert baggage¡± and simply stated, ¡°I can take a look, but whether I can make a match, I cannot guarantee.¡± ¡°Of course, of course,¡± Cao Keyang immediately agreed and then hesitantly nced at the cigarettes on the table, adding, ¡°Actually, it should have been us hosting¡­¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you already hosting?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and offered cigarettes to Cao Keyang and the others. ¡°Wow, people from Jiang Vige really are too kind.¡± ¡°Jiang Vige produces talents, indeed.¡± The atmosphere at the table became exceedingly harmonious for a while. Having secured an expert, Cao Keyang and the others felt as if a weight had been lifted from their chests. The conversation then shifted to lighter topics: ¡°There was a murder and arson case today, it seems quite challenging¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s ears perked up at once. Murder cases, for a forensic doctor in a small county town, didn¡¯t ur more than twice a year. The frequency of urrences in Qinghe City was definitely higher, but murder apanied by arson was still assumed to be rare. ¡°Was it murder first, then arson?¡± Jiang Yuan asked with curiosity. ¡°It seems to be the case. The crime scene was severely damaged. Since it was a self-built house, even the beams had copsed from the fire, and the bloodstains, footprints were greatlypromised,¡± Cao Keyang, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest, borated a bit without going into specifics. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. In modern criminal investigation, there are numerous methods, from footprints and fingerprints to DNA, as well as trace evidence, etc., making it so that premeditated murders are often easier to solve than crimes of passion. However, arson generally increases the difficulty of the investigation. As Cao Keyang had just described, arson results in the destruction of abundant evidence at the scene, creatingplications for both crime scene analysis and forensic medicine. Of course, arson also leaves behind new evidence, though it¡¯s not always usable. ¡°In our department, it¡¯s Forensic Doctor Wang Lan, right?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Yes. Doctor Wang is our department¡¯s forensic doctor. The case should be handled by the district bureau. Doctor Wang might also provide support there,¡± Cao Keyang, interpreting Jiang Yuan¡¯s intent, replied with a smile, ¡°Do you want to participate, or just take a look?¡± ¡°If I can participate, that would be best,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°My profession is as a forensic doctor, after all; it¡¯s not often that Ie across a case like this.¡± ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll make a call; there shouldn¡¯t be any problem. Forensic doctors are in such short supply these days.¡± Cao Keyang said and stepped out of the private room with his phone. Shortly after, Cao Keyang came back, smiling: ¡°Medical Examiner Wang Lan agreed immediately upon hearing it¡¯s you. When do you n to go?¡± ¡°Since we¡¯ve agreed, let¡¯s go now,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up straight away and asked, ¡°Is the body still at the scene, or has it been taken back?¡± ¡°The body is at the morgue,¡± Cao Keyang replied. ¡°Doctor Wang and the others were getting ready for the autopsy; shall I ask them to wait for you?¡± ¡°That might not be appropriate,¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated. ¡°Getting the family¡¯s consent will take a while anyway, so why don¡¯t we head to the car first, and I can call Doctor Wang en route. It¡¯ll take less than half an hour to get there.¡± Cao Keyang was swift to act, picking up his phone and jacket to leave. Chapter 179 - 179 171 Carbonization ?179: Chapter 171 Carbonization 179: Chapter 171 Carbonization Cao Keyangmunicated with Medical Examiner Wang Lan and the local criminal police captain during which Jiang Yuan also sent a message to Captain Huang Qiangmin, expressing his desire to stay in Qinghe City for a few days of training. Since it was already evening and it wasn¡¯t his own case, Jiang Yuan felt it wasn¡¯t appropriate to make a phone call. As a result, just a few minutes after his text message was sent, a call from Huang Qiangmin buzzed in. ¡°Who¡¯s been filling your head with nonsense?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was precise yet energetic, reminiscent of the beginning stages of interrogating a criminal, ready to switch to offense or defense at any moment. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t exactly¡­ intimidated by him, he chuckled first, then said, ¡°I¡¯ve never dealt with a body burned after a murder; I want to go see for myself.¡± To hear such a response, Huang Qiangmin was slightly frustrated, feeling like his naive boy had not been lured away by someone else, he advised earnestly, ¡°They¡¯re calling you over to do unpaid work. There are so many types of bodies, do you need to see them all?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what a forensic doctor does?¡± Jiang Yuan muttered quietly. ¡°You don¡¯t need to do a forensic doctor¡¯s work to do well; you shouldn¡¯t deliberately pursue this,¡± Huang Qiangmin said insincerely. Normally, he always demanded perfection from his subordinates. However, words like these were like a night pot, only taken out for use when needed. Everyone¡¯s working hard, and Huang Qiangmin himself had work to do. He was essentially amanding detective with a broad reach, seeming not to do much but ultimately ying the most critical role¡ªjust like a pig. As for Jiang Yuan, he was like a versatile horse, slightly out of his league in the rural county environment. Therefore, Huang Qiangmin emphasized, ¡°Don¡¯t let others take advantage of you; working for free is a loss.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and nced at Cao Keyang, who was making a call beside him. He slightly leaned away and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m just broadening my experience; working is just that, nothing more.¡± ¡°What experience to broaden? Haven¡¯t you seen enough bodies that were burned after being killed?¡± Huang Qiangmin said irritably, ¡°Come back, and I¡¯ll get you a whole roastedmb.¡± Jiang Yuan gave a sheepishugh and tried to reassure Captain Huang before hanging up the phone, adding, ¡°The condition of internal organs in burned bodies is also quite important. I¡¯m hanging up now.¡± A hundred kilometers away, Huang Qiangmin clutched his phone, his face filled with gloom. The big bluffers of Qinghe City! ¡­ The autopsy in Qinghe City was also conducted at the funeral home. The rules were set by the municipal bureau, with nothing particrly novel¡ªof course, the quality of the morgue refrigerators was still a requirement. The mostmendable aspect of the funeral home was its environment. The floors were usually clean and well-maintained. ces frequently traversed by humans were often carefully and meticulously cleaned. Not only did the funeral home staff perform detailed work, but the visitors¡¯ quality was also very high; littering was rare, and many who came to pay their respects would diligently clean their family¡¯s plot and even the public areas afterward. Dense groves of ancient trees were amon feature in the funeral home and were usually tall and robust, shading therge open spaces below, ensuring that even at noon, visitors could enjoy a cool respite. As evening approached and the visitors had left, even the canteen and snack stand workers had finished their shifts. Cao Keyang, taking Jiang Yuan alongside him, headed for the parking lot and then walked to the autopsy room. It was still the same chilly underground room with the highest level of coolness. There were even howling winds in the corridor. ¡°Here we are.¡± Wang Lan greeted them at the door as soon as she heard noises. She was thin and gaunt, resembling a starving viger. If not for her bright eyes, in a ce like a funeral home, she could easily be mistaken for someone else. ¡°Doctor Wang, thank you for your trouble,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he approached. Wang Lan replied with a smile, ¡°There¡¯s no trouble at all; I¡¯m happier to have someone willing to help. Oh, this is Niu Tong Niu, the Forensic Doctor from our district bureau.¡± Jiang Yuan noticed a short and stout man standing on a stool next to the dissection table, beside the lean Medical Examiner Wang. After seeing so many forensic doctors, he oddly missed his master, Wu Jun. At least his master was somewhat normal. Niu Tang looked up at Jiang Yuan; he had heard about the young medical examiner with frequent des before his arrival. Without much expectation, he just made small talk, ¡°I¡¯ve met Wu Jun a few times; Old Wu is about to retire, isn¡¯t he?¡± ¡°Master will retire in another two years,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Having an extra hand was certainly good. The district bureau in Qinghe also had positions for forensic assistants, which essentially meant unlicensed basicbor. Niu Tang, Wang Lan, and a forensic assistant performing an autopsy on a body together was rtively leisurely. But who could resist the help of another forensic doctor? After exchanging pleasantries, the group swiftly entered the autopsy room. Jiang Yuan was fully geared up as well, having brought some of his own equipment along. Cao Keyang felt a bit embarrassed to leave, mainly because he didn¡¯t want to part from Jiang Yuan. Considering theteness of the hour and the idea of crossing the eerie pathway lined with ancient trees back to the parking lot alone, he preferred to stay and face a charred corpse and several uniquely garbed living forensic doctors. The body was indeed somewhat charred. Described more professionally, it disyed extensive full-body carbonization. Inyman¡¯s terms, a ck, brittle crust had formed on the exterior. It was quite terrifying, something the average person couldn¡¯t handle. Looking at charred, fragrant roast meat is one thing, but a roasted human is another¡­ ¡°The limbs all show some degree of carbonization and loss, including the upper arm above the midsection of the left upper limb, the forearm of the right upper limb. Both lower limbs from mid-thigh down¡­¡± Medical Examiner Wang Lan stood on one side of the autopsy table and briefed Jiang Yuan on the situation. The body was so burned it was contorted. In other words, it was curled up like a shrimp. And so-called carbonization loss meant it was burned away. Putting it briefly, save for half of the left forearm, the remaining forearm and two legs were burned away; needless to say, there was no sign of the hands and feet. Such a body posed more difficulties in processing than a regr, intact corpse. However, oncepletely processed and the necessary information obtained, it meant that the killer had left behind another piece of information for the criminal investigators. Jiang Yuan observed that they had just straightened the body as around ity many ck carbon chunks, some still attached to bits of human tissue. Some parts were so brittle that they would crumble upon touch. Wang Lan maintained a calmer demeanor than both Jiang Yuan and Niu Tang Niu, disying the stoic calm of someone ustomed to handling mummies, and continued to inform Jiang Yuan: ¡°The body was found without any clothes, with the skin on the back rtively intact, devoid of any self-defensive postures¡­¡± ¡°There are wounds on the waist and abdomen, with characteristics of stab wounds from a sharp object.¡± ¡°The perineum is also carbonized. It¡¯s no longer possible to take a vaginal swab.¡± Listening to Medical Examiner Wang Lan¡¯s description, Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind gradually began to put together several questions and images. Now, with his mastery of Forensic Pathology LV4, Jiang Yuan faced a corpse but the information and deductions he could make were vastly different. But he wasn¡¯t the focus of the day nor in a hurry to conduct an autopsy himself. He followed the progress of Niu Tang Niu and Wang Lan, starting with an external examination of the body. The first step was to collect therger chunks of carbon that had fallen off into a basin. The second step, record the condition of the body from top to bottom: ¡°Forehead and facial area carbonized.¡± ¡°Facial carbonization with loss of material.¡± ¡°Skull carbonized.¡± What surprised Jiang Yuan the most was that the brain tissue of the corpse was exposed and appeared coagted. From this detail, one could actually discern the degree of charring. The temperature inside must have been just enough to burst the skull open, or perhaps another object, such as fragments from an explosion or simr, shattered the carbonized skull, and residual heat caused the leaking brain tissue to coagte. Jiang Yuan casually jotted down a few times in his notebook, still silent. The information he just deduced needed both confirmation and testing on the one hand, and on the other, it was most likely of no use. During an autopsy, a great deal of information can be gathered, but that doesn¡¯t mean all of it has to be shared. For instance, it¡¯s easy to determine during an autopsy if the body has gallstones, but unless it¡¯s a medical malpractice-rted autopsy, revealing this information may not be meaningful. Of course, if the deceased did in fact have serious gallstones, and someone imed to have shared a dinner with the deceased, indulging in arge bowl of twice-cooked pork, then it would be meaningful¡­ Lacking experience, Jiang Yuan just jotted down whatever came to mind. It wasn¡¯t until they reached the thoracic cavity during the autopsy that Jiang Yuan took special notice and stepped forward, pinching the lungs, ¡°It feels like holding snow.¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu, who was methodically conducting the autopsy, paused as well, pinching the lung and nodding, ¡°Indeed, there¡¯s a sensation akin to pinching wool.¡± The feeling of pinching wool and holding snow both were evidence of extra air present, meaning something simr. But in terms of the autopsy, it indicated one thing: the deceased likely didn¡¯t die from burning or from stab wounds! Chapter 180 - 180 172 Cause of Death ?180: Chapter 172: Cause of Death 180: Chapter 172: Cause of Death The cause of death in a deceased person is a very serious topic for a forensic doctor. Forensic pathology, the entire book talks just about this matter. Courts also ce extreme importance on the cause of death. Like in today¡¯s case, if the death is caused by arson, which means the victim died from the arson but was not the target, it could result in a life sentence. But if the death is due to murder followed by arson to burn the body, this constitutes an aggravating circumstance, and it¡¯s usually the death penalty. On the other hand, if someone is identally killed in a fire or if after the murder, someone else sets the fire leading to the body being burned, then it might again be possible to receive a life sentence. Niu Tang, who usually conducted the autopsies, looked somber as well. Murder followed by burning is quite amon scenario. To escape punishment, perpetrators often employ various methods to destroy and eliminate evidence. But the abdomen being stabbed so many times and the lungs having a sensation of twisting¡­ These are two distinctly different causes of death. The sensation of twisting in the lungs, or in other words, the grasp of snow, generally indicates something rted to suffocation. Niu Tang hesitated not a bit and sliced off a piece of lung tissue. A pink frothy liquid flowed out. This further proved that death was very likely rted to suffocation. So, did the victim get stabbed in the abdomen, be unconscious from the injuries, and then die from smoke inhtion? Niu Tang¡¯s gaze involuntarily moved to the throat area of the body. It¡¯s well-known that a body that dies from smoke inhtion has three characteristics. First, the airway and oral cavity might be burned by the high-temperature smoke. Second, the eyes are usually closed. Third, the level of carboxyhemoglobin saturation is high. The first characteristic is easy to understand. The second one is also easy to understand: the irritants in the smoke are so severe that at a lethal level, in the middle of the smoke, one would inevitably close their eyes. The third characteristic, high carboxyhemoglobin saturation, is actually an indicator of carbon monoxide poisoning. In normal people, this indicator is usually negative; smokers may have an index between 0.02 and 0.04. But if one is poisoned by carbon monoxide in smoke, then the carboxyhemoglobin saturation index would soar above 20%. However, whether the eyes are open or closed is not easy to verify. Because a person¡¯s eyelids can be closed after death, like in cases where a man cries hard at a fire scene and closes his brother¡¯s eyes, such acts invite suspicion that the brother was strangled to death and the cause of death covered up. Carboxyhemoglobin saturation needs to be confirmed by toxicological testing. Normally, the most direct method for a forensic doctor is to cut open the airway and take a look. But the tissue on the chest of the deceased, including the throat that was carbonized, was already burned away. Niu Tang made an incision and could not distinguish anything, so he did not continue cutting. ¡°Should we take heart blood for testing?¡± Jiang Yuan asked politely. ¡°Hmm¡­ yes.¡± Niu Tang¡¯s reaction was even slower than Jiang Yuan¡¯s. Taking heart blood is for toxicological testing. Jiang Yuan again volunteered: ¡°Shall I do it?¡± He was here to gain experience, after all, and couldn¡¯t just linger on the sidelines the whole time. Niu Tang paused for a moment then stepped aside to give Jiang Yuan space. Jiang Yuan took heart blood and also collected stomach contents. Toxicological testing mainly involves these two areas. One represents what¡¯s in your blood; the other shows what¡¯s in your stomach. After the sampling was done, Jiang Yuan made a feint with the knife towards the abdominal cavity and asked, ¡°Shall we search?¡± Wang Lan and Niu Tang, still in a daze, muttered softly, ¡°Let¡¯s search then.¡± Without needing to rify what to search for, the three forensic doctors began looking together. ¡°No blood clots.¡± ¡°The stomach was punctured, but there are no blood clots and no carbonization.¡± ¡°Same here in the lower abdomen, no carbonization.¡± Everyone naturally pointed out the key findings. If blood vessels were punctured before death, there would be bleeding because the heart was pumping blood out. If blood vessels were punctured after death, there would be no bleeding since the heart had already stopped beating. One reason you can¡¯t get exsanguinated pork in Europe and America, aside from economic factors and habits, is that exsanguinated pork requires the pig to bleed while it¡¯s still alive, which is greatly frowned upon in Western etiquette. And if there are no blood clots in the abdomen, it indicates the blood vessels were punctured after death, or¡­ Theoretically, blood clots can also be burned away by mes. Saying there is no carbonization in the stomach and lower abdomen reduces the likelihood of subsequent possibilities. ¡°Looking at it this way, the likelihood of death by toxic suffocation or mechanical asphyxiation is quite high, and then the corpse was stabbed so many times afterward¡­¡± Niu Tang couldn¡¯t help shaking his head. Jiang Yuan gestured to the positions of the stab wounds and said, ¡°It could have been someone familiar whomitted the act, afraid of being recognized, so they stabbed the body further.¡± ¡°Very likely.¡± Niu Tang got excited and said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll make a phone call first.¡± The cause of death had basically been discovered. The detailed situation still depended on the toxicology report, but the stabs in the abdomen were inflicted postmortem, a fact that greatly impacted the investigation of the case. It was necessary to inform those on the front line first. After Niu Tang cleaned his hands, made the phone call, and put his gloves back on, he saw Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan meticulously examining the extracted heart. ¡°Any findings?¡± Niu Tang hurriedly stepped onto his footstool to join them. ¡°There¡¯s some petechial hemorrhaging,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Evidence of asphyxiation,¡± Niu Tang nodded. Asphyxiation can lead to hypoxemic symptoms, which can result in such dotted hemorrhages on the surfaces of multiple internal organs. This was the case with the victim¡¯s heart. Nevertheless, to still notice petechial hemorrhaging, given the state of the body today, was no easy feat. The thoracic cavity was almostpletely burned through. If the fire had been extinguished a bit slower, and the house had been entirely consumed, the heart would probably also have been burned through. ¡°Jiang Yuan has quite a sharp eye,¡± Niu Tang said with admiration. Wang Lan looked up, shaking her head to ease the difort in her neck, and added, ¡°Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t just have a sharp eye; he spotted the hemorrhaging on the surfaces of the internal organs. He even checked the liver and kidneys carefully. The hemorrhaging on the heart can also be detected, it¡¯s almost baked dry.¡± ¡°Doctor Jiang is capable indeed,¡± Niu Tang nodded his head in approval. Knowledge is written in books, but being able to apply it suitably and appropriately at the right time is no simple feat¡ªNiu Tang¡¯s evaluation of Jiang Yuan had risen from that of a young neer to a notch higher. ¡°Let¡¯s finish up here; Captain Lei Xin wille over to take a look in a bit,¡± Niu Tang said, then continued to energetically dissect. Trace evidence investigator Cao Keyang was helping to the point of feeling nauseated, sighed, and asked, ¡°Your Captain Lei ising over now? In the middle of the night?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t sleep at night anyway, so it¡¯s no big deal,¡± Niu Tangcked any concern for his superior¡¯s well-being. Jiang Yuan, Wang Lan, Cao Keyang, and the forensic assistant all nodded in agreement. The atmosphere in the autopsy room warmed up because of this. An hourter, Lei Xin, the captain of the criminal police squad in Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District, ran over. ¡°Doctor Jiang, you¡¯ve worked hard,¡± he said. Qinghe City is divided into three districts, with Qianjin District being part of the old city. The district¡¯s criminal police squad is on the same level as that of Ningtai County. This was a slightly skinny detective, with yellowing hands and teeth, the kind who clearly only works with his mind and not with his hands. Upon entering, Lei Xin first courteously greeted Jiang Yuan and then offered cigarettes to the others. Jiang Yuan replied with a ¡°no problem¡± and epted the cigarette to light it up. Attentiveness in times of need is definitely aimed at getting something done. Taking advantage of the case to get acquainted, Lei Xin continued, ¡°Doctor Jiang, Doctor Wang, Niu Tang, may I introduce the details of the case?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Lei Xin carefully chose his words and said, ¡°To put it briefly, what happened is¡­ this afternoon, or rather yesterday afternoon, a private residence in our district caught fire. After extinguishing the fire, we found this female corpse¡­ We¡¯ve done a DNAparison on the body, and I¡¯ve just received the results.¡± ¡°The victim¡¯s name is Zhang Ying, 22 years old, unmarried. She was renting a ce here. The situation at the scene shows the victim lying on the bed inside the house, undressed, so there¡¯s a possibility of burry and rape.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a self-built house in a vige within the city, withplex human traffic and few security cameras.¡± ¡°We are currently investigating Zhang Ying¡¯s social rtions. She worked in a shopping mall, at a L¡¯Or¨¦al counter, and it seems she didn¡¯t have any particrly good rtions with her colleagues. Her parents also don¡¯t know much about their daughter¡¯s social circle¡­¡± After summarizing, Lei Xin then asked, ¡°Doctor Jiang, would you have time to examine the scene?¡± Jiang Yuan was not opposed but said, scratching his head, ¡°The site of an arson case wouldn¡¯t have much evidence left, right?¡± He had previously worked on arson cases involving fingerprints, which was quite challenging. Lei Xin didn¡¯t shy away from the issue, replying, ¡°The scene investigation didn¡¯t turn up much evidence. And now, if we don¡¯t find evidence like seminal fluid on the body, even if we find someone, it¡¯s likely we¡¯llck physical evidence.¡± ¡°The weapon?¡± ¡°The weapon was found lying in front of the ignition point, a chef¡¯s knife, the kind used in Western kitchens, part of a kitchen set with five pieces in a wooden box. Its exterior was also burned to ruin.¡± Lei Xin was attempting to cozy up, but the issues he faced were genuinely difficult. Speaking partly in earnest, partly in jest, Lei Xinined, ¡°Our current inquiry hasn¡¯t yielded any results yet, and even if it does, I¡¯ll still need to worry about the issue of physical evidence. The requirements for solving murder cases are getting higher and higher; without DNA evidence, without strong physical proof, prosecutors willin.¡± Wang Lan, empathizing deeply, nodded and said, ¡°The CSI effect.¡± The CSI effect refers to how the general public¡¯s expectations of forensic science have been quietly raised by watching too many TV shows, movies, and reality programs about forensic science. In countries like Europe and America, the CSI effect is manifested in jurors¡¯ demands for physical evidence and their raised expectations, such as the call for more DNA testing and the use of the most advanced technology possible. In domestic settings, the CSI effect is more often seen among leadership figures. This is especially true for leaders who do note from a professional background, or higher-ranking leaders. When they ask about ¡°physical evidence¡± in a case, it¡¯s impossible for criminal investigators not to feel pressurized. In some respects, this is actually progress. After all, leaders who demand ¡°physical evidence¡± rather than ¡°confessions¡± seem to be more scientifically minded. For grass-roots leaders like Lei Xin, however, various aspects have to be considered. Chapter 181 - 181 173 The House Collapses ?181: Chapter 173 The House Copses 181: Chapter 173 The House Copses After speaking with Captain Lei Xin, having nearly finished a pack of cigarettes, several forensic doctors dressed neatly once more and continued the autopsy. Lei Xin had intended to help but finding no space for himself, he stood to one side, found a step to stand on, and continued to watch. Now Cao Keyang hadpany. An arson-burned corpse was unlike a normal autopsy. In a normal autopsy, if only a part needed to be done, it would almost be finished in two to three hours, while a slightly moreplex one might take four to five hours. But with the body now incinerated, the amount of information to be gained was far too little, necessitating a more detailed dissection. Lei Xin¡¯s special trip here was partly motivated by this consideration. The evidence left at the scene was nearly non-existent; what could be used probably amounted to nothing. Although the body was horribly burnt, it could still hold some evidence, albeit little. Lei Xin was now hoping the cause of asphyxiation was poisoning¡ªif they could identify the type of poison, it would be an excellent piece of evidence. Jiang Yuan once again took a supporting role but was still diligent in his search. As the local forensic doctor, Niu Tang was seriously conscientious, examining the abdominal and pelvic cavities before scrutizing each limb inch by inch. Everyone knew that what they could hope for now were some minor findings. Jiang Yuan¡¯s tall stature soon had him bending over in difort; during a break, he saw a bright spark falling out of the chest cavity of the corpse. Looking left and right, Jiang Yuan reached out and picked up the bright object. Zhang Ying¡¯s Legacy¡ªFashion Clothing (LV2): The dazzlingplexity of the big city had a profound impact on Zhang Ying, who came from a smaller ce. Those attractive clothes, which represented individuality, culture, and art, repeatedly tempted Zhang Ying, causing her to linger and indulge. The beautiful clothing also gave Zhang Ying unprecedented confidence. For a time, she even caught the tail end of pop culture, gaining an audience that appreciated and admired her. Though, upon returning to the small city, Zhang Ying gradually lost her knack for fashion, she remained a trendsetter in Qinghe City. LV2 signifies a high-level professional in a city. Zhang Ying¡¯s legacy appeared to be on the higher end of LV2. But, how could a skill like Fashion Clothing be used? Could it be used to determine a corpse¡¯s identity and origin based on its clothing? With that thought, Jiang Yuan looked back at the body. The charred and curled corpse, which had been naked before the fire, was also a pitiable sight. The autopsy was finallypleted by the dim light of dawn. Niu Tang still had to write the autopsy report, while Wang Lan, Jiang Yuan, Cao Keyang, and Lei Xin left in a car to rest separately. More precisely, the first three rested while Captain Lei Xin continued to boost morale elsewhere. The next day at noon. Having woken from a long sleep, Jiang Yuan figured that all the reports should be ready by then and tidied up before heading to the Criminal Police Team. He was dressed inpletely new clothes. Still in his shining, cool police uniform, he looked very handsome and upright. Although he had acquired a new skill, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t keen on changing too much. As soon as he entered the main entrance, Jiang Yuan sensed the thick and heavy atmosphere. It was like smoked bacon¡ªonce you smelled it, you knew what was for dinner. The expressions and gestures of the police officers around conveyed to Jiang Yuan that the case remained unsolved, still riddled with difficulties, and the clues had run dry. Entering the office, the atmosphere persisted. Several officers looking as worn as cured bacon huddled together, discussing in low tones about matters probably more significant than garlic sprouts. ¡°Doctor Wang, Chief Medical Examiner Niu,¡± Jiang Yuan approached the corner desk, a rtively flexible work station meant for visiting detectives like Wang Lan. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± Wang Lan nodded, her gaze still sharp but showing signs of exhaustion. People over forty aren¡¯t usually cut out for consecutive all-nighters. Yet, this ismon for police officers, especially detectives in the criminal police team, who are on standby for major cases and consider gastrointestinal medicine a necessity. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Are the toxicology results out? Anything?¡± ¡°Common poisons all turned up negative,¡± Niu Tang answered. Toxicology testing is specific. Typically, you test for one poison at a time, meaning you don¡¯t simply insert a sample and receive all results from a single machine. For simpler cases, such as testing for cyanide, you can use phenolphthalein test paper, which is pretty much like a high school chemistryb. As for solid-phase extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, and other methods, they each have theirplexities. So, ack of toxicology results doesn¡¯t mean the deceased wasn¡¯t poisoned¡ªonly thatmon poisons weren¡¯t detected. A case like the famous Fudan University poisoning incident would require a separate test for dimethyl nitrosamine¡ªonly if the results were positive could the type of poison be confirmed. There are probably around 600,000 simr toxic chemicals harmful to humans. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, ¡°So we¡¯ll have to go back to looking at personal rtionships?¡± With virtually no physical evidence, they had to revert to the old methods used by seasoned detectives. No wonder several veteran detectives were eagerly discussing the case with grim expressions. Wang Lan merely grunted in response, saying, ¡°The ideal scenario would be a crime of passion stemming from a romantic rtionship. If that¡¯s the case, the difficulty lies in the interrogation, to see if the suspect will confess without any physical evidence.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Jiang Yuan and Niu Tang nodded together. ¡°If it turned out to be a case of burry or robbery that escted into murder, then it would be troublesome.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± This was all straightforward deduction, not particrly challenging, but the conclusions drawn were somewhat hard to swallow. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Aren¡¯t there any security cameras around? Even if they¡¯re a bit further away, like at the intersections, they might help.¡± ¡°The urban viges around here are quiteplicated; even if there are cameras, they¡¯re mostly broken,¡± Doctor Wang said. Jiang Yuan understood and had no intention of ming another city for its public security management problems, as issues with urban viges weremon. He only thought about installing more cameras back in Jiang Vige afterwards. Random crimes have always been a challenge. Theft and robbery are difficult to solve precisely because of their randomness ¡ª anyone can be a target. That means the methods for solving such crimes are very limited. The Zhang Ying case was the same. If it turned out to be a random act, the next step would be to seriously consider whether it could be linked to other cases. If it couldn¡¯t be linked to any other cases, relying solely on the evidence from this case would be insufficient for conviction, let alone for solving the case. The pressure in the office was quite palpable, for that reason. When a case was utterly beyond control, the mood of the police in charge of the investigation inevitably suffered. Several veteran detectives finished their discussion and quickly left the office. After a while, Lei Xin entered the main office. After exchanging greetings, Lei Xin came over to the corner where the three forensic doctors were located, greeted them, and gave them an update on thetest developments, ¡°The victim, Zhang Ying, had ratherplex social rtionships and knew quite a lot of people.¡± Medical Examiner Wang Lan asked, ¡°Did she have a boyfriend?¡± Lei Xin didn¡¯t keep them in suspense and said, ¡°Her family back home had arranged a fianc¨¦ for her, paying a bride price of 188,000. He even came to work in Qinghe City this year. The two of them seemed to have some conflicts; Zhang Ying didn¡¯t like him, and the man had gone to the mall to find her several times. He¡¯s suspect number one, and our people are already looking for him.¡± ¡°Suspect number two is Zhang Ying¡¯s boss, with whom she had an ambiguous rtionship, but he¡¯s married. We¡¯ve brought him in for questioning, but he doesn¡¯t seem very likely.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound severe enough to lead to murder¡­ Anything else?¡± Wang Lan pressed, scrutinizing Lei Xin. ¡°Zhang Ying was attractive and knew how to dress up. Somewhat domineering, she didn¡¯t get along well with her colleagues and had argued with customers too, although it was not severe. She also had a dispute with a courier over a delivery, and the courierpensated her with several hundred yuan,¡± Lei Xin exined with frustration. These were all normal social interactions and nothing out of the ordinary. He looked at Jiang Yuan, who was known for his thoroughness, and asked with good humor, ¡°Doctor Jiang, could you have a look at the scene, if you¡¯re free?¡± He was hoping to gather any clues he could. Jiang Yuan readily agreed. The autopsy he was most keen to perform waspleted, but the case wasn¡¯t over, and he knew he should still help where needed. Lei Xin quickly expressed his gratitude and then hurriedly left. Consequently, Jiang Yuan called for Medical Examiner Wang Lan and a criminal detective, and together they headed to the crime scene. After a real-life experience of the perpetrator returning to the crime scene, Jiang Yuan dared not take any chances. Even with two technicians, he didn¡¯t feel quite secure. During a crime scene investigation, technicians are entirely focused on the ground or objects and wouldn¡¯t notice if someone approached from behind. The safety factor wasn¡¯t high even with two technicians together. But the presence of a non-technical police officer made a significant difference¡ª even if he was just scrolling through short videos on his phone at the entrance, it was more reassuring than having an additional technician. The fire-damaged self-built house was dirty and ckened. The beams of the housey in the center of the room, and the walls were a crumbling mess, looking as if they had been through a war. ¡°The one who probably most wants to kill someone right now is thendlord,¡± remarked the detective who hade along, reluctant to enter the yard. As the saying goes, ¡°a house copsed by fire,¡± one couldn¡¯t step foot in the self-built house from the outside threshold without stumbling. At the entrance stood several idle onlookers, peering in curiously and refusing to leave despite being shooed away a few times. Only when the detective took out a notebook to record their IDs did they quickly scatter. Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan put on masks and shoe covers, and entered deeper into the house for a meticulous investigation. Two hourster, Jiang Yuan essentially dered the effort futile. It was impossible to find fingerprints, bloodstains, or footprints in the aftermath of the fire. No one could me the investigators for ack of effort. Even trace evidence was impossible to find in such an environment. Not only could biological materials change properties, butmon objects like fibers could not be preserved, and even metals could have oxidized. ¡°We can only hope that the evidence collected from the fire¡¯s origin can lead to some clues,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he collected some evidence, though he wasn¡¯t very confident. Just as they were stepping out and removing their gloves, the police officer at the door walked in briskly. ¡°Slow down, you¡¯re kicking up dust,¡± Wang Lan quickly warned, then asked, ¡°Is there new information?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a lead from Zhang Ying¡¯s hometown,¡± the officer replied, seemingly invigorated by the news, ¡°It turns out her family had negotiated another marriage for her, asking for a bride price of 288,000. They haven¡¯t returned the money from the previous suitor, and when our people got there, the three families were in the midst of a heated argument.¡± Chapter 182 - 182 174 The Weakling ?182: Chapter 174 The Weakling 182: Chapter 174 The Weakling The number one suspect had thergest suspicion. The criminal police who went to investigate did not hesitate to bring the person back. When the person was taken into custody, the atmosphere in the office visibly became more positive. Although there were still some risks associated with the long-distance escort, overall, the torture of the criminal police team seemed to have ended. Not just the detective squad, the mood both inside and outside the district bureau also lightened. If this had been an unresolved murder case, or even worse, if it had turned into a cold case, not a single police officer in the district would have had an easy time. Forget about clocking in and out on time or eating meals regrly¡ªIdeally, even hoping for enough time to take a dump was a luxury. If you disappeared for a bit too long, the squad leader¡¯s howling would only make constipation more likely. Ironically, not eating on time could also lead to constipation. In summary, not being able to quickly solve a homicide case was a test of every policeman¡¯s life. Just looking at how fiercely the e was breaking out on the girls¡¯ faces told you how difficult the case was. As for the distinction between office officers, and those in the field and in-house, that all became insignificant in the face of a murder case. In an environment where even the police dogs were called into action, how could there possibly be an easy post? Jiang Yuan finally had a day off, and in the evening, he got a shipment from his old man Jiang Fuzhen, including hand-torn beef jerky, braised beef shank, and many other boxes of delicacies. The meat, still warm after traveling over a hundred kilometers and more than an hour¡¯s drive, seemed to retain its temperature. Jiang Yuan casually took out his mobile phone to check, and sure enough, there was another message from the bank. His old man was always like that, not knowing how to express his feelings. When he missed his son, he wouldn¡¯t just make a phone call to check in, he would either send money or food. Now that Jiang Yuan had graduated and was back home, it turned into both sending money and food. There was about five pounds of beef jerky and several pounds of braised beef shank, not to mention a sliced pig ear and four pig trotters¡ªmore than Jiang Yuan could eat on his own. Jiang Yuan simply brought them to the detective squad to share with the officers on duty. Suddenly, the officers who had instant noodles were instantly upgraded to a higher ss of humans, eating instant noodles with beef and pig trotters, making the squad leader Lei Xin restless in his office. ¡°When this case is over, I¡¯ll buy drinks for everyone,¡± Lei Xin dered after getting a luxuriousbo of old altar pickled cabbage noodles with beef slices and pig trotters, chewing away and simultaneously making promises to the others. The officers present naturally reacted enthusiastically, and Jiang Yuanughed along. He was just happy to see the case resolved smoothly. Lei Xin devoured half a bowl of noodles in one go before wiping his mouth andughing, ¡°I was thinking once we had this guy in custody, we¡¯d go out for a nice meal. Turns out this kid is skinny as a rake, but he can take a lot.¡± Jiang Yuan frowned upon hearing this, ¡°Is the suspect very thin? How tall is he?¡± ¡°A man of about 100 pounds; you can see his ribs. As for height¡­ he¡¯s just over 1.6 meters,¡± Lei Xin said, shaking his head. ¡°No wonder the girl¡¯s affections turned elsewhere. The guy from the house worth 288,000 always looks about 1.75 meters tall, not fat either.¡± ¡°Has the suspect confessed?¡± ¡°He¡¯s being evasive, but it should be him, can¡¯t get away from it,¡± Lei Xin replied confidently. He was in the business of eating this kind of rice, and he could tell at a nce if a suspect had issues. Jiang Yuan had no doubts about Lei Xin¡¯s judgment. Being the head of a detective squad was a highly challenging position in the police force, to say the least. Just consider the one or two homicides each year as substantial projects; they require organizing hundreds of people to overpower, in limited time, an individual who may have been plotting for many years, both intellectually and physically. Not every case is particrly thrilling, but in a detective¡¯s career, there are always a few moments that are truly heart-stopping. And all of this was routine for the captain of the criminal police. However, Jiang Yuan thought back to the autopsy and spoke softly, ¡°The victim, Zhang Ying, did have considerable muscle mass.¡± Lei Xin, sensitive like a stray cat, instantly pulled his face out of his noodle bowl and looked at Jiang Yuan, ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Jiang Yuan exined, ¡°My feeling is that Zhang Ying was likely the kind of girl who had done farm work and worked out in the gym. Her thigh muscles, abdominal muscles, and upper arm muscles all showed signs of training. If the suspect only weighs 100 pounds, they might not even be able to overpower this girl.¡± As he said this, the detectives who were burying their heads in their food all stopped. Wang Lan, who was holding a strip of jerky and had been tearing at it for a while, had already ceased his actions. He now chimed in, ¡°Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mention it, but I had forgotten. Indeed, this girl was quite sturdy. Just by looking at the abdominal wall, you could tell¡ªher abs were impressive.¡± ¡°In that case¡­ was she hit with a blunt object?¡± Lei Xin reluctantly followed the line of thought proposed by the two forensic doctors. He also understood clearly that although the victim was a girl, she was a robust one. And the suspect¡­ indeed appeared excessively frail. ¡°The victim¡¯s skull was rtively intact. There were no signs of being hit with a blunt object,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wang Lan nodded in agreement. ¡°Is it impossible that she was hit with a blunt object, or is it not ruled out?¡± Lei Xin emphasized, as these two concepts were fundamentally different. If it was not ruled out, then he would prioritize the possibility of the victim being hit with a blunt object. As for whether it had happened or not, that would be clear after the interrogation. Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan exchanged nces, with Jiang Yuan speaking first, ¡°Impossible. If the skull is rtively intact, it¡¯s impossible for it to have been hit with a blunt object without any signs showing.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Lei Xin fell silent. The toxicology tests had just beenpleted, withmon toxins testing negative. As for the umon ones, the suspect, being an ordinary rural youth, would have difficulty essing them. Furthermore, the conditions for using poison weren¡¯t suitable. The murder urred at the victim¡¯s home, and although the suspect was engaged to the victim, they were in the midst of a dowry dispute, so it was hard to say if they could even share a peaceful cup of tea. Poisoning would not have been easy to achieve. So, how could a smaller build attack arger build without using tools or poison? What could they rely on? The only possibility was a numerical advantage. Lei Xin slowly came to understand this and observing Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan, he saw they both seemed to have high emotional intelligence. Then Lei Xin said it himself, ¡°Are you saying there might have been aplices?¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s very likely,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s inference was indeed such. He continued, ¡°The body was found without clothes, suggesting that there might have been sexual assault before death. Additionally, there were no signs of violent beating on the head and face of the body, which is consistent with the characteristics of a groupmitting the crime.¡± Sexual assaults by a single individual often apany violent beating. This is because for a male topletely control a female and expose his vulnerable reproductive organ for the act, it¡¯s quite difficult and risky. A simple experiment can be done at home. Try to see how much force it takes to forcibly part your girlfriend¡¯s legs. In the event of a woman¡¯s vigorous resistance, many offenders use violent beating to force the victim to submit in order toplete the sexual assault. Or¡­ it could be a group acting together, cooperating to control the victim. Lei Xin finally fully understood. He tossed down his chopsticks and said, ¡°I¡¯ll ask around.¡± Chapter 183 - 183 175 Closing the Case ?183: Chapter 175: Closing the Case 183: Chapter 175: Closing the Case The interrogation room at the Qianjin District Bureau was decorated more nicely than those in Ningtai County. Although everyone¡¯s rank was the same, the district bureau had more money than the county bureau, which was certainly true. If someone had been inside an interrogation room in the Qianjin District and then sat in one in Ningtai County, they would definitely criticize, saying, ¡°Your interrogation room is both small and old, it smells, and the nicotine stains on the ceiling haven¡¯t been wiped clean¡­¡± If the situation were reversed, staying first in Ningtai County¡¯s interrogation room before moving to Qianjin District¡¯s, there would likely be a fair chance of praise, ¡°Your interrogation room is really both spacious and beautiful, with a soft touch and a fragrant smell¡­¡± Suspect number one, Wang Fulin, was inexperienced. This was probably his first time in an interrogation room, unaware of how to appreciate the favorable conditions of the Qianjin District Bureau¡¯s room, he just sat there stiffly on the chair with a vacant look on his face. Watching from behind the monitor, Jiang Yuan could sense his numbed emotions. Lei Xin sat in front of Wang Fulin with a hint of a smile and a rxed expression. In fact, he felt much more at ease than before. Confirming it was the work of a gang meant the suspects were more likely to slip up. For an ordinary rural youth like Wang Fulin, his social connections were very easy to track. A few close childhood friends, rtives who cared about him, a stroll around the vige would reveal them all. At most, include his parents¡¯work of rtionships. Taking into ount the fact that the victim was forcibly raped, and the suspects might be physically strong, several detectives took a walk around Wang Fulin¡¯s hometown and drew up a list of suspects. After that, by checking the timelines and itineraries, Wang Fulin¡¯s uncle, Wang Ming, stood out. ording to the judgment of Lei Xin and others, Wang Fulin¡¯s likelihood of premeditated murder was low; it was more probable that a verbal conflict exacerbated the dispute, ultimately leading to a crime of passion. After all, gathering arge sum for the dowry to give to the bride¡¯s side, he surely had hoped to settle down. Such a person, even when facing problems, should not think of murder first. Meanwhile, Wang Fulin¡¯s uncle, Wang Ming, had been working close to Qinghe City during the period of the crime, so showing up as a show of strength was quite possible. Once this was confirmed, Lei Xin came to the interrogation room without a moment¡¯s hesitation. This time when Lei Xin entered, he carried a thick stack of files, cing them gently on the table before saying, ¡°Wang Fulin, you say you didn¡¯t kill anybody, then answer me a few questions. If your answers are reasonable, I¡¯ll let you go home, how about that?¡± Wang Fulin, who had been resisting and unwilling to talk, twitched his cheek, nced at Lei Xin, and still showed no inclination to speak. Lei Xin smiled. He had seen too many people like Wang Fulin. Many first-time offenders, especially those suspected of serious crimes, acted this way. It wasn¡¯t that they had strong anti-investigation capabilities, they had just be withdrawn. It was fear that silenced him, not bravery. Thus, Lei Xin tempted him with what he desired most: ¡°Do you want to go home?¡± ¡°Look, you said earlier we got the wrong person. Fine, I¡¯ll take your word for it for the moment. You didn¡¯t kill anyone, but now that I¡¯m prepared to let you go, if you keep this up, I might have to suspect you again.¡± Lei Xin became more and more stern as he spoke, his tone growing increasingly severe. Wang Fulin could no longer bear it and looked up, saying, ¡°You all bully people.¡± ¡°Just a few questions. If you answer them well, I¡¯ll let you go home,¡± Lei Xin said, holding up three fingers. Wang Fulin¡¯s throat moved slightly, but he remained silent. ¡°So, the first question, Zhang Ying took 188,000 from you and imed to have spent it all. What were you nning to do about that?¡± Lei Xin asked, assuming Wang Fulin was innocent. Wang Fulin indeed hesitated before replying, ¡°I want it back.¡± ¡°But Zhang Ying is dead, debts die with her, what will you do? Will you ask her parents for it?¡± Lei Xin asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Just a ¡®yes¡¯? 188,000 is several years of your family¡¯s ie, right? So much money, can you really let it go? A normal person wouldn¡¯t care whether Zhang Ying is dead or alive; they¡¯d want their money back first.¡± ¡°He has no money, what can I want from him.¡± Wang Fulin lifted his head slightly. ¡°A criminal case is a criminal case, after sentencing, Zhang Ying¡¯s parents can still im civilpensation. That means they can demand money from the murderer.¡± Lei Xin said, ¡°Often, the rtives of the murderer, in order to obtain a letter of forgiveness, will voluntarily offerpensation.¡± Wang Fulin understood and stared intently at Lei Xin. ¡°If you¡¯re not the murderer, then if you sue in court before Zhang Ying¡¯s parents receivepensation, you have a chance to go after theirpensation money and get back your own 188,000.¡± Lei Xin said this and then looked at Wang Fulin, ¡°But if you are the killer, your parents will have to pay the other side, and it might not be a small sum.¡± Lei Xin¡¯s words were half true, half false, but Wang Fulin could no longer distinguish between them. His emotions visibly began to change. ¡°Your uncle Wang Ming has suggested that he could borrow money to hire awyer for you, to defend you, and also to try to get back that 188,000. Afterward, you could use the recovered money to pay for thewyer¡¯s fees.¡± Lei Xin touched upon Wang Fulin¡¯s ¡°psychological fulcrum¡± and continued more rxedly, albeit deceitfully, ¡°If you agree, your parents are going to take out a loan.¡± Wang Fulin was stunned, unable to control his expression any longer. ¡°If you didn¡¯t kill anyone, let¡¯s not say anything more.¡± Lei Xin pointed at the files in front of him and slowly continued, ¡°But we both know you did kill Zhang Ying. In this case, do you really want your parents to spend their life savings, get into debt, to sue on your behalf? Can they win?¡± Wang Fulin returned to silence, as if he had shut down again. Lei Xin, however, knew that he couldn¡¯t hold out. ¡°In fact, even if your parents spend money on awyer for you, that¡¯s their choice. The real fear is that after they sell the house and take on high-interest loans, the money ends up taken away by someone else, then what?¡± Lei Xin was aiming for a fatal blow to the heart. Wang Fulin was jolted with fright. In the monitoring room, Jiang Yuan watched Lei Xin like a hammer nailing down, chiseling away at Wang Fulin¡¯s psychological defense. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Wang Lan, who was next to him, calmly said, ¡°Don¡¯t feel sorry for the murderer.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s feelings were read like a book, making him a bit embarrassed, ¡°It¡¯s not exactly pity¡­¡± ¡°When theymitted the evil,¡± Wang Lan said, ¡°they didn¡¯t do it in an instant. During this process, they had countless opportunities to stop. But they didn¡¯t, and to ensure the victim was dead, they stabbed her over a dozen times!¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°And in the end, they even set a fire.¡± ¡°Not only burning down the house of someone they didn¡¯t know but potentially endangering the entire neighborhood,¡± Wang Lan said with cold disdain, ¡°He¡¯s much crueler than he appears.¡± Jiang Yuan sighed inwardly, ¡°Maybe.¡± At that moment, in the interrogation room, Wang Fulin began to confess his crime. Of the 188,000 dowry, 50,000 was borrowed from his uncle Wang Ming. Uncle Wang Ming had suggested getting back the dowry. Uncle Wang Ming had proposed going to Zhang Ying¡¯s home to demand it. Uncle Wang Ming had beat Zhang Ying. Uncle Wang Ming had forcefully raped Zhang Ying. Uncle Wang Ming had killed Zhang Ying. Uncle Wang Ming had set the house on fire. Lei Xin didn¡¯t interrupt Wang Fulin¡¯s statement too much. With a gang crime, once one person confesses, it¡¯s as if both have confessed. There would be plenty of timeter to untangle who was the main perpetrator and who was the aplice. Jiang Yuan had stayed another day until Wang Ming was apprehended and then took his leave to go home. Wang Ming wasn¡¯t a particrly strong man, but with years of manualbor, he had plenty of strength, along with some cunning and shrewdness. But in the interrogation room, that was of no use. When an entire squad of criminal detectives was eager to try, a bit of cunning was only a snack to apany their drinks. ¡­ The Jiang Family. The two small dogs caught the scent of Jiang Yuan andunched into a frenzy of barking. Jiang Fuzhen heard the noise and came out for a look,ughing, ¡°I was saying, these two dogs aren¡¯t familiar with you but they bark louder for you than usual.¡± ¡°Maybe they think the dog food I make is tasty,¡± Jiang Yuan washed his hands and went straight into the kitchen. Old man Jiang Fuzhen also spent most of his time in the kitchen, so the father and son¡¯s chatting ce was also the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, Jiang Fuzhen was cooking meat and while mashing the chunks with his chopsticks, said, ¡°My food is pretty good too, but I don¡¯t hear you barking when youe home¡­ I was thinking that with your job in the civil service, it¡¯d be easier to find a partner. But every time you take off, it¡¯s several days before anyone sees you. Sigh, your Sixth Aunt has mentioned setting you up a few times already, but as soon as they hear you¡¯re a forensic doctor, the girls suddenly lose interest.¡± Jiang Yuan silently endured his father¡¯sints. Even though nodies were interested, his work ¡®partner¡¯ yesterday was a female corpse¡­ He washed a pile of vegetables, then opened his father¡¯s newly built high-powered stove and started heating the pan, asking, ¡°Should I make some for you too?¡± ¡°Sure,¡±rade Jiang Fuzhen replied. The father and son were busy in the kitchen while the dog barked outside¡­ Drowning out the cicadas in the trees. Chapter 184 - 184 176 Seeking the Case ?184: Chapter 176: Seeking the Case 184: Chapter 176: Seeking the Case The waters of the Tai River, flowing endlessly onward. Riding a bike over the bridge, a refreshing breeze quickly blew over, invigorating one¡¯s spirit. Jiang Yuan really liked autumn in Ningtai, when all things were flourishing and the river was at just the right level. The asional floating corpse that drifted down was more likely the result of idental deaths or natural disasters, so one didn¡¯t always have to think of humanity¡¯s depravity and sorrow. In the courtyard of the Criminal Police Department, there were faces brimming with enthusiasm and smiles. Particrly the old man who looked after the parking lot, who would always beam with joy whenever Jiang Yuan handed him a cigarette. Huang Qiangmin happened to be taking a walk downstairs when he caught sight of Jiang Yuan and, in an instant, seemed even more excited than Dazhuang. ¡°You sure took your sweet timeing back,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as if he wanted to grab Jiang Yuan¡¯s head to see if it was still in one piece. The main problem was that Jiang Yuan was so tall; it really wasn¡¯t convenient for him. Jiang Yuan chuckled and replied, ¡°I just happened upon a case of corpse burning¡­ Who knows when we¡¯ll ever have one in Ningtai County? I thought I¡¯d take the opportunity to learn something.¡± ¡°The folks in Ningtai County are simple and honest, and now even that has gone wrong?¡± Huang Qiangmin retorted grumpily, ¡°Major crimes reflect the level of public security in a ce. Our county has almost zero thefts this month; you don¡¯t need to practice your corpse burning skills.¡± Jiang Yuan frowned, ¡°There are still thefts?¡± ¡°There¡¯s always someone ready to snatch things if they can. An era of roads without lost property and houses without locked doors belonged to ancient times.¡± ¡°Nowadays, it¡¯s the era of surveince cameras,¡± Jiang Yuan argued, then added, ¡°The surveince setup still isn¡¯t quite right.¡± Surveince cameras aren¡¯t just about filming; they need to form aplete system to be effective. For instance, if you¡¯re tracking a criminal suspect and there are frequent gaps in the coverage, forcing you to rely on less efficient methods like inference, the overall efficiency is just too low. Furthermore, the quality of the cameras, the software supporting the monitoring system, and the staffing of image investigation technicians all link together in a tight chain. Right now, Ningtai County was just managing to get by using such a system, still heavily reliant on good luck rather than good management to catch criminals. It was also because the small-time thieves in the county didn¡¯t seek progress or strive for improvement. Otherwise, after a few stints in jail, they could easily test and find the blind spots in the surveince. Then they could steal when they wanted to steal and sing and dance when they wanted to entertain themselves, rather than resorting to manualbor. Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t interested in continuing the conversation about surveince. With such arge-scale project requiring a long duration and substantial maintenance costs, it wasn¡¯t something a Criminal Police Captain could decide about. Nor did he want to make decisions about such matters. Huang Qiangmin just smiled and, while walking with Jiang Yuan, said, ¡°You¡¯ve never stayed at a police station long enough to know. These days people are scared tomit murder, but they have plenty of guts to make trouble. I¡¯d rather have fewer criminal cases so we can go around the counties and towns and enjoy more of life.¡± Being young, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t quite understand Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective and simply responded with a smile. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was full of energy with no outlet to spend it, Huang Qiangmin quickly suggested, ¡°If there aren¡¯t any active cases, why not review some cold cases? It¡¯s just the right time to clear up some of Ningtai County¡¯s debts.¡± When there¡¯s no morend at home, then it¡¯s time to break new ground. And this was what Huang Qiangmin was looking forward to the most. There was only so much to be gained from existing output, and breaking new ground had its benefits. ¡°I¡¯ll give it a try,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°If you¡¯re going to look, focus on the homicide cases,¡± Huang Qiangmin emphasized. Investigating cases consumes resources, but extra expenses are understandable if the case involves homicide. ¡°I¡¯ll have a lookter,¡± Jiang Yuan replied with a hint of confidence. Indeed, he had a variety of skills at his disposal that worked well together, and by just reviewing case files, he¡¯d previously solved a supervised case from the Provincial Department that Liu Jinghui brought in. He really was ready to show his hand. Thinking this over, Jiang Yuan returned to his office on the fourth floor, greeting people with smiles and sharing cigarettes all the way. The forensic doctor¡¯s office. The floor was swept clean and had been sprinkled with water. Wu Jun sat with his legs crossed, humming a tune while smoking and filling out an identification report. Seeing Jiang Yuan enter, Wu Jun first showed a smile, then his eyes darted around, putting down his pen¡­ ¡°Master, Captain Huang is preparing to let me work on several cold cases,¡± Jiang Yuan said, offering a Zhonghua cigarette and then putting the rest of the small pack on his master¡¯s desk. Wu Jun habitually epted the Zhonghua, then sighed and said, ¡°Alright. We don¡¯t have much regr work anyway¡­ By the way, did you work on a murder and corpse burning case this time?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then you should pay proper homage,¡± Wu Jun muttered, gesturing for Jiang Yuan to proceed on his own. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then got up to close the door, reached into the bottom drawer of the desk, and took out a statue of Guan Yu. He solemnly bowed three times and then lit a Zhonghua, cing it before Lord Guan. Wu Jun felt a pang of inexplicable sorrow and couldn¡¯t help but stand up and said, ¡°Lord Guan, I have worshipped you for many years, and you usually smoke my cigarettes.¡± He took out a pack of white Yunyan cigarettes from the drawer, respectfully lit one for Lord Guan, and retrieved the already burning Zhonghua. He himself usually smoked Yunyan as well, but he smoked the kind that was 23 yuan a pack. The pearl-white variety was also Yunyan, priced at 5.5 yuan, bing increasingly scarce, but 20 sticks would be enough for Lord Guan for a year. Turning back, Wu Jun saw that Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression was unchanged, so he lit another pearl-white cigarette, gently ced it on the ground, and said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Jump the me to ward off bad luck.¡± The newly lit cigarette had a red glow at the tip, burning slowly yet steadfastly. Jiang Yuan stepped over the burning Yunyan, back and forth, three times. The ritualplete, both returned to their seats. Jiang Yuan turned on hisputer, while Wu Jun picked up his fountain pen. Time passed peacefully. The inte was exceptionally fast. Jing Yuan flipped through the unsolved cases of Ningtai County, aimlessly searching at first and then beginning to look for crime scenes with a lot of blood. Among Jiang Yuan¡¯s various skills, LV5 Bloodstain Analysis and his LV5 dedication were his strongest weapons. If it had been 20 years earlier, with the higher rate of violent crime, Jiang Yuan would have been overwhelmed with work. The number of murder cases in Ningtai County was showing a yearly downward trend. It was the same for most county towns across the country. One reason was the cliff-like drop in physical contact violent crimes, and another was the decrease in the youth poption. At the end of the day, it was because today¡¯s young people were different. Looking back ten years, the annual murder rate in Ningtai was double; even more so if you go further back. Scrolling through, Jiang Yuan came across a thirteen-year-old murder cold case. The case urred in Ningtai County¡¯s earliest ¡°high-rise building.¡± A 22-story tower block where the body of a 16-year-old girl was found on the rooftop terrace. She had been missing for a day. Jiang Yuan chose this case because there was a lot of blood at the scene. From the terrace where the body was discovered, to the fire escape door, and into the stairwell, there were spatters and flows of blood, and numerous bloody footprints at the scene. But no fingerprints or blood traces of the murderer were found. When technological methods failed to yield results, the special investigation team also did extensive checks and interviews, but no significant leads were found. Jiang Yuan clicked on the photos and began to browse through them one by one. For such cases, Bloodstain Analysis and crime scene reconstruction was a very good approach, assuming the photos taken at the scene were suitable. Chapter 185 - 185 177 Case Foundation ?185: Chapter 177 Case Foundation 185: Chapter 177 Case Foundation ¡°Jiang Yuan, are you busy?¡± Wang Zhong knew that Jiang Yuan had returned and figured that Wu Jun¡¯s superstitious rituals should have ended, so he strolled over, looking the picture of a civil servant with nothing to do. Jiang Yuan responded with a grunt and said, ¡°Found a set of pictures to look at.¡± ¡°Oh ho, a set of pictures?¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s spirits lifted, his face breaking into a smile, ¡°I just knew¡­¡± He moved behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk with the air of a fellow enthusiast, only to see arge screen showing a door ajar, with blood smears all through the shadows and light. ¡°Holy crap!¡± Wang Zhong nearly jumped. He wasn¡¯t scared. After having been to several crime scenes, he had experienced his fair share. It¡¯s just that the images didn¡¯t match his expectations¡­ Wu Jun looked up, casting a dissatisfied nce at Wang Zhong. Young as he was, Wang Zhong was even a few years older, but his work ethic wascking. When it came to business, they were both at the end of the line. He didn¡¯t grasp the traditional virtues of respecting the elderly and caring for the young, and his behavior and speech were erratic¡­ ¡°An unsolved case from thirteen years ago,¡± Jiang Yuan offered by way of exnation. Wu Jun, from the other end of the desk, heard and asked, ¡°Which one?¡± Jiang Yuan immediately realized that this unsolved murder case from thirteen years ago was surely one that Wu Jun had handled. Jiang Yuan quickly adopted an obedient demeanor and said, ¡°The 611 He Jingqin case, a crime scene with a lot of blood¡­¡± ¡°I remember, some of the photos were even taken by me,¡± said Wu Jun as he got up and walked over. Standing behind Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun lit another Chung Hwa and exhaled gently, saying, ¡°Don¡¯t feel guilty about diving into these cold cases now. It¡¯s a good thing. While I¡¯m still here, I might remember something. If you wait until I¡¯m retired, and I¡¯m off traveling around China, who will you ask then?¡± ¡°When that timees, I¡¯ll just give you a call,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who grew up being fed by the entire vige and knew the right things to say. Wu Jun, imagining his retirement life, nodded in satisfaction and said, ¡°That works. Then, if the olddy won¡¯t let me smoke, I¡¯ll say that thinking about cases requires smoking. Ah, that will definitely snag me two or three cigarettes.¡± Listening, Jiang Yuan felt an inexplicable sadness, thinking to himself: By that count, Lord Guan smokes more than you. The conversation over, Jiang Yuan continued to flick through the pictures one by one. Wu Jun watched in silence, smoking, his gaze drifting through the smoke rings as if lost in remembrance. Wang Zhong just stared dumbly. Being a forensic examiner, he could im a certain familiarity with blood evidence, but speaking frankly, his knowledge of bloodstain pattern analysis was at a mere level 1, like determining the spray patterns and such. Away from an actual crime scene, his skills were pretty much useless. Not to mention, Wang Zhong¡¯s expertise in bloodstain pattern analysis was probably at level 0.3¡ªbarely able to discern the obviously aberrant killer¡¯s bloodstains. Since graduating from the police academy and joining the force through a joint exam, violent crimes had be rare, and cases involving blood even rarer, nowhere to even practice the skills he¡¯d learned. In fact, there¡¯s now an oversupply of talent in this area. With supply not meeting the demand for violent cases, old bloodstain specialists hadn¡¯t passed on, and the rare blood-soaked crime would bring blood evidence experts from the municipal and provincial departments swarming like flies to honey, leaving no space for Wang Zhong to develop. ¡°There¡¯s a bloody footprint here,¡± said Wang Zhong after a good while, finally spotting something familiar. Jiang Yuan again grunted an acknowledgment and continued to scroll through the images. ¡°No use then?¡± Wang Zhong asked. ¡°Don¡¯t know,¡± Jiang Yuan exhaled, passing another cigarette to his boss, to Wang Zhong, and then one for himself, staunchly using exhaled smoke to fend off secondhand smoke. Taking a light drag, Wang Zhong said, ¡°If even you don¡¯t know, then this footprint probably won¡¯t uncover much.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been too long, this kind of nondescript footprint only allows for some basic judgments,¡± Jiang Yuan said, seeing Wang Zhong¡¯s interest. He pulled over a notebook, flipped it open to a nk page, and as he wrote, he exined: ¡°The suspect is estimated to be between 25 and 30 years old, male, with a height of 170 to 175, and weighing 120 to 140.¡± Those were very ordinary numbers. Jiang Yuan felt it pointless to write them down. Those numbers could be said to be the mostmon for Chinese males. Of course, the average height of the younger generation has increased significantly, but they haven¡¯t entered the crime scene inrge numbers yet. Wang Zhong began to understand what Jiang Yuan meant and nodded, ¡°So you mean, the footprint doesn¡¯t offer much information.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily the case,¡± Jiang Yuan put down his pen and flipped through more than a dozen photos in session, saying, ¡°You can see his gait here.¡± He picked out a few photos, the same ones he had been looking at just before. While letting Wang Zhong flip through the photos himself, Jiang Yuan also wrote down the numbers of these photos and put down his pen to ask Wang Zhong, ¡°Do you see anything?¡± Wang Zhong had a nk look on his face, just like when he was looking at the bloody footprints earlier. Jiang Yuan wanted to teach him a thing or two, so he said, ¡°Memorize the most basic teachings of footprint analysis. First, from afar look at the outline, up close look at the wear and tear,bine measurement and observation¡­¡± Wang Zhong silently memorized it. He looked quite foolish. ¡°Second. One, note the size of the footprints, two, observe the rise and fall of the steps, the shape of the feet is very important, search each of the four regions individually, make good use of the characteristics along the edges, and don¡¯t forget to analyze everything inbination,¡± Jiang Yuan recited as he wrote these two statements down in his notebook, then asked Wang Zhong, ¡°Have you got that memorized?¡± Wang Zhong looked bewildered. If he could memorize everything after just one nce, he would have taken off on his own long ago. Jiang Yuan, therefore, tore the page he had just used for note-taking from his notebook and handed it to Wang Zhong, saying, ¡°Take this with you and review it.¡± ¡°Um¡­¡± Wang Zhong read quietly to himself, then asked softly, ¡°What are the four areas?¡± ¡°They refer to the toes, the ball of the foot, the arch, and the heel,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. ¡°Once you have them memorized, look at some photos andpare them to old cases. Apply your fingerprint analysis experience, and you¡¯ll be able to engage in real cases in no time.¡± Wang Zhong nodded again and again. Wu Jun, seeing their conversation was over, stubbed out his cigarette and asked, ¡°What did you see from the gait?¡± ¡°You can tell that this person has a pretty strong mental state,¡± Jiang Yuan brought back the earlier photos and said, ¡°Look at these steps, the stride hardly varies.¡± Wu Jun and Wang Zhong both nodded as they looked on. ¡°There are also signs of dragging here,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed and pointed at another photo, ¡°The murderer must have knocked the victim down and continued to drag her towards the rooftop while she was still struggling. Even so, he moved step by step with even strides.¡± ¡°Extremely calm.¡± ¡°Right, so it¡¯s very likely a repeat offender,¡± Jiang Yuan wrote down these words in his notebook and added, ¡°If we specte a little more boldly, I think it¡¯s possible that the perpetrator is an ex-convict.¡± Wu Jun suddenly perked up, ¡°What you¡¯re saying makes sense. Whether someone has done time can make a big difference in their mindset. If he could remain unruffled even as the victim struggled and screamed, it¡¯s very likely he¡¯s been in prison before and might even have experience with violent crimes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily a violent crime,¡± Jiang Yuan made a slight correction to Wu Jun¡¯s words, and continued, ¡°Based on the bloodstains, I think it¡¯s more likely a sexual offense.¡± ¡°Why? I remember¡­ this girl wasn¡¯t sexually assaulted,¡± Wu Jun frowned. Now, looking at the crime scene photos, he was beginning to recall the details of the case. Although it had been 13 years, the impression that a murder case left was extremely deep. Jiang Yuan selected some photos and straightened out their order, saying, ¡°The center of the crime scene is the rooftop, but the victim would not have gone there of her own volition, so, in the early stages, the murderer must have coerced or enticed her, at least by the time he got to the fire escape, he had already pulled out a knife.¡± Wu Jun made an acknowledging sound and listened. Jiang Yuan pointed at the bloodstains and said, ¡°If the purpose was murder, since he had already drawn a knife, he could have just stabbed her directly, going to the rooftop was not really necessary. If he had simr experience, he should know that going to the rooftop would actually increase the risk. Moreover, he dragged the victim to the rooftop, what was his purpose?¡± ¡°To rape her?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Jiang Yuan confirmed. ¡°Furthermore, it is highly likely that there was already inappropriate conduct in the elevator. Because the girl lived on a middle floor, the reason for going to the top floor was definitely the perpetrator¡¯s doing.¡± ¡°Makes sense.¡± ¡°Also, I believe the perpetrator¡¯s initial intent may have been just to molest. The crime scene being in the building where the victim lived could also exin why he eventually gave up on raping her, he must have sensed the risk and decided to abandon the act of rape.¡± Wu Jun didn¡¯t insist on his own opinion;paratively speaking, he trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment more. Seeing that Jiang Yuan had cleared his thoughts, Wu Jun decisively said, ¡°Your judgment is important; I think there¡¯s a basis to reopen the case. Call Huang over.¡± Chapter 186 - 186 178 Suspect List ?186: Chapter 178 Suspect List 186: Chapter 178 Suspect List When Huang Qiangmin entered the forensic office, his mind was still not fully wrapped around what was happening. He was the one who had Jiang Yuan work on the cold case, but the general procedure for working on cold cases was definitely not like this. To be realistic, if the provincial department nowunched some kind of ¡°100-Day Cold Case Initiative,¡± by the end of it, some of the cases prepared in advance might not even get off the ground. After all, the criminal suspects are not going to cooperate with police operations. And when an active case bes a cold case, there are always some difficulties involved. Even if there were none, once it became a cold case, troubles would surely arise. Therefore, finding a breakthrough from a cold case is almost impossible. For detectives working on cold cases, it¡¯s nothing butints. In some ces, being assigned to review cold cases is like being punished. It is indeed painful. It¡¯s like being in sales and dealing with a customer you can¡¯t handle no matter what you try; can recing the salesperson actually solve the problem? Chances are high that it won¡¯t¡ªthis refers to regr sales, of course. Huang Qiangmin did indeed have faith in Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities, but for Jiang Yuan to have a breakthrough within half a day of returning was still something Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t quite grasp. Generally, breaking in arge beast requires several months, doesn¡¯t it? Doesn¡¯t it cost a fair amount of feed, wastebor, and take a fair bit of hustling before you see results? Isn¡¯t it quite normal for a murder cold case to take three to five months to process? If it could be solved in just a few hours, straightforwardly, did theybel it as a cold case for nothing? It¡¯s not like a steak where aging would make it better. ¡°Have you found any clues?¡± Huang Qiangmin still had a serious look when he entered. Although truly very curious, it was still important for the team leader to maintain his dignity. How could a leader manage his subordinates without dignity? ¡°Jiang Yuan found it, let him tell you,¡± said Wu Jun, not taking any credit for himself. He didn¡¯t need to worry about dignity; he had already secured a deputy section-level treatment and had no wishes or needs before retirement. While waiting for others, Jiang Yuan had prepared the photos and even made them into a PPT. At this moment, he turned the screen around and said, ¡°It¡¯s about the 611 He Jingqin case from thirteen years ago¡­¡± ¡°Oh, I remember, the scene was covered in blood.¡± ¡°Yes, and I reconstructed the crime scene based on the bloodstains,¡± Jiang Yuan exined, operating the PPT with his left hand and making gestures with his right. Wu Jun, sitting opposite, smiled but was surprised when he heard this, ¡°When did you do the crime scene reconstruction?¡± ¡°I did it while making the PPT,¡± Jiang Yuan replied casually. Bloodstain Analysis is high-end stuff, and to master it, you need to be on the LV3 level. But for Jiang Yuan, who was at the LV5 level in Bloodstain Analysis, reconstructing the crime scene was very basic. Having reviewed all the necessary photos and gathered the needed materials, it was just a process of integration and analysis. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t verbose; first, he quickly shed several photos, then said, ¡°I won¡¯t go into every detail about the crime scene investigation and the autopsy report; I¡¯ll get straight to the reconstruction of the crime process.¡± ¡°The murderer¡¯s process can be divided into four parts,¡± he continued. ¡°The first part. The perpetrator detained the victim near the fire exit and began to inflict the first knife wound. The victim had superficial cuts on her arms, probably from a low-intensity defense. The bloodstains behind the door might result from pushing and shoving. The main evidence includes: A, the bloodstains that flowed from the top down on the front of the victim¡¯s shirt. B¡­¡± ¡°The second part. The perpetrator took the victim to the rooftop. The victim probably realized the murderer¡¯s intent and put up a more violent resistance, possibly involving screaming. The murderer held the knife in his right hand and shed from left to right, inflicting a fatal wound to her neck, resulting in the spatter bloodstains¡­then, the perpetrator dragged the victim onto the rooftop, resulting in dragging injuries and some level of resistance¡­ The main evidence¡­¡± ¡°The third part. The perpetrator stabbed the victim again on the rooftop, causing her death. The main evidence: A, the flow pattern bloodstains¡­ B, the formation of blood pools¡­ C, the victim¡¯s footprints¡­ D, the appearance of spatter bloodstains after the victim fell¡­¡± ¡°The fourth part, the murderer began to wipe and clean the scene. Mainly, the blood pools on the ground were cleaned, and the rooftop door was closed. I believe this was to conceal the crime scene and prevent it from being discovered too early. From this, it can be inferred that the perpetrator¡¯s first thought after the murder was to flee. The evidence includes¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin watched, dumbfounded. He was the captain of the county¡¯s criminal police. This type of reconstruction of the crime scene, where one looks at a photo and feels as though they¡¯ve witnessed it themselves, describing the criminal¡¯s behavior he had only watched in shows before. ¡°Where did you learn this from¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯tprehend. Jiang Yuan remained silent for two seconds before saying, ¡°I have always liked pondering over these things since I was studying.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ve really figured something out,¡± said Huang Qiangmin, not even knowing what to say anymore. It was as if he¡¯d put an ox to work and it single-handedly finished the entire production team¡¯s work. Now, as the team leader, what should he do? Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I reviewed the previous files, which mainly investigated the killer based on the victims¡¯ family backgrounds. I think, adopting a different investigative angle, might give us a chance to break the case¡­¡± ¡°Fugitives with prior convictions right aftermitting the crime? That¡¯s a broad range as well,¡± Huang Qiangmin instinctively sought out loopholes. The case of the unsolved homicide was set in motion, and in the blink of an eye, several officers might be thrown in, consuming months of investigation time. Thorough preliminary reasoning was indispensable. Therefore, Jiang Yuan reiterated his earlier judgment based on the footprints and continued, ¡°I think we can narrow down the scope first, and if that doesn¡¯t work out, we can broaden the search.¡± ¡°How to narrow it down?¡± ¡°I believe we can assume that the killer has a history of sexual offenses and was released very recently, say, within one or two months, not exceeding three months. Moreover, he fled quickly, likely on the same day, and at most noter than the next day.¡± ¡°Why such a short time after release?¡± Huang Qiangmin felt that was the most crucial question. With only a few prisons within the province and adding criminals with Ningtai County origin, the number of sex offenders released on parole three months before the day of the crime should be very limited. It could be just a few individuals. A search among such a small group for someone between 25 and 30 years old would yield even fewer names. After carefully choosing his words, Jiang Yuan turned off the PPT and pulled out a few photos, saying, ¡°From my understanding of the crime scene, the killer¡¯s behavior seemed quiteposed. However, his movements suggest some urgency and unfamiliarity. That is to say¡­ he was very bold, confident during the act, but also quite hurried¡­¡± At this point, Jiang Yuan was describing an overall judgment, not just point-to-point assessments: ¡°I think this time, it was the killer¡¯s first offense after being released from prison, which is why he appeared especially¡­ impatient.¡± Huang Qiangmin understood. Although he himself was not very familiar with Bloodstain Analysis, with Jiang Yuan having analyzed to this extent, Huang could only choose to believe it. ¡°You guys start the investigation. See how far you need to go. I¡¯ll find a couple of people to assist you,¡± Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment, then called Captain Wei Zhenguo over. If Jiang Yuan had found fingerprint or DNA evidence for the case, Huang Qiangmin would have immediately set up a task force. But for Bloodstain Analysis, Huang preferred to send out a couple of scouts first. This was also a standard operation within the detective squad, indicating no special treatment for Jiang Yuan. That was exactly what Jiang Yuan wanted. Once Wei Zhenguo arrived, they discussed briefly and started making phone calls. Prisons fall under judicial administration, especially those outside the province, which could be a bit more problematic to deal with. However, this trouble did notst long. Two dayster. A list of only eight suspects was ced on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s desk. ¡°We only have these few suspects?¡± Suddenly, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s level of attention sharply increased. Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, ¡°Of these names, the first four are the most likely. Thetter four could have initially been screened out and monitored. But Captain Wei thinks there¡¯s no need to narrow the scope so much¡­¡± ¡°Old Wei is right. Let me call some people over.¡± Huang Qiangmin stopped approving documents at hand and directly instructed the staff to summon people. In the lull while waiting for the personnel, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°For a cold case¡¯s suspect list, what¡¯s eight people? We could directly examine even eighty people. With this kind of case, we¡¯re not afraid of startling the snake. With just eight people, assign enough personnel to cover them thoroughly¡­¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan, having been through several interrogations and arrests, knew exactly what the situation entailed. Police work wasn¡¯t a game; they would not wait to have everything perfect to narrow down to one and only result. Four squadron leaders and their deputies were summoned in one go, heading straight to the conference room. ¡°Jiang Yuan,ter you¡¯ll brief everyone on the case again,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he stood up and headed toward the conference room. Jiang Yuan was ready. Whether hunting down eight people or four, the specifics of the case had to bemunicated to the officers in charge. Capturing suspects always involved certain risks, and it was necessary to provide essential information. When Jiang Yuan arrived in the conference room, he once again put on the PPT, and with one hand controlling it, he reconstructed the crime scene moreprehensively. Compared to the exnation given to Squad Leader Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan was better prepared this time and his narration was moreprehensive. The squadron leaders and deputies, all seasoned criminal detectives, were speechless after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s case report. ¡°Will cases be handled like this from now on?¡± After a while, Comrade Wu Junhao from the first squad couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Of course not.¡± Liu Wenkai, the leader of the second squad, sighed and said, ¡°No matter how well ¡®K¡¯ does, it won¡¯t steal Feng Lou¡¯s market, rest assured.¡± The colleagues mysteriously agreed and felt a slight sense of relief. Chapter 187 - 187 179 The End ?187: Chapter 179: The End 187: Chapter 179: The End Wei Zhenguo led the team, and took Jiang Yuan, Wen Ming, Mu Zhiyang, and three others on a coach to Changyang City, before taking a flight to Luo Jin City, the capital of Baijiang Province. Two others drove a car, nning to travel 1600 kilometers to meet up with the rest in Luo Jin City, which would be convenient for transportation and escorting the prisoner. Mu Zhiyang, who had just recovered from an injury and rejoined the team, pulled his suitcase with a look of vigor and smirked, ¡°Returning to tackle a cold murder case feels great. I might even get a third-ss merit for this.¡± With that, Mu Zhiyang gave a provocative smile to Wen Ming. He knew Wen Ming wanted to distinguish himself. Wen Ming¡¯s family wasrge and lived together, with no rtives in the police force, so he had a pressing need to stand out and show off. It was a basic requirement for him. As for the legendary second-ss merit, that was almost the limit for Wen Ming. A third-ss merit always seemed somewhatcking. ¡°You¡¯d feel even better if you broke your arm or leg again,¡± said Wen Ming, looking at Mu Zhiyang, who was unscathed, with a tinge of regret in his heart. That time, facing such a big gun, firing so many bullets, if he had just rushed out and gotten hit by one, he would have started with a second-ss merit! Mu Zhiyang just chuckled, ¡°Breaking another leg still wouldn¡¯t get me a first-ss merit. So, getting a minor injury now and then, especially a gunshot wound, in a serious case, that¡¯s the most worthwhile. You could say it¡¯s the right time, the right ce, and the right people¡­ indispensable.¡± Wen Ming felt both disgruntled and helpless. Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t bother with them, walking beside Jiang Yuan, he said, ¡°A small-town criminal police officer always ends up running to the provincial capital. Nowadays, the young people not only like going to the provincial capitals for work but also for getting away. It forces us to be on constant business trips.¡± ¡°They used to like going to Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou,¡± Wen Ming said. ¡°But now the cost of living in those first-tier cities is so high that everyone has dispersed.¡± ¡°The wealthy young people have higher pursuits and ambitions,¡± Wei Zhenguo, indulging in his seniority, summarized his experience, and continued, ¡°Nowadays, even criminals feel the pressure in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. If there¡¯s pressure, just don¡¯tmit crimes.¡± ¡°So by that reasoning, those who go to the provincial capitals still have a sense of ambition. I¡¯ve seen some criminals, aftermitting a crime, head straight to tourist areas¡ªfun and beautiful.¡± Wei Zhenguo snorted, ¡°Those who go to tourist areas can blend in for a while and then start learning to scam tourists. Some make more money than they do at home.¡± ¡°Diversifiedpetition,¡± Mu Zhiyangughed. Jiang Yuan listened, shaking his head but not speaking, he noticed the first-ss lounge sign nearby and casually pulled Wei Zhenguo aside, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s sit over there.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Wei Zhenguo nced at the people from Jiang Vige, waiting to hear his n. Jiang Yuan took out a ck card and said, ¡°With this, I can bring an unlimited number of people.¡± ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s go inside,¡± Wei Zhenguo said without further ado. The others followed,ughing and cheerful. Resting, eating buffet, boarding, enjoying airne meals, dening, having meals after arrival¡­ By the time everyone checked into the hotel, they were all worn out. Even a young person like Mu Zhiyang, due to his recent recovery, quickly fell into a deep sleep. As for Wei Zhenguo and the other veteran detectives, there was no need to mention them; they were so tired they didn¡¯t even want to talk. Early the next morning, detectives from Luo Jin City who had been contacted in advance were already waiting in the ground-floor lobby. Wei Zhenguo was up early, continuously expressing his gratitude upon meeting them. It was theoretically possible to request local police to make the arrest, but it would be troublesome with official correspondence, and they might not be very dedicated. After working on a case for so long, it would be incredibly frustrating if they failed to catch the criminal because they didn¡¯t want to go on a business trip. For general cases, local detectives would be asked to intervene, but with major cases, it was up to themselves, asking local colleagues just for some cooperation. Jiang Yuan took the initiative to volunteer for the arrest team, not minding going on the trip; he was up early and went downstairs. The local officers gathered and said, ¡°The person you¡¯re looking to arrest, Liu Yuquan, works in a local supermarket. I¡¯ve inquired around, and it seems he¡¯s been behaving very well.¡± ¡°If he¡¯s on the run, of course he¡¯d behave,¡± Wei Zhenguo said with augh, but his words were sharp. This suspect was one of the most likely murderers among the four out of eight people. If Jiang Yuan had to choose one person, he would pick him. This was also why Jiang Yuan wanted to participate in the arrest of this man. If needed during the operation, Jiang Yuan could also collect relevant information and evidence. The local officerughed but did not continue, saying, ¡°Shall we set off now?¡± ¡°Wait a moment, our colleagues have rented a car, and it will be here soon,¡± Wei Zhenguo nodded. In the morning, their car had arrived, which was just what they needed. However, a license te from Shannan Province was not appropriate for the moment, so they had booked a car in advance, letting Wen Ming get up early and drive it over. Soon, with all vehicles ready, ten people divided into three cars and headed straight to the suspect¡¯s residential area to wait. Wei Zhenguo nned to arrest the suspect on his way to work. There were many people in the supermarket, and theyout inside wasplicated. It was an environment the suspect was familiar with, which could intensify his resistance. Catching him in an unfamiliar ce, the suspect might more easily surrender. From the perspective of making an arrest, Wei Zhenguo still hoped everything would go smoothly. By not even 8 o¡¯clock, three vehicles had stopped at the entrance of the suspect¡¯s residentialplex. Theplex, which had a decade¡¯s presence, looked quite decent from the outside and was located within the city limits. After guarding for a while, Wen Ming asked the local police officer driving the car, ¡°The houses here aren¡¯t cheap, right?¡± ¡°Yeah, they¡¯re the kind I can¡¯t afford,¡± the officer replied nonchntly. Wen Ming clicked his tongue twice, ¡°Even scumbags get to live in nice houses.¡± ¡°He found a ¡®baifumei¡¯,¡± the officer who had reviewed the suspect¡¯s information exined, ¡°It must be the woman¡¯s family who bought the house. He just lucked into it.¡± Wen Ming¡¯s eyes widened, ¡°Why should he?¡± ¡°On the run, speaks sweetly, adds a pitiful backstory ¡ª isn¡¯t that what women want?¡± Wei Zhenguo, who had seen it all, said it in one statement, then added, ¡°But, he¡¯s also tripped up here.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He must have needed to get married, so he used his ID card to register. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to find him,¡± Wei Zhenguo spected. ¡°This guy must have a fake identity but couldn¡¯t use it to get married.¡± Only then did Wen Ming realize, and he couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°After all, it¡¯s been thirteen years. Normal people would think it¡¯s all in the past.¡± ¡°A thirteen-year-old cold case?¡± The local police officer had just received a Zhonghua cigarette from Jiang Yuan and his attention was caught. He only knew that this was a serious cold case, but did not know the specifics. With a grunt of affirmation, Wen Ming proceeded, somewhat proudly, ¡°Our forensic doctor Jiang reconstructed the scene and cracked a thirteen-year-old case.¡± ¡°It¡¯s notpletely solved yet,¡± Jiang Yuan modestly interjected. Wen Ming shook his head, ¡°To me, it¡¯s as good as solved¡­¡± As they were speaking, a middle-aged man walked out of theplex, holding the hand of a small child. ¡°That¡¯s the man you¡¯re looking for,¡± the local police officer confirmed after a nce, and added, ¡°He¡¯s probably taking the child to kindergarten.¡± ¡°This guy has a kid, and he can still send them to kindergarten¡­¡± Wen Ming murmured, unable to hold back. ¡°Don¡¯t get worked up,¡± Wei Zhenguo gently patted Wen Ming¡¯s shoulder, then picked up the walkie-talkie and spoke quietly, ¡°Attention all units, do not make the arrest yet, halt the operation. Do not arrest¡­¡± Wen Ming looked at Wei Zhenguo in surprise, ¡°We¡¯re not arresting him? With so many of us here, we can send a couple of officers to protect the child.¡± ¡°No arrest,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°Making an arrest under these circumstances can trigger a bacsh, making interrogation troublesometer. Let¡¯s follow him, and after he drops off his child and is on his way back, that¡¯s when we¡¯ll catch him.¡± Moreover, although this person was a prior sex offender, he had not been convicted yet and was just one of eight suspects. Wei Zhenguo felt that there was no need to expose his past in public at least. Even Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure who the real killer was at this point, so keeping the arrest scope smaller was better for everyone. The three vehicles took turns driving as Jiang Yuan watched the suspect take his child to ¡°Tianxin International Bilingual Kindergarten¡± and then go to a breakfast shop to eat. From his demeanor, it was clear he had no sense of counter-surveince anymore. Indeed, if he were the killer, thirteen years of peaceful life would have been enough for him to forget about the girl who died on the rooftop. That girl was only sixteen when she died. ¡°Take the side street, then make the arrest. Car number two, block the front,¡± Wei Zhenguo began directing the operation. The police officers in the three vehicles acted upon the orders, naturally forming an encirclement. In over twenty years of catching thieves, Wei Zhenguo had never led such a well-resourced operation. ¡°Go,¡± Wei Zhenguo waited for the right moment before signaling the driver to stop and getting out of the car himself. Up ahead, pairs of burly men who had been strolling took action as soon as they heard a whistle,unching into movement all at once. The target suspect, still standing dumbfounded at the scene, had only ¡°escape¡± on his mind. Immediately after, he was forcefully pinned to the ground. At the same time, two others, who were a step behind and failed to pounce on him, didn¡¯t hesitate to pull his hands out from his coat. ¡°Liu Yuquan, do you know why you¡¯re being arrested?¡± Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯t y by the book and approached, speaking in Shan Nan dialect. The ent from Shan Nan was not heavy but recognizable to anyone who had lived there for a few years. Liu Yuquan, who had been struggling, stopped in bewilderment upon hearing Wei Zhenguo¡¯s question. ¡°Liu Yuquan, do you know why you¡¯re being arrested?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked again. Liu Yuquan lifted his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, and whispered, ¡°I know.¡± Wei Zhenguo felt a surge of gratification inside; it seemed they had caught the right person. The interrogation had actually started even before the arrest. Now, Liu Yuquan, who had just dropped his child off at kindergarten, was filled with images of his young wife and child, aware that the sandcastle he had built was copsing, an intense sense of disillusionment made him no longer care about his own life, let alone resist. After all, he was just amon sex offender, who asionally indulged in inappropriate conduct with women, and despite repeated impulses, had only ever killed a girl in her prime once. Thirteen years of calm life had not made him grow; it just made him more ordinary, more fragile. Chapter 188 - 188 180 ?188: 180 188: 180 The journey spanned 1600 kilometers, a round trip of over 3000 kilometers, with only a one-day stopover in between. Jiang Yuan arrived back in Ningtai County in a daze. If someone were to ask him now what Luo Jin City looked like, Jiang Yuan could only respond with a slow drawl, asking, ¡°Luo what?¡± Even so, Jiang Yuan received special treatment. The other three drove while escorting Liu Yuquan. Likewise, deciding to dispatch three people instead of four for the escort was already a consideration forfort during the long drive. Huang Qiangmin arrived at the forensic office with a constant 22.2-degree smile, and upon seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s fatigued appearance, couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Look at you,pletely worn out. I said there was no need for you to go to the arrest, just let the others run around.¡± ¡°I was thinking, maybe there would be a need to search for clues or evidence at the scene,¡± Jiang Yuan said, having rested the previous night but still not quite recovered. Out of respect for the team leader, he stood up anyway. Huang Qiangmin passed Jiang Yuan a cigarette and casually offered one to Wu Jun as well. After Wu Jun lit it and took a drag, Huang said, ¡°Your thinking is good too, indeed, we should go all out when facing a backlog of murder cases. However¡­¡± At this point, Huang Qiangmin turned and closed the office door. Behind the door hung an image of Lord Guan, swaying slightly, with Phoenix eyes that seemed to look askance at people. Clearly, Comrade Wu Jun held some unconventional beliefs about how colleagues returning from other provinces should refresh and improve themselves. And the ritual was not yetplete. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth twitched twice, pretending not to see, and turned away. With the door closed, Huang Qiangmin spoke more freely, ¡°Let¡¯s speak some inappropriate truths. Jiang Yuan, evidence from the scene of the arrest is something anyone can handle. Even if we encounter something particrly difficult, if the evidence is collected and sent back, you can still analyze itter. And if it¡¯s really necessary to be on site, ast-minute trip would still be feasible.¡± Wu Jun coughed twice and quickly added his own politically incorrectment, ¡°Jiang Yuan, the captain really does care about you. I agree too, you have the ability to solve cases, while the work of arrest andpleting evidence can be left to others.¡± ¡°Right, everyone has their expertise, teamwork is the key,¡± said Huang Qiangmin, believing he had made his point. The reason he felt such a strong urge to say these things was because of the astonishing capabilities Jiang Yuan had exhibited. A murder case from 13 years ago had been cracked as soon as he took it on, and with each arrest, the suspects were spot on. The criminals had confessed some details of their crimes during transportation, and Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t wait to verify them, the oues needless to say. Such cases are typically kept confidential, especially certain details of the crime ¨C where the clothing was torn, what items at the scene were moved, where the murder weapon was hidden, how the blood-stained clothes were handled, and so forth, all kept secret. Some details weren¡¯t even documented in the case files. They were things only visible or audible at the crime scene or to those who had been there. Once these details were confirmed, the identity of the perpetrators was essentially confirmed as well. In current cases, not only murder cases but even thefts have a stage of crime scene recognition, effectively validating the power of their testimony from another angle. The 611 case of He Jingqin was one that Captain Huang had personally worked on since taking charge of the detective squad. Huang Qiangmin still felt emotional when he thought of how difficult it was to handle the case at that time. However, the direction of the criminal investigation at that time was misguided. Without evidence of rape, and considering that there had been burries in the vicinity of the victim¡¯s apartment building within a few months, the main focus was on robbery leading to death. Later, they even considered whether the murder was motivated by hatred due to He Jingqin¡¯s parents¡¯ rtionships, or was a failed kidnapping attempt. At the time, because the case urred in the tallest building of the county, it attracted a lot of attention and caused widespread anxiety among the residents of the building and the nearbymunity. It also had a significant social impact, with the special investigation team working tirelessly, day and night. Huang Qiangmin, for two consecutive weeks, only slept four hours a day, and half of that was in the car. The other members of the special investigation team also demonstratedmendable enthusiasm and diligence. At its peak, the team had over a hundred members, with thirty to forty people dedicating three months to the case. But solving a case isn¡¯t something that can be achieved with just enthusiasm and hard work. If we were to count the working hours, the police system of Ningtai County must have invested at least seventy to eighty thousand hours into the He Jingqin case thirteen years ago, and hundreds of hours were dedicated to clearing old cases in the years that followed. But how many hours did Jiang Yuan¡¯s team use? Jiang Yuan reopened the case with perhaps just ten hours of actual work time, and the subsequent arrests took a few hundred hours at most. A hundredfold increase in work efficiency. Most crucially, the method used to solve the case was unlike any of Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous use of fingerprints, DNA, or footprints. The technique of reconstructing the crime scene not only provides an investigative direction. It creates a tform. As long as Jiang Yuan reconstructs the crime scene, every member of the investigation team can understand the full picture of the scene. It¡¯s like allowing everyone to witness a video recording of the bloodstains at the crime scene. And on this basis, solving cases is clearly more effective than merely relying on a single fingerprint or DNA and hoping for luck. This beast is truly made for breaking new ground! Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t urge Jiang Yuan, but patted him on the shoulder and, with a warmth, said a few words like ¡°rest well,¡± then opened the office door and left. He didn¡¯t even spare Lord Guan a second nce. Wu Jun stepped forward to put Lord Guan away, contemting where to ce it next time. Jiang Yuan was in poor shape, his work was feeble despite being willing; after reading a novel for a while, he left on time when his shift ended. The next day, Jiang Yuan arrived a bitter. Liu Yuquan had already been properly locked up in the detention center, and the procuratorate had be involved ahead of time. Lately, the string of solved cases by the Ningtai County Bureau had also created quite a bit of pressure for the units above and below them. However, solving homicide backlog cases was always a good thing after all. Some had already started to think about how they would draft their performance reports. Upon entering the office, Jiang Yuan saw Wu Jun writing fervently. That made Jiang Yuan somewhat emotional: Forget any talk of civil servants having it easy; look at Doctor Wu, with his cup of green tea, a cigarette, a water pen, writing all day without stopping. ¡°Master, what are you writing? Can I help with some?¡± After his emotional moment, Jiang Yuan actively stepped forward, ready to work. Wu Jun nced at him, sighed, and said, ¡°Forget it, these are tasks I¡¯m familiar with; if I pass them to you, Captain Huang would scold me for not knowing any better.¡± ¡°How could that be¡­¡± ¡°Old crocodiles are tough to handle,¡± Wu Jun shook his head and said, ¡°The injury assessments from the past few days are done; if you¡¯ve got free time, go work on the backlog cases.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t work on backlog cases every day,¡± Jiang Yuanughed. Wu Jun didn¡¯tugh, looked up to give him a nce, and said, ¡°Have you forgotten what Captain Huang told you yesterday?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ more or less,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted. ¡°Normally, working on a specialized case team for backlog cases, spending two or three months on one case is quitemon. You¡¯ve hardly spent any time on this, calling it working on backlog cases every day. Since you¡¯ve started, at least you should produce some results,¡± Wu Jun lectured Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t I just finish a backlog case?¡± ¡°Time is also important,¡± Wu Jun said emphatically. ¡°Yesterday, Captain Huang was already arranging for some teams to wrap up their cases quickly. Guess what he¡¯s trying to aplish?¡± Although Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand, he followed the conversation and said, ¡°Working on backlog cases?¡± ¡°Right, so you see, do you think you really have that much time to waste? Get to it. Captain Huang is ready to support you, and here you are, spending half the day with me on paperwork¡­ Captain Huang could skin me alive.¡± ¡°That¡¯s an exaggeration¡­¡± ¡°Ever heard the story about making an example of a chicken to scare the monkeys?¡± ¡°Am I the monkey?¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to his own nose. Wu Jun nodded. ¡°Are you the chicken?¡± Wu Jun nodded again. Jiang Yuan quietly returned to hisputer to work. It took a while for Wu Jun to realize what had transpired, and after smoking half a cigarette in one breath, he let Jiang Yuan off the hook, considering he used the respectful ¡°you.¡± Jiang Yuan continued to sift through backlog cases from 13 years ago and then came across one from 17 years ago. A body found beside a rural path. Due to the cover of the trees, it wasn¡¯t until the body began to dpose and emit a foul stench that a passing traveler called the police. The case¡­ came to a halt. It caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention because the officer examining the scene found a third of a bloody fingerprint on the victim¡¯s leather jacket. Seeing this fingerprint, Jiang Yuan felt a strong urge to run aparison. ¡°I¡¯ll choose you,¡± Jiang Yuan muttered to himself, shifted in his chair, and looked closely at the screen. Chapter 189 - 189 181 The Old Profession ?189: Chapter 181: The Old Profession 189: Chapter 181: The Old Profession Solving cold cases through fingerprint analysis had always been Jiang Yuan¡¯s forte. The quememorating his second-ss meritorious service was still basking in the sun at his front door, polished to a shine by his proud father every single day. Having worked on so many cold case fingerprints, Jiang Yuan felt there was a match as soon as he saw the bloody fingerprint on the leather jacket. This was a kind of confidence based on personal ability. Firstly, the rity of a blood fingerprint was usually passable. Of course, this fingerprint had been found on a leather jacket, so its rity was slightlypromised, but it was still much better than the condition of mosttent sweat fingerprints. Secondly, although the fingerprint was only one-third the normal size andcked a center, it had a fingertip. This condition was very personalized. In regr trace examination, if the fingerprintcked a core or the core was obscured, the print would typically be discarded. It¡¯s very difficult to find a match under these conditions. But for Jiang Yuan, as long as he could correctly determine the position of the core, and the ridge lines around the core were clear, he was confident he could work with such a fingerprint. The sess rate was only slightly lower than if the fingerprint had a core. For current cases, naturally, the better the condition of the fingerprint, the easier it is to proceed. But having worked on so many cold cases, a simple truth had be apparent: for cold cases, the better the condition of the fingerprint, the more meaningless it was. A fingerprint that anyone could match was like a lickspittle dog that fawns over everyone it meets; it has no owner. Of course, the difficulty of the fingerprint at hand was also obvious. Jiang Yuan downloaded the fingerprint image to theputer, and instead of immediately getting to work, he looked at the picture. At that moment, a system notification shed before his eyes: ¡­ Mission: Crack the doubtful case Mission content: Solve the 405 Xu Hai case ¡­ Jiang Yuan checked the information, and indeed, the 405 Xu Hai case was the very case he had just chosen. This saved him some trouble as he didn¡¯t have to ponder whether to switch to another case if he encountered difficulties with this one. He just needed to focus solely on breaking this case. Jiang Yuan rubbed his hands together, as per his usual practice, regardless of the condition of the fingerprint, he would start with photo editing. An old saying goes: Three rolls in Photoshop, and even a beauty couldn¡¯t stand firm. Once a fingerprint had been through Photoshop, it was bound to reveal some of its true nature, like a leader having had a bit too much Maotai. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask for much, typically requiring 15 characteristic points on aplete fingerprint. On one that was only a third of the size, if he could identify 8 characteristic points, he would have a basis forparison. The old high-performanceputer started up with a rumbling noise. Hearing the sound, Wu Jun looked up and asked, ¡°Have you picked a case?¡± ¡°The 405 Xu Hai case,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Just tell me the condition of the body, and I¡¯ll know which one it is,¡± Wu Jun said, standing up and lighting a cigarette. Jiang Yuan went straight to the point, ¡°The body was found next to a township road in Litang Township. When discovered, the body was about 8 meters away from the road, with a barrier of trees and vines in between. The body was highly dposed, with stab wounds in the abdomen and chest¡­¡± ¡°Ah, I know, was the victim a private clothing vendor at the fair?¡± Wu Jun spoke as if recalling a piece of history. Jiang Yuan gave an affirmative grunt and said, ¡°I noticed a blood handprint on his leather jacket, so I¡¯m going to see if it matches anything.¡± ¡°Using fingerprints, eh? That should work,¡± Wu Jun said and then couldn¡¯t help adding, ¡°But this case is a tough one.¡± ¡°Where did the investigation get stuck at the time?¡± Jiang Yuan was also curious. Instead of answering, Wu Jun asked, ¡°What do you think the nature of this case is?¡± Jiang Yuan had mainly focused on the fingerprints but had also skimmed the case details. After pondering a moment, he replied, ¡°A roadside robbery that escted to murder?¡± ¡°Why would it be 8 meters away from the road? Look at the scene¡¯s photos. They specifically took a picture of the roadside nts. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s very lush? It¡¯s inconvenient to walk through,¡± Jiang Yuan said. So, Jiang Yuan flipped through the photos in the internalwork again, which were the images of the cold case, and they were transcribed clearly. It was evident that just two or three meters away from the country road, the vegetation became dense. To get 8 meters away, one couldn¡¯t directly walk through; they¡¯d have to squeeze in. If someone were being coerced at knifepoint, it was easy for things to go awry. Of course, things going awry might also be a reason for esction? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t quite understand, but he grasped Wu Jun¡¯s point and said, ¡°So, initially, you didn¡¯t think it was a roadside robbery?¡± Wu Jun, however, shook his head and said, ¡°I thought it was, and so did many others. But the leaders didn¡¯t agree.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°Because if it was a roadside robbery that led to murder, the case would be unsolvable,¡± Wu Jun spread his hands and sighed, ¡°It makes sense. Back then, solving cases was simplistic¡ªinvestigate, eliminate, and interrogate. In the middle of nowhere, if it became a robbery-homicide case, it would be too difficult to handle.¡± Investigate, eliminate, and interrogate referred to examining the crime scene, canvassing backgrounds, and conducting surprise interrogations. This was a method of criminal investigation rooted in a solidwork of social rtionships. The household registration system established after the founding of the country significantly reduced the mobility of people, and most cases involved acquaintances. By canvassing, a satisfactory clearance rate for cases could be achieved. As for the wanderers outside of thiswork, the police system often referred to them as ¡°blind drifters,¡± and they would be easily detained for examination, interrogation, and repatriation. For this reason, as social mobility increased, the effectiveness of the police system greatly declined, not to mention public security. Wu Jun didn¡¯t tell Jiang Yuan something¡ªthat there were quite a few cases of roadside robbery back then, so the leaders weren¡¯t very keen on solving them. Jiang Yuan, driven by curiosity, then asked, ¡°What did Captain Huang say at the time?¡± ¡°At that time, he happened to be the head of a police station.¡± Wu Jun paused, reminiscing for a moment, then said, ¡°It should have been because of this case that he was promoted to head of the Criminal Police Squad.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help being nosy, ¡°Was the previous squad leader reced because of this case?¡± ¡°More or less. There were quite a few unsolved cases in those years.¡± Seeing Wu Jun had no interest in continuing this topic, Jiang Yuan returned to discussing the case and said, ¡°So, do you think the main issue with this case was the direction of the investigation?¡± ¡°The victim¡¯swork has been almost thoroughly investigated, with no results,¡± Wu Jun shook his head and said, ¡°You¡¯d better focus on fingerprints now. That¡¯s about the only way to find something.¡± Random crimes were difficult to investigate back then, and they are even more so now. Over the years, most of the cold cases that were solved relied mainly on fingerprints and DNA, for simr reasons. Many clues that couldn¡¯t be tracked down back then are even less traceable yearster. Jiang Yuan had been hoping his master could provide more insight. After all, a lot of information isn¡¯t written in the case files. The discarded investigative direction Wu Jun had just mentioned was precisely the kind of thing not found in the case files. For now, however, it seemed to be of no use. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to specte anymore and turned back to processing the fingerprints. Just like when he participated in the provincial fingerprintpetition in Changyang. Back then, there was hardly anyone to coborate with; it was simply a matter of checking fingerprints. If you found a match, great; if not, tough luck. At that time, half of the province¡¯s fingerprint experts, most of whom were Level 3 in trace evidence, went home with nothing but goose eggs to show for it. Jiang Yuan had been processing a single fingerprint until it was time to leave work. Wu Jun stood up on time and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Leaving work?¡± ¡°I¡¯m working overtime,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed and pulled out his phone to send a message to his dad. Wu Jun chuckled and said, ¡°You should bnce work and rest, take a break when it¡¯s time to.¡± ¡°It breaks the train of thought,¡± Jiang Yuan said helplessly, shaking his head. During the provincial fingerprintpetition, why were the fingerprint experts more sessful? Attention was one aspect, but it was also because they could focus on analyzing fingerprints without even going home. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dare take the blood fingerprint lightly; getting back into the mindset he had during the fingerprintpetition was the most advantageous. Chapter 190 - 190 182 This move is useful ?190: Chapter 182 This move is useful 190: Chapter 182 This move is useful Jiang Fuzhen received Jiang Yuan¡¯s message while he was sipping on Duck Shit Aroma Phoenix Single Cluster and scrolling through his phone. With a nimble reply of ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Fuzhen fell into deep thought. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Uncle San asked from across the table, took a sip of tea, teased the Hupo Xue Earth Dog at his feet, and kept Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s two dogs a bit further away. The Doberman was only a few months old but it had already surpassed his Hupo Xue Earth Dog in size, the two together gave off a vibe daring anyone to mess with Uncle San. Jiang Fuzhen let out a ¡°hmmph,¡± put down his phone, and began to brew tea, saying, ¡°Xiao Yuan has to work overtime again.¡± ¡°Working overtime again? Even civil servants are this busy?¡± Uncle San slurped his tea. ¡°He says there¡¯s a case,¡± replied Jiang Fuzhen, shaking his head helplessly. ¡°It looks like a second-ss merit isn¡¯t easy to get. Others work 8 hours a day, and some go home after just four or five hours. Jiang Yuan works for 10 hours; if they don¡¯t give it to him, who else would they give it to?¡± Mrs. Hua agreed, ¡°Xiao Yuan really works too hard. Actually, it would be better for him toe back and start a business, just open apany to help everyone find things¡­¡± ¡°Help you find things, you mean,¡± Uncle San couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°What¡¯s the use of buying a safe if you need to keep it locked, but you leave it open all day long?¡± Mrs. Huained, ¡°Opening a safe is really tiring, you know. The door is so heavy, pushing it is okay, but pulling it, I practically have to slide on the floor. Then I have to enter the password, look at the iris. I put my eye up to it, and it still often doesn¡¯t recognize it. Might as well think of it as a filing cab¡­¡± ¡°Ah Hua, you have abalone, right? I remember,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said. ¡°Right, I bought a lot of dried abalone back then. They¡¯re too troublesome to prepare, and there¡¯s no one at home who likes them¡­¡± ¡°Give me some, I¡¯ll stew some abalone for Xiao Yuan to nourish him,¡± Jiang Fuzhen decided, getting up. Mrs. Hua stood up too, ¡°Exactly, Xiao Yuan doesn¡¯t have a partner yet, and he works so hard. He definitely needs to nourish himself well. I also have dried scallops and Jinhua Ham. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll have someone push them over.¡± ¡°Send me the amount on WeChat afterward,¡± Jiang Fuzhen lifted up his phone. ¡°Okay,¡± Mrs. Hua didn¡¯t stand on ceremony and asked, ¡°How much are you going to cook?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll cook a whole pot, get about four or five pounds,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said as he began messaging to order old hens, dragon bone spareribs, chicken feet, pork trotters, and the like. Dried abalone isplicated to prepare. Apart from being careful during the soaking process, braising it is alsoborious and consumes time, fire, and ingredients. A pound of abalone almost needs ten pounds of other ingredients to braise, and without several days¡¯ work, it¡¯s not easy to get it right. However, Jiang Fuzhen estimated that Jiang Yuan would be away for a few days before he could return home, just in time to eat the stewed abalone. ¡­ The Criminal Police Brigade. Jiang Yuan rubbed his back, stared at the screen, thinking, and then went back to marking and operating on it. Most of the time, Jiang Yuan focused on the fingerprint image and pondered it. The fingerprint was small, but there were actually many points to consider. Especially with such high levels of fragmentation and fuzziness, he had to assess the direction of the ridges, the width of the fingerprint lines, the areas where minutiae appeared, and the number of minutiae. It must be said that the advent of the Automatic Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) greatly reduced the work involved in fingerprintparison. However, talking to the AFIS became aplex task. Sometimes, even if you separate the wheat from the chaff, extracting the most quintessential and true fingerprint, you still can¡¯t find a match. That¡¯s because the fingerprints in the database are not necessarily the most quintessential and true. Sometimes, to find a match, what¡¯s needed is actually impurities. So, talking with the program is just like talking with a person. The initialmunication and confrontation all tangled around one question: are you quintessence or dross? After identifying the other¡¯s nature, the correct approach to further deepenmunication is to treat quintessence in the way of quintessence and dross in the way of dross. After trying for an afternoon and half an evening, Jiang Yuan finally made a judgment: You are dross. He said it directly, facing theputer screen. The bloodstained fingerprint on the screen at that moment was as calm as an elite, silent. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about this tomorrow,¡± Jiang Yuan said, tapping the bloodstained fingerprint with his finger before he left the office and headed to the dormitory to rest. It was toote, and he was a little scared to go home alone. Recently, he had been looking at too many cases. What if he encountered an ex-convict killer, a retired assassin, or a murderer intent on silencing others? That would be terrible. Especially on the eve of cracking a murder case, choosing to walk alone at night was almost a guaranteed death sentence in movies and TV shows. Even if he didn¡¯t die, he would likely be injured and unconscious for a long time, and if really unlucky, he might be left to smile at life in the light of day after being handicapped. Jiang Yuan returned to his dormitory, locked the door, and then he could sleep in peace. The next day. The sun was shining brightly. Jiang Yuan purposefully slept until everyone was already at work before getting up to wash up and then headed to the office with the rest. Wu Jun arrived on his heels and pped him on the shoulder with a smile, saying, ¡°I prayed for this hand before I left the house to bring you some good luck.¡± ¡°Thank you, Master,¡± Jiang Yuan thanked him. ¡°How¡¯s it going? Any hope?¡± Wu Jun, who was knowledgeable in the field, had seen many cases where fingerprints could not be identified after a long time. He didn¡¯t want to add pressure on Jiang Yuan either. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s going quite smoothly.¡± He felt that if today¡¯s pace was good, there was a chance of capturing the fingerprint in question. This confidence was built up through numerous sessful matches in the provincial fingerprintpetition. Of course, even with confidence, it was still better not to blurt it out too carelessly. As soon as Jiang Yuan returned to his seat, he silently began adjusting the fingerprints. The old high-performance server roared to life again. This time, he treated the fingerprint in question with the mindset one reserves for dealing with impurities. After a series of operations, when Jiang Yuan sent the inquiry again, he directly selected the ne Impression Library for the fingerprint¡¯s target data category, unchecking the ¡°Rolled and ne,¡± ¡°Rolled, ne, and Palm¡± and other databases. The so-called rolled, refers to rolled impressions, also known as three-sided impressions. To borate, it is a rather advanced method of impression taking, with quite aplex operation. During the impression process, the person being fingerprinted needs to stand facing the impression table, while the impression officer stands to their left, using their right thumb and forefinger to pinch both sides of the second joint of the fingerprinted finger. The other fingers and the palm control the whole hand of the person being fingerprinted, then roll it around the impression officer as the center following the direction of thumb inwards and other fingers outwards¡­ In a nutshell, the responsibility for rolled impressions is usually on a dedicated fingerprinting officer, often a police officer. The advantage of this is to capture all the details of the finger. This includes the inner patterns of the finger ridges, the periphery line system, root chisel line system, deltas, and so on¡­ Theoretically, any part of the fingerprint that this person leaves behind in the future can bepared to a three-sided impression. Thus, rolled impressions greatly enrich the fingerprint database. Unless¡­ Unless the fingerprinting officer is unprofessional. As everyone knows, people can do unprofessional things. And the task of three-sided fingerprinting does have some difficulties. Although one could grasp the essentials after earnest training and fingerprinting just a few dozen fingers. But, as everyone knows, people can be unserious, too. Jiang Yuan faced too few fingerprints, which meant a very low margin for error. Byparison, in impressions were much simpler. They are what people normally understand by pressing a finger. You dip your finger in ink and press it vertically onto a fingerprint card. Although the recorded fingerprint is notplete, the fingerprints Jiang Yuan now had all fell within the range of in impressions. Impurity against impurity, there¡¯s nothing to be ashamed of. Jiang Yuan re-adjusted the characteristic points of the fingerprint, singled out the in impression library, and startedparing. After two rounds ofparisons, and by noon, as Jiang Yuan was scanning the third round of characteristic points, the fingerprint ranked 12th made him stop. Jiang Yuan took a sip of tea and then erged both fingerprint images to check them one by one. There was no doubt about the match! Indeed, when he singled out the in impression library, the matching of the fingerprint suddenly became much easier. Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, this fingerprint was even more difficult than the ones during the fingerprintpetition. During thepetition, he had used image enhancement skills, which amounted to a dimensionality reduction assault on the trace examiners of the previous generations. This time, the fingerprintparison involved somewhat of a direct confrontation. However, where is a murder backlog case ever easy? Jiang Yuan chose to submit it to the fingerprint database and before long, feedback was sent back. Confirmed as identical! Jiang Yuan stood up and stretched, his bones cracking, and picking up his phone, he casually said to Wu Jun, ¡°It¡¯s a match.¡± ¡°Eh, really?¡± Wu Jun eximed in surprise. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°I¡¯m going to call Captain Huang.¡± ¡°Huang must be thrilled,¡± Wu Jun remarked, then nced at his right hand and began to ponder with focus, thinking: Is this method really that effective? Chapter 191 - 191 183 A Hundred Kinds of Flavors ?191: Chapter 183: A Hundred Kinds of vors 191: Chapter 183: A Hundred Kinds of vors ¡°Another match?¡± The first one to rush in the door was Wu Junhao. His thunderous footsteps reverberated up the stairs, so loud they could be heard through half the corridor, carrying so powerfully that the entire floor heard them. Wu Junhao entered the room with a face full of disbelief. He was like a fisherman who fished in the reservoir every day, asionally hauling in a fish or two. It would take a very long time to see a big fish that weighed twenty or thirty jin, and most of the time, it wasn¡¯t even him who caught it. Jiang Yuan was like the young fisherman in the neighboring spot, wearing a red cap and yellow vest, looking like a newbie fresh out of school. With just one cast, in not much time, hended a 50-jin big fish. Before everyone¡¯s excitement had even died down, what¡¯s this? Another one! Epic victory! If not for seeing it with his own eyes, Wu Junhao would even doubt there were fish that big in the reservoir. Just like in a normal county bureau, in normal years, it¡¯s also unlikely to solve a cold case murder. It¡¯s not without reason that thebat power ranking list gives 300 points to each cold case murder, with no upper limit. ¡°Confirmed as the same one,¡± Jiang Yuan said, nonchntly. His current demeanor was like that of the fisherman who had hoisted up the big fish; he didn¡¯t need to be boisterous, his voice didn¡¯t need to be arrogant¡ªthe catch on his shoulder was both arrogant and boisterous! Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help but let out a deep sigh. As the de facto team leader of the serious crime unit of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, Wu Junhao had never cracked a cold case murder¡ªthis might not bepletely urate; he had captured fugitives of cold case murders, which, ording to the ministry¡¯s ssification, was considered solving a cold case murder. But as a criminal police officer, Wu Junhao had indeed never sessfully tackled such an investigation. In fact, most criminal police officers had never sessfully tackled one. Wu Junhao suddenly looked at Jiang Yuan with a bit of envy and said, ¡°If I had known, I should have studied fingerprints more carefully back then.¡± Wu Jun couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Yan Ge and Wang Zhong next door studied fingerprints back in the day.¡± Wu Junhao smiled proudly. Wu Jun chuckled and then said, ¡°When I work with fingerprints, my biggest worry is that there are no corresponding prints in the database. All the effort could turn out to be in vain. Xiao Jiang still has patience.¡± So, Jiang Yuan humbly expressed, ¡°Sometimes that¡¯s the case, but many hard-core criminals can¡¯t resist offending again. Like this suspect, he¡¯s already startedmitting highway robberies, he¡¯s evenmitted murder and hasn¡¯t been caught. I don¡¯t believe that for 17 consecutive years afterward, he¡¯s been a good man.¡± Criminals not caught tend to be even more reckless. If someone identallymits murder, they might still live under the radar for the rest of their life, but if a criminal has escted tomitting highway robbery and murder without punishment, it¡¯s highly unlikely they¡¯ll live an upright life thereafter. The one Jiang Yuan had just matched was such a case. He got into a fight 10 years ago, seven years after the incident, and was taken to the police station, leaving fingerprints behind. Six years ago, he was taken in for the same reason. Jiang Yuan could onlyment that the fingerprint quality from the local police stations was really subpar. Otherwise, during the previous provincial fingerprintparison operations, there should have been a match. Thump thump thump thump. Huang Qiangmin walked briskly into the forensic doctor¡¯s office. Recently, he¡¯d visited the fourth floor¡¯s Criminal Investigation team more often than he had in the past decadebined. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± Huang Qiangmin called out cheerfully. ¡°Captain Huang. I should havee to report to you,¡± Jiang Yuan promptly stood up. The more one aplishes, the more they should mind theirnguage. It¡¯s just like during demolition periods: the more you¡¯repensated, the more you should be kind to others and actively participate in the vige¡¯smunal activities. Simrly, the bigger the fish a fisherman carries, the more polite he should be. This doesn¡¯t hinder him from sharing his casting experience with other fishermen. Huang Qiangmin greatly appreciated Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude, his mouth curving into a smile at a 66.6-degree angle, and he said, ¡°Just a call will do. I¡¯m the happiest when you solve cases, there¡¯s no need for formalism.¡± Wu Junhao and the others rarely saw the detachment leader smile so beautifully. They nced at each other, their expressions simr to those watching the East African animal migration. Novel. Delightful. Slightly frightening. ¡°Can we pinpoint the suspect¡¯s location?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked. Jiang Yuan replied with a ¡°Hmm,¡± saying, ¡°We have his residency information, seems he¡¯s moved to Changyang City.¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded, not surprised, ¡°The provincial capital is not easy either. Old Wu¡­¡± ¡°Captain Huang,¡± Wu Junhao immediately responded. ¡°This capture operation is yours. Jiang Yuan¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan, leaving it to him to decide whether to follow. Being part of a capture operation isn¡¯t without its benefits. For cold case murders like this, when reporting to higher authorities, there might be a chance for a third-ss merit or amendation. If one independently solves a case and personally captures the criminal, the chances of receiving an award naturally increase. Jiang Yuan had less to consider in that regard, his main focus had been on consecutively solving cold cases, which raised his threshold. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°I will continue to work on sweeping through cases.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, for the time being, you can just work on the cold cases,¡± Huang Qiangmin readily agreed and waved to Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao quickly greeted and left the room. Such cases, once the criminal suspect was identified, generally did not present a high degree of difficulty in apprehension. But precisely because of this, failure was uneptable. Wu Junhao, usually carefree, became methodical when it came to getting things done. The suspects in homicide cold cases especially warranted his cautious attention. ¡°Go rest if you need to,¡± Huang Qiangmin turned back and instructed Jiang Yuan. After a moment¡¯s thought, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll go to the dormitory and sleep for a while; I stayed uptest night as well.¡± If he stayed in the office, soon, once Huang Qiangmin¡¯s deterrence was gone, there would undoubtedly be many peopleing to visit¡­ Regardless of their motives, Jiang Yuan¡¯s continuous sess in solving cold cases was certainly a very stimting matter for his colleagues who were also police officers. Thest time a simr situation urred in Shannan Province was over a decade ago. It was when the first DNAboratory in Shannan Province was established, and arge number of cold cases were solved. Some counties even proimed slogans of breaking through all their cold cases. Although several counties in Shannan Province wereter contradicted, on a national scale, there were still a few that achieved the feat of clearing all cold homicide cases in their jurisdictions. As time passed, criminals have also be smarter, and replicating the achievements of those years had be a lost opportunity. Continuously solving cold homicide cases had surpassed what one could imagine. Jiang Yuan left shortly after, and the forensic office gradually returned to tranquility. The Dormitory. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to be bothered by anything else at first, he just buried his head and slept soundly, then returned to the office to select cases. The review of cold cases had gone back 17 years; looking any further back was really not easy. Cases that could be solved with DNA evidence had mostly been reviewed in earlier years. Cases that could be solved with fingerprints, the conditions were alsorgely so poor as to frustrate one. In fact, if one looks at the annual cold case clearance announcements from the ministries, the majority of cold cases were solved by relying on DNA and fingerprints. As for the traditional detective¡¯s ¡°three-pronged approach¡± of elimination and verification, naturally, these had been attempted repeatedly over the years as well. A day passed by quickly. Nothing happened. Wu Jun felt immensely relieved. This was the normal office ecosystem. Jiang Yuan could ept that. After seeing Wu Jun off, he continued to huddle in the office to review other cases¡¯ fingerprints. Thebat-ready state he had just adjusted to shouldn¡¯t be carelessly wasted. The next day. Wu Junhao and others brought the criminal suspect back to Ningtai County. Simr to previous cases, the suspect from the 17-year-old cold case had long since forgotten about the crime he hadmitted. In his words, ¡°It¡¯s all in the past.¡± In fact, it wasn¡¯t until Wu Junhao and others revealed their identities that he realized he wasn¡¯t being kidnapped. After just two days of interrogation, the suspect confessed cleanly. Huang Qiangmin made a special request for the former head of the Criminal Police Detachment toe and hear the case report. They listened as Wu Junhao first described the case and then said, ¡°The suspect Cui Liang, a temporary worker at a local state-owned enterprise, initially went after money. But he didn¡¯t know the victim. He loitered around a rural credit cooperative in the township, watching who withdrew more money, and followed them to secluded ces to rob them.¡± ¡°Using this method, Cui Liang sessfullymitted several robberies. But this time, the victim pleaded continuously and tried to establish a connection. He even brought up the state-owned enterprise where Cui Liang worked.¡± ¡°Cui Liang, out of fear, decided to kill. Forcing the victim to leave for a designated location, he jumped at him and inflicted injuries¡­¡± The former head of the Criminal Police Detachment, nearly 70 years old, just quietly listened to Wu Junhao¡¯s report, without uttering a word until he left the scene. Huang Qiangmin nodded at Jiang Yuan and quickly followed out. Both men, with a cigarette each, harbored all sorts of feelings. Chapter 192 - 192 184 Sorrow ?192: Chapter 184: Sorrow 192: Chapter 184: Sorrow It was only when the crime suspect Cui Liang was about to be transferred to the detention center that Jiang Yuan cast a distant nce at him. Cui Liang, now in shackles, wore loose and baggy clothes, and his haggard appearance made him seem somewhat pitiable. If one didn¡¯t take his crimes into ount, his current state did indeed evoke pity. At an age where other elderly people were preparing for retirement and expecting to enjoy their twilight years, Cui Liang was about to enter prison to serve a sentence¡ªpossibly even a death sentence. From a humanitarian perspective¡ªthat would be utterly inhumane. Before leaving, Cui Liang also saw Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan stood a head taller than others nearby, so it was only natural for him to attract attention. Cui Liang didn¡¯t know that Jiang Yuan was the ¡°culprit¡± behind his arrest. Thus, when he realized Jiang Yuan was staring at him, Cui Liang deliberately made a fierce face. Perhaps he wanted to leave asting impression on this young police officer. Jiang Yuan guessed his intentions and his psychology¡­ In the field of criminal science, psychology is often seen as a chicken rib ¨C seemingly useful but often not really essential. Forensic doctors also have a specialized subject called forensic psychiatry, dedicated to identifying mental illnesses and alike. Simr to forensic entomology, it falls into the category of subjects that are brilliant for top students and baffling for struggling ones. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t yet learned the relevant skills, but that didn¡¯t stop him from umting some experience. ¡­ Mission: Crack the doubtful case Mission content: Solve case 405, Xu Hai case Mission reward: Document Examination (LV3) ¡­ Jiang Yuan acquired a skill, initially stunned then pleased. Document examination skills, though used less frequently in the field of criminal investigation, are moremonly utilized in economic investigations. However, in Ningtai County, not a single professional document examiner was to be found. Yan Ge could do simple things such as authenticate a signature, but that¡¯s about it. Moreplex tasks, such as handwriting analysis or assessment of the state of printed documents, had to be sent to Changyang City. Jiang Yuan felt he had filled a gap in the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment¡­ ¡°Heading back?¡± Wang Zhong came from behind and greeted Jiang Yuan. ¡°Yeah. Nothing left for today.¡± Jiang Yuan stretched, saw Wang Zhong had already packed his things, and asked, ¡°How are you getting back?¡± ¡°By bus.¡± Wang Zhong was a rookie policeman, and without a pre-arranged marriage house or a relocation in the family, he had to live frugally. ¡°I¡¯ll give you a lift.¡± Jiang Yuan pulled Wang Zhong along. Recently, while working on cold cases, having someone with him felt safer. It¡¯s better to have a trace examiner along than to go alone. Wang Zhong, still not quite understanding, followed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s footsteps. The two made their way to the parking lot and then into the car. Jiang Yuan dropped Wang Zhong off at his residence before driving home himself. As he reached his home, the rich scent of food greeted him. ¡°Dad.¡± Jiang Yuan followed the aroma. ¡°Back already? How did the case solving go?¡± The voice of Jiang Fuzhen from the kitchen came through. ¡°Smoothly. The suspect had been on the run in the province for many years, but we caught him and brought him back.¡± Jiang Yuan entered the kitchen and saw his dad, wearing a rare LV homewear, stirring a pot with arge spoon. At the small kitchen table, three uncles, Mrs. Hua, and about five or six other people stared eagerly at the stove, a dish of rice in front of each. ¡°Abalone sauce rice?¡± Jiang Yuan identified it at a nce. Jiang Fuzhen uttered a ¡°hm,¡± and said, ¡°If you didn¡¯te back soon, we¡¯d have finished it all.¡± As he spoke, his spoon kept stirring in the stainless steel bucket, the thick abalone sauce flowing stickily. Jiang Yuan skillfully grabbed a te, scooped rice onto it, and then sat obediently at the edge of the table with his dish. ¡°Made a breakthrough again?¡± Mrs. Hua inquired with a bit of gossip. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, ¡°Not necessarily. Whether or not I make a breakthrough depends on many factors.¡± ¡°After so many years on the run, he must be furious being caught by you. What does he do?¡± Uncle Three became curious as well. ¡°He might even be facing the death penalty,¡± Jiang Yuan only revealed what he could. The attention of everyone seated was instantly captivated. At that moment, the taste of abalone even seemed to take a back seat. Jiang Fuzhen suddenly said, ¡°Catching such a person must be dangerous, right?¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I think we also need to be cautious at home.¡± He wasn¡¯t entirely being overcautious, ¡°Aren¡¯t the two dogs enough?¡± Jiang Fuzhen frowned. Everyone¡¯s gaze shifted again, focusing on the two Doberman dogs. The Dobermans, only slightly bigger than a Pomeranian, looked innocently charming at that moment. Realizing everyone¡¯s focus was on them, they started running around excitedly. ¡°I¡¯ll let everyone know, tightening up on the vige¡¯s security is a good idea,¡± Uncle Three said as he began to send WeChat messages. ¡°When we went through demolition before, our organization was excellent. But now, everyone has bex. When you go out and people hear you¡¯re from Jiang Vige, their eyes light up¡­¡± As they talked, they began to discuss among themselves. Jiang Fuzhen came over with a bucket to pour abalone sauce for everyone. The main ingredient of the abalone sauce was actually a broth formed by simmering various side ingredients such as hen, ribs, pigs¡¯ feet, and chickens¡¯ feet. Dipping cooked beef and other items in the abalone sauce was also an incredibly satisfying ingredient. Apart from the ease of bing tired of it, the first meal is definitely a delight among delights. ¡­ Over the following few days, Jiang Yuan sifted through old cases but never found an appropriate one. After selecting a less suitable case and working on it for another day, he still had no leads. Old cases, unlike active ones, essentially depend on finding answers from the case files, which are written by the police officers involved at the time of the active investigations. So, without any major technological breakthroughs, relying solely on case files makes solving a case extremely difficult. The members of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, however, started to feel that the world was gradually returning to normal. To be honest, digesting even two unresolved murder cases was very tough for a detachment, with a myriad of reports to file and continuous requests for supplementary investigations. So, nobody was really pushing Jiang Yuan. Friday. Noon time. Jiang Yuan was ready to go for lunch early. Just then, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s phone call came through: ¡°Are you in the office? Wait for me in the conference room.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask what it was about and automatically headed to the conference room. A short whileter, Huang Qiangmin arrived with what was obviously a family group. ¡°Jiang Yuan, these two, are He Jingqin¡¯s parents. And other rtives,¡± Huang Qiangmin introduced upon meeting to avoid any misunderstandings. Jiang Yuan was taken aback and then remembered that He Jingqin was the victim in a murder case that had just been solved. The mere 16-year-old girl had lost all her potential due to the impulsive act of a molester. Jiang Yuan subconsciously didn¡¯t even want to imagine the victim¡¯s current state. ¡°Doctor Jiang. Thank you,¡± He Jingqin¡¯s parents, who had the look of intellectuals, said with a serious and mournful expression. ¡°Uh, you¡¯re wee,¡± Jiang Yuan said looking at them, unsure of what else to say. ¡°If Jingqin knows in the afterlife, she would probably thank you too for vindicating her,¡± He Jingqin¡¯s parents said with emphasis, though their voices were faint. The police officers, witnessing this scene, were also at a loss for words. Chapter 193 - 193 185 As the Water Recedes, the Corpses Emerge ?193: Chapter 185: As the Water Recedes, the Corpses Emerge 193: Chapter 185: As the Water Recedes, the Corpses Emerge Afterzing at home for two days, finishing off a potful of abalone sauce with beef, rice, green vegetables, mushrooms, tofu, shark fins, fish lips, fish maw, sea cucumbers, and other ingredients, Monday came again. Jiang Yuan felt a bit tired and, together with the fact that he could only see his son once every few days, decided to go out and have fun for half a month. A few Jiang Vige People of simr ages gathered, coincidentally someone had rented a plot to a car rentalpany, so they drove out in arge RV, even bringing two Dobermans with them. An apanying rtive had rented out a store to someone selling outdoor goods, so they bought tents, stoves, and other outdoor equipment at a very reasonable price and were rmended a beautifully located campsite. Another viger who came along had rented out a fish pond for use as a fishing park, so they stocked up on fishing gear, buying beginner-friendly fishing rods, tackle boxes, fish protectors, and arge amount of bait, to be able to do some small-scale sports at the beautiful campsite. Also, a friend in the group had rented out a plot for a gas station, so they additionally brought two drums of petrol, not having to worry about getting lost or missing a gas station. With his father gone, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt there was no need to go home. And besides, the detective unit was quitefortable. And safer. Jiang Yuan directly moved into the dorm with his suitcase. Upon hearing this, Huang Qiangmin, without asking questions, had someone send over a refrigerator and a television. Thus, Jiang Yuan settled in contentedly and, in the following two days, took on three cases of break-ins and theft. Unresolved murder cases went back as far as 25 years, and none of them were easy to handle. Jiang Yuan, feeling somewhatcking in energy, simply chose to work on the backlog of break-in and theft cases. Break-ins tended to leave behind physical evidence, and if the investigation was thorough enough, it was possible to gather various types of evidence such as DNA, fingerprints, and footprints. asionally, a particrly skilled thief would leave arge number of footprints, which greatly increased the likelihood of slip-ups, potentially leading to linked cases¡ªafter all, it is rare for a burr to onlymit one break-in; if it does happen, it is often someone the victim knows. After all, the learning cost of this ¡®skill¡¯ isn¡¯t low, and the profit from a single heist isn¡¯t high. To onlymit one heist would be like learning to drive, obtaining a license, and then driving once before losing your right hand. Jiang Yuan found working on these kinds of cases rather interesting. The saying goes, once a thief, always a thief; once you¡¯ve learned to drive, normally, you¡¯d always want to take a spin. The same goes for thieves; there were many, especially from Ningtai County, who left plenty of fingerprint evidence, perhaps slightlycking in quality but certainly not in quantity. However, their enthusiasm and energy formitting their crimes were not scarce. There were people who continued to steal for ten or twenty years, essentially onlycking a pension, otherwise, they could¡¯ve retired. Among the old thieves Jiang Yuan had caught for break-ins, some had already ¡®retired.¡¯ But as the crimes were still within the statute of limitations, they had to pay for the shortcuts they took in their youth and for the harm they caused to ordinary people. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s Sixth Squad was so busy that they hardly had time to return to the office. If they kept it up, the old thieves in Ningtai County might soon be wiped out. At that point, the small-time thieves¡¯ market in Ningtai County would essentially be left without a backbone. Not only is there no one capable of leading the stealingmunity now, but ack of sessors is also quite apparent. Now, with many retired old thieves being caught again, even if someone wanted to change their ways, they would likely find nowhere to learn the craft. Ding-ling-ling. Thendline rang, and both Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun looked up. At this time of day, the sound of thendline was like a hen crowing at dawn, extremely terrifying. ¡°I understand, I got it¡­¡± Wu Jun answered the call, and his expression quickly turned serious. Jiang Yuan was not surprised. What good news could one hear from a forensic doctor¡¯s telephone? ¡°Please check for me, my son¡¯s arm is broken, what degree of disability would that be?¡±¡ªeven that would be considered good news. Jiang Yuan silently bookmarked the webpage he hadn¡¯t finished reading and noted the fingerprints he hadn¡¯t finished marking. After Wu Jun hung up the call, he indeed heard Wu Jun say, ¡°Forensic Doctor Wang Lan from Qinghe City Bureau made the call, specifically asking for you to join a new case.¡± ¡°A current case?¡± ¡°A current case.¡± ¡°Do you know what happened?¡± ¡°The water levels have been dropping recently, and not just here; the same is happening in Qinghe City. Then, someone discovered ck garbage bags on the riverbed.¡± Wu Jun paused for effect before continuing, ¡°A total of four bags, four bodies, all dismembered.¡± Jiang Yuan stood there, stunned. Just one dismemberment case was already a major incident, but four appeared at once in Qinghe. And all were submerged in a reservoir? ¡°If the water level hadn¡¯t dropped, we wouldn¡¯t have discovered them?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Wu Jun nodded, ¡°It was the historic drop in water level that exposed the bodies. For the specifics, go ask Medical Examiner Wang Lan in Qinghe.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, surprised. ¡°What would I do there? They don¡¯t need me,¡± Wu Jun sighed, then added, ¡°The provincial department will definitely send someone to supervise. You be careful when you go, I¡¯ll stay here to hold down the fort. Who knows how long you¡¯ll be gone¡­¡± From what Wu Jun implied, it seemed Jiang Yuan¡¯s departure was settled. On careful consideration, it indeed appeared to be a done deal. Four bodies meant that at least eight forensic doctors were needed¡ªnatural deaths in the county could be handled by pairing one forensic doctor with one extra person, but for major dismemberment cases, it was normal for three doctors to work on one body. Therefore, normally speaking, Qinghe City would need twelve forensic doctors. There were two forensic doctors in the establishment of Ningtai County. It was only right and proper to send one as support. Soon, Huang Qiangmin also received the news, and although he was reluctant, he had no choice but to send Jiang Yuan on his way. The pressure that a case with four bodies ced on the Qinghe City Bureau was immense; as the captain of the criminal police of a subordinate county bureau, Huang Qiangmin had to y politics at this time. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much to fuss about, driving himself and bringing along Wang Zhong, heading to Qinghe City. Wang Zhong had been roped in by Jiang Yuan to help. At the Qinghe City Bureau, the exact situation was still unknown. Going alone to deal with a case and potentially having no assistant during the autopsy was not ideal. Huang Qiangmin readily agreed. After all, Wang Zhong staying in the team wouldn¡¯t be much help with case investigations, so it was better to send him to assist Jiang Yuan. Qinghe City Bureau. A heavy atmosphere started to flow out of the office as soon as the call was received. Murder cases urred every year, every month, even often, but a major murder case with four bodies, especially one involving dismemberment and disposal, had not been seen in Qinghe City for many years. Once the condition of the bodies was confirmed, the case was directly taken over by the Qinghe City Bureau. It¡¯s true that the city bureau normally didn¡¯t handle cases, but the current situation made it clear that these were not normal times. Upon arrival, Jiang Yuan went straight to the autopsy room of the funeral home. They hadmandeered the autopsy room of Qianjin District, which looked familiar to him. The smell¡­ that was not at all familiar. Jiang Yuan quietly changed his clothes before entering. Four ck stic bags had already been opened, gaping open there, leaking out yellow-brown liquid with an unbearable stench. With a 3M mask in hand, Jiang Yuan was well equipped to filter out the odor, but out of politeness, he first called out to Forensic Doctor Wang Lan. ¡°Jiang Yuan is here.¡± Wang Lan¡¯s gaunt cheeks were full of fatigue. Unable to even muster a smile at the sight of Jiang Yuan, he said, ¡°I see you¡¯re all geared up. Let¡¯s start with reconstructing the bodies.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Then he asked, ¡°Do we need to boil them?¡± In the corner of the autopsy room, beside a gas stove, a huge pressure cooker stood in an unharmonious and unsightly manner, asserting its presence to all. ¡°We used to just boil them in ordinary pots, but there¡¯s too many this time, we can¡¯t wait. We¡¯ll use two pots at once. Start with the first one,¡± Medical Examiner Wang Lan had the pressure cooker ced just below the dissection table, then picked pieces of flesh with bones from the bag and put them in. Jiang Yuan put on his mask, checked his gloves, and walked over to help. ¡°The pressure cooker can¡¯t fit a whole person, so we¡¯ll start by picking out the distinguishing bones, like the pelvis and so on,¡± Wang Lan stepped aside and had ordinary pots brought to the second dissection table, directing other forensic doctors to select the distinguishing bones. The chaotic scene gradually turned into a well-ordered bustle. Jiang Yuan slowly churned through the pieces of corpse in the stic bag, first picking out themon bones like the pelvis, cervical vertebrae, and wrist bones, and ced them into the pressure cooker. Once there were enough pieces, someone added water, and everyone together hoisted it onto the stove, starting the simmering process. This part of the procedure resembled the cooking of abalone sauce. Chapter 194 - 194 186 Bone Fracture ?194: Chapter 186: Bone Fracture 194: Chapter 186: Bone Fracture On the autopsy table, thick fluids ceaselessly dripped out. In the beginning, when more fluids drained, someone would rinse it down with water, but gradually, everyone pretended not to see it. The entire dissection room was as if it had been submerged in abalone sauce. Such a scene was as rare as a Cantonese kitchen boiling fourrge pots of dried abalone. The pressure cooker started hissing as it began to steam. Another stainless steel pot was brought over. Wang Lan said, ¡°Just boil normally in this pot, use this bag¡­¡± The bodies in the four bags had been stored for varying lengths of time. The oldest had flesh that had almostpletely liquefied, while the flesh of the most recent one seemed to still have some muscle tissues hanging off it. But as the bag was opened, its oxidation visibly increased, making it possible to collect some DNA samples. The one just boiled in the pressure cooker was of a medium level of dposition. Now, Wang Lan had chosen the one with the oldest remains. Since boiling in a regr pot required an even moreplex process, choosing the oldest made the task of removing bones somewhat easier. Two unfamiliar medical examiners stepped forward, silently selecting some bones to ce into therge stainless steel pot. The Qinghe Bureau had bought stainless steel pots originally used for steaming buns, which could easily steam fifty or sixty buns with theiryered trays. Now, with the addition of flesh and bones, it could amodate thirty or forty pounds without issues. Some of the flesh that hadn¡¯tpletely detached was piled together with the bones into the stainless steel barrel. The two medical examiners deliberately put in less, choosing bones like the spine and pelvic bones to begin with, then added water and let it simmer over the fire. The room full of medical examiners fell somewhat silent. Mainly because they were not very familiar with each other, and secondly, because the odor was unbearable. Especially the boiling bones, they gave off a slight fragrance, mixed with the stench of rot and the pervasive smell of death¡­ Jiang Yuan spected that the reason humans detest such smells so much is probably because the body has embedded this aversion in our DNA¡ªmost likely it means something like ¡°don¡¯t eat it, run away.¡± ¡°Have you all eaten?¡± Niu Tong Niu, the Forensic Doctor, felt it was his duty to be hospitable. ¡°You guys go ahead, I¡¯ll keep an eye on the boiling,¡± said Medical Examiner Wang Lan, who usually yed a supporting role, but this time took on hosting duties. As she spoke, the water in the stainless steel pot boiled. Medical Examiner Wang Lan stepped forward to turn the heat down low, saying, ¡°This pot needs to simmer on low heat for three or four hours. You go get something to eat first and thene back to scrape off the tendons.¡± Boiling human bones until they are clean follows the same principle as boiling pork bones. Simrly, once the meat has been boiled down to the bone, there might still be some tendons or fascia left clinging to the bone. Further boiling could deform the bones at this point, so they should be scraped clean with a knife. Jiang Yuan instinctively didn¡¯t feel like eating, saying, ¡°I won¡¯t go either, changing clothes is too much trouble.¡± Several younger medical examiners also decided to stay behind. There weren¡¯t enough shower heads in the bathroom for everyone¡ªif everyone decided to go, it would be impossible. With the odors they¡¯d acquired today, they wouldn¡¯t be able to leave without a thorough wash. Better to keep their clothes on and cope with the smell than to strip down and potentially expose themselves further. Wang Lan probably had simr thoughts. Being a female medical examiner, she wasn¡¯t usually affected, but using the shower room now would be inconvenient. ¡°We¡¯ll go eat first then, ande back to relieve you,¡± Niu Tong called out, leading the others, including Ye from Longli County¡¯s medical examiners, to go and change. Wang Lan responded with a ¡°hm¡± and didn¡¯t say much more, simply getting adle to stir the bones in the stainless steel pot to prevent them from sticking and causingplications. Wang Lan, who never cooked at home, who would have thought she was extremely proficient at simmering meat until it fell off the bone. Jiang Yuan took advantage of the lull to open another stic bag, spilled out the chunks of flesh, and pieced them loosely together. The stic bag was of exceptional quality, and there were heavy stones inside. A detailed inspection of the fingerprints and DNA could be done, though Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too hopeful about it. Jiang Yuan sifted through the body parts mainly to see if there were any distinguishing features that could help identify the source. Something as identifiable as tattoos could remain even on a dposed body. Or, for instance, if hair was still present, it meant at least that the body wasn¡¯t bald or had a shaved head, and so on. As it turned out, Jiang Yuan was overthinking it. All four bodies appeared to be quite ordinary ¨C none seemed like they had ever joined something like the U.S. Marine Corps. After Wang Lan had stirred the stainless steel pot three times, the bones in the pressure cooker were ready. With a stern face, Wang Lan found a pair of chopsticks, used them to lift the valve on the pressure cooker, and listened to the hissing release of steam and the strong scent of meat that followed. The few medical examiners who remained in the dissection room were too listless to speak. Honestly, by this time, everyone was getting a bit hungry, but at the moment, it didn¡¯t feel right even to swallow saliva. Regardless of what others felt appropriate, Jiang Yuan himself found it quite inappropriate. It was a good thing the abalone sauce had all been consumed, otherwise it would have been a waste. ¡°It¡¯s ready,¡± Wang Lan announced as the pressure in the cooker dissipated, then she opened the lid. Inside, a dark soup with a thickyer of oil floated on top was revealed. Wang Lan sighed and remarked, ¡°Seems like people are getting a bit too overweight these days.¡± ¡°The fats must have gone rancid,¡± another medical examiner from the municipal bureau added, then peered in andmented, ¡°Maybe the person was overweight when alive ¨C there¡¯s more oil here than when I cook pork knuckles.¡± ¡°Pigs only have a 15% body fat ratio, not much different from mine,¡± Medical Examiner Wang Lan, slim and slender. It¡¯s just that women naturally have a higher body fat ratio than men. The few forensic doctors present couldn¡¯t help but size up Wang Lan and nodded to each other. Wang Lan rolled her eyes and went to get arge bottle of alcohol, pouring it into a basin. The bones boiled out, washed clean on the outside with water, were then soaked in alcohol, and the remaining fat was cleaned off. The bones turned startlingly white and clean, the yellowish shade under the light provided only a mild visual impact¡ªafter all, the dissecting table next to them was piled with dirty, smelly chunks of corpse. ¡°Let¡¯s arrange them together,¡± Wang Lan called Jiang Yuan over to help identify characteristic bones. Among the forensic doctors present, she trusted Jiang Yuan the most. The other young coroners, although older than Jiang Yuan by a few years, were levels behind him in terms of ability. Wang Lan had carefully reviewed the autopsies Jiang Yuan had performed, which was also part of her job. In forensic anthropology, Jiang Yuan was clearly very talented. Among the tasks at the scene, identifying bones was the easiest. Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan cleared a dissecting table and beganying out the bones one by one on it, creating the outline of a skeleton lying there. The others helped by cing the bones in alcohol to clean them, then emptied the water used to boil the corpse and continued to cook other chunks of flesh in fresh water. Meanwhile, several young coroners observed Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan¡¯s work. Cases involving dismemberment were quite rare. For the medical examiners, this was a rare learning opportunity. Actually, in normal dismemberment cases, the body parts are not cut this small. Most murderers, even those involved in dismemberment cases, might initiallymit crimes of passion. When they decide to dismember a body to cover up the crime, most haven¡¯t thought through the difficult scenario they would face. Human bones are very hard and heavy. Nowadays, there are still women who weigh less than 100 pounds, while a man¡¯s weight usually adds another 30 pounds at least, with many men weighing about 150 pounds. In other words, if one were to divide a man into 5 pieces, each piece would weigh about 30 pounds, and just moving them would be exhausting. Imagine a butcher cutting up pork;mon pigs weighing over a hundred or 200 pounds are hung in the air to be cut. This position is taken because it¡¯s the most energy-efficient. Ordinary people without experience in dismemberment wouldn¡¯t know the importance of having meat hooks and ropes ready. Additionally, the act of cutting itself is challenging, requiring skill at least at level 6 difficulty. Those who couldn¡¯t even distinguish the sirloin would be impressive if they knew where to cut on the waist and neck. To be more meticulous in dismemberment, one would either need to understand the greater and lesser trochanters, or have powerful cutting equipment like a chainsaw. Still, the cutting would be difficult and exhausting. Therefore, in most hasty dismemberment cases, the pieces of the body tend to berger. The chunks of the corpse in this case, many weighing less than 10 pounds, at least suggest the murderer had a strong build and knew how to handle powerful machinery. Jiang Yuan picked up a bone, examined it, and then ced it on the dissecting table, before reaching for another. Wang Lan did simr work, but she first searched through the pile of bones for the one she wanted, then took it out and ced it on the dissecting table. All present were forensic doctors, and it didn¡¯t take long for them to notice the difference in approach. Wang Lan stopped what she was doing in silence. Although she was familiar enough with bones, to just pick up a bone and be certain of its position on the dissecting table¡ªshe could do that, but her efficiency would be much lower. More importantly, this method did not allow Wang Lan to form an adequate recognition of the skeletal remains, which could affect her judgment of the bones. So, Wang Lan simply stopped and decided to wait until Jiang Yuan had finished arranging the bones before starting from the beginning again. Jiang Yuan swiftlyid out the pelvic bone. Seeing this, one of the younger coroners nearby made a judgment, saying, ¡°It¡¯s a female. She has given birth.¡± ¡°Around 40 years old.¡± ¡­ ¡°Her height is about 170 centimeters.¡± At this, Jiang Yuan made ament that startled everyone. Wang Lan couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°How did you determine that?¡± The mostmon bones used to determine age are the long bones of the limbs, but they hadn¡¯t been boiled out yet because of the limited space in the pressure cooker. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I started with the lumbar vertebrae, and we can verify thatter.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s note that down for now,¡± Wang Lan said, half-convinced. Using a single bone to determine everything is the goal of forensic anthropology, but the difficulty in achieving this is very high. Wang Lan¡¯s research in this area wasn¡¯t in-depth. The several young medical examiners beside her immediately became more attentive. Everyone had some understanding of the limits of forensic anthropology, but when would such extreme knowledgee into y in the workce? Chapter 195 - 195 187 Corpse Source ?195: Chapter 187 Corpse Source 195: Chapter 187 Corpse Source Inferring the condition of a body from a bone reliesrgely on statistics. Judging height based on long bones is quite straightforward, which include the femur, tibia, and the humerus of the upper limb¡ªeasily understood as tubr bones, likened to those found at a pork stall. Themon saying, ¡°This child has long lower legs, they will definitely be tall when they grow up,¡± essentially follows the same pattern of judgment as forensic doctors. However, when ites to uracy, there are problems. If the goal is to estimate height, there will definitely be differences when judging from long bones, whether someone has long and thick or short and thick legs. For this reason, forensic doctors have begun to use various regression equations based on bones from different locations to estimate height. The same goes for the lumbar vertebrae. It¡¯s just a bit moreplex. For instance, it¡¯s necessary to differentiate between males and females. Furthermore, the first lumbar vertebra differs from the fifth. Each lumbar vertebra has ten measurement points, including the anterior height of the vertebral body, the posterior height of the vertebral body, the upper sagittal diameter, the lower sagittal diameter¡­ The resulting regression equations total neen varieties. Memorizing them all is enough to drive one mad. Normal people wouldn¡¯t bother memorizing such regression equations, knowing where to look them up is sufficient. But Jiang Yuan is using an LV3 script in Forensic Anthropology, so looking them up isn¡¯t an option; memorizing them adds a higher level of prestige. Toypeople, this is likely insignificant. But it¡¯s different for insiders. Just as ordinary people might buy a toolbook like the ¡°Human Measurement Manual,¡± possibly even choosing one published by Cihai Publishing House, then there¡¯s Jiang Yuan, who appears to have memorized the ¡°Human Measurement Manual.¡± In any workce, who wouldn¡¯t be confounded by a colleague like that? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much to say, merely took the ruler and measured a few more data points, silently verifying them several times. The margins of error weren¡¯t significant. Regression equations are, after all, forms distilled from experience; the forms are there, the data is right here, and whatever result you get upon entering the data into the form is what it is. A young doctor sneakily cleaned his gloves, took them off, washed his hands again, put on new gloves, then checked his phone, and came to the same conclusion. Then, he quietly went off to boil the bones. Deep in thought, Wang Lan said, ¡°A 40-year-old female, 1.7 meters tall, there shouldn¡¯t be many like that in Qinghe City.¡± ¡°Just worried it¡¯s not from Qinghe City. Far throw, near burial,¡± another Qinghe City Bureau forensic doctor said thoughtfully. It was a good thing Wang Lan was leading the case; he truly held no confidence in it. A murderer might leave many loose ends after killing one person, but after killing four, they were bound to gain some experience. Some of the forensic staff here hadn¡¯t even participated in four dismemberment cases. Yet, these four bodies were dealt with quite adeptly; if not for the reservoir water reaching a historical low point, the bodies could have remained undiscovered for decades. Furrowing his brows, Wang Lan said, ¡°Far throw, near burial is indeed amon pattern, but these corpses,pared to simply dumping the body, seemed closer to burial. Moreover, four consecutive times, in the same ce, doesn¡¯t seem like it¡¯s from too far away.¡± Far throw, near burial refers to a pattern deduced by criminal investigators. Typically, if a murderer disposes of a body far away, they choose to dump it; if the spatial distance is closer, they choose to bury it. This is a very interesting psychology. In essence, disposing of a body far away with burial is naturally more difficult. But in practice, murderers are not willing to linger in unfamiliar ces. Or rather, there¡¯s a certain time interval murderers are willing to spend on disposing of a body¡­ And this was the issue the two were discussing. Were the bodies in the reservoir dumped or buried? The core aspect of burial is the time spent on excavation. Due to the murderer¡¯s insecurity in unknown ces, they are not very willing to spend much time and effort digging far from their familiar grounds, away from the center of their life and work. But to say murderers don¡¯t want their body dumping to be more hidden is impossible. Therefore, submerging in a reservoir leans more towards dumping. If that¡¯s the case, the range from which the bodies originated greatly expands; the victims may not be from Qinghe City, and might not even have died in a nearby city. Just determining the source of the bodies makes the difficulty level skyrocket. Wang Lan slowly shook his head and continued, ¡°I personally lean towards it being a dumping. As for the specific direction of the investigation, let¡¯s trouble the leaders with that.¡± Jiang Yuan listened without a word. He too leaned toward the origin of the body being nearby. However, this wasn¡¯t an exclusive answer, and the possibility of an ident urring still existed. Even if Jiang Yuan were in charge, he would have reached the same conclusion as Wang Lan. Otherwise, this case would be too difficult to work on from a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective. Using the techniques of forensic anthropology to look for the body¡¯s origin was essentially about finding intersections, like drawing circles on a ckboard and continuously finding the points where these circles intersect. Eventually, when the number of intersecting points was sufficiently small, it became easier to locate the body¡¯s origin. Take the currently numbered body 1, for example. Being female was one circle, around 40 years old was another circle, having given birth another one, and having a height of about 1.7 meters yet another. The circles that met these conditions, plus one more circle of missing people from Qinghe City, could likely leave only one, or at most a few people, matching the criteria. That would essentially pinpoint the body¡¯s origin. And pinpointing the body¡¯s origin was the first step in such cases. It could even be said that only after identifying the body¡¯s origin could the case truly start¡ª this was also Wang Lan¡¯s task. ¡°That¡­ Xiao Zhuang, take down a record,¡± Wang Lan called out the name of a young forensic doctor. With an ¡°Oh,¡± Xiao Zhuang immediately went to remove his gloves and wash his hands. After the hustle and bustle, the record was taken, and another batch of bodies was cooked. Skimming off the scum, pouring out the broth, retrieving the bones with fascia still attached, then cleaning them again, the second dissection table was set up for the characteristic bones¡ªthe reason for skimming off the scum was based on the experience from the previous batch, as merely pouring out the broth would leave scum on the bones, necessitating a second, more strenuous cleaning. Consequently, there wasn¡¯t enough space on the dissection tables. Four bodies were too many, and although Qinghe City¡¯s morgue had been expanded to meet demand, it couldn¡¯t allow one body to upy two tables. However, cing the body bags directly on the floor wasn¡¯t eptable either. The floor was awash with dirty water, and the stic bags were also part of the evidence¡­ Thus, another round of moving around took ce, with the two other unopened body bags being lifted onto one dissection table, and then focusing on processing the two bodies that had been unpacked. One body bag for one person, containing not only the remains but also stones, and possibly infiltrated water¡ªlifting and hoisting such a bag required the effort of three or even four people. As a female forensic doctor, Wang Lan stood aside giving encouragement at this point¡­ One hourter. The forensic doctors who had gone for a meal returned, and by that time, the second body had just been sorted out. ¡°35 years old. Male. About 1.7 meters in height¡­¡± Jiang Yuan quickly made his assessment. Wang Lan agreed, muttering to herself, ¡°Both a man and a woman, with the height coincidentally being the same.¡± ¡°A serial killer who likes to kill people around 170 centimeters in height, regardless of sex or age,¡± one of the forensic doctors offered a personal summary. Xiao Zhuang, who was making the record, couldn¡¯t help but look up and said, ¡°You might want to listen to what you¡¯re saying.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°In China, anyone who likes to kill people who are 170 centimeters tall would die of exhaustion.¡± ¡°Oh, there must be other contributing factors then¡­¡± Xiao Zhuang couldn¡¯t be bothered to continue the conversation and turned to say, ¡°I think, the way the body was disposed of, it¡¯s a bit like the two-faced forensic doctor in American TV shows. Also called the blood-thirsty forensic doctor.¡± ¡°I only saw the beginning, how does he dispose of them?¡± Wang Lan immediately took it seriously. Copycat criminals, in the world of murderers, were a significant category. Xiao Zhuang organized his thoughts and said, ¡°He usually does it in a ce like a container, lined with stic, also wrapped up in protective clothing, wearing a mask. Then he strips the people naked, ties them to a table, kills them with a single cut, then dismembers them, puts them into stic bags, and finally transports them to the sea to dispose of the bodies.¡± Wang Lan pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Then he would need to buy arge amount of stic sheeting, require an independent house or space, and also purchase protective clothing, masks. Moreover, our murderer is definitely not a forensic doctor; he uses things like electric saws to dismember bodies, and the stic is easily punctured¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯ll also need a vehicle. Plus, the body bags are too heavy; it¡¯s very likely that one person couldn¡¯t move them,¡± Jiang Yuan added. ¡°So, it¡¯s possible that there were multiple people involved?¡± Wang Lan¡¯s eyes lit up. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t respond to her, instead sinking into thought. After a moment, Jiang Yuan slowly said, ¡°I think, even if there were multiple people involved, since the body is already dismembered to this extent, why bother with suchrge body bags?¡± Wang Lan looked up rmed. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°If he learned from experience, dividing the body into two, or even four bags, would be a lot easier and lighter. The sinking is due to the stones, not the weight of the body itself.¡± Not only Wang Lan, but everyone present swallowed hard. ¡°There are only these 4 body bags at the scene, so if the crimes escted¡­¡± Xiao Zhuang took a deep breath. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°If the crimes escted, the murderer would likely choose deeper waters, smaller body bags.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Wang Lan sighed deeply and said to Xiao Zhuang, ¡°Call the squadron leader, tell him to get divers, to search underwater.¡± ¡­ Chapter 196 - 196 188 Code Number ?196: Chapter 188 Code Number 196: Chapter 188 Code Number Two boats, four frogmen, scoured the reservoir for a day and indeed found four more body bags. Because the body bags were smaller in size and weight, they were more widely scattered, and it was more difficult for the frogmen to retrieve them. However, the real difficultyy in the enormous pressure and responsibility. Leaders from Qinghe City Bureau were continuously contacted by phone, with inquiries about the situation. This naturally led to constant calls to the autopsy room where Wang Lan was. By the time the four body bags were brought in, the four corpses from before were still not finished. When the forensic doctors saw the four new small body bags, there was a solemn look on their faces. Several of them nced at Jiang Yuan, signifying an esction in crime and the possibility of more remains. Jiang Yuan, rendered helpless by their stares, could only say, ¡°Keep boiling. If new body bags keeping, don¡¯t even think about sleeping.¡± Wang Lan also sighed, looked at the forensic doctors who had worked through the night, and suggested, ¡°Why don¡¯t we take turns resting? One group sleeps first¡­any volunteers to stay?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll stay,¡± Jiang Yuan stepped up, having caught a few hours of sleep the day before during his mealtime, so he wasn¡¯t very tired. Two other young forensic doctors and Niu Tang chose to stay as well. Wang Lan, obviously, couldn¡¯t escape the task, so he let the others go rest while the four remaining forensic doctors continued working. After all, the people may rest but the pots will not. Reflecting on this, Wang Lan sighed again and said to the detective who delivered the body bags, ¡°Do me a favor and pass on a message to bring over two more pressure cookers.¡± The detective, who had been keeping a straight face, couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and began to retch deeply. ¡°Go vomit by the drain, not on the autopsy table, otherwise, n on sleeping here tonight,¡± Niu Tang jumped high just like the detective, with an even louder voice. The detective, who was no longer young and must have been about thirty, had been on the job for nearly ten years. With two children, on the brink of divorce, huge pressure from mortgage payments, and rising living expenses, he no longer wanted to attend ss reunions and emptied his dder with a dribble and a drip, but otherwise seemed to be getting by in life. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t be driven to vomit. But today¡¯s scene, with its extreme shock value, from the visual and olfactory assault to the psychological impact, exceeded the decade-long threshold of the junior officer. Vomit¡­ As the detective vomited, the heat from it hit the drain, and the odor that should never be pleasant wafted up, processed further by the detective¡¯s mind¡­ Vomit¡­ Disgusted, Jiang Yuan and the others fanned the air as they heard Wang Lan hurry the rest, ¡°Those of you going to rest, get moving. You have 8 hours, no more than 10, thene back to switch ces.¡± Although there were 12 forensic doctors, some were older and some liked to shirk work. Like Doctor Ye from Longli County, who was also present, being idle andzy in the background and not very helpful. Wang Lan had no authority over him anyway. The city bureau¡¯s forensic doctors were only different by work unit, not necessarily ranking higher than him. Moreover, this time, forensic doctors from various ces were supporting the city bureau. They were here to assist, so Wang Lan couldn¡¯t use them to the point of exhaustion. After a while, only thest few people remained in the autopsy room. They continued to watch over the two pots boiling bones. Why did it have to take so long? Using an analogy that wasn¡¯t quite appropriate but quite ¡°expressive,¡± consider how during New Year¡¯s, it takes the entire family a long time to cook half a pig¡ªhow much effort did that take? Here, there were four bodies, and they all needed to be boiled until the flesh came off the bones. The venttion fans worked desperately, their whirring sound unable to clear out the stifling heat in the autopsy room. Jiang Yuan then opened up another new small body bag, took a DNA sample as usual, sampled the water, left some residual tissue, then renumbered the iron bucket, scrutinized each piece of the remains, and packed them back in. There weren¡¯t any clues on the surface of the flesh, so once a body had finished boiling, they could just dump the remains into the pot to continue cooking. The forensic autopsy room now used oversized stainless steel drums that could hold 50 pounds each¡ªif it wasn¡¯t for the slower cooking time, they could have cooked directly on the stove. After looking over two body bags, and onto the third, Jiang Yuan let out a long sigh. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Wang Lan asked, looking over. ¡°Found three arms,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and promptly opened the fourth body bag. Indeed, body bags one, two, and four likely belonged to the same person. Bag number three belonged to someone else. ¡°Now the pressure is on the frogmen.¡± One of the young forensic doctors probably broke down from exhaustion andughed miserably, ¡°If they can¡¯t find the remaining two body bags, they better not even think abouting up.¡± Jiang Yuan ignored this remark, dragged over arge stainless steel drum again, and began attempting to piece together the remains from body bags one, two, and four on the autopsy table. ¡°Not too bad, most of it¡¯s there except the head,¡± Niu Tang came over to help, showing an ¡°I knew it¡± expression and said, ¡°It¡¯s no surprise that the killer, who throws far and buries near, woulde up with a trick like throwing the head further than the body.¡± Throwing the head farther than the body is amon tactic in criminal investigations. Because it¡¯s widely believed that the head can most easily reveal the identity of the deceased, criminals involved in dismemberment cases tend to handle the head separately, either discarding it further away or hiding it elsewhere. From the tactics of ¡°throwing far and burying near,¡± and ¡°throwing the head farther than the body,¡± it¡¯s clear that the killer doesn¡¯t understand modern criminal investigation techniques very well and is unlikely to be someone who enjoys studying and gathering information. It¡¯s more likely that they are an ordinary person who evolved into a killer step by step. ¡°Four plus two, six people in total,¡± Jiang Yuan stated as he opened body bag number three, which contained mostly upper body and torso remains, likely belonging to another male. ¡°I¡¯ll make the call,¡± Wang Lan said, but didn¡¯t immediately move. Instead, he pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s divide the tasks.¡± Everyone looked at Wang Lan. ¡°Let Jiang Yuan start with the analysis of the bones to see if any clues can be found.¡± Wang Lan continued to exin, ¡°We¡¯ve all seen the situation now; these bodies might not be all there is. We need to find something quickly. Not to lock down, but at least to narrow down the investigation area. Otherwise, once the news spreads and social unrest begins to ferment, if the killer gets wind and runs away early, it¡¯ll be trouble.¡± Wang Lan signaled Jiang Yuan to get started and said, ¡°We are now racing against the clock. We can¡¯t let the killer have the chance to set up in advance, or to destroy evidence, or to change their behavior¡­¡± In short, finding some evidence before the killer gets the message and locking down some information is beneficial for solving the case and for prosecution. That was what Wang Lan was trying to convey. Upon hearing this, Niu Tang let out a foolish-soundingugh and said, ¡°You mean, our skills are not as good as Jiang Yuan¡¯s, so let him take the lead, while we continue to y the role of the cook¡­¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you were somitted to anthropology,¡± Wang Lan said condescendingly to Niu Tang. Niu Tang gave a sheepish smile and said, ¡°I¡¯m just talking nonsense.¡± He hadn¡¯t even pointed out his talent in forensic anthropology yet. If Wang Lan were to ask him to join in, he would be exposed for his ipetence. The other two young forensic doctors had nothing to argue about, their understanding of anthropology was limited to what it was. These days, forensic doctors are in short supply, and there are too many corpses, but there are never enough corpses for teaching purposes. Relying solely on schools and training, it is practically impossible to train forensic doctors with skills in anthropology; they can only learn more by watching and practicing on the job. Like now, watching is enough. Seeing that Wang Lan was backing him up, Jiang Yuan stepped back from his meat-boiling post and returned to the dissection table to study the bones. Corpse number 3 was a male, in his thirties, with a height of 1.75 meters. Corpse number 4 was a female, in her forties, with a height of 1.65 meters. In summary, the first batch of four corpses provided the special investigation team¡¯s forensic doctors with two middle-aged males and two middle-aged females, who had average heights and average degrees of dental wear, and ordinary life habits. The so-called ordinary people are the type forensic doctors like the least. Especially in forensic anthropology, they hope to find individuals with unique traits from specific groups, as this allows for an easier determination of a victim¡¯s identity through simple bone fragments. The ¡°special¡± required here is just to be different from the norm, not necessarily truly extraordinary. For instance, if corpse number 1 had been a 20-year-old who had given birth, and also had a height of 170 centimeters, then running through the hospital¡¯s system would likely make it easy to find a match. Or, a 45-year-old or older female who had never given birth and also had a height of 170 centimeters, a subsequent investigation would probably yield results as well. Jiang Yuan looked at the bones over and over, seemingly aimless in his examination. Wang Lan also kept quiet and focused on boiling the corpse pieces vigorously. This task was the most tiring and dirty, and as the person in charge, she felt ufortable escaping it for any reason. On the other hand, when Jiang Yuan and she were piecing together the bones, he had already demonstrated an ability in anthropology far beyond hers, and Wang Lan felt there was no need to interfere with Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. The dissection room gradually quieted down again. Everyone was working exceptionally hard. At this moment, after bending over corpse number 3 for twenty to thirty minutes, Jiang Yuan finally spoke up, ¡°This corpse is quite peculiar.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Wang Lan, as if wound up by a spring, immediately rushed over. ¡°There are axe chop marks here,¡± Jiang Yuan indicated the rib bones at the back of the chest. Wang Lan, startled, asked, ¡°Is that the cause of death?¡± Finding the origin of the corpses was important, but if they could determine the cause of death, that would also be great. However, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem like it. His ribs were all chopped with something simr to an axe. But for the leg bones and so on, a cutting machine was used.¡± ¡°Using both an axe and a saw?¡± ¡°Right.¡± ¡°That¡¯s having an idea. Could it be that the axe couldn¡¯t get through, so they switched to a cutting machine?¡± Wang Lan came over to have a look and indeed saw the characteristic wedge-shaped cuts of an axe. A light went on in her mind as this situation often meant the body was a link in a series. But Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°The use of the cutting machine is not much different from the other corpses. As for the axe, it seems to be used quite skillfully. There is no learning curve visible.¡± This was actually part of tool mark examination in trace evidence, and Jiang Yuan did not know much about it, only able to give a rough idea. What was more captivating was the issue of proficiency. If there is no growth in the learning curve, it means the killer is either a professional or they had previously practiced on other bodies. But such exciting spection can¡¯t be made recklessly, and since they were still searching in the reservoir, they would wait for the results. Wang Lan also heard the implication and frowned, ¡°This person has a prettyplete set of tools.¡± ¡°And needs a big space to work in,¡± Jiang Yuan added. All said and done, these things are still far from pinpointing the killer. Qinghe City is full of small factories, with early-nned industrial parks that the government had hoped would attractrge high-tech nts, not one of which came, leaving them all leased to local small processing workshops instead. In addition to that, the viges and towns also have all kinds of small workshops. The oil pressing workshops, honey bottling nts, and others that died off 20 years ago are now reviving just as they were. They¡¯re on their way to dying off again, but that doesn¡¯t prevent some people from courting death inside them. ¡°Let¡¯s get more specific,¡± Jiang Yuan brought the conversation back on track. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Wang Lan nodded. Jiang Yuan went through them one by one: ¡°Number 1 had dental work, porcin crowns. We can start searching from this angle.¡± ¡°Number 2¡¯s right humerus had a fracture, which definitely would have been treated at a hospital.¡± ¡°Number 3, judging by his lumbar spine and leg bones, he might have been engaged in heavy physicalbor.¡± ¡°Number 4. Wore high heels for many years, had teeth corrected.¡± Jiang Yuan was trying to give each corpse a direction for investigation. Wang Lan immediately felt relieved. With so many details, they should be able to find the body¡¯s origins. Perhaps by finding one body, they would find the killer. Chapter 197 - 197 189 Number 1 ?197: Chapter 189: Number 1 197: Chapter 189: Number 1 Afternoon. Jiang Yuan had been asleep for a few hours when a phone call woke him up. He got into his car in a daze and headed to the Qinghe City Bureau for a meeting. The first floor of the City Bureau was where he had previously given a lecture, in the tiered ssroom. Further inside was the meeting room he was now heading to. The meeting room was much smaller than the tiered ssroom, only able to amodate around twenty to thirty people. However, the director, deputy directors, and the head of the criminal police brigade among others were all present, contributing to an extremely serious atmosphere. Jiang Yuan was somewhat groggy, and he followed Wang Lan to the corner of the room to take a seat. He couldn¡¯t help thinking to himself: If this were a primitive tribe, it would be like an evening bonfire gathering attended by everyone from the chief to the shaman, following the inexplicable death of tribe members. ¡°Why are you sitting so far back?¡± Liu Jinghui moved from the conference table directly to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. While a few people turned their heads to look at them, they quickly looked away. A senior chief superintendent from the provincial department and a junior forensic doctor from Ningtai County wouldn¡¯t have much of an impact on the City Bureau. The police department was a rtively independent entity. At the city and provincial department levels, if not working on a case, one could enjoy rtivefort and freedom. There was usually no need to pay attention to the provincial department. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really need to care about what the people in the City Bureau thought either. He leaned back in his chair and said with little energy, ¡°The front seats are not meant for me. We stayed up toote yesterday.¡± The word ¡°stayed up¡± was a pun, which amused Wang Lan sitting beside him. Liu Jinghui knew this forensic doctor from Qinghe City and looked over, not quite understanding the joke. ¡°We spent all ofst night defleshing corpses,¡± Wang Lanpleted the macabre joke. Liu Jinghui excelled in deduction. He quickly connected the dots and felt considerably disgusted by the thought. ¡°You forensic doctors¡­¡± Liu Jinghui had seen much in his time, shook his head, then asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°What do you make of the case?¡± Even though an analysis of the case was to follow, Liu Jinghui was more interested in Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts. He had been a seasoned detective running around the province for 10 years, having encountered various unusual locals and professional experts sent from other provinces and ministries. But no matter from which angle, Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical skills and judgment were of T1 level. There were indeed others of that level, but clearly none within the Qinghe City Bureau. Jiang Yuan patted his head, thought for a moment, and said, ¡°I think those six corpses were disposed of quite cleanly, especially thest two. The upgrade was thorough. I¡¯m not sure how he managed to dispose of the remaining heads.¡± Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to approach it from this angle and couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Does the way he disposed of the heads matter?¡± ¡°Compared to other parts of the body, the heads are harder to deal with,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°The skull is the strongest part, not easy to cut. Maybe smashing with a hammer would be easier. Anyway, if he had a method for disposing of the heads, in theory, he could also handle the other parts of the body.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t sure he understood. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen the ce where the bodies were dumped in the reservoir. There are roads nearby. I suspect the killer drove close to a road, then transported the bodies from there before dumping them. Normally, you wouldn¡¯t expect him to dig a separate grave to bury the bodies.¡± ¡°Yeah, the killer must be strong, could have used a non-motorized vehicle, or even carried the bodies on his back,¡± suggested Liu Jinghui, sharing his judgment with Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, ¡°That body bag was very heavy. When we moved it to the autopsy table, it was easy for four people, hard for three.¡± ¡°In the countryside, it takes four people to carry a pig for the New Year,¡± Liu Jinghui remarked casually. ¡°Still, it¡¯s possible to carry it on one¡¯s back. We¡¯ve done some statistics before; for middle to close distance body dumping, people carrying or using non-motorized vehicles is the main method.¡± ¡°Do you think the killer lives near the reservoir?¡± ¡°At least he¡¯s very familiar with the reservoir,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°I went to the site and asked the locals who helped retrieve the bodies. The spot chosen by the killer was very good. If it weren¡¯t for the drought this time, it would have been undetectable under normal circumstances.¡± ¡°But if he¡¯s very familiar with the reservoir, shouldn¡¯t he have chosen a deeper water area?¡± Jiang Yuan questioned. ¡°There are two things to consider here. One is that the deep water areas are close to the center of the reservoir, which makes transporting a body bynd difficult. Also, perhaps because the killer is so familiar with the reservoir, he might not have considered the possibility of it drying up. In his memory, the reservoir probably never experienced a drought to this extent.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction had some merit, and Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t inclined to argue with him on this point. ¡°Another thing. The smaller body bags foundter were in deeper waters, which can be seen as part of the crime¡¯s esction,¡± Liu Jinghui paused, then added, ¡°I suspect that when he dumped the smaller body bags, he considered the flow of the water. That means the original dump site needs to be reconsidered.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui, who was scratching his head, and couldn¡¯t help but smile. Criminal science and technology are difficult precisely because you must solve real-world problems with techniques that, in fact, originate from paper. In other words, you have to exin real-life situations through paper andboratory operations. This is actually very difficult. Why are DNA and fingerprints so widely used and so handy? It¡¯s because they are simple and straightforward, and they are less affected by reality. Why are so few people involved in crime scene reconstruction and bloodstain analysis? It¡¯s because their judgment processes are tooplex, and idealized situations ur less frequently. Those involved in economics, when writing works on economics, have to assume the concept of a ¡°rational economic man¡± who is not only rational but also self-interested. For criminal scientists to assume a ¡°rational criminal¡± would be sheer madness¡ªif people were capable of being rational and self-interested, over half of the cases would never happen. For Liu Jinghui, the most troublesome part about reasoningy precisely here. Without sufficient information, you can¡¯t even determine whether the murderer is mentally ill¡ªin the literal sense of mental illness. ording to American profiling analysis, serial killers more or less have some mental issues. And the six corpses at hand are already enough to bestow that title on the culprit. Watching Liu Jinghui¡¯s vexed expression, Jiang Yuan¡¯s fatigue from the day eased a bit. Thus, Jiang Yuan decided to heap on more, saying, ¡°Director Liu, if we can¡¯t find the heads of victims number 5 and 6, we may need to consider expanding the search area.¡± ¡°Is it that important?¡± ¡°Not exactly, I¡¯m just trying to reason it out. If the killer could dispose of the heads without leaving any trace, he should also be capable of disposing of the bodies in such a way that they leave no trace.¡± Liu Jinghui was stunned for a moment before he understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s meaning, and then, concentrating and frowning, he said, ¡°You¡¯re not suggesting that there are more bodies, and that they¡¯ve been processed separately, are you?¡± Jiang Yuan spread his hands: ¡°Maybe. I have no evidence, just pure reasoning.¡± ¡°Bullshit reasoning.¡± Liu Jinghui was thoroughly annoyed. He was usually the one to frustrate others with his reasoning; he hadn¡¯t expected to be outmaneuvered by Jiang Yuan this time. This hit-and-run style of reasoning set Liu Jinghui¡¯s brain spinning wildly. In the end, he had to admit, if the killer continuously upgraded and learned, it was indeed a possibility. ¡°Ahem. Everyone, quiet down.¡± Brigade Commander Shen Feihong of the Qinghe City Bureau stood up, beginning the meeting proceedings. After announcing the establishment of the task force for the major homicide case 724 in Qinghe, Shen Feihong began to report on the case. Following some information on the autopsies, Shen Feihong said, ¡°Just two hours ago, our frontline officers confirmed the identity of corpse number 1. Now, Captain Shi of the Major Crimes Unit will exin to everyone.¡± Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan were both surprised and listened attentively. Captain Shi was tall and thin with prominent cheekbones, dark circles under his eyes, and yellowed teeth. At first nce, he looked like one of those drivers who drove a taxi during the day, a ride-hailing car at night, and squeezed in food delivery while waiting for the shift change. He held a piece of paper in his hand, nced at the few written words, and said, ¡°Based on the information provided by the forensic doctor, victim number 1 was a female, approximately 40 years old, 170 centimeters tall, and had porcin dental work¡­ After unsessful searches among the missing persons in our city, we expanded the search to the entire province¡­¡± ¡°Eventually, with assistance from the provincial department and mitochondrial DNA technology, we confirmed the identity of victim number 1. The victim¡¯s name is Ma Hongyan, a resident of Wan Xiang City, a purchasing officer for Maolin Local Products Company. Eight years ago, she went on a business trip with colleagues, split in Changyang City to head to their respective destinations, with Qinghe City being the second stop on Ma Hongyan¡¯s itinerary¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listened quietly in the corner, aware that the task force was now operating at full capacity. Both mitochondrial DNA technology and a province-wide search are highly resource-intensive endeavors. Choosing victim number 1 as the breakthrough was because her features were quite distinctive, and as it turned out, the task force¡¯s choice was extremely correct. But looking at the results, the identity information of victim number 1 was not sufficient to push the case forward. Instead, from another perspective, it illustrated theplexity of the case. A disappearance from eight years ago implied that the killer had been active since then. Chapter 198 - 198 190 Fragrance ?198: Chapter 190 Fragrance 198: Chapter 190 Fragrance The meeting room was shrouded in smoke, as if it were some celestial realm. In the corner, there were two pots of unnameable flowers with yellow leaves. The case analysis meeting was over quickly, mainly because there wasn¡¯t much to analyze. Such matters are not made more useful by having more people. The autopsy report was uninspiring, and the conclusions given would require consuming vast resources to investigate. The information gathered from the investigation was insufficient, and no direction could be found for further inquiries. The squad leader could only urge everyone to continue working hard. In the end, after determining they should pursue the origin of a stic bag, the meeting was essentially over. As everyone was dispersing, Liu Jinghui whispered to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Let¡¯s have a chat alone.¡± Wang Lan heard, ncing at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghuiughed, ¡°If you want to join, feel free.¡± ¡°Not going,¡± Wang Lan said with a wave of her hand and decisively left. Liu Jinghui went out first and waited for Jiang Yuan in the hallway before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s go eat something outside the police station. Chat about the corpse? What do you feel like eating?¡± Jiang Yuan, whose mind was also full of corpses, replied, ¡°Frog.¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t react at first, then found a restaurant called Hop Hop Frog on the map and took a cab there. The restaurant served food quickly; no sooner had they ordered spicy bullfrogs than the dish was brought to their table. The chunks of frog, transformed by red chili peppers, became tender and tempting. Jiang Yuan picked up a piece and ate it, then another, spitting the bones onto arge t porcin te. After a few bites, Jiang Yuan had arranged the frog bones on the te to resemble the shape of a frog. Lifelike. Liu Jinghui, who wasn¡¯t very hungry to begin with, lost his appetite even more at the sight and simply put down his chopsticks. ¡°I¡¯m not very optimistic about how the special case team is handling this,¡± he said. ¡°Hmm? Why not?¡± Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected Liu Jinghui to bring up the special case team first. Liu Jinghui had been bottling up his thoughts for the past couple of days and said, ¡°Qinghe City Bureau doesn¡¯t have experience with this kind of case. The effort put forth isn¡¯t sufficient and could easily mess things up.¡± Jiang Yuan responded, ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°From my experience, with these murder cases, even though it starts with an eight-year-old case, once it is discovered, once ites to light, we must hit the ground running with the force of thunder. We need an investigation even more intense than those for current cases. Otherwise, it can easily go south.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Because this isn¡¯t considered a cold case. It¡¯s like the case was hidden, along with the murderer, and once hidden, it could be for a decade. Now that the case has been exposed, it suggests that there¡¯s been a change, or even a mistake made by the killer. Therefore, we must seize this change or mistake, because the next opportunity might take another decade. I once had a case¡­¡± ¡°The change that has urred must be the drought,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°Pull one hair and move the whole body. We know about the drought and the dried-up reservoir, does the murderer not know? He might even be nning his escape. If he left before the case was made public, how would we know? We might miss him because of that¡­¡± Jiang Yuan seemed to understand; simply put, Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t satisfied with the Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s investigation direction and methods. But from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, he didn¡¯t see any difference in speed making an impact. Since ancient times, there¡¯s been a saying: the slow have their sorrow, the quick their joy, the true path lies inbining strength and softness. Liu Jinghui may have a point in his dilemma, but Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be concerned with these; he just earnestly ate his frog and then arranged the frog bones. After watching him assemble three frogs neatly and adorably, Liu Jinghui finally said, ¡°Now, the biggest piece of evidence is the corpse itself. Wouldn¡¯t you want to look for trace evidence or something? I can have the provincialb cooperate.¡± The forensic doctor responsible for the case was Wang Lan, but in Liu Jinghui¡¯s view, such a high-profile case could not be resolved by seniority. Jiang Yuan, while eating his frog, said, ¡°The body bags were soaked through; the organic material inside is mostly dposed, and as for inorganic¡­ the body fluids have been sampled. We can run a mass spectrometry, but I doubt it will be very useful.¡± Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°It¡¯s just the start. Identifying the source of the corpses will happen step by step. At the moment we have six bodies, and I can¡¯t say we¡¯ll be able to identify each one, but the odds are good for identifying two or three more,¡± Jiang Yuanforted him. Liu Jinghui was slightly surprised, ¡°With bodies five and six headless, I thought there was little hope.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t affect much. If necessary, we¡¯ll conduct a broad search just like with the first one.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not worried about a broad range¡ªas long as it can be traced, I support you,¡± Liu Jinghui immediately replied. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°I¡¯ll conduct a more detailed investigation when I get back¡­¡± ¡°However, even so¡­¡± Jiang Yuan nced at him, kept silent, and continued to eat his frog. Liu Jinghui was talkative and relied on reasoning for a living. With so many thoughts pent up inside him, he couldn¡¯t hold back. Sure enough, Liu Jinghui soonmented, ¡°I¡¯m not optimistic about starting from interpersonal rtionships. With so many dead, it¡¯s abnormal. It¡¯s impossible for a killer to murder so many acquaintances¡­¡± Hisst sentence highlighted a fact: when there are too many victims, it creates noise, and the uracy of deductions based on their social circles decreases. Liu Jinghui went on and on about his concerns. For those in criminal investigation, emotions can be very unstable during an investigation. Some people, not good at expressing themselves, just smoke incessantly; some devour packs of instant noodles. Then there are people like Liu Jinghui, who are reticent around strangers but be talkative around those they know well. After listening for a while, Jiang Yuan finished the pot of frogs and casually reminded Liu Jinghui, ¡°The boss skimped on the frogs.¡± ¡°How do you know¡­¡± Liu Jinghui stopped mid-sentence. Indeed, the frog bones were meticulously aligned on the big te, with disproportionately more upper bodies than lower halves¡­ ¡°Boss!¡± Liu Jinghui called out loudly, ready to have a serious talk with the owner. The owner came over and saw the row of frog carcasses on the table, resembling fallen gangsters, and quickly, ¡°Our frogs are pre-chopped before cooking. How about I give you a 15% discount?¡± With the money saved, Liu Jinghui bought a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. His mood slightly uplifted, he eagerly escorted Jiang Yuan to the morgue. ¡­ In the autopsy room, several forensic doctors worked tirelessly piecing together bodies, their movements simr to Jiang Yuan¡¯s frog assembly. Of course, Jiang Yuan was taller, more robust, and younger. He looked cooler when putting things together, hence the nickname ¡°Cool Emergency Frog.¡± ¡°Have you eaten?¡± Jiang Yuan entered the room and greeted everyone coolly. ¡°I lost my appetite.¡± Doctor Ye, who had taken a day off, looked at the pot boiling bones and appeared utterly exhausted. ¡°There is instant noodles outside. Why don¡¯t you cook some first?¡± Having eaten his fill, Jiang Yuan decided to show some respect for the elderly. Doctor Ye asked unenthusiastically, ¡°On which stove should I cook it?¡± Both burners, with fierce mes, were topped with pressure cookers, hissing without yielding an inch. Even for a forensic doctor, cooking noodles next to a pressure cooker is unbearable. The steam condensing into droplets is too much even if it¡¯s distilled water; no normal forensic doctor could bear it. ¡°How about I make a bowl for you?¡± Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t started work yet, so slipping off his gloves to make instant noodles in the outer room was feasible. Doctor Ye hesitated for a moment. Meanwhile, the others began to call out: ¡°Make one for me too.¡± ¡°Thanks, add some sausage.¡± ¡°Sausage and an egg, please.¡± Jiang Yuan counted the heads and agreed, then went out to cook the noodles. Liu Jinghui, no matter how anxious he was, couldn¡¯t let a room full of forensic doctors starve to death. If they did die, it would be considered an unnatural death, merely adding to the workload of the living forensic doctors. In the outer room, there were two new boxes of instant noodles delivered by the store. They were bucket noodles, which are less of a hassle to prepare. Jiang Yuan opened one box and saw severalrge characters: Big Bone Broth Noodles. Jiang Yuan silently put it back and opened the second box: Rich Big Bone Soup. Underneath, there was a picture of a bone being boiled and a warm note: ¡°Each one is the essence of rich bone broth captured in an instant.¡± After a moment of silence, Jiang Yuan brought back the first box, took a bucket noodle, opened it, poured water in, then turned to fetch a roll of tape marked ¡°Caution¡± and covered all the characters on the bucket. Once the noodles were ready and after a little while, the four forensic doctors cleaned up and came out one after the other. Jiang Yuan, now fully dressed, entered the autopsy room. The forensic assistant from Qinghe City Bureau, a bespectacled young man in his twenties, smiled politely at Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival. ¡°Didn¡¯t you go eat noodles? I made some for you too,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Let them have it,¡± the young man replied with a smile and then added quietly, ¡°I bought those noodles. They were the only two types left in the whole box.¡± Chapter 199 - 199 191 Beauty and Ugliness ?199: Chapter 191 Beauty and Ugliness 199: Chapter 191 Beauty and Ugliness The skeletal remainsbeled number 5 had been boiled and prepared. The skeleton, white and gleaming but missing its head, was ced on the first autopsy table. Jiang Yuan then asked, ¡°Is number 1 put away?¡± ¡°Yes, because there aren¡¯t enough autopsy tables, and number 1 was already done¡­¡± the forensic assistant hurried to exin. To say it was done, of course, was impossible. There is a lot of information that can be deduced from a body, and there are even more methods, but sometimes it is also a matter of fate, like eight different ways to solve a problem and it¡¯s easy to fall into a fixed way of thinking. The conditions in the autopsy room are such that having four autopsy tables is already quite substantial, and the police can¡¯t treat a six-body homicide as standard equipment. Jiang Yuan then asked, ¡°How is the analysis for number 5 going?¡± ¡°Justid out, no conclusions yet,¡± answered the forensic assistant. In fact, for ordinary forensic doctors, it took a good amount of time just to methodically arrange the bones. Everyone was busy and tired, with no time for further analysis. Jiang Yuan nodded, began to look over the bones on his own, and took the opportunity to adjust their positions, arranging them more aesthetically. Aesthetics are quite important. Vision is humans¡¯ strongest sense, and the development of thought is also centered around visual perception. For example, the beginnings of astronomy, of optics, of the AV industry, all started this way. Those famous mathematical forms, Archimedean spirals, Cartesian coordinates, Jacobian matrices, are also known for their beauty. Whether a geometric problem can be solved often hinges on drawing the right auxiliary lines. Simrly, the aesthetic arrangement of a body is very important. Moreover, some people might have been unattractive in life, acted hideously, and were rotten to the core, but if you stripped their bones and arranged them nicely, they could bepletely transformed. As the saying goes, some people just need one chance, and they will emerge anew. ¡°Take notes,¡± Jiang Yuan said after fiddling with the bones for a while and taking some measurements, ready to present the results. The most basic assessments can still be made very quickly. The forensic assistant took off his gloves, washed his hands, then put on new gloves and picked up a pen to record. ¡°Female.¡± ¡°Height, 160 centimeters.¡± ¡°Age¡­ around 18,¡± Jiang Yuan swiftly announced the most crucial points of judgement. The forensic assistant was taking notes and paused at the end, surprised, ¡°That young?¡± ¡°Yes, if an 18-year-old girl goes missing, her family would probably take it very seriously,¡± Jiang Yuan said, adding, ¡°Wait a moment, let me confirm the exact age.¡± ording to the techniques of Forensic Anthropology, many bones in the human body can be used for a variety of judgements, but there are always certain bones that are more advantageous for specific types of determinations. Long bones, for example, are particrly useful for determining height, offering high uracy and low difficulty, allowing even a rookie forensic doctor to obtain precise results. The lumbar vertebrae, on the other hand, are different. They can be used to deduce height as well, but the uracy is lower, and the difficulty surpasses the level of a novice. The quick judgement Jiang Yuan had made was based on the pelvis to determine gender, and on the pubic symphysis to estimate age. The pelvis could be considered a treasure trove of bones. Using the pelvis to determine gender, there are numerous characteristic points, from therge-scale form of the pelvis to the small-scale angle of the pubic arch, all helping to distinguish male from female. Families with the necessary means could each take a male and a female pelvis forparison. It is easily seen that the male pelvis is generally tall and narrow,rger at the top than the bottom. The female pelvis is low and wide, with a short and broad pelvic cavity, forming a cylindrical shape¡­ If not feasible, one could alsopare a male pelvis X-ray with a female pelvis X-ray. Only, by doing so, theparisoncks a sense of three-dimensionality and depth. The uracy of determining age based on the pubic symphysis surface is also very high and is the primary method of assessment. The rougher the surface of the pubic symphysis, the younger the age; the smoother it is, the older the age. However, as the saying goes, single evidence is not enough to stand on its own, Jiang Yuan went to flip through the bones for a while, then turned back and said, ¡°18 years old is no problem.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± the forensic assistant responded, and circled another item on the list. ¡°The cause of death could be stabbing,¡± Jiang Yuan added, somewhat unexpectedly. The forensic assistant curiously asked, ¡°How did youe to that conclusion?¡± ¡°The marks here on the ribs should be knife stab traces. The dismemberment was still done with a saw.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, the four forensic doctors from the outer room had finished their meals and were returning one after another. Jiang Yuan nced over and noticed that the expressions of the four were not very good. ¡°Was it not tasty?¡± Jiang Yuan asked with concern. After all, he had made the noodles himself. Thinking about it now, big bone soup noodles might indeed not be as delicious as thick bone broth noodles. Maybe he should have¡­ ¡°I tore off the tape around the outside,¡± forensic assistant Xiao Zhuang admitted his mistake honestly. Ye walked in with a face full of distaste and said, ¡°Tearing it is fine, but reading it aloud after tearing it, so I only drank half the soup.¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry. I just saw a stic end there and wanted to pull at it,¡± Xiao Zhuang said helplessly. He had not expected to find big bone soup under the caution tape. Ye steered the conversation back on track and asked, ¡°You mentioned something about knife stabs?¡± ¡°Yes, there are cut marks on the third and fourth ribs,¡± Jiang Yuan lifted the bone and turned it to the correct position. Because they were all highly dposed corpses retrieved from a reservoir, it was difficult to differentiate before boiling them. After boiling, the conditions of the bone surfaces were alsoplex. The cut marks Jiang Yuan found were very fine, measured in millimeters, probably areas the killer had identally scraped while stabbing. Though the cut marks were small, there was plenty to interpret from them. For example, the knife-wielding skills of the killer should be downgraded, implying that their profession likely had no rtion to those of a doctor or butcher. Otherwise, such mistakes would not have been made. The moods of the forensic doctors immediately improved, and they crowded around to look at the ribs. Two young forensic doctors even gestured over their own chests. ¡°Another thing,¡± Jiang Yuan continued examining the bones, and said, ¡°Victim number five likely studied ballet for a considerable duration.¡± Dr. Ye was stunned for a moment, then hastily looked at the foot bones of the corpse and eximed in surprise, ¡°So many bones are missing?¡± ¡°They might have been chopped off,¡± Jiang Yuan had already looked over them and said, ¡°The killer probably noticed the ballet feet too and likely processed them along with the head.¡± As ballet training intensifies and dancers start wearing ballet shoes, it can lead to ballet feet, causing deformation of the foot. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis, the ballet feet of victim number five might not have progressed to the point of affecting the skeleton, but the killer couldn¡¯t see the bones, only the deformed feet of the corpse, which made it easy to identify. Therefore, they might have chosen to chop them off prematurely. However, the traces left by extensive ballet practice were not limited to the ballet feet alone. The killer¡¯s act of chopping off the feet inadvertently reminded Jiang Yuan. 18 years old, with ballet training, plus a missing person report, it would be easy to determine the identity of the corpse. Chapter 200 - 200 192 From Chaos to Order ?200: 192 Chapter From Chaos to Order 200: 192 Chapter From Chaos to Order The most feared aspect of handling a murder case is theck of clues. As long as there are clues, there is no shortage of manpower. For instance, if someonemits a mass shooting and then flees to the mountains, the local authorities can organize a search team of thousands within minutes. Many murder case task forces organize massive searches, at times, just to make full use of the avable human resources. Whether it¡¯s sufficient or necessary, at least it keeps the task force members busy. Having nothing to do is a huge blow to the morale of the task force. After Jiang Yuan submitted the clues, the task force for the 724 Qinghe major homicide case started their investigation work overnight. An 18-year-old is likely to be a senior in high school or a college freshman, and being a ballet student suggests a well-off family background, so the victim was probably still a student. After pulling out the list of missing students from Qinghe and several nearby cities and adding the attribute of having studied ballet, even going back several years, the list was so short that it only had one name. Zhang Xiaoyun. A resident of Jianjiang City, and a student at Jianjiang No.1 Middle School. Jianjiang City is adjacent to Qinghe City, and its economic level is not much different from that of Qinghe City. There is only one training institution that teaches ballet in the entire city, making the search rather convenient. However, even after DNA matching, members of the task force were still somewhat apprehensive. It was purely because the condition of being a ballet dancer was so narrow that they could easily expand the search to the neighboring cities¡­ which again proved one thing: The killer did not stick to killing locally. This is quite inconsistent with current trends. The business and cultural atmosphere now emphasizes localization and has started to focus on circles. Even in matchmaking, people have started to add the first six digits of an ID number before other requirements like having a car or a house. Killing without considering an ID number¡­ Of course, it¡¯s understandable that a murderer might be a bit rebellious. But the members of the task force had to start reflecting on themselves: If the killer no longer cares about killing locally, just how extensive could their range be? This is not a mere joke. The killer¡¯s psychology can vary ording to the environment. Some killers, when they are away from home, be incredibly reckless and violent, but back at home, they are still meek and obedient, eating, drinking, getting hit by their wives, bearing the brunt of their bosses, with no change at all. Some killers onlymit murders in one ce, and this type is the mainstream. Especially those who like to dismember their victims; they usually do so in their own homes. Reality often responds to these choices in a bizarre way. A typical case involved Jia Wenge of Nehe City, who, along with his team members, killed 42 people locally over more than three years, attracting a special task force with nothing to show for it. To avoid suspicion, he fled to Hang City, where hemitted several cases of robbery-cum-murder but did not dare to kill. He was arrested and, three monthster, executed by firing squad. The killer in the 724 case, it would seem, was familiar with the reservoir and had been dumping bodies there for years, so they were likely local as well. But the only two identified victims were not local. The first victim, number 1, came from Wan Xiang City in the far west of Shannan Province. It¡¯s very likely they hade to Qinghe City on business and died there. But it¡¯s also possible that they died outside of Qinghe City, such as in Jianjiang City. Now, the fifth victim is directly a student from Jianjiang City, with limited mobility, so they probably died in Jianjiang City. So, did the killer live in Jianjiang City, near Qinghe City? It¡¯s not strange to dump bodies in a neighboring city, as anyone with even a slight ability to counter-investigation knows this increases the difficulty of solving the case. Even ancient bandits knew to choose an area where three provinces meet. And for the task force, it seemed the difficulty had indeed increased. For two days in a row, the conference room of the Qinghe City Bureau was filled with the sound of arguments. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan did not have to attend the meetings anymore. He was confined to the dissection room, studying bones every day. These bodies had been soaked in water for a long time, most of their flesh had decayed, and the bones, exposed and soaked in arge amount of body fluids, had all changed in color and texture to different extents. For some basic judgments, these changes are not an issue. For instance, when determining gender, the pelvis is the most useful, but it¡¯s not indispensable; the hip bone is also quite good, the skull is not a problem, and the mandible, sternum, and femur can all be utilized. On this basis, even if the bones have been soaked for a long time and eaten by some microorganisms, it doesn¡¯t have much impact. But to make further judgments about the origin of the body is obviously more difficult. The remaining bodies, numbers 2, 3, 4, and 6, each have their ownplications. The dissection room¡¯s four autopsy tables disy four sets of skeletal remains. Wang Lan assigned each forensic doctor a body to work on, except for Jiang Yuan. The judgments for the first two bodies all relied on Jiang Yuan, so his knowledge of Forensic Anthropology was clearly sufficient for the job. He might even far surpass the others. Apart from giving him full trust, Wang Lan could not be of much help. On the first day, Jiang Yuan was examining the four sets of skeletal remains. Afterward, Jiang Yuan spent more and more time on the skeletal remains numbered 3. Number 3 was the skeleton that had been chopped with an axe. This skeleton showed severe wear on the lumbar vertebrae and leg bones, leading Jiang Yuan¡¯s initial judgment to be that they performed physicalbor. Of course, there was nothing wrong with this judgment. The problem, however, was that the scope was too vast¡ªfinding someone based on this was virtually impossible. Initially, Jiang Yuan had nned to study the marks left by the axe. If he could determine the type of axe, even if he couldn¡¯t solve the case, he might at least find some clues. For instance, themonly seen fireman¡¯s axe or a small hatchet used for chopping wood¡ªthere definitely wouldn¡¯t be many people buying those. As it turned out, Jiang Yuan had underestimated tool mark analysis. With his level of expertise in this area, he simply could not decipher the origins of the axe. Determining the time of death¡­ was naturally even more impossible. The underwater world is a closed environment. It¡¯s usually necessary to seek help from external factors to ascertain the time of death of a body that has been underwater for a long time. For example, by looking at how many generations of maggots have propagated or how long the algae has been growing¡­ Never mind theck of conditions for such analysis, even if the conditions were met, determining the time of death could only be estimated to the nearest year. In fact, establishing the time of death is the most difficult and intricate part of forensic science. In other words, it¡¯s the least urate aspect. In current cases with fresh, still-warm bodies, it¡¯s still possible to measure liver or rectal temperature. But in old cases like this, where the liver and rectum are gone, and it¡¯s uncertain if microbes have gone through generations of change¡­ In the end, what Jiang Yuan could study were the basic traces on the bones. Theoretically, skeletal remains can provide many marks from a body¡¯s life, not just from daily living, but also from upation, illnesses, or environmental factors. A fitting example for modern people might be if twenty people were killed in a subway, their flesh stripped away, only observing their bones. What would be the mostmon trace found on the skeletons? The incidence rate of excessive wear on the cervical vertebrae would definitely be extremely high. Jiang Yuan had already seen the wear on the lumbar spine and leg bones of corpse number three. After further observation, he concluded that the wear on his knees, tibia, and even the heels must have originated from his daily life or upation. But what upation could cause wear in these areas was something that puzzled Jiang Yuan. After racking his brain for the duration of a bowl of instant noodles, he still did not have a clear idea, so he directly called Liu Jinghui. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, Liu Jinghui, who was good at reasoning, might be able to serve some purpose in this situation. Liu Jinghui, a fourth-grade senior chief superintendent from the Shannan Provincial Department, received the call and rushed to the autopsy room. Jiang Yuan found him a protective suit and said, ¡°Actually, you didn¡¯t need toe here. We could have talked over the phone.¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head: ¡°Many things be clear only when you see them in person.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± Jiang Yuan led him to autopsy table number 3, and handed him a tibia, saying, ¡°Take a look for yourself.¡± The tibia is therger, inner bone of the lower leg. It¡¯s very hard, and fits snugly in one¡¯s hand when grasped¡ªthe clever people of ancient times discovered the features of the tibia early on, and thus, thousands of years ago, they ground tibias into daggers, even carving blood grooves into them. Based on the shapes of such artifacts unearthed, the tibia was an excellent material for making daggers. However, as in evidence, Liu Jinghui turned the bone over and over for quite some time without discerning anything. ¡°You give me the rundown,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed. A few forensic doctors also gathered around quietly, keen to hear Jiang Yuan exin on the spot. ¡°The wear is mainly here. The bone has be rough.¡± Jiang Yuan held the tibia, showing the worn side to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui still didn¡¯t see it. ¡°That¡¯s why I said we could¡¯ve just talked on the phone,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°It¡¯s not very far anyway.¡± Liu Jinghui argued, then turned his attention back to the corpse and asked, ¡°The wear you mentioned, what movement could have caused it?¡± ¡°It could be from frequently squatting down,¡± Jiang Yuan said, demonstrating the motion. Liu Jinghui looked closely and nodded slightly: ¡°Knees, tibia, heels.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded: ¡°It¡¯s a pity it¡¯s a male. If it were a female, it could have been someone from the service industry.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice, sizing up Jiang Yuan: ¡°You seem to know a lot, truly a Jiang Vige person, so young yet¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m referring to a server, like in shoe sales, or a flight attendant in first ss.¡± ¡°Men can do those jobs too, right? Does gender really need to be such a strict factor?¡± Liu Jinghui joked first. Jiang Yuan pursed his lips: ¡°Heavybor.¡± ¡°A first-ss flight attendant who frequently carries luggage. Or maybe a shoe salesman who takes a part-time job at a courier point at night?¡± ¡°I was just giving an example,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°Considering the age of the deceased, he spent much longer squatting down in his daily life than someone in a profession like shoe sales.¡± ¡°A welder?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded: ¡°Possible.¡± ¡°Or an athlete in a certain sport, like skiing?¡± ¡°That¡¯s also possible.¡± Liu Jinghui guessed a few more upations, more or less grasping Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment. ¡°This killer¡­ killed very randomly,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed. Jiang Yuan hummed in agreement, arranged the tibia properly, then turning to look at the other corpses, he asked Liu Jinghui, ¡°How¡¯s the special case team doing?¡± ¡°Aplete mess,¡± Liu Jinghui said gravely. ¡°Didn¡¯t the Provincial Department send you to offer counsel andmand?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. ¡°My judgment is that this person probablymits crimes randomly,¡± Liu Jinghui also looked at Jiang Yuan. ¡°Do you know how to solve these kinds of cases?¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. It wasn¡¯t without reason that random acts of violence ounted for arge portion of the backlog of homicide cases in various provinces. ¡°We need to pile up the known factors. To find order within chaos, listing the known conditions is the most basic step,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°I¡¯ve called in two more teams of divers to see if there are more bodies in the reservoir. If they don¡¯t find any, the few bodies we have now represent all we know.¡± Chapter 201 - 201 193 Looking for Leads ?201: Chapter 193 Looking for Leads 201: Chapter 193 Looking for Leads In the dissection room, the air was permeated with a strange odor that made breathing feel somewhat difficult. Liu Jinghui said it was easy, but he himself found it troublesome. The task force was at their wits¡¯ end. There had never been a cessation of inquiries and pressure from the higher-ups concerning the six-body murder case. If it hadn¡¯t been for the only two white shirts in Qinghe City personally calling the provincial capital, a time-limited order to solve the case might have already been issued. By that time, everyone at the city bureau might as well forget about sleeping. Their wives would have to guard their empty beds alone. Their livers were the only things that were correct. However, at the end of the day, no matter how mboyantly you y, you still have to solve the case, right? What good is it to keep poking around outside? Normal life cannot be lived like in the movies. If during the first two days, the task force was still familiarizing themselves with the case and searching for clues, then by the fourth and fifth days, when no positive news hade through, any leader with a bit of criminal investigation knowledge knew what was happening¡­ They were incapable! Moreover, it might be a big problem that not even drugs could resolve. Otherwise, they would have spoken out by now, at least calling for a tourniquet. Therefore, on the fifth day after the crime, the chief also entered the task force¡¯s office. In an instant, the expressions of everyone in the task force were twisted. Comrade Shen Feihong, the Brigade Commander of Qinghe City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, finally remembered Liu Jinghui. Having finally sent the chief off, he immediately invited Liu Jinghui to a meeting. In the smoke-filled meeting room, everyone disyed genuine and awkward smiles. Shen Feihong took the initiative to offer a cigarette, saying, ¡°Director Liu, we¡¯re stuck now. We need some advice from you.¡± Liu Jinghui thought to himself, I had given you advice before, but you didn¡¯t listen. Of course, as it turned out, his previous advice hadn¡¯t been of much use either. But then again, solving a case was like walking in the dark. If you didn¡¯t grope around until the dead of night, how could you possibly find what you were looking for? Liu Jinghui, who had been solving cases outside for years, was ustomed to the different police work styles of various ces. There were many police leaders with ideas, all with strong control desires; some were capable of solving cases, and some were not. Shen Feihong wasn¡¯t the worst of them and did have the ability to solve cases; it was just that the cases he encountered were tooplex. If it had been a smaller active murder case, he might have solved it by himself. On the flip side, if it had been a smaller active murder case, he wouldn¡¯t have seen Liu Jinghui either. ¡°You can start with the reservoir. We should have data on the reservoir¡¯s hydrological records, the water level over the years, right?¡± Liu Jinghui started speaking calmly and harmoniously, without thinking of confronting anyone. Captain Shi of the major case squad, who was about the same age, lit a cigarette as well, took a puff to the side, and said, ¡°We¡¯ve consulted a hydrological expert. ording to him, since the reservoir was built, the water level has never been low to the inside¡­ There¡¯s not much research material on the internal water flow, but in summary, if the killer knows how to use the reservoir¡¯s current and such, then they aren¡¯t just a local person, but also someone adept in water activities and probably residing by the water.¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t know if the killer is that knowledgeable,¡± Liu Jinghui acknowledged. Captain Shi nodded, ¡°Indeed we can¡¯t prove it, but I think there¡¯s a very high possibility that the killer lives and works around the reservoir.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°We interviewed witnesses, especially those around who like to fish. We¡¯ve asked no less than 300 people,¡± Captain Shi stressed the number, ¡°Not a single one saw anything, nor are there rumors or news.¡± Looking for witnesses is something that can be done in any case, and the effect in this case should arguably be better. Suchrge corpse packages being thrown into the reservoir would surely cause some disturbance. If it was too noticeable during the day, it was also possible to be seen at night while disposing of the bodies. Moreover, it was not just a one-time disposal of the bodies. Captain Shi had already raised simr concerns at the previous meeting, and now, emphasizing his point, he said, ¡°As the saying goes, walk enough night roads, and you are bound to meet a ghost. None of those fishers heard anything in the reservoir, which suggests the killer chose an absolutely good spot, not one you can find just by looking.¡± ¡°It could just be luck that the first time they threw it there, it went unnoticed, and then they followed suit,¡± interjected another seasoned criminal investigator from Qinghe Bureau, who, as part of the opposition, had been against focusing the search and investigation around the reservoir for several times. This was a ssic dispute over investigative direction, and Liu Jinghui had already witnessed it once; he still couldn¡¯t make a judgment now. Both men made sense, especially thetter seasoned criminal investigator. Although his words sounded argumentative, in reality, serial killers operate precisely in that manner. This was just like doing business or starting apany. Everyone is gambling with something very important, so certainly, they¡¯d have their supposedly thorough research and practice beforehand. The ultimate oue, however, may depend on both skill and luck. Is it possible for someone to use the wrong notion to choose a wrong location to open an incorrect shopfront, and due to various coincidences, they end up making money? All too possible. Is it possible for a killer to choose a wrong location to dispose of a body based on the wrong notion, and they remain undiscovered? Still very possible. At that moment, the veteran detective added, ¡°This reservoir is the main source of life, drinking, and irrigation for the nearby residents. Many locals are familiar with it, making it difficult for you to investigate. Furthermore, since generation after generation has lived here, they would not dispose of bodies into it. When we solve cases in rural areas, nobody throws bodies into their own wells either.¡± ¡°1234 and 56, but they were found in two different areas, indicating that the killer chose two separate locations, neither of which was discovered, and the second was even more hidden than the first. This proves it wasn¡¯t just luck or a chance finding of the disposal site,¡± Captain Shi insisted on his point of view. Liu Jinghui interjected, ¡°Wasn¡¯t 56 washed away? Did you ask that hydrology expert?¡± Captain Shi replied, ¡°We did, and it wasn¡¯t washed away. It was deliberately thrown away in another ce.¡± Liu Jinghui agreed with thement but before Captain Shi could show a pleased expression, Liu added, ¡°However, it doesn¡¯t prove that the killer is from around the reservoir. We all agree that the killer must understand the reservoir. I think we shouldbine both of your ideas, the killer is not someone from around the reservoir but someone familiar with it, and there must be many such people.¡± Captain Shi fell silent for a moment, then said, ¡°That¡¯s too coincidental.¡± The veteran detective remained silent, clearly not agreeing with Liu Jinghui¡¯s conclusion. Moreover, from his perspective, this was not an easy matter to investigate; they couldn¡¯t just ask each individual: Do you know the Baichuan Reservoir in Qinghe well? Liu Jinghui silently sighed. Indeed, the problem with deductive reasoning is that everyone can theorize based on some facts, but the most probable event in the process is not necessarily the truth. At this time, they needed more evidence for support. Or perhaps, they needed to change the direction of thinking to see if there was any intersection between the two. ¡°How¡¯s the investigation on the transportation vehicles?¡± Liu Jinghui asked. ¡°We¡¯ve checked the vehicles from the reservoir, those belonging to the staff, and the ones that regrly deliver goods here,¡± spoke up Chief Chen. ¡°Can we find the tire tracks and parking spots around the reservoir?¡± This was an idea previously put forth by Liu Jinghui. The killer would likely have a fixed route and parking spot if they came to the reservoir multiple times to dispose of bodies. It¡¯s like a family nning a camping trip. Anyone with a bit of nning sense would consider the route and parking space. Someone disposing of a body would need to be even more methodical than someone taking their family out. Otherwise, if you just parked on the side of the road, you might get someone passing by who wants to give you a hand, or worse yet, you might get approached by traffic police or reservoir staff. Chief Chen, whose skin was tanned by the sun, gave an affirmative grunt and said, ¡°There¡¯s a strip of parking spots there. Thend is scattered¡ªsome areas grow corn, some sunflowers, some reeds, and there are trees. In some ces during the dry season, off-road vehicles can drive through the reed patches. Some peoplee especially for that.¡± ¡°What about that group who y with off-road vehicles?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve asked them already. Doesn¡¯t seem like them. Most are from out of town, like from the provincial capital, and they should not be familiar with the water conditions. Moreover, most peoplee a few times and then go somewhere else to y. It¡¯s rare to see someone who has beening continuously for three or four years, and those who came eight years ago and still came three years ago are very scarce.¡± Chief Chen¡¯s train of thought was quite clear, swiftly ruling out the off-road enthusiasts. ¡°What about considering the victims¡¯ life trajectories? Number 1 was here on business, and her route to Qinghe City should be traceable. Number 5 was a student. Where is their intersection?¡± Liu Jinghui continued to inquire. ¡°It¡¯s here in our Qinghe.¡± ¡°What about the specific route?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all unclear now.¡± ¡°What about number 3? Still can¡¯t sift out where the body came from?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll only know after sifting. There is no shortage of work that requires staying upte¡­¡± The truth wouldn¡¯t jump out on its own; it was now time for the special investigation team¡¯s brainstorming session. In other words, they were aimlessly searching for a lead. ¡­ Jiang Yuan paced back and forth between numbers 2 and 4 for a good while. In total, six bodies had been found. The origins of numbers 1 and 5 had been identified, while number 3, although not yet confirmed, had a direction for the search. Among the remaining numbers 246, number 6 only had the skeletal remains of the upper body and was ater act by the killer,cking useful clues. Numbers 2 and 4 were somewhatcking in terms of marks on the bones. Speaking of which, both should have had X-rays taken. Because number 2 had a fractured humerus, and number 4 had undergone dental correction, both certainly would have required X-ray imaging. In theory, Jiang Yuan could take another set of X-rays of the skeletal remains and thenpare them to the X-ray records retained by hospitals to determine the identities of the deceased. However, there¡¯s a troublesome issue here. It¡¯s very difficult to ask hospitals for a batch of X-ray images, let alone take them back. If they knew which hospital it was, then that would be fine. But considering the domestic situation, it would be reasonable for someone from Qinghe City to go to Changyang City for treatment. If they encounter someone like number 1, who was either on a business trip or a drifting victim, or even someone from another province, then how would they make a match? Luckily, a humerus fracture and dental correction both tend to suggest local treatment. Dental correction requires frequent, long-term visits, and getting treatment out of town would be burdensome andplicated. A humerus fracture is an acute condition; people usually seek medical treatment nearby after breaking an arm¡ªunless they happened to fracture it while out of town¡­ After repeated verification, and in the absence of any other identifying factors, Jiang Yuan still reached out to Wang Lan. Wang Lan had also noticed the two identifying features, but, sharing the same concerns as Jiang Yuan, getting the dental records forparison seemed feasible, while whether the hospital could provide X-rays of the fractured humerus was uncertain. ¡°Is there no other way?¡± Wang Lan asked, seeing that Jiang Yuan had brought it up, not holding out hope anymore. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°This is all I can think of.¡± ¡°Can you finish examining the X-rays of the humerus? I can take care of the teeth, but I can¡¯t handle the humerus myself.¡± ¡°I can,¡± Jiang Yuan affirmed, ready to persist! Chapter 202 - 202 194 Drawing ?202: Chapter 194 Drawing 202: Chapter 194 Drawing Day Six. Jiang Yuan followed Wang Lan, casually bringing Wang Zhong along as the driver while they methodically visited Qinghe City First People¡¯s Hospital and then the Second People¡¯s Hospital in that order. The case had progressed to a point where it truly became a task of grinding patience. Jiang Yuan, out of boredom, began to yawn. Wang Lan was somewhat influenced by Jiang Yuan, but she was too embarrassed to yawn tantly and expose her teeth, so she covered her mouth with her pale, washed hands and soon was yawning profusely as well. The driver, Wang Zhong, felt he was also being influenced as he yawned twice and quickly said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, this seems to be your first time participating in a sweep like this, right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ it seems so. I haven¡¯t worked on many cases,¡± Jiang Yuan had some trouble recalling. He actually had handled quite a few cases, certainly more than all the cases Wang Zhong had worked on over the yearsbined. Wang Zhongughed and said, ¡°Actually, when we used to work cases, we often had to run around everywhere. The seasoned detectives always said cases were solved on the move, making us run until our legs broke.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve really never encountered this kind of grinding from one hospital to another,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. At each hospital, they had to search for departments like Radiology to request their X-ray films. Some hospitals were better, allowing ess to thepleted films directly, while others required departments like Medical Administration to fill out various paperwork, and even then the X-ray films obtained were iplete. Fortunately, as Victims No. 2 and No. 4 had confirmed ages and genders, they only needed to slightly erge the criteria for the former and sift back 10 years, then cross-check the list of missing persons to get a manageable number of X-ray films. Of course, in order to see the dental images for Victim No. 4, they might need to make a separate trip to the dental department, and after half a day, they only managed to check two hospitals. Luckily, there weren¡¯t many hospitals in Qinghe City, so they felt that they couldplete their search quickly. The trouble was, if they still couldn¡¯t find matching X-ray films after looking through all the hospitals, the three of them might have to make a trip to Changyang City, where there were many more hospitals, and the workload would spike tremendously. In such an anxious and somewhat dreaded mindset¡­ At the Qinghe City Qianjin District Hospital that followed, Jiang Yuan unexpectedly found an X-ray film that matched Victim No. 2. ¡°This is the one.¡± Having found the person, Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was surprisingly calm, without the expected outburst of euphoria or any intense emotions. Perhaps it was precisely because of the certainty of finding the match, the rm caused by uncertainty before immediately lost its taste. ¡°Zhu Jin. Male. From Zhu Jiazhuang¡­ disappeared 6 years ago,¡± Wang Zhong read the hospital report, then flipped through the internalwork search. Because he was temporarily transferred to the special case squad, Wang Zhong¡¯s phone also received special ess privileges from the provincial office, and soon he had found the relevant case files. ¡°This man is a farmer from Zhu Jiazhuang, who would be just over 40 if he were alive today. It¡¯s surprising to see middle-aged people still willing to farm in the countryside,¡± Wang Zhong, a definite young man, spoke with a youthful tone. Wang Lan, who was also in her early forties, took Wang Zhong¡¯s phone to look before shaking her head and saying, ¡°Working in the vige doesn¡¯t necessarily mean farming; it could be livestock breeding or something. Once confirmed, I¡¯ll call the Shen Division.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed and, during the break as Wang Lan made the call, signaled Wang Zhong to take a statement from the doctor. The doctor couldn¡¯t remember the X-ray from 6 years ago, and small surgeries like repairing a humerus fracture weren¡¯t memorable either. Still, Wang Zhong was in good spirits. With this, the identities of Victims No. 1, No. 2, and No. 5, totaling three bodies, were rified, and with an average of two days to confirm each victim, the pace wasn¡¯t slow. The details on Victim No. 3 would likely be rified soon, and the prospects for Victims No. 4 and No. 6 would depend on the progress toe. While musing on this, he saw Wang Lan return in high spirits. ¡°We don¡¯t have to search for Victim No. 4 anymore,¡± Wang Lan said cheerfully. ¡°The source of the body has been confirmed, also a midday update.¡± ¡°How was it discovered?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. ¡°Mitochondrial DNA,¡± Wang Lan stated, thanking the doctor before ushering the two men out the door, then whispered, ¡°Our bureau chief went straight to the provincial capital, pressing the provincial DNAb to get it done. Otherwise, we¡¯d probably have to wait a week or two in line.¡± ¡°That exaggerated?¡± Wang Zhong was astonished. ¡°Mitochondrial DNA testing can only be done at the provincial office, and they have plenty of work. Moreover, our bureau chief widened the scope ofparison to include the entire province. Luckily we expanded to the entire province; otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have found a match¡­¡± The dposition of the bodies was too severe, and normal DNA extraction was quite difficult. In cases like these, where a body had been abandoned for years, DNA usually had to be extracted from bone marrow, but the sess rate wasn¡¯t high, and it often required many attempts to seed. Running a single DNA analysis could take a full day, unless theb technicians worked overtime without sleep, managing only two runs a day. Hence, doing this kind of DNA testing was a significant time drain. Currently, DNA analysis is actually divided into three types. One is the mostmon autosomal DNA analysis, another is Y chromosome DNA analysis, and the third is mitochondrial DNA analysis. Among these, the Y chromosome is inherited from the paternal side of the family, with father, son, and grandfather sharing the same Y chromosome set. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down the maternal lineage, with grandmother, mother, and sisters sharing the same mitochondrial DNA set. Y chromosome DNA analysis is often used for criminal investigations within a family group, like in the case of the Baiyin serial murders, where the killer was identified by first finding his uncle through Y chromosome analysis, then subsequently pinpointing the culprit himself. The advantage of mitochondrial DNA analysis lies in the resilience of mitochondria, which often retain viability in highly degraded environments, thereby allowing for identification. In the Hangzhou wife murder case, the husband reported the disappearance of his wife, and in the end, skin tissue and residual organs were flushed from the septic tank of themunity, followed by mitochondrial DNA analysis, which proved they belonged to his wife, and established the criminal fact. The DNA analyzer and mass spectrometer operate simrly, drawing a curve on a paper strip to obtain results. The peaks and troughs of the curve match exactly, that¡¯s a match in identification; otherwise, it¡¯s a mismatch. In the process, it¡¯s also necessary to deal with the contamination of extraneous peaks. Based on the capability of the DNAboratory and the skills of the technicians, it would take quite a few days toplete the DNA identification process for these bodies. The following day. The task force held arge meeting. Liu Jinghui appeared vigorous and energetic. After several days of contention, Comrade Liu Jinghui had already gained the upper hand in the discourse. Today was no exception. Brigade Commander Shen Feihong from Qinghe City Bureau only said a few words before yielding his ce to Liu Jinghui. As an official from the provincial department, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need to engage in as much preliminary work. He bluntly opened the discussion and said, ¡°After analysis, we are now going to distribute a booklet of the victims¡¯ information to everyone¡­¡± Liu Jinghui also opened his own white booklet, saying, ¡°Here, I¡¯d like to emphasize victims number 2 and 3 in particr.¡± ¡°Number 2, Zhu Jin, male, from Zhu Jiazhuang, was 35 when he disappeared 6 years ago, and is 1.7 meters tall. What¡¯s special about number 2 is that he worked on his home farm. Zhu Jin rentednd from rtives to nt corn, totaling forty to fifty mu, and in addition, Zhu Jin and his wife raised four sows, making money by breeding piglets.¡± ¡°From what I¡¯ve learned, due to pig farming, Zhu Jin gave up working away from home. His daily activities were limited, mainly around Zhu Jiazhuang and nearby vige markets; he rarely went to the county town.¡± ¡°However, on the day Zhu Jin disappeared, he rode out on a motorcycle, which we should consider as it expands the range of distances he could cover. Additionally, the whereabouts of the motorcycle can also be considered a clue.¡± Liu Jinghui meticulously broke down the case details, persuading everyone present like an experienced nightlife pro. After introducing a few specific details, Liu Jinghui continued with victim number 3. ¡°ording to Forensic Doctor Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis, we believe that victim number 3¡¯s upation required prolonged squatting and bearing heavy loads. After screening the missing persons and conducting DNAparisons, we have now identified that victim number 3, named Yu Jun, male, 38 years old, from Qinghe City, disappeared 10 years ago. Before disappearing, he was a worker at the Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine in Qinghe City¡­¡± A buzzing of discussion suddenly filled the meeting room. The disappearance 10 years ago meant that the period of the murderer¡¯s activities had been pushed back another 2 years. The expressions of several leaders from Qinghe City Bureau grew even more grim. With a murderer lurking andmitting crimes for as long as 10 years without a trace, it didn¡¯t seem right to call it an oversight, but it was also bing difficult to maintain that the social security was excellent. However, with the murderer moving around several neighboring cities, multiple city bureaus were embarrassed, which somehow didn¡¯t seem quite as bad. ¡°Next, based on the current intelligence, we have the following ns¡­¡± Liu Jinghui thus started organizing. Jiang Yuan listened attentively. Although to Jiang Yuan, deduction seemed unreliable. Yet with sufficient information, simply performing logical deductions could still yield some useful conclusions. Liu Jinghui kept assigning personnel for tasks simr to verification work, in detail down to teams of two. Jiang Yuan quickly understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s tactics. In the absence of direct identification of the suspect through the bodies, Liu Jinghui appeared to be analyzing the area where the murderer might be located. It was a somewhat clumsy, but very effective approach. Bearing in mind the current judgment, the murderer would have needed equipment like chainsaws or saws for dismembering, and moreover, had possessed such tools since 10 years ago. The proportion of households or units with such equipment was definitely not high. If they could define the area where the murderer resided, even if the defined range wasrge, epassing thousands of households, it did not matter. With hundreds of officers deployed, there was a high probability of finding the person. In fact, this was also the traditional investigative craft passed down among police officers. Why don¡¯t police like handling minor cases? Because to crack some minor cases, in theory, they also have to be handled in this way. Jiang Yuan listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s arrangements, looked at the victim information in the booklet, then looked up to see Liu Jinghui¡¯s arms waving in front of a map, and suddenly felt a strong urge to draw. The sketching skill he had once acquired, although ¡°only¡± at LV2, gave Jiang Yuan a strong sensation of intuitive drawing. In the center of the conference table were stacks of local maps and other materials. Jiang Yuan leaned over, grabbed a copy, and began to draw right there with the pen he always carried. He was sketching the living areas of several victims. His lines were precise, as if drawing a still life. And in his mind, it was as if there were several little men running around on arge map. Marking the ces they had traversed with dual shadows and the ces they might have traversed with single-lined shadows, just like sketching a still life. Soon, most of the map was covered in ck and shaded areas, but amidst the enclosure of ck and shadows, a long, nk, clean region appeared on the map. This result also surprised Jiang Yuan. Upon closer inspection, the nk region was more than ten kilometers long and four to five kilometers wide, lying on the map like a plump, white silkworm. The head and tail of the white silkworm were two towns. The head was Zhangshan Town, which was more than twenty kilometers from the reservoir, and the tail was Lichang Town, which was more than thirty kilometers from the reservoir. Zhangshan Town belonged to Qinghe City, while Lichang Town was under Jianjiang City. ¡°Moved house?¡± thought Jiang Yuan, as the idea suddenly sprang to mind. Chapter 203 - 203 195 Within Seven Steps ?203: Chapter 195 Within Seven Steps 203: Chapter 195 Within Seven Steps Liu Jinghui was full of vigor, takingmand and setting out the investigation n, pointing out the direction of the investigation. It wasn¡¯t until he stepped down that Brigade Commander Shen Feihong took the stage, emphasizing and arranging specific tasks. Jiang Yuan quietly handed the map he had drawn to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui was a bit surprised and opened the map, which left him dumbfounded. Feeling the high level of attention on him, Liu Jinghui quickly took out his phone and sent a message to Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°Is this an analysis of the suspect¡¯s location? How did you do it?¡± He could guess some of it but still needed to analyze. Therefore, Jiang Yuan typed a brief exnation and concluded, ¡°There¡¯s no definitive physical evidence, but Zhangshan Town and Lichang Town should be seriously considered.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed, as this was the type of analysis he was both skilled at and ustomed to. However, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t interrupt Shen Feihong, instead pulling out another map and studying it carefully. By the time he was finished, Shen Feihong was almost done speaking as well. Shen Feihong politely said, ¡°If no one has anything else to add, then today¡¯s meeting¡­¡± ¡°I have a few words to add,¡± Liu Jinghui stood up. The attendees, who were about to stand up and leave, reluctantly sat back down. ¡°Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan just gave me this map, and I find it quite instructive,¡± Liu Jinghui attached Jiang Yuan¡¯s map to the front. The map was small, and people in the back row couldn¡¯t see it very clearly. So, Liu Jinghui had it passed to the back. While the map was being passed around, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Dumping a body outside of one¡¯s living and working areas is standard practice. Simrly,mitting crimes outside of these areas is the subconscious behavior of such individuals¡­¡± Actually, he didn¡¯t need to exin; there was no one in the room who didn¡¯t understand what he was talking about. Someone directly asked, ¡°Should we adjust the arrangements then?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s make some adjustments. What do you think, Commander Shen?¡± Liu Jinghui courteously deferred to Shen Feihong. Commander Shen grunted a muffled ¡°hmm¡± in response to Liu Jinghui, but smiled at Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Doctor Jiang¡¯s technical skills are really good, with a variety of methods¡­ We owe you a lot for the source identification of the corpses this time¡­¡± He showered Jiang Yuan with praise, a bit awkward but clearly meant well, and everyone joined in withughter. If you can solve a case, you are a god. For the sake of solving a case, the tough guys here can go without sleep for days and nights on end, staring at the road surface for ten or twenty days in clothes reeking of staleness. Graduates in whiteb coats can also sieve through 38 truckloads of sewage with an iron mesh, then take the solid matter back for testing. Compared to all that, what¡¯s a little bit of awkward praise? What does it matter if the praise is forced? Shen Feihong is the Commander of Qinghe City¡¯s Criminal Police Detachment, and Jiang Yuan is a forensic doctor from Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Shen Feihong will need Jiang Yuan¡¯s support in many areas in the future. This dismemberment case is tough, but it¡¯s not the toughest; who knows if a more difficult one might emerge in a few days. And yet, Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities are constantly evolving. The 12 forensic doctors who arrived represent almost all of Qinghe City¡¯s forensic workforce. Rtively speaking, Jiang Yuan manifested the strength of 11 out of the 12. Some say, can the collective power of 11 forensic doctors truly not match that of one? Is this not the case for an entire city? Such is modern technology. It¡¯s not just that a city¡¯s forensic doctorsck the expertise in forensic anthropologypared to one doctor; even if a whole province¡¯s forensic doctors fall short of one person, there¡¯s nothing to fuss about. When a bunch of studentse together to solve a math Olympiad paper, can they guarantee a silver medal? Give them three years! It hasn¡¯t been long since the era when a city couldn¡¯t find a single university graduate. There were times when no one in the city knew English, ounting, surgery, radio,puters, CAD, or Photoshop¡ªit¡¯s only been the span of three generations. Pretending everyone is the same, that all university students are the same, that all graduates from prestigious universities are the same, that all students from the same university are the same¡ªit¡¯s all from those who have not encountered real challenges. Solving cases is a curious affair, some of which can be solved individually, while others can only be cracked by a select few. In recent days, Shen Feihong had been arranging for police officers from various teams to continuously strike out and had also been continually focusing on the work of Jiang Yuan and the forensic team. Looking at Jiang Yuan now, the corners of his mouth were brimming with tears of emotion. The strongest forensic doctor in Qinghe City was Wang Lan, a distinguished graduate in forensic science from a legitimate medical university, with nearly twenty years of experience and hundreds to thousands of autopsies under her belt. However, forensic anthropology was a rarity nationwide, and the experience of forensic experts across the country was just average. In situations where the numbers don¡¯t add up, there¡¯s no choice but topare talent. Of course, talent like Jiang Yuan¡¯s was a bit outrageous. Shen Feihong was merely a brigademander, and advancing further, he wouldn¡¯t set his sights on criminal investigation any longer, otherwise, he would have done everything in his power to keep Jiang Yuan. With everyone¡¯s respect in consideration, Shen Feihong spoke a few kind words to Jiang Yuan before adopting a serious expression, saying, ¡°Then let¡¯s adjust the n. Zhangshan Town and Lichang Town must be the focal points. Additionally, the unmarked areas surrounding these two towns can¡¯t be taken lightly. Every surveyed area must be clearly marked, and there absolutely cannot be any omissions.¡± Liu Jinghui made an acknowledging sound and cooperated, saying, ¡°Given the length of time the murderer has been active, there must be a stable location for dismembering bodies, but this amount of time is also enough for him to adequately conceal the site. Isted cers, hidden equipment, all are possibilities. Moreover, with the reservoir having dried up a week ago, those with information channels might have received news. All in all, the search has to be meticulous¡­¡± At this time, Shen Feihong also backed up Liu Jinghui, equally emphasizing, ¡°The biggest worry in a search is missing something. As the old saying goes, you can be diligent 99 times, but rx once and you fail. This time we must convey the message clearly to all the officers. We need to invest 100% of our energy¡­¡± The people in the meeting room were all listening. The principle itself was understood by all, but how much of it could be executed was a test of thebat strength of each team. The words Shen Feihong said were both a reminder and a unifier of thought. As the meeting progressed through its variousyers, so too consensus solidifiedyer byyer. The next day, when the time for action arrived, Jiang Yuan and the other forensic doctors also changed into police uniforms and took action together. The Qinghe Bureau¡¯s police officers were certainly not enough, and as the city bureau that did not engage in operations, not only were the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s staffing levels and thebat effectiveness of its officers questionable¡ª When it came to publicity, the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s strength was decent, but if the Qinghe Bureau were to lead the investigation, it would be akin to sending puppets to catch mice. It¡¯s not that mice couldn¡¯t be caught, but could they really be caught? The fear was that when encountering a mouse, cat owners and cats alike would scream in unison. Police officers from the nearby counties had been called over during the night. Shen Feihong had also requested a team of armed police. Nowadays, calling on the armed police was not so easy, and Shen Feihong¡¯s main concern was avoiding mishaps. Beyond that, the local police stations of both towns also assembled a full force in coordination with the operation. Criminal cases, unlike public security cases, rarely involved leaking information, but specifics of the task were onlymunicated in the morning. Zhangshan Town and Lichang Town took action simultaneously. This was when the importance of administrative divisions became evident. Fortunately, Qinghe City and Jianjiang City were both part of Shan Nan Province, because coordinating efforts across provinces would have been troublesome. Jiang Yuan opted to proceed to Zhangshan Town within his city. The police officers reinforced from Ningtai County were all assigned to Zhangshan Town. Learning from his previous experiences, Jiang Yuan decided to team up with Mu Zhiyang. The brutality of the perpetrator in this case was definitely not inferior to those in the ¡°Wu Long Mountain Wild Man case.¡± Whether or not guns were involved was also difficult to say. Although gun-rted cases seem to be on the decline, there still remains a considerable number of firearms in civilian hands. Indeed, whether any of the several victims in this case were shot to death remains unclear. Currently, only one body has been determined to have been stabbed to death due to knife marks on the ribcage, while the causes of death for the others remain uncertain. Since Victims No. 2 and No. 3 were both in the prime of their lives, manualborers, tackling them single-handedly would have been challenging. It¡¯s not necessarily that they couldn¡¯t have been overpowered, but thew of the jungle is the same for humans as it is for animals. Predators typically prefer a hunting method that ensures they don¡¯t get injured¡ªif there¡¯s even a slight risk of injury, their desire to hunt greatly diminishes. Mu Zhiyang looked much healthier, moving his arms and legs freely. He was a legitimate criminal detective, and this time he was even equipped with a gun¡ªafter all, being an officer who had participated in actualbat, fired guns, shot at people, been injured, and receivedmendations, all counted as experience. Standing alongside Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang rested his hand on his gun and exuded confidence, saying, ¡°Rest assured this time. I¡¯ve been assigned a 92, 9mm with double magazines. Add an armored car, and we can take on anything.¡± ¡°Is it that exaggerated?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Mu Zhiyang, thinking to himself that indeed, the harder the gun, the tougher the man. Mu Zhiyang, previously armed with a smaller gun, had obviously been much less bold. ¡°Before I set out this time, I fired 100 rounds,¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s fingers caressed the holster as he quoted a verse, ¡°Beyond seven paces, the gun is fast; within seven paces, the gun is both urate and fast!¡± Chapter 204 - 204 196 Armor ?204: 196 Chapter Armor 204: 196 Chapter Armor Zhangshan Town. This is Qinghe City¡¯s traditional town, with just two cross streets, the same as 40 years ago, and the same today. Even to say,pared to 20 years ago, today¡¯s Zhangshan Town is a bit more deste. Half of the shop fronts on the streets are closed. The ones that are open look just like they did two or three decades ago. Jiang Yuan and the others walked up to a small supermarket and went inside to investigate. The door curtain felt like it hadn¡¯t changed in 20 years. It was as if time had solidified here and aged it, yet no one treasured it, giving the impression that it couldn¡¯t be sold. ¡°Boss, do you have a backyard?¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face was expressionless as he asked seriously. There would be time to crack smilester. The owner of the small town¡¯s supermarket wasn¡¯t easy to talk to either. Looking at the policemen walking up and down the street, he asked, ¡°What are you all looking for?¡± ¡°If you really want to ask, we¡¯ll take a statement,¡± Mu Zhiyang snapped, pulling out a notebook for statements. ¡°There¡¯s a backyard. Go have a look,¡± the owner quickly waved his hand. ¡°Do you have three-phase electricity?¡± Mu Zhiyang went in and followed the electrical wires. What they were actually looking for was not the murderer but the ce where the murderer had dismembered the body. The saying goes, ¡®The monk may run away, but the temple can¡¯t.¡¯ The ce of dismemberment must be closely rted to the murderer. Especially with cases of meticulous dismemberment, the murderer would only do so in a ce where they felt very safe and had strong control over the environment. Because dismembering a body takes time and physical strength. If someone were to see them halfway through, they¡¯d be unable to exin themselves. It certainly wouldn¡¯t be like that one suspect who imed, ¡°I did dismember the person, but I didn¡¯t kill them¡­ Woke up in the morning and found my husband dead, must¡¯ve overdosed on sleeping pillsst night¡­¡± So, dismemberment usually happens in a private setting. If it¡¯s a rented room shared with others, even with a private bathroom, the ce wouldn¡¯t be used for dismemberment, at least not for meticulous dismemberment. If there were experts here, they could argue that the higher the house price to ie ratio and the higher the average quality of people, the lower the incidence rate of dismemberment. Jiang Yuan followed into the supermarket¡¯s backyard but didn¡¯t see any equipment or location suitable for dismemberment. Nheless, Mu Zhiyang still asked a couple of questions, ¡°Do you have a chainsaw¡­ What about an ax¡­ Let me take a look¡­¡± Once they finished checking one ce, they moved on to the next, progressing slowly and rather tediously. Jiang Yuan silently followed along. Fundamentally, Jiang Yuan was quite opposed to this kind of exhaustive search. It was like the method of exhaustion in mathematics, utterly devoid of any aesthetic. You just look at each one, count each one, and that¡¯s it. The biggest risk of the whole affair is having the wrong scope, and the biggest mistake is omission! And the most difficult part is that you can almost never carry out a perfect inspection. Now, the decision seemed to have been left to fate. And everyone knows it¡¯s the most unreliable thing. Adjacent to the small supermarket was a dingy eatery, and next to that, a store that sold fly and rat poison. After that came several empty shop fronts. The weather, dry enough to evaporate a reservoir, quickly made the searching policemen feel hot and bothered. Another detective couldn¡¯t help but grumble, ¡°With so many shops, not a single one has the air conditioning turned on. How can they expect to have customers without air conditioning? Who can sit and eat in this heat?¡± ¡°They¡¯re reluctant to spend the money,¡± said an auxiliary police officer from the local precinct. ¡°Here, people might not even earn back their air conditioning costs from selling a bowl of noodles.¡± ¡°Sigh, they¡¯re still better off than us¡­ I¡¯m going to get some water.¡± Talking felt like a waste of saliva in the heat, but thankfully, Qinghe City Bureau had provided plenty of bottled water, setting up water collection points on both sides of the road. Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, and the precinct¡¯s auxiliary police officer continued their walk, discussing, ¡°Age is a good starting point. The perpetrator of this case must have the ability to kill and move the bodies, as none of the victims were small in size or weight.¡± ¡°But weren¡¯t they cut open?¡± ¡°They couldn¡¯t just dismember the bodies on the spot,¡± Jiang Yuan said as they reached the front of the Agricultural Machinery Cooperative. The door was locked with a phone number posted on it. The auxiliary police officer banged on the door and shouted, ¡°Old Wang! Old Wang!¡± After several shouts, a response came from inside, ¡°Coming, I was asleep¡­¡± When the door opened, there was a distinct smell of motor oil, apanied by the scent of pesticides. A few machines were stored in the shop, all looking well-maintained despite their age. ¡°What¡¯s all this about today?¡± The owner, who looked to be in histe forties or early fifties, was considered young by Zhangshan Town¡¯s standards. He seemed quite sturdy, wearing multi-pocketed work clothes with a screwdriver in his reach, more threatening than an average fruit knife. ¡°What are you doing?¡± the auxiliary police officer asked in return. The owner replied, ¡°I¡¯m getting ready to send out the machinery. Just tidying up.¡± The auxiliary police turned to Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang and said, ¡°This ce rents out agricultural machinery. They¡¯ve got vehicles, water pumps, threshing machines, and the like¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang became slightly more vignt, resting his hand on his holster, and said, ¡°We¡¯re from Qinghe City Bureau¡­ What¡¯s your name?¡± He asked, while sizing up the other party with a policeman¡¯s eye. Out of the several stores he had run to today, this one matched the suspect¡¯s description the most. ¡°Wangguoshan. It¡¯s my store,¡± the shop owner smiled, his skin weathered by the sun telling stories of hard life. ¡°How many people are in the shop?¡± ¡°Just me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re running such a big shop alone?¡± ¡°I rent out farm equipment. If someone needs it, I drive over and work for them. Can¡¯t afford to hire these days.¡± Seeing that the shop owner was quick to answer and didn¡¯t seem too nervous, Mu Zhiyang rxed a bit and said, ¡°Labor costs are indeed outrageous nowadays¡­ Can we take a look at the backyard?¡± Wangguoshan said, ¡°The back is a bit of a mess¡­¡± ¡°We need to check it out,¡± the auxiliary police persuaded, ¡°We¡¯ll be out of your way as soon as we¡¯re done.¡± The shops on this street were mostly the same setup: the store in the front and a courtyard and living quarters in the back. Wangguoshan didn¡¯t hesitate too long before leading the three into the backyard. The backyard was paved with concrete. There were three bungalows facing them, and to the right, a color steel house with arge- wheeled tractor parked inside. The courtyard was fairly clean, not the chaos described by the shop owner, and it didn¡¯t show signs of being a living space like the other shops they had visited. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You don¡¯t usually live here, right? Where¡¯s your home?¡± ¡°I live with my wife.¡± ¡°And where is that?¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t know it, a small ce.¡± Wangguoshan chuckled. The auxiliary police had an impression of him and said, ¡°Old Wang is a son-inw from Jianjiang; they have quite a few customs there.¡± Mu Zhiyang shivered and turned around, his hand once again touching his holster, and asked, ¡°Where in Jianjiang?¡± Wangguoshan¡¯s eyes nced at Mu Zhiyang¡¯s gun and replied, ¡°Lichang Town of Jianjiang.¡± The local auxiliary police were from the police station and didn¡¯t know the specifics of the case; Mu Zhiyang was almost ready to draw his weapon. That¡¯s when the auxiliary police, following previous protocol, asked, ¡°Do you have a cutting machine here?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t have a cutting machine.¡± ¡°How about a chainsaw?¡± ¡°Chainsaw¡­ There¡¯s a chainsaw. Sometimes people need it to split mountains. I¡¯ll show you,¡± said Wangguoshan as he turned and headed towards the shed. Mu Zhiyang froze for a moment, then quickly catching on, he shouted, ¡°Stop right there!¡± Wangguoshan didn¡¯t listen and instead sped up into the shed, climbing onto the tractor. Mu Zhiyang yanked his gun out quickly, pointed it at Wangguoshan, and yelled, ¡°Stop, or I¡¯ll shoot, stop!¡± Wangguoshan started the tractor with swift, practiced movements. After hesitating, just as Wangguoshan¡¯s tractor roared to life, Mu Zhiyang fired a shot into the air. Crack. The crisp sound surely captured the attention of many police officers. Woo¡­ Wangguoshan drove the tractor straight at Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang braced his legs slightly apart, gun in both hands, aiming at Wangguoshan. ¡°Don¡¯t kill him,¡± Jiang Yuan urgently reminded. Mu Zhiyang knew as well that in this situation, if he shot and killed Wangguoshan, it would only make things worse. So, he fired another shot into the air, aiming the muzzle towards the tractor¡¯s cabin to try and stop the other man. Without even looking, Wangguoshan floored the gas pedal and rushed forward. In that instant, Mu Zhiyang was like an infantryman facing an armored vehicle with nothing but his flesh and blood. Jiang Yuan quickly pulled him back. However, Wangguoshan ruthlessly swerved, letting the tractor¡¯s wheels graze Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shins. Then, the tractor smashed through the backyard¡¯s iron gate and headed towards the outskirts of the town. Mu Zhiyang cried out btedly with an ¡°Ah.¡± The detective who had gone to get water and had lost at least a third-ss merit calcted the timing to catch up, only to find the ce in disarray and himself somewhat dazed. Chapter 205 - 205 197 Abnormal ?205: Chapter 197: Abnormal 205: Chapter 197: Abnormal Bang, bang. Once again, the sound of gunfire came from ahead. For the police officers involved in the 6-body major case, there was actually a bit of nervousness. The officers who were issued firearms this time had also been given prior education, although instructed to be cautious about firing, they were still allowed to shoot. However, these two shots were still of a warning nature. Wangguoshan driving his tractor into the mountain was clearly intolerable. Wangguoshan pressed down on the elerator, his eyes bloodshot as he shrieked. Police officers arriving one after another parked their cars across the road and started to encircle the area on foot. Wangguoshan turned the tractor around, subconsciously driving in the direction of Jianjiang City that he was familiar with, before being blocked by two more cars. Knowing his tractor well, Wangguoshan understood that he couldn¡¯t smash through, so he drove off the roadbed. But as soon as his speed dropped, a police officer closed in beside the vehicle. Sitting in the cabin, he pulled out a screwdriver and waved it in the air, scaring off a SWAT officer trying to climb aboard. Seeing that he had pulled out a screwdriver, the SWAT officer¡¯s expression rxed instantly. A few stern-looking veteran detectives were also quietly talking amongst themselves nearby, ¡°No gun.¡± ¡°Thought he¡¯d at least have a nail gun or something.¡± ¡°Stop the car!¡± ¡°Let go of the pedal!¡± In the midst of the chaotic shouting around them, several SWAT officers courageously climbed onto the tractor. Wangguoshan appeared to have strong upper body strength; even with the first officer behind him locking an arm, he still forcefully tried to reach behind him. But the detectives that followed quickly covered him, not giving him any chance to resist. From pulling out the screwdriver to being subdued, Wangguoshan¡¯s fierce resistance onlysted about two minutes. Shh¡­ The tractor waspletely stopped, and Wangguoshan was brought to the ground surrounded by several people. Simr to many scenarios on television where there¡¯s resistance, Wangguoshan could carry two or three officers because of hisrge body weight, equivalent to a 100-kilogram ss fighter desperately resisting. And the first group of officers on the scene were mostly young rookies who had just graduated from the police academy, weighing maybe seventy kilograms at most. Even so, once three or four officers were grappling with him, Wangguoshan quickly ran out of strength. ¡°Wangguoshan, do you know why we¡¯re arresting you?¡± Brigade Commander Shen Feihong stepped forward, sternly interrogating. Wangguoshan didn¡¯t even bother to acknowledge, with the look of a dead duck not afraid of having its beak hard. ¡°Take him away, take him away.¡± Seeing his deadpan face, Shen Feihong felt not an ounce of pity. Policing sometimes involves cases with justifiable reasons, but there are also these egregious ones. By the time Shen Feihong returned to the agricultural machinery cooperative, the yellow police tape had already been strung up, and Jiang Yuan was leading his team, beginning the scene investigation. ¡°How is it, did your young officer get hurt?¡± Arriving on the scene, Shen Feihong first greeted the injured, which was pretty proper. ¡°The ambnce took him away. The doctors said it¡¯s not too serious, but we don¡¯t know the specifics yet,¡± Jiang Yuan said very conservatively, not wanting to affect Comrade Mu Zhiyang¡¯smendation for bravery. In America, an injured soldier might receive a Purple Heart, and here, an officer on duty who gets injured while bravely confronting a violent criminal and protecting his partners deserves at least amendation when they hand out medals. If you¡¯re unwilling to grant even this small measure of honor, then who will rush to the front lines for you in future battles? Shen Feihong nodded and said, ¡°The kid did well.¡± Then, Shen Feihong asked, ¡°How about here? Is there any chance of finding evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan gave a hum of agreement and replied, ¡°The color steel house on the right is where he dismembered the bodies, and there¡¯s still blood inside.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Shen Feihong had initially thought it would require another massive and exhaustive search to find evidence, yet he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Is it human blood? I mean, is there any other kind of evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Inside there are chainsaws, bone saws, axes, and arge freezer. In the freezer, from what I could see, there should be about one and a half people.¡± ¡°One¡­ and a half?¡± Shen Feihong felt goosebumps rise all over his body. As the criminal police brigademander of a city, he had seen his fair share of heinous cases, especially in the earlier years when cases were truly a reflection of primitive and animalistic nature. But this case was still so atrocious that it made one¡¯s scalp tingle. In modern times, under normal circumstances, acts of murder are often driven by intense emotions or entangled interests. This is why, when a wife dies, the husband is the first suspect, and when the husband dies, the wife is the first suspect¡ªbecause the emotions and interests between spouses are extremely strong and deeply intertwined. However, from any perspective, to kill six people, and adding the bodies in the freezer, it meant that there were eight victims. Wangguoshan was just a small-town self-employed man; how could he have had such intense emotional or financial entanglements with so many people? When Jiang Yuan first saw this, he also experienced various kinds of physical difort. Fortunately, he was quick to adjust. Deliberately avoiding too much thought, he continued, ¡°There¡¯s also a stove inside the color steel house, the kind used for heating in rural areas. Wangguoshan probably used it for incinerating the bodies.¡± ¡°F*ck!¡± Shen Feihong cursed loudly and immediately wanted to go inside the color steel house. At the door, Jiang Yuan handed him a pair of shoe covers and added, ¡°We need to arrange for two people to stand guard, to prevent anyone else from entering. We need to collect the evidence here without letting it get contaminated¡­¡± Shen Feihong responded dully, quickly put on the shoe covers, and headed into the color steel house first. As he entered, he was greeted by the scent of bleach followed by a faint smell of burning. It wasn¡¯t a veryrge room, and the floor was covered with steel tes. Nearbyy chainsaws and axes, as well as sharp double-edged knives. The freezer was unusuallyrge; upon opening, a chilling cold air escaped, and the frozen bodies inside were covered in frost. Shen Feihong lifted his eyes to see a human buttock, and images from a short video he scrolled through the night before shed through his head. Suppressing his nausea, he used his gloved hand to inspect it briefly. Below that was another buttock; indeed, it was half a person. ¡°Couldn¡¯t saw it through, could he?¡± Shen Feihong pointed to the chainsaw, his expression grim, ¡°It¡¯s not like you can thaw it before sawing.¡± Frozen bodies are extremely hard, and sawing them, particrly through bone, is even harder. Jiang Yuan pointed to a corner and said, ¡°There¡¯s a bone saw machine over there.¡± Upon lifting a stic tarp, a bone saw machine was indeed revealed. The bone saw machine was made entirely of stainless steel, with bones underneath it that could be dragged over as needed. A vertical steel saw de rotated, and when a bone was ced on the tform below the de and pushed forward, it would be sawed in half. Such equipment can now be bought for just over a thousand yuan and ismonly used for sawing beef bones or frozen steaks. ¡°So, the heads of victims number 5 and 6 were processed here?¡± Shen Feihong figured it out. Jiang Yuan had roughly the same idea. ¡°First cut, then burn?¡± Shen Feihong took another look at the stove in front of him and asked, ¡°This kind of burning must be slow, right?¡± ¡°Not sure, but from the looks of it here, it was probably a slow burn,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, somewhat mechanically, unable to express his emotions correctly. Nothing in this color steel room was used for its normal purpose. Chapter 206 - 206 198 Review ?206: Chapter 198 Review 206: Chapter 198 Review Morgue. The dissection room was as quiet as a ssroom during final exams. Two corpses emitted a chilling coldness, as if they were strict invigtors, watching closely over the forensic doctor moving them. Jiang Yuan took out a stic box, ced it on the autopsy table, examining each bone one by one before carefully returning them to the box. With Wangguoshan¡¯s arrest, the 724 Qinghe major murder case was dered cracked. The focus of work was now shifting towards prosecution. Bodies that hadn¡¯t been matched with a source, such as number 6, were also concluded upon through interrogation, and merely needed to be verified now, eliminating the need to spend arge amount of money and manpower on checks. However, a newly discovered partial corpse still needed to be autopsied separately. Even though Wangguoshan had already confessed, the autopsy was still deemed very necessary. A faintly glowing blue dumpling fell into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. Ma Hongyan¡¯s legacy¡ªthe local mountain goods appraisal (LV2): Roaming the forest paths, tasting every kind of mountain goods was not only a hobby but also a responsibility. If it weren¡¯t for the bonds of kin and friends, with so many obligatory life tasks andparisons, Ma Hongyan would be happier devoting her time to the mountains¡­ Jiang Yuan gathered Ma Hongyan¡¯s remains, covered them with arge stic lid, and while writing abel, asked, ¡°Was Ma Hongyan killed by Wangguoshan because she asked him to transport goods?¡± ¡°More or less. Wangguoshan had a small truck and often couldn¡¯t find much work. When he finally got a big client like Ma Hongyan, he wanted to earn more. They had agreed he¡¯d unload the goods, but after unloading some and finding it exhausting, he made up excuses to get Ma Hongyan to pay someone else to do it, even asking for more than the market rate. When Ma Hongyan refused, he killed her¡­¡± Wang Lan was the one inmunication with the prosecutor, hence she was the most informed. Jiang Yuan was surprised and asked, ¡°Did Wangguoshan give such an ount? Didn¡¯t he offer any exnation?¡± Ordinary people always try to embellish their mistakes when chatting, let alone a criminal. The dead cannot speak for themselves, so the murderer can say as they please about the motives, no matter how unreasonable their personal feelings may be, since these feelings often stem from selfish reasons. But Wang Lan¡¯s expression turned odd as she said, ¡°Once Wangguoshan entered the interrogation room, he started to confess. He had be religious.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t he be confessing to a priest if he¡¯s religious? He¡¯s been killing people non-stop¡­¡± ¡°The priest who converted him, after listening to his confessions twice in a row, wanted to report him. He was killed. After that, Wangguoshan had nowhere to give his confessions.¡± Many in the dissection room heard this story for the first time and murmured in amazement. ¡°Which one was the priest?¡± Niu Tang pointed at a thawing corpse, curious. Wang Lan¡¯s expression settled to a calm, ¡°He was burned to ashes long ago.¡± ¡°Then¡­ with the priest included, that makes nine lives taken.¡± Niu Tang¡¯s expression could no longer hold itsposure. At that moment, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°What about the first body? Ma Hongyan disappeared eight years ago; she wasn¡¯t the first person he killed. Number 3, Yu Jun, disappeared ten years ago, but probably wasn¡¯t his first victim either.¡± Wang Lan, however, shook her head, ¡°He refuses to say who was his first.¡± ¡°That makes ten then,¡± Niu Tang counted. The atmosphere in the dissection room became even quieter. After a while, Wang Lan finally said, ¡°It¡¯s normal for him to refuse to talk about it. Many serial killers are not keen to describe their first kill; there¡¯s too much personal emotion involved, and many don¡¯t want the police to find out.¡± ¡°There are also those who really want the police to find out,¡± Niu Tang corrected. The other forensic doctors joined in and began discussing among themselves. Jiang Yuan finished thebel for number 1, moved on to handling number 2, Zhu Jin¡¯s, and asked Wang Lan, ¡°Why was number 2 killed? Six years ago, had Wangguoshan started renting out agricultural machinery?¡± ¡°He had just started renting. ording to Wangguoshan¡¯s confession, when he was working for Zhu Jin, Zhu Jinined about his poor work and wanted to deduct from his pay. Wangguoshan did not act out at the moment butter harbored a grudge. A few dayster, he ambushed Zhu Jin by the roadside when he was leaving the house.¡± Jiang Yuan looked down at thebel and said, ¡°Number 2 was a farmer all year round, he must have been strong.¡± ¡°Yeah, Wangguoshan gave a detailed description of the ambush and killing; this guy must have had some special training.¡± ¡°What about the motorcycle?¡± ¡°He sold it to a second-hand car dealer who came up to the grasnds.¡± Jiang Yuan began to understand, ¡°Because it was a disappearance, by the time the police got involved in the case, there were no traces left at the scene, and the motorcycle had already been sold¡­¡± Wang Lan nodded, ¡°I called Zhu Jin¡¯s family. His wife has remarried, and the child stayed back in the vige. He¡¯s grown up now and maye to lookter¡­¡± While they were talking, a second glowing dumpling fell into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. Zhu Jin¡¯s legacy¡ªPostpartum Care for Sows (LV4): The 4 breeding sows were the only major source of ie for the family. Throughout the year, whether sows gave birth to many piglets, whether those piglets were healthy, and the market price for pigs would signify a rise or fall in the family¡¯s living standards. Even when nting corn, Zhu Jin¡¯s mind was upied with how to take good care of them¡­ Jiang Yuan silently made Zhu Jin¡¯s remains a bit tidier. Although the name wasn¡¯t very pleasant, a skill level of LV4 was still quite rare. Moreover, considering the experience with dog food, Jiang Yuan felt that postpartum care for sows might actually y a significant role¡­ For starters, he could try it out with Mu Zhiyang. After arranging the second box, Jiang Yuan organized the third set of remains. Wang Lan spoke up without needing Jiang Yuan to ask: ¡°The third one, Yu Jun, has been dead the longest. Yu Jun was a coal miner, and it was unlikely that he would encounter Wangguoshan, thus the chance of conflict was even lower. But ording to Wangguoshan, he met Yu Jun in the town, had an argument, and harbored resentment afterward, which led him to get rid of the man.¡± ¡°Did he mention any details?¡± ¡°He did, but not many. Wangguoshan¡¯s implication was that it¡¯s been too long, and he can¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°The earlier the body, the more memorable it should be,¡± Jiang Yuan objected. ¡°Director Liu analyzed it the same way,¡± Wang Lan said. ¡°And his analysis was even bolder.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Director Liu spected that maybe Wangguoshan ran into Yu Jun while hiding bodies in the coal mine. And the body he was hiding might have been the first person he ever killed.¡± Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment; this spection was indeed quite bold. And there was no evidence to support it. ¡°Director Liu also wanted to bring police dogs to check the coal mine, but he was stopped,¡± Wang Lan paused, then continued, ¡°Now that the case is solved, the detachment leader¡¯s opinion is to focus on the trial and litigation phase.¡± Shen Feihong¡¯s suggestion did not have any major issues. Unearthing every factual detail in an investigation is almost impossible. Not to mention the cost of investigating a case, but the facts themselves are also limited. For the police, aplishing their goal of finding the murderer means the task is done, and whether there are any hidden issues in the case generally does not concern anyone. How many cases are there where even the murderer cannot be found? Who has the time to care about a minor detail in a solved case? Even Liu Jinghui did not keep pressing Wangguoshan about the details of his first killing, did he? When there isn¡¯t a shred of coteral evidence, relying solely on information from the murderer is very dangerous. Moreover, the domestic judicial system traditionally does not delve into the thoughts and motives of murderers¡ªthe murderers can think what they want; our institutions of repentance are mainly distributed within the eighteen levels of hell, and we are merely responsible for sending you there. The third and fourth bodies did not leave behind any legacies. It wasn¡¯t until the fifth body that Jiang Yuan once again received a glowing sticky rice ball: Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s legacy¡ªDance Posture (LV2): Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s greatest dream was to stand on stage, dance a perfect piece under the envious gaze of everyone. The dance didn¡¯t need to be too difficult, the technique didn¡¯t have to be too good, but the posture of the body had to be beautiful¡­ Jiang Yuan silently gave thanks and then proceeded to collect the fifth and sixth bodies. Both the fifth and sixth bodies were decapitated which marked the period when Wangguoshan¡¯s desires were expanding, his vignce waning, and he became increasingly ustomed to resolving issues with violence. Thus, he chose to rape victim number five and killed number six, a fellow in the agricultural machinery business¡­ Number six was from another province, carrying out an agricultural machinery leasing business,peting with Wangguoshan to a certain extent, though not fiercely. Yet, Wangguoshan chose to kill across the board. ¡°Right, Wangguoshan¡¯s parents worked on a reservoir, didn¡¯t they?¡± Niu Tang, who hadn¡¯t gone to the meeting, asked directly. Wang Lan acknowledged with a hum, ¡°But his parents were only temporary workers at a small reservoir; usually, they only needed to keep an eye on it. During rainstorms, they had to clean the canal, which was very dangerous, so they settled near the big reservoir,ing back once every week or two. Later there was a mudslide, and his father died; his mother remarried with his older brother.¡± ¡°We should have searched the staff records of the reservoir further back in time.¡± ¡°It¡¯s untraceable, the small reservoir is privately owned, and the boss, who has connections here and owns property, simply ced them here,¡± Wang Lan stopped, then added, ¡°Besides, it¡¯s been too long. Wangguoshan swam in the reservoir when he was young, and that was 30 years ago.¡± The power of time is more formidable than imagined. Data from 30 years ago, even if it exists, is likely buried in archives. Even data from 20 years ago, due to changes in databases, often loses much of its information. Chapter 207 - 207 199 Visiting ?207: Chapter 199: Visiting 207: Chapter 199: Visiting As the case investigation progressed, rtives of the deceased began to arrive at the Qinghe City Bureau one after another. After Wangguoshan was arrested, the officials also started to slowly release the news. The bones could not yet be imed, nor was there any need to see them; they were all bone frames soaked in people¡¯s essence. Even if they were arranged to look a bit more presentable, most people couldn¡¯t bear it. However, that evening, a couple lit a pile of ritual paper money above the autopsy room and cried out their daughter¡¯s name. An old Taoist priest stood behind the couple, performing a spirit summoning. The autopsy room was within the funeral home, but its specific location should not be known to outsiders. The couple must have been guided to the exact location by someone. Now, the only remaining forensic doctor from out of town was Jiang Yuan. Along with the three local forensic doctors from Qinghe City and him, their task would beplete once they finished processing thest two bodies. In the evening, with the outside atmosphere so eerie, Wang Lan didn¡¯t want to go out alone and called Jiang Yuan for protection. Dressed in whiteb coats, the two emerged from underground, walked to the couple¡¯s side, and startled the spirit-summoning Taoist priest so much he nearly lost his own spirit. The couple kneeling on the ground saw them, ced the paper money in their hands into the fire, and stood up. The couple appeared somewhat frail, with the woman speaking first, ¡°We are Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s parents. Are you the forensic doctors here?¡± Wang Lan and Jiang Yuan looked at each other and nodded. ¡°You have our thanks,¡± the woman forced a smile and said, ¡°Oh, my name is Li Yun, Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s mother. Can we¡­ can we have here out to talk to us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s an improper request, but we just want to see her¡­¡± the father said softly. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t bear to look at them, and he couldn¡¯t help thinking if he were in their shoes, his father would probably be in a simr state. Perhaps Wu Jun might hire a Taoist priest like this mother did, to summon the spirit and burn a pile of valuable paper cars and airnes. Wang Lan¡¯s eyes reddened slightly, yet she said, ¡°It¡¯s better not to see her. Keep the thought of her in your minds¡­¡± ¡°No matter what Xiaoyun has be, I can ept it,¡± Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s mother said anxiously. Her eyes were very determined, filled with a mother¡¯s resilience. But Wang Lan remained unmoved. She had seen many bereaved families before, understood their pain, admired their resilience, but the boundary between life and death can¡¯t be crossed in such a way. Sometimes, it¡¯s more appropriate for loved ones to live in one¡¯s imagination than to witness with their own eyes or touch with their own hands. ¡°I¡­ I just want to see my child¡­ I just want to look at her¡­¡± Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s mother looked at Wang Lan¡¯s expression, her sensitivity made her realize the pity, and at the same time, the refusal. This kind of rejection pained her more than a simple denial. Heart-wrenchingly painful. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have let her go to school alone. I shouldn¡¯t have¡­¡± Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s mother broke into loud sobs. Her husband held her tightly in his arms. In the evening at the funeral home, the wind was always unceasing, scattering voices, cooling the warmth, and extinguishing life. ¡°Bow in this direction,¡± Jiang Yuan estimated the location of Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s container and directly steered Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s parents in a different direction. He had personally put the box in ce; the direction was urate. Zhang Xiaoyun¡¯s mother paused, then hurried to express her gratitude, quickly gathered the remaining paper money, lit it, and murmured to herself. After a considerable dy, the couple finally left. Looking at the time, it was already past eight in the evening. Jiang Yuan and Wang Lan returned to the autopsy room without a word and continued their work. Solving the case is one thing; there¡¯s still a long way to go before the case is closed. Two dayster. Jiang Yuan brought the rice soup with shepherd¡¯s purse he had simmered to visit Mu Zhiyang. Rice soup with shepherd¡¯s purse, also known as soda powder soup, is made with simple ingredients, primarily rice soup and shepherd¡¯s purse, with the addition of baking soda to tenderize the vegetable stems. Based on the new skills Jiang Yuan had learned, it was known that when resistance was low, green fodder, increased water intake, and baking soda were key. Additionally, pay attention to eating smaller meals more frequently, and just don¡¯t overeat. Baking soda broth almost perfectly suited the post-recovery bodily needs. Upon arriving at the ward, Mu Zhiyang, with one leg in a ster cast and hoisted up, really loved the rice soup with shepherd¡¯s purse that Jiang Yuan brought, praising it non-stop, ¡°My family just knows to feed me millet porridge, talking about stomach nourishment and nutrition. Eating it every day, I¡¯m really on the verge of copse.¡± ¡°Drink half of the soup now, and save the other half to warm up and drink tonight. This kind of vegetable soup isn¡¯t afraid of being cooked longer, the more you cook it, the better it tastes,¡± Jiang Yuan said, focusing on the food allocation instead of joining in Mu Zhiyang¡¯sints. Afterwards, Jiang Yuan checked the bed, surveyed the disinfection situation, and reviewed the nursing chart hanging at the foot of the bed before asking, ¡°Looks like you¡¯re recovering well. Does your leg hurt?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t really hurt, it¡¯s just inconvenient to walk,¡± Mu Zhiyang sighed. ¡°Just as I was getting better, I got hit again. Talk about bad luck.¡± ¡°If you say that, some people might not be happy. This time you should at least get a third-ss merit,¡± Jiang Yuan retorted. Mu Zhiyang chuckled sheepishly, admitting somewhat embarrassed, ¡°Actually, I didn¡¯t really do much. I just went there on the day of the arrest and didn¡¯t really y a role¡­¡± ¡°The criminal, Wangguoshan, was discovered during our investigation, and you were injured during the arrest. That¡¯s your contribution,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out, then added, ¡°Your injury protected me. Given the situation, if you hadn¡¯t been in front, the criminal would have probably targeted me.¡± ¡°Not necessarily, not necessarily,¡± Mu Zhiyang smiled broadly, waving his hand modestly. Jiang Yuan sincerely praised him for a few sentences. As he had said, the criminal Wangguoshan was indeed discovered during their investigation. Though it¡¯s true that anyone entering that agricultural machinery cooperative could potentially have found Wangguoshan, on the other hand, anyone could also have missed him, right? No matter how the criminal was confirmed, Mu Zhiyang definitely earned merit in the arrest phase. Beyond that, his warning shot, ¡°bravely struggling with the criminal¡± and getting injured, ultimately led to the sessful conclusion of the arrest operation. Even if Mu Zhiyang hadn¡¯t made a great achievement, he certainly had a ¡°foot contribution¡± to the effort. A third-ss merit was not at all excessive. For such a major case, with over ten bodies, awarding two or three second-ss merits and five or six third-ss merits was very reasonable. Otherwise, future cases would be hard to handle. In a normal year, a city bureau might not encounter such a big case even once in five years. Once in ten years was more likely. Of course, looking across the nation, one should never underestimate the depths of human evil. ¡°I¡¯ll bring you some ginseng soup tomorrow, and you¡¯re allowed to request one dish,¡± Jiang Yuan saidpassionately, deciding to nourish him further as he looked at the pitiful Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang had been on a nd diet since his surgery, and his sense of taste had long since be nd; he couldn¡¯t help but swallow, saying, ¡°Would ginseng soup be too much trouble?¡± ¡°Not at all, I¡¯ve learned some new tricks, and this kind of nt-based stuff isn¡¯t hard to prepare.¡± Nowadays, ginseng, sold by the root, wasn¡¯t necessarily more expensive than white radishes and could indeed be considered a vegetable. One of Zhu Jin¡¯s secrets to caring for a sow was to boil ginseng soup. Four sows sharing a 20-yuan ginseng root didn¡¯t add much to the daily food expenses. It also indirectly increased the sows¡¯ water intake; and sometimes, when the ginseng was big enough, his family could also have some, which was quite suitable. Mu Zhiyang, feeling touched and a bit greedy, thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Then I¡¯d like to have that big mixed stew you make.¡± The big mixed stew was basically dog food, and in terms of taste, it seemed to surpass Zhu Jin¡¯s skills. Was it partly due to being LV5? Jiang Yuan pondered casually and then agreed, replying, ¡°You can¡¯t eat too much of the big mixed stew. I¡¯ll adjust the ingredients.¡± ¡°Great. That¡¯s wonderful,¡± Mu Zhiyang said excitedly, patting his leg. His mood lifted, and he couldn¡¯t help but mimic the tone ofedian Guo Degang¡¯s crosstalk, ¡°Jiang Yuan, one day when I be the head of the Criminal Police Squad, I¡¯ll make sure to appoint you as the head of the Crime Unit!¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh, responding, ¡°Squad Head!¡± Not expecting Jiang Yuan to y along so readily, Mu Zhiyang burst into loud ¡°hahaha¡±ughter, saying jokingly, ¡°No need for formalities, at ease¡­¡± Jiang Yuan maintained his smile. Suddenly, as if something urred to him, Mu Zhiyang frowned slightly, asking in a low voice, ¡°Is there another squad head behind me?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. Mu Zhiyang gathered a week¡¯s worth of smiles, turned his head to look, and indeed he saw Huang Qiangmin, his mouth twisted into a 44.4-degree smile. Huang Qiangmin lifted his chin slightly, smiling and saying, ¡°I happened toe to Qinghe City on a business trip, and I thought I¡¯d visit Mu¡¯s squad.¡± Chapter 208 - 208 200 Transparent ?208: Chapter 200 Transparent 208: Chapter 200 Transparent ¡°Director Huang¡­ Director Huang, good morning.¡± When Mu Zhiyang said this, hepletely let go; he hit rock bottom. Anyway, it wasn¡¯t working hours now, and even if he knelt on the bed and kowtowed eight times to Huang Qiangmin to prove his submission, Huang Qiangmin probably wouldn¡¯t believe him, right? Mu Zhiyang wouldn¡¯t believe it himself. Nowadays, people visit the Chenghuang Temple and only kowtow three times. You see a seven-meter-eight crocodile, and you kowtow eight times¡ªwhom are you kidding? Besides, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s leg was still in a sling, he couldn¡¯t turn over, let alone kneel¡ªit was physically impossible for him to be so subservient. Huang Qiangmin was amused by Mu Zhiyang¡¯s ¡°Director Huang.¡± The corners of his mouth, which were at 44.4 degrees, suddenly turned into 48.48 degrees. Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Good morning, Captain Mu. How¡¯s your recovery going?¡± Mu Zhiyang, trying toe across as humble, said, ¡°Captain Huang, we were just talking big¡­¡± ¡°I know, you young people chatting and all,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with a smile, as if tofort Mu Zhiyang, then added, ¡°A soldier who doesn¡¯t want to be a general isn¡¯t a good soldier. Ambition isn¡¯t something you should cover up with boasting, and there¡¯s no need to hide it either. ¡®Captain Mu¡¯ sounds pretty good too.¡± At this point, Jiang Yuan, having had his fill of watching the spectacle, chuckled and asked, ¡°Captain Huang, how long are you nning to stay? Is there a case?¡± ¡°Why? You interested in a case?¡± Huang Qiangmin was still a little dissatisfied deep down. Having one¡¯s own workhorse being constantly pulled away by the richndlords to break new ground¡ªwhat kind of situation was that? However, it was routine for the county bureau to have its best and brightest called up by the city or provincial bureau. Many young police officers, just graduated for a few years, were called up by higher authorities. Most of the youngsters didn¡¯t understand and thought they were being given an opportunity, eagerly making their way to the higher authorities. In reality, the chance of being kept on after a secondment was much lower than the chance of making it into the higher department through public exams, and it required a lot more effort. It was somewhat equivalent to not being able to get into The Great Learning through college entrance exams, so deciding to take part in an Olympiad to get in instead. Or, not being able to enter the pce through the draft, so deciding to be a famous courtesan in order to seduce the emperor and get in that way. In the end, the oue was generally the same: the county bureau got a broken and wilted body, and the inte was left with many posts filled with dreams and youth. Of course, Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation was a bit different. Jiang Yuan¡¯s high-end racehorse nature and its exploitation were all too covert¡­ In a daze, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile widened to 66.6 degrees, and he sincerely said, ¡°There haven¡¯t been many cases in the countytely, almost no theft cases at all, so I¡¯m here to report. Since you¡¯re free, you cane along with me¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not go,¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t keen on going too far from home. Huang Qiangmin pped his hands with a snap, ¡°It¡¯s good you¡¯re not going.¡± The air in the ward grew slightly cooler, and there was a bit of an awkward silence. Then, Huang Qiangminughed again and patted Mu Zhiyang on the shoulder twice, ¡°Take good care of yourself, Mu. This time, I¡¯m nning to have a serious talk with the leaders about getting some funding, preferably to make up for the overdue bonuses.¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, ¡°We have overdue bonuses?¡± Under Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hands, Mu Zhiyang obediently said, ¡°Sometimes we¡¯re owed a few months of overtime allowance and such; when it adds up, they¡¯ll issue it all at once.¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly realized, ¡°That exins why the money my dad sent had some odd amounts.¡± With that, Jiang Yuan took another nce at the text message alert, sat to one side, opened his mobile phone¡¯s notepad, and made a note: Sry received plus four months of overdue bonuses, totaling: 14,760.16 yuan. Then, he adjusted the previous ¡°Dad¡¯s WeChat chat ¨C meal subsidies plus leadership meal subsidies plus second-ss merit award¡± of 64,760.16 yuan to 50,000 yuan. Looking at it now, it certainly seemed more pleasing to the eye. After watching Jiang Yuan finish up, Huang Qiangmin asked, ¡°I happened to run into you, and I¡¯m nning to mention equipment upgrades to the city bureau. Do you have any suggestions?¡± The county bureau¡¯s funds partly came from the county government and partly from allocations from the city bureau and the provincial department. For things like equipment upgrades and the introduction of new technologies, it was mainly the city bureau and provincial department that provided the funding. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, ¡°I think our crime scene investigation equipment could be updated. Additionally, if possible, fingerprint-rted equipment too.¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll mention it to the leaders,¡± Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t make the decision himself, but he took note of it. ¡­ In the following days, Jiang Yuan, together with Wang Lan,pleted thest two autopsies and their reports, then returned to Ningtai County. Ningtai was still that quiet and peaceful little county town. The freshly fallen rain had thoroughly soaked the soil of the county town. In the old district¡¯s alleys, some still paved with blue bricks from a couple of hundred years ago, the essence of life was most palpable. Naturally, the residents nearby, who were still willing to live in their own homes rather than renting them out as guesthouses, were originally the rightful dwellers with a life of substance. Jiang Yuan drove his car, circling the old streets before heading to the police station via the freshly constructed city avenue. Ever since he mastered Image Enhancement Technology, Jiang Yuan would asionally drive slowly around the county, stopping from time to time, just to observe the blind spots of surveince cameras. Image Enhancement Technology only gave Jiang Yuan the ability to process images; the most basic skill of the Image Investigation Team, such as tracking surveince cameras, was actually something Jiang Yuancked. But it wasn¡¯t hard to learn. Many basic officers on the Image Investigation Team also hadn¡¯t mastered too many ¡°core technologies¡±; it was nothing more than having seen a lot, being exposed to a lot, and having a higher proficiency. For example, for the Zhou Kehua case, which was solved using image technology, over a thousand police officers were deployed, and they watched nearly 300T worth of surveince videos, equivalent to 830,000 movies in total length. The image experts watched for 15 months before they found a clue. Ordinary people who work so diligently for 15 months usually can pass a civil service exam and get a less demanding job. The world of criminal investigation is actually sustained by a group of people who don¡¯t give it much thought and yet think about it a whole lot. And they might even be getting underpaid. Jiang Yuan had no Image Investigation mentor to teach him. However, he had a foundation and was knowledgeable about the field. What he was doing now was the most basic yet most troublesome work for Image Investigators, which was to recognize the local cameras. He noted their locations, knew their orientations and ranges, and understood the nearby environment¡­ Even if the systemter provided skills, the things Jiang Yuan was practicing now wouldn¡¯t be lost. It was like learning about footprints; constantly looking at the patterns of shoe soles. There was no secret technique involved, nor was it something that produced results overnight; it¡¯s about umting knowledge over time, observing whenever there is a spare moment. Gradually, he became thoroughly familiar with the imaging system of a county. It might update or be reconstructed in the future, but the core content wouldn¡¯t change. Jiang Yuan felt that if he were given a few more months, and updated the cameras in some key locations, then if there were no major incidents such as homicides in Qinghe City over a period of three to two months, he could potentially eradicate all the thieves in Ningtai County. Not just catching the current offenders but also pulling in a bunch from old cases. Especially those petty thieves who get out of prison after a few months; with one more confirmed case, they¡¯d have to serve another year or so, and if three or four cases were confirmed, with an aggravated punishment, five to seven years would pass by. Once a thief, never just once. Especially the skilled ones, those deft with their hands, they had to be forged through countless trials and errors. Without breaking a couple of sewing machines, their physical development wouldn¡¯t even be bnced. ¡°Uncle Li, busy as usual,¡± Jiang Yuan arrived at the county bureau¡¯s parking lot, rolled down his window, and greeted the security uncle. ¡°Oh, Jiang Yuan is back, and with a new car?¡± Uncle Li walked out of the guardhouse beaming with joy. Jiang Yuan got out of the car, offered a cigarette, and handed over a newly opened pack of Zhonghua. ¡°No need, no need¡­¡± Uncle Li declined. ¡°It¡¯s been a long time, making up for the ones before,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile as he stuffed the Zhonghua into his upper pocket. When the people of Jiang Vige weren¡¯t so wealthy before, the mostmon job for the men was to work as security guards. That included Mr. Jiang from Jiang Fuzhen, who probably had worked as a security guard for a while without ever telling Jiang Yuan. After all, even just during the first time of demolition, Jiang Vige couldn¡¯t be described as rich, they were merely escaping poverty. Except for a few who spent excitedly, most people cautiously held onto their demolitionpensation and then went to the city to look for work. Young, energetic, and ambitious people mostly headed for the big cities, leaving behind middle-aged and older men, especially ones like Mr. Jiang, who had children at home and no wife; they could only look for jobs nearby the county town. Working as a security guard was a smooth choice. Uncle Li was also a viger nearby, just less fortunate, who didn¡¯t get his turn in demolition or perhaps only went through one round of it. He returned the favor of a cigarette to Jiang Yuan and then pped his forehead, ¡°I totally forgot, a notice from upstairs a couple of days ago mentioned a parking spot in Area C became avable, reserved for you.¡± Area C was the region between the criminal investigation team and the county bureau, facing the doors of the two buildings, which couldn¡¯t be more convenient. Initially, the spots in this area were for the leaders¡¯ personal cars. After some minor reforms in the public car system, many leaders preferred to walk a little further rather than parking there. As a result, parking spots for well-regarded senior colleagues and leaders from higher-level units were arranged in Area C. It was considered a minor, hidden benefit. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then whispered, ¡°Saying it¡¯s for my use? Isn¡¯t that inappropriate?¡± Uncle Li couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yuan¡¯s police rank and said in a low voice, ¡°It¡¯s most appropriate for you, really nothing wrong with that.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ alright. Is there a specific spot allocated for me?¡± ¡°You can choose from any of the avable ones, just register for C16. That spot is thergest and the most convenient for entry and exit,¡± Uncle Li smiled and noted it in the guardhouse log. Chapter 209 - 209 201 ?209: 201 209: 201 Park the car. Turn off the engine. Open the door and get out, the car door can be opened to its maximum without hitting the car parked next to mine. Jiang Yuan felt quite pleased. Being a tall guy, getting in and out of the car was never that convenient for him, and the narrow parking spaces only added to his difort. However, even in the county town, parking spaces spacious enough to open the car door freely were rare. Unless you went to some ancient town outside the city, parking in the city had been tight since a decade ago. The newly acquired parking spot was different, with a flower bed on his left side and an acute angle cut over, giving parking space C16 a few extra centimeters. Jiang Yuan carefully observed that one-third of the parking spaces in Area C were like this, quite convenient corner spots. Even if some government officials have questionable social intelligence, they wouldn¡¯t unwittingly waste so much space¡ªsuch waste could only be intentional. Looking around, Jiang Yuan felt that the flower beds wasted even more space. Moreover, the parking lot¡¯s surveince cameras didn¡¯t cover the entire area, a setup that was surely the brainchild of bureaucratic minds, given the nature of the institution. The walk from the parking lot to the brigade¡¯s office building was indeed much shorter. Along the way, everyone greeted Jiang Yuan with a warm smile. Jiang Yuan, being tall and wearing a gray-rank police badge, was easily recognized from a distance. He enjoyed this kind of police station atmosphere¡ªeveryone was amiable, like wild rtives encountered during a holiday homing. Even if he couldn¡¯t recall everyone¡¯s names, the warmth of their smiles was genuine. ¡°Behave yourself!¡± Wu Junhao¡¯s voice, prating andmanding, reached Jiang Yuan¡¯s ears. Turning his head, he saw Wu Junhao pushing a crime suspect towards the interrogation center, his movements on the way a bit rough. The handcuffed suspect, however, wore a thick-skinned grin and casually said, ¡°Don¡¯t be mad, I just bumped into someone a little. It¡¯s nothing serious, nothing serious¡­¡± ¡°Stop grinning like it¡¯s nothing. How could you say it¡¯s just a bump with all that blood?¡± Wu Junhao¡¯s voice grew louder, and his jowls puffed up. Wu Junhao was thoroughly engrossed in his scolding when he turned his head and saw Jiang Yuan walk in. ¡°Eh, Doctor Jiang is back?¡± Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help but break into a smile. If he could be working on homicide cases, he¡¯d have little interest in dealing with such minor public security cases. The double-faced suspect, witnessing Wu Junhao¡¯s swift change of expression, muttered under his breath, ¡°Who¡¯s grinning¡­¡± ¡°Want to die?¡± Suddenly, Wu Junhao¡¯s face appeared right between the suspect¡¯s eyes. Therge, intimidating face frightened the suspect into trembling. Jiang Yuan replied to Wu Junhao, exchanged greetings, and went upstairs. Master Wu Jun had already prepared the Xuande stove and red eggs. Jiang Yuan smoothly carried out the traditional Ningtai forensic doctor¡¯s ritual. Once the stove cooled down a bit, he kicked it under his desk and, while peeling an egg, asked, ¡°Is there a lot of work in our county?¡± ¡°A bit, but not too much. Did a few injury assessments, and there was a traffic death,¡± said Wu Jun as he also took a red egg to eat. ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard,¡± Jiang Yuan quickly responded. Normally, two people handled the county¡¯s workload, but when he was in Qinghe City, all the daily tasks fell on Wu Jun¡¯s shoulders. Although it wasn¡¯t the first time¡­ precisely because it wasn¡¯t, he felt the need to express extra gratitude. ¡°Only reports are left; you can write them,¡± said Wu Jun, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s earnest attitude, and decided to give him a sense of participation. Jiang Yuan then opened hisputer and started diligently writing reports. Writing reports was somewhat tedious, but considering that Mu Zhiyang had to write ten times as many, Jiang Yuan felt a lot better. After roughly dealing with the work left in the county, by the afternoon Jiang Yuan found himself with some free time. Having nothing else to do, he decided to go next door to the Image Investigation Office and copied some surveince footage to watch. The three modern treasures of criminal investigation: surveince footage, mobile phones, DNA. Especially formon cases in the city, solving them through footage is rtively simple. Jiang Yuan also used this time to review the various camera locations he had seen during the day. After watching the in footage for a while, Jiang Yuan felt as if he were watching silent films and quickly lost interest. He simply logged onto the intr and pulled up the newly reported cases from the past few weeks to review. For a county bureau, there are always many cases throughout the year that remain unsolved. Considering how many cases are weeded out before even being filed for various reasons, the actual proportion of cases solved is not high. But on the other hand, cases that are filed still have a certain investigative value. Jiang Yuan quickly shifted his focus to cases around the Jiangcun Residential Area. After all, he now had no superiors to report to. And why should the criminal investigation unit have to exin their actions to others? Just do it. In recent weeks, there were quite a few incidents around the Jiangcun Residential Area, but the nature of these cases was light, mainly thefts and mixed fights. Jiangcun Residential Area was still somewhat on the outskirts of the city. Many out-of-towners passing through Ningtai County would often travel via Jiangcun. The asional crime was hardly unusual. Jiang Yuan selected a theft case that involved a bag-sher stealing a mobile phone and began to look into it. Actually, solving theft cases is not without its challenges. First of all, most theft cases aremitted at random. Just this one point actually deters many criminal investigation techniques. Veteran detectives have an advantage in this area because the suspects in theft cases oftene from a circle of miscreants with strong regional ties and denseworks of rtionships. A bit of questioning can easily yield answers. However, if you try to solve a theft case without using informants orworks, it may be even more difficult than solving a robbery case. Small-time thieves are more familiar with the blind spots of cameras, and even if a few of them are rather stupid, they are still learning little by little, diligently, and seriously. For Jiang Yuan, this level of difficulty was just right. He wanted to test his understanding of surveince systems. Besides, Jiang Yuan had another powerful tool at his disposal. He had already recognized the faces of several small-time thieves who frequentlymitted thefts in Ningtai County. Although it was difficult to see their faces clearly with the quality of surveince in Ningtai County, after familiarizing himself with several videos, Jiang Yuan could identify some of their gait patterns. Gait recognition technology is already very mature in our country. The first phase of surveince AI used at airports and high-speed train stations employs this technology. Theoretically, it can identify thousands of individuals at once. On the other hand, face recognition is more humanized and requires setting up dedicated checkpoints for identification and can onlypare faces one by one. Of course, Ningtai County would not have such surveince AI, and in fact, even if simr gait recognition systems are installed at airports and high-speed train stations, they are not used to catch petty thieves. Intelligent young people like Jiang Yuan are not so precious. Within the area and timeframe reported by the victims, Jiang Yuan quickly found a familiar gait. By following the trail, he discovered that this person had spent a long time at a bus station three kilometers away from Jiangcun Residential Area. The ce where he lingered was outside the surveince area, indicating that he knew the location of the cameras at the bus station. For a standard image investigation officer, this would be a problem. If you want to catch someone, you need solid evidence, preferably by staking out at the bus station in advance or cing a camera to gather proof. But now, in Ningtai County, where there are many people but few thieves, the thieves cannot get through one bus station in a day. Even if two or three police officers were deployed, they might wear themselves out for half a month or even a month to possibly catch evidence, and the cost of manpower is too high. No image investigation team would go to such lengths for a phone that doesn¡¯t belong to a foreign friend or important person. Moreover, a lost phone is not necessarily stolen, which is another reason many people report their phones missing but cases are not filed. The reason why the case Jiang Yuan found was filed was because the victim¡¯s bag had been cut open. This confirmed that the phone was stolen, not simply lost. Jiang Yuan continued to look for other surveince cameras. Having now confirmed that the individual was stealing, the question became: how to view footage of the theft in progress. Soon, Jiang Yuan found a surveince camera that was farther away. Without saying, Image Enhancement Technology was brought into y. Filtering out a few images at the confirmed time point and pping on some LV5 Image Enhancement, the action of cutting the bag and stealing the phone was all captured. ¡°Hmm¡­ this is at 13:32 on June 17th,¡± Jiang Yuan noted the time, recorded the surveince number, took a photo with his phone, and continued watching. It turned out that the workload of a petty thief was quite substantial. This one was not progressive, still sticking to the old pattern of bag-cutting theft and had simply switched from stealing wallets to phones. It was still the same two-person operation. Jiang Yuan estimated about 10 years¡¯ worth of prison time for him and forwarded it to Wei Zhenguo. A momentter, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s call came through, ¡°Goodness, haven¡¯t you juste back?¡± ¡°Just found it while ying with the surveince¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had a brief chat with Wei Zhenguo and put down the phone. Downstairs, Wei Zhenguo had already packed up, ready to set off to catch the thief. Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, and as he was about to look for another case, the ringtone sounded again. Upon a nce, it was Liu Jinghui. Jiang Yuan sighed, Ningtai County still had petty thieves because everyone wasmitting too many murders. If everyone could kill fewer people and have fewer murder cases, allowing the police to spare the effort, wouldn¡¯t these petty thieves be caught quickly? Jiang Yuan sighed and answered the call, ¡°Director Liu, is there a case?¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t finished with Wangguoshan¡¯s case yet.¡± Liu Jinghui sighed and said, ¡°This guy is a tough one, after being sent to the detention center, he¡¯s started bargaining with us.¡± ¡°He¡¯s definitely getting the death penalty, what¡¯s there to bargain about?¡± ¡°Asking for better food and such, that can always be arranged,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice sounded tired. ¡°The key issue is that the interrogation isn¡¯t going smoothly, Yu Jun, the coal miner, do you remember him?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Yu Jun was the oldest corpse we found, but he might not be the first person Wangguoshan killed, and the details of Yu Jun¡¯s murder are something Wangguoshan isn¡¯t willing to talk about. I¡¯m nning to visit the scene,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°The scene of Yu Jun¡¯s death?¡± ¡°Yes, Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine. I¡¯m nning to bring a couple of dogs to see if we can find anything.¡± Using dogs already indicated what Liu Jinghui was thinking ¨C he was going to look for a body. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think of thest case involving Tan Yong, where a group of dogs found bodies in the venttion shaft of the mine. ¡°Did Brigade Commander Shen Feihong agree to this?¡± Previously, Liu Jinghui¡¯s proposition to bring dogs to the coal mine was rejected by Brigade Commander Shen Feihong. Indifferently, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°He didn¡¯t object. I¡¯ll just transfer dogs from somewhere else.¡± ¡°Should I go there tomorrow?¡± ¡°Forget it, just stay put. You can¡¯t do much before we find the body, and it saves you from offending Shen Feihong,¡± Liu Jinghui added a few more words before hanging up the call. Chapter 210 - 210 202 ?210: 202 210: 202 Jiang Yuan granted the petty thieves of Ningtai County the liberty of a longer prison term, which onlysted a little over a day. By the second day, the three police officers in the image office saw Jiang Yuan still handling the same mundane theft cases, and they couldn¡¯t help but grow restless. When Jiang Yuan came by again, the youngest officer, Gao Jiansheng, said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, if you have some free time, could you help us with a case?¡± ¡°What case?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°There are two motorbike thieves from out of town who snatched several women¡¯s bags in front of the bus station. The victims have reported the crime, and we¡¯ve found the footage, but we just can¡¯t get it clean,¡± Gao Jiansheng said, already prepared with the images, and pulled them out as he spoke. What he meant by ¡®not clean,¡¯ was the noise in the images wasn¡¯t properly processed. As a basic part of image enhancement, this was the simplest way to handle it, and also the mostmon method used by Ningtai County¡¯s image troika. With a nce, Jiang Yuan saw that Gao Jiansheng and the others had already extracted images of the criminal suspects from the videos. However, due to technical reasons, they couldn¡¯t obtain a clear face or any other identifiable features. ¡°Let me give it a try,¡± Jiang Yuan said upon seeing this and sat down at theputer, immediately starting to work. ¡°Alright.¡± Gao Jiansheng responded happily and promptly cleared his desk andputer for Jiang Yuan, opting to sit in the corner, took out his mobile phone, and contently started ying with it. This was where Gao Jiansheng and Wang Zhong differed greatly. Both technicians were below LV1 level, but Wang Zhong had a strong motivation to learn, always seeking opportunities to watch Jiang Yuan work on fingerprints. Gao Jiansheng, on the other hand, was different. As long as he could get through the day¡¯s work, he didn¡¯t care how it was done. As for improving his skills, Gao Jiansheng would asionally have such thoughts, but usually, after watching Jiang Yuan work for a minute, Gao Jiansheng would give up. By now, he couldn¡¯t even be bothered to watch for a minute. While personality differences yed a part, it was also rted to their technical paths. Wang Zhong worked in fingerprinting, a field that, while it did involve some sophisticated matters, really only had a little bit of them. The rest wasrgely about diligence, effort, and sometimes luck. The field of image investigation was different. Beyond the simplest methods that involved using software, it was all high-end and technical. There were various Lagrange and Fourier techniques, and not only was it skill-intensive, but it also greatly depended on natural talent. Gao Jiansheng¡¯s character was one aspect, but the difficulty of image investigation was genuinely challenging. Regardless of the reason, Gao Jiansheng had now clearly set his development direction¡ªto be Ningtai County¡¯s number one handyman. ¡°Let me know when it¡¯s done,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he stood up, and Gao Jiansheng¡¯s desktop machine started buzzing violently. One advantage for those working in the image studio was that they had goodputer setups and could handle post-processing themselves, saving Jiang Yuan a lot of effort. Forensic doctor¡¯s office. Wu Jun was idly ying with a Diao Lan nt when he saw Jiang Yuan return, and immediately said, ¡°Why did it take so long? What were they dragging you off to do this time?¡± ¡°There was a motorbike robbery case. I just did some image enhancement,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly replied. ¡°I see you¡¯re nning to take over all the work of the criminal investigation team,¡± Wu Jun nced at him. Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°I¡¯ve seen forensic doctors in some countries doing a bit of everything, right?¡± ¡°Speaking as a mentor, this is not the right thing to say, but you, my friend, are a bit too eager to get ahead.¡± Jiang Yuan sighed, ¡°Otherwise, what, go into business or start apany?¡± Thinking about the bnce in his bank ount, Jiang Yuan found it uninteresting. Moreover, he wasn¡¯t really interested in doing business. Like most Jiang Vige People, being andlord for a long time, watching tenantse with hope and leave in exhaustion, was sometimes quite saddening. The most miserable businessmen were those who seemed shrewd, and indeed were very shrewd, yet after all their calctions and strategic nning, still ended up with a loss that even their grandmother¡¯s home couldn¡¯t make up for. Although Wu Jun didn¡¯t have much money, he could still imagine the feelings of the Jiang Vige People, ¡°When you have free time, wouldn¡¯t it be nice to just rest and rx?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have free time,¡± Jiang Yuan spread his hands, ¡°If I had, I would¡¯ve sentenced that guy who loves to kick his legs while walking to another seven years.¡± Wu Jun¡¯s thoughts were immediately dragged away, ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, when I was younger, our bureau had someone who did gait analysis too. But his main focus was on footprints, better soft ones, after the suspect ran away, through the crime scene investigation, we could determine his walking posture and traits. Sometimes even directly following the footprints¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listened without saying a word, he also knew a bit about the technology, but it had be practically useless. Nowadays, not to mention the cities, even in towns and viges, the main roads are all hardened surfaces. Most people have tiled or wooden flooring in their rooms, and even the courtyards are much the same. It can be said, relying on soft mushy ground footprints to track a perpetrator is bing increasingly difficult to use with the expansion of infrastructure. Jiang Yuan continued chatting with Wu Jun, then turned the video back on to watch. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call came through opportunely: ¡°Jiang Yuan, take another trip to Longli County,¡± Huang Qiangmin said cheerfully, ¡°There¡¯s been a murder in their rural area, the scene is covered in blood and no clues to be found. It¡¯s been almost two days, go have a look.¡± Jiang Yuan uttered a surprised ¡°Huh?¡± and repeated, ¡°Go to Longli County?¡± The captain of the Longli County criminal police, Hou Lejia, didn¡¯t get along too well with Huang Qiangmin, and whenever they met, they would snipe at each other, moreover, Jiang Yuan had just returned from the city, and Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t keen on letting him go out again so soon¡­ Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, ¡°After all, it¡¯s a homicide case, and if we can¡¯t solve it now, it¡¯ll be more troublesometer.¡± After giving a few more details, he hung up the call. Getting to his feet, Jiang Yuan picked up his keys with a bit of perplexity, ¡°Master, I guess I¡¯ll be heading to Longli County today. Captain Huang didn¡¯t say¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s sold you at a good price,¡± Wu Jun understood all too well, unsurprisingly, ¡°Faced with a homicide and no clues after two days, they¡¯re bound to be panicking. When they panic, they¡¯ll offer a lot, they definitely agreed to give Captain Huang quite a bit.¡± ¡°What can Longli County offer?¡± Jiang Yuan wondered. ¡°Even if it¡¯s a dog swap, it¡¯s not a bad deal,¡± Wu Jun said, ¡°Hou Lejia really treasures their Heizi, you usually can¡¯t borrow him for regr cases.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t we have dogs too?¡± Wu Jun nced at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Heizi is really quite impressive, seems noticeably smarter than our Dazhuang. Alright, if you¡¯ve agreed to go, hurry up, or it¡¯ll be night by the time you get there.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll call Wang Zhong toe along.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to go alone, but since Mu Zhiyang¡¯s injury hadn¡¯t healed, he could only ask Wang Zhong to join him. Chapter 211 - 211 203 Rumors Unconfirmed ?211: Chapter 203: Rumors Unconfirmed 211: Chapter 203: Rumors Unconfirmed Longli County. Highway exit. The police car, with its shing lights, obediently stopped by the roadside. Hou Xiaoyong anxiously waited until he saw a familiar Skoda approaching, and hurriedly called for the person inside to get out. The Skoda slowly came to a stop, and Jiang Yuan got out and greeted him. ¡°Jiang, you finally arrived,¡± Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s mood rxed a lot. What he feared the most was Jiang Yuan noting over or, even worse, if Jiang Yuan decided to dy and intentionally arrive the next day, what would they do if the case remained unsolved? Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised and chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s been tough on you guys toe all this way to pick me up.¡± ¡°You¡¯vee all this way for us, waiting a bit by the highway is nothing,¡± Hou Xiaoyong shook hands enthusiastically. Jiang Yuan had quite an impression of Hou Xiaoyong, the crime scene investigator. It was rare to see someone with such a low level of skill at 0.6. Havingter observed him at the crime scene, he realized that Hou Xiaoyong was the type to sit in the outhouse and do nothing, which exined a lot. But even so, when others were upied with constipation in the outhouse, they usually could learn the ways of maggots through observation. That Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s progress was so slow was truly noteworthy. ¡°Let¡¯s go straight to the scene,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel much like going to Longli County town anymore; the wees and farewells were too troublesome, and the food wasn¡¯t good. Although Ningtai County and Longli County were adjacent, Longli was far from being on the same level. Thest time¡¯s pork intestine, pig¡¯s stomach, and chicken dish were already the pinnacle of Longli¡¯s catering, and even that was opened by outsiders. Hou Xiaoyong hesitated for a moment, then agreed, starting the car and leading the way. After driving for almost another 20 minutes, the two cars finally arrived at their destination: San¡¯an Vige. San¡¯an Vige was t in terrain and was considered one of the better viges within Longli County. The vige had factories from outside, mainly dealing with the simple processing of agricultural products. The most important factory was a cannery, producing a small amount of fruit cans but mainly focusing on bean and mushroom cans for export. The benefit of having factories was that the vige¡¯s young people could find work and willing older people could do some small business. The downside was a decline in public security and a change in people¡¯s attitudes. The victims this time were a woman left behind in the vige and a young child. The scene was covered in bloodstains, and from the photographs, it was apparent that the victim hadin face up, copsed beside the bed, with a pool of blood seeping underneath it. The already small room was smeared with blood on three of its four walls. The child was two and a half years old and is currently missing. Several familiar faces, including Longli County¡¯s Criminal Police Captain Hou Lejia, were waiting at the crime scene. ¡°Doctor Jiang, thank you for your trouble,¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s face lit up with a smile, as if he had changed his face entirely. Last time, he hadn¡¯t paid enough attention to Jiang Yuan, but this time, faced with bloodstains on the walls again, Jiang Yuan was the first person he thought of. Thinking back now, Hou Lejia felt that it would have been very difficult to solve the case of the scavenger from thest time, and this case was just as baffling for the entire team. Faced with a simr situation twice, Hou Lejia naturally knew what needed to be done. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Shall I take a look at the scene?¡± Hou Lejia agreed without hesitation. Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to extract himself from the conversation and refocused his attention on the crime scene. The somewhat familiar Doctor Ye approached, yawning, and then exined, ¡°We¡¯ve been at the scene for nearly 48 hours¡­ Uh, the estimated time of the incident is between 3 and 5 a.m. on the fourth¡­¡± ¡°The person who reported the crime is the child¡¯s grandmother, the victim¡¯s mother-inw. She came to see the child in the morning and found blood everywhere. The child was also missing.¡± ¡°After receiving the report, the police officers responded immediately and sealed off the scene. However, rtives of the deceased and vigers had entered the scene, which is very bad and has caused difficulties for the ongoing investigation¡­¡± Doctor Ye slightly distanced himself from the situation and then looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°After the detective team arrived, they first sealed off San¡¯an Vige. Then, we collected physical evidence and DNA from the scene. Through case analysis, we initially considered the victim¡¯s husband¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listened more intently. When a married woman died, even if an alien had killed her, one should consider the possibility of the husband disguising as an alien as well as the possibility of him hiring an alien tomit the murder. ¡°The victim¡¯s husband was working out of town and couldn¡¯t have made it back in time,¡± Doctor Ye paused before continuing, ¡°However, we then uncovered a significant piece of information that brought the victim¡¯s husband back onto the list of suspects.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded to show he was listening. ¡°By collecting DNA from the hair tips left by the victim¡¯s young son, we confirmed that the son was not the biological child of the victim¡¯s husband.¡± Doctor Ye yed a significant role in this work and spoke very detailed, saying, ¡°Thus, the detective team went to Changyang City again to investigate and collect evidence about the victim¡¯s husband and, in the end, verified his alibi.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± Jiang Yuan would certainly need to verify it again. Others might be trustworthy, but Doctor Ye in front of him was famously careless. Even Jiang Yuan, a forensic doctor new to the job, had heard of Doctor Ye¡¯s reputation. One could imagine the level of notoriety he had umted. Therefore, Doctor Ye¡¯s evidence needed to be reviewed again to provide reassurance. With an indifferent and carefree demeanor, Doctor Ye said, ¡°Our police officers found the victim¡¯s husband on the surveince footage entering his dormitory area around 1 a.m. In addition, he was seen eating skewers with his workmates around midnight, corroborated by a coworker¡¯s testimony.¡± ¡°There¡¯re factories in this vige, why go out to work?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Factories in the vige prefer to hire those in their fifties or sixties, as well as middle-aged women; they tend to pay lower wages,¡± exined Doctor Ye. Hou Xiaoyong added, ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s a case of ¡®out of sight, out of mind.''¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the corpse and then asked, ¡°What about the biological father of the child? Do you know who he is?¡± ¡°We do. He¡¯s from the same vige and also works out of town; he has an alibi as well.¡± Jiang Yuan frowned slightly, ¡°What about the child?¡± The atmosphere at the scene turned colder. If the perpetrator was the husband or the child¡¯s biological father, then naturally, the child would have been taken away. Now that they had been ruled out, the whereabouts of the child became a much more serious issue. Hou Le cleared his throat and said, ¡°The child is missing. Despite extensive inquiries, no one has any news. That¡¯s why we need to solve this case as quickly as possible.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression became three degrees more solemn. After bing a police officer, he knew that human trafficking was still a significant issue. There once was a news story that said a couple had lived by selling their children, 5 children in 6 years. This meant they hadmitted the crime 5 times over a period of 6 years before being caught. Doctor Ye continued, ¡°The door lock of the room was intact, with no signs of picking, and the time of the crime was around 3 a.m. We preliminarily deduced that the perpetrator was someone familiar. Considering the victim¡¯s situation, we first began the search for the victim¡¯s lover¡­¡± ¡°Was there one?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°We haven¡¯t found one. There are rumors, but unverified.¡± ¡°Did the victim live with her mother-inw? Even if there was a lover, they wouldn¡¯t be meeting at home, would they?¡± Jiang Yuan remembered that the person who discovered the body was the victim¡¯s mother-inw. With a ¡°you¡¯re still young¡± expression, Doctor Ye looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°We¡¯re currently leaning towards there being no lover. Because if there were, in a ce like San¡¯an Vige, it would be hard to keep it a secret. But this makes the case even harder to solve.¡± Longli County was investigating the case by tracing the victim¡¯s interpersonal rtions. They started with the household registry, then moved on to the contact list, simr to the procedure for debt collection. The oue was also simr to debt collection: if hitting the mark, you celebrated, but if there was no response, then you were out of luck. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t someone familiar with the crime, then was it a stranger?¡± Jiang Yuan stated the obvious. Hou Lejia shook his head in denial: ¡°The victim was living alone with her child, next to her inws¡¯ house; how could there be an opportunity for someone at 3 a.m.?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t find any useful evidence at the scene, nor were there any defensive wounds,¡± sighed Doctor Ye. At this point, Hou Lejia earnestly said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, we¡¯re relying on you for the crime scene investigation.¡± He had called Jiang Yuan over, hoping that Jiang Yuan could go over the crime scene again ande up with some useful leads. Chapter 212 - 212 204 Investigation Direction ?212: Chapter 204 Investigation Direction 212: Chapter 204 Investigation Direction Crime scene investigation was an old hat for Jiang Yuan. For an LV4 crime scene investigation, as long as the perpetrator wasn¡¯t a professional criminal, one could almost always find something. However, upon entering the door, what Jiang Yuan first noted was the bloodstains. His Bloodstain Analysis was at an LV5, akin to a sprinter who could run a hundred meters in under 10 seconds; from the starting motion, every action was optimized. Though he hadn¡¯t done a detailed identification and hadn¡¯t yet conducted a thorough analysis, based on what Jiang Yuan had seen so far, he could already draw many conclusions. For example, the bloodstains Jiang Yuan saw indicated that the murderer¡¯s movements, from the beginning to the end of the assault, were exceptionally broad. With such extensive movements, in theory, an ordinary crime scene technician should be able to uncover some traces. Especially the victim, when encountering such fierce assaults, even a slight resistance might leave behind some physical evidence of the murderer. Yet, there was none. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding, this situation likely meant that the perpetrator had made rtively thorough preparations. They wore gloves, protected their neck, and wrapped up their hair, and so on. The first image that came to Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was that of a criminal clothed in a bodysuit, covering the head as well, wielding a de, forcing the victim to retreat step by step before stabbing¡­ chasing¡­ and delivering additional blows¡­ During this process, the victim¡¯s pitiful attempts at fighting back, even if they managed to scratch the perpetrator¡¯s body, were repelled by the smooth fabric, to the point where not even a fiber of clothing could be torn off. However¡­ to go to such great lengths to assemble a full set of gear, why then resort to such an outdated method of killing with a de? Wouldn¡¯t arson have been simpler? It is still the time frame of 3 a.m. At this time, normal people should be asleep; if the murderer was so familiar as to have a key, they should have opted for a night-time throat-sh instead. Although the bleeding would also be significant, it wouldn¡¯t be to the extent of spraying blood all over the room. Judging from the current amount of bloodstains, the murderer¡¯s preparation was not thorough at all. The more Jiang Yuan looked, the more contradictions he found. At this moment, Hou Lejia urged, ¡°Doctor Jiang, should I pair you with a few assistants or what?¡± It was then apparent the differences in the working styles of different detectives. Hou Lejia was more of a managerial type, having his own ideas and being obstinate about the direction of the investigation. As for forensic doctors or crimeb personnel, he simply used them as tools without heeding their opinions, only wanting answers that steered in his direction. Old-school detectives were often like this. Some detectives, around the early 2000s, were massively educated about interpersonal rtions. At that time, the DNAb was like ddin¡¯smp, spitting out solutions to several cold cases every few days, without the need for any investigative thinking, sudden shes of inspiration, orte nights and running around. The first generation of DNA technology was as easy as slipping through an oily hot pot. However, in front of even the most impressive technology, there were always stubborn conservatives. Hou Lejia needed technology, but he never liked to delegate the power of directing to the technicians. In contrast, he was not very concerned about the technicians¡¯ mistakes, as long as they did as he asked. Even if they made errors, he could manage not to lose his temper. Perhaps due to this kind of personality, the carefree Doctor Ye and the crime scene investigators who started at LV0.6 could live so leisurely. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t favor this mode of operation. Or to be more precise, Jiang Yuan, who mastered LV5 Bloodstain Analysis, disliked following orders in a room sprayed with blood. Since Hou Xiaoyong was too weak, hismands didn¡¯t carry much weight to Jiang Yuan¡¯s ears. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to sh with him head-on. After a moment of thought, he turned and said, ¡°Let¡¯s eat something first, I¡¯m starving. To start the investigation now, it would take at least five to six hours toplete¡­¡± ¡°Ah, look at what I was thinking,¡± Hou Lejia smacked his forehead and smiled, ¡°What would you like to eat? The pork intestines and chicken fromst time? That might take a while, I don¡¯t know if they¡¯ve opened the stall yet¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go for luosifen,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Captain Hou¡¯s monologue, ¡°Something a bit stinky, to mask the smell.¡± ¡°Uh, are we just going to eat here?¡± ¡°We definitely can¡¯t eat at the crime scene, let¡¯s eat at the doorway after it¡¯s cooked,¡± Jiang Yuandao said. ¡°That works. Uh¡­ Hou Xiaoyong, go get a bowl of Luosifen. Will one be enough?¡± ¡°One is enough, eating too much makes it hard to work.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then instructed Hou Xiaoyong again, ¡°Add a sausage, and two eggs.¡± Taking advantage of the time it took to cook the noodles, Jiang Yuan directly took out a notebook and began sketching the crime scene. Hou Lejia did not understand the procedures and could not force Jiang Yuan, who hadn¡¯t eaten yet, to start cleaning the floor right away, so he could only wait patiently on the side. After a while, a stench distinct from the smell of decaying flesh swept over them. ¡°Doctor Jiang, are youing out to eat the Luosifen?¡± Hou Xiaoyong popped his head in. ¡°Just wait a bit longer.¡± Jiang Yuan made a few more gestures, looked outside the door, and then came back in, saying, ¡°Captain Hou, I have an idea I¡¯d like to discuss with you.¡± Hou Lejia was taken aback and said, ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°I have just taken a rough look at the crime scene and did a simple forensic reconstruction. May I exin?¡± Jiang Yuan positioned himself at the doorway. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Hou Lejia said, giving his consent. Jiang Yuan extended his hand t and said, ¡°Here, on the victim¡¯s neck, there¡¯s a dagger resting, slightly piercing the skin, being pushed in by the suspect. The direction of these blood drops on the ground is towards the bedroom, and they are all slow¡­¡± Hou Lejia looked on, not understanding the implications of Jiang Yuan¡¯s words. Jiang Yuan continued walking forward two steps, then turned around and said, ¡°Here, the perpetrator carried out their first attack¡­¡± ¡°The victim possibly fought back but got pushed away.¡± ¡°From the bloodstains, it¡¯s clear that the perpetrator pushed the victim to this spot.¡± Jiang Yuan proceeded with the crime scene reconstruction, moving into the bedroom. Then, instead of continuing, he turned around, walked out of the bedroom, and went back to the front door, saying, ¡°If it was someone the victim knew, at around 3 a.m., would it not be contradictory to enter the house and point a knife straight away?¡± Hou Lejia furrowed his brow, watching him. ¡°I believe it was a stranger whomitted the crime.¡± Jiang Yuan reconstructed the crime scene¡ªalthough it was a rough version, he could create a detailed reconstruction if needed. In such a scenario, Jiang Yuan spoke with conviction. Hou Lejia asked, ¡°If it was a stranger, how did they enter the victim¡¯s house at 3 a.m.?¡± ¡°The victim let them in.¡± ¡°The victim?¡± ¡°Yes, I just checked outside the door, and I suspect the perpetrator¡¯s initial intent may have been just tomit theft.¡± Recently, Jiang Yuan had added more time to so many petty thieves¡¯ sentences, he had a good understanding of their identities and statuses. Hou Lejia found it hard to believe, asking, ¡°Steal what?¡± ¡°The bicycles and motorcycles at the front door. Maybe they also intended to burrize the house. Only such petty thieves would wrap themselves up so tightly.¡± ¡°And then the victim came over, opened the door to check?¡± Hou Lejia started adding to his knowledge base. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°And got taken hostage back inside.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning made sense, and Hou Lejia began to worry. Thispletely changed the direction of the investigation. ¡°If the perpetrator is a stranger, then the little girl is at great risk,¡± Doctor Ye said slowly, and everyone¡¯s expression turned grim. Chapter 213 - 213 205 Divide People ?213: Chapter 205: Divide People 213: Chapter 205: Divide People Crimesmitted by strangers are harder to solve than thosemitted by acquaintances. For crimesmitted by acquaintances, investigation can proceed by checking each person in the contact list one by one, and byparing interpersonal rtionships, but the element of surprise in crimesmitted by strangers is just too great. Bing a police officer for a while, you soon realize that guessing a person¡¯s behavior is a very tiresome and thankless task. And for normal people, predicting criminal behavior is also very difficult. Take the current case for example, by all logic, it should have been the victim¡¯s husband who did it. He had the most reason tomit murder, the most reason to take away the child. But during the time frame of the victim¡¯s death, the husband had just finished his barbecue, patting his belly in deep sleep. He could die without any responsibility, without losing a penny to the unfaithful wife¡ªthe only problem was the missing child. Thus, the man¡¯swork of connections was also thoroughly investigated. This included the man¡¯s parents and siblings, who were all key targets of the police screening. Unfortunately, not a single clue was found. However, to assert that the man¡¯s family was innocent and free of guilt wasn¡¯t entirely certain either. When the Japanese came to the vige to search for food, and even when hidingrge injured soldiers, they sometimes missed. This suggests that the skill of the vigers in hiding things can be very adept. And if it were a strangermitting the crime, that would be even harder. Moreover, there were some parts of a stranger¡¯s crime that simply didn¡¯t make sense. Hou Lejia asked, ¡°If a strangermitted the crime, why would they take the child with them?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jiang Yuan replied without even bothering to guess. There could be many reasons for taking the child, but the only evidence he had now was bloodstains; he could only rely on bloodstain analysis. As for why a stranger would take a child? Maybe it was to sell them. Maybe it was pure perversion. Maybe they were infertile and needed a child. If Liu Jinghui were called over perhaps he could provide a more urate analysis¡­ Hou Lejia¡¯s brows were furrowed as tightly as the skin of a Shar Pei. Shifting the direction of the investigation, not only had the previous two days¡¯ work been in vain, but the biggest worry was the fear of not being able to solve the case. As an experienced criminal detective, Hou Lejia, when faced with such cases, immediately thought of a crimemitted by someone familiar. If not the husband, then the lover, or perhaps the husband¡¯s rtives, or the lover¡¯s wife, mistresses¡­ This is still the countryside after all. Go back 10 years and you couldn¡¯t find a single person in the vige who wasn¡¯t an acquaintance. Now though, even with a factory, there are several gates between the factory and the vige, and each has surveince watching. While it¡¯s not very secure, the primary reason is the same; there¡¯s no motive, and no reason for the victims to open their door. Jiang Yuan looked at Hou Lejia¡¯s frustration, shook his head quietly, and once again approached the door, saying, ¡°Actually, one can see from here that the victim retreated step by step.¡± ¡°What?¡± Hou Lejia was still weighing the pros and cons, his thoughts pulled back by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, simting the motion, said, ¡°Looking at the direction of the bloodstains, the murderer might have had the knife against the victim¡¯s neck, or maybe they poked like this, so the victim retreated step by step. See here, footprints were even made¡­¡± ¡°If it was an acquaintance whomitted the crime, it implies the victim recognized the murderer. Then she would either open the door or not open the door; why open it and then step back?¡± ¡°So I believe, it¡¯s very possible the victim heard some noise in the middle of the night, then went to check voluntarily, only to be overpowered, and ultimately killed.¡± Hou Lejia was listening. He then turned to his own team¡¯s crime scene technicians and asked, ¡°What do you think? This direction of the bloodstains and such?¡± The crime scene technicians present had all worked with Jiang Yuan on the scavenger elder case a while back. For regr detectives, such cases were remembered for a lifetime once they were worked on. It¡¯s not that they would only encounter such challenging cases once in their lives. Rather, the correct and unique aspects of solving such difficult cases, the approach and perspective, could be special; they were the kind to be boasted about for a lifetime. Just like Bloodstain Analysis, 30 years ago, there were many application scenarios. But in today¡¯s environment, the situation is different. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Bloodstain Analysis was so powerful that even cases like those of the scavenger, which were almost impossible to crack directly, were broken in a short time. The crime scene investigators present, including the ordinary Level 2 ones and Hou Xiaoyong at Level 0.6, could only y dumb at this moment. Bloodstain Analysis is something crime scene investigators should know about, but if you say it¡¯s a required course, then it¡¯s like the required level in ¡°The Great Learning¡±¡ªI roughly know such a thing exists, I even know where to find more information about it, but if the exam questions are beyond the sybus, don¡¯t me me for scoring zero. Jiang Yuan casually reconstructed the scene based on Level 5 proficiency, making the Longli County crime scene investigators ¡°feel¡± that everyone did not want to ¡°feel.¡± Jiang Yuan also couldn¡¯t say that he had convinced the Longli County Criminal Police leader to spend 180,000 on investigative expenses in just a few sentences. Therefore, while Jiang Yuan observed, he added more information, saying: ¡°The killer¡¯s murder process was rather crude, but he started by swinging the weapon, and the shing was still quite direct. By the way, the killer used a rather small dagger, not one that seems prepared for murder. Maybe he has never killed before, or hecks experience in shing.¡± ¡°Looking at the bloodstains on the bedroom side, the crime seems to have escted, as the killer started to use a stabbing method. But by this time, his actions were rather hesitant, and if you look at the blood here¡­ you can see that the killer actually rxed his control over the victim at this moment, giving the victim a chance to move and escape.¡± ¡°This is more indicative of a crimemitted by a stranger rather than an acquaintance. From what I can tell, the initial stage of the killing was focused on intimidating the victim in a very direct and violent way, but when it came to the actual killing, the hesitation set in¡­ Was the victim¡¯s character rather explosive, fierce even?¡± Hou Lejia was still immersed in the scenario described by Jiang Yuan. Being an experienced detective, he could conjure up many images in his mind. Hou Xiaoyong naively said, ¡°ording to the vigers, the victim was supposed to be like a shrew¡­¡± ¡°Cough, cough.¡± Doctor Ye, though scatterbrained, was sensible and interrupted Hou Xiaoyong, saying, ¡°The deceased, Wang Huizhi, a local, was 28 years old. She was 165 cm tall, weighed 70 kg, had a robust physique, spoke and acted in a forthright manner, and had a bit of a temper. She often had conflicts with people in the vige, especially after having a child, exhibiting some rather excessive behavior.¡± ¡°Excessive behavior?¡± ¡°Uh, she had thrown her child¡¯s diaper into her brother-inw¡¯s house and even tossed fecal packets into a neighbor¡¯s yard, iming they were the child¡¯s, though the neighbor suspected they were hers. The vige¡¯s electricity often tripped, causing numerousints among neighbors¡­ In most conflicts, Wang Huizhi tended toe out on top¡­¡± Doctor Ye indirectly described Wang Huizhi¡¯s shrewish nature, before adding, ¡°Also, because of Wang Huizhi¡¯s character and these past events, we reckon that the likelihood of an acquaintance from the vigemitting the crime is quite high.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s not someone from her family, could Heizi not have sniffed something out?¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered that he had been sold at the price of a dog. If the perpetrator was an acquaintance from the vige, with traces of blood at this level, it is very easy to leave a scent behind that ordinary bathing won¡¯t wash away. Hou Lejia spoke gravely, ¡°Heizi has been here the past few days, has sniffed around the vige, the factory too, without any result.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s an inside job, the scents might be confusing,¡± said Doctor Ye, before adding, ¡°Of course, the cannery also affects Heizi¡¯s sense of smell.¡± ¡°I think we could allocate some manpower to check on those with prior theft convictions,¡± Jiang Yuan initially didn¡¯t want to directly propose a solution, given that it was another county¡¯s jurisdiction. But Hou Lejia¡¯s indecision made Jiang Yuan feel somewhat unhappy. If they were only checking on previously convicted thieves, there would be no need to redirect everyone; a single squad¡¯s manpower would suffice. For ordinary theft or burry, perhaps not even a third of a squad would be assigned. For an ongoing homicide case, diverting the manpower of one squad is really not significant. Hou Lejia was indeed a little pricked by the suggestion, but still hesitated, ¡°Only check the previously convicted?¡± ¡°The killer didn¡¯t leave behind a single piece of skin or hair; this is a sign of a very professional burr who has probably been caught before,¡± Jiang Yuan had significant experience in catching thieves. Most thieves have a low educational level. In other words, they rarely learn the art of thievery through reading books, newspapers, or videos. The majority of thieves are taught by the School of Hard Knocks and the University of Prison, self-improving through repeated criminal experiences. It could be said that if a thief has not been caught, it is difficult for them to be thorough. They are either uninformed or indifferent. ¡°What about the scope?¡± Hou Lejia asked, ¡°Focus on the area surrounding San¡¯an Vige?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t necessarily have to be a local, it could also be a roaming criminal,¡± Jiang Yuan continued, recalling the cases he had worked on in the past few days, ¡°We can check the recent burry incidents in the surrounding area to see if there¡¯s any surveince footage, footprints, or other evidence to bring back, since thieves don¡¯t justmit one crime.¡± Chapter 214 - 214 206 Change ?214: Chapter 206 Change 214: Chapter 206 Change Criminal investigation is an extremely important authority. Even if the cadres from the provincial department came to Longli County, they only had the right to suggest, theoretically, and could not take over the criminal police team unless the county agreed. Many times, for various reasons, the direction of criminal investigation could not be determined at will. The first person responsible for criminal cases in Longli County was always Hou Lejia, as the team leader. He had many factors to consider, and once he made a decision, he had to take full responsibility for it. Jiang Yuan expressed all his opinions, then went to the doorway to eat snail rice noodles. Compared to instant noodles, snail rice noodles had one good point, which was they could be left a bit longer; after a brief soak, the texture of the rice noodles was still eptable. And after being soaked for a while, they even tasted more vorful. Jiang Yuan slurped his food loudly. If it weren¡¯t for theyer of oil on top, which made it slightly hot, he could have finished it all in one go. Hou Xiaoyong also came out, and seeing Jiang Yuan enjoying the food so much, he oddly felt a sense of achievement, saying, ¡°The snail rice noodles I cooked are pretty good, huh?¡± Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, savored the taste, and nodded, ¡°Quite good, professional level.¡± Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s snail rice noodle skills were at LV1; he was much better at this than he was at crime scene investigation. Hou Xiaoyongughed a couple of times, then crouched beside Jiang Yuan and started to exin, ¡°Cooking snail rice noodles is simple, but you just need to control the order right. Like this oil, it¡¯s pointless if you boil it too long, and peanuts need to be addedter, or they won¡¯t be crunchy¡­¡± Jiang Yuan nodded; it was indeed a seriously made bowl of snail rice noodles. ¡°Jiang, are we going to wipe down the crime scer?¡± Hou Xiaoyong leaned in and asked. Jiang Yuan nced at him and said, ¡°I can do it myself.¡± Wiping down the scene again was also for Jiang Yuan to verify his own ideas, and on the other hand, to see if there were any other additional clues. As with many scenes he had processed before, it was very unlikely to find traces on a scene that had already been gone over once; and if something were found, it usually was just mere traces. Moreover, the value of the evidence had greatly diminished since the vigers had broken into the scene at the initial stage of the incident. In light of this, Jiang Yuan was even less hopeful of anyone else¡¯s help. And even if he was to seek help, Jiang Yuan would rather have Heizi assist him than Hou Xiaoyong. Hou Xiaoyong looked crestfallen. He loitered at the doorway, reluctant to go inside, and then turned around and whispered, ¡°Jiang, I actually wanted to learn something from you, to steal a trick or two¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing much you can learn from me. You¡¯re thinking too much,¡± Jiang Yuan brutally interrupted Hou Xiaoyong. ¡°I don¡¯t need you to teach me; I can just stand nearby and watch.¡± ¡°Watching is fine, but it¡¯s not necessary,¡± Jiang Yuan took a breath, ¡°Crime scene investigation is just meticulous work, there¡¯s no secret martial arts manual. Besides, I doubt that we will find any evidence at today¡¯s scene.¡± Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s face showed disappointment. He indeed was looking for a kind of secret martial arts manual. A manual for crime scene investigation. However, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion, a yer at level 0.6, who had opportunities to practice, didn¡¯t need to force themselves to learn more. Even without cheating, with a few months of practice, one could close in on the level of a professional, starting at level 0.9. A level of 0.6 definitely indicated a reverse talent. The requirements for crime scene investigation aren¡¯t very high; being observant, meticulous, and patient is the foundation, and having some thoughts and associative abilities would be even better. But it seemed Hou Xiaoyongcked all of these qualities. That didn¡¯t matter much, though. He still was a good child to his mother, society¡¯s treasure; he just wasn¡¯t suited for crime scene investigation. It might be better for Hou Xiaoyong to realize this early on and switch positions. ¡°By the way, since Doctor Ye is here, who is conducting the autopsy?¡± asked Jiang Yuan after finishing the snail rice noodles. ¡°Forensic Doctor Wang Lan,¡± replied Hou Xiaoyong. Jiang Yuan quietly muttered, ¡°Of course.¡± Wang Lan attended at least half of the recent murder cases within Qinghe City, but nearly every time there was one in Longli County, she was present. The body might have had clues, but with no findings from Medical Examiner Wang Lan, Jiang Yuan had put the autopsy second in line. Patting his stomach and then going for a pee, Jiang Yuan came back to change clothes for the crime scene investigation, meanwhile ushering most of the people out. Wang Zhong assisted him diligently, dipping the brush, powdering, taking photos¡­ Click, click. Click, click, click. Jiang Yuan conducted the crime scene investigation with calm emotions, his movements gradually bing smooth and rhythmic. Whether or not it could be done was one thing, but elegance was everything. Hou Xiaoyong peeked through the door for a while, didn¡¯t understand what was going on, and wanted to wait for Jiang Yuan to look up. But he couldn¡¯t stand the wait and left. Evening. The crime scene investigation wasplete, and several human hairs had been found, along with more evidence of the scene being searched. From this point of view, the elements of a break-in burry were reinforced. After all, if it were the husband or someone else known, it would be unnecessary to steal from one¡¯s own property. Moreover, there is no need to search so many ces, as it only lengthens the time of the crime, making it easier to be discovered. However, the possibility that a familiar person deliberately confused matters couldn¡¯t be ruled out. Or perhaps, an alien hired by the husband wanted to earn some extra ie and searched around as well. After properly handing over the evidence to the evidence room of Longli County, Jiang Yuan proceeded to their surveince office. There are many ways to find a burr who breaks and enters, but surveince is still the most reliable. Mobile phone positioning can also be used; nowadays, it is very convenient to use base stations for location tracking. However, this method can usually only prove someone was in a certain ce. It¡¯s good for investigation, but as evidence, it¡¯s somewhatcking. For typical break-ins, the police are toozy to use this method. Not to mention having to ask the tech surveince department, they¡¯ll have to look for the evidence all over again, which is like licking the bitter gourd from both ends¡ªit¡¯s misused if the wrong ce or function is chosen. Of course, more traditional methods such as looking for fingerprints, hair, sweat, and other DNA evidence are also good options. It just requires a more skilled crime scene investigation team, and on the other hand, criminals who have been caught using this method tend to grow aftering out of the ¡°prison university.¡± By wearing gloves and overalls, for example, they can often perfectly avoid leaving this kind of evidence behind. However, the possibility of leaving sweat remains, as the thicker the clothing, the more likely they are to sweat during the crime. It just depends on whether the crime scene team can find it or not. In a normal criminal investigation environment, the police system¡¯s investment in break-in burries is mediocre at best. They prefer to sit and wait, hoping to pull out both the radish and the mud at the same time. Otherwise, tracing the culprit through the stolen goods is also a fairlymon practice. Inparison, finding a suspect through surveince is considered an efficient and proactive method of case resolution. Hou Lejia seemed a bit excited, and when he saw Jiang Yuan, he said in a low voice, ¡°There¡¯s been a series of burries recently. And in most cases, bicycles and electric vehicles were stolen; it¡¯s likely the work of the same person.¡± ¡°Are the bicycles and electric vehicles used to carry things after being stolen?¡± ¡°Yes, he usually steals them while also looking for the keys to takerger items likeputers on the bicycle or electric vehicle. If he can¡¯t find the keys, he probably picks the locks.¡± Repeat offenders generally have a more or less fixed pattern of crime. It¡¯s like how regr people go to work; after a while, the time they wake up in the morning, the route they take, the bus they ride, all be a fixed pattern. Criminals at work are essentially on a job too. Even if they want to evade capture, they can¡¯t keep changing their methods. They don¡¯t have that strong an innovation ability. If they could constantlye up with new ideas, they would have be capitalists long ago instead of getting involved in burry. A sessful criminal often reinforces their crime pattern, believing in the superiority of their methods due to consistent sess. Simrly, one might refer to Japanese adult films, which keep the same series pattern, changing only the female lead. ¡°Have you captured any surveince footage of the suspect?¡± Jiang Yuan asked directly. The probability ofmitting multiple crimes without ever being caught on camera is very low. Moreover, burrs don¡¯t need to guard against such an extent. It¡¯s not like there¡¯s a fatality every time. Hou Lejia nodded, instructed his subordinate to disy it, and said, ¡°We¡¯re still reviewing other videos; there should be more.¡± As they spoke, a shadow appeared on the screen. The footage was a bit dirty; movements could be seen, but not faces. ¡°Can you confirm the identity of the suspect?¡± Jiang Yuan asked again. ¡°We¡¯re still working on it.¡± Hou Lejia was rtively confident. As long as the surveince captured something, there are still many ways to continue the search for the person. Jiang Yuan checked the time; it was already 10 p.m. If things dragged on any further, he would definitely be up all night. Jiang Yuan decided, ¡°Find me aputer. I¡¯ll adjust the image.¡± Chapter 215 - 215 207 Conquering the World ?215: Chapter 207 Conquering the World 215: Chapter 207 Conquering the World ¡°Xiao Miao, find a goodputer for Jiang Yuan,¡± Hou Lejia said in a good mood. With the clue of a keystroke, it¡¯s like finding the end of a tangled ball of yarn. While it¡¯s not certain that the knot can be untangled, the difficulty is greatly reduced and the morale of the person in charge of detangling is gradually stabilized. Xiao Miao is a female officer, dressed neatly in her uniform, with big and lively eyes, indicating her youth. After a few more years in Image Investigation, she¡¯ll probably need sses. Xiao Miao crisply responded and then looked up at Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°Doctor Jiang, you can use myputer.¡± ¡°Okay, thank you¡­ And could you send me a copy of the image from thatputer?¡± Jiang Yuan sat down and started gathering the necessary software. In the meantime, the other two image technicians from Longli County were also working hard. They found several videos, all showing the same suspect in various stages: entering the crime scene, returning with stolen goods, and most of the time, he was seen binding the stolen items with a rope he carried and leaving with them. Hou Lejia watched with some amazement, remarking, ¡°When I first became a cop, there were quite a few burries, and people stealing loads of stuff like this. And now it¡¯se around again?¡± Xiao Miao, curious, asked, ¡°Back then, were clothes really valuable, could you sell them for a lot?¡± ¡°Back then¡­ back then was just the 2000s!¡± Hou Lejia said irritably, turning to Xiao Miao, ¡°How old do you think I am?¡± Xiao Miao shrank her neck a little, whispering, ¡°I was born in the year 2000.¡± Hou Lejia did some quick math and fell silent. Xiao Miao nced at Jiang Yuan again and whispered, ¡°When Doctor Jiang was born, Captain Hou, you must have already been working.¡± Hou Lejia, scratching his head in annoyance, replied, ¡°Back in our day, being young at work was a matter of pride.¡± ¡°I know, my mom said that back then, to buy clothes you had to go to Changyang City, there were no railways or highways, so you could only take the bus. People also rode bicycles to work¡­ This suspect must be quite old too, hence his preference for stealing bicycles andrge items,¡± Xiao Miao tried to analyze the suspect. Hou Lejia¡¯s eyes were turning red. He¡¯d always felt he was in his prime; little did he expect to be so annoyed by the young people who joined the force. A senior image technician beside him tried to bail out the captain by coughing twice and saying, ¡°The suspect likes to steal bicycles and big items mainly because there¡¯s too little cash, and probably because he has channels to fence the goods. As long as it¡¯s convertible to cash, bicycles are quite expensive nowadays, and so are electronic products. I saw that several households had theirputers, the graphics cards were taken out, and headphones were missing. Considering his methods, he must not be that old¡­¡± Hou Lejia nodded, adding, ¡°We need to investigate the disposal channels, get Lu to follow up on that.¡± Turning back, Hou Lejia asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you think?¡± After a day of working together, Hou Lejia, though not used to it, had to admit that technicians of Jiang Yuan¡¯s caliber really had something special. His conclusions were more reliable than many other technicians from the city bureau. Jiang Yuan was still focused on theputer screen as he casually said, ¡°Based on the footprints, the suspect appears to be about 35 years old, 175 cm tall, weighing around 150 pounds, and seems to be quite strong¡­¡± Guesswork is guesswork, but with Jiang Yuan¡¯s uracy, Hou Lejia was a bit ufortable again. Doctor Ye, who was beside them, vouched for Jiang Yuan, ¡°Doctor Jiang is one of the best at analyzing footprints in the province.¡± Hou Lejia recalled for a moment, then epted the reasoning, nodding again, ¡°In that case, the scope is very narrow. Let me think, if this guy has served time, we should inquire in the prison system; there might be some leads¡­¡± At that moment, the mainframe Jiang Yuan was using started to roar. Everyone¡¯s gaze inevitably turned to Jiang Yuan. ¡°Just a moment; it will be rendered shortly,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he stood up. Now, all depended on theputer to do its thing; even the mouse cursor wasgging. The temperamental mainframe roared for quite some time. Finally, a photo was disyed. It was a bit blurry, being from a night surveince video, but thankfully the pixel quantity was sufficient. Jiang Yuan did some processing, and now one could clearly make out the suspect¡¯s appearance with the naked eye. The photo was good enough for a wanted poster. If Jiang Yuan were to put in more effort, he could probably make it even clearer. However, time was precious, and for a fugitive, it¡¯s hit and run. Having killed someone, who knows where he could have run off to. The sooner they could confirm his identity, the better. Jiang Yuan hit the print button and saved the photo. The printer ttered as it churned out the ck and white photo. No one knew how old the inkjet printer was, the A4 paper it produced was wet and soggy. Xiao Miao took the initiative to fetch the photo, asking cluelessly, ¡°Who¡¯s this?¡± ¡°The suspect,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Several detectives huddled together in low discussion couldn¡¯t help but look over. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t keep them in suspense and simply said, ¡°This is a picture of the suspect that I enhanced from the images taken a week ago¡­¡± Jiang Yuan pulled up the original photo on theputer screen. After all, it wasn¡¯t his own team, so Jiang Yuan exined it in more detail. A few people looked at the ck surveince image on theputer screen, then at the photo Jiang Yuan had just printed out, their expressions somewhat unclear. Hou Le looked toward his team¡¯s senior imaging analyst. The image technician from Longli County was almost on par with the ones from the neighboring Ningtai County. When it came to image enhancement technology, he knew a bit, but not extensively. The imaging technician was hesitantly trying to figure out what to say. Xiao Miao stood by, feeling empathetic. Initially, when Jiang Yuan said he was going to do bloodstain analysis, they didn¡¯t speak up because they were not crime scene investigators;ter, when Jiang Yuan changed the direction of the criminal investigation, they didn¡¯t say anything because they were not the leaders; finally, when Jiang Yuan again mentioned looking for aputer, no one stood up to speak for him anymore¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s start by distributing this photo to everyone to see if they recognize anyone,¡± Hou Le decisively pulled the case back on track. Xiao Miao came over, printed out a few more photos, and also sent the digital version to the work group. Hou Le thought for a moment, then sent the photo to multiple people as well, as an inquiry. Turning back, Hou Le watched as Jiang Yuan began to ponder deeply. This guy was taking on everything today. Although he desperately wanted to control the direction of the criminal investigation, in the end, all the tasks that pointed to the direction, were done by Jiang Yuan. Only thest part remained, real-life face recognition, seemingly involving themselves. Hou Le felt slightly ufortable, inhaled quietly to himself, and said, ¡°Everyone should find a ce to rest for the night. Once we determine the suspect, we¡¯ll probably get busy again.¡± Real-life face recognition wouldn¡¯t get results so quickly unless they recognized someone themselves; otherwise, it had to be circted among some friends to ask around, and the results might note out even over a whole night¡­ Hou Le thought so and began to feel somewhat impatient. An obvious fact that no one particrly brought up today was the condition of the two-and-a-half-year-old little girl who had been abducted by the murderer. If one assumes the suspect is not an extremely vile pervert¡ªas his previous criminal behavior would suggest, he is not. Then, the primary purpose of abducting the little girl might well have been for human trafficking. A burr who breaks into homes metamorphosing into a human trafficker was not particrly novel news. There might be a wall separating criminals from ordinary people, but in the criminals¡¯ world, their market is open. The dealers of ecstasy, traffickers, thieves, and those involved in receiving stolen goods, do not have barriers between them. Especially for this suspect, who often stole high-value items for profit, it meant that he had a smooth saleswork. Abducting the child¡ªperhaps because he hadmitted a murder and was preparing to flee¡ªwas an attempt to sell her quickly to raise money for his escape. This made solving the case swiftly extremely important. Once the child left the suspect¡¯s hands and entered some human traffickingwork, finding her would be anotherplicated and time-consuming case. As anxious as he was, Hou Le was still kind and pleasant to his subordinates, allowing them to find ces to sleep. In the midst of chaos, another phone call came in. ¡°This person is called Li Weibin, from Pingjiang¡­ I¡¯ve arrested him twice¡­¡± the person on the other end of the phone rapidly provided Hou Le with the information he needed. Every criminal investigator knew that at this time, the person on the line must be very busy. Hou Le quickly thanked him. Without being told, his subordinates also started to busily work. With the repeat offender¡¯s name known, his fingerprints, ID number, and various other personal information were also known. This included his mobile phone, WeChat, QQ, and various social media and gaming ounts that require real-name verification. They handed this information over to thework security brigade while requesting assistance from the technical investigation team. Even if the repeat offender had used someone else¡¯s mobile number, someone else¡¯s ID card, or bank card, there was still a good chance of finding the real person. In fact, over the years, tobat the increasingly rampant telmunications fraud, the task of ¡°finding people¡± has been highly specialized. At least more than half of the technical funds invested by ministries andmissions were rted to this area. Inte giants like Penguin and Fox also made numerous changes. Nowadays, cyber fraud organizations have moved abroad because they could no longer stay in the country. Unless Li Weibin ran off to hide in the mountains under a new identity, being found was just a matter of time. Jiang Yuan let out a sigh of relief and only then felt waves of fatigue sweeping over him, causing him to yawn uncontrobly. Xiao Miao noticed this and quietly handed him a key, whispering, ¡°If you¡¯re tired, go to the dorm and get some sleep.¡± Chapter 216 - 216 208 Inborn Nature ?216: Chapter 208 Inborn Nature 216: Chapter 208 Inborn Nature The dormitory of the Longli County Criminal Police Brigade is not fixed in terms of the number of upants. They have several dorm rooms and bunk beds, usually there¡¯s someone to clean and change the bedding. Whoever wants to sleep just sleeps, and leaves when they wake up, not needing to worry about a thing, like the vibe of a youth hostel. Jiang Yuan was also busy all day, he and Wang Zhong took a bunk bed together. There were other detectives sleeping in the dormitory too, with snoring resounding everywhere. The case had been going for almost 60 hours, and for some detectives, this was their first sleep in days, so it was normal for them to sleep deeply. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t just the dormitory that Jiang Yuan chose, a row of several dorms were filled with people snoring, each snore unique, like a concert, with the snoring traveling from the dorms to the hallway, then back into the dorms from the hallway. To be honest, a youth hostel with such conditions, a dog wouldn¡¯t even stay. But within the Criminal Police Brigade, it felt quite luxurious. Because he was so tired, even if Jiang Yuan had the money, he was toozy to leave thepound to find a hotel. The dorm environment didn¡¯t offer any washing or bathing facilities, Jiang Yuan, smelling the stench of others, simply took off his shoes and dropped onto the bed to sleep. Stink filled the air; whatever suffering cameter, no one was to pity anyone else. The next day. The intermittent snoring,bined with the jarring rms and phone rings, woke Jiang Yuan up. Jiang Yuan sat up groggily, listening to the noises around him, and lost any desire to go back to sleep. He kicked Wang Zhong to wake him up, ¡°Let¡¯s go, see what¡¯s going on.¡± Cybersecurity is easier to get along with and more flexible than technical investigation. Jiang Yuan guessed that since neither he nor Wang Zhong were woken up, everything must be progressing smoothly. In their rush, Hou Le¡¯s house even sold off the working hours of the police dogs. They wouldn¡¯t just leave Jiang Yuan and the others tofortably endure the smell of feet. Downstairs, he indeed saw detectives looking spirited. ¡°What¡¯s the situation now?¡± Jiang Yuan encountered Hou Xiaoyong and asked. ¡°We¡¯ve pinpointed the location. He¡¯s gone to Pingjiang.¡± Hou Xiaoyong¡¯s expression was as if he was about to make a move. It had been three days since the case started, it wasn¡¯t surprising if the person had left the province. Although running back to one¡¯s hometown may seem low, it¡¯s amon behavior for criminals. This is really about who the board hits. If the board hits someone else, everyone likes to teach them what to do: why don¡¯t you just Abracadabra, babble on as a mouth warrior¡­ If the board hits oneself, with over a hundred professional police officers after them, day and night, where would one run to if being caught means getting executed? ces one has never been to in their entire life, nine out of ten people wouldn¡¯t dare to take such risks at this point. Just this fact alone limits most people¡¯s escape routes to a few provinces. Unless they¡¯re a drop-dead gorgeous man or woman from nowhere, for most people in their twenties or thirties, their circle of life is likely limited to where they live, work, study, where their grandparents are, and maybe one or two ces they¡¯ve traveled to. Where to run at such a time? For many, childhood images start to emerge in their minds, scenes from ying hide and seek, and familiar environments from their hometowns, casual chats during those gaming days: if I hide there, not even gods could find me. If a person could hide in a hollow tree or a cave for years on end, they truly would be hard to find. However, in reality, most ordinary people can¡¯t stand to be in such an environment for even ten or fifteen days ¨C the thing is, those with such determination and execution likely wouldn¡¯t have had the time tomit crimes, as society would¡¯ve recruited them with high positions and rich rewards, luxury cars, and beautiful women. The few left behind often end up stumbling over logistics like stockpiling necessary supplies. In history, those significant criminals who managed to evade capture for a long time had ovee human nature and acted contrarily. Take the century¡¯s drug lord Liu Zhaohua, with a Ministry-level A-list warrant on his head, in the face of relentless pursuit by thousands of officers, he traveled through six or seven provinces and evaded capture for nine years, even marrying two wives, always moving against the task force¡¯s assumptions, heading to ces he was unfamiliar with. As for Liu Zhaohua¡¯s sociability, it dates back to when he was 13 in 1979 when he won second prize in the provincial chemistrypetition for middle-school students. But because his family was poor, he eventually dropped out of school, andter¡­ If 80s Liu Zhaohua had been teaching in a school with that achievement, he could¡¯ve been appointed a professor directly, published a paper or two in top world journals, and at least have been a reserve bigshot in the provincial chemistrymunity. By the way, if a society can¡¯t recruit talented individuals with high positions, rich rewards, luxury cars, and beautiful women, then failures like Hong Xiuquan, who missed the Imperial examinations, or Huang Chao, who failed repeatedly, and Li Zicheng who wasid off, certainly have something to say. And by the way, Liu Zhaohua¡¯s final fate was that, under his wife¡¯s persuasion, he returned to the ¡°darkness beneath themp¡± of his old home in Fu¡¯an, only to be discovered and arrested three monthster. The husband faced the death penalty, while the wife got five years. ¡ª¡ªIn summary, men who listen to their wives¡¯ advice will die. Making billions was useless. ¡­ Li Weibin was at the lower end of the criminal hierarchy. Far from oveing his humanity, he couldn¡¯t even control himself. Otherwise, with the ie he had obtained from multiple break-ins, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to be frugal; if he hadn¡¯t squandered it, he could¡¯ve umted substantial capital and started a new life. Even if he hadn¡¯t given in to his beastly impulses and stabbed the victim to death during the break-ins, if he had merely injured them or even stopped his crime and fled after the victim was hurt, he wouldn¡¯t have drawn Jiang Yuan from another county. But Li Weibin just tantly indulged his nature. And the criminal investigators naturally took advantage of this nature. Cross-provincial tracking might be somewhat troublesome, but when ites to handling homicide cases, it¡¯s not really a problem. Funding for homicide investigations was never in short supply. The money scrimped and saved by other special task forces was meant to serve murder cases anyway. Manpower was also plentiful; for current murder cases, mobilizing hundreds or even thousands of people wasmon. Technical support could be escted from the county level all the way to the ministry, and as long as there was a real need, avenues for requesting assistance were clear. This mechanism had its pros and cons. On the bright side, its strong warning message probably deterred a number of criminals and saved some lives. Li Weibin had ignored the deterrence, thereby plunging himself into a very difficult situation. Jiang Yuan sat in the conference room for a while, catching up to the current situation through various phone calls and reports. Soon, Hou Lejia found a map of Pingjiang Province, hung it on the wall, and pretended to pin some gs on it to indicate the current progress. Actually, it wasn¡¯t necessary; capturing a person wasn¡¯t like conducting military maneuvers, and the effect of deploying forces was just so. Not to mention that the situation on the front lines was directed by themanders there, well beyond the reach of Hou Lejia¡¯s remote guidance. Of course, this didn¡¯t prevent Hou Lejia from bringing in a map with an inappropriate scale, nor did it spoil therade Hou Lejia¡¯s own enjoyment. ¡°Doctor Jiang, let¡¯s grab something simple for lunch. If we crack the case tonight, we¡¯ll have a good meal,¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s attitude had improved a bit from yesterday. A night¡¯s sleep had cleared his mind and made him rational, and he gradually realized that Jiang Yuan was not just a leading fingerprint expert from the province and a proven bloodstain analyst but also ranked provincially alongside Heizi in various fields. In short, Hou Lejia felt he had made a good trade by swapping Heizi for Jiang Yuan. At this moment, treating Jiang Yuan to a good meal seemed particrly appropriate. Jiang Yuan, who had just woken up, agreed to Hou Lejia, and then asked, ¡°Is the kid with Li Weibin?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know yet,¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s gaze patrolled the map as he said, ¡°Judging by his speed to Pingjiang, it seems he didn¡¯t spend too much time on the kid, but¡­ it¡¯s hard to say.¡± The suspicion was that suspect Li Weibin had kidnapped the child to sell for money, which was amon line of thought. Escaping surely required money, and indeed, money might be more important than a pre-nned escape route. Just look at those spy movies; when a spy is on the run, all they need is money and identification documents. Weapons aren¡¯t necessary. Moreover, how long a person can stay on the run is directly rted to the amount of money they have, as lodging, food, and transportation all cost money. Without funds during an escape, one not only risks poor sleep and nutrition, increasing the chances of illness but also increases the risk of exposure through increased contact with others. Many thieves are caught while attempting to obtain money. Whereas economic criminals with money, even if inexperienced, often manage to escape easily because they have the money, which can heal wounds. For instance, when taking a taxi, a penniless escapee might pull out a weapon to avoid payment, whereas one with money could take a nap during the ride, wake up to chat warmly with the driver, tip generously, and upon a coordinated search, might receive the driver¡¯s silence out of simple kindness, while the other may have changed their appearance, but still be betrayed by a disgruntled driver to the task force. However, such useful knowledgees either from experience, from learning under a mentor, or from education. The special case team wasn¡¯t worried about Li Weibin being well-read or having mentors; they were concerned he knew nothing, had no money yet acted big, and feared the child might cry out on the way, forcing a desperate Li Weibin to take extreme measures. The group sitting in the conference room didn¡¯t have to specte wildly for long before the informative phone call came through: ¡°We¡¯ve captured Li Weibin.¡± ¡°The child wasn¡¯t found.¡± ¡°Li Weibin refuses to confess.¡± The task force members¡¯ mood shifted from tion to anger, and then to deep worry. The worst they had feared had happened. At the same time, the system interface shed in front of Jiang Yuan: Task: Find Liu Yiyi Task description: Find Liu Yiyi, who was kidnapped by Li Weibin. Chapter 217 - 217 209 Catching Dirt ?217: Chapter 209: Catching Dirt 217: Chapter 209: Catching Dirt ¡°He wouldn¡¯t dare not to spill the beans!¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s emotions lingered in the angry stage for quite some time. The few Longli County criminal police officers by his side immediately turned around, bowed their heads to look for water, and didn¡¯t even try to console him. Hou Lejia cursed vehemently for a full minute. It was at this point that Jiang Yuan began to regard Hou Lejia with new respect: he spoke the dialect very well, exceptionally pure. The rhythm of his cursing was also good, and the curse words were quite unique, never repeated. If he were in Jiang Vige back home, he¡¯d definitely be the makings of a folk song prince. A level-three master of vulgarity, in Jiang Vige, would also be a beloved old fart. Looking at Hou Lejia¡¯s appearance, his face was a bit old, but for an old fart, that wasn¡¯t a concern, nor was a bit of darkness to hisplexion. But he had a good height, which was advantageous among the elderly poption. However, as high as the level of cursing might be, it was of no use in solving the case. Perhaps it was precisely because cursing was of no use in cracking cases that such a high level of vulgarity was developed. Jiang Yuan knew the reason behind Hou Lejia¡¯s anger. If Li Weibin stubbornly refused to disclose the whereabouts of the little girl Liu Yiyi, it would be very difficult to find her through regr police investigations. What¡¯s most crucial is that it would be very difficult to find a living Liu Yiyi within the limited time frame. The biggest fear was that Li Weibin had already killed and disposed of Liu Yiyi; this fear was rather realistic and could exin why Li Weibin was so adamant about not revealing the little girl¡¯s whereabouts. There was a solution for this kind of situation: tell him that breaking and entering was an aggravating circumstance, as was kidnapping a child. Tell him he was a dead man, and maybe then he would actually talk. Because interrogating two cases takes a longer time, some death row inmates dy their execution by grinding out information to the prosecutor¡¯s office. But if the little girl was still alive, say abandoned on the roadside, or sold off, telling Li Weibin that he was doomed might only trigger a defiant attitude in him. Back and forth, by the time Li Weibin¡¯s emotions had passed, even if they did ask him for the locationter, it would likely be impossible to find her again. ¡°Does Longli County have any police officers who are especially good at interrogation?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Wang Zhong in a low voice. Wang Zhong nced at Hou Lejia and said, ¡°If they had such a person, would Captain Hou be cursing like this?¡± Jiang Yuan understood and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Longli County really doesn¡¯t have anything, huh.¡± ¡°Our Ningtai County doesn¡¯t have anything either¡­ Oh, we have you now, but before, we also just waited for support from higher-ups,¡± said Wang Zhong very naturally. ¡°There must be some capable people.¡± ¡°Those who are left have their reasons. Those with opportunities have all left,¡± Wang Zhong said, and looking at Jiang Yuan, he added, ¡°You know there are fingerprintpanies on the market, right?¡± ¡°I know.¡± What they referred to as fingerprintpanies were businesses that charged a fee to process fingerprints, epting outsourced tasks from police departments and operating in different charging models to do fingerprintparisons. Regardless of the intermediary structures, these fingerprintpanies fundamentally turn fingerprint identification into amercial service. In theory, the better they perform and the more, harder fingerprintparisons theyplete, the more money they should earn. Not to mention the specific models, forensic fingerprint experts within the police system who choose to work for fingerprintpanies definitely earn more than their sries. Wang Zhong continued, ¡°Even if they¡¯re not chasing the money, those who are skilled prefer to go to big cities. Isn¡¯t the variance in hot and cold interest during the public service exams in our county towns clear enough?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and then said, ¡°But I¡¯m from Jiang Vige.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± sighed Wang Zhong. Jiang Yuan patted Wang Zhong on the shoulder and said, ¡°I¡¯ll introduce you to someer.¡± Wang Zhong suddenly didn¡¯t feel sleepy anymore. Hou Lejia, having finished his tirade, asked, ¡°How much money did Li Weibin have on him when he was caught?¡± ¡°About ten thousand or so. Should I check?¡± A subordinate pulled out a phone. ¡°It makes no difference. No need to check,¡± Hou Lejia frowned and muttered, ¡°Ten thousand doesn¡¯t exin much; whether he sold the child or not, it¡¯s possible to have that amount.¡± In cases like Li Weibin¡¯s, it was certain he wouldn¡¯t be dealing with end buyers directly. If he sold the child to traffickers, they would definitely haggle over the price. Facing someone ruthless, the price could be driven down to ten or twenty thousand yuan. Therefore, if Li Weibin had a lot of money on him, it could be assumed that he had made a solid profit from selling the child. But if there was only a little over ten thousand yuan, it could either be his own remaining funds or the proceeds from this particr break-in and robbery. Among the items the victim lost were a gold bracelet and other jewelry, which if sold off even illicitly, should fetch more than ten thousand yuan. ¡°Is She handling the interrogation?¡± Hou Lejia referred to his own deputy captain. Like Huang Qiangmin, Hou Lejia was not the type of criminal police captain who liked to handle everything personally, but they both used their deputies more like senior investigators. A subordinate said ¡°Yes,¡± and proactively went to get an update on the situation. After a while, this person came back with a serious expression, furrowing his brows. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Hou Lejia asked first. ¡°He said he sold her. The child.¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s heart tensed up, then rxed a bit. It was still better than her being dead, as now they could at least continue searching. Hou Lejia immediately asked, ¡°Who did he sell her to? Where was she sold?¡± ¡°He wouldn¡¯t talk.¡± ¡°Why not? Sold to a rtive?¡± Hou Lejia immediately denied, ¡°If it was sold to a rtive, there¡¯s no need to hide it¡ªit¡¯s alreadye to this¡­ Does he have any demands?¡± ¡°He doesn¡¯t have demands for us, but from what he implies¡­ It seems Li Weibin cares more about his reputation.¡± Hou Lejia was puzzled, ¡°What reputation?¡± ¡°The street¡­ reputation? The code of the underworld?¡± The subordinate was actually just as puzzled; he was only a messenger. Hou Lejia rolled his eyes. What kind of absurd idea was that? But even Hou Lejia knew not to hold too many expectations for a guy who made a living off home burries. Even a person with a sound mind, when facing the death penalty or death, could be very extreme in their thinking. But, in this day and age, what even is this so-called street reputation? ¡°Is this how She talked to him?¡± Hou Lejia felt very ufortable. ¡°Just beating around the bush.¡± This side felt ufortable too. Jiang Yuan pulled Wang Zhong aside and quietly left the conference room. ¡°Can¡¯t be of any help?¡± Wang Zhong looked at Jiang Yuan, who actually had an aura of his own. In his view, Jiang Yuan was truly capable of aplishing investigative work that ordinary people couldn¡¯t. At that moment, however, Jiang Yuan shook his head and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go check the video instead.¡± With Hou Lejia¡¯s domineering personality, staying in the conference room wouldn¡¯t allow him to contribute much. Of course, if Hou Lejia were willing to delegate authority and let Jiang Yuan takemand, he would have some methods to employ, but such a request would be asking too much. Each captain of the criminal police squad was eager tomand everyone; none of them would easily relinquish their power. The other criminal police officers in Longli County weren¡¯t necessarily inclined to listen to Jiang Yuan either; it would end up being second-hand information anyway. ¡­ The video office. Xiao Miao was busy at her desk; upon seeing Jiang Yuan, she immediately showed a smile, ¡°Did you rest well yesterday, Doctor Jiang?¡± ¡°Not too bad. There were just a few people snoring, but everything else was fine.¡± As a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan had a very high tolerance for odors. If one could sleep in an autopsy room, then smelly feet were nothing. Wang Zhong cleared his throat twice and said, ¡°Good day, Officer Xiao.¡± ¡°Hello.¡± Xiao Miao responded, then looked towards Jiang Yuan, ¡°Do you need theputer, Doctor Jiang?¡± ¡°Yes, I want to see Li Weibin¡¯s previous cases,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Then you might as well use mine,¡± Xiao Miao said, moving aside, then added curiously, ¡°Didn¡¯t they say they caught the guy?¡± By that, she meant there was no need to review previous cases. Others might think that doing image investigation was just like watching a movie, clicking away on theputer, and identifying a few images. Only those working in video knew that to find evidence for a case, the process was not only cumbersome, but the standards for usable evidence in videos were also quite high. Jiang Yuan brought up the previous videos and, using his memory, located footage of Li Weibin pushing out a bicycle or electric bike, and then captured images from them. Next, he still enhanced the images, but this time he focused on the objects. After processing photo after photo, theputer¡¯s CPU was roaring nonstop. Xiao Miao was puzzled, ¡°Those photographs of the stolen items, couldn¡¯t you just ask the victims for them? You should be able to get at least some of them¡­¡± ¡°You have to prove that these were the ones stolen by Li Weibin. Although simultaneous home burries are rare, there¡¯s always a chance, and moreover¡­ what if the victims give over photos haphazardly?¡± Jiang Yuan waited for theputer to respond while standing with his hands on his hips. Xiao Miao asked, puzzled, ¡°Why would they give photos haphazardly? Don¡¯t they want to get their bikes back?¡± Wang Zhong, who had a talent in this area, spected, ¡°Maybe the bike owner bought an 8000-yuan bike, afraid of his wife scolding him, so he reported it as 800. Now that it¡¯s lost and the police havee knocking, his wife wants him to send over the bike model and photo, he probably doesn¡¯t even dare to send the real picture¡­¡± Xiao Miao then understood. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Just to be safe, we need to have everyone check the items against the photos; at least, the photos have to be confirmed first.¡± ¡°You¡¯re thinking of getting everyone to look for the person helping Li Weibin dispose of the stolen goods?¡± Xiao Miao caught on. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°If Li Weibin has sold the little girl, then either this person who helps him fence the goods bought her, or he knows or is acquainted with the buyer. Anyway, catching him won¡¯t be a mistake.¡± ¡°Will you be able to catch him? They didn¡¯t catch him before¡­¡± Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong both smiled. Wang Zhong said, ¡°Before it was a burry case and they couldn¡¯t catch him. Now, it¡¯s a homicide case; there¡¯s no such thing as not being able to catch him. Li Weibin is also going on about street reputation; if this person knows Li Weibin has dragged him into a murder case, he might be so angry he could eat his heart out.¡± Chapter 218 - 218 210 Explosive Protection Spree Pull ?218: Chapter 210: Explosive Protection Spree Pull 218: Chapter 210: Explosive Protection Spree Pull Jiang Yuan had finished preparing the meal and fed it to Hou Lejia, who had no choice but to chew and swallow it down. The teams that were originally dispatched to find people began to track down ¡°underworld¡± fences one by one. The investigative capabilities of Longli County were hardlymendable. When Jiang Yuan first started working on fingerprints, it was the cases from Longli County that he cut his teeth on, and that seemed reasonable now. Generally speaking, aside from the police dog Heizi who stood out for being exceptionally handsome, the operational capabilities of the rest of the Longli County Criminal Police Team were squarely below average. Of course, this didn¡¯t warrant much discussion. There will always be rankings, and while education can be joyful, reality often isn¡¯t. Moreover, once the police force got organized and began utilizing their resources, these ¡°underworld figures¡± were nothing more than petty thugs. Even a weak team like the Longli County Criminal Police Team had hundreds of police officers, could request the deployment of hundreds of armed police soldiers, and had the cooperation of grassroots units¡­ In terms of might, those on the underworld stood no chance. Within just a few hours, a shop owner who had been dealing in fenced goods for years was brought back to the criminal police team. It¡¯s true that in terms of old-school investigative work, the Longli County Criminal Police Team had a medium-to-high standard, which probably had something to do with Hou Lejia¡¯s personality and methods. His squad leaders were generally older types, and in the current environment, a police officer who couldn¡¯t climb walls was bound to have their case-solving ability discounted. However, this mainly reflected their ability to fend for themselves. Once the food was delivered to their mouths, they chewed with vicious intensity. They also looked intimidating. Before long, the first captured fence shop owner began spilling everything: ¡°I myself like cycling, so I opened a bicycle shop. And these days, all bicycle shops organize cycling events, which is how I met Li Qiang.¡± ¡°He told me his name was Li Qiang, so that¡¯s how I remembered him. I didn¡¯t know his real name; we can¡¯t just check someone¡¯s ID card.¡± ¡°Cycling events are private affairs; there¡¯s no need for an ID card¡­ It¡¯s just about people gathering together, setting a time, and then cycling together. You have to hold these events at bicycle shops, otherwise, there¡¯s no scenario left for using bikes. Nowadays, who cycles to work?¡± ¡°Sometimes Li Qiang would bring bicycles to sell to me, sometimes essories. Sometimes he¡¯d say they were his, other times they were a friend¡¯s. I didn¡¯t think too much¡­ really¡­¡± ¡°Cyclists like to change essories, some change them every month, even more frequently than Li Qiang, I really didn¡¯t think¡­ Changing a chainring, or a chain, it¡¯s so normal. Once you want better speed, you have to change to better calipers, discs, hubs¡­ After a whole cycle of changes, you end up needing to switch the front and rear forks, and then the chainring and such again¡­¡± The interrogating detective had been maintaining a stern face all along but couldn¡¯t help himself at this point: ¡°This sounds like a con, illegal, right?¡± The shop owner quickly retorted: ¡°It¡¯s just about swapping equipment, Campers are even worse than us¡­¡± ¡°With such rip-offs, you still deal in stolen goods?¡± ¡°I really didn¡¯t know the goods he gave me were stolen. He deceived me, saying he ran a cycling team, helped people switch equipment, sold bikes¡­¡± The shop owner¡¯s voice trailed off increasingly softer, knowing full well there was something amiss, but there was money to be made, and he couldn¡¯t bother with much else. ¡°Did Li Qiang, Li Weibin sell anything other than bicycles?¡± The shop owner hesitated a few seconds before saying, ¡°I did buy a graphics card from him once. At the time, you couldn¡¯t find graphics cards anywhere, and I said I was willing to pay more for a 30 series card. Li Qiang said he could find me one¡­ andter he brought it, so I bought it¡­¡± ¡°List out all the shops you know that are involved in fencing¡­¡± The detective, like an emotionless juicing machine, extracted everything from the shop owner, leaving himpletely drained before tossing him back into the detention center. In the face of a case of this level, the detention center had no reason not to detain them, so even the usually insignificant minor cases were now swept up together and joined the list. They were usually prosecuted separately, but there was no escaping now. One shop owner¡¯s interrogation ended and another was brought in. Soon, everyone started to understand Li Weibin¡¯s fencing pattern. He was essentially breaking down the stolen items and distributing them to various specialty stores. And when he stole, he targeted categories where second-hand goods circted frequently. Just like bicycles or graphics cards, he also liked to steal luxury bags, luxury shoes, various pet products,puter and phone essories, fishing gear, camping equipment, aquarium gear, cameras, musical instruments¡­ He even stole an arowana once, just because he heard it was valuable¡ªhe was unable to sell it, though, and did not attempt it again. Some of these shop owners acted with the intent to fence goods; others did not, but the prices Li Weibin offered were cheap enough for them not to care. Naturally, there were alsopletely innocent ones. But regardless of their type, next they would have to y a game of wits with the prosecutor. All in all, in terms of fencing, Li Weibin had his own ideas and had indeed made quite a name for himself on the ¡°street.¡± Interrogation room. Deputy Chief Sheid out photo after photo in front of Li Weibin. The photos were headshots of the shop owners, still dressed in their prison garb. Li Weibin¡¯s expression shifted from indifferent to shocked. ¡°Because of you, these shop owners have all been arrested,¡± Deputy Chief She¡¯s voice seemed very deep, piercing through Li Weibin¡¯s heart, ¡°Not counting the eight already sent to the detention center, we continue to follow this lead to make further arrests. Your reputation in the underworld has spread widely all at once.¡± Li Weibin lowered his head to look at the table, 8rge photos, 4 on top, 4 below, all showing the familiar faces of shop owners. Li Weibin, from south to north, from west to east, like a migrating swallow, had worked the field back and forth for years, getting to know some shop owners, which was originally hispetitive advantage in this line of work. Li Weibin was quite proud of this, but what he didn¡¯t expect was that all these people had been brought in. ¡°You can¡¯t just arrest people for no reason!¡± Li Weibin suddenly cried out injustice. Deputy Chief She smiled and said, ¡°They all have a history of helping you fence goods; how is that for no reason?¡± Li Weibin was momentarily at a loss for words, and only after a few seconds did he say, ¡°It¡¯s just fencing goods, what¡¯s the big deal? I¡¯m willing to sell, people are willing to buy, what¡¯s wrong with that?¡± The words of Li Weibin didn¡¯t make much logical sense, but actually, they followed his own logic. Exined in slightly more emotionally intelligent terms, Li Weibin was the typical individual who didn¡¯t integrate into society, who neither understood nor epted certain widely recognized social rules or even thew, always acting ording to his own emotions and thoughts. Put in less emotionally intelligent terms, Li Weibin was uneducated, spewing nonsensical babble whenever he encountered a problem. Deputy Chief She had dealt with many criminals, and Li Weibin was not particrly unusual to him. After letting Li Weibin vent for a few sentences, he raised his hand to interrupt him and said, ¡°Criminal Law Article 312: The concealment and disguising of proceeds of crime is punishable by up to three years of fixed-term imprisonment, criminal detention, or control, and may be punished additionally or solely by a fine. In serious cases, the punishment is three to seven years of fixed-term imprisonment.¡± Deputy Chief She looked at Li Weibin and asked him, ¡°Do you know what is considered ¡®serious circumstances¡¯?¡± ¡°How would I know?¡± Li Weibin retorted in annoyance. ¡°¡®Serious circumstances¡¯ refers to cases involving the theft, robbery, swindling, or snatching of five or more motor vehicles or if the total value exceeds five hundred thousand yuan.¡± Deputy Chief She pointed at the photos in front of Li Weibin and said, ¡°These people, because of you, could face more than three years in prison. What do you think will happen to your street reputation?¡± Deputy Chief She made a firework explosion gesture. Li Weibin was startled and then began to struggle fiercely, ¡°Are you framing me, messing with me?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t disclose Liu Yiyi¡¯s whereabouts, we¡¯ll continue to arrest people, picking up shop owners one by one who¡¯ve traded with you. And, we¡¯ll say they were all given up by you.¡± Deputy Chief She knew what Li Weibin wanted and was now showing him it being destroyed. To some people, street reputation means nothing, but to others, they would open their bellies to show whether what they have inside is really cool starch jelly. Li Weibin knew he hadmitted murder and didn¡¯t have a good end in store, so he stubbornly wanted to leave behind a good reputation¡ªat least what he considered a good reputation in his known world. Then he saw all this shattered before him. ¡°If I tell you, can you let them go?¡± Li Weibin suddenly looked up. Deputy Chief She slowly shook his head, ¡°I can plea for them with the prosecutor, but letting them go is not possible. If you don¡¯t talk now, more people will be arrestedter on.¡± ¡°Then you guys¡­¡± ¡°Stop haggling. You¡¯d better confess now, to save some peopleter.¡± Deputy Chief She continued along Li Weibin¡¯s line of thought, pinning him against the wall. After pondering with his head down for a few seconds, probably the longest contemtion of Li Weibin¡¯s life, he said, ¡°I handed the kid over to a ck pit boss. That man is pretty nice to kids, I had a chat with him before, and someone in their vige wanted a child, the kind that can¡¯t have their own. Those are the best kind of buyers, and I was also trying to help them¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s the name of this ck pit boss?¡± Deputy Chief She¡¯s forehead vein was throbbing. ¡°I just call him Old Wang, Brother Wang. The one at the very end of Construction Road, number 6.¡± Deputy Chief She immediately stood up and went out to report the situation to his superiors. In a very short time, two teams of people were assembled and dispatched. When Deputy Chief She turned back and sat down opposite the interrogation chair, separated by the iron bars, he asked, ¡°How did you get to know this ck pit boss?¡± ¡°I went there to fish. He also runs a farm stay, and whenever I asionally get my hands on some dried goods, like dried abalones, dried sea cucumbers, fish maw, and so on, I send them to his ce¡­¡± Li Weibin described the connection between the two. Hearing the confession inside through the surveince, Hou Lejia waspletely dumbfounded. While arranging for officers to make the arrests, he said furiously, ¡°Bringing Heizi back isn¡¯t worth it.¡± Turning back, he wanted to say something to Jiang Yuan, but found that Jiang Yuan had already disappeared. In the corridor. Jiang Yuan picked up a call and asked, ¡°Director Liu?¡± ¡°Liu had a car ident. This is Gao Qiang, we¡¯ve met before, remember?¡± The person on the other end of the call introduced himself. ¡°I remember, you are the province¡¯s third-grade senior police officer. How is Director Liu? Where did the ident happen?¡± Jiang Yuan instinctively sensed something was wrong. Gao Qiang grunted affirmatively and said, ¡°It happened at Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine. The right front tire blew out, and the car tumbled down the mountain. All airbags deployed, his face got a bit mangled, but he¡¯s alive.¡± Chapter 219 - 219 211 Indefinite Object ?219: Chapter 211 Indefinite Object 219: Chapter 211 Indefinite Object ¡°Captain Hou, Wang Zhong and I have to go. Director Liu is injured; we¡¯re going to check on him,¡± Jiang Yuan exined to Hou Lejia upon finding him. As a member of the disciplined forces, even if Jiang Yuan was not directly under Hou Lejia, he could not just leave without saying anything; he had to exin himself. Excited by the progress of the case, Hou Lejia was stunned for a moment before turning to Jiang Yuan and asking, ¡°How did he get injured?¡± ¡°Car tire blew out; he fell down the mountain,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Was he on a case?¡± ¡°It seems so.¡± Hou Lejia frowned. As a senior policeman from the provincial department, spending all year running around on cases, it was inevitable to encounter danger. But upon closer examination of such incidents, they were alwaysplicated. Hou Lejia, a seasoned criminal police captain, might not be familiar with the ever-evolving methods of the younger generation of criminals, but he had experienced a great deal and was extremely sensitive. There were things Hou Lejia could have kept to himself, but considering that Jiang Yuan had just helped him for quite a while, Hou Lejia cleared his throat and said, ¡°Was Director Liu working on a case alone?¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback, ¡°I¡¯m not quite sure.¡± ¡°Hmm, for us police officers, getting injured is actually quite normal, and car idents are not strange. I¡¯ve been in two car idents myself. The criminal police team in Longli County even hired drivers because detectives often end up driving when fatigued. There¡¯s no helping it; when the case reaches that point, you can¡¯t say let me sleep before I go catch someone. Once you¡¯ve caught someone, you can¡¯t just say let me sleep before I go back. That¡¯s why fatigued driving ismon¡­¡± Hou Lejia went on, watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression as he spoke. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was not impatient, Hou Lejia continued, ¡°However, Director Liu is very experienced. Generally speaking, he wouldn¡¯t put himself in such danger when running through the mountains.¡± Jiang Yuan gave a nomittal ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°As investigators from the provincial office, they work confidentially when they go out. But when there¡¯s an issue, it certainly needs to be thoroughly investigated,¡± Hou Lejia felt he had hinted enough and let Jiang Yuan go on his way. Jiang Yuan followed Wang Zhong in silence, quickly heading for Qinghe City. On the way, the system presented the task settlement: Task Completed: Find Liu Yiyi Task Details: Locate Liu Yiyi, who was kidnapped by Li Weibin. Reward: Forensic Clinical Medicine (LV3) This was a skill pertinent to his profession, something Jiang Yuan had long been looking forward to for appraising injuries. In different circumstances, Jiang Yuan would have at least celebrated the achievement. But today, he really was not in the mood. On second thought, this was perfect for examining Director Liu¡¯s injuries. ¡­ Qinghe City First People¡¯s Hospital. The previously registered car went straight to the entrance of the Special Requirements building. Upon reaching the sixth floor, they saw the blue and white corridor was deserted and smelled pleasantly, reminding them of a high-end hotel. ¡°Director Liu¡¯s got a nice ce here,¡± Wang Zhongmented carelessly, adding, ¡°Working at a hospital must be nice. I heard doctors are well paid.¡± ¡°Must be tiring, though.¡± ¡°More tiring than our job?¡± Wang Zhong sighed. Jiang Yuan thought about the ¡°Great Doctor Ling Ran¡± he had read about, unsure how to articte the thought. However, in terms of danger, being a police officer was definitely riskier. One only had to look at Director Liu¡¯s recent tumble, his fate still uncertain¡­ ¡°Jiang Yuan!¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s excited voice came through, apanied by the waving of his unbroken arm in the air. Surprised, Jiang Yuan looked over and saw Liu Jinghui¡¯s face wrapped in gauze, looking like a war casualty, yet as excited as a Siberian Husky. He was only prevented from running over by a nurse who held him back. ¡°Director Liu, why aren¡¯t you resting?¡± Jiang Yuan hurried over. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ve been lying down all day. It¡¯s just a car ident; it¡¯s not my first time.¡± Remembering that Hou Lejia also mentioned surviving several car idents, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Is it thatmon for criminal detectives to have car idents?¡± ¡°Business trips are a bit more dangerous, the ones in the city are still fine,¡± ¡°How are you, are the injuries serious?¡± Jiang Yuan asked while also observing and appraising. He used the Forensic Clinical Medicine LV3 that he had just received without any dy, as if it were tailor-made for Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°I¡¯ll need to rest for a week or two.¡± ¡°A month,¡± the nurse in front emphasized, after confirming that Jiang Yuan knew Liu Jinghui, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t wander around, you can¡¯t leave the ward area, I¡¯m going to get the medicine.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Liu Jinghui waved his hand, watched the pretty nurse leave, then turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°The nurses here are quite pretty, it would be a pity not to look.¡± ¡°Have you found the cause of the car ident?¡± Jiang Yuan saw that Liu Jinghui seemed reluctant to talk about his injuries, so he continued to ask. Liu Jinghui nced at him and counter-asked, ¡°What do you think the reason is?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°If it were up to me to investigate, I would first check the tires, if there were no results, then check the ground and the scene. Only after confirming there are no traces of human intervention would I consider idental factors.¡± Liu Jinghui nodded, ¡°Someone punctured the tire.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately felt a strong sense of crisis. Ever sincest time, when he was nearly ambushed from behind by a serial killer, Jiang Yuan had be very cautious about his own safety. He didn¡¯t expect Liu Jinghui, with his bushy eyebrows and big eyes, to be extraordinarily daring. ¡°Were you alone in the car at the time?¡± Jiang Yuan used a respectful tone. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°There were two of us; the other person was injured more seriously and is in the neighboring dormitory.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, hesitated for a moment, then asked, ¡°Then do you think the assant was targeting you, or the location?¡± This was also a question Captain Hou had just mentioned. Liu Jinghui traveled all over the province and dealt with many cases, among which were inevitably some unsolved ones, possibly also some that hadn¡¯t been properly handled. To put it in a more mystical way, he was involved in too many causes and effects. Even if a case was closed, the suspect might not be satisfied, and the victims or their families might not be satisfied either. Criminal cases are fundamentally major conflicts within society, and it¡¯s no wonder but notpletely unexpected that these conflicts might rebound onto the officers handling them. But in terms of theplexity of the cases, the ones targeting Liu Jinghui are actually easier to investigate and have less impact. On the other hand, if the perpetrator was targeting Zifeng Mountain, then it¡¯s an attack on an unspecified group of people. Such cases are troublesome to investigate, and the reasons behind them are probably not pleasant. Liu Jinghui¡¯s face turned slightly cold as he said, ¡°I was there to search for a body, and just when we were getting somewhere, there was trouble. There weren¡¯t even signs of anyone elseing up near us, yet the tire was punctured¡­ In this situation, there¡¯s no need to think too much, the most straightforward deduction is often the correct one. This person was trying to hinder our search for the body!¡± At this moment, Wang Zhong, who was nearby, said softly, ¡°By doing this, aren¡¯t they essentially indicating their guilt? Aren¡¯t they afraid of angering you?¡± ¡°They originally intended to kill me,¡± Liu Jinghui said angrily: ¡°If it weren¡¯t for my good driving skills, I would have gone over a cliff.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know whether Liu Jinghui¡¯s driving skills were truly good and hesitated a little. Liu Jinghui said nonchntly, ¡°Don¡¯t dwell on this too much. If our enemies are afraid of something, we should persist in doing it. I¡¯m going to Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine tomorrow to continue searching for the body.¡± ¡°But the nurse said you need to be hospitalized for a month¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s a month to heal, but I don¡¯t need my arm. I¡¯ll just bring it along,¡± Liu Jinghui said carelessly, ¡°This time I¡¯ll bring more people with me to keep this brotherpany.¡± ¡°How do you know it was just one person?¡± Jiang Yuan counter-asked. Liu Jinghui revealed his white teeth as he smiled, ¡°At that time, I didn¡¯t even have a gun. If there were many people, they could have just swarmed me, killed me, and buried my body, so why bother puncturing a tire? It¡¯s so unreliable and leaves even more evidence.¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent. They had climbed the trails of Mount Wulong together, and in such remote, unmonitored wilderness, bloodstains or even human tissue could be dposed by microorganisms; then selling the car to the prairie would make it very hard to trace. Byparison, if Liu Jinghui disappeared in a car ident, there would always be an investigation. Tires with knife punctures are very likely to be spotted by crime scene investigators. ¡°So, there¡¯s someone lurking in Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, and they¡¯re killing people?¡± Jiang Yuan summed up the situation. Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression became more serious, and after a long time, he said, ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. No matter what, let¡¯s find the body first.¡± ¡°Shall I apany you?¡± ¡°No need,¡± Liu Jinghui refused again: ¡°It¡¯s a dirty job, and you don¡¯t need to be involved. I was nning to familiarize myself with the mine before calling in dogs, but now I can call them directly. You don¡¯t need to be concerned about it.¡± Chapter 220 - 220 212 Protection ?220: Chapter 212 Protection 220: Chapter 212 Protection Liu Jinghui did not use Jiang Yuan, also to protect him. He was still unclear about the specifics of the case, but in Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind, some cases were too dirty, and there was no reason for a promising young technical police officer like Jiang Yuan to be thrown into the fray. Liu Jinghui still wanted to assess the situation himself first. Having a rough understanding of Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts, Jiang Yuan did not insist on going to the coal mine. He was not omnipotent, and even with crime scene investigation as his specialty, he first needed to determine where the crime scene was. With such a vast coal mine, possibly requiring descent into mining tunnels, the conditions would be challenging, the area extensive, and the current Jiang Yuan would find it difficult to be effective. In terms of his attributes, Jiang Yuan was still more suited for closebat, engaging in small-scale, meticulous investigative work. So, after staying in Qinghe City for a few hours, Jiang Yuan returned to Ningtai County with Wang Zhong. Upon arriving home, two Dobermans excitedly pounced on him. The dogs were still young, with soft fur and tender bodies, making it the perfect age for cuddling. Feelingzy, Jiang Yuany on the sofa, a dog in each hand, gradually rxing and soon drifting off to sleep. When he awoke again, the house was filled with the rich aroma of meat, and a tall and robust man stood at the doorway. Jiang Yuan was startled awake. ¡°Yuanzi¡¯s awake,¡± said Mrs. Hua, cracking sunflower seeds beside him, tossing the shells onto the floor just like she did 20 years ago. Of course, she would clean them up before leaving. ¡°Auntie,¡± Jiang Yuan said, rubbing his eyes and standing up. Hepared his height with the tall man at the door and found that the man was taller and more robust than he was. ¡°Son,¡± Mr. Jiang said, carrying a soup spoon over and patting the tall man at the door, ¡°this is your Uncle Qiang. Remember him? When you were little, you even yed with Uncle Qiang¡¯s gun.¡± ¡°Uncle Qiang! Ah, I remember. Uncle Qiang had returned from military service,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind instantly conjured an image of a man in a military uniform. After his wife passed away, Mr. Jiang never remarried, worried that a stepmother might negatively impact Jiang Yuan¡¯s upbringing. Therefore, Mr. Jiang always maintained a rtionship with his wife¡¯s family, visiting them during holidays and festivals. Uncle Qiang was Jiang Yuan¡¯s maternal uncle, a former soldier who had fought in wars and even beenmended for his service. Mr. Jiang also said, ¡°Your Uncle Qiang¡¯s house has a Second ss Meritmendation. He earned it during the war, which is even more precious!¡± ¡°Amendation is amendation. They¡¯re all the same,¡±ughed Uncle Qiang, his voice a bit rough. Mr. Jiangughed heartily and then said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell Jiang Yuan about how you earned yourmendation?¡± The others gathered around, curious about the tall and strong Uncle Qiang. Uncle Qiang was not shy about the attention, he just smiled and said, ¡°I enlistedter on, and our squad¡¯s task was to capture prisoners. I was waiting in the rear with two soldiers, and the others were upfront, but they were ambushed. The enemy had at least a reinforced toon, and we were just a squad. I told the other two to reinforce our men, and I nked the enemy from the other side, using my dagger to take down over a dozen men and even killed their officer¡­¡± People listened in awe. Looking at Uncle Qiang¡¯s nearly 2-meter height, Jiang Yuan suddenly saw him as imposing and mighty. ¡°Your Uncle Qiang had other heroic deedster on,¡± Mr. Jiang stirred the spoon and added, ¡°He was driving a big truck when he came across highway bandits robbing a bus. He took them on alone with just a wrench, killing two of the five attackers and subduing three others. The local police stationmended him for his actions, and the story made the newspapers.¡± Uncle Qiang modestly said, ¡°The passengers on the bus helped too.¡± ¡°I know this story all too well. While everyone else on the bus was too scared to move, Uncle Qiang stepped up, swung the wrench at the leader, and cracked his skull open. After that, he grabbed one, gave him a wrench, grabbed another, and another wrench¡­ Two with hard skulls lived, two with soft skulls died, and one knelt down.¡± Uncle Qiangughed, ¡°I really went all out on the leader, but I held back with the other three.¡± Mrs. Hua, impressed, pped her hands and said, ¡°He should also be awarded a Second ss Merit for that.¡± Both Jiang Yuan and Uncle Qiang couldn¡¯t help butugh together. Seeing the good mood all around, Mr. Jiang said, ¡°Son, I asked Uncle Qiang toe over and help out. The house is too big, and I¡¯ve seen you¡¯re worried about security these days. Let Uncle Qiang help with watching over the ce and boosting morale.¡± ¡°That¡¯s wonderful,¡± Jiang Yuan immediately agreed. He had also caught on to his father¡¯s intent. Moreover, having a Second ss Merit and a reputation for bravery made Uncle Qiang a reassuring presence. ¡°Sure, Uncle Qiang can sleep in the guest room, and you can let him train the two dogs, too. There¡¯s a baseball bat in the room. I¡¯ll also get you a skewer for roasting a whole sheep; we¡¯re mainly just being cautious,¡± Jiang Fuzhen immediately started making arrangements. Uncle Qiang agreed without hesitation. At 50 years old, driving big rigs was bing harder and harder for him, not to mention his earnings were dwindling. Back when he drove heavy trucks, he made good money, but it all went into building a house back home, supporting his wife and children, and covering medical expenses and funerals for his elders. Now, looking to buy a house for his son and prepare for the wedding, he needed a better-paying job. Jiang Yuan chatted with everyone for a while, casually sharing whatever he could with Uncle Qiang. Uncle Qiang immediately tensed up, and as the others finished eating and drinking and went home, he said, ¡°If there¡¯s a situation, then I¡¯ll buy some stuff and set it up.¡± Mr. Jiang asked, ¡°Set up what?¡± ¡°The windows, the doors, they all need some work.¡± Uncle Qiang became enthusiastic, standing up his 2-meter-tall body wielded an imposing air, ¡°Back in the day, I was a dab hand atying booby traps. Just leave it to me.¡± So, Jiang Yuan went back to his bedroom to catch up on some sleep with peace of mind. For the next three days, Jiang Yuan stayed at home resting. As a criminal police officer, overtime didn¡¯te with extra pay. The monthly sry already included thispensation, although not much. After continuous or extended work, officers were entitled to takepensatory leave. For units like the criminal police team, after every long-drawn-out murder case, there would be a lengthy refractory period. Scarcely anyone could fully use up all theirp leave. Taking leave whenever you can ¡ª that¡¯s the best practice. Workday. Jiang Yuan drove his big G and only went to the office in the afternoon. The office was filled with smoke. Jiang Yuan was startled at first, then upon closer inspection, he saw it was Wang Zhong lighting incense. Wu Jun was beside him, even helping him hold the incense, lighting it¡­ After both devoutly prayed, they began to gather up various items. ¡°What¡¯s this for this time?¡± Jiang Yuan was somewhat moved; Comrade Wu Jun¡¯s contagiously peculiar hobby. Wang Zhong sighed, ¡°To ward off bad luck.¡± ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I just met with a girl I found online, she looked quite nice. Then it was supposed to just be a meal together, and at the end, the bill came to 8,800 yuan, with no discount,¡± Wang Zhong sighed. Jiang Yuan asked cautiously, ¡°A drinking scam?¡± Wang Zhong nodded gravely, ¡°I thought I had some charm.¡± Jiang Yuan said with augh, ¡°You¡¯ll have charm once you arrest them.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve been arrested,¡± Wang Zhong said. ¡°Did you arrest them on your own?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised, as drink scams usually involved group efforts. Otherwise, how would a delicate girl manage to swindle money? And Wang Zhong, being a technical police officer, wasn¡¯t renowned for hisbat prowess. As expected, Wang Zhong shook his head, ¡°I messaged Captain Wu, and he came with a team to do it.¡± ¡°How many did you catch?¡± ¡°Seven people,¡± Wang Zhong said. ¡°Squad one hasn¡¯t been busytely; half of them came in one go. From the owner of that scam bar to the staff, they were all arrested, and they¡¯re being interrogated now.¡± ¡°Well done! That¡¯s like Zhu Bajie eating porridge ¡ª taking the whole pot,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wang Zhong¡¯s mood perked up a bit, ¡°I will have a medal for valor, and so will squad one, and so will you. If it wasn¡¯t for you saying you¡¯d set me up with someone, I wouldn¡¯t have started chatting with them¡­¡± Chapter 221 - 221 213 Special ?221: Chapter 213 Special 221: Chapter 213 Special Investigation Center. Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun, and Wang Zhong came down to see what the fuss was about, only to find that the surveince room was already packed with several people. ¡°Doctor Wu.¡± ¡°Captain Liu¡­¡± ¡°Jiang¡­¡± Everyone greeted each other in a bit of a mess, then Wu Jun fiercely opened the lid, ¡°Is everybody here just cking off?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been pretty quiettely, not many cases,¡± Captain Liu Wenkai of the second team, who was in charge of major cases, let out a long sigh, ¡°The girls at Club K haven¡¯t been switched out for four or five months now. If this keeps up, I¡¯ll be wasting my informants¡¯ fees.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the problem if they don¡¯t switch out the girls?¡± Wang Zhong asked, puzzled. ¡°If they don¡¯t change the girls, fewer and fewer clients wille, and we¡¯ll get less and less information from Club K. If everyone startsmitting crimes in Ningtai and spends their money in Qinghe, where will we find our leads?¡± Captain Liu Wenkai sighed again, looked at Wang Zhong, and said, ¡°No wonder you got scammed by a ¡®drink pusher.¡¯ Wang Zhong¡¯s face turned red, ¡°She didn¡¯t scam me. I told Captain Wu about it, didn¡¯t I? Didn¡¯t they end up catching the whole gang because of me?¡± Feeling more sympathetic, Captain Liu Wenkai pointed at the surveince and said, ¡°Such a pretty girl, dating you online, even having meals with you, didn¡¯t you ever think how unreasonable that was? In the end, the bill was 6,500, get it?¡± ¡°8,800, the bill was 8,800,¡± Wang Zhong corrected Captain Liu. A detective beside them looking on for entertainment couldn¡¯t help but burst outughing. When Wang Zhong looked over, he exined, ¡°It¡¯s usually 6,500 for these scams. Maybe she asked for 8,800 because she got tired from chatting with you?¡± ¡°Chatting with me is tiring? I¡¯ve been on lots of blind dates, okay?¡± Wang Zhong was slightly defensive. Being duped in an online romance scam was bad enough; now, with all his colleagues watching the video, it felt even worse. Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t bear to stay any longer and turned to leave. Captain Liu, watching Wang Zhong¡¯s departing figure, earnestly educated the others, ¡°You have to tease him gradually, like petting a cat, hey, let him get used to being patted on the head before you try touching his belly. Don¡¯t just go for the crotch all at once.¡± Under Captain Liu¡¯s guidance, the conversation in the surveince room went downhill. Not long after, Jiang Yuan, growing bored of watching the interrogations, was about to leave when the door of the surveince room cked open. In walked Wang Zhong with a stern face, holding two printed fingerprint pages, ¡°Jiang, Captain Liu, I¡¯ve matched a fingerprint over here.¡± ¡°Whose?¡± Captain Liu Wenkai asked, somewhat surprised as he took a look. ¡°The ringleader inside,¡± Wang Zhong said with a twist of his mouth. ¡°I ran their fingerprints thoroughly. At position 27, I got a match for the ringleader¡¯s.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Wang Zhong. He had seen Wang Zhong¡¯s system setup; the guy set his fingerprint candidate number at twenty per page. Matching at the 27th position meant that Comrade Wang Zhong had finally learned how to turn a page. Congrattions are in order! During routine fingerprint analysis, if it¡¯s a full fingerprint against another full fingerprint, or a full fingerprint against a mostlyplete clear fingerprint, twenty is about enough. But criminals¡¯ fingerprints aren¡¯t alwaysplete. Wang Zhong was matching a full fingerprint against partial prints, and matching at position 27 was a pretty good result. It surpassed Wang Zhong¡¯s usual level of expertise. Captain Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t understand the specifics of fingerprints, but looking at the result, he couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Good job. This guy¡¯s a wanted fugitive with cases in other ces. Now, Captain Wu can have a field day digging into him.¡± Captain Liu Wenkai said this while sending a message to Wu Junhao in the interrogation room. Having concrete evidence in hand and mere bluffing are two different things. There is no right to remain silent during interrogation in China. If you don¡¯t know something, you can say so, but if the police have evidence against you, iming ignorance isn¡¯t going to fly. Wu Junhao in the interrogation room had already given the ringleader a legal primer, quickly leading to a breakdown. ¡°He¡¯s looking at seven years,¡± Captain Liu Wenkai chuckled from the surveince room. Wang Zhong rubbed his face, ¡°The fingerprints brought in here have to be checked by us anyway.¡± ¡°Good work. You need to maintain this attitude,¡± Captain Liu Wenkai advised Wang Zhong. ¡°Detest evil as you would an enemy, you understand? This is what detesting evil as you would an enemy looks like!¡± Wang Zhong did indeed have the appearance of an educated man. Everyone chatted andughed as they left the case handling center. In the afternoon, after filling out the previous reports, a perfect day came to an end. The police officers, with no overtime tasks, went home if they should go home, and arranged dinners if they should arrange dinners, blissfully overwhelmed. For the officers of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, it had been a while since they enjoyed this kind of pace of life. In the following days, life was very peaceful. Only Dazhuang was recruited to the Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, but there were no visible results in the short term. Monday. Jiang Yuan sat in the office, watering nts, chatting, and dealing withst week¡¯s documents. No new cases had arisen, so he opened the backend nning to y around with some fingerprints. Before he¡¯d worked for long, Huang Qiangmin entered the office. ¡°I¡¯m going to smoke a cigarette,¡± Wu Jun, familiar with Huang Qiangmin and seeing his expression, didn¡¯t want to get involved in any trouble. He picked up the pack of Jiang¡¯s Zhonghua Cigarettes from the desk and went out to y. Huang Qiangmin gave Wu Jun a smile, then pulled over a stool and sat down in front of Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Jiang Yuan, I have a case here, wondering if you could take a look at it.¡± ¡°What kind of case?¡± Seeing Huang Qiangmin asking him, Jiang Yuan knew it was not something simple. If it were a regr case, the captain could have just issued an order. There was no need for negotiation. Even if Huang Qiangmin valued Jiang Yuan, it would have been quite nice just to ask politely. Therefore, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s serious inquiry meant Jiang Yuan naturally needed to understand the situation. ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s a theft case. The case itself is not veryplicated, but the situation of the victim is a bit special, and I¡¯m afraid of offending people¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin again paused for a moment before continuing, ¡°The victim of the case is the boss of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical over here.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, then looked at Huang Qiangmin a bit skeptically: ¡°Do you know the boss of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical?¡± Jianyuan Pharmaceutical was a well-knownpany in Qinghe City and a major taxpayer with strong power. Moreover, Jianyuan started 20 years ago, which meant the boss of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical from 20 years ago already far surpassed the ranks of Huang Qiangmin, the captain of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. However, it seemed Huang Qiangmin was already a detachment captain back then. Knowing what Jiang Yuan was thinking, Huang Qiangmin stated directly, ¡°We met during a few cases before. But this time, Director Guan might have pointed them my way.¡± ¡°Then¡­ oh,¡± Jiang Yuan initially wanted to ask where the director was, but then realized immediately that he was not involved in the mess at all. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t overthink it; the case itself has nothing to do with us. The main issue is that Jianyuan wants to keep a low profile. They are nning to go public soon, and Yuan Jiansheng doesn¡¯t want to attract outside attention because of this incident. Jianyuan is one of the city¡¯s key enterprises,¡± Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a ¡°hm¡± and said, ¡°So tell me.¡± Huang Qiangmin considered his words, saying, ¡°Around 8 o¡¯clock this morning, Yuan Jiansheng discovered that the door to his study was open. Upon entering, he found some documents, money, and collectibles missing. Around 10 o¡¯clock in the morning, he had someone report the case, and after going through the motions, it came to us.¡± ¡°Is it specified that I take the case?¡± Jiang Yuan wanted to rify. Huang Qiangmin acknowledged with a ¡°hm¡± and said, ¡°Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t havee to our county station.¡± ¡°Alright. Should we go to the scene now?¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then added, ¡°I¡¯d like to bring my master along.¡± ¡°It would be good to take him along. Old Wu is quite cunning.¡± Huang Qiangmin was a bit unhappy, indicating that in Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, his credibility was less than Wu Jun¡¯s. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about that. He called Wu Jun, summoned him over, and asked Huang Qiangmin to repeat the matter. Without changing his expression, Wu Jun asked as if it were an everyday urrence, ¡°He doesn¡¯t want people to see what, the documents, the money, the collectibles, or something else?¡± ¡°To tell the truth, I don¡¯t know, and I can¡¯t be bothered to ask,¡± Huang Qiangmin, in front of Wu Jun, no longer held back, and said calmly, ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s find the thief first, and we¡¯ll talk about the restter.¡± ¡°Is it an inside job?¡± ¡°Probably. With the IPO on the horizon, chaos is everywhere.¡± Huang Qiangmin had seen and heard that many businesses, upon approaching their public listings, began to reveal all sorts of strange news, possibly more than what had cropped up over the previous ten to twenty years. ¡°Should we call economic investigation?¡± Wu Jun asked another question. Huang Qiangmin replied, ¡°It doesn¡¯t amount to an economic case, at least not now, no need to call them.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not even a body at the scene yet; two of us are going at once.¡± Wu Jun offered Jiang Yuan a cigarette, but Jiang Yuan, too busy to smoke, waved it off, so Wu Jun happily hooked it onto his ear. Chapter 222 - 222 114 Jianyuan Family Courtyard ?222: Chapter 114 Jianyuan Family Courtyard 222: Chapter 114 Jianyuan Family Courtyard Qinghe City. Jianyuan Family Courtyard. Behind the two six-story buildings, there is a sinuous path that stretches for a kilometer. Several vis are hidden among them, all grand stand-alone houses in the bold style. Seated in the front row of the electric cart, Huang Qiangmin turned his head and whispered, ¡°These vis are all built by Jianyuan themselves, the small western-style buildings in front are dormitories for thepany¡¯s key technical personnel, and the vis in the back are for experts and general managers, the Jianyuan CEO¡¯s family also lives around here.¡± ¡°What about the property management?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the young man driving the electric cart. The presence of a young property manager indicated good quality. ¡°Jianyuan¡¯s own property managementpany. They¡¯ve also developed real estate in the city.¡± ¡°Then the surveince here must be quiteprehensive.¡± Huang Qiangmin shook his head slightly and said, ¡°The CEO of Jianyuan doesn¡¯t like installing surveince in the residentialmunity.¡± Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun looked at each other, speechless. Burries are actually not easy to solve; the murder case Jiang Yuan had just worked on in Longli County was essentially a burry too. The CEO of Jianyuan had made special arrangements to control the spread of information, which only added to the difficulty of the case. Not to mention anything else, but a thorough investigation was the first thing to be ruled out. The electric cart journey took several minutes, fully demonstrating the concept of a winding, secluded path. Moreover, unlike typicalmercial vimunities, the vis in Jianyuan¡¯s self-builtmunity are quite spaced apart, with roads wider than average ¨C each vi separated by trees, bamboo, and shrubs, along with some low walls, all of which provided utmost privacy. However, the total area was still notrge. And it seemed that only half the vis were upied. ¡°Not fully upied? I see many vis are empty?¡± This time, Jiang Yuan directly asked the young driver. ¡°Right, these vis don¡¯t have property rights, they are only for living; some people don¡¯t like it much and after living here for a while, they move out. Thepany usually reserves them for a while, and if they¡¯re still vacant, they¡¯ll take them back until next time for redistribution,¡± the driver said, pausing before adding, ¡°Many residents here move away after a few years.¡± Basically, it was still like a dormitory, yet with better conditions and more suitable for older employees with families. Upon further consideration, it indicated that Jianyuan must provide quite generouspensation to its senior employees; otherwise, they would have preferred to live in these vis. ¡°So if one leaves thepany, they must move out, correct?¡± Jiang Yuan asked again. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Is the turnover rate high?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t really say,¡± the clever young driver responded. Jiang Yuan smiled; looking at the family courtyard, the inner circle of Jianyuan¡¯s senior management was quite interesting indeed. Jiang Yuan kept observing. From what he saw, it would take a normal person some time to walk within such amunity; it would definitely take ten minutes, or even a quarter of an hour, to reach a vi¡¯s doorstep. But if one ignored these natural and semi-natural barriers and chose a straight path, bringing over a parkour enthusiast could mean getting out of themunity in two or three minutes. The only real obstacles in the area were the low walls. Schrubs or bamboo thickets could obscure the view, but they couldn¡¯t stop someone. Of course, this meant one might get their clothes dirty or even torn, and scratches on the skin were also a possibility. On the other hand, one couldn¡¯t carry too much or too heavy items. With various thoughts in mind, Jiang Yuan arrived at the grandest mansion deep inside themunity. Upon entering, he saw a gathering of twenty to thirty people in the yard. Old and young, men and women, some were chatting in suits and shirts, while others were indulging in theirptops or phones alone. The one center-stage, surrounded by many, must be Yuan Jiansheng. Noticing Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan after being prompted, he immediately stood up to greet them. ¡°Mr. Yuan, hello,¡± Huang Qiangmin said in a neither servile nor overbearing manner. He hade in his police uniform, which aimed to limit the spread of news, facilitating the listing work of key local enterprises. Any further concessions were uneptable to Huang Qiangmin. ¡°Captain Huang, thank you for your hard work,¡± Yuan Jiansheng said, looking like a boss yet speaking quite modestly, ¡°Seeing youe brings me some relief. I have already asked my family to move out of their rooms. Have a look around and tell me if you need anything else from us.¡± Huang Qiangmin looked towards Jiang Yuan. ¡°This must be Officer Jiang Yuan,¡± Yuan Jiansheng said as he shook hands with Jiang Yuan, ¡°I¡¯ve heard from friends that you are the pinnacle of Qinghe City¡¯s criminal investigation field. Please, I entrust this case to you.¡± Dozens of people at the scene turned to look at Jiang Yuan in an instant. Jiang Yuan was still a bit unused to this, as people generally wouldn¡¯t take the initiative to shake hands with a forensic doctor. Thispany executive had something special about him. And he had a way with words. Jiang Yuan even felt slightly embarrassed and said, ¡°I have some aplishments, but they¡¯re not through the roof or anything.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the general consensus now. Like the chief of the Qinghe Bureau, even now when he speaks, he says Officer Jiang is a miracle in the police force¡­ ¡®Through the roof¡¯ is what a friend from the provincial department said. They said that cases that others find impossible be child¡¯s y in your hands¡­¡± Yuan Jiansheng praised Jiang Yuan while also unting his own extensive connections. Jiang Yuan was even more surprised. He had never met the chief of the Qinghe Bureau face to face, and he had no idea who the provincial department was referring to. At the same time, Yuan Jiansheng didn¡¯t leave Huang Qiangmin and Wu Jun out, turning his head and with a few words made them unable to resist smiling. He was an expert at speaking, once convincing a man to fork out millions for him in just three sentences. If this listing was sessful, he could make a hundred thousand men and a hundred thousand women blush and moan with the softest of voices. ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look at the scene first. Have the investigation equipments been brought over?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Huang Qiangmin. ¡°They¡¯ve been ced inside the door,¡± said Huang Qiangmin, before adding, ¡°There are two technicians from the Qinghe City Bureau inside to assist you.¡± Jiang Yuan nced around at everyone, knowing that these people were likely to be Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s suspects, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been gathered in the courtyard, no longer working. The possible theft in the study of an executive about to take hispany public would naturally lead to considering acquaintances as the culprits, and there was nothing wrong with that. Jiang Yuan would do the same. ¡°Let me take a photo of everyone,¡± Jiang Yuan said, turning around before entering the door. He took out his phone and clicked away, taking several photos. Some who wanted to dodge couldn¡¯t manage to do so. Of course, most knew it was futile to try. Jiang Yuan did it just in case someone had an ¡¯emergency¡¯ that necessitated leaving, which would change the list of names. Such things had happened before. Yuan Jiansheng, as a major figure, could call 30 people over without issue. But keeping an eye on 30 people was actually quite difficult, and if someone quietly slipped away after a quick word, they could easily be left off the list. Wu Jun followed Jiang Yuan into the grand house. As soon as the door opened, the sight that greeted them was a beautiful shadow wall, a dozen boxes, and two surveyors, all ced there. The two scene surveyors from the Qinghe City Bureau¡ªone skinny, around 50 years old, who Jiang Yuan had met once; the other chubby, in his early twenties, slightly older than Jiang Yuan¡ªclearly had an apprentice-master dynamic simr to that between Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun. After mutual greetings and brief exchanges, Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation had spread throughout Qinghe City in the past six months, and the recent reservoir drowning case, which was managed by the Qinghe City Bureau, had just concluded not long ago. Therefore, even though they had not chatted privately, the forensic technicians from the Qinghe City Bureau were very familiar with Jiang Yuan. The two were sent by the city bureau to assist Jiang Yuan, so there was nopetitive tension; instead, they were all business. Jiang Yuan checked the investigation boxes again and each carrying a box, headed straight for the study. Passing through the living room, they saw the dazzling sunlight shining down on a pair of double helix staircases that stretched from the bottom to the top, impressive in their grandeur. ¡°Now, this is what you call a house.¡± The twenty-something chubby surveyor was full of envy and turned to ask, ¡°Master, have you ever seen a house like this before?¡± ¡°I have, also in this European style, four stories high, several thousand square meters. Four people died in one go there, and the blood flowed down from the second-floor staircase, creating a blood-stained stairway¡­¡± the skinny surveyor reminisced leisurely. The chubby surveyor trembled, his envy instantly vanishing. The skinny surveyor then looked at Wu Jun and joked, ¡°You rarelye to scenes without a dead body, right? I know Jiang Yuan often runs to other scenes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the same for me,¡± said Wu Jun, very calmly, ¡°Sometimes, after I collect the bodies, I still have to inspect the scene, right? The ones where there¡¯s little or no bleeding, after the bodies are removed, it¡¯s the same thing. Wearing a talisman of Lord Guan, or a Bodhisattva, or a cross, they all work¡­¡± The first half was fine, but the second half once more stunned the chubby surveyor. ¡°What happens if you don¡¯t wear one?¡± the chubby surveyor asked. ¡°Nothing much, I just sometimes have bad dreams, like waking up from a pool of blood, and sometimes I can even feel my mouth filled with blood, sticky all over. The scariest is getting up and finding myself surrounded by bodies, some even dissected, and when I finally look at the faces, they¡¯re often people I know¡­ Wearing a talisman of Lord Guan stops all that.¡± Wu Jun¡¯s tone was light. The chubby surveyor swallowed hard and unconsciously touched his own chest. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but touch his pocket too. Before he left, he had given his master half a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, and his master had given him a carved bamboo talisman of Lord Guan in return. Chapter 223 - 223 215 Picking the Lock ?223: Chapter 215: Picking the Lock 223: Chapter 215: Picking the Lock Outside the door. Huang Qiangmin began to take statements from a group of people again. Previously, when two scene-of-crime officers of different physiques came from Qinghe City, they had already taken their statements, but Huang Qiangmin wanted to do it again. Yuan Jiansheng, although also finding it troublesome, still tried his best to cooperate. With him setting an example, the others, even if reluctant, had to follow suit and give their statements. It took several hours for Huang Qiangmin to take the statements of more than thirty people, even though he was focusing on key questions. Everyone was exhausted by the process. Huang Qiangmin also had to muster his energy to finish taking the statements before he entered the mansion. The luxurious decorations could not spark his interest at all, for he had seen luxurious mansions that Wu Jun had seen too, and he had even dreamed simr dreams to Wu Jun¡¯s¡ªit¡¯s just that Lord Guan did not bless him. ¡°How did it go?¡± As Huang Qiangmin arrived outside the study, he saw that the doorway was already cordoned off, so he stood outside the tape, looking at the few people bustling inside, and asked, ¡°Were you able to collect any evidence?¡± Upon hearing the voice, Jiang Yuan straightened up and, with a grunt, said, ¡°We collected a lot.¡± ¡°Are there any traces of evidence tampering?¡± asked Huang Qiangmin. ¡°A bit, but not much,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Huang Qiangmin frowned, unsurprised, ¡°An inside job?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say.¡± Jiang Yuan then turned around to lift another fingerprint. The chubby officer beside him was dusting for prints while Wu Jun and the skinny scene-of-crime officer were sweeping desks and other surfaces, trying to avoid bending over and killing their backs. Huang Qiangmin sighed, ¡°These family businesses are always more troublesome. Now, the head and the third son of their family are holding important positions in thepany, and thepetition has been fiercetely. I don¡¯t rule out the possibility of them sneaking into the study to y tricks. Moreover, there are other original shareholders of thepany and management who might have their own thoughts about the uing IPO.¡± ¡°Right, there¡¯s also the issue of information disclosure.¡± Huang Qiangmin summarized the information he gathered, ¡°Many people at Jianyuan Company are not very clear about the IPO details. There is a huge opportunity for arbitrage there. It¡¯s possible¡­ they came over to collect some information.¡± Jiang Yuan finished collecting fingerprints and looked up at Huang Qiangmin, saying, ¡°There are also quite a few valuable items missing.¡± ¡°Compared to the value of these documents, it¡¯s just a drop in the bucket,¡± Huang Qiangmin said. ¡°To a thief, it¡¯s already enough,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out. ¡°Among the missing items, there is a jadeite carving, a jade paperweight, as well as cash, wristwatches, luxury pens, andputer essories, all of high value.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± The stream of thought in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind was somewhat affected by the images from taking statements earlier; it had been a while since he had worked on a case, especially after Jiang Yuan arrived, seeing as the case clearance rate in Ningtai County had been extremely high. Most significant cases had been sessfully solved, which nearly removed Huang Qiangmin from front-line duty. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation piqued Huang Qiangmin¡¯s different sense of the situation. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t y coy any longer; he took out his phone, scrolled through several photos, and handed them to Huang Qiangmin, saying, ¡°There are traces of technical lock-picking on the study door.¡± What Huang Qiangmin saw were the photos Jiang Yuan had taken of the inner wall of the keyhole. With another light source illuminating the side, faint scratches on the inner wall were indistinctly captured. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t try too hard to identify them since this wasn¡¯t his area of expertise; he simply asked intently, ¡°What method was used to open it?¡± ¡°Picking the pins,¡± Jiang Yuan provided the answer. There are many ways to pick locks technically, and it might seem like there are numerous methods if one watches them in movies. In reality, the technical methods for burrious opening of door locks or mechanical locks can be summarized into just six types. The simplest and mostmon is the credit card method, which is often depicted in various online videos, where a bank card is used to slide open a door lock. This method requires the door not to be deadbolted and the gap between the door and the frame to be sizable. It is the most basic and weakest lock-picking method. Next is forced entry, often used in electric scooter theft, which involves simply breaking the lock. This method relies on a weak lock cylinder. There are also other methods like slipping thetch, where one hooks the inside door handle through a peephole or under the door, as well as picking the lock with a duplicate key. The aforementioned five methods can be mastered by ordinary people with some study, mostly within tens of hours. For those with a knack for it, mastery can be achieved in just a few hours. However, these five methods of lock-picking ultimately exploit the deficiencies and negligence of the door lock, the door itself, or the key holder. The truly technical and universally applicable method of lock-picking is what Jiang Yuan referred to as ¡°picking the pins.¡± The principle is to insert a hook needle into the lock hole and simte the key¡¯s locking mechanism by adjusting the positions of the spring pins to unlock the door. Because all the pins are chamfered at both ends during the manufacturing process, by moving the first pin with a specialized tool, leveraging the gap caused by the size error of the pins, it can be set to the unlocking position. Then, another specialized tool is used to prevent the first pin from resetting, and another hook needle is used to continue moving the second pin. By repeating this process, all pins can be set to the unlocking position. At that moment, for the lock core, it¡¯s as if it were tightly engaged by a key. Therefore, with this method, unless it¡¯s a lock that doesn¡¯t require a key, as long as the technique is practiced enough, there is no lock that cannot be opened. However, even with proficient skills, facing those locks without obvious ws, especially high-security locks designed to be tamper-resistant, unlocking them could take a considerably longer time. In movies, locks that can be opened in a minute or so are theoretically substandard for lock picking and can be forcibly broken or bypassed without needing such a troublesome method as lock picking. If we judge by technical levels, mastering 5 types of lock-opening solutions and asionally using lock picking would be considered a level LV1 skill. To open Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s study door, at the very least a LV2 lock-picking skill level would be required. In other words, Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s study door was opened by a professional thief. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind raced. Among the nearly thirty people who were rounded up in the courtyard earlier, was there a professional thief? It was unlikely. Even if someone had an unusual hobby, the lock picking technique requiring the hook needles is quite challenging in terms of skill proficiency. A professional thief, upon being caught and made to sew in prison for three to five years, might emerge with enriched theoretical knowledge and a moreprehensive strategic mindset, but their hands would certainly be rusty and would require a period of practice to regain their skill. And among those thirty or so people in the courtyard, was there anyone who would meticulously prepare their skills for precisely this moment? It¡¯s not impossible, just a bit foolish. The lock on Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s study door is of excellent quality, and the difficulty of picking it is likewise tremendous. Even for a very professional thief, facing such a mechanical lock, it would take a certain amount of time to open, and typically, an aplice would need to provide lighting assistance to facilitate the operation. Also, while using the lock picking technique that involves hook needles, wearing gloves is very inconvenient, and many thieves falter at this step. If Huang Qiangmin were in a simr situation and wanted to unlock it, he would rather find a way to secretly make a copy of the key for Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s study. Prior to this, the keys to Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s study weren¡¯t kept under strict control, and acquaintances could possibly have copies made. From this perspective, since the study door was opened using the lock picking method, the likelihood of it being an inside job bes very slim. Imagine apany executive in their forties or fifties, bringing along a lock-picking expert, or themselves with a trusted aplice, squatting in front of the study, sticking out their rear, spending over a dozen, perhaps even twenty to thirty minutes, slowly opening the lock. Any way you think about it, it resembles a fool¡¯s errand. ¡°So, could the case really be about seeking money?¡± Huang Qiangmin thought about the statements he just took and felt a pain in his hand. ¡°Based on the evidence collected so far, amon burry aimed at theft, with the additional possibility of stealing some documents, seems even more likely,¡± Jiang Yuan answered. Scenes and words of caution from leaders at all levels came flooding back into Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind. Was it all for naught? Huang Qiangmin asked, ¡°What evidence do we have now, and what evidence is still needed?¡± Jiang Yuan considered for a moment, then said: ¡°The safe door has been wiped clean but not opened.¡± ¡°The trash can contains condoms and semen stains. There are cigarette butts. There are traces of saliva and spitting.¡± ¡°Drawers and cabs bear signs of having been pried open and rifled through.¡± ¡°There are a lot of fingerprints and palm prints, but there probably won¡¯t be any major surprises. There are glove marks.¡± ¡°Footprints are messy, with documents having been trampled on. Based on the footprints, they belong to two men, one of whom is about 1.6 meters tall and lighter in weight.¡± Huang Qiangmin realized upon hearing this that indeed, based on the evidence, the case seemed more like the work of strangers rather than insiders. ¡°Keep the case confidential for now,¡± Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment and admonished the four people. Yuan Jiansheng is not a criminal investigator and does not view problems with a detective¡¯s perspective. For Jianyuan Company, which is in the process of going public, Yuan Jiansheng is in his most suspicious phase; without solid evidence, he won¡¯t be convinced. But for Huang Qiangmin, everything can wait until the case is solved. Chapter 224 - 224 216 Yuan Yutang ?224: Chapter 216 Yuan Yutang 224: Chapter 216 Yuan Yutang Jianyuan Avenue. The road was nked by dense rows of tall trees and bamboo groves. Behind the bamboo, there were countless small diners. Company employees who didn¡¯t wish to eat in the canteen wandered this street, like foraging antelopes, putting efforts into fattening themselves up. Jiang Yuan and his group found a noodle shop and each ordered a bowl of noodles with three times the usual amount of braised beef, before sitting on the second floor, wearily enjoying the view outside the window. The lush bamboo, roughly one and a half stories tall, formed a beautiful canopy of greenery, allowing speckles of sunlight to filter through. The long tables in the little diner were oily and shiny but still reasonably clean, and the bowls for the noodles were quite characteristic¡ªhuge enough to fit a head inside, though tapering from wide at the top to narrow at the bottom, the actual serving size remained the same. The brimming bowls of spicy oily noodles were shiny and red, tempting one¡¯s appetite. The braised beef topping the noodles had just the right mix of fat and lean, stewed to extreme tenderness. The soup was a slightly salty thick broth, and the noodles were freshly kneaded thick strands. They slurped their food with gusto. A grueling five-hour scene investigation had drained them of their energy and physical strength for the day. ¡°It would be best if we could catch the person and recover the stolen goods at the same time, cleaning up the case neatly,¡± Huang Qiangmin finished hisst bite of noodles, wiped his mouth, and started talking about the case again. There weren¡¯t many customers on the second floor, creating an even more rxed atmosphere. Jiang Yuan also put down his bowl and hummed in agreement, ¡°That would indeed be best.¡± Wu Jun chuckled and, interpreting his apprentice¡¯s words, said, ¡°Captain Huang, we can¡¯t just think about the best-case scenario.¡± ¡°I know, I know¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin massaged his head and then frowned slightly, adding, ¡°The key is still to find where the documents are. If we can find the documents, that would relieve much of the problem.¡± ¡°Given Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s intent, even if the documents are recovered, he still wants to know who got their hands on them and whose hands they¡¯ve passed through,¡± said the slim scene investigator from Qinghe City, likely acting on instructions and demands from higher-ups. Local police serve the locality¡ªit¡¯s unavoidable. Even though Ningtai County is under Qinghe City¡¯s jurisdiction, there¡¯s still a gap between the county and the city when ites to enterprises. For Qinghe City Bureau, it¡¯s truly imperative to ensure the sessful stock market listing of a keypany on the verge of going public. Huang Qiangmin scoffed, ¡°As if we¡¯re counterespionage agents, caring about whose hands it passed through¡­ It would be good enough to find the documents. If someone burned or lost them, that¡¯s how it¡¯ll be. We have our limits¡ªif we can¡¯t manage, then we can¡¯t. All I can do is try my best to catch the people and find the items. As for what happens in the middle, whether we can extract confessions or not, it¡¯s up to fate.¡± The slim scene investigator thought to himself, if you had no desires, why be here? Fine words are easy to say, but when the leader calls, will you pick up or not? However, he wasn¡¯t part of thepany nor was he in a position tomand or supervise Huang Qiangmin¡¯s actions. Once he had made his thoughts clear, it was out of his hands how Huang Qiangmin would proceed. Besides, Huang Qiangmin¡¯sments had eased their pressure. Indeed, rifying the intermediate steps was highlyplex. It wasn¡¯t enough to extract a confession; they had to prove it. If the documents had value, certain middle stages might only be known to the trading parties. So what could they do? If the documents were worthless to the thief and had been discarded outright, figuring out what happened during the disposal would be difficult to verify. Panting, panting¡­ The chubby scene investigator, facing his second bowl of noodles, ate earnestly and joyfully, sweat beading on his forehead. The slim scene investigator handed him a tissue, sighing, ¡°No one¡¯s fighting you for it, why eat so fast?¡± ¡°I¡¯m afraid there won¡¯t be anything to eat tonight,¡± the chubby investigator continued diligently, ¡°I¡¯d rather be full now than regret eating instant noodlester.¡± ¡°You knew you would have to work through the night?¡± asked the slim scene investigator. ¡°With cases like this, who doesn¡¯t stay upte?¡± reasoned the chubby man convincingly. As they were talking, a high-ranking executive from Jianyuan Company walked in. He was smartly dressed in a suit and polished shoes, the epitome of a sessful businessman, with not a hair out of ce. ¡°What a coincidence,¡± the executive said with a warm smile. Huang Qiangmin frowned, ¡°Privately contacting the case officers is not good for you.¡± The executive said earnestly, ¡°Officer, I wanted to report some information. It¡¯s not appropriate to discuss it inside thepany. When Yuan Yutang was young, he was involved with the underworld. He knows a lot of petty thieves.¡± He was talking about Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s third son, also a key yer in the Jianyuan Company session battle. An especially lively individual. Jiang Yuan remembered during the photo session, that man even made faces¡ªa memorable impression. Huang Qiangmin was nomittal, ¡°And then?¡± ¡°To be honest, someone like me would have to search online or ask friends to find a locksmith, or look in the old, rundown alleys. But Yuan Yutang can not only find the local ones, he¡¯s also familiar with those from other ces¡ªprofessional thieves, even hired thugs from other regions, he can find them all,¡± the executive stated earnestly. ¡°He used to be involved with the criminal underworld, and now he¡¯s been called out by Yuan Jiansheng, but people don¡¯t change,¡± he continued. Huang Qiangmin hummed in acknowledgement and asked, ¡°Where did you get this information? Are we looking for professional thieves?¡± ¡°Captain Huang, aren¡¯t you underestimating me?¡± said the middle-aged executive, giving a knowing look, then added, ¡°Anyway, the third son has always been mischievous. He¡¯s from the generation that grew up watching ¡®Young and Dangerous,¡¯ and although he¡¯s been better in recent years and being propped up by a bunch of old men aiming for power, he¡¯s still the same at heart. Resorting to such tactics¡ªit could only be him.¡± Chapter 225 - 225 216 Yuan Yutang_2 ?225: Chapter 216 Yuan Yutang_2 225: Chapter 216 Yuan Yutang_2 ¡°Alright, we¡¯ve received your message,¡± Huang Qiangmin pulled out a notebook to record the statement, jotting it down. After all, having information to note was better than having none at all. The middle-aged executive felt he hadn¡¯t achieved the effect he expected, but without saying more, he nodded and left, chest puffed and head held high. Once downstairs, he even patted his trousers. Contemting the bunch of poor cops, he figured this was probably the only kind of restaurant they could afford. The chubby crime scene investigator had put down his chopsticks at the arrival of the visitors, and now he craned his neck to peer through the ss at the man¡¯s actions, asking rather oddly, ¡°Have we gotten wrapped up in a family feud drama?¡± ¡°Hardly. It¡¯s just a publicpany, with a mere scale of tens of billions¡­,¡± the slender investigator began, clicking his tongue twice in resignation, ¡°If it were mine, I wouldn¡¯t be content either. Why should someone born just a few years earlier inherit a fortune of over ten billion, while the rest of the brothers have to live in his shadow¡­¡± The chubby investigator looked up with his triple chin and asked, ¡°So, speaking of which, does that make the third brother really suspicious, could he be the one who had someone steal the documents?¡± As the Master, and the older and more sensitive of the two, the slender forensic doctor did not make a sound but smiled and looked towards Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan and the others. This case was merely for them to assist with. If it was solved, they were good assistants. If not, they were still assistants. Huang Qiangmin also had his doubts and asked Jiang Yuandao, ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Jiang replied directly, ¡°Our current evidence is substantial, just follow the evidence and that will do.¡± Huang Qiangmin and Wu Jun unconsciously nodded along. It wasn¡¯t that they fully agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s method, but after working together for so long, Jiang¡¯s work style and efficiency in solving cases were well recognized. Huang Qiangmin himself wouldn¡¯t even consider taking on the case if it meant solving it on his own. Of course, if it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan, as the captain of the detective brigade in a remote county, he would not have had ess to such a case. The Qinghe City Bureau likely wanted to avoid assuming responsibility, considering conflict of interest, but overall, their final decision was based on their recognition of Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities. After all, the main objective that could be voiced by the primary authority was to solve the case and recover the lost property, while maintaining confidentiality to a certain extent would be ideal. ¡°Let¡¯s go. Time to work,¡± Huang Qiangmin called out, and the group headed downstairs to the street-level police station. There, with ess to the internalwork and having downloaded the required software, they couldpare fingerprints in the advanced database. Otherwise, using only a mobile phone or regr inte, one could only check the basic database. Jiang Yuan had aputer and thus went to work on fingerprint analysis by himself. The two crime scene investigators took various lists sent over by the bureau and began sorting through them; if a check was necessary, they needed to establish a scope. Although examining the lists was not the best approach, for such cases, there were only so many routes to take. Wu Jun just brewed a cup of tea, watching Huang Qiangmin chat with the precinct chief. Since there was no body involved, there was nothing else he could really do as he was just apanying the group. Evening arrived. The stylishly dressed younger brother Yuan Yutang, the third brother raised on Young and Dangerous movies ording to the executive, showed up. Yuan Yutang was in trendy attire. Putting together a pair of floral pants with a red shirt. He was more mboyant than how his father had been in the morning. A few underlings followed him, but he entered by himself. When he saw Jiang, who was working, he sauntered over, sizing him up from head to toe, and said, ¡± ¡°Officer Jiang, nice color coordination. You look way above the standard.¡± The third brother pointed at thebination of Jiang¡¯s shirt and trousers. Jiang was still in his police trousers, but for working in the evening, he had changed into his own shirt. He had previously received a legacy of trendy clothing (LV2) and had not made a point of using it, but now he naturally wore it. His tall stature often made it unnecessary to look at his face; his height was enough to stand out among men. Now, he looked moreposed than when he first joined the bureau, no longer as fresh-faced. His attire was also sharp and stylish. Within the police station, only forensic doctors cared about fashion¡ªbecause they often had to describe the victims¡¯ clothing in their reports¡ªbut Master Wu Jun¡¯s taste in clothes was still stuck in thest century, indifferent to Jiang Yuan and the attire of the recently deceased. Jiang Yuan sized up the third son, Yuan Yutang, wondering if his sexual orientation was a bit off. Mainly because the guy wore a pair of Gi leather slippers, the gold ones, adorned with a mess of shiny essories, and his face was painted with light makeup, surpassing the self-cultivation of a rich second generation. Even though Jiang Yuan was highly skilled in footprint identification, on first sight of such a pair of shoes, he almost eximed in surprise. Thinking back to how the man appeared during the day, all suited up like a business elite, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt that the Yuan father and sons were particrly suspect. The third son didn¡¯t care about Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze; he had dressed this way on purpose. He took the lead and then directly stated his purpose: ¡°Officer Jiang, I¡¯m here to provide you with clues.¡± Huang Qiangmin and the others perked up their ears. The third son said, ¡°My eldest brother is very utilitarian. He¡¯s the type to work on something until five in the morning to get it done. The old man has been talking about handing thepany over to him for more than a decade now. If I were my brother, I wouldn¡¯t be able to stand it.¡± Seeing Jiang Yuan listening intently, he continued, ¡°I know there were some paparazzi tattling to you guys today about my past, and I admit to those incidents, but who hasn¡¯t been young? Let me tell you, whenever I got into a fight, I was the one standing at the back yelling the loudest, too scared to step forward, just all talk. This time, I have absolutely nothing to do with the incident.¡± The third son found it somewhat stimting to dissect his past in front of the officers, and went on: ¡°My elder brother has issues, but my second brother is the real scoundrel. You see how he behaves, indulging in food and fun, not caring about thepany, huh, in reality, he reaches out his hand further than anyone else. I caught him dining privately with an old man from thepany.¡± ¡°This time, my second brother could very well be trying to take out both me and my elder brother.¡± ¡°How is he nning to take you out?¡± Jiang Yuan asked back. ¡°The IPO was led by my eldest brother. My father is old-fashioned, initially wanting a family business. But now that the city has requirements, and my brother wants to go public to raise money, the other members of the board are also interested, so my father agreed,¡± the third son paused, then said, ¡°If I¡¯m framed for stealing those items, and at the same time, those documents get leaked to botch the IPO, wouldn¡¯t my father be forced to choose my second brother?¡± The third son said what he came to say and turned to leave, then looked back at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Buddy, when you crack the case, let¡¯s have a drink together, I like the look of you.¡± Jiang Yuan stared at his shoes and shook his head, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it after the case is solved.¡± ¡°Alright, I won¡¯t bother you then,¡± said the third son and swaggered off. Jiang Yuan and his colleagues nced at each other and got back to work. Just as Xiao Pang said, with a case like this, there was no avoiding the all-nighters. But they didn¡¯t need to burn the midnight oil for too long. Three in the morning. Jiang Yuan matched a fingerprint. Just as he suspected, it belonged to a 35-year-old professional thief with twenty years of history in the field, half of his life spent in prison. This time, he left two fingerprints on the inner side of the doorframe, likely from when he first opened the door. The subsequent wiping missed this spot. Fingerprints are the greatest enemy of professional thieves. The study door of the Yuan Residence was sophisticated enough that even a professional thief would need to concentrate intently and could not wear gloves while picking the lock, as it would change the sensation in the fingers and greatly reduce the efficiency. As for wiping off fingerprints, thieves were never quite professional enough at that either. Jiang Yuan sent all the information to Huang Qiangmin, then watched him wake up Wu Junhao and the others from the first squad with his phone and return with the Fat-and-Thin duo to the nearby hotel to rest. The next day. Jiang Yuan was still in a deep sleep when he was awakened by a call from Huang Qiangmin. ¡°Are we setting off?¡± Jiang Yuan asked groggily. ¡°The third son is dead,¡± Huang Qiangmin said sinctly. ¡°One minute,¡± Jiang Yuan was fully awake now. Chapter 226 - 226 217 The Cave of Blood Curtains ?226: Chapter 217: The Cave of Blood Curtains 226: Chapter 217: The Cave of Blood Curtains The third brother died in his own house. This was an apartment located in the city center. It wasn¡¯t very big, around a hundred square meters, but half of it had high ceilings, extravagantly decorated like the luxurious American-style apartments seen on television. The body of the third brothery in the open space, next to that of his current boyfriend. Blood flowed down from the open level, not only following the stairs but also seeping through the gaps in the railing at the front of the open level. One could imagine that in the brief time when there was plenty of blood, this luxurious apartment in the city center resembled a grotto formed of dripping blood, with a waterfallposed of blood quietly plunging from the open level, dividing the room in two. Even now, thick blood continued to drip from the open level, either dropping steadily or trailing downward in long strands. ¡°I really want to show this ghastly scene to those who buy haunted houses,¡± the fat man said as he stood at the door, looking up at the falling drops of blood, tasting yesterday¡¯s noodle vor in his throat. ¡°Has your family suggested you buy a haunted house?¡± The skinny scene investigator was the fat man¡¯s master and knew about his family affairs. The fat man gave an ¡°Mhm,¡± and said, ¡°They think since I¡¯m always dealing with dead bodies, living in a haunted house wouldn¡¯t matter. Plus I¡¯m young and full of yang energy, so if I live there for a while, the haunted house might even get better. When it¡¯s time to sell, it might fetch the price of a normal house¡­ I firmly disagreed, so we dropped the idea.¡± ¡°Not all haunted houses are like this,¡± the skinny scene investigator said as he looked at the bloody grotto and asked, ¡°Why didn¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°Because I can¡¯t afford a haunted house either,¡± the fat man replied, then asked, ¡°Where do we start?¡± The skinny scene investigator looked toward Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Follow Dr. Jiang and assist him.¡± This was the jurisdiction of Qianjin District in Qinghe City, and the homicide fell under the responsibility of the Qianjin District Criminal Police Brigade. The brigade chief was Lei Xin, whom Jiang Yuan had met before. Having previously worked with Jiang Yuan on a case involving the burning of a corpse, Lei Xin made the call to him immediately upon confirming the identity of the victims and learning that Jiang Yuan was working on rted cases. Now, Qianjin District¡¯s technicians were sweeping the perimeter, while the second-floor open level, especially the bodies, remained untouched, waiting for Jiang Yuan to process them. Jiang Yuan dressed neatly and climbed the stairs with Wu Jun. Transparent acrylic stools had beenid out in front of them, to avoid disturbing the scene as much as possible, especially avoiding the creation of additional bloody footprints. The four lined up and slowly ascended the stairs. Two male bodies, half-naked from the waist up, covered in blood,y within a pool of blood. Thinking that he had just seen one of the men yesterday, the fat scene investigator felt his throat grow itchier. ¡°Take careful photographs of all the bloody footprints,¡± Jiang Yuan first instructed after a brief overview of the scene. Although Wu Jun was the master, he now wisely stepped aside, picked up the camera, and started taking pictures. In a murder scene, the bodies are naturally of paramount importance, but solving the case does not always depend solely on them. Other information surrounding the bodies can sometimes make it easier to crack the case. For Jiang Yuan, the bloodstains smearing the scene provided an abundance of information. Reconstructing the crime scene was something he had done countless times. With such expertise as a foundation, the efficiency of collecting and organizing information at the scene was remarkably high. Take fingerprint lifting, for example. No crime scene investigator meticulously scrutinizes every inch. Lifting fingerprints over arge area usually involves using a forensic light; a simple shine could reveal many fingerprints. But this is mainly used outdoors. Indoors, fingerprints are everywhere, so one must discern which are the victims¡¯ and which are useful. Otherwise, a scene investigator would never bring home hundreds of fingerprints without getting scolded by the trace evidence team. A moremon approach is for crime scene officers to analyze the onset of the incident, guess the trajectory of the case based on the scene, and then check for fingerprints where the criminal is likely to have left them. Just as Jiang Yuan did yesterday. The ces where thieves are most likely to leave fingerprints are around the door locks because they take off their gloves to work, then wipe the fingerprints, which is very prone to oversights. As for inside the house, thieves often put on gloves again, so searching for fingerprints bes meaningless. Therefore, if one can determine the criminal¡¯s modus operandi by reconstructing the crime scene, evidence collection bes simpler and moreprehensive. However, Jiang Yuan felt he wouldn¡¯t need this approach for today¡¯s crime scene. He observed each bloody footprint carefully and quickly formed an idea in his mind. ¡°The killer is 25 years old, could go up to around 28. Actual height¡­ should be around 170cm, weight 140 pounds¡­¡± Jiang Yuan found two particrly clear bloody footprints and closely examined them for a while beforeing to a conclusion. The most famous crime scene investigator in Qinghe City was Chen Wenming, who was not present this time. As a subordinate of Chen Wenming, the fat scene investigator had witnessed Chen analyzing footprints, butpared to Jiang Yuan¡¯s method, he felt as if Jiang Yuan were possessed by a deity. Those in forensics knew that while some parameters could be set broadly with ease, narrowing them down required consideration of multiple factors and was quite difficult. Jiang Yuan dared to offer such a string of conclusions, which made Pang Kan a bit worried for him. However, Wu Jun, who was used to hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s usual way of drawing conclusions, asked, ¡°What do you mean by ¡®actual height¡¯?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the distinctive feature of this case,¡± Jiang Yuan said, his hands outlining shapes in the air. ¡°You see thetter half of this shoeprint? It seems to drag a little, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± Wu Jun asked. Pang Kan, who had some experience with shoeprint experts, blurted out, ¡°A calf trying to walk in an ox¡¯s tracks?¡± Jiang Yuan gave him a nce and replied, ¡°We usually call it ¡®small feet inrge shoes,¡¯ but it¡¯s the same idea.¡± It¡¯s rtively easy to spot someone with small feet wearingrge shoes; there are many distinguishing features apart from the dragging that Jiang Yuan mentioned, such as potential double heel impressions, side slippages, as well as changes in the center of gravity at the big toe and little toe, among other things. In short, it¡¯s quite easy to expose someone with small feet wearingrge shoes. Anyone who has done some reading, learned a bit about trace evidence, or perhaps spent three to five years in prison should have this knowledge. Byparison, there are much simpler ways to conceal shoeprints, like¡­ ¡°So this person is a bit foolish, an amateur?¡± Pang Kan, who had learned about this, pinpointed the essence with one sentence. At this point, Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°This person is slightly different.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Look at the outer arc of the shoeprint¡­ This person must have been wearing height-increasing shoes, and indeed small feet inrge shoes. I believe theye as a set,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. Wu Jun nodded, made a note of it, and then said, ¡°Looking at the body, there were many stab wounds, and the force used was substantial, to an unnecessary degree. It¡¯s very likely a crime of passion¡­ ¡± ¡°Yuan Yutang might have been bisexual. There¡¯s also the possibility of a love rival.¡± ¡°Homosexuals can also have male love rivals.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Yet, for one person to kill two men, even if they had the keys and snuck in while the victims were asleep, the difficulty would be quite high,¡± Jiang Yuan continued, studying the bloodstains on the ground for a while before adding, ¡°By the time he killed Yuan Yutang, he had awakened. This bloodstain here has been washed several times with water. It¡¯s possible there might be leftover blood from the murderer. Collect more samples and take them back for analysis.¡± Blood washed with water can only disguise traces, not eradicate the presence of DNA. Topletely clean away evidence, one would need some uniquely formted cleaning agents. Pang Kan responded with a ¡°Yes,¡± and they both bent down to begin swabbing the area. Jiang Yuan continued to scan the surroundings and then said, ¡°The cleaning of this apartment should have been done by hired help. Later, have someone ask if any bathroom towels or the like are missing.¡± ¡°You suspect the murderer was injured and used a towel to bandage themselves?¡± ¡°Yes, also look for pillowcases and sheets. It¡¯s possible the killer bled somewhere and took one or two items from the scene,¡± Jiang Yuan surmised, starting to search himself. He attempted to find iplete blood traces, which would definitely be left by the killer. At this point, Jiang Yuan was feeling somewhat at ease with his progress. The case before him seemed to indicate a substantial element of passion in the killing. In crimes of passion, if it¡¯s a single lethal blow, it¡¯s easier to leave no evidence behind. But in cases where the attacker stabs face-to-face, and the first stab doesn¡¯t kill, and they forcefully continue stabbing against the victim¡¯s resistance, not being satisfied until after an additional dozen thrusts, it¡¯s hard not to leave evidence. In such situations, if one wishes to evade detection and hide the crime, they must either extend the time before the body is found, allowing on-site biological evidence to deteriorate naturally or dispose of the body and clean the scene intensively. However, cleaning a crime scene is a skill in itself, and disposing of the bodyes with the risk of discovery. Even a secondary crime scene created can still be found. From a criminal investigation perspective, cases of crime of passion generally aren¡¯t very difficult. Participants in crimes of passion also tend to act without considering the consequences. That¡¯s why it¡¯s called ¡®passion.¡¯ If one wasn¡¯t blinded by emotion to the point of killing, a normal person with rational thinking wouldn¡¯t resort to murder. After searching without finding any iplete blood traces, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t discouraged. He stood up and summarized, ¡°For now, we can start by screening Yuan Yutang¡¯s male lovers or rivals who wear height-increasing shoes andrge-sized shoes.¡± Jiang Yuan estimated further, ¡°After increasing height with shoes, this person should be around 180 centimeters tall, with a shoe size of 44.¡± Wu Jun called out across the barrier, ¡°Captain Huang¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin scampered over and asked, ¡°Any leads?¡± Jiang Yuan then recounted their recent deductions to Huang Qiangmin. Murmuring to himself, Huang Qiangmin immediately said, ¡°I¡¯ll have Wu Junhaoe over and arrest someone right now.¡± Only then did Jiang Yuan remember the thief from the day before and hurriedly asked, ¡°Was the thief caught?¡± ¡°Caught, and currently under interrogation. An old thief, a bit tricky,¡± Huang Qiangmin mentioned as he pulled out his phone and got busy with it. Chapter 227 - 227 218 Alibi Evidence ?227: Chapter 218 Alibi Evidence 227: Chapter 218 Alibi Evidence Qinghe City. Bar Street. The location adjacent to the city center and Qinghe College of Arts and Sciences is the main reason why Maisan Road has transformed into a bar street. New bars get renovated here every month, and there are owners who leave the scene gloomily. But for the most part, the profitable owners and shareholders reinvest the money back into refurbishing. Of course, it¡¯s not just bars on the street. A variety of pubs, music bars, hotpot restaurants, trendy fast-food joints, and even bubble tea and coffee shops abound. Walking along Maisan Road is like being in a top-tier city from a year or two ago. All sorts of trendy stuff is dazzling. Wu Junhao, dressed in everyday clothes, strolled down the center of the street with two team members, indifferent to the gazes of others. He was here to capture Bai Yuequn, the suspect in the murder of Yuan Yutang. As the third in rank of Jianyuan Company during the struggle for inheritance, his every move was under scrutiny. All his night-life pleasures or romantic entanglements had long since been thoroughly investigated. Of course, the third son, Yuan Yutang, didn¡¯t care much about his private reputation. His public persona was that of a prodigal son who had turned over a new leaf. As long as he was willing to engage in legitimate activities and not mingle with the underworld, his father was already quite content. Interestingly, Yuan Yutang was bisexual and got to know many like-minded people by hosting parties. Yuan Jiansheng was even more pleased with this, providing a foundation for this third son¡¯s bid for the inheritance rights. Bai Yuequn was Yuan Yutang¡¯s old fling, closely involved with him for many turbulent years. They even braved the most challenging period ofing out together. Bai Yuequn¡¯s only request of Yuan Yutang was unconditional loyalty to one another. Yuan Yutang always promised this to Bai Yuequn, but in a very short time, he would be caught breaking his promise, followed by intense arguments, wild outbursts, and then sweet ecstasy and solemnmitments¡­ This cycle repeated over and over again, to the point that onlookers thought they relished this process. Bai Yuequn¡¯s height, the habit of wearing height-increasing shoes and oversized footwear, even his weight and age, all matched the profile that Jiang Yuan had established, and he was the only suspect fitting these criteria. After asking the technical investigation and cyber security teams to confirm his location, Wu Junhao immediately brought his team over. Three people seemed a little few, but in a somewhat chaotic ce like Bar Street withplications and potential for idents, Wu Junhao preferred a streamlined personnel arrangement along with arge reserve force. Therefore, he ced 10 people outside Bar Street, with three squads of 10 people each following behind, but he only brought two ferocious teammates by his side, both weighing 90 kilograms and able to bench press 120 kilograms. To ordinary people, bench pressing 1.3 times their body weight might just be a show-off trick in the gym. For members of Team One, reaching this level meant you were highly skilled, effectively being able to take on two adversaries single-handedly. What does it mean to ¡®take on two¡¯? It means during an arrest, one person can pin two suspects against the wall, rendering them immobile. Wu Junhao had even managed to once pin a criminal suspect under one arm while lifting another with his free hand high into the air, causing him to yell loudly. Wu Junhao and his team members stood out with their physique. Walking down Bar Street, they quickly caught the attention of a few girls. The girls followed Wu Junhao and his men, considering how to approach them when they saw the trio turn into a bar called Blue Star Alliance. This is a well-known guy bar in Qinghe City. The girls were heartbroken and constantly texting on their phones: ¡°What¡¯s wrong with all the good men?¡± ¡°After working out so much, do they end up liking the same sex?¡± ¡°People used to say that the end point of bars is a guy bar. I didn¡¯t believe it, but now I do¡­¡± ¡­ Wu Junhao was unaware of the scene outside. As soon as he entered Blue Star Alliance, he climbed upstairs, based on the information he had received. ording to his information, Bai Yuequn had been in the bar the whole day. He spent some time in the office and some time lingering both inside and outside the bar, witnessed by many people. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t know what Bai Yuequn¡¯s mental state was, but his current task was to capture him. The three of them marched straight up to the office level where they were stopped by a handsome bouncer in a suit for questioning. Wu Junhao presented his badge, casually removed the bouncer¡¯s earpiece, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t even think about tipping off. You just work here. Want to end up behind bars?¡± The slightly handsome and imposing bouncer immediately backed down, making way and saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t n to tip anyone off.¡± ¡°Okay, what¡¯s your name?¡± Wu Junhao, having gained control of the situation, surprisingly didn¡¯t hurry inside. ¡°Wang Yan.¡± ¡°Alright, Wang Yan, how many people are inside?¡± ¡°There are dozens in that office area.¡± ¡°Where is Bai Yuequn located? Draw it for me¡­¡± Wu Junhao took out a notebook and, in the blind spot of the security camera on the stairwell corner, began to interrogate the bouncer. After a good while, someone finally came out, calling impatiently, ¡°Wang Yan, Wang Yan¡­¡± Wu Junhao stepped forward, easily wrapped his arm around the person to show the badge, and asked, ¡°You see clearly?¡± ¡°I see clearly.¡± ¡°This is the Criminal Police working. Don¡¯t make trouble for yourself. Stay put here.¡± Wu Junhao, without further ado, led his two team members straight in. The office area of the bar wasn¡¯t much different from a typical office building, with a group of people in shirts doing paperwork, making phone calls, or holding meetings,ing and going. When Wu Junhao in in clothes appeared, at most, they just gave him a nce. It wasn¡¯t until he approached Bai Yuequn¡¯s door that someone asked, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± ¡°Found him,¡± Wu Junhao responded without looking back, opened the door to the general manager¡¯s office, and went in. Bai Yuequn was sittingfortably and looked towards the few men with a mixture of surprise and expectation. ¡°Bai Yuequn?¡± Wu Junhao asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Bai Yuequn stood up. ¡°We¡¯re from the Ningtai County Public Security Bureau. We are nowwfully detaining you¡­¡± As Wu Junhao showed his badge and paperwork, he kept his eyes on Bai Yuequn. Two officers nked Bai on either side, and it wasn¡¯t until they had handcuffed him that everyone breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Tell everyone I¡¯m fine, and I¡¯ll be back soon after everything is exined. Business should continue as usual here,¡± Bai Yuequn said, turning to make arrangements as if nothing had happened. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t care. He had seen many such people, calm when handcuffed, pretending to arrange their work and all, but once they were in custody and had their first meal there, they would usually break down, not shedding a tear until they saw the coffin, so to speak. Wu Junhao did take the opportunity to check Bai Yuequn¡¯s arms and other ces for any scars but found none. Bai Yuequn let him search, then said, ¡°You¡¯re here about Yuan Yutang, right?¡± ¡°The case officers will discuss it with you after you return,¡± Wu Junhao didn¡¯t want to discuss the case with the suspect at that point, too dangerous as it could easily lead to information leakage, and, moreover, could cause the suspect to be emotionally unstable and harder to control. However, Bai Yuequn continued, ¡°I know something happened to Yuan Yutangst night. If it is about his case, I have an alibi.¡± Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help but turn his head to look at Bai Yuequn. In a criminal case, an alibi is a very strong piece of evidence. Once confirmed, it can usually rule out a person as a suspect. The fact that Bai Yuequn could provide an alibi indicated that he had prepared for this. No matter if he really had an alibi or not, this suspect required cautious handling. ¡­ An hourter. Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, and others had all rushed to the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s case handling center in the Qianjin District of Qinghe City. The captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, Lei Xin, briefed several people: ¡°At this point, the credibility of Bai Yuequn¡¯s alibi seems quite high. At the time of the incident, he was watching a movie with a boyfriend, with ticket purchase records and surveince video of them entering and exiting.¡± ¡°The surveince inside the screening room was broken.¡± ¡°After the movie ended, the two of them booked a room at Wanda Hotel next to the cinema, and there are also records at the front desk and surveince video.¡± ¡°Additionally, there¡¯s no significant injury found on Bai Yuequn¡¯s body, which is not consistent with our initial assessment.¡± ¡°Should we expand that list of suspects a bit? Yuan Yutang knew many people, and given his status, it¡¯s quitemon to offend others. Maybe we should include people he met through work as well.¡± Lei Xin¡¯s suggestion seemed sensible. An heir who died in a session war with only lovers and romantic rivals on the list of suspects did seem far-fetched. Even if the killer acted in a fit of passion, it could have been due to workce grudges. Aren¡¯t the oppression and psychological trauma some people experience at work as intense and painful as breaking up with a lover? Lei Xin even felt he had multiple potential targets of fantasy. Huang Qiangmin had to admit there was logic in the other¡¯s argument and began a soft exchange with his colleagues. Yuan Yutang¡¯s life experience was indeed rich. If one rules out love as a motive, Yuan Yutang¡¯s troubled past was a mess. The number of people he offended or harmed is too numerous to trace. Yet, looking at the records of fights and brawls, it¡¯s clear that intense conflicts were no rarity in Yuan Yutang¡¯s earlier life. Considering these factors would likely require arge workforce to investigate and verify the associated names. After listening for a while, Jiang Yuan interjected, ¡°I think there are still areas where Bai Yuequn could be investigated.¡± Everyone instinctively stopped and turned to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan still carried an aura of authority. ¡°Firstly,¡± Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°I studied Bai Yuequn¡¯s footprints carefully and they are very consistent with those at the crime scene.¡± ¡°Secondly, while Bai Yuequn has no wounds on his body, the joints of his fingers have calluses, suggesting he may have been trained.¡± ¡°Furthermore, ording to earlier inquiries with the housekeeping staff, the crime scene did not appear to be missing any items like towels, which suggests that the killer might not have been injured aftermitting the first murder. This actually indicates the killer might possess somebat skills.¡± ¡°Thirdly, the murder took ce right during the movie showing. Although this could be coincidental, the fact that the surveince in the screening room was also out makes the coincidence too substantial.¡± At this point, Lei Xin chimed in, ¡°We questioned his boyfriend, and he confirmed that during the time of the incident, Bai Yuequn was watching a movie with him.¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent for a moment. The existence of a witness did make his spectionsck persuasive power. At that moment, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°The boyfriend¡¯s testimony¡ªI think we could ask in more detail, like whether he fell asleep during or stepped out for a bit. We should also check their financial transactions and, additionally, understand their rtionship from other angles. The possibility of giving false testimony still exists.¡± Having seen many cases, Huang Qiangmin had heard too many oundish ims. Lei Xin agreed, saying, ¡°The person is still recording their statement, I¡¯ll get them to ask more questions.¡± Chapter 228 - 228 219 Two Lines ?228: Chapter 219 Two Lines 228: Chapter 219 Two Lines Sitting in the office of the Qianjin District Criminal Police Team, Jiang Yuan meticulouslypared the footprint impressions of Bai Yuequn with the bloody footprints found at the crime scene, examining them over and over. The trouble with footprints is that they cannot be used to identify a suspect on a one-to-one basis. They cane incredibly close, but they cannot offer certainty. Otherwise, if they were like fingerprints, they could be used as definitive evidence for prosecution. Barefoot prints could be considered as unique as fingerprints, but unfortunately, they are usually not avable. After all, murderers seldom kill barefoot. Even though it¡¯s not possible to be 100% certain, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, the degree of ovep was basically enough to confirm Bai Yuequn¡¯s status as a suspect. If the resemnce was this close and he wasn¡¯t the killer, then it would just add anotheryer of coincidence. Considering that the third brother, Yuan Yutang, was only in his twenties and Vajra Pestle could not have had too many lovers or rivals, and given his loudmouth tendencies that surely didn¡¯t offend too many people, what were the odds that someone with a motive to kill would also have a simr footprint? It must be incredibly low. Therefore, when Team Leader Lei Xin of the Qianjin District said there was an alibi witness, Jiang Yuan¡¯s first reaction was to question the credibility of the witness. Physical evidence is hard to falsify, but it¡¯s much too easy for witnesses to lie. However, this was the first time he had encountered such a situation, and even he had his doubts. What if? As Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow and studied the footprints, Huang Qiangmin came over with a smile. ¡°Can¡¯t figure it out?¡± Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan. ¡°It¡¯s not that I can¡¯t figure it out, but ¡­¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know how to exin it to Huang Qiangmin. ¡°I don¡¯t know much about the technicalities, nor about footprints. But it seems to me, Bai Yuequn¡¯s footprint matches that at the scene, right?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, full of unsaid words, and went on, ¡°The height matches, including the use of height-increasing shoes; the shoe size matches, including wearing shoes that are too big; same goes for weight, age; I¡¯ve also looked at his pace and gait in surveince videos, they¡¯re all consistent; if it were a stranger¡­¡± Huang Qiangminughed and gently stopped Jiang Yuan¡¯s gesticting arm, whispering, ¡°No ¡®ifs¡¯, it¡¯s him.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised; to be honest, he hadn¡¯t dared to be so certain. ¡°Remember when you told me about the CSI effect?¡± Huang Qiangmin chuckled, ¡°You¡¯ve got a bit of it now. So, we need DNA or fingerprints to identify the killer for certain? Do we need to be 100% sure before we can prosecute? If that was the case, how would we have solved cases 20 years ago?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°So, was it more about confession back then?¡± ¡°Confessions aren¡¯t 100% either, and leading suspects to confess isn¡¯t a tactic exclusive to Americans,¡± Huang Qiangmin waved his hand dismissively, ¡°We already have plenty of clues.¡± ¡°But about Captain Lei¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s new to the case and isn¡¯t that familiar with the details yet. Plus, the crime happened in his jurisdiction, so he¡¯s bound to be more cautious. We don¡¯t need to worry about him right now.¡± ¡°So¡­¡± ¡°Stop focusing on the footprint right now,¡± Huang Qiangmin interjected. ¡°Then what should I look at?¡± ¡°Anything is fine,¡± said Huang Qiangmin. ¡°In criminal investigation, there¡¯s a saying: a single piece of evidence is not enough. To put it in my words, when a casees together, it¡¯s never just one piece of evidence. The hardest part is actually over¡ªwe¡¯ve identified the killer; now we need to prove it.¡± Counting on his fingers, Huang Qiangmin continued, ¡°Let¡¯s assume the killer is Bai Yuequn, and let¡¯s assume his alibi is false. The key question is, can we prove it? Can we lock him down with physical evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan instantly snapped out of his fixation. Indeed, the murderer in this case had left behind a wealth of evidence; if they could connect all that evidence to Bai Yuequn, then the case could be considered solved. Assuming someone is the killer and then proving it is also amon method in criminal investigations. In fact, most cases work out this way. As the old saying goes, an experienced detective can spot a first-time murderer with just one look. That¡¯s why a burry can often be harder to crack than a murder¡ªif burries are easily solved, it¡¯s usually because the suspect didn¡¯t take it seriously or wasn¡¯t well-prepared. And some professional thieves, after not being caught for a long time, tend to getcent, making mistakes due to overwork or carelessness. The wife-murder case in Hangzhou, and countless other cases of spouses killing each other, generally follow a simr pattern. The police spend most of their time and energy on proving their case. The case of Yuan Yutang¡¯s murder also wasn¡¯t particrlyplex. If Bai Yuequn was the murderer, then he had simply engaged in some misdirection. He wore shoes he didn¡¯t usually wear, he was uninjured at the scene, and he had an alibi, but the act of creating these diversions in itself involved a lot of work. And the more one does, the more likely one is to slip up. The more likely evidence will lock them in. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall the autopsy images from several hours ago. Yuan Yutang and his ex-boyfriend were both stabbed to death with the same double-edged dagger. The de of the dagger was very long, at least 30 centimeters, and the edges were sharp. Most impressively, after more than thirty stabs, the sharpness of the dagger hadn¡¯t diminished. Such quality would have been considered an absolutely divine weapon in ancient times, and even in the modern era, it would be a pricey military dagger. In the domestic environment, such a dagger could be said to be both easy and difficult to acquire, and it was more likely to leave behind traces. Murder weapon: military dagger. Jiang Yuan wrote these two words in his notebook and underlined them. Huang Qiangmin nodded and didn¡¯t say anything. He had also seen the autopsy report. The military dagger also exined why the murderer was able to kill two people with dozens of stabs without injuring himself. Many novice murderers, beforemitting their crimes, may not have even ughtered a chicken, let alone butchered a medium orrge mammal, so they don¡¯t realize how much resistance human muscle tissue can provide. Daggers or short knives arepletely different from spears andrge swords. The recoil of using a dagger or short knife is greater, requiring significant pressure on the wrist and the base of the thumb if not handled correctly. Give a novice some time to practice with arge sword or spear, and they can muster the strength to swing, thrust, and jab, but not with a dagger or short knife. Plus, civilian versions be dull after several stabs, and using too much force can lead to self-injury. Moreover, murder is a very tiring affair. To be more precise, stabbing someone is exhausting. It¡¯s like in the vige when ughtering a pig¡ªseveral strong men need to hold it down and bind it, and it still struggles. ¡­ One stab, two stabs, three stabs might be manageable, but over thirty stabs is not that easy. The probability of deforming movements and either making a mistake or injuring oneself increasester in the process. The sharpness of a military dagger can partially solve this problem. Added to this are the callouses on Bai Yuequn¡¯s hand, clearly indicative of practice¡­ Jiang Yuan even suspected that he was well-prepared. Key! Jiang Yuan wrote down these two words in his notebook and underlined them again. The lock on Yuan Yutang¡¯s door wasn¡¯t broken, nor were there signs of technical lock-picking, so the murderer must have used a key to open the door, taking advantage of Yuan Yutang and his boyfriend¡¯s unconscious state to first stab the boyfriend to death, and then repeatedly stab Yuan Yutang, causing his death. This was also one of the reasons why the suspect list was primarily focused on lovers and romantic rivals. No matter how many clients Yuan Yutang had, they wouldn¡¯t have his house key. Only lovers or romantic rivals would have easier ess to keys. Bloodstained clothing. Jiang Yuan immediately thought of the murderer¡¯s process. The criminal¡¯s handling of the crime scene was rather crude, probably due to being in a hurry, as he hardly bothered with the bloody footprints, simply throwing a basin of water over them to erase the traces. But given the amount of blood at the scene, the murderer¡¯s clothing must have been covered in it. He could shower and change his clothes in the bathroom, but the clothes he took off would be hard to clean thoroughly within a day¡¯s time. Most people would either discard, burn, or bury them. However, each of these methods requires time. Bai Yuequn still lived in the city center, which was full of surveince cameras. Therefore, the ces where he could have disposed of the bloodstained clothes were very limited, maybe at the bar or in the office. Projection room surveince! Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but add this to his notebook. The surveince in the cinema projection room is quite important and can¡¯t be broken for a long time. The chances that it just happened to be down during the time Bai Yuequn watched the movie were very low and warranted investigation. After writing all this down, Jiang Yuan felt his confidence returning and said, ¡°I think we can start with the bloodstained clothes, and call in a police dog to search Bai Yuequn¡¯s bar.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°The ce has too many scents, and besides, Dazhuang lent it to Liu Jinghui. Let¡¯s use people instead.¡± ¡°That¡¯s two leads, look for the murder weapon and the bloodstained clothes, and check the cinema projection room¡¯s surveince footage,¡± summarized Jiang Yuan and then asked, ¡°Should wemunicate with Captain Lei Xin about this?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have a chat with him. By now, he should have also caught on,¡± said Huang Qiangmin with a smile before going off to arrange manpower. Jiang Yuan looked at his notes in front of him and fell into deep thought. Chapter 229 - 229 220 Finishing Move ?229: Chapter 220: Finishing Move 229: Chapter 220: Finishing Move Wu Junhao¡¯s first squad was dispatched to search for the blood-stained clothing, but they sniffed out no results in the short term. The criminal police in the Qianjin District, on the other hand, brought back all the surveince footage from the cinema, much to the chagrin of the officers from the Surveince Analysis Squad. ¡°Those who do fieldwork really are¡­ Can¡¯t they do a little screening? They directly brought back several months¡¯ worth of surveince footage. Aren¡¯t they using their brains?¡± grumbled the municipal Surveince Analysis Squad officers as they scanned through the videos. The municipal and county levels are more or less on the same level and handle simr tasks. However, ces like Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District, being part of the main urban area, haverger scale operations and more personnel than Ningtai County. After all, therger the urban area, the more conflicts and disputes, and thus, there are more homicide cases. On the other hand, as the central urban districts of prefecture-level cities have higher investments in infrastructure, surveince is rtively more sophisticated, which allows Surveince Analysis to y its role. The Surveince Analysis officers in Qinghe City are still quite busy day-to-day. If it were any other case, let alone bringing back footage spanning several months, even a few days¡¯ worth of surveince might not get looked at by anyone. But homicide cases are different; they require working overtime to watch the footage. While the Surveince Analysis squadined, they quickly organized the surveince footage and roughly divided it among themselves before starting to watch it with heavy sses perched on their noses. Most of them viewed the footage backwards in time. Moreover, there were records of when the cinema¡¯s surveince cameras broke down, so the focus was primarily on the footage from the time right before and after the cameras failed. The broken camera itself didn¡¯t provide much information. It was like a diligent star, doing what ordinary stars do, before getting tossed over. However, with this time marker, it was easy to find Bai Yuequn¡¯s figure by checking the nearby cameras. He was consciously avoiding the cameras, but his skill level wasn¡¯t sufficient. He managed to dodge some, but most he could not. In fact, in many areas dense with cameras, there are not only no blind spots, but there are also regions with ovepping coverage. The cost of surveince nowadays is indeed very cheap, especially for general retailers who install cameras willy-nilly, to the extent that even professionals might get caught out. Bai Yuequn¡¯s face appeared continuously at the entrance of the shopping mall, the parking lot, and the entrance to the parking lot. Although there was still no direct evidence proving that Bai Yuequn had sabotaged the surveince equipment in the No. 2 screening hall on the day of the incident, the fact that he was at the scene during the time the equipment was tampered with weakened his alibi. The newly established special case group was all energized. While the evidence was still insufficient for prosecution, by this point, they were almost certain that Bai Yuequn was the culprit. Although his tactics seemed effective, even extremely so, for the police, they actually didn¡¯t mean much. In the United States¡¯ judicial system, they could have prosecuted at this stage already. The standards for homicide cases in China are higher, requiring further evidence gathering, but confidence was nevertheless soaring among the team. As Huang Qiangmin said, single evidence doesn¡¯t stand alone; conversely, when multiple pieces of evidence appear, the case is established. For an open-and-shut case, there is actually plenty of evidence; it¡¯s all a matter of how to find it. The first thing Lei Xin thought of was to pull in all of Bai Yuequn¡¯s associates for a thorough questioning. Those who run bars, no matter if they are underlings or little henchmen, all cringe under the light, and as soon as they sit in the interrogation room, they quickly be obedient and talkative. Jiang Yuan turned back and, together with Wu Jun, studied the wounds on the body and made a mold of the murder weapon. The mold wasn¡¯t very well made, but double-edged military knives weren¡¯tmon, and well-known ones were even fewer. Before long, someckeys confessed that Bai Yuequn had once purchased two Sparta V14 knives. It was also proven that Bai Yuequn had many years of experience in fencing¡ªnot yful wielding, but the real thrusting powerful enough to disembowel. Having seen photos of the Sparta V14, Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun both felt that the weapon couldpletely serve as a short-handled western sword, and whenparing the height of the victim and the height of the murderer, the direction of the stab wounds seemed reasonable. Jiang Yuan then did a crime scene reconstruction and gave Huang Qiangmin and the others a simple demonstration. The murderer entered, first approached Yuan Yutang¡¯s new boyfriend, held the dagger with both hands aimed towards the heart, stabbed once, and smoothly pulled out the dagger. If it hadn¡¯t been pulled out, Bai Yuequn¡¯s leg would still have been strapped with another spare dagger. The new boyfriend¡¯s body position remained unchanged, and arge amount of blood flowed out, forming a pool of blood under the bed. Yuan Yutang was awakened by the noise nearby, and as he saw Bai Yuequn, he tried to fend him off with a pillow or a quilt while getting up. Bai Yuequn might have said something, or perhaps nothing at all, but wielding a 40-centimeter-long dagger and upying a favorable position, he effortlessly stabbed Yuan Yutang¡¯s arm with a flick of the de after slightly adjusting his stance. Fencing is a sport that requires keen attention to distance, and at that moment, Yuan Yutang, who had just been startled from a dream and was physically weakened from daily revelries, could possibly lose the ability to fight with just one stab. Bai Yuequn didn¡¯t let his guard down, stabbing multiple times without aiming for lethal spots, causing Yuan Yutang to gradually lose blood. After toying with him for several minutes, Yuan Yutang¡¯s bleeding caused him to copse beside the bed, and it was then that Bai Yuequn approached to finish him offpletely, afterwards venting his rage with additional stabs. After the upper half of Yuan Yutang¡¯s body was mutted with stabs, Bai Yuequn carelessly shed at the other corpse on the bed, then went to the bathroom to take a shower, wash his clothes, and clean the floor. In order to not leave any evidence at the scene, he must have been on a tight schedule, but he likely also prepared in advance, with clothing made of a special material or design to prevent too much blood from clinging to his body and avoid leaving his own hair or skin kes at the scene. Finally, Bai Yuequn left the scene stepping over the pool of blood, in a somewhat hurried manner, but essentially havingpleted his premeditated n. ¡°Looking at it this way, his n wasn¡¯t made in a day or two,¡± Huang Qiangminmented, feeling somewhat emotional after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, especially regarding the preparation of the weapon and clothes. Wu Jun said as if it were the norm, ¡°Those who plot murders always n day and night. It¡¯s just that some are unskilled orck professionalism¡­¡± ¡°In that case, he would have had to scout the location multiple times,¡± Huang Qiangmin finally stated his purpose. Wu Jun nodded, ¡°But it¡¯s still circumstantial evidence.¡± ¡°Then it would be best to find evidence of him being outside the movie theater during the screening, like a video or a photo,¡± Huang Qiangmin had considered simr ideas before but had been hesitant. The reason for his hesitation was that the investigation required a lot of manpower, and jurisdiction over the case actually belonged to the Criminal Police Brigade of the Qianjin District, that is, in the hands of Lei Xin, the brigade chief. Merely suggesting such an idea to them seemed somewhat foolish. They would have thought of it already, and if they hadn¡¯t acted on it, it was clearly for some objective reason. Huang Qiangmin himself didn¡¯t want to invest resources into the mix; he was originally dealing with a case of burry, and now it had turned into a murder investigation, which made the resource input quite a loss. ¡°The witness for Bai Yuequn, his boyfriend, is he still unwilling to speak?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked, turning to Wu Junhao. ¡°Not yet, maybe because there hasn¡¯t been enough time,¡± Wu Junhaomented nonchntly. From his experience, with a case and a witness like this, it was only a matter of time before he would speak out. It was just that being a man from a bar background, maybe he was holding out because of some promise, nothing more. As Jiang Yuan recalled the boyfriend in question, the crime scene reconstruction urring in his mind suddenly expanded. Just then, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I remember Bai Yuequn saying that after watching the movie, he went to a nearby hotel to get a room with his boyfriend. They took a shower first, then got into bed, right?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°This means if there were any bloodstains or the like on Bai Yuequn, he could take the opportunity to wash them off in the hotel, and the bloodied clothes could be temporarily dealt with too¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then stood up and said, ¡°Send me the hotel room number they stayed in, I¡¯ll go over and check it out, see if I can find any blood.¡± As hotel rooms are mostly assigned randomly, Bai Yuequn likely hadn¡¯t prepared any specialized cleaning agents in advance. And without professional cleaning agents, bloodstains are difficult to eliminatepletely. At least not in a short time. Jiang Yuan, carrying the forensic case, headed straight for the Wanda Hotel. The Room 602, where Bai Yuequn had previously stayed, had actually been sealed off, and Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun followed the staff up to the room, and upon looking inside the bathroom, they saw it dried up, with no anomalies. So, Jiang Yuan took out the pre-prepared Luminol Reagent, poured it into a sprayer, and sprayed it onto the walls of the bathroom. ¡°Turn off the lights,¡± Wu Jun reminded, switching off the light. A luminescent blue glow immediately appeared, and there was no shortage of it. If the bloodstains in the bathroom match the DNA of either Yuan Yutang or his boyfriend, it would be a decisive blow. Chapter 230 - 230 221 Breakthrough ?230: Chapter 221 Breakthrough 230: Chapter 221 Breakthrough Luminol Reagent is the substance often used in films and television series to reveal the presence of blood. In earlier years, Luminol had to be mixed on the spot, but now there are pre-packaged products avable for use. Luminol possesses an exceptional ability to detect bloodstains. How exceptional? Bloodstains from several years ago can be revealed unless they have been specially treated. Even if blood is diluted a million times, which is to say a drop of blood in a bathtub full of water, it can still be easily detected by Luminol. Therefore, trying to wash away blood traces with water is practically futile in the face of Luminol. This is also why it is generally not advised tomit murder within one¡¯s home. Luminol is a very affordable reagent. 0.1 grams of Luminol,bined with 5 grams of sodium carbonate and 6 milliliters of hydrogen peroxide, can produce a 100 milliliters bottle of Luminol solution. It is also applied by spraying, so inspecting a room doesn¡¯t take much time. Moreover, the current DNA technology is very advanced with high sensitivity. The bloodstains revealed by Luminol are softened, and with a swab of a cotton stick, the DNA can be easily obtained for testing. Furthermore, most toiletries and cleaning products are unlikely to clean bloodstains to a degree that Luminol would not detect them. To interfere with Luminol, an oxidizing agent must be used. The mostmon ones are bleach powder and potassium permanganate, but even they cannotpletely obstruct the Luminol reaction since the glowing times of hemoglobin and the interferents are different. An experienced forensic investigator can easily spot the difference. As for the bathrooms in hotels, naturally, these substances are not used. Besides, the cleaning staff of the bathrooms are never known for their diligent and conscientious work. Jiang Yuan managed to take several photos before the Luminal¡¯s glow faded and then said, ¡°Master, you can turn on the lights now.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Wu Jun turned on the lights, his face beaming with a smile. ¡°So happy?¡± Jiang Yuan put on gloves and a mask, took out a cotton swab, and began to work methodically. Unless there was an unexpected development, these bloodstains were likely the key evidence for this case. Bai Yuequn entire suite of lies couldn¡¯t amodate a single drop of Yuan Yutang and her boyfriend¡¯s blood. Wu Jun watched Jiang Yuan roll the cotton swab with an air of rxation and said, ¡°No matter how cunning the viin, he still has to drink my ¡®penis washing water.¡¯ ¡°We haven¡¯t done the DNA test yet,¡± Jiang Yuan reminded. Wu Junughed, made a circle in the air with his hand, and said, ¡°Unless both of their hemorrhoids burst here, this is definitely where Bai Yuequn cleaned the bloodstains.¡± Jiang Yuan hummed in agreement, slightly correcting, ¡°Unless in recent years, a guest¡¯s hemorrhoids burst in the bathroom, this is essentially where Bai Yuequn cleaned the bloodstains.¡± ¡°We could be even more precise, but¡­ where did the bloody clothes and the murder weapon go?¡± Wu Jun slightly furrowed his brow. In the city, disposing of bloody clothes and murder weapons is quite difficult. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have an immediate solution and simply said, ¡°Let¡¯s first break through Bai Yuequn alibi witness.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true. If Xu Yi keeps silent, scaring him with the prospect of being an aplice to a homicide should make him talk,¡± Wu Jun had some experience with this. Suspects in the interrogation stage are not allowed to see theirwyers; they only hear what the police tell them. Therefore, if one hasn¡¯t studied well and gets involved in a murder, they are at a disadvantage due to ack of information. Bai Yuequn fencing teammate looked like an easy target to bully. ¡­ In the evening, Lei Xin had prepared a meticulous n and was ready to personally interrogate Xu Yi. Lei Xin started his career in pre-trial hearings. In fact, when there used to be a pre-trial hearing department, the police officers who were assigned there were always verypetent in their field. His teeth stained yellow from smoking were a testament to his history. After carefully reviewing the DNA report again, Lei Xin walked into the interrogation room with his fighting spirit high. Xu Yi, tall and thin, looked like a giraffe ying a bondage game after his hands and feet were locked to the interrogation chair, only his head stretched out unusually long. ¡°Do you know what we want to ask?¡± Lei Xin had interrogated Xu Yi before, having briefly spoken to him earlier, and this time he sat down across from him with a smile andid down a thick stack of files. That pile of files, which looked like a multitude of evidence and testimonies, also drew Xu Yi¡¯s gaze and he couldn¡¯t help specting in his heart. After a while, Xu Yi shifted his gaze back and said as if finding his voice, ¡°I know, you want me to turn in my testimony.¡± ¡°I¡¯m trying to save your life, kid, not watch you be a scapegoat for someone else.¡± Lei Xin decided to bring out the heavy artillery, starting with several surveince photos, saying, ¡°These are photos of Bai Yuequn casing the joint.¡± The Surveince Analysis Squad found a lot of videos, and Lei Xin showed them to him one by one. Xu Yi nced at them and turned his head away, saying, ¡°No need to , that¡¯s just the cinema closest to the bar street. Going to the movies, that¡¯s all, what kind of casing is that?¡± ¡°Well, that exnation has some substance to it.¡± Lei Xin took the opportunity to give Xu Yi apliment, then continued by showing the damaged surveince footage from Screen 2 and the time of the damage. Next, he disyed photos of Bai Yuequn entering and exiting the cinema around the same time. Xu Yi, seeing thetter pictures, simply closed his eyes, saying, ¡°If you really can¡¯t find the murderer, just arrest us directly; there¡¯s no need to make all these nonsensical things up.¡± Lei Xin watched his expression and silently produced his trump card, saying, ¡°Here, I also have a DNA report that was collected from the hotel room you stayed in that night, this¡ªhow do you exin that?¡± Xu Yi was taken aback, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°In your hotel room, there were blood traces of two victims, not a small amount.¡± Lei Xin said calmly, ¡°It must be the blood that Bai Yuequn didn¡¯t clean up properly at the scene, right?¡± Xu Yi hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°You¡¯re lying to me.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s say I¡¯m lying to you, if I go now to the bathroom of the hotel room you stayed in, do you think I will find the blood traces of the two victims?¡± Lei Xin held the DNA report in his hand, not even giving it to Xu Yi. Xu Yi could no longer cope. ¡°Do you really want to end up like Bai Yuequn, spending a lifetime in jail?¡± Lei Xin began the sympathetic approach. Xu Yi¡¯s expression shifted slightly, then after a while, he said, ¡°I still have work.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Bai Yuequn promised me, if I don¡¯t talk nonsense, he¡¯ll find me another job. If the two of us get criminally charged, it¡¯ll be hard to find work.¡± Xu Yi¡¯s voice was very light. Lei Xin was overjoyed; as long as he began talking, the rest of the questions would be easier to ask. Lei Xin asked again, ¡°On the day of the movie, did Bai Yuequn watch the film with you in Screen 2 and did he leave at any point during the showing?¡± Xu Yi said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Lei Xin immediately lost his patience; if it were eptable to devour someone, he would have ground Xu Yi to dust in his mouth. ¡°I really don¡¯t know.¡± Xu Yi said, ¡°As soon as I entered the screening room that day, I felt tired, so I fell asleep. Whether Bai Yuequn left or if he left at all, I have no idea.¡± This statement couldn¡¯t incriminate Bai Yuequn, but it was enough to shatter Bai Yuequn¡¯s alibi. Not just Lei Xin, but everyone monitoring the surveince couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. Lei Xin pressed on, ¡°Then, on the way from the cinema to the hotel, did you notice Bai Yuequn discarding anything?¡± Xu Yi said, ¡°No.¡± ¡°What about the smell? Didn¡¯t you smell anything?¡± ¡°I was wearing a mask at the time. An N95 one, so I didn¡¯t smell anything.¡± Chapter 231 - 231 222 I Know ?231: Chapter 222 I Know 231: Chapter 222 I Know The alibi witness had fallen, the alibi evidence was invalidated, and Bai Yuequn himself could no longer hold on. Just like the criminals Jiang Yuan had encountered before, those whomit crimes meticulously are mostly self-serving perfectionists. If they could escape punishment, they indeed had the stamina to endure during interrogation. However, once the trial became inevitable, their attitude was drastically different. ¡°If I talk, does that count as turning myself in?¡± Bai Yuequn asked with a dejected look, watching Lei Xin across from him. ¡°Whether it¡¯s considered turning yourself in is not for me to decide, that¡¯s up to the prosecutor¡¯s office and the court. But if you confess truthfully, I can put in a good word for you. Leniency for those who confess.¡± Lei Xin¡¯s yellowish fingertips tapped on the desk, the urge to smoke became hard to resist. Bai Yuequn stared at Lei Xin¡¯s yellow teeth and yellow fingers for a long time. In the past, someone as delicate as him wouldn¡¯t even nce at someone like Lei Xin, a middle-aged smoker, but now he could only sigh and say, ¡°I believe you. I¡¯ll talk.¡± He was exhausted, worn out, sleepy, anxious, and regretful. Toplete the murder n, he first tired out his boyfriend thoroughly until he was almost asleep, then, under the guise of romance, took him to the cinema to watch a movie. Bai Yuequn was very familiar with his new boyfriend, who was young, impulsive, full of bursting hormones, and also sleepy¡ªa bit of vigorous y, and the excitement soon passed; he could fall asleep in seconds, which was enviable. But Bai Yuequn wasn¡¯t like that, in his dreams, he would remember Yuan Yutang¡¯s deep affection and feigned love, and his desire to murder carried through from the beginning to the end of the year. He loved him, he hated him. Theater No.2 was still the hottest and the most poorly ventted one in the cinema. The seats were particrlyfortable, which made it easy to fall asleep if one went to watch a movie after a full meal. Choosing a dull and long art film¡ªtruth be told, many audience members wanted to escape upon seeing the opening scenes but were already too entrenched to do so, ending up asleep just like Xu Yi. However, Bai Yuequn couldn¡¯t sleep; he had to immediately go to Yuan Yutang¡¯s apartment. To avoid detection and conserve energy, he rode a shared bike there (fortunately, he wasn¡¯t stopped by the police, lucky dog). Unlocking the door, stepping softly up the stairs, Bai Yuequn had to use all his strength to kill and vent his anger. He put in so much effort, just like when they were together at first. But he couldn¡¯t rx yet; he had to stay focused and make sure to clean his full-body waterproof suit¡ªthe besides fencing, Bai Yuequn also had a hobby of diving. Thus, when it came to murder, the first thing that came to mind was a full-body suit simr to a diving suit. As long as he covered his head and kept the suit intact, he could wash off any bloodstains with water. It was easy to clean, leaving little residue and none of his own skin kes or hair at the scene. Though it meant changing his clothes again, wearing them on the outside, which was slightly troublesome. After doing all this, Bai Yuequn had to ride the bike back to the cinema, enter through the staff entrance using the prepared key, and sit next to his boyfriend. When the movie was over, he rushed into a hotel, took off all his clothes, and soaked them inundry detergent. To be honest, by thest step, Bai Yuequn was barely holding on, but the bizarre murder scene somehow allowed him to persist, even bringing him a peculiar thrill. ¡°What about the bloody clothes and the murder weapon?¡± The most important thing was to see the evidence, and Lei Xin pressed on. With little energy, Bai Yuequn replied, ¡°They¡¯re still at the hotel, inside the ceiling of the hotel¡¯sundry room.¡± The hotel they stayed at offered a self-serviceundry facility, which was inexpensive and seldom used on regr days; it was busier on holidays with vacationers. However, hiding something there temporarily wasn¡¯t difficult, and it was hard for the police to find. Eradicating the traces of a crime is really about avoiding permanence and perfection. Permanently and perfectly erasing anything is extremely difficult. The same goes for corpses, weapons, and bloody clothes. Using the theory of material exchange, the higher your demands, the more you exchange, leading to more vulnerabilities and hindering concealment. Short-term hiding, or imperfect elimination, simplifies the problem significantly. That¡¯s why casesmitted spontaneously, without much forethought, often turn out to be harder to solve. Of course, difficulty in solving such cases pertains to probability. Facing the threat of the death penalty, few people are willing to risk the odds of five or ten percent. Bai Yuequn had also intended to deal with the bloody clothes and the murder weaponter. Thus, he casually hid them in the hotel, which saved a great deal of crime cost. The police would need to spend a significant amount of manpower and resources to find these things. Bai Yuequn only spent about 20 minutes doing so. He also took the opportunity to soak the clothes and the weapon in theundry detergent, attempting to destroy the biological evidence within. It had some effect, but not much. Lei Xin rified a few key points and essentially locked down Bai Yuequn as the perpetrator. The so-called alibi or the cunning ploy of ¡°a small foot in arge shoe¡± had be insignificant at this time. Bai Yuequn gradually became tearful, recounting his own story with Yuan Yutang. The story of a rich young master and a middle-ssd was nothing new, always the same, even when it was a story between two men. After rifying several major criminal facts and getting the signature, Lei Xin remembered something Jiang Yuan had asked him to inquire about before he came in, so he took out his notebook, took a look, and then asked: ¡°Why did you choose this particr time tomit the murder?¡± This question was rted to the motive for the crime. Lei Xin thought that it was probably some catalyst that had pulled the trigger. To his surprise, Bai Yuequn let out a wry smile and said, ¡°Someone sent me some pictures. I couldn¡¯t bear it after seeing them.¡± Indeed, the trigger had been pulled, but the reason took Lei Xin by surprise. Lei Xin immediately asked, ¡°What pictures?¡± ¡°Pictures of Yuan Yutang celebrating someone¡¯s birthday, and others taken at night.¡± Bai Yuequn spoke wearily, ¡°I once wanted him to celebrate my birthday, and he told me all that was Western rubbish, not worth promoting, that it was a tax on intelligence, h h h¡­¡± Lei Xin felt a chill, ¡°Just because of that?¡± ¡°More or less.¡± ¡°Where are the pictures?¡± ¡°I burned them.¡± ¡°Burned them? Why?¡± ¡°That¡¯s what the other party demanded,¡± said Bai Yuequn indifferently. ¡°The letter came with a WeChat ount, asking me to add them. After I added them, the person asked how I felt, and upon my response, they said they could provide me with Yuan Yutang¡¯stest news, but I had to start a video chat there and then, and burn the pictures and the note. So, I did.¡± Seeing Bai Yuequn¡¯s expression, Lei Xin felt a surge of emotion and feigned regret, saying, ¡°It¡¯s a pity, otherwise, it could have been considered a meritorious deed. Or, if you could identify someone behind the scenes, im you were incited by someone to kill, it could be grounds for a reduced sentence.¡± Bai Yuequn¡¯s expression suddenly changed; he had caused so much trouble, felt angry and even believed he was not wrong, that he shouldn¡¯t be punished. After blowing his nose vigorously, Bai Yuequn opened his eyes and asked, ¡°What about now? Is there still a chance for a reduced sentence?¡± ¡°You need evidence for that.¡± ¡°I have WeChat evidence, I added him.¡± ¡°Conversations between two people on WeChat are useless if you don¡¯t know who the other person is.¡± ¡°I have a photo of the photo.¡± Bai Yuequn sat up straight and said, ¡°Before I contacted him, I took a picture with my camera, the kind that can¡¯t connect to the inte, and no hacker can see the photos inside. They can only be essed if I enter the password.¡± Lei Xin: ¡­ He promptly asked for the location of the camera and sent someone to retrieve it. Then, Lei Xin became a bit more amiable and said, ¡°You too, someone tells you to kill, and you kill. Someone tells you to burn evidence, and you burn it, without even thinking about their purpose and where theye from. Aren¡¯t you afraid of being sold out by them? Threatened by them in the future?¡± ¡°Not afraid because they are even more afraid,¡± Bai Yuequn replied, sitting calmly. Lei Xin was taken aback and asked, ¡°Do you know who it is?¡± ¡°It¡¯s either Yuan or Yuan, who else could it be?¡± Bai Yuequn, with red eyes but a serene expression, toyed with his fingernails as if he had seen through everything. Chapter 232 - 232 223 Textual Research ?232: Chapter 223: Textual Research 232: Chapter 223: Textual Research Surveince room. While smoking, Huang Qiangmin watched Lei Xin interrogate a suspect, constantly offeringmentary: ¡°The way he conducts preliminary interrogations really is impressive.¡± ¡°This kid is lucky.¡± ¡°There¡¯s actually something to what he¡¯s saying here.¡± Then, Bai Yuequn casually brought up the altercation between the Yuan Family¡¯s eldest and second brothers. Huang Qiangmin was stunned, almost jumping to his feet. Was the caseing back to him? Moreover, had the Yuan Family gone from being victims of a home burry to suspects in a murder plot? Huang Qiangmin felt like a monkey frantically jumping around in a melon patch, joyfully eating melons when suddenly, he looked up and saw a boy around eleven or twelve years old, wearing a silver neckband, holding a steel fork¡­ Huang Qiangmin clutched his heart, gasping for breath, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°This is troublesome now.¡± Jiang Yuan was now full of confidence, ¡°If there¡¯s a case, we¡¯ll just have to crack it, what¡¯s the problem with that?¡± ¡°Masterminding a murder is the most troublesome kind of case. Basically, you can only solve it with confessions.¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind was filled with legal troubles, and ncing around at all the police officers, he continued, ¡°And with it involving both sons of Yuan Jiansheng, not to mention, it¡¯ll no doubt touch on the inheritance issues of Jianyuan Company. Ah, it¡¯s aplicated mess.¡± What Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t say was that this had already gone beyond a mere issue of investigation and solving the case. It would unavoidably involve some other issues as well. Jianyuan Company was a major taxpayer in Qinghe City, particrly outstanding among private enterprises, and it had been rooted in Qinghe City for 20 years. It truly wasn¡¯t something that Huang Qiangmin, a criminal police captain from a remote county bureau, could touch. Solving the case was one thing, but he honestly didn¡¯t have the qualifications to deal with the corresponding issues that came with it. ¡°I¡¯ll report to the higher-ups,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the situation, like a saltwater crocodile encountering salted prey. For Qinghe City, Jianyuan Company, which was about to go public, was at its most flourishing moment. Everyone wanted to stand under the fruit tree during the harvest season and have a big feast. No one expected the fight for nutrients to reach such an extent. Jiang Yuan continued to listen to the interrogation but his thoughts quickly shifted from convictions to uncovering the mastermind behind the scenes. From the information they currently had, both the eldest of the Yuan family, Yuan Yuming, and the second, Yuan Yng, were suspects. Moreover, it seemed they weren¡¯t the ones to physicallymit the murder. Orchestrating it required less emphasis on the time and ability to execute the crime. As Huang Qiangmin said, masterminding usually just required verbal instruction, so you can only rely on confessions to solve the case. Without confessions, it¡¯s very hard to prove anything. Financial motives also provided a line of inquiry, but that only applied when benefits had been paid upfront. In this matter, it appeared that the ones who had paid more were likely paying for information. The promises they made to Bai Yuequn could be fulfilled slowly over theing years. However, they did not anticipate that once Bai Yuequn¡¯s alibi was invalidated, he would enter a state of utter copse, no longer caring about the next few years. It wasn¡¯t long before Bai Yuequn¡¯s camera was brought in. Huang Qiangmin took it straight to the Surveince Analysis Squad, where the technicians plugged the camera directly into the data forensics analyzer. Bai Yuequn thought that setting a password on his camera would help, but in reality, police now use such devices for evidence collection, copying data directly, automatically listing it, generating analysis reports, and then operating directly onputers or PDAs. A few recent photos were quickly disyed. Indeed there were scenes of the third brother, Yuan Yutang, doing high-intensity sports, birthday celebrations, and bound photos. In the end, there was a single piece of paper that Bai Yuequn had clearly photographed several times: WeChat: 14556679 Without needing to be told, one of the technicians with theputer immediately put the WeChat ID into the system to check it. Nowadays, online security had direct interfaces, linking into messaging apps like WeChat and Alipay. An authorized police officer could input the number and ess chat records. With the rampant cyber fraud, online security often used simr methods to track down scammers. The WeChat ount that contacted Bai Yuequn was apparently newly registered. The only contact was Bai Yuequn himself, who, after adding the ount as a friend, received a bunch of images. The officers from Image Investigation immediately collected all the photos. Sliding through the chat, they saw multiple prompts sent to Bai Yuequn by the WeChat ID, along with location reports for Yuan Yutang. The Image Investigation officers then recorded the time separately. Although many knew the whereabouts of Yuan Yutang, it still inevitably required someone to tail him or to figure it out through some means. For instance, Bai Yuequn himself wasn¡¯t very clear about Yuan Yutang¡¯s state at the time. Starting from here, perhaps some leads could be investigated. By thest reported location of Yuan Yutang, after Bai Yuequn executed the n, that WeChat ount no longer sent out any messages. Several Image Investigation officers, after looking at the photos, all fell into deep thought. Or maybe it was a sort of shutdown. Using image analysis to find a murderer is a line of thinking that aligns well withmon logic. But for Image Investigation officers, selecting any approach or trail to track down a murderer means investing a great deal of time and effort. Just like using surveince cameras to find a thief, people often lose their phones and report it to the police, wanting to check the surveince footage but to no avail. Most of the time, it¡¯s because the police or the Image Investigation team can¡¯t be bothered to watch it. Because when the police review footage, it¡¯s not simply a matter of seeing a thief¡¯s face to conclude the case. First, they have to confirm the crime indeed urred; that the thief actually stole the phone, ideally with clear surveince recording it. This means that if the thief knows a bit, by slightly covering up, the major nearby cameras wouldn¡¯t capture the act. Of course, the victim may have already made up their mind, shouting ¡°That¡¯s the one,¡± but for the police, obviously, this is not sufficient. Secondly, after establishing the crime¡¯s existence, they have to track the thief. If they do not want to stake out, then the best bet would be to follow the surveince trail, looking for the thief¡¯s residence or means of transport. If the thief lives in an urban vige, or there¡¯s a segment without surveince on the way, or if they just avoid taking vehicles with clear license tes, that route is also likely a dead end. Finally, even if they catch the person, if the estimated value of the phone doesn¡¯t reach 3,000 or 5,000 yuan, it mostly falls short of the prosecution standards¡­ Of course, a murder case like the current one certainly needed to be pursued. But choosing which investigation approach to take has always been a frustrating issue for Image Investigation teams. At this time, Jiang Yuan walked over and said, ¡°Could you copy the photo of that note to my email?¡± ¡°Oh, no problem,¡± the Image Investigation officer quickly responded and transferred it to Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°Are you going to have a forensic document examiner take a look? With so few words, I¡¯m afraid it might be a bit difficult.¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯ll have a look myself first,¡± Jiang Yuan knew that Qinghe Citycked renowned forensic document examiners. However, he himself possessed Level 3 forensic document examination skills and didn¡¯t think a small number of words posed any difficulty. With documents, a small word count has its own ways of being scrutinized. Having many words, of course, has its own methods of examination. Like with this photo in front of him ¡ª ¡°WeChat: 14556679,¡± with just two words, a symbol, and a string of numbers ¡ª most people would consider aspects like the strokes of the words. What intrigued Jiang Yuan the most were the Arabic numerals. Arabic numerals might seem simple, especiallypared to Chinese characters, appearing to offer few points for appraisal, but in the development of modern document examination, Arabic numerals can actually provide a wealth of information. As modern people write less and less often, particrly in economic cases, the avable text for examination is inherently scarce, while numbers appear frequently. And it¡¯s not just Chinese criminal investigation experts who study Arabic numerals, but experts from other countries as well ¨C as long as they are involved in document examination, they inevitably study Arabic numerals. The extensive research and the entry of experts from various countries have enriched the forensic examination of Arabic numerals with many theories and techniques. For example, the way to draw circles is the most fundamental aspect of numerical characters. Form-wise, 0, 6, 8, and 9 are allpletely closed, 2, 3, and 5 have semi-closed circles, and regarding the direction of the stroke, 2, 3, 5, and 8 are clockwise, while 0 and 6 are counterclockwise. Thus, just by examining how circles are drawn, one can discern certain characteristics of an individual¡¯s handwriting. Furthermore, for characters like 1, 4, 6, 7, and 9, the starting and ending strokes, whether they extend beyond the grid lines, the different nting angles of the numbers, all serve as points for assessment. Faced with a string of numbers, the spacing between them, the connections from one to the next, and their rtive heights, all these too are aspects to be examined. In short, a small number of characters is no issue; there¡¯s always a method. Jiang Yuan then sent a message to Huang Qiangmin: ¡°Captain Huang, I need some handwritten materials from Jianyuan Company for forensicparison.¡± Huang Qiangmin: ¡°Who will you ask for the document examination?¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°I can handle it, let me try doing it myself first.¡± Huang Qiangmin: Chapter 233 - 233 224 Write 10 times ?233: Chapter 224 Write 10 times 233: Chapter 224 Write 10 times Jianyuan Company. Jiang Yuan sat in arge conference room, the long table covered with various documents and reports. In the corner of the conference room, there was a well-maintained Sansevieria. Several employees of Jianyuan were moving boxes of files over, piling them up beside the Sansevieria. A few police officers initially wanted to help but didn¡¯t know how to go about it and were declined by Jiang Yuan. Document examination is a very private task that doesn¡¯t require teamwork or opinions from various parties, at least, not during the examination process. As for after the examination, if there are disagreements about opinions, ¡°I don¡¯t agree with you¡± puts an end to it. Bai Yuequn conjectured that the person who sent him the photos was either Yuan or his second brother, a view to which Jiang Yuan also agreed, therefore he prioritized searching for documents belonging to Jianyuan Company. Of course, it¡¯s also possible that the person was a retainer of the elder or the second brother; however, based on the information currently known, both of their retainers are actually provided for by thepany. This is amon problem with Chinese-stylepanies; to save on taxes, people would rather have every Starbucks coffee reimbursed by thepany than pay out of their own pocket. An expense of an additional 20% or more is something even the rich try to avoid whenever possible. Or rather, the richer a person is, the less willing they are to spend that kind of money. As for whether the person used a printer to print that message, it doesn¡¯t really make much of a difference, it actually reduces the workload for the detectives. For document examiners, determining which printer the writing came from is somewhat easier. Common methods like Yellow Dot Tracking Technology can urately identify the printer¡¯s manufacturer, model, serial number, and even the printing time. With this information, looking for a person is even easier than how Jiang Yuan is looking for someone now. After all, there are fewer printers, and their sales channels are traceable. Moreover,pared to handwriting analysis, it¡¯s harder to dispute a printer¡¯s document examination. So, unless the case is too minor for the police to bother with an in-depth investigation, or the case is too foolish to require high-tech techniques, pulling off a major crime without anyone noticing is very difficult. At the very least, one needs the determination to earn a doctorate. All that plotting and scheming at home, tinkering on your own, it¡¯s all about using effort as a tactic to cover up azy strategy. Study! Only through studying is it truly possible tomit a sophisticated crime. And only such individuals are worthy of experts from all over the country using three decades of skill to meticulously bring them to justice. ¡°Uh, please sort out this person¡¯s information for me,¡± Jiang Yuan said. As several police officers at the scene were idly browsing their phones, Jiang Yuan pulled out a document. An experienced Image Investigation officer in the conference room immediately put down his phone, came over to take a look, and whispered, ¡°Is it this person?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a fifty percent chance. Find me more documents he signed, and I¡¯llpare them,¡± Jiang Yuan softly replied. The people from Jianyuan Company had already left the conference room, but since they were on someone else¡¯s turf, everyone remained cautious. The Image Investigation officer gave a grunt of acknowledgement and immediately got to work. Working together, several people quickly sifted through stacks of files and found more than a dozen with handwritten numbers. Jiang Yuan picked out a few numbers and carefullypared them. The most distinctive feature in this person¡¯s handwriting was the Arabic number ¡°7¡±: he would make a kink in the horizontal stroke. In fact, many people have simr habits. With only ten characters in Arabic numerals and a high repetition rate,pared to the seven or eight billion people in the world and the hundreds of billions over a century, any particr way of writing a number is actually not umon. But within a small circle, some features cannot be ignored. For example, among the few thousand files in the conference room, only about one hundred and ten people would write the number 7 with a kink in the horizontal part, and by the curvature of the bend, it is possible to match it to one individual. A minor supervisor in the logistics department, a very low-level position, yet one that required the injection of higher-level resources. ¡°It should be him,¡± Jiang Yuan confirmed afterparing the other numbers he wrote, which were also simr. Looking down at the name, the Image Investigation officer saw ¡®Wang Song¡¯ and immediately sent a message to his team leader. Then, the Image Investigation officer asked, ¡°What about the words he wrote? Do the two characters for ¡®WeChat¡¯ match?¡± ¡°He wrote them with his left hand,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. ¡°He might have been worried about giving himself away with the Chinese characters, but they match as well.¡± Certainly, non-dominant hand writing analysis is more difficult than dominant hand analysis and requires a higher level of expertise from the examiner, but generally, it¡¯s still possible to make an identification. This is because handwriting involves many aspects, such as theyout of characters, stroke order, proportional features, matching features, and so on. The penmanship habits formed over many years can¡¯t just be changed at will. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence, the Image Investigation officer didn¡¯t say much more. Anyway, it was just calling someone in for questioning. People like this, who are trying to hide their involvement but can¡¯t help exposing themselves, usually be incredibly frightened after a couple of questions. Another phone call went through, and Lei Xin was very pleased. Solving this case proceeded in an orderly fashion, like following a form, everything seemed unexpectedly simple. He started to take action. This case was actually quiteplex because it involved several other cases. The Qianjin District Criminal Police Team was working on it, as was the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, and police from Qinghe City were providing support. Usually, in such situations, a new special investigation team would be formed, a new leader would be appointed, all to coordinate the effort. But this time, things developed so quickly that the officials ustomed to meetings were overwhelmed and were working rather disorganized. Unexpectedly, in such a disorganized situation, Jiang Yuan still managed to crack cases one after another. By the time Jiang Yuan returned to the Qianjin District Criminal Police Team, Wang Song had also been brought back. Huang Qiangmin had just entered the building as well. He had just reported to the leaders of Ningtai County and met with several leaders from Qinghe City to rify the direction of the investigation. Then he found out that Jiang Yuan had already brought back the person who had been passing notes and photos. ¡°You¡¯re really going head-to-head, aren¡¯t you?¡± Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t know whether to praise Jiang Yuan or to remind him when he saw him. Jiang Yuan was excited too, but modestly asked, ¡°How is this considered going head-to-head?¡± ¡°It means when the case hits a tough spot, you tten it out; that¡¯s going head-to-head,¡± Wu Junhao had also returned, and he quite liked Jiang Yuan¡¯s style as it suited his own tastes. Huang Qiangmin hummed in agreement and said, ¡°We generally don¡¯t handle things so forcefully, at least not before. Especially cases like this one, where just a small note leads to finding someone, it¡¯s just not done this way. Our county doesn¡¯t even have a full-time document examiner.¡± Jiang Yuan earnestly asked, ¡°So how was it done before?¡± ¡°Before¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin took a moment to recall, then said, ¡°In the past, we would start by checking the people around Yuan and his older brother. To do something like this, it would have to be someone close to them, surely. Based on this assumption, there aren¡¯t many suspects to start with, and then we could use handwriting analysis and go down the list, interrogating each one to see if there are any slip-ups.¡± Traditional investigation methods like this have be a treasured skill for seasoned detectives, deeply embedded in the specific national circumstances. In a society of acquaintances, secrets criminals think they have are often not secrets to others who know them. Day-to-day information is unavoidable. This is like in a vige where, even without surveince cameras, it¡¯s difficult for a stranger to easily enter unnoticed. Today¡¯s society may not be so familiar, but within workces, orrge private enterprises like Jianyuan Company, where people interact daily for years on end, there still exists a very familiar social environment. Inparison, societies in Europe and America don¡¯t have this same condition or foundation, which is why their crime-solving doesn¡¯t rely on this investigative approach; it¡¯s not just a matter of police forces and systems, but also due to different social circumstances. If Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t caught Wang Song, then using Huang Qiangmin¡¯s typical approach, it still would¡¯ve been possible to find the person. The whole process then bes a massive logic puzzle. A group of detectives would study statements like ¡°Person A said,¡± ¡°Person B said,¡± ¡°Person C said,¡± ¡°Person D said,¡± analyzing back and forth to see who is lying or who makes a mistake. In the past, this process could even uncover other unrted cases. It feels like catching rabbits while gathering hay, or scooping up fish while harvesting wheat. As for Jiang Yuan, his method is akin to mechanized farming where thebine harvesters roll on with a rumble, the automatic balers start up with a roar, mowing down whatever is there, regardless of type. ¡°Copy this paragraph ten times, and please be a bit quick about it,¡± the young police officer ordered authoritatively in the interrogation room. Wang Song, a man in his thirties who managed logistics, a cushy position, was not easily intimidated by the junior officer. He looked at the text with the WeChat and numbers and asked softly, ¡°What if I don¡¯t feel like writing it?¡± As always, the interrogation was led by Lei Xin, whose teeth were stained yellow from smoking. He grinned and said, ¡°We ask you to write so we avoid wronging you, giving you a chance to help us spot errors. But if you give up, just sign a deration of waiver, and that would also be eptable.¡± Naturally, Wang Song couldn¡¯t sign such a deration, so he asked, ¡°How would you correct me? Aren¡¯t you afraid I¡¯ll write it all wrong?¡± ¡°Writing it wrong is fine,¡± Lei Xin chuckled. ¡°Handwriting isn¡¯t about the content; it¡¯s about how you write something.¡± ¡°But there¡¯s no need to write it ten times,¡± Wang Song protested. ¡°We will analyze the rtionship between your own handwriting samples, and thenpare it to the handwriting on the evidence, deriving a conclusion,¡± Lei Xin exined. Wang Song hesitated again. His expression was serious yet tried to appear rxed, slightly distorted. ¡°Just write it, no more fuss,¡± Lei Xin, the detective chief with nicotine-stained teeth, could tell at a nce if someone had something to hide and said sternly. Wang Song gripped the pen tightly. Before he even began to write, his palms were sweating and trembling slightly, to the point where he hardly knew how to ce the pen tip on the paper. Bowing his head, sweat formed at the back of his neck as well. Chapter 234 - 234 225 Rhythm ?234: Chapter 225 Rhythm 234: Chapter 225 Rhythm Interrogation room. Inside, there are no pothos nts; it¡¯s bare. The tiles around are all in cold hues, yet the air conditioning isn¡¯t cold enough, making the room ufortably hot and restless. The iron bars in front can¡¯t help but inspire fear. And the police behind the iron bars instill an involuntary dread. Before the iron fist of autocracy mmed into their faces, many people thought they could endure it. But in reality, most had personally proven how heavy the iron fist was. That was the state of mind Wang Song found himself in now. He had considered the prospect of going to jail very carefully. Originally, he believed he could withstand it. He was young, and spending a few years in prison would make hime out as a seasoned veteran; by then, not only would there be promised money for himself, his position within the group would also change. He would no longer be an obscure logistics clerk, but someone close to the leadership. Wang Song had traveled abroad on business before. It was a cooperative project in Africa between Jianyuan and otherpanies. The project site was deste, not to mention that under normal circumstances, everyone was restricted to the site and not allowed to leave. Only every three or four months were they allowed to go to the nearby city to get some air. To Wang Song, it felt like being in prison. Yet the earnings were not high, with only over two hundred thousand yuan in ie per year. The benefit was that food and lodging were all covered, but still, it was like being in prison. Wang Song thought, better to make a bigger deal. But now, actually sitting in the police interrogation room, Wang Song felt utterly terrible. This oppressive heaviness had been seeping out continually since he was handcuffed to the interrogation chair. The air quality in the interrogation room wasn¡¯t great either. There was an odd smell in the room that made Wang Song wonder if someone had vomited or had diarrhea here, or even had an ident¡ªcertainly, there must have been. Now, Wang Song felt like doing the same. What was even more aggravating was the demands of the interrogating officer. Copy a passage 10 times? That¡¯s a punishment mode for elementary students. But after deep thought, especially under the intense gaze of the officer, Wang Song still silently copied it ten times. Wang Song despised himself. At that moment, he felt as if he had gone back to his school days, when he hated himself for not daring to fight back against bullies. But more than that, Wang Song was afraid. If the interrogating police officers were so frightening, what would the prison guards be like? Probably, his prison mates would not be as amicable and jovial as his workmates at the construction site had been¡­ Copying just a short text proved quiteborious. After finishing the 10 copies, Wang Song handed them over to the officer like a schoolchild would. ¡°I¡¯ll show these to the expert,¡± Lei Xin said as he stood up and walked out with the copied notebook. Outside the interrogation room, there was also Qinghe City¡¯s own part-time document examiner, along with an expert from Changyang City who had rushed over. Ever since Yuan Yutang died, this case had escted to a murder case. For Qinghe City, it was an extraordinary case, one that touched the heavens. Regardless of whether Jianyuan Company was going public or had already gone public, the case was not one that could be suppressed. At the same time, Lei Xin now had ess to many more resources. Mainly because Jiang Yuan had solved the case too quickly, Lei Xin hadn¡¯t even had time to allocate resources before Bai Yuequn confessed. With the main suspect already arrested, resource allocation could not be too exaggerated. Nheless, borrowing a document-examination expert from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was still doable. Together with Jiang Yuan, it was like three document examiners spread out in a small room, each looking at a few sheets of paper and then exchanging them amongst each other. Jiang Yuan, wearing his loupe sses, meticulously looked through all ten copies, and finally also looked at the original text in the photos. This time, Jiang Yuan not only looked at the Arabic numerals but also focused on observing the structure of the words ¡°WeChat¡± and some other characters. Yes, aside fromparing original characters, handwriting analysis can also make analogies with other characters. In theory, the moreplex the character, the more favorable it is for handwriting analysis. And the characters for ¡°WeChat¡± are certainlyplex enough. Jiang Yuan only had to look at a few pieces of paper before he was almost certain that the person who wrote the note was undoubtedly Wang Song. However, since he hade, he might as well look at all the remaining versions too. Without a doubt, Wang Song was trying to conceal his handwriting to a certain extent. He had written the original note with his left hand, and now he was copying it with his right¡ªit seemed quite different. But it was all in vain. Copied ten times, a paragraph must first be evaluated by the simrity between those ten versions. For a normal person, the simrity between their writing is extremely high. For instance, if a paragraph is copied ten times, it should remain consistently constructed, to the degree that it could be recognized by any ordinary person with the ten sheets spread out before them. Since Wang Song hadn¡¯t undergone any special training, his writing became unstable when he had to copy it ten times without using his customary method. The excessive variability between the characters proved his attempt to conceal. And concealment itself can actually be quite telling. Second, there was theparison of his writing with the physical evidence¡­ Overall, there were too many ws, making it somewhat difficult to decide where to start. The expressions of the other two document examiners were roughly the same. The most difficult part of this case was to identify the most likely ¡°messenger¡± from among the many employees of Jianyuan Company. After Wang Song was singled out, the work of the handwriting experts became quite simple. Once all three had confirmed, Lei Xin let out a sigh of relief, thanked them, and then confidently returned to the interrogation room. In the interrogation room, Wang Song, who had been sitting idle for a long while, had already figured out in his mind how to write his ¡°My Struggle.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just say it straight, our handwriting expert has confirmed that you wrote this note,¡± Lei Xin disyed the slip of paper with ¡°WeChat: 14556679¡± written on it. Wang Song swallowed hard but kept silent. Lei Xin said, ¡°I¡¯m not interested in you. I want your testimony to go after the person above you. But if you don¡¯t talk, then I¡¯ll have no choice but to take you down. This is a murder case, think carefully.¡± Wang Song¡¯s eyes reddened, still saying nothing. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the person behind you has promised you, but I ask you to consider, with the way things stand today, do you think their promises can still be fulfilled?¡± Lei Xin persuasively urged. ¡°If I speak¡­ can it be considered¡­ a disy of good behavior, a meritorious deed?¡± Wang Song finally spoke, hesitating slightly. ¡°It can,¡± Lei Xin replied with a smile, embodying the mode of a scoundrel. ¡°How long will I be sentenced?¡± Wang Song asked, his gaze burning into Lei Xin. ¡°That depends on the nature of your cooperation. If you don¡¯t, then incitement is equivalent toplicity in crime, premeditated murder of two people¡­¡± Lei Xin paused, then continued, ¡°You¡¯ll be treated a lot more leniently if you disclose the mastermind and cooperate with our investigation.¡± Wang Song took a deep breath, even leaning back slightly as he said softly, ¡°It was Yuan Yng.¡± After saying that, he paused briefly and then continued much more smoothly. ¡°He sent me pictures, which I then sent to that person. Yuan Yng said he just couldn¡¯t stand the third brother, that his mouth was too foul and he wanted to humiliate him, maybe break a leg or something. Yng said the third brother¡¯s boyfriend wasn¡¯t a nobody, but he never expected¡­¡± ¡°What you guys originally thought, we can talk aboutter. Tell me exactly what you did,¡± Lei Xin kept control of the interrogation rhythm, not showing any change on his face even as the answer surfaced. ¡­ Chapter 235 - 235 226 As the Water Recedes, the Rocks Emerge ?235: Chapter 226: As the Water Recedes, the Rocks Emerge 235: Chapter 226: As the Water Recedes, the Rocks Emerge The lights in the interrogation room were a bit dazzling. Not gentle at all. Being in there for too long was irritating, aggravating. ¡°The second young master sought me out¡­¡± Wang Song began anxiously. ¡°Name.¡± ¡°Yuan Yng, Yuan Yng sought me out, asking for my help with something. Because I had a rtive who was a ssmate of his¡­ I used to think that knowing the Yuan family was a great honor, but I never expected him to be¡­ I just¡­ I just did it,¡± Wang Song rambled on, his emotions surging as he spoke. Nervous, excited, and somewhat angry and indignant. Without further questioning from Lei Xin, Wang Song continued on his own: ¡°Yuan Yng had a meal alone with me, probably to assess me, and then he asked if I was willing to take a risk. Of course, I said I was.¡± ¡°I never thought it would be something illegal,¡± Wang Song defended himself. ¡°I did think about refusing, but he then took out a huge stack of cash. My family was just renovating our house and needed the money, so I took it. I thought to myself, now that it¡¯se to this, to refuse the second young master would be to offend him.¡± ¡°A suitcase full of cash, five hundred thousand, I counted it over and over. Yeah. Many times. A suitcase that thick with money, and it only held five hundred thousand. It¡¯s been so long since I¡¯ve seen cash, even someone like me, working in logistics, got dazzled by the thickness of that case.¡± ¡°Later on, we met up two more times, both outside, just for tea. And then the matter was settled.¡± Listening to Wang Song¡¯s statement, Lei Xin knew he was telling half-truths. However, as long as he was willing to talk, Lei Xin let him speak. As for digging into the detailster, there was plenty of time and energy for that. For example, the specific times they ate, their meeting times, could all be verified with surveince footage, or by asking the waiters at that time, and so on. Nowadays, with so many location-tracking software and cameras around, just finding a few scenes where both appeared would confirm the situation. For a case, it¡¯s all about people, money, and objects. Once the rtionships between people are established, it¡¯s just about defining their roles and affiliations. Once the financial aspects are nailed down, the outline of the case bes clear. Physical evidence acts as a supplement, supporting the story and financial rtionships. Beyond that, Wang Song¡¯s own thoughts and his guesses as to Yuan Yng¡¯s thoughts were unimportant. Thew cares about actions, not intentions; what¡¯s done is done, what¡¯s not done is not done. ¡°Yuan Yng nned to murder Yuan Yutang, when did you first be aware of this¡­¡± Lei Xin suddenly asked. Wang Song lowered his head to think, then said softly, ¡°Probably about a year now, at least ten months.¡± ¡°Where did the photoe from?¡± ¡°Given by Yuan Yng.¡± ¡°Who did he get to take the photo?¡± Lei Xin pressed for details. Details are indeed very difficult to fake because they are like branches, andpared to the main theme, they are tooplex. No one canplete all the details perfectly; if they could, they would be overwhelmed by the thirdyer of intricacies. Wang Song shook his head: ¡°I don¡¯t know who specifically took it.¡± ¡°So why, after a year of no action, did you decide to act now?¡± Lei Xin had many questions as well. This case seemed too murky on too many points. Of course, Lei Xin had some spections. With these family feuds and melodramas, regardless of life and death, leaning towards family members was never wrong. Spections aside, verification still required a confession. Police work was about evidence, not fabricating stories. Wang Song hummed and hawed for a bit, then said, ¡°The chairman¡¯s study was burrized, and Yuan Yng saw it as an opportunity.¡± ¡°An opportunity? Why?¡± ¡°Taking advantage during the chaos. Because the eldest and the third have always been at odds. If something happened to someone, everyone would assume it was the other party¡¯s doing. The second young master¡­ Yuan Yng doesn¡¯t like to take the initiative. He always seems passive, but he¡¯s ambitious; more so than the third young master.¡± At this point, Lei Xin really wanted to ask what else Yuan Yng had done under cover of chaos but held back, instead asking, ¡°Be more specific, how did he contact you.¡± ¡°There was a special email¡­¡± ¡°Email ount and password.¡± As Lei Xin asked more and more, the case of Yuan Yng inciting murder became increasingly clear. With testimony, physical evidence, and both motive and plot in ce, the overall evidence for the case might be somewhat scant, but it was already sufficient. Captain Lei Xin felt a surge of excitement, a pity he didn¡¯t have a cigarette on hand, or he would have smoked it in one go. Incitement to murder was always a difficult point in homicide cases. The act of incitement itself was hard to define clearly. If this case could be closed, it would really make headlines. At the same moment, the detectives of Qianjin District had also brought in Yuan Yng. Yuan Yng was slightly overweight, not much of a belly but his face seemed puffy, chubby, giving the impression of an easy target. He arrived with thewyer from Jianyuan Company, adopting an air of innocence as if to say don¡¯t mess with me, I have my father behind me. Thewyer too was cool and professional, the suit expensive. But when Yuan Yng saw Wang Song, who was looking down, his expression became slightly unnatural. He uneasily reached to adjust his ownpel. Lei Xin greeted him with a smile full of yellow teeth. ¡°Come in,¡± Lei Xin waved him over, appearing amiable. Yuan Yng straightened his expression, striding in with head held high. Thewyer, however, was left outside. ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you outside, remember what I told you¡­¡± thewyer gave hisst few words of advice. Yuan Yng impatiently uttered ¡°uh-huh¡± a couple of times, and just as he was about to enter the interrogation room, he suddenly turned around to see at the other end of the dark corridor awyer in a Burberry custom suit handing out cigarettes to a few police officers, which made Yuan Yng¡¯s body go limp. He hadn¡¯t expected the oppressive feeling the police interrogation room brought to be so intense. Yuan Yng was like a panda that had been taken away from its keeper, suddenly released into the wild, supposedly for some rewilding program. His sister¡¯s wilderness, his sister¡¯s rewilding, did anyone ask the panda¡¯s opinion? Did it sign its name? Did it hold up an ID card and recite the ID number? Can you prove it was of sound mind when it signed the agreement? Yuan Yng felt his own consciousness starting to blur. Hiding behind a desk and nning conspiracies was simple enough. But once pulled away from the desk, away from the office, what is the world like? Yuan Yng didn¡¯t know. At that moment, he was like a baby left without an adult, his cheeks involuntarily starting to tremble with puffiness. He was tens of times more nervous than Wang Song. With one look, Lei Xin knew things were settled. Better to be foolish than criminal, but once you really sit here, you realize how high the sky is and how thick the earth is. It¡¯s only a mere few feet. ¡­ Yuan Jiansheng didn¡¯t show up at the Qianjin District police station until the interrogation was over. He didn¡¯t ask to see his younger brother, Yuan Yng, stating that he was just there to understand the case details. The eldest, Yuan Yuming, followed him without any expression on his face. But the effort to keep his skin taut betrayed a bit of his inner thoughts. Yuan Yuming, also in his forties, seemed slightly more corpulent than his younger brother, dressed quite inly, with everything he wore being domestic brands, even the wristwatch was a Seagull. From a forensic doctor¡¯s viewpoint, Doctor Jiang viewed Yuan Yuming, and with his ¡°tide dress sense¡± skill, deduced the judgment as ¡°hypocritical.¡± Wearing full suits and shoes of domestic brands is already a rare sight, but wearing a Seagull watch is just too fake. Those who truly value their money wouldn¡¯t spend it like this. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯splexion was pale, supported by his daughter Yuan Yushan, as he leaned on a chair while Lei Xin and others exined the case to him. Doctor Jiang sat to the side, with no part in speaking, and Huang Qiangmin and others did not want him to intervene at this time either. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s daughter, Yuan Yushan, looked to be in her twenties or thirties, supporting her father Yuan Jiansheng all the way, appearing very filial. She wore a white Chanel top paired with a ck Chanel pencil skirt and had very smooth, ear-length ck hair. With one nce, Doctor Jiang thought the girl had a good fashion sense, ying to her strengths and hiding her weaknesses. Her thighs were likely a bit meaty, her calves slender, her arms long, her neck as well, and her facial features were neat. Her waist wasn¡¯t so slim, but her figure was well-proportioned, the type that would look good as a corpse. She didn¡¯t speak, just apanying her father, Yuan Jiansheng. As the case was narrated, the flesh on Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s cheeks slowly caved in. In fact, Lei Xin¡¯s exnation was already a very abridged version, but Yuan Jiansheng, as a father, still couldn¡¯t bear it. ¡°Dad, I won¡¯t listen to the very detailed stuff,¡± said the eldest son, Yuan Yuming, as he stepped forward and gave his greeting. Unexpectedly, Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s emotions exploded in an instant, his voice sharp as he said, ¡°That email ount and the second son¡¯s WeChat ID, have you had people surveilling them?¡± Yuan Yuming was stunned, ¡°Dad, what are you talking about?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been monitoring the second son for years now. He thought he was being patient, but little did he know, the people around him had sold him out to you long ago,¡± Yuan Jiansheng chuckled coldly. Yuan Yuming was so baffled he dared not speak. Yuan Jiansheng sighed, ¡°He never considered the fact that we run apany where employees are free toe and go. Those whoe to make money can wait two years, three years, or even five, but who would endure with him in secret for seven or eight years? They might as well take the money you offer and y both sides or just resign and leave.¡± It was then Yuan Yuming confirmed that his father truly knew, and he quickly said, ¡°I only bribed a few people around him¡­¡± ¡°And you think the rat by his side could keep a secret?¡± Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s expression grew increasingly sorrowful. ¡°Your brothers are at each other¡¯s throats, and you actually wanted to profit from their fight, you¡­ you watched as Yutang was killed¡­ how could you bear it?¡± Yuan Yuming started to panic, nced at the few police officers by his side, and said in a low voice, ¡°Dad, let¡¯s go back and talk about this.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need to talk anymore, you can take care of yourself,¡± Yuan Jiansheng got up and said, ¡°I¡¯ll just pretend I never had a son.¡± Yuan Jiansheng took his daughter, Yuan Yushan, by the hand and walked out. Yuan Yuming felt his scalp tingle. All his power and wealth came from his father. In the past, he always felt like the natural heir, full of immense self-confidence, akin to Mount Tai in his steadiness. But the father of today made Yuan Yuming feel alienated and terrified. ¡°Dad,¡± Yuan Yuming, with his corpulent body, quickly ran to Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s side and called out in a low voice, ¡°Dad, I¡¯ve got so much to do every day, how could I possibly spend all day watching the second one¡¯s anonymous WeChat IDs? His sudden action caught me by surprise too¡­¡± ¡°You must have had someone specifically looking at that stuff. Didn¡¯t they report to you when they saw such important information?¡± Yuan Jiansheng asked indifferently, ¡°Do I need to call them out for a confrontation?¡± Yuan Yuming¡¯s face turned even paler; he grabbed Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s arm with one hand and said in a low voice, ¡°Dad, please give me another chance.¡± Yuan Jiansheng shook his head firmly, instead nced at his daughter Yuan Yushan, and patted the back of her hand gently, saying, ¡°Starting tomorrow, Yushan will intern at thepany. You should take a break for now.¡± Turning around, Yuan Jiansheng bowed slightly to the gathered detectives, saying, ¡°Thank you all for your hard work.¡± After speaking, he nodded towards Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°I thought this was a minor case, but unexpectedly¡­ once thepany¡¯s affairs lessen, I will invite you both out to dinner.¡± Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what to say. This man was the father of both the victim and the perpetrator; it was hard to say whether they should recuse themselves from him or not. Yuan Jiansheng paused for a moment, then thanked the detectives from Qinghe City Bureau and Qianjin District separately. This time, his daughter Yuan Yushangged two steps behind, not following him immediately. Instead, she took the opportunity, while everyone was talking, to approach Jiang Yuan, stopped in front of him, and sincerely said, ¡°Thank you, Doctor Jiang, hope to see you again.¡± ¡°No need for thanks. Please, take care,¡± Jiang Yuan responded politely. Yuan Yushan looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°I will.¡± Yuan Yushan¡¯s voice and her gaze were just as lucid, presenting a very beautiful public image. Only, she didn¡¯t quite seem like a family member of the victim, or, for that matter, a family member of the perpetrator. Chapter 236 - 236 227 Entry ?236: Chapter 227 Entry 236: Chapter 227 Entry Early morning. After a hearty meal, Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun, Wu Junhao, and Huang Qiangmin stood together outside the restaurant, waiting for their car to arrive. The breeze in Qinghe City felt softer and stickier than that of Ningtai County. It brushed against the face, disappearing before one could savor it, only to sweep over again after a short while. If Qinghe City were a long-legged beauty, this breeze would be like a lingering dance, seductive and itching at the heart. If Qinghe City were a burly man, then this breeze would be¡­ slightly nauseating. The few people standing on the steps were all immersed in their thoughts in the blowing wind, the exhaustion from within making everyone feel exceptionally weary. The theft case had turned into a murder case, a bloody one with two bodies at that. It was quickly solved by Jiang Yuan; otherwise, Huang Qiangmin would have had to regretfully stab himself twice. ¡°Captain Huang,¡± a Mercedes stopped in front of them. The driver got out and said with a smile, ¡°Are you heading back to Ningtai? I can give you a ride.¡± ¡°You are¡­?¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m apany driver from Jianyuan Company.¡± ¡°That¡¯s very kind of you, but no need.¡± Huang Qiangmin actually wanted to take the offer. The cars in his team were all what¡­ all junk, hardly daring to turn on the air conditioning when fully loaded on the freeway, for fear of being too slow to overtake and getting crushed by a truck. He wasn¡¯t sure about the quality of the Mercedes, but the air conditioning should be good. Thepany driver insisted a couple more times, but seeing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s resolute attitude, he said with augh, ¡°Then I¡¯ll wait for you guys. I¡¯ll grab some breakfast. There will still be time to get a rideter if you change your minds.¡± He then entered the breakfast shop. Huang Qiangmin and the others had no good reason to stop him from eating. ¡°Change in the assistant general manager, and thepany¡¯s style is all different.¡± Huang Qiangmin felt quite pleased inside as he watched the driver¡¯s retreating figure and chuckled lightly. ¡°Because it¡¯s a girl¡¯s subordinate, so the attitude has all softened?¡± Wu Jun had also felt the aggressiveness of Jianyuan Company in the past few days. Huang Qiangmin tilted his head to one side, ¡°If a leader had that kind of influence, our team should have received collective first-ss merit long ago. This driver might be someone Yuan Yushan brought with her. I heard she brought some people into thepany.¡± ¡°So, Yuan Yushan also has her own team?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, somewhat surprised. Huang Qiangmin nodded, ¡°She has her ownpany outside. It¡¯s said that originally, she had no right of inheritance, not even allowed to start apany outside, but with the intense conflicts within Jianyuan, the bans slowly loosened.¡± ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought, the biggest winner this time is a young girl.¡± Wu Jun also sighed with emotion, ¡°If my son gets married and marries such a little rich girl, I wonder how happy he¡¯d be.¡± Unable to help himself, Wu Jun lit a cigarette and began to enjoy it. Wu Junhao took a step back; he was a health-conscious fitness man. He smoked but didn¡¯t inhale secondhand smoke. ¡°By the way, has the thief confessed?¡± Wu Jun had been restingfortably for the past two days and was merely curious now. Huang Qiangmin uttered a ¡°hmm¡±, saying, ¡°He¡¯s spilled his guts, emptier than a wallet. Getting tangled up in such a case, he¡¯s really hit a streak of bad luck. With the other cases that have been dug up, he¡¯s looking at a sentence of at least 7 years.¡± ¡°Good grief. Is there someone behind the scenes?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°So he just ran over here to do a job on a whim?¡± ¡°Pretty much¡­ But¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± ¡°He said he received several packages from Qinghe, all local delicacies here. They kind of triggered his homesickness, so he came over to take a look around.¡± ¡°Dropped by to pull off a job?¡± ¡°Yes, it seems to be the case now.¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he patted Jiang Yuan,ughing, ¡°Who would¡¯ve thought we were just here to handle a theft.¡± Jiang Yuan truly agreed. Wu Jun silently handed each person a red Guan Yu wood carving, speaking softly, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s not talk about such morbid matters. Let¡¯s go home peacefully, have a redfish if you can, or a red boiled egg if you can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡­ Evening. Jiang Yuan savored a Dong Xing grouper, bright red with little white spots on its body. The Dong Xing grouper had be popr because of Hong Kong dramas, and sold at high prices in China for a while until breakthroughs in aquaculture technology. Then, Dong Xing groupers from both ind and offshore waters couldn¡¯tmand high prices anymore. Compared to the agriculture scientists of Mengdushan and others, China¡¯s had in effect killed both themselves and their enemies, nourishing all living things. His skills in preparing fish were average in Jiang Fuzhen, but the requirements for steamed fish weren¡¯t high. Jiang Yuan, Jiang Fuzhen, and Uncle Qiang ate a fish that was nearly two pounds¡ªjust the right amount. The meat of sea-caught Dong Xing grouper was firmer than themon tiger grouper or green grouper, but the vor was very rich. Jiang Fuzhen stopped eating after just a little; he was ustomed to freshwater fish, and only tasted the seawater fish for its vor, then he went on to pair it with other dishes and started eating rice. Uncle Qiang was eating quite happily. He also watched Hong Kong movies, and even due to his age, there was a time when he regarded Hong Kong films as documentaries. He had heard of the name ¡°Dongxing grouper,¡± but given Uncle Qiang¡¯s character, he had never gone out of his way to buy this kind of fish. He was reluctant to even go to the market, eating whatever his wife bought back. And except for during holidays, Uncle Qiang¡¯s wife was very frugal. During the meal, Jiang Yuan also picked out things he could talk about to share with his dad. Even if it was just a small portion, Jiang Fuzhen was already feeling somewhat restless. ¡°Jianyuan is such a bigpany, and to think it has ended up in such a mess. Hey, I can¡¯tin, I had once rented a floor to Jianyuan Company, and their payment was prompt, quite a legitimatepany,¡± Jiang Fuzhen shook his head repeatedly. Jiang Yuan smiled and neither asked nor said much more. Most criminal cases were beyond what ordinary people could bear. Especially homicide cases, which are either due to interests that exceed ordinary levels, or emotions that burst beyond ordinary thresholds. As for Uncle Qiang, he listened intently and at the end asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you also have someone by your side? It might get more dangerous for you once you be famous. Your skills are too good. Some people, if theymit a crime andter realize they left a loophole, wouldn¡¯t theye back and try to kill you first?¡± Jiang Fuzhen frowned deeply, ¡°You make a good point¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never heard of a police officer having bodyguards,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°My superiors wouldn¡¯t allow it either.¡± ¡°Then you should practice more. Do you want me to teach you somebat skills?¡± Uncle Qiang stood up, stretched his long arms and legs, and said, ¡°When I was in the army, I specifically learned close-quartersbat.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s fine,¡± Jiang Yuan had initially thought to wait for the system to grant him skills, but the system¡¯s response was a bit slow, so he decided to start learning on his own. Seeing that he had convinced Jiang Yuan, Uncle Qiang got excited, thought for a bit, and said, ¡°I suggest you start with wrestling. Wrestling is quick to learn, and the basic moves are not difficult. It¡¯s mainly useful. You¡¯re not going into battle, so when it¡¯s time to use techniques, it¡¯s usually between one or two moves to determine the winner.¡± Jiang Yuan recalled his past experiences and couldn¡¯t help but nod in agreement. Uncle Qiang, feeling like he had something to do, became a bit impatient. While waiting for Jiang Yuan to finish eating and as he was digesting, Uncle Qiang started exining. After an hour had passed, Uncle Qiang could not help but demonstrate the basic movements to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was also aware of his own vulnerability. The cases he was dealing with were bing more and moreplex. Especially this time, although the case started out as a minor burry, due to the involvement of Jianyuan Company, it still pulled him in. The subsequent developments were even more unexpected. But no matter what, a homicide case that involved money, power, and emotions would definitely not mind having another person join the deceased. The dangers that an ordinary police officer would never encounter in their lifetime could very well happen to Jiang Yuan. It was like demolition issues, which ordinary people might never encounter once in their lifetime, but Jiang Yuan and his father had faced it several times. With time off for adjustment, Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to learn the basics from Uncle Qiang. When he went out again, even the two dogs at home sensed Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence, and their walk became more proud and strident. Three dayster. Jiang Yuan went to work as usual. Upon reaching the office, he stepped over the fire pit, paid respects to Guan Gong, had a red egg, and then Wu Jun handed a red box to Jiang Yuan. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°The case you solved in Qinghe City, the one with the body in the reservoir, it¡¯s a third-ss merit,¡± Wu Jun pointed to the box. ¡°The medal and everything are inside.¡± ¡°Just a box?¡± Jiang Yuan was somewhat unustomed. ¡°There¡¯s a ceremony for the big ones, usually for second-ss merits. For third-ss, either we have a small meeting, or during a big meeting, everyone makes a brief appearance,¡± Wu Jun paused, observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, then said, ¡°You¡¯ve already received two second-ss merits, there¡¯s no need to be so formal with a third-ss merit.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ really modest,¡± Jiang Yuan looked around, realizing it was just the two of them in the room. ¡°Stop looking, Huang went to Qinghe City to seek favors, he won¡¯t be back for the next couple of days.¡± ¡°Off to Qinghe City again?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s kind of like chasing after owed wages,¡± Wu Jun always spoke his mind. Chapter 237 - 237 228 Materialism ?237: Chapter 228 Materialism 237: Chapter 228 Materialism Criminal Police Squad. A dark ck pickup truck, silently parked at the main entrance of the courtyard. Huang Qiangmin, with a cigarette in his mouth, stood on the steps about two or three meters away from the pickup, deeply appreciating it. The instructor had bad luck and got caught, so he had no choice but to join Huang Qiangmin in admiring the truck. Soon, he got bored and said, ¡°Captain Huang, if we¡¯ve seen enough, let¡¯s head back.¡± Instructor Pei Xiang was a humble gentleman, educated and with academic credentials. He didn¡¯t rush when pressured by Huang Qiangmin, resembling a resilient de of grass, stubbornly surviving. Huang Qiangminughed and said, ¡°Go back to do what? Hurry to write reports? Let¡¯s not worry about that now. Just look at this truck, that muscle feel, truly amazing!¡± Pei Xiang remained unfazed by his persistence and calmly said, ¡°You¡¯re all about cracking cases, but someone has to write the reports, right? Not to mention the various data the higher-ups demand, week after week, must bepiled.¡± ¡°Let the youngsters help you with that.¡± ¡°They don¡¯t have theputer permissions I do.¡± ¡°In any case, first look at the truck; I personally picked it from the Qinghe Bureau¡¯s parking lot¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hands gestured in the air, as if fondling it, and said, ¡°It has a 2.0t power engine, diesel, a first-hand new car from four years ago, perfect, isn¡¯t it?¡± Pei Xiang made an ¡°oh¡± sound and said, ¡°So it¡¯s a four-year-old second-hand truck? How many kilometers?¡± ¡°Ten something, just over twenty.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s over two hundred thousand kilometers? Twenty-something?¡± ¡°Twenty-five, not quite twenty-six.¡± Huang Qiangmin paused, then said, ¡°I know, if this was your family car, you wouldn¡¯t be interested, but this is for our squad, and moreover, I tested it on the road, overtaking with the air conditioning on, without a single problem.¡± Pei Xiang sighed and said, ¡°It¡¯s better than nothing.¡± ¡°That¡¯s way better than nothing. This truck can handle rough roads, and when the timees, throw two bodies in the back and drive out to the wild. That atmosphere, it pops right up.¡± Huang Qiangmin imagined that vast, deste scene, feeling an eagerness rise within him. Pei Xiang said, ¡°Two bodies a year, I find even that too much. Are you nning not to live a decent life? This year¡¯s case handling budget is almostpletely used up by you.¡± ¡°How could that be. We now have Jiang Yuan, right? If we run out of local cases, we¡¯ll just drive this truck anywhere we need, pick up a couple of cases, and we¡¯ll have everything we need.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, cing his hands confidently on his hips. Pei Xiang stated, ¡°Criminals probably think the same way.¡± Huang Qiangmin broke into a heartyugh,ughing four times, and said, ¡°This time they even added extra funding for us.¡± ¡°How much did they add?¡± Pei Xiang finally showed some interest. For a crime squad, an entity of pure expenditure, funding is its lifeline. In the past years, to secure funding, everyone had to make do by apprehending gamblers and those involved in prostitution, wasting time and energy, not to mention the negative shift in the team¡¯s attitude and focus. Now it¡¯s different. There¡¯s a public security squad, and the criminal police don¡¯t even have the right to crack down on gambling and prostitution. Huang Qiangmin looked around and whispered, ¡°They added 600,000.¡± ¡°Wow!¡± Pei Xiang was delighted. ¡°That¡¯s a good sale, you really did well this time.¡± ¡°What are you talking about¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin lifted his chin in pride. Pei Xiang expressed his thoughts, ¡°I don¡¯t mind saying that in the past when you went out to ¡®sell,¡¯ spending thirty to fifty thousand to bring back seventy or eighty thousand seemed like doubling the earnings, but it didn¡¯t even ount for the staff wages. This time is the real deal.¡± Huang Qiangmin, ttered and happy, let it slide, saying, ¡°This time we brought the whole first squad with us.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a matter of tens of thousands. The amodations and meals were still covered by the city bureau,¡± Pei Xiang added, ¡°In short, you did well, and keep it up for future, even more brilliant sales.¡± ¡°Fine, fine.¡± Huang Qiangmin gestured with his hand, not dwelling on it. Expenditures and funding are two different concepts. Within expenses, a major element is staff wages and benefits. Considering the six insurances and two funds for police officers, it easily costs over 200,000 per person per year. Add the maintenance of various devices, equipment procurement, refueling, and vehicle repairs, the total expenditure of a crime squad is very high. Amon example is the DNAboratory, which easily has an annual expense of at least 3 million. Expenditures were something Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t control, nor was he interested in controlling. What he really cared about was the operational funding that could be actually used for solving cases, the cash in hand. The amount of this money varies, and there are many ways to calcte it. A more basic method is to divide it per capita; for instance, some poorer counties stipte an average expenditure of 15,000 per person, meaning a police officer¡¯s annual spend on case-solving tops out at 15,000 yuan. Wealthier cities, like Changyang City, have a per capita budget of 30,000 to even 40,000 yuan, but Changyang¡¯s high expenses are justified. In Ningtai County¡¯s detective squad, the average annual budget is just a little over 20,000 yuan per person, with the total team budget being just over 3 million yuan. If all this money were used to handle theft cases, it would only cover a little over a hundred cases. Therefore, every time the county or city bureau carries out tasks or inspections, they often bring some funds with them. It¡¯s a subsidy for the grass-roots units. Having an extra 600,000 yuan all at once made Huang Qiangmin veryfortable. Besides that, there was a Great Wall pickup truck that was brand new four years ago, two brand new investigation kits, a set of misceneous gadgets, and an almost brand new indanedione fingerprint fuming cab. Thetter items were all prepared for Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin pointed at the shiny new second-hand pickup, his voice filled with bravado, ¡°As long as this funding is in ce, even if Qinghe City has two more homicide cases, I won¡¯t be scared!¡± If it wasn¡¯t for his many years of staunch materialism, Pei Xiang would have spat blood on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face right then and there. ¡­ No sooner had Jiang Yuan sat down in his office than people began to seek him out. Technicians with particrly good skills actually have no free time. This is just like a very attractive woman with a particrly short period of being single, when one rtionship ends, another begins. Sometimes when it¡¯s incredibly busy, one project will already be starting while another is yet to end. The first two looking for Jiang Yuan were carrying fingerprints and footprints. Currently, Jiang Yuan is most famous for fingerprints, footprints, bloodstains, and crime scene investigation. Ordinary detectives don¡¯t have the audacity to pull Jiang Yuan away for crime scene investigations. It¡¯s not easy to bother a forensic doctor for the several hours of work such tasks require. Inparison, dealing with fingerprints and footprints seems easier. Jiang Yuan provided answers to each of them, sent them on their way, took a couple of sips of tea, and then saw Wei Zhenguoing up. ¡°Captain Wei, long time no see,¡± Jiang Yuan immediately greeted, then invited Wei Zhenguo to sit down. Captain Wei¡¯s face was always dark and tanned. But his beard and hair were clean and neatly trimmed, which made one wonder if he lived outdoors all year round. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo was visibly pleased, took a seat, drank two cups of tea, made small talk and then said, ¡°Lately, our team six is only catching petty thieves. Those who steal electric bikes, mobile phones, and there was one who robbed a shop¡­¡± ¡°Those aren¡¯t easy to catch, are they?¡± Jiang Yuan had previously caught someone stealing electric bikes, and although the method of theft was primitive, it wasn¡¯t easy to apprehend them.¡± Captain Wei nodded, ¡°That¡¯s why I¡¯ve been thinking that with the current situation, there have been considerable changes in society.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Actually, we should rearrange the surveince video, update whatever needs updating, upgrade whatever needs upgrading, and establish a Surveince Analysis Squad or something. That way, it would be easier for us to catch thieves and improve public safety.¡± Wei Zhenguo looked at Jiang Yuan, suggesting, ¡°You should mention it to Captain Huang and the others.¡± ¡°Video surveince systems are way too expensive; it won¡¯t matter what I say.¡± ¡°Just let Captain Huang bring it up to the higher-ups. Who knows, they might be wondering where to spend the money.¡± Wei Zhenguo didn¡¯te today to discuss only this matter. After saying this, he changed the subject, ¡°I¡¯ve got a thing, kind of a case, and I need your help.¡± ¡°Oh, tell me.¡± ¡°I have a friend¡­¡± Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s skeptical look, Wei Zhenguo quickly added, ¡°It¡¯s really a friend.¡± ¡°And this friend?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a zoologist. He has some photos and videos that are quite blurry and would like someone to enhance the images. Uh, he¡¯s willing to pay, but it seems that regrpanies can¡¯t handle it¡­¡± ¡°Sure, bring them over. I¡¯ll work on them at home; theputers at the station are a bit outdated,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed readily. Chapter 238 - 238 229 Monkey ?238: Chapter 229: Monkey 238: Chapter 229: Monkey Afternoon. Jiang Yuan strolled leisurely down the stairs, feelingpletely rxed. Suddenly, he was struck by the joyful sensation of getting out of school early during his schooldays. Looking back now, the joy of skipping school was the truest joy of all. Once you¡¯re an adult and spend thousands to buy moments of leisure, they¡¯re worth jackpared to those days. Jiang Yuan swung his arms as he walked, even considering twisting his body this way and that. ¡°Heading out?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice came from behind. Jiang Yuan jumped, for a moment almost thinking he¡¯d been transported back to the age when he was under the tight grip of his homeroom teacher. ¡°Um¡­ just stepping out for a bit,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Need a car?¡± Huang Qiangmin offered a 55.5-degree smile ¨C the epitome of amiable. If there were a world ruled by crocodiles, a crocodile carrying a chicken to his mother-inw and wearing such a smile would meet the average social expectations perfectly. After deeply contemting the potential aftermath of nodding or shaking his head and with the calm of someone who¡¯d performed autopsies on double digits, Jiang Yuan nodded: ¡°I¡¯ll need a car.¡± ¡°Take the new car from our team,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, handing over the key to the Great Wall Cannon. At that moment, if viewed from above, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s thick and stubby arm sticking out was like an olive branch overly nourished with fertilizer. Jiang Yuan, his hand in his pocket, felt the key to his own Mercedes G-ss, hesitant. ¡°No need¡­¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it only right for you to enjoy the car you¡¯ve earned?¡± Huang Qiangmin emphasized, ¡°It¡¯s really nice to drive. Step on the gas, and the car will leap forward.¡± ¡°If you press hard on the gas pedal, the car will indeed¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s a new car from four years ago; it gets serviced every year. You know we don¡¯t skimp on such expenses in our department,¡± Huang Qiangmin insisted, pushing the car key into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. ¡°When you¡¯re done with your errands, just leave the keys with the logistics department or drop them off with me. Don¡¯t hinder others from using the car.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really want to keep others from using the car; he raised his hand in eptance. ¡°Don¡¯t use the department¡¯s car to pick up girls. Don¡¯t park at nightclubs, KTVs, or other nightspots¡ªavoid their parking spaces. If there¡¯s no space, just park further away, and when you¡¯re making arrests, pull up right in front of their doors, but don¡¯t take up a parking spot,¡± Huang Qiangmin added a few more words of caution. Jiang Yuan looked down at the key to the Great Wall Cannon. He had ridden in it once when he went to Pingzhou with Liu Jinghui. While the performance on the highway wasn¡¯t all that impressive, it handled well off-road. And, regardless, inparison to imported pickup trucks, the price was verypetitive. But using this truck to pick up girls at bars¡­ Frankly, if a girl was willing to be charmed by someone driving this vehicle, at least it showed she wasn¡¯t shallow. ¡°By the way, how¡¯s that new cab for ketamine working out?¡± Huang Qiangmin steered Jiang Yuan to the vehicle. The four-year-old new pickup was parked right in front of the detective squad¡¯s entrance, and was even a bit in the way. As he walked, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Haven¡¯t used it yet. That¡¯s generally for retrieving fingerprints during investigations, moremonly used in active cases.¡± ¡°Try it out once you¡¯re back, and if there are any issues, we can deal with them sooner,¡± Huang Qiangmin advised. ¡°Sure thing.¡± ¡°No need to worry about having no cases. In such a big county, how could there be no disputes? Just, homicide cases¡­ ptui, ptui, ptui¡­ go have fun, and call if there¡¯s anything¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin waved goodbye to Jiang Yuan, turned back around, and saw two young police officers entering, chatting andughing, holding milk teas as thick as porridge. ¡°Ahem.¡± Huang Qiangmin squinted at them, lips pursed t. The two officers nearly spilled their milk teas on the spot. ¡°Captain Huang.¡± ¡°Captain Huang~¡± With a grunt, Huang Qiangmin pointed at the milk teas. ¡°Next time you really need to drink them, put them in unmarked bags before bringing them in.¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± the two said, clutching their milk teas as they left. ¡­ Jiang Yuan met up with Wei Zhenguo at the intersection and then drove to Qinghe College in the suburbs. Qinghe College was a technical college. Notrge in scale, but with plenty of students, it was the foundation of Qinghe City¡¯s prosperity. Every year, thousands of young students poured into Qinghe City like fresh blood. If each of them started just one business, it would be impossible to calcte how many people they sustained. Zeng Zhuohu was a veterinary professor of zoology at Qinghe College¡ªthin, fit, and clearly kept himself in shape. Though the school was somewhat inferior, Zeng Zhuohu had his own office andboratory and was quite content. Additionally, being adjacent to Mount Wulong, a zoology professor like Zeng Zhuohu only needed to visit the reserve and simr ces annually to collect a wealth of material for publishing papers, making for a prettyfortable life. Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s research method seemed simple: he regrly ced cameras in the wild, retrieved them periodically, and analyzed the animal behavior captured to formte ideas and write papers. To process the masses of image data, they also purchased rtively high-endputers. Upon learning of Jiang Yuan¡¯s need, Zeng Zhuohu immediately made arrangements for him. All the necessary software, too, were installed by students ording to the version numbers Jiang Yuan had requested, ready for his arrival. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t pretentious; he opened the video, nced briefly, and then ran the software. Zeng Zhuohu and several students gathered around to watch, apparently also wanting to update their skills and strive for self-sufficiency in the future, not to be held back. Jiang Yuan let them watch but didn¡¯t offer any exnations. The matter of image enhancement cannot be exined in a sentence or two. If it were possible to understand just by listening, there wouldn¡¯t be any need for Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnations; one could just read a book. Run a video once, if there¡¯s an effect run it again, if not, switch to another algorithm and run it again. Essentially, this is the process of video enhancement, but in practice, there are lots of troublesome issues to handle. Most of the time, it¡¯s not the naked eye that judges if there¡¯s an effect; instead, different quantitative judgments need to be made based on the algorithm used. Zeng Zhuohu quickly caught on, given his age and qualifications, it was unlikely he could teach himself to this level. As a result, Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s expression became happier. Nothing is difficult if you¡¯re willing to give up. Give up buying a house, financial freedom. Give up getting married, personal freedom. Zeng Zhuohu was like the previous generation¡¯s ¡°lying t¡± crowd; he didn¡¯t join thepetition among undergraduate institutions but instead returned to the hometown Qinghe College, married, had children, got promoted, and received a raise. Biology was toopetitive, so he turned back to dealing with animals; if that was alsopetitive, he¡¯d just take pictures, shoot some videos, and focus on local, unique academic research. Others carried out ecological surveys in ces like Shennongjia; he did ecological surveys on Mount Wulong. If others had pretty data, he¡¯d embellish his own. These animal videos were the same. A decade earlier, when they had just started setting up outdoor cameras in China, capturing snow leopards, Northeast tigers, and the like, the footage could lead to top journal publications. Even though it¡¯s not worth much now, the biological interest in Mount Wulong is low, but Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s requirements are low as well. He just needed to be able to publish articles. SCI is fine, and the domestic core journals are also satisfactory. However, speaking of it, Zeng Zhuohu may be considered a ¡°lying t¡± type of schr, but having immersed himself in a mountain for many years, the material he filmed was quite impressive. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help thinking that if the scenes of the poaching or murders by that group of hunters had been captured by the cameras, it would have been interesting. ¡°Do you ever capture people? Like, poachers?¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly asked, looking a bit curious. ¡°We¡¯ve captured people before, but it¡¯s of little use,¡± Zeng Zhuohu exined with a shrug, ¡°Our cameras are mostly ced in protected areas, where ordinary people aren¡¯t allowed, so anyone we capture is definitely problematic, but we can only notify the forest police.¡± His student chimed in from the side, ¡°Vigers nearby sometimes enter the forest too, not necessarily for poaching, some just to gather medicinal herbs.¡± ¡°There are also hikers who sneak in for fun,¡± another student added. ¡°You can¡¯t imagine how bold they are.¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯ve done autopsies.¡± Jiang Yuan reminisced about the days he trekked the old hunting trails in Mount Wulong and couldn¡¯t help feeling sentimental, ¡°I¡¯ve collected quite a few hiker¡¯s bones, some of them are pretty hard.¡± The student who had just spoken was taken aback and thenughed out loud, ¡°You¡¯re really humorous.¡± As a teacher, Zeng Zhuohu felt the need to protect his students, so he whispered softly, ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s official job is a forensic doctor.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ then¡­¡± The students behind Jiang Yuan all took a step back in unison, disying their military training results. ¡°Well, this video is done,¡± Jiang Yuan got up to stretch his limbs and then gave up his seat to Zeng Zhuohu. ¡°That fast?¡± Zeng Zhuohu asked. He sat down and could see that the previously blurry image of a wild chicken suddenly became clear, and every detail of its exterior was distinctly visible. ¡°With this skill, you could make big money if you opened an image enhancementpany outside,¡± Zeng Zhuohumented with admiration, speaking his true thoughts. He was also going to pay Jiang Yuan, favours aside, costs are costs. However, the price offered by the school was still somewhat lower than the market rate, but as far as Zeng Zhuohu knew, there was a high demand for talents capable of image enhancement. Just the face-swapping tasks for so many sub-par celebrities alone could keep someone busy forever. Not to mention that sub-par celebrities might need face-swapping for filming before they are banned, with high-tech support. Unfortunately, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very interested in money. With a calm smile, Jiang Yuan proceeded to work on the next video. Completing one video after another like this, time quickly reached evening. Zeng Zhuohu was about to offer to take Jiang Yuan out for dinner, when a colleague came hurrying over, speaking in hushed tones. After listening, Zeng Zhuohu turned around with furrowed brows and first whispered to Wei Zhenguo, ¡°There¡¯s been a theft at our ce.¡± Wei Zhenguo asked calmly, ¡°What was stolen?¡± A theft in such arge college was hardly umon, after all. Yet Zeng Zhuohu didn¡¯t feel rxed at all and said seriously, ¡°Four macaques used for experiments.¡± ¡°The value of the case¡­ well, how much is one monkey worth?¡± ¡°150,000 each,¡± Zeng Zhuohu exined, ¡°They used to be around seven or eight thousand each, but the prices have skyrocketed now¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll report it for you!¡± Wei Zhenguo was the first to react; a theft involving 600,000 was already a major case. Chapter 239 - 239 230 The Cage is Empty ?239: Chapter 230: The Cage is Empty 239: Chapter 230: The Cage is Empty The performance of the police officers in Qinghe City wasn¡¯t much different from that of Wei Zhenguo. When they heard about the stolen monkeys, theyughed, but when they heard that one monkey was worth 150,000, they gasped in shock. Like monkeys themselves. However, despite the high case value, it was still treated as a theft, and the district police that arrived were still in charge. In total, there were four officers, including the trace evidence technician Cao Keyang from the City Bureau, who had volunteered toe. Cao Keyang had taken the initiative to get involved. He had regretted missing out on the Jianyuan Company case days before because he had been working on another case. This time, he was the first to show up when the district criminal police called for assistance. The main investigative force of the Qinghe City Bureau worked mostly at the district and county levels. However, unlike the county bureaus, district bureaus generally had fewer technical positions, including trace evidence and forensic doctors, and often borrowed personnel from the city bureau. After all, the technical staff of the city bureau also needed to go down to the townships and districts, so whoever used them, used them; additionally, it was more convenient and less expensive for the district bureaus to use them. Upon arriving at Qinghe College, Cao Keyang immediately asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Will there be any deaths?¡± The use of ¡°will there be¡± drew particr attention. Cao Keyang¡¯s thought process was quite straightforward. The case that Jiang Yuan had worked on days before, the Jianyuan Company¡¯s, had started as a theft but then resulted in the deaths of two people, the son of Jianyuan Company¡¯s chairman and his boyfriend. If Jianyuan Company represented the pinnacle of Qinghe City¡¯s private economy, then the academic pinnacle would be Qinghe College. Although only a junior college, Qinghe College has a history of more than fifty years and its principal held a high administrative rank. For Cao Keyang, a trace evidence technician focused on logic, it was a subconscious and reasonable assumption that Jiang Yuan was being proactive. For instance, it made sense that there would be deaths associated with Jianyuan Company right before it went public. Therefore, it could naturally be inferred that it wouldn¡¯t be surprising for deaths to ur at Qinghe College either. Yet, Cao Keyang¡¯s look of expectation caused Jiang Yuan to shake his head with a chuckle. It was just four missing monkeys, after all, which had nothing to do with death. Valuable monkeys were still just monkeys. But in Cao Keyang¡¯s view, that smile was all too intriguing. ¡°I understand, let the evidence do the talking,¡± Cao Keyang said. Of course, this was the right approach. Although Jiang Yuan felt that Cao Keyang¡¯s expression was a bit off, he still said in a professional tone, ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s start with the crime scene.¡± Cao Keyang readily agreed, then followed the other officers into the Veterinary Building. Jiang Yuan borrowed a whiteb coat and followed them in. All of Qinghe College¡¯s monkeys were kept in one room. Now, with the iron cages empty, it appeared that the locks were likely cut directly with hydraulic shears. Cao Keyang briskly took a couple of photos, the situation typically indicating an outsider¡¯s job. Insiders usually wouldn¡¯t bring hydraulic shears to falsify a break-in, as it might draw attention. Of course, this was the usual scenario. The monkey enclosure was rtively clean. Cao Keyang looked around and found a surveince camera, then asked someone outside, ¡°Are the recordings still avable?¡± ¡°It¡¯s broken.¡± The teacher responsible for the monkey enclosure seemed a bit stunned at the moment. ¡°When did it break?¡± ¡°It¡¯s been broken for a year or two. We reported it, but it hasn¡¯t been fixed,¡± the young teacher answered. The monkey enclosure was only sorge, and with the surveince camera watching, it could feel somewhat ufortable. Therefore, it was somewhat understandable that there wasn¡¯t much enthusiasm for repairing it. Jiang Yuan looked down at the floor again. The tables and chairs had been moved around, and there were scrape marks on the floor, making it look rather messy. Inside the room, there were no clear footprints left on the floor. There were, however, a few partial shoe prints, likely where someone had stepped on some food dropped on the floor, leaving behind a faint pattern. But the information they could provide was very limited. Cao Keyang turned to look at Jiang Yuan, and seeing no reaction from him, said to the fellow criminal police, ¡°You guys go check the surveince cameras, I¡¯ll sweep here for fingerprints, see if there¡¯s any breakthrough.¡± When a trace evidence technician speaks this way to colleagues, it¡¯s as if a man were telling a woman, ¡°Wait a second while I take a pill.¡± No need for embarrassment, it¡¯s just routine. But it¡¯s nothing to be proud of either. It was, after all, just another ordinary day. At the entrance. The officers were also busily making records. The person who was questioned the longest was the teacher in charge of the monkey enclosure, who also happened to be the one who reported the incident. He cooperated with a willingness to answer all questions. After the interrogation waspleted, he asked in return, ¡°When can the monkeys be found?¡± ¡°That¡¯s hard to say,¡± said the detective with difficulty. How could they guarantee the oue of solving a case? The teacher in charge of the monkeys watched him intently and said, ¡°This is for my graduation thesis.¡± ¡°Huh, aren¡¯t you a teacher?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a PhD student at the Agricultural University, working here while studying,¡± the teacher in the monkey enclosure murmured. ¡°For three years now.¡± ¡°What does the monkey have to do with your graduate thesis?¡± The primate caretaker said, ¡°My graduate thesis is about breeding rhesus monkeys¡­¡± The criminal investigator took some notes and said, ¡°You work at Qinghe College, are pursuing a doctoral degree at the Agricultural University, and then you use the state-owned monkeys for your thesis?¡± The primate caretaker thought for a moment and said, ¡°That¡¯s more or less the situation.¡± ¡°Only you intellectuals can figure these things out,¡± the criminal investigator clicked his tongue twice, reopened the record, and said, ¡°In this doctoral pursuit of yours, have you offended anyone¡­ ¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°How about in other respects, have you offended anyone?¡± The primate caretaker said annoyingly, ¡°No! I¡¯m a researcher, where would I go to offend people?¡± The criminal investigator stressed, ¡°Under normal circumstances, outsiders wouldn¡¯te with hydraulic cutters to steal your monkeys. Think carefully, have you recently been in any conflict, encountered any strange people, strange events, or heard any strangements?¡± ¡°Why must you insist on questioning me?¡± the primate caretaker said in dissatisfaction. ¡°Clearly it was just a theft specifically for the monkeys.¡± The criminal investigator gave the primate caretaker a stern look and said, ¡°We¡¯ll definitely follow up on the monkey lead as well. But about your side of things, we need to ask you, don¡¯t we? Say what you know, leave the investigation to us!¡± The tone grew slightly heavier and the primate caretaker felt a bit oppressed, bowing his head in thought. After a while, he said, ¡°If you really want to know if something¡¯s happened, recently there¡¯ve been a few calls trying to buy monkeys, offering quite a high price. But these monkeys have their own tasks and obviously can¡¯t be sold to them¡­¡± The criminal investigator frantically recorded everything. Jiang Yuan surveyed the scene, taking special note to photograph the footprints on the ground. He also found a fiber trace at the corner of a table and carefully collected it with an evidence bag before quietly leaving the scene. The fiber could have been left by a student or a teacher at the school, but it could also have been left by the thief. Jiang Yuan judged by eye that the most relevant possibility was that the thieves had used a sack-like bag to carry the monkeys, which brushed against the table corner and left some fibers. If this were a homicide, such fiber evidence would already have been pursued. But since it was a theft, it would be good enough to be considered evidence in the end. Following this lead directly would be slightly more troublesome; they¡¯d only consider it if all other clues yielded no results. After leaving the scene, Jiang Yuan followed Wei Zhenguo to check the surveince footage. Investigating a theft scene is just as exhaustive as a homicide scene; if one wanted to scan it thoroughly, it would still take several hours. Plus, ites with backache, leg cramps, and a consumption of materials weighing three to five kilograms. Today¡¯s case wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s, and probing further meant he had no right to scan the scene. Jiang Yuan also had no interest in scanning the scene. Human strength has its limits. If you have to handle every case thates up, you¡¯ll exhaust yourself, and if you¡¯re unlucky, you might even offend someone. Even if Cao Keyang was extremely amiable, it didn¡¯t necessarily mean he¡¯d appreciate Jiang Yuan¡¯s guidance. Qinghe College had a widespread distribution of surveince cameras and a designated control room. Zeng Zhuohu and several students, also intrigued, followed behind Jiang Yuan and managed to enter with him. The school¡¯s management was ratherx, so seeing the group growrger, they simply stopped caring and just made one machine avable to them. The officer in charge didn¡¯t sit down but asked a staff member to search through the surveince footage. At this point, Qinghe College¡¯s extensivework of cameras showed its strength. Due to the sheer number of videos and too few people watching them, the viewers grew incredibly tired. That criminal investigator wasn¡¯t a professional in image investigation; even identifying key frames was a struggle, let alone following up with the next key frames. In several surveince videos, they could make out the figure of the thieves, a man and a woman, dragging two suitcases, but their faces were unclear, and their identities couldn¡¯t be confirmed. The most challenging part was that just as they had finally found them in the footage, they would lose track of them again. The students were the first to grow bored with watching, and one of the girls approached Jiang Yuan and asked in a soft and sweet tone, ¡°Is this how you typically watch surveince, just like this?¡± ¡°More or less, watching surveince is quite boring,¡± Jiang Yuan recalled the work content of the image investigators and sympathized. Despite image investigation being a hot skill currently in criminal sciences and often associated with big data, at the operational level, it¡¯s more about big eyes so to speak¡­ Considering Qinghe College¡¯s style of surveince, the control room looked impressive, but half of the cameras were real-time without proper storage, only good for promotional news photos, and there were issues with the recording loop¡­ It¡¯s the same old story; if a few people died at Qinghe College, all these cameras would be precious. But if it¡¯s just about stolen monkeys, these cameras were equivalent to the blind spot of image investigation. The girl beside him naturally didn¡¯t understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s musings. She moved even closer and whispered, ¡°Actually, if there were spare machines, we could help watch too¡­¡± ¡°Actually, there¡¯s no need,¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly redirected his thoughts and coughed twice before saying, ¡°Just check the surveince of the walls. If there is no video of the exits, then they must have left over the walls.¡± ¡°Climbing walls isn¡¯t easy. Four monkeys look quite heavy,¡± said the officer in charge. ¡°Each one weighs about ten pounds,¡± Zeng Zhuohu rified nearby. ¡°The suitcases have some weight too. It¡¯s manageable to push them, but climbing walls with them would be quite tiring,¡± the criminal investigator pointed to a screenshot of the previous video. The two thieves were seen dragging two suitcases of different sizes, which definitely weren¡¯t light. If they had to climb the walls, the suitcases would be a hassle. ¡°Maybe they crawled through a hole in the wall,¡± the speaker this time was evidently older. People looked over in surprise and stood up straight, immediately saying, ¡°Principal.¡± ¡°Principal Heng,¡± Zeng Zhuohu also greeted. Qinghe College¡¯s Principal Heng Wenxuan smiled and nodded, then made a special greeting to the police, saying, ¡°Thank you all for your hard work. I¡¯ve heard your discussion about the case and couldn¡¯t help but say something. You see, our school¡¯s walls have several holes that can be used to go in and out.¡± ¡°Then check those cameras,¡± the criminal investigator said right away. The control room staff said with difficulty, ¡°The camera over there was broken right after being installed and hasn¡¯t been reced recently.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± the criminal investigator frowned. ¡°There¡¯s a camera inside the small restaurant opposite the hole,¡± the Principal said with a smile. ¡°It¡¯s aimed right at the hole.¡± Chapter 240 - 240 231 Her Feet ?240: Chapter 231: Her Feet 240: Chapter 231: Her Feet Qinghe College was bordered on three sides by streets and on one side by water. As a result, students had created multiple doors on the three sides¡ªsome were as tall as one and a half meters so one could just bend over to get through, others required crouching to squeeze out, and there were even smaller ones that could only be used to pass takeout through. The marks of digging and chiseling on the red wall made each opening seem like it was growing. One could imagine that if every student who crawled through these holes touched them with force, it wouldn¡¯t be a dream for these openings to expand to the size of ordinary doors. Every so often, Qinghe College would tackle the behavior of creating holes in the tall walls. Discovered holes would be swiftly filled in and the surrounding areas reinforced to prevent students from making new holes and possible idents urring after some time. The principal¡¯s secretary delivered the surveince footage from the small restaurant opposite one of the holes to the detectives. Upon viewing it, they saw the camera was directly aimed at the hole, capturing the faces of those entering and exiting with crystal clear rity. ¡°Do the students know about this camera?¡± Jiang Yuan, having graduated from school not long ago, could strongly sense the deterrent effect of the video. ¡°Those who want to know will find out,¡± the principal said with a proud smile. ¡°In your terms, the purpose of this camera is mainly for detection, not for providing evidence.¡± To use as evidence, it could be used only once, but for surveince, it could be used an infinite number of times. Students sneaking out usually wouldn¡¯t avoid the camera, and truth be told, they couldn¡¯t if they wanted to. So, as long as the existence of the act could be confirmed here, there were plenty of other cameras in the school that could serve as evidence. Jiang Yuan appraised the principal up and down. The man had a square face and appeared very righteous at first nce, but Jiang Yuan had not expected¡­ Indeed, it was said that people with a left nostril smaller than the right one had a tendency to be a bit sneakily malicious¡­ ¡°Is it helpful?¡± the principal asked with concern, watching the detectives¡¯ operations as if he wanted to learn their techniques. His movements at this moment were much like those of Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s students under his supervision. But this time, the detective¡¯s operations were simple enough for even him to understand. Principal Heng Wenxuan appeared to have learned something. In reality, what was there to learn? The detectives here were merely using the most basic functions. Jiang Yuan looked at a few of Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s students and felt a sudden, slight sympathy for them. With the principal being so eager to jump in, it was likely he had many daily thoughts. The detectives searched through group after group of camera feeds, and by the time they found the thieves, they had already gone through five holes. Jiang Yuan was getting weary of the search, thinking to himself that having a few more doors wouldn¡¯t be so bad. In the video, two thieves were clearly seen bending over to crawl out and then handing out their suitcases. Passing students even lent them a hand. However, upon fixing the camera angle, it was visible that the two thieves had not only donned masks and sunsses but also had their lower faces covered by sun-protective clothing, leaving almost no skin exposed. The watching detectives were both amused and aggravated: ¡°What are students thinking nowadays, dressing like this and no one calls the police?¡± Jiang Yuan felt the remark was incorrect, but ncing at the faces of the two burrs, he thought there might be some truth to it. ¡°By the way, if the monkey was in the suitcase, wouldn¡¯t it make noise?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Zeng Zhuohu. ¡°It should,¡± Zeng Zhuohu shook his head. Jiang Yuan nodded, guessing they might have used some drug, but he didn¡¯t voice his thoughts. ¡°Let¡¯s go get fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan said, pointing to the top part of the hole in the video image. The female student carrying the luggage, because she needed to lift the suitcase, had touched the wall with her hand, and she was not wearing gloves. In such hot weather, covering one¡¯s face could perhaps be exined as sun protection, but wearing gloves would be too ufortable. However, during the monkey theft, the two were likely wearing gloves, only to take them off aftering out, probably not anticipating that they would draw attention just ten minutes after leaving the wildlife building. This kind of exposure for thieves was not umon. Laypeople might think if it were themmitting the crime, they would staypletely covered up, never removing the disguise even at the door. In reality, it is quite difficult to aplish becauseypeople only think about it and have never actually practised it¡ªthis is where the professionalism of career criminals is evident; when theymit a crime, they usually rehearse it. For the two petty thieves who stole the monkey, the reason for not always wearing gloves was likely not because they didn¡¯t think of it, but rather because they couldn¡¯t manage it. For instance, dragging a suitcase and wearing gloves in the scorching sun for a ten-minute walk could be very tiring, their hands might slip, and they might struggle to pull the case. At that point, do they rest for a while on the side of the road with gloves on, or do they take off the gloves, wipe the sweat, and keep going? Or perhaps, while walking, they might need to make a phone call or use their mobile phone, which would also get awkward with gloves on. Additionally, during the process of packing the monkeys into boxes, is it necessary to remove gloves? Operations like feeding the monkeys medicine or giving them injections may also require this. In summary, criminal activities are both mental and physical tasks, and it¡¯s inevitable to encounter some unexpected problems and difficulties in the actual process. If one could perfectly ovee this process without any rehearsal, it would require a considerable amount of professionalism. If a neer could achieve this level, they¡¯re actually rmended for bing a spy. As a criminal investigator, I never believe in perfect crimes. Even ordinary police officers don¡¯t believe in them. Everyone trusts that increasing input will lead to more output. And from the perspective of ordinary police, someone like Jiang Yuan also counts as an input. ¡­ Arge group of people came to the entrance of the cave in a grand manner, where Jiang Yuan personally lifted the fingerprints. To speak of it, these fingerprints were not easy to extract. Firstly, it was difficult to determine their location, and secondly, there were ovepping fingerprints from several people, which took some professional skills to deal with. Jiang Yuan¡¯s method was to first determine the position of the brick, then take pictures of the entire brick,bel it, and then directly remove it to send to theboratory for extraction. This was also because the case was not from Ningtai County Bureau, and it was handed over to theboratory of Qinghe City Bureau, for better evidence storageter. After finishing these, Jiang Yuan leisurely returned to Zeng Zhuohu¡¯s office and continued to help him scan through videos. Students admired him profoundly, studying imaging technology even more diligently while serving Jiang Yuan tea and water, attending to him before and after. Later, a few more young girls swarmed into the office. Zeng Zhuohu turned a blind eye; he didn¡¯t have the standing toment, so he just watched by the side, trying his best to remain in control. For the girls, the tall and strong Jiang Yuan may only score 80 points in appearance, but with the aura of today¡¯s events added, he looked different. ¡°Doctor Jiang, you took the brick to extract fingerprints from it, right?¡± The girls watched as Jiang Yuan entered some iprehensiblemand lines on theputer and began to ask about today¡¯s news. Jiang Yuan hummed in affirmation, ¡°It¡¯s something along those lines.¡± The girl who asked the question was slender, t-chested, with a sharp chin, somewhat resembling an Inte celebrity, and she had on pretty makeup, looking quite beautiful as she asked in a sweet voice, ¡°After extracting the fingerprints, would you know who it is?¡± ¡°If we extract them, then we¡¯llpare them.¡± ¡°What doespare mean?¡± ¡°That means we¡¯llpare them with the fingerprints in the database.¡± ¡°Fingerprint database? So if it¡¯s not in the database, there¡¯s no way topare, right?¡± ¡°Right,¡± Jiang Yuan replied while turning his head to look at the girl who had asked the question. Today several people had asked simr questions; this was the first one to ask so meticulously. At this moment, a female student council member boasted, ¡°If it¡¯s a student from our school, they won¡¯t be able to escape.¡± ¡°Why?¡± the girl with the celebrity-like face asked curiously. The student council member pursed her lips, nced at her, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t you punch in for morning exercises every day? Your fingerprints are stored in the fingerprint system you use for attendance.¡± The Inte celebrity-faced girl froze, herplexion turning pale. This reaction was a bit beyond normal, and Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but lower his head to look at the girl¡¯s feet. After a couple of nces, Jiang Yuan silently took out his phone and sent a message to the detective who led the team this time. ¡°Well, I should be going,¡± the girl said, perhaps having seen Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions, and turned to leave the office. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t move an inch. At that moment, Zeng Zhuohu also realized something was amiss and hurriedly said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you going to stop her?¡± ¡°No need, she won¡¯t get far,¡± Jiang Yuan replied and immediately made a call. It was too dangerous for a single officer to apprehend a suspect; the team wouldn¡¯t allow it. Chapter 241 - 241 232 Release the Monkey ?241: Chapter 232 Release the Monkey 241: Chapter 232 Release the Monkey The social media influencer girl shook off her hands and started running wildly, gasping for breath, barely having the time to look back. Behind her, the four or five-meter-wide road was deserted, lit only by a row of streetlights that tirelessly emitted their light. Underneath the streetlights, not even a child was out reading. The girl couldn¡¯t help but sigh in relief; however, she soon became suspicious again and nced down the small paths on either side of the road. The teaching building of the Veterinary Medicine school was originally quite secluded because of the animals being kept there, which made noises and smells. This path, which she had walked countless times before, now seemed both unfamiliar and dangerous. But she was simply too tired, and she feared she would die of exhaustion if she had to run any further now. The ground was a bit dirty, so the girl stood leaning against a streetlight for a while. Only when she realized that no one hade to catch her did she stand up, filled with confusion. Had she escaped just like that? She couldn¡¯t quite believe it herself. In her memory, that sharp-eyed police officer had looked at her with such suspicion. He should have been chasing after her like the wind. With an excited expression on his face. A mindset of benefitting from others¡¯ oversight. Could it be¡­ her feelings had been wrong? The girl couldn¡¯t help but ponder. Buzz. Her phone vibrated twice, pulling her thoughts back to reality. ¡°Hello,¡± the girl answered the phone, speaking softly. ¡°Hello, you¡¯re okay?¡± ¡°I got out, I¡¯m fine,¡± the girl patted her chest and walked slowly forward. ¡°Ah, you got out from there?¡± The boy¡¯s voice suddenly rxed. His tone was very pleasant, making one feel cheerful at the sound. The girl¡¯s mood also improved a lot, and she whispered, ¡°Are you at Mount Wulong? Have all the monkeys been released?¡± ¡°Not yet, but it should be soon,¡± the boy¡¯s tone shifted as he said, ¡°What¡¯s going on at your end?¡± At this, the girl suddenly became tense and quickly said, ¡°They¡¯re about to find me.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°They¡­ they seem to have found my fingerprints, and then, then they said they could match them¡­ match them with the fingerprint database¡­¡± ¡°Do you have a criminal record?¡± The urgency in the boy¡¯s voice increased slightly, then he paused and exined, ¡°I mean, if you don¡¯t have a record, they can¡¯t find you. For fingerprint matching, there needs to be an existing fingerprint in the database.¡± The girl shook her head vigorously, terrified, and after looking around and seeing no one, she said, ¡°Our school uses a fingerprint attendance system, for morning exercises, for sses, we have to check in with our fingerprints.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± There was silence on the boy¡¯s end for a moment before he spoke softly, ¡°Look, youe to me, and we¡¯ll go out of town for a while, see how things go. When we get news, we can considering back.¡± The girl hesitated and asked, ¡°Is that really okay?¡± ¡°What¡¯s not okay about it? Do you have any other choice?¡± ¡°But¡­ I still want to take the postgraduate entrance exam.¡± ¡°Postgraduate exams¡­ You can prepare for them anywhere. Besides, a sharpened knife does not miss the cut of wood. If we go out for a trip ande back, and you study seriously, isn¡¯t that even better? Anyway, I¡¯ll wait for you all day tomorrow. If you¡¯re willing,e find me. You know where.¡± The boy¡¯s tone turned a bit stiff, speaking a few words before hanging up the phone. The social media influencer girl cried a couple more times, and then, after cleaning up her tears, she tidied up her makeup under the streetlight using her mirror before heading straight to the school¡¯s main gate. At the gate, she saw several security guards from the security department, each carrying long-handled riot forks, strutting confidently as they patrolled the entrance. The school¡¯s security guards, who usually seemed rather frail, were described as ¡°frail¡± to emphasize their schrly demeanor. But when equipped with riot forks, they suddenly took on a more formidable air. Handing Grandpa Cbash a riot fork was akin to creating an aged, vigorous image. Compared to the fighting capability of college students and the monkeys, not many could break through the school¡¯s hefty iron gates. Seeing this, the social media influencer girl hesitated for just a moment before turning to look for another way in. Unexpectedly, there was also a loyal security guard posted near the hole she was aiming for. The girl had no choice but to turn back towards the dormitory area, but this time, a security guard spotted her. ¡°The girl in the green clothes up ahead, stop a moment,¡± the security guard called out, summoning two colleagues with a shout. The social media influencer girl just lowered her head and walked briskly, pretending not to hear. ¡°Hey, you, stop. ¡°Police!¡± ¡°Stop right there!¡± Everyone around instinctively stopped in their tracks, except for the social media influencer girl. She let her hair fall forward and bolted. That made it obvious. Unlike the cautious technician Jiang Yuan, the security uncles wielding riot forks, pursued by police, chased after her with exceptional bravery, and within a few steps, they toppled the girl over with the forks. The girl was already physically weak, and now, having been flipped onto the ground, she scraped her palms and, upon seeing that she was the center of attention among her fellow students, she couldn¡¯t help but burst into sobs. Several male students flocked to the scene like summoned beasts, decrying, ¡°How can you be so barbaric?¡± The security uncle held his riot fork with a steadfast gaze and asked, ¡°Which ss are you from?¡± The courage of the ¡®beasts¡¯ quickly waned by eighty percent, and they protested discontentedly, ¡°What does it matter which ss we¡¯re from? You¡¯re wrong to treat people this way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a police officer, conducting an investigation,¡± the detective, out of breath from his chase, finally caught up. He had been running all day and was getting on in years; he simply couldn¡¯t keep up with the sprint of this young girl any longer. Chapter 242 - 242 232 Release the Monkey_2 ?242: Chapter 232: Release the Monkey_2 242: Chapter 232: Release the Monkey_2 Now that he had approached, he first confirmed with a nce, feeling that the girl¡¯s appearance somewhat matched the description Jiang Yuan had provided over the phone. As more and more people gathered around, he did not hesitate to pull out handcuffs and clicked them onto the girl. With the handcuffs on, she was officially a criminal suspect. Although the students nearby might not understand the difference between criminal offenses and breaking thew, the sight of handcuffs instinctively made them feel the authority of the government¡¯sw enforcement, and those who were muttering quieted down. ¡°Disperse, she¡¯s one of the suspects in the monkey theft case,¡± the seasoned detective knew what to say when, and at this moment, he wasn¡¯t bothering with the usual spiel about confidentiality before the case conclusion. In an environment like Qinghe College, where watching the World Cup could result in 800 thermos sks being smashed, arresting an attractive female student was indeed very risky. If people could speak persuasively, even a little provocatively, he would have to wait for the leaders from the squad toe to the rescue, and by that time, the real embarrassment would start. ¡°Make way, there are still suspects we haven¡¯t captured yet. We need to hurry back for interrogation,¡± another detective arrived, and together, the two escorted the girl out through the crowd. The inte-celebrity-faced girl still harbored some thoughts of resistance, but under the pressure of handcuffs and police uniforms, she ultimately gave in. It was just too exhausting. She didn¡¯t want to struggle anymore. It was just a matter of tens of thousands of yuan; at worst, she¡¯d let her parents pay it off. ¡­ Qinghe College Police Station. Interrogation room. The district criminal investigation team borrowed the station¡¯s interrogation room so they could quickly interrogate the suspect before proceeding to capture another. The two detectives made some basic preparations and nned to conduct a surprise interrogation. Searching, ranking, and tapping were the old detective¡¯s go-to methods, which weren¡¯t as effective these days since non-contact crimes had increased and ordinary people had picked up a thing or two from TV and movies. But for a naive young girl like this, practically any tactics would work. The experienced detective didn¡¯t waste words and went straight to the procedure, beginning with a stern tone, ¡°Name!¡± ¡°Guo Yunxia. You¡¯ve already seen my ID¡­¡± ¡°Age.¡± ¡°21.¡± ¡­ After the standard procedure waspleted, Guo Yunxia gradually fell silent. The interrogation atmosphere, formed over years and years, that sense of oppression from authority against an individual, is hard for ordinary people to bear. Many veteran detectives like to dig deeper into cases starting with habitual thieves, especially during the era of pre-trial teams, a pre-trial officer¡¯s important job was to uncover umted cases, and they paid most attention to repeat offenders. Repeat offenders, or habitual thieves, are just too familiar with the interrogation atmosphere and generally have stronger resistance, which is why they can cover up cases and avoid revealing them under police interrogation. Put a city¡¯s white-cor worker in the seat, whether they¡¯re slick talkers or full of lies, once they¡¯re in a room with no windows and no sense of time, it generally doesn¡¯t take a day for them to say whatever is asked of them. Guo Yunxia was hurriedly brought out for interrogation precisely because there was another aplice and time was of the essence. Otherwise, if she had been left to stew for a bit longer, she would already be confessing her issues by now. In fact, although the interrogating detectives had not turned the pressure up to the maximum, Guo Yunxia, as she spoke, began to crumble under the strain. When asked again about the whereabouts of her boyfriend, Guo Yunxia shouted, ¡°I alone can makepensation, isn¡¯t it just four monkeys? Is there a need to pressure someone to death like this?¡± The detectives already knew about her family situation and said earnestly, ¡°This is 600,000 yuan. The case value is so high, it¡¯s not something that can be settled by paying off the amount.¡± ¡°Even if it is¡­¡± Guo Yunxia stopped speaking mid-sentence, her eyes widening in disbelief: ¡°Are you scamming me? 600,000 yuan? These are monkeys, not giant pandas.¡± ¡°Tibetan Macaques on the market are going for upwards of 150,000 now. Including shipping fees, and transaction costs, it¡¯s about 160,000 to 170,000,¡± the detective said with a knowing look, ¡°If you canpensate that amount, the court will consider a lighter sentence.¡± Guo Yunxia¡¯s eyes bulged: ¡°Are you bluffing me? Where are monkeys that expensive?¡± ¡°The price has gone up,¡± the detective said calmly. ¡°Where is there such a price hike,¡± she argued. ¡°That¡¯s how it is,¡± the detective answered frankly, ¡°Now you know why so many people came out to arrest you, right? This case of yours is the highest theft amount I¡¯ve dealt with this year; you could very well be looking at over 7 years in jail.¡± In terms of sentencing, the officer may have exaggerated a bit. For a first-time offender, especially one who clearly didn¡¯t know, the sentence for a female aplice is usually reduced. However, the chances of getting out within one or two years are also very low. Guo Yunxia¡¯s body started to tremble uncontrobly. For a 21-year-old girl who had smoothly transitioned from junior college to university and was considering whether to pursue graduate studies or a civil service exam, the thought of a 7-year sentence was unimaginable. She had even been agonizing over whether tomit to a three-year or a five-year service contract. ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t steal anything. I just thought those monkeys were so pitiful¡­¡± Guo Yunxia argued. ¡°And then?¡± ¡°Then, we decided to set them free.¡± ¡°Who is ¡®we¡¯¡­¡± the detective asked intently, taking notes rapidly. ¡°I¡­ I and Awei, Liu Wei.¡± ¡°What is Liu Wei to you?¡± ¡°Boyfriend.¡± ¡°So, you and Liu Wei stole the monkeys together?¡± Guo Yunxia hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°We didn¡¯t steal them, we just decided to let it go.¡± ¡°Whose idea was it to steal the monkeys?¡± the detective pressed. If it was Guo Yunxia¡¯s decision, then she would be the principal offender, and her boyfriend the aplice. The difference in being the principal versus aplice could mean several years in sentencing. Of course, it¡¯s also possible they were both principal offenders. At this point, Guo Yunxia seemed to finallye to a realization and whispered, ¡°It was Liu Wei who came up with the idea that we could release them.¡± ¡°If the decision was to let them go, why did you put the monkeys in luggage?¡± ¡°Because, because Liu Wei said that the monkeys wouldn¡¯t survive on the back mountain of the school, that they would eventually be caught again, so we needed to release them into a real mountain. We packed them to set free in Mount Wulong.¡± At this moment, the interrogating detective was almost certain that Guo Yunxia had been deceived. Following this line of thought, he asked, ¡°First, tell me the specific process of the theft.¡± ¡°We went into theb, caught the monkeys, injected them with a sedative, put them in sacks, and then into the suitcases¡­¡± ¡°How were the doors opened, how were the monkeys caught, be more specific.¡± The officer¡¯smands became more direct, and as Guo Yunxia spoke, she started to cry. Once her tears subsided a bit, the interrogating detective continued with a flurry of questions, then said, ¡°You im you didn¡¯t know the value of the monkeys beforehand, now that you do, do you think your boyfriend knew?¡± Guo Yunxia went nk and started to cry once more. At that moment, outside the interrogation room, in the monitoring area, Jiang Yuan and the principal of Qinghe College were watching the interrogation. The principal looked helpless as he watched the screen, his mind upied with thoughts. Jiang Yuan, looking at him, suddenly became curious and said, ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be any Rhesus monkeys in Mount Wulong, right?¡± Having spent some time at Mount Wulong and having studied the species there, Jiang Yuan knew the area well. The principal said with a heavy ¡°hmm,¡± ¡°The dominant monkey species on Mount Wulong is the Tibetan Macaque, one subspecies of which is the Mount Emei monkey, which is quiterge and aggressive¡­¡± ¡°So even if the Rhesus monkeys were released there, they wouldn¡¯t live well, would they?¡± ¡°They¡¯d probably get killed,¡± the principal sighed, feeling a sense of shame, ¡°Our school¡¯s education is stillcking.¡± Chapter 243 - 243 233 Surveillance System ?243: Chapter 233 Surveince System 243: Chapter 233 Surveince System The following day. Several criminal detectives from the Criminal Police Team went to the ¡°usual spot¡± Guo Yunxia mentioned to stake out for a day, but they didn¡¯t catch sight of the monkey thief. None of them felt disheartened, though. For those seasoned detectives, this was pretty much the norm. Heroic acts like robbing the execution ground were things of storybooks; it took a daredevil, a great thief, to show up again after an aplice had been exposed. A man who steals monkeys and needs to deceive a woman to help him, where would he have such audacity? The team spected that it was more likely the man had fled in the opposite direction. Of course, the biggest possibility was that he had gone to sell the monkey. Thinking with their hemorrhoids, the detectives knew that releasing it was out of the question. However, the officers involved in the case were not familiar with animal trading, so they inquired around while casting their wider and continuing the search. Evening. At Principal Heng Wenxuan¡¯s cordial invitation, Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo went to the second floor of the Qinghe College canteen to dine together. Zeng Zhuohu also apanied them, showing friendliness and warmth, albeit a tad nervous. One bes somewhat attached to the ce they¡¯ve been cking off for so long. For Zeng Zhuohu, dining and drinking with a principal, such an elusive senior leader, was a first. Wei Zhenguo also specifically reminded Jiang Yuan, whispering before taking their seats, ¡°A university principal isn¡¯t the same as the ones in middle or primary schools; he¡¯s somewhat outside the ordinary. Principal Heng¡¯s rank is on par with our county head. Be particrly mindful of what you say.¡± Jiang Yuan acknowledged the advice. He was indeed from Jiang Vige, but he wasn¡¯t a reckless sort. The dishes prepared by Qinghe College were also extremely delicate. For the canteen, fattening up the students by 10 pounds each was nothingpared to preparing a good meal for the principal. The chef also seemed to be working incredibly hard. Even molecr gastronomy, trendy in recent years, was on disy. Though it wasn¡¯t tasty, it certainly looked good. ¡°How does it taste?¡± Heng Wenxuan, who didn¡¯t eat much, kept raising his ss to drink. Jiang Yuan weighed his words before responding, ¡°It¡¯s quite unique.¡± Heng Wenxuan let out augh, but said in a low voice, ¡°Does that mean it doesn¡¯t taste good?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect the president of Qinghe College to be so direct. He then heard Heng Wenxuan continue, ¡°The chef here is a rtive of Principal Li, trulycking in culinary talent, although it¡¯s said he has studied under a famous teacher. But when ites to seasoning and such, he¡¯s just not up to par.¡± Saying this, Heng Wenxuan sighed and added, ¡°However, the chef is a very diligent, very hardworking person, and not greedy¡­ His character does match our school¡¯s spirit, which is how he¡¯s made it to today.¡± Jiang Yuan blinked, not sure what to make of it all, and looked over at the other Qinghe College leaders at the table, wondering whether Principal Heng was drunk. Were these appropriate remarks for him to make publicly? Right then, the school leader seated to his right raised his ss with a smile, ¡°Principal Heng is magnanimous and nurturing, especially when ites to tolerance. I¡¯ll drink to you.¡± Heng Wenxuanughed and drank with him. Then, that school leader proposed a toast to Jiang Yuan and introduced himself, ¡°I am Principal Li.¡± Jiang Yuan, not much of a drinker, couldn¡¯t help but lift his small wine ss. Although short, the story somehow made one want to drink. Seeing Principal Heng¡¯s small, smiling eyes, Jiang Yuan suddenly thought that if this were a drinking story, it would be quite powerful. When the post-2000 generation bes prolific at dinner tables and turns drinking stories to tales ofying t as victories, antinatalism, and non-maritalism, the drinking would indeed get messily intense. And without family to nag, nobody would fuss even if one got wasted. Liquor would triumph. After the third round of drinks. Principal Heng waved his hand, ordered the dishes to be cleared away, and brought up fresh fruit and nuts, along with several cold dishes. He then leaned forward on the table, turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile, and asked, ¡°What do you think about our school¡¯s surveince system?¡± Jiang Yuan, feeling a bit lost, replied vaguely, ¡°It seems extensive, quite involved.¡± ¡°You mean it¡¯s big but not refined,¡± Principal Heng caught the implication. By now, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to mince words, ¡°It only seems big. Having many screens in the monitoring room isn¡¯t useful; there are too many simultaneous feeds to watch effectively, and it¡¯s unnecessary.¡± Seeing Principal Heng attentive, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°Qinghe College¡¯s surveince system is actually quite good. As far as I know, not many schools orrge industrial and mining enterprises have a unified surveince system. Most have one monitoring room for each building or one for each zone.¡± ¡°Compared to them, Qinghe College¡¯s surveince system is rtivelyplete.¡± ¡°If the storage system could be updated, the surveince system could reach a level of 60 points.¡± Heng Wenxuan nodded as he listened, lifted his ss to signal a toast, and gulped down a drink. The spiciness made him gasp for air before he said, ¡°To expend so much effort for just a 60 percent score, I¡¯m not satisfied.¡± Principal Li chimed in, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what would it take to score a perfect mark then?¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback for a moment, pondered, and swirled his drink before smiling and saying, ¡°Actually, you want to ask how your own surveince system falls shortpared to a top-rated operating system, right?¡± ¡°Putting it that way is too straightforward,¡± Heng Wenxuanughed. ¡°But that¡¯s indeed what we mean.¡± The effects of drinking were now apparent. Jiang Yuan was not part of the education system, nor had he participated in the construction of the surveince system. So even though he knew the surveince system was a lucrative opportunity, since Jiang Yuan was neither involved in its distribution nor in utilizing it, he naturally didn¡¯t care. Upon casually pondering, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°First, there¡¯s the training of personnel. It¡¯s one thing to watch the surveince, but being able to track it is also essential. Ultimately, to achieve full marks, one must have the capability to analyze surveince footage.¡± ¡°Second, equipment needs to be standardized. Your surveince system appears to have been built intermittently over the years, which leads to two issues: cameras from different eras and manufacturers have different protocols and codecs, creating certainpatibility problems.¡± ¡°Transmission lines actually face a simr issue. Some of the older lines might be coaxial cables or twisted pairs with too low of a configuration to meet performance standards. At least high-definition would be out of the question, and the frame rate wouldn¡¯t be up to par either.¡± ¡°Furthermore, a single line can¡¯t support too many devices.¡± ¡°There are also analog cameras in your surveince, some of which can only be watched, not recorded, and this is rted to that.¡± ¡°Storage devices¡­ the setup of a storage system is even moreplicated, involving security, user-friendliness, and cost-effectiveness¡­¡± ¡°Of course, we are talking about aiming for the perfect score. Just looking at college surveince systems, yours has been done quite well.¡± Lately, Jiang Yuan had actually studied surveince systems quite a bit, and coupled with high-level image enhancement, he inevitably touched on the entire system¡¯s issues, hence his detailed exnation. Heng Wenxuan waspletely engrossed in listening. Principal Li aside seemed somewhat unconvinced and said, ¡°That¡¯s quite demanding for a college¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s why we¡¯re talking about a 100 percent score,¡± Heng Wenxuan intercepted, adding, ¡°The gap between us and Tsinghua is greater than that, right?¡± Principal Li fell silent. Heng Wenxuan took a drink by himself, pondered for a moment, and then smiled at Jiang Yuan again, ¡°Officer Jiang, I¡¯ve been thinking about renovating our surveince system; could you consult for me?¡± Jiang Yuan was startled: ¡°That doesn¡¯t seem appropriate.¡± ¡°You¡¯d be consulting for me, not the college. What¡¯s inappropriate?¡± Heng Wenxuan smiled naturally, then said, ¡°Most of the professionals I know are from within the college system. Their technology and knowledge may be sound, but there are conflicts of interest, so I¡¯ve always wanted to find an expert outside the system.¡± ¡°I¡¯m hardly an expert,¡± Jiang Yuan said modestly. ¡°As a personal consultant, you wouldn¡¯t need to be a master of all. Some advice would be enough to satisfy me,¡± Heng Wenxuan proposed cheerfully with a toast. Jiang Yuan joined in the drink, feeling somewhat inclined. In fact, Jiang Yuan was quite dissatisfied with Ningtai County¡¯s surveince system. The situation now was that local thieves had been mostly caught, but asionally, thieves from outside tried to fill the void. Of course, such petty thieves from elsewhere, absent from murder cases, off-duty, or during free time, Jiang Yuan could sift out several to be caught in a few hours of spare time. Moreover, don¡¯t believe the media hype about thieves being captured and released immediately. Most of the time, that happens due to insufficient evidence or the case value not reaching two or three thousand. If the case value exceeds 3000 and there is evidence, there is no reason to let go of KPIs presented on a silver tter. As for repeat offenders, under the current Criminal Law, they usually face over three years of imprisonment. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficiency, the turnover rate of thieves in Ningtai County definitely couldn¡¯t keep up. However, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s growing reputation and more time spent on outside cases, the county¡¯s petty thieves still required participation from his colleagues. At such times, the inadequacies of the surveince system became evident. They couldn¡¯t always rely on Jiang Yuan¡¯s image enhancement. Moreover, most of the time, image enhancement isn¡¯t as clear and direct as footage from high-definition cameras. It also simplifies the process during prosecution. For minor cases, clear evidence and aplete chain of evidence is sufficient. Extraplications would even annoy defensewyers. However, the construction of modern surveince systems, not to mention the high costs, hasplexities worthy of a college course, and Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t qualified to be part of it. Qinghe College, on the other hand, being smaller in scale than Ningtai County and with simpler systems, had the advantage in funding and manpower. It was an excellent option to familiarize himself with the systems. At this point, Jiang Yuan recalled the third-ss merit medal he had recently received. By rights, a newly awarded third-ss merit could be used to learn a new skill. Either a level-two major category or a level-three minor category. Since he hadn¡¯t decided yet, Jiang Yuan had put off upgrading. Now, he thought that maybe he could use it to learn a skill like Technical Defense Construction (level 3)? After all, when he received a second-ss merit, he could override and reselect the skill he¡¯d gained from the third-ss merit, so there was no loss either way. ¡°All right, I¡¯ll be your consultant for a few months,¡± decided Jiang Yuan, then asked, ¡°What should I do?¡± Heng Wenxuan took out his phone seriously, ¡°Let¡¯s add each other on WeChat. Should I scan you, or you scan me?¡± Chapter 244 - 244 234 Talking Again ?244: Chapter 234: Talking Again 244: Chapter 234: Talking Again ¡°One, two, three, four¡± ¡°One, two, three, four!¡± The sound of orderly footsteps running outside the window roused Jiang Yuan from his deep sleep. ncing out the window, he saw, as expected, a vast number of students running around the yground, the teaching buildings, or on some road. In such an environment, it was impossible to sleep; Jiang Yuan somewhat regretted having chosen to stay at Qinghe College¡¯s guesthouse. If he had picked a hotel, he could have slept until noon and headed home refreshed and rxed. He got up, brushed his teeth, washed his face, and after a bit of tidying up, he headed downstairs and ran into Wei Zhenguo as well. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s face seemed even darker, and he had drunk quite a bit the previous night. He still didn¡¯t seem fully awake, walking at a slight angle, like a car with one misaligned tire. ¡°Eating breakfast?¡± greeted Jiang Yuan. ¡°Yeah, or I¡¯ll get a stomachache. Can¡¯t drink like that anymore. Those intellectuals coaxing you to drink, they kill you softly,¡± Wei Zhenguomented. ¡°I need to learn Heng¡¯s method of coaxing people to drink and use it when I get back; drink those bastards to death.¡± ¡°We¡¯re off the banquet table now, no need to call him ¡®Heng,''¡± Jiang Yuan said, looking at Wei Zhenguo. ¡°You¡¯re the one who taught me to be humble.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not looking for a promotion anyway, what do I have to fear? You¡¯re the one who needs to remain humble,¡± Wei Zhenguoughed, but he dropped the title ¡°Heng¡± in reference to the principal. ¡°Shall we go to the cafeteria for breakfast?¡± ¡°Sure thing.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s hurry up. Once the students finish their exercises, the cafeteria¡¯s going to be packed.¡± ¡°Alright then,¡± Wei Zhenguo sighed. ¡°Howe there¡¯s still morning exercise running in a university? It¡¯s too noisy.¡± ¡°Probably don¡¯t want students to sleep in,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°Qinghe College must be the kind that enforces discipline strictly.¡± ¡°Their walls are hollowed out, and they still enforce discipline¡­ A detention center is where real discipline is enforced.¡± As they spoke, the two reached the cafeteria and, as expected, many teachers were walking in for breakfast. Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo each got some food and had just sat down when a call came through from the district criminal police. Wei Zhenguo answered the phone while chewing on a steamed bun, giving a series of affirmatives: ¡°Hello,¡± ¡°Mhm,¡± ¡°Oh,¡± ¡°Not bad,¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± ¡°Awesome.¡± Jiang Yuan cidly filled his steamed bun with condiments, his face smeared with chili sauce. Having Wei Zhenguo there making a fool of himself, Jiang Yuan felt he could indulge in his meal a little more crudely without adding to the embarrassment. After a while, Wei Zhenguo hung up and said, ¡°Caught the guy who stole the monkey.¡± ¡°I guessed as much,¡± replied Jiang Yuan, putting down his bun. ¡°Has he confessed?¡± ¡°Basically. This guy¡¯s got priors, knows the drill,¡± Wei Zhenguo spoke casually. As a detective, sometimes they actually prefer interrogating criminals with priors. Already schooled by previous experience, these repeat offenders often save a lot of talk, and their attitudes are somewhat morepliant. The ones shouting ¡°I want awyer¡± or ¡°I want to make a phone call,¡± or pretending to be deep with ¡°I choose to remain silent,¡± are all inexperienced criminals who haven¡¯t been to prison and don¡¯t hit the books. Any criminal with a bit of reading under their belt would know that suspects can¡¯t seewyers before interrogation, can¡¯t make phone calls without permission, and the right to remain silent¡­ doesn¡¯t exist. So, during interrogations, when faced with a stubbornly defiant suspect, detectives often regard them with disdain. When they encounter a well-behaved, clever suspect who doesn¡¯t make a fuss, the detectives¡¯ eyes often glint with the excitement of an excavator at work. ¡°Let¡¯s go have a look, then,¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a rush to go back. It¡¯s better to see a case through from start to finish. Plus, everyone¡¯s a bit curious at heart. Jiang Yuan also wanted to know what this fellow did with the stolen monkey. ¡°Teacher Jiang Yuan,¡± a slightly plump girl with long hair cascading over her shoulders greeted him not far from the door. In the vocabry of older times, a plump girl with long, straight ck hair would be called ¡®Big Bear.¡¯ Calling someone ¡®Big Bear¡¯ seems a bit impolite nowadays. In a nutshell, Jiang Yuan was also curious as he sized up the other person and said, ¡°Just call me Doctor Jiang. It¡¯s not appropriate to call me teacher.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already been hired by my dad as a consultant, as Principal Heng¡¯s private consultant, so there¡¯s no problem using ¡®teacher¡¯ to address you,¡± the ck-haired, slightly chubby girl said, extending her hand. ¡°Let me introduce myself, I¡¯m Heng Qiongsi, the daughter of the principal of Qinghe College.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you, the principal¡¯s daughter,¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly thought it sounded like a book title. Heng Qiongsi said, ¡°Doctor Jiang¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s stick with Doctor Jiang,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother exining anymore. ¡°Okay, Doctor Jiang,¡± Heng Qiongsi conceded, then continued, ¡°I¡¯ve brought a proposal with me and I hope after you read it, you can give some advice. Since it involves bidding, I ask that you keep the proposal confidential.¡± ¡°Sure. But right now, I¡¯d like to go see the monkey thief we caught yesterday.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go together,¡± Heng Qiongsi said agreeably, pushing a shared bike over from the side of the road and then blinking at Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo. So the two of them each swept a QR code for a bicycle, and they pedaled off towards the police station. ¡­ The monkey thief¡¯s name was Wan Zhiyuan, which sounded somewhat ssy. The guy wasn¡¯t bad-looking either. Aside from his hairstyle being a trendy Tibetan Macaque style, also known as a punk hairstyle, he looked like a charming bad-boy that girls would go for. In other words, he had the type of appearance that was highly popr with young women. The detectives looked at him with annoyance¡ªthe world didn¡¯t divide looks between the just and the wicked, so it could be said there was a mismatch in the distribution of resources. If this youngster hadn¡¯t been so handsome, he wouldn¡¯t havended those girls in jail. ¡°How was he caught?¡± As they entered the police station, Jiang Yuan asked without hesitation. Heng Qiongsi followed suit, equally curious. ¡°We have the capability to buy monkeys here, the only ones that would are Jianyuan, so we gave them a call to check, and sure enough, someone had called them before, asking if they wanted Hanuman Langurs. I got the phone number, passed it to the technical unit, and we found out where he stayedst night,¡± the detective handling the case said proudly. Even though it was a particrly straightforward approach, the fact that he had thought of it showed some experience. Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo praised the detective, who puffed up with pride, and then invited them to the monitoring room to watch the interrogation video, fast-forwarding to thetter part. In the video, you could see Wan Zhiyuan with a look of dejection on his face, then suddenly rallying to say, ¡°I want to report someone, I¡¯m reporting the purchase of wild Hanuman Langurs, that counts as a merit, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°It counts,¡± the interrogating detective said with an authoritative expression in the video. The detective in the monitoring room now wore a smug look, saying, ¡°This just proves he knew dealing in Hanuman Langurs was illegal.¡± A collective knowing smile appeared on the faces of the police officers in the monitoring room. In the video, Wan Zhiyuan continued, ¡°I¡¯m reporting Yuan Yutang, a director of Jianyuan Company. He was secretly purchasing wild Hanuman Langurs. Hanuman Langurs are a national second-ss protected species. He bought them for fifty thousand yuan each, then billed thepany for several times that amount, making a hefty illicit profit!¡± The interrogating officer nodded, ¡°Have you ever sold any to him?¡± Wan Zhiyuan clenched his teeth and said, ¡°I have.¡± ¡°How many times?¡± ¡°Twice.¡± ¡°How many?¡± ¡°One the first time, two the second time.¡± ¡°Exin in detail how you obtained them,¡± the detective asked. Under the detective¡¯s insistence, Wan Zhiyuan detailed the process of selling the wild monkeys twice, before seeking confirmation again, ¡°This should count as merit, right?¡± ¡°Not necessarily,¡± the interrogating officer said, sounding slightly regretful. Unsatisfied, Wan Zhiyuan said, ¡°What do you mean ¡®not necessarily¡¯? You just said¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get excited,¡± the detective sighed. ¡°Because Yuan Yutang is already dead. However, you still need to exin these two cases in detail¡­¡± Chapter 245 - 245 235 Close Your Eyes and Leap ?245: Chapter 235: Close Your Eyes and Leap 245: Chapter 235: Close Your Eyes and Leap Heng Qiongsi watched with great interest as the police toyed with the monkey thief, who dangled like a monkey himself. She then added, ¡°That girl is so pitiful, to be deceived by such a dumb boy.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Because he¡¯s good-looking, there¡¯s a filter.¡± ¡°The boy didn¡¯t even tell her his real name,¡± Wei Zhenguo shook his head and added, ¡°If she finds out, she¡¯ll be devastated.¡± ¡°Will the girl be sentenced too?¡± Heng Qiongsi asked with evident concern. ¡°Probably.¡± ¡°She stole the monkey to set it free, not for money, but still has to be sentenced, right?¡± Wei Zhenguo, who had caught thieves for many years, spoke up, ¡°It depends on what the prosecutor¡¯s office and the court think, but whether she¡¯s convicted of theft or intentional damage to property, she won¡¯t escape a three-year sentence. The amount is too high.¡± Based on his experience, if she were the main culprit in a case involving such an amount, she would definitely be sentenced to more than seven years. Considering all the pitiful factors about this girl, it might be possible to get a sentence of three years. Heng Qiongsi said, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, her whole life would be ruined.¡± ¡°My Ph.D. thesis is ruined too,¡± came a gloomyint from behind. Heng Qiongsi jumped in shock, only to realize that the teacher in charge of the monkey enclosure was just in the corner; she hadn¡¯t seen him until now. ¡°Teacher Wang, don¡¯t be too anxious. Now that we¡¯ve found the monkeys, you can continue writing your thesis,¡± Heng Qiongsi hastily said. ¡°One of the monkeys can¡¯t make it,¡± the monkey enclosure teacher said, staring nkly, ¡°I don¡¯t even know what has been fed to it; it started vomiting and having diarrhea since yesterday.¡± Heng Qiongsi asked, ¡°Have you taken it to the hospital?¡± The monkey enclosure teacher gave her a nce and said, ¡°The monkeys are raised in the Veterinary Building.¡± ¡°But¡­ but our veterinary medicine major is rather weak, isn¡¯t it?¡± Heng Qiongsi¡¯s voice was very soft. The monkey enclosure teacher¡¯s eyebrows furrowed. ¡°Still, take it to the animal hospital,¡± Heng Qiongsi urged. ¡°It has already been taken there,¡± the monkey enclosure teacher said, frustratedly throwing his hands up. ¡°So¡­¡± Heng Qiongsi realized, then quickly shut her mouth. The monkey enclosure teacher helplessly said, ¡°With the monkey out of control for so long, I have no idea what it ate or drank; the foundation of the experiment is destroyed¡­ I¡¯ve already started to reconsider the thesis topic.¡± Heng Qiongsi inwardly eximed, ¡°That¡¯s truly terrible,¡± and could only offer a word of constion, ¡°At least we¡¯ve found the monkey.¡± The monkey enclosure teacher did not respond, casting a resentful nce at the monitor before walking away with his head down. Heng Qiongsi also felt helpless. Qinghe College actually encouraged its teachers to pursue doctoral degrees. Like junior colleges and their students, everyone now seeks to upgrade to a bachelor¡¯s degree. For a junior college to be elevated to a bachelor-level institution, the hardware is one aspect, but the number of Ph.D. holders among the faculty is also a crucial indicator. Compared to hiring a Ph.D. from outside, developing the current non-Ph.D. faculty into Ph.D. holders is a very cost-effective affair. But in China¡¯s current educational environment, iming that half of master¡¯s degrees are inted is an understatement, and it¡¯s virtually impossible for Ph.D.s to be inted. If the monkey enclosure teacher¡¯s paper ispletely doomed, depression is the right response. He probably wants to kill that girl. Operating a sewing machine for seven years is much easier than pursuing a doctorate for seven years. ¡­ Upon leaving the police station, they happened to run into the girl¡¯s parents searching for her. They looked like a very ordinary middle-aged couple: the man was wearing a moderately worn jacket, belted trousers, and leather shoes with a slightly protruding stomach, his expression anxious. The woman had her hair permed intorge waves, wore a blue coat, and was slightly overweight. Standing at the reception desk of the police station, they asked one after another: ¡°We were notified she was at the police station, so why was she transferred to the detention center?¡± ¡°The court hasn¡¯t even sentenced her, why was she sent to the detention center?¡± The police clerk, ustomed to such situations, calmly said, ¡°The detention center is not the same as prison, you know. The detention center is a temporary holding facility. If the court hands down a sentence, then it¡¯s off to prison. They don¡¯t stay in the detention center.¡± The woman, anxious, said, ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean you can just send her there.¡± The man said, ¡°Yeah, my daughter is still young, howe she¡¯s involved in such a mess over a few monkeys?¡± The woman said, ¡°We¡¯ll pay thepensation, paying should solve the problem.¡± The desk officer, on hearing this, replied calmly and slowly, ¡°Payingpensation is possible, and if you activelypensate the victim for their loss, the court will consider a lighter sentence at the time of judgement.¡± ¡°How much lighter?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a chance of a ten percent reduction.¡± ¡°Then how much do we have to pay?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not exactly sure myself, I heard some monkeys died, about 150,000 each, you can also negotiate,¡± said the desk officer, who didn¡¯t bother with the details and just shared what he knew. On hearing the figure of 150,000, the girl¡¯s parents were already dumbfounded. The woman continued to pester the desk officer with questions, while the man silently stepped out to the door, took out his cellphone, and started making calls to borrow money. Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo, and Heng Qiongsi walked slowly, and by the halfway point, there was nothing left to say. There are always people who take what they already possess for granted and madly pursue what the masses covet. Only, some people can afford the cost, while others turn their loved ones into the cost. ¡­ After seeing that couple, Jiang Yuan and the others didn¡¯t want to linger in the police station any longer. They went outside, found a cold drink shop to sit down in, with a cup of tea each, and then Heng Qiongsi took out the n and handed it to Jiang Yuan. Wei Zhenguo was happy to rx, he took out his smartphone and silently scrolled through the TikTok influencers. Compared to being at home, the counter-surveince cost here was much lower. What Heng Wenxuan actually needed Jiang Yuan¡¯s consulting for wasn¡¯t about how to choose the surveince system or the configuration of the storage devices¡ªthat was all the contractorpany¡¯s job, and they would provide the reports. Heng Wenxuan needed Jiang Yuan to consider the issue from the perspective of the client. This was somewhat like the military making demands of a manufacturer. The performance I need to achieve, the security I need to obtain, the ease of maintenance I need, and my expenditure and maintenance costs, etc. For a surveince system, using the best equipment would obviously be simple, but when there¡¯s not enough money, deciding which areas need more intensive surveince and where the requirements should be stricter still needs careful nning. Sure, the equipment sellingpany has their own designers, but their work experience and perspective ensure their ideas can neverpletely align with the need of Qinghe College. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really know what Heng Wenxuan¡¯s specific needs were, so he started to think based on his understanding of Ningtai County. Thinking a little deeper, Jiang Yuan realized that his own umted knowledge, as well as what he learned from image enhancement, wasn¡¯t quite sufficient. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t beat around the bush and followed the n, upgrading his third-ss merit into Technical Surveince Counter-Measures (Lv3). A streak of blue light shed, and when Jiang Yuan looked at the n again, a mass of information flooded his mind. The ¡°Civil Building Electrical Design Norms¡±, the ¡°Telmunications Dedicated Housing Design Norms¡±, the ¡°Anti-Theft rm Controller General Technical Conditions¡±¡­ A whole bunch of stuff¡ªif it were up to me to memorize¡­ surely very few people would do that. Mainly because Technical Surveince Counter-Measures is a niche skill, and the Lv3 grade is too high. After all, earning a third-ss merit is quite difficult. One only needs to look at Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming to understand. ¡°I have a few suggestions,¡± Jiang Yuan had finished reviewing the n, and ideas naturally formed in his mind, so he started writing them swiftly, while speaking, ¡°The purpose of a security surveince system usually covers four aspects, reducing manpower costs, assisting physical security, facilitating work in special circumstances, and emphasizing stealth.¡± Heng Qiongsi listened and nodded her head. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°From what I observe about Qinghe College, the first point is actually irrelevant to you. You have so many security personnel, and there are organizations like the student council that also have security responsibilities. There¡¯s basically no need for the third point, special circumstances.¡± Heng Qiongsi slowly nodded her agreement. ¡°That leaves us to make sure the cameras y their usual role which humans can¡¯t do effectively¡­¡± Jiang Yuan briefly wrote down a few points and handed them back to Heng Qiongsi. While Heng Qiongsi scrutinized them, Jiang Yuan, still full of thoughts, took out his notebook to record his current train of thought. Wei Zhenguo subconsciously lifted his phone higher, looking over the top of it, he saw Jiang Yuan writing something about ¡°important points¡± or ¡°arrangement¡±, and above the text he was writing, were strings of numbers making up an ount: Expenses: Water, 36 yuan. Dining and takeout, 6228 yuan. A separate hotel room, 2088 yuan. Ie: Business trip allowance, 180 yuan per day; father¡¯s meal subsidy, 10000 yuan. Great uncle¡¯s red envelope, 6666 yuan (working hard outside, eat more meat). Third great uncle¡¯s red envelope, 8888 yuan (if tired, take a few days off, give the leaders a small gift for easier talk). Mrs. Hua, 10000 yuan (take care of yourself when away from home). Fifth uncle¡¯s red envelope, 5000 yuan (read about you in the newspaper, truly making us proud). Sixth uncle, 2000 yuan (pride fee), Eighth aunt, 2000 yuan (pride fee), Eighth great aunt, 2000 yuan (pride fee), Fourth aunt, 2000 yuan (pride fee)¡­ Wei Zhenguo decisively closed his eyes! Chapter 246 - 246 236 Disconnected ?246: Chapter 236: Disconnected 246: Chapter 236: Disconnected Jiang Yuan spent another day processing videos for Zeng Zhuohu before he finally returned to Ningtai County the next day. On the return journey, he rode in Jiang Yongxin¡¯s Alphard. The new pickup truck Captain Huang had acquired four years ago had been taken to the county by a colleague who hade over for a business trip a couple of days earlier. Such a new truck, filled with Captain Huang¡¯s hopeful essence, definitely shouldn¡¯t be left to wander for several days on end. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to drive it either, so when he arrived in Qinghe City, he took the opportunity to send it back. This trip was a private job he had taken on after hours; it was part-time and not appropriate for using a department vehicle. Captain Wei naturally preferred riding in the Alphard, but once on the highway, seeing Jiang Yuan constantly writing and drawing in his notebook, he felt somewhat unsettled. Captain Wei couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Hasn¡¯t Zeng Zhuohu¡¯sbor fee been paid yet?¡± ¡°He must run it through the school¡¯s ounts. Official ounts are more formal,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°The technology you¡¯ve learned is great, much more widely applicable than Bloodstain Analysis or anything like that,¡± Captain Wei said enviously. Jiang Yuan seriously considered this and responded, ¡°Their requirements for video enhancement are too simple, not very interesting. Bloodstain Analysis is actually better; even if it¡¯s an injury case, as long as Bloodstain Analysis is used, it¡¯s always the full set. When it¡¯s done, there¡¯s a greater sense of achievement.¡± ¡°Earning easy money and still not happy¡­ Never mind, let¡¯s not talk about this anymore,¡± Captain Wei said, upsetting himself with his own words, then patted the seat of the Alphard and stretched contentedly, adding, ¡°Now, I just look forward to our country thriving, our national brands producing affordable and high-quality cars. When it¡¯s time to change to a four-year-old new car in the future, I hope it will be morefortable to sit in, as my old back can¡¯t take it anymore.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a rest at the uing service area,¡± Jiang Yuan told Jiang Yongxin, who was driving. Jiang Yongxin immediately acknowledged. The drive from Qinghe City to Ningtai County wasn¡¯t far, just over an hour, but if the ¡°guest¡± wanted to take a break, a break was in order. Compared to other young people in the vige, Jiang Yongxin seemed much more mature and capable, able to handle both hardship and pride. By the time Captain Wei came out of the restroom, Jiang Yongxin had already bought drinks and water, and most importantly, prepared cigarettes, waiting there. Captain Wei quickly lit a cigarette, took a puff, shivered with satisfaction, andughed, ¡°You know, air-conditioned cars have their own advantages, but our old car has its own charm too. Of course, in the end, as long as the car can stop, it¡¯s better to have air conditioning.¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t stop, whether you have air conditioning or not doesn¡¯t really matter,¡± Jiang Yuan stated, picking up a bottle of water and providing a quite reasonable conclusion. After solving a logic puzzle, Jiang Yuan unconsciously thought of Liu Jinghui. Inference, courtroom debate, including the judicial process, are actually closely rted to a country¡¯s philosophy. In an era without forensic science, proving someone¡¯s guilt required either witnessing the crime or resorting to inference. With the foundation of formal logic, the West constructed a pathway to procedural justice, while in China, judicial institutions had long been controlled by Confucian schrs, leading to vastly different approaches to inference. Liu Jinghui¡¯s ability to solve cases directly through inference was umon in both the East and the West. The situation might be even more severe in Europe and America, where their scrutiny of evidence far exceeds the handling capabilities of forensic institutions. Defense attorneys, on the other hand, have always known how to target the weak spots of judicial institutions. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask Captain Wei, ¡°How long has it been since youst contacted Director Liu?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t contacted him,¡± Captain Wei replied, still smacking his lips as he got into the car. After some thought, Jiang Yuan took out his phone; it had been quite a while since hest called Liu Jinghui, and even the WeChat message had been sent several days ago. Liu Jinghui had been injured before and then gathered several dogs to search for clues in the mine. However, the process had not been smooth. As time went by, both the dogs and the people under him began to dwindle. That¡¯s the way it is with special case teams for criminal investigations: they can bevishly staffed at the beginning, and as more leads emerge, the number of personnel and equipment can keep increasing. But if there¡¯s no progress and no new leads, the resources of the special case team will be gradually reassigned until only one or two officers are left to do clerical-like tasks. Later on, even these officers start doing clerical work part-time, and the case team exists only in name. If they¡¯re lucky, some of these teams might reactivate after a few years or even over a decadeter and get busy again. But more often, they fade into silence as the officers handling the cases pass on. Liu Jinghui was ustomed to traveling around the province solving cases, but he actually didn¡¯t have any real subordinates; he just used local staff wherever he went. Even his colleagues from the provincial office were constantly rotating and reorganizing. Looking back after so much time, Liu Jinghui most likely wouldn¡¯t have many dogs left under hismand. After all, police dogs are much rarer than humans. It¡¯s not possible for them to be on loan all year round. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan casually dialed Liu Jinghui¡¯s number. It rang several times but no one picked up. Poor signal at the coal mine was normal. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment but still decided to call Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°I am a bit worried, staying in a coal mine for such a long time seems a bit unreasonable. Besides, Director Liu had a rather fixed schedule for contacting me before, now both WeChat and phone are unreachable.¡± Huang Qiangmin grunted and said, ¡°Liu Jinghui actually has a fixed schedule for contacting you?¡± ¡°Uh, it¡¯s mainly about some fingerprints or footprints that he wanted me to have a look at. There are many cases on his side, so¡­it¡¯s like asking for a third-party opinion.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Liu Jinghui is with the province¡¯s department, if he wanted to poach people, there are plenty in Changyang City for him to poach, yet hees to our county. I think he might as well rob openly, just issue a transfer request, and see whether I let him or not¡­¡± ¡°Captain Huang, perhaps Director Liu has encountered some ident in the coal mine,¡± Jiang Yuan said in a low voice. ¡°Are you worried about him?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked sternly. What was this even about? Feeling somewhat helpless, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I suspect there was a murder case at Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, that¡¯s why Director Liu went there. Now that he¡¯s out of touch, aren¡¯t you worried at all?¡± ¡°What does this amount to being out of touch? And what am I worried about? Worried that he won¡¯t have time to poach our people?¡± Huang Qiangmin snorted twice and added, ¡°Old Liu is a veteran detective; if he were in a county bureau, he¡¯d qualify to take an afternoon off to pick up his kid, you know. He¡¯s probably somewhere in the wild¡­ let me ask around.¡± ¡°Okay then, thank you for the trouble, I¡¯m on my way back. If there¡¯s nothing wrong, I¡¯ll take another day off tomorrow and go back to work the day after.¡± Jiang Yuan had solved several major cases and amassed a lot ofpensatory leave. As long as his superiors agreed, he could easily take a summer or winter holiday for himself. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t mind Jiang Yuan taking more time off to rest. Recently, there hadn¡¯t been any major new cases to solve, and the backlog of unsolved cases was already reduced beyond expectations. For his own workhorse, as long as a certain level of activity was maintained, he was reluctant to have Jiang Yuan run around senselessly. It was only people like Liu Jinghui from the provincial department, these silly roe deer who go around messing with other people¡¯s affairs all day long, borrowing other people¡¯s prized livestock to cultivatend for outsiders, and still frequently getting in touch. After Huang Qiangmin made the call, Jiang Yuan felt somewhat relieved. The senior superintendents from the provincial department were either highly educated and cultivated for management from the start or experienced veteran detectives brought up from the grassroots level. They had encountered more situations than Jiang Yuan had even heard of, so there really wasn¡¯t much to worry about. Jiang Yuan leaned back in the Alphard¡¯s seat and silently started reading a novel. Brrr¡­ A call popped up on the phone, from Huang Qiangmin. Jiang Yuan frowned and nced at Wei Zhenguo beside him, then turned on speakerphone and said, ¡°Captain Huang, I¡¯m with Captain Wei right now; I¡¯ve turned on speakerphone.¡± ¡°Hmm, Liu Jinghui has been missing for 60 hours,¡± said Huang Qiangmin, being very precise about the time. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°How did you determine it¡¯s been 60 hours?¡± ¡°After 48 hours of no contact, the provincial department started reaching out, but considering his specific situation¡­ Anyway, as soon as I asked, they also became a bit anxious, repeatedly asking if I had any clues. They are now nning to send people to Zifeng Mountain.¡± The disappearance of an adult is quitemon. 60 hours is somewhat an awkward duration. However, given Liu Jinghui¡¯s injury, this 60-hour disappearance could easily lead to unpleasant spections. For the provincial department, on-duty deaths ur asionally, but the disappearance of a high-ranking superintendent is something they absolutely cannot ept. Jiang Yuan keenly sensed that if the situation remains unchanged in the next few hours, Liu Jinghui¡¯s disappearance would definitely turn into a major issue. Given the current situation, the provincial department would certainly not waste time waiting for the foolish 72-hour mark. Instead, they would pour arge amount of resources into the situation well before the critical period. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Zifeng Mountain,¡± said Jiang Yuan, and then added, ¡°Captain Huang, has Heizi from Longli County returned? If he can be borrowed again, please lend him out.¡± Police dogs are quite professional at finding people. And, indeed, the efficacy of police dogs and their trainers varies significantly depending on their level. Jiang Yuan felt he had already done unpaid work for Longli County twice and it was time to cash in for some canine hours. Huang Qiangmin was a bit reluctant but still agreed. Chapter 247 - 247 237 Reinforcements ?247: Chapter 237 Reinforcements 247: Chapter 237 Reinforcements Zifeng Mountain spans both Jianjiang City and Qinghe City, located deep within the mountains. But because of the coal mines, the road to Zifeng Mountain is rugged and difficult to navigate; still, there¡¯s no shortage of people living at the mountain¡¯s base. The town at the southern foothills, Zi Feng Town, now looks to be in decline, yet it still has a poption of over ten thousand. The state-owned coal mines¡¯ years of continued investment, the construction of mechanical processing nts, the invested coal-processing enterprises, and the tertiary industry¡¯s-built fertilizer and pesticide factories are all still operating stubbornly. They¡¯re just barely scraping by. Just like the people in the town. Under the hazy air, ordinary people go about their daily lives. Lacking vitality yet exuding peace and antiquity, and also a hint of familiarity. The Alphard moved slowly along the main road through the town, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind couldn¡¯t help but conjure the images of Zhangshan Town and Lichang Town. That¡¯s where Wangguoshan, the perpetrator of the reservoir case, used to live,mit murders, and was eventually arrested. I heard that because of that incident, many residents left Zhangshan Town, which caused the already declining town to deteriorate even faster. Zi Feng Town seemed even less lively than Zhangshan Town, but in reality, the town was somewhatrger, and there were a few industries that caused the poption to be more dispersed. Wei Zhenguo saw Jiang Yuan paying attention outside and began to exin, ¡°Zifeng Mountain is very big, we are now in the southern area, mainly residential and industrial areas. The coal mines are all up in the high mountains, there are several of them, locals call them Mine Shaft One, Mine Shaft Two, but actually, Mine Shaft One is one coal mine, and Mine Shaft Two is another, and all used to be department-level entities.¡± ¡°Higher than the mayor¡¯s level.¡± ¡°Of course. Back when the coal mines were profitable, the mayors were nothing.¡± Wei Zhenguoughed and said, ¡°When we went out for cases, we would stay in state-owned enterprises¡¯ guest houses; local government guest houses were unusable, bunk beds, stinking to high heaven.¡± ¡°You seem quite familiar with Zi Feng Town?¡± ¡°Not really, I¡¯ve been here before. Qinghe City is only so big, you know, and in the past, the ces where cases most often happened were these industrial and mining enterprises. Nothing happened most of the time, but when something did, it was always a major case.¡± ¡°What kind of case was it back then?¡± Jiang Yuan chatted casually, also as a way of gathering information. For an unfamiliar ce, merely reading about it online is hardly enough to form a concrete impression. Human cognitive mechanisms dictate that stories and characters are needed to conceptualize. In contemporary terms, it requires a hook. Without Ma Su, Jing Ting bes forgettable; Lushan, without itsmittee chair, gradually fades from people¡¯s view as well. Wei Zhenguo also sank into his memories, and after a long while, he said, ¡°It involved five hooligans from nearby collectives, idiotic youngsters with no money to spend. On a weekend, they came up to the mine to steal, thinking the state enterprise offices would have valuables. They broke into several offices and found nothing of value, and after a back-and-forth, they stumbled upon the ounting room.¡± ¡°Did they get away with arge sum of cash?¡± Jiang Yuan guessed. Back then, factories and mines used to pay wages in cash, andrge factories with thousands of workers, hitting the right timing, could be more profitable than robbing a bank. Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°The mine wasn¡¯t foolish; not only was there money in the ounting room, but there was also an ountant on duty.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°The five of them beat an ountant who was close to retirement to death and ran off with nearly 100,000 yuan. We chased them for less than a week before we caught them all.¡± As Wei Zhenguo spoke of the case, his thoughts returned, and he pped his forehead and said, ¡°The mine we went to at that time was Mine Shaft Two. It¡¯s called the Lijiagou Coal Mine. Mine Shaft One is the Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, and Mine Shaft Two is the Lijiagou Coal Mine. There¡¯s another mine, let me check¡­ called the Temple Gully Coal Mine. They are all high mountain mines.¡± Jiang Yuan had also looked up some information in the car just a while ago. Moreover, Jiang Yuan took an interest in Zifeng Mountain when Liu Jinghui was injuredst time. Listening to Wei Zhenguo¡¯s exnation, Jiang Yuan was also sketching a map in his mind. Where should he start his investigation? The three treasures of a modern-day criminal investigator are video, mobile phone, and DNA. Clich¨¦ as they may be, the fact that everyone uses these methods shows the high probability of solving cases with them. At the very least, the cost-performance ratio is very good. But in Zifeng Mountain, there was naturally no video evidence. The pathway through the mobile phone had been proven infeasible by the technical investigation, otherwise, the provincial department would not be so anxious. DNA evidence would require a crime scene. And with a missing persons case, there is no crime scene. The kind of case that criminal investigators dread most is probably the missing or uncontactable person, partly because there is no crime scene. Without a crime scene, many of the current technical methods are useless, and solving the case bes impossible. Of course, the most important reason is theplex nature of disappearance cases. If you work hard to solve a case only to discover it was just a runaway or an illicit affair, it¡¯s all for naught, wasting both time and emotional energy. In most cases, this is what detectives encounter. Of course, what¡¯s even rarer and most fearsome are cases where the police overlook a report and then the person turns out dead. Therefore, proving abnormal circumstances is crucial for a disappearance or missing persons case to be filed. For example, Liu Jinghui by all rights should not have lost contact for this long. But as for finding him, Jiang Yuan also felt at a loss on where to begin. The reinforcements from the provincial department arrived at Zi Feng Town soon after. A line of seven cars parked orderly into a hotel. The leader was a man in a white shirt, who looked extremely serious. ¡°Xu Taining. First-ss Senior Police Superintendent. Big Boss Xu.¡± Wei Zhenguo, seeing the man from a distance, quietly said to Jiang Yuan. In the police world, a white shirt was a dividing line, which very few could cross. Therefore, for the rank-and-file officers, simply saluting the white shirt is the right thing to do. The rank of Senior Division Head is for the administrative level. There are four levels of senior police inspectors, with the third and fourth levels corresponding to the deputy division level; the fourth level is called ¡°junior deputy division head,¡± and the third level is ¡°senior deputy division head.¡± First and second level senior police inspectors correspond to the division head level, with the second level being ¡°junior division head¡± and the first being ¡°senior division head.¡± In more modern terms, a first level senior police inspector is equivalent to division head plus. For the police system, the division head level is the hardest hurdle. Once promoted, you can wear a white shirt and enter the ranks of senior police officers. It¡¯s considered a minor peak in one¡¯s career. If you do not get promoted, you are regarded as one among the great unwashed. Most people, especially those at the grassroots level, do not get promoted. In Shannan Province, there are not many who would still go around to various scenes wearing a white shirt at the first level senior police inspector rank; Xu Taining is one of the more famous among them. Wei Zhenguo recognized him immediately. Jiang Yuan, as a third-level police inspector, had almost the lowest rank in the police system. He simply stood at the farthest point, watching a group of people go through the motions and asked, ¡°This Director Xu, what famous deeds is he known for?¡± ¡°There are quite a few,¡± Wei Zhenguo pondered, then said, ¡°He¡¯s dispatched thousands of officers for the arrest of armed robbers, used police forces in other jurisdictions, cracked down on ck Society organizations, wiped out several drug dens, and even captured tele-fraudsters in Southeast Asia¡ªall big scenes.¡± ¡°Themanding type?¡± Jiang Yuan summed up. Wei Zhenguo thought about it and nodded, saying, ¡°That¡¯s not wrong to say. Director Xu is best at conductingrge-scale integrated operations.¡± When the provincial department sends people out for a case, these senior inspectors actually do not carry much authority, so most of them focus on inspections and supervision. Often, senior inspectors have stepped down from leadership positions, and when there¡¯s a need, sending a senior inspector back to the field where they once fought can be quite beneficial. Of course, most cases do not escte to the political level. Situations of potential conflict usually arise with enterprises like Jianyuan Company. Aside from that, local criminal detectives generally wee supervision from superiors because police chiefs from the provincial department often bring funds or technical personnel, which is advantageous for solving cases. But what Xu Taining did involved more than just supervision or evenmand. It was about integrating forces from various quarters, which was of considerably high difficulty. And from this perspective, the provincial department took the disappearance of Liu Jinghui very seriously ¡ªording to the provincial department¡¯s definition, Liu Jinghui is still considered missing, not lost. ¡°Jiang Yuan, which one is Jiang Yuan?¡± A police officer hurried over, running and shouting as he approached. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, standing out like a giraffe shaking its neck. ¡°Are you Jiang Yuan?¡± The running officer asked. ¡°That¡¯s me. From Ningtai County.¡± ¡°Come with me.¡± The officer turned and started to jog away. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to jog after him. That¡¯s the discipline of the force¡ªabsolute obedience to orders. Xu Taining had a square face with sharp eyes thatmanded respect even without anger. He spoke slowly and clearly with the people around him, and there was strong logic in his sentences. After speaking to several people and sending them off, Xu Taining signaled for Jiang Yuan toe forward and said, ¡°I heard you have a good rtionship with Xiao Liu. Did you talk about the case thest time?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t talk specifics. Director Liu had just been injured at the time and was preparing to gather people and dogs to search the coal mine for the missing person,¡± Jiang Yuan described truthfully, not adding or omitting anything. Xu Taining nodded and said, ¡°I hear you¡¯ve done well with criminal cases, recently solving a major case of a body dumped in a reservoir? Do you have any thoughts about this situation?¡± ¡°Not at the moment. However, Director Liu was following the lead of the reservoir case when he came here.¡± ¡°We will consider it,¡± said Xu Taining. ¡°Report to me if there¡¯s any progress, and go back to your team for now.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan was sent off after a few words and heard Xu Taining discussing where to deploy additional personnel as he left. It was evident that he was preparing to employ a saturation strategy. That was the most suitable and most luxurious n under the circumstances. Jiang Yuan, too, pondered as he went back to the roadside, telling Jiang Yongxin to drive back alone. As he was making arrangements, a brand new Great Wall Cannon truck pulled up in front of him. Huang Qiangmin jumped down from the driver¡¯s seat with a heartyugh, rolling up his sleeves and shouting out the names of Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo. Li Li, walking Dazhuang, came down from the back seat. Dazhuang, on a leash, seemed somewhat unsteady. When he reached the side of the road, he staggered a bit before he couldn¡¯t help but vomit. Not just Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo, but a crowd around them stared in disbelief. Li Li saw this and could only unpack a bag of tissues, sighing, ¡°Sorry, he¡¯s carsick.¡± ¡°Dogs can get carsick?¡± Jiang Yuan was quite surprised. Li Li spread her hands, pointing to Dazhuang resting in a hollow by a tree, and said, ¡°It was too rough today, but he often gets carsick. He¡¯ll be fine after a rest.¡± ¡°If not, let him rest for a day, and we can enter the mountains tomorrow,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he gently closed the car door, not seeding at first, then pushing harder on his third try until it shut properly. Li Li hesitated but ended up patting Dazhuang¡¯s head and said, ¡°Dazhuang wants to make a contribution; he should be among the first group into the mountains.¡± Upon hearing the instructor mention making a contribution, Dazhuang enthusiastically nodded his head. A dog wouldn¡¯t just give up and lie down. Chapter 248 - 248 238 In Minute Detail ?248: Chapter 238: In Minute Detail 248: Chapter 238: In Minute Detail Jiang Yuan and the others arrived early and found a small restaurant where they could im a not-so-clean table, set up their tea cups, sip tea with air-conditioning, and wait for the dispatch from the front. From his position, he could see Xu Taining¡¯s white shirt standing out hundreds of meters away. And the traffic on both sides of the road never seemed to lessen. Most of the reinforcements and police officers usually waited only for tens of minutes before receiving their assignments, equipped with maps or seeking local guides, they would head to their destinations. But as more vehicles, police officers, and local staff arrived, the roads inevitably became congested. The people who cameter had to park by the side of the road without tables to sit at, simply sitting down on the curb or finding a spot like the bed of a pickup truck to scroll through their phones and chat. The merchants of Zi Feng Town quickly demonstrated amercial sensitivity that was no less than that of first-tier cities. They carried tables, chairs, benches, wooden stools, and anything that looked like it could serve as seating out of their stores, also selling their goods. The officers who had been traveling were hungry too, clutching instant noodles, bread, or spicy strips to fill their stomachs until the chefs and restaurant owners began to get excited. At the same time, support from the mining bureau and geological teams also arrived. Although Zifeng Mountain is a big mountain, unlike Mount Wulong, it is purely cultivatednd. Whether it is the geological team or the coal miners, they have decades of experience measuring the area with their feet. Farmers and workers who have lived here all year round also know a great deal about Zifeng Mountain. This is even in the now-declining state of the coal mines. If this were the prosperous 1980s and 90s of the coal industry, there would be no unvisited ces within a hundred miles of Zi Feng Town. Tens of thousands of people lived and worked here, traversing the mountain tops and foothills day and night, producing during the week and recreating on weekends. The most difficult mountainous areas to climb were precisely where the tworge coal mines and one small coal mine were located. The mid-mountain area was the busiest section of the coal mines, home to the coal washing nts and coal storage yards. Transport vehicles from nearby provinces converged here, hauling goods non-stop day and night. At night, the headlights of the coal trucks waiting for loads shone like a dragon of light winding through the bare mountains, illuminating the main peak of Zifeng Mountain as if it had been iid with shining pearls. Even on New Year¡¯s Eve, the activity wouldn¡¯t cease. The coal from here would provide warmth to countless people. Below the mountain, in the South Foothills, where everyone was gathered, was Zi Feng Town. Here stood industrial nts such as the coal machinery factory, mechanical nts, repair shops, transport fleets, agricultural machinery factories, fertilizer nts, and other small businesses, as well as the mining bureau, hospitals, schools, and government offices. Most of the family housing for coal mine employees was also concentrated here, with specialized marketces, vegetable markets, cinemas, and othermercial departments supporting the livelihood of tens of thousands. In the less bustling North Foothills of Zifeng Mountain, the area wasn¡¯t empty either. For historical reasons, there was a concentration of small coal kilns. Most of them were organized by townships, primitive enterprises that were established with simple methods, and there were also small coal kilns registered under the names of production teams ormunes. The workers of the small coal kilns in the North Foothills were mainly local farmers, transportation relied on mules and horses, mining relied on pickaxes, the environment was harsh, and both production and rtionships were moreplex. The primary direction of the search was now at No.1 Mine in the South Foothills, officially called Zi Feng Mining Bureau No.1 Mine. Although it sounded like a mine shaft, it was in fact a coal mine. No. 1 Mine was the longest-operating and best-condition coal mine in Zifeng Mountain. Before the resources were exhausted, the mine had over 3000 employees, with a thousand actually working. With so many people using the advanced machinery that state-owned enterprises could purchase at the time and mining continuously for decades, one could imagine theplexity of the mine shafts. To thoroughly investigate all of those inclined shafts would take resources that even the provincial department couldn¡¯t support. However, unless Liu Jinghui lost his senses, he probably wouldn¡¯t enter these abandoned mine tunnels. Conditions inside were unpredictable, practically amounting to a gamble with one¡¯s own life. Xu Taining¡¯s goal certainly wasn¡¯t to risk hundreds of people getting buried alive in a bid to save one individual. Therefore, his arrangements were focused on various intersections, cave entrances, mountain viges, valleys, temples, and other ces. His trouble was not knowing Liu Jinghui¡¯s intentions and direction, so he couldn¡¯t focus solely on No. 1 Mine and had to allot substantial personnel to search No. 2 Mine, Unity Coal Mine, Temple Gully Coal Mine, and even the small coal kilns in the North Foothills. The advantage was that the coal mines of Zifeng Mountain had all ceased production. Even roads that had once been bustling were now reimed by the forest, and experienced police officers or prospectors could easily spot traces of human traffic. Liu Jinghui, along with two other police officers, totaling three men, were unlikely to intentionally cover their tracks. Conversely, this was another pressure. Now with so many people ascending the mountain, if they couldn¡¯t find traces of Liu Jinghui, it would be even more difficult to searchter. However, such an extensive on-site search was something Xu Taining was undeniably skilled at. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, among others, waited nearly three hours before their names were finally called. Approaching Xu Taining, they waited another dozen minutes beforeing face to face with him. The senior police chief, d in a white shirt, looked a bit tired by now, his square face slightly sagging, even his lips showing signs of cracking. Chapter 249 - 249 238 Attention to Every Detail_2 ?249: Chapter 238: Attention to Every Detail_2 249: Chapter 238: Attention to Every Detail_2 Jiang Yuan realized instantly that he must have hesitated to drink water, to avoid wasting time going to the bathroom. For other leaders during a normal search operation, the usual approach would be to hold a meeting and assign tasks to different middle-level officers. However, Xu Taining took it upon himself to manage every detail. That naturally meant he would get much more tired. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± Xu Taining didn¡¯t know Huang Qiangmin, he simply waved his hand and then asked, ¡°Which one of you is the team leader?¡± ¡°Director Xu, I am Huang Qiangmin, the team leader of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment.¡± Huang Qiangmin took the initiative toe forward and greet him. He was about the same age as Xu Taining, but his position was much less significant. Xu Taining smiled, ¡°Good, the team leader himself hase, you¡¯ve worked hard. Hmm, how many people do you have in total?¡± ¡°Should be 28 people, and 28 are present,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied very formally, with his feet together. This time he had brought the second team. In Ningtai County, the first and second teams always had endless cases every day. However, in thest two months, the number of cases had decreased, and the teams had be much more rxed. For Huang Qiangmin, going out to support this time was also an opportunity to train. ¡°Good, an entire toon is here. You brought police dogs as well, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Huang Qiangmin called over Heizi from Longli County because there was a unified dispatch task from the provincial department, and this time they were spared the expense of the dogs. Xu Taining then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°As I recall, Jiang Yuan¡¯s on-site investigation abilities are quite good.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan answered this time, without any false modesty. ¡°You will start the search from the position of the Sanqing Temple. There¡¯s a lot of local activity here, and the situation is ratherplex¡­¡± Xu Taining made a few more arrangements and signaled for Jiang Yuan and the others to start working. Huang Qiangmin responded and took Jiang Yuan and the dog up into the pickup and started to drive, following the roadside markers. The road signs on both sides of the road were all re-arranged by Xu Taining today. There weren¡¯t many forked roads on the mountain, so as long as the signs were clear, no guides were needed to find the way, making it convenient for everyone. However, most search personnel wouldn¡¯t think of something so detailed. Mostmanders were just anxious and upset; not everyone has good organizational skills, and fewer still are outstanding. Sanqing Temple is actually on a side peak. You have to drive halfway up the mountain, then walk along a forked path, descend into the temple valley, and then climb up again. Temple valley is also a veryrge mountain valley that used to be home to an entire vige. To develop the coal mine, everyone relocated to Zi Feng Town. On one side of the valley is the main peak of Zifeng Mountain, and on the other is the side peak where Sanqing Temple is located. The height of the side peak is not low, but the circumferential width is much smaller. If it weren¡¯t for the discovery of the coal mine, this ce could have been developed as a tourist attraction. Now the potential for development is gone. Standing at Sanqing Temple and looking down, all you see are badly dug open-pit coal mines. Although refilled now, they still look like andscape pocked with holes. ¡°I thought we were going to be assigned some important task.¡± Li Li got out of the car with Dazhuang, whose legs were wobbling. The Panshan Highway is a nightmare for those who travel by car, and it seems it presents a hellish challenge for dogs as a passenger. ¡°The temple seems to be maintained; that¡¯s an important task too,¡± Huang Qiangmin corrected Li Li¡¯s view, saying, ¡°We don¡¯t have anything special.¡± ¡°We might not, but Jiang Yuan does. And besides, we have the police dogs,¡± Li Li emphasized, ¡°We¡¯re here for Jiang¡¯s sake, if not for the dogs¡¯.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure if Li Li was praising him or taking a dig at him. But as it gets dark early in the mountains, and he couldn¡¯t see Li Li¡¯s face but could make out her figure clearly, Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone was very calm, ¡°Let¡¯s look at the scene first.¡± ¡°Dazhuang might need to rest a bit,¡± Li Li said, holding Dazhuang against her chest with concern. People who get carsick feel terrible, not to mention dogs. Jiang Yuan nodded and began unloading things like power sources and inspection lights from the car. Half of these had just been begged back with the Great Wall Cannon. Mobile power sources like this were indeed provided in Ningtai County, but they were old, not only with low battery capacity but alsogging in performance. Inspection lights are meant to illuminate, but the power of such devices has been increasing over time. Needless to say, the more powerful they are, the more useful they are. Soon, Wen Kai, the leader of the second team, arrived at the scene with his personnel. The vehicles they were in were all old ones from the Second Squad, with a Skoda as the mainstay, an Iveco, and two Wuling Hongguang vans. The old roads of the coal mine had long been pitted and bumpy, and the few cars had a very difficult time moving forward. One of the team members, following Dazhuang¡¯s example, started vomiting as soon as they got up the mountain. ¡°Go further away to vomit, don¡¯t contaminate the scene,¡± Huang Qiangmin called out first then sighed, ¡°That¡¯s why air conditioning is also abat ability. Having a good vehicle also helps us preserve the scene.¡± Squad leader Liu Wenkai looked around at the wilderness and agreed, ¡°A good vehicle has many uses. When I was younger, I would also take my girlfriend to mountains like these. We didn¡¯t have money for a hotel back then and wanted to do something on the mountain. Ended up borrowing an A-ss car, but my girlfriend¡¯s legs were so long¡­ ah¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin gave him a sideways nce with his eyes and slowly said, ¡°I was talking about the Great Wall Cannon.¡± Liu Wenkai, with a teasing smile, replied, ¡°I¡¯m also talking about a ¡®cannon¡¯.¡± ¡­ Wang Zhong took a survey box out from the Iveco, came over to Jiang Yuan, skillfully set up the equipment, and asked, ¡°What are we looking for?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, let¡¯s start by checking the footprints.¡± ¡°Footprints¡­ looking at what?¡± There were indeed quite a few footprints around. Some were dusty from corridors and rooms, some were wet mud from the yard, and some were even made of incense ash. The number of visitors to Sanqing Temple had dwindled, and the temple keeper had moved to the town, onlying up every few days to collect the offerings, light incense, burn joss paper, and clean the ce up. As a result, the footprints in the temple were most likely formed in the past several days. As Jiang Yuan examined, he said, ¡°First, let¡¯s see how most of the footprints were formed. The paths they took, the way they moved. See if there are any unusual or exceptional ones.¡± After a pause, Jiang Yuan added, ¡°If we can directly find signs of a struggle, or bloodstains, that would be even better.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Wang Zhong felt he had learned quite a lot and contentedly held up the examination light to illuminate Jiang Yuan¡¯s way. The two walked back and forth several times, and Jiang Yuan remained silent without saying a word. What he had said earlier seemed simple, but in practice, it was anything but easy. The footprints left behind were few and not very clear, and they still had to distinguish behavior patterns. It wasn¡¯t that it was impossible to do, but the level of difficulty was very high. In fact, it was more suitable for analyzing blood footprints. Among various footprints at a crime scene, blood footprints always hold the highest value. On the other hand, they were also uncertain about what state Liu Jinghui was in. With simple deduction, Liu Jinghui actually had a pretty good chance ofing to Sanqing Temple, as it¡¯s a high point on the side peak. Anyoneing to the side peak might likelye up here. And having spent so much time at the Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, it would bepletely normal for Liu Jinghui toe to the side peak for a look. Furthermore, given the special nature of the temple, with the temple keepering and going from time to time, there might also be a chance to see or know something. However, if Liu Jinghui simply entered to look around, or even did something like a regr pilgrim, such as lighting incense sticks, the method Jiang Yuan was currently using to examine the footprints would no longer reveal anything. He was assuming that Liu Jinghui was engaged in activities simr to reconnaissance or investigation within Sanqing Temple. More importantly, Liu Jinghui may never havee here at all. Cast style searches are just like that, unless they coincidentally encounter what they¡¯re looking for. Otherwise, no matter what abilities Jiang Yuan might have, he wouldn¡¯t be able to utilize them. The criminal officers from the Second Squad began to spread out spontaneously, starting from Sanqing Temple and searching the surroundings. Around the same time, Dazhuang also woke up from his continuous motion sickness. Li Li took a ck leather shoe out of the evidence bag, let Dazhuang sniff the inside and the sole, then let him out to search for the scent source. Huang Qiangmin also shifted his attention over. During arge-scale search, even Jiang Yuan probably couldn¡¯tpare with Dazhuang. Dazhuang lowered his head searching for the scent and kept wandering back and forth, eventually returning to the ck leather shoe, then leaving again, and thening back. This was a sign that the police dog had not found a breakthrough scent trail. Li Li tried several different spots in session but was unsessful. Li Li and Dazhuang continued to try. Huang Qiangmin shifted his focus back to Jiang Yuan again, as if he had never lost confidence in him. Chapter 250 - 250 239 Transfer ?250: Chapter 239 Transfer 250: Chapter 239 Transfer ¡°It¡¯s been too long, or perhaps too many people havee in the past few days.¡± Li Li, with Dazhuang, took arge detour but still failed to achieve a breakthrough with Dazhuang. The twenty-something detectives from the second squad also didn¡¯t find anything special. There was no point in forcing it any further. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°What do you think? Any ideas?¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°No clues.¡± ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head down the mountain for now,¡± Huang Qiangmin said in a stable tone. This search operation was absolutely massive. If you were to count the number of people, over the course of two to three days, it easily reached tens of thousands. Even counting by the number of people on the first few days, it would still be described using the thousands. This kind of dra search is the same worldwide. Even in America, when ites torge-scale searches, they still rely on sheer numbers of people. In some more famous cases, it¡¯smon to see records of several thousands or even tens of thousands of people involved. Some are police officers, some are government workers, and many more are organized civilians. In fact, it¡¯s quite simr to domestic strategies. With such a wide-area search involving so many people, one can¡¯t expect to definitely find something. Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t thinking about earning awards for merit; he really just wanted to help out this time. Most of the police officers felt simrly. Everyone earnestlypleted their assigned areas and then returned to Zi Feng Town to rest and recover. This was not the time to push through sleepless nights and work tirelessly. Following therger strategy was actually more beneficial to the case. The temple at the mountain¡¯s summit was not suitable for lodging, so a group of people could only drive down the mountain throughout the night. The return journey turned out to be easier. More reflective signs had been ced by the roadside, along with warnings at dangerous spots, andmps had been installed in several locations. In terms of road safety, Zi Feng Town¡¯s efforts over the past decade couldn¡¯tpare to Xu Taining¡¯s one-time thorough overhaul. Li Li, holding the pitiful Dazhuang in the vehicle, swayed and, seeing the lights at the turn ahead, couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Just putting amp on the side of the road, it could be easily lost, couldn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°If it gets lost, then it gets lost; consider it a one-off expense,¡± Huang Qiangmin said indifferently. ¡°With so many people searching the mountains, unfamiliar with the terrain, reducing the risk is the right thing to do.¡± Li Li stroked the dog¡¯s head and said, ¡°Director Xu is as generous as you are.¡± ¡°What am Ipared to him? He¡¯s the one who can secure the funding,¡± Huang Qiangmin said cautiously as he drove, not daring to speed up too much. Along the way, the traffic ebbed and flowed, as officers who hadpleted their search missions were returning. ¡°I wonder if anyone else has found any leads,¡± Li Li said again. ¡°No news,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied, ncing at the rearview mirror and asking, ¡°How¡¯s Dazhuang doing?¡± ¡°He¡¯ll be fine after some rest. He just isn¡¯t used to traveling far,¡± Li Li said as sheforted Dazhuang, ¡°It¡¯s not about you, you¡¯ve been good.¡± Dazhuang let out a weak whine andy in Li Li¡¯s arms, looking a bit under the weather. Huang Qiangmin sighed, ¡°If he¡¯s not up for it, let him rest for a day. You take care of the police dogs at the guesthouse. Heizi from Longli County is also at the foot of the mountain. Tomorrow morning we¡¯ll take the police dogs from Longli County on duty¡­¡± ¡°Woof!¡± Upon hearing Heizi¡¯s name, Dazhuang instantly stood on his hind legs, hitting the rooftop of the car, and barked loudly twice. Li Li hurriedly grabbed his neck and ordered, ¡°Dazhuang, sit down!¡± ¡°Woof!¡± ¡°Sit down! Dazhuang,¡± Li Limanded again before she managed to press him back down. At this moment, Dazhuang¡¯s eyes were bright and alert, showing no sign of the sickness he had just disyed. ¡°This guy now has a stress reaction just hearing the name you mentioned,¡± Li Li said helplessly. ¡°He seems fine now, so let¡¯s go on duty as usual tomorrow.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s take both dogs.¡± Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t care if the dog was happy or not. When it was time to solve a case, he wouldn¡¯t care if the detectives were happy either¡ªsolving the case was the top priority. Li Li, who was more familiar with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s tough style, just thought about how to appease Dazhuang in her mind. At this point, Jiang Yuan interjected, ¡°We¡¯re heading back to the guesthouse now, but when we set off tomorrow, will we receive new tasks?¡± ¡°Certainly, the search and inspection at Sanqing Temple are already done, although nothing was found,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, sensing that Jiang Yuan had some ideas and directly asked, ¡°What are you nning?¡± ¡°I want to inspect the spot where Director Liu was injuredst time.¡± ¡°The time his tire was punctured?¡± ¡°Right, the perpetrator also takes risks whenmitting a crime; it¡¯s not possible to target his car for no reason. I think Director Liu must have been perceived as a threat at that time. Afterwards, he organized a team to go up the mountain, probably starting from that incident.¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded and said, ¡°He brought several dogs at the time, including our Dazhuang and Heizi from Longli County¡­¡± ¡°Woof woof!¡± Dazhuang barked again. Li Li quickly soothed him and exined, ¡°Dazhuang is not feeling well today, which makes him restless. Let¡¯s use ¡®ck¡¯ as a substitute for the police dog from Longli County.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll do,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, not really in the mood to argue with a dog, and, after snorting, he nced at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°But think it through, if you really want to choose your own spot. If we¡¯re not going back to the guesthouse tonight, we¡¯ll have to pull an all-nighter outside. Tomorrow we¡¯ll see how it goes and then report in.¡± ¡°I understand, I want to have a look,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Huang Qiangmin grunted an acknowledgment, turned on his walkie-talkie, and started giving orders to the people behind him. Such unteral action still required some justification. Additionally, for such an action, it was better to not have too many people involved. Liu Wenkai¡¯s second squad should be sent back to continue receiving assignments tomorrow morning, follow the overall strategy, and carry out a grid-style search. Chapter 251 - 251 239 Transfer_2 ?251: Chapter 239 Transfer_2 251: Chapter 239 Transfer_2 As for Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, Huang Qiangmin would have definitely disregarded them in the past. This time, the ce where Liu Jinghui¡¯s tires were punctured had already been a key area for inspection. Arge group of people were conducting the investigation. And on the day of the ident, a significant number of investigators had been dispatched to the scene. Liu Jinghui himself had started the investigation from this very ce. Approaching now would amount to challenging the expertise of three sets of investigators. But if it were Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin felt that there might still be a possibility. Or rather, regardless of the possibility, since Jiang Yuan wanted to try, Huang Qiangmin was willing to offer his support. In Ningtai County, when it came to criminal investigations, they were nearly unbeatable, and even Huang Qiangmin could feel a hint of loneliness in his invincibility. He thought Jiang Yuan was likely to feel the same. Given that, now that they were out and faced with a major case, he would definitely follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s wishes. When it came to solving the case, whether to trust himself or Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin would definitely choose Jiang Yuan. At the mountain¡¯s fork, the Great Wall truck took a gentle turn and headed toward the main peak. While driving, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°We are now leaving our search area, we¡¯ll need a good reason when Director Xu askster.¡± ¡°Can I just say I suddenly had some ideas about the investigation?¡± ¡°That should work. It would be best if you actuallye up with some ideas by the time Director Xu asks.¡± Huang Qiangminughed and replied. Without further ado, he drove on, making turn after turn, and after several dozen more minutes, they reached the spot where Liu Jinghui had his car ident. Wang Zhong and a few other detectives, driving an Iveco, followed them. They had more equipment and inspection gear in their vehicle, and quickly unloaded batteries, lights, and other items, lighting up the area. While working, Wang Zhong said, ¡°The ce where the tires were punctured should be the parking lot up on the mountain. This traffic ident seems to be a random urrence¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just search and see.¡± Jiang Yuan had his own thoughts and began to search quietly with the inspection light. This area had already been searched during the day. It could not be said to be spotless, only in disarray. The sight left Wang Zhong with a headache. Holding up the inspection light, he couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°This should also be the starting point from when Director Liu went up the mountain the second time, right? But the time distance is so great, searching now, even if we find Director Liu¡¯s traces, we wouldn¡¯t know where he has gone now, would we?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not looking for Director Liu¡¯s traces. However, take a picture of this footprint; it might belong to Director Liu.¡± Jiang Yuan roamed the section where the ident had happened, seeing only traces left by their own personnel. Theoretically, the criminal suspect would also have to be at this location. Of course, if they were present, it would also be impossible to distinguish their traces. Wang Zhong was seeing Jiang Yuan speak so cautiously for the first time, so he kept quiet, dutifully holding the inspection light and apanying Jiang Yuan to examine the scene. Jiang Yuan intermittently took photos for evidence and collected some physical evidence, but the whole process was long and tedious. After looking over this area, they went back to the parking lot to check again. The parking lot on the mountain was spacious; it used to be for parkingrge vehicles, coal trucks, and now it had been empty for over a decade. Not only wild grass had grown, but even trees had sprouted. On the side close to the mountain road, some open space had been artificially cleared. asionally, people woulde up on motorcycles, or they¡¯d bring cattle and sheep up to graze in this area. Because no one managed it anymore, all the tire tracks and signs of cattle and sheep grazing were preserved. Jiang Yuan continued his inspection in silence, without talking or exining himself. Huang Qiangmin quickly gave up on the idea ofmunication. To him, Jiang Yuan suggesting a search in this area was already a big risk. And at the scene, not finding evidence or clues was actually quitemon. That Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t found any clues so far might be somewhat embarrassing for him. Since he didn¡¯t want to speak, Huang Qiangmin certainly wouldn¡¯t press him with questions. A group of people and a dog searched in the chilly mountain breeze. In the middle of the night, someone brought tents and other items. Huang Qiangmin, eager to set it up, ducked inside with the dog. Jiang Yuan continued his inspection for over an hour more until the weather became unbearably cold, and then finally crawled into the tent. By that time, his body was covered with over a hundred mosquito bites. ¡°The mosquitos in the mountains really are vicious.¡± Jiang Yuan scratched his arms and legs a few times, then quickly stopped, daring not to scratch any further. Only then did Huang Qiangmin ask, ¡°Did you find anything?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say yet, but my suggestion is that this area should still be a priority search zone,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°It¡¯s no use telling me your suggestions now. You have to take them to Director Xu.¡± Huang Qiangmin chuckled. Jiang Yuan gave a grunt and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s sleep for a while and go find Director Xu in the morning.¡± Huang Qiangmin was startled, ¡°Have you found something, or what? How do you want him to focus the search? Several groups have alreadye through here, it¡¯s hard to have any blind spots left.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s lips moved as he said, ¡°This ce is still the most suspicious, searching it one more time won¡¯t hurt.¡± ¡°You think Director Liu has been¡­ buried here?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was as low as he could make it. Even though there were only two people in the tent, who knew if a dog might pass by outside to urinate? Jiang Yuan was startled by Huang Qiangmin¡¯s suggestion and hurriedly said, ¡°We¡¯re not at that point yet.¡± ¡°Then why search here? If Liu Jinghui wasmitting a crime, he wouldn¡¯t linger around this area all the time.¡± Huang Qiangmin paused, then said, ¡°If he thought there was an issue here, he would definitely increase manpower, not let the special case team¡¯s numbers dwindle.¡± Chapter 252 - 252 239 Transfer_3 ?252: Chapter 239 Transfer_3 252: Chapter 239 Transfer_3 Huang Qiangmin¡¯s reasoning was indeed impressive, and it was of a political kind; only someone familiar with the internal affairs of the police department could havee up with it. Speaking of which, Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, ¡°I think it¡¯s still quite difficult to directly approach Director Liu, and besides, finding people isn¡¯t my forte.¡± Half of the equipment in his arsenal was meant for the dead, and the other half relied on the city and modern technology. In the wilderness, his ability to contribute was naturally diminished. Huang Qiangmin frowned with a hint of a bad premonition and asked, ¡°If you don¡¯t want to go straight to Liu Jinghui, what do you want to do now?¡± ¡°I want to crack this case right now,¡± Jiang Yuan dered astonishingly. Even though Huang Qiangmin was used to Jiang Yuan¡¯s way of doing things, he was still a bit startled by this remark and after a moment of stunned silence, he whispered sternly, ¡°Are you crazy? Which case are you talking about?¡± ¡°The case of the tire being punctured. But mainly, the murder case behind it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, counting on his fingers, ¡°We all know Director Liu ended up here following the clues from the reservoir body-dumping case. The car ident caused by the tire puncture is very likely a derivative of that same case.¡± Huang Qiangmin: ¡°But¡­ there¡¯s no evidence.¡± ¡°We¡¯re still in the investigative phase now, and the good thing is we don¡¯t need to prove it,¡± Jiang Yuan said calmly, ¡°But it¡¯s just this one mountain, a ce that¡¯s normally deserted, and we have both a murder case and a police officer¡¯s car ident. Do you think they¡¯re unrted?¡± Huang Qiangmin said nothing. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°Director Liu¡¯s disappearance is definitely because of this murder case. There¡¯s a good chance he fell victim to the murderer. Regardless of whether Director Liu is alive or dead, as long as we solve this murder case, his situation should be clear.¡± ¡°Easy for you to say; first of all, we don¡¯t even have a body in this supposed murder case¡ªit might just be a false lead. Even if there is such a murder case, it would be a cold case that¡¯s at least 10 years old. It¡¯s not something that can be easily solved.¡± ¡°I agree with what you¡¯re saying,¡± Jiang Yuan followed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words, adding, ¡°As for solving cases, nobody dares to im they can crack them with absolute certainty. We will proceed step by step, as you just said, starting with finding the body.¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®as I said¡¯¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin felt that Jiang Yuan was just giving him lip service, but a smile still formed on his face and when it reached approximately 55.5 degrees, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°So, you came here today to find a body?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t sure when I first arrived, but now, I¡¯m certain it¡¯s easier to find a body than to look for Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan did not discuss Liu Jinghui¡¯s possible situation with Huang Qiangmin. There was no need to discuss it anyway. A person¡¯s condition can only fall into so many categories, and after all the discussions, it must still be determined by the state they are found in. It¡¯s like opening a mystery box now; Jiang Yuan just wanted to earn more money to open the boxes, not to discuss the chances of finding rare items inside them. ¡°Cold cases of murder that have built up over the years aren¡¯t that easy to solve,¡± Huang Qiangmin muttered again. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was unmoved, he felt it wasn¡¯t right to call him arrogant. After all, the man had indeed solved quite a number of such cases. Counting those solved through fingerprint investigation, Jiang Yuan might have cracked more murder cold cases than Huang Qiangmin had in his entire career. Thinking this way felt somewhat sad, but Huang Qiangmin was a seasoned yer; he knew his own skills, the capacities of the county¡¯s criminal police, as well as the prowess of those impressive figures in solving cases. Even the legendary ¡°Eight Tigers,¡± whom Huang Qiangmin had encountered, demonstrated their remarkable ability to solve major cases with ease. Turning his head to look at Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin shifted position and said, ¡°Director Liu has been up this mountain for so long without having solved the case. It¡¯s very likely that the clues he found were not reliable, which is why there has been a dy until now. You want to start with the murder case, and you don¡¯t even have a body¡­¡± ¡°Having a lead at all is better than grasping at straws,¡± exined Jiang Yuan, though his justification felt half-hearted. In truth, he already had some hunches about the possible location of the body. However, considering Liu Jinghui met his misfortune on this mountain, and the way he had his car ident, coupled with some details Jiang Yuan observed today, he felt even more reason to keep his thoughts to himself. It¡¯s better to get things done without necessarily talking about them. ¡­ Chapter 253 - 253 240 Pumping Water ?253: Chapter 240: Pumping Water 253: Chapter 240: Pumping Water The next morning dawned. Several vehicles descended the mountain again, enduring another bumpy ride. Upon reaching Zi Feng Town, the scene resembled the previous day¡¯s, albeit with significantly fewer people queuing, and Xu Taining¡¯s white shirt had be dirtier. ¡°Didn¡¯t change clothesst night, huh?¡± Even Wang Zhong, with his limited reasoning, could figure out Xu Taining¡¯s situation. Jiang Yuan nced at the queue and asked Huang Qiangmin, ¡°Shall we go talk to them?¡± ¡°Yes, have you thought it through?¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°This Director Xu is known for his stringent ways, not quite like me, who is more willing to consider your opinions.¡± Li Li and Dazhuang, who were in the same vehicle, cast sidelong nces at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s lips curled into a proud 22.2-degree smile. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°As long as he wants to solve the case, he should listen to me.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Thousands participated in the search yesterday, personally organized by Director Xu. If there weren¡¯t suitable clues, he would likely consider a new n.¡± Huang Qiangmin put himself in Xu Taining¡¯s shoes and nodded involuntarily. What people admired most about Xu Taining was his ability to organize intensive and extensive investigative operations. But the aspect they admired the most was also his most vulnerable point. Should such intense operations yield no result, what a massive disappointment that would be. Of course, with Xu Taining¡¯s current experience, even if he failed once or twice, it was probably something his superiors could ept. But could Xu Taining ept it himself? Organizing an operation involving thousands of people, demanding their time and energy, and ending up without results would surely lead any normal person to feel dejected and doubt themselves. Now, more than 72 hours had passed since Liu Jinghui went missing. The golden 72-hour window had psed, and without any news, the missing person case had turned into a disappearance. And the difficulty of searching only increased. If Huang Qiangmin were in Xu Taining¡¯s position, he would likely agree to any reliable idea proposed by his subordinates. This wasn¡¯t just a matter of decentralizing responsibility and authority but also a normal choice under the abundance of resources. Jiang Yuan needed people, needed vehicles, needed resources¡ªgrant them, and that was it. If resources were not enough, Xu Taining could request more. Especially with Liu Jinghui confirmed as missing, doubling the personnel and resources wouldn¡¯t be a problem as long as they were used rationally to achieve the goal. Huang Qiangmin followed Jiang Yuan, walking over together. Then, they saw Jiang Yuan not bothering to queue up, but heading straight for Xu Taining instead. Huang Qiangmin wanted to pull him back, to give Jiang Yuan a lesson on politics and personal matters, but he couldn¡¯t keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. When he caught up, the stir had already caught Xu Taining¡¯s attention. Xu Taining spotted Jiang Yuan, a tall figure, and gave a faint smile, beckoning Jiang Yuan toe over and saying, ¡°Looking at you rushing up here, have you found any clues?¡± The surrounding people immediately fixed their gaze on Jiang Yuan. Everyone hearing the word ¡®clues¡¯ held a somewhat unexinable expectation. Jiang Yuan decisively shook his head and said, ¡°No, we searched around Sanqing Temple yesterday but found nothing; the police dogs didn¡¯t pick up a starting point either.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± Xu Taining¡¯s face became expressionless. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°Last night, I had an idea and went back to the main peak, where Director Liu had his car ident and where he previously parked, to do some investigation.¡± ¡°Did you find anything?¡± ¡°No,¡± Jiang Yuan replied directly. Someone beside them couldn¡¯t help but frown and said, ¡°If you didn¡¯t find anything, just say so directly; don¡¯t hint at something and leave us hanging.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled dismissively at the remark and continued with his own train of thought, ¡°Considering this case, the car ident caused by the tire sabotage, and the case Director Liu was investigating before, I suggest searching for a body near the parking spot¡ª not Director Liu¡¯s body.¡± Up to this point, in fact, nobody had yet brought up the word ¡®body¡¯. Even though Jiang Yuan expressly stated it wasn¡¯t Liu Jinghui¡¯s body they were looking for, the mood of the crowd was still visibly affected. Xu Taining, increasingly anxious, asked, ¡°Then whose body do you want to search for?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. But I think, if we could find a body nearby and through that solve the case, it would be very helpful in locating Director Liu.¡± Before Jiang Yuan could finish speaking, several senior police officers around them couldn¡¯t help shaking their heads. ¡°How do you know there will be a body nearby?¡± ¡°What do you mean by solving that case? You want to find a body that hasn¡¯t been discovered yet, and then solve this case?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t find the person, so you n to solve a murder cold case first? What a joke.¡± A flurry of verbal attacks followed. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan with an ¡°I told you so¡± expression and felt oddly pleased. Thements were essentially what he had said before. Being in the police force for so long, one knows too well the challenges of solving cold murder cases. Solving cold cases really depended on luck. Those who stayed in the criminal investigation circle long enough knew that some cases were extremely difficult to solve. And that was putting it mildly. Putting it bluntly, some murder cases, once they became cold cases, no longer had the conditions for investigation. In the local police departments, solving cold murder cases meritsmendation not becausemendations are cheap. Xu Taining looked Jiang Yuan up and down, then slowly asked, ¡°Do you have confidence in solving this case?¡± Chapter 254 - 254 240 Pumping_2 ?254: Chapter 240 Pumping_2 254: Chapter 240 Pumping_2 ¡°I have some confidence,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make a fullmitment. Still, under such circumstances, this was a very confident statement. The surrounding police officers fell silent, letting Xu Taining make the decision. Xu Taining said, ¡°Let¡¯s hear it, what do you want to do?¡± Jiang Yuan then repeated what he had said to Huang Qiangmin and continued, ¡°I think Director Liu must have gotten close to the murderer, or, to be precise, close to the area where the body was buried, he may have already obtained certain clues. Otherwise, the murderer would not have made a move.¡± ¡°Right, if he hadn¡¯t acted, Liu wouldn¡¯t even be sure that there was a real case here,¡± Xu Taining¡¯s thought was also very direct. He did not express doubt about this or that, but simply shared his judgment, a disy of great confidence. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression rxed significantly, and he said, ¡°We need to expand the search area from where Director Liu has been searching¡ªinto three parts: the area he was searching before the car ident, the area he was searching during the ident, and ording to the original n, the area he might have reached. I believe the most likely area is still the one he was in during the ident.¡± ¡°That ce has already been plowed through several times by everyone,¡± Xu Taining was a bit disappointed. Such an obvious fact was not only apparent to Jiang Yuan; Liu Jinghui himself must have seen it too. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°It hasn¡¯t been thoroughly searched; there are clear oversights.¡± ¡°Oh? Bring the map over,¡± Xu Taining had also skimmed over the area before but hadn¡¯t looked at it in detail. The map was at hand, a high-resolution custom map made by the mining bureau, marked in great detail. ¡°The most likely spots are these two wells over here,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed directly and added, ¡°Actually, there are other ces that haven¡¯t been searched, like the forests. If it¡¯s a burial, there will always be areas that go unsearched, or there may even be caves inside. But the main points are still these two wells.¡± Seeing Xu Taining looking at the map and listening intently, Jiang Yuan slid his hand across the map and said, ¡°Aside from the forest, there is a ravine a few hundred meters away from the parking lot which is also a low-cost good spot for burying a body. However, these ces should be a lower priority.¡± Xu Taining nodded in agreement, ¡°Those areas have mostly been searched.¡± ¡°Exactly, after several rounds of searching, the ces that have been searched, the easily searchable areas, should all be excluded. Except for the mine wells.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t discuss the thoroughness of the search. If a criminal had professional body disposal skills, that would set the bar too high for the search. If that were the case, then searching for the body itself would be meaningless. The focus of the investigation should be directed elsewhere. A person, a criminal, can¡¯t be perfect in every aspect, a professional at everything. Police don¡¯t look for ws in a fair fight, a tactical exercise. Moreover, Jiang Yuan, who had also participated in several searches, knew that as long as there were enough personnel, organizing further searches of these areas was easy. Only the search of the mine wells was exceptionally difficult and so conspicuous, making them the most suspicious targets. Xu Taining didn¡¯t know the details and somewhat incredulously said, ¡°Such obvious wells, and Liu just overlooked them?¡± Even the best detective has limits. Jiang Yuan immediately said: ¡°To my knowledge, Director Liu had people search the mine, but I believe they couldn¡¯t have been very thorough. They might even have provoked the murderer.¡± ¡°These two wells were left from past excavations. They were filled in a long time ago, and since then, water has umted.¡± ¡°We¡¯re facing two problems here. First, extremely deep water, it could be several tens of meters. At that depth, even a professional diver can¡¯t go down. And if they do, theyck the strength to search thoroughly.¡± Xu Taining looked towards someone nearby and asked, ¡°How deep is the water inside?¡± A leader from the mining bureau said, ¡°We measured it a few years ago, it¡¯s about 50 meters deep. Professional divers really can¡¯t go down. But this mine well is indeed very difficult to search, we could try with a more professional team¡­¡± ¡°We need to pump out the water and then have someone go down to search. Ordinary divers have trouble going beyond 10 meters underwater, and if the conditions below areplex, there will still be omissions,¡± Jiang Yuan, with experience in searching reservoirs, set high standards. The leader from the mining bureauughed and said, ¡°Pumping water out of mine wells isn¡¯t simple, and the costs are very high. The oue might not even be good; it¡¯s better to hire skilled divers¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu had already brought in a professional team before, but the water was too deep, they couldn¡¯t provide any effective conclusions. I imagine Director Liu had encountered simr issues,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted, adding, ¡°At that time, there were limited funds, and they probably couldn¡¯t afford to pump out the water to look. This problem shouldn¡¯t exist now.¡± ¡°Funding is always insufficient,¡± Xu Taining said, his expression bing more serious, ¡°but it is indeed necessary. We¡¯ll get someone to pump the water, and then conduct a search.¡± Thetter sentence was directed at his subordinates. The leader from the mining bureau was taken aback and quickly said, ¡°Pumping water from such a deep well can cost up to seven figures.¡± Xu Taining made a decision and then looked at Jiang Yuan again, ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°There is more. I suggest that everyone involved in this case, including police officers, local civil servants, and miningpany personnel, be registered and recorded,¡± Jiang Yuan said, slightly lowering his head as he spoke. Chapter 255 - 255 240 Pumping Water_3 ?255: Chapter 240 Pumping Water_3 255: Chapter 240 Pumping Water_3 Xu Taining was momentarily stunned but then smiled and said, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry about the record, I had it started when I arrived.¡± Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining exchanged a nce, immediately understanding each other. With the police conducting such arge operation and extensively inviting the help of societal members, could the killer take this chance to blend in? In Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining¡¯s view, this possibility was very high. Criminals returning to the scene is a psychological state. The reason it¡¯s not verymon is that criminals still harbor a fear. However, if there is a low-cost way of returning to the scene, most criminals would consider and attempt it. Just like many perpetrators of economic crimes actively keep up with case developments. Some criminals behind violent crimes, if there is a low-cost channel, will also try to inquire. Even spies, if possible, would want to know to what extent they are being traced. With such arge-scale search and investigation happening in Zifeng Mountain area, if the killer had the chance, it¡¯s likely they would try to blend in and ¡°help¡±. Add to that the killer might also be the person who stabbed the tires, an individual whose aggressiveness and initiative exceed average levels. Xu Taining then especially instructed Jiang Yuan, ¡°Be careful to protect yourself.¡± It was only after this that he seemed to notice Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°In the next few days, have two of your team members protect Jiang Yuan, and also ensure that the security measures at the scene are adequate.¡± ¡­ Back at the station, Huang Qiangmin was still cursing andining. Seeing his pouting lips, Dazhuang whimpered and lowered his head, fearing offending the instructor¡¯s boss and getting bullied. Liu Wenkai had just been briefed on the situation and, out of curiosity, asked, ¡°Did Director Xu reject Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestions?¡± ¡°No,¡± Huang Qiangmin snorted, ¡°Just talking about all sorts of things. Wen Kai, pick two strong guys from your team, have them follow Jiang Yuan around the next couple of days, and make sure protection is in ce.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Wenkai agreed. Once Huang Qiangmin was gone, but he approached Jiang Yuan, chuckling cheekily, ¡°Jiang Yuan, when Captain Huang talks about protection measures, is he talking about what I¡¯m thinking of?¡± After some deep thinking, Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°Honestly, I¡¯m a bit confused about which kind of ¡®protection measures¡¯ you¡¯re referring to.¡± ¡°Anyway, just take it easy, don¡¯t overwork anyone,¡± Liu Wenkai chuckled again and went off to select people. Having been assigned a new task, the detectives from Ningtai County managed to rx a bit. Making use of the time when other teams were setting off, they quickly headed to the amodations provided by the mining bureau to catch some sleep. It didn¡¯t matter if the beds had been previously used; the priority was to get enough rest. Come nightfall, who knew if there would be an opportunity to sleep again. Li Li, being the only female officer and having brought along a dog, was the one who got to stay at a proper guesthouse. A room that wouldn¡¯t usually cost even a hundred yuan a night had be a luxury at that moment. Even Dazhuang felt grateful for the cardboard box he was given to sleep in. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t fuss about these details and also decided to sleep first. Whether it was pumping water out of the mine or sending divers down, it all required special arrangements from outside, which would probably take a whole day to set up. When Jiang Yuan woke up, it was only the afternoon. Feeling a bit hungry, he called Li Li and, sure enough, she was preparing dog food for Dazhuang. ¡°Let me do it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, stepping out and walking a few steps to the guesthouse. Li Li had borrowed the kitchen of the guesthouse and was busy inside. Other dog trainers were working with her as well. At this time of day, with such busyness, even those in white shirts might not have the opportunity to eat a meal, but the police dogs couldn¡¯t wait, needing their one meal a day without fail. After greeting everyone, Jiang Yuan stepped forward and got to work. In Shannan Province, there were only a few dozen police dogs, and the trainers all knew each other. Seeing a new face in Jiang Yuan, they were initially observant. However, as Jiang Yuan worked, several trainers watched in somewhat amazement. ¡°Do you really make food for dogs this borate?¡± A trainer couldn¡¯t help but ask in a low voice. ¡°It¡¯s mainly for bnced nutrition,¡± Jiang Yuan said nonchntly, ¡°Being meticulous ensures an urate bnce of various nutrients. Dazhuang exerted a lot of energy yesterday, and after resting a bit today, the diet still needs to be adjusted.¡± ¡°This¡­ is a bit too much,¡± the speaking trainer had a hard time epting it. He treated the dogs better than he did himself, but this was surely taking it too far. What kind of family is this, where the meals for dogs are prepared and processed so carefully? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about all that, and with a few quick DuangDuangDuang movements, a bowl of colorful, fragrant, and vorful dog food was ready. The extra food, with some added seasoning, was divided between him and Li Li, shared out very evenly. The other trainers didn¡¯t know what to say anymore, so they just watched nkly before heading out to feed the dogs. ¡°Sit tight!¡± ¡°Good luck! Sit down.¡± ¡°Heizi,e to eat.¡± Everyone called their own dogs and watched as the police dogs excitedly ran over, then lined up horizontally in front of the trainers. Each dog held its own food bowl in its mouth, eagerly looking at their trainers. The meritorious dog Heizi, with two stainless steel bowls stacked together, looked down proudly upon his peers. At that moment, the trainers started signaling the police dogs to put down their bowls and began scooping the freshly made dog food into them. At this time, regardless of their size, all the dogs were desperately holding back drool, not daring to make a move. Meanwhile, each dog was observing the others¡¯ food bowls, like workers sneakily checking each other¡¯s pay slips. One spoonful, two spoonfuls, three spoonfuls¡­ The food piled up in every dog¡¯s bowl. The police dogs had been exerting themselvestely, and both the quality and quantity of their food had been significantly increased. This was the welfare benefit they valued most. In front of the meritorious dog Heizi were two bowls of food. Heizi held his chin high and proud, but the scent wafting to his nose involuntarily made him turn his head. In fact, all the police dogs¡¯ gazes were fixed on the food bowl in front of Dazhuang. All dogs are the same; their noses know what¡¯s delicious in the food bowl. Normally, everyone¡¯s food was more or less the same. Except for dogs like Heizi, who had been awarded second-ss merits¡ªeveryone had an average food allowance of 45 yuan, not varying more than 10 yuan either way. It¡¯s just a matter of two chicken breasts. But today, Dazhuang¡¯s meal was obviously over the standard. Woof! Another Rottweiler barked discontentedly. We¡¯re all short, ck, and wrinkly, why do you get to eat so much? Woof woof! All the dogs in the yard started barking. Even Heizi was no exception. Woof! Dazhuang barked back, disdainfully. Chapter 256 - 256 241 Downward ?256: Chapter 241 Downward 256: Chapter 241 Downward After the meal. Dazhuang and Heizi each had their tasks and went off to work. It was Jiang Yuan who stayed behind, with no pressing matters to attend to. Now, with personnel reinforcementsing from various ces, they were at least acting as squads. Only police dogs remained scarce, with every ce applying for them. Returning to thergemunal sleeping quarters at the dormitory, Jiang Yuan was feeling somewhat reluctant. He went straight to the local vegetable market in a car, found a vegetable stall, bought arge quantity of vegetables and meat, and then inquired about renting a house with the female stall owner. The stall owner looked at him uncertainly and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t you just staying for a few days? Hasn¡¯t the Mining Bureau arranged amodation for you all?¡± Those still working in this small town almost all had rtives and friends in the government and state-owned enterprises, where internal news circted faster than the inte¡¯s adult videos. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t answer her question, but simply said, ¡°I¡¯ll rent for two months at market rate, plus one extra month¡¯s rent.¡± In other businesses, Jiang Yuan might not be very knowledgeable, but as andlord, he understood the ropes perfectly. An offer 50% above the rent was already a major killer in the rental market, especially when phrased as ¡®one extra month,¡¯ which sounded very attractive. The stall owner hesitated for a moment and then inevitably asked, ¡°What kind of house do you want?¡± ¡°One with a yard, where cooking is possible, the rooms are suitable for sleeping in, and can be tidied up enough to sleep in,¡± Jiang Yuan stated before adding, ¡°The location shouldn¡¯t be too far from the town. The price can be a bit flexible.¡± With thatst sentence, the stall owner responded, ¡°I have a rtive who has a vacant old house. Shall I give them a call for you?¡± ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, as this was exactly what he wanted. Based on yesterday¡¯s investigation results, Jiang Yuan estimated that he would need to stay here for several days. Pumping out water wasn¡¯t something that could be done in a single day, and the oue of the follow-up investigation was still uncertain. As for Liu Jinghui¡­ The only thing that could be done now was to conduct a wide-reaching search, a task Xu Taining was rtively skilled at. Jiang Yuan just hoped he could maintain his performance. Aftermunicating on the phone for quite a while, the stall owner returned to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°My rtive¡¯s old house is empty, with a good location and plenty of space. It was prepared for his parents, but they found the town too noisy and were not too keen on living there¡­¡± Although Jiang Yuan thought Zi Feng Town was already deste enough, he nodded in agreement. ¡°All the furniture and appliances are included. The monthly rent is 6000 yuan. With two months¡¯ deposit, and ording to what you said, staying for two months and paying for three, that makes five months in total, so 30,000 yuan in all¡­¡± The stall owner watched Jiang Yuan closely, fearful that he would find it too expensive. In Zi Feng Town, where there were very few renters, the rental rates were hard to raise. 6000 yuan was more than many people¡¯s monthly ie. ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Jiang Yuan said, showing no intention to haggle over the price. Seeing how easy Jiang Yuan was to talk with, the stall owner quickly realized, ¡°You¡¯re renting this for your leader, right? Should we rent it in your name, or in the name of your department? We only have receipts, actually, if you are willing to im a bit more¡­¡± Jiang Yuan casually agreed, went to see the house, and found that the living conditions were indeed eptable. There was a yard of over a hundred square meters, not to mention the privacy of having a standalone entrance. Furthermore, it had a structure simr to a courtyard house; a building with two floors on all four sides, with just therge rooms spanning dozens of square meters, there were more than a dozen. At each room¡¯s door, wooden signs were hung with their intended use: rice storage, noodle-pressing room, misceneous grain room, cured meat room, entertainment room, mahjong room, poker room¡­ The variety of furniture was limited, with functionality being the primary focus. The mahjong room simply had a mahjong table with four chairs. The poker room was just a regr table with six chairs. The noodle-pressing room had a in folding table with a noodle press¡­ This courtyard seemed to be showing Jiang Yuan one thing: Chinese people could live as extravagantly as Americans, so long as their houses were big enough. There were five bedrooms fit for living and sleeping, each with a size that could match an entire apartment in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou. Jiang Yuan chose a room with a bathroom and signed the agreement on the spot, transferring four months of his sry to thendlord. After that, remembering what the stall owner had mentioned earlier, Jiang Yuan called Huang Qiangmin, Liu Wenkai, and the others. The house wasrge enough tofortably fit everyone from the Ningtai County team, provided they were willing to share rooms between two or three people. That was Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestion as well, it was just a matter of buying a few extra beds and it would be morefortable than staying in a guesthouse. After making the calls, Jiang Yuan also messaged his father on WeChat to report his safety and to describe his house renting experience. Mr. Jiang felt immensely proud and expressed his feelings with a transfer of 100,000 yuan. Had Jiang Yuanfortably settled in the courtyard to wait for others to arrive and opened his notebook to jot down some notes, recording today¡¯s expenses: Expenses: groceries, 380 yuan; Rent, 30,000 yuan (3 months¡¯ rent, 2 months¡¯ deposit) Ie: Dad¡¯s support of 100,000 yuan (for building good rtions with colleagues). Today¡¯s ie: 69,640 yuan. ¡­ An hourter, Huang Qiangmin arrived at Jiang Yuan¡¯s newly rented courtyard with the detectives. After experiencing thergemunal sleeping area, this multi-room two-story house pleased everyone immensely. Huang Qiangmin asked Jiang Yuan to bring out the lease, then immediately called the office inside the bureau, instructing them to transfer the lease and grocery funds to Jiang Yuan. Official business definitely couldn¡¯t be paid for by individuals. Jiang Yuan graciously epted and returned to his initially chosenrge bedroom, revising today¡¯s expenses: Today¡¯s ie: 100,000 yuan. As a forensic doctor, this must be considered an extremely high ie. ¡­ Another day. The water rescue team Xu Taining had found brought in over a dozen water pumps to start draining the water in the mine shaft. The Zifeng Mountain Mining Bureau is a national establishment responsible for dealing with abandoned mine shafts, usually by filling them in or sting them closed. If left unattended, therge quantities of groundwater would lead to changes in the geological structure. Continued mining operations could then be even riskier. For instance, the disaster at a certain ridge was caused by a new mine shaft breaking through to an old, abandoned one, resulting in a flood that killed several people. As for those who imagine a detailed mapping of the mine tunnels within the shaft, such stories exist only on paper. The excavation of mine tunnels is the job of specialized excavation teams. But these teams are made up of blue-cor miners, without the ability to draft maps on paper. Of course, in today¡¯spetitive industry, some high-standard coal mines may have engineers. But to expect everyone to work diligently and mark everything urately is quite demanding. The mine shaft near the parking lot didn¡¯t even have any records to speak of. Of course, the police had no particr demands regarding this matter either. The water, however, was several tens of meters deep and not at all easy to pump out. This mine shaft wasn¡¯t dug straight down like a well. From the outside, it first appears as a rectangr pool with a t and upright appearance, its sides cleanly cut, spanning the size of a sports field in cross-section. The infiltrating groundwater had umted over the years, nearly overflowing the pool. More than a dozen pumps worked furiously around the vast pool, yet the water level dropped slowly even amidst the roar of the machines. Upon seeing this, the water rescue team immediately contacted Xu Taining and secured 10 more pumps, which were swiftly delivered to the site. Luckily, the shaft narrows as it goes deeper, and at a depth of forty meters, it is estimated to be about the size of a room. Huang Qiangmin brought several people and set up tents directly beside the mine shaft. He too agreed with Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining¡¯s judgment. With so many recruited for the auxiliary work, there¡¯s no telling if the perpetrator could be among them. Upon self-reflection, anyone who hasmitted such a serious crime, and learns of an investigating team setting up in their area, would most likely try to get involved. To prevent damage to the mine shaft or equipment, Huang Qiangmin started arranging for people to be on duty as soon as the water rescue team arrived. The officers from the second team had nothing to do at the moment, which made it a good opportunity for them to investigate the area around the mine shaft. At this time, Jiang Yuan seemed slightly anxious. The mine shaft in front of him was, in his opinion, the most likely ce to have hidden a body. Not only because many other ces had already been searched, but also because he was reminded of the reservoir body-hiding case. Wangguoshan, the murderer in the reservoir case, chose to hide the body in the water, certainly influenced by his childhood memories. At the same time, it could also be because he had a reverse memory that hiding a body in water was safer. Criminals¡¯ behaviors are traceable. Or rather, people¡¯s behavior patterns are traceable. In the process ofmitting crimes, many deliberately create unconventional behavior patterns, but there are always some that cannot be changed. Even the schrs of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and generals in the military have certain norms in their actions. Criminal psychology studies such matters. Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of this was very superficial, but when he saw therge body of water, he thought of a reservoir. He was now pinning his hopes on this ce. If no body or evidence turned up in the mine shaft, then Liu Jinghui would really be in danger. Quite possibly, he would be lost forever. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t speak but silently watched the water level continue to drop. It wasn¡¯t until the next day that the water was finally fully drained. The divers began to search underwater. Jiang Yuan personally cooked a meal for the police dogs using a Kas stove. This time, there was not only Dazhuang¡¯s portion but also Heizi¡¯s. Heizi ate with such excitement. If it weren¡¯t for still having some sense, it would probably haveid down and rolled over in front of Jiang Yuan right there. Dazhuang, on the other hand, was slightly unhappy, but after being soothed by Li Li, quietly finished his meal. By the afternoon, when the water level was below eight meters, Xu Taining couldn¡¯t help bute over to take a look. Amidst the humming of the water pumps,rge concrete blocks and old garbage appeared at the site of the mine shaft. To an outsider like Jiang Yuan, it looked like the mining bureau¡¯s illegalndfill. Very likely against regtions. But the thing everyone was eagerly anticipating had yet to surface. ¡°Continue digging down,¡± Huang Qiangmin said without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s feedback and immediately made a suggestion to Xu Taining. Havinge this far, not continuing was out of the question. The leaders of the mining bureau silently mobilized several of the bureau¡¯s vehicles to assist. Joining the help were a few miners from the mining bureau as well. Together, they began removing concrete blocks from the bottom. They hadn¡¯t moved many before a smell began to waft up. Before even getting a chance to enter the fray, the two police dogs started barking excitedly. Chapter 257 - 257 242 The Second Corpse ?257: Chapter 242 The Second Corpse 257: Chapter 242 The Second Corpse The source of the odor was dposing garbage. In a normal reservoir, there¡¯s an abundance of fish, shrimp, algae, and various microorganisms. However, in the seepage tunnels of such a coal mine, living creatures are exceedingly rare and particrly uniform. asionally, there might be some fish and such, barely alive, making it even harder to form an ecosystem like that of a reservoir. The garbage dumped here dposes especially slowly. When the heavy machinery began operating, some of the exposed dposing matter started to emit odors under the sun¡¯s baking. Theplexions of the mining bureau¡¯s leaders grew even worse. Garbagendfills aren¡¯t forbidden, but there are strict regtions. For example, Unity Coal Mine at the foot of the mountain was an open-pit coal mine on its shallowyers. Severalmunes invested in its creation, and it was quickly exhausted. The exposed mining area eventually turned into the Zi Feng Town garbagendfill. That was andfill approved under regtions, where fees and responsibilities for waterproofing the base were mandated. The requirements forndfills in mine pits like this were much stricter; not just any household waste could be dumped in. The mining bureau¡¯s regtory vitions were sure to cause trouble down the line¡­ Xu Taining and the others could no longer be concerned with these issues, they simply craned their necks, waiting for the heavy machinery to clear away some of the upperyers of concrete, then ordered, ¡°The forensic doctor goes down first. Wait for the rescue dogs.¡± The dogs¡¯ paws were delicate, and if there were too many broken concrete bricks, cables, wires, and rebar below, they could easily be injured. But the forensic doctors weren¡¯t a concern. Jiang Yuan, without a word, got himself geared up and descended into the pit using a basket along the rock wall. The mining bureau¡¯s warehouse had plenty of such equipment, though it was old and in disrepair, raising concerns about potentially fatal idents. A mine shaft about 50 meters deep, equivalent to the height of a 13-story building, looked a bit terrifying from above. Of course, the terror level was even higher at the bottom of the pit. Sludgy mud, gooey underfoot sensations, and asional exposures of rebar, wire, discarded equipment, chunks of coal¡­ There were also huge concrete blocks standing nearby, their stability uncertain. ¡°I hate dealing with sites like this. We haven¡¯t even seen a body; shouldn¡¯t we have let the scene investigatorse first?¡±ined Doctor Wang Lan, wrapped up tightly beside him. Jiang Yuan had already greeted her earlier, as well as Chief Medical Examiner Niu beside her, both forensic doctors who hade to assist that day. The case urred in Qinghe Town, and although the provincial department had dispatched quite a few people to help, the main force was still the police from Qinghe City. The several forensic doctors checked each other¡¯s equipment and then got busy. Despite herints, Wang Lan was efficient in her work, first cautiously stepping on stable spots, then gradually expanding the investigation area. She ced gs for marking where it was too deep, and used her hands to sift through the mud where needed. Soon, the group¡¯s legs sank into the soft mud, rendering them immobile. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, short in stature, had his thighs buried even deeper, struggling immensely. ¡°Should we use a machine to dig a bit?¡± Wang Lan moved to Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s side. Chief Medical Examiner Niu hesitated for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s not. The smell doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± ¡°Do you get a sense of the smell of dposition?¡± Wang Lan asked Chief Medical Examiner Niu for confirmation. ¡°I feel like it¡¯s there.¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu undid his mask and took a couple of breaths, nodding affirmatively. For forensic doctors, the sense of smell is a very important standard for judgment. For example, a sweet, sickly scent mixed with the smell of dposition may suggest the victim was poisoned. However, because it¡¯s difficult to convey the sense of smell in TV series, and due to the general public¡¯s fear of the smell of decay, descriptions of scents are rare. In reality, though, humans have an innate sensitivity to the scent of death. The biggest obstacle in disposing of bodies is the smell. Many people who die at home or whose bodies are discarded by roadsides are often discovered quickly because of their smell. The silt at the bottom of the water originally had no odor, but under the scorching sun, it gradually began to emit various scents. Jiang Yuan and the other two younger forensic doctors were wearing activated carbon masks, which filtered most of the odors. They listened to the conversation between Doctor Wang and Chief Medical Examiner Niu without making any special effort to smell. Jiang Yuan had Level 4 crime scene investigation skills, which provided him with more information through observation. As for other advantages brought by scents, they could be entirely achieved through other means. Like¡­touch. Jiang Yuan bent down, reached out his hand, and slowly pulled out an¡­arm. Crime scene investigation often results in special findings at times like this. ¡°It¡¯s human,¡± said Jiang Yuan after a nce and called out. Not just the forensic doctors at the bottom of the pit, but also the crowd above the mine shaft stirred. ¡°Confirmed human remains,¡± Wang Lan quickly came over for a look and gave a positive response. Finding remains was not a good sign, but it at least proved that this lengthy operation wasn¡¯t a farce. The suited officials above also heaved a sigh of relief. Xu Taining immediately took out his phone and started making calls. Although thousands of people had been mobilized, consuming a tremendous amount of manpower and resources, solving a homicide case could still be considered justifiable. Of course, finding Liu Jinghui alive was very important if he were still living. Xu Taining whispered to the person next to him, and then someone asked through the walkie-talkie, ¡°How long has the body been dead? More than a week?¡± This was their discreet way of asking if it was Liu Jinghui without stating it outright. Wang Lan jabbed the walkie-talkie, saying, ¡°There¡¯s corpse wax, so it¡¯s at least a 10-month-old body.¡± Corpse wax is a rtively rare phenomenon in bodies, generally urring in water or humid soil, where a body¡¯s fat undergoes saponification, leading to the formation of corpse wax. Bodies with corpse wax are referred to as preserved bodies. Simrly renowned examples include mummies, such as Egyptian mummies or the Lady of the Lon. The conditions required for the formation of a preserved body are quite strict and require a long time. However, once formed, a body can be preserved for an extended period. Mummies and the Lady of the Lon, both with a history of thousands of years, have managed to avoid traditional decay and skeletonization. But determining exactly how long a body has been preserved is anotherplex task. Knowing that the body was not Liu Jinghui, Xu Taining ordered, ¡°Continue the search.¡± He then proceeded with a further discussion with several white-shirted superiors. The atmosphere around the mine shaft noticeably improved. The police dogs felt it most distinctly; Heizi and Dazhuang both sat down obediently, calm and collected, like steady township civil servants. More technicians were lowered into the mine by basket. The usual office workers now had to lower their heads and dig into the mud during such times. Everyone surrounded the spot where Jiang Yuan had found the arm, continuously expanding the search downwards. There was no longer a need to fumble; in the knee-deep muck, each person used a metal tray to hold the scooped-up sludge. The metal trays, used in the dining hall for serving dishes and rice, over a meter long and half a meter wide, could hold arge amount of sludge. Once nearly full, they were pushed to the edge and emptied into buckets to be hauled away. Soon, a Komatsu mini excavator started to contribute to the excavation. Its half-meter-wide bucket may have seemed toy-like, but it was efficiently doing its job, a proper tool of productivity. ¡°A leg.¡± Someone had found another ¡°treasure.¡± Following that, other scattered remains continued to surface. Only the head was nowhere to be seen. If unseen, the search continued; those tired from searching were hoisted up in the basket for a rest, and after recovering, were sent back down. At this point, no one mentioned overtime payments or anything of the sort. There was none avable, so the search continued relentlessly, downwards and outwards. It was in the course of such meticulous work that another hand and some toes were eventually found. More objects were being retrieved and the mine cavern became abuzz with voices. Jiang Yuan was once again lifted out, exhausted. The sludge below was challenging to navigate, walking meant dragging one¡¯s feet, substantially increasing fatigue. Recovering items required bending over, frequently carrying weight. Add to that the continuous task of identifying what was being dredged up¡­ frankly, some trash that looked like actual garbage, was indeed just that. Jiang Yuan rested quite a while before washing his clothes, hands, and legs with water, then heading over to the camper van about a hundred meters away to take a shower. The camper van was brought in by Xu Taining¡¯s orders, specifically for everyone to shower and change clothes. Truthfully, the logistical support for this operation was properly in ce. Consequently, although everyone was tired, there were fewints. Cleaned up, Jiang Yuan came out to sit and drink a cup of tea, finally smelling the stench distinctly on his nose. At that moment, he even felt a slight rush of pleasure. After resting for about two hours, Jiang Yuan opened his mobile phone and saw that the small work group had already started discussing the body. ¡°The body was sawn apart, most likely with a chainsaw or simr equipment. It resembles the corpse from the earlier reservoir case.¡± ¡°Dismemberment was probably also for ease of transport, it seems they¡¯re not very knowledgeable about anatomy.¡± ¡°Maybe they were pretending. If you dismember enough, even those who don¡¯t know will learn.¡± Just when the site was about to turn into arge-scale investigative field lecture, moremotion erupted from below. Several resting forensic doctors emerged from their hiding spots, running out. Below the mine, noise and swiftmands rose through the air. Peering over the edge of the mine shaft, Jiang Yuan saw a gray travel bag being unearthed from below. ¡°The second body,¡± came the muffled voice from beneath. Chapter 258 - 258 243 Garbage Classification ?258: Chapter 243 Garbage ssification 258: Chapter 243 Garbage ssification Jiang Yuan automatically and conscientiously began to change into protective clothing, ready to resume work. Two bodies and one body represent two different concepts entirely. In the domestic environment, one body is considered a normal homicide case. Taking Ningtai County as an example, if a body is discovered, the head of the county bureau and the executive deputy director in charge of criminal investigation would be the first to arrive, with the entire criminal police team mobilized, and a report made to the city bureau. If the city bureau has resources avable, they would often provide certain support, such asboratory assistance, fingerprint assistance, and if an extra forensic doctor is avable, they could also send one over to help with the autopsy. However, if two bodies appear, the case would be elevated to the attention of the provincial office immediately. If things go smoothly, that¡¯s one thing, but if they¡¯re not going well, the provincial office would quickly dispatch a supervisory team or technical experts to assist. So, if a person identally kills another person, their evasive techniques might still be of use. But if someone kills two people at once, like a young couple or a newlywed couple, the case would immediately receive attention from provincial experts. At that time, fingerprints, footprints, bloodstains, and even video materials from the scene could all potentially be supported by the technical department of the provincial office. To sum it up in one sentence, facing an investigation for killing one person is vastly different from facing one for killing two people. And certain murderers, those whomit atrocities like wiping out an entire family, leaving a couple and their child dead, face the scrutiny of ministry-level criminal investigation organizations and personnel. Sometimes, fingerprints that can¡¯t be extracted at the grassroots level can be easily lifted in the ministry¡¯sboratories. As for the special investigation team and officers, their attitudes differ greatly depending on the level of the case they face. Not to mention anything else, if another body appears now, Xu Taining wouldn¡¯t need to consider going back; he would have to bring something out of this case without fail. And considering the current situation, the likelihood of a third body appearing is extremely high. The newly unearthed body bag was repacked into a new body bag, half-supported by Chief Medical Examiner Niu inside the basket, as he semi-embraced the body package and brought it to the top of the mine. The quality of the travel bag didn¡¯t seem particrly good, and since no one knew how long it had been buried underwater, nobody dared to yank the bag and lift it up. Moreover, the bottom of the lifting basket wasn¡¯t t; it was made of a steel grid with mesh, and the forensic doctors were worried that the jerking and halting motion might damage the body, even if it was already dismembered. At this point, the body was all that remained for them to find clues. Once the lifting basket came up, several forensic doctors rushed forward, embracing the body bag onto the tbed cart, and prepared to transport it directly to Qinghe City for autopsy. As for Chief Medical Examiner Niu, filthy as he was, he was thest to be pulled up. Jiang Yuan was still hesitating whether to follow the body or not when Wang Lan called out to him. ¡°Jiang Yuan, let¡¯s do the crime scene investigation first,¡± Wang Lan said in front of their superiors. ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene investigation skills are among the best in forensic medicine. The autopsy can be handled first by others; we¡¯ll check it outter.¡± Forensic doctors also need to carry out crime scene investigations, especially in this kind of environment. Crime scene work done by forensic doctors themselves is very different from that done by crime scene investigators. Jiang Yuan had no objections and nodded, ¡°I¡¯ll go down then.¡± ¡°You¡¯re working hard,¡± said Xu Taining, offering a rare word offort. Jiang Yuan smiled and followed Wang Lan back down into the mine. After roughly 10 hours of work, the mud at the bottom of the mine had been mostly cleared, and severalrge chunks of concrete were also pulled up by machinery like cranes. The Komatsu excavator, about the size of arge donkey, was puffing and panting as it continued to dig through the rubbish. The garbage had bepacted under the pressure of tens of meters of water above, clumping together as if formed into a single hard mass, making for aborious excavation. Upon seeing Jiang Yuane down, Wang Lan reassigned him to a new area and murmured, ¡°What do you think, are these bodies the work of Wangguoshan?¡± Wangguoshan, the killer in the reservoir body dumping case, had been confirmed to have taken more than 10 lives, but his ounts of the earlier cases were very vague. With regards to the cases involving Zifeng Mountain, Wangguoshan had been evasive from beginning to end, which was one of the reasons Liu Jinghui was convinced that the investigation must continue. Jiang Yuan found it difficult to be certain at this moment but could only say, ¡°Whether it¡¯s Wangguoshan¡¯s doing or not, he definitely has aplices on the outside.¡± ¡°Are you talking about the one who punctured the tires?¡± Wang Lan immediately remembered. ¡°Right.¡± ¡°Maybe the tire-puncturer is just an aplice for one or two of the cases?¡± Wang Lan hade across simr cases before. Multiple murderers differ essentially from the serial killers described in Europe and America. Many murderers kill for some form of vested interest. In this situation, the killer might temporarily seek out aplices. It¡¯s almost akin to the concept that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But once the temporary alliance ends, some killers continue to murder, while others are tormented by the secret for life. Byparison, such cases are naturally somewhat easier to solve. Jiang Yuan understood what Wang Lan meant and also knew what sort of answer she expected to hear. But Jiang Yuan still shook his head and said, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a novice¡¯s doing. I have studied the case where Director Liu¡¯s tires were punctured in detail. The perpetrator acted very decisively, bold yet meticulous. If not for good luck, Director Liu might have died in a car ident on the spot.¡± Pausing for a moment, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°If the crash had caused a fire, or if the location of the ident had been more in line with what the killer had expected, they could have set another fire, and the tire incident might not have even existed.¡± Wang Lan slowly nodded, ¡°So, the other killer is still the main culprit?¡± ¡°Wangguoshan is still imprisoned. He could act alone or gather others tomit crimes,¡± Jiang Yuan said, and then added, ¡°But if it were up to me to handle this case, I wouldn¡¯t link it to Wangguoshan.¡± ¡°Oh? Why?¡± Wang Lan was quite surprised;bining cases was often the best way to solve them. ¡°Director Liu must have consideredbining the cases. He wasn¡¯t able to solve it in a short time either,¡± Jiang Yuan replied simply. Since arriving in Zi Feng Town, Jiang Yuan had consciously chosen to look at things from a different perspective than Liu Jinghui. In his memory, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductive skills were extremely strong. If he had spent a month on a case without sess, following in his footsteps, even without considering issues like the murderer getting wind of the investigation or adjusting their behavior after a warning, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t wait another month either. If it were solely to crack this case, then Jiang Yuan felt that he could simply wait a few more months before proceeding with it. However, the most pressing matter at the moment was to locate Liu Jinghui. Seeing the person alive or finding the body was certainly better than having him missing. Moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was inherently different from Liu Jinghui¡¯s; he just needed to follow the evidence. Combining cases precisely tested one¡¯s capacity for analytical reasoning¡ªthe areas Jiang Yuan did not excel in. Wang Lan partially understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process but didn¡¯t fully agree. Regardless, the person in charge of this case was Xu Taining; it wasn¡¯t up to two forensic doctors to direct the investigation. The two finished their discussion and continued digging in the mine shaft. More and more garbage and construction waste were being dug up. As evening approached, another Sany mini excavator was sent down, and the progress slightly elerated. Then, another grey stic bag was excavated. ¡°Hold on. Don¡¯t take it out,¡± Jiang Yuan, seeing it from afar, quickly walked over. When thest body bag was dug up, not everyone was sure it contained a body, but this time, without a doubt, everyone could guess what it was. After someone took photos, Jiang Yuan observed the body bag and the surrounding trash and analyzed calmly, ¡°Take pictures of the garbage too, and determine its position.¡± Wang Lan quickly came to the realization and eagerly said, ¡°Right, the trash was probably dumped here at the same time. It can also help analyze the source of the body.¡± They hadn¡¯t seen the body yet, but ording to the news from the rear, although the body provided a lot of information, it wasn¡¯t necessarily helpful in pinpointing the body¡¯s origin. In fact, it is very difficult to determine the origin of a body that has been dead for many years. The proportion of bodies whose origins can be identified is extremely small. There are no data for the identification rate in criminal cases, but another aspect illustrates the difficulty of determining the origin of bodies¡ªfamous mass graves in some regions had top anthropologists sent in to identify the sources, yet even when dealing with a specific poption from a known region, the identification rate remained low. For the forensic doctors present, any factor that could improve the identification rate was helpful. Jiang Yuan was even on site changing his gloves, donned an extra twoyers, and began sorting through the trash on the spot. His previous case with the scavenger had granted him a Garbage Sorting (LV4) skill, and now utilizing it, his efficiency was indeed quite high. The other forensic doctors, although possessing certain abilities to identify evidence, began to wait in front of him as they watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions unfold. Chapter 259 - 259 244 Eager to Try ?259: Chapter 244 Eager to Try 259: Chapter 244 Eager to Try Whether it¡¯s a dismemberment, a cremated corpse, or a case involving skeletal remains, the key to solving any case that involves forensic anthropology is identifying the source of the body. Essentially, the pivotal question, ¡°who is he,¡± is the foundation of solving such cases. Just like doctors at grassroots hospitals, ordinary grassroots forensic doctors primarily rely on instruments and equipment for identification. Of course, high-end forensic experts won¡¯t start boiling water right away either. Normally, DNA is tested first; they¡¯ll attempt to retrieve fingerprints, and if there are none, they¡¯ll look for any unique markings such as fingerprints or medical identifiers like steel tes and screws. Generally speaking, it is believed that having steel screws imnted in a regr hospital is the most effective proof of identity for an ordinary person. Steel screws cause less damage and are more concealed; after someone is killed, a forensic doctor can easily find the marking, while the murderer might overlook it due tock of equipment and the barrier of flesh and bone. The issues with steel tes and imnts are the same; they are less concealed and the surgeries arerger in scale. Tattoos and scars are even less concealed; if the killer is meticulous, they might cut them out separately. Moreover, they cannot be used for positive identification searches. Dental records are very useful in the United States; their effectiveness is average in China because there is no unified database, making positive identification searches impossible. Thus, in China, dental records can be used for confirmation, but using them to identify a person, to aplish the task of confirming their identity, is still quite difficult. On the other hand, steel tes in the head usually have serial numbers and are not easily discovered; if you¡¯re lucky, they might even withstand an attacker¡¯s blunt force hit once. The risk lies in the head being easy topletely take away, as was the case with the first scattered corpse that was found; no matter how hard they searched, the skull couldn¡¯t be found, likely because the murderer handled it separately. ¡ª¡ªDismemberers always prefer to handle the head separately, and some even bury it in their own homes, as if it¡¯s a kind of madnessmon to both Eastern and Western cultures. Generally, for grassroots forensic doctors in identifying the source of a body, these are the three main techniques. If there was an additional move to add, it would be the items found beside the body. The clothes the deceased wore in life, their personal belongings, and now, the trash dumped alongside the deceased. If we evaluate by the standards of current cases, these pieces of trash don¡¯t hold much value. But for cold cases, even tiny and pitiful pieces of information are still information. The first thing Jiang Yuan dug out was some packaging bags and beverage bottles. Wang Lan said, ¡°I¡¯ll take note of the timeline.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan handed over the trash with easily identifiable time markers to Wang Lan. At the same time, he also separated some organic matter and set aside still identifiable items, such as fish bones and pork bones. Theoretically, if there are uncooked bones, it might also be possible to extract DNA from them. As for what use it serves, it depends on the situation. At the very least, DNA is one-to-one evidence, with high uracy, so it is very valuable. Besides these non-biodegradable pieces of trash and some wet waste, Jiang Yuan also separately sorted out textiles and paper. These items can also prove the source of the body. Not necessarily in terms of time, maybe in terms of location. If it¡¯s possible to determine which clothing articles or papers came from which trash bin, then searching for missing or deceased individuals in the vicinity would be easier. Of course, all these premises rely on the assumption that the trash came with the body. If not¡­ Then the only option is to continue analyzing the body. Forensic Anthropology is amazing! The forensic doctors gathering around, who also do tasks simr to what Jiang Yuan was doing on a regr basis, watched as he sorted quickly and effectively, with exceptionally clear categorization¡ªlike a seasoned pro at trash sorting¡ªnaturally pitched in to assist. After all, no one wanted to take over the task of sorting trash. As for how to analyze the trash specifically, everyone had their own insights. In fact, most forensic doctors have a secondary expertise beyond the body itself. For instance, most forensic doctors have a bit of a fashion sense. Because you have to write reports, and in those reports, you need to describe in detail how the body was dressed. In your jurisdiction, besides inly dressed working people, there are also fashionably dressed working people. Terms like dark round-neck ponchos, sleeveless fitted waist hooded hip-wrapping dresses, and simr descriptionse into y. If enough fashionable folks meet their demise, even the most straightforward of forensic doctors can be petite fashion experts. It¡¯s easy to imagine that forensic doctors in Paris and Mn would have strong insights into fashion. If they work long enough, they might even write something like a treatise on the fashion of death. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, on the other hand, is particrly adept at analyzing paper. It¡¯s not quite urate to say he¡¯s ¡°adept¡± at it; rather, he is exceptionally familiar with paper types and their processing. Chief Medical Examiner Niu is particrly acquainted with household paper¡ªlike tissues, pull-up wipes, handkerchiefs, and toilet paper. This is mainly because he has worked in an area with weak public security and an industry structure heavily skewed towards offline entertainment, where he regrly fished tissues out of waste bins to test for semen stains. Doing this frequently, he could tell if it¡¯s GB/T 20808-2011 facial tissue paper or GB/T 20810-2018 hygienic paper just by looking at it. He could easily differentiatemon materials like virgin wood pulp, virgin pulp, pure wood pulp, mixed pulp, or even the more unusual bamboo pulp. Chief Medical Examiner Niu could also distinguish severalmon brands by touch and smell. Chapter 260 - 260 244 Eager to Try_2 ?260: Chapter 244 Eager to Try_2 260: Chapter 244 Eager to Try_2 Of course, as an inevitable derivative knowledge, Chief Medical Examiner Niu could also distinguish considerable information based on the scent of the seminal fluid. Scents like those of mock-orange or chestnut flowers, from the forensic doctor¡¯s perspective, tend to be superficial. Not to mention that these two types of flowers are umon, mentioning them is as good as not mentioning them at all. The reality is, different people, in different states, produce seminal fluids with different scents. For example, those without a scent indicate damaged prostate function. A particrly strong scent might suggest prolonged abstinence. A fishy stench could be caused by inmmation. Musk or strong fishy smells aremon, most likely rted to dietary issues. To describe its scent withmon items, French perfumes might be more appropriate, especially when the concentration is high. Many French perfumes contain simr scent profiles. At this moment, Chief Medical Examiner Niu voluntarily stepped up to the pile of papers. Everyone had been local forensic doctors for many years and were somewhat familiar with each other. With certain skills specific to some, they would consult as needed. Naturally, no one would fight with Chief Medical Examiner Niu for the papers. What caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention the most, however, were several small pieces of jewelry. They were not particrly valuable; judging by the material, they were likely made of copper, ss, or something ss-like. A pair of earrings, a ne, and a ring in total. Based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent experience rummaging through the trash, the owners of this batch of garbage had conservative spending habits. For instance, the fish bones were from hairtail, clothing materials were primarily synthetic fibers and cotton, and from the packaging of snacks and drinks, the price points were not very high, with many being products from obscure small factories. In such a context, aplete set of discarded jewelry seemed rather conspicuous. Of course, it could also be unrted to the case, but Jiang Yuan still gave it more attention. After a brief examination, he bagged them in evidence bags. A few forensic doctors ssified about two tons of garbage on the scene, spending several hours on the task. Excavation on the other side was progressing rapidly, with the mine being dug almost 10 meters deeper. By this time, the lighting conditions were very poor. Anything that felt somewhat useful was quickly transported to the top of the mine, which about concluded the day¡¯s excavation. The mine had already been dug quite deep, and continuing to work a night shift would be too risky. Xu Taining was in charge of the site. Jiang Yuan went to report and said, ¡°I¡¯m nning to go to Qinghe City tonight to take a look at the body.¡± Xu Taining nodded in slight admiration. He had been standing at the top of the mine all day, observing the work below. After all, no matter howplicated the surrounding search was, it was ultimately about obtaining clues. The body was currently the ¡°evidence¡± most likely to yield numerous leads. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s work ethic and abilities were all noticed by Xu Taining. Compared to other forensic doctors he had worked with, Xu Taining saw more strengths and greater physical stamina in Jiang Yuan, making him a rare find. Of course, these were not words Xu Taining would say out loud. He just nodded warmly and said, ¡°You should also take care of yourself. Don¡¯t overdo it and wear yourself out.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, unsure if he caught the underlying message, but upon getting approval, he immediately followed the car down the mountain. The journey from Zi Feng Town to Qinghe City took two hours. He would sleep during the drive and upon arrival at the Qinghe City morgue, stepping out of the car, he suddenly felt as if he were in another world. Gone were the sounds of the excavators, the omnipresent buzzing of conversations, and the anxious mood seemed to be soothed by the tranquility of the morgue. The tip of his nose caught the scent of the rustic outdoors tinged with smoke, the refreshing aroma of pine trees, and the burnt smell of yellow paper. In the distance, the silently advancing rtives of the deceased each carried out their own customs to mourn the dead, yet quiet and silence were the universal standards they all shared. Jiang Yuan suddenly felt aplete sense offort envelop him as if he were bathing in a hot spring, all fatigue being washed away from his body. ¡°Let¡¯s go, the sooner we finish examining the body, the sooner we can rest,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu hopped out of the car. He, too, waspletely worn out that day. Following Jiang Yuan out here was less about attending an autopsy and more akin to being sent for a respite. Due to Xu Taining¡¯s situation, forensic experts from the provincial department had alreadye to assist in Qinghe City. People like Chief Medical Examiner Niu and others no longer had any desire to perform autopsies themselves. Jiang Yuan, who held LV3 in Forensic Anthropology and wasparable to a provincial expert, insisted oning to watch because he felt he could contribute. The autopsy room. The smell filled his nostrils as the venttion fans whirred in vain. The first two bodies had already been ced on the autopsy table. Dismembered limbs were pieced together as best as possible, yet they still resembled broken toys. However, the thought of them as living people easily brought a churn to one¡¯s stomach. Jiang Yuan slipped into his whiteb coat and entered, his gaze immediately falling upon the body undergoing adipocere. Bodies in the process of adipocere typically appeared in water or in moist soil. If the soil was too dry, mummified corpses would form instead. Both are types of preserved bodies, which, in contrast to the eventual bare, stark white bones, seemed to retain more of their flesh. Yet, upon seeing the bodies, one might feel that skeletal remains are more agreeable. Adipocere and mummified bodies, after all, were better suited to being wrapped in cloth. Corpse Wax, as the name suggests, is the part of the corpse that bes wax-like. The transformation mainly involves the body¡¯s fat tissues, beginning with the limbs, then the face and buttocks. However,pared to the figures in a wax museum, the greyish-white of Corpse Wax is far more sinister. From another perspective, after seeing Corpse Wax, the horror felt at wax figures reaches new heights. ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu greeted the forensic expert from the provincial department first. Medical Examiner Zhai was a skinny, sallow-faced old man with a somewhat dull look in his eyes. He was considered Wang Lan¡¯s counterpart at the provincial level and even an upgraded version. However, unlike Wang Lan, who as a forensic doctor for the city bureau had to travel everywhere, Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s work mainly consisted of paperwork¡ªreviewing forensic reports from various ces and text-based tasks like injury identification. Only for particrly major cases would Medical Examiner Zhai be called in. Seeing Jiang Yuan and Chief Medical Examiner Niu, he said nothing and just let them proceed on their own. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hold back and started his own top-to-bottom examination. The broken bones of the body all had matching points, indicating that there were no missing bones. The few cuts that had been made by Medical Examiner Zhai were also clean and decisive. After watching for a while, Chief Medical Examiner Niu lost interest. He would rather read an autopsy report than watch a body that had been dissected, especially when facing such an overwhelming disy of expertise. Jiang Yuan felt a kinship with his mood but was instead eager to give it a try. Chapter 261 - 261 245 Cold Burn ?261: Chapter 245: Cold Burn 261: Chapter 245: Cold Burn Medical Examiner Zhai arrived in Qinghe City and constantly heard the name Jiang Yuan. When it came to solving cases, Jiang Yuan had indeed cracked a considerable number in the recent period. Solving a session of major cases is something that every criminal investigator dreams of but finds difficult to experience. The policemendation system¡¯s third-ss merits are rtively easy to obtain, but the second-ss merits are much harder to achieve. Jiang Yuan¡¯s consecutive awards of second-ss merits prove that he has done what most police officers cannot. Medical Examiner Zhai had not achieved this either. His position in the provincial office was based on both his seniority and his educational background, as well as hisprehensive grasp of technology. 30 years ago, when he was transferred to the provincial office, Medical Examiner Zhai was one of the few professional forensic doctors in the province who had graduated from a proper medical university and had experience. On the other hand, during the era when Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯sbat effectiveness was at its peak, not to mention surveince video or DNA technology, even fingerprinting was done using fingerprint cards, which was extremely inefficient. Forensic identification was the true courtroom scientific force of the time. Medical Examiner Zhai cooperated with the criminal police to solve many cases and, on the other hand, also self-taught a vast array of skills. Unlike present-day forensic doctors who mostly revolve around Forensic Clinical Medicine, in Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s time, Forensic Anthropology was part of the daily routine, and it was necessary to dabble in forensic toxicology and even forensic entomology. Because there was nowhere to seek help. Nowadays, when forensic doctors encounter a technique they do not fullyprehend, they simply ask others for assistance. This was a model that Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s generation could neither do nor even envision. On the other hand, Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s technical learning was also very arduous. It was not like now when one wants to learn something and can easily find the resources to do so. In those days, even the high-level technical personnel within the system couldn¡¯t just get their hands on whatever material they wanted. Despite this, Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s strength was still extremely formidable. In recent years, he still achieved results whenever he took action. Thirty years of senior experience was like a dimensionality reduction strike against the primarily inexperienced murderers. However, today¡¯s autopsy was extremely challenging, and the authorities had indicated they wanted him to wait for Jiang Yuan. Now that he had met him, Medical Examiner Zhai started observing deliberately. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think too much and proceeded with his work in an orderly fashion. The autopsy process didn¡¯t show anything particrly noteworthy. Medical Examiner Zhai wasn¡¯t surprised; after the body was delivered, he had already examined it thoroughly and had likewise failed to draw any definitive conclusions. One could only say that this was not the work of a rookie handling an ordinary corpse with superior skill. ¡°Shall we start boiling the body?¡± asked Jiang Yuan, after he had finished examining the corpse, looking towards Medical Examiner Zhai. ¡°Do you have any thoughts?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was also concerned that Jiang Yuan, brimming with youthful vigor, might put himself in a difficult situation. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°No direct thoughts. As for the perpetrator, the technique is very skilled.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s not the first time they¡¯ve killed,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai immediately affirmed. This thought was very close to his own. After all, it¡¯s hard for people not to agree with opinions that are the same as their own. ¡°How does thispare to the perpetrator of the reservoir case?¡± asked Chief Medical Examiner Niu, who was only assisting on the side, but immediately thought of Wangguoshan. The two cases weren¡¯t linked, but due to Liu Jinghui¡¯s involvement, everyone actually knew that there was a connection between the two cases. Jiang Yuan calmly stated, ¡°Definitely not the same person. Both are very skilled.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai agreed with a confirming ¡°Mm,¡± saying, ¡°Killers don¡¯t get many opportunities to train. Someone who has killed a few people doesn¡¯t necessarily improve much in their methodpared to someone who has killed a dozen, it mostly depends on their natural talent.¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu was taken aback, then shook his head, ¡°Only you could say that.¡± ¡°In the past, there were actually a lot of people who killed many, especially bandits before the liberation, who continued tomit crimester on,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai shook his head, indicating he did not intend to delve further on the topic, he then circled back to the matter at hand, ¡°Well then, let¡¯s start boiling.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll set up the pot for you. Afterward, when the bones are cooked, it¡¯s up to you guys to examine them,¡± said Chief Medical Examiner Niu, not shy in admitting his shorings to Medical Examiner Zhai. His experience was far greater than that of Jiang Yuan. Back when he was still scrutinizing rice for signs of green patches in his jurisdiction, Jiang Yuan may not even have had that capability. Yet, whenpared to Medical Examiner Zhai, he had nothing to boast about. Speaking of which, when Chief Medical Examiner Niu first joined the profession, he had attended training courses taught by Medical Examiner Zhai. This autopsy room was Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s territory. He called two others to his aid and hastily brought out pressure cookers and reinforced pots¡ªthe former electric and thetter gas-powered. The men heaved them onto the stove and started boiling water with fire. An average person weighs over a hundred pounds, and although the corpse extracted this time was rotting and disfigured beyond recognition, its skeletal frame remained. A small pot definitely wouldn¡¯t suffice for boiling it. The electric pressure cooker, at 16 litersmercial size, could barely boil the femur of an average person. However, if someone was over 1.85 meters tall, like Jiang Yuan, they would have to use the reinforced pot next to it. Although notrge enough, one could boil one end first and then the other, ensuring that eventually, the bones would be separated from the flesh, albeit slowly. Boiling two people at once is a workload that can even surpass cooking two or even four sheep. Several forensic doctors started bustling about, and it took quite some time to sort everything out. Medical Examiner Zhai was also actively helping. That¡¯s the way it is for forensic doctors, no matter how high the rank, work must be done as usual. After busilypleting the preparation work and seeing both pots boiling, Medical Examiner Zhai turned back to see Jiang Yuan lifting a body bag onto another dissection table, closely studying it. Medical Examiner Zhai frowned and walked over to ask, ¡°Did you find anything?¡± ¡°It seems that these body bags have all discolored,¡± Jiang Yuan said while examining the outermost travel bag. ¡°Were they punctured?¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu put down the tongs and came over to look. ¡°The outeryer shows a bit of puncture marks, but that¡¯s not the main issue,¡± Jiang Yuan said, turning the inside of the two body bags towards them, ¡°You see, to transport the bodies, the killer first dismembered them, packed the pieces into stic bags, then put the stic bags into red and blue checkered bags, and finally put the red and blue checkered bags into gray travel bags.¡± ¡°Like when people package meat to put it in the freezer. That¡¯s how it¡¯s done,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai exined with experience. Jiang Yuan nodded and then added, ¡°But the discoloration of this bag is more likely caused by burning.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai came over to look, surprised. Indeed, at one corner of the red and blue checkered woven bag, the bag had discolored. Even inside the outermost gray travel bag, there were red and blue marks. This definitely couldn¡¯t have been caused by contamination. Medical Examiner Zhai thought carefully, and it indeed seemed like a trace caused by burning. ¡°A stic bag should just disappear once it burns,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai muttered to himself. ¡°Indeed.¡± Jiang Yuan also murmured. Chief Medical Examiner Niu watched the two of them pondering and suddenly felt toozy to think. Aside from the bodies, he was slightly more informed on things like tissue paper; stic bags and rubber still repulsed him. At that moment, the image of Dazhuang hating to ride in vehicles shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, and then the scene he swept over in the parking lot, he couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°It¡¯s a motorcycle.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°These travel and red and blue checkered bags, they can¡¯t withstand high temperatures, so it¡¯s low-temperature burning. The motorcycle¡¯s exhaust pipe!¡± Jiang Yuan said this for a very big reason, namely that near the mine¡¯s parking lot, there were traces of motorcycles, but few of cars. In Zi Feng Town, although many locals owned cars, for going up the mountains, most still rode motorcycles. Motorcycles were also more popr than private cars as a means of transportation. Jiang Yuan used the dissection table as a stool, turning the red and blue checkered bag sideways with the heated end dangling down, saying, ¡°Look, if a motorcycle was carrying the bodies up the mountain, this end of the bag could havee into contact with the exhaust pipe.¡± ¡°The temperature of an exhaust pipe wouldn¡¯t be that low, right?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai seemed uncertain. ¡°Hmm¡­ Some kind of motorcycle with a lower exhaust pipe temperature?¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too familiar with this area either. Medical Examiner Zhai looked at the two bags containing bodies, then adjusted their positions himself, and said with some uncertainty, ¡°I don¡¯t know much about motorcycles either, does anyone here know?¡± All the forensic doctors present shook their heads. Forensic doctors study things like clothing or tissue out of necessity for their work, but riding motorcycles? What¡¯s that got to do with anything? ¡°Then let¡¯s find a few motorcycles for a test,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested. ¡°You¡¯re proposing an experiment?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai actually agreed. When forensic doctors perform analysis outside of the bodies, they often need to conduct experiments. Just as when they hypothesize a killer might have transported the body in a suitcase, finding a colleague somewhatrger in size and weight to sleep in a suitcase would be a necessary task. However, sourcing the motorcycles made Medical Examiner Zhai ponder for some time before saying, ¡°It¡¯s best to ask the local leaders, see if we can find a second-hand motorcycle dealer to coordinate with, to try multiple bikes.¡± Jiang Yuan was startled when he heard that, then agreed, ¡°That would work too. Good idea.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai found it odd, ¡°How were you thinking of testing it?¡± ¡°Buy one?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Motorcycles shouldn¡¯t cost too much.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai chuckled for a moment, then seeing that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t smiling, couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Does the county bureau really have that much funding now?¡± ¡°Ask the bureau to buy one?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded unconsciously, ¡°That would work too. Good idea.¡± Chapter 262 - 262 246 A Cartful ?262: Chapter 246 A Cartful 262: Chapter 246 A Cartful ¡°Excuse me, please let me through.¡± ¡°The pot is ready.¡± ¡°Add a bit more water.¡± ¡°Trim that piece of meat.¡± In the autopsy room, everyone was busy with their tasks while shouting to each other, creating a slightly noisy environment. Facing a major case like this, with a rtivelyrge number of forensic doctors, the work was actually quite manageable. The main challenge was the high mental pressure. For instance, right now, no fewer than six forensic doctors were crammed into one autopsy room, with additional personnel in the rest area ready to rotate in. Even the hefty task of boiling bones had be easier. Large bones that were usually difficult to handle with just one pair of tongs became easy to manage when two people worked together. Most forensic doctors dislike Forensic Anthropology because, apart from its difficulty and low sess rate, the high workload is also a deterrent. Unless the findings werepletely skeletonized bodies, for most remains that were only buried for a few years, or bodies fished out of the water, applying the knowledge of Forensic Anthropology required the boiling process. Not to mention the psychological impact of the entire process, even just the physicalbor was exhausting. Moreover, most grass-roots units only have one forensic doctor. For a thin female forensic doctor like Wang Lan, it would indeed be too difficult to boil a body on her own in a unit with only one staff position. She couldn¡¯t just dismember the body before boiling it either, as the knife¡¯s edge could easily leave traces on the bones. Later, it would be unclear whether the marks were made by her or the killer. Lifting the pot, adding water, and pouring it¡ªeach task was challenging. Of course, the above refers to the average forensic doctor. In the criminal investigation industry, if anyone in any position exhibits a high level of technical skill, enjoying some special treatment is not an issue at all. Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to apply for a position as a forensic doctor in Ningtai County was because Comrade Wu Jun made quite a fuss, demanding respect for the elderly and the young, to increase staffing and decrease the workload. The reason why Jiang Yuan is now frequently out handling tasks elsewhere is that he is strong enough, and as a result, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team hase to be regarded differently by the higher-ups. In fact, a forensic doctor doesn¡¯t need to reach Jiang Yuan¡¯s level of expertise to request an assistant. Having a Level 2 skill in Forensic Anthropology is often enough to manage it. Medical Examiner Zhai, for example, has skills in Forensic Anthropology roughly at Level 2 Plus. It¡¯s very likely he¡¯ll never reach Level 3 in his lifetime, but he still thrives when guiding work throughout the province. It¡¯s just that the skill level required for anthropology is too high. The difficulty of this skill would be akin to that of Image Investigation in terms of involvement with imaging science. Moreover, unlike imaging science, the market is not filled with highly valuable talents. Forensic Anthropology is not only difficult, but there are also fewer people learning it. And there are not many opportunities to use it either. Medical Examiner Zhai initially thought that Jiang Yuan¡¯s level in Forensic Anthropology was just a bit beyond that of a beginner¡ªmeaning only slightly better than the average forensic doctor, but still functional. He had already regarded Jiang Yuan quite highly. After all, Jiang Yuan was still very young, and anthropology requires a great deal of umtion. Once Jiang Yuan had noticed the peculiarities of the body bag, Medical Examiner Zhai had already begun to admire his keenness. But it wasn¡¯t until the bones had been boiled and each was ced on the autopsy table that Medical Examiner Zhai realized just how far from a beginner Jiang Yuan truly was. Starting with the first step of assembling the body, Medical Examiner Zhai was far behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s progress. In theory, assembling a body is something a medical student can do, but there are varying degrees of skill involved. The weakest students might have to assemble the skeleton in order from top to bottom, searching for each bone and continuously adjusting them. Someone as strong as Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, could simply take a bone and ce it on the autopsy table; the cement was almost always just right. Such seemingly effortless maneuvers were personally challenging for Medical Examiner Zhai as well. Medical Examiner Zhai was getting older; his energy and physical strength were not what they used to be, and after only a slight distraction, he heard Jiang Yuan beginning to make judgments: ¡°Corpse source one, age between 35 and 40 years old, female¡­¡± ¡°Height around 160 centimeters¡­¡± ¡°Shoulder injury, cervical spine disease, knee joint damage¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai had been working on assembling another set of boiled bones but, hearing Jiang Yuan begin to draw conclusions, he simply stopped and turned to examine Jiang Yuan¡¯s bones instead ¡ª confirming the findings. Of course, there were no mistakes. When it came to determining age and gender, Jiang Yuan could now take a bone and almost instantly make a fairly urate assessment. While this might seem like a basic requirement in anthropology, it is exceedingly difficult in reality. A regr forensic doctor who is not skilled in anthropology would typically need the pelvis to make such judgments. A skull would not be sufficient. Some people have faces that make it difficult to discern their gender when alive, so expecting to identify gender from a skull after death is quite challenging. It¡¯s not that it¡¯s entirely impossible to judge, but if a forensic doctor incorrectly guesses the gender once in four attempts, can the criminal police team trust such conclusions? Therefore, for a typical forensic doctor, the pelvis is reliable and can also reveal information about age, whether birthing has urred, and other aspects. The pelvis could be said to be the treasure trove for those less knowledgeable in the field. Here, one could also mock the limited knowledge of the average murderer. Dismembering and hiding the head is actually quite unnecessary. Aside from when the head is fresh and the face recognizable, after being buried for a few days without embalming, not even a bedfellow could name the owner of that head. As for techniques like skull restoration, only a few experts in big cities can manage that, how could a typical criminal police team possibly have such resources. So, if you¡¯ve killed someone and want to counter-investigation, hiding the pelvis is better than hiding the head. But this carries a rather provocative implication ¨C ¡°The robbers to the south scorn us, for we¡¯re old and weak; they kill and discard the buttocks, not the head, brazenly dismembering and abandoning them in our territory.¡± In the end, it is certain that an ordinary forensic doctor, at a level of Forensic Anthropology LV0.8, will call upon colleagues, and even summon a level LV3 anthropology expert. At the LV3 level, almost every piece of bone can provide a wealth of information. Let alone determining sex, a single rib can indicate the time of death. However, anthropology has its limits here as well. Aside from determining sex, and basic information such as the deceased¡¯s age and height, estimation of the time of death has never been particrly urate. Even more so, the uracy and difficulty of additional information are two extremes that diverge even further. ¡°That¡¯s about it,¡± Jiang Yuan said, after piecing together a skeleton, having provided all the information he could. In terms of the current progress of the criminal investigation, there wasn¡¯t much that could be used. Medical Examiner Zhai nodded slightly. He had no more to add. ¡°Shall we look at the second one?¡± Jiang Yuan still looked to Medical Examiner Zhai. ¡°Sure, it¡¯s all yours,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai decisively stepped aside. His expertise had never been in examining bones. Faced with someone as formidable as Jiang Yuan, he simply yielded the floor. Jiang Yuan, unceremoniously, pieced the bones together in a matter of minutes, then began his analysis, saying: ¡°Victim two, between 30 to 35 years old, female, roughly 165 cm tall. Time of death, between 3 to 5 years ago. Signs of bunion, likely frequented wearing high heels, has childbirth scars, has given birth¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai nodded in agreement. Chief Medical Examiner Niu said, ¡°Then we have two young females.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai, who had been echoing sentiments of agreement, now shook his head, saying, ¡°There¡¯s no need to jump to such conclusions right now. Is the next one ready to boil?¡± ¡°It will take a while longer,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu wrinkled his nose, patted his stomach, and sighed, ¡°Looks like I¡¯m on a diet today.¡± So, Jiang Yuan continued to review the two bodies from before. Information such as age and gender had been thoroughly researched by predecessors, and was done by repeatedlyparing and researching different bones. But to obtain moreplex conclusions, such as employment history, presented significant challenges. These couldn¡¯t just be ascertained by a simple examination; they often requiredparing and corrting different scenarios. With that, they examined untilte into the night and then went to sleep. In his dreams, Jiang Yuan was gued by a sea of bones. And chunks of flesh being boiled. The floating fat from the corpses. In the dream, there was more corpse fat, since modern people tend to be overweight, which produces a great deal of fat when boiled, aligning more with probabilistic studies. The next morning. It was the sixth day of Liu Jinghui¡¯s disappearance. Someone came to announce, ¡°The motorbike has been delivered.¡± The forensic doctors, who had been cooped up in the room boiling flesh all day, rushed out en masse. Xu Taining hade in a big semi-trailer, driving into the funeral home. The truck was covered with a ck tarp, so it was impossible to see what was inside. People who hade early to the funeral home to take care of their affairs were talking among themselves upon seeing such arge truck. ¡°Something big must have happened.¡± ¡°A multiple-vehicle collision?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t heard anything about that. What family could lose a whole truckload of people?¡± The driver, listening to the chatter, felt it was inappropriate, so he just drove on into the funeral home. Sometimeter, when the funeral home director, alerted by the rumors, came out to see. That¡¯s when they saw several motorbikes, each with different speeds, circling the yard, with a white ghost floating above each one¡­ Chapter 263 - 263 247 Thermal Effect ?263: Chapter 247: Thermal Effect 263: Chapter 247: Thermal Effect A gentle breeze blew softly. Pine trees swayed quietly. A-Piao danced on a motorcycle. The director, with an irregr heartbeat and pale eyes, leaned back as light as a swallow. ¡°Director, director¡­¡± A subordinate quickly supported the director¡¯s waist. Having been the director of a funeral parlor for several years, Meng Deyuan forced a smile: ¡°I knew this day woulde. Did any of you see it just now? There were several white objects moving rapidly.¡± ¡°Director, that was the forensic doctors riding motorcycles.¡± The subordinate was young, with keen eyesight, unlike Meng Deyuan, who had presbyopia and heart disease and always liked to think about strange things. Meng Deyuan said, ¡°You¡¯re not even trying to make up a lie now. I just saw several white ones. And why would forensic doctors ride motorcycles?¡± The subordinate helplessly said, ¡°Ghosts don¡¯t need to ride motorcycles either.¡± ¡°Use honorifics.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Well¡­ spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation. Let¡¯s just call them that for now.¡± When Meng Deyuan was transferred to the funeral parlor, he had thoroughly studied this issue. He didn¡¯t expect that after several years, he would finally encounter an opportunity to address them appropriately. The subordinate, watching the forensic doctors increasingly enjoying themselves, sighed and said, ¡°Maybe you should change your sses.¡± ¡°What else did you see?¡± Meng Deyuan¡¯s eyesight had been ruined in his earlier years from writing documents, and it was not something that could be fixed with a new pair of sses. ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ some spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation ying with smartphones.¡± The subordinate said, ¡°Wait, I¡¯ll say something. Riding a motorcycle while ying with a phone is definitely not okay. If something happens, it¡¯s a direct trip to the funeral parlor.¡± He was toozy to keep arguing with the director and stepped forward to stop several ¡°riders.¡± Seeing this, Meng Deyuan stepped forward and recognized Chief Medical Examiner Niu. ¡°Old Niu? Why are you¡­ Why are you riding a motorcycle?¡± Meng Deyuan felt it was especially unreasonable. A group of forensic doctors riding motorcycles, and inside the funeral parlor at that, was just too bizarre. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, not understanding why, politely said, ¡°Director Meng is here. Today, we¡¯re conducting an experiment.¡± ¡°What experiment?¡± ¡°About motorcycles,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu smiled and said, ¡°There¡¯s a murder case that involves this.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ next time you have this kind of situation, you should inform us in advance.¡± Meng Deyuan then nced at therge tbed truck, frowned, and said, ¡°How many motorcycles did you bring over? Our funeral parlor is a quiet ce. Riding one motorcycle after another like this can disturb others.¡± ¡°Okay, okay, we¡¯ll finish up as soon as possible,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu answered casually. Talking about motorcycles causing a disturbance, riding motorcycles in residential areas at 3 a.m. could indeed affect people¡¯s sleep, but riding them early in the morning in the funeral parlor courtyard¡ªcould that shake the urns? ¡°Alright then, you go ahead.¡± Meng Deyuan knew he couldn¡¯t control Chief Medical Examiner Niu. Assured that they were not ghosts, his heart felt more at ease. He waved his hand, ¡°You can drive over there. There¡¯s an open space behind the hall.¡± ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll have a look,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu rode off cheerfully on his motorcycle. Riding motorcycles in the early morning felt morefortable than boiling corpses in the basement. Meng Deyuan hesitated for a moment, then followed them. As the director of the funeral parlor, he cared about everything there, except for the spirits yet to enter the cycle of reincarnation. The forensic doctors riding motorcycles didn¡¯t care if someone was watching. Everyone rode motorcycles ording to their own ideas, studying the temperature of the exhaust pipes. The temperature of exhaust pipes varied from motorcycle to motorcycle, and if there was some instion in between, the situation became even moreplex. In such cases, conducting a thorough and meticulous experiment was practically impossible. Fortunately, criminal science has never demanded such precision. The objective of criminal science is to solve cases, so most of the time, criminal technicians only aim to propose one or several possibilities. In other words, they need to list a few scenarios in which the evidence on the scene could ur. It¡¯s not necessary to list all of them, nor to guarantee 100% of the possibilities. Practicality is most important. And the detectives will use their legs and sweat to check each possibility one by one. In the tbed truck, they had brought over thirty motorcycles: there were cool-looking racing replicas, impressive off-road bikes, and beefed-up motorcycles used by taxi drivers, among others. The motorcycles were mostly old and second-hand; who knows where Xu Taining had borrowed them from. At first, everyone rode randomly, then they tested the exhaust pipes with snake-skin bags made of the same material as the evidence. In the end, they still had to experiment with the actual evidence, but in the early stage, using simr materials was sufficient. Again, the principle is the same¡ªcriminal science does not require absolute precision, and whatever conclusions are reached will need to be verified again anyway. Among the six forensic doctors, Medical Examiner Wang Lan was left in the autopsy room to continue boiling bones. She couldn¡¯t ride a motorcycle, had no desire to ride, and only stepped out to get some fresh air before going back. The other five forensic doctors were quite happy, each following their own thoughts, ostensibly conducting tests. Seeing several people choosing the racing replicas first, one could tell that such bikes were unlikely to be purchased by the locals of Zi Feng Town; even if bought, they couldn¡¯t be ridden up the mountain. Moreover, these bikes designed after racing motorcycles had ufortable rear seats, not to mention carrying a corpse. Besides, the bikes were too heavy. If one were to fall, the bike could pin down a leg, making it almost impossible to lift, ending in aplete disaster. After Chief Medical Examiner Niu and others had their fun, the racing replica motorcycles were all eliminated. Everyone then turned to try the other types. There were also impractical attempts, such as Chief Medical Examiner Niu himself taking the only cruiser in the field¡ªthe kind simr to a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Just like the racing replicas, as soon as this beast left the paved roads, with its hundreds of kilograms, climbing mountains was out of the question. The others began to try the more likely candidates: standard street bikes and off-road bikes, and some even tried scooters. After a series of attempts, not only Jiang Yuan, but several others gradually began to find their approach. ¡°It¡¯s not much rted to the model of the bike, but mainly the speed,¡± Jiang Yuan had been serious about the testing from the beginning. He had his fill of ying with bikes during the second demolition of his house, and his interest in motorcycles had long surpassed the shallow understanding of just models. In the simple tests, Jiang Yuan discovered that the speed had the most significant effect on the exhaust pipe temperature, followed by the duration. Jiang Yuan quickly concluded, ¡°As long as the speed picks up, reaching around fifty kilometers per hour, the snake-skin bag next to the exhaust pipe could potentially be baked and burst. Even if the speed is a bit lower, say around forty kilometers per hour, but driven for a longer period, like ten minutes, the temperature of the exhaust pipe also gets very high.¡± After several such tests, Jiang Yuan no longer needed to try with the packaging bags; he could directly measure the temperature. If we were to say there were differences between models, it mainly concerns the heat dissipation and instion during operation. Summing up, it¡¯s about the thermal effect of the motorcycle. Jiang Yuan had already drawn conclusions when Chief Medical Examiner Niu was just finishing ying around and thus repeated several tests. ¡°So, the speed needs to be around thirty kilometers per hour for the packaging bag not to break?¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu was somewhat surprised. ¡°Climbing hills could cause the exhaust pipe temperature to rise. Ultimately, the temperature of the exhaust pipe is determined by the engine¡¯s operating condition,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said, looking to be the oldest but actually the most knowledgeable about motorcycles on the scene. In his younger days, he often traveled long distances on a motorcycle for business trips and had experience, and as he rode, he began to notice clues. ¡°Climbing would increase the temperature, and so would carrying a load,¡± Chief Medical Examiner Niu realized, drawing further implications. Medical Examiner Zhai nodded and added, ¡°Thirty kilometers per hour is indeed a bit slow, isn¡¯t it bad for the motorcycle?¡± ¡°Pulling a corpse, wouldn¡¯t it be difficult to maintain bnce?¡± Jiang Yuan guessed. Guess as they might, but with an overall direction now in mind, everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted. So Jiang Yuan proposed experimenting once more. Chief Medical Examiner Niu was the first to be chosen to ride the motorcycle. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, cursing under his breath, leaned on the back seat of a street bike, visibly tense. Jiang Yuan, slightly nervous, got on his bike, starting it awkwardly¡­ Meng Deyuan, the director of the mortuary, stood outside, watching this scene, then went back inside the autopsy room, retrieved the evidence again, and after a closer examination of the travel bag and the red and blue id bag, the judgments of several people were confirmed once more. ¡°With this, the murderer should have a motorcycle. Although we can¡¯t talk about a breakthrough, it is a direction,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said, sounding a bit more rxed. Compared to the other young medical examiners, his responsibility was slightly greater. Jiang Yuan also rxed a little and, while looking at the red and blue id bag again, fell into deeper thought. Merely knowing the motorcycle¡¯s speed or that the killer owned a motorcycle was still too far from cracking the case. With such good evidence at hand, Jiang Yuan thought about digging deeper. Knowing about the vehicle and its speed, what else is needed to find the killer? Direction and time. Zi Feng Town only has one road passing through it, so the murderer either lives in the town or passes through on the way to the coal mine from the mountain road. So did he go south, or did he go north? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to ponder too much, and went straight to the torn part of the travel bag, turned it inside out, took a swab, moistened it, and began to wipe carefully. ¡°I remember you¡¯ve collected the evidence from there,¡± Medical Examiner Wang Lan immediately noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions. The way Jiang Yuan processed evidence was different from others, not just because of his proficient movements, but mainly because of his meticulous steps, indicative of high standards and confidence. Jiang Yuan made a sound of agreement, saying, ¡°I suddenly thought that we could determine the killer¡¯s direction byparing the trace evidence inside the travel bag. Although I¡¯ve wiped it before, best to preserve it once more.¡± Wang Lan didn¡¯t immediately understand and asked, ¡°How do youpare it?¡± ¡°The outermost side of the travel bag holding the body was not only heated but also somewhat worn. If you look closely, there are pinholes. Since it was heated close to the exhaust pipe, it must have been very close to the ground. Therefore, the dirt and dust on the inside, on the exterior of the red and blue id bag, likelye from the surface the motorcycle traveled on,¡± Jiang Yuan, now in the state of scene investigation, said clearly and operated very standardly. Seeing his actions alone, several people subconsciously trusted him. Medical Examiner Zhai leaned in to look and asked seriously, ¡°How will you use this dirt and dust?¡± ¡°Analyze theposition,pare the trace evidence,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Once theposition is determined, who will youpare it with?¡± ¡°The soilposition of the roads south and north of Zi Feng Town is definitely different,¡± Jiang Yuan had observed upon his arrival and now said, ¡°Most of the coal from Zi Feng Town is sent south, and although the coal mines have basically ceased operations, there are still small coal kilns secretly producing, so theposition of the coal to the south will be greater. To the north, there are pottery fields still in production, along with fertilizer and pesticide factories. I don¡¯t know the specificponents of the ground, but I think if we take samples from both the south and north andpare them in theboratory, we would definitely find differences.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai slowly nodded, understanding the logic as it became clear. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan added, ¡°You will have to rush the trace evidenceboratory to process these pieces of evidence first. Otherwise, if we wait normally, it will take a very long time.¡± Trace evidence needed to be analyzed in the provincialb, where the queue was long and the process slow, and it took someone¡¯s help to jump in the queue. Realizing this, Medical Examiner Zhai immediately said, ¡°Let¡¯s go take samples from the south and north roads now, and I¡¯ll find someone to deliver them specially.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t leave the task to others and went to take the samples himself. Turning back, the group studied the wear on the exterior of the travel bag again, decisively gave up on it, and once more relied on Medical Examiner Zhai to call on people. The wear problem on the stic bag was tooplicated and could not be experimented with in a short time, but there are always specializedboratories to do that. Chapter 264 - 264 248 Defining the Scope ?264: Chapter 248 Defining the Scope 264: Chapter 248 Defining the Scope Medical Examiner Zhai first contacted the Trace Evidence Laboratory to confirm they could expedite his case, and then discussed the issue of wear and tear identification with the director of their own Criminal Science and Technology Center. The Criminal Science and Technology Center at the provincial bureau carries a higher rank and receives a sizeable annual budget, and they know a good number of scientific research institutions. In reality, the actual use of science in criminal science isn¡¯t as frequent as one might imagine. Generally, crimes like theft are resolved by internal departments, and everyone prefers not to make things tooplicated. Coordinating with external agencies not only follows certain regtions but alsocks a fixed protocol, which truly is a hassle. Only in homicide cases and major crimes does everyone pay extra attention, and then it¡¯s easier to proceed. Only then it¡¯s reasonable to get reports and expenses signed off by the leadership. But having said that, when external resources are genuinely needed, the domestic scientific research resources are actually quite abundant. Many scientific research institutes have reached the level where ¡°there¡¯s nothing they can¡¯t do, only what you can¡¯t imagine.¡± Things like trace evidence, for instance, wouldn¡¯t have been considered new even in cutting-edge research facilities in the seventies and eighties. As for the wear and tear experiments on a snake skin bag, it¡¯s a bit tricky for the Criminal Science and Technology Center, but in aboratory capable of conducting wear and tear experiments, it¡¯s child¡¯s y. Andboratories capable of conducting wear and tear experiments could be chemicalboratories, inorganic materialboratories, organic materialboratories, metal materialboratories, mechanicalboratories, or even specialized frictionboratories, bearingboratories, powder metallurgyboratories¡­ So, when it¡¯s said that homicide cases must be solved domestically, it implies a ¡°no-holds-barred¡± approach. When famous foreign criminal investigation agencies boast about solving cases with just a handful of great detectives, their support systems are nothing more than a few kitties. Domestic theft and robbery cases follow much the same pattern, but when ites to homicide, if and when the need arises, many green criminals face a robust domestic scientific research and investigative system, and it could just be an inexperienced youngster against a group of seasoned veterans. However, this case is most likely the work of a seasoned veteran, as it¡¯s not easy to find young folks around Zifeng Mountain. Having arranged everything, Medical Examiner Zhai checked the time, saw it was the start of working hours, and called Xu Taining. Xu Taining had heard half of it before interrupting Medical Examiner Zhai and asking, ¡°Where are you? I¡¯lle to see.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was slightly startled and hurriedly said, ¡°We are at Qinghe City¡¯s Funeral Home, you don¡¯t need to make a special trip.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be there as quickly as possible.¡± Xu Taining didn¡¯t engage in further discussion and hung up the phone, only to then scold Medical Examiner Zhai for his confusion. He hadn¡¯te to Zi Feng Town for leisure; he had been busy mobilizing thousands of people with the sole purpose of cracking the case. Although the experiments conducted by Jiang Yuan and his colleagues were simple, they indeed had the potential to solve the case. Under such circumstances, Medical Examiner Zhai was still considerate of him¡­ Xu Taining refrained from outright scolding Medical Examiner Zhai in consideration of his age. In less than two hours, Xu Taining and his team drove two cars into the Qinghe City Funeral Home. The director, Meng Deyuan, hurriedly came out to receive them. Xu Taining didn¡¯t have much time to spare for him, shook his hand for five seconds, then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go inside first.¡± Meng Deyuan felt a bit disappointed inside as he watched Xu Taining¡¯s car leave, and said to his subordinate, ¡°His warmth is colder than a soul.¡± ¡°Soul egg?¡± the subordinate quickly coined the phrase and subtly shared it in the group chat. Xu Taining couldn¡¯t care less about possibly offending the people of Qinghe City and directly went to find Jiang Yuan and his colleagues to listen to their exnations and to mark lines on the map. At this point, Medical Examiner Zhai awkwardly exined, ¡°Our autopsy isn¡¯t finished yet, and it might take some more time to determine the origin of the corpse¡­¡± ¡°The determination of the corpse¡¯s origin is indeed important,¡± Xu Taining agreed and added, ¡°You must still prioritize working on determining the origin of the corpse. Right now, let¡¯s first focus on the discovery of the body bag.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai had be too ustomed to his technical work, which led to a fixed mindset, always believing the key was to understand the body. Xu Taining did not have this habit. In his experience, the window for solving a case could be momentary, and capturing the criminal was the goal, regardless of the means used. He did not care how it was done. For many cold cases, most methods are ineffective, and whatever could be found, he would use. Jiang Yuan shared a simr perspective. Indeed, he was a forensic doctor, but his expertise in criminal procedures had grown significantly. He no longer epted having to solve cases strictly by the book. Jiang Yuan had moved beyond that. Jiang Yuan recounted the motorbike experiment to Xu Taining in detail, followed by another experiment carried out by a young officer brought by Xu Taining, carrying Chief Medical Examiner Niu. Throughout the experiment, Xu Taining did not pay much attention. Repeating the experiment was just his way of verifying the correct result. During this period, Xu Taining had been making several phone calls with his mobile phone. ¡°The car that dumped the body came from the north,¡± after being urged by Xu Taining, the Trace Evidence Laboratory really made him a priority. The officers stopped watching Chief Medical Examiner Niu riding in circles on the motorbike on the empty ground and swarmed around the map instead. ¡°Regarding the wear, it must be at least over an hour. It¡¯s also rted to the driving method and the contact spot,¡± said Xu Taining, ¡°Without being certain about the vehicle type and positioning, it would still be difficult for them to pinpoint anything. Given more time, maybe they could provide a more urate range.¡± ¡°At least an hour¡¯s time is already a very useful conclusion if confirmed,¡± said Senior Police Superintendent Li Liang, who had alsoe from the provincial office to help. He was looking at the map and said, ¡°An hour¡¯s time actually first rules out Zifeng Mountain and the surrounding towns and viges.¡± A lightbulb went off for Xu Taining, ¡°That makes sense.¡± In the case of a body being dumped near Zifeng Mountain, the most andrgest suspects would definitely be near Zi Feng Town and Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine. On the contrary, by increasing the distance, the number of suspects would sharply decrease. At this point, considering their intersections with Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, identifying the suspects bes easier. Jiang Yuan thought of Wangguoshan first and foremost. Wangguoshan choosing to dump the body in the reservoir was a simr scenario. He neither worked at the reservoir nor lived nearby, but he was familiar with the reservoir. Instead, he chose to drive for over an hour to specifically dump the body at the reservoir. Another Senior Police Superintendent from the provincial office, Li Liang, had alsopleted his logical construction by now and, drawing on the map, said, ¡°I think we can start checking from the viges and towns about 30 kilometers away from Zi Feng Town, and prioritize looking for missing women¡­¡± It was then that Medical Examiner Zhai seemed to finally catch his breath and quickly said, ¡°We are also analyzing the sources of the bodies¡­¡± ¡°We can start by looking at the photos of the jewelry,¡± Jiang Yuan opened his mobile phone and showed the photos of the jewelry he had taken on the spot, ¡°These pieces of jewelry were found in the same plot as the second and third sources of the bodies. They might have been worn or owned by the victims. I think we can ask the families of the missing persons to see if any of them recognize these items.¡± Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability in sorting through trash, he was rather confident about the origins of the jewelry. People from different cities and ie groups have different ways of disposing of trash. It might just be cheap jewelry, but people in Changyang City might throw away a whole set at once, whereas residents of Zi Feng Town or nearby smaller towns would not be so wasteful. Concepts like decluttering, why they started in Tokyo and became popr in somerge cities in China, boil down to the fact that living spaces are too small. To live morefortably with more space, you had to have fewer belongings. In thoserge vis with massive space, to make the rooms not feel too empty and depressing, they even deliberately move the furniture towards the center of the room. If they practiced decluttering like others, they would feel like their rooms were haunted at night. Xu Taining and the others did not need to be schooled in these simple concepts. They immediately said, ¡°Good idea, let¡¯s print out the photos of the jewelry and show them to the families and neighbors of the missing persons.¡± Then, he reminded everyone to keep up the good work in analyzing the sources of the bodies. Both Medical Examiner Zhai and Jiang Yuan agreed, although neither seemed very confident. Forensic Anthropology is like solving an equation, with simple solutions to certain problems, such as age, race, or height. As long as the skeleton isplete, these answers are definitely attainable, just with some difference in confidence levels. However, for some questions, Forensic Anthropology may not be able to provide a solution. For example, determining the region of life, type of upation, or even living habits can easily be misjudged or undetermined. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s current observations, he did not hold much hope for obtaining professions or lifestyle information from skeletons. There is nothing to be said about it; some individuals work extremely hard, or thebor damage from their job is very severe. If they die young, their upation or work details can be discerned from their bones. But for others, their work might be very easy, they might like to ck off in their daily life, and upational diseases are not obvious or might not even exist. Hence, inferring their upation from their bones bes more difficult. This was also why Jiang Yuan rmended using jewelry to identify people. For Xu Taining, no matter the circumstances, he had seen them all. As long as there were clues, he could be enthused and instill the same enthusiasm in his subordinates. Now, Xu Taining¡¯s work zeal was surging. After shaking hands with Jiang Yuan and the others, he hurried off to arrange his tasks. The group swept in and out like a whirlwind. Meanwhile, the motorbike continuing to circle the empty ground at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour, was still whirring away. Chief Medical Examiner Niu, sitting in the backseat with his head drooping, had given up struggling and even gotten used to the space on the back seat of the motorbike, asionally shifting his position to get a bit morefortable. Chapter 265 - 265 249 Origin of the Corpse ?265: Chapter 249: Origin of the Corpse 265: Chapter 249: Origin of the Corpse The day was windy. The wind blew along the tree-lined road of the funeral parlor, creating a ¡°whoosh whoosh¡± sound thatsted all night. Jiang Yuan and several other forensic doctors remained in the autopsy room boiling bones, but when the wind became strong, they exchanged wordless nces. Everyone was tired, yet there was no time to sleep. By this hour, even the energy for chit-chat was gone. The fourth body was currently being boiled, having been discovered and brought over in the evening. Simr to the second and third bodies, the fourth was also packed inside a gray travel bag, which contained a red and blue checked snakeskin bag. Moreover, both the gray travel bag and the red and blue checked snakeskin bag bore traces of having been scalded. Technicians conducting the crime scene investigation had therefore obtained more evidence, prompting Xu Taining to allocate a massive number of personnel from Zifeng Mountain Coal Mine, dispatching them to several townships to the north. Finding Liu Jinghui was still the top priority, and it was urgent; however, solving the serial homicides to find Liu Jinghui became more feasible and likely without any leads. Xu Taining could not concern himself with thements or the aftermath that might ensue; he gritted his teeth and redirected the search teams to conduct sweep checks. Jiang Yuan sat next to the third body source, scrolling through his phone and waiting for the pressure cooker to finish its cycle. Boiling a body required a higher level of tenderness than boiling meat for home cooking. In kitchen terms, it meant the meat had to bepletely off the bone. However, most of the bodies needing boiling were already somewhat decayed and deteriorated, so the total boiling time might not be so long. It was only the parts with too much flesh that needed extra time. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone now had a dozen more work groups added to it. Most were rted to Zifeng Mountain, including some new groups he had just been added to. In the Zifeng Mountain groups, people were everywhere assembling teams, looking for vehicles, and storing items. Mobilizing over a thousand people in one breath, and to different locations, made both dispatch and support extremely difficult. Even the local gas station ran out of fuel. But this was what Xu Taining excelled at; even though he wasn¡¯t familiar with the personnel below him, and even though the various branches were hastily cobbled together, he organized everything orderly. By five or six o¡¯clock in the morning, all teams were in ce. [It¡¯s been eight days since Comrade Liu Jinghui went missing. We have no more time to dy. Once the teams are in ce, pleasemence work immediately and be thorough and diligent.] Xu Taining issued an order to the leaders of the teams, then @everyone in therge group. Jiang Yuan absentmindedly watched. He could imagine the teams going door to door being scolded while they exined, mixing in quarrels and reports. In fact, if they were only inquiring of the missing person¡¯s rtives, the situation would be much different. But whether junior detectives or senior police chiefs, they were all well aware that the victims¡¯ families might not necessarily speak the truth. Inquiring of neighbors and taking statements from missing persons¡¯ friends, rtives, and colleagues provided not only more urate information from an indirect approach but also served to deter potential perjurers to some extent. ¡°Number Four is almost ready,¡± announced the young forensic doctor, tending to the stove as his rm went off. ¡°Then let¡¯s sum up Number Three. Does anyone have any further thoughts?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai called out responsibly. Unlike previous autopsies, Medical Examiner Zhai demanded the collective effort of the team, with everyone fully expressing their opinions. For this reason, he required each person to write up their own autopsy report. The first and second body sources had been processed, and the third was dealt with in this manner. Jiang Yuan quietly handed in his autopsy findings. ¡°Body source three, age 30. Female¡­ height 163 cm, cervical spine disease, lumbar disc herniation, an old fracture in the ankle (appears to have been treated)¡­ eyelids had embedded lines¡­ time of death, more than three years ago.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai collected the autopsy conclusions from everyone, looking at them one by one. When he got to Jiang Yuan¡¯s, Medical Examiner Zhai took an extra moment to examine it. ¡°There¡¯s a slight discrepancy in everyone¡¯s judgment of time of death and age, but otherwise, they arergely consistent, of course with some minor differences,¡± summarized Medical Examiner Zhai. The crowd was silent, ncing quietly at Jiang Yuan. Not only was Medical Examiner Zhai a forensic doctor from the provincial department, but his track record over the years was quitemendable. He belonged to a practical group of forensic doctors known for their effectiveness. Among the present forensic doctors, the quitepetent Wang Lan was merely a diluted version of Medical Examiner Zhai, and Chief Medical Examiner Niu wasn¡¯t particrly strong either. Most were just average-level grassroots forensic doctors who asionally made mistakes, asionally performed exceptionally well, but mostly worked diligently and conscientiously. Whether determining the time of death or age, they tended to offer as broad a conclusion as possible¡ª The strength of a forensic doctor could be judged by the certainty of the conclusions they provided. For the same time of death, Jiang Yuan gave a direct age of 30, while some forensic doctors, to avoid mistakes, might suggest 25-30. Of course, under normal circumstances, Jiang Yuan could also give a conclusion like 28-32 years, depending on the state of the body, but giving a narrower range for the same body was an obvious disy of confidence. ¡°Is the gaprge? I mean, regarding the time of death and age,¡± Jiang Yuan asked straightforwardly. ¡°Hmm, not really. Everyone has some different opinions,¡± replied Medical Examiner Zhai, who was not quite ustomed to Jiang Yuan¡¯s self-assurance at work. As an older person, he always prioritized caution in his work, giving a wider range whenever possible rather than a narrower one. In his younger days, everyone was usually confident in their daily lives but cautious in their work. Opposite of Jiang Yuan¡¯s generation. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusions were also within the scope of Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s own conclusions. Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s gaze lingered on the time of death for a moment. He had given a time of death of three to five years ago, personally leaning toward four years. Jiang Yuan had given three years¡­ not much of a deviation. In the end, Medical Examiner Zhai didn¡¯t say much else, just nodded and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s tidy up and start reconstructing the fourth body.¡± Beep beep beep. The pressure cooker began to release steam. Everyone silently waited for the steam to escapepletely, then began to remove bones, peel off flesh, and arrange the corpse. Jiang Yuan still inspected each bone closely and quickly came to a conclusion, writing it down for himself: Body source four, age 32-34 years old. Female¡­ height 160 cm, cause of death, mechanical asphyxiation¡­ time of death, more than four years ago. He confirmed what was certain first, and then slowly analyzed the remaining bone fragments. The other forensic doctors operated in a simr fashion. Anthropology is a meticulous discipline; a human body of that size, with over two hundred bones, could be assessed fairly quickly if one only nced over them. But extracting information from them is much more difficult. It must be done bit by bit, piece by piece. When Jiang Yuan worked on the Wangguoshan Reservoir body-dumping case, he¡¯d spent nights and days searching for details. But this case was different; there was no shortage of information provided by various pieces of evidence. Going over the case again, store by store as he didst time, would be extremely inefficient. Comrade Liu Jinghui would probably not be able to endure it. As Jiang Yuan was thinking, his phone started buzzing. He clumsily nced at it with his elbow, saw it was Huang Qiangmin, immediately went to remove his gloves, roughly rinsed his hands with water, then put on a new glove and picked up the phone. ¡°Captain Huang, is there any news?¡± Jiang Yuan redialed. ¡°Yeah, the owner of the jewelry has been found,¡± said Huang Qiangmin, his mood somber. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin was standing in the victim¡¯s home. It was a three-bedroom apartment located in the core area of Fangjin Township, with Fangjin Township¡¯s only vegetable market visible through the window. The apartment, an early welfare housing unit, was renovated quite cheaply, with many ces patched up with newspaper. The female homeownery in a sickbed, staring eagerly at the policemen in the room. The male homeowner sat against the wall smoking, and in the swirling smoke hung photos of their missing daughter. ¡°Do all the pieces of jewelry match? Do you have photos?¡± Jiang Yuan asked worriedly over the phone. Because the jewelry was cheap, it might have high duplication rates, so having additional corroborative evidence would be best. Huang Qiangmin simply responded with a ¡°Yeah,¡± and said, ¡°Look at the photo on WeChat, there¡¯s a photo.¡± ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll turn on the speaker.¡± Jiang Yuan set down the phone, opened the private chat in WeChat, and saw a series of photos sent by Huang Qiangmin. Most of the photos were rephotographed; the girl in the photos had a sweet smile, long ck hair cascading down, and you could see the ne and rings. The final photo was a selfie showing her earrings. Although further detailedparison might still be needed, the investigative procedure was veryprehensive at this point. Jiang Yuan turned to look at the remains of body source three; he had just been sitting there for quite some time. However, the grim white bones and the sweet smile in the photos didn¡¯t match at all. ¡°How long has this girl been missing?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai walked over and asked through the speakerphone. ¡°Who is this?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked first. ¡°It¡¯s me, Old Zhai, Forensic Doctor Zhai.¡± ¡°Yeah, Medical Examiner Zhai. The victim has been missing for three years and four months,¡± Huang Qiangmin finally responded. Medical Examiner Zhai said ¡°Oh¡± in surprise and couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°That seems a little short.¡± ¡°The temperature issue inside the mine.¡± Jiang Yuan casually replied, then picked up the phone to ask, ¡°Captain Huang, have other teams made any finds?¡± ¡°Not yet, it wasn¡¯t our team that found this, it was the people from the city criminal police team,¡± Huang Qiangmin exined to Jiang Yuan first, then added, ¡°We have already started searching the local motorcycles.¡± Chapter 266 - 266 250 Saw Blade ?266: Chapter 250 Saw de 266: Chapter 250 Saw de Although only one victim was identified, or rather, the identification of one victim, had already elevated everyone¡¯s spirits. In several chat groups, the number of people speaking had noticeably increased. In the ¡°Grey Seal Group¡± that Jiang Yuan was added to, people started chatting cheerfully: Li Rui: ¡°Feels like we¡¯re seeing hope. Now that we¡¯ve identified the source of the corpse, we can search for the activity track on the day of disappearance.¡± Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: ¡°Don¡¯t be so optimistic. It¡¯s been three years and four months since the disappearance. Only the family might remember a bit. If you ask the people around, they can¡¯t recall anything.¡± Portrait Investigator Fu Quanxian: ¡°Didn¡¯t they actively search for the person when she went missing? Normally, if someone disappears and you get questioned about it, you would have a fresh memory, right?¡± Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: ¡°When she disappeared, her parents weren¡¯t around; they had gone to the countryside. The victim had no job, a homebody, well, nowadays we call it ¡®flexible employment.¡¯ No colleagues, so when she went missing and her parents couldn¡¯t get through to her after trying for four days, they reported it to the police.¡± Forensic Doctor Niu Lihuang: ¡°(?¦Ø?) The victim had cervical spondylosis, lumbar disc herniation, all upational diseases from desk jobs, yet she didn¡¯t work?¡± Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: ¡°Probably from ying video games.¡± Forensic Doctor Niu Lihuang: ¡°Damn, how can a forensic doctor work with this, how to reconstruct the lifestyle and upation scenario?¡± Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: ¡°Good thing Jiang Yuan found the victim¡¯s essory, he¡¯s quite skilled. Otherwise, we might not have even found the victim this time.¡± Portrait Investigator Fu Quanxian: ¡°So now, is there any lead on the motorcycle, or has the trail gone cold?¡± Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: ¡°Still looking. And we can¡¯t limit our search to the victim¡¯s living area alone¡ªit¡¯s quite narrow.¡± As the group chatted, the mood shifted from optimism to pessimism, and soon the conversation died down. Jiang Yuan was frowning as he read. He had contemted the identity of the victim, but he didn¡¯t have any firm ideas. However, his initial assumption was that the victim would be a white-cor worker or public servant, at least someone with an office job. He never imagined that a woman in her twenties, seriously gaming, could develop so many ailments. After scrolling through his phone and returning to reality, Jiang Yuan sighed inwardly and turned his attention back to the body. With his initial thoughts, if he could find the location of the body¡¯s origin, or the crime scene, the likelihood of finding the killer would be very high. Given it¡¯s a cold case homicide, the evidence they had was not insignificant. But not finding is still not finding. Especially during the time spent searching the victim¡¯s home, if new clues emerged, they might directly pinpoint the killer. But without them, the value of this lead would significantly diminish. The detectives were still working hard locally, checking motorcycles, the people present at the time of disappearance, and the victim¡¯s social connections, possibly uncovering some clues. But from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, the best evidence remained the body itself. ¡°The king of evidence¡± signifies just how rich the information provided by the body can be. It¡¯s just that obtaining it can be quite challenging. However,pared to the first three bodies, the fourth seemed to have more to tell¡ªat least, that was Jiang Yuan¡¯s feeling. If he had to describe it, the fourth body seemed more disheveled, more carelessly handled. And from the timeline, the fourth body¡¯s time of death was also long ago, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s estimate, over four years. Meaning, this victim was killed even earlier by the perpetrator. Handled imperfectly? Or did something unexpected happen during the process? With expectation in his heart, Jiang Yuan meticulously searched for clues. In fact, it¡¯s normal for a killer to encounter unexpected situations while dismembering a body. Even in the countryside during the New Year¡¯s pig ughter, a butcher who has killed pigs all his life wouldn¡¯t dare im that nothing unexpected could happen. The killer, under great psychological stress and often in a not-sofortable operation spot with restricted visibility and other constraints, would normally face idental situations. Some killers even try usingtex gloves, only to identally cut them into the body. For the first three bodies, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t find any particrly useful evidence, but looking at the fourth, he was hopeful for a harvest. He didn¡¯t follow a set sequence to examine the bodies, instead, he went with his gut and started with therger bones. That alone took over an hour. During this time, other forensic doctors also came to examine the bones, but they all fixated on different aspects and their observations, and judgments differed. Jiang Yuan silently observed, pausing when he came upon the sectioned radius and humerus. What drew his attention this time was the cross-section of the bones. The bones had been sawn open, which wasn¡¯t novel. Many dismemberment killers liked to use saws, including Wangguoshan, the murderer from the reservoir body-dumping case, who had also used a saw in his dismemberment. Compared with those who used axes or machetes, those who used saws expended less effort in dismemberment, produced a greater number of pieces, with each piece also averaging a slighter weight. Jiang Yuan had seen quite a number of bodies dismembered with saws, but there was a change in the cross-section of the No. 4 decedent. What kind of change? Jiang Yuan took out several pieces of sternum and ribs,pared them with the humerus and radius, and then it was clear: the former had a smoother and more even cross-section, while thetter not only had significant cutting marks, but also clear signs of saw de jumping. Furthermore, thedder-shaped marks on the humerus and radius were distinct, about 4 millimeters from the cross-section, and their lengths were also about 4 millimeters. In contrast, the sternum and ribs were much smoother and clearer. All of these indicated one issue: the killer had changed saws. Whether he began with the sternum or the arms, he had switched saws. Perhaps a saw was broken, or a saw de was damaged, or maybe he felt that the saw he was using was not effective enough, whatever the reason, the killer had changed his saw, at the very least he had changed the saw de, during the process of dismemberment. But whether changing the saw or the de, it further illuminated an answer: the killer had dismembered the body at a fixed location. The reasoning behind this inference was that the killer had to have used a high-powered saw, most likely a chainsaw. The chainsaw was substantial in size and weight, hitting around 10 kilograms, with its de¡ªmore urately referred to as a saw chain¡ªresembling a heavy bicycle chain, weighing several jins. Jiang Yuan thought that a normal dismemberment killer probably would not carry two chainsaws or one chainsaw with an extra chain. If such a killer had a phobia of chain breakages, then with his meticulous nature, wouldn¡¯t it be more logical and appropriate to just swap out the chainsaw¡¯s chain? This device was often used for sawing wood and trees, made from special steel; it could withstand several hundred cuts, could be sharpened, and used again, not so easily damaged or broken. Just buy a new one online, cut up two people, maybe you could even return it to the seller. Therefore, on the No. 4 decedent, the more rational exnation for switching saws or des was that the killer dismembered the body on his own turf. This way, it would be easier and smoother to rece the saw or de if an issue arose. By this line of reasoning, it overturned another hypothesis: that the killer intentionally carried tools like a saw tomit the crime far from his ce of residence or work. In other words, the killer¡¯s residence or ce of work should be near the crime scene. That is, near the residence of the No. 3 victim, Feng Xiaoyan! Once Jiang Yuan realized this, he immediately called Huang Qiangmin. On the other end, Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t resting either; he listened with anticipation to Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning, then fell slightly silent. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Jiang Yuan felt something was amiss. ¡°The motorcycles in Fangjin Township have already been checked thoroughly, but no suspects have been screened out.¡± Huang Qiangmin sighed. Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised: ¡°You¡¯ve finished checking so quickly? Then¡­ what about the rural areas around Fangjin Township, those closer to Feng Xiaoyan?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible. But over here, motorcycles are not asmon as in Zi Feng Town,¡± Huang Qiangmin paused before adding, ¡°Or perhaps someone rode over from another township twenty or thirty kilometers away?¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit too far. Moreover, carrying a chainsaw on a motorcycle is tough enough already, carrying two chainsaws or a chainsaw with two chains? That¡¯s too exhausting.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Huang Qiangmin paused for a while and then said, ¡°It¡¯s also possible that Feng Xiaoyan herself moved around, but it¡¯s indeed unlikely that she would go off on her own for dozens of kilometers.¡± Huang Qiangmin spoke, negating his own thoughts. ¡°So, it does seem highly probable that the killer is in Fangjin Township or the surrounding area. It¡¯s a pity that we can¡¯t locate the origin of the other bodies; otherwise¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin sounded frustrated, then continued, ¡°We¡¯ve also been paying attention to the dismemberment tools, with no findings. Hmm, your discovery is still very valuable, though. I¡¯ll report to Director Xu, and we¡¯ll have to intensify the search and sweep in this area.¡± Jiang Yuan gave an acknowledgement, hung up the phone, feeling somewhat exhausted himself. They say the search area has narrowed, but a range of ten or fifteen kilometers radius is still quiterge. If there was enough time, they could conduct a detailed search, incrementally increasing the likelihood of finding something. But screening is the most time-consuming job. Chapter 267 - 267 251 Persuasion ?267: Chapter 251 Persuasion 267: Chapter 251 Persuasion Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t stand anymore in the autopsy room. Despite spending so much time looking at bones and barely finding any clues, they still had not been of any use. Now that he thought about it, since the investigation of this case had started till now, the team had discovered quite a few clues, but they were still a long way from identifying a suspect. This indicated, on one hand, that the suspect had strong anti-investigation capabilities, which in turn suggested that he might havemitted more crimes. On the other hand, it inevitably caused the investigating officers to feel dejected. Jiang Yuan¡¯s sense of dejection might have been stronger. This case was one he was extremely eager to solve¡ªfor reasons that go without saying. Liu Jinghui was still missing, and the longer he remained missing, the slimmer the chances of finding him became. This was something nobody wanted to think about in detail. In previous cases, Jiang Yuan often felt like he could do no wrong. His skills were well beyond the provincial level, so even the most daunting of cold cases would have a chance of being solved once theynded in his hands. However, there was no room for maneuver in this current case. It needed to be solved, and it had to be solved quickly. Yet it was firmly stuck in ce. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to look at bones anymore. Subconsciously, he felt even the ¡°king of evidence¡± did not provide sufficient evidence. ncing at a few colleagues who were still busy in the autopsy room, Jiang Yuan approached Wang Lan and whispered, ¡°Mrs. Wang, I¡¯m thinking of taking a trip to Fangjin Township.¡± ¡°Has Captain Huang called for you?¡± Wang Lan naturally assumed. ¡°No, I¡¯m just feeling a bit stifled and wanted to get out for a bit,¡± Jiang Yuan replied quite frankly, now that his status within the police force had risen and he no longer needed to tread as carefully as he did when he was younger. Since Wang Lan wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s direct supervisor and saw that he really wanted to go, she smiled and said, ¡°It seems you don¡¯t love staying here after the smell of the boiled bones is gone. Alright, it¡¯s good to go out for some fresh air. Just mention it in the group chat.¡± ¡°Okay. Call me next time you¡¯re boiling bones,¡± Jiang Yuan said yfully, then typed in the ¡°Ningtai Zifeng Police Group¡± chat: Jiang Yuan: ¡°[@Huang Qiangmin, Captain Huang, I¡¯m heading to Fangjin Township now].¡± Huang Qiangmin: ¡°[If you want toe and have a look, that¡¯s fine. How are you getting here? The new car is already with me].¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°[I¡¯ll find a car ande over].¡± Qinghe City was Jiang Yongxin¡¯s main battleground, and his car rentalpany had plenty of good cars to choose from. Jiang Yuan sent a message and figured that by the time the car arrived, he would have changed his clothes. Going back to the group chat, he saw Huang Qiangmin had posted: ¡°[Okay. If you can¡¯t find a ride, take a taxi, and remember to keep the receipt for reimbursement].¡± As soon as these words dropped, countless people popped up in the group: Liu Wenkai: ¡°[Captain Huang, I want reimbursement too!]¡± Wei Zhenguo: ¡°[Captain Huang, I also want reimbursement!]¡± Wu Junhao: ¡°[Captain Huang~]¡± ¡°[Wu Junhao has been removed from the group chat].¡± Huang Qiangmin: ¡°[Who added people not in Zifeng to the group? Anyone else who wants reimbursement,e to me directly, and I¡¯ll reimburse you].¡± The ¡°Ningtai Zifeng Police Group¡± fell silent as if nothing had happened. Jiang Yuan quietly closed his phone, smiled at Wang Lan, then went to the shower room for a wash and changed into new clothes. Clothes that have been contaminated with the smell of decay are better left to air out for a day before washing, to help get rid of the odor. When storing new clothes in the locker, it¡¯s best to separate them with stic bags. This was also because the facilities in Qinghe City¡¯s autopsy room were average. In higher-level forensic autopsy rooms, there are usually independent bathing and changing facilities that don¡¯t make the autopsy results any clearer but do make the forensic doctor morefortable. As he stepped outside, a Land Rover Range Rover arrived just in time. The driver had locked the car doors tightly and looked around warily. Thud thud. Jiang Yuan knocked on the window. The driver jolted, and his body appeared to go limp. Jiang Yuan silently watched him go limp then stiffen again before knocking on the window once more. The driver trembled slightly and then opened the car door. ¡°Bro, the ce where you work is really something,¡± the driver looked in the rearview mirror. ¡°You seem a bit faint-hearted,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he gotfortable in the back seat, smiling, ¡°Actually, the funeral home is quite safe, no need to be scared.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of people, just a bit afraid of ghosts,¡± the driver admitted with an embarrassed smile as he started the car. Jiang Yuan nodded and exined, ¡°Think of it this way, ghosts are just people who have died. And in the funeral home, most people who have died were either unwell or had diseases, or were the elderly. You shouldn¡¯t be afraid of such ghosts.¡± The driver felt a bit more at ease and chuckled, ¡°But there are also homicide victims and idental deaths.¡± ¡°Oh, so those who turn into ghosts from such deaths are called fierce ghosts,¡± Jiang Yuan noted, describing the appearance of fierce ghosts. As a forensic doctor, he was quite familiar with these concepts. The driver silently turned on the vehicle¡¯s interior light, asionally giving the headlights a sh. The Range Rover arrived at Fangjin Township smoothly. It was a town that looked even poorer than Zi Feng Town, with sparsely scattered two-story buildings lining the streets, most of them with their rolling shutters down ¡ª it was hard to tell if there was anything worth stealing inside. However, beyond the main road, the area extended quite far, with many self-built houses and yards sprinkled throughout. Jiang Yuan got out of the car ahead of time and found Huang Qiangmin, smiling, ¡°Captain Huang, I¡¯vee to help.¡± ¡°Hmm, I was thinking of letting you rest first¡­ You¡¯ll be with Wei¡¯s team again.¡± Huang Qiangmin called Wei Zhenguo over. Wei Zhenguo greeted Jiang Yuan with a smile. When it came to solving cases, he really liked having Jiang Yuan around ¡ª it saved time, effort, and felt satisfying. Inparison, working with Huang Qiangmin could be a bit¡­ draining. ¡°Still checking motorcycles?¡± Jiang Yuan approached Wei Zhenguo and asked in a low voice. ¡°Checking,¡± Wei Zhenguo replied, saying, ¡°We¡¯ve found all the motorcycles we could, but it has been two or three years since the murdererst struck, right? If he sold the motorcycle during this period, or moved away, then it¡¯s not clear.¡± ¡°Then I suggest we check them all,¡± Jiang Yuan gave a very affirmative answer. Huang Qiangmin, who had been typing on his phone, looked up and asked, ¡°You¡¯re that certain?¡± Jiang Yuan had been thinking throughout the car ride and immediately said, ¡°I feel that we must be certain about one thing: the murderer definitely lives around Zifeng Mountain. Otherwise, the disappearance of Director Liu and his team couldn¡¯t be exined.¡± Huang Qiangmin uttered a nomittal ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°So, the murderer¡¯sst crime wasn¡¯t two or three years ago, but 9 days ago. The time before that was a month ago. If the murderer¡¯s behavior pattern hasn¡¯t changed, this means he used the motorcycle at least twice within a month,¡± Jiang Yuan exined, counting on his fingers. Wei Zhenguo nodded involuntarily. Zifeng Mountain, somewhere everyone had already climbed. If one were to travel by foot without using any vehicle, it would be exhaustingly tiring. ¡°Director Liu¡¯s team¡¯s pickup truck also disappeared, and the murderer must have driven it somewhere and hidden it. But this at least suggests one thing, the murderer can drive, and likely has a driver¡¯s license.¡± Xu Taining had specifically arranged a team to look for the vehicle and updated all the teams daily with thetest requirements and news. The fact that the vehicle hadn¡¯t been found yet only proved the murderer¡¯s deep familiarity with Zifeng Mountain. The reason for this belief stemmed from the image investigation team¡¯s inability to find Liu Jinghui and his team¡¯s vehicle at various checkpoints ¡ª after watching 9 days¡¯ worth of surveince footage, it was virtually certain they wouldn¡¯t find it. Jiang Yuan then exined the two types of saw de marks he had found on the fourth victim and emphasized, ¡°I think the murderer switches them very casually. It¡¯s not that he changes it only when a saw de breaks. Moreover, after changing the saw de, the sawed parts are quite meticulous¡­ From my understanding, if it was not necessary, he wouldn¡¯t have needed to cut the body parts into such small pieces.¡± ¡°We have so many clues, yet we can¡¯t find the person,¡± Huang Qiangmin actually felt a bit frustrated. Participating in more searches reveals that this method is indeed very effective. Generally speaking, when you¡¯re closing in on a suspect, you can usually detect something through various means. It¡¯s not only about stumbling onto evidence; sometimes detectives can detect the ¡°criminal scent¡± just by standing opposite a suspect. During wartime, even spies trained specifically for espionage could hardly escape such thorough searches. Although today¡¯s social atmosphere is somewhat more rxed, criminal suspects are far less trained. With this many clues and this many people involved, the failure to find a suspect is diforting for police officers, especially those skilled in criminal investigation. Liu Jinghui might have had simr thoughts on the day of his disappearance. Perhaps he already had some leads by then. ¡°And there¡¯s another thing we talked about before¡­¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°The murderer might very well be mingling among those helping with the search¡­¡± This was also why Jiang Yuan insisted oning in person. There are some topics that are ufortable to discuss over the phone. Huang Qiangmin sighed, ¡°Director Xu has already sent people to investigate, and I¡¯ve been aware of it here in Fangjin Township.¡± He sighed again, ¡°At least from aspects like household registration, nothing has been found.¡± ¡°If we have a list of suspects,pare it with the ones here in Fangjin Township, as well as those who ride motorcycles and have driving licenses¡­¡± ¡°Someone is already doing that,¡± said Huang Qiangmin. ¡°Then let¡¯s focus on the motorcycles, I think we need to do more detailed inquiries. Especially within Fangjin Township.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin hesitated slightly. In the investigation of a murder, especially one with backlogged cases, the clues are never-ending. The issue is which clue is more likely to lead to the murderer. Just like the clue about the saw des Jiang Yuan had just provided; to Huang Qiangmin, it still seemed insufficient. There¡¯s too little tangible evidence and too much subjective spection. Should the search for motorcycles expand to include the area within several kilometers of Fangjin Township and be thoroughly re-examined? Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t make a decision at the moment. Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude became extremely serious, emphasizing, ¡°Captain Huang, now is the time to leave no stone unturned to find that motorcycle. If we¡¯re short on people, I can join the search.¡± ¡°Then go with Wei and investigate,¡± Huang Qiangmin decided with some reluctance, a testament to the high level of trust he had in Jiang Yuan. This renewed investigation would surely mean doubling the efforts in persuasion ¡ª for both the police and the public. Chapter 268 - 268 252 His Home ?268: Chapter 252: His Home 268: Chapter 252: His Home Jiang Yuan put on his duty uniform and cautiously walked to the right of Wei Zhenguo. On Wei Zhenguo¡¯s left was Wen Ming, his senior apprentice, specially called over for this asion. To the left of Wen Ming was Mu Zhiyang, the junior apprentice, also specially rushed over. The setup of this four-person team was now simr to the one Jiang Yuan had encountered on the day he met the old hunter on Mount Wulong. The difference, however, was that none of the four were armed this time. Xu Taining had arranged a squad of armed police in the lead, and there was a squad of special police officers armed as well, but the ordinary policemen were not. On one hand, themand headquarters had assessed that the criminal¡¯s capacity for violence wasn¡¯t considered high. There weren¡¯t many young people in Fangjin Township, and it was highly probable that the perpetrator was middle-aged or elderly and showed no sign of possessing weapons. Furthermore, the primary objective of this case was to find Liu Jinghui. Even if the policemen were carrying guns, their first choice would be to capture him alive. In that case, carrying firearms would be asking for trouble. In fact, under normal working conditions, the police were also reluctant to carry guns. When the police apprehend suspects, the emphasis is on numerical superiority; to put it more elegantly, ¡°even if there¡¯s only one suspect, we would deploy an entire squad,¡± or more bluntly, ¡°if there¡¯s just one suspect, let¡¯s all go at him!!¡± When Wei Zhenguo called over Wen Ming and Mu Zhiyang, he was thinking along the lines of overwhelming the suspect with numbers. The prerequisite was to catch someone again. For a case of this magnitude, as long as they could squeeze a confession out of the criminal, they would instantly qualify for a third-ss merit. If they could manage to extract confessions from each other, they would be on their way to a second-ss merit. Wen Ming and Mu Zhiyang were very happy to follow Jiang Yuan, and both their eyes were vigntly watching their surroundings. ¡°Let¡¯s start from the crossroad,¡± Wei Zhenguo crossed the street and walked into the nearest print shop. After letting the people out, he said with a warm smile, ¡°Boss, we have a few more questions we¡¯d like to ask you.¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you already asked everything?¡± The shop owner grumbled unhappily as he looked at the four policemen at the door but still let them in. ¡°Do you have a driver¡¯s license?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked with a broad smile. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Could you show us your driver¡¯s license?¡± Wei Zhenguo could obtain the corresponding information by reporting an identity card number or scanning a face with his police device, but he still wanted to observe the shop owner¡¯s actions. Jiang Yuan was watching on the side, in more of a learning mode. Conducting searches or interrogations involves skill. For an ordinary detective team member, the first two or three years under the guidance of a mentor generally involve learning these methods. Wei Zhenguo was quite adept at this. In his younger days, he had caught thieves at train and bus stations and robbers in the rural-urban fringe areas. Except for those he caught at the scene, he mostly relied on searches and tips. At this moment, Wei Zhenguo, while watching the shop owner¡¯s actions, still found time to keep an eye on the other people in the shop. This print shop was different from others in the township in that both the shop owner and the employees were rtively young, in their thirties or forties, qualifying as the township¡¯s top ¡°fresh meat.¡± The shop owner¡¯s driving license seemed to be in order as well. After checking it, Wei Zhenguo asked, ¡°Where¡¯s your car? Can we take a look?¡± ¡°It¡¯s parked in the backyard,¡± the boss said. Wei Zhenguo immediately moved to the backyard. In China, there¡¯s no ¡°fruit of the poisonous tree¡± doctrine; when necessary, secret investigations can be conducted. That Wei Zhenguo even asked was quite polite. In the backyard was a Wuling Hongguang van, a bit dirty, but not too dirty. Jiang Yuan took the initiative to inspect it while Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming blocked the two gates of the yard, preventing a sudden charge from a lunatic with a kitchen knife. After looking for a while, Jiang Yuan shook his head disappointingly at Wei Zhenguo, then asked the shop owner, ¡°Where¡¯s your motorcycle? What about the electric bicycle?¡± ¡°Inside that door over there,¡± the shop owner pointed at the storage room. Jiang Yuan went to check and still found nothing, then said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t store them inside in the future; it¡¯s not safe for fire prevention.¡± Turning around, Jiang Yuan carefully examined several areas within the room before slowly emerging from the yard. He was looking for bloodstains, chain saws, physical evidence from the victims, or from the crime scene. After all, with just so many people in Fangjin Township, each household with a motorcycle had to be meticulously identified. There were only a little over a thousand motorcycles in total. If they really started searching by groups, it would be quick. Truth be told, the previous search had been conducted quickly and methodically as well. Yet,pared to thest search, Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude this time was much more assertive. Digging three feet into the ground was Jiang Yuan¡¯s real intention. That¡¯s what he thought, and that¡¯s what he did. From the urrence of the case until now, Jiang Yuan had been involved throughout the entire process. He was familiar with all sorts of evidence and circumstances, including the body and messages from the technical investigation team. Logically, with so much information converging, the culprit should have surfaced by now. What is meant by surfacing is that you keep pouring water, keep pouring, and when enough evidence is poured in, the truth slowly rises to the top. However, since the case was still stalled with no result, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, although the had been cast wide enough, the depth was insufficient. This was Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusion after cracking several cases. Sometimes, the n is good, the idea is sound, but if the execution isn¡¯t in ce, it¡¯s a missed opportunity. After thinking it through, Jiang Yuan believed that the motorcycle was still the best breakthrough point. The ssification of garbage can provide a lot of information, but it¡¯s not specific enough. The jewelry that was picked out can also illustrate the condition of the victim and their family, but it¡¯s of no help to the case. Each piece of information has its strengths and weaknesses, but in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the motorcycle is the most closely tied to the case. It¡¯s a mode of transportation, necessary for the transport of a corpse. The body bag on the corpse also proves the motorcycle¡¯s involvement. On the other hand, this is a big-ticket item. Whether an individual or a family has ever bought a motorcycle, ridden one, or even sold one, neighbors and rtives can help verify that information; you can¡¯t hide it. Jiang Yuan rushed to Fangjin Township precisely to implement this investigative approach. Luckily, Xu Taining wasn¡¯t the kind of leader who insisted on having his own way. Or maybe, because he had dealt with manyrge-scale operations and encountered various situations, he didn¡¯t have the habit of being autocratic. With adequate manpower and resources, he was still willing to let criminal investigators like Jiang Yuan execute their own strategies. As for the oue¡­ if the case was cracked, everyone was a contributing hero, sharing the honor. If the case faltered, they would just disperse quietly. Jiang Yuan felt he had thought things through clearly, and upon arriving at the scene, he no longer dwelled on what-ifs or possibilities. He focused solely on following the list in order. From time to time, Jiang Yuan would check his phone for updates from other groups. After checking twenty groups on his team, the WeChat group ¡°Ningtai Zifeng Police Group¡± was filled withmentation: Criminal Investigator Liu Wenkai: [We¡¯re halfway through our checks, nothing yet. It¡¯s simr tost time.] Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: [If you use the same method asst time to check the same families, how can you expect anything different? Unlike us, who use different methods on the same families and stille to the same conclusions!] Criminal Investigator Liu Wenkai: [Would you get the same results using the same method to find girls, whether they¡¯re the same or different? Maybe this time they got sick or something.] Huang Qiangmin: [@Criminal Investigator Liu Wenkai?] Criminal Investigator Liu Wenkai: [What I mean is, everyone ys football the same way, ys the same positions, uses the same tactics, but some national football teams can produce different results. I¡¯m talking about Sri Lanka.] Crime Scene Investigator Zhang Mingyuan: [Don¡¯t the results of our national football team always turn out the same? I¡¯m talking about the Sri Lanka national football team.] Jiang Yuan put away his phone. Liu Jinghui, down in the spring¡­ No, during his disappearance, probably didn¡¯t have a mobile phone to y with, so there was no reason for Jiang Yuan to chat in the group either. Passing by another shop with its door closed, Wen Ming knocked it open to ask questions. The shop owner didn¡¯t expect to be disturbed with the door closed and mumbledints irritably. Wei Zhenguo then said, ¡°Then tell us, around here, whose family has a motorcycle that hasn¡¯t been asked about two or three times?¡± The shop owner looked around: ¡°Nowadays, who can¡¯t afford a motorcycle? You might as well ask every family directly.¡± ¡°That¡¯s practically what we¡¯re doing,¡± Wei Zhenguo replied. ¡°If you notice anyone we missed, point them out; we have rewards. For verifying a motorcycle, a minimum of 5,000 yuan.¡± It was like offering a bounty for tips. The county bureau could now publish relevant information. The shop manager hummed and hawed, and just as Wei Zhenguo was about to leave, he suddenly said, ¡°I know someone who¡¯s loaned out motorcycles; does that count?¡± ¡°You¡¯re talking about Tang from the street repair shop,¡± Wei Zhenguo said, bing familiar with the surroundings. ¡°You know about it?¡± the shop manager grunted displeased, ¡°He loaned the motorcycle to someone, but you can¡¯t track them down, so what¡¯s the point in finding anyone?¡± Jiang Yuan listened and looked at Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo replied calmly, ¡°They keep a ledger. The motorcycles at his shop are all loaned to customers, those whoe to get their vehicles serviced and temporarily need a vehicle, so they¡¯ll borrow one from his shop. It doesn¡¯t dy their business. The service model is simr to that of luxury car dealerships, only the pricing is significantly reduced.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding and then said, ¡°Let¡¯s go check it out first. There will be many people who have borrowed bikes.¡± The four quickly finished their investigation at the current location and then hurried off to the repair shop. The owner was a rotund man with arge belly. Just by his appearance, he didn¡¯t seem to have the capacity for regrly dumping bodies. If this was a serious murderer, they¡¯d likely have worked out quite a lot. Murder is, after all, an activity that requires strong confrontation, and seeing as how the shop owner was well over two hundred pounds and had the look of someone who had never been injured, that would be too much like a martial arts fantasy. Wei Zhenguo raised an eyebrow at Jiang Yuan, having not prioritized this shop for intensive investigation for a reason. ¡°Let¡¯s mainly look at the people who borrowed motorcycles,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°You¡¯ve reviewed the ledger several times and even took photos, didn¡¯t you?¡± the chubby shop owner fished out a booklet from under the counter and ced it on the ss counter for them to look at themselves. Jiang Yuan flipped through it briefly and then used his forensic skills to inspect it. The ledger was a simple record of loaned vehicles, not very frequent, just a few times a month. Aside from repairs, the shop also had a car wash garage and a workshop for repairs. The motorcycle rental was just a side project with only three bikes lonesomely ced in a corner. ¡°Are there any borrowers not listed in the ledger?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s question didn¡¯t differ from the previous ones. The shop owner replied calmly, ¡°They¡¯re mostly recorded here. And, for each loan, there¡¯s a return; it¡¯s not possible to omit them twice.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, continuing to review the ounts. He was quickly reaching the end of the ledger, but just as Jiang Yuan was about to close it and return it, a term caught his eye. ¡°What does ¡®monthly fee¡¯ mean?¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at a number followed by parentheses. ¡°It means it¡¯s paid monthly,¡± the shop owner replied offhandedly. ¡°Old Fu from the power supplypany often has to run trips to the mountainous areas, so he borrowed a vehicle from me, which can be reimbursed with an invoice.¡± Before Jiang Yuan could speak, everyone perked up. ¡°Why does he borrow vehicles from you?¡± Wei Zhenguo took over the questioning. ¡°He can¡¯t use a private vehicle for public affairs, can he? That¡¯s what he told me. He used to have me issue invoices for that,¡± the shop owner chuckled, adding, ¡°Old Fu is a good guy. Every time he returns the vehicle, he even washes it clean.¡± ¡°Old Fu¡­ Where does he live?¡± Wei Zhenguo became excited. Chapter 269 - 269 253 Service Points ?269: Chapter 253 Service Points 269: Chapter 253 Service Points ¡°The people from the power supply station, they all live in the familypound of the power supply station, right? And their location isn¡¯t bad either¡­¡± The chubby shop owner spoke a little slowly. Wei Zhenguo couldn¡¯t wait and interrupted him, asking, ¡°What¡¯s Old Fu¡¯s full name?¡± ¡°Fu¡­ Fu Guangyun, I think,¡± said the chubby shop owner, tapping his head as he tried to recall. Wei Zhenguo immediately checked on his mobile phone, then gestured to Wen Ming to keep an eye on the shop owner, and found a corner to call Huang Qiangmin. Criminal police who acted on information and directly apprehended someone after only handling a couple of cases would soon be moved to less critical duties in the corners. For a major case organized by the provincial department, involving over a dozenboratories, deploying hundreds of vehicles, and organizing thousands of people for the investigation, would it be appropriate for just four detectives to go and make an arrest after arriving at a conclusion? If they caught the suspect, their superiors might hold their noses and ept it, but what if they didn¡¯t or it led to a standoff? Why not find a way to utilize the several hundred officers from other units? For Wei Zhenguo, having arrested thieves for so many years and being well experienced, he knew the advantages of having more rather than fewer people. Without delving into much else, a normal-minded criminal suspect might resist against two or three people, but faced with a dooming crowd, they¡¯d first give up on the idea of resistance. Of course, they might try to flee and use all means possible to evade arrest, but eliminating armed confrontation was already a significant sess. Unlike what¡¯s shown on TV, police officers neither want to get themselves or their colleagues injured, nor do they wish for the suspect to be injured. If the suspect gets injured, the detention center won¡¯t ept them, and you have to assign two or even four officers to the hospital for a 24-hour shift¡­ Any detective with a lone-hero mentality would be halfway to a breakdown after spending half a month guarding a suspect in a hospital. After making his report to Huang Qiangmin, Wei Zhenguo felt a bit relieved, turned back, and began to inquire more detailed information from the chubby shop owner. Wen Ming and Mu Zhiyang, both vignt, circled the store three times, making sure the two workers were outside before returning to guard the door. Inside, Jiang Yuan was also rapidly gathering information. The information obtained at this time was not only for the purpose of apprehending the suspect, Old Fu, but may also be used to rescue Liu Jinghui. If there was still time. Up until now, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t had the time to thoroughly contemte this issue. He had spent the previous three days in the autopsy room, and before that, he was engaged in searching for the body and sorting through the garbage or evidence in the mine. He had also deliberately avoided thinking about the problem. Moving from directly searching for Liu Jinghui to deciding to solve the case first and then look for Liu Jinghui was the best solution Jiang Yuan hade up with after setting aside many emotions. Xu Taining and Huang Qiangmin, among others, had ultimately agreed with this approach. Of course, much of this was due to their trust in Jiang Yuan¡ªif they didn¡¯t trust Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative abilities, they likely would not have selected this indirect n. Jiang Yuan understood this, and while he was grateful for the smooth progress of the case, he also had to bear the weight of this responsibility. Pressure was always there, with no real way to ease it, other than to keep forging ahead. It was still the same at the moment, far from a time for celebration. Stories of mistakenly targeting the wrong suspect due to various reasons were not umon. During such times, investigation is necessary, but this doesn¡¯t mean that all other matters muste to a halt. Under Wei Zhenguo¡¯s meticulous questioning, the chubby shop owner gradually became more at ease and opened up a bit, saying, ¡°Old Fu usually drives an old-model Cherokee. That car has a lot of little issues, and he oftenes in for repairs. Their unit also has a Foton pickup truck that Old Fu asionally brings for repairs and maintenance. Later on, after we got to know each other, he would often borrow a motorbike, saying it¡¯s more convenient for the mountain roads.¡± ¡°How long does he borrow the bike for each time?¡± ¡°The shortest is about a week, and the longest can be more than a month. Sometimes, when hees back, he¡¯s toozy to return it, saying he might need it again in a few days, so he just gives us a call.¡± ¡°How do you calcte the cost?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t really count it in money terms, it¡¯s mainly for car repairs. This old second-hand motorbike, buying one only costs two or three thousand. If he wants to use it for a month, we just count three or five hundred, mainly because he drives on mountain roads, has to transport electrical cables, motors, etc., and often needs repairs when hees back. Later on, I just included it in the car repair cost¡ªlook, I haven¡¯t mentioned monthly settlements after that¡­¡± ¡°Is it normal for him to borrow the motorbike so often?¡± The chubby shop owner sighed and said, ¡°It would be the same if he bought one for himself; he¡¯d still have to bring it to me every day. Old Fu often brings the car back with the motorbike¡¯s rear wheel suspensionpletely loose. They use their vehicles heavily, withrge loads and poor road conditions. Every time hees back, I have to disassemble it and check everything, make repairs, and rece parts.¡± Pausing for a moment, the chubby shop owner then pointed to a few vehicles behind him, saying, ¡°Borrowing from me is much morefortable for him. He always picks the best-maintained bike to use, and if it¡¯s not to his satisfaction right then, I¡¯d immediately install a new part for him. If he really bought his own motorbike, it would barelyst a year before falling apart, and the cost of recement parts would be more expensive than the bike itself.¡± Listening to all this, Wei Zhenguo was quite astonished and couldn¡¯t help but exchange a look with Jiang Yuan. There¡¯s a lesson to be learned from practice. In big city repair shops, you definitely wouldn¡¯t find such service, nor would they rent out bikes so casually to customers. Whether it¡¯s profitable or not, the issue of operating without a license alone would be trouble. But in a small township like Fangjin Township, whether youply with regtions or not is meaningless. Frequentlying in for repairs and part recements might raise suspicions. However, if you don¡¯t regrly maintain the motorbike, carrying a body weighing over a hundred pounds, and it breaks down halfway, that¡¯s when you¡¯d truly have no one to call for help¡ªneither heaven nor earth would respond. Chapter 270 - 270 253 Service Point_2 ?270: Chapter 253 Service Point_2 270: Chapter 253 Service Point_2 Meanwhile, a motorbike carrying an adult and a dead body traveled a long distance on a mountain road in poor condition. It¡¯spletely reasonable for the bike to require maintenance after such use. From another perspective, the final choice of this body disposal method must involve experienced individuals. ¡°Since what year did Old Fu start borrowing bikes from you?¡± Jiang Yuan followed this line of thought and asked. The plump shop owner paused for quite a while, then said as he thought, ¡°It was the year they retreated from the mountain, five or six years now.¡± ¡°What do you mean by ¡®retreated¡¯?¡± ¡°Their power station used to have a service point on West Mountain, I think it was to supply electricity to the surrounding mines. Later on, those mines shut down, and the power station withdrew the service point from West Mountain. Old Fu used to live on West Mountain, butter he moved down as well.¡± Jiang Yuan exchanged another nce with Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo cursed softly under his breath, ¡°Damn,¡± and immediately took out his phone to call Huang Qiangmin. Jiang Yuan asked the plump shop owner some more questions, then Wei Zhenguo came back and continued the questioning. In terms of interrogation skills, Jiang Yuan still had a long way to gopared to Wei Zhenguo. The two took turns interrogating for over half an hour, then took the shop owner with them to the police station. This plump shop owner was an essential witness, and it was definitely necessary to make a formal record with him under surveince. By the time Jiang Yuan and others got everything straightened out, an hour had passed. Just as they came out of the interrogation room, they heard chaos outside. A man clothed in blue double pockets workwear with a ck hood over his head walked in, surrounded by seven or eight officers. The pomp with which he was arrested was enough to prove his identity. ¡°Have you caught him already?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked the person who came inter. The man, having recognized Wei Zhenguo, grunted in affirmation and spoke softly, ¡°Went there and caught him. He didn¡¯t resist when he saw us, didn¡¯t say a word, didn¡¯t even ask a question.¡± ¡°Did he take part in our operation? I mean, like, in auxiliary work?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know whom to ask so, seeing Wei Zhenguo knew this person, he quickly came over. The man first looked at Wei Zhenguo, waited for his nod, and then said, ¡°The power station was tasked with providing support, being a public service unit, they surely sent someone out. Whether it was him, that I don¡¯t know.¡± At this point, he pped his head, ¡°You reminded me, I¡¯ll go confirm this detail. You¡¯re pretty tall, you must be Jiang Yuan. Sharp mind.¡± The man was about the same age as Wei Zhenguo, smiled and praised before he went back to his business. Wei Zhenguo chuckled and then turned to Jiang Yuan, whispering, ¡°Li Ji. From Jianjiang City Criminal Police Squad, used to be the captain of the inclothes unit. Now, he should be working on tel fraud cases.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in acknowledgment. The detectives present seemed many who were just onlookers, but in reality, each had their own tasks, scattering like leaves in a windstorm, leaving behind only disorder. ¡­ Before long, Xu Taining hurried over. Huang Qiangmin and several other responsible persons gathered spontaneously. ¡°Has Zhou gone in?¡± Xu Taining referred to the interrogation expert Zhou Chuanwen. Xu Taining had called him over a few days ago, probably feeling that the time was ripe, and the suspect would be unearthed. He didn¡¯t expect the suspect to be so difficult to dig out. As a consequence, Zhou Chuanwen had been on standby for several days. Knowing Xu Taining¡¯s intentions, a subordinate immediately said, ¡°He went in a quarter of an hour ago; the interrogation should have started.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go and see, we can talk on the way.¡± Xu Taining summoned the local police station chief to apany him to the monitoring room to observe the interrogation. All this was standard equipment for a police station, only that the equipment in the township stations was a bit inferior, the arrangement inside a bit messier, and the monitoring room not big enough. A few men in white shirts entered and positioned themselves in the center, leaving the responsible persons in blue shirts to squeeze into gaps to watch the video. Xu Taining looked around and then beckoned, ¡°Let Jiang Yuane in and listen too. The case isn¡¯t over yet.¡± Thus Jiang Yuan was also pulled in. With more people cramming in, it was even more ufortable, and they could only focus their attention on the surveince screen. The interrogator¡¯s voice came out of the earpiece: ¡°Fu Guangyun, I¡¯m assigned by the provincial department, especially to Fangjin Township, waiting for you.¡± ¡°Your silence doesn¡¯t affect the progress of the case¡­¡± ¡°Fu Guangyun, this is yourst chance!¡± There was only the interrogator¡¯s voiceing out of the speakers. The important figures standing and listening in the monitoring room could hear the increasingly heavy breathing of Xu Taining. It¡¯s not unusual for a criminal suspect to remain silent, attempting to counteract the hard fist of thew with silence. Xu Taining believed that, given Zhou Chuanwen¡¯s ability, it would take only a short time to break through the suspect¡¯s psychological defenses. Xu Taining had seen many such cases before. The only thing he was unsure about was whether Liu Jinghui could withstand it and whether he was still there. The same anxiety was spreading in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind. After a few minutes of silent waiting, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but speak softly, ¡°I have a suggestion.¡± The atmosphere in the monitoring room was already tense; as soon as Jiang Yuan spoke, everyone¡¯s gaze turned towards him. It was just that Jiang Yuan seemed a bit too assertive, which didn¡¯t sit too well with the higher-ups. ¡°Let¡¯s hear it,¡± Xu Taining said with some anticipation. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°When Captain Wei and I were questioning the repair shop¡¯s owner earlier, we learned some information. Fangjin Township¡¯s power station previously had a service point on West Mountain, which was withdrawn five and a half years ago. Prior to that, this service point was specifically responsible for supplying electricity to the nearby mines. Further inquiries revealed that the service point had a courtyard and three employees on rotating shifts, including the suspect Fu Guangyun.¡± Chapter 271 - 271 253 Service Point_3 ?271: Chapter 253 Service Point_3 271: Chapter 253 Service Point_3 He paused for a moment before Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°During the duty hours, regtions require two people on shift, but the three employees at the service point secretly swapped shifts to work two days and take three days off, so there was always only one staff member present. Additionally, the service point was equipped with a motorcycle and had water and electricity supplies. The daily task was to run maintenance works at various factories and mines.¡± Jiang Yuan spoke objectively, but in reality, he described a secluded ce suitable for dismemberment. Everyone understood and began to theorize in their own minds. Xu Taining directly addressed Jiang Yuan, ¡°You continue.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Huang Qiangmin, then added, ¡°When Director Liu disappeared, he was apanied by two officers. The suspect probably didn¡¯t have enough force to confront them directly. There¡¯s also no reason for them to confront three policemen face to face. Earlier, Director Liu¡¯s tyres had been punctured, which shows some of the suspect¡¯s tactics¡­¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue his spection, but instead said, ¡°The first time Director Liu¡¯s tyres were punctured should have been near the mine where the body was dumped. We also deployed a lot of manpower around the mine to search, but to no avail. From the information known now, Director Liu might have made his way near the West Mountain service point of the power supply site, or perhaps encountered a simr situation.¡± ¡°Do you think the service point at West Mountain could have been the killer¡¯s initial body dumping site?¡± Xu Taining asked. ¡°It¡¯s very likely. We¡¯ve dug deep into the mine on Zifeng Mountain, and the earliest body¡¯s time of death is just over four years ago. And ording to the dposition state of the body pieces, the fourth victim¡¯s remains certainly do not belong to the first victim.¡± Jiang Yuan asserted confidently, ¡°Moreover, some bodies have been found without their skulls. It¡¯s reasonable to suspect the killer might have an earlier, and closer to his home or workce, body dumping and burial site.¡± Zifeng Mountain is still a bit further awaypared to Fangjin Township. A few tens of kilometers of mountain roads, riding a motorcycle at speeds less than 30 kilometers per hour, would take about two hours, potentially even longer. Honestly, a killer without experience or onecking psychological fortitude would not dare transport a body that far even in deste hills and forests. Experience and psychological fortitude can, however, be developed. Someone like Fu Guangyun might have killed quite crudely in the beginning, hastily disposing of the body near his home or workce, which is the most natural response. But with experience, he could have more choices, and his modus operandi could be more covert and safe. Even considering the economy of riding a motorcycle might have crossed his mind. Xu Taining was more familiar with Liu Jinghui than Jiang Yuan and subconsciously agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s deduction. Liu Jinghui was that kind of deductive genius who could find clues without evidence. To a criminal policeman like Xu Taining, who preferred order and method, Liu Jinghui also possessed a natural intuition. He always made astonishing assumptions and in the end proved them correct. Thus, Liu Jinghui¡¯s many hesitations near the mine, his frequent use of police dogs around the killer¡¯s body dumping sites, and the deployment of an above-average level of manpower to search, undoubtedly agitated the killer. It can be imagined that if not for an imminent crisis, the killer would not have readily attempted to puncture a police officer¡¯s tyres. This was also one of the reasons Xu Taining consented when Jiang Yuan proposed to pump water out of the filled mine¡ªboth because of ample resources and scant clues, and because he believed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. At the same time, Xu Taining believed that Liu Jinghui would not wander aimlessly near the mine for so long without a reason. However, the search near the mine never resulted in finding Liu Jinghui, which was quite frustrating. The initial thoughts might have been that the mine was tooplex or the mountain roads too rugged, causing him to fall or be forced to fall. Now it seems, Liu Jinghui may have actually located the killer¡¯s dumping site¡ªwhich for a regr policeman would be unconventional. An ordinary policeman, after an ident, would definitely be frantically looking for the cause on the spot. But for Liu Jinghui, even the evidence baited with his own person was just part of the case. He always used his own logic to solve cases effortlessly, with the finesse of leveraging a great weight with little force. If there was any fault with Liu Jinghui, perhaps it was that he underestimated the killer¡¯s growth. The first time the killer punctured a tyre, causing an ident, Liu Jinghui narrowly escaped. The second time, the killer probably evolved as well. ¡°Get a map of Fangjin Township and the area around West Mountain,¡± Xu Taining decided without hesitation. The subordinateplied and left. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and spoke softly, ¡°I think we should deploy police dogs. It¡¯s best to deploy several, not only to attempt to sniff out corpses but also to use items belonging to Director Liu and the missing officers as scent sources. Ideally, the suspect should be made a scent source as well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine, and call the technical investigation team too, to check the suspect¡¯s mobile phone and see if we can narrow down a range,¡± Xu Taining said, never sparing resources in affluently fought battles. Chapter 272 - 272 254 Discovery ?272: Chapter 254 Discovery 272: Chapter 254 Discovery Woof. Woof woof woof. Fangjin Township West Mountain. In the mountains, swathes of light pierced the darkness while the bustling noise of people and the barking of dogs carried for miles. Dazhuang stood at the roadside full of spirit, even though his hind legs trembled slightly from motion sickness, his dog face was resolute. From his position, the sounds of police dogs could be heard in every direction¡ªin the hollows, atop the hills, and all around. The police dogs that had arrived earlier were already immersed in their intense work. Dazhuang stuck out his tongue, a bit excited. Since graduating from the police dog academy, he hadn¡¯t seen this many police dogs together. At the same time, Li Li also felt a bit thrilled, whispering to her colleague beside her, ¡°I¡¯m so excited, I haven¡¯t seen this many police dogs since we graduated from the police dog academy.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t Ningtai have a pet market?¡± her colleague responded offhandedly while soothing their own police dog. Li Li pursed her lips and said, ¡°What do those non-working bums count for dogs?¡± Dazhuang also pursed his lips and nodded in agreement. ¡°Comrades!¡± Xu Taining¡¯s voice came over the loudspeakers. Murmurs of ¡°Attention¡± and ¡°At ease¡± rose from the ranks immediately. Li Li did as instructed, and the police dogs also settled down after a slight unrest. Xu Taining hardly paused before he continued: ¡°It¡¯s quitete, so I¡¯ll keep it short. Liu Jinghui, Zhang Yu, and Jiao Peng have been missing for ten days.¡± ¡°They are our colleagues, ourrades, and members of the public. They are the pirs of their families, a father to a nine-year-old boy, a son to a 68-year-old retired female teacher, newlyweds, and a husband who returned home after seven years of border service. Bringing them back home is our duty and our promise to them.¡± ¡°Everyone, our continuous efforts day and night, every minute and every second, are to provide our three colleagues with a glimmer of hope for life. I know everyone is tired, somerades have been working for thirty to forty hours without sleep, but at this moment, I hope everyone can hold on a little longer to give Liu Jinghui, Zhang Yu, and Jiao Peng a better chance to survive¡­¡± ¡°Now, all teams, move out as nned. Report any issues promptly.¡± Xu Taining watched as team after team departed in an orderly manner, and the four new police dogs were deployed around as nned. He himself was starting to feel unsteady on his feet. This was the fourth search team of the day, but the third wave with a substantial number of police dogs. The first two waves had mainly relied on human searches, not only utilizing the maximum forces Xu Taining could gather but also representing a gamble on his part. If they were lucky and found the missing persons quickly, it would lighten the workload and the mission would be aplished. If luck didn¡¯t strike, the pressure would return to Xu Taining. He still had great trust in Jiang Yuan and hadrgely adopted his suggestions. Therefore, the police dogs, which had been deployed from across the province, had started their work based on multiple scent sources. But only those who had worked with police dogs knew how unstable their actual conditions could be. High temperatures, illnesses, psychological factors, environmental elements, and more could prevent the dogs from reaching their optimal working state. And scent sources were even more affected by the environment. The harsh reality was that, with the arrival of the first batch of police dogs, their performance was not as good as expected. ¡°Has the suspect confessed yet?¡± Xu Taining turned back and asked his subordinate. ¡°No,¡± the subordinate answered sinctly. ¡°What did Zhou say?¡± ¡°Director Zhou said it¡¯s pretty tough, didn¡¯t say much else.¡± Xu Taining let out a somewhat disappointed ¡°hm,¡± with nothing else to add. The criminal suspect was determined to stay silent, and interrogation experts couldn¡¯t break through their psychological defenses quickly. That left Xu Taining with nothing much to do but wait. In the past, under tough measures, they might have gotten something out of a suspect, but in the current environment, for a major case like this, nobody dared to do that anymore. This was a case that would go all the way to the high court. If the suspect were to im in court, ¡°I was interrogated continuously for over ten hours during my detention,¡± or ¡°I was not allowed to drink water or use the bathroom during the interrogation,¡± every public official involved in the case would be subject to countless inspections. And to save their own lives, to escape the death penalty, no criminal suspect would exonerate the police or prosecutors. Perhaps some might say the suspect has no evidence. But as far as death penalty cases are concerned, a malfunctioning camera cannot withstand scrutiny. Even when looking at the problem from a darker perspective, if the suspectcks evidence, do interrogation officers not have enemies? ¡°So now¡­¡± the subordinate hesitated, ncing at Xu Taining, wondering if he had any further instructions. Xu Taining shook his head slightly and said, ¡°Let¡¯s wait. What happens next depends on everyone¡¯s performance and whether Liu has tough luck or not.¡± All clues had been exhausted. Thousands of people and theplex logistics had all been switched to the West Mountain of Fangjin Township, and even the dogs from the entire province had been summoned by Xu Taining. Having done this, Xu Taining felt he had no more tricks up his sleeve. Just as he said, from now on, it depended on everyone¡¯s performance, as well as Director Liu¡¯s own fate. ¡°I¡¯ll take a nap. Wake me up when it gets light.¡± Xu Taining nced at the sky and headed straight to themand vehicle to sleep. There was less than two hours left before dawn. With improved visibility and rising temperature, perhaps there would be new discoveries or changes. Xu Taining had only slept about four hours over the past two days and could no longer hold out. Entering themand vehicle, he settled in his seat, reclined the chair, and fell into a deep sleep. Compared to the young people in the detective squad, he was much older. ¡­ At the West Mountain Service Point of the Power Supply Station, the forensic teams had already withdrawn. The police dogs and officers were scattered around, methodically measuring the ground inch by inch. Corpses, traces, vehicles, or any bit of evidence were what everyone needed. Yet beyond the service point, these things vanished without a trace, like bubbles in the sea¡ªseemingly present but disappeared. With the help of several investigation lights, Jiang Yuan found only some insignificant evidence. Looking back at the police dogs, they were either circling in ce or running back and forth. Including the distinguished service dog Heizi, whoy at the trainer¡¯s feet, taking a few steps then stopping. Police dogs track their targets based on scent; the most crucial step is to have a breakthrough with the starting point. Without a breakthrough, they have nothing to pursue. No matter how many dogs were present, it was futile without a breakthrough. Li Li, looking at the police dogs around, especially Heizi¡¯s fruitless efforts, gritted her teeth and decisively took Dazhuang toward the nearby mines. She had read the briefing and knew that cliffs and mine shafts were the most likely spots where Director Liu and others could have fallen. Since Dazhuang¡¯s scent source was the suspect Fu Guangyun, in theory, following the road might lead to his scent. But perhaps Fu Guangyun hadn¡¯t been there for too long, or maybe everyone had been searching in the wrong ce¡ªin any case, the police dogs had no response. Knowing Dazhuang¡¯s working abilities couldn¡¯t outperform Heizi, Li Li simply headed into the mountains. Unlike the distinguished service dog Heizi, Dazhuang¡¯s advantages were stamina and obedience. Li Li struggled to climb some of the smaller slopes, but Dazhuang reached them effortlessly without hesitation. So, upon arriving at an exposed old mine slope, Dazhuang suddenly began to sniff repeatedly. There were signs of ¡°going on track,¡± and Li Li¡¯s nerves instantly tensed. The dense vegetation on both sides of the road might have interfered with the dog¡¯s olfactory sense, but on this mine slope, with the soil eroded, only small grasses were growing, likely offering less cover. Dazhuang sniffed around in circles for a moment, then lifted his head and decisively bolted to the left. Li Li released Dazhuang¡¯s leash and followed at a brisk pace. Dazhuang ran down to the bottom of the mine slope and started frantically sniffing a small patch of grass. When Li Li checked, she saw clear signs of the grass being grasped and pulled. Looking around, there was a mine shaft right in front, and ahead of the grass, a rock about half a person¡¯s height obscured the view. Li Li held onto Dazhuang, then tried to kneel slightly behind the grass, lifting her head just enough to observe the mine shaft. A few steps further, near the shaft, she could see many broken rocks piled up at the entrance, with the area above barren and deste. Having been involved in many major cases before, Li Li didn¡¯t hesitate to grab her walkie-talkie and reported, ¡°I¡¯ve found a mine shaft with signs of copse, requesting backup¡­¡± After receiving a response and reporting her exact location, Li Li tried to approach the mine shaft, shouting loudly, ¡°Director Liu, Liu Jinghui!¡± ¡°Director Liu!¡± ¡°Liu Jinghui!¡± Li Li repeated the calls several times and listened intently, but no response came. She stood up slightly disappointed. At that moment, rhythmic knocking sounds suddenly came from inside the mine shaft. Thud, thud, thud¡­ It was the sound of metal striking metal, not very distinct, but definitely someone knocking. Li Li¡¯s palm clenched tightly around Dazhuang¡¯s neck, tense with anticipation. ¡°We¡¯ve found them!¡± Li Li eximed in disbelief, gripping Dazhuang¡¯s skin firmly. Dazhuang looked back at Li Li, saw her in a state of emotional explosion, and simply turned away, shrugging off the skin on his neck. A dog¡¯s neck skin is thick and the flesh is loose, not worth barking over. Chapter 273 - 273 255 Weak and Powerless ?273: Chapter 255 Weak and Powerless 273: Chapter 255 Weak and Powerless Li Li didn¡¯t know that when she reported her discovery on the walkie-talkie, those in white shirts were all moved to tears. It was too difficult. The pressure was immense. Life was tough in the mines and townships, and solving the case was challenging, but the greatest difficulty came from the psychological pressure. Imagining the scene where Liu Jinghui was found allowed everyone to revel in the utmost joy, but the thought of not finding him was unbearably distressing. For a group of middle-aged and elderly cadres, imagining a happy, perfect ending was a rigid mental exercise, yet conceiving terrible, devastating scenarios activated their minds as vividly as in their youth. Li Li¡¯s report relieved many people. Several officers ran over immediately, some wiser ones even brought shovels and pickaxes, but there weren¡¯t many of these tools, and the space in front of the mine soon became saturated. Fortunately, an excavator and a hook machine arrived. The construction machinery was ready; they had been busy at the entrance of the Zifeng Mountain mine before, and now they were prepared for battle. This was Xu Taining¡¯s habit. Regardless of probability or cost-effectiveness, as long as his superiors were willing to provide resources, he would spend them. In the past, the provincial department¡¯s best asset was human resources, and Xu Taining had learned to organize and coordinate. Where others would employ a few hundred people for a case, he would use thousands, mobilizing the masses and employing sheer numbers. Sometimes this approach even attracted criticism from the local cadres. However, the more resources Xu Taining used, the stronger his ability to solve cases. Just like this time. A more frugal leader might not have sent the construction equipment immediately since the situation above was still unclear, and machinery rental was charged by the day. Simrly, more conservative senior inspectors from the provincial department, even when using dogs, would consider using five or six a lot, since their own K9 unit could meet the need. But Xu Taining was different; if he thought it necessary, he would use all avable resources, and as for the extra expense and waste, a high-ranking inspector like him, who cared only for results and not for money, had no worries. Solving the case was what mattered. When the excavator arrived, Xu Taining had woken up. First came a standard medium-sized excavator. The operator, who seemed experienced, surveyed the situation and said, ¡°I¡¯ll clear a path first. I¡¯m not sure about the condition of the mine entrance, you should get someone from the coal mine to take a look. They specialize in this sort of thing.¡± Xu Taining immediately agreed and called the leaders of the Zifeng Mountain Mining Bureau. Most of the coal mines under the jurisdiction of the Zifeng Mountain Mining Bureau had ceased production, but some were still operating, albeit at a reduced scale, and personnel cuts had been minimal. They had all the necessary equipment. With production tasks now simpler, there were, in fact, more people working on safety and hygiene enforcement than before. In recent days, Xu Taining had also be acquainted with several leaders from the Mining Bureau, and support arrived quickly after a phone call. The first to arrive was the Mining Bureau¡¯s own rescue team. The mine rescue team operated under the structure and management style of a fire department. Unlike ordinary firefighters, the rescue team carried equipment such as person-locators, cutting saws, high-expansion foam fire extinguishers, and positive pressure oxygen breathing apparatuses. Because they were part of the Mining Bureau, the mine rescue team could easily ess and understand the mine maps, and familiarity with the local soil conditions greatly increased safety. However, the skills of the professional team weren¡¯t necessary for this particr mine. The coal resources in Fangjin Township were meager, mostly small coal pits illicitly dug in earlier years. Simple methods were used during their mining, so the copse wasn¡¯t too difficult to manage. The professional teams busily worked, and the original group of thousands, who could rest, did so, while those who could assist helped, substantially elerating the progress. Since it was not yet confirmed that the person in the mine was Liu Jinghui, Xu Taining could not simply disperse the team. What if it was just a monkey inside that liked to bang on metal? Jiang Yuan helped around the mine for a while before he was quickly reced. Unskilled withrge machinery, he found his way to the logistics camp and started to cook. Preparing food for humans wasn¡¯t his forte nor interest, but cooking for dogs¡ªDazhuang had made significant contributions and deserved a good meal regardless. Soon, the smell of LV5 dog food wafted throughout the camp. Not only Li Li, but several dog handlers were lured over by their dogs. Including Heizi. Of course, all the dogs had their ranks and dignities; they wouldn¡¯t bark chaotically like street dogs. Each dog sat in front of Jiang Yuan with a bowl in its mouth, watching him cook. Jiang Yuan felt their anticipation and quietly started three more pots. The handlers also pitched in, assisting Jiang Yuan. The LV5 dog food skill looked quite fancy, and anyone who saw Jiang Yuan at work could tell there was something special about it. Dazhuang, especially, kept ncing around with his shiny ck eyes. Among the assisting dogs, there were bothrge breeds like Rottweilers and German Shepherds, and small ones like Jack Russell Terriers. Chapter 274 - 274 255 Weak and Powerless_2 ?274: Chapter 255 Weak and Powerless_2 274: Chapter 255 Weak and Powerless_2 Different police dogs have vastly different appetites, and logically, the type of food they eat would also vary. Jiang Yuan had no trouble distributing the food evenly. Dazhuang was the first to receive his meal. In front of his seniors and juniors, both brothers and sisters, Dazhuang gently ced the bowl down and received a full portion of dog food. Dazhuang lifted his chin pridefully and maintained this posture until Heizi put down two bowls. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Dazhuang nced over and didn¡¯t even look at Heizi anymore. Li Li also timely gave themand, ¡°Eat up.¡± Dazhuang buried his head in his meal, unbothered by any other troubles in the world. ¡­ When Liu Jinghui saw the stars again, his body was trembling with weakness, but looking around at the people, his heart was filled with nostalgia and wonder for the beautiful world. And just a little bit of worry. ¡°Inside¡­ there are human bones. The murderer¡­ must have killed someone and buried the body here years ago¡­¡± Liu Jinghui, upon seeing someone in a police uniform, did not immediately speak, until a familiar director appeared, and he began to recount solemnly. Liu Jinghui had already realized that among the people he had dispatched, there could be a mole or someone leaking information. But he could not share this news now, especially not with his colleagues from the provincial office. The reason was simple ¨C the high-ranking directors at the provincial office, just like him, were generals without an army, and it was not easy for them to handle problems that ran too deep. On the other hand, grassroots criminal police team leaders like Huang Qiangmin were in a better position to decisively handle such issues. Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze swept through the crowd, believing that Jiang Yuan would participate in the rescue, and if Jiang Yuan came, Huang Qiangmin would likelye as well. Sure enough, Jiang Yuan¡¯s giraffe-like neck was visible from afar. A smile burst onto Liu Jinghui¡¯s face. As Jiang Yuan approached, Liu Jinghui waved and said to the surrounding officers, ¡°Let Jiang Yuane here.¡± The police officers, the mine rescue team, the leaders, and the mobilized crowd unfoldedyer byyer to make room for Jiang Yuan to squeeze in. At this point, Liu Jinghui and two other officers were already lying on stretchers, being carried to a spot away from the mine entrance. The shape of the mine was no longer visible; under the assault of several pieces of heavy machinery, the small coal mine had undergone unprecedented excavation, and it was all withoutpensation. The fiercest exploitation is the one that¡¯s unpaid; that¡¯s the reasoning. ¡°Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan came up next to Liu Jinghui and without disdain, crouched down beside him. Director Liu was already foul-smelling ¨C a very objective statement. Even a rag that had been simply wiped by a normal person, if left in the closed mine for over a week, would emit a very strong odor. It was only someone like Jiang Yuan, a forensic doctor, who could squat down without changing his expression. ¡°Jiang Yuan, you came,¡± said Liu Jinghui, his breath heavy with the pungent smell of urine, proving that the mine wasn¡¯t very wet. ¡°We first searched near the mine entrance where the tire was punctured and didn¡¯t find anything, which is why we moved to this ce,¡± Jiang Yuan exined why he arrivedte, skipping any preamble, trusting that Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductive abilities would suffice to understand. Liu Jinghui heaved a sigh of both frustration and relief, ¡°Finding this ce is already very good. I¡¯ve been wondering whether you¡¯d be able to figure out the rtionship between the various tire tracks at the parking lot.¡± ¡°What tire tracks?¡± Jiang Yuan asked back. Liu Jinghui paused and said, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that you searched near the mine where the tire blew out? Including the scene of my ident, there were motorcycle tracks, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you consider that most of these different tracks could havee from the murderer?¡± Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment and said in a low voice, ¡°Director Liu, you already said they were different tracks, why would a normal person consider they¡¯re from the same person?¡± ¡°That ce is so remote, yet fresh tracks appeared over several days, isn¡¯t it because of our visit? With such high mountains andplex terrain, when frequent tracks show up over several days yet are not reported to me, and appear both at the ident scene and the parking lot, the behavior of the police dogs also suggests the possibility of the same person, although it¡¯s yet to be confirmed¡­¡± Liu Jinghui must have been pent up with a lot of thoughts over the past few days. He let it all out in one breath, his face flushed and fervent. Jiang Yuan digested the information he was given and asked, ¡°So¡­ the rtionship between the tire tracks and Fangjin Township is?¡± Liu Jinghui frowned, looked at Jiang Yuan, and asked again, ¡°This is Fangjin Township?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°We followed the tracks here; one set was particrly deep, likely from a rainy day, and we traced them to a crossroad, confirming it came from the mountainous road here. And the most valuable and likely ce for clues around here would be these mining shafts¡­¡± Liu Jinghui did not borate in detail, but the direction of the deduction was basically firm. Jiang Yuan looked at him woodenly. Usually, when theymunicated, they could understand each other, but this time the distance felt somewhat further. Plus, since Liu Jinghui had juste out of the mine, his voice was hoarse and he didn¡¯t speak well; he also smelled, makingmunication even harder. Liu Jinghui was lifted by a few officers. Liu Jinghui still turned to look towards Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°I suspect that the murderer is on the state payroll, not necessarily a government employee, but possibly someone working at a public institution or a state-owned enterprise, over forty years old, likely fifty, male, strong physically, with good health¡­ Living in such a small town and having to hide his crimes¡­ ¡± ¡°Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted. ¡°The air is fresher outside, and my thoughts are clearer. Let me sort through my thoughts¡­¡± mumbled Liu Jinghui. ¡°I was originally nning to investigate along the line of Wangguoshan, but then I realized they must have severed ties early, the trail went cold, indeed the best method is to find the bodies. Well, there should be several bodies in the mine; we¡¯ve already unearthed one that has turned to a skeleton¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan took advantage of the moment Liu Jinghui was speaking to put on gloves, and gripped Liu Jinghui¡¯s hand, ¡°Rest assured and rest¡­¡± Liu Jinghui got agitated, ¡°How could I rest now? Don¡¯t bother with me; just think of it as if I¡¯ve been dieting for over a week, now is the time to seize the opportunity¡­¡± ¡°The murderer has been caught,¡± Jiang Yuan patted the back of Liu Jinghui¡¯s hand as if to reassure him, ¡°The murderer is an employee of a power supply station nearby. Five years ago, he was stationed at a service point just a few hundred meters from the mine we were just at. The motorcycle he used was provided by a repair shop, a sort of rental arrangement¡­¡± Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s description, the strength in Liu Jinghui¡¯s hand slowly diminished, and he eventually became weak and listless. Chapter 275 - 275 256 Regret ?275: Chapter 256 Regret 275: Chapter 256 Regret ¡°Ouch, ouch¡­¡± ¡°My old back, it just can¡¯t stand the damp. This damn ce is so humid.¡± ¡°It¡¯s ufortable, ufortable lying down, and standing up is just as bad.¡± In front of the young nurse, Liu Jinghuiined nonstop. The gentle sister from the special care unit said, ¡°I¡¯ll get you some ibuprofenter, and if you¡¯re in real pain, just take one.¡± ¡°Ibuprofen is for pain, right? Ah, I¡¯m worried about getting addicted,¡± Liu Jinghui grumbled. ¡°You don¡¯t know, but us police officers are often involved in major cases. Getting hurt often, I can¡¯t just use painkillers recklessly.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t usually take painkillers, then a few ibuprofen should be fine. It can make you morefortable. And ibuprofen is quite safe¡ªwhen kids have a cold or fever, it¡¯s one of the twomon antipyretics used for them, just in a different form and dosage.¡± After the nurse finished hanging the drip for Liu Jinghui and adjusted his nket, she said, ¡°Rest well, and ring the bell if you need anything.¡± ¡°Alright. Thank you,¡± Liu Jinghui said with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, you all are heroes. Nowadays everyone says that we depend on you to shoulder the burden.¡± Liu Jinghui watched the young nurse leave. The door to the hospital room closed, and the room was silent once again. It was only ten secondster that a loud shout was heard: ¡°You¡¯ve pulled out the IV line again! If you pull it out one more time, I¡¯m going to lose it!¡± Liu Jinghui silently turned his head. It wasn¡¯t just him, nor could it be his gentle and beautiful nurse. Thump thump. A knock at the door followed, and Liu Jinghui quickly put away his phone, pinched out his cigarette, waved the smoke away, ttened his pillow,y on his side, and let out a cry like a fledgling calling for its mother: Ouch, ouch¡­ ¡°We¡¯reing in.¡± Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin, Wei Zhenguo, and the others came in with fruit baskets in hand. Liu Jinghui: ¡°Ouch, ouch¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu, still in pain, huh?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth tilted up by 33.3 degrees, which could be considered his version of full-blown enthusiasm. While digging for Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin was very invested and worked hard, not sleeping for several days, using his own police dog and Jiang Yuan, with many expenses that weren¡¯t reimbursed. His efforts were significant. However, once Director Liu was carried out reeking of urine and cleaned up, Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t feel quite as thrilled anymore. That¡¯s just how it is, a colleague from the police force missing and buried¡ªa heroic tale, evoking rivers of empathy and sympathy. But a high-ranking police chief from the provincial office who¡¯s well and alive seems more ordinary, especially a third-grade high-ranking chief who didn¡¯t even wear a white shirt. Despite holding a high position, there was still ¡®deputy¡¯ in his title, officially certified as nothing special. Liu Jinghui let out a couple more groans, and seeing that only Huang Qiangmin was there, he stopped and sat up abruptly, saying, ¡°Didn¡¯t bring any reporters, huh? I thought there might be cameras.¡± Huang Qiangmin went over to help him in a pretentious manner, saying urgently, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t get up so quickly, after all, mobile phones also have cameras. What if someone takes a picture?¡± ¡°That¡¯s unlikely. I¡¯m just cooperating with their work. I¡¯m not asking them for anything. It was just nine days in a mine, I came out unscathed; it¡¯s not worth making a fuss over for me,¡± Liu Jinghui greeted the others with a nod, opened a pack of cigarettes, and handed one to each, then said, ¡°Open a window and smoke inside. Don¡¯t let the smell drift into the corridor; we¡¯d get scolded easily.¡± Huang Qiangmin took the cigarette and said, ¡°You were missing for ten days, and now you say it was nine.¡± ¡°The day I went missing, I didn¡¯t fall into the mine right away, so, officially, it was nine days. Ah, they won¡¯t even grant me a double-digit number. Now people will say, ¡®Little Liu was only buried for a few days, and look how dramatic he is,''¡± Liu Jinghui imitated with exaggerated expressiveness. ¡°Not at all, not at all. Being buried for nine days, a normal person would¡¯ve died. It must have been incredibly difficult to survive. Let the ignorant try and see. Besides, it¡¯s not like it was nned to be just nine days before being dug out. If it weren¡¯t for good luck, I really would¡¯ve been done for. Then who would you argue with? I simply got lucky; I survived against great odds.¡± Liu Jinghui gave a ¡°hmm¡± of agreement but took a deep drag of his cigarette, then added, ¡°You see, it was just a bit of luck. I also felt that you guys would definitely find me. At the very least, if you found the car, you¡¯d find me. I didn¡¯t expect that bastard to drive the car into the mine¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it was so dangerous. Being buried in a mine, if it had been me, I would¡¯ve died of fright.¡± ¡°Ah, water wasn¡¯t totally cut off, I turned on my phone periodically¡ªI still had battery, just not much to eat. There was still water; the mine was dripping from above. I just couldn¡¯t take a shower. At that time, I was worried that the mine would flood, that would¡¯ve been trouble, hahaha¡­¡± Liu Jinghui emphasized the water issue particrly. Huang Qiangmin and the others exchanged nces, all expressing their agreement. As the cigarette came to an end, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and smiled, saying, ¡°I heard Xu wanted you to go to the provincial office, but you didn¡¯t?¡± ¡°He wasn¡¯t seriously looking for someone; it was just a temporary transfer.¡± Huang Qiangmin quickly emphasized, ¡°Temporary transfers don¡¯t have a position, no real rights. In a few years, when Xu Taining retires, and Jiang Yuan gets sent back, having to start all over again¡ªthat¡¯s a big loss.¡± The second half of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words weren¡¯t really necessary; the knowing ones understood, and those present were all aware. Still, Huang Qiangmin had to say it and emphasized it heavily. Liu Jinghui chuckled, ¡°The provincial office has its perks. At least you meet more people, can learn quite a bit, and the subsidies are a bit higher¡­¡± Chapter 276 - 276 256 Regret_2 ?276: Chapter 256 Regret_2 276: Chapter 256 Regret_2 Huang Qiangmin looked at Liu Jinghui, his mouth gradually rxing into a peaceful smile. ¡°Hahaha¡­¡± Liu Jinghuiughed heartily three times, then patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, saying, ¡°No more kidding, I really do need to thank everyone this time. Without you guys, I would have died wrongfully in that mine shaft.¡± ¡°We would have found you eventually,¡± Jiang Yuan had also reviewed the search operation, saying, ¡°If we hadn¡¯t found the body, Director Xu would likely have increased the manpower and then made searching for your vehicles a top priority. Once the search at Zifeng Mountain wasplete, or nearly so, he would have considered the surrounding topography and traffic situation.¡± A vehicle is arge item; burning it would leave traces, and driving it out of town would involve passing through various vehicle checkpoints with cameras, which could easily expose the driver¡¯s identity. So, if the vehicle could not be found, the next step would be to draw a circle within the range of the vehicle checkpoints and search methodically. Of course, this kind of search is a massive undertaking, but with over a thousand people, several dogs, and the cooperation of each township, it should take roughly a week to find the vehicle. Director Xu Taining¡¯s ability to cast a wide and conduct systematic searches was very much recognized. The greatest fear with this method is ack of confidence and missing the target; everything else is just a battle between time, resources, and pressure. Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts were simr to Jiang Yuan¡¯s, only he was in a different position, leading him to sigh, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect that you would find the body first¡­¡± ¡°It was just near the parking lot where the tire was punctured, and only that mine shaft hadn¡¯t been thoroughly searched,¡± Jiang Yuan exined, ¡°It was the only choice left.¡± ¡°Xu¡¯s decisiveness when he gets tough is so much stronger than mine,¡± Liu Jinghui nodded silently. With his deductive skills, he too believed that the mine shaft was very likely to contain a body or other evidence. But having sent a diver down and found nothing conclusive, Liu Jinghui ultimately did not decide to pump out the water for another look. At heart, it wasn¡¯t purely because of the cost; it was also time-consuming and inelegant. As a real detective of the deductive school, Liu Jinghui believed he could solve the case in another way and didn¡¯t need one or multiple bodies to prove his judgment. His ultimate goal was to arrest the criminal; as for the body, once the perpetrator was found, he could just ask for specifics, right? Looking at the results, Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t wrong after all. Jiang Yuan and the others found the body, but the body itself actually provided limited information. Instead, it was the bag containing the body that pointed them towards Fangjin Township. However, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need this step at all; he deduced his way to the mines near Fangjin Township based on the tire tracks, and he didn¡¯t even know that it was Fangjin Township. He saved at least a million in expenses and did it elegantly. If it weren¡¯t for the murderer Fu Guangyun¡¯s strong execution and slight advantage in status, which led to Liu Jinghui bing a broken flower and wilting willow, this case could have been an exemry teaching material. ¡°Ah¡­¡± Liu Jinghui sighed genuinely. ¡°However, this murderer Fu Guangyun is still not willing to speak up, and we haven¡¯t discovered his connection to the previous case with Wangguoshan,¡± Jiang Yuan was still quite concerned about this matter. In fact, it was by following Wangguoshan¡¯s thread that Liu Jinghui originally came to Zifeng Mountain to look for the body. In the end, not only did he not find the body, but he also got hurt, and to top it off, the two threads still hadn¡¯te together. Liu Jinghui also cared about this matter a lot, but he just curled his lip, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s not rush it. Many death-row inmates are tough before their second trial. Wait until they are actually sentenced to death, then you¡¯ll see, their mentality will be different.¡± ¡°I thought there would be a familial rtionship, at least that they would have had interactions in life,¡± Jiang Yuan still appeared somewhat disappointed. Liu Jinghui chuckled and said, ¡°The fact that these two were so close and eachmitted crimes actually makes it less likely they interacted in daily life. Think about it, who could tolerate having a serial killer in their social circle? Even a serial killer couldn¡¯t stand it.¡± Jiang Yuan thought about it carefully and found this reasoning to be true. An individual not epted by society isn¡¯t just excluded by social groups outside of themselves; they also reject such members of society. It¡¯s as though Neptune could not ept marrying a queen of the sea, a gambler would never lend money to another gambler, a poisonous insect could never trust the words of another poisonous insect¡­ Simrly, when a junior high school dropout bes a boss, they don¡¯t think about hiring more employees with low levels of education; instead, they take pride in hiring highly educated staff. Young hoodlums don¡¯t take pride when a peer makes a miscalction; rather, they boast, ¡°I know someone who never attended sses but had great grades. If it weren¡¯t for getting shed during the college entrance exams¡­¡± Even those divorced with children who go on blind dates don¡¯t want to find another divorced partner with children. Serial killers would not be happy if a rtive or sibling was a serial killer. At the very least, that would bepetition. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much about it, after some time, I¡¯ll go to the prison to talk to them,¡± Liu Jinghui was not someone who was in a hurry to find answers. On the contrary, he preferred to slowly savor the process. This feeling was like eating shelled shrimp, the meat of the shrimp needed to be thick, the vor fresh, the back puffed up, and the body plump, but it also needed to have spines, without them, just eating the meat would lose its charm. To Liu Jinghui, reasoning itself was a very interesting affair, and if there were no goals to chase after, he would rather take his time. Liu Jinghui chatted with the others for a few more sentences, and at the end of the conversation, he once again shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and asked, ¡°Have the autopsies of the bodies in the mine finished? Did you find anything?¡± ¡°One of the male bodies underwent DNA testing, and it turns out to be siblings with one of the female bodies found nearby. The other four bodies are all female,¡± Jiang Yuan replied sinctly. ¡°Now, taking into ount the four bodies found in the mine, there are a total of nine bodies, one male and eight females, and we have confirmed the identities of five of the bodies.¡± ¡°There are still four bodies that can¡¯t be identified?¡± Liu Jinghui was not surprised, but he was somewhat disappointed. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, ¡°Directly from a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective, it¡¯s very difficult to identify them.¡± ¡°Understood, I will ask Fu Guangyun about itter,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed. Most bodies are like that, especially those that have be skeletonized. Unless the DNA matches, it¡¯s usually necessary tobine on-the-ground investigations to possibly identify them. Like during the Wangguoshan case before, by employing hundreds of officers and multiple units working together, it was rtively easier to find information about the victims. But in the case of Fu Guangyun¡¯s murder, since the murderer Fu Guangyun had already been apprehended, finding the victims¡¯ information to console their families, though also very important, was no longer an urgent task, and it was not possible to deploy thousands of people to conduct searches and verification anymore. If they were merchants or tourists from other ces, or had been kidnapped, trafficked, or deceived here in some other way, then it would be even harder to confirm their identities. In the end, the most likely way to identify the victims might be to question the murderer. Jiang Yuan felt powerless about this as well. In fact, if possible, he too preferred to confirm the identities of the victims. The legacy left by the deceased had never failed him. This time alone, Jiang Yuan had received three legacies: Wall Building (LV4) Winter Melon Cultivation (LV3) Official Document Writing (LV4) If possible, Jiang Yuan also wanted to fully understand the remaining bodies. But due to limited abilities and conditions, it was ultimately time to close the case. After saying farewell to Liu Jinghui and having hotpot with Huang Qiangmin and others, Jiang Yuan directly asked for leave and went home. Five days ofpensatory time off. Just judging from Huang Qiangmin¡¯s generosity, it seemed that peace reigned in Ningtai. Upon returning home, Jiang Yuan was especially keen on trying out the three legacies he had been granted. There was no hurry with the official document writing; there would be plenty of opportunities to show it off once he returned to the police bureau. It was slightly off-season for winter melon cultivation, but it wasn¡¯t entirely impossible to grow them now. Jiang Yuan took a balcony in his home enclosed with a cover, made a few modifications, checked that the temperature was suitable, and began nting. During this period, he was also able to put his wall building skills to use, which was quite perfect. It was as if he had reconciled with the world. Chapter 277 - 277 257 A Fulfilling Day ?277: Chapter 257 A Fulfilling Day 277: Chapter 257 A Fulfilling Day Click click click click. Jiang Yuan held a brick in one hand and lightly scored it twice with the trowel, then turned to another side, picked up the trowel, and with two quick chops, cut off a small piece of the brick. The seven-tenths of the brick he had cut fit perfectly into the cement-smeared wall, seamless and precise to thest millimeter. Pleased with himself, Jiang Yuan twirled the trowel, inadvertently sending his two dogs scurrying back a few steps. ¡°Cowards. Come here!¡± Uncle Qiang, who was squatting nearby helping to mix the cement, was the family¡¯s dog trainer. Seeing the two dogs run without even looking back, he immediately started cursing at them. Er Gou hung his head and shuffled back step by step. ¡°It¡¯s just a trowel, what are you afraid of!¡± Uncle Qiang grabbed the cors of the two dogs with one hand and waved the trowel in front of them with the other. The dogs bowed their heads, looking as if they dared not even nce at it. ¡°In a while, I¡¯ll give these two a bit of intensified training,¡± Uncle Qiang said, a bit of his face having been lost, quickly making an excuse. Jiang Yuanughed heartily and said, ¡°It¡¯s best if they can guard the house. If they can¡¯t cut it, we¡¯ll just buy new dogs for that. These two can then be purely pet dogs.¡± ¡°No, they¡¯re just not trained well enough yet,¡± Uncle Qiang said, gesturing toward the trowel in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, ¡°That thing does look really intimidating. Back in the day, there were plenty of people who used it for robbery and murder around the country.¡± Jiang Yuan was familiar with the story Uncle Qiang mentioned. The so-called trowel is a small tool with one t head and one wedge-shaped head. The metal part at the head is usually only the size of a fist, with the wedge side usable for chiseling and the t side functioning as a hammer or mallet. The trowel isn¡¯t very big overall. The metal head is the size of a fist, and the handle is not even as long as a forearm. It¡¯s easy to carry and conceal. Having it in hand is just like holding a tool, so in the mid-90s, there were numerous cases of trowel-wielding robberies. The method of robbery was extremely bold and wild, often with the criminal eyeing someone on the street, suspecting they had money, then quietly following them. When they got behind them, the trowel would slide out from their sleeve, they¡¯d swing it in a circle and then smash it into the back of the target¡¯s head. The volume of the trowel is small, but its attacking power is quite significant. A trip to the museum would reveal that it¡¯s basically identical in shape to the copper mallets from the Tang and Song Dynasty, or the six-petal copper hammers. Since ordinary people don¡¯t walk around with eight-petal six-ridge copper helmets or simr protection, a hit on the head usually results in immediate loss ofbat power. There were often severe injuries or deaths, resulting in widespread fear. Jiang Yuan nonchntly flipped the trowel in his hand, thinking that now with video surveince, such a tool wouldn¡¯t be as dangerous. A back approach, a single attack, quick disengagement, and a weapon that¡¯s easy to hide¡ªif unlucky, the victim wouldn¡¯t even have a clear idea of what the attacker looked like. That¡¯s why this type of crime acquired its own name, ¡°Trowel Gang¡± or ¡°Trowel Gangsters.¡± Of course, the trowel was still handy forying bricks. Jiang Yuan used it to adjust two bricks, then switched to a cement knife to apply more cement. Watching a flower bed rise from the balcony as if sprouting from the ground, Uncle Qiang found it slightly odd but also impressive, saying, ¡°Your work is better than the old hands in our vige. If you were still in the vige, every family that built a house would want you as their foreman.¡± Jiang Yuan, who had stayed in the vige too, chuckled, ¡°To be a foreman, you have to manage cigarettes, and I don¡¯t smoke, so it¡¯d be wasted on me.¡± ¡°A pack every three days, even if you don¡¯t smoke, just taking them is enough. Today¡¯s foremen are expensive, and they can bring a junior worker whose daily wage is 150. It¡¯s a shame you¡¯re from Jiang Vige, where these wall-building skills go unused, it¡¯s a bit of a waste,¡± said Uncle Qiang, with genuine regret in his tone. Jiang Yuanughed and said, ¡°Well, since we have time today, let¡¯sy some more bricks.¡± ¡°With the way you are, if you really want toy more bricks, we could do it downstairs, make a big, sturdy wall,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen,ing over with a strainer. ¡°Make a big wall¡­ What for?¡± ¡°To create a wall for medals and awards. When you receive more honors, I¡¯ll hang them on that wall. Just like when you were studying and our living room had that white wall. It¡¯s too small by the door; your ¡®Second-ss Merit Home¡¯ que has already been hung up there,¡± Jiang Fuzhen exined with growing pride. ¡°What kind of wall?¡± ¡°Any wall that¡¯s convenient for people to see,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen, beaming, ¡°We¡¯ll build it on the empty space in front of our building so everyone in theplex can see it.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that invite criticism?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Fuzhen snorted, ¡°Criticize me for what?¡± ¡°For showing off?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not doing it to show off. Who posts on social media? They allow others to brag on social media but disallow me to show off on my own awards wall? Our ancestors even allowed future generations to hang ques in ancestral halls. We¡¯re honoring our family legacy; what¡¯s there to fear?¡± ¡°Afraid of people¡­ being jealous?¡± ¡°Our family received so much in demolitionpensation; aren¡¯t others already jealous?¡± Jiang Fuzhenughed, ¡°Those who like to feel jealous can just hold it in.¡± Jiang Yuan felt this made sense but also didn¡¯t, and with consideration, he suggested, ¡°Then let¡¯s build one at home. If we put it outside, it¡¯ll be exposed to wind and rain¡­ but we have walls at home too, so it¡¯s not really needed¡­¡± ¡°You could build a cover for it, like a pavilion, with a roof or something.¡± ¡°What if there¡¯s a storm?¡± ¡°Then add anotheryer of windows?¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that just be another room?¡± Jiang Yuan thought to himself, I can¡¯t build houses, I¡¯ve only just learned how toy bricks. Jiang Fuzhen pped his forehead, ¡°Never mind, I¡¯ll find a room on the first floor of ourplex and set it up there.¡± Uncle Qiang reminded him from the side, ¡°If you move all the ques and awards there, wouldn¡¯t it leave our house bare? What would we show to visitors then?¡± At once, Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s enthusiasm fizzled out, his heart sinking into a rare anxiety and indecision. Jiang Yuan reminded, ¡°The meat must be ready.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll go stir it,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen, hurrying back to his task. So, Jiang Yuan went back toying bricks for the flower bed, feeling far more at ease at home than when traveling for work. He was actually involved in engineering projects outside, mainly pumping water out of mine shafts, digging andndfilling mine garbage, and eventually excavating copsed mine entrances. The stress involved in this kind of work is quite high, especially when you¡¯re always thinking about gaining something from it, your mood bes different. It¡¯s so much more rxing to be at home, just building flower beds. Jiang Yuan can even do without nting winter melons and just keep the flower beds as they are. If he gets really bored, he can put a table in there and work exclusively on official documents, and after he¡¯s finished, burn them as offerings to his ancestors. Some of the older generation like to study, so they could read more official documents under the spring, andter on take the exam to be a better-qualified civil servant in the underworld, and in doing so, take care of the younger generation too. It¡¯s quite a reasonable thing to do. When tired of building walls, Jiang Yuan would swipe through his phone. In the ten-plus groups he had joined, there was lively discussion about the Zifeng Mountain case. In those groups that didn¡¯t include Liu Jinghui, people talked about him and the case simultaneously. But in the groups with Liu Jinghui in them, the conversation was mainly about the case. Jiang Yuan casually opened a group chat to find someone sharing their experience: Everyday Lethargy: [I remember one time while on duty, I encountered someone who had fallen into atrine. It was quite deep, reaching up to an adult¡¯s chest. Standing up, only their head would show, and they couldn¡¯t climb out by themselves. The scene at the time¡­] Became Famous in One Battle: [Did they die?] Everyday Lethargy: [No, the person didn¡¯t die, but I guess they died socially. The guy was a schr from the vige who¡¯d gone out to study. He came back during the New Year with his kid to visit rtives and ended up like that. When we pulled him out, his belt was still Gi.] Li Rui: [A return to the hometown in honor but ended up in cold manure water?] Jiang Yuan had some impression of thest speaker, Li Rui, the forensic doctor. When they were at Zifeng Mountain, this person was an active chatter. The group he was currently in might have been one that Li Rui had pulled him into. Everyday Lethargy: [No joke, the water in thetrine is really corrosive and not good for the skin. I wouldn¡¯t rmend soaking in it. It¡¯s very dangerous in hot weather, lots of toxic substances, and pretty ufortable in cold weather too, can easily lead to frostbite.] Li Rui: [I understand the part about hot weather, but the cold weather should be the mostfortable scenario, right?] Everyday Lethargy: [Please elucidate on how atrine in cold weather could befortable!] As Jiang Yuan was enjoying the banter, he saw another familiar person join the conversation: Medical Examiner Wang Lan: [Speaking of a true story, I once came across someone who fell into atrine in winter. The night temperature was just below zero degrees, so there were slight signs of frosting. When they fell in, the ice shed their skin, causing extensive ulcerations, and hypothermia happens quite quickly in winter, so that¡¯s how I came into the picture¡­] Everyday Lethargy: [From what you¡¯re saying, to only be a withered flower or damaged willow is quite lucky indeed.] Li Rui: [Three people¡¯s worth of material definitely doesn¡¯t drown anyone.] Medical Examiner Wang Lan: [All thanks to Jiang Yuan, if not for him, the withered willow would have had to stay in the hole at least another week.] Everyday Lethargy: [Shocked.gif, another week, and I¡¯m afraid they¡¯d be unable to even pee.] Li Rui: [I¡¯ve seen the fingerprints Jiang Yuan did, and they were really strong. I haven¡¯t had the chance to see anything else though.] Medical Examiner Wang Lan: [His crime scene investigations are so detailed it¡¯s like they¡¯ve been licked clean by a dog.] Everyday Lethargy: [Detailed¡­ like a dog?] Jiang Yuan was a bit unable to continue reading at this point. To say Medical Examiner Wang Lan was a serious person when they met normally, but now his choice of words was too careless. Of course, the one who was least careful was this ¡°Everyday Lethargy.¡± Jiang Yuan clicked on his profile picture but did not recognize the person. Jiang Yuan decided to check out other groups for a while before returning to the home page, only to see that this ¡°Qinghe Skill Sharing Group¡± had actually tagged him. Everyday Lethargy: [@Hydraulic Engineer, is that Jiang Yuan? I have a fingerprint here; can you take a look and see if you can match it?] Li Rui: [I can do fingerprints too¡­] Everyday Lethargy: [Then try doing it. If you seed, I¡¯llmend your work.] Jiang Yuan shook his head as he saw this but, honestly, stood up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands. He then returned to the room and turned on hisputer. Jiang Yuan copied down the fingerprint and erged it on the screen, starting to study it closely. It was indeed a difficult partial fingerprint. After looking at it for a while, Jiang Yuan tried to mark it twice, both attempts ending in failure. Thus, two hours had already passed. Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry. After a few more attempts, he made a sessful match before dinner time. Compared to the simple task of matching a full fingerprint, it took a lot of time, but for a partial fingerprint, just being able to make a match was quite significant. This kind of thing naturally couldn¡¯t wait. Jiang Yuan took out his phone and reopened the ¡°Qinghe Skill Sharing Group,¡± Hydraulic Engineer: [@Everyday Lethargy, this is Jiang Yuan. The fingerprint matched. How would you like me to send it to you?] Everyday Lethargy, who had just been chatting in the group, suddenly disappeared. After a while, Everyday Lethargy finally spoke: [You¡¯re not joking? This case involves a murder!] As soon as these words appeared, the group went silent. Jiang Yuan arched his eyebrows but didn¡¯t hesitate to type: [Indeed, it matched. The suspect is a habitual offender. How should I send the details to you?] Everyday Lethargy: [Hold on, I sent you a friend request and am already kneeling. Once you ept, you can send it over.] Chapter 278 - 278 258 Cold-blooded and Heartless ?278: Chapter 258 Cold-blooded and Heartless 278: Chapter 258 Cold-blooded and Heartless Jiang Yuan clicked open his contacts, only to see two requests to add friends. One from someone named Languishing Daily, and the other from Fingerprint Analyst Li Rui. Jiang Yuan epted both, and then asked Languishing Daily, ¡°May I ask which unit you are with? Do you have an ID badge? Because this involves evidence.¡± Languishing Daily casually sent over an ID badge photo and added, ¡°Haha, pretty cautious.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at it, and wow ¡ª Deputy Director Wan Baoming of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center. In terms of rank, this guy was on par with Liu Jinghui, just one step away from donning a white shirt, even higher up than Huang Qiangmin. Of course, officials from big cities generally outrank those from county towns just by default. Still, Jiang Yuan maintained hisposure and said, ¡°Hello, Director, I didn¡¯t recognize you. One moment, please. I¡¯ll send the information over the internalwork.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. No rush.¡± Languishing Daily replied with exceptional politeness. In a moment, Jiang Yuan sent the matched fingerprint data and other information to Wan Baoming via the internalwork. Thetter thanked him and then went silent. After a while, Languishing Daily¡¯s avatar lit up again with messagesing in bursts: ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s a match.¡± ¡°Amazing!¡± ¡°Our forensic office has been working on this for a while but hadn¡¯t made a match.¡± ¡°The murder case is solved then. I really didn¡¯t expect it, didn¡¯t expect it at all. Wait a second, I¡¯ll pass this on for them to go arrest the person. The district bureau below has been going crazy, dozens of people working on it for nearly a week now, and they¡¯ve been pressuring me every day. I can¡¯t believe it, you managed it so quickly.¡± ¡°I noticed you when you came to the provincial hall for the fingerprint campaign, but I was caught up in a case and we didn¡¯t meet. If you have time, you must let me know when youe to Changyang City.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to keep the other party typing endlessly, so as soon as he saw the messages, he quickly wrote, ¡°Okay, no need to mention it.¡± Languishing Daily: ¡°It¡¯s not ttery, you¡¯re genuinely impressive.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have Old Wang treat you to a meal.¡± ¡°Kneel.gif¡± Then came several more bursts of messages. From his Document Analysis (LV3) ability, Jiang Yuan inferred that Wan Baoming was most likely a rtively young middle-aged man, in his mid-thirties. Older middle-aged men generally don¡¯t like texting. If they use WeChat, they mostly prefer voice messages, and yet they often feel voice messages are too informal, so they mostly opt for calling. It¡¯s those in their early thirties who have just entered middle age who are willing and able to send texts. Younger people are less likely to have reached the deputy director level and their tone would be different. Also, young people¡¯s WeChat names are not like those of middle-aged people, who prefer in text and tend to be contrived. Jiang Yuan silently used his Document Analysis ability to profile the leader, exchanged a few more messages with Wan Baoming, and then exited the private chat. Upon reopening the group chat, he saw that Wan Baoming had already started singing his praises: Languishing Daily: ¡°Truly witnessed a master at work.¡± Languishing Daily: ¡°I would rank Jiang Yuan in the TOP 3 for fingerprints in Shannan Province. The reason I don¡¯t say number one is to avoid drawing envy.¡± Languishing Daily: ¡°It¡¯s absurd how a case our office struggled with for days was solved by Jiang Yuan in just a few hours, or maybe less. If it was a matter of minutes, that would be just too much.¡± Reading this, Jiang Yuan feltpelled to reply, so he carefully wrote: ¡°Got lucky. I marked the feature points three times; it took a little over two hours.¡± The ¡°Qinghe Skill Sharing Group¡±, which had some sparse conversations earlier, once again fell silent. Named the ¡°Skill Sharing Group¡±, naturally, because the members had skills to share ¡ª forensic skills, fingerprint skills, toxicology skills, and so on. In other words, everyone was a technician, if not directly interconnected, they certainly knew a thing or two. Especially with something like fingerprints, which are verymon and mainstream in police work. Not only do technicians do it, but ordinary detectives also perform the basic task of fingerprintparison. To those with a bit of understanding, watching a master¡¯s operation is quite interesting. Even when everyone is an expert in their own field, seeing someone else¡¯s higher expertise in another arena can evoke quite a different mindset. Making a fingerprint match in two hours is like solving a murder case in two hours. And those two hours weren¡¯t just bragging on Jiang Yuan¡¯s part. Everyone in the group had been watching him work on the fingerprints. Such efficiency in cracking a case was, of course, extraordinarily abnormal for ordinary people. So much so that the group members were left questioning life in front of theirputer screens. Fingerprint Analyst Li Rui: ¡°Feels like all my previous work has been for nothing.¡± Conquering North and South: ¡°Bro, did you hit the jackpot?¡± Fingerprint Analyst Li Rui: ¡°Pay attention to context.¡± Conquering North and South: ¡°It¡¯s you who¡¯s emoting at the wrong time.¡± The tech group was then activated. Jiang Yuan shook his head and put away his phone, continuing to work on the wall on the balcony. He had been on a business trip for the past few days, and it had been rather exhausting. He had grown reluctant to look at the groups on his phone that seemed like work groups. As the sun set and he grew a bit hungry, Jiang Yuan finally opened his phone again and saw that his old man from Jiang Fuzhen had left a message¡ª along with some uncles and brothers from the same vige, they had gone out to collect rent. The Jiang Vige People rented out houses not only for residential living but also topanies or individual businesses. Collecting rent was easy when it was easy, with money being transferred into ounts on schedule without needing to ask. But when it wasn¡¯t easy to collect, they had to go together as a group to deal with it. On such matters, the Jiang Vige People were always extremely united. However, this also meant Jiang Yuan would have to have dinner by himself that night. After some thought, Jiang Yuan simply lit the small barbecue grill on the terrace, boiled a few pieces of cooked meat, and used a low me to grill them slowly. This method of grilling cooked meat as opposed to raw had a different vor. Once the meat was grilled, he set out a recliner and lit a coil of mosquito repellent. Then there was a buzz of vibration from Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone, and it was a money transfer from Jiang Fuzhen. Ever since Jiang Yuan had started working, the frequency and amounts of Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s money transfers had quietly increased, filled with Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s worries, praise, and trust for Jiang Yuan. Considering the time, it should be when everyone was gathering to ask for rent or had sessfully collected it. At that moment, they were probablyparing the rent they received from rtives and friends. Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s transfer amount would certainly be seen by everyone. Needless to say, Jiang Fuzhen would certainly show off a bit. After all, in Jiang Vige, there were not many young people whom an old father could trust enough to transferrge amounts of money to. The next day was another day of wall-building. With the flower bed on the terracepleted, Jiang Yuan moved on to a few vacant rental properties to help with wall-building and room partitioning work. The majority of those renting were factories and workers, with different factories and workers having different living requirements. Some could tolerate bunk beds in multi-person rooms, while others needed single rooms. Jiang Fuzhen used to entrust such houses to rtives to manage, but now that Jiang Yuan was free, he took on the work himself. He indulged himself during his vacation. On his way home, Jiang Yuan was surprised to find someone waiting for him downstairs. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± the visitor greeted him with a big smile, and upon seeing him covered in dust, he asked, ¡°Were you out digging up bodies?¡± ¡°I was building walls,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°You¡¯re spending your holiday quite unusually,¡± the visitor chuckled and gestured to himself, adding, ¡°I¡¯m Wan Baoming, we talked yesterday.¡± ¡°Right, are there problems with the fingerprints?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind first went to the fingerprint match from yesterday. ¡°No, no, the fingerprints are fine. The suspect has been arrested and confessed. Old Wang is still busy with the case and hasn¡¯t had time toe by. To be honest, I couldn¡¯t sleep tossing and turning at home.¡± Wan Baoming said with emotion, ¡°Solving a murder case in two hours, now that I think about it, my whole body feels tingly.¡± ¡°Just happened to be the right ce at the right time,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°That¡¯s definitely one way to put it¡­¡± Wan Baoming didn¡¯t dwell on it and shifted the topic, ¡°I have another fingerprint I would like you to look at.¡± He didn¡¯t even need to ask; Jiang Yuan had already guessed what this was about. Thoseing to him weren¡¯t looking to solve cases; they certainly couldn¡¯t be here to borrow money. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the room and look at it,¡± Jiang Yuan offered, leading Wan Baoming upstairs to the study to examine the fingerprint he¡¯d brought. The fingerprint was spotty and unclear, seemingly not in the best condition. ¡°Another murder case?¡± Jiang Yuan asked casually while examining it. Wan Baoming nodded gravely, ¡°It¡¯s a case fromst year that you might have heard of. Someone was pushed off a rooftop, and this fingerprint was lifted from the victim¡¯s clothes. The police have identified several suspects but haven¡¯t matched the print, and it¡¯s turned into a deadlock¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s from Changyang City,¡± Jiang Yuan murmured. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a slight issue with it here¡­¡± Jiang Yuan finished looking at the fingerprint and gave Wan Baoming a nce. Wan Baoming¡¯s heart skipped a beat: ¡°You can¡¯t do it either? I have indeed consulted with several experts on this case. It¡¯s quiteplicated¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant.¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand, ¡°You need to give my superior a heads-up, after all, I¡¯m a government employee.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s no problem,¡± Wan Baoming immediately rxed and smiled, ¡°I¡¯ll call Captain Huang then, I¡¯m actually quite familiar with him.¡± ¡°Okay. Once Captain Huang agrees, I¡¯ll get to work,¡± Jiang Yuan said with an embarrassed smile, lowering his head like a down-to-earth wall-builder. Wan Baoming swiftly took out his phone and called Huang Qiangmin. Within a few words, Wan Baoming¡¯s hands trembled. He quickly stood up, found a corner to lean against, pressed his left hand over his right, and said in a low voice, ¡°Captain Huang, you¡¯re asking for too much. It¡¯s too harsh.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t want it, others will. Jiang Yuan¡¯s time is limited, you might want to reconsider¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was cold and merciless. Chapter 279 - 279 259 Please ?279: Chapter 259: Please 279: Chapter 259: Please ¡°Captain Huang¡­ Do you remember thest time we met?¡± Wan Baoming walked a bit further away, clutching his cell phone, his head hung lower than his shoulders, his waist sagging down. Being a deputy director wasn¡¯t easy, and there weren¡¯t many things he could impress with, yet Huang Qiangmin always had a big appetite. Wan Baoming¡¯s eyes were clearly filled with a trace of tears. Getting things done was so difficult. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t see Comrade Wan Baoming¡¯s eyes and expression. He just sat on the other side of his study, nearly 20 meters away from the corner Wan Baoming chose, and he couldn¡¯t even hear Wan Baoming speaking very clearly. Of course, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t interested in listening to his bickering with Huang Qiangmin either. He turned on hisputer and put the fingerprints that Wan Baoming had brought in, doing some initial processing with Photoshop. Having worked on fingerprints for a long time, even before matching them with software, Jiang Yuan could already make some judgments of his own. Whether he could get a match, and what the simrity of the matched fingerprints would be, all these could be predicted. In general, fingerprints with too high a degree of ipleteness, if not processed with image software first, could result in matching all sorts of unrted entities. Of course, it was also possible to match the correct fingerprint, but ying this probability game wasn¡¯t interesting for those in the technical field, the trace examiners at the LV2 level might have to adopt this method to cover assignments when dealing with extremely difficult fingerprints, but for Jiang Yuan, he had already transcended that level. He was at least at the LV4.2 level now, and even just that 0.2 could beat a bunch of people. Having worked on difficult fingerprints many times, and always sessfully, this kind of experience was very valuable. It was like an ordinary person gaining some insights gradually after serving in the position of a president for a long time. The fingerprint Wan Baoming brought this time was so iplete that, based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, throwing it into fingerprint software for matching now would yield a random result. This wasn¡¯t surprising; if it weren¡¯t a difficulty level exceeding LV3, Wan Baoming wouldn¡¯t need to be so humble and subdued. A few minutes after Wan Baoming¡¯s phone call with Huang Qiangmin, Wan Baoming came over with his cell phone, whispering, ¡°Jiang Yuan, it¡¯s Captain Huang¡¯s call for you.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Jiang Yuan took the phone. ¡°Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s your rest? Tired or not?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked cheerfully over the phone. ¡°Not bad. I¡¯ve been building a wall all day, broke a bit of sweat,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Sweating is good, makes the body feelfortable,¡± Huang Qiangminughed and then asked, ¡°Did Wan Baoming bring you another fingerprint? Just like adding fuel to the fire. Is the fingerprint he brought this time difficult?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s difficult. The odds of getting it right straight away are not high,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Oh, can you get a match?¡± ¡°That depends on whether the fingerprint is in the database or not,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then said, ¡°Even if there¡¯s a fingerprint in the database, we still need to see the quality of that fingerprint¡­¡± ¡°Give me a number, what¡¯s the chance you can get it done?¡± ¡°Six maybe,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Wan Baoming, not too evasive or secretive. Based on the keywords alone, Jiang Yuan figured that Wan Baoming must have sought help from fingerprint experts at the ministry. But, to be honest, not all experts in the ministry necessarily had the LV4 level. There are some mighty experts definitely above the LV4 level, maybe even some LV5 big shots. However, experts also y the game of probability and investment. Could Wan Baoming get a strong enough fingerprint expert to devote themselvespletely? It¡¯s probably quite difficult. More likely, the other party would just give it a quick look, and if they couldn¡¯t match it in a short time, they¡¯d give up. After all, the ministry¡¯s experts are extremely busy; there are over 30 provinces like Shannan Province nationwide, and for ultra-difficult, puzzling fingerprints, not even an expert can guarantee to solve one in a week. It¡¯s like during the fingerprint campaign, the experts of the Shannan Provincial Department level, in a 15-day battle, looking at around 100,000 fingerprints, and it would be pretty good if they could match a few. And the intensity and importance of the campaign werepletely different from helping out on a daily basis. Jiang Yuan simply told Huang Qiangmin, ¡°The hopes aren¡¯t high if this fingerprint is done normally within the province.¡± Huang Qiangmin got the hint and said cheerfully, ¡°Alright, pass the phone to Wan Baoming. I¡¯ll have him reimburse the cost from thest fingerprint analysis.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled, ¡°Thest fingerprint only took a little over two hours.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been told about this; it has to do withputing power,¡± Huang Qiangmin confidently said, ¡°Pass the phone to Wan Baoming, don¡¯t feel bad for him, Changyang City has so much money that a little leak between their fingers is enough for our small county city to strive for 10 years.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled again before handing the phone back to Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming took it with utmost care, pressing it to his ear, and said solemnly, ¡°Captain Huang, it¡¯s little Wan here¡­¡± As Wan Baoming spoke, he continued to walk into the corner. Jiang Yuan sat back down in front of hisputer, and before the mainframe started roaring, he could faintly hear some mysterious keywords: ¡°Please.¡± ¡°It¡¯s really troubling.¡± ¡°Captain Huang~¡± ¡°Lend a hand¡­¡± ¡­ After a while, Wan Baoming returned the overheating phone to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan: ¡°Hello. Captain Huang.¡± Huang Qiangmin: ¡°Look after it for a bit, will you? I¡¯ll have them send a couple of people over to us for some training, and also, we¡¯ll borrow some of their old equipment and such. I¡¯m still holding onto the connections, so when you see something you want, just let me know.¡± Chapter 280 - 280 259 Please Help_2 ?280: Chapter 259 Please Help_2 280: Chapter 259 Please Help_2 Jiang Yuan said a bit embarrassedly, ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°All right, turn on speakerphone,¡± Huang Qiangmin said. So Jiang Yuan took down his phone and switched on the speaker. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice came through, ¡°Jiang Yuan, do a good job on the task assigned by Director Wan. You still have two days off, but let¡¯s skip them for now and consider you back at work. Once you are done, you can take your leave. Changyang City Criminal Science Center has also helped us with quite a few cases in the past. This opportunity for cooperation is something to cherish¡­¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, following the etiquette strictly. ¡°Director Wan, I¡¯m entrusting Jiang Yuan to you. He¡¯s young and may not know much yet, so please be patient with him. If there¡¯s any issue, just let me know and I¡¯ll reprimand him,¡± Huang Qiangmin finished his nagging and ended the call. Wan Baoming put away his phone and sighed, ¡°Your Captain Huang, he¡¯s not as easy to talk to as he used to be.¡± Jiang Yuan just smiled and didn¡¯t make a sound. Borrowing someone else¡¯s great ox to plow the field is probably not the same as borrowing a cat to catch mice. With a few clicks, theputer whirred to life. When ites to image rendering, no matter how high-end theputer is, the noise it makes is the same. That¡¯s like you know, right? ¡°Director Wan, is it convenient to discuss the case?¡± Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to ask Wan Baoming. ¡°This is a case fromst year at the Maixin Electronics Factory. A female worker was pushed from the rooftop. Initially, it was thought to be suicide, butter, an eyewitness imed to have seen two people on the rooftop, and there was a pushing motion¡­¡± Wan Baoming described the scene and then focused on the evidence: ¡°The initial police response was somewhat problematic. Because it was first suspected to be a suicide, the crime scene preservation was not ideal. Factory security and workers have all been up on the roof.¡± ¡°Secondly, there¡¯s only an eyewitness ount,cking surveince footage. Since everyone wore uniforms, it¡¯s challenging to identify the murderer.¡± ¡°The third issue is that factory workers don¡¯t know each other well. The Maixin Factory hired people on a temporary basis, recruiting new workers forrge orders. When an order was nearlypleted, those workers would be let go, and new ones would be recruited for the next big project. Hence, solving the case by tracing through social connections isn¡¯t easy either.¡± As Jiang Yuan listened to Wan Baoming¡¯s briefing, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°So the only evidence is the fingerprint on the clothing?¡± Wan Baoming sighed, ¡°The problem now is that the fingerprint on the clothes has be contrary evidence. Several suspects the detectives focused on have been excluded by the fingerprint evidence found on the clothes¡­¡± Jiang Yuanughed lightly at this and then asked, ¡°All the factory employees would have been fingerprinted, right?¡± ¡°Yes. After the incident, the factory was shut down immediately, and the video surveince of the entrances and exits was intact.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding; with this, the fingerprint database issue was essentially solved. From the perspective of a trace evidence technician, this was an excellent environment for fingerprintparison. As long as a fingerprint could be produced, it could be matched. Reflecting on this, Jiang Yuan frowned and said, ¡°So the core of the problem is matching fingerprints. Withst year¡¯s case being unresolved, matching them one by one should suffice, right?¡± Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t help but smile and quickly covered it, saying, ¡°When I mentioned that the factory is the Maixin¡¯s, you probably didn¡¯t understand the scale. At that time, the factory had received arge order and was operating at full capacity, with nearly 30,000 workers on site.¡± Jiang Yuan then understood. In arge factory with tens of thousands of people, it was certainly impractical topare fingerprints one by one, especially when the quality of the fingerprint was so poor. ¡°What method did you use for lifting fingerprints? Cyanoacrte?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, observing the fingerprint and gradually getting into the state of mind forparison. Understanding Jiang Yuan¡¯s implicit meaning, Wan Baoming gave a wry smile, ¡°Yes, it was developed with cyanoacrte fuming.¡± Simr to ninhydrin fuming, the cyanoacrte fuming method also involves applying a chemical agent to revealtent sweat prints. Simrly, all these methods have an aspect rarely discussed¡ªws can easily ur during the process. If a criminal unintentionally leaves behind a fingerprint, and that print is then damaged or not fully revealed, there¡¯s no chance they will provide a second one. Like this fingerprint here, so poorly scraped, trace evidence technicians still have to painstakingly match it. Usually, the me falls on the technicians who collected the fingerprints¡ªmore often than not, crime scene investigators are criticized. Jiang Yuan adjusted the fingerprint slightly using image software and gradually formted a n. Feeling energized, he lost interest in chatting with Wan Baoming and said, ¡°Why don¡¯t you y with the dog for a while? I¡¯ll tell you once I have some results.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Wan Baoming replied, then a momentter seemed to catch on, ¡°Am I supposed to wait here?¡± ¡°Well¡­ if you¡¯ve got other things to do, please go ahead,¡± Jiang Yuan casually replied. Wan Baoming hurriedly said, ¡°That¡¯s not what I meant. I was just wondering¡­ uh, will there be results today?¡± ¡°Possibly. Right now, the main task is image processing. The fingerprint was taken from cotton clothing. Cotton, as a natural fiber, is helically twisted, and its cross-section looks like a kidney bean. It¡¯s also prone to fuzz, which is the main reason for theck of rity intent sweat prints,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly exined to Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming watched Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°I¡¯ve worked in trace evidence too. I understand the principles, but¡­¡± Chapter 281 - 281 259 Please, _3 ?281: Chapter 259 Please, _3 281: Chapter 259 Please, _3 Jiang Yuan fell silent for a moment before saying, ¡°If you¡¯re bored, why not take a trip back to Changyang City and deliver the personnel and items Captain Huang requested? Once you¡¯ve made the delivery,e back here; by then I should have the results ready.¡± He had already processed nearly half of the images and felt that the rity of the processed images was satisfactory. Considering that Changyang City had already collected fingerprints from all the employees at the factory, the database forparison wasplete, which greatly increased the likelihood of a match. In fact, if fingerprints still couldn¡¯t be matched under these circumstances, that in itself would be very significant and valuable. Therefore, Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer was very definite. Wan Baoming thought Jiang Yuan was a bit arrogant, but looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, he couldn¡¯t ask about that hint of arrogance. ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll head back first and report to the leadership. Later, I¡¯lle back for your good news.¡± Wan Baoming hid all his minor emotions. His philosophy was, as long as you can produce results, I¡¯ll respect you. With this mindset, Wan Baoming, while only average in ability, had earned the recognition of many criminal investigation experts, and consequently became the deputy director of the Changyang City Criminal Science Center. Inside the Criminal Science Center, Wan Baoming was a rtively well-respected leader, mainly because he was one of those who greatly respected technical work. As long as Jiang Yuan could produce results, Wan Baoming was willing to ept the partnership between Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. But if it didn¡¯t turn out well, then Wan Baoming would have to have a talk with Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan. After leaving, and once he got into the car, Wan Baoming started chatting in a group chat: Daily Doldrums: [Took a cold case homicide fromst year to Jiang Yuan. Super tricky fingerprints, didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to take it on right away, now going to exchangebor for fingerprints¡­] South Conquering North Fighting: [I¡¯ve only heard of busting your butt off for 30 days to enjoy a club visit on the 31st, what¡¯s thisbor for fingerprints about?] Daily Doldrums: [Captain Huang set some conditions, I have to gather some resources for him. Can¡¯t let someone work for nothing, right. What¡¯s this about busting your butt to go to the club?] South Conquering North Fighting: [Laboring that hard, if it¡¯s not to enjoy a club, then it¡¯s a tearjerker.] Daily Doldrums: [What if there¡¯s no 31st?] South Conquering North Fighting: [You¡¯reboring, not robbing a bank, won¡¯t it take two months to save enough money?] Daily Doldrums: [Makes sense¡­] South Conquering North Fighting: [What conditions did Captain Huang set? You still have to gather resources?] Daily Doldrums: [Some technicians, a couple of devices, the techs need to bring a crime scene investigation van over.] South Conquering North Fighting: [That good? Got a new van to use?] Sitting in the car and browsing his cell phone, Daily Doldrums sat up and frowned as he typed: Daily Doldrums: [Hold on, who are you @SouthConqueringNorthFighting] South Conquering North Fighting: [I¡­ am just a man who has traveled far and wide, collected some experience, and enjoys sharing.] Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Sitting in the office, idly chatting, Liu Wenkai let out a long sigh and then, looking up at the squad instructor, said, ¡°We should also pick out a couple of cold cases and mount an assault.¡± ¡°Looking for trouble? You finished with the cases at hand?¡± the instructor said with a snort. Wen Kai chuckled softly and said in a low voice, ¡°I heard through the grapevine that our detachment might be getting some temporary workers, technical folks.¡± ¡°Really?¡± The instructor was surprised. ¡°We ran out of positions long ago, where did you scam these people from?¡± ¡°They¡¯reing from the Changyang City police to support us, probably.¡± ¡°Reversed secondment?¡± ¡°I guess. Want them or not?¡± Wen Kai said calmly. ¡°If you want people, don¡¯t you need projects?¡± ¡°Okay, okay, let¡¯s open up the cold cases,¡± the instructor said twice. For the squad that was always frantically busy, nothing was moreforting than additional helping hands. Chapter 282 - 282 260 Happy ?282: Chapter 260 Happy 282: Chapter 260 Happy Saturday. Morning. The egg-filled pancake stand in front of the county bureau is still open for business as usual. Office workers seeking breakfaste in an endless stream, forming a queue long enough to fill two prison vans. Jiang Yuan is also lining up at the end of it. In Jiang Vige¡¯s own canteen, there are indeed snack stalls in operation, where items like soy milk, fried dough, and tofu pudding are regr fixtures. Other options such as spicy soup, pot porridge, and meat-stuffed breads are frequently rotated. However, the egg-filled pancake stand at the entrance of the county bureau is obviously a cut above the vige¡¯s captive snack vendors. Jiang Yuan watched the pancakedy¡¯s craft like it was a show. It was a way for him to clear his mind as well. Thedy¡¯s technique was so skilled, it could even make one¡¯s head spin. Egg-filled pancakes and crepe rolls are entirely different paths. Making crepe rolls is something a spy could practice for three days and then have a go at entering the business. But making egg-filled pancakes is a high-difficulty project that requires over three weeks of training. Not to mention the special kneading technique and high demands, just the difficulty of operations on-site is very high. First, you have to put the dough in the frying pan, let the outer ring puff up like a balloon, then seize the moment to slice open the dough skin with chopsticks. While the dough is still puffed up from the hot air, you pour a beaten raw egg right into the middle of the skin, and it must be spread evenly¡­ Jiang Yuan found it very therapeutic. If making crepe rolls is akin to fingerprint matching, making egg-filled pancakes is more like performing an autopsy. Fingerprint operations are based on a t ne, whereas theplexity of an autopsy is three-dimensional, both inside and out. However, it¡¯s not always the case that the more difficult orplex it is, the easier it is to solve a case. In the case sought by Wan Baoming, the conclusions of the autopsy may be many and detailed, yet they might not greatly aid the investigation. On the other hand, because of the presence of multiple eyewitnesses, fingerprints could y a much more significant role. ¡°Young man, double eggs, nothing else inside, just a bit spicy?¡± the pancakedy asked as she looked up at Jiang Yuan with a hint of recognition. ¡°Yes, please, thank you.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and began to scan for payment. ¡°Everyonees to test my skills,¡± the pancakedy said while her hands nimbly cracked two eggs into a bowl. Taking advantage of the time it took for the dough to puff up, she vigorously stirred them before a swift cut and toss mixed the double portion of eggs into the pancake. The pancakedy then flipped and pushed, changing the pancake¡¯s side. The yellow-orange egg mixture softly spread into every inch of the pancake¡¯s space, gradually solidifying. Jiang Yuan took out his own food container, extended it forward, and let the pancakedy pack the pancake into it. This move, in front of the gate where the rugged detectives of the criminal police team were majority, was quite individualistic and drew many curious nces. But Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t much care; he drove a big G, so why worry about standing out? Back in the office, Jiang Yuan fished out a tiny barbecue grill from beside the incense burner under his desk. He lit it with the easily inmmable charcoal used for burning joss paper and then took out two sausages from another lunchbox he had brought along, cing them on the grill to heat up. When the sausages started sizzling slightly, he took out tomato slices and lettuce leaves he had brought from home. He wrapped the tomato slices and sausages with lettuce, enveloped the lettuce with egg-filled pancakes, and stuck a few slices of pickled cucumber in the middle,pleting the fusion of Eastern and Western vors in this superb breakfast. Jiang Yuan held up the egg-filled pancake with one hand, devouring it ravenously. To him, this was a breakfast of significant ceremony, devouring so much in one go signified that he intended to get a substantial piece of work done today. Delivering the death knell to a murderer, something like that. Click. Wu Jun unlocked the door and as he entered and sensed the smell of cooking inside, he immediately locked the door again from the inside. On seeing the barbecue grill that Jiang Yuan had lit, he let out a sigh of relief and said, ¡°I thought you hade across another body.¡± ¡°I need to do a fingerprint analysis for the Criminal Science and Technology Center in Changyang City,¡± said Jiang Yuan, eating his pancake and feeling blissfully happy. One benefit of having mastered core technology in the workce is that you can make the office environment exceedinglyfortable. With a bit of skill, you can even make work feel particrly joyous. A prime example was the senior officedy in state-owned enterprises, familiar with the ins and outs of the unit, understanding all the workflow, privy to certain small secrets, hasn¡¯t offended the current leadership, and, if she has a couple of good friends, she finds working days morefortable than at home. If she had some connections as backup, the officedy could take a stroll, drop by others¡¯ offices, and the happiness she could get inside thepany would surpass what the vige aunties could enjoy. Of course, when some people have it easy, others are bound to bear the brunt, carrying the load forward¡ªthe weaker departments are usually filled with young people eager for promotions and titles, as well as freshly promoted youngsters with ties. In stronger departments, it¡¯s the seconded personnel who are diligently forging ahead. Within the criminal police team, forensic doctors are considered the cr¨¨me de cr¨¨me of those who have a rxed role. However, Wu Jun was never particrly interested in eating or drinking before, and any added responsibilities seemed to be targeted at ¡®the other world¡¯. It¡¯s pretty much the same now. He wasn¡¯t interested in Jiang Yuan¡¯s pancake. In the past, when Jiang Yuan shared it with him, Wu Jun was disinterested. But speaking of the Criminal Science and Technology Center in Changyang City, Wu Jun snorted coldly, ¡°So they have their day, too.¡± ¡°Do we have a grudge against them?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, somewhat surprised. Wu Jun smiled and said, ¡°We are from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, Criminal Science Squadron, and they are from the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center. The on-site investigation and trace examination are part of the brigade¡¯s personnel, and forensic scientists can even get up to the deputy department head level. What status do we have to hold grudges against them?¡± It took Wu Jun a great deal of effort to be promoted to a sub-section-level position; it was the team¡¯s way of taking care of the oldrades. But in the provincial capital, this was nothing special, a resource everyone had. Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding and said, ¡°This time it seems like a blessing in disguise. I saw Captain Huang and Wan Baoming chatting, and it seemed like the bargaining was pretty tough.¡± Wu Jun nced at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°When has Captain Huang ever given you the impression of being anything but ruthless?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ I feel like he¡¯s pretty reasonable most of the time.¡± ¡°Back then, you were probably like the bird that cleans the teeth of a crocodile,¡± Wu Jun paused, then added, ¡°Now you are part of the teeth.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t quite sure if this was supposed to indicate growth. ¡°Make sure you do a good job with the fingerprint analysis. Director Wan surely isn¡¯t relying solely on your results this time to let Captain Huang take a big bite,¡± Wu Jun paused before continuing, ¡°Changyang City¡¯s cases are numerous, with even more backlogged ones. If you can make a breakthrough on your end, they would be willing to break their bones to make you soup.¡± Only in counties known for their particrly rowdy local customs would the number of murder cases reach double digits. But for a provincial capital city, the number of murder cases in a single district would need to be double that of a rowdy town. This is still considering only current murder cases; going back 10 years, especially 20 years, the number of murder cases and various other major crimes would¡¯ve been several times higher. The number of cases solved would naturally also be several times higher, but the number of unsolved cases piling up would have been several times greater as well. Police teams that had both the responsibility and the means would try to solve these cases when they could, but if it wasn¡¯t possible, they could only continue to let them sit. Or they would wait for the ministry and provincial department to organize various operations each year in an attempt to solve them. In any case, for the middle and lower tiers of detectives, life was rtively simple; solving more cases and carrying out more operations were the most important things. Only frontline detectives knew how rare it was to have a little case-solving specialist like Jiang Yuan when funding and resources were fixed. People like Xu Taining were the higher-ups¡¯ lifesavers. When big hats like time-limited case solving were pressed down, they were thest hope. On the other hand, senior inspectors like Liu Jinghui were more popr at the local level. After all, using themon saying, if the funding is there, there is no case that can¡¯t be cracked. Having finished his pancake, Jiang Yuan turned on hisputer and started processing yesterday¡¯s fingerprints. He spent all of yesterday using his ownputer to process the fingerprint images. Different people have different methods for handling fingerprints. After participating in a fingerprint conference, Jiang Yuan had clearly defined the direction for developing his fingerprint skills: image enhancementbined with fingerprint patterns. In terms of the ability to match fingerprints, his Level 4 ability was definitely not the strongest. Fingerprints that others could not handle, he probably couldn¡¯t handle either. But once he gained proficiency in a certain area, his potential for breakthroughs would be extremely strong. Moreover, image enhancement was well-suited to deal with iplete fingerprints. The fingerprints taken from textiles and simr materials are as if they¡¯ve been processed a second time. A fingerprint, if taken from a smooth surface like metal or ss, would be clear depending only on the conditions at the time. But with textiles, it¡¯s different. The surface of textiles is uneven, and in fact, one could think of it as having a certain granrity; the fingerprint is as if it were first assigned to the particles of the textiles and then extracted from there. The particles are round. Therefore, the fingerprint left on the textile is a result of pressing on the particles. The extracted fingerprint is a result of being pressed a second time. One can imagine that a surface obtained by pressing twice would certainly be different. As a result, much detail is lost. For aplete fingerprint, the impact isn¡¯t significant, but for an iplete one, a solution needs to be found to fill in some details from somewhere. Jiang Yuan spent all of yesterday trying to reassign the granr fingerprints back to their particles and then matching the fingerprints based on the particles of the fibers. This professional level of image enhancement was already very high; even specialists dedicated to imaging would not undertake such work casually. It could only be said that the culprit was out of luck! Encountering a fiercely determined Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, sipping his tea, began running fingerprint analyses on the high-endputer in his office from three years ago. Finish one round, adjust the image, and run another round. Time passed away amidst the endless rounds of sweeping through data. By the time Jiang Yuan snapped out of his flow state, it was one o¡¯clock in the afternoon, and his stomach began to growl with hunger. A super egg pancake couldst just over an hour more. ¡°Going out for lunch?¡± Wu Jun asked Jiang Yuan as he stopped working. ¡°I brought my lunch. I will heat it upter.¡± Jiang Yuan had brought pf made by his father. Uncle Thirteen next door had ughtered a sheep, so he sent a chunk ofmb belly and a leg over to Jiang Yuan¡¯s house. This kind of food tasted great fresh and also delicious reheated. Paired with a few salty pickles, it made a tasty meal, fit for a workce lunch. ¡°I¡¯m going to eat.¡± Wu Jun then stood up and left. Jiang Yuan continued to focus on processing the fingerprints. It wasn¡¯t until mid-afternoon that Wu Jun leisurely returned to the office, announcing, ¡°Director Wan is here, Captain Huang and Director Zhang are receiving him.¡± Director Zhang was the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations and effectively Captain Huang¡¯s immediate superior. Considering the development of events, Director Zhang was likely aiming to take another piece of meat from Huang Qiangmin¡¯s share. Putting it in high-end terms, this was probably also considered a kind of transfer payment. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t concern himself with such matters and simply asked, ¡°What did Captain Huang say?¡± ¡°Captain Huang asked if your work was going smoothly. If not, he¡¯d ask for a deposit or something to dy things. If it is going smoothly, then don¡¯t rush to submit it. Check it over a few more times and give him a call in advance,¡± Wu Jun exined clearly. Jiang Yuan casually said, ¡°Well, it just so happens that I¡¯m almost done.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan took out his phone to call Huang Qiangmin and took a moment to sip some water. Huang Qiangmin answered the call and, after waiting a moment, used a voice far steadier than usual to say, ¡°Hello, Jiang Yuan, is everything going smoothly?¡± ¡°Smoothly, but for fingerprints in cases like these, it¡¯s best to double-check after catching the person to avoid any mistakes,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Haha, I understand. Don¡¯t rush to submit them; just wait a little longer,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied with obvious delight in his voice. Chapter 283 - 283 261 Disparities of the World ?283: Chapter 261 Disparities of the World 283: Chapter 261 Disparities of the World As the workday was nearing its end, the usually quiet hallway was abruptly filled with a morous noise, and Jiang Yuan knew that Wan Baoming had arrived. Jiang Yuan calmly tidied up his desk, opened the window to let some air in, and then sat back down to organize the desktop once more. Huang Qiangminughed heartily as he entered the office. At Zifeng Mountain, he might be just an ordinary captain of the county bureau¡¯s criminal police squad, but in Ningtai County, he was indeed the spirited captain of the county bureau¡¯s criminal police squad. The captain of the Forensic Science Unit, Lu Jianfeng, also hurried out to make his presence felt. His toxicologyboratory was deste, so he seldom had the chance to see Huang Qiangmin on the fourth floor. Wan Baoming, with his head bowed, marched quickly into the forensic doctor¡¯s office. His mood seemed a bit excited, yet also somewhat gloomy, as if he were simultaneously experiencing a bipr disorder episode. When Jiang Yuan heard themotion, he stood up to wait, and soon saw Huang Qiangmin and the others enter one by one. The alreadypact forensic doctor¡¯s office became crowded in an instant. ¡°Captain Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted as usual. With a grin of precisely 66.6 degrees, Huang Qiangmin asked first, ¡°Were the fingerprints a match? Have you verified them?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve verified them on my end,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Put it on the screen for Director Wan to see,¡± Huang Qiangminughed out loud, his demeanor somewhat resembling that of a certain type of dealer. High and mighty! Rich and overflowing! Wan Baoming was not as thrilled, cautiously checking the inte and software on Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer before looking at the fingerprints. He himself had experience with trace evidence examination, and identifying fingerprints was something he could do with ease, but only ordinary ones. Fingerprints lifted from fabrics were of the type he couldprehend but couldn¡¯t match. But having to confirm the identity between just two fingerprints wasn¡¯t too challenging for him. Wan Baoming ced the two fingerprints on the same screen, continuouslyparing them back and forth, as if he were a dealer testing the purity of his goods. Gradually, a smile also began to appear on Wan Baoming¡¯s lips. After all, the case was practically solved, and although it hade at no small cost, upon reflection, it might even be cheaper than conducting DNA tests for 30,000 people. No, it was significantly cheaper. Especially considering the expense of high-quality reagents, the gic testing of 30,000 people could have funded a new building for the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team. Wan Baoming looked up, disdainfully regarding the crowded room, and not-so-subtly hinted to Huang Qiangmin, ¡°You¡¯ve given Doctor Jiang such a small office. With just a few of us here, it¡¯s already too cramped. Doctor Jiang often does fingerprint work for the province, don¡¯t leaders from other ces evere to check it out?¡± This morning, Jiang Yuan had just fried some sausages in the office, leaving his mouth greasy as he mused, why would I need a big house when I could just stay at home and rent a couple more if I wanted. Jiang Yuan was contemting whether to counter Wan Baoming¡¯s remarks when Huang Qiangmin said from the side, ¡°The leaders from other ces usually handle things quite swiftly. Once we¡¯ve saved enough, we¡¯ll construct a new building.¡± The office was full of astute individuals, each shing a knowing smile: Captain Huang did not mention money outright, but all his words hinted at it. Wan Baomingughed heartily, stood up, and said, ¡°It sounds like you¡¯re saying Changyang People are not straightforward enough. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll now call our Brigade Chief.¡± He came to verify the fingerprints that Jiang Yuan had worked on because he feared problems; he made calls for the same reason. As the capital city, Changyang City¡¯s police arrest procedures and patterns differed from those of small county towns. The same level of evidence ced in Ningtai County would definitely mean making an arrest first. Even now, Wan Baoming still preferred to wait for the criminal police team to make an arrest and then personally verify the fingerprints or find other evidence before he would rx. In essence, it just wasn¡¯t swift enough. Huang Qiangmin hummed twice, but internally, he was quite pleased. With nothing else to do, Wan Baoming suggested touring the Forensic Science Unit, also on the fourth floor where they currently were. This was the most rxed option; there was something for everyone to do, and it allowed for a dignified way to await news¡­ Wan Baoming¡¯s suggestion hit right at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s intentions. Huang Qiangmin agreed immediately,ughing, ¡°Perfect, it¡¯s an opportunity to showcase the determined spirit of Ningtai People. Director Wan, if you have any high-quality equipment, or rather, outdated items you no longer want, please spare a thought for your struggling brothers in Ningtai County.¡± Wan Baomingughed again. If it had been a few minutes earlier, he might have been a bit upset but now, his heart was brimming with too much joy. After all, the case had been cracked. The sacrifices made for this case were much more than just enduring a few jokes. Many colleagues had worked overtime for several days, exhausted to death, only to go home toints from their wives. Worse still were those like Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, who stayed in their cars, not daring to go upstairs; having spent only one night at home, he rushed to the frontline the next day to join hisrades in sleeping on the floor, diligently working on cracking the case. Thinking of how delighted Brigade Chief must be upon hearing the news of the fingerprint match. At this thought, Wan Baoming suddenly became quite sentimental, saying, ¡°Thinking about it, the murderer is possibly enjoying thest moments of freedom in his life right now.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°From the murderer¡¯s perspective, it seems so.¡± Wan Baoming then looked at those around him and said, ¡°Yet we find this period of time so irritating and difficult, wishing we could skip right over it¡­ The world is just so uneven.¡± Huang Qiangmin was taken aback upon hearing this, had this guy just elevated the discussion to a higher ne? The others were also enveloped by Wan Baoming¡¯s cultured aura. Chapter 284 - 284 261 The Worlds Diversity_2 ?284: Chapter 261: The World¡¯s Diversity_2 284: Chapter 261: The World¡¯s Diversity_2 Following Wu Jun¡¯s leisurely stroll, he prepared to repeat the words to his grandson and asked, ¡°So should we be happy or should we cherish the time?¡± Wan Baoming slowly said, ¡°Maybe, it is because we wasted someone else¡¯s precious time, that we¡¯ve be soposed and satisfied.¡± Wu Jun was about to take out his cellphone to make a note when he was stumped. He couldn¡¯t tell his grandson this. A quarter of an hourter. The ringtone of the cellphone relieved everyone. Wan Baoming answered the call, and the aura of calm on his face vanished, reced by an excited gritting of teeth, ¡°Caught him, the bastard, after hiding for so many days, he almost got away!¡± ¡°Did you find any other evidence?¡± Huang Qiangmin was most concerned about this issue. Wan Baoming nodded, ¡°After being handcuffed, he just broke down.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good,¡± Huang Qiangmin was immediately reassured. In this world, the softest are not women who see their idols, but criminals facing punishment. The hardest are not men who see their goddesses, but the ordinary people shrouded by great injustice. Those who break upon being cuffed won¡¯t be able to harden up in the interrogation room. With the suspect caught, everyone dropped the pretense of visiting the criminal investigation team. It was just one floor, a few rooms, half offices, and half inexpensive equipment¡ªthere really wasn¡¯t much to see. Everyone went to the cafeteria happily for a meal. After eating, people smoked and picked their teeth, waiting to deliver the ¡°final payment.¡± Jiang Yuan courteously passed out Zhonghua cigarettes to everyone and then asked with some curiosity, ¡°Director Wan, what was the murderer¡¯s motive? Do you have an idea?¡± If it was about hitting in the fingerprint database, one could see some personal information. But this time, the fingerprint waspared against the database of Maixin Factory employees, so after a match, only the most basic information could be seen. For the motive behind a murder within a smallmunity, Jiang Yuan guessed it was probably over a trivial matter. Because if it was for a significant benefit, it would be rtively easy to investigate. At this moment, he wanted to confirm his guess. Wan Baoming, who had just confirmed with his team over the phone, shared, ¡°It¡¯s most likely jealousy. The victim and the killer were from the same hometown and had met at a hometown association meeting. Then, the victim was preparing to go home for marriage and wanted to sell his belongings on Xianyu. The killer wanted to buy them cheaply, which led to a quarrel.¡± ¡°What do you mean by jealousy?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°The killer was jealous that the victim could go home to get married. That¡¯s probably it,¡± Wan Baoming shrugged and said, ¡°In their hometown, the bride price starts at over 100,000 yuan, and with other expenses, one has to prepare 200,000 yuan in cash, plus have a house. Maixin Factory has been recruiting many young people from there, which caused the bride price to go up even more. The victim said some things like, ¡®If you can¡¯t gather the bride price, you¡¯ve wasted a year working for nothing¡¯¡­¡± With a chuckle, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°That¡¯s young people for you. In another 20 years, they¡¯ll be killing over divorces.¡± Wan Baoming felt Captain Huang was so cruel. The lifetimes of these young people in their early twenties, soon to vanish like a breeze, and to have their lives judged by a group of people¡ªhow deste. Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°We¡¯re in the process of recording statements from his fellow townspeople and others around them, to see if the killer had talked about killing or rted matters, trying to form some indirect evidence to substantiate the case. If we can get a death sentence, then he won¡¯t have to worry about a midlife crisis.¡± ¡°Yeah, for this kind of person, we definitely should pursue the death penalty. Nowadays, some people just¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin and Wan Baoming foundmon ground, and the atmosphere of their conversation became more animated. Before long, two cars stopped directly in front of the detective squad¡¯s building. Wan Baoming informed Captain Huang, who affectionately took Wan Baoming¡¯s arm, called over Jiang Yuan and the others, and they went to receive the cars together. At the entrance. One medium-sized van, half-filled with an assortment of items. The first to be unloaded were tworge freezers, models and makes from more than a decade ago. Captain Huang didn¡¯t mind, andughing heartily, he pulled over Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun, saying, ¡°These two are for storing evidence for you guys. If there¡¯s another dismemberment case, right, it¡¯s no problem for under ten people.¡± Wu Jun: ¡°Thank you, Captain Huang, for being so thoughtful. The funeral home actually has ice coffins¡­¡± ¡°Those are for whole bodies, this is for parts. I remember back when I was young, we had a poisoning case, and the freezer was filled with a bunch of organs, hard as a rock, like the New Year¡¯s goods stored for the holiday¡­¡± The subsequent unloading of severalrge boxes brought Captain Huang¡¯s thoughts back to the present. Standing tall, Wan Baoming introduced, ¡°Portable biological material detection equipment, 450 and 532 dual wavelengths, high-purity UV light source, can directly detect fingerprints and biological evidence. We¡¯re using the same model; this one¡¯s new, it¡¯s like our technician brought the equipment down¡­¡± ¡°When that person goes back, he better not take our equipment with him,¡± Captain Huang emphasized. ¡°He won¡¯t,¡±ughed Wan Baoming, then continued pointing to severalrge boxes, ¡°Scene inspection lights, waterproof and explosion-proof spotlights, even-light inspectionmps, scene footprint search lights, and portable infrared night vision scopes, multi-functional xenon high-intensity lights with a 2-hour illumination time. We¡¯ve now got you fully set up with lights.¡± Chapter 285 - 285 261 Discrepancies of the World_3 ?285: Chapter 261 Discrepancies of the World_3 285: Chapter 261 Discrepancies of the World_3 Huang Qiangmin nodded, ¡°Are all of these second-hand?¡± ¡°They¡¯ve only been used for a few years, and haven¡¯t been used heavily. Honestly, some of the lights, we don¡¯t even bring them with us when we go out, they¡¯re quite troublesome.¡± Huang Qiangmin smiled calmly and said, ¡°Your Criminal Police Team might work on a murder case for three or four months, or even half a year, but now we have one murder case a month, the frequency is high. Besides, Jiang Yuan will need these for crime scene investigations.¡± Wan Baoming had no way to refute and evenplimented, thinking about the future, ¡°Jiang Yuan conducts meticulous and urate crime scene investigations, it¡¯s only right to prepare the equipment thoroughly.¡± After he said this, Huang Qiangmin felt showing off was boring. Then they brought out a batch of photography auxiliary equipment, which Huang Qiangmin was toozy to look at. At the end, the loading crew carried off a bunch of cardboard boxes, which revigorated Huang Qiangmin, who pulled Jiang Yuan aside and said, ¡°These were also specially requested by me, they¡¯re all new, right?¡± Thetter question was directed at Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming replied, ¡°They¡¯re new, two boxes¡­¡± ¡°Brand new, never used, right?¡± Huang Qiangmin emphasized. ¡°Brand new,¡± Wan Baoming had to repeat, ¡°Never used, two boxes of gloves, a box of head covers, shoe covers, and disposable crime scene suits, gas masks, disposable surgical gowns, and such¡­¡± These personal protective little items were all previously bought by Jiang Yuan himself, but this time, Huang Qiangmin had them fully equipped. Of course, the quality wasn¡¯t as good as what Jiang Yuan bought for himself, but they were good enough for the other investigators, and it wouldn¡¯t seem like Jiang Yuan was fussing over things unnecessarily. After inspecting the medium-sized van, Huang Qiangmin finally looked at the nearly new crime scene investigation vehicle behind him with a broad smile. Wan Baoming walked over understandingly and said, ¡°This is our Ford pickup-modified investigation vehicle, over 6 years old, just hit 300,000 kilometers, without any major repairs or idents, regrly maintained. For the minor idents, we¡¯ve used either original factory parts or branded aftermarket parts¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s really nice, really nice,¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded continuously, touching the car¡¯s paint and said, ¡°I noticed it right away, newly painted, isn¡¯t it? Quite shiny.¡± ¡°Yes. Master Ren from our bureau, whom you should know, is a maintenance worker with over 30 years of experience. He personally oversaw the painting, and all the parts that needed recing were dealt with.¡± Wan Baoming then turned to the others and said, ¡°Master Ren is a legend in our brigade. He used to be with the traffic police and then started helping to fix cars when the bureau bought 10 Chang Jiang 750s because they were so costly to maintain. After we got more cars, he switched to repairing full-time. Cars maintained by him are always in great condition.¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°What I mainly like is this Ford pickup. Our current crime scene investigation vehicle is an Iveco conversion, which has poor off-roading capabilities, just okay for driving around the city. It just doesn¡¯t cut it in remote viges and towns. The criminals don¡¯t follow the rules, and when facing a major case, you feel uneasy without the equipment, but if you bring the equipment, it¡¯s like wanting to bring along reporters.¡± ¡°Bring reporters?¡± ¡°With everyone carrying tens of pounds on their back, walking a few miles is exhausting, let alone more than ten. Wouldn¡¯t you want a reporter to take a photo so it¡¯s worth the effort?¡± Wan Baoming listened and burst outughing, ¡°We used to make the apprentices carry everything.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t do! It¡¯s a new era now, isn¡¯t everyone equal? Apprentices don¡¯t get tired?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth immediately curled up in disdain. Wu Jun said matter-of-factly, ¡°Let¡¯s get it straight, I never made Jiang Yuan carry heavy stuff over mountains.¡± Wan Baoming was amused and replied, ¡°Now that we have this pickup investigation vehicle, there¡¯s no need for that.¡± Huang Qiangmin nodded earnestly. ¡°There¡¯s some equipment inside the investigation vehicle too, like investigation stepping boards, portable extensiondders, reels of electrical wire, oh, and anti-slip rain boots and barricades. Consider them gifts from our director. Honestly, these are the valuable things, we also buy them as we use them¡­¡± Wan Baoming said,ughing aloud. Huang Qiangmin looked at Wan Baoming with the eye of a Criminal Police Squad leader. Wan Baoming¡¯sughter died down as he sighed, ¡°You old detectives are really no fun, well¡­ actually, we do have some backlog cases, how about lending us Jiang Yuan for a few months¡­¡± ¡°A few months?¡± Huang Qiangmin rubbed his ears. ¡°Two or three months¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin kept rubbing his ears. Wan Baoming coughed twice and said, ¡°It takes one or two months to work through a case, lending him for two months should be fine, right¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s calcte it by the case then,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, pulling Wan Baoming onto the Ford pickup. The two sat in the almost brand-new, unpretentious driver¡¯s cabin, chatting warmly. Chapter 286 - 286 262 The Huge Difficult Case ?286: Chapter 262 The Huge Difficult Case 286: Chapter 262 The Huge Difficult Case Jiang Yuan once again left work early to return home. In Ningtai County, there hadn¡¯t been any bodies found recently¡ªno homicide cases, not even any unnatural deaths. Even the areas within the city where cases often urred had be peaceful, and instances of stolen electric bikes had be rare. If it had been a forensic doctor from another county, in the absence of bodies, they naturally would have been reassigned to other criminal investigation departments, or even to other police officers, if the demand wasn¡¯t high. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have such experiences or understandings, and neither Captain Huang nor the others had such expectations of him; everything seemed very natural. Upon arriving home, he saw that a multitude of messages had flooded the WeChat group. The ¡°Qinghe Technical Sharing Group¡± even had a red ¡°@¡± notification indicating a message directed at him. cker in daily life: [Thank you, Jiang Yuan, forpleting the crucial fingerprintparison work. Thanks also to the cooperation and efforts of all departments. The 1120 Maixin Factory high-fall case is solved; the perpetrator has been captured!] Trace examiner Li Rui: [Impressive, saying it¡¯s solved means it¡¯s solved!] Forensic doctor Wang Lan: [Congrattions, Jiang Yuan, on yet another outstanding aplishment.] Battling in all quarters: [Jiang Yuan is not bad; he¡¯s quick on the draw.] Trace examiner Li Rui: [@Battling in all quarters, that term could be easily misunderstood. ] Battling in all quarters: [Within seven days, Yuan is fast; beyond seven days, Yuan is both fast and urate!] A group of people chatted andughed heartily. Jiang Yuan scrolled down to the bottom, ready to reply to ¡°cker in daily life,¡± who was Comrade Wan Baoming who had arrived today. At this moment, forensic doctor Wang Lan spoke up: [@cker in daily life, what did Captain Huang say? It must not have been easy to speak up.] cker in daily life: [Honestly, Captain Huang is quite awesome to deal with, and he cooperated well. We¡¯re nning to enter a deeper cooperation with them.] Forensic doctor Wang Lan: [Captain Huang? Awesome?] cker in daily life: [Captain Huang is actually a very straightforward person. The longer you work with him, the more you¡¯ll realize. Although his demands are high, they are quite reasonable¡­] At this point, the conversation in the group cooled down. No one opposed his remarks, but for sure, nobody agreed with them either. They had all met Huang Qiangmin; some had even experienced his smile. Was that a straightforward smile? Then, Jiang Yuan spoke: [@cker in daily life, too kind. It is part of my job.] cker in daily life: [Haha, being able to do it means it¡¯s an incredible feat. Looking forward to our next cooperation.] Jiang Yuan: [I am a bit curious; you must not be from Qinghe City, nor do you work there. How did you join the Qinghe City Technical Sharing Group?] cker in daily life: [Inside a Lanzhou beef noodle shop, there are neither Lanzhou natives nor beef, yet it still thrives.] Jiang Yuan thought the emphasis was on the word ¡°thrives.¡± Thinking about it, Wan Baoming¡¯s working style indeed seemed to thrive. In terms of position, he had achieved the role of deputy director of the Changyang City Criminal Technology Center, not a low rank, and the conditions were favorable. In terms of the actual operation, he made Huang Qiangmin spit out a word; it seemed to let Huang Qiangmin benefit, but in reality, Wan Baoming achieved his own goals. In these times, criminal investigation experts are actually not thatmon. Famous criminal police with titles of ministry-level criminal investigation experts are on business trips 250 days a year, solving cases all over the country. One of the ¡°Eight Tigers of Criminal Investigation,¡± Ou Guisheng,pletes 200 cases per year, directly participating in the solving of 100, earning on average one first-ss merit and two second-ss merits every year. Yet even so, criminal investigation experts are still in short supply. Moreover, scarce resources are not easy to contend for. It often requires the help of bureau chiefs, or even higher authorities, for coordination. That Wan Baoming could find external help on his level was also a skill in itself. Compared to a homicide case, the little bit that Huang Qiangmin seemed to have gained in their deal was negligible. Through the screen, Jiang Yuan analyzed Wan Baoming and heightened his caution. Essentially, Wan Baoming certainly wasn¡¯t someone who would allow himself to lose out, so his eagerness to strike a deal with Huang Qiangmin meant that the case to be discussed tomorrow wouldn¡¯t be simple. Or, perhaps, he already had a case with significant pressure on his hands; he just hadn¡¯t mentioned it. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t afraid of these things, but he did dine early with his father, yed with hisputer and phone for a while, and made sure to go to bed before 11 o¡¯clock. For someone his age, going to sleep an hour before midnight was as respectful as it could get. The next day. Jiang Yuan drove his Mercedes-Benz G-ss straight to Changyang City. Wan Baoming spent a lot of money inviting him to work on a case in Changyang City, so it definitely wouldn¡¯t be a low-key affair; otherwise, how would the expenses be justified? How would he convince his colleagues and leaders? Therefore, Jiang Yuan, who was expected to attract attention upon arrival, didn¡¯t undersell himself and even felt unconstrainedlyfortable. Around the same time, Wang Zhong, Mu Zhiyang, and Wei Zhenguo drove the station¡¯s true old car, a 15-year-old Santana station wagon, its trunk filled with various police equipment and several investigation boxes. Thetter could have been sourced from Changyang City, but Captain Huang felt it wasn¡¯t necessary and that it would be undignified. He sent the young officers, Wang Zhong and Mu Zhiyang, to assist Jiang Yuan. Of course, this couldn¡¯t be said so bluntly; he only told Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo was naturally there to provide support and ensure Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety. No matter what, it was a criminal case; despite how well Wan Baoming spoke of it, someone still needed to keep an eye out for Jiang Yuan, for Captain Huang to be at ease. Most criminal cases are solved quite calmly, like fishing from a small pond. Ordinary methods might include angling; to be more aggressive, one could use electric fishing; with enough people, one could uses; and sometimes, when necessary, they might even drain the pond to pick up the fish¡ªthere¡¯s an aspect that requires mental effort, and even more so,bor. Chapter 287 - 287 262 Huge Difficult Case_2 ?287: Chapter 262 Huge Difficult Case_2 287: Chapter 262 Huge Difficult Case_2 But there are always those criminal cases that have a very small chance of being dangerous. The danger mighte from poisonous snakes in the water or unforeseen idents on shore. And the most fearsome thing is to lose your way on the water and go from a pond into the sea. Huang Qiangmin had been a detective for decades and had actually encountered real danger only a few times. But to give him due credit, he had spent his whole life working in the county town. He wasn¡¯t too familiar with what things were like in the provincial capital. Moreover, the cases he was invited to join in on were never simple, and he wasn¡¯tfortable with the young Jiang Yuan taking them on directly. The two vehicles converged at the city¡¯s highway entrance. Wei Zhenguo immediately switched to the Mercedes-Benz G-ss and instructed his apprentice Mu Zhiyang, as well as Wang Zhong, two young men, to drive safely. Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong agreed, with Mu Zhiyang obediently adding, ¡°Master, don¡¯t worry. Our car shakes when it hits 90 on the highway, and it has a really solid body, very safe.¡± ¡°Once you hit 70, don¡¯t roll down the windows. The wind on the highway will not only chafe your face but it¡¯s also noisy. If you really feel like opening a window, just crack the one in the front passenger and the right backseat a little. That¡¯sparatively better,¡± Wei Zhenguo shared his experience with the two, then sat in the passenger seat of the G-ss, setting the temperature to 20 degrees. The sound of the air conditioning immediately got louder, and the direct st of cool air made Wei Zhenguo shiver, revealing a smile of contentment. ¡­ Changyang City. Wan Baoming was waiting right outside the city¡¯s Criminal Science and Technology Center. Several detectives also came specially to stand beside Wan Baoming, observing Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo as they stepped down from the G-ss. The center¡¯s director, Li Zhiyuan, was in casual dress, a clean white shirt looking quite formal. After shaking hands with Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo, he said, ¡°Anything you need, ask Old Wan; if there¡¯s really a need, asking me is no problem either. Hahaha¡­¡± Li Zhiyuan then excused himself, saying he had ¡°a meeting to attend,¡± and departed. The other detectives, after ncing at Jiang Yuan, also dispersed. Wan Baoming took over and, with a twinkle in his eye,mented, ¡°Feels different in a white shirt, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a sense of pressure,¡± Jiang Yuan replied honestly. In Ningtai County Bureau, even the bureau chief wore blue shirts, and the ordinary detectives barely ever saw white shirts throughout the year. However, the provincial capital was obviously on a different level. Jiang Yuan then asked, ¡°Does Director Li do technical work?¡± ¡°He used to. And he alsoes from a forensic background,¡± Wan Baoming, who was an expert in traces and overlooked Jiang Yuan, joked, ¡°Forensic doctors are tough people.¡± A few exchanges of chat quickly closed the distance between everyone. Looking at Wei Zhenguo, Wan Baoming chuckled, ¡°The provincial capital city isrger and the situations are moreplex. I won¡¯t go into specifics, but as long as we solve cases, that¡¯s what matters, right?¡± ¡°Is there a cooperating detective team?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked. ¡°Chief Yu trusts Jiang Yuan a lot. If you need anything, you can ask me or go directly to Captain Yu,¡± Wan Baoming exined, then added, ¡°Captain Yu has a meeting and couldn¡¯te over. Seriously, he has a meeting to attend.¡± Everyone shared a smile. Wan Baoming led the two into a small office, where they saw that everything had been set up with twoputers ced there, along with a filing cab and an evidence cab, both secured with small locks. ¡°Let me know if you need anything else and I¡¯ll have it brought over,¡± Wan Baoming said. ¡°We could use two field beds. If not, autopsy tables would do,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°We might asionally rest a bit in the office, so that should be alright.¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s fine. We have plenty of field beds, and actually, we have autopsy tables too if you forensic doctors have any particr quirks¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that serious.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± Wan Baomingughed heartily, ¡°I thought you were like our director who needs to sleep on an autopsy table every so often.¡± Jiang Yuan was momentarily taken aback, ¡°Director Li has that hobby?¡± Wan Baoming said, ¡°They say the cold autopsy table helps with thinking and cooling off. The reason why aristocratic vampires sleep in underground crypts is because it¡¯s cooler down there which lowers brain temperature. Aristocrats had to review documents and such, they were the brain workers of the Middle Ages. An autopsy table, being made of stainless steel, goes one step further and can also draw out dampness.¡± Jiang Yuan felt his brain overheating as he listened, ¡°Is this something your Director Li said? Our forensic doctors¡¯ reputation is going to¡­¡± ¡°No, this was something that everyone came up with about Director Li, but it¡¯s no longer allowed to be said,¡± Wan Baoming said earnestly, ¡°These were the precise instructions he gave during a meeting.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just work on our case,¡± Wei Zhenguo couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Seeing both of them rxed, Wan Baoming smiled and asked, ¡°Does Jiang Yuan want to work on fingerprints?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Are there other cases?¡± ¡°What type of case would you like?¡± Wan Baoming inquired with a smile. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment. He had actually considered what type of cases to work on. While fingerprints certainly presented considerable advantages, and his own skills in fingerprinting were strong enough, as evidenced by the high-rise fall case he had solved just a few days ago. But the limitations of fingerprints were also quite clear. Aside from factors like fingerprint databases, the probative value of fingerprints was another issue. Firstly, fingerprints are indirect evidence; they can only prove that the suspect had been there, not that the suspect was involved in the case. Furthermore, the location from which fingerprints are collected and the methods of collection can themselves be irregr, thereby casting doubt on the persuasive power of the evidence. Chapter 288 - 288 262 Difficult Case_3 ?288: Chapter 262 Difficult Case_3 288: Chapter 262 Difficult Case_3 For a fingerprint, if it is found on the murder weapon, then its evidentiary value is definitely top-notch, essentially locking down the criminal suspect. But if it¡¯s only found on the murderer¡¯s means of transport, then its evidentiary value is second-ss, and then at the crime scene, if it¡¯s a public space like a coffee shop, where numerous fingerprints can be lifted, external conditions are needed to determine which fingerprint belongs to the criminal suspect. In fact, DNA is much the same. Why do police love finding semen so much, and why did Chief Medical Examiner Niu be so familiar with the nature of toilet paper? It¡¯s because normal people don¡¯t just leave semen everywhere, and when it¡¯s found, its evidentiary strength is very strong. The Criminal Science Center in Changyang City is quite professional, with a high level of expertise. They often coborate with provincial experts, so any unsolved cases have likely already made the rounds through the Provincial Department. Under these circumstances, the difficulty of fingerprints from Changyang City is rtively high. Additionally, those submitted to the Provincial Department for expert consultation are at least selected for their very strong evidential power. Jiang Yuan is now sitting in the office of Changyang City Criminal Science Center, scanning their fingerprints, which are likely to reveal some fingerprints with less evidential value¡ªspecifically pertaining to homicide cases. But if he doesn¡¯t investigate homicide cases, his presence bes meaningless. Even if he solves 100 theft cases, even if they¡¯re highly challenging, they won¡¯t be considered significant by the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team. They have many small cases unsolved, perhaps since they¡¯re unsolvable or because resources have not been invested. But in their eyes, these cases are the kind where ¡°I could score full marks if I were just careful.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival had only one mission, which was to solve homicides. Fingerprints could be worked on, but as an opening gambit, Jiang Yuan definitely had to bring out his strongest power. The LV4 Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method + LV3 Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method + LV5 Image Enhancement is super strong, but not as powerful as LV5 Bloodstain Analysis + LV3 Footprint Analysis + LV3 Forensic Clinical Medicine. Because fingerprint and image investigation are overt techniques, whereas bloodstain and footprint analyses are, by contrast, the opposite. Of course, in Ningtai County Bureau, there might be no difference between fingerprint, image investigation, or footprints. The strongest trace evidence expert in Ningtai, Yan, had fingerprint skills that barely reached LV0.9. But in Changyang City, there are at least LV3 fingerprint experts, whom Jiang Yuan had seen during the fingerprint conference. In terms of image investigation, their greatest capability might be only LV2, but when doing fingerprints, the main strength stilles from fingerprint skills, with LV5 Image Enhancement acting as an assistant. Switch to bloodstain analysis + footprints. These two skills were evident 20 years ago, being the forte of the older generation of criminal investigators. But now, they cannot be said to have been lost; rather, they are used less and less. Even if master teaches apprentice, without sufficient material, it¡¯s impossible to rise. In effect, if fingerprints are considered, the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team could form a team and consult experts equating to a force that could match Jiang Yuan¡¯s strength. Normally they might fall a bit short, but with homicide cases, they wouldn¡¯t lose by much. And the fingerprints they can¡¯t work out, Jiang Yuan cannot guarantee that he would be able to either. But switch to bloodstain analysis + footprints, and the scenes they can¡¯t solve might just be a piece of cake for Jiang Yuan. Meaning, for fingerprints + Image Enhancement, Jiang Yuan might score 800 points, while the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team could form the strongest battle group and score 700 or 750 points, even potentially peaking at 800 points. But on the route of bloodstain analysis + footprints + forensic clinical medicine, Jiang Yuan still scores 800 points, and the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team, even if they scour the entire province to form the strongest battle group, would only rack up slightly over 400 points, at most reaching 500 points. When solving homicide cases, although it¡¯s not a battle against one¡¯s own, for unsolved cases, it only makes sense if you are stronger than your own team. Otherwise, if everyone has simr strength and they can¡¯t solve current cases, on what basis could you solve cold cases? The thing is, there just aren¡¯t many cases involving bloodstain analysis + footprints anymore, otherwise masters would not fail to pass on their greatness. But Jiang Yuan believes that in arge city like Changyang, there are always some perverts who think they are unique, while other unique perverts, are actually just the same kind of perverts. ¡°See if you have such a category of cases. Scenes with a lot of bloodstains, blood footprints, and the scenes extensively photographed,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly described. ¡°This kind of direct violent crime is now notmon,¡± Wan Baoming said first, then asked, ¡°Does Doctor Jiang have a particr insight into these types of cases?¡± ¡°I would be more confident,¡± Jiang Yuan stated as he walked towards theputer. Wan Baoming gave a smile, walked over to turn on the machine, and went straight to the point, ¡°The 513 Stabbing Murder Case. Shall we start with this one?¡± A case that could be named directly was undoubtedly a serious,plicated, and difficult case. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What is the specific situation?¡± ¡°Let me give a brief introduction,¡± Wan Baoming responded, ¡°It happened three years ago, on May 13th. The victim was a local retired viger living alone. Someone knocked on the door to read the electricity meter, the old man opened the door, and without any argument, was stabbed directly in the chest. The death was silent. The body was discovered by a neighbor, already dead for over an hour.¡± Wan Baoming looked at the solemn-faced Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo, continuing, ¡°Footprints were extracted from the scene, along with arge amount of bloodstain evidence, and half a bloodied footprint, but due to neighbors and onlookers, the evidence at the scene was quite chaotic. What do you think of this case?¡± ¡°This case seems excessively difficult,¡± Wei Zhenguo eximed, afraid that Jiang Yuan would rashly agree to handle it. ¡°Let¡¯s look at the scene photos first,¡± Jiang Yuan made way for Wan Baoming to ess the internalwork. Chapter 289 - 289 263 Scarcity ?289: Chapter 263: Scarcity 289: Chapter 263: Scarcity The small building of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center was newly constructed, with a steel structure andrge ss windows that gave it a sleek appearance and allowed for excellent lighting. In the spacious corridor, technicians would asionally pass by, or someone would simply stroll by out of curiosity. Wan Baoming ignored the technicians¡¯ probing and sat squarely in front of theputer. He pulled up the crime scene images for case 513 and introduced them to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°At the initial stage, this case was considered a vendetta. However, the elderly victim¡¯s children live out of town and the person lived alone, attracting very few factors for hatred. Therefore, this investigative direction was not pursued further.¡± ¡°The second consideration was for financial gain. But there was no sign of theft in the elderly person¡¯s home. From the evidence, it doesn¡¯t look like the killer actually entered the victim¡¯s home.¡± ¡°The most likely, but least preferred exnation for the crime, is random killing¡­ The City Bureau was tense for a while about this, worrying that simr incidents might ur again. Fortunately, they did not.¡± ¡°But the case dragged on day by day, without any suspects.¡± Jiang Yuan listened to Wan Baoming while also looking at the crime scene photos, one by one, without responding to him right away. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s brow was so furrowed it was nearly twisted, as he too examined the photos and said, ¡°If it¡¯s a random killing, this case is tooplicated. The crime scene itself is weak and has been trampled over and over again, leaving no evidence. This case is unsolvable.¡± He was trying to speak for Jiang Yuan and get him out of a tight spot, and his reasoning made sense. Random killings are inherently extremely difficult cases. If crimes of passion have tracks to follow, random killings are almost the mold for a perfect crime. Because crimes of passion are unnned. Thus, most crimes of passion in modern society can be tracked through surveince retrieval and person screening methods. But true random killings, especially like the one at hand, with an assant of certain martial prowess, are particrly difficult to solve. In fact, regr police investigations, aside from DNA, surveince, and phones, mainly rely on interpersonal rtions for clue gathering. This method has proven unfailing many times. It can be considered a universal approach, much like a standard procedure in the process of solving equations. And what the standard procedure fears most are special cases. Without regard for Jiang Yuan¡¯s considerations, Wei Zhenguo went ahead with the more challenging aspects and said, ¡°First of all, the contact time between the two parties was short. The victim probably got stabbed to death as soon as they opened the door. The killer was clean and efficient, taking the murder weapon and leaving very little evidence behind. No fingerprints, probably no DNA, and given the victim¡¯s advanced age, it¡¯s likely they didn¡¯t even have time to react, so there was no defensive action¡­¡± ¡°The killer was also lucky. The neighbors are all elderly and didn¡¯t know how to protect the crime scene. By the time the police arrived, the floor had been trampled into disarray.¡± ¡°This bloodstain, and the one analyzed by Bloodstain Analysis, surely have different meanings.¡± By now, Wei Zhenguo was fairly aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to analyze bloodstains, and he could guess the reasons behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s requirements to have bloodstains, footprints, andprehensive photos. But from Wei Zhenguo¡¯s perspective, the bloodstains at the scene were just too scant. The area of the blood pool was indeedrge, but beyond that, the few spattered bloodstains and asional drips were significantly fewerpared to the scenes where Jiang Yuan had done reconstructions before. Wan Baoming pped his forehead andughed, saying, ¡°It just urred to me because of this case, as it¡¯s quite a well-known case within our Changyang City Bureau. But if it doesn¡¯t meet the requirements, we can look for another case¡­¡± ¡°No need.¡± Jiang Yuan, having looked at about half of the photos by now, finally spoke gently, ¡°The basic requirements are met.¡± Wei Zhenguo cleared his throat twice and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, let¡¯s pick an appropriate case to start with, get a good initial victory, and then tackle the tough ones.¡± This was the strategy they hade up with on the way. In cases involving only fingerprints or DNA, one could simply hunker down in the office to work, at most recanvassing the scene once or twice. Jiang Yuan could handle these tasks with Wang Zhong alongside. Including the forensic work, simply looking at pictures in the office, performing autopsies, and examining microscopes, it was nearly possible to do a satisfactory job. However, when Jiang Yuan truly got involved in a case, it often required team coboration for investigation and Image Investigation. Without establishing a certain level of trust, it was unclear whether the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment would cooperate or to what extent. Especially in the case of conducting investigations, if the investigations were not thorough enough or had design ws, it would effectively waste a series of clues. Jiang Yuan looked at Wei Zhenguo and smiled, saying, ¡°We¡¯ve already looked this far into the case, and since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s just proceed.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Knowing that Jiang Yuan was not reckless, Wei Zhenguo blinked and decided to wait and see. Jiang Yuan then smiled at Wan Baoming and said, ¡°Let¡¯s start by looking into this case, but it¡¯s not certain it will be this one. I¡¯ll finish looking at the crime scene photos first, and then we¡¯ll decide.¡± ¡°Alright. There¡¯s no need to settle on any specific case.¡± Wan Baoming thought to himself that although Huang Qiangmin charged by the case, since it was at the county bureau level of fees, as long as it was a homicide, he would ept it. So, Jiang Yuan continued to look at the photos. Chapter 290 - 290 263 Scarcity_2 ?290: Chapter 263 Scarcity_2 290: Chapter 263 Scarcity_2 Contrary to what Wei Zhenguo thought, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t find the case particrly difficult. This probably had to do with Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills. Bloodstain Analysis is Bloodstain Analysis, whether there are many bloodstains that can be used to reconstruct the scene, or few bloodstains that can still be analyzed for clues. In fact, from a historical perspective, cases like the ¡°513 Knifing Upon Entry¡± used to be mainstream major cases forty or fifty years ago. Of course, the added difficulty of the perpetrator stabbing the victim right after the door is opened raises the stakes a bit, but the essence remains unchanged. ¡°Haven¡¯t found the transportation used by the killer?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as he looked at the pictures. Wan Baoming replied, ¡°It seems not. The area is a remote township with public transportation and many illegal cabs. That lead hasn¡¯t been pursued. Should I ask someone from the task force?¡± ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan immediately agreed. Wan Baoming then left to make a phone call and soon returned, saying, ¡°There are still two people on the 513 task force, both have followed the case from start to finish. The oneing over is Wang Chuanxing, who¡¯s in the detachment; he¡¯ll be here in 5 minutes.¡± The murder task force, in theory, is not dissolved until the case is solved. However, during the active investigation period, the task force is well-resourced, allowing other cases and demands to be sidelined. If the case is solved, then naturally everyone is happy. If not, the number of people on the case gradually decreases, but eventually, one or two people will remain, working part-time. These two are responsible not only for attending meetings but also for answering calls, gathering clues, organizing materials, managing documents, and receiving visits from the victim¡¯s families, among other duties. The advantage of this approach is that someone knows the case details from beginning to end. When the case is reopened, the detectives handling cold cases can get up to speed quickly, especially with those details that are not in the official files. While waiting for Wang Chuanxing, Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong were brought over by someone. Wei Zhenguo introduced them to each other and then told them to stay aside. Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong were as obedient as little chicks. The reputations of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment and the Forensic Science Center awe both of them. Moreover, they had only seen random murders on television. A few minutester, a detective came in with a box of files. ¡°Director Wan,¡± Detective Wang Chuanxing greeted. This was a young and neatly dressed detective with a well-proportioned figure, standing straight with bright eyes, obviously well-educated. Wan Baoming smiled, invited him to sit down, and briefly introduced Jiang Yuan and the others before saying, ¡°Doctor Jiang has a few questions about the 513 case. See if you know anything about it.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Wang Chuanxing put the box on the table and said, ¡°I¡¯ve also brought some of the case files¡­ Hmm, are we going to reopen this case?¡± Having been with the task force for three years, Wang Chuanxing also hoped the case would be solved, tofort the families and give everyone closure. Director Wan shook his head first and said, ¡°It¡¯s too early to talk about reopening. We are first getting to know the case, and if we can find new key leads, only then will we discuss reopening. By the way, Doctor Jiang just asked me¡­ the killer¡¯s means of transport, did we find it originally?¡± ¡°No,¡± Wang Chuanxing shook his head, ¡°The local transport situation is veryplex. Just ahead of Shunling Township is Manshui River, which is navigable during the half-year flood season. There are some small boats, too. Moreover, the local township enterprise mainly deals with wood processing, and there is a small logistics park nearby; from the logistics park to the victim¡¯s home, it¡¯s about a thirty to forty-minute walk at a brisk pace¡ªI walked it myself.¡± Having a logistics park means there arerge trucks which can also carry passengers, especially the trucks from the logistics park, as some owners would ride along or hitch a ride on a truck. But whether it¡¯s trucks or boats, the trouble is there are no records. Forget surveince; there aren¡¯t even ticketing points, and the vehicles and vessels aren¡¯t fixed. Wang Chuanxing continued, ¡°Shunling Township is also connected by highways, national roads, county roads, and provincial roads. There are long-distance bus stations, long-distance public bus stations to Changyang City, and illegal cars and motorcycles locally¡ªthe surveince is basically useless¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing then looked at Wan Baoming and said, ¡°Regarding transportation, the task force didn¡¯t make any progress initially.¡± ¡°And witnesses?¡± Jiang Yuan continued unfazed, ¡°Did anyone hear about meter reading ande out to see? Didn¡¯t the killer go to another house to read the meter?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t go to anyone else¡¯s house,¡± Wang Chuanxing said. ¡°This is how the next-door neighbor described it. The local residential area is a pattern of one small courtyard next to another, but many people have moved away. The victims¡¯ neighboring couple were already nearly 70 years old, and it was nap time in the afternoon. They onlyined about the noise outside and didn¡¯t go out to look.¡± ¡°Did anyone else hear the cries of reading the electric meter?¡± ¡°Three or four people said they did hear it.¡± ¡°What about the timing? How long were the cries?¡± ¡°There are various ounts. Some said they heard a few cries, others said they heard shouts for a few minutes,¡± Wang Chuanxing said. ¡°They are all old men and women, not very good at hearing.¡± ¡°Hmm, I understand,¡± Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and then asked, ¡°So, what was your primary direction in the investigation at that time?¡± ¡°The case was judged to be a murder triggered by a break-in theft or robbery,¡± Wang Chuanxing answered. Wei Zhenguo asked, ¡°It wasn¡¯t random killing?¡± ¡°Initially, someone might have suggested that. But the task force judged from several angles that it was not a random killing,¡± Wang Chuanxing looked at Wei Zhenguo and continued, ¡°First, the location of the crime, Shunling Township, is quiteplex in terms of traffic, but after all, it¡¯s a small town that people from outside the area have never heard of. The fact that the murderer specifically came here tomit the crime implies it was not a spontaneous action.¡± Wang Chuanxing paused before continuing, ¡°Reading the electric meter is also quite an unusual ruse. Changyang City has not needed meter reading for many years, so for the killer to shout about it suggests at least some familiarity with the situation, at least enough to scout out the ce.¡± ¡°At that time, the task force believed it was likely that the killer intended to exploit the local situation where there were many elderly people living alone who were rtively well-off, to trick his way into homes tomit robbery. Given the circumstances in the neighborhood then, one or two people would have been enough to control the situation.¡± ¡°Based on our inquiries, the victim had a military background, and ordinarily, he had a quite assertive personality. It might have been for this reason that the robbery went awry, leading the two suspects to abandon their criminal n!¡± Jiang Yuan involuntarily nced at Wan Baoming. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s description differed somewhat from Wan Baoming¡¯s initial ount. Of course, the objective facts were the same. But Wan Baoming¡¯s ount had more uncertainty. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s ount seemed more certain, but on closer inspection, it was based more on conjecture. ¡°Regarding the judgment of burry or robbery, was there any evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan then asked. ¡°At that time, there had been multiple thefts and robberies in Shunling Township, including one cracked case where the culprits were two truck drivers. After the construction of a logistics park locally, freight rates had plummeted, affecting the ie of local drivers, who were under pressure from mortgages and car loans, and so they rashly turned to crime¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing exined. ¡°So, you think this case was also the work of truck drivers? You must have looked into that,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Yes, but with no result,¡± Wang Chuanxing admitted candidly and added, ¡°Local thieves and individuals with a history of violent crime were also investigated. No result.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly and asked a few more questions, then said, ¡°I¡¯d like to visit the scene. Captain Wang, do you have time to join me?¡± ¡°Sure, just let me know when you¡¯re ready,¡± Wang Chuanxing replied with a smile, standing up to leave. After Wan Baoming and the others left, Jiang Yuan was asked, ¡°It looks like you have a line of thought?¡± Being from a technical background, he knew that technicians wouldn¡¯t opt for a site visit unless there was a strong purpose behind it. Paperwork was a mode of operation more recognized by technicians. Jiang Yuan nodded and countered Wan Baoming¡¯s question, ¡°It appears that you and the task force disagree on this case?¡± ¡°Not at all, not at all. There¡¯s no disagreement,¡± Wan Baoming waved his hands repeatedly and said, ¡°The task force is there to solve practical problems; their goal is to crack the case. Even I wouldn¡¯t initially define the case as random, because then how would one solve it, right?¡± ¡°But you think it was a random act?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Wan Baoming¡¯s expression changed, and he first looked at the door to make sure no one was there before he spoke in a low voice, ¡°While it doesn¡¯t sound very respectful to the dead, the romanticism of a random act, I mean the literary kind of romanticism, is indeed quite rare.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Wan Baoming. Indeed, some things were quite scarce. Chapter 291 - 291 264 ?291: 264 291: 264 The next day. Shunling Township. Perhaps because it was on the outskirts of Changyang City, or because the average ie was higher, or because the natural environment was better, driving through the somewhat chaotic township boundary, the core area of Shunling Township was actually somewhat serenely beautiful. The slightly murky Manshui River, flowing from upstream through the city, brought abundant moisture and wind. The arch bridge crossing the river included an antique stone bridge as well as a reinforced concrete bridge capable of handling heavy loads, splitting Shunling Township into two parts. One part was a continuation of serene and beautiful township life, the other a tumultuous and chaotic logistics park and industrial area. Most of the young people were active in the factory area, asionallying over to the old town to wander about, mainly couples in love, whether men and women, men and men, or women and women. Venturing a little deeper into the texture of the township, that is, the residential and living areas, arge number of buildings from thest centurye into view. Shunling Township had not undergonerge-scale demolition, but instead, had adopted the model of building new districts. Now, even the expansion of new districts was making use of the new district model. The time in the old city area seemed as if it had been fixed in ce. The government had made quite an effort in terms of the city¡¯s appearance; from an outsider¡¯s perspective, one could see the attractive exteriors and streets, which also attracted some leisure seekers, but their numbers were notrge, and the average age was rtively high. Noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze sizing up the outsiders, Wang Chuanxing, who was in the same car, sensitively exined, ¡°Three years ago, there weren¡¯t so many tourists. You could say there were basically no tourists, outsiders were merchants, drivers, or factory workers. The rural guesthouses now were only set up in the past two years, and mainly cater to visitors to the surrounding fishing parks¡­¡± ¡°Was the victim involved in any of these?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked, ¡°Like demolition ns, renting or selling houses, decorating guesthouses, and the like? Have you checked?¡± This was about economic factors. In Wei Zhenguo¡¯s understanding, the situation the victim encountered was somewhat simr to that of ck Society methods. However, the extent of resorting to murder suggests either veryrge interests are at stake or an extremely brazen perpetrator, which doesn¡¯t quite add up. Wang Chuanxing also knew what Wei Zhenguo meant and responded, ¡°We¡¯ve asked the people around, there are no such economic disputes. Nor have there been any reports about them. Here in the logistics park, there are some theft and robbery cases, at most involving small groups.¡± Wan Baoming was more direct, ¡°Because of this case, all the groups in this area have been filtered through, several have gone to jail, and we investigated thoroughly. Still no leads.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just go directly to the scene,¡± Jiang Yuan said, urging them a little after he heard this. After yesterday¡¯s review and contemtion, he already had some ideas, and he felt he had sufficiently understood the work of the special case team that Wang Chuanxing belonged to. A case urring in the provincial capital has the advantage that all levels responsible for the case are of rtively high quality. Take photography, for instance, in Ningtai County it¡¯s done by those who also work the scene, but in Changyang City, the technicians who specialize in criminal photography, both overall and in detail, captured the scenes very well. Thisid an excellent foundation for assistance with the case. Now, for example, if Jiang Yuan wanted to utilize bloodstain analysis or footprints, his main reliance would be on these photographs. If the photos are good andprehensively capture the scene, Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence is correspondingly strengthened. He came to the scene precisely topare it with the photos. Wang Chuanxing and Wan Baoming had no objections, since both were here to apany him today. ¡­ The car stopped at the entrance to the street, and the group of people squeezed into the alley, walking for about ten minutes until they reached the scene of the crime. The victim¡¯s small courtyard had beenpletely abandoned. There was arge lock hanging on the front door, grass growing on the walls, and nobody taking care of it. The neighboring houses looked simr, and Mu Zhiyang ran to find someone to ask; they had all moved away shortly after the incident. No one found this strange. It wasn¡¯t rare for a neighbor living right next to a crime scene to refuse to continue living in their old house. In big cities, many people might not have a choice; even if a haunted house was next door, to save a few hundred thousand dors, plenty would still live in it. In townships, housing wasn¡¯t valuable¡ªbuying a new set often cost just a few or a dozen thousand dors. Some could even move to live with their children. Wang Chuanxing directly cut the lock open with hydraulic shears and opened the door. As the door opened, several yellow papers fluttered out, lifted high by the wind. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but hug his own shoulders. Creak. The door of the old house swayed uncertainly. The grey-ck wooden door was a bit peeled and deformed, but there were no signs of bloodstains anymore. ¡°Was the scene cleaned?¡± Wei Zhenguo looked around. Wang Chuanxing hummed affirmatively, adding, ¡°At the time they were told to try to preserve the scene as much as possible, but it¡¯s probably been too long.¡± The special investigation team¡¯s work had basicallye to a halt, and the family could probably sense it. Jiang Yuan took out a tablet, flipped through the photos, and began to cross-reference them with his surroundings. After making a round, Jiang Yuan returned to the front of the door, picked out a photo with the body, looked back and forth, and said, ¡°I need someone to pose for a shot.¡± ¡°Xiao Mu, you¡¯re up,¡± Wei Zhenguo ordered his apprentice without any qualms. Mu Zhiyang sighed, ¡°I just washed these police trousersst week.¡± While talking, Mu Zhiyang eyeballed the position on the photo and quickly lied down. Jiang Yuan, again contrasting the photo, helped adjust Mu Zhiyang¡¯s posture. Chapter 292 - 292 264 Flaws Everywhere_2 ?292: Chapter 264 ws Everywhere_2 292: Chapter 264 ws Everywhere_2 Mu Zhiyang crawled on the ground, moving like a worm. Once he was positioned, Jiang Yuan stood up, took a photo, and then said, ¡°Curl up a little more, you¡¯re slightly taller than the corpse.¡± Thus, Mu Zhiyang curled up a bit more. Jiang Yuan then said to Wei Zhenguo, ¡°Captain Wei, stand here, bend over and touch him, see where on Mu Zhiyang you can reach.¡± Wei Zhenguo, looking at the spot Jiang Yuan indicated, knew it was where the half footprint of blood had been left on that day; he curbed his curiosity and did as instructed. Wei Zhenguo, being just over 1.7 meters tall, of standard height, reached out with his hand as he leaned sideways and could just touch Mu Zhiyang¡¯s chin. ¡°What do you think?¡± asked Wei Zhenguo as he stood up. Wang Chuanxing and Wan Baoming also looked over curiously. Jiang Yuan looked at Mu Zhiyang and Wei Zhenguo¡¯s positions for a while longer, then turned to Wan Baoming and said, ¡°I think this case wasn¡¯tmitted on a whim.¡± Wan Baoming, anticipating this, said, ¡°It¡¯s clear you¡¯ve had some thoughts, is there a problem with the footprint?¡± Even though his stance on the case being random showed his understanding of the issue, at that moment, he was just waiting to hear Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°From the bloodstains, this footprint is the most unnecessary.¡± Making a circle with his hand above Mu Zhiyang and Wei Zhenguo¡¯s positions, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°The formation of a pool of blood takes time. If the murderer didn¡¯t stab the victim in the chest and withdraw the knife immediately, he wouldn¡¯t have stepped in the blood. That¡¯s the first point.¡± ¡°Perhaps he was just searching for valuables,¡± suggested Wang Chuanxing, who had probably discussed simr topics within the special case team. ¡°The personal belongings of a solitary elderly person?¡± Wei Zhenguo immediately countered after listening. ¡°Maybe keys, or a watch, ne, or some kind of jewelry like a pocket watch.¡± Wang Chuanxing had a preconceived answer and it made sense. Jiang Yuan inwardly shook his head. As Jiang Yuan initially suspected, the Bloodstain Analysis and footprint identification capabilities of the Changyang Municipal Criminal Police Team were about average, providing a certain level of analytical capacity, but ultimately not equipped to solve major cases. However, LV5 Bloodstain Analysisbined with LV3 footprint identification was in this era akin to an 800-point achievement,pletely outshining the standard level. If Jiang Yuan were given a current crime scene, there was a high probability that he could solve the case quickly, just as the criminal investigation experts did decades ago. Bloodstain Analysis plus footprint identification was the standard configuration for a technical series criminal investigation expert 40 years ago. Today, it¡¯s more about crime scene investigation, image investigation, fingerprinting, and DNA analysis. The case-solving efficiency andbat capability of current detectives are definitely higher, but the effectiveness varies with each case. In cases with ample clues, be it for experts from any category, there are ways to break through and solve the case, which is the norm for most cases. But some cases require a bit of specificity. For the case at hand, another avenue of breakthrough could involve the forensic doctor. However, Jiang Yuan had also reviewed the forensic report, which likewise offered no useful leads. At this moment, Jiang Yuan was like a student who had just scored 800 points on a test, making a sweeping gesture with his hand and saying, ¡°Regarding the murderer stepping into the pool of blood and bending over, I have another theory.¡± ¡°I think he was checking for breath or carotid pulse to determine if the victim was dead.¡± ¡°Stepping into a pool of blood means that the murderer waited at the scene for some time; I believe it was at least over a minute. For a murderer, this time must have been very valuable.¡± ¡°Rifling through possessions doesn¡¯t quite fit. Not to mention that the murderer could have simply used the knife to coerce the victim into handing over their valuables. Even if he killed first and then took the property, there really wouldn¡¯t be a need to wait. What difference would it make if the victim still had a little ability to resist at this point? The victim was a frail elderly person; after taking a stab, there wasn¡¯t a need to wait for him to breathe hisst before searching the body. If there were two peoplemitting the crime, it would be even easier.¡± Wang Chuanxing listened with wide eyes. Though it wasn¡¯t a particrly surprising theory, the fact that Jiang Yuan could analyze to this extent with just a nce was slightly beyond his expectations. At this moment, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think of Liu Jinghui. He made deductions based on bloodstain analysis, yet he wondered how Liu Jinghui might reason if he got hold of a piece of evidence scoring 400 points. ¡°Let¡¯s leave the spective motives there for now. I¡¯ll talk about the footprints themselves.¡± Jiang Yuan flipped through his phone and said, ¡°I see you¡¯ve consulted with several footprint experts. Summing up their judgments, ages range from 40 to 65¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°The scene¡¯s footprints were chaotic, and with only half a bloody footprint, the analysis indeed involves more variables. I lean towards an older age, 55 to 65, and we could even broaden that range a bit.¡± This time, without waiting for Wang Chuanxing to voice his opinion, Jiang Yuan added, ¡°Next, let¡¯s talk about the bloodstains, which I think are more important.¡± Jiang Yuan swiftly brought up several photos, then squatted in front of the door and said, ¡°Leaving other parts aside for now, the most important point from the photos is that there are nk areas in the spray patterns here¡­¡± Jiang Yuan circled an area by the door seam. Standing a bit forward himself, he said, ¡°Combining this with the forensic doctor¡¯s autopsy report, I believe the murderer was standing right where I am, and here, around his waist and legs, he got sttered with blood, which created a strip. That¡¯s why there is a small nk space by the door seam.¡± Wang Chuanxing tried hard to make sense of the photos on Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone and the position of the door seam, but to no avail. This difficulty belonged to the third sub-question of the penultimate major one, with a challenge level around 400 to 500 points, but usually requiring 600 points to solve. This case was somewhat special; it¡¯s likely the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment hadn¡¯t assembled the most suitable investigation team. It¡¯s normal that bloodstain analysis wasn¡¯t done well. Nowadays, few in the police force specialize in bloodstain analysis. Moreover, this case had less blood evidence than usual, and many at the scene probably didn¡¯t consider this aspect. Wan Baoming asked with calm focus, ¡°If the murderer¡¯s position was indeed as you say, that means after the victim opened the door, the murderer took a couple more steps inside. Isn¡¯t this social distance a bit too close?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, ¡°That¡¯s why the murderer is very likely someone the victim knew. And considering that his clothes and shoes would be bloodstained, using public transportation would be inconvenient. It¡¯s highly possible that he lives nearby.¡± A gust of wind blew from behind them, making everyone¡¯s skin crawl. Wang Chuanxing shivered abruptly and asked, ¡°What about the sound of the electricity meter being read? If it was a nearby resident, wouldn¡¯t they be recognized at a nce?¡± ¡°No other households had their electricity meters read, indicating that the victim was probably the first to be called to open the door. With this in mind, the murderer shouting about reading the meter would have only shouted a few times,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°I can¡¯t exin the witness testimony for now, but I think we should start the investigation following the clues of the bloodstains and footprints first.¡± At this point, Wan Baoming added, ¡°Leave the witness testimony aside for now. These are all neighbors and were gathered at the scene long before the police arrived, influencing each other, or perhaps even hinting at each other. There are many such cases, especially since the witnesses in this case are elderly, and the incident urred during nap time¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing felt a bit unconvinced but didn¡¯t know how to refute at the moment. Jiang Yuan suggested, ¡°Let¡¯s not worry about that for now. I rmend we go over the list of nearby residents, then find out who wasn¡¯t at the scene after the police arrived, and we can pay them a visit.¡± Wan Baoming nodded, ¡°The murderer would need to return to his dwelling to change and deal with the bloody clothes and weapon, and perhaps even take a shower, so he wouldn¡¯t be able to be at the scene in a short time.¡± ¡°I remember seeing the list of people who gave statements yesterday, I¡¯ll look for it.¡± Wang Zhong finally found something he could do, promptly taking out his notebook to start working. As Wang Chuanxing watched the others¡¯ actions, feeling various kinds of difort, he asked in a low voice, ¡°But what if we visit the murderer?¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll catch him,¡± Captain Wei nodded and pointed at his team. To be honest, six people apprehending a murderer did seem insufficient, but four robust young men in their twenties, along with two middle-aged people, subduing a suspect who was likely in his sixties didn¡¯t seem too dangerous. Chapter 293 - 293 265 It Cant Be Real, Can It ?293: Chapter 265: It Can¡¯t Be Real, Can It? 293: Chapter 265: It Can¡¯t Be Real, Can It? As Wang Chuanxing followed Jiang Yuan, he hurried to send a message to his superiors while walking. The case was developing so rapidly that he found it difficult to keep pace. Subconsciously, Wang Chuanxing knew that he had to inform his superiors. What if they encountered the perpetrator and managed to arrest him? What then? Solving a case was certainly a good thing, but if the special case team had no involvement, it would be quite embarrassing. At the same time, Mu Zhiyang also began to feel increasingly anxious. If they really encountered the perpetrator, what should they do? Arresting the suspect was a must, but the murderer in this case seemed particrly vicious. What if there was fierce resistance? How should they handle it? Firstly, they needed to ensure zero casualties; secondly, it would be better if the suspect could be caught unharmed. This required coboration among several people. One or two officers would need to hold the suspect in the front while simultaneously protecting their colleagues. Other officers would nk from the side or pounce from behind to subdue the suspect. This was the mostmon arrest procedure in the detective squad. A frontal assault might look impressive, but if someone got injured, the department would have to reflect on it for half a year. They were police officers, but also part of the working force. Who would be able to endure getting injured every half a year on average? Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t handle it either; he had just returned from the hospital and didn¡¯t want to smell disinfectant anymore. But upon looking around, he suddenly realized that if a fight broke out, he would be the first to go forward. The others were not options: Jiang Yuan was a forensic doctor and a protected charge by Captain Huang¡¯s numerous exhortations. If he dared to push Jiang Yuan to the front, he would be torn apart if he returned to Ningtai alive. Wei Zhenguo was a mentor, Wan Baoming the leader, Wang Chuanxing from another unit with a high education ¡°sneaky look.¡± Wang Zhong, who was of a simr age, was a technician and small in stature. It wouldn¡¯t be reasonable to send him first. Mu Zhiyang nervously adjusted his police uniform, ready to face the challenge that wasing. Knock knock knock. The sound of knocking was as if it were hammering on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s forehead. ¡°Who is it?¡± An elderly voice came from inside the yard. ¡°We are the police, we want to ask you a few questions,¡± Wei Zhenguo replied very politely. The sound of shuffling came from inside the door. After quite some time, the door finally opened, revealing an aged face. Mu Zhiyang, who had clenched his fists, suddenly felt deted; if they wanted the suspect to be unharmed, he¡¯d have to turn himself into plush cotton, wouldn¡¯t he? Who would dare to pounce on such a frail old man? And besides, someone that old didn¡¯t look like they would be capable of murder. Wei Zhenguo also seemed to have simr thoughts, his brow deeply furrowed. Jiang Yuan asked a few questions and nced at the other person¡¯s feet before excusing himself and leaving. Once outside, Wei Zhenguo quickly said, ¡°The residents here seem a bit too old. Could they reallymit such a clean murder?¡± ¡°There must be some who are younger and in better shape. The killer is most likely just one person. We only need to find one person,¡± said Jiang Yuandao. ¡°A robust old man?¡± Wan Baoming was beginning to catch on. Regardless of whether Jiang Yuandao¡¯s judgment was right or wrong,ing up with a seemingly correct direction for such a case was already quite impressive. Of course, the special case team had also had a seemingly correct direction once, but it just hadn¡¯t been proven right in the end. Jiang Yuandao just smiled and said, ¡°Let¡¯s conduct a round of interviews first and see if there are any other clues.¡± No matter how insignificant the pool of blood and footprints seemed, Jiang Yuan was able to glean a lot of information from them, though much of it was conjectural. Conducting interviews would help him reassemble this information. The key now was actually twofold. First, whether the murderer was a local neighbor. And second, whether the murderer had already moved away. The most important aspect was the first one. If that could be confirmed, then the case was essentially solved. The surrounding neighbors, when expanded, only amounted to a few hundred households, which was negligiblepared to the amount of investigating needed for a murder. The group knocked on doors one by one. After a while, support staff from themunity also came over, having received aint from a phone call. Wan Baoming thought ¡®this is just right¡¯, and without any courtesy, conscripted them, saying, ¡°You¡¯ll be running around with us today. I¡¯ll speak to your leaderster, but for now, follow us.¡± Themunity support staff that had been dispatched were already the weaker part of themunity staff and were now even more clueless when ordered by uniformed Wan Baoming. They had no choice but toply and follow, saying as they went, ¡°There are normally fewer residents here, and we don¡¯t know exactly which houses are upied¡­ ¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll help us call out using the local dialect,¡± said Wan Baoming. ¡°I can¡¯t use the local dialect, I was an external recruit¡­¡± ¡°Then call out in Mandarin, say you¡¯re from themunity!¡± Wan Baoming wasn¡¯t a very influential officer, but he was more than capable of suppressing a young employee. So the group continued to call at doors. A team of seven managed to summon the vigor of an army. Before long, reinforcements from the local police station arrived. The head of the station greeted them with a smile and said, ¡°We¡¯ve received several calls, about disturbing the peace, fake police, scams¡­ you name it.¡± ¡°Director, please join us in the inspection,¡± Wan Baoming invited warmly, effectively recruiting the director on the spot. The director hadn¡¯t even had time to react before Wan Baoming pulled him into the lineup, and somewhat reluctantly, he acquiesced. An inspection it was, another homicide case at that, so indeed a serious matter. After another hour of door-to-door visits, they arrived at the end of another row of houses and finally heard a resounding response. Upon opening the door, they saw an elderly man with a ruddy face, wearing a jacket, looking quite energetic. ¡°Uncle Qi, oh, we¡¯vee to your house. The police are here to inquire about that case from three years ago¡­¡± Themunity worker recognized the man and introduced with a smile, ¡°Uncle Qi is an active member of ourmunity, always pitching in to help.¡± The red-faced old man smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s just us old men and women here, I¡¯m still in good health, able to move around, helping out is also helping myself.¡± Jiang Yuan looked down at the man¡¯s feet and pondered for a few seconds. He was mentally simting what the man¡¯s footprint might look like. After a couple of nces at the man¡¯s shoes, he turned his attention to the dust on the ground. Wherever someone walked, there were bound to be some traces, but these had to be viewed at an angle with the sunlight. Three yearster, a person¡¯s footprints can change. Usually not by much, but changes do happen nheless. From what Jiang Yuan could see for now, the size of the feet mostly matched, and so did the age. And with the older man in good physical condition, he warranted attention. ¡°Uncle Qi, do you know Hu Qian?¡± Wei Zhenguo gauged Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and took the initiative to step forward. Hu Qian was the victim of case 513. Uncle Qi paused for a moment, then chuckled, ¡°We¡¯re neighbors, how could I not know him?¡± ¡°Besides being neighbors, there should be some other rtionship between you guys, right?¡± Wei Zhenguo, rarely encountering a robust elderly person, took his chance to probe further with his extensive interrogation experience. His style when catching thieves was always like this. Many thieves have weak psychological defenses and a feeble sense of the rule ofw, making them easy to break and expose their mistakes. When the timees to send them to custody, he would have solid reasons. Uncle Qi, who had never been a thief, fell into deep thought for a moment. A few secondster, he looked up, smiling innocently, and said, ¡°If you¡¯re looking for another rtion, we both served in the military. Does that count?¡± Both Wan Baoming and Jiang Yuan looked up and over at this. Uncle Qi¡¯s response was actually not quite what one would expect from an average person. When questioned, those who are reluctant to answer or simply don¡¯t want to bother, often use short phrases like ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± ¡°No,¡± or just ¡°No.¡± There¡¯s no need to consider consequences, nor worry about whether the other party is suspicious. It¡¯s simply a straightforward denial, blunt and direct. Only those who are concerned about the consequences, in an attempt to appear more credible, would cautiously reveal some inconsequential secrets. For instance, ¡°I was out with him, but we didn¡¯t rent a room,¡± or ¡°I did look at his paper, but I didn¡¯t copy,¡± or ¡°I did steal, but I didn¡¯t kill anyone.¡± Uncle Qi could have simply responded with ¡°There¡¯s no other rtionship,¡± or just said ¡°No rtionship.¡± But he chose what he thought was a more credible way of expressing himself, which meant he needed trust. And with Wei Zhenguo¡¯s experience and approach, he immediately discounted Uncle Qi¡¯s credibility and asked, ¡°Did you serve in the same unit in the military?¡± ¡°Yes. But he enlisted a few years before I did. By the time I got there, he was already a volunteer. We didn¡¯t have much contact,¡± Uncle Qi still smiled. Wei Zhenguo furrowed his brow and nudged Mu Zhiyang with his elbow, saying, ¡°From the same town, neighbors, and served in the same military unit, that should form a close rtionship, should it not? They say when fellow townspeople meet, they shed tears of joy¡­¡± Uncle Qi shook his head, ¡°He¡¯s several years older than me. We didn¡¯t y together as kids. In the military, you know, our unit had a lot of tasks, and we weren¡¯t in the same squad, so we hardly ever saw each other.¡± Wei Zhenguo, listening to Uncle Qi¡¯s exnation, felt rm bells ringing in his mind. In normal conversation, when someone brings up another person, they usually express a close rtionship, like saying, ¡°His brother and I were ssmates, we once climbed mountains together¡­¡± and such. Those who distance themselves have their reasons. Potential links include past rtionships, ambiguous rtions, joint solicitations, involvement in crimes, or perhaps, one person having killed the other¡­ Wei Zhenguo¡¯s first thought was thest scenario. They had visited many homes already, and this one fit the profile Jiang Yuan had described best. Plus, his answers were evasive. Furthermore, having served in the military fit the profile of the assant¡¯s capacity for violence. ¡°I have one more question, and then we¡¯ll be on our way,¡± said Wei Zhenguo, having sensed that Uncle Qi had little resistance to interrogation. He resorted to the most basic tactic of first rxing his subject¡¯s guard before delivering a direct thrust, ¡°What were you doing on the day Hu Qian was killed?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Uncle Qi hesitated for a few seconds but quickly said, ¡°I was taking a nap that day. When I heard the noise, I got up and tidied up a bit. By the time I came out because of all themotion, the police had already arrived. I went over to take a look at the excitement and then came back to watch TV.¡± Jiang Yuan extended his smartphone screen forward for Wan Baoming and Wang Zhong to see. On his screen was a record of Uncle Qi¡¯s statement on the day of the incident; since he was not a witness, it only contained a brief couple of sentences. However, reading it over, one would notice that what Uncle Qi had just said matched the statement recorded in the file to a striking degree. As is well known, giving the same expression and keywords when repeatedly answering the same question invariably raises suspicion. Through subtle signs to each other, the police had quietly formed a around Uncle Qi. ¡°Uncle Qi, you¡¯ll need toe with us to the station. There are some questions that probably require a formal statement,¡± Wei Zhenguo tried deception first. If deception didn¡¯t work, resorting to force wouldn¡¯t be toote. Uncle Qi, however, showed a warm expression and said, ¡°Alright, let me tidy up the house first.¡± ¡°Let someone from themunity help you with that,¡± said Wei Zhenguo as he approached and grabbed one of Uncle Qi¡¯s arms. Mu Zhiyang, Wang Zhong, and several other police officers from the station quickly closed in, crowding the man by the door without much finesse. Wang Chuanxing was left behind, watching this unfold with a sudden thought crossing his mind: Could this really be the murderer? Chapter 294 - 294 266 The Bloody Clothes and the Murder Weapon ?294: Chapter 266: The Bloody Clothes and the Murder Weapon 294: Chapter 266: The Bloody Clothes and the Murder Weapon Uncle Qi hadn¡¯t yet been brought in when the news of breakthrough in case 513 spread throughout Changyang City. Wan Baoming sat in the car, his phone ringing incessantly. Shortly thereafter, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s phone also began to buzz nonstop. ¡°The news travels fast in Changyang City¡±, said Wei Zhenguo, familiar enough with Wan Baoming to joke with him now. Wan Baoming chuckled and said, ¡°This is still without a confirmed result. If we really catch the right person, it¡¯ll all be phone calls. Text messaging won¡¯t do. Who will have time to answer the phone then¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s him,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who was driving, his answer very certain. After taking control of Uncle Qi, the first thing Jiang Yuan did was check his footprints, and he basically confirmed that he was the murderer in this case. An 800-point yer doing a 600-point problem can work through it very quickly if things go smoothly. When Wan Baoming had first looked at this set of problems, he did it with a 400-point team, and the feeling waspletely different. He now said incredulously, ¡°Are you that certain?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t be sure until the person is caught. I just checked the footprints and at the very least, he owns the bloody footprints, no doubt about it,¡± Jiang Yuan stated with conviction. Simr to fingerprints, footprints are also indirect evidence; they can prove only that someone has been there, as if someone had identally stepped into a puddle of blood, leaving a trace at the crime scene. But in reality, none of the onlookers at the scene had blood on their shoes; although they might not have understood the basics of criminal cases, or even how to protect a crime scene, they still avoided stepping in blood as much as possible. On the other hand, the murderer might not have been so careful, under the effects of adrenal excitement. Besides, Uncle Qi imed he didn¡¯t arrive at the scene right away but was taking a nap at home, which made it impossible to exin his bloody footprints. Wan Baoming wiped his face and decided to ept that Jiang Yuan had solved the case again. Once he epted that premise, everything seemed suddenly clear. The case was solved! This was considered a famous case of random homicide by everyone! Though it was just a homicide in Changyang City, what Wan Baoming¡­ and what Jiang Yuan needed was notoriety in Changyang City, wasn¡¯t it? ¡°Does that mean we¡¯ve cracked the 513 open-door stabbing case?¡± Wan Baoming¡¯s eyes widened, his tone filled with delight. He felt that life was bing more and more rewarding. Wei Zhenguo coughed twice and said, ¡°Our Jiang Yuan really has a knack for solving cases.¡± Wan Baoming nodded emphatically, ¡°Truly, it¡¯s as if we were singing folk songs and chatting casually, and the case got solved just like that.¡± Seeing that he held the rank of deputy director, Wei Zhenguo gave him a smile. His words were not wrong; some sang folk songs, others chatted away, and yet some solved cases just like that. Back at Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. As soon as Wan Baoming appeared in the office building, many people greeted him. For a moment, Wan Baoming felt a bit dazed, but after responding to everyone, heughed and said, ¡°Why do I feel like a celebrity? I seem to have gained a bit of star-level fame.¡± Jiang Yuan remained silent, having already experienced simr treatment. The 513 Special Investigation Team¡¯s sign was rehung in therge conference room. Wan Baoming led Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo inside, where they were checked for their work badges and signed their names. Inside the conference room, there were many young officersing and going. Seven or eight whiteboards had been moved to the side wall, lined up in a row. The ones in the front had mind maps drawn on them, the middle ones were adorned with photographs, and the ones in the back had various colored notes hanging, ready to be stuck on. At the front of the conference room, someone was testing the projector against one wall. Upon seeing people enter, they frowned and gave Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo, and the other new faces a scrutinizing look. Wan Baoming coughed twice and said, ¡°This is the 513 special case team restarting. After the meeting, I guess we¡¯ll start working on the case.¡± Wei Zhenguo nced at the 20 or so high-educated, ¡°Wang Chuanxing¡±-like young people surrounding them and whispered, ¡°I¡¯m just a countryman and don¡¯t understand. Hasn¡¯t the case been solved?¡± ¡°The case is just getting started.¡± Being in the conference room, a police officer who was organizing a whiteboard heard Wei Zhenguo¡¯s remark. Not recognizing him, he emphasized, ¡°We now have new clues and a crime suspect, but we still need to find evidence. The bloody clothes and weapon were disposed of, right? We need new evidence to supplement the case. The prosecution office should get involved early. There¡¯s a lot of follow-up work to be done.¡± ¡°How are you nning to find evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan asked curiously. The officer by the whiteboard was momentarily at a loss for words. Three years had passed; evidence was not that easy to find. The whiteboard officer looked annoyed and turned to Wan Baoming, ¡°Director Wan, is this a new recruit from your unit?¡± ¡°This is Jiang Yuan, the Ningtai County forensic doctor who has just confirmed Qi Yongbin as a crime suspect,¡± Wan Baoming replied coolly. The whiteboard officer¡¯s expression grew solemn, and a tinge of red crept onto his face. ¡°You¡¯re joking, Director Wan,¡± the whiteboard officer said with augh before looking at Jiang Yuan and adding, ¡°Detectives solve cases, investigators find evidence, and prosecutors handle the legal proceedings ¨C we can¡¯t mix them all up.¡± After speaking, he too felt embarrassed and immediately left the conference room. Wan Baoming licked his lips and smiled at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Can¡¯t help it, that¡¯s just how it is in the bureau.¡± Wei Zhenguo added, ¡°It¡¯s just that they¡¯re too idle. If there were more cases, they wouldn¡¯t have time for all this nonsense.¡± Wan Baoming somewhat agreed but didn¡¯t voice his thoughts. Ding. In front of Jiang Yuan, a system task slowly emerged: Task: Conqueror Task content: Solve cases, conquer the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Put your all into solving cases. Task Progress: 0/X Jiang Yuan waved his hand to dismiss the system screen. Turning his head, Jiang Yuan said to Wan Baoming, ¡°That person just now, he was wrong.¡± Wan Baoming said, ¡°Of course, he was just a petty bureaucrat¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s not what I mean.¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Wan Baoming, speaking in a low voice, ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking, the bloody clothes and the murder weapon, they may not necessarily have been dealt with.¡± He had driven all the way here, which meant he had already used 800 points of Bloodstain Analysis + footprints identification, and had pondered for over an hour, leading to new thoughts about the entire case. Wan Baoming was stunned to hear this, ¡°Not dealt with? Is that possible?¡± ¡°Not necessarily dealt with.¡± Jiang Yuan emphasized, saying, ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking, after the murderer killed someone, he definitely had to dispose of the bloody clothes and murder weapon quickly. Looking at the time frame, he either discarded them or buried them nearby, or there was no other choice.¡± ¡°Eh, why?¡± Wan Baoming didn¡¯t understand for a moment. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Qi Yongbin was taken for a statementter, all noted down with timestamps, and furthermore, he didn¡¯t go straight for the statement, but like the other people at the scene, he waited twenty to thirty minutes before giving his statement.¡± Jiang Yuan took out his notebook and flipped to the sketch he had made earlier, tracing with his finger, ¡°There¡¯s some distance from the scene to Qi Yongbin¡¯s house. By that calction, the time Qi Yongbin had to dispose of the bloody clothes was very short.¡± ¡°From the murderer¡¯s perspective, Qi Yongbin¡¯s first course of action would definitely be to get home as soon as possible, change out of the bloody clothes, take a shower, and then consider disposing of the bloody clothes and weapon.¡± ¡°Burning them was definitely not an option. Disposing of them somewhere or burying them on the spot were almost the only two options.¡± Upon hearing this, Wan Baoming started to grasp Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thought. After a brief reflection, Wan Baoming agreed, ¡°It¡¯s the same principle as disposing of a body.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. The so-called distant disposal and nearby burial is amon psychology among criminal suspects. The average personcking the ability for reverse thinking, in those tense and dangerous moments, almost instinctively opts for such methods. Just as many people run towards home when facing danger, knowing it¡¯s useless, but still, they do so. Jiang Yuan continued to sort through his thoughts, ¡°After the 513 incident happened, the police conducted an intensive search in the area, turning over all the trash, even the trash from the following several days.¡± ¡°Unless Qi Yongbin had some clever scheme, it¡¯s reasonable to deduce that he must have disposed of the bloody clothes and murder weapon by burying or throwing them somewhere close to his home.¡± ¡°From the perspective of the criminal¡¯s psychology, burying the murder weapon and bloody clothes in his own yard is the most sensible.¡± ¡°The only exception would be if the murderer dug them upter to dispose of them again. But I don¡¯t think that is likely.¡± Wan Baoming had also thought about this in the car, and at that time, he decided to recognize Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to solve cases. Hence, he let Jiang Yuan lead his train of thought, saying, ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s possible. Many murderers who have buried bloody clothes or weapons might never dig them up again. Especially those who have only killed one person, many are reluctant to confront the issue again.¡± This was indeed a very typical criminal psychology. Often, some murderers initially dispose of the body hastily and, due to luck, evade punishment. Yet, for a long time afterward, they actually have the opportunity to manage the body more appropriately. However, many don¡¯t do so; they selectively forget about it until the case is re-opened. But this time, Jiang Yuan shook his head, saying, ¡°I was just thinking, there¡¯s a well in Qi Yongbin¡¯s yard, a dry well that¡¯s not too deep.¡± Wan Baoming immediately followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought, ¡°You think he threw the things into the well?¡± ¡°Threw them in, then dumped the dirt he had already prepared on top, and scattered some random objects. Even if someone had searched then, they might not have found anything.¡± Excavating a hole in the yard to bury something and then trying to make the surface even is actually not easy. Experienced people could take a careful look and recognize the fresh soil. Qi Yongbin nted things in his yard, so he should be aware of this point. Without hesitation, Wan Baoming immediately said, ¡°Then let Mu Zhiyang and the others go there again, dig it up.¡± ¡°Have Wang Chuanxing go.¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wan Baoming looked at Jiang Yuan in surprise, then with a bit of realization, said, ¡°You¡¯re handing over credit to someone else here.¡± ¡°Otherwise, they¡¯ll have to create their own credit.¡± Jiang Yuan pursed his lips, ¡°The credit is fixed, it¡¯s all about how it¡¯s distributed.¡± A forensic doctor from a small county town couldn¡¯t possibly take all the credit for an unresolved murder case. Even if a fair judge were to preside, there is no reason for one person to reap all the benefits while everyone else merely watches. If nothing else, the highly educated police officers could use PPT and whiteboards to vie for credit, showcasing their hard work through overnight meetings. Of course, the most important thing was that Jiang Yuan himself wasn¡¯t from the Changyang City Bureau; thus, the merits from the case belonging to Changyang City couldn¡¯t be awarded to an outsider. Nor was Jiang Yuan inclined to stay in Changyang City. The provincial capital was too restless, while Ningtai County, with its clear mountains and beautiful waters, wasfortable and pleasant. Many people from Changyang City would drive two to three hours just to set off fireworks in Siningshan, something that could also serve as proof. ¡°You¡¯ve thought it through, right? If we really find the bloody clothes and murder weapon, and the suspect hasn¡¯t confessed, you might even getmended or awarded a third-ss merit.¡± Wan Baoming sought confirmation from Jiang Yuan and nced at Wei Zhenguo. Mu Zhiyang was after all his apprentice. Wei Zhenguo straightforwardly said, ¡°Little Mu has already received a third-ss merit, he¡¯ll have plenty of opportunities in the future.¡± Jiang Yuan also said, ¡°Let¡¯s find a bigger case for Brother Muter on. This time, let¡¯s let Wang Chuanxing take the lead, it¡¯s a hassle for him to make the trip.¡± ¡°Wang Chuanxing should be on his knees with gratitude.¡± Wan Baoming chuckled and took out his phone to make a call. Chapter 295 - 295 267 Take on a Few More Cases ?295: Chapter 267: Take on a Few More Cases 295: Chapter 267: Take on a Few More Cases ¡°I¡¯ll go down and dig; you keep watch,¡± Wang Chuanxing said after driving for two hours and borrowing an auxiliary policeman from the local station. He had returned to Qi Yongbin¡¯s house to dig the dried-up well. He was the kind of person with a highly functioning brain, full of thoughts, but had never really gotten his chance. That¡¯s because in the provincial capital, there were many young people who relied on themselves, just like him. This time, Wang Chuanxing worried that involving others would share any potential credit, so he didn¡¯t even want to ask for borrowed people. He only borrowed an auxiliary policeman and, without exining the situation, brought a shovel and came over. The auxiliary policeman borrowed was over 30 and didn¡¯t really care what he was doing. Wang Chuanxing assigned him as a lookout, and he found a shady spot to sit down and y on his cellphone. Wang Chuanxing dug downward in the dried well, feeling increasingly guilty. He hade a bit too hastily, unprepared with barely a big shovel and a shlight, thinking that would suffice. Looking down the well from above seemed fine, but the actuality of the well was so oppressive. Continuing to dig downward, the distance from the mouth of the well grew further, not to mention the worsening light, and a slight sense of dread began to creep into his heart. This kind of well indeed made it very convenient to bury a body. The well had a self-cleansing ability, with its abundance of microorganisms dposing the corpse cleanly in a shorter amount of time. Burying a body in a well could easily cover up the smell and prevent wild animals from digging it up, which is the main reason why bodies buried in the wilderness are discovered. Another piece of obscure knowledge that modern people might know less about: if a body is buried more than two meters deep, it is unlikely to be dug up by other wild animals, and the smell won¡¯t escape either. This is actually a tradition of the funeral industry. Thews in the beautiful country stipte that a body must be buried six feet under; in ancient China¡¯s rites, the minimum depth was also six feet, suitable for a sixth-grade official. Higher-ranking officials could be buried deeper, but not shallower. Another piece of obscure knowledge that modern people might know less about: digging a hole is very tiring. A team of five young people, each with a shovel, would be exhausted if the goal is two meters deep¡ªand the hole they¡¯ve managed to dig would only be enough to bury one person. In other words, if five friends ying games together decide to kill one of them for whatever reason, such as consecutive losses, it¡¯s best to have him help dig the hole first, especially thest thirty centimeters, which are typically very hard and difficult to dig. If they kill before digging, they likely will be drained by the time they reach a depth of one and a half to one and six meters deep. In the end, the shallow depth could ruin the effort. Burying is simpler; using the freshly dug soil to refill is easy whether there are four or five people¡ªor even three or two people¡ªthey canplete the necessary amount of work. This means that as long as five people dig the hole, burying three people wouldn¡¯t be a problem. The real issue ends up being the disposal of the excess dirt. In ancient times, people would take the opportunity to shape burial mounds, conveniently marking the final resting ce of their ancestors. But if burying a corpse, the excess dirt bes a burden. If the local soil is hard, the amount of excess soil can be quiterge, and it would be difficult to disperse it cleanly by simply throwing it away. This also exins why Qi Yongbin¡¯s personal courtyard was not a good ce to bury things. The dried-up well was simple; push a person or something into it, and if you want to cover it up, just pour in soil. Even two meters worth of soil could be managed by one person, provided it was prepared in advance. If you¡¯re worried the soil looks too fresh, add water. A few buckets of water and it wouldn¡¯t be noticeable. Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t know how deep he should dig, and fearing that he wasn¡¯t digging carefully enough, he asionally had to adjust the position of his shlight. At that moment, he slightly regretted not having brought a couple more people down with him. Even if it was cramped in the well, they could have helped him to see better. Just then, the shovel hit something with a ¡®thunk¡¯. Wang Chuanxing immediately moved aside a bit and, looking over in the dim light, saw a long-handled dagger. ¡°Li, Li!¡± Wang Chuanxing shouted twice, then turned the shlight back on and took out his cellphone to take a couple of photos first. When Li arrived, Wang Chuanxing had him turn on thew enforcement recorder, and then he slowly extracted the long-handled dagger himself. Oncepletely removed, the blood groove on the dagger became visible. Wang Chuanxing thought to himself, could this be the reason the killer got blood on them? Right beside where the dagger was found, the blood-stained clothing was already visible. Wang Chuanxing was even more precise when digging around the clothing, and by the time the whole process was done, more than an hour had passed. ¡°Pull me up.¡± Wang Chuanxing packed the items directly into an evidence box and, carrying it on his back, climbed out of the well. In the yard, the sun was shining brightly, and there was a gentle breeze. The itch on Wang Chuanxing¡¯s body felt as if it had been blown clean away. But at this moment, Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t care about that. He took out his phone as quickly as possible and reported to his superior: ¡°I¡¯ve found the blood-stained clothing and the dagger, with the entire process recorded¡­ Yes, the clothing hasn¡¯t been washed; we should be able to retrieve something from it.¡± ¡°Correct, it¡¯s in the suspect¡¯s yard. Yes, Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis said that the suspect wouldn¡¯t have had much time to dispose of the murder weapon and blood-stained clothing, so he deduced that the items would be discarded or buried near their own home, highly suspecting it was in the victim¡¯s yard, especially considering the dried-up well as a priority.¡± ¡°This¡­ When Director Wan informed me, I didn¡¯t think too much about it because it was Director Wan who called; I just came straight over¡­¡± By the time Wang Chuanxing finished the call, his forehead was covered in a thinyer of sweat. He was too anxious. Chapter 296 - 296 267 Work on Several More Cases_2 ?296: Chapter 267: Work on Several More Cases_2 296: Chapter 267: Work on Several More Cases_2 On one hand, Wang Chuanxing wanted to rake in as much credit for the case as possible, on the other hand, he didn¡¯t dare to offend Director Wan and Jiang Yuan, as they surely had more information in their possession, enough to prove their conjectures, perhaps including recorded phone calls or even written records. At the same time, Wang Chuanxing also couldn¡¯t afford to alienate his direct superior. He had to make it clear that his actions were not taken on his own ord, nor was it a case of forgetting his old love for a new bride. The assistant officer next to him was quite a bit older than Wang Chuanxing, and from the look of things, he had figured out a thing or two. As soon as Wang Chuanxing finished his phone call, the assistant officer teased, ¡°You college graduates, in your 20-pound heads, there must be about 2 pounds of ¡®brain flowers¡¯, right? Such a hassle.¡± ¡°You think there¡¯s only two pounds of brain in a 20-pound head?¡± Wang Chuanxingughed. ¡°As cops, having a thicker skull might be an advantage,¡± the assistant officer said with a chuckle, neither envious of Wang Chuanxing¡¯s bright future nor concerned about the evidence he carried. With the social insurance and housing fund, the uniform also brought prestige when worn out, and it made small errands more convenient. Although they sometimes came across disgusting people, as long as they stayed within their jurisdiction, the happy moments outnumbered the bothersome ones. As for what Wang Chuanxing was chasing, at least for now, he wasn¡¯t interested. ¡­ Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. In therge meeting room. Those working on the PPT and writing the whiteboard were in chaotic disarray. The murderer has been caught, and in the Criminal Investigation Department¡¯s PPT and on the whiteboard, the key evidence of the bloody clothes, the murder weapon, and the confession were the focus. In this case, the eyewitnesses have be irrelevant. Normally, making guesses with a PPT would bemonce if the bloody clothes or murder weapon couldn¡¯t be found. If you guess right, you¡¯d beuded, and if you don¡¯t, you could always produce another PPT to analyze the reasons why. This approach, however, has one problem: the murder weapon and bloody clothes mustn¡¯t be found too quickly! If the conclusionse too quickly, then the current inferences will have to be immediately evaluated andpared. And in the meeting room, none of the elite officers seemed to have deduced the correct location, otherwise they¡¯d just send someone to search the killer¡¯s house. Wan Baoming watched on with detachment, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar scenes unfold before him, sighed softly, ¡°Adorned with an exquisite facade, intricately decorated, yet in the end they fell like sandcastles, trulymentable.¡± ¡°PPTs don¡¯t cost much to produce,¡± Wei Zhenguo also shook his head as he looked at the disorderly scene. ¡°A poorly made PPT can deplete the leader¡¯s approval,¡± Wan Baoming said. ¡°That¡¯s the highest cost there is.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this ¡®leader¡¯s approval¡¯ thing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the level of the leaders whoe, the timing, and the frequency of their visits,¡± he exined. While they were talking, two policemen in white shirts, followed by several officers in in clothes, walked in. Thest one, walking with a stiff back and gazing straight ahead, was Wang Chuanxing, looking quite gant. in clothes refer to the nice but rarely worn police uniforms often seen in movies and TV shows. For officers with duty tasks and work, wearing in clothes to work is like wearing a suit¡ªit¡¯s more about looking impressive than actual capability. Therefore, rank-and-file officers usually wear duty uniforms daily, and considering cleanliness as being able to wash their trousers a few more times. However, it¡¯s different for the office-bound leaders; they hardly wear duty uniforms unless they have to be present at the scene, sticking to in clothes in their regr attire. Just like now. ¡°It¡¯s Captain Yu,¡± Wan Baoming gave Jiang Yuan a heads-up. Jiang Yuan had quite a few dealings with Yu Wenshu while working on the Tan Yong case, involving a man who had kidnapped a woman in a basement he excavated in his apartmentplex. However, during the investigation phase, the main protagonist was Liu Jinghui. Jiang Yuan and the others sat up straight. When Captain Yu entered the meeting room and scanned the room, he headed straight for Jiang Yuan. ¡°Captain Yu,¡± Jiang Yuan and his colleagues stood up. ¡°Sit, sit,¡± Yu Wenshu said motioning for Jiang Yuan to take a seat beside him, and then he smiled, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it, but just a few days after west met, you¡¯ve be even more formidable, Doctor Jiang.¡± ¡°It¡¯s mostly good luck,¡± Jiang Yuan responded modestly. ¡°This isn¡¯t about luck. When you were working on trace evidence that one time, I mentioned it was like looking for needle in a haystack, and look at you now, even more impressive.¡± Yu Wenshu praised profusely before signaling, ¡°Wang Chuanxing,e over here too, let¡¯s take a photo together.¡± The photographer hurried over. With Jiang Yuan on his left and Wang Chuanxing on his right, Captain Yu posed for several snaps until he was satisfied. Then Yu Wenshu said, ¡°Jiang Yuan strategizes from a thousand miles away for a decisive victory. Wang Chuanxing has strong execution and patience, securing the murder weapon and bloody clothes in record time is no small feat. Having such young people in the police force is a real joy¡­¡± Jiang Yuan simply smiled. Wang Chuanxing tried to maintain seriousness, but couldn¡¯t help grinning nheless. Yu Wenshu then addressed Jiang Yuan, ¡°When you cracked that case with fingerprints the other day, I sensed something special. Little did I expect that in just a few days, you would solve the 513 case. You don¡¯t know, internally we almost tagged it as a random crime. Luckily, I hadn¡¯t signed off on it yet, otherwise¡­¡± Captain Yu nced at the young people frantically revising their PPTs in the meeting room, whispered yfully, ¡°Some people wanted to postpone the meeting, but I denied it, just to see how quickly they could make the changes.¡± Chapter 297 - 297 267 Work on Several More Cases_3 ?297: Chapter 267: Work on Several More Cases_3 297: Chapter 267: Work on Several More Cases_3 Lightughter erupted from the surrounding people. It seemed that many were eager to hear the elite team¡¯s jokes. Yu Wenshuughed and made a couple more remarks before taking his seat. In the meeting room, as several leaders arrived, the meeting officially began. Jiang Yuan happened to join at the right time and sat quietly on the side, listening attentively. Yu Wenshu cleared his throat, took the microphone, and said, ¡°Not long ago, our Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment detective Wang Chuanxing, who has been the standing detective on Case 513, unearthed a bloody garment and the murder weapon from a dry well at the suspect¡¯s home. Rapid DNA testing proved that the bloodstains belonged to the victim in this case¡­¡± ¡°Although the case is not yet concluded, the investigative phase of our work is basically drawing to a close here.¡± ¡°Regarding Case 513, I have some summaries that I would now like to discuss with you all.¡± ¡°Firstly, there were some issues with the direction of the case decisions. Our focus shifted due to frequent thefts and robberies urring nearby¡­ Remember when Li previously mentioned that we needed to consider all possibilities? He suggested we should conduct detailed recordings of everyone in that area. We failed to implement this proposal, which was a mistake¡­¡± ¡°Secondly, there are significant shorings in our use of technical equipment. Look at Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, I have heard that this time it was mainly through Bloodstain Analysis and footprint identification that he was able to solidify the case. These are techniques that technicians used back when I was young; now it¡¯s the young people like Jiang Yuan who are bringing them out and applying them¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think the old techniques are ineffective, the newer technologies, you are even less proficient.¡± Yu Wenshu was already enumerating on his fingers as he continued, ¡°The first time I worked on a case with Jiang Yuan, I said that our Trace Evidence Laboratory¡­ has reported so many detections capacities, such abundant testing methods. Yet, they neglect to mention on-site inspection; they don¡¯t talk about their ability to collect trace evidence at the scene. They don¡¯t bring it up themselves, and our detectives are clueless about it¡­ It¡¯s always ended up being Jiang Yuan who does the on-site survey and collects the trace evidence¡­¡± Yu Wenshu spoke in such a manner that it seemed as though he was actually having a conversation with someone. As he continued, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but sit up straighter and begin to feel that things were getting a bit oundish. It seemed as if Yu Wenshu¡¯s speech was indeed a dialogue between the two of them. ¡°Captain Yu has an excellent memory,¡± a gentle female voice whispered beside him. Jiang Yuan turned in surprise to see a woman police officer in in clothes sitting next to him, her time of arrival unknown. The woman officer had ced a hat on herp, her legs pressed together, the hat not as wide as her legs. Her upper body was lean and upright, making the in clothes look quite ttering. In a dominion reeking of men, seeing such ady with an oval face was like finding a swan among a flock of ugly ducklings. Jiang Yuan offered a polite smile in response. ¡°Doctor Jiang, I¡¯m Tang Jia from the Third Criminal Investigation Squad, a colleague of Wang Chuanxing. If you need assistance in Changyang City, please feel free to reach out to me.¡± Tang Jia finished speaking with an attractive smile before returning to sitting upright and formal. At this moment, Yu Wenshu¡¯s speech neared its end, and he directly called out Jiang Yuan¡¯s name, ¡°Doctor Jiang, please share a few words with us too. You can talk about case 513 or your future ns.¡± ¡°Oh, sure.¡± Jiang Yuan did not shy away; standing up amidst everyone¡¯s attention, he said, ¡°Regarding case 513, my main approach to solving it was to use Bloodstain Analysis to reconstruct the crime scene. Even though there were few bloodstains, reconstructing the scene doesn¡¯t actually require arge quantity of blood¡­¡± After a brief speech, Jiang Yuan added, ¡°As for my future ns, I would like to choose a few cases that can utilize Bloodstain Analysis and footprint identification, work on several cases, and strive to achieve some results.¡± As soon as he finished speaking, Yu Wenshu led the apuse. The crowd pped vigorously. At this point, if Jiang Yuan had started discussing trace evidence in depth, everyone would have just listened. But having just solved a difficult case using Bloodstain Analysis and footprint identification, and now stating he intends to replicate the approach, all the little cbashes and the grandpas naturally felt encouraged. At this moment, there was a subconscious notion among everyone that if you gave Jiang Yuan a case involving Bloodstain Analysis and footprint identification, he would be able to solve it. While the current internalwork still doesn¡¯t provide a direct search option, and manual retrieval of these two requirements might be needed¡­ Manual screening may be troublesome, but not as much as solving a case. If Jiang Yuan could really solve another two simr cases, even if everyone had to sleep in the garage, underneath the coats, their bodies would still be warm. Chapter 298 - 298 268 Keep up the good work ?298: Chapter 268 Keep up the good work 298: Chapter 268 Keep up the good work ¡°Doctor Jiang, I¡¯m very familiar with the cases in Changyang City,¡± Tang Jia shifted her body slightly, whispering. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, saying, ¡°Which case to work on, in the end, should not be up to me to decide.¡± ¡°You must be the person with the most decision-making power. I could assist you as a counselor,¡± Tang Jia¡¯s voice was soft, softly caressing the ear. Jiang Yuan distinctly smelled the aroma of tea, reminiscent of the times when he asionally took care of renting out houses, and some youngdies, seeing his youth, would initiate conversation with him, chat in a soft, glutinous ent. Of course, the topic would ultimately fall on reducing the rent, reducing the deposit, or getting some leeway on renovation time. And that sweet voice would be less and less interesting in the subsequentmunications. Despite this, amongst all the nasal voices, Tang Jia still ranked as one of the better-looking ones. All Jiang Yuan said was, ¡°It depends on the specific case.¡± With the experience of dealing with various young men, Tang Jia¡¯s face broke into an easy smile. Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu did not finalize the uing cases at the meeting. After all, this was the case summary meeting for case 513, and there indeed was much to do. At the very least, they needed to review the PowerPoint presentations newly made by the young people in the elite group. The young people needed a chance to present again. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan¡¯s speed and ability in solving cases were truly surprising. The uing cases should not be taken lightly; his talents needed to be fully utilized. Andstly, and most importantly, Chief Yu still needed to have a good talk with Huang Qiangmin. Although Chief Yu was the brigade chief and Huang Qiangmin was just the head of a minor criminal police squad, they did not belong to the samemand structure. In such personnel matters, there was no possibility of them issuing orders to each other. The meeting ended swiftly. Leaders arrived and retreated like a tide,ing quickly and leaving just as quickly. Chief Yu merely shook hands with Jiang Yuan again, reminding Wan Baoming to arrange ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan¡¯s living and working conditions,¡± and then too left the scene. The young people who had been frantically writing the PowerPoint and on the whiteboard looked eagerly at Jiang Yuan. The te of the 513 special case group was about to fall, but it certainly couldn¡¯t just be withdrawn like that. Whether to take on a new case, which case, and how to tackle it, anyone with discernment knew that the decision definitely needed a leader¡¯s approval, but the most influential person would certainly be Jiang Yuan. Before Jiang Yuan, the system also rarely updated, showing progress: Mission: Conqueror Mission Content: Solve cases, conquer the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Work hard to solve the cases. Mission Progress: 1/X Would you like to im the mission reward? Thest question was dismissed by Jiang Yuan, who hadn¡¯t received a mission for days and cherished this new one. After all, he had to fully realize the mission¡¯s benefits. For Jiang Yuan at present, ordinary skills were of little help. Having worked on so many cases, Jiang Yuan could now deeply appreciate that the most useful abilities were those that could break through barriers¡ªthose that could prate the case and find the clues. In simple terms, higher-level skills had a much greater effect than several lower-level ones. Looking at the newly epted mission, a higher mission progress likely meant a reward closer to expectations. ¡°Doctor Jiang, I¡¯ll take you to the guest house to rest,¡± Wang Chuanxing, who hade with the leaders, had not departed with them. He approached Jiang Yuan with a beaming smile, as jubnt as if he had achieved a great deed. And indeed, he had aplished something significant, making the others somewhat less cheerful. For young people like Wang Chuanxing, first and second ss merits were legends; what they needed was a third-ss merit or amendation that would make them stand out among their peers. To be frank, under someone¡¯s guidance, discovering the blood-stained clothes and weapon could have earned another officer just amendation. But Wang Chuanxing was a member of the 513 special case group, one of the two left behind during the case¡¯s two-year duration. Without solving the case, their work was worthless, but now that it was solved, that was two years of hard work plus amendation-worthy merit, suited for a fitting third-ss merit. Coupled with Wang Chuanxing¡¯s advanced education, he was finally on the fast track. Jiang Yuan and others followed Wang Chuanxing to the meeting room¡¯s exit. At this point, police officers from the other elite groups aside from Wang Chuanxing felt ufortable. Unable to contain himself, a young officer in in clothes asked first, ¡°Doctor Jiang, which case do you want to work on next?¡± After this time¡¯s PowerPoint presentation is finished, he decided to prepare it in advance and not like case 513, hastily fixing the gaps only after the culprit was captured. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t spoken when someone else said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, decide the direction, and we¡¯ll find you the right case. More efficient that way. Like, do you prefer ones suitable for Bloodstain Analysis, or ones suitable for footprint identification? Do you have other requirements, like more recent cases? Or cases with detailed investigation records?¡± Believe it or not, some people not only make good PPTs but also have a knack for pinpointing the crucial aspects. Jiang Yuan¡¯s steps halted as he repeated the requirements he had mentioned to Wan Baoming two days ago. Then he added, ¡°It¡¯s definitely better if the cases are more recent. I still prefer cases that are easier to solve. Try not to give me anything tooplicated.¡± This response was somewhat surprising, prompting Tang Jia tough and say, ¡°I thought you liked tackling the more challenging cases.¡± ¡°Not at all, I just want to solve cases,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. As a forensic doctor, he knew what the victims went through, and naturally, he would be happy to crack a difficult case, but the core objective was to solve the case. Some people are only worthy of leaving their names on death penalty verdicts. ¡­ Changyang City Bureau guesthouse. Contrary to the traditional popr belief, modern government guesthouses are basically socialized. They can show politeness and even smile when servicing guests, take online bookings, and care about reviews. However, there are always a fewrge rooms in the guesthouse that aren¡¯t necessarily for sale. This time, due to Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu¡¯s instructions, Jiang Yuan was allocated a suite with nice decor and an enormouslyrge area. Jiang Yuan fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. The 513 case wasn¡¯t particrly draining for him. It was only a bit tiring from the travel. However, theplexity of the uing cases was uncertain. Aside from the cases themselves, interpersonal rtionships could also beplicated. Without another n for pre-processing his cases, Jiang Yuan decided to get a good sleep first. By the time he woke up, it was already the afternoon of the following day. He drew back the curtains to find the outside sunshine dazzlingly bright. Jiang Yuan stretched a longzy stretch. Today was still a weekday. But no one bothered him, and not even someone pretending to urge him to eat knocked on his door, which told Jiang Yuan that he must have earned a bit of extra respect. Not much, and certainly not to the extent of bing a conqueror like a mission guide. But, gaining ordinary, human-level respect in this society is already quite difficult. He turned on his phone to see a long series of red message alerts. Pinned at the top were messages from his father Jiang Fuzhen and Huang Qiangmin. His father¡¯s message was as always sinct, simply inquiring whether he ate well, slept well, was tired, and whether work was going smoothly, with a note that he had deposited 60,000 yuan for living expenses. Jiang Fuzhen was always wary of extravagant lifestyles, so when it came to giving money to his son, he tended to be conservative and cautious. For example, buying a sports car for several million yuan¡ªif not used, it must be sold! It couldn¡¯t just sit in the garage gathering dust. Pocket money was treated the same. He worried that Jiang Yuan might not have enough for his expenses but wouldn¡¯t give him too much, fearing it would lead him to livevishly. Even the rent from the properties assigned under Jiang Yuan¡¯s name from house demolitions were used only for purchasing assets like gold and other properties. Jiang Yuan agreed with his father¡¯s educational approach. While in The Great Learning, he was rtively careful not to engage in luxurious consumption, and the same applied to his time at the bureau. Of course, when on a business trip, he could afford to rx a little bit. So, Jiang Yuan found a nice restaurant and ordered 6,000 yuan worth of takeout to indulge himself a little. After dealing with these things, Jiang Yuan then opened Huang Qiangmin¡¯s message, which as expected, was asking him to call when he was free. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s knowledge of the criminal police team, if there were an urgent matter, these folks would definitely call directly. Sending a message meant it wasn¡¯t urgent. Now that he was free, Jiang Yuan sat down and dialed Huang Qiangmin. The call connected quickly, and Huang Qiangmin answered with augh, sounding joyous like a young alligator without any dental issues. After the usual exchange of pleasantries, Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Chief Yu has had a long talk with me and offered some good suggestions. For instance, Liu Jinghui¡¯s missing person case is being nominated for a second-ss merit, and with the 513 case, the im is even stronger. Of course, we can also set aside the 513 case for now, and if you solve a few more cases in the near future, focusing on the 513 case then, we might nominate it for another second-ss merit.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just confirm one for now,¡± Jiang Yuan thought to himself. As much as it seemed feasible to solve a few more cases, that felt like chasing after a dangling carrot. Besides, earning merit and umting skill points first was the most tangible benefit. When ites to merit and recognition, these too have a refractory period. Just like the ministry¡¯s criminal investigation experts, some of them can solve over a hundred cases a year. Including strategy and advice, some might solve over 200 cases a year, and all of these cases are ones that local authorities find difficult to crack. For some cases, local police might dispatch a double-digit number of badges once solved. But, they obviously can¡¯t award these criminal investigation experts over a hundred merits a year, so often, it¡¯s ounted as a tally. They receive a symbolic one or two first-ss merits per year, with second-ss merits umting. In the end, what counts is whether one is deemed a second-ss or first-ss model worker. Huang Qiangmin indeed also preferred to im wins as theye. After a couple of sentences, he said, ¡°Then, you stay in Changyang City for a while longer and see if you can help them out with any cases. There haven¡¯t been many cases in Ningtai County recently, so we¡¯ll organize our backlog¡­¡± Liking the sound of this, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Did Captain Yu send you a new car again?¡± ¡°One car isn¡¯t enough,¡± Huang Qiangminughed heartily and said, ¡°Our county¡¯s surveince system was already due for an upgrade. The chief intends to get some help from Changyang City. Alright, do a good job; it¡¯s all up to you now.¡± Chapter 299 - 299 269 Delivery ?299: Chapter 269: Delivery 299: Chapter 269: Delivery Evening. Along with the delivery, Tang Jia followed inside without being invited. Tang Jia had switched to casual clothes and, watching the delivery person set down the meal boxes and leave without closing the door, she smiled and said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, eating takeout is so unhealthy. Let me treat you to dinner.¡± ¡°No need. I¡¯ll just eat something simple,¡± Jiang Yuan declined very directly. Tang Jia pursed her lips and said, ¡°Latest news, the perpetrator of the 513 case, Qi Yongbin, has confessed.¡± Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, seemingly surprised, and looked at her, saying, ¡°You¡¯re this well-informed, huh?¡± ¡°Do you want to know Qi Yongbin¡¯s motive for the crime?¡± Tang Jia had done her homework about the case and knew that this would definitely capture Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, and without saying that Wan Baoming would notify himter or anything like that, he simply said, ¡°I want to know.¡± However, Tang Jia did not continue to tease him and instead smiled, saying, ¡°When ites down to it, it¡¯s actually very simple¡ªjealousy.¡± ¡°Jealous of what?¡± ¡°Jealous of the victim¡¯s good life, envious of the victim¡¯s pension, jealous of the sess of the victim¡¯s son and his ability to make money,¡± Tang Jia said, moving to the dining table and starting to help Jiang Yuan unpack the takeout. ¡°Thanks,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, not particrly surprised. Tang Jia chuckled, taking out each box from the bag and cing them on the table, saying, ¡°I was thinking, now that you¡¯re in Changyang, I should treat you to some of our local specialty dishes¡­¡± While talking, she opened the topmost food box, revealing an abalonerger than a fist. ¡°Dried abalone? You ordered dried abalone for takeout?¡± Tang Jia could spot a good product, recognizing it at a nce. Jiang Yuan felt as though she was talking about some illicit transaction. When a beautiful girl emphasizes such things in a particr tone of voice, it definitely demands a rebuttal. So Jiang Yuan retorted, ¡°They were selling the dried abalone first; I simply bought it.¡± ¡°Must have been expensive, right?¡± Tang Jia assessed Jiang Yuan from head to toe. ¡°Over two thousand, after a discount,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Over two thousand for an abalone¡­ you¡¯ve been ripped off. You can¡¯t possibly expense this bill, can you? Even if the detachment leader held his nose and approved it, he¡¯d still have to have a talk with you,¡± she said. ¡°I paid for it myself. My dad said that after a case, I must really take care of myself,¡± Jiang Yuan continued unpacking the food, taking out another abalone identical to the first, followed by a serving of vegetables, a serving of meat, and then arge y pot containing more than half a pot of savory pork congee. Tang Jia stared nkly at Jiang Yuan for a moment before speaking in an almost t tone, ¡°You¡¯re eating two abalones instead of hiring two dies¡¯; the rest of the money would even be enough for congee tomorrow morning.¡± Her voice had lost its seductive undertone and even seemed a bit harsh. Now Jiang Yuan was somewhat sobered and gave Tang Jia a surprised look, asking, ¡°You¡¯re that experienced?¡± Tang Jia snorted and said, ¡°I¡¯ve caught more pimps undercover than all thedies you¡¯ve seen.¡± She stood with her hands on her hips, one leg posed confidently; her demeanor had changed. No more pretense. Jiang Yuan thought to himself that someone who has been an undercover cop is indeed different; as soon as the situation changes, they immediately switch strategies. Indeed, Tang Jia in this state was more likely to be a useful ally. Jiang Yuan had no interest in having ambiguous rtions with female staff at a higher-level police department, which would bring him trouble without any benefits. What he needed was a straightforward,petent officer with the capability to handle cases and a certain level of social skills. Unfortunately, Tang Jia had chosen the wrong approach from the start, and Jiang Yuan was not prepared to give her a chance. Seeing this, he straightforwardly said, ¡°During my time in Changyang, I expect to mainly work with Director Wan and Captain Wang.¡± Captain Wang was Wang Chuanxing, referred to with an added title out of respect. For the police from a county bureau, once they reached the provincial capital, everyone was a leader. ¡°But I have suitable cases I can offer,¡± Tang Jia emphasized. Jiang Yuan smiled and sat down in a chair, saying, ¡°I¡¯m about to have dinner.¡± The cases were not owned by any individual, and his stance was already clear enough. Tang Jia nced at him, pursed her lips, and turned to leave. For someone who is capable and wealthy, with decent looks, she couldn¡¯t be bothered to perform anymore. At least, her seductive voice had failed to work. ¡­ Jiang Yuan leisurely enjoyed his own dinner. The takeout abalone was South African dried abalone which, though naturally inferior to Japanese dried abalone, had still been expertly prepared over seven days. Moreover, since he was eating takeout, he couldn¡¯t be too demanding anyway. With abalone sauce poured over rice and abalone slices apanied by some vegetables, he felt particrly healthy, and life seemed exceptionally peaceful. At the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, the situation was probably simr. Actually, when Tang Jia had mentioned she had suitable cases to offer, Jiang Yuan had already stopped caring about that. It goes without saying, at Tang Jia¡¯s age, it wasn¡¯t her turn to have any major case that only she understood and others did not. Since she said there was a suitable case, then Jiang Yuan believed that others would bring it up as well, if there were not too many cases, that is. In fact, Jiang Yuan believed there would certainly be many cases to choose from. This was the capital of Shannan Province after all. Arge city where people died every day. In Changyang City, each district records more than 200 unnatural deaths annually, and an active forensic team has to perform more than 20 autopsies. There were plenty of homicide cases. And cold cases were no exception. Jiang Yuan¡¯an ate dinnerfortably and then curled up on the sofa to y with his phone until he naturally fell asleep. ¡­ The next day. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t arrive at the Criminal Police Detachment until almost noon. Upon reaching therge meeting room he visited the previous day, he saw that the sign at the door had been changed to ¡°Cold Case Squad.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, knocked, and entered. The first thing that caught his eye in the meeting room was a sea of grim and sullen faces, the kind that spoke of too many sleepless nights. Wan Baoming, however, seemed to be in high spirits, saying, ¡°Jiang Yuan has arrived, take a look at the cases we¡¯ve selected.¡± ¡°Just assign me a task,¡± Jiang Yuan may have beente, but his attitude was very good. Wan Baoming smiled with satisfaction and said, ¡°You should still review them, the priority of these cases is about the same. Take a look and pick one where you feel you can make the most impact.¡± ¡°Which case has the clearest and mostprehensive crime scene photos?¡± Jiang Yuan hadpleted the polite formalities and moved on to work mode. Soon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s manner of speaking became brusque: ¡°Pass me the case file¡­¡± ¡°Find a testimony¡­¡± ¡°Where is the forensic report?¡± The detectives in the meeting room were initially somewhat uneasy with this beginning, but they quickly adapted. Being a detective was no easy job; not only did the very nature of the cases prompt a kind of innate irritability, but the process of solving them was usually ufortable as well. The ideal state for someone to work in is when their abilities slightly exceed the demands of the job. This is also when the ¡°flow¡± state is most likely to ur and persist. However, solving cases was apletely no-frills job. Murderers don¡¯t go about killing infortable ways, and colleagues all have their judgments and ideas. Especially with unsolved homicides, the normal routes, the easy paths, are almost always impassable. If they were passable, the detectives in charge of the current cases would have already solved them. And as for the unorthodox paths, some could adapt, but many could not. At this point, the detective in charge inevitably bes anxious and irritable, and in turn, pushes others to do the same. ¡°Let¡¯s start with this case,¡± Jiang Yuan ced the file of the first case beside him. Wan Baoming was somewhat surprised, ¡°This one? Don¡¯t you want to look at a few more cases?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°There¡¯s no need, we can work on this one first, we¡¯ll handle the otherster.¡± Seeing this, Wan Baoming nodded to someone nearby, and the case was soon projected on the screen. A detective who had worked on the case stood up and said, ¡°This is a case from two years ago. The victim was a young female, 25 years old, a graduate student. Her body was discovered in the rented room she lived in, with no signs of a struggle or disturbance, and the door lock was intact.¡± ¡°The victim had 1000 milliliters of blood in her abdominal cavity, and there was a 2.5*0.6 cm wound on the little finger margin of her right hand¡­ Toxological tests did not detectmon sleeping pills or narcotics.¡± ¡°There were several bloodstains at the scene, but no murder weapon was found. Initially, it was suspected to be a crime of passion. Despite investigating the victim¡¯s personal rtionships, the task force did not find any suspects matching the characteristics of the murderer.¡± Some time had passed since the case urred. The speaking detective gave a brief overview and then sat down. Everyone in the meeting room eagerly looked at Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s start with crime scene reconstruction,¡± a typical detective would first check personal rtionships in homicide cases. The reason was simple; by the point of murder, there must have been severe emotional fluctuations, even if others might see those emotions as unnecessary, they were significant to the parties involved. In such cases, investigating personal rtionships was the obvious path. So, Jiang Yuan skipped this step and immediately started with crime scene reconstruction. A bedroom, a few pools of blood, some blood spatters. The scant blood evidence did not fit the typical profile for bloodstain analysis, but Jiang Yuan looked at those spatters and fell deep into thought. Chapter 300 - 300 270 Secret ?300: Chapter 270: Secret 300: Chapter 270: Secret The meeting room gradually quieted down. Several members of the elite team, after staring at the daydreaming Jiang Yuan for a while, turned their eyes to Wan Baoming, their gazes flickering with questions: What does this guy mean by not speaking? Wan Baoming realizes that the whole time Jiang Yuan had spent not talking was barely the length of a few Japanese movies, and even that, the sort watched in a fast-forward manner. How could he possibly know what Jiang Yuan was really up to? Therefore, Wan Baoming turned his gaze to Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo, who had been lounging back waiting for the results, had to sit up now, hesitating for a moment, he whispered, ¡°Wait a bit, Jiang Yuan might have thought of something.¡± Actually, Wei Zhenguo was already quite familiar with Jiang Yuan. In his understanding, the current Jiang Yuan was definitely not just thinking of something ¡ª it was very likely that in his mind, he was already getting closer and closer to the murderer. However, this was something he couldn¡¯t say to others. The statement itself was fine, but such spections were too provocative. This was also amon issue encountered in working on cold cases: the effort and time you invest into this work is actually something others can¡¯t achieve, even with all their might. Especially when others working on this have better conditions, simpler tasks, and more ample resources, the imbnce of thisparison, this overstepping of abilities, is something difficult to ept internally. Comparatively speaking, if everyone were to see Jiang Yuan exhaust himself in a deep contemtion, it would be a bit easier for them psychologically. But Jiang Yuan also couldn¡¯t pretend every time just to make everyone feel better. Additionally, this kind of feigned behavior, once seen through, carries quite a bacsh. Thereby, the meeting room fell into a strange silence. Fortunately, it didn¡¯tst too long. Jiang Yuan exhaled a breath, breaking the silence: ¡°These are all very calm bloodstains.¡± Wan Baoming, already impatient, hurriedly asked, ¡°What do you mean by calm bloodstains?¡± ¡°Look at these bloodstains,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed and a police officer promptly zoomed in on the images from the projector. Jiang Yuan said his thanks, then continued, ¡°Mostly round blood drops, those with tails are very small-tailed, very plump blood drops.¡± The crowd nodded. Someone with some knowledgemented, ¡°This indicates that the victim was either stationary or moving very slowly and lightly. Were the injuries very serious?¡± ¡°Not likely. It was only a single stab wound, and in the abdominal area at that, bodily functions wouldn¡¯t be significantly affected. Plus, right after being stabbed, the adrenaline would be surging. Many wouldn¡¯t feel pain at all. Such calm blood drops are actually abnormal.¡± Wan Baoming instantly understood and said, ¡°She should have moved quickly, either to resist or hide?¡± ¡°Something like that, it shouldn¡¯t have been this calm,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Just then, Tang Jia, who had been quiet in the back, said softly, ¡°Suicide?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Tang Jia and shook his head slightly, ¡°That doesn¡¯t quite fit either. First off, the murder weapon is missing, which means someone definitely took it. Secondly, if it were suicide by a knife in China, it¡¯s more likely to be a wrist-cut. Stabbing the abdomen¡­ one might not even manage to kill oneself. Uh¡­ the victim didn¡¯t have a medical background, right?¡± ¡°No.¡± The detective who had been giving the briefing chimed in decisively: ¡°We¡¯ve considered this angle too, but this girl studied Chinese Language and Literature; nobody in her family studied medicine or had ess to anatomical expertise. Her social circle was mainly ssmates from her own faculty, and ording to them, she was a very quiet girl.¡± ¡°Moreover, the cause of her death was a sliced artery; the forensic doctor exined that it¡¯s not easy to urately hit that spot. Right, you¡¯re a forensic doctor too¡­¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Please continue.¡± ¡°Also, the angle of pration doesn¡¯t look like it was self-inflicted. Besides, the victim had no suicidal tendencies; her shopping records indicate she made online purchases and collected a delivery on the day of her death,¡± the detective exined: ¡°That¡¯s all.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded again and said, ¡°You¡¯ve covered everything very thoroughly. Let¡¯s set aside the suicide suspicion for now.¡± Several people frowned. ¡°Let me describe the scene again,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up and moved to the front of the screen. He stepped back slightly, then with his right hand covering his abdomen, he gestured with his left hand and said, ¡°Here, the assant stabbed the victim. From the location of the wound, I believe the assant¡¯s objective was not to take the victim¡¯s life.¡± ¡°The victim, injured, clutched onto part of the de with her right hand. Blood started to flow¡­ but not much, only staining the right side of her pants.¡± ¡°The victim took a few slow steps, seemingly starting to feel the pain. At that point, the victim must have stopped, standing very rxed. I infer the victim was talking with the assant, not under coercion or threat.¡± ¡°Up to this point, it can be deduced that the assant and the victim were quite familiar with each other, or even very familiar. And then¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused, his body tilted a bit more as he continued, ¡°The bloodstains here suggest the victim¡¯s body was at a slight angle. I believe, at this time, the assant was helping the victim onto the bed. Hence, there were no blood drops here, because the blood had transferred to the assant¡¯s body. And during this process, the victim didn¡¯t struggle, otherwise, there would have been blood drops flung out.¡± Chapter 301 - 301 270 Secret_2 ?301: Chapter 270: Secret_2 301: Chapter 270: Secret_2 ¡°Stabbed once, yet willing to be helped? So, actually, it was a rtionship based on trust?¡± Wan Baoming also came to understand. Without confirming or denying, Jiang Yuan continued to objectively describe, ¡°The victimy t on the bed, with a trail of blood flowing from the right side of her abdomen, creating a pool of blood on the bed. The area around the bed was kept clean and tidy, which also proves that the victim was murdered, because if she had pulled out the weapon herself, and if she intended to dispose of it, there should have been blood traces left behind.¡± Wan Baoming understood and said, ¡°At that moment, the murderer left with the weapon.¡± Engrossed in the discussion, Tang Jia stepped forward and said, ¡°The perpetrator and the victim had a trusting rtionship, but this isn¡¯t found within the scope of our investigated socialwork. Did the victim have a secret lover?¡± The detective responsible for this case frowned and said, ¡°From what we understand, the victim was a well-behaved girl with no bad habits, doesn¡¯t frequent nightclubs, doesn¡¯t use luxury goods, and her daily expenses were also at a normal level. Her rented house was very cheap, right next to the school, mainly because her advisor had a project nearby¡­ Moreover, this girl was only 25 years old, didn¡¯t even have a boyfriend, and now you¡¯re saying she had a secret lover?¡± Tang Jia said, ¡°She¡¯s already 25. If she were any older, she couldn¡¯t be a secret lover anymore.¡± The detective helplessly said, ¡°We checked all the contacts in her phonebook, including people on various messaging apps, and there was no sign that she had a boyfriend or a lover¡­ ¡± ¡°We¡¯re talking about a secret lover here,¡± Tang Jia nced at Jiang Yuan before adding, ¡°If the murderer were a man with social status, an established identity, then it¡¯s very likely that a girl like Ruan Sijing would agree to secret contact and even cover up the existence of the other party¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s in it for her?¡± the detective asked bluntly. After giving it some thought, Tang Jia said, ¡°If the other party was a prince, there would certainly be many obstacles, hiding one¡¯s identity is just one of those obstacles.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in it for her?¡± the detective asked again, ¡°No money, no gifts, no sense of ceremony, not even daily help, and she rented the ce herself with such poor conditions? And he¡¯s still a prince?¡± Tang Jia gave him a nce and said coolly, ¡°Money, gifts, and ceremonies are thepensation ordinary people offer to a princess. Suffering and sharing moments of hardship with a prince, supporting each other in the hardest times, that is the romantic dream of a princess.¡± The detective looked dumbfounded, ¡°Is it really like that?¡± Wan Baoming snapped his fingers twice and looked towards Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you think?¡± Jiang Yuan slowly said, ¡°It¡¯s indeed possible¡­ I think we can start from two aspects. On one hand, we should ask the victim¡¯s rtives and friends again to see how she got along with people around her. It¡¯s not necessarily a lover; it could be a rtive or someone else. On the other hand, regarding male-female rtionships¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused for a moment. Tang Jia continued the conversation, ¡°We could start with how theymunicated. If the victim Ruan Sijing was a graduate student, her English should be good, right? Maybe they used international social media apps? Such as ones with disappearing messages, like Quora, which is the international version of Zhihu, or even Tinder.¡± ¡°What¡¯s Tinder?¡± the detective asked. Tang Jia looked at him warily, ¡°Why are you asking about that one specifically?¡± ¡°Because you exined the others, like the disappearing messages and Zhihu,¡± he replied. After a few seconds of silence, Tang Jia said, ¡°Tinder shows you four people a day based on your location. If both people add each other as friends, they can chat. If one person deletes the friend, all their messages disappear¡­¡± The detective was amazed, ¡°Is that possible? How can we even investigate that?¡± Wan Baoming also said, ¡°It really is convenient for hookups.¡± ¡°But how do we investigate? There are so many foreign apps.¡± ¡°What about Ruan Sijing¡¯s phone? If she installed those apps, we should be able to see, right? Even if she deleted them, there should still be records.¡± The detectives in the meeting room had their thoughts opened up and began to offer advice and strategies. The tough, straightforward cop couldn¡¯t help but throw cold water on the discussion, saying, ¡°The phone was definitely thoroughly searched, and there would be a record of any deleted apps. If there were any strange apps, I would have remembered them¡­¡± ¡°There has to be contact, right? Even if it¡¯s a secret lover, they would still need tomunicate, talk, arrange times.¡± The straightforward cop hesitated for a moment, sighed, and said, ¡°It¡¯s possible there was a second phone. We haven¡¯t included this in the external case file, and it¡¯s only been mentioned by very few people.¡± When detectives work on major cases, they often have the habit of keeping some small details to themselves. Sometimes it¡¯s due to ack of time to describe them or not including them in the case file, and sometimes it¡¯s intentional. Someone, skeptical, went to extract evidence, trying to find any possible apps. But back in the meeting room, the discussion about the direction of the investigation continued. Tang Jia spoke up again, ¡°What about surveince footage? Was nothing found there either?¡± The tough cop replied, ¡°No. We did look at quite a bit of footage, but at the time we weren¡¯t considering the possibility of a secret lover. We were more focused on finding someone with vested interests, taking into ount the girl¡¯s work and study environments¡­¡± ¡°Were there no times when she was alone with a man?¡± someone asked. ¡°Just because they¡¯re alone together implies a romantic rtionship?¡± the tough cop countered. This left people stumped. After a while, someone gathered their thoughts again and began to ask, ¡°No records in hotels, no records of abortions at hospitals, no gifts or money transfers? Such a transparent lover? That¡¯s too exaggerated¡­¡± This was actually another argument against the idea of a secret lover. Jiang Yuan found himself deep in thought. Tang Jia looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°There are not many things that can lead one to face death calmly, love is one, perhaps. And it¡¯s only this kind of sweet love, the envy of all once it¡¯s revealed, that a girl would follow through life and death, right?¡± A bunch of men in the meeting room didn¡¯t know what to say. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, ¡°I think we can change our approach. Let¡¯s assume the victim had a secret lover, and the two of themmunicated through a foreign app to avoid being seen in public ces and avoid hotel records¡­ They would still have meals together, right? Otherwise, how would they date?¡± Everyone in the meeting room turned to look. Despite the possibility of dating without dining together, in a normal sense, even a prince and princess would dine out. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°I suggest this: we send a few people to check the upscale restaurants in the city. There aren¡¯t that many high-ss restaurants in Changyang City. See if anyone remembers them. For a ¡®prince,¡¯ even if he doesn¡¯t need to give gifts to the woman, at least they would eat something good, right?¡± Jiang Yuan still remembered the dried abalone takeout he ordered the day before. From the restaurant¡¯s perspective, a customer like him would certainly be memorable. Then, Jiang Yuan turned to Wan Baoming and said, ¡°I think we can re-verify the DNA samples, especially in the bathroom. If the killer and the victim were in a romantic rtionship, there would definitely be their DNA and fingerprints everywhere.¡± Wan Baoming had no objections, only his head began to itch as if his brain was growing. The case seemed to be on the verge of a breakthrough. Chapter 302 - 302 271 Burning Bone Fragments ?302: Chapter 271: Burning Bone Fragments 302: Chapter 271: Burning Bone Fragments Two years ago, the case seemed like a distant memory. But in the high-end restaurant and hotel industry, two years is not a long time. Moreover, if the restaurant or hotel is sufficiently upscale, they usually offer facial recognition services. Although most facial recognition is based on photographs, if the guest is a celebrity or a regr, hotel employees can often genuinely remember their faces. This is just like how Jiang Yuan and his son could walk down the street now and possibly not be recognized by anyone. But if they were to fly to their usual Aman or Four Seasons, familiar hotel staff woulde out to greet them and directly address them with ¡°Mr. Jiang, wee¡­¡± Of course, this kind of facial recognition service is not guaranteed, as some people naturally have a low presence, or some hotels and restaurants do not focus on this kind of training and requirements, so it¡¯s normal not to be recognized. However, as a hidden feature of luxury hotels, they try to implement facial recognition wherever possible, as it is a great way to attract regr customers. After all, for guests, being recognized upon entering and receiving their preferred personalized services without any fuss, such as a bed that suits their firmness preference, the right pillow, the ideal time for bed making, a quieter room, or one that is more conveniently located, is highly valued. With no better options, the detectives had to go from one restaurant and hotel to another asking questions. Changyang City did not have top-tier luxury hotels, but the InterContinental Hotel and the Wyndham Hotel, as benchmarks, were able to offer services slightly better than thepetition. Besides, there were quite a few high-end restaurants in Changyang City. Under the intervention of Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, all the hotels and restaurants actively engaged in facial recognition initiatives. When ites to criminal cases, customer confidentiality is trivial. After two days of running around, a suspect emerged: Li Sen, the founder of Da Sen Technology Co., Ltd. in Changyang City. In Changyang City, Li Sen belonged to the elite of the techmunity. Hispany deeply prated Shan Nan Province with a portal website, game agency, technology services, advertising production and agency, and investments in several well-knownrge domestic intepanies. He was both a guest of honor for government officials and a darling of local media. If it weren¡¯t for three waiters who recognized Li Sen and Ruan Sijing, and the subsequent secret investigation confirming Li Sen¡¯s fingerprints in Ruan Sijing¡¯s home, Yu Wenshu would have had difficulty deciding to arrest him. However, when the arrest was warranted, it happened. The social impact of hispany was actually smaller than that of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical in Qinghe City. Despite this, therge conference room was still crammed with more highly educated police officers, who worked day and night for several days to solidify the evidence. Jiang Yuan simply made routine check-ins, greeted everyone, and then sat and waited for the investigation phase of the case to end before visiting the upscale restaurants he hadn¡¯t been to in the previous days when he found time. The ¡°Cold Case Squad¡± was a scene of busy tranquility, but the provincial criminal investigation system was caught in a frenzy of discussion. Those with apulsion to socialize tagged Jiang Yuan directly: Forensic Li Rui: [Li Sen was just arrested like that? What will happen to Da Sen Technology?] Without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply, Wan Baoming, who was roaming various groups, immediately spoke: Wan Baoming: [What can be done? After all, thepany surely isn¡¯t just one person.] Forensic Li Rui: [That¡¯s really something for the provincial capital, to just nab a prominentpany like Da Sen.] Wan Baoming: [The crime scene was full of his fingerprints and DNA, and there were witnesses. If not him, who else should be arrested?] Liu Jinghui: [Is it that simple? Did Li Sen just kill someone and run away?] Wan Baoming: [How¡¯s your health, Jinghui? It really is that simple. Before, we didn¡¯t have his DNA and fingerprints forparison, but now that we know who the victim was associated with, we¡¯ve made the arrest. It¡¯s likely a case of idental homicide.] Shan Nan: [A domineering CEO in his 40s and a 25-year-old female college student, no wonder everyone¡¯s talking about it. It¡¯s intriguing to both men and women.] Liu Jinghui: [What kind of ident?] Wan Baoming: [The case isn¡¯t over; I can¡¯t go into details. The prosecution is likely to charge him with involuntary manughter. It¡¯s up to Li Sen¡¯s side to see how they want to argue, but I don¡¯t think they have much room to maneuver. Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases always have solid evidence, which is satisfying.] Liu Jinghui: [Sidelong nce.jpg, are you implying something?] As a master of deduction, Comrade Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was often questioned due to iplete evidence. There would also asionally be issues with the evidence chain. In the past, Liu Jinghui would often battle with the Prosecutor¡¯s Office over this. Now, he just left it to his colleagues to handle, although he was still asionally sensitive about it. Wan Baomingughed in front of his phone, put it down, and looked across the conference table at Jiang Yuan. Standing at the heart of the storm and facing its fury was thrilling. ¡°Doctor Jiang, shall we take on a new case next?¡± asked Wan Baoming softly. ¡°Oh, we can work on a new case now?¡± Jiang Yuan put down the mobile game he was ying. ¡°It¡¯s about time. We won¡¯t be needed here much longer,¡± said Wan Baoming as he checked Jiang Yuan¡¯s reaction, exining, ¡°Brigade Chief actually cares about us. He wanted us to clear up Li Sen¡¯s case before we take on any new cases, so we don¡¯t get tangled up and run into problems.¡± Chapter 303 - 303 271 Burning Bone Fragments_2 ?303: Chapter 271: Burning Bone Fragments_2 303: Chapter 271: Burning Bone Fragments_2 The Cold Case Squad¡¯s sign had just been put up when they had to pause for two days due to the Li Sen case. To an old hand like Wan Baoming, this was a relief, but he worried about how a young man like Jiang Yuan might take it. Ordinary young peoplee to terms with things slowly through society¡¯s harsh lessons, but no one wanted to treat Jiang Yuan harshly because of his exceptional skills, so they had to slowly and sincerely work on him. Jiang Yuan felt something, and yet he didn¡¯t. As a child, living on the charity of others, he was highly attuned to people¡¯s emotions. But as he grew up and his family¡¯s house was demolished and they continued living on charity, he no longer needed to be so sensitive to others¡¯ feelings. Now, sitting in the meeting room of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, Jiang Yuan was starting to feel asfortable as if he were in his own kitchen. ¡°It¡¯s a pity Li Sen can¡¯t be sentenced to death,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked with a tinge of regret. ¡°Li Sen deserves a death worse than death itself, but thew won¡¯t support it,¡± Wan Baoming said, still with the attitude of trying to console him. Tang Jia said indignantly, ¡°If he had called for an ambnce immediately and helped the girl bandage and apply pressure to the wound, perhaps there would have been time to get her to the hospital.¡± ¡°The forensic report stated that the knife directly punctured an artery in the abdomen, it would have been very difficult to save her.¡± Wan Baoming paused before adding, ¡°The fact he didn¡¯t take her to the hospital is definitely his fault, and that should be reflected in the sentencing.¡± Unable to argue with him, Tang Jia sighed and said, ¡°Ruan Sijing must have felt utterly hopeless lying on that bed. The man she loved wasn¡¯t willing to acknowledge their rtionship publicly until she died, and he didn¡¯t even try, didn¡¯t take the risk. No wonder shey there so quietly¡­¡± ¡°The guy is a founder of Da Sen Technology, 40 years old with a family and two kids. Messing around with her, a 25-year-old female graduate student¡ªwhat was it all for, didn¡¯t she understand?¡± A middle-aged detective nearby couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°She was just duped for sex, what¡¯s there to be sad about? Just wash up, go to sleep, and the next day she¡¯s still a university student. Is it worth dying over?¡± Tang Jia snorted, ¡°You men don¡¯t get it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s about the overbearing CEO trope.¡± ¡°It¡¯s romance,¡± Tang Jia countered as she looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you think?¡± ¡°I want to find a case that¡¯s a definite death sentence,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t answer directly, but he spoke his mind authentically. Assuming Jiang Yuan agreed with her, Tang Jia¡¯s expression softened, and her voice became affectionate, ¡°Ferocious Fire Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t catch that. Tang Jia pursed her lips into a smile, ¡°After the fingerprint battle was over, people said that the one with the most killings in Changyang City this year isn¡¯t any sort of serial killer, it¡¯s Forensic Jiang Yuan. AKA, Ferocious Fire.¡± Jiang Yuan took this as an obviouspliment, at least that¡¯s what he believed. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but give a slight smile. Wan Baoming, listening to their conversation, raised an eyebrow and tested the waters, ¡°Speaking of definite death penalty cases, incineration and dismemberment top the list. However, these kinds of cases are not within your current case selection criteria.¡± Jiang Yuan knew Wan Baoming was hinting at something and promptly replied, ¡°Such cases might not be solvable, falling outside the range of my strongest skills.¡± ¡°True,¡± Wan Baoming nodded and then added, ¡°However, there¡¯s a recent live case of incineration that the district has been working on for half a month with no results. If it can¡¯t be solved, it might be a cold case too. Do you want to take a look?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment; the difficulty of solving dismemberment and incineration cases was quite high. Of course, live cases are a bit easier than cold cases, but not necessarily by much. Upon reflection, Jiang Yuan realized he wasn¡¯t really a famous detective. If he could solve a case, then great; if he couldn¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t be more than a slight embarrassment, which in reality wasn¡¯t a big deal. Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to shed the burden of being a role model. Jiang Yuan then said, ¡°Let¡¯s look at the case and see if I can help.¡± ¡°Hold on, I¡¯ll have someone bring the material over.¡± Wan Baoming immediately went to make a phone call. For the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, the pressure of current cases is actually greater than that of cold cases. Cold cases are water under the bridge¡ªsolving them certainly raises the profile, boosts morale across the board, and earns several times the merit points. Thus, leading in various rankings, one receives praise from government agencies at all levels and from society atrge. But there are also current cases that remain unsolved. Once a current case goes unresolved, it¡¯s a huge embarrassment. On the performance leaderboard, homicide cases will deduct all your points, not to mention the criticisms from government agencies at all levels and societal scrutiny wille pouring in. Simply put, if there are unsolved current cases, then no matter how beautifully a cold case is solved, criticism will ensue. Even if Changyang City is vast, with arge poption andplex cases, the higher-ups won¡¯t listen to your exnations. Jiang Yuan had now seen through Wan Baoming¡¯s earlier inquiry; it wasn¡¯t just a coincidental meeting, it was deliberately nned. Even if Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t agree now, in a couple of days, if the case hasn¡¯t progressed, Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu and Wan Baoming will still think of him. There¡¯s nothing to be said about this¡ªonce the slogan ¡°homicide cases must be solved¡± is chanted, the consensus is to use all resources and carry out an exhaustive investigation. When met with obstacles, it¡¯s impossible not to use such a significant resource as Jiang Yuan. After a while, Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu followed Wan Baoming over. After cordially asking a few questions about Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent life and work, Yu Wenshu changed the subject and personally introduced the case: ¡°This case urred in Linan District, two weeks ago. The property management staff of a high-end residentialplex found burned bones that stray cats had dragged out of a trash bin during a regr patrol. After a careful inspection, they suspected the bones were human, so they called their colleagues, and then the property manager for further examination. Finally, they reported it to the police.¡± ¡°During this process, the bones were handled by many people, and videos and photos were taken and posted online, creating a certain impact.¡± ¡°After the police arrived, the crime scene¡­ although it was the secondary crime scene, was greatly damaged. Subsequently, the criminal police team thoroughly searched all the trash bins within theplex and found more bones in two other bins¡ª14 pieces in total¡­ After forensic examination, three of the bone fragments near the outer side of the central area disyed a wave-like fracture junction, confirming them to be remnants of a human skull¡­¡± Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t need to look at the case files to recount all the key elements. And the police officers present heard three words looping over and over in their heads¡ªextremely difficult to solve, extremely difficult to solve, extremely difficult to solve¡­ ¡°So the only clues we have are the 14 charred bone fragments?¡± Jiang Yuan also caught on. ¡°Correct. I¡¯ve had people bring them to you.¡± Yu Wenshu said, and immediately had someone bring a box over to the table. ¡°Then let¡¯s take a look,¡± Jiang Yuan said, without any fuss, allowing someone to spread a stic cloth on the table as he put on gloves. Yu Wenshu instantly breathed a sigh of relief. Although top-notch forensic doctors had already examined the fragments, Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement dramatically relieved his pressure. Thinking back to Wan Baoming¡¯s recent visit and the words he had said, a somewhat relieved Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°If you want to ze in fury, then take down this murderer.¡± Chapter 304 - 304 272 Shrinking Rate ?304: Chapter 272 Shrinking Rate 304: Chapter 272 Shrinking Rate The bones after being burnt were significantly different from the original fresh bones. Jiang Yuan took the first bone out of the evidence box, which had already been incinerated to the point of vitrification, its curvature on the bone surface was gone, and moreover, there were several small bone fragments clinging to it, along with many remnants of coal particles and little nodules formed by some kind of inorganic material. At first nce, this bone actually looked more like a bizarre craftwork, but upon closer observation, many details characteristic of a bone were distinguishable. As a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan could see much more, for example, this was a bone of a skull, the whiteness of the fragments was the result of being scorched at temperatures above 1,000 degrees¡­ And all organic material on the bone had been burned away, which meant thatmonly used DNA technology was now ineffective. Jiang Yuan silently took out the second bone. This bone¡¯s degree of burn was slightly less, roughly just past carbonization but not yet vitrified. But still, all organic material was burned away, and DNA techniques were of no use whatsoever. As for the remaining dozen or more bones that Jiang Yuan examined one by one, the situation was much the same. The difficulty suddenly increased, which meant that traditional techniques like DNA analysis werepletely useless, and the only thing to rely on was the most traditional Forensic Anthropology. To look on the bright side, the quality of bones found in many graves or mass burial sites from massacres was also quite poor. If one were to talk about difficulty, traditional Forensic Anthropology was always extremely challenging. There was too much ambiguity, too much reliance on experience, too many regression forms; there were many things that you simply couldn¡¯t understand from reading books alone, not even the authors could exin them clearly, it required a master-apprentice transmission toprehend. This is akin to describing the feeling of mucus sticking to the back of your hand, the sensation of tears being wiped on it, the feeling of rice smeared on it, the sensation of water shield soup, and of beef broth. Although human vocabry has be very rich, urately describing tactile sensations and assigning one-to-one correspondence is basically impossible. The field of Forensic Anthropology deals precisely with these things. What fresh bones feel like to the touch, what charred bones feel like, the difference between touching a skull and touching a facial bone, the difference between touching finger bones and toe bones¡­ Because Forensic Anthropology deals inherently with this kind of seemingly simple yet extremely meticulous knowledge, without hands-on guidance from a teacher, it can be very very difficult. As far as Jiang Yuan knew, there were two renowned old forensic doctors in Shannan Province, who were often loaned out to ministries, or to provincial halls of other provinces, or traded away by the leadership of their own city bureaus or county bureaus. If forensic doctors at the county level are somewhat scarce, then forensic doctors specializing in Forensic Anthropology are extremely rare not only nationally but also globally. This primarily refers to those who perform well¡ªthe mediocre ones don¡¯t count. Jiang Yuan meticulously reviewed the forensic report made by the Changyang forensic doctor and internally scored it, estimating that this forensic doctor¡¯s ability in Forensic Anthropology was around LV2.8 to LV3.2. Their knowledge reserves were about on par with 320 Wang Zhongs. This was already a very strong forensic expert. Jiang Yuan estimated that it must have been done by one of the top 2 in Shannan Province. Jiang Yuan flipped to the top of the forensic report and, sure enough, saw the name of the person who performed the identification: Zhang Fengtian. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Since Zhang, the forensic doctor, has already done an identification, there¡¯s no need for me to look at it again.¡± As he said this, he picked up the bone and began to look at it a second time. Yu Wenshu, noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s disingenuous tone, thus said, ¡°Forensic doctor Zhang did provide an identification report, but it only confirmed that these are human remains. The gender, age, and height are all unknown. Our main investigative direction now is to find furnaces that can reach temperatures above 1,000 degrees¡ªwe have visited many ces, but still, there are no leads¡­¡± Incinerating a body certainly destroys arge amount of evidence, but the process of incineration itself actually creates new traces. For instance, the method of incineration, the technique, the equipment, the fuel, and so on, are all questions. Bonespletely vitrified require high temperatures over 1,000 degrees, and carbonization needs 800. Between 800 degrees and 1,000 degrees lies a threshold that ordinary civilian stoves cannot reach. Jiang Yuan listened and nodded, ¡°There are only skulls, sternums, and vertebrae here; indeed, it¡¯s not easy to determine the gender, age, and height.¡± Yu Wenshu was a bit disappointed but then said, ¡°The coal pieces on top, and the agglomerated micro-particles, have all been sent for extraction tests by the trace evidenceb, but so far, there are no results.¡± He was actually somewhat hopeful that Jiang Yuan could contribute something beyond forensic science. After all, most of Jiang Yuan¡¯s disyed ability to solve cases actually came from outside the realm of forensic science. Jiang Yuan roughly guessed Yu Wenshu¡¯s feelings but didn¡¯t make any noise or show any acknowledgment. Solving a case is different from many other tasks¡ªit¡¯s not something that can definitely be achieved just by following the expectations of the leadership or proceeding ording to most people¡¯s imaginations. The kind of detective who thinks, ¡°I have an idea, I just need a ¡®CSI Team¡¯,¡± is still far from actually solving the case. ¡°Forensic Doctor Zhang¡¯s report was actually quite detailed. The 5th, 6th, and 7th specimens all exhibited a trabecr bone structure surrounded by a ring of dense bone, with both the top and bottom surfaces rtively t. The edges appeared slightly raisedpared to the middle, leading to the judgement that they are all fragments of vertebrae. Among them, the 6th vertebra had a damaged transverse foramen on the posteriorteral side, indicating a cervical vertebra, with signs of lip-like rim proliferation¡­¡± Jiang Yuanmented, then added, ¡°Looking at this vertebra, that¡¯s about all you can discern¡ªthe victim had cervical spondylosis, and it was somewhat serious¡­ Unfortunately, it¡¯s not enough for screening purposes.¡± These days, who doesn¡¯t have some sort of cervical spondylosis? However, the extent of proliferation at least suggests that the individual was of a fairly advanced age. Wan Baoming then suggested, ¡°Maybe we could start with an age range beginning at 30 years old?¡± ¡°That won¡¯t do,¡± Yu Wenshu decisively rejected the idea. ¡°I¡¯m not afraid of broadening the scope of our search, what I¡¯m most afraid of is missing something.¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What kind of search is being carried out now?¡± ¡°One is for missing persons, and the other is checking incinerators¡ªboth without results,¡± Yu Wenshu sighed. ¡°We can¡¯t even confirm the identity of the victim yet.¡± If the identity of the victim could be confirmed, perhaps the case could be cracked through the victim¡¯s social rtionships, just like the recently solved Case 513. If the special task force at the time hadn¡¯t been misled by what was highly suspected to be a pattern of random killings and had changed their investigation direction, they might actually have unearthed the perpetrator through the social connections of the deceased. Of course, either method would be extremely difficult. The current case was no different, with only a few bone fragments to go by. Trying to find the killer was almost certain to be like finding a needle in a haystack. What Yu Wenshu was asking for was, in fact, just to determine the extent of that haystack. It was possible to expand the search area, but it had to be within the limits of what human effort could achieve. Moreover, it had to be within the limits that the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s resources could support. ¡°I need a few days to conduct a thorough study. I can¡¯t give a conclusion right now,¡± Jiang Yuan offered, which somewhat surprised Yu Wenshu. ¡°Uh¡­ Just for these few bone fragments, you need several days of study?¡± Yu Wenshu was somewhat hesitant. Previously, forensic doctor Zhang Fengtian had actually only taken a day or two to review the same material. If you look at something for too long, could you really see any more details? Jiang Yuan countered, ¡°Exactly because there are so few bone fragments, the information they can provide is limited, and most of the conclusions have actually already been made by Dr. Zhang. The key now lies in how to decipher the minute information so as to provide more clues¡­¡± Yu Wenshu nodded in understanding, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach did seem quite clear-cut. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°With vertebrae and sternum, in theory, it should be possible to determine age and height, and probably gender as well. But these bones are burned so severely that the shrinkage rate is unknown, preventing Dr. Zhang from making any deductions.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Yu Wenshu and exined, ¡°After bones are burned, they shrink. How much they shrink is the issue of shrinkage rate. Currently, very few people have researched this. There¡¯s a foreigner named Herman who has done some work on it, stating that the shrinkage rate of burned bones is between 8% to 14%. But he likely only tested up to 700 degrees Celsius, higher temperatures were not investigated by him, nor by anyone else.¡± ¡°With the shrinkage rate, the original size of the fresh bones can be calcted. Then you can infer height, age, and gender. But it¡¯s not very urate. Ideally, you would create regression equations directly from the burned bones¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice trailed off slightly. This task was going to be quite tedious. Yu Wenshu was a bit stunned listening, ¡°So, what do we do?¡± ¡°Can you get ess to a body? The kind for experiments?¡± Jiang Yuan inquired. Yu Wenshu threw up his hands, ¡°Even if I haven¡¯t applied before, such a research project would take a very long time, won¡¯t it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed and asked, ¡°Should I make an estimate?¡± ¡°An estimate?¡± ¡°I can calcte an estimated value, but it¡¯s not reliable. Whether to use it or not, you can decide for yourself,¡± Jiang Yuan said. He already had a nearly urate estimation from the system, but this kind of research was indeed scarce both domestically and internationally, and the estimated values varied. Whether to adopt one or dismiss another was problematic. That¡¯s also why forensic anthropology is so difficult¡ªit reaches a divergence at only LV3. In other words, when ites to this skill alone, forensic doctors around the world aren¡¯t advancing and developing it to a high standard. As the conversation reached this point, the several dozen people in the meeting room could sense that Jiang Yuan had some ideas but was not confident, which carried risks. And these uncertainties and risks weren¡¯t just about solving the case or the funding; they would also involve the manpower deployed for the search. It was a big responsibility for Jiang Yuan to have potentially hundreds or even thousands of people run around based on his estimate, only to find outter that it was incorrect. At the very least, Yu Wenshu needed to make the final decision. Having understood, Yu Wenshu pondered briefly and then decisively said, ¡°Alright. Go ahead and make the estimate. At this point, we might as well grasp at straws. What¡¯s your conclusion?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have it for you as early as tomorrow. I¡¯ll let you know once I¡¯ve done the calctions,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then gathered the evidence boxes and took aptop to a corner of the room. Chapter 305 - 305 273 Lions Head ?305: Chapter 273: Lion¡¯s Head 305: Chapter 273: Lion¡¯s Head Jiang Yuan currently possessed a level 3 proficiency in Forensic Anthropology and level 3 proficiency in Forensic Clinical Medicine. Compared to other forensic doctors of the same level, he had a slight edge in that his knowledge system was extremelyprehensive. If it was something within the scope of Forensic Anthropology level 3, he knew it. If it was knowledge within the scope of Forensic Clinical Medicine level 3, he did not miss a beat. In fact, this was quite a bug. In other words, if a test were now based on the level 3 standard of Forensic Anthropology, Jiang Yuan could basically score a perfect 100. But the reality was that most people, even expert-level forensic doctors, actually had some imbnces in their expertise. Take, for instance, the top 2 forensic doctor in Shannan Province, Zhang Fengtian. Maybe he had a level 3 proficiency in Forensic Anthropology, but if he were to take a level 2 test, he would certainly score full marks. However, for a level 3 test, he might score 80 or 90 points. There would always be some extremely detailed, obscure, or niche knowledge that he had not studied or researched meticulously. This actually had no impact on daily work. Criminal cases never had just one solution. Many cases that seemed to have only one clue or no clues at all to some people might reveal multiple leads to others. For example, ordinary detectives at a crime scene would look for DNA, fingerprints, surveince footage, cell phones, and eyewitnesses if all else failed. Only a very few would pay attention to footprints, and those who noticed the form of the blood, rather than the blood itself, were even fewer in this day and age. But for Jiang Yuan, all of these were targets within his range. He could make a breakthrough at any weak link he chose. Which meant the suspect had to cover all these factors and do so to a considerable degree of concealment to possibly escape punishment. Simrly, for the top 2 forensic doctor in Shannan Province, Zhang Fengtian, he had many technical means at his disposal, but that did not mean he needed to possess all the relevant knowledge¡ªespecially niche knowledge like bone shrinkage rate from burning, for which there was still no definitive conclusion. Even if he immediately started looking up papers and consulting over the phone, it would still take him days to get a clear understanding. As for which shrinkage rate was more appropriate to choose, he would still only have a general concept and could note to an urate conclusion. In other words, even if Zhang Fengtian started to fill the gaps in his knowledge starting with the bone shrinkage rate from burning, he would first have to spend several days, and secondly, his conclusions would still be probabilistic, meaning there was still a possibility of mistakes. Simr to Jiang Yuan, under these circumstances, Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu would have to make the final decision as the responsible party. Even so, he could at best provide the probable age, gender, and height of the victim¡­ As a well-established forensic doctor, Zhang Fengtian probably would not like to go down this road. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, didn¡¯t mind. He had gained a bit of fame by now, but he didn¡¯t have, and shouldn¡¯t have, the burden of being an idol. Sitting in the corner of the meeting room, Jiang Yuan first measured each bone fragment with a ruler. The shrinkage rate was a matter of a couple of percentage points. If he relied on previously measured data and made an error, it would be quite troubling. Jiang Yuan measured several times himself, recorded the data, and then analyzed the degree of carbonization or porcinization of each bone fragment. Carbonization at 800 degrees, porcinization at 1000 degrees, but both values exceeded the level described in existing literature and were also above the typical capacity of civilian ovens. Jiang Yuan sketched on the surface for a moment and estimated a value of 17% for porcinized bone fragments. Then, he estimated a value of 15% for carbonized bone fragments. With this reverse calction, he could derive the length and width of the fresh bone fragments. Applying the regression equation, he could then determine the victim¡¯s height. As for gender, it would depend on how several characteristic points turned out. In summary, this series of calctions involved three estimations. If any were slightly off, the final result could vary greatly. Jiang Yuan increasingly understood Zhang Fengtian¡¯s cautious approach, but when working on cases, if you were afraid of making mistakes, there was no way to proceed. Most of the time in criminal investigations, trial and error was the norm, just like reviewing surveince footage or checking fingerprints, repeatedly discovering errors or dead ends before moving on to explore other, more difficult paths. Forensic Anthropology was no different. If the estimation was wrong, you had to start over. Despite this, Jiang Yuan was still very meticulous in his work, striving to minimize errors as much as possible. ¡­ The other people in the conference room could see Jiang Yuan at work. By this time, Case 513 had essentially concluded, and with nothing else to do, everyone focused on the current case. Those who were adept at making PPTs were quitefortable, as the scarcity of evidence in the case didn¡¯t affect their ability to produce presentations. Officers with truly nothing else to upy them simply left the office to lift weights. The conditions at the Changyang City Bureau were favorable, with a gym equipped within the office building, and ess to exercise and even personal training free of charge, as long as one made the effort to go. Jiang Yuan looked over the charred bone fragments again and again. On his notebook, a list of values gradually emerged: Gender: Female. Height: 165-172 centimeters. Age: 22-25 years old. By the time Jiang Yuan wrote down thest entry, the conference room had mostly emptied. ¡°Go back to the guest house to rest,¡± Jiang Yuanposed a text message and sent it to Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, then called for Wei Zhenguo. Wei Zhenguo rubbed his eyes, nced at his watch, and chuckled, ¡°Is it past dinner time already? Did I fall asleep?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t snore,¡± Jiang Yuan reassured him. ¡°Did you figure out the bones?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked, seeing Jiang Yuan had already packed up the evidence box. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Whether it¡¯s of any use, I have no idea. We¡¯ll have to wait and see the feedback from the front lines.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not optimistic?¡± Wei Zhenguo knew Jiang Yuan well enough to guess some of his thoughts easily. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and replied, ¡°Although it¡¯s a current case, 15 days have already passed since the body was discovered. Burning a body takes time, and to burn it to this extent, one would probably have to keep the fire going for several days.¡± ¡°So, we¡¯re looking for someone who went missing more than 20 days ago?¡± ¡°Yes, at least,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. The information was still too sparse, albeit hard-earned. Jiang Yuan left the police station, and Yu Wenshu¡¯s text message came back to him, a brief ¡°Okay,¡± without superfluous words. Jiang Yuan showed the message to Wei Zhenguo and said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back and rest. We¡¯ll look at the results of the investigation tomorrow.¡± The next day. After Jiang Yuan, Wei Zhenguo, and others had eaten and drunk their fill before arriving at the bureau, they saw a crowd making a lively noise in front of the brigade building, with objects bouncing around. As they got closer, they realized that the bouncing objects were lion dancers, with Yu Wenshu standing opposite the lion. ¡°Jiang Yuan,e over,¡± Yu Wenshu called Jiang Yuan over. Jiang Yuan: ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°This lion dance is performed by Ruan Sijing¡¯s family,¡± Yu Wenshu said. ¡°Every year, especially during the festival season, like the Lunar New Year, their family takes the lion dance troupe to perform everywhere. Ruan Sijing¡¯s case is solved, and they came straight here with the lion head.¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°The verdict has not yet been pronounced.¡± Yu Wenshu replied, ¡°For many families, knowing who did it is enough.¡± In his distraction, the lion charged up and began shaking its head at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan instinctively reached out and touched the lion head. The lion head stilled and allowed Jiang Yuan to pat it. Chapter 306 - 306 274 Jingling Community ?306: Chapter 274: Jingling Community 306: Chapter 274: Jingling Community Dawn¡¯s rosy light began to spread. Jiang Yuan opened his eyes and climbed out of bed, took a brief rest, and then hurried to the Criminal Police Detachment. Upon entering the Cold Case Squad¡¯s office, he saw, as expected, that quite a few people had arrived earlier. Wan Baoming had juste in from outside and, seeing Jiang Yuan, said, ¡°Last night, everyone used the suspect information you provided to check through the missing persons. So far, no discoveries have been made, and today we¡¯re nning to conduct door-to-door checks.¡± ¡°Do you think it was someone familiar whomitted the crime?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Door-to-door checks, aside from inquiring about the situation, are most beneficial for observing family members¡¯ facial expressions and movements; some first-time killers, who initially act normally, can reveal themselves after just a few words. Furthermore, if you visit a suspect¡¯s home and there¡¯s a smell of blood, or neighbors report that someone has been chopping meat all day, no one would believe the excuse that they bought a sheep yesterday to cook at home. As a whole, the shrewd methods of solving cases facing cunning murder ns are rarely seen in the police force. Generally speaking, one side tends to appear cruder. Wan Baoming naturally hoped the other party would be cruder and, thinking it over, felt it was unlikely, then said, ¡°Mainly, we¡¯re looking for a stove; it seems he dismembered the body before burning it, which requires quite a high level of environmental control.¡± ¡°Yeah, those without staircases in their homes basically couldn¡¯t pull this off,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°So, Jingling Community has always been under high suspicion, and this time is the same. Let¡¯s see if we can find some clues,¡± Wan Baoming replied with uncertainty. Jiang Yuan looked around; more than half of the personnel had already arrived in the conference room, but when it came to leveraging staff advantages, it turned out that there wasn¡¯t much for them to do. This was just how it was at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment; everyone harbored aspirations for promotion and sry increases and would actively show off, even if it meant showing up for useless tasks. It was different at the county bureau, where people had started to value meaningful work. No one bothered with tasks that had no significance, especially since they couldn¡¯t lead to promotions or pay raises. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the scene,¡± Jiang Yuan felt it would be a waste to have such a team focused on things like PPT presentations. Yu Wenshu probably wouldn¡¯t appreciate him pulling people away given the newly established Cold Case Squad, but Jiang Yuan was getting restless without a case to work on. Wan Baoming was surprised and said, ¡°Captain Yu is inmand at the scene, but Chief Zhu is responsible for it. Shall I call him?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan replied as he gathered his things, preparing to leave. Wang Chuanxing, who was standing close by and all ears, quickly volunteered, ¡°Captain Jiang, let me carry your bag for you.¡± Eagerly holding Jiang Yuan¡¯s belongings, he smiled and asked, ¡°What are we looking for when we get there?¡± Wang Chuanxing was genuinely benefiting, with a third-ss merit under his belt and emerging from a fiercepetition among his peers. He was in high spirits as if he had won the lottery, now hoping to strike it lucky once more. After giving it some thought, Jiang Yuan said gravely, ¡°I don¡¯t know, but I feel there¡¯s a high probability that the person who discarded the burnt bones either lives in thatmunity or nearby.¡± Wang Chuanxing agreed, ¡°Someone from out of town wouldn¡¯t be able to find such a suitablemunity, especially one bordered by vis, and besides, whether they drove or took a taxi, it would be easy to leave a record.¡± Then Tang Jia joined the conversation, saying, ¡°The collected bones are all so small; I think the culprit might have just discarded them casually into a trash bin, probably thinking they wouldn¡¯t be found. If not for stray animals dragging them out and the remains being discovered, we probably wouldn¡¯t even have this case.¡± ¡°They should¡¯ve thrown it into the river,¡± Wang Chuanxing suggested. ¡°With just those ten or so pieces of bones, you wouldn¡¯t be able to find them if they were thrown into the river.¡± ¡°They could have been washed ashore by water. Or someone on the riverbank or the cameras there might have captured it. Li Changyu had a case where they dammed up the river and fished out bone fragments from it. The Hangzhou wife-murder case was simr, with human tissue fished out of a septic tank,¡± Wan Baoming added his input and left with Jiang Yuan. Once in the car, Wan Baoming continued, ¡°Jingling Community, where the incident urred, has the scale of over three thousand households. Among them, the vi area alone houses over a thousand, with more than five hundred currently upied, while the apartment blocks ount for about two thousand, with a seventy to eighty percent upancy rate. This is one of Changyang City¡¯s earliest vimunities, and because of its mountaintop location, the residents of nearbymunities enjoy visiting Jingling Community, which poses the main problem we¡¯re currently facing¡­¡± For someone disposing of a body from out of town,mon locations are major traffic routes, highway exits, or ces like bridges or under bridges. Imagine, a person traveling miles in a car, with a body or a basket of burned bones inside. Upon arriving in a foreign ce, could they calmly find a remote vimunity far from the city center and then discard it in amunity garbage bin? It¡¯spletely unnecessary. Especially for those unfamiliar with local traffic, many drivers are reluctant to navigate through residential streets on a regr basis, let alone carrying a basket of bones into amunity to find a trash bin¡ªit¡¯s absurd to even consider. It would be easier to scatter them in the river. Upon arriving at Jingling Community and surveying the scene, one would find that the situation was even moreplex. Jingling Community sits atop a hill, and below it, on the mid-slope and foothill, are five or six other smallmunities, among which the Anji Community at the foot of the hill has even constructed an artificialke. Just as Wan Baoming said, Jingling Community is open, with a policy that controls vehicles but not pedestrians, allowing residents from othermunities to enter for walks and to enjoy the cooler air. Simrly, Anji Community has nearly the same policy, also allowing residents of othermunities toe and enjoy the cool breeze by their artificialke. ¡°Why didn¡¯t the killer throw the bone fragments into the artificialke?¡± Jiang Yuan stood on the hill, looking down at the glittering artificialke, and found it strange. ¡°Because the artificialke is dredged regrly every year.¡± This time, it was Yu Wenshu, who had received the news and hade to the scene personally, who spoke. Yu Wenshu¡¯s style wasn¡¯t as meticulous and hands-on as that of Xu Taining, it seemed ratherx as he said, ¡°I had a chat with the property manager down the hill. They dredgedst year and even caught a lot of fish, they charge for dredging and are very active about it.¡± ¡°Captain Yu,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted first. The others also greeted him one after another. After everyone had finished their greetings, Yu Wenshu waved his hand with a smile and said, ¡°Just talk about the case, no need for all this formality.¡± Jiang Yuan then said, ¡°So, throwing bone fragments into the artificialke here wouldn¡¯t have solved the problem once and for all.¡± Yu Wenshu made a sound of agreement and added, ¡°The perpetrator must have taken this into ount. The trash here is disposed of by garbage trucks automatically, without manual handling, it¡¯s the best disposal channel.¡± ¡°That being said, the culprit is likely a resident here, or at least someone with considerable knowledge of the area?¡± Jiang Yuan easily came to this conclusion. Yu Wenshu nodded gravely. Reaching the same deduction wasn¡¯t difficult. For a normal person driving to an unfamiliarmunity to dispose of human bone remains, why not throw them into the artificialke seen at the foot of the hill but instead drive up to a residential area on the hill to throw it in someone else¡¯s trash bin? Was it necessary? If the person didn¡¯t know about the garbage collection rules and the dredging schedule of the artificialke, the right choice would be to dump the remains into the artificialke. And a slightly more correct method would be disposing them into a river. Choosing a more cumbersome method over simpler, more covert ones is best exined by the culprit being a local resident. However, there¡¯s one problem, which is thetter part of what Jiang Yuan had just mentioned. A person ¡°with considerable knowledge of themunity¡± could also make the same choice. For example, a past resident or tenant from one or two years ago, or a rtive who had visited this ce. Based on the current clues, Yu Wenshu was not too keen to discuss this issue. If the truth was indeed so, then the method of screening residents would be practically useless, and this case might not even be solvable. At this moment, Jiang Yuan was also thinking and said, ¡°Actually, if they wanted to leave no trace, they should have burned the bones more, then smashed them and ground them down¡­¡± Jiang Yuan thought, ¡°They were a bit rushed.¡± The bones were burned to the point of calcination, frankly speaking, a few smashes would have turned them into very fine pieces. Of course, the current bone fragments were already very crushed, with thergest bones being only as big as the palm of a hand, and the most numerous vertebrae only about the size of a small rib fragment. At this stage, it¡¯s highly likely they had already been smashed, perhaps the killer didn¡¯t want to continue smashing them, or maybe the work was tooborious, reaching this point might have caused backaches and sore waists¡­ Or perhaps, they didn¡¯t dare to make noise for too long? Jiang Yuan, recalling the bone fragments he had seen, turned his head and asked, ¡°Have you inquired with the residents about any noiseints? Even very short durations should be recorded.¡± ¡°We have asked, mainly in Jingling Community, but we haven¡¯t systematically asked othermunities yet,¡± Yu Wenshu understood what Jiang Yuan meant and inquired, ¡°Do all the bones have marks of being hit and smashed?¡± ¡°I think that must be the case. They were burned first, which made them more brittle, then smashed, and burned again, which wore away some edges. A casual smash would result in their current state.¡± Jiang Yuan exined before saying, ¡°The scene must have been chaotic, they needed a fairlyrge area to do this, and there would inevitably have been knocking noises, it must have taken at least half an hour.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll tell them to include inquiries about noise,¡± Yu Wenshu said, without suggesting aprehensive search. Thirty minutes of noise was just an estimate, perhaps the smashing was done in intervals, or maybe there were sound-absorbing preparations? In any case, from Yu Wenshu¡¯s perspective, this lead was not reliable. And he couldn¡¯t, like Xu Taining, throw resources at every single lead they came across. In terms of the operational capacity of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, carrying out a screening of tens of thousands of people would max out resources in one case, and if used twice, it had to yield results, or else someone would have to take the me. Jiang Yuan had his fair share of experience with cases and could understand Yu Wenshu¡¯s caution. Leaders just have to give an order, while the foot soldiers run around breaking their legs. If the leader is considered spineless for being considerate of manpower, that¡¯s just a double standard. Moreover, the strength of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was quite substantial. In Ningtai County, screening a few thousand people would be the limit. After chatting a bit more, Yu Wenshu went off to take care of other things. Jiang Yuan strolled leisurely around themunity, especially near the trash bin where the burned bone fragments had been found, walking and observing at the same time. Chapter 307 - 307 275 Coming Right Away ?307: Chapter 275: Coming Right Away 307: Chapter 275: Coming Right Away Jingling Community was built almost twenty years ago, but with theter addition of phases two and three, the overall area still looks quite new. However, as it was one of the earlier developments, the concept of separating pedestrian and vehicr traffic doesn¡¯t really apply here. Inside themunity, there are only narrow roads a few meters wide that serve both as walking paths for residents and as routes for vehicles. The maintenance of themunity itself is rather good. There are shade-giving trees, the roads are clean and tidy, and the benches along the sides of the roads are regrly wiped down. It¡¯s obvious that in order to sell houses, the developers are willing to forego the ie from property management fees. Take the trash cans, for instance: they have a rather nice design, mainly made of metal, and are different from the regr municipal trash cans, and are also quite numerous. But when ites to storing human remains, they aren¡¯t much different. The trash cans used to contain the charred bone fragments had all been removed that day; new ones had been brought in¡ªthey even changed their locations. Yet the original positions of the trash cans were marked with white lines. Looking at the shapes of the trash cans nearby, Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation wasn¡¯t disrupted. ¡°All of them are trash bins by the roadside. They¡¯re in spots where things can easily be thrown out,¡± Jiang Yuan concluded after walking around once and then again on a second round. Wan Baoming had been following him and immediately remarked upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯sment, ¡°Indeed, they¡¯re all in pretty convenient spots for discarding things.¡± ¡°Ashed bone fragments, in fact, could just be bagged up and discarded casually,¡± Jiang Yuan added, ncing back at Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming said, ¡°We¡¯re also leaning towards the idea that they were discarded on foot. Fourteen pieces of bone, spread over five trash bins, all at no great distance from one another. It would actually be more conspicuous to drive, park, get out, and then dispose of them, with no real need to do so.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°But we can¡¯t rule out the possibility that they were discarded by residents from othermunities, can we?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. In fact, Jingling Community has already had a round of checks to look for households withmercial-grade ovens orrger ovens, and we¡¯ve sent people to check on those,¡± Wan Baoming sighed. ¡°There was quite a bit of resistance, and it caused a number of disputes. It would be even more challenging to expand the search to the five or sixmunities around here.¡± Conducting searches and thorough investigations are different matters. Door-to-door investigations, in particr, are extremely difficult, and even less so when the area to be covered is vast. The searches they were conducting mainly involved the vi owners who have higher demands for privacy, making it even more challenging to proceed. Entering every house to check and search is unthinkable anywhere. It could easily lead to utter chaos. Jiang Yuan understood this; if someone came to his house saying they wanted to look at the oven, perhaps even poke around in the ashes, Jiang Fuzhen would certainly be reluctant. Jiang Yuan continued to stroll and ponder. Wan Baoming and his associates followed suit in their casual walk. Wang Chuanxing roamed with a vexed expression. In his understanding, this case had hit a dead end, and it was unsurprising. Few bone fragments were found, providing hardly any clue at all. If solving a case relied entirely on imagination and could indeed be solved in such a manner, he wouldn¡¯t mind wrecking his brains over it. However, with hundreds of officers focused on this case, nobody really knew what to do¡­ ¡°Actually, we don¡¯t have much at our disposal right now, especially evidence, which is far too scant,¡± Jiang Yuan spoke up, then suggested, ¡°How about we ask Director Liu for his opinion?¡± Handling cases with little to no evidence was amon task for Liu Jinghui. Although his sess rate wasn¡¯t extraordinarily high,pared to regr detectives, Liu Jinghui was already considered highly skilled. Wan Baoming was startled for a moment, surprised that after roaming the scene, Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestion was to call in Liu Jinghui. But upon second thought, it was no big deal. Whether it¡¯s calling for one or two beds¡ªwhat does it matter? ¡°Then I¡¯ll report to Captain Yu and ask Director Liu. I¡¯ll say you¡¯re the one who asked for it,¡± Wan Baoming said with a smile. He wasn¡¯t too familiar with Liu Jinghui, so it would be best to have a go-between. Besides, the case was under the direction of Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, and any adjustments needed his approval. After agreeing, Jiang Yuan continued his stroll around themunity. That afternoon, Jiang Yuan had someone find a vi, and began grilling meat in the backyard using the homeowner¡¯s barbecue stove. The owner of the vi, Yuan Songping, was a friend of Yu Wenshu. In his forties, Yuan was a businessman involved in the liquor trade and also had other ventures like restaurants. He was quite a character; knowing a bit about the case and seeing that Jiang Yuan had no reservations, he suggested, ¡°Why don¡¯t we simte the scene? I could bring over a sheep, skin it and grill the meat, then crumble the bones in the charcoal.¡± Something clicked in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, and he readily agreed. He added, ¡°Sheep bones are a bit too soft; perhaps we should find some pig bones instead. Pork ribs from a local pig, with a slightly longer growth period¡ªthose should be able to simte the condition of the discovered sternum. Moreover, get a pork leg bone and burn it too. I¡¯m a bit curious. The tibia is supposed to be the hardest to deal with¡­¡± ¡°Alright, my restaurant has plenty of those. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll have them bring over some fresh ones, just like they were freshly ughtered,¡± Yuan Songping sounded eager to help. Jiang Yuan was reminded of something else and hurriedly said, ¡°If you have stock, frozen bones would also do.¡± The murderer didn¡¯t necessarily have to burn the body immediately after killing. Many people, especially thosemitting homicide for the first time, are often bewildered after the act. Some drag the body away to bury it¡ªusually the more impulsive type. Some who are slower to react may leave the body lying around for a while before it starts to smell, then stuff it in a fridge andter decide whether to bury or discard it. Those who choose to burn a body at home are the ones with money and patience. Think about it, how much fuel would it take to incinerate a mouse or a cat down to bones? How much smoke and odor would that produce? For those living in high-rises or apartment buildings, this method is practically out of the question. But in a vi, there¡¯s much more freedom to act. For example, if there¡¯s a swimming pool, emptying it and using it to dismember a body would be a lot morefortable than using a bathroom. Yet,pletely burning a body is an exceedingly time-consuming task. Domestic ovens, regardless of their chamber size or temperature, can¡¯t match the crematory furnaces used in funeral homes. Considering this, freezing the body in a fridge and burning it slowly seems like a reasonable option. If that¡¯s the case, perhaps therger and harder tibia has yet to be dealt with? Could it be possible that the detective team began their investigative work during the murderer¡¯s initial body disposal phase? If we follow this line of thought, the murderer¡¯s luck seems not so good after all. The stove in Yuan Songping¡¯s house is an American-style barbecue, the kind often seen in American dramas, usually in either a coffin shape or a head shape. The Yuan Family¡¯s is coffin-shaped, justrge enough to fit a person who is 1.5 meters tall and weighs 150 pounds. Its basic structure is also quite simple: a charcoal fire below, a grill on top to cook the food, and a dome-shaped lid, reminiscent of an American coffin. When closed, it can create some heat reflection, thereby heating the food more steadily. Jiang Yuan took some charcoal, put it into the fire starter, and then lit an alcohol block underneath. The alcohol block burned, turning all the charcoal inside the chimney-like fire starter red hot, then he poured it into the barbecue, adding more charcoal. Everything was ready, and soon the meat and bones were delivered. Half a sheep, a rack of pork ribs, some beef, and a basket of bones. Jiang Yuan took two pig¡¯s shank bones, or tube bones, put them on the grill to roast for a while with no issues, and then threw them into the charcoal fire. During this time, Yuan Songping proactively brought out arge amount of seasonings to marinate the pork ribs andmb. With everyone working together, it wasn¡¯t long beforerge amounts of smoke began to billow. ¡°To roast so much at once, it doesn¡¯t seem to produce much smoke,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was instantly diverted. ¡°Because it¡¯s a slow roast. Look, the bones directly on the charcoal give off more smoke; when ced on the middle rack and flipped a bit, they don¡¯t smoke so easily,¡± Yuan Songping exined. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, ¡°So you¡¯re saying, as long as a body is dismembered and roasted slowly, you could even do it in the yard without any problems?¡± Yuan Songping nearly had a heart attack hearing this and hurriedly said, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a problem, but people can¡¯t be that twisted¡­¡± Before Jiang Yuan could respond, a few detectives nearby couldn¡¯t help butugh. Yuan Songping shook his head, ¡°I¡¯m going to get you guys some drinks. I can¡¯t hear this kind of talk while eating.¡± He turned around and left, giving Jiang Yuan and the others a chance to chat privately. Jiang Yuan turned the meat pieces and looked at the bones on the charcoal fire, saying, ¡°It seems the burned bone fragments involved in the case were also subjected to at least two burnings.¡± Wan Baoming frowned, ¡°Do you mean the murderer first used a stove like this one to burn them and then took them somewhere else to burn again?¡± ¡°Yes, the murderer¡¯s goal was probably just to reduce the weight and volume of the remains. They could first use arge-volume stove, and when the bones could no longer burn, deal with them slowly afterward.¡± ¡°So¡­ should we go to the stove seller for repairs?¡± Wan Baoming sounded unsure. ¡°Or, I think we could look for charcoal,¡± Jiang Yuan corrected him and pointed to the slow-cooking barbecue in front of them, ¡°With the amount of charcoal this thing uses, the murderer would have to buy a lot of it to prepare.¡± Wan Baoming wasn¡¯t quite sure but still nodded, ¡°That¡¯s easy to check¡ªwe¡¯ll have the courierpanies make a list of the weights of the goods from the past few months, and we¡¯ll know whose express deliveries were heavier¡­ But the suspect might also have bought the charcoal at the market.¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s out of our control. Hmm¡­ Maybe the property management saw it. A truckload of coal¡ªsurely they¡¯d stop it to register.¡± Wan Baoming nodded repeatedly, ¡°I¡¯ll go ask. Right, the property side should also be suspicious; these guys rented two rough apartments as dormitories.¡± He immediately went to notify Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu and to arrange work. When Wan Baoming returned, Director Liu had also almost arrived. ¡°Encountered a tough problem?¡± When Liu Jinghui saw Jiang Yuan, he broke into heartyughter. After years of requesting help, he finally saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s plea for help¡ªthough such a thing didn¡¯t really exist. Still, hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, Liu Jinghuiughed all the way there. Jiang Yuan handed Liu Jinghui a skewer ofmb and then said, ¡°We¡¯ve found too little evidence, so I thought of you.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hear it,¡± Liu Jinghui said as he ate, his mouth dripping with grease. Jiang Yuan gestured Tang Jia toe over and said, ¡°Tell Director Liu.¡± Tang Jia then detailed the ins and outs of the case. Liu Jinghui rested his chin on his hand, sinking into thought. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t disturb him and simply continued grilling in silence. Tang Jia watched the two of them and suddenly felt incredibly excited. Liu Jinghui was a unique figure in the criminal investigation field of Shannan Province, often cited as an example by many¡ªa mixed reputation, to be sure. But, undoubtedly, the cases Liu Jinghui solved often had a legendary tinge to them. And now, Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation in Shannan¡¯s criminal investigation scene was also rising rapidly¡ªjust look at Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu and his respectful attitude towards Jiang Yuan, more so than towards many other leaders. The cooperation between these two figures to tackle a murder case¡­ The thought alone filled Tang Jia with joy. Just then, Liu Jinghui slowly spoke up, ¡°With only these clues at present, I think it won¡¯t be easy to investigate normally. It might be better to lure the snake out of its hole, to think of a way to draw the murderer out¡­¡± While talking, Wan Baoming¡¯s mobile phone began to ring. ¡°Excuse me, I have to take this,¡± Wan Baoming said quickly, picking up the call. Then, they heard Wan Baoming repeatedly utter ¡°Yes,¡± ¡°Yes,¡± followed by an exmation, ¡°Really found it? Wait for us, we¡¯ll be right there!¡± Chapter 308 - 308 276 The Blood-Red Sunset ?308: Chapter 276: The Blood-Red Sunset 308: Chapter 276: The Blood-Red Sunset All eyes in the room were on Wan Baoming as their appetites for the meat they had been eating dissipated. Putting down his phone, Wan Baoming suppressed his excitement, his trembling hands and twitching toes, and with a slight purse of his lips, he said, ¡°The investigating officers, who just visited a household that had purchased arge amount of charcoal, noted the resident¡¯s abnormal emotional state and their inability to exin the use of the charcoal¡­ A search revealed human tissue¡­¡± ¡°The case¡­ was cracked just like that?¡± Wang Chuanxing was the first to ask. He had not expected the case to be solved in this manner, which did not align with the criminal investigation textbooks he had studied. Liu Jinghui was also a bit off pace, holding skewers of meat in his hand, unsure whether to throw them away, and asked again, ¡°What exactly is happening now?¡± ¡°That¡­ could it be that we¡¯ve found the murderer?¡± Wan Baoming forcefully turned his statement into a question at the end, as being too certain felt unfitting for what came next. Liu Jinghui silently nced at the skewers and quietly popped them back into his mouth. With an embarrassed chuckle, Wan Baoming suggested, ¡°Maybe, Director Liu, we should go check out the scene first?¡± ¡°You go ahead, I don¡¯t need to go there, as the case has nothing to do with me.¡± After taking a couple of bites of the meat, Liu Jinghui wiped his mouth andmented, ¡°The skewers Jiang Yuan grilled are not bad, the vor is quite infused.¡± Jiang Yuan felt a bit embarrassed and said, ¡°Director Liu, this is an unexpected surprise¡­ But since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s go over and see if there are any other pieces of evidence to ensure we can send him to his death sentence.¡± ¡°Having killed and burned the body, he¡¯s almost certainly facing the death penalty,¡± Liu Jinghui said, then set down the skewers and followed the others to the scene. The suspect¡¯s vi was located a few hundred meters away on a small hill. The Jingling Community was built along the hillside, with vis distributed on various levels, shielded by green belts and trees in between for privacy. Many households even nted bamboo and built pavilions, making it impossible to see inside yards, let alone any smoke. When Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, among others, arrived at the vi, nearly a hundred people were already there. Fortunately, the crime scene was directed by members of the elite squad, who kept reminding everyone to preserve the scene, offering some reassurance. There were also three or four cameras entering with them. Despite everyone now having body cams, the value of video cameras is undeniable, especially for their directed filming capability, which is quite essential. Moreover, recording certain scenes, particrlyprehensive footage, will reduce friction duringter court proceedings. Jiang Yuan, upon arriving, distributed gloves and masks to Liu Jinghui and the others before they entered the vi in an orderly fashion. The backyard. A charcoal grill with a smoking feature appeared in front of everyone. The so-called smoking feature means, aside from the normal functions of the grill, an adjacentrge stove was present where one could ce fruit tree charcoal, connected by a smoke duct, allowing for the preparation of food through low-temperature smoking. At the moment, the grill had just ceased operation, but the sight of a half-charred leg hanging inside the opened steel lid was nauseating. ¡°You dared to continue burning the body while we were conducting the search outside?¡± Wan Baoming was both shocked and furious at such brazenness. Handcuffed and nked by two officers for crime scene identification, the suspect remained indifferent, remarking, ¡°What else to do? If I wait and the meat stinks, you¡¯d smell it anyway, wouldn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t decide whether to praise his answer or chastise him. Listening to their exchange and seeing what was inside the furnace, Tang Jia suddenly felt waves of nausea and turned to vomit into a nearby trash can. Wan Baoming held his tongue then turned to someone nearby and asked, ¡°How did he slip past the previous checks?¡± ¡°Every household here has their own barbecue grill,¡± the questioned officer rified, ¡°The initial search was for an incinerator that could reach 1000 degrees, at minimum 800 degrees. His barbecue grill, at most, wouldn¡¯t reach four or five hundred degrees¡­¡± ¡°Does he have other high-temperature grilling equipment?¡± Wan Baoming pressed. ¡°Yes, he has an ultra-high-temperature steak oven in his kitchen, huh, it¡¯s already been moved out, weighs 12 kilograms, but can only fit a few kilograms of meat¡­ or a simr object. We didn¡¯t find this thing before¡­ None of us recognized it,¡± the officer exined with a sense of helplessness. Looking over, Wan Baoming understood. It was a vertically-ced, rectangr device made entirely of stainless steel, with a vertical slot in the center for cing steaks. Its controls and indicators were in English, and it was electrically powered in the kitchen. The officers who saw it probably didn¡¯t think of it in this context. Besides, it was too small to match the standards of a body incinerator. Who would have thought the suspect in this case was such a patient psychopath, willing to methodically dismantle a body piece by piece. And the purpose of this device was likely for grinding bones. The body was first roasted over charcoal, using arge amount of carbon, until it was nearly reduced to bones. Then, it was crushed, refilled into an ultra-hot steak oven, and burned until it waspletely carbonized. After that, it was pounded again¡­ Wan Baoming asked the suspect again, ¡°The burned bones, did you discard them all? Where did you discard them? Were there any other ways you disposed of them?¡± The suspect, facing the mess of the backyard, watched Wan Baoming with a very calm demeanor, suddenly smiled, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s in it for me if I tell you?¡± Wan Baoming waved his hand and said to the officers escorting him, ¡°Take him back.¡± As for such criminals, if he was willing to talk, he¡¯d be let to talk to his heart¡¯s content, but once negotiations or confrontations began, it wasn¡¯t a line of defense that could be easily breached. Wan Baoming certainly wouldn¡¯t start an interrogation in such a ce at such a time. Liu Jinghui sighed at this moment and said, ¡°Well, the case is solved, I¡¯ll head back¡­¡± His voice was slightly low. Although they were still in Changyang City and there had been no cases recently, rushing over only to find that the case had been solved could inevitably leave one feeling a bit ufortable. Jiang Yuan quickly said, ¡°Don¡¯t rush it, sir; the case isn¡¯t just over. That¡­ actually, we originally had no leads, no clues for solving the case, we purely stumbled upon it by ident¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s also because you had enough trial and error, and collected enoughprehensive clues, that you managed to solve it,¡± Liu Jinghui, well acquainted with the methods of the police detectives, unsurprisingly said, ¡°Solving a case through meticulous thinking, directly piercing its essence is most perfect, but few can achieve that, and besides, no one pursues that anymore.¡± ¡°Have you been resting recently?¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly asked. Liu Jinghui hesitated for two seconds and, with a sound of agreement, said, ¡°If I¡¯m allowed to take a break, I like to spend time with my wife and kids.¡± ¡°Ah, then that really is¡­ disturbing you¡­¡± ¡°No worries, my wife took the kids and went back home.¡± Liu Jinghui waved his hand and said, ¡°Just a normal quarrel, she¡¯s not used to seeing me at home every day and picked a fight on purpose.¡± A few of the veteran detectives nearby nodded in agreement: ¡°Taking leave for too long is not good for family harmony.¡± ¡°I even picked a fight myself once, or I¡¯d feel out of sorts.¡± ¡°If I stay at home for three days, even my dog starts to dislike me.¡± Upon hearing so many kindred spirits, a smile appeared on Liu Jinghui¡¯s face. That¡¯s the good thing about the police force, where everyone¡¯s work, life, career paths, and interests are almost the same. Moreover, the main situation in a province¡¯s police force is pretty much the same. Of course, this refers to detectives; other types of police have their own patterns. Jiang Yuan watched as several technicians collected evidence and organized physical evidence, without stepping forward to help. The investigative work for this case was nearly over; what followed would be sending it for examination, then prosecution, and unless there was a need for supplementary investigation, the police side would have nothing else to do. And as a forensic doctor from out of town, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to touch the evidence and potentially deal with reporting and such, especially after the case had been solved, which could easily create a lot of extra work for himself. Jiang Yuan then looked at Liu Jinghui and said, ¡°Director Liu, the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment has called me to work on unsolved cases. If you¡¯re free, why not join me?¡± Liu Jinghui was taken aback: ¡°This¡­ doesn¡¯t quiteply with procedure.¡± With a smile, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Let Chief Yu handle the procedure; he¡¯s probably happy to.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°I still have a week off.¡± ¡°Waiting for your wife toe back?¡± ¡°Forget it, if I stay at home, my wife and kids will be homeless,¡± Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°What other cases are there?¡± ¡°You get first pick,¡± Jiang Yuan offered generously. He just wanted to crack a few more cases now, to really push the task¡¯s progress forward. Inspired by him, Liu Jinghui also smiled and said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll work on cases with you for a week then.¡± At this moment, Tang Jia, who had been violently sick, stood up with the support of a pir. When she looked up, she saw Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, backs against the blood-colored sunset,ughing heartily. ¡°Is it the end of the world?¡± Tang Jia murmured. Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°For some people, it might be.¡± Chapter 309 - 309 277 Scoring ?309: Chapter 277: Scoring 309: Chapter 277: Scoring ¡°How about this case? There are many footprints at the scene, and although there¡¯s not much blood, it happened outdoors with plenty of traces.¡± Liu Jinghui handed a file to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nced at it twice and confirmed it was a case he had seen before, then he said, ¡°70 points for this one.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give it 80, so that¡¯s 150 points. It¡¯s now in third ce.¡± Liu Jinghui made a note on the side and then properly put the file back. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan handed a case to Liu Jinghui, saying, ¡°I give this one 75 points.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll give it 60. It¡¯s another mountain case, you¡¯d run yourself to death just getting to the site, and since there are no eyewitnesses and evidence collection, I guess, won¡¯t be too good.¡± While speaking and recording, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°135 points, now it¡¯s ranked sixth. Our scoring range is a bit tight, huh?¡± ¡°Most cases are actually doable,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Let¡¯s look at two more cases and then get started.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± ¡­ When Yu Wenshu arrived, he saw Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui whispering to each other on the other side of the conference room. The group of self-proimed elite police officers from his own team were sitting at the other end of the conference room, eagerly watching the two. ¡°What are they doing?¡± asked Yu Wenshu. ¡°Selecting cases,¡± Wang Baoming replied. ¡°I hear them giving scores?¡± ¡°Yes, they¡¯re scoring the backlog of cases based on personal preference and their own assessment of the difficulty of the cases. Then, they¡¯ll take on the case with the highestbined score,¡± Wang Baoming exined. Yu Wenshu nodded upon hearing this and looked around, then said, ¡°Those with phones, ce them on the table. No video recording or audio recording is allowed in the conference room. You all know the confidentiality rules, right?¡± ¡°We are all aware, wouldn¡¯t do such a thing,¡± Wang Baoming said, standing up. ¡°Let me check for you.¡± After inspecting each phone that was ced on the table, he smiled and said, ¡°Nothing to do here but review the files. Don¡¯t touch your phones needlessly.¡± Everyone then obediently nestled in their chairs, watching Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui estimate scores. After going through a stack of files, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui paused and picked up the top-ranked file again for confirmation. Liu Jinghui called out, ¡°Captain Yu, we¡¯ll start with this case, the one from two years ago, the July 2nd aggravated rape and murder case under Shengli Bridge.¡± A murder case from two years ago is still a backlog, butpared to much older backlogs, the probability of solving such cases is slightly higher. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t wait for someone to help work on cases. No matter which case Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui chose, he only had a supportive role. Nowing over, Yu Wenshu took a look at the case file and said, ¡°This pervert, we toiled over it for three months¡­ Do you have any ideas?¡± For a provincial capital city like Changyang City, the concept that all murder cases must be solved is possible in theory but not so much in practice. As for this case from the year beforest, Yu Wenshu was also curious why both Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui had given it a high score. In his memory, this case seemed more like a random act of violence. The scene had not left behind any crucial physical evidence like fingerprints or DNA. Plus, the victim was killed so brutally that few leads were found afterward. Of course, unsolved backlogs definitely have theirplexities. In a ce like Changyang City, they only scale back manpower and other resources when all leads have gone cold. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan looked at each other, with Liu Jinghui saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go first.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Jiang Yuan moved the other files aside, then ced the file for the July 2nd case in the middle. Some clever young people had alreadye over to help clear space for the new file. Liu Jinghui opened his notebook, nced at it, and said, ¡°The time of the incident for this case was around 1:20 a.m. on July 2nd. The victim, Liu Juan, a female, was robbed, raped, and killed on her way home from work. ording to the forensic report, she suffered multiple injuries to her chest and back. Additionally, there were obvious marks of bites or suction on the victim¡¯s chest, perineum, and the root of her thighs¡­¡± After briefly describing the situation, Liu Jinghui paused and said, ¡°Based on the perpetrator¡¯s actions, I think the primary purpose of the crime was forcible rape, which is a ¡®sexual¡¯ crime. Furthermore, the criminal appears to have certain sexual psychological disorders. I think we could start from this perspective.¡± Liu Jinghui tapped the file and continued, ¡°Firstly, there are 32 knife wounds on the victim¡¯s body with 11 being fatal. This is not a normal method of murder but is more consistent with sexual sadism. The multiple bite marks on the victim¡¯s body also suggest the same, characteristic of lover¡¯s bites, lover-biter.¡± Yu Wenshu nodded and added, ¡°This line of thinking matches the conclusions drawn by the special case group at the time. I roughly remember that the group concluded that sexual sadism was the perpetrator¡¯s main means of deriving sexual excitement through inflicting abuse and violence on female victims, wounding women and humiliating individual victims leading to disability and death¡­¡± Everyone cast sideways nces at Yu Wenshu¡¯s performance. The fact that the branch chief had a good memory was already clear to everyone, but he seemed to be the only one who¡¯d forgotten about this detail. Liu Jinghui coughed twice and continued, ¡°I think that a behavioral profile of the perpetrator based on these actions might be helpful in solving the case. Jiang Yuan?¡± Behavioral profiling is simr to the criminal profiling seen in American dramas like that of the FBI, though not as extensive. It typically involves making judgments about some characteristics of the perpetrator, which can aid in subsequent elimination or investigation efforts. Liu Jinghui clearly needed some time to do this, but he was evidently confident. So Jiang Yuan took over, ¡°Based on some of the photos from the scene, I feel the perpetrator¡¯s footprints could be of certain help.¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s memory immediately stirred, and he asked, ¡°The perpetrator was wearing a pair of slippers?¡± ¡°Right. And they were cheap slippers.¡± Jiang Yuanid out the recent photos he had extracted on the table and said, ¡°The shoe prints at the scene had striped patterns, and there were small injection-molded holes. The soles were severely worn, with damages and cracks. This suggests that the soles were likely made of PVC material and that the slippers had been worn for a long time.¡± ¡°It indicates that the perpetrator might be living in poor conditions,¡± inferred Yu Wenshu. Jiang Yuan nodded, then added, ¡°During themission of the crime, the perpetrator stepped into a flower bed by the roadside. Combining this with the blood footprints found at the scene, it¡¯s evident that at the time of the crime, the perpetrator was about 25 years old and light in weight¡­¡± Liu Jinghui, who had begun to jot down key points, looked up and said, ¡°I agree with this. The formation of sexual sadism is mostly rted to family factors, often growing up surrounded by the opposite sex, in households where the atmosphere is dominated by females, with poor or overprotective mother-son rtionships. Such individuals typically start forming sexual psychological disorders around the age of 16, and their crimes ur about 8 yearster. That would be around the age of 24, which matches Jiang Yuan¡¯s estimate quite well.¡± The mood among the people there was also stirred up. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The footprints at the scene can provide another valuable piece of information. I preliminarily judge that the perpetrator is less than 160 cm tall, most likely around 157 cm¡­¡± Everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted at this insight. ¡°That height eliminates a lot of people,¡± Tang Jia murmured under her breath, then added, ¡°But many men wear shoes with thick soles, don¡¯t they?¡± ¡°The perpetrator was wearing slippers at the time,¡± Wang Chuanxing reminded her. Liu Jinghui suddenly stood up, gesturing with his hands, and said, ¡°I had a hunch that the crime scene being in Changyang City¡¯s old district, a ce not short of pedestrian traffic, shows that the criminal is audacious enough tomit crimes in slippers, under less than ideal conditions. I believe there¡¯s a strong possibility he has a criminal record, and taking his background into ount, it¡¯s likely that he¡¯s a recidivist and might not have been released for very long.¡± Looking at Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°If the perpetrator¡¯s height really is below 160 cm, taking into ount the factors of previous convictions and age, as well as the time of release, I suspect the list won¡¯t be very long.¡± As Yu Wenshu listened, he nodded repeatedly, and after Liu Jinghui finished speaking, Yu Wenshu pped his hands and addressed the group, ¡°What are we waiting for? One person take responsibility for one province, and startpiling the list. The current age range is 23 to 28, height below 160 cm, and released within the previous year.¡± The lists from all the provincesbined might be lengthy, but Yu Wenshu believed that the actual number of people who met the criteria would not be many, and moreover, it was likely that the perpetrator came from Shannan Province or a neighboring province. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged nces, both surprised that cross-verifying each other¡¯s perspectives had yielded such remarkable results. They hadn¡¯t even begun their earnest efforts yet. Chapter 310 - 310 278 Capture ?310: Chapter 278: Capture 310: Chapter 278: Capture The group of police officers in the small meeting room, reminiscent of nervous interviewees, naturally paired up, formed groups, and voluntarily elected a leader to start discussing the division of provinces. Eventually, two groups unexpectedly merged, focusing solely on the data from their own province, while other groups no longer divided the work by province, but instead, a single group took responsibility for several provinces. Throughout this time, Yu Wenshu simply observed, without the need to utter an extra word. Wei Zhenguo and others from the county bureau watched on, feeling somewhat emotional. This office-like way of working seemed to be something that only urban bureau levels like the provincial capitals could pull off; the detectives at lower levels still preferred traditional methods. ¡°I¡¯ll write the criminal profiling,¡± said Liu Jinghui, who was quite familiar with the Changyang City Bureau; seeing them get into work mode, he turned around to attend to his own tasks. With days spent not working,fortably at home, and the wife and kids having run off to the grandparents¡¯ house, one does start to yearn to return to the workce, to regain that long-lost sense of achievement. Jiang Yuan had someone retrieve all the physical evidence rted to the case and began examining each item. Now that it was confirmed to be the act of an ex-convict, if they could obtain a fingerprint from the murderer, the case would be much easier to solve. Most cases are like this, especially those with more intense conflict, such as fights or rape. Logically, the perpetrator ought to leave behind a swath of physical evidence. For example, fingerprints, semen stains, hairs, or dandruff; or perhaps skin tissue, blood, etc., left behind due to the victim¡¯s resistance. But the murderer in this case was quite unique. Perhaps due to his poor physical condition andck of confidence in his self-control, his initial action was to stab with a dagger. Jiang Yuan could tell from the bloodstains at the scene that the murderer approached the victim from behind and delivered several stabs to the back, causing the victim to fall to the ground. Significant blood loss would incapacitate the victim, causing them topse into unconsciousness or a semi-conscious state. It was only then that the perpetrator carried out the rape and abuse, and notably, he calmly wore gloves for the act. Even after the deed was done, he even washed away the areas he had bitten, leaving only bite marks and no usable DNA. This cool demeanor not only indicated experience from a former criminal but also suggested abnormal mental states¡ª Liu Jinghui¡¯s bold assertion that the criminal was an ex-convict was a very daring judgment. Reasonable, but extremely bold. If Jiang Yuan was handling this case alone, he wouldn¡¯t have initially suspected an ex-convict; he might have followed leads rted to mental instability and height. Moreover, Jiang Yuan felt that focusing on the detail of the slippers could also yield a breakthrough. After all, cheap slippers are often made by small factories, whose products tend to have a limited distribution range. On the other hand, the financial struggles of the murderer were another clue. Living a life of crime is highly challenging and demanding, and most criminals can¡¯t manage it. This guy was likely looking for work and ces to live near the crime scene. As Jiang Yuan pondered how to filter out the murderer, the officers from the provincial group started cheering. Everyone looked over, and someone asked, ¡°Did you find someone?¡± ¡°We did!¡± The elected leader of the reorganized group, a sharp 30-year-old officer, responded before immediately adding, ¡°It¡¯s someone from our Shannan Province.¡± Yu Wenshu and the others had been feeling emotional, but now they all gathered around. A major clue in the case was indeed exhrating, and Yu Wenshu and the others were also extremely pleased, yet this kind of happiness was markedly different from solving the case. And he was very clear that the so-called ¡°finding¡± in front of him truly had the potential to break the case. Thinking of this, Yu Wenshu, the squad leader, couldn¡¯t help but swallow. An old hunter who¡¯s been on many hunts will gulp when he sees an elk entering his range. An old fisherman who¡¯s caught many fish will gulp when he sees a full of fish, shrimp, and crab. An old criminal detective who¡¯s worked on many cases will gulp when he sees another murderer about to enter the death penalty process. The selected police officer, looking sharp and capable under everyone¡¯s gaze, spoke steadily, ¡°Based onrge-scale data modeling, we reviewed the list of released prisoners from the previous year before the incident urred and found a suspect from Shannan Province named Qiao Maishou with a major likelihood ofmitting the crime.¡± He nced at his notebook and said, ¡°Qiao Maishou, a resident of Shannan Province, 27 years old, was 25 at the time of the crime, and stands 156 centimeters tall. At the age of 13, Qiao Maishou was sentenced to three years in a reformatory for robbery and theft. He received an additional one-year sentence for viting prison regtions. After being released, he was again sentenced to 5 years for robbery. He was 23 when released, then returned to his hometown. He served six months of detention for participating in group gambling. By the time of the incident, he had been free for eight months afterpleting his sentence.¡± Liu Jinghui, who had been listening, already stood up, pped his hand, and said, ¡°Spent his teenage years in prison, lived in prolonged confinement, unable to interact normally with others¡­ Also, his vition of prison regtions shows he couldn¡¯t adapt to living within prison. With that, it¡¯s very easy to lead to personality distortion and strange character traits.¡± He was no longer just thinking about catching someone; he was even more hoping that his portrayal of criminal behavior would guess the killer right. The officer who had narrowed the search to the killer was also invigorated, adding cooperatively, ¡°Exactly, three months after being released, Qiao Maishou again got into a conflict with someone and was taken into the police station. Afterwards, he returned to his hometown for a while. Two weeks before the crime urred, he took a high-speed train to Changyang City. He spent most of his time in inte cafes near the scene of the crime, and on July 2 he checked into a small hotel near the train station for a week¡­ He returned home on July 10 and is currently serving a sentence in Yunchang City Prison for theft¡­¡± With current criminal investigation methods, it¡¯s incredibly simple to obtain someone¡¯s trajectory. Basically, knowing the identity card number is enough to know the transportation they took, the ces they stayed. Perhaps Qiao Maishou didn¡¯t understand this, or he hadn¡¯t paid much attention, leaving traces everywhere. However, it¡¯s not easy for a person to really be careful not to leave any traces. The fact is, when there were no clues pointing to Qiao Maishou, these traces he left didn¡¯t matter. But once his existence was discovered, almost all the evidence pointed to him. Yu Wenshu no longer had any doubts andughed openly, ¡°Great, we can even skip the arrest process. Tang Jia, get the materials sorted out, and let¡¯s proceed with the process quickly¡­¡± Tang Jia immediately responded with affirmation. Yu Wenshu then looked at Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. Truth be told, he was more familiar with Liu Jinghui, having often asked for his assistance in the past. However, most of the time, his need for Liu Jinghui was advisory in nature ¨C that is, to ask Liu Jinghui for suggestions and to guide the direction of case-solving. Most of the provincial police chiefs also preferred this mode of cooperation; it was easier for them and easier for the local authorities. Back then, Yu Wenshu only considered Liu Jinghui as an ordinary senior police chief. But this time, the coboration between Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan produced an effect that far exceeded Yu Wenshu¡¯s expectations. To put it bluntly, it exceeded everyone¡¯s expectations. ¡°So, does this mean this case is settled?¡± Liu Jinghui pushed a stack of files. Yu Wenshu gave an affirmative ¡°hm¡± andughed, ¡°No wonder you two got high marks on this case, next¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m so hungry,¡± Liu Jinghui moaned, rubbing his stomach. ¡°Let¡¯s eat first, let¡¯s eat first,¡± Yu Wenshu warmly beckoned as if inviting a respected elder to join him for entertainment. Chapter 311 - 311 279 Stand Out ?311: Chapter 279: Stand Out 311: Chapter 279: Stand Out ¡°Don¡¯t even mention it, the Qiao Maishou we caught today is pretty twisted,¡± Liu Jinghui said as he sat down in the hotel, also feeling quite emotional. Honestly, although he prided himself on being able to deduce the criminal first and then find the evidence, it was rare for things to go as quickly and smoothly as they did this time. Moreover, this was a case solved purely by reviewing case files. It felt very good to solve the case without even having to visit the crime scene. Liu Jinghui felt somewhat unsatisfied. Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t show any authority, serving Liu Jinghui vegetables and said, ¡°No matter how twisted he is, he didn¡¯t get away, right? We still caught him in the end.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Liu Jinghui chuckled, recalling his own criminal behavior analysis as he took a bite of husband-and-wife lung slices and continued, ¡°The wounds on the victim¡¯s chest and back are inconsistent. The ones on the back were clearly made in quick session, while those on the chest were from a single stab. And with so many wounds, it¡¯s unnecessary to say he was killing, but if it was out of spite, well, the victim didn¡¯t even have any enemies¡­¡± As Liu Jinghui spoke, his expression grew slightly colder and he said, ¡°In fact, the killer didn¡¯t even have the courage to confront a woman face-to-face, so he used the stabbing method to brutally stab the victim in the back, not intending to let her live from the start.¡± ¡°He¡¯s been in a juvenile detention center for so long, he should be quite bold, killing people recklessly, yet he can¡¯t face an unarmed woman?¡± Tang Jia also came along and was a bit puzzled at the time. Liu Jinghuiughed heartily and replied, ¡°You¡¯re wrong, his courage is indeed great, and with his life experiences, his personality tends to be recklessly bold¡ªthe sinister type. If his physical condition wasn¡¯t so poor, he might have started with robbery.¡± ¡°Now he starts with life imprisonment,¡± Tang Jia said. ¡°Death penalty,¡± Wan Baoming at the same table interjected, ¡°A repeat offender, robbery, aggravated rape, and murder, over thirty stabs, and strikes directly from behind¡ªthe nature of the crime is particrly heinous, there¡¯s no chance of leniency.¡± ¡°He should be executed immediately!¡± Tang Jia, who had also seen photos of the deceased, believed that for some people, merely granting citizenship was a mistake, and if he had parents, they deserved to wail and weep. Jiang Yuan was already hungry and had taken a few bites before putting down his chopsticks and saying, ¡°The murder weapon is also very likely to have been brought by him. The dagger he used must have been about as long as a chopstick, not easy to buy just anywhere. He was definitely headed out with the intent to kill.¡± ¡°These are all evidence, which will have to be included in the reportter, don¡¯t leave anything out,¡± Yu Wenshu immediately reminded Tang Jia, and then added, ¡°Remind the interrogators as well¡ªremind meter.¡± Tang Jia immediately understood and praised, ¡°Captain Yu, you don¡¯t need reminders, we could finish this meal and you¡¯d be able to recap it into minutes of a meeting¡­¡± Yu Wenshuughed heartily and pretended to be modest, ¡°A good memory is no match for a bad pen. Things that need to be recorded should always be written down.¡± Then, Yu Wenshu grew a bit reflective and said, ¡°In the past, there really wasn¡¯t a need to record evidence. When investigating a lead, it often took days, teams were so busy they couldn¡¯t even eat, and whenever we finally got some evidence, we would desperately preserve it.¡± The whole table burst intoughter, some with joy, others feeling truly empathetic. For instance, Wei Zhenguo, as a grassroots police officer, felt like crying just thinking about the days working on cold cases. Liu Jinghui, being from the provincial department, naturally led a different life. He took a satisfying sip of his tea and smiled, ¡°It¡¯s not just the evidence, think about how much money you guys saved with the case Jiang Yuan helped you with this time.¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s hand shook a little. If it were anyone else, he would have given high praise and set an artistic upper limit on this figure, such as the cost of conducting DNA tests for every man in the region, plus the cost of thousands of officers searching for a week, as well as the cost of feeding these thousands of officers, and so on. But before saying these things, what first came to Yu Wenshu¡¯s mind was Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was merely a criminal police captain at a county bureau and among Yu Wenshu¡¯s subordinates of the same rank, he could pull out more than a dozen who all had higher education, wider eyes, neater teeth, and who all knew how to smile without pursing their lips as ifying in ambush for someone. But Huang Qiangmin¡¯s price was truly steep. ¡°The average cost of solving a murder case for us is about 200,000 yuan. In Suzhou, which is high in the country, it¡¯s about 500,000 yuan. We can¡¯t afford that¡­¡± Yu Wenshu smiled. Liu Jinghui put down his chopsticks and said, ¡°You¡¯re averaging out even the murder cases that ended in a confession.¡± ¡°Murder cases vary in difficulty¡­ of course, what I mean is, the case that Jiang Yuan and you handled is extremely appreciated by us. But¡­ we can¡¯t talk about money,¡± Yu Wenshu said, noticing Liu Jinghui¡¯s displeased expression, and emphasized again, ¡°I¡¯ve already talked it over with Huang Qiangmin. We¡¯re also helping to apply for a county¡¯s surveince system¡­¡± Liu Jinghui was surprised, and quickly realized what was happening, he looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Did Huang sell you out?¡± ¡°Not exactly selling out¡­¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated. ¡°Then what is it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like¡­ leaving the county to work outside,¡± Jiang Yuan cracked a joke and added, ¡°Ningtai County hasn¡¯t had a murder case in a long time. No major cases either.¡± ¡°Just a few months,¡± Wei Zhenguo said distantly. ¡°A few months is enough for Doctor Jiang to solve dozens of cases,¡± Yu Wenshu stood up to pour water for Jiang Yuan, showing his warmth. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Are there that many unresolved homicide cases in Changyang City?¡± ¡°There are even cases from 20 years ago,¡± Captain Yu sighed. ¡°Back when I started working, some robbery and rape cases were really tough to crack. Especially the rape cases, a lot of them would go home and take showers, wash their clothes, and then not report the crime until the second or third day. By the time we got to the scene, there was pitifully little evidence to find.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with the more recent cases,¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t confident to that extent yet. Captain Yu burst into heartyughter. ¡°Of course, cases are not differentiated by size, and justice knows no sequence. When you have time, we can work on the cold cases together. To speak frankly, before I die, every detail of the cases I¡¯ve handled is right here.¡± He pointed to his head, with an expression of true confidence. Liu Jinghui was deeply impressed and envious of Captain Yu¡¯s photographic memory and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°When you joined the police force, you really devoted yourself heart and soul. It¡¯s a bit of a waste of talent.¡± ¡°Not really, when I enlisted, I just went for whatever job was avable, and my parents didn¡¯t care much either.¡± Captain Yu took the opportunity to reminisce about his glorious past. Liu Jinghui followed up skillfully. As a master of deduction, he naturally understood human emotions and rtionships. At the dinner table, he and Jiang Yuan seemed to be the protagonists of the day, but it would be too emotionally taxing to remain in the spotlight. Now,rade Yu Wenshu became the center of attention once again, and the atmosphere in the private room became even more harmonious. Wan Baoming breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head, and began furiously sending messages in the chat group: Daily Listlessness: ¡°I endorse Jiang Yuan@Hydraulic Engineer, who today cracked another homicide cold case, adding up to a total of four homicide cases solved in a short period of time. Who else is there?¡± Li Rui: ¡°Four cases? rify please.¡± Daily Listlessness: ¡°Three cold homicide cases and one recent case involving a body burned and then dumped, with only palm-sized remains of burned bone left.¡± Forensic Doctor Niu Lihuang: ¡°How was that solved?¡± Daily Listlessness: ¡°It was traced through the fuel used, I¡¯ll talk about the specificster.¡± Wang Lan: ¡°Goodness, this should be written into an article, otherwise it¡¯s a loss. Has the victim¡¯s identity been confirmed as well?¡± Wan Baoming nodded as he read, recognizing this as a professional question. Some cases, even though solved, cannot conclusively determine the victim¡¯s identity if the culprit does not confess, or if the culprit himself does not know. Wan Baoming thought for a bit and continued in the chat group: Daily Listlessness: ¡°It was a parachute girl working in a vi area.¡± Conqueror of All Directions: ¡°The negotiation on the prostitution fee didn¡¯t go well, the girl threatened to report the rape, and the guy, rather than stopping at nothing, took action, right?¡± Daily Listlessness: ¡°How could you guess that?¡± Conqueror of All Directions: ¡°Old script, because there really have been people convicted of that, but this guy was also a bit impulsive, better to pay up than kill and burn the body.¡± Wang Lan: ¡°What about the other three cases?¡± Wan Baoming smiled and eagerly started to exin. Homicide cold cases are quite challenging, and even if they are not particrly notable when they are recent, they be very different once they turn cold. Wan Baoming, who had followed the entire process, now found chatting in the group to be thoroughly enjoyable. Anyway, without the necessity for alcohol and leadership dinners, he was content to just listen torade Yu Wenshu boast, using only his ears. Meanwhile, those who heard Wan Baoming¡¯s stories also began spreading the word in different chat groups. Most cold homicide cases are cracked by sheer luck, and anyone who specializes in and manages to solve these cases deserves to be bragged about in every instance. What¡¯s most valuable is that everyone likes to listen and likes to boast. Reputation is often umted in just such a way. Chapter 312 - 312 280 Simple ?312: Chapter 280 Simple 312: Chapter 280 Simple In the following two days, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui did not immediately start on their second case together. Even though they had solved a joint murder cold case in just one day, they both knew that such results were hard to replicate. Each case is different, and each has its ownplexities. Solving cases involves probability, and believing one can always solve a case with absolute certainty is simply arrogance. Moreover, when ites to coboration. Most importantly, once they started a new case, they would bemitted for a long time. If it couldn¡¯t be finished in a day, they would need two; if two days weren¡¯t enough, it would take three, and when they ended up working day and night, they would regret having rushed into a new case. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui both decided to rest for a few days. Liu Jinghui drank and ate meat with some old buddies, yed mahjong for two days, and quietly slipped back home when his wife returned. Jiang Yuan took the time to buy a small apartment. He simply didn¡¯t want to stay in the dormitory anymore. Some people¡¯s feet were too smelly. Others snored too loudly. It was better to buy a small apartment. Jiang Yuan bought a 220-square-meter well-furnished resale apartment near the Criminal Police Team, tidied it up a bit, moved in, and posted on his social circle: ¡°Acquired a base in Changyang City.¡± The post was apanied by a photo of the living room and a scenic picture. After trying out the bathroom, likes andments on his post soared. Mr. Jiang: Remember to close the windows when you go out and take your keys with you. Qinghe City Qianjin District Criminal Police Team Leader Lei Xin: Our Qinghe is also quite beautiful,e here to work on a case when you have the time. Longli County Criminal Police Team Leader Hou Lejia: Come to Longli County to work on a case, and I¡¯ll arrange a single dormitory for you. Captain Huang: What do you need a base in Changyang City for, just stay temporarily. Hotels even clean for you, if they don¡¯t reimburse you,e find me when you return. ¡­ Jiang Yuan politely replied to everyone, then switched back from his social circle to WeChat, where he saw a row of red notifications. He nced at them, took out his notebook, and sitting at the small table in front of the window with the river view, quietly began to jot down notes. Ie: Travel allowance, 2160 yuan¡­ Father transferred 2,000,000 yuan for housing allowance. Or else, 20,000 yuan cash gift (housewarming + making the family proud). Another uncle, 20,000 yuan cash gift (housewarming + making the family proud). Auntie Hua, 20,000 yuan (housewarming + making the family proud). Fourth uncle, 8,888 yuan (housewarming + making the family proud), fifth uncle, 6,000 yuan (housewarming + making the family proud)¡­ As Jiang Yuan tapped on each WeChat red dot and recorded them, his hand began to ache quickly. It has to be said, sometimes repeatedly doing the same motions can be very tiring. Even something like epting WeChat transfers. Speaking of which, the custom of the Jiang Vige people is somewhat strange, preferring to use WeChat transfers rather than bank transfers, and who knows why. It was only because the amount transferred by his father for the housing allowance was substantial that bank transfer was used. Maybe because it¡¯s simpler to operate? No need to enter so much information? Jiang Yuan spent almost half an hour just on bookkeeping, but overall, the process was quite pleasant, and after tallying up the total, including his travel allowance, the funds for the house were essentially secured. In this way, without having to take on a loan, things were somewhat more rxed overall. Jiang Yuan then ced some newly purchased books onto the bookshelf, primarily research on the cremation of corpses. After working on several cases, Jiang Yuan found that, from the perspective of forensic pathology and forensic anthropology, determining the specifics of a cremated body remains rather difficult. Most simr cases hinge on the tools, locations, and methods used for the cremation. In such scenarios, it¡¯s precisely the time for forensic experts to shine. For every additional piece of information regarding victims, solving the case bes a bit easier. One book down, he picked up another¡­ When it came to these kinds of books, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to read them all. It was like skimming through research papers, looking at the beginning, thinking of a conclusion on his own, then skipping to the end. If the conclusions matched, there was no need to read much of the middle, just a casual flip through was sufficient. At most, it meant taking note of some useful forms and remembering important findings and deductions. Had he just graduated from university, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have the credentials to approach papers this way. But now, armed with his Level 3 expertise in forensic anthropology, to be honest, his capabilities were stronger than many of the authors of these specialized texts. Continuing to follow the conventional approach was unnecessary. The night passed uneventfully. Early the next day, Jiang Yuan found a Cantonese restaurant and leisurely enjoyed a meal of dim sum. Perhaps due to being in Shan Nan Province, the dim sum wasckluster, but the rxed atmosphere was still quite pleasant. For Jiang Yuan, who had been grappling with bodies, charred bone fragments, and suspects for many days, this was exactly what he needed. He continued his dim sum meal until noon, and as the tea became tasteless, he packed up, stood up, and walked out the door, strolling around the Criminal Police Team before settling into a highly-rated shop to continue enjoying lunch. Jiang Yuan ordered only a few dishes and didn¡¯t eat much, but he enjoyed lingering in the bustling restaurant. Especially in a fairly unfamiliar environment, the friendliness offered by restaurants was quite high. Buzz. A message lit up on Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone. Upon opening it, it wasn¡¯t a new transfer, but a message from Heng Qiongsi of Qinghe College: Consultant Jiang, I¡¯ve arrived in Changyang City, should I bring some documents for you to see? Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then agreed and sent her the restaurant¡¯s address. Serving as a consultant for Qinghe College¡¯s president was a matter discussed long ago, so it wouldn¡¯t be good to make changes on a whim. Soon after, a slightly overweight girl with long, straight, ck hair burst into the room. Thus, Jiang Yuan had a few more dishes prepared and then asked, ¡°Beer or a soft drink?¡± ¡°Tea will be fine.¡± Heng Qiongsi, the girl with long, straight, ck hair, took her seat across Jiang Yuan, gasping for breath and patting her chest with a slightly embarrassed tremble before handing over the document to Jiang Yuan. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s theyout of the college¡¯s security monitoring system,¡± Heng Qiongsi exined, then added, ¡°There are also some quotes in it. My dad also wants you to take a look to see if they¡¯re reasonable.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t deal with quotes, and I don¡¯t know the prices for these items,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he opened the document and began to read it page by page. Heng Qiongsi replied with a well-behaved ¡°Mhm¡± and sat at the other side of the table, sipping tea quietly without pestering Jiang Yuan for conversation. After reading through the document in one breath, Jiang Yuan pulled out a pen and asked, ¡°May I write on it?¡± ¡°Of course, this document is prepared just for you,¡± Heng Qiongsi specifically pointed out. Often acting on behalf of her father in dealings with the academicmunity, she knew that many people might not care so much about money, but really valued respect. For instance, looking at a document specifically prepared for someone was more important than how much money was paid to peruse it. Jiang Yuan also felt quitefortable and began scribbling on the document right there. Originally, he had used a third-ss merit award to directly choose the skill of technical defense surveince technology (LV3), preparing it for the upgrading of Ningtai County¡¯s monitoring system. Guiding Qinghe College was quite an easy task for him. The number of surveince cameras in the country has been growing at an annual rate of 20%, doubling approximately every four years. The current number stands at 78.8 million cameras. A truly frightening figure. This is also why murderers have be increasingly fond of killing within the confines of their own homes. Therger the city, the more surveince cameras there are, leaving smaller spaces for contact crimes. Of course, crime will never cease. Nowadays, hardly anyone kills for money. Those willing to do anything for money are mainly involved in the tel fraud industry. But aside from severe violent crimes, surveince cameras serve many other purposes. For example, preventing electric bikes from being stolen. Preventing student couples from having outdoor sex. Preventing students from peeping on student couples having outdoor sex, resulting in more outdoor sex. Preventing students from spectating student couples having outdoor sex, leading to a prevalence of cuckoldry and consequently, more outdoor sex. And the like. Jiang Yuan felt Qinghe College was indeed in need of security cameras. Even monkeys were stolen, which was quite a significant event. In the school where he studied, nobody would steal a monkey, even if it was worth 150,000 yuan each. Everyone knew that even if you stole it, you couldn¡¯t easily sell it, and if you did manage to sell it, you wouldn¡¯t get the original price. But no matter how much you sell it for, the sentencing will still be based on a value of 150,000 yuan. A female student of Qinghe College might have to spend two to three years in prison for a monkey valued at 600,000 yuan. In contrast, earning tens of millions of yuan from trafficking and selling contraband beef would result in about the same time in prison. The cost-benefit ratio between the two scenarios is vastly different. ¡°All done,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he handed the annotated document directly to Heng Qiongsi across the table. Heng Qiongsi let out an ¡°Ah¡± sound, hurriedly put down her teacup, and said somewhat frantically, ¡°Is it ready?¡± ¡°Yes, these are some minor suggestions from my perspective. Please consider them, President Heng,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Alright, alright,¡± Heng Qiongsi said slowly as she began to pack away the document, moving very leisurely. ¡°Stay for the meal before leaving,¡± Jiang Yuan politely invited. ¡°Um¡­ okay,¡± Heng Qiongsi agreed and quickly put away the document. Jiang Yuan then gestured for the waiter and handed the menu to Heng Qiongsi, suggesting she add a couple more dishes. Jiang Yuan himself fell into contemtion. Speaking of which, the Jiangcun Residential Area could indeed upgrade its surveince system. Once connected to the property management, there would be no more fear of electric bikes being stolen. With this in mind, Jiang Yuan began to sketch on his notebook. After finishing the sketch, he took a photograph of it and sent it directly to his father. Soon, the WeChat message from Jiang Fuzhen came back: ¡°You¡¯re still thinking about the vige, good job. Are you short of money after buying a house?¡± Speaking of which, two red packets popped up with 50,000 yuan each. Jiang Fuzhen: [If you¡¯re going to decorate, you can ask the people in the vige to do it. But don¡¯t overdo it ¡ª everyone¡¯s talking about being eco-friendly these days, so better keep it healthy.] Jiang Yuan replied: [I¡¯m not nning on decorating; I¡¯ve learned about technical defense surveince and am consulting for Qinghe College now, considering whether to install a set in the residential area as well.] To substantiate his im, Jiang Yuan took out the document, snapped a photo of the name on it, and hit send. In the picture, the words ¡°Qinghe College Technical Defense Surveince nning Proposal¡± were clearly visible, and above the document, half of the face of Heng Qiongsi, with her long, straight, ck hair andrge build, exuded a nice vibe. Transfer to You 100000 Transfer to You 100000 Mr. Jiang sent two hefty sums of money through cyberspace along with a message: [Son, this is for your dating expenses.] Chapter 313 - 313 281 Patience ?313: Chapter 281 Patience 313: Chapter 281 Patience Buzz. Whir¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone vibrated several times, finally drawing Heng Qiongsi¡¯s concern. Heng Qiongsi said, ¡°If you¡¯re busy, you can deal with that first.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing, just some family members showing their concern,¡± Jiang Yuan silently epted the red packet sent by his dad. He had just bought a house, and his savings had indeed taken a dip. Heng Qiongsi chuckled and asked, ¡°Is it really family members?¡± ¡°Of course. The legendary aunts and uncles and all that.¡± ¡°Wow, that¡¯s nice. In my family, there are hardly any rtives,¡± Heng Qiongsi exined further: ¡°My grandfather joined the military and most of our rtives passed away quite early, so we lost touch with those back in our hometown. In my father¡¯s generation, there are only three people, and all are only children¡­¡± Heng Qiongsi naturally transitioned into a light conversation. Jiang Yuan just listened, chiming in with a response from time to time. He had witnessed many interrogations, and inside the interrogation rooms, the police weren¡¯t always tough; often, they were willing to be listeners. It turns out that listening to criminal suspects often yields a wealth of information. Those suspects who appear tough, with lips sealed as if with iron, often soften under empathy, crying their eyes out while confessing to their crimes. Images of the four murder cases he had just solved shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind. The killers must be crying too. Crying for themselves, for their families, for their own stupidity, for the world they were about to leave, for the fear of death. ¡°What are you thinking about?¡± Heng Qiongsi sensitively noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s distraction. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, ¡°Suddenly, I remembered some previous cases.¡± ¡°The one about stealing monkeys?¡± ¡°Not that one. It¡¯s other cases I worked on.¡± ¡°Can you talk about them?¡± ¡°Not really, sorry, because they¡¯re murder cases, and they are still ongoing.¡± Understandingly, Heng Qiongsi said, ¡°That¡¯s alright. When I was at home, my dad would discuss confidential topics and then would not let me listen¡­¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled, ¡°It might not have been confidential topics, maybe just topics not suitable for you to hear.¡± ¡°What kind of topics are not suitable for me to hear¡­¡± Heng Qiongsi caught on to the implication and didn¡¯t get angry but simply bowed her head and sipped her drink. Gulp gulp gulp¡­ ¡­ After the meal, Heng Qiongsi was heading back to Qinghe. Jiang Yuan took the initiative to call Jiang Yongxin and asked him to send an Alphard to take Heng Qiongsi there. Heng Qiongsi didn¡¯t refuse, flipping her long hair as she got into the car, waving goodbye to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan walked leisurely back to his newly-purchased small room and spread out papers and pens in the living room, sketching the surveinceyout of the Jiangcun Residential Area. This kind of thing, as long as a few uncles and old men agreed, was easy to implement. Installing surveince wasn¡¯t a bad thing for the Jiang Vige people. Previously, there were few because people didn¡¯t understand the technology, and the residential area was built early when it wasn¡¯t popr. Now, as the wealth of Jiang Vige people became increasingly well-known, their demands for security were also growing. The fact that Fuzhen was known for hiring Uncle Qiang as a bodyguard actually illustrated themunity¡¯s concern in this aspect. Utilizing LV3 technical surveince methods on a residential area like this was trivial. Normally, LV3 technical surveince could secure arge city like Changyang City without any problem. Not to mention, the Jiangcun Residential Area had more than enough funds. Jiang Yuan had drawn the blueprints to an exceedingly high standard. In just a few hours, Jiang Yuan had finished the blueprints. After washing up and going to bed, the next day, Jiang Yuan checked the blueprints again, took a photo of them, and sent another copy back home. As for the matters of the Jiangcun Residential Area, they could bepletely decided by the vigemittee, which was much more effective and efficient than any homeowners¡¯mittee. With that basically settled, Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t wait to inquire about Jiang Yuan¡¯s daily routine. Needless to say, he was urging him to get to work. Jiang Yuan contacted Liu Jinghui, they agreed on a time, and headed to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. By then, Liu Jinghui said no more about the one-week matter. His work at the provincial office was originally to support all regions, mainly focusing on current cases. This was not due to ack of interest in cold murder cases but because the difficulty of such cases was too high, often leading to fruitless efforts. In fact, whenever there was even a slight lead on cold murder cases, local police departments were always eager to get involved. Special task forces that were activated from time to time represented just a glimmer of hope. However, the results of cooperating with Jiang Yuan were so good that Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t bear the thought of returning to the provincial office. And the provincial office didn¡¯t request it. Liu Jinghui was still on leave when he got involved in solving a cold murder case. With such a work ethic, it would¡¯ve been embarrassing not to encourage him; stopping him was certainly out of the question. A group of people gathered once again in the conference room of the Cold Case Squad. By the time Jiang Yuan arrived, in addition to the original elite team members, there were more people in the conference room. It was clear that everyone was very enthusiastic about joining a sessful team. Liu Jinghui, even more aware of the ins and outs, didn¡¯t bother with any speeches. It was as if it was just another day at the office when he said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Shall we tackle the second case?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan readily agreed. The second case they chose was a robbery and murder of a taxi driver. Liu Jinghui confirmed with Jiang Yuan and immediately said, ¡°So next, we¡¯ll target case 113, the robbery and murder. Wang Chuanxing, please give us the details.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Wang Chuanxing immediately responded. Since Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui had screened the cases, he had started to familiarize himself with the top-ranked ones. Standing up, Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t even need a script as he said, ¡°Case 113, the robbery and murder, happened 11 years ago. The female victim, Yan Lima, was found near Dawan Vige in Shahe Town, her body dismembered, with several bloody footprints left at the scene. Her red Hyundai ntra was abandoned about 5 kilometers away on a slope¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had chosen this case precisely because of the bloodstains and footprints. Even if considerable time had passed, such evidence that could illuminate the circumstances of the scene was always useful. However, Liu Jinghui was all too familiar with taxi robbery and murder cases. For a long period, the substantial amount of cash that was invariably present in taxis, the secluded and convenient space, and the pattern of drivers working alone had attracted many criminals. Liu Jinghui had handled many such cases before and had some insights into this type of crime. After Wang Chuanxing finished the introduction, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Shall I share my thoughts first?¡± ¡°Please do,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he himself also needed more time to process the evidence. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°Firstly, the culprit in this case is very likely to consist of two to three people, due to the controlled manner in which the victim was killed. If it were just one person, they would need to be very strong. However, considering the environment at the time, taxi drivers would often refuse to serve customers they considered threatening. A very strong customer asking to go to a very remote location wouldn¡¯t easily get a ride.¡± The listeners nodded, though this point wasn¡¯t particrly surprising. At this moment, Liu Jinghui unexpectedly toned down and said with a smile, ¡°Next, I would like to ask everyone to first gather the evidence and sort through the case, umte more information, and then we will have a concentrated meeting.¡± He didn¡¯t want to discuss it in front of everyone. Everyone silently went about their tasks, and no one made any special requests. Including the observers Yu Wenshu and Wan Baoming, who didn¡¯t utter a word but just looked towards Jiang Yuan. After all, he was part of a team that had already solved cold murder cases. Just that fact was enough to ensure everyone¡¯s patience. Chapter 314 - 314 282 Grading Papers ?314: Chapter 282: Grading Papers 314: Chapter 282: Grading Papers ¡°I need to review the evidence again, everyone start reviewing the files.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t start lecturing immediately due to everyone¡¯s attention. An eleven-year-old case was truly an old cold case, and just the task of reviewing documents was quite burdensome. Now that there was an official Cold Case Squad with a team of twenty or thirty people, rather than just a few individuals toiling away in silence, Jiang Yuan wanted things to be more formal. The first step in reopening a cold case was to organize and sort out the clues. The clues from that time needed to be revisited; evidence that could be examined without destruction had to be reexamined to see if thetest technological advancements could bring about new results. It was also important to check whether there had been any errors or imperfections in the evidence collected at the time. Officers had to review the information gathered during previous inquiries. Someone had to read through hundreds or even thousands of pages of interrogation records. It would be even better if someone could find new leads or corroboration for some pieces of evidence within these records. ¡°Cases of homicide remain open until solved¡± is to arge extent, just rhetoric. However, keeping one or two officers from the task force who are aware of the entire process is indeed a necessary and smart move. On the Cold Case Squad¡¯s side, the two contacted task force officers included one who had retired due to age and the other, despite being younger¡­ was still an ordinary officer in the Criminal Police Brigade. He could be pulled onsite to keep up with the progress. As everyone got busy, Liu Jinghui sat next to Jiang Yuan and said in a low voice, ¡°You¡¯ve sensed it too, right?¡± ¡°Sensed¡­ what?¡± Jiang Yuan looked utterly bewildered. ¡°This case is not like the others,¡± Liu Jinghui said gravely. Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression instantly became serious, ¡°You mean, it¡¯s possible¡­¡± Jiang Yuan gestured upward with his hand, his eyes brimming with interrogatives. Liu Jinghui looked startled, then corrected Jiang Yuan¡¯s gesture by adding another finger and exined, ¡°What I mean is, this could be a team of male and female thieves. Well, calling them thieves is not urate, the suspects are likely a man and a woman.¡± ¡°Huh, why?¡± ¡°Because there was no sexual violence,¡± Liu Jinghui spoke softly. Seeing that Jiang Yuan still didn¡¯t understand, Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and exined, ¡°This is¡­ I¡¯ve worked on several cases of taxi homicides involving robbery, and I¡¯ve also studied some cases from around the province. Let¡¯s put it this way, if the cab driver is female and it happens in a deste area, and the oue is robbery and murder, it often involves sexual violence.¡± ¡°Often, but not always.¡± ¡°The cases without sexual violence either involve an older female driver, or there¡¯s a female among the criminal group. The rest often escte to robbery, sexual violence, and murder,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed, ¡°So, there was clearly a significant oversight during the investigation of this case.¡± This was the reason Liu Jinghui rated the case highly. Jiang Yuan listened quietly to the exnation. ¡°I saw a photo in the case file, there was a long hair on the back seat of the car, but I couldn¡¯t find a sample in the evidence bag. I guess the criminal investigator at the scene thought the hair belonged to the victim, it certainly looked the part, but I believe it¡¯s more likely the murderer¡¯s hair,¡± While speaking, Liu Jinghui pulled out the photo from the case file. Among the crevices of the brown seat, there was a bloodstain; the photograph was taken to capture the bloodstain, but one could vaguely see a long hair beside it. Jiang Yuan immediatelypared it to the victim¡¯s photo and after pondering for a while, he slowly nodded, ¡°It¡¯s possible, the hair looks somewhat like the victim¡¯s¡ªsimr in length and color, but the curliness is slightly different. The photo quality is too poor to determine. But even if the hair isn¡¯t the victim¡¯s, it could have been left by a previous passenger.¡± That¡¯s the frustration with taxi cases¡ªthe vehicle seems like a treasure trove of evidence, but ownership of every piece is in question. In the process of extracting evidence, exactly how to collect evidence and which evidence to collect is itself a test of the crime scene investigation abilities. First, it should be clear that it is impossible to collect evidence in an unlimited quantity. Evidence bags cost just a few dors each, which isn¡¯t much, but DNA reagents are not cheap. The current price for domestic ones is around a hundred or so, and there are always some imported products that work better than domestic ones. If you want higher precision and better sensitivity, there¡¯s always a cost. At a murder scene, it is normal to collect DNA traces from a dozen or so spots, and it¡¯s also normal to collect from hundreds of spots, but for such arge scene, collecting from several hundred spots is actually not feasible. And it¡¯s not just a matter of the consumables being expensive, the capacity of theboratory is also limited. A municipal bureau¡¯s DNAboratory processes DNA samples all day, and the turnaround time for feedback on ordinary cases is now pushed to ¡°the weekend¡± or ¡°next week.¡± While murder cases are indeed given priority, they can¡¯t upy resources indefinitely. The crime scene officers or other technicians, or even other detectives, always have to make some judgments and choices based on their own experiences. Clearly, based on the circumstances of the case, the police officers participating in the investigation at the time might not have considered the possibility that such a brutal beheading robbery murder could involve a female. Therefore, when collecting samples, they didn¡¯t specifically extract this strand of hair. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯tmit to an opinion, saying, ¡°I guess it was a man and a woman for another reason ¨C there was only one bloody footprint at the scene, and furthermore, the DNA extracted from the victim¡¯s fingernails has never matched anyone over the years, indicating an unusual level of stability. I¡¯m betting on a pair of deadly lovers.¡± ¡°Do you think the killer was going tomit another crime?¡± ¡°Robbery homicide offenders are often repeat offenders,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°Where are there robbers who onlymit one robbery? Once a hero joins Liangshan, plundering bes part of the daily routine.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, saying, ¡°This indicates that the original motive for the crime was probably not robbery.¡± ¡°Right, the objective was probably not robbery, and certainly not murder,¡± Liu Jinghui paused before continuing, ¡°Based on the method of murder, beheading may seem very cruel, but it¡¯s actually very unprofessional and further proves the amateurishness of the killer. However, the killer¡¯s technique has some merit. I think they must have had experience with simr work, maybe as a butcher or something like a doctor.¡± ¡°If it were a doctor, wouldn¡¯t they have dismembered the body after killing?¡± Jiang Yuan countered a bit. ¡°That¡¯s possible,¡± Liu Jinghui nodded and asked, ¡°What can you deduce from your side? Why the high score?¡± ¡°There was only one person¡¯s bloody footprint at the scene, male, around 38 years old, 175 centimeters tall, with a slight limp on the left leg,¡± Jiang Yuan emphasized. ¡°The limp wasn¡¯t too severe; probably the left leg was just slightly shorter than the right, but it would be hard to notice if he wore height-increasing shoes.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°No wonder you gave a high score. This case should be a priority; with a limp, it¡¯s much easier to identify the person.¡± The distinctiveness of a limp is very high. If it¡¯s not disguised, people in the vicinity will generally take notice when someone with a limp walks by. It¡¯s much easier to distinguish than the uneven length of arms or the different sizes of eggs. It doesn¡¯t even require special attention. ¡°DNA too, but they never found a match back then,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°The two of them are probably no longer in the area.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ quite possible. The investigation back then must have been thorough,¡± Liu Jinghui became somewhat somber. If the people had left, or were from out of town, the investigation would have been futile. Without an investigation, detectives¡¯ effectiveness would drop by thirty percent. ¡°Also, I agree the killer had butcher experience or simr,¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I think starting from this point, we may be able to find the person.¡± ¡°A butcher with a limp? And with DNA, it certainly is a breakthrough point,¡± Liu Jinghui nodded. After all, it¡¯s a murder cold case, and having so many clues is actually quite extraordinary. Just that,pared to the first case, there isn¡¯t a way to break through directly with this one. Chapter 315 - 315 283 Destination ?315: Chapter 283: Destination 315: Chapter 283: Destination Dawan Vige in Shahe Town is located to the west of Changyang City. Like other towns and viges in Changyang City, Shahe Town¡¯s pir industries had already shifted to real estate and processing long ago. Dawan Vige also saw the construction of factories, dormitories, and rows of self-built houses. ¡°The floating poption is forty to fifty thousand, and there are several vegetable markets,¡± the chief of the police station in Shahe Town exined, standing at the scene of the incident. ¡°Eleven years is too long; eleven years ago, they had just started building factories here, and half of the factory workers were local youths. Nowadays, the locals don¡¯t want to work in factories anymore, even the vegetable sellers aren¡¯t locals.¡± ¡°What do the locals do then?¡± Liu Jinghui asked. ¡°They bendlords, run supermarkets, restaurants, and mahjong parlors,¡± the chief said with a touch of envy. ¡°Those who built their own houses weren¡¯t regted before; some have dozens of rooms, and with each room bringing in two to three hundred yuan a month, you do the math, they earn more than I do.¡± ¡°Two to three hundred yuan per room is pretty cheap; it¡¯s already over a thousand in the city,¡± Wang Chuanxing, who had transferred from another area, listened to the town¡¯s rent and felt it was quite appealing. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°They¡¯ll charge for utilities. A hundred yuan a month, and some may charge up to one hundred and fifty or two hundred, so the rent goes up to four or five hundred.¡± ¡°Two hundred for rent, two hundred for utilities, that¡¯s pretty ruthless,¡± Wang Chuanxing eximed. ¡°In the utility fee of two hundred yuan, you can include sanitation fees, management fees, and even pull a shared Inte line. Just use a separate mobile number and get a broadband for all the rooms on one floor. Tenants are generally willing to do so because setting up their own Inte line costs several tens of yuan and is troublesome. The self-built houses don¡¯t have property certificates, so it¡¯s not easy for them to get the lines installed either,¡± Jiang Yuan exined in detail. Rome wasn¡¯t built in a day, and natives of Rome, of course, didn¡¯t begin by entrusting their houses to property managementpanies. People like Jiang Fuzhen, when their houses were first demolished, also learned to bendlords. The earliest Jiang Vige People who rented out houses did so to the workers of nearby factories. Wang Chuanxing was also familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s background and could not help but look askance at this moment. Liu Jinghui coughed twice and brought the conversation back on track. ¡°In short, there is an enormous floating poption in Dawan Vige, so conducting a general investigation now would be unnecessary.¡± Wei Zhenguo had been following Jiang Yuan and now joined in, ¡°Wasn¡¯t the taxi abandoned 5 kilometers away? Theoretically, the area from Dawan Vige to the abandonment site and its surroundings could all be potential destinations for the murderer at that time¡­ but does that mean we can¡¯t find them?¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head and said, ¡°Considering the method of the crime, the fact that the DNA left behind never matched, the absence of any arrest records for the murderer to date, and scrutiny of those released uponpleting their sentences during the time of the crime, I believe the murderer is likely not a habitual criminal; he might even be a first-time offender.¡± Liu Jinghui pointed ahead and continued, ¡°For a first-time offender, the primary crime scene where the body was found is more likely to be the destination for both individuals. The secondary scene, where the vehicle was located, I believe was purely for abandoning the car. Moreover, it was in a secluded area with no proper hiding ces nearby.¡± Liu Jinghui spoke in a summarizing tone, ¡°Murder is best done in familiar ces.¡± In fact, this is also a development of the times. With the proliferation of cameras, or due to social changes, personal residences have be the modern person¡¯s preferred murder scene. Put in morefortable terms: once you leave home and don¡¯t go to someone else¡¯s, your chances of being murdered greatly diminish! It¡¯s akin to saying: Staying at home increases your chances of death! Wei Zhenguo expressed his confusion, ¡°If this was their intended destination, and they wanted to avoid detection¡­ They were going to abandon the car anyway, so why didn¡¯t they move the body?¡± ¡°This further suggests they were novices. I think either they hadn¡¯t thought it through, or the body was too disgusting?¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°Actually, if it was just a robbery, there¡¯s no need for murder. If a murder urs during a robbery, a normal robber would either not deal with the scene or just drive the vehicle away, fleeing further before changing vehicles or using public transportation. Abandoning it 5 kilometers away¡­ ¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s nothing but a panicky choice. Driving off in a frenzy, after a few kilometers, they felt too far from the destination and so they abandoned the car on the spot and fled, and it¡¯s highly likely they went on the run afterward.¡± ¡°How do you crack a case like this?¡± The local police station chief was baffled. Most cases nowadays are more straightforward. Moreover, anyplications in many cases are just the perpetrator¡¯s own affairs and for the police, they¡¯re utterly redundant¡ªlike the first time someone reveals their buttocks. Liu Jinghui, who had seen more buttocks, pondered awhile and said, ¡°The household registration data from the initial investigation wasn¡¯tplete, right?¡± ¡°Of course not.¡± ¡°ne tickets are definitely under real-name registration, what about train tickets?¡± ¡°They might even take the bus here; checking train tickets from eleven years ago¡­ I don¡¯t know how feasible that is,¡± Wang Chuanxing sensed all these tasks might fall on him after hearing Liu Jinghui¡¯s words and hurriedly tried to ward it off in advance. Wei Zhenguo said, ¡°If we can find a way topile a list of people who moved away within a certain period after the crime, the case would be much simpler.¡± Tang Jia asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t the special case team do that at the time?¡± ¡°The special case team never had a clear judgment on the suspect¡¯s residence or the taxi¡¯s destination,¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head. ¡°Moreover, they weren¡¯t sure whether the murderer had fled.¡± Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. Indeed, from the evidence he had seen, he couldn¡¯t be sure of the murderer¡¯s residence or the taxi¡¯s destination either. This part of the content wasn¡¯t supported by evidence but rather was Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction. In a conventional special case group, even if someone were able to produce the same reasoning, if the trust level isn¡¯t sufficient or their position isn¡¯t high enough, their thoughts still wouldn¡¯t be given significant consideration. Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze turned towards Jiang Yuan as he asked, ¡°Jiang Yuan, what do you think?¡± ¡°The blood footprint left at the scene is very clear. I can sift through footprints. However, there was only one blood footprint left at the scene at the time¡­ which actually duplicates the DNA,¡± said Jiang Yuan, touching on one of the pain points of footmark science. Decades ago, the science of footmarks could have followed the path of fingerprinting, but after the advent of DNA technology, including fingerprints, all methods of identity verification were downgraded. Liu Jinghui was actually confirming Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, seeing that he had no suggestions on the direction of the investigation, and thus said, ¡°Now, if we only have these clues, then I think, direct investigation is really difficult. Instead of that, why don¡¯t we lure the snake out of the hole with a n to hook this killer out¡­¡± Not just Jiang Yuan, several others present furrowed their brows as well. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t trust what he said, but this statement felt familiar¡ªas if they had heard it not long ago. It seemed like when Jiang Yuan was called over initially for the case with the burnt bone fragments, Liu Jinghui had said something simr. Or perhaps, exactly the same? Everyone calmed down for a moment. Nobody¡¯s phones rang, be it Jiang Yuan¡¯s or anyone else¡¯s. Wei Zhenguo nced at Jiang Yuan and then addressed Liu Jinghui, ¡°Director Liu, what exactly are you referring to with your method?¡± Liu Jinghui uttered a ¡°hmm¡± and said, ¡°I think that the killer is still very much paying attention to this case. We can announce that the case has been reopened with new clues found, and then, using these new clues, we can hook the two people out.¡± ¡°What new clues?¡± Wei Zhenguo asked curiously. ¡°Well¡­ First off, I want to say something. I believe that the most likelyposition of the killer is a married couple, or boyfriend and girlfriend, with a very, very small chance that there are three people involved, two of whom are married,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression showed a slight struggle. His reasoning was always fantastical, but he rarely had such a good opportunity for investigative work. Liu Jinghui spoke his judgment very seriously, and then continued, ¡°We could say that the murderer had a mistress, and something might have happened between them before the crime, we could even suggest that the mistress had a child¡­ By doing this, there would definitely be chaos in the killer¡¯s household if they are keeping tabs on this case. As long as there¡¯s some change¡­ Any change, it¡¯s more likely to be discovered.¡± ¡°Maybe one of them will just report the other?¡± Tang Jia quickly thought of a possibility. Liu Jinghui nodded, adding, ¡°Of course, we can¡¯t rely on this, but I do think that it will definitely attract the killer¡¯s attention to this case, and they might just reveal themselves by mistake.¡± ¡°Just this might not be enough,¡± Jiang Yuan seemed skeptical. Tang Jia immediately switched sides, saying, ¡°Right, what if the killer has already divorced? It¡¯s been eleven years, if they moved away, they might not even be able to find a job¡­¡± ¡°Then we add a reward, jack up the reward money. Maybe the ex-wife will report her former husband,¡± Wang Chuanxing pped his right hand on his left palm. ¡°And send herself to jail too?¡± Tang Jia looked down on Wang Chuanxing with intellectual disdain. ¡°Uh, true¡­ Three hundred thousand is not worth a life sentence,¡± Wang Chuanxing quietly dropped his gaze. Seeing the somewhat solemn expressions of the others, Wei Zhenguoughed and said, ¡°At least, our progress has already surpassed the special case group. What they couldn¡¯t do back then, we are able to do now. If all else fails, we can list out people from Dawan Vige or nearby viges, or even the entire Shahe Town, those who left after the crime, and make as extensive a list as possible, then proceed with DNA testing¡­¡± ¡°Simr checks were implementedter,¡± Liu Jinghui emphasized, ¡°If we want to find the killer through checks, we can¡¯t surpass the original special case team. Moreover, didn¡¯t Jiang Yuan suggest that the killer has a limp?¡± ¡°Then just directly find people with a limp. In Shahe Town, there shouldn¡¯t be many, right?¡± Wang Chuanxing felt his intelligence reiming the high ground. Liu Jinghui sighed, ¡°I¡¯ve been saying about the taxi¡¯s destination, I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed, but actually, I believe that the perpetrator¡¯s destination indeed was near Shahe Town. However, that doesn¡¯t mean the perpetrator necessarily lived there for long, or even rented in Shahe Town. Maybe they were just visiting rtives? Or staying with family?¡± With that said, Chuanxing, who had just felt a glimmer of hope, suddenly felt ovee with darkness. As a young person who had worked hard to earn a spot at the Changyang City Bureau, Wang Chuanxing was quite confident in himself in the criminal police team. Nevertheless, unsolved murder cases were indeed somewhat beyond him. ¡°So what do we do now?¡± Wang Chuanxing looked to the others. ¡°If the limp is indeed a correct assumption¡­¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan, then at the distant factory, licked his lips, and said, ¡°Then we start with a secret investigation.¡± This was a stark departure from the investigative direction Liu Jinghui had mentioned earlier, prompting Chuanxing to ask, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because if the murderer isn¡¯t a local, then those who know about the murderer¡¯s limp are likely the killer¡¯s rtives or old friends. In short, someone within their social circle. Conducting a shy investigation could cause these informants to have reservations¡­¡± Liu Jinghui said, and added, ¡°Of course, the core point is still the limp¡­¡± ¡°Shorter left leg, longer right leg, experienced with knives,¡± Jiang Yuan confirmed resolutely. Chapter 316 - 316 284 Secret Investigation ?316: Chapter 284 Secret Investigation 316: Chapter 284 Secret Investigation ¡°Jiang, take a look at this plot here; it¡¯s all been leveled for you already, and the price is cheap. If you set up a cold storage facility, there are subsidies too. It won¡¯t cost much over the course of a year¡­¡± The leather-jacketed agent gave an enthusiastic introduction, his gaze settling on the tall figure in the middle of the group. ¡°No need to call me boss, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m going to do it or not.¡± Jiang Yuan dressed in casual clothes, speaking inly, said, ¡°I just came to look around and to see if the people of the vige are easy to deal with.¡± ¡°As a person from Jiang Vige, I won¡¯t beat around the bush with you. Whether it¡¯s easy to deal with them depends on the rtionships within the vige and how well you can manage them. Plus, it depends on whether or not you¡¯re willing to hire people from the vige¡­¡± Thend-selling agent chuckled slyly, his shiny bald forehead seeming to almost have the word ¡°sincerity¡± written on it. ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that for today; we¡¯ll go take a look at the vige.¡± Jiang Yuan said. The agent quickly responded, ¡°Let me take you there. I know a few people¡­¡± ¡°Your guided tour doesn¡¯t inspire my trust. I¡¯ll have to make a separate tripter anyway, so what¡¯s the point, right?¡± Jiang Yuan, who had dealt with too many agents before, saw no need to mince words. The agent ¡®ah¡¯ed¡¯ a couple of times in agreement, thenughed, ¡°That works for me. Then I¡¯ll head back first. If you need a ride after you¡¯re done looking, just give me a call, and I¡¯lle to pick you up.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Jiang Yuan said ¡°goodbye¡± and then proceeded towards Dawan Vige with Wei Zhenguo and the others. Wei Zhenguo, with his weathered face tanned and wrinkled, felt a bit embarrassed for troubling others as they walked away and said in a low voice, ¡°We¡¯re not really buyingnd. It doesn¡¯t seem right to make the agent give us a tour.¡± ¡°No worries, even if they know you won¡¯t buy, real estate agents are still willing to show properties.¡± Jiang Yuan exined nonchntly, ¡°Agents not only need to be ountable to buyers, but they also must satisfy sellers. If there¡¯s a long time without any viewings, sellers be unhappy. Hence, some agents even hire fake clients for viewings, at a cost¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s such a thing?¡± ¡°More clients they show, the better their position to make demands with sellers. Especially for those who want to get exclusive deals, they need a lot of clients.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then added, ¡°Later on, if you still feel ufortable, just give the agent a red envelope and that¡¯ll be fine.¡± Wei Zhenguo hastily replied, ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be that ufortable.¡± They continued chatting as they entered Dawan Vige. The vige roads had be quite narrow. On both sides of the street, some buildings were factories while others were converted houses-turned-shops, mainlyrge-portion eateries and noodle shops, interspersed with a few teahouses and stir-fry restaurants. This setup was very simr to Jiang Vige after its first round of demolitions. Jiang Yuan confidently chose a teahouse, settled down, and then suggested to Wei Zhenguo and the others, ¡°Let¡¯s use this as our base and do our own investigating, shall we?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui immediately agreed. Wei Zhenguo looked around; vigers were already eyeing them curiously, and he couldn¡¯t help but smile wryly, ¡°I¡¯ve been in investigation for years, but this is the first time for such a tant secret survey.¡± With that said, he too went off to see to his task. Jiang Yuan, together with Mu Zhiyang, also slowly strolled out the door. The vigers were vignt. Strangersing in and asking questions would usually not get straightforward answers. Jiang Yuan knew this, which is why he specifically came up with the cold storage excuse. Inquiring under this pretense made it much easier to converse. For the people of Dawan Vige or migrant workers from elsewhere, the prospect of someone willing to invest and build a factory was very wee. Even if they wanted to take advantage of the neer, it would definitely be after the factory was built, not before. Before the construction, everyone¡¯s expressions were extremely friendly. Jiang Yuan went into a small supermarket, bought a pack of Soft Zhonghua cigarettes, then asked, ¡°Boss, do the markets around here only sell fresh pork? What about frozen meat, do people eat that?¡± ¡°Locals eat pork that¡¯s been ughtered the same day, the kind that¡¯s fresh in the morning. By the afternoon, it¡¯s hard to sell.¡± The supermarket owner handed a cigarette to Jiang Yuan and continued, ¡°You¡¯re the one who said he wanted to build a cold storage facility, right?¡± ¡°Word travels that fast?¡± Jiang Yuan had just seen the cold storage with the real estate agent yesterday and had deliberately waited a day beforeing over, yet it seemed like everyone had already got the news. It was actually simr in Jiang Vige; say Jiang Yuan received a second-ss merit, within half an afternoon, even rtives overseas would know. The supermarket ownerughed and said, ¡°People around here love to chat. You¡¯re from Jiang Vige; why not set up in Jiang Vige instead?¡± ¡°The cold storage has to be built near a big city. The geographical conditions in Jiang Vige just can¡¯tpare to here. Ultimately, it¡¯s the people of Changyang City who will consume the productsing out of the cold storage.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled. ¡°Jiang Vige has nice scenery, good transportation, and you all have had several demolitions, haven¡¯t you? Your family must have gotten a lot ofpensation?¡± The supermarket owner gossiped as usual. ¡°Not that much,¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and added, ¡°It¡¯s not definite yet; I¡¯m just sent by my family to scout around and make some inquiries.¡± The supermarket owner promptly said, ¡°Building a cold storage here would definitely be the right decision. Our locals don¡¯t eat frozen pork, but the migrant workers do. Take, for example, the marinade noodle shop opposite. Frozen pork goes for a few bucks a kilo, whereas fresh pork sells for over ten bucks a kilo, so they definitely prefer buying frozen pork.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know how much you can handle here¡­ By the way, are there many local butchers?¡± ¡°Just a few in the vegetable market. There are only two stores selling frozen meat, and they also sell frozen chicken.¡± ¡°Are the butchers at the vegetable market locals or from out of town?¡± ¡°Both. Nowadays, many vegetable sellers are from ¡®Dot Dot, Horizontal, Vertical Hook, Horizontal, Vertical Fold, Hook, Horizontal, nt, Vertical, Horizontal, Fold, Hook, Dot, nt, Horizontal, Horizontal, Vertical,¡¯ and among them, there are also meat sellers.¡± Jiang nodded, ¡°These factories then, they all buy frozen pork, right? In their canteens, they couldn¡¯t possibly use fresh pork.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for sure. So, you see, we use a lot of frozen pork here. If you build a cold storage over here, we won¡¯t even be able to use up all the local supply.¡± ¡°Whether we build it or not still depends on the preferential policies. By the way, if we hire disabled people around here, are there any incentives? Does the vige give any subsidies?¡± While talking, Jiang opened a newly bought pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed one to the supermarket owner. The owner epted it without hesitation, lit it with a lighter, offered it to Jiang, took a deep inhale himself, and began to exin in detail. A group of criminal police, all under the guise of building factories, began questioning around. A whileter, Liu Jinghui came back first and sat down in the teahouse, sipping tea while he started drawing a mind map. Wei Zhenguo and others returned from strolling around and reported some information to Liu Jinghui, then received new instructions and continued to go out and question. The vigers of Dawan Vige couldn¡¯t possibly realize that they were being questioned by a group of criminal police. An eleven-year-old unsolved case, to the police officers, was a distant challenge. To the vigers, it was almost a forgotten memory. But for this very reason, the information everyone provided that could be linked to eleven years ago had already been filtered through their memories. Dinner. The group switched to a small private room in another restaurant, and once all the dishes were served, they sent the waiter out and began to converse amongst themselves. Liu Jinghui took out the notebook he had written in all day and said, ¡°Let me summarize today¡¯s findings. I think the main points are three things, I¡¯ll start.¡± ¡°First, there used to be a ughterhouse in Dawan Vige, a total of about a dozen people, semi-automatic type. That is, they had machines for dehairing, and manual work for breakdown, but they had overhead hoisting equipment, roughly speaking.¡± ¡°Second, there are three rtivelyrge factories near Dawan Vige, each with a dedicated canteen. Their purchases are mostly from Changyang City, and there is staff movement between them.¡± ¡°Third, Dawan Vige is one of the early-developed viges. Eleven years ago, there were butchers from other ces who brought pigs here, which led to fights with the ughterhouse in Dawan Vige.¡± Liu Jinghui waited for everyone to digest the information, then he started discussing other messages. After describing everything they knew, most of the dishes on the table had been eaten. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mind, he took some chopsticks, and while eating, he said, ¡°Take a look and see if there¡¯s anything to add.¡± ¡°Apart from the ughterhouse, we should also pay attention to the wood factories and logging sites,¡± Jiang suggested. ¡°Sure. Next, we¡¯ll send a team to follow up on these.¡± ¡°Clinics as well.¡± ¡°Right.¡± Jiang expanded the scope of the target again and then narrowed it down, ¡°Have any of these factories, canteens, orpanies within the industry experienced any major changes eleven years ago?¡± ¡°Of those three mentioned earlier, two have changed. One was the ughterhouse, and the other was the butcher from another vige. They were actually interrted,¡± Liu Jinghui made a note in his notebook, ¡°The ughterhouse was the first to close down, and eventually, all their equipment was sold off. This led to an influx of butchers from out of town. Later, someone outside the vige was found to have been dealing in water-injected meat, and that got cracked down on¡­ But no one mentioned ame butcher.¡± Jiang took out a photo from the case file and started looking at it again. In the photo, the victim¡¯s head and neck were separated, showing that the murderer had slit the throat before dismembering the body, leaving several knife marks that revealed the killer¡¯s technique. After examining it carefully for a while and taking a few bites of pork intestine, Jiang said, ¡°I think we should focus on following these two leads.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed easily. Behind this consensus, at least a dozen detectives embarked on a busy journey. Chapter 317 - 317 285 Jump ?317: Chapter 285 Jump 317: Chapter 285 Jump Dawan Vige¡¯s most famous food is the Jumping Frog. Out of the several dozen restaurants in the vige, half are named after the Jumping Frog, and the other half also serve Jumping Frogs among other dishes. The reason for this was because Dawan Vige used to have an abundance of frogs. The frogs caught in the fields were stewed in various ways before finally being perfected by a certain matron of the vige. Later on, the continuously iing factories took over all the rice paddies, so the matrons picked up their spats and cooked bullfrogs for the hard-working migrantborers. Because the dish was spicy and had a strong vor, it was quite popr among theborers who exerted a lot of physical effort. However, now there are hardly any Jumping Frog eateries left that are run by local Dawan vigers. Basically, everyone is renting houses from the locals, learning to make Dawan¡¯s Jumping Frogs, and then selling them to the migrant workers whoe to Dawan Vige. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang had contacted a former butcher, who now runs one such Jumping Frog restaurant. Noon. When Jiang Yuan entered, he directly ordered the dishes and then called the owner over, offered him a cigarette, and said, ¡°I¡¯m the one who called you earlier, I heard you used to be a butcher, then you stopped?¡± ¡°Yeah,ter on people didn¡¯t want our goods anymore, our sales channels were cut off, so we just stopped,¡± said the owner, who was tall and sturdy, looking as though he was still capable of single-handedly butchering a person. He looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you want to build a cold storage? Why are you asking these questions?¡± ¡°It¡¯s impossible for a ughterhouse to sell all the pigs, especially the internal organs, what can¡¯t be sold has to go into cold storage. But fresh meat turned into frozen produce means losing money. So, a ughterhouse¡¯s business can neither be too good nor too bad. Of course, many ughterhouses sell their internal organs to others¡­¡± Jiang Yuan clearly understood the cold storage business and mentioned it casually before bringing the conversation back. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°To just stop like that, it must have had a big impact on your lives, right? Were they so high-handed?¡± ¡°They are all locals, what could we do?¡± The owner shook his head and said, ¡°Previously, the ughterhouses were owned by outsiders, and in the end, they too just stopped without warning. Otherwise, it would have nothing to do with us.¡± ¡°And there¡¯s been no new ughterhouse here since.¡± ¡°When they stopped the business, the lion¡¯s share must have been snapped up by ughterhouses in other ces. After that, it would be impossible to start one again here. Actually, not letting us do it basically meant letting the outsider ughterhouses take over the business.¡± ¡°There are no ughterhouses nearby anymore.¡± ¡°There are big ughterhouses in the suburbs.¡± What he was referring to was therge ughterhouses in Changyang City. ¡°Do they hire disabled people? Including those with minor disabilities?¡± Jiang Yuan asked again. The former butcher, now the Jumping Frog restaurant owner, slowly shook his head: ¡°The work at the ughterhouses is quite tough, and those who are frail may not be able to hold up.¡± ¡°That makes sense,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°But nowadays,panies all have quotas, right? Not hiring a single one surely won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°They just hire the bosses¡¯ rtives, who has a family without a rtive with a disability certificate?¡± The Jumping Frog owner spoke very naturally. ¡°Right, those factories that hire disabled people would require a disability certificate.¡± Mu Zhiyang looked at Jiang Yuan with a bit of joy and blinked, hinting that they could find someone through the disability certificate. Jiang Yuan remained unmoved and shook his head slightly. He always brought up the disability certificate just as a way to obtain information conveniently. Ordinary people don¡¯t understand the standards for disability assessment and think that a slight physical disability is enough to get a certificate. But as a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan knew the standards for disability assessment crystal clear. To obtain a disability certificate for a limp, ording to the standard of the lowest level, a fourth-degree physical disability, the left and right legs must differ by more than 5 centimeters. This was a very clear and easily measurable standard. Based on the information he received from the bloody footprints, the killer¡¯s degree of limpness was most likely insufficient to secure a disability certificate. Jiang Yuan asked a few more questions, and by the time he finished smoking a cigarette, the owner went back to the kitchen. After a while, the sizzling Jumping Frog dish topped with hot oil was brought out. The frog meat was tender and spicy, salty, a perfect pairing in both taste and texture for those with a fondness for strong vors. Additionally, the vegetables like Chinese cabbage and bean sprouts underneath the frog meat, after being stir-fried in oil, were also extremely delicious. If you soaked rice in the sauce, the frog meat could satisfy three or four people. Indeed, a signature frog dish of Dawan Vige. Jiang Yuan tasted a little and ended up watching Mu Zhiyangpletely clean out a basin of Jumping Frog, two side dishes, and a bucket of rice. Mu Zhiyang felt a little embarrassed and finally exined, ¡°Ever since I got injured, I just eat a lot more, I don¡¯t know why¡­¡± ¡°No problem, eat as much as you like,¡± Jiang Yuan patted Mu Zhiyang on the shoulder, and when it came to the injury, he was definitely supportive of Mu Zhiyang. After all, it was just eating. In today¡¯s society, being a big eater is hardly an issue, right? Jiang Yuan courteously asked, ¡°Would you like to eat more? Shall we order another Spicy Saut¨¦ed Frogs?¡± ¡°No¡­ no need,¡± Mu Zhiyang said. ¡°Let¡¯s switch to another ce and order there. I feel embarrassed to eat too much in one restaurant.¡± So Jiang Yuan paid the bill, went out, and chose another restaurant, where he ordered three dishes for Mu Zhiyang before continuing their conversation with the owner. Two hourster. After making a big round, Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang had finally managed to inquire about the five people on the list. When they returned to the teahouse, they saw that Liu Jinghui and the others had already mostly returned. Liu Jinghui was fervently writing in his notebook. Seeing Jiang Yuane in, Liu Jinghui looked up and asked, ¡°How did it go? Any leads?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The butchers we followed don¡¯t seem to have major issues, and none of them limps. I checked their gait; it doesn¡¯t match either. Their wives all seem normal.¡± Liu Jinghui nodded. Most of the tracking leads turned out to be useless. The suspects were not rabbits on the grasnds that one could simply catch wherever they popped up. At this point, Jiang Yuan sat opposite Liu Jinghui and said, ¡°But while chatting with several butchers, I found out they didn¡¯t know why the local ughterhouse stopped operating.¡± ¡°You think there¡¯s something off with the ughterhouse too?¡± Liu Jinghui paused mid-writing and flipped forward two pages in his notebook. ¡°Too?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Jinghui gave an ¡°Mhm¡± and said, ¡°This ughterhouse didn¡¯t shut down under normal circumstances. One thing is that some of the payments for the goods hadn¡¯t been settled. Another thing is, it didn¡¯t collect some receivables. Sure, not getting paid is normal, but not collecting money that could have been easily collected is definitely not normal.¡± Liu Jinghui pulled out a few records and said, ¡°This ughterhouse¡¯s business was always pretty good. Suddenly closing down even created a market vacuum¡­ Nevertheless, it closed more than half a year after the incident. Afterwards, the owner came back to sell the machinery and settled some ounts, which is also odd.¡± Fugitives generally can¡¯t return once they¡¯ve run away. Many fugitives turn themselves in not because they are actively pursued, especially those involved in crimes less severe than murder. If they run off to a big city or to Hengpie State, a ce traditionally favored by fugitives, the local authorities often don¡¯t even know about the crime, so there¡¯s no way to catch them. However, many fugitives end up choosing to surrender because of homesickness, uneasiness, and various other reasons. Becauseing back means they are more likely to get caught. Especially when the crime just happened a year or half a year ago, which is the peak period for arrests. The ughterhouse owner closing down for no apparent reason, then turning around anding back, this behavior is just oddly puzzling when you know the details. ¡°Have you followed up?¡± asked Jiang Yuan, guessing that Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t let go of this clue judging from the details he had mentioned. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve already sent people out,¡± responded Liu Jinghui. ¡°The owner has moved to Hengpie State.¡± ¡°We may need to pay extra attention to the people around him. Speaking of which, taking a taxi from Changyang City to Dawan Vige feels like something a wealthy person might do.¡± Liu Jinghui sighed, ¡°But wealthy people wouldn¡¯t kill taxi drivers.¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback. Liu Jinghui¡¯s words were a bit politically incorrect, but on second thought, it seemed to be the case. In cases where taxi drivers were killed, the majority of the perpetrators were usually penniless, and although there was no statistical report, those familiar with such cases wouldn¡¯t normally consider a factory owner a suspect during the initial investigation. Not to mention why a factory owner would take a taxi; even if they did, the likelihood of umting enough conflict with the taxi driver to reach the point of murder in a short span of time was low. Lastly, even if such a person, for some reason, was determined to kill a taxi driver¡­ they typically wouldn¡¯t be able to overpower the taxi driver. There was a higher probability that the driver could kill them in self-defense. By the way, cases involving taxi drivers as the murderers are slightly harder to solve than cases where the taxi drivers are the victims. ¡°I heard from the butchers that the ughterhouse had only about a dozen people, mostly the owner¡¯s rtives, or rtives of those rtives¡ªbasically, it was operated by close personal rtionships¡­ Should we find and interrogate all the original staff?¡± Jiang Yuan suggested an expensive¡­ and very thorough, cautious approach. It was indeed a veryprehensive and prudent suggestion. Liu Jinghui normally didn¡¯t favor such methods, preferring to use direct, incisive reasoning that pierced through the surface to reach the truth. But indeed, Jiang Yuan¡¯s n was more foolproof and safe. ¡°You tech guys¡­¡± Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°All right, let¡¯s do it. Anyway, Changyang City can afford it.¡± Chapter 318 - 318 286 The Slaughterhouse Boss ?318: Chapter 286: The ughterhouse Boss 318: Chapter 286: The ughterhouse Boss Liu Jinghui was not the kind of police officer who liked to deploy mass manpower tactics. However, one way or another, he had ended up using about one hundred and fifty personnel from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Liu Jinghui made a special call to Yu Wenshu to exin the situation, indicating that he was not wasting resources. Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t care at all, and even took on the responsibility by saying, ¡°Investigating homicide cases? Using over a hundred people is nothing, hahaha. As long as the case is solved, if you use a thousand people, I¡¯ll find a way to gather them for you. Use them with peace of mind. If I frown, I¡¯ll punish myself with three drinks the next time we eat.¡± Liu Jinghui chuckled in amusement, chatted a bit more, and then hung up the phone. Yu Wenshu¡¯s words were very clear: it¡¯s okay to use people, but the case must be solved. If the case can be solved, then using even more people is not a problem. But what if the case isn¡¯t solved? This was partly why Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t like to use mass manpower tactics. The responsibility was too great. When so many people had put in so much effort, talk of romance and joy could no longer continue. The issue was that Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions were not always sessful, especially when cooperation on all fronts was not perfect. His insightful deductions often were not verified quickly enough and would just quietly slip by. Although Liu Jinghui had worked on several major cases, these kinds of cases often had a coremander, and he usually could only y an advisory role. Most senior officers from the provincial department were the same. Although they could offer many suggestions when they were on the ground, whether those suggestions were followed and exactly how they were implemented were still up to the local criminal police. As a cadre from the provincial department, he might sound senior and be respected, but he had no control over personnel or finances. He often encountered obstacles when he simply wanted to get things done. Most of the time, local leaders would say nice things, but once the case progressed to a point they didn¡¯t like or the resources used exceeded their psychological tolerance, all previous promises could be disregarded. But this time, Yu Wenshu had truly delegated authority. It¡¯s just that the authority was not really given to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but look at Jiang Yuan. This guy had actually managed to win over themander of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment with the way he handled cases. Considering the cases Jiang Yuan had worked on, which didn¡¯t need to wait for follow-up and were typically solid as iron, it made sense. For most homicide cases, he didn¡¯t even need confessions from suspects; he could close cases without a single one. Such a Jiang Yuan naturally found it easy to gain the approval of the criminal police team leaders. In contrast, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions often seemed somewhat ethereal, especially in situations where they couldn¡¯t be substantiated, and he might even be asked by the prosecutor¡¯s office to supplement the investigation. ¡°There¡¯s nothing else for today. Jiang Yuan, you go and rest up, see if there¡¯s any good news tomorrow,¡± Liu Jinghui said enviously but also took care of Jiang Yuan. Working on pending homicide cases involved endless tasks and even more paperwork to fill out. However, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t require Jiang Yuan to do any of it. Jiang Yuan nced at the various documents in front of Liu Jinghui and, showing good emotional intelligence, said, ¡°We¡¯ve been on the road all afternoon; I can help you write some reports.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Liu Jinghui worried that Jiang Yuan might not know how to write and hesitated. Jiang Yuan sat down next to him, took a report, looked it over for a moment, and then began to write swiftly. After finishing, he handed it to Liu Jinghui and picked up another. Liu Jinghui read it through, a bit surprised. Unexpectedly good. With intrigue, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Have you actually practiced this?¡± ¡°Um¡­ I dabbled a bit during my studies.¡± What could Jiang Yuan say? Could he admit he¡¯d picked up a Public Document Writing skill at level four? Could he admit his public document writing skills would outperform eight of Liu¡¯s? Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t say that, and Liu Jinghui kept looking it over again and again. He thought it was very well written, so much so that he tried to find faults but couldn¡¯t find any. Official documents are mundane matters, especially the ordinary ones, which are just a bunch of unadorned stuff following existing temtes. However, official documents can indeed be decisions, form resolutions, and turn into evidence. If you think these things don¡¯t require care, then you are too young. The so-called greatness in the ordinary; this kind of thing that truly reflects the power of words is not easily written well unless by seasoned civil servants who have been worn down by experience. Grassroots police officers generally write quite crudely. Those who write well are usually a bit higher up in the city bureaus or the provincial department, and this is seen as an essential skill in both ces. Officers like Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia, who have high educational backgrounds, are willing to learn, and have the opportunity to learn, are good at handling official documents. As for someone like Jiang Yuan, it wasn¡¯t that Liu Jinghui looked down on him¡ªif Jiang Yuan had done well in school, he wouldn¡¯t have ended up in the county bureau¡ªwait, that¡¯s not right, this guy was from Jiang Vige, so he had returned home. Liu Jinghui gasped and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°This ¡®bit of dabbling¡¯ of yours, to what extent have you dabbled exactly?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hold back. After giving it some thought, he said, ¡°About the same level as my crime scene investigation skills.¡± His Crime Scene Investigation skill was at level four. Now doing it more often, he could even improve slightly. He had never practiced public document writing, but having acquired it at level four, it was essentially on the same level. Liu Jinghui, taking a deep breath, grabbed a bunch of reports and threw them to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Give it a try.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°I don¡¯t know how to write everything. Some reports, I just can¡¯t write.¡± Jiang Yuan, picking and choosing, took one of the six reports and then thought better of it and left another one, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll start with these two and let you know if there are any problems.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui noticed and felt a bit relieved. At least it wasn¡¯t true that Jiang Yuan was dabbling in everything¡­ Liu Jinghui then thought: Could this be some advanced application in official document writing, deferring tasks in person? And one that doesn¡¯t provide standards? Without standards, one can apply flexibility. Flexibility implies power¡­ The power of grassroots civil servants flows from the tips of their pens. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but think that since Jiang Yuan was so good at writing official documents and took the initiative to do so, it was as if he was applying for power and had gained it, and now it seemed he had also found a good excuse to shift responsibility¡­ ¡­ Jiang Yuan went back to rest soon after. He was helping Liu Jinghui with paperwork, mainly because he had a lot of work, but also because from time to time, he wanted to use his own skills while finding out about the internal and external situation of the special case team. Once satisfied, Jiang Yuan lost interest. He still preferred to spend time on the cases. A night¡¯s deep sleep. Upon waking, Jiang Yuan stayed in a daze at the guesthouse for a while. The hotels he had stayed in recently seemed to be somewhatcking in amenities. If the victims were various chairpersons or the like, his living conditions would probably be a lot better. Breakfast was Dawan Vige¡¯s special tofu pudding, a big bowl with garnishing water, served with steamed buns and side dishes, all you-can-eat but with only a few options. The taste was alright, the kind you could eat but wasn¡¯t particrly tasty. Liu Jinghui had moved the main base of operations to the local police station. The police station¡¯s workload was actually quite heavy, especially for those inrge towns and viges. Dozens of people were busy flying around every day, and now half a corridor was taken up; it would be impossible for them not to be annoyed. But Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t worry about that anymore. There was a lot of newsing back from the officers on assignment, which meant that they would likely enter the process of making arrests and conducting interrogations soon. At that point, they had to have the basic setup ready; otherwise, the evidence chain would be called into question. The police station cooperated in a somewhat awkward manner. Coming close to noon, important news was ryed back. ¡°We¡¯ve found the owner of the ughterhouse. ording to our colleagues up front, this fellow seems to know something. They¡¯re persuading him toe back now, catching an afternoon flight,¡± Liu Jinghui said from the small office provided by the police station, suppressing his excitement. A breakthrough had been achieved in the 11-year-old cold case. If the owner of the ughterhouse really had an issue, the case would be essentially solved. Even if the killer couldn¡¯t be captured immediately, for a homicide cold case, reaching the pursuit phase was already perfect. ¡°No resistance?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Some verbal opposition. He should be considering it right now. Once he¡¯s in the interrogation room, we¡¯ll ask him properly.¡± If a suspect wavered, questioning, or interrogating them outside carried significant risks. Normally, they would be brought back before being questioned. In the domestic interrogation system, a normal person wouldn¡¯t resist too fiercely once in the interrogation room. As long as the interrogators could exin the pros and cons to him and make him understand that the judicial system in China is different from that in the United States, and that awyer couldn¡¯te in to speak for him, most people with less serious issues would confess. Those who don¡¯t confess only excite the interrogators because this situation often indicates very serious issues; one careless move could lead to a homicide case. Those who genuinely enjoy talking about interrogation techniques and like to add weight in an interrogation were from the old pre-trial model. Especially when digging up old cases was considered an achievement, the interrogation model would change. There is no more pre-trial now. If the ughterhouse owner hadn¡¯t killed anyone, he would probably have it figured out after one flight. However, during the transfer process, the escort personnel are very unlikely to impose pressure on the suspect. Not only can they not apply pressure, but they must also continually reassure the suspect, telling them, it¡¯s okay, there¡¯s no problem, everything will be fine once you exin¡­ A little-known fact: the moment a police officer¡¯s smile is richest is not at their wedding but when escorting a suspect. Evening. The owner of the ughterhouse was brought directly to the Changyang City Bureau¡¯s case handling center. When he was ushered into the interrogation chair and handcuffed, especially when the restraint belt was put on, this somewhat plump owner visibly panicked. ¡°Isn¡¯t it just questioning? Why do I need to be handcuffed, and this thing¡­¡± The owner began to twist around, and the chains clinked loudly. ¡°Restraint belt. Just think of it as a seat belt,¡± Liu Jinghui answered, then observed the owner¡¯s expression and cut straight to the chase, asking, ¡°Do you know why we¡¯re looking for you?¡± ¡°To collect a debt?¡± the ughterhouse owner tentatively replied. ¡°We¡¯re the police,¡± emphasized Liu Jinghui, adding, ¡°Do you remember the cold case from 11 years ago?¡± ¡°Which police are you from?¡± the ughterhouse owner countered. ¡°I¡¯m Liu Jinghui from the Provincial Office,¡± Liu Jinghui showed his credentials. The ughterhouse owner examined them carefully, paused for a few seconds, and then said, ¡°I remember, the taxi driver died. You don¡¯t think I killed him, do you?¡± ¡°Exin clearly, and you won¡¯t,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°Uh¡­ okay. I can talk about it,¡± the ughterhouse owner sighed. Chapter 319 - 319 287 The Blood Robe ?319: Chapter 287: The Blood Robe 319: Chapter 287: The Blood Robe The ughterhouse owner was slightly overweight and had a bit of a double chin. The interrogation chairs in the case center were all widened, and when he sat down, he filled every inch, as if not to waste any space. As he talked about the homicide, the ughterhouse owner was also nervous, with a touch of rxation. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression became grave. He wasn¡¯t an actor; ordinary people couldn¡¯t fake that kind of expression unless they were preupied with serious concerns. Liu Jinghui judged that he must be an important informant, and that the information he knew was probably not simple. Liu Jinghui quickly nced around, noticed Jiang Yuan and the others were present, and then turned to the ughterhouse owner, saying, ¡°Li Huigai, you im you¡¯re not the killer, so do you know who is?¡± After hesitating for a few seconds, the ughterhouse owner, Li Huigai, said, ¡°I know.¡± Liu Jinghui took a deep breath. As expected, this guy was even more involved than he had thought. Liu Jinghui immediately asked, ¡°Did you participate in the killing, or did you witness it?¡± Li Huigai said, ¡°Neither. But I know who did it.¡± Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°Li Tangyi,¡± Li Huigai said, ¡°He¡¯s a distant nephew of mine.¡± His gaze was serious as he looked at Liu Jinghui, waiting for a response. Liu Jinghui understood somewhat but still pressed further, ¡°Which three characters for ¡®Li Tangyi¡¯? What are his physical characteristics?¡± ¡°Li from the Li family, Tang as in the Tang Dynasty, and Yi as in meaning. He¡¯s a cripple, quite sturdy, and all his shoes are specially made¡­¡± Li Huigai went on to describe at length. However, when they heard he was a cripple, Liu Jinghui and the others had basically confirmed it. There are thousands upon thousands of people in the world; the chances of coincidentally encountering another suitable cripple should be quite low. Moreover, this detail was unknown to the special task force before Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement. Whether Li Huigai made it up or not is beside the point; his status as an informant had been solidified. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, assuring that Wang Chuanxing beside him had taken good notes, and then asked, ¡°Do you know where Li Tangyi is now?¡± ¡°He has gone to Qiongnan. That¡¯s what I¡¯ve heard,¡± Li Huigai said. Liu Jinghui let out a ¡°hm¡± and asked, ¡°Do you have any contact?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Do you have evidence?¡± After another few seconds of silence, Li Huigai said, ¡°Yes.¡± The officers watching the monitor looked at each other, all somewhat bewildered. This wasn¡¯t just finding an informant; they had found someone who could be the head of criminal investigation for the task force. Liu Jinghui, too, was a mix of surprise and skepticism as he asked, ¡°What evidence? Where is it?¡± ¡°The bloody clothes that Li Tangyi wore when he killed someone, I wrapped them in a stic bag and hid them behind a que in the ancestral hall,¡± exined Li Huigai as he described the location in detail. The ancestral halls in Dawan Vige and Jiang Vige were simr, both permanent buildings within the vige, adorned with numerous ques immediately upon entering the main gate. Li Huigai had hidden the bloodied clothes behind a que bearing the legend ¡°Filial Piety and Integrity,¡± making it unlikely anyone would rummage through. Liu Jinghui immediately arranged for someone to search for it. Without waiting to be asked further, Li Huigai exined, ¡°After Li Tangyimitted the murder, he and his wife came to find me in the backyard of the ughterhouse. He had bloodstains on him at the time and said he¡¯d fallen¡­¡± Li Huigai paused for a moment before continuing slowly, ¡°Ie from a background in butchering; I know what blood from a fall looks like, and I know what spurted blood looks like. Seeing Li Tangyi¡¯s condition at the time, I immediately called his father and told him that his distant nephew hade and that I would take good care of him¡­¡± Li Huigai closed his eyes briefly, then continued, ¡°You see, I¡¯m quite overweight now, but in those days, I could lift a pig with one hand. Moreover, I was on night watch in the ughterhouse yard, and I had an iron rod at hand. Right then, I pulled open the drawer and dumped out all the money inside, several thousand yuan, intended for buying pigs. I gave it all to Li Tangyi, telling him that it was hard for him and his wife to make the trip, and this was money to help them settle down¡­¡± At this point, Li Huigai was a mixture of pride and reflection as he continued, ¡°Li Tangyi discussed it with his wife for a bit, then asked me for a set of clothes and left. After the workers at the ughterhouse arrived, I took one of them to the nearby trash can to search, and we found the bloodied clothes.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the worker¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Li Jinzhou. I had him write a statement, and we ced it with the bloodied clothes,¡± said Li Huigai with a sigh, ¡°I only learnedter that the victim was a taxi driver, but by then, the killer had run. Later, his father called again, lecturing me and even mentioning my parents and children. After thinking it over, I chose to stay silent.¡± The thoroughness of Li Huigai¡¯s preparations disappointed Liu Jinghui. Frankly speaking, the normal interrogation process for current cases is just like this. One works hard to follow some leads, identifies a suspect, gets a confession from the suspect, and then listens to some inconsequential reasons¡­ It¡¯s worth noting here that ¡°inconsequential reasons¡± have be amonponent of homicide cases in modern society. Today is not an era of burning passions, but an era of impulsive killings. Most people do notmit murder after carefully considering conflicts of interest or emotional entanglements; they act on an impulse. And impulsive methods of killing are often more crude than those in theft cases. Yet, some cases, due to various coincidences, serendipitously open up under the lens of justice. Take Li Huigai¡¯s retreat, for instance. Liu Jinghui looked at Li Huigai, applied slight pressure, and said, ¡°Do you know that by doing this, you¡¯re shielding a criminal?¡± ¡°He threatened to kill my entire family, what could I do? And besides¡­¡± Li Huigai nced at Liu Jinghui, a hint of sarcasm on his lips, said, ¡°Li Tangyi¡¯s aunt has an affair with a leader from Shahe Town, and that leader even got promoted to Changyang Cityter. Li Tangyi¡¯s aunt even came to see me specifically, guess why I stopped doing business?¡± Eleven years were enough to change a lot of things. Liu Jinghui decisively paused the interrogation and simply said, ¡°If what you¡¯re saying is true, then people will be punished. I¡¯m from the provincial department; Changyang City can¡¯t touch me. I¡¯ll contact the prosecutor right now¡­¡± When Li Huigai saw that Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t seem to be lying, his expression drooped once again. For him, it was almost impossible to find a perfect solution to the situation. From the moment Li Tangyi appeared before him in bloody clothes, Li Huigai never had the option of getting out whole. With every step he seemed to have a choice, but in reality, no one cared about him. Liu Jinghui was no exception. ¡­ In the surveince room, Jiang Yuan and the others were also quite silent. After Liu Jinghui came out, he made several calls, and only after his phone had be somewhat hot did he finally put it away, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re just preparing a foolproof n. I¡¯ve handled cases far moreplicated than this one. Mudfish can¡¯t stir up waves.¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Chief Yu sent people to catch Li Tangyi and to find that worker for questioning. Everyone also needs to pay attention to confidentiality.¡± When there was business, Liu Jinghui would refer to Yu Wenshu as Chief Yu, which was quite genuine. After a while, Yu Wenshu came over himself. He first met with Liu Jinghui and the others, then smiled and said, ¡°Don¡¯t feel burdened, every group has its outliers. Of course, the case isn¡¯t over yet, so let¡¯s not talk about the nature of the horse. But the investigation has been very impressive, a cold case of 11 years, and now we¡¯ve cracked it in one go; I¡¯m going tomend everyone for their work.¡± With his words, everyone¡¯s mood also improved. Wan Baoming, who came with him, had an even brighter face and said with a smile, ¡°The difficulty with this case was in pinpointing the ughterhouse and identifying its owner. When the previous special task force was investigating, the ughterhouse was actually running normally, and they didn¡¯t focus on this aspect¡­¡± The previous special task force had also been made up of people from their own Criminal Police Detachment, and while Wan Baoming verbally said a few good things about them, what he really implied was how good Jiang Yuan was. Yu Wenshu smiled even more when he looked at Jiang Yuan. Solving cold cases was something that every criminal police team had to do, and it was a task that became more appealing the more they worked on it. Many teams didn¡¯t do it, not because they didn¡¯t like to, but because they didn¡¯t have the capacity or the confidence to do so. For a Criminal Police Detachment like Changyang City¡¯s, the costs of solving a cold case didn¡¯t matter, as long as they were legitimate expenses. Even if they really needed thousands of people to investigate, Yu Wenshu would ept it. As long as the case was solved in the end, such expenses would only serve as proof of their determination. However, most teams genuinely couldn¡¯t guarantee a case would be solved. In other words, they really couldn¡¯t bear the situation where they spent a lot of time, effort, and money, only to end up with nothing. Having a subordinate capable of solving cases was an invaluable asset to any criminal police team. ¡°By the way, are you getting used to the life here?¡± Yu Wenshu then approached Jiang Yuan, pitching concern. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m used to it; life here isn¡¯t much different from what it was like at home.¡± ¡°Being away from home alwayses with various adjustments, especially on such a business trip. Oh, I almost forgot, you should write a reportter and apply for a business trip allowance,¡± Yu Wenshu said while looking at Jiang Yuan, not sure how else to express his fondness for him, and ended up thinking of giving money in the spur of the moment. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The team has already granted me a travel allowance¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s theirs, and this is ours. The staffing and treatment at Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment are pretty good,¡± Yu Wenshu said. Catching sight of Jiang Yuan¡¯s police rank, he immediately said, ¡°As for promotions and the like, things move much faster here.¡± Jiang Yuan pretended not to understand and changed the subject, saying, ¡°Changyang City has a high poption and many homicide cases, so the work is indeed more challenging¡­¡± ¡°Yes, our Changyang City¡­¡± ¡°Chief Yu, I guess I¡¯ve finished my part with this case, so shall we rest for a few days before working on the next one?¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Yu Wenshu¡¯s words. With an indulgent smile, Yu Wenshu said, ¡°Sure, sure, taking a few days off is only proper. Well, when the suspect is in custody, I¡¯ll update you on whates next.¡± ¡°Li Tangyi just got lucky.¡± Liu Jinghui had recovered hisposure by now and said calmly, ¡°Li Tangyi¡¯s family conditions are much better than those of an ordinary worker at the ughterhouse, but he chose to work there, which is probably rted to his family background and his physical condition. This is one point overlooked by the present special case team.¡± Liu Jinghui once again captured everyone¡¯s attention and continued, ¡°Li Tangyi and his wife both came to work at the ughterhouse, which is also different from what ordinary workers do. I suspect he must have had some ideas about this industry.¡± ¡°He probably chose to take taxis because of his limp. After killing the taxi driver for some reason, Li Tangyi drove and abandoned the car, then walked several kilometers back. With his walking capacity, he was probably at his limit.¡± ¡°Under such difficult circumstances, he still sought out the owner of the ughterhouse, Li Huigai. Either Li Tangyi acted in panic, turning to the only person he knew, or he needed somewhere to change clothes, or perhaps, he even harbored the thought of killing to silence him. Li Huigai was the only person who knew he would be at that ce; if Li Huigai were killed, Li Tangyi would essentially be a non-existent person.¡± ¡°Whether Li Tangyi¡¯s wife yed any role during this time is unknown, but logically, the couple must have discussed it,¡± said Liu Jinghui, humming twice before adding, ¡°Once we¡¯ve arrested Li Tangyi and his wife, we can actually ask them about it.¡± Yu Wenshu said ¡°good¡± with a smiling face, but he clearly didn¡¯t show the same affection for Liu Jinghui as he did for Jiang Yuan. What did it matter now whether guesses were right or wrong? He wasn¡¯t running an amusement park. What he wanted was to solve the case and find evidence; as for whether the process was perfect, he wasn¡¯t so concerned about that. Chapter 320 - 320 288 Ejection ?320: Chapter 288 Ejection 320: Chapter 288 Ejection The butcher shop owner Li Huigai was again identified the location of the bloodied clothes in the ancestral hall in front of many vigers, earning a multitude of curses: ¡°This is all ill-gotten gains, money made off everyone¡¯s backs.¡± ¡°No wonder he ran away; he must have been afraid of getting chopped to death.¡± ¡°What good cane from someone who makes a living from a ughterhouse, bringing bloody items into the ancestral hall, is it sucking everyone¡¯s blood?¡± Li Huigai¡¯s face turned red for a moment, but gradually he got used to it. He had previously consulted awyer, and for what he had done, the sentence wouldn¡¯t be that long. As for reputation, he wasn¡¯t nning on working in the vige anymore anyway. ¡°I was showing our ancestors, it¡¯s not that I didn¡¯t take care of family, but he got himself into too big of a mess,¡± Li Huigai responded loudly to the growing noises outside, raising his voice: ¡°He came to work, not to cut off some female taxi driver¡¯s head. How could I cover for him? Besides, I did everything I could. He even wanted to kill me. If I hadn¡¯t given him money and had something in hand, he probably would have cut off my head too. How could I still be smooth with him?¡± This reply held quite a bit of information, rendering the onlooking vigers and non-vigers alike momentarily speechless. Then, they got excited. ¡°Hey, was that taxi driver a woman? Just decapitated?¡± ¡°How much money was given?¡± ¡°This owner is out of luck; how many years is he going to get?¡± The criminal policeman in charge of escorting and identifying gave Li Huigai a sharp look and said, ¡°If you keep talking, I¡¯m going to gag you.¡± Li Huigai quickly smiled with his chubby, red cheeks: ¡°Won¡¯t say anymore, all done.¡± Although he had left Dawan Vige, he didn¡¯t want to leave a bad name behind. It felt much better to clear a few things up. The criminal police didn¡¯t talk much either, taking photos and wrapping up before they took Li Huigai back again. In this case, Li Huigai¡¯s status as a witness was still quite important. Just waiting for the worker Li Jinzhou to get in ce, the suspicions on Li Huigai would be close to none. The suspects, the Li Tangyi couple, arrived a bitter. The officers who caught them encountered unexpectedly fierce resistance, especially from Li Tangyi¡¯s wife, who at one point took their child up to the rooftop. After they were brought into Changyang City¡¯s case handling center, both of their resistances were extremely strong. Liu Jinghui, seeing their defiant demeanor, didn¡¯t even go inside. ¡°This type needs to be worn down slowly. After being detained for a few days and getting used to their current situation, they¡¯ll start talking,¡± Liu Jinghui confidently said, familiar with the process: ¡°They just can¡¯t ept their current predicament, probably thinking they had already escaped.¡± ¡°They could really have escaped,¡± Wan Baoming said as he watched the couple in separate interrogation rooms on the monitoring screen, filled with myriad emotions: ¡°When theymitted the crime, they were just twenty-seven, young and pondering about learning butchery from their n uncle, then setting up their own butcher shop¡­ Who would have thought, after 11 years, both turned into thirty-eight-year-old middle-aged people.¡± Liu Jinghui, ever logical, nced sideways at Wan Baoming: ¡°Do you want to hear what you just said?¡± Wan Baomingughed at himself, then shook his head: ¡°When I was in my thirties and early forties, that¡¯s exactly when I was most afraid of death.¡± Wan Baoming grew sentimental: ¡°Think about it, your parents are beginning to go to the hospital, starting to get ill, needing care, and your kids are hitting puberty, the most sensitive time. You start to lose your own drive, be less sensitive, your urine starts to spray every which way, your wife starts thinking about rejuvenating herself in a second spring, chasing lost time, that¡¯s the moment you can least afford to die. Yet you are arrested and incarcerated with the death penalty as the aim¡­¡± ¡°I am just over forty this year, and I¡¯m in great health,¡± Liu Jinghui slicked back his shiny pompadour. If his hair had been long enough, he might have been able to strangle Wan Baoming with it. Wan Baoming patted Liu Jinghui¡¯s shoulder: ¡°Don¡¯t rush it. It happens to everyone.¡± Liu Jinghui ignored him. Wan Baoming continued to mourn the passage of time: ¡°You know, that Li Tangyi couple has had it tough. They¡¯ve stuck together through thick and thin for at least 11 years. They decided not to open the butcher shop they had nned and, fearing discovery, secretly opened a Taobao store selling beef jerky. After so many years, they operated honestly, never daring tomit any crimes. Just as life was finally improving, they had a second child¡­¡± Tang Jia, listening on the side, couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and said, ¡°The deceased female taxi driver was around the same age too, and she also has a child, who is preparing for the high school entrance exam next year.¡± ¡°Human joys and sorrows, fleeting and poignant,¡± Wan Baoming sighed heavily, then looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Jiang Yuan, what do you think? Does Li Tangyi¡¯s life seem to have that operatic sense of tragedy?¡± Jiang Yuan had been watching all along without engaging in Wan Baoming¡¯s conversation. Now addressed by him, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then stepped forward, extended his left hand forward as if cradling a watermelon, made a sudden cutting motion with his right hand, and then yanked fiercely¡­ Next, Jiang Yuan looked down, pretending to twist with his left hand while making shing gestures with his right. Finally, Jiang Yuan flung his left hand, tossing the imaginary watermelon away. ¡°The process of Li Tangyi¡¯s beheading must have been something like this,¡± Jiang Yuan exined, as he had previously reconstructed the crime scene using bloodstain analysis, though it had no direct bearing on the case. Wan Baoming watched, dumbfounded. Jiang Yuan added, ¡°I just don¡¯t think Li Tangyi is cut out for opera.¡± Recalling Jiang Yuan¡¯s motions, Wan Baoming¡¯s romantic sentiments sharply diminished: ¡°Definitely not.¡± ¡°For murder and dismemberment, he¡¯s done for,¡± Liu Jinghui said calmly, touching his slick hair: ¡°I wonder how his wife will be sentenced.¡± Tang Jia caught on to Liu Jinghui¡¯s hint immediately and looked towards the screen, saying, ¡°Right, if Li Tangyi takes all the me and then says his wife tried to stop him at the time, they could get her off the hook.¡± ¡°It¡¯s difficult, and the prosecution won¡¯t ept it. After eleven years, with no reports or confessions in between, and the couple maintained a life together. The crime scene doesn¡¯t support it either. Murder and dismemberment are not simple actions or decisions. If there was any intervention, it hardly could have escted to this extent,¡± Wan Baoming said, ¡°From my understanding of these types of cases, the female offender might have even acted as a catalyst.¡± ¡°Tang Jia said, ¡°At least Li Tangyi should try. He¡¯s doomed anyway.¡± ¡°He might not see it that way.¡± No sooner had Liu Jinghui finished speaking than in the interrogation room, the officer conducting the questioning raised his voice and sternly said, ¡°Li Tangyi, don¡¯t delude yourself. If you were duped by someone, you still have a chance for a suspended death sentence. If you let go of this opportunity, you will regret it.¡± ¡°Regret what? Dying a few yearster?¡± ¡°A suspended death sentence has a high probability of not being carried out, understand? As long as you don¡¯tmit deliberate crimes within two years, your sentence can bemuted to life imprisonment. If you behave well during life imprisonment, after serving 20 or 18 years, you might be released. By then, you¡¯re only in your fifties, with lots of good years ahead¡­¡± The officer conducting the interrogation spoke in a very tempting manner. Tang Jia pointed to the monitor in front of her in surprise and said, ¡°He¡¯s deceiving Li Tangyi, isn¡¯t he?¡± Wan Baoming: ¡°It¡¯s not entirely deception¡­¡± ¡°Deceived or not, isn¡¯t deception a basic tactic during interrogation?¡± Liu Jinghui firmly interrupted Wan Baoming¡¯s exnation. Immediately after, the police in the female offender¡¯s interrogation room also started employing verbal techniques. Tang Jia looked at the expressions of the two and listened to their answers,ing to a very natural conclusion: Both of them were doomed! Jiang Yuan could draw the same conclusion, revealing a relieved expression. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The officers questioning these two are quite skilled.¡± ¡°Right? Our detachment¡¯s officers are really picked through careful selection. Like this Xiao Qiu, we always say he¡¯s the kind who could trick earthworms into being cut in half for money. If he were a bit more ruthless, he could even deceive the earthworms into cutting themselves in half,¡± Liu Jinghui said. Jiang Yuandao immediately remembered Xiao Qiu and said, ¡°That¡¯s the spirit we need. I hope he can split a few more criminals.¡± In those seemingly ordinary words, a boiling killing intent emanated. Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t help but softly recite, ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, with his fierce me billowing.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even blink; he always took it as apliment. ¡­ After lunch. Jiang Yuan was preparing to return to Ningtai. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had new cases ready to go, but both Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui preferred to go back and rest first. For a simr reason as before, no one knew how long the next case would take. Before starting, adequate rest was still necessary. As for the one-week deadline set by Liu Jinghui, he didn¡¯t bring it up, and no one else mentioned it either. After packing hisptop and other items, Jiang Yuan said goodbye to the officers in the office and was about to leave when Yu Wenshu hurried in. ¡°It¡¯s been too busy today, all meetings,¡± Yu Wenshu said, and then, taking hold of Jiang Yuan, he said, ¡°Don¡¯t rush back just yet. The victim¡¯s family has brought a banner of gratitude. Let¡¯s meet them and take a photo.¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not necessary to see me; a representative of the detachment would suffice¡­¡± ¡°It is very necessary. I¡¯ve already told the family that it was because of you that this case was solved. If you hadn¡¯t been here, who knows how much longer this eleven-year-old cold case would have remained unsolved,¡± Yu Wenshu said, insisting as he pulled Jiang Yuan along, ¡°The family just arrived at the Political Office, let¡¯s not keep them waiting.¡± After speaking, Yu Wenshu then said to the other officers of the Cold Case Squad, ¡°Everyonee along, let¡¯s take amemorative photo together. A murder cold case from eleven years ago, for anyone, should be a highlight of their career.¡± The officers in the room all stood up and eagerly followed. Jiang Yuan could only follow Yu Wenshu out and take the elevator to the Political Office. In the bright and spacious office, the victim¡¯s mother was wiping away tears, while the father was also teary-eyed,forting his wife. The victim¡¯s husband sat in the middle of the office with a child, looking somewhat lost. The teenage boy, at an age of rebellion, seemed somewhat cool on the surface. Sitting next to his father, holding his mother¡¯s portrait to his chest, he appeared unwilling to engage with anyone. But when he saw Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan enter and listened to Jiang Yuan¡¯s brief introduction of the case, when the time came to take the photo, the boy naturally nced at the portrait and tears instantly surged forth. Seeing this, the father¡¯s tightly drawn cheeks crumbled immediately, and he wept bitterly. The victim¡¯s parents started crying loudly in unison. The officers who had previously harbored a slight sense of pride all fell silent, The anguish of losing a mother in early years, a wife in middle age, and a daughter in old age is difficult for outsiders to grasp. After a long while, the husband was the first to stop crying. With deep sorrow, he grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and said after a long pause, ¡°I had prepared words of thanks, but now I feel¡­ great kindness need not be spoken. I¡­¡± The man suddenly knelt with a thump, his head hitting the floor heavily, without rising again; it was followed by a deep, howling cry. The torment of sudden bad news, the confusion without knowing the truth, the anger of the real culprit escaping punishment, the uncertainty of drastic family changes, the bitterness of life brought to a halt¡ªall exploded in that moment. That howling cry, it pierced through everything. Chapter 321 - 321 289 Jiang Village Surveillance ?321: Chapter 289 Jiang Vige Surveince 321: Chapter 289 Jiang Vige Surveince At the Political Office¡¯s request, Jiang Yuan and other officers took a group photo with the victim¡¯s family and held up a silk banner together. Once all the ceremonies concluded, Jiang Yuan felt somewhat reluctant to return home. He took out his phone, searched for travel destinations on a video app, and then called his dad, asking, ¡°Dad, how about going on a trip?¡± ¡°Sure, where do you want to go?¡± Jiang Fuzhen, who was drinking alone in the kitchen, responded immediately. ¡°Let¡¯s go to Guangxia,¡± suggested Jiang Yuan, adding, ¡°Shall I buy the tickets? Come over to Changyang now.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen, ready to set off at a moment¡¯s notice. He notified Uncle Qiang, called Mrs. Hua to ask her to finish cooking the meat and to distribute it, then took the elevator to the basement where Jiang Yongxin¡¯s Alphard was already waiting. By the evening, Jiang Yuan and his father were already on a ne flying direct to Guangxia. ¡°Why the sudden urge to travel? Is work not going well?¡± Jiang Fuzhen, having changed into his slippers and draped a small nket over his legs, made himselffortable and started chatting with his son. Jiang Yuan took a sip of water to moisten his lips, then replied, ¡°Work¡¯s actually been pretty smooth. I solved a cold case, caught a pair of murderers, and informed the victim¡¯s family. The victim¡¯s husband and son cried bitterly.¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°I rarely used to meet with victims¡¯ families¡­sigh.¡± Jiang Fuzhen patted his son¡¯s shoulder and sighed softly. He wasn¡¯t particrly skilled atforting others; aside from providing financial support, he hardly had any other techniques to offer sce. The sound of the ne¡¯s engines gradually faded. Listening to the noise inside the cabin, Jiang Yuan fell asleep peacefully. For the next few days, father and son aimlessly wandered around Guangxia, eating, drinking, and leisurely strolling. When they had their fill of fun, they took the ne back. Jiang Yuan also returned to Ningtai County. At his doorstep, he saw workers ondders by the tall street lights, installing surveince cameras. ¡°Setting up a monitoring system?¡± Jiang Yuan, with his LV3 technical defense construction knowledge, noticed at once. Jiang Fuzhen nodded and said, ¡°They n to extend it all the way to the freeway entrance. Soon, nobody will be able to steal electric bikes anymore.¡± ¡°You know about this?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. ¡°Heard it from Jiang Yongxin. Didn¡¯t he open two stores and also sell electric bikes?¡± Jiang Fuzhen said with a smile, slowly walking past thedder. Jiang Yuan scrutinized the scene seriously. The basis of a surveince system lies in the instation of cameras. Theoretically, the more cameras installed, the better the effect. And contrary to what ordinary people might think¡ªa single camera capable of covering arge area, catering to various needs¡ªit¡¯s not that simple. In reality, cameras often have a single function. Those that can capture long distances aren¡¯t good at capturing fine details, and those positioned high can¡¯t clearly capture what¡¯s in someone¡¯s hands. Creating an entire city under surveince with no blind spots is extremely challenging. Take Beijing Station for example, with its 1,200 cameras. Let¡¯s not even discuss howplex the system formed by these is; just think about how many people and how much time would it take to review footage from 1,200 cameras? Or if you only store and never review the footage, then such a system¡¯s value is significantly reduced. Naturally, Ningtai County couldn¡¯t achieve a surveince system of such a scale; focusing on key defense points was almost its only choice. Even so, this was all due to external aid that Jiang Yuan had managed to secure. With Ningtai County¡¯s own financial ie, it would probably not be able to allocate so many resources within the next two or three years. ¡°It¡¯ll be easier to get a police position in Ningtai County this year,¡± Jiang Yuan mused, recalling the exam scenario from when he applied, clicking his tongue twice. With such arge-scale video surveince system, at the very least a Surveince Analysis Squad is necessary to make do. To use it effectively, it¡¯s very likely that an Image Reconnaissance Brigade would be needed¡­ Of course, a county Image Reconnaissance Brigade wouldn¡¯t need to be asrge as a Criminal Police Brigade. Normally, two or three squads along with some administrative staff would suffice; fifty to eighty people could fully utilize the county¡¯s surveince system. This is the trend in police departments nowadays: the Criminal Police Brigade is shrinking in size, reced by the expansion and development of the Special Police Brigade, Patrol Police Brigade, Cyber Security Brigade, and the Image Investigation Brigade. Not to mention other aspects, electronic fraud cases already ount for half of all new cases. If it weren¡¯t for many such cases involving international elements, which make them difficult for municipal and county levels to handle, the Cyber Security Brigade should ideally be expanded to the level of the Criminal Police Brigade. ¡°With these cameras, solving cases must have be much simpler for you,¡± Jiang Fuzhen mused, his way of thinking having changed since his son became a police officer. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, ¡°Perhaps. But when ites to premeditated crimes, they just pick other ces. Like the current murder cases, the most frequent crime scenes are private residences¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have your Uncle Qiang strengthen the security on the unit doors and the garageter. They need to be even more secure,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen, feeling a bit uneasy. He was excessively wealthy and knew he belonged to a high-risk group. Jiang Yuan agreed wholeheartedly. After returning home, he made a special dog meal for the two Dobermans. From a security standpoint, some fully automatic AI devices just might not be as reliable as these fully automatic fierce dogs. Compared to when they were first brought in, both dogs had grown significantly in size and appetite. But their craving for grade 5 dog food had never changed. Watching the two dogs eat voraciously, even Uncle Qiang began to doubt himself: ¡°I also cook for them on a regr basis¡­ these two dogs¡­¡± All Jiang Yuan could do wasfort Uncle Qiang, ¡°Maybe it¡¯s a matter of luck.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not just that, I¡¯ve tasted the dog food you make¡­ I mean, I¡¯ve had it before, and it really is delicious. But it shouldn¡¯t make the two dogs this excited¡­¡± Uncle Qiang obviously couldn¡¯t fully understand the happiness of dogs. Jiang Yuanughed and changed the subject, ¡°Uncle Qiang, I practiced that wrestling move you taught mest time when I had some free time. Let¡¯s have another go at it.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Uncle Qiang readily agreed, wiping some grease from his mouth with his sleeve. Heid out a few thick yoga mats in the center of the living room and began to spar with Jiang Yuan. After 30 minutes, Jiang Yuan was aching all over from being thrown around and paused the training. ¡°Not bad. If you encounter an enemy, just stay calm. Against the average small-time thief, they probably won¡¯t be able to hurt you,¡± reassured Uncle Qiang, before emphasizing, ¡°I¡¯m talking about the unarmed kind, understand?¡± ¡°What about armed ones?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen those videos online? When you see a weapon, just turn and run,¡± Uncle Qiang said, then added, ¡°If you feel in danger, just carry a stick or something. Being armed or not makes a world of difference. It¡¯s best to have people with you, walk in a group of three or four, even if the other side has a gun, they¡¯ll have to think twice if they have enough bullets.¡± Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s eyebrows knitted together as he listened, ¡°Should we hire a securitypany?¡± ¡°A securitypany to protect a policeman isn¡¯t necessary, but we should set up a surveince system in our vige,¡± Jiang Yuan, who had already considered this n, said. Inparison to Qinghe College, setting up surveince in Jiangcun Residential Area would be an even simpler task. ¡°Just do what you want. Are you talking about setting up a security office and watching the monitors?¡± Jiang Fuzhen asked indifferently. ¡°Moreplex than that. I think we could establish our own securitypany.¡± ¡°Why not hire an existing one?¡± asked Uncle Qiang, somewhat surprised. Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan shook their heads together. Jiangcun Residential Area was really wealthy. For security matters, leaving it in the hands of outsiders was something no one wasfortable with. That evening. Jiang Fuzhen prepared a whole sheep and steamed some seafood, then invited several uncles and friends from Jiang Vige, with whom he got along well. In Jiang Vige, the seniors were influential, but when it came to getting things done, it was really up to Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s generation. After discussing with his brothers and cousins, the following steps were made rather simple. Over the next two days, after having more meals with different groups, Jiang Fuzhen convened argemunity meeting. Jiang Vige was no stranger to holding big meetings. Even routine affairs, like car park leasing, property rentals, and expenses for ancestral worship, involved huge amounts of money, making meetings an efficient problem-solving method. However, when it came to action, the people of Jiang Vige didn¡¯t need to go through tenders andpany selections like the county did. Once Jiang Fuzhen and the others had agreed on a n, they just brought in the workers to begin construction. By the end of the loop, the progress of the construction was even faster than the surveince system being built by the county. The securitypany, in particr, hired staff much faster than the county, by more than eight times. In less than a week, Jiang Yuan was in the newly established ¡°Jiang Vige Security Monitoring Room¡± downstairs, meeting the six new young employees. Chapter 322 - 322 290 Hire Someone ?322: Chapter 290: Hire Someone 322: Chapter 290: Hire Someone ¡°Xiang Geng, show everyone how to use this surveince system,¡± Uncle Three led his dog around the monitoring room, strolling casually like a middle-aged yboy. His mixed Tibetan Mastiff-Schnauzer strutted on its tiny paws, acting as proud as if it was worth a fortune. Xiang Geng was a somewhat skinny young man with slightly yellowed fingers and a faint tobo smell on him, the unpleasant kind. Picked by Uncle Three, Xiang Geng gave a smile and sat down at the monitoring console, saying, ¡°Since the overall system isn¡¯t set up properly yet, I¡¯ll switch between the cameras for you to see our surveince range.¡± He began pressing buttons one by one and manipting the joystick, showcasing the view in front of the houses in the Jiangcun Residential Area. Several middle-aged vige men who came along looked very serious, saying solemnly, ¡°We can¡¯t mess around in the residential area anymore.¡± Uncle Three chuckled and said, ¡°It¡¯s fine. Xiang Geng is one of our own. He¡¯s the son of my younger sister¡¯s husband¡¯s brother¡ªbasically, my younger sister¡¯s nephew.¡± Everyone nodded with an ¡°Oh¡­¡± their expressions rxing slightly. Continuing, Uncle Three said, ¡°Xiang Geng, for this system, let¡¯s delete any unsuitable footage of our own people, not just for us few, but for other vigers as well. Can we do that?¡± Uncle Three looked at the others. Everyone nodded in agreement. Xiang Geng forced a smile, ¡°That won¡¯t be easy. Deleting footage with this system is quite a hassle and, moreover, if we delete everything, the recordings will be pointless.¡± He certainly didn¡¯t dare to take on this task. Not only was it exhausting, but it would also easily lead to trouble. Uncle Three frowned, ¡°So everything we do in our yards will be recorded.¡± Xiang Geng remained silent and nods. ¡°Can any of you delete recordings?¡± Uncle Three looked at the other five men. They exchanged nces and shook their heads. Deleting some footage is one thing, but deleting everything is something else. To delete as soon as somethinges up¡­ these people all lived in the residential area, so might as well just turn off the surveince. Xiang Geng said, ¡°Uncle, didn¡¯t you consider that you¡¯d be caught on camera before installing the surveince system?¡± Uncle Three frowned, ¡°How could I understand such high-tech stuff?¡± Xiang Geng was at a loss for words. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, ¡°Uncle, what exactly are you concerned about?¡± Asked this question, Uncle Three frowned deeply, looked around, then whispered, ¡°The vigemittee election ising up soon¡­¡± ¡°Let me make a suggestion,¡± Jiang Yuan decisively said, ¡°Let¡¯s adjust the direction of the surveince system; it¡¯s a simple task. For this central za right next to the activity center here, turn all the surveince cameras around, I¡¯ll re-adjust them¡­¡± While talking, Jiang Yuan began operating on the system directly. Some cameras were set to restrict their range, those that couldn¡¯t be restricted, their lenses facing this way, Jiang Yuan noted down their numbers to have them removed by workerster. Xiang Geng was initially surprised, not even quite understanding what Jiang Yuan was doing. When he finally understood, Xiang Geng was astounded. It turned out Uncle Three meant that Jiang Yuan had set up this system; he had thought it was just about supervising the work with money, not the literal sense. To Xiang Geng and the others who only knew how to use the system, Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation was like having a TV repairman suddenlye in while they were channel surfing with a remote control. They were doing entirely different things now. Having almost finished, Jiang Yuan exined the safe area boundaries to Uncle Three and the others while working. Once Uncle Three understood, he nodded with satisfaction, ¡°Exactly, that¡¯s what I mean. We can¡¯t harm our own people, it¡¯s too dangerous¡­¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯ll have someone paint a green ler. Outside the green line are the areas covered by cameras; inside will be called the Green Zone, or the Council Zone. That way, discussions about the election and such won¡¯t be recorded, and we can¡­ um, eradicate unfairpetition.¡± ¡°Yes, exactly, the Council Circle!¡± Uncle Three was extremely pleased, nodding repeatedly at the others. Xiang Geng finally understood andughed, ¡°Uncle, is it your turn this year?¡± ¡°That¡¯s hard to say, it¡¯s not about whose turn it is. It¡¯s just that I n to be more proactive this year,¡± Uncle Three said with a smile, then added, ¡°Xiang Geng, you follow Jiang Yuan and learn well. He arranged and set all this up, he has a sharp mind.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± Xiang Geng nodded promptly. He realized from Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation that he was indeed a surveince system expert. Moreover, Jiang Yuan belonged to the Jiang Vige people and was inherently part of the vige¡¯s inner circle. While Xiang Geng might be somewhat rted, at the end of the day, he was not from Jiang Vige. ¡°From now on, the six of us will work in shifts, two people per shift, monitoring and patrolling like this,¡± Xiang Geng exined both to Uncle Three and the others, as well as to his colleagues about the situation. This was basically the prime function of the Jiang Vige Security Monitoring Room. Having heard this, Jiang Fuzhen said, ¡°You all have some experience with surveince, which is why we recruited you first. Later on, we will also bring a few more people from the vige and then recruit others.¡± Jiang Fuzhen looked at the other men, saying, ¡°When ites down to security, you have to be brave and ready to fight. The security work in our vige protects everyone¡¯s safety, which is something we definitely can¡¯t take lightly¡­¡± All those present nodded. Everyone was indeed wealthy and in real need of a sense of security. The next day, the video surveince instationpany sent people over to adjust the density and range of the cameras anew. After the satisfaction of the third uncle and others, the older generation of Jiang Vige people, such as the eldest and second elders, came to the monitoring room again to inspect and watch the operation of the surveince equipment, and once again encouraged the six security personnel. After that, there were dense visits and crowds of onlookers from the Jiang Vige People. Once everything settled down, another three or four days passed. Jiang Yuan and Jiang Fuzhen were elected with a high number of votes asmittee members of the security group in another vige-wide election. Together with the third uncle, the three of them were responsible for managing and maintaining the security work in the vige, including the monitoring room. Thus, the ¡°Jiang Vige Security Monitoring Room¡± officially got on track. To celebrate, Jiang specifically led a few people to re-screen the new surveince footage from the past week. They discovered one case of lost items¡ªimmediately returned. They discovered two cases of electric scooter theft¡ªeven with surveince systems in ce in both Jiang Vige and the county, thieves who lived off stealing couldn¡¯t possibly just stop on a dime. If they stopped stealing, how would they make a living? Jiang Yuan sat inside the ¡°Jiang Vige Security Monitoring Room¡± and disyed the images of the two suspects involved in the electric scooter theft cases on the public screen. ¡°What do we do now?¡± Xiang Geng, sniffing a cigarette Jiang Yuan had just tossed to him, curiously looked at the screen. He graduated from an ordinary school andter worked for a period at the Golden Shield Company in some ce. He even did a stint as a security guard for a developing property¡ªpart of the job involved watching surveince monitors. Having spent a lot of time in the monitoring room, Xiang Geng was mostly self-taught and heard that the Jiang Vige People had started a new securitypany, so he immediately came over. He had some understanding of surveince, but he wasn¡¯t really clear on how to use it to catch criminals. Jiang Yuan smiled and countered, ¡°What do you think?¡± ¡°Facial recognition?¡± Xiang Geng ventured, looking at the faces on the public screen. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, ¡°That¡¯s quite difficult. With petty crimes like these, you basically don¡¯t need to think about it.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what about fingerprints?¡± Xiang Geng still understood a bit. ¡°That¡¯s possible too, however, the thieves in the video were wearing gloves, weren¡¯t they?¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out. ¡°Er¡­ Then follow the surveince to find when they touched things without gloves on?¡± Xiang Geng racked his brain. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°You can try and see.¡± With that, Jiang Yuan sent the two images he had just taken from the public screen to the ¡°Ningtai Theft and Robbery Group.¡± Xiang Geng and others enthusiastically manipted the surveince monitors to track the whereabouts of the two petty thieves. Jiang Yuan then asked in the group: ¡°Any heroes recognize these two thieves? Take them down. Our Jiang Vige Property Management¡¯s surveince caught them stealing electric scooters. We haveplete surveince, video footage, victims, and invoices for the scooters.¡± Responses quickly came in. South Second Ring: [I¡¯ll ask around.] Li Jing from Team Six: [No need to ask, I know the one on the left. Jiang, send me the video and I¡¯ll go pick him up right now.] Xiao Wang on Property Crimes: [I¡¯ll take care of the one on the right since I¡¯m familiar with the Jiang Vige area. Jiang, is the value of the electric scooter over 3000? How long has the scooter been used?] Ningtai Jiangyuan: [The scooters are over 7000 each and have been used for about one or two years.] Xiao Wang on Property Crimes: [I was too shallow, how could Jiang Vige scooters be just 3000 yuan.] South Second Ring: [Envious, I haven¡¯t seen a thief in half a month, and to tell the truth, I kind of miss them.] Li Jing from Team Six: [That¡¯ll be even rarer in the future, cherish the ones you catch while you can.] Wei Zhenguo from Team Six: [When I entered the industry, my master said that catching thieves is a lifelong matter. Some ces might not have murder cases, others might not have arson cases, but there will always be thieves. I never thought I¡¯d actually be done with a lifetime of catching thieves.] Jiang Yuan pursed his lips in a smile, sent the video, put away his phone, and looked towards Xiang Geng and the others. They were so dizzy from trying to find people using the surveince cameras. ¡°Alright, both thieves have been imed, someone wille to catch themter. When the policee to you for the original data, just give it to them,¡± Jiang Yuan said without any intention of ridicule. ¡°You can continue following the surveince. If you can find fingerprints, that would be even better.¡± Understanding, Xiang Geng immediately nodded and said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we will definitely practice well.¡± ¡°Good, then I¡¯ll head back,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up and took a couple of steps, then remembered the tradition of Jiang Vige and added, ¡°Once the two cases are solved, everyone will get a 1000 yuan bonus. From now on, if you find and catch thieves through the surveince, there will be a 500 yuan reward per thief.¡± Xiang Geng¡¯s eyes immediately brightened. ¡°Then I won¡¯t be polite. If I catch another thief, should I send it to you?¡± ¡°Yes, just send it to me,¡± Jiang Yuan noticed Xiang Geng¡¯s high enthusiasm, which made him a bit concerned, and asked, ¡°Are you short of money?¡± ¡°Not really short, but there are lots of expenses,¡± Xiang Geng admitted uneasily. Jiang Yuan frowned, ¡°Are you married? Or do you have a girlfriend? Is the spending too extravagant?¡± ¡°Not really¡­ I¡¯m not married yet.¡± Xiang Geng hesitated for a moment before speaking softly, ¡°My girlfriend¡¯s expenses actually aren¡¯t high, it¡¯s just that the three of us sometimes like topare with each other. We have to buy three of everything, otherwise they get unhappy.¡± Jiang Yuan was silent for a few seconds before saying, ¡°If you¡¯re short of money,e directly to me, and don¡¯t bring your girlfriend into the monitoring room. None of them are allowed.¡± Chapter 323 - 323 291 Top of the List ?323: Chapter 291 Top of the List 323: Chapter 291 Top of the List ¡°Jiang Yuan is back. Oh wow, looking even more handsome.¡± ¡°Doctor Jiang, back home for a visit, huh?¡± ¡°Jiang, long time no see!¡± As Jiang Yuan walked into the courtyard of the Criminal Police Detachment, the sounds of greetings were filled with a hint of surprise. Everyone actually knew that he¡¯d been ¡°sold¡± off to Changyang City by Captain Huang. No one expected him to return so soon. While greeting everyone, Jiang Yuan made it clear, ¡°I¡¯m just back for a few days¡¯ rest.¡± ¡°Just came back temporarily.¡± ¡°Came back to see everyone.¡± Once he reached the fourth floor, where the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron was located, Jiang Yuan first visited his office to greet his mentor, Wu Jun, exchange a few words, report to the squad leader, and then immediately went to find Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was in his office pondering over matters, but upon hearing someone greeting Jiang Yuan in the corridor, he quickly jogged back to his desk, picked up his teacup, and blew on the cool tea as it fizzed like proteinuria. ¡°Captain Huang.¡± Jiang Yuan knocked and entered. ¡°Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re back.¡± Huang Qiangmin grinned broadly and set down his teacup without taking a sip, saying, ¡°How was it in Changyang City? Chief Yu didn¡¯t treat you differently, did he?¡± ¡°There was some special treatment, with all the concern and inquiries. I¡¯ve just finished a new case and thought I¡¯de back to see how everyone is doing. I have a feeling that the monitoring system back in our county is pretty much up to snuff now.¡± Huang Qiangmin was nearly moved to tears upon hearing this. The monitoring system of Ningtai County was acquired in exchange for Jiang Yuan¡¯s services. And now Jiang Yuan was back to check on the progress of the very system. Huang Qiangmin suddenly felt like a father who had married off his daughter. Huang Qiangmin: ¡°Ah¡­ ah yes, the monitoring system is indeed doing well¡­ It¡¯s good, it¡¯s good. If you¡¯re not used to living in Changyang, you cane back. I¡¯ll go to the county and exin things to Director Zhang¡­ ¡± Jiang Yuan quickly waved his hand in dismissal: ¡°That¡¯s not necessary. That¡¯s not what I meant. In fact, seeing the monitoring systeming to life makes me quite happy. Our Jiangcun Residential Area has recently installed surveince too, and it¡¯s been very effective in catching a couple of thieves.¡± ¡°Well, the county is financially strapped, so instations are slower, but overall, the progress is satisfactory, and the core parts of the surveince have been restored, working much better than before.¡± ¡°Do you have enough hands for the job?¡± ¡°Still looking for people. We¡¯re using temps for now and might recruit some auxiliary police. The rest will probably have to wait till next year¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin said, thenughed a little and added: ¡°We¡¯re nning to establish a Surveince Analysis Squad. When that happens, we could appoint you as the squad leader¡­¡± ¡°No need, no need,¡± Jiang Yuan said, waving his hand. A squad leader position only counts within the Criminal Police Detachment, equivalent to a section-level cadre. Although it¡¯s true that promotions should proceed step by step, to be frank, if Jiang Yuan wanted to advance his career, going directly to Changyang City was the fastest and best path. In his current position, Jiang Yuan felt that being a forensic doctor was the most suitable for him. Some of the requirements of this post made the role of squad leader for the Surveince Analysis Squad unsuitable for cross-position maneuvers. The reverse was not true. With more cases to handle now, Jiang Yuan had a clearer idea and n for what he wanted. A position like the squad leader of the Surveince Analysis Squad was definitely not part of it. Huang Qiangmin was a bit taken aback by Jiang Yuan¡¯s decisiveness. He got up, closed the door, and said in a lower voice, ¡°The Surveince Analysis Squad will definitely be reinforcedter on, and it might even be upgraded to an Image Reconnaissance Brigade. It¡¯s hard to say. Securing a position in advance is never a bad thing.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Even if it gets upgraded to an Image Reconnaissance Brigade, they can¡¯t possibly make me the brigade leader.¡± ¡°Well¡­ indeed, they wouldn¡¯t,¡± Huang Qiangmin admitted with an awkward smile. The leader of the Criminal Police Detachment at the county level usually starts at the division rank, and the leaders of an Image Reconnaissance Brigade would likely be simr. At that rank, in Changyang City, even releasing a police dog might rank half a level higher, but in the county, it was a very scarce position. Not to mention Huang Qiangmin, even Director Zhang couldn¡¯t necessarily promise that. Without certain qualifications, it was even less likely to be offered. So, Jiang Yuan suggested, ¡°Then it might be better to wait for the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron to be promoted to a brigade and secure me a position like squad leader of the forensic squadron. Then, appoint my mentor as deputy brigade leader.¡± Huang Qiangmin was speechless: ¡°You think quite positively. Why would the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron get promoted to a brigade?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help you get a few million worth of equipment, then you apply for somend, buildings, and other fixed assets, ask for some staffing, set up a couple ofbs, and upgrade to a Criminal Science Center. It¡¯s only natural,¡± Jiang Yuan outlined thoroughly. Huang Qiangminughed, using the same words he often scolded his subordinates with: ¡°Do you even know how much a few million is? In coins¡­ never mind, you know.¡± Suddenly, Huang Qiangmin thought the idea might actually be feasible. After all, Jiang Yuan had managed to sell a few tens of millions worth of surveince systems, and although the money came from a government project, it was still¡­ ¡°When are you getting promoted?¡± Jiang Yuan asked further. With his Image Office heading towards bing an Image Reconnaissance Brigade, Captain Huang continuing as the leader of the Criminal Police Detachment¡­ it was not impossible, just not quite in line with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s character. When it came to fighting for power, Huang Qiangmin was not weak. In fact, any head of a criminal police detachment should be a natural master of bncing power, because his job is essentially about bncing power. Huang Qiangmin smiled slightly, not concealing anything, and only whispered in a low voice, ¡°If nothing goes wrong by the end of the year, I might be promoted to deputy director. I haven¡¯t even told my wife about this; don¡¯t spread it around.¡± ¡°Yep, yep,¡± Jiang Yuan continuously nodded in agreement, ¡°That sounds about right. Actually, you should be given a position of executive deputy, in charge of criminal investigation.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with an indifferentugh toward fame and fortune. Then he added, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s possible. If nothing goes wrong by the end of the year, our Ningtai County could possibly be first inbat strength among all county-level units in the province. ording to past practices, that¡¯s at least a one-grade promotion.¡± Huang Qiangmin made a very serious expression, the kind that doesn¡¯t break into a smile. This year, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment solved all murder cases on hand, achieving a full score of 300 points. They cracked all eight major categories of serious crimes, earning another full score of 150 points. For routine maintenance and basic points of 300, they didn¡¯t lose much, getting about 220 points. Deducting a bit for discipline, finance, and other misceneous points, about 20 points in total, the rough sum came to 650 points. In previous years, the total score of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment was usually around 550 points, or just over 500 points in bad years. The criminal police detachments of other counties in Qinghe City or other police units in Ningtai County were about the same, with something like Longli County Criminal Police Detachment normally not even reaching 550 points. Therefore, 650 points were already enough for Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment to take first ce on the Qinghe City levelbat strength leaderboard. However, 650 points were far from the limit for Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. ording to regtions, solving an unsolved murder case would directly add 100 points, with no upper limit. Capturing a fugitive murder suspect added 50 points. Solving one of the eight major categories of unsolved serious crimes, based on the number of arrests, would also add between 50 to 70 points, with no upper limit. These unsolved cases, when solved, are like bonus questions in an exam. Even during difficult times, Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment would organize one or two squads to dedicate a month or two to work on these unsolved cases, hoping to solve one or two unsolved murder cases to make up for any shortfall. Since the introduction of thebat strength leaderboard, the best performance of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment in unsolved murder cases was solving two and capturing another two fugitive murder suspects, adding a bonus of 300 points. But that was the same year that Ningtai County made a blunder in current murder cases, and all 300 points were deducted. This year was different. This year, the murder cases and crime suspects pursued by Jiang Yuan, belonging to Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, as well as cases from other areas but withbat strength points shareable with Ningtai County, added up to giving them more than 1200 points. This meant Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment¡¯sbat strength was aiming for 1800 points this year, with Jiang Yuan ounting for sixty percent of thebat strength. This number was the biggest outlier ever since Shannan Province had implemented thebat strength leaderboard. In past years, the most outrageous numbers would stop just over 1000 points. Ordinary county-level criminal police detachments only had so many solvable unsolved cases; trying to solve more was beyond their existing capabilities. Only someone like Jiang Yuan, who crossed oceans and upheld a selfless spirit, could push figures to such an outrageous extent. Even the score of Ningtai County Bureau, from around 500 points in previous years, skyrocketed to above 650 points at once. If it weren¡¯t for a ceiling on the number of points for criminal investigation, Ningtai County Bureau itself had the potential to be an outlier in numbers. In such a scenario, as long as Huang Qiangmin could hold out until the end of the year, he would not only receive a promotion but alsomendations. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan, growing happier the more he looked, and as a result, promised, ¡°Fine, once I get promoted, we¡¯ll transfer people from the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron to form arger Criminal Investigation Brigade.¡± Jiang Yuan cheerfully agreed. Huang Qiangmin then pped his forehead, saying, ¡°Right, what I wanted to say earlier,e on, I¡¯ll take you to the imaging office to take a look. The surveince system just got upgraded, and it¡¯s all a mess over there; I don¡¯t even know how well it¡¯s been done.¡± As he spoke, Huang Qiangmin stood up, casually taking a cigarette from Jiang Yuan, and as he lit it, he asked, ¡°Is the case in Changyang settled? Has the suspect confessed?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, exining, ¡°They¡¯ve confessed. Actually, it all started over a taxi fare and escted from a verbal dispute. The suspect has mobility issues, and since he was going to seek help from a distant uncle, he wanted to take a taxi to appear respectable. Just before arriving at the ughterhouse, he intended to settle the taxi fare, attempting to haggle a bit in the process.¡± ¡°Unexpectedly, he failed to lower the fare, and the taxi driver mentioned that leaving the city incurred long-distance and return trip fees. The driver offered to waive the return trip fee but said there would be an additional 10% charge for long-distance. Naturally, the suspect and his spouse were unwilling to pay, and they started arguing¡­¡± ¡°Eventually, the female driver didn¡¯t want to cause any trouble and suggested waiving both the long-distance and return trip fees, settling the payment right away. But since an argument had already begun, the suspects demanded to stop the car, got out, and refused to pay the fare. To their surprise, the female driver actually chased after them.¡± ¡°The limping suspect, already insecure about his disability, only managed a few steps before the female driver easily caught up. Feeling humiliated, he pulled out a knife¡­¡± Jiang Yuan spread his hands, concluding, ¡°It was just a trivial matter that escted step by step.¡± ¡°Personality determines destiny.¡± Having seen much, Huang Qiangmin spoke naturally, ¡°It¡¯s all toomon to quarrel in daily life. If you worked in a police station, you¡¯d find people argue incessantly all day long. But it rarely esctes to murder. Those who be murderers might seem provoked, but truthfully, it¡¯s their true nature.¡± Jiang Yuan had not considered this perspective before and slowly nodded in agreement, ¡°Perhaps thinking of relying on rtives, he was already unhappy, insecure, and unsure of whaty ahead¡­¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t the murderer¡¯s wife attempt to stop him?¡± ¡°She was the main force in the argument and even assisted physically.¡± ¡°Two death sentences, well deserved,¡± Huang Qiangmin dered without a shred of sympathy. Chapter 324 - 324 292 Duck ?324: Chapter 292 Duck 324: Chapter 292 Duck Surveince Office. To amodate the new surveince system¡¯s requirements, the Surveince Office had also moved into the new building. The new building was just a wall away from the Police Dog Squad, previously rented to a supermarket, but now taken back, freshly painted, smelling strongly of new renovations and their carcinogenic fumes. The first batch to fill the slots included four big animals, one old cop, with the remaining three being contract workers or auxiliary police. Together with the original officers of old, middle, and young generations in the Surveince Office, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade Forensic Squadron Surveince Office now had seven people. Seven people were enough to work on cases independently, but given theplexity of the current surveince system, even seven people were almost not enough to keep up with monitoring alone, let alone going out to catch suspects. The tens of millions just spent on the surveince system would then be wasted. To the leaders, the former was definitely no problem¡ªovertime could solve it. Thetter, however, was truly unbearable. Huang Qiangmin entered the small surveince building with high spirits. The building, still as spacious as a supermarket, was now being gradually filled with equipment like server rooms, taking up a lot of space. Going deeper inside, one could see several people staring intensely at the surveince screens, while two others sat in front ofputers, doing who-knows-what. Huang Qiangmin was very satisfied. Nowadays, as long as subordinates were looking atputer screens, even if they were reading novels, they were considered good colleagues. Those deserving of priority crackdowns were the sorts who stared at mobile phone screens. ¡°Everyone¡¯s busy,¡± Huang Qiangmin spoke with the air of an old leader, fully embracing his role as deputy director from the inside out. ¡°Captain Huang.¡± ¡°Huang Da.¡± The surveince personnel all stood up. ¡°Sit down, sit down. I brought Jiang Yuan over for a look. Zhuang Wei, you know him, right?¡± Huang Qiangmin called out for Zhuang Wei, the original bespectacled one. Although he was one of the first officers to join the detective squadron and was known for always wearing sses, the nickname ¡°Four Eyes¡± had fallen out of use. Now, Zhuang Wei was just the oldest officer wearing sses. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, Zhuang Wei¡¯s four eyes shone with abative spirit. A few months ago, in the Surveince Office, Jiang Yuan had demonstrated exceptional ability that won over the three officers. Specifically, he took the intelligence, experience, and pride of the three men, folded them up, then folded them again, and again¡­ Before the surveince system was updated, Zhuang Wei and the others even felt they had little to do. The number of cases urring in the county town was so low, the requests for surveince footage they received in a month were less than what they used to get in three days. While work was easy, it was disturbingly idle. Now that the surveince system had been updated, Zhuang Wei and his colleagues had work to do. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s sudden appearance, he would have almost forgotten that he had sold this system with Jiang Yuan¡¯s help. ¡°Jiang Yuan is back. Is the case in Changyang City concluded?¡± Zhuang Wei felt a mix of regret and anticipation. If the lease was over, wouldn¡¯t that mean another chance to make a sale? ¡°Not yet. Just back for a few days of rest.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, his way of greeting everyone. ¡°Oh¡­ I thought so. With your great performance, Changyang City would definitely not want to let you go. ¡®Ningtai Jiangyuan, the raging mes¡¯¡ªI¡¯ve heard about your reputation even in the county town.¡± ¡°That might be because the county town is called Ningtai.¡± ¡°Hahaha¡­ No wonder you¡¯re young, good use of inte ng.¡± Zhuang Weiughed loudly for a bit, and when no one joined in, he stopped. Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Zhuang Wei, introduce this surveince system to Jiang Yuan.¡± In his pattern of actions, Jiang Yuan felt as if he were dealing with an uncle of sorts. Zhuang Wei immediately responded and courteously gave up his seat, saying, ¡°Doctor Jiang, please have a seat.¡± ¡°No need, I¡¯m not very familiar with this surveince system either. You use it, and I¡¯ll observe.¡± Jiang Yuan was courteously insistent. Zhuang Wei chuckled and, seeing that Jiang Yuan was adamant, pushed the chair aside and bent down to start operating the mouse. Even though the high-level surveince system¡¯s managers sent by the manufacturers could use various shortcuts andmand lines to perform seemingly cool moves, for Zhuang Wei, the visual icons were quite enough. ¡°Any recent cases?¡± Jiang Yuan asked directly. ¡°Uh¡­ there are some, just not many.¡± Zhuang Wei found it awkward to admit that he couldn¡¯t keep up. Jiang Yuan just nodded and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s look at the cases. There¡¯s no need to watch real-time surveince, that will probably be a task for public security in the future.¡± Zhuang Wei uttered an ¡°Oh,¡± and promptly pulled up a minor case that had happened a few days ago. In the surveince footage, a young man in his early twenties looked left and right before stealing an electric bicycle¡­ Yes, in cities nowadays, theft essentially means stealing electric bikes. Although some traditional thieves insist on stealing bags and especially smartphones, their numbers have dwindled. After all, a smartphone isn¡¯t like a wallet. A wallet is also carried on the person but it isn¡¯t under constant watch like a smartphone, which is frequently held in the hand and often pulled out for no apparent reason to check. Some might say, it¡¯s still in the pocket a lot though, isn¡¯t it? However, from a professional standpoint, stealing smartphones has be thest resort for traditional thieves ¨C it earns little, fencing the goods is troublesome, and the victims increase the workload for our thief brothers, making the cost-performance ratio of smartphone theft increasingly lower. Electric bicycles are slightly better, overall difficulty is lower, and even a rookie thief can learn to pick locks violently after a mere thirty minutes of training. ¡°Have they caught the person?¡± Jiang Yuan asked, watching the screen. ¡°Caught him. A newbie, rode straight to a second-hand store to sell it, the store owner kept an eye on our cameras while asking him to leave a phone number¡­¡± Zhuang Wei exined while bringing up another video clip. In this packaged video ready for inspection, the second-hand store owner, after checking the lock and key, noticeably nced up at the surveince camera on the street. The high-definition camera also clearly captured the changes on the store owner¡¯s face. It was an expression that withheld augh amidst a sense of helplessness, amusement, and a touch of tragic eptance toward the torrential era. ¡°Ordinary thieves wouldn¡¯t act like this,¡± Jiang Yuan, still young, had trouble grasping the pattern. Zhuang Wei, adjusting his sses, said with the sharp eyes of fifteen years ago, ¡°This kind of newbie thief is a part of the new generation of inte small-time thieves. They learn thievery online, then go hands-on to try it out themselves. They usually have no connections, they just barge in.¡± ¡°So this one barged in and failed?¡± ¡°Yeah, he¡¯ll need to be re-educated now, it depends on him. Some people, once they enter the system, learn a trade ande back out to continue their old ways,¡± Zhuang Wei said indifferently, ¡°Others spend their whole life going in and out, get caught three or five times, and just like that, their life is over.¡± Having seen so much, Zhuang Wei didn¡¯t have a shred of sympathy left for those kinds of people. Jiang Yuan sighed, ¡°I thought that with the new surveince system set up, no one would dare to be a thief anymore.¡± ¡°How could that be possible.¡± Huang Qiangminughed, also to reassure Jiang Yuan, ¡°These small-time thieves, they¡¯re like the fish in a pond. I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve seen it, but when a new pond is dug in the vige and it¡¯s not connected to any other water source, even if the water poured in is sterilized, after a while, you will still see fish appearing in the pond.¡± Jiang Yuan, stunned, nodded, ¡°It seems to be the case.¡± ¡°In such cases, there¡¯s no helping it; I¡¯ve heard some say there could be fish eggs in the soil that can survive for many years, or that there are eggs in the water that can¡¯t be killed even with sterilization. Anyway, no matter how clean we make the environment, such people will always appear. Once they appear, just deal with them,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, not wanting Jiang Yuan to think too much or to be too disappointed. Reflecting upon this, Jiang Yuan thought back to the environment of Jiang Vige in the past. Jiang Vige, located at the foot of Siningshan and cradled by Tai River, is thergest and most prominent vige in the area, with its farnd and homes. Back then, many vigers dug fish ponds. Some ponds were for cultivating freshwater fish, some for raising ms or turtles, and others for raising ducks. And in the duck ponds, it was difficult for small fish to survive. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan turned to Zhuang Wei and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s raise ducks.¡± ¡°What?¡± Everyone was confused. Jiang Yuan then exined his theory, ¡°We just need to actively seek out food and eat the small fish. As long as there are enough ducks that are willing to find their own food, the main thing is to have natural predators.¡± Zhuang Wei, catching on, pointed to his nose, ¡°So, we are the ducks?¡± ¡°You are the thieves¡¯ natural predators,¡± Jiang Yuan rified. Zhuang Wei sighed, ¡°We are the thieves¡¯ natural predators, the ducks.¡± The atmosphere in the video office became somewhat silent and eerie for a moment. After being quiet for a few seconds, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Let¡¯s catch some thieves together.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, let¡¯s catch thieves together.¡± ¡°Catch thieves, catch thieves.¡± Colleagues with a bit of social awareness started to actively break the awkward rhythm. Comrade Zhuang Wei, fifteen years ago a highly educated and socially anxious police officer with sses, suddenly remembered a video he saw that day and hummed as he worked the mouse, ¡°Let¡¯s be ducks together, be ducks together¡­¡± Chapter 325 - 325 293 Celebrate ?325: Chapter 293 Celebrate 325: Chapter 293 Celebrate Jiang Yuan followed the members of the Duck Squad and watched the video for a while, getting familiar with the new surveince system. It must be said, watching videos with a bunch of guys, especially sports videos dominated by guys, yet without a ball, what¡¯s left is pure boredom. Zhuang Wei operated the software, tracking the whereabouts of a criminal suspect from the core area of the county district until he got into a car, the entire process¡­ Jiang Yuan was super bored. It must be said that as the cases he worked on gradually increased, overly systematic cases really wore at his willpower. As Jiang Yuan watched, he couldn¡¯t help but pull out his phone and began checking it. After not checking for a long time, several groups had already umted hundreds of new messages. There was a red ¡°@¡± symbol in the ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group.¡± When Jiang Yuan clicked in, he saw that it was Li Zemin who had @¡¯ed him. As arade-in-arms who had fought alongside each other in the province-wide fingerprint offensive, Li Zemin could be considered a breath of fresh air among the provincial experts. He and Jiang Yuan smoked Zhonghua cigarettes together, shuttled through major cases selected by the province together, and hacked away in chaos, from the first day to the fifteenth, without ever stopping. Feeling nostalgic, Jiang Yuan opened the ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group.¡± Shan Nan Li Zemin: ¡°[@Jiang Yuan. Help me look at this fingerprint, a fool of a kid lifted it from the trunk¡¯s lining fabric, and I highly suspect it belongs to someone with a previous record.]¡± Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: ¡°[My Jiang is too busy, recently he¡¯s cracked five or six murder cold cases in two months, and even found time to match fingerprints.]¡± Shan Nan Li Zemin: ¡°[I always return tenfold for one favor. I¡¯m asking Jiang Yuan to do one fingerprint analysis, and I¡¯ll do ten misceneous tasks for him in return.]¡± Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: ¡°[Brother Li, aren¡¯t you boasting a bit too much?]¡± Shan Nan Li Zemin: ¡°[But I¡¯ve been keeping track. Just like the Zhonghua cigarettes I used to smoke with Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve written down how many it¡¯s been, and if I don¡¯t pay them all back, I¡¯ll let my son do it.]¡± Zhu Huangguang of Southern Mountains: ¡°[@Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua, you¡¯re a whole round older than Jiang, can you call him ¡®bro¡¯?]¡± Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: ¡°[Brother Zhu, you¡¯re right in your criticism. I shouldn¡¯t mess up the seniority just because I¡¯m in the group. Here in Changyang City, we now call him Master Jiang. Master Jiang, I won¡¯t @ you any longer.]¡± Provincial Bureau ¨C Fingerprint Post ¨C Yang Ling: ¡°[How about we call him God Jiang? If public security hears ¡®Master Jiang¡¯, it might lead to trouble.]¡± Jiang Yuan satisfyingly read another hundred or so messages, and once they started changing the subject, he forwarded the fingerprint that Li Zemin had sent to himself. Some things, if they¡¯re too difficult to obtain, can make it hard to enjoy the glory and happiness they bring. On the contrary, if they are easily obtained, the feeling of happiness in one¡¯s heart is actually stronger. It¡¯s just like people who benefited from being relocated, or the second generation of such people. Just like Jiang Yuan. ¡°Zhuang, lend me aputer for a moment. I need one with good performance,¡± Jiang Yuan said with the fingerprint in hand, feeling that the Image Investigation office was quite suited for fingerprint analysis. Here they also had a need for image processing, and the newly equippedputers used top configurations from two years ago. Zhuang Wei promptly freed up aputer for Jiang Yuan, typed in the boot password, and said with a smile, ¡°The password is the police badge number.¡± ¡°Alright. Thanks.¡± Jiang Yuan was not surprised at all. Using their police badge number for passwords was all toomon among police officers, and many only changed this bad habit after their wives inspected their phones. A simple, iplete fingerprint didn¡¯t require any particrly special software. Jiang Yuan loaded it up and began processing it with Photoshop. Of course, Photoshop actually has nothing to do with simplicity. Used well, this tool could work wonders with photos. The term PS originally referred to processing with Photoshop. However, tasks requiring experts in the past have been simplified by various software programs, so that even those without technical knowledge and money could PS a bunch of beautiful pictures. However, Photoshop¡¯s functionality had never diminished. Its wide range of applications went beyond just dealing with plump and pallidplexions. Many people simply weren¡¯t skilled at using it. Itsplex and potency made it beyond the reach of most image processors, increasing the difficulty of usage, causing many to choose software that imitated Photoshop¡¯s functions as a substitute. Another issue was the prohibitive cost of a legitimate Photoshop license. ¡°I¡¯m processing a fingerprint for a friend who needs it,¡± Jiang Yuan exined to Zhuang Wei and began working on theputer. Zhuang Wei watched with a sense of sorrow. As before, when Jiang Yuan started enhancing the images, it was quite difficult for Zhuang to understand. But then¡ªhey, Zhuang Wei suddenly realized that he sort of understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation. In fact, fingerprint image enhancement was simpler than video image enhancement. This wasn¡¯t just an issue of imageplexity, but also one of familiarity. Zhuang Wei had been a police officer for over a decade and had seen countless fingerprints. He had a clear, rich experience of what a fingerprint should look like in his mind. So watching Jiang Yuan do image enhancement, he might not have an intuitive feeling, but watching Jiang Yuan work with fingerprints, he suddenly understood the direction and goal of Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations. Knowing the destination made it easier to understand the process involved. Moreover, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t used any particrlyplex techniques. He just needed to process the fingerprint cleanly. Even saying that, he didn¡¯t need to process the entire fingerprint; just a part of it made nice and clear was enough. With his LV3+LV4 fingerprint analysis technique, even if only one-third of the fingerprint was basically clear, Jiang Yuan could get enough information¡ªassuming the fingerprint to bepared wasplete and clear. And this time, the target fingerprint belonged to a repeat offender, so rity wouldn¡¯t be too much of a concern. So, robust fingerprint analysis and powerful image enhancement go hand in hand. Anyone who has used Photoshop knows that the software¡¯s image processing also frequently involves sacrifices. If you¡¯re only dealing with a small part of an image, the difficulty is reduced. Therefore, Jiang Yuan was able to obtain a small but very clear piece of fingerprint more easily. And a consistent,plete fingerprint has, in fact, more advantages in fingerprintparison. Zhuang Wei easily discerned Jiang Yuan¡¯s strategy. At this point, as he watched Jiang Yuan enhance images further, he slowly became immersed. To speak of it, Zhuang Wei¡¯s fundamentals were not bad; he had studied a rted major in college over a decade ago. Plus, it¡¯s well-known that concepts involving digital image processing, like Fourier transforms and discrete functions, haven¡¯t changed much over the past decade or so. In other words, as long as a person is diligent, eager to learn, and strives to improve, even if a bit slow, but can understand discrete functions, handle power transformations, and master the segmented linear transformation function rtively skillfully, then even if they have to spend several times more effort learning math, they won¡¯t be easily eliminated by society. Like Zhuang Wei, he had not spent much time studying in the past decade, but this was mainly because he lost the environment conducive to learning. Most people are like that; once they start working, they begin endless output, because of pressure, responsibility, desires¡­ When everything is judged on quantity, 3000, 6000, 9000, or 12000 are only meaningful in the moment. Jiang Yuan carved out a path for Zhuang Wei. During the time when Jiang Yuan was enhancing the images, Zhuang Wei¡¯s mind suddenly recalled many pieces of knowledge he thought he had forgotten, and he even began to feel that being the leader of the Surveince Analysis Squad didn¡¯t matter much. Even being the head of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade¡ªif he could truly achieve that, as the original Four-Eyes Duck, he felt it was his duty. ¡°That should do it,¡± Jiang Yuan withdrew his hands. Zhuang Wei¡¯s mind cleared suddenly, ¡°Ah, is it done?¡± ¡°Yes, I need topare the fingerprints, might need some adjustments, but it¡¯s basically like this.¡± Jiang Yuan actually knew that Zhuang Wei was stealing techniques, but he didn¡¯t mind and even casually gave Zhuang Wei a few pointers. Some things, if you can learn, don¡¯t need to be stolen; for those that can¡¯t be learned, not even force-feeding will work. Thepleted fingerprint image was uploaded into the software and, with only one marking of feature points, the identical fingerprint was found at the 8th position. It was a very high priority on the list; as Li Zemin said, the fingerprint indeed belonged to a criminal with a prior record. It must be said, the judicial system of Shannan Province really did a good job with fingerprint registration. Jiang Yuan clicked submit and then took out his phone. Zhuang Wei was slightly dazed and asked, ¡°Did it match?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ a homicide?¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be, I didn¡¯t ask about the specifics of the case. Let me inform Brother Li,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took out his phone and dialed Li Zemin. Li Zemin almost picked up the call instantly. From the receiver, Li Zemin¡¯s amplifiedughter was heard, ¡°Hahaha, I just knew it, Jiang Yuan dealing with fingerprints is a matter of minutes. Did it match?¡± ¡°It did, although it also took nearly two hours,¡± Jiangughed, ¡°We need to be precise about the time, otherwise, you¡¯d say I was neglecting it.¡± ¡°How could that be, from the first time you passed me a cigarette, I knew I¡¯ve got a brother in you.¡± ¡°When you¡¯re in the area on a trip, I¡¯ll treat you to a cigar.¡± ¡°Damn, wait for it¡­ oh, I see the fingerprint you submitted in the backend, expert review isn¡¯t finished yet, alright, I¡¯ll go notify the arrest team.¡± Although Jiang Yuan was a provincial hall-certified fingerprint expert, able to conduct expert reviews himself, fingerprints he processed still required review by others. The domestic requirements for the uracy of fingerprint evidence are very high. After Jiang Yuan responded, he then asked, ¡°What kind of case is it?¡± ¡°Definitely a homicide. Would I dare to bother you with a small case? But it¡¯s a fresh case. Judging by the scene, looks like a repeat offender leveling up in crime¡­¡± Li Zemin quickly exined a bit before hanging up to report. Jiang Yuan put down the phone and smiled at Zhuang Wei who had clearly overheard, ¡°I really didn¡¯t expect it to be a homicide.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Zhuang Wei¡¯s smile carried a trace of helplessness, ¡°Who would have thought that a fingerprint, which a fingerprint expert couldn¡¯t decipher, and had to ask someone else forparison, would be for a homicide.¡± Buzz. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone lit up momentarily. The ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group¡± shed red again: Shan Nan Li Zemin: [Thanks to my brother Jiang Yuan for matching a fingerprint in a murder case for our city, scatter flowers!] Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [God Jiang, you¡¯re truly the best, scatter flowers!] Zhu Huangguang of Southern Mountains: [Review passed. Scatter flowers] Provincial Hall ¨C Fingerprint Desk ¨C Yang Ling: [Ningtai Jiang Yuan, a fierce ze.] Chapter 326 - 326 294 Onlookers ?326: Chapter 294: Onlookers 326: Chapter 294: Onlookers The next day. Jiang Yuan got up early and, at his own expense, bought ingredients from the market. He drove them to the police dog squad, timing it just right to make Dazhuang a LV5 standard dog meal. As Dazhuang ate, he started whimpering and crying. If you asked who in the detective brigade missed Jiang Yuan the most, Dazhuang was definitely the strongest contender. When Comrade Li Li, the captain of the police dog squad, smelled the scent of the LV5 dog meal, she couldn¡¯t help but salivate and asked, ¡°Did you only make some for Dazhuang?¡± Jiang Yuan handed her a box of braised oxtail and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, this is from our dinnerst night.¡± Li Li looked at the colorful dog meal in Dazhuang¡¯s bowl, then at the boxed meal in front of her, and sighed quietly, ¡°Thank you, it looks delicious.¡± ¡°It¡¯s freshly cooked oxtail, with a bit of wine added, which should have all evaporated by now.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, ¡°Dazhuang participated in Director Liu¡¯s rescue operation, he must have beenmended, right? Has the bonus been issued yet?¡± ¡°The bonus won¡¯te that quickly, not to mention the medal of honor, we¡¯re probably going to wait until the end of the year to get it all. But Director Liu mentioned it to Huang, and Dazhuang¡¯s meal allowance was raised to 50 yuan. Once the bonuses through, it will be raised further,¡± said Li Li, who sometimes liked to refer to Huang Qiangmin as Huang in private. Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, ¡°Director Liu knows how to repay a favor, quite a canine trait.¡± Li Li agreed, saying, ¡°It¡¯s like adding an extra chicken leg each day, although we can¡¯t feed him that much. Now we¡¯ve increased his beef intake, so he gets a big chunk of beef every other day.¡± Police dogs eat only once a day, and their meal allowance is strictly for the cost of ingredients. If we are talking about the quality of a single meal, a police dog eats better than a police officer at a security booth. Jiang Yuan watched Dazhuang finish eating, patted his head with his hand, and then said with concern, ¡°Make sure the ingredients are thoroughly cooked. If not, just cook them a bit longer.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve been learning from your methods. Right, Dazhuang?¡± Li Li also petted the dog¡¯s head. Dazhuang looked at Li Li, then at Jiang Yuan, and suddenly buried his head in Jiang Yuan¡¯s arms, whimpering again. Afterforting Dazhuang for a while, Jiang Yuan got up to leave. Dazhuang watched Jiang Yuan leave with reluctance, then turned to look at Li Li, his face full of helplessness. Jiang Yuan felt sympathy for Dazhuang but could only wave his hand goodbye. A police dog¡¯s life cannot be simply defined by eating; Li Li¡¯s efforts are not just about preparing dog meals. More importantly, it¡¯s aboutmunicating with Dazhuang, directing his training, maintaining his condition, and enhancing his abilities as much as possible. Turning a job into a career is what a police dog¡¯s life is all about. Looking back, Jiang Yuan casually strolled over to the nearby Image Building. The image office was definitely in line for an upgrade, but whether it could be advanced to the level of the big team would still take some time. Despite this, these days people had begun to frequent this ce. In a small county town, jobs are always scarce, and leadership positions are even more so. Those who aspire to such roles oftene here to look around. Zhuang Wei always ignored these matters. However, he gave Jiang Yuan an enthusiastic wee when he came over. ¡°Jiang Yuan, take a look at this. This is a suspect I locked downst night,¡± Zhuang Wei said as he booted up hisputer to show Jiang Yuan the fruits of his overnight efforts. The first generation four-eyed Zhuang Wei wasn¡¯t known for his diligence, as far as I could remember. Zhuang Wei was the kind of image investigator who would stare at hisputer screen all day but made sure to clock in and out on time. The surveince system in Ningtai County used to be simple and dull, but the image office was never short of tasks. Besides providing support for major cases, securing evidence, striving to solve various crimes, and identifying security blind spots, the image office would asionally help people find bicycles, cell phones, or bags left in taxis. This time, Zhuang Wei seemed to be taking on a challenge. The new surveince system had a wide scope and high rity, providing ample information. The manufacturers also offered a wide range of software and features. Zhuang Wei hadn¡¯t been too keen on studying these before. He¡¯d only listen and learn everyday operations when the vendors conducted training sessions. But after learning with Jiang Yuan yesterday, Zhuang Wei¡¯s perspective changed. As a result, the workload of the vendor¡¯s instructors increased sharply. If the instructor hadn¡¯t been a male with an engineering background, confident in his looks, he probably wouldn¡¯t have worked overtime to teach Zhuang Weist night. The results were quite clear. The main perpetrator of an old robbery case was directly identified by Zhuang Wei. ¡°Congrattions,¡± said Jiang Yuan, knowing what Zhuang Wei needed most was praise, so he congratted him and asked, ¡°How does it feel to confirm a suspect?¡± Zhuang Wei muttered a couple of lines with a smile like an anime protagonist, ¡°With just augh, the strong thief vanishes into thin air, and the bandits and robbers enter my cage¡­¡± ¡°Did you call Captain Huang?¡± Jiang Yuan reminded him. ¡°Oh¡­ right¡ª¡± Zhuang Wei hurriedly took out his phone. On the phone, Huang Qiangmin also seemed quite happy, ¡°An old robbery case? Not bad, not bad, I¡¯ll have the first team go arrest him right away. Wu Junhao has been so idletely he¡¯s growing fur¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin made a self-deprecatingment before going to make the call. Zhuang Wei hung up and then sat down in front of theputer to do a series of operations, murmuring, ¡°We can watch a live broadcast.¡± Theputer screen showed a row of four shops within the scope of a small neighborhood¡¯s surveince. ¡°We didn¡¯t have surveince here before, but now that it¡¯s installed, it covers the suspect¡¯s car wash,¡± Zhuang Wei said as he exined, ¡°The suspect seems to have gotten his hands on some money through robberies. I have records of three cases here, with the involved amount exceeding 100,000 yuan.¡± ¡°A serial robbery case? That counts as a major case.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed. ¡°It can¡¯tpare to a homicide.¡± Zhuang Wei was actually very pleased, especially enjoying the feeling of being a kilometer away and watching colleagues make the arrest is truly exhrating. If they could catch a murderer¡­ Zhuang Wei didn¡¯t even dare to imagine how happy Jiang Yuan would be. ¡°The suspect lives on the second floor of the car wash, probably cohabiting with a girlfriend.¡± Zhuang Wei had done his homework the night before, and now he recited the information like it was his own treasure trove: ¡°The car wash is mainly run by two people, with a part-time student or something helping out after lunch, so now is the best time to catch them.¡± As Zhuang Wei spoke, he also switched a few screens, setting them aside on the public disy. The image office here also had a wall of screens, mainly relying on numbers, with the main screen being only 80 inches, quite frugal indeed. ¡°It will probably take a while to coordinate the dispatch, I¡¯m going to grab something.¡± Zhuang Wei was gone for a quarter of an hour, and when he returned, he brought a box full of snacks and put it directly on the table. ¡°Help yourself,¡± Zhuang Wei said as he tore open a bag of chips and began to watch the empty screens with relish. He wasn¡¯t hungry at all, he just wanted the atmosphere. Another quarter hour passed and a dirty Passat drove into the car wash. Then, the figure of the suspect¡¯s girlfriend appeared on the screen. ¡°That car belongs to a detective¡¯s private vehicle, right? I think I¡¯ve seen it before,¡± Zhuang Wei said cheerfully, munching on a chip. ¡°It¡¯s from the first squad.¡± Jiang Yuan worked more with the first team and had also seen the car before. By this logic, the personnel Huang Qiangmin sent out must be from the first team, and they had already started to confirm the suspect¡¯s identity on the ground. Zhuang Wei put down his chips, picked up the mouse, and started switching surveince cameras, trying to find the position of the detectives from the first team. Zhuang Wei guessed that, if the detective team had enough manpower, they would probably send out at least two cars and seven or eight people. Then, he saw Wu Junhao crouching on top of a shop across the street through a camera on the opposite side. The shop across the street also had two floors, and was about 10 meters tall overall, with Wu Junhao crouching at the top, surrounded by nearly ten people. Zhuang Wei was shocked, blurting out, ¡°They¡¯re crouched up there, but if the suspected criminal decides to run, they won¡¯t be able to block him in time.¡± ¡°Look over here,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at another screen. Zhuang Wei switched the view and saw a dozen burly men crammed at the mouth of a small alley, craning their necks looking in the direction of the car wash. Zhuang Wei zoomed in on the feed a bit more and could see Liu Wenkai, the squad leader of the second squad, sporting a center part and surrounded by a cloud of cigarette smoke. ¡°Did two squads show up?¡± Zhuang Wei was a bit surprised. ¡°There¡¯s more over here.¡± In another surveince screen, they could see about a dozen officers from the first group, divided into teams, silently approaching the car wash. Before they could express their thoughts, a few officers from the fourth team came around from another street. ¡°Is this guy a fugitive?¡± Zhuang Wei suddenly began to doubt himself. Had he missed some crucial information in his own checks? After wondering aimlessly for a while, he simply called Liu Wenkai. The operation was clearly being led by the first team, with Wu Junhao most likely in charge on the scene. Liu Wenkai and his second team seemed more like they were there to watch. ¡°Captain Liu, you¡¯re also out for the arrest?¡± Zhuang Wei asked quickly. Liu Wenkai gave an ¡°Mhm¡± and said, ¡°I brought the rookies out to see the world. There haven¡¯t been any casestely, the neers are getting rusty.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve deployed everyone.¡± ¡°Yes, everyone¡¯scking cases,¡± Liu Wenkai said. ¡°What about the fourth team? Quite a few of them are here, too.¡± ¡°Probably the same. There haven¡¯t been any substantial casestely.¡± ¡°Alright. Even though there are many of you, keep the rookies safe.¡± Liu Wenkai ¡®mhm¡¯d twice and said, ¡°Our rookies are allowed out only when it¡¯s safe.¡± On the screen, the arrest operation was about to begin. The groups around started to converge on the car wash. ¡°Go for the arrest!¡± At Wu Junhao¡¯smand, the group that had just gone in to wash the car suddenly turned fierce. Meanwhile, outside the car wash, dozens of detectives were closing in, watching the proceedings. There had been too few cases recently, and a somewhat significant one like this had piqued everyone¡¯s interest. Chapter 327 - 327 295 Setting Off Again ?327: Chapter 295: Setting Off Again 327: Chapter 295: Setting Off Again Zhang Yingkui. Auto wash shop owner ¡¤ ring leader in a series of motorbike snatch thefts ¡¤ boyfriend ¡¤ Ningtai local ¡¤ familiar with road conditions ¡¤ motorbike enthusiast ¡¤ ten years of driving experience ¡¤ fearless ¡¤ maintains his weight ¡¤ nner of a life on the run. He had a n. Ever since he rented the wash shop, Zhang Yingkui had considered what he would do if the police ever came. Even if the police never came, if apetitor showed up, his first choice was still to run. And this time was no exception. The moment Zhang Yingkui saw a group of police officers rush in, he turned and ran without hesitation. There was a door between the first and second floor that, once pushed open, led to the back alley and then to awork of roads. If the pursuing officers were a bit slow, he could even choose to climb over the wall and escape through the neighboring yard. Zhang Yingkui turned around, and just as his hand touched the windowsill, a criminal police officer leaped out and grabbed him. ¡°So aggressive?¡± Zhang Yingkui was taken aback. He didn¡¯t know what it was like when murderers were arrested, but he had seen his predecessors, as well as himself during a previous snatch theft arrest, simply get sandwiched by officers and be taken away. He had also seen a predecessor run away extremely fast, only to be seen off by the uncles from the police station. Some middle-aged criminal police officers,cking in physical strength but with excellent judgment, would give up the chase as soon as they saw how you started to run, realizing they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch up. But this time, Zhang Yingkui was tackled with disregard for the officer¡¯s own safety. How high were those stairs? Wouldn¡¯t it hurt to fall? What if you chipped a tooth? Do you know how expensive it is to get a tooth imnt these days? Zhang Yingkui thought to himself, probably some hot-headed rookie, with that in mind, he made a professional pivot turn, his hands again finding the windowsill, his waist powering through, his body ready to spring up¡­ Pfft. Another criminal police officer lunged and brought him back down with a tackle. Pfft pfft. Two more officers dived in and pinned Zhang Yingkui down. Bam! Zhang Yingkui¡¯s fart was squeezed out of him. ¡°Keep still!¡± the officers shouted, infuriated. So many people were watching. Resisting was one thing, a bit of extra effort for a show of valiance could be tolerated, but farting was crossing the line; that was an insult. Pfft pfft pfft. More criminal police officers stormed the steps and firmly secured Zhang Yingkui; for each of his arms, there were two people holding on, making sure even if his forearm was broken, he couldn¡¯t escape. ¡°Easy, easy. Guys, you¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± Zhang Yingkui yelled frantically, aware of his past crimes but firmly believing that the police had made a mistake. He felt that with the way they were treating him, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it unless his hands were soaked in blood. Zhang Yingkui was even more worried that the police had caught the wrong person and might drag up his past while questioning him. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± an avable officer asked. Zhang Yingkui hurriedly replied, ¡°Zhang Yingkui, Zhang as in archer, I¡¯m aw-abiding citizen¡­¡± ¡°No mistake, it¡¯s you. We are from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment; this is my badge.¡± The officer who had just climbed up shed his identification at Zhang Yingkui, saying, ¡°Do you know why we¡¯re looking for you?¡± Zhang Yingkui struggled a bit but had no chance to break free, he sighed and said, ¡°Isn¡¯t this too much?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll talk properly back at the station.¡± One officer handcuffed him, and seven or eight of them escorted him out. Outside the wash shop, a police car was already waiting. In front of the police car stood seven or eight people, looking around curiously. Zhang Yingkui was pushed into the police car. At that moment, four more cars slowly pulled up to the curb. Click, click, click, click. With a session of door-opening sounds, another group of sweaty men appeared, some in in clothes, some in uniform¡ªclearly, they were all police officers. ¡°So it¡¯s this guy.¡± ¡°They got the right scent.¡± ¡°Whoa, it¡¯s been ages since I¡¯ve seen one with more than three years on him.¡± This group of people chatted as they slowly gathered around the police car holding Zhang Yingkui. Everyone moved sluggishly, akin to the feeling of water rising during a rainstorm and then slowly converging. But inside the car, handcuffed, Zhang Yingkui started to feel suffocated, especially when someone stuck their head into the car, he even felt somewhat vited. It was like being a little mouse, squatting in its hole, being peered at by a snake. Zhang Yingkui¡¯s skin crawled, and he felt increasingly that something was wrong. He couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°My name is Zhang Yingkui, Zhang as in archer, Ying as it should be, Kui as in the character for earth written from top to bottom. You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± ¡°No mistake, it¡¯s you.¡± The officer beside him said calmly. ¡°What did I do for you to arrest me like this?¡± Zhang Yingkui was trembling. ¡°What do you think?¡± The officer certainly wouldn¡¯t say just yet and just looked at Zhang Yingkui, letting him confess on his own. Zhang Yingkui felt entirely off and looked back one more time at his auto wash. His nose even started to tingle with a sense of grievance as he angrily said, ¡°I¡¯ve been clean for a year and a half, and you¡¯re still after me; this is outrageous.¡± ¡°This is unreasonable.¡± ¡°So many of you here, it seems like you¡¯re trying to frame me.¡± ¡°What in the world is going on with the jianghu.¡± The police officersughed and joked among themselves, paying little attention to Zhang Yingkui. They were all used to being busy outside, who would want to be stuck in an office, asionally red at by a superior. Now they finally had the chance to be out in the field, where the weather was pleasant, and the air was fresh; they feltfortable all over. As for Zhang Yingkui, this matter had nothing to do with him. ¡­ The Ningtai County Bureau Criminal Police Brigade Image Building. Zhuang Wei, the original Four-Eye, was dumbfounded as he watched the scene on the screen that resembled zombies surrounding a car, and he couldn¡¯t help but ask Jiang Yuan, ¡°Is this how you all arrest people now?¡± Jiang Yuan reflected on the arrests he had been part of and slowly nodded, ¡°Basically, yes, it¡¯s like that. Not so exaggerated, but we do have quite a number of officers.¡± A new detective transferred over nced at the two of them, feeling a bit surprised, and thought to himself: Where would we have such abundant police resources on a normal day? You probably haven¡¯t seen many cases¡­ Just as he was thinking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. ¡°Let me take this call,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he checked the caller ID and answered, ¡°Chief Yu¡­¡± Calling someone ¡°Chief¡± usually means that person is a division chief. Several people immediately thought about the legend of Jiang Yuan going undercover and they all perked up their ears, though they pretended to be nonchnt, each doing their own work. Yu Wenshu started the call with an affectionate shout for Jiang Yuan, followed by, ¡°We had a live case today. The victim was a cashier at a construction site. There were no cameras on site, and more than a hundred thousand yuan went missing. People at the construction site all have alibis, so we suspect it was an outsider whomitted the robbery and murder¡­ I¡¯d like to invite you over to take a look.¡± There are two kinds of robbery cases, one is particrly easy to solve¡ªwhere the perpetrator has weak counter-investigative abilities, some even leaving their ID card or phone behind at the scene¡ªnot as a joke, but as an example. The other kind of robbery case is particrly difficult to crack. This type¡ªwhere water has no constant shape and soldiers have no constant form, the difficulty usually lies in the randomness. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°Then I¡¯ll head over to Changyang now. However, I might need to inform Huang Da.¡± ¡°Mm¡­ I¡¯ve already spoken to him. I¡¯ve asked them to preserve the crime scene here.¡± ¡°All right, I¡¯m setting off right away.¡± Jiang Yuan put down his phone and turned to Zhuang Wei with a smile, ¡°Well, I need to get busy again. Thanks for everyone¡¯s hard work.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the one working hard.¡± Zhuang Wei looked at Jiang Yuan as if he were a mercenary heading to battle, selling his services to bring back funds and resources to his homnd. Jiang Yuan waved his hand and walked out, his long legs carrying him out of the building in just a few strides. Exiting the Image Building, he re-entered the old building of the Criminal Police Brigade. Huang Qiangmin had already prepared a pot of fine tea in his office and called Jiang Yuan over to have some, adding, ¡°This tea was given to me by an oldrade in arms; let¡¯s see how you Jiang Vige People like it.¡± ¡°Our Jiang Vige used to produce tea, actually.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled as he sat down, took a few sips, then passed a cigarette to Huang Qiangmin, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll bring you some tea to try next time.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother with anything too expensive; it¡¯s not necessary.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and then asked, ¡°You¡¯ve discussed it with Chief Yu? How long will I be away this time?¡± ¡°At most a month and a half. You need to be back by November at thetest.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Huang Qiangmin was quite straightforward, ¡°We¡¯ve done extremely well this year; our performance indicators are at the forefront of the province. On the strength ranking list, not only are we number one in the province among units of the same level, but we may also break records. You need toe back for thest month to secure our victory.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed without much thought, ¡°Okay.¡± Huang Qiangmin heaved a sigh of relief; he was worried Jiang Yuan might be awkward about it. Often, the more technically skilled individuals were prone to feeling disgruntled at such moments. ¡°Then I¡¯ll head straight to Changyang.¡± Jiang Yuan drank his tea, stood up, and said. ¡°All right, I won¡¯t see you out. Oh, and go see your mentor first,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, coughing twice and adding, ¡°Try not to make too much of amotion.¡± Jiang Yuan, slightly puzzled, went upstairs to the forensic doctor¡¯s office, only to see Wu Jun busy counting on his fingers. ¡°Master,¡± Jiang Yuan called out. ¡°Oh, you startled me. Are you heading to Changyang again?¡± Wu Jun asked. ¡°Yes. They¡¯re urging me over; the scene is still preserved.¡± ¡°Then hurry up. I¡¯ve prepared a red egg for you, one that can equal seven. Pay homage to Lord Guan, and the joss paper is under the cab¡ªtake it yourself to burn. By the way, do you want to drink the ash from the burnt talisman papers? I burned them over a metallic with an alcoholmp, so it¡¯s quite clean. If you¡¯re not driving, you can use the ash to brew in alcohol, healthier than all that salmon you eat.¡± Jiang Yuan went through the motions of worshipping Guan Gong, burning joss paper, then, while peeling the egg, said, ¡°I¡¯ll pass on the ash, I¡¯ll just have the egg then head out.¡± ¡°Tch, tch, tch. Just eat and then leave, that¡¯s fine. Be careful if you¡¯re driving, burn the talisman paper, I¡¯ll have a sip for you,¡± Wu Jun waved his hand dismissively. Jiang Yuan was a bit puzzled, ¡°Does it help if you drink for me?¡± ¡°How could it not? Essentially, it¡¯s all about a contract, right? If olddies could pray for their children¡¯s safety, I can pray for my disciple¡¯s well-being,¡± exined Wu Jun, pouring himself a bottle of chilled ck tea into a cup, ¡°It¡¯s not good to mix with alcohol at work, so I¡¯ll pair it with some juice.¡± Jiang Yuan felt a bit embarrassed, so he took half a cup to try it, then waved his hand and joked, ¡°Next time, I¡¯ll just mix it into chili sauce and eat it with steamed buns.¡± He made a joke, but Wu Jun seriously considered the idea. Chapter 328 - 328 296 Current Case ?328: Chapter 296 Current Case 328: Chapter 296 Current Case Spring Lakeside Greening Landscape Project construction site. Inside a blue color-coated steel sheet enclosure, an acrylic boardwalk led straight into the steel house from the entrance. As soon as Jiang Yuan saw this boardwalk, he knew the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was determined to seed. Usually, it would suffice to extend the boardwalk from the entrance to the side of the body. Moreover, it was often a temporary measure, removed as soon as evidence collection nearly ended. In fact, units that used boardwalks were already quite meticulous. Not to mention, this one was made of transparent acrylic. For example, the boardwalks at Ningtai County Bureau were made of steel and were even scarce in number; crime scene officers often disliked bringing them. They were heavy and cumbersome to move, and sometimes, colleagues wouldn¡¯t cooperate, making it all for naught even if one put in the effort. In minor situations, people would simply walk directly into the crime scene. Boardwalks were only used when there were excessive bloodstains on the ground or for simr reasons. Go back 10 years, and there were no metal boardwalks to use¡ªtrampling over the crime scene was often unavoidable. For the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, the situation wasn¡¯t much different. Only when orders came from above would they deploy hundreds of boardwalks to form a path. Otherwise, even in the face of a proposal to a girlfriend, they wouldn¡¯t waste their time and energy like this. Yu Wenshu stood at the start of the boardwalk. He was the officer in charge of the scene, and his work was quite burdensome. The rank of the officer in charge had no requirements for umted or dormant cases, but for current ones, it did. Seeing Jiang Yuan approaching, Yu Wenshu¡¯s face softened. He smiled, walked two steps, and greeted, ¡°Was the drive here smooth? You didn¡¯t speed, did you?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I was caught,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Yu Wenshu: ¡°Even if you were, it¡¯s no big deal. Come to meter, and I¡¯ll take care of it for you. Um, this is the scene, there are footprints on the ground, bloodstains in the second-floor room; I immediately thought of you. However, the body has already been removed.¡± Jiang Yuan listened and nodded, first looking toward the footprints mentioned by Yu Wenshu¡­ In front of him, there were about a thousand footprints¡­ This side was a construction site; not only was the ground unhardened, but there was also a great deal of loose soil. With electrostatic equipment, it was likely that even more footprints could be identified. Jiang Yuan felt no ripples in his heart and had no desire to start with the footprints. Collecting these footprints would exhaust thirty oxen. ¡°Let¡¯s go see the body first.¡± Jiang Yuan thought it would be better to start by finding the killer¡¯s footprints in the room, then look at the direction of the footprints. However, once footprints were found in the room, the outside ones would lose much significance, likely only indicating a direction of escape. Apart from that, the room would most likely provide simr information as the outside. Of course, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to borate. He simply stepped onto the boardwalk and headed toward the scene. Yu Wenshu followed him directly. Huang Qiangmin faced the pressure of the performance rankings, and so did Yu Wenshu. For the criminal police detachment of a provincial capital city,gging behind in the rankings was nearly uneptable. They had to fight not just to avoidst ce, but to be the best. Shannan Province operated in what was known as a capital city ¡®blood-sucking mode.¡¯ Not only did it have advantages in economics, culture, education, and policy, but it also had requirements in terms of public safety, health, and other areas. If the relevant leaders couldn¡¯t meet these requirements, the solution was simple. The leader of the brother unit from another prefecture-level city who ranked first, or continuously maintained first ce, could potentially be transferred to the capital to take over your role. Changyang City was in good shape this year. Rarely had the criminal police detachment managed to solve every current and homicide case. But if today¡¯s case couldn¡¯t be solved, Yu Wenshu would feel the pressure mount. The body was on the second floor of a color-coated steel house. As the main structural building, located thirty to forty meters from the construction site¡¯s gate, the house had six rooms both downstairs and upstairs, all rtivelyrge and styled like spacious offices. The scene was simr; an office desk in the middle, arge safe in the corner, and the body, as seen in the photos, was at the office desk, killed by blunt force trauma to the head. The so-called bloodstains¡­ were just a small puddle by the desk. It appeared to have formed slowly so that the killer didn¡¯t step in the blood at all by the time they left. Jiang Yuan quietly nced at Yu Wenshu. His mention of bloodstains and footprints seemed somewhat unreliable. ¡°The evidence is weak, but current cases should be easier to solve than umted ones,¡± Yu Wenshu rationalized. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°No surveince, no eyewitnesses?¡± ¡°None,¡± Yu Wenshu understood what Jiang Yuan meant and said, ¡°This construction site was almost at a halt. The remainingborers were over there in the color-coated steel houses, gambling; none came out. They¡¯ve been questioned already, no loopholes for now.¡± Whether a person has an alibi depends not only on the credibility of their alibi but also on their demeanor during questioning. Most people¡¯s psychological quality actually isn¡¯t up to par; those who can lie to their parents or girlfriends without batting an eye can hardly keep from cracking a smile during apany¡¯s annual meeting while performing a sketch, let alone conceal the truth. Moreover, when faced with an interrogation by criminal police, the behavior of a normal person is certainly not emotionless, forcibly suppressing their feelings. Therefore, most people¡¯s alibis are easily debunked during the interrogation process by the police. This is also one of the reasons why criminal investigators insist on conducting face-to-face interviews, rather than over the phone. The false sense of security thates from a phone call is exactly what should not be present during an inquiry. A few migrant workers without any special background, as long as their daughters aren¡¯t living in kennels, shouldn¡¯t be able to evade the probing questions of the criminal police¡ªthose several individuals on the construction site are definitely prime suspects, they won¡¯t just be let off with a couple of questions. Jiang Yuan looked around once more, then asked, ¡°The murder weapon hasn¡¯t been found either?¡± ¡°No, the murder weapon is suspected to be a rod-like object such as a steel reinforcement picked up from the construction site, and it was taken away,¡± Yu Wenshu answered with a hint of helplessness. ¡°We¡¯re currently putting together a list, looking at people who have had disputes with the construction site, and former employees, but there are quite a lot of them. Moreover, the list is iplete. If it¡¯s an external personmitting robbery and murder, this case will be quite difficult to crack.¡± If the rtionships involved were straightforward, the case would be easier to handle, falling into the category of robbery cases that are easier to crack, where personal connections can be pursued to solve the crime. But if not, the workload for the case bes muchrger. With every additionalyer in the web of rtionships, the workload multiplies by ten. For example, cases involving an inside man often take a very long time to crack. It¡¯s not that they are particrly difficult to investigate, but finding the insider and then exploring theirwork of rtionships can be very time-consuming. Jiang Yuan first ascertained the situation outside the scene, then roughly understood Yu Wenshu¡¯s thoughts. Now, the best evidence was the crime scene and the body itself. As for fingerprints and footprints, it wasn¡¯t that there were none, but that there were too many, making it impossible to determine which were useful. ¡°Then I¡¯ll take a look at the crime scene first,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Has this area been swept already?¡± ¡°Only the most basic evidence was collected,¡± Yu Wenshu replied. Jiang Yuan cut directly to the core, ¡°Nothing of importance?¡± ¡°No,¡± Yu Wenshu shook his head slightly. In real criminal cases, sweeping a crime scene is not about documenting every single detail meticulously. It¡¯s hierarchical. Normally, the procedure starts with sweeping the obvious, such as bloody handprints or footprints, collecting blood samples, and removing the body, and so on. Next, areas showing signs of disturbance are swept, such as door handles, the victim¡¯s neck, window frames, stiff toilet paper, and the like. If any information about the perpetrator is found among these two categories, the crime scene investigation has essentially reached its conclusion and would not proceed further. For instance, the victim¡¯s sweater may have fingerprints, but if there are bloody handprints present, there¡¯s no need to try and lift prints from that part. Even when there¡¯s too much information at a crime scene, not all evidence will be collected. For example, taking the entire sweat-drenched bedsheet from a crime scene is often met with the harshest criticism. As for the current situation, fingerprints and DNA were everywhere at the scene, but there were no definite indications to point to the perpetrator¡¯s DNA. ¡°I¡¯ll call a couple of people to help out,¡± Yu Wenshu thought it was about time and went outside to call for assistance, then left the crime scene. Shortly after, two police officers arrived with a case and other equipment. ¡°Jiang, great to finally meet you, I¡¯m He Guohua from the Shuidong District trace examination team.¡± The first person toe in was He Guohua, who called Jiang, ¡°God Jiang¡± and ¡°Master Jiang¡± in the group chat. He Guohua appeared to be in his thirties, with a small beard on his chin, wearing sses, slightly overweight, and had a very paleplexion. Jiang Yuan was momentarily stunned as he matched the real person with the He Guohua from the group chat. ¡°Just call me Jiang Yuan,¡± Jiang Yuan was cordial in person. He thought about pulling out a cigarette but, considering that they were at the crime scene, he refrained. ¡°This is Xiao Bo, Wang Bo, my apprentice,¡± He Guohua then introduced the younger man following him, who was carrying two cases. Wang Bo also had an impressive appearance. Needless to say, those who have been admitted to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment in recent years are all a group of guys whoe to disrupt the paradigm. But once they join the force, they truly enter a new dimension and their talents aren¡¯t as conspicuous. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°You¡¯ve used the examination light here, right?¡± ¡°We did, and we also collected some fingerprints, but none seem promising,¡± He Guohua replied directly while Wang Bo looked on curiously. Jiang Yuan gave a hum of acknowledgment and stood in the middle of the room, falling into a contemtive state. He was trying to reconstruct the crime scene. Any crime scene investigation actually has the requirement to reconstruct the crime scene, although it¡¯s not as direct andprehensive as Bloodstain Analysis. For Jiang Yuan, with his level 4 Crime Scene Investigation skillsbined with level 5 Bloodstain Analysis, even if there were few bloodstains at the scene, he would still be able to glean some useful information. Chapter 329 - 329 297 Subtle Details ?329: Chapter 297 Subtle Details 329: Chapter 297 Subtle Details Reconstructing the crime scene can essentially be understood as me envisioning the crime. In simple terms, I consider where I would enter the scene, whether through the main door, the roof, a window, or the floor¡ªor perhaps as a medieval assassin, by moving up through the dry toilet. Not just the means of entry, but the actions taken within the scene, and the manner and location of the exit, can all be hypothesized. If there is ample blood for Bloodstain Analysis, Jiang could reconstruct the scene very nicely, because the blood could simultaneously show the positions, velocities, and elerations of both the perpetrator and the victim. Frankly, the skill of Bloodstain Analysis is sometimes more useful than fitting a few trackers on the murderer or even more specific and real than what cameras capture. Of course, that¡¯s in the best-case scenario. The average criminal investigator would do well just to manage the beginning and end, without delving too much into the actual act of murder and its steps in-between¡ªthat part could be left to the forensic doctor. Well, it ends up being Jiang¡¯s job in the end. As for the current scene, the blood is not plentiful, hence there are fewer clues. But for Jiang, the limited bloodstains still reveal a lot, such as the perpetrator¡¯s route. He most likely entered through the door and within two or three steps, began to elerate, striking down the cashier with a single blow before striking again. From these decisive actions alone, the culprit must have been very determined, probably knowing that there was money here, perhaps even having premeditated the act. Jiang then followed the direction of the blood spray, deducing that the perpetrator must have gathered up the money wielding the weapon, and continued forward¡­ Aheady the position of the window. Jiang remained standing and turned his head to ask He Guohua, ¡°How did you determine the perpetrator¡¯s route, from where to where?¡± He Guohua had been waiting somewhat impatiently. Hearing such a basic question, he replied casually, ¡°Came in through this door, killed the cashier, took the money, and then ran out?¡± His tone was tentative. After all, there were not many signs in the room that gave away the perpetrator¡¯s route. Whether it is the capability to investigate a crime scene or the ability to analyze bloodstains, there is a clear proficiency gap between them. Jiang didn¡¯t y coy and stated directly, ¡°The culprit jumped out through the window.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± He Guohua paused, walked forward two steps, then suddenly stopped, turned back to the door, and brought back several transparent acrylic stools, cing them near the window before he stepped up to look below. ¡°Is this footprint the one where the culpritnded?¡± He Guohua asked with a bit of excitement. The issue now wasn¡¯t theck of footprints; it was that there were too many to identify. Confirming which one belonged to the culprit would be a significant breakthrough. Wang Bo, who had always looked up to his master, didn¡¯t let his surprise overshadow his independent spirit as he asked, ¡°Master, shouldn¡¯t we first determine the culprit¡¯s route, why he would jump out the window.¡± ¡°Master Jiang said he jumped out the window,¡± He Guohua red at his disciple and then leaned out, ¡°Do you see that footprint? Doesn¡¯t it look like it¡¯s from jumping down? Would a normal person jump down from the second floor?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible for someone to jump out of a first-floor window¡­¡± ¡°The first-floor windows have bars welded to them. What have you been looking at all this time if not observing?¡± He Guohua scolded his disciple with a turn of his head. Xiao Bo wanted to question Jiang¡¯s assertion, but he hadn¡¯t yet developed the professional skills and was already dimensionally downyed by He Guohua. Wang Bo tried to struggle, adding, ¡°But Doctor Jiang also didn¡¯t look downstairs just now¡­¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that further prove how incredible Master Jiang is?¡± He Guohua was fully in his element now, looking at Wang Bo as if he were seeing an opposing gamer. Wang Bo shrank his neck and muttered, ¡°Why not take the obvious path? No one noticed him; why didn¡¯t he use the door?¡± That was precisely the difficult question. He Guohua looked directly at Jiang. Jiang spread his hands, ¡°I can¡¯t say for sure yet, but based on the evidence at the scene, this is what the perpetrator did.¡± There could be many reasons for such behavior, if one were to specte. Perhaps the culprit was a parkour enthusiast who didn¡¯t choose the obvious path; or maybe the culprit was excited and simply jumped; or perhaps he wanted to use this method to confuse the investigation; or maybe there wasn¡¯t just one perpetrator, and someone decided to double-cross at thest moment¡­ Without evidence to support these theories, Jiang didn¡¯t want to guess just yet. His goal was to solve the case, not to convince young people like Wang Bo, who could be too troublesome¡ªif necessary, Jiang would simply rece him. He Guohua was much more amenable, following Jiang¡¯s train of thought and saying, ¡°In that case, we can initially assume the culprit is young. Broadening the range to those in theirte thirties to forties, normally, they wouldn¡¯t choose the window as an escape route.¡± ¡°He¡¯s probably around thirty,¡± Jiang said, also approaching the window. Looking down from above at the footprints on the ground, he made an assessment, ¡°First, collect the footprints below, thene back up to find the corresponding ones.¡± The footprints downstairs were clearly fromnding; correspondingly, even though there were no footprints visible on the floor upstairs, collection would still leave traces, albeit possibly requiring some instrumental assistance. Thinking of Jiang¡¯s proficiency in footprint identification, He Guohua¡¯s hope red up, and he grabbed the investigation kit and left. It was best to collect footprints as quickly as possible, especially outdoor ones that could easily be obliterated by a gust of wind or a rainstorm. Nowadays, homicide cases tend to be easier to solve, and actually, there¡¯s a reason for that: perpetrators generally prefer tomit their crimes indoors. Statistically, the mostmon crime scenes are still in their own homes. This leads to a situation where it¡¯s particrly difficult to eliminate evidence of the crime. Take bloodstains for an example¡ªresidual bloodstains indoors can remain even after ten years. This is nothing like the outdoors, where evidence can be obliterated within a few months, or even a few weeks. Of course, the abundance of outdoor surveince cameras is the primary reason people make this choice. In Changyang City, there is specialized electrostatic lifter for extracting footprints, which is actually a palm-sized device with several knobs that require slight adjustments. When He Guohua arrived downstairs, he first took several photos of the footprints, then he took out the electrostatic lifter, ced it aside, and then took out a piece of insting paper and covered it over the footprints. The insting paper was ck, somewhat reminiscent of old-fashioned carbon paper. It seemed to be filled with static electricity, shivering and restless in its movements. After cing the insting paper, He Guohua attached two corners of the electrostatic lifter to the insting paper, grounded one foot, turned on the switch of the device, and the insting paper immediately clung to the ground. ¡°Roller,¡± He Guohua extended his hand, and his junior assistant immediately passed it to him. He Guohua held the roller and gently pushed it across the insting paper a few times, exining to the assistant, ¡°Just smooth it out, don¡¯t apply too much force, we¡¯ll need to use adhesiveter.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Wang Bo nodded. He Guohua handed the roller back to the assistant and gently peeled off the insting paper. Using the angle of the light, he took a nce and saw the footprint had been clearly copied onto the insting paper. He Guohua collected the insting paper into a box to be processed back in theb. Then, He Guohua took out the adhesive. The adhesive was a ck sticky sheet, the size of a standard A4 paper, looking simr to a sticky mousetrap, with a shiny ck surface. The adhesive was even simpler to use, just directly covering the footprint. Simrly, one would roll it once with the roller, or even press it down with hands, and then this could be directly peeled off. However, after processing with adhesive, the footprint on the ground would be damaged, which is why the electrostatic process is done first, followed by the adhesive. Back upstairs at the crime scene, He Guohua continued by turning on the investigative light, adjusting the light source, and scanning the footprints on the floor. Even if the footprints were invisible to the naked eye, they became distinctly visible once illuminated by the investigative light. The investigative lights had variable wavelengths; if it was really invisible, one could use wavelength adjustment, but typically, white light was sufficient. He Guohua continued collecting footprints. Looking up, he saw Jiang Yuan staring out the window. ¡°Jiang, I¡¯ve finished scanning,¡± He Guohua reported. ¡°Hmm¡­ Did you scan the window frame? Did you get any fingerprints?¡± Jiang Yuan gestured with his hand. Window frames made of stic are inherently difficult for fingerprint retrieval. He Guohuaughed, ¡°We did retrieve fingerprints, not sure if they belong to the perpetrator though.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s take them again,¡± Jiang Yuan said and asked for the investigative kit, starting to dust the area. He Guohua hesitated, ¡°Do you think the perpetrator touched this window frame?¡± ¡°You could try to simte it¡ªholding a weapon in one hand, jumping out the window. Can you avoid touching the window frame?¡± Jiang Yuan gestured. He Guohua also gestured, murmuring to himself, ¡°That¡¯s really¡­¡± Wang Bo said softly, ¡°I could leap two meters away from the window, jumping with both feet off the ground, go through the window, and thennd on my legs¡­¡± Wang Bo didn¡¯t just describe it; he even started moving his body, his feet swaying back and forth on the nk but not nting. Exasperated, He Guohua told Jiang, ¡°He minored in gymnastics. A national level athlete.¡± Jiang could only click his tongue and said, ¡°Thatpetitive, huh¡­ If he¡¯s national level, let him go get some printer toner.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ okay. For dusting fingerprints?¡± He Guohua asked, and without waiting for a response, he dispatched Wang Bo. In the blink of an eye, Wang Bo was already running under the sun. Jiang nodded and said, ¡°For this type of stic material, there¡¯s a good chance we won¡¯t get any fingerprints, but we can mix printer toner with maic powder for dusting.¡± As Jiang shared his tips, He Guohua quickly took notes. Crime scene investigation is meticulous work, and what truly gets tested are these little details. Chapter 330 - 330 298 Ink Powder ?330: Chapter 298 Ink Powder 330: Chapter 298 Ink Powder Wang Bo¡¯s running under the sunlight had already caught the attention of Yu Wenshu. The sound of rapid footsteps immediately made Comrade Yu Wenshu realize that there were fruitful results from the crime scene investigation. Yu Wenshu was originally downstairs organizing personnel, attempting to follow the ountant¡¯s social connections to find leads¡ªjust in case it was the ountant himself who had hit someone else¡¯s child, pushed over someone else¡¯s elder, or stolen someone else¡¯s food delivery, which could have triggered the culprit¡¯s violent nature, then the case would be solved directly. However, Yu Wenshu¡¯s inclination was still more towards a robbery-homicide, so, sensing a breakthrough from Jiang Yuan, he immediately set aside other matters and returned to the scene. He Guohua was holding a crime scene examination light, changing wavelengths while searching for fingerprints on a window frame. Upon seeing this, Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit excited and asked, ¡°Could we find the murderer¡¯s fingerprints?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Jiang Yuan casually replied. Yu Wenshu immediately widened his eyes, ¡°Eh, can we find them? Are you sure?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible. We don¡¯t know yet; Xiao Bo has gone to get something,¡± Jiang Yuan had no more to say and could only reply like this. Yu Wenshu hummed in agreement twice, quickly trying to suppress his slightly excited emotions. Being the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, he was originally a master at controlling emotions, but this case was indeed wearing on him. Despite the case urring just today, from the time the crime happened until now, Yu Wenshu hadn¡¯t had a moment¡¯s rest, and the entire Criminal Police Brigade had been busy as well. When a robbery-murder case faced difficulties, it truly becameplicated. Watching the case slip further down with each step, Yu Wenshu¡¯s anxiety multiplied. Most of all, as the year wasing to an end and considering the efforts devoted by everyone for such a long time, if this current homicide were to nullify their achievements, Yu Wenshu, as the leader, felt a sense of guilt. Yet the case at hand was slippery and evasive. Based on Yu Wenshu¡¯s experience, this case bore the hallmarks of a habitual offender specializing in itinerant crime. Construction sites were ces where all sorts of people mixed together. With the currentbor market, migrant workers usually demanded daily wages, and there wasn¡¯t much requirement for identification documents such as ID cards. Within this kind of environment, it was inevitable that fugitives would be present. Even without a fugitive personally working on the site, by simply chatting with some workers, he could learn where there was recent hiring, where payments were being made. And their chatting spots could be temporary dorms where roommates were strangers to each other or just a random meal on the street among people who just met. That meant this lead might very well get nowhere. If pursuing the line of the murderer¡¯s source of information led nowhere, Yu Wenshu¡¯s second thought was to follow the pattern of the murderer¡¯s modus operandi. Yu Wenshu was already arranging this work below. With a strong physique and familiarity with construction sites, robbing construction sites of cash and the like were very much in keeping with the modus operandi of a fugitive. If it was a pattern, it might have been repeatedly used. However, in the past, there might not have been any fatalities or even serious injuries, which led to various ces treating them as isted incidents. But Yu Wenshu knew very well that even if his conjectures could be verified, the subsequent investigative process would still beplex. The very reason a fugitive wasbeled as such was at least because they had sessfully eluded capture for some time. These criminals, gradually adapting to a fugitive¡¯s life, are not easy to identify or arrest. If Jiang Yuan could find prints, then from the perspective of investigative pressure, solving the case would turn into a manhunt, at least preserving the current case¡¯s 300 points. On the other hand, conducting a manhunt in these circumstances is a bit easier than solving the case. Yu Wenshu was so eager to have Jiang Yuan over, partly because he wanted to trap the person within Changyang City. For a case that had just urred today, it was unlikely for the murderer to have dealt with the cash amounting to over a hundred thousand yuan already, so the probability of them carrying it out of the city was rtively low. But after today, he could very likely find an appropriate means of transportation or a way to liquidate the funds. Yu Wenshu had originally had high expectations for Jiang Yuan¡¯s on-site investigation capabilities. Unable to continue waiting, he simply stood above and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the problem with this window?¡± ¡°The murderer jumped out the window,¡± Jiang Yuan observed, then repeated what he had said earlier to Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu was stunned, ¡°So, you¡¯re saying you¡¯ve already identified the murderer¡¯s footprints?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°That¡¯s good news. Uh, send me a photo of the footprints. I¡¯ll have someone look for the distribution of the murderer¡¯s footprints below, immediately,¡± Yu Wenshu, who was quite clever, immediately found a way to utilize the footprints. Now it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s turn to p his forehead, ¡°I forgot. He Guohua, send a copy to Chief Yu.¡± The strategy proposed by Yu Wenshu was indeed useful. Currently, there were many footprints within the construction site, including those of the murderer and everyone going in and out; it was almost impossible not to leave footprints. The reason they couldn¡¯t be used was that there were too many footprints, and more importantly, they didn¡¯t know what the murderer¡¯s footprints looked like. Now that they knew, the forensic and crime scene investigators in Changyang City could find all such footprints on the construction site and see from where the murderer entered and exited the site. Although the value of the construction site as a crime scene was lesspared to the one inside the room, if they could ascertain the murderer¡¯s route, it would still push the case forward significantly. If the murderer had been to the room where the workers yed cards, then the possibility of an inside job could be considered. If the murderer¡¯s route was straightforward, then the likelihood of a premeditated act could be contemted, and so on¡­ He Guohua swiftly sent the photos of the footprints to Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu immediately got to work and asked, ¡°Can you tell anything from the footprints?¡± ¡°The murderer is about 30, fairly light, most likely less than 130 pounds, around 165 centimeters tall, male¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had already closely examined the footprints earlier and now directly reported his conclusions. Yu Wenshu immediately repeated Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment to his subordinates. Around the same time, Wang Bo also ran back. ¡°I dismantled an ink cartridge from a printer,¡± Wang Bo said as he handed Jiang Yuan a bottle containing nearly half a bottle of printer toner, and asked, ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Now we mix the toner with maic powder and try to develop the prints. A feather brush would be best,¡± Jiang Yuan gave a detailed n and said, ¡°When the murderer jumped out the window, there¡¯s a very high chance he used his hands to support himself, the contact was brief and with a lot of force, that kind of fingerprint might have been missed, and actually, it¡¯s not easy to develop.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, He Guohua nodded vigorously. There were too many fingerprints here; no one could collect them all. It was only after highlighting the distinctiveness of the fingerprints that the clues could be connected. The work that the men were doing now was proving its value. For ordinary fingerprints, revealing them directly was straightforward with maic powder. But it was the unremarkable prints that were of no use. Jiang Yuan and He Guohua were like two old yboys, dismissing the easily revealed prints with just a photograph. Only after Jiang Yuan used the maic powder and printer toner with a feather brush, gently dabbing with the tip of the brush repeatedly on the windowsill, did the shyly emerging fingerprints be highly regarded by the two men. ¡°I¡¯llpare them first,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he received the prints and began to analyze the minutiae on the spot. He Guohua started wrapping up the work. Yu Wenshu was bursting with excitement, yet didn¡¯t dare to disturb Jiang Yuan. He couldn¡¯t help but think that if this was purely a case of robbery-murder, the sentence would be heavier than that of a standard homicide, with death penalty followed by immediate execution being likely. Meaning, if this case were solved and the murderer caught, his life would essentially be on a countdown. Ningtai Jiangyuan, with his fierce and raging momentum. Indeed, it was so. Chapter 331 - 331 299 Short Hair with a Scar ?331: Chapter 299: Short Hair with a Scar 331: Chapter 299: Short Hair with a Scar Everyone had tasks at hand, except for Wang Bo. With no work to do or assigned tasks, he silently took out his phone, snapped a few photos, and sent them to the work group chat. In the work group, forensic and on-site technical staff had been dying of curiosity. Seeing new messages, especially about a newly discovered fingerprint, they were instantly shocked. Fingerprints meant there was a possibility of directly identifying the murderer. It was bewildering to everyone how such crucial evidence could have gone unnoticed and then been found. Li Yuanliang: ¡°The fingerprint Jiang Yuan found? Where was it? Somewhere we missed scanning? @Wang Bo¡± Wang Bo then sent another photo showing the position of the fingerprint. It was at the bottom of the window frame, which should be a fairly obvious location. Li Yuanliang: ¡°We missed scanning that? Are you kidding?¡± Wang Bo: ¡°It¡¯s a quickly pressed fingerprint, not very noticeable. Jiang Yuan used toner from aser printer mixed with maic powder and brushed over it several times before it came out. When I first saw it, I also felt it was miraculous, as it didn¡¯t quite look like the normal fingerprint powdering.¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°Can brushing reveal such detail?¡± Wang Bo: ¡°At first, there was hardly any trace. But after a second brushing, a bit of the fingerprint appeared. You need a forensic light to see it. After focusing on brushing it two or three more times, it gradually became clearer. This was my first time seeing such a method.¡± Normally with fingerprint dusting, you sprinkle the powder, and the fingerprint appears. If it¡¯s not clear, it¡¯s usually because there¡¯s not enough powder sticking to it, so you just add a bit more and that¡¯s usually enough. But with the fingerprint using printer toner mixed with maic powder, you had to brush it three or four times, even four or five times, and it would gradually be clear. This method was something Wang Bo had neither seen nor learned before. Changyang City¡¯s work group fell silent. It took a while before someone spoke up again: Li Yuanliang: ¡°I asked an expert. They saidser printer toner has a density close to that of copper and aluminium powders, with a weight falling between aluminium, copper, and maic powders. It also has a maic property slightly weaker than maic powder, mainly due to its inherent electrostatic maic property. It can be used alone or mixed in different ratios with maic powder ording to seasonal and environmental changes, making up for the loss of small particles during prolonged dusting¡­ What the hell, dusting has to consider the season and environment?¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°Can¡¯t be true, right? If it¡¯s that useful, they should have provided us with it in our investigation kits. Why make such a fuss?¡± Li Yuanliang: ¡°I¡¯m just quoting the expert verbatim, not my own words. The exact quote from the person is: ¡®If you¡¯re not an expert, using printer toner will backfire. If someone is proficient enough to use toner, just kneel down and shout long live.''¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°Which expert talks like that?¡± Li Yuanliang: ¡°My uncle said it.¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°¡­ Your uncle is right, long live, long live, long long live!¡± Wang Bo¡¯s head was already swelling from what he was seeing. Although the people chatting in the work group were colleagues, and they had supervisors in the group, Wang Bo couldn¡¯t help but carefully choose his words before speaking up. Wang Bo: ¡°When I was in school, the professor taught us not to dust multiple times. They said that if the results are satisfactory after one or two dustings, it¡¯s okay. But if not, multiple dustings can easily smudge the lines that have already appeared or result in apletely ck mess. Only in extremely dry conditions are multiple dustings allowed¡­¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°Xiao Bo, although I don¡¯t understand this stuff either, let me add something. Theories are good to know, but watching the experts work and shouting 666 is the safest bet.¡± Li Yuanliang: ¡°Don¡¯t lead the young people astray. This issue is worth discussing. I also looked up some information just now¡­ The method Jiang Yuan used requiresplicated ratio mixing. Forget about it, what I think is key here is why he would repeatedly dust the windowsill. Did he find something? @Wang Bo¡± Wang Bo: ¡°He found footprints.¡± Wang Bo then went on to describe the situation as it unfolded after Jiang Yuan arrived. The technical and non-technical staff in the work group all fell silent. The footprints Jiang Yuan found didn¡¯t need dusting. It should be said that they were right there, but nobody had thought to look down from the window due to the abundance of footprints everyone saw. The second floor of the colored steel house was about the same as a normal second floor, with a height of around 3 meters. Investigators checking the second-floor room wouldn¡¯t have expected the murderer¡¯s escape route to involve jumping through the window. Why would they? No eyewitness had been reported until now; the main door was wide open anyway. The murderer had walked in normally, killed the cashier normally, so why not leave through the door normally? Li Yuanliang: ¡°Something unexpected must have happened. Otherwise, if the murderer had left normally through the door, he wouldn¡¯t have left behind fingerprints or footprints, at least not ones that could be distinguished.¡± Gao Long: ¡°But isn¡¯t murdering the cashier an unexpected event? Normally, one wouldn¡¯t think to kill.¡± Li Yuanliang: ¡°Was it excessive agitation?¡± Wang Shouming: ¡°Being agitated is normal; anyone involved in a robbery would have elerated adrenal secretion. If it weremon, that would be too terrifying. There shouldn¡¯t be such hardened criminals around now, right?¡± ¡°Xiao Bo,¡± He Guohua called out, jolting Wang Bo, who had been engrossed in his phone, back to awareness. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m checking what they¡¯re saying in the group.¡± Wang Bo quickly offered a smile to his master. He Guohua said seriously, ¡°You take Jiang with you to investigate the car and turn on theputer.¡± Chapter 332 - 332 299 Short Hair with Scar _2 ?332: Chapter 299: Short Hair with Scar _2 332: Chapter 299: Short Hair with Scar _2 ¡°Okay. Should I use the backend?¡± Wang Bo quickly asked. Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I want topare fingerprints on theputer.¡± He had just marked the feature points on his phone once but hadn¡¯t found a match. After refreshing the screen and taking another picture, he was ready to use theputer forparison. After all, the size of the screen is very important. Viewing fingerprints on a phone, many details are not very clear. Wang Bo hastily agreed and led Jiang Yuan out of the color steel house. The two of them walked slowly across the acrylic footbridge. After a while, Wang Bo couldn¡¯t help but whisper, ¡°Jiang, why would the killer jump from the second floor?¡± Jiang Yuan, hearing the strong curiosity in Wang Bo¡¯s tone, gave him a look and suggested, ¡°How about we wait until we find the killer and then ask him?¡± ¡°Is that¡­ the only way to find out?¡± Wang Bo felt a tickle of disappointment. Is a case solved by simply asking questions? Jiang Yuan could sense Wang Bo¡¯s inherent stubbornness and smiled, asking, ¡°Do you really want to guess?¡± Wang Bo got excited, ¡°What do you think is the reason?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel like guessing. I¡¯m not interested,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted frankly. ¡°I like to do the technical work. For me, finding footprints, matching fingerprints, or finding DNA is more interesting.¡± Wang Bo eximed, ¡°No way, even though we work in forensics, just like that, just like that¡­¡± He repeated himself twice, which was most likely a polite way of saying: That¡¯s it? Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Director Liu Jinghui from the provincial department probably fits your criteria better. He likes to y the detective¡­¡± ¡°He¡¯s purely guessing¡­ I mean, purely reasoning, that¡¯s not for me either,¡± Wang Bo said and then, feeling a bit embarrassed, hurriedly added, ¡°I¡¯m not talking about work, nor am I saying his methods are bad, it¡¯s just a matter of personal interest.¡± Jiang Yuan understood. People are diverse, and the more cases one deals with, the more one realizes this. Some people like power, some like money, some like women, others enjoy ¡®barking at the sun,¡¯ and then there are those who enjoy ying detective or, like Wang Bo, those who like both technology and deduction. With a major breakthrough in the case, Wang Bo¡¯s view of Jiang Yuan changed. As they spoke, Wang Bo gradually became more open and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°I feel that just using technology to solve cases has its limitations.¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, ¡°Of course it does.¡± Wang Bo continued, ¡°I mean, if it wasn¡¯t for your determination of the murderer¡¯s movements, or if he had jumped onto clean cement instead of soil, leaving no footprints, or if he had swept away any footprints, wouldn¡¯t our casee to a halt? Just the thought of that is daunting.¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°It would be more difficult, but not unsolvable.¡± ¡°Are there other ways to solve it?¡± ¡°Of course. The most direct approach is to sweep the entire room. Collect all the footprints, thenpare them with the footprints¡¯ movements outside,¡± he replied. ¡°That sounds like a lot of work,¡± Wang Bo remarked. ncing at Wang Bo, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°So many people are sitting idle, so why worry about workload? In homicide cases, as long as there is a n, the manpower expense is the squad leader¡¯s concern.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I see¡­¡± Wang Bo had to admit that this approach might indeed flush out the killer. Despite the multitude of footprints at the construction site, the number of people who would enter the cashier¡¯s office is limited ¨C likely around ten sets of footprints or so. Identifying these people¡¯s footprints, drawing up diagrams, and tracing their movements, it would certainly reduce the suspect pool, differentiating those with lower suspicion from the ones with higher suspicion. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°If we track the footprints backward, we might discover a set of footprints that begin right beneath the cashier¡¯s window. In that case, there¡¯s a decent chance that fingerprints at the window could be found.¡± Wang Bo nodded subconsciously. Indeed, using this method, as long as they were meticulous enough, the discovery of footprints beneath the cashier¡¯s window would definitely raise suspicions. ¡°If the footprints inside the room were organized properly, it¡¯s also possible to trace the murderer¡¯s movements. However, uncovering the murderer¡¯s fingerprints will take some effort,¡± Jiang Yuan was summarizing to himself. Wang Bo strongly agreed, ¡°The method of mixing maic powder with ink powder is probably not known by many people.¡± ¡°Looking on the bright side, if the killer had worn gloves, it would likewise leave no fingerprints.¡± ¡°Right, so what do we do then?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why it¡¯s always good to have a few more technical skills,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, pondering, and then said, ¡°If we could confirm the footprints, trying to find the killer¡¯s means of transportation could give us a breakthrough.¡± Wang Bo was taken aback, ¡°Yeah, we couldn¡¯t find the means of transportation before because we had no leads, but now that we have footprints, we can start looking for the transport. Should we report this to the leadership?¡± ¡°You make the call to report it.¡± With new clues, it was only right to follow up on the investigation. Of course, what Jiang Yuan was more concerned about at the moment was the fingerprints. However, as he had just said, with so many people involved, following the trail of the means of transportation and gathering more clues and evidence could never be a bad thing. Upon reaching the entrance of the construction site, Jiang Yuan gained ess to aputer and connected to the internalwork to start searching for fingerprints himself. Around the same time, more detectives and technicians began to spring into action. Yu Wenshu was indeed very interested in the new clues and direction of the investigation. It wasn¡¯t guaranteed that the fingerprint would yield results, so he certainly was willing to broaden the scope of the investigation. The walkie-talkie left inside the survey vehicle asionally crackled to life. At this moment, both inside and outside the construction site were bustling with activity. Inside were technicians busy preserving footprints; outside were detectives scurrying to locate the transportation used by the killer. Not far from the construction site, there was a gradually bustling market and shops. ces not covered by police surveince cameras, those avoided by the perpetrator, might just be under the watch of someone¡¯s video feed, but that would require a door-to-door inquiry. Jiang Yuan pulled up the fingerprint and carefully identified its characteristics, painstakinglyparing it¡­ ¡°Hmm, it must be because the screen is too small.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before Jiang Yuan sessfully matched the fingerprint. As expected, the suspect Qi Penghu was a fugitive with a criminal record for theft and robbery, and he had also been involved in a ck Society organization case¡­ The photo of Qi Penghu showed him with short hair, a short nose, a big mouth, rough skin, and a scar at the corner of his eye¡­ He had a fierce appearance that made it tough for him to find ordinary work. Having submitted the information in the system¡¯s backend, Jiang Yuan stretched and took the opportunity to look around. The construction site, known as the Binhu Spring Greening Landscape Project, was located in the old district of Changyang City. Nearby were bustling areas frequented by people passing by to shop or local residents out for a stroll, all of whom curiously watched the police officers and patrol carsing and going. Some, bold and idle, even stood not far away to spectate. Turning his head, Jiang Yuan saw a man with distinctive features, around thirty, with short hair, a short nose, a big mouth, rough skin, and a scar at the corner of his eye¡­ Jiang Yuan nced down again, silently looking at the photo on theptop, regretting that he hadn¡¯t brought Mu Zhiyang with him because of the rushed nature of this visit¡­ Chapter 333 - 333 300 Times Have Changed ?333: Chapter 300: Times Have Changed 333: Chapter 300: Times Have Changed About ten people were gathered around the crime scene. The number was fluctuating; most were passerby who would stop to watch for a while, take a few photos when bored, and then walk away ying with their phones. Some even stood there, shifting their attention to their phones after watching for a bit. There were also couples strolling by who stopped to satisfy their curiosity about the fresh incident and casually chatted withughter. This man with short hair and a scar, however, stood alone, his eyes intently watching the direction of the construction site and the movements of the police, a bit too attentively. Of course, Jiang Yuan only made this distinction after recognizing him. Before recognizing him, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t paid much attention to the crowd of onlookers. As mentioned before, most murders now take ce indoors, predominantly in private residences. Thus, for most criminals, revisiting the crime scene isn¡¯t that convenient anymore. For this man, Jiang Yuan was more inclined to believe it was his ck Society identity that made him want to understand the police movements. Possibly, he might even decide his next move based on the police¡¯s actions. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan silently took out his phone and opened WeChat. He wasn¡¯t added to the work group for today¡¯s case, so he sent a message in the ¡°Changyang City Cold Case Working Group¡± WeChat group: Jiang Yuan: ¡°[@Yu Wenshu, Chief Yu, I¡¯ve found the murderer. He¡¯s observing the scene opposite me, located across the road at the entrance of the construction site.]¡± Liu Jinghui: ¡°[???]¡± Tang Jia: ¡°[The murderer? What do you mean he¡¯s opposite you? Are there any other colleagues with you, Jiang Yuan?]¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°[The murderer has short hair, wears green trousers, a brown short-sleeved shirt, and a knife scar by his right eye corner.]¡± Liu Jinghui: ¡°[Has he noticed you? Are you in danger?]¡± Sneaking a nce with the corner of his eye and seeing that the murderer was still observing the scene, Jiang Yuan continued over WeChat: ¡°[No. Should be fine.]¡± Liu Jinghui: ¡°[Don¡¯t y the hero, don¡¯t go in alone, with such a murderer, even if you let him run for two hours, we can still easily catch him. I¡¯ll call Chief Yu.]¡± After putting down his phone and looking up again, Jiang Yuan saw that the man with the scarred eye, who had just been in the crowd, had vanished without a trace. Jiang Yuan was startled and quickly looked around, only to see the suspect Qi Penghu crossing the road, now only seven or eight meters away from him. Jiang Yuan¡¯s heart involuntarily began to thump wildly. It wasn¡¯t outright fear, as after learning wrestling from Uncle Qiang, Jiang Yuan felt he had a certain level ofbat prowess. Perhaps not as much as fully trained professionals, or even on par with the robust young men of the first squadron, but Jiang Yuan believed he wouldn¡¯t be beaten to death with bare hands in a short time at least! ¡°What are you doing? Don¡¯t cross the police line,¡± Jiang Yuan yelled impatiently. At the same time, Jiang Yuan flipped hisptop closed and incidentally grabbed a stick-shaped object with his left hand. The detectives of Changyang City led a prosperous life, so only when Jiang Yuan got a hold of it did he realize he wasn¡¯t holding a baton, but a handheld metal detector instead. This device was also a meter long, telescopic, about 40 centimeters when packed in a box, and even thicker than a baton, with the middle part for batteries that he wasn¡¯t sure was durable or not. Qi Penghu had no weapons in his hand, but considering he had killed a cashier with just two blows and jumped from the second floor unscathed, his scarred face was evidence enough of a ruthless character. Qi Penghu took two more steps forward, stopping only five meters away from Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°Just passing by.¡± In the time it took for the two sentences, Jiang Yuan calmed down and asked, ¡°Where from, and where to?¡± Qi Penghu¡¯s gaze became more focused as he replied, ¡°Just out for a stroll.¡± Wang Bo, who had just gone to make a call, approached with an unfriendly gaze fixed on Qi Penghu. Meanwhile, detectives had started to emerge from the construction site. Qi Penghu saw them but didn¡¯t move an inch; instead, he pressed, ¡°What happened in there?¡± Jiang Yuan naturally wouldn¡¯t answer and directly asked, ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Everyone was just asking questions, with no one answering, so naturally the conversation couldn¡¯t go on. Qi Penghu let out augh, pulling at the scar on his cheek, looking quite imposing. He didn¡¯t respond to Jiang Yuan¡¯s question and, after looking around, turned to leave. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and deliberately asked in a gruff voice, ¡°I¡¯m asking you, what¡¯s your name?¡± The policeing from the construction site naturally began to gather around. At the same time, a few officers arranged by Yu Wenshu were trying to encircle Qi Penghu from the other side. Wang Bo quickly took a couple of steps forward, trying to back up Jiang Yuan. Just like Jiang Yuan, Qi Penghu was on edge, and seeing several officers quicken their pace towards him, he didn¡¯t hesitate at all and turned to walk quickly in the opposite direction. The officers behind him immediately started to jog. Qi Penghu nced back and Jiang Yuan clearly saw the smile at the corner of his mouth. Right after that, he saw Qi Penghu break into a jog as well. But his pace was much more rxed than that of the policemen¡¯s, and after about a dozen strides, he suddenly sped up and charged towards the wall on the side of the road. The three- to four-meter-high wall was nothing to Qi Penghu; with a single hand he pulled and hoisted himself over. Thud. Jiang Yuan heard the sound of feetnding. He could even imagine the posture of the footprints as they hit the ground, surely simr to the ones found at the crime scene below. The wall he had jumped over was that of a small-scale establishment, but its gate was tens of meters away. By the time the police could get inside, they had no clue where Qi Penghu had gone. Wang Bo did not join the chase; as a technical officer, he looked nervously at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°The killer likely wanted to see our progress and then decide his next move,¡± Jiang Yuan guessed experiencedly. The stolen cash amounted to several hundred thousand yuan, which is difficult to carry around in this day and age, where security checks are required everywhere. The most suitable n for the killer might be to drive away, which means he must know how to drive and have a car. Besides that, an experienced fugitive should carry some food and water in the car, in case they can¡¯t enter or exit the city at will and be trapped. Beyond that, Qi Penghu would likely need to sort out his newly established local rtionships, such as with a new girlfriend, to ensure everything was settled before leaving. Perhaps, Qi Penghu just wanted to gauge the police¡¯s progress to decide whether he should flee or not. Only those who¡¯ve been on the run for years know how troublesome and arduous it is to find a ce to stay. Of course, it¡¯s also very important to be daring and skilled; this fellow could easily climb over a three- to four-meter wall, so he wasn¡¯t afraid to get close to the police. However, Jiang Yuan knew that this guy had essentially buried himself. Previously, he might indeed have escaped from the police, maybe even easily, but back then, he was merely a fugitive from theft and robbery. Now, he is a fugitive from a robbery and murder case and had the audacity to provoke the police openly. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nce back at the construction site, and as expected, Yu Wenshu hurriedly walked out. ¡°Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t hurt, was he?¡± Yu Wenshu asked first thing upon meeting. ¡°No. We just saw each other, no contact,¡± Jiang Yuan put down the metal detector, opened hisptop, and pulled up the photo of Qi Penghu again. ¡°Send it out to everyone.¡± Yu Wenshu made an acknowledging sound and began to arrange it. Several police cars had already started wailing. Jiang Yuan withdrew his gaze, his heart that had been pounding wildly calming down. He wasn¡¯t worried about the chase at all; given the current situation and the quality of the officers, it would be very difficult for him to escape. The times have changed, and the same goes for fugitives. Chapter 334 - 334 301 Celebration ?334: Chapter 301 Celebration 334: Chapter 301 Celebration ¡°Ah, I should have run up there and pulled him down with one tug,¡± Wang Bo sighed with regret after getting back to the survey vehicle and learning most of the details. Jiang Yuan smiled, showing no hint of me, and said, ¡°So many people didn¡¯t catch up, and that guy is good at parkour; even if you had chased him, it might not have been certain that you¡¯d catch him.¡± Wang Bo heaved a heavy sigh. In the end, he had chickened out; otherwise, his level one athlete certificate might havee in handy one more time. He himself was trained in gymnastics; though it wasn¡¯t as wild as parkour, it was still possible to poke someone off a wall if he approached from behind. Actually, everything happened too quickly. While he was still weighing the pros and cons, the murderer, Qi Penghu, had already started to jog away, and after that, once the guy was up the wall, the opportunity was pretty much gone. Wang Bo felt he could have climbed over the wall, too, but that would not have been just about earning a third-ss merit or receiving somemendation. ¡°I was just too slow to react,¡± Wang Bomented. If he hadn¡¯t thought too much and just pounced, maybe he would have caught Qi Penghu right there. With so many police officers following, there probably wouldn¡¯t have been too much danger. Yet from a practical standpoint, considering how long it had been since the incident, it was still difficult for Wang Bo to stop overthinking. Jiang Yuan stopped paying attention to Wang Bo. He had never intended to intervene. Even when he sparred with Uncle Qiang, who was already of retirement age, he never won. Where would he get the confidence to best a hardened criminal with a scarred face? Most importantly, Qi Penghu¡¯s murder weapon had not been found yet; it might still be on him. The initial spection that it was a steel barcked proof. It might be some kind of modified cold weapon; judging from the wounds, something like the paired maces said to have been used by Qin Qiong matched well¡­ But what mattered most to Jiang Yuan was his reluctance to tangle with a cornered beast. Qi Penghu may have been bold and skillful, even harboring a desire to test his mettle against the police. Many criminals, after sessfully pulling off several jobs, often develop that kind of attitude. They always underestimate the police. Actually, that¡¯s not entirely wrong. Criminals are fighting for their own lives, while most police officers are just clocking in and out of work. Even those willing to work hard don¡¯t need to risk their lives against a wretched criminal¡¯s life. Those who think their own lives are incredibly precious are actually just the criminals themselves, yet paradoxically, they parade it around in public as if it holds no value. Even more tragically, in this day and age, criminals rarely get the chance to fight desperately. In cities like Changyang City, the provincial capital, contingency ns for such scenarios have already been made. What really hinders the process is the criminal¡¯s value. Is it worth the city paying the cost for him? In this respect, Qi Penghu had indeed proven his worth. Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu was quick to act, picking up the phone and arranging personnel. Within just half an hour, several teams of officers totaling over three hundred people arrived at Qi Penghu¡¯sst known location and formed a perimeter to begin their search. Local traffic was disrupted and subjected to strict checks. Subsequently, Qi Penghu once again chose his strongest tactic, abandoning his vehicle to proceed on foot, and using his parkour skills to avoid surveince cameras. The man in the white shirtmanding the scene therefore slightly expanded the perimeter and continued the search while maintainingmunication with the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. While Jiang Yuan was away taking notes, Qi Penghu was already cornered inside a shopping mall. Qi Penghu still did not understand that when such an organization is in operation, it may seem flexible, but it is also persistent. He relied too much on past experiences, thinking it was the era when surveince cameras were scarce, and as a target not of high value, he could easily break free from the encirclement as long as he ran fast enough. In modern cities, especially provincial capitals, not only are there many surveince cameras, there are also many image investigation personnel monitoring them. With a reduction in the total number of homicide cases, a robber and murderer like him could easily stand out. When half the city¡¯s police force begins eagerly looking to make their mark, Qi Penghu¡¯s only chance really was to leave Changyang City as fast as possible. In the first hour, Qi Penghu didn¡¯t manage to get out of the nearby shopping district, making it nearly impossible for him to think about leaving thereafter. Of course, even if he was surrounded in the mall, he could still resist stubbornly for a long time. But this time, the police would no longer indulge him. After the crowd was cleared, arge number of SWAT officers with guns entered the mall, and Qi Penghu had no chance at all. At dinner time, Yu Wenshu invited Jiang Yuan to the Criminal Police Brigade, where everyone celebrated together in the cafeteria the smooth resolution of Qi Penghu¡¯s case. A group of police officers, some familiar and some not, came up to Jiang Yuan to chat, pping his back and toasting with tea instead of wine, filling their stomachs until they were round and full. ¡°Solving the case on the same day, Ningtai Jiangyuan, your reputation is well-deserved.¡± ¡°No need for proof now; you¡¯ve solved cold cases and murders, present cases are really too simple for you.¡± ¡°Too simple? You say that, but Chief Yu will be the first to disagree. Wasn¡¯t it Chief Yu who called Jiang Yuan back? Jiang Yuan was on vacation at that time. It really wasn¡¯t easy; as soon as he heard that we had a case here, he immediately rushed over. If that¡¯s not like family, it¡¯s pretty close.¡± ¡°And on top of that, Jiang Yuan caught him on the spot. That kid really had guts; he even came back to watch our crime scene re-enactment, not thinking at all about what¡¯s going through our heads¡ªas if we were made of y.¡± ¡°Now he¡¯s done for¡ªhome invasion, murder, arrest, and even assaulting an officer. Add to that his previous cases and his status as an escaped convict, he¡¯s as good as dead.¡± ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, truly daunting.¡± ¡°Hahahaha.¡± Everyoneughed, thoroughly enjoying themselves. Nowadays, murder cases are set at such a high standard, and they alsoe with great pressure. Even for the Criminal Police Brigade in a provincial capital city, while it¡¯s one thing to handle other cases well or poorly, failing to solve a murder case would attract much criticism. Even if many of the people present might not be directly affected, they all still hoped that this case would be solved¡ªa collective sense of honor is both metaphysical and practically significant. Jiang Yuan felt a bit embarrassed by the praise and repeatedly tried to deflect it, saying, ¡°The murderer was just too careless. If he had prepared better, we might not have caught him so quickly. Returning to the crime scene was just child¡¯s y.¡± ¡°This Qi Penghu might not have even finished high school; he wouldn¡¯t be capable of veryplex thoughts. He¡¯s just a brute,¡± someone agreed with Jiang Yuan indirectly. Yu Wenshu gave this person a disapproving nce and said tly, ¡°Don¡¯t dismiss the murderer as foolish. If he¡¯s foolish, what does that make us, with all these unresolved murders we can¡¯t solve¡­?¡± As the talk turned to unresolved murder cases, the crowd fell silent. For senior officers tasked with investigating unresolved murders, it¡¯s often a thankless job. That¡¯s why most cold case teams are actually not very high-ranking in terms of the officers in charge. Most importantly, the clearance rate for cold murder cases is genuinely low. While current murder cases can sometimes be solved by piling on resources, cold cases no longer have that luxury. And with this in mind, considering the cold cases Jiang Yuan had worked on recently¡­ The whole table felt a shiver of excited anticipation. He Guohua sat far away, watching the changing expressions of the leaders at the main table, and quietly posted in the ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group¡±: Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [Jiang Yuan solved a current murder case, throw flowers, celebrate!] Shan Nan Li Zemin: [Jiang Yuan solving a current murder case, feels too normal.] Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [This case was quite tricky, Chief Yu specifically asked Jiang Yuan to handle it. Good thing he was called over, otherwise, if we had to look into personal rtionships, it would¡¯ve been explosive¡­] Shan Nan Li Zemin: [Got any details?] Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [The killer was a friend of a coworker at the construction site, originally brought in to gamble. After losing money and hearing that the site was about to pay wages, he inquired about the timing and came in at the right moment, initiating the robbery. You see, investigating personal rtionships for this kind of random crime could¡¯ve taken forever.] Shan Nan Li Zemin: [¡­] Provincial Department ¨C Fingerprint Section ¨C Yang Ling: [Seems like seeking out Jiang Yuan was indeed the right move.] Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [Indeed. Plus, the murderer is an escaped convict who also practices parkour; he¡¯s just too broke. If this guy had some money or even a car and left a day earlier, we¡¯d be left waiting for a fugitive pursuit.] As Qi Penghu had always lingered around construction sites, if he nned to flee, he would have to take his belongings with him. Otherwise, once the police started their search, he would certainly be a suspect. In reality, the streets are full of economic fugitives, who are often on the run for mary reasons. With money, even a fugitive could live a life of different grades and sses. Chapter 335 - 335 302 Conqueror ?335: Chapter 302: Conqueror 335: Chapter 302: Conqueror ¡°Come on, let¡¯s all raise a toast to Jiang Yuan. Although there¡¯s no liquor in our cups, our admiration for Comrade Jiang Yuan remains unchanged. By the way, after this meal, I¡¯ll treat Doctor Jiang to a drink privately, using my own wine, and I¡¯ll call a designated driver¡­¡± Yu Wenshu stood in the center of the cafeteria, his cup raised high, brimming with emotion. His mood was genuinely good. While Jiang Yuan¡¯s services might have seemed expensive, the bill was picked up by the city bureau, not by his own Criminal Police Detachment. And in terms of gains, solving a series of murder cold cases couldn¡¯t be simply measured by the number and difficulty of the cases. Yu Wenshu felt like a door had opened before him, a door that led to endless possibilities. The praise from superiors, coverage from journalists, recognition from the ministry, and admiration from colleagues seemed within easy reach for Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu had once experienced rapid promotion, but he never thought he would get a simr opportunity again, especially during a career bottleneck. The only thing that made him slightly ufortable was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s rank was too low. So low that it made any thoughts of promotion difficult and seemed rather meaningless. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan was still part of Ningtai County¡¯s establishment, and being a local from Ningtai County and Jiang Vige meant Yu Wenshu had no leverage at all. At this moment, Yu Wenshu reminisced about his own early years. Back then, people didn¡¯t care much about perks. The chief and experts lived in the same building, with rooms of simr size andyout, and the building only had two toilets. However, to say that there was no difference among everyone and nothing to encourage ambition would not be entirely true. Compared to a bonus of a few hundred yuan, an extra half a rank and spiritual praise, stimtion, andmendation were the highest forms of ttery. If a student is held in the palm of the teacher¡¯s hand, praised during ss, anduded by the principal in front of the whole school during morning exercises¡ªliving such a life, what difference does it make if the ss fee is three to five yuan more or less? With the talent of a photographic memory, Yu Wenshu lived through his student days just like that¡­ You talk about school bullying? One time a kid tripped Yu Wenshu, and the principal went to that kid¡¯s house, made his father kneel in the ancestral hall, and cry for two hours. Because the principal used to be a teacher for his father as well. Latter¡­ well, it took a week or two before Yu Wenshu saw that fellow student again. He appeared to have recovered physically, but never dared to get close to Yu Wenshu again. Now, Yu Wenshu really wished someone would stand up and trip Jiang Yuan. Unfortunately, the young people of today are too shrewd, especially those who got in through exams¡ªnone of them itching for a fight. Jiang Yuan clinked cups with Yu Wenshu, his mood quite buoyant and his expression modest. Yu Wenshu chuckled, ¡°Everyone, sit down. Jiang Yuan, you sit too and have some food. Let¡¯s celebrate a little in the cafeteria today. I¡¯m just too happy. Also, we¡¯re not allowed to hold big gatherings now. Later on, I¡¯ll call over the captains of the various teams, and we¡¯ll find a spot topete in cases with drinks. Ah, whoever manages to drink Jiang Yuan under the table, we¡¯ll work on their case.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea!¡± Wan Baoming was not one of the team captains, so he immediately agreed. The other team captains also concurred. Drinking was already an exciting event for middle-aged men, and especially since they no longer had to worry about medical alcohol restrictions, drinking had be even more enjoyable. ¡°I can¡¯t drink much,¡± Jiang Yuan said with augh, politely declining but not too adamantly. He was in a great mood as well. Not to mention the joy of solving cases, following the various speeches, Jiang Yuan¡¯s task was also deredplete. Task: Conqueror Task description: Solve cases and conquer Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Work hard on solving cases. Task progress: 6/6 Task reward: Death Time Estimation (Level 6) Ever sinceing to Changyang City, starting with the 513 gate assassination case, Jiang Yuan had continuously solved four murder cold cases and two murder current cases. Six murder cases¡ªspeaking frankly, if they had all been current murder cases, would have amounted to a full year¡¯s workload for a criminal police team. And that¡¯s for a team that does nothing else all year round, and there¡¯s no guarantee they could solve them all. As for solving predominantly murder cold cases as Jiang Yuan did, hardly anyone would take that on at the scale of a criminal police team. It¡¯s too difficult; getting stuck on a single case could paralyze an entire team. With the police-to-poption ratio in domestic terms, there¡¯s never been an abundance of police resources. Those who do work specifically on murder cold cases are usually like Jiang Yuan, a few people starting out until they hit upon clues and need more manpower and resources before they allocate more. However, the level of attention Jiang Yuan currently received in Changyang City was already beyond the norm. The Cold Case Squad had more than ten part-time members on regr days, a number onlyparable to cases of telmunications fraud orrge-scale serial crimes in Changyang City. For Jiang Yuan, the newly acquired Death Time Estimation (Level 6) was an unexpected delight. Even though it took solving six cases to earn this task reward, the rank of Level 6¡­ Considering thebat capabilities of Level 5, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expectations for Level 6 could be said to have instantly skyrocketed to that level. Moreover, the ¡°Death Time Estimation¡± skill was highly useful. In a sense, the most fundamental demand of a criminal police team from a forensic doctor is to determine the time of death. If one can pinpoint the time of death, then solving a case bes significantly less challenging. Jiang Yuan wondered just how urate Level 6 Death Time Estimation could be. Jiang Yuan was itching with curiosity and couldn¡¯t wait to just¡­ Fortunately, the banquet without alcohol ended very quickly, and after leaving the table, Yu Wenshu showed some more warm concern before finally getting Jiang Yuan into the car. Before leaving, Yu Wenshu asked in a low voice, ¡°Will youe to the detachment tomorrow, or will you rest for another two days?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll rest for two more days,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then said directly, ¡°Next, I want to work on a current case involving a homicide to adjust my status and recharge myself.¡± ¡°Recharging is good, recharging is good,¡± Yu Wenshu nodded repeatedly but muttered a bit on the way back, contemting that a current case of homicide meant that a murder would have to take ce before Jiang Yuan woulde over. Although Changyang City, being such arge provincial capital, had a high frequency of homicides, the ones that were actually challenging were not many. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but feel a little reluctant; such a good resource shouldn¡¯t be underutilized¡ªit seemed a bit of a waste. However, Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t dwell on it too much; Jiang Yuan had already helped solve many major cases, and it wasn¡¯t urgent to add more luster to their record. Jiang Yuan sorted himself out and went to live in the new house he had bought. The 220-square-meter apartment, though small, was very cozy when arranged. Living alone, Jiang Yuan felt it was sufficient. He didn¡¯t n to entertain guests with this apartment. Instead, he turned the living room into a study, with a row of shelves against the wall filled with various forensic books. Flipping through them when he had nothing else to do, he found it quite pleasant. Jiang Yuan felt that he indeed needed to recharge. Since graduating from school, much of what he had learned there had be almost half-forgotten. Now, having worked on many cases, slowly corroborating them with his studies, he found it easier to have insights. Much knowledge could be gradually acquired only after starting to work. Just like discovering that dogs tend to be much more loyal than cats after attending many scenes. Cats start to eat their owner shortly after their master¡¯s death, while dogs can wait for several days, only beginning to eat when they get too hungry. This demonstrates that the taste of Level 5 dog food absolutely surpasses the natural vor of the ingredients. ¡­ After resting for two days, Jiang Yuan went back to Ningtai to collect some housewarming gifts and red envelopes given to him by the people of Jiang Vige, before returning to rest for three more days. Finally, he received a call from the Criminal Police Detachment. ¡°Jiang, there¡¯s been an unnatural death, do you want to take a look?¡± Tang Jia invited Jiang Yuan with a soft, glutinous voice. Her task was to pull Jiang Yuan in, to live the team life together. Waiting for a homicide case was uncertain, but having almost any case of unnatural death provided enough reason. Jiang Yuan was eagerly waiting himself. He wanted to test his new skills, and yet the opportunity hadn¡¯t arrived. ¡°Unnatural death is fine. I¡¯m leaving now,¡± Jiang said, his enthusiasm at its peak. Tang Jia was a bit surprised and quickly acknowledged, then asked, ¡°Do you need me to drive and pick you up?¡± Sitting together in the car would create quite a nice chat atmosphere¡­ Tang Jia thought that since Jiang Yuan had so decisively epted the invitation, she should offer something in return¡­ ¡°No need, I can get there faster driving myself,¡± Jiang Yuan said, picking up his keys and heading downstairs, ¡°Just send the location to my phone.¡± Jiang Yuan drove his mighty G-wagon, racing to the location. The site was a new residential building on the outskirts of the city, where a female had hanged herself in her own bathroom. Upon arrival, Jiang Yuan put on shoe covers and saw Wan Baoming already inside. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but pause, ¡°You¡¯re on the scene for an unnatural death?¡± Most unnatural deaths involved a forensic doctor determining the cause of death before proceeding with disposal. Generally speaking, only one-tenth of unnatural deaths turn into homicide cases. Wan Baoming was not a forensic doctor, and as the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Center, it seemed he wouldn¡¯t need to be at the primary scene. ¡°It was me who called you,¡± Wan Baoming said solemnly, making room for Jiang Yuan to enter, ¡°The deceased, Liu Meiyuan, was forty-three years old. She was found dead at home by her husband, who came back from work at noon. We asked Liu Meiyuan¡¯s coworkers, and she had not shown signs of being suicidaltely. Life at home was also normal, andst night, Liu Meiyuan even ced an online shopping order with an undelivered package¡­¡± Wan Baoming led Jiang Yuan to the bathroom to see the scene, ¡°The husband, He Wensi, came back at noon, found his wife hanging in the bathroom, and immediately went out to the corridor shouting for help. A neighbor heard him, came out to inquire, and helped him call the police.¡± ¡°A few neighbors then entered the bathroom with He Wensi and helped him lower his wife¡¯s body.¡± Wan Baoming spread his hands towards Jiang Yuan, ¡°Now we¡¯re in the stage of searching for evidence.¡± He didn¡¯t say it outright, but from Wan Baoming¡¯s description, Jiang Yuan understood that the Criminal Police Detachment was treating the case as a murder. Jiang Yuan listened and thought it made sense. This kind of case was actually very simple, suicide or homicide. If the deceasedmitted suicide, then the reason for the suicide had to be found. Otherwise, it must be homicide. And if it was homicide, then the crime scene must have been staged. Proving that there were traces of staging at the scene, the case was essentially cracked. Chapter 336 - 336 303 Not Easy ?336: Chapter 303 Not Easy 336: Chapter 303 Not Easy ¡°Doctor Jiang, could you take a look at the body?¡± the forensic doctor Ye Tianhe from the Criminal Police Detachment greeted Jiang Yuan with a smile. Ye Tianhe had worked with Jiang Yuan on the Mount Wulong savage case and they had examined the bodies of hikers together. Back then, Jiang Yuan was chosen by Liu Jinghui for his fingerprint and crime scene analysis skills; his forensic expertise was not particrly outstanding. However, Ye Tianhe did not dare to underestimate Jiang Yuan. Not to mention in the detective team, being able to solve cases was the greatest talent, but in terms of forensic skills alone, Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent burnt bone case demonstrated his strong foundation in forensic anthropology. Forensic anthropology is pretty much the pinnacle of forensic science. Just the expertise in forensic anthropology alone was enough tomand respect from other forensic doctors. Ye Tianhe definitely didn¡¯t want to be the first person in Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to make a foolish error¡ªYu Wenshu had been working in the detachment for nearly 10 years, and everyone had heard the story of his remarkable memory and the incident where he was tripped up. Especially after Yu Wenshu¡¯s repeated demonstrations, the atmosphere within the detachment had be much more harmonious. Ye Tianhe had almost finished examining the body and now stepped aside to make room. Since Jiang Yuan had arrived at the scene, it was certain that he would take over examining the body, Ye Tianhe thought as clear as a mirror. Jiang Yuan then stepped forward to examine the body and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your conclusion, Doctor Ye?¡± ¡°Strangled, I guess,¡± Ye Tianhe took off his gloves and stretched his waist and back while exining, ¡°The eyes and sclera have tiny hemorrhages. It¡¯s quite obvious.¡± Determining whether a deceased person found hanging was a murder or suicide is like a primary school graduation exam for a forensic doctor. Is it difficult? Just a little bit. The difficulty mainly lies inprehensiveness, that is, how many scenarios you can propose to differentiate between suicide and homicide. If one could enumerate all or about eighty percent of them, then it would be considered passing at a primary school level. Of course, like all simr topics, this one, too, can be infinitelyplex, evolving into a subject suitable for masters or even doctorate research. But in real cases, it¡¯s rarer to find a criminal with such a high level of academic knowledge. More importantly, when a criminal bes so in-depth in one area, they tend to perform poorly in other aspects. The pinpoint hemorrhages in the eyes and sclera are one of the ns to tell suicide from homicide. Some people who are strangled may not exhibit these pinpoint hemorrhages in their eyes and sclera, which is the only point to be mindful of. If this is the case, the forensic doctor can also make further judgments during the autopsy by examining the bruising of the neck muscles and the angles of the hyoid bone and thyroid cartge¡ªas is usually the case, those who strangle others tend to use excessive force, applying more violence than necessary. Striking the right bnce to exactly strangle or choke someone to death involves quite a bit of skill. Even so, it¡¯s still possible for the sclera to show hemorrhaging¡ªthe charm of possibilities is just that alluring. For Ye Tianhe, seeing the bleeding in the sclera and eyes was basically enough to decide to handle the unnatural death as a homicide case. Next, the body definitely couldn¡¯t be released to the family and would have to be on the autopsy table to check the condition of the hyoid bone and neck muscles¡­ However, even if the hyoid bone and neck muscles were intact, the conclusion wouldn¡¯t change. Because the victim could have been strangled with a cord-like object, which might not break the hyoid bone, but there¡¯s a high chance it would leave strangtion marks since the tissues at the location of the marks copse along with the blood vessels, dying the arrival of the bacteria that cause dposition, thus forming a trace. It¡¯s like cutting off a highway or a railway that transports goods; concurrently, the enemy¡¯s troop movement is also halted, and the rate of invasion slows down. All things considered, strangling someone to death and disguising it as suicide has be rather difficult in this day and age¡ªit¡¯s hardly worth it, right? Jiang Yuan had no objections regarding the cause of death either. He nodded, put on his gloves, and began examining the body meticulously from top to bottom, front and back. He had waited so many days and was eager to try out his newly acquired Level 6 skill. His first impression when he began was¡­ stiffness. A body bes stiff after death. Rigor mortis could start to set in as soon as an hour after death, usually reaching its full extent over 12 hours, then begins to subside after around 18 hours, with the body gradually softening. This is why some meatpanies promote acid-released pork¡ªit¡¯s to ensure the pork is preserved well. Pigs begin to experience rigor mortis 8 hours after death, whichsts for 15 to 24 hours. So, after 32 hours, which also happens to be the right time to finish transportation, the stiffness ends, and by the time the meat reaches the consumers, it¡¯s just the right softness, not feeling hard. Additionally, enzymes in the meat start to work, breaking down the myofibrils to make the meat softer and juicier, which is also referred to as being less ¡°wooden.¡± Theoretically, this could also add more vor. The preference for fresh, hot beef in the Chaoshan region makes perfect sense as well. Cows start experiencing rigor mortis 10 hours after death, but it canst for 72 hours. Therefore, the best beef should be consumed within 10 hours. 72 hours is simply too long; it¡¯s better to let the meat mature. Incidentally, fish begin to stiffen very quickly after death, starting from around 0.1 to 0.2 hours andsting for about 2 hours. The proper way to eat fish, therefore, is to cook it fresh right after killing or to marinate it for at least 2 hours before consumption. From the examples of pigs, cows, and fish, one can alsoe to a conclusion. The time when rigor mortis sets in and its duration can vary from one corpse to another. The onset and duration of rigor mortis, as well as its stiffness, should also be different for different individuals. This not only rtes to a person¡¯s body fat and muscleposition but can even depend on the location where the person died. This isn¡¯t about regional discrimination; it¡¯s due to differences in temperature, humidity, and the types and states of bacteria in different regions. It¡¯s precisely these uncertain factors that make determining the time of death so difficult. Some forensic doctors who work in a particr region for many years tend to umte their own experiential knowledge about estimating time, which is precisely for this reason. For an understandable example, assume that at the same time, a person from the Northeast dies in the Northeast, and a person from Hainan dies in Hainan, the individual from Hainan should enter rigor mortis earlier and also exit it earlier. If a person from the Northeast were to die in Hainan, the speed with which rigor mortis sets in would also depend on how long he had been in Hainan. Of course, aside from rigor mortis and livor mortis, there are many other techniques for determining the time of death. In fact, there¡¯s such a high demand for precision in this area. For example, there¡¯s the cloudiness of the cornea, body temperature, and more advanced methods like Vitreous Humor Chemistry, measuring the concentration of potassium in the cells of the eyeball, and so on. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t blurt out an answer just because he possessed Level 6 skills. He still inspected the body carefully, trying to gather as much information as possible. Such an advanced skill set in death determination is no longer just about the good application of a certain technical method but the excellent application of every technical method, with each corroborating the others. So, after Jiang Yuan finished his inspection, he confidently concluded, ¡°The time of death was around ten o¡¯clock this morning.¡± Ye Tianhe frowned slightly. Being a forensic doctor like Jiang Yuan, he didn¡¯t like estimations tied to a specific time such as ¡®around a certain time.¡¯ Someone like Ye Tianhe preferred to give a time range, from this hour to that hour, clear for everyone to see. Some forensic doctors always like to give a precise time and then add ¡®around¡¯ to it. While this approach might seem more confident and urate, the meaning is almost the same; it could even be misleading. Yet, after a case has been solved, people tend to think the former estimation is more urate. Ye Tianhe shook his head inwardly, attributing Jiang Yuan¡¯s statement to youthful arrogance, wanting to show off a bit. But in terms of the matter at hand, Ye Tianhe felt it should be more rigorous. ¡°The time of death was between 10:15 AM and 12 PM,¡± Ye Tianhe, who had arrived earlier and measured the body temperature, felt confident his margin of error wasn¡¯trge. And since Jiang Yuan arrivedter, his degree of uracy was certainly less than his. Ye Tianhe was also considerate enough to leave some dignity for Jiang Yuan; his original estimation was from 11 AM to 12 PM. He had now forcefully moved it back 45 minutes. It was quite clear. Later, he would have to mention this to the police officers working the case. At this moment, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°When I mentioned around ten o¡¯clock, I meant I¡¯m leaning towards the earlier side. I believe the more likely time of death was just after 10 AM, meaning the earliest would be 10 o¡¯clock and thetest by 10:30 AM.¡± Ye Tianhe was startled; this waspletely different from his own true estimation. His correct time was never earlier than 11 AM. Although it¡¯s just a difference of 30 minutes, one limit is the upper bound for one person and the lower bound for the other, essentially making two different conclusions. ¡°Let me take another look,¡± Ye Tianhe said, unable to be absolutely sure now, especially since it was an estimation made by Jiang Yuan; t out disagreeing with him was a bit difficult. Wan Baoming, sensing some tension in the air, stepped forward with a smile, ¡°Actually, everyone¡¯s estimated times are virtually consistent. It¡¯s normal for there to be a slight discrepancy in the time of death. I often see variations of an hour or two. The deceased didn¡¯t die ording to any set schedule¡­¡± Ye Tianhe heaved a sigh, casting a nce at the outsider in the room, Tang Jia, hesitating for a few seconds before saying, ¡°The victim¡¯s husband entered the room at 11:40 AM. Considering the time of death determined by Jiang Yuan, the husband had no time tomit the crime.¡± Wan Baoming was taken aback; the victim¡¯s husband was a highly suspicious person, almost like a tailor-made suspect. If the determination of the time of death provided an alibi for the victim¡¯s husband, that would be a joke. It could potentially lead to problems during the review of a death penalty case. Wan Baoming became serious, looked at Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, could you please revisit your examination?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, checking over the body once again. After just a few minutes, Jiang Yuan looked up and said, ¡°Considering all factors, I believe the most likely time the victim stopped breathing was at 10:10 AM.¡± After a pause, Jiang Yuan spoke with a solemn tone, ¡°I understand the situation you¡¯re describing, but the conclusion I¡¯ve provided is not seeking sensationalism.¡± Jiang Yuan turned to Ye Tianhe and continued, ¡°Doctor Ye, my judgment is purely based on technical assessment and not aimed at any individual.¡± ¡°I understand,¡± Ye Tianhe said, his expression still not pleased, but slightly softened. The expressions of the people in the room all turned grave. Handling this case was clearly not as straightforward as they had imagined. Chapter 337 - 337 304 Temperature ?337: Chapter 304 Temperature 337: Chapter 304 Temperature ¡°I received the message at one o¡¯clock and arrived before two, and then I measured the rectal temperature. 34.5 degrees Celsius.¡± Ye Tianhe didn¡¯t beat around the bush, and directly brought out the data that was measuredter. To determine the approximate time of death is rtively easy, but to reach an urate conclusion, especially a precise one, is extremely difficult. Just the rectal temperature alone involves veryplex content. In ¡¯84, the ministry organized a research group on body temperature, which studied the rectal temperature data of 581 bodies in temperatures ranging from 0 to 30 degrees Celsius, and ultimately derived 27 ternary regression equations. Many subsequent body temperature studies in China were actually based on this one, as it was incredibly hard forter researchers to work with 500 bodies again. If there were so many bodies avable for rectal temperature research, it would be like Sun Wukong immobilizing the Seven Fairy Maidens to steal a peach. Talking aside, there aren¡¯t many people who can truly remember all 27 of the ternary regression equations. Usually, people would look them up when needed. Further speaking, most forensic doctors actually use a simplified version of the regression equation. Some are even toozy to use the equations at all, preferring to apply experience-based estimations, such as a decrease of one degree per hour, or maybe 0.8 degrees, with some adjustments for environmental temperature. So, when Ye Tianhe saw that Jiang Yuan was very serious and confident, he didn¡¯t argue and simply provided the data, letting him do the calctions if he could. However, Jiang Yuan just made an ¡°Mhm¡± sound and said, ¡°Rectal temperature is not conclusive.¡± It was then that Ye Tianhe remembered Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t measured the rectal temperature when he came in. Not measuring rectal temperature and still ying this game of precise time of death determination? Ye Tianhe also thought of Yu Wenshu, not wanting to be the man sticking his foot out. But Ye Tianhe had his temper too, and said directly, ¡°Then take the liver temperature.¡± Liver temperature is much more urate than rectal temperature, but it is destructive and requires a cut in the waist area, thus the body is no longer intact. ording to domestic practice, in such cases, one often needs to exin to the family beforehand. Additionally, these invasive procedures tend to be preferred in the autopsy room rather than at the scene, whichpromises their immediacypared to rectal temperature. Therefore, unless it is very necessary, people tend to measure rectal temperature instead, which generally suffices. As for now, without fretting over the time discrepancy, Ye Tianhe directly requested to measure the liver temperature. Wan Baoming, on the other hand, hesitated a bit, coughed twice, and said, ¡°Let me discuss it with Captain Ma.¡± Captain Ma is the squad leader of the second squad of the Criminal Police Brigade, and after confirming it was a homicide, Captain Ma immediately rushed over. However, since the victim¡¯s husband was the main suspect, Captain Ma did not appear immediately, and everyone proceeded with the investigation pretending it was a suicide, following the killer¡¯s script. Wan Baoming¡¯s hesitationy here; asking the husband about measuring liver temperature could easily alert him. This decision had to be made by Captain Ma, who was in charge on the scene. With a phone call from Wan Baoming that took less than two minutes, Ma Jiyang, who had changed his clothes, walked in. ¡°Heard there¡¯s a disagreement about the time?¡± Ma Jiyang, a rather stout man with long legs, was wearing freshly washed police trousers. He was taking advantage of the fact that the victim¡¯s family members didn¡¯t know better; otherwise, it would be apparent that his status was that of a man with apetent wife, or that he was thepetent wife himself, hardly looking like a grassroots police officer. Wan Baoming rushed to say, ¡°The time discrepancy isn¡¯t much, just about an hour, but based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, the victim¡¯s husband has been excluded.¡± ¡°That doesn¡¯t necessarily exclude him,¡± Ma Jiyang said cautiously and quickly deliberating, then asked, ¡°The victim¡¯s husband returned around eleven, close to midnight, right? Caught on the elevator¡¯s camera. Jiang Yuan, what do you estimate the time of death to be?¡± ¡°A quarter past ten,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°That precise?¡± Ma Jiyang looked towards Jiang Yuan. His second squad often dealt with murder cases, and in fact, Jiang Yuan had previously solved some cases that he had handled. Ma Jiyang deeply admired Jiang Yuan for beautifully solving a current case he himself could not crack, which Jiang Yuanter did while it was still a cold case. So, seeing Jiang Yuan now, Ma Jiyang instinctively trusted him even more. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s direct citation of an exact time still caught Ma Jiyang off guard. Jiang Yuan grunted an acknowledgement. What could he say? Level 6 was just that impressive, able to provide a precise time of death for homicide cases that urred within 6 hours. Ma Jiyang couldn¡¯t wait for an exnation and then thought to himself, what difference would hearing it make? Out of politeness, Ma Jiyang looked toward Ye Tianhe and even with a bit of warmth, said, ¡°Doctor Ye, what¡¯s your analysis?¡± ¡°Between 11 and 12 o¡¯clock.¡± Ye Tianhe didn¡¯t mention anything about a quarter past ten. His measurements of the rectal temperature were right there; the state of rigor mortis also matched up with the timeline. If anotherpetent forensic doctor came along, they¡¯d likely reach a simr conclusion. Ma Jiyang hummed in acknowledgment and said, ¡°So we¡¯re talking about a difference of just 45 minutes. As for the victim¡¯s husband not having an alibi¡­ if he took the elevator back after 11 o¡¯clock, it doesn¡¯t rule out that he could have returned at 10 o¡¯clock, ore back after 11¡­¡± Wan Baoming reminded, ¡°We should inquire more carefully about the time the victim¡¯s husband left his workce.¡± ¡°Right, if there was a faked record, then the workce¡¯s clock-in time could also be tampered with.¡± Ma Jiyang said, though his expression became much graver. In an instant, Ma Jiyang smiled again and said, ¡°Right, didn¡¯t you mention that you need to measure the liver temperature?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s measure the liver temperature to rify,¡± Wan Baoming exined on their behalf. Ma Jiyang grunted, ¡°Go ahead and measure it, we¡¯re here now.¡± ¡°Should we inform the victim¡¯s husband?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t. Just directly measure it. We¡¯re definitely taking the body back, no need toplicate matters unnecessary.¡± Once Ma Jiyang made up his mind, Ye Tianhe and the others didn¡¯t have to fret anymore. They took out the liver temperature probe and inserted it to take a reading. ¡°32.1 degrees Celsius,¡± Ye Tianhe read the temperature and then silently did the math, confirming it supported his own judgment. So he asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Doctor Jiang, would you like to measure it?¡± ¡°No need, this indicates that the overall body temperature of the corpse is disordered.¡± Jiang Yuan offered an exnation. Ye Tianhe, lost for words, replied, ¡°You can¡¯t just dere the temperature of the body is disordered because the liver temperature doesn¡¯t match expectations; you have to consider the evidence.¡± ¡°The temperature of the body is only one of the criteria for determining the time of death. Actually, it¡¯s also the most easily disturbed,¡± Jiang Yuan said in a somewhat conciliatory tone, and continued, ¡°Postmortem changes, such as muscle postmortem response, changes to the cornea, as well as rigor mortis. Pay attention to the contraction of the lips¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, then added, ¡°When we do the autopsy, let¡¯s check the digestion of stomach contents, and while we¡¯re at it, conduct a toxicology test¡­¡± Some drugs can affect the changes in body temperature of a corpse, such as antipyretics. Seeing Jiang Yuan so certain, Ye Tianhe had no choice but to readjust his attitude, saying, ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll see during the autopsy.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s goal wasn¡¯t to convince him. Having said this, he didn¡¯t fuss further but stood up to observe the scene. Ma Jiyang asked, ¡°What are you looking for?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°Actually, such arge discrepancy in determining the time of death based on body temperature is a bit problematic.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°There are many factors that determine the temperature of a corpse. Generally speaking, the main ones are environmental temperature, clothing or covering, the carrying body of the corpse, along with venttion, humidity, gender, age, body size, cause of death, drugs¡­¡± Jiang Yuan listed 10 factors in one breath, then continued, ¡°Among these, thetter factors are less likely to change. The most variable are the first few¡­¡± Listening, Ma Jiyang closed his eyes, tuning into the environment of the crime scene. Jiang Yuan pondered and said, ¡°If we consider the variables, the bathroom has higher humidity, venttion with an exhaust fan, there¡¯s also an air system, and the body is suspended¡­¡± Ma Jiyang opened his eyes; the heavy pressure returned in an instant, and he said, ¡°The rtionship between the victim and her husband was not very good, and there had been recent arguments. Moreover, there were significant financial problems between the two, and the victim had insurance¡­ I¡¯ll go confirm this guy¡¯s whereabouts.¡± Mentally, Ma Jiyang still felt that the husband was the most suspicious. However, given Jiang Yuan¡¯s performance these past few days, he was willing to investigate further. Chapter 338 - 338 305 ?338: 305 338: 305 Captain Ma went out to investigate, leaving a few people in the tiny restroom who calmed down slightly and each started working on their respective tasks. Jiang Yuan also lowered his head to think. For him, the initial part of the case had essentially beenpleted. There was indeed a difference in the estimation of the deceased¡¯s time of death, but that was not the problem. Maybe, it could even be used to help solve the case. Of course, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, even without using this skill, this level of case could probably be cracked as new clues emerged upon Captain Ma¡¯s return from the investigation. Jiang Yuan was thinking in order to reset his train of thought. Comrade Ye Tianhe was a bit noisy. As a forensic doctor himself, Jiang Yuan now understood that Doctor Ye was simply not quite used to being questioned, given that he usually directly presented his findings. The status of a forensic doctor at a crime scene is actually quite high, referring here to their professional standing. Typically, once a forensic doctor provides an estimation of time of death at the scene, it is unlikely for a criminal police officer to question, ¡°Did you calcte it wrong?¡± Even team leaders of the police wouldn¡¯t have the professional capacity and confidence to make such judgments. At most, they may just pick on a new forensic doctor. To outsiders looking at a forensic doctor, as long as the forensic doctor stands unwaveringly in front of a body, unmoved by the stench, their satisfaction is mostly attained, perhaps querying at most about topics rted to dating and family life. Professional exchanges between forensic doctors usually are not too intense. Especially for forensic doctors at the grassroots level, either you are supported and recognized by superior forensic doctors for your expertise, and you have the final say, or, the professional level of the grassroots forensic doctors isn¡¯t very high, nor is their self-confidence strong, and they wouldn¡¯t enter into intense debates. Doctor Ye Tianhe actually belonged to the stronger category of forensic doctors. As a forensic doctor with the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, even though Ye Tianhe appeared easygoing, he wouldn¡¯t fully ept even technical guidance from the provincial forensic doctors. So, for the most part, Doctor Ye had been unterally giving his input, with little to no verification. In normal cases, when Doctor Ye arrived at the scene as a forensic doctor, examined the body, and reached a conclusion, the police officers would not challenge him, and even if his colleagues were confident enough, in terms of ability, they actually wouldn¡¯t surpass Doctor Ye by much. The methods used should be simr, and thus, so should the conclusions reached. As for the truth of the case, it wouldn¡¯t be immediately reflected, nor necessarily urate, and eventually, even if it turned out the forensic doctor had oversight, off by a few hours or even a few days, forensic doctors could easily console themselves. In fact, merely using rectal or liver temperature for the determination of time of death, the uracy of most regression equations from the outset is only around 85%, or 90% at most; a margin of error of one or two hours is quitemon. So, rather than saying Jiang Yuan and Ye Tianhe had conflicting opinions, it¡¯s more urate to say that their standards were not on the same level. Doctor Ye just hadn¡¯t encountered such a direct challenge face-to-face in a while. After calming down, Doctor Ye quickly realized and proactively said with a smile to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Jiang Yuan, did you lead me into a trap just now? I was discussing the body¡¯s temperature with you, using rectal temperature to determine the time of death, and you brought up rigor mortis, corneal clouding, and so on.¡± Seeing this, Jiang Yuan also eased the atmosphere, saying, ¡°I was too hastying over, in quite a hurry indeed. Truly, other factors, the time of death derived from them, is quite different from what one gets using body temperature, making the temperature factor seem a bit out of ce.¡± Doctor Ye simply nodded, understanding somewhat. After all, forensic doctors who can determine the time of death using body temperature will definitely do so. Because body temperature is easier to quantify. Whether it¡¯s rectal, liver, or surface temperature, putting a thermometer in gives a precise temperature reading. An urate temperature, put into a regression equation, even if it¡¯s a simplified version, gives a conclusion for time of death that¡¯s actually very urate. And for the police officers using this data, whether they¡¯re from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment or Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, a body¡¯s time of death urate to within two or three hours on the day of, or morning, afternoon, or evening within a few days, is quite satisfying. The time Jiang Yuan provided was unusually precise, in fact beyond the norm. It¡¯s normal for Doctor Ye not to understand. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have time to give a lesson, only saying, ¡°Actually, if possible, performing a chemical analysis of the eyeball could also yield a rtively urate conclusion. Because the aggregation of potassium ions due to the rupture of red blood cells isrgely unaffected by temperature.¡± Doctor Ye said, ¡°Perhaps, mainly because the time difference is rtivelyrge.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. ¡°Under normal weather, in a normal environment, such arge difference is beyond the norm.¡± ¡°Uh-huh.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s very likely that the suspect fabricated the crime scene.¡± Doctor Ye was taken aback, his gaze first falling on the bathtub next to the restroom, asking, ¡°How was it fabricated?¡± With his experience as a forensic doctor, the first thing he thought of was actually through the bathtub. The influence of water on temperature is tremendous, several times greater than that of air. Therefore, the determination of time of death for a body in water is very different from that of a body onnd. If you were to add ice or heat to the water, the difference could indeed be quite significant. Ye Tianhe stepped forward to inspect the body again, but still shook his head and said, ¡°There¡¯s also no sign of the body having been in water.¡± ¡°Actually, we could backtrack the time using that multiple regression equation,¡± Jiang Yuan took out his notebook, writing as he spoke, ¡°Suppose the rectal temperature is Y, environmental temperature, clothing or covering, the supporting surface of the corpse, airflow condition, humidity, sex, age, body type, cause of death, corresponding to variables ABCDEFGH, given coefficients, the equation could be, Y=44.352-.311A+0.188B+0.035C+0.136D+0.563E+0.664F+0.049G+0.019H¡­¡± Ye Tianhe did care a bit before, when Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t measure the rectal temperature and didn¡¯t provide data; he merely stated a number. Now, hearing Jiang Yuan provide numbers for the data, Ye Tianhe was once again lost in confusion. While Jiang Yuan continued the calctions, he went on, ¡°The most important thing here is to quantify variables ABCDEFGH. For example, the cause of death could be quantified simply by the amount of bleeding; major hemorrhage could be assigned -2, internal bleeding -1, natural as 0, cranial damage as 1, poisoning as 1, and in cases of poisoning or medication, this could be given a 1, except for sedatives and hypnotics. The mechanical asphyxiation we¡¯re dealing with here would be a 2.¡± As Ye Tianhe listened, his gaze began to drift. After all, he was middle-aged. His child¡¯s education was still manageable, so that only made it feel more difficult. His wife and inws were good to him, so that only made it feel more difficult. His parents were naturally aging and always worried about him, so that only made it feel more difficult. His own health was mediocre, not terrible yet frequently problematic, so that only made it feel more difficult. Life was already so tough, why should he bother to understand such equations? If being a forensic scientist required him to calcte the time of death like this, he might as well be dead. Jiang Yuan looked up to see that Ye Tianhe was no longer listening, Wan Baoming was also silent, and Tang Jia only had a fixed smile. Jiang Yuan wisely shut up and continued his silent calctions. In the past, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted to deal with such forms either, but having heard that someone would want to see them, he now realized that a normal forensic doctor wouldn¡¯t want to bother with these things. In a moment, Captain Ma returned to see several people who had emerged from the washroom still looking ufortable, and assumed they had had another debate. Ma didn¡¯t pay it much mind and simply said, ¡°If it was at a quarter past ten, then the husband has an alibi.¡± ¡°What kind of evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan still had to ask. Alibis could theoretically be fabricated, especially by those who liked to discuss perfect murders, discussing empty theories, one couldn¡¯t rule out someone doing it. Ma shook his head and said, ¡°The evidence is solid. The husband works at an outsourced intepany. There are cameras at his workstation, cameras that record when he logs in, cameras at the entrance and exit of the office building, and he gets mobile alerts if he leaves his seat for too long. Unless there¡¯srge-scale fraud by thepany, it¡¯s impossible.¡± ¡°It must have been someone else then,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Captain Ma hesitated for a moment, then said in a low voice, ¡°Maybe we shouldn¡¯t be so strict about the time of death¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already verified the calctions, there¡¯s no major issue with the time of death,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. ¡°Verified?¡± Captain Ma asked a bit more. Jiang Yuan tore the calction page from his notebook and handed it to Captain Ma. Ma saw a myriad of letters and numbers and then revealed a purely human smile, ¡°I asked unnecessarily.¡± ¡°This multiple regression equation isn¡¯t easy to invert, but someone definitely fabricated the crime scene and caused the body temperature to be chaotic,¡± Jiang Yuan calcted just to rify his thought process. Now that his thoughts were clear, he didn¡¯t need to look at the numbers anymore and said to himself, ¡°Either the victim was medicated, which requires a toxicological test, or someone altered the environment around the corpse. Their bathroom isn¡¯t big, if someone raised the temperature and humidity for two to three hours, and high enough, it¡¯s still possible. However¡­¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Doctor Ye and Captain Ma and said, ¡°If it was high temperature and humidity, we should have felt it upon entering.¡± Ye Tianhe shook his head slightly, ¡°I walked for 40 minutes on the way here. The officers who responded didn¡¯t mention it. Captain Ma, could you ask?¡± Ma made a sound of agreement and immediately took out his phone to ask. Soon, Ma put down his phone and shook his head, ¡°Neither of the responding officers felt it.¡± ¡°Then¡­ should we ask the husband?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated a bit. Captain Ma frowned slightly, ¡°That¡­ if we¡¯re not very certain, I think we could put it off for a bit? Hmm¡­ Suppose someone really did fake the scene to create high temperature and humidity, and now there¡¯s no high temperature and humidity, it means they eliminated it ahead of time, could it be an old thief? Sneaking in early,mitting the crime, and then leaving.¡± This was pure spection on Jiang Yuan¡¯s part, but from Captain Ma¡¯s perspective, suchplicated cases rarely urred, and the more seasoned a thief was, the less likely they were to make the case thisplex. ¡°If someone dide in, there might be traces left behind,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up decisively and said, ¡°I¡¯ll helpb the scene, Doctor Ye, will you take the body back for the autopsy?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Everyone stopped talking and went back into the bathroom to work. Jang Yuan changed his clothes, put on new gloves, and donned specialized sses, starting to inspect the scene from the bathroom. Everything seemed to return to protocol. Just like before. Captain Ma and Wan Baoming breathed a sigh of relief simultaneously and shared a smile. Just when they were feeling rxed, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came again: ¡°It seems this family uses smart home devices; the air conditioning, the heatingmp, and venttion in the bathroom can all be operated remotely.¡± Chapter 339 - 339 306 ?339: Chapter 306 339: Chapter 306 ¡°I confirmed with the victim¡¯s husband that their smart home system could control not only the lighting but also the heatingmps and exhaust fans in the bathrooms. Besides, the air conditioning and the fresh air system are controble too. Even the shower head and the bathtub can be controlled, including the water supply and drainage¡­¡± Captain Ma returned to the scene and couldn¡¯t help but grouse as he reported, ¡°Why would anyone connect all the appliances in their home to the inte? Not only could it let someone else take control, but it also costs more money, right?¡± ¡°It should still be quite convenient though. One-touch hot water, you could be sitting on the subway, and the bath at home could already be filling up. By the time you get home, you can soak directly in the tub, isn¡¯t that wonderful?¡± Tang Jia was the first to stand up in opposition, for this was exactly what she liked to do. Captain Ma grimaced, ¡°As for saving just a few minutes¡¯ time¡­¡± Wan Baoming hastened to say, ¡°I¡¯ve called the technicians over, when they arrive, let¡¯s see if we can find the person who has used this software. If the person just used it normally, they should have left some traces.¡± Jiang Yuan listened to the others talk while he silently continued sweeping the bathroom. No matter whether the murderer used this system or not, he had definitelymitted the murder and staged the suicide scene, and it had to be done right here in this very bathroom. Thus, the likelihood of leaving traces increased significantly. Moreover, Jiang Yuan did not believe anyone could cover every base. Someone who put a great deal of effort into fabricating the scene might not have enough time and energy to eliminate all traces. Many people have great misconceptions in their thinking and approach to doing things. For instance, consider how much effort and time it would take for a person to kill a Husky weighing over 100 pounds, hang it up, and then stage it to look like a suicide. What about cleaning the bathroom? Many people might never attempt to thoroughly clean a bathroom in their lifetime, and if you want to get every nook and cranny spotless without leaving a single trace, how much time and effort would that take? If in the middle of the process, one loses strength and falls, breaking an elbow, they would have to start cleaning all over again. Some stubborn yers might just give up. If they give up, then they can meet their fate at the execution ground. These would still be murderers who get things done. Some murderers have obvious shorings in daily life, making it even harder for them to kill without leaving traces. For example, some people don¡¯t know how to tie knots properly. If they can¡¯t get the noose right when hanging a body weighing over 100 pounds, they would sweat profusely while being careful not to stain the corpse¡¯s clothes. Then, with a pop, the ropees undone, the body falls to the ground¡ªwhat a nuisance, what a challenge! Furthermore, if the murderer wants to stage the scene, a lot of methods can no longer be used. Some cleaning agents can indeed destroy DNA, but they are notmonly used cleaning items, or the victim¡¯s home might not have purchased them. In that case, the murderer might simply have to risk leaving their own DNA behind. This is the risk you face while trying to reap the benefits of staging a crime scene. Jiang Yuan was now betting on the murderer not having cleaned the scene thoroughly. His level 4 crime scene investigation skill could effortlessly identify problems in a crime scene that had been level 2 inspected. An average murderer, if not professionally trained, why wouldn¡¯t he leave any traces? Of course, nowadays people who are knowledgeable may wear gloves, so fingerprints are unlikely. Jiang Yuan did find plenty of skin kes and hairs. Especially inside the drain and the sink, where he retrieved short hairs and wiped off water stains. The victim had long hair, as did her daughter, who was living in a school dormitory. The victim¡¯s husband, on the other hand, was nearly bald, and the hair he did have was quite long. The source of the short hairs became a point of reflection. Jiang Yuan carefully collected several strands of short hair and ced them in evidence bags, then examined a variety of toiletries. Next, he wiped numerous suspicious areas with a box of cotton swabs, feeling somewhat relieved. Compared to determining time of death, the acquisition of this kind of evidence seemed more concrete. ¡°That¡¯s about it,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he collected items like towels directly intorge evidence bags. There¡¯s no need to be frugal for the Criminal Police Brigade when ites to cracking a murder case. Killing someone is actually quite tiring, akin to ying a Husky weighing 100 pounds and hanging it to simte a suicide. The bathroom environment is also enclosed, so sweating profusely is only natural. If the murderer wiped his sweat, there could be DNA on the towel. If the murderer let the sweat drip, then the water stains he wiped off many surfaces could contain his DNA. If the murderer washed with water, then the sink that was wiped down could have his DNA. The formidable aspect of DNA is that it¡¯s detectable in very small amounts. In an environment like a bathroom, unless you use cleaning and disinfecting agents appropriately, you could still leave DNA traces even after multiple water rinses. The problem is that the murderer, in order to stage a suicide, can¡¯t use unconventional cleaners, creating the possibility of leaving DNA behind. The asymmetrical warfare between the killer and the police is just like this. If the killer chooses to fake the crime scene, they cannot eradicate the evidence. If the killer decides to eradicate evidence, then they must face the risk of oversights as well as the trouble and professional demands of carrying various cleaning items. Simrly, they also face the risk of oversights. Of course, they could also choose not to process the scene at all, opting for the shortest contact time and method. However, when killersmit murder, it¡¯s often an act of venting emotions, and those who cannot control their emotional outbursts are likely tock the discipline needed during the crime. On the other hand, the shortest contact method still must contend with street surveince cameras, potential eyewitnesses, and the victim¡¯s resistance. Just like the case Jiang Yuan worked on previously, the 513 stabbing through the door case, that was already a case of lucky, brief contact, but once the thinyers of paper were punctured, quite a bit of evidence was still left behind. However, had it not been for Jiang Yuan determining the time of death for the corpse, making the husband the prime suspect, the crime scene investigators probably wouldn¡¯t have gone to such lengths to collect evidence. Because the husband¡¯s DNA would certainly be all over the bathroom, as for the presence of anyone else¡¯s DNA, that is usually not investigated thoroughly. Who doesn¡¯t have a couple of people in their family leave some sweat beads in the bathroom? The forensic technicians from the criminal police detachment continued their busy work in the living room and bedroom, hoping to collect something else of significance. Homicides are different from other cases; they typically have a much stronger motive. Without sufficient motive, someone without an antisocial personality wouldn¡¯t kill so readily. And in cases where the crime scene is staged, once the veil of fabrication is lifted, the truth usually bes quite clear. Just like initially, everyone was focusing on the victim¡¯s husband. If it wasn¡¯t the husband who killed her, then the murderer must have had a strong rtionship with her. In the midst of the hustle, the technicians from the cyber security squad arrived as well. Simr to the crime scene investigation boxes or the forensic doctor¡¯s kits used by, the cyber technicians also have their own kit, which includes ¡°brute force¡± data extraction toolsmonly used for cell phones and naturally applied to other smart devices as well. Jiang Yuan and others directly stepped out the door to wait. The victim¡¯s rtives and several neighbors were taken to the case handling center for statements. The hallway suddenly became quiet. At this moment, Wan Baoming looked around and said, ¡°If it weren¡¯t for the smart home technology, people like us would probably be hiding in things like the venttion ducts by now.¡± ¡°Hiding around the corner, waiting for us to leave before jumping down?¡± Captain Ma cooperated quite well. ¡°Maybe the rm was raised too quickly.¡± ¡°Right, the victim¡¯s husband came home faster than usual this time.¡± ¡°Coming home quickly didn¡¯t help, and, also, calling neighbors over without attempting to rescue the person first is quite unusual.¡± A few of them muttered near the entrance. Before long, the technician came out from inside, looked at their notes, and said: ¡°Indeed, someone at 10:21 AM turned on the bath heater, lights, and shower, and set the air conditioner to heating mode. At 11:20 AM, they turned off the shower and controlled the bathtub to start draining. At 11:25 AM, they turned on the exhaust fan, adjusted the fresh air system¡¯s airflow, and switched the air conditioning to cooling mode. At 11:35 AM, they turned off the bath heater, the exhaust fan, and the air conditioner.¡± Captain Ma¡¯s expression turned solemn, ¡°Someone really did use this thing.¡± Wan Baoming¡¯s expression was also grave as he looked at the technician, ¡°Can you find out who was controlling it?¡± ¡°We can only check back at the station, and if the person was cautious, we might not be able to trace them,¡± the technician replied. Tang Jia then said in a quiet voice, ¡°Can we see who previously connected to the Wi-Fi? Like the records on the router?¡± The technician replied, ¡°We can see that. What are we looking for?¡± ¡°Murders always have a reason, right? If it¡¯s not a property dispute, could this murder be due to a love problem?¡± Tang Jia gently suggested, ¡°The killer seems to be very familiar with the victim¡¯s home. They must have visited before to know about these smart home technologies¡­¡± ¡°We can. Let¡¯s start with that approach,¡± Captain Ma immediately nodded and continued, ¡°Find people andpare their DNA with what was found at the scene and see if there¡¯s a match.¡± Chapter 340 - 340 307 Saving Youth ?340: Chapter 307 Saving Youth 340: Chapter 307 Saving Youth Evening. Yu Wenshu arrivedte and saw that the crime scene had already be a scene of workers returning home from work. Those carrying equipment back, loosening their cors to cool off, and the police officers scrolling through their phones while waiting for the elevator, were all from his own division. At that moment, Yu Wenshu¡¯s expression turned slightly unpleasant. As a leader, I indeed arrivedte, but you can¡¯t just call it a day like this. Yu Wenshu¡¯s gaze quickly swept over the badge numbers of several people nearby. His ability to remember everything he saw allowed him to effortlessly memorize the badge numbers of these fellows. The officers preparing to leave were terrified. Everyone was a detective; with one look at a criminal, they could urately guess what was on the criminal¡¯s mind. It was the same when they looked at Yu Wenshu¡ªof course, this didn¡¯t mean that the leader was a bad person, although it didn¡¯t mean he was a good one either. In short, detectives were skilled at reading people. Having held the position of division chief for so long, Yu Wenshu merely had to twist his hips, and everyone would know whether he had drunk milk the previous night. His eyes darted over everyone¡¯s badge numbers, clearly with a purpose in mind. An older officer hesitantly said, ¡°Chief Yu, the case has been solved. We were just about to tidy up the equipment.¡± ¡°Solved? Howe I didn¡¯t know about it?¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s gaze swept over, memorizing the officer¡¯s badge number with pinpoint uracy. ¡°It¡¯s basically been cracked. It was¡­ uh, Forensic Jiang Yuan who cracked it. I heard they¡¯re currently confirming the identity of the suspect. They will probably call you soon¡­¡± The older detective exined continuously. As he spoke, Yu Wenshu¡¯s phone rang. ¡°Hello. Okay, I¡¯ve arrived. Any leads? Great, great; I¡¯ll be there in a few steps,¡± Yu Wenshu said, his brows unfurrowing. He nodded to the detective whose badge number he had just memorized and walked forward. The older detective watched Yu Wenshu¡¯s retreating back with a look of despair, sighing, ¡°I¡¯m doomed, now I¡¯ve been remembered for sure.¡± ¡°So what if he remembers you; didn¡¯t you exin everything clearly?¡± A younger detective beside him said, not quite understanding. The older detective replied helplessly, ¡°You think he¡¯s a god? All he did was memorize our badge numbers forcefully¡­¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that what gods do? If I could have memorized numbers with just a nce, I would¡¯ve gotten into Tsinghua University back then.¡± ¡°Naive. Chief Yu can remember numbers, but he doesn¡¯t remember events.¡± ¡°What¡­ what do you mean?¡± The older detective spoke earnestly, ¡°It means that Chief Yu will remember our badge numbers, but in a few days, he might forget why he remembered them. But to Chief Yu, anyone whose badge number he remembers is definitely not good news. So, we¡¯re in trouble.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ But¡­ it shouldn¡¯t be like this. If he performs well, won¡¯t he forget about it?¡± ¡°If he performs well, he¡¯ll remember the name¡­¡± ¡­ At the scene. After Captain Ma¡¯s briefing, Yu Wenshu carefully inspected the crime scene once more, full of satisfaction. He couldn¡¯t help but pat Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°You did well with this case. If it wasn¡¯t for your judgment on the time of death, the victim¡¯s husband would have been in trouble.¡± ¡°The case isn¡¯t over yet,¡± Jiang Yuan modestly replied. ¡°Just take your time with the rest. Now that we have so much DNA evidence, along with electronic data, matching it with the victim¡¯s social rtionships won¡¯t be too difficult,¡± Yu Wenshu said after understanding the case. Like others, his first guess was a crime of passion. The victim was a typical middle-ss family woman in her forties. She had no notable enemies and no conflicts of interest worth mentioning. Under such circumstances, premeditated murder was most likely due to a crime of passion. Adulterous affairs involving middle-aged women are bound to include sexual elements. Even if Tang Jia¡¯s search of the wifi turned up nothing, it was estimated that clues could be found in the victim¡¯s phone. If all else fails, hotel records and daily routines could be checked. In an era where electronic footprints are everywhere, having an affair without the spouse finding out might be possible, but the likelihood of the police not finding out is almost zero. Yu Wenshu even felt that he didn¡¯t need to issue any extra reminders. Ma Jiyang was a mature andpetent captain of the detective squad; investigating such matters was child¡¯s y to him. Back when Ma Jiyang investigated his own wife, he didn¡¯t use any of these advanced technologies to avoid breaking discipline. He went undercover alone, spending day and night gatheringprehensive details of time, ce, and person until he was finally able to divorce cleanly and with peace of mind. Yu Wenshu hurried to the scene and didn¡¯t stay long before leaving with the main force. Naturally, he didn¡¯t find it bothersome. The smooth progress of the case was the greatest joy. Yu Wenshu had no desire to stay at the scene,manding with authority; instead, he wanted to avoid a long night of work. The older he got, the more he hoped there would be no cases. And if there were, he hoped they would be solved quickly. If a case was particrly tough to crack, he hoped to have Jiang Yuan around¡­ ¡°Where will Jiang Yuan go next? I¡¯ll have someone take you,¡± Yu Wenshu said with concern. ¡°Go and get some good rest. We should be able to catch the suspect by tomorrow.¡± Ma Jiyang listened without blinking, fully aware that not sleeping wasmon knowledge for a homicide detective, not worth mentioning. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°I would like to see the body.¡± ¡°Oh? Why¡­ Oh, you¡¯re a forensic doctor.¡± Yu Wenshu pped his forehead andughed, ¡°Look at me, my memory isn¡¯t what it used to be. I used to recite ¡®The Great Learning¡¯, mentioning ¡®Yao and Shun lead the world with benevolence¡¯ and immediately I could recite ¡®and the people followed them¡¯. Well, I can still recite it now, hahaha¡­¡± ¡°Chief Yu really has a good memory.¡± Everyone else was somewhat reluctant to tter Yu Wenshu¡¯s memory anymore, but Ma Jiyang still showed the awareness expected of an officer. ¡°Send a couple of people to escort Jiang Yuan, stay with him throughout the next few days,¡± Yu Wenshu ordered Ma Jiyang, adding, ¡°Find some young ones, with good physical condition. Jiang Yuan is a technical worker, and he has already encountered the assant at the crime scene twice, which is very bizarre. We don¡¯t want any more issues;st time, that parkour-runner scared my blood pressure through the roof.¡± This was actually a requirement from Huang Qiangmin to Yu Wenshu. Previously, Huang Qiangmin would arrange for someone to apany Jiang Yuan to Changyang City, but as Yu Wenshu¡¯s lease grew longer, it became inconvenient for Ningtai County to continue sending people. On one hand, Ningtai County was short-staffed and sending out three people all at once didn¡¯t feel right. On the other hand, one had to consider the morale of the assigned personnel; short-term protection was fine, but long-term travel for protection duties was tougher to manage. With the case progressing smoothly, Ma Jiyang didn¡¯t need too much police force at this point, and he easily assigned two people to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t stand on ceremony. With darkness falling outside, going to the mortuary to perform an autopsy with two people in tow felt reassuring. ¡­ Mortuary. The Changyang City mortuary was still as solemn as ever,rger than the one in Ningtai County, yet the air inside felt the same. Especially in the evening, it felt as if Ningtai¡¯s ghosts hade to work in Changyang. The two young officers seemed bold but not quite, following Jiang Yuan all the way into the autopsy room and then sighing quietly with relief. They then saw a body lying face up with its sternum cracked open. ¡°I¡­¡± The youngest one, with the least experience, turned to leave the autopsy room, thought of the mortuary outside, and stopped in his tracks. Ye Tianhe arrived a bit earlier, working with his colleague and now covered in red, he exposed a pale smile and said kindly, ¡°Don¡¯t vomit on the floor, alright, or you¡¯ll have to clean it.¡± Jiang Yuan also put on a friendly expression and said, ¡°I¡¯m here to help.¡± Ye Tianhe was actually a bit ufortable but didn¡¯t want tosh out at someone offering a smile. Seeing that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t there to mock him, he adjusted his mood and said, ¡°I just looked at the hyoid bone, it¡¯s not broken, but the neck muscles are discolored. She must have been strangled with a ligature. Anterior strangled, a single, soft ligature mark consistent with the width of the hanging rope. The murderer came well-prepared.¡± ¡°Anterior strangtion,¡± also known as typical strangtion, is when the force is applied to the front of the neck, consistent with hanging. There are other types, includingteral and posterior strangtion. Ligature marks refer to the trace formed by the strangling material, and a soft ligature mark means that the skin¡¯s surface peeling is slight, often used to judge the softness or hardness of the strangling material. Additionally, the number of ligature marks can help determine whether the ligature was a fixed or sliding type. For forensic doctors, strangtion is an extensively studied field, which means a lot of information can bemunicated with professional terminology in just a few words. From this perspective, the professionalism of the suspect had declined. In this day and age, still trying to fake a suicide by hanging is simply too na?ve. ¡°Was the stomach content collected?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s main goal was to confirm the time of death. After all, this was the first time he was using this skill and needed additional information to support it. ¡°It¡¯s been collected. And already sent for examination, the time of death matches the estimate of around 10 o¡¯clock,¡± Ye Tianhe had also conducted this check thoroughly, but even with stomach content examination, the precision wasn¡¯t that high, it could only suggest that it was consistent with that time period. In fact, determining the exact time of death had always been extremely difficult, to be precise was even harder. Ye Tianhe¡¯s estimation wasn¡¯t as urate as Jiang Yuan¡¯s, but that was to be expected. Jiang Yuan simply said, ¡°The murderer must have nned this carefully, probably trying to stage the scene as a suicide by hanging at first. If that failed, next step would be to frame the husband¡­ The n was tooplicated, which made it easier to slip up.¡± This remark was met with agreement from everyone else. With the investigative methods avable now, it doesn¡¯t matter how much the murderer tries to mislead; professional evidence from various fields will always help correct the trail and pieces of evidence. The more the murderer does, the more they risk exposing themselves. Jiang Yuan then re-examined the neck of the deceased and worked with Ye Tianhe to examine the uterus. During this time, a pale blue bead rolled into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. The legacy of Liu Meiyuan: cosy (LV2) ¡ª As Liu Meiyuan entered her forties, she could no longer pretend to be young. Cosy, once a minor hobby, became a lifeline for salvaging her life and clinging to her youth. Compared to the younger cosyers, Liu Meiyuan could wear makeup for longer, skin, strike bolder poses, and asionally, pick some young people who caught her eye to teach them some fresh knowledge. Chapter 341 - 341 308 Summary ?341: Chapter 308 Summary 341: Chapter 308 Summary The autopsysted until after four in the morning, and taking advantage of the peak yin energy, everyone stitched up the body, pushed it into the refrigerated coffin, and then each took showers and changed clothes. By the time they finished the whole process and left the funeral home, it coincided with the first wave of peopleing to mourn. Citizens walked uphill to enter the hall, while Jiang Yuan and others walked downhill to leave, and, if it weren¡¯t for the police car following them, they might have scared dozens into posting about it on their social circles. Jiang Yuan went back to his little house, slept through the day, and wasn¡¯t woken up until the afternoon by a phone call. ¡°Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve sent someone to pick you up, let¡¯s have dinner together,¡± Yu Wenshu invited Jiang Yuan with a cheerful tone. Jiang Yuan looked at the time and realized it was already five o¡¯clock, so he asked, ¡°Is it because the suspect has been caught? Has he confessed?¡± ¡°Hahaha, your questions are exactly the same as those the chief asked me,¡± Yu Wenshuughed before continuing, ¡°We¡¯ve caught him, I¡¯ll tell you all about it over dinner.¡± With that, Jiang Yuan had no choice but to go. He gave his consent, took a quick one-minute shower, changed into clothes without a logo, and went downstairs. The car Yu Wenshu sent had already arrived. The restaurant for the dinner meeting was also unbranded. However, there weren¡¯t many people there. Yu Wenshu sat at the head of the table, Wan Baoming sat next to him, and Ma Jiyang was sitting close by as well. If it weren¡¯t for the round table, this setup would have given Jiang Yuan the impression of a case analysis meeting. In fact, it was pretty much that. When Yu Wenshu saw Jiang Yuan, he waved him over and excitedly said, ¡°Old Ma, start from the beginning, tell Jiang Yuan about the arduous and remarkable spirit and efforts of our detachment officers¡­¡± Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan understood that the suspect hadn¡¯t been nabbed at the beginning and was probably caughtter, though someone might have been injured in the process. Ma Jiyang indeed began in a grave tone: ¡°The suspect¡¯s name is Xie Hong Sheng, who had done quite thorough preparation. He¡¯s an engineer at a local constructionpany who the deceased met during her time as a COSER, in his early thirties, with hobbies including photography, fitness, and anime. He had some savings and didn¡¯t hold back from spending on women.¡± ¡°After meeting Liu Meiyuan, Xie Hong Sheng dated her for over a year. They broke up and reconciled several times. In recent months, when Liu Meiyuan suggested they formalize their rtionship as boyfriend and girlfriend, Xie Hong Sheng wasn¡¯t willing, leading to a deterioration in their rtionship.¡± ¡°Liu Meiyuan took out old videos and photos of them both, simultaneously demanding Xie Hong Sheng take responsibility while threatening mutual destruction. Xie Hong Sheng¡¯spany was doing well, a state-owned enterprise with set positions, and he, being a local with many family members and ssmates, didn¡¯t want their rtionship exposed and thus was somewhat at Liu Meiyuan¡¯s mercy.¡± ¡°After multiple unsessfulmunications, Liu Meiyuan gave Xie Hong Sheng an ultimatum, so in the end, Xie Hong Sheng resorted to drastic measures.¡± Perhaps because the preliminary part had already been covered, Ma Jiyang breezed through the exnation. Having finished this part, Ma Jiyang then touched his head and said, ¡°This Xie Hong Sheng was on steroids for fitness, and he had a vtile temper and knew some martial arts. When we went to get him, he ran wild. It¡¯s also my fault for not controlling the scene properly; several of us were thrown around pretty badly during the arrest.¡± ¡°Nothing serious I hope,¡± Jiang Yuan expressed his concern. ¡°One injured his ligament, the rest were just superficial injuries,¡± Ma Jiyang said with resignation, ¡°These kind of intellectual criminals usually don¡¯t resist much when being arrested. But this guy was different, he ran and leaped all over; however, once we caught him, he was quitepliant and confessed pretty quickly.¡± At this point, Ma Jiyang nced at Jiang Yuan and continued, ¡°ording to the suspect¡¯s confession, his exact time of murder was around 10:15 pm. Jiang Yuan, your estimation of the time of death was spot on.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled faintly. With Level 6¡¯s death time verification and other rted skills, being urate about the current case was only to be expected. Of course, Jiang Yuan still had to modestly add, ¡°The killer mainly just interfered with the body¡¯s temperature. Of course, we now primarily determine our conclusions on current cases based on body temperature, and it just so happened that he guessed that correctly.¡± ¡°A fan of detective novels,¡± Ma Jiyang said. Wan Baoming chuckled, ¡°This guy has quite a few hobbies, huh.¡± ¡°A man in his thirties, not married, without a steady girlfriend¡ªnaturally, he can develop all sorts of hobbies,¡± Ma Jiyang said, slightly enviously, ¡°Of course, he also has money and leisure.¡± ¡°Engineers can¡¯t be busy?¡± ¡°The kind with backing. His entire family works in state-owned enterprises.¡± ¡°So whether his engineering skills are any good we don¡¯t know, but he did learn a thing or two about killing,¡± Wan Baoming shook his head and started pouring drinks for everyone. Ma Jiyang nodded and said, ¡°His technical skills are mediocre at best. But, he does have quite a few ideas. From what we¡¯ve seen in our search, his murder n had been in the works for more than a day or two, and he had more than one method in mind. We found arge pot in his house, the kind you see in the countryside, as well as camping gear.¡± ¡°He has a camping hobby too?¡± Wan Baoming asked. ¡°He hadn¡¯t developed that yet. His original n was to take Liu Meiyuan camping, and then boil her in the pot before burying the remains,¡± Ma Jiyang said, apologizing, ¡°Sorry, it¡¯s a bit gruesome.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, we¡¯re not squeamish. Come on, let¡¯s have a drink.¡± Yu Wenshu raised his ss to toast with everyone and then added, ¡°Keep going, so his murder n hasn¡¯t been carried out?¡± ¡°Yeah, the kid had some regrets, so he asked me if this method would catch him, asking about its feasibility.¡± ¡°To fully cook a person, you¡¯d need a significant amount of fuel, and if the ce is too remote, it could draw unwanted attention and idents could happen. If it¡¯s not remote enough, it¡¯s easy for people to discover,¡± Wan Baoming asserted with experience, adding, ¡°I¡¯ve actually encountered a simr case before, and in the end, it¡¯s useless; once the body is found, the killer is usually found too.¡± This was a shared concern for all who needed to dispose of or bury a body. Since murder usually involves significant interests and emotional entanglements, premeditated killings often expose cracks in interpersonal rtionships¡ªa domain where traditional detectives excel. For murders involving victims with whom the killer had no or barely any rtionship, the need to dispose of or bury the body diminished. This was the reason for the rarity of such cases in robbery-murders. Beyond that, humans, as descendants of the terrifying upright ape, actually have characteristics of arge build and hard bones. Especially modern humans, with females usually having more body mass than sheep and dogs, and males on par with pigs. The hardness of fresh long bones surpasses that of ordinary firewood. The difficulty of dealing with such a body and leaving no trace is easily imaginable. ¡°The victim¡¯s husband has issues too,¡± Wan Baoming went on without pause, ¡°Who runs out for help when his wife has hung herself? He could have taken her down. If it was a real hanging, there¡¯s a chance she could be saved if taken down immediately.¡± Ma Jiyang clinked sses with Wan Baoming and took a sip, ¡°A husband who knows his wife is unfaithful would rather kill her himself than save her.¡± Wan Baoming was surprised, ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yeah, he knew, just didn¡¯t confront her about it.¡± ¡°There are men like that?¡± ¡°Some men do that,¡± Ma Jiyang silently poured himself a drink, downed it in one gulp, andughed with a burning sensation. At that moment, Yu Wenshu said, ¡°We can¡¯t manage other people¡¯s family affairs, but murder is uneptable. Alright, the case is solved, and for us, that¡¯s the greatest victory. Here, I propose a toast; let¡¯s drink to that.¡± After several drinks, everyone was a bit tipsy when Yu Wenshu turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°Speaking of victory, the year¡¯s end is upon us too, and as per the tradition of our brigade, we¡¯ll have amendation ceremony for meritorious service. This time, Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re the star.¡± Chapter 342 - 342 309 Raise the Difficulty ?342: Chapter 309: Raise the Difficulty 342: Chapter 309: Raise the Difficulty Discussing meritorious service and rewards in a restaurant without a logo might seem somewhat improper, but Yu Wenshu had no choice. If it were his own subordinates, he would have just given whatever awards were avable. If the reward was generous, one could count oneself lucky; if it was measly, then it was all perceived as a form of grace. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s case¡­ Yu Wenshu was afraid of being too clever by half and ending up driving him away. There were just too many simr examples. Sharing adversity is easy; sharing prosperity is hard. Many could endure the hardships of struggle, but when it came time to reap the rewards, unfair treatment¡ªor even the misperception of it¡ªcould make it unbearable. As someone put it, there are only two reasons to resign: not enough money or too much grievance. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t offer money either, and if he allowed Jiang Yuan to feel aggrieved, then it would be much harder to work with him again. But how much would be enough, appropriate, and would leave a person feeling not just unaggrieved but even happy? Thus, Yu Wenshu had been pondering over this for several days, and now, he gave Wan Baoming a nod. It was better to have Wan Baoming speak; if anything was inappropriate, he could still remedy it. Wan Baoming coughed twice, poured Jiang Yuan some liquor, and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, since you came to Changyang City, you have solved numerous umted cases. Including the recent ones, that¡¯s seven. Four of those were cold case homicides. Before, the Cold Case Squad we set up seems a bit too casual in hindsight, and on the other hand, it doesn¡¯t fully demonstrate our capabilities¡­¡± After clinking sses with Jiang Yuan, Wan Baoming continued, ¡°The squad, after much reflection, has decided to upgrade the Cold Case Squad to Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, Changyang City, and put you in charge. It will have a staffing of 18 people. How does that sound?¡± Jiang Yuan, who was about to take a drink, almost choked: ¡°What name?¡± Wan Baoming replied, ¡°It will be called Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. In addition, we will hang up a sign reading Jiang Yuan Youth Commando Team. The Youth Commando Team is an old tradition of ours. Chief Yu himself emerged from the Yu Wenshu Youth Squad. It¡¯s known for its resilience and willingness to fight¡­¡± Yu Wenshu let out a heartyugh: ¡°It¡¯s an old story, but still, daring to take the lead is our style. When I was young, I didn¡¯t overthink things¡ªjust charged ahead¡­¡± Jiang Yuan quickly said, ¡°It¡¯s not that exaggerated, and besides, 18 people for a Cold Case Squad is way too many. Every department is stretched thin now¡­¡± ¡°We can¡¯t have fewer people.¡± Yu Wenshu chuckled, ¡°To get into Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, people have already been seeking me out. We can¡¯t reduce the 18-person roster anymore. If we do, the pressure on me would be too great, hahaha¡­¡± Everyoneughed along. Before, when forming a Cold Case Squad, people were reluctant. In the end, it usually consisted of a few young officers leading several middle-aged and senior detectives who were content with the status quo. Those content with the status quo didn¡¯t mind the type of work¡ªthey would just stick to standard procedures. The young people were often full of passion, yet unaware of theplexity of the cases and the limits of their abilities, always believing they could handle it. However, a normal Cold Case Squad does need that sort of reckless vigor. asionally, such squads do manage to resolve a case through sheer audacity. More often, it¡¯s considered an achievement if a Cold Case Squad can evene up with a lead. But such work can be extremely tedious and provide little sense of aplishment without results. Most people can¡¯t stick it out. Therefore, many departments¡¯ Cold Case Squads, in name focused on ¡®specialization,¡¯ eventually fade into obscurity or switch to part-time status after a while. Treating human resources as an unlimited input might sound feasible, but it¡¯s far from simple in practice. The Cold Case Squad that Jiang Yuan participated in was clearly a bit different. Not to mention solving seven homicides¡ªeven solving just one in such a short time changes everyone¡¯s morale. Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly before saying, ¡°Actually, for most cases, we don¡¯t need as many as 18 people.¡± ¡°Learning to manage people is also part of growth,¡± Wan Baoming knew the mentality of those in his technical field and immediately said, ¡°Chief Yu has carefully selected the team members, so you don¡¯t need to worry about nepotism. Furthermore, those rted by connections can still be useful¡ªlet them write reports, liaise with different departments, and apply for resources. They all have their uses.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re unsure how to manage them, juste to me,¡± Yu Wenshuughed, ¡°Also, I¡¯ve arranged for a few people you are familiar with to be on the team¡ªWang Chuanxing and Tang Jia are included. In short, you focus on the cases for now. If you do well with the cases, you can gradually learn the rest.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan had no reason to refuse. Having a team would certainly be an advantage in solving cases. ¡°This is a good thing,¡± Yu Wenshu smiled slightly, ¡°After all,ing to Changyang and working for a while, it¡¯s only normal for you to have your own team.¡± ¡°Changyang is too bustling for my taste; I prefer my hometown,¡± Jiang Yuan was quite clear-headed about this. The human rtions in Changyang City were on a whole different levelpared to those in Ningtai County. Just look at this newly established Cold Case Squad: with 18 spots avable, Yu Wenshu, as the squad leader, had to bnce rtionships. It was like touring hell with a seductress by one¡¯s side. If you were really transferred to hell, you might have to be a seductress yourself. Yu Wenshu felt a bit of regret but was not surprised. Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude had always been like this, and Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t offer him any more assurances. In fact, when it came to changing jobs, working at the provincial office would be more leisurely and offer more freedom. Senior officers like Liu Jinghui, although they had to interact with criminal police teams from various ces, their own involvement was minimal; the psychological burden was small, and their main job was to solve cases around the region, which was actually more suitable for Jiang Yuan. But now, aside from administrative benefitsgging behind, Jiang Yuan¡¯s treatment and the extent to which he was valued had already equaled that of Liu Jinghui. Thinking this way, Yu Wenshu had no ground to change Jiang Yuan¡¯s thinking. ¡°Have some cold dishes; the husband and wife lung slices at this restaurant are exceptional. Moreover, the lung slices made by the husband differ in taste from those made by the wife,¡± Yu Wenshu said after finishing the serious talk and joviallyunched into mealtime banter. Wan Baoming and others quickly followed, and within minutes, the atmosphere at the table became lively. ¡­ The next day. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team sign was hung up. The office was set up in a storage room on the fourth floor. Once the sign was changed and a dozen or so semi-new desks were piled in, the space was fully upied. Jiang Yuan¡¯s demanded high-performanceputers, as well as the potted green nts ced around, enriched the atmosphere of the office. Tang Jia hummed a tune while organizing her desk. She was one of the officers who had watched Jiang Yuan solve numerous cases and had been involved in them. For those who had been part of the bureau, Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving skills and efficiency were considered unbeatable, and there was no doubt about the future of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Inparison, some of the newly joined officers, especially those with connections, were a bit doubtful. They had all heard and seen the legend of Jiang Yuan. But as for how the work was to be carried out next and what kind of person Jiang Yuan was, and his methods, they didn¡¯t have much confidence. Of course, none of them were afraid either; if the squad faced trouble, they had ways to transfer elsewhere. A whileter, Jiang Yuan and Yu Wenshu, among others, entered together. Yu Wenshu made some opening remarks, then added, ¡°From now on, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team will begin to enter into work mode. My requirement for everyone is one month of adjustment. Within this month, whatever problems, needs, or grievances anyone has, you can bring them up. After a month, I won¡¯t be indulging you!¡± He was speaking to those with connections, who obediently nodded in agreement. Yu Wenshu then yielded the floor to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t actually skilled at making speeches or rallying people. When he was younger, living off food from various families in the vige, he mostly just said thank you. Later, when his family had money from relocation, his father emphasized keeping a low profile in both actions and demeanor. Looking down at the eighteen young officers, including Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia, all walking elite paths, with degrees from institutions like the Police University and the Criminal Police College, he saw their expressions were all very spirited. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said bluntly, ¡°Let¡¯s work on a case, shall we? Working on a case will help us get acquainted.¡± Yu Wenshu and Wan Baoming exchanged looks, both amused. Jiang Yuan¡¯s opening gambit was predictable yet unexpected. ¡°Right, I looked through some cases myself earlier, so let¡¯s start with this one,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took out a photo and waved it, ¡°The 427 Intoxication Death Case. The determination of the time of death for this case is incorrect; let¡¯s reconstruct it.¡± Yu Wenshu and the others were startled. Kicking off with a homicide case? Wasn¡¯t that a bit too difficult? Chapter 343 - 343 310 Self-Distribution ?343: Chapter 310 Self-Distribution 343: Chapter 310 Self-Distribution The personnel matters in the provincial capital city are far moreplex than those in county towns. In fact, Huang Qiangmin was quite a big shot in Ningtai County. Although he had a superior above him and peers beside him, in terms of seniority and job content, he was one of the leading elder brothers. Yu Wenshu, the captain of the criminal police brigade, was not so happy. He was surrounded by the Economic Investigation Brigade, Public Security Brigade, Drug Enforcement, Cybersecurity, Prison Administration, Internal Security, as well as the Traffic Police Brigade and the Special Police Brigade, which had the highest numbers of personnel. Additionally, there were a double-digit number of parallel offices, such as the Legal Affairs Department, Household Administration Department, Science and Technology Communications Department, and so on. Above him, the number of bosses was several times that of the county bureau. At the same time, the district and county jurisdictions subordinate to Changyang City also had their own district and county bureaus, which might even have more authority than Yu Wenshu. Besides, from time to time, the Provincial Department, the great matriarch, would manifest its presence. This was also why Yu Wenshu particrly needed Jiang Yuan. In the provincial capital city, wherepetition is fierce, standing out is truly not easy. The performance of Yu Wenshu, the captain of the criminal police brigade, whether mediocre or slightly better, would not be distinctive. But solving four consecutive homicide cold cases, with a 100% closure rate for current cases, now that could be considered a remarkable achievement. If he could maintain such momentum for the next year, Yu Wenshu felt that his life could still be broader. Jiang Yuan had a rough understanding of theplexities of the provincial capital. But since he had been ¡°sold¡± there, he did not need to bother with so many personnel rtions. A solemn third-grade police inspector by rank, he was lower in position than Wang Chuanxinghe and Tang Jia, so all he had to do was focus on his work. ¡°For the 427 drunkard death case, the specifics, Wang Chuanxing, please project them for everyone to see,¡± Jiang Yuan ordered, without even taking out a USB sh drive. Fortunately, Wang Chuanxing was adept at using these office devices and software. He immediately connected hisputer to the projector in the new office and quickly found the details of the 427 drunkard death case. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t idle, speaking to himself, ¡°The victim, Wang Jun, aged 41, was found dead on April 27thst year, days after his death¡­ The files say 8 to 10 days, but that¡¯s incorrect, it should be no more than 6 days, and it¡¯s very likely only just over 5 days.¡± ¡°In any case, Wang Jun¡¯s body was discovered in a house on a hillside outside the vige, days after his death, with signs of having been moved. Additionally, the deceased had incontinence of feces, rxation of the anal sphincter, and positive presumptive human sperm tests from anal swabs, both superficial and deep within the anus, revealing male DNA typing other than the victim¡¯s own.¡± As Jiang Yuan described the general case, Wang Chuanxing got the projector working, and more content was disyed on the screen. Some people were reading quietly, while others couldn¡¯t resist discussing, ¡°So, this is a sodomy homicide case?¡± ¡°The victim was 41 years old and¡­ well, a fairly attractive middle-aged man, but not enough to invite crime. Was the victim homosexual?¡± ¡°The victim had a junior high school education and lived in the countryside for many years. Are rural areas really that liberal now?¡± Jiang Yuan let everyone read and discuss for a while before signaling Wang Chuanxing to turn the page. At a photo of the body, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The photos here are very clear. You can clearly see here the third instarrvae of the stable fly, as well as the maggots and pupae of Flesh Fly. Based on the temperature at the scene, using the stable fly as the indicator species, the death time is more urately determined to be between 5 and a half to 6 days.¡± Using forensic entomology to determine the time of death of a body is a very useful method when the death has urred some time ago. Moreover, the field of forensic entomology has developed sufficiently, not only to determine the time of death based on the growth and development patterns of necrophagous insects but also progressing to insectmunity session, individual insect growth and development, including seasonal characteristics of insects, as well as other various biological characteristics. Of course, theplexities involved are vast, with the ssification of insect species being a specialized field of study in its own right. ¡°The forensic estimate was 8 days? There¡¯s a two-day discrepancy?¡± Wan Baoming, the deputy director of the criminal investigation center, felt obliged to ask on behalf of his team. ¡°It¡¯s actually closer to a three-day difference. The main reason lies in the time it takes for necrophagous insects to reach the body. In low temperatures, the arrival of the hide beetles is dyed. Moreover, the body was moved, which may have resulted in more extensive coverage at the first crime scene.¡± Jiang Yuan roughly exined, then added, ¡°This raises a question.¡± Everyone naturally turned to Jiang Yuan, and no one pursued a discussion on forensic entomology with him, for itsplexity rivals that of forensic anthropology, and for most present, their understanding of forensics was only superficial. Jiang Yuan flipped through the case file and said, ¡°The officer in charge of the case at the time, based on the victim¡¯s time of death, primarily set the time of the incident as before April 21, focusing on the 17th, 18th, and 19th. However, with the new time of death, the victim would still be alive.¡± ¡°The victim disappeared on April 17, which was a crucial factor in determining the time of death,¡± Wan Baoming seemed to be exining on behalf of the previous forensic doctor, but in fact, he was supporting Jiang Yuan. The determination of the victim¡¯s time of death was likely based more on the disappearance than on a fully scientific forensic judgment. Thinking this way, everyone was more willing to ept Jiang Yuan¡¯s input. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate further and went straight to the point, ¡°I am more inclined to believe that the victim died on April 22nd.¡± ¡°If the victim went missing on April 17 and died on April 22, where was the deceased during those five days?¡± Wan Baoming scratched his head. Many of the detectives present scratched their heads too. ¡°I think we can follow this lead,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°The victim must have had a ce to stay, and since he left with only a small amount of money, iming he was going out to buy cigarettes, it¡¯s likely someone took him away, probably an acquaintance.¡± ¡°The original task force¡¯s direction of investigation was that it was the work of a stranger, simr to rape followed by murder. This is a different approach,¡± Yu Wenshu furrowed his brow, then rxed it. If the current task force¡¯s direction of investigation was indeed wrong, the probability of solving this cold case would be greatly increased. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°The original investigative direction assumed that the victim was raped and then killed. The crime scene was close to where the body was dumped, so naturally the victim wouldn¡¯t need money, nor would he need lodging and so on.¡± ¡°However, if we change the time of death, the victim couldn¡¯t possibly stay outside the vige for five days without returning home. The reason that prompted his departure was likely the appearance of an acquaintance.¡± Everyone nodded at Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, their spirits slightly lifted. An acquaintance, at least, is a limited number. A re-examination of personal rtionships might yield some results. ¡°If the victim left no record of lodging, then he either stayed at an acquaintance¡¯s home or was at a small hotel. I think we can get someone from the public security brigade to join us and check out the small hotels nearby,¡± a new officer eagerly volunteered to join the special task force. ¡°Agreed,¡± Jiang Yuan approved. ¡°Since he left the vige, we can check the surveince footage from around the time he left. I¡¯ll ask the Graphic Investigation Brigade about it.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Do we need to start over with the investigation of personal rtionships?¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Members of the task force suggested tasks for themselves, and the assignments were distributed in a flurry ofments. Chapter 344 - 344 311 Minimum Cost ?344: Chapter 311: Minimum Cost 344: Chapter 311: Minimum Cost Yu Wenshu looked at therades of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, assigning tasks through an energetic back and forth, and suddenly felt a bit surprised. Yu Wenshu, sitting beside Wan Baoming, whispered, ¡°Is this them wanting to make an impression at the new unit?¡± Wan Baoming was actually just as surprised and whispered back, ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like it, though. Some of them have changed units quite a few times; they should all be quite experienced.¡± ¡°Hmm, Shen Yaowei was the first to speak, and he said something rather substantial. I didn¡¯t expect that,¡± Yu Wenshu recalled the impression several people in the squad made on him; it wasn¡¯t really all that strange. The first officer to speak, Shen Yaowei, was the younger cousin of Shen Yaoguo from the Public Security Brigade¡ªan irritant within the Criminal Police Brigade. Shen Yaowei¡¯s school was not bad, and his qualificationspletely met the hiring standards of the Criminal Police Brigade, his heart set on the heroics of criminal investigation. From the beginning, he wanted to crack big cases, defeat Wen Liang, bring down Wen Chou, and arrest the elusive Lv Bu while toasting over drinks. But that¡¯s not how police work is done. Still young and ambitious to be a general, Shen Yaowei came up short: no soldiers under hismand,cking leadership skills, and without the capability to carve through the enemy by himself, it was only natural that nobody followed his bluster. Even Yu Wenshu, tasked with mentoring him, could only shake his head. Reflecting on this, Yu Wenshu frowned and said to Wan Baoming, ¡°Thinking about it now, Shen Yaowei and Jiang Yuan do have some simrities.¡± ¡°How could that be. Jiang Yuan is actually quite humble,¡± Wan Baoming replied, his impression of Jiang Yuan was very good. A technician with such high skills, yetcking any arrogance, was actually quite rare in the technical police system. Yu Wenshu curled his lip, ¡°He¡¯s humble about some things, but where he isn¡¯t¡­ actually, it mainlyes down to a difference in abilities.¡± After thinking for a moment, Wan Baoming agreed, ¡°Humility is just that, having strength without arrogance is what makes someone humble. Those without strength and yet amodating are simply inferior.¡± ¡°True, true,¡± Yu Wenshu lifted his head again to look at the few who had spoken earlier; they all belonged to the category of influential but problematic people yet not the dislikeable sort. Yu Wenshu would not dare assign those who were too troublesome to Jiang Yuan, otherwise, if they caused problems, he would be the one to clean up the mess. Being a judge was not an easy role. In this light, these influential folks all had some capabilities and pride, but weren¡¯t quite fitted for the bureaucratic system of the police. Of course, the system disfavored many, but those without a strong family background or connections usually sank quickly, often ending up as the old stool or workhorse in every office. Simrly out of ce were wealthy kids who found the bureaucracy stifling, they often managed afortable existence in the office if they were willing to forsake the pursuit of fame and wealth ¨C unpopr, perhaps, but untroubled and carefree in their lives. Those with connections and also at odds with the system could bounce between departments, snagging small advantages, seeking little powers, and scraping together a modest status, but in the end, they too just blended into the crowd. Yu Wenshu had initially picked a few untouchables for the newly established team, not expecting this group to appear so eager. After giving it more thought, he understood why. These individuals were eager to join Jiang Yuan¡¯s team¡ªthey were in it to crack cases. The prospect of solving cases with Jiang Yuan spurred excitement among them. For them, a part of this was work-rted, but arger part was pure interest and hobby. The brigade¡¯s troublemakers, under Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead, turned into the vanguard¡ªYu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help butment, ¡°These guys, even if they were going to change, shouldn¡¯t it be after working a few cases?¡± ¡°They¡¯re all impatient, not the type to wait and see how a few cases pan out. I¡¯d wager if the uing cases aren¡¯t handled well, they¡¯ll revert to cking off again. Or they¡¯ll ask to be transferred out,¡± Wan Baoming¡¯s insightful look suggested, ¡°Not seeing the cherry blossoms in three days, the whole world is full of them¡­¡± Several members of the team assigned themselves tasks, while others were assigned work by Jiang Yuan, and those who didn¡¯t receive tasks simply sat aside obediently, studying the cases. Jiang Yuan himself wasn¡¯t experienced in management, but fortunately, it seemed the members had grown ustomed to theck of supervision. The office quickly settled into a delicate silence. In this moment, Yu Wenshu andpany began to feel a bit out of ce. Yu Wenshu nodded to Jiang Yuan and without further ado, left the room. Once in the corridor, he said, ¡°I thought they would put on a show in front of me.¡± ¡°There¡¯s really not much to show, is there. In the end, you need to solve cases to count,¡± said Wan Baoming. ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Yu Wenshu sighed and added, ¡°Being a detective isn¡¯t easy, and here¡¯s why.¡± The notion of results equaling merit seems fair enough, but solving cases is not the same as farming; effort does not always yield rewards. And yet, everyone¡¯s eyes are fixed on the fruits ofbor. In the office. News came in quickly. ¡°I¡¯ve checked a dozen small hotels around here, and from April 17th to the 22nd, no one from those ces recalls seeing this person,¡± Shen Yaowei¡¯s investigation result was the first toe back. Shen Yaowei, with broad eyebrows andrge eyes, had amanding presence, and was quite pleasing to look at, yet his speech was a bit brash. Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgment. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Shen Yaowei pressed on. ¡°Let¡¯s see how the others are getting on with their leads,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°And what do we investigate now?¡± ¡°You can check more guesthouses and rental properties,¡± Jiang Yuan ordered without lifting his head from the photos spread out on the table. The most inconvenient aspect of cold cases is theck of an active crime scene, which means one can only rely on photos taken at the time to make judgments. Often, even if some clues are found, they have to be abandoned because the conditions needed to pursue them no longer exist. It¡¯s quite regrettable when that happens. Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was to find fault. He would scrutinize the work of the current case squad. By identifying where they might have gone wrong, he could then retrace their thought process in the opposite direction. Shen Yaowei watched Jiang Yuan for a while and couldn¡¯t help feeling somewhat disappointed. He said, ¡°It¡¯s one thing to give up on small hotels, but there are so many rental properties, how can we possibly investigate them all.¡± Jiang Yuan looked up at Shen Yaowei. He had already been tipped off by Wang Chuanxing and knew that Shen Yaowei and his associates had connections. At this moment, Jiang Yuan looked at Shen Yaowei as if he were one of his own peers from Jiang Vige. People from Jiang Vige are notzy, but they ce great value on their own efforts, especially after personal involvement in a task. They have high expectations for emotional rewards. Shen Yaowei gave him a simr impression, so Jiang Yuan did not give a direct order. After some thought, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I have two preliminary ideas for this case. The first, and the ideal scenario, is that we can find a connection between the victim and someone through surveince or other means, which would lead us directly to the suspect. We¡¯re still waiting on the clues for this, so we need to wait a bit longer.¡± ¡°The second n is to find the initial crime scene. There are two approaches to this. The first is to look for traces of the initial scene from the victim¡¯s belongings and the marks on their body. This is what I¡¯m currently doing.¡± ¡°The other approach is to start from the victim¡¯s ce of residence. With such a long period of time and the inclusion of a fencing incident, the victim definitely stayed somewhere, whether in a small hotel or a rental house. Otherwise, it was likely at the killer¡¯s residence.¡± At this point, Jiang Yuan turned to Shen Yaowei and said, ¡°Investigating this path will definitely be time-consuming andbor-intensive, but if we investigate long enough, theoretically, there¡¯s a chance to find the initial crime scene.¡± Shen Yaowei was somewhat reluctant: ¡°That chance is too slim.¡± ¡°We¡¯re dealing with cold cases; where are there any surefire opportunities left for us?¡± Jiang Yuan countered. Shen Yaowei was taken aback by the question, and after a while, he hesitantly said, ¡°By that logic, if the original case team had continued investigating along these lines, wouldn¡¯t they also have had a chance to find the initial scene, even more so than we do¡­ Oh, wrong, they had the timing wrong.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Shen Yaowei frowned and added, ¡°That means, if your timing is also wrong, then we¡¯re just wasting our time.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted, looking at Shen Yaowei with equanimity. Shen Yaowei felt ufortable all over and was about to challenge Jiang Yuan. At that moment, Tang Jia came over and said, ¡°If you don¡¯t trust Jiang Yuan, then why did you join the team?¡± Shen Yaowei was less courteous to Tang Jia, his mouth twitching as he replied, ¡°Mind your own business why I joined. Can¡¯t people make mistakes?¡± Tang Jia said, ¡°Isn¡¯t it the best error-proofing strategy if everyone takes good care of their own leads?¡± ¡°If Jiang Yuan is wrong, then all our leads will have been a waste of time,¡± Shen Yaowei argued. Tang Jia said dismissively, ¡°That¡¯s why I ask, do you trust Jiang Yuan or not?¡± Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but look at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had already gone back to his own work. Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t really have a choice. In terms of solving cases, Jiang Yuan had demonstrated capabilities unmatched in Shannan Province and was the best he had ever encountered. If he didn¡¯t trust Jiang Yuan, then Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t find a better detective to believe in. Was he supposed to trust himself? He had been down that road before, and it was a dead end. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll look into this angle. Assign someone to work with me,¡± Shen Yaowei went back to Jiang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯ll find you a partner.¡± Jiang Yuan took a minute to make the arrangements and then returned to his work without lifting his head again. Soon, Shen Yaowei left the office with his new partner. Before he left, Shen Yaowei stared at Jiang Yuan for a long time, confirming that Jiang Yuan was genuinely calm and not just pretending, before finally leaving with determination. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even spare Shen Yaowei a nce. He didn¡¯t have the time to ponder Shen Yaowei¡¯s thoughts. Based on the determined time of death, he had already narrowed down the scope of the case significantly. Now, it was a matter of seeing which path would break through first, after which he could allocate more resources. Simr tactics had already been tried multiple times by Jiang Yuan. In this regard, he had, in fact, trained himself. After all, an ordinary detective might not encounter more than a few homicide cold cases in a lifetime, and the chance to be fully involved and solve them is even rarer. The number of homicide cold cases Jiang Yuan had been involved in solving, even leading the investigation, was substantial. The experience gained from this made him remarkably calm. While other officers in the squad were still contemting the future direction of the case, Jiang Yuan was already considering which path to take in order to solve the case with minimal cost. Chapter 345 - 345 312 Surveillance ?345: Chapter 312 Surveince 345: Chapter 312 Surveince Shen Yaowei, along with his new partner, summoned a familiar auxiliary policeman from the Public Security Brigade and, following the route set by Jiang Yuan, went from alley to alley, checking small hostels, bed and breakfasts, farm stays, and rental rooms. Upon careful search, it turned out that there were surprisingly many ces to stay near a vige. In the city, staying in a hotel or a B&B requires fairly stringent registration, but in rural towns, this registration process is often just a formality. Fortunately, now, for their own safety and to ensure that the front desk doesn¡¯t privately sell off rooms, owners are always keen to install various surveince cameras, making it not too difficult to track down people. Shen Yaowei mainly conducted investigations with the auxiliary policeman Wang Zhibing, who was borrowed for the task. Contrary to what most people might think, auxiliary police have be indispensable in contemporary policing activities. Especially at the grassroots level, the positions for auxiliary police have be highlypetitive. The prospect of 300 people vying for a single auxiliary police spot used to seem like a tale, but itter became the norm. And those auxiliary policemen who have served for a long time, ten or even twenty years, are certainly not in short supply. These days, many are likely to stay until retirement. The longer one serves in any position, the more experience and insight naturally umte. The slightly more intelligent ones can master many unique techniques. For instance, Wang Zhibing, whom Shen Yaowei had brought along, knew the ins and outs of all the rental properties and small hotels in his assigned area like the back of his hand. This was a skill in itself. It wasn¡¯t just about familiarity with the streets gained from walking them; it also required considerable charisma, otherwise, simply updating the information about the small hotels and rental properties would render his knowledge useless. ¡°Boss, have you seen this person?¡± The three, dressed in in clothes, entered a guesthouse, called out for the owner, and then went into a flurry of questions. The questioning was mainly done by auxiliary policerade Wang Zhibing. He knew these owners all too well ¡ª those who followed the rules, and those who decidedly did not. Consequently, he also asked for the surveince footage, setting it to the time of the incident to take a look. Where the surveince footage was too brief, they called out a few staff members to inquire and also left their business cards with them. It took almost half an hour to finish with a single guesthouse. Once outside, Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Our efficiency is far too low.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not slow. The previous one was a bit troublesome. If there¡¯s surveince video, or a record of payments, or a small ledger, we can finish checking in just about ten minutes. Such guesthouses don¡¯t usually have many guestsing and going throughout the day.¡± Wang Zhibing was all too familiar with these kinds of investigations. Shen Yaowei, with a stern expression, said, ¡°There are so many guesthouses, small hotels, and these sublet rental properties, how many days will it take to check all of them?¡± ¡°You¡¯re not thinking of investigating them all by yourself, are you?¡± Wang Zhibing was amused, but seeing how serious Shen Yaowei¡¯s expression was, his smile faded. Shen Yaowei asked, ¡°I can¡¯t?¡± Wang Zhibing replied, ¡°Really can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Then how about we split up to investigate? With triple the speed, how many days will it take us to finish?¡± ¡°Captain Shen, if we split up, the evidence you find firstly wouldn¡¯t be eligible as evidence because the chain of evidence would be iplete; at most, it could serve as a clue to crack the case. But such an important clue, especially in a murder case, the prosecutor¡¯s office will definitely inquire thoroughly. By then, it would be unfortunate if we got scolded without having achieved any merit.¡± Shen Yaowei was taken aback; he wasn¡¯t entirely unreasonable, ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of that.¡± ¡°Right. In actuality, this sort of search is a three-man job. For a normal murder case, if you¡¯re going to search like this, you¡¯d dispatch at least five or six teams, right? If it¡¯s an important lead with a broad scope, deploying dozens or even hundreds of people would be more appropriate.¡± Auxiliary policeman Wang Zhibing had not been involved in many major cases. As for him, the scope involving hundreds of people was the extent of his experience. Naturally, this also depended on the region. In leading cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, if there was a murder case that needed investigating, it would only take minutes to organize thousands of people. Hence, choosing the right location formitting a murder is very important. In ancient times, bandits liked to live at tri-junctions of counties, intersections between two prefectures, or thoroughfares that connected nine provinces, all because there was criminological support for such decisions. In modern society, the concept changes somewhat; generally speaking, choosing¡­ right, ces with higher safety and lower difficulty. By now, Shen Yaowei also grasped the nature of the situation, ¡°So you¡¯re saying that this lead I¡¯m following is actually a search lead?¡± ¡°You¡­ didn¡¯t know?¡± Wang Zhibing looked at Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei said helplessly, ¡°I¡¯ve never dealt with murder cold cases before.¡± To be precise, he had never truly been involved in the investigation phase of a murder cold case. Once a clue was actually found in past special case squads for murder cold cases, it was all-hands-on-deck. Even if Yu Wenshu wasn¡¯t presiding, he would certainly be paying attention. In some murder cold cases that were given high priority, it wasn¡¯t umon for deputy chiefs or even the chief to lead the investigation. Within such high-level case teams, the tiny bit of influence behind Shen Yaowei was useless; no one would permit him to track down a lead on his own. What if he rmed the suspect? rming the suspect would be the lesser issue; most murder cold cases hang on that one single lead, which the higher-ups like Yu Wenshu would prefer to pursue personally, much less than leaving it to Shen Yaowei. It was only in Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad that things were different. One reason was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s rank was too low, and the resources he could utilize were too limited ¡ª Yu Wenshu had brought him on board for this cost-effectiveness. The other reason was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s rate of cracking cases was so fast that the higher-ups didn¡¯t have time to call meetings and assign tasks before he might have already solved a murder cold case. Moreover, Jiang Yuan solved cases much faster than the heads could take an interest in them. Since he always used resources at the level of a brigade, there was no need for an escted response. From this perspective, Shen Yaowei was already receiving unprecedented importance. ¡°What do you think? Shall the two of us continue the search?¡± Shen Yaowei rarely asked his partner for his opinion. His partner said, ¡°Let¡¯s go back now and find Jiang Yuan. Even if we get more people assigned to investigate this lead, can the two of us takemand?¡± Shen Yaowei still had some self-awareness, ¡°That certainly wouldn¡¯t work, even if assigned, no one would listen to us.¡± ¡°That settles it, then. If we work hard to investigate, we¡¯ll have our own separate lead to follow. If not, we might as well go back to the office.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ let¡¯s continue the investigation,¡± Shen Yaowei seemed to have grasped something. His partner, not surprised at all, said, ¡°They have it all figured out; they¡¯re not afraid we won¡¯t work hard.¡± Shen Yaowei, sharing the same animosity, said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it, those who came from the county, to be so ruthless.¡± ¡°The most ruthless part is Jiang Yuan having an extra lead to toss to us like a bone. In other homicide cold case teams, these kinds of leads are so coveted that everyone fights over them.¡± ¡°Thatment of yours¡­¡± Shen Yaoweicked the strength to refute. On reflection, it really did make sense. Curious, the assistant police officer Wang Zhibing chimed in, ¡°I was wondering too, what other lead does he have?¡± ¡­ ¡°Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve looked through all the main road surveince on the Image Investigation side, and we haven¡¯t found the victim.¡± Miao Liyuan, the officer who volunteered to check the surveince footage at the Graphic Investigation Brigade, returned after a day with the conclusion to the lead Jiang Yuan was most eager for. But it was fruitless. Jiang Yuan¡¯s brow furrowed slightly, ¡°The victim didn¡¯t take the main roads?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve watched the surveince from April 17th to 22nd, especially the footage from the 17th, several times over, and haven¡¯t found the victim,¡± Miao Liyuan said, equally disappointed. If they could find the victim, hispanion, even if not the perpetrator, could certainly provide a lot of information. ¡°In that case¡­ we¡¯ll have to expand the scope,¡± Jiang Yuan mused for a few seconds before making a decision. Miao Liyuan said, ¡°I¡¯ve been very thorough in my search.¡± Jiang Yuan stated firmly, ¡°I¡¯m not saying your search wasn¡¯t thorough, but the fact that we haven¡¯t found the victim suggests they might have taken a different route, or just happened to avoid the cameras. Let¡¯s expand the search area and see if we can find anything.¡± Hearing the two men¡¯s conversation in the office, Tang Jia interjected, ¡°Why do you think it¡¯s just a coincidence that they avoided the cameras and not deliberate?¡± ¡°From the condition of the body, I¡¯m more inclined to believe it was an idental death due to drunkenness. The victim seems to have choked on his own vomit,¡± Jiang Yuan said, adding, ¡°There¡¯s also no reason for the victim to have been murdered.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t being the victim of a sexual assault reason enough?¡± ¡°The victim was physically strong, and there were no signs of struggle¡­ And besides, there was no need for the assant tomit murder. For sexual assault on a man, at most it would be an indecency crime; there was no need to kill,¡± Jiang Yuan paused and continued, ¡°I mostly agree with the autopsy findings. If it was an idental death, then the perpetrator had no need to avoid surveince when they first left the scene.¡± Miao Liyuan was persuaded and could only rack his brains to think harder. Jiang Yuan did not rush him. After a while, Miao Liyuan spoke in a low voice, ¡°Could it be that they rode a motorcycle and took small roads?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Miao Liyuan. Miao Liyuan exined, ¡°Local people use motorcycles quite often; it¡¯s also possible that they wore helmets. Not many locals wear helmets, but some motorcycles don¡¯t take the main roads, just crossing through smaller paths; they might have just bypassed the cameras that way.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It¡¯s possible. In that case, how do we investigate it?¡± ¡°We¡¯d have to check every single road on the scene, some might be traceable and some might not be.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll report to Captain Yu,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he took out his mobile phone. Suddenlycking confidence, Miao Liyuan hurriedly said, ¡°But this might not necessarily turn up anything.¡± ¡°Try to make the search asprehensive as possible. Especially for the first few hours after the victim left home. Don¡¯t worry about resources,¡± Jiang Yuan said with conviction. The initial task force, despite spending a lot of manpower on the investigation, focused mainly on the local area. They assumed the primary crime scene was nearby and believed the victim had died on the day he went missing. Naturally, they wouldn¡¯t expend much effort on the route of departure and video evidence. Jiang Yuan still had high expectations for the surveince footage. The surveince system around Changyang City was rtivelyprehensive. If neither the victim nor the perpetrator intentionally avoided it, the probability of being caught on camera was very high. Even if ultimately a lot of manpower and resources were expended without finding anyone, it could still prove some things in reverse. Moreover, the routes pursued by Shen Yaowei and Miao Liyuan were not the only possibilities. The Trace Evidence Laboratory, at Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, was also conducting a new round of testing. ¡­ Chapter 346 - 346 313 Advancement ?346: Chapter 313: Advancement 346: Chapter 313: Advancement In the office bearing the signs ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡± and ¡°Jiang Yuan Youth Commando Team,¡± a group of people were busy at work. Yu Wenshu came over, cleared his throat twice, and was greeted by a chorus of hellos, but from the expressions of everyone present, they all appeared quite indifferent. Yu Wenshu visited every morning to the point where everyone had grown ustomed to his presence, unlike before, when seeing the detachment leader was a rare event, and everyone had to put on a diligent facade. Jiang Yuan also stood up and politely said, ¡°Chief Yu is here.¡± Yu Wenshu suspected that when Jiang Yuan was at home, he greeted his uncles and older rtives in the same way, which sounded strangely intimate butcked a strong sense of respect and was different from how the others behaved. However, considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s exceptionalbativeness and his unique identity, Yu Wenshu absolutely decided not to dwell on these details. ¡°How is the progress on the case?¡± Yu Wenshu asked expectantly. ¡°All are steadily progressing, but none with results,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Oh¡­ That¡¯s normal, that¡¯s normal¡­¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s voice didn¡¯t betray much regret, but he still felt a bit of concern. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had reached a serious bottleneck today, and for Yu Wenshu, achieving a breakthrough during his tenure was very difficult. Even merely contemting and nning required aplex tangle of resources and support from various departments. In simple terms, the advancement of modern criminal investigation forces relies on one hand on the training of personnel, and on the other on money, with organizational strength blending the two together. Combining these three aspects amounts to the existence of a gold-consuming behemoth. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s breakthrough seemed particrly promising and filled Yu Wenshu with anticipation. Therefore, he asionally came over to check on the progress these past few days. s, there had always been no decisive breakthrough. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but worry and question his own decision: Could giving Jiang Yuan a team end up making things worse? At such times, thoughts like ¡°do not multiply entities beyond necessity¡± would pop into Yu Wenshu¡¯s head. Jiang Yuan had always had the role of a pure technician or functioned as a kind of consultant. Although his reliability and the level of obedience hemanded had continually increased due to his performance in solving cases, it was still somewhat different from substantive managerial work. Yu Wenshu could see Jiang Yuan¡¯sposure, but he was more worried that thisposure was feigned. ¡°If there¡¯s anything you need help with, just let me know directly,¡± Yu Wenshu instructed Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Several leads are being followed up on, and there should be results after some time.¡± ¡°Yes, I understand, I really do,¡± expressed Yu Wenshu, who trulyprehended but was also genuinely anxious. If all these leads proved fruitless, wouldn¡¯t the case just stall? From Yu Wenshu¡¯s perspective, this was not an unfounded worry but a frequent urrence. It¡¯s not just cold cases we¡¯re talking about; aren¡¯t there plenty of fresh cases where leadspletely dry up? If the leads hadn¡¯t dried up, how could this case have be a cold case? Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t quite understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach. In any other homicide task force, the person in charge would have been screaming for resources by now. Although Jiang Yuan had enlisted the help of the Image Investigation Brigade and sent microscopic evidence to theb, for a homicide case, these resources seemed too meager. Using sheer manpower is a basic drill for homicide detectives, much like calling for fire support during a battle. Who wouldn¡¯t want fire support in their troops? Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t fully grasp Yu Wenshu¡¯s anxiety. He believed his work arrangement was adequate, covering the murderer¡¯s trail, simply waiting for the oue to reveal itself. With different lines of thought and nomunication between them, Yu Wenshu was left to fret by himself. Yu Wenshu lingered in the office for a while and, finding nothing else he could do, said, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll head back if there are no updates. If there¡¯s anything you need¡­¡± Buzz¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone began to ring. ¡°You answer the phone first,¡± Yu Wenshu stepped aside. Jiang Yuan answered the call, and a smile quickly spread across his face. ¡°Miao Liyuan has found the person,¡± Jiang Yuan put down the phone and reported to Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu, whose toes were already pointing towards the door, spun around, ¡°Found? Who did they find?¡± ¡°They found the victim¡¯s route of travel ¨C it was a motorcycle that took a back road to leave. The victim was sitting in the back, so the motorcycle driver must be an acquaintance,¡± Jiang Yuan blurted out the information he had just received, and then added, ¡°The motorcycle had fishing gear and a tent, so they were probably going fishing.¡± ¡°Well done!¡± Yu Wenshu was suddenly invigorated. He had just been looking at the office, doubting whether his decision had been the right one. But now, looking at Jiang Yuan and the others, he felt his decision was absolutely correct. With such progress in a murder cold case, it could be said that the breakthrough was very near. Yu Wenshu also took out his cell phone and asked, ¡°Have they confirmed the identity of the suspect, the motorcycle driver?¡± That set the pace for an arrest following an identity confirmation. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°Very soon, Miao Liyuan is preparing to visit the site¡­ The photos and videos will be sent back soon.¡± Before long, Jiang Yuan and the others saw the surveince video footage Miao Liyuan had found on theirputer. The video came from a surveince camera in front of a factory; the quality was fairly good and the victim¡¯s face was clear. The suspect wore a helmet, showing only half their face. Despite this, everyone was beaming with joy. Jiang Yuan processed the image on theputer, obtaining a higher-definition photo, which he promptly had printed out. Wang Chuanxing suggested, ¡°Shall I take this to the victim¡¯s family to see?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then added, ¡°Take a few more people with you, just in case they are a rtive or a local viger, we can arrest them on the spot.¡± ¡°Wait, I¡¯ll send someone with you,¡± Yu Wenshu, not wanting to lose track of anybody at this moment, disregarded everything else and began making arrangements. Deploying 10 detectives to catch a murderer might seem too many in a TV drama, but in real-life operations, it was surely not enough. Especially in situations involving local vigers, extra precautions needed to be taken. At the same time, Jiang Yuan made a call to Shen Yaowei outside, informing him of thetest situation and instructing him to try locating the primary crime scene again. On receiving the call, Shen Yaowei was so frustrated he felt like he could spit blood. ¡°All the trouble of thesest few days was in vain,¡± Shen Yaowei wanted to smash his phone in irritation. His partner took out a map and silently pointed a finger to the middle of it. A cross marked on the map indicated a farm that offered fishing, dining, and lodging. It was close to the vige of the incident and on the outskirts of Changyang City. The cross meant it required follow-up inspection, but Shen Yaowei and his team had originally been investigating towards Changyang City, cing this location lower on their priority list. ¡°Let¡¯s go; we¡¯ll take whatever credit we can get,¡± his partner suggested in a heavy voice. Shen Yaowei grunted in agreement; it was all he could do. Afternoon. The chiefs of the Graphic Investigation Brigade and the Public Security Brigade both arrived in the ¡°Jiang Yuan umted Case Team¡± office. They deemed themselves involved in the case and wanted to have a go, regardless of whether there was any benefit to reap. Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t mind ¨C as the head of the Criminal Police Detachment, solving criminal cases meant his credit was maxed out. The extent of cooperation and credit from other departments didn¡¯t affect his detachment¡¯s achievements. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, received two PPTs prepared by Tang Jia. The PPTs exined the situation and process of cracking the case from different angles, and this was done without any request from Jiang Yuan for PPTs. ¡°Changyang is quitepetitive, huh?¡± Jiang Yuanmented upon reviewing the PPTs. Tang Jia felt like she was about to cry at that moment. Chapter 347 - 347 314 ?347: Chapter 314 347: Chapter 314 Miao Liyuan came back with the suspect. The suspect, Wang Hong, was a tall and heavy man, standing over 1.8 meters tall and weighing around 200 pounds. He looked like the kind who could easily pick up an ordinary person and pin them down beneath him. The members of the special case team watched as the suspect was escorted into the investigation center, and thinking back to the details of the case, they all felt a chill down their spines. ¡°Acquaintances, and drunk too. When youe across someone like that, shouting to heaven won¡¯t help, nor will calling to the earth,¡± Wang Chuanxing said with furrowed brows. He had a fairplexion and a sturdy build, the type that would grow on a mother-inw the more she looked at him. But to be fair, even if you¡¯re a police officer, if you run into such an acquaintance who¡¯s also drunk¡­ Now familiar with the case, Miao Liyuan¡¯s expression grew even more serious as he said, ¡°When I was a kid, the teacher always told us not to hang out with bad people and to choose friends wisely. The teacher should have given examples. If we bring this case into schools, oh boy, I¡¯d like to see how many still want to mix with society.¡± Tang Jia whispered, ¡°How could you bring such a case into schools? The schools themselves would be corrupted.¡± She said this with an air of shyness. Miao Liyuanughed a couple of chuckles and said, ¡°That¡¯s because you don¡¯t know about the students in schools these days¡­¡± Tang Jia still maintained a shy demeanor, ¡°Do tell in more detail.¡± Miao Liyuan deliberately lit a cigarette and said, ¡°The most impressive I¡¯ve seen involved three guys and two girls. That was really a dire situation¡­¡± Tang Jia smiled coyly. Miao Liyuan was shocked, ¡°You understood?¡± Tang Jia said, ¡°I¡¯ve seen a group of five too. They were called the Five-Star Chain at that time.¡± Miao Liyuan was dumbfounded, ¡°How did you¡­ Why have you seen it?¡± Tang Jia flipped her hair with ir and said, ¡°I saw it while responding to a police call. Before that, they used to y the Seven-Star Chain. That day, two people decided not to participate, so they ended up with the Five-Star Chain. They formed a circle, and it got kind of tough; one of them got a cramp and called 120.¡± Miao Liyuan stared at Tang Jia with wide eyes. Tang Jia continued, ¡°The emergency responders who came for the 120 call found a minor among the participants and kindly called the police. That¡¯s how I heard the story when I got there.¡± ¡°Did you make any arrests?¡± Wang Chuanxing also showed curiosity. Tang Jia shook her head slightly, ¡°He was only 17, joined voluntarily, and besides, they were all men. Not sure how to deal with it, they just got a warning and education.¡± Wang Chuanxing nodded slowly, as if he had acquired some new knowledge, ¡°So the Five-Star Chain can end up with a twist¡­¡± ¡°Only if standing.¡± Tang Jia corrected, ¡°They were in a hotel at the time. Someone disliked the dirty floor and didn¡¯t want to lie down to circte. Otherwise, if they had been lying down, they wouldn¡¯t have got twisted¡­ that¡¯s their own analysis.¡± Wang Chuanxing gestured, and it really did seem so. Miao Liyuan summarized, ¡°So, it¡¯s quite necessary for men to learn some yoga or something like that.¡± Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t listen anymore, ¡°Brother Miao, you¡¯ve made an arrest, and even learned some skills? Suddenly so contemtive.¡± ¡°The world is like this, am I wrong?¡± Miao Liyuan countered. ¡­ ¡°Has the suspect confessed?¡± Shen Yaowei rushed into the office, panting. Then, Shen Yaowei saw the looks from several big shots. Themander of the Public Security Brigade, Shen Yaoguo, rebuked, ¡°Don¡¯t you know to greet first when entering a door? What¡¯s all the hustle about?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Shen Yaowei had no choice but to, passing by Yu Wenshu and others, greet everyone along the way. Yu Wenshu smiled, waiting for Shen Yaowei to finish his greetings. ¡°We are all waiting for the results too. Is Meng Chengbiao conducting the interrogation?¡± He looked around. The suspect was brought in by Miao Liyuan, who hastily said, ¡°It is Team Meng conducting the interrogation.¡± Yu Wenshu nodded, then turned to the others to introduce, ¡°Meng Chengbiao used to do pre-trial work. Being put into Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad this time is also meant to provide a steady influence on the younger group. Now he¡¯s proving his worth with fast progress, faster than I expected, ha ha ha ha¡­¡± He was genuinely thrilled. For such a big case to be broken like this was unexpected under normal circumstances. Most importantly, in solving such a significant umted murder case, the Criminal Police Brigade barely had to exert themselves. In past years, handling such murder cold cases would have been impossible without deploying two or threerge teams¡ªit was a matter of respecting the life of the suspect. Now, although he had made several phone calls and borrowed help from the Public Security and Graphic Investigation Brigade, all that was nothing out of the ordinary. Common active cases, even robbery cases, might have the same configuration. Yu Wenshu had never felt so exhrated when he was alone; now, with a few fellow brigade leaders of the same rank standing beside him, his happiness couldn¡¯t help but spread uncontrobly. ¡°Even if he confesses quickly, I guess we¡¯ll still need to interrogate him for a while. Everyone, sit down and have some tea,¡± Yu Wenshu said, like a diligent host, starting the tea discussion with two plump, round kumquats. ¡°Let¡¯s wait a bit,¡± Shen Yaoguo also wanted to see the case here and incidentally, get familiar with his cousin. ¡°Let¡¯s have tea,¡± Captain Changsun of the Graphic Investigation Brigade, with thepound surname Changsun, came to brush up his presence and nip a look at the situation too. Miao Liyuan, the officer who had pushed the case forward and arrested the suspect, was in high spirits and even had time to look around. Colleagues were all busy; many here aspired to break new ground, but the only one who truly had was Miao Liyuan. Images of beingmended for his achievements and a string of five stars unexpectedly gave Miao Liyuan a jolt. Shen Yaowei was quite annoyed and couldn¡¯t help but mutter quietly, ¡°How can someone go out to buy cigarettes and end up following others to fish, and not even make a phone call? His brain must have been hooked.¡± Yu Wenshu chuckled and said, ¡°If he had called home, his wife would definitely have asked him toe back, then what? If he did, it would mean going out was in vain, gaining nothing and still getting an earful upon returning. Since he was out fishing anyway, and was going to be scolded upon return, why bother calling? He might as well wait until he needs to go back; it¡¯ll still be the same scolding. Maybe if his wife gets worried enough waiting, he might get a bit less of an earful.¡± ¡°Captain Yu knows about life,¡± Changsun Lie raised his thumb in praise. Yu Wenshu took it lightly, a serene smile on his face, and said, ¡°Life is such that if you gain something on one side, you lose something on the other. Actually, as long as the wife is willing to wait for you toe home and can take good care of the kids and elderly, that¡¯s enough. Besides, we go out for work, not for fishing; the two are iparable.¡± Changsun Lie coughed twice and said, ¡°Actually, fishing isn¡¯t purely a bad thing; it can give you time to think¡­¡± Shen Yaowei bowed his head in silence. He had not at all thought of investigating along the victim¡¯s hobbies. He had even considered whether there had been some ident, or if the victim and the killer had yed too wildly, to the point that the cell phone had be decorative. But now, it seemed the likelihood of an ident was indeed higher. In the interrogation room, suspect Wang Hong had recounted the events in much the same way: ¡°I was the one who called Wang Jun (the victim) to go fishing. Wang Jun suggested buying some beer to drink while fishing. I agreed, and when we arrived at the fishing lodge, I asked the owner to deliver some beer and snacks.¡± ¡°The weather was nice that day, and the beer was enjoyable. Later, Wang Jun used beer as bait, and after catching several carp in a row, he was overjoyed. We ended up fishing all night. Mainly to save money; by fishing all night, we wouldn¡¯t need to pay for amodation.¡± ¡°The next day, we drank and fished again, and by evening we were both worn out, so we rented a room. Initially, we were talking about taking turns sleeping, one keeping an eye on the float, the other resting, trying to make enough to cover the room cost.¡± ¡°Wang Jun drank a lot, so I let him sleep first. Late into the night, I couldn¡¯t stay awake any longer, and I couldn¡¯t wake him when I called, so I just slept next to him. Honestly, I didn¡¯t intend to do anything, but then, half-asleep, I got the urge, thinking that since we were so familiar, I might as well have my way with him.¡± ¡°I slept till dawn and saw Wang Jun still hadn¡¯t woken up, didn¡¯t know what to do, so I just went to fish. When I called him to eat at noon, I found he had vomited on the bed and¡­ had drowned himself¡­ I had no choice, I had just been with him, and if I called the police, they wouldn¡¯t believe me, so all I could do was carry him and dump him outside the vige¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao, in charge of the interrogation, barely had to say a few words before suspect Wang Hong had confessed almost everything. His psychological defenses copsed when he saw the video stills Miao Liyuan had found. And these defenses, they had taken him more than a year to build up. In terms of cost-effectiveness, they might not have been as sturdy as the Maginot Line, but his will to resist had already surpassed that of the French army. Meng Chengbiao added a few crucial questions, particrly about the details of where the body was dumped, then finished the first interrogation after ensuring there were no issues. When he came up to report, Jiang Yuan and Yu Wenshu, among others, had already seen the interrogation process through the office¡¯s projector. The hardware at the provincial capital was just that good; whether a case could be solved was one thing, but equipment was certainlyplete and avable. And the group who listened to the interrogation on-site fell into a long silence. Only when Meng Chengbiao entered did Yu Wenshu nondescriptly arrange, ¡°Do the crime scene identification as quickly as possible. Once the evidence ispiled, rush to send it for examination, striving to prosecute the case before the year¡¯s end.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Meng Chengbiao nced at Jiang Yuan before agreeing. Yu Wenshu chuckled and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Now the case is cracked, what do you have to say for our team?¡± Jiang Yuan was not intimidated; standing in front of several brigade leaders, he said, ¡°This case, as our special case team¡¯s first for getting to know each other, has been smoothly solved, and that¡¯s good.¡± ¡°After many days of work, everyone should have some understanding of each other by now. Next¡­ I suggest we take a few days off. Everyone can take some annual leave orp time to rest up, and in a few days, we will start on the next case.¡± Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s first half, especially about the annual leave andp time, Yu Wenshu and others felt a bit awkward, but as they listened on and heard about starting the next case, their expressions changed. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help butugh showing his back teeth, while the others showed their surprise by revealing their own. ¡°This time, let each person pick a case. When we¡¯re back at work, everyone submit a case, and if there¡¯s a suitable one, we¡¯ll work on it,¡± Jiang Yuandao¡¯s following words were even more surprising. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team looked at each other, each feeling a slight excitement. There was suddenly a sense of power and a mission to decide the fate of others. Chapter 348 - 348 315 ?348: 315 348: 315 ¡°Captain Jiang, wait a bit after work; I have something to tell you.¡± Tang Jia whispered as she walked past Jiang Yuan, her hair brushing against him before she quickly moved away. ¡°What¡­¡± Jiang Yuan started to say but she was already far away. 12 noon. Officers with nothing pressing gradually said their goodbyes and headed home. After a big case, everyone would typically feel justified in taking leave or finishing work early. Although this big case hadn¡¯t taken much time, effort, orte-night overtime, the habit persisted. Jiang Yuan also got up to leave. Tang Jia would naturally text him if it was important; he wasn¡¯t really going to wait for her to finish work. When he arrived at the underground parking lot, right by his car, he heard a ¡°Wow¡± shout. Tang Jia emerged lively, dancing around and stretching, showing off her figure. ¡°I¡¯ve learned wrestling,¡± Jiang Yuan said, stopping a few steps away. ¡°Me too, I¡¯ve even done Greco-Roman wrestling. Want to practice together?¡± Tang Jia challenged, unafraid. Greco-Roman wrestling is the kind where you grapple and go for the groin; if men and women practiced together, the gym would likely close down quickly. ¡°I do freestyle.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately chickened out and suspected Tang Jia was showing off her tea art prowess. He asked, ¡°You didn¡¯t find me just to show off your skills, did you?¡± ¡°Captain Jiang, you won¡¯t get a girlfriend if you talk like that. Forget it, I brought you something; help me with it,¡± Tang Jia said, pointing towards the elevator area. Jiang Yuan followed and saw Wang Chuanxing, Shen Yaowei, and Miao Liyuan each pushing a t cart. The carts were piled with several cardboard boxes. ¡°These are allmunity-police cooperation gift packages sent by various units, along with some small gifts. Captain Yu personally ordered these to be picked out for you,¡± Tang Jia exined and added, ¡°It¡¯s all inexpensive stuff that we also get for holidays. Captain Yu said to give you all of this year¡¯s share.¡± ¡°This batch is from the Public Security Brigade,¡± Shen Yaowei said. ¡°And the Image Investigation team¡¯s Captain Changsun sent some too; he also wants you toe over and provide guidance when you¡¯re free,¡± Miao Liyuan said. ¡°I¡¯m not qualified to give guidance to other brigades. Don¡¯t find me more trouble every day,¡± Jiang Yuan said, channeling his Jiang Vige big brother demeanor to cut off Miao Liyuan¡¯s persuasive talk. Tang Jia hurriedly said, ¡°What I brought represents Captain Yu¡¯s regards, and doesn¡¯t break any rules. Mainly, Captain Yu thought about how long it¡¯s been since you went home and that you ought to bring back some things for friends and family, warming rtionships.¡± She opened the top few boxes and said, ¡°Look, there are nuts, Wang Wang snacks, candies, choctes, and also face masks, gloves, towels¡­¡± The others opened their boxes as well, saying simr things. Jiang Yuan: ¡°This is too much¡­ one box is enough for me.¡± ¡°Captain Jiang, at least one box per person,¡± Shen Yaowei said quickly. ¡°It¡¯s just a small gesture so you can take it home and show your family our regard. There¡¯s no other meaning.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t listen, checked the top box of gifts from Captain Yu, picked it up, and left. ¡°What about the rest?¡± Tang Jia asked quickly. ¡°Return everything. I¡¯ll call Chief Yuter.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t forget to call Chief Yu, he said he¡¯s avable 24/7,¡± Tang Jia said. Jiang Yuan grunted in agreement, suddenly feeling like ady from an ancient wealthy family who had been sold off but still had a schr pining for her, asionally sending little gifts through the back garden. However, the suggestion Tang Jia made about the little gifts was actually pretty good. Jiang Yuan felt no remorse taking Yu Wenshu¡¯s gifts. When he got back to Jiangcun Residential Area, he started from the local grocery store, handing out candy bags to any kids he saw. As for those who said their kids don¡¯t eat sweets, the Jiang Vige People wouldn¡¯t concern themselves with that. The children were quite happy with the treats. Soon, a group of kids gathered around Jiang Yuan, rapidly dividing up the entire box of snacks and various items, then disappeared without a trace. For Jiang Yuan, this was likepleting a session of rtionship building; in less than half an hour, the whole neighborhood knew he was back and had brought gifts. In fact, it took less than ten minutes before the neighborhood¡¯s surveince system broadcasted his return on severalrge screens around themunity. Only inside the area did Jiang Yuan notice that around the property management¡¯s monitoring room four 100-inch screens had been set up, currently showing various surveince points of themunity entrance, including the gate, wall top, and several key street views. In the center of the space, the vige elders were exercising while watching the screens around them, asionally pointing out and scrutinizing the appropriateness of those captured by the cameras. Jiang Yuan felt dizzy watching it all and couldn¡¯t help asking Xiang Geng who came to greet him, ¡°Is this even legal?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s legal. We only record the front gate surveince, and these street views, which are also ourmunity¡¯s fire ess routes,¡± Xiang Geng said in a low voice. ¡°This was the third uncle¡¯s idea, otherwise people would have toe to the monitoring room every day to check.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not looking at it now?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t believe it; he grew up eating meals at every household in Jiang Vige and was all too familiar with these uncles and aunts. Xiang Geng chuckled, ¡°Nowadays, people juste in to check if the screens are synchronized. Aftering a few times, most people can¡¯t be bothered toe again.¡± Jiang Yuan made a nomittal grunt, said no more, and prepared to go back to persuade Uncle Three even though there wasn¡¯t much point in talking to Xiang Geng, who was just doing his job. Since he was already there, he strolled around the monitoring room, saw that everything was working normally, and then went home. Along the way, he was greeted in various ways. The atmosphere in Jiang Vige now was different from before. When Jiang Yuan was a kid, following his dad from house to house for meals sometimes meant getting the cold shoulder. But after three rounds of demolition, harmony within the vige had improved to an unprecedented level. Plus, Jiang Yuan and his father had jumped to the top of the socialdder, so now the vigers mostly greeted them with smiles. Jiang Yuan could still recall some vigers¡¯ expressions from those days, but he rarely did. Those gathered here were just ordinary folks from Jiang Vige, many of whom were no more than a backdrop. Jiang Fuzhen continued working in the kitchen as always, but unusually, it was filled with rtives, at least a dozen of them. ¡°Dad,¡± Jiang Yuan called out as he entered, which finally got Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s attention. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re back so soon? I thought it would be a few more hours. Didn¡¯t you have afternoon work?¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, wiping his hands anding over, no longer paying attention to the others. Jiang Yuan responded with an ¡°Mhm¡± and said, ¡°Finished a case, and the boss even gave me some stuff. I kept a bag of pine nuts, gave the rest away¡­¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan took out a tin of pine nuts and handed it to his father. ¡°That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great.¡± Jiang Fuzhen happily epted it, popped open the lid, tasted one, nodded, and said, ¡°Tastes good. Uncle Three called people over for a meeting, there¡¯s an electioning up in a few days, and we need to discuss how to handle it.¡± At that moment, Uncle Three beckoned and called out, ¡°Jiang Yuan is back, perfect for joining the discussion. You¡¯re grown up now, and it¡¯s time for you to get involved in the election.¡± Uncle Three had always hung around Jiang Fuzhen, mainly because Aunt Three¡¯s cooking was terrible, which forced him to find alternative options. Uncle Three was also the rtive who most often brought food to Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan, and they had a pretty good rtionship. Jiang Yuan acknowledged him and walked into the kitchen, offering, ¡°What do you need me to do?¡± ¡°You¡¯re the young one here. You tell us, which of these two cell phones would be a better gift?¡± Uncle Three took out two shiny, top-end gship phones. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched as he said, ¡°Uncle, this seems illegal.¡± ¡°What¡¯s illegal about an uncle giving vige folks a little gift?¡± Uncle Threeughed and then added more seriously, ¡°What if the other side gives gifts?¡± ¡°With such arge amount, it couldnd you in jail,¡± Jiang Yuan said, his tone growing serious as well. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s what Jiang Yuan said, right!¡± Uncle Three¡¯s voice suddenly rose, ¡°Just tell him what Jiang Yuan said. If he wants to go to jail, let him go. It wouldn¡¯t be the first time our Jiang Yuan sent someone to jail.¡± The few people in the kitchen immediately became agitated. Jiang Yuan quietly left the kitchen area. Uncle Three¡¯s dog also crawled out from under the feet of the crowd. The atmosphere in the kitchen was too heated for both people and dogs. ¡­ The next day. Jiang Yuan was squatting on the balcony, loosening the soil and watering the winter melons. nting winter melons at LV3, when you think about it, was quite a formidable skill. So even if the season wasn¡¯t quite right, with a bit of high-tech help, the winter melons were growing well. He was still engrossed in his balcony farming when the doorbell rang. ¡°Jiang Yuan, you can farm?¡± The visitors turned out to be Shen Yaoguo and Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei still looked rather dandy, but wore a sweet,pliant smile. Shen Yaoguo, being older, simply smiled steadily. ¡°Chief Shen,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up in slight surprise. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s about a case, I wanted to have a chat with you,¡± Shen Yaoguo walked into the balcony and casually sat down on a stool. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before sitting down, asking, ¡°What case?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ this¡­ I¡¯ll juste straight out with it. There¡¯s a case I handled before that was never solved. So I was thinking, if you don¡¯t have ns for your next case, maybe you could take this one on,¡± Shen Yaoguo said more smoothly as he went on. ¡°Hmm¡­ why?¡± Jiang Yuan asked the reason before inquiring about the case itself. In his view, the fact that Shen Yaoguo was seeking him out at his home in Ningtai County was out of the ordinary. The directness of the request evidently indicated it was not business as usual. ¡°Jiang Yuan is quite sharp,¡± Shen Yaoguo forced apliment before continuing, ¡°It¡¯s a case I botched in the past, and now thinking back, I¡¯m worried it might have some lingering effects. It would be best if we could solve it.¡± Chapter 349 - 349 316 Past Events ?349: Chapter 316 Past Events 349: Chapter 316 Past Events When it came to the specifics of the case, Jiang Yuan did feel a certain interest. Jiang Yuan put down the small trowel and said, ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°Great.¡± Shen Yaoguo was already pleased to see that Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t immediately declined or refused. He subconsciously offered a cigarette to Jiang Yuan, then felt a bit embarrassed as he said, ¡°Old smoker here, I just feel like having a smoke when talking about cases, that¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± Jiang Yuan lit the cigarette for him. Shen Yaoguo cupped his hands around the me, took a drag, exhaled, and then slowly said, ¡°This case, speaking of it now, is a bit embarrassing. It¡¯s been about 8 years since a warehouse caught fire in the suburbs of the city. After the firefighters put out the fire, they found two bodies.¡± ¡°After investigating the material that caught fire and the source of ignition, they considered the possibility of arson, and the case was transferred to criminal investigation. At that time, I was the captain of the second brigade of the Criminal Investigation Detachment.¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised¡ªthe person before him had also been a criminal detective. ¡°The two victims, one male, one female. The female was the owner¡¯s wife, and the male was a warehouse manager.¡± Shen Yaoguo said with a sigh, ¡°At the time, we used the process of elimination, and eventually focused our investigation on the warehouse manager.¡± ¡°The warehouse manager had a juvenile criminal record, and DNA traces of his cousin were found in the room he was renting. His cousin has a history of theft, multiple prior convictions, and that¡¯s where the case took a major turn.¡± Jiang Yuan listened and frowned, thinking that in a normal case, this would clearly be a turning point in the investigation. But Shen Yaoguo hade all this way, obviously not just to boast about the simple process of solving such a case. Indeed, after a brief pause, Shen Yaoguo continued, ¡°The warehouse manager was already dead. I immediately arranged for the special case team to arrest his cousin, but it was toote. His cousin had fled and the following pursuit was not smooth. After issuing a warrant for some time, the case was dropped.¡± This amounted to an unresolved murder case. However, for a case that only involved pursuing the fugitive, it was understandable that it might end there. Especially in cases involving individuals with a criminal past, the murderers might have run off at the outset, not waiting for the police to respond, regardless of whether the case was solved; they would just run. As long as they had money and were in good shape, even in ces like Hengpie State, one could livefortably and easily, perhaps even more so than in their hometown. Without the worry of elderly parents or family, it would be very difficult for the police to capture these individuals. ¡°I didn¡¯t really take this case very seriously before, thinking that after some time, we¡¯d carry out a special operation to apprehend fugitives, and that would lead to his capture. But it was never sessful, and this year it¡¯s even worse,¡± sighed Shen Yaoguo again. ¡°Was there an ident?¡± Jiang Yuan said, following Shen Yaoguo¡¯s lengthy exnation. Shen Yaoguo nodded heavily and said, ¡°A few days ago, the suspect in this case, the warehouse manager¡¯s cousin, believed to be the prime suspect Wang Haiyong, was arrested for theft in another ce. After his fingerprints matched, we immediately sent someone to bring Wang Haiyong over here and then interrogated him.¡± ¡°He didn¡¯t confess?¡± ¡°I was involved in the interrogation and most likely, Wang Haiyong didn¡¯tmit arson. His alibi is quite solid,¡± he said. Once Shen Yaoguo finished speaking, he looked down at the winter melon seedlings. The winter melon seedlings were thriving, lush and green, very beautiful. Jiang Yuan also looked at the winter melon seedlings, sensing that Shen Yaoguo¡¯s agitation had increased. ¡°Wang Haiyong¡¯s alibi wasmitting a crime elsewhere?¡± Jiang Yuan hazarded a guess. Such an old case and a former theft convict trying to persuade the police, this kind of reason could be considered solid. Shen Yaoguo nodded: ¡°He was actually on a ne, with records confirming his theft in another ce at the time.¡± ¡°ne ticket? Thieves are flying now?¡± ¡°Probably because he was happy about the stolen goods,¡± Shen Yaoguo shook his head, ¡°They yed around West Lake for over a month, stealing and having fun. After having their fill, they returned.¡± ¡°What about the DNA?¡± ¡°Wang Haiyong stayed in the warehouse manager¡¯s room for about a week. He did have the intention to steal from the warehouse, but he never went through with it. After hearing about the situation here, he immediately went into hiding.¡± ¡°Quite sensitive,¡±mented Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan could quite understand the change in Shen Yaoguo¡¯s emotions. If the prime suspect, the presumed murderer Wang Haiyong, was not the actual killer, then it meant that Shen Yaoguo¡¯s handling of the case hadpletely fallen apart. This huge case had been waited on for so long, and what was awaited was apletely opposite oue. Moreover, the case had not been solved yet, so¡­ this somewhat counted as an error. Of course, as part of a job, it is normal to allow for errors. Being a criminal investigator, it is impossible to avoid going astray on cases. No one is a deity, capable of closing every case they take on. As for such old cases, unless there is something special to drag them back into the light, most of the time, actually, few people pay attention. ¡°Is there any problem now?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to y Tai Chi with Shen Yaoguo. As the saying goes, ¡°As long as I don¡¯t want to be promoted to deputy section chief, I¡¯m in charge.¡± Besides, Jiang Yuan¡¯s master Wu Jun had created another method for promotion to deputy section chief, the so-called ¡°tantrum stream¡±, which was always ready for Jiang Yuan. Shen Yaoguo nodded and said, ¡°It seems now that the line of investigation we originally followed, that is, the warehouse keeper¡¯s line, might be wrong.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. It could have been expected. When the special case team was formed and established the warehouse keeper¡¯s line, they certainly must have thoroughly investigated this minor warehouse keeper. And since the prime suspect, the cousin Wang Haiyong, had fled, they definitely had to check out the others on that line¡­ The fact that no other suspects were turned up actually spoke volumes. ¡°Another line. That is, the female victim. The owner of the warehouse, her other identity, was the mistress of Yuan Jiansheng, the boss of Qinghe Jiayuan Pharmaceuticals.¡± The words Shen Yaoguo said this time made Jiang Yuan involuntarily sit up straight. ¡°I know you¡¯ve worked on the Jianyuan Pharmaceutical case and even caught the boss¡¯s son, right?¡± Shen Yaoguo asked again. Jiang Yuan¡¯s brow furrowed involuntarily, he replied instinctively, ¡°His sons were fighting among themselves. The victim was killed by an outsider rted to the case at that time, a crime of passion.¡± While speaking of this, what shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s daughter, Yuan Yushan. When Jiang Yuan was about to leave, she thanked him with a sincere tone. There was no hint of the sorrow of sibling rivalry in her emotion, nor the joy of bing the biggest beneficiary. She didn¡¯t seem like a woman in her twenties at all. Shen Yaoguo¡¯s brain, however, was dominated by emotions, heaving a deep sigh, ¡°It¡¯s this case. When I heard about it, I felt a jolt in my heart. But then I still had a bit of wishful thinking, maybe like your case, it was an unintended event?¡± ¡°The result?¡± ¡°The result¡­ If the male victim, the warehouse keeper, is a dead-end, then we can only turn to the female victim. The death of Jianyuan Company boss¡¯s mistress, to say the case has nothing to do with Jianyuan Company, would be deceiving oneself.¡± Shen Yaoguo shook his head. Jianyuan Company is thergestpany in Qinghe City and also a major yer in the province. Thus, once an investigation into cases rted to Jianyuan Company is initiated, the story from before is almost certainly brought back up. Shen Yaoguo exhaled, ¡°I¡¯ve thought it through, rather than wait one or two years for my chance toe only to have this case blown up by someone else, I would rather correct it myself now. Jiang Yuan, your special case team is still keeping a low profile. Could you please help solve this case quietly?¡± ¡°I can take a look, but I can¡¯t guarantee I can solve it. Plus, the cases I handle have to be reviewed by Chief Yu,¡± Jiang Yuan genuinely wanted to look into the case, but he was also stating the facts. The activation of cold cases followed set rules, and the final authorization on Jiang Yuan¡¯s side alwaysy in the hands of Yu Wenshu. Moreover, should there be pitfalls in the case, it¡¯s highly likely that Yu Wenshu would detect them. Shen Yaoguo didn¡¯t seem surprised, ¡°As long as you agree, I¡¯ll discuss it with your Chief Yu.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Shen Yaoguo and said, ¡°I can work on the case, but I won¡¯t follow your directives.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Shen Yaoguo chuckled, patted his bottom as he stood up, ¡°As long as the case gets solved, I¡¯m all for cooperation.¡± Solving the case was what he needed most right now. Jiang Yuan hurriedly stood up to apany him. Nothing had been done yet, and it wasn¡¯t his turn to call the shots. Mr. Jiang from Jiang Fuzhen, hearing the noise, rushed out from the kitchen, holding a kitchen knife, smiling, ¡°It must be Jiang Yuan¡¯s colleague, right? Have dinner before you leave. I cookedmb today and have a roasted goose too, gifted by a tenant. They have a specialty roast goose shop.¡± Shen Yaoguo looked at the kitchen knife in Mr. Jiang¡¯s hand, if only he had brought his gun with him¡­ this time he would be asking for help in vain. ¡°No need to trouble yourselves, we have already eaten,¡± Shen Yaoguo replied. ¡°Even if you¡¯ve eaten, you can still have a bit more. Wait a moment, let me show you,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, heading straight to the kitchen. He brought out the roasted goose. The crimson roasted goose, shapely and enticing, with distinct breasts and hips, emanated a tempting aroma. ¡°Then¡­ I might as well ept your generous offer.¡± Shen Yaoguo also wanted to bond further with Jiang Yuan. Chapter 350 - 350 317 Swing a Skill ?350: Chapter 317: Swing a Skill 350: Chapter 317: Swing a Skill ¡°I know about the case Shen Yaoguo mentioned; he wants you to work on it, so just do it,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°That case is bound to be reopened sooner orter, as they can¡¯t just ignore the tantly wrong investigative directions. Perhaps starting from a new angle can crack it.¡± Yu Wenshu felt greatlyforted after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s report and went into more detail about the case, then added, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Shen againter, but anyway, we won¡¯t be losing out. Shen Yaoguo is a face-saving man. We help him out, and he knows to appreciate it. You don¡¯t need to worry about the specifics.¡± Unsolved homicides, especially those from thest 10 years, were etched in the memories of the local detectives. However, these cases were like scars, not to be reopened unless necessary, as everyone refrained from touching them. Just as Shen Yaoguo himself had stated, if he were to be promoted or encounter any trouble, then that case bes a thorn in his side. Of course, it would be better if he could remove that thorn beforehand. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan, listening to Yu Wenshu¡¯s gentle reassurances, knew clearly that Yu nned to ¡®sell¡¯ him off once more. ¡°Then I will report back to Captain Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan said. He was still officially with the Ningtai County Bureau and couldn¡¯t allow Yu Wenshu to profit alone from this. Jiang Yuan made it sound casual at first, then asked, ¡°I would like to conduct the investigation for this case in secret, if that¡¯s possible?¡± Yu Wenshu made an affirmative sound, then replied, ¡°Are you worried about Jianyuan Company exerting influence? That¡¯s fine, better safe than sorry. Begin your case investigation; I¡¯ll report it to our superiors. By the way, when are youing back? How many more days do you n to rest?¡± ¡°Three more days,¡± said Jiang Yuan. He was not only resting for himself but also for his team members. If he returned to work, the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team would all have to start working as well. Yu Wenshu might have thought it a waste of manpower to take a rest, but he said reasonably, ¡°That¡¯s good, take a good rest and rejuvenate before getting back to work. But make sure it¡¯s just three more days; others are watching. If your team rests too long, it might stir envy.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed readily. Once you¡¯re back from your rest, we¡¯ll have the Bureau¡¯s annual conference just in time,¡± Yu Wenshu began to entice him, ¡°I heard from the chief that he wants to take this opportunity to give you an award. Make sure you present yourself well for the rehearsals and all, so you¡¯ll look good on stage¡­ ¡± With the quiet home environment, Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s sharp ears picked up on keywords like ¡°award,¡± and he edged closer to the conversation. After Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, Jiang Fuzhen asked, ¡°Have you achieved another merit? Is there going to be an award ceremony? Which ss of merit this time?¡± Jiang Yuanughed, ¡°You¡¯re always telling me not to fuss over recognition and awards¡­¡± ¡°As long as you keep yourself safe, the more merits you get, the better. You¡¯re a leader now, right? A leader earning merits is not the same as a private earning them,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said sensibly, then asked again, ¡°Which ss of merit?¡± ¡°It should be at least a second-ss merit,¡± said Jiang Yuan, who had already been given a hint. He reminded his father, ¡°Don¡¯t mention it to others until it¡¯s official¡­¡± ¡°I know,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, finding him talkative, then asked, ¡°Should we send a gift? Honestly, we have so many houses that we can¡¯t even live in all of them. If we can use one to exchange for a first-ss merit for you¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re trying to get me and the leadership sent away together,¡±ughed Jiang Yuan, shaking his head, ¡°Next time we have a dinner or something, just bring a box of good liquor. But you weren¡¯t this concerned about my merits before, were you? Do you know the difference between a second-ss and a first-ss merit?¡± ¡°I know the ques will have different inscriptions,¡± replied Jiang Fuzhen, ¡°If your uncle bes the vige head this time, thene Qingming Festival next year, when we honor our ancestors, we can add a new que for you. We¡¯ll engrave whatever it is then. If you receive a second-ss merit, we¡¯ll carve you a small que for that; if it¡¯s a first-ss then a big one, there are rules for the size. After this, if you want a new one, you¡¯ll have to wait until you have another great achievement.¡± Jiang Fuzhen felt sentimental but also slightly regretful, ¡°Our Jiang family shrine won¡¯t disy ques like ¡®the richest in the area¡¯. So the only one who can go up there is you, my boy.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do my best,¡± replied Jiang Yuan with a chuckle, not sure what else to say. To the young, hanging a que was not much to fuss about. Whether arge or small inscription hung on a beam or a wall, they saw no significant difference. But Comrade Jiang Fuzhen clearly cared about it, because as soon as Jiang Yuan returned to his room, he could hear Jiang Fuzhen making calls inquiring about the cost of building a wine cer. The next day. Jiang Yuan, out of a sense of duty, reported to the Ningtai County Bureau. Even though it was his time off, the arson case meant that Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t just rx at home the entire time, especially after having called Huang Qiangmin. As everyone knows, police officers don¡¯t really have holidays. Huang Qiangmin was delighted to see him and kept patting Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, ¡°Good to see you¡¯re back. Rest up for a few more days. Changyang City isn¡¯t urgent; after all, it¡¯s just a matter of timing.¡± Instructor Pei Xiang also said, ¡°We¡¯ve set up the citywide surveince now, and they¡¯ve startedying foundations for the new building. You don¡¯t have to work so hard anymore. Come back more often and if you¡¯re not happy in Changyang, you cane back here.¡± Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, ¡°If you feel aggrieved, just tell me. I¡¯ll talk to Yu about it! Ning County¡¯s mainstay is still a mainstay in Changyang City. There¡¯s no reason for you to be aggrieved, nor should you put up with it.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t been wronged, Captain Yu has been really good to me. He¡¯s very supportive of my work and also takes the time to ask about my well-being¡­¡± Jiang Yuan put in a good word for Yu Wenshu. ¡°That¡¯s good, as long as you haven¡¯t been wronged. The kindness of Changyang people is just so-so, you know, don¡¯t take it to heart. People from the provincial capital can be quiteplicated.¡± Huang Qiangmin was worried that Yu Wenshu wasn¡¯t giving Jiang Yuan enough attention, but also concerned that Yu might be paying too much attention to him, putting him in quite a dilemma. Several team leaders took the time to chat with Jiang Yuan and took the opportunity to fully affirm his achievements, and also filled him in on the recent changes at the bureau. Jiang Yuan suddenly felt as if he were a big star with a whole team behind him. The leader was kind and righteous, team members were close and loving, and he just needed to work hard so he could lead everyone toward a better life¡­ ¡°Have a red egg.¡± Wu Jun handed Jiang Yuan a red egg casually and ate one himself. Jiang Yuan paused, his sense of mission somewhat deted, cracked open the red egg, and while peeling it, said, ¡°There isn¡¯t even a body today, why are we eating red eggs?¡± ¡°I reckon you can¡¯t get these every meal in Changyang, so I¡¯m giving you two to make up for it. If it¡¯s too much, think of it as saving forter. Next time we encounter a body, even if we¡¯re too busy and forget, we¡¯ll have some saved up.¡± Wu Jun paused, then added, ¡°When dealing with bodies from water, you should eat at least two red eggs; you need to pay attention to that.¡± ¡°Is that actually a thing?¡± Jiang Yuan was curious. ¡°Yeah.¡± Wu Jun nodded. ¡°The bodies from the water are bloated, see. If you calcte it by weight, you need a double dose. Look at the instruction manuals for the medications nowadays; doses are always calcted based on body weight.¡± What could Jiang Yuan say? He could only reply, ¡°Got it.¡± Happy times are fleeting. After a cheerful chat, when the novelty of Jiang Yuan¡¯s return wore off, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s gaze towards the few team leaders began to shift. Wu Junhao was the most impulsive one, but he was also the most sensitive to the mood. He was the first to react and said, ¡°I¡¯ve got some people to catch, I should go.¡± Having said that, Wu Junhao left without hesitation. The second team¡¯s leader, Liu Wenkai, was a step slower. Struggling toe up with a good excuse, he blurted out, ¡°I¡¯m going to whore¡ªI mean, going to catch those who whore¡­¡± Before Huang Qiangmin¡¯s p couldnd, Liu Wenkai quickly moved away. As the team leaders scattered, Wu Jun was still leisurely chatting away. He was already up for a deputy position, and as long as he didn¡¯t want the official position, he was like a deputy head. Huang Qiangmin, unable to vent his frustration on Wu Jun, huffed, ¡°The county has fewer cases now, and these guys are all cking off. The rate of case closures isn¡¯t increasing, and the number of cases solved is actually declining. If this keeps up, we¡¯ll turn into Longli County.¡± Hearing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words, a system popup suddenly appeared before Jiang Yuan: Mission: Get them moving. Mission content: The workload of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment is insufficient. Solve a few cases and increase their workload. Mission reward: 0/X With the system¡¯s reminder and a sniff of his nose, Jiang Yuan could sense Huang Qiangmin¡¯s dissatisfaction and quickly said, ¡°How about I work on some umted fingerprint cases to get everyone busy catching people?¡± ¡°You think you can just do it because you say so?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s like any ordinary case, it¡¯s a matter of luck. Fail a few times, and you¡¯re bound to seed eventually. Besides, working on umted fingerprint cases doesn¡¯t cost anything; failing a few times only wastes a bit of time.¡± Jiang Yuan had participated in the fingerprint campaign at the provincial office, averaging a hit on a fingerprint every other day, which wasn¡¯t bad in terms of numbers. Repeating the process and not aiming as high as homicide cases, solving a few cases was definitely possible. Every now and then, he would solve cases for his online friends in the chat group, so solving them himself was a piece of cake. Huang Qiangmin was somewhat tempted, ¡°You¡¯re busy with cases in Changyang, and still handle cases back in Ningtai, I really can¡¯t rest easy about that¡­¡± ¡°I still have to be responsible for supplying goods. Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll just be staying upte in the office, nothing else.¡± Jiang Yuan went back to the forensic doctor¡¯s office, got reacquainted with the environment, and started working away rapidly. He didn¡¯t have much else to do, so catching a few unlucky guys, letting the various teams have a bit of fun, and leveling up his skills in the process sounded very enticing. Chapter 351 - 351 318 The Beauty of Fingerprints ?351: Chapter 318: The Beauty of Fingerprints 351: Chapter 318: The Beauty of Fingerprints 7 grams of tea were ced in the tea cannister, and boiling water at 97 degrees was poured in, causing the curling steam to immediately rise. The rolling tea leaves, like the wheels of bicycles in a circus act, spun yfully in the water. Separated by a green radish nt, three sticks of incense had just been lit, with the ascending smoke carrying a faint scent reminiscent of wheat. Two chairs away, Wu Jun held a cigarette in his mouth while exhaling gray smoke, and simultaneously drew talismans with cinnabar, continuously mumbling, ¡°Prolong life, career sess.¡± Jiang Yuan confidently adjusted his chair, set the mouse in ce, regted his mood, and then seriously pulled out a fingerprint¡ª A fingerprint from a theft case eight years prior. Jiang Yuan nced at it for just a moment before starting to mark the characteristic points with quick taps. When Wu Jun heard the clicking of his mouse, he came over to look and after half a minute, said, ¡°If the owner of this fingerprint has a spirit in the sky, they probably never imagined that it would be brought out forparison eight yearster.¡± ¡°The main thing is that the fingerprint was taken from a good location, on the inner side of the door handle inside the room. If there¡¯s a match, the probability of pinpointing the suspect is rtively high,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, while sending the fingerprint with the marked points to the backend. His expertise in fingerprint analysis was extremely high now, with a Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method at Level 4, a Chongqing-style Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method at Level 3, and Image Zeqiang at Level 5, making him more than a match for three expertsbined. The internalwork responded quickly, churning out a list of thirty fingerprints in just minutes. Jiang Yuanpared them one by one and, in no time at all, found a match with the 17th fingerprint. ¡°This fingerprint is poorly taken, with some serious reflection, but theparison itself isn¡¯t difficult,¡± Jiang Yuan exined offhand, seeing Wu Jun looking on. Wu Jun nodded and said, ¡°This thief probably never imagined that a theft case from eight years ago would stille back to haunt him.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It¡¯s his own fault for being a thief.¡± While saying this, Jiang Yuan pulled up the suspect¡¯s information and indeed, he was a habitual offender who had been locked up three times before. Jiang Yuan shook his head, organized the information, and then began to look for a second fingerprint to work on. The fingerprints he was now selecting were generally of difficulty around Level 3¡ªbeyond what Ningtai County¡¯s own forensic team could handle and very challenging for Qinghe City¡¯s team as well. For these types of case fingerprints, different ces had varying practices. If they weren¡¯t particrly busy, they would generally umte a batch and then have a certain expert work on them. With Shannan Province¡¯s standards, not everyone was at Level 3 eight years ago. And even with Level 3 ability, working on Level 3 difficulty fingerprints carried a certain chance of sess. For theft cases like these, typically punished with three to seven years, the level of attention wouldn¡¯t be very high. Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous strategy was simr, but this time, he wasn¡¯t picky at all. He even felt a bit of fondness for theft cases. Theft cases are good because the criminals are usually professional or semi-professional, unlike robbers or murderers who are often amateurs on their first offense. Therefore, fingerprints from theft suspects often have a record, which is a crucial step towards making a match. For Jiang Yuan, he wasn¡¯t afraid ofplicated fingerprints, he was just concerned about the absence of corresponding fingerprints in the database. Today, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to deal with homicide cases. He had cleared up Ningtai County¡¯s homicide cases up to 20 years back, and the remaining ones couldn¡¯t be solved based on fingerprints alone. In such a situation, theft cases became Jiang Yuan¡¯s target for brushing up his record. Matching a fingerprint, taking a few sips of tea, and then moving on to the next one¡ªit only took half an hour for the second fingerprint to sessfully emerge. This time it was even simpler; the criminal was currently in administrative detention, so a direct interrogation would suffice. Tap tap tap tap. Jiang Yuan frantically clicked the mouse. His fingerprint skills, in terms of overall proficiency, were top-tier domestically, and with a little more experience, he would be close to the pinnacle. Experts of his caliber were typically confined to rooms, endlesslyparing prints from murder cases, and to draw one out for a robbery case would require a highly publicized incident, perhaps one so serious that even dogs had been stolen. The idea that a fingerprint expert of his level would everpare prints for a burry in a small county town had never crossed anyone¡¯s mind. Some of the backlog cases might even be leftovers from years past when there were too many trace cases to process¡ªlike those level LV0.8 trace cases handled by Wang Zhong. It could take half a day topare prints for a simple burry case, and with meetings to attend, business trips to take, and errands to run for the bosses, there were days when he couldn¡¯t finish more than two cases. But Jiang Yuan was different. With his focused attention, he could identify standard characteristic points in one go. Even on a bad day, when it took two or three tries, it was only an hour¡¯s work. Therefore, by the end of an afternoon, Jiang Yuan had already matched four fingerprints. His efficiency wasn¡¯t quite what it was at the provincial office, where he could concentrate solely on fingerprinting during a state of peak performance and focus. Now, sitting in an office, it was normal for his efficiency to be slightly reduced. Even so, when Jiang Yuan called Huang Qiangmin, thetter was still slightly taken aback. ¡°Four cases already?¡± Huang Qiangmin said while holding the phone, somewhat out of practice in expressing his astonishment. ¡°Four burry cases,¡± Jiang Yuan emphasized. ¡°Burry backlog is still backlog! You solved cases others couldn¡¯t, that¡¯s true ability. Alright, I¡¯ll notify them to make the arrests,¡± cheered Huang Qiangmin, showering him with a few rounds of ttery on the spot. Huang Qiangmin even felt a twinge of regret. If they hadn¡¯t transferred Jiang Yuan to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, who knows how many more cases Ningtai County could have solved by now. Looking up at the small building foundation of the criminal police team ahead, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help feeling a sense of loss. If they could have just raised the police station¡¯s level a bit and secured more funding, they could have kept Jiang Yuan to clear the backlog. In no time, he would probably have torn apart hundreds of families. Huang Qiangmin dispatched a squad led by Wu Junhao. This pushover squad hadn¡¯t had a great deal of work recently, few opportunities to make arrests; they dealt with minor cases internally and there were no major cases. Huang Qiangmin was worried about them getting rusty, so he gave them the assignment right away. Needless to say, the four thieves faced what was going to be a major crackdown by a dozen hulking men. Jiang Yuan left work on time, as usual, going home to loosen the soil for his winter melon. Meanwhile, the detectives of Ningtai County¡¯s police force became busily engrossed in their work. Though small, a mosquito is still meat, and having been well-rested recently, the criminal police dashed about the county, some even dispatched to other regions to recover the stolen goods. After two days of handling fingerprints, Jiang Yuan saw the progress on his tasks begin to increase. 1/x, 2/x, 3/x¡­ This meant that an arrest needed to be made for a case to be counted. Thus, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hurry to im his achievements, letting the police of Ning County make the arrests as he returned to Changyang City. The end-of-year meeting at the city bureau was imminent. On the day of his return, Jiang Yuan was seized and thrown into the lineup for a rehearsal. Chapter 352 - 352 319 Medal ?352: Chapter 319: Medal 352: Chapter 319: Medal The auditorium of the Changyang City Bureau bustled with activity as officers, d in their formal police uniforms, came and went. The most prominent feature of the police dress uniform was a long, shiny ribbon on the chest, eye-catchingly gleaming in the soft light. Yet, the stars of the day were still the officers adorned with medals on their chests. Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest sported three medals, among which were two second-ss merit medals and one third-ss merit medal. He had beenmended for meritorious service four times in total, with one additionalmendationcking a medal, thus unwearable. That¡¯s why simplemendations weren¡¯t held in high regard by the officers; if you couldn¡¯t disy it, then the joy was limited to the day of issuance. With a medal, you could wear it proudly at every ceremony. No matter what significant event urred in life, those decorations were always more precious than any other attire. Compared with other officers attending the event, the number of medals on Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest was not as substantial. The Criminal Police Detachment of the provincial capital was full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, many of whom had once experienced periods of unmatchable bravery and overflowingbative spirit. It was only with increasing age, physical decline, umting injuries, familial responsibilities, and outdated understandings that they gradually lost their vigor. But the medals remembered these deeds. Take, for instance, Chu Tingjiang, the chief of the Narcotics Detachment, standing before Jiang Yuan. He wore his sleek armor, which was likely adorned with twenty or thirty medals; on closer inspection, you¡¯d find that among them were three first-ss merit medals. To Jiang Yuan¡¯s knowledge, the volume of drugs seized by this Chu Detachment Chief was always measured in kilograms. He had also repeatedly destroyed local illegal markets, gradually stepping back from front-line duties ten years ago. The drug problem in Shannan Province had never been severe, partially thanks to Chief Chu¡¯s efforts. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± the squad leader Ma Jiyang caught up from behind, patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, and upon examining his chest, clicked his tongue and said, ¡°Not bad at all. You¡¯ve only been on the job for a year, right? And you¡¯ve got two second-ss merits already.¡± Giving Ma Jiyang a nce, Jiang Yuan was unsurprised to see, as expected, three second-ss merit medals,plemented by three third-ss medals, harmoniously unified, wlessly perfect. ¡°Would you care to share the stories behind these three second-ss merits?¡± Jiang Yuan knew all too well how to engage in conversation with individuals rich in spirit. Like the old men in Jiang Vige, some might only have an elementary education, but after beingpensated with more than a dozen apartment units for relocation, they would discuss national policies, ideals, and aspirations. Ma Jiyang¡¯s expression grew grave as he gazed at his own second-ss merit medals, silent for a long while. Jiang Yuan realized something was wrong. Had he inadvertently mentioned some brutal tales? As he was considering how to remedy the situation, Ma Jiyang began to speak slowly: ¡°I received this second-ss merit while I was in a rtionship. Shortly after themendation, I married wearing it.¡± ¡°This second-ss merit was the cause of my divorce. I argued with my wife over it every day until herints finally took their toll.¡± ¡°This second-ss merit ultimately led us to part ways. That year, as I was out arresting people, she was at home betraying me. Together, we put forth great effort and destroyed a perfectly good home.¡± Having shared his story, Ma Jiyang looked at the two second-ss merits on Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest and said, ¡°You¡¯re quite lucky, earning two second-ss merits before marriage¡ªthat¡¯s very smart.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at Squad Leader Ma Jiyang and said, ¡°Thank you for that.¡± Ma Jiyang smiled, ¡°No need for formalities. You¡¯ll understand if you talk more with your seniors. Almost every officer with medals has had a rough middle age.¡± ¡°What if I don¡¯t reach middle age?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t middle-aged when I got my first medal,¡± Ma Jiyang said with a contented smile. ¡°I was so full of vigor then, and my wife married me for love¡­¡± His smile then faded as he continued, ¡°You¡¯ll only know once you reach middle age unavoidably¡ªdealing with a wife, children, the elderly, work and stress, as well as the eager eyes of the younger generation and the cold indifference ofpetitors¡­ When reality closes in, the realm of the spirit bursts at the slightest touch.¡± Listening to Ma Jiyang¡¯s description, Jiang Yuan suddenly felt at ease. Talking about the struggles of reality, he had experienced them since childhood. It was only after growing up that these pressures seemed to lessen. ¡°Jiang Yuan,¡± Yu Wenshu called out from the direction of the stage, summoning Jiang Yuan. He was heading toward several leaders from the Changyang City Bureau. Thus, Jiang Yuan straightened up, his chest adorned with medals, and faced the inquiries of the officials with a smile. His time at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had been quite enjoyable, and now he was here to receive an award, so his spirits were well in hand. Soon, the master of ceremonies took the stage and rehearsals officially began. The itinerary was conveyed, including when to go on stage, and instructions on¡­ when to p and cheer. By then, Jiang Yuan had almost confirmed that he would be receiving a first-ss merit. As thest to ascend the stage and upying the center position, it would not fit the protocol for him to stand there given his rank, even if he were to receive another second-ss merit. Of course, Jiang Yuan¡¯s recent string of breakthroughs in solving cold cases and active murder investigations, particrly his crucial role in the search for Liu Jinghui, indeed merited a first-ss medal. Compared to a first-ss merit in the military, the difficulty of obtaining a first-ss merit in the police system is somewhat lower. Perhaps it¡¯s because of the adage ¡°maintain an army for a thousand days to use it for one,¡± without the premise of war, police officers, especially criminal detectives, naturally have more opportunities to bemended for their achievements. Despite this, a first-ss merit is still very rare. The recognition of a second-ss merit is for significant contributions, while the recognition of a first-ss merit is for significant contributions with a major impact. Even at the Changyang City year-endmendation ceremony, there were no more than five police officers in the same row as Jiang Yuan. The next day. Officers from various units of the Changyang City Bureau gradually arrived at the auditorium. Those who didn¡¯t participate in the rehearsal and came for the meeting were there mainly for the ceremonial value. This included several leaders as well. Sometimes, leaders are also part of the background. Often, even if the meeting¡¯s agenda is irrelevant and offers them no benefit, to show their importance, they too must gingerly shift their precious behinds and sit stiffly in their chairs for hours on end. When Jiang Yuan went on stage, the shes from the cameras below and above the stage joined in a continuous stream. For the reporters, covering the stories of young people is always more attractive. In many pre-designed stories by the journalists, Jiang Yuan¡¯s part was considered an interesting aspect to flesh out the articles. The host intentionally used Jiang Yuan to liven up the atmosphere, his voice loud and clear, and swapping to a more casual style of speaking, he said, ¡°Third-grade police inspector Jiang Yuan, whose original post was as a forensic doctor. In just his first year after joining the force though, he solved over 20 murder cases through fingerprinting, crime scene investigation, bloodstain analysis, footprint analysis, and other methods. Comrades, 20 murder cases, in one year¡¯s time! And furthermore, more than half of them were cold cases!¡± At this time, the audience below the stage was somewhat attracted. Police officers are all too aware of the power of unresolved murder cases. If one fails to solve a current murder case, they risk their reputation, and if someone else solves a case that you couldn¡¯t during its active investigation, now a cold case, you¡¯d really have to feel embarrassed to im theyck ability. However, solving 20 murder cases was quite an exaggeration and some officers who didn¡¯t know the details couldn¡¯t help but quietly start asking around. The auditorium was buzzing with whispers. ¡°Everyone, don¡¯t be anxious, I¡¯ll now introduce the cold murder cases and active murder cases solved by Comrade Jiang Yuan¡­¡± The host, while speaking, waved his hand and the screen behind him began to quickly sh through the names and images of the cases. Several of these cases caused a stir among the audience. After all, these were cases that the detectives of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had not solved, and a few of them were quite famous. Take the 513 Stabbing Case for example; it was once wildly spread as a perfect crime. It was then that the host switched to a more formal tone, smiling widely as he said: ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan, within just a few months, has sessively solved numerous cold murder cases and active murder cases¡­¡± ¡°He has powerfully struck and deterred criminals, greatly improving the case closure rate for murders in Changyang City¡­¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan¡ªhonored with a first-ss merit!¡± Spontaneous apuse broke out, rumbling through the room. The onsite director, as if finding a treasure, hurriedly filmed and collected the scene. Jiang Yuan took a deep breath and walked up to the podium. Yu Wenshu personally pinned the first-ss merit medal on him. The medal on Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest finally took its ce in the second row. There was still a gap from donning full armor, but now the chances of collecting a Breastte seemed promising. At the same time, the system prompted a notification. Reward: Individual first-ss merit Reward content: One skill selection Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make a choice immediately and used his mind to dismiss the half-transparent system interface. His n was to decide on the skill selection based on the uing cases. Chapter 353 - 353 320 Father and Son ?353: Chapter 320: Father and Son 353: Chapter 320: Father and Son ¡°First-ss merit! You¡¯ve really left everyone else in the dust,¡± Ma Jiyang was the gold standard for achievements within the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, his three second-ss merits standing out so prominently that he had no equals among his peers, yet he had never been awarded first-ss merit. Jiang Yuan modestly said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect to get first-ss merit.¡± ¡°How could you not expect it? With the cases you¡¯ve solved, if they didn¡¯t give you first-ss merit, what would we do with our second-ss and ones like mine, third-ss? You deserve the first-ss merit,¡± Ma Jiyang was jesting with Jiang Yuan as he only received third-ss merit this time. Jiang Yuan chuckled, ¡°You tter me, Captain Ma. Looking forward to coborating in the future.¡± The remark was just a bit grander than before, but upon hearing it, Ma Jiyang¡¯s eyes closed and then opened, as if he blinked, saying, ¡°That¡¯s definitely possible. Our team¡¯s strength has always been top-notch, just look at my service medals and you¡¯ll know, right?¡± Ma Jiyang pped his chest with a rat-tat-tat, like a 59 tank decked out in armor tes. And his only achieving third-ss merit this time fully demonstrated that his capabilities had unavoidably fallen off since he became a bachelor. Since ancient times, the soldiers who can afford houses thanks to their wives are the strongest. ¡°Jiang Yuan!¡± A reporter passed by, picked up their camera to take a photo of Jiang Yuan, and then asked for an interview. Ma Jiyang and others left with an envious and jealously amused smile. This wasn¡¯t just the special treatment that came with first-ss merit; it was also the special treatment for Jiang Yuan, who was young, tall, and a hot topic. Jiang Yuan dealt with the reporter with a few vague phrases before he walked out and got stopped again. This time, Yu Wenshu had invited a ton of reporters, which looked great and impressive during the conference, but it was quite annoying for Jiang Yuan and others during the free interview segment. Jiang Yuan pretended to make a phone call, acting as if he had an urgent case, before he was able to slip out. Once in the car, Jiang Yuan finally rxed a bit. He took out his cell phone and saw there were over a hundred messages and missed calls, as well as numerous text messages. On WeChat, aside from private messages, there were numerous notifications about group red envelopes. Upon hearing the news, Jiang Fuzhen sent red envelopes all over, especially in the ¡°One Family in Love and Support¡± group where Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s red envelopes dominated, upying half the territory. An ordinary member of the Jiang Family, if they didn¡¯t get much from property redistribution, and rent wasn¡¯t enough, could seriously snag a windfall from the red envelopes and have a prosperous year. Besides these, there were also pages of notifications for private message red envelopes. Jiang Yuan had to take out his notebook to record them all. Changyang City End-of-Year Commendation Conference¡ª Ie: First-ss merit prize money 20,000 yuan. Father¡¯s red envelope 1,000 yuan (My son, you¡¯ve grown up, choose a gift you like, anything below a house, I¡¯ll reimburse you). Great-uncle¡¯s red envelope 6,666 yuan (Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re impressive). Third uncle¡¯s red envelope 66,666 (I heard you can¡¯t give too much money,ter let the vigemittee give you the design fee for the surveince equipment, consider the extra as your uncle¡¯s consultancy fee). Great great-uncle¡¯s red envelope 10,000 yuan (The Jiang family will always be your solid backing). Mrs. Hua¡¯s red envelope 10,000 yuan (Don¡¯t tire yourself out, heard you became a leader, so don¡¯t just think about charging forward, lead your team well ande home safe). Fifth uncle¡¯s red envelope 5,000 yuan (You kid are toomendable), Sixth uncle¡¯s red envelope 3,000 yuan (Commendation fee), Seventh uncle¡¯s red envelope 3,000 yuan (Commendation fee), Eighth aunt¡¯s red envelope 2,000 yuan (Commendation fee), Ninth uncle¡¯s red envelope 2,000 yuan (Commendation fee)¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand was sore from recording in the notebook, after two pages he found there seemed to be an endless stream of private messages. Some people even sent twice, for instance: Sixth aunt¡¯s red envelope 10,000 yuan (Auntie didn¡¯t study much, didn¡¯t know first-ss merit was so impressive, amazing!), Seventh aunt¡¯s red envelope 10,000 (Your uncle has been talking about it all day, told me to top up your red envelope, for some good luck). Twenty-first uncle¡¯s red envelope 3,000 + 6,000 (Originally wanted to buy you a pair ofbat boots, then thought, better to send a red envelope. You buy some equipment too, for emergencies). This time it was different from before; it was as if the whole vige had sent Jiang Yuan a red envelope. Of course, not everyone sent a personal red envelope, but many families or households sent them as a unit. Calcting it all¡­ Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then turned to pull out the notebook from his bag and opened an Excel sheet titled ¡°Jiang Vige Family Households.¡± Jiang Yuan then copied the red envelope amounts into the Excel sheet, reopened WeChat, and continued adding the amounts of each red envelope. Jiang Yuan actually didn¡¯t care about the value of these red envelopes, what mattered more to him was the sentiment, the attention, and care from the people of his vige. It¡¯s like back in the day when we joined in the hundred-family feast, a household willing to give one bun wasn¡¯t less caring than one willing to give two. Today, neighbors who have closed their doors might just be bogged down with the task of making babies and haven¡¯t spared much thought for someone else¡¯s child. In a couple of days, when they¡¯re sore from all the exertion, they¡¯ll surely open their doors again and make lots of delicious food. But it has to be said, ever since the Jiang Vige People started getting rich, there have been many more rules ¨C like these customary exchange of red packets, which everyone takes seriously. If a family doesn¡¯t follow the rules, people will suspect they¡¯ve been tricked into some failed business venture. At that time, the advising vigers would trample that family¡¯s threshold to shreds. After collecting all the red packets and even a second round of them, just as Jiang Yuan was starting to feel weary, a call from Jiang Fuzhen came through. ¡°Dad,¡± Jiang Yuan said, putting down theputer and stepping out of the car to stretch his limbs by the vehicle. ¡°Where are you? Are you out celebrating with your colleagues?¡± The voice from Jiang Fuzhen boomed out, needing to be loud like when speaking in the vige or at home, to carry over distance. Jiang Yuan held the phone a bit farther away and said, ¡°I¡¯m still at the grand hall. Everyone was giving gifts today, so I¡¯ve been noting them down on theputer.¡± ¡°Right, it¡¯s good to make a note. Send me a copyter; we need to reciprocate where it¡¯s due,¡± Jiang Fuzhen paused before continuing, ¡°If you¡¯re done,e back to the house. I¡¯m under the building where you bought that small apartment.¡± ¡°Eh, you¡¯re in Changyang City?¡± Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised; he had just been home a couple of days ago. Jiang Fuzhen hummed twice, ¡°If you had told me earlier that you received a first-ss merit this time, I would havee to see for myself. You didn¡¯t even ask your dad toe watch the ceremony.¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback, ¡°It¡¯s just that no one else seemed to have invited their parents¡­¡± Jiang Fuzhen: ¡°That¡¯s because other people¡¯s parents are too old, but I¡¯m still young.¡± ¡°That actually makes quite a bit of sense. I didn¡¯t think it through,¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t stubborn and added, ¡°Next time then, next time I get a first-ss merit, I¡¯ll invite you over to watch.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Jiang Fuzhen muttered. Suddenly, Uncle Qiang¡¯s voice came through, ¡°You father and son should keep your conversations to yourselves, don¡¯t let others overhear. Those who don¡¯t know might think you¡¯re bragging, and those who do know might be infuriated to death.¡± Both father and sonughed out loud. Jiang Yuan started the car and in less than fifteen minutes, he arrived at the newly bought small apartment. Downstairs, he saw a van parked at the door, with Uncle Qiang and Jiang Fuzhen looking at advertisements in the real estate agent¡¯s shop on the ground floor. Perhaps it was because the van was there that the agent didn¡¯te out to wee them, so Jiang Fuzhen took his time looking around. Only when he saw Jiang Yuan did he say, ¡°I was just thinking your apartment is so small, wondering whether to build you a special vegetable cer or something. Never mind, we¡¯ll talk about itter. I¡¯ve got you a cow, a sheep, and some chickens, ducks, and geese, so we can invite your colleagues and friends over for a meal¡­¡± Listening to his dad, Jiang Yuan knew he wasn¡¯t joking and quickly checked the back of the van ¨C sure enough, there was a skinned cow, a naked sheep, and some bare-bottomed chickens, ducks and geese. ¡°Well¡­ okay,¡± Jiang Yuan, already familiar with his dad¡¯s ways, thought for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s do it tomorrow then, I¡¯ll organize a gathering.¡± ¡°Tomorrow is good, I can help you. You¡¯re not working tomorrow?¡± ¡°These days, team building has to happen during work hours, otherwise you¡¯ll get scolded.¡± ¡°Oh, do you have a big pot?¡± Jiang Fuzhen asked again. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t really cook.¡± ¡°Well, if there¡¯s no big pot, it can¡¯t be helped. I¡¯ll make a call,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said as he took out his phone. Once connected, he said, ¡°Chef Guo, how about you all make a trip tomorrow to do a job? Yes¡­ I¡¯m at my son¡¯s ce, in Changyang City. Alright,e when you can, seven or eight people should be enough¡­¡± So, Jiang Yuan also made a call to Wang Chuanxing, letting him know, ¡°Tomorrow is a workday, but I¡¯m inviting everyone over for a team-building meal at my ce ¨C I¡¯ll send you the address in a bit.¡± Chapter 354 - 354 321 Dont Get Cold ?354: Chapter 321 Don¡¯t Get Cold 354: Chapter 321 Don¡¯t Get Cold Jiang Yuan had arranged for a team building event at home and started making preparations. The first thing was to investigate the scene of the crime at a suburban warehouse. Yes, Jiang Yuan¡¯s preparations were not based on food and beverages, but rather following the mental trajectory of his team members. When otherpanies hold team-building events, they might y games like Werewolf or Murder Mystery. Police team-building, even without a dancing murderer in the street, should at least be apanied by a murder case, right? Jiang Yuan went straight to the modern medical industry park on the outskirts of the city with Uncle Qiang to find the warehouse of the historical arson case. After 8 years, the warehouse had been renovated and belonged to another logisticspany. There wasn¡¯t much inventory inside the warehouse, and one could see almost everything at a nce. There seemed to be about forty or fifty employees. Jiang Yuan showed his credentials to the warehouse manager and exined his purpose, to which thetter reacted with surprise, ¡°Someone died here?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect to receive this question first but thought about it and said, ¡°Actually, many ces have had deaths, don¡¯t think too much about it.¡± ¡°We often start work in the early hours. Ah, now that you mention it, how are we supposed to work overtime at night?¡± The manager¡¯s expression turned sour. ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not a big deal. Just two people died in this huge warehouse area. You know, Huazhu Road next to the industrial park used to be a chaotic burial ground. Right after the founding of the country, bandits entered the area, records show dozens of people were killed in a single massacre¡­¡± Jiang Yuan learned these stories about Shannan Province during his studies, and of course, they were all rted to death. The warehouse manager learned something new, not a trace of a smile on his face, just saying, ¡°I live on Huazhu Road, number 350. The houses around here have the lowest rent¡­¡± By the end of his words, the warehouse manager hade to a realization, his expression starting to tten out. Jiang Yuan and Uncle Qiang exchanged nces and said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s no big deal, all of that happened over half a century ago.¡± ¡°You can have a look at the warehouse.¡± The manager didn¡¯t want to talk with them anymore and found a corner out of view of surveince cameras to sit down, took out his phone, and started searching silently. Jiang Yuan sighed, advising not to search one¡¯s own address in search engines followed by suffixes like ¡®dead¡¯, ¡®murder¡¯, or ¡®corpse¡¯, especially in old urban areas with ancient names¡ªit was not advisable. As Jiang Yuan and Uncle Qiang said, after so many decades, it wasmon for deaths to ur. Sure enough, the manager quickly fell into a state of severe irritation, moderate emo, and mild fear. ces that used to be chaotic burial grounds were naturally at the edge of the city. Even after so many years of development, their prosperity level was still very low. When it waste at night and all was quiet¡­ wouldn¡¯t it be normal for people to die? Taking advantage of the manager rebooting, Jiang Yuan quickly walked through the warehouse with Uncle Qiang, taking photos where needed and recording what was necessary. When approached by someone, they would show their credentials. The warehouse had been reconstructed and no traces of burning could be seen. However, the basic structure remained unchanged. The reconstruction was simply built upon the original foundation. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know exactly what to look for, but he still carefully observed and took photos. Solving cases was like this, not knowing which clue was really needed. One could only walk the path that needed to be taken, see the sights that needed to be seen, and only after reaching the endpoint would one know that they had arrived. After leaving the warehouse and circling around for a week, returning to the parking lot, Jiang Yuan got into the car on the passenger side. That¡¯s when he heard Uncle Qiang shout. Jiang Yuan hurriedly got out of the car and saw Uncle Qiang pointing at the right rear tire, saying, ¡°The tire¡¯s been punctured.¡± In his mind, the first thing that came to Jiang Yuan was the scene of Liu Jinghui¡¯s car ident. Almost subconsciously, he took out his phone, started recording, and turned a circle around the surroundings. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Jiang Yuan turned two more times before going to the back of the car. It was as Uncle Qiang described, the right tire had been punctured. The tire was still rigid, but it was uncertain how far it could go. ¡°This doesn¡¯t seem to be of any use, does it?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at the tire and asked hesitantly. ¡°Well, for city driving it shouldn¡¯t be a problem; we can get it driven back and then fix it,¡± Uncle Qiang advised. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°Let¡¯s not touch it, just call the Forensic Center to do the inspection.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan called Wan Baoming and had him send a trace examiner over. The tire became a focus of study for the forensic technicians. With a proficiency level around LV2, they were already able to discern a great deal. Jiang Yuan and Uncle Qiang waited until the supporting forensic team finished inspecting before they left together in the car. Before noon, the members of the Cold Case Squad arrived one after another at Jiang Yuan¡¯s home. As soon as Wang Chuanxing entered, he couldn¡¯t help but exim, ¡°Wow, Captain Jiang, your house is so big?¡± Having graduated just a few years ago and at the age of considering home purchasing, he was amazed at the size of Jiang Yuan¡¯s living room. Shen Yaowei, who had been to Ningtai County, revealed a knowing smile and said, ¡°It seems you have some misconceptions about the people of Jiang Vige.¡± Wang Chuanxing let out a sigh, ¡°I can¡¯t even afford the down payment for this living room¡­¡± Tang Jia prepared tea for everyone and said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s okay. Just think about the loan repayment you have to make each month, and you¡¯ll feel that not having a down payment is quite nice.¡± Shen Yaoweiughed unsympathetically and added, ¡°An ¡®A-ss¡¯ awardes with a 20,000 yuan reward. If you could get it dozens of times, the down payment would be taken care of, and then if you could secure a ¡®B-ss¡¯ award or something every month, buying a house wouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± Wang Chuanxing alsoughed, ¡°When you put it that way, it does make one happy.¡± Jiang Yuan saw that almost everyone had arrived, so he came over to turn on the new projector and said, ¡°Today¡¯s team-building theme is the warehouse murder-arson case.¡± As he spoke, a photo of a charred body appeared on the projection screen. The nearly life-sized human figure was disyed before everyone in its scorched state. Wang Chuanxing had just picked up a blood orange and took one look before silently putting it back. ¡°Starting off with such excitement?¡± Tang Jiaughed and nced at Jiang Yuan. ¡°This case involves Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. We will start the investigation quietly and only make a big deal out of it if we find anything,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he began to switch the photos and continued, ¡°Help yourselves. Eat whatever you like. There¡¯s also grilled and boiled meating; my dad made it himself.¡± During the conversation, Uncle Qiang brought over a te of beautifully skewered grilledmb. The projection screen disyed another photo, still of the shocking variety. Uncle Qiang took a nce and set down themb, saying, ¡°Is this what the young folks watch at get-togethers now?¡± Tang Jia looked at him surprisingly and asked, ¡°Uncle, you¡¯re not scared?¡± ¡°Once the meat is cooked, they¡¯re all the same. What¡¯s there to fear? Everybody, eat while it¡¯s hot. It won¡¯t taste as good when it¡¯s cold,¡± Uncle Qiang enthusiastically called out to everyone. At least half of Jiang Yuan¡¯s 18 team members felt physically ufortable. However, Jiang Yuan was very satisfied that no one threw up; it at least showed they weren¡¯tplete newbies. ¡°Where do we start with this case?¡± Shen Yaowei asked. This was a case his older cousin, Shen Yaoguo, couldn¡¯t solve. Psychologically, Shen Yaowei was quite curious about the difference between his cousin and Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan looked at him and then said, ¡°I don¡¯t have an idea yet either. This case was actually referred to me by someone, so let¡¯s first study it and see if we can take it on.¡± Indeed, as far as Jiang Yuan was concerned, he really didn¡¯t have a ¡°handle¡± on this case. However, Jiang Yuan had just received an ¡®A-ss¡¯ award, which meant he waspletely entitled to unlock a high-level ability. If it was specifically for this case, it would be like being able to provide a powerful, targeted weapon. As for how the case should really proceed, Jiang Yuan actually didn¡¯t have a clue. After all, it was a cold case. The crime scene had already been examined, and what remained were just photos and evidence. Luckily, Shen Yaoguo had done rtively solid work in this area back then. He took all the necessary photos, found the right angles, and presented the physical evidence quite well. Jiang Yuan found afortable position and started flipping through the photos. A group of detectives sat in the living room, eating grilled meat and fruit, looking at corpses and the arson scene. The visual feast was all there. ¡°The roast goose is here!¡± A chef decided not to wait for Uncle Qiang, bringing out the roast goose on a cutting board, ready to carve it on the spot. Jiang Yuan pressed a direction key, and the photo on the projection screen switched to an even more gruesome one. The chef looked at the projection screen, then down at the roast goose, smelling its distinctive aroma, and involuntarily said, ¡°Just wait, I¡¯ll join in shortly.¡± After saying this, he put down the roast goose and ran off. Jiang Yuan watched the chef¡¯s retreating figure and remarked, ¡°He probably won¡¯te back.¡± Shen Yaowei said, ¡°I hope we don¡¯t get reported as some kind of freak organization.¡± Wang Chuanxing added, ¡°Let¡¯s just tear into that roast goose before it gets cold.¡± Chapter 355 - 355 322 Script Murder ?355: Chapter 322: Script Murder 355: Chapter 322: Script Murder The pretrial expert, Meng Chengbiao, didn¡¯t hesitate to tear a goose leg apart and gnaw on it, his mouth glossy with grease, while his eyes continued to watch the charred corpse on the screen. He actually enjoyed the gatherings Jiang Yuan organized, with plenty of food and drink. The youngest elite officers, feeling queasy, mostly stayed silent, which saved a lot of the cost ofmunication. In the eyes of an old detective like Meng Chengbiao, youngsters without a few years of experience had no right to speak. Just like today, if you lose your appetite just from looking at a body, or worse, throw up, it¡¯s not exactly a fault. But, if you are working on a case while having opinions, isn¡¯t that a joke? In fact, detectives who had participated in homicide investigations a few times could generally manage to keep theirposure upon seeing a corpse. Of course, it was a high demand to eat roasted goose while looking at a body, but, if you couldn¡¯t even do that, feeling a bit ufortable and speaking less was probably appropriate. Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t help but admire Jiang Yuan. Look, it¡¯s the same team building, without a word said, he¡¯d done everything needed and conveyed everything he wanted to; the whole team had their own kind of satisfaction. Even the young officers who were feeling ufortable were actually enjoying this unique kind of team building¡ªit¡¯s just that it wasn¡¯t something you could share on social media, which was a bit of a bummer. ¡°That¡¯s about all the photos from the case file,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he scrolled through the images, with everyone already starting on themb legs. A few neers, either out of hunger or desensitized from viewing the corpses, began tearing into the meat and eating as well. It has to be said that, with Mr. Jiang¡¯s cooking, plus familiar chefs lending a hand, the vor was so much better than the average. Ordinary restaurants certainly couldn¡¯t match this standard. ¡°Next up, here are some photos I took today of the warehouse as it is now; you might want to take a look,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he ate from a skewer ofmb, casually disying the photos. This team-building exercise was also an experiment for him. Previously when working on cases, Jiang Yuan tended to go it alone, using his own skills to crack the case. Now, with the Cold Case Squad, to use these officers merely as basicbor would be a waste; but exactly how to utilize them, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure, so they looked at the photos together. Jiang Yuan continued to lead the photo review in his usual independent way, but if the others focused, they should be able to keep up with his pace. As for those who couldn¡¯t keep up, they could take a slow lookter on their own. What followed were videos that Jiang Yuan took while walking in circles. In the video, the surrounding area was deserted, with only a few cars in the parking lot. Jiang Yuan¡¯s final round of filming didn¡¯t reveal anything unusual. Jiang Yuan had already watched this video carefully while in the car; watching it now, he still couldn¡¯t find any clues. ¡°Why did you film this video?¡± asked Tang Jia, who¡¯d only had a few pieces of meat and had stopped eating, now focusing on the projection. ¡°Because the tire on the car I was driving got punctured,¡± Jiang Yuan exined as the video ended, and he pressed forward to show photos of the shed rear tire. ¡°Was it the same as Director Liu¡¯s situation?¡± Tang Jia was obviously well-studied on Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases. Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a ¡®hm¡¯ and said, ¡°It¡¯s not exactly the same. Director Liu¡¯s vehicle was on mountain roads, and an incident was almost inevitable. We were driving on city streets, so it was more likely just a warning of low tire pressure¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s still too dangerous; besides, puncturing a police officer¡¯s car¡ªthis person¡¯s guts are too big. Also, how would he know you would go to the warehouse?¡± Tang Jia¡¯s rapid-fire questions attracted everyone¡¯s attention. Shen Yaowei re-evaluated Tang Jia and said, ¡°You know, that¡¯s a pretty good question.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slowly as well. Within those few questions, thest one indeed posed a real problem. His decision to visit the warehouse had been spontaneous. He had not notified anyone beforehand, so how could there be someone waiting there for him? To say that this person had been keeping an eye on either him or Shen Yaoguo all along seemed a tall order. A police officer¡¯s vignce is far beyond that of ordinary people; it¡¯s one thing to tail someone once or twice, but to do it long-term¡ªthat¡¯s extremely difficult. ¡°An inside job in the warehouse?¡± Wang Chuanxing spected blindly. ¡°These are murder cases from several years ago. Someone has been watching the warehouse all this time?¡± Tang Jia mused, before adding, ¡°But it¡¯s still worth investigating.¡± ¡°You and Wang Chuanxing check the warehouse,¡± Jiang Yuan casually tossed out this lead. Then, turning to Miao Liyuan, he instructed, ¡°You look into the surveince around the warehouse, especially the road surveince. The industrial park in that area is huge, and it¡¯s mainly frequented by trucks¡ªthere¡¯s got to be some transportation involved.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the three of them responded in unison. ¡°Well then¡­ Let¡¯s speak our minds, as if we¡¯re ying a script murder game,¡± Jiang Yuan tossed the remote onto the table, grabbed a skewer of grilled meat, and while eating, he continued, ¡°The only difference is that our script is quite realistic and there is no set answer.¡± Everyone cooperated with augh, then entered into a stage of deep contemtion. Officers who are willing to join Jiang Yuan¡¯s homicide team are either driven by ambition or by pursuit, but whatever the type of pursuit, it must be realized through solving cases. Besides, young people always have a need for self-actualization. ¡°Arson cases have always been particrly difficult to investigate. This case was also a tough one to crack back in the day,¡± Meng Chengbiao, not only a preliminary trial expert but also the most senior detective on Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, had some insider knowledge. Jiang Yuan groaned in agreement. Truth be told, when it came to arson cases, he didn¡¯t have a particrly good n either. The examination of a fire scene is a specialized skill with a high level of difficulty. Whether within the police force or the fire service, it¡¯s considered to be quite challenging, and uracy is not always high. Jiang Yuan could, in theory, study this skill, but it seemed somewhat wasteful to apply such advanced expertise to this area. ¡°I think we should start with interpersonal rtions,¡± Meng Chengbiao continued. ¡°This case is a typical murder. There was no theft of finances or obvious disputes, and the female victim¡¯s identity is special, which makes it difficult to investigate.¡± ¡°That part is up to you,¡± Jiang Yuan gave away another clue. ¡°Okay,¡± Meng Chengbiao quickly agreed. The others also began to speak one by one, and soon it turned into an orderly discussion. It was like a script murder game, but with quite a few participants. The projector remote was asionally picked up and operated to disy a few images. Jiang Yuan leaned back on the couch, listening to everyone¡¯s discussion, as various ideas flooded his mind. He was still preparing to start with the body to work on this case. True, the act of arson had significantlypromised the body¡¯s state, but there were still so many details that the corpse could reveal. Moreover, the forensic doctor in charge of the current case had been very thorough, and most of the necessary exnations had been rified¡­ If there was any hesitation, it was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise in forensic pathology was only at LV4, which meant his skills in forensic examination were merely at the level of a national expert¡ªnot quite capable of handling everything with ease. If there were a body from the current case to examine, Jiang Yuan might be able to learn much more. Without it, relying solely on photos, his LV4 forensic pathology expertise would fall slightly short¡ªroughly to about an LV3.8. Jiang Yuan estimated that it would take a full day of earnestly examining photos toe to a conclusion. His LV4 forensic pathology skills allowed him to move unhindered within the Shan Nan Region. It was extremely difficult. Chapter 356 - 356 323 Warmth ?356: Chapter 323: Warmth 356: Chapter 323: Warmth A script murder game with over a dozen people, no, a meeting, usually took just three or four rounds, and an afternoon would have almost passed by then. Jiang Fuzhen and his chefs began their evening meal service again, and as per Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, the first dish served was tripe soup. The hot and sour tripe soup was steaming, both appetizing and warming to the stomach, ideal for colleagues who had eaten a little too much at lunch. If any of the colleagues threw up as a result, it would be considered a cleansing of the gut. By that time, Jiang Yuan had also given everyone a tablet each, so that if anyone wanted to scrutinize a particr photo closely, they could do so at their leisure. Jiang Yuan did the same, poring over the charred corpse while sipping on the tripe soup. The other police officers also began discussing in small groups, and as the soup was finished, Meng Chengbiao, seeing a bit ofxness in everyone¡¯s demeanor, suggested, ¡°Captain Jiang, should we consider changing our mode of discussion?¡± ¡°Oh, tell me,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s change the order and pretend we are the murderers, contemting arson or murder. Under what circumstances would we choose the scene we¡¯ve witnessed?¡± With Meng Chengbiao¡¯s age and experience, he would have been a junior leader, at least in charge of a team, if he were not in the Criminal Police Brigade, having his own set of management philosophy and methods for solving cases. Seeing no objection from Jiang Yuan, Shen Yaowei, who was most familiar with the case, immediately said, ¡°If I were the murderer and my target was this female victim, then I would certainly need to pinpoint her location first or even stalk her beforemitting the murder and starting the fire. The male warehouse keeper was just unlucky enough to get burned to death as well. So, am I a perpetrator who is an acquaintance?¡± In fact, he was following the train of thought previously set out by his elder cousin, as it was already known that the male warehouse keeper was not the intended target. Meng Chengbiao was not entirely satisfied with Shen Yaowei¡¯s answer, but still helped him refine it, ¡°Whether it was an acquaintance who did it is still hard to say. However, it is certain that the female victim was killed before the arson. The male warehouse keeper was burned to death directly.¡± This sequence could actually be interpreted in any number of ways. ording to the previous investigative direction by Shen Yaoguo and others, they believed the murderer was the warehouse keeper¡¯s cousin, who in the process of breaking into the warehouse to steal, was caught by the female victim, and had no choice but to kill her. Subsequently, to cover up his crime, he set the warehouse on fire and identally, or semi-deliberately, burned the male warehouse keeper to death. The stories were usible, so actually, the keyy in the direction of the evidence. Then it was Wang Chuanxing¡¯s turn, who after some thought, said, ¡°If it were up to me tomit the murder, I probably wouldn¡¯t have set fire to the warehouse, because that just esctes the situation. The warehouse only had the female boss and the keeper, and since both were killed, there was no need to burn the bodies in such a big warehouse. I could have dismembered the bodies or taken them away to dispose of elsewhere without resorting to burning.¡± ¡°Burning the bodies is simpler, and after incineration, the remains may be more effective in hindering the investigation than dismemberment or dumping,¡± replied Meng Chengbiao, ying along. Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°The deaths urred at night, right? The warehouse at night would certainly provide plenty of space, and I wouldn¡¯t worry about using machinery, so I could dismember the bodies first, bag them, and make them easy to handle by one person before hauling them outside to dispose or bury. I could even use a gasoline drum and take my time burning the bodies in the warehouse. Isn¡¯t that more efficient than a straightforward ze?¡± Miao Liyuan said, ¡°You¡¯re thinking from the perspective of obstructing the investigation, which is after-the-fact reasoning. Moreover, burning two bodies, bagging them, or taking time to incinerate them would take quite a while, and during that time, the perpetrator would be unprotected and exposed. If discovered, all those preparations would be in vain.¡± Shen Yaowei added, ¡°Besides, the warehouse area at night is actually quite busy with vehiclesing and going. Many units transport goods at night. That warehouse was originally constructed for Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, so there could have been trucksing to pick up goods that night.¡± Miao Liyuan said, ¡°The key is the preparation. This indicates that the murderer¡¯s preparations were perhaps not so thorough, so either the murderer didn¡¯t have a particrly well-conceived n, or the murder wasmitted in a fit of passion?¡± In the discussion among the detectives, some obvious premises went unmentioned. For example, if someonemits a premeditated murder in a warehouse, they would certainly need transportation. With transportation, one could carry more and more specialized equipment, such as gas drums for the arson, tools like saws, chainsaws, or wire saws for dismemberment, or shovels for burying bodies, etc. Generally speaking, a murderer with normal cognitive faculties who ns a murder in a ce like a warehouse would actually have a variety of options. This was one of the reasons Meng Chengbiao organized the ¡°I am the murderer¡± game. Meng Chengbiao was also controlling the pace of the ¡°script murder¡± game, summarizing, ¡°Let me summarize: Shen Yaowei proposes an acquaintance as the perpetrator, Wang Chuanxing suggests more effective ways of disrupting the investigation, and Miao Liyuan points out the risk involved in the perpetrator¡¯s actions, suggesting that the premeditation may not have been extensive and that it may have been a crime of passion.¡± Meng Chengbiao paused and then continued, ¡°Miao Liyuan¡¯s method of murder actually conflicts with Shen Yaowei¡¯s. Just as Shen Yaowei said, because it was a premeditated crime, we have to confirm the whereabouts of the female boss, therefore he leans more towards an acquaintance as the murderer. However, Miao Liyuan¡¯s conclusion implies that the murderer¡¯s motives are unreliable.¡± Everyone was somewhat silent; today¡¯s script murder game, due to theck of a given script, had evolved very quickly. On the other hand, everyone inevitably had to consider Jiang Yuan¡¯s perceptions and had to y the ¡°game¡± with utmost seriousness. In just a short ten minutes or so, 30 na?ve brains had been metaphorically burned through at the scene. Tang Jia put her teasing aside and said, ¡°I agree with Wang Chuanxing¡¯s view, but his idea is purely that of a young male. I think the murderer could be someone like me, weaker in terms of physical strength, physical conditions, and mobility, such as a woman, a minor, or an elderly person.¡± A few people looked over. Tang Jia continued, ¡°The murderer might have been more fearful of or resistant to conflict and may have exploited an acquaintance¡¯s identity to murder the female boss. Afterward, they likelycked the physical strength to carry out dismemberment or body disposal. They may not even have nned to kill the keeper. Thus, the idea that it¡¯s convenient to dismember in the warehouse may not be applicable.¡± ¡°Do you think the warehouse keeper was just coteral damage?¡± asked Meng Chengbiao. ¡°It¡¯s possible. The murderer might not have been able to rely on their physical strength to kill the warehouse keeper, dismember the body, and then discard it. Just for me to pick up an electric saw would already be difficult, let alone cut two bodies into pieces small enough for one person to carry¡­¡± Tang Jia gestured toward her arm and said, ¡°I¡¯d have to divide the bodies into bags weighing around 15 or 30 pounds each. For two people, that¡¯s over 200 pounds; I¡¯d need at least seven or eight bags at minimum.¡± As police, they actually had a certain understanding of dismemberment. The hardest part about dismembering a body is dealing with the fourrge limb bones. Cutting fresh bones with an ordinary electric saw is very difficult, prone to sttering bone fragments and such, which are then easily found at the scene. And if you can¡¯t cut through the femoral head of the thigh bones, it bes quite problematic to handle the bones with the attached flesh. For instance, if you use stic bags, the sharp bone fragments can easily puncture them. What are you supposed to do when you run out of precisely counted bags? Actually, anyone who has experienced home renovations will have simr experiences. Carpenters buy various materials ording to the design n, including small nails andrge screw caps. However, as work progresses, there¡¯s always something missing, which forces you to make extra trips to buy more supplies. With murder and dismemberment or even cremation, it¡¯s the same. But imagine if, while dismembering a body, the chainsaw de breaks, are you expected to go out at night covered in blood-stained clothes to buy a new one? Or if the bone fragments that stter wound your face, and the blood that drips stains the floor, do you have towels or bandages on hand? Did you bring any cleaning supplies? ¡°Tang Jia¡¯s analysis makes sense,¡± Meng Chengbiao affirmed, asking, ¡°Then from your own perspective, how would youmit a murder?¡± Tang Jia took a sip of water and said, ¡°I¡¯d start by buying some cosmetics I don¡¯t usually use, take a bath, do my makeup, then wrap my hair in a quick-dry towel. I¡¯d buy new clothes that are easy to move in, a pair of reliable gloves, a scarf, or maybe a hat that could cover distinctive features of my head.¡± Meng Chengbiao listened in astonishment. Had the crime channel turned into a home shoppingwork? Tang Jia continued, ¡°My first concern would be how to smoothly kill the female boss. Assuming the murderer has rtively weak physical strength and power, the first choice should probably be poisoning. If poisoning doesn¡¯t work, then killing should probably be done through taking advantage of a personal rtionship.¡± ¡°After killing, my biggest problem would be solved. Next, for incineration, I might need a lighter, or perhaps prepare more matches, maybe needing some kind of elerant as well. Avoiding cameras, therees a point where I¡¯d have to walk a long distance and carry heavy loads away from where I parked my car.¡± What Tang Jia said next was rather ordinary. Meng Chengbiao again gave Tang Jia a high appraisal and continued to urge the others on. After a round of ¡®how I¡¯d murder,¡¯ Meng Chengbiao turned to Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°Captain Jiang, would you also like to share a few words?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Jiang Yuan set down his skewered meat, wiped his mouth, and smiled, ¡°This case is quite perplexing, an umted case at that. Many things we might never understand, never figure out. However, there are still some clues that we can follow.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue with the ¡®how I¡¯d murder¡¯ approach, but rather said directly, ¡°I¡¯m more inclined to look straight at the evidence, the stable evidence we can find so far is here¡­¡± What he disyed was the chemical analysis of the male warehouse keeper¡¯s blood, with a carbon monoxide content of 54.6%. Jiang Yuan exined, ¡°This percentage matches the lethal amount necessary to cause death by carbon monoxide inhtion before dying. But considering that this warehouse keeper was actually a long-term smoker, a smoker¡¯s CO level is normally between 5% and 15%. So, this figure of 54.6% is actually below the lethal level.¡± Jiang Yuan then disyed photos of the warehouse keeper¡¯s body and continued, ¡°The male victim had a contusion on his head, which is consistent with injuries sustained from hitting something while trying to escape from a fire. However, this indicates that the male victim was mobile at the time of his death.¡± ¡°So you also believe that the warehouse keeper didn¡¯t escape and was burned to death?¡± asked Shen Yaowei. Jiang Yuan nodded and replied, ¡°So we can put the warehouse keeper aside for now. Regarding the female victim, the autopsy photos suggest that she was stabbed in the heart from the front with a sharp de and died very quickly. The murderer was very decisive, not something that can be exined by a mere crime of passion or premeditated murder.¡± ¡°Then¡­¡± thought Meng Chengbiao, ¡°there has to be one exnation.¡± ¡°What I am trying to describe here is that the murderer¡¯s thrust into the heart was clean and efficient, most likely by a trained professional, and one with significant strength, at least that of an ordinary adult male,¡± Jiang Yuan drew this description from thinking about the fourth daughter of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. Tang Jia instantly noticed, asking, ¡°You think a strong woman, a trained professional showing signs of training, killed the female boss with a single strike?¡± ¡°It could have been a woman or a man,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t fixate on gender and replied, ¡°The task force on this current case must have had a simr consideration, but the main focus was on the male warehouse keeper¡¯s connections. Let¡¯s start by following up on the female boss¡¯s side.¡± This investigative direction was different from before, and it was highly likely. Everybody¡¯s spirits were lifted, and they began picking up roast mutton and cooked steaks to eat while discussing the charred bodies. Meng Chengbiao suddenly felt the scene was very warm, just like when he had first joined the Criminal Police force. The whole team was full of vigor, living each day passionately discussing cases and arresting suspects. Chapter 357 - 357 324 Tool Mark Examination ?357: Chapter 324 Tool Mark Examination 357: Chapter 324 Tool Mark Examination After delegating and assigning tasks to the team members, Jiang Yuan dove straight into the evidence room. All eighteen members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were detectives, so someone else naturally took on the task of investigating the interpersonal rtionships of the warehouse owner. Even eight yearster, when many things had changed dramatically, most witnesses in a homicide case were still willing to cooperate. It only required a significant investment of time and effort. One could imagine that some people might no longer be in Changyang City, but those who needed to be tracked and questioned were inescapable. Physical evidence was different. Any usable evidence quietlyy in the evidence room, while anything not secured on that day had vanished into the river of time. It took some time for the evidence room custodian to retrieve most of the evidence from case 112. Handing it over to Jiang Yuan, he said, ¡°Actually, you can tell from the photos. The photos we take now cover everything.¡± ¡°Right, thank you,¡± Jiang Yuan said without further exnation, picking up three evidence boxes and heading next door to sift through them one by one. With the reward opportunity from his first-ss merit, Jiang Yuan eventually chose Trace Evidence Analysis ¨C Tool Mark Examination (Level 6). A reward is useless if not cashed in, and after careful consideration, Jiang Yuan felt that Tool Mark Examination was the most suitable for his current stage. Forensic doctors also study Forensic Material Evidence, but that¡¯s mainly used for biological samples¡ªsaliva, blood, semen, and the like. It applies to dismembered human bodies as well, such as determining whether a bone fragment belongs to the skull or the kneecap. If it¡¯s the former, it¡¯s assuredly adding one more murder case to the count. Tool Mark Examination mainly deals with a few issues: what was used, how it was used, whether it was used on this particr object, and the upational identity of the criminal. In his daily work, Jiang Yuan felt that this was the area where demand was hardest for him to meet and the one he most needed. Naturally, he turned to the system for help. The privilege of choosing a skill from a first-ss merit award could reach Level 7 if an additionalyer of specialization, such as focusing on examining a certain type of tool, was selected. However, after some straight-forward considerations, Jiang Yuan still opted for the broader scope of Tool Mark Examination at Level 6. Based on his current experience, a Level 6 skill was genuinely adequate. Reaching Level 7 would likely exceed the capabilities of Changyang City¡¯sbs. It would be a waste if it turned into an overkill technique, akin to using a dragon-ying sword to swat a fly. Moreover,prehensive Tool Mark Examination is definitely useful. But specializing for an upgrade to Level 7 by limiting to a certain type of tool might actually be more restrictive. After all, policemen can¡¯t control a murderer¡¯s choice of tools. Even though knives are the primary weapon of choice for killers in the country, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t ept being divine at analyzing knife marks while clueless about hammer dents. Even with Level 6 Tool Mark Examination, Jiang Yuan felt it was like using a cleaver to kill a chicken. Level 7 would probably be like using a star-destroying warship to swat a mosquito¡ªjust too much firepower. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan was full of confidence about the future. The next time he got a first-ss merit, or even a second-ss or first-ss heroism award, he would naturally find out what Level 7 tasted like. Sitting in the evidence room, with Level 6 Tool Mark Examination at his disposal, each piece of evidence seemed to speak to Jiang Yuan, eagerly reporting their current conditions, past situations, origins, and reasons for existence¡­ Evidence from eight years ago had changed considerably, but no matter how much it had transformed, it was no match for a Level 6 skill. Wearing gloves, Jiang Yuan examined each piece of evidence, barely pausing as he went along. Squeak. Another police officer walked in. The evidence room custodian immediately stood up, saying respectfully, ¡°Captain Zhu.¡± ¡°Xiao Li, help me get some evidence; I need to take a fingerprint again,¡± the man known as Captain Zhu, Zhu Huanguang, said with a smile to the custodian. Zhu Huanguang was a legendary fingerprint expert in Changyang City, having solved countless major cases and being a leading figure inmendations and awards annually. Within the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, Zhu Huanguang enjoyed a high-status. Complicated fingerprints that needed further examination were typically brought to him, and he always provided satisfactory responses. Even in the provincial capitals, a fingerprint expert like Zhu Huanguang was a scarce resource. At annual fingerprint skirmishes held by the provincial department and the Ministry, Zhu Huanguang shone like a god of war, iming victories for over a decade. For young people like Li, Zhu Huanguang was a living legend. Zhu Huanguang himself relished the respect he received within the police force. As one reached middle age, life was often dissatisfying. Parents with illness, economic crises, a domineering wife, mischievous children, thinning hair, an out-of-shape body, difficulty with excretion¡­ but it was his job and career that lit up Zhu Huanguang¡¯s life. It allowed him to shine, to illuminate others, and asionally, to snuff out someone else¡¯s light. Sometimes, Zhu Huanguang also enjoyed sitting in his office, extinguishing a murderer¡¯s life with the press of a button. As Zhu Huanguang waited for Li to retrieve the evidence, he casually surveyed his surroundings. The evidence room at Changyang City police station resembled a small supermarket. All around were shiny all-steel evidence lockers, divided into manypartments, which were the setup purchased at the beginning of the establishment. As space became insufficientter on, they began cing shelves in the middle, with evidence put into evidence boxes, stacking them one on top of the other. In the room adjacent to the shelving area, there were severalrge tables set up, allowing officers to examine and photograph evidence. Overhead cameras were also present, capable of recording the entire process. Upon seeing this setup, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s gaze was involuntarily drawn to a tall figure. Jiang Yuan? Zhu Huanguang had actually recognized him at first nce, but he feared he might be hallucinating. The impression Jiang Yuan had left on Zhu Huanguang was simply too profound. Who has ever seen a fingerprint expert on a fingerprint battlefront who has cracked double-digit numbers of cold cases? It¡¯s not unheard of, every few years you hear about such an urrence in some province, but who is so lucky to actually meet one? And who is so unlucky to be up against such a fingerprint expert? Zhu Huanguang still remembered the leaderboard of the fingerprint battle during that period. Back then, Zhu Huanguang could see Jiang Yuan every day, but he never paid close attention to him. It was only now that Zhu Huanguang noticed that Jiang Yuan was examining a metal door lock. After straightening out his clothes, the middle-aged Zhu Huanguang walked over and greeted, ¡°Doctor Jiang, are you here to look at the evidence?¡± ¡°Yes, a cold case,¡± replied Jiang Yuan, who also recognized Zhu Huanguang. The fingerprint battlested more than a month, and Zhu Huanguang was actually the fingerprint expert with whom he had spent the most time because they were both stuck in the office all year round. Zhu Huanguang smiled, looking down at the door lock in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands and kindly reminded him, ¡°You know, with your natural talent for fingerprints, you should just focus on that. Treat every day like it¡¯s a fingerprint battle¡ªit would y to your strengths more than working on cases at random.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel it was right to exin to Zhu Huanguang that his level 4 Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method,bined with a level 4 Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, along with level 5 Image Enhancement, certainly had a set effect, but in terms of purebat power, they probably couldn¡¯t beat a level 6 tool mark examination. Thus, focusing solely on fingerprints would indeed be a waste. ¡°I remember you¡¯re especially good at handling fuzzy fingerprints. Oh right, you also have a specialty in imaging,¡± Zhu Huanguang recalled. ¡°Indeed,¡± Jiang Yuan simply replied. ¡°Imaging is great. You should also make good use of your expertise in imaging,¡± Zhu Huanguang said, gradually bing envious. Expertise in imaging is genuinely lucrative. If he had specialist-level expertise in imaging, he probably wouldn¡¯t have to worry about money. If money wasn¡¯t an issue, his wife would likely be happier, his children could afford better tutoring, and he could hire several morepetent teachers¡ªeven if it might not make much difference, at least it would show that as their father, he had made every effort. Lost in thought, Zhu Huanguang was jarred back to attention as Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus gradually returned to the evidence. After looking at some photos, he began dismantling the door lock. The clinking of metal roused Zhu Huanguang. He watched as Jiang Yuan disassembled the lock into itsponents and, putting on a mask, he leaned in closer to observe. ¡°These are marks from lock picking, average technique at best. With so many imprints on the pin, it looks like someone¡¯s been picking at it for a while, doesn¡¯t seem like a pro.¡± Zhu Huanguang wasn¡¯t just a fingerprint expert; he was a master of trace examination. However, since working on trace evidence, Zhu Huanguang had been more prominent in fingerprints, so he gradually specialized in that field. But Zhu Huanguang believed that if he had no time to delve into other trace examination skills, Jiang Yuan would have even less time. He was so young; even if he had started practicing in the womb¡­ ¡°It¡¯s not just the marks left by the hooks and tension wrenches used to pick the pins,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he pulled out his phone to take photos. ¡°There are also marks left by a newly cut key used multiple times to try and unlock.¡± Zhu Huanguang was startled. Was that even discernible? He bent down and examined the disassembled lock cylinder even more carefully. After a long while, Zhu Huanguang could only see what seemed inconclusive and couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°The marks from multiple unlocking attempts you mentioned, what can they prove?¡± ¡°They prove that someone initially tried to unlock with a newly cut key, and for some reason, be it the inappropriate key or other factors, couldn¡¯t open the lock, then turned to lock picking,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then added, ¡°It suggests premeditated crime; the suspect had ess to the keys.¡± Chapter 358 - 358 325 Lack of Skill ?358: Chapter 325: Lack of Skill 358: Chapter 325: Lack of Skill Zhu Huanguang struggled to see, tried hard to see¡­ but still could not make out the traces of the ¡°newly made key¡± that Jiang Yuan mentioned. However, looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, Zhu Huanguang knew that he might not really be bluffing him. All Zhu Huanguang could do was shake his head, ¡°This thief is a bit insincere, ain¡¯t he? Even a rabbit doesn¡¯t eat the grass around its burrow, and yet he could pick locks with a hook pick. He could beg anywhere, but he chooses to target someone he knows.¡± Jiang Yuan guessed and put down his phone, saying, ¡°It¡¯s probably because he¡¯s a novice. He wasn¡¯t very skilled inmitting his first murder, but he was cautious in character. So, he tried to make a key in advance, hoping to save time. The skill to make keys may also be newly acquired¡­ either he¡¯s not proficient enough, or he was just unlucky. At the same time, he brought a hook pick just in case.¡± Zhu Huanguang did not listen to Jiang Yuan¡¯ster analysis but expressed surprise, ¡°You¡¯re working on a cold murder case?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ this¡­ is somewhat impressive,¡± Zhu Huanguang, who often worked on cold murder cases himself using fingerprintparisons,mented. But even though Zhu Huanguang often seeded in matching fingerprints in murder cases, it didn¡¯t mean that solving such cases was easy for him. A fingerprint roundup is a special situation. It involves technical experts like Zhu Huanguang gathering together in a simple living and working environment, motivated by healthypetition, to work on fingerprints for thirty to forty days in one go, examining over a hundred thousand fingerprint charts, and then they might solve a cold murder case. There are only 365 days in a year. After a provincial and ministerial fingerprint roundup, a fingerprint expert has essentially exhausted most of their energy and spirit. On normal days, doing fingerprint work, how could one possibly have the intensity of a fingerprint roundup? Slightziness can cause months to pass by. Working on the fingerprints of murder cases is difficult enough, let alone solving such cases through other means, the difficulty is almost unimaginable. Zhu Huanguang had been with the Criminal Police Detachment for so many years and had seen numerous people work on murder cold cases. The more he saw, the more he understood how difficult it was. Many murder cold cases are pursued year after year. Some detectives followed up on their past cases for two, three, or five years, and then were able to find an opportunity to solve them. But Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t from the Criminal Police Detachment, indicating that he had embarked on a new investigation of a cold murder case. Zhu Huanguang couldn¡¯t help but think about the cases Jiang Yuan worked on in the past days, the past week, the past two weeks, the past month, and he felt a chill inside: Jiang Yuan was truly fierce, he had already be the king of surpassing limits. No matter what Zhu Huanguang thought, Jiang Yuan pulled off his gloves, took out his phone, and called Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming was the deputy director of the forensics center. For key evidence involved in murder cases, he had to be informed, secure the evidence, and then arrange for someone to take photos, record, and so on. When Zhu Huanguang heard Jiang Yuan call Wan Baoming, he realized the importance of the evidence. He felt like he was being scratched by a cat inside and couldn¡¯t help but ask curiously, ¡°Is the case solved?¡± ¡°No, we are far from it,¡± Jiang Yuanughed. Zhu Huanguang also inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. If the case were solved on the back of his face, that would be too ufortable. Zhu Huanguang said, ¡°Learning to use a hook pick isn¡¯t easy. In the past, little thieves would work for the boss for several years and might still not learn the real tricks. Especially using a single hook to pick locks, which requires continuous practice.¡± ¡°Some people have higher costs in learning things, and some naturally have lower costs,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked. Zhu Huanguang pondered over what Jiang Yuan said and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°You already have a suspect in mind?¡± ¡°Not exactly a suspect; this case has always been about the wealthy,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. The arson had destroyed a warehouse supplying Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, where the medicine stocked was typically of high value and low weight. With such arge warehouse, with only a female boss and a warehouse manager, the killermitted murder and burned the body without taking any bottles of medicine, which is not something an ordinary petty thief could aplish. From this perspective, the case had to be an inside job, with the murderer targeting the life of the female boss, and there was a high probability that it was the Yuan Family from Jianyuan Company. Only they had a motive to go after their father¡¯s mistress. Of course, ording to the current team¡¯s analysis, the perpetrator¡¯s goal was theft, but upon encountering the female boss, they killed her and had no choice but to abandon the theft n and turn to fleeing. The traces of the hook in the lock that Jiang Yuan examined are also their evidence¡ªthe warehouse manager¡¯s cousin has the relevant skills. It makes some sense, but that¡¯s just it¡ªit only makes sense. An old thief nned to steal from the warehouse and stumbled upon a female who was barely over 100 pounds, and somehow he identally killed her. This just seems very unprofessional. To kill someone and then not continue to steal, but instead to flee directly, is even less believable. The best partner for a gang boss on the run will always be money, even if a decision to flee has been made, the right course of action would be to first take some things to exchange for money and then run calmly, run happily¡­ Wan Baoming quickly came running over. Then, Jiang Yuan exined to him the difference between the traces left by a newly duplicated key and those left by a lock pick. Wan Baoming didn¡¯t really understand, but Zhu Huanguang did; however, that also gave him a glimpse into the extent of Jiang Yuan¡¯s trace inspection capability, which left him falling silent. Since everyone often encounters the traces of a lock pick, they¡¯re actually familiar; it¡¯s just the hook and pick scratching and pressing against the pins, leaving behind marks. The traces of a newly duplicated key are not so easy to discern, especially those of a poorly fitting key. Some are too small, some are too rough, and the force of an oversize key will naturally leave traces which are easy to confuse with the normal key traces and the traces of a lock pick. At such times, one must take into ount things like the sequence of events. As Zhu Huanguang listened and observed, he felt that he was unable to differentiate them. The pins in the lock cylinder are inherently small, and their sizes are not fixed. In addition to the normal pins, there are abnormal pins such as the cup-shaped and the spiral-shaped ones. In summary, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s capability in trace evidence inspection could serve in general cases, but he was nowhere close to having the expertise to distinguish intricacies, let alone understanding them. His Tool Trace Identification capability, at best, reached a level of LV2.8; he couldn¡¯t even begin to estimate Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill. Wan Baoming was more direct; he didn¡¯t need to understand. Having barely finished listening, he said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°You make the judgment. What do we do next?¡± ¡°Find the key,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°This lock was taken off from the back of the warehouse, and the key is usually kept by the female boss, not by the warehouse manager. The key is not among the evidence found at the scene. We can ask people close to the female boss to see if the key can be located and then determine how it might have been stolen and duplicated.¡± Wan Baoming nodded and said, ¡°In that case, it¡¯s very likely that the theft was initiated after the key was duplicated, probably in the weeks before the incident.¡± ¡°That¡¯s highly probable,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and added, ¡°We could investigate the Yuan Family, see who knows how to pick locks and who knows how to duplicate keys.¡± ¡°The Yuan Family from Jianyuan?¡± Wan Baoming was surprised. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Even if this female boss is the mistress of Jianyuan¡¯s boss¡­ Alright, their family indeed has a motive, but it¡¯s unimaginable that the Yuan Family members would learn lock picking.¡± ¡°People get bored when they have money. It wouldn¡¯t cost much to hire someone to teach them a bit.¡± ¡°That¡­ well, it does sound a bit foolish.¡± Jiang Yuan curled his lips and said, ¡°Aren¡¯t there plenty of tycoons who learn to fly nes or drive race cars? Especially those who get into extreme sports, what practical use is there in learning wingsuit flying? Yet they learn one after another.¡± ¡°Alright then, we have people over there anyway,¡± Wan Baoming said as he looked at the list and made a phone call. By the standards of Changyang City Brigade, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team consisting of 18 people were well suited to investigate a homicide. Now that they were spread out, they could organize on the spot when needed. Several officers organized themselves and quickly arrived at Qinghe City. As detectives of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, they didn¡¯t need to give Jianyuan too much face. In just half a day, they turned Jianyuan¡¯s office area upside down, causing an uproar. Chapter 359 - 359 326 Freedom ?359: Chapter 326 Freedom 359: Chapter 326 Freedom Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. In the factory area, everything was still working normally, but the office area was inplete disarray. Members of the Yuan Family from every level had gathered; some belonged to a parasitic ss that rarely visited in hundreds of years. The atmosphere was already bizarre, but with the arrival of the criminal police from Changyang City and their individual questioning, it¡¯s no wonder the office area was tense. Some Yuan Family members, rarely seen on normal days, were now forced into awkward conversations. However, most of the distant rtives were quite pleased to see Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s family in trouble. After all, aside from getting jobs at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, some still hadn¡¯t gained employment and could only do business around Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. They earned less than one percent of what Yuan Jiansheng made in a year, working themselves to death. Naturally, they resented watching Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s family squander money extravagantly. If Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s family were all wiped out and the Jianyuan enterprise¡¯s assets were divided among them, that would be cause for celebration. Team leader Meng Chengbiao was feeling quite frazzled. He specialized in preliminary investigations and trusted his ability to discern truthfulness and emotional states in people¡¯s speech. However, this round of questioning had brought him nothing but frustration. Just like the Yuan family members of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, he was depressed. Many seemed unaware of what had transpired. And as for Yuan Jiansheng, who was most closely linked to the female victim, he had almost forgotten about this mistress. ¡°Yin Fei, huh. That was eight years ago. I was good to her back then,¡± Yuan Jiansheng sighed deeply as he spoke, his face filled with reminiscence and regret. Meng Chengbiao frowned, ¡°A couple for a night shares a hundred days of grace. Yin Fei was with you for about seven or eight years, wasn¡¯t she? And you can¡¯t even remember clearly?¡± ¡°Not that long. It should have been just three or four years. Usually, after three or more years with me, they would be let go,¡± said Yuan Jiansheng naturally. Meng Chengbiao, listening to the content alone, felt Yuan was lying. But looking at Yuan¡¯s expression, he couldn¡¯t help but get serious. ¡°What do you mean by let go?¡± ¡°That warehouse was what I gave her, along with a long-term contract with thepany. I arranged everything so if she didn¡¯t want to be bothered, she could just live off the profits every year, which are quite decent,¡± he exined. Meng Chengbiao was worldly but still frowned deeply, pressing further, ¡°So you mean to say, you supported her for three or four years, and after that you ceased contact?¡± ¡°How could that be possible?¡± Yuan Jianshengughed aloud, ¡°If I thought of her, I would have here back for a visit. But that was rare, only a few times a year at most.¡± Meng Chengbiao persisted, ¡°What if she didn¡¯t want to?¡± This was a critical question. In murder cases, sexual rtionships are the mostmon motives for killing. Though Yuan Jiansheng was old, he was still sharp-minded. He nced at Meng Chengbiao with a smirk, ¡°That was all agreed upon in advance. If she no longer wanted to or decided to get married, she would just have to return the warehouse to me.¡± ¡°And if she neither wanted toe back nor return the warehouse?¡± ¡°Then I would terminate the long-term contract,¡± Yuan replied calmly. ¡°That warehouse made so much money simply because it handled shipping and storage for Jianyuan. Without the contract, it wouldn¡¯t be nearly as profitable. Moreover, there¡¯s a deposit on it, and we could fine her ording to the contract if needed ¡ª there are plenty of ways to handle it.¡± ¡°After all, the contract is signed,¡± Meng finally understood and couldn¡¯t help but point out, ¡°But isn¡¯t this just like giving away money? Then why go through all the trouble?¡± Yuan Jiansheng merely smiled in response. Meng Chengbiao looked at him seriously, ¡°Chairman Yuan, I¡¯m asking you these questions very seriously as they rte to a murder motive. If you can¡¯t rify here, you¡¯ll have to exin back in Changyang with me.¡± Yuan Jiansheng wouldn¡¯t be taken away that easily; he had his political status to consider. However, he also wasn¡¯t going to cause conflict with the detective in front of him. After thinking, Yuan Jiansheng said, ¡°Firstly, after working in mypany for a few years, most girls are reluctant to continue. The rtionships among colleagues and between different levels areplicated, their desires drift, and they no longer wish to work. Personally, I don¡¯t want them to disturb the normal production and business order of thepany.¡± ¡°Secondly, it¡¯s better for their future to go out and experience the world. Many girlsck a tform; providing them with one, letting them navigate the business world, make money with their own capabilities ¡ª they will no longer covet my little patch ofnd.¡± Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s exnation was indirect, yet Meng Chengbiao understood the gist of it. After asking a few more questions, Meng Chengbiao left the room feeling downcast. He had seen how the rich lived, but the lifestyle of the great capitalists, the ways these people who controlled the means of production operated, still made it hard for him to adjust. ¡°Team Leader Meng,¡± an office worker called out to Meng Chengbiao as they emerged from the interior. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s mood instantly shifted; he alertly checked his surroundings and asked, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Just to rify a few things,¡± the worker said with a smile, ¡°Most of the girls associated with Chairman Yuan actually leave willingly.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Like Miss Yin, for example. Her warehouse isn¡¯t limited to storing goods for Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, she could also find her own deals, store goods from otherpanies. Sometimes, we from the office would refer some business her way.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°So, after working for a while like Miss Yin did and bing familiar with this way of doing business, once they technically knew how to manage, they would propose to leave Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. Though they might earn less, they¡¯d be less constrained and avoid potential dangers. Moreover, they wouldn¡¯t have to obey Chairman Yuan¡¯s orders.¡± ¡°And Chairman Yuan is okay with this?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± the worker replied with a wink and a chuckle, ¡°Only mature women who have grown up and want to strike out on their own in business would delight him.¡± Meng Chengbiaopletely understood, then said aloud, ¡°So he uses this method to break up with them?¡± ¡°If the woman doesn¡¯t break up, Mr. Yuan is willing to wait,¡± said the staff member indifferently, ¡°after all, thepany will be paying for everythingter on anyway.¡± The more Meng Chengbiao thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and he frowned and asked, ¡°Did Mr. Yuan tell you to say all this?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just exining things clearly to you. Miss Yin has basically left Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, and she ns to buy that warehouse, with Mr. Yuan agreeing to let her pay it off over three years. Even if she can¡¯t pay it off, it¡¯s very likely she¡¯ll get it for free. However, that means no more orders from Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. To that end, Miss Yin must have met with quite a few people back then to renegotiate contracts.¡± Meng Chengbiao said annoyedly, ¡°Why didn¡¯t Mr. Yuan mention this earlier?¡± The staff member smiled, ¡°Well, now you know, right?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°Do you know which contracts she signed?¡± ¡°I have a rough idea of severalpanies.¡± The staff member handed over a piece of paper and said, ¡°The detectives back then also asked about this, but it just never went anywhere.¡± Looking at the A4 paper, Meng Chengbiao saw a total of sevenpanies listed, which also involved two logisticspanies. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s frown deepened as he roughly counted ¨C among those involved were the Yuan Family, rted businessmen, unavoidably some employees and individual entrepreneurs, and what about Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s other mistresses? What were their attitudes? Thinking of these people and issues gave Meng Chengbiao a massive headache. No wonder Shen Yaoguo chose the warehouse management line of investigation back then; dealing with Yin Fei was like untangling a ball of yarn, surrounded byplex rtionships. If one were to ask how she died, Meng Chengbiao could instantly think of several possibilities. But each one was hard to prove. Meng Chengbiao stayed at Jianyuan Company until 10 p.m. before returning to the hotel. The next morning, after further questioning some people and disappointedly finding no one had sent him any letters, he reluctantly returned to Changyang City. In the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, the atmosphere was generally oppressive. The basis for a secret investigation was no longer there, and those who wanted to be informed could now easily be so, but the case had fallen into a quagmire, with no direction for a breakthrough in sight. Jiang Yuan continued to examine those photos. With a Level 6 skill in Tool Trace Identification, almost every photo could provide him with a wealth of information. Nevertheless, identifying the murderer from this information was still extremely challenging. Meng Chengbiao had already shared the intelligence he collected and inquired about with Jiang Yuan, who now looked intensely focused. Meng Chengbiao said, ¡°Cold cases are tangled messes to begin with. We¡¯ll sort through it slowly, and if it¡¯s really unmanageable, we¡¯ll just let it go and switch to another case. We can¡¯t expect a 100% sess rate on solving cold murder cases.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that bad,¡± Jiang Yuan said, shaking his head, before asking Tang Jia, ¡°Did you find the records I asked you to look for?¡± ¡°I searched. But no luck,¡± Tang Jia spread her hands. ¡°How about the records for minors?¡± ¡°None either.¡± Meng Chengbiao asked suspiciously, ¡°What kind of riddle are you guys ying at?¡± ¡°I had some doubts about Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s fourth daughter, Yuan Yubin, and had Tang Jia look into her criminal record,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t conceal this. In TV dramas, cops who hide key information from their teammates and investigate alone¡ªif they¡¯re not the protagonist¡ªthey often end up dead. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t even have Yuan Yushan in his mind, and he couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Why are you checking her? What¡¯s the issue?¡± ¡°I felt something was off about her during thest case,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t press further. Veteran detectives often sense something ¡°off¡± about a person, and while Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t old in tenure, he has enough experience with cases to be considered seasoned. ¡°Now¡­¡± Jiang Yuan looked at the somewhat listless detectives in the office. The detectives in the Cold Case Squad were mostly young, and their spirits had dampened with setback. Jiang Yuan shook his head. ¡°At this point, let¡¯s try the brute force method.¡± Tang Jia immediately perked up, ¡°Any method is better than none.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s just a bit tedious,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then said, ¡°Pull up the records of burries and home invasions from a few months before and after the day of the incident, especially the ones involving lock picking with a slider, and organize the photos of the lock¡¯s core for me.¡± Jian Yuan paused again, then continued, ¡°If there are no photos of the lock core, send the photos of the lock. Or if there¡¯s involvement with knives, find the photos of the knives, the photos of the knife marks, and check the evidence if it¡¯s still essible¡­¡± Tool trace evidence could also be matched for consistency. However, the trouble with it is that the repositories for tool trace evidence are quite limited. Normally, detectives would bring the weapons they found to the forensic center forparison to see if they had been used in any cases. Of course, one could also do as Jiang Yuan suggested: bring in a batch of photos and see if the traces match. If they do, then two cases can be linked. However, what Jiang Yuan proposed was a bit unscrupulous. His Level 6 skill in Tool Trace Identification would allow him to tell at a nce whether two marks were made by the same tool, a technique difficult for other forensic examiners to replicate. Meng Chengbiao also thought it was a good idea, assuming Jiang Yuan just wanted to burn off some of the team¡¯s energy and passion to keep them from bing too depressed sitting in the office. Thus, Meng Chengbiao gathered everyone together, gave them a pep talk, and expanded the scope to nine months before and after the incident. ¡°Take detailed pictures and as many as possible,¡± Meng Chengbiao tasked the detectives, then those who needed to use theputer did so while the others got on the move. Chapter 360 - 360 327 ?360: 327 360: 327 Meng Chengbiao spent the whole morning organizing theft case files, and sneaked in a nap at noon. Investigating homicide cases is extremely exhausting, so taking the opportunity to sleep whenever possible is an essential skill if one is to survive without suddenly dropping dead or losing their hair. Meng Chengbiao mainly felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s n might take several days, so he immediately started preparing for a protracted battle. When he woke up, he even took the time to take a shower, cleaning himself thoroughly, including his hair and groin. By the time he came out, several missed calls were already on his phone. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he instantly became alert. He dialed back while getting dressed and asked, ¡°Wang Chuanxing? What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Captain Jiang matched a lock trace to a small-time thief, well, he¡¯s an old thief now. We¡¯re preparing to head out and arrest him,¡± Wang Chuanxing shouted, also getting himself geared up. ¡°That quickly?¡± Meng Chengbiao hurriedly got dressed as well. ¡°Nine months prior to the case, there were more than four break-in attempts by him, but we never caught him. In one case, we found half a fingerprint, and Captain Jiang made a match, which led us to lock down this old thief.¡± ¡°So, he¡¯spletely self-sufficient, huh?¡± Meng Chengbiao said speechlessly. In essence, Jiang Yuan used the traces from the tumblers inside the locks from thefts within the nine months before the case, matched them to four thefts, and then used the traces from those thefts to find the suspect. He could imagine that the reason for matching to four thefts was definitely that evidence left from the first three thefts was not enough to directly match to the suspect. In other words, Jiang Yuan would take one case, collect all evidence from it, and if that wasn¡¯t enough, pick another case. By that calction, just during the time Meng Chengbiao slept, Jiang Yuan had already thoroughly gone through at least four or five cases. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t know how to describe the feeling, but his spine felt rather chilly. ¡°Where are you guys?¡± Meng Chengbiao, now fully dressed, began to sprint out the door. Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°Wait for us at the Gui Shui Road intersection, see if you can catch us. If not, wait for us on our way back.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Meng Chengbiao said, running and asking, ¡°What¡¯s the situation with the suspect? What¡¯s his name?¡± ¡°Wang Kedian. He was 23 when the crime happened and now he¡¯s 31. He¡¯s been in jail twice, once for a year and once for a year and a half. After his release, he opened an inn by the river on the outskirts of the city¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing gave the rundown. Meng Chengbiao uttered an ¡°Mhm,¡± nning to do his own searchter on. He was known as the interrogation expert of the team; it was best for him to be present when arresting significant criminals. At this very moment, Wang Chuanxing and others also got dressed in stab-proof vests, put on their gloves, hung their police gear, and fully armed themselves before hopping into the police car, speeding away rapidly. The equipment of police officers in the provincial capitalpared to those in county towns is not just a little bit better. For a Criminal Investigation Squad in Ningtai County, what they normally wore is what they would wear for arrests too, without any second set of gear to change into. The police in Changyang City were different; for slightly more significant arrests, they would wear equipment like stab-proof vests. In small-scale urban arrests orbat, stab-proof vests were akin to divine artifacts. Though they slightly encumbered movement, they could withstand knife shes and jabs, and even bays were no issue¡ªthey protected nearly all vital organs except for the head and the groin, which makes it seem rather useless when put that way. One could imagine that if street gangsters back in the day could have donned stab-proof vests, a dozen or so spirited young men lined up for a charge could win a street fight on the spot, as the opposing des could only tear their clothes. The police, wearing simple gear, knocked on the inn¡¯s door, and once it was opened, they rushed in and pinned the innkeeper against the wall. The innkeeper was chubby with a head of long, ck braids, the tail of which was wrapped into a big bun, embellished with trinkets simr to a string of beads. The police officers, ready for any potential resistance, pushed everyone they saw away from the yard. ¡°It¡¯s alright, it¡¯s a mistake. The police have gone crazy catching drug dealers; they jump at shadows. Perhaps it¡¯s just a malicious tip-off frompetitors¡­¡± The innkeeper was stillforting the guests. ¡°Wang Kedian, you¡¯vemitted a crime,e with us,¡± Wang Chuanxing recognized this namesake, although the photo and the person had noticeable differences, but it was a basic identification skill for the police. The innkeeper¡¯s first instinct was to call out his real name. He hesitated, flustered, and said quietly, ¡°You¡¯ve got the wrong person.¡± ¡°No mistake.¡± Wang Chuanxing lifted up his hair and pulled out a photo topare, then showed it to him, saying, ¡°Take a look for yourself, do they match?¡± Years had passed; Wang Kedian had gotten fatter, older, and uglier. Just judging by the photo, one might even argue that they looked like brothers. But Wang Kedian, who had been reformed by the government, seeing over a dozen people bursting in, was on the verge of copse, without the energy to argue anymore. This was not simply a thief¡¯s apprehension setup. ¡°I¡¯ve already washed my hands of it,¡± Wang Kedian said quietly. ¡°Just answer if it¡¯s you. What¡¯s your name?¡± Wang Chuanxing¡¯s voice grew louder and more severe. He really needed to confirm if they had caught the right person. With no will left to resist, Wang Kedian lowered his head and said, ¡°I¡¯m Wang Kedian.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got the right guy,¡± Wang Chuanxing nodded, and the police officer beside him cuffed Wang Kedian. The guests at the inn were terrified, watching Wang Kedian being taken away, when someone suddenly shouted, ¡°Boss, what about the deposit?¡± ¡°Wait for me toe back, I¡¯ll be back tomorrow!¡± Wang Kedian struggled violently for a moment. The tenant whispered, ¡°What if he can¡¯te back?¡± Hispanion replied softly, ¡°Then we¡¯ll just have to wait for time to reverse.¡± Wang Kedian listened to their conversation, his emotions suddenly copsing: ¡°Without me, who¡¯s going to clean your toilets, who¡¯s going to make your breakfast? I¡¯ve cleaned up my act, turned over a new leaf running this guesthouse; I¡¯ve cleaned more toilets than the bags I¡¯ve snatched, ending up so indebted I don¡¯t even recognize myself anymore. If you guys can clean a toilet cleaner than a pocket, I¡¯d ept it, I¡¯d ept it all!¡± A group of detectives let him vent, knowing that now was the perfect time to gather information. Just like now, he had already confessed to the flow of funds. It was a good start. The squad. Meng Chengbiao ultimately didn¡¯t make it to the arrest, so he went straight to the interrogation room at the squad headquarters to prepare. After Wang Kedian was searched and brought in, Meng Chengbiao was fully briefed on the background and current situation. Thud. Meng Chengbiao ced a thick stack of files on the table, pretending they were case files and evidence. It was the most basic psychological tactic for the pretrial investigation. Coincidentally, it almost always worked. Wang Kedian also shuddered. He was a seasoned thief who had done stints in prison and detention. He was considered a high-level criminal, an LV2 and above. But the environment of the interrogation room, coupled with the circumstances he found himself in, could easily confuse him. It was like those who traded stocks or gambled on sports; when they weren¡¯t actively buying stocks or betting, they often made clear and urate judgements. But once they actually joined in, the more they spent, the less clear their minds became. Wang Kedian felt the same way. He didn¡¯t know how much Meng Chengbiao knew, but his psychological defenses were already under immense pressure due to the hefty consequences. ¡°Do you know what case we¡¯re investigating?¡± Meng Chengbiao began slowly after his colleague had made a routine inquiry. Wang Kedian chuckled and shook his head lightly, ¡°I really don¡¯t know. I¡¯ve turned over a new leaf, decided to be a good man. Look at my guesthouse. Although not many peoplee by, the ie isn¡¯t low. I¡¯mcking nothing now¡­¡± ¡°Nine years ago, on April 11th, apartment 1507 in Block B of Longhua Tiandi in Changyang City was burrized, losing 2,700 yuan in cash, 21 pieces of jewelry, and one camera¡­¡± ¡°May 3rd. Apartment 702 of Building 16 in phase two of Sunshine City was burrized, twoptops, one external hard drive, one iPad, and one cell phone gone¡­¡± ¡°June 15th. Apartment 1801 in Building 3 of Phoenix Lake was burrized, suffering a loss of 7,200 yuan, seven pieces of gold and silver jewelry, twenty unopened beauty products¡­¡± ¡°July 1st, apartment 701 in the building number 8 of Shuidong Water Affairs Family Courtyard¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao listed four cases in one breath, which made Wang Kedian breathe a sigh of relief¡ªfor thefts, there were four of them¡­ Wait, how long would four theft cases get him? While Wang Kedian was still pondering, Meng Chengbiao mmed his hand on the desk, ¡°I don¡¯t care about these four cases.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Wang Kedian looked up, confused. If you don¡¯t care, then why are you interrogating me? ¡°Where were you on November 2nd?¡± Meng Chengbiao¡¯s eyes were sharp, cutting right to Wang Kedian¡¯s Achilles¡¯ heel. Wang Kedian was stunned, then his face started to turn a waxy yellow. He had been a reformed man for a few years now and his expression management wasn¡¯t as poised as it used to be. Most importantly, as a former high-level criminal, he knew the police¡¯s tactics and interrogation methods. But because he knew, when he thought about it, he could link the cases Meng Chengbiao mentioned together in his mind. At that moment, Wang Kedian¡¯s thoughts grewplicated. ¡°You can¡¯t escape,¡± Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice was deep, ¡°Confess and you¡¯ll be treated leniently, resist and you¡¯ll be dealt with severely. You¡¯re an old hand at this; I don¡¯t need to educate you on the policy, do I?¡± Wang Kedian chuckled hollowly, unclear if there was sarcasm in hisugh. ¡°How did you¡­ What makes you think that Imitted these cases?¡± Wang Kedian asked again, almost as if to challenge. Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t help but smile inwardly. To him, when a suspect says that, it¡¯s like a young shopper asking ¡°Can it be cheaper?¡±¡ªit¡¯s thest struggle before giving in to pay the price. ¡°Just tell me, did youmit these cases or not?¡± Meng Chengbiao wouldn¡¯t reveal any information. If this went into litigation, a suspect could hire awyer and gain ess to details by examining the files, which could be used to debate the validity of the evidence. However, in China, a suspect can¡¯t acquire this information during the interrogation stage. For Meng Chengbiao to disclose even a fraction of the cases was already quite rare. He did this partly because he had a great deal of evidence, especially since the hooks and picks Wang Kedian used had been found during the search. There was already enough evidence to convict him even without Wang Kedian¡¯s testimony. Jiang Yuan could also use the same method to trace and find more cases. And Meng Chengbiao¡¯s main target was a homicide case. To extract a confession for the murder, he was willing to give away the theft cases to Wang Kedian. It was all the death penalty either way; why split hairs over a bit of sentence length? Wang Kedian also realized this and hisplexion shifted from waxy yellow to deathly pale. Chapter 361 - 361 328 Reporting ?361: Chapter 328 Reporting 361: Chapter 328 Reporting ¡°If I report and expose an aplice, could that be considered a significant contribution to merit a reduced sentence?¡± Wang Kedian spoke again, his first words startling. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s expression changed involuntarily, then smoothly transitioned into a smile, ¡°You seem to know quite a bit. The criteria for a significant contribution are quite high.¡± ¡°When I was inside, someone made a significant contribution and had their sentence reduced by several years. That¡¯s how it works, right?¡± Wang Kedian pressed. Meng Chengbiao chuckled twice and said, ¡°You would need to report and expose a crime punishable by life imprisonment or more to possibly be recognized for making a significant contribution.¡± His words weren¡¯t entirely clear, but as the interrogating officer, Meng Chengbiao indeed had no obligation to make everything fullyprehensible. After all, this wasn¡¯t a ss¡ªcould you really expect an exam to prove whether you understood or not? Wang Kedian hesitated slightly. His education was limited, but he knew that some police officers indeed lied to people. Seeing the expression on Wang Kedian¡¯s face, Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t help but make a guess and then said, ¡°I can report this up the chain. If it truly is a major clue that can solve the case, the likelihood of it being considered a significant contribution is quite high. And let¡¯s be honest, if you can¡¯t clear yourself from this case, you¡¯ll be spending your life behind bars.¡± Wang Kedian didn¡¯t take long to think this time and quickly said, ¡°On the 2nd of November, I was indeed called to pick a lock.¡± ¡°And then?¡± ¡°Then¡­ I picked it,¡± Wang Kedian sighed and continued, ¡°After I went back, I watched TV and saw that the warehouse had been burned down. They mentioned finding a body. I thought I was in trouble¡­¡± ¡°Which warehouse?¡± ¡°8178 Ke Si Road,¡± Wang Kedian recalled it quite clearly. ¡°Continue.¡± ¡°Then¡­ as I was figuring out what to do, someone threw a bag of money into my yard, 100,000 yuan, and a train ticket to Kunming. I thought about it and just packed up and left.¡± Wang Kedian¡¯s response left Meng Chengbiao silent for a moment. It waspletely different from the scenario he had anticipated. Initially, Meng Chengbiao¡ªor rather, the special case team¡ªhad envisioned a lone criminal who handled everything from lock-picking to murder and arson, simr to Jiang Yuan¡¯s assumption of a single perpetratorpleting the task. Later, when Wang Kedian mentioned wanting to make a contribution, Meng Chengbiao thought he had an aplice. But Meng Chengbiao was still thinking of a traditional aplice scenario; one person primarily responsible for the murder and arson, and another for the lock-picking as well as serving as a lookout and driver. Meng Chengbiao never imagined Wang Kedian could distance himself sopletely from the crime. And yet, his story was somewhat logical and reasonable. After receiving this answer, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s view of Wang Kedian shifted, and he no longer seemed like a vicious arsonist and murderer. With over twenty years of experience as a criminal detective, Meng Chengbiao found Wang Kedian¡¯s movements and demeanor matched that of a middle-aged petty thief; calling him an old thief would have been apliment. ¡°Who asked you to pick the lock?¡± Meng Chengbiao had many questions and doubts, but he did not delve into these. He simply pursued the question of who the murderer was, the primary purpose of the interrogation, even if Wang Kedian was making up a story. He wanted to see the end of the story before going back to weigh its truthfulness. ¡°Zhang Xiang. Those who knew him called him Zhang Da Nao Dai; we used to call him Zhang,¡± Wang Kedian replied. A nearby officer asked, ¡°Which characters are in ¡®Zhang Xiang¡¯?¡± Wang Kedian answered, ¡°The ¡®Zhang¡¯ for open, and the ¡®Xiang¡¯ for project.¡± ¡°Is ¡®Zhang Xiang¡¯ his real name?¡± Meng Chengbiao also pursued the matter of the name because it could very well be the most crucial answer in the entire case. Wang Kedian replied affirmatively. ¡°What does he do?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a parking lot security guard for Jianyuan Pharmaceutical,¡± Wang Kedian said. ¡°A security guard, how did he end up mixing with you guys and be so chummy?¡± ¡°He used to be in the underworld too,¡± Wang Kedian opened up, exining, ¡°The parking lot security guards at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical are not like ordinary guards. They have several small parking lots, collect cash, and even the QR codes for the payments are managed by the security team themselves.¡± Meng Chengbiao frowned, ¡°How could such a big enterprise like Jianyuan Pharmaceutical not know about this?¡± ¡°They turned a blind eye. This team of security guards is the one that does the dirty work for Jianyuan. Besides their normal sry, they get a share of the parking fees from the parking lots. No matter how much they collect, it all goes to their small group, and the Jianyuan Company doesn¡¯t care. Zhang, or Zhang Xiang as he used to tell me, said that in good months, he could pull in twenty to thirty thousand.¡± Meng Chengbiao was going to ask what dirty work he referred to but then thought better of it and decided not to dig deeper for the time being. So, he brought the conversation back, saying, ¡°Zhang Xiang tells you to pick locks, and you just do it? You didn¡¯t go inside with him?¡± ¡°At the time, he said the key he prepared himself wouldn¡¯t work, and he fiddled around with it in the keyhole for a while,¡± Wang Kedian shook his head, his chubby cheeks jiggling as he spoke: ¡°I actually asked him at that moment. I said, why not knock on the door, surely there¡¯s no problem with me picking the lock¡­ He said there was some dispute and told me to mind my own business. So I just¡­ Well¡­¡± ¡°Enough talk, let¡¯s get your statement down on record,¡± Meng Chengbiao pointed to the side. Wang Kedian: ¡°So I just opened the door. It took me quite a while, like ten minutes, and there was no noiseing from inside at all. Once the door was open, Zhang told me to go back, so I went.¡± ¡°The train ticket, do you still have it?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked another core question in a calm tone. If Wang Kedian was telling the truth, then he must have kept the train ticket from that day. It was a very important piece of evidence. To this day, that train ticket held considerable evidentiary value. Because if Wang Kedian truly had the train ticket from that day, as a small-time thief who had been struck twice by the people¡¯s democratic dictatorship, his first and correct choice would be to hit the road immediately. However, if he had bought the ticket himself, it was more likely that Wang Kedian would dispose of it, since that ticket proved that he left Changyang City after the incident urred, making him a suspect in the crime. But then again, if the ticket was given to him by someone else, Wang Kedian would need to keep it in order to prove this story, and to assert his innocence. This story is not something that could have been concocted starting eight years ago. Wang Kedian himself might not have fully understood the logic behind this, but he answered without hesitation: ¡°I have the ticket, I hid it. In the pocket of an old piece of clothing.¡± Meng Chengbiao¡¯s expression suddenly turned serious. Wang Kedian didn¡¯t even bother to hide the tools he used to pick locks, but he cunningly hid the train ticket in a very appropriate ce. Old tickets in the pocket of old clothing couldn¡¯t be more appropriate; not easily lost and unlikely to raise suspicion. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t think Wang Kedian was making it up. If it was made up, it would be tooplicated. Besides, he had provided physical evidence, and testimonial evidence, all of which could be verified. Inside the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression also became increasingly serious. ¡°It seems that Zhang Xiang is a major suspect,¡± Jiang Yuan gradually had grown ustomed to hismanding role. First, he called Yu Wenshu to report the case details, then he named a few individuals, directing them to go conduct their inquiries. Yu Wenshu soon hurried over, looking pleased. From his perspective, the progress made on a cold case homicide to this point was extremely exhrating. If it were before, he would have already started thinking about how tomend Jiang Yuan in a way that didn¡¯t seem too repetitive. Of course,mendation was still in order, but it could be slightly dyed now. Because Jiang Yuan was now the head of the Cold Case Squad, and theoretically, he needed to solve the casepletely to finish his task. It was unlike before when securing evidence andpleting its trace was considered the end of the task. Nheless, this further elevated Jiang Yuan¡¯s value. If a detective could see through the investigation of a homicide cold case, then in the detective squad, he would truly be considered a seasoned police officer. Chapter 362 - 362 329 The Way ?362: Chapter 329 The Way 362: Chapter 329 The Way The sun had just set, and the temperature started to drop. Officers in the office who were supposed to get off work did so, and those who had just gathered for a meal had their meal, not waiting for any new thoughts, new orders, or new meetings from above, leaving in dribs and drabs. Those remaining were notified by Yu Wenshu not to leave yet and to continue working overtime as usual. Shen Yaoguo quietly came to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, found Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan upon entering, and without minding what they were discussing, asked first, ¡°Has there been any progress in the case?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°What¡¯s the specific situation? Did you catch anyone?¡± Shen Yaoguo asked in a low voice. ¡°You don¡¯t know?¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s eyes nced outside. Shen Yaoguoughed twice and said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t possibly betray my own brother. I¡¯ve always said I wouldn¡¯t rely on him to give me updates on the case. I asked someone else.¡± Yu Wenshu nodded half believingly, not caring who he had asked, and then began to recount the case details they had just learned, summarizing in a few sentences for Shen Yaoguo. Shen Yaoguo listened attentively, and upon hearing about Zhang Xiang, said with a bit of surprise, ¡°The security guard from Jianyuan¡¯s parking lot? Jianyuan Pharmaceutical is really going a bit too far.¡± Jiang Yuan countered, ¡°What do they need this kind of parking lot security for?¡± ¡°To resolve conflicts, or to create them. And to conveniently clear themselves of any me,¡± Shen Yaoguo recalled, ¡°A few years ago, when Jianyuan Pharmaceutical was expanding, there wasnd requisition, and conflicts were rather pronounced. They learned to employ some people; these days, they mainly use these individuals for logistics and transport.¡± After speaking, Shen Yaoguo added, ¡°You guys haven¡¯t eaten yet, have you? I ordered some dishes; let¡¯s eat together and talk over the meal.¡± It was actually just dinner time now. Shen Yaoguo took out arge stack of boxes, opened them, and they turned out to be beautifully prepared Japanese-style meal boxes. ¡°There¡¯s eel rice, beef rice, cooked items including grilled eel, roast beef, grilled vegetables, and grilled fish, plus several types of sashimi with sauces. Choose whatever you like,¡± Shen Yaoguo said while taking a portion of eel rice for himself, adding, ¡°I rmend the eel rice. Freshly killed eels, two per bowl of rice.¡± ¡°Quite fancy,¡± Yu Wenshu unceremoniously took a beef rice box, opened it, and started eating, not waiting for anyone else. He had already finished eating by the time Shen Yaoguo had justpleted the distribution of food for everyone. Yu Wenshu looked at Yu Wenshu helplessly and said, ¡°You just don¡¯t want to eat with me, do you?¡± ¡°You in the public security sure have a lot of tricks.¡± Yu Wenshu wiped his mouth and said, ¡°Actually, we¡¯re just waiting to catch Zhang Xiang now. If we catch him, all will be well, but if not, the case will be at a stalemate again.¡± Yu Wenshu spoke thest sentence with a look towards Shen Yaoguo. The ¡°again¡± he mentioned was simr to the kind previously mentioned by Shen Yaoguo. The reason this case became a cold case was that itnded in Shen Yaoguo¡¯s hands and, at the very end, when they were just one step away from apprehending someone, the most important suspect escaped, leaving a threat behind. However, unlikest time, this time it was Jiang Yuan who brought the case to this point. If there were any problems in the future, it would be Jiang Yuan¡¯s responsibility, not Shen Yaoguo¡¯s. It was akin to a transfer of hidden dangers. Moreover, it seemed that leaving one case with a loose end wasn¡¯t a big deal for Jiang Yuan. Over the year, he had solved seven or eight cold cases, including an even greater number of current cases. So what if there¡¯s a problem with one case? But in another 8 years, things could change. By then, Jiang Yuan might face the same distress. Of course, this was assuming that he too had miscalcted the direction of the investigation. Miscalcting the direction of an investigation isn¡¯t unusual; what matters is correcting it in time. It¡¯s quite normal to change investigative directions during the process of solving a case. But if a case is left unresolved with escapees on the loose and the im is made that the case is already solved, then the direction of the investigation warrants additional scrutiny. Consequently, Yu Wenshu wasn¡¯t too pleased and tossed the beef rice box aside, saying, ¡°If this case is solved, then it¡¯s solved. If not, Chief Shen, you¡¯ll have topensate our Jiang Yuan.¡± The hidden dangers could very well be an issue several years down the line, and Yu Wenshu usually wouldn¡¯t be so concerned about Jiang Yuan, whom they had borrowed. But sooner orter Huang Qiangmin would find out, and he would naturally exin it to Jiang Yuan. Yu Wenshu feared that Jiang Yuan might be discontented, either quitting or insisting on using the detachment¡¯s resources to relentlessly pursue the case. Whichever option Jiang Yuan chose, in the end, it would still be Yu Wenshu footing the bill. With this thought, Yu Wenshu¡¯s displeasure surged a few levels. Shen Yaoguoughed a few times and immediately agreed. After all, his hidden danger was basically averted, and he didn¡¯t care much about losing a bit of blood over it. The group ate and waited for news. It didn¡¯t take long for news to arrive. ¡°Zhang Xiang¡¯s social security is still being paid by Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. He¡¯s at the Changyang City branch office, now the deputy manager of the storage department,¡± reported Wang Chuanxing, surprising everyone in the office. ¡°He¡¯s still with Jianyuan Pharmaceutical,¡± mused Shen Yaoguo. ¡°Jianyuan Pharmaceutical really has something going for it, to keep a person on for so long.¡± ¡°Can parking fees really keep someone so well-fed?¡± Yu Wenshu remarked. ¡°I¡¯ll have a good look into themter,¡± Shen Yaoguo huffed, having plenty of tactics for dealing with suchrge corporations. Yu Wenshu became silent then and instructed, ¡°Be careful when making arrests; make sure the arrangements are strict, and don¡¯t let anyone escape. Is Ma Jiyang around?¡± ¡°Present.¡± ¡°Give him the phone, I want to say a couple of words to him.¡± Yu Wenshu had nearly dispatched the entire Criminal Police Detachment, it just so happened that the team nearby was led by Ma Jiyang. For the Criminal Police Detachment, deploying dozens of officers to catch one person wasn¡¯t considered a waste. When it came to searching the mountains, teams of thousands, even tens of thousands, could be mobilized at a moment¡¯s notice. In this regard, the Criminal Police Detachment never discussed the cost-effectiveness. Office is quiet again as the criminal police at the front are likely beginning to set up tactics and arrange positions. There¡¯s nothing Jiang Yuan and his colleagues can do. It was then that Jiang Yuan suddenly understood why leaders liked to hear reports from subordinates so much. Leaders can¡¯t see the front-linebat; especially in critical cases, they don¡¯t know if the team has won or lost. At such times, if someone could update them on the situation, how happy they would be. And if the report is of a victory, how delighted they would be. As for those who dislike reporting, andin that their talents aren¡¯t recognized, they probably never caught the leader¡¯s attention. Luckily, Jiang Yuan and his team didn¡¯t have to wait too long. Wang Chuanxing was the first to report the progress: ¡°Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve caught the suspect. There was resistance, and his three minions have also been arrested. We¡¯re on our way back now.¡± Everyone in the office breathed a sigh of relief. After just over a minute, Ma Jiyang called Yu Wenshu with his report, which was timely and included more detail and instructions, but it seemed less attentive after Wang Chuanxing¡¯s report. ¡°This Wang Chuanxing of yours has some potential,¡± Shen Yaoguomented, taking the opportunity to send a WeChat message to his cousin. Shen Yaowei replied with an emoji. The atmosphere in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team grew even more tense as they were about to solve another cold case. In the tradition of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment: One unsolved murder case meant one opportunity to gain merit, and everyone wanted to seize such chances. Looking back, if they left Jiang Yuan Murder Case Special Team or Jiang Yuan left Changyang City, it might take years to find a simr opportunity. ¡°Tell Wang Chuanxing to search thoroughly, pack up all the knives, screwdrivers, and the like, and also take photos to send to me directly,¡± Jiang Yuan only now finished his sashimi, wiped his mouth, and joined in. Shen Yaowei was close by, and he quickly responded, immediately calling Wang Chuanxing. Shen Yaoguo was puzzled and asked, ¡°Are you looking for the murder weapon?¡± After eight years, Shen Yaoguo doubted that the murderer would still keep the weapon close by. In fact, the fact that the killer remained in Changyang City had already aroused his considerable curiosity about these parking lot security guards. Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly, saying, ¡°When I went to the warehouse, someone used a knife to stab my tire.¡± ¡°Then¡­ no, can you tell which knife did it?¡± Shen Yaoguo was somewhat puzzled. Jiang Yuan felt he could tell, but he didn¡¯t say it so confidently, only saying, ¡°I¡¯ll have a look first, maybe.¡± ¡°Knife marks on a rubber tire and on a body shouldn¡¯t be the same thing,¡± Shen Yaoguo said, and then stopped. If the other wanted to look, let him look; it didn¡¯t concern him anyway. Soon, Wang Chuanxing¡¯s phone call came back. Shen Yaowei answered, turned on the speakerphone, and immediately said, ¡°I¡¯ve got you on speakerphone, okay¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing responded ¡°Oh,¡± and then said, ¡°I¡¯m sending pictures of the knife marks to the backend; there are quite a lot of knives here.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit confused. ¡°This guy seems to like collecting cold weapons, with everything from axes to halberds, there must be twenty or thirty knives, should we bring them all back?¡± Wang Chuanxing was frowning on scene, as the quantity was sorge it would make identification even more difficult. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind: ¡°Bring them all back, and send photos when you have time.¡± Wang Chuanxing quickly agreed and hung up to swiftly organize the photos. Shen Yaoguo couldn¡¯t help but smile; identifying each of the thirty-plus knife marks thoroughly could take all night, leaving no time for normal duties. Fifteen minutester, Jiang Yuan looked up and dered, ¡°It¡¯s this one.¡± Shen Yaoguo was startled: ¡°You identified the knife mark? Don¡¯t you usually need to make cuts, stab a gel or something to test first?¡± ¡°Yes, you can also look at the de¡­¡± Jiang Yuan gave Shen Yaoguo a puzzled look. He had just wanted topare a tire mark; he still remembered the mark vividly, so it was natural for him to easily identify the correct knife among the thirty-odd ones. Chapter 363 - 363 330 Zhang Xiang ?363: Chapter 330: Zhang Xiang 363: Chapter 330: Zhang Xiang The knife used to stab tires was about 40 centimeters long, a thick-handled single-edged dagger that looked very suitable for shing tires. Yu Wenshu looked at the picture, then at Jiang Yuan, first feeling a surge of fright, followed by a wave of anger, ¡°This scoundrel even dares to attempt to murder a police officer?¡± Jiang Yuan casually said a word of fairness, ¡°Given the environment at the time, it might not have been with the intent to murder. The car wasn¡¯t going fast enough, it might have been just to cause a minor car ident or something¡­¡± ¡°Even if it¡¯s just an injury, it¡¯s uneptable,¡± Yu Wenshu dered, his teeth itching with anger. He now could hardly bear the thought of Jiang Yuan staying upte. If Jiang Yuan were to get hurt and take time off, wouldn¡¯t that be a grave matter? Apart from it being a waste of time, what¡¯s scarier is that Huang Qiangmin might take the opportunity to bring him back on the pretext of inadequate care. At that point, where could he find another hell-levelbine harvester like Jiang Yuan? Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t tolerate such a scenario now. Just thinking about that possibility made his eyes bulge with rage. Shen Yaoguo was somewhat puzzled and said, ¡°You were just going to the scene to take a look, why would someone sh the tires? Was it necessary? And how did they notice you? They couldn¡¯t possibly be watching that warehouse all the time, it¡¯s unnecessary.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± the people at the scene said after a moment of contemtion, none giving a direct answer. Of course, if you consider it from a conspiracy theory perspective, maybe the suspect knew something in advance, even knew Jiang Yuan¡¯s identity and capabilities, and then made some preparations. A small car ident can cause serious casualties, after all. However, if you consider the issue from this angle, there are many mysteries left unsolved, like how the other party could know the inside situation, how they knew about Jiang Yuan, and how they precisely located Jiang Yuan¡¯s vehicle¡­ Some questions do have exnations, it¡¯s just that the exnations are overlyplicated. And as a criminal investigator, you usually don¡¯t think in such a conspiratorial way. Not to mention the probability of such things happening, even if it did happen, with suchplex circumstances, how could you prosecute through thew? In the end, you still need to find rtively reasonable evidence. That¡¯s also one of the reasons Liu Jinghui isn¡¯t very popr among the heads of the detective squads. ¡°Regardless, first we apprehend Zhang Xiang, and the case will appear clearer,¡± Yu Wenshu was the first to snap out of the contemtion and said, ¡°this Zhang Xiang has aplicated background, it might be difficult to break through directly. I¡¯ll call in a few who are good at interrogation; let¡¯s pull his teeth out first.¡± When in doubt, shake people down. Having served as the head of a criminal investigation brigade for so many years, Yu Wenshu has almost formed a set pattern of thinking. What the provincial criminal police brigade is nevercking is various types of professional talent. County bureaus are always short-staffed, but the city bureaus in capitals often second officers from subordinate units; their own personnel are valuable so whatever type of person is needed, they can gather them. The provincial departments, the city bureaus of municipalities directly under the central government, and the Ministry itself are even more advanced versions of this model, teeming with hidden talent; one careless moment and you¡¯ll find someone wielding Level 5 or even Level 6 capabilities emerging. From this perspective, the more prosperous the metropolis, the less suitable it is formitting crimes, especially high-profile, high-impact vicious offenses; choosing a metropolis is a definite mistake. It¡¯s akin to elevating the level of opposition from amateur 5-dan to professional 1st or 2nd dan in one go. Ordinary amateur criminals doing this are asking for a beating. However, in Ningtai County, something like summoning five senior interrogation experts in one breath would definitely not happen. There aren¡¯t even five interrogation experts in Ningtai County altogether. The experts were in ce, and Zhang Xiang and his aplices were also prepared for the preliminaries such as taking photos and fingerprinting. With flushed faces, one by one, they were mped onto steel chairs, their hands spread and secured, legs spread and fixed on demand, and their backs and buttocks settled against the chairs, also tied tight with restraints, making it hard for them to even move. Jiang Yuan and the others remained stable and secure in the office, watching the interrogation room scene through the projector. Zhang Xiang was a strapping brute that looked tough at first nce; with an extremely thick upper body, even when wrapped in restraints, he still made the chair thump loudly. His four subordinates were all very young and fit fellows, no more than in their early twenties, with the phrase ¡°defiant and unruly¡± as if carved onto their faces, asionally casting fierce nces to the sides¡ªunable to wriggle free due to their lighter bodies. ¡°This Jianyuan Pharmaceutical is quite interesting,¡± remarked Shen Yaoguo as he observed the young men¡¯s eyes, their fight-or-flight responses almost triggering. If this were in his public security brigade, facing such little punks, he definitely wouldn¡¯t resort to beating or scolding; instead, he would catch their entertainment venue boss and make the boss lose face in front of everyone. In the office where only one channel¡¯s audio was on, Shen Yaoguo could guess what these youngsters would say even with his eyes closed: ¡°We are from Jianyuan.¡± ¡°We live our lives by the rules, why arrest us?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to hear what you¡¯re saying, I am not afraid of going to jail.¡± Shen Yaoguo chuckled and said, ¡°Actually, we could also handle their interrogation; we¡¯re the most experienced with this kind of thing.¡± ¡°The same,¡± Yu Wenshu said with equal confidence. If Zhang Xiang himself had even a shred of resistance, the few underlings he brought with him stood no chance during the interrogation. Interrogations nowadays were never about the volume of one¡¯s voice or the amount of pressure applied. Sometimes they could involve showing concern, other times feigning to exploit. Those who conducted interrogations were experts at manipting psychology. What chance did these small-time thugs, who couldn¡¯t score over 30 on an ¡°administrative capacity test¡± or a ¡°policy essay,¡± possibly have? In just a short time, the thugs in the interrogation room began to spill everything they knew. Shen Yaoguo couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit disappointed; if the young men had shown a bit more resistance, he would have been able to go after the person in charge of the ¡°parking lot project¡± at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. And once the testimonies here came out, the pressure on Zhang Xiang¡¯s side began to increase exponentially. Without any further maniption, Zhang Xiang quickly confessed. ¡°I killed the person. I set the fire,¡± Zhang Xiang said. When these words left his mouth, many present couldn¡¯t help but look towards Jiang Yuan. With these words, the case was considered solvedpletely solved. All the potential trouble for Shen Yaoguo dissipated like smoke in the wind; he no longer needed to worry about his career being affected or finding someone to take the fall. Shen Yaoguo, who appeared calm on the outside, couldn¡¯t help but clench his fist. ¡°How did you kill them? Tell us the details,¡± an interrogator asked casually, disyingplete control over Zhang Xiang. The man who looked strong, having spent too long in private enterprises, was like a pickle left in the brine for too long¡ªhe couldn¡¯t possibly stay hard. At most, he still had a semnce of being tough but brittle. Zhang Xiang¡¯s face was deathly pale. After hesitating several times, he said, ¡°After I had Wang Kedian open the door, I went in to find Yin Fei. The benefits the boss gave her, that was for the boss to give. If she wanted to go solo, she needed to sign a new agreement. That¡¯s what I discussed with her.¡± ¡°This woman still thought it was the old days, so full of herself. I was speaking to her nicely, and she started cursing me, throwing things at me.¡± ¡°I should have just left when I turned around, but back then I was young too. And she kept provoking me. With the knife at her throat, she was still babbling¡­ Finally, I just stabbed her and she stopped talking¡­¡± Interrogation expert: ¡°Describe in detail how you stabbed her.¡± Zhang Xiang: ¡°I pushed her against the wall. I was just thinking of scaring her a bit and that would have been the end of it, but then she said she would use me of forcible rape and would go to Yuan Jiansheng. I was angry and scared in that moment, thinking it¡¯s do or die¡­¡± Zhang Xiang said with a sigh, ¡°I¡¯m tired. Better to die sooner and ascend sooner¡­¡± The expert methodically asked about arson, the murder weapon, the incendiary used, and so on. The critical questions had all been asked. Toward the end of the interrogation, the expert nced over the list and asked, ¡°How did you obtain the key to the warehouse back door, and where did you have it made?¡± Zhang Xiang suddenly hesitated. ¡°You¡¯ve already spilled the beans on everything important, why falter over this little matter?¡± the interrogation expert said, emphasizing the significance casually. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that if I tell the truth, you won¡¯t believe me,¡± Zhang Xiang said. ¡°You tell us, and we¡¯ll be the judge of that.¡± ¡°I was just at home that day when someone threw it in. There was a printed note with it saying it was the key to Yin Fei¡¯s warehouse back door, guess I got yed,¡± Zhang Xiang shook his head. The interrogation expert, familiar with the case files, nced at the camera and asked further, ¡°Did you give Wang Kedian any money or buy him a train ticket?¡± ¡°No, I went to look for him the next day, and that bastard had already run away,¡± Zhang Xiang said with tant indifference. ¡°Once he ran off, I stayed at ease. And as expected, nothing happened to me, pure profit!¡± This time, the police inside and outside the interrogation room fell silent. Chapter 364 - 364 331 Change the Target ?364: Chapter 331: Change the Target 364: Chapter 331: Change the Target ¡°Do you still have the key to the back door of Yin Fei¡¯s warehouse, and the printed paper?¡± the interrogation expert continued to press. Zhang Xiang¡¯s gaze sparkled with the sharpness of a 120 kg ss fitness enthusiast, ¡°Of course, I¡¯ve deposited it in a bank safe deposit box. 600 a year.¡± The expressions of several people in the monitoring room showed slight changes. So it¡¯s said, no one is truly a fool. Even someone like Zhang Xiang, who looks as if steroid use has damaged his brain, still made the right choice with the few brain cells he had. The experts in the interrogation room couldn¡¯t help but praise him, ¡°Not bad, you even know to keep it in a safe deposit box.¡± ¡°To prevent someone froming to my house and setting it on fire,¡± Zhang Xiang said with a smile, as if he had seen through the world. Pondering for a moment, the interrogation expert casually asked, ¡°Were you involved in any other arson attacks?¡± Zhang Xiang¡¯s expression shifted, obviously lying, ¡°Just that one time. That one was close, who has time to be fireproofing every day?¡± The interrogation expert frowned, but he didn¡¯t continue to aimlessly pursue the matter, quickly switching topics, ¡°Did you decide to go see Yin Fei on your own?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°What triggered that decision? What was it that made you go to Yin Fei at that specific time, and to use the method of carrying a knife to enter through the back door?¡± Recalling, Zhang Xiang said, ¡°We needed to sign a contract, ah. The logisticspany Yin Fei found was an enemy of ours. I told her not to deal with them but she didn¡¯t listen, treating us like nobodies. She¡¯s a mistress who can¡¯t even climb into bed anymore, what¡¯s she putting on airs for¡­¡± Zhang Xiang¡¯s anger rose as he spoke. It seems he is quite sensitive about the concepts of hierarchy and respect here. People who have been in a unit for a long time often take the unit¡¯s unspoken rules as society¡¯smonws and even enforce them. The interrogation expert couldn¡¯t find any loopholes in Zhang Xiang¡¯s words and continued, ¡°Do you know who gave you the key?¡± ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t know,¡± Zhang Xiang shook his head. ¡°Take a guess?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t guess.¡± The interrogation expert furrowed his eyebrows, ¡°Someone gave you the key to the back door of Yin Fei¡¯s warehouse, and the details were clearly written on a printed piece of paper. Haven¡¯t you ever thought about who gave it to you and why?¡± ¡°Must be someone from Jianyuan, but I can¡¯t say exactly who,¡± Zhang Xiang said nonchntly. ¡°After so many years, you never wanted to investigate it yourself?¡± Zhang Xiang was taken aback, thenughed, ¡°I get what you¡¯re saying, you want me to bite someone. Truthfully, if I found someone who directed me, like hiring someone for murder, then maybe I wouldn¡¯t have to die, right? But I can¡¯t bite anyone. Whoever I bite, I¡¯ll offend, and then won¡¯t I die even faster?¡± ¡°Jianyuan Company isn¡¯t as formidable as you suggest. Your case is being handled by the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment; they can¡¯t interfere.¡± ¡°Maybe. But I have no evidence in my possession; who can I point to?¡± Zhang Xiang spread his hands. ¡°Breaking and entering, two deaths, arson, and burning of the bodies¡ªthese charges can result in the death penalty. If you give up an aplice or the person behind the scenes, there might be a chance for a reduced sentence. Otherwise, it¡¯s highly likely you¡¯ll face immediate execution,¡± the interrogation expert dropped the pretense, applying full pressure on Zhang Xiang. Zhang Xiang¡¯s face turned red, the interrogation chair making creaking noises, but he still couldn¡¯te up with anything substantial to say. An aplice can¡¯t just be conjured out of thin air, and proving a mastermind is even harder. Thinking back on his past deeds, the money he earned, the things he took, Zhang Xiang found it even harder to decide. After all, the knife wasn¡¯t truly at his throat yet. Office. Jiang Yuan and others waited for the criminal police dispatched to retrieve items Zhang Xiang had ced in the bank. Inside the bag were a key, a piece of paper, a stic bag, and a rock. Jiang Yuan focused his attention on the key. Yu Wenshu and others watched Jiang Yuan anxiously, hoping he would have some good news. Jiang Yuan read very slowly, looking over the key and then the other three items. In fact, as soon as he got hold of the key, he was pretty sure that this key indeed caused the scratches on the back door lock core but failed to open the door correctly. There was even a very fine powder on the key, which, if analyzed for trace evidence, would most likely match the lock of the back door. The problem was that recognizing the key wasn¡¯t really of any use. Jiang Yuan could use this key to match the key-cutting machine that made it, provided that he found the machine and the cutting de hadn¡¯t been reced¡ªconsidering the time frame, unless the machine was well-preserved many years ago, it wasn¡¯t likely to be possible. Jiang Yuan could also analyse the note and the printed text on it. That was what his LV3 document examination skills were for. But even LV3 document examination was still at the level of a clever housewife; just like the key¡­ he needed aparative sample. Fingerprints became the king of evidence, andter DNA could crack major cases because both relied on established and direct fingerprint and DNA databases. The trace and document databases, however, were much weaker, providing meager assistance. As Jiang Yuan examined the items and thought things through, a good while passed before he spread his hands and said, ¡°For now, it seems these items won¡¯t be much help.¡± ¡°Not finding anything is normal,¡± Shen Yaoguo quickly reassured Jiang Yuan. Shen Yaowei then said, ¡°Maybe it was just something he said casually, to get out of a crime or something.¡± ¡°Yeah, with just these few items, it would be hard to find any clues.¡± Yu Wenshu said this but then felt a tinge of disappointment. Yu Wenshu quickly suppressed his emotions. He then began to re-evaluate himself, ¡°Yu Wenshu, you shouldn¡¯t think like this, you can¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to have the answers to everything. Jiang Yuan is on loan, not bought; who knows, he might even sacrifice himself in the field one day. What would we do then?¡± Thinking this, he quickly found the correct answer: Of course, make the most of Jiang Yuan while he¡¯s here¡ªplow the mostnd, harvest the most wheat, catch the most killers¡­ It would be best to build a Jingguan. Usingrge-craniate violent criminals¡¯ heads for the base, cing better-looking men and women in pairs in the middle, and decorating the top with heads of offenders from memorable cases¡­ Yu Wenshu watched Jiang Yuan pack away the evidence and said, ¡°If there are no clues, we can put this case aside for now, assign a couple of people to tidy up and see how things go. Even if this person mentioned by Zhang Xiang is real, it will be hard to convict and sentence him. To sentence to death or convict for murder¡­ it would be difficult¡­¡± That was indeed the case; if the other party had only given money and provided a key, without any incitement or substantial bribery, then even if convicted, it could only be a fixed-term imprisonment. A few people shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, but he said, ¡°If there are no leads on the key owner for now, I think we should start by checking the security at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s parking lot.¡± Yu Wenshu immediately looked at Shen Yaoguo. Shen Yaoguo hesitated for a moment, seeing that Jiang Yuan did not seem to be bluffing, and said, ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be a problem to check, but doing so without a good reason might offend Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. Yuan Jiansheng is well-known in the province, too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not without reason. Speaking of offending, one of Director Yuan¡¯s sons was put in prison by me. I examined the body of another,¡± Jiang Yuan said, pping his hands together in a clean manner. Shen Yaoguo, having already owed a favor that he couldn¡¯t simply ignore, nodded decisively, ¡°If we¡¯re going to do it, my opinion is that we¡¯d better have solid evidence and catch them all at once.¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Yu Wenshu and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s focus on this case next.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Yu Wenshu was indifferent; he didn¡¯t have any particr feelings toward the enterprises in Qinghe City, only asking, ¡°How do you n to proceed?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled a little, pointing to Zhang Xiang on the screen and said, ¡°We can also search around Jianyuan¡¯s factory and warehouse for cases that have happened but not been solved, and help them solve those along the way.¡± Yu Wenshu had no objections, but for some reason, an image unbidden came to mind¡ªa parking lot of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, where instead of a blue guard booth at the entrance, there was a Jingguan, neither too big nor too small. Chapter 365 - 365 332 Hell-level Combined Harvester ?365: Chapter 332: Hell-level Combined Harvester 365: Chapter 332: Hell-level Combined Harvester As the murder case remained unsolved, and they were starting a new case, the young detectives of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were immediately thrilled. For middle-aged and older detectives like Meng Chengbiao, the pressure of continuousbat was a bit overwhelming, especially with the mountainous paperwork from old cases still pending. Investigating a ¡°gang¡± on top of that made them feel like pulling their hair out. But for the young detectives in Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, they weren¡¯t afraid of having too many cases; they feared umting more and more cases without solving them. With murder cases being solved like bamboo shoots being swiftly devoured, everyone was more than willing to take on a few more cases, without any resistance. The current situation was, in fact, more akin to high-level ounts power-leveling the low-levels in a game. While the novices kept busy running around and looting, who wouldn¡¯t wee the bonus of extra experience points from the veterans? The situation was now quite clear. If anyone thought the workload of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was too demanding and wanted to transfer out, it would only take a word to secure a better position. But who would actually do that? Zhang Xiang was still in the interrogation room, and on the desks of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, the files of ¡°Qing Shui Jian Yuan Pharmaceutical Parking Lot Security¡± had already beenid out. ¡°As it stands, we have a total of 18 current staff, led by the head of security, Bian Benwu. There have likely been another twenty or thirty people who¡¯ve worked in this role previously. Additionally, these 18 individuals are each followed by a few underlings, some with one or two, others with two or three,¡± Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia quickly summarized the gathered materials. The young detectives in the squad, adept at their duties, did not need specific instructions from Jiang Yuan and immediately began investigating along their proficient avenues. In a matter of two hours, they had assembled aprehensive list of names. Some obtained the current active roster of 18 people and a longer list of former staff from external intelligence. Others checked Jianyuan¡¯s social security records, and still others scoured various WeChat groups, pulling out members from a ¡°parking lot resource sharing¡± group they all belonged to, which also added up to 18 people, matching the lists gathered by others. After hearing their overview, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Good, can we extract any information from their chat records?¡± ¡°Yes, and quite a bit at that. We¡¯re already sorting through it,¡± Tang Jia replied. Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°They¡¯ve had numerous conflicts with former employees, some of which were reported to the police. Most ended in settlements, but a few went into criminal proceedings. From what I¡¯ve seen, instances involving weapons are rare; most shes involve fistfights and kicks, with minor injuries at most reaching a second-degree level.¡± ¡°So, they¡¯ve essentially bred a group of thugs,¡± Tang Jia offered a summary judgment. Jiang Yuan nced over at Shen Yaoguo. With Zhang Xiang¡¯s interrogation not yet concluded, Shen Yaoguo was somewhat anxious, and feeling the heat from Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze, he couldn¡¯t help but defend himself, ¡°Jianyuan is a factory with tens of thousands of employees, constantly expanding in phases one, two, and three. It¡¯s natural for such a ce to be rife with conflicts; it would be abnormal if there were no fights.¡± Shen Yaoguo detailed to Jiang Yuan, ¡°For a factory like Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, the workers have no formal job positions. This means that every day hundreds are leaving and hundreds are joining the workforce. At peak times, this could be in the thousands. With such high turnover, conflicts are bound to arise.¡± ¡°Their factory area has now extended right up to the edge of a vige. The vigend was requisitioned, so vigers either work in the factory or set up small businesses nearby. Everyone wants to make money from the thousands of factory workers, so how could conflicts not erupt?¡± ¡°Moreover, Jianyuan Pharmaceutical employs female workers, and not an insignificant number, mostly around 20 years old. With young men and women mixed together, jealous squabbles and brawls are inevitable. Why else would they need parking lot security? Even parking a car can lead to a brawl.¡± ¡°Beyond that, impatient truck drivers with road rage, refusals to load and unload goods due to dissatisfaction with parking spots, the variance in quality of materials delivered by logistics, with all the good and bad products¡ªit¡¯s really a lot to handle when the ce is so big¡­¡± ¡°Finally, the most important point is that Jianyuan is based in Qinghe City. Although they also have units in Changyang City, I basically can¡¯t control them.¡± After exining for a while, Shen Yaoguo added, ¡°Of course, I don¡¯t condone their methods. Jianyuan¡¯s approach definitely needs to be dealt with.¡± ¡°I¡¯llmunicate with the folks over in Qinghe,¡± Yu Wenshu chimed in at the right moment, making his presence felt. Jiang Yuan nodded, also feeling quite bothered. After thinking for a while, heforted himself, ¡°No big deal. For those with issues, let¡¯s first lock them up. Once they¡¯re inside, we can question them in detail.¡± Jiang Yuan now had a prejudice against Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. A small factory where several deaths had urred was now also associated with this systemic gang of thugs. Regarding what were called parking lot bodyguards, if any were involved in criminal cases, Jiang Yuan was prepared to send them all in. Once locked up, they would be repeatedly interrogated, evidence sought, and cases could potentially be cracked more swiftly than through direct investigation. This was originally one method, even a primary method, of breaking through cold cases. Particrly in the criminal investigation departments of county towns, there were few detectives with the capacity to follow the evidence from one case to the next, let alone consider the level of exhaustion¡ªdetectives like Jiang Yuan were scarce. Only someone like Jiang Yuan, a hellish, multi-taskingbine harvester with an array of Level 4, Level 5, and even Level 6 skills, supplemented by an abundance of Level 3 skills, could methodically unravel cases. In the case of others, not to mention a county bureau like Ningtai County¡¯s, even in Qinghe City, being able to count a Level 5 expert would mean having a supersoldier emerging from the hintends. A joint harvesting operation would be out of the question. However, the county bureau also has a need to solve cold cases, so what to do? Sometimes they just follow the people to find the cases. Like with petty thieves and brawlers, especially those whoe from outside the area with no local ties, if theymit a crime, they will definitely be scrutinized for any past cases. The most powerful era of pretrial investigations was the time before fingerprints and DNA became widespread; most cold cases were solved through pretrial digging. But after the advent of DNA, the value of pretrial investigations greatly decreased, and many criminals were identified with a simple run through the database. Jiang Yuan prepared to go through a wave of cold cases targeting the security guards at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, and Yu Wenshu and the others thought it was normal. Actually, looking at the records, one could tell that this group of people were those who skirted the edge of thew year-round. The likelihood of them crossing the line was very high; it was just a matter of how to secure the evidence. Those who have been mixed up in society for a long time are experts at ying the wind; without sufficient evidence, they won¡¯t easily confess. Just like Zhang Xiang in the interrogation room, he only confessed to the things he couldn¡¯t escape from; if he could get away with it, he would resolutely keep silent. Even if he confessed to murder, he wouldn¡¯t spill everything about the smaller crimes, making him a very troublesome criminal to deal with. Now it was just a matter of seeing if the rest were all tough nuts to crack. The members of the Cold Case Squadpleted their reports and each chose a clue or a case to work on. They went off on their own without Jiang Yuan having to arrange anything, which could be considered exemry self-motivation. Jiang Yuan feltfortable, and so did the team members. Actually, everyone hoped for some autonomy. If Jiang Yuan manipted the entire Cold Case Squad as easily as his own arm, it would not be a problem either; the team members would still cooperate very well, but it would just mean more work for Jiang Yuan. Before long, a clever young man came forward with a bunch of fingerprints from assault cases. These were fingerprints involved in cases near Jianyuan Pharmaceutical. Jiang Yuan took them and thought, well, no need to bother with provincial databases, city databases, or national ones; he directlypared the fingerprints of the security guards at Jianyuan¡¯s parking lot. Jianyuan is a bigpany with registered security guards who had their fingerprints taken. Naturally, these 18 tough guys had mostly been to the police station before, leaving their fingerprint records everywhere. But the fingerprints of their underlings and retired security guards were notpletely collected. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about that; he first looked over the fingerprints he had found, then took the fingerprints from the cases to review them one by one. If he felt there was a simrity, he would go back and check the fingerprints again. This method even skipped marking the minutiae points. Marking minutiae points is something done forputers; when human beings look at fingerprints, this step isn¡¯t needed. Whether two fingerprints are simr or not, the brain will naturally make a judgment. With this approach, Jiang Yuan¡¯s speed in reviewing fingerprints became even faster, and in just a short time, he had narrowed down three cases. ¡°What a shame, only these three fingerprints match,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. Yu Wenshu, who had only stepped out to make a few phone calls, returned to find Jiang Yuan had finished reviewing the fingerprints and paused to ask, ¡°Matched three fingerprints?¡± ¡°Ipared the fingerprints directly with those of the suspects,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. ¡°That works,¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s eyes sharpened, ¡°At least it proves one thing, this little gang is not clean. Well¡­ Shen, how about we join forces and take down this parking lot security team all at once?¡± Eighteen people, along with their underlings and an uncertain number of former members¡ªto arrest such a group would normally require several hundred people. Even the Criminal Police Brigade would feel short-staffed, but it would be manageable with the help of the Public Security Brigade. Shen Yaoguo was surprised by Yu Wenshu¡¯s decisiveness and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Under what pretense? Normally, shouldn¡¯t we investigate first, set up a defense, and then make arrests?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not the target, just a bunch of small fry. Even if one or two escape, it doesn¡¯t matter; the focus is on what to do after the people are caught.¡± ¡°Without evidence, you can¡¯t hold them for long. Jianyuan Pharmaceutical is bound to react.¡± Yu Wenshu knew very well that Shen Yaoguo still didn¡¯t understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s forcefulness. He gestured to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°How long did it take Jiang Yuan to work on a murder cold case? These people aren¡¯t that cautious, but if we don¡¯t catch them all at once, by the time Jiang Yuan gathers the evidence, they might have already run away.¡± Shen Yaoguo looked at Jiang Yuan. The hell-levelbine harvesterughed slightly, as if he were radiating fire from his body. Chapter 366 - 366 333 Mechanics ?366: Chapter 333 Mechanics 366: Chapter 333 Mechanics The entire security team was arrested, a move that first scared Yuan Jiansheng. Immediately after, Yu Wenshu started frantically answering phone calls. Yu Wenshu had anticipated this; his expression did not change at all as he calmly picked up the calls, gave a few standard exnations, then cut off the conversation, waiting for the next round of calls. Shen Yaoguo was pretty much doing the same, but unlike Yu Wenshu, he found a ce to hide and took calls with a smile on his face. The two men were like telephone operators, each burning up their phones until, gradually, the frequency of iing calls decreased. ¡°From outside the office, you¡¯d think the Deputy Director was orchestrating a grand n, but once inside, you realize he¡¯s just an echo chamber, a telephone answering machine,¡± Yu Wenshu finally received a break from the relentless calls after nearly 3 minutes and took a breather, shaking his head with a smile at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan understood and replied, ¡°Conveying orders is indeed a middle link in the grand scheme of things.¡± When he dined at the homes of the vigers in Jiang Vige, he used to be careful to read people¡¯s expressions. It was only after the demolition made him wealthy and he went to The Great Learning that he gradually neglected this skill. Yu Wenshu let out a heartyugh; as long as Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t step on his face, he could be very happy. Right then, Jiang Yuan was willing to say something pleasing, and Yu Wenshu¡¯s ears, just recently hot from the phone calls, seemed almost healed. ¡°It¡¯s alright, things will proceed as they should. Whenever these provincial and city key enterprises are involved, people alwayse to plead their case. It¡¯s one thing if they just plead, but others want to inquire about the matter¡­ In reality, it¡¯s all futile. The criminal case has been filed for investigation, and we are already in the arresting phase. To me, attempting to intercede or inquire at this point is just going through the motions. I¡¯m just going along with it,¡± Yu Wenshu hummed a few times, mainly to alleviate Jiang Yuan¡¯s anxiety. The security team from Jianyuan¡¯s parking lot had quite a number of people brought back, but the next steps required Jiang Yuan to secure some concrete evidence. Of course, Yu Wenshu believed they could capture a few more people with a mix of intimidation and deceit, but seeing Zhang Xiang¡¯s attitude of not taking any action until he saw the rabbit, he knew that it would be quite difficult to employ this method and one shouldn¡¯t expect topletely restrain everyone. ¡°The rest is up to you,¡± Yu Wenshu was ready to y the cheerleader. Jiang Yuan had been busy preparing, and now he nodded, ¡°Then let¡¯s follow the n and first examine the equipment and tools they brought back.¡± Jiang Yuan himself was also trying to solve the case using different techniques. Even abine harvester needs a working order. For today¡¯s case, Jiang Yuan felt it was necessary to fully employ the Level 6 Tool Trace Identification skill first. The Level 6 Tool Trace Identification skill, when facing normal tools, possesses exceptional uracy and speed. Basically, it allows one to tell at a nce whether it matches the tools used in the current case. Furthermore, due to his extreme familiarity with tool traces, Jiang Yuan could memorize many details about the tools and traces involved in numerous files at once¡ªalthough only temporarily, this greatly enhanced his work efficiency. Ordinarily, when forensic examiners conduct tool trace identification, themon practice is to first observe, not only with the naked eye but also using a maometer and microscope. The purpose is to record the trace¡¯s characteristics in addition to finding its size, shape, and contour. A more standard approach even involves sketching a diagram of the features. Jiang Yuan effectively bypassed these intermediate steps, memorizing multiple trace features at once and thenparing them against multiple tools. The forensic officers from the Criminal Science and Technology Center under Wan Baoming¡¯s jurisdiction had also sent over a team to assist. Three forensic officers in their twenties or so, an age for learning new techniques and methods, watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods and were on the verge of losing their faith. ¡°Captain Jiang, there are still many tool traces involved in the files here; how about we start with just these?¡± one forensic officer suggested, flipping through the files, showing Jiang Yuan a few photos of tool traces and couldn¡¯t help speaking out. After showing him tool traces from more than a dozen cases, the officer began to doubt and feel uncertain. Could anyone really remember so many? Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be bothered to exin and simply said, ¡°Then draw some feature diagrams to reinforce your memory.¡± Feature diagrams differ from the characteristic points of fingerprints. Fingerprint characteristics are forputer software and for the court, whereas tool trace feature diagrams are for personal use. Therefore, feature diagrams can be drawn very simply, without the need to be pretty or realistic; a few quick strokes to represent the trace features will suffice, or it doesn¡¯t matter if they aren¡¯t perfectly represented as long as the person drawing understands them. Thus, three trace examiners from Changyang City witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s mboyant handwriting. As it happens, Jiang Yuan also possessed sketching skills, but the only use for them in drawing these feature diagrams was in the linework. Towards the end, Jiang Yuan even started to use a single line toplete an entire feature diagram. The three young trace examiners didn¡¯t dare speak, nor did they understand; they just stared nkly at Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation, trying to steady their own swaying trees of skills. ¡°Found one. This lever-pressed trace, A27, is likely the work of pliers B109. Let¡¯s see what case this is.¡± When Jiang Yuan started working on real cases, that¡¯s when the three young trace examiners were truly dumbstruck. The so-called A27 was a code Jiang Yuan had made up himself, representing traces found in the files. B109, on the other hand, referred to tools brought back by the detectives, starting with a ¡°B¡± followed by a numerical order for photographing. B109 was also the photo¡¯s code number. With hundreds of traces and hundreds of tools, trying to memorize them all was practically a joke. But for a Level 6 skill, categorizing and memorizing was child¡¯s y. A trace examiner quickly brought over the photo of A27 and the actual tool in the photo, B109. Just by seeing that A27 was a sliding window lock strip with clear prying traces on both sides, you would know that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t guessing blindly. The three of them couldn¡¯t help but surge forward, joining Jiang Yuan inparing the pliers represented by A27 and B109. They saw that the width of the plier¡¯s tip matched, the number of tooth patterns on the side was the same, and upon closer inspection, the dimples also seemed consistent¡ªthe three of them were slow to watch and still couldn¡¯t confirm they were the same, but the absence of discrepancies nearly proved the answer. ¡°How did you find this?¡± The youngest trace examiner couldn¡¯t help but let a longing look appear in his eyes. It was like a martial arts secret manual¡ªif someone mastered this skill, they would truly have nothing to fear wherever they went. As Jiang Yuan made his notes, he handed the files to Wang Chuanxing beside him to provide to the interviewing officers, and exined, ¡°There are quite a few possible approaches to deduce this lever-pressed trace; I first saw the prying trace and wondered which of these collected tools could have produced it. Then, consider the size of the traces simrities, and additionally, one could pay extra attention to the issue of static load¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s first half of the exnation was listened to attentively by everyone, and they tried hard to remember it. By the second half of his exnation, the looks in the eyes of the three young trace examiners slowly faded. A deeper study into tool trace examination involved the study of force, such asmonly known forces and reactions, stress, external forces¡­ and the very important aspects of force direction, magnitude, and contact rtionships such as point, line, and surface, and so on. But as is well known, once mechanical elementse into y, whether theoretical mechanics, mechanics of materials, structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, sticity mechanics, sticity mechanics, damage mechanics, fracture mechanics, vibration mechanics, explosive mechanics¡­ None of them were easy topics. ¡°I¡¯ll go get the photos,¡± said the young trace examiner with a knowing smile. ¡°I¡¯ll fetch the files,¡± said the slightly younger trace examiner following behind. ¡°I¡­ will pour you some water,¡± said the full-grown trace examiner, bowing and nodding, a picture of devotion and obedience. Chapter 367 - 367 334 Im Super Fierce ?367: Chapter 334 I¡¯m Super Fierce 367: Chapter 334 I¡¯m Super Fierce ¡°A53 and B167.¡± ¡°A33, A34, and B13.¡± ¡°Set the clubs aside separately, don¡¯t mix up the numbers, let me have a look.¡± ¡°A11 and B208, conduct a micro-trace evidence test on each.¡± Jiang Yuan efficiently examined the various groups of photos, the evidence that covered the long conference table, continuously photographed, numbered, and recorded. In most cases, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to open the evidence packaging or would examine the evidence after it had been properly sealed. In this way, after confirming the identity of the tool marks, he could validate the findings with micro-trace evidence. The cost of analyzing micro-trace evidence was not low; even for his ownb, it could cost hundreds of dors per test, and just a slight increase in the number of tests could easily amount to the price of an Audi, not to mention the construction and maintenance costs of theb. If one were to ount for thetter costs, they could refer to the rates of a judicial authentication institute, which charged just over 1,000 yuan for a single micro-trace evidence test, simr to the price for paternity tests¡ªfor those who might need reference. It was easy to understand that ces like the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, which regarded their second-hand Great Wall cannons as treasures, were reluctant to use micro-trace evidence unless it was for a major or homicide case. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was pretty much the same; theft cases started with cases worth from 3,000 yuan, and those worth over a hundred thousand were considered a lot. To solve cases using micro-trace evidence, the cost-effectiveness was entirely out of the question; it was purely for the social value and crime deterrence. This time was no different; the several cases Jiang Yuan found were all minor in terms of case value, including car break-ins, theft from warehouses, losses from passing trucks, and fuel theft fromrge vehicles¡­ Summing up, the security guard at Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s parking lot had long been dissatisfied with the ie from the parking lot and had begun actively pursuing ¡°ie diversification.¡± ¡°With so many petty cases, probably including some unreported ones, we should be able to arrest half the people here,¡± said Tang Jia, helping Jiang Yuan with the sorting by the side, slowly getting stirred up, and quite excited soon after. ¡°No matter how small, the procedure for handling cases is the same.¡± A prosecutor was invited to get involved early and brought a group with him. A full-fledged prosecutor is one who has full authority to handle cases. In other words, only a full-fledged prosecutor can lead a case, while other prosecutors can only serve as assistant caseworkers, and non-prosecutors are known as judicial administrative personnel. Since the number of full-fledged prosecutors is proportional and there¡¯s often a shortage, they have been a scarcemodity since the beginning of the system. For Yu Wenshu to call over a full-fledged prosecutor was a great support to the case. If the suspect understood the severity, the best thing they could do would be to promptly admit guilt. Now experienced in handling numerous cases, Jiang Yuan, out of respect, earnestly said to the full-fledged prosecutor next to him: ¡°Prosecutor Liu, these pieces of evidence directly match the cases, and there will be more substantial casester. For instance, A80, 83, B263, and B288¡­ This should be a case of serious injury.¡± The micro-trace examiner hurried over with some items andid them out. Astonishingly, there was an axe-mark on the surface, and the photo in his right hand was precisely an axe. ¡°The same object?¡± Prosecutor Liu was a bit delighted. ¡°Definitely the same object, but we need to further solidify the other evidence,¡± said Jiang Yuan. ¡°Not bad at all, this case is indeed worth the trip,¡± Prosecutor Liu nodded in approval. Most of the time, it took three detectives several days to work on a minor case because even small cases underwent simr procedures, and forming aplete chain of evidence would require a great deal of time. Full-fledged prosecutors were no different, dealing with small cases using steps that were just as numerous, and with even lower senses of aplishment. However, as they wielded more power, they often granted probation to criminals who admitted guilt and epted their penalty for minor cases, or reduced the sentence to lower their workload. Ultimately, like police officers, prosecutors also preferred to severely punish criminals, not merely scrape the surface. Prosecutor Liu pulled out old case files and after reviewing for a while, he said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°The forensic doctor had ssified the injury as serious degree two previously, but the level of disability of the victim wasn¡¯t sufficient. As a result, the criminal would likely receive a three to five year sentence; a bit dissatisfactory¡­¡± Jiang Yuan silently passed him a few more photos. As if having received a cheat sheet during an exam, Prosecutor Liu couldn¡¯t help but exude surprise, ¡°There¡¯s more? Is it the same person, or another?¡± ¡°The same criminal, this time with an iron rod. It¡¯s edged. Probably level one minor injury. Additionally, there was a rape.¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at the rod¡¯s surface and continued, ¡°He knocked someone over with a single strike, and thenmitted the rape. This person is the most vicious among them.¡± Prosecutor Liu¡¯s brows furrowed deeply as he said, ¡°I didn¡¯t expect such a major case to be in here.¡± Jiang Yuan replied with a grunt, ¡°He likes to linger around the national highway, so he left traces not only within Changyang¡¯s jurisdiction but also in the surrounding counties. I¡¯ve got people looking into it.¡± ¡°A serial rapist?¡± Prosecutor Liu found it hard to believe. Though he¡¯d handled many malignant cases, if this one was as severe as it seemed, it would be incredibly unexpected. Jiang Yuan spoke with less certainty, ¡°Judging by the proficiency of his offenses, it¡¯s probably not his first time. But the coverage of the cases we initially prepared wasn¡¯t sufficient. I¡¯m nning to dig deeper to see if there are simr cold cases before.¡± ¡°Very good, very good,¡± Prosecutor Liu nodded repeatedly, then nced at the file a little longer and said, ¡°Find another two cases of serious injury, or one more rape case, and I¡¯m confident I can get him a life sentence.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll find you three, aiming for the death penalty,¡± Jiang Yuan casually responded, his goals naturally grander due to his extensive experience with homicide cold cases. Taken aback by the response, Prosecutor Liu looked again at Jiang Yuan¡¯s nonchnt expression and gestures, and he couldn¡¯t help but remark admiringly, ¡°Indeed, there are only mistaken names, not nicknames called in error.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jiang Yuan did not catch that clearly. ¡°It¡¯s fine, you go ahead,¡± Prosecutor Liu, who was also in his 40s, felt an unshakably warm and eerie chill after spending some time with Jiang Yuan. For an entire day, Jiang Yuan had been relentlessly following the trail of a security guard. Criminals aren¡¯t trained in a day, and those capable of skillfully carrying out robbery, aggravated assault and hurting others must have been involved in numerous fights and brawls¡ªidents that can cause minor injuries could happen in a blink of an eye. However, some people always manage to escape punishment by certain means. This time, though, Jiang Yuan had caught hold of his tail and was tracking it all the way. In modern society, it¡¯s extremely difficult to develop a set of sophisticated criminal skills. Most criminals can only improve through a singr path of esction. In other words, their crimes typically follow patterns. More capable criminals may have two or three different patterns of crime, but whether it¡¯s one or three, for the criminal investigative officers, it¡¯s manageable. Just like most criminals, this parking lot security guard managed to evade punishmentrgely due to luck. Now, his luck had run out. Blow marks, scratch marks, stab and sh marks, severing marks¡­ Those who favor weapons might gain an upper hand during crimes, but in the investigative phase, they also give away conspicuous signs. Again, it¡¯s an issue of variety¡ªthere are so many types of knives, and those who are adept and prefer the use of weapons, in reality, frequently use only a few. In the past, when working on cold cases, Jiang Yuan dealt solely with murder cases and didn¡¯t even have time for other serious crimes. Now, climbing up thedder of tool marks meant grabbing both minor and serious injuries at once. Evening. Shen Yaoguo brought in the crowd-pleasing Sichuan cuisine, the spicy kind. ¡°Let¡¯s eat first. It¡¯s pretty simple; actually, going to the cafeteria wouldn¡¯t take much time¡­¡± Yu Wenshu hadn¡¯t left either. Today¡¯s scene was not only big but also intriguing, and since they had a special prosecutor present, he decided to apany everyone on the spot. Prosecutor Liu waved his hand nonchntly, saying, ¡°This is already very good. Sometimes we have to settle for instant noodles when we workte at night. Today it¡¯s even my hometown¡¯s food.¡± ¡°I¡¯m d Prosecutor Liu doesn¡¯t mind,¡± Yu Wenshu then talked with some younger colleagues nearby, trying to take care of everyone. Work time demands seriousness, but mealtime should be more congenial. Jiang Yuan casually slid the case file he had just organized over to Prosecutor Liu and then started to eat with peace of mind. Prosecutor Liu naturally began to read it. He wasn¡¯t familiar with the other officers, and the young members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team rarely dealt with major cases, so they hardly had interactions with him. Everyone quietly ate and rested,fortably easing their minds. However, Shen Yaoguo, ambitious as ever, chatted briefly with each person, made a round, and upon return, noticed Prosecutor Liu sweating. Shen Yaoguoughed and suggested, ¡°Prosecutor Liu, if it¡¯s too spicy, you can have it with tofu pudding.¡± Prosecutor Liu: ¡°I¡¯m from western Sichuan, it¡¯s not too spicy for me.¡± Shen Yaoguoughed: ¡°But you are sweating.¡± Upon touching his forehead, Prosecutor Liu indeed found a lot of sweat and shook his head, saying, ¡°It¡¯s not the spiciness, it¡¯s from reading the case file.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Based on what I see now, we could already demand the death penalty,¡± Prosecutor Liu stated abruptly, yet everyone understood. The crowd turned their eyes to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan scooped up a bowl of tofu pudding and calmly said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I found too many cases; hemitted too many. If you read the files, you¡¯ll see why the death penalty is warranted.¡± Everyone looked back at Prosecutor Liu. Prosecutor Liu deeply grunted in agreement. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°With this in mind, we should be able to break through using this guy.¡± ¡°Definitely. With so many cases he¡¯s done, it¡¯s impossible he acted alone,¡± Prosecutor Liu spected while looking at the file¡¯s content. ¡°If the aplices in several of these serious cases are the same one or two people, another death sentence could be imposed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good to hear,¡± Jiang Yuan said, grabbing several slices of boiled meat to pair with his rice, showing a contented smile. The others, as they consumed the simrly spicy Sichuan food, couldn¡¯t help but think: Ningtai¡¯s Jiang Yuan, a force to be reckoned with¡­ Chapter 368 - 368 335 Cleanup ?368: Chapter 335 Cleanup 368: Chapter 335 Cleanup ¡°So we¡¯re looking at 4 death penalties, 4 life imprisonments, over a dozen with more than ten years¡ªI estimate about fifteen or sixteen¡ªplus several others over five years, and some three-year sentences¡­¡± Prosecutor Liu counted through the names on the list, as gleeful as if he were ticking off convicted criminals, his mood clearly buoyant. Not only was he calcting the sentences of the eighteen active parking lot security guards, but he also included those who retired and the riffraff hanging around these guards. The total number of people involved was significant, keeping the Criminal Police Detachment busy for days. It would take months for the likes of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment to handle just these cases, foregoing all other matters if it weren¡¯t for the scale of the Criminal Police Brigade. Prosecutor Liu didn¡¯t need anyone to echo him, cheerfully continuing, ¡°I¡¯ve never fought such an exhrating battle. As for these three-year cases, I think we can file thoseter. Let¡¯s focus on the death penalty cases first. Once those are wrapped up, we can gather additional evidence and maybe push those three-year sentences to ten.¡± Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help butugh when he heard this, ¡°Then those with five-year sentences are getting off easy.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to see if we have timeter. I¡¯ll have a good talk with them. If they are willing to plead guilty and ept their punishment, five to seven years should suffice. Otherwise, we¡¯ll put them in the queue for supplemental investigations. Captain Jiang, what do you think?¡± Prosecutor Liu now had a great deal of respect for Jiang Yuan, seeing him as a true partner in their work. ¡°I¡¯ll make time whenever necessary. Trust me for any supplementary investigations you need,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I always prefer to deliver a solid case.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a good habit,¡± Prosecutor Liu pped his hands in agreement. ¡°I share the same sentiment. Better to thoroughly digest one case than to bite off more than we can chew.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, ¡°I believe a person should be held ountable for his actions. If, for any reason on our part, he is given a lenient sentence, he will only be more brazen once released from prison, possibly even emboldened by his luck. So, when a case holds water, there¡¯s no need for leniency. The punishment should be harsh if it needs to be, without being swayed by extraneous factors.¡± Prosecutor Liuughed heartily, ¡°That¡¯s a good mindset. However, the families of the criminals might think differently.¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°The families of the criminals, if they truly care for them and have had an influence over them, then they must have made mistakes somewhere. That includes their understanding of the sentence¡ªthey are mistaken as well.¡± ¡°Your logic is very sound,¡± Prosecutor Liu agreed wholeheartedly. Having dealt with criminal cases for so long, any sympathy for criminals had long been eroded by the tragic circumstances of the victims. If the possibility of miscarriage of justice exists in singr murder cases, for the likes of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s parking lot security, who formed a criminal gang, there is absolutely no reason for forgiveness. Some might argue that someone had simply strayed onto the wrong path, acted recklessly in their youth, got involved in fights, beat up people, robbed others, or harassed men or women¡ªhow could such actions merit ten years in jail, or even the death penalty? But in the eyes of Prosecutor Liu and Jiang Yuan, it was sufficient. Committing crimes unconsciously can happen once or twice, but not three or four times. Moreover, only those acts of crime that are supported by concrete evidence and aplete chain of evidence are subject to legal punishment. A petty thief who survives through theft and, in the end, is convicted of stealing tens of thousands andins about his multi-year sentence is utterly absurd. If we talk about morals without regard to thew, then we should count all the crimes hemitted thatcked evidence, for which even a life sentence would not be excessive. The security guards of Jianyuan¡¯s parking lot, each and every one of them, were bullies who fought ssmates in school, harassed vendors in the streets, teased women when drunk, assaulted any man who resisted, indulged in road rage while driving, and pped and cursed at anyone in disputes. Their specific crimes merely varied by personal preference and capability¡ªranging from theft, robbery, lewd acts, rape, to assault. Regarding their character and humanity¡ªexecuting them all might seem cruel, but it would be no injustice. Allowing the majority of them to live is not because they don¡¯t deserve death, but rather because of civilization¡¯s self-imposed demands and constraints. The more criminals are put to death, the happier everyone will be, including the criminals¡¯ families. Prosecutor Liu now looked at Jiang Yuan with fervent enthusiasm. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that too much power had been stripped away from the prosecutor¡¯s office, he would have thought about pulling Jiang Yuan over. Any department involved in investigations would favor a skilled detective like Jiang Yuan. Yu Wenshu coughed twice, ¡°So, Jiang Yuan, weren¡¯t you supposed to interrogate Zhang Xiang?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I¡¯ll sit in on it. After lunch, once the detention center¡¯s mealtime is over.¡± The main interrogation had already concluded, but Zhang Xiang had yet to give a clear ount of the tire-shing incident. Jiang Yuan nned to interrogate Zhang Xiang again with Meng Chengbiao. Giving priority to Jiang Yuan¡¯s security, Yu Wenshu nodded seriously, ¡°We must rify everything that needs to be interrogated. Call me if you need help.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and went back to his work. With so many people and so many cases, most of which were exposed by each other¡¯s testimonies¡ªor rather, by snitching on one another¡ªa lot of it required Jiang Yuan to verify and find evidence. Besides, Jiang Yuan still had his own cases to find. Since they were clearing up old cases anyway, sorting out the cases rted to these several dozen individuals all at once yielded more than if he had worked through them methodically¡ªone could say they were a treasure trove of security guards. Jiang Yuan also needed to sort out as many old cases as possible from them, especially the four security guards expected to face the death penalty. He had to thoroughly understand the crimes they hadmitted. Otherwise, by the time we get back to these cases, the suspects would all have been injected to death. Not only would that be a waste of time, but we might also encounter cases that can¡¯t be broken. Afternoon. Meng Chengbiao prepared the interrogation warrant and headed to the detention center with Jiang Yuan to interrogate Zhang Xiang. Unlike in their own case handling center at the police station, inmates extracted from the detention center were directly taken to the interrogation room, securely locked in the interrogation chairs, facing the police across the void. The interrogation posture here was even more formal. Meng Chengbiao followed procedure, with the main focus being evidence collection. Zhang Xiang politely answered questions for a while but suddenly got annoyed and said, ¡°If you¡¯re going to convict me, then convict me. Are you just asking me? Don¡¯t you know anything, expecting me to confess everything on my own?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t talk, we¡¯ll investigate. But this attitude of yours will lead to a heavier sentence,¡± Meng Chengbiao said sternly. Zhang Xiang curled his lips: ¡°I already have two lives on my hands. How are you nning to increase my sentence? Are you going to make me die twice?¡± Jiang Yuan frowned upon hearing this. Logically speaking, it was indeed so. Committing arson and murder, causing the death of two people, basically meant a death sentence was guaranteed. Also, the more cases Zhang Xiang confessed to, the less chance he had to survive. Under such circumstances, how could the interrogation continue? Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look at Meng Chengbiao. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s aging face looked greasy under the light, as if he hadn¡¯t washed it in the morning. Hearing Zhang Xiang¡¯s words, he showed no reaction and directly asked, ¡°What are your demands?¡± Zhang Xiang didn¡¯t beat around the bush and said, ¡°I want to y chess on the weekend.¡± Meng Chengbiao looked towards the detention center officer beside him. Thetter exined, ¡°We usually organize movie screenings or reading novels on weekends. Only those with full assessment points and good behavior are allowed to go to the chess room.¡± ¡°Add a point for him?¡± Meng Chengbiao gave a smile and then asked, ¡°Could you see if it can be arranged?¡± ¡°Alright then, since Ningtai Jiang Yuan is here, I¡¯ll mention it to his supervisor,¡± the officer said with a friendly smile after ncing at Jiang Yuan. A policeman skilled enough to crack cases as easily as drinking water was someone everybody was willing to amodate from any perspective. Meng Chengbiao immediately expressed his gratitude, then turned his head and said to Zhang Xiang sternly, ¡°You¡¯ve heard our conversation. You want to y chess on the weekend, that can be arranged. Now, answer me one question.¡± Zhang Xiang said, ¡°Go ahead.¡± Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°Who told you to puncture the tire?¡± Zhang Xiang fell silent. Meng Chengbiao frowned and shouted loudly, ¡°Zhang Xiang!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say that,¡± Zhang Xiang shook his head. ¡°Is it the upper management of Jianyuan?¡± Meng Chengbiao pressed on, staring into Zhang Xiang¡¯s eyes. Zhang Xiang simply closed his eyes. Meng Chengbiao tried different methods, asking repeatedly, but to no avail. Clearly, the temptation of ying chess on the weekend was not equivalent to the question. Meng Chengbiao looked at Jiang Yuan again. ¡°Let¡¯s just go back,¡± Jiang Yuan said, toozy to ask further. If all else failed, they would just have to wait until they caught the executives of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical before continuing the questioning. Chapter 369 - 369 336 County Brigade ?369: Chapter 336 County Brigade 369: Chapter 336 County Brigade Jiang Yuan went straight home to rest. The security guards from Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s parking lot, not one was spared; they all got taken into custody. The top management was also getting brought in one after another. As the case had progressed to this point, there wasn¡¯t much left involving Jiang Yuan. Now, these cases, in terms of solving them, basically presented no difficulty, but theplexity was only increasing. Even Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t make unteral decisions; he had to report to his superiors after gathering evidence. This wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s area of expertise either, and Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t want Jiang Yuan to get involved too much, so he resolutely approved his holiday. Speaking of which, Jiang Yuan¡¯s vacation time was also excessive. A normal criminal detective might be lucky to take annual leave once in a year. Only by solving cases such as homicides would they be able to enjoy a reward-based vacation. For instance, in the needs from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to solve cold cases, a reward often included one to three months of paid annual leave. The problem was that Jiang Yuan had solved too many homicides; while others might spend months on a case, he would solve them in a very short time, and it was impossible not to grant him a vacation. And for Jiang Yuan, this trip had already been long enough. Previously, while at the Ningtai County Bureau, regardless of how exhausting it might have been, he basically went home every day. After being ¡®sold¡¯ to Changyang City, his biggest difort was the inability to go home. This was a feeling Jiang Yuan thoroughly disliked. Ever since his mother passed away, Jiang Yuan and his father had been dependent on each other, dining out at different households, cooking unappetizing meals at home, getting by on steamed buns; their material life could not be called luxurious, but their spiritual life was nevercking. His father had taken care of Jiang Yuan to the best of his ability. That was the most genuine warmth Jiang Yuan felt during his adolescence. And it was the same now. Jiang Yuan drove home, sticking to the speed limit, eager to return. In the residentialplex, lights shined brightly, sr-powered streetmps and regr lights brilliantly illuminated the roads within. The stairwell, however, was somewhat dimmer. Stepping into the elevator, it also felt profoundly quiet. Ding. The elevator arrived at his floor, and Jiang Yuan hurried out. ¡°Hey, brothers, Four Happinesses Fortune!¡± ¡°Six Six Smooth, Three Stars Shine!¡± Loud and boisterous shouts from finger-guessing games burst out from inside the house, piercing the air with their force. Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, then took another careful look at the door frame. The que of a first-ss merit hung there prominently, nked on either side by two second-ss merits, a unique exterior decoration that belonged only to Jiang Vige, so it was impossible for him to be at the wrong door. Inside the house, the bright lights made every detail of the living room visible. About a dozen men were excitedly yelling as they ate and drank, chattering away happily. Jiang Fuzhen sat at the centermost spot on the couch, sandwiched between his third and fifth uncles, his face flushed red from drinking. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile at the sight. ¡°Hey, is that Jiang Yuaning back?¡± His third uncle, with sharp eyes, spotted Jiang Yuan and quickly shouted out. Jiang Yuan, smiling, nodded in response, and greeted everyone, ¡°Third uncle, good, fourth uncle-inw, good, fifth uncle, good, sixth uncle, good, eleventh uncle, good¡­¡± The rtives he had greeted allughed heartily, some half-drunk, waving at Jiang Yuan and calling him over to drink together. ¡°Let me cook you guys some fried rice,¡± Jiang Yuan said, not joining the table. These men-only drinking sessions were the most brutal, always ending with several people downed. Moreover, they usuallycked proper meals, relying on meat for sustenance¡ªpreviously they often bought ready-cooked food, but now it was Jiang Fuzhen who cooked beef,mb, chicken, goose and so on. After changing into morefortable clothes, Jiang Yuan entered the kitchen and quickly got busy. The legacy left by his seventeenth uncle was most noticeable in its cost-effectiveness and time-saving nature. It hardly used any vegetables, was conservative with oil, and relied on cooking temperature to bring out vor. While there was a bit of sophistication to it, it also significantly cut costs. In no time at all, Jiang Yuan brought out arge bowl of fried rice. The glossy and shiny fried rice was ced in the middle of the table. Anyone who wanted some would fill a bowl, eat their fill, then continue with the finger-guessing game and drinking. From afar, it seemed as if his seventeenth uncle was also a part of it. ¡­ In the early hours of the morning. Each family took their men back home, and those left unattended were put to sleep in the guest rooms. Uncle Qiang had also had a little to drink but his eyes were still clear. With one hand, he hoisted up Jiang Fuzhen as if he were setting a roasted wholemb upright and carried him back to the master bedroom to put him to bed properly. Jiang Yuan helped his father out of his coat and shoes, then cleaned his face with a hot towel before wiping down his hands and feet and leaving the room. Uncle Qiang stood at the doorway, enviously saying, ¡°If my son had your filial piety, I¡¯d be content.¡± ¡°He probably just doesn¡¯t know how to do it. Where would the young people learn these things?¡± Jiang Yuan responded naturally. After a drink, Uncle Qiang spoke his mind, ¡°But you are also a young person, how did you learn this?¡± ¡°We forensic doctors, we often have to clean bodies, don¡¯t we?¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°The alcohol wipes wemonly use smell a bit simr, and the way of moving and wiping is just like this.¡± Uncle Qiang¡¯s mood suddenly got stuck. Looking again at Jiang Fuzhen lying on the bed, he seemed as lifeless as if he couldn¡¯t move at all, and Uncle Qiang hesitated about whether he should continue to feel envious. The sound of snoring began to rise. The uncles sleeping in several guest rooms were out like lights, with snoring soundsing from all directions like the croaking of frogs in a melon field, long and loud. Jiang Yuan slept very soundly. Jiang Fuzhen slept all the way until the next afternoon, and the first thing he did upon seeing Jiang Yuan was to take three sticks of incense from a drawer for him, saying, ¡°Pay your respects.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Jiang Yuan thought for three seconds with his mind and asked, ¡°Pay respects to what?¡± Jiang Fuzhen turned and opened the door of a room, revealing an arrangement ready for worship, with a portrait of Lord Guan, a long table, and a round cushion neatly aligned. Jiang Yuan, now skillful in facing Lord Guan, lit the incense obediently and paid his respects sincerely. This time, at least four people had been sent off, so it was just the right asion to speak to Lord Guan, asking him to make sure they properly reformed themselves and suffered plenty down below. When he stood up again, a hot, red-cooked egg was handed to Jiang Yuan. ¡°Eat it.¡± Jiang Fuzhen also felt hungry, cracked a red-cooked egg for himself, and said, ¡°I also bought emu eggs, they¡¯re the kind that¡¯s a bit smaller than an ostrich, Australia¡¯s national bird, they say. Supposedly tastes like goose eggs. I¡¯ve cooked one for you; we¡¯ll eat it tonight.¡± Jiang Yuan skillfully devoured the red-cooked egg in his hand and asked, ¡°Who did you learn this from?¡± ¡°Your mentor. Wu Jun.¡± Jiang Fuzhen continued, ¡°He¡¯s a good guy, easy to get along with, and truly considers your best interests. He even drew some talismans for you; I¡¯ll burn them for youter.¡± As a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan felt he should be opposed, but seeing his dad¡¯s enthusiasm, he simply spread his hands and said, ¡°Doing one thing is enough, I don¡¯t agree with my master liking to do repetitive things. ¡®Don¡¯t trouble two masters with one matter,¡¯ I¡¯m not too embarrassed to tell him, so should we just keep a little for ourselves?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t trouble two masters with one matter¡­ You do make sense there¡­¡± Jiang Fuzhen agreed, and then turned to go to the kitchen. After a while, Jiang Fuzhen brought out arge te. ¡°Then today we eat red eggs, I bought a set online.¡± Jiang Fuzhen said with a thud as he put the te on the table. Inside the te, there were eggs of all sorts¡ªquail, pigeon, chicken, duck, goose, and emu¡ªsix in total, all painted red¡­ ¡°Eat up. Just boiled them, they¡¯re all a string.¡± Jiang Fuzhen sat down seriously to watch. ¡­ The next day. Jiang Yuan was still thinking about resting some more when he was called over by a phone call from Huang Qiangmin. Ningtai County also had its annual year-end conference to attend. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t like the big units such as the criminal police detachment, Huang Qiangmin was determined to make the criminal police brigade stand out this time. One particr aspect was, he was really making a name for himself. When Jiang Yuan arrived at the criminal police brigade courtyard, he saw a group of unfamiliar police officers wandering back and forth in in clothes. Seeing his arrival, Mu Zhiyang who came to receive him introduced, ¡°A survey team from Pingjiang Province, here specifically to observe our police force construction. They¡¯ve been around for several days.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t Captain Huang need to apany them?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. Not to mention teamsing from another province, even those from within the province or city should normally be properly received. Mu Zhiyang chuckled and said, ¡°They¡¯ve been here for several days, and today they specially said they wanted to walk around by themselves, so assigning a liaison officer is enough. That¡¯s why Captain Huang hurriedly called you over.¡± Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue, ¡°So it seems I¡¯ve been called over during my free time.¡± Mu Zhiyang began to sweat and said, ¡°My dear Captain Jiang, today the director specially took time out to see you. This only shows that the survey team members are considerate. Don¡¯t let it slip in conversationter.¡± Mu Zhiyang truly appeared somewhat concerned. The main reason was that Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t been around the team recently, and with various survey teamsing in, everyone ended up praising Jiang Yuan extravagantly. Whether Jiang Yuan heard it or not, Mu Zhiyang was worried that Jiang Yuan would get carried away. Jiang Yuan, not knowing why, just uttered an ¡°Oh¡± and followed Mu Zhiyang into the new building of the criminal police brigade. Yes, it was the small building that Huang Qiangmin had acquired by trading Jiang Yuan¡¯s services with the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. The building wasn¡¯t big, just a five-story structure with ordinary decoration focused on office use, it somewhat alleviated the cramped office space of the criminal police brigade. The most important feature was the sufficient restrooms and changing rooms, which were the most tangible facilities for the police officers who often had to work overnight and overtime. Although it was a small building with a standard from the 90s and decoration from 20 years ago, this building was still precious to the criminal police brigade. If it were not for Jiang Yuan¡¯s outing, relying on their own petition, getting such a building would have been a distant dream. Huang Qiangmin even intentionally didn¡¯t want to make it too big or too nice, partly because of theck of funds, and partly because he was afraid the Ningtai County Bureau would intercept it. The criminal police brigade wasn¡¯t the only one short of office space; the county bureau itself didn¡¯t have much either, and gettingnd to build on was so difficult¡­ Jiang Yuan wandered around the new building¡¯s foyer for quite some time before he found his way to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s office. p, p, p, p. Upon entering the door, Jiang Yuan was first greeted with a round of apuse and then saw Director Zhang and several other county bureau leaders, along with Mu Zhiyang¡¯s envious face on the left side. ¡°Captain Huang, Director Zhang, Director Li¡­¡± Jiang Yuan greeted them as usual. He then saw the director wave his hand, smiling, and say, ¡°Calling him Captain Huang is no longer urate; from now on you can call him Director Huang.¡± Chapter 370 - 370 337 ?370: 337 370: 337 Huang Qiangmin was promoted to deputy director while also assuming the role of the leader of the Criminal Police Detachment. The news had been swirling around for some time, but with all the true and false rumors over the years, one could never be sure. At that moment, seeing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s 55.5-degree restrained smile, Jiang Yuan immediately said, ¡°Director Huang, congrattions¡­¡± Huang Qiangminughed heartily a few times, pulled Jiang Yuan over, and patted his shoulder a few times without saying a word, simply showing his affection. The former detective squad leader, Director Zhang, looked at the two of them with a bit of envy. In a business unit dealing with operations, although it¡¯s not impossible to get by without real substance, having a business prodigy like Jiang Yuan under one¡¯smand certainly made things much morefortable. Jiang Yuan had once been under hismand, so Director Zhang also benefited from this arrangement, but as Huang Qiangmin rose to power, Director Zhang had no choice but to relinquish control over criminal investigations. After all, the closer bond between Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan meant he ended up as the party to step back. Of course, this situation itself was harmless, if not beneficial, for Director Zhang. Criminal investigation work was exhausting; even as a deputy director, he had to rise from bed at the sound of a call whenever there was a homicide. Therefore, it was sufficient to have held the position for a while. The longer one did so, the greater the disadvantage. On the contrary, like Director Zhang, who served for a period and achieved outstanding results, that was the best scenario. ¡°As the year¡¯s end approaches, are you nning to stay in the county for a while?¡± Director Zhang asked on behalf of Director Guan Xi. Jiang Yuan looked towards Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°I do n to stay for a while. The cases over in Changyang City have alsoe to a close for now.¡± If he wasn¡¯t needed elsewhere, Jiang Yuan was also keen to spend more time at home. He had initially wanted to go to Changyang City to break new ground, but after shuttling back and forth for several months, he had nearly exhausted all the cold cases within his reach. With the novelty worn off, he wasn¡¯t as eager or anticipative anymore. Now taking on Changyang City¡¯s homicide cold cases could mean running into cases that would take months to solve. Such cases were the most taxing. If you didn¡¯t investigate, the case would hang unresolved, concerning both the victims¡¯ families and the anxious souls in theherworld. But if you decided to investigate, it would consume a vast amount of time, energy, and manpower, and getting stuck would make things even worse. For those kinds of cases, Jiang Yuan preferred to address them after improving his skills. With the right skills and direction, it could take just a few days and one percent of the resources to solve some cases. On that note, Huang Qiangmin decisively said, ¡°Just stay for a couple more days. Our building is up now, and things like recing the armaments and such can wait until next year.¡± ¡°Have the cases I worked on recentlye to a close?¡± ¡°Almost. They¡¯re basically all wrapped up.¡± Saying this, Huang Qiangmin heaved a sigh and with a smile added, ¡°The Criminal Police Detachment has only just gotten a break after being busy until now.¡± As he finished speaking, the system interface appeared before Jiang Yuan. Mission: Get them moving. Mission Content: The workload of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment is insufficient. Work on a few cases to give them more to do. Mission Completion: 18/18 Mission Reward: Forensic Odontology (LV4) A slight smile spread across Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. Forensic Odontology, also known as forensic dentistry, involves not only the identification of teeth but also the examination of the jawbones, bite marks, saliva, dental fillings, and dentures, among others. Essentially, anything rted to teeth falls under its purview. In terms of level, LV4 Odontology might notpare to LV5 dog food, but LV4 is already quite sufficient, and besides, odontology is a niche within the field of forensic science. Most people only study a bit of it, so at LV4, it¡¯s already quite impressive. Meanwhile, the director, who was very concerned, suggested, ¡°I think we can start by updating aboratory. Jiang Yuan is a criminal science and technology personnel, and with aboratory as support, he can better utilize his strong points.¡± Huang Qiangmin looked puzzled but still nodded, ¡°We can start with building aboratory.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan, what kind ofboratory do you need the most right now?¡± the director asked, expressing his goodwill fully. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and then said, ¡°Then, it¡¯s probably still the forensic autopsy room and the morgue.¡± Considering his current skill level, a Trace Evidence Laboratory might seem the most needed. However, a general-level trace evidenceb doesn¡¯t cost much, and the current equipment in Ningtai County is alreadyrgely adequate. As for high-level trace evidenceboratories, on one hand, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t know how to use them, and on the other, their prices are sky-high. Byparison, the forensic autopsy room had many more things that could be updated. To say the least, just adding one morefortable bathroom could make a significant difference in work quality. Director Guan Xi didn¡¯t even ask for a reason, he simply said, ¡°Then let¡¯s prioritize updating the forensic autopsy room and the cold storage.¡± Everyone¡¯s gaze fell on the director. Though they didn¡¯t know how much this whole setup would cost, the decisiveness to just go ahead and buy it was still very appealing. It also fully showcased Director Guan Xi¡¯s authority. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit surprised. He thought to himself that with the director being so straightforward, he might really be able to get a negative pressure autopsy table, a better bathroom, and restroom, and even provide Master Wu Jun with a room for his work. The only problem to consider then would be how to scare people away from using the autopsy room as their personal bathroom. When Jiang Yuan was happy, so was the director. He nodded at Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°If Jiang Yuan is unwilling to, he can continue working in our county next year. We can also set up a Cold Case Squad.¡± ¡°The backlog of criminal cases in our county, particrly homicide cases, is pretty much cleared,¡± added Director Zhang. Although there were still many unsolved cases from 20 years ago, the difficulty of solving such old cases was so high that it shouldn¡¯t even be the target. The director smiled and said, ¡°Establishing a Cold Case Squad isn¡¯t necessarily about being limited to working on cases within the county. If brother units ask for help, we can assist them with their cases.¡± The others looked at the director with puzzled expressions. Criminal cases are definitely a losing financial proposition; even if the criminal is fined and has their property confiscated, the money goes either topensate the victims or to the state treasury. Director Guan Xi calmly said, ¡°We can learn from Changyang City by using our own people and training our own team. Moreover, as far as I know, Jiang Yuan has solved many cases from his office, orchestrating the strategy from afar, hasn¡¯t he?¡± Huang Qiangmin quickly said, ¡°Jiang Yuan is a technical expert; we generally don¡¯t have him go to the scene.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t mean to suggest he has to go to the scene,¡± the director said with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking since Jiang Yuan can solve cases from the office or theboratory, he doesn¡¯t necessarily have to go to Changyang.¡± ¡°The director is making a lot of sense!¡± Huang Qiangmin immediately realized and eximed, ¡°The director¡¯s vision is broad indeed. This way, the initiative is still in my hands.¡± A few people nced at Jiang Yuan unconsciously. In fact, the initiative had always been in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, but the people from Jiang Vige didn¡¯t care about such things, nor did theypete for it. This power, when transferred to Huang Qiangmin or the director, utilized a different kind of leverage. First of all, it could be imagined that Changyang People would have to pay a significantly greater price if they wanted to continue using Jiang Yuan¡¯s services. It might not be mary, but the overall cost would definitely have increased. Moreover, Director Guan Xi¡¯s strategy obviously wasn¡¯t limited to Changyang City. With Shannan Province being so vast, only targeting Changyang City would be unprofitable. Changyang had handled many cases, and by next year the cases would certainly be moreplex, potentially leading to Yu Wenshu offering a lower return. ¡°Jiang Yuan, what are your thoughts?¡± the director still wanted to hear Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion. After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The personnel assigned by the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment are quite useful. If possible, could we borrow some of them?¡± Even Director Guan Xi was taken aback by Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestion. Was the county office considering borrowing staff from the provincial capital¡¯s criminal police detachment? It wasn¡¯t impossible. Traditionally, it was the provincial capital city offices that would borrow staff from the district city offices, and the district city offices from the county offices, but this was just a tradition. Traditionally, cold cases, especially homicide cases, were almost unsolvable too. Sometimes, in order to solve a case, the department had to break the conventional way of doing things. Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea, set against the backdrop of having solved over a dozen cold homicide cases, had a foundation for sess. Director Guan Xi nodded grandly, saying, ¡°Since we¡¯ve got to make requests anyway, I¡¯ll ask them.¡± Everyone nodded in agreement, and Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°Actually, I had already borrowed some technicians from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment earlier, and Chief Yu agreed to it, too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more appropriate to lend people to Jiang Yuan than to the criminal police team,¡± the director said, nodding at Huang Qiangmin. ¡°You talk to Chief Yu first.¡± Huang Qiangmin could imagine how much Yu Wenshu¡¯s feelings would change, but he resolutely agreed nheless. Chapter 371 - 371 338 Stealing Sheep ?371: Chapter 338: Stealing Sheep 371: Chapter 338: Stealing Sheep The new building of the Criminal Police Detachment. Fourth floor. The sign for Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad quietly went up here again. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t notify anyone, simply had the clerks hang a sign, set up a few desks and chairs, and considered the space ready. As for who exactly to bring into this Cold Case Squad, Huang Qiangmin was still observing. After all, personnel decisions are key. Having just been promoted to Deputy Director, he didn¡¯t want to make moves too fast or too aggressively, preferring a certain level of deliberation. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan had gone home to rest. Although many in the county bureau got word and were itching to act, everyone was moving slowly. Huang Qiangmin took a leisurely couple of days before choosing Wang Zhong. He sent him to the new building¡¯s fourth floor to be in charge of answering phones and opening doors. Now in Ningtai County, after Jiang Yuan¡¯s two major sweeps, the crime rate had dropped to an exceptionally low level, one of the lowest in the entire province. This meant that the original standardplement of staff, if not excessive, found themselves with a sudden ease in their workload. Forensic junior brother Comrade Wang Zhong was considered surplusbor. Upon receiving his orders, Wang Zhong quickly reported to the fourth floor of the new building. The office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was empty and quiet, spotlessly clean. Since neither superiors nor colleagues had visited yet, Wang Zhong found a cozy corner shielded from the wind and prying eyes and started watching videos that afternoon¡ªdocumentaries or educational ones beneficial for learning. Just before the end of the workday, Wang Zhong took the initiative to clean the room and water the few pots of devil¡¯s ivy nts inside. The freshly watered devil¡¯s ivy looked even more lush and sweet, delicately entwining with one another. Wang Zhong had even nned out his morning routine for the next day¡ªpreparing a bowl of tofu pudding, making a cup of soy milk, buying a set of pancake rolls, and a basket of soup dumplings to eat his fill, the kind that made one slightly drowsy, and then he¡¯d watch an anime¡­or another educational video to enhance his professional skills,fortably seeing the morning through. The next morning, Wang Zhong, as nned, went to the East Market specially to buy tofu pudding and pancake rolls, then to the West Market for soup dumplings, andstly, he got soy milk beneath the police detachment building before happily carrying everything back to his new office. He took out the tofu pudding, spread out the soup dumplings, spoon in the right hand, pancake rolls in the left¡­ Ding-dong. The doorbell seemed particrly inappropriate at that moment. Wang Zhong, not wanting to let go of the pancake rolls in his hand, looked up towards the door. Through the transparent ss, he saw six burly men and a beautiful woman, staring intently at him. If it weren¡¯t for these people¡¯s glistening blue or ck trousers, Wang Zhong would have thought they came to arrest him. Wang Zhong nced at the tofu pudding, then at the pancake rolls, then at the soy milk and soup dumplings, and sighed regretfully. He hadn¡¯t even taken a bite yet. Setting them aside, Wang Zhong went to open the door and asked, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± ¡°We are from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Looking for Jiang Yuan,¡± the young man in the lead, with starry eyes and sword-like eyebrows, and somewhat handsome, said, ¡°We are all members of Changyang¡¯s Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. My name is Wang Chuanxing.¡± After introducing himself, Wang Chuanxing pointed to the others, ¡°This is Meng Chengbiao¡­ this is Shen Yaowei¡­ this is Miao Liyuan¡­ this is Tang Jia¡­¡± Wang Zhong looked on, a bit overwhelmed by the show of force. Having seven or eight strong young officers in the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment was the equivalent of the strength of a whole squad. The detachment had its fair share of the old, weak, and sick; to have numbers, they could easily form full rosters with anyone at hand. And to someone like Wang Zhong, who had spent years working in the technical department at the county bureau, criminal police from Changyang were somewhat mythical. At this moment, Wang Zhong habitually said, ¡°Please take a seat, leaders. Umm¡­ whom should I report to?¡± Cops at the county level, when they met someone from a higher unit they didn¡¯t know, couldn¡¯t go wrong by calling them ¡°leader.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯d like to find your Captain Huang? We¡¯ll give Jiang a call,¡± Wang Chuanxing said with a smile, then turned to pull out his phone and started dialing. Tang Jia and the others first looked around the office, quickly choosing their desks and sitting down to get organized. Half an hourter, Huang Qiangmin was the first to arrive. He regarded the group of officers with a gaze meant for examining criminals, noting especially that the group had already arranged their workstations. ¡°Chief Yu didn¡¯t even make a phone call,¡± Huang Qiangminined, then asked, ¡°What¡¯s the purpose of your visit?¡± ¡°We want to work with Captain Jiang,¡± Tang Jia was the first to stand and make her position known. Shen Yaowei and the others also stood up, nodding their heads in agreement. Shen Yaowei, even more astute, added, ¡°Captain Huang, if you have any tasks, justmand us directly.¡± Working with Jiang Yuan essentially meant working under Huang Qiangmin; Shen Yaowei understood this rtionship well. Of course, after a while, they would ultimately have to return to Changyang City, as they couldn¡¯t work for Huang Qiangmin for free indefinitely. However, the duration of this period could be long or short, which, on closer consideration, was not too different from a normal leadership rtionship¡ªif Huang Qiangmin was willing to assume such a leadership role. ¡°I¡¯ll give Chief Yu a call,¡± Huang Qiangmin hesitated. Reverse secondment was quite satisfying, but the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment wasn¡¯t so easy to push around¡­ He was flipping through his contacts when he heard the sound of the elevator arriving. Several unfamiliar detectives walked up. ¡°Old Meng.¡± ¡°Even Little Tang is here.¡± The unfamiliar detectives greeted Tang Jia, Meng Chengbiao, and the others, indicating that they were also from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. At this, Huang Qiangmin involuntarily paused his dialing fingers and inquired, ¡°You all should know that our county¡¯s conditions are not as good as those in the provincial capital, not just in terms of food and lodging. The cases we encounter may not be taken as seriously as those in Changyang City. Our equipment, the conditions of ourboratory¡ªthey just can¡¯tpare with those in the capital¡­¡± ¡°Captain Huang, rest assured. We¡¯ve all been on assignments before, and we all have a very simple desire¡ªto solve as many cases as possible in our lifetime,¡± stated Meng Chengbiao, speaking on behalf of the group. Huang Qiangmin chuckled. ¡°The case-solving efficiency of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment is indeed high¡­¡± ¡°But it can¡¯tpare with Jiang Yuan.¡± Meng Chengbiao paused before adding, ¡°I¡¯m not expecting any promotions. I just want to solve cases.¡± For police officers, the path to promotion is quite narrow. It¡¯s actually quite simr to that of teachers. Basically, even if an ordinary grassroots police officer does well, the best they can aspire to is an instructor at a police station or a squad leader in the detective team. Reaching the position of a station chief takes an incredible amount of effort and luck. Of course, police ranks can be increased¡ªone rank every three years. Approaching his fifties, Meng Chengbiao also wore two bars and three stars, the same rank as Huang Qiangmin, but it wasn¡¯t much help. Eager to join Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, or even chasing after it¡ªMeng Chengbiao¡¯s intentions were very straightforward: he wanted to solve more cases and, incidentally, earn a few moremendations to boast to his grandson someday. Whether the younger officers were looking to forge their way across a single-log bridge or shared simr thoughts as Meng Chengbiao, they were also focused on solving cases. From this perspective, detectives at least were rtively straightforward. ¡°I¡¯m going to make a call,¡± dered Huang Qiangmin, stepping out tomunicate. When it was just about promoting Jiang Yuan, he did so with full confidence. But now with the adoption of a new model, he was still adjusting. Jiang Yuan was confident, the Director had ideas, but it was only Huang Qiangmin who felt slightly overwhelmed. After several calls, Huang Qiangmin, massaging his temples, returned to the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. He was surprised to see a group of people sitting in a circle in the office, with a PowerPoint presentation disyed on the wall. ¡°Director Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan had arrived and greeted, ¡°They called me, so I came over.¡± The advantage of a small county town was that a press of the gas pedal could get you anywhere. ¡°Oh¡­ is this your PowerPoint?¡± Huang Qiangmin looked up at the screen, vaguely remembering the case it featured. Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°They made it.¡± Huang Qiangmin looked around at the circle of people. Aside from Wang Zhong, everyone else was from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment; Ningtai County¡¯s own selection had not yet been finalized. However, the cases on the screen had already been mapped out in a mind map for Ningtai County¡­ ¡°This is a¡­ sheep theft case, right?¡± Huang Qiangmin focused on the screen for a few seconds before realizing, Are you a team of more than a dozen people focusing on a case worth just a few thousand yuan? ¡°I chose a few cases that are particrly suitable for bing acquainted with the local area. The key to this sheep theft case is that it has urred repeatedly over the past three years, and all incidents centered in Wen Township,¡± Wang Chuanxing rapidly clicked through several pages and exined, ¡°I¡¯vepiled the data from the past three-plus years, and the sheep, dogs, and geese lost in Wen Township alone amount to twenty or thirty.¡± Twenty or thirty animals lost over three years¡ªif all were stolen by the same person, it still pertained to a case of only a few tens of thousands of yuan¡­ Huang Qiangmin asked, ¡°Are you going to take on this case?¡± Everyone turned to look at Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s treat it as team-building,¡± Jiang Yuan thought, solving any case would do. However, Wang Chuanxing and the others began to think deeper. With the Jianyuan Warehouse murder and arson case from theirst operation still in the process of being wrapped up, could Jiang Yuan be dissatisfied with it? As a participant in the previous team-building activity, might Jiang Yuan consider ousting certain individuals from the team? Cognition wouldn¡¯t falter, and so fear would not diminish. As they fortified themselves mentally, they also began to seriously contemte the sheep theft case. Chapter 372 - 372 339 The Road to Jiang Village ?372: Chapter 339: The Road to Jiang Vige 372: Chapter 339: The Road to Jiang Vige ¡°Report!¡± Mu Zhiyang stood at attention, chest out, and shouted with a bit of excitement. Because the people from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment arrived so quickly that Huang Qiangmin and the others didn¡¯t have the opportunity to select carefully, they had to patiently wait and simply sent over Mu Zhiyang, a police officer familiar with Jiang Yuan. ¡°Come in,¡± Jiang Yuan said upon seeing Mu Zhiyang, feeling somewhat relieved, and introduced him to the others, ¡°Mu Zhiyang has worked on quite a few cases with me, and even got shot during the Mount Wulong case.¡± ¡°A real gun?¡± Tang Jia was very surprised, her breath catching in her voice. ¡°The opposite party was an old hunter with a 9mm pistol; we only had substandard firepower, so that¡¯s why he got shot. Otherwise, we would have riddled him with bullets long ago¡­¡± Under the gaze of the beautiful female police officer, Mu Zhiyang grew excited. The Mount Wulong wild man case was the biggest and most important he had been involved in, and getting shot was his greatest achievement. Wang Chuanxing and the others couldn¡¯t help but look over as well. There are still some firearm-rted cases these days, but more professional firearms are rarely seen in Shannan Province. ¡°It¡¯s actually not a big deal, working on cases with Captain Jiang, it¡¯s inevitable to encounter unexpected situations. Captain Jiang once encountered a criminal returning to the scene: that was really dangerous¡­¡± As Mu Zhiyang boasted about Jiang Yuan, he himself became increasingly ted. After a round of sharing andworking, Mu Zhiyang got to know his new colleagues, then asked, ¡°Which case are we working on now?¡± ¡°The sheep theft case in Wen Township,¡± Wang Chuanxing began to introduce it to Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang looked at the PPT, gazing at the dozens of pages of evidence, and at the more than a dozen policemen present, his expression slowly bing solemn, ¡°Are we preparing to uncover arge case from this sheep theft?¡± ¡°Currently there are no signs of a bigger case,¡± Wang Chuanxing said. ¡°Serial¡­¡± ¡°Not that serial.¡± ¡°The sheep owner¡­¡± ¡°Ordinary farmers.¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face showed confusion as he quietly asked Wang Chuanxing, looking at the dozen or so robust men and the pretty female officer in the room, ¡°Has the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment never seen a sheep?¡± ¡°There are too few suitable cases in Ningtai County,¡± Wang Chuanxing responded sinctly. The team had just been established and set to work on cases from Ningtai County, but many cases in the county had been eliminated. Of course, there were still quite a few cases left, but it wasn¡¯t appropriate to go for ones that were too difficult or had tooplicated a background. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be an auspicious start, and the entire team could get mired in a quagmire. Financial crimes in the countryside were something Jiang Yuan previously paid less attention to. In fact, financial crimes were considered rather low-end for a criminal police team. Compared to the traditional eight major types of cases, their priority was much lower, and they were easily overtaken in the backlog of cases. The sheep theft case Wang Chuanxing dug up this time could even be considered a major case among rural financial crimes. The previous officers had been meticulous, but in the end, it was unresolved. And to resolve such a case, the simplest and most direct method was to increase resource input. Before Mu Zhiyang even had a workstation, Wang Chuanxing was already handing him a file, ¡°Start with the surveince footage.¡± ¡°Eh, there¡¯s surveince?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked. ¡°Where is it from?¡± ¡°Each vige has surveince cameras at its entrance. Our n is to jot down the license tes of the vehicles that passed through on the day of the incident, then sift through them to see if any vehicle appears repeatedly,¡± Wang Chuanxing exined, ncing at Jiang Yuan. ¡°There are hundreds of vehicles passing through here each day, so it¡¯s a lot of work.¡± Mu Zhiyang was more than overwhelmed; he whispered, ¡°But what if the sheep thief didn¡¯t use a vehicle?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing hesitated for a few seconds before saying, ¡°Several victims mentioned hearing vehicle sounds, and given the sheep¡¯s size, we surmise that the thief likely used a vehicle.¡± He spoke with a tinge of uncertainty because Jiang Yuan had hardly been involved with the sheep theft case today. Mu Zhiyang was a criminal police officer too, albeit a bit inexperienced, yet Wang Chuanxing was not a professional criminal; his ability to hide things was at best on the level of an ex-girlfriend and he gave himself away within just a few words. Thus, Mu Zhiyang asked further, ¡°The viges in Wen Township have a lot of elderly people, right? Can the witnesses distinguish whether the engine sound was from a car or a motorcycle?¡± Wang Chuanxing was stunned for a moment and said, ¡°If it¡¯s sheep theft, how would they steal with a motorcycle?¡± Mu Zhiyangughed, ¡°If there are two people, they can just carry it away, and if it¡¯s one person, tying up a single sheep is also very quick. Then, they just tie it to the back¡­¡± ¡°Then, on the surveince camera, wouldn¡¯t it be obvious at a nce,¡± Tang Jia said. ¡°A motorcycle carrying a sheep, if spotted, is basically finding the suspect.¡± ¡°The paths motorcycles take are also quite different from those of cars,¡± Mu Zhiyang said. Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia both fell silent, they had indeed experienced simr cases. Even though murderers in homicide cases tend to have a stronger anti-surveince mindset, it doesn¡¯t mean that sheep thieves wouldn¡¯t entertain the idea of countering surveince. ¡°This¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing had never actually directed the investigation of a case and was just instinctively self-managing. Stumped by Mu Zhiyang¡¯s questions, he couldn¡¯t help but look to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°Let¡¯s keep an eye on the surveince for now. We might get results; if not, we¡¯ll discuss further.¡± By now, he had worked on dozens of cold cases involving homicide and in terms of experience, he was likely more seasoned than many detectives would be in their lifetimes. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan, with his many skills, was brimming with confidence, making him adept in handling cases. Regarding the sheep theft case, Jiang Yuan observed Wang Chuanxing and the others self-manage without muchment. The approach of monitoring surveince was quite standard for regr policemen and often yielded results. Of course, the possibilities Mu Zhiyang spected about did exist, but they had to be tested to be known. If the surveince approach didn¡¯t work, then they would try another tactic. However, given the current setup of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, switching to another n would likely involve utilizing Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical abilities. Given Wang Chuanxing¡¯s current level of boldness, he wasn¡¯t quite ready to take charge. Now with Jiang Yuan taking the lead, the group naturally transitioned into work mode, reminiscent of their time in the Criminal Police Detachment working on homicide cases. Some were monitoring surveince, some keeping records, others analyzing maps, organizing other relevant evidence, coordinating with traffic police and other departments. After a brief discussion, everyone was able to self-manage effectively. Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong integrated quickly into the process¡ªit was just a matter of monitoring, after all. When Huang Qiangmin came inter, he saw several officers furiously typing on their keyboards, a few squinting at screens, and some making phone calls and taking detailed notes with furrowed brows. Turning his attention to Jiang Yuan, who also seemed to be focused on a screen, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help but pull out his phone to check; the atmosphere didn¡¯t seem grim like there had been a death. ¡°Director Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up, prompted by Tang Jia. ¡°Hmm, how¡¯s the caseing along? Which one did you end up choosing?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked with a smile. ¡°Still on the sheep theft case, we¡¯re monitoring, no discoveries yet,¡± Wang Chuanxing replied obediently, quickly standing up as he saw Jiang Yuan do so. ¡°No rush, no rush,¡± Huang Qiangmin said cheerfully, looking around at the dozen or so people before turning to Jiang Yuan, ¡°How about taking a break, maybe have a meal together?¡± ¡°Oh, I was nning to take some food home to eat,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Would Director Huang like to join?¡± ¡°All going to your house?¡± Huang Qiangmin was somewhat unustomed to the idea; people nowadays rarely visited each other¡¯s homes. Since Jiang Yuan returned to Ningtai County, he had be very much like Jiang Vige, smoothly inviting, ¡°I¡¯ve got everything ready at home; it¡¯s very convenient for a meal. Plus, Wang Chuanxing and the others will be staying over at my ce as well.¡± ¡°Eh, we¡¯re staying at your house?¡± Wang Chuanxing was overly surprised. ¡°Aren¡¯t the dormitories at the detective team likely to be full?¡± Jiang Yuan asked Director Huang. Director Huang silently nodded; the detective team¡¯s dormitories were filthy and chaotic. Even if there were ten empty beds, it would still not be ideal for others to stay. Meng Chengbiao coughed twice, ¡°If there¡¯s no space in the detective team¡¯s dormitory, is there enough room at your ce, Captain Jiang?¡± ¡°Oh, you guys will stay downstairs. The downstairs is kept vacant as guest rooms,¡± Jiang Yuan paused and continued, ¡°The two floors below are all suites; you can stay there for a while and then we¡¯ll see how it goes.¡± Meng Chengbiao seemed overwhelmed and reflexively repeated, ¡°See how it goes¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯re heading to Wen Township tomorrow, we need to set out early in the morning,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to the surveince monitors that everyone was viewing, ¡°If there are no results by then, we¡¯ll go to the scene.¡± Chapter 373 - 373 340 Outrageous ?373: Chapter 340 Outrageous 373: Chapter 340 Outrageous Early morning. Tang Jia opened her eyes on the two-meter-four-wide bed, staring at the ceiling and zoning out for quite a while. The simply decorated room was not at all simplistic; rather than opting for lower-end loft designs, the more than five-meter-high ceilings featured beautiful split levels that utilized the entire 100-plus square meters of space for a single bedroom. Tang Jia felt she had never slept in such a spacious ce, but considering this was technically a business trip, the whole thing felt rather surreal to her. Amodation conditions for police on business can be truly terrible, which is probably why those tiny guesthouses in the city are thriving¡ªaren¡¯t they filled with cops and salespeople? After getting up and washing up, she found the bathroom was draped in marble, an alternative form of luxury. Tang Jia tidied herself up, thought for a moment, then swept her hair into a neat bun and headed out, taking the elevator straight to the top floor. Jiang Yuan¡¯s house was already bustling with activity. Officers staying here felt too embarrassed to sleep in, all rising early. Additionally, over a dozen people from Jiang Vige, both curious and idle, came over to have breakfast and enjoy the Western view. Mr. Jiang was bustling about cheerfully, with several aunts helping him. For the people of Jiang Vige, today felt somewhat like they were hosting a big event. The breakfast spread was almost like a banquet, with five or six types of cold dishes, seven or eight hot dishes, and another three or four soups filling the dining room tables. ¡°Officer Tang is here, grab a pair of chopsticks for yourself,¡± Jiang Fuzhen invited warmly, as if he were hosting the vigers. After understanding a bit more about Comrade Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s family background, everyone indeed found him to be genuinely unassuming. ¡°Help yourself,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a nod as he saw Tang Jia approaching. Too much politeness would only make everyone ufortable. Tang Jia took a bowl and chopsticks and sat at the table, seeing Wang Zhong, Mu Zhiyang, and others at her table digging in heartily, while Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei, sitting diagonally across, seemed a bit reserved, though their expressions showed they were beginning to enjoy themselves too. ¡°Eat up, everyone. Conditions in Wen Township are rather poor, so lunch will just be something simple,¡± Jiang Yuan saidfortably as he ate the food prepared by vigers. When you¡¯re away from home, the hardest thing to get used to is often your stomach. Jiang Yuan¡¯s little nest in Changyang City might be warm and cozy, but if we¡¯re talking about food, he could manage for a week or two, but any longer than a month, and he¡¯d start to feel discontent. Now back at home, eating his father¡¯s cooking and the soups the aunts had made, he felt very much at peace. Tang Jia, on the other hand, ate a few bites but then couldn¡¯t help putting her chopsticks down, saying, ¡°Captain Jiang, it¡¯s not that staying here isn¡¯t good¡­ It¡¯s just that the conditions are too good; doesn¡¯t it seem a bit inappropriate for us?¡± Jiang Yuan casually replied, ¡°It¡¯s up to you. It¡¯s only meant to be a transitional arrangement. Later, you can decide what you want to do.¡± His mention of what to do was not just about where to live; it also included whether or not to stay in Ningtai County. If they decided to stay in Ningtai County, finding a ce to live would obviously need to be sorted out. If it was only for a short stay, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t oppose it either; after all, they were all human resources. For those wanting to leave, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t stop them, nor could he really. Unless they wished to stay voluntarily, how could the conditions at the Ningtai County Bureau Criminal Police Brigade possibly retain these elite members from the Criminal Police Detachment? Highly educated PowerPoint experts may not seem particrly useful, but they are still a scarcemodity. In the end, in a ce like the police force, those who sweat profusely, exert themselves physically, and can endure nights without food aremonce, and unfortunately, the least valued. Tang Jia was taken aback by the question. Shen Yaowei from the side gave her a look and said, ¡°If you¡¯re not willing to stay in a free ce, you can pay for your amodation if you feel bad.¡± Shen Yaowei had set his heart on following Jiang Yuan after thest case. If he didn¡¯t follow Jiang Yuan, he would have to hang out with his cousin. But since his cousin was already seeking help from Jiang Yuan, why should he go out of his way to do otherwise? Besides, a cousin is always a cousin, but Captain Jiang wouldn¡¯t always be just Captain Jiang. Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t wait to be inseparable from Jiang Yuan and disliked Tang Jia¡¯s pretense of being above it all. Tang Jia said to herself, ¡°I can¡¯t afford such a nice ce.¡± ¡°Then find somewhere else to stay; don¡¯t drag us into it. If you really can¡¯t afford it¡­ heh heh heh¡­¡± Shen Yaowei wanted to crack a dirty joke, but since he didn¡¯t know everyone well enough yet, he refrained. Tang Jia had already considered this, so she said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Then I¡¯ll move out soon.¡± Jiang Yuan replied without any pretense, ¡°No problem.¡± As a beneficiary of demolition and relocation, Jiang Yuan had encountered many beautiful women. Generally, they didn¡¯t take advantage of him financially; it wasmon for them to go Dutch or even pick up the tab outright. Furthermore, Tang Jia was just a colleague. Seeing this, Shen Yaowei asked, ¡°Captain Jiang, can I mooch for a few more days?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan answered readily and added, ¡°The houses here are empty anyway. If you guys didn¡¯te, my dad would asionally have to ask someone to stay here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, houses will deteriorate if they¡¯re not lived in. They need people to bring life to them, to maintain the interior,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen as he carried in a pot of meat, chuckling. ¡°So many rooms not being lived in? Then why not rent them out? What a waste,¡± said Meng Chengbiao, who was older and felt the pinch of the potential rental ie. ¡°It¡¯s just not possible. When we first built this building, it was meant for short-term rentals, because our Jiang Vige relied on Siningshan and Tai River, and the demolition was due to the province developing the scenic area. But we¡¯ve had multiple demolitions, and after this ce was built, many vigers began to relocate and had nowhere to live. I got the most space, so I figured I¡¯d just let the vigers live here. I decided to live here too, and after getting used to it, the scenic area developed a new food street and amodations, so we stopped doing short-term rentals here. It¡¯s safer and saves trouble, too.¡± After all, Jiang Fuzhen became richer and richer from the demolitions, and the original idea of making money from short-term rentals waspletely demolished, leading to a focus on consumption instead. Some of the police officers seated there understood what was said, some did not, but both the ones who understood and those who didn¡¯t fell silent. After breakfast. The group drove towards Wen Township. This was when the depth of resources at the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment showed. They could only provide two cars¡ªtwo cars for a sheep theft case was already a special approval. The police officers who arrived by car had to make do with using their private vehicles for official purposes. Thus, the convoy heading for Wen Township consisted of limited edition big V8 G-wagons, as well as 2.0T Camrys and Tiguans. Of course, the main force was a brand-new Great Wall Cannon from four years ago, a nearly new Santana from fourteen years ago, and an eighty-five-new Jinbei van with half a million kilometers on it. Everyone arrived at the destination without any trouble. The chief of Wen Township Police Station, Song Jinyou, had also specially made time to wee Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team in the station¡¯s yard. Seeing the G-wagon, Camrys, and Tiguans driving into the yard, Song Jinyou¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change at all. He knew that Jiang Yuan was from Jiang Vige and had brought people from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. In fact, he had heard stories about Jiang Yuan so often, he could grow callouses on his ears. Upon seeing the Great Wall Cannon from four years ago entering the yard, Song Jinyou¡¯s expression changed slightly. That car was Huang Qiangmin¡¯s pride and joy, not something just anyone could borrow, a clear indicator of Jiang Yuan¡¯s standing in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eyes. When he saw the nearly new Santana from fourteen years ago, Song Jinyou¡¯s brows furrowed slightly. Just for a sheep theft case, involving Jiang Yuan was a bit excessive, let alone providing two squad cars, which puzzled Song Jinyou. At that moment, the Jinbei van filled with people slowly entered the yard. Song Jinyou took a deep breath. Something was off. Twenty years of experience as a detective told Song Jinyou that such arge police presence meant that a special situation had arisen. ¡°Everyone needs to stay alert,¡± Song Jinyou instructed before he went forward to greet Jiang Yuan with a solemn expression. Liu Wenkai, who hade in the same car, introduced Jiang Yuan and Song Jinyou. Liu Wenkai worked on major cases in the detective team, but there hadn¡¯t been many major cases recently, so he was actually a bit more idle than the average squad leader, and thus had been sent over by Huang Qiangmin. Upon meeting Liu Wenkai, Song Jinyou felt as though his suspicions had been confirmed and asked outright, ¡°It¡¯s a major case, right?¡± Jiang Yuan was startled, ¡°No, it¡¯s still the sheep theft case we talked about before.¡± ¡°You can hide it from others, but you can¡¯t hide it from me,¡± Song Jinyou guessed with a chuckle. Liu Wenkai, unable to help but grin and bear it, intervened, ¡°Old Song, there¡¯s no need for any roundabout ways; Jiang Yuan and his team are just getting some practice.¡± ¡°Practice bying all the way to Wen Township?¡± Song Jinyouughed, ¡°With so many people?¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Liu Wenkai suddenly found himself at a loss for words. ¡°Out with it, which case are you guys working on? I¡¯ll support you all the way,¡± said Song Jinyou. Jiang Yuan stated, ¡°It really is the sheep theft case.¡± Song Jinyou¡¯s expression darkened, ¡°If you keep covering things up, I won¡¯t be able to help.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what to say and turned to look at Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai spoke slowly, ¡°When we used to arrest people for solicitation, we¡¯d often say that two people who can¡¯t even recall each other¡¯s names as on their IDs, yet have rented a hotel room and taken off their clothes, with the man being so ugly¡ªI mean, you say they¡¯re not there for prostitution, who would believe it?¡± Jiang Yuan was caught off-guard by the question, thought for a moment, and then said to Wang Chuanxing, ¡°Show them the PPT.¡± A quarter of an hourter. Song Jinyou fell silent. If judged just by the content of the PPT, he believed that this sheep theft case indeed had been given the kind of attention reserved for major and important cases. ¡°I would have never thought,¡± Song Jinyou sighed deeply. Liu Wenkai nodded seriously, ¡°That¡¯s right. There was this one time I met a guy, ugly and short, didn¡¯t know the woman on the bed, and although she was somewhat attractive, he really hadn¡¯t paid for sex. It was very bizarre¡­¡± Chapter 374 - 374 341 Village BD ?374: Chapter 341 Vige BD 374: Chapter 341 Vige BD Song Jinyou knew Liu Wenkai, but they weren¡¯t particrly close, and unable to withstand Liu Wenkai¡¯s jokes, he said, ¡°Captain Liu, let¡¯s stick to the topic of sheep.¡± Liu Wenkai was actually looking forward to telling the neers from the criminal police brigade about the past, but seeing the situation, he said, ¡°All right then, have you found any of the sheep so far?¡± Song Jinyou, feeling helpless by the question and seeing therge number of people who hade, said, ¡°To tell the truth, we haven¡¯t paid enough attention to this case.¡± Song Jinyou admitted defeat and looked at Jiang Yuan. He was just a police station chief, after all, and solving cases wasn¡¯t his main duty. Besides, as more rted cases cropped up, the investigation had been transferred to the criminal police team, which didn¡¯t have much to do with his station. ¡°Shall we go to the scene then?¡± Jiang Yuan stood up, signaling the end of the PPT presentation. Song Jinyou naturally nodded, followed by the rustling sound of many people getting to their feet. ¡°Well¡­ okay then.¡± Song Jinyou wasn¡¯t unfamiliar with seeing a dozen or twenty people investigating a scene together, but what kind of cases were those¡­ Song Jinyou shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the issue anymore. The nearest sheep theft site to the police station was about five or six kilometers away, which would just be a taxi¡¯s starting fare in the city, but in a tiny township like Wen Township, it was already deep into the rural area. Sima Vige. As the convoy arrived, the vige head, party secretary, vige ountant, and other officials all came pouring out, especially the elderly who were perennially stationed at the Sima Vige CBD, each happier than if they had eaten sheep themselves. Jiang Yuan looked around and saw that the vige was mostly upied by elderly people of retirement age or older. The vige head and party secretary seemed to be around 50 years old, appeared to be in good health, but were still not considered young. This was apletely different sight from Jiang Vige. The stolen sheep pen was located by the roadside, run by the vige¡¯s women¡¯s director and her husband. Most of the stolen sheep, dogs, and geese were not far from the road, probably to facilitate theft and transport. For the police, this meant less evidence and shorter crime execution time. The women¡¯s director of Sima Vige was among the youngest in the vige, looking to be in her forties, but when she talked about the sheep thieves, she sounded as if she had 80 years of cursing experience. While she was exining the situation, she still found time to curse a couple of times. ¡°The sheep disappeared while we were having a meal, without even a bleat,¡± the women¡¯s director rattled on, getting angrier as she spoke: ¡°They pick the sheep carefully; when my son-inw came over, I couldn¡¯t bear to ughter it for him, and it got stolen by these damned thieves. I should have known, I¡¯d rather feed it to the dogs than let them have it¡­¡± Wang Chuanxingmented, ¡°Looking at the other few cases, the criminals should have experience in raising sheep or trading live sheep. We¡¯ve seen simr situations in other cases.¡± Shen Yaowei said, ¡°The stolen dogs are all ck and yellow. They must have been taken to be eaten. Eating ck, then yellow, then mottled dogs, people are particr about this.¡± Tang Jia couldn¡¯t bear to say, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, shouldn¡¯t only ck dogs be stolen?¡± ¡°Do you see any ck dogs in this vige?¡± Shen Yaowei countered. Tang Jia paused, then recalling her observations since entering the vige, she really hadn¡¯t seen any ck dogs and said, ¡°Why is that? Don¡¯t they keep ck dogs here?¡± ¡°Keeping ck dogses with a lot of considerations, many old people don¡¯t keep them. Moreover, now there are fewer people in the vige, and dogs are free-roaming. A ck dog popping out in the middle of the night, unseen, could scare someone into falling over, even killing them,¡± exined Shen Yaowei, before adding, ¡°But, I think the main reason is that they taste good. ck dogs are always the first choice, and as you keep eating ck dogs, there are fewer left.¡± A few officers whispered among themselves, and sensing hope, the women¡¯s director couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°Well, I want to know, if this case is solved, can our sheep be returned?¡± ¡°The sheep may have already been eaten,¡± Wang Chuanxing replied before adding, ¡°Of course, if the criminals are willing to make restitution, you might be able to receive somepensation.¡± ¡°How much would that be?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to say exactly, you might get the value of the sheep,¡± Wang Chuanxing paused, then said, ¡°But that¡¯s also uncertain.¡± ¡°It would be best if we could getpensated. We vigers don¡¯t have much money,¡± the women¡¯s director said, bing sorrowful: ¡°My husband is not in good health and can¡¯t do hardbor, and nobody would hire him outside. The two of us raising sheep all year only make just over twenty thousand, not even reaching thirty thousand. Now we¡¯re missing over a thousand all of a sudden, it really breaks my heart¡­¡± The pen had about thirty sheep in total, which indeed weren¡¯t worth much. The detectives from the big cities were somewhat stunned. The Criminal Police Brigade was not like the Criminal Police Detachment. The detectives from the county¡¯s detachment, with years of work experience, had seen too many poor people. It¡¯s not the same for the brigade; some detectives might only work on a few major cases in three to five years of their careers. Once the women¡¯s director opened up, she began to pour out her heart: ¡°We raise sheep at home for such a small amount of money, we have to give some to the kids, prepare for the New Year, and cover the cost of weddings and funerals, as well as home repairs and buying things like oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. We hardly save a few thousand yuan a year. Honestly, I can¡¯t even bear to ughter a sheep for our own consumption, let alone at the New Year¡­¡± As she spoke, she started wiping tears and then thumped her husband, ¡°Marrying someone incapable, working all year round with endlessbor, endless hardship, and no pension. If I keep working like this for another twenty years, I¡¯ll die without any issues, but then my child will have no one to help take care of their kids¡­¡± ¡°Auntie, let¡¯s first look at the scene, I¡¯ll take your statement,¡± Tang Jia offered proactively, leading the women¡¯s director to one side. Jiang Yuan paced around the sheep pen twice, confirming that the situation he saw in the photos matched the scene before him. There were actually quite a few clues left at the time of the incident. There was a set of footprints, but the analysis done by Yan yielded no effective results, and were merely recorded in the case file. There were marks of the tool used to cut open the sheep pen gate, again analyzed by Yan, but it turned out to be useless number two. Some wool from the missing sheep was found, which in theory could bepared if the sheep were found to confirm whether it was the same one. But if that sheep had been eaten, then the wool would be useless number three. For a case like this, the normal investigative approach would be to check surveince footage and interview people for eyewitness ounts. In the viges of the past, where simr incidents frequently urred, this method could often provide some clues. However, in a vige like Sima Vige, where the poption had sharply decreased and consisted mostly of elderly people, the situation was drastically different. Everyone had simr routines, sight, and hearing, with reduced areas of activity. Fewer people would hide in a corner for a tryst, and hence, coincidentally catch a glimpse of the suspect¡­ However, if all 20 cases were carefully reviewed, logically, more clues would emerge. ¡°Are all the vigers here?¡± Jiang Yuan, having surveyed the scene, asked the vige chief beside him. The vige chief looked around, beginning to count the people. ¡°Call everyone from the vige out,¡± Jiang Yuan requested Meng Chengbiao, who was standing nearby. Meng Chengbiao immediately understood and started whispering instructions after pulling a few people aside. After a while, all the vigers had gathered together. Jiang Yuan looked at everyone¡¯s feet one by one before announcing their dismissal, prompting discussions among the crowd. Meng Chengbiao moved closer and asked, ¡°Do you suspect an inside job by someone from the vige?¡± ¡°Not necessarily from this vige, but it must be someone familiar with it. Judging by the scene, there weren¡¯t any unnecessary movements,¡± Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, ¡°Looking at the footprints, the culprit should be between 55 to 57 years old, male, weighing around 150 pounds, and no taller than 1.7 meters, somewhere between 1.65 to 1.7 meters¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had alreadye to these conclusions while looking at the photographs earlier. However, because his findings were toomon, they weren¡¯t very helpful. Whether it was age, weight, or height, the characteristics Jiang Yuan deduced from the footprints were those of a typical rural man. If he had concluded an age of 35 or 37 years, or a height of 1.8 meters,bined with the fact that the culprit was familiar with rural areas, the case might have been cracked right then and there. It was only after examining the specific conditions of the soil at the scene and realizing no new information could be gleaned from it that Jiang Yuan had decided to focus on the feet. Understanding this, Meng Chengbiao simply instructed people to take photos for the record, suggesting, ¡°Why don¡¯t we get two people from each vige to collect photos of their feet?¡± ¡°That¡¯s possible, but there¡¯s no rush. You all aren¡¯t familiar with the situation, how can you run around the viges?¡± Jiang Yuan muttered. The chief from the Wen Township Police Station was apanying them now, and sending people off to each vige would turn into a challenge. With so many viges, all popted by middle-aged and elderly people, even the police officers from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, divided into pairs, could easily encounter trouble. Moreover, seeing feet and photos of feet were different things. Jiang Yuan, onsite, could analyze someone¡¯s gait if uncertain, which wasn¡¯t possible with just photos. Jiang Yuan did not borate further, simply stating, ¡°Let¡¯s discuss after viewing the scene. Besides the footprints, I want to investigate other things as well.¡± Tool marks were indeed another clue, but like the footprints, theycked aparison subject. After visiting one vige and then another, by the time they had reached the third vige, everybody was showing signs of fatigue. The routine was the same¡ªexamine the scene, find people, record notes, and take photos, etc. Tang Jia was still taking statements from the victims. After a while, she came over and whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve found something.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°I asked them what they were doing at the time of the incident, and delivery trucks hade to all three viges,¡± Tang Jia exined. ¡°Because they delivered to small stores at the entrance of the viges, some people didn¡¯t pay much attention and nobody asked specifically. Moreover, these trucks usually travel on vige roads and might not use the national road on the day of the incident.¡± The previous interviews had been too simplistic, and it was only because Tang Jia¡¯s questioning was meticulous and careful that this clue emerged. This was a kind of clue that constituted a breakthrough and progress. Naturally, Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Look for the delivery person.¡± Chapter 375 - 375 342 Fixed Evidence ?375: Chapter 342 Fixed Evidence 375: Chapter 342 Fixed Evidence Tang Jia found a breakthrough clue, which somewhat excited her colleagues in the same team. Everyone was following Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead, and they were indeed very serious and attentive in their work, but clues are a bit like treasure hunting, it¡¯s only at the moment you find the treasure that all your work is vindicated, and the experience of the treasure hunter is deemed sessful, and the process is considered effortful, otherwise, it¡¯s all in vain. Everyone hopes their hard work is recognized, especially those who have indeed put in a great deal of effort. Even Wang Zhong began reviewing the photos he had taken with his camera, while more officers shifted their interest to the delivery man. The delivery driver, in his fifties, was slightly overage for a big city, but a bit young for a vige. If he had a vehicle, he often could take on the deliveries for several viges. This time, a group of young people, in order to catch him, had taken on the business of many viges themselves. Jiang Yuan returned to the police station with Song Jinyou and others to wait. The suspect hadn¡¯t exposed himself or shown any inclination to flee, so the capture wouldn¡¯t be too difficult; a few young men should be able to easily pin him down. After all, it was just sheep stealing. Almost immediately, Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei¡¯s group brought back the criminal suspects, and the only surprise was that they brought back three people, not one. ¡°One to tie up the sheep, one to drive, and another to keep watch and cook the meat,¡± Wang Chuanxing said as he brought the people into the interrogation room and then came out to brief Jiang Yuan. ¡°Did they eat the stolen sheep?¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too surprised, but still a little taken aback. Nowadays, crimes are mostly motivated by emotions, followed by money, and it¡¯s indeed rare to see deliberate crimesmitted just for something to eat. Of course, stealing sheep is also to illegally obtain money or benefits, but such a direct consumption mode is indeed quite old-fashioned. Wang Chuanxing nodded and said, ¡°It¡¯s just a standard case of opportunistic theft. They even made a smallpartment in the car, welded an area fifty centimeters wide, just to hide sheep and dogs. We also found arge pot, a torch for burning hair, and so on at their home¡­¡± ¡°Have they turned professional?¡± Song Jinyou¡¯s expression became serious. This was a criminal gang operating under his jurisdiction. Wang Chuanxing replied, ¡°I don¡¯t know about other things, but they do love to eat, and what they cook is quite aromatic. When I arrived, they were roasting goose, and it smelled pretty good¡­¡± ¡°Did you find any tools?¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue with the topic of goose eating. Wang Chuanxing took out his phone, opened the photos, and showed Jiang Yuan. ¡°The pliers match, and so do the shoes. Then there¡¯s no problem,¡± Jiang Yuan said with reassurance after ncing at a few photos. As long as they hadn¡¯t caught the wrong person, the rest would be standard procedure. With Meng Chengbiao conducting the interrogation and Wang Chuanxing preparing the PPT, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t worried about any more unforeseen events. Sittingfortably and sipping tea, within a short time, Meng Chengbiao indeed came over to report, ¡°They confessed. These three guys would steal a sheep, or a dog, or a goose whenever they felt like having a feast, thinking it¡¯s no big deal to be petty thieves.¡± ¡°Multiple thefts, and it¡¯s still no big deal,¡± Song Jinyou huffed, and added, ¡°If we add up the amounts from 20 thefts, it could reach a substantial sum.¡± Multiple thefts and burry are covered by the samew, including theft of public or private property with a considerable amount, or repeat thefts, burries, theft with weapons, pickpocketing, all punishable by up to three years¡¯ imprisonment. Less than three years might seem manageable, and after indictment, the actual sentence might be just over a year, less than two years. But the amount determined in thew doesn¡¯t align withmon perception. What is considered ¡°a considerable amount¡± in theft is generally just a few thousand yuan. And when it exceeds 30,000 yuan, it can be deemed a substantial amount. Thetter part of the samew specifies that arge amount entails a sentence of three to ten years. As for the ¡°especiallyrge amount,¡± depending on the region, it usually refers to three hundred or four hundred thousand yuan or more, and an especiallyrge amount merits a fixed-term imprisonment of over ten years or life imprisonment. In other words, if someone breaks into a ce and takes a piece of abalone, they¡¯re looking at more than ten years right off the bat. These three sheep thieves were actually quite pitiable, with over 20 sheep, dogs, and geese stolen. If they could all be charged, it might just exceed the threshold of 30,000 yuan, which would fall into the category of ¡®a huge amount.¡¯ The starting sentence for this would be three years, and it¡¯s very easy to end up with a four- or five-year sentence. Meng Chengbiao continued to disclose the details of the case, ¡°They often frequented Wen Township. Every time they delivered goods to a vige, they would scout out the location in advance. When they got a craving, they would take on a delivery job to this area. After delivering the goods, they would steal some sheep, and then head back home to cook and eat.¡± ¡°Moreover, they imed they wouldn¡¯t steal more than necessary. Their exact words were they¡¯d only take what they needed to eat, a sort of ¡®honor among thieves¡¯.¡± ¡°The guy who was responsible for stealing sheep and dogs had previously raised sheep, so he was very skilled at it. His age and physical description, including his height and weight, matched the footprints¡­¡± ¡°The lookout was a chef, the driver was the one who gave the ideas, plus, he had a vehicle.¡± ¡°They were very familiar with surveince cameras, always choosing different routes to avoid them.¡± Meng Chengbiao spilled all the intelligence gathered from the interrogation in one breath, then added quietly, ¡°So, this case is considered cracked, right?¡± ¡°Of course, it¡¯s cracked,¡± Jiang Yuan said, curiosity piqued. ¡°Normally, one person stealing one sheep at a time makes sense, but why would three people steal together and only take one each time? Wouldn¡¯t it be better to keep a couple more, or make a big heist and buy sheep to eat afterwards¡­¡± ¡°They probably weren¡¯t that short on money. It was all just to eat.¡± Meng Chengbiao organized his thoughts and said, ¡°Simply put, all three of them were henpecked, handing all their earnings to their wives, so they had no money even for treats. That¡¯s why they stole to eat. And they didn¡¯t dare to take the leftovers home, so they would continue to eat it over the next two or three days. So they didn¡¯t really want to steal more¡­¡± ¡°No wonder,¡± Jiang Yuan understood instantly. Yu Wenshu was also henpecked, so it was nothing unusual. Song Jinyou was also tutting with noise, then chuckled and said, ¡°You¡¯ve solved twenty cases in one fell swoop, haha¡­ Actually, considering that, your team really isn¡¯t too big for the amount of evidence from over twenty cases that needs to be secured¡­¡± Nowadays, both confessions and physical evidence are needed to file a case, although they are not strictly required, but it is certainly better to have them. ording to Song Jinyou¡¯s experience, organizing evidence for 20 cases was definitely a grueling task. It¡¯s like doing 20 sets of homework assignments. It¡¯s not that you don¡¯t know how to do them, but they still require scratching your head and a great deal of time and effort¡­ Jiang Yuan had also entered a contemtive state by this time, nodding and saying, ¡°Indeed, there¡¯s quite a bit of evidence for over twenty cases.¡± At that moment, Song Jinyou looked at Jiang Yuan with extreme alertness, starting to think of ways to refuse in his mind. ¡°Compile all the photos of the tools you found,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s contemtion was more about from which angle to secure the evidence. Tool marks were his current forte, and now it was time to utilize them as his finishing move. Many thieves tend to stick to the same tools for a long time, which is entirely different from murderers. It might be because theft involves certain technical skills, and thieves seek to work with tools they¡¯refortable with. Moreover, the value from a single theft is limited, so it¡¯s almost impossible for a thief to switch gear every time theymit a crime. That wouldn¡¯t be theft anymore; it would be working for the hardware store owner. Soon, Tang Jia brought over the relevant case files and photos. Especially the tools recovered from the arrest scene, which were not few in number. After looking at a few pictures, Jiang Yuan began to assign numbers to the tools in the photos. Tang Jia understood right away and quickly stepped forward to help. Once they finished numbering the tools in the photos, Jiang Yuan started listing them in rows. Song Jinyou was confused by their actions and couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°What does it mean to bring all these numbers together?¡± ¡°It represents the tools involved in a case. Like for this case, case number seven, they used pliers, chain, rope, and there were also tire tracks left behind, we can consider these as tools,¡± Jiang Yuan exined as he worked, sorting the evidence for twenty cases in a matter of minutes. What remained was simply the task of writing the report. Song Jinyou watched from the side, utterly amazed, feeling like a poor student witnessing a top student breeze through homework. ¡°Director Song, have there been any cases at your stationtely? Let us help you out,¡± Jiang Yuan offered casually. It was a massive effort toe all this way; they couldn¡¯t just head back without doing something. Chapter 376 - 376 343 Poisoning Case ?376: Chapter 343 Poisoning Case 376: Chapter 343 Poisoning Case Song Jinyou suddenly realized that he had encountered a great opportunity. Jiang Yuan¡¯s strength was beyond doubt, evident from the fact that he had his own team and young people from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment were willing to join him. It was extremely difficult to get a position in Changyang City. Having secured a position there and then willingly following Jiang Yuan to Ningtai County, when such trust was based on ability, how strong must that ability be? Song Jinyou hadn¡¯t originally thought that he could make use of Jiang Yuan¡¯s strength. He had heard about the high price Jiang Yuanmanded when he offered his services to Changyang City. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan now took the initiative to offer to work on a case, which effectively meant using a wish-granting bottle for free. Why be polite? The first case that crossed Song Jinyou¡¯s mind was an unusual one, so he said, ¡°Speaking ofplex and bizarre cases, we really do have one here. How about a poisoning case?¡± In Song Jinyou¡¯s expectation, it was more like inviting someone to work on the poisoning case together. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Let¡¯s take a look.¡± Police substations don¡¯t handle homicide cases. Theoretically,rger cases are handed over to the detective squad. Therefore, the mostmon cases at the substations are fights, thefts, and small-scale crimes. Of course, cases in the town¡¯s substations are somewhat moreplex, and especially when the detective squad is busy, some cases are dealt with by the substations themselves. Song Jinyou cleared his throat twice and said, ¡°This case is from Lanzhu Vige, and it hasn¡¯t been filed yet.¡± There had been a report but no case filed, which was a current sore point in police-citizen rtions. Both the police and the public have their own grievances. On this matter, various government levels had already established multiple auxiliary means. Normally, if ordinary people encountered a situation where the police wouldn¡¯t file a case, the simplest method was to request a notice of refusal to file from the police officer involved. In cases where this demand is made and adhered to, the police officer will usually reconsider whether to file the case and give a serious reply. In big cities, unless the situation was such that a case could not be filed, like certain civil disputes, people normally received rtively satisfactory responses. The Lanzhu Vige mentioned by Song Jinyou clearly didn¡¯t know how to navigate this aspect well. Jiang Yuan became somewhat curious and said, ¡°You haven¡¯t filed the case, and yet you still keep it in mind?¡± There was no need for false modesty; a detective like Jiang Yuan, who had handled more than a dozen homicide cold cases, was considered first-rate nationwide. With a growing reputation in Shan Nan Province, Song Jinyou offered him this case at once, even though it hadn¡¯t been filed yet, indicating there must be some special circumstances. Song Jinyou sighed and said, ¡°This poisoning case in Lanzhu Vige is a bit unusual, even peculiar. The first report was madest year, concerning the death of their vige livestock, including chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, cattle, and sheep, which had been happening for several years. This time they reported because fish in the pond died, and the loss was estimated to be around ten thousand yuan, prompting them to file a police report.¡± ¡°So, you mean the poisoning has been ongoing for several years?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°It appears so. The problem is, we haven¡¯t confirmed the poisoning,¡± Song Jinyou said with a sense of helplessness. ¡°Lanzhu Vige is the most remote and isted vige in our township, deep within the mountains. The roads are bad, and it used to take over ten hours to reach there. They actually didn¡¯t likeing out to report to the police. It is only in the past two years, as the roads improved, and more vigers went out to work, that they became aware of the possibility of poisoning.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°After the report, we called for experts from the township¡¯s agriculture technical station to join us in checking, but too much time had passed. They came out on the third day after the fish died, and reported on the fourth day. By the time we arrived, it had already been a week, and no poisons were detected in the water samples we collected. The matter was left at that.¡± Song Jinyou said, scratching his head, ¡°In the following few months, two more pigs died in their vige. We got there quickly this time, but just like before, we couldn¡¯t detect any poison. Then came this year, and a donkey died. We arrived on the third day, but still, no poison was found.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s not just that, in the span of over a year, three incidents urred. Chickens, ducks, and geese also died in the meantime, but no one reported those cases.¡± ¡°Another issue is that some of the vigers in Lanzhu Vige aren¡¯t very supportive of our investigation. They believe it¡¯s evil spirits or that they¡¯ve offended a mountain god or something. In short, they would rather solve problems by resorting to shamans. If it weren¡¯t for a few younger vigers who have stepped forward, they probably wouldn¡¯t even want to report these incidents.¡± Listening to Song Jinyou¡¯s story, Tang Jia¡¯s impression of him changed significantly, and she couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Chief Song, you¡¯re still concerned about them? Cases like these are indeed troublesome if the victims themselves are not interested in solving them¡­¡± ¡°Not all victims are unwilling to report,¡± Song Jinyou said a bit sheepishly. ¡°This year, about the family whose pig died, even though they haven¡¯t had any morerge livestock die, their chickens, ducks, and geese have continued to die. Their son hase to find me at the station a few times. I¡¯ve been to Lanzhu Vige twice as well, but to be honest, I really don¡¯t have any clues about this case.¡± Poisoning cases are very difficult to investigate, especially those that are not targeted at specific individuals. In urban environments, they mostly rely on surveince cameras. asionally, a case can be solved by tracing the source of the poison, but this method is actually very difficult. It requires very urate identification of the poison, which generally can only be done in provincial-levelboratories. In rural areas, both of these methods are very limited. As for surveince, it¡¯s needless to say that rural areas hardly have any. And if there is any, it¡¯s certainly not of much use. As for relying on the source of the poison, unless it¡¯s a very special kind of poison, the pesticides and insecticidesmonly used in rural areas are already excellent sources of poison. Moreover, they¡¯re often simr in variety and batch, making them almost impossible to trace. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach to solving cases rarely relied on surveince and physicochemical analysis. So, he directly asked Song Jinyou, ¡°Chief Song, what evidence do you currently have?¡± ¡°We took photographs of the dead fish in the pond, the dead pigs, and the dead donkey in these three incidents. I¡¯ve already asked someone to get them. Additionally, we¡¯ve recorded some statements. I believe the perpetrator must be someone from the vige, but with hundreds of vigers¡­¡± Song Jinyou shook his head. ¡°Is the vige that far away still home to several hundred people?¡± ¡°Locals live on the mountain resources, so their ie is actually quite good. More than half of themmute between the vige and outside. When it¡¯s time to harvest mountain goods, theye back to do some work, digging bamboo shoots, catching bamboo rats, picking mushrooms, and collecting herbs. They also grow medicinal herbs in the vige. And there are these pig and chicken farmers¡­ none of them have been doing well these past two years¡­¡± Song Jinyou seemed to have really studied the case, speaking with authority. ¡°What were your previous considerations?¡± Jiang Yuan continued to inquire, as it was important to know which paths had been dead ends for the predecessors. Song Jinyou, having opened up, spoke frankly, ¡°At first, I made a list of suspects and tried to find someone based on the time they were not present, as the locals all have roughly fixed times for going out to work and rhythms for returning. But I didn¡¯t discover anything significant¡­¡± ¡°As for the victims, they are scattered throughout the vige. I tried to findmonalities among the victims, but found none.¡± ¡°The main issue is the poison. Initially, my idea was to wait for a while and see if the next case would provide a breakthrough. But even with thest incident involving the dead donkey, we found no opportunities.¡± As they were speaking, the photographs were brought over, and Jiang Yuan began to look through them one by one. From the photos alone, it was evident that Song Jinyou had been diligent. It made sense, considering he had been the one to bring up the case. He had clearly given it quite some thought. However, it was also apparent from the photos that Song Jinyou¡¯s ability to solve cases was not strong. He had simply taken as many photos as possible. So, the photos included the corpses of the dead fish and pigs, the crime scene, and also photos of the spectators. Chapter 377 - 377 344 Small Dosage ?377: Chapter 344: Small Dosage 377: Chapter 344: Small Dosage Jiang Yuan spread out some photos on the table and began to ponder them. This was his usual method, as many of his backlog cases started with photos. The other police officers in the room were either looking at the photos with him, doing their work, or taking a break to y on their phones. Song Jinyou paid close attention to Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and also stood up to take a look. They were all photos they had seen before, some even taken by Song Jinyou himself. He wasn¡¯t sure if Jiang Yuan could discern anything new¡­ ¡°I notice that there are quite a few people in the crowd of onlookers who appear repeatedly¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang ventured tentatively. His conjecture was the simplest and most natural one. Not to mention criminals revisiting crime scenes, most people would take special interest in the progress of the investigation aftermitting a crime. It was a natural response, as having a criminal case hanging over one¡¯s head would be the major event in life for most people, impossible to ignore. Listening to Mu Zhiyang¡¯sments, Song Jinyou nced at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Everyone in the photos is from the vige, and moreover, they were all taken two or three days after the crime urred.¡± Mu Zhiyang let out an ¡°Oh,¡± as he came to understand. Taking crime scene photos with a gap of two or three days between each and asserting a perpetrator¡¯s presence amongst them would indeed be too imprecise. If there were any irregrities at the scene, the culprit would have had two or three days to return and tamper with it. The vigers¡¯ curiosity would likely exin their presence as onlookers; after all, it was a vige far from the city, and suddenly a group of outsiders, especially police, garnered normal public interest. Furthermore, the timing of the photos could not cover everyone¡¯s presence at the scene. Consequently, using the onlookers in the photos as a basis for conjecture or analysis made little sense. ¡°In that case, the perpetrator still had the chance to destroy the evidence,¡± Tang Jia added from the side. Song Jinyou nodded, ¡°That¡¯s the troublesome part. Lanzhu Vige is very secluded, and surveince is impossible. The moment an outsider enters the vige, they get noticed and word spreads quickly. There¡¯s no chance of staying hidden.¡± The expressions of the police officers present became more solemn. Although it¡¯s said that every contact leaves a trace, the difficulty of crime scene investigation soars if the scene is tampered with once, let alone twice. Or in other words, for ordinary investigation personnel and technicians, the traces left behind are not the same. This was equivalent to continuously altering an exam question and then asking students to solve it; naturally, those who tackled itter would have lower scores. For those proficient in integrating knowledge, such difficulty was outside the scope of what could be expected from technicians at the local police stations or county bureaus. Everyone then turned their gaze back to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled, picked out a few photos of footprints from the pile, and said, ¡°My thinking is, recognizing faces isn¡¯t reliable, but there are fewer footprints at the scene, so we can still analyze them.¡± In rural settings, surveince footage and even DNA are not particrly useful, with thetter dposing very quickly in such environments. However, footprints in rural areas or the wilderness tend to be more helpful. On the one hand, the soil in rural areas is often soft enough to retain footprints, and on the other hand, dust can also leave plenty of traces. In the photos taken by Song Jinyou, there were arge number of footprints left by the fish pond, pigsty, and donkey pen. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Compared to the photos of the crowd of onlookers, the footprints are actually closer to the actual scene. Looking at the photos from these three cases, the footprints at the fish pond case are the most chaotic; it seems that people had been visiting the site for several days in a row. However, the footprints from the dead pig and dead donkey cases are rtively well-preserved. Although footprints from several days can be seen, it¡¯s generally possible to distinguish the footprints from the day of the incident, as well as those from subsequent days.¡± ¡°What, you can distinguish them?¡± Song Jinyou was shocked and asked, ¡°Can you tell the difference between footprints someone made today and the same person¡¯s footprints tomorrow?¡± ¡°For the footprints made on adjacent days, in such conditions, there is a high probability of telling them apart,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. ¡°Looking at the soft ground footprints, you see the hardness of the edges and the color grayscale, all of which are rtively easy to differentiate¡­¡± Song Jinyouughed dryly, toozy to look. ¡®Easy to differentiate¡¯¡ªif that were the case, the forensic experts in the city might as well jump off a building. Wang Zhong next to him also let out a chuckle. As a crime scene technician, he had only a basic level of expertise in footprint analysis. He even had to carefully examine marks to differentiate between pig and donkey prints. ¡°In summary, through footprints, we can at least narrow down a few individuals,¡± Jiang Yuan said without intending to offer a lecture. Lecturing to experts makes sense, but to someone like Song Jinyou¡ªJiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to convince him. A direct order would suffice, so there was even less need to exin so much. ¡°This footprint appears with the highest frequency,¡± Jiang Yuan said, pulling over a photo and circling a footprint with a red pen. ¡°This footprint also appears frequently, and there are quite a few prints.¡± ¡°This one, too, appears each time, probably the third most frequent.¡± ¡°And this one, which also shows up every time.¡± After marking four different footprints, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°The first belongs to a woman, between 46 and 47 years old. Her height is 156 centimeters, and she weighs about 130 jin [approximately 65 kg or 143 lbs].¡± ¡°The second is a male, 51 years old, with a height of 165 centimeters, and a weight of 150 jin.¡± ¡°The third is a male, 32 years old, with a height of 172 centimeters, and a weight of around 170 jin.¡± ¡°The fourth is a female, between the ages of 52 and 54, with a height of around 155 centimeters, and a weight of 120 jin.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, Tang Jia took notes beside him. After he finished, Jiang Yuan reviewed the information again and pointed out, ¡°From 1 to 4, the foot lengths are 21 centimeters, 24 centimeters, 24.5 centimeters, 22.5 centimeters, respectively.¡± Tang Jia recorded as instructed. Song Jinyou frowned as he looked at the photos, ¡°You can tell the length of the footprints directly from the pictures?¡± ¡°It¡¯s foot length, not shoe length, which means not the length of the shoe. Remember to measure when you¡¯re looking for the person,¡± Jiang Yuan paused then pointed to number four and added, ¡°This one has a valgus deformity, quite a severe one at that. Make a note of it.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Tang Jia promptly annotated. Jiang Yuan took another photo, handed the paper to Song Jinyou, and said, ¡°I¡¯ll trouble Chief Song to send someone out to look into these four people or bring them in for questioning.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, of course.¡± Song Jinyou understood, were they narrowing the suspects down to just four people now? If that was true, the case had just gotten a lot simpler. A vige with only a few hundred people to begin with, filtering by height, foot length, weight and the like, locking down four people was an easy task. Likewise, if they could actually narrow it down to four people, finding the real perpetrator wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. Song Jinyou immediately dispatched several officers on the case, along with a few people from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, all heading straight to Lanzhu Vige. ¡°The roads are a bit better now, but we probably won¡¯t have any news until tomorrow. Let¡¯s rest a bit and have something to eat,¡± Song Jinyou¡¯s politeness increased threefold. Having heard Jiang Yuan can solve cases, witnessing him solving cases, and being part of a case solved by him marked three levels of ascension. Now, Song Jinyou looked at Jiang Yuan as if he were a wish-granting Bodhisattva. The following day. Eight police officers brought back four criminal suspects. Meng Chengbiao returned with them and before heading for the interrogation, he reported to Jiang Yuan, ¡°It¡¯s very likely Gan Jingying, the number one suspect.¡± Jiang Yuan simply asked, ¡°Couldn¡¯t it have been multiple perpetrators?¡± ¡°No. The rodenticide found in her home didn¡¯t poison her chickens, ducks, geese, or pigs; and she had long-standing grudges with the victims. Besides, Gan Jingying is vtile and doesn¡¯t get along with anyone,¡± Meng Chengbiao stated his reasons and continued, ¡°I¡¯ll also look into this during the interrogation.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, he trusted Meng Chengbiao¡¯s judgment in this regard. Meng Chengbiao continued, ¡°The other three suspects have rtively sufficient exnations for their presence at the crime scenes. Only Gan Jingying, who didn¡¯t go to watch the excitement during the first two incidents, left her footprints at the scenes¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao was conducting the interrogation with a preconceived target in mind, which isn¡¯t exactly standard practice. But in the world of criminal investigation, there really aren¡¯t set standards. Gan Jingying all but folded without resistance, confessing the crime process. Throughout the confession, Gan Jingying wept bitterly, cursing the vigers for their oppression and bullying¡­ Jiang Yuan and the others in the monitoring room listened with a touch of tedium. Most of the suspects are like this, often attempting to justify the righteousness of their actions. A cold fact is that most criminals believe themselves to be good people. Therefore, if self-identity were the criterion, most parental education would be considered highly sessful. For seasoned cops like Song Jinyou, the threshold for sympathy is much higher. After listening for a while, hemented indifferently, ¡°Turns out she¡¯s just a coward who only dares to poison in small doses.¡± ¡°No wonder you couldn¡¯t detect any poison when you went there,¡± Jiang Yuan understood as well, this Gan Jingying had, in recent months, including the past few years, not just poisoned the animals that had died. Whenever she was dissatisfied with someone, shed sprinkled a tiny amount of rodenticide, often mixing it into feed. Under these circumstances, some livestock were poisoned to death, like the recent pigs and donkeys, but others¡¯ animals survived. And by the time Song Jinyou had sent his team over to take samples and bring them back to the Ningtai County Bureau for testing, any traces would be nearly undetectable. Of course, the technical capabilities of the Ningtai County Bureau left much to be desired. If there had been a human death, the test methods would have been different. ¡°Alright then. Let¡¯s move on to catching this person next,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he pulled up a file, the case he had worked on justst night. Chapter 378 - 378 345 Setting Out ?378: Chapter 345: Setting Out 378: Chapter 345: Setting Out Jiang Yuan picked out the rtively big cases in Wen Township and cracked four in three days. This was also how he gradually became familiar with rural cases. Common cases in rural areas were somewhat different from those in cities, beyond the prevalence of monitoring equipment that tended to locate urban crimes within buildings, the anti-investigation skills of rural residents were distinct from their urban counterparts. Especially in rural regions with many elderly living alone, the criminals¡¯ ability to cover up their crimes was obviously weaker. Yet, with the added factors of time and space,bined with lesspetent investigators, the struggle often ended in a draw. The cases Jiang Yuan sessively cracked could be exined, upon reflection, as a result of a backlog caused by inadequate response. If there had been enough police force and attention at the time¡ªwhich was, of course, impossible, since a single police station in Wen Township with a handful of auxiliary police was already overwhelmed with work. Song Jinyou, seeing the cases that Jiang Yuan had solved, fell into deep thought. Meng Chengbiao, who was older,forted Song Jinyou when he sensed his low spirits, ¡°Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t y by the book when working on cases. He has mastered several techniques that are the best not only in your township or county but throughout the province. Otherwise, why would the Criminal Police Detachment seek him out?¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t seen the list of cases we handed to Jiang Yuan,¡± Song Jinyou nced at Meng Chengbiao. The age difference between the two was negligible, but as a police chief, he actually had a much morefortable position than Meng Chengbiao, despite the less developed workce. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t understand what Song Jinyou meant and shook his head slightly. Song Jinyou pulled up a photo on his phone, handed it to Meng Chengbiao, and expanded it slightly, ¡°Our township¡¯s cases aren¡¯t as abundant as the city¡¯s. The backlog of cases severe enough to warrant a three-year sentence¡­ are just these few¡­¡± At first, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t quite understand, but as Song Jinyou spoke and he took a closer look at the list in the photo, his eyes widened suddenly, ¡°Did he work through each case one by one?¡± ¡°Yes, he¡¯s been knocking them off in order,¡± Song Jinyou found a different expression, ¡°One after another.¡± Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t know how to describe it, but as a member of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, he was certain this was really something impressive. Backlogged cases differed from current cases in that they offered varying amounts of information. As the nature of each case differed, so did the difficulty of backlog cases and the applicable methods, which were worlds apart. Initially, both Meng Chengbiao and Song Jinyou assumed that Jiang Yuan was picking and choosing cases to work on, like he had always done¡ªchoosing those cases that matched his investigative skills, ones with plenty of footprints, lots of bloodstains, or fingerprints that fit his needs¡­ Neither had expected that Jiang Yuan had started tackling cases sequentially. At first nce, this might not seem like much, but the more they thought about it, the more incredible it seemed. Song Jinyou, as the head of the police station, couldn¡¯t help but think: If Jiang Yuan were under mymand¡­ Many images sprang up in Song Jinyou¡¯s mind: receivingmendations, promotions and pay rises, bing a winner in life, receivingmendations, grateful families, receivingmendations, promotions and pay rises¡­ Buzz¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone vibrated. Song Jinyou¡¯s self-perpetuating fantasies were abruptly disrupted. ¡°Director Yang,¡± Jiang Yuan answered the call. On the other end of the line was Yang Ling from the provincial fingerprint section. Yang Ling¡¯s voice was clear, ¡°Jiang Yuan, there¡¯s a case here, and we¡¯re seeking national support. I¡¯ve put your name forward for fingerprints and trace evidence. Is that okay with you?¡± ¡°Uh, what kind of case?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°A child disappearance case,¡± Yang Ling answered sinctly. ¡°How soon can you get to Guqi City?¡± ¡°Guqi City, Anping Province?¡­ I¡¯m in a township below Ningtai County right now, heading to the airport, but I¡¯m not sure if there¡¯s a flight avable¡­¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°I¡¯ll coordinate for you,¡± Yang Ling replied promptly. Jiang Yuan was taken aback, ¡°Is it that serious?¡± ¡°This case is under ministerial supervision. Do a good job once you get there and don¡¯t disgrace our Shannan Province,¡± Yang Ling wasn¡¯t very familiar with Jiang Yuan, mainly from their previous coboration in fingerprint warfare. She was a bit stern but quickly followed up with, ¡°Anything else you need on your end?¡± ¡°I would like to bring a few people with me.¡± No matter how capable Jiang Yuan was, investigating cases was mentally exhausting, and it helped to have a few people around, even if just to drive. Yang Ling gave an ¡°Mm,¡± and said, ¡°You can bring two people. Any more will require another application.¡± ¡°That makes two.¡± Jiang Yuan felt that was enough. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yuan informed Meng Chengbiao and Song Jinyou of the situation. Song Jinyou had nothing much to say. ddin¡¯smp could grant only three wishes, and he couldn¡¯t really keep Jiang Yuan in his own sub-bureau. All he could do was express his regretful admiration, ¡°Cases overseen by the ministry are few and far between, only a few dozen to a hundred a year, and they¡¯re all significant cases. I wish Captain Jiang sess and a smooth investigation.¡± ¡°Thank you very much,¡± Jiang Yuan responded politely to Song Jinyou. Turning his head to Meng Chengbiao, he said, ¡°This time, I¡¯m nning to take Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing with me. Are you going back to Changyang City, or would you like to take a break?¡± ¡°There¡¯s no need for a break; I just had one,¡± Meng Chengbiao said, filled with the urge to crack cases. If he wanted to rest and take it easy, he could have just cked off. There was no need for him to travel all the way from Changyang City to Ningtai County. But Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t really want to go back to Changyang City either. The Criminal Police Detachment was always short-staffed. If they worked on cases with Jiang Yuan, Captain Yu wouldn¡¯t say anything, but if they were idle, Captain Yu would definitely assign them to another case. Then, when Jiang Yuan returned, if their old cases weren¡¯t finished, they wouldn¡¯t have a reason to withdraw. Thinking this, Meng Chengbiao spoke quietly, ¡°Captain Jiang, how about we go with you? We¡¯re your people anyway; Guqi City won¡¯t mind having too many of us, right?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment. Meng Chengbiao guessed, ¡°If you¡¯re worried about the funding, you can just ask Chief Yu. The Detachment¡¯s annual budget isn¡¯t small, especially the travel expenses, which are quite high. You¡¯ve solved so many cases for Chief Yu this year, and it hasn¡¯t cost him much. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have agreed to using over¡­¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t thinking about the money,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°But you¡¯re right about the funding. I¡¯ll discuss it with Director Huang.¡± Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°If it¡¯s not about the money, what are you worried about?¡± ¡°Oh, I just think that having so many people might not actually be that helpful,¡± Jiang Yuan spread his hands. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s smile for the day ran out. Song Jinyou covered his mouth with his hand to keep fromughing out loud. ¡°Let¡¯s do this. Ask everyone if they want to rest; let them take a break. Those who are willing to travel on business cane with me. You tally up the numbers, and I¡¯ll report them to Director Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Meng Chengbiao agreed, but still a bit puzzled, ¡°Why not directly tell Chief Yu?¡± ¡°Let Director Huang and Chief Yu settle it directly.¡± Jiang Yuan always felt that selling the same goods twice wasn¡¯t too appropriate. 8 P.M. Jiang Yuan arrived in Guqi City with Mu Zhiyang and seven others without any issues. Guqi City is the thirdrgest city in Anping Province, with its own airport. It¡¯s also a resource-based city with a solid industrial base, though the main factories andpanies are state-owned. A female officer with short hair that reached her shoulders, looking mature and capable, came to pick them up at the airport. She reached out her hand and said, ¡°Captain Jiang, hello. My name is Dong Bing, the liaison officer of our expert group.¡± ¡°Have many experts arrived?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as he got into the car. Before departing, he had reported that there were nine people, and Guqi City hadn¡¯t objected. Now, one Coaster could take them all. Dong Bing said, ¡°Including you, six experts have arrived so far.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a fingerprint expert?¡± Jiang Yuan pointed at himself. Dong Bing frowned slightly and said, ¡°You¡¯re an expert in fingerprints and trace evidence¡­ right, that shouldn¡¯t be a problem, should it?¡± ¡°Are there other fingerprint and trace evidence experts?¡± Jiang Yuan continued to ask. ¡°We have another trace evidence expert from Anping Province enlisted, and if needed, we should be able to receive help from other fingerprint experts as well.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s good,¡± Jiang Yuan felt relieved. Now that he had acquired a range of skills, he sometimes wanted to contribute in different areas and wasn¡¯t keen on being limited to a single field. If there were other experts in trace evidence and fingerprints, he wouldn¡¯t have to worry about being too constrained. After all, the work could involve a vast number of fingerprint and traceparisons, and without others to share the workload, he wouldn¡¯t be able to escape. Dong Bing just assumed Jiang Yuancked confidence. Seeing his young age, she could only shake her head secretly, thinking: It¡¯s a good thing our province has its own expert. If we relied solely on the ministry¡¯s arrangements, it would truly be troublesome. Chapter 379 - 379 346 Expert Group ?379: Chapter 346 Expert Group 379: Chapter 346 Expert Group Dong Bing escorted Jiang Yuan and the others to the city bureau¡¯s guesthouse. After arranging their rooms, he immediately went to find the local expert Wu Xia. At the age of 50, with a square face and a somewhat authoritative presence, Wu Xia was a long-renowned fingerprint expert in Anping Province. Dong Bing had interacted with Wu Xia before. Without closing the door after knocking, he entered and said, ¡°Captain Wu, I¡¯ve brought over the fingerprint expert and trace evidence experts from Shannan Province.¡± ¡°Did you bring Jiang Yuan? Ningtai County¡¯s Jiang Yuan?¡± Wu Xia asked. ¡°That¡¯s right. Do you know him?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I¡¯ve never met him.¡± Dong Bing curled his lips and said, ¡°Well, I think you should pay attention to him. He puts on quite a show, young and all, brought over seven or eight people in one breath. It feels like he¡¯s brought people here for a vacation. Listening to him talk, he doesn¡¯t seem too confident¡­¡± Wu Xia interrupted Dong Bing, ¡°This year alone, he has solved over 20 cold murder cases.¡± Dong Bing was startled, ¡°What do you mean?¡± Wu Xia looked at Dong Bing, smiled, and said, ¡°It means he¡¯s awesome. This Jiang Yuan participated in their province¡¯s fingerprint campaign. In just over a month, he matched the fingerprints in 10 cold murder cases.¡± Dong Bing was dumbfounded, ¡°10 cold murder cases? How is that possible? Weren¡¯t their provincial fingerprint experts doing anything before?¡± ¡°Look what you¡¯re saying. Those were cold murder cases, how could anyone miss a match and let them slip?¡± Wu Xia¡¯s tone became slightly stern and then softened, ¡°That¡¯s why they say, you can¡¯t underestimate the heroes of the world. You¡¯re looking down on him because he¡¯s young. Think about it, how many murder cases does your Criminal Police Brigade solve in a year? How many cold murder cases can they solve in a year?¡± Dong Bing¡¯s expression stiffened; it was impossible topare these figures. Guqi City wasn¡¯t a very big city, with few current murder cases and even fewer cold cases. A criminal police brigade might handle three to four murder cases in an entire year, and they had other duties as well. Cold murder cases were even more scarce, as most brigades wouldn¡¯t even handle such tasks. ¡°So, you mean he¡¯s pretty impressive?¡± Dong Bing murmured softly. ¡°I¡¯d say he¡¯s better than me,¡± Wu Xia said frankly. Dong Bing quickly replied with augh, ¡°Then you are being too humble¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing humble about it. I heard that the ministry invited Jiang Yuan, so I immediately looked at the fingerprints he had matched, and there¡¯s nothing to say about it¡­ Well, you can take a look too.¡± Wu Xia said, while opening the folder that he had previously organized on theputer. Dong Bing had no choice but to look and said, ¡°I don¡¯t understand fingerprints¡­¡± ¡°This kind, you¡¯ll understand at a nce.¡± Dong Bing turned theptop around and saw a ck blob on the screen. Dong Bing, puzzled, looked to Wu Xia for exnation. ¡°This is the fingerprint from one of the cases. Exaggerated, isn¡¯t it?¡± Wu Xia said while shaking his head in admiration. Dong Bing hissed, ¡°If you hadn¡¯t told me this was a fingerprint, I would¡¯ve thought it was soot from a pot bottom.¡± ¡°Almost the same thing, but he managed to use Photoshop or simr image software to scrape this ck mess out.¡± Wu Xia heaved a sigh, nced at theputer screen twice, before shaking his head and saying, ¡°Actually, I haven¡¯t studied it too carefully. No need to, really. This kind of work is a gift from the ancestors. I can neither learn it nor have the energy to.¡± ¡°You¡¯re being way too humble¡­¡± Dong Bing hurriedly offered someforting words, but internally, he found himself agreeing with Wu Xia. A fingerprint expert who could work with such a mess, unlike the province-level experts of Wu Xia¡¯s standard level, really was something extraordinary. ¡°The experts invited by the ministry are no joke. By the way, is the meeting room set up? You should ask Expert Jiangter if he needs anything special. I guess experts of this caliber in fingerprints and trace evidence will have requirements for their work environment; at the very least, they¡¯ll need aputer to process images,¡± Wu Xia advised Dong Bing indirectly while discussing work. Dong Bing nodded repeatedly and then hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯ll go prepare the materials. We may have an expert discussion meeting tonight, at which time thetest news and progress will be updated. Make sure to attend.¡± No matter how tiring it was for the experts toe from various ces, there was no possibility of ample rest in such criminal cases. The time-sensitive nature of criminal cases was too demanding. Even top experts had to bow before the golden 24 hours, the critical 72 hours. Jiang Yuan and his team had barely enough time to freshen up and change clothes, which they took double the usual time for, before they were informed to proceed to the meeting room after only a brief rest. Soon, the five experts coordinated by the ministry and the three local experts of Anping Province had all gathered together. The Director of Guqi City Bureau, Gao Changjiang, with a grave expression, entered the meeting room. ¡°Expert Jiang has arrived?¡± Gao Changjiang recognized Jiang Yuan immediately, or rather, he noticed a few additional people. ¡°Yes, we just arrived,¡± Jiang Yuan straightened up a bit. Gao Changjiang gave a grunt of acknowledgement and said, ¡°Then quickly get familiar with the situation and catch up with the progress. By the way, has Professor Shi Hao arrived yet?¡± Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. Shi Hao was a well-known forensic expert within the country, and even he had heard of the name. Dong Bing stood up and said, ¡°Professor Shi Hao is still tied up with another case and won¡¯t be arriving tonight.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s start the meeting. I¡¯ll first brief you on the situation. ording to our expanded investigation today, as well as the messages we¡¯ve published and collected, the number of missing children has risen to four. To abduct four children in less than half a month, the atrocity of this case is shocking!¡± Gao Changjiang began with ament, then looked around before continuing, ¡°As of today, after tracking all avable leads, we have none that could further advance the case. I¡¯m now considering whether we need to revisit all the evidence¡­¡± Throughout the flight, Jiang Yuan had looked over some case files, and he had just reviewed today¡¯s progress, so he easily understood what Gao Changjiang was saying. Theck of leads was the current progress. Missing person cases were exceptionally difficult to solve. Unlike homicide cases, which at least had a body to serve as a lead for the police to follow, missing person cases often didn¡¯t have such a direct cause-and-effect rtionship between offender and victim. Especially in the case of child abductions, the perpetrator often kidnaps or snatches children with the intention of selling them, which means that the crimes aremitted against an undetermined poption. The offender doesn¡¯t necessarily aim for any particr child but acts with a degree of randomness. This indirectly increases the difficulty of solving the case. Finally, perpetrators of missing person cases often tend towardmitting crimes in different locations. ¡°Shoot and scoot¡± is amon modus operandi, which adds anotheryer ofplexity to case investigations. That¡¯s why police officers generally dislike missing person cases. Not only because they worry about the missinging back on their own, but also because of the very high difficulty inherent in such cases. In this respect, missing person cases are simr to poisoning cases; both rely heavily on surveince footage or eyewitnesses. And this case was preciselycking in these sorts of leads. ¡°The vegetable market in Erma Alley, as far as we can see, is where the most children have gone missing. However, our investigation into nearby hotels, restaurants, the service industry, and the rental market has yet to produce any leads,¡± Gao Changjiang exined. ¡°The good news is that there have been no reports of dead bodies so far.¡± ¡°But there is also no news of child trafficking.¡± ¡°Searches of transportation during the time of the incidents, as well as surveince, haven¡¯t turned up any discoveries.¡± ¡°We n to start a focused search in the Erma Alley area from tomorrow morning and have already dispatched sniffer dogs.¡± Gao Changjiang¡¯s anxiety was evident in his words. As he had said, this case was far too atrocious, and yet, there had been no progress whatsoever. As things stood, he could avoid holding a press conference, but he was obliged to report to the leadership. And regarding the case, all he could report was failure. Jiang Yuan slowly leafed through the files. The only missing person case he had worked on had ultimately turned into the case of a captive girl in Changyang City. Although that case had been solved, the recollection of the difficulties faced that day still lingered in Jiang Yuan¡¯s memory. That missing person case, at least, had a bicycle left behind for analysis. This missing person case in Guqi City, however, had no traces left behind whatsoever. ¡°Searching Erma Bridge may not be useful. Given how premeditated the criminal¡¯s preparations appear to be, they are not likely to be stumped by the ce of residence.¡± One expert suggested, ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we keep Erma Bridge under observation and dispatch some people to blend into the market¡­¡± Gao Changjiang shook his head, ¡°We¡¯ve already waited long enough, and the perpetrator must surely be aware of our involvement by now. It¡¯s time for direct action.¡± ¡°Is that everything regarding these cases?¡± Jiang Yuan leaned forward and asked, ¡°Were there any simr cases before these?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve checked the cases from thest two years, and there are none that resemble these,¡± Gao Changjiang said with a slight shake of his head. ¡°Then based on the traces at the scene, the perpetrator knows what they are doing, and they¡¯ve left behind very few clues. This is definitely not the work of a novice,¡± Jiang Yuanmented lightly, prompting everyone to furrow their brows. Chapter 380 - 380 347 Command ?380: Chapter 347 Command 380: Chapter 347 Command ¡°Traffickers often tend to be repeat offenders,¡± Gao Changjiang frowned as he responded to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°We have already screened all the traffickers released from prison recently, with a dozen officers working on this. So far, we¡¯ve found nothing.¡± Jiang Yuan straightened his back, wanting to continue speaking. Gao Changjiang, feeling that Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of the case was still insufficient, pretended not to see and continued, ¡°Based on the current crime scene, the killer really left very few traces. That¡¯s precisely why we have requested the ministry and invited all of you experts to assist¡­¡± The experts present each looked through the case files, none of them spoke up immediately. Gao Changjiang sighed, saying, ¡°Although there are few traces, the support from our superiors is very high. As long as there¡¯s the slightest clue, we can follow up on it¡­¡± ¡°Director Gao, we have already screened for any valuable clues as much as possible since yesterday. By now, it has be very difficult to filter out any genuine leads,¡± the expert sitting opposite Jiang Yuan countered Gao Changjiang. The difference between cases can be enormous, some offenders are inexperienced and careless, leaving clues all over the ce. The main job for detectives or experts is to find the most straightforward clue and, by the way, make sure the evidence chain isplete when catching the culprit. But some offenders are indeed cautious, and with a bit of coincidence or luck, they leave very few clues behind. In such cases, choosing the direction of investigation bes extremely important¡ªsome investigative directions can result in immediate arrests, while others, once overlooked, are useless if you try toe back to themter. For cases of missing children, facing the second scenario often poses a tremendous challenge. Assume that one or more offenders, at a location with no surveince, take a child away using rather covert methods. As long as they are not stopped during the act, they are likely to leave almost no trace. Particrly in ces like a market, with peopleing and going, traces such as footprints or fingerprints can only be described as aplete mess. Gao Changjiang¡¯s previous strategy of using sheer manpower was to sift through the multitude of fingerprints, attempting to filter out past criminals. His reasoning was not bad, but the current reality of processing fingerprints is not that fast; maybe in the future AI technology will improve things, but as for now, handling hundreds or thousands of fingerprints is still quite impossible. The most likely and suitable method is to monitorings and goings, but the problem is that even the actual whereabouts of the offender are currently untraceable. The most clear and reliable clue the police have is when and where the child was lost. Beyond that, they have almost no confirmed information. You cannot deduce certainty from a pile of uncertainties; the difficulty is too high. ¡°I know the case is difficult, but we can¡¯t just wait, can we?¡± Gao Changjiang used a not so clever tactic to persuade everyone, saying, ¡°I suggest we work with Professor Liu to do a crime scene reconstruction and review the case again to see if there are any other clues¡­¡± Professor Liu, the one being mentioned, frowned but indeed did not object. The other experts all had simr expressions. As the technology goes deeper, certainty bes less. To make the impossible possible is the daily routine of every expert present. If it weren¡¯t so, how could they possibly be listed by the ministry? Although the difficulty persists, everyone indeed has the confidence to make a breakthrough by force. Jiang Yuan could only follow the group to Erma Lane Market where the incident happened. Gao Changjiang had in fact already sealed off the market. So, when he said they would start searching tomorrow morning, the actual work had already been done ahead of time. Professor Liu walked around the market twice to examine the scene. Jiang Yuan followed as well. Crime scene reconstruction is a mandatory subject for every student of forensic science. Whether one can learn it well is another matter¡ªyou might as wellpare it to calculus and discrete functions. Professor Liu, with notebook and pen in hand, watched and sketched. asionally he would speak, and his assistants would take rapid notes. Jiang Yuan, through his Bloodstain Analysis skills, also had some ability to reconstruct crime scenes, but faced with such an undistinguished scene, he was at best a level 1.5¡ªbarely showing no embarrassment. Thus, he also kept silent and just observed. Jiang Yuan had already mastered Level 4 crime scene investigation techniques early on, which allowed him to take full advantage of such environments. Theoretically, if thest child¡¯s disappearance site could be found, Jiang Yuan had the capacity to iste almost all the DNA at the scene, which had a high probability of including the trafficker¡¯s. However,parison was still a major issue. Considering that the numerous fingerprints at the scene had already beenpared, going over the DNA again wouldn¡¯t be particrly meaningful. If the criminal wore gloves or something of the sort, the chances of leaving behind DNA were not great. Bang! Another super bright iodinemp was switched on, this type of lighting equipment often used at construction sites could illuminate an area of 1000 square meters when hung high. Severalmps hung together ensured that the brightness inside the market was no less than during daytime. This helped in the search for fingerprints and small pieces of evidence, if there were any. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Gao Changjiang also hadn¡¯t slept for 30 hours and was struggling to keep his eyes open. Professor Liu shook his head, ¡°The criminal didn¡¯t make any violent movements when taking away the child, it¡¯s very likely abduction of some sort. The probability is higher that they followed the flow of people, and among the several doors here, I believe the west door is more probable¡­¡± Gao Changjiang was quite disappointed. If it was just to this extent, he could alsoe up with a bunch of possibilities, albeit more carelessly. ¡°We can¡¯t just keep waiting for the criminal to act again!¡± Gao Changjiang cursed resentfully. Many cases end up like this in the end. If no culprit can be found from previous cases, one can only wait and see inter cases. If the criminal stops due to some reason, the case is pretty much done for. ¡°Look at previous cases then,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested after inspecting the market, which was the main scene, only to be more certain of his approach. Gao Changjiang had no other choice, so he turned to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°We haven¡¯t matched it with the right old cases yet.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t necessarily have to be in this province, he must have practiced to reach the current level of proficiency. Also, think about the method of selling, if there wasn¡¯t a way to dispose of them, there would be no need to abduct four children at once,¡± Jiang Yuan, after handling so many cases, was bing increasingly aware of the levels of criminals. Gao Changjiang pondered for a moment, then asked, ¡°Then through what means do we find these old cases?¡± He could hear Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestions, but they seemed to deviate from his investigative range. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t entirely sure either, but after having solved so many cases, his confidence was soaring, and he naturally said, ¡°First, sort out these cases, and then look for simrities.¡± Of course, this task was no small feat, but Gao Changjiang was not short of personnel. He expressed a bit of regret, ¡°I was originally hoping to use technological means to quickly solve the case.¡± ¡°The process of sorting out cases will definitely make use of everyone¡¯s technology,¡± Jiang Yuan spoke his mind, as he was in a neighboring but unfamiliar province and was neither working under Director Gao nor indebted to him, so he spoke with credibility. Gao Changjiang looked at the other experts, and seeing that they had no objections, he decisively nodded and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s go back and sort out the cases, what do you need?¡± ¡°Get some experienced officers to dig up all the disappearance and abduction cases from this province and the surrounding areas in the past two years,¡± Jiang Yuan felt like he was taking charge of the investigation. This had be somewhat of a habit for him. When he was in Ning County, he held a high position, and after moving to Changyang City, given his independent Cold Case Squad, he was now ustomed tomanding and giving orders. By contrast, the other experts, although well-established, had a single technical specialty that had taken many years to build up, so they tended to provide technical support rather than lead investigations. Gao Changjiang hesitated for a moment, but still did as Jiang Yuan suggested. It was a newly established investigation strategy, and with the authority of an expert dispatched from the ministry¡ªalthough he was now the Director of the city bureau, Gao Changjiang hadn¡¯t handled many ministerial-level cases. Thus, everyone regrouped and simultaneously allocated manpower to start sifting through cases during the night. The eight people brought by Jiang Yuan were more familiar with this mode of operation and began to help each other, forming small groups as if they were beingmanded by Jiang Yuan himself. Chapter 381 - 381 348 Searching Old Cases ?381: Chapter 348: Searching Old Cases 381: Chapter 348: Searching Old Cases Searching old cases was something Jiang Yuan had done before. Of course, when ites to cases, it¡¯s not about seeking novelty or peculiarity; any method that leads to a sessful case resolution is a good one. Who cares if it¡¯s been used before? In fact, when normal police officers work on cases, they tend to reuse methods that have worked previously. Otherwise, using new, novel, and peculiar methods on significant cases may look impressive if sessful, but what if it fails? The leaders of the detectives can scold really nastily, with both harshness and filth. Jiang Yuan himself updated his skills rapidly, but those under hismand didn¡¯t have such conditions. People like Wang Chuanxing were even timid when looking into old cases, fearful of making a mistake or an omission that could cause a problem in the case under the supervision of the ministry. However, as the earlier part of the night passed and thetter part arrived, Wang Chuanxing and the others calmed down. Or perhaps it was that their anxiety had depleted, leaving behind only numbness and determination. Jiang Yuan also looked through the cases one by one foolishly. Working on criminal cases, the most exhausting part is the legwork, writing endless reports, and reviewing countless case files. Most cases can be handled methodically, making detectives somewhat akin topany salespeople, just running around and writing things every day. Very few cases, those that truly require using one¡¯s brain, are painfully difficult. For example, with the current case, trying to find a simr child abduction case is still very challenging. The simplest question is, what constitutes a simr standard? In reality, no one can define it because criminals differ, and without being familiar with the criminal, investigators can only make their best guesses. Abductions carried out in a vegetable market surely qualify as a Grade A simrity. Sadly, there are no simr cases. Abductions in busy ces using non-violent means would roughly be Grade C. Unfortunately, a few cases that were found all had obvious differences. Abducting multiple children over a short span of multiple days should be considered Grade B, but again, no simr cases were found. ¡°There are no more cases.¡± As the early morning light began to shine, thest case file was finished. Gao Changjiang was somewhat disappointed too and sighed, ¡°It seems this path leads nowhere.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s look at case files from a few more provinces,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested, not giving up. Gao Changjiang frowned. ¡°Is that necessary?¡± ¡°If you have another n, go ahead with it. I¡¯ll lead my team to search through old cases.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence stemmed from hisprehensive skills. He had seen all the clues that could be found in Guqi City¡¯s cases¡ªfingerprints, traces, images¡ªand there was basically no breakthrough. Considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s multitude of skills, including several Level 3, 4, and even Level 6 abilities, continuing to stubbornly work with the existing clues of the case was unwise. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s own view, searching old cases was a smarter approach, not a foolish one. Or to put it another way, in the absence of a smarter approach, a foolish one at least had the possibility of sess. Gao Changjiang did not have Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical capabilities and still held hope for the experts¡ªin different fields, there might be other methods of breakthrough, but that was beyond Jiang Yuan¡¯s reach. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability and range of skills, he believed he had chosen the most appropriate method, and he was still far from hitting a wall. Seeing this, Gao Changjiang couldn¡¯tmand Jiang Yuan against his will. Seeing that he had brought eight people along, he just thought him to be ustomed to acting independently. Thinking this, Gao Changjiang¡¯s respect for Jiang Yuan grew; after all, it was an experienced team, no matter how you looked at it. ¡°Alright then, you go through the files, and for us¡­¡± Gao Changjiang turned to the other experts. ¡°If all else fails, let¡¯s review the surveince footage from the time of the incident again.¡± The image expert¡¯s suggestion naturally pertained to images. ¡°We could reanalyze the footprints. Track the gait patterns, but it¡¯s too chaotic¡­¡± The footprint expert¡¯s suggestion was also rted to footprints. Jiang Yuan remained silent as he listened. Truthfully, he understood a bit about images and footprints, but judging by the photos and the scene, he didn¡¯t think it would lead anywhere. The criminal had chosen the most simple and effective route, which was to leave traces with the children and the environment, finding ces difficult to trace, and then abducting the children. Such a sophisticated method of crime did not only require the criminal to be experienced but also to adapt to the environment, and additionally, to possess a certain level of proficiency. Therefore, Jiang Yuan narrowed the timing and location of the case files he reviewed to the nearby provinces and within the past two years. Based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s current experience, these two judgments were not far off. Jiang Yuan rubbed his head and went back to his room to continue sifting through case files. This time, it didn¡¯t take as long. An old case from a neighboring province caught his attention. The case took ce at a rural market, simr to a vegetable market, but that alone didn¡¯t tell much. The key was the method of abducting the child; the kidnapper would first find a child who had strayed from their parents, then im to take them to their mother. Hearing that they were going to find their mother, children would follow. They walked out, one after the other, no need for any coaxing or deceiving. However, this time, because the deceived child was slightly older, a six-year-old, they began to call out for their mother as they walked, attracting the attention of the surrounding people. Yet the kidnapper still decisively fled. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall the four cases in Guqi City. Two of them mentioned children being out of control and sight, while the other two did not. He immediately sought out Gao Changjiang. ¡°Call the victims¡¯ families and ask if there was any unmentioned situation they failed to disclose.¡± ¡°You want them to admit the children lost control and then went missing? This could be difficult,¡± Gao Changjiang said, sensing the challenge in Jiang Yuan¡¯s request. Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°It¡¯s a key factor that affects whether the cases can be linked. Moreover, it¡¯s not about losing control in the Criminal Law sense. Not holding hands, leaving sight for a few seconds, ten seconds even, counts as loss of control.¡± Thinking it over, Gao Changjiang sighed, ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll ask.¡± It¡¯s worth mentioning that what Jiang Yuan brought to the table had merit; Gao Changjiang braved potential scolding and called the two families of the victims, sessfully obtaining the results. ¡°Turns out they all lost sight of them indeed.¡± After making the calls, Gao Changjiang turned back, somewhat perplexed, and asked, ¡°Is this equivalent to the trafficker picking up children?¡± ¡°It¡¯s also screening for the easiest targets,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then added, ¡°With this, we can start by solving the old case.¡± Not being able to break the new case, he turned to investigate old cases¡ªa normal line of thought. The key was finding an old case and establishing a link with the new case. At this moment, Gao Changjiang began to grasp the strength of Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities, and without further ado, followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead in handling the matter. Chapter 382 - 382 349 The Same Traces ?382: Chapter 349 The Same Traces 382: Chapter 349 The Same Traces ¡°We¡¯ve contacted the officer who handled the case that day,¡± Wang Chuanxing came over with his phone, paused, and then said, ¡°Since it was an attempted crime, progress on the case has been quite slow, and there hasn¡¯t been much advancement.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve asked them to send over a copy of the photos and other materials, and I will organize them immediately.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve reached out to the family of the victim.¡± One by one, subordinates came to report, and at this time, Jiang Yuan looked up and said, ¡°I¡¯d like to speak with a family member of the victim, who is avable?¡± ¡°The victim¡¯s mother.¡± Tang Jia dialed the number and handed the phone directly to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a ¡°hmm¡± and took the phone, waited two seconds, and said in a deep voice, ¡°Hello, this is Jiang Yuan. Are you Xue Zhou¡¯s mother?¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s me. Is there something the matter?¡± The woman on the other end of the line was very nervous. ¡°We just want to understand some details¡­ Could you tell me about the circumstances when Xue Zhou was lured away? What did the perpetrator look like?¡± ¡°It was a middle-aged woman around her forties or fifties, she appeared to be well-maintained, my son said her skin was quite good, fairly pale¡­¡± Under Jiang Yuan¡¯s guidance, Xue Zhou¡¯s mother described the perpetrator, then said anxiously, ¡°She won¡¯te after us again, will she? Ever since that incident, we haven¡¯t dared to go to crowded ces with Zhouzhou, and several times, when he finds himself alone in a room, he starts crying¡­¡± Jiang Yuan offered what reassurance he could and then handed the phone back to Tang Jia to continue theforting efforts. In the eyes of the police, a criminal case is just a task,plex and severe as it may be, but it¡¯s not a deeply personal pain. To the victims and their families, however, even an attempted crime can cause years of anxiety and distress. Jiang Yuan shook his head and returned to the conference table, pondering for a moment before saying, ¡°Let¡¯s break down the tasks.¡± The eight individuals he had brought with him immediately focused their attention on him. The other experts, as well as the detectives from the Guqi City Criminal Police Team, also pricked up their ears. ¡°Send two people to the scene. It¡¯s a rural fair with a high volume of people, so the likelihood of leaving traces is small. However, the rural fair is rtively secluded. Could the perpetrator¡¯s choice of this location be rted to her personal experiences? Is she a local or does she have any rtives in the area? Make sure to thoroughly investigate these possibilities.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t call out any names; this had be a small tradition within Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad since its establishment. Initially, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even know everyone¡¯s strengths or remember all their names. After some time of self-management, the detectives proved very effective. In fact, all of them were highly experienced and intelligent, capable enough to lead a squad on their own if needed. The eight people could self-assign tasks for discussions of this level with just a few nces at each other. Shen Yaowei and Meng Chengbiao looked at each other and then said, ¡°The two of us will head there.¡± Both were adept at interpersonalmunication, though Meng Chengbiao tended to be a bit more heavy-handed, but his skills were still useful. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Besides paying attention to the scene, the priority is to find any witnesses, check for surveince, their mode of transportation, whether amodation was needed, if they stayed overnight¡­¡± Jiang Yuan shared his initial thoughts, adding, ¡°In an attempted crime, if it wasn¡¯t solved at the time, the clues they can leave now will be limited. You¡¯ll have to rely on yourselves.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± both Meng Chengbiao and Shen Yaowei responded. Before Jiang Yuan could issue further orders, Wang Chuanxing took the initiative and said, ¡°Based on the provided time and location, I gathered some photos from social media. Since many people know each other at rural fairs, and it was a child abduction case, quite a few shared posts on WeChat Moments and on microblogs. I¡¯ve organized what I found and will bring it over.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in approval. Another two took the initiative to contact the cyber police and to review surveince footage. Without assigning further tasks, Jiang Yuan began to review the photos they already had. To solve new cases by studying old ones is a method most often used in serial killer investigations. The principle is essentially the same. Serial killers, due to their higher number of killings, umte more experience, often selecting the least detectable methods for homicide and body disposal. In such cases, if one can find the very first casemitted by the serial killer and concentrate all efforts on it, there is a high chance of cracking the case. It¡¯s like a student who¡¯s worked hard to be top of the ss, producing wless exam papers that leave teachers unable to deduct any points. What to do then? Find the earlier papers they¡¯ve written, identify them by certain answering patterns, confirm their ownership of these papers, and then deduct 41 points in one fell swoop. How satisfying that would be. That¡¯s the theory, but in practice, it¡¯s far from easy. Proving that the same person or the same group of peoplemitted two cases and therebybining them for joint handling is, in itself, quite difficult. At least, for an ordinary criminal police team of a municipal bureau, achieving this step already leaves them gasping for breath. On the other hand, cases that are rtively simple are only rtively so. Including this abduction attempt at the rural market. If it had been a case that could be solved in the blink of an eye, the local police, even if very busy, would have tackled it in queue. It is precisely because of a certain degree of difficulty that it wasn¡¯t pursued further. And this difficulty is a hindrance in itself. Like Jiang Yuan, who now needs to immediately crack this attempted case, still feels somewhat at a loss on where to begin. No matter the size, cold cases actually all have a certain level of difficulty in investigation. This is especially true if the police handling the current case do not treat it seriously, and if the dossier is poorly organized, then it¡¯s even harder to investigate subsequently as a cold case. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood, though, remains stable. At the Wen Township Police Station, he can work through the cold cases in order; here too, he possesses ample confidence, it¡¯s just that he needs some time to umte and sift through information. The meeting room entered a brief moment of calm. Those who needed to leave did so, and those who had work to attend to did it. Buzz. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone vibrated. Jiang Yuan pressed the speakerphone button and said, ¡°I¡¯m on speakerphone.¡± ¡°Oh, Captain Jiang, this is Wei Yin. I¡¯m reporting to you that Tan Yong, the principal offender in the 326 kidnapping and murder case you previously solved, was executed this morning,¡± said Wei Yin, an administrator for the squadron, rying the news to Jiang Yuan after receiving it. Jiang Yuan paused for a moment before nodding and saying, ¡°Well executed.¡± ¡°We also said that kind of person would even emit ck smoke when burning¡­ The victims and their families must have received the news too, and someone even sent a silk banner over; Director Huang instructed to hang it on the fourth floor,¡± Wei Yin added two more sentences before ending the call. Jiang Yuan ended the conversation and continued working on his case. To everyone else, Jiang Yuan, who¡¯d just brought a killer to justice, seemed to radiate an aura. In the evening. Arge amount of information began to converge. It wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan; two more experts quietly joined in as well. One was Wu Xia, who specialized in fingerprints, and the other was Professor Liu, an expert in crime scene reconstruction. Neither of them wanted to rest while being currently unupied; they too started analyzing the rural market case. At this moment, a description from an eyewitness caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. He quickly turned on hisputer and began searching. After several verifications, Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, ¡°These guys, they have a habit of stealing cars.¡± Hearing his tone, everyone looked over at him. ¡°In the rural market case, someone reported seeing a culprit leave in a red car. I noticed in the police bulletin that a red Santana was reported missing. Then I checked the cases here in Guqi City, and it turns out cars were stolen here too these past few days,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to his screen, and Tang Jia quickly approached to connect his screen to the projector. As everyone naturally looked over, someone said, ¡°Although cases of car theft are rare nowadays, there are still people who steal cars for various reasons. Just because there was car theft in both doesn¡¯t necessarily confirm the cases are rted, right?¡± ¡°One reason is that the car stolen at the rural market was quickly abandoned, and many traces were left inside. On Guqi City¡¯s end, I found that a rental carpany¡¯s vehicle was maliciously abandoned by the side of a national road. Thepany filed a report, and the traces in the photos they provided are simr,¡± Jiang Yuan, having identified traces on both vehicles using Level 6 trace identification, was naturally quite certain. Wu Xia, also an expert in trace identification, perked up upon hearing this and eagerly asked, ¡°What kind of traces?¡± So Jiang Yuan showed Wu Xia several photos. Wu Xia: This? Chapter 383 - 383 350 Approval ?383: Chapter 350 Approval 383: Chapter 350 Approval Wu Xia was a fingerprint expert from Anping Province and also a trace evidence examiner, but if just considering the level of trace examination, he might sway between LV2.8 and LV3, not as proficient as his level in fingerprint analysis. Therefore, Wu Xia was a trace examiner with expert fingerprint identification skills, but primarily a fingerprint expert, who couldn¡¯t understand the trace photos given by Jiang Yuan¡­ This was, of course, quite abnormal! Wu Xia had hardly ever encountered such a situation. Given his level of trace examination skill, it was normal for there to be traces he couldn¡¯t make sense of, but why couldn¡¯t he understand them? Zhang Xian, the true LV4.8 expert from the ministry named in the neighboring department, slid over. He had noticed Wu Xia¡¯s expression. Being a criminal investigator, he was an old sly fox, and his ability to read people¡¯s expressions was like having lived with rtives for 30 years¡ªimmediately he started examining the few photos on the table. ¡°Are there any matching traces?¡± Wu Xia asked directly. Filled withpetitiveness, Zhang Xian, the nationally renowned expert who often traveled around the country to give lectures, stared at the photos for a good while. Then, after putting on his loupe, he pointed to the right side of the steering wheel¡¯s dashboard and said, ¡°You are probably talking about these scratches here, right?¡± The stic dashboard was covered in traces created by dirt, as well as scratches on the stic, crisscrossing and twisting in a chaotic mess. Zhang Xian studied the scratches with great effort. In such situations, anyone with a reputation had a name at stake. They definitely wouldn¡¯t make a joke out of their reputation in such a semi-public setting. In fact, when the three of them came together, it was somewhat like an expert consultation, and anything they said could potentially be a topic of conversation around other people¡¯s dinner tables in the future. On Jiang Yuan¡¯s young face, there was no sign of panic. He calmly said, ¡°There are some here on the dashboard, and on the side of the glovepartment, including the scratches on the steering wheel. In fact, all of them have a certain simr pattern.¡± Jiang Yuan pointed as he moved the photos. Looking directly at the photos, the traces Jiang Yuan was referring to were too fine¡ªso fine that they were nearly invisible unless closely examined. Even with the loupe magnification, these scratches could only be said to be visible. To say they were identical, or that they came from the same person, was somewhat of a stretch. Zhang Xian, being older, didn¡¯t want to strain his eyes, so he closed them, recalling the traces he had just seen, making judgments in his mind. Trace evidence examination could involve determining the simrity of a particr trace, but the formation of a group of traces could also be used as a temte for examination. Such traces, when isted, might not be distinctive, as if two people were each whipping a third person¡¯s behind with the same vine. The vines are the same, and the individual marks produced would naturally be simr. Despite possible differences in depth or length, they can be difficult to prove. However, if two people each whip more than a dozen times, or even more, forming a set ofsh marks, then the set ofsh marks would have certain distinguishing features and specificity. Needless to say, such a method of examination has lower uracy and the difficulty is exponentially higher. ¡°How do you think these traces were formed?¡± Asked Zhang Xian. Having been prompted by Jiang Yuan, he basically agreed with sixty percent certainty. Both cars had been stolen, and both had newly-formed traces, so to say they were the work of the same group had a high likelihood. ¡°I deduce that this driver has a habit of banging on the car, and additionally, he must have been wearing something on his right hand¡ªa watch, but most likely a string of beads¡ªso that¡¯s why these scratches are on the right side,¡± Jiang Yuan gestured in the air a few times. The others didn¡¯t quite understand, but Zhang Xian and Wu Xia both caught on¡ªJiang Yuan was simting the movements of the driver¡¯s right hand. And the few movements Jiang Yuan simted corresponded exactly to the formation of certain scratches on both cars. Taking the whipping example again, whether it was due to anger or excitement, theshes made by the same person might look chaotic on different behinds. But upon closer analysis, it¡¯s often discoverable that they sharemon characteristics. Without intentionally changing the motion, a person¡¯s height, weight, and the way they swing the whip always have somemonalities that can be considered a part of muscle memory. Jiang Yuan had indeed found the simrities in the scratches on both cars. This level of evidence from forensic examination might require some procedures and be troublesome to use in court, but it was already sufficient to make a decision at the investigative stage. ¡°I agree,¡± said Zhang Xian, after giving it some thought, supporting Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. He also wanted to support Jiang Yuan, given that Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience wasn¡¯t very deep. As a technical expert endorsed by the ministry, Zhang Xian knew that young technicians often faced crises of trust. Like Gao Changjiang, the head of Guqi City Bureau, who could only be said to somewhat trust Jiang Yuan. It was actually not easy, at least Gao Changjiang was willing to listen to Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinions, it was just not the same kind of trust as one would have in exceptional talents. After Zhang Xian expressed his ¡°agreement,¡± the expression on Gao Changjiang¡¯s face immediately changed, and he looked at Wu Xia first. In terms of familiarity, the expert from Anping Province he trusted the most was Wu Xia. Although, from the performance of the three, Wu Xia seemed to be slightly inferior to Zhang Xian and Jiang Yuan, but in terms of trustworthiness, Gao Changjiang had seen Wu Xia perform miracles many times. After the conversation between Zhang Xian and Jiang Yuan, especially after Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnations and demonstrations, Wu Xia also understood the traces shown in the pictures. Influenced by Gao Changjiang¡¯s querying look, he said, ¡°What Jiang Yuan says makes a lot of sense.¡± Without the slightest hesitation, Gao Changjiang issued a series of orders: ¡°Check the license tes of these two cars, and get the vehicle information. Pull out the case of the missing car, look for surveince. Zhou, take some people to the scene of the car theft, look around to see if you can collect any footage, and ask the surrounding businesses.¡± ¡°The car rentalpany, there¡¯s a car that isn¡¯t from the car rentalpany, right? Zhu Hongbo, you take your people to the car rentalpany, check the surveince, and ask for all the GPS data, see where they went. Take statements from the staff at the rentalpany, whoever went to find the car, bring them back, and ask them thoroughly.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t touch anything inside the car, call a tbed truck to tow it to our garage, let the forensic team go up to scan for fingerprints, scan for DNA.¡± ¡°That¡­ Director Wang, I¡¯ll leave the image tracking to you, see if you can use the vehicle¡¯s route and stopping points to find the whereabouts of these people.¡± Gao Changjiang dispatched his staff with ease and skill. He was a bureau chief who hade up from the front line, having directed the investigation of numerous cases, but this case was particrly difficult, with the criminals carefully nning their crimes, making it not easy to solve in a short time. However, he had managed to secure the support of experts from the ministry and their immediate presence, which was also a testament to his ability. Jiang Yuan simply added, ¡°When the car arrives, I¡¯ll do the investigation.¡± With his level 4 crime scene investigation skills, he was the top in Guqi City. Even for an expert like Zhang Xian, who may have top-notch scene investigation skills, given his age, it would be difficult to do a better job than Jiang Yuan. Gao Changjiang agreed immediately, ¡°No problem. Once the car arrives, I¡¯ll call you straight away.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Unless the car had been thoroughly cleaned, the likelihood of finding skin kes, hair, sweat, saliva, nasal hair, pubic hair, eyshes, and such was very high. Jiang Yuan felt that they might not even need to go that far because the car could provide a lot of information. Even though the criminals had used stolen cars, which reduced the likelihood of being discovered, once the vehicles were identified, their chances of escape had been significantly lowered. This time, their subsequent crimes hadn¡¯t left much trace. Including the fact that the rentalpany had reimed the car, it didn¡¯t matter much. Car rentalpanies often lost cars; without a reason, the police usually wouldn¡¯t investigate it. But the criminals¡¯ failed attempt at crime in the rural market had left too many clues, including the abandoned red Santana, which had be a breakthrough point. They would have faced high risk whether they discarded the car or not, especially under police surveince, it was difficult to drive the car back to their residence, and finding a ce to stop was inconvenient, increasing the difficulty of escaping. It was precisely because the kidnapping attempt wasn¡¯t thoroughly traced. With the case making progress, the excitement stirred among the members of the Guqi City Bureau¡¯s special task force, while Jiang Yuan fell silent beside them. Soon, the first lead came in. ¡°The ID they left at the car rentalpany was purchased, but the same ID was used to check into a hotel in the east of the city, and another car was rented by them at a different rentalpany using another ID. GPS shows the car is moving, on the highway¡­ We are going to arrest them now.¡± Gao Changjiang returned from a trip outside, and when he came back, he was all steely determination. Chapter 384 - 384 351 Strike Out ?384: Chapter 351 Strike Out 384: Chapter 351 Strike Out Guqi City Bureau. The setting sun cast a red glow on the heavy clouds, making them appear translucent. At Director Gao¡¯smand, the previously tranquil courtyard of the city bureau boiled into action in an instant. Hundreds of officers, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, emerged from upstairs, downstairs, the basement, and cracks in the corners, assembling fully equipped in the yard. Director Gao geared up in his tactical uniform, donned a bulletproof vest, and slung a gun holster around his waist, looking down with fierce determination. ¡°Four children under the age of five, listed by the ministry, with the earnest concern and urging of leaders at all levels, the importance of the case is self-evident. I am now assigning tasks. Units and individuals who receive tasks, don¡¯t fight for credit, don¡¯t shy away, are not afraid of difficulties or sacrifice, must put forth every effort toplete the mission. Even if knives fall from the sky, you will fight over the bodies of yourrades to finish it!¡± With a megaphone in hand, Director Gao¡¯s voice boomed clearly through the air, and hismand carried an undeniable forcefulness. Jiang Yuan looked around in surprise, then asked Dong Bing beside him, ¡°Is Director Gao always like this?¡± ¡°For small cases, definitely not, but for big cases, this is how Director Gao is,¡± Dong Bing replied quietly. Jiang Yuan made an ¡®oh¡¯ sound. In today¡¯s police forces, slogans about not fearing sacrifice were bing less and lessmon. This Director Gao, when analyzing cases, seemed just like an ordinary police leader, even a bit weak. No one would have thought that when gearing up for battle, he would be so spirited and bold. With insight akin to staying with rtives for 35 years, Wu Xia saw through Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts and chuckled, ¡°Director Gao used to be in the border defense force before he transferred to local duty.¡± ¡°No wonder,¡± Jiang Yuan said, understanding, then watched as the criminal police teams from the city bureau took their orders and set off as if heading to battle. New information flowed in continuously, like water. ¡°We have now identified the mobile phone of the suspected criminal, sending over the number.¡± ¡°Several people¡¯s WeChat ounts have been confirmed.¡± ¡°Their next likely stop is driving out of the province and exiting the expressway at Xinming Vige in Xingfeng Province. Xinming Vige has one of their hideouts.¡± ¡°The total number of people in this gang might be over 30, the exact number and gang leaders remain uncertain¡­¡± The criminal syndicate was like an isted ind; finding it without coordinates was a long and lucky exploration, but once the ind was found, or even set foot upon, information suddenly became cheap and plentiful. The new challenge became how to smoothly conquer the ind and reap as many fruits of victory as possible, or, to bury those dirty fruits. Jiang Yuan and several experts listened to the iing reports, shifting to the more leisurely phase of verifying information. It wasn¡¯t until the report of the 30-person gang came in that they paid slightly more attention. ¡°This is considered a medium-sized gang, likely transient nationwide. We can continue the work of checking old cases,¡± Zhang Xian advised, seasoned in such matters. Jiang Yuan nodded. Without needing to say much, Mu Zhiyang and the others got to work on their own. Guqi City¡¯s own criminal police were also busy following up with searches. Jiang Yuan himself looked at the case, unable to calm down for a long time. Human trafficking, especially of women and children, peaked in the 90s, with the ministry organizing four national crackdowns that had significant impact. By the year 2000, such cases had dramatically decreased to around 2000 annually. However, since 2007, these cases began to rise again continuously. Moreover, the scale of the trafficking gangs has been growing, with longer chains forming, multiple resales bingmon, and members beginning to use single-line contacts, indicating a significant increase in professionalism. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, greed and insufficient punishment went hand in hand. Members of trafficking gangs typically had low education and ie and were mostly female. After criminal penalties, reemployment was almost impossible for them. Nowadays, even cleaners and nannies in the cities require a non-criminal record, and it¡¯s hard for these individuals to possess solid technical skills to make an employer hold their nose and ept them. The remaining options were farming or entrepreneurship. Thetter equates to starting a business, which is not so easy. In the end, these gang members, who were supposedly reformed in prison, find that trafficking women and children is quick andfortable money. Especially for child trafficking, where one could make a transaction and profit thousands with just a few train tickets and days of amodation. Not only this, but these former criminals, once hit by the iron fist of the regime and deciding to continue their criminal careers, turn into core members of crime syndicates. Just a few such members can prop up a gang of a dozen or even dozens of people. From the end of the trafficking crackdown in 2000 to the resurgence of trafficking gangs in 2007, it¡¯s hard to say how many core gang members were hidden among them. ¡°I suggest we try to get a visual on these gang members in advance; can we find their photos?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Director Wang, who was in charge of Image Enhancement. ¡°As long as there¡¯s video, finding people is easy,¡± Director Wang said with a smile. His specialty was using Image Enhancement to track the movements of suspects, akin to an electronic dog. Such work, in the movies, seems straightforward with suspects being followed by cameras wherever they go. In reality, of course, this is not possible. Cameras have blind spots, some are broken, and some areas don¡¯t have cameras at all. The most important thing is thatworking the cameras is in itself a major project. Cameras under different management systems are seldom integrated into a single system ¡ª this is not a matter of authorization, but often a technical issue. In short, even tracking a vehicle requires dedicated personnel to be involved for effective pursuit, and tracking individuals is even more difficult. ¡°I¡¯ll help youter,¡± Jiang Yuan offered Director Wang a word, then turned his attention back to the social media information like WeChat and QQ others had found. Director Wang grunted in reply, not taking it seriously. Jiang Yuan might be exceptionally brilliant at trace evidence analysis, but how much could his expertise contribute in the area of image analysis? If he really needed a diligent ¡°observer,¡± he¡¯d rather have someone like Dong Bing. Jiang Yuan temporarily let Director Wang off the hook and started searching through the chat contents of the crime suspects. Once phone numbers or ount IDs are confirmed, rted information can be directly retrieved from backup servers. For police officers, quickly searching for useful content is the main task. Common examples include identifying a criminal¡¯s group; if they use group chats to order takeout, the suspect¡¯s address can be determined from the delivery address, or¡­ The extracted information was voluminous; what was useful was sent to the front line. If further investigation was necessary, there were other frontline personnel avable for deployment. The benefit of handling a case overseen by the ministry is that there is never a shortage of resources or manpower. In theory, with these two things, 99% of cases can be solved. It¡¯s just a matter of difficulty, time, and extent. Before long, Director Wang had churned out the first batch of surveince footage. Jiang Yuan heard the noise and proactively went over to take a look, where he saw Director Wang¡¯s two assistants huffing and puffing as they performed Image Enhancement. The quality of surveince footage is greatly affected by both its own nature and the environment. On the one hand, it is exposed to the elements ¡ª weathering, rain, snow, and smog all can diminish the rity of the image. Furthermore, the resolution of surveince footage is also limited. Without need forparison, the difference in picture quality between 4K, 1080P, and 240P resources is evident to all. Since surveince equipment is installed over time, some ces still use systems that are a decade old, and investment varies by location, so there is no one-size-fits-all. Beyond that, distance is also a decisive factor. The same image quality, when capturing a person one meter away versus one hundred meters away, will obviously be different. All these factors can be partly orpletely addressed by Image Enhancement Technology. As an expert in image tracking, Director Wang naturally ced great importance on these issues, and his proteges worked diligently, constantly pulling up various boxes andmand lines, one of whom was clearly a tech whiz of at least Level 2. In the field of Image Enhancement, technicians who can reach Level 2 are exceptionally valuable. The two technicians Director Wang brought, whose Image Enhancement skills were above Level 2, were obviously recruited from society, while the other, although seeming to be a police academy graduate, had to have an image processing capability of at least Level 1.5. Maintaining such two technicians likely cost more than an entire canine squadron. Jiang Yuan patted the shoulder of the slightly less skilled technician on the right and said, ¡°Make some room.¡± Having dealt with external units for a long time, he was ustomed to interacting with people from other departments. Sometimes, when you usenguage to describe your own ability and technological gaps with others, they often take it as an insult. On the other hand, actual operation often brings a stark and humiliatingparison of skills, yet most people remain very calm under such circumstances. The technician, who cost about a third of a canine squadron and Director Wang brought in, stood up somewhat bewildered, not quite sure what Jiang Yuan intended to do. Jiang Yuan unapologetically took his seat and began to work promptly. The one-third canine squadron technician looked confused and sought Director Wang¡¯s guidance. Director Wang had also noticed themotion and slowly approached. By this time, Jiang Yuan had officially started the Image Enhancement process. He had just observed the software used by the one-third canine technician and quickly recognized the version, easily getting into the groove. By the time Director Wang arrived, Jiang Yuan had already processed an image frame to perfection. This photo was from a car rentalpany, recorded in the parking lot surveince, with average image quality. Although one could make out a face, using it for clear identification was a bit difficult. However, Jiang Yuan used a method to fill in noise pixels, even erging the face in the process. ¡°Is this okay?¡± Jiang Yuan politely asked for Director Wang¡¯s opinion upon his arrival. Director Wang, an expert in imaging, was a good judge of quality and, after leaning into theputer for a while, could not help but regard Jiang Yuan, ¡°You know how to do Image Enhancement too?¡± ¡°You could say I know a bit,¡± Jiang Yuan replied as he casually punched in a series of functions into themand line ¡ª there was no need for it, just to demonstrate the prowess of Image Enhancement Level 5. The expressions and attitudes of Director Wang and his two assistants softened significantly, like the Dazhuangs that had been fed Level 5 dog food. ¡°Let¡¯s put some effort in, and try to secure the images of this gang¡¯s members,¡± Jiang Yuan dered, like a navy captain who hadnded on Pirate Ind and began counting heads. At the scene, the only two female officers, Dong Bing, suddenly said in a voice only Tang Jia could hear, ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, no wonder.¡± Tang Jia rolled her eyes, thinking to herself: since when do policewomen talk in such a coquettish tone? Chapter 385 - 385 352 Kidnapping Crackdown ?385: Chapter 352 Kidnapping Crackdown 385: Chapter 352 Kidnapping Crackdown Xinming Vige. Its hallmark lies at the border of two provinces, where its development themes are intertwined with the life at the interface of the two provinces, for better or for worse. Li Huaqiang¡¯s grandmother¡¯s house was located in Xinming Vige, so after hisst release from prison, he rented a courtyard there, bought a few beds, and started a youth hostel catered specifically to backpackers arriving via the highway. Having traveled himself, he knew some young people intentionally avoided big cities to explore the countryside. All it took was a trendy name and lowering the price to twenty or thirty per bed, and there would always be people willing toe. In the beginning, Li Huaqiang thought of emting an inn of ill repute from ¡°Ouws of the Marsh,¡± hoping to sell off solitary lodgers for a good price someday. After actually selling a few and making some money, Li Huaqiang started to treasure this hideout. Directly kidnapping and selling people was risky business. If he simply acted as a middleman for those in the trade, the risk became less, and the ie more stable. This transition proved to be a massive sess. Human trafficking gangs had evolved intobor-intensive industries. Staying at regr hotels was not only costly but required troublesome documents like identity cards. Moreover, bringing along abducted individuals wasn¡¯t convenient either. That¡¯s why they all looked for special ces to lodge. Li Huaqiang¡¯s Xinming Vige youth hostel had thus be a link in the long chain of trafficking women and children. He was making money, his ¡°colleagues¡± enjoyed convenience, and the vige¡¯smerce flourished immensely. Flush with cash, Li Huaqiang even opened a small bar on the side. He typically sat at the bar entrance, savoring a bottle of beer, asionally bypassing the firewall on his phone to check messages on Telegram, and assessing the cost and method of abducting na?ve customers who mighte his way. If a small group arrived to stay, Li Huaqiang would spring into action. Using the alcohol from his bar, he¡¯d entertain the group, earning some room and board fees while also picking out the best individuals to boldly purchase one or two, either to resell or to traffic elsewhere. Today was proving to be a busy day. The newly arrived group was resting in the courtyard, not quite reaching celebration yet, but some couldn¡¯t help starting to drink, only restrained from making more noise by a strictly enforced code of conduct by their leader. In Li Huaqiang¡¯s experience, it was quite impressive for a small group of this size to be so well-managed, no wonder they could afford to rent a car to flee. If it was those newly released from prison, solo drifters who fled by train, the unlucky end up captured by train police. There was a time when train patrols focused on catching fugitives, with some officers even earning top honors for their captures, which was absolutely absurd. ¡°Boss, your phone is ringing,¡± the barkeeper and temporary overseer of business shouted from inside. Li Huaqiang responded with a ¡°Hmm,¡± finished thest quarter of his beer in one gulp, and staggered to answer the call. ¡°Hello,¡± Li Huaqiang called out. From the other end of the phone, there was only heavy breathing. Li Huaqiang frowned: ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Boss, there are police cars,¡± the voice on the other side whispered softly. Li Huaqiang was taken aback, only then did he look at the caller ID on his phone, recognizing his vige entrance lookout. This habit, learned in prison, was something he mimicked when he returned by enlisting a vige ruffian, cating him with women a few times, and having him report on theings and goings of vehicles while at home. Li Huaqiang hadn¡¯t expected that this arrangement would actuallye into y. But now he was more anxious about what to do next. Flee? Abandon his foundations in Xinming Vige for good? Maybe just rob some of the rich families in the vige on his way out? But he had just been drinking, and driving now would mean drunk driving¡­ ¡°How many cars?¡± Li Huaqiang asked in a low voice, hoping they weren¡¯t after him. The reply came in an equally hushed tone: ¡°At least ten.¡± Li Huaqiang tensed up, sweat breaking out on his forehead. This was no joke. He grunted acknowledgment, put down the phone, and started walking towards his house. He had a suitcase ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice, but he wasn¡¯t sure if there was still time. Wu~~ Wu~~ The sound of police sirens suddenly red. A police car came to a halt right in front of Li Huaqiang. ¡°Stop there, police operation, don¡¯t move.¡± The officer who got out trotted up to Li Huaqiang, pushed him to the side, and made him stand against the wall. Memories of prison shed through Li Huaqiang¡¯s mind, and in his nervousness, he obediently stood against the wall. The past two years had changed him, or so he thought, but in this instant, the memories he believed were gone seemed to have returned. One car, two cars, three cars. Several police cars pulled up to the curb one after the other. Departing officers gave Li Huaqiang a nce at most before heading straight for his courtyard. Li Huaqiang knew he was busted. With his head bowed, he slowly made his way out of the vige. There was no point considering his suitcase anymore. Even leaving empty-handed was better than returning to prison. ¡°Comrade, hold on a moment.¡± An older policeman stopped Li Huaqiang, speaking slowly, he asked, ¡°Are you a local resident?¡± ¡°Sort of,¡± Li Huaqiang replied softly. ¡°Sort of? What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°My grandma is from around here.¡± ¡°Oh, did you bring your ID card? Let me see it.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t bring it.¡± Li Huaqiang¡¯s heartbeat quickened. He was already preparing to run. He could even guess what the police officer would say next, surely he would want to check his face. With the software installed on police smartphones now, taking a picture of the face can reveal the ID card and basic information. And Li Huaqiang, being an ex-convict, was sure to trigger an alert. Li Huaqiang nned to shift his position on purpose when his photo was being taken and then turn and run. He nced left and right, secretly nning his escape route. Hiss. Another police car pulled up nearby. The police cars in front had already filled the space, so the officers arriving inter cars could only look ahead with frustration and then hurriedly pass by. ¡°Wait a moment.¡± The older criminal investigator grabbed a passing officer. Thetter looked over, puzzled. ¡°You young people are used to the Police Affairs app, help me check this man¡¯s face,¡± the older detective said, putting away his phone, moving a couple of steps to the side, and cing his hands on his waist. Only then did Li Huaqiang notice that the old detective actually had a gun. Thetter was obviously afraid that he would try to grab the gun, which is why he moved back. Li Huaqiang thought to himself, I would have to be suicidal to try grabbing a gun. Turning his head, Li Huaqiang resignedly faced the newly arrived officer. The officer took out his phone, opened the Police Affairs app, operated it for a moment, and took a photo of Li Huaqiang, before his eyes widened in realization. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± the officer asked sternly. ¡°Li Huaqiang.¡± ¡°When did you get out of prison?¡± ¡°Three years ago,¡± Li Huaqiang said, noting that things were happening just as he had anticipated. But then he nced at the armed old officer and the other members of his team nearby and felt helpless. ¡°What did you get convicted for?¡± ¡°Human trafficking of women and children,¡± Li Huaqiang didn¡¯t even try to hide it. The color drained from the face of the officer opposite him, and by then, everyone could guess that this man was definitely a suspect. ¡°Raise your hands and don¡¯t move,¡± the officer on the scene immediately began to search him. ¡°This person isn¡¯t even on the list.¡± Another officer brought over a stack of photos from the car and started matching them with Li Huaqiang. Li Huaqiang couldn¡¯t help noticing that the photos were all of the guests he had taken in over thest couple of days. Indeed, there¡¯s no walking by the river without getting your shoes wet. However, these people were really ipetent, leaving their faces behind one after another. Li Huaqiang shook his head in secret, knowing he couldn¡¯t escape, and thought of the thugs he had arranged at the vige entrance and the bartender at the bar. ¡°I have a report for the government,¡± Li Huaqiang suddenly shouted. ¡°Speak,¡± the officer asked in a deep voice. ¡°I want to report; I want to earn a merit,¡± Li Huaqiang didn¡¯t hesitate to sell out his two subordinates. At this point, that was all the value they had left. ¡­ Youth hostel. Groups of fully equipped police officers stormed in. Any slight resistance was as futile as free-range chickens against a sharp knife, at most only managing to stter some blood on the ground. Instead, it was two real guests who woke up from their sleep clutching their backpacks and shouting at the charging officers, ¡°How can you juste in like this?¡± They werergely ignored, especially by the officers of the special case unit, whose entire focus was on finding the children. Four children, the earliest having been missing for over a week. If they had been sold, it would be very difficult to find them again. Several people searched each house and quietly called out for the children. Soon, the small children from several houses were all gathered together. One, two, three¡­ Four, five, six¡­ ¡°There are a total of nine children.¡± After the members of the special case unit met, they confirmed the final count. There were five extra kidnapped children. Chapter 386 - 386 353 Conclusion ?386: Chapter 353 Conclusion 386: Chapter 353 Conclusion Jiang Yuan arrived at the scene to find a crowd already encircling the police tape. There were vigers looking for entertainment, passersby who enjoyed drama, and parents crying their hearts out. ¡°Officer, officer, please help us check if our child is inside?¡± A tricycle stopped at the intersection, and a couple rushed over, holding a photo of their child. The officer they grabbed was on the outer perimeter, and this wasn¡¯t the first time they had encountered such a situation. With difficulty, he nced at the photo and murmured something softly. The couple immediately burst into tears. Jiang Yuan and the apanying officers pretended not to see. For an unsolved case, it was against the rules to disclose any information¡ªany public release of information had to be approved by higher-ranking leaders. Thus, for some cases stirring public opinion, the police kept silent. However, grassroots work was never strictly by the book, and technicians like Jiang Yuan had no ce telling others what to do. Jiang Yuan pressed on, entering the youth hostel with a bowed head. An old, human scent hit him¡ªthe kind one might find in a boys¡¯ dormitory. It seemed nobody liked the smell, as everyone gathered in the middle of the courtyard to talk, hold meetings, and issue orders. In fact, this was the essence of the youth hostel; on a normal day, Li Huaqiang would observe the iing teams and backpackers from here. Whenever the reality of the teams shed with the ideals of the backpackers, Li Huaqiang would reap an extra bit of ie. Of course, they were now residing in the detention center, and chances were they¡¯d have a hard time getting back to the front lines once out. ¡°Expert Jiang,¡± Gao Changjiang called, his breath visible in the cold, his spirits slightly high. The case was basically solved, at least most of it. As for the additional five children, although theyplicated matters, Gao Changjiang wasn¡¯t too afraid. After all, they had already made a breakthrough in this difficult case. What was it to follow the trail from there? Of course, following the trail depended on who was doing it¡ªfollowing apetent person meant chasing big leads, but trailing a fool meant ending up lost. Jiang Yuan looked around before confirming the information, ¡°I heard there are five extra children?¡± ¡°Yes, two of them were snatched by them on a whim, and the other three were bought over. They belong to another group, stolen from the two cities nearby. The local police have also arrived,¡± Gao Changjiang nodded and exined, ¡°These people are trading children and profiting on the price difference.¡± ¡°How do they profit?¡± ¡°Those who are desperate to sell or have no channels will sell a child for ten to twenty thousand. People like them can sell for thirty to forty thousand, or buy for twenty to thirty thousand. They can even stockpile for a few days and wait for someone willing to pay a high price, selling them for forty to fifty thousand,¡± Gao Changjiang frowned, ¡°With ces to hide and channels to sell, they can make money.¡± ¡°So many people are involved?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°A child sells for forty to fifty thousand, let¡¯s say fifty thousand per child, that means the nine children here are worth four hundred fifty thousand?¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly started doing the math. Confused, Gao Changjiang replied, ¡°If you consider them as goods, the average is only about forty thousand each, at most the total is three hundred fifty thousand.¡± ¡°There would have to be more than thirty participants, meaning on average no one would make even ten thousand¡­¡± Jiang Yuan continued calcting, ¡°That means, to match the ie of a regr job, they would have tomit several such cases a year, selling four to five children per person?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Gao Changjiang responded gravely. That was indeed the way the math worked out. In a chain-like gang, even if the final selling price of a child reached seventy to eighty thousand, or even one hundred seventy to one hundred eighty thousand, the average profit per link in the chain was around ten thousand. This meant that professional child traffickers had tomit multiple crimes per year to make it worthwhile, to ensure they earned more than they would from casualbor. Gao Changjiang shook his head and said, ¡°We¡¯ve uncovered a few leads now and are nning to follow them. Expert Jiang, what¡¯s your n on this end?¡± He now felt embarrassed to give orders directly and let Jiang Yuan have free rein. As long as the case could be cracked, how tasks were distributed wasn¡¯t that important. Willing to delegate authority, Jiang Yuan only felt relief. For him, there were so many approaches to solving a case, especially now with so much evidence and a host of witnesses. After some deliberation, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll start with processing the crime scene, and then see whates next.¡± Interrogation was not his forte, but crime scene investigation was certainly within his wheelhouse. The sooner the scene was processed, the better. Other leads could be pursued graduallyter on. Additionally, the process of inspecting the crime scene for Jiang Yuan was also the process of securing evidence. It was difficult to expect members of such a criminal ring to admit to their crimes; to pursue heavy penalties and long sentences, the evidence had to be exceptionally solid. Jiang Yuan called over two people to join him and began to search for traces at the youth hostel. In such arge space that was frequently upied by different people, finding useful traces was not easy. Yet, Jiang Yuan searched with extraordinary thoroughness. At the same time, he didn¡¯t forget to make use of the nearby Expert Liu¡ªas an expert in crime scene reconstruction, he had considerable insight into analyzing locations and movement paths, among other things. A night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan took a break, and Wu Xia had finishedparing the fingerprints that he had lifted. By noon, the DNAb began to release reports one after another. At this point, the information on several individuals released after serving their sentences came to light, and at the same time, the DNA and fingerprints of numerous missing persons were matched. Indeed, the traces at the youth hostel were incrediblyplicated¡ªso numerous as to be theoretically unusable. However, for a den like this one, the proportion of people leaving traces in the youth hostel who were trafficked individuals or those released from prison was surprisingly high. As these answers werepiled, many officers, including Gao Changjiang, fell silent. ¡°This ce has turned into a transit station for trafficked individuals,¡± Gao Changjiang said with a grim tone, devoid of any excitement from a breakthrough in the case. Trafficking of women and children differed from regr criminal offenses in one significant aspect: the crime was always ongoing. While murders are terrifying, death urs within a short span. Robberies, arsons, thefts, and even rapes¡ªthese crimes all have a set duration. Trafficking cases are different; unless the case is solved or the victims die, trafficked individuals are constantly vited and remain in a state of pain and helplessness. This made the investigation of the case exceptionally grave and serious. Gao Changjiang went back home for a few hours, then returned to the police station and began to muster his officers, ready to deploy. In cases sponsored by government ministries, one could close the case quickly or delve deeply into the investigation, and Gao Changjiang was clearly prepared to choose thetter. Over a hundred detectives split into six groups and began their pursuit of the matched individuals released after serving their sentences. Victims were hard to find, but the perpetrators often did not hide. Their goal in perpetuating violence and crime was often to improve their social lives, to enjoy themselves, not the opposite. Jiang Yuan stayed in the police station, continuously verifying people and cases. More trafficked children and women were being rescued as well. Jiang Yuan remained there until the end of the year before quietly returning to Ningtai County. Chapter 387 - 387 354 Propaganda ?387: Chapter 354 Propaganda 387: Chapter 354 Propaganda When Jiang Yuan arrived, it was 1 leading 8, and when he left, it was 1 leading 10. The two additional members were Police Officer Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing. Gao Yuyan, tall and well-built, not only had mastered excellent grappling andbat techniques but also possessed remarkable bravery. In this crackdown on human traffickers, she took action numerous times, managing to apprehend several big fish, her achievements at least equivalent to four Mu Zhiyangs, and was set to be awarded a third-ss merit. Of course, this was also because there were mostly female traffickers among them, giving Gao Yuyan more opportunities to get involved. Dong Bing was pretty much in the same boat. For the purpose of traveling to various ces to catch traffickers, nearly all the female officers from the different units were called upon, all to ensure the capturing and escorting processes werepliant. It was during this process that Gao Changjiang saw through the true nature of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. What umted Case Team? It was clearly a merit-earning team, alright. In just over a month¡¯s time, Gao Changjiang led his men and followed Jiang Yuan through three provinces and eleven towns, almost every two days they were able to take down and arrest a human trafficking gang, arresting more than 300 individuals in total. In the course of this, Gao Changjiang and his subordinates inevitably collected a considerable amount of merit. As it looks now, at least one second-ss merit plus a double-digit number of third-ss merits was the minimum. Although Gao Changjiang, as the director of the city bureau, was not particrly concerned about the quantity of third-ss awards, the way they wholesale garnered merits also undoubtedly made his subordinates happy, and he felt it too. Considering that Jiang Yuan¡¯s team of 9 people also managed to earn a second-ss merit and several third-ss merits, Gao Changjiang couldn¡¯t restrain himself. Using the excuse of ¡°making it convenient for future coboration,¡± he forced Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing onto Jiang Yuan, only then did he allow him to return to Ningtai County. To speak frankly, this approach was a bit irregr, as Guqi City and Changyang City were different, with Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing being equivalent to a cross-province transfer. Actually, it couldn¡¯t even be called a transfer; it was really just Gao Changjiang lending Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing out without counting their absence as absenteeism. Jiang Yuan, on his part, was not opposed. Police cases definitelyck manpower, with so many leads to follow up on, all needing people to do the work. Even clues with a very low probability could be valuable. And this case highlighted the importance of female officers even more. So many traffickers, most of them strong and robust middle-aged women in their forties or fifties, agile and shameless, could only be conveniently arrested and interrogated by experienced female officers like Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing. Inparison, Tang Jia¡¯s mp sound, though impressive, was of no use at all against those middle-aged women. Ningtai County. Jiang Yuan brought back two more people, slightly easing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s depression. In the same span of time, had Jiang Yuan been ¡°sold¡± off to Changyang City, they would have been able to get at least a car in exchange, but now that two people had been brought over, it wasn¡¯t too much of a loss. It all depended on how long they could be utilized. ¡°Now that you¡¯re back, take a good rest for a few days,¡± Huang Qiangmin said without urging Jiang Yuan to get back to work. There were just that many cases in Ningtai County, and there was no need to rush into them. Jiang Yuan replied with a smile. The joy of a small city is like this, even if you¡¯re excessively diligent, it can still leave you without a goal or apetitor to strive against. Jiang Yuan, as usual, gave his team time off and went home to rest. Meanwhile, Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing, who were transferred along, exchanged nces and then suggested, ¡°Now that we¡¯re here, we would like to continue working.¡± ¡°Just go directly to Director Huang and see how he arranges it for you,¡± Jiang Yuan replied unbothered. ¡°Your word is enough for us,¡± said Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing, who actually only wanted to get familiar with the faces at the Ningtai County Bureau and didn¡¯t mind being assigned any work. Huang Qiangmin would likely not burden them with too tedious or troublesome tasks, considering they were not quite the same as the officers borrowed from below. Jiang Yuan waved his hand and left. His father was cooking meat at home, and besides, having heard about his recent out-of-province case solving, his third uncle and others were all waiting to hear him brag when he got back. A feast was on hold, simply awaiting his arrival. After Jiang Yuan was gone, Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing actually breathed a sigh of relief. Being policewomen themselves, with just a bit of preparation, they could stroll around in a unit like the Criminal Police without being met with cold stares. They weren¡¯t in a hurry to find Huang Qiangmin, but rather visited from one office to another. ¡°We came back with Jiang Yuan, and now we are also members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team,¡± they randomly entered the office of the police affairs support room and introduced themselves. The few people in the police affairs support room were also chatting and looked at the two in surprise. ¡°I¡¯m Gao Yuyan,¡± said Gao Yuyan casually, pointing to herself. ¡°I¡¯m Dong Bing,¡± Dong Bing also had to follow suit and say. ¡°Do you need something?¡± The police affairs support room was rtively idle, but it wasn¡¯t part of their job to make small talk. Gao Yuyan chuckled, ¡°How do you know that we, along with Jiang Yuan, arrested more than 300 human traffickers days ago? We¡¯ve already rescued over a hundred children and women who had been trafficked in the early stages.¡± The officers in the support room looked at Gao Yuyan with confused faces. ¡°None of you are keen on fishing, I take it.¡± Gao Yuyan didn¡¯t mind and continued with a chuckle, ¡°We estimate that we can rescue hundreds more women and children in theter stages.¡± ¡°Well¡­ okay,¡± the officers in the support room could only listen, not knowing how to respond. ¡°We two have been working in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team recently and don¡¯t know our colleagues yet. I was going to post photos on Moments, but you wouldn¡¯t have seen them, so I came in person to introduce ourselves,¡± Gao Yuyan said cheerfully, and then added, ¡°Paying close attention to the major case in Guqi City involving the trafficking of women and children is quite good too.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Gao Yuyanughed out loud, waved her hand, and deftly left the office. It was Dong Bing who felt awkward, almost as if she could dig out an interrogation room with her toes. Just as she decided to face it boldly, Gao Yuyan disappeared. Without a word, Dong Bing turned and ran out of the office to chase after Gao Yuyan. She saw Gao Yuyan¡¯s steps falter as she slipped into the next office, and Dong Bing¡¯s face turned dark in an instant. Back in Guqi City, everyone heard that Gao Yuyan was a rtive of Director Gao. How had they not noticed her knack for stirring things up? Awkwardness aside, Dong Bing realized with the logic of her toes that Gao Yuyan¡¯s reason for visiting the next office was still to brown-nose Jiang Yuan, and if she didn¡¯t follow, the news might reach Jiang Yuan¡¯s earster, and it wouldn¡¯t be good for her to be seen differently. ¡°Being tied to rtionships sure is troublesome,¡± muttered Dong Bing, but in the end, she could only silently follow into the next office. As expected, Gao Yuyan was loudly introducing herself: ¡°How did you know that I followed Jiang Yuan and personally caught dozens of traffickers? We caught a total of more than 300 traffickers this trip and rescued over a hundred trafficked children and women. You can check the informationwork¡­¡± Dong Bing stood behind Gao Yuyan. ¡°Should I introduce myself?¡± Gao Yuyan, enjoying herself, turned back to nce at Dong Bing, as if giving her a chance to speak. Dong Bing wasn¡¯t prepared to speak, and under the gaze of several new colleagues, she simply shouted a slogan: ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, victory is mine with me!¡± Silencested for more than ten seconds. After the awkwardness became equally distributed, Gao Yuyan, with Dong Bing in tow, left the office, triumphantly headed to the offices further forward. Chapter 388 - 388 355 Fake Money ?388: Chapter 355: Fake Money 388: Chapter 355: Fake Money Thud. Thud-thud-thud. The dull sound of gongs rang out precisely at 10:30 in the morning, right outside the gates of the Ningtai County Police Bureau. Corresponding to the sound of drums and gongs were dozens ofmunity members, holding brocade banners in formation, carrying offering tables with fruits disyed, all set up as if preparing offerings for an ancestral matriarch. Director Guan Xi, in the middle of a meeting, frowned slightly and stood by the window to take a closer look before asking in a soft voice, ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°They¡¯re presenting Jiang Yuan with brocade banners.¡± Huang Qiangmin, who had received news of this in advance, was also somewhat surprised and chuckled, ¡°They asked me about it, and I told them presenting banners is a good thing. I didn¡¯t expect they would go to this extent, making it quite the spectacle.¡± ¡°There seems to be quite a crowd,¡± said the director who wasn¡¯t afraid of heaven or earth, but the thing he feared most was not handling public stability well, which currently was his greatest vulnerability. Huang Qiangmin exined, ¡°Because parents who have lost children join a lot of groups, many are acquainted with each other. This time Jiang Yuan went out to bust human trafficking rings and rescued as many as 300 women and children, involving such arge number of families. Many are truly grateful to him and have repeatedly expressed their desire to present brocade banners. Since Jiang Yuan has consistently been working on trafficking cases, today was finally the chosen day.¡± ¡°Oh, they didn¡¯t go to Guqi City?¡± ¡°Some did deliver banners to Guqi City, but after doing so twice, everyone knew that Jiang Yuan, the real official in charge of solving the cases, belongs to Ningtai County¡¯s Criminal Police. The victims¡¯ rtivesmunicate with each other and moreover, they have experience organizing such events.¡± ¡°No wonder.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why they managed to assemble a group so easily. This number must already be after they¡¯ve persuaded and filtered through the crowd.¡± ¡°Are they all parents who¡¯ve lost their children?¡± Guan Xi watched the procession below with a sense of reassurance. Huang Qiangmin nodded and added, ¡°Some parents have been searching for their children for several years. There are also adult women who were lost and sold multiple times. Managing to sessfully find them back is extremely difficult.¡± Guan Xi nodded slowly and said, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head down then and provide Jiang Yuan with a backdrop of support.¡± Once the director spoke, everyone followed along, smiling as they headed out. The procession delivering the brocade banners had just arrived downstairs and was waiting for Jiang Yuan and others to appear, beating drums and gongs in the interim. Jiang Yuan quickly ran down, meeting up with Guan Xi and the others. The director nodded at Jiang Yuan and then gestured for him to step forward first. At the front of the building, the leading couples who had met Jiang Yuan were now so overwhelmed they couldn¡¯t stop crying. The matter of delivering the banners was agreed upon, but their emotions were authentic. Like the couple at the front, holding a banner that read ¡°Upholds justice and integrity,¡± who had searched for their child for four years, from one and a half years old to six, they finally found their dearly missed child with Jiang Yuan¡¯s help in a small town 800 kilometers from home. The future was long and uncertain, but at this moment, emotions breached their dams, uncovering feelings that could not and need not be hidden. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, both individuals knelt down and wailed in agony. They weren¡¯t kneeling to Jiang Yuan, but rather, at the peak of their emotions, they couldn¡¯t hold back their outpouring anymore. The couple, in their thirties, looked as if they were in their fifties from their crying spasms, their bodies convulsing so that no one nearby could help them up. In fact, under their lead, several other couples were also eager to join the wailing chorus. In this world, there are very few ces where people can cry unrestrained. Even at home¡ªassuming these parents, who have been constantly searching for their children in various ces, still have a private home¡ªthey can hardly cry so unrestrained and hysterically. At home, there are recently recovered children who are apprehensive andck a sense of security, curious neighbors who are equally emotionally unstable, and maybe even someone in the building across the street, using their smartphones to record a video in hopes of earning one more like. Jiang Yuan shifted his position and crouched down on one knee to the side. Over a month of relentless pursuit gave him a deep understanding of these victimized parents. Having a child abducted isn¡¯t as simple as a property loss: beyond the loss itself is the ensuing worry about how well the child is being treated, where they might have been sold to, where they possibly could be, what should be done next, whether to persevere, and whether the child hopes for their persistence¡­ It can be said, from the moment that their child was lost, the majority of ordinary people were as if covered by a veil of depression. Too much worry and pain that one dares not think about, yet can¡¯t help contemting. Jiang Yuan ced his hand on a rough, dark big hand holding a colorful g and gently patted it twice as a gesture offort. This action quickly drew several otherrge hands, leading everyone to cry even more unrestrainedly. Police officers from a building all poked their heads out. Some, who had not been drawn out by the sound of gongs and drums, were now led astray in their thoughts by the weeping, whispering to each other. When they found out it was the parents of abducted children, they were lost for words. Any normal person, when confronted with such cases, would feel a deep sense of powerlessness. Especially in an era that prides itself on civilization, to treat humans asmodities for profit, with perpetrators receiving less punishment than those trafficking in wild animals, this sense of absurdity and the ethical disorder it brings are unbearable for most people. The couple who had been wailing the loudest gradually fell silent. The wife, convulsively, copsed on the ground, her body and mind so exhausted she was somewhat dazed. The husband, Hao Tie, struggled to his feet and said, ¡°Let¡¯s not disturb the normal order of their ce of work. The policerades surely have a lot of work, many tasks to do, that, for the incense table, let¡¯s line up again.¡± Hao Tie was the group admin for several groups, often organizing members to search for children in suspected locations, and had even truly helped a group member find their child, thus he had great influence. The grieving parents, who had cried almost to their hearts¡¯ content, gradually stood up, set up the incense table they had brought over, ced fruits on it, and then resumed their morous drumming. Banners and streamers were raised again. ¡°The People¡¯s Police for the People, extending a helping hand in times of crisis¡± ¡°Emotionally invested in the people, gratitude as heavy as a mountain¡± ¡°Thousands of miles chase, swift case-solving¡± ¡°Majestic police spirit, the bane of criminals¡± The excited Public Rtions Office, having received advance news, photographed away. It was rare to have so many banners¡ªa feather in everyone¡¯s cap. Huang Qiangmin was also nodding with great satisfaction. By selling out Jiang Yuan, he had renovated the building, reced vehicles, and bought new equipment, knowledge that wasmon in the department. But if he could also reap a bunch of honors, that would be even more appropriate. Gao Yuyan also stepped into the courtyard and saw people seriously holding banners and others pretending to be busy filming. She felt it was a bit funny yet poignant, and there was also a strong sense of envy. The kind of police career she wanted was just like this¡­ Gao Yuyan moved closer to the crowd, listening as the noise rose and watching as the crowd dispersed. It was only when everyone had gradually left that she came to Jiang Yuan, still feeling unsatisfied, and whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve found a case.¡± ¡°Hmm? Don¡¯t you want to rest a bit more?¡± said Jiang Yuan, who was just calming down himself, ¡°There¡¯s no need to rush with the backlog, we can start working on it slowlyter.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a backlog,¡± said Gao Yuyan. ¡°A current case?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Gao Yuyan in surprise. Gao Yuyan, who was good at fighting, broad-shouldered and thick-necked, nodded earnestly, as if headbutting with her chin, and said, ¡°I found it when I was reviewing cases. There¡¯s a report from a small restaurant saying someone paid with counterfeit money after eating, a 20-yuan note. Then I remembered that in our Guqi City, a while back, there were also counterfeit 20-yuan notes¡­¡± ¡°Counterfeit money would be an Economic Investigation case though,¡± replied Jiang Yuan. The Criminal Police Brigade and the Economic Investigation Brigade operated as two separate units. Gao Yuyan didn¡¯t seem to mind and said, ¡°Your boss has be Director Huang now, so why worry whether it¡¯s a Criminal Police Brigade case? Anyway, if we solve the case, Director Huang will be happy, Director Guan will be happy, we would have solved a case, and social order will be stabilized. Everyone will be happy.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled, ¡°That¡¯s not a reason to get involved in an Economic Investigation¡¯s case.¡± ¡°It could be a series of connected cases. The appearance of counterfeit 20-yuan notes in our Guqi City was only half a month ago. Considering this timeline, it¡¯s very likely a new counterfeit currency gang has appeared. It¡¯s best to crush such cases promptly; it minimizes the impact on society,¡± Gao Yuyan earnestly persuaded Jiang Yuan, eager to tackle a major case. Jiang Yuan was somewhat persuaded and thought for a moment before asking, ¡°What¡¯s the current status of this case?¡± ¡°Someone might be investigating it, but there hasn¡¯t been any progress.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the reason for theirck of progress?¡± ¡°If you ask me, they¡¯re not getting the resources they need,¡± Gao Yuyan said, spreading her hands and giving a look that said she was on board with Jiang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯ll ask around,¡± said Jiang Yuan, now somewhat interested. Chapter 389 - 389 356 Consumers ?389: Chapter 356: Consumers 389: Chapter 356: Consumers Jiang Yuan reviewed the file on the counterfeit money case himself and checked the recent reports of other cases from several locations before going to find Huang Qiangmin. ¡°Director Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan entered Huang Qiangmin¡¯s new office, greeted him, and began to report the situation. Huang Qiangmin feltpletely rxed just hearing Jiang Yuan call him ¡°Director Huang.¡± After listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s report, he pondered for a moment and said, ¡°Economic crime cases are not impossible to handle, but counterfeit money cases usually involve a widework and aren¡¯t easy to crack. It¡¯s not just the difficulty of the investigation, we¡¯ll probably have to travel extensively to handle the case.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, as he hadn¡¯t considered this aspect much. After thinking it over, he said, ¡°The people in my team have all been pretty idletely.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, since they are all borrowed anyway,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind instantly switched to a new channel. Thinking it over, most of Jiang Yuan¡¯s subordinates were borrowed personnel, whether from Changyang City or the neers from Guqi City. Feeling that they wouldn¡¯t be avable for much longer, he decided they should be utilized to their full extent while possible. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know where Huang Qiangmin¡¯s thoughts had wandered to, but he continued on the subject of the case: ¡°I want to involve the provincial department.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s the right approach,¡± Huang Qiangmin pped his thigh in agreement. The core issue with counterfeit currency cases is that they have a vast scope. Although the counterfeiters are the key target, in the early stages of an investigation, it is usually impossible to reach them. The focus is on peripheral cases, arresting users and transporters of the counterfeit money, to try and get to the counterfeiters. And these users and transporters, as is evident, move around the entire province and even throughout the country. No counterfeiter would produce fake currency and then circte or use it only around their hometown. For a small county bureau like Ningtai County, not to mention anything else, just the travel expenses for these minor cases represent a significant expenditure. But if the provincial department were involved, it goes without saying that they would provide some funding and resources. Though it might be a drop in the bucket for the provincial department, for the county bureau, it would be quite a relief. Of course, not just any county bureau could summon the support of the mighty provincial department. The working styles of provincial departments vary by province, some focusing on public security, some on anti-smuggling or narcotics, and others on maintaining stability¡­ In short, criminal investigation is only one piece of the puzzle in the eyes of provincial departments. Important, yes, but not the most important. If truth be told, even as Director Huang, Huang Qiangmin would not be able to call on the Shannan Provincial Department. But Jiang Yuan had no such problem with his involvement. That very afternoon, Liu Jinghui rushed to Ningtai County from Changyang City. Working on cases with Jiang Yuan was much more interesting than the cases he usually worked on. Liu Jinghui would have preferred to spend his days working on cases in Jiang Yuan¡¯s team if it weren¡¯t for his high rank and his position in the provincial department. To be honest, as a level-four senior superintendent like Liu Jinghui, when it came to promotions, there wasn¡¯t much room for advancement. Even if he were promoted to a level-one senior superintendent, without a leadership position, it would be but an honorary title in reality. The driving force behind Liu Jinghui¡¯s dedicated work was the job itself. If he could¡­ work with Jiang Yuan regrly, Liu Jinghui believed his efficiency would be extremely high. As usual, Liu Jinghui arrived alone at the Ningtai County Bureau. After meeting with Huang Qiangmin and others, he joined Jiang Yuan in the conference room to begin reviewing the files. The forty-something Liu Jinghui, neat and tidy in his crisply ironed shirt and police uniform, sat alone at the other end of the conference table looking quite professional, with no trace of his former haggard appearance. Anyone, without knowing who Liu Jinghui was, could tell by the scene in the conference room that this man was someone extraordinary. Across from Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan also had a file in front of him. He was idly toying with the green radish on the table while seemingly casually perusing the file. By the time Liu Jinghui arrived, he had already gone over these cases. Surprised by Liu Jinghui¡¯s swift arrival and to facilitate discussion of the case, they decided to wait for him. Liu Jinghui was aware of this and sped up his page-turning. Regardless, he still took a thorough look wherever necessary. Working under pressure is a basic operation in this line of work, with nothing toin about. ¡°Whew¡­ With that view, the recent dozen or so reports of counterfeit currency cases should all be considered a series,¡± Liu Jinghui closed thest file: ¡°But, not a single case has been solved, meaning not a single suspect has been captured.¡± ¡°Those reporting are small restaurant or supermarket owners who received the counterfeit bills and were outraged enough to report it. There aren¡¯t many people who take a fake 20 yuan bill seriously. But when the police respond to the reports, it¡¯s toote to find anyone. ording to the surveince and timing, these counterfeit bill users are likely more than one group of people. Also, the fake 20 yuan bills they used seem to have a total of 5 serial number prefixes¡­¡± Tang Jia had worked with Liu Jinghui before, and she was very active in speaking up at this point. After all, with two new female officers added to Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team in one go, Tang Jia felt like someone was targeting her, worried that Jiang Yuan was being led astray. Liu Jinghui, having just finished reviewing the files, also had a strong desire to share his thoughts. He nodded slightly and said, ¡°These groups probably got their hands on the counterfeit money around the same time. They are likely just peripheral members, or even purely consumers.¡± Tang Jia: ¡°Consumers of counterfeit money?¡± Dong Bing was also bing familiar with the environment and the colleague with the nasal voice before him. He followed up with a question, ¡°How do you know the counterfeit money was obtained around the same time?¡± Faced with questions from two female officers, Liu Jinghui felt as if he were being pursued by 200 male officers. He patted his belly contentedly and said, ¡°Let¡¯s take it one question at a time.¡± Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and, seeing that he seemed to be listening, became even more cheerful. ¡°The judgment of the same time periodes from their travel routes. Not all the business owners who received counterfeit money reported it to the police. Some probably didn¡¯t even notice. There¡¯s an element of estimation involved here, but we might confirm itter.¡± Liu Jinghui paused, then continued, ¡°As for the consumers of the counterfeit money¡­ it should be said that the 20-yuan counterfeit bills are consumer-grade. Of course, this is just my opinion.¡± At this point, Tang Jia cooperated and asked, ¡°Why are they considered consumer-grade?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the difference between 20-yuan and 100-yuan counterfeit bills. Users of the 100-yuan bills tend to spend them on smaller transactions, getting change while making payment. The change they get is their profit. Those who use 20-yuan bills, on the other hand, generally spend them directly. They¡¯ll spend a few tens of yuan and give out one or two counterfeit bills or mix them with real money. Because the denomination is small, many people won¡¯t notice.¡± ¡°But nowadays, not many people use cash, do they?¡± Liu Jinghui nodded, ¡°There¡¯s still quite a bit of cash used on the road. ces like gas stations, small roadside restaurants, supermarkets, and some small towns; the worse thework, the more elderly there are, the more cash is used. I see these people have such tendencies¡­¡± A number of deductions were already brewing in Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind, and they all seemed quite feasible. At that moment, Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°Let¡¯s look at the surveince.¡± Liu Jinghui was taken aback and chuckled, ¡°These transactions urred in remote areas; not all of them are covered by surveince. Plus, these cases are spread across several provinces, and many ces¡¯ reports have not been handled properly¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll look at however much we have.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°There¡¯s always something we can use.¡± ¡°This is too mundane.¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan in disbelief, thinking to himself, if cases are solved in such a boring way, why did I even bothering here? The gazes of the two leaders collided, and their subordinates dared not babble, each one meekly doing their work. Soon, several pieces of surveince footage that had been collected were put on disy. Everyone, including Jiang Yuan, focused their attention on the surveince footage. Since Liu Jinghui had just arrived, the footage disyed was what Wang Chuanxing and others had already reviewed and filtered. On therge screen, four videos were yed at once, creating a contrast. ¡°It¡¯s always one person each time,¡± Tang Jia pointed out first. ¡°They only use one or two bills at a time, but the total expenditure is also very low,¡± Dong Bing chimed in. ¡°They¡¯re all wearing masks and hats, so they are well-prepared and obviouslymitting the crime knowingly.¡± ¡°If they only use one or two counterfeit bills at a time, wouldn¡¯t they have to visit many ces in one day to make it worth it? The number of police reports seems a bit low.¡± Liu Jinghui sighed and said, ¡°That¡¯s why these are just the end consumers. Even if we catch them, they probably won¡¯t know anything. The core is to find their pattern, which will help us sketch out the full picture.¡± ¡°Director Liu means to find more such consumers and then analyze the pattern?¡± Jiang Yuan summarized briefly. ¡°Not entirely relying on analysis, but certainly, the more clues we have, the easier it is to find the counterfeiters. These guys usually hide pretty deep,¡± Liu Jinghui pointed at the video and continued, ¡°Just these people, constantly on the move, self-driving, they¡¯re not easy to find.¡± ¡°Just use mobile phone tracking,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested. ¡°And the phone numbers?¡± Liu Jinghui spoke, then answered his own question, ¡°Get them from the road checkpoints? Sounds a bit troublesome, doesn¡¯t it? Didn¡¯t I see a car with its license te captured on video just a moment ago?¡± A nearby officer immediately rewound the footage. Here,¡± Liu Jinghui pointed to a corner and said, ¡°I think it¡¯s good to track mobile phones through vehicles.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care which method was used to solve the case. Seeing Director Liu actively participating, he simply saved himself the effort. Chapter 390 - 390 357 Autonomous Driving Mode ?390: Chapter 357: Autonomous Driving Mode 390: Chapter 357: Autonomous Driving Mode Traditionally, Wang Chuanxing and others would self-manage when facing a simple police situation. But today, with Liu Jinghui present, the officers were once again unified. Some were assigned to organize evidence, a few began to draft documents, and others were responsible for contacting the local police stations and the criminal police team at the scene of the incident to verify the various pieces of evidence¡­ The bustling meeting room made Jiang Yuan feel rxed andfortable, as if there was a chief steward who had already fulfilled all your needs, and all that was left seemed to be enjoyment. On the other hand, although the counterfeit currency case was egregious, it wasn¡¯t like a murder or human trafficking case, which has a strong moral imperative, and could allow one to catch their breath slightly. The n was just that, only it was unexpected that Liu Jinghui would work so hard when he put in effort. The surveince video was pulled out, and those with potential to crack the case were sent to the provincial Image Reconnaissance Brigade. When further surveince videos were needed, they would contact the traffic police brigade to search 100 kilometers ahead and 100 kilometers behind. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team now had 22 people. Liu Jinghui, in one breath, pulled out 12 people to watch videos and kept sending the footage to Image Investigation, asking for their assistance. At the same time, the aristocratic-like technical investigation team was also put to use by Director Liu, and the number of phone numbers on the whiteboard quickly increased to 10. ¡°Why not start making arrests?¡± Gao Yuyan suggested, her hands itching for action as she saw several phone numbers had their locations confirmed. She had stood out during arrest operations, and her specialty was capturing female criminals¡ªthe weight and strength of male criminals were much higher than that of females. Therefore, Gao Yuyan could only demonstrate her superior grappling techniques and overpowering force when facing female criminals. Director Liu was unmoved and said, ¡°Not enough. These people all belong to small gangs and are unaware of each other, or at least not of the circumstances. At most, we now have control over the phone numbers of three small gangs, and we need to keep digging deeper.¡± ¡°Digging deeper¡± wasn¡¯t too difficult, actually. With more than 20 detectives, plus the participation of the provincial Image Reconnaissance Brigade, such a lineup for the climactic part of aplete counterfeit currency case wasn¡¯t high-end, but for these initial small fry, it was indeed overkill. What Liu Jinghui and his people needed now was nothing more than time. As long as there was ample time, the difficulty of obtaining information wasn¡¯t high. Of course, they needed to move quickly as well to prevent one or several of the small gangs from changing their operations in the next few days. Gao Yuyan had no further objections, only clicking her tongue twice and saying, ¡°A gang of at least three people, spending fake money in twenty-dor increments and driving to do it, is it worth it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s using family members,¡± Director Liu murmured. ¡°This is where this counterfeit currency gang is somewhat innovative. The end users they pick are not only real consumers but also operate as family units, primarily traveling by car. I had this idea before when I saw the locations of the incidents. They¡¯re not only ces of everyday consumption, but the distribution is also very reasonable¡ªeating at meal times, shopping during shopping hours, filling gas, washing cars, entering scenic spots. They don¡¯t seem like they¡¯re faking it at these times.¡± ¡°So you mean these people are spending counterfeit money?¡± Director Liu nodded, ¡°I talked with a friend who often deals with financial investigations. He said that this kind of situation with 20 yuan counterfeit notes is quitemon now. It¡¯s when someone buys them to spend themselves. These end consumers may not necessarily have a criminal record. Driven by greed, they can lead themselves right to jail.¡± At that moment, Wang Chuanxing looked up and said, ¡°Were it not for our intervention, many here would probably have spent a bit of money without a care and then just gone home.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Director Liu said with a wry smile. ¡°In the end, the details might not even be pursued that closely.¡± In truth, even they, when catching these peripheral petty consumers, aimed to facilitate reaching the core counterfeiters. If things went smoothlyter on, they likely wouldn¡¯t turn back to go after these petty consumers again. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, like Gao Yuyan, who had never been involved with financial investigation, were perplexed. ¡°Even if they weren¡¯t caught, for such a small profit margin, is it worth it to engage the whole family in crime and risk criminal detention?¡± Director Liu chuckled, ¡°Aren¡¯t there plenty of people who throw caution to the wind for a small gain? Anyway, let¡¯s hasten to confirm our targets. Work some overtime today and try to start making arrests tomorrow.¡± The team responded with a resounding chorus of agreement, as the excitement of solving cases and making arrests was still very strong. Jiang Yuan silently took out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message to his father: [Won¡¯te home for dinner tonight, everyone has to work overtime.] Jiang Fuzhen: [No problem, if the leader asks you to work overtime, just do a good job.] Jiang Yuan: [I am the leader.] Jiang Fuzhen: [So you decided on the overtime?] Jiang Yuan: [It was everyone¡¯s initiative to work overtime.] Jiang Fuzhen: [After bing a leader, do they hand out a book of nonsense for you all to recite?] Jiang Yuan: [Everyone is staying behind because they are devoted to their work.] Jiang Fuzhen: [Son, you don¡¯t have to tell lies to be a leader. How about this, I¡¯ll have someone send over a couple of sheepter so you can arrange something for the staff working overtime. Even as a leader, we¡¯re still human.] Jiang Yuan: [Okay.] Jiang Yuan set down the phone with a resigned air, and when he looked up, he saw Liu Jinghui feverishly busy, his face full of zealous concentration. So Jiang Yuan said to him, ¡°Director Liu, you¡¯vee out this time and will be away from home for quite a while again. It seems too arduous.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Liu Jinghui said with a chuckle. ¡°Compared with work, going home on time must be happier, right?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Jinghui was momentarily stunned, thenughed out loud, ¡°Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re too young. When you reach my age, you¡¯ll realize that a man without a family is quite miserable, and a man who goes home on time every day is even more miserable!¡± Jiang Yuan was silent for two seconds, ¡°So you¡¯d rather work overtime on business trips?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so much a matter of preference, but rather I¡¯m definitelymitted to my work, which is why I take the initiative to go on business trips and work overtime,¡± Liu Jinghui exined. Now Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know whether what his dad or Liu Jinghui said was closer to the truth. Maybe this was the difference in awareness between a demolition household and a deputy director-level official? ¡­ In the evening. Jiang Fuzhen himself brought the cookedmb to the criminal police brigade. Two sheep, one was split and roasted, and the other was the Jiang Family¡¯s traditional boiledmb, cooked with just ginger, scallion, and salt, simmered to the point where it was nearly falling apart. When you pick up a piece, you could see the trembling flesh on the bone, but no matter how much it shook, it didn¡¯te off easily; you had to put in a bit of effort to bite the meat off. With just a hint of saltiness, the delicious vor of themb was brought out. Even someone like Jiang Yuan who often ate his father¡¯smb felt that this time it was exceptionally good. His colleagues, who had never encounteredmb of simr quality, couldn¡¯t help but look serious. Tang Jia and Dong Bing, the twodies, had a natural fear of in boiledmb, but couldn¡¯t resist indulging in the aromatic roastedmb. Gao Yuyan, on the other hand, was much simpler; she liked both varieties and would eat themb with tbread, enjoying themb broth, and even daring to eat raw garlic with the meat like some of the other guys. Jiang Yuan also silently ate two cloves of raw garlic. He thought that raw garlic might be his dad¡¯s trick to resist overtime work. Eating raw garlic was like fishing semi-cooked meat out of a hot pot. Both actions had the effect of driving out good practice at the table; once someone chose to do so, the others would either follow suit or have to endure. And among those working overtime, if half of them ate raw garlic, and the other half did not, you could imagine the smell during the meeting¡­ However, Jiang Yuan quietly ate his garlic, while Comrade Jiang Fuzhen had already strayed too far from the masses. He didn¡¯t understand that for these junior officers in the meeting room, whether part of the county or city bureau¡¯s establishment, when it came to stakeouts and surveince, they might have to endure even the smell of feces in a stuffy van; what was a bit of garlic? After a satisfying feast of meat, everyone took a short rest before getting back to work, and not a single person mentioned garlic again. Those who ate garlic pretended not to know, and those who didn¡¯t eat it didn¡¯t make a fuss. The criminal police had a rough-and-tumble tradition, and people like Liu Jinghui, always looking clean and proper, did seem a bit removed from the crowd. ¡°I think we¡¯ve got enough,¡± Liu Jinghui said the next morning as Jiang Yuan was waking up. Jiang Yuan was startled, sat up straight, quietly wiped his face with some tea water, and then looked at Liu Jinghui. ¡°We¡¯ve now confirmed 33 people; we can start making arrests,¡± Liu Jinghui pointed at the whiteboard. ¡°That many?¡± Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised; typically, investigations became harder as they progressed. Having initially confirmed 10 people and adding another 10ter was quite good. To have confirmed 33, there must have been some new findings. Indeed, Liu Jinghui slightly lifted his chin and said, ¡°Mainly because we¡¯ve identified their modus operandi, which is driving and spending along the way. So I took some time to retrace the routes taken by the first two groups and thenpared them with subsequent ones. I discovered several simr routes. Once I plugged those in, it was easy to identify several groups¡¯ amodations, and from there, their identities, faster than technical investigation could.¡± ¡°Their routes were all simr? Isn¡¯t it up to the individuals to decide their routes when self-driving?¡± ¡°If it were just two or three groups, deciding their own routes would be fine, but we¡¯ve found the number of small gangs to be well into the double digits. In such a case, I figure the organizers would likely assign routes to them. Otherwise, they¡¯d inevitably encounter each other, especially at well-known tourist spots, and if several groups spend those simr counterfeit 20-yuan bills one after another, theter visitors would be essentially handing themselves over.¡± Liu Jinghui dumped a set of convincing analyses on the table. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly in agreement. Continuing, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°It¡¯s a bit like anti-parallel trading. The counterfeiter¡¯s goal is to distribute a batch of goods as quickly and safely as possible¡­ However, he probably didn¡¯t expect that this method would actually help us identify so many people and also give me a bit of inspiration.¡± ¡°Inspiration?¡± ¡°If these ¡®consumers¡¯ had no connection to the counterfeiter, then there would be no need for the counterfeiter to go to the trouble of assigning routes; they could fend for themselves,¡± said Liu Jinghui. ¡°So, catching these guys, there¡¯s a high chance we¡¯ll get some clues.¡± Jiang Yuan certainly hoped so; otherwise, everyone¡¯s night would have been wasted, including the sacrifice of the two sheep¡­ although this couldn¡¯t really be med on them. Chapter 391 - 391 358 Volunteering ?391: Chapter 358 Volunteering 391: Chapter 358 Volunteering The first to be apprehended was the Zhang Jing family of four, who were out on vacation. As a low-level employee, Zhang Jing heard from some channel that he could buy counterfeit 20-RMB notes that were virtually indistinguishable from real ones, at just a fraction of their value, and the thought haunted him. When his boss happened to go out of business, he decided to take his wife, mother, and mother-inw on a trip. Zhang Jing owned a small car suited for getting around, which wouldn¡¯t sell for much, but it was perfectly fine for a road trip. In fact, for many years, he and his wife always nned to travel, trying to do the things seen in various short videos, but they never managed to make it happen. The main obstacle was, naturally, money. Zhang Jing¡¯s monthly ie was only three to four thousand yuan, and his wife often quit jobs after a short period, getting fired by her employers was amon urrence, but bringing money home was rare. The sh between dire financial straits and dreams was quickly resolved after getting the counterfeit money. Zhang Jing didn¡¯t think there was anything wrong with using counterfeit money. He had received fake bills himself in the past, and of course, he couldn¡¯t possibly deposit them into a bank, so he always found some inconspicuous ce to spend them. Having obtained arge amount of counterfeit money, Zhang Jing thought he could handle it with the same approach. However, with the low denomination of 20 yuan and a road trip ahead, he simply brought along his mother and mother-inw. Both elderlydies were seasoned marketgoers, never allowing themselves to be shortchanged and having some experience with counterfeit money themselves. They saw no psychological barrier in using counterfeit notes; on the contrary, they found the prospect of traveling for free and getting discounts on food and drink very appealing. Simrly, Zhang Jing¡¯s wife did not express any objections; overall, this was a family with a very weak grasp of legal knowledge. To many it might seem incredible, but in vast China, there are many such families, including those who would buy children and wives from traffickers. They might have some respect for thew, but certainly not much. Within just two days, Liu Jinghui had identified 12 families simr to Zhang Jing¡¯s and had them all arrested and brought to justice. The entire Ningtai County Bureau mobilized to transport the suspects back, which involved considerable coordination by Liu Jinghui. In total, there were 33 suspects, none of whom were professional criminals, and not even one had a criminal record. Of course, if any of them had been reformed by the teachings of ¡°The Great Learning¡± in prison, they certainly wouldn¡¯t havemitted such foolish crimes. However, arresting these minor henchmen was not the goal of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. After actively participating in the interrogations for a day, Liu Jinghui began to list more targets on a whiteboard: ¡°All the counterfeit notes were obtained through courier packages, with the sending location being Chiyong City¡­ We could trace these packages, but Chiyong is quiterge¡­¡± ¡°Most of these people were connected through social media, particrly through stranger-meeting apps. For this aspect¡­ I¡¯ll contact the cyber police¡­¡± ¡°Money¡­ Although the money these people paid is probablyundered by now, we still need to investigate¡­¡± Once Liu Jinghui had summarized some key points, his frown became even more pronounced. Aside from the first point, where following the delivery packages and then checking surveince might yield some results, the other two points involving the use of the inte for crimes almost nullified his deductive skills. This is why the incidence of telmunications fraud was exploding, to the point that it ounted for more than half of all cases. When the police started using high-tech methods, real-world criminals had a hard time; but when criminals also began using high-tech, the police had a hard time too. It was as if both sides were fighting through a made by programmers, making sharp teeth and ws obsolete. ¡°I¡¯ll go to Chiyong City,¡± Wang Chuanxing felt that this clue was still within his control. It was simply a matter of following the trail of the courier slips, questioning the delivery and receiving staff, and then finding the right surveince footage to pinpoint the suspects. It was basically the simplest detective work, suitable forw enforcement participants of all ages and all intelligence levels, including officials and leaders. And this method of investigation, utterly devoid of any aesthetic, was precisely the source of Liu Jinghui¡¯s displeasure. Yet this case was filled with such brute-force tactics. ¡°Chiyong is quite far away, so it¡¯s good if you¡¯re willing to go on a business trip,¡± Liu Jinghui also wanted to solve the case, but at his age, having solved so many cases, just solving a case had truly lost all of its thrill. Even work needs a touch of beauty to adorn it. Unfortunately, this case was ugly as hell. Liu Jinghui shook his head at the case. Wang Chuanxing was still young and couldn¡¯t understand Liu Jinghui¡¯s pursuit, even willing to bear with such an ugly method to solve the case¡­ ¡°Take a few more people to Chiyong. Once there, search the local printing shops and thosepanies that do advertising and inkjet printing. In any case, the counterfeiter must first be skilled in graphic design software, and secondly, should have a certain amount of operational experience,¡± Jiang Yuan had also been immersed in this case for the past few days. Although he hadn¡¯te up with a decisive conclusion, the information he provided now had significantly narrowed down the search. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Did you notice something?¡± Jiang Yuandao replied, ¡°Analyzing from the counterfeit money, the counterfeiter used printing. The printer is an Epson R330 printer, with a bronzing machine, a paper cutter, it requires a certain amount of space, professional skills, and professional paper and ink¡­¡± He was skilled with a Document Inspection Level 3. He hadn¡¯t had much of a chance to showcase this before, but now that he was examining the production method and such, it was fairly easy. Liu Jinghui, having worked on fewer cases involving economic investigations, scratched his head and asked, ¡°Aren¡¯t printers unable to print currency?¡± ¡°There are supposed to be thresholds like that in the program, but several of Epson¡¯s series have been cracked,¡± Jiang Yuan informed him. ¡°Cracked?¡± Liu Jinghui echoed with surprise. ¡°Yeah, including the digital version of the 20 yuan note, it¡¯s all over the dark web. Buy a counterfeit money temte and get the whole counterfeit process included. It doesn¡¯t cost more than a few banknotes, it¡¯s just that not many dare to actually follow through with it.¡± Liu Jinghui was astonished, ¡°These counterfeit money temtes you¡¯re talking about, it seems like the reason why protagonists in old cop movies are often chased all over the world¡­¡± ¡°Pretty much,¡± Jiang Yuan assented. ¡°The ck market really does have everything,¡± Liu Jinghui remarked without much emotion. In China, regtions were very strict. Abroad, not to mention that the dark web has people trading in humans, arms, and drugs, just the counterfeit money alone is sold openly, and semi-finished products and raw materials are definitely avable too. Quickly epting the premise provided by Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui reasoned, ¡°The counterfeiter has certain technical skills, but probably isn¡¯t very strong, likely to be rtively young, and impulsive. Additionally, they need to have separate rooms and factories to ce machinery, raw materials, especially the finished counterfeit notes¡­¡± After a brief analysis, Liu Jinghui went on, ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus on printing shops is indeed worth considering. Furthermore, following Jiang Yuan¡¯s mention of Epson printers, the number of units and individuals who have these printers shouldn¡¯t be that many¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing listened and dutifully took notes; these were things he would have to investigate and check when he travelled to the area. Liu Jinghui advised like a father, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Actually, if there¡¯s no rush, using an undercover could work. For young people like Wang Chuanxing, who understand the inte, making contact and then spending a year or half undercover could possibly reveal the entirework behind them.¡± Wang Chuanxing shivered at the thought, hastily saying, ¡°Director Liu, I¡¯ll investigate thoroughly in Chiyong, there¡¯s no need for me to go undercover¡­¡± ¡°The criminal you are currently tracking, if they indeed bought the digital temte, would mean there are others behind them, making it difficult to continue catching them,¡± Liu Jinghui expressed regretfully. ¡°No, no, I¡¯ll do everything I can to squeeze them out¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing¡¯s back was already soaked with sweat. Volunteering eagerly indeed had its risks. Looking around the conference room, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team already had 21 members; indeed, the team was of a size that could afford to send one or two people to go undercover¡­ Chapter 392 - 392 359 Accurate ?392: 359 Chapter urate 392: 359 Chapter urate Wang Chuanxing gathered four team members, making a team of five, which was just enough for one car, and they set off for Chiyong City. The five drove in shifts, without changing cars, and by the early morning of the next day, they had checked into a hotel. After a muddled few hours of sleep and waiting for daylight to fully break, Wang Chuanxing then made a call to Yuan Ben, a detective from the Chiyong City Bureau they had contacted earlier. Yuan Ben had been contacted through Meng Chengbiao, but they weren¡¯t very familiar with each other either, having had only some business dealings in the past. As the saying goes, ¡°All criminal police are one family.¡± Today I might handle a case in your territory, and tomorrow you might do the same in mine. As a result, seasoned detectives all have a thick contact book. However, Yuan Ben didn¡¯t take Wang Chuanxing and his team very seriously. A few young detectives from out of town wanted to work a case, so he just helped to report it. Simr situations probably arose every week, and there was nothing unusual about it. Wang Chuanxing and his team wouldn¡¯t have too many demands. They¡¯d made their report, and they would stick to the n they had devised beforeing, starting with advertising and printingpanies. Compared to a print shop, an advertisingpany¡­ is like arger, more professional print shop. They usually have printers, embossing machines, and paper cutters, as well as rted plotting skills that could also be used to counterfeit money. In fact, given the current level of technological advancement, if professionals in this field in many cities wanted to acquire relevant materials, most would have the ability to make counterfeit bills. Especially for the less security-protected 20 Yuan notes, if one aimed for a 90% simrity, it wasn¡¯t too hard to achieve. Taking it a step further, if one was willing to purchase semi-finished products, a 99% simrity could also be achieved. Of course, the process would leave heavier traces. Wang Chuanxing first began by visiting the businesses that had recently purchased the Epson R330 printer. The machines required for making counterfeit notes were limited, among them embossing machines and paper cutters were considered quiterge machinery. If a shop had them already, they could be used directly. But as for printers, firstly, they needed to be modified and secondly, multiple printers were needed ¨C to print 10,000 twenty Yuan notes amounts to only 200,000 Yuan. Using only one printer would be too slow, and most criminals don¡¯t have that kind of patience. If someone had that patience, they probably wouldn¡¯t choose counterfeiting as their crime. On the other hand, printers wear out with a lot of printing. Modifying one printer was the same as modifying several, and the cost of an R330 wasn¡¯t high, so most counterfeiters would modify several at once, churning out fake notes in the hopes of making a fortune that wouldst forever. Wang Chuanxing made a list and crossed off each advertising print shop they visited. After visiting severalpanies, the group became somewhat silent. ¡°Brother Wang, should we follow up on the courier¡¯s trail?¡± Chen Shan, sitting in the passenger seat, was getting somewhat impatient. Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°Do you think the culprits aren¡¯t in Chiyong City?¡± ¡°The express mail was sent from Chiyong, but isn¡¯t it too risky to mail it on the spot?¡± Chen Shan pondered and said, ¡°If I were the culprit, I¡¯d rather load up a truck and drive it to a nearby city to send it.¡± ¡°How much of a difference would that make?¡± Someone else started to retort, ¡°The cities around Chiyong City aren¡¯t big. It would be easier to find someone there than in Chiyong City, right?¡± Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°Carrying a bunch of counterfeit notes on the road might not be safe either.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s still possible, right?¡± Chen Shan said, ¡°I just feel that Director Liu¡¯s reasoning is rather hollow, giving off a sense of unreliability.¡± ¡°But most of the time he is correct. Moreover, this time Captain Jiang conducted the document examination,¡± Wang Chuanxing said. ¡°The culprit probably doesn¡¯t realize that the type of printer they used can be identified.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± Chen Shan thought the culprit was probably a bit smarter than Wang Chuanxing believed, but not by much. After all, to this day, those who think they can get rich by counterfeiting money are limited in intelligence. Slightly smarter individuals would at least be at the top of the counterfeiting chain, selling tutorials on the dark web and possibly making even more money. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± Wang Chuanxing drove the car and parked in front of a white factory building. ¡°A standalone building with two floors, Weihao Advertising Company, this looks somewhat promising,¡± Chen Shanmented before getting out of the car. Without further ado, the two detectives in the back seat went around to the back. Wang Chuanxing and the others were in position and proceeded to knock on the door, a routine they had gone through several times before. It took a long while for someone to leisurelye and open the door, and then they blocked the entrance, asking, ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± ¡°Police,¡± Wang Chuanxing shed his badge and then asked, ¡°Is the person in charge here? Can wee in?¡± ¡°That would be me.¡± The man at the door was clearly flustered, with a flicker of panic in his eyes. That look in his eyes was all too familiar to Wang Chuanxing and his colleagues. Someone silently stepped forward, almost close to the man who had opened the door. Now, unless the man had exceptional physical agility, escaping would be very difficult. ¡°We¡¯lle in and have a look,¡± confirmed Wang Chuanxing and his team, no longer as polite as before. The officers pushed past him as they talked. They didn¡¯t even need to go further inside; through the semi-transparent partition, they could see several familiar Epson printers at work. One of the officers immediately went over. ¡°That¡­ you can¡¯te in¡­¡± The suspect yelped as if he had just woken from a dream. By that time, the officer who had gone inside was already raising his left hand. ¡°Don¡¯t move.¡± Wang Chuanxing took a step forward, and in coordination with his teammate, subdued the man at the door. ¡°Quite a sum of money here,¡± the officer who had gone to check couldn¡¯t help butment as the suspect was apprehended. As Wang Chuanxing pushed the suspect forward, he saw that the back half of the workshop was lined with eight printers, busily clicking away. At the same time, the ground was covered with cardboard boxes filled with bundles of 20 yuan banknotes piled inside. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Wang Chuanxing asked, pointing at the counterfeit money. The suspect, still clinging to hope, muttered, ¡°These are props for a movie¡­¡± Wang Chuanxingughed out loud and then asked, ¡°Where are the rest of yourpany¡¯s people? The others?¡± ¡°The others have resigned. Business was slow, the money we earned didn¡¯t reach the ounts, and the employees gradually left. I couldn¡¯t leave, so I just had to endure,¡± the suspect said, revealing a touch of genuine emotion. Wang Chuanxing just scoffed, ¡°No matter how hard business is, that¡¯s no excuse for making counterfeit money.¡± ¡°I¡­ I didn¡¯t make any counterfeit money,¡± the suspect replied guiltily. ¡°Dyestuffs, semi-finished counterfeit bills, financial records¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing casually listed a few items, then said, ¡°If you can exin all of this, we¡¯ll go home.¡± By then, more counterfeit money had been gathered together. By the time Yuan Ben received the news and hurried over, what he saw was over a million yuan in 20 yuan bills. The 60,000-plus banknotes abundantly disyed the counterfeiter¡¯s substantial assets¡­ ¡°With all this capital investment, why on earth would you counterfeit!¡± Yuan Ben eximed in distress and then asked Wang Chuanxing, ¡°How did you guys know toe here?¡± ¡°Captain Jiang and Director Liu nned it out,¡± Wang Chuanxing replied casually. ¡°Quite urate,¡± Yuan Ben remarked, contemting the situation. Chapter 393 - 393 360 Blood Case ?393: Chapter 360 Blood Case 393: Chapter 360 Blood Case ¡°Captain Jiang¡¯s reputation has even reached us here in Chiyong recently.¡± Yuan Ben was assisting Wang Chuanxing with the paperwork, and with his help, whether it was going through the procedures at the case center or various detention processes, everything became much more convenient. Wang Chuanxing then actively engaged in the conversation, boastfully adding, ¡°When Captain Jiang takes on a case, he is truly incredible. Take this fake currency case, for example¡ªhe practically just looked at the counterfeit bills and directly named the printer model. Now, I don¡¯t even ask why anymore.¡± ¡°Is it true that he solved several backlogged cases all at once?¡± Yuan Ben asked. ¡°Definitely. He was originally with the Ningtai County Criminal Police, and now in Ningtai, they¡¯ve cleared homicides back to before the year 2000. There are hardly any of the big eight cases left, mostly just pursuit of fugitives¡­¡± As Wang Chuanxing spoke, he felt it wasn¡¯t enough to just say this, adding, ¡°I was originally from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. It was Captain Jiang who came to Changyang to clear the backlogged cases, and I ended up bing one of Captain Jiang¡¯s people.¡± ¡°Oh, right. You¡¯re from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, and Jiang Yuan is from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Now you all listen to Jiang Yuan?¡± Yuan Ben readjusted his train of thought. Wang Chuanxing made a confirming sound, ¡°Mhm, exactly.¡± Yuan Ben drew in a sharp breath. The change in this organizational rtionship suggested more significance than solving three or five cases. In current cases, especially important ones, it¡¯s often the chief who leads, with a bunch of juniors cracking the case. In the end, to identify the key role yed by a certain person in the official report is very difficult to see; moreover, different provinces and cities have their own customs and ways of doing things, which can¡¯t all be generalized. Yet, this organizational rtionship, this hierarchy of management, is universally applicable nationwide. Without reaching a certain level of standard, or having a significant impact, how could a detective from the provincial capital willingly take on misceneous tasks for a county-level police officer? Thinking this way, Yuan Ben lost all desire to verify his thoughts, speaking directly, ¡°Speaking of which, it¡¯s a bit embarrassing for me to ask, but we¡¯ve just encountered a case on our side. Could we ask Captain Jiang to have a look and give us some guidance?¡± He didn¡¯t feelfortable asking Jiang Yuan toe over, as he certainly didn¡¯t have that sort of clout. On the other hand, Yuan Ben wasn¡¯t cing an exclusive SOS call; in the past half a month, the help he sought from many fronts hadn¡¯t had any effect anyway. Wang Chuanxing was too embarrassed to refuse, and after some thought, said, ¡°I can pass on the message for you. However, Captain Jiang doesn¡¯t usually work on cases out of the province, but having a look at the evidence could be possible¡­¡± ¡°That would be great, just having a look at the evidence would help.¡± Wang Chuanxing, noticing the tone of Yuan Ben¡¯s voice, quickly inquired, ¡°What kind of case is it?¡± ¡°A family annihtion,¡± Yuan Ben said softly. Wang Chuanxing was startled and his scalp tingled, ¡°I haven¡¯t heard about it¡­¡± ¡°A baby survived,ying in his parents¡¯ pool of blood for seven or eight hours. Sigh¡­¡± Yuan Ben let out a sigh, ¡°Strictly speaking, it doesn¡¯t count as aplete annihtion, but all four adults in the family are dead, and if there¡¯s no progress in the next few days, you¡¯ll probably hear about it.¡± In other words, the news was still under control. Wang Chuanxing was surprised, but he nodded slowly, acknowledging he understood. Yuan Ben nced at Wang Chuanxing and realized that this young man didn¡¯t really understand. If it had been a more seasoned detective, faced with such a case, just listening to the time frame and seeing Yuan Ben¡¯s level of anxiousness would have been enough to guess that the case might be put on a deadline soon. From the public¡¯s point of view, being put on a deadline to solve a case may sound exhrating and bold, but for detectives, it¡¯s a very life-threatening term. For one thing, sleeping is out of the question. Furthermore, once a case is put on a deadline, the leader in charge of criminal investigation might evene to the scene in person. He might not say much; he might just sit in the office, then provide people, funds, and equipment. At this point, the scariest thing is not being unable to solve the case, but having manpower and funding that can¡¯t be utilized. Yuan Ben was currently without a clue, reflecting on simr situations he had encountered before; it was enough to make him shiver. Having leadership watch over a case being solved can really break one¡¯s defense down. Taking advantage of the momentum, Yuan Ben coted the information rted to the case and handed a copy to Wang Chuanxing, saying, ¡°Please ask Jiang Yuan to help us take a look.¡± This was like giving fingerprints to a fingerprint expert, or trace evidence to a trace evidence specialist¡ªit wasn¡¯t about being overly familiar, but about taking advantage of a chance interaction, hoping to gain whatever information possible. Wang Chuanxing had already agreed, so without further ado, he made a phone call, then scanned what needed scanning and took photos of what needed photographing¡­ Ningtai County. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui were also looking for a case. The team of more than twenty people, consisting purely of detectives, in a normal police division, would reasonably solve over a hundred cases a year to be considered efficient. Of course, if any of them were homicide cases, one could even count as fifty others. However, Jiang Yuan was solving cases somewhat too quickly, and the minor cases weren¡¯t really suitable for his team. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s phone call came at just the right time. Hearing that it was a family annihtion case, Liu Jinghui was immediately intrigued. After ending the call, he said, ¡°There aren¡¯t many criminals who dare tomit such serious crimes nowadays, and it¡¯s a recent case in Chiyong? Worth taking a look.¡± ¡°Cross-province criminal investigation?¡± Now that Jiang Yuan had been leading the team for a while, he was no rookie. Criminal cases are purely cost-incurred cases, and the expenses of cross-province cases are significant. This was not simply a matter of willingness, but an issue of financial imbnce. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°It¡¯s been over half a month since the crime urred, and they haven¡¯t solved it yet; they must be getting desperate. If we can solve the case for them, getting reimbursed for the expenses shouldn¡¯t be a problem. Huang can surely negotiate that.¡± ¡°What if we can¡¯t solve it? They must consider that,¡± said Jiang Yuan. He was quite confident in his ability to solve cases, but he also knew that he could not expect the police from another city miles away to hold the same level of trust in him. Liu Jinghui smiled, pointed at the dossier that had just been faxed over, and said, ¡°If we can find some useful leads, we should be able to prove something, right? Of course, if we don¡¯t find anything, we¡¯ll think of another way.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± This was exactly what the Chiyong City Criminal Police Detachment had been hoping for, and Jiang Yuan quickly understood. Anyway, the n was to first examine the case and decide on the specific actions based on the case itself. There was only one copy of the faxed dossier, which Liu Jinghui ced between himself and Jiang Yuan. Shoulder to shoulder, they began to read together. However, the two of them had different focuses, and soon each was absorbed in a stack of inner pages, reading independently. The first thing Jiang Yuan looked at was the crime scene photos. The crime scene was a nicely renovated rural vi with its own yard. The main gate was two meters tall, solid and thick, with bolts and a lock. The four-story vi¡¯s main body had another standard security door. Starting from the living room upon entering, bloodstains appeared. First, there were scattered pieces of blood-stained white clothing on the ground. Then came a trail of blood footprints, which grew darker as they extended to the first floor¡¯s elderly room. In that room, the male owner of the vi, Ma Zhongli, was lying face down on the bed, his back clothing torn apart, with fabric stuffed in his mouth. Also, Ma Zhongli¡¯s hands were bound behind his back. He looked distorted in agony. There was a clear fracture on the back of his head, likely struck by an object like a hammer. Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze slightly and observed the bloodstains throughout the room. In such a setting, Bloodstain Analysis was a major tool. In his mind, Jiang Yuan had already reconstructed the scenario: Ma Zhongli going to answer the door, then struggling with the assant in the center of the room, before being taken into another room, restrained, and finally killed. Just from this, it seemed clear that the culprit shouldn¡¯t have acted alone. There must have been at least two people, possibly even three, otherwise, it was impossible topletely overpower the head of the household, Ma Zhongli. On the second floor, blood was concentrated in one room. The 10-year-old son of the ownery dead by the bed, his head covered in filth and blood, copsed on the floor. The owner¡¯s mother, around 70 years old, was lying in a pool of blood, shielding an infant with half of her body. Of course, the child was no longer visible in the photos, which could only be annotated by the photography technician with a pen. Finally, the female owner of the house was found in the main bedroom on the top floor, lying on the bed, hacked to death, with the mattress soaked in blood. ¡°They went straight for the kill; this seems like an inside job,¡± Liu Jinghui remarked after reaching roughly the same point in his reading. ¡°Do you think it was a crime for money or for personal reasons?¡± Jiang Yuan asked a critical question. After contemting, Liu Jinghui replied, ¡°Maybe they were after the money, but they feared being recognized, or maybe they had already been recognized, so they had to kill.¡± ¡°The victim¡¯s family and socialwork have been thoroughly investigated with no results,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he handed over a piece of paper to Liu Jinghui, which was full of police judgment. ¡°What do you think?¡± Liu Jinghui was somewhat concerned. It was challenging to show off his logical tactics, but if Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical approach could make a breakthrough, it would be more convincing. Liu Jinghui hoped Jiang Yuan could at least provide some fresh perspective. After pondering for a few seconds, Jiang Yuan said: ¡°I think the time of the victims¡¯ deaths¡­ should be around 6:30 p.m., I wonder if that counts as dinner time locally.¡± ¡°The murder weapon was a hammer. The victim was killed by a direct blow to the back of the head.¡± ¡°The male owner must have fought back, judging from the defensive wounds on his hands. It¡¯s possible one of the culprits might have been injured, though the injury might have healed by now.¡± Chapter 394 - 394 361 Lets Talk First ?394: Chapter 361 Let¡¯s Talk First 394: Chapter 361 Let¡¯s Talk First ¡°¡±The murderer might have left footprints in the yard, but judging from the photos, the traces in the yard are too chaotic,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°The vigers and officials who cameter basically destroyed the crime scene there. If we want to do an analysis, we need to go back to the site and see if we can retrieve anything useful.¡±¡± ¡°¡±There¡¯s no sign of damage or forced entry on the doors or windows. However, we can¡¯t make a definitive judgment without seeing the actual scene. But based on the living room where the confrontation between the perpetrator and the male homeowner took ce, it¡¯s most likely that the murderer entered through the main door.¡±¡± ¡°¡±Once inside, the intruder threatened the male homeowner, who resisted and got beaten, before being carried into the elderly parent¡¯s room downstairs. The whole process must have been quite quick, which can be deduced from the blood drops on the floor.¡±¡± ¡°¡±Judging from the victim¡¯s own bloody footprints, after his head was struck, he staggered as if trying to flee and perhaps even scream for help. Soon after, he was struck again. The second blow must have been with a blunt object, likely a swing of a hammer. It must have been quick, too; judging from the blood spatter on the walls, the murderer is quite tall, over six feet, heavy, and skilled with a hammer.¡±¡± ¡°¡±From the positions of the blows, apart from the male homeowner downstairs, the murderer aimed primarily at the head. The killing was decisive and not a case of self-defense; it was likely premeditated. The infant who survived was probably spared because she was seen as no threat.¡±¡± ¡°¡±However, the subsequent rummaging through drawers and such suggests that robbery was ultimately the motive.¡±¡± ¡°¡±No fingerprints of value were found at the scene, the DNA from defensive wounds didn¡¯t match any in the system, and there were very few footprints left, which were highly iplete. This suggests the intruder had experience.¡±¡± ¡°Minute by minute, Jiang Yuan delivered a stream of information. Tang Jia, without being prompted, quickly began to record everything.¡± ¡°Utilizing Bloodstain Analysis, footprint identification, and crime scene investigation skills, Jiang Yuan methodically reviewed the evidence, rifying Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought.¡± ¡°After Jiang Yuan finished, Liu Jinghui stood up and said, ¡°The main gate of the outer wall where the victim lived might have been left unlocked, allowing direct entry by the murderer. Even the doors inside the vi might not have been properly closed, which would mean that the victim and the perpetrator encountered each other in the center of the living room.¡±¡± ¡°¡±However, the male homeowner likely didn¡¯t anticipate being killed at first. This indicates that the assant wasn¡¯t a deeply resentful enemy or a creditor.¡±¡± ¡°¡±The elderlydy upstairs, the eldest son, and the female homeowner probably didn¡¯t hear the noise from downstairs¡ªat least not the sounds of the fight. They were killed by the intruder in the midst of their daily routines¡­¡±¡± ¡°¡±So it seems they didn¡¯t initially intend to kill. Maybe they murdered the male homeowner in the chaos of his resistance. Rather than leave things half-finished, they decided to kill the entire family? Of course, it¡¯s also possible they had the intention to kill to silence the witnesses from the beginning, just not immediately upon entering.¡±¡± ¡°Liu Jinghui reasoned step by step, working with Jiang Yuan to try to reconstruct the crime scene.¡± ¡°However, just by looking at the photos, they had reached about as far in their analysis as they could go.¡± ¡°Tang Jia quickly filled several pages with notes.¡± ¡°¡±Let me take a look,¡± Liu Jinghui said, reaching for them. He read through them once more, then highlighted the part about ¡®the murderer being quite tall, over six feet, heavy, and skilled with a hammer,¡¯ saying with a smile, ¡°Let¡¯s send this part to Chiyong City. They should be interested.¡±¡± ¡°¡±Sure, that¡¯s fine.¡± Jiang Yuan had used level 5 Bloodstain Analysis and level 3 footprint analysis to create this report. Even if they had called in specialists from the ministry, the analysis wouldn¡¯t likely be better, and in many cases, it might not even reach this level.¡± ¡°After all, there are so few experts in Bloodstain Analysis with real-world experience that it¡¯s difficult to maintain professional standards. Chiyong City probably couldn¡¯t even borrow one of the rare experts.¡± ¡°¡±As for crime scene reconstruction, I think we should start now and continue once we get to the scene,¡± Liu Jinghui, though a fan of deduction, still relied on evidence or clues. He absolutely loved the crime scene reconstruction techniques of Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°Deductive detectives always prefer to restore the case to its original state.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Chiyong City.¡± ¡°In the cramped office, only the begonia on the windowsill stubbornly exuded signs of life.¡± ¡°A dozen cigarette butts piled up in the begonia¡¯s pot as if stars encircling the moon.¡± ¡°Yuan Ben faxed the dossier, sent the photos, and even ran some errands for Wang Chuanxing and others before taking a short break. He stood by the begonia, lighting a cigarette, silently smoking.¡± ¡°Since confirming Jiang Yuan¡¯s identity, Yuan Ben had be even more diligent and tired.¡± ¡°Only those in criminal investigations understand how rare experts really are, especially those who truly aid in solving cases. They¡¯re absolute scarcities.¡± ¡°Each province has a limited number of experts, and those who make a name for themselves in one province are few. If you¡¯re selecting from the entire country, they¡¯re even scarcer.¡± ¡°You might think the cases in Chiyong seem crucial, but let¡¯s be honest, aren¡¯t all criminal cases important?¡± ¡°An expert focusing on a single case might invest weeks, even months, while new cases across the country continuously arise.¡± Yuan Ben had been contacting the technical experts within the province with utmost courtesytely, let alone those from other provinces. Knock knock. Wang Chuanxing knocked on the door of therge office and entered with a smile, ¡°Everyone¡¯s here.¡± Hearing the sound, the police officers nodded at him and then pointed towards Yuan Ben¡¯s location. Wang Chuanxing saw him too and quickly walked over. He took out a cigarette and offered it to Yuan Ben, saying, ¡°Thank you for just now, our side has also mostlypleted the procedures.¡± ¡°As long as the procedures are done, it¡¯s good.¡± Yuan Ben was all smiles. ¡°Thanks to you, otherwise we would have been dyed much longer. I just hope it didn¡¯t affect your case work.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just a small fry, the family annihtion case is a job for the whole team, and I actually had nothing to do today. The director put it on the board, the brigademander is personally directing, I just obey orders,¡± Yuan Ben said, waving his hand. Actually, one of his tasks was to seek out and contact various experts. If he could get in touch with Jiang Yuan through people like Wang Chuanxing, he would be very happy. Thinking this, Yuan Ben said in a low voice, ¡°To tell the truth, at this point, the case has not progressed at all. Even if we want to assign people, even if we wanted to send people out to investigate for clues, it¡¯s useless. Because there are no clues.¡± Yuan Ben spread his hands and said, ¡°We¡¯ve just gone over the neighbors again, and been all through the vige, to no avail.¡± Wang Chuanxing, feeling a bit nostalgic and understanding, couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°I understand, we¡¯ve had situations like that too in the past.¡± ¡°In the past?¡± ¡°That¡¯s since we¡¯ve followed Captain Jiang, these situations have be less frequent,¡± Wang Chuanxing said with augh, ¡°Captain Jiang usually screens the clues first, then assigns people for follow-up, rarely resorting to mass manpower anymore.¡± Yuan Benughed twice, only believing a third of what Wang Chuanxing said. There might be one or two cases that could be handled more easily, but for most cases, it¡¯s quite unlikely to be rxed. Especially with cold cases and homicide cases, realistically, none of them are easy. While they were talking, Wang Chuanxing¡¯s phone rang. Wang Chuanxing answered the call with a smile already on his face, ¡°Captain Jiang has sent an analysis. He texted, please wait a moment.¡± ¡°What analysis?¡± Yuan Ben was mostly curious now. Then Wang Chuanxing showed him the text message. The short sentence on the screen read: Based on Bloodstain Analysis and footprints, one of the murderers is judged to have a height of 1.8 meters, substantial weight, and expertise with a hammer. Just a few elements made Yuan Ben swallow hard. Although it was still a very broad range, this was by now a very useful clue since the family annihtion case began. ¡°Is this a profile of the perpetrator given by Jiang Yuan?¡± Yuan Ben asked. Wang Chuanxing shook his head, ¡°It¡¯s not really a profile. Look, Captain Jiang mentioned Bloodstain Analysis. It must be based on things like blood droplets on the wall.¡± ¡°Right, our technicians actually had simr analyses, but none were very certain,¡± Yuan Ben shook his head slightly. One of the problems the Chiyong special case team had encountered was that the influx of information was too disordered and too cluttered, which made it difficult to refine useful clues from it. Looking at Wang Chuanxing, Yuan Ben hesitated a bit and said, ¡°If this is definitely Captain Jiang¡¯s judgment, then I¡¯ll report it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Captain Jiang¡¯s work, go ahead and report it,¡± Wang Chuanxing responded. Yuan Ben nodded and turned to make a phone call. After a while, Yuan Ben came back excitedly and said to Wang Chuanxing, ¡°Our brigademander would like to have a talk with Captain Jiang.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s Director Huang¡¯s phone number. You can have a talk first.¡± Wang Chuanxing had also just been authorized. Chapter 395 - 395 362 Gradually Going Beyond the Scope ?395: Chapter 362 Gradually Going Beyond the Scope 395: Chapter 362 Gradually Going Beyond the Scope Chi Yong City. The cold wind cut to the bone, and at the transparent station, it was even more so. Yuan Ben looked at the side branch politicalmissar and saw him shove his hands into his sleeves, which made him express his concern, ¡°Commissioner Liu, why don¡¯t you go inside and rest? When the train arrives, I¡¯ll call you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not that delicate,¡± Commissioner Liu said as he shivered. ¡°Back when we were on stakeouts, we didn¡¯t wear as much as we do now. We would sit in the woods for half the night waiting for someone; that was the real deal.¡± ¡°The ¡®back then¡¯ you¡¯re talking about, that¡¯s when you were 30, right?¡± ¡°Twenty. Back then, young people like us who had a bit of education would ascend the ranks quickly. By the time I was 30, I was almost ready to be a battalionmander.¡± Themissioner slightly smiled and nced at Yuan Ben¡¯s epaulets, ¡°It¡¯s different for you guys.¡± Yuan Ben spread his hands, ¡°I understand your body feels cold, but your words seem just as chilling. It¡¯s easy to dishearten people.¡± Themissionerughed heartily, ¡°Whether you get promoted or not doesn¡¯t really matter. Look at me now, I¡¯m basically just a senior investigator who also happens to handle receptions, right?¡± ¡°What are you saying¡­¡± Yuan Ben couldn¡¯t agree with that, and quickly thinking, he said, ¡°At the very least, if you were to sacrifice yourself for the country, your funeral expenses would be higher than mine¡­¡± Themissioner calmly looked at Yuan Ben, ¡°I think it¡¯s you who wants to collect those funeral expenses.¡± ¡­ The high-speed train slowly pulled into the station. Through the ss door, Yuan Ben saw Jiang Yuan. Having seen his picture already, he quickly pointed him out to themissioner. Commissioner Liu rubbed his hands together and went up to greet him. ¡°Captain Jiang, wee to Chi Yong City¡­¡± Themissioner, having just warmed his hands, shook hands with Jiang Yuan and then introduced himself. ¡°Commissioner Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan politely responded. The branch politicalmissar has a slightly higher position than Huang Qiangmin, and although Director Huang had already negotiated the terms, the proper respect must still be given. Liu Jinghui automatically stepped forward and also shook hands with Commissioner Liu. ¡°I¡¯ve reserved a private room at the restaurant up ahead. Why don¡¯t we go there to rest and have something to eat before heading to the bureau?¡± Commissioner Liu smiled and suggested. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too keen on going, ¡°How about we go directly to the crime scene instead?¡± ¡°We have to eat at some point. Besides, the team has had a long journey. Let¡¯s eat something first and then go to the crime scene. We¡¯ll have enough time.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Seeing Jiang Yuan still hesitant, Commissioner Liu coughed twice and added, ¡°This is arranged by your Director Huang.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t caught on yet. Tang Jia, standing at his side, whispered, ¡°Director Huang seemed to have made arrangements regarding meal and hotel standards. There seem to be certain expectations for Chi Yong.¡± Jiang Yuan expressed his surprise, ¡°Starting to care about lifestyle? That doesn¡¯t sound like Captain Huang¡¯s style.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a different province, and perhaps some resources aren¡¯t as easy to arrange. Moreover, he¡¯s probably worried about us not eating and sleeping well while outside.¡± Tang Jia spoke softly. Jiang Yuan thought to himself that you haven¡¯t seen the dining and amodation standards of the Criminal Investigation Division during Captain Huang¡¯s time. However, he could understand that certain demands made by Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t be met in Chiyong, an outside province. After all, they couldn¡¯t ask the province to build buildings for Ningtai County. If work demands can¡¯t be fulfilled to the max, then naturally, expectations for living conditions must be raised. You can¡¯t expect people to work for free after all¡ªif Comrade Huang Qiangmin were here, that¡¯s probably what he would say. As they chatted, the group reached the restaurant up ahead. The restaurant was small and unassuming, but the private room was nicely decorated and the dinner was truly delicious, boasting both vor and local specialties. Commissioner Liu himself was witty and humorous, cracking jokes and spinning yarns. It would have been a harmonious and warm meal had there been any alcohol. Jiang Yuan, feeling full, patted his stomach and looked outside, ¡°It¡¯s gettingte. Let¡¯s skip the crime scene for now. I¡¯d like to start with the autopsy.¡± If it were a fresh crime scene, it would be best to see it as soon as possible, even at night. But now that the scene had been around for almost half a month, Jiang Yuan would rather wait for better weather the next day to carefully investigate. Inparison, autopsies didn¡¯t require auspicious dates and times. As Commissioner Liu was eating a piece of pork intestine, he quietly put down his chopsticks and said, ¡°Of course, we can do the autopsy. Captain Jiang, will you be conducting the autopsy personally?¡± He knew that Jiang Yuan¡¯s specialty was as a forensic doctor, but from Commissioner Liu¡¯s 30 years of experience, he believed that excelling in one area often meanspromising in others. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s strong investigative abilities, evident in his knack for cracking cold cases, his forensic skills were likely not as impressive. So, Commissioner Liu¡¯s question was whether Jiang Yuan had brought another forensic doctor with him. Jiang Yuan simply shook his head and said, ¡°I¡¯ll do the autopsy myself, please inform Commissioner Liu. If possible, I would still like to go ahead with the dissection.¡± To dissect, they would need to take the body out of the ice coffin and thaw it, normally it requires a bit of extra time. However, the re-autopsy proposed by Jiang Yuan was actually equivalent to a second autopsy by a forensic doctor, which made his request even harder to fulfill. Commissioner Liu agreed without any fuss. This was actually something that had been discussed beforehand. The investigative approach that Jiang Yuan wanted was definitely something that the Chiyong authorities intended to fulfill, otherwise there would be no point in himing to investigate. Moreover, a forensic autopsy is never an easy task. Jiang Yuan¡¯s willingness to do it actually spoke to hismitment. From this perspective, Commissioner Liu was even less likely to object. So, some people went back to the hotel to rest, while a few others followed Jiang Yuan to the mortuary to begin the autopsy right there. All four bodies were taken out, and Jiang Yuan first examined the surface of each body, then froze the bodies, before examining the pathology slides of the corpses. In modern forensic autopsies, it is necessary to create tissue blocks and pathology slides. There were about a hundred blocks and slides made from the four bodies, all of which could be observed carefully under the microscope. The case of the quadruple homicide was handled as standardized as possible. The forensics work done by Qiu Xing from the Chiyong City mortuary was also quite skillful. Jiang Yuan estimated that his level of forensic pathology was about LV 2.5, which is quite strong among frontline forensic doctors. The autopsy reports and slides he produced also didn¡¯t have any significant issues. Of course, if Jiang Yuan had conducted the initial autopsy, he would certainly have discovered more, but whether it would have been helpful in solving the case was not certain. ¡°All set,¡± he said. After going through the pathology slides, Jiang Yuan turned back to examine the bodies, and took the opportunity to thank Qiu Xing of Chiyong City. Qiu Xing indifferently said, ¡°You want to spend all night looking at bodies, that¡¯s fine by me. How is it, our work isn¡¯t bad, right?¡± ¡°Quite good,¡± Jiang Yuan smiled. ¡°You¡¯re a forensic doctor, right, Captain Jiang? Any advice you provide could help us improve our skills in the future,¡± said Qiu Xing, who had heard of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation. Though not trying to challenge authority, he was indeed curious about Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities. With that, Jiang Yuan just gave an ¡°Mmm¡± and said, ¡°If I may suggest, for the heart and liver, perhaps doing continuous slices would be better.¡± Slicing is a continuous action. When conducting the first autopsy, the organs and brain tissue taken out were ced in buckets containing a formalin solution. After these tissues were fixed, they would be hard, greyish-brown in color. Then, the forensic doctor would proceed with sampling from conventional sites as well as from suspicious areas. Starting from this step, the work besplicated, difficult, and unpleasant. Firstly, the organs are soaked in formalin, which is a 35% to 40% formaldehyde aqueous solution. Spilling just one spoonful on the ground could cause the formaldehyde concentration in the entire room to exceed the standard. Secondly, the following steps of sampling, dehydration, embedding, and slicing, each one is more technically demanding than thest. Particrly in slicing, which often requires slices so thin they are only a single cellyer thick, it¡¯s easy to ruin the sample with a slight error. And continuous slicing refers to cutting multiple consecutive sections to reveal more details. Qiu Xing did perform continuous slices as well, but he ruined the continuous slices of the heart and liver. Since he asked, Jiang Yuan quite naturally pointed it out, leaving the forensic doctor momentarily without a response. There was still a slight feeling of dissatisfaction, of course. At this time, Jiang Yuan was seen standing in front of the male head of household¡¯s body, picking up the scalpel and starting the dissection. Qiu Xing stood by, assisting while watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s own technique. Jiang Yuan did not perform anyplicated maneuvers, murmuring to himself as he operated: ¡°Multiple superficial skin lesions on the head and face located at¡­ The epidermis on the back of the neck is peeled off, situated at¡­ The head has multiple cranial fractures¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang hurriedly recorded everything beside him. Jiang Yuan was also slowly describing the condition of the body he observed. ¡°Bteral shoulder and neck¡­¡± ¡°Cervical vertebrae¡­¡± ¡°Back¡­¡± Initially, Jiang Yuan was following the normal procedure, but soon the words he spoke started going beyond the usual scope. ¡°The person holding the knife, the killer, is about one meter seventy to one meter seventy-five tall.¡± ¡°The person is quite strong.¡± ¡°The third person, the one who tied the rope, is likely left-handed.¡± ¡°The killer holding the hammer has considerable strength in his legs, too¡­¡± Chapter 396 - 396 363 All is True ?396: Chapter 363 All is True 396: Chapter 363 All is True The forensic doctor Qiu Xing¡¯s abilities were at a level 2.5 in forensic pathology, which was just enough for him to understand what Jiang Yuan was doing. Put simply, it was about inferring the murderer based on the state of the victim¡¯s injuries. One could estimate the assant¡¯s strength and the position from which force was applied based on the depth and angle of the wound left by a knife. When a hammer struck the skull, the shattered bones could be used to infer the assant¡¯s height, dominance of hand, as well as their strength, among other factors. The human body is an excellent force recipient, and moreover, sufficiently researched. For instance, when dealing with the same hammer blow, if it struck a wall, investigators might have to look up the data to estimate the strength, but with the human body, experienced forensic doctors could recite the data from memory. If the injury left a mark on a bone, there would be even more factors to specte on. However, all of these were just techniques Qiu Xing had heard about; he had never done anything like that. Not to mention the many regression equations involved in the so-called thorough research of the human body, which Qiu Xing found difficult to look up¡ªregression equations are a form of summarization and are not as stable and authoritative as theorems or forms, which means most of them have a limited range of application. For example, determining a person¡¯s height based on the size of their foot is definitely rted to race or geographic region. When ites to assessing strength, there are even more factors involved. Therefore, faced with different people in different environments, Qiu Xing couldn¡¯t even be sure of which regression equation to use for his calctions. Of course, what was more magical was memorizing these regression equations, just as Jiang Yuan was demonstrating. To Qiu Xing, it felt like reciting the longest piece he knew, ¡°Mn Ci,¡± while Jiang Yuan had memorized all of the Four Books and Five ssics. The key was that Jiang Yuan dared to use them in practice and to deliver urate judgments. A forensic report is no joke ¨C it ys a critical role in solving cases and guiding the direction of the investigation, and it must be taken very seriously. A mistake could result in more than just a deduction of points¡ªit could be a waste of everyone¡¯s time and effort at best, or at worst, it could lead to an error in the case, rendering all efforts fruitless. More seriously, someone could be injured, or even die, as a result. For Qiu Xing, even if he found a suitable regression equation and seemed to calcte the assant¡¯s height and weight, he wouldn¡¯t dare to just state it outright. Because he wasn¡¯t confident he could make such judgment. But Jiang Yuan had no problem at all. He was not only confident but also made numerous judgments. Looking at the four bodies one by one, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s notebook was quickly filled with Jiang Yuan¡¯s notes. As Jiang Yuan examined further, he did more than just give judgments; he also made meticulous modifications: ¡°The one who tied the ropes shows an imbnce in strength between his hands, likely due to an injury or having issues with his legs.¡± ¡°The one who used the hammer left the most traces. You see, the blood spatters he flung indicate that his movements were quite unrestrained, without hesitation. It¡¯s possible he¡¯smitted simr crimes before, or at the very least, he¡¯s someone who used to fight frequently.¡± ¡°The knife user was not very skilled. The indecision can be seen from the way the cuts were made.¡± As Jiang Yuan gave answers one after another, Qiu Xing listened for so long that he became numb to them. His state was somewhat like that of someone who had been doing an activity for so long that they had be numb and stiff. At that moment, Jiang Yuan asked for paper and pen and began writing and sketching. Jiang Yuan took a considerable amount of time drawing. Suddenly, there appeared an image of an octagonal hammer on the desk,plete with annotated dimensions. With level 2 sketching skills, even a little effort could produce an impressive result. Then, Jiang Yuan drew an image of a knife. It was a machete with a wide back and a de that seemed capable of cutting down a small tree in a single stroke. Jiang Yuan blurred out the handle part but focused on the de, especially highlighting two damaged points where it had been nicked. Once again, Qiu Xing¡¯s curiosity was piqued, like someone who had be numb from exercise suddenly experiencing an unusual stimulus, reawakening them. But once awake, Qiu Xing regretted it yet again. ¡°Is this the shape of the murder weapon?¡± Qiu Xing guessed the content of Jiang Yuan¡¯s drawing. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°Just making a rough judgment.¡± Qiu Xing just chuckled. The drawing was so detailed, even the nicks on the knife were marked. And you say it¡¯s a ¡°rough¡± ¡°estimate¡±? Afterughing, Qiu Xing¡¯s expression gradually became serious again. He had heard plenty of impressive stories, but he hadn¡¯t actually met that many impressive people. If he just watched Jiang Yuan at work today,ter on, he would probably have an impressive story to tell. But then, Qiu Xing had a second thought¡­ Unable to help himself, Qiu Xing moved a bit closer to Jiang Yuan and whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, how did you draw this knife mark?¡± ¡°Oh, that¡­ It should actually be considered a skill of tool mark analysis,¡± Jiang Yuan exined briefly. ¡°Tool marks¡­¡± Qiu Xing gritted his teeth: ¡°This seems a bit different from the trace analysis our team does.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a little more difficult,¡± Jiang Yuan noticed that Qiu Xing wanted to learn and told him the truth, ¡°In terms of difficulty, the tool mark analysis technique I use should be harder than forensic pathology.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic pathology was Level 4, and his tool mark analysis was Level 6. The difference between the two was enough for a normal person to spend 20 years learning, if they were lucky. Qiu Xing was a bit disappointed. Being a forensic doctor himself, he knew how difficult Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic pathology was. He had hoped to learn a few tricks, but it turned out he was still facing a solid wall of knowledge. ¡°It¡¯s that difficult!¡± Qiu Xing sighed with a bit of unwillingness, then asked, ¡°How long did it take for you to learn this?¡± Seeing that Jiang Yuan was young, he wanted to estimate the time. Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I mainly figured it out by myself.¡± Qiu Xing couldn¡¯t help but widen his eyes: ¡°How did you figure it out?¡± ¡°Actually, it didn¡¯t take very long. I¡¯ve dissected no more than a hundred bodies so far,¡± Jiang Yuan gave an example using his forensic pathology skill. Qiu Xing understood at once. A favorite child of the heavens, master of talent, right? Indeed, what¡¯s there to say about a favorite of fortune ¨C no, about someone fortune spoon-feeds? Perhaps Jiang Yuan could teach him, but that would require a long time and a huge investment of effort, something Qiu Xing couldn¡¯tmit to on a whim. Jiang Yuan continued with his work when a pale blue bean-shaped object slid into the palm of his hand: The legacy of Ma Zhongli¡ªFishing (Level 3): Ma Zhongli was an excellent designer and a loving father, but what he was best at, what he loved most, was fishing. Oveing numerous difficulties, braving all obstacles, arriving at a vast body of water on a cool morning to caste his line, those moments were Ma Zhongli¡¯s happiest, and if necessary, he would start even in the cold early dawn. Design was his career, fishing was his life¡­ Jiang Yuan epted Ma Zhongli¡¯s legacy with a sigh. A Level 3 skill was already impressive. Ma Zhongli could have had the chance to be a star in the fishing grounds, yet who could have thought he would die in a home invasion? Yes, Jiang Yuan had already ssified the case as a home invasion. However, he wasn¡¯t ready to disclose it yet, as the crime scene hadn¡¯t been fully examined. Still, after Jiang Yuan finished his autopsy and submitted his multiple conclusions to the task force, it caused quite a stir. ¡°This is too detailed!¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this too assumptive?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the basis for these judgments? Just giving us a few pieces of paper, who¡¯s going to take responsibility if they¡¯re wrong?¡± ¡°Should we adjust the direction of the investigation?¡± In the meeting room of the Chiyong City Criminal Police Brigade, the air was filled with smoke and continuous voices of discussion. Yuan Ben sat in a corner, nced at Wang Chuanxing with some concern, and whispered, ¡°Don¡¯t be angry, everyone is just sharing their thoughts based on the facts. It¡¯s not against you¡­ ¡± Wang Chuanxing¡¯s expression was stern, but his tone was quite rxed: ¡°It¡¯s okay, Captain Jiang is often like this. And besides, this is a good thing.¡± ¡°A good thing? Why?¡± Yuan Ben didn¡¯t quite understand. ¡°It means that none of the technicians who can understand what Captain Jiang is doing, so the actual difficulty of solving the case might not be that great,¡± Wang Chuanxing expressed his view like a true top student. Yuan Ben pondered for a while before he understood Wang Chuanxing¡¯s meaning: You¡¯re too weak, so the case can¡¯t be that hard! Yuan Ben was instantly indignant, and yet, he didn¡¯t know how to retort. This guy, he spoke as if he was telling the truth! Chapter 397 - 397 364 Details ?397: Chapter 364 Details 397: Chapter 364 Details ¡°Actually, just based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, which is the suggestion from Shan Nan, I think we can already try to conduct a screening.¡± Commissioner Liu spoke up in the middle of the meeting, silencing the lively discussion. It was clear to anyone with eyes that the information sent by Jiang Yuan indeed met the fundamental conditions for a screening. It was just that Jiang Yuan had only arrived for one day, and to start arge-scale screening from this point¡­ ¡°We have to define a scope,¡± stated the squad leader, peeling an ugly tangerine. The ugly tangerine was sent by Director Xu, who is in charge of criminal investigation. Director Xu did note to the meeting, but in the past few days, he had been sending fruit with increasingly higher value, much to everyone¡¯s bitterness. The neighboring team leaders each received a share of the tangerines distributed by the squad leader. The tangerines were sweet and juicy, continuously raising everyone¡¯s tolerance. Indeed,pared to a bit of face, it was the director and such who were truly terrifying. ¡°I think we can conduct the screening from the angles of being skilled with a hammer and having a height of one meter eighty. The victim, Ma Zhongli, was an interior design decorator, and a high-end designer at that. He must havee into contact with many decoration workers on construction sites. If we narrow it down based on this height, we may get some results,¡± he said. The team leader from the fourth team swallowed a segment of tangerine and provided a rtively reasonable scope for the screening. The squad leader gave an ¡°mm¡± of approval and added, ¡°Construction workers are highly mobile, have a weaker legal consciousness, and are in good physical condition. If it¡¯s for financial gain, they indeed have the motive. Being skilled with a hammer is also a good point of inquiry¡­ However, it¡¯s not easy to define the scope of construction workers.¡± ¡°Ma Zhongli mainly designed vis andrge ts, earning money from design fees. Although he also visited construction sites, he didn¡¯t interact with many workers. We have already questioned those who have worked on the recent construction sites and received wages,¡± recounted the leader of the first team, shaking his head slightly. ¡°Without those judgments on height and skills before, we can re-screen, looking more closely,¡± the squad leader still found the direction attractive and was unwilling to give up on it easily. The team leader agreed, sketching a few notes in his work notebook. It¡¯s easy to talk during meetings, but actual work isplicated. Even something as simple as screening workers is challenging to carry out wlessly. The team leader then said, ¡°As far as I know, Ma Zhongli often took on private jobs and asionally traveled out of town on business. If the workers are from outside the area, it will be difficult for us to round them up here.¡± ¡°Even if they¡¯re hard to round up, we have to do it. Otherwise, what should we do? Should I go find police from other ces to help you with the screening?¡± the squad leader retorted, unwilling to ept excuses, and firmly delegated the task. The team leader sighed, nodding in expected agreement. As long as the squad leader didn¡¯t back out when it came time to approve the travel paperwork. ¡°The murderer might not have necessarily targeted Ma Zhongli,¡± said another detective, waiting for the conversation to settle. ¡°Looking at the numerous cases of family annihtions over the past few years, those in rural areas are mostmonly motivated by emotions, or rather, emotional reasons. The primary cause is family disputes¡­¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment is that it was an armed robbery, with the motive being financial rather than personal,¡± Commissioner Liu interjected. The detective calmly continued, ¡°I have studied several family annihtion cases that have urred in recent years, and the criminal suspects are almost without exception rted to the victims¡¯ families by blood or marriage. The majority were triggered by family disputes¡­¡± Everyone listened quite attentively. Including the squad leader, who after the remarks were concluded, praised, ¡°Old Feng has seriously studied this; indeed, the murderer killing four people in one go means this case is too big. The simple objective of theft doesn¡¯t quite fitmon sense. So Old Feng, you take your squad and continue digging along the line of family rtionships.¡± One dilemma the Chiyong City detectives faced was that many investigative directions had already been examined, and previous inquiries had not yielded clues. Whether re-examining them now would lead to any breakthroughs was still hard to say. But no matter how difficult, the work still had to be divvied up. The squad leader did his utmost to make arrangements. At this point, how to proceed was tough, and the cost of solving the case was no longer a consideration. Yet, regarding solving the case, he was still not very confident. ¡­ Jiang Yuan took Mu Zhiyang and others, along with a crime scene investigation vehicle, and together with two of Chiyong City¡¯s scene investigators, began to examine the crime scene. Simr to an autopsy, re-examining a crime scene tends to yield much less information. Some evidence might have already been collected, so getting an overview of the scene often relies on photos. However, Jiang Yuan came to experience the scene firsthand. From the moment he entered, he didn¡¯t exert much effort in things like fingerprint detection but focused on the traces of the perpetrators¡¯ actions instead. Jiang Yuan had been simting the process of the assants¡¯ violent acts in his mind. ¡°These higher drawers must have been opened by the guy who is six feet tall. He¡¯s quite strong; some of the drawers are broken. The lower drawers¡­ It¡¯s not easy to determine who searched through them¡­¡± ¡°The bolt was knocked open with a sledgehammer.¡± ¡°These guys basically just violently dismantled everything. It doesn¡¯t seem like they have any lock-picking skills.¡± As Jiang Yuan walked and observed each floor, his thoughts continued to evolve. His Level 4 crime scene investigation skills, much like his forensic pathology expertise, are well above that of an average technician. But it was still not easy to deduce the assant from the chaotic scene. Even the experts from the ministry asionallye across cases they can¡¯t crack. The key lies in the details. If one can find a detail that the assant overlooked and link it to their identity, then the case is practically solved. Of course, this is just a delightful expectation of a technician; in reality, such discoveries lead to a breakthrough in very few cases. Most cases are cracked using somewhat foolish, inelegant methods. As Jiang Yuan made his way to the female homeowner¡¯s room, a patch of dust caught his attention. ¡°Something was ced here and has been taken,¡± Jiang Yuan said, standing in front of a wardrobe. Using the light from his shlight, he could see ayer of dust had settled but noticeably, there was a rectangr area that was free of dust. Liu Jinghui immediately came over to look and nodded, ¡°It¡¯s quiterge¡­ Hm¡­ a small safe?¡± This response was somewhat unexpected to Jiang Yuan. ¡°What makes you say that?¡± Liu Jinghui exined, ¡°Firstly, the size fits. Also, this is the female homeowner¡¯s room, and I noticed that there isn¡¯t a specific jewelry box or case here. It¡¯s very likely that jewelry and simr items were kept in this small safe. Moreover, this family has two children, and being in a rural setting, storing jewelry in a safe is indeed more secure than a jewelry box. The main function is to prevent idental removal¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang remarked, ¡°And the robbers took the entire safe away.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the nature of these safes, simple convenience with a certain level of protection is enough.¡± Mu Zhiyang asked, ¡°Is it possible that the robbers took away a jewelry box or something simr?¡± ¡°No. You¡¯ve seen movies about gold heists; robbers typically dump the jewelry out and take it. Jewelry boxes are generally heavy and don¡¯t hold much jewelry, the robbers wouldn¡¯t take that.¡± Mu Zhiyang nodded subconsciously. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°Later on, we can ask someone who might know. I think the female homeowner wouldn¡¯t hide it; someone should be aware.¡± At that moment, Jiang Yuan stroked his chin in silence, waiting for the others to finish before saying, ¡°If it was a small safe, then how it was opened bes interesting.¡± Liu Jinghui immediately looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°None of these three people seem capable of picking locks, a point we¡¯ve already discussed. So, whoever got the safe could only resort to a violent break-in.¡± ¡°Right, they wouldn¡¯t call someone specifically to pick the lock, not just because it would mean dividing the loot for nothing, but it could also lead to leaks,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed. ¡°What kind of violent break-in methods are there?¡± ¡°Go to a small workshop, or even a recycling center, and you¡¯ll find a cutting machine,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, adding, ¡°But they probably wouldn¡¯t dare let them operate independently. So like lock-picking, hiring someone would mean risking a leak.¡± Understanding, Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°So you¡¯re saying that if they¡¯re going to open the safe on their own, what would they use?¡± ¡°An oxyacetylene torch, a cheap one costs just a few hundred yuan. However, they probably wouldn¡¯t have the patience to wait for an online order, so¡­¡± ¡°They bought an oxyacetylene torch locally?¡± Liu Jinghui nodded vigorously. ¡°That¡¯s possible; we can use this lead to investigate. It should dramatically lower the workload!¡± Chapter 398 - 398 365 Direction of Investigation ?398: Chapter 365: Direction of Investigation 398: Chapter 365: Direction of Investigation Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, and Liu Jinghui, among others, walked out of Ma Zhongli¡¯s house under the scorching sun. They had arrived in the afternoon, had dinner, then went to see the body, and now, almost into the next afternoon, they had essentially worked a full shift. Everyone was a bit tired but still fairly spirited. By the car, Mu Zhiyang asked, ¡°Where to next?¡± ¡°The investigation should be consideredplete,¡± Jiang Yuan looked towards Liu Jinghui. As a senior police chief from the provincial department, he deserved certain respects. Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment and said, ¡°I also think we have enough leads now. It¡¯s not like the suspect will jump out at us all of a sudden; next, it¡¯s a matter of filtering and searching. Shall we go to the Chiyong City Bureau to meet some people and discuss the situation?¡± ¡°Then let the others rest,¡± Jiang Yuan had brought a team out for the convenience of the investigation, which was no longer necessary. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mind and simply said, ¡°Let Mu Zhiyange along; he can help run errands.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± Mu Zhiyang agreed super willingly. The case had already taken shape; why not be proactive unless he feared the credit would be too heavy? ¡­ When Jiang Yuan and his group arrived at the Chiyong City Bureau, the bureau¡¯s investigation meeting was in session. Commissioner Liu gave the brigademander a heads-up, hurried out to greet them, bringing only Yuan Ben with him. After a warm handshake, Commissioner Liu still maintained an easy smile and casually asked, ¡°So I hear there are new leads?¡± ¡°Yes, we have a small hypothesis,¡± Jiang Yuan said. As the safe and the manner of breaking into it were mere guesses, they naturally had to present them as hypotheses. Commissioner Liu acted pleased and said with a smile, ¡°Then you¡¯ll have to share with me.¡± Liu Jinghui, having spent years guiding investigations in various counties, started with a simple exnation, ¡°We found traces suggestive of a mini safe at the scene, with dimensions also resembling a mini safe. We asked the female rtive and her close friends, confirming she indeed owned a mini safe. Now, with the safe missing from the scene, we suspect the killer took it.¡± Commissioner Liu nodded; this was still following the robbery angle. However, he had some doubts about this line of thinking. In the recent meeting, Detective Lao Feng¡¯s approach was quite persuasive. Over the past few years, most family annihtion cases had stemmed from domestic disputes. Categorizing by the identity of the murderer, there were cases of fathers killing their sons¡¯ families, sons killing their fathers and stepmothers¡¯ families, and sons-inw killing their inws¡¯ families¡­ Generally speaking, these incidents all involved money, but the primary reason was definitely not money. Of course, such an overview wasn¡¯t enough to prove that only rtives couldmit family annihtion. But it did indicate that those driven by financial gain were rare. It might be moremon abroad, but in recent years, such cases had indeed be less heard of domestically. Thinking this, Commissioner Liu felt awkward saying it outright and instead replied with a smile, ¡°Director Liu presents a good direction¡­¡± ¡°Do you have any different ideas about the direction of the investigation?¡± Liu Jinghui, a shrewd man indeed and an experienced one who had spent 20 years in the field, immediately noticed a change in Commissioner Liu¡¯s demeanor. As police officers, they were cunning and deceptive with suspects, but in real life, they tended to avoid such tactics. Seeing that he had been found out, Commissioner Liu gave an embarrassed smile and said, ¡°Indeed, we now prioritize the idea that the killer acted out of personal vendetta, taking violent measures due to emotional issues.¡± ¡°Which smart person came up with that?¡± Liu Jinghui asked bluntly. Commissioner Liu couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Everyone is free to speak their mind; it¡¯s just based on analyzing the recent family annihtion cases¡­¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s not a leader¡¯s idea,¡± Liu Jinghui interjected, cutting off Commissioner Liu¡¯s words, and added, ¡°The recent family annihtion cases were allmitted by individuals. Triple-perpetrator cases have noparability with these.¡± Commissioner Liu was taken aback; he hadn¡¯t conducted detailed research but listening to Liu Jinghui¡¯s statement, his perception immediately shifted. Indeed, the dynamics of three peoplemitting a crime were radically different from a single person. While both could act out of emotion, did Ma Zhongli¡¯s family really provoke such hatred? Murder was no small matter, family annihtion implied an immediate death sentence for the murderer; it was not a decision made lightly. If the motive was robbery, during the crime process, the killer might have identally killed someone due to the victim¡¯s resistance, and eventually decided to annihte the family. But if it was premeditated murder, the intention from the beginning was to kill, so the possibility of an ¡®ident¡¯ doesn¡¯t exist, and the reason bes less sufficient.¡± ¡°Another thing, if it¡¯s a rtive out for murder, they wouldn¡¯t waste time turning the house upside down and even taking the safe with them, right? It¡¯s too time-consuming and unnecessary,¡± Liu Jinghui said, and Commissioner Liu understood without needing further exnation. Rtives choosing murder over money and then searching through drawers and cabs for valuables ¨C it doesn¡¯t fit the emotional profile. It¡¯s like a father who has just killed his son and his family, then searches the house for money ¨C it doesn¡¯t make sense ¨C unless the house contains martial arts secrets or rare treasures. Commissioner Liu¡¯s expression became stern as he seriously said, ¡°So, Director Liu¡¯s suggestion is that we follow the lead of the safe?¡± ¡°Pretty much, the key is how to open the safe.¡± Liu Jinghui recounted the previous discussion with Jiang Yuan, which made Commissioner Liu nod in agreement. ¡°This is indeed a good lead,¡± Commissioner Liu concurred, ¡°In that case, I will report to the brigademander first¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll head back then,¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t want to cause any conflict, knowing everyone was there to do their job, he simply added a reminder, ¡°I don¡¯t know what the policy is like here in Chiyong, but if there¡¯s a registration for the cylinders, it might be easier to trace. Regardless, the search must be conducted quickly, otherwise, even if we find a clue, the killer might have already fled.¡± Commissioner Liu nodded again and again. Liu Jinghui, taking Jiang Yuan with him, turned and left. Commissioner Liu returned to the conference room and borated on the recent conversation in detail. The conference room, where everyone had been discussing Detective Lao Feng¡¯s approach, suddenly fell silent at this interruption. The brigademander hesitated for a moment before agreeing, ¡°That makes sense¡­¡± The others in the conference room did not voice any objections at that time. It¡¯s easy to guess an investigative direction, but to be definitivelymitted to one is unquestionable. In no time, the police officers of the Chiyong City Criminal Police Brigade were out in force, scouring the districts to inquire about individuals who had recently used or purchased gas cutting equipment. This was meticulous andborious work. It took hundreds of officers a day and a half to cover all the outlets in Chiyong City, with disappointing results. To exin in three words, there was ¡°nothing¡±! ¡°It seems that this lead is also a dead end.¡± The brigademander invited Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui to attend the meeting and presented the investigation results to them. To Jiang Yuan, it felt a bit like they were saying ¡°it¡¯s all because the enemy is too cunning.¡± The group once again engaged in discussions about the direction of the investigation. Jiang Yuan closed his eyes, carefully recalling every detail of the case. Frankly, the difficulty of this casey not in the search for information, as there was an abundance of it. The crux of the issue was how to narrow the search and find the trace of the killer. ¡°I suggest that we continue to inspect the counties and towns surrounding Chiyong City,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for them toe to a conclusion before standing firm on the previous decision. The brigademander hesitated, saying, ¡°But that would widen our scope considerably.¡± ¡°I know,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice was very clear. He was also aware of the pressure the brigademander faced, but solving cases was always like this. In a case of family annihtion, capturing the culprit is never an easy task. Chapter 399 - 399 366 Trust Him ?399: Chapter 366: Trust Him 399: Chapter 366: Trust Him After personnel were dispatched to various counties and towns, the brigademander hurried off to report to the leadership. Taking advantage of the time before the attendees dispersed, Liu Jinghui sighed and said, ¡°We need to handle this case more quickly.¡± Everyone turned to look at Liu Jinghui. As if talking to himself, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°For murderers who havemitted a massacre, running away is the first choice. Of course, they would likely want to watch the safe being cracked open together, so they might stay for a couple more days. But now, if the safe has been opened, they are most likely going to run, so, the quicker we work on the case, the easier the manhunt will be.¡± A subtle change came over everyone¡¯s expressions. Liu Jinghui had pointed out a stark reality¡ªno policeman likes the manhunt phase, not to mention when the investigation itself is far fromplete. ¡°Director Liu has really thought ahead,¡± Yuan Benughed, lightening the mood. Liu Jinghui smiled faintly and said, ¡°Mainly because the case is too big. Not to talk about if all three ran away¡ªeven if two out of the three did, it would still mean we have not fully seeded. A second-ss achievement would be downgraded to third ss. Of course, that¡¯s the situation for us in Shan Nan¡­¡± Once more, their expressions shifted. Yet again,rade Liu Jinghuiid bare a very real concern. The reason the ugly mandarins they ate every day were so sweet was because their chief had very high expectations. Looking forward, if they were to solve the case but not capture everyone involved¡­ Without thinking further, some would have to stay on guard to catch these individuals every year when the New Year came around. Keeping watch for three years, five years, or even thirteen, fifteen years was a given¡­ Being downgraded in merit was actually the lesser concern. After all, only a few were in line to receive third-ss or even second-ss personal merits. The majority couldn¡¯t count on it. But overall, Liu Jinghui painted a rather burdensome future for everyone. ¡°It¡¯s not to say thatmitting a crime necessarily leads to fleeing,¡± themander of the second squadron stepped forward to steady the troops. Liu Jinghui pressed on, ¡°If we find clues of these three people while searching the urban area, they might have indeed not fled. But if it¡¯s not in the urban area, then it indicates that the three have some counter-surveince ideas, which greatly increases the likelihood of their escape. Moreover, this kind of thinking will only get stronger over time.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s logic was so smooth it was hard to refute. As policemen, themander of the second squadron also had to admit that Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction was indeed very usible. An idiot remains an idiot aftermitting a crime. However, a slightly smarter idiot will struggle more before and after the crime, wasting more of the police¡¯s manpower and resources. And when ites to manhunts, the shorter the time interval, the easier it is to catch the fugitive. Especially in recent years, the best time to catch a fugitive is when they are still unsettled. As time extends and they manage to get a new identity card, or even a residence permit, trying to screen them outter bes much harder. Themander of the second squadron asked, ¡°Does Director Liu have any suggestions?¡± Liu Jinghui replied, ¡°Let¡¯s mobilize the masses. Go all out. For special situations, do some interrogation. It¡¯s also good to ask those who are familiar with the local police stations a bit more, especially when we go to the counties to investigate, it¡¯s beneficial to start by questioning the local big shots first.¡± ¡°Doing so would startle the snake out of the grass.¡± ¡°The snake has long since fled,¡± Liu Jinghui retorted, adding, ¡°As I said before, be a bit more cautious while searching the urban area, and you may be able to catch these three people by the tail. It is now proven that they are not in the urban area to split the loot from the safe, so there¡¯s no point in keeping our actions hidden anymore. The suspects have likely run off, and now we need to gain clues as quickly as possible¡­¡± Once again his logic wasyered, and themander of the second squadron finally understood. He looked at the others and couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°Earlier when the brigademander was here¡­¡± ¡°We won¡¯t get involved with the capture. If we can ascertain the identities of the three and secure the final location, our mission can be consideredplete,¡± Liu Jinghui hurriedly rified. Manhunts are too arduous. Although there are moments of brilliant insight during the pursuit, most of the time, it is about who can endure more hardship and push themselves harder. In reality, a manhunt is like one person running and another chasing. If the chaser runs fast enough, they can catch the person ahead in the shortest distance possible. That¡¯s the theory, but in practice, if the chaser rushes desperately, the person in front only runs more desperately. Even if the chaser stops, the person in front may still run wildly. Ultimately, a pursuit doesn¡¯t end because the chaser ran fast enough; it ends more often because the one in front grows tired, weary, and gives up. As for Liu Jinghui, who considers himself a practitioner of the deductive method and the reasoning king of Shan Nan, why would he want to spend all his time in a tiresome manhunt with the na?ve kids of Chi Yong City? A few in the crowd understood, manifesting bitter smiles. Very few policemen actually want to engage in manhunts. No matter how difficult the daily work, there¡¯s at least a schedule to follow. But going out on a manhunt is truly arduous. It¡¯s tolerable for those who are younger¡ªit¡¯s like a collective life experience. But for detectives in their thirties or forties, just thinking about it makes their teeth hurt. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up.¡± A few team leaders discussed among themselves and began to whip out their phones to report thetest developments to the brigademander. Themander of the second squadron came over, shook hands with Liu Jinghui, and smiled, ¡°Anyway, thank you all for your help. We hope that through this clue, we can pin down the three suspects.¡± ¡°Once you¡¯ve confirmed the identity of the murderers and the final location, try to protect the scene. You can call me for an on-site inspection,¡± Jiang Yuan said, showing off his skill without involving himself in the middle-aged mens¡¯ professional battle. He disliked manhunts and was not particrly good at them, but manhunts could be converted into technical tasks. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much experience in this area, but the application of crime scene investigation skills was truly extensive. He believed that as long as there was a scene, he could gather some information from it. Commissioner Liu now had some understanding of Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical abilities, and he thanked him repeatedly. People scattered in all directions, each checking the agreed-upon areas. The space around Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui and others immediately became empty. ¡°Do you want to guess where the killer cracked the safe?¡± Liu Jinghui suddenly felt yful. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, ¡°I need to go back to sleep.¡± ¡°Sleeping is too boring¡­¡± Liu Jinghui was at a loss for words. ¡°When I wake up, I¡¯ll have to do crime scene investigation if they¡¯ve found the ce,¡± Jiang Yuan said helplessly, ncing at Liu Jinghui. Comrade Liu Jinghui suddenly felt a bit provocative and said angrily, ¡°If they identify the person and the killer runs away, I can also help with the analysis.¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°Then let¡¯s sleep together, the brain is clearer after waking up.¡± ¡°Sleep, sleep, sleep!¡± Liu Jinghui no longer bothered to y the guessing game. ¡­ The news came back faster than expected. In just three hours, a special informant sent back urate information. ¡°Half a month ago, someone from Chiyong City came here, asking around for an unregistered oxyacetylene cutter, and then bought a set and left.¡± Special informants,monly known as informers, are also called ¡°two-fivers¡± on the streets. However, those truly qualified to have a file at the police station are rare. This time, the informant from Tonglin County was indeed a genuine one, and his information was the most timely. Without a second word, the criminal police officers headed straight for the address provided by the informant. A self-built rural house was stormed, revealing two dismantled cars inside. The two brothers, busy dismantling the cars, turned and ran at the sight of the police, but they didn¡¯t make it far before being pinned down. The police force now in action was prepared for a mass murder case, and two petty car thieves had no chance to escape. ¡°Describe the person who bought the oxyacetylene cutter from you half a month ago,¡± Commissioner Liu, who led the team, was also fuming at this point. The car dismantling brothers were dumbfounded, looking at the courtyard full of police, they asked softly, ¡°Are you catching us just to find these people?¡± ¡°How many people!¡± Commissioner Liu would not bother to answer his question. ¡°Three.¡± The elder of the brothers heaved a sigh, ¡°We don¡¯t know them; we just happened to have an old cutter¡­¡± ¡°What do the three of them look like?¡± ¡°One was tall and strong, young. The other two were a bit older, and one seemed to have an injured foot¡­¡± the elder brother described softly. Commissioner Liu and his team exchanged nces; it all matched up perfectly. What was even more astonishing was that Jiang Yuan had actually guessed the height and build of all three people. ¡°You don¡¯t know them, how did they find you?¡± Commissioner Liu pressed on. The elder brother nced at the younger, murmuring, ¡°A friend introduced us.¡± ¡°What friend, what¡¯s their name?¡± Commissioner Liu asked sternly. The two answered in low voices. Commissioner Liu asked for the location. Then, he handed the car dismantling brothers over to his colleague for further questioning and set off with his team. As the car started, Commissioner Liu also called Jiang Yuan, asking him toe and assist. At this stage of the investigation, Commissioner Liu trusted Jiang Yuan even more than he trusted his own wife! ¡­ Chapter 400 - 400 367 The Chase ?400: Chapter 367: The Chase 400: Chapter 367: The Chase ¡°Captain Jiang.¡± ¡°Expert Jiang is here.¡± At the hideout where the gang of three was holed up, detectives from Chi Yong City greeted Jiang Yuan one by one as they met. People are just that pragmatic, especially the police. When they encounter someone ipetent, everyone looks at him with eyes that scream ¡°inept,¡± but when they meet someone truly capable of cracking cases, everyone¡¯s attitude naturally softens. The stronger the case-breaking skills, the more capable someone is, the softer everyone bes around them. The captain of the squad also quickly stepped out from inside the room, smiling like an ugly tangerine, and shook hands with Jiang Yuan from a distance, saying, ¡°Expert Jiang, this should be the hideout of the three suspects. We¡¯ve done our best to preserve the crime scene¡­¡± ¡°Shall I examine the scene first?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as he started to put on gloves. ¡°Of course, of course,¡± the squad captain replied repeatedly. Liu Jinghui also put on gloves, shoe covers, a head cover, and a mask on the side, the so-called ¡°three covers and a mask,¡± and asked, ¡°Have the identities of the suspects been confirmed?¡± ¡°Confirmed. We also owe a debt of gratitude for the clues provided by you two,¡± the squad captain promptly acknowledged the help, then said, ¡°The main suspect is probably a man about 1.8 meters tall named Xu Yang. We found packaging from the Ma Family¡¯s belongings, leftover ropes, and several blood-stained undergarments in the room.¡± ¡°Have you not found the murder weapon and overcoat?¡± These two items obviously carry more exnatory power. The squad captain shook his head, ¡°We haven¡¯t found them inside the room yet, they must have been disposed of.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the rtionship between this Xu Yang and Ma Zhongli?¡± ¡°No rtion,¡± the squad captain answered decisively. At this, Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, and the others all looked over. The squad captain spread his hands, somewhat embarrassedly saying, ¡°So we have to thank you for finding that clue about the safe. These three people, in terms of personal rtionships, have little to no connection with Ma Zhongli. If anything, it¡¯s the guy with the knife, Fan Peng, who¡¯s a local and somehow rted to Ma Zhongli¡­¡± ¡°Then it must be him,¡± Liu Jinghui guessed an answer outright. The squad captain, who was exining the case, was taken aback and asked, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because he has the strongest tendency to silence others. Of the four people in Ma Zhongli¡¯s family, two had their throats cut, and the female owner was stabbed several times. Of course, it could also be exined that these two people saw his face or said something, but now with thisyer of a personal rtionship, Fan Peng¡¯s suspicion greatly increases.¡± The squad captain nodded silently; he could actuallye up with the same reasoning, but he didn¡¯t dare to be as certain as Liu Jinghui. Now, with the fact of solving the case as support, one could imagine that behind Liu Jinghui¡¯s confident reasoning, there must have been many unreliable deductions excluded. In general, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui had already proven their strength, so anything they did after that was haloed. Jiang Yuan led the way into the hideout of the three. This was a second-floor apartment in an old residential building with a history of over 30 years. The exterior was made of pure cement, a drab gray, adorned with ck stains, whose origins and circumstances of attachment were unknown. The hallway was also wrapped in various types of cement, and because of the clutter stored there, it appeared cramped and dim. Jiang Yuan directly had someone hold up the investigation light and first processed the traces on the door. Inside the scene was a small one-bedroom, one-living-room apartment. The entire space, including the bed, was filthy and in disarray. Not only the kitchen by the entrance but also the linoleum on the floor had parts curling up¡ªno doubt, the security deposit for the rental was non-recoverable. Mu Zhiyang and the others entered and efficiently set up investigation lights, footprint lights, fingerprint lights, and so on. The investigation equipment was mostly provided by Chiyong City, and their own investigators were simply waiting to go first, leaving the first round of the investigation to Jiang Yuan. This was a stark contrast to their initial treatment. Jiang Yuan quickly nced at the interior scene then started walking across nk bridges set up on site, formally known as ¡°rapid passage treadboards.¡± In Chiyong City, they used folded metal treadboards that fit the name perfectly. Metal treadboards might not have the pizzazz of acrylic ones, but they¡¯re sturdy and durable, very much a middle-ss choice for investigative equipment. In fact, looking at a ce¡¯s criminal investigation equipment can reveal a lot about the local economy and the importance ced onw enforcement. A unit like Hu City¡¯s 803 doesn¡¯t discuss cost-effectiveness; they use whatever equipment is good and new. If it no longer serves well, it¡¯s either reced or discarded without issue. For units like Chiyong City, resembling middle-ss households, everything must be about cost-effectiveness. They buy only essentials and prefer durable goods that canst longer to save on recement and maintenance costs. And for units like those in Ningtai County, they¡¯re like the poor families of the investigative system, alwayscking everything and having to save up bit by bit just to buy the most necessary items, even if they know that something else would be cost-effective but too expensive, so they end up choosing the cheapest option. It was only after Jiang Yuan left to solve cases elsewhere that the financial situation of the Ningtai County Bureau began to improve. So, even though Huang Qiangmin wanted to keep Jiang Yuan, he could only send him out to break cases. A few trace examiners from Chiyong City followed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s footsteps, also paying attention to his actions. Simr to forensic doctor Qiu Xing, the leading two among Chiyong City¡¯s trace examiners could also reach an LV2 proficiency level. This level is achieved through practice; if a municipal trace examination unit doesn¡¯t have at least one LV2 examiner, their case-solving rate would bepromised within two years. However, if there really were none, several clever young examiners could, through working case after case, potentially reach the LV2 level within a year or two. Of course, it¡¯s just a possibility; for example, Yan in Ningtai County, despite a lifetime of practice, still remains a strong LV1. Jiang Yuan walked slowly along the treadboards, observing as he went. Whenever he found traces on the side, he didn¡¯t rush to collect them but first ced down a yellow indicator board. It wasn¡¯t until Jiang Yuan reached the far end of the room, where the bed was located, that he began to search for traces in earnest. Most trace examiners start by illuminating the scene with various lights and then scanning for traces where the light falls. It¡¯s only in rare cases that examiners scan for traces inch by inch, as Jiang Yuan did during his secondary crime scene investigation. Of course, most minor criminals do not receive such thorough attention. This time, Jiang Yuan did not n to scan so meticulously. The primary reason was that the identities of the three culprits were already confirmed, and their fingerprints and footprints weren¡¯t as valuable anymore. The core task now was to find other clues that could aid the uing manhunt. The trace examiners from Chiyong City also gradually dispersed, picking up traces that Jiang Yuan left behind. Jiang Yuan observed more than he worked. An LV4 crime scene investigator in such an indoor environment already constituted an overkill. To fully utilize an LV4 crime scene investigation, it would require the scale of something like the Dangmen Stabbing Case ¨C an outdoor setting, constant foot traffic, and a scene tampered with multiple times, causing traces to be indistinguishable or uncollectible. For instance, in this annihtion case, the three culprits exhibited some caution at the crime scene, but once back at this temporary hideout, their cautiousness significantly decreased. In fact, that¡¯s the case with most criminals. Many ponder the circumstances beforemitting the crime, designing methods and ns, but once they seed, they let their guard down and be prone to mistakes. Those who can maintain focus, exert prolonged intense concentration, self-control, and emotional stability, adhering strictly to their ns and wlessly executing self-devised tasks, even in crime, tend not tomit such basic property crimes. In the absence of much concealment, most of the traces didn¡¯t even need to be collected by Jiang Yuan, who was even able to reconstruct the scene. After looking for quite a while, at least twenty minutes, Jiang Yuan finally entered the bathroom and slowly squatted down. ¡°How old are the three culprits?¡± Jiang Yuan suddenly asked. ¡°In their twenties, the first is the oldest, 28, then 26 and 24,¡± Liu Jinghui, who was standing nearby, responded, ¡°Does age rte to traces?¡± ¡°There are urine stains everywhere in front of the toilet bowl. For three young men in their twenties, it wouldn¡¯t be this bad,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed towards the area around the toilet. The slight urine stains were almost covering the frontal three sides of the toilet bowl, clearly resulting from urine being sprayed erratically. Liu Jinghui, a middle-aged man, was well-acquainted with this scene and instantly nodded, ¡°Indeed, this person seems to have severe kidney deficiency. Young, strong men couldn¡¯t produce such a spread.¡± ¡°Give me a cotton swab.¡± Jiang Yuan adjusted his position and began to meticulously collect the urine traces around the toilet. Chapter 401 - 401 368 The 4th Person ?401: Chapter 368: The 4th Person 401: Chapter 368: The 4th Person The urine of a normal person is usually colorless, transparent, or slightly yellow, and although it contains arge amount of metabolic waste, it is free of bacteria, so it can be drunk. Furthermore, normal urine is weakly alkaline, so if a person who pursues health must drink weakly alkaline water, urine can also be one of the choices. At the same time, urine can provide a great deal of information. Hospitals can use it for urinalysis, and forensic departments can use it to extract DNA. Urine contains a small amount of exfoliated cells, which can be used for DNAparison. However, amateurs look at the threshold, while professionals should not feign ignorance. It¡¯s true that DNA can be extracted from urine, but it¡¯s much more difficult than from blood. To start with, the number of exfoliated cells in urine is rtively low, which means arger volume of urine is needed for convenient extraction. On the other hand, urine at the scene is obviously not well-preserved. Good urine suitable for DNA extraction should be stored at low temperatures. Therefore, in the early years when DNA technology was first poprized, which is the first decade of the 21st century, extracting DNA from urine was very difficult, and there were very few such cases. At that time, DNAparisons were mainly based on blood and cerebrospinal fluid, followed by toothbrushes and cigarette butts for oral epithelial cells, asionally some hair, which had to include follicr tissue. Nowadays, technology has improved, and the richness of DNAparison has increased significantly. Not only is follicr tissue no longer needed for hair, but the requirements for extracting DNA from urine in top-notch DNAbs have also be much lower. By the way, here¡¯s a piece of trivia: if a man or woman suspects that a child is not theirs, there¡¯s no need to take the child to an institution or to draw blood and leave a trace. Just have the child pee a collectible amount, chill it with ice-cold c, and send it to the relevant testing institution, and the results will be obtained quickly. For criminal suspects, this is naturally even more convenient. Jiang Yuan collected as much of the urine stains as possible with the cotton swab he had dampened in front of him, thenbined several cotton swabs together, wrapped them in filter paper, and folded them into a neat triangle. This method maximized the preservation of the integrity and authenticity of the urine, just like collecting bloodstains. Several crime scene technicians from Chi Yong City watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations, somewhat confused by his approach. To be honest, Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation this time had no mysterious aspects; it was just the most basic and cautious method, leaving the others unable to critique it as either good or bad. However, it seemed that the case had made progress, which was a very tangible result. ¡°Let the DNAb expedite this,¡± Jiang Yuan said, handing the urine sample to the crime scene technician behind him, and continued searching in the bathroom. Liu Jinghui interjected at this point, saying, ¡°There¡¯s a ny percent chance that this person is strongly connected to the case, probably a participant or someone with knowledge of it.¡± The captain was now only concerned about the case and immediately asked, ¡°How so?¡± Liu Jinghui exined, ¡°This is the hideout of a three-person gang, which is to say, it¡¯s where they prepared for the robbery and processed the stolen goods. Besides the three people and the participants, it¡¯s not likely to be used for entertaining guests.¡± The captain nodded again and again. He wasn¡¯t particrly skilled at solving cases or, to put it another way, he had certain investigative capabilities but was more focused on management and had gradually moved away from frontline leadership. If he had to make a simr judgment himself, even the captain wouldn¡¯t trust his own conclusion, but when Liu Jinghui spoke, the captain¡¯s mood immediately changed. ¡°So you¡¯re saying, in reality, there should be four perpetrators?¡± The captain exerted his brain power to add 3+1. Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and smiled, ¡°At the crime scene, which is the victim¡¯s home, there were definitely three criminals. As for the owner of the urine we just found, my guess¡­ well, a guess, is that they were likely involved in disposing of the stolen goods.¡± The captain was startled, ¡°Involved in disposing of the stolen goods? Why?¡± The answer was somewhat unexpected. Liu Jinghui slowly exined, ¡°First, this person doesn¡¯t seem like an aplice. All three suspects are at an age where they can piss against the wind, all strong and capable young men. This person can¡¯t even pee straight; what use is such an aplice? Just to share in the profits.¡± ¡°Secondly, it¡¯s possible they could be the mastermind. But considering the safe, they didn¡¯t provide the necessary equipment, like an oxy-acetylene cutter for instance. If there was a mastermind, they should be the one to purchase it or find it. But our investigation is quite clear, the three of them went to the scrapyard together to buy the cutter, which shows they don¡¯t trust each other or this person.¡± ¡°Thirdly, this individual appeared at the gang¡¯s hideout, which must be because the three needed him; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t disclose the location. What do three young men who have justmitted a major crime and are preparing to flee need the most? Nothing more than money, documents, and a getaway n.¡± As Liu Jinghui spoke, he raised his chin slightly, ¡°Although from our perspective, documents and getaway ns are certainly more difficult toe by. In reality, the most valuable and hardest to obtain is still money. There was very little cash in the victims¡¯ house; the main items lost were jewelry, gold, watches, antiques¡­ The three must convert these items into cash before they can flee, so at this moment, what they need most is someone to fence the stolen goods.¡± ¡°Makes sense, makes sense¡­¡± The captain nodded repeatedly. He now saw the hope of solving the case, and listening to Liu Jinghui was incredibly pleasing to the ear. Their conversation ended, and the room fell silent for a while. Liu Jinghui and the captain both frowned involuntarily. Something about the atmosphere was off. During a crime scene investigation, it¡¯s normal for there to be asional talking or even chatting. It¡¯s like finding a used condom and then a piece of hardened toilet paper; you need to exchange information to determine whether the room witnessed one round of sexual activity or two. Just now, the crime scene technicians had been quietly muttering to themselves while following Jiang Yuan, creating a background noise simr to that of a forest. But their sudden silence, just like a forest bing deathly still, was clearly unreasonable. Liu Jinghui and the detachment leader leaned in closer and saw that several birds¡­ no, several crime scene technicians were stretching their necks to look at something in the doorway of the bathroom. Further inside, they saw Jiang Yuan holding a tablet, making various gestures with it. ¡°What is this¡­ for?¡± the detachment leader asked curiously. ¡°Separating ovepping fingerprints¡­¡± The oldest crime scene technician turned to look at the detachment leader, his eyes clearly betraying a hint of despair. The detachment leader was taken aback, ¡°You¡¯ve found an ovepping fingerprint? How do you separate it?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± the technician repeated. Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and asked quietly, ¡°What are we doing now?¡± ¡°I found a few fingerprints on the toilet, they all ovepped when I lifted them, and I want to separate one to see if it matches this fourth person,¡± Jiang Yuan exined inly. The fingerprints in this rental room were numerous and chaotic. Considering that the gang of three had only rented it for a short time, one could imagine that most of the fingerprints in the room likely came from thendlord, previous tenants, and so on. Although it was possible to collect all these fingerprints and filter them after a concentratedparison, Jiang Yuan had his methods and was not willing to wait that long. After all, DNA had already been collected and it was the most convincing evidence; the main purpose of collecting fingerprints now was to be quick. In pursuing fleeing criminals, being one hour faster is indeed an hour gained. One must not provide the criminals a chance to breathe. Only by making the fugitives feel suffocated can the chase be sessful. Therefore, Jiang Yuan¡¯s choice was simple. He directly lifted the fingerprints from the flushing button of the toilet. The fourth person had urinated in the toilet and, normally speaking, should have pressed the flush button, so there was a high probability that the fourth person¡¯s fingerprints would be on it. At the same time, the flush button would also bear the fingerprints of the other three, or even more people. Now, the problem was that ovepping fingerprints simply couldn¡¯t be distinguished nor matched by software¡ªbut this was only the perception of the ordinary crime scene technicians. At Jiang Yuan¡¯s level, as long as he wished, he could separate the fingerprints through their ridge characteristics. The process was not very easy, but Jiang Yuan was capable of doing it. However, this scene was truly disheartening for the ordinary technicians¡ªsuch skills, without a bit of natural talent and divine favor, were very hard to learn. Even Jiang Yuan had to analyze the ridges one by one. Current fingerprint technology could theoretically separate ovepping fingerprints through software, but the error rate was too high, rendering the separated prints practically unusable. Against a knowledgeablewyer, it was easy to be publicly embarrassed in court. At this point, the most reliable method was still manual, and the difficulty was extraordinarily high. Yet, Jiang Yuan could do it with just a tablet, making it seem easy. After marking a couple of groups of characteristic points, Jiang Yuan soon matched one out of the dozen, identifying a person. ¡°Lei Fuhan. This man has a prior record of dealing stolen goods and also forges documents¡­ aplete set of skills,¡± Jiang Yuan read out the matched information, feeling as though this individual was tailor-made for the role. The detachment leader pped his thigh hard, ¡°Did the gang of three buy their fake documents from him?¡± ¡°Very likely,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°It¡¯s definitely that. He fences and provides documents!¡± The detachment leader was already impatient. If the trio had purchased their identity documents from the fourth person, then catching Lei Fuhan would easily confirm the trio¡¯s current whereabouts. Once they were caught, the whole case would be perfectly concluded. The more he thought about it, the happier the detachment leader became; he grabbed his cellphone and started making arrangements. At this stage, Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment was in sync with his, and he merely turned to Mu Zhiyang and said softly, ¡°You can buy a high-speed train ticket home now.¡± ¡­ Chapter 402 - 402 369 Conclusion (Vote for Monthly Ticket!) ?402: Chapter 369: Conclusion (Vote for Monthly Ticket!) 402: Chapter 369: Conclusion (Vote for Monthly Ticket!) Evening. All the stores along the street had closed their doors, and Lei Fuhan was lowering the rolling shutters, ready to lock up and go home. Two dark figures emerged from a corner, one in each hand, and directly stuffed Lei Fuhan into their armpits. Pinned by armpits against armpits, the double dose of body odor intertwined, and with the extreme twisting of his neck, Lei Fuhan was about to pass out right there. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± asked a shadowy figure in a low voice, while gesturing with his hand, ushering more shadows to swiftly sneak into the rolling shutter. The anxiousness in Lei Fuhan¡¯s heart began to subside. If it were an ordinary person, being kidnapped in the middle of the night and then asked for their name, they would mostly feel anger and absurdity, even finding it somewhatughable. But Lei Fuhan had served time in prison, a man who had been incarcerated tends to understand a lot more, realizing in an instant that he was faced with the police. This was a good thing, at least he wouldn¡¯t be stabbed to death in a robbery. ¡°Lei Fuhan.¡± He whispered, ¡°Everyone calls me Old Lei.¡± ¡°Do you know why you¡¯re being arrested?¡± The officer pinning him, Zheng Bing, with the cooperation of his colleague, clicked the handcuffs on Lei Fuhan, and he too rxed. The one being arrested is nervous, but so is the one doing the arresting. With such a significant case of annihtion at hand, the most crucial lead was right before their eyes. Letting him slip away was uneptable, and inadvertently suffocating him would be even worse. It wasn¡¯t easy to grasp the appropriate level of force, at least for Comrade Zheng Bing, who was careful throughout the process. Lei Fuhan was chubby with a thick neck, the type who looked robust but was actually very frail. Now, after being fiddled with a bit, he began to gasp for breath: ¡°Is it because I bought something I shouldn¡¯t have?¡± ¡°Think again,¡± Zheng Bing snorted. ¡°I¡­ I really don¡¯t know, honestly. The things I pick up in the market can¡¯t be selected like a bank, rejecting this or that. Some people really need the money urgently. If it¡¯s reasonable, I help them out¡­¡± Lei Fuhan tried to exin as best he could, as if he were indeed innocent. At that moment, Commissioner Liu walked over and blurted out, ¡°Did you also take the stuff from Ma Zhongli¡¯s house?¡± Before Lei Fuhan¡¯s mental defenses could be fortified, he faltered. With that, Commissioner Liu was thoroughly convinced that they had apprehended the right person. In fact, the DNAparison had already beenpleted. The fingerprints that matched Jiang Yuan¡¯s elerated their schedule by two hours, which they used to locate Lei Fuhan. By now, the basic evidence was essentially in ce. However, the goal of this mission was not just to arrest Lei Fuhan, but to find out the new identities of Xu Yang, Fan Peng, and the rest of the trio through him. To make a second-generation ID card that can take high-speed trains now, or to find a simr-looking ID card, takes a fair amount of time and money. After the crime, Xu Yang and the others spent a few days opening safety deposit boxes, then turned to Lei Fuhan to dispose of the loot, and waited to get forged documents. In total, it would take over a week. Considering the time frame, it was absolutely impossible for them to change their fake identities now, though whether they had the funds or connections was another matter. In short, extracting the trio¡¯s new identities would be most advantageous for the pursuit, potentially allowing them to bring the case to a sessful conclusion. Meanwhile, the officers who had searched the shop also came out and whispered to Commissioner Liu, ¡°This guy has just melted down quite a bit of gold. We found five diamonds in a drawer, along with several gemstones and crystals, that resemble the ones from Ma Zhongli¡¯s house.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s take a look inside.¡± Commissioner Liu led Lei Fuhan into the store. Several diamonds and gemstones were in a drawer beneath the counter, being photographed by other detectives. Seeing this, Lei Fuhan regretted it. He had melted down the gold he had acquired, and the diamonds and gemstones he took weren¡¯t worth much. If he sold them himself, it would only be for a few thousand yuan. But for a businessman, a few thousand yuan is still profit, and Lei Fuhan couldn¡¯t bear to smash or discard them. ¡°Spill it, where did theye from?¡± Commissioner Liu took out photos,paring them beside the diamonds and gemstones. Lei Fuhan was at a loss for words: ¡°I¡­¡± ¡°Lei Fuhan, we¡¯re not after you this time. Think carefully, don¡¯t end up in a situation where if we can¡¯t catch the culprits, we¡¯ll just have to free up our hands and deal with you properly,¡± Commissioner Liu threatened fiercely, which made Lei Fuhan shudder. This wasn¡¯t like watching a movie; Commissioner Liu¡¯s threat was very real. Judging by the items in his shop, he could get anything from under three years to over ten years. ¡°Ah, when I went to buy the stuff, I didn¡¯t know what they were involved in¡­¡± Lei Fuhan sighed deeply and began to speak obediently. Soon, the technicians were able to extract photos of the trio¡¯s new ID cards from Lei Fuhan¡¯sputer. ¡°Wang Wei¡­ such a name¡­ you guys did a rough job,¡± Commissioner Liu said, as he contacted the station without hesitation, initiating a wanted notice, and prompting the cyber police and technical investigators to get moving. Nowadays, unless one lives sequestered away in remote mountains, it is nearly impossible to part with a cellphone. Ordinary people can hardly ever manage to keep their phones switched off all the time or shield them with a Faraday cage for long. Hence, having a phone number greatly increases the chances of finding someone. However, while it¡¯s easy to change phone numbers, IDs aren¡¯t as easily altered. In such a short time frame, any situation requiring the two to be linked is inescapable. On their way back, Commissioner Liu and the others received thetest news: ¡°The target has gone to Pingzhou. We¡¯ve pinpointed his location.¡± That brief message caused a sigh of relief to ripple through the Chiyong City Criminal Police Brigade, from top to bottom. One of the most heinous cases in recent years had finally seen the light of dawn, a sce to both the participants and the victims. The brigademander immediately organized a team to go and make the arrest. As the chief investigator, Commissioner Liu, unsurprisingly, was on the road again for a business trip. He didn¡¯t beat around the bush and simply said over the phone, ¡°Jiang Yuan and his team have already departed. Otherwise, at least let the family members meet with them. The families really do want to express their gratitude.¡± ¡°This time, we did not give it enough attention,¡± the brigademander sighed. ¡°You go make the arrest first. We¡¯ll think this overter and try to mend that rtionship; we¡¯ll have ample opportunities to rely on them in the future.¡± For a homicide detective, encountering unsolvable cases ismon, and challenging cases are even more so. If it were possible, as the brigademander, he would rather not experience the tough and painstaking process of solving a case ever again. If he could just rx and solve the case, or if that¡¯s too much to expect, then to have it be just a little tough but not overwhelmingly so. Even if it is overwhelmingly tough, that would be okay, as long as the case could ultimately be solved. What homicide detectives fear most is beingpletely worn out, yet the case remains unsolved,pounded by the families criticizing them. That¡¯s when they truly feel defeated. Commissioner Liu took more than thirty people with him to Pingzhou. This time they were up against real felons: a trio that coldly murdered a family of four. When it came to arrest, near certain resistance was expected. In such circumstances, even if some policeman wanted to y the hero, it would be irresponsible. It would be unreasonable to bring too few people. For a case they had gone to such lengths to solve¡ªinvesting time, effort, and money¡ªthest thing they could afford was to give the suspects even the slightest chance to escape. Commissioner Liu felt that even taking a toon of people with him was not enough. This was an arrest, not warfare. Withplex terrain, scattering fewer officers was unavoidable, not to mention being unfamiliar with the area. He felt uneasy, so he reached out to local acquaintances and managed to get support from apany of armed police. Armed police carry rifles, weapons truly capable of inflicting damage¡ªan important contrast to the small firearms carried by the police, which, aside from making noise, can¡¯t even take down a dog. Commissioner Liu did not bother bringing or even borrowing such weapons for this trip, as his thirty-strong unit was prepared to rely on melee weapons. ¡­ Ningtai County. Three days after returning home, just as Jiang Yuan was getting properly rested, news from Chiyong City reached him. ¡°Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve sessfully apprehended Xu Yang and the other two!¡± Commissioner Liu¡¯s voice was filled with celebration. Jiang Yuan nced at the time¡ª9 o¡¯clock at night. They really were jubnt over there. ¡°Good that they¡¯re caught.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was also buoyed. The case hade to a conclusive end, and he felt happy, but he inquired, ¡°Were they caught following the line from the stolen goods they sold?¡± ¡°Yes. The three rxed once they reached Pingzhou and were cornered in a small hostel.¡± Commissioner Liu did not end up needing therge group of officers he borrowed, but he didn¡¯t mind. In fact, he was even happier for it. Jiang Yuan grew a bit more curious and asked, ¡°Have they confessed to anything? What was their motive for the crime?¡± ¡°It was Fan Peng who instigated it. He¡¯s ¡®Number Two,¡¯ the one with the knife. He had worked construction on houses in Ma Zhongli¡¯s vige, like wall building, andter when he went to the city for work, he sought out Ma Zhongli, hoping for some work through their previous connection, but was unsessful and held a grudge. As the year end approached, he lost all his wages gambling, and the other two lost their wages as well. The three of them decided to rob someone wealthy and set their sights on Ma Zhongli.¡± Commissioner Liu spoke with a trace of mncholy. After a pause, Commissioner Liu continued, ¡°They didn¡¯t originally n to kill anyone, but Ma Zhongli put up a fierce struggle, and Fan Peng was called out by one of his aplices. That¡¯s when he decided to take it to the extreme.¡± Jiang Yuan: ¡°But the fatal injury was caused by a hammer.¡± ¡°Because Fan Peng couldn¡¯t kill the victim. Xu Yang, fearing that Ma Zhongli would get out of control, resorted to using a hammer,¡± Commissioner Liu shook his head in private. Even though the case was solved, the truth they found was often harrowing. Jiang Yuan too nodded solemnly, casually activated the screen in the room, and checked the domestic surveince before he could get to sleep peacefully. A break-in robbery that resulted in the annihtion of a family is an offense that the defendants would not survive in the courts of the country. If the proceedings were expedited, the execution of the death sentence could take ce in just a few months. Jiang Yuan slept especially well that night. Chapter 403 - 403 370 New Year Goods ?403: Chapter 370 New Year Goods 403: Chapter 370 New Year Goods Monday. The Ningtai County Bureau also began distributing year-end goods. Compared to previous years, this year¡¯s Ningtai County Bureau was particrly generous. The usual hairtails and mutton legs were not in short supply, plus there wererge yellow croakers and strawberries, and they also gave out a set of four-piece bedding sets. It might not add up to much money, but for the men in the police department, this was a benefit they could happily talk about when they got home. As for the women in the police department, they usually have the final say at home. This benefit might not seem like muchpared to those in big cities, but in a county town, it is quitepetitive, and it is the most generous the police department has been in recent years. Even an old-timer like Wu Jun, who was not one to hand out praises, had a few good words for Huang Qiangmin and Guan Xi after receiving his share of goods. As soon as Jiang Yuan parked and entered the building, he overheard several people whispering: ¡°Director Huang really did increase our benefits after taking office.¡± ¡°Director Guan did well, too.¡± ¡°I heard that all sorts of funding have been increased recently.¡± ¡°The police department¡¯s points have exceeded a thousand by year-end, and the criminal police brigade¡¯s points are heading towards two thousand. Surely, that means more funds for everything.¡± Jiang Yuan felt a small twinge of pride. Naturally, his contributions were part of this. Upon entering the office in the new building, the officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were also distributing benefits. Everyone, just like the other officers from Ningtai County, received exactly the same items. Although many officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were not on the Ningtai County roster, Huang Qiangmin ensured they were not shortchanged and, in fact, were treated as well as possible in terms of benefits outside of their sries. A hero needs three gangs of helpers. Even if Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to solve cases was outstanding, he needed the cooperation of those around him, others to assist with investigations and screenings, and so forth, for the work to progress. Police officers, in fact, are the least believers in going it alone. A nce at the criminals in prison and on death row tells you that those who favor solitary fights, no matter how fierce, are no match for the organized strength of a group. ¡°Captain Jiang.¡± ¡°Jiang.¡± Seeing Jiang Yuane in, members of the squad greeted him in a jumbled chorus. Jiang Yuan had no intention of correcting them, he simply asked, ¡°Any cases today?¡± ¡°No. With the New Yearing up, it¡¯s not a good time to work on cold cases,¡± Wang Chuanxing hastily replied. Jiang Yuan nodded, finding nothing unusual. The New Year period is actually not a time to stop working on cold cases, but rather an opportune moment to clear them. Particrly for criminal pursuit, when the New Year approaches, officers in charge of tracking fugitives would often visit the suspects¡¯ families to persuade them to turn themselves in. In addition, surveince and eavesdropping would be actively used in some cases. Many suspects, even if aware of the danger, would still call home during the Spring Festival to exchange a few words and greetings. This is a very heartwarming moment, as well as when the suspects and their families are most vulnerable. Detectives often use this time to apprehend fugitives who have been on the run for five, ten, or twenty years. Usually, when these individuals are caught, they have mostly forgotten their past misdeeds, or they only remember fragments and don¡¯t recall the details. In their own words, after such a long time, they have be apletely new person. Their families oftenment the hardships and psychological torment they endured while on the run. Only the detectives, the victims, and their families are hardened, wanting to see the criminals genuinely suffer the consequences and endure psychological torment. Therefore, the end of the year was not a suitable time for Jiang Yuan to start new cold cases. For the officers of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, this was somewhat boring. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°We are strong and ready, yet we have no cases to work on. It¡¯s such a waste.¡± ¡°Taking a break isn¡¯t so bad,¡± Tang Jia, who wasn¡¯t keen on handling cases at year-end, remarked. She had had an exceptional year,pleting several abductions, and was likely to be awarded at least a third-ss merit, if not just amendation. By this time, she was even more inclined to rest and go home for the New Year. Mu Zhiyang, a bachelor and at an age where he disliked spending the New Year at home, simply curled his lip and said, ¡°We may not have any cases for the New Year, but it¡¯s not like we¡¯re really getting a long holiday. I¡¯d rather be solving cases.¡± ¡°If there are no cases in the county, why don¡¯t we find one in Changyang?¡± Tang Jia teased Mu Zhiyang. Being from Changyang herself, she was naturally keen on going back. Dong Bing, listening by the side, joined in with augh, ¡°No need to go to Changyang,ing with me to Guqi City works too. I¡¯ll find you a couple of cases to get some practice.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not capable of solving cases,¡± Mu Zhiyang said with an embarrassed chuckle. ¡°I¡¯m just following Captain Jiang around like a little sidekick. Ah¡­ It would be best if there were active cases in our county, so we wouldn¡¯t have to work over the holidays.¡± ¡°Even with active cases, it wouldn¡¯t be your turn. You¡¯d have to work your shifts just the same.¡± Mu Zhiyang said, ¡°Then let there be a murder case. That would definitelynd in our hands, right?¡± Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said, ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense. I¡¯m nning to go home and rest over the New Year.¡± Liu Jinghui was considered someone who came from the provincial department for research. When the New Year came, he neither had to solve cases nor work shifts. He could just rest normally, which is a treatment entirely different from that of front-line officers at the grassroots level. Mu Zhiyang quickly made several ¡°spitting¡± sounds. ¡°I¡¯m talking nonsense¡­ Working shifts is pretty good¡­¡± He was still speaking when the phone in the office started to ring with a ding-a-ling. The expressions of the few people around became a bit stiff. These days, even a mobile phone call could easily unsettle one, let alone andline. Tang Jia, who was closest, hesitated for a moment, then picked up the call: ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡­¡± ¡°Oh, okay, okay.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± After hanging up, Tang Jia looked towards Jiang Yuan, then nced at Mu Zhiyang, and said, ¡°A dead body was found in a bar in the eastern part of the city. Director Huang has asked you to lead the team directly to the scene; he¡¯s already on his way there.¡± Jiang Yuan was momentarily stunned, then said ¡°Okay,¡± before he began to select members of the team. Finally, he turned to Liu Jinghui and asked, ¡°Are you going, Director Liu?¡± ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll go,¡± Liu Jinghui said indifferently as he got up. A case involving just one death waspletely stress-free for him. Liu Jinghui showed an amused interest as he looked at Mu Zhiyang for a while before saying, ¡°You really have a knack for saying the wrong things at the right time.¡± Mu Zhiyang gave a helpless wry smile: ¡°It¡¯s just me bbering nonsense¡­¡± ¡°In any case, your wish is granted. If you work on this case, you¡¯ll probably be busy until the New Year,¡± Liu Jinghuiughed unsympathetically and then added, ¡°It would be interesting if others knew you jinxed it.¡± Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face was a picture of bitter regret. A momentter, he quickly responded, ¡°Director Liu, you can¡¯t spread rumors about me. This case has nothing to do with me. Saying I jinxed it would be a huge injustice¡­¡± ¡°At least you can be considered a jinx,¡± Liu Jinghui said. Mu Zhiyang wanted to argue but felt utterly powerless. ¡­ After a brief preparation, Jiang Yuan went downstairs to board the crime scene investigation vehicle. The county¡¯s crime scene investigation vehicle was recently reced, so both inside and outside were brand-new, not showing any signs of its four-year age. The equipment in the vehicle was also very well-equipped. As soon as Jiang Yuan got in, he instructed the driver to start the vehicle. In less than 20 minutes, the investigation car arrived at the scene of the incident. ¡°Utopia Craft Beer Pub¡± This was the name of the bar. From what Jiang Yuan remembered, it was probably the first craft beer pub in Ningtai County, and the business was very good. It was one of the most sessful establishments on the bar street. The bar owner was a young man, slightly overweight with a furrowed brow, standing outside the bar, answering the police officer¡¯s questions, and asionally looking back at the bar. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t interact with the bar owner, and instead, he put on his gear and went straight inside the bar. In the morning, the bar had strands of sunlight streaming in, making it appear very tranquil. The dead body was lying under the sun, one foot against the bar, head buried in the light, the livor mortis was especially clear to see. Blood was smeared over his chest, and arge pool of blood had spilled on the floor. Wearing gloves, Jiang Yuan walked on stepping tes to get close to the body, before bending down to examine the victim¡¯s chest. ¡°A three to four centimeter wide wound, pierced the heart, a fatal blow.¡± Jiang Yuan only looked twice before determining where the fatal injury was. However, such a clean and efficient killing method was somewhat unexpected for Jiang Yuan. Chapter 404 - 404 371 Autopsy ?404: Chapter 371 Autopsy 404: Chapter 371 Autopsy Everything in the county town was basic. The administrative level of the county, the equipment of the vehicles, including the bars in the county, were all simplified versions of what you¡¯d find in big cities. Even the criminals seemed to be a basic model, with thieves who couldn¡¯t make it in the big city, gang leaders who couldn¡¯t mix well there, and even perverts who couldn¡¯t stay put¡ªall setting up their lives in their hometown county. The only exception were the homicide cases; those in small county towns often came up with something new, reaching or even exceeding the level of those in the big cities. Cases like Lu Tixie killing Zhen Guanxi with three punches, Pan Jinlian poisoning Wu Dng to death with a single bowl of medicine, and Sun Er Niangmitting serial murders and dismembering bodies were all cultivated in small towns. Jiang Yuan felt that the body before him was anything but basic. The deceased was dressed in a handmade casual suit, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Ultra Thin Moon watch on his wrist, and a glossy piece of jade on his chest, hung with a gold chain¡ªand he was definitely not from Jiang Vige. With such attire, he must have been worth enough for an ordinary person to afford two months in the ICU¡ªthe kind without medical insurance. One could say that even in death, he had a strong sense of ss. ¡°Time of death was around three thirty in the morning,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 6 time-of-death assessment came into y, and for the current case, it was like bringing a gun to a knife fight. A normal forensic doctor would be considered excellent if they could narrow it down to between two and five o¡¯clock. Many would just vaguely refer to it as a night-time death. Arriving at the scene at the same time, Wu Jun instantly trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgement, jotting it down in his notebook without asking why, and said, ¡°The bars at three-thirty in the morning, wonder if they were closed yet.¡± ¡°Our county¡¯s bars usually stop letting people in around two and start clearing out around two-thirty,¡± Mu Zhiyang casually replied. He was standing by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, assisting and simultaneously atoning for his sins. Wu Jun let out an ¡°eh¡± and said, ¡°You frequent bars, kid? Seem to know your way around. Can your sry even cover it?¡± ¡°When I was with Master Wu Jun, there was a period where we specifically targeted thieves who scavenged for corpses in bars,¡± Mu Zhiyang exined. ¡°Scavenging for corpses isn¡¯t just for stealing, right?¡± Wang Zhong, who was making backups in the corner, chimed in. Although his trace evidence analysis skills were only at Level 0.9, he was still a full-fledged trace examiner, simply waiting for Jiang Yuan to lead the way before he could follow suit. Having worked with Jiang Yuan on numerous major cases, including homicides andplex cases, and having solved even the challenging serial killings at Mount Wulong, Mu Zhiyang faced a solo death case in Ningtai County without any psychological burden, speaking in a light, casual tone, ¡°In the big cities, scavenging for corpses is for taking people back to have some fun. Here in our county, sometimes they aim for a double win, especially those targeting male corpses; many hope to recover the cost of the hotel room as well. That counts as theft too.¡± ¡°There are people who scavenge male corpses?¡± Wang Zhong¡¯s face changed, his mind possibly racing to some terrifying possibilities. Mu Zhiyang, looking at Wang Zhong as if he were naive, said, ¡°Anyone under 180 pounds is a potential target. What¡¯s so strange about that?¡± ¡°Scavengers don¡¯t like big guys?¡± ¡°It¡¯s mainly because they can¡¯t lift them. If two people had to lift one, then three would have to y together. Our county folk usually don¡¯t get that extravagant.¡± ¡°What, and that¡¯s not extravagant enough?¡± ¡°Cough, cough, cough¡­¡± Wu Jun cleared his throat four times, ¡°Are we done here? The corpse is still waiting.¡± Wang Zhong and Mu Zhiyang quickly drew their heads in. Wu Jun continued, ¡°Bars close and clear out by two-thirty at thetest, and the victim¡¯s time of death was at three-thirty in the morning. Later, we¡¯ll have to check the locks and such. If there are no signs of forced entry, then we¡¯ll have to consider the hotel owner and the staff.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve already sent people to look for the hotel owner and staff,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he entered, ncing at Jiang Yuan and asking, ¡°Can you solve this case?¡± Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but roll his eyes at the question, finding it rather inappropriate. Even for Director Huang¡­ and even if he was asking Jiang Yuan, and despite Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to solve cases, they were dealing with homicides, which usually required the concerted effort of hundreds of people for a sessful resolution. They had only just seen the body and here was the question of whether the case could be solved¡­ ¡°Should be possible,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. He had dared to methodically solve backlog cases in other cities; this was a show of confidence. Now, faced with a current case from his own county, Jiang Yuan naturally felt even more confident. Director Huang was obviously pleased and cheerfully said, ¡°Good, good, good. Let¡¯s aim to solve this case before the New Year so we can have a peaceful celebration. Of course, I¡¯m not imposing a deadline for solving the case, just saying.¡± Jiang Yuan simply nodded, then added, ¡°The murder weapon is a type of dagger, about 4 centimeters wide at its broadest point. The murderer got blood on them, so send a dog to sniff it out. Mainly look to see where the killer went, then check the surveince.¡± Ningtai County had just installed a surveincework, and from the current configuration, it would be virtually impossible for an average person to avoid. Liu Jinghui also followed, and as he approached the body, he slipped his hands into his pockets and asked, ¡°Is the dagger sharpened? If it¡¯s four centimeters wide, it should be considered a controlled knife, right?¡± ¡°Definitely, it¡¯s sharpened. It struck deep, hitting right against the guard of the dagger, and there should be something retrievable from the wound here,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Then this case still has some substance,¡± Liu Jinghui, thumbing the lint in his pocket and smoothing out his coat, frowned slightly and said, ¡°At a bar after 3 AM, there definitely wouldn¡¯t be any customers. So it was either a conflict with bar staff or something to do with the victim¡¯s associates. To bring a dagger and show up at a closed bar after 3 AM to deliver a fatal blow¡ªordinary people wouldn¡¯t do that.¡± Wu Jun straightened up and said, ¡°Anyone willing to kill is certainly not ordinary.¡± ¡°My point is, both the killer and the victim seem pretty professional, don¡¯t you think?¡± Liu Jinghui requested a pair of tweezers and plucked at the gold chain around the victim¡¯s neck. ¡°An 18K gold chain with a piece of icy jade, and he didn¡¯t hide it deeply; it was absolutely visible from the cor. Someone with even a slight greed, like a two-bit thug from the bars, wouldn¡¯t have just left it there. And the watch looks pretty expensive too. The killer didn¡¯t even get tempted.¡± ¡°There really are professional assassins?¡± Mu Zhiyang said in surprise. Liu Jinghui nced at him and said, ¡°Not the kind that roam the world taking bounties, but there are certainly no shortage of those willing to kill for money. Though they aren¡¯t much professional, at least I haven¡¯t seen many. Today¡¯s is a bit different; someone willing to kill for money but leaves behind a six-figure ne and watch¡ªdoesn¡¯t that seem irrational?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, ¡°So it¡¯s premeditated murder, and it¡¯s not for money. Is it a grudge then?¡± ¡°Possibly. Or it may be for a benefit sorge that we¡¯re talking seven figures and above. Or maybe, it¡¯s for love?¡± As Liu Jinghui said this, he observed the victim¡¯s face. ¡°He¡¯s quite handsome¡ªthe sort that could be worth killing over jealousy.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The killer is most likely male, given the enormous force used. We can¡¯t see inside right now, but pay attention during the autopsy; I suspect the rib bones may have been severely damaged.¡± Females are significantly weaker than males in terms of absolute strength. Take UFC champion Zhang Weili, a female who can deliver a punch with around 500 pounds of force, much higher than the average man¡¯s 400 pounds, but akin to that of a trained amateur male boxer. So, from the strength required, one could pretty much determine the killer¡¯s gender. Liu Jinghui, unmoved, took another look at the victim¡¯s face and said, ¡°With looks like that, having a male lover wouldn¡¯t be strange.¡± Those who believed Liu Jinghui and those who did not both fell silent. ¡­ The mortuary. Jiang Yuan and his master Wu Jun were dissecting the body together. It had been a while since Wu Jun had worked with Jiang Yuan, and he was in a good mood. When they began, he stuffed a red talisman into the cor of Jiang Yuan¡¯s coat and then took up the position of assistant. Although Jiang Yuan could guess what it was for, he still asked, ¡°Did you draw this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s specially obtained for you from Mount Siningshan,¡± Wu Jun said. ¡°I¡¯ve heard it¡¯s quite effective.¡± Mount Siningshan was just behind Old Jiang Vige. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, ¡°The master from Siningshan, is he the one with a birthmark on his neck?¡± ¡°Right, have you been there?¡± ¡°He would be kind of like my uncle,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wu Jun waved his hand dismissively, ¡°No great man beside the pillow; when he¡¯s back in the vige and interacting closely with folks, that¡¯s when his cultivation shows. And when he¡¯s in the temple offering salvation to the masses, that¡¯s another ability.¡± Jiang Yuan bowed his head in respect. ¡°Let¡¯s start the dissection,¡± Wu Jun said as he handed the scalpel to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded, made a slice downward and opened arge incision on the body lying before him. ¡°Subcutaneous fat is very thin, body fat percentage is quite low, likely a result of regr exercise,¡± Jiang Yuan made the initial assessment. Wu Jun jiggled his own belly and agreed, ¡°Indeed, it¡¯s a rather healthy body.¡± ¡°The heart is good too. Cardiovascr system is healthy, with no signs of arteriosclerosis.¡± Jiang Yuan had dissected quite a few young bodies, and inparison, the frequency of atherosclerosis was still quite high. Wu Jun also nodded, ¡°Apart from not withstanding stabbing, this heart has no problems at all.¡± Chapter 405 - 405 372 Theres Always One Suitable for Him ?405: Chapter 372 There¡¯s Always One Suitable for Him 405: Chapter 372 There¡¯s Always One Suitable for Him Jiang Yuan did not proceed with the autopsy in the normal order but began by carefully collecting trace evidence from the wound on the chest. When the murderer killed, they used a lot of force, and the dagger moved very quickly, stabbing into the victim¡¯s heart and swiftly prating until the hilt hit the chest of the victim. At the same time, the front de of the dagger also touched the victim¡¯s rib, leaving a mark as seen from the dissection. In this way, the victim¡¯s wound likely contained trace evidence of the murder weapon. Whether this evidence would help solve the case was not yet certain, but it was most likely useful for court evidence. Actually, nailing a murderer was not that easy. Without sufficient evidence, courts often handed down reduced sentences. This was especially true in death penalty cases, where the demands for evidence and the chain of evidence were exceptionally high. Therefore, sometimes the court would rather issue a stay of execution than a direct death sentence because even if a death sentence were handed down, it could be overturned during the review process, which would be embarrassing for the court. It was because Jiang Yuan, a criminal investigation officer with a forensic doctor background, who spoke with physical evidence, was particrly weed everywhere. Solving a case was not just about cracking the case, but also came with aplete set of evidence, and the chain of evidence was rtively intact. This was unlike Liu Jinghui, whose arguments sounded logical but ended up being all talk and no substance in court. Wu Jun watched Jiang Yuan take the skin lesion from the chest and handed him the rib spreader. The rib spreader used by forensic doctors is the same as the one used by thoracic surgeons, fundamentally utilizing the principle of leverage to spread the ribs. The difference is that thoracic surgeons¡¯ rib spreaders tend to be delicate and costly, while forensic doctors¡¯ are not as particr, oftenrger, rougher, and appearing more cumbersome and powerful. After Jiang Yuan cut the bones and took photos, he carefully took samples and then directly cut off a piece of rib containing the mark. Human ribs have many simrities with pig ribs, and if it is a body that has just been cremated, it is said to also have a smell simr to that of roasted pork. The freshly cut rib had the suggestion of pork ribs, and Wu Jun specifically wrote abel with a pen to note it. Furthermore, the heart was also a key sample to collect. Finally, all the internal organs, including the heart, liver, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, pancreas, thyroid, and adrenal nds, were all soaked in formalin. Each organ was sampled, cut into strips, and then put into the dehydrator to dehydrate. By the time dehydrating was finished, Wu Jun had the paraffin wax heated. The melted paraffin was poured into smallpartments, and then the dehydrated samples, meaning the sliced organs, were ced into the wax. Once the wax solidified, a piece of wax resembling amber was obtained. Then, the wax block was ced onto a microtome to be cut into thin slices, which were subsequently spread onto the spreader. In the spreader, the slices expanded due to the surface tension of the water, the wax that enveloped them melted away, and only a thin piece of tissue was left. This process was highly technical and truly tested a forensic doctor¡¯s skills. Especially when the samples were limited, a few failures by a forensic doctor could exhaust the samples, leaving nothing in the end. These slices were not only used for archiving and as evidence but were also necessary for future review and verification. Particrly in death penalty reviews, these key pieces of evidence would definitely be examined. In other words, for a criminal to be sentenced to death, the handling of the samples had to be done well. Jiang Yuan was exceedingly meticulous in his work. Wu Jun stayed with him until the end of the autopsy, and only after pushing the body into the refrigerated vault did he say, ¡°Don¡¯t forget, you promised Director Huang you could crack the case.¡± ¡°I remember,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°Can you solve it?¡± Wu Jun asked, full of doubt. ¡°I should be able to solve it.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know yet,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, feeling a bit nonsensical and hastily added, ¡°I have confidence, but as to which aspect we can use to solve the case, it¡¯s still unclear.¡± Wu Jun sighed, ¡°So, don¡¯t make promises too easily, right? If you hadn¡¯t agreed so quickly at the time, you¡¯d be more rxed now. Director Huang will still need to make a statement when the timees.¡± Jiang Yuan merely responded with a couple of nomittal grunts. With his current skill set, being overly cautious didn¡¯t seem right to him. Although the current case didn¡¯t seem to have any direct clues pointing to the murderer from the autopsy, Jiang Yuan saw that there were still very many avenues to explore. Wu Jun simply reminded Jiang Yuan a couple of times, seeing that he did not have a worried expression, he also felt at ease, and casually lit a brazier in the room. Jiang Yuan did not even need to be told, he cleverly jumped over it three times. The two of them then rode back to the Criminal Police Brigade. In the conference room, intelligence kept pouring in, and several squad leaders were also discussing in low voices. It was still the early stage of the investigation, and the direction of the investigation had not yet been determined, so the main work was being done by the personnel of the Criminal Investigation Squad, which was to collect and analyze the evidence at the scene. Upon entering, Jiang Yuan did not stand on ceremony; he first sought out the people from the video surveince office to check the monitors. ¡°The murderer probably didn¡¯t take themon route, we have surveince in the main directions, but no person was captured. At least for now, no suspects have been locked down,¡± said Zhuang Wei, from the video surveince office, who now had great trust in Jiang Yuan. He was even slightly nervous. Ningtai County had spent so much money to upgrade the surveince equipment, if it did not function, it would be noughing matter, and the staff of the video surveince office would all be in trouble. Jiang Yuan had even more confidence than Zhuang Wei. While watching the surveince footage, he asked, ¡°Not even a shadow of a suspect was found?¡± ¡°For now, we are still not certain about the suspect¡¯s physical characteristics,¡± Zhuang Wei replied with a bit of helplessness. Nowadays, people are being sought without a photo, how would one know who to look for? ¡°Which way did the police dogs track?¡± Jiang Yuan asked an officer beside him. He had deployed the police dogs not expecting a direct answer. However, judging from the blood spatter at the scene, the murderer definitely left carrying some of the blood. By using the dogs¡¯ sense of smell, it was roughly possible to determine the direction the murderer had left. The officer beside him pointed to the east side. Zhuang Wei also exined, ¡°We¡¯ve also extended the investigation range to the east side, but haven¡¯t found any notably suspicious individuals.¡± ¡°If surveince doesn¡¯t turn up any leads, we¡¯re going to have to change our approach¡­¡± Liu Jinghui stood up intending to help reorganize the case. Jiang Yuan, however, did not follow Liu Jinghui¡¯s direction and said first, ¡°At three o¡¯clock in the morning, anyone appearing on the street would be suspicious, right?¡± Liu Jinghui was taken aback: ¡°We can¡¯t just investigate every neer¡­um, the murderer is most likely a non-local. From this perspective, if a non-local is still loitering on the streets at three in the morning, could they possibly be the murderer?¡± ¡°We can start by following this line of thought,¡± said Jiang Yuan, still keeping a rather rxed demeanor. Using surveince to solve the case was just an easier method, not the only one. Zhuang Wei, however, shook his head again and said, ¡°Starting from three-thirty in the morning, there weren¡¯t many people captured in the surveince, and we¡¯ve been looking for people along public transport routes, but so far, no one looks like the murderer.¡± His statement was not very precise, but everyone present understood. Those wandering outside at dawn, even if they walked for a while, would eventually take public transportation. Using these modes of transport, it was basically possible to confirm the identities of most people. Of course, there would certainly be individuals whose identities were not so easy to establish, but a murderer would have their own characteristics; they would be nervous, walk fast, look around anxiously ¨C in short, some murderers could disguise themselves as normal people, but some just didn¡¯t look the part. And the police were not dealing with 007. From Zhuang Wei¡¯s perspective, people wandering outside at three or four in the morning, though strange, ultimately did not resemble murderers. Jiang Yuan selected a few surveince videos from that time period to watch for a while but did not discover any clues. At this time, the expressions of everyone present had grown solemn. Could it be that this current case would truly have an oversight? However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression did not change at all. He simply had someone mark the locations of the cameras near the bar, looked at them carefully for a while, and then said, ¡°Team Leader Zhuang, continue monitoring the footage, especially analyze the surveince near the bar from three-thirty to four o¡¯clock. I¡¯m going to the scene to have a look.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Zhuang Wei agreed with a nod. Mu Zhiyang, who was sitting nearby, quickly stood up, ready to follow Jiang Yuan to the scene, and asked, ¡°Do you want to go over the scene again?¡± ¡°Yes, the surveince coverage around the bar street is broad enough. If there¡¯s still no trace of the murderer, we have to consider that the murderer did note and go through normal means,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smirk. ¡°If that¡¯s the case, the murderer will only have left behind more traces.¡± Chapter 406 - 406 373 Leaving a Trace ?406: Chapter 373: Leaving a Trace 406: Chapter 373: Leaving a Trace Returning to Bar Street, shops around the ¡°Utopia Craft Beer Pub¡± had reopened for business. The afternoon wasn¡¯t the usual business time for pubs, but today, the bar next to the cordoned-off ¡°Utopia Craft Beer Pub¡± was bustling with peopleing and going. In the small county town, a murder case at a bar was a rarity that sparked the interest of fashion-conscious men and women. After all, this was an Inte-famous incident that couldpete with big city happenings. Let¡¯s see you have two deaths in a public ce in your big city! No? Well, then we¡¯re even for today. Mu Zhiyang, annoyed, waved his hand to shoo away several people taking selfies at the police line: ¡°This is nothing to celebrate, stay back.¡± ¡°Officer, we¡¯re recording,¡± said a young man, thrusting his smartphone camera forward. Mu Zhiyang frowned slightly and before he could speak, Tang Jia, who hade with him, stepped forward and said sternly, ¡°You can take photos, but you¡¯re not permitted inside the police line, nor are you allowed to touch it. Also, you can upload videos, but they must be uploaded in full, with no start or end cut off, only a selected segment. If you edit out of context, our colleagues from the Network Security Brigade will contact you.¡± Tang Jia, who had experience working in Changyang City specializing in crowd management, spoke not quickly but withmanding authority. Combined with her good looks, she quickly dispersed the group of youngsters in front of her. ¡°Let¡¯s take a group photo,¡± one of the youths wheedled, pressing closer. ¡°Do not approach the police line, and I will not pose for a photo with you,¡± Tang Jia declined without hesitation, pushing away the boy who had moved closer. Police controlling a crowd doesn¡¯t mean they must refrain from using force. On the contrary, the traditional function of the police is inherently based on force; ¡°meeting force with force¡± might not be the police¡¯s only option, but it is certainly one of them. Jiang Yuan nced back and saw that most people were just holding up their phones to record, and that Tang Jia had things under control. He bent down to enter the cordoned-off area and stepped into the ¡°Utopia Craft Beer Pub.¡± For the second crime scene investigation, there was no need toy down nks; Jiang Yuan directly led his team to observe each of the exits. The killer couldn¡¯t have vanished into thin air. His absence from the security cameras simply meant he didn¡¯t take the usual routes. However, from a crime scene investigation standpoint, as long as one considers this and notices this behavior of the killer, things are back on track. Moreover, as Jiang Yuan said in the meeting room, by acting this way, the killer would leave behind more traces and provide more information. From the perspective of trace evidence, using the main entrance is the way to leave the fewest clues. This is because it¡¯s not just the killer who uses the main entrance; every subsequent entry and exit by others is a disruption of the crime scene, which is the most troublesome aspect of crime scene investigation. On the other hand, traces left by not taking the usual path are simpler, and thus, there is a better rate of utilization for such evidence. The only question is, where are they left? Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry. At every possible entry and exit point, he took a careful look, using a magnifying ss for ces that were unclear to the naked eye and those he couldn¡¯t confirm. The killer, in his haste to flee, wouldn¡¯t have spent much time covering his tracks, and even if he did, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach meant it would still not be enough to conceal them. In an era where leaving a single hair at the scene is akin to leaving a whole adult video behind, it¡¯s rare for a killer to leave no trace. Especially indoors, the difficulty is too high, requiring not only specialized knowledge but also extensive practice. The killer at hand was quite skilled, but faced with Level 4 crime scene investigation and Jiang Yuan¡¯s two hours of meticulous searching, his whereabouts were easily exposed. ¡°This window was closed from the outside, with a bit of trickery,¡± Jiang Yuan said, upon reaching the second-floor bathroom window and easily discovering multiple traces. This level of concealment could deceive a Level 1 trace examiner, but even a slightly attentive half-step Level 2 examiner could make simr conclusions. Leaving no trace is extremely difficult, especially when trying to use a very short crime time to counter the longer search time of trace examiners, which multiplies the difficulty. The police officer from the local police station who had apanied them looked at the position and said, ¡°This is the second floor, and right below is the back alley of the bar, but there are surveince cameras in the alley too.¡± ¡°Bring over a chair.¡± Jiang Yuan asked for a chair and stood on it, pushing the window open. Without touching anything, he leaned out to look closely. ¡°There are footprints on the air conditioner, and there¡¯s an extruded section about ten centimeters wide along the wall with footprints too, most likely recent. Mm, bring a car over,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even step out but took a few photos with his phone and then continued to check the other doors and windows. Once all the doors and windows had been checked, an aerial work tform, borrowed from who knows where, had also driven into the alley behind the pub. Jiang Yuan climbed up the work tform again to retake photos and collect samples. Dust covered the outside of the bar building; the extracted footprints were crystal clear. With Level 3 footprint analysis, Jiang Yuan felt he could almost draw the perpetrator¡¯s silhouette. Although these footprints could have been left by some transient lovebirds, given theck of corresponding traces at other doors and windows, the suspicion associated with these prints was extremely high. ¡°The sample is about 176 cm tall, weighs between 70 to 75 kg, and is around 35 years old. There should be signs of physical exercise, with a low body fat percentage, probably simr to the victim¡¯s¡ªakin to an athlete¡¯s build. There seems to be good bnce as well; the individual wears size 43 athletic shoes but appears to have low arches, so unlikely to be a professional athlete.¡± Jiang Yuan read the footprints in no time. Mu Zhiyang quickly pulled out a notebook to record everything. ¡°This way,¡± Jiang Yuan indicated and followed the direction of the footprints. The prints extended past six buildings, meaning the culprit had used the second floor as a tform, walking over a hundred meters from that height. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, he immediately thought of a parkour expert he had encountered in the past. However, this person didn¡¯t seem to practice parkour, as there were hardly any handprints along the way. It appeared they relied mainly on their superior bnce to move forward. As a result, Jiang Yuan gathered a wealth of gait information. The more you try to hide, the more you expose. Seeing these clear footprints, Jiang Yuan felt as if he could recognize the person by their walk alone. The prints stopped at an alley entrance. Jiang Yuan looked around and quickly focused on the sign of a 24-hour hotpot restaurant. ¡°Ask them if they had any customers around three or four in the morning,¡± Jiang Yuan instructed and circled the hotpot restaurant once more, pointing out several distant cameras for the team to check the morning¡¯s surveince footage. Afterpleting these tasks, Tang Jia, who had gone to inquire at the hotpot restaurant, called back, ¡°Captain Jiang, we found something!¡± A group of police officers crowded into an elevator, filling it to capacity. Hotpot restaurant. Tang Jia was busy helping the staff to remove the hard drive. Seeing Jiang Yuan and the otherse in, Tang Jia showed Jiang Yuan the photos on her phone, reporting, ¡°Last night at 3:50 AM, this individual entered the restaurant alone, ate hotpot until after 6 AM before leaving.¡± The man in the photos was dressed in ck, and both his height and build matched the profile Jiang Yuan had just constructed. ¡°Quite smart,¡± Jiang Yuan smirked. Just over two hours of difference¡ªif they hadn¡¯t found this hotpot restaurant and if they had merely scrutinized the surveince blindly, they could have missed the person entirely. However, this individual was already exceptionally adept. For an average person, it would be incredibly difficult and dangerous to traverse the exterior of buildings as Jackie Chan had done, let alone determine which areas had surveince cameras and which didn¡¯t, and then n a route. It was quite an arduous task. ¡°Have Zhuang Wei update the timeline to see if we can find his mode of transportation. Interview all the staff, including those not on duty, those who have taken leave, and anyone who has resigned recently,¡± Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and then gave instructions. It was clear that the case involved meticulous prior scouting, but it was unclear how the non-local criminal had made his decisions. If it had been a minor case, finding the criminal could have wrapped things up, but not with a murder case. Everyone employed at the hotpot restaurant had to be investigated. Having said that, Jiang Yuan took out his phone and called Huang Qiangmin, requesting technical investigation support for tracking mobile phones. Given their technical expertise, the tech investigators usually operated in a ¡®ck box¡¯ fashion¡ªdetectives would make a request, and the tech investigators would simply provide results. Huang Qiangmin readily agreed, then suggested, ¡°If it¡¯s a professional hitman, it could be a contract killing, right?¡± ¡°Possible,¡± Jiang Yuan considered such a possibility in the perpetrator¡¯s modus operandi and slowly said, ¡°Anyone calm enough to enjoy hotpot at a crime scene must have more than this one case under their belt. Pity the staff have already cleaned and put away the tableware. For now, we cannot confirm the assant¡¯s identity.¡± ¡°It¡¯s already very good progress, and you should also be cautious about your safety,¡± Huang Qiangmin advised earnestly, ¡°Avoid encountering the criminal at the crime scene again, and make sure to have at least two people with you at all times. We¡¯ve made significant progress with the case; don¡¯t be too anxious¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin started to express concern for Jiang Yuan¡¯s well-being, drawing a parallel to the adage: work the beasts hard during the plowing season but take good care of them during the ck season. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was teeming with thoughts. Truth be told, after handling so many cases across various provinces and cities, he had nevere across a professional hitman, or a case of murder-for-hire. This made Jiang Yuan grow interested in both the murderer and the victim simultaneously. ¡°Oh and, search the restaurant¡¯s trash¡­ Search all the garbage in the building too, see if we can find the murder weapon.¡± Before leaving, Jiang Yuan added onest instruction for Tang Jia. After a strenuous day, the thought of sifting through arge hotpot restaurant¡¯s waste, including food scraps and garbage from the entire building, overwhelmed Tang Jia. She took out her phone, pointed it at her face, and her mind filled with doubt: Was it because I didn¡¯t put on makeup properly today, that I have to sift through trash? If only I had known¡­ Chapter 407 - 407 374 Capturing Someone (Ask for Monthly Pass) ?407: Chapter 374: Capturing Someone (Ask for Monthly Pass) 407: Chapter 374: Capturing Someone (Ask for Monthly Pass) ¡°Director Guan, Director Huang, Captain Jiang, the criminal is on the fourth floor above us.¡± Standing at the base of a four-story building, the criminal investigators had already sealed off all the surrounding intersections, including a handshake building very close to the guesthouse inside the building, with someone lying in ambush in each corridor. After witnessing the murderer¡¯s outstanding bncing skills, it would be foolish not to realize that this building was the escape route he left for himself. The Director of Ningtai County Bureau, Guan Xi, stared intently at the four-story building ahead andmanded calmly, ¡°First and foremost, we must ensure the safety of the people¡¯s lives. Prioritize evacuating the neighboring residents to ensure their safety before making the arrest!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The officers standing beside Guan Xi responded in unison. ¡°Alright, from here on, Director Huang, Captain Huang willmand. I won¡¯t interfere with chatter.¡± Even as the Director, he couldn¡¯t avoid being influenced by the atmosphere on site and didn¡¯t dare to give a lengthy speech at this moment, so he handed themand back to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin expressed his thanks, then started giving orders in a low voice. No matter how clever the criminal¡¯s tricks were, once they were exposed, there was no more intrigue left. After determining the time and ce of the criminal¡¯s departure, under theprehensive surveince of Ningtai, he was nothing more than an over-thirty-year-old boy, taking taxis, staying in guesthouses alone, the kind who would take the high-speed rail home alone in the evening. Wu Junhao¡¯s first team quietly dressed in stab-proof vests at the corner, picking up steel forks,ssos, and steels. From the information they received, the criminal this time was clearly a tough nut to crack. And to deal with a tough nut, even Wu Junhao¡¯s bulldoze team didn¡¯t have to fight head-on. Soft weapons were the best assistants when dealing with tough nuts. Just like the masters in ¡°Seven Heroes and Five Righteousness,¡± no matter how tough the shing sounded, a few fishings thrown over would immediately leave them with no choice but to be captured. Thessos and steels used by the police also had a simr ingenious effect. In an open area, with several people cooperating, once thrown, no matter if you were physically strong, had rigid limbs, or advanced techniques, you only ended up with several big men pinning you down and handcuffing you. And behind Wu Junhao¡¯s first team, there were two more teams, entering from the fire escape and another corridor, as a contingency n. Jiang Yuan just stood at ease behind the leaders, watching as the criminal investigators entered in single file. The current case was somewhatplicated, but in the end, it had entered normal procedures. Now, all that was left was to wait for the criminal to be caught and brought to justice¡­ Bang! A loud noise came first as a chair was thrown down from the fourth floor. Then, a figure was seen leaping out of a fourth-floor window. Thud. A slightly dull sound followed swiftly. The policemen below stood in stunned silence for a moment before surrounding the area. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s brow furrowed even more tightly: ¡°Is this a case of a cornered dog leaping over a wall?¡± ¡°Headfirst.¡± Jiang Yuan recalled the criminal¡¯s posture just now and said, ¡°With that posture, he¡¯s definitely not going to survive.¡± ¡°Suicide?¡± Huang Qiangmin was greatly shocked. Although their purpose in capturing criminals was to send them to the execution grounds, it was still very rare for one to choose to end their own life during the capture process. As for the possibility of homicide¡ªbriefly recalling the events that had just unfolded, first throwing a chair and then leaping out the window¡­within such a short amount of time, to do all this and subdue a physically strong man, throwing him out the window, was highly unlikely. Soon after, Wu Junhao, having rushed into the room, also called: ¡°The criminal must have jumped down on his own, there¡¯s no one else in the room.¡± ¡°Secure the scene.¡± Huang Qiangmin put down his phone, looked at Jiang Yuan, and asked, ¡°Will you conduct the investigation?¡± Jiang Yuan responded affirmatively, and then said, ¡°I¡¯ll look at the body first, then go to the room.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Huang Qiangmin felt somewhat relieved. Director Guan Xi, standing beside him, let out a long sigh. He had been looking forward to seeing this murder casee to a perfect close today. If all went well, everybody could head home for the New Year with peace of mind. However, the suicide of the suspect did not mean that there was any problem with the investigation. It wasn¡¯t surprising that a murderer made yet another frustrating decision. Jiang Yuan put on a mask and a head covering, then walked over to the body of the now deceased, who had previously been the suspect, while wearing gloves. The impact from a four-story fall was enough to kill the suspect on the spot. And because the body hadnded head first, the impact evident at the scene far exceeded that of a fall from four stories. ¡°Help me take fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan called for Mu Zhiyang to assist after enough photos were taken, and took prints from all ten fingers. He didn¡¯t need anyone¡¯s help to mark characteristic points on the PAD and match the deceased¡¯s identity. ¡°Li Yunhu. Male, 35 years old, served two prison sentences for inflicting serious injury, extortion¡­¡± Jiang Yuan read off a few key points while looking at the PAD. Mu Zhiyang continued to record and after a while, seeing that Jiang Yuan showed no sign of speaking further, asked, ¡°Does this mean that the previous case is also closed?¡± ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, to Mu Zhiyang¡¯s surprise. Mu Zhiyang: ¡°But¡­ the murderer is dead, could there be an aplice?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not a matter of aplices,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°Two out-of-townerse to Ningtai County to kill each other near the New Year, what was the motive?¡± The issue of motive had always been a problem in this case. The so-called three essentials for solving a case are motive, method, and timeline. The initial victim in the bar was thought to be involved in a contract killing, but with the suicide of the murderer, even this motive became doubtful. Because in a case of contract killing, once it goes to court, it¡¯s handled as a joint crime: the employer is the principal offender, and the murderer is the essory. From this perspective, the murderer actually had a higher chance of avoiding the death penalty. For a murderer who had served two prison sentences, some legal knowledge should be expected. He would know that being hired to kill someone would most likely avoid a death sentence. So why would he choose to jump from the building in desperation? Jiang Yuan briefly conducted an exterior examination of the body, then stood up and went to examine the room on the fourth floor. Soon, Wu Jun arrived at the scene with the vehicle for transporting the corpse. Jiang Yuan came down the stairs again, helping to load the body onto the car. As the door was about to close, he whispered, ¡°Master, take off the corpse¡¯s pants and take a look.¡± Wu Jun had just taken off his gloves to do a little tampering but upon hearing that, he put them back on and began unfastening the corpse¡¯s belt while asking, ¡°What are you looking to find?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I saw adult diapers in the room where the deceased stayed.¡± Wu Jun was momentarily stunned before realizing, ¡°dder atrophy? Was this guy on drugs?¡± dder atrophy is amon side effect of certain drugs, severe cases can shrink it by 90%, and for a dder with a normal capacity of about 500 milliliters, a 90% reduction essentially renders it unusable, thus necessitating alternatives like adult diapers. From a detective¡¯s standpoint, seeing adult diapers leads one first to think of detainees and to engage in human interaction with them. ¡°That¡¯s the spection.¡± Jiang Yuan pressed on the deceased¡¯s dder area several times to no avail. Meanwhile, Wu Jun carefully scanned the arms and legs of the body and took multiple samples. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like he reached the point of needing injections. Was this guy using ketamine?¡± Wu Jun mused. Jiang Yuan could not answer, but from another perspective, a murderer with a history of drug use had even less reason to jump to his death. Chapter 408 - 408 375 Need for Security ?408: Chapter 375: Need for Security 408: Chapter 375: Need for Security Liu Jinghui hurried to the funeral parlor. He hadn¡¯te during the apprehension because he wasn¡¯t interested. For him, the investigation and deduction stage were the most fascinating. By the time Jiang Yuan had found the murderer and used surveince to lock down the suspect step by step, watching the actual capture held no thrill for Liu Jinghui. He had solved numerous cases and apprehended even more suspects; just another small-time killer, and a hired one at that, was hardly worth his attention. However, when this 35-year-old man, not so young, alone at 3 a.m. eating hot pot, with superb bnce, a hint of professional ability, and willing to be hired for murder, leapt headfirst to his death from the fourth floor, Liu Jinghui¡¯s interest in him surged instantly. It isn¡¯t easy these days, after all. If one isn¡¯t depressed, isn¡¯t shortchanged in wages, doesn¡¯t owe money to payday lenders or the bank, isn¡¯t simultaneously swindled out of money and love, they usually don¡¯tmit suicide. Of course, at the age of 35, it¡¯s possible to be fired¡­ but the upation of a hired killer isn¡¯t thatpetitive¡­ In conclusion, suicide is typically not the go-to choice for criminals. Even those murderers who regard human life as little as weeds, treasure their own immensely. The police often encounter weeping murderers, whose tears could hardly be for genuine remorse. ¡°Any leads?¡± Director Liu knocked on the door of the autopsy room, and what he saw was the body already opened up. Performing two autopsies in quick session was a bit strenuous for Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun. Jiang Yuan straightened up, stretched for a moment, then said, ¡°The dder only had thirty to forty milliliters left; the testicles were a bit atrophied, and the nasal mucosa was severely damaged, showing metasia. Also, there was serious atrophy in the oral gums; he must have been using drugs like Ketamine or methamphetamine for several years. The toxicology test has been expedited.¡± ¡°Both are party drugs, and Ningtai County doesn¡¯t seem to have any famous entertainment venues,¡± Liu Jinghui was fairly knowledgeable about basic drugs. Ketamine is primarily used mixed with ecstasy at parties and nightclubs for a high. Methamphetamine has a broader use as a stimnt, and that¡¯s why Nazi Germany invented it for warfare¡ªarmies led by Guderian and Rommel made rapid long marches sustained by this substance. Currently, meth¡¯s main use is for enhancing sex; after taking it, one can have intercourse for hours on end without feeling hungry and lose weight without much effort, typically resulting in loss of sexual function and kidney damage. Of course, the average drug user can¡¯t distinguish between them that neatly; often they¡¯ll consume whatever they can obtain. Mixing Ketamine and methamphetamine is quitemon, with a very clear function: get high first, and then have sex, seamlessly transitioning from one to the other. ¡°Were there any drug paraphernalia found at the scene?¡± Before Jiang Yuan could answer, Director Liu followed up with another question. Jiang Yuan shook his head, then added, ¡°Both of these are snorted through the nose, so they don¡¯t require any special apparatus.¡± ¡°What about the remaining drugs?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t find any. Perhaps he used up what he brought or maybe he¡­ bought a bit locally,¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly. The drug enforcement in Ningtai County was usually quite good, but this was another domain, one Jiang Yuan was not too familiar with. ¡°It¡¯s not odd for a drug addict to be hired for murder; it exins why he was willing to kill,¡± Director Liu paused, then slowly continued, ¡°But this makes the real motive for murder, the mastermind¡¯s motive, all the more elusive.¡± Wu Jun said, ¡°Theoretically, we could close the case. The victim was killed by the addict, who thenmitted suicide. The mastermind is just spection; in fact, there¡¯s no evidence the addict received any payment, so we needn¡¯t mention that part.¡± ¡°What about the killer¡¯s motive? Without exining that, we can¡¯t close the case,¡± Director Liu replied. ¡°Even if the prosecutor doesn¡¯t ask, the court will.¡± ¡°Crime of passion? A homosexual lover turned hostile out of jealousy?¡± Wu Jun spected before adding, ¡°Killing someone in a bar at 3 a.m., could it have been a deal gone wrong?¡± ¡°I¡¯m also worried about that,¡± Director Liu said. ¡°Two people have died, and drugs are involved¡­ Have each bar owner and staff member in Ningtai subjected to a drug test.¡± As he spoke, Director Liu took out his phone and began to call Huang Qiangmin. Jiang Yuan continued the autopsy, then proceeded to create the paraffin blocks; the body actually revealed quite a number of points, such as gastritis, enteritis, pancreatitis, and rheumatic heart disease, as well as multiple fractures, and so on. But in fact, they were of no use; the person hadmitted suicide, and it had taken ce in front of many witnesses, so now even if someone was trying to find a mastermind behind the scenes, it would be very difficult to trace through the body itself. After all, the financial backer behind him simply provided money, not doing anything to his body. Without any physical contact between the two, the autopsy naturally couldn¡¯t obtain any information about the backer¡­ As the autopsy was nearingpletion, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call came back: ¡°Director Liu, we¡¯ve conducted drug tests on the bar owner and staff. One of the bartenders tested positive.¡± Liu Jinghui immediately asked, ¡°What did he take?¡± ¡°Ketamine and meth,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied with a grave tone. Nowadays, there are many kinds of drugs, especially new types with all kinds of mixed substances. Those who use the same drug are not only sharing simr hobbies; it¡¯s more likely they share the same source, or even have used drugs together. ¡°Well, there lies the connection between the two deceased,¡± Liu Jinghui said excitedly after hanging up the phone. A good cook can¡¯t do much without rice, and even a reasoning expert like him needs clues to be effective. Liu Jinghui¡¯s brain immediately started working at a frantic pace. ¡°Looking at it now, both victims seem to be inextricably linked to drugs,¡± Liu Jinghui pondered, and then said, ¡°The first victim was overly rich, and the second could fight despite being a drug user. Why would these two people meet at a bar?¡± ¡°Drug dealing?¡± Wu Jun joked. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°Doing a deal at three in the morning, in someone else¡¯s bar, in the middle of a street full of surveince cameras, is too bold and foolish.¡± ¡°The key is whether the first victim knew, the second one meant him harm. If he knew, why would he show up at the bar,¡± Jiang Yuan added. Liu Jinghui hummed in agreement and said, ¡°Moreover, a trade wouldn¡¯t have just two people involved. We now know that victim number two was alone, and if it were a drug deal, he wouldn¡¯t have brought the merchandise alone for the trade¡­ Wait, I¡¯ll ask someone.¡± Liu Jinghui was not very familiar with this aspect and quickly made a call to inquire. The provincial police department had a senior police superintendent specializing in narcotics, who, seeing a colleague inquiring, patiently exined the situation. Under the new circumstances, drug trading has its peculiarities, as well as its simrities; for police officers involved in narcotics control, this was nothing new. Liu Jinghui turned on the speakerphone so that Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun could listen along with him. The three of them, along with a body before them, listened intently. After listening, Liu Jinghui pondered and said, ¡°So now, can I posit that our case indeed involves drugs?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible. But it¡¯s probably not drug trading; my guess is, it might be drug transportation.¡± ¡°Transportation?¡± ¡°Yes, Ningtai is definitely not a drug consumption site, but it could be possible that it has been made a passage for transportation.¡± ¡°There are surveince cameras everywhere in the county now, in this situation¡­¡± ¡°Some who transport drugs need a safer environment more than ordinary people do. They couldn¡¯t possibly opt for armed escorts¡­¡± Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan looked at each other, realizing that logistics transport requires a safe and unobstructed environment; there seemed to be some truth to this. Chapter 409 - 409 376 Transportation ?409: Chapter 376 Transportation 409: Chapter 376 Transportation Ningtai County¡¯s drug enforcement team officially serves under the county¡¯s Anti-drug Commission and focuses mainly on public education and themunication of legal knowledge. On the rare asion they encounter drug-rted cases, Ningtai¡¯s drug enforcement team often seeks assistance from Qinghe City¡¯srger drug enforcement detachment. In fact, Qinghe City¡¯s drug enforcement detachment isn¡¯t overwhelmed with cases either, but as they provide support for various districts and counties and are a rtively independent unit, they get to show their presence from time to time. In contrast, Ninghai County¡¯s drug enforcement team leans more towards theory, with team leader Zhang Kun directlying into meetings with aptop in hand. The conference room. After a brief introduction, Zhang Kun set down hisptop and said, ¡°From my understanding, the current case appears to be a typical instance of the ¡®people-goods separation¡¯ drug trafficking method. This has be a primary form of drug transport within the country, with various methods employed. For example, onemon approach involves using long-distance or short-distance buses to transport drugs in an ¡®ant-moving-house¡¯ fashion. Since luggage on buses isn¡¯tbeled, even if we discover the drugs, or even if the trafficker is on the bus, we can¡¯t tie it to a specific person and therefore can¡¯t identify and capture the suspect.¡± Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team all listened closely to Zhang Kun¡¯s briefing. Policing is indeed a field where each branch can seem like a separate mountain. The daily work of criminal detectives is different from that of public security, drug enforcement, traffic police, and so forth. Involvement at a superficial level poses little issue, and anyone can participate, but when ites to solving cases, often the struggle lies in the details. Zhang Kun, seeing how attentively everyone was listening, felt inspired and continued, ¡°Besides using buses for transportation, exploiting poorly regted courierpanies is also amon tactic. In some ces, private cars are used; at night, drugs are attached to the chassis of the cars, for example, and retrieved stealthily the next day when the vehicle is parked¡­¡± Zhang Kun listed several methods of ¡®people-goods separation¡¯, enlightening the assembled officers. Liu Jinghui furrowed his brows deeply, ¡°I hadn¡¯t realized things had evolved so quickly. In my memory, drug trafficking was still at the stage where motorcycles were used for smuggling, or pregnant women as couriers.¡± Zhang Kun nodded gravely, ¡°The method of ¡®people-goods separation¡¯ has spread rapidly, and we are now frequently face cases without an identifiable owner of the drugs, which gives everyone a headache.¡± ¡®Ownerless drug cases¡¯ are precisely those in which only the drugs are found, but not the owner. Although the owner still suffers a hefty financial loss, whenpared to criminal liability, the punishment for losing the drugs is far less severe. Liu Jinghui stroked his chin, deep in thought. It took only a minute or two before Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Now, to assert that this case is about drug trafficking, the most direct question is, where are the drugs? Are they hidden, or have they already been transported away?¡± Before anyone could respond, Liu Jinghui mused, ¡°Following the lead provided by Captain Zhang, we could start by checking the identities of suspects one and two, looking up information at coach stations and courier stations to see if they have purchased any tickets recently.¡± This approach was very practical. Although it sounded arduous, it was highly feasible ¨C it simply involved assigning a few more officers to verify the information. Jiang Yuan agreed, ¡°If we can confirm that any suspect is the owner of the drugs, then the motive for this case will be easier to analyze.¡± ¡°Precisely,¡± replied Liu Jinghui, feeling as though half the dense fog had been lifted, he couldn¡¯t help but exhale in satisfaction. Zhang Kun continued to educate everyone on drug enforcement. When the meeting ended, the personnel of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team dispersed, taking with them the new insights they had just learned, and conducted thorough searches of the county¡¯s passenger transport center and courier service points. Identity cards, mobile phone numbers, and other information led to nothing. If this had been a typical case, or even amon drug trafficking case, such efforts might have been shelved by this point. Without any clues, the members of the special case team couldn¡¯t simply wait around doing nothing. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had slightly more personnel than needed, and given the on-going murder case, Jiang Yuan effectively had arge workforce at his disposal. ¡°Review the surveince footage, focus on the coach stations and courier points, and see if we can spot the victims, one and two.¡± Sitting at the end of the conference table, Jiang Yuan mustered his strength and came up with a basic strategy. Liu Jinghui, taken aback by the suggestion, hurriedly objected, ¡°That¡¯s a huge area to cover.¡± In Ningtai County, with its many towns and viges that primarily rely on buses formuting, the bus stations are sizeable, with at least twenty coaches and minibuses stopping by daily. Count in the surveince cameras covering these vehicles, along with those in the waiting hall, and you¡¯re easily looking at over a hundred cameras to monitor. Liu Jinghui was daunted at the thought of how long it would take to review all this surveince footage. As for the courier points, there were plenty, and searching through their surveince one by one would take at least as long as scanning a bus station. The key issue is that the surveince system in ces like bus stations tends to be iplete. Regr bus passengers might not even buy tickets inside the station but wait on the street outside. This meant that, despite checking hundreds of cameras, there was still a chance of missing something. Liu Jinghui would never have chosen such an investigative n. In his life, he had never waged such a resource-rich battle; the most extensive search he¡¯d experienced was when he went missing himself. Jiang Yuan, young and already distinguished, being from Jiang Vige, seemed determined, thinking, ¡°Well, since this is the only lead, we¡¯ll worry about the next step if wee up empty.¡± The officers below wouldn¡¯t hesitate; once they received orders, they acted upon them. Soon, the new building of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment was filled with televisions and monitors on the fourth floor. More than twenty officers stayed up all night watching the surveince footage for two whole days. This spectacle left Zhang Kun, who came to assist, dumbfounded. Zhang Kun, involved mainly in public outreach and infrequently in casework, had even less involvement in major cases. Now Jiang Yuan was employing the scale of resources typical of a current murder case to handle a drug trafficking case, making Zhang Kun feel as if there was a wealth of resources at y. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t concern himself with what Zhang Kun thought. For him, the drug trafficking case, still unconfirmed, was part of a murder investigation; failing to find evidence in the drug case would greatly hinder determining the murderer¡¯s motive and the rtionship between the murderer and the victims. Jiang Yuan also reviewed the surveince footage, specifically targeting the exceptionally blurry ones. Several times, he could rule out suspects resembling the victims only after using Image Enhancement. Time ticked away, second by second. Some of the officers who first joined the special case team couldn¡¯t keep up and began to fall asleep one after another. Jiang Yuan called up more officers to fill their ces. Mu Zhiyang joined the fray, took a seat at an avable desk, opened hisputer, and started watching. It didn¡¯t take long before Mu Zhiyang raised his hand, ¡°Captain Jiang, I see someone who looks a bit like victim number one.¡± Chapter 410 - 410 377 In the End, Surveillance Bore It All ?410: Chapter 377: In the End, Surveince Bore It All 410: Chapter 377: In the End, Surveince Bore It All While Jiang Yuan was looking at the screen, Mu Zhiyang felt inexplicably restless. It might seem like someone was simply found on the screen, but this was only after looking through several dozen people over two days, and it was their only result¡ªa result that directly broke the case wide open. Mu Zhiyang felt that he had, more or less, made a contribution to the case. In the current Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad of Ningtai, it was quite difficult to make a contribution, especially considering his colleagues, each of whom was an elite from the major Beijing-Shanghai Main Urban Districts, and it was extremely difficult to even make a name for oneself. In fact, it wasn¡¯t easy at all. The person on the screen, number one, was somewhat different from the number one victim in the ice coffin. Not only were there no postmortem lividity marks, the gold chain and watch were also missing; the only simrities were the shirt and a slight change in hairstyle. For Mu Zhiyang to pick out this individual in a crowd was indeed a disy of keen insight. ¡°It should be the same person,¡± Jiang Yuan determined by the gait, which is a mainstream method in identity recognition technology. In fact, it¡¯s the method used at major airports and high-speed train station checkpoints in the country, instead of facial recognition. Liu Jinghui also came over to look and wrote down the license te number in his notebook, saying, ¡°Find this car, and bring in the driver and the owner for questioning. There¡¯s no way someone like this goes to the bus station for no reason.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll go,¡± Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing quietly formed a team. Lately there were no arrest missions, and both needed to find a new role within the Cold Case Squad. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, then added, ¡°Bring the car back too, and check it out.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± both responded in unison. ¡°Looking at this, number one is definitely the drug owner,¡± Liu Jinghui deduced, analysing the information he had: ¡°Number one likely shipped the drugs out through the bus station of Ningtai County. So, the reason for number two killing number one, was it for money or for something personal?¡± Meng Chengbiao, who was experienced, said, ¡°If it¡¯s for money, he would be after the goods, and number one should no longer have had the drugs on him.¡± ¡°Right. If it were for money, number one¡¯s ne and watch would also be taken. Hence, the number two victim was intending to kill number one from the beginning. The motive?¡± Meng Chengbiao said, ¡°Number two was also a drug user and couldn¡¯t escape the drug circle¡¯s grasp, so, most likely, the murder is drug-rted¡ªa fallout among drug dealers?¡± Liu Jinghui said, ¡°That¡¯s also a real possibility, the bartender was a drug user too. Moreover, there¡¯s a high probability that the two knew each other.¡± Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall the crime scene and slowly nodded his head. Tang Jia asked cooperatively, ¡°Why would they know each other?¡± ¡°We didn¡¯t know before that they were drug dealers. Think about it, a drug dealer sitting in a bar at three in the morning. No matter why he¡¯s sitting there, if an unfamiliar person walks in at that time, wouldn¡¯t he immediately be defensive and alert? How could he then keep sitting leisurely at the bar drinking?¡± Liu Jinghui paused, then continued, ¡°Of course, I won¡¯t rule out that he was a cool and collected tough guy who got stabbed straight to the heart by someone walking up to him.¡± ¡°Dying while trying to show off would indeed be interesting,¡± Shen Yaoweiughed after visualizing the final scene. ¡°Considering the autopsy, the likelihood of a cool and collected tough guy is not high.¡± Jiang Yuan had personally conducted the autopsy, and this being a current case¡¯s initial dissection, he had gathered much more information than usual from cold cases. Confidently, he said, ¡°Even if he were James Bond, upon seeing someone elsee in, his muscles would tense up. Adding to the fact that he was stabbed to death on the spot, and furthermore directly in the heart¡­ but from the state of the muscles, when he saw the other person, he should have still been fairly rxed.¡± Endorsed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions gained momentum. After pondering for a moment, Liu Jinghui whispered, ¡°Assuming this, number one and number two knew each other. Number one was drinking at the bar, the bartender opened the door for him and then left to go home. Number two came to meet, and the two must have arranged to meet. But unexpectedly, number two stabbed number one to death. There¡¯s probably something going on¡­ The question is, number two¡¯s decision tomit suicide was also somewhat too resolute.¡± No one spoke out. When it came to deductive reasoning, Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind was definitely at the top of the game. Liu Jinghui thought for a while longer and then continued, ¡°Seeing that number two stabbed number one to death and thenmitted suicide, it seems that the initiator was number two, while number one was more likely a passive participant, perhaps simply transporting the drugs normally¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao silently chuckled, the description of ¡®normally transporting drugs¡¯ amusing him somewhat. Liu Jinghui¡¯s brain was in overdrive, leaving him no time to correct his choice of words. On the other hand, he was unable to make any further deductions. The newly obtained clue only confirmed that the number one victim was indeed involved in drug trafficking. In fact, even this piece of evidence would have to wait for Gao Yuyan and the others to verify. To specte about the rtionship between the two victims based on this was clearly insufficient. ¡°For now, we can only follow this drug trafficking lead,¡± Liu Jinghui cut off any further trains of thought, first offering a conclusion. Jiang Yuan agreed with a nod, and his team members automatically got busy. The method of drug trafficking by separating the goods from the carriers was indeed advanced, but it wasn¡¯t some otherworldly technology. It primarily afforded protection to the drug owners, its real value lying more in the legal realm, and it didn¡¯t decrease the likelihood of being caught. That is to say, there is still a chance to investigate the drug trafficking routes. Two hourster. Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing hastily brought back the bus driver. The driver was rtively calm; he took a seat in the interrogation room and seemed willing to tell the truth. In an age where even those who haven¡¯t eaten pork have seen pigs run, the driver had actually heard about simr incidents in chat groups, and as far as he knew, the police rarely punished drivers and buspanies even when unimed drugs were found on buses. This is the legal concept of ¡°subjective unawareness¡±; as long as the driver knew nothing about the drugs and did not participate in their transport, at most he would only be questioned. Of course, the Ningtai police also didn¡¯t n to put this driver behind bars. Gao Yuyan and others simply tried to enquire about details as meticulously as possible. Soon, the relevant information wasid out before Jiang Yuan. The first victim used a method of direct mailing, which is to bring luggage to the bus station temporarily and ask the driver to ce it in the station¡¯s luggage storage area. Surprisingly, this process required no involvement from their own people. ¡°These guys have figured out a set of methods,¡± Liu Jinghui, who was encountering such a case for the first time, said as he frowned repeatedly. Jiang Yuan frowned and said, ¡°Keep checking the surveince footage.¡± When in doubt, check the surveince; whencking evidence, check the surveince¡ªit was indeed an immediate measure of the capabilities of the current criminal investigators. Liu Jinghui was rather reluctant to ept this and stayed silent, looking down. ¡°We now know the time the first victim appeared at the bus station. I think we can focus on him and use surveince to track his movements over the following days to see whom he had contact with¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had a fair amount of confidence in Ningtai County¡¯s surveince system. The newly reced systematic surveince system would y a significant role in bustling areas like bus stations and pub streets. Liu Jinghui hesitated, ¡°It¡¯s not certain that this will yield any results.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if it yields no results; we¡¯ll find another way.¡± Jiang Yuan, seeing Liu Jinghui had no more to say, took out his cell phone and started issuing orders. Having worked on so many cases, he had somewhat realized a truth: for some cases, especially the difficult ones, it was always necessary to expend resources to have any chance of solving them. Scrimping and attempting to save resources would only result in failed investigations, leading to aplete loss with all resources squandered. Liu Jinghui, who worked at the provincial office and normally provided support to various cities and counties, was ustomed to the local police¡¯s cooperation, each time focusing on cost reduction and efficiency improvement. Naturally, he wasn¡¯t as free and bold as Jiang Yuan. In fact, the same was true this time. Ultimately, the decision-making authorityy with the Ningtai County Bureau, or it was Jiang Yuan who would make the final call, using the resources of the Ningtai County Bureau. So, another round of surveince review began. Of course,pared to thest time, this one was much simpler; the scale was much smaller, requiring only about a dozen people concentrated in one meeting room. Plus, the hardware was all in ce. Theputers, monitors, and TV screens brought over before were allrge ones that had been chosen carefully, and the personnel arrangements were roughly the same. Only Mu Zhiyang was called over in advance, sitting in the middle of the meeting room, using the sameputer as before. The starting point for this surveince review was the time and location where Mu Zhiyang had initially spotted the first victim. Then, the surveince cameras followed the first victim¡¯s movements. It sounds simple, but in reality, because surveince is intermittent and not continuous, even if the first victim didn¡¯t employ counter-surveince techniques, there were constant gaps. To track a person¡¯s movements continuously without interruption, like in television dramas, it¡¯s probably difficult to achieve outside the main urban districts of Beijing and Shanghai. At that moment, the video office¡¯s past young elites came into y, employing techniques like jumping to find and re-lock onto the first victim. The technique of jumping is simple, too: if surveince is inherently discontinuous, why pursue a step-by-step follow? One can directly jump to a farther, clearer camera based on the person¡¯s direction of travel and time factors and search to relocate and lock onto him again. Naturally, the execution was much moreplex, but with the help of arge number of hands, it was persevered with. Finally, the day before the first victim¡¯s death, at a crossroads near the pub street, surveince cameras captured the moment when the first and second victims met. In that moment, both the first and second victims had an expression of faint surprise andposure. The resolution of the cameras at the crossroads wasn¡¯t sufficient to distinguish their lip movements, but it was enough to spark many spections. ¡°A historic meeting between two dead people.¡± Liu Jinghui muttered as he watched the scene on the screen where the first and second victims spoke face to face and then passed by each other. Chapter 411 - 411 378 Supply Chain ?411: Chapter 378 Supply Chain 411: Chapter 378 Supply Chain Liu Jinghui spected on the identities and rtionship between Number One and Number Two in various ways. The most usible guess was that the two were old acquaintances who met by chance, but Number Two, for reasons like drug use or something else, developed a murderous intent. Jiang Yuan did not oppose his spection, but when it came to the actual case investigation, Jiang Yuan still preferred to follow the evidence. The current evidence was the surveince footage. Surveince in Ningtai County was quiteprehensive. The density in the urban areas might not be higher than in Changyang City, but because of the newer and fully equipped systems, which were configured more rationally, it was definitely superior to that of Changyang City. Additionally, it was extremely convenient to have a group of people pulled together to view footage for case-solving purposes. In other cities, criminal police are usually so busy that only for major cases such as homicides are they able to assemble arge number of people. Once the homicide investigation is over, they still have to do their regr work, so there are few who can scrutinize footage as meticulously as they do in Ningtai County. Therefore, members of the special case team continued to watch footage day and night. Nor did any officerin about fatigue or hardship. Normal case investigations were just like that. The three treasures of criminal investigation are namely surveince, mobile phones, and DNA. Number One and Number Two¡¯s DNA didn¡¯t reveal anything useful, and they were both careful with their mobile phone use, so that left only the footage. Jiang Yuan¡¯s adoption of the footage strategy actually aligned more with everyone¡¯s expectations. As for the fatigue, being a criminal officer meant that either your legs got tired, or your eyes did; if neither were tired, you were likely to get hurt instead. Soon, by analyzing the surveince videos, the members of the special case team had figured out the actions of the two individuals over the past few days. Tang Jia turned those into aparative timetable and stuck it on the wall; without Liu Jinghui¡¯s involvement, everyone could see the subtleties. The day before Number One¡¯s death, around 10 p.m., the night they met by ident, they both had records of leaving their homes. ¡°The two of them were kilometers apart; let¡¯s find the transportation they used,¡± Liu Jinghui said, spotting the clue and instantly getting to work. Wang Chuanxing responded with a grunt, ¡°We¡¯re also looking for that, but the rity of the night surveince is a bit affected, and we don¡¯t know where the two got on the transport.¡± ¡°Pull up all the taxis that passed by nearby,¡± Liu Jinghui instructed as he looked towards Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°Can you do image enhancement?¡± ¡°I can, but in the nighttime environment, you definitely won¡¯t be able to see faces,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, still slightly behind on Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought. ¡°You don¡¯t need to see faces¡ªseeing the license te is enough,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°For around 10 p.m., find all the license tes of taxis that passed within half an hour, and just call to ask directly. Show the drivers the photos.¡± Wang Chuanxing was startled by the suggestion, and quickly asked, ¡°What if they used ride-hailing services?¡± ¡°These types of people don¡¯t like using ride-hailing services¡ªthe maps are too detailed and there are too many dash cams. However, if we can¡¯t find the people with taxis, we can just ask the ride-hailingpanies for the vehicles that passed by during that time period,¡± Liu Jinghui spoke with experience, as he had used this method in many cases. Jiang Yuan doing image enhancement was naturally no problem. Sitting down at theputer, with a series of operations, he enhanced the footage of all the taxis that passed by during the specified time and obtained their license tes. Tang Jia took the license tes, immediately started making calls, added the drivers on WeChat, and sent them photos of the two deceased. Not long after, they received feedback. ¡°Two cars, both brought them to the same hot pot restaurant¡ªLakeside Old Hot Pot,¡± Tang Jia hastily returned to report. Liu Jinghuiughed, ¡°Number Two really likes hot pot. He had hot pot with Number One the day before, killed Number One the next day, and then ate hot pot on his own¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go take a look,¡± he said. In truth, Jiang Yuan was also tired of watching footage. Reviewing surveince from over a hundred cameras could indeed blind a person. That¡¯s why police dislike looking for mobile phones¡ªsurveince systems aren¡¯t as useful as one might imagine. Having finally located a new scene, Jiang Yuan did not hesitate to lead the way there. This hot pot restaurant was built in the suburbs, not small in size, constructed adjacent to an artificialke, and along theke¡¯s edge, there were nearly twenty tables. ¡°Criminal Investigation Division,¡± Mu Zhiyang announced his credentials and proceeded inside. The hot pot restaurant was not busy outside of meal times, and the sudden arrival of a group of police officers immediately attracted everyone¡¯s attention. A waiter at the front desk bowed his head and began to walk towards the kitchen. Wang Chuanxing noticed and immediately shouted, ¡°Hold on, don¡¯t move. Stand right there.¡± Instead of stopping, the waiter started to run as soon as he was called out. The whole process, if analyzed using a precise term, should be called a ¡°police chase.¡± Not just Wang Chuanxing, but also Mu Zhiyang, Tang Jia, Dong Bing, and the others followed suit and took off running. Their motivation wasn¡¯t purely to seize the credit, but mainly because they couldn¡¯t stand to see a criminal suspect act so brazenly in the face of the police and still attempt to flee so boldly. Four or five people pounced at once, which frightened the waiter so much that he became clumsy, stumbling as he jumped out the window. Wang Chuanxing executed a hurdle jump andnded on top of the male waiter. What followed was the traditional police dogpile talent show. Jiang Yuan was shielded by Shen Yaowei and the others until the fleeing waiter was handcuffed before he stepped forward. ¡°Why did you run?¡± Meng Chengbiao was still hiding behind Jiang Yuan, nowing out slowly. The male waiter remained silent. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked with a cheery smile, but he was asking another waiter nearby. The person next to him was also a bit panicked; it was odd to see a colleague who was chatting andughing ten minutes ago now being held up by several big men. ¡°Li Qingsong.¡± The manager came over, provided the name, and asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t say anything, merely saying, ¡°Gather your staff, we have a few questions to ask. Also, let us borrow a room.¡± The manager hesitated for a moment, then pointed to a private room. Meng Chengbiao had Li Qingsong, the male waiter, taken to the private room and then took out a drug test rapid test kit to test Li Qingsong. ¡°I don¡¯t use drugs.¡± Li Qingsong was getting anxious. ¡°Have you been tested?¡± Meng Chengbiao smiled. Li Qingsong was taken aback by the question, and it took him a while to realize what was asked, whispering, ¡°I¡¯ve seen it, seen others use it.¡± ¡°Ordinary people usually haven¡¯t seen it.¡± Meng Chengbiao chuckled twice, not waiting for Li Qingsong¡¯s exnation, pulled out some hair, stuffed it into the test kit, and said, ¡°If you confess now, it¡¯s considered surrender. If it shows up in the test, it¡¯s not.¡± Li Qingsong lowered his head again. ¡°Is there surveince in the store?¡± Shen Yaowei opened the door and asked the manager, receiving an affirmative response. Without Jiang Yuan¡¯s instruction, several people naturally went to theputer to adjust the surveince footage. Li Qingsong feignedposure. Soon, Shen Yaowei returned. ¡°Number one has been here. He came with a backpack and didn¡¯t take it when he left. Where is it?¡± Shen Yaowei directly asked Li Qingsong. Hearing about the backpack, Li Qingsong¡¯s eyes already shifted. ¡°Speak up, or we¡¯ll bring in the sniffer dogs,¡± Meng Chengbiao said in a very rxed tone. Li Qingsong looked around and finally said, ¡°I stuffed it in the kitchen.¡± Meng Chengbiao gave Wang Chuanxing a meaningful nce while asking, ¡°What¡¯s inside?¡± ¡°Ice.¡± Li Qingsong¡¯s eyes drooped. ¡°How much?¡± ¡°One kilogram.¡± Li Qingsong seemed to have given up, his body going limp. Meng Chengbiao knew he was in the midst of prime interrogation time and immediately pressed on, ¡°Where was it going?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, I was only responsible for delivering it to the courier service,¡± Li Qingsong said. Meng Chengbiao understood immediately, asking, ¡°Who¡¯s your inside guy?¡± Packagesing in and out of courier services are subject to inspection;mon people mailing packages can generally ensure they contain no hazardous materials. But to ship drugs usually requires aplicit internal staff member. Li Qingsong had already said so much and was not beating around the bush anymore, simply saying, ¡°Wang Luo.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll call Director Huang,¡± Jiang Yuan said, as there were few people left around him, and it would be better to directly deploy someone rather than try to catch them now. However, the central issue had now shifted from making arrests to making a bust or, in other words, taking down this drug trafficking chain was the urgent priority at hand. Chapter 412 - 412 379 Not a Match ?412: Chapter 379 Not a Match 412: Chapter 379 Not a Match Jiang Yuan¡¯s team reacted swiftly, and after quickly gaining control of the hotpot restaurant, three policewomen stepped forward to articte the consequences to the staff and collected everyone¡¯s cellphones. Jiang Yuan left a few people behind and allowed the hotpot restaurant to continue its business, mainly to prevent any surprises and to avoid startling the snake by hitting the grass. Meanwhile, all the police officers from the Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Brigade were called to assemble in the policepound, ready to mobilize at any moment. Huang Qiangmin even unlocked the armory, taking out all four avable Type 92 handguns and equipping Wu Junhao¡¯s squadron with them. The remaining Type 64s and Type 05s were allocated as well, but nobody held much hope for them. More detectives donned bulletproof vests and stab-resistant clothing, armed with shields, batons, and stun guns. Huang Qiangmin also sought help from the riot control brigade and managed to borrow around a hundred men from three squadrons before he finally felt somewhat reassured. As per normal police division, the riot control brigade is responsible for handling unrest and riots and provides armed support to the police force. After all, like the current detective department, half of the detectives are already immersed in paperwork and procedures. Coupled with age and other factors, theirbat prowess is actually rather weak. However, the Ningtai County riot control brigade wasn¡¯t particrly strong. There was nothing special about it; it was just an ordinary riot control brigade in the county, with average personnel selection and training standards. Moreover, since Ningtai County seldom encountered serious criminal cases, the riot control brigadecked experience in dealing with such situations. When Huang Qiangmin mentioned it was a drug trafficking case, they initially responded in a flurry of confusion. Fortunately, their basic training standards were upheld, and in a short time, they organized their gear, got into vehicles orderly, and stood by at the training base. Wu Junhao led a squad of detectives straight to the express service point mentioned by Li Qingsong, taking control of all the couriers and the station manager. Although Li Qingsong only implicated one courier, Wang Luo, as far as the police were concerned, everyone at the express service point was unreliable. An insider could smuggle drugs through the service point; it might be just one person or several people involved. Anyway, with the sufficient manpower avable, everyone was first subjected to drug testing, and then their statements were recorded. Meng Chengbiao personally took to the interrogation, and after questioning the group, he began to suspect another young courier. He didn¡¯t wait to interrogate him further when the forensics team matched his fingerprints to those of a former convict, Zhan Yadong. ¡°Come here. Sit down,¡± Meng Chengbiao started with Wang Luo, but after finding him to be just a minorckey, he turned his attention to the former convict Zhan Yadong. Zhan Yadong appeared to be in his early twenties and sat down nonchntly across from Meng Chengbiao. ¡°Why did you steal someone else¡¯s identity?¡± Meng Chengbiao skipped the usual step-by-step interrogation process and posed the crucial question directly. Zhan Yadong was taken aback, and his expression became less arrogant. After a while, he replied, ¡°Nobody wants to hire someone with a criminal record, so I borrowed an ID card from someone in my vige and used it.¡± ¡°Does the viger know you also use his ID card for drug trafficking?¡± asked Meng Chengbiao, continuing his assertive interrogation approach. Zhan Yadong looked stunned again, hastily saying, ¡°I¡¯m not involved in drug trafficking.¡± ¡°You think you¡¯re safe because you¡¯ll pass the drug test, right?¡± Meng Chengbiao calmly asked, ¡°And if we search your dormitory, we won¡¯t find any drug-rted items, correct?¡± ¡°No,¡± Zhan Yadong firmly replied, ¡°I don¡¯t touch that stuff.¡± ¡°So, we won¡¯t find drugs if we search your rental ce either?¡± Meng Chengbiao persisted. Zhan Yadong¡¯sposure slipped again, and then he said, ¡°I only live in the dormitory¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t usually stay at the Qidong Road Hongyuan ce?¡± Meng Chengbiao gave Zhan Yadong a small smile. Qidong Road is a prime location in Ningtai County, and Hongyuan Residential Area is a rtively newplex. Living there would be incongruous with a courier¡¯s ie. Although Zhan Yadong never openly boasted about this aspect of his life nor did he make excessive efforts to hide it, in reality, he often brought women back there. In a small ce like Ningtai County, where colleagues who work together for a long timee to know each other¡¯s business, it wasmon knowledge among his associates that he had an apartment in Hongyuan and frequently changed femalepanions. It¡¯s often said that people fear both your misfortune and your sudden disy of wealth¡ªMeng Chengbiao had just asked around, and it was easy to receive feedback that pointed towards something suspicious. Zhan Yadong, on the other hand, seemed taken aback, still not understanding how his secret had been revealed, and fell into silence. Meng Chengbiao nced at his phone, as if he had just received some new information, and said, ¡°We¡¯re searching your room right now, just to let you know.¡± ¡°Do you have a search warrant?¡± Zhan Yadong blurted out. ¡°You¡¯ll see it shortly,¡± replied Meng Chengbiao with a smile, then nced down at his notebook, pretending to write something down before saying, ¡°If you want to take the fall for this case, we can leave it at that. You must be aware of the country¡¯s strong stance against drug trafficking¡­¡± Listening to Meng Chengbiao¡¯s unchanging tone, Zhan Yadong felt a chilling draft rising from the base of his spine. The threats of ordinary people might be negligible, but a policeman¡¯s warning is genuine. ¡°Wait, wait¡­¡± Sweat had already begun to bead on Zhan Yadong¡¯s forehead. ¡°Who¡¯s your supplier?¡± Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t give him time to think. Zhan Yadong hesitated for a few seconds, then started to haggle, saying, ¡°If I tell you, they¡¯ll kill me¡­¡± At this point, Meng Chengbiao changed his tone, beginning to exin the policy to Zhan Yadong¡­ In the evening. Wu Junhao, with a gun slung over his shoulder, led three toons of police officers and drove out 30 kilometers in one go, cleaning out the warehouse Zhan Yadong had disclosed, leaving itpletely empty. Although it was already the wee hours by the time they had emptied the warehouse, Wu Junhao was too impatient to wait and called back immediately, ¡°We found about 2 kilograms of drugs. We caught one guard.¡± The figure of 2 kilograms ranked quite high even in Shannan Province. Huang Qiangmin, who hadn¡¯t slept all night, couldn¡¯t help but reveal a 66.6-degree smile. ¡°Step up the interrogation! Let¡¯s work hard today and try to crack the case,¡± said Director Huang, rarely speaking with a smile, causing those around him to be somewhat stunned. When Director Huang¡¯s gaze shifted their way, everyone quickly pretended to be very busy. The next day. Early in the morning. Liu Jinghui got up early and rushed to the police station. At this time, he saw Huang Qiangmin, who had not slept all night, brewing a strong cup of tea, wandering around and talking to people. ¡°Director Huang,¡± Liu Jinghui quickly greeted, asking, ¡°I heard there¡¯s new information about the two homicide cases too.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more like adding some details to the cases,¡± Director Huang saw it. From his perspective, those two homicide cases were essentially solved¡ªthe first victim was killed by the second, and the secondmitted suicide. Once they had found the perpetrator, the police¡¯s job was done. As for the specific details of the cases, such as the love and hatred between the two parties, the police weren¡¯t very concerned. Of course, if the second victim hadn¡¯t died or there was another murderer, the police would likely investigate more thoroughly and provide further proof regarding the motive, among other things. Beyond that, the cases were more or less closed. However, Liu Jinghui clearly wasn¡¯t satisfied with this and eagerly said, ¡°Tell me, why did the second onemit suicide?¡± ¡°Rumor has it, ording to what Zhan Yadong disclosed, that the second was trafficking drugs for another group. Moreover, his family had been detained, and he feared he couldn¡¯t provide a clean ount if caught. Additionally, he didn¡¯t want to undergo forced drug rehabilitation, so he killed himself,¡± exined Director Huang with a shrug, saying, ¡°He was supposedly here to establish a drug trafficking route.¡± ¡°Establish a trafficking route?¡± Liu Jinghui, unfamiliar with this, repeated it. Director Huang continued, ¡°Whether it¡¯s people or goods that are being transported, the more a route is used, the higher the risk. The second started moving goods from Ningtai, but just as he began, he encountered the first, whom he had known beforehand. The first warned the second to leave, but he didn¡¯t know that the second had already started using drugs and couldn¡¯t control himself. Ultimately, he simply killed the first.¡± Director Huang paused here, then added, ¡°Of course, this is what the gang associates of the first specte; it can¡¯t be confirmed anymore.¡± ¡°That means the first had some humanity,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed. To him, such details of the case were not boring, yet they were filled with too much of the harsh reality. Director Huang was about Liu Jinghui¡¯s age. He rxed a bit and sighed, then said, ¡°The first hadn¡¯t started on drugs after all, at least he was a person.¡± ¡°He treated the second as a human, so it¡¯s not unjust. A drug trafficker was killed by a drug addict. At least, we helped to solve his case,¡± stated Liu Jinghui, then asked, ¡°What about the goods the second was carrying, were they found?¡± ¡°They must have been sent away. The remaining clues are all gone, and the case has been taken over by the higher-ups,¡± said Director Huang, feeling a bit more rxed. Drug trafficking cases were a heavy burden for him as well. Considering this, Director Huang reminded Liu Jinghui, ¡°Don¡¯t go back before New Year¡¯s for now. Since this was gang-rted, we don¡¯t know if one or two small fry have slipped through the. It¡¯s better for the special task force members to stay in the police dormitory.¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mind, and after thinking for a moment, asked, ¡°Staying in the police dormitory is fine. Can we still work on cases then?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see a problem. It depends on what cases you all can find,¡± Director Huang suddenly felt like the cat that was denied its mouse because the barn was empty. Given the current state of Ningtai County, even the cold cases of homicide had been cleared up to more than 20 years ago, and the remaining serious cases were those with severely missing clues. Considering Liu Jinghui¡¯s provincial bureau identity, Director Huang felt somewhat embarrassed. Chapter 413 - 413 380 Uncle Seven ?413: Chapter 380: Uncle Seven 413: Chapter 380: Uncle Seven Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team office. Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia, and others were looking through the case files, constantly taking notes on their notebooks. They were responsible for finding cases, but as Chinese New Year approached and due to limited conditions, selecting cases had be a bit more challenging. At the several desks beside them, Shen Yaowei and a few people were furiously writing reports. A momentary pleasure in cracking a case, a feast of report writing ensues. This time they had even utilized firearms and borrowed the Anti-Riot Squad; even though there hadn¡¯t been incidents like shootouts, the reports they had to write were inescapable. Of course, Jiang Yuan could be a little more rxed, even finding time to read and enrich himself. The office in the afternoon was warm and cozy, as if feeling the lifespan extending just by lying in the sun. Jiang Yuan casually opened a WeChat group on hisputer, asionally checking the chat content. In the ¡°Loving Family¡± and ¡°Jiang Vige People¡± groups, they were discussing New Year goods and setting off fireworks. In the ¡°Shan Nan Fingerprint Exchange Group¡±, they were also talking about report writing,mendations, and other trivial matters. As the New Year holiday was approaching, it seemed that criminals were also taking an early break. Thinking about it, those who had worked hard and sessfully on their crimes were well prepared for the New Year two months in advance; it was just too perfect. If they¡¯ve chosen to break thew, their working hours must be short, and their hourly wage must be high. If they were to celebrate the New Year ording to a shift schedule, they might as well go tighten screws. Of course, there were always some who hadn¡¯t done well enough this year or wanted to do a little better. Coupled with many people¡¯s unstable moods, sporadic cases would always ur. These cases were mostly crimes of passion and property vitions, often slightly ill-prepared, making them not too difficult to solve. And those that couldn¡¯t be solved¡­ well, they¡¯d have to wait until after the New Year. Jiang Yuan nced at WeChat and read his book, soon feeling a bit drowsy. After napping for half an hour, Jiang Yuan quickly wiped his face and sat upright. If he wanted to nap every day, he could just stay at home; why bothering to work? It was, in a way, a contribution to the country¡¯s economic stimtion for Jiang Vige People to encourage consumption. Definitely, the limited working hours left this year must not be wasted napping; that would be too extravagant. Jiang Yuan fiddled with theputer, then looked at the screen again, only to see several people in the Jiang Vige People groupining: [I was wondering where the wine in my basement went, and this person just straight-up carried it away?] [What¡¯s impressive is they came for a second haul, apparently tired from carrying by handst time, they brought a bicycle to move it.] [Man, I need to check the surveince myself, too. I knew something was off with the stuff in my garage;st time I searched for a toolbox and it almost killed me. But our surveince has gaps!] When Jiang Yuan saw ¡°our surveince has gaps,¡± he immediately felt more awake. The surveince in Jiangcun Residential Area was set up under his design and supervision; it couldn¡¯t possibly have gaps. Jiang Yuan immediately stood up, pulled out his phone, and called his dad. A few sensitive-minded police officers noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions and perked up their ears. Then they heard Jiang Yuan start with, ¡°Dad¡­¡± The officers all showed disappointed expressions. Jiang Yuan stood up and headed out, asking as he walked, ¡°I saw in the group chat that some people say there are gaps in the surveince, what¡¯s that about?¡± Jiang Fuzhenughed and said, ¡°That guy from house number seven¡­ he was just having his garage redecorated. Everyone thought the garage wasn¡¯t bright enough, so they hired someone for some lighting projects and whatnot. With the workersing and going, the guy in number seven piled up twenty to thirty boxes of wine in his garage, didn¡¯t bother to move them upstairs, and some workers walked off with a few boxes.¡± ¡°Has he reported it?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Each box of wine is over three thousand, and about five or six were lost, that¡¯s about 20,000 yuan, should he report it?¡± ¡°Might as well. 20,000 yuan is enough for the criminal police to take action,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then paused. ¡°Or I could go take a look.¡± To the police in the county, 20,000 yuan was a major case. The mostmon property crimes in the county involved thefts of mobile phones and electric scooters, with most cases being under 2,000 yuan and on the cusp of filing a report. But once the amount exceeded 3,000 yuan, it was almost certain to be filed, which often meant that no mere single item had been stolen. Jiang Fuzhen felt it made sense to utilize Jiang Yuan. Other household¡¯s kids became chefs and could cook for the vige when they returned, or mechanics who could fix cars for the vigers; Jiang Yuan was a police officer, so it was perfectly right for him to solve cases for the vige when he returned. Moreover, coinciding with the Chinese New Year, it was the perfect time for the local heroes of the vige to shine. After thinking it over, Jiang Fuzhen said, ¡°Alright then. Your uncle number seven has been scolded quite a bit by your auntie. It¡¯s one thing to invite people to drink; it¡¯s certainly not okay for him to bezy and leave the wine in the garage to be stolen. I¡¯ll tell your uncle to report it, and you see when you cane over, alone or with some people?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take a few people back with me,¡± Jiang Yuan, still a technician, suggested. Even for a crime scene investigation, it was better to have someone else there to lend a hand. Moreover, operating solo was generally frowned upon both for safety reasons and because team efforts help solidify the evidence chain. Protect oneself, protect the suspect. With an ¡°En¡± of acknowledgment, Jiang Fuzhen naturally offered, ¡°Thene home for dinner.¡± At this moment, in Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s subconscious, his soning home to help his uncle solve a case was as normal as his uncle¡¯s soning home to help with frying chicken. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yuan returned to the office and summoned Mu Zhiyang, saying, ¡°My uncle¡¯s ce got robbed of a few boxes of alcohol, worth about 20,000 yuan. They¡¯re probably reporting it to the police now. Shall we go take a look? We¡¯ll have dinner at my ce in the evening.¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Mu Zhiyang agreed without hesitation. Upon seeing this, Wang Chuanxing stood up without a second¡¯s dy. Before he could speak, Tang Jia interjected in falsetto, ¡°Captain Jiang, take me with you too, won¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I want to go too,¡± Dong Bing volunteered, not wanting to be left behind. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, ¡°It¡¯s just a case worth 20,000 yuan¡­¡± ¡°I just want to learn from you, Captain Jiang. The size of the case doesn¡¯t matter,¡± Tang Jia said unabashedly in falsetto. ¡°Me too,¡± Wang Chuanxing chimed in hastily, fearing he wouldn¡¯t get a chance if he didn¡¯t speak up now. Dong Bing didn¡¯t give Jiang Yuan a chance to hesitate, eagerly adding, ¡°Captain Jiang, we all stay in the dorms in Ningtai County and usually eat in the cafeteria. You might as well take us to the vige for a meal. Besides, our team doesn¡¯t have any cases at the moment. I¡¯d rather solve cases than lie in the dorm browsing short videos.¡± ¡°Me too,¡± Wang Chuanxing seconded immediately. ¡°Alright then,¡± said Jiang Yuan, looking at the time. He got up and said, ¡°Let¡¯s count heads and see how many cars we need to take back.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll share a car with you,¡± Liu Jinghui also stood up. Jiang Yuan felt a bit embarrassed and said, ¡°Director Liu, this is at most a petty theft case¡­¡± ¡°I also live alone in the dormitory¡­¡± Liu Jinghui spread his hands. ¡°I didn¡¯t consider that¡­¡± Jiang Yuan apologized and added, ¡°Let¡¯s improve the meal tonight then. I¡¯ll ask my father to prepare some vegetables.¡± In the Jiang family¡¯s pot, there was always meat stewing; only vegetables required special preparation. ¡­ Afternoon. A caravan of five cars arrived at Jiangcun Residential Area. Jiang Fuzhen personally greeted them at the entrance of the residential area and led the five cars into the underground parking garage. The blue-painted underground garage ceiling was fitted with strip lights, making it quite bright. The center of the garage had open parking spaces, some private, some temporary. Private parking spaces with roller shutter doors surrounded the garage; virtually every household had several. Some were filled with cars, others with stored belongings. The garage belonging to the uncle was of thetter type. By the time Jiang Yuan and others had parked their cars, the Jiangcun locals, who had been at the supermarket near the entrance, had all shifted their attention to the garage, each one curiously looking around. Jiang Yuan got out of the car still in his police uniform. After clearing his throat, he led Mu Zhiyang towards the uncle¡¯s garage, ready to investigate. The other officers alighted from their cars in a flurry, a group of seventeen or eighteen people¡ªsome standing with hands behind their backs, others with arms crossed, and some with hands in pockets¡ªwere not making any move to go inside but rather wandered around the vacant spaces in the middle. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s back in his police uniform and the crowd of officers, the vigers began to buzz with spection: ¡°Did Old Seven lose something?¡± ¡°Something lost that warrants this many people¡ªdid they lose their soul?¡± ¡°Old Seven didn¡¯t die, did he?¡± ¡°Hard to say, he might¡¯ve been scared to death.¡± ¡°Maybe his wife beat him to death.¡± ¡°Hope it¡¯s not a dismemberment¡­¡± Chapter 414 - 414 381 Garage Inspection ?414: Chapter 381: Garage Inspection 414: Chapter 381: Garage Inspection The newly renovated garage was bright and clean. This side faced Jiang Vige People¡¯s own garage, not only with higher ceilings but also with each parking space quiterge. The type of cars the Jiang Vige People liked, or rather the lessons they had learned, were all physically disyed in this garage. ¡°Besides Uncle Qi, did anyone else enter the garage?¡± Jiang Yuan donned a head covering and shoe covers, then while putting on gloves and a mask, he asked. Though the case was minor, when it really came down to it, not a single step could be neglected. Jiang Fuzhen thought for a moment, and said, ¡°Only your San Shu and a few from the vigemittee, and your great-uncle came over to take a look. Your San Ye probably also came by with his grandson for a walk. A few younger rtives came over to help carry the wine and such, plus there were several passersby¡­¡± Jiang Yuan, at a loss for words, said, ¡°Write a list for Mu Zhiyang¡­¡± ¡°Let the surveince room personnel write it for you,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said impatiently, having been bossed around by his son. ¡°They can see everyoneing in and going out. Have them tell you. I need to rush back to stir the pot. Today I braised arge goose, and I also threw some beef ribs in there, as well as some tofu and fatty intestine. I¡¯m going to fry up another pot of hotpot seasoning, add more cow butter, the young people can dip vegetables in it¡­¡± Ordinary eyewitnesses couldn¡¯t just leave as they pleased. But with Jiang Fuzhen saying this, what could Jiang Yuan say? He could only reply respectfully, ¡°Dad, take your time, no need to rush.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jiang Fuzhen waved his hand and took the opportunity to introduce a few new seniors, ¡°The one wearing the mask is Jiang Yuan, who¡¯s here today to work on Lao Qi¡¯s case.¡± ¡°Lao Qi is dead too?¡± The new senior couldn¡¯t quite grasp the situation. ¡°No, he¡¯s fine. It¡¯s just that Lao Qi lost a few cases of wine, so I asked Jiang Yuan and his team toe over and help us search¡­¡± ¡°Lao Qi must have lost his mind. There¡¯s half a row of people here, how could a few cases of wine be enough to send them off?¡± The old manined but still approached with interest to join themotion. Most were just there to watch the excitement. It was almost festival time and in the marrow of China¡¯s bones, a rust-like urge suddenly emerged, making people uneasy and unwilling to move. Vigers who heard that many police hade to the parking lot continued toe downstairs to watch the fuss. Xiang Geng from the surveince room ran over quickly to report the situation to Jiang Yuan. Xiang Geng still looked thin and frail, his fingers and teeth seemed even yellower, bearing the countenance of a man whose needs for nicotine were thoroughly satisfied, a post-modern appearance of a man touched by the poppy¡¯s curse. Listening to him report the names of people who had entered and exited the garage once more, Jiang Yuan gave up entirely and simply said, ¡°Just give a copy of the list to Mu Zhiyangter, and note the times of entry and exits too.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Xiang Geng, ustomed to working in the surveince room and receiving guidance from Jiang Yuan, had also grown used to being ordered around by him. ¡°Did you bring the surveince footage?¡± Jiang Yuan asked about the copied version. ¡°I brought it.¡± Xiang Geng hurriedly set up hisptop, showed the theft process, and said, ¡°I startedpiling it when your Qi Shu came looking. I worked backwards, and it seems the thief stole over three consecutive days.¡± ¡°Stole for three days in a row?¡± ¡°Yeah. One case on the first day, two cases on the second day, two cases on the third day. Qi Shu only discovered it yesterday, and he didn¡¯te in this morning either¡­¡± Xiang Geng shrugged. The one who was robbed was quite easy-going, and the thief seemed quite nonchnt as well. Jiang Yuan, watching the theft process captured by the surveince on theptop, shone a shlight on the spots where the perpetrator might have left fingerprints and DNA, and then began collecting evidence while asking, ¡°Regarding the renovation workers, someone should recognize them, right?¡± ¡°Some do, they call him Old Lei. His real name might be Wang Lei, but I¡¯m not entirely sure,¡± Xiang Geng said helplessly. ¡°This guy was picked up by the foreman from the renovation market, and they didn¡¯t ask for his ID or anything.¡± In a small county like Ningtai County, the renovation or construction industry still maintained a significant proportion of temporary workers. Those willing to work, or workers without jobs for the day, would gather at certain customary spots, hold up a sign, or simply hang around waiting. Foremen in need ofborers, or individuals seeking renovation services, would just go and call out for respondents or discuss prices,e to an agreement, and start work immediately. This arrangement naturally didn¡¯t require a contract, nor an ID card. The foreman or the homeowner might just ask for a surname and then start working with someone dubbed ¡°Master So-and-So.¡± Among the workers themselves, they might know each other, or they might not, and whether they were familiar with or knew more specific details about one another was uncertain. Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding and said, ¡°I¡¯ll start with the fingerprints and then see.¡± If this had been a homicide case, Jiang Yuan certainly would have sent someone to the renovation market and nearby small hotels to investigate. Nowadays, people need to use their ID cards for many things, even to get a bus card. Besides, some more formalpanies doing renovations might require an ID card as well. In summary, a thorough investigation could either confirm Old Lei¡¯s true identity, or reveal him as a fugitive or a person with a criminal record. However, it was clear that Jiang Yuan was not about to mobilize a massive search of hundreds of people just to find a few cases of wine for Qi Shu, even though he was somewhat ustomed to this mode of cracking cases. He didn¡¯t even n to send anyone to question the contractors. A two-officer team, looking for one person, averaging two hours per inquiry¡ª to establish the identity of a suspect, who knows how many people would need to be questioned. Jiang Yuan was ready to solve the case using fingerprints, DNA, and video footage. The other officers stood nearby, seemingly unable to lend a hand. Surveying the scene was Jiang Yuan¡¯s specialty; people like Wang Chuanxing could only disturb Jiang Yuan¡¯s work by entering the garage now. As for Liu Jinghui, it was even more unnecessary to mention; with the suspect¡¯s face being 14.5 inches big on a 15-inch screen, it was really too uncertain to have him involved. Therefore, the officers who came to help just wandered around the basement, looking as if they were on patrol, with their arms folded, hands behind their backs, or hands in their pockets. Essentially, they weren¡¯t much different from the Jiang Vige People at this moment. A few uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces on the scene, after growing tired of Jiang Yuan¡¯s unchanging procedures, had also taken out their phones to take pictures and videos. Soon, everyone¡¯s social media was blossoming with vibrancy: [Uncle Qi¡¯s garage was burrized, and the police havee to investigate.] [A thief hase to the vige; I wonder if it¡¯s linked to some other case.] [Ever since the garage was burrized, Uncle Qi hasn¡¯t shown up again; I hope everything is alright.] [The workers who renovated the garagemitted the crime, and many police officers have arrived.] ¡­ When Uncle Qi sprinted out from his home, the Jiang Vige People¡¯s social media had already begun spreading the news. ¡°While I was just helping to cook some meat, what the heck are you all doing!¡± Uncle Qi came down to the garage, half crying andughing, asking everyone not to talk nonsense while also passing out cigarettes to the officers. The garage quickly filled with swirling smoke. ¡°Does Jiang Yuan smoke?¡± Uncle Qi walked over, but got stopped at the garage entrance. ¡°I¡¯ve quit,¡± Jiang Yuan stretched out his muscles and said, ¡°I¡¯m about to finish the investigation; don¡¯te into the garage for now, and don¡¯t use it for the next few days. We¡¯ll talk again in a few days.¡± ¡°The liquor I stored here was meant for the New Year¡­forget it, I¡¯ll just buy a few more boxes.¡± Uncle Qi felt a bit embarrassed and added, ¡°Actually, there was no need to call you back; I could have just reported the theft myself. Your dad is too polite.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°Your dad was just saying how you¡¯ve solved quite a few casestely and are especially skilled. Once you solve this case, Uncle will give you a big red envelope.¡± ¡°No need; it¡¯s a case involving just over twenty thousand in value. Besides, my identity as a criminal detective is not really appropriate for epting big red envelopes,¡± Jiang Yuan hastily declined, knowing the big red envelope mentioned by the Jiang Vige People could likely be illegal. Uncle Qi chuckled without responding, then shouted, ¡°How about taking a few boxes of liquor out of the garage, and we drink them tonight?¡± ¡°My dad has already prepared some liquor,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°How could I ept that¡­I¡¯ll join you for a drinkter; why not stop the work and go have a drink upstairs first!¡± Uncle Qi was extremely enthusiastic, chatting with Jiang Yuan just like in the days of farming together. The Jiang Vige People had also gradually be wealthy, especially during the initial demolition when there wasn¡¯t much cash. At that time, Ningtai County didn¡¯t have the capability to buy out Jiang Vige at the foot of Siningshan entirely in cash, so they opted for the vige collective to take shares in the scenic area instead. With the development and promotion of Siningshan and the Taihe Scenic Area, they began to gain national recognition, and the assets of the Jiang Vige People inted significantly, especially with the staggering figures received from the annual ticket revenue share. And after that, the Jiang Vige People started to differentiate. Those like the people from Jiang Fuzhen, who were fearful of being poor, would take their money to start businesses, buynd, build factories, and after going through three rounds of demolitions, they finally inted to the degree of losing interest in entrepreneurship. People like Uncle Qi, who had no grand ambitions back in the day, ended up with an asset size that was the average among the Jiang Vige People, neither high nor low, which instead smoothed out the emotions after sudden wealth. Jiang Yuan was also ustomed to this type of conversation; talking while working, he remained calm and harmonious. Buzz. Tang Jia¡¯s phone rang. She answered it and listened for a bit, her expression growing gradually stranger. After ending the call, Tang Jia came forward and whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, the call was to notify you.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression immediately became serious; could another murder case have urred? Tang Jia said, ¡°It was the local police station that contacted the criminal police team, reporting a man named Wang Lei who imed he stole five boxes of liquor but did nothing else illegal, certainly no murder or anything like dismembering a body. He has surrendered. I asked the other party to add me on WeChat and send me a photo.¡± While speaking, she went to check her WeChat and showed the newly opened chat to Jiang Yuan. On the 6-inch screen was a 5.5-inch close-up photo of the thief who had stolen the liquor from Uncle Qi¡¯s garage. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but lower his head, ncing at the dozen or so evidence bags he¡¯d collected, feeling somewhat disappointed. Chapter 415 - 415 382 Spring Festival ?415: Chapter 382: Spring Festival 415: Chapter 382: Spring Festival Evening. In the feast special venue of Jiang Vige,rge chunks of beef, half-legs ofmb, whole braised geese, chicken, and duck soups cradling whole birds were sessively served on the tables. The people of Jiang Vige are typical nouveaux riches, and they don¡¯t mind being seen as such. When the folks from Jiang Vige host a feast, they love to serve these super satisfying meats like chicken, duck, and goose, and beef is considered top-grade fare. As for luxurious items like lobsters and shark fins, they do appear asionally but are not really popr, especially among the elderly. During the meal, the hottest topic was the thief in the basement. Uncle Seven¡¯s phone was passed from table to table as everyone wanted to see Wang Lei¡¯s photo. He looked just like an ordinary blue-cor worker, but because of the fact that he hadmitted theft, he seemed a bit cunning. As the victim, Uncle Seven stood like a star among the tables, grinning and saying, ¡°His outfit is just like what I wore when I was working on the construction site over a decade ago. If he had asked me nicely, I would¡¯ve given him two bottles of wine, no problem. Instead, he chose to steal them.¡± Immediately, Auntie Six from the adjacent table put down her chopsticks and said, ¡°What do you mean nicely? I¡¯ve been telling you all day.¡± ¡°Auntie Six!¡± Uncle Seven called out and said, ¡°I was the one robbed here.¡± ¡°You are toozy, not moving the wine from the garage to the house, nor do you secure the door properly. I¡¯ve told you before, just because you have a car worth two hundred thousand in the garage doesn¡¯t mean you can pretend to be poor. Have you forgotten how poor you once were?¡± Auntie Six, being an elder rtive to Uncle Seven, began to lecture him thoroughly. Uncle Seven could only listen meekly, whispering, ¡°I¡¯m not pretending to be poor¡­¡± ¡°If you¡¯re not poor, why did you buy a Japanese car? Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯ve been gambling outside. I¡¯m warning you, gambling¡­¡± ¡°Auntie Six,¡± Uncle Seven interrupted Auntie Six, saying, ¡°My car is a Toyota Land Cruiser, it actually cost a million, premium included¡­ Jiang Fuzhen also has one.¡± ¡°Jiang Fuzhen bought that car to keep a low profile, but you buying such a car, are you stupid?¡± Auntie Six¡¯s logic was foolproof, giving her rtives no chance to argue. Uncle Three arrived at that moment, and after Auntie Six hadpletely ¡°conquered¡± Uncle Seven, he exined, ¡°This Wang Lei was a temporary worker called over by the renovation team leader. He was about to leave when he saw the wine in Old Seven¡¯s garage and took a box, intending to drink it himself. The next day, he came back and found that Old Seven¡¯s garage door was still open, so he stole two more boxes, and after stealing another two boxes the third day, he sold the wine for almost ten thousand yuan. Realizing it was too much, he didn¡¯t dare steal any more. He¡¯s just unlucky.¡± ¡°He definitely won¡¯t be able to enjoy this year,¡± Uncle Seven epted Uncle Three¡¯s exnation. After all, the renovation was organized by the vigemittee. Turning his head, Uncle Seven asked, ¡°How did he end up turning himself in?¡± Uncle Three cleared his throat twice and said, ¡°A bunch of people posted so much on their Moments, making it look like there was a murder, and Wang Lei got scared and turned himself in. He¡¯s actually quite lucky, with no prior criminal record; he might even get a suspended sentence.¡± Listening, Uncle Sevenughed heartily, ¡°A murder, what nonsense. Who died, huh?¡± Everyone turned their eyes to Uncle Seven. ¡­ The feast was over. Jiang Yuan arranged for Liu Jinghui and the others to stay in the guest rooms at his house. The dormitory for the criminal police often has rooms for four or eight people. Liu Jinghui could only stay in a standard room costing 300 a day at the guest house. It wasn¡¯t exactly meager, but surely it wasn¡¯t asfortable as living in a spacious several-hundred-square-meter guest room. If it were an official trip with harsh conditions, that would be one thing, buttely, there were no cases to work on, so everyone was more interested in thefort of their amodations and living conditions. The next day, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even go to the police station but started barbecuing at his home instead. Wang Chuanxing and the others didn¡¯t hesitate to choose to help out at the Jiang Family. In the evening, another feast was held. Jiang Yuan, with over twenty officers, went to support the event. Jiang Fuzhen joyfully brought two stacks of banknotes, gave his contribution money, and then took several young people with him to cut the meat. Jiang Fuzhen was still the chief red meat chef at today¡¯s feast, and in fact, from today until New Year¡¯s, someone would hold a feast every day, and each day Jiang Fuzhen would be the red meat chef. In days of bliss, enjoying the food is enough; this is the human touch of Chinese-style living. A few dayster, everyone attended the year-end summary meeting of Ningtai County Bureau together. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, most of whose members did not belong to the Ningtai County Bureau, still had no trouble receiving awards at the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s annual summary meeting. The only difference was a slight change in the awarding body. Moreover, once the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s annual summary meeting was over, everyone could go back to their respective homes and then attend another summary meeting if necessary. Director Guan Xi, full of vigor, presided over the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s annual summary meeting. For Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, the most important event was the awards ceremony. Jiang Yuan received a second-ss merit. The team received a collective third-ss merit. Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia, and others received either third-ss merits ormendations, with about half receiving each. Apart from Liu Jinghui, who was from the provincial office and arrivedte, thus missing out on the rewards, everyone else basically had their share of the spoils, each of them beaming with joy. On the spot, Jiang Yuan converted his newly awarded second-ss merit into Forensic Material Evidence (LV4). Forensic Material Evidence mainly refers to the use of various physical specimens from the human body to prove the facts of a case. This includes blood, seminal fluid, vaginal secretions, breast milk, saliva, mucus, urine, amniotic fluid and its stains, hair, fingernails, bones, and teeth, as well as various other tissues and organs of the human body, and their fragments¡­ Of course, what everyone is most familiar with is DNA technology, which represents the most prominent branch of Forensic Material Evidence at this stage. Considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach, the next time he encounters something like bone fragments, he won¡¯t just have the help of Forensic Anthropology. Given his abilities, it is cases like these that presented a certain level of challenge, naturally necessitating preemptive measures. With the various awards distributed, it was time for the county bureau¡¯s internal power rankings to be announced. As expected, the Criminal Police Squad topped the list. With a score of 2470 points, they were directly three times ahead of the parallel units below. Yet all anyone could do was admire them, as no one could voice any discontent. Most of the categories on the power rankings had a cap, such as homicide or the eight major types of serious crimes, whoseplete solution would score 300 points each, with points deducted for unsolved cases. Only by solving cold cases could the score increase without a cap. Last year, Jiang Yuan had solved so many cold cases, along with cases he worked on outside, which also reflected in the points. The county bureau could indeed make use of these points. After the nned ceremony was done and it was time for the triumphant conclusion, Director Guan Xi raised the microphone again. ¡°Well, let me say a few words,¡± Guan Xi held the microphone, paused for a few seconds and said, ¡°After the New Year starts, I¡¯m going to be transferred away¡­¡± Jiang Yuan, among others, all raised their eyebrows at this. A change in the transfer of the big BOSS of the county bureau could signify a significant shift in the ecosystem. However, such political changes were beyond the control of ordinary officers, who could only ept them as they came. Guan Xi himself was filled with emotion and spoke for three or four minutes before concluding his speech. He had grown up in Ningtai. Although he had been away from the front line for a while, the n was to retire here. Unexpectedly, the mboyant development of Ningtai over the past year had also lifted Guan Xi higher, catching the eye of the higher-level leadership. When the meeting ended, Guan Xi specifically called Jiang Yuan aside to engage in a heartfelt exchange. ¡­ During the seven days of the Spring Festival, most officers had to be on duty. It was not until around the fifth or sixth day of the holiday that the police station gradually returned to normal operations. The new Director Chai Tong assumed office and began to survey the departments, starting with Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Chapter 416 - 416 383 Performance ?416: Chapter 383 Performance 416: Chapter 383 Performance Chai Tong was over 40, and at first nce, he exuded a kind of refined elegance, tinged with the air of a gentleman of leisure. In more colloquial terms, his demeanor didn¡¯t fit in with the police force at all. However, Comrade Chai Tong had a pleasant smile, one that seemed sculpted by a prestigious educational institution. As he entered the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, he gave a cultured critique, ¡°The name ¡®Squad¡¯ certainly sounds professional, but there¡¯s really no need to limit it to cold cases. From what I see, there can¡¯t be that many left unresolved in Ningtai County, right?¡± As Chai Tong spoke, he looked towards Huang Qiangmin and others. Before he came to inspect, he had reviewed some documents and had a certain understanding of the current state of affairs at the Ningtai County Bureau. Huang Qiangmin smiled and replied, ¡°We don¡¯t have many unresolved cases left now, mainly because Jiang Yuan has solved them all.¡± ¡°All solved by Jiang Yuan?¡± Chai Tong didn¡¯t quite believe this. He had been around in the political and legal systems and understood the concept of collective strength quite well. Huang Qiangmin chuckled and exined, ¡°All ofst year¡¯s cold cases involving homicide were solved by Jiang Yuan. Basically, every homicide case since the year 2000 has been solved. Now we¡¯re just a few cases short of capturing all the suspects, and notpletely closed.¡± Chai Tong¡¯s eyes flickered, ¡°That¡¯s¡­ pretty impressive. How were they solved exactly?¡± He was genuinely interested. Within a county bureau, there were nearly twenty units on par with the criminal police team, and in addition, there were several independent units of lower rank that also required attention from the big boss. For instance, Ningtai County¡¯s Drug Enforcement Team and the K9 Unit, though smaller and lower-ranking, couldn¡¯t be ignored. Thus, upon taking office, Chai Tong spent a great deal of time getting to know the criminal police team and paid considerable attention to Jiang Yuan, but as for the specifics of a case or its resolution, he wasn¡¯t likely to go into the details of the case files. Raising it as a question now was Chai Tong¡¯s way of finding a topic of conversation¡ªit¡¯d be improper to just listen to subordinates buttering him up. After pondering for a moment, Jiang Yuan summarized, ¡°We mainly solve cases through technology. Themon techniques include fingerprintparison, DNAparison obtained from crime scene investigations, bloodstain analysis, footprint analysis, and now there¡¯s also tool mark inspection and so on¡­¡± Listening, Chai Tong nodded ¡°Hmm¡± with interest and asked, ¡°Do you have a specific example to show me?¡± ¡°Oh, shall we do a fingerprint?¡± Jiang Yuan suggested, then settled at his desk and instructed Wang Chuanxing, ¡°Connect thisputer to the projector.¡± Jiang Yuan then expertly opened the backend, essed the fingerprintparison interface, selected a fingerprint, began to mark characteristic points, and while marking, introduced, ¡°Our fingerprintparison now is to see if fingerprints in the database and those from the crime scene can be determined as identical¡­¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuanmenced theparison. Chai Tong naturally did not stand behind Jiang Yuan; instead, as the projector screen lit up, he casually ced his hands behind his back, moved to the front of the conference room, and sat down facing therge screen. Huang Qiangmin stood by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side and whispered, ¡°The director probably wants to see some of the cases you¡¯ve worked on.¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback, ¡°But those cases have already been solved¡­ and now to bring them up again¡­¡± ncing back, Huang Qiangmin noticed Chai Tong was already watching with keen interest and could only say, ¡°Never mind for now; just go ahead with what you were doing¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin was at a loss for words; it was already halfway done, and it wouldn¡¯t be right to pull back now. Jiang Yuan appeared unburdened by the situation. From time to time, he would also assist with fingerprints in the fingerprintmunity, asionally discussing them with familiar fingerprint experts if they came across them¡ªit was all about addressing fingerprints on the fly. For Jiang Yuan, presenting a fingerprintparison was no longer any burden, and with practice, he hade to be able to make some judgments based on the case itself. He could estimate with reasonable uracy which cases were likely to find a match, in which cases criminals would be extremely cautious, and in which cases criminals were likely to leave behind fingerprint records. Now, he could guess about sixty to seventy percent urately. Like now, the case Jiang Yuan pulled up was a straightforward theft case. As ismonly known, theft cases require a certain level of expertise. More experienced thieves are usually reoffenders, which means they are likely to have left information in the fingerprint database. And the fingerprint Jiang Yuan chose this time was a rtively clear partial print. For trace examiners below LV2, a small fingerprint area naturally presents challenges. But for Jiang Yuan, it was quite easy. He marked over a dozen characteristic points, and the software on the right side swiftly began to generate fingerprints. ¡°Which case is this from?¡± Chai Tong¡¯s interest was piqued. ¡°This is a theft case from the neighboring county. It¡¯s probably a case from two years ago, involving the theft of a shop. The fingerprint was lifted from a lock, so there¡¯s a good chance of directly identifying the culprit.¡± Jiang Yuan exined while starting to manuallypare candidates from the list on the right. With an ¡°Oh,¡± Chai Tong said, ¡°Is there something special about this case? I thought you would present something like a homicide cold case. Didn¡¯t you deal with many major casesst year¡­¡± ¡°Director,¡± Huang Qiangmin quickly interjected and exined, ¡°Jiang Yuan is bringing out a new case.¡± Chai Tong asked, ¡°A new case? A current one?¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s an unsolved case. This fingerprint had not matched with any before, and Jiang Yuan is now rbeling it¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin provided the rification. Chai Tong couldn¡¯t help but sit up straight, hesitated a bit, and asked, ¡°You mean, if this fingerprint matches, we might be able to catch a criminal who¡¯s been evading thew?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the idea,¡± Huang Qiangmin said. With a ¡°Ha,¡± Chai Tong remarked, ¡°If that¡¯s the case, well¡­ I¡¯ve inspected many units, but this is the first time I¡¯ve seen a live demonstration of case-solving.¡± Though he said that, Chai Tong¡¯s interest had clearly been caught. This was a real live broadcast. Despite having been in the political and legal system for some time, witnessing a case-solving process so closely and being personally involved was, in fact, quite rare for Chai Tong. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation was very smooth. As Chai Tong watched therge fingerprint on the screen erge, shrink, and move, just when it seemed a bit repetitive, a dialogue box popped up. ¡°We¡¯ve now basically confirmed a match with the suspect. I will now submit a verification request. If more than three experts pass the review, we can proceed with the arrest,¡± Jiang Yuan exined as he clicked to submit the request and introduced the process to Chai Tong. Chai Tong, like a child visiting the zoo for the first time, nodded obliviously, unsure if the animal encountered was a rare species or if its performance waspelling. ¡°So, does this mean the case has been solved?¡± another leader who came along asked. ¡°We¡¯ve matched a suspect for now. If we catch them, we can interrogate them. Then we¡¯ll see if there are any aplices¡­¡± Jiang Yuan briefly exined before saying, ¡°Without any surprises, the case should be considered solved.¡± Ding. Ding ding. While everyone was speaking, several fingerprint experts had made the same identification for the fingerprint worked on by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan then looked at Huang Qiangmin and said, ¡°It¡¯s confirmed.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s go catch them,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he pulled out his phone to call Wu Junhao from team one. Normally, this type of case wouldn¡¯t require the deployment of squad one, but to make Jiang Yuan¡¯s demonstration perfect, Huang Qiangmin decided to send out the best team anyway. The newly appointed Chai Tong watched their operations and looked at his phone, saying, ¡°Does this mean that Jiang Yuan can solve a case in twenty minutes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s just good luck!¡± Huang Qiangmin responded hastily, ¡°All resources muste together for it to work.¡± ¡°We provide him with the resources, then.¡± Chai Tong couldn¡¯t help but think of his predecessor, who had no hopes for promotion yet unexpectedly stumbled upon a solution. Chapter 417 - 417 384 New Case Commences ?417: Chapter 384 New Case Commences 417: Chapter 384 New Case Commences Huang Qiangmin managed to persuade Chai Tong to leave with some sweet talk and ttery. The resource Jiang Yuan most needed was time, and was that something Chai Tong could provide? He had no familial connections with deities. Of course, a sufficient number of hands could help alleviate the pressure of limited time, but Jiang Yuan actually had enough staff at the moment. Being new to all this, Chai Tong didn¡¯t really know what resources he had at hand and just followed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s lead with a chuckle as they continued to inspect other offices. The office staff apanying Chai Tong were all smiling broadly, and once they were alone in the elevator, they whispered, ¡°Initially, we thought the folks at the county bureau were just boasting, but it turns out they really have some capable people. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, the options for our next moves are quite extensive.¡± Chai Tong responded with a few nomittal ¡°Mm-hmms,¡± his mood growing even brighter. When the elevator doors opened and waited for a few seconds, the second elevator arrived, and the group reassembled into an inspection team, slowly making their way into the office of the second squad. The traditional, normal, slightly dirty, somewhat chaotic, old, and unremarkable detective office that fitted the stereotype of a criminal police team presented itself before Chai Tong and the rest. ¡°Well, the second detective squad is also the backbone of our Criminal Police Detachment. In recent years, they have been in charge of many major and important cases. They are also the main force in dealing with homicide cases,¡± Huang Qiangmin tactfully highlighted the history and current status of the second detective squad, as well as the distinctions from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. In the past, the second squad was the undisputed detective main force of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. Although the first squad was strong, Wu Junhao¡¯s interest and skills were not really focused on solving cases. For those crimesmitted in the heat of the moment, the first squad could handle them quite well. Especially when sheer force was needed, Wu Junhao and his first squad were absolutely the main force. Whether it was someone with a mental illness shing people on the street, a dog going mad, or a group of youths imitating a robbery, there was nothing the first squad couldn¡¯t handle once they were involved. However, for cases that required some circumlocution, it used to be the second squad¡¯s range. Cases like a husband killing his wife and making it look like suicide, or a wife conspiring with her lover to chop up her husband and stage it as a robbery, or actual break-ins that escted into rape, as well as more challenging random robbery cases and random rape cases, Liu Wenkai and his second squad generally did quite well. But if we talk about it, Wu Junhao and his first squad had a substantial LV2 attribute in terms of brute force. After all, it is rare nowadays to find criminal policemen who can focus on physical suppression and actually enjoy that route. By contrast, Liu Wenkai and his second squad¡¯s overall investigative abilities were basically at a beginner¡¯s LV2. Thus, Huang Qiangmin referred to them as the main force in ongoing homicide cases. If it had been in the past, to say they were the main force would have been enough. Chai Tong wasn¡¯t good at many things, but he had a high-level ability to discern underlying meanings from words. He asked just one more question, ¡°The major cases in recent years were mainly handled by the second squad?¡± ¡°Yes, mainly by the second squad. The first squad and other squads would handle some as well,¡± Huang Qiangmin said. Chai Tong nodded. He remembered the detection rates of Ningtai County clearly from the past few years, hence he judged that the level of the second squad was the average level for a county bureau. His judgment turned out to be fairly urate when looking at the results. But this was different from assessing Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities. This was like when a head teacher moved to a new ss, looked at the average score of the ss, and then looked at a regr student¡¯s everyday test papers ¨C he would roughly know his level. But if he saw a student¡¯s test paper with full marks and heard that they always ranked first inpetitions, it would be not only difficult but also a little doubtful for him to assess their performance. Chai Tong felt a tinge of disappointment when he looked at Liu Wenkai. The Jiang Yuan he had just met was like a student who won gold medals in provincial contests and could bepetitive even outside the province. Liu Wenkai, however, was just an above-average student from an ordinary county school. Quite decent, but only in the absence ofparison. Ningtai County could not stand out if it relied on the second squad topete. ¡°Next up is the first squad,¡± Huang Qiangmin had no intention of maki`ng excuses for the second squad. With limited expertise, there was no pretending. In the office of the first squad, the most eye-catching things were various dumbbells and several bars lying around at odd angles. One-third of the officers were either gripping a hand exerciser, lifting a barbell, or doing horse stances in front of their desks. The other two-thirds¡­ had gone out. At a nce, Chai Tong knew that these fellows aiming to be muscle monsters must have tuned their brains quite substantially too ¨C enough to get by, but solving cases with them was unlikely to bring any surprises. Then came the third squad, the fourth squad¡­ As he continued his tour, Chai Tong¡¯s expression grew increasingly indifferent. No emotion, no expression. Atst, Chai Tong saw the police dog squad, looked at the Rottweiler and Dazhuang, and let out a long sigh. Chai Tong said to Huang Qiangmin, ¡°It looks like we¡¯re still reliant on Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± thought Huang Qiangmin to himself, ¡°I¡¯ve known that all along, waiting for you to say it when Director Guan can¡¯t even make room.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad has made a name for itself, which is very useful. It could be a brand for Ningtai County. Next, let¡¯s organize a few more cases and see what resources Jiang Yuan might need¡­¡± Chai Tong contemted while speaking. Huang Qiangmin waited for him to finish and then said, ¡°As for the cases, actually, here in Ningtai County, there really aren¡¯t any left.¡± ¡°Really none? I thought that was just a way you guys expressed things,¡± Chai Tong said, slightly confused. Huang Qiangmin replied, ¡°All the murder cold cases since the new century have been cleared, and the major cases are almost all sorted out. We can¡¯t really start dealing with theft cases.¡± Chai Tong said, ¡°Although theft cases are minor, even a mosquito¡¯s worth of meat is still meat¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin said, ¡°On thebat power rankings, solving a murder cold case is worth 100 points, with no upper limit. Theft cases range from 0.1 to 0.5 points, depending on how many people are arrested, whether it¡¯s a break-in, and whether it¡¯s a serial case¡­¡± ¡°Theft cases are indeed insufficient when ites to maintaining overall social stability,¡± Chai Tong said. ¡°Thebat power rankings are the superior¡¯s baton, and since the baton is pointing towards murder cold cases, we really should focus more on those cases¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± After some thought, Chai Tong said, ¡°When I was in Luyang City, there was a case that the bureau always had on file, which I think we could try. The National Highway 805 body disposal case.¡± Huang Qiangmin then said, ¡°I¡¯llmunicate with Luyang City.¡± Chai Tong waved his hand, ¡°I¡¯m too familiar with Luyang. I¡¯ll talk to them myself; just notify Jiang Yuan.¡± Huang Qiangmin was stunned for a moment, but couldn¡¯t say anything more. ¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. As soon as the new case arrived, the team immediately started to discuss it. After the Spring Festival, it was a good time to work hard and achieve something¡­ Jiang Yuan and the others were also waiting for the arrival of new selling points¡­ new tasks. Luyang City is located to the south of Qinghe City and is also an industrially bnced city in Shannan Province, falling into the category of being better than some but not as good as others. As for the National Highway 805 body disposal case in Shannan Province, some information had alreadye through. Wang Chuanxing quickly made a briefing, introducing it to his colleagues who were busy with other tasks in the office: ¡°There were two incidents in the National Highway 805 body disposal case. The first urred four years ago, when a woman¡¯s body was discovered by the side of the highway. Luyang City invested a lot of manpower and resources at the time, but made no progress. A yearter, just when the case was about to be abandoned and the special investigation team was about to be withdrawn, someone found an arm beside the highway again.¡± ¡°After forensic examination, it was determined that the arm was cut off after death, meaning another person had died at that location. At that time, the case had not yet been identified as another incident of the National Highway 805 body disposal case, but was investigated as an independent case for several months. Later, Medical Examiner Zhai from the provincial office re-examined it and determined that the cuts on the corpses from both cases were made by the same de, thus merging them for the investigation.¡± ¡°Luyang City¡¯s investment in the National Highway 805 body disposal case was substantial, and they spent a long time on it, but still there was no significant breakthrough, and it ultimately remained an unsolved case.¡± Upon reaching this point, Wang Chuanxing summarized, ¡°This case is likely to be very difficult. The evidence we can get is basically only the bodies, including the ce where the bodies were found, which are already the second or even third crime scenes. The first crime scene has not yet been found.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s look at the case files first,¡± said Jiang Yuan without rushing to respond. He knew the true difficulty of the case could only be appreciated after reviewing the files himself. Chapter 418 - 418 385 Changes ?418: Chapter 385 Changes 418: Chapter 385 Changes Dinner time. In the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, smoke curled in the air, and only a few crabapple flowers bloomed recklessly, exuding a somewhat cheap fragrance. Everyone was silently flipping through case files. The files had been delivered that afternoon, and since then, no one had entered or left the office. The core of cracking cold casesy in examining the case files. If one couldn¡¯t understand the files, there was no talking about solving cold cases. Take the current case for example: no crime scene, no eyewitnesses, the bodies were all dposed, and the identity of the second victim couldn¡¯t even be found, let alone the rest of the body beyond the arms¡­ It was indeed tough for Luyang City¡¯s Criminal Police team, and no me could be ced on them. Under such conditions, Luyang City¡¯s Criminal Police team had actually identified several leads to follow. If not, they would have already given up. Unfortunately, the leads did not lead to a breakthrough and were always cut short after a short distance. In fact, any clue that doesn¡¯t directly lead to the truth has this problem. It¡¯s normal for a trail to go cold, but such clues are the most taxing in terms of manpower and resources. Luyang City¡¯s Criminal Police team was dragged down by the National Highway 805 body-dumping case for almost two and a half years, with at least two or three months of fullmitment, but they were not able to solve it. Liu Jinghui, who¡¯d spent years on the outside, felt a pang of pain after reviewing all the case files. He couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Luyang has really lost out on this one. Your Chief Chai must have escaped from the mess, right?¡± Meng Chengbiao, who had experienced simr situations, still smiled and said, ¡°Escaped might be a bit much. He wasn¡¯t in charge of criminal investigations before, but it¡¯s certain that Luyang hasn¡¯t achieved any results in the past few years.¡± ¡°No wonder,¡± Wang Chuanxing and others shook their heads. They were all out to carve their careers, and not achieving results was something intolerable. ¡°Does anyone have any thoughts?¡± Jiang Yuan had already finished reviewing the files and, seeing that everyone was about to start chitchatting, decided to initiate a discussion. Everyone looked at each other, and it was Liu Jinghui who said, ¡°Shall I throw out a stone to attract jade?¡± ¡°Go ahead,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°Let me ask first, are the wounds on the two bodies inflicted by the same knife? Is this conclusion correct?¡± Liu Jinghui looked towards Jiang Yuan. This was within the realm of Forensic Clinical Medicine, and the previous Medical Examiner Zhai was a forensic doctor from the provincial department. Liu Jinghui was very familiar with him, but based on current experience, Liu Jinghui trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment more. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, ¡°From the photos, the tool used to sever the arms of the second body, as well as the one that killed the first victim, is likely a knife that is very thin at the front and thicker towards the back, and the increase in thickness is not very even. It can be determined that it is the same murder weapon.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s the case,¡± Liu Jinghui said seriously, ¡°it means the killer used the same knife to kill two people over the span of a year, without discarding it in between. This is something worth pondering.¡± Including Jiang Yuan, everyone had expressions of waiting, showing no intention to think it over. Liu Jinghui took a sip of tea, giving it some time, before continuing, ¡°If you ask me, there are some reasons I could think of, let me share them. First, this murder weapon might have additional value, such as being a family heirloom or a cherished belonging of the killer, perhaps even an antique. Second, the second victim might have been at the first crime scene of the first victim, or picked up the murder weapon, leading to their own death.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyebrows twitched as he said, ¡°You¡¯re suggesting that it¡¯s possible the killer isn¡¯t one person, but that two people used the same murder weapon?¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a possibility. Can you determine if the person wielding the knife is the same?¡± Liu Jinghui asked Jiang Yuan expectantly. ¡°I cannot make that judgment with the current status,¡± even with a Level 6 tool mark identification and Level 3 in Forensic Clinical Medicine, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t determine whether the same person was the perpetrator on the nearly dposed bodies, mainly because the perpetrator¡¯s method had no distinctive characteristics and there was too little information. Liu Jinghui nodded and continued, ¡°In that case, the third possibility bes more likely, that the killer may not care much about being found out or may not worry about the murder weapon being discovered, or perhaps they needed to use this murder weapon frequently, which is why they did not rece it.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t ¡®not worrying about the murder weapon being found¡¯ and ¡®frequently needing to use the murder weapon¡¯ supposed to represent two different possibilities?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes blinked as he said, ¡°It¡¯s also possible that he frequently needs to use the murder weapon, so much so that he can¡¯t worry enough about it.¡± Jiang Yuan fell silent for a moment, finally grasping the hint that Liu Jinghui had implied. The police officers present all understood as well. Meng Chengbiao, growing impatient with their cryptic conversation, asked, ¡°Does that mean there are more bodies? That the killer didn¡¯t just murder one person?¡± ¡°What do you think?¡± Liu Jinghui countered. ¡°That¡¯s a pretty bold idea.¡± Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t directly answer, picking up a cigarette from the table, cing it in his mouth, and began to ponder. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°It¡¯s just a theory, and whether it can be verified remains to be seen. However, since the murderer has killed two people already, the second of whom was dismembered leaving only an arm, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for there to be two more victims.¡± Tang Jia asked, ¡°Then how do we find the other bodies?¡± ¡°No idea, both bodies were found by chance,¡± Liu Jinghui replied. ¡°The first body was dug up alongside National Highway 805 during construction, and the scene was severely disturbed. The second body, or rather, the arm, was wrestled from a stray dog by a passerby¡­ Actually, both bodies appearing near the highway is quite peculiar as well.¡± Pausing briefly, Liu Jinghui added, ¡°The upation of the first body, deceased Li Yuan, was also quite unique. She had a history of prostitution and, at the time of her disappearance, there was a high probability she was still engaged in the business. This is a high-riskmunity.¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t explicitly say ¡®serial killer¡¯, but that was essentially what he was getting at. Of course, domestically this term isn¡¯t favored, and descriptors such as ¡®serial murderer¡¯ are easier for people to understand. ¡°Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve said all that I needed to,¡± said Liu Jinghui. His words were spective, but if they followed his analysis in the investigation, there was a chance of making progress. Especially if his idea about additional bodies was to be believed, because once verified, it would surely yield a wealth of information. Of course, there was still a possibility that they woulde up empty-handed. Jiang Yuan gave an ¡°Mm¡± in acknowledgment. After all, for Liu Jinghui to propose a new and valuable investigative direction simply by examining the files was no small feat. When it came to deductive reasoning, Jiang Yuan was no match for Liu Jinghui. After his brief reflection, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°I won¡¯tment on the information we can all see in the files, but there¡¯s one detail I believe needs correction. This concerns the time of death for victim number one, which I think should be modified.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Liu Jinghui and the others were instantly intrigued. If the time of death was amended, then the direction and content of the investigation in Luyang City would naturally change. At present, change was definitely a good thing. If they continued following the evidence provided by Luyang City, the chances of solving the case would significantly decrease. Jiang Yuan was employing Level 6 death time estimation. He pulled out a few photos, pointed at the maggots depicted, and said, ¡°I think the time of death could be pushed back by two months, making it around four months rather than Luyang¡¯s assessment of six months.¡± Liu Jinghui quickly grabbed the file and started looking through it again. Chapter 419 - 419 386 Discussion ?419: Chapter 386 Discussion 419: Chapter 386 Discussion The time of death differs by two months, so much of the previous investigation can be overturned. Although it seems a bit far-fetched, the reality is such, when dealing with dposed bodies, forensic doctors always face various possibilities of failure. It¡¯s not just a matter of a two-month discrepancy, there are plenty of cases where the difference has been two years. The dposition changes of a biological body in different environments are not so easy to judge. Not to mention the physicochemical indicators, even if you ce a child over three years old in front of a doctor, he wouldn¡¯t be a hundred percent sure about the child¡¯s age, let alone therge margin of error in indicators like height and weight. Even if blood tests are allowed, even if bone growth lines are checked, there¡¯s still the possibility of age overestimation. This is still with children, whose bodies change significantly. If it were a 25-year-old leader, even if you¡¯re allowed to look up his records, you still might not be able to urately determine his date of birth. Killing one now, you probably can¡¯t even make an urate judgment. Liu Jinghui nced at the dossier and then looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°If the Luyang City Criminal Police Brigade finds out about this, they¡¯re bound to have a bone to pick with us.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t use their funds, and we can do without their manpower. Whether they like it or not, it¡¯s of no consequence,¡± Tang Jia, who had followed him to several ces, said confidently. Liu Jinghui uttered an ¡°Mhm¡± and couldn¡¯t help but say, ¡°Working independently on a case really does feel better.¡± He had never worked independently on a case before. When there were disagreements, he had to convince the actual case-handling unit to trust his judgment before he could proceed smoothly. Smaller judgments were manageable, but when it came torger decisions that had more impact, it sometimes became quite troublesome. The ultimate decision-making power alwaysy in the hands of the leaders of the case-handling unit, and there was nothing that could be done about that. However, the pressure of not working independently was significantly less; with no poweres no responsibility. It was best when they could assist the lower-level cities and counties, and if they couldn¡¯t, it wasn¡¯t their fault. Liu Jinghui actually still wasn¡¯t responsible, but now it was Jiang Yuan, in his twenties, who had be the person in charge of the Cold Case Squad. ¡°The victim Li Yuan had records of online bank transfers five months before her body was discovered,¡± Liu Jinghui reconfirmed the content he¡¯d reviewed before and sighed, ¡°which means the criminal first kidnapped her before it turned into murder, with robbery urring in between.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think of the Tan Yong case, one of the most heinous cases he had dealt with early in his career, where the murderer also kidnapped young women and transitioned to murder¡­ Jiang Yuan quickly suppressed his emotions and converted them into logical resources, saying, ¡°From kidnapping to robbery, then to murder, keeping the murder weapon and discarding the body¡ªthe criminal has done every step very well. Could we consider the possibility that the criminal is not a first-time offender?¡± ¡°Very likely,¡± Liu Jinghui immediately expressed agreement. If you regard criminal behavior as a project, the longer the project¡¯s chain, the greater the possibility of making mistakes and leaving behind evidence. In cases like kidnapping, there could be traces of ropes, handcuffs, or stic ties. The absence of any such traces could mean either the traces have faded or the criminal has the capability to firmly control the victim without physically restraining them. Then, in movies and TV shows, you see various escape attempts by kidnap victims, prison breaks, and even retaliatory killings, which suggests that long-term kidnapping of victims is actually quite difficult. Murder and disposing of the body are not easy tasks, especially thetter. Most murderers worry about being discovered and exposed, so they have to bnce efficiency and thoroughness when ites to disposing of the body. In summary, Jiang Yuan did not believe that a beginner could achieve the level of perfection currently observed across so many links in the chain. ¡°The murderer could have deliberately misled us about the time of death,¡± Jiang Yuan brought up another point. Liu Jinghui looked over. ¡°From the photos, it is evident that the scene where Li Yuan¡¯s body was found was scattered with many of these¡­¡± Jiang Yuan took out a photo, projected it, and then pointed with aser, ¡°These should be fertilizer, the same type as in the flower beds beside the road. I believe the criminal possibly took fertilizer from the roadside flower beds and mixed it into the soil while burying the body. This method could elerate dposition and also confuse our judgment of the time of death.¡± The photo Jiang Yuan disyed was of a corner on the national highway. This was also the site where Li Yuan¡¯s body was excavated. The widest-angle photo showed the scene with an excavator, several vehicles, and numerous construction workers. The burial site was about twenty to thirty meters away from the national highway, separated by a flower bed that had been dug up. The area where the body was buried was a patch of broken stonend, likely used as a site for construction previously, and now it had been dug up again. Gravel, old building materials and tools, chunks of earth and bodies, freshly grown saplings and grass, along with upturned soil and umted water, would only evoke disgust and confusion in the average person. Liu Jinghui gazed at the photos on the projector screen, hesitating briefly before saying, ¡°The scene hasn¡¯t been preserved well. It¡¯s already difficult to verify whether these are specifically flower fertilizers or if they were excavated from the burial site of the bodies.¡± The scenes in the photos were all post-excavation by the diggers, which had been operating for a considerable time. The road¡¯s green belt had also been dug up, and nearbynd had been leveled ¨C it looked exactly like a construction site that had just begun excavation. Proving whether there had been flower fertilizer in the ce where the bodies were buried, how much there was, or whether it was intentional, was difficult. Jiang Yuan was also aware of Liu Jinghui¡¯s concerns and hade to a conclusion after some deep thought. He then said, ¡°Actually, it¡¯s not necessary to confirm the matter regarding the fertilizer. Considering the time of death, the extent of dposition of the bodies, and the generation and type of maggots nearby, there definitely were other factors that elerated dposition and affected the insect poptions. Given the state of the scene, it¡¯s reasonable to assume that some fertilizer was mixed in at the time of burying.¡± Liu Jinghui nodded, partially understanding, then thought for a moment before suggesting, ¡°We could check if flower fertilizer had been added to this green belt around that time, what type it was, and when exactly it was added. The road maintenance department should have records of that.¡± ¡°Good idea,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. A police officer immediately volunteered to start researching the information. Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment, then posed, ¡°Assuming fertilizer was indeed mixed in, is there any way to determine whether it was unintentionally mixed in, or done so consciously?¡± ¡°The quantity mixed in unintentionally wouldn¡¯t be significant,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Is it possible then that the flower fertilizer was brought by the perpetrator himself?¡± ¡°It¡¯s also possible,¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t rule out that possibility. However, Liu Jinghui, having raised the query, answered himself, ¡°Actually, the likelihood isn¡¯t high. Based on the principle of burying close to home only if the body has been moved far away, it would be too much work for the murderer to choose to bury the body here and also bring a substantial amount of flower fertilizer.¡± ¡°Yes,¡± many people present nodded in agreement. All of them were detectives who had handled homicide cases. After observing a few crime scenes, they would develop a simr understanding ¨C perpetrators tend to lean towards simplified ns. Burying a body is not like going camping; a car and a shovel are the most basic tools needed. Even then, there are people who leave cigarette butts at the scene during the burial, leading to their arrest. Taking a multitude of items to bury a body increases the likelihood of revealing information. Besides, a body is heavy enough as it is; why would anyone transport a bag of chemical fertilizer? Rather than doing so, it would be safer to dismember the body¡¯s head and bury it elsewhere, or perhaps¡­ If someone has buried several bodies, it¡¯s highly probable that they would have gathered their own set of tips and tricks. ¡°It indicates we¡¯re dealing with someone somewhat clever ¨C they at least know that chemical fertilizer mixed with a body can interfere with forensic examinations,¡± Liu Jinghui summed up before adding, ¡°They probably used a car, possibly came via the national road, but they might also be local. Hm¡­ if they came from far away, had the patience for burial, and were careful enough to notice the green belt¡¯s fertilizer, the guy¡¯s mentalposure is just too good.¡± The team began to share their thoughts: ¡°If it was a vehicle from out of town, it would have had to pass through checkpoints along the way, adding to the risk.¡± ¡°Have we found any simr cases?¡± ¡°Not at the moment.¡± ¡°The second victim¡¯s body hasn¡¯t been found yet, just an arm. It¡¯s unlikely that stray dogs dug up the arm and consumed the rest of the body.¡± ¡°A lot of manpower has been mobilized in Luyang City to search but to no avail.¡± Officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad heatedly discussed, when Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone suddenly rang. He answered to find Huang Qiangmin on the other end saying, ¡°The Luyang Criminal Police Brigade has sent someone over; they would like to meet with you.¡± Chapter 420 - 420 387 You Call Him ?420: Chapter 387: You Call Him 420: Chapter 387: You Call Him ¡°Well, that was fast. In the past, it was always us making the visit,¡± Shen Yaowei said after Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, whistling. Tang Jia nced at him and said, ¡°We are handling a case from Luyang, and they reached out to us proactively after hearing about it. That¡¯s a positive attitude, so don¡¯t offend them.¡± ¡°As long as they¡¯re not here to point fingers,¡± Shen Yaowei said with a smile. Hisment sobered everyone up a bit. ¡°Luyang has been working on this case for a long time, but it shouldn¡¯t be¡­ it¡¯s always good to have someone help crack the case; we can¡¯t just keep dragging our feet. In the end, it would be their bad luck.¡± Liu Jinghui had more to say. The new bureau chief, Chai Tong, hadn¡¯t been in charge of criminal investigations during his tenure in Luyang, so choosing Jiang Yuan for Luyang¡¯s case was probably part of some strategy. ¡°Let¡¯s go meet them,¡± Jiang Yuan said, standing up to leave. In Huang Qiangmin¡¯s office. Two criminal police officers from Luyang City sat with perfect posture. As soon as Jiang Yuan entered, he could feel the heavy air pressure. ¡°Jiang Yuan, this here is Zhou Yuanqiang, the politicalmissar of the Luyang City Criminal Police Brigade, and this is Qu Hao, the team captain. They¡¯d like to coordinate with us on case 805,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with a smile. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it Director Chai who was supposed to be in charge?¡± Jiang Yuan directly brought up Chai Tong. ¡°Director Chai spoke with our chief, and we came over right away. I¡¯ve heard Forensic Jiang Yuan¡¯s name quite a few times this year. I¡¯m curious about your thoughts on how we should proceed,¡± Zhou Yuanqiang said, with an obvious hint of reluctance. Of course, police officers are like soldiers in that they tend to have an air of superiority, as if they are the best in the world, so this attitude was not surprising. Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin, who indicated with his eyes that this move had been orchestrated by Director Chai. Jiang Yuan signaled with his eyes that he understood. Turning back, Jiang Yuan gave the two police officers from Luyang City another look, and as they grew impatient, he said, ¡°How about I start by sharing our current progress?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Zhou Yuanqiang said, unable to refuse the information. For the Luyang City Criminal Police Brigade, case 805 had long been a thorn in their side. Over the years, they spent months on it annually. The more they invested, the more sensitive they became about the case. Jiang Yuan somewhat felt their eagerness and decided not to y coy. ¡°Firstly, based on photos in the dossier, I re-assessed the time of death for the first body, that of the victim Li Yuan. I believe the time of death should be moved back by two months, which means four months before the body was found, not six¡­¡± ¡°You can determine that just from a photo?¡± Zhou Yuanqiang could not help but interrupt, saying, ¡°Even if Forensic Jiang Yuan you are well-known, this conclusion is quite presumptuous¡­¡± ¡°Commissar Zhou, you¡¯re not a professional in this area, right? Why don¡¯t you call your medical examiner so I can talk to them? We can discuss it with each other,¡± Jiang Yuan replied without taking offense, as he said, there was no point in arguing with Zhou Yuanqiang, who was neither a forensic doctor nor a forensic technician. As for Luyang City¡¯s medical examiner, Jiang Yuan had a vague impression of him. In Shannan Province, there were WeChat groups for technical personnel to exchange information and consult with each other on technical difficulties. They had be somewhat familiar with each other through these interactions. Zhou Yuanqiang was slightly annoyed but nced at Huang Qiangmin, who sat beside him with a smirk, and then dialed the phone. The call connected. ¡°Dr. Mei, it¡¯s Zhou Yuanqiang. Yes, I¡¯m in Ningtai County. The medical examiner here thinks the time of death for Li Yuan is off. Could you discuss it with him?¡± Zhou Yuanqiang said, irritation evident in his voice. ¡°The time of death is wrong?¡± Dr. Mei on the other end of the line repeated and immediately became serious. ¡°Talk to whom? The medical examiner of Ningtai County? Forensic Jiang Yuan of Ningtai County?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve put you on speakerphone¡­¡± said Zhou Yuanqiang as he set the phone down and activated the speaker. Immediately, an anxious voice came through the speaker: ¡°No, no, I don¡¯t need to talk to¡­ what am I supposed to discuss¡­¡± ¡°Hello, Dr. Mei. This is Jiang Yuan from Ningtai,¡± Jiang Yuan said, greeting the voice on the phone. There was a sudden pause on the other end, followed by several coughs, and then a gentler voice said, ¡°Hello, Forensic Jiang Yuan. I¡¯m Mei Fang from Luyang. We have actually spoken in the WeChat group before. You helped with a case that was just bones, determining the age and underlying diseases.¡± ¡°Oh, was the case solved?¡± Jiang Yuan said, his impression being quite vague as he mostly used WeChat to help people with bones and fingerprints. The fingerprints were usually forplex cases, and the bones were because there were so few experts in forensic anthropology. Most medical examiners came from pathology or clinical backgrounds and hesitated to im expertise in forensic anthropology, which they often learned only in school before slowly umting experience on the job. And truthfully, that meant fairly limited understanding. After all, murders were rare to begin with, and cases involving dismembered corpses or skeletons were even lessmon. Such cases didn¡¯t provide opportunities for local, less-experienced medical examiners to practice. Mei Fang from Luyang City actually belonged to the more capable category of medical examiners. Therefore, he qualified to ask an expert like Jiang Yuan about forensic anthropology questions, as he was a medical examiner at the city level who, aside from major cases, continuously supported the districts and counties below him, encountering and understanding far more than the average county-level medical examiner. Of course, he was not on the same level as an examiner like Jiang Yuan. Mei Fang hesitated, ¡°The case has been cracked, and the killer is a drinking buddy from the neighboring vige. Um¡­ Forensic Jiang, did you just mention there¡¯s a problem with the time of death of a body?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°For the Li Yuan case, Case 805, the first body that was found, I believe the time of death should be moved back by two months. My assessment is mainly based on thervae of Xinluan Fuying flies I saw on the photos. You based your judgement on the time listed on the records, right? There must be a discrepancy there. During that time in Luyang, it was the rainy spring season and the temperatures were low. The body wasn¡¯t buried deep enough, which would reduce the hatching rate of fly eggs. Also, a wet environment would affect maggots¡¯ normal feeding behavior, and it¡¯smon to see a dyed pupation¡­¡± ¡°Um¡­ That¡¯s right,¡± Mei Fang¡¯s voice was faint,cking the usual boldness and decisiveness. Zhou Yuanqiang couldn¡¯t help but stand up and checked his mobile phone, indeed, it was the usually confident Dr. Mei. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t borated in detail on his assessment method earlier in the office, but now, facing his peers, he continued to exin, ¡°The forensic entomological model we use for estimating postmortem intervals through the development of necrophagous insects should be applied flexibly. The variations in temperature, sunlight, even soil conditions in different regions must be taken into ount. The body in Case 805 was buried rather shallowly and was significantly affected by various factors. Spring is actually a season of fluctuating temperatures, Luyang area experiencesrge temperature differences, and Xinluan Fuying flies develop much faster under fluctuating temperatures than under constant ones. ording to the literature, the development duration is 14.69 days shorter in fluctuating temperatures, of course, this is only supplementary evidence¡­¡± Mei Fang spoke softly again, ¡°You¡¯re right.¡± Zhou Yuanqiang couldn¡¯t help himself at this point and took the opportunity to interject, ¡°Dr. Mei, didn¡¯t we also ask Medical Examiner Zhai to review the case at the time?¡± ¡°That¡¯s not¡­ I didn¡¯t mean that¡­¡± Mei Fang could not stop him in time. Zhou Yuanqiang said, ¡°Not only was the time of death for the first body scrutinized by Medical Examiner Zhai from the provincial office, but the consolidation of the cases for bodies one and two was also determined by Medical Examiner Zhai. We didn¡¯t arbitrarily calcte the time¡­¡± From Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s perspective, although Jiang Yuan was quite famous and seemed to be authoritative now, Medical Examiner Zhai had been famous for a long time and was a well-known forensic expert in the provincial office. Shannan Province had solved countless cases over the years with Medical Examiner Zhai at the helm, and with this backing, Zhou Yuanqiang naturally did not feel inferior to Jiang Yuan. From his viewpoint, Jiang Yuan might be an expert, but Medical Examiner Zhai, another provincial office expert, was even more renowned and hence, more authoritative. Jiang Yuan had cooperated with Medical Examiner Zhai before, too. When Liu Jinghui disappeared, the forensic doctor dispatched by the provincial office for support was Medical Examiner Zhai, indeed a famous forensic expert. So Jiang Yuan suggested, ¡°Let¡¯s start a group video call and bring Medical Examiner Zhai into the discussion.¡± This time, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t use Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s phone, but directly initiated a group call on his own phone and added both Dr. Mei and Medical Examiner Zhai. Medical Examiner Zhai, puzzled by Jiang Yuan¡¯s invitation, joined the call. Jiang Yuan then briefed Medical Examiner Zhai on the situation, raising the level ofplexity out of consideration for Zhai¡¯s expertise and began borating, ¡°The insect development model you¡¯re using is the isomorphen diagram, isn¡¯t it? Actually, that model in itself isn¡¯t problematic, but I found something akin to manure in the photos. At that point, I tried both the isomorphen diagram and the umted degree days model. The former seems alright, but thetter definitely shows discrepancies¡­¡± Since the assistance with the Liu Jinghui case, Medical Examiner Zhai had kept an eye on and stayed in touch with Jiang Yuan. They were also in several groups together, discussing topics like the determination of time of death, and in fact, Medical Examiner Zhai did not need multiple discussions¡ªjust asionally paying attention to the group chats was enough for him to acknowledge Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. Now, Medical Examiner Zhai weakly said, ¡°Forensic Jiang, when ites to determining the time of death, you are more authoritative than I am. You don¡¯t need to exin to me¡­ I did indeed use the isomorphen diagram, and I didn¡¯t thoroughly consider some of the variables. This really is¡­ I will look into it more and learn from you, follow your line of thought¡­¡± ¡°Then for case 805, the time of death for the first body, victim Li Yuan, I will revise it to four months before discovery,¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Of course. No problem, I also agree with your assessment,¡± Zhai, a skinny little old man, said tiredly, ¡°I¡¯m actually in the middle of an autopsy right now, so is that all for now?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan said a few more words to Dr. Mei and thenpletely ended the video conference. Jiang Yuan put away his phone and looked at Zhou Yuanqiang, asking, ¡°Political Commissar Zhou, shall we adjust the time of death to four months?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Alright¡­¡± Zhou Yuanqiang could no longer muster any objections at this point. Meanwhile, the squad leader Qu Hao sent a discreet message to Dr. Mei, asking: [Dr. Mei, what was that just now?] Dr. Mei: [Are you with the politicalmissar? What are you trying to pull? Did you drag me in to get a beating?] Qu Hao: [It¡¯s just that there¡¯s some disagreement on the time of death¡­] Dr. Mei first sent several angry emojis, then messaged: [Why do you have a disagreement with Jiang Yuan? If you want to embarrass yourselves, do it on your own, why drag me into it? And Medical Examiner Zhai, you even pulled him into the beating?] Qu Hao: [It wasn¡¯t like that¡­] Dr. Mei: [Next time you ask for Medical Examiner Zhai, you go. I¡¯m out of face!] At this point, Jiang Yuan had already started discussing the manure, the murder weapon, and more spective details regarding the bodies. Qu Hao sneakily nced at Zhou Yuanqiang and silently ducked his head. This feeling of being dominated in a discussion was by no means pleasant. Chapter 421 - 421 388 No Scene ?421: Chapter 388 No Scene 421: Chapter 388 No Scene Jiang Yuan acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to exin to Zhou Yuanqiang about the elerated dposition caused by the fertilizer, the spection of kidnapping and murder, the ount withdrawals from five months ago, and the uniqueness of the murder weapon¡­ He really wasn¡¯t bothered at all; being blunt might be tough on the listener, but he didn¡¯t find it hard. If there was anything slightly bothersome, he had already vented it on the two forensic doctors just now. Zhou Yuanqiang, being a detective, was actually seen as a Muggle in the eyes of forensic doctors or criminal investigators, so there was no reason to get angry with him. However, Zhou Yuanqiang himself was feeling extremely ufortable, fidgeting restlessly on the sofa and twisting this way and that. In the past few years, like many other members of the detective team, Zhou Yuanqiang had invested a tremendous amount of time and energy into Case 805, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s casual remark negated all their efforts¡ªtheir direction had been wrong, and much of what they did had seemingly lost its significance. After an excruciating exchange, Zhou Yuanqiang slowly stood up, unable to even muster a smile on his face, and said, ¡°I understand now, thank you for the exnation, Doctor Jiang. There¡¯s been a substantial change in the situation, and we need to discuss it with the team.¡± ¡°Let us know if there are any changes,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he stood up first to remind him. ¡°Certainly.¡± Only then did Zhou Yuanqiang shake hands with Jiang Yuan and left with his head down. Once he stepped outside, Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s tense face instantly copsed. Qu Hao followed him carefully, afraid of being caught to vent his frustration. Zhou Yuanqiang directly left the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment and found a seated shop to settle in. Qu Hao, like a timid wife, carefully took a seat at the edge. ¡°How could they get the time of death wrong!¡±ined Zhou Yuanqiang, his tone full of resentment. Qu Hao¡¯s rear bounced up and then settled back down as he said quietly, ¡°Maybe because it¡¯s been too long!¡± ¡°Too long my ass, we¡¯ve handled cases that were two to three years old before, and the estimated time of death was never this far off!¡± Qu Hao inwardly disagreed with Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s point of view, thinking to himself that when dealing with bodies deceased for two or three years, forensic doctors usually just estimated the year, and discrepancies of two to three months, or even four to five months, weremon. He wasn¡¯t about to cross him now, so he whispered, ¡°The environment where the body was found might indeed have been a bit unusual, wasn¡¯t it the thing about the fertilizer?¡± ¡°Fertilizer my ass!¡± swore Zhou Yuanqiang, indignantly saying, ¡°What I can¡¯t understand most is that originally Old Mei and the provincial deputy director Zhai were so confident, acting high and mighty, emphatically saying it had been six months. Now, when I call them, what¡¯s going on? Have they all turned into shy young girls?¡± ¡°This¡­¡± ¡°What¡¯s this, say something useful,¡± Zhou Yuanqiang red at Qu Hao. In a moment of panic, Qu Hao braced himself and said, ¡°We¡¯ve been working on this for so long without solving it. Maybe there was indeed a problem with the estimated time of death. If we can correct the timing now, maybe there¡¯ll be something to it.¡± ¡°You think that¡­¡± Zhou Yuanqiang knew rationally that the case couldn¡¯t possibly be that simple. The effort put in by everyone over the past two years could not be simply exined by a discrepancy of two months in the time of death. However, Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s emotional needs were somewhat fulfilled. If they could solve the case as a result, the embarrassment would be bearable. After all, it was he, the politicalmissar, who had gone out to seek help from experts. With these thoughts, Zhou Yuanqiang sighed deeply, ¡°This case is nearly killing us. For these past years, there¡¯s been no funding, no recognition, no honors, and every time there¡¯s me, we¡¯re the ones standing at attention. I¡¯m sick of this life!¡± Qu Hao didn¡¯t dare to chime in. Being just a soldier, his actual losses weren¡¯t that significant¡ªafter all, his sry and bonuses from the government were guaranteed. But any hopes for better or extra benefits were out of the question. For someone at Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s level, the pressure was much greater; they were the ones who had to face the music in the bureau, and they were the ones making apologies at the meetings¡­ Qu Hao discreetly signaled the server toe over. The server, a young girl, came over with a smile, ¡°What would you like to drink? We have milk tea, coffee¡­ ¡± ¡°Beer!¡± said Zhou Yuanqiang. ¡°Alright, we have Yanjing and Budweiser, do you want room temperature or chilled?¡± Qu Hao, surprised, asked, ¡°Why do you sell beer at a milk tea shop?¡± The server smiled and said, ¡°Because we¡¯re a milk tea shop right by the police station.¡± ¡°Do you have barbecue then?¡± ¡°Yes, we have grilled sausages,mb skewers, and chicken wings. Do you eat spicy?¡± Qu Hao checked his pockets, ¡°Your milk tea shop is not very pure, is it?¡± ¡­ Jiang Yuan returned to the office, gave a couple of instructions, then announced it was time to call it a day and rest. The cold case was four years old, and there was no rush for a day or two, especially since there hadn¡¯t been any breakthroughs in the case. It was like farming before the busy season, there was no need to work therge livestock to death. Jiang Yuan downloaded a few photos to his work phone from the backend, then headed home. Arge group of people followed behind him. After spending a while in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, even the two members from Guqi City understood the concept of Jiang Vige People, so asionally they would have a meal at the Jiang Family¡¯s home to improve their diet, and everyone was without psychological burden. Jiang Fuzhen was also very happy to have visitors. What he loved most was to simmer things in the kitchen. It wasn¡¯t important if they were eaten or not, what mattered was the atmosphere of the home. Especially during the years when Jiang Yuan was away for school, Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s stove never went out. If there was no steam in the kitchen, the big house would lose its sense of liveliness. And whenever Jiang Yuan brought colleagues back home, the vigers were even more willing toe to the Jiang Family home for a meal. Although it wasn¡¯t out of any real need, seeing the police visit, people instinctively wanted to be closer. Today, Jiang Fuzhen prepared two more tables for guests. Having indulged in hearty meals over the Spring Festival for over ten days, the vigers were a bit tired of banquets, so in addition to well-prepared hand-held meat, there were some half-cold dishes like pork belly and marinated goose, supplemented by green vegetables gifted by a few families, which were more popr with everyone. The table where Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui sat received extra special treatment, with an additional fish and shrimp dish, pig¡¯s feet, duck tongues, pork intestines, as well as a greater variety of wine. Jiang Vige People usually only drank baijiu and beer, and at home, they drank homemade rice wine, but they seldom offered rice wine to guests. But when serving wine to Liu Jinghui and the others, they specifically offered red wine and yellow wine. Everyone was enjoying the big fish and meat, and quickly they grew tired of it. Soon after, with the cajoling of Shen Yaowei and a few others who knew their way around, everyone started to drink. Including the three female officers, once they actually started on the baijiu, they drank heartily without the slightest hesitation. With the atmosphere set, the conversation naturally turned back to its normal course. Liu Jinghui started off by saying, ¡°ording to Luyang¡¯s attitude, if we want to see the scene or perform another autopsy, we¡¯ll have to wait a bit. Your Director Chai¡¯s handling seems a bit half-hearted.¡± ¡°Actually, there¡¯s not much need to see it,¡± Jiang Yuan clinked sses with Liu Jinghui and drained his drink, grimacing at the spiciness, and said, ¡°It¡¯s a four-year-old corpse we¡¯re dealing with. I don¡¯t know how Luyang has preserved it. If it was kept in an ice coffin, the eyeballs are probably melted by now. Moreover, it has been autopsied at least two or three times, another autopsy is pointless. If I really want to do an examination, I¡¯d rather cook the body and look directly at the bones. But I guess that¡¯d mean more wrangling with Luyang.¡± There was actually very little information to gain from a second autopsy. Unlike treatment, an autopsy involves many destructive examinations. For example, stomach contents are examined by opening the stomach, and afterwards, it¡¯s lucky if the stomach can be sliced for further study. By the time of a second autopsy, what you observe ispletely different. As for a third or fourth autopsy, it gets even more difficult to determine which injuries were caused by the perpetrator and which by the previous autopsies. It¡¯s more challenging and troublesome ¨C not to mention that theseter autopsies typically happen years after the body is found, usually when a case remains unsolved or there¡¯s a dispute over it. So the information gathered from these autopsies is even less. On the other hand, boiling out the bones and utilizing Forensic Anthropology could yield a fresh wave of information. After all, previous autopsies focused on muscles, fascia, and internal organs, and there was no knowledge of diseases, damage, or subtle fractures on the white bones. However, quite evidently, cooking the body down to bones is another destructive examination and is irreversible. If the authorities at Luyang City Bureau have any doubts, they might not agree to it. The others at the table were all police officers and understood immediately. Shen Yaowei, feeling annoyed, said, ¡°We¡¯re helping them solve a case, and they¡¯re giving us a hard time. If they¡¯re going to be like this, we shouldn¡¯t bother doing it for them!¡± ¡°Rarely have you said something useful!¡± Gao Yuyan lifted her ss boldly and drank with Shen Yaowei. Liu Jinghui curled his lips and said, ¡°You¡¯re looking at it too superficially. This isn¡¯t a case done for Luyang City Bureau. The 805 task force has been running for years and has a profile in the provincial office. As long as we can solve it, nobody¡¯s going to miss out on merits and awards. What Luyang City Bureau thinks, that¡¯s an issue for the leaders to worry about, not us. And as for cases like this, there aren¡¯t many in Shan Nan Province. They¡¯re all bound to be full of various difficulties. If they weren¡¯t, they would have been solved long ago, and it wouldn¡¯t be our turn.¡± Meng Chengbiao agreed, saying, ¡°Director Liu is right. Every case has its difficulties. This kind of case is actually one of the better ones. If we encounter victims¡¯ families making trouble, financial disputes, jurisdictional disagreements, or interference from outsiders, we can¡¯t just back down at the first sign of trouble. Otherwise, our Cold Case Squad wouldn¡¯t be able to handle many cases.¡± Hisment implied much more. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t want to continue down this line of conversation. Heughed and said, ¡°It¡¯s not that I¡¯m making sense; it¡¯s just that I¡¯ve been to many ces and been involved in many cases over the years, and I¡¯ve learned to take things in stride. Besides, Luyang City¡¯s stance is not really the issue. Give them a few days to cool down. As long as we show results, they¡¯ll have toe running to us. The 805 case is much more important to them than to us.¡± ¡°But if we can¡¯t look at the body and the scene, can we still go on?¡± Tang Jia¡¯s voice was unconsciously tinged with worry. ¡°It¡¯s no use looking at the body, and the scene has long been gone. I can study it further, but¡­¡± Jiang Yuan exchanged a look with Liu Jinghui and said slowly, ¡°Continuing down the path Luyang City Bureau has taken might not yield good results.¡± ¡°What should we do, then?¡± Liu Jinghui suggested, ¡°I have two suggestions. One is to reexamine the personal rtionships of Victim No.1, Li Yuan, because the change in her time of death could mean changes in the clients she received and people she interacted with. Secondly, I rmend using cadaver dogs along the national highway between the locations where Victims No.1 and No.2 were found, it¡¯d be even better if we could increase manpower for a thorough search.¡± ¡°You¡¯re looking for a third body.¡± Tang Jia¡¯s voice changed. Liu Jinghui, with a calm demeanor, picked up a piece of pig¡¯s head meat and said, ¡°There¡¯s definitely one. It¡¯s just a matter of how the perpetrator handled it, whether they give us a chance or not.¡± Chapter 422 - 422 389 Setting Up the Formation ?422: Chapter 389 Setting Up the Formation 422: Chapter 389 Setting Up the Formation The second route that Liu Jinghui had nned was a bit difficult. Between the discovery sites of Number One and Number Two, there was a distance of over 80 kilometers. If they were to run the entire national highway, it would take three to five search dogs and half a month to thoroughly cover the area. This was still under the assumption that they were not too far from the national highway. If they were to spread out a little further, the time needed for the search would be even longer. Of course, from the perspective of a murder investigation, both of Liu Jinghui¡¯s ns were considered mid-tier in terms of cost, including the second one. For a homicide case, this level of financial cost was eptable. The problemy in who would bear the cost. Ningtai County definitely could not afford such a high expense, and for Luyang City,munication was still required. As for themunication, on one hand, it needed to be handled by Chai Tong, and on the other hand, the Luyang City Bureau needed to be agreeable to it. Jiang Yuan and his colleagues were not too anxious, as the case had just begun and needed some time for everyone to get familiar with the case details. As for the first n proposed by Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan dispatched eight people, forming four teams, to go on a business trip to Luyang City. Of course, these eight people could not conduct an exhaustive search, but they should be able to help delineate a range andy the foundation for the subsequent extensive search by therger force. Otherwise, it would be a waste of manpower to rush there blindly without any clues. Liu Jinghui also returned to Changyang City to report. Case 805 was also a provincially registered case, and he was cautious not to pressure the Luyang City Bureau to its breaking point without supervision. Jiang Yuan continued to go over case files, repeatedly looking at the photographs. With no body and no crime scene, they could only rely on the case files to solve the case. One of the main reasons cold cases are difficult to crack is precisely this. Time is the greatest enemy of traces, as the foundational principle of forensic material evidence states: ¡°Every contact leaves a trace,¡± but time alone can silently erase these traces into nothingness. Thankfully, the photographs preserved some basic information. After reviewing them for two days, Jiang Yuan shifted his attention to Number Two¡¯s arm. Compared to the rtively abundant information on Number One, Number Two, with only an arm remaining, had an undetermined origin¡ªif it could be identified, it would certainly be a significant push for the case. However, even though both Jiang Yuan and the authorities in Luyang believed that Number Two likely belonged to a prostitute, confirming the identity was not an easy task. On the third day. Six people arrived from Luyang City at once. Director Chai Tong personally went out to greet them, apanied by several deputy directors. Jiang Yuan was also summoned to disy their presence. The arrivals included Zheng Tianxin, the head of the Luyang City Criminal Police Brigade, Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang, a certain team leader, inclothes police, and forensic doctor Mei Fang. Chai Tong and Zheng Tianxin shook hands with smiles that spoke of a long-awaited reunion. Jiang Yuan stood at the back, watching the disy with boredom. Several days had passed, and the haggling with Luyang had not yet concluded. If the rtionship were that good, why would ite to this? Mei Fang gave Jiang Yuan an apologetic smile. Being trapped by Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang, there was nothing Mei Fang could do but first apologize to Jiang Yuan. As the interaction came to an end, the group supported one another and entered the meeting room of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Zheng Tianxin was already aware of Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s predicament. Even if Zhou Yuanqiang didn¡¯t want to talk about it, Mei Fang wouldn¡¯t suffer in silence. As a forensic doctor, it wasn¡¯t appropriate to curse the brigade leadership, but it was reasonable to recount what happens without omission. Therefore, Zheng Tianxin altered his strategy and began to humbly seek advice from Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan went over topics such as the determination of the time of death once again. Zheng Tianxin seemed to listen attentively, as this meeting was slightly higher in level and intended to decide the direction to take moving forward. Soon, Jiang Yuan repeated the information he had previously described. Zheng Tianxin nodded, picked up his cup to take a sip of water, and prepared to speak. Just then, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°I studied the arm of the second body a bit, and there are some distinctive features as well.¡± Zheng Tianxin was taken aback, as he hadn¡¯t heard about the condition of the second body before. He couldn¡¯t help but look towards Zhou Yuanqiang, who also slightly shook his head. Everyone present was a police officer, and their facial expressions and interactions were as clear as if they were shouting. Jiang Yuan was even more direct, ¡°The second body is one I¡¯ve only studied in the past few days.¡± Zheng Tianxin uttered an ¡°Oh¡± and hurriedly said, ¡°Please, continue.¡± Jiang Yuan then said, ¡°Judging from the arm, the second victim should be a female who weighed over 120 pounds and was taller than 165 centimeters, and based on the fat ratio typical for a woman, she should have been somewhat overweight.¡± Zheng Tianxin¡¯s expression grew serious, and he turned to look at his forensic doctor, Mei Fang. Mei Fang lookedposed; if he couldn¡¯t do it, he couldn¡¯t do it¡ªafter all, he wasn¡¯t capable of estimating height and weight from an arm. Armed with his new LV4 in Forensic Material Evidence, Jiang Yuan, who had been examining the photograph of the arm for several days, confidently said, ¡°The fingerprints on the second body¡¯s arm were destroyed, but it seems she had a manicure. We can analyze the specificponentster and see if we can find a simr nail salon.¡± This was a highly feasible lead, causing Zheng Tianxin to sit up straight and ask Mei Fang directly, ¡°Had we checked that before?¡± ¡°We collected trace evidence, but there were no results,¡± Mei Fang replied. ¡°But you didn¡¯tpare it with the nail polish,¡± observed Jiang Yuan, who had spotted the detail under a magnifying ss. Mei Fang was startled and quickly said, ¡°No, we didn¡¯t consider the manicure at the time¡­¡± ¡°Now is not toote topare,¡± Zheng Tianxin responded gravely. After four years and months of work on the case, they thought no more evidence could be found; unexpectedly, after just a few days, Jiang Yuan hade up with something new. Zheng Tianxin was quite eager. Jiang Yuan stated, ¡°Even if we confirm the second victim¡¯s identity, it won¡¯t lead directly to solving the case. The killer is likely experienced and may have taken measures to avoid leaving evidence.¡± Zheng Tianxin merely uttered a thoughtful ¡°Hmm,¡± for them, this was already an exciting new breakthrough, and they were determined to pursue it to the end. Looking at Jiang Yuan, Zheng Tianxin realized that his previous strategy had been too simple. This man was truly exceptional. It wasn¡¯t just Mei Fang making things up. Chai Tong was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle. Though he had worked inmunity rtions while in Luyang and hadn¡¯t dealt much with case 805, seeing Zheng Tianxin at a disadvantage brought him great joy. Zheng Tianxin could no longer pay attention to Chai Tong; he asked Jiang Yuan humbly, ¡°Captain Jiang, if we let you take charge, what would you do next?¡± ¡°If I really were to takemand¡­¡± Jiang Yuan pondered for two seconds before saying, ¡°I would ask Xu Taining, Director Xu, toe over and conduct arge-scale search.¡± Xu Taining was the senior police chief known for not sparing any cost and leading the search efforts during Liu Jinghui¡¯s disappearance; he was noted for his high investment and high yield approach. Zheng Tianxin clearly had heard of Xu Taining¡¯s reputation and couldn¡¯t help but shiver, ¡°Is that necessary?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan answered decisively. Liu Jinghui was focused on input-output ratios, while Xu Taining never cared about such things, yet his case-solving rate was high. And what Zheng Tianxin needed, obviously, was to solve the case. Chapter 423 - 423 390 Luxury Style ?423: Chapter 390 Luxury Style 423: Chapter 390 Luxury Style Zheng Tianxin shifted ufortably in his chair before bowing his head, picking up his cup and pretending to drink. The act was the way one might feignposure when his girlfriend had set her heart on a 38,000 yuan diamond ring, while his budget was capped at 6,000 yuan. To describe Zheng Tianxin¡¯s inner turmoil in sixteen characters: How could he make his girlfriend give up the desired ring, happily purchase one within budget, marry without a hitch, and leave no regrets? Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang could quite understand the squadron leader¡¯s predicament; Luyang was just a prefecture-level city. Due to the 805 Case in recent years, it had faced much criticism and lost a good deal of funding and project money. For the past couple of years, they had been scrimping and saving, splitting every penny in two. To propose hiring Xu Taining was implicitly like a girl saying, ¡°I want a dream wedding where everyone witnesses our happiness,¡± akin to a man saying, ¡°I want to live for myself just once¡­¡± Any operation led by Xu Taining never came cheap. At times, when setting up amand center, he would require a fleet of over ten vehicles, and the makeshift staff¡ªroughly equivalent to supervisory team members¡ªwould number in the dozens. In reality, calling on Xu Taining for a search involving fewer than a thousand people was simply wasteful, and he wouldn¡¯t agree to it either. And those who could persuade him to take charge of such an operation would certainly not be stingy with funding and personnel. Rather than seek favors, the leaders capable of mobilizing Xu Taining through connections or orders would spare no expense. Zhou Yuanqiang knew that the squadron leader found it difficult to decline at this moment because the 805 Case was far too critical for Luyang City Bureau. Not just the Criminal Police Squad but the entire bureau had been dragged down by this case for too long. Everyone would consider any avable opportunity; yet spending indeed meant dispensing real money. The saying goes, ¡°even a hero can be hindered byck of funds,¡± and Xu Taining¡¯s price tag might be unaffordable, even during the Criminal Police Squad¡¯s most robust times. Zhou Yuanqiang spoke first, ¡°Captain Jiang, actually, the two points you mentioned earlier are very good. One concerns the time of Li Yuan¡¯s death, and the other the manicure of the second victim. Perhaps we should start by following these two leads?¡± ¡°What if, after dragging this on, the killer hears of it and decides to relocate the potential remains?¡± Jiang Yuan proposed one possibility and immediately several heads turned to look at him. Zhou Yuanqiang frowned. ¡°Surely not. We¡¯re currently in the middle of an investigation, and even a search phase. Moving the remains now¡­¡± ¡°Director Liu suggested that we should use cadaver dogs to search the national highway area between the first and second bodies, totaling over 80 kilometers,¡± Jiang Yuan shared what Liu Jinghui had suggested earlier, then added, ¡°It¡¯s not possible to seal off these 80 kilometers during our investigation, right?¡± If they went by Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s idea to start with the time of death and the manicure clue, the national highway would naturally be overlooked. An 80-kilometer stretch of highway borders towns, intersecting roads, factories, farnds, hills, valleys, and woonds;prehensive surveince was impossible, at least not at a low cost. Zhou Yuanqiang nced at the squadron leader, then said helplessly, ¡°Indeed, 80 kilometers is quite the stretch.¡± ¡°Another reason to ask for Director Xu¡¯s assistance is that Director Liu¡¯s views are good, but tend toward conservatism,¡± Jiang Yuan, with his extensive experience in cold case homicides, now had an authoritative demeanor when discussing cases. The detectives from Luyang were on tenterhooks when Jiang Yuan mentioned ¡°conservatism.¡± Jiang Yuan continued unperturbed, ¡°I believe there are two conservative points. First, the use of cadaver dogs is necessary, but the national highway environment is tooplex to rely solely on them. If nothing is found, not only would it waste resources, but it would also worry future investigators, making them hesitant to take this path.¡± As a cold case investigator, even though he had a high sess rate in solving cases, Jiang Yuan always considered the possibility of being unable to solve them, aiming at least not to hinder future detectives. Laying a slightly better foundation for his sessors, he felt, would justify his hard work. This perspective was something that the few individuals drowning in day-to-day cases had never contemted. For a moment, they all seemed stunned. Jiang Yuan went on, ¡°The second conservative aspect is Director Liu¡¯s proposal to search the national highway section only between the first and second bodies. He based this on probability, which is sound. The stretch between where the first and second bodies were discovered is indeed the likeliest location for a third body. However, if we search these 80-plus kilometers thoroughly, shouldn¡¯t we extend it further? At the moment, it seems highly probable that the killer might have buried more bodies along sections of the highway; after all, the first and second were stumbled upon by ident, and it seems too coincidental that the killer only buried those two.¡± Jiang Yuan paused then added, ¡°However, it¡¯s still uncertain, right? It¡¯s possible that the killer simply buried them too shallowly, was in a hurry, and they were thus easily found by ident. More importantly, if we only search the 80 kilometers between the two bodies, the probability is no longer that high, is it?¡± The head of Luyang¡¯s Criminal Police Squad, Zheng Tianxin, felt his brain throb at these words. What was all this talk? This was the unvarnished truth! The greater the search area, the wider the coverage, the higher the probability of finding something. This concept wasn¡¯t difficult to grasp. I¡¯d think a 2 million yuan car is probably better than a 200,000 yuan car¡ªthat¡¯s notplex knowledge. The tricky part is how to scrape together another 1.8 million yuan! And what Jiang Yuan suggested wasn¡¯t merely utilizing dogs but increasing manpower as well, and not just examining 80 kilometers but even more¡­ How could Zheng Tianxin not understand that this n was superior? But was what hecked ¡®creativity¡¯? The money would have toe from Luyang! Zheng Tianxin looked at Jiang Yuan with an expression of silent grief, akin to a mother-inw insisting on a fortune as a dowry. Regrettably, Zheng Tianxin still had to say, with an amodating tone, ¡°If this n can crack the case, we¡¯re not ruling it out, but it¡¯s just too expensive. If we go through with it and still can¡¯t solve Case 805, I might as well jump off a building.¡± ¡°So, we need to ask Xu Taining, Director Xu.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s words pierced Zheng Tianxin¡¯s heart. ¡°If Director Xu agrees, then this n might just work.¡± A faint glimmer of hope shone in Zheng Tianxin¡¯s eyes. Indeed, if Xu Taining agreed to do the screening, it would indicate that he was rtively optimistic about the n. It was a double guarantee. Given the current state of the criminal investigation system in Shannan Province, having Xu Taining, Jiang Yuan who was even better than the forensic doctor, and Liu Jinghui, this n with so many parties participating and giving their approval, if they still couldn¡¯t solve the 805 case, then there would be no point in continuing with the case, and there would be no need for Zheng Tianxin to jump off a building. Looking from all perspectives, the only issue with the n proposed by Jiang Yuan, aside from being costly, was that there weren¡¯t many faults to find. Zheng Tianxin let out a long sigh. At the other end of the conference table, Chai Tong listened with his eyes wide and mouth agape, feeling surprisingly exhrated inside. He had never expected that under Jiang Yuan¡¯s handling, the case would not only see the first glimmer of dawn but also managed to torment Zheng Tianxin, as well as the Luyang City Bureau behind him. It was like killing two birds with one stone. Jiang Yuan also felt his mouth dry from talking, so he took a cup of water to drink, waiting for Zheng Tianxin to make a decision. He had also been contemting the n proposed by Liu Jinghui. Fundamentally speaking, there was nothing wrong with the direction of Liu Jinghui¡¯s n. The two bodies and two cases had been pulverized and dissected by Luyang City, studied under a microscope for more than two years. Even though their technical capabilities could becking, the meticulous process and coverage of the investigation greatly exceeded what Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad could offer. Following these two bodies and two cases, it wasn¡¯t to say that no results could be achieved, but the difficulty would definitely be above level LV5. If it were any lower, Luyang should have been able to handle it with difficulty. Unless there was a decisive clue, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t believe that the mere passage of time and the details about the nail art would lead to any substantial change. When a single case couldn¡¯t be solved, it would either be a cold case or seek other cases by the same offender for a joint investigation¡ªthis was the most basic investigative theory. Once the cases werebined, there would be space to summarize and deduce. Moreover, some cases might just happen to be perfectly executed by coincidence. However, to continuously produce perfect crimes was far too difficult. Knowing that the offender hadmitted multiple crimes, seeking a joint investigation was the most natural line of thought. The only concern was that Liu Jinghui, who often settled for ¡°good enough,¡± tended to go for the most straightforward solution, while in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, having already invested so much, it would be a wasted effort to pinch pennies now. Furthermore, the scale of search and screening over 80 kilometers was already massive, beyond Jiang Yuan¡¯s control, and indeed, beyond themand capabilities of mostmanders, including Liu Jinghui. If there were to be any oversights in such arge operation, it would be even less worthwhile. Historically, cases like the Baiyin serial murders took so long to resolve because there were mistakes in numerous screenings. Rumors abounded about problems in screenings that prevented the breaking of the Red Dress Eight Bodies Case despite it being on the verge of being solved. This was why Jiang Yuan leaned towards arge-scale operation, calling on Xu Taining. And as he said, Xu Taining¡¯s own attitude could also corroborate the reliability of this n. ¡°Ah,¡± Zheng Tianxin sighed again, then said with struggle, ¡°Otherwise, let¡¯s deploy dozens of people on the national highway and look into the other two leads at the same time. If the murderer tries to move the bodies, he might just fall right into our trap¡­¡± ¡°The death time and the nail art, these two leads, are unlikely to yield results in a short time.¡± Jiang Yuan had already considered other, cheaper solutions and said earnestly, ¡°Adjusting the time of death would help in re-investigating the victim¡¯s social rtionships. However, Li Yuan¡¯s job involved selling sex, and her rtionships with clients are inherently difficult to investigate. Moreover, as I see in the dossier, you have tried to trace clients back two to three months, and you¡¯ve checked as much as you could.¡± Zheng Tianxin took a sip of tea before asking, ¡°What about the nail art?¡± ¡°There are too many nail salons, and the nail polishes they use are mostly simr. There are also many frence nail artists, both within and outside of the shops, and the turnover among nail artists is high. Some people even do their own nails at home. The nail art lead is hard to follow directly to the identity of the second victim. It could only serve as corroborative evidence,¡± said Jiang Yuan candidly. Even in the best-case scenario, assuming that the second victim visited a licensed salon, and the team managed to find the ce, what could a nail salon tell you about a customer from two years ago who was 165cm tall and weighed 120 pounds? After a while, Zheng Tianxin stood up and said, ¡°I understand. I¡¯m going to make a call.¡± Chapter 424 - 424 391 Search ?424: Chapter 391 Search 424: Chapter 391 Search Jiang Family¡¯s kitchen. Uncle Qiang was chopping the filling with a kitchen knife, and once he finished, he piled it into the stainless steel basin. Jiang Fuzhen came holding an ostrich, expertly deboning it. Jiang Yuan stood in front of the stove, looking like a master chef as he prepared a secret marinade for meatballs using sweet potatoes, pumpkin, chicken eggs, duck eggs, duck meat, ostrich meat, and fish. Everyone was bustling about, only Jiang Fuzhen, with a touch of concern, wiped off some sweat and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, if the police dogs don¡¯t eat this dog food, just feed it to the stray dogs, okay? Don¡¯t bring it home, I¡¯m afraid it might stuff our Doberman to death.¡± ¡°There might not even be enough to go around. Tomorrow, I reckon there¡¯ll be at least a dozen or twenty dogs,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he stirred the minced meat, ensuring it was evenly heated, ¡°this is going to keep us busy for several days.¡± ¡°If it tastes good, of course there won¡¯t be enough. But if it doesn¡¯t taste good, it¡¯ll be hard to finish it all,¡± Jiang Fuzhen remarked with a deep sense of experience while looking at the ostrich under his knife: ¡°When I first tried this thing, I nearly paid someone a hundred bucks to eat a bite.¡± Jiang Yuan let out an amusedugh, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, dogs like to eat vorful things, and as long as the ostrich meat is cleaned thoroughly, there won¡¯t be any problems.¡± ¡°Wild dogs couldn¡¯t catch an ostrich to eat out there, could they? They wouldn¡¯t win in a fight, I guess,¡± Uncle Qiang remarked, looking disdainfully at the plucked ostrich. It seemed like an oversized chicken, but with a longer neck and rougher pores, it was hard to look at it and get hungry. There was also a slight feeling of fear, perhaps an ancient fear stemming from the age of dinosaurs. With his LV5 dog food preparation skills, Jiang Yuan confidently went about making the dog food, casually adding, ¡°Wild dogs can¡¯t get beef either¡­ I¡¯m using ostrich meat mainly to enhance the vor. The dogsing tomorrow have varied diets, some regrly eat beef and mutton, while others eat chicken and pork. They have different perceptions of taste. Giving them ostrich meat, something they¡¯ve never had before, will provide novelty.¡± As Uncle Qiang worked, he suddenly developed a doubt, ¡°Is being a forensic doctor these days about doing such misceneous tasks? Back in the army, the main forces didn¡¯t have to help out in the kitchen at all.¡± So, Jiang Yuan scooped up a spoonful of the minced meat from the pot and held it under Uncle Qiang¡¯s nose. ¡­ By the national road. The aroma of the dog food excited the police dogs, who were even more eager than Uncle Qiang. If not for the officers holding them, they would¡¯ve gone straight for a buffet. Jiang Yuan patted the heads of familiar police dogs like Dazhuang and Heizi, signaling to the handlers that they could help themselves to the dog food, before leaving the area where the dogs were assembled. Soon, under Xu Taining¡¯smand, the dogs started following their handlers, setting off or getting into vehicles, each searching their assigned area. Arge number of officers also boarded vehicles, heading for their designated sectors. Wearing a white shirt with the cor button fastened tightly, Xu Taining walked up to Jiang Yuan and said with a smile, ¡°Where did you learn this dog cooking technique from?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t specifically learn it, but dogs enjoy my cooking,¡± Jiang Yuan replied with a smile, considering that an exchange of pleasantries. ¡°What you feed them, dogs are always happy with. However¡­¡± Xu Taining changed the subject, ¡°I can¡¯t promise you that everyone will be pleased with this sweep you¡¯ve asked me to carry out.¡± ¡°Yeah, you mentioned that before,¡± responded Jiang Yuan. ¡°What I said before was that it might bebor-intensive and costly without finding anything. Now, I¡¯m cautioning you, if we don¡¯t find anything, we might be stuck here indefinitely,¡± Xu Taining had a very good impression of Jiang Yuan. In addition to the 805 case and the work being done by the Luyang City Bureau, Xu Taining thought Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases were quite reliable. At this moment, Xu Taining was reminding Jiang Yuan, ¡°The Luyang City Bureau sought the support of the provincial hall leaders, so we did receive a degree of backing. Consider it an extra incentive for us.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, thenughed, ¡°Luyang has spent so much money and mobilized so many people; wanting some assurance is quite reasonable.¡± ¡°The approach is correct, keep on searching until we find something. That¡¯s the current stance of Luyang Bureau, and we should be prepared. They only talked to the leaders just before we set out, so they¡¯ve certainly put their minds to it,¡± Xu Taining mentioned as an aside. Over the years, the results haven¡¯t always been smooth in his experience. Sometimes, when the search yields no results, or the desired results aren¡¯t found, the financiers and the spenders are naturally discontent, and it¡¯s just something that can¡¯t be helped. Luyang City Bureau reluctantly invited Xu Taining, and the same was true for other districts and cities when they invited him. In this era, poor unitscked funds, and wealthy units were just as much in a state where ¡°thendlord¡¯s family doesn¡¯t have any surplus grain.¡± Squeezing out some funds might be easy, but was Xu Taining someone to spend only a tiny bit of money? Looking at today¡¯s scenario, one could understand. The initial search area was 110 kilometers, extending 30 kilometers beyond Site 1 and 2. It sounded effortless, but think about securing a marathon race, which only covers about 40 kilometers; the cost for the additional 30 kilometers could easily aggravate a few leaders. However, this was merely the beginning. Xu Taining had also mobilized over 40 pieces of construction equipment, mostly excavators, as well as tbeds and small cranes. In his words, if someone doubted a particr spot, allowing them to dig on their own meant there would be far fewer suspicious locations. Additionally, using engineering machinery is also cheaper than hiring manualbor to excavate. Besides, the more than 40 police canines from various ces, the initially invested over 800 police officers, more than 100 vehicles, various metal detectors, walkie-talkies, high-power shlights, gloves, raincoats, shovels, hoes, drones¡­ even the supplies and equipment needed for eating and resting, could be overwhelming for a regr city bureau. Without experience, such arge-scale search could easily waste millions. What Jiang Yuan feared most was missing something. Based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s current experience and understanding, the majority of difficult cases were closely tied to initial investigative errors. The killer couldn¡¯t eradicate all traces; that would only lead him to create even more traces. The only thing that could really wipe out traces of a crime was mistakes by the investigators. There¡¯s no need to use domestic examples; the famous Simpson wife-murder case is a case in point, regardless of how dreamy Simpson¡¯s legal team was, the prosecutors indeed messed it up. The JonBen¨¦t Ramsey murder case, which involved a 6-year-old beauty pageant queen, also became difficult to investigateter on due to the crime scene beingpromised. ¡°It¡¯s started.¡± Dr. Mei Fang approached as Xu Taining got into the car to check on the operation and greeted Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Now, we just hope the two of us, as forensic doctors, can be of use soon.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Jiang Yuan was also a bit nervous. This case was ultimately being pushed forward by him. Now, apart from Xu Taining conducting a search here, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Team was still continuing to investigate the social rtions of victim number one, Li Yuan, while the nail salon lead was being pursued by people from Luyang City. Everyone¡¯s united efforts and hard work were all in hopes of seeing results. Dr. Mei Fang looked at the grand scene before him and couldn¡¯t help feeling overwhelmed, saying, ¡°As long as it¡¯s there, we¡¯ll definitely find it.¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile. The search for Liu Jinghui back then had been even bigger than this, and they¡¯d still almost failed. ¡°I just fear the criminal won¡¯t cooperate with us,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Dr. Mei Fang looked at Jiang Yuan surprisingly and said, ¡°I thought you were quite certain before organizing the search.¡± ¡°Rationally speaking, yes, emotionally¡­¡± Jiang Yuan shrugged. ¡°There must still be bodies buried,¡± Liu Jinghui said as he came over from the other side, handing Jiang Yuan and Dr. Mei Fang each a bottle of water. After taking a sip himself, he said, ¡°The disposal methods for the first and second bodies are clearly different; the second one was dismembered. This indicates that the killer¡¯s method is escting, and during this process, it¡¯s impossible for him to have killed just one person. If you¡¯re only ughtering two chickens at home, would you need to change your ughtering methods? Upgrades and optimizations are made to cope with arge number of simr situations.¡± ¡°That makes sense.¡± Dr. Mei Fang listened and nodded repeatedly. Jiang Yuan had already heard Liu Jinghui express simr theories before, and they had consented to this theory through mutual discussions, which led to the current search operation. Inparison, Dr. Mei Fang had many more questions. Seizing the opportunity, he asked, ¡°If the killermits crimes along the national highway, like a truck driver, and the bodies are beyond this 110-kilometer range, is that also possible?¡± Truck drivers and prostitutes are practically a clich¨¦ in crime dramas, and in reality, there are indeed many cases involving murdering truck drivers and murdered prostitutes. Liu Jinghui shook his head, saying, ¡°Our country¡¯s truck drivers travel nationwide. If they wanted to bury bodies, there¡¯s no need to bury them just within the borders of Luyang City, and simr cases haven¡¯t been discovered elsewhere.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true¡­¡± Dr. Mei Fang was a pretty good forensic doctor, but he wasn¡¯t directly involved in the investigation, so he could only make some generalized spections. But talking to Jiang Yuan for a bit, Dr. Mei Fang gradually calmed down. ¡°Director Liu, shall we go have a look up front?¡± Jiang Yuan brought Liu Jinghui into the car and they drove slowly forward. To search a distance of 110 kilometers, even with a speed of 80-something kilometers per hour, they would need to drive for nearly an hour and a half. A full-line search was a daunting spectacle. ¡°It takes someone like you, ordinary people from other departments wouldn¡¯t make such a decision,¡± Liu Jinghui said while looking out the window. Jiang Yuan, looking ahead, said, ¡°There must be something. It¡¯s just a matter of how quickly we find it.¡± As they were speaking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. The two exchanged a nce, and Jiang Yuan immediately answered, announcing, ¡°This is Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve put you on speaker.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve found a bag of remains,¡± came Xu Taining¡¯s voice on the other end of the line. ¡°A bag? How big a bag?¡± ¡°About a quarter or a third of a body. It looks like there¡¯s at least one leg, no clothing, wrapped in a tarpaulin bag. The body is badly dposed, almost skeletonized,¡± Xu Taining sighed, ¡°I think it¡¯s time to call in more manpower.¡± Chapter 425 - 425 392 Unwrapping the Package ?425: Chapter 392: Unwrapping the Package 425: Chapter 392: Unwrapping the Package Jiang Yuan drove for about fifteen minutes to the site and saw that the scene was already surrounded by twoyers of people. Not only were dogs barking, but there was also a small truck, bringing saline and mineral water among other supplies, which were being distributed on the spot. Jiang Yuan parked his car by the roadside and jumped out with a stern expression. He ran over to see the body bag, which was more than ten meters away from the crowd. Only one person stood nearby, and his expression rxed slightly, but he still yelled, ¡°Those who are fine, continue searching for other bodies, don¡¯t crowd around.¡± ¡°We want to see how the murderer buried the body, and check out the depth and such,¡± a criminal police officer from Luyang City murmured. Like the others, he was eager to crack the case and naturally did not appreciate being treated like a civilian. All Jiang Yuan said was, ¡°This murderer¡¯s habits might have changed.¡± That was all he said, and then he began to put on protective clothing, wearing three sets of gloves and a face shield. Liu Jinghui, who followed behind, also donned protective gear. ¡°How was it discovered?¡± Jiang Yuan raised his voice to inquire of the officer next to the body bag. ¡°The dog barked,¡± the officer, also from Luyang City, said with a mix of excitement and confusion. The police dog had already been pulled far away to avoid identallypromising the scene. The police dog was just an ordinary Labrador, a breed with a good sense of smellmonly used as a police dog. Luyang City had utilized such dogs in searches before but had never made a find. If this bag of bodies had been found earlier, Luyang City might not have stumbled so much on the 805 case. Jiang Yuan first observed the surroundings and took some pictures with his phone. Liu Jinghui also took out his phone but started recording a video instead and pointed the camera nonchntly at the people around. Their current location was about thirty to forty meters away from the national highway, with utility poles and shrubs in between. If the body had been buried on the spot, passersby on the highway would at most see people doing something here, but they probably wouldn¡¯t be able to see clearly what was being done. Compared to the discovery site of body number one, the distance here was much greater. The site where body number one was found was only about twenty meters from the national highway and was a rtively open, t area. It was only after Xu Taining was brought in that the search area expanded to include 50 meters around the highway, which made it possible for the police dog to find this current discovery site. However, this site indeedy between the discovery sites of bodies one and two, about ten kilometers away from the site of body number one. In terms of driving distance, it could be said to be very close, even perhaps too close. Because in front of Jiang Yuan was just one body bag, containing only part of a body. In other words, the murderer had at least two morerge bags of bodies to bury. If it was distributed evenly, that meant about ten kilometers between each burial. Xu Taining also walked over. He had been sitting in a car nearby, cooling off with the air conditioning, and only got out when he saw Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui arrive. He too stood over ten meters away, just watching. Liu Jinghui greeted him and said, ¡°Director Xu is reallyposed. If I had found bodies, I¡¯d be restless.¡± ¡°I just went back to the car to take some heart-saving pills,¡± responded Xu Taining, adjusting his clothes. ¡°Besides, you all are here to solve the case, and this is still a Luyang City case. Too many orders can cause confusion¡ªit¡¯s not a good thing.¡± Like Liu Jinghui, he was also a senior police officer who had been on the road for years. Of course, because it was very costly to have Xu Taining¡¯s involvement, the cases he worked on were of a higher level and moreplex. He could see what wasing next. Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t in the mood to joke either. He took out his phone again to take photos and think. Soon, a technician with a professional camera arrived on the scene, clicking away non-stop as if they had caught a celebrity in an affair. A few meters away, Jiang Yuan opened his forensic investigation kit but didn¡¯t rush to open the body bag. First, he had people erect a sun umbre and set up wind barriers around the area. Normally, cases weren¡¯t handled with such fuss, but now that they had the conditions, and it only took a few minutes to set up, he naturally operated to a higher standard. By the time they were ready to open the body bag, Mei Fang and the leaders from the Luyang City Bureau were almost all present. Mei Fang immediately stepped forward to help. Handling bodies alone was very troublesome, but with two people, it was much easier. Jiang Yuan saw Mei Fanging and unceremoniously said, ¡°Mei, I have an insect toolkit in my car. Please grab it for me.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Mei Fang took the car keys and turned around to get the items. After a while, Mei Fang ran back with another officer following him. A few meters away, Mei Fang put on his protective suit again, then took out the insect from the toolkit and handed it to the officer next to him. He then took out poison vials, beakers, insect rearing boxes, and other items, cing them beside the corpse, before handing tweezers to Jiang Yuan. Once everything was ready, Jiang Yuan and Mei Fang positioned themselves on either side of the snake skin bag and slowly opened it. Actually, the snake skin bag had already been opened by the criminal police when they found the body. The bag was half-buried in the ground, only about thirty to fifty centimeters from the surface, not buried very deep. Jiang Yuan waited for the technician to take photos, then he further opened the snake skin bag. A foul smell hit them in the face. If the earlier stench was a mere wafting scent, it was now like someone squatting on your face and defecating, apanied by loud farts. Of course, the actual odor was even more unpleasant. The human revulsion to the smell of decaying flesh is ingrained in our genes, innate from birth. The corpse inside the bag was no longer recognizable as human. Instead, it was teeming with maggots. At a nce, there were eggs,rvae, cast skins, pupae, pupal cases, and adult insects present. In addition, insect limbs, feces, pupation holes, and emergence holes were also visible. The criminal police standing behind began to swing the insect, and Mei Fang specifically reminded them, ¡°Prioritize catching newly emerged adults, the greyish-white ones that look cleaner and lighter in color.¡± As they spoke, Mei Fang and Jiang Yuan began to catch various bugs, flies, eggs, and pupae with tweezers and by hand. All the adult insects were crammed into the poison vials to be killed, the eggs were ced in beakers filled with 80% ethanol, and the luckier eggs were put into the insect rearing boxes. Thervae were first dumped into beakers with boiling water and then transferred to the ethanol beakers. The boiling water came from a thermos, emitting steam at over 90 degrees Celsius, giving off a warm feeling. Soon enough, the insects on the body were mostly taken care of, but they still needed to dig around the site to collect any surrounding insects as well. However, at this moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention shifted to the body. A right leg, arge portion of the hip bone, and some chunks of flesh that might have been part of the abdomen made a very clear statement; the killer was not a forensic doctor. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have given up the hip bone so easily. Mei Fang and Jiang Yuan sifted through the decayed flesh for bones. The leaders of Luyang City Bureau, eager for answers, craned their necks and mumbled, ¡°How is it? Is it a new body or Number Two?¡± ¡°It should be a new body,¡± Mei Fang made the judgment with ease. ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good¡­ no, that¡¯s too unfortunate¡­¡± the leader quickly corrected himself. Zhou Yuanqiang leaned close to Liu Jinghui and asked in a low voice, ¡°Director Liu, what do you think?¡± ¡°Actually, the discovery site of the body already exins many issues,¡± Liu Jinghui also had a strong desire to express his thoughts. While examining the body, he said, ¡°First off, the density of the burial sites suggests, regardless of the reason, the killer is familiar with the area. This means he either lived or worked here. Just this alone significantly narrows down the suspect pool. At the very least, typical passersby shouldn¡¯t be considered.¡± As he spoke, Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°Even frequent travelers like drivers are less suspect, as there¡¯s no need to bury the bodies so close.¡± ¡°Third, the burial site of Number Two is still unknown. Butparing Numbers One and Three, their distance from the national road is deliberate. Number One was aplete body buried about 20 meters from the road, and Number Three was dismembered, more than 40 meters away. This is likely because aplete body is too heavy to carry. Also, it indicates that the killer indeed disposed of the bodies starting from the national road. We just don¡¯t know if Number One or Number Three was buried first.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s few sentences hit the nail on the head, without any waste of words, causing the officers from Luyang City Bureau to nod continuously. They were all well-versed in Case 805. Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis contained points that coincided with their prior judgments, and the rest aligned with their understanding. From the few clues, they recalled some rumors about Liu Jinghui that suddenly surged in their minds. Chapter 426 - 426 393 Continuation ?426: Chapter 393 Continuation 426: Chapter 393 Continuation The sun was high in the sky. The breeze was warm, but the mood of the people at the recovery scene varied. Jiang Yuan and Mei Fang were together, picking up bones with rotting flesh into a stic barrel, while the remaining decaying flesh in the snakeskin bag mixed with body fluids, soil, maggots, and other matter, creating a nauseating soup. The bottom of the snakeskin bag had broken open, but it was unclear whether it had been punctured or bored through by insects. Jiang Yuan suppressed his emotions as much as possible. At this moment, there was no ce for cheers, sighs of regret were pointless, and even specting about the case was meaningless. The scene was filled with astute officers pondering and contemting, and even more experienced detectives who understood the case better than Jiang Yuan understood mutton. They were also waiting for Jiang Yuan to provide more clues tobine with the information they already had to make judgments. Even Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t rashly make a decisive judgment at this time. ¡°The deceased is female, about 30 years old,¡± Jiang Yuan said after he had fished out the bones, stretching his back and legs to give the team a basic piece of information. Then, Mei Fang measured the length of the right femur on the spot and discussed with Jiang Yuan to arrive at a range for height and weight. Jiang Yuandao dered, ¡°Height 168, weight 110.¡± When ites to technical work, that¡¯s just how it is. No matter whether you can handle things on your own or not, when working together, there always needs to be a decision-maker. Especially in forensic science, where ethnicity-based regression equations are ubiquitous, which to use and which not to use, each specialist has their own judgment. Like Mei Fang, who had summarized somemonly used regression equations that were slightly more urate than general ones. As for Jiang Yuan, he would actually first determine the decedent¡¯s origin¡ªmore urately, the regional characteristics of their ethnicity¡ªthen choose which regression equation to use based on people from different regions. This determination was based on the differences between various bones. For instance, people from certain regions with long femurs nheless have different foot bone lengths. For example, women in the south tend to be shorter and haverger feetpared to women in the north. Looking at the length of the foot bones was within Mei Fang¡¯s scope of expertise, although he would not normally be so detailed, needing to look up the specific regression equation, but he would usually be aware of them. For someone at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level, however, the proportions of the talus, metatarsals, and phnges on the foot were all different. The widths of different people¡¯s feet, as well as the heights of their arches, were clearly controlled by gics. A more obvious example would be that Northern Europeans tend to have longer feet with less subcutaneous fat, resulting in thinner and slimmer feet, while Asians generally have higher insteps and wider feet, and South Americans have narrow, slender feet. Hence, when trying on shoes in Adidas or Nike stores, it¡¯smon to feel the shoes run small, but in reality, it¡¯s often because the width and height are inadequate. Beyond that, for most people, toe separation might be more conspicuous. There are typically Egyptian feet, Roman feet, and Greek feet based on the lengths of the toes, sometimes adding a square foot into the mix. The Greek foot, also known as the ¡°beautiful foot¡± because the second toe is the longest, usually indicates a person with slender limbs and an elegant foot shape. Many ancient Greek and Roman sculptures also opted for the Greek foot. In China, there was a vulgar saying about the Greek foot: ¡°A longer second toe means you won¡¯t take care of your parents.¡± Simrly, when trying on shoes, people who choose pointed leather shoes or pointed high heels often feel ufortable. That difort is correct because the pointed shoes are designed for those with Greek feet. Conversely, the five-toe socks popr in Japan are quite unfriendly to Greek feet, as an overly long second toe can easily poke through the sock, suggesting that the proportion of Japanese people with Greek feet is very low. In fact, most Asians have Egyptian feet, where the toe lengths descend in a slope from the big toe. Footprints alone, in fact, are connected to podiatry, and when you delve into different bones, they all rte to gics. For example, Asian squatting is incredibly simple for a forensic doctor to exin, as it¡¯s due to the proportions of the leg bones being different between Asians and people from other regions. The femur and the tibia of Asians are basically the same length, allowing them to squat in the manner known as the Asian squat. In immigrant nations like the United States, there is more extensive research into the rtionship between ethnicity and the body because of the diversity of the poption. China has a rtively homogeneous poption with less obvious regional differences, so there is less research inparison. However, for forensic doctors, subtle differences often be the focal point for breakthroughs. ¡°Stop using the shovel, call a couple more people over, and dig out the rest of the body with your hands.¡± Jiang Yuan gathered therge bones and, seeing that the remaining body had already blended into the soil, simply called for people to use their hands to dig. Under the watchful eyes of a group of leaders, several young police officers were brought in. They excavated another basin full of dposed flesh, soil, and insect carcasses. ¡°Are we done?¡± An officer, exhausted and wiping sweat, only caught the stench after wiping his brow, turning his whole face green with nausea. ¡°Go throw up further away, no throwing up within 15 meters,¡± Jiang Yuan dismissed the officer and then added, ¡°Call a few more people over, and take all the soil within a 10-meter radius of the body bag back too.¡± Insects with a taste for corpses don¡¯t just eat, sleep, and breed on the body, they also spread around the vicinity of the corpse, and the number within a 10-meter radius can be quite substantial. Jiang Yuan, himself, didn¡¯t understand forensic entomology, but there were experts in the province, whom he could consult when the time came. For a big case like Case 805, it wasn¡¯t like a small case where one could find the cheapest route in, crack the case, and leave; it demanded more. The correct approach was to proceed on multiple fronts. If multiple paths were viable, then all should be taken. This would also be more advantageous during the trial stage. In the vicinity of the body, what the forensic doctor says goes. Mei Fang quickly called over more people, bag by bag, they shoveled the soil. After excavating arge hole around the area, Xu Taining¡¯s pickup truck, prepared in advance, was also filled up. Jiang Yuan then pulled off his gloves and said to Liu Jinghui, ¡°I¡¯m going back to perform the autopsy; you guys keep busy.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed and reminded him, ¡°Keep in touch at all times.¡± Jiang Yuan hoisted the body and equipment onto another vehicle and, when he turned to speak to Xu Taining, thetter was on the phone again. By the time Xu Taining hung up, Jiang Yuan had roughly guessed the oue. ¡°Another body has been discovered,¡± Xu Taining sighed heavily. A body was not just a single person¡¯s tragedy, but the sorrow of a whole family. And based on Xu Taining¡¯s experience, the fact that bodies were being found so quickly at the very start of the search phase was definitely not a good sign. ¡°I¡¯ll go take a look now, have someone drive the bodies from here,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he handed the keys to a person nearby. Chapter 427 - 427 394 More ?427: Chapter 394 More 427: Chapter 394 More The so-called ¡°another body¡± was actually only half a body again, this time the upper half, headless, and divided into two parts. The burial site was located about 40 meters from the national road. Simr to the discovery site of the third body, with an elevation difference from the national road and sparsely spaced trees providing cover, the wilderness was fairly overgrown, with weeds and broken bricks greatly hindering movement. Liu Jinghui followed Jiang Yuan to the location, looked around, and said softly, ¡°This guy is likely working alone.¡± ¡°Because of the dismemberment?¡± Jiang Yuan replied in an equally low voice, as they were still in the guessing stage. Solving a case also involved bold assumptions and careful verification, but assumptions were not to be stated loudly lest they affect other people¡¯s judgments. Liu Jinghui hummed in agreement and said, ¡°The first body was closest to the national road, about 20 meters away, and its being discovered is rted to this distance. The third and now the fourth, one fifty meters, the other forty meters, actually not too far either. If there were two people who could carry it, they could have taken it farther away, or there would be no need to cut it up so finely. The scene here is more obvious¡ª an upper torso split into two body bags, with innards spilling everywhere. If it wasn¡¯t to make it easier for one person to transport, it wouldn¡¯t make much sense, would it?¡± ¡°Is there a possibility that it was first hacked into pieces and then bagged?¡± Jiang Yuan stripped off his clothes, including his coat and trousers, wrapped everything up in a stic bag, then sprayed it with alcohol, and changed into a new set of protective clothing, including threeyers of coverings. Contaminating one crime scene with evidence from another could not onlyplicate the investigation but also adversely affect the prosecution, and even more so during the subsequent death penalty review. Liu Jinghui also reluctantly disrobed and changed into protective clothing. Then, looking down at the body parts in the makeshift grave, he said, ¡°The killer used an axe to dismember, not a chainsaw or anything like that. I think there should have been some nning. Look at this body part, the head must have been removed from the top, and the middle is chopped from the waist. If it were two people doing this, this step would bepletely sufficient. Why go to the trouble of splitting the breastbone, dividing it into two sections, creating a mess of innards that look like thin soup, and then burying both pieces in one pit¡­¡± Yes, the two body bags contained the two halves of the upper torso of the same victim, split down the middle of the chest, simr to how a sheep is carved up, but much rougher than a butcher¡¯s work. And the victim¡¯s innards, due to being left out for so long, had now liquefied. Although Liu Jinghui was not a forensic doctor, he had seen enough to easily distinguish which part of the body the broken pieces came from. Jiang Yuan let out a sigh and quickly nced twice at the torn body bags, forced them together, and said, ¡°The head isn¡¯t here; it¡¯s just the upper torso, weighing about 40 pounds. If the killer couldn¡¯t even carry this much, they¡¯re not very strong. An older person?¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯re sick,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes brightened, suggesting a possible breakthrough, prompting him to survey the surroundings. Neither of them had given much thought to the possibility of a female perpetrator. Such a brutal and bloody case of dismemberment was very unlikely to be carried out by a female, far less likely than by an older man or a sick man. Women whomit murder tend to use poisoning or to kill when the victim is vulnerable, such as when they are drunk, after sex, or asleep. The first and second victims had both undergoneprehensive toxicological testing with no such findings, but there were signs of abduction, extortion, and knife wounds, all of which do not quite match the characteristics of female perpetrators. At least for now, discussing a female perpetrator is pointless. As for men, carrying 40 pounds might be a bit heavy normally, but a normal middle-aged or young adult should still be able to shoulder fifty pounds, unless there is a special reason. Mei Fang had just packed up at the previous scene and had now hurriedly driven over. She quickly changed into protective gear and then came over, carrying tworge boxes. ¡°Is it the same body as the third one we just found?¡± Mei Fang bent down to arrange her equipment, preparing to do it all over again as before, and casually asked a question. ¡°No. It¡¯s only half a body, but it¡¯s another victim¡¯s. Headless,¡± Jiang Yuan answered briefly. ¡°Is that determined by the time of death?¡± Mei Fang inquired. ¡°Yes. Also, both the third and fourth bodies have cyges,¡± Jiang Yuan only nced once but noticed the bottom section of the spine. Clearly, a person can¡¯t have two cyx bones. ¡°So, there are more body parts or bags left outside,¡± Mei Fangmented, looking outwards. ¡°Are your superiors regretting their decision?¡± Liu Jinghui suddenly grew curious. Mei Fang chuckled twice and spread her hands, saying, ¡°We also searched around the body afterwards. After finding the second body, we searched a range of two or three kilometers nearby, but to expand it further¡­ it¡¯s not easy to make such a big determination today.¡± After discovering a body, it would be considered normal to search the surrounding area for a few hundred meters. No criminal investigation team would find a body outdoors and then say, ¡°Brothers, let¡¯s conduct a search extending ten kilometers out!¡± Even if Victim No. 2 was found, it would just be one aspect of the decision to conduct a search. The reason Jiang Yuan insisted on having Xu Taining involved was inseparable from both the judgment made afterpleting the autopsy and Liu Jinghui¡¯s assessment. Of course, it was also closely rted to him not having to cover the expenses. The same decision was one that the Luyang City Bureau simply couldn¡¯t make before, and truth be told, they still couldn¡¯t make it now. The speed with which the body was found was also rted to Xu Taining¡¯s strategy. He mobilized hundreds of people at once, especially the more than 40 scent tracking dogs, along with apanying vehicles of all sorts, and dispersed the personnel and dogs over a vast area, spanning 110 kilometers along the national highway, with a 50-meter width on each side, to start searching in multiple ces simultaneously. Every single one of these actions was beyond the capabilities of the Luyang City Bureau. Even Liu Jinghui¡¯s advice at the time¡ªto cover a length of 80 kilometers with 20 meters on each side¡ªmight not lead to a single discovery. Victim No. 3 was over 20 meters away, and Victim No. 4 more than 40 meters, both beyond the proposed range. ¡°Bug Hunting, it¡¯s time to collect the body,¡± Jiang Yuan said, watching Mei Fang prepare the hot water, alcohol, and poison bottles. He then squatted down and began to get busy. Soon after, Xu Taining and the leaders from the Luyang City Bureau switched locations and came over as well. A group of people still stood watching from a distance of more than ten meters. Logistics had even delivered sun umbres and chairs so they could sit while watching. However, this distance was not sufficient to block out the stench of dposition. The faint foul odor, even if just a trace reached one¡¯s nose, felt like your mouth was being forcefully filled with excrement, so foul it made one want to cry. ¡°I¡¯m nning to extend the search range on both sides to 80 meters, and some segments to 100 meters,¡± Xu Taining said, seeing that several of the main leaders from the Luyang City Bureau were present, immediately proposing a change to the n. The few who had just settled down suddenly found themselves unable to speak, choking up. ¡°Is it possible to request some funding assistance from the provincial department?¡± Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang, who had been given a signal, quickly asked. ¡°That¡¯s up to you. I¡¯m not in charge of the finances,¡± Xu Taining said with a smile. ¡°There are always some special funds avable, though how much I couldn¡¯t say.¡± A murder case certainly had to be solved asprehensively as possible, but the Luyang City Bureau didn¡¯t want to go bankrupt. Going by Xu Taining¡¯s requirements, expanding the search area by another 30 to 50 meters would more than double the required funding. The further away from the national highway, the less human activity there was, the more natural the environment became, and the more costly it was in every respect. The Luyang City Bureau would much rather catch the perpetrator first, then bring them back to identify the locations of the bodies one by one. Digging then aspared to digging now would vastly reduce the cost. The leaders consulted with each other using eye contact. After handling cases for so many years, Xu Taining had encountered situations like this countless times and just chuckled, saying, ¡°You better think carefully. The case hasn¡¯t been cracked yet, and not a hair of the suspect has been seen. It might be best to refrain from ¡®shooting the donkey the moment it leaves the millstone¡¯ for now.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t happen, that won¡¯t happen,¡± the Bureau Directorughed heartily and patted Xu Taining¡¯s hand, promising, ¡°We will strive to ovee the funding obstacles. As long as the case can be solved, Director Xu, rest assured that you can use people and money as needed.¡± Despite the addition of two additional half bodies, there was still no significant progress in the case itself, meaning there was no return yet on the initial investment. At this moment, the Luyang side too just had to grit their teeth and persist. Xu Taining, seeing thatmunication was smooth¡ªto this extent, after spending so much, was indeed smooth¡ªreassured everyone, ¡°In many ces, extending to 80 meters will reach right up to the hills. We may even make some major discoveries there.¡± The leaders didn¡¯t know whether they should be happy or not. ¡­ Chapter 428 - 428 395 Harvest ?428: Chapter 395 Harvest 428: Chapter 395 Harvest Noon. Lunchtime. A food cart with 8 dishes, apanied by a row of 8 snack carts. The food cart was borrowed from the police station, and the dishes and rice on it were prepared by the head chef of the police station¡¯s canteen. The snack carts had been invited, their owners were night market vendors; the police had paid them¡ªmore precisely, Xu Taining had someone pay them¡ªto serve at the crime scene, and the officers had to pay the usual price for the snacks, which meant extra ie for the vendors. Of course, the introduction from familiarmunity police officers and assistants also yed a significant role. There were as many as 5 groups of such food and snack carts along the 110-kilometer route. Each group served an average of just over 200 police officers, as well as civil servants and ¡°volunteers¡± from certain departments who came to helpter on. Based on a meal cost of 20 yuan per person, this meal cost the police department over 20,000 yuan for more than 1000 people. Meanwhile, the 40 police dogs cost an average of 50 yuan each, totaling 2000 yuan. Of course, these expenses are negligiblepared to the rent for the chartered buses, construction vehicles, pickup trucks used formuting, and the fuel costs for the police department¡¯s own fleet of over a hundred small cars. Not to mention the hiddenbor costs, which weren¡¯t even taken into ount. However, overall, the leaders of the Luyang City Bureau remained rtively calm. They could worry about the expensester; for now, their primary task was to solve the case. As long as there was progress in the investigation and hope to crack case 805, the expenditures were understandable. This situation was somewhat better than the one two years prior. There¡¯s a difference between spending a lot of money without any results and spending a hefty sum but gaining something in return. Jiang Yuan drove directly to the forensic autopsy room in Luyang City. Who would have thought that Luyang City Bureau, just like this, would actually have established a separate forensic autopsy room? Although it was still inside the funeral home, at least it was an independent building with separate morgue and ice coffins. ¡°Luyang has pretty good facilities,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he helped lift a body onto the van, looking around as he walked. The small two-story building included a basement that didn¡¯t lookrge, but with such a setup, theoretically, Luyang City could handle three to five murder cases a day. This wasparable to the level of a medium torge-sized city in the United States, very much in line with international standards. Mei Fang smiled and said, ¡°It¡¯s only been built for a few years. We were timely.¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Luyang¡¯s economy seems average, and the number of homicide cases doesn¡¯t seem too high. How could your police station afford it?¡± ¡°Because several cold cases were upying the ice coffins, and we owed the funeral home too much money to pay back, we had no choice but to build a separate one,¡± Mei Fang replied earnestly. Jiang Yuan paused, ¡°You didn¡¯t have money to pay the funeral home, but had the funds to build a building?¡± ¡°Because you can take out a bank loan to build a building.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you have to pay back the loan?¡± Mei Fang nced at the young Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Of course, the loan will be repaid by the next term.¡± Jiang Yuan looked down at the body and said, ¡°Everyone else would say it¡¯s a desperate measure.¡± Mei Fang chuckled, then felt it was inappropriate and reined in his smile, saying, ¡°As long as you can vindicate these victims, the leaders will praise you with smiles. You don¡¯t even need to go that far, just being able to confirm their identities would make the leaders willing to grin and bear it.¡± ¡°Actually, there¡¯s not much difference,¡± Jiang Yuan followed Mei Fang into the autopsy room, pushing the cart to an empty autopsy table where he piled the body bags before going to get another one. Mei Fang clicked his tongue twice and said, ¡°Captain Jiang, you are certainly confident.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not about confidence. The hardest part, we¡¯ve actually already passed. With killers who dump bodies, once you find where they¡¯ve buried the bodies, especially multiple bodies, as long as you find where the bodies came from, the case should be almost solved,¡± Jiang Yuan answered with both experience and confidence. Cases like these are actually quite difficult to solve, but the more difficult the case, the easier it bes a cold case. Therefore, Jiang Yuan, having dealt with such cases, may have experienced more in his career than most ordinary police officers do in a lifetime, umting rich experience. Indeed, killers who dispose of bodies by burying them generally do so because the bodies could be linked back to them. Often, some links are covert and not so easy to notice, or could be overlooked by the police. But as the number of bodies increases, connections inevitably be more apparent. After hauling two loads, they finally managed to transport all the bodies and an entire family of insects into the room. The insects had been ced in thepartment next to the dissection room. Later, a professional forensic entomologist woulde to take care of them. Jiang Yuan¡¯s limited knowledge in forensic entomology was enough only to diagnose the time of death¡ªthe interdisciplinary nature of his Level 6 skill was strong, but he did not possess the broader range of skills that forensic entomology covered. However, with his mastery of skills such as Time of Death Determination Level 6, Forensic Clinical Medicine Level 3, Forensic Pathology Level 4, and Forensic Material Evidence Level 4, Jiang Yuan believed that the subsequently dissected number three and number four should be able to provide enough information. Mu Zhiyang and another young criminal policeman had been strongly requested to join today¡¯s autopsy work. Mei Fang had no dissection assistants; she had to do all the misceneous work in the autopsy room herself, even if it meant working overtime untilte at night, alone in a separate two-story building, apanied by corpses¡ªother professions, when impoverished, would still have vigor, whereas impoverished forensic doctors would be peculiarly neurotic. Bodies number three and four had been ced on two separate dissection tables. On the left dissection tabley number three, mainly consisting of a thigh and a significant part of the pelvis. On the right was number four, primarily the bisected upper body, including most of the neck and mush-like viscera. The buckets containing rotten flesh and decaying viscera were ced at the foot of the dissection tables. When Mei Fang poured them out, everyone¡¯s eyes were filled with tears. Sometimes, some things can indeed fill people with tears. ¡°Do you still need the eggs and pupae?¡± Mei Fang¡¯s voice, even through the mask, sounded like it was stirring up a foul odor. Mu Zhiyang felt as if he was submerged in an ocean of liquefied stench. Hearing Mei Fang¡¯s words and ncing back at the mushy rotten flesh, he vomited without hesitation. The young policeman who had been holding it in could no longer restrain himself. He didn¡¯t even have time to remove his face mask; it just sprayed right onto it. ¡°The bathroom is inside, it¡¯s easier to clean up if you puke in the trough¡­ It¡¯s fine if you vomit outside too, just rinse it off with water¡­¡± Mei Fang seemed unfazed, as the current state of the corpses was likely to induce vomiting, especially since their heads were not intact; otherwise, by this point, ordinary officers wouldn¡¯t make it to the autopsy room without vomiting up bile due to the burst-like eyeballs and the excessively swollen and discolored faces. Jiang Yuan was busy handling the corpses, not even ncing at the two in the bathroom. Once you start vomiting, you have to keep doing it until you blend into the environment. Anything you say or do in the meantime is pointless. ¡°Number three¡¯s time of death is approximately 15 months ago. There¡¯s a proliferation on the ankle, and the remaining ligaments also look wrong. There must have been a long-term injury; she definitely would have seen a doctor for this. We can check the hospital records,¡± Jiang Yuan conducted a general examination of the body, then opened an old case file he carried with him. The victim¡¯s identity had been confirmed through an X-ray of a fracture. However, that process was too lengthy and somewhat probabilistic; Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t adopt it again unless it was a Level 5 difficulty. However, if only bodies number one and two had been avable, the difficulty of this case would definitely have exceeded Level 5. Now, it was Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, using technology, intelligence, and courage, mainly someone else¡¯s money, who forcibly lowered the difficulty of the case. Just having one more quarter of a 15-month-old corpse, with a bonus pelvis, already yielded a lot of information. Jiang Yuan had yet to examine the additional half-section of the body but was already filled with anticipation. Mei Fang spent a little extra time, like apetent dissection assistant, preparing all kinds of instruments, and then getting dressed neatly beforeing forward. She lowered her head to examine the corpse arranged by Jiang Yuan, especially the ankle, and nodded, saying, ¡°With her ankle like this, she would have been unable to walk normally for some time. Colleagues or acquaintances might have noticed.¡± ¡°Right. Adding to the previous estimation, age 30, height 168 cm, weight 110¡­ no additional information is apparent at the moment,¡± Jiang Yuan measured the dimensions on the dissection table again to ensure his previous judgment was correct, and then said, ¡°We can start byparing with the missing persons database. If there are multiple results, we will have to use a process of elimination.¡± Jiang Yuan and Mei Fang conversed in hushed tones. Meanwhile, the sound of vomiting from within the bathroom gradually subsided. Then, Mu Zhiyang turned on the shower, rinsing as he muttered, ¡°What is this you¡¯re throwing up? Why is it still connected by tendons?¡± The young policeman, still vomiting, was interrupted in mid act, looked up perplexedly, and then said, ¡°Bits and pieces.¡± ¡°Really so much tendon? Didn¡¯t you chew properly?¡± ¡°It was a bit spicy.¡± ¡°I like spicy too. Which restaurant¡¯s?¡± ¡°The one near the city center, next to Central Square. No, why are you suddenly asking this¡­ugh¡­¡± The young officer couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and continued to vomit violently. ¡°You seem a bit like you¡¯re messing around on purpose. Well, I¡¯ll go out to help then. When you¡¯re done vomiting,e out on your own,¡± Mu Zhiyang said, wiping his mouth and leaving the bathroom full of bits and pieces. Chapter 429 - 429 396 Bold Assumption ?429: Chapter 396 Bold Assumption 429: Chapter 396 Bold Assumption The results for corpse number four were simr; the body was that of a 28-year-old female, 165 cm in height and weighing around 50 kg. She died 20 months ago, which by order made her the third victim to have died among the four bodies found so far. Jiang Yuan extracted DNA from bodies three and four and sent it directly to the provincialboratory. Extracting DNA is aplex science. The DNAbs at regr police stations, those equipped with about 3 million yuan worth of equipment as required by the ministries, have no trouble with DNA from blood, muscle, or certain fluids, but they¡¯re somewhat powerless when ites to older, dposed bodies. Jiang Yuan also held an LV4 in Forensic Material Evidence, which was why he was able to extract samples from the bones. However, he was still rather apprehensive about obtaining a match, as the DNA profiles of average people are generally not preserved. As work on this end was nearingpletion, once again, voices conveyed news from the site. Human skeletal remains were found again. It wasn¡¯t surprising at all. The killer had been burying the bodies along the national highway. Of course, without the use of police dogs, these bodies would likely remain undiscovered. The timeline clearly showed that theter the body, the deeper the killer had buried it. The burial depth of corpse number four was around 60 to 70 centimeters, and corpse number three was even deeper. This depth was already difficult for ordinary police dogs to detect, indicating a kind of esction in the killer¡¯s criminal behavior. From whole bodies to headless corpses, from shallow graves about 30 to 40 centimeters deep to those 60 to 70 centimeters deep, it was evident that the packages became smaller and smaller, which also rted to the difficulty of burying the bodies. Digging 30 to 40 centimeters in the wilderness is not easy, and for a young person, digging to a depth of 60 to 70 centimeters, or even a meter, would take two to three hours and be a sweat-inducing effort. Dismembering the body into parts meant the hole could be shallower, but then there was the extra effort of disposing of the remaining parts. Following this trend, once the killer had to dig holes 1.8 to 2 meters deep, detecting a body by scent would be even more difficult. Jiang Yuan arrived at the scene of body number five with utmost speed. Just like before, it was a shallow pit, with a snake skin bag nestled inside. ¡°Is it another repeat body?¡± Liu Jinghui stood outside the perimeter, not entering, waiting for the answer. Jiang Yuan silently conducted his examination before finally nodding with an ¡°Mhm¡± and saying, ¡°It¡¯s number three¡¯s, the other leg.¡± ¡°Cut so evenly, it would take him all day to bury a whole body like this,¡± Liu Jinghui had some inkling, as it was way too perverse for a killer to bury one leg and leave the other. Now it was clear, they were dealing with a killer of amon level of perversity, and Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts became more active. While Jiang Yuan was examining the body, Liu Jinghui pondered andmented, ¡°This killer probably doesn¡¯t have a high level of education, and in terms of work and social life, he is likely quite solitary.¡± Most serial killers are quite solitary, Jiang Yuan thought to himself, but he didn¡¯t interrupt Liu Jinghui, not wanting to disturb his train of thought and stop the reasoning king in his tracks. Despite the discovery of so many bodies, there was no decisive evidence. This was one of the more frustrating aspects of cold cases. In theory, if the killer had left fingerprints on a bag, or cigarette butts in the grave, or a pool of fresh blood, the case could be closed immediately. But time eroded much, and the killer had been very meticulous at first. However, Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning does have some merit. From the recent excavations at the crime scenes, it¡¯s clear that the killer shows obvious signs of growth, but still has a local modus operandi. Not to mention, dismembering the body was meant to hide it, and burying it served the same purpose. Yet, the killer initially buried the bodies too shallowly, and although subsequent burials were deeper, they still weren¡¯t deep enough. At the root of it, if the killer had buried victims numbers one and two a bit deeper, the 805 case could have been dyed further. And all this knowledge can be acquired from publicly avable books. To kill so many people and yet not study the relevant knowledge seriously, that¡¯s a sign of low cultural education. In fact, even petty thieves with a high school diploma, once they enter prison, will find time to read about thew, only those who struggle with reading, like those with only an elementary school education, would feign disinterest saying, ¡°Studying that stuff is useless.¡± Of course,mitting a crime is also a matter of cost-benefit analysis. The entire Criminal Law doesn¡¯t use severe punishment like during the era of ying down thew with strict rules,¡± to make people think twice aboutmitting or continuing tomit crimes, rather than all rushing tomit vicious and ruthless acts, whiche with consequences. The 805 case killer is certainlycking in this area. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°These past two days, I¡¯ve alsopiled a list of people living and working nearby. Personally, I¡¯m more inclined towards thetter group. Because most locals here are vigers, they would have more burial options and wouldn¡¯t need to bury bodies by the highway, which is less convenient. The rest would be individualsmuting to work via the highway.¡± ¡°It¡¯s very likely that the depth at which he buried the bodies also gradually increases as they are further from the highway,¡± Jiang Yuan pondered briefly, then said, ¡°An 80-kilometer stretch of highway¡­ it¡¯s more than 80 kilometers now, there could be many workers.¡± ¡°Traffic police, road maintenance workers,ndscaping workers, various construction personnel, including those in power,work andmunication sectors, gas stations, shops along the highway, small factories, courier services, transportationpanies¡­ And the key point is, they might not all be within this 80-kilometer range. Extending out several tens of kilometers is also very possible,¡± said Liu Jinghui with a furrowed brow, knowing thatpiling such a list would be difficult and risk missing someone. ¡°And those who could have contact with the victims,¡± Jiang Yuan reminded. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Liu Jinghui frowned, his mind probably a tangled mess. Mu Zhiyang, who hade with Jiang Yuan to assist, didn¡¯t have any set tasks and cheerfully said, ¡°At least we are making much faster progress than the people from Luyang.¡± With these words, the atmosphere at the crime scene immediately improved. At least, the atmosphere around the bodies became much livelier. Liu Jinghui nced at the leaders from Luyang City and then said, ¡°Ultimately, it¡¯s because we made a firm decision to investigate the highway. In fact, even if we can¡¯t determine the origin of the corpses for now, we can be bolder in our approach.¡± ¡°How bold?¡± ¡°I remember that victim number one was a prostitute. In this case, with bodies buried along the highway and the killer likely being a highway worker, many victims don¡¯t have familiesing to seek justice or search extensively for them. I think we can assume that victims numbers two, three, and four were also prostitutes,¡± Liu Jinghui counted on his fingers and said, ¡°We should start by finding all the prostitutes in the vicinity of the highway, especially the missing ones. If we are sessful, great; if not, this list won¡¯t be too long.¡± ¡°Agreed!¡± Jiang Yuan immediately concurred. Prostitutes had to upy a ce among the victims of a serial murder case. They are easy to attack, often change their work location ording to the killer¡¯s preferences, have less ability to defend themselves, are sexually tempting, deal with all sorts of people,ck stable social rtionships, and often their disappearances go unnoticed, making them a preferred target for many serial killers. In some respects, the reason why some serial killers are able to keep killing without getting caught is likely because they prefer to hunt down prostitutes. The 805 case killer doesn¡¯t seem too intelligent and probably has average physical strength. Could his ability to keep killing be precisely because he targets prostitutes? It was one thing not to have discovered so many bodies before, but now that multiple corpses have been found and considering that no one ising to the Luyang City Bureau every day crying out for justice or help, the situation has be rather unusual. Liu Jinghui took out his phone and immediately started making inquiries with the authorities in Luyang. Chapter 430 - 430 397 Careful Verification ?430: Chapter 397: Careful Verification 430: Chapter 397: Careful Verification Captain Liu, everyone is waiting,¡± Gao Yuyan said impatiently at the door, waiting for her newly assigned temporary partner. Previously, she had followed Wang Chuanxing and others to investigate the social connections of the first victim, which mostly consisted of fallen girls, but they hadn¡¯t turned up any results. Now, Liu Wenkai hade to offer support and team up with her again, which Gao Yuyan actually felt was somewhat unnecessary. However, out of respect for Liu Jinghui¡¯s arrangement, Gao Yuyan still had to show face. She hade all the way from Guqi City in the neighboring province, and without the background and care she was ustomed to at home, she had be increasingly cautious in her actions. On the other hand, Liu Jinghui¡¯s talent was genuinely impressive. Gao Yuyan was witnessing for the first time a senior police officer who really relied on deduction to solve cases. Even from a police officer¡¯s perspective, she had to admit it was pretty impressive. As for the officers from Ningtai County Bureauing over to im some credit, Gao Yuyan didn¡¯t take it seriously. In just a few days, the Luyang City Bureau had already been won over by thebination of Jiang Yuan, Xu Taining, and Liu Jinghui. Pulling some people over to share in the benefits hardly counted as an issue. ¡°Here I am,¡± Liu Wenkai emerged from the changing room. Having changed into fresh clothes and freshened up, Liu Wenkai looked incredibly clean and refreshed, showing no signs of the wear and tear of travel. Gao Yuyan frowned and asked sensitively, ¡°Have you put on hair oil? Did you also apply some face cream?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve applied some face cream and essence. The long car ride here was nearly causing me varicose veins,¡± Liu Wenkai rubbed his face and then widened his eyes, asking, ¡°Do I look spirited now?¡± ¡°What do you want to do?¡± Gao Yuyan crossed her arms defensively, her guard fully up. Liu Wenkai was known for being good at interrogations in Ningtai County. Seeing Gao Yuyan¡¯s expression, he couldn¡¯t help butugh, then patiently exined, ¡°The vignce of the fallen women is not low. Making oneself look neat and clean is the first step to gaining their favor, right?¡± ¡°Do you think they would dare not talk when questioned by the police?¡± Gao Yuyan was skeptical. ¡°What if they ¡®forget¡¯?¡± Liu Wenkai, knowing that Gao Yuyan was rted to Director Gao from Guqi City, patiently added, ¡°Our goal is to gather information, not to lecture them on life choices or coerce them into reforming. Bringing back information amiably benefits everyone.¡± Gao Yuyan had to admit, Liu Wenkai had a point. Although as police officers, putting pressure on fallen women could yield information, which fallen woman should they pressure? Neither of them knew who actually had the intelligence. Gao Yuyan wasn¡¯t seeking to correct her workstyle, she was just ufortable with Liu Wenkai¡¯s attitude and couldn¡¯t help but quip, ¡°You¡¯re quite familiar with fallen women. That¡¯s not normal.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve done undercover work,¡± Liu Wenkai said with a slight smile. ¡°The County Bureau needs undercover operations to solve cases?¡± Gao Yuyan was astonished. ¡°Prostitution cases often require undercover work to gather solid evidence. Short-term undercover assignments, just for a few days,¡± Liu Wenkai exined, shaking his head at Gao Yuyan¡¯s seemingly naive response. The two drove to Hongxiang Vige, followed by several other vehicles. Hongxiang Vige had an alley where wanderers would streetwalk, and upon getting business, they would rent a nearby house for a short time. If the police showed up, they would turn and run. Over a dozen detectives from out of town, along with two local teams, sealed off the entrance to Hongxiang Vige before a few officers like Liu Wenkai began to enter, one by one, to conduct their undercover inquiries. However, only the dozen or so visiting detectives had the chance to make one round of inquiries before a whistle from outside sent the wanderers into a frenzied escape. Several drones buzzed into the air, and with almost one-on-one capturing, failure was not an option. Liu Wenkai stepped out of a rented house, shouting, ¡°Don¡¯t be too violent, watch how you handle things, enforce thew civilly, enforce thew civilly!¡± He couldn¡¯t actually see anything, but the few fallen girls who heard his shouting felt a bit of warmth in their hearts. As thest fallen girl was arrested and everyone quickly moved into the nearby police station, they began arge-scale interrogation and questioning operation. Truthfully, taking a statement on the spot from ordinary people is the simplest way, and it¡¯s not always necessary to bring them back to the bureau or station. However, the wanderers¡¯ conditions were clearly not stable, and their trust with the police was extremely fragile. Amiable conversation was definitely not possible. Even in the interrogation room, the girls weren¡¯t too cooperative. Those who worked in the outskirts, like the Hongxiang vige, typically had extensive experience and ventured out there due tock ofpetitiveness in the city areas. They feared the police, but that fear did not extend to obedientpliance. Despite the loud threats and inducements from several Luyang City detectives who handled serious cases, the effectiveness was mediocre at best. As Liu Wenkai had said, if they simply imed, ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember,¡± or ¡°I wasn¡¯t paying attention,¡± it became difficult to proceed with the questions. This was different from interrogating convicts; convicts were brought in because there was evidence against them. With them, leniency could be extended for cooperation, but otherwise, they could expect stringent treatment. On the current Criminal Law, the punishment was often more severe than ordinary people could ept¡ªlike probation turning into actual jail time, six months turning into one year, or three years turning into five. Once it personally affected someone, even the most intimidating figures would have second thoughts. But for mere questioning, it wasn¡¯t necessary; being a wanderer didn¡¯t necessarily mean facing punishment. Speaking in a mixture of truth and lies might even be ingrained in the marrow of certain individuals. Chapter 431 - 431 397 Cautious Verification_2 ?431: Chapter 397 Cautious Verification_2 431: Chapter 397 Cautious Verification_2 Liu Wenkai cleared his throat and stood up. He approached the person he had been questioning earlier and entered the interrogation room, but he spoke with an apologetic tone, ¡°Sorry for the mess¡­¡± ¡­ Evening. Jiang Yuan, still busy in the autopsy room, received a call for a teleconference from Liu Jinghui. As soon as he epted the call, he saw several people already sitting in the office. ¡°Jiang Yuan is still performing autopsies,¡± Liu Jinghui said with a smile upon seeing Jiang Yuan in his soiled protective gear. ¡°For the case of the deceased girl, we¡¯ve unearthed quite a few things.¡± ¡°Have we been able to determine the identity of the body?¡± asked Jiang Yuan, looking up. The results of his autopsy were just to establish some specific details, which still needed to be checked against a certain range of names. Liu Jinghui made an approving noise and said, ¡°You¡¯ll need to take a look, but recently there have been some people whose departures were not quite normal, which can be considered disappearances.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t anyone report them missing?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°Some did, let¡¯s just hang on to that thought,¡± Liu Jinghui said, ncing at several people from the Luyang City Bureau, without borating further. For the Luyang City Bureau, which was heavily burdened by cases, it was instinctivelyforting to reduce the number of cases filed. Many cases, when the reporters were not so insistent, really could either be filed or not. For the group of fallen women, their sudden departure could be interpreted as dangerous, but a more likely possibility was that they were spending a few more days with a wealthy patron in some ce. Or perhaps, having made some money, they decided to go on a spur-of-the-moment trip, even visiting the Pot Pce to cleanse their body and soul. The whimsical idea of suddenly leaving one¡¯s job and disappearing without a trace¡ªleaving no one able to find them¡ªis not unheard of among fallen women. It was, in fact, quite ordinary. However, ifw enforcement took it seriously and linked these people or cases, then the situation would be different. Some could still be contacted through the same means, using the same WeChat, mobile number, or QQ ount; they were easily reachable, and an ID card was an indispensable item for travel. Those who weren¡¯t specifically hiding could usually be easily found by normal policemunication tools. The more people they found, the more unusual the ones they couldn¡¯t find seemed. ¡°How long is the current list of missing persons?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°In total, there are 26 people.¡± Not all of these were definite disappearances, but neither was this the entire list of missing persons. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, ¡°The third victim had hypertrophic growth on her ankle. Look through the medical records of these people and see if there are any X-rays or CT scans of their feet.¡± Previously, this procedure wasn¡¯t undertaken because the list of suspects was too broad. Now, with only 26 people on the list, even if it meant visiting several hospitals, the total number wouldn¡¯t be toorge. Liu Jinghui responded affirmatively, ¡°Victim number three died 15 months ago, and is the most recently deceased victim. Making a breakthrough based on her case is the most appropriate.¡± ¡°We could also check the DNA of the missing persons. The DNA for both the third and fourth victims should be avable,¡± Jiang Yuan added. ¡°We¡¯re already collecting that.¡± This time, Zheng Tianxin from Luyang¡¯s Criminal Police Team spoke up. Zheng Tianxin was somewhat helpless at the moment. In hindsight, their request for assistance was an overwhelming excess of manpower. A search along the national highway didn¡¯t necessitate Xu Taining; looking back, they only needed a few hundred people and about ten dogs. They wouldn¡¯t even need to search the 80 kilometers, just expanding 10 to 20 kilometers from where the first and second victims were discovered and widening the search to 50 meters would greatly increase the chances of finding the bodies. The same was true for Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. While Mei Fang might not match Jiang Yuan¡¯s prowess, Liu Jinghui¡¯s judgement seemed to hit the mark. However, if they had persevered, the 805 case could have been resolved by Luyang itself¡ªof course, that was just something Zheng Tianxin could contemte. Yet, in the subsequent work, Zheng Tianxin became extremely active. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind. He could tell Zheng Tianxin was eager, which wasn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. After listening to the other participants¡¯ statements, Jiang Yuan thoughtfully said, ¡°From the evidence at the crime scene, the killer doesn¡¯t seem strong. The graves he dug to bury the bodies were shallow with each shovel, and during the dismemberment, he made many cuts with the knife, rarely using brute force to chop. In such circumstances, I doubt he could have abducted the women using sheer violence. It¡¯s more likely that he lured or abducted them by deceit or drugging.¡± ¡°So, we¡¯re looking for a male who is either injured or older, with poor physical strength, who frequents the flower alleys nearby¡­¡± Zheng Tianxin attempted to summarize. Everyone was silent. The injury was spective, not confirmed information. The rest of the description could match the appearance of many clients from the flower alleys, not really narrowing down the pool. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Actually, we can start from the point Jiang Yuan just mentioned, which is how the criminal abducted the victims, or to put it more urately, how the criminal took away the victims. If he couldn¡¯t use brute force, then how did he deceive or abduct?¡± ¡°Did he persuade the girls to visit the clients?¡± suggested Liu Wenkai softly. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, ¡°That¡¯s the general idea. However, ces like Hongxiang Vige and some individual apartments nearby, these girls don¡¯t typically leave. There¡¯s no talk of visiting clients unless it¡¯s a familiar client who speaks directly to them, perhaps offering to keep them for a day or two.¡± ¡°The victims are dead, so we can¡¯t be sure of their list of regr clients¡­¡± ¡°At this point, I think we don¡¯t need to make it tooplicated,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°We have previously analyzed that the criminal¡¯s level of education isn¡¯t high, and his meticulousness is also average at best, otherwise he wouldn¡¯t have disposed of the bodies this way. It¡¯s very likely that he used normal means ofmunication to make invitations, like telephone calls, text messages, WeChat, or something else. We just need to check the call records of these victims and the missing women involved in prostitution, as well as their Alipay, WeChat, and bank transaction information, chat logs, and if they shared their locations or used ride-hailing services. We should bring in anyone who oveps in these records, who has made multiple payments or had multiple chats, and question them.¡± As he said this, the others nodded in agreement. Unless it was face-to-face appointment arrangements, traces would be left behind. Besides, thinking normally, even if they made a face-to-face arrangement and received a down payment, many would still call or send a message for confirmation before leaving. Some might ask for a location to be sent, or for a specific address. The criminal could be very careful, but he couldn¡¯t prevent the victims from normalmunication. The fact that he never changed the knife after several murders suggested that he likely didn¡¯t often change hismunication tools or cell phone numbers either. Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t help but nod, clicking his tongue twice, and said, ¡°Looks like Luyang City¡¯s divorce rate is going up this year.¡± Chapter 432 - 432 398 A Final Kick Before the Goal ?432: Chapter 398: A Final Kick Before the Goal 432: Chapter 398: A Final Kick Before the Goal The conference call ended, and the pitch-ck night outside sparkled with stars. Three o¡¯clock in the morning, went to bed toote, and got up too early. Jiang Yuan and Mei Fang were flipping corpses in the dissection room, while Liu Jinghui decided to go back to the hotel for a sleep. The king of spending, Xu Taining, had already fallen into a deep sleep, and the captain of the criminal police brigade Zheng Tianxin woke up the chiefs and deputy chiefs of the municipal bureau along with his politicalmissar and others, staying upte to discuss ns. Case 805 had reached the final step, or it could even be said it was at the doorstep¡ªabout to deliver the final kick. This kick would either be delivered by Zheng Tianxin¡¯s criminal police brigade or by the manpower Jiang Yuan brought. Naturally, Zheng Tianxin and the others hoped it would be them doing the kicking. Throughout the entire case, the main tasks werepleted primarily by Jiang Yuan and his team. As the local criminal police brigade, they felt somewhat embarrassed. Most importantly, now that the case had reached this point, Zheng Tianxin and his team truly felt capable of taking over. It was like a super difficult question¡ªthe kind that might even exhaust someone just by reading it. After step-by-step analysis, the problem of the question became clear, the given conditions were understood, and the necessary form was found. The form began to apply, the units that needed conversion were converted, and all the restrictive conditions were managed¡­ When everything became clear, the previously confused underachiever, upon revisiting the problem, would suddenly find the solution strategy jumping out at them, and the desire to tackle the problem would arise. ¡°Call records and text messages can only be obtained by asking the big shots in the technical investigation department, and that¡¯s something only we can ask for,¡± Zheng Tianxin said with a smile on his face. He continued, ¡°Whether we inspect WeChat, Alipay, bank transfers, or software like Momo and Tantan, it¡¯s all the same whether it¡¯s us looking into it or someone else. I suggest that our brigade take initiative and start looking into this now. Aim to achieve some results by tomorrow morning.¡± ¡°Everyone has been running around all day today, and calling them up now would be quite harsh,¡± the politicalmissar was actually in on it with Zheng Tianxin beforehand and was now ying along. Then Zheng Tianxin solemnly said, ¡°Everyone has been busy with Case 805 for years; the hardship isn¡¯t just today. Now it¡¯s time to reap the rewards. We can¡¯t let a few years¡¯ worth of achievements be ruined just for an unbroken night¡¯s sleep.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± the politicalmissar sighed. The two resolved any potential issues their superiors might pose right there through their dialogue. The bureau chief did not care whether the two had coordinated in advance and after a brief contemtion, said, ¡°Let¡¯s do it this way then. Make the calls to everyone. Let¡¯s work another shift tonight.¡± Waking people up at 3 a.m. would certainly bringints, but at this stage of the work, sleep orints no longer mattered. Zheng Tianxin had actually already called some team leaders, and with approval from this side, he immediately instructed those hurrying to the station to call their subordinates. He did not n to summon everyone, but he did intend to pull in the main forces of each team, in other words, those officers who were aged from theirte twenties to their forties. Inspecting Alipay, WeChat, or bank transaction information theoretically should be done by the cybersecurity team, but officers with the necessary permissions could also look into it¡ªit wasn¡¯t particrly difficult. Chat logs were slightly more valuable because there was just too much data to look through page by page. Instead, they had to rely on searching with keywords. As for tasks like map location or data analysis, slightly more specialized officers were needed. Checking multiple social media ounts, one by one, was not an easy task either. While ordinary people might use only one or two social apps at most, often sticking to local options, people in the criminal underbelly had a much broader range of choices, including popr ones like Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), Xianyu, Douban, Tieba, YY, Momo, Tantan, Soul, Mipei, Banquan, Mihuan, Mixiu, Banxin¡­ Happy or not, the members of the criminal police brigade gradually returned to the station. Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang stood in therge office, serving tea and water to everyone, speaking warmly and apologizing. Once a group was gathered, Zheng Tianxin began to assign tasks. At this moment, Zheng Tianxin¡¯s mood suddenly became anxious again. Watching Xu Taining spend money, he felt both heartache and helplessness. But now, as he started to direct the team, the fear of failure crept up on him once more. They were now following a trail designed by Liu Jinghui, operating under the assumption that the killer, either not very smart or not very cautious, would leave traces behind over a series of long-term solicitations and murders, especially electronic traces. This type of person was quitemon. Every time they cracked down on solicitation, they could always identify a multitude of clients through the transfer records found on the girls¡¯ cell phones who had fallen into prostitution. Was it that they didn¡¯t know such investigative techniques existed, or did they not care about being punished byw enforcement? Of course not, these people simply never did any research or took cautious measures before soliciting. Could the killer be such a person? Before an investigation, nobody knew. And after the investigation, if they were still left with nothing¡­ Zheng Tianxin took a deep breath and had another sip of tea, pushing the difort in his stomach down before saying, ¡°This time, we¡¯re facing a do-or-die situation¡­¡± Casting aside his distracting thoughts, Zheng Tianxin steeled himself internally and began assigning tasks. To be frank, for him, a captain of the criminal police brigade, organizing a crackdown on solicitation was really a waste of his talents; such a task could easily be taken care of by a mid-level chief like Liu Wenkai. It was precisely because Case 805 was so critical and challenging that Zheng Tianxin had be extra careful. Early morning. It wasn¡¯t yet 7 o¡¯clock when Zhou Yuanqiang came to Zheng Tianxin, clutching several A4 sheets of paper. Zheng Tianxin immediately stood up and looked at Zhou Yuanqiang. With a serious expression, Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang reported, ¡°Now, just from the 26 missing persons, we¡¯ve confirmed that there are over 300 prostitution clients, with more than 100 who visited multiple times. Based on chat and transaction records, we¡¯ve identified 14 individuals who requested overnight services or to take a girl out for more than one day. The one who requested overnight stays the most had 12 such instances. The next one had 8 times.¡± Zheng Tianxin¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing this, ¡°12 times, were they all individual instances? Have youpared them with other prostitution transactions? No wait, we can check his records ourselves. What does this person do?¡± He asked so many questions in one breath that Zhou Yuanqiang found it somewhat difficult to answer. After a brief thought, Zhou Yuanqiang said, ¡°Not all of the 12 instances were individual, but we checked his records, and he only has a total of fifteen high-amount transfers, of which 12 were sent to women who disappeared.¡± Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang exchanged nces, and couldn¡¯t help but smile. Zhou Yuanqiang was merely stating the facts, but to Zheng Tianxin and him, it was as if they were hanging a murderer¡¯s tag over the other person¡¯s head. Then, Zhou Yuanqiang pulled out the printouts he was holding and said, ¡°Zhang Hai, 54 years old, single, and works as a street sweeping driver for the sanitationpany. It¡¯s the kind that cleans the streets with a rotating brush underneath. His main work area is, coincidentally, the national highway route we¡¯ve been walking these past two days.¡± ¡°How coincidental!¡± Zheng Tianxin remarked as he pinched a cigarette, cing it in his mouth without lighting it. Checking the time, he said, ¡°Call the team, take two groups, one to his home, the other to his workce. Remember to search where he parks his vehicle. And yes, locate his cell phone, no sirens when the police cars head out, and be resolute when making the arrest. Be mindful of any weapons he may have, and do your best to find the murder weapon. Bring the metal detector and the police dogs too.¡± Zheng Tianxin gave a long list of instructions, finished hismands, and then finally lit his cigarette, taking in a deep drag. Zhou Yuanqiang quickly mobilized the personnel, and by the time he returned, Zheng Tianxin had nearly finished his cigarette. ¡°Notify Doctor Jiang and Director Xu Taining about this. Should today¡¯s search be called off?¡± Zhou Yuanqiang asked. ¡°Let¡¯s talk on the move,¡± Zheng Tianxin said as he watched the officers gathering downstairs. He handed a cigarette to Zhou Yuanqiang and continued, ¡°Call forensic doctor Jiangter. As for Director Xu¡­ well, we¡¯ve already spent so much money, let¡¯s persist one more day, just in case. Besides, we haven¡¯t found all the bodies from case 234 yet. If we can get the location out of the interrogation, great, but if not, we¡¯ll have to keep digging.¡± Zhou Yuanqiang actually wanted to say that normal excavation wouldn¡¯t cost that much and the scope didn¡¯t need to be sorge, but he fully understood Zheng Tianxin¡¯s concerns. At this point, anything else was secondary; catching Zhang Hai and confirming his identity was the priority. Chapter 433 - 433 399 Free Kick ?433: Chapter 399: Free Kick 433: Chapter 399: Free Kick 8 a.m., early morning. Zhou Yuanqiang led the team as they barged into the sanitationpany¡¯s driver¡¯s rest room. After securing the entrance and exit, Zhou Yuanqiang immediately asked, ¡°Which one of you is Zhang Hai?¡± A few drivers, who were drinking tea, looked at each other, and the one at the front stood up and said, ¡°He hasn¡¯t arrived yet.¡± ¡°What time do you start work?¡± ¡°For the morning shift, it¡¯s five in the morning. We work for six hours. The afternoon shift takes over at eleven and works until five in the afternoon, then we drive the vehicles back.¡± The driver who spoke looked younger and spoke clearly. Zhou Yuanqiang quickly followed up with, ¡°What about Zhang Hai? Is he on the morning or evening shift today?¡± ¡°He¡¯s on the morning shift today, the leader just gave him a call,¡± the driver said as he took a couple of steps to the side and pointed at the duty schedule on the wall. The duty schedule listed information of about twenty drivers and vehicles, with the times arranged in step fashion. Zhou Yuanqiang pointed at Zhang Hai¡¯s line and asked, ¡°His square for yesterday is yellow. What does that mean?¡± ¡°Day off. We get one rest day a week.¡± Zhou Yuanqiang felt like his head was about to explode, as he urgently asked, ¡°Zhang Hai didn¡¯te in yesterday?¡± ¡°Zhang Hai was off yesterday. Why would hee in?¡± The driver looked at Zhou Yuanqiang as if he were looking at his own boss. Zhou Yuanqiang hurriedly took out his cell phone, dialing the brigademander while asking, ¡°What about the day before yesterday? Did Zhang Hai work his usual hours? Where did he go?¡± ¡°The day before yesterday¡­ the police closed the roads, so we just stayed in the rest room on standby. I didn¡¯t really notice.¡± The driver looked at the others and called out, ¡°Did anyone see Zhang Hai the day before yesterday?¡± ¡°He was still around at breakfast time.¡± ¡°He left when the shifts changed. Check the attendance machine,¡± the drivers helpfully suggested. Listening to what the drivers were saying, the police officers got busy. At this moment, the call got through to the brigademander Zheng Tianxin, ¡°Zheng, how¡¯s it going?¡± ¡°Zhang Hai had a day off yesterday and hasn¡¯te to work today. He¡¯s three hourste. Also, he didn¡¯t work the day before yesterday due to the police road closure. He likely went home at noon,¡± Zhou Yuanqiang answered swiftly. He believed Zheng Tianxin was well aware of the seriousness of the issue. In fact, Zheng Tianxin didn¡¯t just understand; he felt his brain was about to burst. ¡°There¡¯s nobody at Zhang Hai¡¯s ce either,¡± Zheng Tianxin¡¯s voice grew heavier, ¡°Issue an arrest warrant. I¡¯ll ask the technical investigation team to track his cell phone.¡± Issuing an arrest warrant now was definitely too hasty, but the case was too big, and Zheng Tianxin didn¡¯t dare dy. Zhou Yuanqiang also said, ¡°I¡¯ll ask a few more employees here at the sanitationpany and check the surveince, and¡­ Zheng.¡± ¡°Hmm.¡± ¡°Notify Director Xu and Jiang Yuan about this,¡± Zhou Yuanqiang suggested. ¡°Hmm,¡± Zheng Tianxin sighed. They had confirmed the target of the operation during the night and proceeded with the arrest, only to find that the person had run away¡ªalthough, if the arrest had beenter, the person would have been even further away, but acting in advance meant carrying the me in advance, and the responsibility fell on Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang. After hanging up the phone, both could only curse under their breath. ¡­ Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan and others also received the news. Jiang Yuan had justin down when he was roused by a phone call, his face showing clear annoyance. As the conference call began, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s sour expression, Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang felt ufortable all over. It wasn¡¯t that they were afraid of Jiang Yuan, but as normal people who had messed up something someone had diligently worked on, and had botched a job while working under someone else, a sense of guilt was bound to linger for a few minutes. Liu Jinghui, having heard the situation, calmly said, ¡°Actually, we¡¯ve managed to gain a few extra hours. Apprehending him shouldn¡¯t be a problem. The criminal is 54 years old and has been working as a sanitation worker without any military experience or the like. We shall be able to catch him sooner orter.¡± At these words, the expressions on Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang¡¯s faces slightly improved. Indeed, although manhunts are troublesome, with current social management capabilities, it¡¯s typically not possible for the average person to get far. Escapes by criminals without special skills getting caught within a week or two are quitemon. From an apprehension perspective, it merely dys the case by a week or two, and the overall impact isn¡¯t as significant as one might imagine. Jiang Yuan rubbed his face to wake up more, then asked, ¡°Have we found the murder weapon yet?¡± ¡°Not yet.¡± Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°The murder weapon for all four bodies is the same, so the killer is unlikely to discard it easily, especially since it seems to be a rather sturdy tool. I assume he wouldn¡¯t take the murder weapon with him while on the run.¡± ¡°Not necessarily,¡± Liu Jinghui replied. ¡°If he went directly into the mountains, he could take the weapon with him. He could also have hidden it in advance.¡± ¡°There¡¯s also the snake skin bag, the location where the bodies were dismembered. We might still find some bone fragments or something; the criminal was very thorough with the dismemberment. There might even be remaining parts of the bodies. We haven¡¯t found all the body parts yet, including the head.¡± Jiang Yuan was particrly concerned about the number of bodies. The missing troubled girls didn¡¯t necessarily mean they were dead. They could have simply left; in thatmunity, such urrences aren¡¯t too rare. On the other hand, the police may not have ounted for all the troubled girls. Besides the known hangouts for these girls, private and asional troubled girls aren¡¯t entirely within the grasp of the authorities, and it¡¯s difficult to pinpoint their whereabouts. Essentially, troubled girls are detached from the orderly world. Compared to the number of missing persons, four bodies seem too few. Considering the killer¡¯s escting pattern of disposing bodies, Jiang Yuan had reason to believe there were more undiscovered bodies. As the saying goes, ¡°Punish the murderer to console the spirits of the deceased,¡± Jiang Yuan had never expected the killer to voluntarily give all the answers. Apliant murderer often indicates that the police¡¯s investigation is sufficient and meticulous. After all, with age, Zheng Tianxin¡¯s mind buzzed after losing track of the killer. When Jiang Yuan asked him, he pointed the camera towards the scene, saying, ¡°Zhang Hai¡¯s house is very small, he lives alone, it¡¯s one of those old public housing units, barely 40 square meters and poorlyid out; it likely isn¡¯t equipped for dismembering.¡± For a murder at home, convenient plumbing is fundamental; washing away blood requires a lot of water, as does cleaning yourself and your clothes. For the drainage, scraps of flesh or hair could get stuck in the pipes and such. Testing this is simple, spend 300 yuan on a hot pot meal,e back full, takexatives and it¡¯s all over the floor¡­ or induce vomiting until it¡¯s all over the floor, then see if it can be cleaned up and see if there¡¯s any residual smell. Typically, home decor needs to be more refined, like the tilting of floor tiles being just right, avoiding pits and grooves where debris can easily get trapped. If cleaning the bathroom feels like a hassle or you feel you can¡¯t do it well, unless the conflict with your neighbor exceeds this level, you might want to reconsider chopping them up. Cleaning up and dealing with a body is much more difficult than this. By the way, if the conflict is less than tens to hundreds of thousands of yuan, it might be better to find a cleaning job rather thanmit murder. With the same amount of work, you could probably earn back the money. Jiang Yuan and his team, being experienced, took one look at the scene in the camera and were convinced it couldn¡¯t have been the site for dismembering bodies, at least not the primary site. Using the ce to cook a head might still be feasible, but activities like slicing thighs or performing thoracotomies would be too cramped in such a house. It might be passable for an emergency dismemberment of a single body but would certainly not be the chosen location for frequent dismembering. ¡°So the murderer has another house? And the murder weapon might be kept at another residence?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°It¡¯s also possible there was an aplice,¡± Liu Jinghui suddenly chimed in. Jiang Yuan frowned, ¡°I thought it was a lone perpetrator? No, the burials were done by a single individual, but at other times, there could be aplices involved?¡± The theory of solo perpetration was initially brought up by Liu Jinghui, as the murderer had cut the bodies into pieces that could be carried by an individual, and the graves seemed to have been dug by one person¡­ However, after learning about Zhang Hai¡¯s situation, Liu Jinghui thought more broadly and said, ¡°The key issue is the kidnapping. Kidnapping involves overpowering and controlling, and Zhang Hai¡¯s home doesn¡¯t offer such conditions. Renting or buying another property suitable for detention and disposing of bodies, considering Zhang Hai¡¯s ie level, seems financially unfeasible.¡± Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang looked at each other in dismay, sensing the situation turning into a free kick, feeling the need to set up their formation and charge again. Chapter 434 - 434 400 Panyuan Village ?434: Chapter 400 Panyuan Vige 434: Chapter 400 Panyuan Vige The increase in the number of criminals represented a significant shift for the special task force. In the current situation, the criminal Zhang Hai¡¯s escape wasn¡¯t really a big deal. Criminals are bound to run, and they do so for their lives, naturally exhausting all means to flee, to reach their limits, to disy their cunning, to run with the romance of spring rain and blood, even to the point of bloody urine. However, the situation changes with the addition of one or more criminals. Firstly, the case became a gang-rted crime; secondly, the task force had no grasp of the second criminal¡¯s situation, nor could they tell who the mastermind was and who was the aplice. Thetter was particrly serious. If they closed the case here, and then found out that another criminal was the mastermind, the situation would be quite awkward. Several middle-aged men fell silent during the teleconference, either leaders or the well-known Comrade Liu Jinghui of the province. They all had a certain image to maintain, and with the case reaching this stage, deciding how to report upwards, to whom to shift the me, whether to allocate additional resources and support, and whether to reorganize the team were all issues at hand. Jiang Yuan was a young man, not battered by life and work like the middle-aged men. Seeing them not speaking, he followed the case and said, ¡°First of all, we need to determine if there are any aplices. I have an idea.¡± ¡°Speak,¡± Liu Jinghui said, looking up and expressing approval for Jiang Yuan¡¯sposure. If everyone only considered gains and losses, thinking about shifting me, solving the case would be even harder. Jiang Yuan raised his phone, speaking through the teleconference: ¡°Assuming there are aplices, what would their means ofmunication be? I think it¡¯s probably through normal methods like calls or WeChat, looking at the casual manner of Zhang Hai¡¯s transactions with the prostitute, he likely does not have the awareness to counter surveince.¡± ¡°Makes sense, theirmunication must be frequent, especially thesest few days!¡± Liu Jinghui immediately agreed. Many ordinary people¡ªincluding vicious criminals like Zhang Hai who hadn¡¯t been ¡°schooled¡± in prison¡ªare actually not very knowledgeable about the extent to which modern electronic surveince technology has advanced. To take the highest-end technology as an example, the Snowden incident fully demonstrated the breadth and depth of mass surveince. For an individual to entirely avoid electronic information theft or monitoring, absolute physical istion is required. To prevent phone calls from being intercepted, the correct practice is to wrap oneself in soft material, such as a nket, before making calls. Countries with space capabilities like the United States, can use satellites to monitor the amplitude of vibrations on house windows and reconstruct the sound. Only in an absorptive environment can one avoid such technology. Of course, the above describes only the highest level of technical surveince, beyond the reach of ordinary people. However, for the average person, it has be quite difficult to evade the standard methods of modern technical surveince. Zhang Hai didn¡¯t even have a second phone, and his WeChat ount had no alternate ID. Overall, he and his aplice were likely quite unfamiliar with electronic devices. Actually, at 54 years old, being a blue-cor sanitation worker, Zhang Hai¡¯s primary means ofmunication was by making phone calls, and he seldom used text messages or WeChat. Zheng Tianxin immediately understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought, mentally apuding, and hurriedly said, ¡°I¡¯ll go contact technical surveince.¡± With that, he logged out of the teleconference. He could have made the call while still connected to the teleconference, but Zheng Tianxin didn¡¯t know how to do that. Soon, the teleconference was re-established. Zheng Tianxin looked visibly excited. As soon as everyone was connected, he couldn¡¯t wait to say, ¡°We found a few people. I¡¯ve sent the list to the group. The most suspect is at the top, Chen Youdi, 52 years old, farmer. He¡¯s a demolition relocator with six houses to his name and a homestead with a self-built house. He lives in Panyuan Vige, near the national highway, about 12 kilometers from the first body¡­¡± Liu Jinghui was almost on tenterhooks, feeling this was a tailor-made aplice, matching every criterion. ¡°I¡¯m now arranging people to go to Panyuan Vige. What do you say, Captain Jiang and Director Liu, shall we go together?¡± This time Zheng Tianxin was not bold enough to go alone. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui both agreed. The primary crime scene still needed to be inspected, as who knows if further developmentsy ahead. Zheng Tianxin continued, ¡°We also have a lead on Zhang Hai¡¯s whereabouts. He seems to have taken the high-speed rail out of the province. We¡¯ve already reached out to the railway police, and we¡¯re also sending a team over.¡± ¡°Good, as long as we find him,¡± Liu Jinghui was more worried about the man hiding in deep forests. It wasn¡¯t that someone hiding in the woods couldn¡¯t be caught, but searching for a fugitive in the forest was arduous, required many hands, took a lot of time, and was far less easy than catching someone on high-speed rail or a ne. Zhang Hai¡¯s house also needed a thorough investigation, but the newly surfaced Chen Youdi was currently more critical. Jiang Yuan could only hasten to Panyuan Vige. To get to Panyuan Vige from Luyang City, one had to pass through the national highway. Jiang Yuan let Mu Zhiyang drive while he sat in the passenger seat, half-dozing. The search and check personnel along the national highway had already begun working. As they were spread over tens of kilometers of road, the number of officers in each section was notrge, making the search appear somewhat loose¡ªthe main search work was carried out by police dogs, and the officers lined up in queue, reducing efficiency. To the average officer, it was just another exhausting day working outdoors. But through Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, what he saw was the burning of funds. By this point in Case 805, the clues and evidence were far from what they had been before. Theoretically, it was possible to pause the search now, carefully investigate other leads, and close the case. However, not just Jiang Yuan, even Zheng Tianxin didn¡¯t dare to stop at this moment. Thud thud. The car left the national highway, and after a brief drive, the road beneath them had be a 3.5-meter-wide vige path. Jiang Yuan rubbed his face and sat up, staring nkly at the small vige outside. Speaking of which, this Panyuan Vige somewhat resembled Jiang Vige. There were fewer water sources around the vige and fewer canals within it, but the pattern of the buildings was simr, with sparse poption and houses in disrepair due to age. Most of Panyuan Vige¡¯s demolition had involved its farnd and hills, leaving many home bases intact. However, after receivingpensation, most vigers had moved to the city to buy houses. Very few were willing to stay in the vige. Chen Youdi was one of them. He had reapplied for his home base, created arge courtyard, built a three-story house, and even constructed a huge storage barn in the yard. The vigers didn¡¯t pay much attention to Chen Youdi. Apart from the fact that those who remained in the vige were mostly elderly, Chen Youdi himself was always a reclusive outcast. He had no children and had be even more disconnected from the vige¡¯s social environment. Of course, Chen Youdi¡¯s decreasing participation in vige activities was one of the reasons. By the time Jiang Yuan arrived, the criminal police from Luyang City had already started the raid. Zheng Tianxin was personally inmand, holding a small handgun, less than 10 meters from the main entrance. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan arrive, he didn¡¯t have time for greetings, merely nodded in acknowledgment. Jiang Yuan, pulling Mu Zhiyang along, took a position slightly to the rear. The only sounds within the courtyard were the shouts of the criminal police themselves. ¡°Cuff them!¡± Zheng Tianxin¡¯s walkie-talkie crackled with sound. ¡°Well done!¡± Zheng Tianxin exhaled a long breath, then turned toward Jiang Yuan with a small smile, ¡°We¡¯ve finally cornered the bastard.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, his gaze falling on the storage barn adjacent to the residence in the courtyard. The barn was an old-style, horizontal storage barn, over ten meters long, one story high, and suspended more than a meter off the ground. It covered arge area but was convenient for essing stored items. A woodendder beside it allowed for easy climbing up and down. Such barns, once used for storing grain, were convenient and conducive to preservation but had been dismantled progressively over the years. On one hand, the vigers grew less grain and no longer needed suchrge barns, and on the other hand, these kinds of barns took up too much space. With most of Chen Youdi¡¯s farnd taken for other uses, what was the need for such arge storage barn? Jiang Yuan took two steps forward and said to Zheng Tianxin, ¡°Let¡¯s inspect the barn.¡± Reminded by Jiang Yuan, Zheng Tianxin¡¯s expression grew solemn as he processed the thought. ¡°Take some people there,¡± Zheng Tianxin called out. Mu Zhiyang scurried along, following closely behind. They set up the woodendder, climbed into the barn, two entered, and the remainder stood guard outside. Two minutester. Four people came out. Two officers, two women with vacant stares. Chapter 435 - 435 401 Urgency ?435: Chapter 401 Urgency 435: Chapter 401 Urgency ¡°That¡­ forensic doctor!¡± the officer who came out of the barn called out, his face contorted. The officers at the scene had all noticed the woman who hade down with them, and given their familiarity with the case, as well as their natural ability for deduction and association, their expressions were far from pleasant. Jiang Yuan stepped forward, calling over Mu Zhiyang, and immediately put on a coverall beneath the barn, followed by a face mask, then silently ascended the steps. The other two trace examiners from Luyang City also hurriedly donned their gear, especially making sure to cover up their hair, before they followed into the barn. The smell inside the barn was bearable. This type of t, elongated barn was like an erged ice cream cone raised more than a meter off the ground, so the venttion and damp-proofing were exceptional. If the rice was not dehusked, it could be stored for two or three years with no issues. But now, the barn utilized the same principles to mask the scent of habitation within, as well as¡­ the smell of death. After passing a two to three-meter-long pile of rice bags used for concealment, there was a bedroom and a renovated bathroom inside. The bathroom had a toilet and a shower facility, and the floor was tiled, but there was no ss or mirrors, probably to prevent the women from using them as weapons. The most conspicuous feature, however, was the arrangement of threerge freezers in the corner. The freezers were running, humming steadily, and the more one thought about their contents in the current context, the more horror and evil one felt. Jiang Yuan silently approached and directly opened the middle freezer. Arge amount of stic-wrapped flesh was revealed before his eyes. Another might have hesitated, but Jiang Yuan could tell at a nce that this red meat belonged to humans. He even instinctively wanted topare it to numbered skeletal remains. Mu Zhiyang unconsciously tensed up, furrowing his brow as he opened the freezer beside it. The contents were the same. And the same for the third freezer. Based on capacity, the weight of a rtively slender woman could be roughly equivalent to that of two sheep, or half a pig, and the three freezers¡­ ¡°Take photos. No, take a few pictures first, then start recording.¡± Jiang Yuan called out, and the trace examiner who followed immediately raised a small video camera. Once the red light came on, Jiang Yuan bent down to turn over the limbs inside the freezer. ck hair soon emerged from beneath. Jiang Yuan sighed, and also felt a small sense of relief. Heads took up space; the presence of a few meant one less full body. And putting the heads on the bottomyer of the freezers was probably not intentional, but rather the leftovers after the bodies above had been gradually processed. Jiang Yuan looked around and saw norge pots and no stove setup, so he temporarily put aside the most disgusting spections. He guessed that the remains that couldn¡¯t be stored must have been taken out and buried. Or perhaps they initially employed burial methods for the bodies andter gave up altogether? After all, thest corpse discovered was still from 15 months prior. ¡°There are already five heads here. That¡¯s one extra.¡± One of the trace examiners who was filming had another peek inside, also feeling unsettled in his stomach. ¡°Burying the bodies was probably their earlier method. The crime escted quite quickly,¡± Jiang Yuan guessed simply, then turned to Mu Zhiyang and said, ¡°Get some body bags sent up from below, one for each body. And call up two more people, those with experience. The ones who might throw up, don¡¯t let theme up. The bathroom is full of evidence, there¡¯s no ce for people to get sick.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Mu Zhiyang walked back to the door to call for help and to get some fresh air. He understood, and his stomach felt very ufortable, especially after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯sstment, he was pretty sure the bathroom was where the bodies were dismembered. However, the kidnapped women were all staying in the bedroom next door, in other words, when the perpetrator killed someone, they were dragged from the bedroom to the bathroom, likely bled out over the toilet, and then dismembered and put into the freezers inside the room. The dread inspired by the entire process was indescribable. Even as a police officer, Mu Zhiyang felt extremely unsettled himself. Jiang Yuan turned back to the two trace examiners and said, ¡°You two start with the bathroom evidence, be thorough, make sure to collect from every nook and cranny, and do it several times. From what I see now, there¡¯s got to be DNA from at least 5 individuals.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± the two trace examiners were very cooperative. Jiang Yuan had solved more cases with fingerprints than many could in their lifetimes. Over the past year and a half, Jiang Yuan had also asionally helped police departments across the province with fingerprint verification. His reputation was well established. While his performances in trace evidence examination had not be widely acimed, with a little inquiry, anyone in the industry could grasp thirty to seventy percent of it. The progress of case 805 up till today had left the local trace evidence examiners in Luyang not just devoid of any other ideas from the start, but now they were itching to screech out their frustration. Jiang Yuan himself began to tidy up the bedsheets and quilt cover on the bed. The owner of the barn, Chen Youdi, lived alone; he had neither children nor a wife, so he washed things like clothes and bedsheets by himself. By bringing the two women here, it was clear that Chen Youdi had sexual needs. Not only could the bedding serve as evidence, but with some luck, it might also yield information about the victims. After the activity started inside, two criminal police officers in their thirties, dressed neatly, walked in. Police officers in their thirties generally have about ten years of work experience, as this industry has not yet reached the point where a graduate degree is necessary to work. Two police academy graduates with a normal 10-year tenure in the detective squad would be considered the backbone of the police force and would have seen at least dozens of bodies. asionally, in a rush or in ces like Luyang City, where there are no forensic assistants, it¡¯smon to help handle the bodies or even assist in autopsies. Despite this, upon seeing the bodies in the freezer, the two criminal police officers were so shocked they were speechless. ¡°The meat my family bought for this year¡¯s New Year¡¯s, I don¡¯t need to eat that anymore,¡± mumbled the police officer in disgust, wanting to cover his eyes. He wasn¡¯t actually about to physically vomit, but mentally, he certainly wanted to expel the scene before his eyes. As a human being, there are some things it¡¯s better not to know or see. ¡°Let¡¯s move the bodies out first. The head has been frozen; we can¡¯t use bags. Get some boxes from outside,¡± Jiang Yuan said, helping to lift therger chunks of the body from the freezer. Compared to buried bodies, the ones in the freezer wererger and heavier. The No. 5 victim was likely a plus-size girl who had taken a wrong step, and perhaps it was because No. 5 was heavier that the murderer changed the method of disposing of the body? ¡°What kind of boxes do we need?¡± asked the two officers as they carried the bodies outside. ¡°Anything that can fit a head will do. Instant noodle boxes,rger express boxes are fine,¡± Jiang Yuandao replied. ¡­ Bags of body parts were taken out, creating an overwhelming shock. The small note of celebration that had just begun to rise due to the case being solved suddenly disappeared without a trace. Jiang Yuan stood inside the barn, directing the evidence technicians to nearly empty the ce before calling Liu Jinghui in. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Liu Jinghui asked, looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and guessing what was on his mind. Jiang Yuan moved closer to Liu Jinghui and said softly, ¡°We still haven¡¯t found the murder weapon.¡± Liu Jinghui was stunned for a moment. ¡°The search isn¡¯t finished yet, right?¡± ¡°Chen Youdi didn¡¯t know we wereing; he didn¡¯t have time to hide the weapon,¡± Jiang Yuandao exined. Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan in surprise, ¡°Are you suggesting there¡¯s an aplice?¡± ¡°There definitely is,¡± Jiang Yuan mumbled, saying, ¡°The body parts in the refrigerator arerge and heavy. With two murderers, both Chen Youdi and Zhang Hai are in their fifties and not very strong. If they were handling it, they should have cut smaller pieces, made a few more cuts¡ªthe effort shouldn¡¯t have been so exhausting.¡± Liu Jinghui considered, ¡°This¡­ Strength varies from person to person, after all¡­ ¡± ¡°The bloodstains in the bathroom do not seem to be made by two men in their fifties with weak constitutions, at least not entirely. Some of the stains indicate that the knife was swung quickly, by someone rtively young and strong. In short, there was at least a third person in this room!¡± ¡°Three people? ¡± Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t considered this. ¡°The victim must have seen someone else.¡± ¡°The victim hasn¡¯te around yet, and the information we can get from her now isn¡¯t urate. But¡­¡± Liu Jinghui paused for just a moment before nodding, ¡°We¡¯ll consider the possibility of three people being involved. That way, there might still be a victim alive¡­¡± The case suddenly became urgent. If the third perpetrator learned about what¡¯s happening here, it was very likely they could decide to simply kill the kidnapped woman. But to be honest, with all themotion here, in this age where everyone is an uploader, it¡¯s virtually impossible to keep anything secret. ¡°I¡¯ll think of something. ¡± Jiang Yuan took the initiative. Chapter 436 - 436 402 Too Long ?436: Chapter 402: Too Long 436: Chapter 402: Too Long ¡°A third person? This¡­¡± Outside the barn, tomorrow¡¯s sun hung high, a gentle breeze caressing, and atop Zheng Tianxin¡¯s head, a fine sheen of sweat emerged, as if he had eaten a fiercely spicy Qingzhong noodle dish. At this moment, facing Liu Jinghui, Zheng Tianxin truly wished he could have been choked to death by those explosively spicy noodles. The sweat on his brow was not only due to the unexpected twists and turns in the case but also a deep-rooted sense of guilt. Phrases like ¡°ensuring the safety of the locality¡± often sound empty when spoken. However, as the leader of the Luyang City Bureau Criminal Police Brigade, Zheng Tianxin, who was middle-aged, harbored no hopes for promotion or desires for transfer. His life had been a series of highs and lows within the police force. If there were any aspects of his career, any aplishments, any shining moments in his life, they were all epassed within this realm. The term ¡°maintaining public order and ensuring the safety of the citizenry¡± almost covered all the radiant aspects of Zheng Tianxin¡¯s life. Yet time and again, the criminals involved in case 805 shattered those shining aspects¡ªwhether they were realistic, illusory, genuine or fanciful. ¡°These beasts!¡± Zheng Tianxin muttered through gritted teeth, then raised his head to ask Liu Jinghui, ¡°What should we do?¡± He had now realized that he was far inferior to Liu Jinghui in criminal investigation, and there were hardly any others in the Luyang City Bureau or Shannan Province who could match Liu Jinghui. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be Liu making the daily rounds across the province. At this point, Zheng Tianxin didn¡¯t want anything else. He just wanted to crack the 805 case and capture all the criminals involved, no matter how many there were. Liu Jinghui, pondering, said, ¡°We could ask the technical investigation team to summarize the call records of Zhang Hai and Chen Youdi. Those who have had phone contact with both of them would be key suspects. We should continue investigating social media as well. Additionally, is it possible to get anything out of Chen Youdi through interrogation?¡± ¡°The interrogation is being followed up by the prosecution, no news yet,¡± Zheng Tianxin replied, then added, ¡°I¡¯ll get in touch with the technical investigators; we should be hearing back from them soon.¡± At first nce, the 805 case seemed shrouded in mist, but upon closer inspection, it didn¡¯t appearplicated. Especially the two currently involved suspects didn¡¯t actually possess strong anti-investigation skills and weren¡¯t careful in their actions¡­ Liu Jinghui¡¯s strategy, simr to previous ones, had worked smoothly before; continuing with it now, Zheng Tianxin felt reassured. Zheng Tianxin immediately gave the instructions on the spot. Liu Jinghui continued, ¡°Over in Panyuan Vige, I think we could deploy another team to conduct a thorough investigation. Look into Chen Youdi¡¯s neighbors to see if they¡¯ve heard anything unusualtely. Also, if a third perpetrator hase here, he would have to drive past the entrance of the vige every time, right? We can try to find surveince footage from the national highway and the vige.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a great idea! They would have had to use a car to transport the victims,¡± Zheng Tianxin nodded again and again. This investigative approach was also in line with his way of thinking. Zheng Tianxin picked up his phone and started tomunicate with the various parties. Zhou Yuanqiang was also hurrying back to the bureau nonstop. The technical investigation required filling out a plethora of forms. With Zheng Tianxinmanding the scene on-site, it was up to him, the politicalmissar, to run around. Dozens of detectives were rallied to take down statements from the vigers. Panyuan Vige had fair natural conditions, but like Jiang Vige, most people had moved to the government-provided resettlement housing district after the demolition. Those who ended up returning to the vige, and who could return, were mostly old people in their sixties and seventies, with those in their fifties considered strong. These people could still do some work within their capacity and take good care of their daily needs. However, when questioned for statements by the police, every single one of them became panicked and lost for words. The involved officers were not surprised and could only soothe them before asking the questions carefully and repeatedly. It often took two or three times before they could obtain urate answers. Several pairs of people also had to check the surveince footage at the vige entrance and main roads, running to the traffic police department and meticulously searching through the system¡­ At the same time, interrogation efforts were being intensified. Zheng Tianxin could tell that Chen Youdi was not an experienced and determined criminal mastermind. He even seemed a bit cowardly, like an ordinary old farmer, who had intensified desires such as greed, selfishness, and lust to the point of bing an aberration amongst humans. Yet in the interrogation room, Chen Youdi could stubbornly keep silent. He appeared meek and terrified, like a captured rat wishing to curl up into a ball. But no matter what the interrogating officer said, he turned a deaf ear, even murmuring unintelligible words as if he were a primitive tribesman from the jungle. ¡°He¡¯s like someone scared witless,¡± said the officer in charge of the interrogation after yelling for over an hour to no avail. He mmed the table and walked out of the interrogation room. Zheng Tianxin looked at him, curled up, terrified to death, and then thought of the scene in the barn, feeling a wave of nausea: ¡°This thing is not human. We treat it like a person, and yet it still puts on an act.¡± ¡°It feels like his mind¡¯s somewhat copsed, his state of fear is real,¡± the interrogating officer sighed. He had seen such people before; essentially, they were broken by fear. Normal thinking had ceased, and whatever was said, they couldn¡¯t hear or take it in. Or perhaps he truly understood the consequences. Committing such a crime, caught red-handed, the death penalty would be immediate and inescapable. Maybe what he feared was the very part about being threatened. The prosecutor who specifically came for Case 805 was grim-faced. Having seen the photos, it was hard to feel sympathy for the suspect standing before him, yet the case was proceeding so poorly. ¡°We can¡¯t really let him have a mental breakdown, if possible let¡¯s dy a bit,¡± even the prosecutor had to suggest. No matter how brutal the killer was, when facing his own pain and death, his mind is still fragile. Zheng Tianxin responded with a displeased grunt, ¡°The key now is to confirm the third person. That third person might still have the kidnapped woman, and every minute we dy, there¡¯s a greater chance they will kill to silence her and flee elsewhere.¡± ¡°Think of some other way,¡± the prosecutor urged. ¡°I¡¯m not taking the side of the suspect, but if the suspect dies, won¡¯t the case be even harder to handle?¡± Thinking about the hardship of the past two years, Zheng Tianxin also helplessly nodded. This case had nearly drained all of Luyang City Bureau¡¯s resources, as well as his energy and spirit for the past two years. If the killer died now, all the suffering of these years would really have been in vain. Whether or not the murderer stands in the dock, sometimes, is quite important. ¡°How¡¯s the surveince going? Did you find the license te?¡± the prosecutor asked softly, seeing Zheng Tianxin¡¯s bad mood. ¡°Fake tes,¡± Zheng Tianxin exhaled through clenched teeth. You can still investigate fake tes, but it takes a lot of effort. ¡°And technical investigation?¡± The prosecutor was keeping an advance tab, acquainted with all aspects involved in the case. Zheng Tianxin let out a resigned sigh, ¡°The sim card was bought, and we can¡¯t contact the person anymore, thest tower it connected to was near Panyuan Vige¡­¡± Disposable phones,mon in American dramas, are not popr in China, but some still use them. Normally, if the police encounter such a phone, it¡¯s doubly suspicious; but when ites to investigations, it indeed hampers the process. The prosecutor thought for a moment, then asked, ¡°In that case, is there no word through social media apps?¡± ¡°None,¡± Zheng Tianxin started to get irritated. ¡°The vigers in Panyuan Vige, someone did say they saw people looking for Chen Youdi, but they can¡¯t describe what they looked like. The people in Panyuan Vige don¡¯t interact much with Chen Youdi; he¡¯s the isted type, no friends since he was young, the vige¡¯s loser¡­¡± Zheng Tianxin, speaking more and more, felt it was pointless. The case had reached this stage, with so many clues snapping abruptly. Of course, now following any clue and investigating more carefully, trying to widen the scope, there¡¯s still a chance to catch up, but time-wise¡­ Buzz¡­ Zheng Tianxin¡¯s phone started to ring. ¡°I¡¯ll take a call.¡± Zheng Tianxin smiled apologetically at the prosecutor and took out his phone. It was a call from Jiang Yuan. This must be about the case. Hesitating for just a second, Zheng Tianxin answered the call, activated speakerphone, and said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, I¡¯ve put you on speaker. What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve found a fingerprint in the barn,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through the phone, calmly speaking, ¡°Now we¡¯ve identified a suspect with prior indecent assault records, a local of Luyang who works at a property managementpany. I¡¯ve sent the details to your phone. I suspect this person could be the third man.¡± Zheng Tianxin was startled, ¡°The fingerprint you just found?¡± Zheng Tianxin checked his phone; it had been at least four hours since they discovered the body in the barn. Jiang Yuan responded with a ¡°Mhm,¡± ¡°It took over three hours to find, on the edge of a nightstand. Separating fingerprints also took time. Leader Zheng, I suggest we arrest him immediately¡­¡± ¡°Okay, okay,¡± Zheng Tianxin agreed, gesturing to a detective nearby to make the call, but couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Was the fingerprint difficult to find?¡± Laughter from a few people on the other end of the phone could be heard, likely from his own trace evidence team. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It had its difficulties since the killer has a habit of cleaning fingerprints off. However, he lingered in this barn for too long.¡± Chapter 437 - 437 403 ?437: 403 437: 403 After ending the call, Zheng Tianxin quickly opened his phone to check the information Jiang Yuan had sent him and read aloud to the prosecutor beside him, ¡°Tian Xiang, male, 47 years old, from Luyang City, convicted of indecency and sentenced to 1 year and 8 months¡­ The address where this guy installed the broadbandwork is in a vige near the propertypany, Tianshang Vige¡­ His family was also relocated¡­¡± Zheng Tianxin read through the information quickly and then said, ¡°We¡¯re heading to Tianshang Vige now, Li Jian?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go with you,¡± Prosecutor Li Jian replied, not optimistic about the interrogation of Chen Youdi and unwilling to wait any longer, he simply headed out the door with them. Zheng Tianxin nodded, got his team together, and they headed straight for Tianshang Vige. A team of seven or eight cars, all with their sirens ring, raced frantically. The distance wasn¡¯t far, just about a dozen kilometers from the city bureau, in a vige located by the national highway. The vige had many self-built houses that were four or five stories high, with each floor only having an area of about a hundred square meters, and none had yards. Most of the houses¡¯ exterior walls were not tiled, just the color and pattern of concrete, exposed to the air. asionally, some houses were tiled, but only on the side facing the road, with even the side walls left untiled. There were even some houses without windows installed, or with only the first and second floors done, leaving all the upper stories open. ¡°Isn¡¯t this a relocated vige?¡± Li Jian asked as he got out of the car and nced around. ¡°It¡¯s all like this. Nowadays, relocations only cover the necessary parts. For the areas not yet demolished, they build to wait for the next relocation. They¡¯repensated by square meter anyway. There¡¯s no use in building too well, and few people live in them,¡± Zheng Tianxin exined, familiar with the area since he asionally went out on field duty. As they spoke, more sirens sounded from behind, hollering ¡°fifth, fifth.¡± It was the police car from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad arriving. Both teams had simr thoughts; in such a situation, covert arrests were not a priority. Instead, it was about deterring the criminals and ensuring they didn¡¯t daremit any violent acts. Four hours had gone by since the arrest of Chen Youdi, and the likelihood of the news leaking was high. If Tian Xiang, an aplice, was holding the victim captive, the victim was in great danger. However, looking on the bright side, Tian Xiang might also be asleep, or drunk under the table. Furthermore, even if Tian Xiang did get wind of what was happening, whether he would choose to silence the victim was not a given. Commonly, people on the run might leave such critical decisions until thest moment. Meaning, normally, Tian Xiang would choose to pack his bags first, take his valuables, grab his ID, cell phone, keys, wallet, and so on, get everything ready before killing the victim and eliminating evidence¡­ As for whether Tian Xiang himself was behaving normally, those who hadn¡¯t met him could only specte. The vige secretary they had contacted on the road hurried out to meet them. The criminal police leading the team didn¡¯t give him time to ramble on. They had him get in a car and led the convoy to Tian Xiang¡¯s house. Wasting a few minutes, the detectives from the criminal police brigade drove and surrounded Tian¡¯s house and the vicinity. The police officers who were armed drew their guns, while others took shields, bulletproof vests, and stab-resistant gear from the trunks of their cars to put on. Several members known for their prowess in forceful raids were rubbing their hands eagerly as they rushed to positions at the front and back doors, as well as the windows, of Tian¡¯s house. The vehicles from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad parked behind, and the team members followed suit with simr actions, only with better and moreplete equipment. ¡°Captain Jiang has arrived,¡± Zheng Tianxin greeted Jiang Yuan courteously, then introduced him to Prosecutor Li Jian. Compared to Zheng Tianxin¡¯splex feelings toward Jiang Yuan, Prosecutor Li Jian, more of an outsider, curiously asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°I heard it was quite difficult to secure Tian Xiang¡¯s fingerprints?¡± Those in the judicial system tend to speak with purpose, like Prosecutor Li Jian¡¯s first question, which sounded like idle chat but was actually gathering information for the uing prosecution of the case. Jiang Yuan, having dealt with various prosecutors, didn¡¯t speak carelessly. He took the time to observe Tian¡¯s house and after a moment of thought, he said, ¡°There are definitely difficulties, because, from the distribution of fingerprints, it is clear that Tian Xiang was consciously trying to eliminate his own traces.¡± ¡°How can you tell?¡± Prosecutor Li Jian asked, both because he didn¡¯t understand and knowing that simr questions would be posed by judges andwyers in court. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before answering, ¡°That was gradually discovered through the fingerprinting process. Basically, inside the barn at that time, I only saw fingerprints from four individuals. This is clearly abnormal because there were at least five bodies in the barn. I wasn¡¯t certain at first, but there were at least seven victims, plus Zhang Hai and Chen Youdi, the two perpetrators. That made nine people who had been in the barn, yet only the fingerprints of the two perpetrators and the two surviving victims were present, indicating that someone had previously cleaned the fingerprints and other traces in the barn.¡± Prosecutor Li Jian nodded in understanding. At that moment, several forensic officers and crime scene investigators from Luyang City who hade from the barn arrived. Prosecutor Li Jian gestured to them toe over and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°I¡¯m not a technician, but I¡¯m curious, a person should have 10 fingerprints, right, plus the toes since they lived in the barn. So, four people could leave 80 fingerprints? And the 80 fingerprints aren¡¯t all full prints, right? With that, can you determine how many fingerprints are in the barn?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Under normal circumstances, that¡¯s impossible!¡± ¡°No wonder!¡± Apart from Jiang Yuan¡¯s matter-of-fact answer, the other few trace examiners were a mix of self-deprecating andughter. Zheng Tianxin stared at the fewughing trace examiners, feeling that the few guys on the phone were just like them. Li Jian sensed something amiss and looked at Jiang Yuan again, saying, ¡°It seems like you¡¯re the only one who can distinguish so many fingerprints. I¡¯m not questioning you, but will this hold up in court?¡± ¡°First of all, there is a significant difference between the ridge patterns of feet and hands. Regarding the issue of bare footprints, it¡¯s also possible to identify the person, but that¡¯s another matter. So, what¡¯s being judged here are 40 fingerprints, not 80,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°Secondly, there are many ways to determine which fingerprints belong to the index finger, the thumb, or the little finger, so it¡¯s not actually necessary to count how many fingerprints there are of each type. Identifying only four types for the thumb and index finger is basically enough to determine that there were only four individuals.¡± The thumb is of great importance to humans since all gripping actions involve the thumb; theoretically, without it, most functions of the hand would be lost. This can be tried by taping the thumb with transparent tape instead of cutting it off. In clinical forensic assessments, damage to the thumb is ssified as a second-degree serious injury, with a maximum sentence of 10 years. However, if only the index or middle finger is disabled, then it¡¯s ssified as a first-degree minor injury, which is considerably less severe. Li Jian listened, somewhat understanding and asked, ¡°But aren¡¯t fingerprints sometimes iplete?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a central area to fingerprints, and you can start by looking at that part,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Li Jian turned to the other trace examiners: ¡°I haven¡¯t heard much about this, have you?¡± ¡°Li Jian, Ningtai Jiangyuan, is fierce and not to be trifled with. Do you know how he determined there was a third perpetrator?¡± one of the trace examinersughed a little too loudly, instantly pinpointed by Zheng Tianxin. Li Jian: ¡°How was that determined?¡± ¡°It came from bloodstain analysis. The speed of the bloodstains exceeded that of the two existing suspects. At the time, it was almost possible to deduce the age of the criminals,¡± the trace examiners exined, their shock actually far surpassing that of a prosecutor, and their current descriptions helped to alleviate their own stress. Sometimes, knowing that someone can work like a pile driver for an hour is one thing, but experiencing it alongside them in bed for an hour is quite another. The few trace examiners had swept fingerprints with Jiang Yuan in the barn for four hours¡ªwork that would normally perhaps be finished in one hour. Even with double efficiency, it took three to four times as long, a kind of suffering inexplicable toypeople. Li Jian seemed to have straightened out the logic and repeated, ¡°So you mean, Jiang Yuan, you confirmed the existence of a third murderer and then verified it through fingerprints?¡± Jiang Yuan corrected him a bit, saying, ¡°At first, it was confirmed that there was a third murderer in the room, and then only the fingerprints of two murderers and two victims were found in the room. Later, after careful searching, the fingerprints of a fifth person were found, and he was determined to be a male ex-convict.¡± The previouslyughing trace examiner provided a simpler exnation: ¡°Captain Jiang led us to sweep the entire barn for fingerprints.¡± Recalling the scene at that time, the corners of the trace examiners¡¯ mouths twitched. Bang! A gunshot rang out, exploding clearly in everyone¡¯s ears. Zheng Tianxin quickly pulled Li Jian behind the car, and the quick-reacting police officers also sprang into action. A head popped out from the second floor of a privately-built house, followed by a waving handgun, and a voice came out: ¡°Back off, back off 100 meters! Knives and guns are blind, life is your own. Don¡¯t pit your life against mine for a few thousand in sry!¡± Truth be told, under such circumstances, suspect Tian Xiang¡¯s actions and voice indeed had a somewhat bandit-like air to them,paring more closely to the fugitive Zhang Hai, and the wretched Chen Youdi. Zheng Tianxin and the others had yet to react when Mu Zhiyang burst intoughter. He swiftly ran back to the car, grabbed a shield from the trunk, and while checking his bulletproof vest, said, ¡°Leaders, I¡¯m fully equipped, requesting to storm in!¡± ¡°Storm in what?¡± Zheng Tianxin was a bit stunned, then quickly said, ¡°This is a live gun!¡± ¡°Bullets from pistols don¡¯t hurt that much,¡± Mu Zhiyang tightened his helmet and added seriously, ¡°I¡¯ve been hit before, really!¡± Chapter 438 - 438 404 Wall Thump ?438: Chapter 404 Wall Thump 438: Chapter 404 Wall Thump Mu Zhiyang¡¯s heart thumped excitedly twice, as if he were warming up. Shielding his head with his shield, he took a few steps forward with practiced ease. In fact, ever since he got injured during the ¡°Wu Long Mountain Wildman Case¡±, Mu Zhiyang had specifically studied and trained for such operations. The leader of the first squadron, Wu Junhao, was generous with his instruction. Wu Junhao used to say, ¡°These days, if you encounter a criminal whoes at you with a gun zing, consider yourself lucky!¡± ¡°Chief, let¡¯s attack from both fronts, don¡¯t give him time to take a hostage!¡± Mu Zhiyang urged, then called for Wang Chuanxing, Shen Yaowei, and others to form up behind him, creating an impromptu assault team. Zheng Tianxin looked back at Jiang Yuan and thought to himself, your men are pretty fierce. Jiang Yuan saw the high spirits amongst Mu Zhiyang and the others and could quite understand them. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were all very determined officers. Without the hope of making a mark and a desire to achieve something significant, they would not have transferred all the way to work under Jiang Yuan. His umted Case Team had a significant workload, and the pressure was immense, with sries and benefits that didn¡¯t even match those of ordinary police officers in Changyang City. What everyone yearned for was achievement and victory, and Jiang Yuan himself was no different. If it were about discussing cost-effectiveness and focused on career advancement, Jiang Yuan¡¯s work as a forensic doctor would be meaningless. ¡°Assuming the perpetrator is alone, we could let Mu Zhiyang and his team give it a try. They have all gone through relevant training too,¡± Jiang Yuan expressed his support, taking Zheng Tianxin by surprise. When ites to training, in reality, everyone has undergone it. The police are essentially a force of violence. Look at the police in the United States; one or two officers, or small teams of two or three, would rush out amidst gunfire ¨C it happens all the time. Domestic police officers aren¡¯t bold enough to rush in not because theyck courage, but because the leaders fear the consequences. For the leaders, they would rather send hundreds of officers to tire out an armed criminal or wait for hours for the armed police or special forces to arrive and deal with the situation than let ordinary officers go into battle. After numerous such incidents, many officers themselves were reluctant to step forward. But this situation was obviously not normal. Everythinges with a cost. Fully trained police officers are often required to do dangerous work, but when firearmse into y, they suddenly be as fragile as porcin dolls. If it takes 200 detectives a whole day to deal with one armed criminal, then hundreds of theft cases will have to be put on hold. There are 365 days in a year; if all officers are required for murder cases, for armed cases, for meetings, for escorting high-ranking officials, then how much time is left to handle ordinary cases? Jiang Yuan himself had experienced gun battles, and when he thought back, the fear felt at that moment was real. Upon review, many aspects could have been handled better. Mu Zhiyang probably felt the same way. One who has been rained on should have no fear of walking in the rain again, especially when fully protected. Rather than slowly ruing experience day by day, Mu Zhiyang preferred to take a bit of risk. ¡°Captain Jiang, they are your men, I won¡¯t object if you¡¯re willing,¡± Zheng Tianxin guessed the young people¡¯s thoughts a bit. Although he didn¡¯t entirely agree, the reality was that on their side, against a mere handgun, there were dozens of officers with bulletproof vests, helmets, and shields; charging in would at least be worth two third-ss merits. It was normal for the young officers to want to fight for it. When he was young, he also seized a few opportunities to make his name. If you just follow the routine, unless you are a technical genius and a case-solving expert like Jiang Yuan, most people will just end up as ordinary officers, working overtime until their hair thins, staying upte until their liver hardens, writing reports until they¡¯re full of grease, better to take a bullet than that! ¡°Shall we let Mu Zhiyang and his team give it a try?¡± Jiang Yuan sought confirmation from Mu Zhiyang and the others with a look. Zheng Tianxin nodded, saying, ¡°Take three guns with you, but try not to use them.¡± He sent someone to get the guns, then turned back to his own team and said, ¡°Those of you who are interested can join them too, it¡¯s an opportunity.¡± The couple of detectives in front of him didn¡¯t make a peep, grinning, all of them in their thirties with families of their own. They had seen through it all and had no interest in risking their lives. Forget asking for names; even getting injured and suffering from chronic leg and back painter didn¡¯t seem worth it. Zheng Tianxin looked further afield, and a young officer, just a few years out of school, couldn¡¯t help but jump out and say, ¡°Chief Zheng, I want to go.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± Zheng Tianxin agreed. It wouldn¡¯t be right to let the guest troops charge ahead while the home side reaped the benefits alone. With one volunteer there soon followed another, and in no time, about half of the young officers from the nearby vehicles stood up, making up a group of nearly ten. On their side, Mu Zhiyang and his team, now armed and holding shields, had circled from the right side of the self-built houses to the downstairs of Tian Xiang¡¯s building. The officers from Luyang City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade split into two groups; one group circled from the left side of the self-built houses while the other went around to the back, meeting up with the officers who had arrived beforehand, getting ready to vault the wall from the rear. In other words, aside from the dozen or so police vehicles shing their lights at the front, there were now assault teams on the other three sides. Tian Xiang hid behind the window on the second floor, only asionally sticking his head out as if he were afraid of being taken out by a sniper. He couldn¡¯t see what the police were doing, and even if he did, he probably wouldn¡¯t understand. At the same time, he couldn¡¯t help but il his arms and shout wildly, showing signs of mental instability. Of course, many people facing a simr situation, surrounded by dozens or hundreds of burly men threatening to execute them by firing squad, would also exhibit signs of mental instability. On Zheng Tianxin¡¯s end, a criminal investigator held up a shield and a loudspeaker, shouting, ¡°The person inside, listen up, you arepletely surrounded by us¡­¡± While speaking, Mu Zhiyang, boosted by two colleagues, directly climbed into Tian Xiang¡¯s second-story home. They were all practiced standard moves, just rarely used. Bang. The sound of breaking ss, inexplicably simr to the sound of gunfire. But the detective¡¯s shouting was so loud that Tian Xiang, in the next room, didn¡¯t hear it at all. Mu Zhiyang rolled on the spot, pulled out a small shield from behind, and threw down a rope while bracing his feet against the bottom of the window sill. The detective following him used the rope to climb up with a little effort. These tactical movements were practiced more often by special police, but normal criminal investigators also needed to practice them. Generally, the longer one had been out of the academy, the more their movements deviated from the standard. After three or four people came up, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s pounding heart began to slow down. By this time, the mission was already halfwaypleted. Next, it depended on whether Tian Xiang had taken any hostages and whether he would give up. A team of six people went upstairs, one went down to open the door, and the rest moved forward slowly. Soon, the sound of breaking windows was heard continuously from outside. Tian Xiang stuck his head out again and shouted, ¡°Don¡¯te over¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang made a hand signal and, holding therge shield brought up, barged into the room. Bang! Tian Xiang fired again, hitting the shield, but not even a spark flew. Thump! Mu Zhiyang, still upright with the shield, charged at Tian Xiang, mming him against the wall with no intention of slowing down. Shield Bash! Wall m! Stun Baton! Stun Baton! Before Tian Xiang could utter a swear word, he slid down the wall. ¡°Stop zapping, it¡¯s done, it¡¯s done,¡± Mu Zhiyang shielded Tian Xiang from a third electric shock, then removed the shield to look at Tian Xiang as if he were a freshly caught wild yellow croaker. Shining gold! Chapter 439 - 439 405 Search ?439: Chapter 405: Search 439: Chapter 405: Search ¡°Come on, get a good shot of this over here.¡± Mu Zhiyang holding a shield, asked the crime scene technician to carefully photograph the dent on the shield. The dent was made by a bullet, exactly at the transparent upper part, not very obvious, but it was indeed hit at close range. Judging by the height of the shield, Tian Xiang¡¯s shot was pretty urate, likely aiming for Mu Zhiyang¡¯s neck or chin. Right at the spots without protection. ¡°That was a really urate shot. Very dangerous,¡± Zheng Tianxin also came up to the scene and looked at Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shield. Mu Zhiyang smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m wearing a bulletproof vest, I only need to protect my head, if he aimed for the legs, maybe it would have made a difference, but I¡¯ve been hit by bullets before, much tougher than this measly Type 77, it would be impressive if it could even slow me down.¡± The bullet that hit Mu Zhiyang previously was from a 9mm NZ75, which was indeed much more powerful than this one. But a bullet is a bullet, and being shot is being shot; when ites tomendations, one shot counts for one shot. Now that the danger was over, Zheng Tianxin looked at Mu Zhiyang and couldn¡¯t help but nod, ¡°It¡¯s good to be young and full of vigor. Hmm, let¡¯s get a few more shots of Xiao Mu, can¡¯t let the bullet go to waste!¡± He was giving out favors with the tide. If Mu Zhiyang hadn¡¯t been shot, that would still be charging bravely into gunfire. Now that he¡¯d been hit, it truly was charging headlong through a hail of bullets, and he couldn¡¯t escape getting a third-ss merit award for it. Jiang Yuan also walked up, wearing a mask and shoe covers, and offered his constion: ¡°You¡¯ve worked hard.¡± Upon reaching Mu Zhiyang, Jiang Yuan also looked at the shield, then smiling at Mu Zhiyang, said, ¡°I¡¯ll rmend you for amendation.¡± Mu Zhiyang wanted just that, grinning so wide his mouth could split, and said coyly, ¡°I just did some trivial work.¡± Zheng Tianxin watched andughed, ¡°If the higher-ups were to say that, you¡¯d be furious. From now on, try to pay more attention to personal safety.¡± Had it not been for Mu Zhiyang and others volunteering eagerly, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s support, Zheng Tianxin most likely would not have agreed so readily to let them go directly. Mu Zhiyang smiled calmly and said, ¡°No big deal. In these few years of being a cop, I get injured practically every year; aside from being shot, I¡¯ve been cut by knives on my arms and legs, hit by an electric scooter while chasing a suspect, struck by rocks during riots, nearly drowned while responding to a suicide case when I got dragged into the water¡­ Oh, and been bitten by a dog, scratched by a cat, even nibbled by a hamster. Each of those instances was more dangerous than this, and not once did I get anymendation for bravery.¡± Mu Zhiyang then looked at Jiang Yuan, pledging his loyalty: ¡°If I feared hardship, exhaustion, or death, I wouldn¡¯t have joined Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad.¡± Zheng Tianxin felt inexplicably envious¡ªwhy didn¡¯t the young recruits in his own Criminal Police Brigade have this kind of spirit? ¡­ Therge retinue escorted the delirious suspect Tian Xiang back. Because of getting shot, Mu Zhiyang also returned to the Criminal Police Brigade to go through the procedures, while Jiang Yuan, with several crime scene technicians, continued to examine the Tian household for traces. The suspect was caught, but to build aplete chain of evidence for the uing prosecution, this task, naturally, was the responsibility of the crime scene technicians, forensic doctors, and other criminal investigation personnel. And for now, finding the murder weapon was paramount. This case involved many elements rted to the murder weapon, and it was the same weapon. Establishing links to other cases, like the buried body case, and determining the presence of a second and third assant, all hinged on the same weapon. In such a case, finding the murder weapon would solidify a strong foundation for the case. Of course, now Jiang Yuan and others could understand why the killer didn¡¯t change weapons¡ªit¡¯s because he killed too many people; changing weapons seemed unnecessary. Moreover, tasks like dismemberment required highly effective tools, and switching to an ineffective knife meant dealing with the old knife, purchasing a new one, and thus it was easier not to switch at all. In fact, the special task force still wasn¡¯t quite clear on exactly how many bodies there were. At this point, the information about the remaining bodies would most likely have to be extracted through interrogation. The screening by Xu Taining had essentiallye to an end. Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia and others, armed with Metal Detectors, roamed all over the house, probing ces like walls and wardrobes. The Metal Detectors supplied by the Luyang City Bureau were long rod-shaped, almost like a police baton, and could be extended or retracted. In an emergency situation, they could probably be swung around a couple of times. These worked with a probe at the front, more flexible than the mine detectors used by sappers, although it was unclear how much less sensitive they were inparison. Wang Chuanxing and the others conducted their search thoroughly. Among the three suspects, Tian Xiang was the most reclusive and had the strongest counter-surveince abilities, or rather, among the three, only Tian Xiang had notable counter-surveince skills. This alone set his status apart from the rest. The search of his house, naturally, had to be more meticulous. On the other hand, seeing Mu Zhiyang having made a breakthrough, the likes of Wang Chuanxing felt a tinge of envy and were also eager to make some discovery. The police profession is a challenging one to advance in, simr to those in public service roles like teachers or doctors. The likelihood of bing a leader is meager, with many serving for a decade or more, bing seasoned professionals and core members of their units, yet only achieving positions like a small team leader¡ªroles like a middle team leader in the detective squadron, arge team leader in the criminal police brigade, or a subject head in thenguage department¡ªmerely leading by example in their work. However, people need a sense of honor and opportunity for advancement. Winningmendations or getting rank evaluations, all serve this purpose. For young people like Wang Chuanxing, these were their professional ¡°targets¡±. Several officers from the Luyang City Criminal Police Brigade, working in pairs, were also diligently searching and examining the area. In cases like No. 805, during the search phase, there¡¯s no need to worry about restoring things to their original ces. If necessary, even the bed could be lifted aside or turned over without any issue. Wang Chuanxing, observing their thorough search, took the mine detector and started to follow along the walls. While circling around, the detector began to beep. ¡°There¡¯s a secret door,¡± Wang Chuanxing tried pushing and pulling here and there, and sure enough, he managed to slide a wardrobe aside, revealing a narrow door over a meter wide. The door was locked, but after calling someone to unlock it, they saw a dark room inside, over two meters in width and length. In the corner of the dark room, there were two dog cages, and inside each cage, two women were crouched naked, with their hands, feet, and mouths bound. The sudden influx of light made the two women panicked and frightened. At the same time, Wang Chuanxing¡¯s emotions shifted from excitement to calmness, and then to a certain numbness. This damn world! ¡°Call an ambnce over,¡± said Tang Jia as she looked back before attending to unlocking the cages. She helped remove the gags from the women¡¯s mouths and whispered gently, ¡°We are the police, you¡¯ve been saved.¡± The women couldn¡¯t help but cry. The woman next to them, whose gag hadn¡¯t been removed yet, started to wail. Tang Jia hurried to remove the gag from the other woman, and then the two of them began crying even more freely. Wang Chuanxing found the switch for the overhead light on the side of the door and turned it on. A chopping knife about half an arm in length was hanging on the wall, thin in the front, thick at the back, its de covered with mottled stains. Chapter 440 - 440 406 The Departed is Gone ?440: Chapter 406 The Departed is Gone 440: Chapter 406 The Departed is Gone Afternoon. In the time when sunlight was most abundant, Jiang Yuan arrived at the funeral parlor in Luyang. The two-story forensic building, exposed in the light, seemed to emit an eerie aura, stretching out its entirety. Mei Fang wore a whiteb coat, leaning against the door, waiting for Jiang Yuan. That image would¡¯ve probably made for quite a nice photoposition if it were a woman. But now it was a male forensic doctor with a potbelly and a beard, his hair a disheveled mess, which kind of unnerved people a bit. Mei Fang seemed very enthusiastic though,ing up with a broad smile, saying, ¡°Captain Jiang, both I and these five bodies have been waiting for you. I thought you¡¯de in the morning.¡± ¡°I was inspecting Tian Xiang¡¯s house yesterday, and the worksted until the evening,¡± exined Jiang Yuan, who performed the on-site investigation as a crime scene investigator or trace examiner. Since there were no bodies or deceased at Tian Xiang¡¯s home, a purely forensic doctor like Mei Fang didn¡¯t need to go. Mei Fang uttered words ofmiseration twice and asked, ¡°How¡¯s the interrogation going?¡± ¡°Chen Youdi has recovered and started to spill. The runaway, Zhang Hai, was also caught; he even used a fake ID but was so flustered that a railway police officer encountered him, and a few words revealed his true identity,¡± Jiang Yuan said, shaking his head. The psychological states of these two were even less stable than that of an average adult, but they were capable of a brutality that normal people couldn¡¯tmit. Mu Zhiyang had followed Jiang Yuan and, picking up on his discourse, said, ¡°That officer got lucky, nabbing a third-ss merit effortlessly.¡± ¡°Railway police have always been the best at capturing fugitives. It¡¯s their profession, after all,¡± Mei Fang took a nce at Mu Zhiyang and continued, ¡°Just like the rumors going around about Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, having someone around who¡¯s ¡®bullet ma¡¯.¡± When Mu Zhiyang first got injured, he would browse various online groups to see what people said about him, but now he was even more nonchnt, replying, ¡°Fear for your brothers¡¯ hardships and yet envy their distinctions. I understand.¡± Mei Fang burst intoughter, ¡°I want to post this in the group chat.¡± ¡°Then I certainly won¡¯t acknowledge it,¡± Mu Zhiyang retorted smartly with augh. Mei Fang sounded a bit disappointed, but still praised, ¡°Worthy of being Ningtai¡¯s shield.¡± Mu Zhiyang pondered for a moment, his mouth curving into an involuntary smile. ¡­ The dissection room. Mei Fang rolled a body over and proceeded to exin, ¡°We¡¯ll start with number five; the other bodies are still being categorized by separate parts,¡± he said cheerfully. The fifth body was found in Chen Youdi¡¯s house, and only a part of it; where the rest was buried was still unknown. After Jiang Yuan had inspected Chen Youdi¡¯s house, he¡¯d been hot on the heels of the search at Tian Xiang¡¯s home, leaving no time for an autopsy on number five, Wang Leqin¡ªthe name was given by Chen Youdi, who, after seeing the murder weapon and photos of Tian Xiang in the interrogation room, had an emotional breakdown, swinging to another extreme, which only made the interrogation easier. ¡°The age is also around 30 years old. Height should be about 175 centimeters, and weight around 50 kilograms; the height and weight ratio is quite distinctive. Maybe there were other choices for the body disposal site?¡± Jiang Yuan measured the metrics himself while Mu Zhiyang kept record and spected along. The main parts of Wang Leqin¡¯s body missing were the upper torso. It was even difficult to determine whether the killers had resorted to disposing of the body, as both arms were left intact; hence, only the spinal column and sternum presented a disposal challenge. Yet,pared to long bones, the spinal column and sternum could actually be processed with household tools and machinery. In this regard, the killers didn¡¯t need to read books; a hack at the time of dismemberment would give them a fair idea of the bone hardness. Fresh femurs, for instance, couldn¡¯t be chopped with regr kitchen knives, but the sternum and such weren¡¯t as tough. Of course, there are time and physical costs involved. The three perpetrators, over the years, had been dismembering bodies in Chen Youdi¡¯s barn, not only umting substantial experience but also finding the location suitable for prolonged dismembering. As at least the fifth victim, body number five had allowed the trio to amass a great deal of expertise. Tian Xiang might still be researching and developing in this area. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, among the trio, Tian Xiang should be the initiator and the mastermind. He specifically sought out two timid, greedy, and lustful old men, likely selected from the clients of prostitutes. Zhang Hai, because he worked in an establishment and looked like a decent man, was responsible for choosing and abducting wayward girls, as well as burying the bodies. Chen Youdirgely participated because he had a house with a yard and was a lonely old man, thus he took on the role of the jailer. Tian Xiang himself must have had a considerable degree of psychological illness; he was responsible for killing and dismembering, and probably also for nning the crimes. Tian Xiang must have had an intense need for both ughter and sex. Overall, this is the infancy of a native crime syndicate that grew wildly without experience or a learning model, training themselves. If they hadn¡¯t been caught this time, Jiang Yuan estimated, in another year or two, they would be retrieving the bodies. How Zhang Hai originally buried the bodies is how they would be recovered now, and after reprocessing, the likelihood of being discovered again would greatly decrease. The fact that they never discarded or buried the heads is telling. Pointing to him would also be very difficult. However, the adage that ns never keep up with changes is the norm for criminals. Every criminal, when deciding tomit a crime, especially a violent one, even those who habitually lose things like buying groceries, would engage in what they believe to be thorough consideration and nning. As for the execution, that¡¯s a different story. In fact, one can rte to this by looking at college entrance exams. Those who arete, forget their admission tickets, go to the wrong exam center, don¡¯t bring stationery, faint in the exam hall, and those who can¡¯t perform up to their training level during the exams are generally not suitable for murder. You have three years to prepare for the college entrance exams, yet the oue is often unsatisfactory. If a murder is carried out unsatisfactorily, the consequence could be deadly. Jiang Yuan examined the body thoroughly and then said, ¡°The internal organs are basically gone, but fortunately we have the head, so we can see the chopping marks¡­ and they match the murder weapon¡­¡± Mei Fang assisted while nodding. The surface examination of the body waspleted quickly. Mei Fang then moved the head slightly, used an electric saw to cut open the skull, removed the brain for examination, and then for slicing¡­ The autopsy proceeded unhurriedly. As it was almost finished, a blue ball rolled into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. The legacy of Wang Leqin ¡ª Yoga (LV2): Wang Leqin had always been the most beautiful girl in the crowd, proud and independent, striving for a better life, and to see a more vibrant world during her most attractive years. The world then showed her its most splendid and tender side. However, as the refined features lost their luster, the doors that had once opened wide began to close gradually. Wang Leqin learned makeup, tried stic surgery, and began practicing yoga¡­ All her efforts failed to bring back the world¡¯s tenderness. Customers started to grow indifferent and quibbling. The tolerance and kindness she took for granted began to dissipate. In the end, only during moments of performing yoga could Wang Leqin feel a semnce of peace. Jiang Yuan sighed quietly to himself. ¡°Wait a moment, let me check the other bodies,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took off his gloves and put on a new pair before pulling open the freezer containing several other bodies. Only in the fourth body¡¯s freezer was there a blue ball that flowed into Jiang Yuan¡¯s palm. The legacy of Cai Yan ¡ª Toddler Communication Technique (LV1): After unexpectedly giving birth, Cai Yan could only send her child to be raised by her sister. Her sister worked away from home, living a difficult life and disliking Cai Yan¡¯s career choice, but still took on the task of childcare. Cai Yan traveled across the country, visiting her child only after long intervals, yet the child kept calling ¡°Mommy, mommy¡± incessantly. Cai Yan began to learn how tomunicate with toddlers, nning to earn enough money and move to the city where her sister worked to educate her child and lead a normal life. Jiang Yuan pushed the freezer back and thought for a moment before turning to Mu Zhiyang and saying, ¡°Pleasepile the details of these victims and contact their families to see if there are any children or parents who need care and support.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Mu Zhiyang responded. Mei Fang had more on his mind and said softly, ¡°Um¡­ Captain Jiang, actually, we from the Luyang Criminal Police Brigade can take care of this task.¡± ¡°Then go ahead with it. In a couple of days, coordinate with Mu Zhiyang and sync a copy of the information to me,¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand, ¡°Go get the samples.¡± Chapter 441 - 441 407 So Lives On ?441: Chapter 407: So Lives On 441: Chapter 407: So Lives On Thud, thud. Mu Zhiyang returned to the second floor of the forensic building and knocked on the door softly. In recent days, Jiang Yuan had been practically living at the mortuary. As a public institution, the mortuary offered decent benefits, and typically had its own dormitories, provided long-term for staff from out of town or those without their own homes. However, since most people were reluctant to live there for extended periods, there were always vacancies. Jiang Yuan simply asked and was easily assigned a room. For him, staying at the mortuary and focusing on the work he ought to be doing as a forensic doctor was more practical thanmuting back and forth from Ningtai City. Over the past few days, new bodies had been delivered to the mortuary¡ªZhang Hai was also revealing the locations where he had buried the bodies. ¡°Come in,¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through, and Mu Zhiyang gently turned the doorknob. The second floor of the forensic building was bathed in sunlight, especially this southern room, which, when the curtains were drawn open, was as bright as a ssroom. The bones, samples, and scattered items stored insidey as quiet as a group of top students. As Mu Zhiyang pushed open the door, he saw rows of evidence cabs against the walls filled with bones and samples, a ck yoga mat on the floor, sunlight resting upon the yoga mat, and¡­ Jiang Yuan in an equestrian pose! Jiang Yuan, well over 185 centimeters tall, with his long legs and arms held high, faced the sunlight like an ancient statue¡­ Mu Zhiyang felt a bit ufortable, covering his eyes as if they could not bear the intensity of the sunlight, and said, ¡°Captain Jiang¡­ I nearly got shot and injured a couple of days ago!¡± Jiang Yuan exited the equestrian pose and sat cross-legged on the yoga mat, sighing softly. Thanks to Wang Leqin¡¯s legacy, he had acquired Level 2 yoga skills, not particrly strong but already at a professional level, which would take an ordinary person several years, or even a decade, to attain. In this sense, Wang Leqin had talent in yoga or dance. However, it¡¯s highly likely she never had the chance to disy this talent. Perhaps, in the initial acts of selling her body, she might have made use of this skill, but no matter what choice she made, fate was not fair to her. In contrast, what Jiang Yuan received was often profoundly unfair as well. Because of this, he didn¡¯t even want to go to the police department to watch their interrogations of the three murderers. Zhang Hai and Chen Youdi were crude, lonely, foolish, greedy, lecherous cowards! Tian Xiang was slightly younger and smarter, but aside from that, he was no different from the other two. ording to what they were now confessing, what initially brought the three men together was to save money! Tian Xiang and Chen Youdi were not particrly short of money, and while Zhang Hai wasn¡¯t wealthy, his sry was sufficient for cheaper ces. Nevertheless, they decided to disregard the lives of others in order to save money and satisfy their personal fetishes. The hallmark of a civilized person does not lie in whether they can forsake personal benefits, but in whether they can refrain from ignoring the interests of others or the public for the sake of trivial personal gain. ¡°Did you find the information?¡± Jiang Yuan looked up at Mu Zhiyang. ¡°Oh, I found it,¡± Mu Zhiyang quickly handed over the printout he was holding and said, ¡°The conditions aren¡¯t great. I made some calls, and some people don¡¯t even want toe and im the bodies. The one in the worst situation is this Cai Yan, number four, she has a child who should be in elementary school by now, and has been left with her sister to take care of. But her sister¡¯s situation is also not good, as she has divorced in thest couple of years and has a child of her own to look after. She has to work and care for the kid¡ªlife must be very tough.¡± ¡°Where is she?¡± Jiang Yuan asked directly. ¡°Ah¡­ In Miaohexian County,¡± Mu Zhiyang hurriedly replied. ¡°Not in her hometown?¡± ¡°With all the gossip and rumors, she probably couldn¡¯t stay there,¡± Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but feel a twinge of sympathy. A sister working in the sex trade¡ªover time, word would get back home. Having divorced and struggling with two kids, trying to hear a good word about herself in her hometown must have been difficult. ¡°Then let¡¯s go to Miaohexian County and have a look,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Mu Zhiyang was taken aback, ¡°We¡­ what are we going there for?¡± ¡°To see if there is any way we can help, and then help out,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he flipped through Wang Leqin¡¯s file. Her parents had died quite some time ago, and she had no other immediate family members. Therefore, going to Miaohexian County, where Cai Yan¡¯s sister lived, was currently the most direct choice. Although giving money directly might be simpler and possibly less expensive, based on his current mood, Jiang Yuan preferred to go and see things for himself in Miaohexian County. Mu Zhiyang was a bit perplexed, blurting out, ¡°Is the whole team going? Shouldn¡¯t we find a case or something, otherwise, it¡¯s going to be¡­ tricky with the expenses¡­¡± ¡°No need for so many people, just the two of us¡­ uh, plus two more for safety,¡± Jiang Yuan arranged, then added, ¡°For the others at the team, leave a few to continue with Case 805, the rest can take a break.¡± Seeing that Jiang Yuan had made up his mind, Mu Zhiyang had no choice but to go and convey the orders. ¡­ Two hourster. Just as Jiang Yuan had adjusted his emotions andid down his yoga mat to assume the Equestrian pose, the office door was pushed open again. Jiang Yuan was toozy to look back. After all, the forensic office was a ce where nobody usually came, especially when the door was closed. Back in the day, his mentor Wu Jun would burn joss paper, boil red eggs, and worship Guan Gong right in the office, and still, no one would pop their head in. Now it was his turn. He had just learned yoga to try and calm his mind, but he was continuously interrupted. ¡°Doctor Jiang!¡± Commander Zheng Tianxin, apanied by Political Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang, barged into the forensic building of the mortuary. They had prepared many things to say on the way over, but upon seeing Jiang Yuan facing the setting sun in his pose, they were suddenly at a loss for words. ¡°Commander Zheng,¡± Jiang Yuan exhaled slowly, ¡°there shouldn¡¯t be any problem with the case, right?¡± If there had been a problem with the case, Zheng Tianxin would have called ahead. Theoretically, at this stage of the investigation, with all three murderers apprehended, Jiang Yuan¡¯s job was done. Zheng Tianxin caught the implication and, seeing his demeanor, could only smile wryly, ¡°Doctor Jiang, my Captain Jiang¡­ Why are you in such a hurry to leave? Case 805 has just ended, you should at least rest a couple more days. We have some time now and could extend some hospitality.¡± Zhou Yuanqiang also said, ¡°We¡¯ve been too busy before, not even having a moment to have a meal. Captain Jiang, please stay for a couple more days.¡± Jiang Yuan, feeling resigned, packed up, rose to his feet, and silently put on his shoes, then asked, ¡°Do you have more cases on your hands?¡± ¡°Cases¡­ there are definitely plenty,¡± Zheng Tianxin chuckled awkwardly; he hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to be so direct. Zhou Yuanqiang joined in urging, ¡°Case 805 dyed us for too long. We have a fair number of umted cases, and it would be great if you could stay and lead the team for a while longer.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have the final say,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°You need to negotiate with Director Huang and Director Chai. After finishing case 805, we were supposed to return to our team.¡± ¡°Negotiations won¡¯t be a problem, we are quite familiar with Director Chai,¡± Zheng Tianxin said, his embarrassed expression shing by before he continued, ¡°However, there¡¯s no need for all the back-and-forth. I¡¯ll call Director Chai right now, and Captain Jiang, don¡¯t rush off just yet. Let¡¯s drink together tonight, celebrate the perfect resolution of the case, be happy about it.¡± Jiang Yuan declined at first but eventually agreed. The 805 case did end smoothly, and gathering together before leaving was quite a normal social practice. Zhou Yuanqiang did not dare to hesitate and while urging Zheng Tianxin to make the call, he also arranged for vehicles and booked a restaurant among other things. Every member of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was present. Aside from the rather tedious toasting, the dinner was overall satisfactory. Jiang Yuan himself drank about half a bottle of liquor, handed out several packs of Zhonghua cigarettes to everyone, and felt a great deal of emotional relief. A case like 805 could dampen the spirits of even a veteran detective from start to finish. In contrast, the joy of sess for Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang, who had been involved with the case even longer, overshadowed its brutality. The only thing that caused them some emotional fluctuation was the attitude from the Ningtai County Bureau and the attempt to recruit Jiang Yuan to stay on. The two drank even more, slung their arms over each other¡¯s shoulders, and discussed their n. In the midst of their talk, Mei Fang came running over in a panic, ¡°Not good! Xu Xuewu and Qian Mingyu have cornered Jiang Yuan downstairs.¡± ¡°Xu Xuewu?¡± Zheng Tianxin stood up straight at once. Xu Xuewu was themander of the Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigade. He was not well-acquainted with Zheng Tianxin, but they knew of each other. Zhou Yuanqiang asked another question, ¡°Who¡¯s Qian Mingyu?¡± Mei Fang replied, ¡°He¡¯s a fingerprint expert from Miao River County. He definitely knows Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°They¡¯reing to poach him!¡± Zheng Tianxin finally snapped out of it, pped his thigh in anger, and winced in pain before limping down the stairs. Those who overheard also swarmed after him ¨C everyone wanted to make use of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team for as long as possible. Chapter 442 - 442 408 Miao He County ?442: Chapter 408: Miao He County 442: Chapter 408: Miao He County Qian Ming Yu met Jiang Yuan at the provincial department. He was a fingerprint expert from Miao He County, with a standard around LV2.5, qualified to participate in the fingerprintbat conferences organized by the provincial department. He also performed very well in his duties, solving quite a few major cases. However, in events like the fingerprintbat conferences, he seldom had the chance to shine. But after Jiang Yuan matched the fingerprint from Miao He County, Qian Ming Yu had no qualms about contacting the captain of the county criminal police squad andpleted the investigation of an old homicide case with great speed. Because of this, Qian Ming Yu and his captain, Xu Xuewu, were both very impressed with Jiang Yuan. This time, when Jiang Yuan let slip that he wanted to visit Miao He County to work on a few cases¡ªthe investigative kind¡ªXu Xuewu immediately became intrigued. In these times, who doesn¡¯t have old cases on hand? Miao He County was like Ning County, with limited funding each year, and even then, they had to find ways to save some to tackle old cases. If Jiang Yuan could help solve one or two old cases, Xu Xuewu would wee him with open arms. Coming to Luyang City counted for nothing. If he needed him to have brains with folds, that was possible too. Waiting eagerly for Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival, Xu Xuewu immediately showed great humility with a traditional Chinese gesture of respect from a distance. Compared to the familiar criminal police captains Jiang Yuan knew, like Huang Qiangmin from his own county, Hou Lejia from Longli County, and others, Xu Xuewu¡¯s appearance was the most striking. Describing him as ¡°imposing¡± was quite apt. As everyone knows, in traditional Chinese etiquette, when a handsome and elegant person performs the gesture, the effect is particrly good, akin to a critical hit. When someone who is average-looking but carries himself with grace performs it, the effect is also not bad, quite ordinary. However, when someone with acking appearance does it, it¡¯s considered disrespectful. Therefore, in ancient times among officials, those with a ¡°square-faced¡± (¹ú×ÖÁ³) appearance were considered top-notch, followed by ¡°first-character face¡± (¼××ÖÁ³) or ¡°have-character face¡± (ÓÉ×ÖÁ³). Those who had ¡°stretched-character face¡± (Éê×ÖÁ³), ¡°field-character face¡± (Ìï×ÖÁ³), or ¡°good fortune-character face¡± (¸£×ÖÁ³) struggled even to be minor officials. Xu Xuewu was one of those who were particrly suited for performing rituals. Not only was his face well-shaped, but his physique was also good. In ancient times, he could have been one of the top four immortals, under the category ¡°sun-character body¡± (ÈÕ×ÖÌå)¡ªmeaning a well-proportioned and upright body type. Jiang Yuan, from a distance, couldn¡¯t help but smile when he observed Xu Xuewu. Among the top four immortal body types, aside from the ¡°bearing-character body¡± (¹á×ÖÌå) which is robust and bear-like, the other three are all well-proportioned, the type that forensic doctors like. ¡°Captain Jiang,¡± Qian Ming Yu called out from afar, then introduced, ¡°This is our squad captain, Xu Xuewu. Captain Xu heard you were interested in visiting Miao He County, and since we wereing this way, we thought to pick you up en route.¡± Xu Xuewu feared that Jiang Yuan would be poached by someone else. Such things are all toomon. Back whenputers first began to spread, he happened to employ aputer science college student by chance. Before he knew it, the Changyang City Bureau had recruited the student. By the time he was brought back, the kid had alreadypleted a correspondence master¡¯s. Jiang Yuan, such a good and freebor force, was like a robust work bull for the production team; useful for anybody who could borrow him, naturally the most advantageous for the one who managed to do so. Of course, the family that uses the bull has to spend a bit more on fodder for the bull team¡ªit¡¯s only right. Compared to solving cases, this little expense ispletely negligible. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Ningtai County¡¯s cases were all brushed up and there was genuinely no work left for Jiang Yuan to do, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t have considered using Jiang Yuan just for some fodder. Jiang Yuan wanted to visit Miao He County to see the situation of Cai Yan¡¯s child and sister; as for cases, he didn¡¯t want to take on too much. Jiang Yuan honestly said to Xu Xuewu, ¡°I want to visit Miao He County first, whether I can work on a case or what case I might work on, I haven¡¯t given it much thought.¡± ¡°No problem at all, even if you juste for a visit, we would be very happy,¡± Xu Xuewu spoke very pleasantly. At that time, Zheng Tianxin and a group of criminal police brigade officers who had just had a drink came down as well. None of them were in uniform, and in in clothes, they just looked like a group of strong men, swarming over in a ck mass and causing passersby to hastily dodge out of the way. ¡°Captain Jiang, you can¡¯t leave,¡± Zheng Tianxin lunged at Jiang Yuan, who deftly dodged. ¡°Captain Jiang.¡± Zhou Yuanqiang also lunged but was avoided as well. Officers from Luyang City were earnestly trying to make Jiang Yuan stay. The 805 case might be considered quite ordinary across the province¡ªgiven that only two mutted corpses had been excavated. But the attention the 805 case received in Luyang City was a different story altogether, with undivided public focus that was no exaggeration. The details of the case, the entire process from beginning to end, were known by the officers present, as nearly all of them had been involved throughout. Some participated from the periphery while others were directly on the front lines. But no matter the role, the convoluted journey of the 805 case deeply demonstrated to everyone the powerful investigative capabilities and the formidable determination of Jiang Yuan and his team. Jiang Yuan declined each offer one by one. Being a detective is considered a rather simple profession; unlike those in local police stations or public security sectors, detectives live amunal life, act collectively when cracking cases, and their frequent contact with criminal cases sets them slightly apart in their views from the general popce. Xu Xuewu and Qian Mingyu were also watching with great surprise. From their perspective, it was somewhat akin to a surge of glowing reviews. Being praised by every customer who had used their service¡ªit was a certain kind of experience. ¡°Captain Jiang, let¡¯s get in the car,¡± Xu Xuewu took advantage of the fact that several others were drunk to carve out a path, pulling Jiang Yuan and running. ¡­ Miao River County. This was a very clean little city. The main urban area was cradled by the Miao River, which curved around the city, forming the shape of a giant bent arm. On one side of the main urban area within the arm, there were many parks constructed along the riverbank, while the opposite side featured mountains and depressions¡ªa natural wend surrounded by a vast expanse of farnd. To Jiang Yuan, all these appeared as blind spots in urban security that would require a significant number of surveince cameras to properly address. Of course, the reality was that as a small county-level city, Miao River County did not have an abundance of surveince; they could neither afford the hardware costs nor thebor, and as a result, the public security situation had always been quite severe. In the previous fingerprintbat, Jiang Yuan had matched a print to a case involving a wandering rapist, but based on his brief understanding on the road, the umted cases in Miao River County clearly surpassed such levels. Cai Yan¡¯s elder sister, Cai Mian, lived in a city vige in the outskirts of the city. The city vige of Miao River County also looked very clean, but the messy tangle of wires and pipes, the uneven roads, and the shoddy buildings did not allow one to appreciate the ce¡¯s cleanliness. Cai Mian¡¯s main job was a sanitation worker, cleaning the streets and dealing with temporary toilets on the roadside. Her side job of selling scrap was not only unstable in ie, but also subjected her to asional fines. She was only a little more than five years older than Cai Yan, but she already looked worn out beyond her years. Upon hearing the purpose of Jiang Yuan and hispanions¡¯ visit, Cai Mian fell into deep thought. Chapter 443 - 443 409 Making a Wish ?443: Chapter 409: Making a Wish 443: Chapter 409: Making a Wish ¡°You are police officers, so you can solve cases and arrest people, right?¡± Cai Mian¡¯s expression was one of suffering, years of hardbor had etched crow¡¯s feet at the corners of her eyes, spreading across her entire face. She was under 40 but looked as if she were in her sixties or seventies. Jiang Yuan grunted an affirmative, ¡°We can.¡± He did not mention any conditions or restrictions. The information to hand had already made it clear: Cai Mian¡¯s level of education was not high, and she likely did not understand much about the internal requirements of the system. So, Jiang Yuan simply gave the most direct answer. Cai Mian¡¯s eyes lit up as she asked in a low voice, ¡°Then¡­ can you help me arrest someone?¡± ¡°Who?¡± Jiang Yuan leaned forward a bit. Mu Zhiyang, Tang Jia, and Gao Yuyan, who hade with him, all sat up straight too. Despite being a low-level cleaner, the ugliness of humanity that Cai Mian had witnessed in her position was far more than what the average office worker had seen. The seriousness on the faces of Xu Xuewu, the captain of the detective squad from Miao He County, and Qian Mingyu also deepened. Although they were a bit worried that Cai Mian might be opening a can of worms, on the other hand, Xu Xuewu was hoping to leverage Cai Mian¡¯s situation to get Jiang Yuan involved in several more major cases. Amidst their own conflicted feelings, they heard Cai Mian whisper, ¡°Could you trouble yourselves to¡­ arrest my ex-husband?¡± The 60-square-meter rental apartment was as quiet as a morgue. After a while, Tang Jia stepped forward and said, ¡°Sister Cai, regarding your ex-husband, has hemitted any criminal acts? I mean, has he broken thew?¡± Speaking in a soft voice, Tang Jia grabbed hold of Cai Mian¡¯s hand. Felling an unusual tenderness, Cai Mian became agitated, ¡°He¡­ he doesn¡¯t give me living expenses and he beat me.¡± ¡°Living expenses mean alimony, right?¡± Tang Jia rified. ¡°Yes. He doesn¡¯t take care of the kids either and won¡¯t pay for their schooling. Whenever I ask him for money, he hits me,¡± Cai Mian¡¯s voice grew louder. ¡°Did you get hurt? Did he hit you anywhere?¡± Tang Jia spoke with a calming voice. ¡°He kicked my leg and pushed me,¡± Cai Mian rolled up her pants to show her rough leg skin, but no injuries were visible. Tang Jia crouched down to look closely and asked, ¡°When did he hit you?¡± ¡°Half a year ago,¡± Cai Mian said. Jiang Yuan, who was ready to examine the injuries, paused upon hearing this. A kick injury from half a year ago would definitely not be visible by now. In any case, even if it was visible, at most it would be a minor injury. Without constituting a minor injury of the second degree, injuries actually wouldn¡¯t warrant muchpensation. The idea of receiving a car for getting pped, for example, is generally unfeasible. Even if one gets pped a dozen times or kicked until limping, as long as there is no substantial injury, such as a ruptured eardrum or a ten-centimeter long wound on the leg, or a cumtive fifteen-centimeter wound, the beating would essentially be endured for nothing. In reality, even if the injuries did amount to a minor injury of the second degree, how muchpensation could be obtained depended on the assant¡¯s financial situation. If the perpetrator had no money to pay, the victim would not only get nothing, but might also fail to recover medical expenses. Even if the perpetrator had some money but preferred to go to jail or could endure a few extra months of imprisonment without begging for a letter of forgiveness, then at most the victim would only recover the cost of medical treatment. For Cai Mian, the conflicts with her ex-husband could only lead to mediation at the police station; even administrative detention was unlikely. Of course, some alimony could always be imed. Hence, Tang Jia looked at Jiang Yuan and suggested, ¡°How about Gao and I go and look for her ex-husband, help her get some alimony back?¡± ¡°Yes, Wang Chuanxing will go too,¡± Jiang Yuan said, then turned to Xu Xuewu, the captain beside him. Xu Xuewuughed and said, ¡°For this kind of situation, it¡¯s most appropriate for the police station to get involved. Just give me a moment to make a call.¡± Everyone then rxed. Seeing Jiang Yuan and his team¡¯s sincerity in helping her, Cai Mian called her two kids toe out and greet the officers. Cai Mian¡¯s daughter, three years older than Cai Yan¡¯s daughter, was already in fourth grade and beyond the age where childmunication tactics were effective. Cai Yan¡¯s seven-year-old daughter was still within the range of such tactics, but just barely. Both children were good-looking and seemed well-behaved, but they appeared somewhat afraid upon seeing several police officers in uniform. The older child mustered the courage to ask, ¡°Are you here to arrest my mom?¡± ¡°No, we are your mom¡¯s friends, here to help her,¡± Tang Jia responded with a smile. ¡°Are you here to arrest my dad?¡± the fourth-grade girl asked again. Tang Jia fell silent, thinking to herself that they were indeed there to arrest her father, but that was at her mother¡¯s request. The girl, sensitive by nature, immediately sensed something was amiss and looked at Cai Mian, saying, ¡°Mom, if you send Dad to jail, he¡¯ll be even less able to make money.¡± ¡°He¡¯s just wasting his days away in inte cafes; when has he ever gone out to earn money? He justes to see you and gives you those sweet drinks, hitting me and asking me for money all the time¡­¡± Cai Yan said, growing a bit angry, ¡°I get up at four in the morning to sweep the streets, and in the afternoon I collect cardboard and bottles to provide food and clothing for you two, to send you to school. Your dad¡¯s healthy and just lies there ying; why should he?¡± As Cai Yan spoke, she started to cry again and exined to Jiang Yuan and the others, ¡°Before, my sister would send me some money every now and then for milk powder, diapers, children¡¯s clothes, and weaning food. Everything costs money, and now my sister is gone too¡­ my poor sister¡­¡± When the mother started crying, both of the children began to cry as well. The sight of the mother and daughters hugging each other and weeping brought a heavy air of sorrow into the room. Xu Xuewu began to send messages with his head lowered, considering the current situation, the police station had to be cautious as well. Jiang Yuan used his childmunication skills and turned to look at the first-grader girl, ¡°Cai Yuan, what is your wish? Uncle can try to help you.¡± ¡°Then¡­ I want my Guihua back,¡± the little girl Cai Yuan said, looking up. ¡°Guihua?¡± ¡°Guihua is the dog we raised for the kids,¡± Cai Yan sighed and said, ¡°During the chaos of the New Year¡¯s, with the door being left open, Guihua ran away. We searched for several days but couldn¡¯t find her.¡± ¡°Police uncle, please,¡± Cai Yan¡¯s daughter Cai Yuan begged, eyes wide as she looked at Jiang Yuan. At that moment, the long-missed system interface popped up in front of Jiang Yuan: Task: Find the dog. Task description: Guihua is Cai Yuan¡¯s pet and her friend. Right now, Cai Yuan¡¯s greatest wish is to find Guihua. Fulfill it. Task reward: Skull Restoration Skill (LV3) Jiang Yuan looked at the system interface, silent. Honestly, the Skull Restoration Skill is truly an advanced technology. Even if it¡¯s not LV3, just the LV1 beginner¡¯s level, it was unknown if anyone in Shannan Province had it. To master the Skull Restoration Skill, one needed not only the corresponding knowledge of anatomy but also a high requirement for manual skills. You needed a foundation in sculpture, artistic skills,puter and forensic levels couldn¡¯t becking; it was a typical demand for apound talent, the kind that generally wouldn¡¯t be satisfied with a forensic doctor¡¯s sry level. On the other hand, the power of the Skull Restoration Skill was simple, direct, and raw. Given a corpse¡¯s skull, it could recreate the appearance of the person before they died¡ªthink about Forensic Anthropology and the amount of effort needed to determine a person¡¯s identity. Now, just by presenting the head, one could skip various regression equations, all sorts of investigative checks, greatly improving the ease and cost savings. Although if faced with a criminal who hides the skull, it would be of no use, but to be fair, such criminals were rare. Of the three people in case 805, only the LV4 psychopath Tian Xiang would have such awareness, while the remaining two LV2 fools couldn¡¯t even conceive or execute such a n. To store a dead person¡¯s head in one¡¯s own fridge, the pressure that one must bear is tremendous. All in all, the Skull Restoration Skill (LV3) was a very good skill indeed. However, on the other hand, the task of finding a dog did not seem as easy as one might imagine. While some police officers at the station joke about how troublesome and resource-wasting it is for 110 to find dogs, how many of them can actually find a lost dog when tasked to do so? Normally, it¡¯s the police officers on patrol or responding to a call who mighte across obviously lost pet dogs and take them back to find their owners. Conversely, when owners report a lost dog, there are not many station police officers who can respond and actually find it. Of course, at times and for various reasons, officers still might check surveince footage to help look for a dog, but basically, that¡¯s the limit. Wanting to find a dog using other investigatory means has a very low probability, and the enthusiasm isn¡¯t there either. And in the area near the alley where Cai Mian lived, the number of cameras was clearly insufficient, the residents¡¯ backgrounds wereplex, their identitiesplicated, and the quality mixed. In such ces, it¡¯s easier to find a body than a dog¡ªnot to mention that handling a body is difficult and it¡¯s easy to report to the police for various reasons. Just in terms of mobilizing police resources, a corpse is far easier. Actually, it¡¯s not just that ordinary police officers are reluctant to look for dogs; even Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very motivated. Jiang Yuan even felt that the system had issued this task just to ensure that he had enough enthusiasm¡­ ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll help you look for your dog,¡± Jiang Yuan stood up and said earnestly, ¡°Mu Zhiyang, ask in the group to see if anyone is free and willing toe help.¡± The few policemen in front of him were shocked. Especially Mu Zhiyang, thinking about his uing work which might include ¡°posting missing dog notices,¡± ¡°asking people with a dog¡¯s photo,¡± ¡°tracking stray dog packs,¡± ¡°visiting dog markets,¡± ¡°checking surveince,¡± ¡°looking for dog eyewitnesses,¡± ¡°chasing dogs,¡± ¡°staking out for dogs,¡± ¡°guarding dogs¡±¡­ Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but feel a fear greater than leading a charge. Qian Mingyu, seeing that Jiang Yuan had started to mobilize people, and not looking like this was just a run-of-the-mill case, couldn¡¯t help but advise softly, ¡°Captain Jiang, although looking for a dog seems like a minor matter, it¡¯s been more than half a month since the dog disappeared, it won¡¯t be easy to find¡­¡± Jiang Yuan took this in and felt there was some truth to what Qian Mingyu was saying, so he immediately took out hisptop and asked, ¡°Qian, I remember you saying there was a case with difficult fingerprints?¡± ¡°Ah, yes, yes,¡± Qian Mingyu, no longer preupied with anything else, responded promptly. Chapter 444 - 444 410 Following the Dog ?444: Chapter 410: Following the Dog 444: Chapter 410: Following the Dog ¡°The 1017 case was just cracked like that?¡± Xu Xuewu, d only in the liner of his police uniform, ced one foot on a bench in the residentialplex. While watching the police officers load the criminal suspect into the car, he couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of emotion. ording to the naming convention for special cases, Case 1017 would pertain to an incident that urred on October 17th of the previous year. It was a rape case that had taken ce in the suburbs, and the victim hadn¡¯t reported the crime until the following morning, leaving behind iplete evidence. Throughout the incident, the victim had her back to the assant and her description of the events was unclear. Qian Mingyu had relied on his superior LV2.5 fingerprint technology to painstakingly obtain a partial fingerprint from the bark at the crime scene. However, obtaining a fingerprint was one thing, but matching it was another matter altogether. Qian Mingyu had been processing this fingerprint for several months. Of course, he wasn¡¯t working on it continuously, but whenever it came to mind, he would mark it and try to match it against the database. Deep down, Qian Mingyu still felt that the fingerprint hadn¡¯t matched partly because the assant¡¯s prints had never been collected. Nevertheless, after Jiang Yuan took over, all the conjecture was swiftly resolved. The perpetrator turned out to be a repeat offender who lived near the scene of the crime. Only after the police car carrying the suspect had disappeared from view did Xu Xuewu step down from the bench, let out a long sigh, and ask Qian Mingyu, ¡°What should we do?¡± In his mind, Qian Mingyu thought, You¡¯re the brigademander, and you¡¯re asking me, a forensics guy, what to do? As if what I say would make a difference. But Qian Mingyu was a man in his forties, the kind who could bow his head when necessary. His brain quickly formed new folds as he pondered and then said, ¡°This case is mainly my fault. If I had matched the perpetrator earlier, well¡­¡± On this topic, Xu Xuewu was actually curious and asked, ¡°Old Qian, just tell me, what exactly is Jiang Yuan¡¯s strength?¡± Qian Mingyu recalled the way Jiang Yuan had handled the operation, his facial expression changed, and after a while, he said, ¡°If you¡¯re asking me where exactly he is strong, I can¡¯t really say. But when someone¡¯s skill reaches that level, the first thing thates to mind is confidence, I guess.¡± ¡°Confidence?¡± ¡°A fingerprint that I¡¯ve keptparing over and over, I¡¯m always worried that the characteristics I¡¯ve marked are incorrect, that it won¡¯t match, or that the fingerprint isn¡¯t in the database or is iplete. Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t like that. When he gets a fingerprint, if it doesn¡¯t match after a shortparison, he can immediately judge whether the fingerprint has potential, why it didn¡¯t match, whether he needs to switch to another fingerprint, or just follow through to the end,¡± Qian Mingyu said, his expression changing again. ¡°He¡¯s truly formidable.¡± ¡°He really can solve cases!¡± eximed Xu Xuewu. Qian Mingyu spread his hands and then said, ¡°Looking on the bright side, he would still need our help with something as trivial as a dog theft case.¡± Xu Xuewu tried tough, but it turned into a bitter smile. The formidable top force of Shannan had picked a dog theft case as their first choice upon arriving in Miao River County. From a criminal investigator¡¯s perspective, it truly seemedughable. What was worse, it looked like his own detective brigade was about to be drawn into this dog theft case by Jiang Yuan. He wanted to refuse. In Xu Xuewu¡¯s life, the handsomest thing about him was his face, and his reputation was also rted to being handsome. The most handsome detective brigademander in Shannan¡ªit was a title he thoroughly deserved. But the reputation of the Dog-Finding Brigade¡ªhe feared he couldn¡¯t bear that. ¡°Let¡¯s talk about it when we get back. We¡¯ll see what to say after meeting Jiang Yuan,¡± Xu Xuewu found it hard to decide and after calling out to Qian Mingyu, he slid into the passenger seat of his new Passat. The Passat¡¯s seats were soforting, much morefortable than the previous Santana. Xu Xuewu leaned the seat back and closed his eyes in contemtion. Qian Mingyu sat in the back seat of the Passat and casually pulled out his phone, opened WeChat, and sure enough, saw people in the ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group¡± thanking Jiang Yuan and singing his praises. Jiang Yuan, when idle, was so formidable that he would asionally help someone match a fingerprint. Yet, most of the time, the difficulty wasn¡¯t particrly high. Qian Mingyu estimated that if he had a few days to concentrate on it, he might have a chance to match it as well. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t actually do it. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t lose sleep over someone else¡¯s fingerprint. Rather, it was that while he was losing sleep over it, someone else could easily match the fingerprint. So, if you wanted to consult with Qian Mingyu about a fingerprint of this level, you had to pay him a visit and extend a formal invitation. After all, you don¡¯t bother someone with a matter that isn¡¯t theirs to worry about. It was the same for Jiang Yuan. At the level of Qian Mingyu, already recognized as a fingerprint expert by the provincial department, if you still had to ask Jiang Yuan to take on a problem you couldn¡¯t solve, you needed to make a sincere visit to consult. Now, since Jiang Yuan had solved it, it was only appropriate to give a shoutout in the group. Qian Mingyu earnestly typed in the ¡°Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group¡±: Miao River County Qian Mingyu: [We¡¯ve just arrested a suspect in a rape case, thanks to the fingerprint work by @Ningtai Jiangyuan, which I had been unable to match for a long time.] After thinking about it, Qian Mingyu decided to follow the young folks¡¯ lead and added another message: Miao River County Qian Mingyu: [Jiang God is awesome, YYDS!] Asking for help is not disgraceful! Following Qian Mingyu¡¯s message, other forensic specialists quickly joined in: Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [Jiang God is so cool!] Shannan Li Zemin: [Ningtai Jiangyuan, a towering inferno!] Changyang City ¨C Shuidong District ¨C Forensic He Guohua: [Jiang God never misses the mark!] Provincial Office ¨C Fingerprint Post ¨C Yang Ling: ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, the mes rage fiercely!¡± ¡­ As Qian Mingyu saw everyone else showering Jiang Yuan with praise, he felt more at ease and, likewise, slumped into his chair with a huge sigh of relief. Xu Xuewu nced oddly at the rearview mirror, unaware that his own forensic technician had just fully admitted defeat. Criminal Police Brigade. Jiang Yuan sat in the Surveince Analysis Squad office, watching the surveince footage. Even though he hadn¡¯t found anything, he was still deep in thought as he watched. The detective team in Miaohe County had a different approach to team building; the Image Investigation squad had separated early on. They not only monitor surveince but also make arrests, unlike Ningtai County¡¯s old methods where the image office only provided logistical support. Of course, Ningtai County was now setting up an Image Reconnaissance Brigade of its own, directly scaling up to a team of hundreds with independent case-solving authority. As for Miaohe County¡¯s Surveince Analysis Squad, their surveince coverage was too small. asionally, when a case arose, the squad could handle arrests and case resolutions on their own, and even found it difficult to support the Brigade¡¯s work. For Jiang Yuan to find the missing dog through surveince was immensely difficult, although it should have been the simplest method. ¡°Captain Jiang. Still watching the footage?¡± Before entering the door, Xu Xuewu rubbed his face, immediately bing three times handsomer. Jiang Yuan smiled and stood up, ¡°Have we caught the suspect?¡± ¡°Caught him, he¡¯s been taken in for interrogation, no big problems,¡± Xu Xuewu paused, then asked, ¡°How about you? Found anything?¡± He was too embarrassed to say ¡°dog,¡± feeling that it was somewhat unbing. Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°I¡¯ve checked all nearby cameras, tracked down the vehicles around the main roads, and even made a few calls, but the efficiency is rather low.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Missing persons are hard to find, but missing dogs are even harder. Our surveince is not sufficient¡­ Can we just buy another dog that looks the same, for that young girl?¡± Xu Xuewu tentatively asked. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Now I¡¯m the one who wants to find this dog.¡± Xu Xuewu sighed helplessly; some people are just hard tomunicate with¡­ Jiang Yuan saw Xu Xuewu¡¯s hesitant look and didn¡¯t want to force him, so he quietly handed him a piece of paper. ¡°This is¡­¡± Xu Xuewu took it and immediately frowned upon looking at it. ¡°Case 613. I¡¯ve reviewed the case file, and the weapon used in this case seems rather interesting,¡± Jiang Yuan, with a Level 6 expertise in tool mark analysis, found recognizing weapons to be simpler than munching on fried dough sticks, they softened right up with just a snap. Case 613 was a cold murder case from two years ago. Xu Xuewu hurriedly flipped through to see the conclusion, but there was nothing more¡­ ¡°Not¡­ Not finished yet?¡± Xu Xuewu was incredibly eager. Jiang Yuan affirmed with a sound, ¡°Spread too thin, I¡¯m afraid.¡± Xu Xuewu blinked his handsome eyes, took a couple of steps forward, leaned in toward Jiang Yuan, and whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, leave the dog case to me. You focus on the murder cases.¡± ¡°No need,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile, ¡°I still want to be involved in the dog case. As for Case 613, I¡¯ll just keep it under full surveince.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Xu Xuewu hesitated, feeling it unfit to be distracted by such a significant case. ¡°You still need to talk to Director Huang. Otherwise, he might use me of shirking my duties,¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and once again focused intently on the surveince footage. Xu Xuewu smiled and didn¡¯t take it to heart, pulling Qian Mingyu along as they left the office. Xu Xuewu handed over the piece of paper given by Jiang Yuan to him, took out his phone, dialed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s number, and asked Qian Mingyu, ¡°What do you think? Any hope?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Qian Mingyu, looking at the tool mark analysis written by Jiang Yuan, gazed at the data, swallowed repeatedly, and then began to check the familiar yet unfamiliar regression forms on his phone. Xu Xuewu smiled upon seeing this, and just as the phone connected, he walked out while warmly talking, ¡°Director Huang, good day to you¡­¡± By the time Qian Mingyu had figured out a few regression forms and started pondering why they were chosen rather than others, Xu Xuewu came strolling back, hands in his pockets. It must be said that the well-insted police uniform lining, much like a down jacket and a cotton coat, tends to make ugly people uglier but handsome men even more so. Xu Xuewu was an excellent example of this. Even if he was just casually walking while wearing a thin cotton liner, his broad shoulders and trim waist¡ªthe inverted triangle body shape¡ªwere strikingly evident. Qian Mingyu smiled and approached, saying, ¡°Xu, the tool analysis Jiang Yuan did is really meticulous; it¡¯s definitely worth pursuing further.¡± Xu Xuewu¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Can you continue it?¡± ¡°I¡­ I might¡­ If I do it alone, the sess rate might not be high,¡± Qian Mingyu hurried to exin, ¡°Jiang Yuan uses those regression equations quite broadly; the choicester on are even moreplex¡­¡± ¡°Alright, let Jiang Yuan continue then,¡± Xu Xuewu sighed, ¡°Tell the office to tidy up the Passat, take out all the things that need to be taken, and then send it along with the previous Santana for a full maintenance.¡± ¡°Okay. Which car will you be using these few days?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just ride the old Santana from now on. The Passat will be lent to Ningtai County. When it¡¯s old, they¡¯ll send it back to us,¡± Xu Xuewu shook his head, ¡°I¡¯ll go and talk to the chief¡­¡± Qian Mingyu was stunned, watching Xu Xuewu¡¯s retreating figure, then said, ¡°That dog¡­¡± ¡°Let Squad Three deal with the dog¡­ and Jiang Yuan.¡± Chapter 445 - 445 411 Guihua ?445: Chapter 411 Guihua 445: Chapter 411 Guihua Song Alley Police Station. The leader of the third squad, Zhang Qi, grinned as he presented the recently found dogs to Cai Yuan, ¡°Little girl, look, which one of these is your dog?¡± Zhang Qi had a towering figure and a booming voice which, from a child¡¯s perspective, was a bit of an imposing presence. Cai Yuan hid behind Cai Mian for a moment before looking around. In the yard of the police station, there was a row of fences against the wall, withrge dogs such as Huskies, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and German Shepherds inside. Next, a row connected to it held small dogs, including Papillons, Teddies, and Pekingeses. In the cages in the middle, there were several small dogs on disy that clearly had been groomed. Among them, Pugs were the most numerous ¨C the same breed that Cai Yuan had lost. With wrinkled skin, they looked at everyone and all the other dogs with either a pitiful or dazed expression,zily lounging and asionally sticking out their tongues, acting foolish and silly. Next to the Pug¡¯s cage, there were groomed Teddies, meticulously dressed Pomeranians, trimmed Bichons, pruned Yorkies, bathed Bull Terriers¡­ By the looks of it, even if the little girl pointed to a Terrier inside the cage and said it was her Guihua, Zhang Qi would not hesitate to acknowledge it. Or rather, he was hoping for exactly that kind of situation. Resorting to having a dozen or twenty people deployed just to search for a dog seemed quite unreliable. It would probably be better to just pay out of pocket, or even use the squad¡¯s funds, to simply fool the little girl and get this over with. Jiang Yuan nced behind him. There stood several pet shop owners, smiling and watching. The dogs in the yard indeed included newly found lost pets as well as stray dogs that happened to wander by. After being cleaned up by the pet shops, they looked decent enough. Besides these, of course, there were new dogs for sale, because the dogs consigned at these pet shops were the cutest, regardless of breed or age. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t stop Zhang Qi¡¯s attempt; after all, he had his own ideas. If it came down to it, letting Cai Yuan have an extra dog wouldn¡¯t be a big deal. Cai Yuan first approached the Pugs¡¯ cage full of hope, her eyes shining. There were a total of seven Pugs in the cage, each looking slightly different, but to someone not familiar with dogs, the most one could distinguish was just a level of cuteness. Cai Yuan looked at each one carefully, but eventually shook her head in disappointment, ¡°Guihua isn¡¯t here.¡± Zhang Qi¡¯s face changed, then heughed like a gender-bending Big Bad Wolf and said, ¡°Then take a look at the cages next to it. Is Guihua there?¡± ¡°No, Guihua is a Pug,¡± the little girl firmly shook her head. ¡°How about you take home another dog you like for now, and then we continue to search for Guihua? Once we find her, you can decide whether to keep both or choose one of them.¡± Of course, Zhang Qi didn¡¯t mention the possibility of not finding her, but as a dying tactic, it would be good to drag things out for a while, at least long enough to get his own team¡¯s time over with, and that would satisfy him. As for which other squads would end up being the ¡°doggy squad,¡± he didn¡¯t care and would likely be the loudest oneughing. The 7-year-old little girl, with her discerning eyes, scanned the scene and finally said, ¡°I don¡¯t want another dog, I just want Guihua.¡± ¡°Then we¡¯ll look for Guihua,¡± Jiang Yuan said, stepping forward to stop Zhang Qi¡¯s further attempts. Zhang Qi coughed twice, wanting to struggle a bit more. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Captain Zhang, for the next two days, please lead your team to visit the shops in Song Alley and distribute Guihua¡¯s photo. If youe across anything suspicious, take a statement.¡± He used a tone ofmand, which was effectively an order. Zhang Qi was assigned to work with him, and while having some subjective initiative would be good if everyone was on the same page, if there were disagreements or even opposing views, Jiang Yuan would dispense with the pleasantries. Having worked on many cases, organizing various check-ups and search operations, Jiang Yuan had be very skilled. Directing a group leader level police officer didn¡¯t require him to do any mental preparation. Zhang Qi was taken aback. He had been preparing to discuss things with Jiang Yuan in a more cooperative manner. However, once Jiang Yuan issued themand, Zhang Qi suddenly realized he had no basis for disobedience. The head of his own squad, Xu Xuewu, was excitedly studying Case 613. It was evident that the third squad had been sold out. Could they just turn and run? On further thought, he remembered therge amount of effort it took the squad leader, including several all-nighters and cracked cases, to finally get his beloved Passat, which was then casually lent to Ningtai County. Had the squad leader abandoned them in the end? Certainly not. He was simply eager to solve a homicide and gain another 100 points on thebat power leaderboard. The captain of the Song Alley Police Station gently pulled Zhang Qi back, preventing him from saying something inappropriate due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s youth. Turning back, Jiang Yuan then addressed Wang Chuanxing, ¡°Please organize the reports from this side. Has Dazhuang arrived yet?¡± ¡°He¡¯ll be here in another hour,¡± Wang Chuanxing replied. Then, turning to Zhang Qi, Wang Chuanxing added, ¡°Dazhuang is a police dog from our Ningtai County.¡± Ningtai County had few cases, and police dogs often had no asion to be used. Nowadays, they spent more time being lent out than being brought back. But anyway, the use of police dogs was quite formal. Just this alone could show Jiang Yuan¡¯s determination. Zhang Qi smiled and decisively stepped back two paces. Worried that Zhang would take offense, the chief of Song Alley Police Station pulled him to the back of the crowd and lowered his voice, ¡°Old Zhang, we¡¯ve known each other for many years. Let me give you some advice. If Xu Xuewu were to give you Case 613 to lead, do you think you could handle it?¡± Grinding his teeth, Zhang Qi said, ¡°If it were left to us, we¡¯d have no choice but to work overtime to crack the case.¡± ¡°Could you crack it?¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t,¡± Zhang Qi said earnestly, looking quite handsome. The chiefughed, ¡°Xuewu probably knows that.¡± Helpless, Zhang Qi pursed his lips again, ¡°The problem is, we can¡¯t even find the dog.¡± The chiefughed heartily. ¡­ The third squad assembled and set off on their mission. Jiang Yuan, with Mu Zhiyang in tow, strolled up and down the alleyways, first around the Cai residence, covering all the ces Cai Yuan often took the dog, then checked the nearby woods and barren areas, and finally chased after any stray dogs¡­ The dog had been missing for too long, and it was no longer a simple case of a lost dog. These past days, Jiang Yuan had also specifically researched the issue of finding dogs and realized that ordinary people¡¯s lost dogs were usually still within their living area. That is to say, if a dog were to get lost normally, even if it couldn¡¯t find its way home, it would still wander around close to home. Thus, the first few days were the optimal time to search for a lost dog. But Cai Yuan was too young, and Cai Miancked the ability to act, resulting in Guihua missing the optimal time to return home. However, it¡¯s also possible that Guihua was taken away by someone in the initial period. In that respect, there were two possibilities: one was a pure dog thief, primarily stealing dogs to sell for meat. The other possibility was that someone took a fancy to the dog or realized it had no owner and simply decided to take it home to keep. For the former, Jiang Yuan actually felt the likelihood was not very high. On the one hand, Guihua was a pug, small in size, and not worth stealing. On the other hand, such incidents were rarely heard of in Miaohe County or nearby, and Song Alley was not very conducive to a dog thief¡¯s quick in and out operations. Even so, Jiang Yuan still sent Wang Chuanxing and others to follow this lead. He himself focused on the possibility that someone in the vicinity might have adopted the dog. The best way to handle this was¡­ to distribute flyers. If the adopter saw the flyer or if their conscience was pricked and they felt unease, returning the beloved pet voluntarily, that would be the best oue. During this time, Jiang Yuandao began tackling the theft cases around Song Alley, especially home burries. He didn¡¯t have a clear n; anyway, he was idle, with no leads on the dog, so in the hunt for thieves¡­ fingerprints, footprints, tool marks, and other evidence considered, matching one case per hour on average was not an exaggeration. Soon, Xu Xuewu had no choice but to send another squad of officers exclusively responsible for apprehending the theft suspects identified by Jiang Yuan. One by one, habitual theft offenders were crammed into the Miaoheshire Bureau¡¯s case center. Some of the suspects still tried to act nonchnt or indifferent. It was the leaders of Miaoheshire Bureau who were taken aback, with people frequently visiting the crowded case center. All day long, Xu Xuewu seemed to be tethered to the case center, greeting and sending off people. ¡°So many people here.¡± Xu Xuewu: ¡°Yes, our case center is too small. With slightly more criminal suspects, there¡¯s no room for them all.¡± ¡°Does Miao River County have that many thieves?¡± Xu Xuewu: ¡°Some of them are old thieves. Some cases from two or three years ago left fingerprints that Jiang Yuan matched, and so they were arrested. The main issue is our case center is too small. As soon as there are too many people, it¡¯s impossible to give them each a separate room.¡± ¡°I heard that so many people were arrested all because of a dog?¡± Xu Xuewu: ¡°They were arrested for theft. But if Jiang Yuan could find that dog, these people might have had a few more days at home. Ah, the main issue is that our case center is too small, there¡¯s nowhere for so many people to lie down¡­¡± Chapter 446 - 446 412 Employing Thunderous Tactics (Seeking Monthly Votes) ?446: Chapter 412: Employing Thunderous Tactics (Seeking Monthly Votes) 446: Chapter 412: Employing Thunderous Tactics (Seeking Monthly Votes) Noon. When lunch break came, Xu Xuewu didn¡¯t have much of an appetite. He brewed himself a cup of tea, settled by the window, took a couple of deep breaths, lit a cigarette, and gradually his anxiety began to ease. In just a few days, the case center had gone from overcrowded to empty, and Xu Xuewu had been under no small amount of pressure. So-called pleas for leniency over the phone, visits to pull strings ¨C in these few days, they had peaked. Fortunately, as the cases made rapid progress, and after the suspects were transferred to the detention center, Xu Xuewu finally felt a bit of relief. ck ck ck ck. The sound of hard leather shoes on the floorboards reached Xu Xuewu¡¯s ears and made his eyebrows furrow. ¡°Old Jiang, can¡¯t you be like the youngsters, wearing some sneakers or something? It would be morefortable to run in.¡± Xu Xuewu didn¡¯t need to look to know it was the brigade¡¯s instructor, Jiang Yunli. The two had been teamed up for a long time now, both having slowly climbed up from the grassroots, with a decent mutual understanding. The only issue was Jiang Yunli¡¯s love for leather shoes, particrly the hard soled ones. Whenever they traveled together for work, his feet would stink like hell, yet he never changed his ways. At this moment, Jiang Yunli didn¡¯t even bother to argue with Xu Xuewu, simply saying, ¡°You haven¡¯t seen today¡¯s ¡®Miao River Daily,¡¯ have you?¡± ¡°What? People still read newspapers nowadays?¡± Xu Xuewuughed, ¡°Last time, I staked out at a newspaper kiosk for a whole day; only soft drinks sold ¡ª who would bother with newspapers, only morons, right?¡± Jiang Yunli¡¯s eyes sharpened a bit. ¡°Just say what you want to say,¡± Xu Xuewu caved in a little. His instructor wasn¡¯t just gued by smelly feet; his nagging could truly be fatal. Xu Xuewu felt like he already heard enough grumbling at home; he really didn¡¯t want to listen to a man rant anymore. Jiang Yunli casually took a cigarette from Xu Xuewu and started smoking before saying, ¡°Today, quite a few media outlets are covering our arrest of those old and young thieves. I mentioned the ¡®Miao River Daily¡¯ because their headline was good: ¡®Striking with Thunderous Measures, Restoring the Clear Sky.¡¯ Front-page headline, namedropping us by saying the Criminal Police Brigade has been outstanding in its recent work, solved cases effectively, safeguarded social production activities, improved everyone¡¯s sense of security and happiness. Official media words carry weight, and they sound nice, too.¡± Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t help butugh upon hearing that, finding these words of praise to be quite heartwarming. Without a second thought, Xu Xuewu stubbed out the half-smoked Liqun cigarette and said, ¡°Give me the details. Did you bring the paper?¡± With a smile, Jiang Yunli pulled out a stack of newspapers from behind his back, tucked inside his police pants, and handed it to Xu Xuewu. Xu Xuewu paused for a moment, then asked, ¡°Was it really necessary to tuck it behind you?¡± Jiang Yunli wiped his hands, ¡°I just picked up a delivery; I walked there and back, quite a distance. See, the newspaper is all wet. Are you going to read it or not?¡± Xu Xuewu indeed wanted to take a look. He took the other end, frowned, and spread it on the desk to start reading. Just as Jiang Yunli said, the front-page headline of ¡®Miao River Daily¡¯ indeed read ¡®Striking with Thunderous Measures, Restoring the Clear Sky,¡¯ and the article took up two pages, detailing the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s solution of multiple theft cases. Even Xu Xuewu himself only learned from the newspaper that in these past few days, Jiang Yuan had definitively solved 237 theft cases. Of course, because most of those arrested were seasoned thieves, and thanks to interrogation techniques, on-site searches, and the suspects informing on each other, multiple cases could be attributed to each suspect. Nevertheless, seeing such a number shocked even Xu Xuewu. ¡°This is outrageous! Over 200 cases solved just like that? Did you double-check?¡± Xu Xuewu asked Jiang Yunli. ¡°I¡¯m the one who provided the numbers,¡± Jiang Yunli nced sideways at Xu Xuewu and said, ¡°You don¡¯t think the ¡®Miao River Daily¡¯ has investigative capabilities, do you?¡± ¡°You¡­¡± Xu Xuewu burst outughing. ¡°One case, 0.1 point, catching one person, 0.1 point, over 200 theft cases, that¡¯s a total of forty or fifty points already, that¡¯s half a murder case points-wise, and they only took three days.¡± Jiang Yunli shook his head, then turned to Xu Xuewu and asked, ¡°You haven¡¯t been watching short videos these past two days, have you?¡± Xu Xuewu replied helplessly, ¡°Where do I have the time for short videos, what¡¯s up with short videos now?¡± ¡°Short videos are all about how ¡®safe we feel with all the thieves being caught, how capable the police are¡­''¡± Jiang Yunli rambled on, then suddenly said, ¡°Both the Municipal Bureau and the Provincial Department have called to inquire about this matter. You should know that nowadays, the leaders are all watching short videos.¡± ¡°I know,st time at the meeting, Director Wang was scrolling through videos¡­¡± Xu Xuewu sighed, ¡°We¡¯ve toiled in obscurity for years, and suddenly, we¡¯re famous overnight for finding a dog!¡± Jiang Yunli said, ¡°You can also say that catching thieves might seem low-end within the system, but in the eyes of ordinary people, including journalists, petty theft might be the main pain point they encounter daily. Arresting so many thieves in one go made it visibly clear that the county¡¯s environment has improved, which is indeed quite rare.¡± Nowadays, every industry is saturated, and being a thief is no different. Thieves from various ces are, in theory, superfluous. Especially those engaged in petty crimes like stealing e-bike batteries, it¡¯s like today one is caught, and tomorrow another takes their ce; they don¡¯t really affect urban development or safety. But with someone like Jiang Yuan implementing a strict crackdown policy, to say that many would be too scared to fill the gap, and without enough manpower to rece them, the impression it gives is entirely different. Xu Xuewu took out his phone, switched to the local channel, and quickly browsed a few videos, indeeding across ones about catching thieves¡­ Xu Xuewu turned up the volume of the video a bit and heard a man with a local ent vividly describing the changes in the snack street and weing tourists to visit¡­ On the outside, Xu Xuewu still appeared as that handsome, tall man. But Jiang Yunli, who knew him well, knew that right now Xu Xuewu was wagging his tail in his crotch. ¡°It¡¯s rare for our Miao He County to get a moment in the spotlight, I reckon the county head, the secretary, and even our chief might all want to talk to us afterward,¡± Jiang Yunli added. Xu Xuewu was stunned, ¡°Then¡­ what do I say?¡± ¡°Anything is fine, I think Jiang Yuan will cooperate too. But, you know what he wants.¡± ¡°All for a dog?¡± ¡°So, will you help find it?¡± Jiang Yunli countered. ¡°Find¡­ Of course, I¡¯ll find¡­ But how?¡± Xu Xuewu progressed from certainty to throwing the question back to Jiang Yunli. Jiang Yunli mumbled, ¡°Song Alley is a mess, those thief bosses know much more than what we see and hear.¡± Brightened by the idea, Xu Xuewu found this approach to be effortless and much less costly than deploying more dog squads for Jiang Yuan. ¡­ Evening. Inside the detention center, a piece of news started spreading. ¡°I heard that this mpdown is because of a dog.¡± ¡°I heard several big-time thieves were caught because of a dog.¡± ¡°I have a rtive who works as a cop, not very close, but he said they mobilized a lot of people to find that dog, and our leads were all turned up by out-of-town officers.¡± The atmosphere in a detention center is naturally more chaotic than in prison. With the arrival of fresh news today, even more people joined the discussion. ¡°A dog?¡± ¡°Is a dog really worth more than a person now?¡± ¡°Boss, I¡¯ve got dozens of dogs back home, should I send them over right away?¡± ¡°You want to keep dogs in the detention center? I think you want to be a dog yourself.¡± ¡°Then what should we do?¡± ¡°Woof woof!¡± ¡°Ask around, say that finding the dog could lead to a reduced sentence.¡± ¡­ Song Alley. Dazhuang relished the long-missed dog food with a conflicted expression on his face. He wanted to bury his head and gobble it up but feared finishing it in just a few bites. At the same time, Dazhuang¡¯s front paws kept excitedly hopping. Li Li watched helplessly from the side. She had been through scenes like this many times before, each making her doubt her dog-training abilities. Honestly, Li Li had also eaten Jiang Yuan¡¯s dog food more than once. Although it tasted quite good, Dazhuang¡¯s reaction still baffled her. ¡°Eat up, you¡¯ve got work to do after you¡¯re full!¡± Li Li patted the dog¡¯s head. They were about to set out on a mission, and now was the time to cajole the dog. After all, a dog following humans isn¡¯t there for rigorous battle. After the meal. After a brief rest, the search team began to assemble. Li Li, together with Dazhuang, took a car to the search location. This was deep into Song Alley, where there were no cameras, and the houses were mainly ones from forty years ago. Not only was the nning chaotic, but there were also many illegal constructions, and the poption was dense. The third squadron hadn¡¯t made much progress in this area before. Li Li got out of the car with Dazhuang and could see pictures of Guihua and missing dog notices pinned to the telephone poles, with the reward amount now raised to 10,000 yuan. Li Li had been a criminal detective for ten years and, seeing this kind of environment and reward with still no leads, inevitably furrowed her brow. However, there was nothing left to say at that point. She called out to Dazhuang, gave him a couple ofmands, and then took out the prepared nappy of the pug Guihua for Dazhuang to sniff. Having sniffed the nappy, Dazhuang began to circle around non-stop. A dog¡¯s sense of smell is extremely acute; in an open countryside environment, a good hunting dog can detect the scent of prey several kilometers away. But in the urban environment, it wasn¡¯t so easy for police dogs to urately locate a person or another dog. After circling for a while without a hit, Li Li wasn¡¯t in a hurry. She led Dazhuang forward for a distance, let him sniff again, and then repeat¡­ After about an hour of this back-and-forth, just when everyone was on the verge of dozing off, Dazhuang suddenly let out a low bark and started running forward. Li Li quickly followed, sprinting fast. In a moment, Dazhuang led the team to an abandoned warehouse. The warehouse was empty as if licked clean by dogs. There wasn¡¯t much dust on the ground, but there were a few footprints. Dazhuang didn¡¯t pay any attention to the footprints, instead running to a corner of the warehouse and barking at a shadowy spot. Li Li walked over with a frown, thinking that the dog might have detected the scent of dog urine. While she thought this, a slightly familiar, sweet and pungent odor hit her nostrils. On closer inspection, the shadow in the corner was clearly a dried-up pool of blood. Chapter 447 - 447 413 Breaking the Case ?447: Chapter 413 Breaking the Case 447: Chapter 413 Breaking the Case Yellow police tape. White little circles. Red pools of blood. Blue head covers. And an endless number of people. When Jiang Yuan arrived at the scene, the only one idle was the smug Dazhuang. The shiny Rottweiler, all muscle and brawn, looked incredibly fit. It seemed to think it had aplished its mission andy there at ease. Seeing Jiang Yuan, the dog sat up proudly, as if to say, ¡°Buddy, I¡¯ve earned my dog food.¡± Jiang Yuan took advantage of the fact he hadn¡¯t donned gloves yet to pat the dog¡¯s head a few times. He nearly patted Li Li by ident, quickly withdrew his hand, and greeted her, ¡°Didn¡¯t get carsick on the way, did you? Dazhuang seems to be in good spirits?¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s not a winding mountain road, Dazhuang can handle car rides. Plus, it¡¯s been in the car more oftentely and is somewhat used to it,¡± Li Li tugged at Dazhuang¡¯s leash to make it look less obsequious and avoid embarrassing her. ¡°Good job, Dazhuang,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he patted the Rottweiler¡¯s face again, then put on his gloves and headed to the scene. The warehouse was converted from an old factory building. It was unclear how long the factory had been used, but the doors and windows were long useless, and the warehouse itself was abandoned and would require some cost to put back intomission. Qian Ming Yu had arrived a few minutes earlier and had already started the preparations inside. Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan with a survey box in hand and went straight to filming inside the warehouse with a small camera around his waist. For a typical theft case, a cursory investigation would suffice and minor procedural vitions wouldn¡¯t matter much. But when it came to a murder, everyone got very tense, and operational procedures were paid extra attention to. In a way, the focus and resolution of homicide cases also marked an overall improvement in police procedural standards. The bloodstains were in a corner of the warehouse near the entrance and were not easily noticed due to shadows. As Jiang Yuan approached, he saw Qian Ming Yu carefully taking samples. Collecting blood samples from an entire pool of blood was simple. Jiang Yuan stood back watching, observing his surroundings while contemting. Zhang Qi, the captain of the third squad, was the first to arrive at the scene. He didn¡¯t dare to disturb Jiang Yuan and was also curious to witness Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving process. This sentiment was akin to a high school student scoring around 500 in mock exams, looking at another student from a different school who scored over 700, thinking to themselves, ¡°When I do well, I can score over 500, maybe 550 with some luck. If he performs poorly, probably only 650. That¡¯s no more than a 100-point difference between us.¡± A 100-point gap seems like a world of difference to a student scoring 600, a distinction akin to the difference between a person and a hominid to someone with 630, but to the one scoring 500, it¡¯s just a gap that can be bridged by being a bit more careful, putting in a bit more effort, attending a few more tutoring sses. ¡°The difference between Yao Ming and me is just in height,¡± Zhang Qi thought, looking at Jiang Yuan deep in thought. ¡°That guy is quite tall; must¡¯ve been good at drinking his milk as a kid.¡± ¡°Take multiple blood samples from the wall,¡± Jiang Yuan instructed the trace evidence technician who had just joined the effort. He had not yet detached from a holistic approach to thinking, and today¡¯s blood sample collection was simple, not requiring his direct involvement. It was, after all, necessary to leave some room for Miao He County¡¯s forensic team to operate. The evidence would eventually be processed by Miao He County¡¯s forensic team anyway and end up in their hands. If necessary, Jiang Yuan would personally collect samples and send them to the provincial headquarters or Changyang City. After spending so much time in Changyang City, he was very familiar with theb and other forensic departments. Theb personnel wouldn¡¯t dare refuse him, and upon receiving samples from him, they would most certainly treat them with the utmost care. The trace evidence team in Miao He County consisted of three people, representing the old, middle-aged, and young generations, all at about an LV1 level, which showed a good legacy. This was not the case in Ningtai County, where had Jiang Yuan not arrived, the legacy would¡¯ve ended with Wang Zhong. ¡°The dog didn¡¯t die, did it?¡± Zhang Qi asked quietly, with a slight hint of expectation. ¡°This here looks like the scene of a fight between two people, likely with no involvement of a dog,¡± Jiang Yuan rified with confidence. Zhang Qi was taken aback. ¡°It has nothing to do with a dog?¡± His third squad had just been reformed into a ¡°Paw Patrol,¡± and now, for their first mission, dogs were not involved? Zhang Qi felt like his mind had been trampled by a dog. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°Dazhuang probably came over after smelling the blood. Guihua might have been here, or perhaps not, that can¡¯t be confirmed right now.¡± Truth be told, Dazhuang¡¯s capabilities as a police dog were only around an LV2 level and were not well-bnced. Or rather, because Ningtai County was short on funds and always trying to get more bang for their buck, they got a dog expecting it to be a multipurpose police dog, which was why Dazhuang was not trained to have any particrly strong skills. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ce much faith in police dogs. In reality, a dog missing for over ten days is even harder to find than a missing person. The idea that there is a sure method to locate a lost dog is virtually nonexistent. Responding to such cases is akin to murder investigations. If the case isn¡¯t solved within 24 hours of urrence, then everyone must get tense, and all avable tactics must be deployed, all leads pursued to their fullest extent, and one must keep pushing until a lead can absolutely not be followed any further. Only suchprehensive investigative approaches could potentially solve cases of this difficulty. It exins why so many theft cases remain unresolved in Miao He County. On one hand, resources were focused on more serious crimes; on the other hand, certain theft cases requiredprehensive investigative approaches to proceed. Chapter 448 - 448 413 Cracking the Case_2 ?448: Chapter 413: Cracking the Case_2 448: Chapter 413: Cracking the Case_2 This is the trouble with not having enough hard power; you have to find an alternative path. Zhang Qi asked Qian Mingyu and the other two trace examiners, and naturally, they all supported Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. Unwilling to concede, Zhang Qi asked, ¡°Is it possible that someone was carrying a dog or encountered a dog and took it away?¡± If this case didn¡¯t involve a death, at most it would be a case of serious assault. If they could also eliminate the K9 unit¡¯s work, that would be great. Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly: ¡°There are no signs of a dog at the scene, no paw prints, no fur, and the footprints thate and go do not support carrying anything in one¡¯s arms. When we catch the person, we can ask and see.¡± ¡°Are we going to make the arrest?¡± Zhang Qi hesitated a bit. ¡°You discuss it with your squadron leader.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care who made the arrest. But arresting someone was still necessary. The standard for minor scuffles at the police station was minor injury, that is, injuries below the level of serious injury ss II. Once someone was beaten to the point of sustaining serious injury ss II, they would have to be ced in detention. As for ims of self-defense, the standard for judgment was so strict that the average person couldn¡¯t meet it. In any case, not fighting was the most sensible way tomunicate. If you must fight, picking them up and spanking them was the safest way. Zhang Qi made an ¡°Eh¡± sound and turned to make a phone call. Inside, he felt indescribably ufortable. The dog hadn¡¯t even been seen yet, and here was another case of serious assault. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that interrogation by torture was frowned upon, all the dogs in Miao He County would have to be renamed Guihua! The squadron leader was already on his way when he received the call, and he hurried over quickly. ¡°How is it going?¡± The squadron leader, Xu Xuewu, asked in a loud voice, sounding very positive. Just in terms of personal image and charisma, Xu Xuewu was surely at the LV3.9 level. Jiang Yuan nodded to Xu Xuewu and the apanying officers: ¡°Currently, our preliminary judgment is that this is a scene where two people engaged in a fight.¡± ¡°How do you determine that it¡¯s a fight scene between two people?¡± Xu Xuewu asked. ¡°The bloodstain analysis clearly shows,¡± Jiang Yuan gave Xu Xuewu a polite smile. Besides that, he didn¡¯t offer the muggles any further exnation on the application of forensic magic in an opulent, open-style building with clear skies. Xu Xuewu made a sound of understanding, much like seeing aputer for the first time, and immediately began studying its working principle, trying to find a person or a mysterious crystal inside the machine case. By this time, Qian Mingyu had already collected a dozen cotton swabs, straightened his back, stuck out his buttocks, reminiscing about the girls he had chased in high school and said, ¡°What Captain Jiang is talking about is bloodstain analysis. When I was studying, several teachers talked about cases they had solved, and it was thrilling. I couldn¡¯t wait to graduate and start working to clean up the world.¡± ¡°What happened afterward?¡± Xu Xuewu loved to hear stories. Qian Mingyu sighed and said, ¡°After that, the teachers introduced us to the fact that the density of human blood is 1.050 to 1.060, the pH value is 7.3 to 7.4, and the osmotic pressure is 303.7 millimoles per liter. Look how clearly I remember it. I even looked it up in a book to check, and the teacher was right. However, because I went to look it up, I didn¡¯t hear the rest, and when I listened again, I couldn¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Same here.¡± ¡°Pretty much.¡± The two trace examiners expressed that they had simr experiences. Xu Xuewu nodded absent-mindedly, recalling the courses he had taken in college which seemed to follow the same format. Well, that¡¯s fine; it seems most people are the same. By this time, Jiang Yuan had already finished a careful survey of the surroundings and slowly said, ¡°Based on the blood, the incident should have urred about seven days ago. I¡¯m inclined to think it happened in the afternoon or evening, as can be seen from the coagtion state and the degree of separation of the blood. Judging from the amount of bleeding and the footprints here, one probably ran first, and the other received support and then retreated.¡± As he spoke, Jiang Yuan moved his hand through the air, tracing the scene. Mu Zhiyang, holding the camera, busily noted down all the ces Jiang Yuan pointed out. Zhang Qi, just regaining hisposure, widened his eyes, observing the surroundings as if he only saw one line of text¡ªAnswer: Omitted Jiang Yuan, addressing the camera and Qian Mingyu, continued, ¡°Both sides are likely notmon folk. One used a very sharp dagger, and the other fought barehanded and didn¡¯t retreat, asionally counterattacking and holding on until backup arrived before leaving. Although they lost a lot of blood, I think neither of them died. It¡¯s very likely they both have priors.¡± ¡°A gang fight?¡± ¡°Something like that, it feels a notch higher in sophistication. It was a fight with deadly weapons,¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°The total blood loss for both parties could be about 2000 milliliters, with one person contributing the majority of it.¡± Ordinary people donate 400 milliliters of blood, and in special circumstances, up to 800 milliliters can be drawn¡ªwhich is quite a lot¡ªand this is under controlled quiet conditions. If two people fighting lost more than 1000 milliliters of blood and didn¡¯t faint, they both must be in excellent physical shape. After looking for another minute or two, Jiang Yuan gestured with his arms in the air and said, ¡°The person with the dagger, it¡¯s very short. They could use both hands, and there was a switch in use at some point. The other person might have taken advantage of the dagger to injure the one holding it. If we look at it this way, the attacker is slightly younger, 25 years old, 165 centimeters tall, 130 pounds. This person must be self-conscious about their height, going so far as to wear height-increasing shoes whening out to kill.¡± ¡°The attacked person, well, from the scene, it looks like they were ambushed. The victim is 38 years old, 180 centimeters tall, 200 pounds, muscr, a weightlifter type, with shoe sizes 44 or 45, pretty big feet.¡± ¡°Check the DNA; you might match it. Then look for hospitals. With such serious injuries, one week to heal is not easy; they¡¯ll need to recover for some days. And since the injuries are from fighting, if the hospital didn¡¯t report it, you¡¯ll need to check the clinics.¡± As Jiang Yuan spoke, Mu Zhiyang lifted the camera to record. After he finished speaking, Zhang Qi, partly understanding and partly not, asked, ¡°How do you figure that out? Can you really determine height and age?¡± He had asked simr questions all day long. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised and casually exined, ¡°I used the footprints to determine height and age. The warehouse has a lot of umted dust; it¡¯s quite clear to see.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± Zhang Qi muttered to himself, then turned and said, ¡°But about the injured person you mentioned, I think I might have a guess who it is.¡± Zhang Qi was a local and deeply familiar with the situation in Song Alley. He pondered and said, ¡°There¡¯s a small logistics center up ahead. Thergest fleet there is owned by Jia. He often gets into fights and is a regr at the police station. He¡¯s usually a bit aggressive, and his height and weight match.¡± The more Zhang Qi spoke, the more enthusiastic he became, suddenly finding the day¡¯s weather quite nice and his mood very buoyant. Chapter 449 - 449 414 The Investigation (Seeking Monthly Pass) ?449: Chapter 414: The Investigation (Seeking Monthly Pass) 449: Chapter 414: The Investigation (Seeking Monthly Pass) ¡°Keep searching,¡± Jiang Yuan had finished collecting evidence in the warehouse and came out to find Li Li and Dazhuang. The current aimless search was a bit like hunting in the mountains. You didn¡¯t know where the prey was or even in which direction, it was better to let the dogs lead the way than to walk around blindly. Li Li responded, asking with concern, ¡°Was there a problem with the case just now? Do we need to follow up?¡± ¡°It¡¯s pretty much solved, the two involved will probably have records, just match themter and then we can arrest them to take statements,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly, ¡°This case isn¡¯t difficult to find suspects for, but the ambush was somewhat interesting, it¡¯s a rare scenario. If it weren¡¯t for therge difference in body sizes and the fact that the ambushed individual was still very capable of fighting, this would have turned into a murder case.¡± ¡°People these days really are malicious,¡± Li Li shook her head, ¡°Well, I won¡¯t deal with that, I¡¯ll just take Dazhuang to find the dog. Honestly, searching for dogs is morefortable than looking for suspects. For some people, if you let the dog bite them, I still have to brush Dazhuang¡¯s teeth when I get back.¡± Jiang Yuanforted her with a smile. In recent times, Li Li¡¯s frequency of fieldwork had increased, and she had witnessed many grisly cases that exceeded the Ningtai County standards, revealing too much of the hideous side of things. Even as criminal police, there¡¯s a limit to how much ugliness one can endure¡ªcertain heinous crimes seen too often can truly disgust you. For female criminal cops like Li Li, her initial motivation for joining the job was because she liked dogs, not out of a desire to uphold justice or pursue social equity and so forth. Jiang Yuan patted the Rottweiler¡¯s head and said, ¡°Take a good rest after this business trip is over, rest for ten days to half a month, and when youe back, you¡¯ll feel like biting people again.¡± ¡°When Director Huang used to be Captain Huang, he never approved half a month¡¯s leave for me,¡± Li Li pouted. ¡°This time you¡¯re part of our team. After we finish a big case, we always have leave remaining; we can allocate some more to you,¡± Jiang Yuan said breezily. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was a semi-independent unit. For matters like vacation time, all Jiang Yuan had to do was report it, and it would be approved without anyone saying much. After all, he was on duty every moment and technically overworked. Li Li¡¯s mood suddenly lifted, her sturdy chest thrust out; she crouched down and started to let the Rottweiler sniff the cloth pad of the dog cage that Guihua had touched. Dazhuang didn¡¯t understand why the trainer was happy, but as a dog, there¡¯s not much need to overthink. If the owner is happy, the dog is happy too. Thinking more about values, responsibilities, lofty ideals, and the meaning of life is just looking for trouble. Zhang Qi left a few people to continue the search task with the Ningtai County Police Dog Squad. He, on the other hand, led most of the team directly to the nearby logistics center. Serious injury cases certainly can¡¯tpare with murder cases, and they¡¯re even lessparable to cold murder cases. But from another angle, serious injury cases are also ranked among the eight major types of serious crimes. On an ordinary day, working such a case for the entire team for one or two weeks would be worthwhile. Today, skipping the initial investigative phase and going straight for arrest and statement-taking saved a lot of time. This experience of only eating the yolk of salted eggs, the sweet flesh of watermelons, and the crab roe of hairy crabs felt exceptionally good. Three hourster. Zhang Qi, who had cleverly taken a bunch of statements, easily located Zhu Yinglong Hospital nearby through an informant he had developed and caught Jia Chengfeng, who was still recovering there. Zhu Yinglong Hospital, as the name implies, was founded by Dr. Zhu Yinglong. He was a former county hospital doctor whoter started his own hospital, which initially focused on abortions but gradually began treating all kinds of medical cases. Jia Chengfeng had stayed here more than once. He wasfortably eating grapes, watching TV, when he turned his head unintentionally and saw that the hospital room was filled with police. ¡°Jia Chengfeng, remember me?¡± Zhang Qi had arrested Jia Chengfeng before and remembered him as a healthy, slightly overweight, sanda athlete. But this time, Jia Chengfeng looked particrly miserable, his head wrapped in bandages, arms and legs in bandages, his chest and abdomen also bound up, looking like a big bubble wrap. ¡°You should see the other guy,¡± Jia Chengfeng muttered disdainfully, seeing the sympathetic look on Zhang Qi¡¯s face, using a line he picked up from movies. Zhang Qi chuckled, ¡°Who¡¯s the other guy?¡± Jia Chengfeng preemptively asked, ¡°How did you find me?¡± Zhang Qi motioned for his team to turn on the camera and exined, ¡°With you in that state, I¡¯ll take your statement here, which is morefortable for you and easier for me. Let¡¯s have a good talk, okay?¡± There was not a hint of a smile on Jia Chengfeng¡¯s face as he asked, ¡°When did you start watching me?¡± From his perspective, unless someone reported a crime or the police were watching him, there was no reason for the police, even if both men bled quite a bit¡ªin the absence of a public outcry, there was no reason for Zhang Qi to formallye looking for him. Zhang Qi naturally wouldn¡¯t exin, he just smiled and said, ¡°Your injuries are evidence enough. Just confess properly and we might be able to take care of you. Besides, you don¡¯t want to take the fall for this case on your own, right?¡± After much hesitation, Jia Chengfeng said, ¡°I¡¯m the victim, it¡¯s not my turn to take the fall for the case.¡± ¡°Then you should really talk to us properly, right?¡± ¡°The other guy had a knife, if I hadn¡¯t resisted, I¡¯d only have died. I am purely a victim, I was just afraid you guys would pin it on me¡­ I know I have a record, but just because I have a record doesn¡¯t mean I should be the one to die,¡± Jia Chengfeng hissed, adding, ¡°I can¡¯t take it anymore, I¡¯m feeling too dizzy.¡± He feigned death, leaving Zhang Qi helpless. However, Jia Chengfeng did make some good points. He was ambushed, the opponent was armed with a de, clearly intent on taking his life. If it hadn¡¯t been for someone else¡¯s help, Jia Chengfeng might have actually died. On the other hand, even though he resisted fiercely, with his weight of over 200 pounds, it was unlikely he could outrun the ambusher who weighed around 130 pounds. Besides resistance, he really had no other option. From these perspectives, Jia Chengfeng did seem to have a case for self-defense. Even the blood traces of the ambusher at the scene could be attributed to the person who hade to Jia Chengfeng¡¯s aid. In such a situation, even if Jia Chengfeng were taken in for interrogation, it was likely that nothing woulde of it. Of course, with his current condition, the case processing center definitely wouldn¡¯t allow him inside. If he died during interrogation, they wouldn¡¯t know who to me. Zhang Qi was in no hurry; he treated the situation as though he were picking apart a crab shell. The main character of this case should have been the ambusher, and originally he had wanted Jia Chengfeng to spit out a name. When his bluff didn¡¯t work, he didn¡¯t ask further to avoid showing his own fear. He warned Jia Chengfeng a couple of times, then arranged for two people to watch over things here. Zhang Qi once again took his team out and contacted the DNAboratory at the same time. Sure enough, the identity of the ambusher was confirmed through a blood match. With the advances in modern DNA identification techniques, the process had be very mature. In the beginning, DNA could only identify a very limited part of human tissues; hair, for instance, required the follicle, and identifying fluids other than semen was quite difficult. The cost and time for identification used to be infuriating. Nowadays, there are many more options, and blood is the easiest part to identify. Using reagents specifically for blood, results could be produced in three hours. Muscle tissue tests were also quick, but things like cigarette butts and sheets would take about a day. ¡°Liao Baoquan, also runs a logisticspany, owns three trucks, two of which are refrigerated. He is also a former serviceman. His age and height match. He has a prior record for assault.¡± Zhang Qi got the name, checked the police database, and all sorts of information jumped out at him. Zhang Qi casually informed his team, then asked, ¡°Does anyone know this Liao Baoquan?¡± Miao He County is a small city; such a dangerous individual would likely have attracted some police attention. Someone raised their hand and said, ¡°I know him, he used to transport frozen goods. He¡¯s quite strong.¡± Zhang Qi didn¡¯t ask why they knew him and simply said, ¡°Let¡¯s go arrest him.¡± If one could say that Jia Chengfeng still wore the cloak of a victim, then Liao Baoquan, who carried a dagger, ambushed Jia Chengfeng, and caused multiple injuries, could not escape the charge of aggravated assault. Zhang Qi felt no burden in arresting him, and he certainly didn¡¯t need to extend the courtesy to Liao Baoquan that he had to Jia Chengfeng. Two hourster. Liao Baoquan was sitting in the interrogation center of the Miao He County Bureau. The chairs were still warm. Zhang Qi personally interrogated Liao Baoquan. Under full questioning, the record was quicklypleted. Watching Liao Baoquan sign and write ¡°I have read the above record, and it is consistent with what I have said,¡± Zhang Qi couldn¡¯t help but reveal a broad smile. After leaving the interrogation center andpleting all the paperwork, and with time to spare before the end of the workday, Zhang Qi headed straight for the office of the Commander. In the office, Jiang Yuan was discussing staffing issues with Xu Xuewu. Zhang Qi, intending to show off, reported the case to Xu Xuewu in front of Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Liao Baoquan ims to have been oppressed by Jia Chengfeng, and that¡¯s true. His refrigerated truck often carried things for Jia Chengfeng, and Jia Chengfeng even used it for a while, which resulted in substantial losses¡­¡± ¡°There must be more to the story,¡± Jiang Yuan, already familiar with the case, shattered Zhang Qi¡¯s excitement with just one line. Zhang Qi paused, not daring to battle with Jiang Yuan, and asked softly, ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Jia Chengfeng¡¯s logisticspany is just a few people; they haven¡¯t formed a vibrant group. At most, they have a tough style but haven¡¯t reached the level of bullying or dominating the market. Jia Chengfeng hasn¡¯t done simr things to others, so why did he specifically target Liao Baoquan?¡± Zhang Qi¡¯s brain quickly worked, and he said, ¡°Liao Baoquanes from a military background; could he have offended Jia Chengfeng and been targeted by him?¡± ¡°It¡¯s true he was targeted, but whether the reason is that he offended Jia Chengfeng¡­ that could be investigated,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, then said, ¡°From the scene, it seems that Liao Baoquan was intent on killing. He drives a refrigerated truck; he doesn¡¯t necessarily need to make a living in Miao He County.¡± The scope of Miao He County wasn¡¯t extensive, nor was it a hub for logistics, so Liao Baoquan could have easily left it all behind. Commander Xu Xuewu, understanding the implication, asked, ¡°Is there a case within a case?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not necessarily a criminal case. Maybe Liao Baoquan had some leverage over Jia Chengfeng,¡± spected Jiang Yuan, who had considered this question before. Sharing this was a smooth move in criminal investigation thinking. Xu Xuewu found no fault with it, so he told Zhang Qi, ¡°Then continue to investigate further. Also, have you found the dog?¡± Zhang Qi shook his head nkly. ¡°About finding the dog,¡± Jiang Yuan sat up a bit straighter and said, ¡°I looked into recent dog theft cases and found that Dongyan Machinery Factory had a concentrated period of losing dogs.¡± ¡°Dongyan is quite far from Song Alley; Guihua ran over there?¡± Xu Xuewu was surprised. ¡°It¡¯s not rted to Guihua. However, during the time Dongyan was losing dogs, their warehouse was frequently burrized as well. I investigated and it seems to be an inside job. The violent break-ins were actually staged after the fact¡ªthey opened the chains with keys and then cut them with hydraulic shears¡­¡± Jiang Yuan briefly exined and then added, ¡°I had Wang Chuanxing write a report, which I¡¯ll give youter.¡± ¡°So, the theft at the Dongyan warehouse is solved?¡± ¡°It¡¯s about there. If you question the warehouse manager, you should be able to lead to the other criminals,¡± said Jiang Yuan nonchntly. Dongyan was a state-owned enterprise, which had approached Xu Xuewu before, asking for his help. Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t wait to unt his role in solving the case. Zhang Qi, meanwhile, detected a familiar scent, feeling that something was amiss. Chapter 450 - 450 415 On the Verge of Emerging ?450: Chapter 415: On the Verge of Emerging 450: Chapter 415: On the Verge of Emerging The next day. Jiang Yuan got up early to investigate the logisticspany with Zhang Qi. There were several officers following up on Guihua¡¯s leads. Despite the withdrawal of the entire Third Squadron due to the Dongyan Machinery Factory inside job and the subsequent case involving Jia Chengfeng, the Miaohe County Criminal Police Corps Fourth Squadron had taken over the task, following up on a series of leads rted to Guihua. This involved tracking vehicle license tes, dog market buyers and sellers, frequent dog dealers in the county, and even all sorts of dog meat restaurants, with someone specifically scouring local short videos to find photos with Pugs topare. Compared to the police officers of the previous Third Squadron, the newly transferred members of the Fourth Squadron seemed to have more energy. Based on the experience of the past few days, following Guihua¡¯s trail would at most waste everyone¡¯s time for two or three days, dealing with cases as they arise and soon being able to extricate themselves. Considering that Jiang Yuan was set to participate in the Guihua-rted case, the officers following Guihua¡¯s trail stood a great chance of directly hitting the jackpot. The feeling of eating crabs someone else has shelled is something unforgettable for those who have experienced it, and definitely something those who haven¡¯t would want to try. Thus, the local police in Miaohe County no longer found following Guihua¡¯s leads to be grueling. While they still refrained from vocalizing their excitement due to social decorum, each one of them was secretly looking forward to the thrill, like someone expecting a rush from car sex at the famous scenic spot Siningshan, yet keeping quiet about it. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was no longer in a rush to follow Guihua¡¯s leads. After losing a dog for 20 days, if it had been ughtered for meat, by now it would have already been excreted. And without any rted leads, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be of much use temporarily. The three pirs of criminal investigation are criminal intelligence, forensic technology, and special operatives. Special operatives refer to informants or undercover agents, like officers who go undercover in drug rings to crack major cases, journalists disguised as clients to collect and secure evidence in brothels, and even femalewyers who disclose information on leaders having foursomes out of dissatisfaction from being ignored. Criminal intelligence is more about traditional methods of solving cases by collecting and organizing information for analysis and reasoning. What Jiang Yuan excelled in was forensic technology, and in the absence of technical advancement, he had to hope for breakthroughs in intelligence or special operative information. In contrast, Jia Chengfeng¡¯s logisticspany showed great potential for a breakthrough. Jia Chengfeng had been under control since yesterday, and the people at hispany, unable to get through with two phone calls, didn¡¯t pay much attention. When Zhang Qi led half of the Third Squadron¡¯s troops, along with half borrowed from the Fourth Squadron, to raid Jia Chengfeng¡¯s office, several of hispany¡¯s employees were clueless about what was happening. ¡°Squad leader Zhang, we¡¯ve found several controlled des.¡± Without an overlyplicated search, the police officers found several daggers, short swords, stun guns, and batons underneath Jia Chengfeng¡¯s office desk. Zhang Qi wasn¡¯t surprised. While putting on gloves and examining the weapons with Jiang Yuan, he said, ¡°Nowadays, logistics has be a sedimentary industry, attracting all sorts of people. If Jia Chengfeng keeps this up, he¡¯ll soon form a dynamic criminal organization.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it already?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°We couldmunicate that with inspections,¡± Zhang Qi replied, ¡°but, defining such things can be easy and difficult at the same time.¡± Jiang Yuan responded with an ¡°Oh,¡± and did not question further. Every ce has its own operational models, and as external forces, they couldn¡¯t assume too much. ¡°We have more here.¡± Another officer called out, summoning the camera to take pictures. Despite everyone wearing body cameras, for important evidence collection, the criminal police of Miaohe County still preferred calling out for photography, feeling as if they had been bitten by a snake before. The newly found items were even more numerous, not only weapons like swords but also hydraulic cutters, crowbars, wrenches, and other various objects. One of Jia Chengfeng¡¯s employees, anxious, said, ¡°These are our daily tools. Whether it¡¯s changing a truck tire or cutting a metal chain, that¡¯s allmon work. The same with spray guns; sometimes we go to extremely cold ces where the brake pads can freeze overnight, and we have to use the spray guns to thaw them before we can move.¡± Zhang Qi, failing to find the dog and adept at dealing with these kind of rough-and-ready scoundrels, scoffed and drew a knife to face the young man speaking, asking, ¡°And this? Is this also one of your daily tools? What do you use it for?¡± The young man was caught off guard and argued, ¡°We encounter many situations when we are out on the road; using it to cut meat for cooking should be okay, right¡­¡± ¡°Not okay. Open-de knives exceed the permitted length and are therefore controlled items,¡± Zhang Qi measured with his hand and added, ¡°You store the controlled knives with these heavy tools and then say they are just tools. Do you think thew is joking with you?¡± Zhang Qi¡¯sst statement was loud and forceful, the intense pressure made the normally arrogant youngster involuntarily shrink his neck. At that moment, Jiang Yuan was sifting through the items in the stic box and, struck by a thought, asked, ¡°This spray gun, who has taken it for a spin?¡± The young man under scrutiny hurriedly said, ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you just say that you need the spray gun to start a fire, to spray it open before the car can be used? Who took it before and used it?¡± The young man stammered in response. ¡°Then let¡¯s check for fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan said sinctly, tossing the spray gun into the evidence bag. Zhang Qi, curious, nced at the spray gun and asked, ¡°Did you notice something?¡± ¡°I remember a case I read about yesterday,¡± Jiang Yuan recalled, ¡°where someone reported a robbery, and was even forced to transfer all their money to an online gambling tform, right? His face was burned with a spray gun.¡± ¡°I remember the case you mentioned.¡± Zhang Qi was a detective from Miaohe County and had personally dealt with such cases; a mention from Jiang Yuan was enough to jog his memory. He quickly asked, ¡°Can we determine if it¡¯s the same spray gun?¡± ¡°It¡¯s likely; there were even marks on the man¡¯s face from where the spray gun¡¯s nozzle was pressed against it,¡± Jiang Yuan said with ease. A middle-aged man in the office, upon hearing this, could not help but run outside. But of course, he didn¡¯t get far. A few burly men, dressed in padded jackets, were waiting; upon seeing him run, they pounced and pinned him down. ¡°There, another case solved,¡± Zhang Qi no longer had time for astonishment. The case-solving rate of domestic criminal police forces might not be as high as the public imagines. In a ce like Shannan Province, a city or county with a case-solving rate of around forty percent is considered to be doing well. For a county bureau like the Miaohe County Criminal Police Brigade, there are annually over a thousand, even two thousand, unresolved cases. Among these cases, some are genuinely unsolvable, but more often there¡¯s just not enough time to handle them all. Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficient and urate speed of case-solving was a stimulus to Zhang Qi that could no longer be described as ordinary¡ªit weighed on him as heavily as the pressure of five men. Zhang Qi took the people from Jia Chengfeng¡¯spany into custody and then led a raid on Liao Baoquan¡¯spany. This investigation was conducted with even greater seriousness. Since Jiang Yuan believed that there was something more to the cases of Jia Chengfeng and Liao Baoquan, Zhang Qi, with his two days of expanded knowledge, couldn¡¯t take the matter lightly anymore. However, Liao Baoquan¡¯spany had only a nominal office; all his assets were tied up in three vehicles. This peculiar detail of the case reached another level. Just as Jiang Yuan had said, if he only had a few vehicles and a few men, even if bullied by Jia Chengfeng, he could have simply walked away. So why escte to the level of murder? Furthermore, if he dared tomit murder, why not retaliate on the spot? Anyone with a bit of bullying experience should know that bullies primarily target those who show no resistance at all. Any semnce of resistance would mean the bullying is unlikely to seed. And Liao Baoquan¡¯s identity, experiences, and abilities, did not fit the profile of a bullying victim. Therefore, the leverage Jia Chengfeng held must have been extremely damaging. After gathering information from all sides, even Zhang Qi felt that the answer was on the verge of being revealed. ¡°I¡¯ll go and extort him,¡± Meng Chengbiao said enthusiastically, volunteering for the task. The Brigade Chief, Xu Xuewu, nodded his approval, then turned to look at Jiang Yuan, only to see him scanning through past unsolved cases on his smartphone again. Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t help but move closer and, looking at the Arabic numerals representing unsolved special cases on Jiang Yuan¡¯s smartphone, felt his heart warm. Chapter 451 - 451 416 The Great Thunder ?451: Chapter 416: The Great Thunder 451: Chapter 416: The Great Thunder ¡°Li Feng, you¡¯re 35 this year, which is almost 38 by our hometown¡¯s count, nearly hitting 40,¡± Meng Chengbiao spoke with a caring tone. At his side, Zhang Qi, ying the role of ¡®bad cop,¡¯ mmed the table in coordination, ¡°Hurry up, stop wasting time. If you want to spend your entire life in jail, we¡¯ll amodate that wish!¡± ¡°Easy there, Zhang. We¡¯ve got to try to get what we can,¡± Meng Chengbiao turned his head, speaking in a gentle voice, ¡°Li Feng, this is a rare opportunity. If it weren¡¯t for our intent to catch your boss, at any other time, in any other ce, frankly, we¡¯d have sent you straight to court, and your life would have been over. Robbery, grievous bodily harm, using a particrly vicious method like a spray gun, and as a repeat offender, you could get a heavy sentence, up to life imprisonment!¡± Li Feng hung his head low, murmuring, ¡°I didn¡¯t do it.¡± ¡°Still denying it!¡± Zhang Qi shouted, ¡°Your fingerprints were found on the spray gun, and the marks on the victim¡¯s face match the impression of the spray gun nozzle. How can you deny that? It seems you won¡¯t shed tears until you see your own coffin!¡± Meng Chengbiao pressed his hand down, softening his voice, ¡°Li Feng, you burned the victim¡¯s face with the spray gun, then pressed the nozzle against it, essentially branding them. The photos are here, and the forensic report on the marks hase out, too. Take a look for yourself.¡± Zhang Qi chuckled, ¡°When the timees, if the prosecutor has the victim remove their mask in court, showing the judges the scars on their face, whom do you think the judge will sympathize with? With just their pitiful state, you could be sentenced to life imprisonment, understand?¡± Li Feng covered his face with his hands, unable to conceal his expression of pain. Having been imprisoned before, he knew all too well how tough a long sentence could be. Meng Chengbiao and Zhang Qi calmly yed their game like fishermen waiting for a catch. While they were merely using the mostmon tactics, ying ¡®good cop, bad cop,¡¯ it was enough for most criminals. The most important thing was that the current evidence was pretty much sufficient. Taking it to court might still be slightlycking, as the spray gun was shared and the marks left by the nozzle couldn¡¯t definitively prove it was Li Feng¡¯s doing. However, there were traces of online gambling on Li Feng¡¯s phone. If the cyber security team could find rted evidence, matching the amount and the order of the victim¡¯s transactions on that day, the rudiments of an evidence chain could be formed. Naturally, the best scenario would involve a confession from Li Feng. Yet, Li Feng dared not withhold it. Though he was still resisting, his will to resist was growing weaker. Moreover, interrogation mechanisms within the country were not like what one sees in American TV shows where one can demand awyer to sit by their side. In the reality of criminal case procedure, it is entirely possible to excludewyers. It¡¯s not umon forwyers to take on a case and then not see their client for a month or even longer. With the information so one-sidedly transparent, Li Feng had no clue whether the evidence against him was sufficient. Indeed, even if the evidence was slightly insufficient, moving forward with prosecution and appeals was still feasible, although it would be a bit embarrassing for the police. So in essence, Li Feng had to make a statement; it was just a matter of how long it would take and what his personal expectations were. Meng Chengbiao casually strung him along, adding, ¡°Li Feng, to be honest with you, we¡¯re after Jia Chengfeng, which is why we¡¯re bothering to chat with you. But yourpany has more than just you. If someone else gives up Jia Chengfeng, we¡¯ll stop negotiating with you. After all, with such a lengthy sentence, you¡¯re not the big fish, just a little shrimp.¡± ¡°Confess¡­ what? What do you want with Jia Chengfeng?¡± Li Feng, lured, finally spoke. He never was much of a gambler or strongly resolute for that matter. Even now, he was still betting. If the case against Jia Chengfeng was significant enough, might he get sentenced to less than ten years? Meng Chengbiao never gave him that chance, simply saying, ¡°Just confess, and I can firmly tell you that you¡¯ll only be considered for a reduced sentence if you divulge everything you know. Otherwise, if it¡¯s found that you¡¯re hiding anything, the chance of reduction will be gone. Understand?¡± What he said wasn¡¯t entirely true, but in the heat of interrogation, police are allowed to tell lies. Police dishonesty does not affect the interrogation itself. However, Li Feng was not in a position to discern that. In reality, whether Li Feng could receive a reduced sentence was ultimately decided by Meng Chengbiao¡¯s whim. Li Feng¡¯s actions, his robbery followed by using the spray gun to coerce the victim into transferring money to the gambling tform, if deemed ¡°exceptionally cruel,¡± could lead straight to life imprisonment. Theoretically, it could even result in the death penalty. Jia Chengfeng¡¯spany, even if it transformed into a dynamic organization, couldn¡¯t match the potential sentence from the various illegal activities Li Feng hadmitted over the past few years. It could be said that even inmitting crimes, Li Feng chose a very low return on investment. One could only surmise that a mind afflicted by gambling was incapable of functioning normally. After a few more exchanges with Li Feng, Meng Chengbiao and Zhang Qi watched as the once fearsome-looking man on the other side of the steel bars started spilling information bit by bit, like goat droppings. Meng Chengbiao, representing Jiang Yuan, was primarily interested in information about Liao Baoquan, but he wasn¡¯t going to stop Li Feng from spilling more. What he was saying now wouldter be used as ammunition against Jia Chengfeng. Under the subtle guidance of Meng Chengbiao and Zhang Qi, Li Feng gradually sketched out the emerging form of a dynamic social group. Jia Chengfeng¡¯s acts of beating others, sequestering funds, high-interest loans, bullying, monopolizing certain routes, threatening and humiliating drivers and traders from out of town, and forced transactions, were all meticulously recorded. Chapter 452 - 452 416 Big Thunder_2 ?452: Chapter 416: Big Thunder_2 452: Chapter 416: Big Thunder_2 Li Feng talked for two hours non-stop until his mouth was dry and he started to repeat himself, yet he still hadn¡¯t mentioned Liao Baoquan. It was then that Meng Chengbiao reminded Li Feng, ¡°What exactly is the rtionship between Jia Chengfeng and Liao Baoquan?¡± Li Feng was taken aback; he vaguely felt that he might have said too much, but it was something that couldn¡¯t be helped. Many seasoned criminals needed to be interrogated several times before they learned how to gauge their words properly. With insufficient experience and a dislike for reading, Li Feng was easily manipted by Meng Chengbiao. ¡°Liao Baoquan¡­¡± Li Feng recalled, ¡°I don¡¯t know the specifics, but the two had confrontations. There were two asions when Liao Baoquan came looking for Jia Chengfeng, and they had quite a fierce argument. The second time, Liao Baoquan left behind a vehicle, and Jia Chengfeng had someone deliver white-striped pigs twice, making a good amount of money.¡± ¡°Did Jia Chengfeng often use Liao Baoquan¡¯s truck?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked. Li Feng replied, ¡°He would use it when the prices were especially high and the market was good.¡± ¡°Then wouldn¡¯t Liao Baoquan be at a loss?¡± ¡°Definitely, he could lose tens of thousands at a time.¡± ¡°And Liao Baoquan was okay with that?¡± ¡°Jia¡­ As long as Jia Chengfeng wanted to use the truck, he could get it. He had leverage over him.¡± Li Feng wasn¡¯t the smartest, but as the conversation continued, he gained some rity and asked, ¡°Was Jia Chengfeng hacked by Liao Baoquan?¡± Meng Chengbiao neither confirmed nor denied it, replying with a question, ¡°Why do you think so?¡± ¡°With frequent extortion, Liao Baoquan couldn¡¯t stand it anymore. Liao Baoquan¡¯s truck was bought on loan, and business hasn¡¯t been goodtely; the pressure must be huge.¡± Li Feng¡¯s guess elicited a nod from Meng Chengbiao, who promptly continued, ¡°Liao Baoquan¡¯s refrigerated truck is considered good in Miao He County. If he handled his business well, he could have made a lot. Jia Chengfeng was just messing around. After their previous arguments, Liao stopped quarreling, probably harboring murderous intentions¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao gathered all the information he wanted and didn¡¯t hesitate to send Li Feng back. At the same time, Meng Chengbiao pulled Zhang Qi to the Miao He County Central Hospital. Jia Chengfeng had been transferred there and was recuperating in a specialized ward. From the moment they walked in, the two started recording and continued with their good cop, bad cop routine on Jia Chengfeng. In fact, no matter how they yed it, Jia Chengfeng couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure. His subordinates were all piling me on him; a nascent and energetic organization, by official standards,cked protection, caution, and counter-surveince measures. It was continuously developing through violence, without significant financial reserves orworks. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t need to trap him; simply presenting the information given by his subordinates was enough to make Jia Chengfeng crumble. The man on the bed was much more vulnerable than a woman. Jia Chengfengy there while Meng Chengbiao and Zhang Qi pressed him from both sides, along with thepany¡¯s downfall and his life almost over, he became deste. Jia Chengfeng asked, ¡°If I speak, can I get a reduced sentence?¡± ¡°That depends on the significance of the cases you disclose and whether anyone has provided that information before,¡± Meng Chengbiao tempted him, saying, ¡°The bigger and more numerous the cases you report, the more likely you are to receive merit. The standards for merit and significant contributions are all in writing; I won¡¯t deceive you¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t trust you. I want more witnesses, awyer, and the leaders of your criminal police team.¡± Jia Chengfeng¡¯s only hope now was to get a reduced sentence. After a few more questions and confirming that Jia Chengfeng truly had something to disclose, Meng Chengbiao decisively requested that Jiang Yuan and Xu Xuewu be brought over, along with a localwyer. With some assurance in ce, Jia Chengfeng finally felt a bit at ease and waited for the camera to start before he stopped beating around the bush and said, ¡°Liao Baoquan has killed someone, and he has a gun that I stole.¡± The technician holding the camera couldn¡¯t help but shake at that revtion. Anticipating this, Meng Chengbiao pressed on, ¡°How do you know he killed someone?¡± Jia Chengfeng replied, ¡°When I stole the gun, there was also a police badge next to it. The name of the officer was He Boyong; you know about this case, don¡¯t you¡­¡± The expressions of those present varied. Xu Xuewu, in particr, had felt as if he had just learned to walk upright again; pacing a few steps before mentally reciting ¡°503 Gun Theft Murder Case¡± several times to calm himself down. Xu Xuewu was more than familiar with the case; it was mentioned more than once in meetings and trainings that he attended. Back then, He Boyong, the police chief of Anhai City, had vited regtions by taking his gun home. He was attacked and killed, and the gun was lost. Subsequently, Anhai City experienced four armed robberies, with two additional people shot dead. It was a high-profile case overseen by the ministry, which had remained unsolved for several years. Xu Xuewu had never imagined that such a significant case was hidden right in his jurisdiction. ¡°Where are the gun and the police badge?¡± Meng Chengbiao continued to inquire. At this moment, finding the gun was the most critical issue. This was not only for safety considerations but also key to advancing the case. ¡°They¡¯re buried in my yard, inside a jar.¡± Jia Chengfeng whispered the location where he hid them. Xu Xuewu immediately took out his cell phone and called his subordinates to retrieve the items. Meng Chengbiao then started from the beginning, asking, ¡°What does the gun look like? What model is it?¡± ¡°Type 92, with six bullets,¡± Jia Chengfeng said, ¡°I looked it up on the inte.¡± ¡°How did you steal it?¡± Jia Chengfeng let out a barely perceptibleugh and answered, ¡°Mainly because of that refrigerated truck he drove. Where in Miao River County could you find such a thing? He moved to the county with the truck, and I had to keep an eye on him. Later, my people told me he¡¯d bought a safe. Once I learned it was just a standard safe, I knew a skilled thief. So, while he was away driving, I went to his house and cracked the little safe.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the name of the thief you mentioned?¡± ¡°Known as Grey Donkey. He knows the ropes; he only cracked the safe without as much as ncing inside,¡± Jia Chengfeng paused before continuing, ¡°Inside there was 60,000 yuan, two home-cast gold bars totaling over twenty grams, two Rolex watches, and then the gun and badge. I gave Grey Donkey 30,000 yuan, and that settled the matter¡­¡± Meng Chengbiao looked back at the leaders and continued to probe for details about the timing of the crime, the means ofmunication, and the vehicles used. Jia Chengfeng¡¯s responses were natural. Fabricating a case is very difficult when there are so many details to cover, especially with the gun and badge as evidence. Without waiting for Meng Chengbiao to finish inquiring, Xu Xuewu stepped out to make a call. Chapter 453 - 453 417 Wholehearted ?453: Chapter 417: Wholehearted 453: Chapter 417: Wholehearted Xu Xuewu made endless calls. When he found a moment, he dispatched a team to dig up the yard and another to catch Grey Donkey. By the time he returned, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s interrogation was already finished. A few people stood bored in the hospital corridor waiting for Xu Xuewu. The only person who had the authority to take over the case was Jiang Yuan, but Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t interested. All he wanted now was to find Guihua and exchange it for a set of LV3 Skull Restoration Skill. The system didn¡¯t issue tasks frequently, and when it finally did, it was just a simple task of finding a dog. There was no reason for Jiang Yuan not toplete it. If he didn¡¯t seize this chance, he didn¡¯t know how long it would be before he could learn the Skull Restoration Skill again. Jiang Yuan was still very interested in this. Even within Forensic Anthropology, the Skull Restoration Skill was a very high-end ability. It had a permeation from science to art, was extremely difficult to master, and had a broad range of uses, not just for solving cases. If he could acquire it, it would significantly broaden his path in forensic science. As for the issue of who would take ownership of the case, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, he didn¡¯t care much about it. When the time came, if the higher-ups wanted him involved in the case, he would participate; if not, it was all the same to him. The bigger the case, the less interesting it sometimes was with too many constraints; a pure investigative environment was hard toe by, so Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t botherpeting for it. Besides,peting didn¡¯t necessarily mean he would gain anything. Below Jiang Yuan, the other officers didn¡¯t even dare to take out their cell phones, each choosing to stand in the hospital corridor where there were cameras and colleagues. Everyone knew the rules. At times like this, they just waited for instructions from their superiors. Taking initiative didn¡¯te with any benefits. When Xu Xuewu came back, he went straight to asking Jiang Yuan, ¡°What did your Director Huang say?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t asked yet,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°This case is going out of the province, right? I am not going to work on it.¡± Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t help but smile and quickly said, ¡°You might not know yet, but the ministry ns to send experts over. This case has attracted high-level attention now; if solved, it will be in the spotlight throughout the system.¡± ¡°That has nothing to do with me.¡± ¡°How can it not be rted? Strictly speaking, you were the one who found the clues and unearthed the case. Others might want to participate but could be scrutinized by the experts, but if you want to join, it¡¯s just a matter of saying so.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about me for now. What are you guys nning to do?¡± Jiang Yuan thought to himself. With such aplicated case, by the time I finish working on it, I might need to travel. By the time Ie back, even if Guihua had managed to endure earlier, it would have turned to shit by now. Furthermore, whether it¡¯s a lost dog, sheep, or person, the sooner you search, the easier it is to find them. Not finding Guihua meant the Skull Restoration Skill that was almost within reach would be lost. Xu Xuewu found it a little strange. The difficulty of solving a major case was not necessarily higher than that of an ordinary case. The difficulty of a case was not determined by its importance, a fact everyone understood. Thus, having the opportunity to take part in solving a major case was what many detectives, especially young ones, looked forward to the most. Jiang Yuan was willing to casuallye to Miao He County to work on cases, yet he unexpectedly declined such a notable 503 robbery and murder case, leaving Xu Xuewu perplexed. However, at this point, Xu Xuewu had other concerns besides Jiang Yuan. He began by arranging for people to guard Jia Chengfeng¡¯s hospital room more carefully. Now, Jia Chengfeng was a key witness in a major case. Even if he were to die, he had to die looking the part. Having taken such thoughtful precautions for Jia Chengfeng, they had to be even more careful with Liao Baoquan, the more important suspect and potential witness. Xu Xuewu called the director in the middle of the night and thenmunicated with the detention center. They moved Liao Baoquan into a single room. As for the interrogation, Xu Xuewu nned to wait for news from the ministry. Despite Xu Xuewu mentioning to Jiang Yuan about the case reaching ¡°high-level¡± attention, he himself was only prepared to y a supporting role. It was because high-profile attention for a major case woulde only if the case was solved and if someone yed a key role in the process. That¡¯s when they qualified for attention. Xu Xuewu was no longer a young man. After more than a decade in criminal investigation, he was clear about his capabilities. Did he really expect to impress the ministry¡¯s supervising leaders with his talents? Xu Xuewu had aspirations, but he wasn¡¯t foolish. Therefore, he didn¡¯t even dare to interrogate Liao Baoquan, afraid that a half-baked interrogation could leave him stewed by someone else. Liao Baoquan probably didn¡¯t even realize he had been sold out by Jia Chengfeng yet, but surely, he had already sounded the rm inside. Interrogation was not easy, but not interrogating was out of the question. After settling everything, Xu Xuewu returned home,y in bed, and kept pondering how to receive the leaders the next day. His wife, half-asleep and half-awake, felt him up a couple of times and noticed Xu Xuewu¡¯s ¡°merchandise¡± was still intact, so she reassuredly pushed it to one side, not needing it, but started a conversation, ¡°Our son said he wanted to buy a new pair of sneakers today. I gave him 300, but he says it¡¯s not enough, so I told him to save up for it himself. Do you know any fake sneaker dealers who could hook him up with a pair?¡± ¡°All the fake sneaker dealers I know are in prison. Don¡¯t you have a bunch of fake bag sellers in your WeChat contacts? Ask them for the contact of a fake sneaker dealer,¡± Xu Xuewu said offhandedly. ¡°Right, I could do that,¡± his wife said, suddenly fully awake, and picked up her phone to start chatting. Xu Xuewu said helplessly, ¡°I¡¯m going to sleep now, I have an important reception tomorrow¡­¡± ¡°Then wear that belt I bought for you tomorrow. Look sharp,¡± his wife reminded. ¡°You mean that fake Goldlion belt?¡± ¡°Everything I buy for you is super A goods, indistinguishable from the real thing,¡± his wife continued, nagging, ¡°I usually just buy high copies for myself, the workmanship on super A goods is very fine. It¡¯s just that some details aren¡¯t as precise, not recognizable unless by a professional.¡± ¡°Got it, got it,¡± Xu Xuewu quickly gave in. As he was embracing his pillow, trying to fall asleep, an idea suddenly popped into his head: If only he could get a super A-quality dog. A super A Guihua, that little girl wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the difference. ¡­ The following day. The two supervisory officials from the ministry took the first flight in the early morning, had ayover in Changyang, and after a stern struggle and half a day¡¯s journey, they finally arrived at Miao He County. Their diligence, as seen by everyone, signaled the importance they ced on the case. ¡°I am Feng Qiong, and this is our technical expert, Kang Zhichao. Let¡¯s look at the evidence first; after that, we can discuss,¡± said Feng Qiong, a man with a chubby face, speaking in a calm tone like someone going about a regr day at the office. Kang Zhichao looked a bit more casual. He was an external technical expert, the type to be called upon when needed and sent away when not. However, for the leaders of Miao He County, both were important personnel sent from the higher authorities, and they cooperatively agreed, then followed Xu Xuewu directly to the squadron¡¯s evidence room. Jiang Yuan saw them return to the county bureau and went out to greet them. Feng Qiong, with much grace, stayed behind and chatted casually with Xu Xuewu and others. Kang Zhichao, the technical expert, vanished into the evidence room. After a while, Kang Zhichao came out and nodded lightly to Feng Qiong, saying, ¡°Indeed, it is the handgun used in crime 503 involving theft, robbery, and murder! The police badge is also authentic.¡± Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t help but think, is this guy decked out in real stuff? ¡°Let¡¯s go meet the person,¡± Kang Zhichao said as he got up again. Feng Qiong stood up, amodatingly, and casually said, ¡°We could check the ce where Liao Baoquan lived before, to see if anyone reported a fake policeman or something simr.¡± Xu Xuewu and the others looked at each other, unsure who should respond. Then, Feng Qiong turned around and asked, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you think?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a good direction to investigate,¡± Jiang Yuan replied quickly. Feng Qiong smiled and said, ¡°He kept the police badge and gun in a safe, making it convenient to use. It¡¯s unlikely for him to have remained thisw-abiding.¡± Someone said, ¡°Keeping the police badge, isn¡¯t that too risky?¡± Feng Qiong replied, ¡°The gun has a serial number on it, a quick check can tell you who owns it. They¡¯ve been on the run, having a gun and a badge is better than just having the gun.¡± Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Did they use the police badge on the road?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. We started investigating this aspectter, but by then there were no leads,¡± said Feng Qiong with a tone full of regret. Only then did Xu Xuewu realize that Feng Qiong had participated in the previous case investigation. Chapter 454 - 454 418 Remaining True to Our Original Aspiration ?454: Chapter 418: Remaining True to Our Original Aspiration 454: Chapter 418: Remaining True to Our Original Aspiration Feng Qiong examined the evidence with a plump face and immediately headed to the detention center, nning to personally interrogate Liao Baoquan. The 503 case of that year wasmitted by two people, and now that one of them, Liao Baoquan, had appeared, the identity of the other aplice had be the focus of the investigation. If Liao Baoquan was willing to confess truthfully, all that was left for the case would be a new round of arrests, interrogations, and evidence gathering. However, this task was obviously not so easy to aplish. It was after taking various factors into ount that Xu Xuewu decided to report the case in a timely manner. Otherwise, he could have conducted the interrogation and investigation himself, gathered evidence, and then announced the crack of a major case supervised by the ministry. As far as Jiang Yuan knew, Xu Xuewu had a good rtionship with the head of the detention center; the two were ssmates from the police academy. During the few days Liao Baoquan had stayed in the detention center, an experienced policeman would have had enough time to assess his condition. Xu Xuewu spent such a long time on the phone yesterday, probably because hecked confidence inpleting the interrogation. That¡¯s why he decided to hand over the difficulty. It should be said that Xu Xuewu made a very mature decision. In the 503 case, there were not only opportunities but also great difficulties¡ªif Liao Baoquan¡¯s interrogation didn¡¯t yield results, where would the case go? If one were to only look at the bright side, naturally it would mean interrogating Liao Baoquan by surprise, with Liao Baoquan spilling everything out like beans from a bamboo tube, sobbing and confessing all the details of the cases, while Xu Xuewu and others were decorated with red and stood on the podium, enjoying waves of apuse, and sharing their sessful experience in solving the case¡­ But what if the interrogation failed¡­ A case from 10 years ago that even ministerial supervision failed to solve, and now Miao He County had handled half of it. To say it was stuck in their throat would be putting it mildly. If it turned out to be something they couldn¡¯t push out or suck back in, that would be truly sickening. In fact, by handing the case over, Xu Xuewu simplified the situation. Firstly, Liao Baoquan was caught in Miao He County, and Jia Chengfeng¡¯s interrogation was also conducted in the interrogation center of Miao He County. The criminal lived in Miao He County for a few years, and to investigate starting from Liao Baoquan, Xu Xuewu¡¯s involvement was inevitable. If the case was sessful, he would be there to receive themendations. If the case wasn¡¯t sessful, it wouldn¡¯t be much rted to him as the head of the Miaohexian Criminal Police Brigade. Xu Xuewu, with the mindset of andlord, watched Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao leave in the car, then turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile, ¡°The rank is too high, I am just afraid of making mistakes, and the pressure is too great.¡± Xu Xuewu, who had released his pressure, looked like a handsome uncle, impably dressed in uniform today, looking very just and intelligent. Jiang Yuan nced at his phone and then said, ¡°Xu Da, I have to report to you that I have called over the police officers from my team who weren¡¯t on vacation; they should arrive in an hour or two.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great.¡± Xu Xuewu, who knew how to read the room, smiled in turn, raised his eyebrow expressively, and poked at Jiang Yuan, ¡°I was worried that you wouldn¡¯t understand. Right, your Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team should make a name for itself at this time. You see, Director Feng and his team are quite severe, but if the case is done well, they will be more generous than the provincial department.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled in response, then said, ¡°I also want to ask you to assign two people to me.¡± ¡°No problem, let¡¯s have Zhang Qi follow you.¡± ¡°Well¡­ actually that¡¯s not necessary, just two regr police officers will do.¡± ¡°Sure thing,¡± said Xu Xuewu seriously, ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate Zhang Qi because he¡¯s a team leader; he can speak for himself in any part of the county, whether it¡¯s a police station or elsewhere. Between us, some rookies can be clueless and waste time. Don¡¯t worry about Zhang Qi being unhappy; he will be too happy to have the opportunity to follow a ministry case. What¡¯s wrong with running errands? I myself run errands¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression grew even richer, and atst, he said helplessly, ¡°I am not ready to follow up on the 503 case just yet. So¡­¡± He dragged out that ¡°so¡± hoping Xu Xuewu would catch on by himself. Xu Xuewu didn¡¯t catch on and stared at Jiang Yuan for a long time, then tentatively said, ¡°You¡¯re not going to¡­ continue with¡­ that, are you?¡± ¡°I was thinking it¡¯s better to finish what I started,¡± Jiang Yuan paused before saying, ¡°While the 503 case hasn¡¯t fully kicked off in the next couple of days, I want to find Guihua.¡± To be honest, striving for a few months to master the Level 3 Skull Restoration Skill was not shameful. But Xu Xuewu didn¡¯t know that. The philosophically posed Xu Xuewu suddenly looked off-bnce, blurting out loud, ¡°Captain Jiang, don¡¯t say finding Guihua, people might misunderstand you for searching for a missing person. I mean¡­ just looking for a dog, we can find itter.¡± ¡°If we wait, it won¡¯t be found,¡± Jiang Yuan understood the reasoning but was left with no choice. Xu Xuewu, as saddened as if he had eaten a Neanderthal, said, ¡°If we can¡¯t find it, we¡¯ll think of something else. Captain Jiang, I volunteer, let me go and coax the child, shall I? Honestly, I have a knack for consoling children.¡± He was a policeman, handsome, and a father; naturally, he was good at consoling children. But is that what Jiang Yuan needed? Jiang Yuan sincerely wanted to find Guihua! Skull restoration skill is so hard toe by; if it were to be exchanged with time, a normal person would need at least LV1.8 in Forensic Anthropology, LV1.5 in fine arts, LV1 in manual dexterity, LV1 inputer-rted skills, and LV1.5 in art appreciation to learn it¡­ Just for LV1.8 in Forensic Anthropology alone, it would take three to four years for someone with good talent to learn, while for those with average talent, those who canfortably read from a 211 university, a master¡¯s degree wouldn¡¯t suffice¡ªthey would need a Ph.D. The other skills may not seem very strong on their own, but they all need to be mastered. They¡¯re more like life experiences than something learned from books. After all, forensic science is still somewhat of a niche field, and not many people practice the prerequisite skills from a young age to be a forensic doctor. All of these are for LV1 skull restoration skill. To reach LV3, the prerequisite skills must be enhanced and practice must continue, talent is naturally indispensable. Just look at fingerprint experts, in the entire Shan Nan province, those who reached LV3 could be counted on the fingers of a giant panda or a slow loris, and for LV3 skull restoration skill, given the talent and prerequisites, the training time can only increase. Nationally, experts in this field are woefully few. Although it¡¯s not like mastering skull restoration skill would trante into solving numerous cases¡ªif that were true, there wouldn¡¯t be so few experts around. In a country asrge as China, should a specific skill be needed, a multitude of highly talented individuals could be found in an instant. But for someone like Jiang Yuan with a passion for forensic science, the allure of skull restoration isn¡¯t just in case-solving. In fact, the scope of forensic anthropology isn¡¯t limited to criminal case investigations. Take, for example, if Emperor Qin Shi Huang¡¯s tomb were excavated and the coffin opened only to find no immortal emperor but rather a pile of dry bones, then to see what Qin Shi Huang looked like when he was alive, skull restoration would be needed. Another example is the reconstruction images of Peking Man and the Southern Apes from textbooks, which could also be done using skull restoration skill. And if one day, the bones of a young Cao Cao or the skeletal remains from when Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei took their oath of brotherhood were discovered, they too could be reconstructed using skull restoration skill. Recently, when Jiang Yuan had free time, he was looking at rted materials. To say they would stop searching for Guihua now¡ªJiang Yuan was the first to disagree! Jiang Yuan was so adamant in his stance that Xu Xuewu, who could not understand or concern himself with the matter, could only look up to him, thinking: It¡¯s really somewhat true that those who grow tall without growing wiseckmon sense. ¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team regrouped in Miao He County. Having just finished their vacations, everyone was full of vim and vigor, both physically and mentally, all eager to continue their sess and solve major cases. However, psychologically, the officers of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team underestimated themselves, the world, and Jiang Yuan. This was especially true for the neers, who, though they had learned about the developments from the group, still felt a strange air when a photo of Guihua was handed to them. ¡°So this is the bug dog,¡± said Shen Yaowei, who understood Jiang Yuan the best. Holding the picture, he was rather sentimental. ¡°Let¡¯s aim to find it within two days. Once the 503 case restarts, it¡¯s going to be difficult to take action,¡± Jiang Yuan said realistically. Once the 503 case officially begins, all sorts of cases in Miao He County would have to make way for it, making it inconvenient to search for the dog. Liu Jinghui also came, and at this point, he found it somewhat amusing to ask, ¡°How do you n to search?¡± ¡°You tell me,¡± Jiang Yuan said, finding himself toozy to think with Liu Jinghui around. Liu Jinghui chuckled and said, ¡°You¡¯ve done about as much as you can with the direct search. If this were a person we were looking for, it would be time to control the territory.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Jiang Yuan listened attentively. ¡°It means using the needs of the criminal, or in this case, the current owner of the bug dog, such as their potential needs for eating, clothing, living, and entertainment, and controlling all the rted ces. For the bug dog, where its dog food is bought, pet stores, supermarkets, online stores, and pet hospitals all sell these. If you think it¡¯s necessary, you could check all these stores one by one¡­¡± Liu Jinghui casually analyzed, speaking truthfully but with a teasing tone. Jiang Yuan nodded without hesitation, ¡°Then we¡¯ll go with this approach!¡± ¡°Not really¡­¡± Liu Jinghui was dumbfounded: ¡°Are you really going to make such a big deal?¡± ¡°Let¡¯splete the task within two days!¡± Jiang Yuan stopped the small talk and began directing his teammates, preparing to control the pet-rted businesses. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, along with people like Zhang Qi from the third squad, could only silently follow orders and execute the tasks. The only concern was whether the pet industry practitioners of Miao He County would understand the reason for being controlled and refrain from posting about it on social media. Chapter 455 - 455 419 This Will Remains Unchanged ?455: Chapter 419: This Will Remains Unchanged 455: Chapter 419: This Will Remains Unchanged Position control is a very traditional investigative method. Its feature is that it is quite costly, but the effects are significant. Take the current hotel industry, for instance, where everyone needs an ID card to check into a room. This is a form of position control within the hotel industry. Through this method, the mobility of various criminal suspects is constrained, especially for thosemitting crimes on the run or involved in collective gambling and drug use, which bes rtively difficult. Of course, in some ces, the hotel industry¡¯s requirement for ID cards is not strict enough, allowing an individual to check into a room alone, or even letting the owner check in on behalf of the guest. This means the position is not well controlled. The same logic applies to venues such as inte cafes, KTVs, nightclubs, and simr ces¡ªthey are all key areas of position control. Simrly, scrap collection stations, tourist attractions, and even license tes and ID cards themselves represent a form of position control. Only with control of positions can the police establish a foundation forbat operations. Therefore, for a police station, establishing positions is of great importance. Moreover, as times change, it is essential to continuously create and expand new positions. Just like the current online world, which used to be awlessnd where aplices met in forums, exchanged crime tips, traded and purchased air guns, and spread information about sex workers, introduced and advertised prostitution venues, as well as factory direct sales¡ªit¡¯s impossible to eradicate itpletely, but building positions and exercising position control has been the focus of work in recent years. In summary, position control is about establishing a mechanism that uses technical means or irregr checks to gather intelligence to promptly find clues and capture criminals. Every letter here, of course,es with a cost. Back in the day, most of the costs might have been technical, but now, an increasing amount is spent on manpower. As everyone knows,bor is truly expensive. The police of the past would often conductrge-scale searches, not only involving officers and joint defense teams but, when necessary, mobilizing militias, party members, and even staff from government agencies and enterprises. Today, except for the joint defense system that has evolved into a system of auxiliary police, all free lunches, brunches, dinners, extra meals, boundless swimming pools, and topless sunlit afternoon teas are long gone. Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan, who appeared like a novice unaware of the high cost of essentials, and couldn¡¯t help but find it somewhat amusing. He was curious to see where Jiang Yuan would scrabble together the funds from. Back at the temporary office of the Criminal Police Brigade, Jiang Yuan took out his notebook and pen and jotted down a few notes, then said, ¡°Director Liu, I¡¯ll leave the part about position control to you.¡± ¡°Eh? Why leave it to me?¡± Liu Jinghui quickly shook his head: ¡°I can¡¯t do it, you currently have no resources, what position control can you manage¡­¡± ¡°What resources do you need?¡± ¡°Funding, manpower, these are the basics. Next, Miao He County will surely be busy with case 503, we can¡¯t dy important matters because of looking for a dog.¡± Liu Jinghui quickly shifted back into advising mode. Jiang Yuan pondered for a few seconds, then asked, ¡°Is it possible to get the provincial office to pay for it? As for people, we could coborate with a few police stations and make temporary allocations when the timees.¡± ¡°Why would the provincial office pay for this?¡± ¡°If the provincial office wants to use me, they¡¯ll use me. I need the provincial office to fork out a little money, and they say they don¡¯t have any, that¡¯s not eptable!¡± Jiang Yuan said earnestly. In Liu Jinghui¡¯s view, this seemed rather willful, even childish. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m talking about; what you¡¯re asking for is not ¡®a little money¡¯ at all. Without saying more, it¡¯s at least a seven-figure sum.¡± Jiang Yuan scoffed: ¡°It¡¯s just not ording to protocol; otherwise, I¡¯d pay it myself.¡± While speaking, Jiang Yuan immediately took out his cellphone and began searching through his contacts, ¡°I¡¯ll talk to Director Huang then.¡± If a seven-figure sum of funding were to lead to the loss of Guihua and the LV3 Skull Restoration Skill, Jiang Yuan probably would be too upset to sleep at night. Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan in astonishment. Although he was quite familiar with Jiang Yuan, this style of Jiang¡¯s still took Liu Jinghui by surprise. It should be said that no normal police leadership would spend money like this. Considering that Jiang Yuan¡¯s intelligence is normal, then even the most unlikely answer seems to be on the tip of the tongue: ¡°You had a falling out with Huang Qiangmin?¡± With the confidence of a master detective, Liu Jinghui pointed towards the answer. ¡°Not at all.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui strangely. Liu Jinghui frowned, if it wasn¡¯t that answer¡­ then it must be that there was someone behind the dog. Touching his chin, Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°Who is it testing you? It¡¯s not a threat, is it?¡± ¡°Where did you get that idea?¡± Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, suddenly feeling that the answer Liu Jinghui guessed was rather good. So Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and asked anew, ¡°What makes you think that?¡± ¡°You¡¯re somewhat of a celebrity now, it¡¯s not strange for someone to seek you out. In our line of work, people will kill for inexplicable reasons, and they will stir up inexplicable matters as well.¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, ¡°There¡¯s no danger on your side, right?¡± ¡°None,¡± Jiang Yuan answered decisively. ¡°Alright, that¡¯s good.¡± Liu Jinghui pursed his lips and said, ¡°You find the funding. If you can get the funds and manpower, I will help you with zone control.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dally and immediately called Huang Qiangmin. In three sentences, he convinced Huang Qiangmin to release a six-figure initial payment. True to his word, Liu Jinghui began working on the design for zone control, his eyes fixed on the map. Before long, Xu Xuewu was the first to call and reach out to Jiang Yuan. ¡°Captain Jiang, what¡¯s the deal with the money transferred from Ningtai County?¡± Xu Xuewu asked, ¡°If you need money, you could¡¯ve just asked me directly instead of transferring it from such a distance. I don¡¯t see the necessity¡­¡± Jiang Yuan exined sinctly, ¡°That¡¯s funding for finding a dog.¡± ¡°Director Huang approved so much money for you to find a dog?¡± Xu Xuewu couldn¡¯t understand. Jiang Yuan replied calmly, ¡°He didn¡¯t ask what it was for, and I didn¡¯t say.¡± Frankly speaking, looking for a dog in such a high-profile way seemed a bit absurd to Jiang Yuan himself, but with his current modest reputation, actually finding a dog wouldn¡¯t face any obstacles. Some cases start from very slight leads. Like trekking across a province for a tattoo, rummaging through a warehouse for a specific part, or scouring a septic tank for traces of a body¡ªthe concept of cost-effectiveness is not very popr within the police system. Seeing the genuine funds hit the ount, Xu Xuewucked the energy tough or gossip, and resignedly said, ¡°Okay then, whatever you need, just let me know.¡± ¡°Now that you mention it, there actually is something.¡± Liu Jinghui pricked up his ears and leaned in closer. ¡­ The early morning. Workers from the street office began their busy day. They took out the prepared notices and posted them in prominent ces all around. They showed no interest in adopting any advertising strategy that was cheaper and better. The early risers, out for their morning walks, formed the early rush of foot traffic; as they passed through the streets and alleys, they read the newly posted notices. Soon, a message spread: the county was offering free dog ID cards, and those who didn¡¯t register, didn¡¯t leash their dogs, or didn¡¯tply, would no longer be allowed to walk their dogs in public spaces! Chapter 456 - 456 420 As Everyone Knows ?456: Chapter 420: As Everyone Knows 456: Chapter 420: As Everyone Knows ¡°Sir, we¡¯re offering free dog licenses; let me get one for you, alright?¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t get it done now, you¡¯ll have to go to the police stationter, and by then there will be more people, so you¡¯ll have to queue up, and you¡¯ll also have to pay a two yuan fee for creating the license. If you do it now, I can waive the fee for you.¡± ¡°Hey, let me take a photo of your dog. Keep this certificate; you can store it on your phone. That way, in the future, either the actual certificate or the photo of it on your phone will suffice.¡± The officers were dispersed across the entire county, especially in the area surrounding Song Alley, attending to anyone walking a dog in order to issue a license. To be honest, the licenses being issued now didn¡¯t really serve a practical purpose, much like when hotels initially began requiring identification cards for check-ins; no one with issues would foolishlye forward. However, once a significant number of licenses had been issued, it would be akin to the situation where hotels and inte cafes began requiring IDs ¨C that¡¯s when the riff-raff would start slipping up. This was all about territory control. Establish the territory first then whether you actively strike or sit back and wait for criminals to fall into the trap, the groundwork serves its purpose. The officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team yed a tremendous role. Frankly speaking, in the cutthroatpetition over thest few years, the entry standards for the criminal police teams in the provincial capital began to resemble graduate training programs ¨C wholly unnecessary but a consequence of overwhelming application numbers, leaving the entry requirements to be continuously inted. The inted requirementsbined with the incredibly low admission rates meant that the newly inducted officers had high hopes for the future¡­ Many civil servants in their thirties start to lose their drive, often sumbing to despair in this vicious cycle. Wang Chuanxing and others hade to Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team also in an attempt to seek a new path for promotion. Their managerial abilities, or rather, their anticipated managerial talents, only found a ce for application today ¨C the grassroots workers from themunity, the active participants from some schools, some of the grassroots police officers who were still willing to take orders, and the cadres who had been promoted to work in the sub-district offices, all had to manage themselves. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t care too much. He had seen so manyplex situations that the one before him was rtively harmonious. Sometimes, it was thoroughly problematic when investigative directions conflicted with local criminal police teams for some reasons. Now, Xu Xuewu simply didn¡¯t have the time for them. ¡°This should be enough. Based on our current efficiency, within three to four days at most, most of the dogs in the county should have their licenses processed. We¡¯ve assigned people to pet stores and veterinary clinics as well, frequently conducting checks. If we can find Guihua through dog food, vines, or pet grooming, that¡¯d be best. If not, then we¡¯ll see if someone has adopted her. If that fails too, we¡¯re out of options.¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mention the problems rted to dog flesh trade or dog markets, as these were some of the earliest leads they had already scrutinized. However,pared to pet stores and the like, dog markets presented a difficulty that was orders of magnitude greater in terms of management. If Guihua had ended up there, following up on the trail would be essentially meaningless. Luckily, Guihua was a Pug, a breed not known for having much meat. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t think of a better idea and merely asked, ¡°What can we do to improve our results?¡± Liu Jinghui raised his eyebrow, ¡°Do the results need to be any better? Did this dog build bridges and pave roads in a past life?¡± ¡°The dogs that build bridges and pave roads are Civil Engineering Dogs, Pugs probably were programmers in their past lives,¡± Jiang Yuan joked along. As the atmosphere lightened, Liu Jinghui sighed and said, ¡°If you want better results from territory control, we have a specific term for it ¨C reinforced territory control. In addition to ensuring robust foundational practices, the key is strong execution, diligent inspections, quick and fair punishment, and appropriate rewards. It¡¯s not just a matter of funding; it also requires substantial manpower and a high level of organization.¡± Without decisive inspections, any territorial control would be nothing more than a hollow farce. Jiang Yuan nodded; he couldn¡¯t conjure more personnel out of thin air and could only hope that Miao He County would be able to spare some. Whether Liao Baoquan would be able to give approval was crucial. However, the oue most eagerly anticipated by everyone ultimately did not materialize. Afternoon. Feng Qiong specifically convened a meeting to report the results. ¡°¡­Knowing death was certain, Liao Baoquan refused to confess,¡± Feng Qiong said in a lengthy statement, but only thisst phrase was truly significant. The oue wasn¡¯t unexpected, yet it was one that no one wanted to ept. Feng Qiong¡¯s long exnation served to give everyone time to adjust their emotions. Psychological tactics had failed during interrogation and were now only applicable to the meeting context. Director of the Miaoheshire Bureau, Guan Xingfu, picked up a cigarette and lit it. Click-click-click. The sounds of lighters flicked on one after another immediately ensued. Everyone had been holding back, and with a leader setting the example, the smart ones wished they could finish one cigarette immediately and light another to leisurely keep smoking. The conference room quickly filled with smoke as Director Guan Xingfu said, ¡°Sorry about this, I¡¯ve been a heavy smoker for a long time. Well¡­ Director Feng, on behalf of Miaoheshire Bureau, I want to express our stance, and we fully support the special task force¡¯s investigative work¡­¡± After the director and other executives made brief statements, Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao turned their gazes to Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan. Their expectations for Miao River County¡¯s investigative capabilities were nil; however, the impressive track records of Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan were seen as a valuable addition to the operation. After all, a mere duo was not enough to break a case. Jiang Yuan reached across the conference table and pulled over a stack of photos, reviewing each one. Chapter 457 - 457 420 Well-Known_2 ?457: Chapter 420: Well-Known_2 457: Chapter 420: Well-Known_2 He had not been involved in this case from the beginning. To him, finding a dog was serious business, and other tasks were handled by specialized personnel, so there was no need to act as though nothing could be done without him. It was not until now that Jiang Yuan had the time to carefully examine the photos rted to Case 503. He looked at them slowly. Liu Jinghui nced at him and guessed that Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts were on Guihua, and he shook his head, saying, ¡°As for our side¡­ because we have recently been assisting Miaoheshire in controlling this position, if needed, we can also help¡­¡± Kang Zhichao suddenly chuckled and said, ¡°Finding a dog.¡± With a ¡°leader¡± from Beijing leading theughter, everyone else in the meeting room couldn¡¯t hold back andughed along. This ridiculous matter had almost be a fixed joke at Miaoheshire Bureau in recent days. Feng Qiong, who was not as technical as Kang Zhichao, still wanted to utilize both of them and the police forces of Ningtai County. He cleared his throat and said, ¡°First, we must affirm Miaoheshire as well as Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad for digging deep into the case and apprehending Liao Baoquan, the long-absconding suspect of the 503 case. As for another aplice in the same case, my current thinking is this¡­¡± ¡°Liao Baoquan worked and lived in Miaoheshire for several years. During that time, he probably felt more rxed and free. Byparing the people he associated with during that time to those from before the case urred, we might obtain some clues.¡± ¡°Next, we must thoroughly check through Liao Baoquan¡¯s family possessions. Liao Baoquan¡¯s refusal to confess could be due to his personal will, or possibly because an aplice has some kind of leverage over him. Of course, it could also be due to personal emotional demands; we need to make a clear determination on this aspect.¡± ¡°Lastly, we can start with Liao Baoquan¡¯s family and partners to see if we can dig up some clues.¡± Feng Qiong was quitepetent, speaking in an orderly manner and quickly outlining the key points of the investigation. However, Jiang Yuan was used to coborating with Liu Jinghui and could clearly see that Feng Qiong¡¯s judgments, while cautious and based on current information,cked the depth of Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning. In summary, it boiled down to three points: searching Liao Baoquan¡¯s house, investigating his social rtions, and examining changes in Liao Baoquan¡¯s life in the years before and after the crime. In terms of breadth, Feng Qiong¡¯s investigative scope was sufficient. However, what hecked was Liu Jinghui¡¯s depth of reasoning. When Liu Jinghui made deductions, he always dared to step boldly forward based on avable information. This might not always yield results, but if a case was seen as a chess game, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions often formed an exquisite move. Feng Qiong was more procedural. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion, this expert from the ministry was, at least in the specific field of criminal investigation, justpetent¡ªlevel 2.3 at most, not more. Nevertheless, for major cases like the 503 case that dated back ten years, being cautious and steady was not a mistake. Like the Guihua disappearance case, if there were no clues, there just weren¡¯t any. Aside from helping establish a steady and solid control system, Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t had a burst of inspiration to make an exquisite move. Jiang Yuan thus lowered his head and continued to look at the photos one by one. After finishing his remarks, Feng Qiong deliberately looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°When this case reached the ministry, Anhai City had already organized two thousand-person searches without sess in cornering both suspects. Therefore, it was concluded that the two must be locals of Anhai City, or at least familiar with the area. In addition, it was predicted that the two had a rather meticulous n¡­¡± Feng Qiong summarized the previous investigations, ¡°Later, my mentor Yu Shuguo and I went to Anhai City. We had reservations about the city bureau¡¯s judgments at that time, as the attack on the armed police was too aggressive to be considered a meticulous n¡­ Nevertheless, the criminal investigation work done by Anhai City was very solid. The fact that the case remained unsolved was truly regrettable, but we must both re-evaluate and investigate the foundation of some of the previous cases and maintain a certain level of trust¡­¡± ¡°What I¡¯m mainly thinking are two points: first, we should adjust our mentality. We definitely made many mistakes before, and we need to correct them if so. Second, in the short term, we can focus our criminal investigation on Liao Baoquan¡¯s recent years.¡± At present, the main evidence and clues in Case 503 were Liao Baoquan, and Feng Qiong¡¯s focus of solving the case could only rely on this. Despite this, given that Liao Baoquan had spent the first few years driving a refrigerated truck across the country, conducting a thorough investigation would be quite difficult. Feng Qiong then looked at Jiang Yuan and then at Guan Xingfu, saying, ¡°Director Guan, could you please help coordinate the manpower? In the initial stages, there might be heavy and frequent travel for business¡­¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Guan Xingfu replied, ncing at Jiang Yuan but still clearly prioritizing the matters at hand. Jiang Yuan looked up, took a sip of water, and said, ¡°I have a couple ofments.¡± ¡°Go ahead,¡± Feng Qiong replied with a smile, ready to dismiss Jiang Yuan when he mentioned the dog. Then Jiang Yuan said, ¡°As we all know¡­¡± A knowing smile emerged on everyone¡¯s faces in the meeting room. Then, Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°As a forensic doctor, I have some insights into the determination of the time of death of bodies¡­¡± He wasn¡¯t boasting¡ªJiang Yuan was Level 6 in determining the time of death. The number of people worldwide who had more expertise in this field than him could be counted on the paws of a dog or a cat. Of course, the others in the meeting room had not yet realized the vast difference, and their faces still showed smiles at the thought of Guihua. Then Jiang Yuan went on to say, ¡°I have just focused on the first victim, the armed policeman He Boyong, as well as the second victim Dou Dingqiang. From the photos, both died from fatal stab wounds resulting in blood loss, and the time of death for both was within eight hours. However, when ites to how many hours each had been dead, I believe there has been an error in judgment.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, slid the two photos towards Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao, and said, ¡°The first victim should not have been He Boyong but Dou Dingqiang. The time of death between the two differ by one to two hours, leaning towards one hour. Meaning, Liao Baoquan and his aplice killed Dou Dingqiang first, and then He Boyong.¡± Feng Qiong looked at Kang Zhichao immediately, hoping for confirmation. If what Jiang Yuan said was true, then the direction of the investigation had to undergo a fundamental change. And it should start from Anhai City on the day the crime wasmitted! The representatives from Miaoheshire present were amazed, looking at Jiang Yuan with various degrees of respect, from different levels, aspects, and perspectives. Chapter 458 - 458 421 Reliable ?458: Chapter 421: Reliable 458: Chapter 421: Reliable Kang Zhichao picked up the photo handed to him by Jiang Yuan and read it carefully. After looking for a while, he took out hisptop from under his seat, logged into the intr, and reviewed the previous autopsy report and photos. Feng Qiong waited for him for almost ten minutes. During this time, not a single person spoke in the meeting room. The answer given by Jiang Yuan had a really big impact. Determining the time of death is not only extremely important in forensic science but also in criminal investigation practice. In detective novels, the famous ¡°perfect murder¡± often utilizes ¡°alibis,¡± which are based on manipting the time of death. Killers use refrigerators, air conditioners, tamper with clocks, take shortcuts¡­ Most of these killers encounter overly meticulous forensic doctors of average level, leading them to always provide an exact time of death, which facilitates police misjudgment. In reality, a forensic doctor of normal ability can hardly pinpoint the time of death to the hour. To say a death urred 8 to 10 hours ago, or 3 to 5 hours ago within a 24-hour frame, is already quite a stretch, even with data like liver temperature to back it up. Once death surpasses 24 hours, it bes difficult to provide more urate estimates. It¡¯s not entirely impossible, but the techniques required are not within the grasp of an average forensic doctor. For cases with even longer post-mortem intervals, the more precise the requirements, the higher the difficulty. The information forensic doctors can rely on is mostly non-standardized. Liver temperature, the species and generational rtionships of insects, rigor mortis and livor mortis, changes in microbialmunities, the degradation of red blood cell ATP, and even the infrared Fourier transform of skin after death can all be used for estimating the time of death. But from another perspective: if there was a simple and straightforward technique that could determine the time of death of a corpse, why would scientists bother with various methods? There¡¯s a saying that fits well here, ¡°Bad students have lots of stationery.¡± The more technologies and methods developed for calcting a figure, the more it indicates the difficulty in getting an urate measurement. In the case of incident 503, if the first victim is an armed police officer, then it¡¯s highly likely that the crime involved two perpetrators stealing or snatching the gun, then killing the victim and taking the firearm for more efficient robberies. At this point, if you want to investigate the case in a forward direction, more consideration should be given to the first victim. It can be assumed that the criminals were after the gun. If it was a murder plot, they could have chosen the time when the officer was unarmed to act and would not have needed tomit multiple robberies afterward. There are many simr cases, like the notorious ouw Bai Baoshan, who started his robbery journey by attacking sentries to steal their guns. Therefore, when investigating with the theory that the crime wasmitted to steal the gun, naturally, you consider the disposal of property, the perpetrator¡¯s familiarity with armed police officers, the nning of the robbery route, the nning of the robbery method, and the ns for subsequent robberies, and so on. However, if the first person the killer actually killed was the second victim, the situation would be instantly reversed. If the second victim was killed first, followed by the first, it suggests that the killer¡¯s original target might have been the second victim. And the first victim, an armed police officer returning home from work, was more likely to have encountered the killer and was then killed during the ensuing conflict. As such, the investigative direction based on the theory of killing to steal the gun would be aplete waste of effort. The investigation into the second victim would have to be rethought from the perspective of whether it was a murder for money or murder for other reasons. All sorts of emotions, thoughts, and realities flowed through the meeting room. Feng Qiong could no longer wait and turned to ask Kang Zhichao, ¡°How is it?¡± ¡°Are you asking me?¡± Kang Zhichao was still looking at the photos on hisptop carefully. ¡°Yes. Who else?¡± Feng Qiong knew his colleague was somewhat slow-witted, but there was nothing he could do. Even in the ministry, you couldn¡¯t expect a colleague to be skilled, personable, emotionally stable, good-looking, have lofty ideals, and be hardworking¡ªa so-called impossible hexagon. Kang Zhichao looked up and realized everyone was looking at him before he said, ¡°I¡¯m asking someone else, too.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Tao,¡± Kang Zhichao paused before adding, ¡°I¡¯m a half-baked forensic doctor, learned itter in life; I¡¯m having Tao take a look.¡± Feng Qiong sighed in resignation and asked, ¡°What does Tao say?¡± ¡°Tao,¡± Kang Zhichao nced at theptop and said, ¡°I¡¯m quoting his exact words here, just one sentence: ¡®That¡¯s fucking amazing? A question.''¡± ¡°And then?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± The two were speaking openly in front of everyone, and the content was not meant to be hidden, leaving a bunch of officers from Miaoheshire Bureau looking at each other in bewilderment. Could it be that the leader from the ministry can¡¯t progress with the case and is passing the buck in such a manner? ¡°Have a smoke.¡± The Bureau Chief handed Feng Qiong a cigarette, his mood seemingly not bad. If the case proceeds as Jiang Yuan suggested, Feng Qiong and the others would return to Anhai City and use the manpower of Anhai City Bureau to investigate and collect evidence locally in Anhai. For Miaoheshire Bureau, it would certainly mean less opportunity for distinction, but truth be told, with such a headless case and the kind of opportunity it presented, could the small Miaoheshire Bureau really handle it? It would probably be better to disengage early. Bureau Chief Guan Xingfu couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yuan and thought to himself: Compared to this, asking Jiang Yuan to find a dog might be more reliable. Whoo whoo¡­ Kang Zhichao¡¯s phone started vibrating. He picked it up and looked, then said, ¡°It¡¯s Tao¡¯s.¡± ¡°Put it on speaker,¡± Feng Qiong said, rubbing his eyes, no longer pretending. The case had nowe to a crossroads. If they could prove that Jiang Yuan was talking nonsense, they could clearly push it back to Miaoheshire for further investigation. On the other hand, if Jiang Yuan was not talking nonsense, it was time for them to leave Miaoheshire County. At this moment, worrying about image and authority didn¡¯t make any sense. After answering the call, Kang Zhichao said, ¡°It¡¯s Tao, I¡¯ve put you on speaker, we¡¯re in a meeting. Feng Qiong is here, as well as a few leaders from Miaoheshire Bureau and relevant officers.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite a crowd,¡± Tao hissed, then asked, ¡°Is that forensic doctor Jiang Yuan there?¡± ¡°Right beside me,¡± Feng Qiong replied directly, ¡°Tao, just give us the conclusion, don¡¯t hold back.¡± Tao said with an ¡°Ah,¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t have a conclusion, if you ask me if I can see a time difference between the two, from the photos, I really can¡¯t be certain. However, if you want me to rule out this judgment, I cannot do that either. I know I¡¯m speaking in circles here, but, well¡­¡± Tao paused for a moment and then said, ¡°Rtively speaking, I¡¯m more inclined to believe that victim number two died first. But as for the specific judgment, especially regarding the time of death, I think I should discuss it with forensic doctor Jiang Yuan, Doctor Jiang?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, then immediately added, ¡°Looking at the photos, the times of death for both appear quite close, differing by only about an hour. For a more precise judgment, I believe we canpare the condition of the corneas.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen the two photos you sent. Regarding the corneas¡­¡± Tao was evidently looking at the photos on the other end of the line, his voice uncertain. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°If the states of the corneas are simr, then that¡¯s actually where the problem lies. Take a look at the other photos. The police officer holding the gun had his eyes open after death, and victim number two¡¯s eyes were closed after death. Moreover, victim number two was presumably put into the rearpartment after death, where, in a rtively anaerobic environment, excessivectic acid produced by the corneal epithelium would lead to swelling and clouding of the corneal stroma. The trunk is enclosed, so clouding of the cornea would ur rtively fast. Furthermore, since victim number one¡¯s eyes were open, the evaporation of moisture from the cornea would be faster, and clouding of the cornea would ur slower. We need topare considering these changes in the degree of corneal cloudiness¡­¡± He knew Tao¡¯s pain points. Forensic doctors, although very practical, when ites to such meticulous details, ultimately, it¡¯s an academic matter. At this moment, Jiang Yuan, with his Level 6 death time determination skill, was obviously well aware of the difficulties forensic doctors of a lower caliber faced in making such judgments. It was like a savvy teacher who knows the pain points of their students. The elder on the other end of the phone gave an ¡°Oh¡± and then fell into a long silence. After a few minutes, Feng Qiong, feeling helpless, said, ¡°You tech folks, why do you stop talking in the middle of a sentence?¡± Tao made a ¡°hiss¡± sound as ifing back to his senses and said, ¡°Kang, what do you think?¡± When Kang Zhichao, who was asked, did not answer, he said, ¡°I do trace evidence. You¡¯re the one to decide.¡± Tao then didn¡¯t shy away and chuckled twice, saying, ¡°Then I¡¯ll just give the conclusion as Director Feng requested, ¡®Fucking A!''¡± Chapter 459 - 459 422 A Stroke of Luck ?459: Chapter 422: A Stroke of Luck 459: Chapter 422: A Stroke of Luck ¡°Tao, we¡¯re having a meeting with minutes being recorded, take a look and see if you want to talk about something more serious,¡± Feng Qiong said helplessly. The leaders from the Miaoheshire Bureau beside him smoked, resembling destroyers with smoke generators, just lowering their heads and huddling up, perhaps because they were smoking too vigorously, the smoke created by a row of leaders formed a dense wall of smoke, thick and tangible, slowly drifting upwards, moving gradually with the wind. When detectives have meetings, there are a lot of nonsensical talks; disputes are endless and best ignored. Tao, on the other end of the phone, was nonchnt, unaffected by scolding, grunting twice and not taking Feng Qiong¡¯s bait, simply saying, ¡°I can¡¯t give you a definite answer either. If you want an appraisal report, I can¡¯t provide it just by looking at a photo. But then again, I don¡¯t object to Forensic Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, nor do I have any objections.¡± ¡°You¡­ I would indeed give you the body, but the body has already dposed to bones,¡± Feng Qiongined as he saw Tao being slippery, totally nomittal, and could only helplessly shake his head. He knew Tao¡¯s intentions well; the case wasn¡¯t Tao¡¯s but his and Kang Zhichao¡¯s. Tao was willing to offer suggestions and help, but for such a significant change in the case, Tao was not willing to jump to conclusions easily. Feng Qiong estimated that the detectives from Anhai City wouldn¡¯t be too pleased upon receiving the news. From this perspective, one could only say that Jiang Yuan was still young¡ªhowever, if the case proceeded along Jiang Yuan¡¯s lines, the detectives from Anhai City would probably have to begrudgingly admire his ¡®brilliance.¡¯ In the police world, having a good reputation, especially at a young age, was not a bad thing at all. The main reason Tao was reluctant to take the job was hisck of confidence. Without the ability to make an appropriate judgment, he naturally dared note to rash conclusions. Signing an appraisal report entailed responsibility. Feng Qiong thought about a lot in a very short time. In terms of guiding criminal investigation work and organizing frontline forces, Feng Qiong was only at a Level 2.5 level. But in coordinating various parties, especially in integrating forces and resolving conflicts, he felt quite aplished. Even when not exerting much effort, he could easily surpass Level 3. At this moment, what Feng Qiong was counting on most was Kang Zhichao, so he turned his head and said, ¡°Old Kang, what do you say? You¡¯re a technician, give us a judgment.¡± ¡°I¡¯m engaged in trace examination; forensic science is just a side job. If there was a body in front of me now, and no forensic doctor had turned up, I wouldn¡¯t have a problem doing an initial external examination of the corpse while it¡¯s still warm, but in this situation, if Tao can¡¯t manage it, then I truly can¡¯t,¡± Kang Zhichao said as he looked towards Jiang Yuan and asked in a friendly tone, ¡°Doctor Jiang, who was your master?¡± ¡°My master is Wu Jun,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Wu Jun, ah¡­¡± Kang Zhichao¡¯s brain scrambled but still couldn¡¯t match the name with any major figures. Feng Qiong lit a cigarette, burying himself in the smoke as well. After thinking for a moment, Feng Qiong said, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at this for now. I¡¯ll find a few more experts and ponder over this.¡± This was the standard answer. He had originally wanted to crack the case quickly, but it ended up that procedures still had to be followed. Moreover, the ministry was not like the provincial departments below it; the experts Feng Qiong could invite might be of a higher level, but they were likely busier and often could not coordinate timely with the special project team¡¯s needs. Feng Qiong hurriedly ended the meeting. The Miao River side didn¡¯t care much, happily dispersing the remaining smoke. Bureau Chief Guan Xingfu even picked out two unopened packs of Zhonghua cigarettes, handing them over to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Captain Jiang, have these to smoke. I didn¡¯t know you smoke; I¡¯ll have some sent to youter.¡± Previously, Guan had not cared whether Jiang Yuan smoked or not; it was only now that he wanted to show goodwill. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°I¡¯m just an asional smoker, just tasting it. It¡¯s a waste for me.¡± ¡°If you smoke, it¡¯s not a waste,¡± Guan Xingfuughed heartily, ttering him further to deepen his impression before reluctantly leaving. Jiang Yuan also walked out to the entrance, where he saw Kang Zhichao waiting in the corridor. Kang Zhichao was a middle-aged man with white hair at the temples. He seemed to be in good physical shape, maintaining a fit body; without considering his hair color, he looked no more than in his early 40s, but with the white hair, one unconsciously added ten years to his age. Kang Zhichao also held a cigarette, which he barely smoked, letting the wind take it instead, expressing an air of mncholy that seemed even more brooding than the wind itself. ¡°Mr. Kang,¡± Jiang Yuan guessed he was waiting for himself. Kang Zhichao extinguished his cigarette and said, ¡°Doctor Jiang, do you have some time? Let¡¯s have a discussion.¡± Although he had bounced Feng Qiong off in the conference room, unlike Tao, this case involved him and Feng Qiong; he couldn¡¯t distance himself from it. So, after leaving the conference room, Kang Zhichao followed Feng Qiong¡¯s suggestion and decided to have a proper talk with Jiang Yuan, dissecting and refining the conversation earnestly to determine the time of death. After all, this would decide whether they should focus on Liao Baoquan¡¯s recent activities in Miao River County or start the investigation from scratch in Anhai City. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Hmm,¡± and asked, ¡°Then shall we talk while we walk?¡± ¡°Alright. Regarding the use of corneal identification to determine time of death, from what I understand, it¡¯s generally based on the level of opacity, and determining the time of death within 24 hours is rtively urate, but it¡¯s roughly urate to within about two hours? For example, the appearance of white spots on the cornea is after 5 to 6 hours of death, spots expanding to a cloud-like shape might take 10 to 12 hours, and then it bes foggy, 15 to 24 hours¡­¡± ¡°Generally speaking, that is the case. If there¡¯s no need for extremely detailed requirements, I also make judgments based on a ssification of light, middle, and heavy.¡± Jiang Yuan first affirmed Kang Zhichao¡¯s words, then continued, ¡°However, looking at the photos of the two deceased, I initially felt that their times of death were very close. Thus, I became particrly interested in the forensic doctor¡¯s determination of their times of death at the time, and I wanted to know how he had discerned the order in which the two had died.¡± Kang Zhichao understood, it was like a top student believing the problem was too difficult, and simply not believing others could solve it. ¡°Later on, when I looked at the forensic report, the forensic doctor who conducted the autopsy did not actually provide a clear time of death. This included judgments made with liver and stomach contents, which were inconclusive.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then said, ¡°So, the death sequence of number one and number two is actually not judged based on forensic science.¡± ¡°But you could infer it from one, no, two photographs?¡± ¡°Those two photographs were merely the finalparison. Other photos, especially the environmental ones, were useful as well.¡± At this point, Jiang Yuan dispensed with modesty, heightening his tone, ¡°Environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity, and air cirction, affect the time of death. Self-factors and human factors, such as injuries, diseases, and movement of the body, can also affect the timing and the degree of corneal opacity. In this respect, actually, it¡¯s not just forensic doctors who are conducting research; ophthalmologists do even more.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°The Ophthalmology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association began research in this area many years ago, especially now with the high volume of myopia surgeries, corresponding research in the field of corneal studies naturally has to keep up.¡± Jiang Yuan said this much and, seeing Kang Zhichao¡¯s level of confusion, then offered, ¡°How about I send you some papers to readter? Once you¡¯ve read them, and if you still have questions, let¡¯s talk again.¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Kang Zhichao obediently took out his phone and respectfully added Jiang Yuan¡¯s WeChat. After a while, Kang Zhichao¡¯s phone started to ring incessantly with notification sounds. Kang Zhichao hurriedly opened his messages, only to see the articles Jiang Yuan sent earlier were rather ordinary, such as ¡°Research on Death Time Inference Based on Corneal Images,¡± ¡°Forensic Examination Analysis of 136 Cases of Corneal Opacity Degree,¡± and simr papers, but soon, Jiang Yuan stopped sending content and started sending titles instead, with the style shifting towards an unspeakable severity and never returning¡ª¡±The Corneal Thickness of Normal Human Eyes in Our Country,¡± ¡°The Formation Mechanism of Corneal Opacity,¡± ¡°Ophthalmology Textbook,¡± ¡°Ophthalmology,¡± ¡°Forensic Ophthalmology Appraisal,¡± ¡°Ophthalmological Science¡±¡­ Kang Zhichao silently lifted his head to look at Jiang Yuan, who was still typing, and thought to himself, I just wanted to look at the corneas of corpses, there¡¯s no need to be an ophthalmologist. Of course, Kang Zhichao did not dare to speak so disrespectfully to Jiang Yuan now, so he asked, ¡°Doctor Jiang, have you read all these books?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan was quite frank. His Level 6 skill in determining time of death, too, was earned through hard work, simr to a student who studies day and night. After all, those who can finish these books rely on talent, whether it¡¯s in the form of intelligence, self-discipline, deep concentration, or a system given to them. Besides, everyone works hard. Like Jiang Yuan, who named every dog in the county to master Level 3 Skull Restoration Skill¡ªthe dog licenses were proof of his efforts. Now, sending Kang Zhichao and Feng Qiong off quickly was another form of effort. However, when faced with Level 6 skills, Kang Zhichao¡¯s talent in forensic science seemed to have reached its limit. In fact, even for a full-time forensic doctor, possessing just one Level 4 skill was enough to be included in the national ministry¡¯s pool of experts. This was after the averages had been brought down by big cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. In more remote provinces like Shan Nan, Level 3 was already top-tier in the provincial bureau¡¯s expert pool¡ªwhether the national ministry was impressed or not hinged on Level 3. As for Level 5 and Level 6, those were regarded as having extraordinarily unique talents. There might asionally be some Level 5 experts in moremon skills, such as fingerprint identification, but by Level 6, gaps are the norm. Kang Zhichao didn¡¯t stand a chance of figuring out Jiang Yuan¡¯s real capabilities, and at this point, the only thing he could recall was Tao¡¯s words. He suddenly realized that, in fact, Tao had said everything that needed to be said; if he and Feng Qiong couldn¡¯t understand it, there was nothing more Tao could have added during the meeting. ¡­ There wasn¡¯t much more Jiang Yuan could say either. For a case like this, where no headway could be made, even using his strongest ability, which was far above average, to achieve a breakthrough was already quite difficult, and aiming for another would be unrealistic. In fact, he hadn¡¯t really invested much effort; it was simply a matter of technology and evidence aligning. Jiang Yuan was also unlikely to go to Anhai City with Kang Zhichao and Feng Qiong. He had more important matters to attend to here. Indeed, Jiang Yuan had figured out that Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao were going to Anhai City. If they wanted to solve the case, they could only go back to where it all started. Having spent an entire day on other people¡¯s cases, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to leave. After all, everyone was still waiting to work on case 503, and before any definitive changes urred, the officers from Miao He County wouldn¡¯t listen to him. Jiang Yuan simply found the biggest local restaurant, took a seat in the hall, ordered a few dishes, and asked for a bottle of wine, intending to pour for himself and enjoy his ownpany. The food was served quickly. Just as Jiang Yuan was about to start eating, he saw a procession of people making their way grandly from one side of the main entrance screen. Leading the group was a pale pink girl with a grey wrinkled pug in her arms. ¡°Guihua?¡± Jiang Yuan called out instinctively. The pug, being sensitive, lifted its head and looked towards Jiang Yuan. Chapter 460 - 460 423 Guihua! ?460: Chapter 423 Guihua! 460: Chapter 423 Guihua! The girl walking at the front of the crowd, dressed in pale pink, was the first to sense the movement of the small dog in her arms. She grabbed its head and looked toward Jiang Yuan. The girl had exquisite skin, and although she was young, her eyes carried a sharpness. Jiang Yuan just smiled without offering an exnation and turned to leave. As the wealthiest of the second-generation demolishers from Tai River, the first thing Jiang Yuan did was mass-send a message to the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team with his location. After all, the girl appeared delicate and pinkish, but the men in suits behind her looked like they couldmit a crime easily. Jiang Yuan had learned some wrestling moves from Uncle Qiang, but that knowledge only made him more aware of the gap between himself and real experts. Someone like Uncle Qiang, even retired and past his prime, could still outfight him. The brothers before him, who clearly relied on their fighting skills for a living, could dismember him in the kitchen in less than 20 minutes if they wished. If they had even a bit ofmon sense, they could turn him into minced meat. A group of people watched Jiang Yuan as he slowly entered the reserved private dining area. Jiang Yuan made no further moves. After everyone had left, he sent a message to Xu Xuewu, the captain of the criminal police brigade, as well as Guihua¡¯s owner Cai Yuan and her auntie, asking them toe over. Having done this, Jiang Yuan called over a waiter and asked, ¡°The youngdy who came in with a dog, who is she?¡± The waiter looked at Jiang Yuan with a slightly sleazy and knowing gaze and said, ¡°Are you interested in her?¡± Jiang Yuan, who was quite familiar with the level of service at the best restaurant in the county, didn¡¯t bother exining. Calmly offering a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, he said, ¡°If you know her, just tell me.¡± ¡°This is a bit awkward,¡± said the waiter, looking around before epting the hard currency. He then added, ¡°Where to start¡­ what I know is, the girl¡¯s name is Feng Yutong. She¡¯s the daughter of a shareholder of Fengyuan Mining Industry around here and has beening over to y recently. She often dines here.¡± ¡°Fengyuan Mining Industry, huh.¡± Jiang Yuan searched quickly on his phone and saw it was a marble mining enterprise, which alleviated some of his concern. After asking a few more questions and as the waiter was leaving, Jiang Yuan gave him another pack of Zhonghua as a tip, thereby spending the two packs of cigarettes given to him by the bureau chief. The waiter, who didn¡¯t expect to receive another pack upon leaving, said bashfully, ¡°You¡¯re really particr. Let me think¡­ that¡¯s right, she likes to eat shrimp and fish. Our manager even specifically ordered the ¡®Unforgettable Fish¡¯ for her, which costs thousands per pound. Maybe you should pay attention when you go back or order a couple to try?¡± ¡°Thanks. No need for now,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. He couldn¡¯t reveal that his interest was actually in the dog; doing so would result in either disbelief or a more disturbingbel being attached to him. The satisfied waiter left, and after a while, a continuous stream of waitstaff appeared in the hall, clearly wanting to observe the excitement. Jiang Yuan¡¯sck of action for a long time disappointed everyone. At this time, Mu Zhiyang rode his motorcycle and was the first to arrive at Shizi Building. Upon entering and seeing Jiang Yuan sitting there fine, Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t rx his hand on his waist until he had looked around and found no clear differences, then hesitantly approached. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, ¡°I think I saw Guihua.¡± ¡°Guihua is inside? Where?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked in surprise. ¡°In one of the private rooms. Did you bring a gun?¡± ¡°Yeah, I was afraid I couldn¡¯t handle it alone.¡± After experiencing two shootouts, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s fear of firearms had greatly diminished. In the team, if there were firearms avable, they were often first allocated to him¡ªnot many police officers were willing to carry guns, and even fewer had the chance to use them. ¡°We probably won¡¯t need it. Yeah, good thing you brought it anyway. You stand behind meter, and try not to use the firearm as much as possible. Best not to unless life is threatened.¡± Jiang Yuan knew he couldn¡¯t let Guihua leave, fearing the other group might not heed warnings to stay, but regardless, the criteria for using firearms had to be strict. ¡°I know,¡± said Mu Zhiyang, who hadn¡¯t nned on using the gun anyway. He was just cautious about unexpected situations¡ªfor others, this might be an overreaction, but Mu Zhiyang had reasons to be prepared. Jiang Yuan signaled for a waiter, ordered a few more dishes, and asked, ¡°Could you open another private room for us? What¡¯s the maximum upancy for yourrgest one?¡± ¡°We have a private room for 20 people, but it¡¯s booked for today. Would a room for 12 be okay?¡± the waiter answered. ¡°Sure, open it up.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± ¡°Check it out with the waiter. Once Wang Chuanxing and the others arrive, arrange for them to go there. Also, seat a few more people in the hall. Additionally, check how many exits and entrances there are, and take control,¡± Jiang Yuan instructed Mu Zhiyang in the presence of the waiter, adding, ¡°If you have your badge, show it to him. Their manager knows the youngdy¡ªwarn him.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Mu Zhiyang, already very familiar with procedures akin to arrests, didn¡¯t ask further why. Taking the puzzled waiter to a private room, he showed his police badge, then had him call the manager to map out the restaurant¡¯s exits and entrances, as well as the distribution of private rooms, right on the spot. By the time everything was almost ready, Wang Chuanxing and others had arrived. When Comrade Xu Xuewu, the captain of Miao He County¡¯s Criminal Police Division, arrived, the officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had already sealed off the Shizi Building ording to the arrest standards for umted homicide cases. Some members of the special team wore police uniforms, others did not, but with the manager¡¯s full cooperation, not a single incident urred. All preparations were done before they hid themselves in the private rooms. When Xu Xuewu came in, he only saw a few people such as Mu Zhiyang and thought that Captain Jiang wanted to discuss Case 503 with him, still chuckling, he said, ¡°Captain Jiang, I¡¯m now just a foot soldier, wherever you leaders tell me to go, I¡¯ll go. You don¡¯t have to worry about me.¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, ¡°I think I just saw Guihua.¡± Xu Xuewu¡¯s smiling expression suddenly turned serious and focused; even the waiting waiter started to feel somewhat scared. Subconsciously, Xu Xuewu also felt that something was not right¡ªas if a dog was more important than a leader from Beijing. But after working so many days, upon hearing the name Guihua, Xu Xuewu truly could not take it lightly anymore. Is this a dog? This is a bug dog! ¡°Where?¡± Xu Xuewu asked. ¡°Just now, a girl was holding it in her arms. She had bodyguards around her, so I didn¡¯t go up to ask to avoid any idents,¡± said Jiang Yuan, then added, ¡°The girl seems to be the daughter of a shareholder of Fengyuan Mining Industry, please mention it to her.¡± Thest sentence was directed at the waiter. The waiter, already sensing something amiss, quickly spilled everything he knew. ¡°Fengyuan Mining Industry¡­¡± Xu Xuewu repeated a few words, then let the waiter leave before saying, ¡°I¡¯m familiar with this enterprise, it¡¯s actually newly established, but the actual controller of the mine, that is, the shareholder you just mentioned, should be Feng Yungui. He¡¯s from Changyang, his business spans a wide range, and he is a well-known businessman in the province; um¡­ his daughter, she shouldn¡¯t be stealing dogs, should she?¡± ¡°Maybe she found the dog,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Can we invite Feng Yungui over?¡± ¡°To ask for the dog?¡± Xu Xuewu felt that this reason wasn¡¯t quite appropriate. Jiang Yuan, somewhat helplessly, said, ¡°It¡¯s more to avoid conflict. Please ask him toe over, have a good talk, and if the dog his daughter is holding is indeed Guihua, then we¡¯ll discuss with Cai Yuan what to do. If not, then I¡¯ll apologize to him.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Xu Xuewu pondered for a moment, feeling the n was feasible, then went out and made a phone call. Whom he reported to or through whom he contacted Feng Yungui wasn¡¯t of much concern to Jiang Yuan. While waiting, Cai Yuan also arrived at the Shizi Building, following his Great Aunt Cai Mian. ¡°Tang Jia.¡± Jiang Yuan called her over and said, ¡°Take Cai Yuan to the private room over there and find a reason to confirm whether the dog she¡¯s holding is Guihua.¡± Then, Jiang Yuan used his childcaremunication skills to speak nicely to Cai Yuan. The troubled Cai Yuan indeed calmed down. Just as everything was unfolding in an orderly fashion, an unexpected change urred. Feng Yutong¡¯s group finished their meal and left the private room. As usual, she walked out holding the dog, head held high, with a rhythmic pace. Shizi Building was thergest restaurant in Miao He County, meaning it wasn¡¯t very big. So, before Jiang Yuan¡¯s team could issue any orders, Feng Yutong had already reached the lobby, nearing the main exit. The officers, ustomed to managing crime scenes, gathered naturally without needing any orders, swiftly blocking all escape routes for the group. Feng Yutong, still carrying the dog, had not yet reacted. Her bodyguards, greatly rmed, quickly surrounded her, while outside, over a dozen police officers encircled the bodyguards, Feng Yutong, and the dog she held. ¡°Guihua?¡± ¡°Guihua!¡± ¡°Guihua? Say something, woof woof?¡± After days of searching, tracking, distributing flyers, investigating, and reinforcing their control of the situation, everyone was familiar and intrigued by Guihua. Some even harbored hopeful expectations, wishing for Captain Jiang to pull out a ruby or sapphire from Guihua¡¯s mouth. Chapter 461 - 461 424 Not Easy ?461: Chapter 424 Not Easy 461: Chapter 424 Not Easy ¡°Police.¡± Meng Chengbiao took out his police ID, disyed it around, and subdued themotion in the restaurant. They were all regr customers who hade to dine, and they didn¡¯t know what the police were there for. Some of the public instinctively hid in corners or private rooms, while those unafraid stood at a distance to watch the excitement, all the while murmuring their thoughts: ¡°Could it be drug trafficking?¡± ¡°No way, how would so many people split the money if it¡¯s about drug trafficking? Plus, they¡¯re dressed too well. Don¡¯t think so poorly of people, such a pretty youngdy, she must be selling¡­ you know?¡± ¡°What are you looking at? Those following her are bodyguards, she must be a rich family¡¯s child, or maybe an inte celebrity or star.¡± ¡°Maybe they¡¯re cosy from a KTV, where men and women perform and sell at the same time, you pick who you like, and if you¡¯ve got the money, you take them away!¡± ¡°What about the dog, then?¡± ¡°You¡¯re clueless, aren¡¯t you? Dogs can be sold too!¡± ¡­ When Feng Yutong was first surrounded, she felt a bit apprehensive, but once the middle-aged Meng Chengbiao started showing his police ID and she verified that the uniforms of the few policemen were real, she immediately felt at ease. ¡°Is there a problem?¡± Feng Yutong asked withposure. ¡°Please stand in a line for now. Put your hands down and don¡¯t huddle together. You there, start taking notes on the people who stepped out.¡± Tang Jia was most skilled at not only falsetto but also crowd control. Cloth tightly stretched over her long legs in her police trousers made her look both beautiful and formidable. As she faced the crowd, people unconsciously obeyed hermands without feeling offended. Of course, although Feng Yutong was somewhat intimidated by Tang Jia, she still insisted, ¡°I must have done something wrong for you to tell me, and besides, I haven¡¯t seen your ID.¡± ¡°Follow orders. I don¡¯t need to show you my ID while I¡¯m in uniform,¡± Tang Jia said, her ID tucked in her pocket, but she wasn¡¯t about toply with the other party¡¯s demands. Moreover, Tang Jia didn¡¯t target only Feng Yutong; she first separated her bodyguards. Even though they all looked like men capable ofmitting crimes, faced with Tang Jia in her police uniform and the array of police officers behind her, the sried bodyguards showed no intention of resisting. After a moment of hesitancy, they were pulled aside by Gao Yuyan and Wang Chuanxing respectively. Feng Yutong faced Tang Jia head-on, her pale little face turning red and white, not as strong as she had been. ¡°Give me the dog.¡± Tang Jia swiftly took the dog from Feng Yutong¡¯s arms. Her movements were quick and resolute, and before Feng Yutong could react, the pug had been taken away from her. Tang Jia stepped back and handed the dog to Cai Yuan, asking, ¡°Check if it¡¯s your dog.¡± Only in the first grade, Cai Yuan hugged the dog, flipped its belly to look, and said, ¡°It¡¯s Guihua, there¡¯s a mole here.¡± At the same time, Jiang Yuan also received a system notification: Mission Completed: Find the dog. Mission Details: Guihua is Cai Yuan¡¯s pet and her friend. Right now, Cai Yuan¡¯s biggest wish is to get Guihua back. Fulfill it. Reward: Skull Restoration Skill (LV3) Jiang Yuan took a deep breath, relieved¡­ that wasn¡¯t easy. At that time, Feng Yutong¡¯s father, Feng Yungui, also hurriedly entered. He controlled Fengyuan Mining Industry and was a well-known figure in Miao He County. Most importantly, he also owned a mine in Beijing. Seeing so many police officers made Feng Yungui tense up, but fortunately, he recognized the chief of the criminal police, Xu Xuewu, and hurried over to him: ¡°Chief Xu, what¡¯s happening here?¡± ¡°We¡¯re handling a case,¡± Xu Xuewu did not borate, nor could he borate. He couldn¡¯t say that so many of them had surrounded a restaurant just to find a dog. No matter what, the dog was finally found and Jiang Yuan, going forward¡­ Xu Xuewu¡¯s heart suddenly clenched at the thought. The dog was found, and Jiang Yuan was likely to leave. He¡¯d rather the dog had been buried by the side of the highway! ¡°Miss Feng, where did you get this dog?¡± Tang Jia directly posed herself to take a statement. Feng Yungui stepped forward, took his daughter¡¯s hand, and then said to Tang Jia, ¡°Can you wait a moment? We¡¯d like to discuss this as a family first.¡± He had to find out what had happened. Feng Yungui was experienced too, he had even noticed the gun carried behind Mu Zhiyang. In China, providing detectives with firearms was not a game, and even with his abundant resources and family mining business, he wouldn¡¯t dare to be reckless. ¡°It¡¯s not a big case, we¡¯ll ask a few questions, and once it¡¯s clear, you can leave,¡± Xu Xuewu stepped forward to smooth things over. ¡°My daughter has people following her every day, she couldn¡¯t possibly be up to no good,¡± Feng Yungui exined repeatedly. A wise man does not take a loss at face value; once he got back, he naturally had ways to mobilize resources to follow up on the matter, but at this moment, he still wanted to try to stall as much as possible. Xu Xuewu ignored him at that point. Tang Jia threatened Feng Yutong, ¡°If you can¡¯t remember, we¡¯ll go back to the police station and take our time to recall.¡± Once in the police station, whatever needed to be confessed would be confessed. Feng Yungui looked around and still indicated to his daughter to say a few words first, that way, at least afterward, she could be considered to have had a good attitude. After Feng Yungui nodded, Feng Yutong spoke softly, ¡°I was at the hotel entrance, someone was selling it at a stall, it looked so pitiful, so I bought it.¡± She admitted the dog was bought, and the situation became much easier. Everyone, including Xu Xuewu, was a bit worried that they had made a mistake. After making such a scene, if it turned out to be a misunderstanding, it would be hard to exin to all parties. But as long as the dog was indeed Guihua, it would be justifiable, after all, the discovery of the blood pools belonging to Liao Baoquan and Jia Chengfeng was made while tracking Guihua. In this way, for the sake of aplete chain of evidence, everyone was just doing their job a bit more seriously, which was not too big a problem. A hint of a smile appeared on Xu Xuewu¡¯s face. After seeking Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion, he took the initiative to say, ¡°The dog belongs to this little girl¡­¡± He picked out what he could say, and introduced the part about the dog and the little girl Cai Yuan, especially about Cai Yuan. Hearing some tragic story about Cai Yuan, the previously stern-faced Feng Yutong suddenly overflowed withpassion, looking like she wanted to take care of both the person and the dog. ¡°All right then, we¡¯ll take our leave.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded to Feng Yungui and turned to leave. Mu Zhiyang, carrying a gun, quickly followed. The others, in unison, left Shizi Building in a grand manner and got into their vehicles. At this moment, the Feng family father and daughter were both a little dazed. ¡°What was all this rush about?¡± Feng Yungui faced Xu Xuewu, not quite understanding. Feng Yutong even pouted, ¡°My dog.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll buy you another er,¡± Feng Yungui sighed, wanting to say more, but even the backs of Jiang Yuan and the dog were no longer in sight. Xu Xuewu said a few awkward words to Feng Yungui and left with his head down. To say this incident was absurd, the absurdityy in the fact that Miao He County was bound to have a prosperous year. The number and quality of cases solved by Jiang Yuan quickly raised Miao He County¡¯s rank on thebat power leaderboard; by Xu Xuewu¡¯s knowledge, other counties could strive for a year only to reach the current level of Miao He County. He still had much room for improvement. If only Jiang Yuan could stay a bit longer¡­ Xu Xuewu, lost in thought, returned to the Criminal Police Brigade and went to find Jiang Yuan, only to see him in the meeting room, signing a contract with someone. Cai Mian and Cai Yuan were sitting next to him. ¡°What is this for?¡± Xu Xuewu didn¡¯t go straight in. The police officer in the office said, ¡°He rented a storefront for Guihua¡¯s owner¡¯s family, right across from the police station. They¡¯re nning to open a chicken pot restaurant.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice. We can patronize itter,¡± Xu Xuewu breathed a sigh of relief, as long as no one else had died. The office police officer couldn¡¯t help but smile. Xu Xuewu sharply asked, ¡°What¡¯s so funny?¡± ¡°At first, there will probably be a lot of people.¡± ¡°Is this woman good at cooking?¡± ¡°No, they are apparently going to let people pet Guihua. Come for a meal and you can pet Guihua. Word has already spread in the team, andter, many people will probablye out of curiosity.¡± Xu Xuewu was taken aback and suddenly felt a strong anticipation to go. Chapter 462 - 462 425 Sending Them Off ?462: Chapter 425 Sending Them Off 462: Chapter 425 Sending Them Off Cai Mian¡¯s store was up and running in just one day. This was partly becauserades from the local police station had helped her out, locating a Ching Chong Chicken Pot store within their jurisdiction that was transferring ownership. They shifted the kitchen and equipment and assisted in handling the paperwork. It was also due to Cai Mian¡¯s own immense drive and intense passion, which led her to work non-stop for an entire day and night just to get everything ready for the opening the next day. Words like fatigue and exhaustion seemed to do little damage to her. On an ordinary day, her job was exhausting enough, but in order to earn money¡ªa pitifully small amount, but essential to sustain her life¡ªCai Mian had no choice but to tirelessly seek second and third part-time jobs. Sometimes, the constant rushing about and work made her lose her sense of time until the arrival of a new setback or injustice. Fortunately, being at the bottom of the socialdder meant there was no shortage of setbacks and injustices. Their rapid session always kept her acutely aware of her own existence. Cai Mian didn¡¯t want to live like this, and she wanted even less for the only bloodline left by her sister¡ªher child¡ªto live like this. But she was powerless; she didn¡¯t even dare to think about death. The officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had pooled money to lend to Cai Mian, and also set up the store for her. It was an opportunity Cai Mian had never imagined. Apart from working her hardest, saving money as soon as possible to repay everyone, she had no idea how to vent the passion, anticipation, and anxiety in her heart. Besides, Cai Mian also wanted to personally thank them before Jiang Yuan and the rest left. Thus, ¡°Guihua Chong Chicken Pot¡± opened for business in a hurried and bustling manner, without any flower baskets, firecrackers, or ceremonial proceedings. Cai Mian simply lit a stick of incense in the kitchen, started boiling water, and busied herself with preparations for business. Noon. Jiang Yuan arrived with Mu Zhiyang and a few others to offer congrattions. Xu Xuewu also came over with several of his subordinates. Just as the group gathered, the young and tender Feng Yutong and her father Feng Yungui, along with a few bodyguards, appeared at the ¡°Guihua Chong Chicken Pot¡± store. Feng Yutong was there to see the dog, while her father Feng Yungui was concerned the detectives might have some covert operation going on, and came specifically to observe the situation. Seeing that everyone sitting in the small store had shiny bottoms on their trousers from wear, and some even had worn patches on the thighs, with buttons from back pockets all torn off, yet they sat there lookingfortable drinking tea as if in new clothes, he realized they were all police and felt somewhat relieved. The already small shop was nearly at capacity with so many people inside. Everyone pushed a few tables together and squeezed in, somehow creating a full and lively atmosphere. Feng Yutong, with little else on her mind, sat on the side and immediately asked, ¡°Where is Guihua?¡± Cai Mian, with her mindset of an ordinary citizen, hastily called out to Cai Yuan, ¡°Bring that mangy dog out.¡± Seven-year-old Cai Yuan carried bug-eyed Guihua into the dining area, sat down on a chair, and carefully ced the dog on hisp, stroking it affectionately. Aunt Cai Mian was not a gentle person. Even though her niece was only in fourth grade, she had to busy herself with household chores, cooking, and doingundry, just like now, acting as the little waitress in the restaurant. In these circumstances, Guihua was the one providing Cai Yuan with the most warmth. Cai Yuan¡¯s happiness and cautiousness in holding Guihua again were unfathomable to most people. Feng Yutong, who was just in high school, seeing the pug she had taken care of for days lying in the girl¡¯s arms, immediately approached, wanting to hold it. Without sess, and not wanting to be rude, she simply embraced it and gently spoke to it. After a while, seeing that the pug was paying little attention to her, Feng Yutong looked up and asked, ¡°What brand of dog food do you usually feed it? I still have some leftover dog food at home. I¡¯ll give it to youter.¡± She did not mean to snatch Guihua away from Cai Yuan. Not only because of her parents¡¯ advice, she originally intended to rescue the pug. Now that it was back with Cai Yuan, Feng Yutong still had many options. Still, she was very eager to confirm that the pug¡¯s condition was good. Cai Yuan tilted his head, pondering for a moment, then said, ¡°We don¡¯t have dog food at home.¡± ¡°Then what do you feed? Canned food?¡± Feng Yutong felt that canned food was less economical than dog food and shouldn¡¯t be the choice of a poor family. Cai Yuan shook his head, ¡°I fed it noodles yesterday.¡± Feng Yutong paused, ¡°Noodles for dogs?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the noodles mother made.¡± Cai Yuan licked his lips, ¡°They were so delicious, right, Guihua?¡± Guihua nodded. ¡­ Feng Yungui was in his element at the dining table. Today, he was engaging in conversation to show support, lifting the spirits of everyone with just a few words. Along the way, he learned the reasons for the gathering of the detectives. Because of his status, Xu Xuewu also purposefully let slip a little information, lest he became too anxious and ended up going to the director or even directly contacting the county chief or secretaries. The more he learned, Feng Yungui went from amused to decidedly solemn. Some dogs are truly dogs! Feng Yungui¡¯s gaze casually swept over Guihua. Who would have thought that such a small dog could fill up the detention center in Miao River County? ¡°Uh-huh, the chicken hotpot tastes really good. We coulde here often,¡± Feng Yungui said after tasting a few bites of meat, beginning to sing its praises. Xu Xuewu also felt it was good andughed, ¡°Having this store right at the entrance of the Criminal Police Team is terrific. We can improve our meals. Boss Feng, you¡¯re just kidding. You¡¯ve eaten all kinds of delicacies fromnd and sea.¡± ¡°When we went to the mine, we ate whatever was avable,¡± Feng Yungui said,ughing, trying to get closer to everyone. In reality, as the boss on visits to the mine, he always ate local specialties and delicacies. If nothing else, he could bring along two fish, three chickens, four pounds of meat, and five handfuls of vegetables in his trunk¡­ Ding-dong. While enjoying the conversation, someone else pushed the door and entered¡ªit was Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao. Xu Xuewu hurriedly got up to greet them. After all, they were officials from Beijing. For the local police in their county, it was never wrong to call anyone from Changyang City a leader. Those from Beijing deserved to be received well and sent off properly. Over the past few days, there had been no news from Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao. Xu Xuewu guessed that they were very likely to have left already. Indeed, that was the case. After Feng Qiong and Kang Zhichao took their seats and drank a couple of beers, Feng Qiong smiled and said, ¡°This time I came to say goodbye. I heard Dr. Jiang was here, so I stopped by to take a look.¡± ¡°Are you heading to Anhai City?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask. This meant that their investigative direction had indeed shifted, moving from focusing on Liao Baoquan, back to re-investigating the 503 case. Of course, this time, having foreseen Liao Baoquan¡¯s involvement, whether they investigated following the timeline or pursued suspects based on association, the difficulty wouldn¡¯t be too great. However, Feng Qiong¡¯s expression remained heavy as he nodded and said, ¡°Back then¡­ we indeed weren¡¯t thorough enough in reviewing the case.¡± He had been involved during the first supervisory period of the 503 case. Now, his mentor had already retired, and the matter had fallen on him to shoulder. Although there wasn¡¯t any real impact, facing Jiang Yuan, Feng Qiong felt somewhat embarrassed. On the other hand, after taking a sip of his drink, Kang Zhichao said, ¡°Honestly, this case shouldn¡¯t be med on Old Feng alone. The first to take the me should be the person responsible for the current investigation. Supervisors can¡¯t overstep their duties. Determining the primary and secondary aspects of the investigation was a key consideration that he needed to ount for. With the forensic determination of the death times being so close, in the face of various clues, they should have thoroughly investigated the second victim¡¯s social rtionships.¡± ¡°We were alsocking in our supervision,¡± Feng Qiong sighed. ¡°At the time, we did investigate, but it was rather superficial.¡± It was apparent that their next step would be to primarily investigate the second victim¡¯s social rtionships. This was certainly a reasonable approach, particrly now that they had confirmed Liao Baoquan as one of the murderers; it was unlikely there would be many connections between the two. When the incident urred years ago, Liao Baoquan had only been sixteen or seventeen, not even of age. It was no wonder that heter chose to join the military without any hesitation, presumably with the idea of leaving his past environment behind. Anhai City was economically more developed, and city youths willing to enlist weren¡¯t plentiful at the time. Liao Baoquan¡¯s active enrollment and subsequent smooth induction into the military were impressive. With Liao Baoquan¡¯s enlistment, his social circle might have changed. Those he was in contact with before, andter no longer contacted, would inevitably be suspected. In reality, it might not be soplicated. Considering the limited social circle of young people, careful investigation should easily surface suspicious individuals. Additionally, Liao Baoquan had the financial means to purchase a refrigerated truck, indicating that his aplices might also have received arge sum of money. Therefore, investigating financial aspects could also yield a breakthrough. At this point, Feng Qiong invited, ¡°Dr. Jiang, would you be willing toe with us to Anhai City to take a look? Honestly, this case has confounded several forensic experts from the department. If we could solve it smoothly, it would certainly be praiseworthy.¡± Several police officers curiously looked toward Jiang Yuan; even for the detectives from Changyang City, participating in a ministry¡¯s case was a rare opportunity. Although Feng Yungui and Feng Yutong didn¡¯t understand criminal investigation, hearing about names like the ministry, they too felt it was rather impressive. Jiang Yuan, however, shook his head and said, ¡°There¡¯s no crime scene left for the 503 case, and the bodies were examined by experts. My going there now wouldn¡¯t be very meaningful.¡± The difficulty of second or third autopsies increases exponentially. To put it bluntly, if clues aren¡¯t found during a first autopsy, the difficulty of finding them in a second autopsy could increase tenfold. Thus, if a small-town forensic doctor conducted the initial autopsy, a second one might make sense. But, if the department¡¯s experts had done a thorough autopsy in the past, a second one would just be asking for trouble. Meaningful forensic examination would involve looking at photos and previously gathered evidence¡ªexcellent forensic doctors stand out not only for their initial forensic judgments but also for the quality and thoroughness of their tissue samples, facilitating second and third examinations. Feng Qiong looked a bit regretful and sincerely said, ¡°You¡¯ve been following the first half of this case. Why not join us to close it out? To start well is to finish well.¡± Jiang Yuan too, sincerely shook his head and replied, ¡°I¡¯m eager to get back. I¡¯ve suddenly had some insights, and I remember several old cases that might see a breakthrough.¡± He had not only repeatedly reviewed the umted cases of homicide in Ningtai County but also had gone over several counties in Qinghe City, including the municipal area. He had a certain recollection of the unsolved cases in Qinghe City. Indeed, if he could apply the newly acquired Skull Restoration Skill to a few cases, there was a chance of making a breakthrough. The advantages brought by Guihua certainly meant a few more people had to be sent off. Chapter 463 - 463 426 ?463: 426 463: 426 Ningtai County. Members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team traveled back to the headquarters by car and high-speed train. Jiang Yuan took the high-speed train back. Wei Zhenguo, who was at home, specially drove to pick him up and asked, ¡°Did the trip go smoothly? I heard that the ministerial officials even came.¡± ¡°Yes, we identally uncovered a major case that they had previously supervised,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly exined. Wei Zhenguo clicked his tongue in admiration, ¡°That¡¯s great, are you guys on vacation again?¡± He was guessing based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous routine. To his surprise, Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°We can¡¯t take a break these few days, I want to work on a few more cases.¡± ¡°Such a rush?¡± Wei Zhenguo was astonished and also a bit boredly curious. He used to be the captain of the sixth squad that specialized in catching thieves. But now, with so many cameras installed everywhere, and all the shrewd thieves having been sifted through, the cases suitable for the sixth squad had greatly diminished. Wei Zhenguo, who had been busy all his life, suddenly found it a bit too leisurely. Jiang Yuan smiled humbly and said, ¡°Just trying out some new techniques I¡¯ve developed. If it doesn¡¯t work, then so be it. But if it does, we should hurry and solve a few cases.¡± ¡°You went out to solve cases and even came up with new techniques?¡± Wei Zhenguo was just expressing his amazement. He wasn¡¯t a technician and had no idea how difficult it was to research a new method that could be applied to investigations, or to put it another way, how outrageous it could be. They quickly arrived at the detective squad. After the car entered the gates, what Jiang Yuan saw first was the green curtain cordon in front. The area around the curtain was piled with a lot of construction materials, and the sound of banging and nging was asionally heard. ¡°Is this¡­ building another floor?¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. In big cities, where people talk about day-to-day dramatic changes, in a small city like Ningtai, time seemed to stand still. New urban construction was very rare; sometimes there would be no new major construction sites for three to five years. On the contrary, Jiang Vige in the Sining Mountain Scenic Area was more likely to receive high-level funding for construction and demolition. Wei Zhenguo smiled happily. He didn¡¯t mention it on the way deliberately, because he wanted to see Jiang Yuan¡¯s reaction. He said, ¡°Director Huang and Director Chai often remark in meetings both big and small, ¡®It¡¯s all thanks to Jiang Yuan¡¯¡­ What we¡¯re building isn¡¯t another floor this time, we¡¯re digging downwards to make a parking lot.¡± Looking at the construction site he had returned to, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but feel moved and asked, ¡°Is there no room for parking anymore?¡± ¡°Right now there¡¯s just enough space, but we¡¯re nning for the future. Like a few days ago, Director Huang brought a Passat and a pickup truck from Miao He County.¡± Jiang Yuan knew about Xu Xuewu¡¯s Passat, and he felt a little sympathy, but not much. He didn¡¯t know about the pickup truck. So he asked what that was about. Wei Zhenguo was surprised and said, ¡°I thought you knew. The pickup truck is like a down payment from our neighbors in Longli County. They¡¯re so poor they¡¯re almost broke. Captain Hou personally visited us, invited us to meals and such. Still, Director Huang managed to get two vehicles out of them. He likes pickup trucks, so he took an old pickup from Longli County first.¡± ¡°Down payment¡­¡± Jiang Yuan had not expected Comrade Huang Qiangmin to start ying with presale schemes. Wei Zhenguo drove directly to the new building of the detective squad. A group of people led by Huang Qiangmin were standing on the steps, weing Jiang Yuan. In the county, this kind of reception was super high-level. Jiang Yuan also quickly got out of the car, courteously shaking Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand and then asked the colleagues in the office to take a photo. It had been some days since theyst met, and Jiang Yuan noticed a trace of fatigue on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face, suggesting that the position of Deputy Director was a challenge for him too. Huang Qiangmin patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, exchanged pleasantries, and inquired about his situation in Miao He County. Before long, they arrived at his office. The two sat down on the sofa in the office, and Huang Qiangmin continued, ¡°A few days ago, old Hou from Longli County¡ªCaptain Hou, whom you¡¯ve met¡ªcame to see me, wanting to borrow you. Right here in this office, the old fellow nearly got down on his knees¡­¡± Recalling the scene of that day, a simple joy spread across Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face. Ningtai County and Longli County are adjacent, and over the years, the two criminal police captains had been in constant rivalry. It was only with Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival that Huang Qiangmin had managed to outshine Hou Lejia, leaving him far behind. As for Hou Lejiaing to seek help, that added an extrayer of enjoyment. ¡°I couldn¡¯t resist at the time, so I agreed,¡± chuckled Huang Qiangmin, and looking at Jiang Yuan, he added, ¡°This dream has to be fulfilled by you.¡± ¡°What kind of case is it?¡± asked Jiang Yuan with a smile. ¡°There¡¯s no specific case, but a cold case needs to be cracked,¡± paused Huang Qiangmin, and continued, ¡°You might not have noticed being out there, but this is something the Qinghe City Bureau announced a month ago. They said that this year is the ¡®Cold Case Breakthrough Year¡¯, demanding that all subordinate counties and districts solve at least one homicide cold case, and for those with more than five cases, other types of cold cases¡­¡± Ordinary cold cases are not too difficult to handle, especially theft cases¡ªwhen it reallyes down to stacking numbers, catching a few habitual thieves is not an issue. However, homicide cases are no joke; they¡¯re the ones that previous detectives have racked their brains on and failed to solve, leaving them behind. Such cases pose a serious challenge even to a unit like the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. And with Longli County¡¯s police capabilities generally weaker than Ningtai County¡¯s, it bes even more difficult to ovee this challenge. Unfortunately, this is an important year for Hou Lejia, and naturally, he dares not show weakness during the ¡®Cold Case Breakthrough Year.¡¯ Jiang Yuan was almost certainly the best option Hou Lejia could find, of course, speaking softly to Huang Qiangmin was probably the most difficult part. Without reinforcements, Longli County¡¯s criminal police team¡¯s strength alone wouldn¡¯t suffice, potentially relegating them to the very bottom of the list. It¡¯smon knowledge, even an established promotion can be at risk if you end up at the bottom¡ªthe position could be lost. This situation was, in part, due to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan¡¯s itinerant way of solving cases had given the Qinghe City Bureau hope and a guarantee for soliciting des. On the other hand, while the various county and district bureaus were keen to invite Jiang Yuan for cases and he was likely to agree, only Longli County might face the prospect of being blocked by Huang Qiangmin. On a day without issues, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t hinder his shopping, but when there was a matter at hand, enthusiasm and funding alone wouldn¡¯t suffice. If Huang Qiangmin decided not to lend out Jiang Yuan, or scheduled him for a muchter date, there would inevitablye a time when Hou Lejia would need to ask for help. Better to ask first and quickly. ¡°There¡¯s no rush on when to do it for him. However, if I were to refuse outright, Hou Lejia would be furious,¡± Huang Qiangmin keenly aware of his ¡°old foe,¡± continued to relieve Jiang Yuan¡¯s stress with a smile. ¡°If it¡¯s to be done, then it¡¯s to be done,¡± said Jiang Yuan, not dwelling on it too much, recalling, ¡°I remember Longli County had a case involving an unidentified body, didn¡¯t they? I could take that case.¡± Huang Qiangmin promptly said, ¡°That unidentified body case is a tough one to handle. Moreover, that body has been decaying for so long, it might have been cremated for all we know.¡± ¡°Why wasn¡¯t it cremated initially?¡± In China, the usual protocol is to cremate the body after an examination, and keeping it in a refrigerated coffin costs 80 a day, which is indeed a real expense. ¡°A specialist from the provincial office came to examine it, and afterwards suggested that a deeper investigation should be conducted from all aspects, which led to the body being kept,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded as he listened, this kind of case was clearly within his scope. Chapter 464 - 464 427 Nameless Corpse 122 ?464: Chapter 427: Nameless Corpse 122 464: Chapter 427: Nameless Corpse 122 Noon. The sun was zing at its peak, the golden sunlight showcasing its power to the fullest. In three pots as big as osmanthus trees, the sizzling hot stir-fried pork intestines, pork stomach, and chicken glistened with oil, looking like a super unhealthy yet super delicious dish packed with excessive fat, protein, and purines. ¡°Come, everyone, dig in. Thest time we had this dish together was during the case of the scavenger. Thinking back, it feels like it¡¯s been a long time¡­¡± Hou Lejia said, filled with emotion. For him, the neighboring Ningtai County had indeed undergone too many changes. His old rival Huang Qiangmin had been promoted to Deputy Director, which wasn¡¯t too surprising. Nowadays, many city criminal police captains were being promoted to Deputy Directors; it was just a change in position. They still dealt with the same matters. Moreover, there were things like Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad and the arrival of people like Director Chai¡­ To him, time seemed to elerate due to the influence of Ningtai County, making the ordinarily mundane months feel fleeting. In the past, Hou Lejia was such a thrifty man; it was impossible to treat people to a luxurious meal like stir-fried pork intestines and stomach with chicken on a whim. Instead, he¡¯d start with a simple meal, saving wherever possible, followed by avish feast and then another break to save up. This way, he could save the cost of at least three meals. But this time it was different. The Qinghe City Bureau wanted tounch a ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Year.¡± In Hou Lejia¡¯s understanding, it meant that each county bureau had to go to Huang Qiangmin or Jiang Yuan topare notes. After all, expecting every county and district to solve a homicide cold case was setting the bar too high! In Hou Lejia¡¯s opinion, the only feasible way was to enlist Jiang Yuan¡¯s help. Jiang Yuan and his Cold Case Squad solved twenty to thirty homicide cold cases a year. By allocating just a bit of their time and effort, they could aplish the entire Qinghe City¡¯s task. Without a doubt, the leaders of the Qinghe City Bureau must be thinking the same way, although they had seemed particrly democratic when it came to task assignment. Those who were capable and lucky could solve a homicide cold case on their own. Those whocked the skill or luck could just go and ask Huang Qiangmin or Jiang Yuan for help. Havinge to this understanding, Hou Lejia acted ordingly, with smooth motions and a tranquil mind. In terms of criminal investigations, his Longli County was always ranked at the back, but being at the back is one thing, and being the absolutest is quite another. With cold case homicides, sess means everything, while failure signifies nothing. The fear was that if others went to ask for help from Jiang Yuan and only Longli County was left with nothing¡ªHou Lejia was skeptical that if it came to the second half of the year and everyone started to panic, Huang Qiangmin would genuinely put his countyst. ¡°Captain Jiang, I toast to you,¡± Hou Lejia raised his ss, his attitude nearly reverent. Jiang Yuan drank with him. It was the weekend, which could be considered a day off. Although half of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was present. Even more people came from the Longli County Criminal Police Brigade, everyone eager to put in a great deal of work. Hou Lejia had already made it clear that for this homicide cold case, no matter who was inmand or gave the orders, the call to action was unceasing, and the charge would never stop¡­ The police officers were genuinely motivated. Solving cases can be demoralizing if progress is long dyed, but continuous victories in overrunning fortresses can sustain the morale without material rewards. The sense of honor and other psychological factors are enough to keep everyone going for a long time. The reputation of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was enough motivation for the young detectives to muster their resources and set out. ¡°Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll make a round, toasting to you first,¡± Hou Xiaoyong and several leaders lifted their sses and began their round of toasts. ¡°Good,¡± Jiang Yuan drank heartily. His mindset was exceptionally rxed. On one hand, the work in Miao River County had been rather intense. Not to mention that case 503 was a major one overseen by the department; even searching for Guihua was a race against time, fearing that any dy might lead to misfortune. However, Jiang Yuan felt relieved when working on cold cases in Longli County. After all, these were cold cases, and especially before the official start of the cases, these incidents, which had been on hold for three, five, one, or two years, were not in a rush tomence within a few days. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan was waiting for the equipment to arrive. The biggest requirement for Skull Restoration Skill is a CT scanner. Even though work can still proceed with an X-ray machine, a CT scanner would be ideal. The price of a domestically produced CT scanner is around a six-figure sum. When you factor in instation and subsequent maintenance costs, it¡¯s not much different from the price of a Passat, depending on the model and options. This part is up to Captain Hou of Longli County. Of course, this requires that Longli County has a suitable body for the Skull Restoration Skill. Among these, the most promising case is the Longli County John Doe. I¡¯ll review the caseter, and if appropriate, I can suggest to Director Huang to have a chat with Captain Hou. I just hope Captain Hou isn¡¯t in too bad a mood at that time. The tripe and chicken soup was still delicious. The soup was loaded with a hefty amount of pepper. It tasted hot, salty, and fragrant, the texture soft yet chewy. A little alcohol warmed the body, as if steam rising off a body just pulled from an ice coffin, almost as though wisps of white air were ascending. ¡­ When a decaying body is taken out of an ice coffin, not only does white steam rise, but also a wafting stench. The smell isn¡¯t very vtile, but it is extremely pungent, like taking out a piece of rotten meat from the refrigerator. You might not smell much holding it in your hand, but lean in close and take a deep sniff, and the concentrated odor will instantly make you regret it. ¡°John Doe 122. Found on January 22nd ofst year, a little over a year ago. The time of death was probably two months earlier,¡± said Ye, the forensic doctor from Longli County, as he pulled the body out of the ice coffin and checked the tag to make sure it was correct. He knew he was careless and prone to mistakes, so he forced himself to pay attention to certain details, even though the results were so-so. Jiang Yuan was dressed in a disposable coverall, wearing a 3M mask, and had doubled up on rubber gloves. He directed Wang Zhong to push the body together into the autopsy room and then positioned it properly. As an evidence technician, Wang Zhong always had endless work to do, but Jiang Yuan still brought him out. On one hand, using an evidence technician as an assistant in Skull Restoration Skill could improve the convenience to 0.1. On the other hand, Wang Zhong¡¯s skills were too poor. At his LV0.9 level, if he didn¡¯t improve while young, he¡¯d end up like Yan when he gets old. Yan was close to retirement and still just an advanced LV1 evidence technician. He neither had the space for advancement nor the motivation to progress. Considering the manageable workload in Ningtai County, he suited the role of a tool person just fine. With Wang Zhong¡¯s help, Ye quickly did a check and then said, ¡°The body was discovered in a river bend to the south of Lishou River, among reeds. The river had frozen over, and a few youngsters went in to y. In the reeds, they found the body facing upwards, half frozen into the river surface.¡± ¡°Half frozen?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°The water in the reeds wasn¡¯t deep enough. During noon, it would thaw, and then freeze over again at night. That¡¯s why the upper and lower parts of the body dposed to different extents. Officials from the provincial office came to look and also thought it was quite rare, and they nned to use it as a case study.¡± After exining, Ye continued, ¡°The body probably floated down from upstream and got stranded in the reeds. By the time it reached me it had thawed to about seventy percent, most of the flesh rotting into bags. The face was too dposed to view, and fingerprints couldn¡¯t be lifted¡­¡± While reminiscing, Ye shook his head and showed Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong the decayed parts of the body. Both of them kept their expressions neutral. The body was in very bad shape, the eyes swollen and protruding, the face no longer recognizable. Such a body, decayed then carefully preserved and allowed to decay further, is quite rare to encounter outside forensic circles, and it¡¯s somewhat different and more distressing than dposing bodies sometimes found in the countryside that decay from start to finish. Jiang Yuan reached out to turn the head of the body and carefully assessed the condition of the skull. This body had already been autopsied by Ye, with parts likely to decay, such as the internal organs, removed and processed into slides. Now, to perform a secondary autopsy and search for new clues in the muscles and other tissues would be very difficult. ¡°No personal clothing was found on the body, right?¡± Jiang Yuan confirmed. Some details might not be recorded in the report in unclear situations, but direct questions still could yield some information. Ye shook his head and said, ¡°When it was found, there wasn¡¯t much clothing left. The most intact item was the sock on the foot, but it was discolored. There are photos in the report; you should have seen them.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still a clue,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed and recalled the report, saying, ¡°The female was suffocated, then thrown into the river, most likely by someone she knew. Alright, let¡¯s boil it.¡± Jiang Yuan made his decision. When the body was found, the face had already decayed beyond recognition. With no fingerprints and no DNA match, it would only be possible to identify the source of the body through forensic anthropology. Ye wasn¡¯t surprised; he turned to call Wang Zhong, took out arge iron pot from the cab, set it on the stove, then retrieved an electric pressure cooker, filled it with water and plugged it in, and also brought out two ceramic pots, cing them on the induction cooker. Wang Zhong looked at the ceramic pots, feeling a sense of familiarity. He took a closer look and saw a line of red characters clearly written on them: ¡°Tripe and Chicken Soup.¡± Wang Zhong quietly added water to the ceramic pots, then turned them around, hiding the characters at the back. Chapter 465 - 465 428 Authentic Flavor ?465: Chapter 428: Authentic vor 465: Chapter 428: Authentic vor The first time he performed skull restoration, Jiang Yuan was very meticulous. He changed the water in the pot twice when boiling the skull, boiling the bones to the point where if you shook them a bit, the flesh would fall right off. The remaining bones weren¡¯t handled with quite the same care; they were boiled vigorously in arge pot. asionally, the scum was skimmed off the surface, and any rotten flesh and excess grease were removed in the process. ¡°Boiling this always reminds me of making stew back home.¡± Doctor Ye stirred the pot with a femur, his eyes filled with wistful nostalgia. ¡°My grandmother¡¯s stew was unrivaled, and every year during New Year¡¯s, she would cook a lot of it with chicken, beef, and mutton, then pack it up and give it to various families to take home.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a family skill passed down through generations,¡± Wang Zhong, still young, chimed in to agree with Doctor Ye. Doctor Ye nodded solemnly and said, ¡°After I became a forensic doctor, that tradition was discontinued.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°One year, while making the stew, I just threw out the meat, just like what we do here. It was right around New Year¡¯s, and there were many deaths, so I ended up boiling corpses at work for a week, and got used to it,¡± Doctor Ye muttered, then added, ¡°That pot of stew waster scorned by the vigers, iming it smelled of formalin; it went to waste. It¡¯s a shame¡­ our Ye family¡¯s 40-year tradition of the stew.¡± Wang Zhong listened with a mix of pity and difort, ¡°Is it the secret family stew of a forensic doctor¡¯s household, passed down through generations?¡± What he actually wanted to say was that such a stew, if wasted, was just that¡ªwasted. Doctor Ye took it as a genuine expression of regret and sighed heavily, saying, ¡°Your words remind me, I should still make a pot of stew when I go home this year, good or bad¡­¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for them to finish boiling the other bones. He took the skull and sat aside, beginning to precisely measure its dimensions and take notes. Looking back, this piece of skull would need to be scanned again, but measuring its size himself was the most basic task. While measuring, Jiang Yuan also examined the skull. The history of the Skull Restoration Skill can be traced back a long way, with the earliest mention by the German anatomist Schaafhausen in 1877. This year corresponded with the third year of the Guangxu Emperor¡¯s reign in the Qing dynasty, only two years after Zuo Zongtang¡¯s coffin had been carried to Xinjiang, and 37 years before the outbreak of World War I. Schaafhausen¡¯s theory was simple and direct¡ªhe had found that there were certain patterns to the thickness of the soft tissues on a person¡¯s face. So, if one knew the thickness of the soft tissues at different points on the skull, one could surmise what the skull¡¯s owner looked like when they were alive. Even though it was a theory from over 100 years ago, the framework of the Skull Restoration Skill hadn¡¯t changed much in the following century; what changed was the technology. Of course, from a practical standpoint, the evolution of technology only seems simple when you¡¯re at that point in time. Look at it from three to five decades earlier, and it¡¯s more or less regarded as high-tech magic. The earliest skull restoration was quite straightforward. First, measurements were taken of the thickness of the facial tissues to get a usable average, and then these numbers were continuously expanded and refined. One critical basis for this was the rtive constancy of the thickness of a person¡¯s soft tissues. To put it more bluntly, fat people only have fat cheeks; the bridge of their nose, eye sockets, forehead, and ears typically don¡¯t umte fat. With the skull as a foundation, the thickness of the soft tissues was determined by looking up tables based on the skull owner¡¯s age, race, gender, and other limiting factors. Then muscle and ndr tissues were taken into ount¡­ all of this wasyered on bit by bit. But whether it was the early Russian method, the subsequent American method, or the now mostmonly used British method, the results of skull reconstruction were greatly influenced by the operator¡¯s aesthetic judgment and technique. This was the most challenging aspect of Skull Restoration Skill. Another significant difficulty was the evolution of technology. With the advancement of modern technology, the previous methods that used frameworks and y were gradually being superseded byputer technology. In other words, Level 1 skull restoration required the technician to be familiar with forensic anatomy while also possessing some artistic aesthetic and even sculpting skills. By Level 2 and above, you were expected to understandputers and mathematics¡­ Such hexagonal warriors, whether in the dating market or a forensic office, were exceedingly rare. So, when Jiang Yuan measured the skull dimensions with increasing precision, Doctor Ye began to feel that something was amiss. ¡°What are you doing hugging that head for so long?¡± Doctor Ye asked. Jiang Yuan answered truthfully, ¡°I¡¯m preparing to do a skull reconstruction.¡± Doctor Yeughed, ¡°You¡¯re joking, right?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± Jiang Yuan then continued to measure the skull dimensions. Soon Doctor Ye realized that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t joking around. Jiang Yuan was always too busy to joke around, and even if he did, it would only be a couple of verbal jests, never cost-bearing ones with a man of his middle-aged, semi-retired status. Watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s methodical approach, Doctor Ye instinctively felt ufortable, as if he¡¯d missed out on some essential knowledge while others had gained it. After measuring the features of the face, Jiang Yuan got up to inspect the rest of the bones that had been boiled. It was then that Doctor Ye finally began toe around, asking softly, ¡°Captain Jiang, when did you learn to do skull reconstruction?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve also learned it just recently,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Doctor Ye frowned, ¡°That¡¯s¡­ not easy to learn, right? Did you just pick it up like that?¡± ording to a forensic scientist¡¯s own understanding, skills such as skull restoration are typically either you¡¯re born with the skill or you¡¯re not. As a veteran forensic doctor, Doctor Ye had actually never seen two people who were truly proficient. Perhaps there were some who could, but they had never demonstrated it in front of him. He himself had only be aware of it through training or during meetings. Jiang Yuan then reflected on the variety of difficulties he¡¯d encountered while looking for Guihua and admitted candidly, ¡°To tell you the truth, it is indeed not easy to learn, quite troublesome.¡± Hearing this, Doctor Ye started to believe him, but it just made him itch with curiosity even more. ¡°Then, when you do itter, can I watch?¡± He wasn¡¯t really interested in learning; he was mostly curious. Of course, from the perspective of drawing lots, he, Doctor Ye, had no chance of encountering the Skull Restoration Skill in his lifetime. What if he also had a talent for it? Taking a look wouldn¡¯t cost him any flesh. Additionally, he was worried that Jiang Yuan might overly cherish his own skill, possibly driving people away when the time came or secretly performing the task himself. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t thought about this at all. Since Doctor Ye wanted to watch, he agreed, then continued examining the boiled bones. ¡°Looking at the proportion of this foot to the body height, there¡¯s a high probability that the person is a local from Shan Nan¡­ The wear on the knee suggests someone who frequently climbs mountains, not like a sports enthusiast. Maybe they lived on a mountain? Or worked a job that involved regr uphill and downhill movement?¡± As Jiang Yuan examined the bones, he directed Wang Zhong, who was beside him, to make a record of his observations. Advanced forensic anthropology always yed a role in skull restoration, such as determining race¡ªethnicity is rtively homogeneous within China, but there are still different minority groups and foreigners who may reside in the country. You never know when a Uruguayan might end up dead in a pond. Moreover, people from different provinces have different facial characteristics. For example, people from the Yellow River basin typically have yellower skin, thicker eyebrows, and fuller lips. Those from the Yangtze River basin tend to have a shorter average height than those from the Yellow River basin, but they have fairer skin and are more often monolidded. People from the Pearl River basin have darker skin, more prominent frontal bones, and thicker lips. Besides, branches like the Kangba type, the Annan type, the Northeast Asian type, and so on, each have their own distinguishing features. These ssifications are all done with the purpose of determining the proportions of cartge. In this sense, only those with a basic understanding of LV1 anthropology could truly perform basic tasks. At a minimum, one would need LV2 forensic anthropology skills to do a decent job. Moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill in footprint analysis and the like was equally applicable. Jiang Yuan conducted his analysis in detail while Wang Zhong made careful records. Doctor Ye silently boiled the bones, their fragrance filling the room. ¡­ The following day. The crows at the funeral home cawed loudly. Red-beaked birds, some perched on branches, othersnding on the ground. They foraged with hardly any wariness. Early in the morning, Hou Lejia rushed to the forensic autopsy room. Upon entering, he saw Jiang Yuan holding a skull, examining it closely. Hou Lejia had already received a call from Huang Qiangmin the day before, and his ears were still aching. Seeing this scene, he cried out, ¡°Doctor Jiang, my good Captain Jiang, can¡¯t we just use traditional methods for this case?¡± ¡°Do you mean change the direction of the investigation?¡± Jiang Yuan had already been informed by Huang Qiangmin and wasn¡¯t surprised, so he merely lifted his head slightly. Hou Lejia looked even more haggard than he did the day before, with dark circles under his eyes, as if he hadn¡¯t slept well at all. Caught off-guard by Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, he hesitated before whispering, ¡°Not the investigation direction. I mean, can¡¯t we just examine the bones? Or, perhaps, work on another cold case¡­¡± ¡°Captain Hou,¡± a muffled, nasal voice came from the side¡ªit was Tang Jia, who had been sent over early in the morning. Hou Lejia, still a bit dazed, looked over. ¡°Captain Hou, even if we switch to another cold case, Director Huang¡¯s requirements won¡¯t be lowered,¡± Tang Jia said with a cute voice, delivering a brutal message. Hou Lejia heaved a heavy sigh. Jiang Yuan remained unmoved. The Ningtai County Bureau definitely couldn¡¯t afford a CT scanner or anything like that, and Longli County¡¯s budget surely wasn¡¯t much better, but the year had just started. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯ll call someone to install the machine. It¡¯s still in the testing and trial phase for now. After you¡¯ve seen it, if you¡¯re interested, we can pay for it,¡± Hou Lejia said, ncing onest time at the ghastly skull in Jiang Yuan¡¯s arms before leaving, adding as if it had just urred to him, ¡°Oh right, the provincial department said if you decide to take this case, they would like to bring people over to observe.¡± ¡°I have no objections,¡± Jiang Yuan replied promptly, as he was already ustomed to working under the scrutiny of various groups. Hou Lejia walked away with heavy footsteps. With provincial department peopleing, it was up to him from Longli County to y host, and with the number of peopleing, he estimated that the meal expenses were going to be astronomical. In the end, it was always the grassroots level that shouldered everything. Chapter 466 - 466 429 Rushing Towards Each Other ?466: Chapter 429: Rushing Towards Each Other 466: Chapter 429: Rushing Towards Each Other Noon. It was the most intense time of the sunlight when Wang Zhong suddenly took out a 10-centimeter-long red peach wood sword from around his neck. Grasping the handle, he adopted a bow stance and, with a ¡°ha-ha,¡± started jabbing with it. Sitting in front of theputer, Jiang Yuan, who had been touching a skull, stopped and looked at Wang Zhong with bewilderment. ¡°Captain Wu taught me this. He said it¡¯s best to drive away the evil spirits after touching a corpse and going back to the office and all. It¡¯s also to intimidate the surrounding ghosts and monsters, making sure they know we¡¯re not to be messed with. The effect of wielding a peach wood sword is best at the time of day when the yang energy is at its peak. I checked the sun¡¯s azimuth and elevation angles,¡± Wang Zhong exined earnestly, without stopping his sword movements. Jiang Yuan believed that this was indeed something Master Wu Jun had taught Wang Zhong. Ordinary people couldn¡¯t be so¡­ sophisticated about such things. All Jiang said was, ¡°Then let¡¯s keep our voices down so as not to disturb the people in other offices. We¡¯re still in Longli County.¡± ¡°The voice is the energy from the dan tian. I can do it silently, although the effect might be a bit weaker,¡± replied Wang Zhong obediently as he closed his mouth and continued to exert himself physically. After watching for a bit, Jiang Yuan thought it was quite good. Those working in trace evidence often sat in front ofputers all day long. Physical exercise was beneficial for the body, but something did raise a bit of doubt¡­ So Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°How did you end up learning this from him?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t formally be a disciple. It¡¯s just learning by following him, kind of like a listed disciple,¡± said Wang Zhong cautiously as he nced at Jiang Yuan. He added, ¡°Captain Wu only teaches me a bit of popr technique.¡± ¡°Okay then,¡± Jiang Yuan felt that Wang Zhong probably didn¡¯t quite understand what ¡°popr technique¡± meant, but reconstructing skulls was enough to keep him busy, so let him jump if he wants to. And Wang Zhong continued to jump. After approximately eighty-one times, which was almost 18 jumps per set across five sets and sweating on his forehead, he finally stopped. Copsing back into his chair, Wang Zhong was panting as he put the peach wood sword back around his neck. He then whispered, ¡°Jiang, actually, the things Captain Wu teaches make some sense. I¡¯ve been practicing for a while, and I feel healthier.¡± Jiang Yuan thought to himself, a person who doesn¡¯t exercise regrly will of course feel better after suddenly increasing their amount of physical activity. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, Wang Zhong remembered what Wu Jun had said and silently shook his head. He then carefully lit a stick of incense at his desk and exined, ¡°Given to me by Captain Wu.¡± When Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t object, Wang Zhong got up again to boil water for tea, opened the window for venttion¡­ By the time he was done with his routine, he saw some new cars with Changyang tes arriving downstairs. ¡°Jiang, it looks like the Provincial Department¡¯s people have arrived,¡± said Wang Zhong, who had been watching from the window. He added, ¡°It seems like it¡¯s Medical Examiner Zhai with quite a few people.¡± They had known in advance that the Provincial Department would be sending someone. It wasn¡¯t surprising that Medical Examiner Zhai woulde. Nowadays, Medical Examiner Zhai remained a charm of the Shannan Provincial Department, assigned wherever needed. When seeking Liu Jinghui, they had sent him, and he had also initially conducted the autopsy for the abandoned corpse case on National Highway 805 in Luyang City. Of course, it could also be said that the findings Jiang Yuan had previously overturned were done by Medical Examiner Zhai. Jiang Yuan stood up for a look and saw the small, old figure of Medical Examiner Zhai, followed by seven or eight robust men¡ªforensic doctors regrly handle corpses, so being strong was a must. Unless you¡¯ve achieved sess like Medical Examiner Zhai, only then would there be people to help you lift and transport bodies. The most pitiful were those like Mei Fang, who had no assistants and asionally had to snag a detective to be a strong back, thanking their lucky stars. Encountering female officers or senior officers who couldn¡¯t easily be ordered around, they¡¯d sweat more during an autopsy than eating a spicy hotpot. Forensic doctors with male assistants carried a different aura when they walked. Arriving at the office, Medical Examiner Zhai proimed with a robust voice, ¡°Doctor Jiang, we¡¯vee to see you.¡± ¡°Wee, wee,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted at the door, still cradling the skull in his arms. ¡°Is that the skull you¡¯re going to restore?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s gaze swept from Jiang Yuan¡¯s face to the skull, casually saying, ¡°Middle-aged female, around a little over 100 pounds?¡± Identifying gender and age through the skull¡ªas opposed to the pelvis¡ªwas slightly more difficult, but not too much so. However, for someone like Medical Examiner Zhai to spot it at first nce still proved his keen eye and confidence. On the other hand, gauging someone¡¯s weight was a bit simpler. Fat globules would leave traces on the outermostyer of bone on the skull; the fatter the person, the rougher the skull¡¯s exterior. Conversely, the skull of someone who was pure thinness would appear exceptionally smooth. The skull Jiang Yuan was holding looked shiny and smooth; without saying, the body fat percentage wouldn¡¯t be too high. Considering that females have a higher body fat percentage than males, her weight could not have been more than a little over 100 pounds. Jiang Yuan was not surprised that Medical Examiner Zhai could tell; thetter was mostly making polite conversation. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Yes, that¡¯s about right, a female around 34 years old, who had given birth, rtively light in weight, likely to have engaged inbor for many years¡­¡± ¡°I remember,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai nodded. He had indeed seen the body before. The apanying forensic doctors followed into the office. This office was one of the Criminal Science Squadron¡¯s offices in Longli County, temporarily made avable for Jiang Yuan¡¯s use. The body and the autopsy room were both at the funeral home, which, besides being far away, also had very low temperatures and was not suitable for long-term office work. Medical Examiner Zhai brought a total of eight forensic doctors, all of whom were receiving training at the provincial department and were young forensic doctors from public security bureaus of various city districts. In terms of rank, district public security bureaus and county public security bureaus wereparable and both belonged to the grassroots front line, being the first responsible party for handling bodies. However, because of the heavy workload, it was hard for grassroots forensic doctors to find time to improve themselves. Especially when working independently, progress became even more difficult. In some cities, the solution to this problem was to send forensic doctors from the municipal bureaus to assist or supervise or teach, as is the case with Qinghe City¡¯s system. Medical Examiner Wang Lan thus embarked on a path of daily business trips. However, some cities had different approaches, especially when the municipal bureau¡¯s forensic doctors were not effective, or when they were promoted to leadership positions, preventing rotation. Consequently, over the years, the technical skills of forensic doctors in the district or county bureaus might be distorted. The provincial department would hold training sses and various training meetings every year. For those who were motivated, these were also a pathway to skill advancement, although such advancement rarely led to material gain. Several young forensic doctors entered, curiously observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s office and naturally began to nce at Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer screen. Jiang Yuan was using 3DSlicer, which had a fairly high level ofplexity. If not for the system-granted skills, learning this software would normally take several months. The domestically produced Police Star CCK also had practical case applications and was a softwaremonly seen by everyone, but it was not asplex and therefore not as detailed. ¡°You really started doing skull restoration,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai clicked his tongue and asked, ¡°Do you have to use skull restoration?¡± ¡°Not necessarily, but I haven¡¯t tried other methods,¡± Jiang Yuan said honestly, intent on using this technique. Medical Examiner Zhai smiled, nced at the skull again, and said, ¡°If it can be done, identifying the body will be easier than a search.¡± Without using skull restoration, the mostmon approach was first to locate the origin of the body based on attachments on the body, such as clothing and essories. If that failed, one would have to rely on autopsy or forensic anthropology techniques to find the body¡¯s origin, and either method required cooperation with arge-scale search. Even afterpleting the skull restoration, a search would still be necessary, but inquiry-based searching by facial recognition is easier than looking for a 35-year-old former dancer with a sprained ankle, for example. Most importantly, uracy in facial recognition searches is high, so it¡¯s less likely to miss any lead. The worst fear in a search is an oversight, which was precisely why Jiang Yuan insisted on having Xu Taining take charge during the 805 case. In other words, searches were either expensive or risky, and no matter which, they were slow. And even the expensive option was not without risk. Overall, however, using skull restoration to find the body¡¯s origin was clearly advantageous: effective and with a lower overall cost, the only downside being the scarcity of practitioners. Medical Examiner Zhai, of course, was not one of them. To speak of him, this small, gaunt-faced, expressionless old man had dissected more bodies than most in Shannan Province, especially in earlier years when there were few forensic doctors everywhere, and Old Zhai often traveled from county to county to perform autopsies. However, skull restoration, a skill requiring aposite talent, was something Medical Examiner Zhai ultimately was not able to participate in. ¡°Where are you in the process now?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai showed some concern. He might not know the skill, but he was still willing to understand new technologies. Jiang Yuan then sat in front of theputer and said, ¡°I am currently working on edge detection. Since the Lace operator is sensitive to high-frequency signals, I¡¯m considering low-pass filtering the image before Lace operator filtering. I¡¯ve chosen Gaussian low-pass filtering, using Gaussian and Lace operators to create a single LoG operator¡­¡± After listening, Medical Examiner Zhai stood up and said, ¡°Show me that file, make sure you¡¯ve taken photos of all the bones.¡± Chapter 467 - 467 430 ?467: 430 467: 430 ¡°A female between the ages of 33 to 36, 163 centimeters tall, weighing around 110 jin. Type A blood, long hair, about 34 years old, has given birth, frequently bends over for work, often climbs mountains¡­ she must be a resident of an upstream township or vige¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s foundation in forensic anthropology was very strong. During hisst coboration with Jiang Yuan, he had exhibited a level 2 PLUS standard. This time in Longli County, Medical Examiner Zhai concentrated his efforts and did his best to show his finest qualities. The eight young forensic doctors who came for the training were taking notes and listening attentively, each one serious in their demeanor. One of them, who had a way with words,mented with augh following Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s exnation, ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai is truly amazing; looking at just a single bone for a few minutes, hees up with a series of anthropological judgments. Unbeatable.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai, a little old man who had spent years working with corpses, was not often praised and smiled bashfully as he said, ¡°There¡¯s nothing unbeatable about it, I can hardly understand what you young people are saying these days.¡± ¡°You can understand what corpses say, and that¡¯s what¡¯s really impressive,¡± the talkative forensic doctor pped on the ttery with two smacks. Medical Examiner Zhai was quite pleased; setting down the bone, he smiled and said, ¡°They say forensic doctors listen to what corpses have to say, but it¡¯s not so easy. However, with the rapid innovation of technology, who knows where forensic technology will be by the time you reach my age¡­¡± ¡°It won¡¯t get to the point where we actually make corpses talk,¡± another forensic doctor interjected. ¡°To tell you the truth, some corpses, even if you asked them to talk, probably couldn¡¯t rify how they died. In the end, it¡¯s up to us to help read the signs.¡± ¡°Conversing with the corpses while conducting autopsies, huh? That sounds pretty engaging.¡± ¡°Many surgeons do just that, performing local anesthesia on patients, chatting with them during surgery, and getting praised afterwards for their good surgical manner.¡± ¡°In all fairness, I suppose even if a corpse didn¡¯t like our manner, it couldn¡¯t reallyin.¡± ¡°That it couldn¡¯t. Instead ofining, it might as well solve its own case.¡± Cough cough. Initially, Medical Examiner Zhai was rather amused, but as the conversation went on, it reached a point he could no longer listen to, and he interjected ¡°Back to looking at the bones¡­¡± Gradually, everyone quieted down and returned to watching Medical Examiner Zhai handle the bones and discuss them. Medical Examiner Zhai himself was also making judgments through this very process. He had been examining the bones for two days, but had yet to make a breakthrough. Fortunately, with age, Medical Examiner Zhai understood that not making a breakthrough was the norm¡ªoften times the bodies of ordinary people after death are just that, ordinary cadavers, without anything distinctive to be found, sometimes evencking significant marks on their bones¡­ There were many residents upstream of the Lishou River, several towns and viges had been built along it, and when considering the area where the body was found, within 10 kilometers upstream there were rtively densely popted areas. Not to mention, disposing of the body had to be taken into ount. If the victim had ever broken a leg, had bone screws installed, or dental imnts, was missing half an ear, or had suffered broken ribs, severe rheumatoid arthritis with gout, it would be somewhat easier to find them¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s talk about this pate today,¡± said Medical Examiner Zhai, nonchntly picking up a knee bone. ¡°In forensic anthropology, the value of the pate is considered to be second tier. Everyone knows that for forensic doctors, the pelvis is the most valuable¡ªit can urately and easily determine gender, age, reproductive status in females, and through various calctions, it can help estimate height, and even weight¡­ Generally speaking, if you have the pelvis, there¡¯s no need to look at the pate. But¡­¡± ¡°As forensic doctors, we encounter special cases, like dismemberment: the police may only find the lower body or maybe just a leg. What do we do then? The mostmon are explosion cases, not just explosives, but also gas explosions, restaurant pressure cooker explosions, and so on; in explosion cases, it¡¯s quitemon to find cases where the upper body is obliterated, leaving only the lower limb bones.¡± Holding a corpse¡¯s knee, Medical Examiner Zhai continued, ¡°To determine the gender of the pate is rtively difficult. First, you need to measure the height of the bone, the width and volume of the medial andteral articr surfaces, and so on, then there¡¯s a series of regression forms¡­ As for age, it mainly involves observing various changes to bone quality on the different bone surfaces¡­¡± The more he spoke, the more excited he became; after all, judging the pate required considerable technical skill and was very much fitting with the status of a provincial forensic doctor. Medical Examiner Zhai looked down at the young forensic doctors listening intently below and appeared quite satisfied. As long as they were willing to listen carefully, these young forensic doctors in front of him could at least take some basic knowledge of forensic anthropology with them. When they encountered a case in the future, even if they couldn¡¯t solve it themselves, at least they would know whom to ask for help, how to preserve evidence properly, and where to take photographs¡­ As a Level 2.7 forensic anthropologist, Medical Examiner Zhai could very well exhibit the prowess of Level 2.8 or 2.9 today, showing great ease. In other words, Medical Examiner Zhai was almost at Level 3. In terms of forensic anthropological skills, within Shannan Province, aside from Jiang Yuan, he was at the peak among forensic doctors. In fact, Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic anthropology was also at Level 3, but having worked on cases in the province for so long, he had not encountered another forensic doctor withparable skills. Of course, this was also rted to his increasinglyprehensive set of skills. Level 3 in Forensic Clinical Medicine, Level 4 in Forensic Pathology, Level 4 in Forensic Material Evidence, plus Level 6 in postmortem interval estimation, along with the current Level 3 in Skull Restoration Skill, definitely promoted the advancement of forensic anthropology. Chapter 468 - 468 430 ?468: 430 468: 430 If one were to assess, the level of Forensic Anthropology expertise possessed by Jiang Yuan could definitely be ranked at LV3.7PLUS. However, for the young forensic doctors attending the training, the gap in Forensic Anthropology between Medical Examiner Zhai and Jiang Yuan was still something beyond theirprehension. Moreover, due to Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s age and style, everyone by default assumed he must be at least slightly better. Only Medical Examiner Zhai himself, while fondling the bones, furrowed his brow. His original idea was to see if he could use Forensic Anthropology techniques to advance the case. He didn¡¯t expect to solve it directly, which would be highly improbable, but felt it would be quite an achievement if he could narrow it down to a specific range that would lead to an effective level of scrutiny. Jiang Yuan needed time to do the Skull Restoration Skill; if it were Medical Examiner Zhai, who was rtively familiar with manual skull reconstruction, it would take at least a month. Now withputer-assisted skull restoration, it might be possible to reduce the time to one or two weeks. But Medical Examiner Zhai believed that if he could determine an effective radius for scrutiny, even if it included tens of thousands or even a hundred thousand people, as long as the specificity was clear enough, Longli County would be willing to carry out the investigation. As far as the political correctness of the police system was concerned, when it came to clues in a homicide case, all you had to do was charge ahead without overthinking things. Even if leaders had many ideas, they could only ponder them privately. However, ideas were one thing, practice was another¡­ ¡°You all think it over, I¡¯m going to go upstairs and check,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said, stepping aside to let the other forensic doctors take over as he walked out the door. They were in the basement of the Longli County Criminal Police Team, examining the bones. The office building of the Criminal Police Team didn¡¯t originally have an autopsy room. Some units would have one, but the police stations in Qinghe City didn¡¯t have such facilities. However, the unidentified corpse 122 had already been boiled down to bones, meaning it was in apletely inert state, which is to say it was very clean. This was done to facilitate the work for Medical Examiner Zhai from the provincial capital, as well as Jiang Yuan and the young forensic doctors from various ces, which was why Captain Hou made a room avable in the basement, also taking into ount the needs of everyone involved. Once Medical Examiner Zhai reached the upper floor, he took a deep breath, stretched his shoulders, and then slowly continued upstairs. As he approached Jiang Yuan¡¯s office, he could hear the lively noiseing from inside. ¡°What is this¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai peered in like an old man, poking his head around the door. ¡°Oh, Medical Examiner Zhai is here,¡± Hou Xiaoyong called out, alerting Jiang Yuan. ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai, I¡¯m not able toe out right now,e in and take a seat,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted him from inside. Only then did Medical Examiner Zhai see clearly that in the not-sorge room, several tables had been pushed together, and several detectives from the forensic team, along with Hou Xiaoyong and a team from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, were sitting around the tables, lively feasting on fat intestine and pig stomach chicken, as well as hotpot cooked with the same ingredients. ¡°What a lively scene, what¡¯s going on?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai asked as he entered the room. ¡°Captain Jiang just restored the unidentified corpse 122; we¡¯re celebrating,¡± Hou Xiaoyong said with his mouth greasy from the food. Medical Examiner Zhai was taken aback: ¡°Restored?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. Captain Hou has already taken a team to make the arrest.¡± ¡°Gone to make an arrest?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai echoed. Hou Xiaoyong nodded: ¡°The photo restored from the skull, when checked against the police database, directly matched an ID card. It¡¯s a woman from a vige upstream, from Yuguang Vige, a farmer¡¯s wife. She¡¯s been missing for such a long time without a police report, it¡¯s highly likely it was someone she knew whomitted the crime.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai, not focusing on the case details Hou Xiaoyong was rting, simply asked: ¡°The photo?¡± ¡°It¡¯s on the table next to theputer desk,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Tang Jia, who was sitting at the head of the table, quickly stood up to help Medical Examiner Zhai search. Hou Xiaoyong grabbed another piece of pig intestine, smacking his lips as he ate, and called out, ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai, have something to eat.¡± ¡°No need, I¡¯m not hungry.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was a bit peckish, but he had no appetite and walked over to theputer desk himself, where he found heaps of photos alreadyid out and not just finished ones, but many that were in various stages ofpletion. Although he wasn¡¯t skilled in Skull Restoration Skill, with his near-grade LV3 anthropology knowledge, he was sufficiently able to discern the incremental rtionships between these unfinished products. From 3D reconstruction, to referencing skull models, facial models, then marking the skull¡¯s feature points, face¡¯s feature points, and beginning to shape the facial model for restoration, followed by local deformation, overall deformation, until finally the model for restoration and the ultimate facial model were created¡­ Looking at the photographs alone, the process seemed in and unimpressive, with no hint of any Gauss, Lace, Lagrange, Fourier, Maxwell¡­ However, without those confusing forms in the way, Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s sense of artistry underwent a simple and direct enhancement. From bone to cartge, from cartge to muscle, from muscle to nds, then to fat and skin¡­ ¡°It¡¯s finished already?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai sighed and couldn¡¯t help feeling a reluctant and humbling sense of inferiority. ¡°This one¡¯s not done yet. Thepleted ones are in this stack.¡± Tang Jia took a finished photo from another pile next to her and handed it to Medical Examiner Zhai. Medical Examiner Zhai was taken aback again, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°I worked on three skull restorations at the same time,¡± Jiang Yuan called out from across the table and added, ¡°Come over and sit, we can talk while we eat.¡± He was not too keen on discussing the specifics of the technique with Medical Examiner Zhai. The difficulty of the Skull Restoration Skill was so high that at Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s age, updating him with new knowledge¡­ Jiang Yuan felt it tiring himself. But regarding Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s current state of understanding, trying to exin the technical details would be nearly the same as exining them to a total novice. At Jiang Yuan¡¯s urging, the group pulled Medical Examiner Zhai over to the table. ¡°So you¡¯ve already started eating,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said helplessly, then repeated his earlier question like a parrot, ¡°You said three skull restorations, what does that mean?¡± ¡°When I started using theputer to outline Unidentified Body 122, I had nothing else to do, so I opened two more cases,¡± Jiang Yuan exined briefly. ¡°I wasn¡¯t aware of this,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai blurted out. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, ¡°I asked Doctor Ye to cook it; it¡¯s only been a couple of days. One of the cases is progressing quickly and has a drawing ready, the other one is still in the contouring phase. You¡¯re quite lucky today; right after the result for 122 came out, Captain Hou and the others left.¡± Jiang Yuan opening new cases, naturally, did not require any exnation to Medical Examiner Zhai. He did it to save time; since the Skull Restoration Skill is a step-by-step workload, he decided to open several cases at once, like an assembly line for each skull. And doing so naturally did not require reporting to Medical Examiner Zhai. They were not in a hierarchical rtionship. Medical Examiner Zhai realized his slip and said awkwardly, ¡°Then I think that the diagram I saw earlier is almost ready. That means another case is close to being solved.¡± ¡°Whether it will solve the case, I don¡¯t know, but in two more days, the second drawing should be ready. Come on,e, have some food¡­¡± Jiang Yuan invited Medical Examiner Zhai as the meal continued in full swing. Medical Examiner Zhai could only join in. The pig intestines, stomach, and chicken were extremely fresh, and Medical Examiner Zhai also liked the rich vor of the pepper inside, just that the soup was a bit sour. Chapter 469 - 469 431 Foreword ?469: Chapter 431 Foreword 469: Chapter 431 Foreword Hou Lejia inserted his hands into his pockets and arrived in front of the vigemittee office of Yuguang Vige, waiting for someone while surveying the small Yuguang Vige. In order to maintain secrecy, they hadn¡¯t made prior contact with the locals but had simply brought along someone from the township police station and would call for people on-site. The unit known as the vige group is now rarely mentioned. It effectively corresponds to the former production team, usually a natural vige or a settlement known by names like tun or zhuang. The nationally recognized units are administrative viges, underneath which there are several natural viges. In the past, an administrative vige was a production brigade, and a natural vige was a production team; the leader of the brigade often held significant power. Under Jiaxuan Township, where Yuguang Vige is located, there are 16 administrative viges, and close to 300 natural viges like Yuguang Vige. Upstream of Lishou River, a potential area for body dumping, there are at least three or four such townships with around 1000 natural viges. Thus, after the simplest checks for missing persons, the case of John Doe 122 stalled. Hou Lejia once thought that the deceased might havee from out of town. If that were the case, finding clues would be even more unlikely. Indeed, Yuguang Vige was quite remote; to get to the nearest riverbank of Lishou River, one had to climb a mountain, and the likelihood was high that the body had been dumped. Of course, it was uncertain; maybe the victim was brought to the riverbank and then killed. ¡°Captain Hou, this is the vige chief of Yuguang Vige, Zhang Xuejie,¡± the police officer apanying him brought over a man in his fifties. In the vige, someone in their fifties was considered young. Zhang Xuejie looked fit but somewhat panicked. Approaching Hou Lejia, he asked, ¡°How big is this case?¡± He had seen the arrivals. Thest time there were more than three police officers, it followed a massive brawl between two viges that left several seriously injured. This time, he had already seen several police cars. Hou Lejia naturally wouldn¡¯t respond to such a question. He watched as the officer next to him pulled out a photo, showing it to Zhang Xuejie, and asked, ¡°Do you recognize this person?¡± ¡°This is¡­ my eyes aren¡¯t good¡­¡± Zhang Xuejie held the photo at a distance, finally seeing clearly, and said, ¡°This is Zhang Lu¡¯s wife, Li Fang, right? Did you find her?¡± Looking at the surrounding police officers, he frowned and couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°Nothing good?¡± ¡°Is Zhang Lu at home? Is he in the vige?¡± Hou Lejia first asked the important questions. Zhang Xuejie thought for a moment and replied, ¡°He should be. He was here the past few days. They have a motorbike at home and sometimes go down the mountain to the market. I¡¯ve ridden with them before.¡± ¡°Lead us to his home,¡± Hou Lejia took charge and at the same time asked, ¡°How many people are living in Zhang Lu¡¯s house right now, and how many people are there currently?¡± ¡°Just the two of them, his wife ran off, so now it¡¯s just him and his son¡­¡± ¡°Li Fang ran off? Why do you say she ran off?¡± ¡°She took her clothes and jewelry, left her husband and son behind; if that¡¯s not running off, then what is?¡± Zhang Xuejie indifferently said, ¡°His son¡¯s in elementary school, and they don¡¯t have much money. He goes to the local central elementary school. Zhang Lu doesn¡¯t want to work outside, so he does farm work in the vige. Nowadays in the countryside, there¡¯s no money in farm work; just us old folks do it. When the wife keeps nagging, off she goes.¡± Zhang Xuejie spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. ¡°Howmon is this situation?¡± Hou Lejia inquired. ¡°What situation?¡± ¡°The situation where the wife runs off.¡± ¡°There¡¯s plenty who can¡¯t find wives to begin with; those who do, if they can¡¯t stand it after a few years, they just run off. Some go to the city, some find someone better. It¡¯s all the same. And then there are those who take their kids and run¡ªthat doesn¡¯t work; the wife¡¯s family will go looking for trouble with the husband¡¯s family,¡± Zhang Xuejie said, expressing a sigh over the situation in the vige. At this point, rm bells were going off for Hou Lejia. To further confirm, Hou Lejia asked, ¡°What does Li Fang¡¯s husband say? Has he looked for his wife?¡± ¡°He just says she ran off. No need to look for her when she¡¯s run away; it¡¯s quitemon around here. What¡¯s the point in looking?¡± Zhang Xuejie rambled on, as if he had just thought of something. Hou Lejia, feigning ignorance, asked, ¡°He says she ran off and that¡¯s it? Are they divorced?¡± ¡°No, I don¡¯t think so. Mentioning divorce is asking for trouble; it¡¯s not possible. With the high bride price these days, who would want to divorce?¡± Zhang Xuejie paused, then continued, ¡°Couples who go out to work in cities often get divorced easily, but Zhang Lu lives in the vige; he definitely wouldn¡¯t agree to a divorce.¡± ¡°So, no one has looked for Li Fang?¡± ¡°Her phone¡¯s been unreachable. At the time, we figured she must have found a better ce to be¡­¡± Zhang Xuejie now seemed to realize that something was amiss, his voice growing softer. As Hou Lejia continued his questioning, the criminal police arrived at Zhang Lu¡¯s house, surrounding it before knocking loudly on the door. Zhang Lu¡¯s house was a bare concrete apartment building, four stories high, with not a single tile on the fa?ade, and with the red paint on the main door peeling off in patches, giving off a very casual appearance. Creak. The mottled red-painted door was directly opened, revealing a bleary-eyed and unkempt middle-aged man inside. ¡°Are you Zhang Lu?¡± a criminal police officer stepped forward to ask. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± The man was still not fully aware. ¡°Are you Zhang Lu?¡± the criminal police persisted as his colleagues stepped past, blocking the door to prevent Zhang Lu from suddenly shutting it and turning a simple arrest into a desperate escape. ¡°Yes.¡± The middle-aged man furrowed his brow, but seeing so many police officers, he acted submissively and didn¡¯t dare to speak defiantly. ¡°Is there anyone else at home?¡± The officers began to enter. ¡°No.¡± ¡°What about your son?¡± ¡°He¡¯s gone to school.¡± ¡°Do you have any rtives? Arrange for someone to pick you up.¡± Hou Lejia frowned, as this was a ratherplicated situation. Zhang Lu hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, ¡°What for?¡± ¡°We are from the Longli County Criminal Police Team, do you know why we¡¯re looking for you?¡± The leading detective looked at Zhang Lu¡¯s timid appearance and suddenly asked him a question. Zhang Lu barely kept his eyes open, his head felt stuffy, as if he were in a pressure cooker, and he didn¡¯t know what to say for a moment. He had actually rehearsed the conversation in front of him, but the serious faces in front of him, the neat uniforms, and the harsh voices made it impossible for him to utter a word. Time had also passed a bit too long, it had been more than a year, and the tension that was keeping him on edge had loosened. It was not easy to force it back. ¡­ The induction cooker was on high heat, bubbling away. The boiling soup pot, milky white and much cleaner than the water in a pot used for boiling bones, asionally churned up pig stomachs and intestines, big and intact. The induction cooker was the same model used in the autopsy room. Doctor Ye had bought it years ago, and it hadsted for over a decade. Therefore, he had purchased more for his own home, his father-inw¡¯s house, and his parents¡¯ house, andter even equipped his own office with one. The cooker had dummy-proof buttons; you just pressed the hot pot button, and the water bubbled away vigorously, turning anything inside soft and mushy in no time. Hou Xiaoyong added cabbage and radishes to the simmering soup pot filled with pig intestines, chicken stomach, and then proceeded to quickly nch the easy-to-cook tribute vegetables, kelp sprouts, and so on¡­ Even with concerns on his mind, as Medical Examiner Zhai ate, he feltfortably warm. The basement was still somewhat chilly, though. Despite having air conditioning and the like, human bones are different from boiled bones. Spend too much time there, and one could feel stiff. As he consumed several more bites of intestines, Medical Examiner Zhai felt half full and put down his chopsticks, asking, ¡°You mentioned three skull restorations earlier. What about the other two? What cases were they from?¡± ¡°The other two cases are from Changyang City. The two people probably fell off a cliff together, but no identification information was found.¡± Jiang Yuan briefly exined, then added, ¡°They¡¯ve been in the ice coffin for over a year as well. Since the situation was simr to the cases here in Longli County and they heard that I was having sess, they called me.¡± More than half of the staff in Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were lured away from Changyang City, so it was about time he repaid them by working on a couple of cases as rent. When it came to the number of cases, as the provincial capital, Changyang City undoubtedly led the entire province. Before, Jiang Yuan had helped them clear out their backlog of cases, focusing on confirmed criminal cases. Whether the new cases dropped at their doorstep were criminal had yet to be determined. After all, dying from a fall off a cliff could be idental, a suicide, or someone pushed them. It¡¯s the fact that the two people fell off the cliff together that made the situation unusual, but it didn¡¯t rule out the possibility that one person dragged the other one down with them. So, although there were noinants, Changyang City still kept the bodies in ice coffins. Medical Examiner Zhai wasn¡¯t interested in the cases themselves; it was the Skull Restoration Skill that he cared about. Remembering the intermediate skull restoration images he had just seen made Medical Examiner Zhai somewhat eager, and he said, ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, can I lend a hand?¡± ¡°Well¡­that¡¯s alright, I suppose.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply was a bit reluctant. Medical Examiner Zhai was rather old, and he was past the age of learning magic¡­ and the Skull Restoration Skill. Moreover, while some skills might be advertised as ¡°learning from zero¡±, iming ¡°zero basis for learning the Skull Restoration Skill¡± was a bit far-fetched. Not to mention the many prerequisite skills required for the Skull Restoration Skill, even a level 1 skill was not very useful in practice. What good is a skull restoration that doesn¡¯t reflect the victim¡¯s face in photos until the case is solved and only then seems to bear a resemnce? As for training Medical Examiner Zhai to a level 3 or even level 2 in the Skull Restoration Skill, that was not just an underestimate of the skill; it would be an insult to the sacrifices of Guihua and the criminals at all levels from Miao He County! ¡°I don¡¯t do skull restorations often, and I can¡¯t perform them casually. If you want to work together, you¡¯ll need to follow my pace.¡± Jiang Yuan stated this quite diplomatically. Medical Examiner Zhai agreed in a heartbeat, and then asked, ¡°Will we be doing it in Longli County?¡± Working on Changyang City cases in Longli County seemed a bit odd. ¡°Let¡¯s work on a few cases first, then we can move the equipment.¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then said, ¡°If you find it inconvenient¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s not inconvenient at all. I¡¯m quite familiar with Captain Hou; although he can be stingy and a bit daft at times, sometimes unclear in his thinking and not too decisive, when ites to working on cases, he¡¯s obedient.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai gave a fair assessment. The crowd around the hot pot, especially the police officers from Longli County, silently nodded in agreement, including Hou Xiaoyong. ¡°Then let¡¯s get started. What should I do first?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was not very hungry to begin with, and now he had lost all appetite. He was not exactly aiming to master the Skull Restoration Skill, but getting deeply involved and understanding what was truly going on was very important. Jiang Yuan had not expected him to be so eager; he had underestimated the allure of the Skull Restoration Skill to a senior forensic doctor. After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°How about you take a look at the photos I did before? That way, it would be easier to follow along with thetter part. I might be busy with other things this afternoon, shall we officially start tomorrow?¡± ¡°That works, even if I have to stay up all night, I¡¯ll try to keep up with the progress.¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was of the older generation and very enthusiastic about learning. And so¡­ That night, Medical Examiner Zhai truly did not sleep. Chapter 470 - 470 432 Dawn of the Tao ?470: Chapter 432 Dawn of the Tao 470: Chapter 432 Dawn of the Tao Longli County Criminal Police Team basement. Doctor Ye looked at Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s bloodshot eyes, feeling a bit scared. As he was moving a basket of bones out, he kindly said, ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai, do you want to rest for a bit? Work can be done anytime, you don¡¯t have to push yourself so hard.¡± ¡°Rest¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s head tilted slightly, a bit sluggishly repeating Doctor Ye¡¯s words, like a broken repeat machine. After a while, he said, ¡°If I rest¡­ wouldn¡¯tst night¡¯s all-nighter have been for nothing?¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to stay up all night yesterday either,¡± Doctor Ye said with augh and sigh. He thought to himself, ¡°Right now, you¡¯re in a state where you could be cheated out of 10 bucks while getting breakfast, what more can you do?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai struggled for a moment, then took another sip from his thermos of goji berry tea, perking up a bit, and said, ¡°Although yesterday I only looked at some superficial stuff, if it¡¯s just about understanding thetest technology, that should be enough.¡± Doctor Ye clicked his tongue twice: ¡°You¡¯re pushing yourself too hard.¡± ¡°And you, you¡¯re still young, don¡¯t you think about giving it your all?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai kindly prompted Doctor Ye. Doctor Yeughed heartily: ¡°I¡¯m already 46 years old, how many more years can I push?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai looked at him coldly: ¡°You can push for 10 more years than I can.¡± Doctor Ye was stunned for a moment. Having been ck for so many years, generally speaking, leaders either didn¡¯t understand forensic technology or were only a few years older than him. It really was rare for someone to grind his gears like this. Fortunately, he had been ck for a long enough time. Offhandedly, he said, ¡°I¡¯m too far from the cutting edge. Staying up all night is useless.¡± ¡°Chasing it for even one day is still good. I¡¯m also just doing my best,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said in a more rxed tone, then turned to the young forensic doctors who were here for training and said, ¡°You all have more opportunities. If you¡¯re free recently, take a look at the rted materials. Don¡¯t think that just because Jiang Yuan is in Shannan Province, once you leave the province, wanting to see such cutting-edge technology will actually be harder.¡± The young forensic doctors nodded unanimously. They understood the rationale. ¡°Learn as much as you can, at least getting to know it is good,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai was conservative with his words, not wanting to paint too rosy a picture and give these young forensic doctors unwarranted fantasies only to face disappointmentter. ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°We will definitely study hard.¡± ¡°How long has Captain Jiang been studying it?¡± The spirits of the forensic doctors were high. This is the mostmon scenario during training sessions. When faced with something brand new and very advanced, everyone¡¯s interest and enthusiasm are both very high. On one hand, people inherently like new things. On the other hand, new technology has boundless prospects, and if those prospects include oneself, then it couldn¡¯t be better. During the conversation, Jiang Yuan also arrived. It really wasn¡¯t easy to take a whole body upstairs to the office. asionally, if you carry a skull upstairs and head out with it tucked under your arm, the police officers you meet along the way won¡¯t say anything. But if you tried to carry up two baskets of a body at once, it would feel quite strange, not to mention, it¡¯s not easy to set up. It¡¯s better to keep it all in the basement room¡ªafter all, the mortuary is too far, and everyone actually doesn¡¯t want to bother going there. Therefore, dry corpses are more popr among forensic doctorspared to wet ones. ¡°Shall we get started right away?¡± Jiang Yuan brought aptop, a high-performance one, newly gifted by Director Huang from the county, the origin of which was unclear. Equipped with the same 3DSlicer, setting it on the table and booting up, he ced the halfway-done skull on the table and then said, ¡°Theputer upstairs is processing the skull of male number one, so we¡¯ll start with number two here. Then, you guys decide whether you want to examine the bones or join me in the skull restoration.¡± Everyone expressed their eagerness to do the skull restoration. Medical Examiner Zhai smiled openly, ¡°I reviewed all night yesterday so that I could understand better when it came time to watch.¡± Doctor Ye said, ¡°I¡¯m capable of both.¡± ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai is really dedicated,¡± Jiang Yuan praised. Despite his age, he still maintained a pursuit of technology, just like a sage who is devoted to seeking the truth, which had a simr feeling to hearing the ¡®The Great Learning¡¯ in the morning. However, hearing the truth doesn¡¯t mean oneprehends it. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t withhold any secrets and continued, ¡°Number 2 is a bit slower, but it has managed to achieve partial deformation. This part might need to be handled with more precision, because the final resultrgely depends on the partial deformation. Let¡¯s continue with the process. Everyone can have a look to get a basic feel, and if anyone wants to review from the beginningter, we can find another case for that.¡± In the several key steps of craniofacial reconstruction, from 3D modeling, to the marking of feature points, to the overall deformation and local deformation, this whole process starts with creating an identical skull model on theputer. Marking feature points is like attaching soft tissue to the skull. Overall deformation is the adjustment of organ positions and proportions, such as where the nose is, how high the brow bone is, and what the mouth looks like. Up to this point, it can be understood that these are an individual¡¯s unchangeable physiological characteristics. Local deformation determines the specific shape and details of features like the nose and mouth, such as the size and elevation of the nose, the size and thickness of the lips, and so on. This step is actually akin to what a stic surgeon can do. Theoretically, if a body had undergone stic surgery before death, you could still roughly discern some of these changes depending on the extent. To perfectly recreate the deceased¡¯s appearance during the local deformation process is asplex as guessing what they had altered themselves to look like, with many details to consider. ¡°There are some key data to pay attention to within this. For instance, the distance between the be point and the external canthus point of the to-be-reconstructed skull model, the distance between the two external canthus points, and so on¡­¡± Jiang Yuan said as he began to input some data. Medical Examiner Zhai nodded slightly. After all, he had a foundation, including in Skull Restoration Skill. His mainck was in those preliminary skills, but his knowledge in Forensic Anthropology was still very fluent. Ye also nodded along. He didn¡¯t strive to understand, focusing more on the atmosphere. The young forensic doctors following him nodded solemnly. Within Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, there was knowledge of Forensic Anthropology, but also a requirement for rted knowledge in mathematics andputer science. Although it was difficult, now at the beginning, everyone still watched with bated breath and tried their best to digest it. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan continued to speak. His main task was still to solve cases, or to say, to truly restore these two skulls. So, after giving some consideration to the others, he started his usual work. While pulling up information on the screen, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°As we all know, there are mainly two methods used to realize the local deformation of reference facial models: one is the scattered data interption method and the other is the Free-Form Deformation (FFD) technique. I¡¯m nning to use the first method now, using the radial basis function interption method. Commonly used radial basis functions include the Gauss function, Hardy¡¯s multiquadrics, and thin-te splines with linear terms¡­¡± While speaking, Jiang Yuan began to assign values to these functions. The traditional manual Skull Restoration Skill didn¡¯t have to consider these functions, as it required more artistic and sculpting skills. With the aid ofputers, such preliminary skills like sculpting were no longer necessary, reced by requirements in mathematics andputation. As times are changing, the polynomials, coefficients, and equations on the screen are also changing. With local deformation, the facial features bepletely unrecognizable. Jiang Yuan typed for a while and then stood up saying, ¡°Let¡¯s run it and see. Essentially, the radial basis functionwork is a threeyer feedforwardwork¡­¡± While he spoke, he nced at Medical Examiner Zhai, Doctor Ye, and the other young forensic doctors. Medical Examiner Zhai, being older, obviously didn¡¯t understand these things, but the young forensic doctors had all graduated from university not long ago. Even though under normal circumstances, they wouldn¡¯t understand this either, there was always the chance that there might be a mathematical prodigy among them¡­ But there wasn¡¯t. Everyone¡¯s gaze instinctively shifted to other parts of the skeleton, and even though Forensic Anthropology always felt unfriendly, it was all rtive. Jiang Yuan then looked at Doctor Ye. Doctor Ye looked back at Jiang Yuan with clear eyes and a smile. Not understanding was just that, not understanding, and he, Ye, had a clear conscience. Chapter 471 - 471 433 Edge ?471: Chapter 433 Edge 471: Chapter 433 Edge Jiang Yuan worked the whole day. Those familiar with three-dimensional modeling know that once the functions and forms are set, the work speeds up, especially when you¡¯re familiar with what each variable represents. As long as you have the mental stamina, sustained work over a long period doubles and redoubles efficiency. But once interrupted, to get back into the previous flow might require another hour or two of immersive work. This is also why many who work in mathematics, physics, andputer programming often have poor digestion. When it¡¯s time to eat, if work is going smoothly, they simply can¡¯t bear to step away; and when it¡¯s not, they still can¡¯t leave because they have to make up for lost time. As Jiang Yuan was working on a backlog of cases, he didn¡¯t have such an intense demand, but with so many people watching, especially Medical Examiner Zhai who, although not understanding, tried hard to keep his eyes open while drinking goji berry tea, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t bear to stop. This round of Skull Restoration Skill kept Jiang Yuan busy until after six in the evening. The restoration of skull number 2 was almostplete. Of the eight new forensic doctors in training, the two who had worked the hardest had already depleted their mental energy and fallen asleep. The other six were also slouching, their consciousness drifting. Medical Examiner Zhai drank goji berry tea, half strong tea and half goji berries. He listened to what he could understand, andbined with theck of sleep from the previous night and his over thirty years of experience and umtion, even if he only understood a little part, he was listening. Doctor Ye ordered burgers for everyone, prepared water and drinks, brewed goji berries for Medical Examiner Zhai, and had a very fulfilling time coordinating and dealing with some work from the criminal police team. ¡°Let¡¯s have dinner first,¡± Jiang Yuan checked the time, and it was time to clock out. ¡°Sure, what shall we eat?¡± Doctor Ye responded enthusiastically. Medical Examiner Zhai and others looked bewildered. ¡°Medical Examiner Zhai, let¡¯s eat first, then continue workingter,¡± Jiang Yuan called out again. Perhaps because of his voice, Medical Examiner Zhai suddenly snapped awake. ¡°What you¡¯re doing is tooplex,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai sighed deeply. ¡°It certainly has some difficulty,¡± Jiang Yuan admitted. If it weren¡¯t so tricky, he wouldn¡¯t be chasing Guihua around. Just the time he had invested in mastering this Skull Restoration Skill to LV3 had taken half his lifetime. ¡°Tooplicated,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai sighed again, took a sip of tea, and said, ¡°But I think, it shouldn¡¯t have to be soplicated.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised. ¡°I don¡¯t understand those functions you mentioned. What if I just learn to use this software and then directly invoke these functions? Would that work?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s tone suddenly brightened. In recent days, he had been thinking about this issue. It was like many students facing college entrance exams or even higher education exams who, havingpletely lost hope in mathematics, would try to find a field where mathematics wasn¡¯t required. And Medical Examiner Zhai was thinking along the same lines; it was definitely toote for him to start learning mathematics from scratch. But what if he bypassed mathematics? It was naturally possible to do the work without mathematics. The initial form of Skull Restoration Skill was a collection of knowledge thatbined somewhat artistic and eerily forensic anthropological knowledge with a great deal of data umtion. Mathematics¡­ Mathematics was a requirement for LV3 or, rather, a prerequisite skill needed for LV3. Therefore, theoretically, Medical Examiner Zhai didn¡¯t need mathematics. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Achieving a proficiency of LV1 to LV2 would be quite good, even if it was generally of limited practicality. Considering Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s age, if he really aimed for LV3, he might not reach it until he retired. ¡°Using only the software, without considering the specific rtionships between these functions, you can reconstruct most skulls, but the uracy will be slightly lower. Maybe off by ten to twenty percent,¡± Jiang Yuan stated honestly, softening the blow a little. ¡°That¡¯s enough, that¡¯s enough. I¡¯ll learn this techniqueter¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai said, his voice bing more rxed. ¡°I¡¯ll write a reading list for youter,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hear Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s response and turned to look, only to find he had fallen asleep. Doctor Ye saw that in just a few seconds, Medical Examiner Zhai had already begun to snore. She tidied up his thermos and then summoned the younger people, saying, ¡°Find a stretcher¡­ Oh right, there¡¯s no stretcher here, use a cot instead, the basement is too cold, don¡¯t let him catch a cold from sleeping there. Carry him to the office to sleep.¡± The basement had been cleared for the forensic doctors and had been equipped with a cot for easier transportation of bodies. The cot was simr to the stretcher beds used on ambnces, but firmer. A few forensic doctors skillfully and effortlessly lifted the small old man onto the cot, thoughtfully covering him with a nket, and then escorted him out of the basement. They pressed the elevator button, got on the elevator, and the elevator halted at the first floor. Two police officers entered the elevator, then nced at Medical Examiner Zhai lying in front of them, and couldn¡¯t help but look at each other¡­ ¡°Seems like there¡¯s no smell yet.¡± ¡°Today¡¯s murder case?¡± The two police officers sniffed and guessed professionally. ¡°A murder case?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai grumbled in his throat and sat up. ¡°Oh my god!¡± The two police officers shuddered with fright. ¡­ Over the next two days, Jiang Yuan and his team holed up to work on skull restorations. The skulls of the two deceased, from their ghostly white state, were gradually reconstructed on theputer screens. ¡°Let¡¯s check,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he first finished the reconstruction of Victim No. 1 and handed it over to Wang Chuanxing. His reconstruction was highly detailed; Wang Chuanxing immediately opened the police terminal, took a photo for evidence, and started the search. The result came up instantly. ¡°Shang Feng. 27 years old, from Kangzhou, 171 cm in height, weighing 120 pounds, associate degree, only a work record from three years ago¡­¡± Wang Chuanxing read the information from the police terminal and furrowed his brows. This was a societal outcast. And societal outcasts, both mean a higher probability of murder cases and a higher probability of suicide. Although there are no statistics, the chances of them being pushed to their death were probably also higher than that of average people. Hou Lejia quickly arrived, and read through the meager information of Corpse No. 1 in detail. Seeing his keenness, Tang Jia busily said, ¡°Captain Hou, this case was sent over from Changyang City.¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯m just looking,¡± Hou Lejia replied without turning his head. ¡°You want to work on this case, don¡¯t you.¡± Tang Jia didn¡¯t believe he was just there to look. The power ranking list was provincially ranked and also a baton within the entire system. Ranking high on this list meant an influx of various resources, including but not limited to promotions, raises, honors, and collective and individualmendations. And thosegging on the list would naturally face penalties and neglect. Helping other units to solve cases, especially homicide cases, came with extra rewards. Assisting in arrests and fugitive pursuits weremon points for addition. The Longli County Criminal Police team had struggled to rank in the middle-lower tier before, and only after much effort did they manage to maintain that position. This time, Hou Lejia had spent a lot of money to bring in Jiang Yuan, and he had to find a way to recoup the expenses. But in front of others, Hou Lejia said with righteous indignation, ¡°Even if I work on this case, it¡¯s to help Changyang City. Besides, thest case, the one with the unidentified body, isn¡¯t finished yet, so I¡¯m not in a rush.¡± ¡°Hasn¡¯t the interrogation finished yet?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked with concern. ¡°Dead ducks are stubborn. He smothered his wife with a pillow, threw away the pillowcase, but kept the filler, which we¡¯ve already found.¡± Hou Lejia paused before continuing, ¡°He¡¯s just not speaking, probably something he read somewhere, but it¡¯s not a big problem, it just needs some time. Has the other skull been put together? Can you see the address?¡± His calction could probably be heard at the firearms department in Changyang City. If the newly reconstructed skull could directly reveal information like ID and address just like the previous case, then solving the case and arresting the criminals would be a bundle job, not requiring much cost, but the rewards would be solving a cold case involving two lives. Longli County would then truly be on the rise. Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°The characteristic points of Female Corpse No. 2 need to be adjusted again.¡± In the process of restoring skulls, there are also dozens of characteristic points to determine. This step was a bit like creating a face in a game, but even more meticulous. Although the soft tissues on the skull are all interrted, the marking of characteristic points still allows a certain degree of freedom, especially in females. Hou Lejia sat down with a flop: ¡°I¡¯ll wait for you guys.¡± Chapter 472 - 472 434 Round 1 ?472: Chapter 434 Round 1 472: Chapter 434 Round 1 Jiang Yuan spent another daypleting the skull restoration of Subject #2. Compared to the male body tagged as #1, theplexity of restoring the female body of #2 was slightly higher. The two bodies that died from high-altitude falls, where the malended feet first and the femalended on her knees. Due to the height, most of their long bones were driven into and above the pelvis, piercing through the organs. So, both of them likely died soon after hitting the ground, but the decay on the female body was more severe. It¡¯s a well-known fact that when males and females die at the same time, females typically dpose faster. This is because most dposing bacteria prefer fat over muscle, and females especially have a higher fat content. Moreover, as fat dposes, it expands more and more rapidly than muscle, which is why female bodies balloon up more quickly and start to stink and rot faster. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan¡¯s challenge was mainly in detailing the reconstruction. After all, he had just started learning the Skull Restoration Skill. He handled typical cases smoothly, but faced difficulties with atypical ones. He could get it done by constantly thinking and using other skills to assist him. From this perspective, a level 3 Skull Restoration Skill is very difficult, but not yet strong enough. He probably needs to reach a level 4 to handle it with ease. ¡°Shang Chuting. 23 years old, from Kangzhou¡­ High school graduate, very little other records¡­ Right, she must be rted to Shang Feng. Distant cousins, it seems,¡± Wang Chuanxing said, waiting for Jiang Yuan to reconstruct the face. As usual, he snapped a photo with his phone, uploaded it to the policework, and the identity card came right up. Taking a picture of a face reconstructed from a skull is almost as urate as taking a photo in person, much clearer than pictures from highway surveince or the like, with a higher recognition rate. In modern society, unless one makes a specific effort with their appearance and preparations, it¡¯s increasingly difficult to hide one¡¯s identity. In any slightly crowded area, there are bound to be facial recognition checkpoints, and facial recognition technology is advancing rapidly. Against this backdrop, the value of Skull Restoration Skill has indeed increased. Medical Examiner Zhai looked at the photo on the ID card, then at the picture of the restored face of Body #2 that Jiang Yuan had produced. Although they weren¡¯t identical, the key features were very simr. Marking characteristic points on the skull is somewhat like fingerprinting; it¡¯s not necessary to mark all points precisely, hitting some of them is enough. Since the regression equation can¡¯t bepletely error-free, the face produced by the Skull Restoration Skill can¡¯t be perfectly urate. The key is to stay within a certain range to improve the chances of a match. Medical Examiner Zhai seemed relieved. With the identities of the two bodies confirmed, his learning session wasing to a close. He needed it to end;tely, even drinking goji berry tea set him on edge. Medical Examiner Zhai said, ¡°It seems there is a connection after all. Distant cousins hiking together lowers the probability of suicide. We need to consider the possibilities of an idental fall or homicide. However, that¡¯s for the detectives to busy themselves with now.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Shen Yaowei, sitting nearby, asked subconsciously. Medical Examiner Zhai was taken aback, ¡°What do you mean, ¡®why¡¯? Dual suicides are usually due to rtionship issues, right? The two deceased being distant cousins, there wouldn¡¯t be such issues between them.¡± ¡°Because they were cousins, that¡¯s precisely where the issue lies,¡± Shen Yaowei said, his expression turning schrly and serious, much like Medical Examiner Zhai¡¯s from the day before, and he began to theorize earnestly, ¡°The two fell in love, but faced external pressures and internal torment because they were cousins. So, they nned a trip together, traveled, hiked, and experienced happiness. But as the time to return home drew closer, they became anxious again. On their final hike, standing at the edge of a cliff, they suddenly decided to jump off together¡­¡± Medical Examiner Zhai gave Shen Yaowei a strange look that made thetter somewhat embarrassed. Then Zhai said, ¡°Are the thoughts of you young people so feudal now?¡± Shen Yaowei sensed something amiss and furrowed his brows, ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°If they were in love, they could just elope. How many young people nowadays stay in their hometowns? Is there really a need for a lovers¡¯ suicide?¡± Medical Examiner Zhai shook his head, ¡°However, if you harbor such feudal thoughts and want to include romantic suicide as a consideration, I suppose it¡¯s necessary.¡± ¡°No, how am I feudal!¡± Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t ept such criticism. He could be used of being a phnderer, a yboy, but he couldn¡¯t stand being called ¡®feudal.¡¯ Anxious, Shen Yaowei retorted, ¡°They were distant cousins, and even separated by a generation, that¡¯s still close kin, right? It¡¯s not feudal¡­ it¡¯s a matter of ethics, morality, and science!¡± ¡°Preventing consanguineous marriages is required not just for ethical reasons but also for reproductive considerations,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai stated scientifically. ¡°If you¡¯re concerned, you could simply choose not to have children. Isn¡¯t it true that young people nowadays aren¡¯t having children anyway?¡± ¡°What do you mean ¡®we¡¯? I¡¯m not included in that!¡± Shen Yaowei almost shouted. ¡­ Hou Le¡¯s family quickly sprang into action. There¡¯s a saying, ¡®Those close to the water get the moon first.¡¯ Naturally, Jiang Yuan and the others, working in Longli County with the CT machine he bought, theputers he provided, and in the office he decorated, would be the first to catch wind of any developments. Hou Le¡¯s family also gained the first round of selection rights. However, sometimes having too many choices can be a kind of torture. Both victims were from Kangzhou, and the investigation would likely involve traveling to another jurisdiction. Calcting based on the budget for two lower-end vehicles, the expenses would be considerable from the start. The results of the investigation could go two ways: if it were a murder case, even if the expenses turned out to be significant, the Longli County Criminal Police Team would be rewarded with points on the battle strength leaderboard. But what if it were not a murder case? If the two had trulymitted suicide or died from idental fall, all the painstaking investigation would amount to nothing. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± Hou Le said through gritted teeth. The opportunity had presented itself on his doorstep; it would be unreasonable to refuse it. Jiang Yuan was indifferent; he couldn¡¯t prevent Hou Le from taking on any case. But¡­ Before Jiang Yuan could speak, Yu Wenshu¡¯s call came through. There was no way Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad could keep secrets from Yu Wenshu. ¡°Have you made progress?¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s voice sounded very gentle. ¡°Yes, we¡¯ve identified the body source,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Good job¡­ Well, that¡¯s good. Having the case lying around, not being able to continue and yet unable to close it formally¡ªthe funeral home¡¯s expenses have been quite considerable¡­¡± Yu Wenshu rambled briefly, seemingly connecting emotionally, before reluctantly hanging up. Next to him, Hou Le furrowed his eyebrows: ¡°Does Changyang City want to conduct its own investigation?¡± ¡°It¡¯s their case to begin with,¡± Jiang Yuan responded casually. ¡°That¡¯s easy to say, but the body source was confirmed in our Longli County. With Changyang City¡¯s vast jurisdiction, do they reallyck such trivial matters? Not generous, not generous at all¡­¡± Hou Le pondered internally, his mind racing with calctions. With the body source of the unknown corpse identified, the case details usually aren¡¯t tooplicated. But how ¡®usual¡¯ it gets is now Hou Le¡¯s concern¡­ ¡°It¡¯s rare to have a murder cold case that might be solvable,¡± Hou Le said, reinforcing his own decision. After uttering these words, he took out his phone and began assigning tasks to his subordinates. Watching this scene, Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but think of a phrase and voiced it: ¡°Wee to the road of confrontation.¡± Chapter 473 - 473 435 Elite Forces Deployed ?473: Chapter 435 Elite Forces Deployed 473: Chapter 435 Elite Forces Deployed At 5 o¡¯clock in the evening, as the sun set, Hou Lejia watched the third team of police officers, each driving off in different directions. The three squads, nearly 60 people, required over a dozen vehicles, spending tens of thousands on daily travel allowances alone, not to mention nning for even more case funding¡­ Only after a whole day of mental preparation did Hou Lejia finally make up his mind. It was a huge investment! Under normal circumstances, Hou Lejia would at most send one team in one direction to conduct preliminary investigations, and in a rush, might divide that team to cover two directions. By doing this, he saved funds but also missed opportunities. Nheless, he had managed to muddle through somehow. But just like Shen Yaowei, that superstitious kid, said, it was now time for a confrontation! And the adversary was none other than the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Even though the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment held higher status, whenever they went to Changyang City to solve cases and encountered local police, they all respectfully addressed them as leaders, but once outside of Changyang City, it wasn¡¯t written in stone that they had to defer to them as the boss! It wasn¡¯t about disrespect, but with something as significant as a murder case backlog, that was not something they could just give up on. Even if these three squads of detectives squandered Hou Lejia¡¯s hard-saved fortune on indulgences in Kangzhou and Changyang City, he would grit his teeth and bear it. Everything would be settled after the case was solved. Only when the dust kicked up by the vehicles was no longer visible did Hou Lejia reluctantly make his way downstairs. The criminal police team that had lost half its manpower now seemed somewhat deserted, with even the smell of smoke noticeably diminished. Walking along, Hou Lejia found himself subconsciously heading towards the forensic office. Surprisingly, the forensic office was quite lively. It might have been the busiest ce in the entire criminal police team. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was bustling about, busy with something, while Medical Examiner Zhai and the new forensic doctors he was training had not left either. Their own Doctor Ye was acting like a tea master, constantly boiling water and steeping tea, as if anyone was eager for the hands of a forensic doctor. ¡°What are you busy with?¡± Hou Lejia entered and approached Jiang Yuan. In his life, outside of his wife, the person who had spent most of his money was Jiang Yuan. Even his son didn¡¯tpare. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°We¡¯re just taking a cursory look at cases from other counties.¡± ¡°Just a cursory look¡­¡± Hou Lejia repeated the words, then realized the focus was on the first half of the sentence and asked, ¡°Are these cases from other districts within Qinghe City?¡± The Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s ¡°Cold Case Breakthrough Year¡± was clearly targeting Jiang Yuan. Last year, Jiang Yuan cleared all the cold cases in Ningtai County, and even exported his expertise to ces like Changyang City, earning the Ningtai County Bureau new buildings, vehicles, equipment, and even new funds. As the supervising department in charge of Ningtai¡¯s business affairs, the Qinghe City Bureau, could they be any less envious? Even if the officers below had integrity and refused handouts, their leaders¡¯ spines weren¡¯t always as stiff. Being a leader is like practicing in a vacuum; no matter how hard you try, the loss of vitality remains astonishing. However, each county bureau was subject to dual leadership. The city bureau above could only provide business guidance, meaning they only had authority over matters, not over finances or personnel. In this situation, direct orders were clearly not feasible. As for funding¡­ It definitely wasn¡¯t feasible for the city bureau to dig into its own pockets, better to let each county bureau show its own magic. In fact, both Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan grew up within the Qinghe system and had many old friends and colleagues in the various bureaus, each showcasing their abilities. Even if it meant emptying the coffers of county and district bureaus, from the perspective of the city bureau, it would naturally still be worth it. As long as they could solve the cases and make a significant impact, everything else was inconsequential. ¡°Are you preparing to take on new cases?¡± Hou Lejia thought to himself, I still have two skulls here that haven¡¯t been sorted out. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°We have to wait a bit longer.¡± Hou Lejia smiled and nodded; that made sense. He couldn¡¯t just send his men out on a collision course and have Jiang Yuan opening up a new front. Then he heard Jiang Yuan continue, ¡°Director Huang is negotiating.¡± Hou Lejia was taken aback, then heaved a deep sigh, ¡°It¡¯s not easy for anyone.¡± Of course, he wasn¡¯t referring to Huang Qiangmin having an easy time. After all, police construction is part of everyone¡¯s job. But police construction around the country is undeniably uneven. Rich areas can treat surveince projects worth tens or hundreds of millions as part of urban development, while cash-strapped police offices have iplete security camera coverage. And solving cases is, after all, without upper limits. Hou Lejia shook his head, thinking: Even if Jiang Yuan and his team are skilled, there¡¯s no need to rush to offer money and resources. Keeping some money and resources for oneself could still result in sess, not necessarily failing! Moreover, perhaps using one¡¯s own police team to work on their cases could lead to more heartfelt and careful investigation¡­ With these thoughts, Hou Lejia¡¯s spine gradually stiffened, and a smile spread across the face of this middle-aged, authoritative man¡­ As they were about to say their farewells, Tang Jia made her way through the crowd and came over to Hou Lejia with a polite smile, handing him a smartphone and saying, ¡°Captain Jiang, it¡¯s a call from Director Feng.¡± Covering the phone¡¯s microphone with her hand, Tang Jia silently mouthed, ¡°It¡¯s a call from Anhai City, they seem quite pleased.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and answered the phone, saying, ¡°Director Feng, this is Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan, we have you on speaker here, this is Feng Qiong speaking. Beside me, now, is the chief of the Anhai City Criminal Police Detachment, the politicalmissar¡­ Just today, Case 503 involving theft, robbery, and murder was dered solved. Both suspects were arrested and have confessed to their crimes¡­¡± Feng Qiong was ted. That¡¯s just how detectives are, utterly dispirited when a case stumps them, but once it¡¯s cracked, they strut around as if they¡¯re the best in the world. Hou Lejia stood next to Jiang Yuan, his ears involuntarily catching many curious terms that made him take a second nce at Jiang Yuan. Hou Lejia had heard about the recent reinvestigation of Case 503 by ministry experts and knew the details of Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement. Hearing that Case 503 had been dered solved, Hou Lejia couldn¡¯t help but feel a moment of daze. For such a high-profile case, solving just one a year should fill anyone with gratification. After a few words with Feng Qiong, Jiang Yuan naturally inquired, ¡°What was the final situation? Can you tell me?¡± ¡°I can tell you. This case is rted to the age of the two perpetrators. Liao Baoquan was not yet 18 at the time, only 17 by the lunar calendar, and his family was not well-off. He often took part-time jobs during summer and winter breaks, and that¡¯s how he met the other main perpetrator.¡± Feng Qiong paused cautiously, avoiding saying the name directly. ¡°Let¡¯s call Liao A, and the other one B,¡± Feng Qiong assigned pseudonyms and continued, ¡°The trigger for the incident was B, who was about the same age as Liao and possessed some nning ability. His family situation was even worse than A¡¯s, requiring him to work not just during breaks but also because his father lost the ability to work due to an industrial injury and had to be on medication long-term.¡± ¡°The year before the incident, B¡¯s father¡¯s health rapidly deteriorated, and B began to press his father¡¯s employer, the actual first victim of this case, Dou Dingqiang, for medical expenses. When that failed, B conspired with A to abduct Dou on payday and steal his car.¡± ¡°Later, they encountered the police officer He Boyong. He was the head of the local police station and had seen Dou¡¯s car before. When they ran into him on the road, he simply greeted them without suspicion, which led to his murder by the guilty and paranoid duo.¡± ¡°After killing He Boyong and discovering the firearms, they were forced to change their ns abruptly, which also presented some difficulty for the subsequent investigation, but the main issue was still our direction of investigation,¡± Feng Qiong said and let out a sigh. ¡°Actually, B¡¯s father also came to our attention, but the investigating officers, upon seeing his disabled state at home, judged that he was incapable ofmitting the crime. B was just sixteen or seventeen, so we overlooked this valuable lead at the time¡­¡± After expressing some regret, Feng Qiong once again thanked Jiang Yuan. It¡¯s only after wrapping up a case and revisiting it that one can fully appreciate the uracy of Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment on the time of death. Other detectives from various counties and cities might not have a point ofparison, knowing only that Jiang Yuan is great without truly understanding how exceptional he is. But for Feng Qiong, who had followed the Case 503 investigation for more than ten years and worked with numerous forensic doctors, nobody dared make such a bold judgment! Whether it was others being overly conservative or reluctant to propose theories, from Feng Qiong¡¯s perspective, it ultimately came down to ack of confidence stemming from not being skilled enough. Yet, a talent like Jiang Yuan is incredibly precious for any case. In front of the Anhai City leadership, Feng Qiongvishly praised Jiang Yuan, prompting even the leaders of the Anhai City Criminal Police Detachment to continuously extoll his virtues, resulting in routine invitations and requests formendation. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yuan handed it back to Tang Jia. On the other side, Hou Lejia was left utterly gobsmacked. These days, it¡¯s not just leaders from the ministry whovish such praise; even local bureau leaders don¡¯t go so far. At least, Hou Lejia had never heard of it. Hou Lejia reminisced about the leaders he had encountered while at the county bureau or the city bureau, their scolding still ringing in his ears, wishing only that their speeches could be shorter and quicker¡­ It was nothing like Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation, who seemed to be held in warm embrace while being praised. ¡°Congrattions, Captain Jiang, on cracking yet another major case,¡± said Hou Le, disrupting his flight of fancy. ¡°That was a previous case. Fortunately, it went quite smoothly,¡± replied Jiang Yuan with a smile. ¡°I hope the siblings¡¯ case we¡¯re working on can be resolved just as smoothly,¡± Hou Le stated his wish directly, having invested a lot in the oue. After exchanging a few more light-hearted words, Hou Lejia prepared to return to his office. Almost in the same motion, his phone rang again. This time, it was his own. ¡°A home invasion murder?¡± ¡°Two people dead?¡± Answering the phone, Hou Lejia was immediately overwhelmed. In Longli County, there might be a mere handful of unnatural deaths in a year, half of which were likely traffic idents or the like. Even in the case of homicides, there would only be one or two, maybe three. Even so, the criminal police detachment would deploy in full force on each asion, fearing that any negligence might lead to the case not being solved quickly and bing a botherter. But this time¡­ His three elite squads had just been dispatched. Hou Le¡¯s blood pressure skyrocketed as he turned his gaze towards the officers. ¡°Captain Hou, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll get you a ss of water,¡± Tang Jia intervened soothingly, subtly guiding him away and connecting him to Director Huang Qiangmin. Chapter 474 - 474 436 Agreed ?474: Chapter 436 Agreed 474: Chapter 436 Agreed The next day, noon. Meeting room. While Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was in a meeting, Huang Qiangmin called. ¡°Jiang Yuan, just stay put and rx. If you¡¯re tired of staying, you cane back too, you don¡¯t need to bother with that stingy Hou Lejia. Homicide, huh? He¡¯s daring enough to handle them on his own now, as if he¡¯s lost his mind!¡± Huang Qiangmin shouted loudly, not seeming to care if others could hear him. Or perhaps, he wanted others to hear a bit. Jiang Yuan found it a bit amusing, and said, ¡°They¡¯ve handled homicides on their own before too.¡± ¡°Then, look at their track record,¡± Huang Qiangmin snorted with arrogance, saying, ¡°Anyway, don¡¯t meddle with them. With so many cases on your hands, if you have time, work on your own cases first. Nowadays, a flight to Beijing is only a few hours. It¡¯s unreasonable for us to rush over to handle a homicide case in Beijing whenever it happens.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true indeed,¡± Jiang Yuan, who had spent a long time working externally, sometimes paid less attention to jurisdiction issues. To be fair, Huang Qiangmin helped him straighten out most of these matters. ¡°In summary, if the case is simple, Hou the miser can handle it himself, and he wouldn¡¯t need us. If the case isplex, we can¡¯t spoil him forever like his parents would,¡± Huang Qiangmin dered loudly. ¡°We¡¯ll just wait and see if hees looking for us again.¡± On that note, Jiang Yuan actually agreed with Huang Qiangmin. If the case was simple and didn¡¯t need his assistance, there was no point in him forcing his help. Moreover, criminal cases are different from ordinarypany projects; a lot of follow-up actions are needed. Sometimes a case, which seems simple on the police¡¯s side, can generate many troubles once it¡¯s referred for examination. And when pursuing a sentence that incurs the death penalty, the approval process is very strict. Just the evidence review alone has very high standards, and it¡¯s not unusual for investigations to arise yearster. Hence, if a case is straightforward, Jiang Yuan really had no need to crowd the crime scene. He had plenty of his own cases to choose from. Compared to cooperation during a case and the level of involvement in a case, travel distance was indeed not an issue. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan hang up the call, Wang Chuanxing said, ¡°The three teams that Captain Hou sent out haven¡¯t returned, from yesterday afternoon until now. It seems like he doesn¡¯t n to call anyone back.¡± Tang Jia asked, ¡°Not even a single person was called back?¡± ¡°No,¡± Wang Chuanxing confirmed. ¡°I¡¯ve heard that the progress in Kangzhou is pretty good, and the case isn¡¯t tooplex. Captain Hou probably wants to close this case himself.¡± If Hou Lejia could sessfully handle this umted case without a hitch, he naturally wouldn¡¯t want anyplications. The people who were just dispatched, if called back, would make him seem indecisive, not to mention they would be exhausted from traveling hundreds of kilometers back and forth, and likely wouldn¡¯t be of use for a day or two. Besides, in a homicide case, the most crucial time is the first 24 hours. Furthermore, if he called back too few people, there wouldn¡¯t be enough hands; if he called back too many, the Shang siblings¡¯ case might be affected. It also wouldn¡¯t make sense to recall the elite without a good reason, nor to bring them back for no reason. In the end, Longli County simply never had the capability to fight on two fronts, let alone juggle one remote and one local operation. Right now, Hou Lejia just wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He knew it was unlikely, but being the cheapskate he was, he still wanted to try his luck. Huang Qiangmin, of course, wouldn¡¯t indulge him. Even so, Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t necessarily supportive of Longli County¡¯s case. As he said, there were so many cases in the world, and he wasn¡¯t Hou Lejia¡¯s parent; it wasn¡¯t his job to take over his work. Jiang Yuan generally understood Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective and wasn¡¯t too bothered. The difficulty of current cases and umted cases really aren¡¯tparable, especially umted murder cases, which you could say start at LV3. The asional LV2.5 umted case is usually due to special circumstances. However, with active murder cases, the mostmon are actually LV0.5 cases, where a team is dispatched and there are fingerprints if needed, DNA if needed, and the weapon is left at the crime scene. asionally, you get additional benefits like external surveince footage toplete the evidence chain. Of course, you also see LV0.1 cases. Like those who turn themselves in, remain seated at the crime scene, or conspire with others and then offend their aplices¡­ Now, with a strong team and technology at hand, Jiang Yuan really preferred to focus on bigger cases. Of course, bigger cases don¡¯t necessarily involve sending more people, and smaller cases don¡¯t necessarily mean sending fewer. ¡°Let¡¯s have something nice for lunch,¡± Jiang Yuan announced the end of the meeting. With the conclusion of the 503 case in Anhai City, the only thing left for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team to pay a bit of attention to was the Shang siblings¡¯ case. But even this case didn¡¯t require the squad members to get involved. Therefore, practically speaking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had once again entered a rare period of rest. As for the duration of this rest period, it was essentially up to Huang Qiangmin to decide, perhaps with Director Chai¡¯s involvement as well. Dong Bing said, ¡°I asked this morning, and there¡¯s a new ce in Longli County known for its distinctive Luosi fish. Want to give it a try?¡± ¡°Luosi fish?¡± ¡°Apparently, it¡¯s fish cooked with the seasoning from Luosi noodles,¡± Dong Bing said, looking quite eager. ¡°I¡¯m game. Anyone here doesn¡¯t eat Luosi noodles?¡± Jiang Yuan looked around. None of the rough and tough guys made a peep. As detectives, when they¡¯re in a stakeout, they¡¯ve even had stinky feet with old pickle noodle soup¡ªand by stinky feet, they mean the added kind, since everyone spends long hours crammed in cars with few bothering to keep their shoes on. Being unable to smell stinky feet or rather getting used to their master¡¯s stinky feet is like a rite of passage for detectives. Anyone who didn¡¯t like Luosi noodles could pretend they were there for the master¡¯s grilled fish instead. Li Ji Luosi Fish Restaurant. Once inside the door, you could see arge fish pond, and above it hung a sign that read ¡°Li Ji Spotted Fish Cottage.¡± A group of police officers with a high sense of vignce immediately looked towards the restaurant staff. The calm waiter taking the order said, ¡°Our restaurant used to be called Li Ji Spotted Fish Cottage, but we¡¯ve switched projects and now it¡¯s called Luosi Fish Restaurant. Do you want spotted fish or snakehead fish?¡± ¡°Spotted fish, and bring several,¡± Shen Yaowei stepped forward to take the initiative in ordering. Everyone took seats at several tables inside arge private room, chatting and talking, and quickly the atmosphere grew lively. When the Luosi fish was served, a strong, pungent odor of sour bamboo shoots wafted over. The broth of the Luosi noodles, cooking the tender spotted fish meat to a jelly-like, springy consistency, was not only smooth but also had a sour and spicy vor simr to Luosi noodles, which was very appetizing. Those who enjoyed rice drizzled the orange-red thick soup over their rice, alternating bites with slices of fish, which was incredibly satisfying. ¡°Let¡¯s have a few more orders of fish, make it another 10,¡± Jiang Yuan found it delicious and immediately ordered more. Although they might have ordered a bit too much in total, everyone still made an effort to finish it all. ¡°It¡¯s tastier than instant Luosi noodles.¡± Tang Jia ate an extra half bowl of rice and, rubbing her stomach with regret, summarized, ¡°Freshly cooked Luosi noodles, especially the taste of this sour bamboo, is particrly strong, and the fish tastes good too¡­ The spotted fish is sliced so thin, really nice¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, and the sournesses from adding lime and tomato, but you can¡¯t actually see them, which is especially nice.¡± ¡°The stink of this sour bamboo is also veryfortable.¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a very distinctive kind of stink.¡± ¡°Indeed, the smell is quite pungent, but it¡¯s different from other kinds of stink,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he took a sip of the soup and found it very refreshing. Those who liked the stink of the sour bamboo and those who didn¡¯t were both silenced. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s call the waiter to pay the bill. Everyone can take it easy this afternoon,¡± Jiang Yuan, being a forensic doctor, was never surprised by other people¡¯s silence when it came to food. After all, only those who have seen the colorful darkness can appreciate the colorful light. Only those who have immersed themselves in the long nights of the autopsy room can truly enjoy the variety found in the kitchen. Without the thousands of flirty words in WeChat, where would the sweaty efforts of Valentine¡¯s Daye from? ¡°Let¡¯s head back.¡± Jiang Yuan took out his phone, ready to pay the bill. Just then, the owner came over with a smile, ¡°Captain Jiang, someone has already paid for your meal.¡± Jiang Yuan frowned, ¡°We don¡¯t need others to pay for us. We can pay for ourselves.¡± Being a police officer, he couldn¡¯t possibly ept even a bit of charity. And the Jiang Vige People didn¡¯t need to either. At this moment, Hou Lejia came in with a beaming smile. ¡°Captain Jiang, I just happened to be passing by. Today¡¯s meal is on the department. Just enjoy yourselves in Longli County!¡± Hou Lejiaughed heartily. Seeing Hou Lejia¡¯s sincere smile, Jiang Yuan knew that he must have made a deal with Director Huang. Chapter 475 - 475 437 Composed (Seeking Monthly Votes) ?475: Chapter 437: Composed (Seeking Monthly Votes) 475: Chapter 437: Composed (Seeking Monthly Votes) Changxin Vige. Iing vehicles, one after another, circled the southeast of the vige and found gaps to park in. Vigers who were excited at the prospect of collecting parking fees got pulled aside for a little education. Two technical officers from the criminal investigation team, along with the forensic doctor Ye, entered a courtyard in the southeast corner and hadn¡¯te out until they saw Jiang Yuan¡ªonly then did their furrowed brows rx. ¡°Come in and take a look, it¡¯s a bit of a gruesome scene.¡± When Ye saw that Jiang Yuan had reallye, his whole demeanor changed. From the moment he entered the scene, he had been insisting that Hou Lejia invite Jiang Yuan over, not only because hecked confidence, but also because the atmosphere of the scene was different. Though Ye¡¯s capabilities were limited and his expertise average, he had worked as a forensic doctor for years and had seen many crime scenes. Crime scenes created by criminals could immediately indicate to you whether the perpetrator was a novice or, upon a single nce, someone not to be underestimated. As soon as Jiang Yuan donned his protective gear and equipment and entered, he saw bloodstains starting at the door. ¡°Was it a killing on the move? Was the weapon left behind?¡± Jiang Yuan knew from the bloodstains on the ground and by the wall that it was the work of a rather sharp and heavy long de. That single judgment had already reached Level 6 tool mark examination and Level 5 bloodstain analysis. ¡°It wasn¡¯t left behind, we specifically searched for it,¡± Ye said with a hint of regret. This was also a sign of an experienced criminal. Many novice murderers like to leave the weapon at the scene, as it¡¯s cumbersome to carry something while fleeing, or they fear being caught with the weapon and reported by passersby, or they don¡¯t know how to dispose of the weapon correctly. In reality, any method of disposal is better than leaving it at the scene. Because in any homicide case, even with Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise, it would be difficult for him to immediately determine the type of the weapon, let alone its specific appearance. Initial judgments are mostly based on guesswork. Later on, in order to ensure the integrity of the evidence chain, the police will expend great effort to find the weapon. The investigation of criminal cases is, in essence, a resource contest between the police and the criminals. Exhausting more police resources theoretically decreases the risk of arrest. Of course, most criminals don¡¯t consider this far ahead. If they did, they would understand that avoiding high-violence crimes and not creating a grisly scene would be more advantageous in reducing police involvement. But most criminals tend to do the opposite. Ultimately, when they choose tomit crime, their opposition to authority swells. Doctor Ye, in front of the Hou family, continued, ¡°It feels veryposed. Look, with so much blood spilled, there isn¡¯t even a single bloody footprint on the ground. There¡¯s even more blood inside, but none stepped in.¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, proceeding along theid-out nks while observing his surroundings. This house in Changxin Vige was newly built in recent years. Therge entrance courtyard was paved with anti-corrosion wood, and the four-story building, while not huge, had an impressive and bright atmosphere, with an entry hall followed by arge living room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Of course, now the floor was scattered with lots of blood, the male homeowner¡¯s upper body sprawled against the floor-to-ceiling windows, his waist nearly severed. The design of the living room was somewhat obscured, but it had an increased sense of style. There were still no bloody footprints in the bloodstains of the living room. Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°The murderer avoided walking in the blood that was left. Indeed, veryposed.¡± Though the blood that bursts out during a shing wouldn¡¯t be as much as there was now, avoiding it would still require great care. Great care meant the murderer was rather calm during the act. Just this fact alone was extraordinary; most murderers, regardless of their previous nning, would be in a state of agitation at that moment, barely refraining from shouting out, let alone considering consequences. One of the secret techniques for ancient covert troop movements was to ¡°bite on a piece of wood and remove the horse¡¯s bells,¡± intended to prevent novices from losing their head and making noise. At the same time, Jiang Yuan also noticed the numerous footprints in the living room and sighed, asking, ¡°Did vigerse in?¡± ¡°Yes, the vigers who discovered it ran out and called for others, and someone even poked the body with a walking stick,¡± Ye reported, his expression darkening. Apanying them was Wang Zhong, the evidence technician, who was taking photographs. Looking at the state of the body, he said, ¡°It¡¯s this bad, and they still can¡¯t tell the person is dead?¡± ¡°They just wanted to touch, what can you do about it,¡± Ye snorted and said, ¡°There¡¯s also the vige elders who are not that innocent.¡± The scene¡¯s police officer said, ¡°We took a statement from the old man with the crutch, and videotaped it. He said he wanted to see if the body was soft or hard, so he poked it a few times.¡± ¡°The old man is over sixty, nearly seventy, probably just curious,¡± Hou Lejia¡¯s face darkened. This type of incident was the most disgusting, belonging to those problematic cases that are difficult to handle properly but also irritating if not handled. He naturally didn¡¯t want anyplications, so his mindset was to smooth things over and keep the peace. ¡°Let¡¯s go upstairs,¡± Jiang Yuan said, having looked through the living room, kitchen, and bathroom, and continued towards the upper floor. The second body, which was the female homeowner, died at the top of the stairs on the second floor. The body faced down, forming a pool of blood. Beyond that was the master bedroom, tossed and turned upside down, along with clothes and shoes scattered all over the floor of the dressing room. ¡°Some cash was missing, a bit of gold, and the diamonds from the wedding.¡± Aside from Ye, the other two technicians, who were also older officers, were looked after by Hou Lejia and not sent on business trips out of town. To their surprise, they encountered an even more brutal crime scene. However, their technical skills were not bad, and they had ample experience in crime scene investigation, so¡­ they also suggested to Hou Lejia that Jiang Yuan be asked to return¡ªif useful fingerprints and DNA were not swept up in the initial phase of the crime scene, then instead of hoping to find someter, it was more realistic to wish for the appearance of a crime scene investigator who knew bloodstain analysis, like Jiang Yuan. Hou Lejia did want to hold out a bit longer, but the situation on the scene was not optimistic, and he dared not let the crucial first 24 hours slip away unfruitfully. ¡°Collect footprints from everyone who has been to the scene, including the police and civil servants,¡± Jiang Yuan ordered first and then began to conduct the external examination of the bodies. ¡°Any findings?¡± Hou Lejia hurriedly leaned in, eager to know. ¡°It¡¯s all down to luck,¡± Jiang Yuan meant a stroke of bad luck would entail arge-scale search, while good luck would make things easier. From his own perspective, Hou Lejia couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit disappointed. If solving a case depended on luck¡ªthough he himself often relied on luck, he knew only too well how unreliable it could be after depending on it so many times. ¡°Let¡¯s sweep the scene.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t find any clues at the scene that could directly point to the killer, so he had to proceed methodically. Employing Level 4 crime scene investigation techniques, even if the killer was extremely cautious, Jiang Yuan felt confident he could find traces of their presence. Even a seasoned criminal¡¯s ability to conceal evidence had its limits. Even those criminals who had undergone several bouts of training developed their skills at a slow pace. The main reason was that the cost of training was too high. If an average of three or four practice attempts resulted in a prison sentence, it was very difficult for a criminal to reach a higher level of proficiency than the police. Moreover, criminal behavior ispetitive. Given this, criminals, who generally have lower education levelspared to generally higher-educated police officers, especially detectives, were likely at a disadvantage. This was especially the case for serious crimes where everyone involved took the matter seriously; detectives guided by theory often performed much better than criminals without such guidance. Thetter truly depended on luck to survive. ¡°Get me a few more cotton swabs, and some evidence bags,¡± Jiang Yuan said while scanning the area. Hou Lejia, who had been aimlessly looking around the house, immediately walked over and asked, ¡°Did you find something?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a sweat stain in the drawer where the jewelry was kept, it might have been left by the perpetrator,¡± Jiang Yuan indicated the edge of the jewelry box. In the light-colored wood-grained drawer, two marks resembling sweat stains could be seen, which were not easily noticeable. Jiang Yuan had carefully inspected the drawer, which held the jewelry, to make sure of the finding. The victim¡¯s master bedroom was thoroughly ransacked, including some winter bedding that had been tossed out. Coupled with having just killed two people, the perpetrator¡¯s emotions were most likely agitated, and sweating was almost certain. The victim stored their jewelry in drawers beneath the wardrobe. Now, some of therger pieces of jewelry packaging remained, but the rings, nes, and the like had vanished. This type of drawer isn¡¯t easy to dismantle; it¡¯s quite likely that the perpetrator crouched and pocketed each piece of jewelry one by one. After vigorous activity, pausing often leads to sweat droplets falling easily. Wang Zhong brought more cotton swabs and small evidence bags. Jiang Yuan moistened a swab on the spot and, while half-kneeling, collected the sweat stain. Seeing this, Hou Lejia felt a mix of happiness and a strange sadness. With such a huge expenditure, he thought a few more years of savings could have possibly brought him a private ne, and was this it? Chapter 476 - 476 438 Heart Flutters (Vote for Monthly Ticket) ?476: Chapter 438: Heart Flutters (Vote for Monthly Ticket) 476: Chapter 438: Heart Flutters (Vote for Monthly Ticket) ¡°Captain Jiang, let me help you with the evidence bags,¡± Mu Zhiyang offered. As a rookie on the crime scene, Mu Zhiyang immediately stepped forward to help Jiang Yuan collect key evidence. Having been a police officer at a local station, he always felt that Captain Hou of the Hou Lejia household resembled the type of character you¡¯d find at the center of local disputes, possessing the knack to snatch evidence and flee on impulse. What Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t know was that Director Huang had always been the first to charge fees when it came to the Hou household. In terms of familiarity with life and work experience, Huang Qiangmin had also suffered his own setbacks and, as a result, had thickened his cerebral cortex. Jiang Yuan handed the evidence bag to Mu Zhiyang, then continued to look for hairs around the drawer. These hairs were not necessarily those of the perpetrator, but if the killer was neither wearing a cap like himself nor obsessively clean like Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team members, the likelihood of hair being left behind was very high. It was like those trying to catch a cheating partner, who could always find someone else¡¯s hair in their significant other¡¯s car. Could a murderer be more meticulous than a cheating man or woman? Cheaters can phnder daily and clean their vehicles and bedsheets afterwards, but how many murderers kill every day? However, judging by appearances alone, Jiang Yuan estimated that the hairs around the drawer belonged to several people. If all belonged to the victim¡¯s family members, then that was one thing; but if they did not, the likelihood that they came from the perpetrator was very high. The possibility of the crime beingmitted by a stranger was extremely high. If it was someone the victim knew, given their social circle, it would be hard to find a murderer so calm. And if there was one, they wouldn¡¯t ransack a rural home for trivial gains, thus increasing the risk of exposing themselves. ¡°These,¡± Jiang Yuan said, sorting the hairs before passing them to Mu Zhiyang. The way he categorized them was already much more meticulous than many other trace evidence technicians. Mu Zhiyang collected them again, and on noticing that the Hou household was now absent, he whispered, ¡°Captain Jiang, does this mean this case is solved?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the chaotic scene and replied, ¡°If the sweat stains¡¯ DNA matches, then it would be simple. If they don¡¯t match¡­¡± ¡°Even if the sweat stains don¡¯t match, we still have the hair,¡± Mu Zhiyang was optimistic. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°The hair could also be from the person who installed the drawer, or even from lovers having an affair.¡± The issue with some evidence is that if it had been there too long, it became problematic. Especially in tricky-to-reach ces like the interior of a wardrobe, proving the evidence was relevant became difficult. In Europe and America, courtroom evidence science had encountered great difficulties in this regards. In the past, when forensic technicians faced simr situations, they often chose to test selectively, mainly due to the high cost of early DNA testing. However, with the airing of various legal dramas, the criminal science mindset of Americans, particrly those using a jury system, suddenly leaped ahead of the institutional framework. The demand forpleteness and integrity of evidence asionally exceeded the capabilities of typical Americanbs. As such, manyb technicians even became reluctant to collect evidenceprehensively. Domestically, when ites to the collection of evidence in homicide cases, especially during investigation periods, the approach is still to be asprehensive as possible. The crime scene investigation continued for almost an entire day. By the time Jiang Yuan and his team left Changxin Vige, the initial batch of evidence results were almost all processed. Jiang Yuan then left these matters to others, tidied up, and went to sleep for a couple of hours. By the time he woke up, the forensic doctors from Qinghe City had already arrived. Jiang Yuan then proceeded with Medical Examiner Zhai and others to the mortuary¡¯s autopsy room to join forces with Wang Lan and Doctor Ye from the Qinghe City Bureau. Though Medical Examiner Zhai brought along eight junior forensic doctors who could work independently, as a Provincial Bureau leader with his own ns and work procedures, he wouldn¡¯t perform unpaidbor just to save the Hou family money. If not for Jiang Yuan¡¯s presence, even an invitation wouldn¡¯t have sufficed. Wang Lan¡¯s presence, however, was mandatory. The Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s policy dictated that for major cases like gruesome homicides, dismemberments, incinerations, or cases involving multiple victims such as this, the city bureau¡¯s medical examiners were required to assist, sometimes even when assistance wasn¡¯t sought. Therefore, on that day, the Longli County mortuary¡¯s autopsy room was crammed with twelve forensic doctors. If the corpse could speak, it would surelyin about feeling ustrophobic. The medical examiners were also somewhat embarrassed, as they were ustomed to quiet and independent work environments and rarely had such ¡°gatherings.¡± Even the socially astute Doctor Ye had never experienced such a situation. Seeing everyone a bit reserved, he suggested, ¡°It¡¯s rare for us to meet. Let¡¯s have ate-night snack together tonight.¡± ¡°With two bodies to examine, if we want to have thatte-night snack, we need to get started now.¡± ¡°We can do it,¡± Doctor Ye said, looking up at Jiang Yuan and Medical Examiner Zhai to ask, ¡°Will you two be directing?¡± Directing an autopsy was, of course, far easier than performing it oneself. High-level medical examiners, such as Medical Examiner Zhai, likely seldom performedplete autopsies these days, usually delegating the task to their subordinates. As expected, Medical Examiner Zhai nodded, but Jiang Yuan straightforwardly said, ¡°I¡¯ll take this male body.¡± His actual experience performing autopsies was not extensive; since starting his career, he had only examined a few dozen bodies, roughly equivalent to the number a seasoned forensic doctor with about three years of experience would handle. Thus, even with the system¡¯s provided skills, Jiang Yuan was still consciously umting autopsy experience. Chapter 477 - 477 438 Anxiety (Vote for Monthly Ticket)_2 ?477: Chapter 438: Anxiety (Vote for Monthly Ticket)_2 477: Chapter 438: Anxiety (Vote for Monthly Ticket)_2 Moreover, conducting autopsies on cadavers every so often can also lead to new skills, which is quite nice. Choosing the male corpse was because it was the first victim; theoretically, it should reveal more information. Combined with Bloodstain Analysis, it would make it easier to understand what happened on the first floor. Doctor Ye didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to work that efficiently, clicking his tongue twice before turning his head to say, ¡°Doctor Wang, then shall we work on this female corpse?¡± He often coborated with Wang Lan, so there was no need for formalities. Wang Lan acknowledged him with a nod andughed, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s get two more gentlemen then. It¡¯s not often we have this many people, so I won¡¯t be moving the bodies today.¡± She was quite slim, probably not even 100 pounds. When she first started working, moving bodies was difficult, but even if it was tough, she would grit her teeth and do it. Now, as a senior forensic doctor, she still had to grit her teeth and do it herself. That¡¯s also why she liked to travel to different ces for work. Each county had its own forensic doctor. When she went to help out, it added to the forensic workforce, and the local doctors wouldn¡¯t let her move bodies on her own. The two bodies wereid out separately on two side-by-side autopsy tables, and everyone chose a body to work on ording to their preference. Belch¡­ Jiang Yuan had just turned the male corpse over when it let out a long belch. The belchingsted three to four seconds, forceful and with a bit of an odor. The forensic doctors in the morgue tried to remain as serious as possible, but some couldn¡¯t help wanting tough. With so many people, it was impossible for a spooky atmosphere to take hold. ¡°My back¡¯s about to break, but the fart sure is long,¡± Medical Examiner Zhai muttered. A corpse¡¯s intestines still produce gas, which can¡¯t easily be expelled from the bottom and muste out the top. Of course, many gases don¡¯t escape through existing orifices and wait until the forensic doctor cuts them open to dissipate. ¡°Still better than postmortem fetal extrusion,¡± Wang Lan shook her head and said, ¡°Let¡¯s talk about something more cheerful. Ye, what were you saying you¡¯d treat us to?¡± ¡°Stir-fried pig intestines and chicken gizzards,¡± replied Doctor Ye as he turned to take therge y pot from the rack. ¡°If you don¡¯t want to go there, we can have them deliver takeout. After all, Captain Hou is paying, and I might as well save some pots.¡± ¡°Two pots are enough, what do you need so many for?¡± Doctor Wang said as she put the organs into the y pot, and then added, ¡°Did your Captain Hou suddenly be generous?¡± ¡°It¡¯s all thanks to Doctor Jiang¡¯s face,¡± said Doctor Ye, who obviously couldn¡¯t mention that Director Huang had specific requirements for the meal allowances. Changing the subject, he continued, ¡°It¡¯s rare to get to use public funds, and I think these pots are quite handy. I¡¯m nning to get a couple for home use too, good for making soup or pickling vegetables.¡± ¡°True, they are sturdy and big,¡± Wang Lan tapped on the pot, producing a clear sound. All the forensic doctors nodded in agreement. ¡­ Early morning. Jiang Yuan got up after just four or five hours of sleep and, upon arriving at the criminal police team, found the ce as bustling as if no one had slept. Indeed, no one had. It¡¯smon for detectives in the criminal police team not to sleep for 72 hours when a murder has just been discovered. Sleepte, solve the case early; sleep early, no new year¡¯s celebration. The life of a forensic doctor is slightly better. Once the body is thoroughly examined, it¡¯s okay to take a break and sleep without anyone giving you a hard time. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t even eaten the stir-fried pig intestines and chicken gizzardsst night before taking a rest. Now, checking in, he saw that the criminal police officers of Longli County indeed appeared as if injected with chicken blood, even busier than the day before. ¡°Did you catch someone?¡± Jiang Yuan asked as soon as he entered. ¡°Caught him. It¡¯s a local, spent some years out of town, has a criminal record, and is under interrogation,¡± replied the officer who was asked, just before a group of people ran down from upstairs. ¡°Captain Jiang!¡± Among the crowd was Hou Xiaoyong, who hurried over upon seeing Jiang Yuan, eagerly reporting, ¡°We¡¯re preparing to go find the murder weapon.¡± ¡°Has the murder weapon been disclosed? What is it?¡± Jiang Yuan needed to verify his own judgment. ¡°A firewood knife. He brought it from his house, said he wrapped the handle in cloth, and buried it in the soil near the slope when he left,¡± exined Hou Xiaoyong in detail, his tone excited. Jiang Yuan nodded upon hearing this. A firewood knife was amon tool in the area, with a long handle and a thick de, matching the traces seen at the crime scene. Both from the perspective of Bloodstain Analysis and the wounds on the bodies, a firewood knife was consistent. Jiang Yuan then asked, ¡°Was the motive robbery?¡± ¡°Yes, he came back from out of town, heard the victims were in the grain buying business and often lent money to grain farmers, so he wanted to rob arge sum. He ended up stealing over twenty thousand in cash, and the value of the jewelry hasn¡¯t been appraised yet. He nned to take it out of town to sell, which would serve as evidence.¡± ¡°Just for those tens of thousands of dors, taking others¡¯ lives and sacrificing his own; so young, better off going out to work,¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head. Even without considering the viewpoint of the Jiang Vige People, this sum wasn¡¯t worth killing for. With that courage and physical strength, it would be better to¡­ find some work with lesser punishment under ¡°Criminal Law,¡± such as¡­ right? Hou Xiaoyong chuckled upon hearing this, and said, ¡°Being young is not an option anymore; the guy is 52 years old. It¡¯s tough to find a job out there at his age unless he¡¯s willing to work on a construction site, which he¡¯s definitely not. These people, after all, are justzy¡­¡± ¡°Hold on, he¡¯s 52?¡± Jiang Yuan interrupted Hou Xiaoyong. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Did he mention any aplices?¡± Jiang Yuan inquired. ¡°No, he ims that he acted alone,¡± Hou Xiaoyong said with a low voice, noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s serious expression, and asked, ¡°Is there a problem?¡± ¡°There is,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mince words, recalling what he had seen during the autopsy the day before, ¡°The murderer¡¯s strength, the muscle power, is a bit too far-fetched for a 52-year-old. What¡¯s the suspect¡¯s physical condition? Very strong?¡± ¡°That¡­ not particrly strong,¡± Hou Xiaoyong admitted. ¡°Then do you think he has enough strength to have severed the spinal column of victim number one?¡± Hou Xiaoyong, having seen the photos from the crime scene, immediately remembered the sight of the male victim found on the first floor, sprawled in front of the French window, his waist almostpletely severed, and shook his head, ¡°He couldn¡¯t have, he¡¯s just an average man in his fifties, has some strength, but not that much explosive power.¡± An indolent murderer didn¡¯t sound like someone who would stay fit into their fifties. ¡°I¡¯ll call Captain Hou,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he took out his phone. Given what was known, there was no need to interrogate the suspect further. The first thing to do was to expand the investigation. Starting with the current suspect, check his contacts, social rtionships, and so on. Time was of the essence. Hou Xiaoyong felt a sudden unease, recalling the suspect¡¯s tearful confession in the interrogation room. If they missed an aplice, it could be serious. Chapter 478 - 478 439 Rough Guess ?478: Chapter 439 Rough Guess 478: Chapter 439 Rough Guess Hou Lejia felt as if his head had just touched the sofa and he had just closed his eyes to doze off when he was awakened by the ringing of the phone. ncing at the time again, it was indeed the very moment he had closed his eyes. He wanted to curse something, but seeing that the call was from Jiang Yuan, Hou Lejia could only suppress his emotions and, after connecting, he asked with a bit of worry, ¡°Doctor Jiang, what¡¯s going on? Nothing¡¯s happened, right?¡± Getting a call from the forensic doctor in the middle of the day¡ªwho wouldn¡¯t be afraid? Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°I just heard that a suspect was captured? Was it through a match of sweat stains?¡± ¡°Yes. A drifter who came back from out of town, named Du Jinfu. Always dreaming of striking it rich¡ªhasn¡¯t figured out how over the years¡­¡± Hou Lejia hadn¡¯t slept for more than a day, and just as hey down, he got woken up, so he was a bit irritable. Jiang Yuandao continued, ¡°Considering the first male body, the killer must have been very strong, having shattered the lumbar vertebra with a sharp de. The person you just caught, judging by his age, is unlikely to fit the profile unless he underwent intense training.¡± Hou Lejia was startled and said subconsciously, ¡°Did we catch the wrong person?¡± ¡°If the DNA matches, then you didn¡¯t catch the wrong person. It suggests there¡¯s more than one killer,¡± Jiang Yuan exined with a Level 0.1 logical analysis to Hou Lejia. Hou Lejia slowly sat upright on the sofa, ¡°During the interrogation, I asked him if he had any aplices¡­ He didn¡¯t give anything away at all. You¡¯re right; he¡¯s learned something over the years. I couldn¡¯t tell at all that he was trying to cover for someone.¡± In the case of the double homicide and robbery, Hou Lejia was definitely keeping a close watch. During the interrogation, the suspect didn¡¯t seem like he had an aplice, and his age and identity matched the temte of an established offender, which led the interrogators to not dig deeper into this direction. On the other hand, ordinary people taking the me for someone else either appear self-righteous or act with great integrity¡ªin short, there must be some kind of moral underpinning. Hou Lejia did not see any of this in the eyes of the killer. ¡°Is there evidence?¡± Hou Lejia asked again. Jiang Yuan went over the Bloodstain Analysis again and then said, ¡°I just saw them going to find the murder weapon. If they can find it, make sure to protect the scene, especially the area around the scene, to see if there are any footprints.¡± Hearing the first half of the sentence, Hou Lejia felt he didn¡¯t need to worry, but the second half made him anxious. Right, they had collected so many footprints at the scene, and Jiang Yuan was a renowned footprint expert in the province. Hou Lejia said hurriedly, ¡°I¡¯ll call them immediately. Are you heading to the scene now?¡± ¡°I am. Also, look into the offender¡¯s social rtionships,¡± Jiang Yuan finished the conversation and then, along with Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong, slowly drove off. Hou Lejia, now wide awake, quickly issued variousmands. He knew his police officers¡¯ capabilities and styles. People like Hou Xiaoyong, who were going to retrieve the murder weapon, would definitely handle everything properly, including photographing and gathering evidence. But if you were to say they should pay attention to the footprints beneath their feet, that wouldn¡¯t be so easy to aplish. In Longli County, there were no forensic technicians capable of analyzing footprints. So over the years, although footprints were collected in cases, they were never particrly valued or regarded with much seriousness. Hou Lejia was genuinely afraid his subordinates would mess up the footprints. ¡­ Back to Changxin Vige. The murder weapon was buried at a small hillside at the entrance to the vige. By the time Jiang Yuan arrived, Hou Xiaoyong and the others had already found the weapon, but due to the call from Hou Lejia, the group only took photographs for evidence, then used caution tape to cordon off an area dozens of meters away and stationed two people on the small hill to prevent anyone from going down. Thetter was unnecessary, but the previous steps were meaningful. Because a murder had just urred in Changxin Vige, the vigers first reacted to the police with fear, then curiosity and spectating. Without the caution tape, they might have intruded by now. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, among others, parked their car on the concrete road of the vige and walked to the small hillside. From the concrete road to the small hillside, which was just a small branch in the road, analyzing the actions of the criminals, it was very likely that when they were leaving the vige, they saw this rtively dense little mound and turned in. They randomly chopped out a space in the grass by the roadside with a machete, then dug a hole about half a person high, and buried the machete, cing the freshly chopped branches and leaves as padding. Doing this, Du Jinfu and the other criminals wouldn¡¯t have spent much time or energy, nor would they need to walk around carrying the murder weapon for all to see. If a thorough human search were conducted, there was a very high chance it could be found; likewise, if police dogs were dispatched to search as they left the vige, it might be discovered. But unless arge-scale search was carried out, or if the search area and direction didn¡¯t include this road outside the vige, then in a day or two, or after a rain, the situation would bepletely different. The machete buried inside could remain hidden for ten or eight years without reappearing. In the event that the hillside copsed or the road was rebuilt for some reason, it would most likely not end up in the hands of the police, thus breaking the chain of evidence. However, all the above would be after the first 72 hours. Within 72 hours, walking from the concrete road to the small hillside, the footprints were still preserved on the ground. Hou Xiaoyong and the others, given a heads-up, were careful not to disturb them, and Jiang Yuan asked Wang Zhong to take photos, to collect the footprints on-site, and recalled, ¡°The sole of this sport shoe also appeared at the crime scene; now it seems, it should be treated with significant suspicion.¡± He gestured for Wang Zhong to take photos, and he took out his pad to search but still couldn¡¯t find the matching sole. LV3 Footprint Analysis was sufficient for analyzing the footprint itself, but to urately identify a model from the vast sea of millions of soles, this somewhat cool-sounding skill, LV3 wasn¡¯t enough. However, to Hou Xiaoyong and the others, Jiang Yuan¡¯s words already sounded quite mystical. Standing behind the police cordon and craning his neck, Hou Xiaoyong asked curiously, ¡°You can even tell they were wearing sports shoes?¡± ¡°Determining the type of shoe from a footprint is basic,¡± Jiang Yuan passed the pad back to Mu Zhiyang, continuing, ¡°The dispersal radius of the imprint varies; sports shoes have a greater dispersal than t-soled shoes, leather shoes, and cloth shoes. If we could find the exact brand, it would be easier; for now, we can only make a rough guess¡­¡± Jiang Yuan slowly walked down the dirt road, looking around as he said, ¡°The perpetrator is estimated to be about 28 years old, 175 centimeters tall, and slightly overweight¡­¡± The Longli County detectives listened in from nearby. An officer from the local police station showed a skeptical expression and asked Hou Xiaoyong in a low voice, ¡°A rough guess?¡± Hou Xiaoyong let out a chuckle. The officer said, ¡°If it¡¯s that urate, why not just check the rtive¡¯s identity cards directly?¡± Upon hearing this, Hou Xiaoyong felt it made a lot of sense and took out his phone to begin checking the identity cards of Du Jinfu¡¯s rtives, one by one. He focused only on the age. Hou Xiaoyong checked each one. Du Jinfu was long divorced, and his two children were just over 20 years old, living with their mother. Du Jinfu had three siblings himself, with two older sisters, who altogether had three sons and two daughters; coincidentally, the eldest son, Sun Jinqiang, of the eldest sister, was precisely 28 years old¡­ Although Du Jinfu had other rtives or non-rtives, upon seeing this, Hou Xiaoyong couldn¡¯t help but report to the squadron leader Hou Lejia. ¡°Bring him in for questioning!¡± Hou Lejia decided without hesitation, reminding, ¡°Take a few more people along; if he¡¯s the murderer, he¡¯s the one who severed a man¡¯s spine with a single blow.¡± Hou Xiaoyong agreed wholeheartedly, saying, ¡°I¡¯ll go get some stun guns.¡± Hou Lejia then showed Sun Jinqiang¡¯s identity information to Jiang Yuan, paying attention to Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, and asked, ¡°It should just be two people whomitted the crime, right? There wouldn¡¯t be a third person, would there?¡± ¡°Looking at how the weapon was hidden here, it was two people. They came on a motorcycle, with two men riding it; that should be it,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly analyzed. ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good,¡± Hou Lejia was somewhat relieved then firmly said, ¡°Once we get this guy back, I¡¯ll have someone interrogate him thoroughly. I want to see if there¡¯s a nephew willing to take the fall for his uncle like there is an uncle who¡¯ll cover for his nephew.¡± Chapter 479 - 479 440 Rejoining the Team ?479: Chapter 440: Rejoining the Team 479: Chapter 440: Rejoining the Team When Hou Xiaoyong and the others brought Sun Jinqiang back, those who understood footprint analysis and those who didn¡¯t both looked at him as if he were the murderer. At a height of 1.75 meters and a weight of 80 kilograms, Sun Jinqiang wasn¡¯t particrly outstanding, but his arms were thick and muscr, and the thickness of his scapr area was noticeably above average. A police officer immediately frowned, ¡°He must be on drugs, test him.¡± As a murder suspect, he received the VIP treatment: Police officers rushed to escort him to the restroom, collected his urine, and then brought him back for a blood draw. While sending the samples for testing, they locked him in the interrogation chair to question him. Sun Jinqiang remained silent as if he were a tough guy, not saying anything and just sitting there with his head down, stubborn to the end. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t a true tough guy. The interrogation officer merely described and introduced to him the differences between death row inmates and regr prisoners, as well as the lifestyle of a maximum-security prison. Just the thought was enough to nearly break Sun Jinqiang, who had experienced multiple detentions and short-term prison stints. Indeed, those who have experienced prison life understand its implications more deeply, much like children who have gone through school life know which parts are bearable and which are intolerable. If bullying in school can make life miserable, then the suffering in prison is ubiquitous. With the interrogation officer¡¯s gentle coaxing, Sun Jinqiang finally spoke up, exining, ¡°We didn¡¯t n to kill anyone at first¡­¡± Excuses, amon state for most criminals during interrogation. In general, criminals tend to steadfastly believe in the logic of ¡°I am a good person, it¡¯s just that¡­¡± which leaves one unsure whether this is a sess or failure of education. ¡°I¡¯ve needed a lot of money recently,¡± Sun Jinqiang took a sip of water and let his emotions out. ¡°Dating requires money, and my family is pressing me to marry. I said I¡¯d start a business, asked my uncle for some money. He said he wanted to do business too. So, we agreed to do a couple of jobs to save enough money, then each go our separate ways in business¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk about the process of the crime,¡± said the interrogation officer, allowing him a brief vent before cutting him short. If he vented too much, he might not disclose what he was supposed to. Once Sun Jinqiang started talking, he couldn¡¯t stop. ¡°I heard that grain buyers always have cash on hand. A lot of the older farmers prefer to be paid in cash. Also, they like to lend money to farmers. Instead of repaying in cash, the farmers return the favor with grain when it¡¯s time to collect, with prices that follow the market. It¡¯s all to ensure they get the grain. So, I thought, why not borrow some ourselves¡­¡± ¡°When we got there, Iid it out, but not only did he not agree, he even startedughing. You should have seen the look on that rich man¡¯s face¡­ How could I tolerate that?¡± ¡°I swung the knife, and my uncle kicked him a couple of times¡­¡± As he confessed the process, it corroborated Du Jinfu¡¯s ount. Along with the on-site investigation, the chance of a mistake was now not high. Hou Lejia, who had been exceedingly anxious, finally rxed a little, exhaling deeply, thinking to himself: I can¡¯t keep going as a criminal police captain, I won¡¯t live to see my retirement at this rate. Director Huang has a clever mind, wonder what he sold to be deputy director¡­ Jiang Yuan watched for a while in the surveince room and then came out. In this case, the uncle and nephew duo seemed to have a good sense of counter-surveince. Despite appearing rather pathetic after being caught, the crime scene revealed that they were hardened individuals, fully educated by prison, and likely very confident during the act. The case did indeed pose some challenges, and Jiang Yuan had tracked down Du Jinfu based on mere clues. Without that drop of sweat, Jiang Yuan would probably have had to rely on the footprints at the scene to narrow down the suspects. If Longli County had handled this on their own, they would have had methods too. The most likely one involved exploiting special circumstances: both the uncle and the nephew were ex-convicts withplex social ties. Regardless of the business they imed to be nning, bragging to friends was inevitable. Longli County wasn¡¯t arge ce, and it was easy for rumors to spread. Another method would be extensive questioning and investigation, or deploying the talented police dog Heizi, to see if they could catch any slip-ups. Or they could have sifted through all the visitors on the day of the crime through their mode of travel, which could also have yielded results. The only part that required more technical skill was the uncle taking on the major responsibility. With experience in resisting interrogation and knowing that death was certain, he took the me entirely upon himself, and he described the criminal details very urately. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation of the scene, facing such a situation would have been very challenging. For the next two days, Hou Lejia was busy taking the criminals to identify the crime scene and the locations where they had buried the weapons, among other ces. The preliminary steps were finished, and once the check was sent, the police¡¯s job was essentially done. At this moment, Jiang Yuan also packed up and was ready to withdraw back to Ningtai County. Hou Lejia looked at the equipment,puters, CT scanner, and the vehicles that carried them, feeling as if his heart were bleeding. All these were the umtions of Longli County over many years, and now they were being taken away like a slow, painful cut of the flesh. Hou Lejia couldn¡¯t even imagine how thrilled Huang Qiangmin must be seeing all this. It was a pity they couldn¡¯t keep Jiang Yuan¡­ Hou Lejia just couldn¡¯t afford it anymore, and he had no more cases to offer either. There were still many cold cases in Longli County, but Hou Lejia was running out of steam, and the support from the Longli County Bureau was limited. Cold cases weren¡¯t formed in a day, and even if Jiang Yuan was seen as a great opportunity, it was very difficult for the Longli County Bureau to decide to focus on cold cases¡ªcurrent cases not worked on would also turn into cold cases, and like this murder case, the resources consumed were already minimal, yet it still mobilized arge number of people. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, forming a small convoy, cheerfully returned to Ningtai County. At the very end of the convoy, Wang Zhong left a small window open, and from time to time, he would throw out a piece of yellow paper. The yellow papers were all prepared in advance, drawn with talismans, stamped with a seal, and Wang Zhong just needed to calcte the time and direction every now and then, fill it in, and then throw it out. It was said that this could effectively prevent vengeful spirits from following them into Ningtai County. Although Wang Zhong didn¡¯t quite understand why the vengeful spirits would be so persistent as to follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s convoy to Ningtai, he still learned to scatter the yellow papers. He considered it a sort of practice. Back at the Ningtai County Bureau, Wu Jun patiently waited in his office. As soon as Jiang Yuan came in, Wu Jun dragged him to walk over a fire basin, light incense to worship Guan Gong, and offer red eggs with ginseng. Afterpleting this series of rituals, Wu Jun said, ¡°That¡¯s it, now when we select cases, we won¡¯t be affected.¡± Jiang Yuan was unable to decide whether tough or cry. ¡°Hurry on now. Director Huang is probably waiting for you.¡± Wu Jun sent Jiang Yuan out the door, feeling like it was part of the procedure as well. ¡­ Huang Qiangmin had been waiting in the conference room for a while. In front of him, there were several files. The thick ones were half an arm¡¯s height, and the thin ones were only about a hundred pages. ¡°Director Huang, which county¡¯s cases are these?¡± As soon as Jiang Yuan saw the case files, he knew they definitely weren¡¯t from Ningtai County. Had there been a case file this thick in Ningtai County, he would have reviewed it already. ¡°Recently, several counties have approached us, and I said, let¡¯s pick a few cases to look at first. These were sent over from those counties,¡± Huang Qiangmin said while gently sliding a stack of files forward. Chapter 480 - 480 441 Nail Gun ?480: Chapter 441 Nail Gun 480: Chapter 441 Nail Gun Huang Qiangmin¡¯s case wasn¡¯t particrly thick among the files, just slightly above average in size. Jiang Yuan merely smiled, casually picked it up, and upon opening it, he found a surprise, ¡°This is a case from Changyang City?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ you just happened to pick up a case from Changyang,¡± said Huang Qiangmin. ¡°See if it suits you. It¡¯s quite the coincidence, actually. The cases from the other counties aren¡¯t that urgent. It¡¯s not that weck brotherly support; Changyang City is the provincial capital, after all, and they offer us a lot of support. Although Director Chai really wants to help the brother counties¡­¡± Towards the end of his statement, Huang nced at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled and unfolded the file. It wasn¡¯t strange that Huang Qiangmin, a local, didn¡¯t see eye to eye with Director Chai. As for Jiang Yuan, his identity as a man from Ningtai County was also not easy to change. ¡°If it¡¯s a case from Changyang City, it belongs to Chief Yu¡­¡± Jiang Yuan said as he opened the file and saw the first photo, which was of a bloodstained nail. Below, it was specifically noted that it was a straight nail used in a nail gun. ¡°A nail gun, huh.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately perked up. Gun control in the country had be stricter and stricter, yet nail guns were very easy to acquire. On the other hand, the power of nail guns was not small; many were capable of prating thin steel tes, more powerful than the small hammer guns used by police. If modified slightly, they could be both powerful and convenient. Jiang Yuan had seen reports on this before¡ªwell-modified nail guns, after being fitted with steel tubes and sights, could be used to shoot birds, to hunt, and naturally, to shoot people. In recent years, the number of people jailed for rted gun offenses had been in the triple digits, and the sentencing was not light. The police force took such cases very seriously, more so than ordinary types of cases. In consumer terms, it could be seen as a luxury-level concern. So, a case that remained unsolved despite such high priority was bound to be no simple matter. Jiang Yuan began reading from the beginning, and sure enough, he noticed a string of striking elements. Three elderly hikers, on different mountaintops, had been shot dead with a nail gun to the head, their belongings intact, without any connection between the victims. The words ¡®remote wilderness¡¯ and ¡®random acts¡¯ were clearly marked. Plus the involvement of firearms and serial offenses¡­ Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°This is a serial killer? Howe there¡¯s been no word of it at all?¡± ¡°The case was originally thought to have been solved. The suspect arrested was a worker from an electronics factory, and a modified nail gun was found in his home. While he was under interrogation, the third incident urred.¡± Huang Qiangmin paused, then continued, ¡°Chief Yu called about this specifically because the case is quiteplex. He hopes we can solve it before it further esctes.¡± Domestic serial killings were predominantly characterized by itinerant violent crimes simr in nature to the ¡®two Wangs¡¯ case. A serial killer who stays in one ce to kill and makes no attempt to dispose of the bodies is quite rare. Of course, it posed a significant challenge to the police. This kind of case, if needed, must be solved at all costs. Judging from the direct call from Yu Wenshu to Huang Qiangmin, a price had been paid, and as a part of that price, so was Jiang Yuan. ¡°There aren¡¯t many clues or pieces of evidence,¡± Jiang Yuan said after flipping through the photocopied files. ¡°To solve this case, we¡¯d have to look at the crime scenes and the conditions of the bodies.¡± It might even require waiting for a fourth incident to happen before solving it. There was no need for Jiang Yuan to spell it out that clearly. Huang Qiangmin gave an ¡°Hmm¡± and said, ¡°Chief Yu is quite eager. If you¡¯re confident, you might still want to give it a try.¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll go take a look.¡± Just as Jiang Yuan finished speaking, a voice from the system resounded in his mind: Task: Nail Gun Homicide Case. Task Details: The consecutive deaths of three victims have left Yu Wenshu extremely anxious. To solve this case, he would do anything. Seize the opportunity! ¡­ One case, two rewards¡ªthere¡¯s nothing else to say. Jiang Yuan took the file, pulled out all the photos, and started to inspect them closely. After receiving Jiang Yuan¡¯smitment, Huang Qiangmin immediately called Yu Wenshu and others to start nning the trip to Changyang City. With so many members in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, a business trip to Changyang City naturally needed to be well-arranged. As for people like Wang Chuanxing, who were mostly from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, that was another matter. On Yu Wenshu¡¯s side, he readily agreed to such minor matters. With three consecutive deaths, and the suspect currently in custody still uncertain to be the wrong person, or potentially part of a coborative offense and therefore not immediately releasable, Yu Wenshu¡¯s pressure was mounting. After speaking with Huang Qiangmin, Yu Wenshu made a point of calling Jiang Yuan. ¡°I¡¯ve settled things with Huang. You should know the situation by now,¡± Yu Wenshu said. Even when under extreme stress, his voice remained steady. Over the years, whenever he got emotional during arguments with his wife, she would lecture him, and as a result, he quickly learned to remain unfazed. The fact that he was able to hold his position in the intense environment of the provincial city¡¯s criminal police detachment was in part due to Mrs. Yu¡¯s contributions. Jiang Yuan acknowledged and asked, ¡°Is the scene still there?¡± ¡°The first and second scenes have been opened. They are rest areas in scenic spots, so we didn¡¯t keep the police tape up, but it¡¯s likely not many people went there. The third scene is still protected,¡± Yu Wenshu said with a hint of anticipation, asking, ¡°When can you get here?¡± ¡°If it¡¯s urgent, I can head over now,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°It is urgent. If it weren¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t have promised to give Director Huang a newb,¡± Yu Wenshu grunted and continued, ¡°I agreed because he said it was being prepared for you.¡± He was getting a two-for-one deal out of this expenditure. Acknowledging this, Jiang Yuan nced at Huang Qiangmin across from him and said with a smile, ¡°Director Huang can be quite considerate sometimes.¡± ¡°Slightly human. Not much,¡± Yu Wenshu offered a fair assessment. ¡­ Four hourster, Jiang Yuan arrived in Changyang City. With all members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad in tow, they surveyed the city from different directions, and then¡­ ¡­ the entire team was pulled to Yuanbei Mountain in the suburbs. The scene of the third case was at a resting spot on a trail halfway up the mountain. The trail was wide, paved with red bricks, winding and quite beautiful. At intervals, there wererger tforms, equipped with benches for resting. The benches, some facing the trail and others with their backs to it, provided views of distant mountains and the city, a very thoughtful design. However, the killer had utilized this design to kill an elderly man, who was sitting on one of these benches facing the city with his back to the trail, with a nail gun. Standing on the trail, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need any bloodstain analysis skills to easily deduce that the killer had simply walked up or down the trail, noticed the lone elder with his back turned, pulled out the nail gun, approached the bench, and, without turning back, shot the elder in the back of the head and left down the mountain. Jiang Yuan then looked around. This location was a twenty-minute walk from the start of the trail and approximately the same distance from the top of the mountain. On weekdays, the trail was quite frequented by people seeking recreation or exercise, but it was not umon to see no one for several minutes at a time, especially in the evenings when the number of people dwindled. The ground was covered in too many footprints to determine which might belong to the killer. Jiang Yuan made a point of looking behind the bench, but on the red brick ground, there were no useful footprints either. ¡°So it truly is a random act of violence,¡± Jiang Yuan motioned to have a look at the photos from Mu Zhiyang¡¯s bag, and it was easy to see that the victim¡¯s head and neck were slumped in a very natural position, meaning the killer didn¡¯t even call out to him before pulling the trigger straight at the back of his head. Police usually ask for a name to confirm a suspect¡¯s identity when arresting someone. However, judging by the killer¡¯s method of killing, it appeared he didn¡¯t care who his victims were. ¡°Is there no connection between the three victims?¡± Jiang Yuan asked additionally. Coming to receive him and act as a host was Wan Baoming, the deputy director of the Criminal Investigation Department, who was very familiar with Jiang Yuan. He nodded and said, ¡°The official statement is that there¡¯s no connection.¡± ¡°And unofficially?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if it counts, but all three victims were retired officials, in their sixties and seventies. From the outside, all three seem to have been dressed in shirts and trousers at the time they were killed. Wearing jackets or vests on the outside,¡± Wan Baoming paused, then added, ¡°This analysis is off the record and not definitive.¡± If it were confirmed to be a serial murder targeting retired officials, the pressure from above would escte, and it could even provoke severe public bacsh. Jiang Yuan responded with a ¡°Hmm¡± to indicate he understood, then said, ¡°If the killer knew the true identities of the victims, the process would be moreplex. And besides, they would need to confirm identities before shooting. It doesn¡¯t quite fit. However, targeting elderly men in shirts¡­ that¡¯s also a possibility¡­¡± He didn¡¯t dwell too long on this topic. From the look of the scene, it was a typical random act, with neither theft nor sexual assault as motives, but rather killing for the sake of killing¡ªa kind of antisocial behavior. Unfortunately, such cases are the hardest to solve, which is why the police are reluctant to admit to such crimes unless absolutely necessary. Based on what Jiang Yuan knew so far, there wasn¡¯t enough information to determine the killer¡¯s motive or the scope of targets. If Liu Jinghui were handling the case, he might guess or use something like profiling to find an answer, but Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t do that. Having thoroughly inspected the scene once more, Jiang Yuan followed Wan Baoming back to the Criminal Police Detachment to examine the only piece of evidence: the nail used in the nail gun. Chapter 481 - 481 442 The Nail ?481: Chapter 442: The Nail 481: Chapter 442: The Nail Changyang City Criminal Science Center. An independent small building surrounded by lush greenery, an office environment with a pleasant temperature¡­ A serious-faced group clustered around Jiang Yuan and the evidence ¡°long nail.¡± This was their most favorable piece of evidence obtained thus far. Just like the bullet in a shooting case, the long nail in this case carried everyone¡¯s hopes. Besides that, the other pieces of evidence in the case were weak circumstantial evidence. Surveince videos, fingerprints, footprints recovered, or some cigarette butts and bloodstains gathered at the scene were merely self-consoling, without the power to point to the murderer. Jiang Yuan, thinking from the perspective of the murderer, felt that a long-range weapon truly provided a significant advantage. If it came to killing, using one¡¯s hands made it easy for the victim to inflict injury, thereby leaving behind clues. Knives were a bit better but, being closebat weapons, they also carried the risk of the assant being injured, and skills like Bloodstain Analysis were a major threat to ded weapons. Blunt weapons were simr, having their own pros and cons. The main fear was not killing with a single strike, drastically increasing the risk. Additionally, the insufficient deterrent effect of blunt weapons could significantly increase the victim¡¯s chances of resisting. The modified nail gun, as a long-range weapon, had very clear advantages. It did not just minimize the chance of resistance, but also it killed quickly, leaving behind very few traces as physical evidence. The disadvantage was that it left behind tangible evidence, like the long nail in front of them. Wan Baoming introduced the situation, ¡°This nail probably isn¡¯t a model specially made for nail guns. The modification done to the nail gun by the killer is quite peculiar. The mostmon modifications performed on nail guns now are to make them shoot metal ball bearings, which have greater range and power. His modification only allows for a maximum range of about two meters; however, its power remains significantly strong.¡± ¡°There are threemon types of nail guns on the market: pneumatic, electromaic, and powder-actuated, with powder-actuated being the mostmon, also known as cartridge nail guns. Originally, they were essentially nails with a section of nk cartridge attached to them, simr to weapon-grade nks, hence called nail cartridges. Now, we have no cartridge cases left behind, only the nails, and they are not even special nails, which is troubling¡­¡± ¡°In terms of shooting residue, physicochemical analysis and infrared spectral examinations have been conducted. Trace evidence is still being processed, with no news yet.¡± Jiang Yuan listened and simply nodded. To speak of it, he had actually never seen a cartridge nail gun or nail cartridges before, but from the perspective of Tool Trace Identification, it was all the same. And as he watched, it seemed like a random murder case. The primary reliance for the person daring to undertake this was their Level 6 skill in Tool Trace Identification. As the saying goes, a goose leaves traces as it passes by, let alone such arge industrial product¡­ ¡°The nail is indeed amon model, but there is still a way to trace its source.¡± When Jiang Yuan came, he had already considered this issue and then said, ¡°Can we buy the same model long nails sold on the market topare?¡± ¡°There are many types and manufacturers of those nails. There are more small factories that produce nails than those that produce ball bearings.¡± Wan Baoming was a bit surprised and said, ¡°How about we wait for the trace evidence results from the nail cartridges toe out and follow that lead?¡± ¡°The killer modified the nails, it¡¯s probably going to be hard to trace the nail cartridges. But, let¡¯s walk on two legs here and check both.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t insist; his approach was admittedly more trouble, however, for a case of this level, it was totally normal to pursue two leads simultaneously. Moreover, considering how meticulously careful the killer was, it was not going to be easy to track down the culprit based on such a conspicuous w as the nail cartridges. ¡°All the same model long nails sold on the market¡­ Let me think of a way to buy aplete set.¡± Wan Baoming felt that if they could identify the source, it wouldn¡¯t be a bad lead. However, ordinary long nails were far toomon. Jiang Yuan then added, ¡°We could purchase the same model long nails from each online shop forparison. Also, buy all the same model long nails sold in Changyang City¡¯s markets and thenpare them¡­¡± Wan Baoming did not expect Jiang Yuan toe up with such a cumbersome method and said, ¡°How long would theparison take? The key question is, can it even be discerned?¡± ¡°It can. It won¡¯t take too long; as long as we buy enough nails and have aprehensive collection, we¡¯re sure to find it.¡± For Jiang Yuan, once he had the nails in hand, determining whether two nails were manufactured by the samepany was simply a matter of a quickparison. Wan Baoming couldn¡¯t grasp the strength of a Level 6 skill in Tool Trace Identification and was still frowning as he said, ¡°Even if they were from the samepany, they could be produced in different factories, and even the same factory might have different batches¡­¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try to get asplete a set as possible. If we start buying now, there¡¯s still a good chance to find ones from the same batch.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t concerned about whether they were from the same batch, but if a factory had different production lines¡­ ¡°Alright.¡± Wan Baoming could only agree. ¡°That¡¯s all the leads we have for now; let¡¯s give it a try.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t making any guarantees. Coming up with a potential breakthrough path didn¡¯t mean he had to takeplete responsibility for it. Wan Baoming naturally understood and, after deciding, first arranged for people to purchase nails from various tforms and markets. Although it seemed unlikely they could buy every single same model long nail from the market, upon further consideration, it was highly improbable the killer would expect the police to make a breakthrough from this angle, at least he couldn¡¯t produce long nails himself. If he used steel balls¡ªthere would naturally be supply channels for steel balls, and it¡¯s possible that some channels might be easier to investigate. ¡°At least it¡¯s a lead.¡± Wan Baoming put down his phone, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, ¡°Better than how aimlessly busy we¡¯ve been these past few days.¡± ¡°What about that suspect, could he be the perpetrator?¡± Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t find such details in the case files, as they were not confirmable. Since everyone present were their own officers, Wan Baoming slowly shook his head and said, ¡°The suspect was identified based on a description given by a couple who were hiking, merely because the timing was close to the second incident, but weck full human and material evidence. Now with the third incident, it¡¯s unlikely he¡¯s involved.¡± ¡°Has the suspect been to prison before?¡± ¡°Yeah, he was previously jailed for violent debt collection. Once released, P2P lending had all but died out, and he ended up unemployed. We initially thought he was retaliating against society.¡± Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t met the person and didn¡¯t say much more but then requested to see the body. The ultimate eyewitness in a murder case is always the body. Jiang Yuan, being a forensic doctor, left examining the bodyst, hoping to umte some information first for a more targeted approach. Wan Baoming had everything prepared and immediately took Jiang Yuan to the autopsy room. After the two left, the technical police officers at the Criminal Science Center couldn¡¯t help but discuss among themselves. ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, huh¡­ Looks like he also feels it¡¯s a tough nut to crack.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a forensic doctor. Now that he¡¯s looking at the body, he might find a new direction.¡± ¡°I heard that he went to Luyang City this time and cracked the case involving bodies buried by the highway, pulling out three people in one go. He even pacified Miao He County, filling up the detention center.¡± ¡°Otherwise, how could Chief Yu help Ningtai County apply for ab? There are only a few slots in the entire province. But this case is really hard to solve.¡± ¡°If it can¡¯t be cracked, there will be trouble. None of us will be sleeping, just waiting for the killer to strike a fourth time.¡± The several brigades of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment are actually on high alert already. Even if the case can¡¯t be solved in a short time, they want to prevent a fourth or fifth urrence. The atmosphere domestically is quite different from abroad. Police chiefs abroad who deal with serial killers can keep to themselves as long as they can take the criticism. But domestically, if uncontrolled serial cases arise, angering the leaders, anything could happen. Even the technicians at the Criminal Science Center have to worry about their own fate under the imminent thunderstorm. There¡¯s no time to sleep; in such cases, this may just be the beginning. For a moment, everyone fell silent. The Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center is also a significant investment for Shannan Province. As the main force of the provincial capital¡¯s crimeb, it actually has advantages in both funding and staff retention. Over the years, the performance of the Changyang City Criminal Science Center has been quite satisfactory, depending on whom youpare it with. However, this time, everyone hopes that Jiang Yuan will live up to his name. This is the peculiarity of the policing profession¡ªenvy and jealousy are eptable, but there must be someone who can shoulder the responsibilities. Moreover, unlike other industries, where a mutual understanding of ¡®you scratch my back, I scratch yours¡¯ might exist, it¡¯s almost impossible to have any such understanding between detectives and criminals. Criminals would have to give up far too much; only in chaotic situations would they cooperate with the police. For two days in a row, Jiang Yuan immersed himself in the quagmire of evidence. The forensic autopsy did not yield any useful information. It only rified some medical history of the three elderly victims, which was evidently toote to be helpful now. As for the nails ordered online, they were delivered continuously and piled up in bags. Soon, the office assigned to Jiang Yuan was so filled it became unusable, and everyone began to store nails in the warehouse. No one knew whether this approach would yield results, including Jiang Yuan himself. The only difference was that while the other technicians saw this as a significant project, only Jiang Yuan felt it was easy. Without the need for an auspicious day, once enough nails had been bought, Jiang Yuan first called Mu Zhiyang, then Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia. The four of them sat in the office, with twobeling, unpacking, and recording, onebeling and categorizing and responsible for filming, while Jiang Yuan sat at the table. He examined the original evidence nail again and again, even under a magnifying lens, and then started to go through the purchased nails, one by one. Whether two nails were manufactured by the same factory is somewhat distinguishable by theyman on cursory inspection. For instance, the color may vary; some are yellow, some silver, some gray¡­ In addition, there can be subtle differences in exact shape and size. Due to tolerances, nails of the same size 6.3*12 can seem thicker or thinner whenpared. However, this would only filter out some of the nails. There would always be nails whose color, shape, and size were extremely simr; nearly indistinguishable to the naked eye. ording to the other technicians¡¯ assumptions, to distinguish these nails further, you would need to use instruments for examination. And proving something is far easier than proving its absence; even if an instrument proved that two nails shared an element, it would still be difficult to prove they came from the same source. Moreplex instruments would be necessary. Yet Jiang Yuan seemed unaffected by such concerns. He sat in front of a clear desk with unexamined nails on his left and passed the nails to the right after inspection. Completing aparison was not only efficient but quiet as well. It was only when Wang Chuanxing started transporting nails from the warehouse that the technicians from the Criminal Science Center began to realize that Jiang Yuan was not joking around, but had actually mastered a skill they didn¡¯t quite understand. ¡°Are you reallyparing the nails? Can you tell the difference?¡± Wan Baoming rushed over upon hearing the news, looking at the temporary assembly line setup in Jiang Yuan¡¯s office, he was somewhat speechless. ¡°So far, I¡¯ve found three candidates. I¡¯ll know the final result after looking through the rest,¡± answered Jiang Yuan, not needing to exin anything else to Wan Baoming. He then asked, ¡°How are the results of the trace evidence analysis? Can you determine the origin of the propent?¡± ¡°It¡¯s determined, but it¡¯s not very useful,¡± Wan Baoming sighed. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The trace element analysis found a small amount of aluminum powder and gum arabic in the propent residues. In China, only threepanies produce propents, and the one used by the killer happens toe from Nanshan Company, thergest manufacturer. They changed their process in ¡¯86 and now produce 1.4 billion nail cartridges annually. There¡¯s no way to trace it further.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, knowing this was the expected oue, and continued to focus on the nails. Chapter 482 - 482 443 Keeping Pace ?482: Chapter 443 Keeping Pace 482: Chapter 443 Keeping Pace ¡°Xiao Wang.¡± Just as Wang Chuanxing hade into the warehouse to move somerge nails, someone called out to him. He turned his head and saw Pan Zhisheng, the forensic officer from Changyang City Criminal Science Center responsible for bullet mark identification. To speak of it, even in a provincial capital city like Changyang, Pan Zhisheng was the only technician devoted exclusively to bullet mark identification. And for this case, Pan Zhisheng had clearly been thrust into the limelight. Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t help but smile and said, ¡°Old Pan, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Pan Zhisheng sighed before he had even spoken, then said, ¡°I really don¡¯t know how to put this¡­ Can theparison with this nail that your Captain Jiang is working on be valid?¡± ¡°Do you hope it works, or do you hope it doesn¡¯t?¡± Wang Chuanxing¡¯s mood rxed, and with a chuckle, he beckoned Pan Zhisheng toe and help him move the nails. The nails purchased locally were generally in smaller packaging, after all, the detectives in charge of procurement didn¡¯t want to carry too much weight. But it was a different story with online purchases, especially from a store selling various types of nails. Buying just a small amount of each type could result in one superrge package. The all-metal weight was something you¡¯d understand only if you had lifted it yourself. Now that Pan Zhisheng had shown up, Wang Chuanxing quickly invited him to help lift thoserge packages of nails onto a small trolley. Pan Zhisheng had no choice but to lend a hand, while helplessly saying, ¡°It¡¯s not about what I hope; it¡¯s just¡­ To be honest, our bullet mark identification work mainly involves examining guns or bullets. Now, without a gun¡ª and no casings¡ªjust a bullet, and the bullet was even fired from within two meters¡­ This is¡­ difficult for me.¡± Within the realm of bullet mark identification, the mostmon task might be to determine the source of firearms and bullets, such as whether two bullets were fired from the same gun. But the toughest skill is actually to analyze the bullet impact marks¡ªto determine the shooting distance, direction, angle, point of entry and exit, and sequence of shots based on the marks. And for the more skilled, to perform ballistic analysis, calcting the angle of fire, angle of descent, and changes in the bullet¡¯s kic energy, etc. And all of these have nothing to do with nails. For Pan Zhisheng to even need a steel ball, let alone analyze ballistic traces. And ballistic traces from a nail¡­ confirming that the shooting happened within two meters could be considered a contribution. But Pan Zhisheng still worried that he would be seen as odd. Wang Chuanxing could understand him, but mostly he just found it amusing. He said, ¡°You guys have worked on nail gun cases before, right? I was doing some research a few days ago and saw that, on average, you have to identify over a dozen modified firearms cases every two months.¡± ¡°It¡¯s mainly because some ces up north have a tradition of modifying firearms,¡± Pan Zhisheng said, then, not knowing how to continue, he simply bent down and said, ¡°Let me help you with the nails.¡± Wang Chuanxingughed heartily, ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying, don¡¯t think too much about it. If Captain Jiang says there is a way, then there must be a way. There¡¯s a lot of things that we don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not in forensic identification, you don¡¯t get it¡­¡± Pan Zhisheng almost cried out, ¡°You¡¯reparing new nails, that¡¯s easy if you have two topare. We have methods for that. But now you¡¯re carting them in by the basket, how long can one possibly spend onparing and assessing each nail, and all by eye? You¡¯re joking, right?¡± Wang Chuanxing pursed his lips and said, ¡°If you want to talk about mysteries, Captain Jiang¡¯s examination of footprints is even more mysterious. One look and he knows the person¡¯s age and height, urate to the centimeter.¡± Pan Zhisheng nced sidelong at Wang Chuanxing with an expression akin to examining hardened toilet paper and said, ¡°The first great master in domestic footprint analysis was Ma Yulin from Inner Mongolia Zhaowuda League. He used to directly determine the criminal¡¯s activity route from the scene and followed it right to their doorstep. He had three disciples¡ªMiao Chunqing, Ge Youzhong, Yu Xinhao¡ªwho, since the early 80s, started conducting footprint analysis sses. There are many mysteries left in those stories. Determining age and height is just a basic skill for them.¡± Wang Chuanxing worked while listening to Pan Zhisheng recount history, then asked, ¡°So how good are your basic skills?¡± ¡°Those are the basic skills of a master.¡± Pan Zhisheng¡¯s expression fell as he spoke of himself, and he added, ¡°You have no idea. This case isn¡¯t just making Chief Yu anxious, but the higher-ups and the director are also anxious. If this drags on for a few more days, I¡¯m expecting to be summoned.¡± Wang Chuanxing gave Pan Zhisheng a sympathetic look but indicated he could do nothing to help. ¡°We¡¯ll see, hopefully there will be a conclusion soon.¡± Pan Zhisheng said this, but those in the know understood that sifting through so much evidence wasn¡¯t something that could be finished in a day or two. Even with several people helping, Jiang Yuan found that after a day of work, the warehouse had even more deliveries arriving than before. While Jiang Yuan was quick inparing nails, the number of nails piled on the desk awaiting further assessment was still growing. The forensic experts at the Criminal Science Center wanted to lend a hand, but they didn¡¯t know where to begin. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected that they would be able to help much. The forensic experts from Changyang City Criminal Science Center typically hovered between Level 1 and Level 2, and only asionally did someone excel slightly in a certain area, but it was highly unlikely that they would reach Level 3. In terms of the difficulty and workload of forensic work, these experts were certainly adequate, butpared to Level 6 Tool Trace Identification skills, the current experts weren¡¯t far from Muggles. The case seemed to havee to a standstill for the time being. In fact, the other detectives at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment were all tirelessly searching for clues on their own, but they had yet to have a breakthrough. After waiting for two days, Yu Wenshu finally couldn¡¯t sit still any longer and came over to inquire about the progress. Upon entering the office, Yu Wenshu saw Jiang Yuan working intensively, looking just like an ordinary forensic expert. ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± Yu Wenshu asked, full of expectation. Jiang Yuan lifted his head, taking the opportunity to ease the soreness in his neck and shoulders, and said, ¡°Looking at the current situation, there won¡¯t be any results within the next three to four days.¡± ¡°Does that mean, three to four days to review all the nails?¡± Yu Wenshu asked. ¡°Yes.¡± Yu Wenshu frowned, ¡°Then, is it possible that in searching, we suddenly find an identical nail, say, in two hours, we could suddenly confirm which nail it is¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s impossible. Because I am also looking for simrities,¡± Jiang Yuan exined frankly. ¡°What I¡¯m looking for now is the closest matching nail, it¡¯s a matter ofparison. Since the standards for nails are simr, it is impossible to determine an exact match.¡± ¡°This¡­¡± Yu Wenshu felt despair upon hearing this, ¡°So you mean, even if you find a nail, we can¡¯t be sure it¡¯s the killer¡¯s just because it was made by the same manufacturer?¡± ¡°That¡¯s one way to put it,¡± Jiang Yuan confirmed. ¡°Then¡­ then, if we continue this way, it will be very difficult to solve the case!¡± Yu Wenshu had rarely been so deeply involved in the investigative work of a case. Usually, he eithermanded directly or didn¡¯t bother with it at all, leaving it to others. His current concern was the result of the higher-ups pressing for urgency. Jiang Yuan put down the nail he was holding and said, ¡°This is the approach I¡¯m taking now. If there are other approaches, I think we can pursue them simultaneously.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± Yu Wenshu sighed. What he expected of Jiang Yuan was the kind of investigation where the detective would charge at a suspect¡¯s slip-up with determinedmand, just like they had done before. But Yu Wenshu also knew in his heart that for a technically-trained police officer like Jiang Yuan, solving a case was this kind of process: somewhat cumbersome and like putting all the eggs in one basket. But then again, taking another route wouldn¡¯t affect this one, at least. For a typical case, Yu Wenshu wouldn¡¯t havemented on Jiang Yuan¡¯s methodology. But now, he found it hard to wait any longer. After thinking it over, Yu Wenshu said, ¡°I¡¯ll try to think of a way to find some other clues. Let¡¯s push forward on several fronts.¡± ¡°I have no objections,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. Yu Wenshu also nodded, stepped out the door, took out his phone, and found ¡°Xu Taining¡¯s¡± phone number. He hesitated for a few seconds, but then resolutely dialed it out. He knew that spending money might not necessarily make them stronger, but without spending, he wouldn¡¯t feel at ease in his heart! Chapter 483 - 483 444 Heaven and Earth Net ?483: Chapter 444: Heaven and Earth Net 483: Chapter 444: Heaven and Earth Net Xu Taining took the public bus to the Criminal Police Detachment, a very simple impression overall, plus there was no need for parking; just a pair of polished police trousers and a dusty jacket, he sauntered into the Criminal Police Detachment. The new guard at the entrance only checked his credentials before quickly saluting and letting him through. These days, one really doesn¡¯t dare to mess with a simply-dressed old man in a jacket. Inside the meeting room of the detachment, Yu Wenshu had set up an operationsmand room for Xu Taining. Maps and topographical charts of Changyang City hung on the walls, a white porcin cup filled with green tea sat on the table, and his face was adorned with a smile, fully prepared and harboring a little ulterior motive: ¡°If you save a little through the gaps in your fingers, we can all have a bountiful year.¡± Xu Taining returned the smile to Yu Wenshu, picked up the green tea, looked at the map, and said, ¡°If we¡¯re cing maps, it would be best to switch to a bigger one.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ A map with arger scale? This one is already¡­¡± ¡°I mean the scope of the map¡­¡± Xu Taining drew a circle in the air with his hand and said, ¡°This is a map of Changyang City.¡± Yu Wenshu thought to himself, that¡¯s because we are the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Of course, he couldn¡¯t say that out loud. Instead, he carefully attended to the matter, saying, ¡°We considered that the murderer¡¯s actions for the several crimes revolved around the sights within Changyang City¡­¡± ¡°Your consideration is sound; it is indeed possible that the crimes are centered around the sights within Changyang City.¡± Xu Taining nodded and then said, ¡°But it¡¯s also possible that the crimes are centered around the sights just outside of Changyang City, or perhaps¡­¡± Xu Taining took out aser pointer from his worn jacket, cast a red beam, and continued walking along the map¡¯s edge, saying, ¡°It¡¯s also possible that they took ce along the ring road around Changyang City, or the ring highway.¡± Yu Wenshu feltpletely numb. Changyang was a provincial capital; the ring road was 50 kilometers long. To expand the search perimeter even further¡­ If they were to conduct a search, even if the budget of the Criminal Police Detachment was sufficient, it wouldn¡¯t withstand such expenditures¡­ The politicalmissar was even more frightened, afraid that Yu Wenshu would just agree to it; he quickly said, ¡°The entire ring road is under surveince, with checkpoints for getting on and off the elevated roads, equipped with high-definition cameras over the years. If the murderer took this route, it would be like digging their own grave.¡± ¡°What if they took the bus or a taxi?¡± Xu Taining countered. The politicalmissar was taken aback upon hearing this. Indeed, the murderer was only after killing, with no need to transport or dispose of bodies, nor to dismember and bury them. Carrying a nail gun, they could simply select or randomly find a ce to get off the bus, climb a hill,mit the murder, and then go home. There was no need to drive themselves, and public transportation would make it even easier to hide their tracks. ¡°If we were to cover such arge area, the expenses would be too high, and the bureau certainly wouldn¡¯t allow us to do a citywide search,¡± said Yu Wenshu cautiously. ¡°It¡¯s normal to be limited by conditions. The mostmon problem I encounter in searches, which I almost always encounter, is limited conditions, budget constraints¡­¡± Xu Taining said naturally, ¡°However, I suggest this range because I hope you can understand that it¡¯s impossible to be thorough. We must assume that the murderer is also under some constraints. If we don¡¯t make such an assumption, our budget will be an issue. But if we assume too small a range, our search may not be effective¡­¡± Yu Wenshu and the politicalmissar looked at each other and then understood that Xu Taining was giving them a warning shot. At the same time, both felt a deeper sense of fear¡ªXu Taining was giving them a preemptive warning. How much money was this guy nning to spend? ¡°Let¡¯s change this map,¡± Xu Taining said, twirling theser pointer in the air again. ¡°Okay. Howrge of a map do you want?¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s expectations had already been raised very high. This time, however, Xu Taining shook his head, saying, ¡°After you called me yesterday, I studied the case. I believe that searching the crime scenes, or rather, searching for the paths the murderer might have used to enter the crime scenes, is not very meaningful. The investment would be enormous, but it might still miss the mark; it¡¯s like spending money on a method that doesn¡¯t yield good results.¡± Yu Wenshu recalled the scope that Xu Taining had just outlined and fell silent. Indeed, the three incidents urred in three different directions in the outskirts of Changyang City, all in parks with nice scenery and small hills and visited by locals looking to rx, residents living nearby, and peopleing from the downtown area. Considering the proximity to the ring road and even nearby towns, searching the locations and paths of the crimes did seem like a thankless job. Moreover, if the murderer¡¯s actions were random, the locations might be random too. Although human randomness is often pseudo-randomness, and a rather simple analytical approach, such as drawing circles with the three crime locations as centers and looking at the intersection of the circles, may point to the murderer¡¯s residence or work area¡ªit¡¯s overly simplistic. In real crime scene analysis, assumptions like these, which depend on conditions such as uniform road conditions, no change of transport by the murderer, identical departure points for each crime, or no unexpected urrences en route, are far too presumptive. If, like foreigners, one only aims for a fifty percent solve rate for homicides, then such delineation wouldn¡¯t be too problematic. Chapter 484 - 484 444 Heaven and Earth Net_2 ?484: Chapter 444 Heaven and Earth Net_2 484: Chapter 444 Heaven and Earth Net_2 But having reached the point of asking Xu Taining for help, Yu Wenshu dared not circle around the issue. Yu Wenshu looked at Xu Taining with caution. As the saying goes, a dog can¡¯t change its habit of eating dirt; Xu Taining¡¯s extravagant way of handling things wasn¡¯t developed overnight. It was, throughout various levels of the criminal police in Shannan Province, gradually indulged. If he said he spent a lot, it might truly be a lot, but if you said he would save money, then you¡¯d be blind. ¡°We can check the surveince video, but I don¡¯t think we should put too much hope in it. In the middle of nowhere, if the murderer just wears a hat, holds an umbre, or puts on a hoodie, we¡¯re busy for nothing,¡± Xu Taining cut off another path. Yu Wenshu nodded gravely. ¡°For this case, I think it ultimatelyes down to the weapon. Because the most unique aspect of this case is the weapon. A modified nail gun¡ªwhere does the nail gune from? Where was it modified? Who modified it? I think if we solve just one of these questions, the case can be cracked,¡± Xu Taining said, breaking the case down into fragments, yet making it clear and understandable. A look of hope unconsciously appeared on Yu Wenshu¡¯s face. This analysis by Xu Taining was indeed much more meaningful than searching for evidence at the crime scene. Xu Taining took a sip of tea, slowly saying, ¡°There aren¡¯t few but also not many people capable of modifying a nail gun. My estimate, just Changyang City and its surroundings¡­ tens of thousands of people¡­¡± Yu Wenshu was startled: ¡°Tens of thousands of people?¡± Xu Taining: ¡°Those in the mechanical field, electricians, could all be possible¡­¡± ¡°Wait a second,¡± the politicalmissar said, ¡°Even if we do find them, how do we prove they modified the nail gun?¡± ¡°The three crimes were allmitted in the morning, two on workdays, one on a rest day. The distance between each was far, so their alibis will definitely not be watertight. We¡¯ll screen out a list, then look for further ways to narrow it down,¡± Xu Taining replied swiftly. Yu Wenshu knew that this was Xu Taining¡¯s way of working: when undecided, first screen the list. If few namese up, inquire specifically, use polygraphs, or undertake covert investigations. If many are screened out, search in another direction, cross-refer, narrow down the list, and then go back to the first step. If one were to say, Xu Taining¡¯s method of solving cases was also quite simple-minded, different from Jiang Yuan¡¯s simple approach yet more costly. Yu Wenshu missed Jiang Yuan for a moment, then took a deep breath: ¡°Let¡¯s do it. We¡¯ll do as you said.¡± This case admitted no further hesitation or waste of time. In the afternoon. While Xu Taining was still preparing, a reporter from ¡°Changyang Evening News¡± arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade. The reporter was invited by the bureau chief. With a pleasant attitude, very professional and serious, they asked quite a few questions, some of which clearly prepared with the help of a professional. Yu Wenshu obediently responded. He was now the head of the provincial brigade, so who came to him was a reporter; had he still been the head of arge team, it might have been a fruit tter, the intentions being roughly the same: the case gets solved, rejoice with fruit, sweetly sweet, with the reporter writing about you. If the case can¡¯t be solved, there might not be a report, but there would definitely be a briefing sent up. Yu Wenshu felt secretly relieved, thankful that Xu Taining was there. That way, even in death, there would be no regrets. ¡­ At the same time, Jiang Yuan was also rushing to examine the nails. The killer in this case had already murdered three people. Although the intervals between the murders were irregr, one cannot expect a serial killer to adhere to any sort of schedule, especially with these random killings thatcked any conflict of interest. It indicates the perpetrator does not follow social order and does not recognize existing moral standards. Therefore, the killer might start killing a fourth person at any moment. Completing the nailparison as soon as possible was the best breakthrough Jiang Yuan could see at present. Through the experience of numerous cases, participating and solving them, Jiang Yuan had gradually formed his own criminal investigative cognition. In his view, the killer in this case had definitely spent a long time nning, imagining, and designing beforemitting the crime. There is a fundamental difference between this type of serial killer and an ordinary person who kills. Ordinary people kill often due to conflicts of interest, which creates ties and handles. On the other hand, they usually only begin to n and execute a murder when there is significant harm to their interests, and even then, nning does not necessarily lead to execution. It often requires continuous harm to those interests or some triggering event to drive them to action. As a result, when ordinary peoplemit murder, they are constrained by interests, limited by time, and not least, by emotional impulses. All these factors limit them inmitting the act, making it difficult for them to reach peak intellectual and physical states. Serial killers are different. The core of a serial killer is an anti-social factor, or in psychological terms, ack of empathy. Ordinary people might brutally kill small creatures like ants or insects without hesitation when they are as young as two or three years old, but as they grow older, they do so less and less. This is the development of empathy and the result of social education. Serial killers are not like that. They have lost their capacity for empathy for various reasons, so their attitude towards humans is simr to that of a toddler towards ants. However, their intelligence is normal, so they also understand the demands of social morality and where the boundaries of thew lie. In order to evade punishment while satisfying their inner needs, serial killers often n murders from a very young age and wait until adulthood to carry them out. They have essentially self-trained. Facing such criminals, ordinary methods are certainly not sufficient. By this point, the police have probably already realized this¡ªthey would likely have already filtered out the weaker serial killers after their first crime. Jiang Yuan, looking at the nails, could even imagine the killer¡¯s satisfaction. The killer could have used steel balls, but instead, he chose to use ordinary nails, which are harder to trace, and even modified a nail gun for this purpose. This shows he was very aware that the ¡°bullets¡± fired from the nail gun were his biggest vulnerability. He could take away the cartridge cases, take the nail gun, be mindful of footprints and fingerprints, but he couldn¡¯t feasibly remove the bullets or nails from the scene, as that might leave even greater risks. However, from the work of these past few days, Jiang Yuan felt that the killer¡¯s remaining time was getting shorter and shorter. At first, Jiang Yuan was worried about not finding suitable nails, but over the past few days, his confidence had been growing. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view,paring nails and fingerprints actually had something inmon. What fingerprintparison seeks, is not an exact match either. It¡¯s about identifying feature points, sorting by the number and simrity of these points, then selecting the closest match from the candidate fingerprints and eliminating those with obvious dissimrities¡­ What is beingpared with nails are, in fact, feature points as well. The goal is to choose those locations likely to leave traces and keepparing. Now, Jiang Yuan could discard the majority of nails as soon as he got them in hand. Many of the reasons for discarding didn¡¯t even require a visual inspection¡ªthe weight could simply be felt in the hand and dismissed. This also allowed his progress to advance significantly. Who would have thought that Level 6 tool mark examinations would still have room for self-improvement and growth? Chapter 485 - 485 445 Satellite TV ?485: Chapter 445: Satellite TV 485: Chapter 445: Satellite TV ¡°This here is our police force¡¯smand center for operations. I heard that a major case investigation is currently underway, so we¡¯re not allowed to film inside¡­¡± the reporter from San Nan Satellite TV, Li Ting, dressed in a crisp trouser suit, beckoned the camera closer with a flick of her slender arms. Compared with ¡°Changyang Daily,¡± San Nan Satellite TV had a muchrger influence, which also indirectly highlighted the anxiety of the Director. Yu Wenshu cooperatively stayed by their side, ready to answer questions when asked and keeping an eye on the surroundings in case any police officer caused a media stir. ¡°Can we get a rough idea of the case under investigation? We¡¯re not going into specifics, just the preparations by the police side, like how many officers are you preparing to deploy, what kind of investigation methods will you be using?¡± Li Ting¡¯s demeanor was excellent, and she spoke in a tone of negotiation. Yu Wenshu replied seriously, ¡°Details of the case under investigation cannot be disclosed. As for the police deployment¡­ I can only say that we are deploying as many personnel and resources as possible in our efforts to solve the case.¡± ¡°Okay, we also wish the police a sessful operation!¡± Li Ting said as she lowered her microphone and signaled to the cameraman to turn off the camera, then she smiled at Yu Wenshu, saying, ¡°Chief Yu, you¡¯ve got to give us some information, so when we y the recordingter, we¡¯ll have something to edit.¡± Yu Wenshu managed a wry smile, ¡°We really can¡¯t reveal details of the operation right now¡­¡± Li Ting exined, ¡°There¡¯s no need to reveal details. Just let us see your preparations, such as the training the officers have done for this case, the equipment prepared, the emergency assembly¡­ It¡¯s like a documentary of a major police operation, you must have seen them, right? We will follow and film but won¡¯t broadcast it right now. We¡¯ll air it after the case is solved and with the necessary approvals.¡± Yu Wenshu started to understand a bit. However, his trust in journalists was very low, so he said, ¡°I¡¯ll make another phone call.¡± After a series ofmunications, Yu Wenshu finally returned and said, ¡°Filming is allowed, but absolutely no advance broadcasting. All footage shot today must receive written permission before it can be aired.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Li Ting didn¡¯t really care as she was also on a mission, and in fact, she thought Chief Yu was somewhat fussy. Of course, she was a beautiful woman, and a stylish one at that, so naturally she wouldn¡¯t put it that way. Li Ting still smiled and said, ¡°Chief Yu, shall we start by filming the equipment and gear you¡¯ve prepared? For example, vehicles and weapons?¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine,¡± Yu Wenshu rxed a bit after a series of phone calls. The journalists from the satellite TV were well-managed, and with the approval from the City Bureau¡¯s publicity department, there were many things they could film. It was like Li Ting said, the police had assisted with documentaries before that even featured arrest scenes. Still, a serial killer was too sensitive a topic; leaking such news would only cause panic among the citizens. Li Ting¡¯s request to see the equipment was much simpler, especially since the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had recently prepared quite a lot. Yu Wenshu proudly took Li Ting to have a look. The first stop was the parking lot, where rows of police cars produced an impressive sight. Dozens of them lined up together, and the severalrge vehicles beside them were the pride of the Changyang City Bureau. Li Ting immediately went up to film with the cameraman and asked, ¡°Chief Yu, does your recent operation n to deploy so many police cars?¡± ¡°This is just a part of it,¡± thought Yu Wenshu, Xu Taining was ready to screen tens of thousands of people, and once that started, it certainly couldn¡¯t be done slowly by dividing it into areas or segments. The first step would have to be to secure several key locations thoroughly. The less willing people were to participate in the screening, the more suspicious they became under such circumstances. Li Ting didn¡¯t understand all this, and she even specifically inquired about the allocation of police cars and the number of officers deployed. Yu Wenshu answered each question, gradually rxing his demeanor. Next, they went to film the police weapons and made sure to pick out a few workable firearms to be filmed too. After a while, Yu Wenshu even called over two somewhat handsome police officers to help with the staged photographs, which took about twenty to thirty minutes. Li Ting was somewhat satisfied, murmured a few words to the photographer, and said, ¡°Okay, Chief Yu, let¡¯s stop here for today. We¡¯lle back to film a departing scene when you start the operation tomorrow, alright?¡± ¡°Of course, of course. I¡¯ll have someone escort you out,¡± Yu Wenshu breathed a sigh of relief, hoping that Li Ting and the others wouldn¡¯t cause any trouble tomorrow. Tomorrow marked the official start of the screening operation. In the days before, Xu Taining had led several teams to conduct preliminary research. In the city, various mechanical processing enterprises withthes and saws had to be registered. However, such data was time-sensitive and more urately maintained byrger enterprises. The small factories and shops that opened and closed from one day to the next only briefly appeared in certain records. For this reason, Xu Taining dispatched the four teams of the Criminal Police Detachment, along with several staff members from the offices. Hundreds of people were divided into teams of two or three. They coordinated with local police stations in each district and county, and sought lists from the business, electricity, and environmental protection departments, among others. Only afterpleting the groundwork would he dare to start the investigation¡ªyes, to Xu Taining, the groundwork involving hundreds of people was merely the appetizer. When Xu Taining epted Jiang Yuan¡¯s invitation to go to Luyang City, he utilized a small army of just a few thousand people, which was already downscaled substantially due to local financial considerations. From a pragmatic standpoint, Xu Taining could be considered very adaptable. Perhaps because screening operations were so grounded in reality¡ªin the capital, tens of thousands could be mobilized for amon murder case. In a county town, where the total police force barely exceeded a thousand, screening operations served practical needs. Yu Wenshu hadn¡¯t even seen the journalists and photographers off to their car when his own phone began to ring. For a detective, a ringing phone inexplicably induced tension, especially as it got closer to the end of the workday. Yu Wenshu answered the call with a solemn face, and his expression quickly became unsettled. Li Ting, being a journalist, immediately waved her hand and pulled the photographer back over. Once Yu Wenshu hung up, Li Ting quickly followed him and without a word, fluttered her eyshes appealingly. For an older man like Yu Wenshu, who could resist such charm? He hesitated for a moment, then said, ¡°We¡¯re about to deploy a group of officers; you can take the opportunity to film that.¡± Li Ting happily agreed and then asked, ¡°Is it for a specific case that you¡¯re deploying? Can you tell me which one?¡± Yu Wenshu hesitated for a moment but didn¡¯t disclose anything. Soon, a dozen police cars drove out. Naturally, these officers were on their way to find the nail gun killer. Jiang Yuan had confirmed the source of the nails in the nail gun: a small H¨´ B¨£o factory store. The scale of the factory wasn¡¯trge, and its sole distribution channel to Shannan Province was online. Moreover, in recent months, besides Jiang Yuan¡¯s purchase, there were only three other customers. After a simpleparison, two of the customers were deemed to have a very low chance of being suspects. Only the third customer, who had not provided a name but left a mobile number, drew attention. On further investigation, the customer was single with their own ce, had no recent renovations, worked as an electrician, both parents had passed away, and had a reclusive personality¡­ It was as if all the pieces were falling into ce. The only concern¡ªor perhaps a bittersweet problem¡ªfor Yu Wenshu was how to face Xu Taining next. Xu Taining had gone to great lengths to help the client save money. Now, how should he tell him that all the preparations might not be necessary? Chapter 486 - 486 446 Bitterness ?486: Chapter 446: Bitterness 486: Chapter 446: Bitterness A wave of fit policemen came charging in, lining up to leave; soon after, a group of civil police maintaining their physique jogged to their vehicles, scrambling out of the parking lot. Lastly, a group of middle-aged officers hurriedly walked with a spring in their step. Li Ting raised the microphone, then lowered it; lowered the microphone, then raised it again. Watching as dozens of vehicles left, leaving the parking lot more than half-empty, she then turned to Yu Wenshu, signaling the cameraman to roll, and said, ¡°Chief Yu, I just counted, we had 67 vehicles drive out. This must be a major operation, right?¡± ¡°Of course,¡± Yu Wenshu responded solemnly. ¡°Can you describe it to us? In terms of our previous operations, what level does this 67-vehicle response represent?¡± Li Ting asked, extending the microphone. ¡°For this year, it¡¯s definitely thergest operation,¡± mused Yu Wenshu. If it weren¡¯t for preparing for tomorrow¡¯s operation, how could there be so many spare vehicles and personnel? He estimated that half of the main force of criminal police scheduled for deployment tomorrow must have already left. Adding in the criminal police who were following Xu Taining on outdoor duties, essentially, most of the criminal police brigade was out searching for the serial killer. Some people were truly on their way to make arrests, while others still thought the arrests wouldn¡¯t start until tomorrow. It was as if some students had already begun their college entrance examinations, while others thought the exams would start tomorrow. Yu Wenshu had no idea how he¡¯d exin this to his criminal police colleagues afterward. As a leader, it¡¯s fine to keep subordinates busy with work, even to the point of exhaustion¡ªthere¡¯s a justification for that. But sending people on a wild goose chase, wasting their time and energy, that reflects ack of leadership, and is most likely to cause dissatisfaction among the ranks. Though Yu Wenshu was inwardly anxious, it was difficult to tell from his appearance. The reporter took him to be anxious about the operation and pressed on eagerly: ¡°With such arge-scale operation, there must beprehensive preparations in ce. What kind of preparations were made for today¡¯s operation?¡± ¡°Regarding the operation, the first step is to assign tasks¡ªlike the most crucial arrest team, the long-wait surveince team. We originally invited technical investigation to participate, including the Graphic Investigation Brigade, the Cybersecurity Brigade, all supporting our work. Additionally, we asked the Traffic Police Brigade, local police stations, and experts from the provincial department for assistance¡­¡± Yu Wenshu was intent on reciting a thank you list, but as he spoke, he found he couldn¡¯t continue. They were about to make arrests, and Xu Taining was still conducting field research in the suburbs. He was an expert from the provincial department, and it was uncertain if anyone had tipped him off yet. Yu Wenshu sighed inwardly, then looked up and smiled at the reporter. ¡°Excuse me, I need to make a couple of calls, can we continue the interviewter?¡± Without waiting for Li Ting to say anything, the cameraman obediently switched off the camera. Yu Wenshu signaled his subordinates to keep watch and walked a few steps away before pulling out his phone to call Xu Taining. Some news,ing from his mouth, would be better than if Xu Taining heard it through the grapevine. As the call connected, he heard Xu Taining¡¯s voice, carried by the wind: ¡°Chief Yu, I was just about to call you. The reinforcements haven¡¯t arrived yet, and we are about to hit a snag in our progress here. It¡¯s almost off-duty time now. Any further dy, and it will be toote.¡± Yu Wenshu felt his ears and face grow warm as he quickly said, ¡°Director Xu, we¡¯ve just identified a criminal suspect.¡± Before Xu Taining could reply, Yu Wenshu hastily ryed the details of the suspect stacked with ¡®BUFFs,¡¯ and then said, ¡°It was Jiang Yuan who identified him based on the long nails at the crime scene, something I hadn¡¯t expected.¡± ¡°Did they really use a nail to identify the criminal suspect?¡± Xu Taining¡¯s voice paused for just an instant before he gradually returned to his normal tone. Compared to halting a search halfway due tock of funds, stopping a search because a suspect has been caught waspletely eptable to Xu Taining. Yu Wenshu was a little surprised, feeling the pressure suddenly lift as he hastened to say, ¡°Indeed, although it was amon nail, it¡¯s said that the nail was made from wire, and the wire itself was processed by factory rollers, each with slight differences in diameter. The cutting head of the nail-making machine is different, as well as the nail cover pressing machinery, the coating, and so on¡­¡± Listening to Yu Wenshu talk about the technology, Xu Taining couldn¡¯t help butugh. He was a senior police officer sent out for support by the provincial department, who didn¡¯t run apany and had no performance targets to meet, and he was still working with diligence, solely to fulfill his personal values and achieve his ambitions and ideals. So, the screening in Changyang City was cancelled, and of course, if it could have been done two days earlier, preferably three or four days earlier, to spare him these days of exhausting efforts, that would have been even better. After Yu Wenshu said a few more words and some pleasantries, feeling everyone¡¯s emotions had been somewhat soothed, he ended the call. Putting his phone away, Yu Wenshu let out a long sigh, feeling pressured from head to toe. Returning to the reporter¡¯s side, Li Ting smiled and said, ¡°Chief Yu, can we disclose some details of our operation? It would be best if we have some typical incidents or people, so that if it¡¯s allowed to be broadcastter, the story will be more appealing. After all, the public likes to see specific people and stories.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ Let me take you to meet our hero,¡± Yu Wenshu thought of Jiang Yuan at that moment. He had been so busy calming Xu Taining that he hadn¡¯t thought about how much money Jiang Yuan had saved him. ording to Xu Taining¡¯s screening method, once initiated, it would burn through a ¡°Huang Qiangmin¡± every day, and if the search continued, it would take over a week. Even with good luck, finding the culprit in three or four days, the money and subsidies spent would still make one¡¯s heart ache for half a year. And that was looking on the bright side. Even for Xu Taining, he did not have a perfect record of sess; if the culprit slipped through, Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t dare imagine where his career would go from there. Most likely, like the Baiyin case, he would search for clues year-round, not overlooking any piece of information, and finally wait for technological advancement¡­ From this perspective, Jiang Yuan represented technological advancement himself. The group talked as they headed to the Criminal Science Center. The apanying officers confirmed their route and immediately started sending messages furiously. Unlike the resource-strapped county bureaus, where they¡¯d begrudge providing an 18-person usage to a six-person room, the Changyang City Criminal Science Center had enough office space. Only when they arrived at Jiang Yuan¡¯s temporary office, did it be difficult to walk because of the boxes of nails. ¡°So many¡­ nails!¡± Li Ting seemed to think of something and quickly asked the photographer to start filming. Yu Wenshu was also amazed; he had been busy coordinating with Xu Taining, managing various resources, making all kinds of calls, and had not had time toe to see Jiang Yuan. He did not expect to find so many ¡°exhibits¡± suddenly filling the hallway. Thinking of Jiang Yuan sitting at his desk,paring one nail after another, probably straining his eyes, while he had been worried because he hadn¡¯t spent any money, fearing that he might have angered Xu Taining¡­ A trace of sourness welled up in Yu Wenshu¡¯s heart. He had previously thought Jiang Yuan¡¯s method too clumsy and slow, but who would have thought that the smart methods would lead to nothing but broken leads? Spending money hadn¡¯t elerated the case¡¯s progress, while it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s clumsy method that step by step, who knows how many nails werepared¡­ Yu Wenshu¡¯s eyelids were slightly moist. At that moment, Li Ting asked from behind, ¡°Chief Yu, these are the evidence you guys found, right? Can you tell us the story behind them?¡± Yu Wenshu: ¡°Hmm¡­ Speaking of which, it¡¯s a very inspiring story. Oh, you know about fingerprintparison, right¡­ Ourrade policeman Jiang Yuan creatively proposedparing long nails¡­ The process is very arduous, as you can see. All these nails piled in the corridor, and the room is also full of nails. Though a nail is small, and even though there are duplicates, the volume of duplicates is actually not significant¡­¡± Li Ting listened, nodding frequently, while the photographer zoomed in and out, filming continuously. Yu Wenshu, with full cooperation, proceeded along the narrow corridor lined with a wall of nails, emotionally saying, ¡°This is where ourrade Jiang Yuan works. Oh, there are still nails here, be careful¡­¡± After navigating through the knee-high wall of nails filling the room, they turned around and finally saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk and¡­dining table. The dining table seemed to be a simple round table brought up from below, connected to a power strip, and topped with an induction cooker. On the induction cooker was a solid-looking frying pan, beside whichy a basin of meat, a basin of lettuce, a bowl of dry condiments, and tongs and garlic to the left. Jiang Yuan sat there, grilling meat for himself, eating alone while looking incredibly hardworking and weary. Chapter 487 - 487 447 ?487: 447 487: 447 Jiang Yuan grilled beef slices. The slices were thin, cut by the beef slicing sage himself from the central market in Ningtai County¡ªover a decade ago, when Jiang Fuzhen was not yet flourishing, he was just an ordinary beef stall owner. Later, because Jiang Fuzhen he bought so much, the most hardworking and persistent beef stall owner in the market gradually evolved into a meat cutting craftsman. In recent years, with his hair graying, he had the air of a slicing sage. A person who cuts meat every day, after doing it for more than a decade, produces slices that are uniformly thin and perfectly marbled. When grabbing a piece of beef, the direction and angle of the slices naturallye to mind, and the meat slices take shape as expected. This state was also nurtured by the increasingly discerning appetites of the hundreds of people in Jiang Vige, from top to bottom. The thin beef slices, about 90% lean, let out a slight ¡°sizzle¡± when ced on the hot, barely greased cast-iron pot. Then, the tender red meat quickly turned pink, stiffened for two seconds, and began to show some gray. At that time, flipping the slices over, just one or two seconds were enough to pick them up and eat. The slices at this point were essentially well-done, and due to the cooking time and thinness, were extremely tender. Moreover, unlike steak tenderness thates from intramuscr fat, these tiny slices were fully cooked and lean. Their tenderness was a result of the muscle fibers being cut and proteins denaturing, offering a slightly different texture that was no less delicious than steak. Because there was so little fat, you could eat a lot of such beef slices without feeling greasy. When Jiang Yuan saw Yu Wenshu arrive, he first picked up the just-cooked slices from the pot, ate them, and took a sip of apple vinegar before asking, ¡°Chief Yu? Have you eaten? Come over and have some?¡± He looked quite polite and easy-going, but Yu Wenshu¡¯s mind seemed to be in another space. Originally, he had prepared to praise Jiang Yuan for his hard and impressive work. At first, he had nned to join Xu Taining in a costly investigation. Initially, it was because of a case that had left him frazzled. While his thoughts still drifted in the stream of time, Yu Wenshu¡¯s body reached the office of Jiang Yuan, who was expertly grilling meat. Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t know how to express his current mood. Li Ting held up a microphone and asked, ¡°This must be our officer Jiang Yuan, right?¡± As a journalist not afraid of entricities, even if Jiang Yuan were grilling an entire carcass in his office, she would first snap pictures, then think about how to coax a story out of it¡­ Jiang Yuan noticed the camera, put down his chopsticks, smiled and nodded, then asked, ¡°If you want to chat, let¡¯s sit down and talk. Please turn off the camera, as I have some evidence here that¡¯s not suitable for filming.¡± The only evidence he had were nails, but he also had meat in the pot, and eating under a camera was ufortable. Besides, eating meat in the office was as inappropriate for public viewing as fortune-telling would be. ¡°Let¡¯s turn it off first.¡± Yu Wenshu sat down opposite Jiang Yuan, sighed, and said, ¡°Howe you¡¯re grilling meat?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t eaten for a day and a night.¡± Jiang Yuan got a bowl and dishes for Yu Wenshu, then pointed to a ss jar, ¡°Inside is dipping sauce, dry seasoning. It tastes better with it, but if you don¡¯t like it, you can eat the meat in.¡± Yu Wenshu was taken aback, ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten for a day and a night?¡± ¡°Yeah, thinking it should be the fourth offense now, thest day, just giving it all I¡¯ve got today.¡± Jiang Yuan stuffed anotherrge piece of meat into his mouth, his face full of bliss. Embarrassment appeared on Yu Wenshu¡¯s face. Li Ting deliberately asked a foolish question, ¡°Why not eat? Taking a break to eat something shouldn¡¯t waste too much time, right?¡± ¡°Eating affects judgement, and efficiency would decrease,¡± Jiang Yuan simply replied. He turned to get bowls and chopsticks for Li Ting and the photographer, then smilingly said, ¡°Lucky I bought a lot of meat, I was starving. I bought a bunch, so we can eat without worry.¡± With that, he carefully picked out slices of beef from the basin and spread them on the grill. Sizzle. Sizzling¡­ The sound of grilling made the office feel cozy. Jiang Yuan then turned the fan-type range hood up to its highest setting, and the scent of grilled meat was sent whooshing out of the window. ¡°This meat is all from Angus cattle, very high quality. Give it a try.¡± Jiang Yuan encouraged just once before he turned the meat and began eating again. For grilling, Angus beef was almost the most suitable. Wagyu had too much fat and was only good in small amounts. It might taste better with rice. As for Chinese cattle breeds, it¡¯s natural they¡¯re not as tasty since traditional agriculture required breeds good for both meat and draft work¡ªnot being grown for consumption or perfect cuisine is nothing to be ashamed of, nor is it something to dwell upon. And this is not about a predisposition to being overweight. Jiang Yuan was very serious about barbecuing. It was evident he was truly hungry, focusing solely on eating the meat and showing no interest in the reporter and the squadron chief. Li Ting tried to start a conversation and asked Jiang Yuan about the story of the nails, but she got no response. Then turning her head, the cameraman quietly set up the bowls and chopsticks and voluntarily started helping with the barbecue. The savory aroma of meat filled the air. They just ate. All four people had their reasons for not wishing to speak, and only the act of barbecuing was enthusiastic and straightforward. A pot of meat was swiftly finished, and Jiang Yuan tore open two more vacuum-packed bags of beef to pour into the pot, continuing toy strips onto the grill with tongs. When this pot of meat was nearly finished, Jiang Yuan finally saw the system¡¯s notification: Taskpleted: Nail Gun Murder Case. Task content: The deaths of three consecutive victims left Yu Wenshu uneasy and anxious. To solve this case, he would do anything, seize the opportunity! Task reward: Vehicle Trace Identification (LV3) ¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s feeling of tiredness almost vanishedpletely. Vehicle trace identification was naturally a very useful skill. Although LV3 wasn¡¯t a very high level, it was certainly sufficient. On the other hand, this also indicated that the criminal had been captured. At the same time, Yu Wenshu¡¯s phone began to ring. ¡°We got him, lured him out to pick up a package and then nabbed him.¡± The jubtion of the criminal investigators was unmistakable over the phone. This case had gripped everyone, and they all knew the consequences if it wasn¡¯t solved promptly. ¡°Well done,¡± Yu Wenshu rose excitedly and asked, ¡°Did you find the weapon? Did you find the nail gun?¡± ¡°We found it. He was keeping it in his house,¡± the voice on the other end paused momentarily, then continued, ¡°We also found his crime nning documents, over a dozen pages. This guy really went all out tomit murder. ording to his n, he would have gone to Jinbird Ridge to kill in two days.¡± Yu Wenshu furrowed his brows, Jinbird Ridge was a bit of a distance away; if another murder took ce there, it really would have been a case of crimes blossoming in every direction of Changyang City. ¡°Good that he¡¯s caught¡­ good that he¡¯s caught¡­¡± Yu Wenshu heaved a sigh of relief, then asked, ¡°No one was hurt, right?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± Someone was injured?¡± Yu Wenshu was rmed, wasn¡¯t it supposed to have been an easy apprehension? ¡°Sort of. The injuries were minor, just slight wounds.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good,¡± Yu Wenshu repeated, then asked, ¡°Who was injured?¡± ¡°That would be¡­ Mu Zhiyang, whom Jiang Yuan brought over.¡± Images of several people nursing injuries popped into Yu Wenshu¡¯s mind as he asked, ¡°How did he get hurt?¡± On the other end of the phone, the investigator seemed to chuckle before continuing, ¡°During our capture, Mu Zhiyang actually wasn¡¯t nearby. Someone bumped into a shelf at the express service point, and packages fell from above, hitting Mu Zhiyang, causing some bleeding. It looked like a minor external injury.¡± Yu Wenshu was inwardly astounded by their luck; even if the package was lighter or the hit less direct, it wouldn¡¯t necessarily have resulted in an injury. However, since the injury had happened, Yu Wenshu naturally couldn¡¯t voice these thoughts and simply said, ¡°Make sure to write it up clearly in the report, it¡¯s considered an injury sustained on duty.¡± Chapter 488 - 488 448 Achieving Merits ?488: Chapter 448: Achieving Merits 488: Chapter 448: Achieving Merits The serial killer case was solved, and Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment celebrated as if it were a festival. Detectives, who relied on logic to do their jobs, understood very clearly that with cases like serial murders, if they failed to solve them, no matter the season, time, or celestial bodies, there would be no more holidays ever again. Unsolved cases weren¡¯t scary. The requirement that all homicide cases must be solved had also loosened in recent years, especially in provincial capitals asrge as this one, where it was unreasonable to force a 100% case clearance rate. However, the terror of a serial killer case lies in the fact that as long as you don¡¯t solve it, the killer will keepmitting crimes relentlessly until you discover and arrest them. They may stop in between, but that¡¯s their choice ¨C maybe because they got caught for causing a traffic ident, maybe because they got married, had a child, or were identally injured or died. The problem is that you don¡¯t know the circumstances, and at any moment, they could reoffend because of some trigger. For the police, such killers are absolute nightmares¡ªspecifically those capable of evading arrest. Most who fancy bing serial killers are just simple and weak perverts, and most never show their serial killer traits. They may get caught after killing their first victim. Catching a serial killer who killed three people in one go and had involved Xu Taining and Jiang Yuan was truly a relief. The director himself was greatly reassured, and the very next day after approving the arrest, the ¡°Changyang Evening News¡± published the report. Next came the interviews and reports from the satellite TV station, which edited the previously captured materials and released what could be shown, highlighting the team and featuring individuals like Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan. For the average police officer, this was quite a high-profile report. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care too much about it. Those who crave fame are the ones without money, hoping that with fame, they will gain attention and wealth. As a person from Jiang Vige, Jiang Yuan had enough of being the center of attention. If he wanted, there were plenty of opportunities for media coverage. Byparison, he was more excited about the award ceremony in Changyang City. Indeed, the merit evaluation from Luyang City had not yet been approved, but in Changyang City, they were ready to be awarded as soon as the case was closed, a true reflection of the different levels between cities. By the weekend, Huang Qiangmin had rushed over to Changyang City. To witness two detectives from Ningtai County being awarded second-ss and third-ss merits respectively. Jiang Yuan received the second-ss merit. Mu Zhiyang received the third-ss merit. Jiang Yuan truly deserved his second-ss merit; after all, it was achieved through his Level 6 skills, and he practically pulled out the serial killer all by himself, saving Changyang City a substantial amount of money. The director was so happy he might even dream with a smile on his face. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s third-ss merit was also well-deserved. His head was wrapped withyers uponyers of bandages, looking quite severe. No one would dare say that a detective who was injured in the line of duty wasn¡¯t worth a third-ss merit. The U.S. military even has a Purple Heart to acknowledge wounds received in battle. Mu Zhiyang, a detective from Ningtai County who traveled thousands of miles to Changyang City to help with the local case and fought bravely on the front lines, deserved a third-ss merit for his gantry. When the two were receiving their awards, the crowd below was full of cheers andughter. Moreover, in addition to the two of them, several other detectives from Changyang City received awards, not necessarily for this case. The merits umted before could now be cashed in. After stepping down from the stage with his second-ss merit medal, Jiang Yuan¡¯s system interface popped up: Criminal Image Technology (LV2) + Document Examination Technology (LV2) + Trace Inspection Technology (LV2) + Biological Evidence Technology (LV2) + ¡­ After the award ceremony, the skills that could be chosen were optional, and Jiang Yuan had looked through the entire list several times already. Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze wandered for a moment, without making an immediate decision. His current skills were sufficient to handle normal cases. If he really encountered a case that he couldn¡¯t solve in the future, it would only show that his arsenal wascking, and he could make a choice then. While his mind was racing, people from the policemunity everywhere came to meet him. As the provincial capital, any event in Changyang City was immediately known throughout the province. For the policemunity within the province, the serial murder case had absolutely top-level attention. In terms of case difficulty, such cases were only higher, not lower, than ordinary homicides or backlogged cases. The process of Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation had also proven this point. What bizarre methods! Nails make no damn difference! The prosecutors in charge of this case might as well have had their hair pulled out! And yet, the case was solved. Under such circumstances, said or unsaid, Jiang Yuan¡¯s fame had instantly inted. After all, what people secretly enjoyed was the bizarre methods. Some officers who knew Jiang Yuan, especially the captains of various detective squads, would greet him twice when they saw him and chat a bit more. Huang Qiangmin was directly squatting behind Jiang Yuan, taking the opportunity now and then to stand out and chat with colleagues who might not understand the nuances¡­ The banquet hall was filled with an atmosphere of joy. Li Ting changed into a smart shirt and skirt ensemble, her smile radiant as she approached Jiang Yuan, pretending to interview him. She extended an empty hand toward him andughed, ¡°Comrade Jiang Yuan, how are you feeling now?¡± ¡°Ha, I thought you were actually going to interview me,¡± Jiang Yuan said, noticing there was no photographer following Li Ting. ¡°We are from the satellite TV station. You¡¯re lucky if you get 5 seconds of airtime today,¡± Li Ting said half-jokingly, observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression. Having been a police officer for so long, Jiang Yuan¡¯s keenness had naturally heightened. He asked, ¡°Is something the matter?¡± ¡°Yes, there¡¯s something. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s appropriate to talk about it,¡± Li Ting¡¯s expression became a bit more serious. Seeking out a police officer for good news? Jiang Yuan scoffed, ¡°Judge for yourself. I can¡¯t make any guarantees for you.¡± Li Ting¡¯s expression faltered, then she smoothed her hair andughed, ¡°Captain Jiang, you really are cold-hearted. We just had dinner together at the same table a couple of days ago.¡± ¡°Criminal cases usually end up with a meal behind bars,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked. Li Ting quickly said, ¡°You misunderstood, I¡¯m not asking for leniency on any particr case¡­¡± Jiang Yuan nced in the direction of the banquet hall¡¯s entrance. Some of the attendees were already leaving, and he was also nning to leave. Seeing this, Li Ting had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, ¡°Captain Jiang, please wait. I have a friend who asked for a favor. His elder rtive has been kidnapped. The kidnappers demanded arge ransom and ordered no police involvement¡­¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes shifted back to her, ¡°They didn¡¯t call the police? When did this happen?¡± ¡°This morning. They reached out to me at noon, knowing that I often cover police news, in hopes I could help. They wanted to see if there was a safer way to resolve this matter,¡± Li Ting paused, then added, ¡°After thinking it over, I believe that if you, Captain Jiang, handle this case, it would be the best option.¡± She had quite imperceptibly ttered Jiang Yuan. However, considering the case, Li Ting¡¯s consideration was exceedingly thorough. Although she also knew Director Huang and Chief Yu, she wasn¡¯t actually well-acquainted with either of them, and given their higher ranks, let alone the likelihood they wouldn¡¯t keep it confidential, even if they were willing to keep the case secret to solve it, they wouldn¡¯t personally take action. Eventually, they would still have to hand the case down to a specific executive officer. In Li Ting¡¯s view, it was better to find Jiang Yuan. On the one hand, Jiang Yuan had his own team, capable of independently investigating cases while keeping the circle of those in the know as small as possible. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan himself was from outside Ningtai County and didn¡¯t have deep contacts in Changyang City, which, to some degree, meant he could maintain confidentiality. Li Ting had learned about some kidnapping cases. Although some were perfectly resolved, there were cases where unstable kidnappers killed the victims during, or even at the start of, the ordeal. If that were to happen, it would be terribly tragic for the victim¡¯s family. Jiang Yuan turned to face Li Ting and said, ¡°Bying to me, you¡¯ve already called the police.¡± ¡°I understand, but please help me. See if you can limit knowledge of the case to within your team,¡± Li Ting paused, then without any further attempt to hide her plea, she looked around and whispered, ¡°The victim is in the frozen food business, with apany worth nine figures. You could get involved in a private capacity¡­¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need money. Wait a moment, I¡¯ll get Director Huang over here,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he nced around and signaled to Huang Qiangmin nearby with his eyes. Director Huang¡¯s expression fell, and he frowned as he approached, ¡°This isn¡¯t a love story, is it?¡± Li Ting was toote to intercept and could only offer a smile to Huang Qiangmin, ¡°Director Huang, I¡¯m Li Ting from San Nan Satellite TV.¡± ¡°Hello, hello. Is there a case?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s sharp intuition kicked in. If it were anything else, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have called him over. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother with Li Ting, nodding his head and asked, ¡°A kidnapping case. Where did it happen?¡± Thetter question, he directed at Li Ting. ¡°Hongmen Market.¡± By now, Li Ting couldn¡¯t maintain her fa?ade. Hongmen Market was arge wholesale market in the southern part of Changyang City. Director Huang said, ¡°This is a case for Changyang. Changyang¡¯s people, a crime urred within Changyang¡¯s jurisdiction¡­¡± Li Ting coquettishly pleaded, ¡°Director Huang¡­ please help. Just let Captain Jiang take a look¡­¡± After pondering for a moment, Director Huang said, ¡°I¡¯ll have a word with Chief Yu. Don¡¯t worry, it won¡¯t affect the situation here.¡± Li Ting, however reluctant, could only watch as the circle of those in the know expanded. She understood in her heart that the moment the victim¡¯s family reached out to her, the notion of not calling the police was merely self-deception. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s go,¡± Director Huang said after speaking a few words with someone, then returned, leading Li Ting and Jiang Yuan out the door with a triumphant air. Police detectives from other counties would be asking for trouble if they took on such a case, but the detectives from Ningtai County could handle it. ¡°Has Director Huang left?¡± ¡°He has.¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan is amazing!¡± ¡°Ningtai Jiang Yuan, ferocious and rampant!¡± On their way, everyone, including detectives from other county police forces, greeted Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan with even wider smiles. Director Huang held his head even higher. Chapter 489 - 489 449 Thats it ?489: Chapter 449 That¡¯s it 489: Chapter 449 That¡¯s it The kidnapping victim, Chen Cangyun, lived in a residentialmunity not far from Hongmen Market. Despite being a highly valuable businessman, Chen Cangyun maintained a low-profile lifestyle. His residential requirements weren¡¯t demanding; he and his wife lived in an apartment of just over 200 square meters, which they¡¯d bought and furnished more than a decade ago. Chen Cangyun¡¯s parents, one brother, and one sister, along with their children, all resided in the samemunity and in the same building, in apartments of simryout. The Chen family also worked in their own frozen goodspany, drawing sries and bonuses. Chen Cangyun¡¯s abduction, therefore, sent shockwaves through the entirepany. Jiang Yuan led Wang Chuanxing, along with Huang Qiangmin and Li Ting, dressed in in clothes, to Chen Cangyun¡¯s home. The four blended in naturally, as if they were just ordinary residents of themunity. As soon as they entered the door and closed the security door behind them, the Chen family members surrounded Jiang Yuan and his team impatiently. ¡°How is it? Any clues?¡± ¡°Do we need to pay the ransom?¡± ¡°Can you find the person?¡± Everyone had questions, and they even repeated the same questions. Li Ting hurriedly stepped forward to exin. She had some distant familial ties to the Chen family and waspetent with logic. In just a few words, she exined the identities of Jiang Yuan and the others. Huang Qiangmin then stepped forward and said sternly, ¡°One at a time, who¡¯s in charge here?¡± He was grave like a police officer, showing no sign of being there to help. The Chen family immediately quieted down, and some nced towards the back. ¡°I¡¯ll speak. My name is Chen Cangshan. I am Chen Cangyun¡¯s younger brother. You can just call me Chen,¡± said Chen Cangshan softly as he handed over his business card to Huang Qiangmin and the others. ¡°I¡¯ve always been in charge of external affairs at ourpany, while my brother managed internal affairs. Logistics,munication with otherpanies, that¡¯s what I handle.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re called Chen, what about your brother?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked casually to establish conversation. ¡°People in the market usually call him Boss Chen,¡± replied Chen Cangshan. ¡°As for my brother, he mainly handles the sales within the market. He¡¯s familiar with every family and business there, and they all call him for goods. We¡¯ve been doing this business together for nearly 30 years, and it¡¯s always been going well¡­¡± ¡°Tell us about the kidnapping. Did anyone witness the actual abduction?¡± Huang Qiangmin inquired. Chen Cangshan shook his head, saying, ¡°We received a courier package, and when we couldn¡¯t reach my brother¡¯s phone, or the driver¡¯s, we then realized he had been kidnapped.¡± ¡°Was the driver kidnapped too?¡± Huang Qiangmin frowned. If that was the case, it suggested the kidnappers were not just one person, but likely more. Chen Cangshan nodded, ¡°The driver has been with my brother for over a decade, a man in his forties. That¡¯s his son there.¡± Huang Qiangmin looked where Chen Cangshan was pointing. It was a young man with a slightly immature face, his eyes swollen as if he had been crying, looking utterly distraught. ¡°The courier package?¡± asked Jiang Yuan. Upon Chen Cangshan¡¯s cue, another young man quickly ran to the study and brought out arge SF Express envelope. ¡°Can we find the person through the courier?¡± the young man asked in hope. Huang Qiangmin interjected, ¡°Don¡¯t think the criminals are that simple-minded. However, we will certainly investigate.¡± The Chen family remained silent, as they had obviously discussed this issue before. If the kidnappers used courier service, they would have considered ways to evade tracking; otherwise, if a single trace could lead to them, they might as well have made a phone call. Jiang Yuan put on gloves and carefully opened the courier envelope. Inside was only a note with printed words: ¡°Exchange the person for 20 kilograms of gold, no police allowed, or we tear the ticket, you have 24 hours to prepare.¡± The value of 20 kilograms of gold, about 8 million, might only be enough to buy two ordinary residential properties, but it was an amount that 20 average families might not be able to gather in cash. Even for the Chen family, pooling such a sum would likely be difficult. Chen Cangshan warily said, ¡°The package we received was from SF Express, and I also kept the courier¡¯s phone number. Why not call? Afraid of getting tracked?¡± ¡°Possibly,¡± Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t give a direct answer. The regtion of mobile SIM cards was getting stricter, and although there were still loopholes, they weren¡¯t as secure as people might think. Inte calls also posed a simr problem, especially in recent years with the prevalence of telmunications fraud; the police investment inmunication tracking was beyond what ordinary people could imagine. The news articles about ¡°someone repeatedly warned by the police but still scammed¡± actually hid the fact that as soon as one received a scam call, the police were aware of it. This involved systematic early warning, particrly on the server side, which was veryprehensive. However, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t possibly exin all this in detail to Chen Cangshan, so he vaguely said, ¡°Using a note has its advantages, such as allowing for a one-way conversation, which makes it hard for us to negotiate with them.¡± A one-way conversation also meant they couldn¡¯t demand to speak with Chen Cangyun. From this perspective, the likelihood of Chen Cangyun being seriously harmed had greatly increased. ¡°Do you know where the person was kidnapped?¡± Huang Qiangmin queried. Chen Cangshan shook his head nkly. With such risks involved, the involvement of a driver in the crime would increase significantly. To kidnap both the driver and Chen Cangyun together, it would require three to four people, or even more aplices to pull it off; but as a result, the money would have to be split among more people. On the other hand, if the driver was involved in the kidnapping, the situation would be much simpler. It might only require one additional kidnapper or even just the driver himself to abduct Chen Cangyun. Thinking this, Huang Qiangmin was somewhat scratching his head. After all these years of leading the criminal police work in Ningtai County, there was no storm he hadn¡¯t weathered. But to be honest, aside from those cases that were particrly obvious and straightforward, Huang Qiangmin had never found solving cases to be easy. He was like that student who barely managed to pass, only confidently and correctly answering the especially simple questions, like practice exercises or the giveaways on a test. Anything beyond that, he might score forty to sixty percent. But in the process of answering, for the standard questions, sometimes he might find a solution, and other times not, the only certainty was that none of them made Huang Qiangmin feel the questions were easy. The more he questioned about today¡¯s kidnapping case, the more formidable it seemed. No eyewitnesses, no video footage, no basic information at all ¡ª the chances for a straightforward investigation were basically non-existent. What was left was most likely to be carrying the ransom money and negotiating with the kidnappers. If they could catch the criminals during the negotiation process, that would be perfect, but if not, they would have to wait until after the negotiation waspleted to slowly solve the case. After all, once the negotiation was over, either with Chen Cangyun¡¯s testimony or his corpse, it would be more conducive to solving the case. ¡°Given the current situation, I suggest letting the police get involved,¡± Huang Qiangmin called Li Ting over, borrowing her identity in reverse, ¡°We are both friends of yours, and I won¡¯t hide from you. From the current case, it¡¯s clear that Mr. Chen is in grave danger. Passively waiting for the kidnappers¡¯ arrangements is just as risky. It would be better to take action and face it proactively¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t nning on solving the case privately, but after understanding the situation, he was firmly persuading Chen Cangshan. The Chen family actually didn¡¯t have any strong opinions and, after a few words, agreed to report the case. In fact, even if they had disagreed, the report was already filed, but after such a discussion, the cooperation level from the Chen family would be higher. And in a kidnapping case, the cooperation of the victim¡¯s family was inevitable. Once Huang Qiangmin stabilized Chen Cangshan and the others, he signaled Wang Chuanxing to watch over them, and then he pulled out his phone and called Yu Wenshu. During this time, Jiang Yuan was constantly scrutinizing the note through a horseshoe mirror. The LV3 Document Examination skill he possessed was obtained very early on, although he hadn¡¯t had much use for it. Now, this note was the most direct piece of evidence, so Jiang Yuan focused his attention here. If this kidnapping case eventually evolved into a sequence of paying ransom, surveince, stakeouts, and the subsequent chase to attempt an arrest and the suspect¡¯s escape, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have much to contribute. But with the note¡­ even if it was printed, there was an abundance of information contained within it. Soon, Huang Qiangmin finished his phone call, turned back with a reassuring smile, and said, ¡°All right, no need to worry. The Criminal Police Division has experience with kidnappings and will proceed as discreetly as possible. Also, do you have the capability to pay the ransom?¡± ¡°Are we going to pay it?¡± Chen Cangshan asked. ¡°To tell you the truth, solving the case is one thing, but to bring the hostage back unharmed is a much greater challenge. We don¡¯t know what kind of person the criminal is, what his personality is like. We can¡¯t predict his next move either. So, from the perspective of your family, I suggest you prepare as fully as possible,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as diplomatically as possible. The Chen Family understood and briefly discussed among themselves before quickly deciding to send two people to raise the money and purchase the gold. Huang Qiangmin nodded slightly without saying more. As a policeman, he had seen many kidnapping cases, most of which were of a murderous nature, with some kidnappings resulting in death from the beginning. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t predict how this case would progress, but with the Chen family¡¯s assets, gathering 8 million yuan as a chance to buy Chen Cangyun¡¯s life was necessary. Likewise, regardless of the kidnapper¡¯s choice, the ransom delivery process would inevitably reveal more ws to the police. ¡°I¡¯ll make a call.¡± Jiang Yuan said, after everyone else had finished speaking, taking out his phone and enabling the speakerphone right there. After two rings, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice came through the phone. ¡°Captain Jiang?¡± Meng Chengbiao was the only non-young member of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad and was the most steady. ¡°Yes, is there a case? Is everyone there?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Then put it on speakerphone,¡± Jiang Yuan instructed. ¡°Yes, it¡¯s on speaker,¡± Meng Chengbiao said, bing serious. ¡°I¡¯m on speaker as well. There are family members of the victim present,¡± Jiang Yuan rified, and then he briefly described the case situation before continuing, ¡°There are a few things you need to do now. First, the printer used by the criminal is an HP ck and whiteser printer, which can be seen from the appearance of the fonts, with the horizontal strokes and the shapes of the triangle peaks being very distinct. ¡°Second, the ink edges are frayed, with scattered dot-like toner, which means they¡¯re likely using third-party toner. Moreover, it¡¯s a low-speedser printer.¡± ¡°Third, the paper is a lower grade of 70g. Send it to theb for analysister to see if we can identify the specific manufacturer and model.¡± ¡°Fourth, the degree of wear on the printer is quite high, suggesting it is not a personally purchased home printer but more likely a printer from a print shop orpany. The ransom note was only torn off a small part, which looks more like it was printed at a print shop.¡± ¡°Combining these four points, you start checking the printing shops in the city, taking Hongmen Market as the center and expanding outwards in your search, leaving no stone unturned. Find printing shops that use HP ck and whiteser printers and use the same font and font size to print the same sentence out, take a photo, and send the original image to my email. Also, make inquiries about their paper types. If they use a variety of papers, print several samples.¡± ¡°If you confirm the print shop used by the criminal, maintain confidentiality, immediately request support, and check the surveince, including in-store videos and take statements from in-store staff. Also, don¡¯t wear uniforms to avoid rming the criminal.¡± After Jiang Yuan had issued his orders, he looked back at Huang Qiangmin, ¡°Can you let Chief Yu know? Ask him to send some people to cooperate?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Huang Qiangmin picked up the phone, connected with Yu Wenshu, and he really wanted to say: My folks are helping you solve another case. But because the family members were right beside him, Huang Qiangmin spoke kindly, ¡°Chief Yu, we have a bunch of leads for you here.¡± Chapter 490 - 490 450 Tracking ?490: Chapter 450: Tracking 490: Chapter 450: Tracking The Chen family looked at Jiang Yuan dumbfounded. Li Ting was simrly gazing at Jiang Yuan in disbelief. If she had a microphone in her hand and a camera in front of her, she would definitely shove the microphone up against Jiang Yuan¡¯s wisdom tooth and ask him, ¡°Is there something a little different about your brain?¡± Clearly, Li Ting wasn¡¯t the only one with simr doubts. Before long, Yu Wenshu called again and said, ¡°Everyone is arranged, I just want to ask about the printer brand, you mentioned it¡¯s an HP printer, how did you determine that from the font? I checked with the document examiners at the Municipal Bureau and they said it¡¯s not easy to tell without a code mark.¡± The content of LV3 was naturally hard to discern. Jiang Yuan said, ¡°It¡¯s an HP ck-and-whiteser printer. This is based on the summaries of predecessors and there are relevant papers on the subject, like ¡®Empirical Studies on the Characteristic Features of Common Laser-printed Typeface¡¯ and such, analyzing the typefaces of specific printer models. For example, for HP¡¯s ck-and-whiteser printers, there¡¯s a difference in the way the horizontal strokes start and end, the ¡®triangr peaks¡¯; theyout of the strokes in certain parts differs¡­ The font shapes produced by HP ck-and-white multifunctionser printers are different again, and so are those of the colorser multifunction printers when printing in ck-and-white¡­¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t go into great detail; in theory, not just the type but even the fonts from different models of printers would have some differences, but to identify such minute discrepancies, he would need to return to theb, examine under a document examiner, and study at a higher magnification. Yet Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was already sufficient for the non-specialists. Yu Wenshu, somewhat used to the current working environment, chuckled naively and said, ¡°As long as you are certain, that¡¯s good¡­ yeah, I¡¯ll request another squad of armed police toe over, and we¡¯ll strike immediately when there is news.¡± In dealing with kidnappers caught in the act, the police have always been full of martial virtue. In years past when explosive materials were not so strictly controlled, savvy kidnappers would strap explosives to themselves or even prepare grenades. In more recent years, even slightly savvy criminals generally know better than to engage in kidnappings. If someone was foolhardy enough tomit one, the criminal police would naturally treat it as a grave threat without any concern for the criminal¡¯s life. Two minutester, Shen Yaowei, Dong Bing, and Gao Yuyan arrived as reinforcements. When they got there, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s originally beaming face instantly turned cold as he addressed the Chen Family members in the room, ¡°Could everyone please hand over their phones for us to check?¡± The Chen Family was somewhat stunned, and a few of the younger members began to squawk in protest, but Huang Qiangmin paid them no mind. He wasn¡¯t really their good friend; he was simply following procedures. The newly arrived reinforcements like Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t even take a sip of the tea offered by the Chen family, and without any mental burden. Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing, slightly fierce, first separated the women to one side. Just as the situation was bing tense, the wife of Chen Cangyun stood up and loudly said, ¡°Everyone, please calm down. Director Huang hase specially to help us. We still don¡¯t know Cangyun¡¯s situation, so let¡¯s cooperate with the police as much as we can. We shouldn¡¯t be talking about privacy at a time like this. Is your privacy more valuable than Cangyun¡¯s life? Director Huang, here¡¯s my phone.¡± She handed over her phone. Seeing someone demonstrate ¡°profound understanding,¡± Huang Qiangmin put on a warm smile and said, ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be upset, this is standard procedure, it¡¯s not targeted at any one person.¡± After a hasty appeasement, Huang Qiangmin continued, ¡°Let¡¯s say that in most criminal cases, it¡¯s a process of elimination. I don¡¯t know anyone here, and it¡¯s meaningless to talk about trust without basis. Once you¡¯re cleared of suspicion, we can all readjust our mindsets, present a united front, right? The main issue right now is to find the person, right?¡± He asked twice, leaving the Chen Family at a loss for words. Gao Yuyan, with a touch of force, went forward with a basket as if she were a bandit and collected everyone¡¯s phones. Then, the officers sat together and called each person over one by one to unlock their phones in front of them and looked through them. There were some who got angry during this process, and Gao Yuyan would simply respond with a cold statement, ¡°If you don¡¯t unlock it, you¡¯ll need toe with us to the police station. Our technicians will force unlock it, but it will take some time, and you won¡¯t be able to return until we¡¯ve cleared things up.¡± After some struggling, everyoneplied in the end. Gao Yuyan and the others didn¡¯t show a hint of frustration; battles like this were all toomon for them. No one really expected their resistance to change thew. The way society operates in China is not designed for that. ¡°There shouldn¡¯t be anyone tipping off,¡± reported Shen Yaowei and the others after scanning through the phones¡¯ call logs andmunication apps. Huang Qiangmin felt a bit disappointed: ¡°So it wasn¡¯t done by someone from their own family.¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely not someone from our family, what are you all thinking!¡± Chen Cangshan, the younger brother, also became a bit temperamental at this point, his voice tinged with anger. Indeed, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s style was somewhat assertive and he hadn¡¯t fully considered the feelings of people like Chen Cangshan. Li Ting quickly stepped forward to soothe them and felt an unsettling alienation, as if she didn¡¯t belong on either side. Jiang Yuan found it a bit amusing. The young reporter was too na?ve, actually thinking that Deputy Director Huang could be freely enlisted at will. She hadn¡¯t seen how the police bureaus of every county in Qinghe City had recently been left bloodied by Director Huang¡¯s bite. Chen Cangyun¡¯s wife once again tried to smooth things over, turning back to Huang Qiangmin: ¡°Director Huang, we all feel your dedication and hard work. Just like you said, now that we¡¯ve eliminated the suspicions, it¡¯s better to present a united front. Please be at ease, as long as Cangyun can be found, your great kindness will never be forgotten in my lifetime¡­¡± As she spoke, she couldn¡¯t hold back her tears. ¡°Sister-inw¡­ ah¡­¡± As soon as they saw this, Chen Cangshan and the others hurriedly went over to console her. The elder sister-inw was the mainstay of the family, taking care of the elders and paying attention to the younger ones on a regr basis. She was wealthy, free, and invested, nearly omnipotent. Now, her sudden weeping left the Chen Family members at a loss. Huang Qiangmin took a seat on the sofa, allowing the Chen Family members to vent their emotions. He was feeling a bit tired now. Indeed, Huang Qiangmin had not directly led a case for some time, or rather, he hadn¡¯t directed any high-pressure cases. Although the pressure this time onlysted for a short hour, it still made Huang Qiangmin feel somewhat weary. ncing at Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin thought to himself: Moving from luxury to austerity is indeed difficult. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel much of anything. To him, just about any case he had been involved with recently had been more intense than this kidnapping case. It was simply because the criminal had left a note that disclosed too much information. The note happened to be a strip torn from a printed piece of paper, and it just so happened not to be torn at the part with the watermark. Otherwise, by looking directly at the watermark, one could discern the type of printer used. It could only be said that ordinary people trying tomit crimes using high-tech means shouldn¡¯t go where high-tech talent resides. Otherwise, the buyers are never as clever as the sellers, a saying that still holds true here. ¡°Captain Jiang.¡± Meng Chengbiao¡¯s call came in: ¡°We found the print shop. There¡¯s surveince at the entrance of the print shop, and a facial recognition checkpoint not far away. The identity of the criminal has been confirmed. Ji Yaowen, male, 32 years old, served two sentences, one for two and a half years and the other for seven years, released less than half a year ago.¡± Jiang Yuan gave a grunt and sat up, then asked the Chen Family members: ¡°Ji Yaowen, do you know this man? He¡¯s been to prison twice.¡± Chen Cangshan¡¯s eyebrows furrowed: ¡°The Ji from ¡®Lady Yu¡¯? The surname is Ji¡­ it must be Old Ji¡¯s son, ah¡­¡± ¡°Go on. I¡¯m on speaker,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he ced his phone on the coffee table. Chen Cangshan walked over and recalled, saying: ¡°Old Ji used to do deliveries, driving a 0.5-ton truck, mainly for short hauls. Later, he got involved in the market and thought about setting up his own stall. Renting a stall wasn¡¯t cheap back then, and you needed to have connections with the management. Old Ji barely managed to set up his stall, specializing in frozen fish and such. I guess his son started getting into fights over jealousy, and eventually went to prison. Old Ji spent a lot of money for that,pensating the victims and payingwyers. After that, the boy seemed to have been released but ended up back in prison shortly after. Old Ji then sold the stall and what happened afterward¡­¡± He turned his head to look at the others. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± The Chen Family members, who mingled in the marketce, had only vaguely heard of this person, but once he left the marketce, no one paid him any attention. ¡°Do you know his address? Or if his family has any sort of warehouse or simr ces?¡± Meng Chengbiao asked from the other side of the phone. The Chen Family members knew that this was key to finding Chen Cangyun. They all wracked their brains. Chen Cangyun¡¯s son pped his forehead and said: ¡°I know he was close with Xu Sheng from the market. Xu Sheng¡¯s family sells meatballs and dumplings, and Xu Sheng used to hang out and get into fights with Ji Yaowen. His family likes to buy property and has several rental apartments in their name!¡± Meng Chengbiao immediately asked: ¡°How do you write Xu Sheng¡¯s name?¡± Chapter 491 - 491 451 The Little Family ?491: Chapter 451: The Little Family 491: Chapter 451: The Little Family Before dinner, Chen Cangyun returned to his modest home of over 200 square meters in a police car. To him, today¡¯s experiences felt like a dream. Though he had faced perilous moments before, this time, the duration was agonizingly long. For nearly an entire day, Chen Cangyun had been engulfed in fear. Especially when he overheard the low discussions of his captors, he worried incessantly, fearing they would kill him or, like in TV shows, cut off a finger or an ear and send it to his family. In fact, the criminals had indeed considered this, but they abandoned the idea due to the additional scrutiny that parcels facepared to documents. However, the discussions among the kidnappers were always jovial and exuberant, fixated on their ns of where to cash the gold once they had it¡ªuntil a troop of police descended like divine warriors¡­ Frankly speaking, the retired Chen Cangyun had lived a long time and seen much, and he never associated the term ¡°divine warriors¡± with the police. But today, cries of ¡°Freeze!¡± ¡°Police!¡± ¡°Hands on your head!¡± ¡°Get down!¡±¡­ made Chen Cangyun¡¯s blood surge with excitement. ¡°This is Captain Jiang Yuan, and this is Deputy Director Huang Qiangmin¡­¡± Leading the team was Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu, who smiled as he introduced some of the officers to Chen Cangyun, who wanted to express his gratitude. Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t need to rush into the fray to rescue anyone, but he dly epted the credit for overseeing the operation. Today¡¯s case was sensationally sessful¡ªa frozen food store owner kidnapped, the police striking with lightning speed, cracking the case in less than 20 hours through analysis of the ransom note, rescuing all two victims unharmed! Thinking of this headline, Yu Wenshu felt as ecstatic as if he had savored a bubbling hot pot, with his body aromatic and his forehead sweating. Moreover, this achievement was something that neither Jiang Yuan nor Huang Qiangmin could take credit for. Back at the Chen Family, as Yu Wenshu introduced Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiang to Chen Cangyun, the credit remained indisputably his own. Tears streamed down Chen Cangyun¡¯s face, one-third contrived and two-thirds profoundly sincere. ¡°Thank you! Thank you!¡± Chen sped Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand tightly. From their age difference, he assumed Huang Qiangmin to be the main person in charge. Huang Qiangmin, a bit amused, quickly handed him several tissues. After Li Ting took some photos, Huang Qiangmin withdrew his hand, saying, ¡°Chen, your safe return is primarily due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation and judgment¡­¡± ¡°Thank you, Captain Jiang, thank you, Captain Jiang.¡± Only then did Chen Cangyun understand who the real hero was, and he thanked him again and again. ¡°Doing our duty as police officers.¡± Facing the survivors, especially those alive and well, always stirred Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotions. Crimes were never-ending, implying that there would always be many victims. This thought unsettled Jiang Yuan. ¡°This time, I really thought I wouldn¡¯t make it back¡­¡± Chen Cangyun, deeply moved, spoke with a tremble in his voice, ¡°Truthfully, my biggest fear was not having the chance to leave ast message, to hand over the matters I¡¯m responsible for¡­¡± All Huang Qiangmin could do was pat his shoulder again. Shortly thereafter, a detective came to take Chen Cangyun¡¯s statement. Though the case had been solved, subsequent police procedures wereplex, often more troublesome than solving the case itself. Only an officer like Jiang Yuan could extricate himself from such tedium. ¡°Well, we should be heading back.¡± Jiang Yuan bid Li Ting, Yu Wenshu, and the others farewell and prepared to go home. Hearing this, Chen Cangyun¡¯s wife hurried over, saying, ¡°Captain Jiang, please stay for a simple meal. My husband and I would really like to thank you¡­¡± ¡°That would be against the rules,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Huang Qiangmin also suggested, ¡°You should spend time with your family. If you want to thank uster, a banner of appreciation will do.¡± Chen Cangyun¡¯s wife, upon hearing this, didn¡¯t insist any further and turned to softly instruct her family. By the time the officers were leaving, the Chen Family had brought out arge amount of frozen goods: long Spanish red prawns, head-on Arctic shrimp, sliced silver cod, whole strip steaks, and ready-to-cook Buddha¡¯s Temptation, despite everyone¡¯s protests, stuffing it into the car. Huang Qiangmin was startled and whispered, ¡°Usually, showing military-civilian harmony with some boiled eggs is the limit.¡± Yu Wenshu was also a bit perplexed and quickly intervened, ¡°You really can¡¯t do this, and there¡¯s no use forcing it. If you do, we¡¯d just have to report it and wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy it anyway.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Chen Cangyun¡¯s wife knew these regtions too; her emotions had instinctively urged her to do something to alleviate the anxiety and tension of the past few days. Jiang Yuan eyed the off-loaded seafood and meats, licking his lips before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll buy it.¡± The other party mistook his intent, thinking Jiang Yuan had some way around the prohibition and cheerfully agreed, ¡°Alright, let¡¯s consider it sold.¡± Jiang Yuan asked for the payment code and their price list, and he transferred the full amount ording to the list. The Chen Family was momentarily puzzled, imagining there would be another process to follow. Then they heard Jiang Yuan tell Yu Wenshu, ¡°I¡¯ll keep some, and let¡¯s distribute the rest to the team.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s ie wasrgelyprised of money sent by Mr. Jiang for him to ¡°take leaders to meals.¡± This time, he wouldn¡¯t be embezzling any. ¡°How could this be eptable,¡± Yu Wenshu said hurriedly. ¡°Why not¡­¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand and drove back. Huang Qiangmin also waved back at Yu Wenshu, expression hard to read. ¡­ Evening. As Jiang Yuan returned to the residential area, he could see the brightly lit convenience store from afar. Pulling up in his car, the old men and women in front of the store had been waiting for him. ¡°Xiao Yuan, did you receive a second-ss merit again?¡± ¡°Jiang Yuan is really something, earning merits again.¡± ¡°The day after tomorrow is the God Parade, make sure youe help carry the g.¡± Compared to the first time he received a second-ss merit, the enthusiasm of the Jiang Vige People had visibly decreased. It wasn¡¯t that everyone considered the second-ss merit unimportant anymore¡ªthe societal recognition was still evident. People still knew what was impressive and what wasn¡¯t. However, having seen it numerous times, there was no need for the celebrations to be as extravagant. Of course, if other young people from the vige could earn a second-ss or even a third-ss merit, half of these old men and women would be singing and dancing, just like when Jiang Yuan received his first second-ss merit. It was only young repetitives like Jiang Yuan who could no longer excite the elders. Moreover, everyone¡¯s attention was now on the God Parade the day after tomorrow. Anything less than earth-shattering wouldn¡¯t move them. Inside the residential area, there were many bonfires, also part of the preparations for the God Parade. The vigers would be walking through these fires all day tomorrow, to add to their blessings and ward off disasters. Additionally, there were the indispensable banquet preparations. An ordinary residential block probably wouldn¡¯t allow such activities, but the property management at Jiangcun Residential Area was hired by themselves¡ªwhen the homeowners had a traditional management system in ce, property management truly became a service provider. Reluctantly or not, they could only allow the big shots to light bonfires in the residential area. Before entering his home, Jiang Yuan also stepped over a couple of the fires. To see one and step over it was precisely the intention of lighting the fires today. When he got home and stepped out of the elevator, two dogs, catching a whiff, started barking excitedly. Uncle Qiang came out and called inside with a smile, ¡°Jiang Yuan is back.¡± ¡°Uncle Qiang. How have you been recently?¡± Jiang Yuan called out as he changed his shoes and entered the house. ¡°I¡¯ve been good, gained two pounds recently and been working hard to exercise these days. Your dad is preparing the soup packets for tomorrow.¡± Uncle Qiang chuckled before taking the two dogs back. ¡°Dad, I¡¯m back,¡± Jiang Yuan called out and saw bright lights in the kitchen where Jiang Fuzhen was busily toiling away. ¡°You¡¯re back, huh? I was thinking you should be returning these days, and here you are with another merit¡­¡± Jiang Fuzhen mumbled as he continued to work in the kitchen. The soup packets were for cooking meat and were Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s secret technique honed over many years. The regr cooking of beef or mutton was an important process for refining his soup packets, and significant holidays were the asions for Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s new soup packet creations to be introduced. So, when a festival approached, Jiang Fuzhen would cook meat several times more often, while also testing the stability of his soup packets, much like an engineer preparing a product forunch. Seeing his father busy, Jiang Yuan chuckled, then decided to change clothes, wash his hands, and prepare to help in the kitchen. Seeing hime in, Jiang Fuzhen immediately asked, ¡°Did you cut up any bodies today?¡± ¡°No, today was a kidnapping case. Oh, and I brought back lots of frozen goods,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Then you go wash the dishes. Don¡¯t touch the soup packets; they require a good touch,¡± Jiang Fuzhen said, not having seen his son in several days, yet still unwilling to risk his soup packets. ¡°Then I¡¯ll cook for the dogs,¡± Jiang Yuan offered. Saying so, he upied another pot and made an army pot for himself and the dogs¡ªmixing leftover food from the house, which just needed a bit of organizing. Soon enough, the scent of the army pot wafted out. The two dogs almost got dizzy from the fragrance and began jumping and barking, unable to be controlled by Uncle Qiang. Jiang Fuzhen, looking skeptical, nevertheless took a piece of meat from his own pot, ced it on a te, and called the two Dobermans over to eat. The dogs trotted over and gobbled up the meat from the te in two bites, then stood by the kitchen door, staring at Jiang Yuan, continuing to drool with their necks stretched. Chapter 492 - 492 452 ?492: 452 492: 452 Jiang Yuan¡¯s military pot was made carelessly; it basically involved tossing in whatever was avable in the fridge. Despite this, when it was served to the two Dobermans, they were so excited they almost wanted to hop while eating. Jiang Yuan scooped a portion for himself, then shared some with his father and Uncle Qiang, saying, ¡°Give it a try, even the dogs love it.¡± Mr. Jiang nced at Jiang Yuan, ¡°Think before you speak.¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled and coaxed, ¡°It should taste good, Dad, give it a try.¡± When ites to eating, Mr. Jiang actually hadn¡¯t been so enthusiastic in recent years. Nowadays, he preferred to watch others enjoy the food he made; as for himself, he was content with something simple. Rich and hearty meals were more of a spiritual enjoyment for him, filling a void from the past. However, the dog food Jiang Yuan made today indeed had an enticing aroma, even though it was made from leftovers from the past couple of days¡­ ¡°Alright, let¡¯s have some, we¡¯re all tired,¡± Mr. Jiang invited Uncle Qiang to join them for the meal. The three of them got ready, sitting at the table, each picking up their chopsticks to try the dish. The steaming military pot contained over a dozen kinds of ingredients, all carefully cooked beforehand, and actually tasted pretty good. Mr. Jiang kept nodding as he ate, ¡°This is much better than the hot meals I make, your skills have really improved from having a hard time in the police force, haven¡¯t they?¡± With these words, the conversation shifted to Jiang Yuan¡¯s life. Memories of Master Wu Jun¡¯s red boiled eggs and Longli County¡¯s fatty intestine and chicken stomach dishes came to Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind as he said, ¡°Life is alright, just pretty busy, and when I travel for work, the hosts always treat me well with local delicacies.¡± ¡°It¡¯s best to eat what you make yourself. Didn¡¯t you buy a house? If it¡¯s too far, just buy another one so you can go back and cook at noon. If that¡¯s too troublesome, hire someone to at least prepare one meal. That way, you¡¯ll have leftovers to cook,¡± Mr. Jiang said, ncing at the two Dobermans, who had already licked their bowls clean, ¡°The dogs really do love your cooking.¡± Uncle Qiang, who was enjoying the meal, sensitively lifted his head. Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, ¡°Actually, the military pot I made isn¡¯t authentic, I¡¯ll make something different next time.¡± Mr. Jiangughed, ¡°A pot of leftovers, how could that be authentic?¡± Uncle Qiang, aware of what an authentic military pot was, said gruffly, ¡°ording to tradition, it¡¯s only authentic if you cook the dogs in it too, right?¡± The ears of the two Dobermans stood up stiffly. ¡­ The next day. Jiang Yuan spent the whole day in Jiangcun Residential Area, hopping over fire pits. The fire pits varied in size; the smaller ones were simply arranged with alcohol burners and covered with windshields, so that even very small children could jump over them, whereas the bigger ones were made with wood, but not too tall¡ªabout half a person¡¯s height when burning, with extra fuel ced on the side so that anyone who found the firecking could add more wood. The biggest bonfire would be lit at a little past eight o¡¯clock in the evening, and then everyone would take turns jumping through it. These were the perks of improved living conditions in Jiang Vige. In previous years, having two or three bonfires was already impressive, and even then, the adults had to prepare a long time for it. Now, it was much simpler, with truckloads of firewood purchased, not very costly. If one was concerned about protecting domestic forests, they could even buy imported wood. The cost of burning fire all night was less than that of a singlerge lobster. Yet the joy it brought far surpassed the expense. Especially towards the end of the cold season, everyone often felt stiff and rigid. Even with indoor heating making it as warm as spring, stepping outside required bundling up in thick clothing, and the opportunities for physical activity dwindled. Many people felt coiled up for a long time. But when the bonfires were lit and the crowd gathered, coupled with running to jump over the fire pits, thebination of these three activities warmed everyone up. By the end of the fire jumping, even the vige dogs joined in the fun. Mr. Jiang was having a great time and couldn¡¯t help but express his nostalgia, ¡°When we were young, with such strength and vigor, it would have been great. It¡¯s a pity, now it¡¯s not needed anymore¡­¡± He watched the vige youth, dressed in Supreme, Burberry, and LV, with a touch of regrets. Uncle Qiang also said, ¡°Indeed, if we¡¯d had so many tall fellows back in our day, we¡¯d have won eight or ten Bodhisattvas each year at the festival. Next year, carrying the Bodhisattva in the water procession, each one would have had to kneel.¡± Mr. Jiang, imagining that scene, couldn¡¯t help butugh heartily. Jiang Yuan knew that they were referring to the Bodhisattva-snatching event before the ¡°You Shen¡± procession, which would take ce tonight. After leaping over the bonfires, everyone would carry their shoulder poles, hoist up stools, and head to the Earth Temple in a mighty procession to wee the Bodhisattva. Viges in the vicinity would also participate in the wee, thereby setting the stage for an intense battle of snatch and grab ¡ª heads might literally be broken in the process. The Bodhisattva that was sessfully snatched would be carried at the very front during tomorrow¡¯s ¡°You Shen¡± procession. The more Bodhisattvas a vige had, the more prosperous and thriving it was deemed to be. Moreover, when the farming season begins in the following months, and water bes a contested resource, the vige that had secured more Bodhisattvas theoretically had the right to use the water first ¡ª as long as the water supply wasn¡¯t too tight, the viges generally adhered to this principle. The advantage was that it eliminated the need for potentially deadly conflicts over water. However, since the Bodhisattva-snatching and ¡°You Shen¡± were ultimately festive asions, people generally exercised some restraint and did not go overboard with thepetition. Disputes over water, on the other hand, were truly driven by vital interests. If the order of water usage was to be decided through armedbat instead of the prior Bodhisattva-snatching ritual, there would indeed be fatalities ¡ª and not just isted incidents, but deaths every year. Now that there was no need to fight over water, the Bodhisattva-snatching had be purely a fun parade. The strong young men of Jiang Vige didn¡¯t need to demonstrate their¡­ ¡°supple and limber roots¡± anymore. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even go to the scene of the Bodhisattva-snatching. He was tall and could easily be a target for the opposing vigers; an unexpected lump of earth flying his way might not kill him, but it could certainly crack his skull ¡ª it was simply not worth it. Themotion continued until about two or three in the morning. Jiang Yuan even made a point of checking the surveince room and, finding no abnormalities, quietly went home to sleep. The securitypany for Jiangcun Residential Area had been quietly established, with 24 genuine security guards hired to work in shifts. Combined with a monitoring system that kept watch, security had been greatly enhanced. Incidents like the theft of electric bikes at the gate had basically been eradicated. The next morning, families dressed up at home and lined up downstairs. Those who wished to follow tradition would wear ancient-style costumes, most of which were altered from stage costumes. Those with more sophisticated tastes wore embroidered garments, some donned armor, others put on lion dance outfits or Hanfu. The mostmon were the garments of gods or Bodhisattvas, embodying the spirit of ¡°You Shen¡±. Jiang Vige didn¡¯t have many requirements for such attire, as all traditions had been handed down within the vige. At most, they dated back four generations and, in reality, rules articted by people in their sixties and seventies were considered customary. If someone wanted to change something, the younger generation couldn¡¯t really object. Even those who were reluctant to participate, or had other ideas, would just wear their regr clothes for ¡°You Shen¡± without anyone makingments. Only those chosen to carry the Bodhisattva were scrutinized by the organizers, with only vigers in neat and clean attire permitted to participate. Jiang Yuan managed to get a spot in the coveted C position behind the Bodhisattva, tasked with carrying a g. The g was red, bearing no inscriptions, simply meant to be waved mboyantly ¡ª and that was enough. ¡°You Shen¡± has always been an event filled with joy. Now, with better conditions, it¡¯s harder for everyone to gather together. It is precisely these traditional activities that provide people with a reason to step away from their busy lives, from work, study, travel, eating, shopping, and other such activities. Jiang Yuan waved the red g as he followed the crowd, meandering through every nook and corner of the Jiangcun Residential Area. They set off firecrackers, lit bonfires, danced with lion costumes, sang songs and performed operas, and shouted slogans. From Jiang Vige, they proceeded to the old Jiang Vige for a circuit, then visited the ancestral hall adorned with ques of merit, where they sang and bowed in homage before returning the Bodhisattva to their original ce in the Earth Temple. Only then did they meander back to Jiangcun Residential Area, where a feast wasid out to satisfy their rumbling stomachs. Now was the time for Jiang Fuzhen to showcase his skills. For Jiang Fuzhen these days, his biggest fear was preparing food that no one woulde to eat. However, the thought of running a charity kitchen and dealing with the relentless scrutiny was too much for him to handle. The vige banquet was the perfect asion. Jiang Fuzhen did his utmost to disy his culinary skills, and everyone heartily indulged, which brought even more joy to the asion. At that moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s cousin Jiang Qianwen came up to him and whispered, ¡°Brother, help me check out a few prospective matches for me.¡± Jiang Yuan slowly put down his rib and asked, ¡°How many?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s start with one.¡± Jiang Qianwen pulled him along. Soon, the two stood by a wall, tilting their heads to observe a young man in a white shirt, who appeared to be in his early twenties, idly toying with his mobile phone. ¡°This one has the best credentials. What do you think?¡± Jiang Qianwen asked with enthusiasm. She was just over 20 herself and was not only unbothered but actually pleased that her family was eager to find her a match. After all, it was all in good fun. ¡°You need to give me his information first,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he lifted his binocrs to take a look. The binocrs were unexpectedly provided by Jiang Qianwen. Jiang Qianwen recalled the details, ¡°They say he¡¯s 26, about 180 cm tall, runs apany or something outside¡­¡± ¡°His age is a lie; he starts at 28. His height is a lie too; he should be around 172 cm, and with the height-increasing shoes, he might measure up to 177, plus the hair, which gets him to a reported height of 180. As for thepany he runs¡­ I¡¯m not sure if he actually owns apany, you can check that on your phone. But it¡¯s clear that he mostly does physicalbor; the calluses on his hands are already quite prominent. Of course, it could be a physicalbor-intensivepany¡­¡± Jiang Yuan put down his binocrs and turned to Jiang Qianwen. Far from looking disappointed, Jiang Qianwen¡¯s face lit up with a delighted smile. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. ¡°This way, no matter how we interact, if anything goes wrong, it¡¯ll only be his fault,¡± Jiang Qianwen said, very pleased with herself. Jiang Yuan pondered the logic in this, not entirely convinced that the Jiang family¡¯s genes had been passed down to Jiang Qianwen intact. Chapter 493 - 493 453 The Explosion Case ?493: Chapter 453 The Explosion Case 493: Chapter 453 The Explosion Case Early in the morning, two Dobermans burst from the building entrance and started sprinting the moment they hit thewn. Although they had a good time ying in the Jiang Family¡¯s living room on regr days, that joy was likeparing the slick, broth-coated Yangchun noodles to Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, both delicious and edible, but which one could make you leap for joy? Of course, it was Buddha Jumps Over the Wall. Uncle Qiang gripped two dog leashes in his hand, temporarily using them as whips, and started running along the perimeter of thewn to prevent the Dobermans from running off and bumping into pedestrians. The Jiangcun Residential Area initially didn¡¯t have such argewn, but there was quite a lot of leftovernd. Almost every household liked to fence off a piece and nt vegetables, some even considered raising chickens and ducks, but nobody ultimately seeded in raising pigs. However, the residential area was under the management of the vigemittee. In recent years, as everyone¡¯s conditions improved, and the number of elderly people willing to farm decreased, especially after Uncle Jiang Yuan took charge, he vigorously promoted zoning¡ªthat is, the re-nning of the vegetable plots, reducing their size, eliminating the raising of chickens and ducks, and increasing the area ofwns and greenery. Although some old folks were somewhat reluctant, the response from city-ustomed young people in Jiangcun was very supportive, so the dissenting voices from the elderly in the households subsided quite a bit. The two Dobermans happily yed, barking andughing. Shortly after, Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan slowly made their way downstairs, treading on the dog poop on thewn and starting to tease the dogs. The days after the parade of deities were typically very rxed. The parade of deities exhausted everyone¡¯s energy and made people eat and sleep too much, each person bing like a pig fattened up for New Year¡¯s, casually roaming around the residential area. Some more fashionable families, starting from today, began making ns to travel out of town. Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan, who were both not fond of moving around, performed rituals for their deceased rtives in their own private rooms, paid respects to Lord Guan, burned joss paper and lit incense, then strolled within theplex. Looking at the vast expanse of buildings in the distance, Jiang Fuzhen couldn¡¯t help but say, somewhat helplessly, ¡°Now I think about it, if we were still in the vige, I would rent another plot ofnd and build a cattle farm. Our family could cook beef every day and never run out. Unlike now, it¡¯s just a bunch of buildings, which is really upsetting to look at.¡± Jiang Yuan, following Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s gaze, spoke calmly, ¡°Dad, those buildings you¡¯re looking at are all ours.¡± ¡°I know, and that¡¯s why I say, it would be better to have a cattle farm,¡± Jiang Fuzhen sighed, ¡°If I had a cattle farm, I¡¯d work on cattle breeding every day. Maybe I could develop a breed that¡¯s particrly good for cooking.¡± ¡°Then buy a plot ofnd in the suburbs,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested. ¡°Didn¡¯t we buy some before? It¡¯s too far, about twenty kilometers away. I can¡¯t even be bothered to go there, andter they demolished it to build a highway. We got buildings aspensation,¡± said Jiang Fuzhen with disheartened resignation, ¡°My cattle farm has been demolished three times already.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, for some reason, inexplicably conjured up visions of a body farm. ¡°Shall we go back and cook some beef?¡± Jiang Fuzhen suddenly felt hungry. ¡°Sure,¡± agreed Jiang Yuan, thinking it was a good idea. ¡­ Buzz, buzz. The phone set to vibrate trembled softly. Lazily rolling over, Jiang Yuan still answered the call. ¡°Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s your rest going?¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was smooth and refined, like a sated, adult crocodile basking contentedly. ¡°Not bad, prettyfortable at home,¡± Jiang Yuan replied with augh, taking the initiative to ask, ¡°Is there a case?¡± Of course, there were always cases, but working on a case also required certain conditions. Personnel, funds, time, resources, and even the political climate had to be appropriate to proceed. Otherwise, the difficulty of many cases could be quite daunting. Huang Qiangmin hummed proudly, as if just returning from a wildebeest season, ¡°Let¡¯s start with a case from Qu¡¯an County, but this time there¡¯s a specific request.¡± ¡°Oh? What case?¡± Jiang Yuan slowly got up, stretched, walked a few dozen steps to the bathroom to turn on the water in the bathtub, nning to soak for a while before heading out. ¡°Have you heard of the Qu¡¯an Train Station explosion case?¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated before replying, ¡°I have heard of it, but that case seems quite tough.¡± The Train Station Explosion Case, as the name suggests, involved a train station and an explosion and naturally, there were casualties. Almost immediately after the incident, the case received attention from the provincial department. Subsequent developments were fraught withplications. It narrowly escaped being ssified as a terrorist attack, but it was also true that the case remained unsolved. Although Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t familiar with the specific details of the case, he knew that theplexity of such a case was definitely high; saying otherwise would be an insult. Moreover, he hadn¡¯t dealt with explosions before, and it felt somewhat beyond his skill range. His expertise in forensic anthropology could apply, but since the identities of the victims in the Qu¡¯an Train Station explosion case were clear, there wouldn¡¯t be much room for him to contribute. Huang Qiangmin, only aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s exceptional skills, answered with a trusting ¡°Hm,¡± ¡°Qu¡¯an County Bureau is eager to tackle this first. It¡¯s natural for them to have some demands, given that the train station explosion case is their most pressing unsolved case. It¡¯s definitely challenging, but such cases¡ªif we can handle them, we do; if not, there¡¯s no shame in it. Who from the provincial department was sent to supervise the case back then, and who even remembers it now!¡± ¡°Who is it?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Qiu Yue,¡± replied Huang Qiangmin, then added, ¡°I just checked the archives.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled slightly and said, ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll pack up and head to Qu¡¯an County Bureau first.¡± ¡°Good. Let¡¯s meet in Qu¡¯an,¡± Huang Qiangmin replied, obviously cing great importance on this case. If this case was solved, it would mark the officialmencement of Qinghe City¡¯s ¡°Cold Case Assault Initiative¡±. Such initiatives are carried out every couple of years by provinces, cities, counties, and ministries, and their requirements always vary. For example, in Qinghe City, when they first started clearing cold cases, it was normal to solve three to five cases in one operation. When it bes difficult to solve these cold cases, even the arrest of a single fugitive is considered a sess. In short, whether the task is rolled out or what form it takes, actually depends on the capability of the participating parties. After all, ranking is ultimately a matter ofpetition. A very important point is, if Longli County, Qu¡¯an County, including Ningtai County, all solve murder cold cases, the pressure on other districts and counties will be as heavy as a mountain. By then, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s work would naturally be much easier. Of course, each district and county could also rely on local resources, digging deep to strive for the breakthrough in murder cold cases, but what if they can¡¯t solve them? Huang Qiangmin was very familiar with the various precincts and county bureaus in Qinghe City, and he was clear about their capabilities. He did not rate their chances of winning in thispetition highly, because, in the end, their enemy was actually Jiang Yuan¡ªas well as their ally. After hanging up the phone, Jiang Yuan called Jiang Yongxin, then notified Mu Zhiyang to gather the whole team and set off. Jiang Yuan himself went to inform his father and Uncle Qiang, then took a shower, got dressed, and went downstairs. Jiang Yongxin¡¯s car was already waiting in the underground garage. Jiang Yongxin and his drivers were faster and more stable drivers than Jiang Yuan himself, which also allowed Jiang Yuan tomunicate with others on the phone and ask about the situation while in the car. Rushing all the way, they arrived at Qu¡¯an County Bureau, where the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation and the head of the criminal police team were already waiting in the conference room. Huang Qiangmin introduced everyone to Jiang Yuan and others, and the case analysis meeting was immediately held in the conference room. Generally speaking, the detectives from Qu¡¯an County Bureau had a good attitude but were not in high spirits. Jiang Yuan was not very good at offering psychologicalfort, so he treated everyone around as forensics professors, listening intently to the police officer in charge of the case briefing: ¡°¡­The explosive device was finally identified as a portable emergency light, located about 30 meters from the exit of the train station. It was next to a set of trash cans and appeared abandoned. This was also where many passengers chose to board their buses. In order to avoid the station¡¯s fees, buses would temporarily stop here to pick up passengers. The incident urred 8 years ago, when the station tacitly allowed this situation.¡± ¡°Due to this, the case quickly caught the attention of the provincial department, viewing it as an explosion targeting the life safety of unspecified multiple people, and organized an elite force to investigate¡­¡± ¡°The evidence collected at the scene was mainly in two parts. First, regarding the victim, the victim, Zeng Guoqing, was the owner of a nearby repair shop. He worked on repairs untilte at night and rode his motorcycle home around 4 a.m.,ing into contact with the explosive device. If it hadn¡¯t been for Zeng triggering it ahead of time, people would have started waiting here to board by 5 or 6 a.m. Zeng Guoqing died on the spot, with his left arm blown off and his right eye burst out, and he suffered multiple st injuries all over his body.¡± ¡°Second, about the explosive device itself. It was made of ck powder, using an electric nket¡¯s resistance wire stripped of its stic coating, about 1 centimeter long¡­ Four Nanfu size AA batteries were connected in series, with signs of solder at the joints, apparently detonated by heating the resistance wire¡­¡± ¡°The distribution of the explosive material was fan-shaped, the furthest being 20 meters from the st center, with bony human tissues found up to 18 meters from the st center. There was arge amount of blood and fragments of clothing at the scene, but the road surface had no obvious st marks¡­¡± As Jiang Yuan listened, he looked at the photos on the PPT behind the police officer. The scene was gruesome, but after eight years, even with his skillset, it was difficult to find a breakthrough path. ¡°The evidence and photos should all be avable, right? Let¡¯s start from scratch,¡± Jiang Yuan said after the case briefing, without offering any opinion. Logically, at a case analysis meeting, there should be some analysis, some direction for the investigation, but from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, he really had no analysis and no ideas. Yet Huang Qiangmin seemed very pleased, his lips curling up in a perfect 66.6-degree arc, boasting to the deputy directors and others from Qu¡¯an County Bureau, ¡°That¡¯s how Jiang Yuan is, quietly working on cases. Sometimes he just looks at some photos for a while, and bam, he cracks the case.¡± The deputy directors and others immediately offeredpliments: ¡°That¡¯s amazing.¡± ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, the name is well deserved!¡± ¡°A force to be reckoned with!¡± Jiang Yuan silently looked up at Huang Qiangmin, suddenly feeling like an engineer looking at a salesperson¡ªthinking that we could probably tone down the boasting a bit. Chapter 494 - 494 454 Put a Bell on the Cats Neck ?494: Chapter 454: Put a Bell on the Cat¡¯s Neck 494: Chapter 454: Put a Bell on the Cat¡¯s Neck ¡°How many unsolved explosive cases do we have in Qinghe City?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at the dossier photos on the desk and suddenly asked. Perhaps it was because the provincial department had sent staff to supervise the investigation, the Qu¡¯an Train Station explosion case left behind many photos, and the dossier was well-organized and detailed; however, the clues for solving the case were meager. Jiang Yuan had gone through them from beginning to end and didn¡¯t manage to filter out any useful information, so his first thought was to use his merit award to obtain an explosive-rted skill. Since it was an exchange, naturally he hoped that the skill he would get could be more broadly applicable, prompting his question. The conference room was filled with the police officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, each performing their duties and searching for clues. Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia, who also served as Jiang Yuan¡¯s assistants, started to look it up upon hearing this. ¡°No more. Just this case.¡± Huang Qiangmin, sitting at the other end of the conference table and bathed in sunlight, almost dozed off when he heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s question and answered without thinking. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, ¡°Just one?¡± ¡°Do you think it¡¯s a series of bombings?¡± Huang Qiangmin suddenly became alert. Jiang Yuan had made such a discovery in a serial murder case before. Jiang Yuan shook his head, ¡°That¡¯s not it, I was thinking about something else.¡± One skill for one case, if it was like thest abduction case, where circumstances forced his hand, he would exchange without much hesitation, as having more skills is always better. But as for now, whether the criminal dies sooner orter is not within Jiang Yuan¡¯s consideration. To exchange for a skill such as explosive trace detection might not even solve the case. If it was a current case, perhaps there was a greater chance, but for an old cold case from 8 years ago, whether exchanging for a Level 4 major skill or a Level 5 minor skill, the help provided would be limited. Inparison¡­ ¡°Call Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan said in a low voice, startling Huang Qiangmin. ¡°Should we call Liu Jinghui?¡± Huang Qiangmin was mostly surprised, ¡°Don¡¯t you usually solve cases just by looking at photos?¡± ¡°Director Huang, solving cases is never that easy,¡± Jiang Yuan remarked oddly, as the officers of the squad gave them puzzled looks. Embarrassed, Huang Qiangmin avoided Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze, wondering introspectively: Have I been overselling Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities recently, convincing myself first? Truth be told, selling the services of a civil servant to the government demands a certain artiction. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s frequent experiences over the past few days had taught him that the best selling points were a 100% sess rate, exceptionally quick resolution time, and remarkably low case-solving costs ¡ª after promoting Jiang Yuan so much, Huang Qiangmin had started to believe it himself. Thinking this, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression grew more solemn. As a criminal detective, losing objectivity was not eptable. He then added, ¡°I just think you¡¯re even better than all of the provincial department expertsbined. Although involving Liu Jinghui¡­ giving him a chance wouldn¡¯t be a problem.¡± ¡°We should still invite Director Liu over. There are very few leads for the case, yet there¡¯s a plethora of evidence. Director Liu might be able to connect some threads,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. The characteristic of this case, as with most explosive cases, is the abundance of useless information and the scarcity of useful information. Liu Jinghui seemed particrly well-suited for this type of application. By contrast, it would take Jiang Yuan much more time to examine each piece of evidence one by one. Seeing this, Huang Qiangmin nodded, ¡°Alright, the case was already participated in by the provincial department, it¡¯s appropriate for them to contribute a person too.¡± After saying this, he went out tomunicate. Jiang Yuan continued to look down at the photos, pondering each one. As with previous cold cases, the key issue lies in the fact that most of the leads were already pursued and investigated during the period of the current case in the past. If nothing was uncovered then, how could it be investigated now? On the other hand, the case involved a vast amount of information, most of which was useless. Eight years ago, hundreds of detectives were mobilized for various investigations and conducted three rounds of inspections. Not having solved the case despite such efforts also suggests the impact this has had on the personnel working on the case. At least, Jiang Yuan had never heard the name Qiu Yue before. Liu Jinghui only managed to arrive early the next day. He came by car in his police uniform, apanied by a driver. Much like Jiang Yuan, ever since he had encountered danger, he rarely went out alone anymore. Upon arrival, he didn¡¯t waste time. During the drive, he had already read a lot of dossier material. After arriving at the Qu¡¯an Police Sub-bureau and examining the photos for a while, he said, ¡°Just as I thought, the explosive remnants are the biggest evidence and also the hardest to find information on.¡± ¡°Should we investigate along the lines of the origins of the remnants? The task force back then had done a thorough investigation, and I didn¡¯t see any obvious ws,¡± Jiang Yuan, having looked at the photographs and read the dossiers, remarked. Nowadays, tracing the source of the explosive remnants directly is almost impossible. Most importantly, if no clues were found back then, retracing the same steps now without any new approaches and expecting a different oue is unrealistic. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°I don¡¯t have any leads right now. However, these explosive remnants are quite interesting.¡± ¡°Oh? How so?¡± ¡°Most explosive cases use detonators or fuses as the ignition device, and with the number of industrial and mining enterprises in our province, these items¡­ normally, if they couldn¡¯t be obtained easily, people wouldn¡¯t resort to bombings,¡± Liu Jinghui exined, following his own logic. Chapter 495 - 495 454 Putting a Bell on the Cats Neck_2 ?495: Chapter 454: Putting a Bell on the Cat¡¯s Neck_2 495: Chapter 454: Putting a Bell on the Cat¡¯s Neck_2 Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°However, from another perspective, this case was quite impressive. The explosive used was ck gunpowder, triggered by a battery. It¡¯s fair to say that everything was rather easy to purchase, yet the power was still decent. After 8 years, an explosion case of this level is indeed rare.¡± ¡°Simrly, after eight years, the fact that the perpetrator hasn¡¯tmitted a simr bombing is worth delving into deeply.¡± ¡°The perpetrator¡¯s original intention was not achieved since the victim detonated the explosive prematurely. Given this, why didn¡¯t they nt a new bomb? Or did they carry out explosions elsewhere, or perhaps, did the perpetrator¡¯s goal change? Or did the perpetrator encounter some unforeseen circumstance?¡± Jiang Yuan was taken aback; he was not familiar with bombing cases, and as for the types of explosives, he was also unclear. But what Liu Jinghui said made sense; if the perpetrator wasn¡¯t caught, then why hadn¡¯t they continuedmitting simr terrorist bombing acts? This was also the specialty team¡¯s greatest concern. The provincial department was involved right from the start to prevent such situations. In fact, due to theck of direct perpetrator involvement, the probability of consecutive bombings was inherently high. Take Hu, for example, who, because his girlfriend broke up with him and took away twenty thousand yuan, which he could not reim,mitted three consecutive bombing cases to attract attention¡­ What then was the purpose of the perpetrator behind the Qu¡¯an Train Station bombing? And did they ultimately achieve their goal? ¡°Time is our greatest disadvantage rtive to the specialty team, but also our greatest advantage,¡± Liu Jinghui, with his slicked-back hair and a crisp, clean cor, projected an image of high standards and charisma, exuding tremendous confidence. ¡°If no one has any leads, I suggest we start from the periphery and do some investigative work,¡± said Liu Jinghui, who imed to have no ideas but actually had his own ns, albeit they seemed to be scratching the itch through the boot. After all, guessing the perpetrator¡¯s intent blindly is difficult since the perpetrator¡¯s thoughts are sometimes truly hard to guess. Again, using Hu, the mastermind behind the three explosions, as an example, his real intention might have been sheer frustration wanting an outlet, or perhaps he just wanted to reason with his ex-girlfriend. Such internal motivations belong solely to the individual, and what the police can track down as truth is this: hemitted three bombings because his ex-girlfriend took away twenty thousand yuan. Who could guess such an answer? The others exchanged looks, feeling the significant difficulty. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help but sigh, saying, ¡°It¡¯s like a mouse trying to bell the cat.¡± That was his assessment of Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning¡ªgood reasoning, but how to execute it? Liu Jinghui chuckled dismissively at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s remark. What do these Muggles know about reasoning? Reasoning also requires information. It¡¯s a step-by-step process: reason, advance, gather information, and then reason again, forming a positive feedback loop that eventually leads to the correct result. Even if it really was about a mouse belling the cat, it wasn¡¯t an impossible task; there were always methods. Breaking down the task could involve setting traps, a multi-mouse attack, or nighttime operations, etc¡­ Of course, if there were an exceptionally skilled mouse who managed to bell the cat¡­ Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan expectantly and said, ¡°Let me do some reasoning, and you see where might be a good point for a breakthrough?¡± ¡°It¡¯s best if there¡¯s something tangible,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui smiled slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, ¡°Let me start with a few possibilities. The first is about the perpetrator. The mostmon scenarios for a sudden cessation of criminal activity are, one, the perpetrator¡¯s freedom is restricted, the environment is restricted, or there has been a change in life and emotions.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s the first point, we could check the list of people arrested and detained eight years ago. Moreover, we can look into the list of people who died or were seriously injured, including those who were critically ill during this period, those involved in traffic idents, especially those who died unexpectedly, particrly from industrial and mining enterprises, those with the relevant background and capabilities¡­¡± ¡°Second, there¡¯s the environmental factor; the perpetrator may have gone abroad, left the locality. It¡¯s also possible they were discovered by people around them¡ªthis can¡¯t be proven, but I think that if that¡¯s the case, we should look for more passive factors, such as going to college, studying abroad, being sent on business trips, ornding a job at apany in another ce.¡± ¡°Third, in terms of personal life, was the person dating during that time? Got married? Had a child? Or perhaps divorced, broke up, had a child or family member who fell ill, or they themselves suffered a sudden illness¡­ Also, got a promotion and raise, won a lottery, came into an unexpected fortune¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin and others initially had normal expressions, as situations where criminals avoided screening due to other offenses did ur, and they were fairly easy to investigate, with very certain times and names; it¡¯d just be a matter of taking the time to sift through the data. However, to Huang Qiangmin and the others, it seemed that Liu Jinghui was tending to be more and more excessive in his suggestions. If things like academic advancement and studying abroad also needed to be checked, even if Qu¡¯an was a small ce, that would still be an immense amount of work. In the end, even promotions and raises were considered, but how much of a raise counts? Does fifty yuan count? With such a broad scope, Huang Qiangmin felt like Liu Jinghui was about to examine every single person in Qu¡¯an County. If that were the case, it would be better to consult Xu Taining than Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui also felt that he had tied too many bells on the cat¡¯s neck and, touching his own neck, pondered and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s start with two directions in our investigation: one is the list of criminal offenders, which we can extend a bit in time, considering those whomitted crimes within 2 years of the incidents. Additionally, let¡¯spare explosion cases from other regions, including simr cases, as well as those that were foiled or iplete.¡± Huang Qiangmin listened and slowly nodded in agreement. The captain of the Qu¡¯an County criminal police also agreed, saying, ¡°Director Liu is indeed capable.¡± These two approaches were parts that the special case team couldn¡¯t investigate back then. Although the provincial department had dispatched staff urgently, after three or four months of investigation,rge-scale efforts had all but ground to a halt. On one hand, this was because all leads had been exhausted without result, and on the other hand, it was because the risk of serial explosions had decreased. Yet, decreased risk did not mean there was no risk. Some bombmakers, their perception of time is different from that ofmon criminals. They might spend months, or even a year or two, to modify explosives and perfect their ns. Therefore, a person who unexpectedly lost the ability tomit crimes during this period fell within the scope of suspicion that the special case team had not investigated. As for explosion cases or attempted explosions in other provinces, they too could potentially be the work of the same perpetrator, which could also exin why they had not continued tomit crimes. Compared to other messy spections, the two directions proposed by Liu Jinghui were within a manageable and controble range. The investigative costs would not be too high either, exactly the sort of approach the criminal police captains preferred. Chapter 496 - 496 455 ?496: 455 496: 455 The detectives mobilized on all fronts. Investigating cold cases consumed the most manpower. In particr, these old cases with unclear objectives took a long time just to conduct interviews. Recollecting events from 8 years ago required time, confirmation needed corroborating evidence, and writing dozens of pages of notes might still miss the main points. Conducting interviews was rtively easy; tracking down people could be more troublesome and difficult, as well as more time-consuming. Tackling such a murder case, who knows, several missing persons might even be located. The criminal police officers from Qu¡¯an County Bureau had noints, teamed up in pairs and hustled about their tasks, questioning individuals one by one, searching for people, and reexamining the materials from that year. The criminal police captain also anchored himself in the middle, not having gone home for three days straight. He sat in the meeting room all day, ceaselessly making phone calls, incessantly smoking, continuously coordinating above and below, nonstop smoking, smoking, smoking¡­ Morning. Liu Jinghui, who had slept for a while in the office sleeping bag, crawled out to find the criminal police captain with bulging eyes, eagerly scrutinizing several A4 sheets, which evoked a wave of sadness in him. He was experienced, and couldn¡¯t help but kindly remind, ¡°Old Han, you can¡¯t keep going like this, you should at least go home to sleep at night. The sister-inw might wait for you for a day or two, but how can it work if you¡¯re out every night.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t gone back either,¡± Captain Han¡¯s eyes shone like high-beam headlights. Liu Jinghui let out a ¡°heh,¡± ¡°I live in Changyang City, and I¡¯m here on a business trip now.¡± ¡°A speedy trip to Changyang takes just over an hour. Going back once every three days isn¡¯t excessive!¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t there traffic in Changyang City? It still takes an hour or two tomute.¡± Captain Han scoffed, ¡°You¡¯re working overtime all day, by the time you head home, just pick a time when there¡¯s no traffic toe back. Don¡¯t you even have that much privilege? What¡¯s the point of your shift then?¡± Liu Jinghui ¡°heh¡±ed, his spirits lifted by three inches, ¡°I¡¯ve discovered you really talk just like my wife!¡± ¡°Same kind of wife,¡± Captain Han curled his lip, ¡°Scolded for going back in one day, scolded for going back in three; it¡¯s better to wait for a week or two, then go back as a real person.¡± Liu Jinghui looked sympathetically at Captain Han, ¡°You don¡¯t have it easy.¡± ¡°Easy or not, what does it matter for a criminal police officer? Just being alive is good enough; if you could solve the case, if you could solve this case for us, I would be very grateful.¡± Captain Han¡¯s eyes, bloodshot fromck of sleep, seemed genuinely emotional, but in reality, it was all skill with no actual sentiment. Of course, his urgent desire to solve the case was sincere. The impact of the train station bombing case was quite significant, and now that there was an opportunity to solve it, everyone at Qu¡¯an County Bureau valued this chance. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have faced the risk of being cursed as traitors by other county bureaus and still cordially invited Jiang Yuan to work on this case. Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation was undeniable, and even Liu Jinghui also had quite the fame. Normally, it was hard to invite even one of them, but now they had brought in both at the same time. Without needing any pre-battle mobilization, Qu¡¯an¡¯s detectives knew they couldn¡¯t let this opportunity slip. Moreover, the cost of inviting Jiang Yuan was roughly known by the officers from Qu¡¯an, and Captain Han knew even more the price he had paid. To use an NBA analogy, they had traded away several years of first-round picks, second-round picks, plus several role yers, just for Jiang Yuan alone. And it was per urrence. Thinking about it, the deal felt like a loss, but if you want immediate results, you either win on your own, trade the future for today¡¯s victory, or you just fantasize. From Captain Han¡¯s perspective, if he didn¡¯t make full use of such an expensive hire now, where would he go to find overseas help in the future? Actually, in normal years with regr cases, there was no need for such anxiety, nor to use so many funds, personnel, vehicles, instruments, and equipment¡­ Just allocate a bit here and there¡­ Commissioner Han exhaled deeply, ¡°The list of suspects is shrinking quickly, from an initial notebook to just a few pages now, without any substantial leads.¡± Liu Jinghui knew what he meant and with a nod, said, ¡°Sometimes, that¡¯s how it is.¡± ¡°Can we still find them?¡± ¡°If not this round, then the next. You¡¯re an experienced detective captain, solving cases is like this¡­¡± Liu Jinghui sighed helplessly. Compared to other violent crimes, the suspects of bombing cases are quite special; they first need to have the relevant knowledge. Even if they haven¡¯t studied it, they should at least have basic learning capabilities and a foundational understanding. For instance, in this case, the culprit must have at least some basic electrical knowledge to twist two wires together. Actually, the requirements are definitely higher; the innovations in the explosives in this case are such that without years of rtively specialized training, it would be unlikely for anyone to think of using this method. Even if copied, such knowledge isn¡¯t something one could obtain by simply reading newspapers. At the bare minimum, the culprit must have read some books or reviews on the topic. Taking the lowest standard into ount, the culprit must be literate, can read, understands electrical knowledge, and knows a bit about the basics of explosives¡ªdon¡¯t underestimate these requirements; they can eliminate most of the people on the list. It¡¯s like using the ¡°985¡± standard to filter out ¡°857¡±; effortlessly it culls 90%. The reduction in the suspect list naturally weighs heavily on their hearts. This screening method, they hope, would yield results mid-process; oues at the very end are rare. They are not really executing a random algorithm. At the beginning, they might follow the list methodically, but in practice, they surely aim for the most likely suspects first, and by the end, when only a few names remain, the chances of finding the culprit are low. From Captain Han¡¯s viewpoint, this means that for these three days, the hard work of his whole team of over a hundred people was in vain. Or rather, it was the cost of trial and error. Although Captain Han had no real reason toin, he couldn¡¯t help but sigh, ¡°Director Liu, I did agree with your judgment that the murderer might havemitted crimester on, or in other ces. But now after doing all this¡­ could it be we missed something?¡± He looked at Liu Jinghui, hoping Liu could give him a definitive answer. However, the freshly woken Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t some ethereal maiden there to provide psychologicalfort, and he bluntly said, ¡°Missing something is very possible, but if we missed something, there¡¯s nothing that can be done about it. We can only go back and start over with other ns.¡± Captain Han looked at Liu Jinghui with a look of silent reproach, as freezing as he, his sleeping bag, and the frost outside the window. A set of reproachful eyes filled with skill seemed to have a slight effect, after all. Liu Jinghui was marginally moved, let out a sigh and said, ¡°Let¡¯s just say that, in my experience, the multiple lists from multiple approaches will actually have some intersections. It¡¯s unlikely that the murderer would only show up on a single list; that¡¯s leaving too much to chance. The most likely scenario is that the killer keeps appearing in our sight. Eventually, there will be an opportunity to pinpoint him.¡± ¡°What use is talking about theory now, give me something concrete,¡± Captain Han said. ¡°Concrete¡­¡± cornered, Liu Jinghui simply replied, ¡°If you want something really concrete, then you should go to Jiang Yuan.¡± In the midst of their talk, Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang pushed the door open and entered. ¡°Oh, Director Liu and Captain Han are both here. Did you two spend the night here?¡± Mu Zhiyang innocently uttered something quite incongruous. Captain Han¡¯s face darkened. Did the kid really dare to tease me? Liu Jinghui coughed twice and asked, ¡°Were you sleeping with Jiang Yuanst night, Xiao Mu?¡± Captain Han¡¯s expression immediately softened¡ªif that was the case¡­ ¡°No results from the list,¡± Liu Jinghui said abruptly, shifting Captain Han¡¯s thoughts. Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was captured as well. ¡°Have you ruled them all out?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. ¡°Basically,¡± Liu Jinghui replied. Jiang Yuan felt a bit disappointed, ¡°So it seems logical deduction doesn¡¯t work either.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ who says deduction doesn¡¯t work!¡± Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t stand this kind ofment. His mouth twitching, he put on a Sherlock Holmes-like smile and said, ¡°Let me think.¡± Jiang Yuan signaled to Mu Zhiyang, and the two of them sat down at the conference table, taking out the photos from the previous day that they hadn¡¯t finished from the cab and going through them one by one again. It had been several days since the beginning, and Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t even finished looking at all the photos and case files, which suggested how extensive the investigation had been during the active phase of the case. Unfortunately, it hadn¡¯t been fruitful. After a long while. Liu Jinghui spoke thoughtfully, ¡°Logically, when the investigation of the motive has hit a dead end, we should proceed by examining the method of the crime. However, the previous special task force has thoroughly investigated that aspect.¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and slowly said, ¡°Given the extent of our investigation now, I think it¡¯s time to bring out that famous line from detective novels.¡± ¡°Which line?¡± ¡°¡®When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!''¡± Liu Jinghui seemed to radiate with an aureole of gold as he spoke those words. For those who delve into deduction, just pondering this sentence can send an exhrating shiver through their whole body. Unfortunately, the scene was inhabited only by a few pragmatist detectives, as calm as Muggles. Being the eldest, Captain Han, constrained by the subtleties of adult interaction, let out a sigh and asked, ¡°Director Liu, could you please be more specific?¡± Pleased, Liu Jinghui nodded and said, ¡°After the case was ssified as an explosion targeting an unspecified multitude, we can say we¡¯ve screened and screened again. These past few days, we¡¯ve even taken time into consideration and screened once more, but without finding anything¡­¡± Liu Jinghui clenched one fist lightly and thumped it, ¡°So it seems, maybe it¡¯s time to rule out the explosion targeting non-specific individuals!¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Captain Han asked, puzzled. ¡°What if it was targeting a specific person?¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice lowered. ¡°What if we approach this case as amon murder?¡± Chapter 497 - 497 456 ?497: 456 497: 456 ¡°In a typical murder case, is the murder target the victim?¡± Captain Han asked, still ying the straight man to Liu Jinghui¡¯sic routine, but at the same time, he posed a very critical question. If the target of the murder is the victim, then there must be a motive. If not, then who could it be? Actually, this was not an easy question to answer. Liu Jinghui, recalling the case files he had reviewed, mused, ¡°The victim is a local, in his thirties, owned a motorcycle repair shop. The business was doing alright, only his cousin was helping out in the shop, his wife along with their children would asionally help with the cashier duties and tidying up the store, and they all said they didn¡¯t offend anyone¡­¡± Captain Han listened in silence, and from just that statement, it was clear that when Liu Jinghui mentioned ¡°eliminating all impossibilities¡­¡± earlier, he wasn¡¯t just talking nonsense out of desperation; he had really contemted this issue. In the morning meeting room, there were only four people present¡ªjust the right environment for exchanging ideas. Liu Jinghui had no reservations and continued, ¡°If the victim was indeed the target, then everything makes sense. The perpetrator achieved their goal, and naturally, there would be no need for further explosions. The explosives were ced at the train station, which was also on the unavoidable route from the motorcycle repair shop to the victim¡¯s home¡­¡± Liu Jinghui listed several possibilities, saying, ¡°Our investigation in the past few days hasn¡¯t been a waste either. We confirmed that over the past few years, there haven¡¯t been simr explosions, nor has the same type of gunpowder reappeared. This could corroborate the point that the perpetrator achieved their goal¡­¡± Liu Jinghui looked somewhat excited as he spoke, but Captain Han¡¯s face showed no trace of emotion. ¡°Old Han, what do you think?¡± Liu Jinghui was seeking some feedback now. Captain Han spoke slowly, ¡°Targeting the victim, we have actually investigated that, and there is no motive. The victim¡¯s wife has no technical background, their rtionship was harmonious, and they had no financial incentive to kill her husband; they had just had their child less than two years ago. The victim¡¯s cousin felt the same, he was learning the trade and was about to graduate in half a year. Now he has returned to the countryside and has to start all over again¡­¡± ¡°What about the motorcycle repair shop itself?¡± ¡°A motorcycle repair shop from 8 years ago wasn¡¯t the same as one from 18 years ago. His was just a small workshop focused on repairs, earning hard-earned, manualbor money. After the victim¡¯s motorcycle shop closed down, it stayed closed. Thendlord also took a loss; it took a long time to rent the ce out again, and no simr shops have opened nearby.¡± ¡°You would open an auto repair factory instead,¡± Mu Zhiyang said. ¡°Exactly, starting an auto repair factory doesn¡¯t really cost that much more than running a motorcycle repair shop.¡± ¡°Perhaps it¡¯s a deeper emotional issue,¡± Liu Jinghui spected. Feelings and interests are the easiest sources of disputes and the most likely to lead to murder. A little-known fact: although modern people often feel that human rtionships are indifferent and everyone is money-oriented, with the economic development and the increase in per capita ie in China, the main reason for Chinese peoplemitting homicide has shifted from financial gain to emotional entanglements. At least in terms of murder, personal bonds still seem to prevail over money. The so-called loyalty and emotional connections matter. Captain Han looked at the list of names on the A4 paper beside him. Without a direction to go in, they could only follow Liu Jinghui¡¯s spections, but¡­ ¡°Should we follow the motive for investigation?¡± Captain Han asked. ¡°We¡¯ve already scrutinized it thoroughly, including the victim¡¯s rtionships in Qu¡¯an County and back in his hometown¡­¡± ¡°I think we can do this,¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze turned towards Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°If we gather all the victim¡¯s social connections and footsteps, is it possible topare them with the footprints at the scene?¡± Jiang Yuan nodded without hesitation, ¡°Of course, there¡¯s no problem with that.¡± This wasn¡¯t too difficult a task, the only issue was that there were too many footprints at the scene. However, Jiang Yuan immediately understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s thought process. Explosive cases are different from ordinary crimes of passion; they are meticulously nned. So, the culprit must have spent a significant amount of time at the scene of the explosion, making it very possible they left footprints. Even if they had worn shoe covers or simr, it would still be easy to identify¡ªthe footprints at the scene were not so obviously disguised, but if they went through all the footprints at the scene¡­ Considering a radius of 20 meters from the st center, and the train station being a ce of heavy foot traffic, the number of involved footprints was estimated to be vast, yet it was indeed one of the feasible options, especially since there were footprints topare against. Of course, this kind of many-to-many footprintparison was still quite challenging. The special investigation team hadn¡¯t used this method before, mainly because it wasn¡¯t feasible. Many-to-oneparisons are rtively easier to conduct, but many-to-many, where arge number ispared against anotherrge number, is difficult to ensure sess¡ªeven for Jiang Yuan. A level 3 footprint identification might not suffice. It was then that Jiang Yuan remembered the second-ss merit award he had just received. He felt it wouldn¡¯t be interesting to use second-ss merit to obtain a skill rted to explosions, as such cases were too rare, and even traveling nationwide might lead to conflicts with various experts. But footprint skills were different. Jiang Yuan summoned the system and immediately upgraded his footprint analysis skills on the spot¡ª Footprint Analysis (LV5) Because it¡¯s a rtively minor aspect, the level to which it rose was still quite high. At an LV5 level, it¡¯s not just first-rate, it¡¯s at least at the national top-tier, with very few people being able to reach it. This skill was one that Jiang Yuan upgraded without any burden. Footprints are used so often that, even if they aren¡¯t needed in this case, it wouldn¡¯t be a waste to upgrade the skill. ¡°I need to find several moreputers, monitors¡­¡± Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t dealt with this scale of multiple-to-multiple analysis before, so he, too, was trying it out as he made his request. Captain Han naturally agreed with full support. Having already provided the meat, there was no need to be stingy with the soup. Liu Jinghui was a bit excited¡ªthis was an important moment to validate his own thinking. The notion that ¡°there is only one truth¡± in deduction rarely came true in his career as a detective. Most criminals didn¡¯t require this tactic to be defeated; the stories imagined by mystery novelists are often built on perfect premises. However, in reality, unless the case is particrly simple, the moreplex the case, the greater the likelihood of leaving traces. Simr reasoning could be applied to this current case. If it¡¯s an explosion targeting a general, non-specific group of people, then the criminal could simply ce the explosive and leave. This case was one where a refined explosive was used, but it was a crude anti-social bombing. But if converted into a murder case, it became a case of using a refined explosive, where time was calcted meticulously, turning it into a sophisticated explosive murder case. Thus, the criminal would have spent more time in the vicinity. It¡¯s basically unlikely that he would have just dropped the explosive and left immediately; there would have been some calctions involved, and perhaps the need to wait beforehand, observe, and so on. The four of them seemed a bit more invigorated. Captain Han immediately picked up the phone, his eyes red with intensity as he began arranging the delivery of moreputers and monitors, and of course, IT personnel who could do the instation. By around 9 o¡¯clock, an adjacent conference room was cleared out and outfitted with a vast array of monitors, as well asputers and printers. ¡°The IT guys should leave a few people behind, and organize these footprints, number them, and make sure none are overlooked,¡± Jiang Yuan pulled members of his own team over as well. Wang Chuanxing and the others, all highly educated young detectives, now gathered together to start disying the footprints retrieved from the scene. The special case team had already sorted through the footprints during the current case, identifying over 20,000 usable footprints, which belonged to more than 4,000 people. Among these were footprints within the radius of the explosion, those outside the perimeter of the st, and some more distinct footprints at the station¡¯s entrance and exits¡­ As for the footprints of the victim¡¯s rtives, a few had been collected at the time, mainly those of the victim himself, the victim¡¯s wife and younger brother who assisted, and a few direct rtives of the victim, a few neighbors in the vige, a few notorious local thugs¡­ Limited by technology at that time, the special case team had essentially conducted a few-to-manyparison, following a simr line of thought to that of Liu Jinghui. This indicated that the special case team had also considered the idea of ¡°belling the cat,¡± but it was likely that the capabilities of the executing ¡®mouse¡¯ were inadequate. Jiang Yuan¡¯s LV5 skill, in the world of mice, would also have ranked at the level of a naturally-born mouse. Belling the cat might be difficult, but it was not entirely impossible. Captain Han even specifically assigned a team to collect the footprints of various rtives and friends around the victim, and those with vested interests. Truth be told, these detectives were actually amateurs in this field. Footprints, unlike fingerprints, can change along with the person; while there are parts that don¡¯t change, there are more that do. But they didn¡¯t know, and therefore didn¡¯t ask many questions. Jiang Yuan was knowledgeable, and having just advanced his skill to LV5, he was in high spirits; he was quite confident in his ability to identify footprints after eight years. In a sense, the task of belling the cat by the mouse had almost be about the mouse impregnating the cat, but since the executing mouse kept silent, the others had no way of knowing. Another two busy days went by. Just as Jiang Yuan adjusted to the LV5 footprint analysis skill, a senior superintendent from the provincial department quietly arrived in Qu¡¯an County. Qiu Yue¡ªwas the person previously responsible for the Qu¡¯an Train Station explosion case. Chapter 498 - 498 457 Stood for a Long Time ?498: Chapter 457: Stood for a Long Time 498: Chapter 457: Stood for a Long Time ¡°Qiu Yue is here,¡± Captain Han approached Liu Jinghui and asked in a low voice, ¡°He wants toe and have a look at our case. Are you familiar with him?¡± ¡°Qiu Yue?¡± Liu Jinghui was momentarily stunned and then gave a small smile, ¡°When I started in the field, Director Qiu was already a big shot at the provincial department, I didn¡¯t have the chance to interact much.¡± So that means they¡¯re not close. Understanding dawned on Captain Han; he had worked with Qiu Yue eight years ago, and in his mind, Qiu Yue back then was somewhat overbearing. Of course, those who are exceptional have the privilege to be overbearing, especially those that can save people time, increase their earnings, and lower their risks¡ªthe tolerance level of normal people is quite high. But Qiu Yue ended up faltering. Captain Han couldn¡¯t help but ask, ¡°And after that, I haven¡¯t heard much about Director Qiu. What has he been doing?¡± Liu Jinghui answered with seemingly little relevance, ¡°Solving cases requires vitality and spirit.¡± The expression on Captain Han¡¯s face changed, ¡°It can¡¯t be that bad.¡± He too had gone through the entire case, and although he was very frustrated and regretful about not solving it, it didn¡¯t reduce him to a state where he lost his vitality. On the contrary, he was motivated by shame and strove for greater effort. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°Director Qiu must be over fifty by now. The explosion case at Qu¡¯an Train Station took up months, was incredibly costly, had a severe impact, and there were many unpleasant remarks flying around inside the department. Director Qiu had always been lifted up by others; he couldn¡¯t stand this kind of pressure.¡± Captain Han clicked his tongue, ¡°Can¡¯t handle a bit of criticism?¡± But Liu Jinghui just smiled, ¡°For criminal police like us, what else is there left besides reputation?¡± Captain Han was at a loss for words. To be honest, a county criminal police captain could live quitefortably. Even if not seeking luxury and power, securing good educational resources for children, good medical resources for old folks, arranging some work for family, and finding decent business prospects weren¡¯t difficult tasks. However, for senior officers like Liu Jinghui and Qiu Yue, if they had a solid position it would be fine, but being moved around the province with no fixed ce really meant drifting along¡ªaside from their reputation, they couldn¡¯t settle for much. ¡°So, should we invite Director Qiu over?¡± Captain Han softened a little. ¡°Then invite him over, just make sure he doesn¡¯t interfere with Jiang Yuan¡¯s work,¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t care too much either way. After a while, the figure of Qiu Yue, wearing a vest typical of retired cadres, followed Captain Han into the room. Qiu Yue, in his fifties, looked his age, with plenty of wrinkles and a sallowplexion. He seemed a bit lethargic until the moment he entered the room and nced around, observing everyone present; then his eyes sparkled with a hint of vigor. ¡°Director Qiu,¡± Liu Jinghui took the initiative to greet him. ¡°I heard you reopened the explosion case at Qu¡¯an station, so I came to ask if there¡¯s any new lead?¡± Qiu Yue spoke standard Mandarin, sounding a bit stiff and unfamiliar. Captain Han interjected from the side, ¡°Director Qiu, this year is Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s year of keypoint case breakthroughs, an action initiated by the Bureau to sweep through unsolved cases.¡± Normally, in the official police procedure for cracking cases, such cold cases would only be reopened if there were significant leads. Otherwise, it would be a waste of even more time to start looking for leads now. More importantly, if no leads were found, it would be reopening a case to no avail. However, this approach has its ws, primarily that the clearance of cold cases is incredibly slow. Passive waiting for case clues instead of actively pursuing them could mean that years go by without any ability to solve them. Therefore, the continuous organization of cold case clearance actions by the ministry, provincial departments, or city bureaus is so-called self-reliance, which, although sacrificing some efficiency, is definitely worth it from the perspective of social governance. Qiu Yue uttered an ¡°Oh¡± and then asked, ¡°How is it going now?¡± He was looking at Liu Jinghui and was also searching for a glimpse of Jiang Yuan. Being part of the Shan Nan Provincial Police, even those on the fringes would inevitably know of Jiang Yuan. And in the upper echelons of the provincial department and various county bureaus, Liu Jinghui had some reputation himself¡ªas a master deducer, that was somewhat significant; after all, police officers who had been cornered by serial killers were quite rare. Liu Jinghui smiled and replied, ¡°The case is progressing.¡± ¡°Any key breakthrough?¡± Qiu Yue had once been someone deeply involved on the front lines. His question was incisive, but feeling it too blunt, he added, ¡°I followed this case from the beginning to the end. The day after the incident, I arrived at Qu¡¯an County. I¡¯ve also thought it over repeatedly since then, maybe I could be of help.¡± Hearing Qiu Yue¡¯s tone, Liu Jinghui knew that he was not content to let matters rest. In fact, it wasn¡¯t necessary to deduce from his tone; any sensible person could figure it out¡ªQiu Yue should be lying low at home by now. After all, what¡¯s fun about working on a case? It¡¯s tiring andes with responsibilities! Liu Jinghui hesitated for a few seconds before responding, ¡°There¡¯s no breakthrough yet.¡± Qiu Yue wasn¡¯t surprised and asked, ¡°What¡¯s the sticking point?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not so much a sticking point. We¡¯re currently employing a new strategy.¡± ¡°What new strategy?¡± ¡°That¡¯s getting to the nitty-gritty,¡± Liu Jinghui half-joked and deflected. ¡°Director Liu, this case, it truly is a thorn in my side,¡± Qiu Yue said solemnly, his demeanor showing none of the unruliness of old. Time had already smoothed his rough edges. Liu Jinghui was somewhat moved by his words but still did not give a direct response, choosing instead to pass the question up the chain: ¡°Captain Han, could you report to Director Wang?¡± Liu Jinghui was only there to assist and was not keen on getting overly involved. Captain Han, left with no choice, went to make the call. Before long, Vice Director Wang, who was in charge of criminal investigation at the Qu¡¯an County Bureau, arrived in the conference room. Already informed about the situation, he smiled and exchanged a few words with Qiu Yue before saying, ¡°As we¡¯ve agreed, you may inquire about the case, but you must not interfere with or disrupt our investigation. Otherwise, we will have to see you out.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m just here to look. Unless you need me, I won¡¯t speak up,¡± Qiu Yue immediately promised. In reality, he wasn¡¯t worried aboutcking opportunities to speak. This case wasplex and many details wouldn¡¯t be reflected in the case files. Although there were veteran detectives involved in the Qu¡¯an side of the investigation who were familiar with the case on the day it urred, he, as the person in charge, undoubtedly knew moreprehensive details. It was this consideration that led Director Wang to immediately agree to Qiu Yue¡¯s participation. He didn¡¯t care about anything else; solving the case was the ultimate goal. Everyone lost in their own thoughts, they arrived at the conference room next door. At the same time, Captain Han introduced the work that Jiang Yuan was currently doing:paring multiple sets of footprints against each other. Qiu Yue listened and was stunned, not out of admiration but because the task seemed incredibly foolish to him. Because he understood footprint analysis. In fact, old-school detectives relied on footprint analysis in the early years. Unlike abroad, where footprint analysis can only identify the type of shoe, domestic footprint identification can be traced to the individual, which greatly elevates the value of footprint analysis. Especially in the era before DNA technology, footprint analysis was a powerful tool for detectives. However, having just said he would only watch and not speak, Qiu Yue didn¡¯t feel it was appropriate to ask questions. So, he frowned, prepared to observe first thenter inquire how they managed topare footprints from eight years ago with those from the present. In his somewhat informed opinion, this seemed more preposterous than using an ancient sword to execute a contemporary official. Conference room. Spread out in front of them were hundreds of monitors, all disying various footprints. Jiang Yuan was slowly walking in front of each table, asionally switching the images. Comparing multiple sets of footprints meant that ruling out a single print would take a substantial amount of time. It was an extremely tedious process. Of course, to Qiu Yue, this seemed more like a modern rendition of ¡°The Emperor¡¯s New Clothes.¡± A group of people watched Jiang Yuan perform his analysis, with not a single person daring to speak the truth: footprints from eight years ago¡­ If a person from back then stood in front of you now, they might not even be recognized. Qiu Yue couldn¡¯t help but huff in annoyance. He had been disillusioned for a long time, but people¡¯s natures don¡¯t really change. When faced with something he couldn¡¯t stand, it still greatly bothered him. The noise several people made disturbed Jiang Yuan, who looked back and simply nodded in acknowledgment. LV5 footprint analysis was quite useful when used, but it was also exhausting. It was like a mouse impregnating a cat, no matter if the rat were a grandmaster or at the innate realm, riding a cat was always a tiresome ordeal, and producing results was even harder. ¡°We¡¯re just looking. Don¡¯t overwork yourself. If you need to, take a rest,¡± Liu Jinghui said, feeling sorry for Jiang Yuan¡¯s condition. Jiang Yuan was under considerable stress to verify the ¡°single truth.¡± ¡°Progress with the footprintparison is very slow,¡± Jiang Yuan began with a conclusion for Liu Jinghui, and before letting him get disappointed, he added, ¡°However, I noticed one particr footprint that remained at the same spot for an unusually long time.¡± This was something Jiang Yuan had discerned the night before, but since it wasn¡¯t conclusive evidence, there was no rush to report it. Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°How do you define ¡®standing a long time¡¯?¡± ¡°Standing for one or two hours, maybe even two or three hours, near the explosion point. Moreover, simr footprints have also appeared near the explosive device,¡± Jiang Yuan briefly described and marked several ces on the map. The map, which was a hastily created one showing the range of the explosion, had many thingsbeled with the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4. Jiang Yuan drew a few triangles with a marker pen, and Liu Jinghui immediately grasped the significance. ¡°Surrounding the explosion point? The trash bin is in front, right? Someone stood there for so long, perhaps smoking?¡± Liu Jinghui began shaking his head as he spoke, ¡°Who smokes for an hour or two? Unless they really wish to donate an aircraft carrier.¡± ¡°The footprints are from the second day,¡± Jiang Yuan added a few circles to the map. After the explosion, many onlookers, especially local residents, came to take photos with their cell phones. Simply put, the criminal returning to the crime scene is not a feasible exnation. However, the suspects Jiang Yuan suggested indeed raised suspicion. Liu Jinghui, stroking his chin, said, ¡°Let me think of how to find this person. Any distinctive features?¡± ¡°About 1.6 meters tall, male, weighing around 110 pounds, all based on data from eight years ago. He¡¯s on the lean side, but likely physically fit, and he walks quite briskly¡­¡± Using LV5 footprint analysis, Jiang Yuan¡¯s estimations were more urate. At this point, Qiu Yue couldn¡¯t hold back any longer and asked in a low voice, ¡°How can you tell from the footprints that someone stood for two or three hours?¡± Jiang Yuan nced at him, and although he didn¡¯t recognize him, he answered out of respect for the uniform, ¡°When people stand, they rarely remainpletely still but often shift their posture from time to time, which leads to a shift and variation in the pressure points on the footprints¡­¡± ¡°Then why is it two or three hours, and not seven or eight?¡± Qiu Yue wasn¡¯t trying to be argumentative, he just had too many questions. Jiang Yuan merely shook his head gently, ¡°There¡¯s a rate of change for that.¡± Previous LV3 footprint analysis couldn¡¯t detect this, only upon reaching LV5 was it possible to observe, arguably, the biggest change in upgrading to LV5 footprint analysis is an improved understanding of time. Correspondingly, without an LV3.9 level of footprint analysis capabilities, exining this would be pointless, akin to exining cat-riding strategies tob mice ¨C utterly useless. ¡°Isn¡¯t this person on the victim¡¯s list of acquaintances?¡± Captain Han from the other side inquired. Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°No.¡± So far, the multiple footprint analysis hadn¡¯t yielded any substantive findings. Looking at the map, Liu Jinghui pondered, ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work out, we could check the scene¡¯s surveince footage. It might capture this individual since they lurked around there for so long¡­¡± Chapter 499 - 499 458 Beneficiary ?499: Chapter 458 Beneficiary 499: Chapter 458 Beneficiary Qu¡¯an County had spent a lot of money investing in surveince, buying equipment, and setting up systems, and that had started eight years ago. It was a case of learning from mistakes; it was never toote to mend. In other words, during the station explosion case eight years prior, their surveince had been scant. It wasn¡¯t that there were no cameras installed, but rather that there were indeed very few in use. Inside the station, the surveince was barely adequate, but once out of the bus station, at a distance of 30 meters from the exit, it became aplete blind zone. Byparison, the surveince in small shops and minimarts was slightly more useful. But this was all rtive. Qiu Yue and his team once had their hopes pinned on the surveince footage, but when that led nowhere, they pivoted to other directions. Liu Jinghui found a separateputer for himself, and had a technician show him the previously organized footage, naturally to no avail. After toiling for over an hour, Liu Jinghui was tired of watching, and Qiu Yue was tired of standing; only Jiang Yuan was still there, endlessly examining footprints. The footprints at the scene were not only numerous but also of very poor quality. Even the special investigation team, on the day itself, managed to collect only a few dozen footprints using the electrostatic lifting method. The rest of the footprints were all documented through photographs. These types of footprints aren¡¯t usually given much attention by forensic investigators¡ªunless analysis is absolutely necessary and time permits, otherwise everyone prefers a morefortable way of working¡­ Jiang Yuan had to perform a selection, trying to identify as many footprints as possible, which made the process extremely difficult and tedious. It was precisely because he had just achieved lv5 in footprint analysis that Jiang Yuan was feeling the novelty, and he worked on the footprints with great enthusiasm. Liu Jinghui, on the other hand, was deep in thought, pondering and fretting simultaneously. Jiang Yuan had finally provided a new clue, which couldn¡¯t be confirmed or eliminated, causing Liu Jinghui difort. To chase a clue to the end only to find it¡¯s a dead end, or to fail to find the murderer, isn¡¯t much of an issue. But an interrupted clue is something detectives find hardest to bear. Liu Jinghui paced to the other end of the conference room and aimlessly flipped through a notebook. Qiu Yue, sitting nearby, quickly grew bored and, looking at Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression, said, ¡°May I say something?¡± ¡°Please do,¡± Liu Jinghui immediately sat upright. Respecting elders was still a practice adhered to in the police force, especially the previous generation of officers, who were mostly brought up through a master-apprentice system. ¡°Don¡¯t be so formal,¡± Qiu Yue sighed and said, ¡°I see you want to follow up on the footprint information that Jiang Yuan found, right? What aspect do you intend to investigate? Actually, back in the day, wepiled some lists that didn¡¯t make it into the case file, especially the less formal ones.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up. Indeed, he wouldn¡¯tpile every list and piece of information as if he were writing a report when working on a case. The final submitted case files naturally had to be as thorough as a report, able to withstand scrutiny, but the process of solving a case didn¡¯t need to be so meticulous. And if a case couldn¡¯t be solved, the materials ultimately handed in certainly couldn¡¯t ount for every little detail. ¡°Did youpile a list from the perspective of beneficiaries?¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t ask how many lists Qiu Yue and his team had, but directly inquired about what he wanted to know. Qiu Yue first nodded, then recalling, said, ¡°Beneficiary theory, yes, we certainly considered it at the time, but the explosion was aimed at an unspecified group of people¡­ You¡¯ve kept the hard drives from back then, right? Look for the ¡®SYZ¡¯ folder and see if the information is still there?¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Liu Jinghui immediately made a phone call. The Qu¡¯an Train Station explosion case was a prominent case. Since it had not been sessfully closed at the time, what was submitted were case files and reports, while the remaining hard drives and notes were all preserved. For cases that the provincial department was involved with, county bureaus typically managed to retain the materials for a longer period of time. Soon, the hard drive containing the ¡°SYZ¡± folder was brought over along with its enclosure. Liu Jinghui brought in an IT technician to help copy and organize everything onto his ownputer before he opened the files to read in detail. The so-called ¡°beneficiary theory¡± wasn¡¯t anything new. As the widely circted saying goes, ¡°The greatest beneficiary is the murderer.¡± However, for anti-social crimes, such as unspecific mass-targeted bombings, the beneficiary theory was somewhat less convincing. Although the special task force at the time had discussed and validated the murder theory, it ultimately wasn¡¯t the main focus of the investigation, and the list of beneficiaries was rather roughly assembled. Even so, the task force from eight years ago had stillpiled a list of over a hundred people. Among them were private bus owners, shopkeepers and operators from near the train station¡¯s side gate,petitors of motorcycle shops, and station managers who had risen in rank due to the incident¡­ The list was rough and unranked, making it unclear who the greatest beneficiary was. Fortunately, the information on the rted individuals was all well-recorded, with names, ID numbers, workces, reasons, etc., all clearly visible. Liu Jinghui looked through it for a while, not bothering with the rest of the information for now. He filtered by age first, following the additional information provided by Jiang Yuan, focusing on people who were around 34 years old at the time and about 42 years old now. After sorting, there were only two people left on the list. Liu Jinghui called both of them, only to find that neither matched the required height. Frowning, Liu Jinghui waved over two detectives and said, ¡°Call the people on this list. Ask women about their husband¡¯s height or their ex-husband¡¯s. For the younger ones, inquire about their father¡¯s, and for the older, their son¡¯s height. Do the same with the men, asking about their own, their father¡¯s, their brothers¡¯, their sons¡¯ heights. For those in business, ask about their partners¡¯ heights andpile a new list with the heights of males around 1.6 meters.¡± Liu Jinghui intended topare this list with the footprint information provided by Jiang Yuan, so he directly asked about heights. No matter how much their weight, age, or appearance might change, their height would remain the same. The two detectives, without asking further questions, busied themselves with the task. Qiu Yue, watching the increasingly lively atmosphere, couldn¡¯t help feeling secure and nostalgic, but observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s silhouette, it still seemed like looking at the emperor¡¯s new clothes to him. At that moment, Qiu Yue felt a true sense of self: an honest youth who, despite years of turmoil, had not changed his original intentions and still harbored the kindest of ideals¡­ ¡°Director Liu, we have one here,¡± a detective handed over a slip of paper, ¡°Hou Tianlong.¡± Liu Jinghui nced at it, then turned to Qiu Yue and asked, ¡°Ring any bells?¡± ¡°No, who is this person?¡± ¡°Eight years ago, he ran a car repair shop with a storefront and a workshop¨Chis wife managed the front and he took care of the mechanical part¡­¡± Liu Jinghui became more serious as he read. Someone who understood car repair would likely have the basics to build a bomb. In recent years, Qiu Yue really had recalled too many details pertaining to this case. After pondering for a moment, he said, ¡°I remember, his car repair shop was on the other side of the city, and his business didn¡¯t conflict with that of the victim. Why was he on the list?¡± ¡°His wife made the list. She¡¯s a strong woman who, along with the victim¡¯s motorcycle repair shop, became an agent for the same brand of motor oil. They both wanted to be the agents for Qu¡¯an County and met each other. They had an argument in front of people from the oilpany,¡± Liu Jinghui paused, looking at theputer screen, ¡°He¡¯s about 1.6 meters tall, was exactly 34 years old eight years ago, and divorced his wife four years ago. He¡¯s now one of therger oil dealers in the county¡­¡± As he read, Liu Jinghui suddenly called out, ¡°Captain Han,e take a look at this person and bring him in for questioning.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Captain Han responded promptly after checking the person¡¯s information, feeling a spark in his brain as if connections were being made, ¡°This person fits the profile of a suspect¡­ I think we should start with a covert investigation.¡± ¡°I agree,¡± said Liu Jinghui. With an eight-year-old case, most forms of evidence had weakened. At this point, the police¡¯s advantagey in the fact that they were hidden from the criminal¡¯s view. Such a long period without movement meant the murderer would undoubtedly have let his guard down; anyone who had been tense for eight years would have ended up with anxiety in a mental hospital by now. Therefore, a covert investigation at this stage was most advantageous. Chapter 500 - 500 459 Carnivore ?500: Chapter 459: Carnivore 500: Chapter 459: Carnivore Hou Tianlong, with a chicken in his left hand and a soft-shelled turtle in his right, also carrying a piece of streaky pork, hummed a tune as he rode his little motorbike back to his own small courtyard. The courtyard was fenced in, the ground partly paved with bricks while some parts still maintained their earthen look. Around the perimeter, pavilions and ponds had been built, and together with the dry-hanging stone structures of the houses, made the courtyard look delicate and beautiful. Since his divorce, Hou Tianlong had moved back to his old family house. With the substantial ie from his oil distribution business and the cash split from the divorce, he spent all of it on renovations. He would fix up a bit every month, doing much of the work himself, not to save money but for the fun of it. Day by day, a brick at a time, the old house he renovated had a trendy design yet retained some symbols from his memory and the convenience of modernity. Ever since the house was renovated, his son and daughter also loveding back to the ancestral home to y. With no other option, his ex-wife begrudgingly brought the kids over, and in the two years since their divorce, had visited the Hou family home more often than she had throughout the decade of their marriage. ¡°Old Hou¡¯s back,¡± a neighbor greeted with a smile. ¡°I¡¯m back, got a turtle. Come over for dinnerter,¡± Hou Tianlong called out. ¡°I¡¯lle byter,¡± the neighbor waved and headed home, thinking to herself that nobody could eat as well as his family did. Hou Tianlong didn¡¯t mind, cleaning the old turtle in the yard, handing it a green onion, and as it stretched its neck in search of a pancake, he chopped down with a knife. Chop, chop, chop, chop¡­ He chopped up the old turtle and the pork. When he remembered the live chicken next to him, it was already scared stiff. Chop it up, too! Then, Hou Tianlong skillfully threw the streaky pork into the hot oil pan to start frying. In the courtyard, the stove was a traditional rural one,rge enough for a whole sheep. Hou Tianlong, half-sticking his body out, continued to fry while humming a tune. When he lived at home in the past, he was the one who cooked. Cooking wasn¡¯t really a big deal; he had helped with it since middle school. However,pared to sweating in the mechanic¡¯s workshop, it seemed difficult to earn respect while sweating in one¡¯s own kitchen. And to sweat in the workshop and then again in the kitchen felt doubly unfair, especially after the admiration of the younger apprentice sister was lost and the grace of the master had turned into duty¡­ Hou Tianlong was now thankful for his decisiveness, having pulled out all the stops to keep his Qu¡¯an County Lifepai oil distributorship. It was a ¡°project¡± he had championed, whose value was proventer, as for the price¡­ Hou Tianlong¡¯s hands paused¡­ ¡°Dad¡ªDaddy!¡± Joyous, somewhat noisy voices carried into the yard from outside. Hou Tianlong couldn¡¯t help but smile as his gaze swept over and saw his son and daughter getting out of the car and rushing in. Following behind the children was the expressionless silhouette of his ex-wife. Hou Tianlong didn¡¯t mind. From his point of view, his ex-wife was now much easier to get along with than when they were married. Hou Tianlong, with a face full of smiles, waved and called out, ¡°Dad¡¯s cooking. Be careful not to get sshed by the oil.¡± ¡°Got it,¡± the two kids responded, but they had already begun climbing onto the chairs to peek. Hou Tianlong chuckled and didn¡¯t fuss about it, waiting for the oil from the streaky pork to overshadow the meat before adding the turtle chunks for a raw stir-fry. Once the turtle chunks were golden, it would be time to fry the chicken. In the end, if desired, some vegetables could be added to stew. This way the turtle and chicken, infused with each other¡¯s vors, were fragrant and tender, but that particr aroma could onlye from a rural stove. Or rather, it had to be cooked in a vessel that had a lot of stored heat and could maintain high temperatures steadily to be delicious. Unable to stand the sight anymore, his ex-wife had no choice but toe in, saying, ¡°You don¡¯t look after the kids, letting them climb so high¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine, the ground is earth, it won¡¯t hurt if they fall,¡± Hou Tianlong calmly replied. ¡°It¡¯s not yours to hurt, huh¡­¡± the ex-wife muttered, seeing Hou Tianlong ignore her, she shut up resentfully. Her ex-husband, because of his sessful distributorship, had made more money than she and her father¡¯s mechanic shop ever did. Over the years, she had lost any advantage in spirit. Moreover, her ex-husband was very generous with the kids¡¯ expenses. With this extra financial support, the ex-wife often couldn¡¯t muster her former assertiveness. Always having to ask for money, she often found herself short of breath. She kind of missed the days when the card was in her hands. ¡°You finally decided to clean up these nts,¡± the ex-wife stood by the greenery on one side of the courtyard, looking down at the messy potted nts with disdain and carelessly fiddling with them. Her ex-husband wasn¡¯t really good with nts; they tended to attract insects, but he wouldn¡¯t listen. His asional tidying now was somewhat pleasing to her. Hou Tianlong was taken aback and walked over instinctively. He saw that the two flower pots in front of his ex-wife had clearly been moved, the color underneath vastly different from the color of the wooden rack. Hou Tianlong¡¯s brow furrowed and he asked, ¡°Did you move these?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t move anything, Hou¡­ Watch your tone, I¡¯m telling you¡­¡± The ex-wife¡¯s feisty nature red up instantly. Without a word, Hou Tianlong stared for a few seconds, then turned around to continue frying chicken, his mood inexplicably downcast. After spending the weekend in the old family courtyard, with the childrenughing and ying as they left for the city, Hou Tianlong couldn¡¯t stay put either and simply rode his motorbike back to the city. His main business was now the Lifepai oil distributorship. Some people had advised him to diversify his business, but he had refused them all. Instead, this earned praise from Lifepai¡¯s side and garnered him quite a few resources. Plus, as he became more familiar with the business, the time he needed to work kept decreasing. He only needed to stop by once a week to check in. He arrived at the office earlier today to find his employees stillughing and joking around. Hou Tianlong just grunted and entered his office, where he stared at the photo of himself with his children on the desk. Time passed without him knowing how long¡­ Rapid footsteps approached the office (door). Hou Tianlong looked up attentively, only to see several police officers entering. ¡°Hou Tianlong?¡± the police asked, already at Hou Tianlong¡¯s side by the time the question was voiced. Hou Tianlong felt as if he were dreaming,st night¡¯s dream, it seemed, was about this¡­ He wanted to speak but couldn¡¯t, just like in a dream. ¡°We are from Qu¡¯an County Criminal Police Squad. Here is my badge¡­¡± the detectives spoke as they brought Hou Tianlong¡¯s hands together. Hou Tianlong shuddered violently, in his dream he had struggled just as hard, and then he would wake up. But this time, the dream did not break. Reality was brutal and cold, just like his own marriage! ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± the leading detective said with a gentle smile. In Hou Tianlong¡¯s eyes, that smile was sharper than the edge of a turtle¡¯s tooth. Regret suddenly set in, along with a sense of injustice¡ªhis reckless behavior in his youth, his unscrupulous means to achieve goals, that they backfired at the most satisfying time of his life was too upsetting. ¡­ Qu¡¯an County Criminal Police Squad. The conference room. Jiang Yuan was stillparing footprints, while good news had alreadye out of the interrogation room. Captain Han came to the conference room as soon as possible, and after three heartyughs, he eximed, ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, the reputation is indeed well deserved, truly well deserved!¡± Qiu Yue, who had been ying wallflower in the corner of the conference room these past few days, tensed up and couldn¡¯t hold back the emotions he had been suppressing for several days, eagerly asking, ¡°He confessed? Is it really him?¡± ¡°He confessed. The modus operandi, the source of the explosives, including the details of the explosive devices, everything checks out,¡± Captain Han took a deep breath, confirming, ¡°It¡¯s him!¡± Qiu Yue was stunned on the spot, muttering to himself, ¡°So it was actually this guy¡­¡± Honestly, when Qiu Yue provided the list of beneficiaries, he merely hoped that Liu Jinghui and the others could quickly eliminate the suspects from the list and move on. Solving a case is a process of trial and error; the task force finds the right path by trudging through countless wrong leads. In his heart, Qiu Yue still preferred to think that the bombing was aimed at the general public, an act akin to a terrorist attack and antisocial behavior. Murder¡ªthis line of thought had been discarded by Qiu Yue when he directed the task force. If Liu Jinghui and the others were to start over, Qiu Yue would not object. But what Qiu Yue never expected was that the case would be broken like this. ¡°Is there another inducement? It can¡¯t be just for the distribution rights of motor oil,¡± Qiu Yue pressed. Captain Han sighed, ¡°What you mentioned, it really was just for a distribution right.¡± ¡°That distribution right wasn¡¯t worth much back then!¡± Qiu Yue emphasized, ¡°Even eight years ago, Hou Tianlong¡¯s family owned a car repair shop, making two or three hundred thousand, even three or four hundred thousand a year was not an issue. Selling motor oil was incidental; any brand of oil would do¡­¡± ¡°But the dealership for the Gift brand motor oil was negotiated by Hou Tianlong, and the repair shop belonged to his wife¡¯s family,¡± Captain Han spread his hands, ¡°It really wasn¡¯t worth much, but Hou Tianlong just wanted it.¡± Qiu Yue paused, then asked, ¡°Where did the ck gunpowdere from?¡± ¡°It was taken out of a type of firecracker (Note 1),¡± replied Captain Han. Qiu Yue sighed deeply, his gaze fixed on Jiang Yuan for a long while before he said, ¡°I can¡¯t believe you managed to crack the case like this.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t expect it either,¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°I¡¯m stillparing footprints here.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how solving cases works; there is not just one way to crack a case. When you¡¯re close enough, naturally a gap will present itself for you to break through,¡± said Qiu Yue, recalling the wisdom his master had taught him years ago, feeling as if it belonged to another life. ¡°Multiple footprints analysis is a bit tricky,¡± Jiang Yuan chuckled. If it wasn¡¯t for discovering those few footprints from someone standing for a long time, he might have needed much longer toe back around to Hou Tianlong. However, with enough resources invested in the case, it would be just a matter of time for Jiang Yuan, perhaps three or four months, just like with the former task force. Sooner orter, Hou Tianlong would have appeared within the police¡¯s sight again. Just like Hou Tianlong had appeared on the list of beneficiaries before. A suspect would keep surfacing, just like a fish in a pond that might slip the hook countless times, but always faced the risk of being caught. ¡°Want to go see the suspect?¡± Captain Han asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°No need, I¡¯m not interested. Oh, take a footprint sampleter; I¡¯llpare it again,¡± said Jiang Yuan, sounding quite rxed. He had dealt with many cases before, Captain Han responded with a beaming smile as well. Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze away, took out his phone, and said with a smile, ¡°I¡¯ll give Director Huang a call.¡± Captain Han¡¯s smile, which had just brightened up, copsed in an instant. Qiu Yue looked at him curiously and asked, ¡°Who is Director Huang?¡± ¡°A carnivore,¡± Captain Han suddenly felt pained all over, his eyes glistening. Note 1: The case in the novel has a real-life prototype, but because the report on the explosives was somewhat too detailed, I feel it should be restrained here, and so some specific details are omitted from the description. Chapter 501 - 501 460 Everything is Pretty Good ?501: Chapter 460 Everything is Pretty Good 501: Chapter 460 Everything is Pretty Good The celebration was more than halfway through when the leaders of Qu¡¯an County, excitedly holding their sses, began toasting everyone around. Huang Qiangmin drank with them for a while before sitting down next to Jiang Yuan and smiling. ¡°Jiang Yuan, do you want to take a look at the backlog of murder cases in Qu¡¯an?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but aren¡¯t you in a hurry to go to other counties to work on cases?¡± Jiang Yuan knew that the high price they could charge this time was greatly rted to Qinghe City¡¯s ¡°Backlog Attack Year¡± policy. ordingly, working on one case per county would be the most cost-effective approach. Huang Qiangmin understood what Jiang Yuan meant and replied with a smile, ¡°Here¡¯s what I think: first, a buy-one-get-one-free deal is easier to ept emotionally for them. Second, our team has grown in size, and it takes some time to coordinate with the various counties. Tackling two cases could likely be easier than working on two separate cases. Third, choosing another case is an option. You can pick one you like or one that might be easier to handle.¡± ¡°An easy backlog of murder cases?¡± Liu Jinghui, sitting beside them, couldn¡¯t help butugh with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Indeed, saying such a thing felt a bit like ¡°Let¡¯s go pick up some easy money off the streets.¡± After all, these were cases already scanned by many, over and over. The chances of finding something even slightly easier were non-existent. Huang Qiangmin chuckled and looked at Liu Jinghui, familiarly poking fun: ¡°With deduction, every case is hard. With technology, there¡¯s still a difference in difficulty.¡± Stung by the jab, Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and admitted, ¡°You¡¯re not wrong.¡± Ordinary deduction is something police understand as well, but in modern society, where mystery novels are abundant, criminals too have learned to deduce. So, unless the case is particrly easy, it won¡¯t be particrly easy to solve. Seeing Huang Qiangmin had made up his mind, Jiang Yuan thought it over and said, ¡°Then let¡¯s stick to the original n and see if there¡¯s a suitable case for Skull Restoration Skill.¡± Technology advances and updates, and criminal science is no exception. However, no matter the advancements, previous technologies are theoretically still applicable and capable of solving cases. In reality, the technology used by detectives is always a bit behind the times. Many veteran detectives well into the 21st century still rely on shoe-leather investigations to solve cases, and their sess rates have not diminished much. But pure new technology is somewhat different. Pure new technology can indeed make crime-solving almost foolproof. The best examples are DNA, surveince footage, and mobile phones. At their onset, these three tools can be said to have turned arge number of criminals into easy prey. Some professional criminals, still relying on old methods, were caught in the blink of an eye without any rationale. Skull Restoration Skill also resembles this kind of pure new technology. It¡¯s not too new on the level of forensic science¡ªalthough most forensic doctors might not know this skill, they have at least heard of it. But in terms of practical application, the use of the Skull Restoration Skill is genuinely rare. ces like Qu¡¯an County hardly need to mention it. In Shan Nan Province, the technology has not been widely promoted. A typical forensic doctor would need one or two months, or even three, toplete a single skull reconstruction¡ªin the early stages of practice, even a month of continuous work would be insufficient. Considering the number of forensic doctors in the various districts and counties of Shan Nan Province, there aren¡¯t many police forensics teams that can afford to give a forensic doctor so much time. Without the time to practice, how can one improve? Jiang Yuan is different though; he has already skipped past the practice phase. With the Skull Restoration Skill that he can use right away, he may only need a week or two to get results. Although it still takes quite some time, it is eptable if the aim is to tackle backlog murder cases. The resulting increase in the sess rate of solving cases is very real. ¡°Then let¡¯s find a case that requires skull reconstruction,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, now more willing to believe in the power of technology. He turned to Liu Jinghui and asked, ¡°Director Liu, will you work with us on this?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed readily. ¡°I¡¯ll go inquire now,¡± said Huang Qiangmin as he gulped down the rest of his drink and hastened to connect with others. ¡°He¡¯s certainly in his element,¡± Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Isn¡¯t skull reconstruction tiring for you? It¡¯s got to be more troublesome than footprint analysis, right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit different,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Footprint analysis is somewhat mechanical, while skull reconstruction leaves some room for personal input.¡± Liu Jinghui let out augh, ¡°I get it now. The footprints youpared before, they were from 8 years ago matched against current ones. How is that mechanical? There can¡¯t be many experts in the country who could do that.¡± ¡°As for that skill, there might be a few people who can do it,¡± Jiang Yuan said without exaggeration or modesty. LV3 footprint analysis might only allow him to dominate at the provincial level, but reaching LV5 was truly rare. Most experts spend their entire lives unable to transition from LV3 to LV4, let alone LV5, where talent and experience are both indispensable. Having a skill level above the average expert means one could potentially solve backlog murder cases from a technical perspective, which is a straightforward logic. Liu Jinghui went even further and asked, ¡°Then if we look for footprint-rted backlog cases now, wouldn¡¯t your probability of solving them be very high?¡± ¡°The sess rate with Skull Restoration Skill is even higher because fewer people do it.¡± ¡°But skull reconstruction takes longer, right? Footprint analysis is much faster!¡± ¡°Solving cases isn¡¯t just about footprint analysis. Besides, the recent cases I¡¯ve worked on all required analysis of multiple footprints.¡± Jiang Yuan paused before adding, ¡°Of course, if it¡¯s just about doing footprint analysis, that would certainly be faster.¡± ¡°So, should I look for cases where footprint analysis could be used?¡± Liu Jinghui knew of many homicide cold cases and felt it was a shame that Huang Qiangmin limited Jiang Yuan to only working within Qinghe City for such a small amount of funding. Jiang Yuan said ¡°Okay,¡± and then added, ¡°First, we¡¯ll do the Skull Restoration Skill on a case. Once that¡¯s done, we¡¯ll take on another one.¡± ¡°Sounds good.¡± Liu Jinghui stood up excitedly, went out to make a few calls, and when he came back, he saw Huang Qiangmin had already returned to the table. The celebration banquet today was on a grand scale. The police from Qu¡¯an County all attended, and the restaurant next to the police station was entirely booked. Tables filled two floors, and the county bureau¡¯s leaders were also seen holding cups and jugs, showing their amiable side to everyone. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to go out and toast, and he didn¡¯t drink much when others came to toast him. Furthermore, as an out-of-town technician, he quickly ceased to be the main target of attention. Huang Qiangmin, on the other hand, was busy looking after Jiang Yuan. So, Liu Jinghui sat down on the other side of Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, take a look at these cases I¡¯ve found. Let¡¯s not work on them right away, but keep them in reserve.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the names and noticed they were all cases from other cities within the province. Huang Qiangmin saw it too and said nonchntly, ¡°Some ces are hard tomunicate with. The local criminal police teams think highly of themselves and don¡¯t have any special cases that need to be solved. We¡¯ll have to look for an opportunity to talk with them.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like we must trade something, is it? Doing one or two cases for free to build a reputation should be okay,¡± said Liu Jinghui. Huang Qiangmin almost blurted out ¡°na?ve¡± but managed to hold it back. Provincial experts were not to be casually criticized by someone from the county. Considering the rtionship between Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment and then said, ¡°Director Liu, I have something to show you, but you must promise not to disclose it.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± The time Liu Jinghui was buried in a mine shaft by a serial killer and what happened during those days remain confidential to this day. Speaking out of turn was something he never did. Huang Qiangmin gave a grunt of acknowledgment, looked around, then pulled out a torn piece of paper from his shirt pocket and handed it to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui, not understanding the context, took it and frowned. He was puzzled at first, then even more puzzled, frowned again, and then moved into a state of shock. Liu Jinghui swallowed hard, looked up at the sky, then looked back at Huang Qiangmin, shook the paper in his hand, and asked, ¡°Isn¡¯t this extortion? Didn¡¯t the Qu¡¯an County Bureau arrest you for this?¡± The world is supposed to be transparent and just, but there are always people and things that take you by surprise. Liu Jinghui had been in the field for many years, but had rarely seen anyone as audacious as Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile curled up to 88.8 degrees: ¡°They¡¯re quite happy with it. Besides, this isn¡¯t about just one case, it¡¯s 2+1.¡± Huang Qiangmin emphasized, ¡°I still made concessions in the end, a package deal.¡± Liu Jinghui asked, ¡°What¡¯s this 2+1 deal?¡± ¡°Aside from the two cases we previously agreed upon, if a new case arises¡ªwhether it¡¯s a homicide or anything else¡ªthey need assistance, we can offer support one more time,¡± exined Huang Qiangmin, ncing at Jiang Yuan and adding, ¡°It¡¯s within a few days, no specific time set, and remote assistance is theoretically possible. In short, solving the case is the priority, and the deadline is within this year.¡± Liu Jinghui immediately understood, ¡°This is to ensure that all homicide cases this year are solved.¡± In a town like Qu¡¯an County, an average of one current-year homicide case urs annually. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s promise of 2+1 meant solving two homicide cases, including current ones. With this, Qu¡¯an County could score over 500 points for the year in homicide cases. Of these, 300 points¡ªfor the current cases fully solved¡ªthey might get on their own, but the rest, from the two extra cold case homicide points, they would very unlikely earn. In other words, Huang Qiangmin was selling them 200 points, plus a 300-point insurance. Additionally, the marginal effects that came with it were enjoyed by Qu¡¯an County alone. Despite this, Liu Jinghui, a senior superintendent from the provincial police department, still found it hard to believe. After ncing at the note again, he said, ¡°Won¡¯t Qu¡¯an County need these vehicles in the future? There are several vehicles here. Does Ningtai County really need that many vehicles?¡± ¡°We have so many people going out now; don¡¯t we need vehicles? We can¡¯t always use others¡¯ vehicles. Besides, buses, minibuses, prisoner transport vehicles, and even hearses¡ªour county bureau didn¡¯t have these before¡­ And it¡¯s not like I only want vehicles, and they only have vehicles to offer.¡± ¡°Maintaining all those vehicles¡­ my goodness, taking on the fuel and insurance costs as well, have you thought this through?¡± ¡°If we get some good vehiclester on, we can trade the old ones from Ningtai County to them. It¡¯s not like the detectives from Ningtai County don¡¯t deserve to drive a good, new car,¡± stated Huang Qiangmin confidently, standing his ground as someone above reproach. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and added, ¡°But our detective team driving old cars doesn¡¯t have to exchange them, as there are people who can¡¯t even shift gears properly.¡± In front of Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face turned red as he defended, ¡°Those who can¡¯t shift gears have paws, not hands. Some vehicles have only driven 150,000 kilometers and they say they can¡¯t shift gears¨Cwhom should we me for that?¡± After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan realized which vehicle Huang Qiangmin was talking about and said, ¡°You¡¯re referring to that Skoda, I hear it had its meter rolled back when it hit 500,000 kilometers.¡± ¡°The meter was rolled back, but not at 500,000 kilometers. Mainly for the ease of reading the mileage,¡± Huang Qiangmin ambiguously replied. Liu Jinghui asked curiously, ¡°So, at how many kilometers was it adjusted?¡± Huang Qiangmin evasively replied, ¡°48¡­ probably. Anyway, let¡¯s talk about the case. What¡¯s left to do in Qu¡¯an County now is a case of a body abandoned in the wilderness. The initial investigation was done by a forensic doctor from Changyang City, who couldn¡¯t identify the body¡¯s origin, but they kept the bones.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go with that one,¡± Jiang Yuan was not choosy. Looking at Liu Jinghui, he said, ¡°I¡¯ll need a few days to prepare. Will you go home and rest, or¡­?¡± ¡°No rush to go back,¡± interrupted Liu Jinghui, lifting his cup and taking a sip. ¡°It¡¯s quite nice outside.¡± Chapter 502 - 502 461 The Small Temple ?502: Chapter 461: The Small Temple 502: Chapter 461: The Small Temple The wilderness of Qu¡¯an County is less than 10 kilometers away from the county seat. By the time the car got here, the road had already narrowed, and it took longer to travel the next two kilometers on this small road than it would to drive 100 kilometers on the highway. ¡°The body was found 20 meters back from here,¡± the police who found the scene on that day pointed to a clump of grass and specified the location, then pointed forward and said, ¡°This path leads to a temple on the mountain. From time to time, there are people whoe to do voluntary work for free, known asy Buddhists. At first, we followed this lead to look for people, but we have yet to identify the body.¡± ¡°When it was discovered, the body must have been highly dposed. Was there a smell?¡± ¡°When we arrived, it was barely perceptible. Those who haven¡¯t smelled a corpse might not even know what it is, almost simr to the stench of a dead rat on the side of the road,¡± the police understood what Jiang Yuan was getting at and continued, ¡°From the roadside, you have to walk inside, you can¡¯t just go straight through from here, you have to take the path in front over there, and walk a good fifty or a hundred meters¡­¡± Pointing at the path, Liu Jinghui decisively said, ¡°Let¡¯s go and take a look.¡± Since they hade to inspect the scene, the police didn¡¯t fuss and led several people forward for a few dozen meters, passing between two trees and then stepping on the pathway overgrown with thatch grass and walking further inside. As they walked, the police exined, ¡°This road leads to an orchard deeper inside. The orchard is now abandoned, and kids no longer go there to steal fruit, so the road is barely used.¡± Liu Jinghui immediately asked, ¡°So, only locals would know this road?¡± ¡°The volunteers at the temple also know it. They used to like to pick some fruit to eat, but this year the fruit season hasn¡¯te yet, so no one¡¯s been walking here.¡± ¡°So, the first people you suspected were those from the temple.¡± The police didn¡¯t conceal it and with an affirmative ¡°Mhm,¡± said, ¡°There are no locals missing, so it¡¯s mostly volunteers from the temple and such, but we don¡¯t know how long the body has been dposing, and the volunteerse and go, the records are iplete.¡± ¡°Peopleing to volunteer usuallye in groups, bringing friends along and such.¡± ¡°Maybe, but there are also those whoe alone. The temple here isn¡¯t big, and previously, taking the night¡¯s path was never an issue, sigh¡­¡± Liu Jinghui nodded as he listened. He was nning to rest these few days, not returning home, and staying in Qu¡¯an County was somewhat boring. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan would be performing the Cranial Reconstruction Skill for a week or two, so he thought if he could crack the case by deduction, wouldn¡¯t that be delightful. Liu Jinghui wanted to inspect the site, and Jiang Yuan unexpectedly followed, carrying aptop, apparently nning to continue with the Skull Restoration Skill after checking the site where the body was dumped. Liu Jinghui felt that Jiang Yuan somewhat had an attitude of sticking to old ways. The police led the group through twists and turns to the edge of a puddle and then said, ¡°It should be around here, the body was half-submerged in the water when we found it, the upper body was already unrecognizable, but there were still some remains on the lower body, even the clothes had rotted off.¡± After a brief description, the police continued, ¡°The water in the puddle was drained at that time, and there wasn¡¯t much inside. The water now should have umted recently.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t a ce a stranger would know,¡± Liu Jinghui looked around. A pretty good spot for a murder, quiet within the noise, not far from the road, ideal conditions, the ce felt like it had been carefully chosen. All these considerations made him think that the likelihood of the crime beingmitted by a stranger was extremely low. ¡°Should we inspect the scene?¡± Liu Jinghui turned to ask Jiang Yuan. ¡°Let¡¯s have a look,¡± Jiang Yuan handed his backpack to Mu Zhiyang, then put on a head cover and shoe covers, and began to circle the puddle. It had rained in the past few days, which made outdoor crime scene investigation especially difficult. With green grass and vegetation on the ground, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t find any suitable footprints, and the chances of finding them initially, he estimated, were probably slim. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the temple,¡± Jiang Yuan said, after wasting half an hour and taking photos, and then left the ce. The group meandered up the small hill. At the ttest part of the hilltop, the ground was paved with red bricks and cement. Surprisingly, there was a small shop and a tourist specialty store in the temple. Upon closer inspection, both were owned by the same boss. The boss was a woman in her forties who had been idly scrolling on her phone. Seeing visitors arrive, she immediately stood up eagerly, but upon seeing the police, she inhaled with some resignation and took the initiative to ask, ¡°Are you here for the investigation?¡± ¡°Mrs. Li,¡± the police were very polite and asked, ¡°Have many touristsetely?¡± ¡°With a death here, how could there be any visitors. Only regr customerse now. Have you eaten?¡± The boss finally sounded a bit more cordial at the end. ¡°Not yet, I¡¯ve been thinking about your braised meat,¡± the police said with a chuckle, introducing to the others, ¡°Mrs. Li¡¯s braised meat is a delicacy of Qu¡¯an County, she would make a fortune if she ran her business in the city instead ofing to the temple, probably enough to earn a temple in a year.¡± ¡°We really shouldn¡¯t be talking about money all the time in the temple,¡± Mrs. Li said as she stood up, opened a pot behind her, and sure enough, there was brisket stewing inside. A strong aroma hit their noses. ¡°Pastry with filling? It¡¯s 7 yuan each,¡± Mrs. Li asked. ¡°Fill them. Two for each person!¡± the police officer said, and then added, ¡°Many people from Qu¡¯an Countye here to the temple specifically for Mrs. Li¡¯s stuffed pastry.¡± ¡°Not that many people. Especiallytely, there have been very few visitors,¡± Mrs. Li calmly stated the price and then began to chop meat, while simultaneously sticking pastries to the side of the heating bucket. First, she chopped the marbled meat, then took out a hot, steaming pastry from the heating bucket, slicing it with a knife to naturally create a slit in the middle. Close to a liang or more of marbled meat with juices was generously stuffed into the bun, followed by a spoonful of gravy, whetting the appetite of anyone watching. The tastiest meat is undoubtedly meat filled with juices, which is a craving from the body. The meat pastry, to an extent, is a bit of a cheat. It doesn¡¯t require high-quality meat or precise control of the heat. Even because of the spices and boiling process, it can be preserved for several days. As long as the meat is stewed until tender and paired with an easy-to-make hot bun, ordinary gravy and meat can¡¯tpete with it. A few people had climbed the mountain and were already somewhat hungry; now they devoured Mrs. Li¡¯s stuffed pastries with relish. ¡°Your skills should be earning you money in the big city,¡± Liu Jinghuiplimented, giving a thumbs up. Mrs. Li smiled, ¡°I actually came back from the big city. Making money isn¡¯t all that interesting.¡± Liu Jinghui: ¡°Isn¡¯t making money to buy houses and cars great?¡± ¡°After buying them, it¡¯s just so-so,¡± Mrs. Li replied, ncing back at the main hall. ¡°I¡¯d rather cultivate my mind and temperament here, attending to those who are destined toe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s quite a thought,¡± Liu Jinghuiughed heartily, wiped his mouth, then gestured to the police officers to move forward to take a look. In the courtyard, two othery Buddhists were sweeping the floor. Further inside, the temple¡¯s abbot was offering incense to the Buddha statues one by one, muttering under his breath, ¡°Each Bodhisattva is their own first line of defense for their faith. Everyone take good care of your own section, and don¡¯t let others take it over¡­ ¡± There were many Bodhisattvas worshiped in the main hall, including Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, as well as Guan Yu, Maitreya Buddha, etc. In front of each Bodhisattva, there was a small porcin bowl, some filled with money, some empty. ¡°Abbot.¡± Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t wait for him to finish a round and called out loudly. After some hesitation, the abbot came over. ¡°Are you here to investigate that case?¡± The abbot was in his thirties and looked quite young. ¡°Yes, could you spare a few minutes? I have some questions,¡± Liu Jinghui asked with a smile. ¡°Sure, there is plenty of time. Would you like to light some incense?¡± ¡°Well¡­ alright then,¡± Liu Jinghui, having just regained the initiative, obediently handed it back. Jiang Yuan looked around, looking for a good spot to sit down, breathe in the fresh air, and start performing the Cranial Reconstruction Skill. He had be proficient now and could operate it even on his notebook without a problem. Meanwhile, Liu Jinghui asked with a smile, ¡°What is the abbot¡¯s name?¡± ¡°Just call me Director Cheng. ¡®Cheng from a thousand mouths, the turtle Cheng,''¡± responded the abbot with an easy-going manner, even taking the initiative to crack a joke. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t muster augh though; the situation in the temple was moreplex than he had imagined, and the number of suspects had multiplied in an instant. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but look towards Jiang Yuan. The skull on Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen still had a bare face. ¡°If you want to investigate the case, you can stay for a couple of days. Tonight, a few morey Buddhists wille over,¡± the abbot offered hospitably. ¡°Are you holding an event today?¡± ¡°Not exactly. It¡¯s mainly because Mrs. Li cooked too much meat, and it¡¯ll spoil if no onees to buy it,¡± the abbot said with a face exuding honesty. Liu Jinghui decisively said, ¡°Then please arrange a few rooms for us to stay.¡± Chapter 503 - 503 462 Throwing a Stone to Ask the Way ?503: Chapter 462: Throwing a Stone to Ask the Way 503: Chapter 462: Throwing a Stone to Ask the Way Religious venue cases are always quiteplex. If you¡¯re dealing with religious figures who are single-mindedly pursuing profit, it¡¯s not so bad. Normal investigative procedures have a chance to uncover the truth. But when you encounter the unconventional type, especially those deeply devout, traditional investigative methods immediately face obstacles. Liu Jinghui was observing Abbot Cheng, trying to analyze his personality and work style. To deduce reasoning unavoidably involves face recognition analysis, or FBI-like profiling and so on. To put it inyman¡¯s terms, when American police can¡¯t find any clues or break a case, they also can only rely on profiling or, in other words, reasoning to solve the case. Liu Jinghui felt he had mastered some advanced skills. In fact, the clearance rate for his current cases was quite impressive, which is why he¡¯d made a name for himself province-wide. Moreover, the cases he solved were mainly difficult ones, usually referred to him by county or city bureaus when they found themselves at an impasse. By the time it reached him, the golden 24 hours were often past, sometimes even the rose gold 72 hours had slipped away. If notpared with Jiang Yuan¡¯s extraordinary backlog solving ability, Liu Jinghui¡¯s (pseudo) backlog solving power was alsomendable. In fact, even with actual backlog of murder cases, Liu Jinghui had tackled a few. Over the years, all provinces had been pushing to solve backlogged cases. Although as a senior police officer there wasn¡¯t a set quota of backlog murder cases to solve, everyone was still willing to work towards this goal. Always thinking, asionally solving cases, and often writing reports ¨C that was the norm for detectives. In Liu Jinghui¡¯s view, the wilderness murder case in Qu¡¯an might not be so difficult after all. 20 years ago, during times of high rural poption and poor public security, investigations were indeed tough, especially during rainy seasons like this one. Even if the killer knew nothing, Mother Nature would wash the crime scene as if it had been cleaned. But in the current environment, the difficulty of solving wilderness cases had greatly reduced. Firstly, with fewer people around, if you could pinpoint the number of people in a certain location during a specific timeframe, even using the most brute-force method of elimination could yield a lot of information. The simplest approach was cell phone tracking. Base stations in the wilderness were sparse, and with a sweep from the tech surveince guys, it was clear which individuals had been in the vicinity during which timeframe. Liu Jinghui was strolling through the temple, thinking and observing at the same time. Captain Han, who hade with him, wasn¡¯t wearing his police rank insignia and was dressed in a cotton jacket, pockets stuffed, with a smile approaching, he said, ¡°Got any leads yet?¡± ¡°Not yet, have you found any clues?¡± Liu Jinghui countered. Captain Hanughed and shook his head, ¡°What clues could there be? If there were any, the case would have been solved long ago.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve investigated the temple devotees, haven¡¯t you?¡± ¡°We¡¯ve done a lot of questioning. We¡¯ve also specifically investigated those devotees who didn¡¯t show up. Too few clues, we can¡¯t even figure out who died,¡± Captain Han spread his hands, ¡°Once some of these devotees arrive here, they only use their chosen Buddhist name and don¡¯t really say their real names. It¡¯s not something we can look up.¡± ¡°And theye and go, right?¡± Liu Jinghui spoke for Captain Han. Captain Han nodded gravely, ¡°Identifying the source of the corpse is the pressing issue right now.¡± Liu Jinghui nced at him, ¡°So you think we¡¯ll make a fruitless trip again?¡± Visiting the crime scene was Liu Jinghui¡¯s suggestion; to reason out the case, he needed to collect as much information as possible. Captain Hanughed a couple of times, ¡°To speak the truth,ing here is a waste of time; it¡¯s been so long. Look, their temple is starting to operate normally. If it wasn¡¯t for Mrs. Li¡¯s meat burger, I wouldn¡¯t havee up here.¡± ¡°The meat burger is indeed delicious.¡± Liu Jinghui sighed, ¡°Let¡¯s go meet a few of the devotees.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll call a couple of people over for the statements.¡± To Captain Han, all the devotees were criminal suspects, so questioning naturally required taking statements. They hadn¡¯t walked far when they came across a female devotee in her fifties or sixties. She was wearing a coarse rob, her hair pinned up with a wooden stick, but because she wasn¡¯t attractive, she kind of resembled a low-resolution character from an old Hong Kong movie. ¡°Excuse me¡­ ma¡¯am, can I ask you a few questions?¡± Liu Jinghui stopped her. ¡°Can I not speak if I choose?¡± She softened her tone a bit, finding Liu Jinghui handsome. ¡°No, you can¡¯t.¡± Liu Jinghui frowned. ¡°Not even if I choose to remain silent?¡± Her tone became teasing. Captain Han exined, ¡°If you don¡¯t speak, we¡¯ll have to suspect you¡¯re rted to the case and would have to take you back for questioning.¡± ¡°Boring.¡± She pouted, ¡°Ask your questions¡­¡± Captain Han and Liu Jinghui exchanged nces, both sensing the difficulty of dealing with the devotees. And they were right. The several devotees at the small temple had an outward appearance of gentleness, with an especially positive way of speaking, but were actually extremely difficult to deal with. They were the type who on the surface seemed to offer free viewing but in reality wanted membership fees, sessive charges, advertising money, and per-episode fees. The typical kind who wanted to have, to hold, and to im everything. After making the rounds, Liu Jinghui returned to the room and said, ¡°I think there are two types of devotees here. One type lives here long-term; currently, there are three women, all over 50, very devout believers who spend half the year here, doing volunteer work and practicing their faith.¡± ¡°The second type are short-term visitors. Those whoe frequently have titles of devotees, while those whoe less might only visit a few days a year. The problem lies with the second type.¡± ¡°The first type is countable. If someone goes missing, we could match them with a result. The second type is more troublesome; there¡¯s no list to match against.¡± Captain Han sighed, ¡°What I mean is, I don¡¯t even know why these people bothering here, such a small temple without any known miracles.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say that¡­¡± Liu Jinghui started, but didn¡¯t finish, switching instead to, ¡°I need to think this through more carefully.¡± Captain Han red, ¡°I¡¯m telling you, speaking in such a half-told, swallowing fashion, you¡¯re bound to be the first one to die in a detective movie, and it¡¯s going to happen tonight.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that mysterious, I¡¯ll speak once I¡¯ve thought it through,¡± Liu Jinghui waved his hand and then said, ¡°I see there are vacant rooms in the temple, we might as well stay the night and see.¡± ¡°Is that necessary?¡± Captain Han muttered, but still followed him to find the abbot. He trusted Liu Jinghui somewhat, at least enough to stay with him for the night. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t object either. His willingness toe to the scene was mainly because he¡¯d been feeling a bit bored with his casestely. Especially with something like Cranial Reconstruction Skill, it could be interesting but also truly tedious. Bringing aptop to work and rest intermittently wasn¡¯t bad. The scenery around the small temple was quite nice. Although it couldn¡¯tpare to Siningshan, it was still surrounded by green mountains and clear waters. From afar you could see ovepping peaks, and close up, tender ravines. Devotees had donated to build pavilions and sitting inside one of those, sipping a pot of tea while enjoying the view and staring at theptop screen was indeed rxing. As for the bustling activity of Liu Jinghui and others making notes, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t optimistic. If this were a traditional detective drama, gathering all the suspects together to find contradictions through questioning would be one thing. But the problem was that with the current situation at the temple, it was simply impossible to gather all the suspects together. The reason traditional detective dramas adopted this method was because the investigative measures of 19th century British police were so limited. Without fingerprints, without DNA, the most solid evidence was a confession by the culprit, hence the confession reigned supreme. In modern times, the value of confessions has long since copsed. The coolest criminal investigation model is one with zero confessions, and to confront traditional detectives, the culprit only needed to use the move ¡°I don¡¯t remember,¡± which could easily defeat ny-nine percent of them. That included people like Liu Jinghui. Especially when facing a group of early elderly people averaging 60 years old, with their back-and-forth responses, constant corrections, and an infinite amount of rambling¡­ Liu Jinghui suddenly realized the biggest difference between they practitioners in the temple and the ordinary people below the mountain. That was that they really had nothing to do¡­ These elderlydies could write dozens of pages for a single interrogation record, and the craziest thing was that when the detectives asked if they had anything to add, they always ¡°did¡±¡­ ¡°I¡¯m exhausted,¡± Liu Jinghui thought to himself at 9 PM, an hour that still felt early in the city, his head was about to explode. Hey on the bunk bed in the quad room¡ªthe standard room provided by the temple¡ªfeeling as limp as a boiled shrimp. ¡°Are you that tired?¡± Captain Han felt it was fine, except that the room was gradually filling with the pungent smell of feet. Liu Jinghui grunted deeply, not wanting to exin, turned over, and asked, ¡°Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s your work going?¡± ¡°As for the cranial reconstruction, the progress is fine. Drank two pots of tea in the afternoon, now I¡¯m a little restless,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°I should have called Meng Chengbiao over,¡± Liu Jinghui muttered, ¡°His interrogation records are pretty good.¡± ¡°I can help too,¡± Mu Zhiyang spoke softly, having followed Jiang Yuan around all day and done nothing, he was terribly bored. The green mountains and waters were beautiful, but after a while, they also became truly boring. Liu Jinghuiughed out, about to speak, when suddenly he heard Captain Han shout loudly: ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± Bang! Thud thud¡­ A stone wrapped in a note shattered the window and rolled onto the floor. The breaking of the window made a ¡°bang¡± sound, but the sound of the stone hitting the ground was especially muffled. The four people who had just been talking andughing were all somewhat stunned at that instant. Then they hear Mu Zhiyang ¡°woo¡± as he jumped down from the bunk bed, yanked the door open, sprinted out with the momentum, drifted out the door, and circled around to the greenery in front of the window, only to see no one there. ¡°Protect the scene, preserve the footprints, nobody elsee over!¡± Liu Jinghui immediately thought of Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint analysis skills. For a moment, Liu Jinghui even had the thought: Wouldn¡¯t it be something if this bizarre case got cracked just like that! The other four officers staying in the neighboring room also came out to check. Captain Hanughed with a ¡°heh¡±, trying to lighten the mood, ¡°Good thing it wasn¡¯t a grenade they threw in.¡± While speaking yfully, Captain Han also whipped out his phone and snapped a few photos immediately, then dialed the criminal investigation team¡¯sndline to arrange for reinforcements toe up the mountain. Most importantly, they needed forensic technicians to bring their equipment. They hade up with only the most basic investigative kit, which was certainly not enough for the crucial piece of evidence that had justnded before them. But Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯tugh, he sat up anxiously, pulled out his phone, took a few pictures of the stone on the ground, and then asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Can you have a look?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan, who was also on the upper bunk, jumped down from the other side, put on gloves, picked up some tweezers, and said, ¡°Turn on the camera, and wear the body camera too.¡± This could be key evidence and even life-threatening for the criminal, so they had to enforce thew strictly. The stone was about the size of a Chaozhou beef meatball, with crumpled white paper around it. Jiang Yuanid something out on a table before unraveling it, revealing five characters on the white paper: ¡°The murderer Zhang Fen¡± The five characters were sectioned into three parts, ¡°The murderer,¡± ¡°Zhang,¡± ¡°Fen,¡± as if they were separately cut out from a magazine. The handwriting was small and the cuts were very precise. ¡°That¡¯s the name of one of the femaley practitioners, the 55-year-old one.¡± Liu Jinghui furrowed his brows: Could she really kill someone? Chapter 504 - 504 463 Look at Your Feet ?504: Chapter 463 Look at Your Feet 504: Chapter 463 Look at Your Feet It is well known that women are less likely to be involved in cases of direct violence. For instance, in crimes such as robbery which are essentially profitless ventures, it¡¯s rare for women to take the initiative. Even among the one hundred and eight heroes of Water Margin, only three are women, and Hu Sanniang was kidnapped, while Sun Er Niang and Mrs. Gu ran an inn of ill repute, typically killing guests in their sleep or while drunk, which closely aligns with the standard temte for female-perpetrated murders. In the deste body-dumping case of Qu¡¯an, the victim died from being hit on the back of the head with a blunt object, which is one of the reasons the skull was preserved. From Liu Jinghui¡¯s understanding of homicide cases, there are women who kill with blunt objects, but most are crimes of passion. If it¡¯s premeditated murder, they would not choose confrontation and are unlikely to use blunt objects, rather favoring sharp ones. Simply put, simr to Sun Er Niang and Mrs. Gu, female assants tend to adopt direct violent methods only when the victim is essentially powerless to resist. The Zhang Fen referred to in the note is one of the long-standingy Buddhists frequenting the small temple. She is 55 years old this year, slender, wears small leather shoes, applies light makeup, and her little fingernail is left very long¡­ Logically, a woman of this age and condition, without professional training, is unlikely to have the confidence to murder a male of the same age on her own. Perhaps the one who threw the stone and the note was her aplice? Liu Jinghui thought too much for a moment, and it was only when everything outside was brightly lit that he realized he should leave. The four detectives in the next room had already cordoned off the area around the green belt with caution tape. There was a narrow path nearby, a stone path built around the small temple, just wide enough for one person to pass. With one detective standing on each side, the onlookers were effectively blocked. In fact, there weren¡¯t many onlookers. Excluding the police, there were originally only eight residents in the small temple. Aside from the younger abbot, the other seven were all elderly. Some were already sleeping, and others lived too far away to hear themotion here. Of the three femaley Buddhists who regrly resided there, two hade out and were whispering to each other a few meters apart. Liu Jinghui nced over, and the one missing happened to be Zhang Fen. The sky was darkening. The stars above were exceptionally bright, twinkling like beautiful pupils. Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze met with Captain Han¡¯s, and they converged without nning. ¡°I¡¯ve stationed people on the path leading up the mountain. If no one has gone up or down, then the perpetrator is someone from the temple. An out-of-town castle mystery case, it sounds pretty¡­ cool!¡± Captain Han was a little excited. As a police officer of many years, such a fresh case was indeed interesting. On a normal day, Liu Jinghui would have found it interesting as well. Today, however, his interest was somewhatcking, and he said, ¡°Jiang Yuan is here.¡± ¡°So what if Jiang Yuan is here?¡± Captain Han hadn¡¯t spent much time with Jiang Yuan, and it was night now, his intelligence seemingly reduced. Liu Jinghui pursed his lips, much like someone who disdains store-bought dumpling wrappers in favor of rolling his own, and said, ¡°Later, let¡¯s improve the lighting so he can check for footprints. On the stone and paper, we can look for fingerprints. If all escapes us, we can search the other rooms to see if we can find cut-up magazines or newspapers¡­ We won¡¯t have the chance to y out an out-of-town castle mystery case.¡± Upon reflection, Captain Han clicked his tongue in agreement, ¡°Science eliminates romance, huh.¡± ¡°Romance is for liberal arts students.¡± Liu Jinghui first indulged a bit of discrimination before urging Captain Han, ¡°Hurry up and have the forensic lights and some strong young men brought over.¡± The hill where the small temple was located wasn¡¯t high, but it would still take a regr person nearly half an hour to climb up. It wasn¡¯t far from the county town to here, with the time mainly spent on the climbing section. With a grunt, Captain Han took out his phone and said, ¡°I¡¯ll call the young guys from the team to climb up first. Forensic lights, power supply, investigation kit, shlights¡­ Anything else?¡± ¡°Bring several kinds of fingerprint powder and brushes¡­¡± Jiang Yuan walked over and added. ¡°No problem.¡± Captain Han looked around and couldn¡¯t help butugh, ¡°Let these guys witness the advanced nature of modern criminal investigation techniques.¡± The police present allughed. These days, as long as it¡¯s a current case, the chances of solving it are very high. Committing a crime in front of the police, especially in front of elite forensics personnel, left a very low probability of escape. With today¡¯s development in forensic science technology, even Moriarty would have to sit at the children¡¯s table. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t even immediately begun the forensic examination. Partly because the lighting was insufficient, and partly because there weren¡¯t enough police in the temple. No matter how many of the eightypeople in the temple were involved in the crime, the eight police officers on site might not be able to control the perpetrator¡ªthis control wasn¡¯t just about arresting or restricting their freedom, it also included preventing escape or even suicide. Such a short hill, if the criminal jumped down in a fit of anger and died from the fall¡ªit would be better than being shot dead on the spot. A group of police officers silently waited for backup at the foot of the hill, making every effort to avoid overly provoking the criminal. From the police¡¯s perspective, they were like having three aces in their hand, carefully cing their bets to prevent the criminal from escaping, while also probing to see if the other party was bluffing with a 2-3-5. ¡°Who do you think did it?¡± Captain Han, out of boredom, struck up a conversation while sitting next to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Firstly, eliminate the abbott.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°At least young people know a bit better, right? Hang adder, send a message from beyond the wall, that¡¯s better than throwing stones with a note attached. Throwing rocks like this is no different from a burr dropping their ID card at the scene of a theft.¡± Captain Hanughed upon hearing this because there really had been thieves who left their ID cards behind when stealing. Captain Han said, ¡°It¡¯s just that Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t catch him. If he had, he would¡¯ve broken his bones.¡± ¡°If his bones were broken, we¡¯d still have to carry him down. Heree the people.¡± Liu Jinghui stood up. A trail of light snaked up from halfway up the mountain. The first to arrive were two young people, panting heavily. Fresh out of police academy, they were at the peak of their physical strength. The two officers had wrapped their jackets around their waists, carryingrge forensic kits on their backs, and were steaming with heat. ¡°Well done.¡± Captain Han felt quite proud, patting the two on the shoulders vigorously, ¡°Just put the stuff down, can you still fight?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± Neither of them had undertaken a major task before, and their morale was high. Captain Han nodded, ¡°Good, you¡¯re my kind of soldiers. Put your clothes on properly and guard this mountain path right away, allow entry but not exit, and sound the rm if someone tries to run.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The two stood up straight and proud. Captain Han then called over the officers who had just been sent to guard the road and whispered, ¡°Now you two go around to the back of the temple, there¡¯s no path there, but be on the lookout for someone desperate enough to jump over the wall.¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± The two understood and immediately went to set up defenses. With that, the small temple was truly caught in a trap. After a while, more detectives climbed the hill, and Jiang Yuan began to sweep for fingerprints and footprints along with other traces. They practitioner and the abbot were both roused by themotion. At this point, Captain Han was no longer polite; he gathered the 8 people in the main hall and started collecting everyone¡¯s footprints. ¡°Captain Han, what if an outsider climbed up here? By assuming it¡¯s one of us now, seems too arbitrary,¡± Mrs. Li, who had been business-savvy and rather bold in her youth, protested. Captain Han chuckled, ¡°It¡¯s very unlikely, because even if he could climb up quietly, he wouldn¡¯t be able to leave unnoticed.¡± ¡°Then maybe he¡¯s just hiding somewhere.¡± ¡°The police dogs will be here any minute, and we¡¯ve also brought a life detector.¡± Captain Han didn¡¯t borate further. But from the name ¡®life detector,¡¯ it was clear what it was for. Indeed, the development of this device was to deal with natural disasters such as earthquakes and mudslides, prioritizing the rescue of lives. But with a slight modification, it could detect within about a 20-meter range, which was enough to locate a criminal ying hide-and-seek. The others, hearing this, fell silent. Soon after, Jiang Yuan walked in with a smile and said to everyone, ¡°Let¡¯s see your feet.¡± Chapter 505 - 505 464 Love Turns to Hate ?505: Chapter 464: Love Turns to Hate 505: Chapter 464: Love Turns to Hate ¡°Line up, everyone.¡± Captain Han waved his hand, signaling the abbot and they Buddhists to form a line, and instructed a criminal police officer to raise a camera. A few people reluctantly shuffled into position and, upon Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, lifted their feet. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t inspect each individual methodically; instead, after a quick nce, he approached three long-termy residents, ced a piece of paper in front of them, and said, ¡°Step on it.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll step on it,¡± said they Buddhist Gu Mingxia, unafraid, ¡°but if you want to frame me, you need to present evidence.¡± This was rather unusual among crime suspects. Many inexperienced criminals, even with wellid ns, would involuntarily tremble due to surging adrenaline at such moments. The experience wasmon, akin to how a child¡¯s heartbeat elerates while hiding well in a game of hide and seek; or how one¡¯s palms sweat uncontrobly when facing their first quintuple kill in a game; or even going nk when a handsome boy presents flowers, despite having nned for that moment since childhood and having rehearsed it. Handling most unexpected situations well usually required experience. Jiang Yuan re-examined the footprint, then looked up and scrutinized Gu Mingxia¡¯s expression, saying, ¡°You don¡¯t think changing shoes will help, do you? If that were the case, what would be the point of footprint identification?¡± Actually, in Europe and America, footprint identification worked precisely like this. Generally, they only had shoe print identification and barefoot identification, without footprint identification per se. But this was due to limitations in their legal system, in other words, it was a systemic problem, not a scientific one. Lay Buddhist Gu Mingxia was evidently uninformed, but after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, she merely panicked briefly before calmly saying, ¡°Say what you will, but you need to bring out the evidence.¡± ¡°Find a pair of men¡¯s size 41 Nike shoes, the kind with a big checkmark underneath. Probably a pair of running shoes,¡± Jiang Yuan described to Captain Han. The order was immediately dispatched, with Gu Mingxia¡¯s room being the primary search location. Gu Mingxia immediately voiced her opposition, and severaly Buddhists started moring about search warrants and such. Captain Han coolly stated, ¡°ording to Article 136 of our country¡¯s Criminal Procedure Law, in urgent situations, searches can be conducted without a warrant. Such situations include potential concealment, destruction, or transferal of criminal evidence, and the possibility of concealing other suspects¡­ We cannot confirm whether there are only the current eight people in the temple, and we must confirm this.¡± Gu Mingxia, at a loss for words, turned to Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°You said they are size 41 men¡¯s Nike shoes, which obviously aren¡¯t mine¡­¡± ¡°You are too clever for your own good,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°There are plenty of footprints umted on the path. With everyone walking back and forth and leaving their prints, it¡¯s actually hard to determine who was present. But a pair of size 41 Nike shoes being worn by someone with small feet¡ªthis is very conspicuous.¡± Anyone who had even a bit of knowledge would know, whether one has small feet wearingrge shoes orrge feet in small shoes, it¡¯s immediately obvious to a level LV0.5 and higher footprint identification specialist. Even European and American footprint experts could tell at a nce. Generally speaking, such a tactic is that of an inexperienced and ignorant criminal, which fits Gu Mingxia¡¯s profile. Of course, after checking the feet, Jiang Yuan was one hundred percent certain. At least the one wearing men¡¯s Nike shoes was definitely Gu Mingxia. Gu Mingxia¡¯s eyes whirled about, evidently pondering whether to admit to the deed and further argue or defend herself. This was the dilemma ordinary people faced during interrogation. On one hand, Gu Mingxia couldn¡¯t bepletely sure whether Jiang Yuan had really noticed the discrepancy or if he was merely bluffing her. Although it seemed he had indeed noticed, as the person involved, she still harbored a glimmer of hope. On the other hand, Gu Mingxia could admit to having worn size 41 men¡¯s Nike shoes near the window, which wasn¡¯t illegal in itself, but doing so would certainly increase her suspicion, possibly leading her into a police trap. After much deliberation, Gu Mingxia couldn¡¯t make a decision. She had already thrown the shoes down the mountain, so there should, theoretically, be no evidence left. What she didn¡¯t understand was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint analysis had already pinpointed her. Now it was just a matter of finding more definitive evidence. Momentster, Liu Jinghui came over, took a look, asked a couple of questions, and said, ¡°Send out a search team. Although there are ces in the temple like incense burners where you could burn magazines, shoes definitely couldn¡¯t bepletely destroyed by fire.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll organize a search team,¡± said Captain Han without fuss. Conducting a search operation would indeed incur costs, but the expense was insignificantpared to that of a homicide case. Liu Jinghui hastily drew up a topographical map and handed it to Captain Han, saying, ¡°Start with the area around Gu Mingxia¡¯s room. She probablycks counter-surveince experience, and the disposal of the items was likely quite hurried.¡± The police had made a sudden trip up the mountain, so she certainly hadn¡¯t had much time to prepare in advance. Captain Han immediately adjusted the density of the search team and hung severalrgemps near the slope where severaly Buddhists lived. The little temple on this side was built on a small hill, which was neither as precipitous as famous mountains and rivers nor had a flowing stream downhill; thus, the criminal couldn¡¯t have thrown items very far. In less than half an hour, a pair of dull grey Nike shoes were discovered. The most interesting part was that a cut-up magazine was stuffed inside the Nike shoe. Having obtained the evidence, Captain Han rxed and pulled Gu Mingxia aside into a temporary interrogation room, then asked, ¡°Well, if you still won¡¯t admit it, we¡¯ll just do a DNA test. Don¡¯t say I didn¡¯t warn you, leniency for those who confess, severity for those who resist, and it¡¯s no joke. If you keep resisting like this, in the end, no one will be able to save you.¡± Captain Han was quite proud of himself; although Jiang Yuan had been involved in the case, the main work had been done by himself and his team. Especially in protecting the crime scene and searching on-site, he was the one who uncovered further evidence. This means that, possibly, eighty percent, or at least seventy percent, fifty percent at the very least, the credit for solving this murder case could be attributed to him. Gu Mingxia stared nkly with her eyes straight ahead and, after a long while, finally said, ¡°I did it to remind you all!¡± ¡°Remind us of what?¡± Captain Han asked. Gu Mingxia said angrily, ¡°Can¡¯t you read? The murderer is Zhang Fen!¡± ¡°Zhang Fen is they Buddhist who has been living in the temple with you for a long time, right?¡± Captain Han asked. ¡°Right.¡± Captain Han¡¯s eyelids twitched. During the day, he had seen the three old ¡®babies¡¯ hugging affectionately and taking photos together. Now, she was starting to expose one of them? Captain Han asked, ¡°Why do you say she¡¯s the murderer?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely her. She killed out of love turned into hate,¡± Gu Mingxia stated confidently. Captain Han frowned, ¡°Who do you think the victim is?¡± ¡°Qian Guoqing!¡± Gu Mingxia said. ¡°Qian Guoqing? How old was he, and where was he from?¡± ¡°60 years old. From Yue Province.¡± ¡°And then, why do you think Zhang Fen killed him out of love turned into hate?¡± ¡°Because he truly loved me!¡± Gu Mingxia straightened her back, saying with grief and indignation, ¡°We didn¡¯t go public with our rtionship in order not to hurt her. But, but¡­ it must be Zhang Fen. She once said that she would destroy what she couldn¡¯t have. She also said that her ex-husband¡­ she destroyed hispany along with him¡­¡± The policemen in the room exchanged awkward nces. Although they hade across many distasteful things, they had rarely heard such an awkward love story in recent years. Captain Han in the interrogation room was thinking even more, turning his head to ask, ¡°The Qian Guoqing you mentioned, how tall was he, and how much did he weigh?¡± ¡°He was about 1.75 meters tall, maybe even a bit taller, and he weighed around 130 to 140 kilograms. He kept himself in very good shape; he exercised regrly,¡± Gu Mingxia replied somewhat shyly, ¡°He was also very gentlemanly, often dressed in a three-piece suit, carrying a walking stick¡­¡± Captain Han asked a few more questions, then looked back at Jiang Yuan standing behind him. This was a temporary interrogation, which should have ended with a few words of dialogue if it weren¡¯t for the unexpected answers obtained. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui both stood in the room listening, each with a solemn expression. Captain Han inquired with his eyes to Jiang Yuan: Was the person she described urate? Jiang Yuan nodded seriously. Solely from the standards of Forensic Anthropology, the age and height of the deceased matched, and the bones in areas such as the knees and shoulders did indeed show wear from exercising. Chapter 506 - 506 465 Perfect Harmony ?506: Chapter 465: Perfect Harmony 506: Chapter 465: Perfect Harmony The night was deep. The small temple, which should have been shrouded in the night, was lit up everywhere, with officers responsible for searching for evidence, officers in charge of inspecting and securing the evidence, officers tasked withmunication and running around¡­ From the sky above, beams of shlights resembled shooting trajectories, always carrying an air of menace. All eight people, including the head monk, were separated and ced under supervision. Captain Han and Liu Jinghui unanimously decided to not send them down the mountain for the time being. Firstly, traveling mountain paths at night was risky, even if the paths were well-trodden and the steps steady. If someone tried to flee, idents could easily happen, which made nighttime transfers unsuitable. Secondly, they wanted to conduct a surprise interrogation. This case had everyone in the temple keeping their own secrets, all knowing something. If they were taken away now, the long journey down the mountain would stabilize their emotions, making it harder to extract any useful informationter. Since there were plenty of police officers on the mountain, Captain Han requisitioned several rooms and delegated some experienced officers to start preliminary interrogations. He didn¡¯t expect to get everything, and indeed, it seemed unnecessary to interrogate at all. Just the love and jealousy story between the threey Buddhists and Mr. Qian could probablyst a whole night. But now, there was atst a direction to pursue. If the victim was Qian Guoqing, then the issue of identifying the body would be solved. Captain Han didn¡¯t know if going back to Huang Qiangmin could recover anything more, but from his perspective, a chance at cracking the case had to be seized. In the wee hours. Captain Han personally interrogated Zhang Fen. The 55-year-old Zhang Fen, when not made up, looked pale and sallow, a picture of exhaustion. Resting her forehead on one hand, she sighed and said, ¡°It¡¯s sote, I normally would have been sound asleep by now, my mind is really muddled at this hour.¡± ¡°I saw your Moments; every night around one or two in the morning, you¡¯d post about your insomnia. Why aren¡¯t you insomniac now?¡± Captain Han was an experienced detective, and though he may seem a bit simplepared to Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and even Huang Qiangmin, that was only inparison. On the streets of Qu¡¯an County, Captain Han was not someone to be trifled with! Zhang Fen furrowed her brow and said, ¡°My insomnia is not something to be interrogated¡­¡± ¡°Let¡¯s talk about your rtionship with Qian Guoqing,¡± Captain Han was not here to haggle with her. Zhang Fen blushed, ¡°My rtionship with Qian Guoqing¡­ what¡¯s there to say about my rtionship with him¡­¡± Seeing her reaction, Captain Han sensed something and prodded, ¡°Some say you¡¯re the other woman¡­¡± ¡°Who¡­¡± Zhang Fen¡¯s voice sharpened immediately. Captain Han smiled and said, ¡°That, I cannot disclose. But what¡¯s the truth?¡± ¡°I had a mutual affection with Qian Guoqing¡­¡± Zhang Fen gritted her teeth and said, ¡°Those hussies are just jealous of me¡­¡± After the initial difort, including Zhang Fen, they Buddhists all started to open up. If it had been any other line of questioning, Zhang Fen and the others might have cooperated but been physically unable to stay awake. However, what Captain Han was asking about were the love and hate stories of Qian Guoqing and the ¡®old babies,¡¯ a topic they Buddhists were all too familiar with and were particrly interested in. Jiang Yuan wandered around the rooms, listening to the discussions, and suddenly felt as if he had been transported to a vige gossip session, the kind that takes ce in the dead of night, off-limits to children. These women who grew up watching Qiong Yao¡¯s dramas were still discussing love passionately even at the age of 60¡­ Of course, apanying love were always strife, conflict, sweetness, and bitterness¡­ The group was so engrossed in their discussion that even they Buddhists who weren¡¯t directly involved were speaking authoritatively on the subject of these romances. However, since only a ¡®Prince¡¯ deserves to talk about love, Qian Guoqing¡¯s status as a wealthy businessman was also repeatedly mentioned. After listening for a while, Jiang Yuan felt it was getting boring and decided to go to bed. His mission had been aplished smoothly, and if the Skull Restoration Skill was no longer needed, it wasn¡¯t a bad thing, because after all, solving the case was what mattered. The next day. Jiang Yuan still got up early. The environment in the mountains is just like this, as soon as day breaks, the chirping of birds outside the window begins¡ªthere are fewer birds in the city, and hearing one or two calls is both dear and natural. There are too many birds in the mountains, and each one starts chirping incessantly as if a bunch of kids are shouting, making it very hard to fall back asleep. The air in the mountains is good though, and even with not much sleep, one¡¯s mind is clear. Jiang Yuan dressed leisurely and then went out to stretch his body, and immediately noticed the strong scent of braised meat. ¡°Mrs. Li¡­ You¡¯re cooking meat so early?¡± As Jiang Yuan noticed a police officer standing next to Mrs. Li, he realized Captain Han must still be alert. Mrs. Li, catching Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze, smiled nonchntly and added, ¡°This braised meat needs to be boiled every day, and besides, you all need breakfast, don¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately nodded his head. The temple doesn¡¯t provide meals, previously it was they Buddhists who did the cooking. The main task of ay Buddhist, apart from offering incense, was to cook and sweep. If there were more people, they would do some cleaning work; otherwise, even for a small temple, the abbot would have endless chores. Unlike Mrs. Li,y Buddhists made only vegetarian food, and nobody, Captain Han included, wanted to endure that for a whole day. ¡°Meat in bread? Still 7 yuan.¡± Mrs. Li spoke while already starting to bake the bread. ¡°Give me two.¡± Jiang Yuan was quite happy to, and then asked, ¡°Do you have soup?¡± ¡°You eat quite well. Want some pork stomach soup? I made it for myself,¡± Mrs. Li said as she went inside and brought out a small porcin jar. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, thinking that one shouldn¡¯t be too demanding while in the mountains, especially in the temple, and said, ¡°Add some garlic greens, a bit more pepper, I just want the soup without the pork stomach and the oil, served in a small bowl, with a soup spoon, please.¡± Mrs. Li prepared it ording to his request, then said, ¡°I was going to give you the soup for free, but now a bowl is seven and a half yuan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± Jiang Yuan cheerfully paid and then sat at a small table nearby, eating his meat-filled bread and sipping the soup. The freshly-made pork stomach soup was steaming hot with a spicy kick from the pepper, which paired with the meat-filled bread, quickly made him sweat. At that moment in the early morning, it felt incrediblyforting. The police officer standing guard couldn¡¯t help but swallow hard. ¡°Would you like some soup?¡± Mrs. Li considerately scooped a bowl of pork stomach soup for him. ¡°Sure.¡± The officer took out his mobile phone to pay, but Mrs. Li stopped him, ¡°No need to pay for the soup, it¡¯s because he had so many requests.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s settle the bill anyway.¡± The officer insisted on paying, then began sipping the soup with enjoyment. After a while, Liu Jinghui and Captain Han along with others, also got up one after another. Jiang Yuan was already full by then, and seeing that they didn¡¯t look too great, he simply stood and waited. Seeing him, Captain Han didn¡¯t even bother eating anything and took Jiang Yuan aside, saying, ¡°Jiang Yuan, you still have to continue with the Skull Restoration Skill.¡± Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°We found Qian Guoqing, he¡¯s still alive and at his hometown,¡± Captain Han shook his head and continued, ¡°He¡¯s a local farmer who used to grow fruit trees and joined a low-cost tour, met one of they Buddhists here and ended up sleeping over.¡± Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised, as that made sense. After all, a 60-year-old merchant from Yue Province spending several months a year in a small temple in Shannan Province, engaging in romance and grudges with a few olddies¡­ ¡°Is Qian Guoqing a suspect?¡± Jiang Yuan asked casually. Captain Han shook his head slightly, saying, ¡°He has an alibi. He needs to work for half the year to have the money toe here and hang out.¡± A temple can indeed have minimal expenses, but for a merchant, clearly, one can¡¯t be too stingy. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly¡ªso the case had circled back to the start. He nced at Liu Jinghui, reasoning like this, pushing and pulling, it might move forward or it might go backward. It¡¯s not like technology; once you make a breakthrough, it remains a breakthrough; once proven, it stays proven. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m going back to hammer away at theputer,¡± Jiang Yuan said, not even bothering to inquire further about the case details. This business wasn¡¯t worth involving in a homicide case, and it felt like in the end, it would likely end in some sort of administrative detention. Compared to that, he¡¯d rather send someone to their death directly. Chapter 507 - 507 466 ?507: Chapter 466 507: Chapter 466 That day, the abbot andy devotees all followed the police down the mountain. Throughout the journey, the abbot¡¯s mood was somewhat suppressed, and just as they neared the bottom, he couldn¡¯t help reciting his own surname: ¡°Thousand mouths of bastard Cheng, thousand mouths of bastard Cheng¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang asked curiously what he was doing, and the abbot said, ¡°I¡¯m cursing someone.¡± ¡°Curse who?¡± Mu Zhiyang asked. ¡°On the surface, I¡¯m cursing myself,¡± the abbot, ying with his prayer beads, said: ¡°Even ifizens record a video, they can only say I have a peculiar temper.¡± ¡°But in reality?¡± ¡°I just want to curse by saying ¡®bastard¡¯ a few more times!¡± The abbot¡¯s prayer beads twirled rapidly: ¡°Bastard! They are all bastards¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang looked at the abbot¡¯s shrewd head: ¡°It¡¯s a good thing your surname is Cheng¡­¡± At that moment, the abbot spoke very philosophically: ¡°Heaven has made me born of some usefulness, think carefully and break down the words, you will always find a bit of a surprise. Read enough books, and you will find that in Chinese, there are ample ways to curse someone.¡± What could Mu Zhiyang say? He could only give a thumbs-up and say, ¡°Reading is really useful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true,¡± the abbot sighed helplessly: ¡°If benefactor Qian, Qian Guoqing had read more books, he wouldn¡¯t have caused such a bigmotion. It¡¯s all karma.¡± Hearing this, Mu Zhiyang got interested: ¡°How so, let¡¯s hear it.¡± The abbot said, ¡°If benefactor Qian had studied at ¡®The Great Learning,¡¯ with his age, he would inevitably hold a cadre position, then he could only retire at 60. That way, he wouldn¡¯t have the time to wander around. Given the nature of his work, he would most likely be an office worker. When he gets older, he won¡¯t have the energy to flirt with women everywhere, in most cases, he would probably have the spirit butck the strength¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang, looking at the abbot who was about 10 years older than him, genuinely said: ¡°Indeed, it takes a monk to see things clearly.¡± The abbot hummed in agreement, ¡°Those of us who are often away from home, whether it¡¯s dating or getting married, should think more and be more cautious.¡± ¡°Absolutely right,¡± Mu Zhiyang also fully expressed his opinion. ¡­ The Criminal Police Detachment. Captain Han walked in, took a couple of sips of water, and then pointed to a few people, ¡°You guys, make detailed interview records for the abbot and the pilgrims.¡± One of the officers, who had just returned from the mountain, was totally numbed when he heard this: ¡°Wasn¡¯t the record we madest night detailed enough?¡± ¡°This is a murder case, not a prostitution case, did you ask everything that should be asked?¡± Captain Han said impatiently: ¡°Everything that should be asked must be asked, from the beginning to the end, this case is most likely rted to all these temple nuisances.¡± But whether there is any rtion to the case, even the detectives themselves don¡¯t know. They silently grumbled, with no other option. Solving a murder case is bothersome, and so is working on it. And everyone knows, if you don¡¯t make the interview record now, andter their testimony changes, you can¡¯t refute anything. Lying to the police is a very stupid thing to do, but there is one exception ¨C people who arepulsive liars. Such people, who can¡¯t tell the truth anyway, usually don¡¯t get a reduced sentence but just increase the workload of the case officers. Of course, what¡¯s more annoying is another kind, like they devotees and pilgrims now. No one believes they¡¯re telling the entire truth, but which part is true, and which part is a lie? Or maybe they themselves forget after talking too much. The detectives who stayed at the Criminal Police Detachment, with some still not grasping the gravity of the situation, chuckled: ¡°There¡¯s no rush, just take your time with the records.¡± Normal records are like that, ording to working hours. No one is in a hurry, rest when you should rest, drink water when you want to, almost like chatting. Especially when dealing with not-so-important witnesses. With the camera set up, there¡¯s no need to rack your brains for a breakthrough, just talk normally. The main workload is going back to transcribe the report or such. However, today¡¯s situation is clearly different. The content of the conversation has changed. In the past, police officers listened to talks of life¡¯s fate withughter. But now, it was fate¡¯s talk about life itself. Seeing the kindly yet twisted expressions of the 60-year-old grandmothers, and listening to their pain and curses, several young officers quickly couldn¡¯t bear it anymore. Towards the end, it wasn¡¯t the police looking for people to talk to, it was people looking for the police to talk to. Chat and chat, chat and chat¡­ and the day passed. The next day, some people staying at the Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s guesthouse didn¡¯t need the policerades to urge them; they all came voluntarily to continue the chat. Jiang Yuan passed by during work hours and saw Captain Han¡¯s expression, feeling it was even worse than when Director Huang was around. At least when Director Huang was there, Captain Han¡¯s pain was clear ¨C it was a kind of exhausted pain from being bitten and losing too much blood. But after several days of interviews and record-taking, Captain Han had be utterly exhausted, suffering from an insidious pain where it was not clear where the injuryy. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about all that, just like going to work in the morning, arriving at the Criminal Police Team, he went straight into his office to work on Cranial Reconstruction. At lunchtime, he didn¡¯t even go out to eat. He just had a simple meal of foods brought from home, like soy-sauce pork knuckles, Buddha¡¯s Temptation, roast meat, and pf, which just needed some heating to be ready to eat. There was a microwave in the office. Setting the timer, just a twist, and he would have a decent meal. Even for something apparently nd like Buddha¡¯s Temptation, by bringing a bit more broth and heating up a pot of it, then pouring some rice in, it became a good, simple lunch. If he was hungry in the evening, he would boil some hot pot or grill some meat in the office. The delivery industry in Qu¡¯an County wasn¡¯t well-developed. The few businesses willing to deliver mainly sold products like Wace¡¯s and were mostly small chains. There were no courier services avable yet. Jiang Yuan, left with no choice, could only keep a delivery guy¡¯s WeChat and request him to bring various foods and water every day. After getting to know Jiang Yuan¡¯s daily routine, the delivery guy was greatly shocked and had already started to consider taking the assistant police exam. Several dayster. Cheng and others returned to the small temple one after another. The skull that Jiang Yuan had been working on was also gradually taking shape. ¡°Let¡¯s take a few pictures,¡± Jiang Yuan said, directly creating images on hisptop before calling a criminal photographer from the Qu¡¯an County Bureau to select them. Skull reconstruction could be considered an art, and its downside was that the reconstructed faces could vary somewhat. Simply put, each step of skull reconstruction was not extremely precise. Generally speaking, choices were made within a certain range. Theoretically, if the choices at each step differed greatly, the resulting face would lookpletely different. However, the human eye or brain itself wasn¡¯t built on precision alone, and as long as the differences in the reconstructed faces weren¡¯t too significant, witnesses had a certain ability to distinguish them. It was even easier to recognize familiar people. When used for facialparison orputer analysis, it might be a bit more difficult. However, photos obtained through cranial reconstruction were much more urate than those created by artists. Especially domestically, most police departments actually don¡¯t have artists, and of course, there are no cranial reconstruction experts either. The only thing slightly rted to art, criminal photographers, were usually rushed through training. The one from Qu¡¯an County was obviously no exception. He chose six photos all at once, clearly adopting a ¡®the more, the merrier¡¯ approach, which indicated apleteck of confidence. ¡°This should be about right. By the way, should we make the face a whiter or yellower shade?¡± Those who worked in criminal photography, who most often photographed corpses, gradually came to share the forensic doctor¡¯s aesthetic. ¡°It¡¯s difficult to judge the color of facial skin, let¡¯s go for diversity,¡± muttered Jiang Yuan, shaking his head in disappointment and losing his confidence in the man. He then chose 24 photos himself. In this way, they assembled 30 images that looked simr¡­ almost like 30 brothers. Theoretically, they represented 30 people, but in reality, they all looked very simr. When these 30 photos were uploaded to the backend system, it didn¡¯t take long for it to start identifying individuals. At this time, Captain Han and Liu Jinghui also rushed over. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we have,¡± said Liu Jinghui, sitting behind Jiang Yuan, preparing to help look at the photos. The facial recognition system used by Qu¡¯an County was simr to the fingerprint system, operating on a candidate mode. By default, it would spit out the faces of 20 candidates at a time for selection. But unlike the fingerprint system, the recognition rate for human faces was much higher. Even fingerprint experts, after extensive training, had to examine each candidate fingerprint kicked out by the automatic fingerprint identification system very carefully. But when it came to faces, ordinary people without training could definitely say whether two photos were of the same person. This significantly sped up the selection process. This was another reason why skull reconstruction was so effective ¨C because it produced faces that everyone could easilypare, and even ordinary detectives had the capability to do so. Dozens of photos were quickly reviewed, and soon, several people decided on one photo. ¡°This person,¡± Liu Jinghui pointed and said, ¡°Find information on this person!¡± On the monitor, there was a photo of an older man with a high-bridged nose and a somewhat artistic temperament. Looking at his identity information, he was also from Southern Ming of Yue Province. Just by seeing the address information, everyone got excited. Captain Han took the mouse, clicked a few times, entered a password, and soon a red ¡°missing¡± alert appeared on the screen. Almost certain now, Captain Han looked through the page more carefully and said, ¡°This person hasn¡¯t left DNA or fingerprints in the system, but his children did¡­ I¡¯ll contact them!¡± Mu Zhiyang, who had been watching dazedly, quietly asked Liu Jinghui when everyone wasn¡¯t so busy anymore, ¡°Director Liu, was it someonepletely unrted who died?¡± ¡°Whether it¡¯s rted or not, we won¡¯t know until we ask. But¡­¡± Liu Jinghui grimaced and said, ¡°Qian Guoqing is from Yue Province, and so is this person. I don¡¯t believe they¡¯repletely unrted.¡± ¡°So, is it still a tale of love and hate?¡± Mu Zhiyang felt ufortable. He hadn¡¯t even had a girlfriend yet, and now the old babies in the temple were falling out of love and even starting to kill? Were their lives moving at too different paces? Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t answer, saying, ¡°It¡¯s hard to say what the motive is, but what do you think? Who killed them?¡± Although the scenario of the sole residents of the small temple killing each other hadn¡¯t unfolded smoothly, Liu Jinghui had other expectations. Mu Zhiyang shook his head nkly, ¡°They all sleep with each other, who knows who would kill someone.¡± Jiang Yuan then reminded them, ¡°The death scene is quite unusual too, deep into the road, not many people should know about it, but¡­¡± ¡°But what?¡± Captain Han immediately asked. ¡°If it was for a quick fling, they probably would¡¯ve searched the surrounding area thoroughly. The crime scene isn¡¯t far from the road, and if one is willing to walk a bit further, it¡¯s actually a nice spot for a murder¡­¡± Jiang Yuan, having grown up at the foot of Siningshan, understood some things. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyes widened again, ¡°That can¡¯t be right, they¡¯re so old¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t underestimate the elderly!¡± Liu Jinghui ¡°hmphed¡± and said, ¡°Just from how they can talk non-stop for three or four days during interrogation, and the depth of the topics they discuss¡­¡± ¡°Stop, there¡¯s a visual now!¡± Mu Zhiyang felt the conversation was getting painful. Chapter 508 - 508 467 Genuine Admiration ?508: Chapter 467 Genuine Admiration 508: Chapter 467 Genuine Admiration ¡°The deceased, Zhou Wei, was 60 years old, 175 centimeters tall, and a native of Southern Ming in Yue Province. His daily upation was a tailor, but he had been missing for quite some time, and his tailor shop had closed as a result¡­¡± A young police officer from Qu¡¯an County Bureau, holding a file folder, appeared professional as he reported to everyone in the room. In the conference room, a group of leaders, including the bureau chief, listened attentively. If it were not for the photographer bustling around and holding the camera like a Dama monkey, the meeting would have looked very serious and high-end. Fortunately, as soon as the photographer finished shooting the earlier parts, he was led out, and the bureau chief then cleared his throat with a cough and said to Jiang Yuan and the others, ¡°The external propaganda department wanted to film, and I couldn¡¯t refuse ¡­ well, let¡¯s continue discussing the case.¡± Captain Han immediately stood up and said, ¡°I will talk about our next direction in the investigation. First of all, Qian Guoqing is an important yer in this case. He and the deceased, Zhou Wei, were from the same hometown and were acquaintances. ording to the family¡¯s description of Zhou Wei and the check of his spending records, Qian Guoqing had three suits made at Zhou Wei¡¯s, all three-piece, high-end suits¡­¡± ¡°Zhou Wei came to Shannan Province on the pretext of tourism, ording to his family. The ne ticket was also purchased by his children. But not long after arriving in Changyang City, Zhou Wei lost contact with his family, after which his children filed a missing person report and came to Changyang City twice, only to search in vain.¡± ¡°Qian Guoqing ovepped with Zhou Wei in terms of the time they were in Shannan Province, but when Zhou Wei was in Qu¡¯an County, Qian Guoqing was supposed to be in Changyang City.¡± The deputy director in charge of criminal investigations asked, ¡°Does this mean Qian Guoqing is not the killer?¡± ¡°Correct, but we believe Qian Guoqing is likely an informant. He is already in custody and is being interrogated,¡± Captain Han said with a somewhat helpless expression. The deputy director took the initiative to ask, ¡°Is he difficult to interrogate?¡± ¡°Yes, this Qian Guoqing is rather slippery, and the things he says are a mix of truth and lies. We are in the process of verifying,¡± Captain Han admitted, a bit troubled. Qian Guoqing was an out-of-towner and many matters had to be verified by dispatched detectives. On the other hand, this guy had many little secrets. Although most of them were things the police didn¡¯t want to know, to hide them, Qian Guoqing always casually told lies. Experienced criminals actually do not lie much in front of the police; they tell one deep, significant lie. The usual small lies are meaningless and can lead to the loss of opportunities for sentence reduction. For them, if imprisonment is certain, there is no need to keep lying, and moreover, a detention center is not asfortable as prison. It is better to confess early and enjoy a regr life in prison earlier. Qian Guoqing and hisy Buddhist friends were different. Their crimes were not serious, but the moral chains were particrly heavy, and since they were especially amoral, they could only keep lying topensate. Of course, the leaders were not willing to hear this. The bureau chief¡¯s gaze immediately turned to Jiang Yuan, asking, ¡°For the criminal science department, do you have any other leads?¡± ¡°As for the murder weapon, we have made a rtively detailed description. It seems to be a metal rod or an object with a cylindrical front,¡± Jiang Yuan stated simply. The source of the corpse had been confirmed; the next step was to meticulouslyb through the evidence, which required patience. Of course, if the chiefs were willing to pay a great price and spend moneyvishly to save time, there were solutions avable, such as an investigation ¡­ But clearly, the bureau chief¡¯s attitude suggested he preferred to get results without spending. This case, ultimately, was just an umted one and did not attract the level of attention as the explosion at the train station. If there was anything that caught the chiefs¡¯ interest, it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s use of the Skull Restoration Skill. When the meeting ended and the reporters who rushed over were a further testament to this point. ¡°I hear that in this case, our special task force employed a domestically advanced Skull Restoration Skill. Can you tell us a little about it?¡± The reporter, young, beautiful, and leggy, asked with a beaming smile that made people want to respond. Jiang Yuan had encountered reporters many times and hesitated when stopped, but within the police station area, the chance of stumbling was not high, so he went along with the reporter¡¯s questions. The attractive reporter inquired in detail and took notes earnestly, seeming prepared topose an impressive piece. To the average person, the Skull Restoration Skill indeed was interesting criminal science trivia. The beautiful reporter kept asking more and more questions, which took quite a bit of time. As they talked, a little bit of the story about they Buddhists slipped out. The reporter¡¯s eyes immediately lit up, andpared to the Skull Restoration Skill, this story seemed ¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s conclude the interview for today.¡± Jiang Yuan certainly would not discuss details of an ongoing investigation, and with a wave of his hand, he terminated the interview. The reporter had more questions, but Captain Han ran over and took the person away. Turning around, Captain Han let out a long sigh and said, ¡°Sometimes I feel it¡¯s really troublesome. That swindler didn¡¯t exin things well, and several female devotees still want to send him to prison, or getpensation¡­ It¡¯s truly a mess.¡± ¡°The murderer must be quite strong, at least it has to be a physically fit male,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to dwell on the female devotees¡¯ situation. Captain Han nodded and added, ¡°I¡¯ve already sent someone to ask around nearby to see if anyone knows anything. Alright, we¡¯ll take our time to look for clues¡­¡± After identifying the source of the corpse, Captain Han actually felt a bit lethargic. The recent explosion case was so cool, the Skull Restoration Skill was also impressive, but now this love-murder case involving old mothers and possibly unrted old tailors had be routine work. Jiang Yuan could guess Captain Han¡¯s thoughts but didn¡¯t care. He waved his hand and went back to his temporary office to rest. The rest room had a refrigerator, and Jiang Yuan took out a soup dumpling sent over by his father¡¯s envoy, heated it in the microwave, added a pack of vermicelli into it, and put it back into the microwave. When it ¡°dinged,¡± a simple bowl of beef vermicelli was ready. Sitting by the window with the bowl, Jiang Yuan ate and pondered. With the identification of the corpse, the case should have been easier to solve. The fact that the circumstances were still unclear at this point was quite rare¡­ As he was thinking, the head of Zhou Wei that was ced on a corner of the desk suddenly spat out a blue ball. Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment before he picked up the ball. The blue ball was fleeting: The legacy of Zhou Wei¡ªTailor (LV2): Zhou Wei had been a tailor for a lifetime. He never really liked the job and just saw it as a means to provide for his family. But in thest moment of his life, Zhou Wei¡¯s thoughts were all about the little things he experienced as a tailor over the years. If he had had more time, if he had awoken to realization earlier, if he had had fewer responsibilities and more freedom, perhaps Zhou Wei could have lived a more self-centered and happier life. Jiang Yuan read the description of the legacy twice and then patted the skull to express his gratitude. As he picked up his chopsticks again, his phone vibrated. Jiang Yuan hit the speakerphone button and continued to sip his soup. He asked, ¡°Captain Han, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Someone confessed. It was her local boyfriend who got jealous and identally killed Zhou Wei,¡± Captain Han exhaled deeply: ¡°Sun Lijuan, her boyfriend! We¡¯re going to apprehend him now.¡± Jiang Yuan recalled Sun Lijuan in his mind. She wasn¡¯t one of the three female devotees who lived permanently in the small temple; she seemed more like a marginal figure, perhaps too scared to jump as aggressively as Zhang Fen and the others. He couldn¡¯t help but look back at the skull and said, ¡°What kind of people are these?¡± ¡°Murder often requires no reason. Fortunately, you identified the source of the corpse, and the murderer and the informant¡­ they don¡¯t have much experience,¡± Captain Han suddenly felt the need to exin more to Jiang Yuan. Sometimes, when a murder case bes a cold case, it¡¯s not because we¡¯re not trying; it¡¯s because there are too many peculiar people and events. Jiang Yuan himself also felt a sudden, urgent need. His own skills were notprehensive enough; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have had to wait for an informant to confess. Just as he was thinking this, the system popped up in front of him again: Task: Sincere Admiration Task Content: Elicit sincere admiration from a peer Task Progress: 0/X ¡­ Chapter 509 - 509 468 Tracing Back to the Origin ?509: Chapter 468: Tracing Back to the Origin 509: Chapter 468: Tracing Back to the Origin Qu¡¯an County Bureau canteen. The usually underappreciated canteen was full of people today. Some sat quietly waiting in their chairs, others were eagerly chatting, and some couldn¡¯t resist standing up and walking to the front of the canteen, peering inside through the stainless steel serving counter. A row of six sheep was tumbling in the mes. And turning them was none other than the founder of the original Jiang Fuzhen roasted whole sheep, Comrade Jiang Fuzhen! Jiang¡¯s roasted whole sheep, first boiled then roasted, whose secret lies in boiling just right and then using a special metal box to lock the body of the sheep, preventing it from falling apart. The meat produced this way was cooked to perfection, having the Maird reaction of roasted meat while retaining the tender juiciness of boiled mutton. Of course, there was a cost. The metal box used to lock the sheep wasplex and variable, primarily made of brass, and was expensive to produce. The constant disassembling and reassembling not onlyplicated the process, but also increased the costs. On the other hand, despite theplexity, the metal box had a rtively fixed size, which set a requirement for the size of the sheep. In general, a metal box had a weight tolerance of no more than 5 pounds for the sheep it contained. Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s favorite 28-pound metal box could only amodate sheep up to 33 pounds, and any sheep weighing less than 23 pounds would fall out. Of course, none of these were issues for Jiang Fuzhen. The real cost of Jiang¡¯s roasted whole sheepy in the creator. A roasted whole sheep prepared entirely by Jiang Fuzhen involvedbor costs that were exorbitantly high, and unbeknownst to others. Jiang Fuzhen was seen busily turning the first sheep, flipping the second, shortly thereafter seasoning the third and fourth, looking extremely busy. If it weren¡¯t for the joyful smile on his face, the leaders from the Qu¡¯an County Bureau would have already felt embarrassed not to rush up and help. Naturally, Jiang Fuzhen did not need help. He was especially excited, not only because he could satisfy his own desire to feed, but also because his abilities were needed by his son, which made him exceptionally happy¡ªan emotion that no amount of money could bring. For this reason, Jiang Fuzhen had prepared thoroughly for today. Not only were there six sheep in the kitchen, but there were also spare sheep in his car. In addition, he had braised two baskets of beef knuckles at home and added two baskets of cooked pig trotters¡ªhe had prepared as if catering to soldiers. Using a more seasonal saying, this was tantamount to a visit to the set. In the sizzling mes, the 12 o¡¯clock rm sounded. Jiang Yuan stood up, confirmed something with his father, and immediately picked up the microphone pre-prepared, saying, ¡°Everyone, it¡¯s been a very pleasant short time together, and the investigation of the two cases went very smoothly. Thank you all for your support. This¡­ Seeing as my father, Jiang Fuzhen, wanted to see what my life as a police officer is like, I invited him to show off his skills to everyone¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°Also, I¡¯d like to thank everyone for your support in the case investigations. After consulting with the bureau leaders, my father and I would like to offer this meal of roasted whole sheep. I wish everyone a happy life, smooth work, good health, and a peaceful retirement¡­¡± As he spoke, Jiang Fuzhen, with the help of two young chefs, brought a roasted whole sheep to the serving counter. Next to the microphone, Jiang Fuzhen said, ¡°There will also be staple food and dishester on, but today¡¯s main course is roasted whole sheep. We will now start carving the sheep and then serve it to everyone. Feel free to take as much as you like¡­ and those who wish toe up and carve the meat themselves are wee, as well as those who want to take photos, though you¡¯ll need to wait a bit.¡± As he was speaking, the canteen¡¯s own chef came forward with a huge stainless steel dish, cing half a sheep and a knife on top, and walked down the aisle, serving each table arge piece of meat. This was simr to the Brazilian style of serving meat, but the portions given were quite generous each time. Following the chefs with the roasted mutton were others, carrying beef knuckles, pig trotters, and other braised dishes. Today¡¯s mealtime was already set to start earlier than usual, and since everyone was not particrly hungry, the atmosphere became very harmonious with the serving of two sheep. ¡°Thank you, Mr. Jiang!¡± Captain Han was the first to shout out. Jiang Fuzhen quickly waved his hand, holding the microphone, ¡°No need to thank me. You all can say a few good words about my son when you have the chance; I like to hear that. And even if you¡¯re busy, it won¡¯t dy you from eating, no impact at all. The most important thing is for everyone to be happy!¡± As the saying goes, one who eats the food bes indebted to the provider. With Jiang Fuzhen being so courteous, and personally bearing the expense of nourishing everyone, the mood was immediately set. Those who were slightly more sensible all sincerely said a few words: ¡°A great father does not beget a worthless son!¡± ¡°Captain Jiang doesn¡¯t need our praise, he is already a well-known expert across the province.¡± ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, his fury is vast as the sea!¡± ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, his reputation is well-deserved¡ªespecially fitting to use today.¡± ¡°It¡¯s true, Captain Jiang¡¯s work in the criminal division is genuinely strong!¡± Jiang Yuan, apanied by his father, went from table to table offering food and receivingpliments, all smiles. At the same time, the system interface before his eyes was also constantly changing: Mission: Genuine Admiration Mission Content: Elicit sincere praise from peers Mission Progress: 11/X, 12/X, 13/X, 14/X¡­ Once every table had its share of roastedmb chops, Jiang Yuan¡¯s view was almost constantly shing with +1+1¡­ traces. It should be said that Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s roasted wholemb was really fragrant. Normally speaking, Jiang Fuzhen actually didn¡¯t prepare roasted wholemb. The core issue with roasting a wholemb is the variation in meat quality; the rib portions are tender, legs are less juicy and have more muscle, and parts like the trotters and spine have less wrapped meat and more skin¡­ The roasting process is typically uniform in temperature. Traditionalmb roasting is done in an environment simr to a sealed oven, which results in uneven cooking due to the unevenness of the meat itself. Jiang Fuzhen had tried many solutions and ultimately chose a method of boiling before roasting. This method not only maintains the tenderness and juiciness through boiling but also allows for even doneness by manipting the heat during roasting. After all, boiling is like a pre-cooking process, and there¡¯s no need to disy it to others. The metal boxes made by Jiang Fuzhen also yed a role in controlling the heat. It could be said that his entire roasting method was prepared for the sake of controlling the temperature. The results were naturally very good, as could be seen by everyone¡¯s expressions. The satisfaction from this meal was at least equivalent to solving a homicide case. Jiang Yuan was also quite pleased. If it weren¡¯t for being a bit greedy and not knowing what the mission reward was, he would¡¯ve wanted to submit the mission right away. After the meal, thepletion of the mission reached 111/X. Considering the scale of Qu¡¯an County Bureau, most of the police officers were indeed honest people. ¡°Let¡¯s go, no need to see us off.¡± After being well-fed and content, Jiang Yuan and the rest of the group got back into the car sent by Jiang Yongxin and waved goodbye as they left. Captain Han and his team bid farewell very solemnly, while Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui appeared somewhat heartless. For them, working on a case in a different ce was part of life, and there was no need for too much sorrow or pensiveness. ¡­ Ningtai County. As the convoy exited the highway and entered the rest area, they saw Wu Jun and Wang Zhong who had been waiting there. Wu Jun first greeted Mr. Jiang, then picked up a basin of water and started chanting as he sprinkled it over Jiang Yuan and the others. Since everyone was using Jiang Yongxin¡¯s vehicles and none wore police uniforms, they all seemed much more rxed. Wu Jun was reciting ¡°pass water for peace,¡± and the others casually went along with it, passing under the sprinkled water ording to local custom. As for the origins of this local custom, nobody was all that concerned. Wang Zhong earnestly refilled Wu Jun¡¯s basin with water, paying close attention to Wu Jun¡¯s ritualistic movements with an extremely focused demeanor. As a forensic technician of LV0.9 standard, Wang Zhong had the ability to observe details. And judging by his current state, he could exert at least 130% of his capabilities. ¡°Tired, right? Skull restoration is very time-consuming, yet you¡¯re doing it for other counties.¡± Wu Jun handed Jiang Yuan a red egg, and only after seeing him eat it did he ask with concern. Jiang Yuan smiled, took a sip of the blessing tea Wang Zhong had brought over, not knowing what it was made of, and then said, ¡°It was just that Qu¡¯an County happened to have the conditions for doing the Skull Restoration Skill. I learned a bit of it, and if I don¡¯t practice, it would be wasted.¡± Wu Jun shook his head. ¡°If someone else heard that, they might think I didn¡¯t teach well. Who knew that your teacher, me, doesn¡¯t know a thing about the Skull Restoration Skill.¡± ¡°How about I teach you in reverse?¡± Jiang Yuan thought it would be better to find something for his teacher to do than for him to ponder disaster avoidance methods all day long. Wu Jun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head again. ¡°Forget it, I¡¯m too busytely. By the time I learned it, it would be time for me to retire.¡± Thest statement was indeed true, but the first half made Jiang Yuan a bit puzzled. ¡°There haven¡¯t been any abnormal deaths in Ningtai Countytely, right?¡± ¡°I¡¯m studying something recently.¡± Wu Jun didn¡¯t want to borate. After a briefment, he asked, ¡°How many days off will you take next?¡± ¡°Depends on how Director Huang negotiates,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Didn¡¯t you discuss it before?¡± ¡°I want to work on several cases at once. Director Huang went to talk about it.¡± ¡°You can never finish all the cases, sigh. Sometimes, maintaining social bnce requires some help from forces outside of society. It¡¯s like a spinning top; to keep it spinning, you need to keep applying an external force¡­¡± Wu Jun shared his insights. Jiang Yuanughed along, saying, ¡°As long as someone is cracking the society¡¯s whip, that¡¯s enough. I only crack the whip on some people in society.¡± ¡°That thought of yours is quite interesting.¡± Wu Jun remarked. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± Wu Jun pondered for a moment before saying, ¡°You know, firecrackers were originally used to rece whips. In modern society, everyone talks about tracing back to the origins. Whips must have some use¡­¡± Chapter 510 - 510 469 Well Talk about It When the Time Comes ?510: Chapter 469 We¡¯ll Talk about It When the Time Comes 510: Chapter 469 We¡¯ll Talk about It When the Time Comes Task Progress: 335/X In front of Jiang Yuan, the system¡¯s task reminders had already turned a deep blue, darkening to the point of bing cyan. It has to be said that the police officers of Ningtai County were extremely supportive, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to spend too much money on his home turf, so he brought everyone some cooked foods like roast chicken, duck, goose,mb ribs, pork neck, beef brisket, and the like, as well as a couple of cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes. The task progress was as if he had arrested someone from an entire county. As a result, Jiang Yuan stayed in Ningtai for several days, inviting all his colleagues from the criminal police team and then those from the technical investigation team and multiple offices as well. However, once he left the criminal police team, the effect of his spending noticeably decreased. Despite handing out several packs of Zhonghua cigarettes, the sincere praise he received was not even one-tenth of that from the criminal police team. It was truly forced politeness. Monday. Having rested enough at home, Jiang Yuan was toozy to drive and called upon Jiang Yongxin¡¯s fleet again to lead Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team on a long-distance mission to Shiting County. Huang Qiangmin, who was following in the car, was full of emotion. Touching the Alphard¡¯s leather seat, he sighed, ¡°When I joined the police, I never thought that one day we¡¯d be using such a nice car to solve cases. When I was young, I liked riding in sidecars the most. I had the chance to ride in one again a few years ago, and nearly got thrown out on a turn. I really don¡¯t know how I managed to stick it out back then¡­¡± ¡°Mainly because Jiang Vige was demolishedte,¡± chuckled Mu Zhiyang, who was sitting in the back. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face tightened, but then he agreed, ¡°Indeed, we¡¯ve been a bit more rxed with moneytely, and can¡¯t bring ourselves to spend so freely.¡± Speaking of which, Huang Qiangmin said to Jiang Yuan, ¡°You too, don¡¯t be so harsh with spending money. Giving out Zhonghua cigarettes to colleagues can easily arouse jealousy.¡± ¡°I mainly wanted to build a good rtionship with my colleagues,¡± Jiang Yuan said truthfully, and then added, ¡°The receptions I hosted in Qu¡¯an County and for our criminal police team seemed to have quite a good effect.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s because everyone knows you now, knows you¡¯re strong, and that¡¯s why they don¡¯t think of you as a boaster,¡± Huang Qiangmin spoke candidly to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, using the meticulous thinking of a forensic doctor, felt that what Huang Qiangmin said could be true. But then again, science is about making bold assumptions and then verifying them carefully, so upon arriving in Shiting County and meeting a few leaders from the county bureau, Jiang Yuan, who was assigned a temporary office, still generously said to Mu Zhiyang, ¡°Get a few packs of Zhonghua for everyone.¡± Shiting County was a poor county, and the temporary office¡¯s decoration was also very in. There were 3 officers who came to help, so Mu Zhiyang took out three packs of cigarettes, one for each person. When the Zhonghua cigarettes were handed out, the three officers were very happy, and one of them said with augh, ¡°Captain Jiang is too polite. These few packs of yours are worth more than our sries.¡± ¡°They¡¯re from my Jiang Vige,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, consistent with earlier discussions. The police officers were deeply impressed, again praising him without cease. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes were fixed on the system screen, only to see that the task progress remained ¡°335/X,¡± with no increase whatsoever. No wonder they say the police are the people¡¯s own, the colleagues from one¡¯s hometown won¡¯t say it outright, but they will give praise and sincere admiration when due. Shiting County, also under Qinghe City, is even less developed economically than Ningtai County, and it seemed the officers¡¯ mindsets hadn¡¯t quite caught up, probably due to limited information flow as well. Or perhaps, for the officers of Shiting County Bureau, they had heard too many impressive stories; an outsider monk might be able to chant scriptures, but it seems it¡¯s not worth genuine admiration anymore? ¡°What a pity,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed inwardly, deeming the Zhonghua he brought a waste. Spending money should make one stronger; simply spending without gaining strength is not gaining strength, that¡¯s just pure foolishness. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t nning on starting a romance with the people of Shiting, and mere ttery without hitting the mark, what use was that? ¡°Let¡¯s start with the cases right away,¡± Jiang Yuan said to Huang Qiangmin. Since Shiting County Bureau wasn¡¯t wholehearted, then they were just working police. Huang Qiangmin found this to be more reasonable. Ningtai County wasn¡¯t adjacent to Shiting County, they didn¡¯t have much contact normally, and within Qinghe City, they were more ofpetitors. However, simr to Longli County, it was these unrted county bureaus that knew the necessity of nning early. Those county and district bureaus with better rtionships were probably still hoping to leverage some personal connections for discounts. This was also human nature; if they could find reliable connections, Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t against it. Rtionships are a part of resources, after all; it¡¯s not like a new car is always necessary. The criminal police team leader of Shiting County Bureau, Captain Bai, seemed to have felt the sting of being overcharged. He brought over the case files and said, ¡°We¡¯ve only heard of the fame of Ningtai¡¯s Jiang Yuan. With our remote and poor conditions, with poor transport and health inspections, we now finally have the chance to broaden our horizons.¡± Having juste from Qu¡¯an County and enjoyed Captain Han¡¯s ¡°genuine¡± praise, and now being scrutinized by Captain Bai, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression also grew serious. Some respect and admiration truly can¡¯t be won with a whole roastedmb. ¡°Look through the dossier,¡± Jiang Yuan said without any fuss. In his youth, he became a privileged ¡®Second Generation Demolition¡¯ heir, living a charmed life,ughing through the fleeting years, with a bright future ahead. In his adulthood, he acquired a system, a real-life cheat, and did good deeds without asking about the future¡­ Shiting County was nothing special. Strictly speaking, when Jiang Yuan used to travel around to work on cases, he hardly ever dealt with Shiting County¡­ ¡°This case would be the best one,¡± Bai, the squad leader, put a dossier in front of Jiang Yuan first. Huang Qiangmin immediately frowned, ¡°Old Bai, we had an agreement that the cases should be optional.¡± ¡°Just take a look first. If this case can¡¯t be solved, then we can consider other cases,¡± Captain Bai said, somewhat like a general. Everyone was a criminal detective, and it was always a bit irritating to be approached by other detectives. Huang Qiangmin shook his head, about to say something else, when Jiang Yuan picked up the dossier. Jiang Yuandao said, ¡°It¡¯s the same idea, choosing cases one by one.¡± In the past, when working on minor cases, Jiang Yuan always handled them one after the other, without being able to rank them. Although the case Bai handed over was certainly aplicated one¡­ given Huang Qiangmin¡¯s increasingly sharp wits, it was natural for some people to be unhappy. Jiang Yuan opened the dossier on the spot. It was indeed a headless case. Six years ago, three members of the Ma family from Ma Jiazhuang vige were murdered, with only one son who had gone out escaping the tragedy. Because it was a major case with three corpses, not only did the entire Shiting County bureau mobilize, but the city bureau also provided strong support. However, in the end, the case went unsolved. The more serious issue was that the crime scene was discovered by Ma Jun¡¯s neighbor, and her loud shouting attracted the entire vige¡¯s attention. Not only was the area in front of and behind the house in disarray, but some also took advantage of the chaos to tamper with items inside the house. As a result, forensic methods were almost useless, especially taking into ount the possibility of the three family members being murdered due to a vendetta, making it difficult to rule out the vigers as suspects. Therefore, the dossier was filled with thick interrogation records and eyewitness testimonies. Jiang Yuan only read for a moment before realizing that the interrogator had actually attempted to find contradictions in the multiple testimonies from the eyewitness¡­ That was kind of aggravating. Jiang Yuan, who grew up in a vige, knew without any skills, just usingmon sense, that some people just talk in a confused and contradictory way. And such people generally loiter around the vige¡¯s small shops and grain drying grounds and are among the first to step into the crime scene to spectate. Jiang Yuan passed the dossier to Liu Jinghui, who was watching the excitement, and focused on looking at the photos himself. This kind of fruitless interrogation record was perfect for deductive enthusiasts to read. Liu Jinghui took it, nced at it with curiosity, thenughed. Being the deduction king of Shannan Province, he couldn¡¯t help but feel somewhat superior while reviewing texts from fellow deduction enthusiasts. The temporary office became quiet. Huang Qiangmin got up to pour himself a cup of tea and casually tore open a pack of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Zhonghua cigarettes, quietly starting to smoke. He was long ustomed to Jiang Yuan¡¯s work pattern. For umted cases like this where the crime scene no longer existed, they could only rely on photos and dossiers to solve the case, and its difficulty went without saying. Rushing it was pointless. Captain Bai¡¯s adrenaline was pumping, and he found himself restless when the room quieted down. Eventually, he too lit a cigarette and asked, ¡°How long will it take?¡± ¡°How long did you work on this case?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked. ¡°Did the special case team spend a year on it?¡± Captain Bai took a couple of drags from his cigarette and said, ¡°About that¡­¡± After a while, he added slowly, ¡°The current case team worked on it for about half a year, then it was restarted twice over the following years¡­¡± ¡°I thought so,¡± Huang Qiangmin exhaled a stream of smoke. ¡°Jiang Yuan has recently solved several simr cases.¡± Captain Bai was stirred by this, and though he might y the tough general, he truly wanted to crack the case. He only insisted firmly, ¡°Let¡¯s talk when there¡¯s a lead on this case.¡± Huang Qiangmin blew out rings of smoke, ¡°Assigned cases are different from chosen ones; if there¡¯s a lead, we¡¯ll definitely need to discuss it further.¡± Chapter 511 - 511 470 No Bragging ?511: Chapter 470: No Bragging 511: Chapter 470: No Bragging Captain Bai felt somewhat guilty when Huang Qiangmin challenged him, andughed heartily as he said, ¡°If you can solve the case, everything is good; but if you can¡¯t, then stop blowing that horn.¡± Huang Qiangmin crushed the cigarette in his hand into the embrace of the Diao Lan nt and lit up another, his gaze hazy as he said, ¡°Old Bai, I haven¡¯t had much contact with you before and never realized how tough you really are.¡± ¡°If you win, you can say whatever you want. If you can¡¯t solve the case, then get lost.¡± Captain Bai¡¯s eyes took on an especially arrogant look as he bluntly resorted to goading, and although his tactic was transparent, it was still irritating. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help butugh and said, ¡°If you had a bit more intelligence, you would know the reason we, Jiang Yuan, arrived in Shiting County is precisely because we¡¯ve been continuously solving cold cases¡­ Have you, Bai Jian, ever solved as many murder cases in your life as we¡¯ve solved in two years?¡± Captain Bai, unwilling to lose face, unabashedly said, ¡°No need topare, the number of murder cases I¡¯ve solved in my lifetime is probably not as many as Jiang Yuan solves in a year¡­ But¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression had softened, but hearing the word ¡°but,¡± he could only look at Captain Bai helplessly. Bai Jian said, ¡°Even if you¡¯ve solved many cases, that doesn¡¯t mean you can solve this one. Let¡¯s put it this way, no one in the world dares to say that he can solve every case, right?¡± Huang Qiangmin was stunned to hear such stubbornness, and doubted he could even bite through it if it were thrown his way. Liu Jinghui found this exchange amusing andughed, ¡°Captain Bai, logically speaking, what you just said was equivocation.¡± Captain Bai, feeling awkward about arguing with Liu Jinghui from the provincial office, stuck to his guns. At that moment, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Captain Bai, please find a couple of detectives from the special investigation team of the Ma Jiazhuang massacre, the kind who¡¯ve been involved from start to finish.¡± Bai Jian said, ¡°I am one of those detectives. What do you want to ask?¡± ¡°The footprint on the window¡ªdid you follow up on it?¡± Jiang Yuan took out a photograph showing a close-up of a one-fifth portion of a footprint. It seemed to be the middle part of a shoe that had stepped on the window frame, leaving a trace. As soon as Bai Jian heard it, he knew what Jiang Yuan was asking about, ¡°We did have someone look at this footprint at the time; it was too small to be used as evidence.¡± The crime scene was chaotic, making it difficult to distinguish which footprints belonged to the vigers, which to the perpetrator, and which to the police officers and joint defense team members that arrivedter. The only certainty was that the one-fifth footprint on the window could be confirmed as the perpetrator¡¯s. It was a typical burry footprint location, and the forensic team in Shiting County had done their best to obtain a rtivelyplete imprint. However, due to the small size and the construction of the window frame, it ultimately proved to be of no use. Simr to fingerprints, footprints also need to be of a certain size and have certain distinguishing features topare. A one-fifth footprint, especially just the middle part of a shoe, is seen by experts in the field as essentially worthless evidence. Unless it is level 5! Jiang Yuan had already scrutinized the footprint carefully and picked up another photo, cing it beside the one-fifth footprint, and said, ¡°These two footprints are from the same set. They belong to the same person.¡± Two photographs, both showing footprints, one with only a normal one-fifth, and the otherplete. Bai Jian was stunned, his expression gradually shifting to one of disbelief: Are you kidding me? Because in the two photos before him, one showed the footprint of a sneaker while the other was of an old cotton shoe. The shoes were different, yet to im they belonged to the same person¡­ Jiang Yuan exined on the spot, ¡°I believe the murderer changed shoes aftermitting the crime.¡± Now, not only Bai Jian but also the other people in the office crowded over. Changing shoes in the middle ofmitting a crime is something heard of but seldom seen. Huang Qiangmin also feignedposure with a snort, his curiosity simrly piqued. To be honest, he had not encountered manyplex cases; perhaps half of the puzzling cases he knew of were those he¡¯d seen with Jiang Yuan. After all, the perpetrators of these kinds of cases wouldn¡¯t concentrate their crimes in Ningtai County; it was only detectives like Jiang Yuan, who pursued cases across different locations, that had such extensive experience. Jiang Yuan took out a third photograph, showing a smear of blood,bel number 277. Jiang Yuan jotted down a number in his notebook and said, ¡°The killer likely stepped in blood and, in order to avoid leaving too obvious traces, took off his shoes right here and put on a pair of the victim¡¯s shoes.¡± Jiang Yuan began to disy numerous photos, which were of the footprints of old cotton-padded shoes and athletic shoes inside the room. Previously, Bai Jian and the other criminal detectives from Shiting County hadn¡¯tpletely disregarded the possibility of using the direction of the footprints to work the case, but there were too few clues from the footprints and yet too many of them. The courtyard of the Ma Family was made ofpacted earth, from which walking into the living room with its tiled floor left behind numerous footprints, albeit with poor rity. From the one-fifth footprint on the windowsill to the athletic shoe print on the floor, it¡¯s no exaggeration to say that even if one didn¡¯t possess LV5 footprint identification skills, at a minimum high-end LV3 skills would be required, a level most footprint experts in Shannan Province couldn¡¯t reach. If it were a high-profile case with absolutely no clues left, one would be forced to rely on footprints, perhaps by packing up all the courtyard prints, categorizing them, thenparing, and for that, finding a high-end LV3 footprint expert who could work the case would be feasible, just like Jiang Yuan had done before. The entire process, though, would be cumbersome and time-consuming. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to go through so much trouble now, with the emergence of the new LV5 footprint identification, perfect for tackling suchplex prints. And this step was the most critical one: 0-1. Inparison, what everyone found more intriguing and curious about, the shoe-switch, was in fact 1-2, easily deducible by a low-end LV3. Immediately following, Jiang Yuan disyed several photos of bloodstains and said: ¡°The killer entered wearing his own athletic shoes, but soon after entering, he encountered the victim Ma Jun. Ma Jun probably didn¡¯t realize someone had broken in, and the killer quickly murdered him. Afterwards, the killer took off his own shoes and, from a nearby shoe cab, pulled out a pair of Ma Jun¡¯s shoes to continue his crimes, eventually leaving in his own shoes.¡± ¡°The shoe sizes of the victim Ma Jun and the killer were quite close, probably differing by only half a size, 42 and 42.5, something like that.¡± ¡°The two individuals were simr in height, but there were significant differences in weight and age. Thus, from here, one can distinguish which old cotton-padded shoe prints belonged to the victim Ma Jun, and some others were likely the killer¡¯s.¡± Bai Jian hurriedly said, ¡°Those old cotton-padded shoes were quite popr at one time, and many people in Ma Jiazhuang wore shoes with the same soles. How can you tell them apart?¡± Jiang Yuan replied with ease, ¡°Even if they are from the same batch of shoes with the same soles, the wear patterns will be different. The soles, once worn, naturally have their distinctions.¡± Using examples from the crime scene right there, Jiang Yuan disyed three photos: ¡°These three photos show the footprints of three identical pairs of old cotton-padded shoes, and you can see that the wear points on the right side, left side, and heel are all different.¡± Bai Jian¡¯s eyes widened, feeling as if he had spotted something, yet also as if he hadn¡¯t seen anything at all. With no way of exining influence of ¡°different tones on magical power¡± to muggles, Jiang Yuan waited briefly before continuing, ¡°The key is, the same type of footprint reveals two different body types, which also means the shoes were worn by two different people¡­¡± ¡°The same pair of old cotton-padded shoes, showing discordant footprints might be family members mixing shoes, but whenpared with the athletic shoes, it¡¯s still possible to identify the differences.¡± ¡°All in all, finding a breakthrough by using the scene¡¯s footprints, as of now, seems to be feasible,¡± concluded Jiang Yuan swiftly, turning to Captain Bai. Bai Jian couldn¡¯t refute him and even felt that what Jiang Yuan said made some sense. At this moment, Bai Jian¡¯s heart began to pound uncontrobly. If the points Jiang Yuan raised were to be verified, this case might really have a new lead. For an unsolved murder case, any new clue is invaluable. And the clue at hand sounded quite reliable. ¡°The killer must have had a good understanding of the Ma family home. The bloodstain trajectory shows that the killer moved decisively,¡± Liu Jinghui suddenly interjected, ¡°A fellow viger? Or perhaps a rtive or friend?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°The murder was also carried out very decisively.¡± ¡°Ma Jiazhuang is a rather secluded vige, isn¡¯t it? If we go back a few years, outsiders would have been scarce. Knowing theyout of the Ma family home, especially being able to find it, must have been something only a local could do. But the Ma family wasn¡¯t exactly affluent. Why single out their house as the first to burrize?¡± pondered Liu Jinghui aloud, his mind already brimming with inspiration. Silently, Huang Qiangmin took out his cell phone and began sending messages to several leaders in charge of Shiting County. Chapter 512 - 512 471 Investigation Pathway ?512: Chapter 471: Investigation Pathway 512: Chapter 471: Investigation Pathway Huang Qiangmin, with one hand on text messages and the other on WeChat, was sending at a speed so fast and voluminous, both hands were like fitted with little motors, dut-dut-dut, dut-dut-dut-dut pressing down. Any adult with a bit ofmon sense would be able to appreciate that leaders on the receiving end of such long or short, fast or urgent, heavy or light, tight or loose messages would feel an agonizing ecstasy, a reluctant indulgence, a disbelief, a shock, a blend of nervousness, joy, difort, and satisfaction. Huang Qiangmin rapidly pressed for several minutes, only stopping when his tendons could no longer bear it, his body then slumped exhaustedly on the chair, his face rxing into a grimace of relief before lighting up a Hua cigarette, inhaling weakly and slowly. Logically speaking, if everyone were like Bai, wouldn¡¯t the market be in disarray? Sometimes, these leaders can afford to turn a deaf ear, but now that the case was showing progress and clues were emerging, for them to continue hiding behind the scenes seemed somewhat inappropriate. Bai Jian clearly saw what Huang Qiangmin was doing but didn¡¯t have the guts to stop him. Nor did he have the power to. Just as he had just told Huang Qiangmin, if this case didn¡¯t get solved, all talk would be futile, but once the case cracked¡­ Bai Jian cast a doubtful look at Jiang Yuan, ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have studied this case before, would you?¡± If anyone engaged with a Criminal Police Captain like Bai, they would realize their gaze and expressions never hid their suspicion. Thebel ¡°Always Suspicious¡± wasn¡¯t at all unfair when sticking to them; many even wore it with pride. Jiang Yuan, used to it, just smiled and didn¡¯t bother to exin. Huang Qiangmin also calmly turned to Bai Jian and said, ¡°We¡¯re actually here to help, not topete with you. You should understand that.¡± The same words, that hadcked weight earlier, now carried a certain gravity. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Bai, with a deep sound, recognized the case was indeed making progress, and that it had happened all within the span of a few minutes¡ªwhile Jiang Yuan examined the photographs. Bai thought he was wasting time and being too showy, but now that results hade out, Bai¡¯s thoughts changed. If such an awesome case was cracked with such awesome methods, what did that bit of time matter! Running a hundred meters in 20 seconds might be considered slow, but 20 seconds ofmunication time was extremely fast, fast like lightning, fast like a bolted rabbit! Several leaders from Shiting County Police Department returned like lightning-struck rabbits to the temporary office. The temporary office wasn¡¯trge; even pulling all the chairs together there were fewer than ten. Bai himself settled on the armrest of a sofa. Everyone, with no regards for formality, found ces to sit as Jiang Yuan went over the new findings of the case once more. Jiang Yuan also took the photos out again, arranging them once more. What differed was that as he ced them, he also jotted down some new numbers and even a few hasty characters. Bai, knowing he had offended people and feeling particrly sensitive, couldn¡¯t help but ask while looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s notebook, ¡°What are you writing?¡± ¡°Just some new thoughts. As I¡¯m introducing this to everyone, I¡¯m also reorganizing my thought process,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. ¡°You came up with new ideas that quickly?¡± the Chief asked, puzzled. Ordinarily, chiefs of county police departments don¡¯t pay too much attention to individual criminal cases unless they are major crimes like homicides. It¡¯s the Criminal Police Captain and the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations who are mainly responsible for criminal cases. However, whether concerned or not, the Chief knew full well the difficulty of unsolved murder cases. Huang Qiangmin had set high expectations, sent aggressive messages, but still handled them with due care because he understood theplexity of murder and unsolved cases. Yet, the Chief seemed not to see any trace of difficulty on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. And Jiang Yuan saw no need to emphasize difficulty, saying with a smile, ¡°Lately, I¡¯ve been working on more cases involving footprint identification, which has spurred many ideas in me.¡± There was no need to stress the difficulty of murder and unsolved cases; they were like the meat hung out of reach, only remaining when every creature in the house has failed to snag the piece. ¡°Should I go on?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at the others. ¡°Please do, it¡¯s much appreciated,¡± said the deputy chief in charge of criminal investigations quickly. Bai had escted this case to the highest level, certainly to showcase Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise with cold cases, but, to be honest, the importance and difficulty of this case were indeed top-tier. A home invasion robbery-homicide case with three corpses was a top-level case in Shiting County. Huang Qiangmin, clearing his throat, began to rapidly send messages on his phone again. The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation in Shiting County picked up his cell phone, looked at it, and then with a darkened expression, handed it to the director. Biting down on his back teeth, the director nodded heavily, but when his gaze swept toward Bai Jian, his eyebrows furrowed tightly. Bai Jian pretended not to see it, and as for regret, he did feel a bit of it. Why did he talk so much unnecessary talk? The people were already here, no need to argue over trivial matters. But as for apologizing, Bai Jian definitely wouldn¡¯t apologize. He¡¯d been beaten a lot in his life and never once apologized to anyone. Bai Jian couldn¡¯t control what the director thought; he just wanted to solve the case first. Jiang Yuan also didn¡¯t bother with much else, just talked about the case and took notes, pausing briefly in between. No one dared rush him, fearing they might disrupt Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought. This time, Jiang Yuan talked for about fifteen minutes. After he finished, the office went quiet again. Before the atmosphere could turnpletely awkward, the director coughed twice and said, ¡°Speak up, who understood that? Who can trante it for me?¡± The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation looked toward Bai Jian. Bai Jian had the look of someonepletely out of the loop and didn¡¯t try to hide it. ¡°Let Jiang Yuan takemand,¡± the deputy director gave up as well. The director spoke warmly, ¡°Is that alright?¡± ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s first define a range,¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. For such matters, Liu Jinghui was very adept. Liu Jinghui already had ideas and pulled out his notebook, saying, ¡°My suggestion is, first and foremost, all residents of Ma Jiazhuang¡ªnot just registered households, but including registered residents, permanent residents, rtives and friends who lived there in recent years, people who frequently do business there, and perhaps even people from the neighboring viges¡­ Is the range too wide?¡± ¡°No. The murderer is 173 centimeters tall. Since several years have passed, to be safe, we should consider people between 171 and 175 centimeters tall, weighing around 140 jin at that time, right-handed, and currently about 37 years old, with shoe sizes ranging from 42 to 43, and most likely has a criminal record,¡± Jiang Yuan defined a wide range, then added, ¡°After we identify the potential suspects, send me their footprints, and I should be able to make a judgment.¡± If this were a burry case, by the time they narrowed down to Liu Jinghui¡¯s suggested range, they could pretty much dere the case solved. With such arge scope of inquiry, justmunicating with the locals would be a hassle, not to mention that most of the vige poption had gone out to work. To search for each one individually would require an unknown amount of time and effort. But in the case of a major home invasion and murder, such a small range was almostughable to everyone. Liu Jinghui could even help save money by suggesting, ¡°We can start by checking people with criminal records. You should have records of prior offenders. I rmend focusing on rtives and friends, especially the local vigers¡¯ so-called acquaintances, and ask more about whether anyone has a rtive or friend with a criminal record¡­¡± ¡°Ma Jiazhuang isn¡¯t located on any major thoroughfare, and purely random acts of crime seem unlikely. The murderer must have some way of knowing this ce, especially Ma Jun¡¯s home, which isn¡¯t on the edge of the vige. I believe there must be a catalyst,¡± he continued. ¡°We need to be more thorough in this area of inquiry, and then prioritize the investigation of prior offenders. It would be great if we could get results from that; if not, we proceed with the list, screening for height and age, looking into the time of the crime.¡± Burry or robbery are advanced skills, novices in crime wouldn¡¯t choose these methods¡ªnovices mightmit burry with the intent to rape, but this only shows that sexual impulse reduces intelligence and doesn¡¯t mean that a typical criminal would be so foolish. Criminals know thatmitting crimes requires experience, needs to be done step by step, increasing their skills gradually. The only exception is that regarding getting rich and releasing emotions, they don¡¯t want to take it step by step. The director and deputy director of Shiting County were both excitedly nodding their heads. With the nsid out by Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, the path to solving the case was clear; there was definitely a possibility of solving this case. Compared to the usual unsolved major crimes, this was much more uplifting. This case, in particr, was about the worst unsolved one in almost a decade in Shiting County. At that moment, Jiang Yuan closed his notebook and said, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that for this case. Should we look at another case?¡± Jiang Yuan looked toward Huang Qiangmin. After sitting for several hours in a car to get here, they couldn¡¯t just review files all morning and go home. Waiting for a response seemed like a waste of time now. Huang Qiangmin knew what he meant, and with a chuckle, turned to Bai Jian, asking, ¡°Captain Bai, what do you think?¡± Now, Bai truly valued Jiang Yuan. But he wasn¡¯t one to ask for help, his lips taut with stubborn defiance as he said, ¡°The Ma Jiazhuang case needs to be investigated before we know the oue. Even if it happens to be solved right away, that doesn¡¯t prove anything. If you¡¯re capable¡­ solve another case!¡± Huang Qiangmin was so amused that he almost bared his second row of teeth inughter. Chapter 513 - 513 472 The Last Day ?513: Chapter 472: The Last Day 513: Chapter 472: The Last Day ¡°Director Huang, Director Liu, Captain Jiang, let¡¯s not rush ourselves. We¡¯ve only just arrived in Shiting County, and we haven¡¯t even had a rest yet. There¡¯s no reason to keep working nonstop. Let¡¯s have a meal first, and share a drink or two.¡± The director, not as thick-skinned as Bai Jian, nor as hardheaded, quickly tried to lighten the mood. The deputy director also hurried to chime in, saying, ¡°The ce is all set up, and the timing is just right¡­¡± ¡°Our Zhengyang Tower in Shiting County is very famous. Historically, this area has been a gathering ce for ns, and the Shi Family has a history of several hundred years of residence here. Zhengyang Tower, too, is a century-old restaurant¡­¡± The director was introducing Zhengyang Tower, effectively changing the dining location. The ce originally chosen by the director now seemed inappropriate. As he had said, Zhengyang Tower in Shiting County was very famous, enough to be a destination for travelers. Normally, the office would not host banquets here due to the hassle and expense, not to mention the likelihood of running into other officials, which also didn¡¯t align with the current spirit of reducing public spending. However, after the unexpected events of the morning, the director felt that the originally selected restaurant was no longer suitable. To reflect the warm hospitality of Shiting County¡¯s police force, only Zhengyang Tower would do. The deputy director understood immediately and took out his cellphone to change the location. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui hesitated a bit but then went with the flow. The director quickly ushered everyone out the door and downstairs, including all the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, whom he called away in one go. Bai, the team leader, hesitated for a few seconds before saying, ¡°I¡¯ll stay behind to reorganize the special task force and go conduct a search in Ma Jiazhuang¡­¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± The director immediately agreed, thinking that this ¡®dead duck¡¯ finally showed some smarts. The crowd left Bai behind and then proceeded to Zhengyang Tower in full force. On the way, the director even personally made a call, asking the head chef of Zhengyang Tower to take charge of the cooking. As everyone knows, the level of the chef in the kitchen is as crucial as that of a forensic doctor. The head chef of Zhengyang Tower had been famous for many years, and although he never ventured beyond his local territory of Shiting County, hemanded an extraordinary influence there. The most famous specialty of Zhengyang Tower, and the one with the longest heritage, is stone frog. What the people from the Shi Family ate a hundred years ago, and what they used, is no longer known, but after Zhengyang Tower returned to the ownership of the Shi Family, the most famous dish there became stone frog cuisine. imed to be a mountain delicacy, stone frogs are somewhat different from ordinary frogs because they have spined bodies and are said to be capable of catching snakes to eat. In terms of modern tastes, because they must live in clear and clean water sources, and they perish easily, frustrating breeders, their flesh is high in quality and expensive to purchase. As for cooking methods, they are incredibly simple. Whether stir-fried, used in soups, or prepared with the popr spicy vor, they are all very delicious. Jiang Yuan also ate with great enjoyment. While stone frogs are a specialty of Shiting County and avable in Ningtai, honestypels me to say that the handiwork of Zhengyang Tower¡¯s head chef was indeed like that of a high-level forensic doctor. With a quiet reputation, the vor was bnced, neither letting the spiciness overpower the taste norpromising the fresh and tender texture. After enjoying a satisfying meal and not having much taste for the alcohol-fueled business gatherings of the leaders, Jiang Yuan, in high spirits, instructed Mu Zhiyang, ¡°Go get the PAD and theptop from the car, I¡¯m going to pick out a few cases to work on now.¡± In the past, when he worked on cases, he was more restrained, because, after all, having Level 3 skills was already overwhelmingly powerful. Finding an appropriate breakthrough would easily resolve most cases, which is why Jiang Yuan turned to working on cold cases instead. Otherwise, dealing only with current cases would have proven unsustainable for the criminals within the jurisdiction of Ningtai County. However, Jiang Yuan was still collecting ¡°sincere praise¡± from his peers, so naturally, he ought to raise the bar a little. After all, capturing skills was a major issuepared to the minor concerns of Shiting County Bureau¡¯s senior officers¡¯ opinions. Mu Zhiyang had nothing to say about it and promptly went to fetch the PAD andptop for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, having eaten and drunk his fill, began to read through the files on the spot. The leaders felt somewhat awkward, and their movements with their drinks slowed down. Jiang Yuan nced at the system interface¡ªMission Progress: 335/X. It had to be said that the police officers of Shiting County were truly challenging to motivate, including the leaders. ¡°Give me a cup of coffee,¡± Jiang Yuan said to a waiter, then put on his headphones and focused on his screen. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s capacity to endure awkwardness surged. Heughed heartily a couple of times and stood up to say, ¡°Let¡¯s drink ours. Jiang Yuan is a technical man; sometimes his way of thinking is a bit different from ours, but he means no harm. Let¡¯s just go with the flow, alright¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s only right.¡± ¡°It¡¯s precisely because you have ideas that you can solve cases.¡± ¡°I canpletely understand, and indeed I should understand.¡± What leaders think is one thing, but what they say is always very pleasant to hear. Huang Qiangmin once again took the initiative to toast, and before long, he had livened up the atmosphere at the dinner table. Jiang Yuan actually knew what was going on, but he simply couldn¡¯t be bothered to pay attention. With the new skills he had acquired, his efficiency in solving cases had improved. As his abilities increased, his interest in social interactions, being a technician, had waned. On the other hand, he was actually bing more willful. In many people¡¯s minds, technologists or highly educated individuals have a kind of istionism and low emotional intelligence, a sense of social detachment. In reality, this is their arrogance, naturally emanating from an environment where they feel very secure. The willful disy of low emotional intelligence, ¡°I know what to do, but I can¡¯t be bothered to pamper you,¡± is an act of arrogance among the highly educated. If they were in an unsafe environment, such as during times of turmoil, or if their own economic conditions were poor, they would reluctantly sell smiles if they had smiles to sell, or sell whatever else they had to sell. But if they had a choice, technicians like Jiang Yuan would much prefer to let their emotions out. The freedom to do what they want, whether it¡¯s viewing bodies or ignoring people, is actually a more advanced kind of enjoyment. Jiang Yuan opened his notebook and began to take notes again. This time, he had chosen a rather special case. Andslide near Miaotang Vige had exposed a Qing Dynasty tomb, but during the subsequent excavation, two bodies were discovered, one of which was recently dead and clearly not part of the original tomb¡­ It goes without saying, among various cases of body disposal, burying a body in an existing tomb is a rather smart practice, as it can reduce a lot of hassles. For instance, it reduces the time and effort needed to dig a new grave, which in turn reduces the chances of leaving traces behind. Moreover, it¡¯s generally unlikely for a grave to be exhumed again, which decreases the likelihood of the body being discovered. However, this method also has clear disadvantages. First of all, the number of people who know about this tomb must be limited, which confines the number of potential suspects and narrows down the list of suspects. Just this point alone can be a death knell when looking for leads. Yet, Shiting County¡¯s police department obviously hadn¡¯t made good use of this fact; after the bodies were found, they encountered problems when trying to determine the origin of the corpses. Although most cold cases involving buried bodies have simr issues, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the forensic doctor of Shiting County still had some ways to go before reaching an impasse. ¡°I¡¯ve found it,¡± Jiang Yuan said to Huang Qiangmin when he was free, handing over the tablet for him to see. Huang Qiangmin immediately saw the image, quickly took a sip of alcohol to calm his nerves, and sighed, ¡°I¡¯ll say it again, next time just give the name, no need for the pictures. ¡°Okay,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed, casually pouring himself a drink, drinking on his own, feeling extraordinarily rxed. Several members of Shiting County¡¯s police department were now getting a sense of Jiang Yuan¡¯s temperament and didn¡¯t bother trying to suck up to him anymore. They just pretended not to see andmunicated with Huang Qiangmin in a low voice. Though Huang Qiangmin¡¯s asking price was high, it was still worth it given Jiang Yuan¡¯s capability. Some drank alcohol, others ate frogs, some looked at bodies, others discussed prices. Everyone got what they needed and enjoyed themselves, marking the end of another wonderful and peaceful day. For some, it might be theirst day of peace and tranquility. Chapter 514 - 514 473 Striving Hard ?514: Chapter 473 Striving Hard 514: Chapter 473 Striving Hard Early morning. Bai Jian, who hadn¡¯t eaten in over a day, sat in the detective squad¡¯s main office with bloodshot eyes, watching the list of names on the wall grow and shrink. He had assigned nearly all of his subordinates to fieldwork, spreading out over a hundred detectives. More than twenty had gone to Ma Jiazhuang, about fifty or sixty to nearby viges, and the remaining officers were dispatched in groups of four to nearby towns and counties, with others heading to detention centers and prisons. All the detectives were engaged in the task of taking statements for inquiry, which essentially was an examination of released convicts from Ma Jiazhuang and its adjacent areas. This kind of work seem simple, yet executing it meticulously and without omission is a real test of grassroots security and governance abilities. In European and American cities, where the police and residents often mistrust each other, such work would be impossible to carry out. The Shiting County detectives often undertook simr tasks. In fact, Bai Jian¡¯s main strategy for solving cases relied on these careful screenings. Contrary to what the general public might imagine, the investigative techniques of ordinary detectives, especially the veteran ones, are not much more advanced than those of amateur sleuths. To be precise, experts typically know even less. As for what veteran detectives rely on to solve cases, apart from umted experience and word-of-mouth knowledge, they depend more on a serious and fierce gaze, serious and fierce expressions, serious and fiercew enforcement, coupled with diligent legwork and a bit of luck. Now, it was time to rely on that legwork and luck. Despite being full of anticipation, Bai Jian had no idea whether the killer was actually among the ex-convicts, nor when they might be found. It was this mix of hope and concern that kept Bai Jian¡¯s emotions powerfully stirred. It was like gambling, but many times more thrilling than any bet could be. Ordinary people gamble with money or their entire fortunes, but what Bai Jian was gambling on was other people¡¯s lives! A case with three corpses, a break-in and murder¡ªeach word an aggravating factor for the death penalty. Once caught, the perpetrator would not be able to escape execution, even with a major contribution to the case. At most, execution might be dyed for two years. ¡°Captain Bai, how¡¯s it going?¡± Huang Qiangmin entered with a debt-collector¡¯s sly grin. Bai Jian was beginning to dread seeing him. With a forcedugh, he replied, ¡°How could it be? We¡¯re still systematically checking each household.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t rush; better to be three steps slower than to miss a single detail,¡± Huang Qiangmin said with unexpected mildness, soothing Bai Jian¡¯s stress. As a fellow captain of a detective squad, Bai Jian knew all too well the anxiety that came with the job. If Rottweilers were known for their temper, one only had to look at the captains of detective squads to realize that Rottweilers were byparison quite gentle dogs. Suddenly, Bai Jian realized, ¡°You¡¯re worried I won¡¯t catch the person and damage Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation, aren¡¯t you?¡± Huang Qiangmin acknowledged with a smile, ¡°Jiang Yuan has been solving homicide cold cases in Shan Nan for so long, cracking more cases than some county bureaus. If we miss something because of ack of thoroughness on your part, it really would be cause for anger.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a few viges, we won¡¯t fall short,¡± Bai Jian retorted with a snort. Huang Qiangmin smiled, ¡°Hopefully everything goes smoothly. If not, we can call Xu Taining to help.¡± Bai Jian stiffened, his brow slowly furrowing, ¡°Are you threatening me?¡± ¡°Threat? Hardly,¡± Huang Qiangminughed, baring his teeth, the very image of a clear threat. If a three-yuan bowl of in noodles isn¡¯t up to par, we¡¯ll switch to a three-hundred-yuan bowl of crab roe noodles. Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t just boasting. Given the current fame of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, if he insisted on inviting Xu Taining, Shiting County would likely crumble under the pressure. For a cold case with three dead bodies, why wouldn¡¯t you invite Xu Taining if there¡¯s a chance to solve it? If you im tock funds, the Qinghe City Bureau and the Provincial Department would probably offer some financial support. Shiting County Bureau would also contribute, and it would only be right for everyone to work overtime and get involved. If they refused¡ªwell, they¡¯d have to solve the case themselves. Poormunication could lead to upper management imposing a deadline for a breakthrough. To understand the pressure, imagine a student unable to solve the bonus question on a final exam. The teacher suddenly announces an extension for the exam, but you mustplete the bonus question, and your ranking will be based on its score. In this world, there are no inconsequential zeroes. ¡°Don¡¯t imagine that every county¡¯s detective squad is like yours in Ningtai,¡± Bai Jian was genuinely fearful of Huang Qiangmin, and also worried about the case screening going awry. He was even more afraid of the legendary Xu Taining leaving the county bureau famished over a single case¡­ But Bai Jian had his pride and spoke with unwavering firmness. Huang Qiangmin replied with a stare, ¡°Our Ningtai County¡¯s investigative rankings have always been above yours in Shiting.¡± ¡°You just have more money, and a college graduate forensic doctor like Jiang Yuan. But the tactical skills of our front-line detectives are undoubtedly on par with those in big cities!¡± Bai Jian boasted confidently. Huang Qiangmin was too lethargic to counter. He changed the topic, ¡°Once you¡¯ve screened the right people and gathered a few candidates, send them to Jiang Yuan. He¡¯s always ready to review them. If we find the killer, there¡¯ll be no need to continue screening. Widen the scope, don¡¯t narrow it, include anyone who¡¯s been detained for public order offenses too.¡± Chapter 515 - 515 473 Effort Made_2 ?515: Chapter 473: Effort Made_2 515: Chapter 473: Effort Made_2 ¡°Got it,¡± Bai Jian paused before adding, ¡°Jiang Yuan better not overlook anything.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile was like he was about to sprout teeth. ¡­ Ma Jiazhuang. Mu Zhiyang followed the detectives from Shiting County, asking around from house to house, making records. The work he was doing was very peripheral, the real detectives were with the local police, led by vige cadres, sequentially inquiring the families rted to the victim, Ma Jun. Shiting County had their targeted list of suspects, which included vigers who bore grievances or even grudges against Ma Jun. People had been resting and reproducing here for over a hundred years, some rtionships were close, while others wereden with deep-seated resentment. Bai Jian was more concerned about these vendettas, after all, the small benefits afforded by Ma Jiazhuang weren¡¯t worth the murder of three people. The detectives he sent out naturally prioritized questioning the vigers and their rtives on these lists. Mu Zhiyang and several members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were assigned here to bolster the efforts, naturally ending up with the less critical inquiries. Even so, the detectives from Shiting County didn¡¯t fully trust them and still sent someone to follow. Being a detective was all about trusting no one, as if it were a professional hazard destined to wear oneself thin. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s condition was a little lighter. He had been mixed up with Jiang Yuan for too long, having followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders so often, he had no choice but to believe in certain things. In the process of making inquiry records at Ma Jiazhuang, Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t have the urge to extract any particr information; his approach was more like casual chatting, pulling aside the elderly at home for a random conversation. These days, it was mostly the elderly and children living in the vige, chatting all day long, having discussed everything there was to discuss, and any novelty would spread throughout the vige from morning to evening. A young man like Mu Zhiyang, dressed in a police uniform and willing to chat with the old men and women, was almost more popr than the story of Ma Jun¡¯s death. Logically, there wasn¡¯t much for the residents to hide. Ma Jun was from Ma Jiazhuang, his entire family dead except for a son who had gone to work in Changyang City. The vigers should have been helping the police to find the murderer. However, when the police asked everyone to describe the ex-convicts among their rtives and friends, that made people somewhat murmur. After visiting a few houses, Mu Zhiyang had gained some experience. While chatting, he asked with a smile, ¡°You usually don¡¯t have dealings with the police, right? What do you do if something is stolen from the fields?¡± ¡°Things missing from the fields aren¡¯t considered stolen. If it¡¯s ripe, whoever takes it is just helping themselves a little. If it¡¯s not ripe and gets stolen, that¡¯s just ruining things. We don¡¯t report it to the police,¡± the olddy said as she sat in the kitchen, lighting firewood to smoke meat, chatting with Mu Zhiyang and the others. Smoked meat was a tradition in the surrounding areas of Shitin County because of the excessive humidity. Without smoking the meat, the pork from the Spring Festival wouldn¡¯tst until April of the next year without getting maggots. Traditional Shitin County smoked meat would hang above the stove, getting smoked during daily cooking. However, with people now consuming more meat, just a few pieces hanging above the stove weren¡¯t enough to satisfy the appetite. The vige elders also had the task of providing smoked meat for their children, and some would smoke even more to sell to peddlers, earning a bit of extra money. Smelling the aroma of the smoked meat, Mu Zhiyang continued to chat about it with the olddy. He had no set quota of tasks anyway, and his day was spent going out and about. In the discussion of theft, the olddy said, ¡°In the vige, it used to be Ma Zhongmou¡¯s eldest grandson who was the naughtiest. He even stole my smoked meat to sell for money, then spent the money ying games in the town. That boy has grown up now, and once they grow up, they don¡¯te back.¡± The olddy poked at the fire to send up more smoke, then added, ¡°Now the vige fields are lying fallow, with crops growing that nobody eats, so there isn¡¯t even anyone to steal smoked meat anymore.¡± Mu Zhiyang flipped through his notebook and asked, ¡°The eldest grandson of Ma Zhongmou you mentioned, what¡¯s his name?¡± The olddy thought for a moment and said, ¡°Ma¡­ Jiuhuang, that¡¯s it.¡± ¡°Oh, so this Ma Jiuhuang, did he ever go to prison?¡± Mu Zhiyang took notes. ¡°He didn¡¯t go to prison. There was no need for that, just some issue with taking smoked meat.¡± ¡°Oh, then where did he go to work afterward, did he do odd jobs?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know about that, Ma Zhongmou died several years ago, and he too was not fated to enjoy life¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang finished his notes and then chatted with the olddy aimlessly for a while before continuing with his record-keeping. After walking out and switching to another household, Mu Zhiyang followed the same approach, even bringing up the information just obtained, tossing out a few words on the fly, and casually verifying one or two points. Speaking of which, Mu Zhiyang had be quite familiar with the investigation process, having participated in two or three organized by Xu Taining himself. The experts from the provincial department brought by Xu Taining, or the experts from Changyang City and other ces, would give Xu Taining assistance in directing and so on, and there would always be some brief training each time. If you let Mu Zhiyang lead the investigation himself, naturally, he would be inadequate, but having him participate in the investigation, he had already been doing quite well. After making inquiry records at five families in a row, half a day had already passed. Mu Zhiyang reported to the head of the detective squad in charge and managed to get the addresses of several people identified during the investigation, sending the information ordingly to the detectives dispatched to those areas. There were several dozen detectives in Shiting County, currently floating around outside, following up on the addresses of the people identified in the investigation and continuous inquiries and investigations by the detectives assigned to the respective areas. As for the local detectives, although they could ask for assistance or apany them on the case, expecting to borrow their direct involvement in the case was not very realistic. After Mu Zhiyang finished his tasks, he returned to Shiting County, had a good night¡¯s sleep, and then went to help out the next day. For two days, and then on the third, Mu Zhiyang got up early to catch a ride in front of the police station, only to see Bai Jian and others, already groomed to perfection, standing on the steps early, striking poses. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Mu Zhiyang had a hunch and hurriedly caught a familiar detective to inquire. ¡°Ah, Officer Mu arrives,¡± the detective shouted, attracting the attention of Bai Jian and the others. Mu Zhiyang, still confused, was pushed to the base of the steps, and the photo shoot began. ¡°Little Mu¡¯s here.¡± ¡°Mu Team, look over here.¡± ¡°Mu Zhiyang, ah, you¡¯ve been working hard.¡± Familiar scenes and a familiar system of phrases made Mu Zhiyang subconsciously touch his arms and legs, thinking: Could it be that I was injured in the past two days, but I don¡¯t know it? Luckily, Wang Chuanxing came over and quietly exined to Mu Zhiyang, ¡°The Ma Jiuhuang you identified, his cellmate in the detention center is the murderer.¡± Ma Jiuhuang was just a fellow viger of Ma Jun, and their familial rtionship was distant, at least five degrees removed; the cellmate from the detention center was an even more tenuous link. Mu Zhiyang was surprised and said, ¡°Such a distant connection can be made?¡± ¡°Height, weight, age, and shoe size ¨C when you add up all these factors, there aren¡¯t many ex-cons who fit the bill.¡± Wang Chuanxing paused, then said, ¡°Ma Jiuhuang is already a habitual thief, and he seems eager to earn some merit.¡± Chapter 516 - 516 474 Digging Graves ?516: Chapter 474 Digging Graves 516: Chapter 474 Digging Graves Bai Jian¡¯s face was bright red, as if it were smeared with oil. He was dressed in in clothes, his police uniform washed clean, his leather shoes polished to a spotless sheen. He was truly happy, to the point that he didn¡¯t even care who had solved the case. The case in Ma Jiazhuang had weighed heavily on his mind for a long time, and no matter the reason it was solved, it was a beautiful thing for him. The police officers dispatched to other ces gradually returned; those who came back early caught the photo session, posing and twisting alongside Bai Jian, Huang Qiangmin watched with a chuckle, standing on the sidelines and enjoying the happiness of the Shi Ting County officers, turning to Liu Jinghui with a smile, ¡°Young people nowadays are so different from us. Back in our day, we were reluctant to take photos and had to be coaxed three times before we¡¯d hesitantly step onto the stage.¡± ¡°Back then, maturity and stability were valued,¡± Liu Jinghui added a line to go along with him. ¡°Yeah,¡± Huang Qiangmin sighed, ¡°When we cracked a big case, almost like this one, the whole team took photos at the train station; it took us half an hour just to take one picture. We were afraid this wasn¡¯t appropriate, felt that wasn¡¯t done well¡­¡± ¡°Those people, until now, maybe only you have been promoted to a full-head position,¡± Liu Jinghui argued with a rather novel reasoning, ¡°Cases are endless, but positions like deputy director are scarce. In the end, you can only outsmart yourself.¡± Huang Qiangminughed heartily, but afterughing, he felt a bit of a pang and sighed, ¡°I was also pushed up by Jiang Yuan, if it weren¡¯t for him, I¡¯d probably be no different from Bai Jian in this life.¡± ¡°Is Bai Jian so bad? Look at how triumphant he appears.¡± ¡°Triumphant at times, the more he smiles now, the more destion he¡¯ll face with the next case.¡± ¡°You have quite the insight.¡± ¡°Less insight now, with Jiang Yuan,¡± Huang Qiangmin shrugged with pretense. Seeing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smug look, Liu Jinghui wanted to needle him a bit, so he said, ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to manage upwards is indeed growing stronger.¡± Huang Qiangmin was startled before breaking into a grin, ¡°Then I¡¯ll have to cultivate my own Jiang Yuan well, to talk back to any difficult superiors in the future, toughen him up.¡± ¡°Um¡­ managing upwards doesn¡¯t mean that.¡± ¡°It could mean that,¡± Huang Qiangmin retorted casually, ¡°It¡¯s just a matter of seniority now, but solving cases is tangible evidence, and the requirements are getting stricter. It¡¯s easy to find a toad with two legs, but a three-legged case-solving genius is much harder toe by.¡± Liu Jinghui looked at Huang Qiangmin, thinking that sometimes someone needed to manage his brain. ¡­ Jiang Yuan did not participate in the celebration downstairs. For him, the difficulty of the Ma Jiazhuang case was not high. To use an exam as a metaphor, if one wanted to score satisfactorily on this test, it was only necessary for the rted skill level to reach a certain level and then to be meticulous. The inability of Bai, the captain of Shi Ting County, to handle it was a reasonable reflection of the case¡¯s difficulty, and the perfect resolution by the officers under hismand also logically matched the case¡¯s challenge. In truth, there was no part that needed celebrating. Of course, Jiang Yuan could understand the celebration of Bai Jian and others. It was like when he followed his father in his younger years enjoying meals provided by others, and the joy he felt when the host family made meat dishes. As he grew older and their property was redeveloped, Jiang Fuzhen had meat dishes every day, avable to any viger who wanted to eat, even to be given away to those who wanted to take some as gifts. Times change, today¡¯s feelings cannot override those from the past, but it does not mean that Jiang Yuan wants to empathize with everyone. He had tasted the bitterness ofmunal meals, and he did not want to taste it again. He had also experienced the despair of being at a loss with a problem, and he did not want to continue that experience. In fact, if it were not for the system interface, where the task progress had gone from 335/X to 347/X, meaning 12 people sincerely admired Jiang Yuan, he would have already been ready to withdraw. Even as the most basic second-generation beneficiary of property redevelopment, Jiang Yuan was not willing to warm his seat for their cold indifference. Thankfully, some people understood. Just not many. The forensic doctor from Shi Ting County was one of the enlightened ones. Frankly speaking, the 38-year-old forensic doctor Wei Qun should have been in his prime, but from what Jiang Yuan had seen in the autopsy reports and pathology slides, Wei Qun was only at a level LV1.1. Useful, but really not adequate. The requirements for forensics in criminal cases are ever increasing. A LV0.9 trace examiner might still handle petty theft cases, blending in with entry-level criminals. Entry-level trace examiners meet entry-level criminals¡ªa fair match¡ªlike a toad squaring off with a mung bean, a Miss with her bootlicker, each with their own shorings, but fitting together like pieces of a puzzle. But a forensic doctor deals with homicide cases. Despite the fact that unnatural death is the current mainstay, determining the nature of death is a forensic doctor¡¯s expertise. Moreover, homicides are bound to be encountered throughout the year. At such times, a Level 1.1 forensic doctor is really not up to par. Jiang Yuan read the forensic report of the corpses found in a Qing Dynasty tomb and found it extremely distressing. It seemed that Wei Qun also knew his skills werecking and said apologetically, ¡°For this case, I initially wanted to request support from the city. You know, Qinghe City has always had forensic support. But because the bodies were discovered in a tomb¡­ Well, bodies discovered in a tomb are quite normal, so the notification wasn¡¯t very timely.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯te to pick a fight; instead, he was somewhat curiously asking, ¡°Two bodies were found in the tomb, one inside the coffin dating back to thete Qing period, and one outside the coffin, still in modern clothing. Why do you think that¡¯s normal?¡± ¡°Tomb Robber? The Candle in the Tomb?¡± Wei Qunughed twice and said, ¡°There were other cases at the time, and I didn¡¯t have a clear head, so I checked itter.¡± ¡°The origin of the corpses was ultimately not determined.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Later on, a forensic doctor from Qinghe City also came to look. The bodies had been in the tomb for several years by then, making it indeed quite difficult to determine their origins.¡± ¡°What about your trace evidence analysis?¡± Jiang Yuan asked. Wei Qun, who was contemting his forensic work, was taken aback, ¡°Trace evidence analysis?¡± ¡°Yes, what did the trace evidence say?¡± ¡°Well¡­ We found some traces and analyzed the deceased¡¯s clothes, and it seems some soil samples were also collected¡­¡± Wei Qun described. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. He had also seen the trace evidence report. Coupling it with some of Wei Qun¡¯s responses, he could generally judge that the level of trace evidence analysis in Shiting County was on par with the forensic expertise¡ªboth mediocre at best. It wasn¡¯t actually surprising; Shiting County is the poorest county under Qinghe City. Even if young people are keen on public service exams, they still prioritize big cities, Changyang City, Qinghe City, and less so Ningtai. Very few actively choose to work there. It was difficult enough to attract people, let alone retain them, especially those with technical expertise. Without the possibility of growth because the previous generation of forensic and trace evidence technicians might not be that skilled. And even if the skills were developed, it¡¯s even harder to keep them around. Nowadays, institutions like judicial appraisal offices offer sries that are double or even more than those of big city forensic doctors, which is much more than what small-town forensic and trace evidence technicians earn. Someone young like Wei Qun, who is willing to settle in Shiting County, is likely to share simr origins with Jiang Yuan. They are probably locals who don¡¯t want to stray too far from home. ¡°I noticed the trace evidence report was very simple, solely analyzing the traces found inside the tomb chamber?¡± Jiang Yuan continued to inquire. Wei Qun, not as good at reading the faces of the dead as he is the living, nodded first then asked, ¡°Did the trace evidence miss anything?¡± ¡°Possibly,¡± Jiang Yuan said. ¡°Please tell me,¡± Wei Qun¡¯s expression suddenly became animated, The omission of trace evidence wasn¡¯t his concern as a forensic doctor, and it would be best if it eclipsed his own forensic mistakes. Jiang Yuan had already entered his professional mode and didn¡¯t care what Wei Qun was thinking. He took out a few photographs and said, ¡°The tomb is still there, right? I could take a look. The way this tunnel was dug, it¡¯s actually quite skillful.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why at first we all thought it was a Tomb Robber who had died inside¡­¡± Wei Qun hurriedly tried to justify. ¡°But inside the tomb, there are still funerary objects, albeit not many,¡± Jiang Yuan countered, then added, ¡°Tomb robbers usually work in groups, never alone. If they can carry away a body, they would certainly do so.¡± ¡°Yes, that¡¯s what we thought at the time. We did indeed get it wrong. We also thought¡­ maybe it was because someone died, which they considered bad luck, so they just withdrew?¡± Jiang Yuan said, ¡°You could still find something valuable in ate Qing tomb if you¡¯re lucky. They wouldn¡¯t leave without taking anything. If they were superstitious, they wouldn¡¯t be robbing tombs in the first ce¡­¡± Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, ¡°These are not the key issues. The key issue is that the robber¡¯s tunnel was dug cleanly and directly above the tomb owner¡¯s coffin, which does seem like the work of a professional Tomb Robber¡­¡± Wei Qun listened, perplexed, ¡°Is it a Tomb Robber, or isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yes. But a Tomb Robber who only discards bodies and doesn¡¯t rob tombs is somewhat strange,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Wei Qun said, ¡°Our Shiting County has always been a poor county since ancient times. The tomb¡¯s apanying artifacts have never been abundant. Moreover, families with the Shi surname are schrs and don¡¯t ce much emphasis on funerary objects.¡± ¡°In that case, the murderer wouldn¡¯t make much money robbing tombs in Shiting County? Is there a tradition of tomb robbing around here?¡± ¡°It¡¯s more casual digging. The tombs here aren¡¯t worth much, but there are a lot of them. As you said, asionally they¡¯ll find something valuable. The most I¡¯ve heard of are some calligraphies and porcins that could sell for tens of thousands, but the rest isn¡¯t worth much. This particr tomb contained only pottery jars,¡± Wei Qun said with a chuckle. Ever since he saw the photos of the case a few days earlier, Jiang Yuan had been considering the issue of the digging traces. Now, as if talking to himself, he said, ¡°If digging things up isn¡¯t profitable, what about putting things inside?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Wei Qun actually understood but needed a moment to digest it further. Chapter 517 - 517 475 Filing a Case ?517: Chapter 475: Filing a Case 517: Chapter 475: Filing a Case Shiting County, West Mountain. The dense forest, mainly concentrated at the mountain¡¯s peak, had be bare starting from halfway up the mountain. Herey innumerable tombstones, some of the earlier ones still bore epitaphs written by the deceased or their friends. The Shi family had not produced any famous figures whose names had survived to this day, but generation after generation of literate people were numerous, and various ancient texts and documents were left in abundance in Shiting County. However, several hundred years of settlement meant that a graveyard without management cannot expand indefinitely. Some of the earlier burials had been subjected to thieves over time. Fortunately, the locals generally didn¡¯t follow the tradition of extravagant funerals. The graves were small and the apanying burial objects were few, mainly consisting of the deceased¡¯s reading materials and utensils. asionally finding an inkstone or a few pieces of folk kiln porcin was already considered a fairly good haul. The low ie was the main reason for the rarity of tomb robbers, another being that the Shi family still lived very densely and would still arrange their ancestors¡¯ tombs on West Mountain. If vigers passing by happened to encounter tomb robbers, they were expected to beat them severely. Looking at these numerous tombstones and burial mounds, the two trace evidence technicians and forensic doctors from Shiting County were a bit bewildered. ¡°There are so many, how do we find it?¡± Wei Qun was actually not too keen on doing this, it was tiring enough to retrieve a body from the wilderness. Jiang Yuan just put forth a theory, prompting everyone to exert themselves in verifying it, which was just too foolish and exhausting. Jiang Yuan would not indulge him and simply said, ¡°Start with the obvious dug holes. Mark any that are found, write down their locations on the map. Later, we will bring in specialists in this area for further examination.¡± The trace evidence tech next to him frowned as he listened, ¡°There must be tens of thousands of graves here, many of which are now so levelled that they can¡¯t be recognized. Looking through each one, how long will it take?¡± ¡°Tens of thousands of graves can be inspected in a few days.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t give any face to Wei Qun. Investigating tens of thousands of graves is not moreplicated than interrogating thousands of people, at least you don¡¯t have to take interrogation notes for them. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think of the idea of stuffing the body into a grave on a whim. Firstly, the victim¡¯s manner of death was both brutal and direct, not resembling a passionate murder or idental killing but more like they were killed after a long beating. And the beating was done very methodologically. When it came to the actual killing, the method used did not seem amateurish. This felt hard to describe in a report format, but with experience in examining bodies, one naturally could discern the difference. It was like the hesitance and dy of an expert butcher killing a pigpared to a novice. Thetter would often result in unusual mistakes. Simply put, the beating was professional, and the killing was professional too. It was somewhat like a fishmonger by trade: when they said they were descaling, it was purely descaling, and when it came to bleeding, it was just bleeding. Finally, the pattern of burying the body and the dug holes¡¯ creation were also straightforward andbor-saving. Needless to say, these clear signs were all behavior with experience behind them. Furthermore, burying the body in an existing grave, by Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding, both the process and the method of murder were highly professional. Professionalism requires the cultivation of experience. Professional murder indicates not just one death. Hence, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t easily let go of this case when he came upon it. As for what the trace evidence techs and forensic doctors from Shiting County thought, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, they were utterly insignificant. The investigators indeed had no choice. If Bai Jian and the others were a bit distrustful of Jiang Yuan when he first arrived, now they would only feelpetitive and embarrassed, but their trust in him was absolutely full. The thoughts of Wei Qun and the others, whether they were tired or not, definitely wouldn¡¯t be taken to heart by their leaders. ¡°Wang Chuanxing, you and your team apany them, with the specialist team taking the lead,¡± Jiang Yuan instructed his own police officers, who then dispersed all over the hillsides. The team first marked out the clearly visible dug holes, and by the end of the day, they had marked several hundred locations. The next day. Liu Jinghui brought in the expert from the provincial department, Li Xiang, to the scene. Liu Jinghui introduced him to Jiang Yuan and the others, saying, ¡°Li Xiang is our province¡¯s expert in investigating tomb raiding cases, with dozens of first-grade fossils having been recovered.¡±¡­ Li Xiang appeared to be around 50 years old, and he listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s introduction while shaking his hand, the two shaking vigorously for quite some time. After Liu Jinghui finished introducing, Li Xiang said with a smile, ¡°I didn¡¯t study any techniques to be an expert on ancient tombs and burials, I just encountered a few such cases, so whenever the provincial department has a simr special case, they like to find me¡­¡± Many experts are shaped this way. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°We sought you out for this case for the same reason.¡± With that, Jiang Yuan gave Li Xiang a rough introduction to the case. Li Xiang listened very attentively and, after Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he said, ¡°So, our target could very well be a serial killer?¡± ¡°It¡¯s highly unlikely.¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, ¡°Those who discard bodies are discarding bodies, and those who kill are killing. From the condition of the bodies we¡¯ve seen, a motivation driven by profit is more likely.¡± ¡°How do you distinguish that?¡± Li Xiang deals with many cases regrly, but such cases are very rare. After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan described, ¡°Profit-driven killings, especially when there are multiple kills, tend to be less emotionally charged¡ªjust achieving the goal is sufficient. This is moremon with bandits and the like, whether they¡¯re kidnapping for ransom ormitting violent assault. Their strong intent is the primary thing.¡± ¡°Not so with serial killers?¡± ¡°Serial killers are driven by emotions, so if killing is their goal, the bodies usually reflect the killer¡¯s emotions¡­¡± Jiang Yuan provided a brief exnation but did not detail exactly how the specific emotions or other such details could be discerned from the bodies. Li Xiang wasn¡¯t particrly concerned; after satisfying his curiosity, he said, ¡°I must say, in searching for a tomb here, one must have some unique perspectives.¡± He had already reviewed the case file on the way and thought it through. Now, speaking about his area of expertise, he couldn¡¯t help wearing a smile and saying, ¡°I¡¯ve seen that you¡¯ve marked quite a few robbers¡¯ tunnels. Frankly, this approach isn¡¯t very useful, nor is it efficient.¡± ¡°Eh, why not?¡± Jiang Yuan was surprised. ¡°Because your goal is to see if there are any recent corpses in the robbers¡¯ tunnels, which is hard to verify. You might have to send someone down to look, or we need to dig them out to see. Not to mention therge amount of work involved, the speed will definitely be very slow, and by then you might scare off the suspects.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and asked, ¡°What¡¯s your method, then?¡± ¡°I suggest looking for tombs whose robbers¡¯ tunnels have been backfilled,¡± Li Xiang said. ¡°The Qing Dynasty tomb where the victim¡¯s body was found was intact, with no robbers¡¯ tunnels, right?¡± Upon reflection, Jiang Yuan realized that was indeed the case. ¡°They buried the bodies to hide them, so there was the action of backfilling the robbers¡¯ tunnels. But for actual tomb robbers, unless it¡¯s a particrlyrge tomb, tomb robbers wouldn¡¯t bother to backfill the tunnels. So,pared to tombs with open robbers¡¯ tunnels, those with backfilled tunnels are more likely to contain something.¡± Li Xiang said all this in one breath, then added, ¡°Of course, it¡¯s better if I look at the site myself; some robbers¡¯ tunnels that were backfilled earlier pertain to older matters.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately agreed and quickly pulled a team together, heading back to West Mountain. With Li Xiang leading, they continued to sweep through the tombs one by one. The rising talents of Shiting County followed, no longer daring toin about the abundance of tombs. Soon, Li Xiang found a backfilled tomb. Upon surveying the area from a higher vantage point, he said, ¡°Shall we take a look inside here first?¡± Liu Jinghui noticed he was holding back on something and immediately asked, ¡°Did you notice something?¡± ¡°This side is closer to the road. Look, park the car on the side, carry it over a dirt slope, and you¡¯re here,¡± Li Xiang muttered, then said, ¡°I was just thinking, carrying something as heavy as a body into the mountains is definitely not practical.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± said Liu Jinghui. ¡°If there¡¯s something in the tomb, then it makes sense; if there isn¡¯t, then it doesn¡¯t,¡± Li Xiangughed, then directed the engineering vehicles and personnel to get to work. Two hourster. This hundred-year-old tomb was excavated to reveal arge hole, and the two bodies inside were exposed. One bodyy peacefully in the coffin, while the other was scattered about. Jiang Yuan stepped forward, gave a simple greeting as a forensic doctor, and then called Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin climbed up quickly, listened briefly to Jiang Yuan¡¯s description, and became excited, ¡°Although we haven¡¯t continued with solving the case, setting up a few more cases for Bai and his team is pretty good too.¡± Chapter 518 - 518 476 Everything Is Difficult ?518: Chapter 476: Everything Is Difficult 518: Chapter 476: Everything Is Difficult ¡°Male corpse, body length 177 cm, hair length 10 cm, clothes in disarray, clear signs of a struggle, wearing a blue and white T-shirt, and ck loose-fitting sweatpants¡­ Distinctive scars on the face, head, left neck, right chest, right shoulder¡­¡± ¡°Based on the characteristics of the wounds, both internal and external, it is preliminarily determined that the multiple wounds were caused by abination of blunt and sharp objects¡­¡± ¡°ording to the examination of the body, the deceased had multiple injuries on the face and head, a knife wound on the left neck that reached the cervical spine, and a knife wound on the right chest that prated the thoracic cavity and reached the ribs, both of which were fatal injuries. The cause of death was hemorrhagic shock due to blood loss.¡± Wei Qun, the forensic doctor from Shiting County, read the report written by Jiang Yuan, his ears twitching as if his brain was trying to burst forth. Impressive people write materials very simply, but if they are highly relevant to reality, with broad implications and coverage, the difficulty is much greater than writing a few seemingly profound sentences. It¡¯s like the phrase ¡°Resist America, Aid Korea, Defend the Homnd¡± exins more than any grand principle. Of course, Wei Qun¡¯s problem was not just theck of rity in his writing, but the fact that he could only see the body as average. The reports he wrote always wavered, and naturally, theycked force. The conference room. Looking up at the projection screen were the bureau chief, executive deputy chief, deputy chiefs, captain of the criminal police, politicalmissar, deputy captains, each reading the forensic report written by Jiang Yuan and contemting their own thoughts. ¡°Is it¡­ that up until now, we have dug up two sets of skeletal remains in West Mountain?¡± The bureau chief¡¯s voice was slow and steady, but he still had to ask. ¡°Two bodies, correct,¡± Huang Qiangmin slightly corrected his own phrasing. ¡°Could they be two isted cases?¡± There was hope in the bureau chief¡¯s tone. ¡°No.¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s answer was concise and forceful, ¡°The wounds on the two bodies are simr, the burial methods are simr, and the choice of burial sites is simr. Currently, Jiang Yuan, Senior Superintendent Liu Jinghui from the provincial department, and Senior Superintendent Li Xiang, all agree that these are two of several premeditated murder cases with interment of corpses.¡± The executive deputy chief could no longer bear it and asked, ¡°How many cases do these ¡®several¡¯ entail?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know yet; currently, we¡¯re still in the burial stage. We can only know the specifics afterward. The excavation is mainly under the responsibility of Senior Superintendent Li Xiang from the provincial department. ording to his reports, the methods of burying bodies are very sophisticated. The graves they found are all rtively close to roads, providing easy transport and a certain degree of concealment; these are not simple choices of a novice with only a time or two¡¯s experience,¡± Huang Qiangmin said. ¡°Is it a tomb robber who changed trades, or a dispute among tomb robbers?¡± The executive still harbored a ¡°benevolent thought.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible that tomb robbers have changed trades, but it cannot be a dispute among tomb robbers. It¡¯s professional, nned body dumping,¡± Huang Qiangmin stated very clearly on this matter. ¡°Where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?¡± The bureau chief suddenly remembered as if it just urred to him, and quickly looked around. ¡°Jiang Yuan is currently at the scene, overseeing the search and inspection work,¡± Huang Qiangmin actually understood the quandary of the Shiting County Bureau very well. Solving cases is something everyone wants. To a certain extent, solving cases is a task where all involved parties can reach a consensus and work towards amon goal. However, there is no consensus when ites to new cases. Today¡¯s police departments, although not having ¡°make peace, not war¡± demands like in ancient times, still find that a high incidence of cases is never a good thing. Specifically at the business department level, like the criminal police unit, everyone gives their all to solve cases, but no one wants to see an increase in incidents, especially in homicide cases, which bring significant pressure. How much pressure? So much so that it would feel more rxing to be bitten by a two-rowed tooth crocodile. Bai Jian had already started to feel at ease. After many years, the Ma Jiazhuang robbery and murder case had been solved, not only fulfilling Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s ¡°Cold Case Offensive Year¡± task but also making the reports look good, giving him a sense of aplishment. As the captain of a criminal police unit, Bai Jian felt this was a highlight of his career. Regardless of who assisted with the case, solving a criminal case is always a team effort, and as the leader of the team, he always had reason to be proud. Yet when Jiang Yuan¡¯s work turned towards the Qing Dynasty gravesite murder cases, Bai Jian was quite pleased, although Huang Qiangmin¡¯s price was still steep and his teeth just as sharp. The desire to conquer the next challenge outweighed Bai Jian¡¯s unease about the future. Focus on the cold case offensive this year, and next year¡¯s funds will surely increase a bit. The deficit could be repaid then¡­ However hard Bai Jian racked his brains, he couldn¡¯t imagine that before Jiang Yuan could solve the Qing Dynasty gravesite murder case, they would unearth a recently buried corpse from a Republic-era grave! Incredulous! Unfathomable! From a cold case -1 to a cold case +1, Bai Jian felt his happinesssted only two or three days. The May Day holiday was even longer! And people even gotpensatory time off! ¡°Now there¡¯s a problem. The local vigers and officials aren¡¯t very understanding or supportive of our work; the county bureau needs to step in to help exin and smooth over the situation with the local officials and popce,¡± Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t give the leaders of Shiting County Bureau any choice. The case had reached a point where there was virtually no room for choice. Unless Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui and others agreed to shelve this case, turning it into a new cold case, whether Shiting County Bureau wanted to continue or not, they had to keep going. Regardless of whether it¡¯s Qinghe City Bureau or the provincial department¡¯s business guidance, it will soone down the phone line. Huang Qiangmin suddenly understood what Liu Jinghui meant by upward management. Once a case has progressed to this stage, even senior leaders can only ept the orders they¡¯re given. It¡¯s not just Shiting County Bureau; Shiting County itself must contribute and help quell the dissatisfaction among the Shi Family, help mediate, and persuade. Two dayster. The third corpse wasid out in the autopsy room of Shiting County¡¯s funeral home. Bai Jian looked at it,pletely numb. ¡°Are people really burying bodies in graves?¡± Bai Jian was staring at the first, second, and third corpsesid out in a row in the autopsy room, as if he had returned to the terrifying memories of a case with three bodies. Huang Qiangmin understood the captain of the criminal police all too well and, baring his teeth in a smile, said, ¡°Could it be that you still don¡¯t believe it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that I don¡¯t trust, it¡¯s just¡­ sigh¡­ what do you think his motive is?¡± Bai Jian let out a long sigh. It wasn¡¯t that he was looking for an answer, but that the emotional rollercoaster was too much to bear. Huang Qiangmin shook his head and looked towards Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui beside him. The case had only just begun, and there were clues, but Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t want to influence which direction to take. It might seem easy to pick a direction now, but once youmit to a major case like this, it¡¯s not easy to change courseter, especially as it gets moreplicated. Li Xiang was there to help and also looked towards Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. ¡°I want to continue searching for the bodies.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have a mature approach to solving the case, he had only heard of such cases and had never actually encountered one. Although he had seen some clues, they weren¡¯t very solid. Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea was still to look for clues at the crime scene where the bodies were buried. The way the bodies were buried, from parking on the roadside to transporting the body, then digging a hole and stuffing the corpse, and finally backfilling the grave, would take an entire half of the night. It was impossible not to leave traces every time. On the contrary, the criminal suspect would leave traces every time; it was just a matter of not having found the person yet. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui said, ¡°Then I suggest that Shiting County shouldunch another crackdown on organized crime and corruption!¡± Wow! All those present gasped in shock. Such an operation would have a significant impact. Bai Jian took a deep breath, and his emotions settled down somewhat. Compared to solving a case, he was morefortable with a structured and substantial operation. And, Liu Jinghui had indeed pointed out a direction. If those whomitted the murder and buried the bodies were indeed local underworld forces, solving the case would actually be easier. ¡°I¡¯ll go and report to the bureau chief,¡± Bai Jian said without another word. Liu Jinghui grunted in agreement, watched Bai Jian leave, and then turned to Huang Qiangmin, saying, ¡°Shall we continue? I suggest it would be more convenient to stay outside the city.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Huang Qiangmin immediately agreed. With Shiting County poised for a big operation, they might even need to borrow forces from other counties. Since they didn¡¯t want to be involved, it made sense to simply stay outside the city. Jiang Yuan looked at the bodies and further suggested, ¡°How about we stay near the funeral home?¡± ¡°Well¡­okay,¡± Huang Qiangmin agreed. The funeral home of Shiting County was near West Mountain, not only fitting the condition of staying outside the city but also advantageous in case of an emergency. If they needed to head up the mountain, the living conditions were quite good. Most importantly, there was an autopsy room and a basic pathologyb there. With slight modifications, they could be used for daily evidence storage work, which was very convenient. The group decided to move and did so. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, all officers took action, driving their own vehicles and others that represented the Shiting County Bureau¡¯s friendship and confusion, arriving in a grand procession at Shiting County¡¯s funeral home. Along the way, Mu Zhiyang felt a bit guilty. Halfway through the drive, he sheepishly said, ¡°We¡¯ve taken so many cars out. Shiting County will need them, won¡¯t they?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not short of cars. Moreover, the city will definitely support them. The more dire the county¡¯s situation, the more support they¡¯ll get,¡± Huang Qiangmin said, pausing for a moment, ¡°If it reallyes down to it, we can support themter.¡± ¡°So we¡¯re just confirming who¡¯s in charge for now?¡± Mu Zhiyang finally seemed to have caught on. Huang Qiangmin smiled, ¡°Don¡¯t think too much into it. We¡¯re just here to solve a case. Even though Shiting County¡¯s operation is rted to the case, we can¡¯tpletely merge the two.¡± Mu Zhiyang made an ¡°oh¡± sound as he finally seemed to understand. That¡¯s right, they¡¯re running their operation, and it¡¯s natural for you to jump in and help as an outsider from another county, but looking from someone on the outside, it seems quite strange. Seeing Mu Zhiyang trying hard to think with his insufficient gray matter, Jiang Yuan said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about what others are doing. Let¡¯s just handle the crime scene.¡± His approach was typically technical. He didn¡¯t care how the cake was divided; he just wanted to make as many cakes as possible. If he didn¡¯t get a share of the cake, he¡¯d use centrifuges designed for nuclear weapons to make ice cream! West Mountain. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team taking the lead and the local police officers assisting, they continued to trudge up and down the mountain. In theory, the graves in West Mountain of Shiting County could date back to the Song Dynasty. Of course, most of such graves wouldn¡¯t survive to the present and had been dug up long ago. The problem was that Jiang Yuan and his team were not looking for the contents inside the graves, but the graves themselves, which made the task slightly more difficult. Fortunately, Li Xiang were quite professional, and after finding the third body, as the case¡¯s scale and priority increased, Li Xiang also gradually invited two more experts to join the search. The detectives closely followed the three experts, searching methodically and resolutely. This was the predicament criminals faced in this era. Even though their technical level and criminal abilities were improving, the systemized and professionally trained detective force was also growing stronger. More importantly, they could focus on key investigations and even adopt a strategy of esctory support¡ªfrom son to father to grandfather if needed. The most outrageous part was that some detectives, who weren¡¯t particrly skilled or professional, coulde together for major operations and unearth the very soil where the crimes took ce. All in all, making one¡¯s way through society seemed pretty tough. ! There was an omission in chapter numbering; hence the next chapter will be Chapter 478. ! Chapter 519 - 519 478 A Small Oversight ?519: Chapter 478: A Small Oversight 519: Chapter 478: A Small Oversight The police siren wailed continuously. The lights were bright. The wind blew, and the trees in Shiting County all swayed as if surrendering with raised hands. Officers and armed police from Qinghe City Bureau, Qianjin District Bureau, Pingfu District Bureau, Qu¡¯an County, Longli County, Ningtai County, Miao He County, and the local Shiting County, along with officers from Jianjiang City, Changyang City, Qingbai City, Wan Xiang City, Luyang City, and other ces, set out at 9 PM and continued arresting people until 7 AM the next morning. That night in Shiting County, not a single frog dared to croak. Several restaurants, including Zhengyang Tower, had suspended their regr business, serving breakfast only for the police reinforcements. ¡°Thank you for your hard work.¡± ¡°Thank you, everyone.¡± ¡°Thank you all!¡± The director of Shiting County Bureau, along with a group ofmittee members and Bai Jian, the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, went around shaking hands and expressing their thanks, continuously muttering, ¡°There¡¯s warmth in the world, and the brothers are so caring¡±¡­ Everyone responded enthusiastically: ¡°It¡¯s what we should do.¡± ¡°Captain Jiang, you¡¯ve also worked hard.¡± ¡°Captain Jiang,e visit us when you have time.¡± Apart from when they saw Huang Qiangmin, whose presence caused a mix ofplicated expressions¡ªregret, anger, difort, confusion, and doubt¡ªeveryone¡¯s faces lit up with happiness and wee when they saw Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected to meet so many ¡°old friends¡± and couldn¡¯t help but smile, greeting each one: ¡°Captain Zhang, Captain Hou, Captain Xu¡­ Commissioner Wang¡­ Captain Li¡­¡± Over two years, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t be acquainted with many police officers in other positions, but he truly came to know quite a few heads of the Criminal Police Brigades. Of course, the reinforcements weren¡¯t necessarily led by the heads of the Criminal Police Brigades. The majority were made up ofmissioners and deputy heads. The main task of these senior investigators was to lead the team on missions, holding a status somewhat simr to that of Prince Charles during his time, representing a certain attitude. People were very willing to interact with Jiang Yuan; while two years is a short time, there were counties and cities that Jiang Yuan had already visited two or three times. And in some counties and cities, even though Jiang Yuan only visited once, he managed to arrest all their criminals in one sweep. In the evening. The Shiting County Bureau hosted a banquet at Zhengyang Tower to express gratitude to the police reinforcements from the brother units. The frogs that had dared not croak the previous night were all captured and brought over, skinned and chopped into chunks prepared in a Sichuan-vored style¡ªthe traditional Shiting steamed frog method had be inappropriate as the reinforcements came from various ces. But precisely because of this, the deliciousness of the frogs received unanimous approval, and everyone ate to their hearts¡¯ content, feeling that the trip had been worth it. Bai Jian walked around with a cup in his hand, sessfully avoiding the drinking spree by saying, ¡°I have to lead an interrogation tonight and can¡¯t drink. Everyone was courteous to Captain Bai, each conveying that ¡°You go your way, we came mainly to meet Captain Jiang,¡± and they sessfully escorted Bai Jian out of Zhengyang Tower. Behind him, the bureau leaders were still holding wine sses, toasting each other. In front of him was an old manual transmission Santana, its dashboard lit up with red warning lights, emitting a ttering noise. Bai Jian plopped down in the car: ¡°I was almost trapped by those offering toasts. Alright, let¡¯s head back to the station. Any news on the interrogation?¡± ¡°Not yet, that¡­¡± The driver hesitated for a few seconds, then said, ¡°We might have to wait a moment. I haven¡¯t driven a manual for a long time, and I need to remember how. The engine just died.¡± Bai Jian gave a nomittal hum and remarked, ¡°This damn car¡¯s engine light is on. A lot of lights are on.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll pull the wires at the repair shop tomorrow, and then the lights won¡¯te on,¡± said the driver, starting to attempt to drive off. Bai Jian reclined in his seat, looking drained, but in reality, he had lost hope for the future. This trip had all been funded by police expenses, and although a portion of the ¡°confiscated¡± assets could be recovered for expenses, hoping to get back to the original state was impossible. On the other hand, the suspects caught the previous night had been interrogated overnight, and another group had been interrogated during the day, but they had still not found the individual responsible for burying the corpses. This made Bai Jian start to worry. Having been a seasoned criminal police officer, he usually had a sense of whether a case could be closed or a criminal investigation path could be sessfully followed. He couldn¡¯t predict what the others might do, but as for the strength of the Shiting County Criminal Police Brigade, 20 hours had passed without yielding any results from the interrogation, and Bai Jian thought that was a bad sign. This time was a thorough arrest, the four brothers who ran a small supermarket at the train station were all caught. Based on Bai Jian¡¯s understanding, the social organizations with some vitality in the county shouldn¡¯t dare tomit murder. Of course, such things are uncertain. Even old farmers wouldn¡¯t dare to murder, but once they talk about rebellion, they might just rebel. Pfft The old Santana left behind by the previous generation of criminal police chiefs let out two breaths of filthy air, lurching forward abruptly before settling back down again, much like Bai Jian handing in his public grain. Bai Jian, clutching his chest in difort, couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of irritation rise within him, akin to how his wife felt after handing over the public grain. ¡°How is it going?¡± Bai Jian entered the interrogation center, once again adopting the stern and serious demeanor of an iron-blooded leader of the criminal police. Yet not a single teammate was smiling. ¡°They¡¯ve confessed to all sorts of criminal activities, but no one¡¯s taking the death penalty,¡± his lieutenant muttered as he came over. ¡°Isn¡¯t there anyone willing to earn a reduced sentence?¡± That¡¯s what Bai Jian was hoping for. It was very demanding for socially active organizations to cover for each other. In ancient China, when hiding crimes within the family was the norm, even familial protection wasn¡¯t foolproof, so it was unrealistic to expect members from the social stratum to suddenly be the most moral in society. True scoundrels remain scoundrels, and hypocrites are even more likely to be practitioners of unity between knowledge and action. The code of silence maintained by the Sicilian gangs was based on the organization both inside and outside the prisons paying monthly dues. Without these, the once tight-lipped party members almost universally turned traitor. Shiting County was not a transportation hub or a strategic location; on the contrary, it was probably the most backward and least essible county in Qinghe City. So naturally, the vitality of the social organizations there left much to be desired. When times were good, nobody would say anything, but now, faced with adversity, there should be some real viins stepping forward to do what viins do. However, it was the viins who were jumping, yet none of them were implicated in a murder case. ¡°What¡¯s the deal with these ghosts now? They don¡¯t kill people?¡± Bai Jian lit a soggy cigarette with one bite. He didn¡¯t even go home, instead sitting and waiting in the interrogation center. By the next morning, Bai Jian was almost falling asleep when his lieutenant hurried in. ¡°Any news?¡± Bai Jian immediately looked up at the sound of the voice. ¡°It¡¯s from Captain Jiang, from the forensic squad,¡± the lieutenant swallowed hard. Bai Jian had a bad feeling and asked, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me they¡¯ve dug up another body!¡± ¡°Another body has been dug up.¡± The lieutenant had no choice but to tell him, as this information needed immediate reporting, with the chief and deputy chief also heading to the site. Bai Jian arose to grab a cigarette, lit it, and began dressing, then said, ¡°I really give up. If this case isn¡¯t solved, I¡¯ll pin the me on Huang Qiangmin.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Doctor Jiang seems to have found some evidence,¡± the lieutenant quickly said. ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have said that sooner? What evidence?¡± Bai Jian hurriedly asked. ¡°A paper tissue, found in the soil that was backfilled,¡± the lieutenant replied. ¡°Is there something on the tissue?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not certain yet.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Bai Jian was a bit disappointed. Tissues can only be preserved for a limited time, and even if they were buried in backfill, it was not certain that they would yield any clues. Despite that, Bai Jian finally perked up a bit, hurriedly left the building, and took a car to the West Mountain crime scene. Several criminal policemen from other regions arrived even earlier than him, there to observe the scene, looking somewhat bored. The scene was indeed like that. If it was someone¡¯s first time there, they might find the sight of trace evidence technicians in protective suits and masks interesting, but after seeing it enough times, it just became a hassle. Unlike Bai Jian¡¯s anxiety, Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood remained consistently good. His face bore no trace of the hardship after attending a banquet. As a technician, he believed that as long as the investigation persisted, the case would eventually be solved. As the saying goes, there¡¯s always a loophole, and if a criminalmits crimes frequently enough, they are bound to slip up somewhere, if not on a tissue, then on something else. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hold much hope for the tissue, as it was too fragile to protect any DNA that might be present, which could easily be dposed by bacteria in the soil. The key was that the criminal had made a mistake, a development that not just Jiang Yuan, but also several other experts, found uplifting. Chapter 520 - 520 479 Number Four ?520: Chapter 479: Number Four 520: Chapter 479: Number Four ¡°Take all the soil back with you,¡± Li Xiangmanded the excavator operator at work. This excavation of a Qing Dynasty tomb that uncovered bodies was indeed a major discovery. The case of four bodies was thergest seen in Shannan Province this year. Jiang Yuan¡¯s demands for the crime scene investigation had risen to a new level; he now required all backfill soil to be taken away. Li Xiang agreed wholeheartedly and followed through. The more meticulous the crime scene investigation, the better, and the Locard¡¯s exchange principle of investigation theory relies precisely onprehensive inquiry. If minute traces and evidence at a crime scene were ignored, then the principle of exchange couldn¡¯t serve its purpose. The corresponding criminal theory should then be transformed into a theory of minute traces¡ªturning major traces into smaller ones, using the negligence andcency of the investigation staff to escape detection and thus create the perfect crime! With a perfect score of 750 in the college entrance examination, everyone thinks 600 is quite good. However, once out in the society, everyone hopes to be served by people with scores of 750 or even 760. In reality, it is usually people scoring under 500 who are busy at work and often only give 80% effort. Whilst working, Li Xiang wasn¡¯t an exceptionally talented police detective, but he was someone who took his work seriously and was willing to put pressure on himself. Through persistence, he had made a name for himself in the world of tomb raiding. After excavating the backfill soil, Li Xiang had his team remove traces from the surrounding area as well. Only then, satisfied, did he put up the police tape and say to the nearby vigers, ¡°Okay, we have basically finished excavating modern items from the ancient tomb. For now, let¡¯s leave it for a few days. As for the bodies in the tomb, we¡¯ll take care of them for you first. When the coffins arrive, we¡¯ll help you rebury them. The tomb area will be sealed off temporarily for safety.¡± The vigers, who had been watching, had grown in number over the past few days and were now aware of what was happening. Hearing that Li Xiang¡¯s approach was simr to how other families¡¯ affairs were handled, they mostly agreed. An older viger asked, ¡°Shall we burn some paper money?¡± ¡°Burning paper money¡­ isn¡¯t exactly appropriate to do at the scene¡­¡± ¡°Just a little will do.¡± Some people started to pull out pieces of joss paper. ¡°This is equivalent to relocating a grave, and it¡¯s more appropriate to burn the paper money on the day of the relocation,¡± exined Wu Jun, who had arrived at the scene, naturally taking on the job ofmunicating with the vigers and exining, ¡°Moving old graves is actually quitemon. In most parts of Shan Nan, the custom is to burn some paper money while relocating the grave, as if to inform the deceased spirits about their new dwelling.¡± Wu Jun helped pull up the yellow police cordon tape and continued, ¡°We suggest not burning any paper during these few days of mourning to avoid disturbing the ancestors. Just go about your normal lives and work. If you wish to express your intentions, lighting a candle or some incense will suffice. Later, when it¡¯s officially time to relocate the grave, burn the paper and pay your respects, and the ancestors will be informed.¡± ¡°Another thing, the tomb has hosted other upants for quite some time. By burning paper here, who are we really burning it for?¡± ¡°Actually, our ancestors don¡¯tck money; they still have savings from before. Think about it, being frugal in the past, they wouldn¡¯t splurge in the afterlife. But it¡¯s different with the neers. We shouldn¡¯t let them save too much to avoid misfortune.¡± ¡°Come on, everyone, let¡¯s offer a toast to show our respect first.¡± Wu Jun kept busy with tasks while speaking, then signaled for others to help him. The vigers listened intently. Wu Jun wasn¡¯t new to exining customs; in the beginning, they had some distrust, but they soon realized he was too knowledgeable. Now, the popr belief among the Shi Family was that Wu Jun was actually an expert from the government. And it made sense¡ªnormal families needed help with their affairs, so why wouldn¡¯t the government need people? Opening a family tomb is a major event, so without proper preparation, how could an official get anything done? Plus, Wu Jun was knowledgeable and patient, following protocols and methods to the letter. Under his direction, the vigers lit candles, ate red eggs, and offered up roast chicken, red steamed buns, and various home-cooked dishes to their ancestors. After three sticks of incense had burned down, everyone kowtowed, shared the offered food, and then dispersed. During this time, those who wanted to speak did so; topics that were normally difficult to address were brought up openly, and since it was a private ceremony, there were no interruptions, allowing for a free flow of expression. Wang Zhong helped throughout the process, impressed beyond words. Wang Zhong had been present for the entire process of collecting the backfill soil and felt it was exhausting. He could imagine the team, having filled up more than half a truck with soil,ter stooping and sifting through it inch by inch. It would take countless forensic investigators with bruised knees to turn those efforts into a single line on a report. Better than boiling red eggs at least, for which the locals mightpliment you on doing a good job. ¡­ Shiting County Funeral Parlor. Heaps of soil were dumped on the ground. Several forensic investigators, like hogs forbidden to be sold, were bent over, crawling on their knees across the grave soil, meticulously sniffing and searching through it. The discovery of bodies and the finding of tissue paper in the backfill soil inspired the investigators to work with care, sifting through theyers inches at a time. Indeed, they were actually sifting through the soil with sieves, in the hope of uncovering something. Jiang Yuan, after being busy in the dissection room for a while, finished up and came out to help sift through the soil. Seeing him emerge, the other forensic doctors who were holed up in the dissection room couldn¡¯t sit still and came out to lend a hand. Chapter 521 - 521 479 Number Four_2 ?521: Chapter 479 Number Four_2 521: Chapter 479 Number Four_2 Forensic Doctor Niu Tang, who hade from Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District to support them, was most reluctant. As he dug into the earth, he advised Jiang Yuandao, ¡°Captain Jiang, don¡¯t push yourself too hard. You¡¯ve just finished with the body and now you¡¯re looking for clues here. You should rest a bit¡­¡± Forensic Doctor Wang Lan, who hade with him,ughed: ¡°Old Niu, what a rare sight, you actually know how to care about people now.¡± ¡°I never had the chance before, my work usually involves either corpses or tissue paper. I really would like to care about people¡­¡± Niu Tang specialized in analyzing tissue paper and the substances on them, and he was asionally called away on business trips or to assist colleagues from other ces with evidence analysis, thus he rarely did the basic groundwork of digging anymore. But since Jiang Yuan was willing to do it, Niu Tang felt even more embarrassed to act like a big shot, and could only persuade Jiang Yuan to stop for now. Wang Lan saw through this andughed while watching the fun: ¡°Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t much for creatureforts. If he wanted to enjoy life, the conditions at his home are good enough for that. He wouldn¡¯t need to be like us, touching corpses day in and day out.¡± ¡°Everyone has their own interests. It¡¯s not strange that Captain Jiang likes touching corpses,¡± said Niu Tang, thinking of his own work with tissue paper. Despite it being rted to his professional experience, he indeed had a genuine interest in tissue paper himself. Considering his own viewpoint, he naturally felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest in touching corpses was much the same. Jiang Yuan, who was scraping soil ahead, couldn¡¯t help but retort, ¡°Chief Niu, I¡¯m interested in solving cases, not touching corpses.¡± ¡°As a forensic doctor, there¡¯s nothing shameful in loving what you do,¡± said Niu Tang, who had a squat build; hisughter, sounding like it was echoing from a grave, was robust and hearty. Jiang Yuan shook his head, choosing not to argue further, then turned to say, ¡°Chief Niu, if you could find the murderer from the tissue paper, we wouldn¡¯t need to dig through soil and touch corpses. Want to give it another try?¡± ¡°No need to try again. It was originally snot, and it¡¯s not easy to find DNA in it. After being buried in the soil for so long, the tissue paper has held up well enough,¡± said Niu Tang, speaking with great confidence about his specialty. Contrary to what many people imagine, extracting DNA isn¡¯t simply a matter of taking an item and scanning all the DNA from it. The correct method, for hard surfaces such as floor tiles, furniture wood, weapons, etc., is to moisten a cotton swab with water, dab it to collect the DNA, and then soak the swab in a solution to amplify the DNA. The process is simr to using a cotton swab to test for nucleic acids. For soft items, often a piece is directly cut and used for amplification; the basic process is the same. However, particrly with soft items, there is always a chance involved with DNA analysis. For instance, when cutting a piece of tissue paper for amplification, it¡¯s possible to cut a piece with the criminal¡¯s DNA, but it¡¯s equally possible to miss it. Before Niu Tang¡¯s arrival, the tissue paper had already been cut. After he came, he analyzed both the material of the tissue paper and the DNA on it, but all efforts were fruitless. Now, he had essentially given up. Jiang Yuan himself was actually an LV4 crime scene investigator, and in terms of overall scene investigation, he was stronger than a hundred Niu Tangsbined. Niu Tang¡¯s strength was solely in tissue papers. He had spent half his life studying and learning to analyze tissue papers, and the other half actually analyzing them. Ordinary people truly couldn¡¯tpare, especially considering his particr sensitivity towards tissue paper, which was an even more remarkable quality. However, now that Niu Tang himself had confirmed the tissue paper strategy was a failure, Jiang Yuan had topletely abandon that lead as well. ¡°Let¡¯s continue digging,¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand, with nothing much to say. Niu Tang had no choice; without tissue paper, he was just another ordinary worker, and could only continue to sieve the soil with huffs and puffs. Afternoon. With red eyes, Bai, the team leader with a ruddyplexion, also arrived at the mortuary. A day and night of interrogation led to a substantial number of cases being solved ¡ª an exceedingly good turn of events. It had indeed kept his team of criminal investigators fully upied. However, the most critical case, where the hidden gravesite turned from one corpse to four, was almost gut-wrenching for Bai Jian. To be honest, how often does a good captain of the criminal investigation team from a decent countye across a quadruple homicide? The triple homicide in Ma Jiazhuang almost killed Bai Jian, and now, facing this quadruple homicide¡­ Bai Jian didn¡¯t want to think too far ahead anymore. Anyway, with the remaining resources in Shiting County, it was impossible for him to keep shouldering the burden of a quadruple homicide case. His legs were only so thick; if he couldn¡¯t carry it, he just couldn¡¯t carry it. At the mortuary, Bai Jian sat down in the autopsy room and didn¡¯t even bother to rush Jiang Yuan and the others. He didn¡¯t understand the technical side of things anyway; rushing them would be futile. But now, the only thing he could count on was Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin was no good, but Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills were truly impressive, as all those criminal investigation captains from other ces could attest to just yesterday. The air conditioning in the autopsy room was very cold. Soon, Bai Jian touched his own arm, feeling as if it were as cold as a corpse¡¯s. However, Bai Jian found it quitefortable. The heart that had been racing uncontrobly now seemed to have calmed down, beating strongly and rhythmically. At this point, Bai Jian began to understand the anxious minds of the deputy bureau chiefs, who would sit in the meeting room during tense times, ceaselessly buying fruits for the detectives. He was anxious, but since he didn¡¯t have the expertise, all he could do was to wait. Bai Jian felt the same way now. If it weren¡¯t for the inappropriateness, he would even consider pushing the corpses off the dissection table and lying down to wait himself. ¡°Captain Bai,¡± Jiang Yuan greeted as he entered the room. ¡°Jiang Yuan is back. How is it?¡± Bai Jian slowly sat up, his heart starting to thump as if suffering from the aftereffects of sitting too long in an old Santana. ¡°No results yet, but we¡¯re almost finished excavating the vehicle,¡± responded Jiang Yuan as he entered the changing room, stripping off his protective suit to reveal a long-sleeved shirt underneath, then sat down to rest. A tightness gripped Bai Jian¡¯s heart as he heard this, ¡°No results even after finishing the excavation? What¡¯s next then?¡± After speaking, Bai Jian felt somewhat embarrassed, but almost immediately, he felt the chill of the autopsy room again and let it go; it was all for the victims. Jiang Yuan too looked towards the corpses and said, ¡°After analyzing the four bodies, there is a bit of progress. Also, Li Xiang is bringing back another truckload of backfill soil today, from previously unexcavated graves, for further ssification and analysis.¡± Bai Jian ignored thetter part of the exnation, asking directly, ¡°What progress with the bodies?¡± Jiang Yuan replied, ¡°The fourth corpse had undergone orthopedic surgery, with a numbered nail inserted. We couldn¡¯t find any records in Shiting County or Qinghe City, so we¡¯ve sent people to check in Changyang City.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t this a turning point?¡± Bai Jian stood up excitedly, blurting out, ¡°It¡¯spletely normal to go to Changyang City for surgery. Nowadays, people prefer to have surgeries in the capital. This ¡®Number Four¡¯ body is a great lead. Ah, why didn¡¯t anyone mention¡­¡± In his mind, Jiang Yuan thought, we are now in charge of the case¡­ Of course, he temperately added, ¡°We¡¯ve just discovered it not long ago, and even if we confirm the identity of the victim, we¡¯re still a distance away from solving the case.¡± ¡°Not far, not far,¡± Bai Jian repeated twice to himself, as if to bolster his own confidence. Chapter 522 - 522 480 Identity Address ?522: Chapter 480 Identity Address 522: Chapter 480 Identity Address Breakfast. After apanying the red-boiled eggs with two pancakes, Jiang Yuan cleaned his hands, changed his clothes in the changing room, and entered the autopsy room where incense had been lit. He bowed to Lord Guan and then began his day¡¯s work. Life on business trips with Master Wu Jun was just like that¡ªmundane, dull, yet wonderful. Speaking of which, the sense of ceremony demanded by Master Wu Jun could be somewhat troublesome, but on the other hand, the autopsy room with the master present felt warmer. The red-boiled eggs were cooked just right, each one with a soft center. The handmade pancakes were both thin and glossy; when used to wrap Baukjian, a hint of red could be seen through them, not to mention the tasty pickles made by the master himself. With his belly full and his thirst quenched, Jiang Yuan felt warm andfortable in his stomach even when touching the bones. The main task for the day was bone feeling. The work of forensic anthropology, it¡¯s said, is more about thought than action. There are only so many human bones, and normally they should look simr. So, at the end of the day, the work of forensic anthropology is to exin why they¡¯re different. Such exnations sometimes have standard answers, but most of the time they do not. The understanding humans have of themselves is far less than they think they know. Therefore, schrs of forensic anthropology, standing in front of the autopsy table, often ponder: how did this happen! Even with his Level 3 forensic anthropology skills, Jiang Yuan still hadn¡¯t made much progress. Some people¡¯s bones are just normally grown, with nothing special about them, making it difficult to confirm their identities using forensic anthropology skills. It was because the fourth body had once broken an arm, had a Kirschner pin inserted, and had medical records left behind, while the first three bodies could only yield some general conclusions. It can only be said that while alive, it¡¯s best for one¡¯s body to blend in with the world, but after death, if you want to stand out to a forensic doctor, it¡¯s best to be somewhat unique. Of course, Jiang Yuan could perform cranial reconstruction to find the identities of these three bodies, which he had already begun, but this work was time-consuming and would see no results for at least half a month. When Wu Jun and Wang Zhong entered the room, they saw Jiang Yuan embracing a skull andboriously operating theputer. ¡°You, in that pose, would hardly be seen as the good guy in a movie,¡± Wu Jun said with augh as he bowed to Lord Guan and added three sticks of incense. ¡°Master is back? Did you go to help with trace evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan greeted him. ¡°Li Xiang was digging up soil, so I just went to take a look. The local vigers were very enthusiastic, absolutely insisting I stay for lunch. I didn¡¯t agree though; I said we could talk about it when we relocate the graves¡­¡± Wu Jun was quite happy. With his mere Level 1 proficiency in forensic skills, he wasn¡¯t clueless in forensic anthropology, but practical application was a waste of time. Meanwhile, Li Xiang and the vigers seemed to like Wu Jun quite a bit. He hadn¡¯t felt the sensation of being needed for some time. Jiang Yuandao asked, ¡°So, nothing was discovered on Li Xiang¡¯s side?¡± ¡°Mm, he¡¯s nning to expand the search area a bit, but I don¡¯t really understand the specifics.¡± ¡°Alright, if all else fails, we¡¯ll just have to wait for me to do the skulls.¡± Jiang Yuan was more inclined to work on skulls rather than using forensic anthropology to determine the source of the bodies, mainly because skull work was more cost-effective. No matter how sharp Huang Qiangmin¡¯s teeth were, the expenses of a forensic anthropology investigationbined with a search were substantial within just a few days, and moreover, they were not as reliable as Jiang Yuan¡¯s skull restoration skill. Wu Jun also supported Jiang Yuan in doing skulls, even though he himself was a forensic doctor, he felt forensic anthropology was too esoteric. It always seemed not quite scientific enough. As they were talking, Wang Lan also arrived at the autopsy room. As a forensic doctor from Qinghe Citying to support, she still had some basic knowledge of forensic anthropology; however, herpetitiveness was rathercking. Several forensic doctors arrived one after another, all working methodically and routinely. Now with Jiang Yuan as the backbone, the others didn¡¯t need to ponder and feel bones on their own; they simply did their slice work, examinations, records, and then hoped that luck would fall their way. Bai Jian clutched his phone, also watching the time, and rushed into the autopsy room. Wu Jun looked at him somewhat speechlessly and reminded, ¡°Bai Da, are you nning to move your office into the autopsy room?¡± ¡°I was originally nning to go to the precinct, but I received a call on the way. The identity of the fourth body has been confirmed,¡± Bai Jian¡¯s voice was tight, indicating that his mood was not particrly good. Wu Jun was a bit puzzled and prompted, ¡°That¡¯s good news, isn¡¯t it? Is there a problem with the identity?¡± Jiang Yuan and the others also gathered around. Bai Jian shook his head slightly and said, ¡°Number four is named Wang Xingzhai, a resident of Changyang City. Based on his phone and other information, his long-term residence is also in Changyang City.¡± Wu Jun instantly understood Bai Jian; if not for his professionalism, he nearly would haveughed out loud. A Changyang City resident ends up dead and secretly buried in Shiting County; from the perspective of the captain of the criminal police, it wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration to say that Bai Jian was wronged to death. This was essentially a murder case from Changyang City transferred to Shiting County. If Bai Jian could be happy about this, that would be truly bizarre. ¡°These guys gave us quite the delivery distance, aren¡¯t they afraid of being caught by the police on the road?¡± Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t help butment. Bai Jian shook his head. From the perspective of criminal psychology, since the murderer chose to bury the body, it meant that he was still fearful, and what he feared was the subsequent punishment. In light of this, transporting the body over a hundred kilometers seemed rather unusual. As Wang Zhong said, there are police checkpoints on highways, and it doesn¡¯t take more than a routine inspection topletely doom the murderer. Why take such a big risk to bury a dead body? Even if they wanted to bury the body in ancient tombs, were there no ancient tombs in Changyang City? The thought made Bai Jian so angry he felt like he was going to explode. However, from another angle, though the method used by the criminals was peculiar, its effect was quite outstanding. The local police had no idea of this person¡¯s existence; without a body, there was no case file. The budget of a county-level police bureau was often stretched thin, so they typically focused on major cases and neglected minor ones. ¡°Here¡¯s Wang Xingzhai¡¯s information.¡± Bai Jian handed a file to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan removed his protective gear, took out the information, and began to flip through it, asking, ¡°What do you n to do next? Hand over the case to Changyang City, or will you continue to investigate?¡± ¡°Changyang City won¡¯t take it,¡± Bai Jian said. ¡°At least they should send more people to support you,¡± said Wu Jun sympathetically. Bai Jian nodded, ¡°They said they¡¯ll send a team over.¡± Changyang City¡¯s ability to solve cases was certainly much stronger than a county¡¯s, but even they had no confidence in epting a case with four dead bodies. If there was hope of solving it, that would be one thing, but if not, it really meant looking for trouble. ¡°The bodies match up,¡± Jiang Yuan put down the information he was holding, and while thinking aloud, continued, ¡°In that case, the remaining three bodies and the tomb robber could also possibly be residents of Changyang City?¡± Chapter 523 - 523 481 Target ?523: Chapter 481 Target 523: Chapter 481 Target We had a hot pot for lunch. The hot pot restaurant from Shiting County sent a Wuling Hongguang van with the pot base, seasonings, dishes and a chef to the funeral parlor, where the chef stir-fried on-site and personally served the dishes. The funeral parlor arranged for a separate small courtyard, closing the door to the room used year-round for storing bodies. Several forensic doctors sat in the courtyard, plugged in the electric pot, added water, and helped themselves to food and drink without reservation. At the table, there was arge te of pork belly, luncheon meat, sliced beef and mutton, as well as a variety of vegetables. Pork intestines, pig brain, duck blood, and tripe were all hidden inside a cart, not shown openly. Bai Jian observed everyone closely and said with concern, ¡°Everyone should be okay with the hot pot, right? If you can¡¯t eat the offal, just have some meat, and if you feel ufortable, there¡¯s fried rice and stuff. I mostly wanted to give everyone a bit of a break after these stressful days, so we can rx for a few hours and also discuss the direction of the investigation. Hot pot is more rxing.¡± Wu Jun looked at the others and chuckled, ¡°We surely can. I¡¯m just worried the chef might vomit into the pot.¡± Bai Jian turned his head and saw the chef, who was slicingmb, frowning tightly with an expression of difort as if he were motion sick. ¡°Master, are you okay?¡± Bai Jian asked. ¡°I¡¯ve never¡­ been here before¡­ didn¡¯t know you guys also eat,¡± the chef replied, looking ufortable and even more nervous. Wu Junughed, ¡°We move bodies in and out; it¡¯s no more effort than you handling beef and mutton. Dissecting a body isn¡¯t just about pulling things out, we also have to weigh them. Moreover, our slicing is for pathology, which is way more troublesome than your chopping vegetables¡­¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± the chef said in distress, ¡°Stop talking, please¡­¡± ¡°If you can¡¯t stand it, just go out and throw up,¡± Bai Jian said, looking even more ufortable. ¡°Don¡¯t end up cutting your handter.¡± The chef replied, ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t dare to go out.¡± The funeral parlor was busy as usual, and upon hearing about their hot pot meal, deliberately threw them into a rarely visited corner. This area was originally intended forrge-scale funerary events. When it wasn¡¯t booked, they would simply lock the external gate, making it the epitome of quiet in the midst of silence. The chef had been led here by someone, but the deeper he was brought in, the more scared he became. Then, when he came to fry the ingredients and prepare the hot pot, asionally overhearing snippets of conversation, it was impossible for him not to be afraid. He had elderly parents back home to care for, a rented room he hadn¡¯t properly slept in, dampundry from his girlfriend that hadn¡¯t yet dried, a phone full of videos and browsing history not yet deleted, and although he could let go of the social security, he had hardly used his medical insurance¡­ Seeing him so timid, Mu Zhiyang quickly bridged the gap with bravery, ¡°Enough, I¡¯ll take you out.¡± Bai Jian watched the chef¡¯s staggering figure with a fleeting smile on his lips. ¡°I really do want to discuss the case,¡± Bai Jian added several slices of pork belly to the pot and said, ¡°This is particrly delicious when just cooked. Try it, it¡¯s from our local Shitin pigs.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± everyone had been studying the body all morning and was hungry. While talking, they all began to eat. After taking a bite, Bai Jian continued, ¡°As of now, it seems very likely that the incident took ce in Changyang City. Our Shiting County usually doesn¡¯t have that many conflicts. Travel here is mediocre, it¡¯s not a resource-rich county, and traditionally, the local customs aren¡¯t considered fierce¡­¡± Local customs are an important element in criminal cases. The difference between fierce and peaceful customs could mean a tenfold difference in murder cases. The number of murder cases in Changyang City is on a whole other levelpared to the county town. For a small county town, even one murder case a year feels like too many, while in a provincial capital, starting with triple-digit murder cases per year is normal. A district bureau deals with several hundred cases of unnatural deaths in a year. The bustling and prospering life in big cities starkly contrasts with that of small county towns. Bai Jian didn¡¯t envy the prosperity and high sries of provincial capital cities; he simply didn¡¯t want to use his county bureau¡¯s meager funds to clean up Changyang City¡¯s mess. On the other hand, now that the investigation hade this far, and one of the victims¡¯ identities had been established, if the case could be easily solved, he was reluctant to hand over the fruits of theirbor to the mouths of the Changyang City Bureau. Bai Jian had already been struggling with this and said, ¡°After much thought, I still hope we can see this case through from start to finish,pleted by us in Shiting County, rather than being intercepted halfway by Changyang City. I hope you all can support me.¡± His gaze lingered on the faces of Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and Li Xiang. As the saying goes, a person¡¯s reputation precedes them, and when ites to solving cases, the support of these people is the most reliable. As for relying on himself¡­ some things, if not acquired upon leaving school, are never obtained in a lifetime. Liu Jinghui dumped half a te of hand-slicedmb into the pot andughed, ¡°I¡¯m fine with it. Whatever the special case team decides works for me; I¡¯m just an advisor.¡± ¡°I¡¯m easy,¡± Li Xiang managed the cemetery and didn¡¯t want to bother with anything else for the time being. ¡°I also support,¡± Jiang Yuan was in the business of selling his services, so naturally, he would listen to whoever paid him. Bai Jian was immediately delighted and nodded vigorously, ¡°In that case, shall we continue investigating along the personal rtionships of the fourth person?¡± ¡°Of course. If we don¡¯t have any breakthroughs, we might as well try to find the first crime scene. If we still can¡¯t make a breakthrough, then, we¡¯ll have to look at the conditions of corpses one, two, and three.¡± Jiang Yuan thought further ahead. Theplexity of this case was still remarkably high, and although the means of solving it might be very ordinary, the preparatory work would definitely have to be thorough. Bai Jian replied with a smile, ¡°I think there should be a breakthrough, since they¡¯ve gone as far as burying the corpses, there must be a significant rtionship between the parties involved.¡± He was primarily considering it from a subjective standpoint. An investigation into personal rtionships wasparatively more cost-effective, and if it could be done in one step, the case would be considered solved, and the Shiting County Bureau wouldn¡¯t have to go bankrupt. Of course, his line of thought was sound in itself. For a case involving corpse dumping or burial, identifying the source of the corpse was the biggest node in the investigation¡ªwhatever the action, there are consequences and rewards, and a criminal who takes the time and effort to bury a body must devote a significant amount of time and energy to the task. For instance, the one who dug the grave this time was quite clever, utilizing an existing grave to save a tremendous amount of digging time and mitigating risks such as wild animals digging it out or rain washing it away. On the other hand, finding a suitable grave took time, and the determination of a robbery tunnel and the digging required technical skill. It was now virtually certain that the killer was a tomb robber, a descendant of a tomb robber, or an archaeologist with a hidden identity¡ªif there were annotations in the rtionship chart that is. Ordinary people wouldn¡¯tmonly know many tomb robbers. Jiang Yuan and the others didn¡¯t oppose the idea. Once everyone confirmed they were on the same page, the mood lightened. Pig brains, beef tripe, and chicken feet were all tossed into the hot pot. Chicken feet were Li Xiang¡¯s choice; he spent half his time eating those when he had hot pot. It seemed beneficial to his career. The chef sent by the hot pot restaurant did his best to serve them, fearful they would not enjoy the meal and leave him behind, and equally afraid they would enjoy it too much and not leave even as it got dark¡­ The next day. Bai Jian led the team, moving mightily towards Changyang City. Bai Jian didn¡¯t bother himself with other police officers from different cities and counties who were raiding Shiting County; geographical boundaries didn¡¯t matter in police work, and he pursued the case across regions. Jiang Yuan took the second victim¡¯s skull and aptop and joined in. His main task was skull reconstruction. With the current technology, he could work on it anywhere he had the skull. Choosing the second victim was because their burial site was also quite rough, perhaps indicating they were an earlier victim, which might be more beneficial in solving the case. Of course, it would be best if the case could be solved through victim four¡­ Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Yu Wenshu lent an office to Bai Jian and his team and assigned a team of eight to help them, which was about as helpful as could be expected. This was also done out of respect for Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. Bai Jian used to handle cases in Changyang City often, but he had never received such treatment before. Still, he was well aware that while he was someone of standing in Shiting County, in Changyang City, only a technical expert like Jiang Yuan would be noticed. Were skilled leaders like criminal police detachment heads in short supply in Changyang City? ¡°Bai Chief, everyone is here,¡± reminded one of his subordinates. Bai Jian snapped back to reality, looked around at the table of people, adjusted his emotions, and said, ¡°First, I¡¯ll talk about our main target this time, victim number four, Wang Xingzhai.¡± ¡°Wang Xingzhai, male, 27 years old, unemployed. A native of Changyang City, both parents deceased, no contact with rtives or friends.¡± ¡°On the surface, Wang Xingzhai appears to be a marginal figure in society, jobless, virtually a vagrant. Yet, he owned a second-hand BMW and rented a luxury apartment in Changyang from Renheng for 15,000 yuan per month.¡± ¡°The main contacts in Wang Xingzhai¡¯s phone were nightclub promoters, friends from nightclubs, and women he met at nightclubs¡­ His daily life revolved primarily around nightclubs.¡± ¡°He had no job, and yet every month, his bank ount showed only expenditures and cash deposits.¡± Everyone in the conference room sat up straighter, listening intently. The Changyang City detectives looked at each other excitedly, ¡°Could he be involved in drug trafficking?¡± Their breathing sounded heavier with anticipation. Chapter 524 - 524 482 Licking the Room ?524: Chapter 482 Licking the Room 524: Chapter 482 Licking the Room The drug trafficking situation in some regions of China remains incredibly severe, so much so that the armed police at highway checkpoints carry ring long guns. On the other side, drug dealers in the cities generally keep a low profile, like rats living underground, only startling people on rare asions, and not appearing within the view of the general public. Even for criminal investigation teams, if they don¡¯t develop special informants, it¡¯smon to have no drug-rted cases to report when it¡¯s time toplete their tasks. Therefore, the detectives from Changyang City were slightly excited upon hearing information about drug traffickers. Bai Jian, however, couldn¡¯t care about that and immediately said, ¡°The focus of this case still lies in the murder. We currently have two main directions for investigation. First, we need to uncover as much as possible about Wang Xingzhai¡¯swork of social rtionships. Second, Wang Xingzhai should have at least two mobile phones, probably registered under different names, which we also need to find.¡± Everyone nodded in agreement. Nowadays, mobile phones, in a sense, have taken on the properties of their owners. Through mobile phones and verification codes, one can almost modify and control all of a person¡¯s information, as well as their channels ofmunication with the outside world. With the help of the Network Security Brigade, it was easy to secure the information of the mobile phone number registered under Wang Xingzhai¡¯s name, including text messages, as well as information within chat applications like WeChat, Momo and Tantan. The contents were basically sexting¡­ Regarding Wang Xingzhai¡¯s consumption patterns, he must have some source of ie. If Wang Xingzhai really was a drug trafficker, then him having a second or third phone wouldn¡¯t be surprising at all. If they could find his other mobile phones, the case would rtively be easier to solve. Seeing that everyone agreed, Bai Jian immediately began assigning tasks. Jiang Yuan volunteered to go to Wang Xingzhai¡¯s home for investigation. Crime scene investigation was originally his forte, and as for other tasks like investigating hotels, looking for prostituting females, or checking night clubs for ¡°hot chicks¡± and ¡°rich brothers¡± based on WeChat contacts, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t that interested, so he left those to others. Renheng Binhu. Thendlord of the apartment rented by Wang Xingzhai arrived earlier than the officers and stood in front of his property, not daring to enter. The officers had already alerted him with a phone call, and the middle-ss with assets, as always, were quite obedient. Mu Zhiyang asked a few routine questions, took a simple statement, and then came to report to the neatly dressed Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Thendlord doesn¡¯t seem to be a problem. He¡¯s an employee of a local state-owned enterprise. Four years ago, he sold the welfare house allocated by his previous employer and bought a new one from Renheng, rented it out after renovations for 180,000 yuan a year. That¡¯s higher than my sry!¡± ¡°The rental yield here is quite good,¡± Jiang Yuanmented with a professional eye. Mu Zhiyang, remembering Jiang Yuan¡¯s background, abruptly stopped theint that was almost blurted out, cleared his throat twice, and said, ¡°Wang Xingzhai probably only intended to live here a year. After visiting night clubs, he would go to hotels, and only a few familiar bed buddies were brought over. It¡¯s likely that he would have moved somewhere else after breaking up.¡± ¡°If his identity is confirmed, without the hassle from bed buddies, he would also change ces intermittently,¡± Tang Jia, who was originally from Changyang City¡¯s police force, also came to the scene. Jiang Yuan just nodded and then allowed the residentialmunity¡¯s security guards to act as witnesses. He himself, apanied by two Changyang City trace evidence investigators, began the crime scene investigation. The home of a bachelor, at first nce, appeared to be quite simple. A bachelor who remains single six times a week is also a bachelor. Wang Xingzhai also employed a domestic helper, but that was mainly for sweeping and mopping floors, tidying things up, nothing more. Toothbrushes andbs in the bathroom easily yielded DNA, and bedsheets, floors, and nightstands were also the focus of the search. Jiang Yuan also carefully wiped down all the hanging cabs. His work was slow, his markings precise, which to the other two trace investigators seemed a bit too meticulous and time-consuming. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t phased. He didn¡¯te from a traditional forensic background nor had he been guided by a forensic master. His approach was purely technical thinking, or rather, he relied on strong technique, a flurry of standard attacks, and because of his high output, even the trace investigators following him, with ten or twenty years of experience and special techniques, could only silently follow suit without speaking. They said nothing and had no desire to talk. A blitz might sound somewhat weak, but carpet bombing is a bit more impressive. When Jiang Yuan conducted his forensic investigation, it was akin to carpet bombing, sweeping from start to finish, with no technique, no emotion, just pure output after output. This was something ordinary forensic investigators found challenging to achieve; they couldn¡¯t keep up with the efficiency and actuallycked the meticulousness¡ªwhat Jiang Yuan did to one wardrobe, what he sampled, might take a level 2 forensic investigator covering an entire two-bedroom apartment. In addition, it would require the cooperation of aboratory. Jiang Yuan worked on serious and cold cases, where multiple times the normal demand for testing is quite standard. Naturally, an average forensic investigator wouldn¡¯t have such clout. It took Jiang Yuan just over four hours toplete a sweep through Wang Xingzhai¡¯s home. Before leaving, Jiang Yuan stopped and called thendlord over, asking, ¡°I remember you said that after the renovation, it was rented to Wang Xingzhai and there were no previous tenants, right?¡± ¡°None.¡± ¡°The dining table and chairs in there seem to show quite a bit of wear,¡± Jiang Yuan pointed out, referring to a table with six chairs. The dining area was connected to the living room, with the kitchen right next to it. The table was positioned lengthways, backed up to the kitchen. There were three chairs on one side, adjacent to the living room, which were very conveniently ced and could be used at any time. The side against the kitchen was a bit more cramped¡ªin case there were no guests, the two chairs furthest in would likely go unused. However, the two outermost chairs at the table clearly appeared to be frequently used, with significant dragging marks on the chair backs and legs, which were also one of the focuses of Jiang Yuan¡¯s earlier evidence collection. It was probably due to Wang Xingzhai¡¯s daily dining habits. But the innermost chair also showed excessive signs of use, which was a bit illogical unless Wang Xingzhai had a particr favorite posture that often required the aid of a chair¡ªeven so, to frequently use the innermost chair was a bit too peculiar¡­ Concerned only about his own involvement, thendlord nced over and quickly said, ¡°The dining table and chairs were bought by himself. The kitchen and dining room stuff, they were all brought by him.¡± ¡°Take them out and examine them again,¡± Jiang Yuan signaled the camera to move forward and keep filming. When the two innermost chairs were taken out, it was clear that the inner chair had been used more frequently. While the middle chair still had some frayed edges, the legs of the inner chair were already worn. During the earlier evidence sweep, Jiang Yuan and his team had noticed this, but after careful observation, they found no issues and conjectured that it might be due to changing the positions of the chairs, without looking too deeply into it. However, after scouring the four-bedroom, two-living-room house and finding nothing illegal, it was time to circle back and start suspecting the earlier minor discrepancies, like this set of table and chairs. Two trace investigators, along with Mu Zhiyang and three others, turned the chairs over and studied them for several minutes, but they did not find any hiddenpartments or mechanisms. ¡°Seems like nothing¡¯s wrong?¡± One of the trace investigators, after twisting and turning the chair, decided it was time to give up. In the meantime, Jiang Yuan was also observing the marks on the chairs, growing more and more convinced something wasn¡¯t right. Without attempting to locate any mechanisms himself, he simply said, ¡°Split it open.¡± Some devices are so cleverly disguised that even high-level trace investigators may not be able to find them. Not to mention the intricate and beautiful woodwork of ancient China, just take a child-proof pill bottle or a Listerine mouthwash bottle; many people would struggle for minutes unable to figure out the correct way to open them. For more sophisticated devices, like certain special models of Zippo lighters, it¡¯s normal for someone unfamiliar with them to fumble around for a long time without knowing how to light them. But a search is not simply a game of puzzles; it¡¯s a truly open-world game. If Jiang Yuan felt something was off with the chair, he could split it open to look inside. The best oue would be finding something; if not, then so be it¡ªit wouldn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s harder to say for modern units with a positive image, but back in the day, whether it was the Japanese military, the puppet soldiers, or spymasters conducting searches, they did much the same. One of the trace investigators fetched a chisel for trace evidence and with a few cracks, smashed open one of the chair¡¯s legs. It was empty. Without a word, he continued to smash the second leg. With a crack, the leg split open, revealing a metal structure inside and more significantly, several bags of white pills. ¡°Take pictures, collect evidence, make a call,¡± Jiang Yuan ordered, feeling a touch of relief. At least there was some payoff. From his perspective, this indicated that the murderer¡¯s main cover-up effort was indeed on hiding the body; once the body was found and the source confirmed, the erasure of upward-tracing clues wasn¡¯t as meticulous. At the same time, the system page updated again: Mission Progress: 352/X It had increased by two points since Jiang Yuanst checked. Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze towards the two trace investigators softened quite a bit. The two trace investigators were filled with high spirits and excitement. The investigator holding the chisel even showed off a bit of ir, taking it as a new discovery that pleased the leader and recognition of his own professionalism. Chapter 525 - 525 483 Wardrobe ?525: Chapter 483: Wardrobe 525: Chapter 483: Wardrobe Mu Zhiyang looked at the scraper in the trace examiner¡¯s hand, his heart shattered. Since ancient times, catching people and finding things for a third-ss merit had always been Mu Zhiyang¡¯s special skill. Today, this chair was also first brought out by Mu Zhiyang. Although he hadn¡¯t used violent means to open it, wasn¡¯t that just because he didn¡¯t have the right tool in hand? With just a scraper, one could earn a third-ss merit that others would have to take a bullet for. How was that any different from drug trafficking, or from criminals who use a scraper to smash people¡¯s heads in and rob them? ¡°About 20 pieces per bag, adding up to around 360 pieces,¡± the trace examiner with the scraper jubntly reported to Jiang Yuan, hopping around like a weak serial killer who had just hammered eight people. Jiang Yuan responded with a grunt, ¡°Check the other tables and chairs as well, and search the room again to see if anything was missed. The drug-sniffing dog is also on the way.¡± Professional drug-sniffing dogs were rare, and of course, Shiting County didn¡¯t have one. They had to borrow from other units. At the same time, Jiang Yuan had also called over Dazhuang from Ningtai County. With few cases in Ningtai and therefore little work for Dazhuang the police dog, this was not necessarily a good thing for a trained adult police dog¡ªpolice dogs don¡¯t have to buy houses, take out loans, or mate and raise pups. Their lives consisted only of training and work, and with a secure job, stable sry, and pension, the idea of ¡°lying t¡± didn¡¯t apply to them. Their goal was naturally to work hard and make the most of their dog lives. The trace examiner with the scraper held up his beloved little tool and dismantled all the tables and chairs with a ttering racket. At this point, there was no need to talk about traces or signs anymore. Why did a perfectly intact, seemingly wless chair have to stand next to one hiding drugs? Had you received special finishing and maintenance? No one dared to take 360 pills lightly. This was Changyang City, after all. In Shiting County, the whole station would¡¯ve been mobilized over this. Mu Zhiyang and another trace examiner joined in the wood-chopping work, hoping to discover more small pills. Soon after, the backup officers arrived, and everyone worked with zeal, searching every inch of the room. Thendlord watched with a pale face as he felt his cherished lifestyle being destroyed. Tang Jia went over and said, ¡°You shoulde to the Criminal Police Brigadeter, someone will arrangepensation for you.¡± ¡°Compensation¡­ alright then,¡± thendlord didn¡¯t even ask how much he would get, he just wanted to quickly put an end to this rental ordeal. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan took off his gloves and said to the trace examiner beside him, ¡°Send pictures of the tables and stuff to the group, check which factory they came from, where they were sold, and where they were modified.¡± Thesemercially produced products with a neat appearance seemed simple, but on closer inspection, they required a sizable manufacturing business to produce. How the hollow legs were made was also a useful clue. After a busy day, when they returned to the meeting room provided by the Criminal Police Brigade, everyone¡¯s expressions were notably invigorated. ¡°Got any findings?¡± Jiang Yuan sat down and looked at the group. ¡°Wang Xingzhai often provided people with drugs and usually for free. We can preliminarily confirm that his job is drug sales and promotion,¡± Bai Jian said with newfound confidence. Indeed, just investigating this far meant that Shiting County was not at a loss. At this point, regardless of which agency they handed it over to, the other party had to give them credit, and many agencies were willing to take over. Bai Jian didn¡¯t rush to continue, instead adding, ¡°Wang Xingzhai¡¯s main distribution channels are nightclubs. He seems to be working with some nightclub vendors. The overall quantity isn¡¯t huge, but there¡¯s a growing trend¡­¡± Everyone listened intently. This crime analysis meeting was more of a sharing session, where everyone brought their experiences and knowledge to collectively solve problems. Jiang Yuan also shared his process of obtaining clues, and finally added, ¡°The report on the pills came out too, the main ingredient is methaqualone, zolpidem.¡± ¡°Zolpidem? Shouldn¡¯t that be ck or yellow? I¡¯ve seen brown, but never white,¡± a knowledgeable detective immediately pointed out the peculiarity. Jiang Yuan nodded, ¡°The folks in chemistry said they¡¯d added starch to it, just like regr pills.¡± ¡°These drug dealers have some standards,¡± the detective frowned slightly but said no more. Zolpidem is amon drug at nightclubs because it doesn¡¯t dissolve in water, but does dissolve in alcohol, so it¡¯s frequently used to spike drinks. He had consumed quite a bit himself and gotten addicted quickly¡ªit was a well-established new type of drug. Liu Jinghui also knew something about new drugs and couldn¡¯t help but frown, ¡°Zolpidem is said to be rtively easy to produce, and our current control measures are through the control of its precursor chemicals. If a group of drug dealers starts to get into this, the harm could be significant.¡± ¡°Wang Xingzhai must have made a fortune. We can¡¯t yet confirm his rtions with his suppliers; we need to focus on this one point for now.¡± Bai Jian still prioritized the homicide case. While the drug case was certainly a major incident, so far only a few clues had been revealed, simr to finding a modern corpse in a copsed tomb that was supposed to be cleaned out. Starting from these few hundred tablets, to putting an end to a drug cartel could possibly take years. And solving a burial site murder case was, after all, his main job responsibility as the captain of the criminal police. Even in terms of priorities, it was appropriate to resolve the murder case first and then concentrate on the drug case. However, since the victim had so many pills hidden at home, his death was most likely drug-rted. ¡°It might be rted to money as well,¡± Liu Jinghui suggested. ¡°With so many pills, once they¡¯re sold, it should amount to arge sum of money. The fixed hiding ce for the pills suggests that sales and cash returns must have been frequent. The absence of money at the scene is inappropriate.¡± ¡°Taken by someone? Perhaps the murderer was one of his own kind.¡± An old detective from Shiting County hazarded a guess. ¡°A conflict among criminals? They found the money but not the pills.¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t deny, continuing, ¡°Those contacts in his phone, in his WeChat, many are probably rted to drugs; we could trace them back to the source.¡± ¡°Right, we¡¯ve already made quite a few arrests today, with more still being pursued,¡± Bai Jian nodded. Following the case, the group began to review the list of those involved in drugs. If it were an ordinary person, one could simply look within personal rtionships to find a Tomb Robber, and the case would be almost solved. But with drug dealers, it was a different story. Under the influence of drugs, the bottom line of drug users is often extremely fragile. Drug dealers canpletely control one or several Tomb Robbers using drugs, without the need to establish any real connection. A call at the right time could get them to do the job. Especially for drug dealers with certain channels, not only can they control people with money and drugs but can also do so by cutting off the supply. However, under this kind of rtionship, there might be fewer contacts on electronic devices such as phones, but it¡¯s easy for those close to them to know the situation, as neither party tends to be cautious about keeping it a secret. So Bai Jian proposed focusing the investigation on interrogation and questioning. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t object; relying on confessions is amon tactic at the grassroots level and is usually effective. After discussing for a while, they hadn¡¯t heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice and instinctively looked over. ¡°Jiang Yuan, what do you think?¡± Liu Jinghui had a lot of trust in Jiang Yuan. ¡°I was looking at the fingerprints on this side of the wardrobe,¡± Jiang Yuan took out two photos, ced them on the table, and said, ¡°During the crime scene investigation, arge number of simr fingerprints were found; I re-examined them just now. The most fingerprints collected, other than those of the deceased Wang Xingzhai, belonged to a woman with a criminal record¡­ Wang Dan.¡± ¡°Wang Xingzhai had rtionships with many women; it shouldn¡¯t be strange for this Wang Dan to leave fingerprints on the wardrobe,¡± Captain Bai wondered. ¡°The wardrobe was where Wang Dan left the most fingerprints; no other spots had such concentrated fingerprints,¡± Jiang Yuan exined. Bai Jian pondered deeply. This time Liu Jinghui shook his head without waiting for Jiang Yuan to speak, ¡°Just a quick fling, they wouldn¡¯t do it in the wardrobe. How inconvenient if they dirtied the clothes¡­ they didn¡¯t do it in there, right? It would be too much trouble if the clothes got dirty.¡± ¡°That¡¯s unlikely,¡± Jiang Yuan could only answer. Liu Jinghui understood and asked Jiang Yuan, ¡°Do you think she was searching for something?¡± ¡°Yes, maybe she was looking for money. Or for Wang Xingzhai¡¯s phone¡ªhe probably didn¡¯t anticipate his own death, so his phone should be somewhere at home, convenient and ready for use. The wardrobe has multipleyers; the drawers all have locks. He might have hidden the key inside the wardrobe,¡± Jiang Yuan said. Liu Jinghui slowly nodded, took a few more photos to look over and said, ¡°Very likely. Carrying so many keys would indeed be inconvenient, and the clothes are neatly folded, not like something a man would do¡­ we can ask his housekeeper about it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have someone bring Wang Dan over,¡± Bai Jian said, seeing that both of them considered her a suspect; he immediately made a decision. Chapter 526 - 526 484 Dusk Does Not Understand the Depth of Night ?526: Chapter 484: Dusk Does Not Understand the Depth of Night 526: Chapter 484: Dusk Does Not Understand the Depth of Night Night. Fog. The cool breeze blew vigorously, causing the hairs on the legs of girls in short skirts to stand on end. Mu Zhiyang watched the girls with upright hair, clutching their chests and crossing their legs as they ran past him, straight into the warm embrace of the nightclub, his heart filled with warmth. ¡°You guys arrest the suspect, I¡¯ll be the second team, don¡¯t worry,¡± Mu Zhiyang said to Gao Yuyan, who was eager to try. Gao Yuyan nced at him disdainfully, ¡°I, Dong Bing, and Tang Jia will go first. The second team will be the female officers from the criminal police detachment. You just watch the perimeter.¡± Under certain conditions, domestically, female officers are still expected to apprehend female suspects, which from this point of view, suggests that the treatment and passive freedom of female suspects are higher than that of patients. Of course, the ratio of police to criminals enjoyed by a suspect during arrest is also significantly higher than the ratio of doctors to patients avable during a medical consultation. The police waiting to arrest Wang Dan today numbered around 30. In theory, it shouldn¡¯t take that many people to arrest a female suspect. However, on one hand, the case was significant, and neither Bai Jian nor Yu Wenshu, lurking behind the scenes, dared to lose this lead. On the other hand, Wang Dan had been penalized for public order offenses multiple times, so she was no pushover. Moreover,tely, she always hadpanions around her, serving as her protectors. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment had spent several hours to finally confirm Wang Dan¡¯s exact location. To facilitate the arrest, they even found a ¡°vegetable king¡± from a nightclub to lure Wang Dan out. In nightclubs, attractive girls are referred to as ¡°vegetables,¡± a dish served up for wealthy patrons. Just as free-to-y gamers exist for the benefit of paying gamers, the presence of beautiful women is one of thepetitive edges a nightclub has. The act of assigning these attractive girls to patrons is called ¡°serving the vegetables,¡± and a nightclub sales person adept at this task is known as a ¡°vegetable king.¡± Wang Dan used to be often called out by the vegetable king to y. Receiving a WeChat message today, she found nothing unusual, epted the 200 yuan for cab fare, spent thirty minutes putting on makeup, called a ride, and arrived at the nightclub. When she appeared at the entrance of ¡°Shuiyang Pce,¡± she caught the attention of over twenty men and six women. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Gao Yuyan confirmed onest time before taking action. ¡°Confirmed. It¡¯s her.¡± Several criminal officers huddled together, scrutinizing carefully. Mu Zhiyang heaved a long sigh, ¡°A few years ago, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to recognize her from this photo. Being a detective really trains a person.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re sure, that¡¯s good enough, no need for all the inane chatter,¡± Gao Yuyan, carefree as usual, pushed past Mu Zhiyang and stood guard at the car door. The person arrived. The door opened. Gao Yuyan, like a javelin thrower, charged out, not particrly fast, yet still maintaining explosive power. Wang Dan, a regr of nightclubs, had no such experience, and with her weight not even reaching 90 pounds and her slender arms and legs, she could only watch as Gao Yuyan, like a panther, pounced out, her shout turning hoarse. Thud. Gao Yuyan pressed Wang Dan against the wall in an instant. She still showed some mercy; the usual method would be to tackle and press the suspect to the ground for safety. Tang Jia stepped forward, twisting Wang Dan¡¯s arm even more brutally than Gao Yuyan had. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± Gao Yuyan and the others asked after gaining control. In their experiences of fighting against kidnapping, they had arrested many women weighing over 150 pounds, and their actions were quite adept. ¡°Who are you?¡± Wang Dan had some anticipation, but still held onto hope. ¡°I¡¯m asking you, what¡¯s your name?¡± The tone of Gao Yuyan¡¯s voice grew sterner, almost as if she were trained in the imperial pce. ¡°Wang Dan.¡± Upon hearing this, Dong Bing immediately handcuffed Wang Dan and said, ¡°Police. Behave yourself!¡± The same words, when heard from the television and on-site, gave a truly different impression. Mu Zhiyang and others also exited the car, with officers in uniform forming the perimeter and those not in uniform assisting in the middle. Pointing at the onlookers around them, they established a police line. As for those recording with mobile phones, the perimeter officers simply adjusted their body cams, ensuring they captured the faces. Wang Dan was swiftly pulled into the vehicle, followed by the group¡¯s departure, leaving no police tape at the scene. The young peopleing to the nightclub, utterly bored, were now all excited: ¡°Are they cops? Real cops?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it cosy or like an immersive drama? They take you to the cell and¡­ wow, it feels exhrating.¡± ¡°Could it be someone just got busted? Our sisters ran into onest time, who kept saying she was 28 but turned out to be 38. Almost passed out with a burp, it was scary¡­¡± Wang Dan was in a professional prison van, where Meng Chengbiao had been waiting inside. As soon as the van started moving, he immediately began an impromptu interrogation, ¡°What¡¯s your name!¡± ¡°Wang Dan! How did you know to ask that?¡± ¡°You answer what I ask. Say it again, what¡¯s your name!¡± ¡°Wang Dan.¡± ¡°That¡¯s more like it,¡± Meng Chengbiao gave a deliberate smile. The interrogation expert, a pro at psychological maniption, easily stirred the emotions of the still-shaken girl. After a few questions, Wang Dan began to spill everything she was asked. Meng Chengbiao signaled for the driver to slow down and then added, ¡°I¡¯m going to ask a few more questions, and then we can take a break. Do you know Wang Xingzhai?¡± ¡°Um¡­ yes, I know him.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your rtionship with him?¡± ¡°Friends with benefits.¡± Wang Dan was now opening up. Meng Chengbiao nodded then asked, ¡°When was thest time you saw Wang Xingzhai?¡± Wang Dan whispered the date. ¡°Wang Xingzhai is dead, did you know that?¡± Meng Chengbiao suddenly raised his voice. Wang Dan shuddered with fright, ¡°Is he really dead?¡± Without answering, Meng Chengbiao continued, ¡°What happened thest time you saw him?¡± ¡°He¡­ he was taken away by someone,¡± Wang Dan answered unexpectedly. Every police officer inside the prisoner transport perked up their ears. Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°By whom?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Describe what happened at the time¡­¡± After hesitating for a moment, Wang Dan said, ¡°I had just gotten dressed and was ready to leave when someone knocked on the door. Wang Xingzhai went to answer it and suddenly told me to hide in the wardrobe. He then gave me tens of thousands of yuan, told me to keep quiet, and said¡­¡± ¡°What did he say?¡± ¡°He said to tell Lao Gui that Huang Li hade. Then he told me to keep my mouth shut; there were money and a phone in the wardrobe, all for me,¡± Wang Dan replied briskly, revealing something she had long kept to herself. Meng Chengbiao gave a look, and someone naturally went to report. Turning back, Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°What did you do?¡± After a brief hesitation, Wang Dan said, ¡°I threw away the phone and took the money back with me.¡± This answer was somewhat surprising. Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°Why did you throw away the phone?¡± ¡°I thought he was tricking me, pulling some kind of spy charade. That used to be quite popr. Anyway, he told me to spend the money, so I spent it.¡± ¡°Where did you throw the phone?¡± ¡°Sold it to a used phone buyer,¡± Wang Dan dered confidently. Thinking of the drug dealer lying in his grave, Meng Chengbiao shook his head inwardly before asking, ¡°How much money was it¡­?¡± ¡°Sixty or seventy thousand yuan, I guess. I didn¡¯t count it, and it¡¯s all gone now.¡± ¡°You spent sixty or seventy thousand? How long did it take to spend it all?¡± Wang Dan replied disdainfully, ¡°How long can sixty or seventy thousandst? Buy a bag, a couple of clothes, and there¡¯s hardly anything left. Surely your police sry isn¡¯t that low.¡± ¡­ In the conference room. Bai Jian¡¯s flushed face puffed on a cigarette, looking like a roasted duck, ¡°So, now we have two leads, the whereabouts of the phone and Lao Gui and Huang Li. Does anyone know these two?¡± The case had progressed beyond Captain Bai¡¯s control, especially in the unfamiliar city of Changyang, making him feel even more outmatched. But that¡¯s the nature of case progression. Seeing no objections from the others, Bai Jian continued to make arrangements, ¡°Xiao Liu, keep leading the search for the phone and stay in touch with technical investigation; if you can confirm a phone number, even better. Captain Li, I appreciate your effort in looking into this Lao Gui and Huang Li.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Can do.¡± The two teams responded in unison. Liu Jinghui, watching Bai Jian start to smoke, grinned and asked, ¡°Jiang Yuan, the traces in the room, footprints, fingerprints, can we find this Huang Li?¡± Wang Xingzhai wasn¡¯t taken away entirely peacefully; there might be deliberately left traces. But Jiang Yuan could only shake his head, saying, ¡°He had a cleaningdye at set times, and by the time we got there, the ce had nearly been cleaned ten times over. We couldn¡¯t find any footprints or other traces on the floor.¡± ¡°No worries, there¡¯s always a way over any mountain. Anyway, we¡¯re one step closer! Think about it, we now know the killer¡¯s name, although we don¡¯t yet know the real one, and we know how Wang Xingzhai was killed, even if it¡¯s not immediately useful. Plus, we have a witness, though she was a bit hungover and didn¡¯t see the process, but still, victory is right before our eyes!¡± Bai Jian¡¯s speech turned more assertive, bolstering his subordinates to regain their fortitude. Chapter 527 - 527 485 Still a Young Man upon Return ?527: Chapter 485: Still a Young Man upon Return 527: Chapter 485: Still a Young Man upon Return In the following days, Changyang City¡¯s Image Reconnaissance Brigade and the technical investigation team both got involved in the case investigation. The residential district where Wang Xingzhai lived was still in a bustling part of the city, and there were a veryrge number of cameras, including those inside building elevators. However, the killer kept his head down the whole time and wore a big mask, which greatly hindered the performance of image investigation. Some European countries had a ban on masks for a while, precisely to avoid the difficulty in image recognition. Jiang Yuan also helped look at the gait; he managed to remember the gait, but when trying to match the gait to the person, if it was in real-time it would have been manageable, but with so many days having psed, tracking became difficult. From Renheng¡¯s residential district to the main road, there was a stretch where camera footage had already been overridden. Jiang Yuan and the Image Reconnaissance Brigade¡¯s team guessed and blundered along, but after the killer took Wang Xingzhai into a car with fake tes, they hit another road with no cameras, and the guessing continued for the better part of a day to no avail. The two police officers sent from the Image Investigation were still searching for surveince, but the chances of continuing to pinpoint the culprit had be slim. At this point, the task force clearly entered a teau phase. There were still leads to pursue, but when they would bear fruit was unclear, and whether it was tracking a cell phone or using special circumstances to find people, it wasn¡¯t something that could be achieved simply by throwing more manpower and resources at it. In Shiting County, Li Xiang continued to lead his team in searching and digging graves, but his resources were already stretched thin, and any further increase would only add to management costs. Not everyone was Xu Taining, who could keep piling up manpower and resources to speed up progress. For a young expert like Li Xiang, leading around a hundred people and dispatching another hundred for a single task was already the limit. However, seasoned criminal investigators have encountered simr situations before. Dreams and passion are the meat slices in a dish of water-boiled meat¡ªbright red and tempting¡ªbut what supports them are the bed of ingredients beneath, those mundane, ordinary, tedious, cheap bean sprouts, cabbage, mustard greens, or cucumbers, anything really, as long as it serves as a foundation. Delicious slices of meat aremon, but vorful bed ingredients are not. Most of the time, forensic investigators are the onesying the foundation. Those working on fingerprints, DNA, footprints, tool marks¡­ When these techniques just started to be widespread, they caught some attention, but as they were poprized, their halos faded. Just like a cotton quilt, the softest, mostfortable time is the first contact; sleep on it too long, and there are only two distinctions¡ªordinary and ufortable. Jiang Yuan also disappeared from everyone¡¯s sight. Running gait analysis with the Image Reconnaissance Brigade took Jiang Yuan one or two days. This process allowed Jiang Yuan to see the cunning and professionalism of the killer. Wang Xingzhai was a seasoned criminal, though a bit frail from drug use and clubbing, but he didn¡¯tck resistance techniques or willpower. By all logic, he should not have been subjugated by the killer for a long time. Yet the killer managed just that, and regardless of whether he achieved it through verbal trickery, physical force, or details unknown to the police, there was no doubt about the killer¡¯s professionalism. In most situations, the term ¡°professional hitman¡± is untenable within the country. There¡¯s no such environment, not much money to make, and most importantly, most killers evade justice due to luck, investigative oversights, or some natural environmental advantages. In summary, murdering and escaping punishment is not an easily replicable feat. Not to mention collecting pay and needing a certain degree of publicity¡­ But today¡¯s killer made Jiang Yuan see a sliver of possibility. He had a long-term employer, steady ie, a stable way of disposing of bodies, victims who were likely social outcasts not protected by mature systems, without stable long-term intimate rtionships, disappearing without anyone caring¡­ As long as he mastered the criminal techniques, he couldmit murders consistently over time and make a living from it¡ªthat¡¯s what makes a professional hitman. Such an individual is, of course, extremely dangerous. If given the chance, Jiang Yuan felt it was of great necessity to bring him to justice. And that opportunity was right before Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes. He worked on the cranial reconstruction of the second victim at an extremely fast pace, with a stable mindset, working overtime. The cases involving a professional hitman are difficult to investigate because theyck normal crime motives; there¡¯s often no direct interaction between the killer and the victim, nor any direct financial interest. Additionally, the crime techniques of a professional hitman are very specialized, leaving little trace. Thirdly, a professional hitman often knows how to deal with the crime scene and the victim¡¯s body, furtherplicating the investigation. Now, the three sides of this iron triangle have actually been shaken. The killer in this case was serving a drug trafficking gang, and the motive had already surfaced. The crime technique, while professional, had been observed by the police, and based on the condition of several bodies, the basic procedure could be inferred. As for the handling of the bodies, what once seemed clever now appears foolish and inadequate. However, the crux of the matter lies in the fact that these three advantageous conditions only exist in this particr case. If we cannot smoothly advance through this case, then the once-loosened iron triangle will once again be stabilized. The killer will definitely seek new methods for disposing of bodies, and will revise and refine their criminal techniques. They might even change locations, switch upations, or even find a new employer¡­ Jiang Yuan had understood the key points, so he stopped overthinking. He focused solely on working in the police station office and even skipped going home. After all, his apartment in Changyang City was tiny, and going home would mean cleaning up, dealing with a cold stove and an empty pot, which was less appealing than staying at the station. The most important thing was to save time and energy. Though other clues and targets that other detectives were tracking might also have breakthroughs, within the scope of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reach, Cranial Reconstruction Skill held the most promise. Without overthinking, if they could confirm just one more source of a corpse, then the leads might double. Moreover, the mutual corroboration of two bodies could potentially propel the case forward. This was also one of the reasons why Jiang Yuan stayed at the station. In TV dramas, if someone could greatly advance a case or even discover the true identity of the killer, then their route home would be particrly dangerous. Given that the opposition was a cadre of a drug trafficking group and might even have a gun, Jiang Yuan felt it was wise to be more cautious. Jiang Yuan had been absent for several days. When Bai Jian lifted his head from the entangled web of clues, he saw that Jiang Yuan had moved hisputer back into the conference room. Bai Jian was also somewhat pleased to see Jiang Yuan and cheerfully said, ¡°I was just saying that Doctor Jiang has been missing for a few days. Well, our clues are pretty much sorted out now. With Captain Jiang joining in, let¡¯s strive to push the case forward in the next few days¡­¡± Bai Jian pped his hands and continued, ¡°Everyone, let¡¯s be a bit more spirited. As detectives, we need to have a ferocious look in our eyes. No matter how the case is progressing, we must have confidence in ourselves.¡± Bai Jian proimed loudly, ¡°Confidence is the best tool for solving cases. Believe in yourselves. Temporary setbacks will umte greater strength for us!¡± ¡°Chief Yu!¡± ¡°Chief Yu¡­¡± The greeting at the door drowned out Bai Jian¡¯s speech. Bai Jian also stood up out of respect. The head of the criminal police brigade from the provincial capital city deserved some respect. Yu Wenshu smiled even more warmly as he shook hands with Bai Jian, saying, ¡°Captain Bai has worked hard these past few days. Don¡¯t just focus on the case, but also take care of your health.¡± ¡°After we crack this case, I will definitely rest for a few days,¡± Bai Jian replied. ¡°It¡¯ll be good if you really do rest,¡± Yu Wenshu withdrew his hand and turned his gaze toward Jiang Yuan. ¡°Chief Yu,¡± greeted Jiang Yuan. Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan were quite familiar with each other. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were mostly borrowed from Yu Wenshu. At this moment, Yu Wenshu nodded and asked directly, ¡°How¡¯s it going?¡± He had rushed over immediately after hearing from Wang Chuanxing and the others that Jiang Yuan had returned. Bai Jian also looked at Jiang Yuan with a slightly bted realization. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°I did Cranial Reconstruction Skill on the second victim, and the final facial image I obtained looks like this¡­¡± He signaled for Wang Chuanxing to open the PPT and disyed a photo of a man around 40 years old. Slightly overweight, with a stubbled chin, messy short hair, uneven teeth, and a bulbous nose¡­ The man looked quite shabby, but he did not resemble a drug user. Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°After facial recognition, the second victim has been identified as Chang Jiagui from Qi Province, a professional truck driver. He owns a Foton medium truck. He is divorced, with a daughter awarded to the mother. Chang Jiagui was missing for a month before his ex-wife filed a report.¡± If young women who have fallen into misfortune are the most vulnerable female group, then truck drivers are the most likely male group to suffer illegal harm. However, inparison to the fourth victim, who was a nightclubber, there are many more leads to investigate regarding the second victim, Chang Jiagui. The expressions of the detectives in the conference room also came alive, filled with strength, struggle, and anticipation. Chapter 528 - 528 486 The Sun Rises from the Southeast Corner ?528: Chapter 486: The Sun Rises from the Southeast Corner 528: Chapter 486: The Sun Rises from the Southeast Corner Noon. The detectives sent out for investigation gradually returned and pooled their respective clues. Yu Wenshu came back to the conference room, bringing a fruit te full of oranges. He had learned this from the Deputy Director: if one bought fruits like grapes or strawberries that were easy to grab and eat, it goes without saying that once ced on the table, they could be gobbled up cleanly within five minutes. Whether they tasted good or not didn¡¯t matter; if everyone tried one, the whole te would be emptied. There are those who like sour, those who prefer nd, those who lick salt, those who fancy the taste of socks, those who like raw, those who prefer mushy, those who want firm, those who favorrge, those who like small, those who prefer t¡­ In short, catering to many tastes means the easy-to-eat ones will be quickly gone. Like oranges, peeling them dirties one¡¯s hands, and they tend to squirt juice when eaten, so most people would just look and leave them be. Bai, not quite at ease, shifted awkwardly. He was supposed to be the highest-ranking individual in the conference room. Although Liu Jinghui holds the rank of a fourth-level senior superintendent from the provincial office, he has no specific duty, and in the police system, is still notparable to Bai, the legitimate head of a county criminal police team. But Yu Wenshu was different; d in a white shirt, his mere presence in the conference room drew everyone¡¯s full attention. ¡°Let¡¯s start,¡± Bai took the lead to chair the meeting. As he spoke, he lit a cigarette for himself. That was the signal, as seasoned smokers around the room promptly lit up their own. Jiang Yuan could only defensively light a cigarette of his own to fend off the secondhand smoke. Yu Wenshu furrowed his brow but said nothing; his criminal police detachment in the provincial capital had long since abandoned such customs. A captain from the Shiting County stood up and reported, ¡°Thest known location of Chang Jiagui¡¯s cell phone signal was in Heping Town next to Changyang City, at an industrial park for logistics. The industrial park has failed, and thergest business there now operates a parking lot.¡± ¡°Tech detectives took us there, but we couldn¡¯t find Chang Jiagui¡¯s truck. The industrial park on Heping Town is right in front of the national road leading into the city, and a newly built road goes through it, leaving a vast open space. When we went there, all manner of transport vehicles were parked, with a majority being long-distance trucks from other ces, as well as smaller trucks for hauling goods. The parking order was dismal, and the managementx. It¡¯s not unusual for the security guards there to secretly take money to let vehicles in and out.¡± ¡°The parking lot surveince only stores footage for half a year and the original entry and exit records couldn¡¯t be found anymore. Afterwards, our discussion led us to believe that the detectives from Qi Province might have uncovered some information about this ce, so we got in touch with them.¡± The captain nced toward Wang Chuanxing. Naturally, Wang Chuanxing stood up and said, ¡°A month after the victim Chang Jiagui went missing, his ex-wife reported the disappearance to the police in Qi Province. Given that Chang Jiagui was an adult and would not disappear for no reason, local authorities dispatched staff to search extensively. After confirming Chang Jiagui¡¯s disappearance urred in our province, four officers were sent to Shannan Province.¡± After briefly consulting his notes, Wang Chuanxing continued, ¡°We contacted the detectives from Qi Province who originally handled the case. They had driven here following the vehicle¡¯s trail, with thest confirmed sighting being when the vehicle left the province and took the highway in Xin County, Pingjiang Province, before joining the national road and never appearing again.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t the vehicle checkpoint capture footage of the person?¡± Liu Jinghui asked first. Wang Chuanxing shook his head, ¡°The driver took precautionary measures; they were fully kitted¡ªmask, hat, sunsses, you name it. And at that time, it was summer, exactly when Pingjiang gets sted with sun¡­¡± He then projected a photo showing a person fully dressed in a suit passing through the checkpoint. Though heavily disguised, during that season, unless halted by traffic control, no one would pay much attention to a driver¡¯s attire. Jiang Yuan took a nce and said, ¡°It¡¯s not the same person who took Wang Xingzhai away.¡± Whoever took away Wang Xingzhai had a high chance of being the killer themselves. Jiang Yuan remembered the gait very clearly. He might not describe the physique urately, but now with a photo topare, he could assert they were not the same person. Bai Jian grunted affirmatively, ¡°That indicates there¡¯s still a gang involved.¡± Shiting County was in the midst of mping down on ck societies, having dismantled several vibrant criminal groups. However, this side¡¯s killers seemed unaffected, which irritated Bai Jian to no end. Yu Wenshu then asked, ¡°Didn¡¯t the detectives from Qi Province pursue the investigation?¡± Wang Chuanxing gently shook his head and said, ¡°They didn¡¯t find the body, only this vehicle clue. The case was filed as a missing person case. The locals coborated in the search for many days, but they didn¡¯t find the vehicle, and eventually, they had to withdraw.¡± ¡°The vehicle must have been pushed deep into the mountains,¡± Liu Jinghui said, familiar with the terrain of the surrounding provinces and cities, not even needing a map. ¡°There¡¯s a long stretch of road leading out of Xin County that¡¯s built alongside the mountains; the terrain is treacherous, with cliffs and rivers. Many areas between the mountains are inessible. If done well, the truck could dive headfirst into one of them, making it nearly impossible for even gods to find.¡± Yu Wenshumented, ¡°So, you¡¯re saying they also recognized the difficulty and backed off?¡± ¡°In such cases, either you have people go through the area step by step, scouring every ditch and hollow, or you could use drones or something¡­¡± As Liu Jinghui continued, his expression became serious. The word ¡°search¡± ismon in the news, but it can also be understood in this way: cases that make it into the news featuring searches warrant specific mention. Besides, not all searches are created equal. The kind of search Liu Jinghui now spoke of was far less challenging than the previous searches conducted along the roadsides in Luyang City, as what they were looking for was a medium-sized truck. Even after several years, it remained a significant target. Yet the difficulty was not to be underestimated. Searches by roadways rely on the roads, making provision for food, water, and other needs readily manageable. Though those involved in the search found it arduous, it was considered a breezepared to mountainous searches. Bai Jian lit another cigarette. Up to this point in the case, the foundation of him leading it was that Shiting County was footing the bill. And the idea of conducting such a costly search in another province was something Bai Jian couldn¡¯t bear to think about. ¡°Bai, consider it, and if it doesn¡¯t work out, we at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment can take over,¡± Yu Wenshu offered Bai Jian a choice after waiting two minutes. It wasn¡¯t a matter of bullying the weak, but purely offering an additional option. If the case was too burdensome, it was fine to pass it on. If they could find the truck, the case would be on a clear path. From this standpoint, at most, Yu Wenshu was ready to carry the pot, still intending to cook the meal himself. ¡°No need. We¡¯ll handle it ourselves,¡± Bai Jian took a deep breath. Although most of his manpower was still tied up in Shiting County, and he wasn¡¯t familiar with Pingjiang Province, and the bureau might not know how much funding could be reallocated, Bai Jian had nevercked confidence. Yu Wenshu was indifferent, chuckled, and said, ¡°That¡¯s good. Actually, if we¡¯re lucky, drones can discover a lot and save much effort.¡± If the fortune was poor and the site remained inscrutable for a short time, truly sending people to traverse the mountainous ditches would be a thankless task, one that Yu Wenshu himself would be reluctant to undertake. Smoking his cigarette, his brows furrowed, Bai Jian turned to Liu Jinghui and asked, ¡°Director Liu, how about you direct the search?¡± Now he was beginning to see Liu Jinghui as a pir of support. Liu Jinghui¡¯s status in the provincial office made it easier for him tomunicate with colleagues from other provinces, thanks to their mutual exchange mechanisms. On the other hand, Liu Jinghui also possessed significant organizational ability. He might notpare to Xu Taining, but organizing a small-scale, intense field search for his subordinates was not an issue at all. Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and responded readily, ¡°No problem. I¡¯ll speak to the department and then reach out to Pingjiang Province to see how we can coordinate.¡± For cases at this level, the provincial office is supposed to offer subsidies and support. Even impoverished counties can face severe incidents, and they can¡¯t be ignored simply due tock of funds. Bai expressed his sincere gratitude, thankful indeed. As the head of a county criminal police detachment, such assistance had rarelye his way before. After the meeting was over, Jiang Yuan called over Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and several other male criminal police officers to go back to his ce in Changyang to rest. Though the house was small with only fourrge bedrooms, having a few more people stay there made it safer. He was dealing with a professional killer, one bred by a drug trafficking gang, and the thought alone was enough to make one see how fiercely violent it was. Chapter 529 - 529 487 ?529: 487 529: 487 Early in the morning. Jiang Yuan got up, first made a phone call, then brushed his teeth, washed his face, and took a shower. Once he was clean and fresh, the familiar restaurant chef knocked at his door. The chef was one of the regrly employed cooks from Jiang Fuzhen. Sometimes when Jiang Vige held intricate banquets, or when the people of Jiang Fuzhen were toozy to cook, they¡¯d call a chef from a restaurant toe help out. At times, the restaurant chefs would even handle everything, while the hosts of Jiang Fuzhen merely pretended to be executive chefs. Having moved to Changyang, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t eat the food from Jiang Fuzhen regrly, so he sometimes had it made by the restaurant chefs instead. The master chef was quite alert, prepared early, and waited outside theplex. When he received the phone call, he came up with two apprentices. The two apprentices quickly cleaned up the kitchen¡ªit had been days since anyone had lived in the room, and there was always some umted dust. Meanwhile, the chef started preparing breakfast. He made a Chinese-style fried egg pancake for the main course, stir-fried potato shreds and eggnt as side dishes, and spicy stir-fried meat as the meat dish. All could be wrapped in the egg pancake for eating, but they could also be enjoyed separately. For those who liked it spicy, hot sauce was an option, and to further enrich the choices, he also brought crab sauce and beef sauce. Moreover, North American maple syrup and condiments like ketchup and mustard were avable to be thered on wildly. In short, the pancake was a nd base that could take on any vor depending on what was spread on it, making it perfect for Jiang Yuan¡¯s colleagues whose backgrounds and tastes were unknown. As the side dishes were readied, the apprentices also brought out the soup that had been simmered in the restaurant the day before and ced it in beautiful porcin bowls. In addition, very traditional fried dough sticks, soy milk, and tofu pudding had all been fetched from the restaurant. Several baskets of buns, corn on the cob, and steamed breadpleted thevish breakfast spread. The chef himself was mixing a specially seasoned pepper soup, with a slightly adjusted vor profile. The spicy aroma bubbled enticingly from the pot. Mu Zhiyang and the others emerged, rubbing their eyes. They then saw Jiang Yuan sitting at a long table, looking like andlord from an old y, being served by the two young chefs. Mu Zhiyang, still rubbing his eyes, couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°It feels like a scene from a dreaming to life.¡± ¡°You dream about Captain Jiang eating? You¡¯re the weirdo,¡± Wang Chuanxing came out from behind, wielding his own wet towel to wipe his face. Police officers who travel a lot develop their own habits, though they may be a bit rough around the edges. Humming, Mu Zhiyang retorted, ¡°Then tell me, what should life be like for the people of Jiang Vige? Doesn¡¯t this look the part?¡± ¡°This just proves that Captain Jiang is truly fighting for justice and ideals,¡± Wang Chuanxing earnestly brown-nosed, a bit awkward but well-meaning. Shen Yaowei and Meng Chengbiao also came out of their rooms, feeling a tingling in their scalps. Shen Yaowei, being cheerful by nature, said with augh, ¡°Captain Jiang is a good man. Maupassant said it well: the only way for the evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Captain Jiang is a practitioner of this belief through his actions.¡± ¡°What¡¯s that now?¡± Wang Chuanxing turned around. Shen Yaowei replied seriously, ¡°I thought you only get breakfast if you praise Captain Jiang?¡± Jiang Yuan, hearing this,ughed and waved them over. ¡°I didn¡¯t know what you all liked to eat, so I let Chef Liu take the reins.¡± ¡°I know a bit about different regional cuisines, so I prepared a splendid meal that represents a bit of each region¡¯s vor,¡± Chef Liu, dressed neatly, wasn¡¯t put off by the disheveled appearances of the young men, and introduced everything professionally. For Mu Zhiyang and others, this was a very special breakfast experience. The young men couldn¡¯t help but take out their phones to take pictures, then made an effort to try every dish. Jiang Yuan ate a little of each, then patted his stomach and stopped, asking, ¡°What do you want for lunch? Chef Liu will also be preparing that.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ then I¡¯ve eaten too much!¡± Mu Zhiyang was the first to exim. Seeing that Chef Liu and his apprentices had already left, he added in a lower voice, ¡°Actually, as long as the chef gets the vors right, I don¡¯t mind. Can the servers be bunny girls?¡± ¡°Then I want cat ears,¡± Wang Chuanxing nced sideways at Mu Zhiyang. ¡°I¡¯ll take Bear,¡± Shen Yaowei looked askance. After the three finished speaking, they all looked at Meng Chengbiao. Meng Chengbiao, being over forty and not really part of the younger crowd, coughed twice and seriously said, ¡°A male would do.¡± The youngsters all admired him in unison. Changing the subject, Meng Chengbiao asked, ¡°Are we not going to report in today?¡± ¡°Yes, let them be busy today. Director Liu ns to bring over a couple of drones, so we¡¯ll let the drones search first to see if we can find the car. I heard we can alsopare satellite images, and if that fails, we¡¯ll use people,¡± Jiang Yuan replied. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was considered auxiliary forces. They couldn¡¯t help but rest during busy times, and at times like these, they were definitely told to take it easy. Of course, if they needed to be fast, it would be best to conduct drone searches simultaneously with a manual search. However, this particr case didn¡¯t demand urgency, and the Panshan Highway in Xin County was truly treacherous. In these dense, undeveloped mountains, even professionals might only cover a few kilometers a day, and it was normal for non-professionals to just wander in circles before ending up back in the hospital. Pure human search efforts were almost impossible to achieve, and if truly necessary, one would still need to engage professional guides and search teams, and it wasn¡¯t excessive to seek help from the forest police and other departments. Meng Chengbiao hade up through the ranks during an era of manual searches and understood the difficulty of finding objects in such expansive mountains. Recalling the few images they had casually searched for yesterday, with their endless stretches of verdant green, Meng Chengbiao felt his legs go weak. He couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°I hope the drones will yield results because even one trip down there would be extremely challenging. The reason criminal investigators from Qi Province didn¡¯t continue the pursuit is not without cause.¡± ¡°I just hope the truck didn¡¯t explode or catch fire when it fell,¡± Jiang Yuan thought more to the point. As difficult as the search was, it wasn¡¯t his job to do it in person, but if this lead was cut off because of that, then all the hardship everyone had recently endured might have been in vain. The primary scene of the second victim was no longer findable: clues from the body itself had been cleared before it was moved. Therefore, besides searching for clues at the burial site, the most promising breakthroughy with that medium truck belonging to the second victim. Driving a medium truck from Shannan Province to Pingjiang Province, and then dumping it off the mountain road, was an act ofplicity in itself. And over such a long distance, would the person leave traces in the vehicle? He was ackey for a professional hitman, not the hitman himself, so even if he had a certain ability to clear traces, it likely wasn¡¯t especially strong. At the very least, Jiang Yuan, with his crime scene investigation LV4, stood a chance at unravelling it. The only concern was an explosion following the truck¡¯s fall. The others also understood; their pace of eating slowed somewhat. ¡°The driver probably wouldn¡¯t ignite the vehicle on purpose,¡± Wang Chuanxing thought for a moment and said, ¡°Driving the truck off a cliff is already risky, adding fire to it increases the risk. And besides,pared to the evidence in the truck, hiding it was more imperative at the time.¡± ¡°Indeed. If it had been set on fire, the ze would¡¯ve been more likely to draw attention if it caught on in the valley. Better to let the truck fall and over the years, vegetation would erode much of the evidence¡­¡± Shen Yaowei began, and as he spoke, he realized it was not quite right and hastily added, ¡°It should not have eroded everything yet¡­¡± ¡°There¡¯s no such thing as a perfect crime, they simply used what seemed like a reasonable method at the time,¡± Jiang Yuan was quite sanguine about it all, having dealt with so many cases, he held no expectation of criminals. In the end, it was the rich array of tactics at the police¡¯s disposal and the inevitability of criminals slipping up that was the norm; otherwise, people capable of scoring 100 wouldn¡¯t need to resort to crime! ¡­ In the following days, themand center represented by Liu Jinghui began moving towards Pingjiang City. The two drones they¡¯d brought were flown from dawn to dusk without a moment¡¯s rest. Two officers, led by local guides, began to venture deeper into the dense forest. More equipment and supplies were also being assembled. Organizing search operations wasn¡¯t just a matter of talking; if indeed manpower was needed, at the very least, issues of food and restroom facilities needed to be resolved. Even if officers were to bring their own rations, a sufficient and clean supply of drinking water had to be provided. Furthermore, toilets and toilet paper were not trivial matters. Smaller-scale searches with hundreds of people could be managed by local means, but withrger numbers of participants, more specialized solutions were necessary, such as digging a temporary toilet or bringing a portable toilet vehicle. Liu Jinghui, experienced with searches involving less than a thousand people, prepared for a 500-person scale operation. Anything more, and he wasn¡¯t willing to take charge. Such work already carried a heavy load of resentment, and if it were poorly managed, the organizers would truly be med to death. Even if Liu Jinghui had no ambition for promotions or pay raises, he was unwilling to y the viin. His direct and simple thoughts were expressed and demonstrated to Bai Jian. Bai Jian had nothing to say, he could only walk around with his hands behind his back, pacing all day long, pondering things like a duck that had sold all its down feathers, a path seemingly unreachable yet attainable in front of him. Over the weekend, Captain Jiang led his team to Xin County. By then, the drone operators had grown weary. Day in, day out, all they saw were countless shades of green foliage, and the fact that they weren¡¯t depressed already spoke to their good nature. The police officers summoned did not have an easy time either. They began descending the mountain in shifts to verify whether the discovered vehicr remains were indeed the target vehicle. Yes, below the Panshan Highway of Xin County, there wasn¡¯t just one vehicle¡¯s remains. Jiang Yuan was exempt from these tasks, and so was Dazhuang. Li Li brought it over, and though it temporarily had no work, she did not dare to rx, maintaining a low-intensity training every day. Jiang Yuan turned to making dog food, a fine skill that would be wasted if not used¡­ Dazhuang¡¯s mouth watered as it ate when suddenly someone ran quickly over from Dazhuang¡¯s temporary training field. It was Bai Jian, his face flushed, clutching his cell phone, appearing as if he had just finished a call, bubbling with the desire to share. ¡°Captain Jiang? Did they find the truck?¡± Jiang Yuan asked proactively. ¡°We found it, we found it!¡± Bai Jian had underestimated the difficulties of working out of province, but fortunately, the search was proceeding exceptionally smoothly. Jiang Yuan stood solemnly straight, knowing this was the real test for forensic professionals. The hard-found remains of the medium truck were merely the prelude to the actual crime scene investigation. Chapter 530 - 530 488 Evidence ?530: Chapter 488 Evidence 530: Chapter 488 Evidence Huff. Grunt¡­ Again! After a rough journey, Jiang Yuan and his team had arrived at the target location, covered in mud. The nearly twenty-person team had split into two parts, one consisting of a few physically strong and experienced individuals who had reached the scene first, and the others,den with equipment orcking in stamina, were still behind. Jiang Yuan, who didn¡¯t have to carry equipment and only held a walking stick and his own water, walked in the first group. His physical condition was fairly good, but what concerned him more was the possibility of the site being disturbed. Even when he could barely walk, he had to keep encouraging himself. Inparison, Mu Zhiyang was much stronger. His leg, which had been shot, had undergone specialized rehabilitation. Over the past year, he had also engaged in focused training. Carrying Jiang Yuan¡¯s survey box on his back, he walked even more steadily than Jiang Yuan, asionally moving ahead to help cut branches and leaves. Leading the way were members of a certain armed police force from Pingjiang and local guides. There were six armed police officers, carrying two long guns not only as a precaution against wild animals in the mountains but also in case of encounters with people. The ident site was located below the Panshan Highway. Looking up from below, it was a stone mountain, neither grand nor steep, with some gentler slopes in between where poorly nourished trees grew, reaching a total height of about a hundred meters or so. It may not sound too dangerous, but to put it in perspective, the mostmon 33 or 34-story high-rise buildings in the city have a total height of just 100 meters. The Panshan Highway in Xin County was built at heights ranging from several tens to about a hundred meters, winding and weaving up and down the slopes. Without a helicopter, getting up and down at this height was quite difficult. But there were still paths along the mountainside. ¡°Seldom walked, difficult trails¡±¡ªwhile these meant that few people passed by, there were still just enough to barely qualify as paths. Just like during the Wu Long Mountain Wild Man case, this area wasn¡¯t a primeval forest, but a secondary forest that was dense and lush. The asional hunters and herb gatherers who passed by took from the mountains and maintained the presence of the trails. The truck that fell from the sky was also put to use¡ªits metal sheet had been erected as a windbreak, with a bonfire lit underneath, ckening the metal sheet with soot. If bodies had fallen with the truck that day, passing hunters or herb gatherers, or some bored tourists or trekkers would surely have chosen to call the police. But if there were only the vehicle and no bodies, even if someone called the police, the local station would just make a cursory record. Expecting a few police officers to trek for hours just to take a nce and figure out things like the vehicle¡¯s license te number was unrealistic. ¡°Just put on the clothes directly, they can¡¯t be washed clean anyway,¡± suggested an expert from the Pingjiang Provincial Department, about the same age as Liu Jinghui, who naturally assumed a leading position. Jiang Yuan let him have his way. An expert forensic investigator from the provincial department at this level was mostly Level 3 or above. Major categories like trace evidence were unlikely to be weak, so he didn¡¯t have to worry about mishaps. Whether one could identify evidence depended on both skill and luck. Jiang Yuan working alongside was no different; they wouldn¡¯t hinder each other. After agreeing, Jiang Yuan washed his hands and face briefly and then put on the protective suit at the scene. The clothes inside were damp and muddy, and putting on an airtight protective suit over them was extremely ufortable. But if trace evidence collectors could endure it, what was there for a forensic doctor to fear? As long as there was no cadaveric fluid, he would be grateful. Zhao Jing, the trace evidence expert from the Pingjiang Provincial Department, was also efficient, getting dressed swiftly and then briefly assigning the respective areas for inspection before starting work. Jiang Yuan was assigned an area of over twenty square meters, including part of the driver¡¯s cabin, which was the second most important area. The most important area included even more of the driver¡¯s cabin. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make a sound. This was to give Zhao Jing face. However, he was going to reexamine the driver¡¯s cabin himselfter. If Zhao Jing felt disrespected by that, it wouldn¡¯t bother Jiang Yuan in the least. Once the few individuals responsible for evaluating the scene were prepared, they began their practical operations. Meanwhile, two police officers picked up video cameras and had already taken two rounds of footage, wiping off and photographing the upright vehicle¡¯s license te repeatedly. It was fortunate that two numbers on the license te were partially visible; otherwise, this round of investigation really would have drained Shitin County¡¯s budget. Mu Zhiyang also donned his protective suit, mask, head cover, and shoe covers, carrying the survey box and following closely behind Jiang Yuan. The wreckage of the vehicle was mostly covered by vegetation. Due to its proximity to the stone mountain, the trees did not grow very profusely, but vines, shrubs, thorns, and mugwort were plentiful. Starting from the outermost perimeter, Jiang Yuan lifted a machete to peel away the brush, revealing the dark metal underneath and¡­ two scurrying centipedes. Stabbing twice more, he swept aside a thinyer of slightly rotted grass and leaves, only to find a beetle standing there dumbfounded, not even knowing how to run away. At the same time, a tiny ant was boldly exploring nearby. ¡°It¡¯s not even as good as corpse water,¡± Jiang Yuan sighed. ¡°Corpse water would smell, wouldn¡¯t it?¡± Mu Zhiyang frowned. ¡°If we really encountered corpse water, we¡¯d definitely miss this ce,¡± Jiang Yuan took a deep breath. Wearing a mask, he couldn¡¯t actually smell much. Besides, having been out all day, the natural scents were no longer pleasant. Pingjiang¡¯s expert Zhao Jing, hearing this,ughed, ¡°Does every tough crime scene make the previous ones seem not so bad?¡± ¡°Each new hill is worse than thest. But even for a scene as bad as this, it¡¯s hard toe by,¡± Jiang Yuan made a few moreints before returning to contentment. Mu Zhiyang stepped forward: ¡°Captain Jiang, should we collect the insects?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s collect a few to start with,¡± Jiang Yuandao said. Then Mu Zhiyang began catching insects, a task requiring no degree or certification, but actually capturing the bugs was certainly a skill. Mu Zhiyang, wearing gloves, sessfully captured several insects, including centipedes, and put them into a jar. ¡°It feels a bit like raising Gu; it¡¯s not a problem, right?¡± Mu Zhiyang shook the jar. ¡°These few are fine.¡± After all, these insects weren¡¯t scraped off a body, so the standards weren¡¯t as strict. If every type of insect had to be separated and taken back for research, there¡¯d be no time for anything else in such a forest setting. Mu Zhiyang busily helped Jiang Yuan with chopping trees, pulling weeds, catching bugs, and driving away snakes, thoroughly enjoying the work. About an hourter, a second group of more police officers arrived at the scene. High-intensity investigation lights were set up, thick and warm tents were erected, and the Kas stove began to simmer water¡­ Having walked the better part of the day, and with such a vast andplex scene, it was certain that they could not finish the investigation today. Also, with nearly twenty people needing to eat, drink, and relieve themselves, and the equipment needing washing and disinfection¡­ Without all this, it would be like when Jiang Yuan went to Mount Wulong, conducting the simplest on-site investigation alone, seeking and extracting only the most crucial evidence. The reason he could find evidence missed by previous investigation teams was precisely because of these factors. Now, everyone could be a bit more detailed in their search, and also disy their skills approaching their limits. This was something Zhao Jing quickly aplished. In what seemed to be the remains of a dashboard, heboriously extracted one smudged fingerprint and three partial ones. This was no easy feat. On one hand,tent fingerprints mostly left by sweat are invisible and must be revealed using various techniques. On the other hand, ces with a favorable natural environment have a lower probability of preserving fingerprints, as microorganisms destroy the organic matter in the sweat, thereby affecting the impression of the fingerprints. Zhao Jing, working at the Pingjiang Provincial Department, had encountered many simr crime scenes and thus had honed his handling skills, which was one of the reasons he confidently directed others. To Zhao Jing, technique was something that required umtion. Young people might feel they have learned a lot, butpared to experienced veterans, the wealth of experience is something innate talent cannot rece. There are things and situations you just haven¡¯t encountered before, while others have, perhaps pondering, practicing over days, weeks, months, or even years, thus developing mature solutions. What could young people rely on with just talent and basic technical skills? If they could inherit what the old timers had umted over decades, they would be quite impressive indeed. Zhao Jing considered himself one of those impressive people, having umted a vast array of technical solutions over more than twenty years. After extracting the first set of fingerprints, Zhao Jing visibly rxed a bit. He didn¡¯t continue on. After preserving the evidence and taking photographs and markings, he carefully stepped out of the crime scene area, was the first to remove his mask to gasp for breath, and then went to archive the fingerprints he¡¯d just collected. All sorts of collected evidence, light and heavy, a series of small pieces, were piled on the ground. Several armed police soldiers and young police officers turned into human bulldozers, clearing an area on a slope a short distance away, designated as a work and equipment area. Having signed off on the iPad, Zhao Jing looked up at the towering cliffs, took a bottle of water, and as he twisted the cap, he asked, ¡°How are the other trace investigators doing?¡± The police officer registering the evidence replied, ¡°They¡¯re all still working, primarily on parts from the vehicle. Captain Jiang submitted over twenty fingerprints and DNA samples, including one sunss arm¡­¡± ¡°Pfft,¡± Zhao Jing sprayed out a mouthful of water. Chapter 531 - 531 489 The Destiny Theme ?531: Chapter 489 The Destiny Theme 531: Chapter 489 The Destiny Theme ¡°Doctor Jiang¡­ from where did you collect the fingerprints?¡± Zhao Jing drank a bottle of water in one go, no longer caring about conserving resources for others, and no longer concerned about the issue of going to the bathroom. Zhao Jing racked his brain, wondering if Jiang Yuan had found something like a glove box, from which he retrieved multiple fingerprints. The police officer registering the evidence didn¡¯t have as many thoughts; he nced down and said, ¡°They were collected from various locations, fingerprints and DNA included. Several items of evidence have been gathered, but they¡¯re inside the evidence box. Would you like to take a look?¡± ¡°Forget it,¡± Zhao Jing shook his head. Trace examination is primarily a solitary endeavor¡ªthe techniques are one¡¯s own, and the ability to find evidence is also one¡¯s own. What¡¯s the use of seeing how others performed? Zhao Jing looked back at the busy Jiang Yuan at the crime scene. Having an assistant was quite special in trace examination. It wasmon to have an apprentice, but they usually became independent very quickly. After the first two years of following closely, they tended to work on their own more, seeking help only when necessary. Typically, even a trace examiner of Zhao Jing¡¯s stature, if not holding a position, wouldn¡¯t have subordinates, and upon obtaining a position, it would be unlikely for them to be at the frontline. Zhao Jing rubbed his waist and stretched his legs to getfortable. Then he put on a new mask, gloves, and booties before slowly returning to the scene. He was middle-aged now and when working on cases, he would use just seventy percent of his capacity¡ªthere was no need for full strength. With his abilities, seventy percent was more than enough for the province to lie t. The remaining cases that couldn¡¯t be solved even with a full effort were impossible regardless. Today, Zhao Jing decided to unleash his full potential. Looking back, it had been a while since he had given his all. Perhaps it had been so long that the people of the underground might even forget. Zhao Jing slowly pulled out a pair of 3M gloves and put them over his original gloves. Wearing double gloves for double protection meant he didn¡¯t have to worry about intense activities¡ªZhao Jing¡¯s secret technique was simple, yet it was an excellent way for him to fully utilize his skills. Just like Bald Strong with a chainsaw, he operated alone, wildly cutting down everything! ¡°Wooh¡­¡± Mimicking the sound of a chainsaw with his mouth, Zhao Jing bent down again and began examining inch by inch. He knew that Jiang Yuan was a fingerprint expert from Shannan Province and had even earned a reputation in the provincial fingerprintpetition. He might have some specialties in fingerprints, but as a trace examiner, Zhao Jing¡¯s expertise was not limited to fingerprints alone. Fingerprints were just a small part of the entire field of trace examination! While bolstering his confidence and assuring himself internally, Zhao Jing¡¯s hands didn¡¯t stop moving, and his brain was furiously at work. The most important aspect for a trace examiner is actually to think. Not only must they think like the police, but they must also think like criminals. If I were a thief, how would I enter the room, would I pick the lock or break in during daylight, where would I most likely grab hold, where would my body pause, where would my hair and skin kes fall¡­ If I were a murderer, how would Imit the murder, where would I lie in wait if I were to ambush, what have I prepared on my escape route¡­ If I were a criminal disguised as a truck driver, how would I protect myself? Would I wear gloves? Would I use the air conditioning inside the truck? Would I roll down the window when passing through the toll station? Zhao Jing gradually became immersed in his imagination, or rather, in the concentrated juice of thinking, then movedboriously and stickily through it. At the same time, Jiang Yuan also sped up the inspection. It was getting dark, and in the outdoor environment, evidence obtained today was definitely more valuable than what could be collected tomorrow. Most importantly, as the investigation progressed, the wreckage of the vehicle at the crime scene was, in fact, increasingly disrupted to varying degrees. The stable state that the wreckage had been in over the past period underwent a significant change, and the extent of damage in theing hours could be more than it had been over the past few months. Even without rain or wind tomorrow, the cold of the night, the morning dew, and the noon sun would inflict further damage on the evidence. Therefore, if possible, Jiang Yuan nned to process all high-value targets today. Compared to Zhao Jing, Jiang Yuan¡¯s advantage was extremely clear. First, he had a Level 4 crime scene investigation skill, and second, he possessed two sets of fingerprint skills, one at Level 3 and one at Level 4. Just thebination of these two skills alone made him extremely capable. Zhao Jing was also quite strong, but he was strong within Pingjiang Province. Overall, Pingjiang was still a step behind Shannan Province. As an expert in his prime, Zhao Jing reaching a Level 3.5 performance at his best was considered impressive. Usually, he was merely a Level 3 beginner¡ªof course, having already broken the Level 3 barrier, he had transcended the ordinary, belonging to the elite of the elite, and had already made a name for himself in his field. At most, Zhao Jing¡¯s proficiency could peak at what Heaven deigns to provide for a meal, while Jiang Yuan¡¯s proficiency was akin to Heaven cooking the meal itself. This was an unreasonable level of proficiency. It was like Tao Zhexuan teaching himself calculus at the age of 7 and then writing a book at the age of 8 about calcting perfect numbers using Basic programming¡ªeveryone needs to learn math, and how talented you are can be determined byparing yourself to others. However, even as an adult, Tao Zhexuan would still be hung up by his ankles and have his soles thrashed by other geniuses. Aside from his dual Level 4 and Level 3 qualifications, Jiang Yuan also boasted a Level 4 in Forensic Material Evidence and an extremely abnormal Level 6 in Toolmark Analysis. At a crime scene, it¡¯s not as if he could achieve whatever he wished, but writing a book on the spot would certainly not be out of the question. Additionally, he had recently acquired a Level 3 in Vehicle Trace Identification, which he found particrly fitting today. In fact, with this skill alone, one could say it bnced out the strength of Zhao Jing. It¡¯s just that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to makeparisons. After sweeping through the traces in his area, he naturally began assisting other trace investigators with their work. Zhao Jing waspetent¡ªJiang Yuan¡¯s lofty assessment indicated that even allocating the most important area¡¯s trace identification to Zhao Jing would likely result in no errors. At this level of expertise, a trace investigator even had the capacity to leave room for a secondary investigation. That was a part of their skill set. Inparison, the abilities of the other trace investigators varied. The good ones could meet a Level 2 standard, while the less skilled might just be a strong Level 1. For trace investigators of this level, the probability of making errors wasn¡¯t significant, but there were inevitable variations in bncing quality and efficiency. This was like those top students in a ss who, given one day¡¯s time with an open book, could score over 90 percent, even a perfect score, but definitely couldn¡¯t achieve the same during an actual exam. Jiang Yuan called out a greeting and went forward to help. The trace investigator from Changyang City Criminal Science Center looked up at the sky, then at Jiang Yuan, whimpered, and then bowed his head to continue his work. Not to mention he dared not refuse Jiang Yuan¡¯s request to take over, even if he mustered the courage, what was the point? Must the work allocated to him necessarily bepleted by himself? He simply couldn¡¯tplete it on his own. Moreover, with such a major backlog of murder cases, ordinary criminal police were just cogs in the machine, and any action that could hinder the progress of the case was not permitted, not encouraged. If Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions had been detrimental to the case, he could argue his point, but now it was clear that he was the one dragging his feet, and furtherints would surely get him beaten. As for some minor psychological diforts, they were not even a consideration in a disciplined force. Unhappy and discontented, so what? ¡°Come help me pry this open,¡± Jiang Yuan signaled with a wave, calling the trace investigator over. The trace investigator from Changyang City, being well acquainted with Jiang Yuan, put away his pain, and a smile appeared on his face. ¡°Coming.¡± The trace investigator packed up his hoof mirror, picked up the crowbar, and scampered over. Jiang Yuan, together with Mu Zhiyang, stepped forward, and it took the three of them to finally lift arge chunk of metal. Jiang Yuan shone the light, dusted for prints, and after a few quick snapshots, he began taking fingerprints. Having helped one, then another, hepleted the round before the sky hadpletely darkened. By then, only the area assigned to Zhao Jing had not been thoroughly investigated. ¡°It¡¯s about time, let the dog out,¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the sky and signaled Dazhuang to move out. Dazhuang had been carried in by Li Li. The carrier was a bamboo basket used by the locals. It was of the right depth and not too heavy. While police dogs are known for their strength and stamina, that¡¯s only rtive to other canines. Human endurance is on a freakish level, and with the dense forest, unless the case had reached an extremely crucial stage, Li Li was reluctant to bring a dog down. Dazhuang first sniffed Jiang Yuan¡¯s scent, then with head held high and chest puffed out, confidently strode into the scene. Tonight, a song of conquest would be sung, whether by humans or by a dog! Chapter 532 - 532 490 Endless Bitter Sea ?532: Chapter 490: Endless Bitter Sea 532: Chapter 490: Endless Bitter Sea Dazhuang first searched outside the designated area. The actual spread of the debris was quite extensive. Designating an area was merely to focus on the main zone. A truck had plummeted from a cliff over a hundred meters high, perhaps snagged by small trees along the way, before ultimately crashing to the ground, shattering into pieces. It didn¡¯t have a fortuitous encounter to be a member of the Cybertron Alliance; it simplyy ttened. Of course, because it was in the wilderness, it covered arge area¡ªa few hundred square meters, the kind of space an average person couldn¡¯t afford to sprawl in. Even so, there would definitely be car fragments outside the designated crime scene. Over the days, with wind, rain, and sun, especially with nt growth and coverage, finding parts had be extremely difficult. Dazhuang had an advantage in this regard. After circling twice, having been trained by Li Li, he went online after looping twice. Woof! Dazhuang barked confidently. Li Li stepped forward, hacking twice with her machete, and pried out a broken part. They couldn¡¯t tell which part of the vehicle it belonged to. Likely, it was buried during a rainstorm, just ayer deep like unpaid debts, but still hard to find without luck. Underneath the part, earthworms wriggled; their flesh-colored bodies were somewhat repulsive to anyone not interested in fishing. Dazhuang, however, was quite interested in the earthworms. But as a police dog, his status restrained him to merely panting and sticking out his tongue. ¡°Good job, Dazhuang, keep going,¡± Li Li praised the Rottweiler with a pat on the head, signaling him to keep up the good work. Dazhuang got up and continued the search. Once a police dog went online, that is, pinpointed the smell, it could find things very quickly. After a few quickps, the Rottweilers identified another part. The forensic team began to get busy in session. Jiang Yuan also swept through two areas before finally arriving at Zhao Jing¡¯s section. The two areas he swept were manned by LV1 technicians, who were struggling. He had helped not only to ensure the quality of the investigation but also to prevent them from feeling too rushed. Havingpleted those two areas, and with other LV2 technicians handling their own sections, Jiang Yuan was less worried. Zhao Jing¡¯s area, however, was considered the most crucial part of the site, scattered with many dense parts and most of the cab also located there. Everyone knew that for a truck hurtling toward self-destruction, most of the evidence would be found in the driver¡¯s cabin. The cargo area might present issues like origin and transport destination, but that¡¯s only if nothing was found in the cabin. Essentially, looking elsewhere was a matter of luck. So, after checking for omissions, Jiang Yuan immediately came over to investigate Zhao Jing¡¯s section. From his perspective, this was the most advantageous approach for the case, although it was clear this didn¡¯t make Zhao Jing happy. Yet Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have time for such concerns. He came to Pingjiang Province to solve cases, not to make friends. A detective who always wore a kind smile and empathized with others might be a good person but was unsuitable for cracking cases. As expected, Zhao Jing promptly became unhappy with his frowning face. Standing up, he confronted Jiang Yuan, who had begun to work squatting down. ¡°Captain Jiang, this area was assigned to me.¡± ¡°You¡¯re too slow,¡± Jiang Yuan gave him a smile. Zhao Jing suddenly felt an urge tomit a crime. ¡°You could help the others first¡­¡± Zhao Jing said, suppressing his anger. Jiang Yuan, without even looking up, replied, ¡°Hurry up; it¡¯s getting dark.¡± Zhao Jing couldn¡¯t just pull Jiang Yuan up and tell him to stop. He was also a technician, and although a police officer, he wasn¡¯t ustomed to confrontations, even less sotely. As the atmosphere grew tense, Jiang Yuan, still crouched on the ground, reached out his hand, ¡°White fingerprint powder, feather brush.¡± Mu Zhiyang hurriedly delivered them. Zhao Jing furrowed his brow. This was a rarebination. Technicians usually used gold, silver, or maic powders, and any brush would usually suffice. He couldn¡¯t help but move closer, bending slightly to look. The part, already deformed, was unrecognizable, its ck base particrly damp. Jiang Yuan had apparently pushed aside the topyer of soil to check the part¡¯s interior. White fingerprint powder was used for brushing on a dark, wet background, which certainly suited the current situation, but even for a professional technician, such meticulousness was rare. Zhao Jing frowned and, watching Jiang Yuan take photographs at such an awkward angle, thought it was quite a challenge to look for fingerprints. Zhao Jing thought about his own aching back and turned to leave¡ªwhat was there to fight over? Only a fool would rush to work! Jiang Yuan was willing to do more, and Zhao Jing didn¡¯t really have the heart to send him away. Seeing Zhao Jing walk away, everyone else just focused on their work. After a tiresome walk and facing overtime work, they were all drained of energy. Zhao Jing returned to his spot, driven by indignation, and started working with renewed vigor. Few cases in recent years had sparked such energy in him since the Spring Festival family annihtion case three years ago. The sun slowly set. The most crucial time to gather clues and evidence at the crime scene had passed. Bang, bang. Several forensic lights were switched on one after another. The conditions for visibility on-site were getting worse, and many fingerprints and DNA evidence required good lighting to be seen. Crime scene investigation wasn¡¯t about swabbing around casually; to solve a case once, where a deliveryman was killed, Jiang Yuan had to meticulously swab every inch of a bathroom with cotton swabs; that was a desperate measure ofst resort. Chapter 533 - 533 490 Endless Bitter Sea_2 ?533: Chapter 490 Endless Bitter Sea_2 533: Chapter 490 Endless Bitter Sea_2 The crime scene in this case didn¡¯t have such conditions. The area was over a hundred square metersrge, withyers uponyers of remains, many of which were twisted and deformed pieces of steel; the workload of cleaning the entire area was unimaginable. Moreover, the purpose of such cleaning could only be to obtain DNA, but given the vast andplex area, handing over the DNA evidence collected to theboratory would mean experiments ran indefinitely. By this time, Jiang Yuan had already gone over all the parts that Zhao Jing hadn¡¯t inspected, and without a word from either of them, they began to silently examine the areas the other had already looked over. It was somewhatpetitive, or rather, it was outrightpetition. Zhao Jing stood up, walked out of the scene, changed his gloves, drank some water, and then stood silently thinking somewhere for a moment¡ªhe also took the opportunity to pee in his pants, letting it trickle down to the ground. After all, his clothes were already filthy from the trip over, and after half a day of wearing impermeable protective gear, sweating through severalyers, urine was honestly the cleaner option, at least it was sterile. Having emptied his dder, Zhao Jing felt much lighter. He jumped on the spot until thest drop was gone, let his pants absorb what they could, then changed into a new pair of shoe covers, and for the third time, changed his gloves, returning to the scene full of fighting spirit. Zhao Jing was ready to re-examine the areas that Jiang Yuan had worked on. To this end, he found himself eagerly anticipating the task. Jiang Yuan was well-known throughout Pingjiang Province. In Zhao Jing¡¯s view, it wasn¡¯t that Jiang Yuan¡¯s strength was superior; his advantagey in being young, energetic, and able to work tirelessly on cases. His good fortune, coupled with his nerve to tackle cold cases, allowed him to solve a good number of them in session. Solving cases brought fame, and fame led to more cases to solve; it was a cycle that could be easily imagined. Even the first-ss merit award Jiang Yuan had received, in Zhao Jing¡¯s opinion, might have been part of a hype. Besides, there were others in the provincial office experts who had received first-ss merits. Above first-ss merit, there were the second-ss and first-ss Heroic Exemry Medals, which are usually posthumously awarded; such recognition is normally unseen under regr circumstances. In Zhao Jing¡¯s eyes, Jiang Yuan might have some exceptional abilities, such as being a skillful forensic doctor, but he believed that, at least in crime scene investigation, Jiang Yuan should beparable to himself. This was the result of his reevaluation; before, he didn¡¯t at all believe that Jiang Yuan was as capable as himself, which is why he had confidently directed the team. Zhao Jing felt it was very necessary to prove this point. ¡°Light up this side for me,¡± Zhao Jingmanded a scene technician who had nothing to do. The scene technicians from Pingjiang were quite obliging, shining the investigatory light ording to Zhao Jing¡¯s request, helped move over the investigation kit, and then quietly slipped away. To the clear-eyed, it was evident that Zhao Jing was setting the stage for a contest with Jiang Yuan. They naturally preferred to spectate the drama rather than get involved. Zhao Jing meticulously scanned over each piece of wreckage, with even more care than at the beginning. Originally, it should have been this way; a second inspection is much more challenging than the first. For ces where fingerprints or DNA have already been taken, it is difficult to take them again, and many times they¡¯re not usable. Of course, Jiang Yuan also left room for a second inspection¡ªhe hadn¡¯t used up all the evidence in the first go, but it was still not easy. Zhao Jing worked with a stern face, making a concerted effort. One piece, two pieces, three pieces¡­ Zhao Jing was getting into the zone. He had been a scene technician for twenty years and hadpleted countless more challenging scenes by himself. To be fair, a case¡¯s importance doesn¡¯t necessarily corrte with itsplexity. Although the case in question was quiteplex, the crime scenes left behind by a professional hitman¡¯s underling inevitably had ws. Zhao Jing had already collected quite a few fingerprints and DNA samples, as well as pieces that might be considered physical evidence. Gathered together and taken back to theb, they could potentially lead to some clues. This truck couldn¡¯t have driven itself from Shannan Province. Over the hundreds of kilometers, the driver couldn¡¯t possibly be wrapped up like the scene technicians while driving. It would be too easy for people to notice and question him along the way. It was the factor of time that had altered the traces inside the car. If Zhao Jing had received this wreckage as a current case, he would have been at least 80 percent confident he could find some clues. Now wasn¡¯t too different; Zhao Jing kept at it until he had no idea what time it was. In any case, he was done. Looking around, lights were on in several tents, and faint snoring sounds could even be hearding from somewhere. Zhao Jing couldn¡¯t help but smile. He slowly got up, carrying a box of evidence, and went to thergest tent, ¡°Please take this.¡± ¡°Alright, you¡¯ve worked hard,¡± said the police officer responsible for the evidence, who hade from Changyang City. Waking up from sleep, they were very polite to Zhao Jing. Zhao Jing looked around but didn¡¯t see Jiang Yuan, so he asked directly, ¡°How many fingerprints and DAN has Jiang Yuan collected?¡± He still wanted topare the two. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m not quite sure,¡± the police officer said softly. ¡°Didn¡¯t you count when you collected the evidence?¡± ¡°Uh, because there were several hundred¡­¡± Zhao Jing¡¯s brow furrowed instantly. After concentrating his efforts and performing the inspection in full form, Zhao Jing was confident he was no worse than Jiang Yuan. Zhao Jing himself had processed two areas, ultimately obtaining more than 40 fingerprints and DNA samples, which was twice what Jiang Yuan had previously submitted. He felt that the final count submitted by the two of them, Jiang Yuan should be only twenty or thirty more than his own. After all, Jiang Yuan had processed aplete plot plus half of three other plots, and then he re-inspected the plots that Zhao Jing and others had worked on. Zhao Jing admitted that he was quick, which was characteristic of the youth, always fast and impulsive. However, efficiency wasn¡¯t simply about being quick. But to process several hundred¡­ ¡°Where are the evidences? Show me,¡± Zhao Jing said. ¡°That¡­¡± The police officer hesitated for a moment then said, ¡°How about I let you look at the backend? Everything has already been logged in. Captain Jiang is currently matching fingerprints, and it seems like they¡¯ve gotten some results.¡± Zhao Jing was still puzzled about the first part of the statement, but upon hearing the second part, he couldn¡¯t help asking, ¡°What kind of results have they gotten?¡± ¡°They¡¯ve got a match,¡± the police officer exined, ¡°The police force should already be arresting the suspect, but the specific circumstances, whether it¡¯s the perpetrator or not, are still unclear.¡± The implication was that worrying about the evidence now was surely pointless. Zhao Jing also realized what was going on¡ªwhile he had been doing the inspection, had they already found a match for the suspect? Zhao Jing suddenly felt a chill running down his legs. Woo¡­ At the entrance of the tent up the slope, Dazhuang let out a low bark at Zhao Jing, as if tofort him. Zhao Jing tidied himself up a bit, changed his clothes and trousers, and then went back to his own tent to sleep. Six people in one tent was hardlyfortable, but it was just about manageable for sleeping. Through a few hazy dreams, as dawn was breaking, everyone eagerly emerged from their tents. Some were boiling water, others were washing up, and those who were preparing for work continued with their preparations. The phone call followed soon after. ¡°We¡¯ve found the suspect who abandoned the car!¡± the police officer on the phone said with tears in his eyes. They had thought the task was endless, but they hadn¡¯t expected to find relief so quickly. Chapter 534 - 534 491 The Way Back ?534: Chapter 491: The Way Back 534: Chapter 491: The Way Back The return journey was somewhat simpler. Firstly, the road conditions were more familiar, with trees on both sides of the path frequently watered. Secondly, Liu Jinghui had hired more locals to help; apart from the evidence, which the police officers carried back themselves, items such as tents and supplies could be transported by the locals. Nevertheless, when Jiang Yuan made it back to the main road, he felt like he had narrowly escaped death. ¡°Murderers who choose ces like this should have their crimes upgraded a level,¡± Jiang Yuan said, grabbing a can of water from the side of the road and gulping it down in one go. To lighten the load, they had brought very little water and used it sparingly along the way, but now it waspletely finished. Zhao Jing and the other middle-aged and elderly people were even more exhausted. They seemed okay yesterday, but after a night¡¯s sleep, while the young people were mostly refreshed, the older ones still felt sore in the back and legs. Of course, Li Li had it the worst. She was so exhausted from carrying the police dog that her tongue was hanging out, and she said, ¡°Later on, suspects should be made to walk down to the cliff to the scene with handcuffs and leg irons on.¡± The Rottweiler wasn¡¯t much lighter than she was, and if it hadn¡¯t been for the constant help from other police officers and Dazhuang managing to walk sections by himself, Li Li wouldn¡¯t have made it out. It also proved from the side that her fine figure was indeed well-earned, with no ckness in the muscles of her glutes. The police officers waiting by the road couldn¡¯t help but notice Li Li¡¯s physique and eagerly said, ¡°When identifying the scene, the suspect has to walk there on their own, us bringing them doesn¡¯t count, right?¡± ¡°Just kidding,¡± Li Li turned her head to nce at the other party. The police officer, who had been daydreaming about his married life, took a good look and silently lowered his head, indeed, I was just joking. Together, they quickly packed the few personal items they had into the vehicles and got back on the road. By that time, no one wasining about bad smells anymore. Near the Panshan Highway, not even a tollbooth could be found, let alone conditions for a bath. After driving hundreds of kilometers, they arrived in Changyang City and directly checked into the police department¡¯s guest house to take care of themselves. Jiang Yuan entered the shower, thoroughly washing off, and after getting clean, he put on a new pair of underwear and then called Director Liu. As soon as the call connected, he asked, ¡°Director Liu, has the suspect confessed?¡± ¡°He has confessed, and I was waiting for you toe for the details. How about you? Do you need to rest, or are youing to the meeting?¡± Director Liu considerately offered Jiang Yuan a choice. ¡°I¡¯lle over, I got some sleep on the road.¡± That stench in the car was unbearable even for a forensic doctor without sleep. ¡­ The meeting room. Yu Wenshu still sat in the corner of the meeting room like a guardian deity, but at least a third of the people present knew that the Criminal Police Brigade was already starting to gather its personnel. There hadn¡¯t been any major cases in Changyang City in thest two months, and considering Yu Wenshu¡¯s appearance, the purpose of him gathering personnel was suspicious. However, only Bai Jian cared about which department was going to make the arrests; Director Liu didn¡¯t mind who did it. When Jiang Yuan arrived, Director Liu stood up and said, ¡°Let me first update everyone on the current situation.¡± ¡°The case was initially filed in Shiting County after a modern male corpse, named Victim One, was discovered in a Qing Dynasty tomb exposed by andslide. Subsequently, Shiting County invited experts for analysis and unearthed Victims Two, Three, and Four.¡± Director Liu also mentioned several unsessful attempts and the identification of the sources for Victims Four and Two, then shifted the conversation, ¡°Yesterday¡¯s arrestee, Wang Qiliang, although only having been penalized twice for public security offenses, has many rtives who are tomb robbers!¡± ¡°Wang Qiliang is our current breakthrough. ording to him, he has been employed long-term by someone iming to be Li Jun,¡± ¡°ording to Wang Qiliang¡¯s statement, his job was to find suitable tombs, assist with burying and concealing bodies, and also handle some scattered evidence¡­¡± Yu Wenshu, who had also just arrived, couldn¡¯t help but interject, ¡°Did he really confess so thoroughly?¡± ¡°Yes, because he also hopes that we catch Li Jun to prevent himself from being silenced,¡± Director Liu paused, ¡°The second victim, the truck driver, was silenced.¡± ¡°Tell us about this Li Jun.¡± Yu Wenshu sat back down, ready to listen attentively. Director Liu nodded and continued, ¡°Although Li Jun is an alias, he indeed started murdering several years ago. Once Wang Qiliang was chosen by him, he received regr payments every month, and additional ie after burying the bodies. Having seen Li Jun¡¯s methods, he didn¡¯t dare run away¡­¡± ¡°Of course, he was afraid, and perhaps he was also reluctant to give up the money¡­¡± Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t delve into Wang Qiliang¡¯s psyche but immediately continued, ¡°Regarding Li Jun, Wang Qiliang was always contacted passively. Initially, it was about disposing of corpses, andter other tasks cropped up, like abandoning vehicles. The phone numbers used each time were also different. However, he provided two distinct details, which I think are important.¡± Liu Jinghui nced at everyone and said, ¡°Li Jun likes to smoke San Wu cigarettes, and most of the time, he arrives riding a Haojue motorcycle.¡± In the conference room, the mood among the attendees began to stir. Bai Jian smiled and said, ¡°It seems a bit mismatched, but there shouldn¡¯t be many shops selling San Wu cigarettes nowadays, so he must buy them frequently¡­¡± Jiang Yuan cut Bai Jian off, asking, ¡°Wang Qiliang and Li Jun must have met regrly, right? Can he provide precise times and locations?¡± The killer was cautious during the crime, but even when meeting an aplice, precautions wouldn¡¯t be that strict. Moreover, riding a motorcycle exposes more physical details. Bai Jian had yet to witness Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills in image analysis. His Shiting County didn¡¯t have any noteworthy imagery to speak of. Liu Jinghui and Yu Wenshu immediately realized the implications, exchanged nces, and Liu Jinghui rified, ¡°The time can be pinpointed to at least the hour. The locations are urate.¡± Yu Wenshu promptly took out his phone and said, ¡°I¡¯ll notify the Image Reconnaissance Brigade.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a matter of following the vine to get to the melon from here,¡± said Liu Jinghui, though his relief was fleeting. Following the vine to find the melon wasn¡¯t difficult, but if the vine were severed, it would mean the clues were cut off as well. ¡°Let¡¯s go directly to the Image Investigation unit,¡± Yu Wenshu suggested as he hung up the phone, then smiled at Bai Jian and said, ¡°When ites to Image Investigation, as soon as they hear it¡¯s Jiang Yuan, there¡¯s no need to schedule. Let¡¯s go.¡± Bai Jian followed with a serious expression. Image Reconnaissance Brigade. Upon arrival, they were escorted into the operation room. The full-wall screen and the multiple monitors in front gave the room an instant surge of technological atmosphere. ¡°Screens are firepower,¡± the brigademander said with a smile, before adding, ¡°The screens on the wall are for the leadership, the monitors here are all set up, and the times you provided¡­¡± He nced at the notes he had just made and said, ¡°To be honest, these are fairly old times, and even the most recent one is almost a year old. I¡¯ll do my best to find some surveince footage, but it certainly won¡¯t beplete.¡± The eager group¡¯s faces fell slightly, and Liu Jinghuimented, ¡°Thates out to just seven or eight months. In my experience, the data storage for many surveince systems doesn¡¯t rotate that quickly.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that strict. I¡¯ll find what¡¯s avable,¡± themander didn¡¯t exin further and had his team start pulling up the footage while saying, ¡°This is also our new system, with some of the data still stored in street-side boxes.¡± The ce where Wang Qiliang and Li Jun met was naturally out of surveince coverage. Using that location as the center, they expanded their search outward, looking for men riding motorcycles¡­ The members of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade quicklypleted this step and identified arge number of men riding motorcycles. But at this point, the team members hit a wall. ¡°Let¡¯s judge based on their physique and behavior,¡± Jiang Yuan suggested as he pointed out a few individuals on the screen and said, ¡°Check to see what kind of cigarettes they smoke.¡± ¡°The brands are unclear on the video,¡± the officer working on the task responded, a bit puzzled. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°Just look for it, once you find it, I¡¯ll take care of the image enhancement.¡± With his level 5 Image Enhancement skills, while he might not be able to clearly identify a single cigarette, discerning certain characteristics was still very easy. At that moment, a new mission appeared before Jiang Yuan: Mission Progress: 362/x+1+1+1¡­ The progress bar had risen again and was continuing to climb. One must admit, the Image Reconnaissance Brigade did have people who knew their stuff. Chapter 535 - 535 492 555 ?535: Chapter 492: 555 535: Chapter 492: 555 At Changyang City¡¯s Image Reconnaissance Brigade, Qin Wei Yue was also very strong. Whether it was professional skill, education, or sry, all were at the top tier within the Changyang City Bureau. This was not only because sries rted to imaging were high and thepetition fierce, but also because solving cases with image investigation was too easy, and during interrogation and prosecution, things were simpler. Typically, criminals would give up resisting obstinately once they saw the surveince footage. Nowadays, as every city bureau was shouting about staffing strains and desperately pulling manpower from the lower-level county bureaus, they were also racking their brains to establish new Image Reconnaissance Brigades and Surveince Analysis Squads, having truly tasted the benefits. Being a provincial capital city, Changyang had invited rtively professional technicians when establishing the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. Later, it absorbed several Inte professionals aged 35 returning to their hometowns, effectively setting up the framework of Changyang¡¯s Image Reconnaissance Brigade and solving a significant number of cases over the years. However, technicians of this mold had a high floor but a low ceiling; the top talents couldn¡¯t be retained. They had no issue with daily case pursuit and performed operations that normal people could understand. But as for trying to discern what brand of cigarette a person was smoking under a camera¡­ A bunch of image investigators surrounded Jiang Yuan, curious to see how he went about it. Mainly, it was out of a sense of dissatisfaction. Although you¡¯re quite strong, you start by teaching me how to do my job as soon as we meet, so show us how you do it! Jiang Yuan, surrounded by a crowd, remained unfazed. On one hand, he knew some admired him, pure admiration already proved by the system, and that was very good. It showed that most of the Image Investigation technicians had a level of skill. On the other hand, he genuinely wasn¡¯t afraid. He was now at LV5 in Image Enhancement¡ªhaving used the opportunity for skill recement from the second-ss merit he receivedst time on Image Enhancement. And since he had already been at LV3 in Image Enhancement, he could already dominate the field; at LV5, what he could do appeared to many at LV3 to be like magic. ¡°I¡¯ll pour you a cup of coffee,¡± offered Qin Wei Yue, the captain of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, very politely. ¡°No need to be polite, I¡¯ll be done soon. We¡¯re in a rush to catch people,¡± Jiang Yuan said with a smile. Right now, thepetition was against time to trace the clues, and they couldn¡¯t wait for the culprit to catch on. Captain Qin Wei Yueughed twice, ¡°Ha ha,¡± and said, ¡°I¡¯ll make you a cup of coffee regardless. Don¡¯t be in such a hurry, just take your time.¡± In his view, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s requirements and goals, staying at the Image Reconnaissance Brigade would make more sense; finishing quickly was pure fantasy. Jiang Yuan said no more and began working slowly on theputer. Although they were all policeputers, different individuals had them set up quite differently. By the time Captain Qin Wei Yue came back, Jiang Yuan was still adjusting theputer. ¡°Will it work? Do you need to find a differentputer?¡± Qin Wei Yue asked amicably. Jiang Yuan shook his head: ¡°No need, it will be ready soon.¡± Soon again, he said,ughing with the previous few people. Jiang Yuan paid them no mind, organized the necessary software, wrote a few small programs, and then dragged in several photos the Image Investigation team had already sorted out. The Image Reconnaissance Brigade of Changyang City used the Falcon Image Processing System, software produced by Hikvision, which was utilized in many provinces and cities. The full range of Falcon software also included the Falcon Video Investigation System, Falcon Personnel Checkpoint Analysis System, and so on. The Falcon Image Processing System could provide professional image processing functions such as low-quality image enhancement, blurry image enhancement, vehicle processing, face reconstruction, noise reduction, dehazing, and others. Its underlying technology was very advanced, but the interface offered limited operational choices. It was somewhat simr to Meitu Xiu Xiu, aimed at making it usable by the average police officer. Of course, there wasn¡¯t as much difference in reality, but given such a system, there wasn¡¯t much room for the average image investigator to excel; in fact, it wasn¡¯t designed for them to do so. As for technicians with a higher level of technical skill, stepping away from Falcon to do their work meant reverting to the Photoshop ¡°PS¡± era ¡ª it was not only difficult and time-consuming, the results weren¡¯t necessarily better than a one-touch beautification. But, once the technology surpassed a certain level, everything waspletely different. Like Jiang Yuan, who threw the dozen or so video screenshots found by the image investigators into the software. He started with batch processing, then moved to individual processing. While the coffee was still too hot to drink, the images of several cigarettes had already been erged and enhanced. Qin Wei Yue, who had just picked up his coffee cup, immediately set it down, and the smile on his face was reced by shock. ¡°This is¡­ you weren¡¯t like this before¡­¡± Captain Qin Wei Yue looked at Jiang Yuan, having witnessed his capabilities in the past, indeed very strong, but not this kind of effortless strength, as if flying. Several figures shed through his mind, and he quickly dismissed each one, feeling Jiang Yuan surpassed all the experts he had seen. But thinking this way seemed too much. He himself was only average in capability, but he had indeed encountered true experts, even the cream of the crop. If he were to say Jiang Yuan surpassed these¡ªactually, without even outdoing them, it already sounded too exaggerated. Qin Wei Yue couldn¡¯t help saying, ¡°There must be manypanies trying to headhunt you, right? Like Hikvision, the treatment for top experts is quite good¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m from Jiang Vige.¡± Jiang Yuan replied, then stood up and said, ¡°Just pick one person smoking Chunghwa, and track that person. See where he came from.¡± Jiang Yuan pointed to the man in the third photo. Previously, he had made his judgment based on body shape and posture, but because the subject wasn¡¯t walking but riding a motorcycle, the judgment wasn¡¯t very urate. Now, with the cigarette as corroborative evidence, he could almost be certain. The members of the Image Investigation Brigade nced at theirmanding officer. ¡°What are you staring at? Get on with it,¡± the Image Reconnaissance Brigade captain waved his hand as if shooing flies: ¡°You have no discernment at all.¡± The Image Investigation members reluctantly went to work. It wasn¡¯t that theycked discernment; they were doubting their own eyes. Qin Wei Yue sat next to Jiang Yuan and said, with slight admiration, ¡°I¡¯ve been hearing about your case solvingtely, but I didn¡¯t expect you to have developed such a deep understanding of technology. How did you learn all this?¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Qin Wei Yue and said, ¡°If I say it fell from the sky, you definitely won¡¯t believe me, but I really didn¡¯t do much myself.¡± ¡°Is it a gift?¡± Qin Wei Yue pondered. The others in the office also pricked up their ears, wanting to know how someone in their twenties could enhance their skills enough tond a job with an annual sry of a million. Jiang Yuan could only shake his head and say, ¡°Basically, it¡¯s as if I, too, received a ¡®demolitionpensation¡¯ in technology. I got the skills without much effort.¡± Qin Wei Yue nodded in understanding: ¡°Rebuilding your technical foundation from scratch?¡± ¡°Ah, it¡¯s not rted to that,¡± Jiang Yuan said helplessly. Tech people sometimes thought too much, and he didn¡¯t want to mislead anyone. He added, ¡°My method isn¡¯t suitable for learning; it¡¯s not the same as normal processes.¡± ¡°Many tech whizzes are irreplicable, I understand,¡± Qin Wei Yue said with a relieved expression, contentedly. Jiang Yuan sighed and simply got up to watch the other Image Investigation members work. Qin Wei Yue stood up: ¡°It¡¯s a rare opportunity for a tech expert to delve into grassroots work. Everyone should do their best. If there are any questions, it¡¯s better to write them down. Later, we¡¯ll give them all to Captain Jiang to address. Captain Jiang, does that sound good to you?¡± What could Jiang Yuan say? He just nodded in agreement. Everyone seemed very happy. The case was indeed important, but it wasn¡¯t the Image Investigation¡¯s own case; they were just there to provide support. Some who didn¡¯t like interacting with others didn¡¯t even know what case they were working on. But for those who pursued technology, they were willing to listen. Not everyone wants to y with beautifying apps their whole life. Two kilometers away from the scene, the suspect¡¯s cycling became very normal. Anti-surveince requires specificity; it cannot be entirely hidden. In fact, some traffic monitoring points nowadays use infrared cameras, so pure optical camouge is useless. The suspect, having left the dangerous area, clearly rxed. He slowed down his speed, became more casual, and even lit another cigarette. Before long, he entered the camera-dense city center. At this point, he cared even less about the cameras and plunged into an alley. The Image Investigation personnel quickly essed the images from around the alley and, after dragging the progress bar for a few minutes, saw the same motorcycle exiting the alley with a deliveryman in a yellow Kangaroo uniform riding on it, still clutching a 555 cigarette in his mouth. Chapter 536 - 536 493 Stability ?536: Chapter 493: Stability 536: Chapter 493: Stability In the afternoon. The sunlight was as warm as an old dog. Threads of light struck the ss, casting faces aglow with golden radiance. Over a hundred police officers, fully equipped, stood guard around a small restaurant, slowly dispersing some of the people on the street. Laying an ambush in such a bustling ce was clearly a bit unconventional, but Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t wait any longer. They had confirmed the suspect¡¯s identity by noon¡ªthrough the phone number and order number from a food delivery website, as well as through various means including photo identification. Unexpectedly, the suspect had spent the entire noon ying with his wife and child at Naughty Castle. It was only now, when they got hungry, that the family of three came out of the mall and into a back alley to dine. Although they could have waited longer, the risk would only have increased the longer they did. The person they were facing was a member of a drug trafficking gang, a professional killer. Unlike ordinary criminals who might kill on asion and be unprepared, a single phone call coulde at any time, and he might just run off. To be honest, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that Naughty Castle was full of children, Yu Wenshu would have considered arresting him in the mall. This small restaurant in the back alley was now a decent choice. Inside the small restaurant, the man who went by the name Li Jun, but was actually Li Mingyu, looked at his six-year-old daughter with a face full of indulgence. They say seven or eight years old is the age even dogs despise, so six years old must be thest of the cute years. Li Mingyu cherished this time, always wanting to devote most of his energy to his family, to the extent that even killing had be somewhat procrastinated. ¡°Hey, I still have to go out in a few days. It¡¯ll just be you and the kid at home.¡± Li Mingyu murmured softly as he sipped the weak tea in the small restaurant. His wife uttered a sound of agreement and said, ¡°Then go early ande back early. If the boss demands too much, just quit serving him. Actually, just doing food delivery or the asional odd job is pretty good. Our daily expenses aren¡¯t much; we can make do by being frugal.¡± ¡°How could that be enough?¡± Li Mingyu smiled and thought to himself that the household expenses weren¡¯t just about food and drink; there were mortgage payments for the house, school fees for the car, expenses for going out to have fun, holiday surprises, luxury goods for keeping up with the Joneses, and so on¡ªnone of which could be left out. If Li Mingyu hadn¡¯t joined the drug trafficking gang, with just the identity of a courier or food delivery guy, he would hardly have been able to pay the rent. However, since he started killing people, he came to like his job as a food delivery man even more. Riding his beloved motorcycle through the ever-changing city, asionally delivering a meal, or maybe butchering the dog of someone who had left a bad review a few days prior, and thening home at night to eat the meal prepared by his wife and y with his little girl¡ªthis life full of the scent of everyday life was the ultimate contentment. ¡°Let¡¯s go home after we¡¯re full.¡± Li Mingyu stood up and hailed a Didi. When taking his daughter out, he wouldn¡¯t ride his motorcycle. Whening to the city center, he was even toozy to drive his own car. Li Mingyu took a look around before leaving the small restaurant, then subconsciously stopped in his tracks. ¡°Keep walking. If you run, we shoot. If you don¡¯t want to be arrested in front of your daughter, then cooperate with us.¡± Changyang City¡¯s detectives in charge of the arrest were equipped with several guns and many stun batons and electric clubs. ording to their n, if Li Mingyu resisted with a gun, they were to take him down on the spot, ready even for American-style draw and shoot. This was a professional killer, or to put it more modestly, a gunman from a criminal gang. Most detectives had only heard of such people and had never seen them. Their first encounter, in the bustle of the city, had only one oue: to meet while lying down. Li Mingyu¡¯s head buzzed. His life full of the scent of everyday life had ended! He had foreseen this daying, even looked forward to it years ago. Yet, when the time to leave the scene arrived, he realized he hadn¡¯t prepared anything at all. ¡°I won¡¯t run,¡± Li Mingyu said. ¡°I¡¯ll just tell my daughter and shout out. Then I¡¯ll surrender without a fight.¡± ¡°Fine,e out with me. I¡¯ll handcuff you first. After you¡¯re handcuffed, you can shout,¡± said the detective in charge of the arrest, not overflowing with sympathy. In ancient times, a person like Li Mingyu would have been considered a desperado, someone who didn¡¯t even care about his own life. It was hard to tell if he had any tricks left up his sleeve. To give him a bit of satisfaction, to make him have some concerns while also lowering his guard. As Li Mingyu was forced out of the small restaurant, several detectives rushed up, raising and dropping their stun batons. ¡°You promised to let me shout,¡± Li Mingyu struggled desperately. ¡°I also said to shout after you¡¯re cuffed,¡± the squad leader in charge of the arrest said. Li Mingyu was mounted and handcuffed. To an outsider, the whole process looked as though the detectives were bullying Li Mingyu. Next, two burly detectives helped Li Mingyu up. The handcuffs on his back shone, granting a rare sense of security to their superiors. ¡°Honey, daddy went to work early. Got a call. I¡¯ll call you backter,¡± Li Mingyu rxed, closed his eyes, and was put into the prison van. He couldn¡¯t even pay attention to what his wife and child were shouting after him. ¡­ Operations Room Yu Wenshu and Bai Jian stood behind theputer screen, always feeling a surreal sense of detachment. ¡°So you¡¯re saying the killer really was just a delivery man? And he bought a house with the money he earned from killing?¡± Yu Wenshu found it hard to believe. After all the fuss, was being a hitman just a side gig? If being a hitman were the main job, that would be even more tragic; it would mean that making deliveries was a side job and that the ie from killing was not even enough for living. Jiang Yuan was equally surprised. He had originally thought that the delivery uniform was just a simple disguise. He didn¡¯t expect that the killer would start delivering early in the morning andte at night so actively that he¡¯d worked at the Yellow Kangaroo¡¯s station for several years without being noticed. It was just in the time since they had sat down that Li Mingyu had confessed everything. ¡°A drug trafficking gang, actually manufacturing drugs in the city.¡± Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t bear to listen when the detective called with the update. After sending the youngsters out of the room, Yu Wenshu switched to speakerphone. The speaking detective reported in detail, ¡°Li Mingyu doesn¡¯t know how many people are in the gang. Their organization is quite strict, requiring them to keep secrets from one another. The gang¡¯s headquarters is in Shuidong, in an ordinary office building outfitted with multiple monitors and cameras. They gather there to produce the drugs periodically.¡± ¡°The drugs they produce are mainly sold elsewhere, not locally,¡± the detective continued. ¡°Wang Xingzhai, Number Two, is another drug trafficking gang member obsessed with distributing drugs locally, so Li Mingyu killed him.¡± ¡°Two criminal gangs?¡± Yu Wenshu felt even more devastated. Changyang City had been so quiet, and now suddenly, there were two drug gangs¡­ it was truly unsettling. ¡°Captain Yu, don¡¯t panic,¡± Bai Jian whispered. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between one criminal gang and two? Maybe the two gangs both split from another one.¡± Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but nod. Chapter 537 - 537 494 Notification ?537: 494 Chapter Notification 537: 494 Chapter Notification ¡°ording to Li Mingyu, the drug trafficking gang he knows of has at least two heads. The big boss goes by the pseudonym Huang Li, and the smaller boss is nicknamed ¡®Tea Guest.''¡± ¡°Huang Li is about in his thirties, not much hair, refined and mild-mannered, often wears sses, and puts on a shirt for work. He doesn¡¯t always wear a suit, might have worked in a rted industry before, but the specifics are unclear. He¡¯s vicious when ites to business, willing to kill with his own hands. Li Mingyu had seen him do it twice.¡± ¡°The ¡®Tea Guest¡¯ is said to recognize many types of drugs, a more technically skilled dealer. He¡¯s responsible for the technical work within the gang. The ¡®Tea Guest¡¯ is about 50 years old, likes drinking tea, likes chatting, and is probably a local from Changyang.¡± Bai Jian was sitting at the front of the conference room, delivering intelligence reports to several members including the narcotics squad. He was still a bit nervous. Having initiated such a big case himself, he was somewhat surprised and excited. But the thought of taking overpletely had vanished. It wasn¡¯t the danger he was worried about, but rather that the Criminal Police Brigade of Shiting County had around two hundred full-time officers, plus some auxiliary police. Even if they could temporarily borrow people, they would likely struggle to handle such a big case. What¡¯s more important is that Bai Jian and his Criminal Police Brigade had been practically gutted. They could handle small cases, but big ones would be courting disaster. However, this did not prevent Captain Bai from enjoying his moment in front of his peers. He held his head up slightly and said, ¡°The Li Mingyu we¡¯ve arrested is a core member of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang and also a veteran member. Since joining the gang eight years ago, he has worked as their gunman, clearing the way for their business¡­¡± ¡°Li Mingyu has confessed to killing six people, all of whom were disposed of by henchman Wang Qiliang in the old graves of Shiting County. We suspect he¡¯s hiding more. However, our current focus is on the other members of his gang.¡± ¡°The members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang that Li Mingyu has seen and knows about number around 20. They use an office building in Shuidong District as their base, equipped with a lot of surveince and protective facilities, and the drug manufacturing equipment installed in the basement operates regrly.¡± ¡°Their main bottleneck seems to be that sourcing raw materials is rtively difficult, but they have multiple channels they¡¯re trying¡­¡± ¡°As for the other criminal gang, we know very little. We only know that within the team are Lao Gui and Wang Xingzhai who has already died. This gang mainly traffics drugs in Changyang City and Shannan Province, but the details are still not very clear¡­¡± Bai Jian said this with a hint of regret. As a police officer, he actually wanted to be involved in cracking such major cases, but that was merely wishful thinking. The narcotics side mostly just listened, and after hearing the briefing, they calmly said, ¡°We¡¯ve got the case from here now¡­¡± ¡°Captain Yang, we¡¯ll wrap up the murder case on our own,¡± Yu Wenshu added. ¡°That will work,¡± replied the narcotics squad. ¡°When are you nning to close the case?¡± Chief Yu asked at that moment. The other side, Captain Yang, hesitated for a few seconds, then said, ¡°Soon, once we¡¯ve rified their personnel makeup and other details.¡± ¡°We can help,¡± Chief Yu replied, waiting for just that response. Captain Yang frowned, ¡°How so?¡± Yu Wenshu nudged Jiang Yuan with his mouth and said, ¡°Footprints, fingerprints, video, scene investigation, a whole set of experts. You must have seen this case.¡± Captain Yang nodded, ¡°A very famous team, now we¡¯ve seen the real deal.¡± Looking at Jiang Yuan, Captain Yang was quite interested and asked, ¡°Chief Yu, are you willing to let Jiang Yuan join us?¡± ¡°He was never mine to begin with, what¡¯s there to let.¡± Yu Wenshuughed, ¡°Jiang Yuan is a detective from the Ningtai County Bureau. I¡¯ll give you a phone number, Huang Qiangmin, the head of their Criminal Police Brigade and also the vice head of the county bureau. If you want to use Jiang Yuan, you should talk to him.¡± Captain Yang took down the phone number simply, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and then negotiated with the other parties, clearly unaware of what he had just obtained. Jiang Yuan wore a smile, innocently watching the others trade him off, without saying a word. In a high-level meeting, there was no chance for him to speak. Anything he had to say could be said to Huang Qiangminter. ¡­ The next day. Li Xiang returned from his days spent digging up graves in Shiting County, covered in dirt. His work had been effective; the second and fourth bodies that proved crucial had been unearthed by him. However, theter n to search the grave soil for clues had failed, wasting a lot of Li Xiang¡¯s time. ¡°It¡¯s good that the case was solved,¡± Li Xiang met with Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan among others, and said with self-deprecatingughter, ¡°Actually, I was close to a breakthrough too, ah, but it wasn¡¯t in time.¡± ¡°Li, you worked hard. Did you find something?¡± Liu Jinghui invited Li Xiang, now patting his back with a full smile. Anyway, the case has been solved, so everyone can rx now. Li Xiang could only force a bitter smile and say, ¡°I found some cigarette butts and things like that in front of several graves, so I prepared to collect them all and then categorize them to do a batch of DNA tests. I personally felt that maybe there would be a chance.¡± ¡°Haha, too bad,¡± Liu Jinghui listened and felt the chances were slim, but you never know. Now that the case was over, there was no need to worry about these things anymore, so he didn¡¯t need to make a judgment either. ¡°By the way, did you dig up the other two bodies?¡± Liu Jinghui was referring to the six bodies that Li Mingyu had confessed to. Previously, they had dug up four bodies, so there were still two bodies underground. As part of a homicide case, they naturally had to be exhumed. Li Xiang shook his head and said, ¡°Let them dig it up themselves. The case turned out this way, I don¡¯t want to see it anymore. I¡¯m going to give some instructions and then go home to rest.¡± ¡°Captain Li, let¡¯s have a meal together.¡± Jiang Yuan had been listening the whole time and warmly invited him at this moment. Li Xiang hesitated for a moment and said, ¡°There¡¯s no need for such trouble. Coming out to help is part of the department¡¯s duty at the provincial office¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so polite. I specifically ordered a meal. It would be a waste not toe.¡± Jiang Yuan invited Liu Jinghui and others again, making sure of the number of people. Evening. Fulin Restaurant. Jiang Yuan along with Huang Qiangmin, Liu Jinghui, Yu Wenshu, Li Xiang, and others, including Mu Zhiyang who often followed him around¡ªall together nearly 20 people¡ªgathered in one ce. It turned out to be quite lively. Chef Sui Qing was also one of the chefs often invited by Jiang Fuzhen. Once he received the order from Jiang Yuan, Fulin Restaurant naturally devoted its full energy to the meal. Running a restaurant, especially a high-end one, boils down to catering to the rich. Without people who can afford fine food, don¡¯t expect to make money selling white flour buns. Once Jiang Yuan and the others were seated, Sui Qing personally came forward to meet everyone, continuing to introduce dishes until several cold dishes were served. The most awaited dish, ¡°Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,¡± was brought up, then he said with a smile, ¡°This ¡®Buddha Jumps Over the Wall¡¯ actually has quite a story. Many of the ingredients were from dishes my master made back in his days. Although my master always insisted on making traditional dishes, the restaurant business got tougher. Later, he specially preserved some ingredients and left them behind, and I ended up benefiting from that.¡± After everyone had a serving of ¡°Buddha Jumps Over the Wall¡± in front of them, Sui Qing picked a maw from the small serving in front of him and said, ¡°Like this fish maw, there are a hundred or so types of fish maw in the world, but ¡®Buddha Jumps Over the Wall¡¯ tastes best with Turtle Fish Glue, whiches fromrge fish of about twenty pounds. Back in my master¡¯s day, Turtle Fish Glue was already rare, but he would never have imagined how rare it is now.¡± Listening to this, Li Xiang couldn¡¯t help butugh and say, ¡°Captain Jiang, hearing him talk like that, I¡¯m afraid to eat it now. The standards for this meal are too extravagant.¡± ¡°My dad said to treat everyone, and it¡¯s his money too, so eat without worry,¡± Jiang Yuan bluntly admitted, behaving like a typical daddy¡¯s boy. But no one present found it inappropriate. Isn¡¯t it natural for the children of wealthy families to listen to their fathers? ¡°Everyone has worked hard. There¡¯s no special meaning this time; it¡¯s mainly to treat you all to a meal and to thank everyone for their efforts,¡± Jiang Yuan said raising his ss and speaking a few courteous words, before handing over the reins of the gathering. Li Xiang and a few others who were not very familiar with the group tried to sense the atmosphere and, finding it was indeed just a meal, were naturally happy and gradually rxed, eating to their heart¡¯s content. Naturally, the conversation turned to the four exhumed bodies and the two they had yet to encounter. Jiang Yuan seemed to remember something and turned to Huang Qiangmin saying, ¡°Right, we should buy a specialized pot for boiling bodies. An auto-heating one, like the tub-shaped, heated bathtubs ordinary families have, but with a lid and made from aluminum alloy.¡± ¡°No problem,¡± Huang Qiangmin agreed immediately, interpreting for himself, ¡°So, you mean a bathtub that can be heated to 100 degrees, turning a bath into a boil?¡± ¡°More or less,¡± Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°It saves timepared to boiling with small pots and also prevents damaging the bones when disassembling.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Huang Qiangmin said as he took a sip of the thick yellow soup from the ¡°Buddha Jumps Over the Wall,¡± savoring it contentedly. ¡­ The Drug Enforcement Squadron didn¡¯t need Jiang Yuan on the scene; they just handed over all their evidence, which they seemed to have gotten from somewhere, to him to deal with. Footprints, fingerprints, photos of all kinds of tools¡­ Just one morning, the Drug Enforcement Squadron managed to fill a conference table in the forensics center with their materials, with justptops taking up eight spots. ¡°We had already started investigating these two groups of people before, just not as thoroughly, and we weren¡¯t clear about their specific hierarchy and personnel distribution¡­¡± A police officer from the Drug Enforcement Squadron said with a smile, ¡°Because it¡¯s been a while, the umted data is vast. We don¡¯t need toplete everything, whatever we can manage is enough.¡± Perhaps because they had been paid, the Drug Enforcement Squadron threw as much rted evidence as they had at Jiang Yuan without a hint of reluctance. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression hardly changed, with Lv3 starting technology, there was no need to exin, just treat it like normal work. Chapter 538 - 538 495 Come and Get the List ?538: Chapter 495: Come and Get the List 538: Chapter 495: Come and Get the List ¡°Doctor Jiang, what do you think, is it too much?¡± The liaison sent by the Drug Enforcement Team was their squad leader, surnamed Qian, a veteran in narcotics with an age over 50. He had to put on sses when looking at his cellphone and had a very kind appearance. He was referring to the heap of various pieces of evidence on the conference table. Jiang Yuan made himself a cup of coffee, ced it on the desk, and seemed in no hurry as he said, ¡°As long as the evidence is well-organized, the quantity doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°Should we start then?¡± the veteran in narcotics suggested with a hint of urging. With so much stuff on the table, if they didn¡¯t start soon, when would they finish? Jiang Yuan saw this too, and with a smile, he agreed, but his eyes were still pondering over the task progress on the system interface. Thetest task progress had reached ¡°405/X¡±, an increase of nearly 40 points. More than half of it was because cases had been solved, with seven or eight points havinge from treating guests yesterday. Logically speaking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s task progress would continue to rise as long as he kept working on cases and treating guests, but there had to be a limit. Besides, he had no idea how the skills would be rewarded in the end. Jiang Yuan held his coffee, sat in his chair pondering this, then nced at the squad leader opposite him holding a cup of green tea, and asked, ¡°Captain Qian, once I process the evidence here, I will liaise with you, right? Will other members of the Drug Enforcement Teame over?¡± ¡°Under normal circumstances, they should not.¡± Captain Qian took a sip of tea and said, ¡°You know, our confidentiality requirements are quite stringent. Even if others doe, it would only be a few leaders. You¡¯ll mainly be liaising with me.¡± ¡°So, I won¡¯t be able to meet the officers who collected this evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan continued to confirm. Captain Qian hummed in affirmation and then asked, ¡°If you really want to meet someone, give me a reason, and I¡¯ll report it to the higher-ups. Would that be okay?¡± He still seemed quite approachable. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, ¡°Sure.¡± However, his real intention was to see if there were any more opportunities to receive ¡°sincere praise.¡± Since there weren¡¯t, there was nothing more to say ¡ª it was time to settle the task. A thought crossed Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, and with a flick of his hand, the system interface shed by. Taskpleted: Sincere Praise Task content: Earn the sincere praise of your peers Task progress: 405/X Task reward: Temporary skill level increase +1,sts 405 minutes. Cooldown 24 hours. Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue. This skill increase of +1, if used on a Level 6 skill, wouldn¡¯t it grant me Level 7 for 405 minutes? It might sound like a trivial statement, but the potential for advancement was enough to frustrate many criminals to death. Even rising from Level 4 to Level 5 or from Level 5 to Level 6 represented a qualitative leap. Applying the same effect to Wang Zhong would make him an elite in the police force. Moreover, the skills acquired through legacy could also be temporarily enhanced with the skill +1. Those Level 1 or Level 2 legacies, when raised by one level, immediately became much more attractive. For instance, a Level 5 Dog Food skill, if temporarily raised, wouldn¡¯t that reach Level 6 ¡ª a simple wave of the hand and the police dogs would have to be obsequious. Sitting in his chair, deeply immersed in thought, Captain Qian was also contemting Jiang Yuan. With his years of experience, he had heard about the high demands of Huang Qiangmin, which was said to have even amused the squadron leader. Now, as he observed Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and posture, Captain Qian thought: ¡°Could it be he¡¯s blown his own trumpet too much and has decided to give up?¡± During this time of observation, Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia, and others gradually entered the room. Jiang Yuan snapped back to attention, opened theptop in front of him, and after some thought, said, ¡°I¡¯ll start with the fingerprints first. You guys should first categorize the fingerprints and pick some out.¡± The evidence and materials on the conference table were a mess, including photos, documents, USB drives, hard drives, andptops; it was all mixed up and definitely needed to be sorted again. Besides not being allowed to take anything out, Captain Qian, who was sipping tea, was also there to guard the evidence. Manpower is always a shortage in any police force, and only special task forces can be a bit more abundant. Thus, until it¡¯s time to submit evidence, various clues form a pile of disorderly evidence, stored in either cabs or piles, depending on the storage space of the unit. Jiang Yuan began with the developed photos for review. The photos came with a USB drive, indicating their importance and priority were of the highest. Many of these photos were from crime scenes, evident from the blood handprints and stters. Most of them had probably been matched already. In the past, Jiang Yuan would have set them aside. Fingerprints that had beenpared but not matched were either not in the database or considered difficult cases. Even if some evidence handlers had done a sloppy job, the fingerprints provided were at least screened carefully. The difficulty was definitely higher. If these prints were given to the Jiang Yuan of old, he would have had topare each one meticulously before drawing a conclusion¡ªan extremely inefficient approach. It would be better topare other fingerprints first. Now, Jiang Yuan used the newly acquired skill, and a blue light shed before his eyes: Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method ¡ª Level 5 (Temporary) Looking again at the fingerprints in front of him, Jiang Yuan saw that his judgment had indeed moved up a notch, and his vision seemed even clearer. Jiang Yuan opened the USB apanying the photos, quickly marked them, and threw them into the software¡¯s background processing. He set the software to select 30 candidate fingerprints at a time. If he didn¡¯t see a match after one pass, he would give up on that fingerprint. Compared to when he was at Fingerprint Analysis Level 3, Jiang Yuan¡¯s current judgment and confidence had greatly improved. Back then, if he couldn¡¯t get a print right on the first try, he would attempt it several times, filtering from 20 candidate prints all the way up to 100 before considering giving up. After acquiring Level 4 fingerprint analysis, the overall process was simr, but Jiang Yuan observed that when he filtered down to 100 fingerprints, the number was quite small. Basically, after examining 50 fingerprints, he could almost determine whether there were missing fingerprints from the database or a problem with his ownbeling and essentiallye to a conclusion. Now that he had reached Level 5, his judgment ability became even stronger. Additionally, the synergy between various rted skills had also noticeably improved. When Jiang Yuan now looked at a fingerprint, he had a good sense of whether image enhancement was necessary and where it should be applied. This meant that if he possessed Level 5 fingerprint skills, even if he did not master image enhancement himself, coborating with an expert in image enhancement would produce very good results. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be as good as if he did it himself. The fingerprints sent over by the narcotics squad clearly had not been examined by any high-profile experts. Perhaps they had been checked by experts around Level 2.9, or by someone with a rudimentary Level 3, but even then not very meticulously. Most of the fingerprints were ordinary ones; they really just forwarded all the prints they had collected recently. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother with any special strategies this time. Armed with Level 5 fingerprint skills leading the charge, followed by Level 5 image enhancement, Level 3 Chongqing Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, and a bit of trace knowledge¡ªfor these unidentified fingerprints, it was like a sweeping force. He went through the photos one by one, discarding some on the left, matching others on the right, and cing the difficult ones at the top. There were inevitably some troublesome prints, but the pile of matched fingerprints on the right kept growing. 405 minutes is six hours and 45 minutes, roughly equivalent to a week¡¯s work time for a deputy head of a unit. Such a long time spent on scanning fingerprints¡ªthe ones simply photographed¡ªwasn¡¯t challenging enough. Soon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s printer began to ck out resumes. Captain Qian, having finished his tea, got up bored and ambled about, eventually strolling over to the printer to take a sheet of paper, and began to look at it unceremoniously. It was all evidence and documents from their narcotics squad, so naturally, he was free to peruse the output. Then, Captain Qian couldn¡¯t take his eyes off it. ¡°Are these¡­ all criminal suspects?¡± Captain Qian wasn¡¯t surprised by the extensive criminal records on the resumes, but the quantity was overwhelming. He picked up the freshly printed stack of papers, gave it a quick nce, and saw at least thirty to forty sheets, one person per page¡ªthat was thirty to forty criminal suspects. Looking at the specific records, it seemed as though none of them would be wrongly arrested if they were apprehended. Those at the bottom of the drug chain, either using or selling drugs, were typically habitual criminals¡ªnot unless they had escted to a certain level would they opt for drug trafficking. Likewise, those addicted to drugs, when it reached a certain stage, would definitely turn to crime; both drug use and traffickingplement and facilitate each other. The fingerprints the narcotics squad had sent were mainly evidence collected in the past few days rted to two drug-trafficking gangs. The source of the evidence came from information obtained from cases solved by Jiang Yuan and his team. Besides the drug-making building in the city center being quiet, both drug-trafficking gangs had a massive number of peripheral members. Moreover, the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang had been under surveince earlier, therefore some fingerprints and other evidence had been collected. However, this evidence was only identified within the narcotics squad. They neitherpared it worldwide nor was it certain to pass through top experts¡¯ scrutiny. In fact, except for homicide cases¡ªand even including most homicide cases¡ªevidence was simply processed by the team¡¯s criminal squad, the criminal brigade, or the Criminal Science and Technology Center. Experts¡¯ time was limited, and there were so many special case teams in the world. Huang Qiangmin could bite people all over the world and go unchecked for a reason. For someone like Captain Qian, when working on cases in the past and needing topare fingerprints, he had to wait for identification and even asionally bribe with a cigarette. Old criminal investigators preferred to conduct sudden interrogations because they could bepleted by themselves. Fingerprinting, in those days, required some technical expertise. Now, the narcotics squad¡¯s technical capabilities were considered robust, butpared with Changyang City¡¯s criminal investigation force or the provincial bureau¡¯s capabilities, they naturally couldn¡¯t match. Jiang Yuan, in processing fingerprints this way, piling up criminal suspects batch by batch, Captain Qian had neither seen nor heard of such a thing before. Looking around and seeing Wang Chuanxing and others unfazed, he decided to sit by the printer and flip through these ¡°resumes¡± one by one. Addicts, released convicts,pulsory detoxification subjects, repeat drug offenders, violent criminals, economic criminals, white-cor workers with clean records but whose fingerprints were collected, juvenile offenders, civil servants¡­ People from all walks of life, condensed into a stack of paper, ufortably tainted. Captain Qian felt that arresting the people in this stack of papers would mean his trip hadn¡¯t been in vain. And the printer beside him kept chugging along, spitting out paper. ¡°Are all these matches from today?¡± Captain Qian clutched the stack in his hand and approached Jiang Yuan. ¡°Yes,¡± Jiang Yuan replied, barely lifting his head. It was best not to waste temporarily enhanced abilities. After a moment¡¯s thought, Captain Qian confirmed again, ¡°All from the evidence we sent over?¡± ¡°Yes. The specific evidence numbers are all there,¡± Jiang Yuandao replied. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got it.¡± Captain Qian stepped back quietly; he dared not leave the conference room, and it felt awkward to make a call in person, so he pulled out his phone and rapidly typed in the narcotics squad¡¯s work group chat: ¡°Oh my god, Jiang Yuan has already singled out dozens of people. Send someone over to pick up the list ASAP.¡± Chapter 539 - 539 496 Enchanting ?539: Chapter 496 Enchanting 539: Chapter 496 Enchanting ¡°There really are dozens of people¡­ huh, this must be over a hundred people,¡± Standing in the meeting room of the Criminal Police Brigade, the Deputy Chief of the Narcotics Brigade looked through the list Jiang Yuan had pulled up, exchanging nces with Captain Qian. With grave seriousness, Captain Qian nodded and said, ¡°On the way here, I exchanged a few words with the family, and it should be correct. Everything checks out upon verification.¡± ¡°All these are matched from the fingerprints we provided?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The Deputy Chief let out a sigh, ncing over at Jiang Yuan, who was still busy working, his expression bing solemn as well. In this meeting room with more than a dozen people, except for him and Captain Qian, the others, including Jiang Yuan, had no idea where the evidence hade from; they were just processing it. And the Deputy Chief was very clear that the fingerprints in this stack of names, some were extracted from small packages of drugs, which meant they were either a member of the drug distribution chain or drug users sharing the spoils. Other fingerprints had been obtained from recently acquired intelligence on suspected high-risk locations, such as the office building of the Huang Li System Factory that Jiang Yuan had just secured, which was a high-risk site. Since narcotics officers couldn¡¯t enter directly, they designed things that required human touch in nearby parking lots, convenience stores, restaurants, etc., such as installing an extra barrier lift requiring push-button operation, or changing the inner door of public restrooms to require pulling by hand, and so on. In short, the majority of the provided fingerprints, as long as the person was confirmed, were basically criminals; some would even have to be executed by firing squad. But to be honest, the Deputy Chief had watched his subordinates bring in the evidence and, at the time of delivery, he really hadn¡¯t expected that what he would receive would be a death notebook. ¡°Ningtai Jiangyuan, the fierce mes raging.¡± The Deputy Chief recalled this phrase, suddenly feeling the full force of it. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± Captain Qian couldn¡¯t help but be anxious; there were nearly a hundred people here, and it looked like there were criminal suspects numbering in the hundreds. If they weren¡¯t caught, would these people run away? Even if they didn¡¯t consider the possibility of leaked information, criminals are inherently mobile. If it were just one or two, they could move around all they liked; the Narcotics Brigade wouldn¡¯t care about the travel expenses. But now it was different: managing to track over a hundred criminal suspects was difficult enough, and if ten or twenty percent escaped, that would be ten to twenty individuals, which seemed like a waste to even think about. Among them were certainly underlings, but substantive drug traffickers in the middle tier were definitely a part of it. Usually, it was so difficult to catch just one of them, but now, when they were right in front of you, to catch or not to catch? However, if they were caught, the drug traffickers would certainly have a reactive response. They weren¡¯t like those penniless hoodlums who could only run to friends or rtives. Those involved in drug trafficking might flee the country in an instant, and in a few years, they might die abroad, making formal penal prosecution impossible. Most importantly, these suspects might implicate even more people. Perhaps, there was indeed a chance ofpletely uprooting two criminal gangs. Such an opportunity, even for Narcotics Brigade units at the divisional level, was not easily aplished. What Captain Qian could think of, the Deputy Chief could also anticipate. While he weighed the pros and cons in his mind, the printer beside him chugged, continuing to spit out slips of paper. ¡°Suddenly, I feel like I¡¯m the belle of a ball,¡± the Deputy Chief, with his rough-hewn features, suddenly said, startling Captain Qian. ¡°How did we¡­ be the belle of a ball?¡± Captain Qian was somewhat flustered, too old to handle such surprises. The Deputy Chief exined, ¡°Back in my school days, there was a ss belle just like this. She hadn¡¯t even finished reading one love letter before another was delivered to her. During a single recess, she could receive a whole pile of them.¡± ¡°That belle must have been really pretty,¡± Captain Qian remarked with envy. ¡°Mhm,¡± the Deputy Chief grunted in agreement, ¡°She really was beautiful;ter she was tricked into using drugs. Even in death, she looked better than other corpses.¡± ¡°What a pity,¡± Captain Qian was too old for such stories to affect his emotions much, he simplymented, ¡°This time we can arrest more drug dealers to answer for their crimes.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯ll call the Chief over to have a look, there¡¯s no rush for this one hour,¡± the Deputy Chief said. By then, he had made up his mind; Jiang Yuan had only just started fingerprintparisons and already matched so many drug criminals. And although there might not be many important figures in the mix yet, this was just the beginning. There were still so many fingerprints to go through, and even if they couldn¡¯t maintain the current ratio, hitting another 100 out of so many wouldn¡¯t be surprising. So catching suspects right now would definitely be a case of the loss outweighing the gain. On the other hand, he also felt he couldn¡¯t bear such a big decision-making risk, this list of nearly a hundred names¡­ if they were all arrested¡­ The Deputy Chief felt tempted to clench his fists. Another hour passed, and the Chief of the Narcotics Brigade finally arrived at the meeting room. He had apparently been out, evidenced by the sweat on his cor and no ce to change his clothes, probably not caring much as he walked in and immediately looked at the list the Deputy Chief was discussing. The Deputy Chief handed it to him to review. The Deputy Chief flipped through a few pages and realized that each page represented one person,menting, ¡°This¡­ it¡¯s more than just dozens or hundreds of pages.¡± Chapter 540 - 540 496 Enchanting_2 ?540: Chapter 496: Enchanting_2 540: Chapter 496: Enchanting_2 ¡°During your time here, Captain Jiang has worked on nearly thirty more people.¡± The deputy chief mumbled, not being able to call specifically for this matter. Jiang Yuan looked up politely with a smile and greeted, ¡°Chief Yu.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Jiang Yuan, you¡¯ve worked hard, worked hard.¡± Chief Yu did not grasp Jiang Yuan¡¯s intention to save time and went over to shake hands with him. Jiang Yuan could only stand to shake hands, then said, ¡°I¡¯m in a good rhythm, I¡¯ll work a bit longer. How about I treat you to a meal afterward?¡± Although there is a 24-hour cooling period, that time shouldn¡¯t be wasted. When ites time to make arrests, that one hour might mean adding a couple more names to the death penalty list. It¡¯s better not to dy such matters. Chief Yu was naturally all smiles and hurriedly said, ¡°You do your thing, if you need anything, just tell me and we¡¯ll provide you with good service. By the way, are these photos and the informationplete?¡± ¡°They¡¯re okay, I can only work with the existing data and evidence.¡± Jiang Yuan replied as he sat down to look at theputer screen. LV5 fingerprint identification technology isn¡¯t much stronger than LV4, but when examined closely, it¡¯s like the difference between an Olympic champion and a National Games champion in the 100-meter dash. It seems to be just a fraction of a second¡¯s gap, but in reality, it¡¯s a difference as vast as the heavens and earth. The same goes for fingerprint analysis¡ªa miss is as good as a mile. If they were all simple fingerprints, then even LV3 or LV2 fingerprint experts could handle them. However, when faced withplex, challenging fingerprints, LV3 might work on it for days, while LV4 could possibly produce results within a day or two, and LV5 might be able to quicklye up with an oue. Jiang Yuan is now dealing with a lot of fingerprint evidence, and with LV5 skills, he can process them very quickly. If he were to go back to LV4, the final oue might be simr, but it would take a few extra days, or even a week¡¯s time. Previously, Jiang Yuan often had to spend days on fingerprint work, as did the general experts, relying on both technique and meticulousness, and sometimes, luck as well. Criminals are the same way; if they¡¯re unlucky, even after carefully cleaning the crime scene, they might still be caught by an LV3 expert, and all their efforts would be in vain. Among the drug trafficking gangs, there are many released ex-convicts, some of whom are very smart, having trained inside and outside for many years. The crimes they n and execute could even fool an LV3 expert, but against Jiang Yuan¡¯s current LV5, they would be no match. No one even knows how powerful he really is. The current situation is like this: among the evidence collected by the Narcotics Division, some are so ambiguous orplex that even ordinary LV3 experts cannot handle them simply. Jiang Yuan might have had to work on them for a while in the past or set them aside to deal with when he had more time. Today, however, he managed to make breakthroughs all at once. How difficult they were, probably only Jiang Yuan and the criminals themselves know. Turning back, Chief Yu, just like the deputy chief earlier, started flipping through those ¡°resumes¡± one by one again. His expression turned serious, then he seemed amused, and finally, he couldn¡¯t help but smile. His actions also unintentionally slowed down, as he read with a sense of treasuring, and even a bit of reverence. The deputy chief had to remind Chief Yu softly, ¡°Huang Qiangmin.¡± The smile at the corner of Chief Yu¡¯s mouth vanished instantly. At that moment, Yu Wenshu entered the conference room. ¡°Yin, you¡¯ve been running around¡­¡± Yu Wenshu joked as he entered, saying with a smile, ¡°I asked you earlier if you needed us to prepare a workspace for you. Qian said there was no need, so I didn¡¯t arrange it¡­¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need a workspace; we¡¯re just going to take a quick look and head back,¡± Yin said with some embarrassment. Yu Wenshu nced at Jiang Yuan, then back at Yin, and said with a smile, ¡°Jiang Yuan has made progress, hasn¡¯t he? My rmendation wasn¡¯t bad, right?¡± ¡°Indeed, there have been results,¡± Yin said solemnly, nodding. After a moment he added, ¡°Chief Yu, let¡¯s talk business. The confidentiality measures for this conference room need to be strengthened as much as possible.¡± Yu Wenshu was taken aback, ¡°Is that necessary? I think the confidentiality efforts of our Criminal Investigation Division should be quite adequate.¡± ¡°I know, but please, as much as possible. I don¡¯t mean anything else, but the lives of over a hundred people are at stake here, and I must be cautious,¡± Yin exined earnestly. Yu Wenshu wasn¡¯t pleased, but he still grunted an acknowledgment. Yin added, ¡°At least for two days. I need to coordinate a bit before we can act, and then, I¡¯ll need your help.¡± ¡°Alright then, I¡¯ll seal off the hallway here, empty out the offices upstairs and downstairs, and dispatch a few teams for duty. I¡¯ll also add double posts at the door. Is that okay?¡± Yu Wenshu offered a straightforward n. ¡°That¡¯s fine, that¡¯s fine. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll send a few more people over to stay in the conference room and by the entrance,¡± Yin continued to request. Yu Wenshu nodded again, saying self-deprecatingly, ¡°I¡¯m making extra work for myself.¡± ¡°This time it¡¯s on me, my fault,¡± Yin apologized repeatedly, then he took out his phone and started to make a call. His callsted for ten minutes. After hanging up, Yin looked somewhat embarrassed and apologized to Yu Wenshu again, ¡°I really had no choice, the strategy we had prepared, the n we had designed, might all have to be changed now, and somerades don¡¯t quite understand.¡± ¡°As long as it¡¯s been exined clearly.¡± ¡°Well¡­ um¡­ a few of them might still need toe and see for themselves,¡± Yin said helplessly, ¡°The case is serious, and it¡¯s about how our brothers are going to charge into battle. I can¡¯t make these decisions on my own.¡± Yu Wenshu nodded slowly, ¡°I can understand. You face more danger on the scene than we do.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been much better in recent years. However, if we had the support of technical personnel like Jiang Yuan, many of our strategies and approaches could truly undergo significant changes¡­¡± Yin¡¯s gaze was fixed on Jiang Yuan, his expression warming. Yu Wenshu found it hard to look at anymore and reminded, ¡°Huang Qiangmin is not an easy person to deal with. You¡¯ve seen how steep his prices can be.¡± ¡°Yes, the rates are indeed quite high. However, if we can ensure such work efficiency, it would be considered getting your money¡¯s worth¡­¡± Yin said, while his gaze on Jiang Yuan showedplete adoration. This was the first time Yu Wenshu had seen someone appear unbothered after being bitten by a crocodile, thinking to himself how fat that person must be¡­ Then, as Yu Wenshu thought of the disparity in per capita funds, he was suddenly rmed, and hurriedly said, ¡°Yin, you have to hold firm, and you must not bid up the price.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t happen, that won¡¯t happen,¡± Yin assured verbally, but his eyes on Jiang Yuan were thoroughly captivated. Chapter 541 - 541 497 I Lead the Charge ?541: Chapter 497 I Lead the Charge 541: Chapter 497 I Lead the Charge Several deputy directors, politicalmissars, and deputy politicalmissars of the drug enforcement unit, along with a few squad leaders or deputy squad leaders, arrived sessively at the Criminal Police Detachment. Everyone watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprint identification demonstration together, and their attitude shifted from ¡°What the hell is this¡± to ¡°Dad, I want to keep this ghost.¡± Jiang Yuan at first considered whether to disy the politeness of a person from Ning County, but with a nce, he saw that the system¡¯s timer had decreased to 220 minutes. He no longer wanted to pay attention to anything beyond the evidence. Whatever the matter, he decided it could wait until after the 220 minutes. In the remaining time, less than 4 hours, he didn¡¯t want to deal with anyone. The 405 initial minutes were the most valuable. By tomorrow, even if he could still use fingerprints to find some criminal suspects, the effect would diminish, and the efficiency would decrease. After all, they would be second or third-generation fingerprints. Besides, as he always says, the highplexity of fingerprints doesn¡¯t guarantee their value. Without knowing the source of the fingerprints, painstakingly spending an hour or two to produce a super difficult fingerprint might only narrow down to a decrepit drug addict, middle-aged, graduate, indebted, homeless, divorced, ragged, suffering erectile dysfunction, shriveled testicles, severely shortsighted, chronically sick, too ugly to lure others, without inte to browse adult content, too poor to solicit prostitutes, too feeble to rape forcefully, and too cowardly tomit suicide. Therefore, once the cooldown ended tomorrow, assuming the drug enforcement unit still needed assistance, Jiang Yuan would also shift the temporary +1 point to skills other than fingerprint analysis. On the meeting table, therey not only fingerprint evidence but also a multitude of footprints, traces, and on-site photos, among other things. The only exception was that DNA and other biological materials hadn¡¯t been delivered. Considering this, even 405 minutes were extremely tight. Fortunately, it was 405 minutes. If the time was too short, only one or two hours, he would have had to focus solely on individual fingerprints. The opportunity to eliminate a gang-style organization and batch arrest criminals would have been scarce. The members of the drug enforcement unit didn¡¯t care about Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude. Everyone had put aside their work and specifically returned to the Criminal Police Detachment, not just to experience the disposition of a youngster. In fact, these individuals were usually busy with their own tasks and might not be able to see each other even once a week. Now that they had met, they simply gathered and began to discuss in low voices. Now that it was confirmed that Jiang Yuan had matched fingerprints with hundreds of criminal suspects, seeing such a long list of suspects¡ªincluding some who had previously served time for drug trafficking¡ªeveryone started to have second thoughts. When to make a move became the focus of debate. The printer churned out paper with the relentless crankiness of a middle-aged man who runs five kilometers daily, climbing stairs on his worn-out knees. Wang Chuanxing was busy organizing the evidence and couldn¡¯t help but admire Jiang Yuan with a respectful nce. In the presence of so many leaders, the fact that Jiang Yuan could concentrate on fingerprint analysis was something he himself would not have been able to do. Given the same opportunity, Wang Chuanxing would definitely opt to tter, get acquainted, add WeChat contacts, exchange phone numbers¡­ He didn¡¯t harbor lofty ideals or grand ambitions, but being a low-level beat cop was certainly not his goal when he joined the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Joining Jiang Yuan¡¯s team and following his rhythm was his ideal scenario. At least in the police system, excelling in operations was always a path for promotion. Bing a member of the core team, even if just for menial tasks, would more likely get him noticed. What he didn¡¯t expect was for Jiang Yuan to advance so rapidly, already impacting the drug enforcement unit. Of course, that was a good thing. Inw enforcement, solving cases was akin to being a god; stepping out meant descending as a deity on earth. ¡­ Two dayster. Shuidong District, Changyang City. Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin, and others gathered in the building across from the target with the leader of the drug enforcement unit. Within those two days, Jiang Yuan had expanded the death records of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang to 300 pages. Among them, 200 were likely drug users or low-level individuals who sold drugs to support their habit, but there were also around 100 who were genuine members of the drug trafficking gang, at least directly controlling distribution personnel or important external members. The size and scale prompted the drug enforcement unit to no longer wait. In fact, since the 300 individuals might be scattered throughout the city, with a few having already left town, proceeding with the arrests was already very challenging. Further dys could lead to suspects fleeing or bing too numerous to handle effectively. The strategy of ¡°arrest first, interrogate, then arrest more¡± naturally emerged. Among all the priorities, the headquarters building of the crime gang was key. Calling it a building was generous¡ªit was an ordinary old-style office building, six floors high, with a ground space of three to four thousand square meters but only a bit over a thousand square meters of actual floor area, and it had an underground parking garage as well as a small, separate surface parking garage. Such a building was one of the early bustling buildings erected in Changyang City. As more demolitions and renovations urred, and the bustling center shifted, buildings like this one remained in a state of neglect. If it were a military operation, there wouldn¡¯t be much to say about this office building: a few sts would quiet it down. But in the heart of a provincial capital city, the police obviously didn¡¯t have such military support, and even the deployed armed police were very cautious about using explosives. Chapter 542 - 542 497 I Lead the Charge_2 ?542: Chapter 497: I Lead the Charge_2 542: Chapter 497: I Lead the Charge_2 The building where the officers were stationed was also of a simr design. The temporarymand center on the second floor had been hastily set up, and everyone had quietly ascended from the underground parking lot in buses and other vehicles. The main force of officers responsible for the assault had gathered there, intensely reviewing blueprints of the target building, observing, andmunicating on the spot. They were in charge of the assault, interception, securing positions, and more. Later on, additional police would arrive by vehicle after the battle began, either to provide reinforcements or to clean up, though their numbers would not be too vast. The scope of the crackdown was too wide tomit all police resources to the drug syndicate¡¯s headquarters building. Second floor. The temporarymand center was equipped with several screens, all showing real-time footage from cameras at the front. Beyond that, including Jiang Yuan, officers were not allowed to look out on their own to observe. A few leaders from the narcotics squad, along withmanders from the armed police and the criminal police, were discussing in low voices. It was mainly the narcotics squad leaders speaking, while the others listened. After all, for a drug enforcement battle of this scale, other types of police from Changyang City had a minimal involvement. In the more rearward areas, the director and deputy directors of the Changyang City Bureau presided over argermand center, leading and coordinating the city-wide arrest operation. Even outside of Changyang City, the provincial department coordinated by dispatching local police forces to assist in unison. But without a doubt, the most critical target of the arrests was still the drug syndicate¡¯s headquarters building. Setting up a drug-production factory in the downtown area of the provincial capital ¨C just the audacity of this move was something the police could not tolerate. Time ticked by, second by second. The narcotics squad was discussing, and at some point, their voices began to rise quietly. When Deputy Squad Leader Jin Kai, with a hint of murderous intent in his voice, said, ¡°I request to lead the assault team in the first charge,¡± the atmosphere on-site suddenly became tense and solemn. The squad leader was taken aback and instantly refused, ¡°It¡¯s obvious that you¡¯re standing out. You don¡¯t need to request that; the front line has itsmanders in charge.¡± Deputy Squad Leader Jin Kai calmly replied, ¡°I believe it¡¯s necessary. First, this case is extremely significant, and I think the front line requires on-the-spot decision-making. The target building is not small; whether the assault team chases after they break in or continues the assault¡ªwhat if we inquire onsite and the signal is poor?¡± After a pause, Jin Kai continued, ¡°The key issue is the drug cartel¡¯s leaders¡ªdo the officers and armed police on the front line recognize them? Will members of other gangs be involved? We have no clue. I¡¯m fairly familiar with drug traffickers in the province. Having the opportunity to be on-site allows me to evaluate the targets¡¯ worth.¡± Seeing that the squad leader wanted to speak, Jin Kai continued, ¡°To be honest, when our squad requests assistance from other units, it makes no sense for us to hide behind others and let them charge forward. That¡¯s like being spineless. For small cases, it doesn¡¯t matter, but for a case this big, someone must step up.¡± ¡°Jin!¡± Squad Leader Yin¡¯s emotions surged upon hearing this, and he no longer controlled his volume, sternly saying, ¡°I am the squad leader, and I haven¡¯t gone to the front yet; what¡¯s your hurry? I will lead the charge; you circle around to seal off the rear!¡± ¡°If you run to the front, it¡¯ll be chaos here. Besides, with the aid of so many brother units this time, we won¡¯t be able to operate without you coordinating from the middle,¡± Deputy Squad Leader Jin Kai said, appearing particrly calm. ¡°Coordinating from the middle is the job of the director, not mine,¡± Squad Leader Yin retorted. ¡°The front line is not your ce either; only I can go.¡± Jin Kai looked at the squad leader and then at the others, saying, ¡°Let¡¯s leave it at that. Catching these criminals, it¡¯s worth retiring over. How many big fish can we catch in a busy month usually?¡± Squad Leader Yin knew he was making sense and couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. This arrangement was perhaps the best one, but it also was the most dangerous. ¡°All right, there¡¯s no need to make a spectacle, and have someoneugh at us.¡± The deputy squadron leaderughed generously and muttered, ¡°It¡¯s not the first time, don¡¯t frighten the young people. They¡¯re practically handing us the credit, just bend down and pick it up.¡± Yin, the squadron leader, didn¡¯t turn back to look or felt any need to exin. The nature of drug enforcement work is somewhat more dangerous than criminal investigation, but not by much. The main risk lies in the unpredictability of the criminals. In criminal cases, not to mention that violent crimes are bing less frequent, even if one is met, as long as several officers are making an arrest, the criminals generally surrender without a fight. Those who don¡¯t want to surrender often turn and run, and those who resist fiercely are in the minority. The main issue with drug enforcement is that drug users often have abnormal mental states. For example, someone on methamphetamine is extremely agitated and can stay awake for three days and nights straight, and also has hallucinations, with a reduced sense of danger. When the German army invaded France, Rommel and his troops were all fighting on amphetamines, which enabled them to make deep and consecutive maneuvers over several days, turning them into artificial super-soldiers of World War II. However, cracking down on drug trafficking gangs is different. The mostmon harm that drug users may cause to narcotics officers is attacking them suddenly or carrying drugs on them. Drug trafficking gangs, on the other hand, dare not be caught, as they have both a reason and a nned strategy to fight desperately. Moreover, these gangs have money and connections, making it highly likely they have armaments stashed in their hideouts. If a narcotics team wants to round them up sessfully, casualties are likely to ur easily. At this moment, standing in the temporarymand center, the squadron leader couldn¡¯t persuade the deputy. It was even difficult to assign someone else to take his ce. Whether on the palm or the back of the hand, facing the danger of leading the charge was utterly uneptable for anyone. Although the detectives present were busy with their own duties, they understood the narcotics officers¡¯ dilemma. All being police officers, in just a few sentences, the conveyed worry and helplessness were the same. In the oppressive atmosphere, Jiang Yuan looked at the system¡¯s cool-down time in the upper right corner and said, ¡°I see we have infrared cameras in our equipment. The range of this infrared imaging is a bit far. If we can get closer and obtain sufficiently stable and clear images, I can determine if some of the suspects are carrying heavy objects, such as rifles, shotguns, or long knives. If the weight is above 5 kilograms, it¡¯s quite urate, though it might not work for handguns.¡± Including gait tracking in footprint identification, whether a person is carrying heavy weapons can also be inferred from their gait. Of course, the uracy of Level 5 might not be particrly high, but it should still be of considerable help. When the skill +1 cool-down time is reached, and the footprint identification skill level is brought up to Level 6, the results are expected to be even more pronounced. Yin and the others regarded Jiang Yuan¡¯s evidence gathered over two days as if they were looking at Doraemon. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, Yin¡¯s eyes lit up, ¡°Being able to identify rifles would be great. We were nning to use the infrared cameras to determine their guard positions and the gang members¡¯ distribution. If we can identify if they are carrying heavy weapons, the risk would be greatly reduced.¡± Jiang Yuan nced at the cool-down time in the upper right corner and said, ¡°I need another 20 minutes of preparation. I haven¡¯t seen gait through infrared imaging, but it should be doable.¡± Yin instinctively said, ¡°Give you 15 minutes!¡± Reducing the time by only 5 minutes was already a very politemand. Jiang Yuan shook his head in resignation, ¡°At least 18 minutes. It¡¯s not a matter of bargaining. I need some time to prepare.¡± ¡°Alright then.¡± Yin didn¡¯t ask why anymore. Over the past two days, he had already asked Jiang Yuan some whys, and the oues hadn¡¯t been good, nor had they been of any benefit to him or his understanding of investigation techniques and the world. ¡°Okay, problem solved. I¡¯ll go down and get ready.¡± Jin Kai, the deputy, nodded with a smile and then turned and left. ¡°Be careful¡­ make sure to wear your bulletproof vests properly,¡± Yin¡¯s voice got lower and lower. The inherent dangers still existed, just mitigated. Nevertheless, everyone still tried to appear cheerful and spirited. Chapter 543 - 543 498 Assault ?543: Chapter 498 Assault 543: Chapter 498 Assault Huang Qiangmin helped Jiang Yuan put on a bulletproof vest, tightening it vigorously and adding two bulletproof tes before equipping him with an anti-explosion arm guard and cut-resistant cor. Then, pping him heavily, he said, ¡°Be sharp, and remember, you¡¯re not meant to lead the charge. Don¡¯t forget, you wear the grey epaulets.¡± ¡°I know, I¡¯ll be careful.¡± Jiang Yuan had no intention of leading the charge either. He patted the bulletproof tes on his body and said, ¡°It¡¯s okay, I heard these things can even stop an AK.¡± ¡°But what if they hit elsewhere¡­ spit, spit, spit.¡± Huang Qiangmin spat on the ground twice, then adjusted the helmet on Jiang Yuan¡¯s head and said, ¡°You just analyze the footprints and stay back a bit. Don¡¯t rush into the building, got it?¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t find Huang Qiangmin annoying. Honestly, he felt a bit uneasy himself. As they say, bullets don¡¯t have eyes and no matter how skilled he was, he couldn¡¯t stop a bullet. Huang Qiangmin turned to insert bulletproof tes for Mu Zhiyang and instructed, ¡°Protect Jiang Yuan well, understand? Finishing the mission is important, but Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety is more important. If you encounter an unclear enemy situation, don¡¯t foolishly rush forward. We¡¯ve got everyone surrounded; it¡¯s just a matter of catching them sooner orter. Don¡¯t trade your life for a bit of time.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Mu Zhiyang said solemnly. ¡°As long as I¡¯m here, I won¡¯t let Captain Jiang get hurt.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t talk like that,¡± Huang Qiangmin patted Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder. ¡°No matter what, don¡¯t get hurt. I¡¯llmend you when we get back.¡± Afterward, Huang Qiangmin fitted Jiang Yuan with cut-resistant gloves, watched Mu Zhiyang check his gun, handed him a shield, and reluctantly stepped aside. Today¡¯s mission was critical, with drug enforcement detectives operating with infrared cameras ahead of Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang. They apanied them to find the right angles to film the situation inside the building. Based on the camera footage, Jiang Yuan made judgments as best as he could and ryed them to the assault team through the walkie-talkie. Their three-person team was rtively flexible, and having Mu Zhiyang with Jiang Yuan was already an extravagant arrangement. The deputy director of the drug enforcement brigade was present on the front lines today; adding more protection for Jiang Yuan was unrealistic. It sounded inappropriate to assign bodyguards to police officers. Besides, bloated teams might not necessarily be safer. Huang Qiangmin wanted to join in but was dissuaded by Commander Yin. At over forty, his routine training had be infrequent, and he wasn¡¯t even sure if he could handle twenty minutes of high-intensity activity. Sending him to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side would have been a nuisance. At themand of Commander Yin, the assault team set out first. Meanwhile, the assigned traffic and public security officers were dispatched to the streets, beginning to direct the crowd and clear vehicles. Jiang Yuan¡¯s squad followed closely behind the first wave of the assault team, stopping across the street from the target building. Within the view of the infrared camera, they could already see the moving shadows. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t worried about them moving; he was worried about them staying still. With a BUFF of +1 to his footprints identification skills, Jiang Yuan steadied the infrared camera, took a few good looks, and said, ¡°Someone on the second floor took something heavy, probably a heavy weapon, a long gun.¡± ¡°Received,¡± the deputy director¡¯s voice remained steady. ¡°There are people walking down from the fourth floor, likely carrying guns as well,¡± Jiang Yuan continued. His words were simultaneously ryed to the temporarymand center. It was still the deputy director who responded, ¡°Received.¡± Jiang Yuan continued to watch the camera¡¯s disy closely. In the infrared camera¡¯s view, they could only see clumps of shadows, not even making out aplete human shape. Firearms and other objects, if they didn¡¯t give off heat, were also indiscernible. If Jiang Yuan had only a Level 3 skill in footprints identification, he wouldn¡¯t be able toe to any effective conclusions faced with such ghostly images. But Level 5 or even Level 6 skills were a whole different story. It¡¯s simr to the gait recognition systems nowmon in airports and high-speed railway stations. Does the system really just look at one¡¯s gait? Not entirely. It¡¯s better described as an identity recognition system centered around gait. It determines identity based on body shape, walking posture, muscle strength, weight, center of gravity, coordination, and even the way one walks. Simrly, the way a person walks when carrying heavy objects is definitely different from walking normally. The gait of someone holding a gun is also different from that of someone carrying a gun on their back. But to see them clearly, Jiang Yuan had to get close enough, and sometimes, he needed to change angles. Bang! Bang! The assault team in the front opened the door with a shotgun and immediately rushed in. ¡°Police!¡± ¡°Hands on your head!¡± ¡°Drop your guns and you won¡¯t be harmed!¡± No matter what the police charging in were shouting, everyone tensed up. Jiang Yuan swallowed, then nced at the infrared camera¡¯s external disy and said, ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving forward.¡± Theputer automatically performs gait recognition, with the typical maximum range being 60 meters. This refers to the distance from the camera to the person. Jiang Yuan conducted gait recognition manually, which was also a stretch at this distance. This is one area whereputers outperform humans, as they can make estimations based on existing algorithms even when rity is very low. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t do that. He needed at least a silhouette to make judgments, and overly distorted positions wouldn¡¯t work either; it was best if it was from the front or the back. Mu Zhiyang hesitated for half a second, then raised his shield to continue forward. In the past year, he had undergone several tactical trainings and could easily assess the risks of moving forward. At this moment, if someone fled from the side, because of the obstruction of the surrounding wall, the sniper might not be able to get a clean shot, but his own team with Jiang Yuan would bear the brunt. Despite this, Mu Zhiyang moved forward resolutely. You can prepare as much as you want before the battle, but being on the battlefield and still hoping to keep oneself safe is the most dangerous thing. Jiang Yuan too moved forward silently, one hand on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder, eyes fixed on the camera¡¯s external monitor, entrusting all safety concerns to Mu Zhiyang. ¡°There is a long gun on the second floor, at the stairs entrance, two people, armed,¡± Jiang Yuan reported quickly, then entered the building¡¯s surrounding wall and continued to search along it. Bang bang! Bang bang bang! The gunfire inside the building grew fierce, interspersed with the sound of police submachine guns. Jiang Yuan felt he had never seen or heard such intense gunfire in all his time on the force. Even the desperate hunters from Mount Wulong had plenty of weapons, but being just a few people, they mostly used single-shot weapons. The drug enforcement brigade was not so polite; Jiang Yuan recalled that just the first wave of the assault team was armed with at least four submachine guns. Unlike shotguns favored by foreigners, domestic special police preferred submachine guns for this kind of work, and in units where they were needed, a Type 79 submachine gun would have as many as 8 variants, far more exaggerated than Level 6. Amidst the gunfire, Jiang Yuan could feel the tension at the front line. Ahead of them were two assault teams, followed by the ready-to-strike arrest teams. It sounded like they had plenty of people, but when facing firearms, an experienced gunman could still cause irreparable damage. Jiang Yuan patted Mu Zhiyang on the shoulder and continued moving forward. Over the walkie-talkie, Captain Yin¡¯s voice came through: ¡°Jiang Yuan, pay attention to your distance.¡± ¡°Roger that,¡± Jiang Yuan responded, then followed Mu Zhiyang a few more steps, stopped, and began to sweep the area in front of them with the infrared camera. Another narcotics officer in the three-member squad started reporting positions to the rear more frequently. This felt like having screen peeking abilities in a shooting game. Given the domestic situation, even drug trafficking gangs were like trying to stop a vehicle with their arms rtive to the police¡¯s firepower. However, the police were now pursuing a zero-casualty operation while eradicating the threatpletely, which inevitably raised the difficulty. Hisss¡­ The walkie-talkie suddenly crackled, followed by Captain Yin¡¯s urgent voice: ¡°Someone on the third floor is trying to jump, be alert¡­¡± As soon as the words ended, a person fell silently about two meters in front of Mu Zhiyang. St. With a muffled sound, red, white, and yellow fluids sshed all over Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shield. Chapter 544 - 544 499 Annihilate ?544: Chapter 499: Annihte 544: Chapter 499: Annihte What happens when someone falls from a great height varies from person to person. Some have leapt from the tenth or eleventh floor and escaped unscathed, while others have fallen from the third floor only to have their brains sttered. Needless to say, today¡¯s case involved thetter scenario. Mu Zhiyang felt no sympathy, only revulsion, as he yelled, ¡°It sshed on my face!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll help you wipe it off, stay alert,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he pulled out a wet wipe, adding, ¡°I¡¯ll clean the right side of your goggles first.¡± With a grunt of acknowledgment, Mu Zhiyang slightly lowered his gun-arm to ease the tension. ¡°Now for the left side,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he tossed the used wipe away. At this point, they needn¡¯t worry about the crime scene itself, for they were the scene itself. With both goggles somewhat cleaner, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s mood improved a bit. Jiang Yuan then handed him another wipe to clean his own face, after which he changed his mask. Throughout this process, the trio remained vignt, continuing to call out their positions. The most dangerous part of the tactical entry had already passed, and while the drug trafficking gang did put up a nned resistance, it was really just for their own satisfaction. Not to mention the police¡¯s clear advantage in equipment and numbers, even in terms of gaining territorial control; the police had obtained as much information as possible through blueprints in the past two days, and with Jiang Yuan¡¯s position calls, advancing inside was merely a matter of speed. Of course, for the police to have zero casualties, some luck was still required, but the drug traffickers¡¯ chances of escape were very slim. Listening to the updates on the walkie-talkie, with the assault team reaching the fourth floor, Mu Zhiyang rxed slightly and muttered under his breath, ¡°Who knows what that idiot¡­ bitch¡­ was thinking, leaping out like a fish to ssh farther away?¡± ¡°Those who have never jumped into water don¡¯t realize that bending 90 degrees in mid-air takes practice,¡± Jiang Yuan recalled from the materials he¡¯d read. ¡°Many people have jumped off bridges, stretching out their arms to dive, only to end up breaking their arms sideways¡­ It must be an issue with the angle of projection, needing more practice.¡± ¡°Let them practice in the halls of hell. People like that, fried in oil until crispy, broken into pieces upon impact¡ªperfect for scattering all over the ce,¡± Mu Zhiyang said, feeling ufortable and continuing to press forward along the wall. The building wasn¡¯t veryrge, but it was difficult to see from one end to the other using an infrared camera. Moreover, anything beyond a distance of 50 meters was valued only for position calling, and Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t perform footprint analysis at that range. Therefore, the three-man team had to frequently change course, with Mu Zhiyang always ready to raise his shield overhead. His biggest concerns now were someone desperately jumping out from the upper windows, or someone throwing a grenade or simply leaning out to shoot. Even though snipers from the armed police surrounded the building, to be honest, monitoring all the windows on all sides of a building and reacting immediately to effectively hit a target was asking too much. If aplished, the snipers would bemended for their actions, but if not, the three-man team probably wouldn¡¯t even have the chance to hold anyone ountable. Mu Zhiyang could only muster his spirits. Fortunately, the fight upstairs was quickly resolved, with the arrest team reporting their progress while promptly reinforcing the basement. The basement was where the drugb was located, and their greatest fear was the destruction of evidence. However,pared to upstairs, the basement posed an even greater risk, so the narcotics team dispatched the assault team to breach it without delving deeper, focusing on controlling the entrance and waiting for backup. Thankfully, the drug dealers in the basement refrained from using explosives or arson to resist, and after an initial tense ten minutes, the situation gradually became clear. Yin, the squadron leader, ordered Jiang Yuan to follow the group escorting the suspects and slowly retreat. Theoretically, Jiang Yuan could have continued to examine the scene to gather evidence and pursue suspects. However, with the criminal gang subdued, other forensic work could bepetently handled without specifically needing Jiang Yuan. Temporary Tactical Command Center. Jiang Yuan, covered in grime, entered, and Huang Qiangmin personally stepped forward to help him unload his equipment. The leaders of the drug enforcement squad also rxed a bit, turned their heads to look at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s actions, full of disdain. ¡°Purely cultivating goodwill,¡± the politicalmissar shook his head insistently. ¡°Feels like in our old homes, the ox that just plowed the fields gets this kind of treatment, hands-on removal of the plow, watering and feeding. If only they had the ability to stop someone from plowing at all,¡± the deputy politicalmissar said. Looking up again, Captain Yin handed a cup of water to Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Take a drink, when I was younger, every time I finished a mission, what I wanted the most was water.¡± Jiang Yuan truly was thirsty, took the cup, and drained it in one gulp. Captain Yin then took a kettle from behind and refilled Jiang Yuan¡¯s cup with warm water, tepid, leaving aforting warmth in the stomach as he drank. Jiang Yuan drained it once again and felt a little better, then asked, ¡°Was Huang Li caught?¡± ¡°He was caught, but the problem hasn¡¯t beenpletely resolved,¡± Captain Yin replied with a smile, ncing at Huang Qiangmin beside him. Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°What problem is there?¡± ¡°Privately, we say it¡¯s the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang, but we are not very clear about the specificposition and organizational structure of the gang. In the past, when we handled cases, we would rify these things before capturing anyone, making all manner of ns to figure out where their leader and den were. This time, we acted in haste, catching them but we don¡¯t know who the leader is or which persons are in the management,¡± Captain Yin exined. Jiang Yuan, with a nonchnt ¡°oh,¡± said, ¡°Just execute them all.¡± Caught off guard, Captain Yin burst intoughter saying, ¡°If it were up to me, I¡¯d also sentence them all to death. But I¡¯m afraid there might be oversights. What if their internal organization is tight and they have fallback ns? If we give a light sentence to one or some of the core members, that would be a huge loss.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Indeed, there was such a risk. The drug trafficking gang had set up their headquarters in the city center and arranged their drugb in a basement, which inherently involved a certain element of trickery. With a smile, Captain Yin leaned close to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Later, we¡¯ll need Captain Jiang to take another look at the crime scene. We will also intensify the interrogation to see if there is any other evidence we can work with.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation. ¡°Then we¡¯ll stay for another two days.¡± Huang Qiangmin¡¯s head popped up from the other side, adding, ¡°Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene investigation skills are very good. To find core members and such, the main offices, meeting rooms, and even the insides of safes should be thoroughly inspected for fingerprints, DNA, and the like. I suggest assigning two or three more evidence technicians to speed up the process.¡± Thest part was the main point. Captain Yinughed heartily, ¡°Of course, we¡¯ll make the necessary arrangements.¡± ¡°Then our main work here is done. Jiang Yuan is exhausted; we¡¯re going to rest for a couple of hours. When you¡¯ve cleaned up the battlefield, we¡¯lle back. We¡¯ll talkter.¡± Huang Qiangmin, pulling Jiang Yuan along, signaled Captain Yin to call themter. The main building¡¯s battle was supposed to be over, but there might still be hidden criminals, hiddenpartments, and such that needed further searching. For a scene like this, the entry of the investigative staff wasn¡¯t that urgent. Captain Yin quickly agreed. After all, Jiang Yuan¡¯s work had already far exceeded his expectations. And Huang Qiangmin had made his stance quite clear. ¡°Is Jin back?¡± Captain Yin asked about his deputy captain. ¡°Not yet. He¡¯s searching the basement.¡± Another deputy captain, who had been keeping an eye on the scene, responded, adding, ¡°The amount of drug money and narcotics is huge; this raid is really going to blow up.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Hmm¡­ I¡¯ll go down to the basement and have a look, ask Jin if he¡¯s tired toe back and rest; he¡¯s been running around all day, and he¡¯s not young anymore.¡± Captain Yin spoke and instructed someone to fetch his gear for him. Chapter 545 - 545 500 Live Reconstruction ?545: Chapter 500 Live Reconstruction 545: Chapter 500 Live Reconstruction Noon. After a short rest, Jiang Yuan led Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, Shen Yaowei, and others into the crime scene centered around the main building. By that time, the surroundings of the main building had been cordoned off as much as possible, but despite this, therge amounts of broken ss, the sight of people jumping from the building, and the firecracker-like sound of gunshots still attracted many onlookers. People in the surrounding buildings were still holding cameras and taking photographs, forcing the local police station officers to frequently go up the floors and warn them. Forensics had already been working at the site for two to three hours; the traces within the outer yard walls had mostly been collected, and the body that had leaped out was now only marked by a white circle. The debris on the ground, including fragments of ss and other items, had partially been gathered where necessary. Inside the main building, the bodies had been the first to be moved, along with arge quantity of firearms, ammunition, and narcotics, all packed up and sent away. Even though the case was handled jointly by the Criminal Police Brigade and the Narcotics Brigade, with the participation of Changyang City¡¯s Forensic Science Center, the scale of this crime scene investigation far exceeded normal standards. Amon crime scene might be the size of a room or a suite, but a case involving the ughter of an entire courtyard¡¯s worth of people would be considered a supermajor case. The current investigation covered an entire building, reflecting the enormity of the workload involved. From the moment he entered through the gate, Jiang Yuan could feel the intense atmosphere of the New Year¡ªthe smell of gunpowder lingered, the ground was a mess with various footprints, shattered vases, remains of decorations, as well as casings and bullet heads strewn about. Police-issue bullets were usually lead-core, which upon hitting hard objects, were unlikely to ricochet. The weapons of the drug traffickers were less consistent, ranging from hastily made clunkers that were fired hoping for luck, to steel-core bullets and even explosive devices. Nheless, most of the drug gang members had not had the chance to demonstrate the power of their weapons before they were eliminated in session or had surrendered voluntarily. Even in regions of Europe and America where firearms were rampant, many drug dealers shot their pistols while holding them sideways, with no attention paid to the maintenance of their firearms or the precision of their shooting. In Changyang City, although the drug gangs had acquired some weapons, theirbat training was still nothing to speak of. Not to mention that the police were prepared, with well-trained officers storming in by the squad ording to their training. The criminals who managed to surrender were lucky; those who resisted didn¡¯t improve their situation at all¡ªthe police¡¯s goal for zero casualties was challenging to achieve, but it was the opponents who faced the greatest difficulty. ¡°This workload is quite something,¡± Jiang Yuanmented with a smile. He still had the bonus of +1 to Footprint Identification. The temporary skill buff of +1 for 405 minutes had over 100 minutes left, and although Level 6 skills were not essential in such a setting, they were definitely useful. There is nothing in the world that¡¯s truly irrelevant. Even with Level 3 Footprint Identification, perhaps even Level 2 might have sufficed for the scene at hand, but higher-ranking Footprint Identification would naturally result in better oues, greater margins for error, and higher efficiency. Jiang Yuan first directed Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and others to ce markers and take photographs. Most of the footprints had yet to be dealt with, and the paths built by the police mainly led to the bodies, so they could handle the supplementary work themselves. Next, Jiang Yuan isted some of the more significant, identical footprints for special attention. From the first floor to the sixth and then back down to the first floor¡ªa single set of footprints kept Jiang Yuan busy until the afternoon. The Level 6 Footprint Identification bonus time ended, but continuing to use Level 5 still felt effective. During the process of Footprint Identification, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have too many points of uncertainty¡ªany unclear areas could be dealt with slowlyter on. Through the footprints, Jiang Yuan quickly discerned the flow of the assault between the two sides. It was akin to an advanced version of crime scene reconstruction. It wasn¡¯t possible to determine the perpetrator¡¯s actions like Bloodstain Analysis, but if someone had bled,bining Footprint Analysis with Bloodstain Analysis could lead to a perfect reconstruction of the crime scene. However, most crime scenes usually had few people involved, and it was rare to see units involving dozens of individuals. There were brawls, but typically, crime scene reconstruction wasn¡¯t necessary for those. Jiang Yuan had a vague notion: in such a chaotic environment, those who spontaneously organized the crime and took center stage must be the core figures or part of the management. In such tense moments, to talk of concealment was merely creating trouble for oneself. After being arrested, there was plenty of time and energy left to focus solely on surviving. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t required to report to anyone and began to investigate on his own while engaging in contemtion. ¡°Let¡¯s start with this one,¡± Jiang Yuan called Tang Jia over, pointing to a size 42 footprint belonging to a middle-aged man on the ground, and said, ¡°Take several photos of this footprint and make a record¡­ Who¡¯s that, you take the photos.¡± He called over a forensic specialist dedicated to photography, likely from the Narcotics Brigade, and gestured to Tang Jia to get ready, adding, ¡°Suspect 1-05, age 42, size 42 shoe, 140 pounds, likely trained in boxing, suspected to be a key figure on the first floor. He was first hit in the leg.¡± ¡°At the onset of his injury, 1-05 crawled a few steps rapidly¡ªas can be seen from the little tadpole-like blood drips. ¡± ¡°Then, the suspect sat on the floor, leaning against two cabs to shoot, and even squatted at one point, probably due to insufficient height. This can be seen from the small pool of blood he left on the floor; the elongated bloodstains afterward also indicate he moved slowly.¡± ¡°Other criminals provided support from behind, designated as 1-06 and 1-07.¡± ¡°1-07 moved forward to support 1-05.¡± ¡°1-07 was injured and fell, then threw the spare magazines to 1-05.¡± ¡°Just speaking of the fight in the office area, 1-05 was clearly thebat core, but his tactical ability and will to fight were not as strong as 1-07¡¯s. This suggests that 1-05¡¯s position might be higher.¡± ¡°At the end, 1-05 was hit, and his brains sttered on the wall, his body slid to the ground, and more blood flowed out. The others lost their will to fight after that.¡± Jiang Yuan stood in front of the pool of blood, and without a body present, he recounted the crime scene¡¯s unfolding as if he had witnessed it firsthand. Duringbat, there were many people on the scene, all equipped withw enforcement recorders, and normally there wouldn¡¯t be a need for crime scene reconstruction. However, a secondary endorsement of crime scene reconstruction can be very useful when there are issues. Most importantly, judging key figures isn¡¯t necessarily possible through video alone. In fact, if not for extreme caution or a vast breadth of experience, the leader of the drug enforcement team wouldn¡¯t have needed to raise this point with Jiang Yuan. Assuming Huang Li was the head of the criminal gang was the simple and nearly perfect default. The drug enforcement team could have directly announced the eradication of the criminal gang, and if the gang members were cooperative, it would have been unbeatable. It seemed, however, that Commander Yin didn¡¯t entertain such thoughts, perhaps due to concern about the involvement of too many units¡­ In any case, it is always necessary to confirm things afterward that were not confirmed beforehand. It¡¯s like being too hasty and not wearing a condom, so doing a check afterward is always a good precautionary measure. Jiang Yuan was like a reagent; no one knew how he did it, but everyone felt reassured watching him work. From the first floor to the sixth, the building was in ruins. Jiang Yuan walked inside over the makeshift walkways, stopping now and then to make assessments. The leader of the drug enforcement team hoped he could use methods such as fingerprinting to identify important locations and prove that some individuals were key figures in the drug trafficking gang. The approach and thinking were correct, but it was rather inefficient, and besides, ordinary forensic officers could have collected fingerprints¡ªit wasn¡¯t strictly necessary for Jiang Yuan to do it. However, there was no one in the drug enforcement team capable of Bloodstain Analysis or crime scene reconstruction, which were very effective in determining key figures. Those who could still be evacuated while under a barrage of bullets, or those who had been shot but were not left behind and were instead carried, supported, or dragged upwards byrades, had to be either big shots or blood brothers. Even the blood brothers within a drug trafficking gang might not achieve this level of loyalty. Jiang Yuan proceeded ording to his own approach. Commander Yin and other leaders might understand criminal investigation and perhaps forensic work to some extent, but they were essentiallyymen and couldn¡¯t be expected to direct specifics of forensic science. In the end, all that mattered was providing them with the answer. Jiang Yuan made his way up, quickly reaching the third floor. By then, people had begun to follow his steps. Now was the time for a crime scene investigation, while theymen rested outside. Those remaining in the main building were essentially forensic science technicians. Some, upon hearing Jiang Yuan speak a couple of sentences, were unimpressed, but as they kept listening, they started paying attention. Level 5 Bloodstain Analysis coupled with a bit of Level 4 crime scene investigation assistance, and the support of footprints and fingerprints, could reduce the intelligence of most ordinary scene investigators to that ofymen. Those with a bit of ambition, however, would find it very refreshing and satisfying to listen to. Jiang Yuan and the others naturally didn¡¯t stop anyone from listening. Gradually, Jiang Yuan walked ahead, asionally stopping to let Wang Chuanxing take notes. Meanwhile, there could be a dozen or twenty people taking notes at the same time. Mu Zhiyang, watching from the side, couldn¡¯t help but snap a photo, murmuring to himself, ¡°Truly a distributed storage.¡± Naturally, no one paid attention to theymen. The detectives at the squadron level didn¡¯t handle as many cases on a daily basis as the front-line grass-roots officers did. But when it came to ambition, there was very limited room for advancement for grassroots police, who, much like middle and high school teachers, usually saw no promotion in terms of position. However, in the squadron level, officers¡¯ ambitions could often find realistic opportunities. Even for forensic technicians, learning a bit more was always a good thing. ¡°Commander Yin,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait to finish all six floors; he reached the fifth floor and, after a few nces, he pulled out his phone. ¡°How is it going, Jiang Yuan, are you done?¡± Commander Yin asked cheerfully. ¡°Not yet, but I¡¯m concerned about misunderstandings arising during interrogation, so I wanted to make a call first,¡± Jiang Yuanid out the situation directly. Commander Yin immediately sensed that there was a problem and hurriedly said, ¡°Go ahead, I¡¯m listening.¡± ¡°The suspect apprehended on the third floor, marked here as number 17, is a male around 32 years old, 1.7 meters tall. This individual should be a core member of the drug trafficking gang, at least not of lesser status than Huang Li.¡± Commander Yin asked, ¡°Is there evidence?¡± ¡°Yes, he was in danger twice, and both times key team members, number 5, saved him. Number 5 is probably a core team member known as ¡®Chuanxing.¡¯ Additionally, on the fifth floor, when both number 17 and another core member, ¡®Tea Guest,¡¯ needed to evacuate, number 5 chose to take number 17 with him. ¡®Tea Guest¡¯ was seriously injured and left behind.¡± ¡°Understood,¡± Commander Yin, who was always in control of the scene¡¯s information, didn¡¯t object to Jiang Yuan not using his proposed investigation method. After all, he knew thatpared to Jiang Yuan, he was one of theymen. Now with a conclusion at hand, Commander Yin naturally trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, put away his phone, and began making arrangements. Chapter 546 - 546 501 Contact ?546: Chapter 501 Contact 546: Chapter 501 Contact In the evening, as a crowd of police officers began dining on the buffet, ¡°Changyang Evening News¡± had already reported theplete annihtion of the Huang Li and Li Jianfang drug trafficking gang. Li Jianfang was number 17 as confirmed by Jiang Yuan, a 32-year-old male with ordinary looks and height, unmarried with 5 lovers and 8 children. As of now, he was also the most cooperative member of the drug trafficking gang. Speaking of him, Liu Jinghui felt quite emotional, ¡°You¡¯d say he¡¯s in the drug trade without considering the consequences, yet he knew how to leave a legacy. In the end, while others¡¯ properties are confiscated, or they hardly have any properties left, this Mr. Li, with 8 kids¡ª you can¡¯t just confiscate that.¡± Mu Zhiyang served himself some rice, then drenched it with the gravy from the red wine-braised beef. He was supremely happy gorging himself until he heard Liu Jinghui say this and suddenly felt annoyed, ¡°I don¡¯t have a single partner, and this drug dealer has 5 lovers?¡± ¡°The guy gives his lovers a living expense of 100,000 yuan a month, and there are gifts during holidays and festivals. What are youparing with?¡± Liu Jinghuiughed, then picked up his clear tea and took a couple of sips. He was already fed up with the Changyang City Bureau¡¯s buffet and would rather drink some tea to cleanse his stomach. Mu Zhiyang, on the other hand, thought the Changyang City Bureau¡¯s buffet was so delicious, he snorted with satisfaction as he ate and said, ¡°100,000 yuan a month for one lover, 5 lovers, isn¡¯t that 500,000 a month? Drug trafficking really does make money.¡± ¡°It¡¯s quite rare for them to be able to deal drugs steadily in a provincial capital city. This time some people are happy, others are in for bad luck¡­¡± Liu Jinghui paused, then said, ¡°Well, Xiao Mu has made another achievement this time, I guess someone¡¯s going to be pulling their hair out over your merit.¡± ¡°Even with my achievements, I can¡¯t find a wife. By the way, when the drug traffickers end up getting executed by a firing squad, won¡¯t their lovers and children have no money to spend?¡± Mu Zhiyang was quite worried about the rich. Liu Jinghui chuckled twice, ¡°That¡¯s why he¡¯s so cooperative, for fear that all his assets would be identified as illegal earnings.¡± ¡°Is it possible not to identify them?¡± Mu Zhiyang was surprised. ¡°The main assets will definitely be identified, but he surely had someone research it beforehand and had made some separations. In the end, if they don¡¯t pursue it, consider it good luck.¡± Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t very clear about the details himself; after mulling it over, he looked at Jiang Yuan and said, ¡°This guy, originally acted like just a minion, might have gotten a suspended death sentence, but now it¡¯s all over, he can only think about leaving some money for his family.¡± ¡°He might have hidden assets.¡± Mu Zhiyang swallowed the rice and beef in his mouth and muttered. Liu Jinghui grunted in agreement, ¡°That¡¯s beyond our control now, and besides, we can¡¯t really let 8 children starve to death.¡± ¡°Those lovers of his have hands and feet; they can always find a way to make money.¡± Mu Zhiyang had no sympathy as he said, ¡°The drugs they sell have harmed I don¡¯t know how many people, maybe even sold to minors. His own children enjoy a living expense of 100,000 yuan a month, they¡¯ll just have to deal with any misfortune thates their way.¡± Liu Jinghui neither agreed nor disagreed, sipping his tea, but said, ¡°Speaking of which, it¡¯s a bit strange that their underground drugb mainly produces and sells Zolpidem.¡± ¡°So they started a conflict with the drug trafficking gang represented by Wang Xingzhai, which then led to murder?¡± Jiang Yuan followed up on Liu Jinghui¡¯sment. Liu Jinghui said, ¡°That¡¯s the strange part, there¡¯s no need for such a conflict. With so many types of new drugs, Zolpidem isn¡¯t the best-selling one; there¡¯s no need to rely so heavily on it. Moreover, you should remember what I said before, among the many new types of drugs, Zolpidem is one of the easier ones to produce, usually controlled by its raw materials.¡± ¡°Phencetic acid, producing it is tightly regted.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded. ¡°Right, if both criminal groups produce Zolpidem, it means they both have a demand for two kinds of raw materials, which is like adding difficulty for themselves, and can easily be discovered.¡± Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice grew softer as he spoke, ¡°You¡¯ve seen the Narcotics Division too, and they¡¯re not all useless¡ªrunning two lines at once, the chances are very slim.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui, waiting for him to state his conclusion. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t beat around the bush, ¡°It indicates that there must be a strong connection between the two criminal groups.¡± ¡°Li Jianfang hasn¡¯t confessed?¡± ¡°He must be saving his confessions. At this point, he wants to ensure the basic needs of his children are met first, then, he has to think about saving his own life.¡± ¡°Does he still have a chance to save his life?¡± ¡°Surviving one more day is an extra day,¡± said Liu Jinghui, addressing a very realistic issue, which was also amon problem encountered in criminal practice: how a death row inmate might live a little longer. The correct approach is that if a death row inmate hasmitted enough and sufficiently important crimes, then confessing in a toothpaste-squeezing manner could continuously postpone the execution of their death penalty. Take the extreme case of Zhao Zhihong; he was arrested in 2005, confessed to the Hugjilt case in 2006, and was not executed until 2019. Li Jianfang, knowing he was doomed, wanted to use the intelligence in his hands to dy his end for a while. For him at present, a dy of half a year would be quite good, even a few months wouldn¡¯t be a loss, and if he could dy for a year or two, that would be making a killing. He definitely nned to confess, because once all the procedures werepleted, it would be meaningless to confess afterward. On the other hand, confessing too quickly wouldn¡¯t work either. There was only so much valuable intelligence, and once that was given, the police might not be interested in the mere scraps left over. Jiang Yuan knew Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t have brought up this topic casually. Liu Jinghui took reasoning very seriously. Thus, after deep thought for a moment, Jiang Yuan asked, ¡°Are you thinking of continuing the investigation and using the drug trafficking gangs of Huang Li and Li Jianfang to get to Lao Gui¡¯s gang?¡± ¡°Direct investigation would probably not yield anything, this guy is even more hidden than the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang, I suspect¡­¡± Liu Jinghui also began to hesitate. Mu Zhiyang found his meal tasteless, and simply put down his chopsticks, looking at Liu Jinghui, ¡°Well, go on then.¡± ¡°Even pure reasoning needs the support of evidence,¡± Liu Jinghui said. ¡°All we know now is that this drug trafficking gang is very well hidden, but the appearance of Wang Xingzhai makes them seem too superficial. For dealing drugs locally, even the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang disdains to do such things. It¡¯s illogical for a more hidden gang to engage in this.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just because Huang Li¡¯s gang was eradicated that you think they¡¯re not so well hidden,¡± Jiang Yuan logically countered Liu Jinghui¡¯s point. ¡°Perhaps,¡± Liu Jinghui smiled. ¡°As I said earlier, without the support of evidence, pure reasoning can¡¯t go on.¡± ¡°Sherlock Holmes wouldn¡¯t say that.¡± ¡°Sherlock Holmes tried to deduce usingmon sense, and that era¡¯s United Kingdom only had those conditions, just like the Euclidean geometry that only had axioms but no theorems. Whenever anything happened, they had to deduce everything from the beginning.¡± Their conversation soon turned into a casual chat. Finding evidence isn¡¯t something that could be done in an instant, even though Jiang Yuan now had his own team. Without a clear direction, they could only wait a bit. The interrogation of Huang Li and Li Jianfang¡¯s drug trafficking gangs was just beginning, and in theing period, even if they resisted with the expectation of death, they would eventually rx. It was impossible for only the team leader to confess. And once a breakthrough was made, there would surely be a steady stream of informationing in. Besides, the drug gang¡¯s den was asrge as a whole building, full of potential evidence. It was possible that something could be sifted out from any hidden corner. More and more evidence was sure to emergeter on. The criminal investigation team¡¯s cafeteria was also a semi-public ce, so Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui did not continue discussing future evidence. The two ate something casually and then staggered out the door. Although the drug gang case was going smoothly, the entire process inevitably caused a lot of tension. Jiang Yuan, having changed into casual clothes and not needing to adhere to police uniform standards anymore, rxed his body and strolled to the parking lot to get his car. Having started the car and driven out of the parking lot in second gear, he followed the road towards his small house. In the afternoon, he had arranged for a cleaner toe and tidy up, so by now, the room should be neatly arranged and clean. From the criminal investigation team¡¯s office to his house wasn¡¯t far, only one traffic light away¡­ Just then, a green dumper truck, shrouded in the dim evening light and theplex streetlights, charged over without any hint of braking, its bright headlights so dazzling that Jiang Yuan squinted his eyes. Chapter 547 - 547 502 Dig Deep ?547: Chapter 502: Dig Deep 547: Chapter 502: Dig Deep At this moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was extremely focused. Speaking of which, he had received very professional driving training as well. Jiang Fuzhen once bought many sports cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and Jiang Yuan had yed around with them. Normal models from these brands were very usual, but high-end models required some short-term training. For instance, certain Ferrari modelse with a ¡°death mode,¡± which turns off all electronic assistance systems, causing even those untrained rookies who drive on t roads to crash their cars. This mode is often the culprit behind many idents involving rented Ferraris. As for usual days, supercarpanies or 4S shops often organize driving training courses, and they frequently invited heirs of dismantling businesses like Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had attended a few times, mainly to try out the feel of racing on a track. He didn¡¯t like it, but he did learn a few things during the process. For example, the first thing is, if you are going to crash, at least do not crash side-on into a dumper truck. Braking or stepping on the gas can help avoid such a thing. Jiang Yuan immediately stepped on the gas and turned the car¡¯s front to the left. If the two vehicles collided now, it could turn a side collision into a rear-end crash. Even though it was still deadly dangerous, time didn¡¯t allow Jiang Yuan to make more choices. The green dumper truck emitted a massive horn sound, akin to a man screaming while doing squats in a gym, boldly charging straight towards the old Audi that Jiang Yuan was driving. At thest moment, Jiang Yuan leaned his body to the left, which was away from the dumper truck, took hold of the steering wheel with his left hand, covered his head and chest with his right hand to protect them, and then braced his legs against the floor with all his might. Driving a Ferrari with one hand is truly a skill! Bang! In a sh of lightning, the dumper truck grazed past the Audi¡¯s taillights and charged forward, turning one of the coolestponents of the Audi, its taillights, into smithereens. The green dumper truck¡¯s driver was toote to turn the steering wheel, and the huge vehicle, carrying massive inertia, thunderously crossed the intersection, riding over the green belt and rolling out dozens of meters away. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have time to step on the brakes either, crashing at high speed into the rear of another small caring from the side, and popped all the airbags in both cars. Dazed and confused from the collision, Jiang Yuan came to his senses only to find the area already packed with onlookers. A traffic cop rode over on a motorcycle, parked beside him, first instructed people to call the police and dial 120, and then knocked on the window asking, ¡°How are you? Do you know your own name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Jiang Yuan, a criminal policeman.¡± Jiang Yuan identified himself first to protect himself and was also thinking of catching the truck driver. From his observation, he didn¡¯t believe the truck driver¡¯s action was unintentional. Of course, this would still need other evidence to prove. Upon hearing he was a detective, the traffic cop was stunned for a moment, then took a closer look at Jiang Yuan¡¯s face and instantly realized, ¡°Are you Doctor Jiang?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Jiang Yuan nodded and said, ¡°Call the criminal police team and catch the dumper truck driver.¡± ¡°Received.¡± The traffic cop quickly acknowledged, pulling out his phone. In a momentary gap, he asked, ¡°Are you Ningtai Jiangyuan?¡± ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± Jiang Yuan responded again. The traffic cop suddenly became excited, yanked out his walkie-talkie and eximed, ¡°Captain, Captain, Ningtai Jiangyuan was in a car ident here, a car ident!¡± ¡°Is it dire? What¡¯s the situation?¡± ¡°Nearly got hit by a dumper truck. Barely dodged but then hit another small car. He looks fine, conscious, some blood on the ground. The other small car¡¯s driver should be okay, they¡¯ve gotten out of the car themselves.¡± The crackling sound from the walkie-talkie came through, ¡°Did Jiang Yuan bleed? Is his blood on our turf?¡± ¡°Yes, right at the intersection of Tingyu Road.¡± ¡°The detective¡¯s blood has a spirit, protect the scene, we¡¯re on our way.¡± After saying this, the traffic cop put the walkie-talkie back on his waist, and just as his phone call connected. Jiang Yuan had no strength to talk and simply watched the traffic cop, sporting a star-struck expression, emotionally ry the situation. People who chase stars are the most helpless. Buzzing¡­ Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone also started to ring. Jiang Yuan struggled to move the airbag aside and reach for his phone. ¡°Let me help you.¡± The traffic cop stepped forward proactively and retrieved the phone for Jiang Yuan, also reading out the iing call, ¡°Captain Yu¡­¡± The traffic cop frowned slightly, ¡°That¡¯s our Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment¡­¡± Jiang Yuan noddedboriously and picked up the call, ¡°Chief Yu, a dumper truck tried to hit me, hit my car¡¯s tail.¡± Yu Wenshu, suppressing his anger, asked, ¡°How are you? Are you hurt?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, should be minor, feeling dizzy.¡± Jiang Yuan handed the phone to the traffic cop. The traffic cop took the phone with both hands and said, ¡°Chief Yu, hello, I am Lu Tongda from the traffic police¡¯s third team¡­¡± ¡°Lu, how is Jiang Yuan¡¯s condition?¡± Yu Wenshu¡¯s voice came from the phone, colder than the wind at night. Lu Tongda wrapped himself up a bit more and briefly described the situation on the scene. Halfway through listening, Yu Wenshu interrupted Lu Tongda saying, ¡°Lu, although I¡¯m not your direct superior, I¡¯m now giving you a task, listen carefully.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°I order you to stay at the scene, ensure Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety, follow the ambnce when it arrives, no matter whoes, don¡¯t mind them, just protect Jiang Yuan. You don¡¯t need to go after the culprit; if they intended to flee, they¡¯ve already fled, and if they stayed, you don¡¯t need to arrest them. I¡¯m calling your leader right now. Can you do the mission I¡¯ve just given you?¡± Chapter 548 - 548 502 Digging Deeper_2 ?548: Chapter 502: Digging Deeper_2 548: Chapter 502: Digging Deeper_2 ¡°I willplete the mission resolutely,¡± Lu Tongda knew Yu Wenshu was not joking, his tone was extremely serious. ¡°Reinforcements will arrive soon. You¡¯ve worked hard, Lu Tongda,¡± Yu Wenshu said as he hung up the phone without even asking for the dump truck¡¯s license te number, fearing that Lu Tongda might get too far away and Jiang Yuan would encounter another mishap. Pre-meditated murder is one of the most seriously regarded types of violent crime among detectives, and Yu Wenshu had dealt with countless cases. He knew deep down that the focus of pre-meditated murder was not the nning, but the act of murder itself. In many cases of pre-meditated murder, when the nning fails or can¡¯t be concealed, perpetrators often choose not to cover up or flee, but to continue killing. It only takes a shift in thought to go from pre-meditated to passionate murder. And Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t bear the loss of Jiang Yuan. Catching the suspect was not important; as long as Jiang Yuan was safe, that was enough. Having ended the call, Lu Tongda passed the phone to Jiang Yuan with both hands. Jiang Yuan shook his head, indicating he didn¡¯t have the strength to hold the phone. ¡°Then I¡¯ll keep the phone for you,¡± Lu Tongda instinctively saluted. Jiang Yuan then nodded his head. Before Lu Tongda could put the phone away, it began to vibrate with a buzzing sound. ¡°This is¡­ It shows it¡¯s Changyang City Bureau¡­ the Chief¡­¡± Lu Tongda¡¯s voice trailed off, getting quieter. ¡°You answer it,¡± Jiang Yuan moved his legs a little. He felt they were probably not broken, it was just that the car was a bit deformed, and he was stuck inside, without the strength to climb out for the moment. Lu Tongda, just a few years into his job as a traffic police officer, selected for the motorcycle unit due to his height and skills, had never had a private conversation with the Chief. Holding Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone now, the entire device felt burning hot. ¡°Chief, hello.¡± Lu Tongda felt like his throat was blocked and even coughed to clear it. ¡°Is this Xiao Lu?¡± The Chief¡¯s voice was very gentle. ¡°Ah¡­ Yes. I¡¯m Lu Tongda.¡± He had not expected the Chief to actually know his name. The Chief merelyughed, then proceeded with some warm and inspiring words. In the end, the Chief said, ¡°Comrade Lu Tongda, for the next while, don¡¯t worry about anything else, just ensure Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety. Are you carrying a gun?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ No.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter, if you don¡¯t have a gun, use other police equipment and be safe.¡± After the Chief hung up, Lu Tongda¡¯s head felt as if it had been hit by the dump truck, dizzy and confused. Buzzing. The phone rang again. This time it was his own boss¡¯s boss¡ªthe head of the Traffic Police Brigade¡­ The end. It rang again. This time, it was the Deputy Chief. Ringing again, and again he answered¡­ Lu Tongda stayed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, incessantly answering calls until he heard the scream of police sirens, at which point he was ovee with a sense of relief. Only heaven knew how many calls he had taken during that time from heads of the brigade, division chiefs, deputy chiefs, and the Chief. In between, he seemed to have also received a call from the chief of his hometown county bureau. But exactly which one it was, Lu Tongda couldn¡¯t recall. ¡°Captain Jiang!¡± A police car stopped by the roadside, and several people rushed over. From the Criminal Police Division to the intersection, once the car sped up, it was just a ten-minute affair. But for Wang Chuanxing, Mu Zhiyang, and the others, those ten minutes seemed like an eternity. One of Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hands was even on his hip, resting beside his gun. Lu Tongda felt his eyelids twitch; the superiors had told him to protect Jiang Yuan, but if these people wanted to take action, he wouldn¡¯t be able to protect him. ¡°Xiao Lu, you¡¯ve worked hard.¡± The person who arrived also knew Lu Tongda¡¯s name and nodded at him amicably. Lu Tongda just nodded stupidly. Then, the newly arrived police officers began to direct traffic, disperse the crowd, and rescue Jiang Yuan¡­ It should have been him directing the traffic, but after taking a couple of steps, Lu Tongda remembered the earlier reminders from several leaders and wisely stopped. Even though armed officers had arrived, his task had not been canceled, so he shouldn¡¯t abandon his post. Soon, more police officers began to appear at the scene, and more armed officers arrived as well. By the time someone came over with a submachine gun, Lu Tongda waspletely numb. ¡°It¡¯s fine, we thought we were going into action, but it turned out to be just arge truck¡­ no worries, just pretend we¡¯re passing by.¡± The armed ones were mainly narcotics officers, who had just busted a drug trafficking den and were also worried that Jiang Yuan was attacked in retaliation. A group of clenched-teeth determination, their morale visibly bolstered. Ambnces and fire trucks also arrived. Jiang Yuan was quickly pulled out of the vehicle and rushed to the hospital with utmost urgency. Jiang Yuan then allowed himself to fall asleep with ease. When he awoke again, most of his examinations had already been carried out. Yu Wenshu and Huang Qiangmin, among others, surrounded the hospital bed, smoking, eating sunflower seeds, and drinking tea while chatting. Lu Tongda sat in a corner with nothing pressing to do, but he hadn¡¯t received any notice that he could leave. ¡°Captain Jiang is awake,¡± Lu Tongda noticed Jiang Yuan opening his eyes and was the first to point it out. ¡°He¡¯s awake?¡± Huang Qiangmin immediately came over, felt Jiang Yuan¡¯s head, then cranked up his bed, saying, ¡°There are no major wounds, not even serious enough to be considered minor injuries. Your brain and internal organs have been checked, you¡¯re fine, and the dump truck driver has been arrested, too.¡± Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was immediately captured, he asked, ¡°Is it rted to him?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know, the driver reeked of alcohol, and it¡¯s unclear whether he drank before or after the incident.¡± Huang Qiangmin looked unconvinced and continued in a softer voice, ¡°You don¡¯t need to worry, we will not let him get off easily with this case.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not worried, if my body¡¯s okay, I n to return to my post and continue working,¡± Jiang Yuan sat up. His head felt heavy, but he was not confused. Huang Qiangmin pressed him back down, ¡°Work is never done, rest up well for a few days first.¡± ¡°That won¡¯t do, I need to root out the person who wants me dead before I can rest easy,¡± Jiang Yuan insisted as he got up and took out his phone to call his father, reminding him to be cautious. After Jiang Yuan had calmed his father¡¯s shock and concern and once again instructed Uncle Qiang, everyone in the hospital room put down their sunflower seeds and fruit and silently lit up cigarettes. Actually, everyone had suspected that the assant was specifically targeting Jiang Yuan, but no one expected him to bluntly burst the bubble like this. Since the bubble had been burst, it was time to crack the case. Yu Wenshu put out his cigarette and said, ¡°You cannot be directly involved with this case. For the scene, I suggest we bring in experts from the provincial department, as there are a few there with quite high expertise¡­¡± Jiang Yuan shook his head but said, ¡°I will not be involved with this case. I n to continue digging deeper into the Huang Li drug trafficking gang.¡± Of all the cases Jiang Yuan had worked on recently, it was only this one that was worth killing for. Yu Wenshu¡¯s expression darkened, he too had such suspicions, but he wasn¡¯t as certain as Jiang Yuan was. ¡°Since you¡¯ve made your decision, the Criminal Police Brigade will follow your lead. Just tell us how to proceed, and we will do it,¡± Yu Wenshu showcased his full support. ¡°I¡¯ve already transferred someone from Ningtai,¡± Huang Qiangmin patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°The Criminal Science Center will also provide full support,¡± Wan Baoming was seated right beside him, not missing a second. ¡°The Narcotics Brigade will provideplete support,¡± Captain Yin and Deputy Captain Jin looked at each other and joined in. Image Reconnaissance Brigade: ¡°We¡¯re the same.¡± Public Security Brigade: ¡°We¡¯re the same.¡± Cybersecurity Brigade: ¡°We¡¯re the same.¡± Young traffic officer Lu Tongda, inspired by the fervor around him, couldn¡¯t help but whisper: ¡°Me too!¡± At that moment, a pause in the collective voices meant that Lu Tongda¡¯s words echoed clearly through the hospital room. Yu Wenshu, seizing the moment, looked over and said with a spark of recognition, ¡°Lu Tongda, right?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s me,¡± Lu Tongda quickly replied. ¡°Alright, for these next few days, you stick with Jiang Yuan. I¡¯ll speak with your squadron leaderter and have you seconded to us. Your main task will be to ensure Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety,¡± Yu Wenshu spoke from his experience as a criminal officer, trusting very few individuals. As a traffic officer, Lu Tongda had little association with multiple parties, and since he had the opportunity to intervene at the scene, it demonstrated his integrity to a certain degree. Lu Tongda, not fully understanding, could only nod in agreement. Chapter 549 - 549 503 Kryptonite ?549: Chapter 503 Kryptonite 549: Chapter 503 Kryptonite ¡°I should still take a look at the scene first. Such arge scene will probably take several days to investigate.¡± Jiang Yuan thanked the room full of leaders and then prepared to leave the hospital. He couldn¡¯t reallymand police officers from another jurisdiction to do anything, and at present, he didn¡¯t need too many people either¡ªhis own efforts were the main force. The other leaders expressed their appreciation cooperatively, while Wan Baoming said, ¡°Our investigators from the Criminal Science Center are already working there, Captain Jiang can just go and takemand.¡± ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll say Director Wan approved it,¡± Jiang Yuan half-joked. He had plenty of experience directing technicians. In fact, given his current fame within Shannan Province, normal forensic technicians would afford him some courtesy. Director Wanughed heartily, went along with it, and recited a haiku in a Japanese style, ¡°Visiting the sick brings hearts together, blessings for speedy recovery. Ready to assist with all our heart, stay in touch for cooperative effort.¡± (chatgpt) Everyone then pped their hands, continuing to praise Director Wan as the most cultured person in the department. Eventually, everyone left the room satisfied, including the patient. Only the cleaner who came to tidy up was left, frowning at the cigarette butts littering the floor. Yu Wenshu called for two more Audis, and Lu Tongda drove them back to the police station. For the detectives in Changyang City, an Audi was considered top-of-the-line. Any better, such as BMWs or Mercedes, would seem a bit excessive. And even the Audis at the detective brigade weren¡¯t for public use; in total, there were only a few, and Jiang Yuan was one of the few who could get one. Jiang Yuan and the others changed back into their uniforms at the police station, equipped themselves with their gear, handled the necessary handovers, and signed where they needed to sign. The equipment department arranged for an old investigation vehicle¡ªthe new ones had already been taken out, and the updated ones had been driven to Ningtai County, leaving only the old investigation vehicles behind. The police officer who came for the handover patted the old vehicle¡¯s peeling paint and said, ¡°The good thing about this car is that it can carry bodies. If you¡¯re not picky, you can stack two or three bodies inside without much trouble.¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hand in resignation. The officer walked off with a chuckle, while Lu Tongda, somewhat shocked, asked Mu Zhiyang beside him, ¡°Is it always this hardcore when your special team works on cases?¡± Mu Zhiyang nced at Lu Tongda¡¯s expression, sneered inwardly, and replied, ¡°Not always; asionally, we might go a week or two without seeing any bodies.¡± For a regr criminal investigator, seeing one body a month was already too frequent, and not many detectives could handle a murder case a month or seeing three murder victims in three months¡ªit was too much strain, enough to make anyone go bald from stress. The thought of the pressure and despair from unsolvable cases could even drive one to consider resigning. Lu Tongda, however, was different. Since he joined the force, he had been a traffic cop, and for many young police officers, solving cases was their actual dream. If it wasn¡¯t for cracking cases, if it was just for promotion or making money, then the cost-performance ratio of bing a cop was too low. And for young people who had never worked on criminal cases, including young traffic cops like Lu Tongda, the first reaction to words like ¡®body¡¯ or ¡®homicide¡¯ was excitement. Having graduated only a few years ago, with no family to feed, no mortgage or car loans to pay off, no rush to get home to cook or take care of children after work, and unlike the ten-year veteran bachelor Mu Zhiyang, Lu Tongda had no desire to find a girlfriend¡ªearning more than he could spend, he cared little for fame or fortune and was eager to satisfy his curiosity, ambition, and career aspirations. He felt that an endless stream of murder cases would be wonderful! Mu Zhiyang realized then that what was supposed to be fishing had turned into baiting a whole area. Changing his tone back, Mu Zhiyang seriously said, ¡°The officer from the equipment department was just joking. Who in their right mind goes out with a hearse and bodies? He was just messing around.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ve seen the back, and there really is enough space to fit two or three bodies,¡± countered Lu Tongda. ¡°Having space doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s meant for carrying bodies.¡± ¡°Captain Jiang is a forensic doctor, though. It¡¯s perfectly reasonable for a forensic doctor to carry a couple of bodies with him.¡± ¡°If that¡¯s what you think¡­¡± Mu Zhiyang grew tired of the conversation. Used to being by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, Mu Zhiyang hadn¡¯t expected to suddenly have a rival for the position. But he had nothing else to say. The danger they were in was clear to all, and he couldn¡¯t possibly stay up 24 hours to guard Jiang Yuan. Having someone to take over shifts for the short term was not a bad idea after all. Jiang Yuan was still feeling a bit drowsy. A little concussion was only to be expected after a car crash, and he had already been through an MRI. Logically, Jiang Yuan should be resting and recuperating. But given the current situation, recuperating in the hospital wouldn¡¯t put him at ease. Going home¡­ while his home would certainly be safer, especially with someone there, it was undeniable that the security at Jiangcun Residential Area and his home would decrease once he returned. The drug trafficking gang shouldn¡¯t be underestimated. The police were sessful in raiding their stronghold this time by catching them off guard. They were not only unprepared internally but had also growncent over time. A lot of the weapons and ammunition were stored inrge safes and gun cabs. Once the leadership was disrupted, the underlings couldn¡¯t even get their hands on rifles, eventually resorting to handguns and melee weapons. And judging by the final sweep, the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang¡¯s danger level was quite significant, equipped with traditional Type 56 rifles, various shotguns, and even military grenades. Although Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think they still had arge stockpile of arms or would be willing to use them, there was truly no need to bnce between ¡°what I think¡± and ¡°what they think.¡± Staying at the police station was the safest option. Certainly, capturing the perpetrators was equally important; there are many days to y the thief but none to guard against one. Without capturing the mastermind behind the scenes, Jiang Yuan definitely couldn¡¯t rest easy. Shuidong District. The crime scene, with many forensic investigators from Changyang City Criminal Science Center still diligently working. The six-story building zed with light, with the asional silhouette shing by. Upon arriving, Jiang Yuan looked up at the building and saw a new task appear on the system page: Mission: Catch Them All Mission Details: Arrest as many members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang as possible. Mission Progress: 0% It was another simr open-ended mission. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, then, after getting dressed, he headed into the building to start sweeping. For the forensic technicians, building a case on evidence was the most basic approach. And the building in front of him was a veritable evidence warehouse. The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang had used this as their base, where they worked and lived for over five years; moreover, it had been exterminated without prior warning, hence anything in the building could potentially be evidence. Jiang Yuan looked up again at the cooling down temporary +1 skill¡ªnot needed for now; after all, his own technical expertise was actually sufficient. Jiang Yuan first checked the first floor, then headed straight to the sixth floor, the top level. Thest time he was here, his main job was crime scene reconstruction, a review and summary of the previous capture operation. This time, Jiang Yuan was looking for even more traces, not just those rted to life and work. Apart from a few meeting rooms and offices, the sixth floor housed Huang Li¡¯s office. The office was decoratedvishly, resembling the executive office of a major corporation. Of course, given the high profit margins of Huang Li and his associates, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if they earned more than publicly tradedpanies; the cost of an office was just a drop in the bucket for them. After observing for who knows how long, Liu Jinghui came upstairs and asked with concern, ¡°I thought you would stay in the hospital for at least a day, but here you are.¡± ¡°With a drug trafficking case like this, I feared they would set the ce on fire overnight,¡± Jiang Yuan said without a hint of jest. If they could dispatch dump trucks, arson wouldn¡¯t be far-fetched. Liu Jinghui frowned upon hearing this, ¡°There¡¯s a guard posted outside, right? Don¡¯t tell me you fell for it.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been arranged,¡± Jiang Yuan nodded, then asked, ¡°I heard you went to interrogate the driver? How did it go?¡± Jiang Yuan was also very interested in this lead. In fact, it was the only direct clue they had at the moment. The idea of digging deeper into the criminal gang was mostly spection, and if the driver could corroborate, it would be perfect. Liu Jinghui shook his head, ¡°I went to observe the interrogation, not conduct it myself. I can¡¯t handle these kinds of criminals.¡± ¡°Any results yet?¡± Liu Jinghui chose his words carefully and said, ¡°The driver is highly problematic. So far¡­ after three or four hours, he has mainly been pretending to be drunk, iming ignorance, and remaining silent¡­ He definitely received specialized training; mere online tips wouldn¡¯t get him to this level.¡± Jiang Yuan immediately grasped Liu Jinghui¡¯s implication. If the dump truck driver were an ordinary person, spouting a bunch of excuses under such circumstances would be most likely, but remaining silent or using ignorance as a defense was extremely difficult. Interrogation is not like a child¡¯s quarrel, nor is it like a lovers¡¯ spat. It¡¯s not about speaking when you want to or giving the silent treatment when you desire. Interrogators have the support of thew, as well as the advantage of setting and information. Most importantly, they have practiced and experienced the same process countless times. It would be impossible for an ordinary person entering the interrogation room to go through the whole process iming ignorance. Interrogators could easily trip up the subject with questions designed to break their psychological defenses. No matter how fancy the interrogation process gets, the dialogue between the two parties is recorded. Contradictions are easily pointed out. In such a situation, if the dump truck driver managed to persist, it meant he was not only trained, but also briefed in advance. ¡°Is he a member of their gang?¡± Jiang Yuan quickly surmised. ¡°Not sure. He could be a peripheral member,¡± Liu Jinghui paused, then added, ¡°But we made the arrests too quickly, there are definitely some who slipped through the.¡± The raid was all about speed, catching the masterminds as swiftly as possible. As for the rest of the gang members, they would have to be dealt with more slowly. Jiang Yuan had no reason to rush, turning his attention back to the crime scene, ¡°Whether they did it or not, cleaning them up can¡¯t do any harm.¡± ¡°Right, stay safe,¡± Liu Jinghui agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach. The ferocity of the drug trafficking gang was extreme. The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang previously kept a low profile to produce drugs quietly, but now, without such constraints, they could shed their cover and seek more violent retribution. ¡°Also¡­¡± Liu Jinghui stopped before leaving, ¡°Even though I know you would examine everything thoroughly without me mentioning it, I feel like there is definitely something in this building, or among the evidence we¡¯ve already collected.¡± ¡°How so?¡± ¡°Premeditated murder takes time and cost. Especially the process of hiring a hitman, whiches with considerable expense. Nowadays, even getting someone to clean the range hood requires an appointment, let alone executing a murder for hire the next day? That efficiency is too high; it¡¯s not the era of Shenzhen speed anymore.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± ¡°Even if the driver had been controversial and trained in advance, employing such a powerful hitman would require them to gather information and make decisions, so I once suspected the driver was a core member of the drug trafficking gang,¡± Liu Jinghui sighed, ¡°It¡¯s a pity that¡¯s not the case.¡± Jiang Yuan smiled, ¡°So you think they made the decision so quickly because of an urgent need?¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s very likely they themselves felt threatened, at the very least it¡¯s this reason that could cause unified action,¡± Liu Jinghui summarized, ¡°Maybe, right here, they have their own ¡®Kryptonite¡¯.¡± Chapter 550 - 550 504 Starting with a bang ?550: Chapter 504 Starting with a bang 550: Chapter 504 Starting with a bang Jiang Yuan paced gently on the bridge boardwalk, pondering how to proceed with the investigation. This time, the investigation work was quite different from the past. The inspection had to be meticulous, or else some might slip through the. But with such a vast area to cover, being too thorough could dy the opportunity for action. News of Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang¡¯s capture probably hadn¡¯t spread widely yet, but it would eventually, and by then, the suspects might flee, rendering the evidence collected useless. Since there were six floors in total, plus a basement, all of which were key areas to investigate, Changyang City Bureau¡¯s regr bridge boards were not enough, and additional ones had to be urgently purchased. The acrylic bridge boards under Jiang Yuan¡¯s feet were the most suitable¡ªmade of a type of stic often used for fish tanks, they were transparent and sturdy enough to support someone weighing over 200 pounds with equipment or carrying a body without breaking. The advantage of their transparency was convenient for someone like Jiang Yuan, who reconstructed crime scenes or analyzed blood and other forensic work. Of course, acrylic bridge boards were also the most expensive. Changyang City Bureau used to buy a few each year and had some in stock, which had depleted due to various reasons. Although they had urgently purchased more, to control costs, only the sixth floor was equipped with transparent bridge boards; the ones downstairs were metallic, and whatever they covered, they covered. Walking on such bridge boards, Jiang Yuan continuously contemted the investigation n. Huang Li¡¯s office was the centerpiece of the investigation, but it spanned over 200 square meters, filled with a massive office desk, sofas, chairs, a wine cab, file cabs, and a safe. Based on surface area, the workload was overwhelming. Moreover, this was thest office where the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang held out. They had persisted in the room for a short time, burning some documents, flushing away some drugs, and even attempting to start a fire, which was extinguished, leaving just a wall¡¯s curtains burned. Thus, to describe the office as having been through the wars was quite fitting. On the other hand, the office also received significant attention from the Changyang City Criminal Science Center. The staffing of the Changyang City Criminal Science Center was on par with the Criminal Police Brigade, with much of its manpower concentrated in this main building, and most of that on the sixth floor. Therefore, the scene on the sixth floor had already been scrutinized once. A second inspection that had to unearth decisive evidence was an almost impossible task. However¡­ Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and realized that, if there was any advantage to a second inspection, it was that there was nopulsory mission. A first inspection followed a set of standards, collecting every necessary fingerprint, biological material, and photo without fail. These were not only the foundational resources for the detectives to solve the case but also essential for subsequent investigations or corrections, and eventually for prosecution. Hence, any on-scene investigator or forensic doctor followed a set of objectives and standards during an investigation. But for a second inspection, there wasn¡¯t much to say¡ªif new evidence was discovered, it was credited to the investigator¡¯s ability; if nothing was found, it was considered normal. For Jiang Yuan, this meant he didn¡¯t have to methodically collect fingerprints, footprints, bloodstains, and other evidence. First, he would observe, and if he deemed it unnecessary, he could choose not to collect fingerprints or footprints¡ªthis step could save a significant amount of time, which was often the most time-consuming for investigators. As for how to decide what was necessary or not, that required high expertise. Theoretically, different footprints and fingerprints had distinct characteristics, but it was too difficult for ordinary people to remember, and even with training, if one was not sensitive enough to the relevant information, it might still be ineffective. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, a skill level of Level 4 or above was rtively suitable. For instance, he had recently advanced to Level 5 in footprints analysis, which allowed him some leeway. Of course, if he had used it yesterday, Level 6 effectiveness would arguably have been even more advantageous. Regardless, once he had established a n, Jiang Yuan silently set to work. No matter how great the design and thinking, without practical work, it was useless. It¡¯s like in American TV shows or Hollywood movies, where among the main character group, there¡¯s always a silent but highly skilled tech geek, who often happens to be Asian, and then you see the protagonist, though ignorant, still dominating the game effortlessly¡­ The real world is clearly not this fantastic. In reality, a criminal technician with decisive ability would actually be the leader, much like the eight tigers of the Ministry¡¯s Criminal Investigation Department, each usually an expert in their field, takingmand during cases and directing local detectives on investigations. Jiang Yuan first reviewed the fingerprints and footprints collected by other personnel. Thanks to these, the drug enforcement team had already arrested over a dozen individuals who had slipped through. Most were core members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang. If not a core member, one could not even enter this six-story building. Jiang Yuan sorted out some characteristics of the fingerprints,mitted them to detailed memory, and then roamed around Huang Li¡¯svish office with an inspectionmp in hand. He carried a multi-light source, lithium battery-powered, multi-color temperature inspectionmp¡ªin simple terms, amp that could emit various colors. He also had arge footprint inspectionmp, simr in purpose to the fingerprintmp, but thicker and heavier than a fingerprintmp or high-intensity shlight. The advantage was that theprehensive light source revealed more fingerprints and footprints, with better effect. Mu Zhiyang, who was already close to dozing off, hurried over to help carry the footprintmp. Chapter 551 - 551 504 A Good Start_2 ?551: Chapter 504: A Good Start_2 551: Chapter 504: A Good Start_2 Jiang Yuan then took out a new set of fingerprint powder and a brush. There are many ways to visualize fingerprints, including but not limited to various fingerprint powders, cyanoacrte (superglue), and ninhydrin, among others. In theory, even gold could be used to cast the fingerprints, but there was no need for Jiang Yuan to go to such lengths for fingerprints that were not confirmed to be important. Most of the fingerprints in the room were actually duplicates. The fingerprint technicians before had collected them, and most of those stored in the fingerprint database could be matched. Those that couldn¡¯t be matched were probably not in the database, and there wasn¡¯t much point for Jiang Yuan to spend time on them. Therefore, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t search in obvious ces, like the surface of the desks or safes. Fingerprints there had definitely been wiped clean time and again. Of course, this was also because the main office area received more attention, and there were more forensic investigators there. They didn¡¯t need to leave the sixth floor. Once they stepped out of the main office area, the thoroughness of the investigations significantly decreased. Nheless, Jiang Yuan still checked the main office area thoroughly today. In addition to fingerprints, he also paid attention to footprints and other traces, including those left by bullets. By the time evening fell, Jiang Yuan finally found most of an unfamiliar fingerprint next to a water dispenser. He easily marked 13 characteristic points and, after running it twice in the system, identified a 22-year-old young male. Jiang Yuan marked it in the system and took a photograph with his phone, sending it to Jin, the deputymander of the drug enforcement unit. It was highly likely that the individual was a mid-level manager in Huang Li¡¯s gang, perhaps a distributor or even one of their bodyguards. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to differentiate. Securing the building had its advantages; any fingerprint found here was very likely not innocent. In other words, every fingerprint in this building had to be initially tagged as guilty. Even the cleaners and the janitorial staff couldn¡¯t possibly be unaware of what happened in the building. Having done all this, Jiang Yuan then turned around and said, ¡°Let¡¯s head back for dinner, we¡¯ll stay at the police station tonight.¡± Mu Zhiyang and Lu Tongda, carrying things and exhausted, agreed immediately. After instructing the remaining staff to be vignt about safety, Jiang Yuan returned to a corner of the criminal police office and set up a folding bed for himself, where he nestled in to review the fingerprints and footprints from the back-end system to facilitate the continuation of the investigation the next day. Mu Zhiyang gave Lu Tongda a folding bed and set up his own next to Jiang Yuan, then sighed and said, ¡°Ourbined worth must be at least a whole apartment building, yet here we are sleeping on these three beds that cost just 99 each.¡± ¡°These beds are three for 99? Got a link?¡± Lu Tongda¡¯s eyes lit up, thinking that as a bachelor, if he had a folding bed at his office, one in his car, and another in his living room, wouldn¡¯t that elevate his life to a whole new level? Mu Zhiyang coughed twice and said, ¡°I exaggerated a bit. It¡¯s buy two get one free, altogether about one hundred seventy-eight. Get the spirit of it.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not bad either, what¡¯s the keyword?¡± Lu Tongda stretched out and started browsing online shopping sites. He even ced an order, his splurge momentarily outshining Jiang Yuan. ¡­ Early in the morning. Jiang Yuan woke up to the strong scent of sandalwood. ¡°This scent¡­ it¡¯s kind of familiar¡­¡± After washing his face with mineral water and wiping it with tissue paper, Jiang Yuan stepped out of the office. The door across the room was open, letting out a hint of fragrance. Entering the room, Jiang Yuan indeed saw a familiar sight of red chicken eggs, red duck eggs, red goose eggs¡­ and in the middle, a green emu egg. ¡°Master,¡± Jiang Yuan called out. Wu Jun, with his back to the door, gestured for Jiang Yuan toe closer and said, ¡°Come here and help me take a look at this.¡± Jiang Yuan strode over and saw a cleaning robot lying bare on the table in front of Wu Jun. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Bought it second-hand online, I want to take it back and give it a try. Everyone talks about ¡®sweeping monks,¡¯ and since we believe in the Three Pure Ones, we should also take on the task of sweeping.¡± Jiang Yuan hesitated and asked, ¡°Does using a cleaning robot count as doing the chore?¡± ¡°Of course, it counts,¡± Wu Jun argued, ¡°A big monk sweeps with a broom, mops with a mop; aren¡¯t those just tools? Now it¡¯s a new era, and the tool has evolved into a cleaning robot. Using a cleaning robot naturally counts as doing the chore¡­ and I am not doing nothing, I¡¯ve been fixing this thing all morning.¡± ¡°Alright then¡­ But can we really believe in the Three Pure Ones?¡± ¡°We must believe. It is also promoted by the higher-ups,¡± Wu Jun counted off on his fingers, ¡°Clearing up police cases daily, settling cases monthly, and eradicating backlogged cases each quarter¡ªNingtai County is now a model of the ¡®Three Clears¡¯ in Shannan Province.¡± What could Jiang Yuan say? He could only peel a red-boiled egg for breakfast. ¡°Your injury isn¡¯t serious, is it?¡± Wu Jun handed him a cup of clear tea and asked. ¡°A slight concussion maybe, bruised a few spots on my leg, and my left arm is slightly pulled. There are a few minor strains elsewhere, nothing else; at most they¡¯re minor injuries.¡± Jiang Yuan exined a bit more in detail. Wu Jun nodded as he listened; if that was indeed the case, then the injuries weren¡¯t serious. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve been obedient and paid your respects when needed,¡± Wu Jun thought for a moment and added, ¡°Alright, go do what you need to. I¡¯ll back you up here.¡± ¡°Back me up¡­ on what?¡± Jiang Yuan was a bit hesitant. ¡°Are you sticking around to listen?¡± Wu Jun countered, taking on the air of a master. ¡°No, no need.¡± Jiang Yuan hurriedly shook his head. ¡°As I was saying,¡± Wu Jun continued, taking out a peach wood sword the length of his palm and cing it softly on the table before closing his eyes slightly, ¡°you¡¯re working in Changyang, and despite your strong capabilities, it¡¯s still not easy. Just do what you have to, I¡¯ve got your back here.¡± Jiang Yuan, not daring to say more, grabbed a few eggs and left. Back in the office, he distributed the eggs to Mu Zhiyang and Lu Tongda, tidied up a bit, and then headed straight to the crime scene in Shuidong. Since Huang Li¡¯s office had already been searchedst time, Jiang Yuan chose the basement this time. Upon entering, he saw several broken mechanical parts piled up at the entrance. The battle in the basement had been quite intense; the equipment of the police and armed police could already smash most items in urbanbat. Jiang Yuan subconsciously picked up a piece of mechanical part¡ªa bent water pipe, one end broken and the other screwed with a smallponent. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder if the connection between theponent and the water pipe might bear fingerprints or DNA traces. He immediately unscrewed the threaded structure connecting the two. Upon shining a light on it, a faint fingerprint indeed appeared. ¡°Luck¡¯s on our side!¡± Mu Zhiyang, who had his fill of red-boiled eggs, immediately eximed. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes lit up; there was a high probability that the fingerprint was left by the installer. In the basement of the building where Huang Li¡¯s gang was based, the only thing requiring an installer would be the drug manufacturing machine. Chapter 552 - 552 505 Deceased ?552: Chapter 505: Deceased 552: Chapter 505: Deceased Jiang Yuan carefully lifted the fingerprints from the threads, made a copy, and photographed them. For the average trace examiner, extracting fingerprints from a round object is already quite challenging. It is akin to turning a curved surface into a t one. Jiang Yuan once dealt with a cold case involving fingerprints on the crossbeam of a bicycle. Due to substandard extraction techniques, it made identification difficult. Extracting fingerprints from threads was even more difficult, but fortunately, the threads were very fine. Although this could lead to the loss of key points, it would not turn the fingerprints into a 3D curved surface. Jiang Yuan proceeded with caution, first taking photographs, then dusting with powder, lifting the prints, and photographing them again. The process wasplicated and time-consuming, but once extracted and entered into the system, it would be a regr fingerprint, ready for normalparison operations. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t rush to process other fingerprints. He beckoned Mu Zhiyang over, opened hisptop, and logged into the backend system topare the fingerprints right away. ¡°Guo Baozhi, male¡­ deceased¡­ Hmm, died 3 years ago¡­¡± Jiang Yuan read with a bit of regret. Dying was good; it just wasn¡¯t very cooperative. Mu Zhiyang, squatting next to him holding theptop, nced at the screen and said, ¡°Does that mean this drug manufacturing factory has been operating for at least three years? Man, how much money did they make?¡± ¡°The main reason a drug manufacturing nt can¡¯t produce continuously is because of a shortage of raw materials.¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know much about drug enforcement, and his knowledge of physical and chemical testing was only what he had learned in school, but after catching up on information the night before, he already had some understanding of the domestic drug situation. What are called new drugs are actually synthetic drugs, industrialpounds. These substances can increase production significantlypared to traditional opium heroin or cocaine. Without constraints, aplete reaction cycle could theoretically yield tons of product in a matter of a few days, representing low-end production capacity. Almost a hundred years ago, Nazi Germany managed to produce enough methamphetamine to supply a million people. Ifrge chemical enterprises started producing without restrictions, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to operate on a scale of hundreds of tons. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the current Zolpidem production line faced the same issue. Drug addicts are not exactly dedicated enthusiasts; they¡¯re not like connoisseurs who must have drugs produced in a certain way from a specific ce. Drug addicts give all their love to drugs; as long as it messes with their brains, they like it. Therefore, this underground production line could now be used to produce Zolpidem, but it might have been used for other substances before or after. Controlling the production of new drugs is challenging within China. As a leading manufacturing powerhouse, a small factory in a Chinese township could exceed the output of an entire country. They supply other industrial, chemical, and pharmaceuticalpanies, typically with one or two types of chemical intermediates. Non-specialists would find the names tiresome, making it difficult to determine the properties of the products, synthetic pathways, or information regarding by-products. From this perspective, foreigners¡¯ preference for nt-based drugs isn¡¯t so much about affection for leaves but rather that their shrinking manufacturing industry makes leaves more essible. Especially with the development of hydroponic leaf cultivation, leaves have be rampant. The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang cing their production equipment in an underground basement in the city multiplied the secrecy tenfold. However, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s estimation, its original form must have been different; it likely required a substantial profit before considering such upgrading actions. Even so, the engineers or workers responsible for instation would have clearly known what they were doing¡­ and people around them might also know something. ¡°Give Director Liu a call, report the situation,¡± Jiang Yuan said as he roughly flipped through Guo Baozhi¡¯s information. There wasn¡¯t much in the backend, but a visit might yield some results. He was confident that Liu Jinghui, with his deductive skills, would probablye to these conclusions without needing to borate. Jiang Yuan then looked at theplete set of Zolpidem production equipment in front of him¡ªseveralrge tanks, numerous pipes, and the more technically challenging drying machines, pulverizers, mixers, and tablet presses¡­ Theoretically, a production line like this could be assembled simply by purchasing cheap chemical manufacturing equipment from the market¡­ The real challenges were the sources of the input material and the disposal of outputs, including waste and exhaust gases from production. ¡°Take photos first,¡± Jiang Yuan said, knowing that the initial crime scene investigation had already produced countless pictures, but this evidence and these clues were still the most crucial, and he had to do his job thoroughly. Lu Tongda, carrying a camera, hurriedly took photos. The detectives preferred using cameras, as specialized equipment made it easier to organize afterwards and allowed them to shoot more pictures. Jiang Yuan continued to look for fingerprints on the surrounding workbenches. Most appeared very simr to those he remembered, so he took the PAD andpared a few areas, confirming his suspicions. He then focused on ces like the feed ports. He directed Mu Zhiyang to dismantle a feed port and carefully check. If nothing was found, they would move on to the next one¡­ The reason for dismantling the feed ports was that they were rtively easy to remove. Taking apartrge equipment was troublesome if it couldn¡¯t be reassembled. Such destructive checks should naturally be performedst. After dismantling three feed ports in quick session, they indeed found three more fingerprints. It seemed that the instation personnel had not been careful or had disregarded basic protocols; not wearing gloves when they should have and not cleaning and disinfecting properly. Of course, their customers didn¡¯t care either. ¡°One print is Guo Baozhi¡¯s, and the other two are Li Chunqiu¡¯s¡­ 34 years old, also deceased,¡± Jiang Yuan read from theputer screen, his expression darkening slightly. Both of them had worked for the drug trafficking gang and had died young. Likely, their deaths weren¡¯t due to natural causes. ¡°They have a matured system for murder,¡± Jiang Yuanmented. This was the most concerning issue about criminal organizations¡ªtheir methods of destabilizing society were constantly deepening and expanding. The stability and safety of today¡¯s society are built upon such an unstable foundation. The best way to maintain them is through sweeping arrests, and preferably, the death penalty. Otherwise, detention facilities actually run the risk of technical diffusion, considering the rtively high degree of freedom in domestic prisons. ¡°Send a message to Director Liu,¡± Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even feel the need to make a phone call. Lu Tongda quickly did as told, while Mu Zhiyang continued to wield the footprint light, helping Jiang Yuan search for clues. For the next few hours, Jiang Yuan circled around the production line. He knew that the production line was the primary focus of the initial investigating officers, but that didn¡¯t mean Jiang Yuan could dismiss it. By the afternoon, when the cooldown time in the system interface ended, Jiang Yuan decisively used the temporary +1 skill on crime scene investigation. The LV4 skill climbed to LV5 in one go, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes nearly burst with light. His attention and concentration had greatly improved, along with his judgment, and Jiang Yuan began to develop some ideas about the overallyout of the scene. For instance, the venttion fan was installed lower than usual, which was clearly made for easier repair, recement, and control. The process of manufacturing drugs has a smell, and it can be quite strong. The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang must have considered many methods before choosing this one. Jiang Yuan asked for a stool, climbed up, and after scrutinizing for half a minute, he dismantled the venttion fan. Upon closer inspection, fingerprints appeared inside. Jiang Yuan collected each one, and this time, they identified a neer. ¡°Finally found one who is still alive for the time being,¡± Jiang Yuan exhaled, still forwarding the clues to Liu Jinghui. Looking at Jiang Yuan getting into the zone, Mu Zhiyang thought to himself, could this be the Jiang Yuan backed by Wu Jun¡¯s support? After the temporary upgrade of the crime scene investigation to LV5, Jiang Yuan sessively discovered four sets of fingerprints and footprints, as well as traces from two tools, which he deemed valuable. Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene investigation began to attract attention once again. In terms of professionalism and difficulty, crime scene investigation is somewhat lessplex than other forensic skills, especially those like anthropology. Therefore, in ces like the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment or simr institutions like the Criminal Sciences Center, it isn¡¯t umon to find officers with a crime scene investigation level of LV2 and above. Even LV3 crime scene investigation techniques should be mastered by some. Hence, when Jiang Yuan used his LV4 crime scene investigation skills for a second sweep, the challenge was still significant. After the level upgrade to LV5, the results were entirely different. It was as if the difficulty of the exam had been reduced, with the proportion of students scoring 60 points increasing dramatically, and those reaching 70 or 80 points also seeing a significant rise. However, those reaching 90 points were still rare, and the proportion at 95 points remained a steep pyramid. As Jiang Yuan kept sending information to Liu Jinghui, more and more detective teams were dispatched. Soon, various stories began to circte in the WeChat groups: ¡°I heard Jiang Yuan has started killing again.¡± ¡°Fierce and raging eh, the kind that feels no vor in food if they don¡¯t kill for three days.¡± ¡°If this drug trafficking gang ispletely arrested because of this, I¡¯ll go three days without eating.¡± ¡°I heard that Jiang Yuan¡¯s master came to help, and then Jiang Yuan started to find evidence all at once.¡± ¡°Must be some really amazing expert.¡± ¡°Definitely, the old experts may not be like the young folks today, knowing so many new technologies and maybe not having had systematic professional training, but the stuff theye up with, some of it is truly ingenious, it might look like superstition to us, but when the resultse out, you can¡¯t help but be convinced.¡± Chapter 553 - 553 506 Direction ?553: Chapter 506: Direction 553: Chapter 506: Direction The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang¡¯s basement renovation n was extremely immense and luxurious. With a surface area of 2000 square meters and a height of about ten meters, it was equivalent to an underground factory. The space they currently used for production was less than one-tenth of the total area. The entire underground space still had great potential for expansion. Jiang Yuan, following the production line, quickly found several more fingerprints and slowly umted some insights. More precisely, it was a sh between the habits of the Criminal Science Center¡¯s crime scene investigators and trace evidence collectors, and the drug trafficking gang members. The crime scene investigators and trace evidence collectors of the Criminal Science Center used the thought patterns of normal people to analyze and conduct their surveys. But you wouldn¡¯t guess the mindset of the drug dealers¡ªwho else would truly leave fingerprints on a wall five meters high? If you ask why? The answer is they were high on drugs. Besides that, fingerprints and other traces existed in some bizarre ces. Like inside corners of sofas that normal people would never look at, or the top of the back of a cab. Jiang Yuan even found a trace on the inside of a refrigerator that was clearly made by a licked tongue¡ªthe tongue had melted the ice, and the saliva had re-frozen, leaving behind a print resembling the pattern of a tongue coating. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too concerned about what circumstances it was made under, why it was there¡ªhe just needed to collect the DNA. A trace evidence collector from the Criminal Science Center silently followed behind Jiang Yuan, standing even further away than Lu Tongda, but always behind him like a half-wild pet dog drooling. Mu Zhiyang nced back warily, his eyes a bit fierce. He already had Lu Tongda with him. Now, if he went out, the car would be just right with one more suspect, but any more would indeed be too crowded. The trace evidence collector was about 30 years old, facing Mu Zhiyang with a mature, social smile and continued to follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s steps, taking notes from time to time. Mu Zhiyang looked back at Jiang Yuan, who was in a state of hyper-concentration, so Mu Zhiyang kept his mouth shut. ¡°There¡¯s another one here,¡± Jiang Yuan said, shining the strong shlight upward, pointing at a fake window in the basement. This fake window was even more outrageous, about six or seven meters high, with a ring of bricks, unusable for entry or exit, at best it served a decorative purpose. Lu Tongda immediately brought over adder, saying, ¡°Who would climb up there, and what would be their purpose? To hide something?¡± ¡°If you stack three people vertically, you could just reach this fake window, adding a bit of challenge,¡± Mu Zhiyang offered an answer that fit the situation. Lu Tongda clicked his tongue twice, somehow finding it sensible, and as he climbed up, said, ¡°But, Captain Mu, how did you think of stacking three people up?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you climb walls when you were in school?¡± Mu Zhiyang supported thedder and casually responded. Lu Tongda thought back for a moment, ¡°We usually just went through holes. Isn¡¯t climbing walls quite dangerous?¡± ¡°Usually you would go through holes, but what if the hole was discovered or blocked? Climbing is actually the safest, relying on yourself and your brothers, not on luck,¡± Mu Zhiyang sounded somewhat proud. Lu Tongda said, ¡°If I weren¡¯t up here, I¡¯d be giving you a respectful salute.¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing. When we were at the police academy¡­ cough cough, right, you graduated from Shannan Police Academy, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah, the stone on the east side, right?¡± Mu Zhiyangughed, ¡°It seems the good traditions are still being upheld, huh? How did you end up bing a traffic cop.¡± ¡°Back then I thought the motorcycle brigade was pretty impressive, and they required a height of 180cm. I¡¯m 180cm tall, so there was no reason not to join,¡± Lu Tongda said quite seriously when he mentioned being 180cm tall. Mu Zhiyang, seeing him in position, reminded, ¡°Be careful collecting fingerprints, don¡¯t fall. Also, Captain Jiang is much taller than you.¡± Lu Tongda let out augh, ¡°That only makes Captain Jiang stand out more.¡± Mu Zhiyang gave a dark look, thinking, this kid is saddled up and polishing the saddle. The fingerprints were collected and logged, indeed matching one more person. ¡°Dead,¡± half of the new people Jiang Yuan had found were dead. Nothing strange about it; those who pointlessly stacked themselves three high in a factory would eventually find their moment of death. The trio continued their inspection, a rather tedious affair. The crime scene investigators behind the three of them observed with great interest for a while. Time, like snow, always melts into water quickly when you want to y with it, and refuses to thaw when you find it bothersome. The temporary skill +1 for 405 minutes seemed unlikely tost until the end of the basement¡¯s inspection, and Jiang Yuan did not quicken his pace even after this thought urred to him. When ites to crime scene investigation, the more thorough, the better. It¡¯s advisable to inspect as much as possible. With that in mind, Jiang Yuan turned his attention to several cardboard boxes in the corner. ¡°Did you guys take samples from this?¡± Jiang Yuan walked around the boxes twice before bringing over the footprint light. ¡°We took a few¡­¡± the summoned crime scene investigator hurried over and cautiously asked, ¡°Do you think there¡¯s a problem?¡± ¡°Boxes from outside in a drug manufacturing nt aren¡¯t likely to be employees¡¯ parcels,¡± Jiang Yuan half-joked beforeying the boxes t and starting a meticulous search. Normal crime scene procedure focuses on the key points, like walls and floors. There could be evidence everywhere, but it¡¯s not feasible to swipe everything. Back when Jiang Yuan worked on secondary investigations, it took almost half a day for two people to just cover one bathroom. The previous investigators didn¡¯t prioritize the boxes, which also had to do with the information they received. After several discussions with Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan believed that Huang Li¡¯s drug trafficking gang had a close connection with Lao Gui¡¯s drug gang. Therefore, considering what drug gangs typically desire, their rtion must be material rather than spiritual. These cardboard boxes offered a crucial clue to Jiang Yuan. The source of raw materials for Huang Li¡¯s drug trafficking gang had always been a mystery; these boxes might provide some answers. He photographed them, dusted for prints, took samples, and then photographed again¡­ Just like before, Jiang Yuan directly uploaded the results to the system forparison. The work he was doing, though seemingly simple, was actually a process others found hard to replicate. Justparing fingerprints alone would take a regr crime scene investigator ten to twenty times, or even a hundred times longer. Simple fingerprints that can be matched directly are straightforward, but proving that a non-match is due to the absence in the system rather than one¡¯s own technical limitations is much more difficult. Therefore, at the crime scene, when crime scene investigators take fingerprints, they take them without running topare them immediately. It was only someone of Jiang Yuan¡¯s high skill level who could adopt such an approach. And the results turned out to be surprisingly good. ¡°Secure the scene. I¡¯m going to make a call,¡± said Jiang Yuan as he took out his phone and dialed Liu Jinghui once more. The expressions of everyone there became solemn. The difference between sending a message and making a call was quite clear. Liu Jinghui, cheery as ever, answered the call, ¡°Have you finally decided to give me a call?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve matched a Qinghe Jiayuan Pharmaceuticals employee, to be precise, a parking lot security guard from Jiayuan Pharmaceuticals,¡± Jiang Yuan said, recalling the case he worked on before where almost all of Jiayuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s parking lot guards were rounded up. On one hand, these guards were getting parking subsidies, and on the other hand, they acted as enforcers for the upper management of Jiayuan. Because they ran afoul of Jiang Yuan, they were almost entirely apprehended. However, as though they had agreed upon it, none of them confessed to drug trafficking, mostly driven by self-interest¡­ Liu Jinghui gasped, ¡°Jianyuan Pharmaceutical?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Well, well. If it¡¯s a pharmaceuticalpany¡­ If they wanted to produce something, it would be all too easy. What¡¯s the reliability of the evidence?¡± Jiang Yuan then briefly described the scene. Liu Jinghui let out a heavy sound of affirmation and said, ¡°I¡¯ll go report this.¡± The task was beyond his capabilities. Jiayuan Company was massive and the situation within the nt wasplex; it wasn¡¯t a matter of just making a phone call to summon people anymore. Moreover, if they nned to make arrests, they could be facing off against an entire drug trafficking organization, which naturally required further nning. Chapter 554 - 507: New Project

Chapter 554: Chapter 507: New Project

Afternoon. Not long after the temporary skill ended, a provincial department officer in a white shirt, apanied by two subordinates, sought out Jiang Yuan. The provincial department was also located in Changyang City, it¡¯s just that they didn¡¯t usually handle the cases in Changyang City. Speaking of which, the treatment of ordinary police officers in the provincial department wasn¡¯t even as good as that in the city or even district bureaus, especially regarding respect and reverence, which always seemed a bit like scratching an itch through a boot. However, the provincial department carried a level of prestige in its operations, often dealing with major cases that grassroots units might not encounter in ten or eight years. "Sha Yingren, Deputy Director of our Criminal Investigation Department. This is Forensic Jiang Yuan." Liu Jinghui had informed Jiang Yuan through WeChat beforehand, and now he was just making polite banter. Sha Yingren smiled at Jiang Yuan and reached out proactively, saying, "The name Ningtai Jiang Yuan has been continuously poured into my head recently, it¡¯s made me want to draw you into our Criminal Investigation Department." "Director Sha." Jiang Yuan smiled back. "The Huang Li Drug Trafficking Group case, I¡¯ve looked at it before, and it is indeed shocking. I didn¡¯t expect there to be a follow-up..." Sha Yingren started off by making conversation. Within the jurisdiction of the provincial department, investigating criminal cases was only a part of their duties. Other responsibilities included formting ns for the entire province, procurement of equipment, organizational construction, maintaining stability, counter-terrorism, etc., which could keep several hundred people very busy. In terms of criminal cases alone, just as the deputy head of a criminal police team is like a senior detective, the Deputy Director of the Criminal Investigation Department is effectively a senior detective as well. And as for the practical criminal investigation work in a province, the appearance of a Deputy Director from the Criminal Investigation Department basically meant the case had reached a high level. For a Director of the Investigation Department, who is one level higher, it is normal not to be directly involved with cases. If they do participate, it¡¯s mainly about overseeing and coordinating the work. After all, this position is essentially already detached from the front line, much like a hospital¡¯s dean ¨C asking them to lead surgery is more about face than expecting good results, because you can¡¯t have it all. In fact, in most ces, deputy directors are probably already detached from front-line work, and among the several deputy directors of Shannan Province¡¯s Criminal Investigation Department, it was only Sha Yingren who really appeared on the scene and was involved in actual cases, mainly in amand role. After a few words of warming up the atmosphere ended, the personnel from Changyang City Criminal Science Center went upstairs, leaving only Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Lu Tongda, and Liu Jinghui, the four of them. Sha Yingren examined the evidence on the scene andpared it to the surrounding objects, reviewing the content captured by the body cameras and video cameras of Jiang Yuan and the others. "The evidence chain is veryplete, and the clues indeed point to Jianyuan Pharmaceutical." Sha Yingren concluded, settling the emotions of those present. Sha Yingren knew how to interact with frontline police officers, starting with words that eased the mind, then said, "The question now is whether to investigate Jianyuan Group or not. Jianyuan is Qinghe City¡¯srgest tax-contributing enterprise, and I hear they¡¯re nning to go public soon; certainly, the impact must be considered. However, the evidence in this case is solid, and the clues are clear. A legal investigation is indeed necessary." "With your word, we can rest assured," said Liu Jinghui, who had taken the initiative to make the call and naturally knew whom to look for. "Well, pharmaceuticalpanies producing precursor chemicals for drug manufacturing is nothing new. Those directly producing narcotics are lessmon, but this is not surprising. We must arrest those who should be arrested," said Sha Yingren, beginning to ease the minds of the other police officers and continued, "An Australian documentary was just made about it before." He was referring to the story of an Australian father who, after his son died from a drug overdose, went undercover to investigate China¡¯s new psychoactive substance market. In the video, this father, named Bridge, easily got in touch with suppliers of these precursor chemicals, who told him they could provide 25I-NBOMe, 3-CMC, 4-CMC, and ¦Á-PVP, among other chemicals, and guaranteed shipping to Australia... These precursor chemicals they sold, also known as "designer precursors," are chemical products that can be directly transformed into narcotics through a series of simple chemical reactions. In China, there is little regtion over this, and if it¡¯s sold overseas, even fewer people care about it. The reality is that before some new psychoactive substances are discovered, no one knows they are drugs. In today¡¯s world, with such a multitude of chemical substances, there is no standard for whichpounds can be drugs; it¡¯s the addicts who discover this through countless lives lost without value. Just like with the toads in Yellowstone Park¡ªwho knew licking toads could get you high? How did the first person discover this, and how did the second person muster the courage to believe the first addict? Ultimately, if not for these "predecessors" paving the way, how could regtory authorities possibly enact aw banning licking toads? If toads were a new type of drug abroad, they wouldn¡¯t actually be prohibited in China. In theory, everyone could lick toads without punishment. If they didn¡¯t die from licking, they would not cross any legal boundaries concerning protected species. However, that being said, it¡¯s difficult to sell brand-new drugs, as the sales front end needs to invest more effort into market development. Drug addicts would also have their doubts¡ªand here¡¯s an interesting fact¡ªdrug addicts are afraid of dying too. So, for drugbs, producing popr drugs is the most profitable. Producing something too new means they have to give discounts to the sales side, which sometimes doesn¡¯t seem worth it. "Next, my suggestion is to take several steps. One is Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. Continue the investigation work here and try to arrest more members of the Huang Li drug-making gang, and see if there are any other pieces of evidence." "The second is, let the drug enforcement brigade handle the arrests. I¡¯ve already called in Yin to handle it." "Third, Liu, you¡¯re in charge of leading the investigation into Jianyuan Group?" "Fourth, regarding the connection between the two, as well as their transportation and salesworks, I think we could dig deeper. I will take on this part." Jiang Yuan and the others had no objections. Jiang Yuan also took the opportunity to nce at his system interface: Task: Cast a Wide Net Task Details: Arrest as many members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang as possible. Task Progress: 73% From this, it was clear that task progress was not calcted by the number of people. Seventy-three is a prime number, divisible only by one and seventy-three. Therefore, unless only one person or seventy-three people or a multiple of seventy-three had been arrested, the calction method was unrted to the number of people. "Additionally, our case is quiteplicated, so we must pay attention to confidentiality. Except for members of the special case team, any externalmunication must be notified to me in advance and authorized before proceeding," Sha Yingren said as he looked at the others, asking, "Can this be done?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan and the others replied obediently. Discipline forces had little room for negotiation, and moreover, Sha Yingren¡¯s request was actually standard, nothing out of the ordinary. Seeing that Sha Yingren was preparing to leave, Liu Jinghui said, "The fingerprint found on Jiang Yuan belongs to a parking lot security guard of Jianyuan Group, well, to be precise, a former parking lot security guard. We previously had a case and already cleared out their security guards in one sweep." Seeing that Sha Yingren didn¡¯t quite understand, Liu Jinghui further exined the concept of a parking lot security guard. "It means they tolerate the embezzlement ofpany revenue. Such apany still wants to go public," Sha Yingren scoffed. "Jianyuan has many problems. Their internal strife over the heir is intense, we were also involved in that case. Ultimately, it was Jiang Yuan who determined the real culprit," Liu Jinghui tried his best to rify his and Jiang Yuan¡¯s history of contact with Jianyuan Group. Sha Yingren nodded to show he understood. Liu Jinghui continued, "Next, I n tob through all of the Jianyuan parking lot security guards, including those in prison. Who knows, some of them might already be involved in drug trafficking. If the movement is too big, it might alert the people at Jianyuan." "You mean to stir the snake in the grass?" Sha Yingren immediately guessed the implied meaning behind Liu Jinghui¡¯s words. Liu Jinghui immediately responded, having failed to manage the situation upwards, "Yes, that¡¯s the idea. Jianyuan is too big. We want to investigate them and keep it under wraps. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible. We still need to see how Jianyuan reacts." "Okay," Sha Yingren agreed, clearly showing a considerable degree of trust in Liu Jinghui. Sha Yingren left with his subordinates. Jiang Yuan continued with his investigation in the building. Being in criminal science, even if there was a killing spree outside, his task wouldn¡¯t change much. He rather felt like he was in a ¡¯haven of his own, indifferent to the transition from winter to summer, and from spring to autumn¡¯. Chapter 555 - 508: Rushing to Each Other’s Side

Chapter 555: Chapter 508: Rushing to Each Other¡¯s Side

Qinghe City. Junyue Footpath Wellness Center. Security Captain Liang Yanrong, hands sped behind his back, faced the emotionally charged customer with an unruffled expression and smiled, "Look, you¡¯ve already made your purchases, and we¡¯vepleted our services. Now you¡¯re asking for a refund, which just isn¡¯t reasonable." "Servicespleted? What services have beenpleted? What exactly did you provide?" The customer, in his early thirties and still vigorous, was wearing the clothes provided by the center. He was red with anger, though not all of it was from anger¡ªsome redness could also be from the essential oil back scrub treatment." Liang Yanrong nced over at the female therapist. The female therapist, small and delicate in appearance, spoke up firmly, not yielding an inch, "We did foot massages, shoulder rubs, a spa, used essential oils, stretched your limbs and applied hotpresses. Everything was done. What else do you want?" The customer was livid: "If I just wanted a foot massage, would I need to spend over 1300 yuan? Downstairs from my ce, it¡¯s 79 yuan for an hour, and there¡¯s even a discount with a membership card!" "That¡¯s just our price range," the female therapist retorted unhappily. "My skills are good, our environment is good. If you want to go somewhere cheaper, then go. But you chose a more expensive ce, and now you¡¯re makingparisons. I definitely informed you of the prices before you selected the services." "Did Ie here for a foot massage? Is that what you told me at the beginning?" The customer stopped pretending, flinging his hand out, "Before I agreed to the services, you said I would get ¡¯daily¡¯ treatment. Now that¡¯s not happening, so just give me a refund!" Liang Yanrong coughed twice, still with an annoyingly pleasant demeanor, "Brother, we run a legitimate foot bath establishment, and all our therapists are professionals. If you make it difficult like this, it makes it hard for us to operate." "Legitimate, my ass. You¡¯re charging the price for meat dishes when you¡¯re serving vegetables." The customer was now boiling with rage, his mind finally kicked into gear after cooling down, and he recollected the scams he had read about online, knowing he had been tricked. Liang Yanrong remained all smiles, not at all troubled by the exposure of his tricks, and he said, "Brother, 1314 yuan really isn¡¯t expensive. Besides, it¡¯s not umon for vegetarian dishes to be more expensive than meat dishes nowadays. The girl has provided services for quite a while, you enjoyed it too¡ªdon¡¯t be too petty." "Don¡¯t be petty with me?" Seeing more customers entering the store, the angry patron took out his phone, threatening, "I¡¯ll call the police." Liang Yanrong sneered, asking, "What are you going to report to the police? We don¡¯t provide illegal services, and yet you want to call the police?" "Your employee implied there would be special services, that¡¯s why I paid," the customer said holding his phone. "This is straight-up fraud." "Nothing illegal about it," Liang Yanrong said, his neck tensing and his eyes turning fierce as he continued to apply pressure. The customer hesitated, then the call connected¡ªbut he hung up himself. He went out looking for a good time, didn¡¯t get the ¡¯color¡¯ he was expecting, and was scammed instead. How could he tell such a humiliating story to the cops... Moreover, he was afraid of retaliation, not knowing what kind of connections these people might have. "At least refund me some of it," the customer backpedaled. "We¡¯ll waive the fees for the clothing and the tea," Liang Yanrong offered, sparing him a few tens of yuan. Seeing the customer ept it, he walked out the door. The money for the services had already been collected; the fees for tea and such were supposed to be collected by the front desk anyway, and now he was simply letting the customer walk away. The scam was tried and true, and even the conflict resolution process rarely changed. It can only be said that customers who can¡¯t even find a meat dish shop surely have no strong connections in either the underworld or the legitimate world. The customer stayed in the room, putting on his own clothes with a sense of injustice before leaving, mumbling curses under his breath. The female therapist, her cut secured, happily nudged Liang Yanrong and said with augh, "Thank you, Brother Liang. You were so solid, you had him in your grip the whole time." If they met someone who resisted fiercely, they would usually refund twenty to thirty percent. Of course, not having to refund a penny was the most satisfying. "It¡¯s no big deal," Liang Yanrong said casually. To him, this job was child¡¯s y, merely dancing on the edge of legality. As for customers like this one, he could handle a hundred of them without batting an eye¡ªnone of them could produce an iron rod against him. Even if he ran into a tough customer, a full refund and an apology would suffice. Liang Yanrong had grown ustomed to such affairs, much simpler than the tasks he had undertaken for Jianyuan. If it hadn¡¯t been for Jianyuan wanting to distance himself and insisting that Liang Yanrong find a job, he wouldn¡¯t have bothered with such a minor establishment. As Liang Yanrong thought this, a carefree, unfettered expression emerged in his eyes. The female therapist, envious, looped her arm through Liang Yanrong¡¯s and shook it yfully: "Brother Liang... Shall I give you a massage?" "To my office," Liang Yanrong¡¯s tone was as serious as if discussing work. However, it was exactly this kind of ¡¯work¡¯ that he found enjoyable. The therapists in the shop would often change, but whether they did or not didn¡¯t affect his pleasures. "What are you thinking?" The female therapist yfully hit him, "I¡¯ll just massage your shoulders." "That¡¯s exactly what I was talking about, massaging the shoulders. Where did your mind go..." Liang Yanrong chuckled heartily, wrapping his arm around the female therapist for a brief moment before letting her go. The other security guards in the hall looked on enviously at Liang Yanrong. Despite their simr ages, Liang Yanrong was the only one who could stealthily take advantage; the others had to be in a quasi-rtionship to do so. Even when handling customerints, the security guards couldn¡¯t deal with issues on their own like Liang Yanrong did; they often needed the collective effort of two or three people, and those who were not good atmunicating even needed help from the female therapists. As for using force, it was prohibited unless a customer struck first. Chapter 556 - 508: Rushing to Each Other_2

Chapter 556: Chapter 508: Rushing to Each Other_2

After all, what the boss is doing is legitimate business. "Liang Brother is awesome." In the break room, other security guards gave Liang Yanrong the thumbs up when they saw hime in. Liang Yanrong was grand yet modest, "What¡¯s so awesome?" "You¡¯re awesome at making money, and just as awesome with the girls. It¡¯d take us twice as long just to pull off one job that you do two of, and even then, we¡¯d split the takings. Your speed at making money is top-notch." The security guard¡¯s main feeling was envy, especially for the money. To work here as a security guard meant constant brawling every day, which wasn¡¯t a job that made anyone happy. And since they were paid per job, the total ie wasn¡¯t high. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that they had been street hustlers until they got married and then had toe out to make a living, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted toe. The other security guards were in much the same boat, middle-aged toughs who had families to feed and had to enter the societal grind. That¡¯s why they all looked up to and envied Liang Yanrong. They admired Liang Yanrong for his ability to make money and were envious of it too. Liang Yanrong himself was nonchnt, a man who had truly seen his share of the world, and moreover, he had a strong backbone. In Liang Yanrong¡¯s own conception, he was pretty much like a retired martial arts master, or at least the caliber of the leader of a courier service at the start of a novel. In a novel, such a character might easily end up as expendable, but in the reality of the streets, or in a foot bath shop in a small city, that really meant the person was underapplying their talents. Indeed, with the existence of Jianyuan Group behind him, Liang Yanrong was akin to a major martial arts faction¡¯s covert agent in a small county, building a career there. Once it was time to move on, he could end up with a significant asset. Actually, he might be happier if he could break away from Jianyuan and take off for parts unknown, but every time that thought arose, and he considered the various dealings inside Jianyuan Group, Liang Yanrong would lose interest. Capitalists are ruthless. No matter how powerful a courier service may be, it could only guard and protect these people¡¯s interests. "Brother Liang, the cops are here." The guard at the door reportednguidly, without a hint of fear. For a shop like theirs, police visits were nothing umon. Some people didn¡¯t dare to call the cops on the spot, but after going home and stewing over it, they would call. Others talked to friends and got egged on to make the report. About that, neither the boss nor Liang Yanrong were particrly worried. If there was anyone with real clout, to begin with, they wouldn¡¯t havee to their establishment. Any issue at the scene could be handled with a phone call. Shops like theirs were like the tourist traps that rip off tourists, weren¡¯t they? Did any of the customers not know they were being scammed? Yet those meant to be scammed would still get taken for a ride. Liang Yanrong swayed as he walked out the door and asked, "Who¡¯s here?" "Someone I don¡¯t know." "Did the station get some new blood?" Liang Yanrongughed it off, not taking it seriously. The neighborhood police station indeed had a lot of clout, from fire safety to public security to registration affairs; theoretically, it could poke its nose into anything. But if one isn¡¯t afraid of fines, detention, or even jail, what damage can the police station¡¯s fine-toothedb do? Of course, the boss might be afraid of offending someone and having to shut down for a time, but Liang Yanrong wasn¡¯t the boss. Liang Yanrong made his way to the front desk nonchntly. The other guards watched his retreating figure with admiration. He was taking the initiative to face the music. With a security team captain like him, wasn¡¯t it only right that he made a bit more money? Once at the front desk, Liang Yanrong switched on a smile and took out a cigarette, "Officer, thanks for your hard work. You¡¯re here today because..." "What¡¯s your name?" The leading officer was stocky and seemed like a tough customer. Liang Yanrong was taken aback. Someone who frequented the police station, he immediately sensed something amiss. If it were a routine visit from the neighborhood police, they should have either been informed to ask "Are you Liang Yanrong?" or they would¡¯ve conducted themselves officially and introduced themselves, then asked for identification, or looked for someone directly... The way the question was posed now easily made Liang Yanrong think of the situation during an arrest. Looking at the group facing him, four hade, and there seemed to be more people at the door... Instinctively, Liang Yanrong¡¯s center of gravity lowered as if he was considering running. But on second thought, "I haven¡¯t done anything... at least nothing here in the shop. Running would only make things worse." "I am Liang Yanrong." He gave his name. "We are from the Criminal Police Team." As the officer introduced himself, two others approached and nked Liang Yanrong. This was within his expectations, and Liang Yanrong calmly asked, "What¡¯s the matter?" "You don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve done?" The officer, Wu Junhao, who had asked for his name, was the one speaking. After Jiang Yuan ran into trouble, Huang Qiangmin reflected on the pain and immediately called in Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team. For this arrest, Liu Jinghui, who knew him, dispatched Wu Junhao and provided him with two officers from the city police department. The city criminal police unit wasn¡¯t known for its number of personnel; they typically had to borrow additional people from the county police forces for any major case, and out-of-town support was amon practice. Ning County had a drop in crimetely, as the criminal elements had been culled from time to time, leaving weaker sorts behind. Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team spent more time training than catching criminals, so their assignment to Changyang City was convenient indeed. Wu Junhao himself felt pretty good about it. The man he faced, Liang Yanrong, was quite burly and even taller than Wu Junhao. With an even stronger arm, Wu Junhao gave him a firm restraint, letting him take a good look at his bald head before growling menacingly, "If you wouldn¡¯t anyone to know, don¡¯t do it at all. Think about it well on the way." This was a favorite tactic of Wu Junhao, so-called "chaos confounding words," which made many criminals spill a lot more once in the interrogation room after having plenty of time to rethink on the ride over. Chapter 557 - 508: Rushing Towards Each Other_3

Chapter 557: Chapter 508: Rushing Towards Each Other_3

Of course, most people think about how to cover up and try their best to use their intelligence to paint themselves as innocentmbs. Usually, interrogations under these circumstances yield very good results. One can pretend to be an innocentmb, but whether or not one truly is determined by evidence. If you¡¯re not a real innocentmb, you can¡¯t fully pull off the act. Most importantly, intelligence is a matter of degree. Although most people consider themselves above average in intelligence, prison veterans will tell you, "The more you say, the more mistakes you¡¯re bound to make." It¡¯s like when a couple breaks up or gets divorced; even if someone goes to great lengths to justify their own rightness and suffering, and the other¡¯s wrongness and malice, no matter how much time they spend contemting and concealing, those around them can still hear where they went wrong. Even their close friends and rtives can detect the faults and omissions in their narrative. And these people aren¡¯t even criminal detectives, nor do they have five, ten, or even twenty years of interrogation experience. Imagine someone who listens to breakup stories three times a week, judges the right and wrong of both sides, and reports on it, day after day, for twenty years. By then, if they don¡¯t immediately draw conclusions upon observing a couple in their first love, or even their eighth, it¡¯s already out of respect for them. On the surface, Liang Yanrong didn¡¯t seem to be mentally affected at all. Moreover, he didn¡¯t put on an innocent look or even a "what can you do about it" kind of arrogance, but rather a "I don¡¯t care about going to jail" type of indifference. In the eyes of Wu Junhao, the leader of the Bald Strike Team, such individuals are very difficult to deal with. Click. Wu Junhao cuffed Liang Yanrong. Liang Yanrong¡¯s eyes trembled slightly, as if he was not ustomed to the cold handcuffs. Indeed, that was the case; it had been some days since hest went in. When he first got out of Jianyuan, he deliberately went in and out a few times, as a sort of camouge for himself. Liang Yanrong thought he had be indifferent to prison for life, but when the handcuffs clicked shut, he unexpectedly felt a nameless panic. They went all the way in silence. Once in the interrogation room and seated in the interrogation chair, Liang Yanrong¡¯s emotions began to change again. He wanted to sit like a boss but the chair back simply wouldn¡¯t allow it. Sitting opposite him was Zhou Chuanwen, an interrogation expert from the provincial office. He had a unique set of skills that allowed him to hold his ground there. Before meeting Liang Yanrong, Zhou Chuanwen had already studied him in great detail. So many police officers had searched for so long, and only found such a living link to two drug trafficking groups; naturally, this opportunity couldn¡¯t be wasted. Zhou Chuanwen touched the thick stack of files in front of him with his hand. Honestly, most interrogators like to ce a big stack of files when facing a suspect, with the intent to intimidate them into folding and winning the game. Zhou Chuanwen often used this trick, but this time, he didn¡¯t need to. When Liang Yanrong¡¯s fingerprints appeared on the cardboard box in the basement of the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group, he virtually had no secrets left. Not only were conventional investigative methods employed, but unconventional technical surveince methods were also used on him from the start. Now, the police knew more about his mobile phone than he did himself. They even knew the passwords for various apps and websites belonging to Liang Yanrong better than he did. It was like betting with three aces against a pair of queens. And the aces were face up. Even so, Zhou Chuanwen did not take anything lightly and started with the usual questioning as a buildup,ying on the pressure before saying, when Liang Yanrong thought he was at ease, "Based on the evidence we currently have, we¡¯ve frozen your bank card, your ex-girlfriend¡¯s bank card, your son¡¯s bank card, and also the bank card under your alias, Wang Jianxiong." Upon hearing the first two, Liang Yanrong managed to keep hisposure, but upon the third, his expression changed dramatically. Wang Jianxiong was a name he had made every effort to dissociate himself from, and the bank ount under this name should not have had any connection to him. tter. The sudden movement from Liang Yanrong set off a cascade of noise from the shackles and handcuffs. ... Outside the interrogation room. Liu Jinghui listened with a smile on his face. Although Liang Yanrong was just a low-level member of the Jianyuan Group, more precisely, a low-level member of the Jianyuan gang, he was in charge of the most basic execution duties, which brought him closer to the core operations of the gang. The gang members he dealt with on a daily basis were few, but they epassed their selection process, business operations, information transfer, and some processes of drug transportation, as well as the flow of money... Once Zhou Chuanwen managed to extract this information from him, the outlook of the case would be clear, at least they would know where to direct their efforts. "So, if there is only one suspect, finding Zhou Chuanwen is the right move," Liu Jinghui did not skimp on his high praise for Zhou Chuanwen. The several police officers around him nodded in agreement, including Yu Wenshu and his deputy, who hade to observe the progress, both of whom also expressed their approval. Liang Yanrong didn¡¯t look easy to deal with; ustomed criminals, those who have been imprisoned and are not afraid of prison, even expecting it, are always the tough points in interrogation. Liang Yanrong was also suspected of transportingrge quantities of drugs, which meant that once he confessed, his own life would be at risk. With such a prisoner, getting him to confess truthfully was no easy task. If not handled carefully, it could turn into an eight-hour daily grind of wearing him down, reaching his pain point, and by the time he was ready to talk, the moment could have passed. Zhou Chuanwen¡¯s interrogation was methodical and most importantly, he squeezed out useful information at a very fast pace, which, in the eyes of the police, was of utmost importance. "We should also cultivate more talents like him for interrogations," Yu Wenshu said to his deputy. The deputy head nodded, "We¡¯ll try more back at the office. This kind of thing is alsorgely dependent on talent." Yu Wenshu uttered an "Mhm," then pontificated, "Physical evidence is surely important in the current case, but we shouldn¡¯t underestimate the importance of confessions, especially in a case like this, where there is only one sole suspect. If we can¡¯t extract a confession, it¡¯s going to be trouble..." "Indeed." "You were saying..." "Ah, Captain Jiang called just now, saying that Director Liu¡¯s phone was unreachable; it must be good news," a police officer hurried in, announcing cheerfully as he entered. Liu Jinghui, prepared to join the conversation, snapped back to attention and immediately checked his phone to indeed find missed calls. Liu Jinghui called back, apologetically saying, "I had just entered the monitoring room earlier, afraid that it would interfere with the call... " "I found several bloodstains in the gym¡¯s restroom over here, and the rapid test from the DNAb came out. You might want to take a look, two of the individuals are still alive," Jiang Yuan reported the situation promptly. Liu Jinghui was quite surprised, "Didn¡¯t they say they found nothing in the previous few days?" "I only started the investigation yesterday," Jiang Yuan felt Liu Jinghui¡¯s question was a bit na?ve; his crime scene investigation had leveled up to LV5, how could his work be the same as one done by an LV3 leading a group of LV2s? Liu Jinghui had a sudden realization and hurriedly asked, "So these were found during today¡¯s investigation? Wait, let me take a look. Did you finish the investigation?" "There are six floors. Right now, I¡¯ve only inspected the office on the sixth floor, the entire basement, the entire first floor, and half of the fourth floor." "So, you¡¯re saying that you might still find people during your ongoing investigation?" Liu Jinghui concluded with a high-level deduction. Jiang Yuan responded, "Perhaps. The area is so vast, the difficulty and workload are quite significant; I estimate several more days of work. Is that okay?" "No problem. No problem at all!" Liu Jinghui sighed inwardly, realizing that often a master detective doesn¡¯t need too many clues or evidence¡ªa couple of good ones are enough. With too much evidence, the mystery might indeed be muddled. Chapter 558 - 509: Turtle in a Jar

Chapter 558: Chapter 509: Turtle in a Jar

"There was this one time when I helped a vice president handle a mistress issue. Actually, the main thing was to get the woman out of the house and send her away. The vice president was willing to pay, but he was worried she mighte back, so he asked me to scare her off as quickly as possible. I did a good job, and one day the vice president asked me if I was short on cash..." "I said I was short on money, who isn¡¯t? Then the vice president said he had a job for me and had me deliver goods. Later on, because I did a good job, he gave me a sum of money, fired me, but also gave me severance pay." "I had no choice but to help out with the deliveries. At the beginning, I didn¡¯t know exactly what was inside the packages¡ªI guessed it was nothing good, otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have had me deliver it... As time went on, I was allowed to know a bit more, and the delivery methods changed..." Liang Yanrong kept talking more and more, unable to control himself. He no longer had any hope of saving his own life. He had never really cared much for his life, but after his ex-girlfriend bore him a son, Liang Yanrong felt a sense of mission. If there was any way to save himself, he would certainly choose to do so first; ex-girlfriends or sons couldeter. Now, without that option, Liang Yanrong¡¯s care for his son had suddenly increased significantly. He hoped his life could continue in another way, and, at the same time, his son¡¯s upbringing would require money. Liang Yanrong knew he couldn¡¯t possibly leave behind all his money, nor did he expect to, but he did hope a little could be left. This intention of his was somewhat simr to that of one of the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group¡¯s bosses, Li Jianfang. But Liang Yanrong was unaware of this; he didn¡¯t even know that Li Jianfang existed... nor was he aware of the true identities of Huang Li and Lao Gui. Even so, he had sold the Jianyuan Drug Trafficking Ring out thoroughly. Firstly, he had confirmed that the Jianyuan Group did indeed haverge-scale drug distribution, which firmly established the foundation of the case. The information he provided deepened the police¡¯s understanding of the Jianyuan Group significantly. Three dayster. The first official case analysis meeting of the Twin Drug Special Task Force. Liu Jinghui was leading the direction of the meeting: "Based on the testimonies of the suspects and the clues we¡¯ve unearthed from the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group, we have now secretly arrested five members of the Jianyuan Drug Trafficking Ring. One of them is mid-level within the ring, while the other four are low-level foot soldiers." "From the current evidence we have, Jianyuan initially only sold specially made precursors, which are what we call controlled chemicalpounds. The sale of these substances is not prohibited, but there are standards and requirements¡ªthey can only be sold to specificpanies for specific purposes." "It can be said that part of Jianyuan¡¯s rise was due to treading this fine line. After forming the conglomerate, Jianyuan still kept a tight control over their chemical nts. Furthermore, the production of specially made precursors became less frequent. It seems they were trying to go legit." "Because they controlled their chemical nts so well, in the following years, Jianyuan¡¯spetitiveness in the market even increased." "The turning point urred seven or eight years ago, when the overseas market was sluggish. Jianyuan faced suppression frompetitors, leading to financial chain issues. Their main bank began retracting loans, and from that point on, Jianyuan started producing controlled precursors inrge quantities again. However, unlike before, they started to try producing new types of narcotics¡¯ precursors that were popr abroad but not used much domestically, quietly earning arge amount of foreign currency." "After a few years of this, the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group, which had been helping Jianyuan export these goods, grew and began to want arger share of the profits. They started to attempt to manufacture drugs themselves." "Thus, a situation was formed where Jianyuan sold raw materials to the Huang-Li Group. Thetter no longer just resold thesepounds; instead, they produced narcotics themselves and sold them abroad through the previous channels. This honeymoon phase continued until Jianyuan decided to go public." "In fact, Jianyuan¡¯s operations had started to have issues long ago. Their operating costs were too high, there was infighting within the family business, and the core members of the ring¡¯s expenses had to be deducted from the group¡¯s ie, totaling a very high amount. Additionally, the long-term solidification of the upper management led to a high turnover rate among thepany¡¯s key personnel." "Such an enterprise, if not for the ie from specially made precursors, might have closed down long ago. But thepany¡¯s president, Yuan Jiansheng, was fixated on going public. He hoped to legitimize the business through this andpletely resolve thepany¡¯s cash flow issues. By doing so with stock incentives, he wanted the entire ring to withdraw, thus passing on thepany and wealth to his children. Otherwise, he believed Jianyuan Company wouldn¡¯t survive after his departure." "But the first hurdle was their financial statements, which were not adequate. Yuan Jiansheng needed more money to embellish the financial reports, but Huang Li wouldn¡¯t provide it. In the end, Jianyuan started producing drugs themselves, both to increase profit and to threaten the Huang-Li Group. The death of Wang Xingzhai was Huang-Li Group¡¯s threat in response." Liu Jinghui finished going through the case to this point,rgelyprising witness testimonies and his own preliminary deductions. After all, they had only touched the edge of Jianyuan and had not prated its core. Chapter 559 - 509

Chapter 559: 509

Yin, the brigademander, and Yu Wenshu among others all nodded frequently. For them, understanding the overall picture of the case was very important. Going into specifics, such as the arrest of a particr suspect, was not something they needed to arrange. Yin spoke slowly, "So, the core manager of the Jianyuan Drug Trafficking Ring is also Yuan Jiansheng, who gradually pulled hispany¡¯s management team, including his children, into bing the management of the drug ring?" Liu Jinghui shook his head slightly and said, "As for who exactly is involved, we¡¯re still not very clear, but Jianyuan actually split into two teams a long time ago. One team is made up of Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s old buddies, roughly dozens of people, with the most core group being about thirty to forty individuals. They guard the old chemical factory, mainly the management team of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical Chemical Co., Ltd. Most of Jianyuan Group¡¯s work is being done by some hired professional managers. Outsiders praise Yuan Jiansheng for not abandoning his old partners while maintaining the vitality of thepany..." "Looking at it now, their chemical factory operates on a razor-thin margin, and it¡¯s always on the brink of loss. Only through illegal manufacturing can they turn a profit. So this group of people has also reached this point step by step. They don¡¯t want to go bankrupt, so they turn to drugs?" Yu Wenshu frowned deeply as he listened. "Then they are just too greedy," Jin, the deputy brigademander with some understanding of the matter, said, "Chemical factories naturally operate on low profits, and it¡¯s therger-scale chemical factories that generate more profit. Small chemical nts are inherently difficult to survive. Jianyuan made themselves a fancy factory area and built mansions; the executives livevishly, frequently going on high-standard team-building trips. It¡¯s normal for them to be running at a loss." Yin added, "Not even a state-owned chemical nt would dare to do this. Moreover, the money they make from drug trafficking can now support thepany¡¯s growth into a publicly traded entity..." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t want the conversation to go off track, so he said, "The United States doesn¡¯t produce its own drugs but imports goods from all over the world for consumption, and drugs are no exception. Yuan Jiansheng probably discovered this shortcut while doing import and export business. He thought he could make quick money, but didn¡¯t expect that once they tasted the sweetness of honey, Jianyuan could never detach from it again." At this point, Liu Jinghui paused, then continued, "The current issue is that we¡¯ve identified some core members of the Jianyuan Drug Trafficking Ring, with six confirmed, and more than fifty others under suspicion, but we stillck definitive evidence. Do we carry out the arrests now?" "If we arrest them, can we find enough physical evidence to prosecute them without relying on confessions?" Yin asked very professionally. Liu Jinghui pondered, "There¡¯s no guarantee of that." "It would be ideal to have drugs and drug money as evidence," Yin said seriously. Liu Jinghui said, "They are no small-time dealers anymore. Producing a batch of specialized precursors could result in several tons. Drugs and drug money can¡¯t prove their scale!" "Doesn¡¯t that mean we need to find several tons of drugs to prove it?" Yin asked, then chuckled, "I¡¯m not trying to be contentious, but is it really proper to catch drug dealers without any drugs or drug money?" Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t seriously considered this issue before, and he replied, "I originally thought that the ledgers would be the most important part. Such a big operation can¡¯t be managed without ounting books. So, our main goal should be to find his ounting records." "When ites to grasping the full picture of a case, the ounting books are certainly most important. But drug money and drugs are also extremely important," Yin said with great emphasis, and added, "If possible, it would be best to arrest them during a transaction." "With Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s status, it¡¯s unlikely he would personally deal drugs, especially not inrge quantities," Liu Jinghui said with augh. "Then we should catch him in the drug production factory. That would be the most effective and also the most sensational," Yin suggested lightly, not borating further, but everyone present understood. After all, when you think about it, if you said that a certain drug trafficking ring had been eradicated and so many people had been caught, and that the ring had been producing drugs for years, people outside the circle wouldn¡¯t feel much. Even people within the circle, when they see such internal reports, can only praise and say ¡¯impressive.¡¯ But if it¡¯s about eradicating a certain drug trafficking ring and confiscating ten or twenty tons of drugs, now that¡¯s eye-catching. Even people within the circle would have to give a thumbs up and repeatedly say "awesome." The special task force now gathered Changyang City¡¯s Narcotics Brigade, Criminal Investigation Brigade, Image Reconnaissance Brigade, Forensic Science Center, as well as staff from the provincial department and various county and district bureaus. If all they got was a "you¡¯re impressive," then that would seem too naive. If possible, everyone still hoped to be seen in a different light by the leaders¡ªeveryone in this world is an ungrown child, hoping to be the object of praise, not just by parents alone. "With the Huang Li ring taken down, Jianyuan must be in a very anxious state now," Liu Jinghui said as he rubbed his forehead. If we must catch them in the act, that would mean increasing the difficulty, especially with a major case like this. It is pure fantasy to expect Yuan Jiansheng, whose face is already wrinkled with age, to carry out the trade himself. Even getting him to the production site would be incredibly difficult. On the other hand, the two requirements of capturing in the act and incontrovertible evidence are also what criminal police officers mostmonly face from their superiors¡ªand these demands have their practical reasons. Chapter 560 - 509: The Turtle in the Jar_3

Chapter 560: Chapter 509: The Turtle in the Jar_3

The more significant and serious the case, the more it needs to be an irond one; otherwise, if a reversal pops up ten or eight yearster, the explosion of this thunderbolt won¡¯t just kill one or two people. From this perspective, the Jianyuan case is actually the same. We need conclusive evidence, preferably catching Yuan Jiansheng and several hundred or thousand kilograms of drugs on the spot. Otherwise, let¡¯s not talk about the attitude of Qinghe City; would the thousands of workers of the Jianyuan Group be easily instigated? What would the stance be of Jianyuan¡¯s upstream suppliers and downstream distributors? It wasn¡¯t just Liu Jinghui who was pondering; everyone else was also lost in thought. Soon, Yu Wenshu had thought it through and said, "The Jianyuan Group is different from Huang Li; it must be handled cautiously. Huang Li could be wiped out swiftly and decisively, but not Jianyuan. With Jianyuan, we need to fight openly and honorably, without seeking quick sess or taking shortcuts. Yuan Jiansheng must still be harbouring some vain hopes; he doesn¡¯t know our task force¡¯s progress and is probably guessing..." Looking around at everyone, Yu Wenshu continued, "In fact, we are not afraid of his guessing or his actions, because whatever he does provides an excellent opportunity to gather evidence. My suggestion is to be ready to arrest at any time, but for the time being, do not, and instead prioritize collecting more evidence¡ªthe more, the better." "I agree with this n." Yin, another heavyweight at the meeting, said, "In fact, Jianyuan Group is already like a turtle in a jar. Arresting them now and convicting them through interrogation and confession might take months and is not very valuable; the gains would be too little. It¡¯s better to let them struggle and see what sshes they can make. After all, it¡¯s all about collecting evidence. Right now, we just need to guard against three things: first, prevent their gang members from fleeing; second, prevent the loss of drugs and drug funds; and third, prevent them from destroying important evidence." "These three points are all not simple." Yu Wenshuughed. "Such a massive drug case; it¡¯s normal to beplicated." Yin replied with a faint smile. "If we choose this route, there¡¯s actually another benefit." Liu Jinghui allowed a hint of his inner deductive air to surface and continued, "An old fox like Yuan Jiansheng probably wouldn¡¯t depend solely on the Huang Li gang." Upon hearing this, everyone fell into deep thought. Liu Jinghui went on, "Jianyuan manufacturing their own drugs and even attempting direct sales led to Wang Xingzhai¡¯s murder. Such a boundary-pushing probe means Yuan Jiansheng must have prepared for it. What¡¯s the capital he contends with the Huang Li gang? Does he have other drug dealers? This is also worth focusing our investigation on." "Right." "Indeed possible." The crowd nodded in agreement once more. Feeling affirmed, Liu Jinghui¡¯s spirits lifted slightly as he proposed, "In light of this, I suggest a gradually tightening encirclement starting from the periphery, focusing on physical evidence supplemented by confessions, using the few arrested suspects as a breakthrough to keep pressing closer to Yuan Jiansheng." Liu Jinghui looked towards Jiang Yuan and said, "How much evidence we can find from them now depends on Doctor Jiang." "Yes." Jiang Yuan replied. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice, Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but smile kindly, "With Jiang Yuan¡¯s help in securing the physical evidence, I¡¯m sure it will be much easier for all of us." "I¡¯ll do my best." Jiang Yuan remained modest. Listening to Jiang Yuan, everyone present inexplicably felt their somewhat anxious mood rx a little. Upon reflection, if a body unearthed from an ancient tomb in Shiting County could lead all the way to the boss of the Jianyuan Group, what was so difficult about solving a case with such an incredible forensic doctor on the team? Once the drug-trafficking gang gets approached, their ability to destroy evidence just won¡¯t cut it. At least, when facing a criminal technician like Jiang Yuan, they would stand absolutely no chance. Chapter 561 - 510: Sitting on the Fence and Prodding the Pig (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Chapter 561: Chapter 510: Sitting on the Fence and Prodding the Pig (Seeking Monthly Votes)

"This is Hong Ziqin¡¯s house," Wan Baoming signaled his subordinates to open the door. Hong Ziqin is the deputy head of the logisticspany under Jianyuan Group, responsible for selecting some lower-ranking underlings to transport various materials. After being named by Liang Yanrong, he was quickly arrested, and the news should have reached the ears of Jianyuan¡¯s senior management by now, but thetter had yet to react. There had been many issues surrounding Jianyuantely, including their daily operations, their own financial problems, the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group issue, and the disappearance of several of their personnel. Putting oneself in Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s shoes, who was already beyond the age of dyed retirement, it was possible he was also struggling to keep up. However, regardless of Yuan¡¯s reaction, Yu Wenshu, Captain Yin, and others wouldn¡¯t care. It was a matter of meeting force with force; this was akin to trapping a wild boar in the yard. As long as it didn¡¯t break out, they would find a way to slowly kill it; it didn¡¯t matter if a few pots and pans were shattered in the process. "Once inside, pay attention to protecting the scene. We¡¯re here for the scene investigation," Wan Baoming added after the door was opened. The case was so significant that a deputy chief like Wan Baoming had be like an operational team leader, running around conducting surveys, representing a real deployment of police resources. Mu Zhiyang had already dressed in shoe covers, a head cover, and gloves, responded affirmatively, drew his gun, and walked into the house, followed by Wu Junhao, carrying a Type 92 pistol. Drug cases are very dangerous, and the people at Jianyuan had long established mature smuggling channels. With their deep entanglement with the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group, they were sure to have firearms. The task force also followed the example of the drug enforcement team, fully armed with guns, and all sorts of small artillery had been swept into the depths of the storage room. Jiang Yuan and Lu Tongda entered afterward and surveyed the room. It was a ratherrge duplex, with two floors and the height of each floor being more than 3.5 meters. Located at the top of the building, the total area was probably three to four hundred square meters. However, there were only three suites, which made the living room appear quite spacious. "Isn¡¯t drug trafficking very lucrative?" Lu Tongda asked, full of curiosity, "I thought he would have lived in a detached vi or something." "Hong Ziqin¡¯s children have gone abroad for their studies, and his wife has gone with them to apany them. There¡¯s no need for him to live in such a big house," Wan Baoming corrected. Jiang Yuan frowned, "The size of a house doesn¡¯t necessarily corrte with the number of upants." Wan Baoming coughed twice, "In any case, Hong Ziqin lived alone, but often had mistresses over." "The wife goes abroad for the children¡¯s education, and the husband finds a mistress back home? Is he that despicable?" Tang Jia couldn¡¯t help frowning upon hearing this. Wan Baoming spread his hands, "It¡¯s probably that they were going to divorce anyway, but she couldn¡¯t bear to part with her husband¡¯s illegitimate ie, and he didn¡¯t dare to let his wife leave outright, so they just kept each other hanging. Hong Ziqin had transferred many of his domestic ies abroad, and his wife also had quite a few assets in her name." "Having money doesn¡¯t justify that kind of behavior," Tang Jia said, her hand already on the police baton at her waist. "Hong Ziqin transferred millions of dors abroad each year. He may have assets overseas too," Wan Baoming nced at Tang Jia and continued, "He generally only kept enough money for his annual expenses; his savings weren¡¯t much. He probably anticipated bad things happening." Tang Jia was astonished, "So, you¡¯re saying he might still be considered a good man?" "A good man who has many mistresses," Wan Baoming corrected her. Trace evidence technicians gradually entered from the door, asking, "Captain Jiang, how should we proceed?" "Such a generous man to his wife is likely also nice to other women. Maybe some of them know a secret or hold some information..." Jiang Yuan began with an analysis before instructing, "I¡¯ll handle the master bedroom and the bathroom alone. Leave other rooms to you and I¡¯ll do the kitchenter." Jiang Yuan had a high level of expertise in crime scene investigation, and performing the inspection alone with the assistance of one technician could yield the best results. However, such an approach represented an ideal state. It was not just about Jiang Yuan¡¯s limited capacity to conduct all the work, but the efficiency of this method wouldn¡¯t be very high either. Furthermore, for an ordinary scene, there was no need for Jiang Yuan to conduct a criminal scene investigation of LV4 or even LV5. Where there was no evidence, there simply was no evidence. The apanying trace evidence technicians and crime scene investigators had no objections. They had already followed Jiang Yuan in searching the homes of Liang Yanrong and another drug dealer, and although they hadn¡¯t found much valuable evidence, they had developed some understanding among themselves. Mu Zhiyang, carrying his gun, returned and followed Jiang Yuan into the master suite. Inside was a bedroom with arge bed, a dressing room, a bathroom, and a balcony¡ªsimr to a well-decorated studio apartment. Jiang Yuan gripped an evidence bag and headed to the bed with tweezers in hand, saying to another trace evidence technician who hade along, "Look for dandruff and hair, especially female hair. Then go through the wardrobe to see if there are any women¡¯s items." Soft bedding materials that people use now are quite difficult to clean. The softness of mattress-style beds, the underside of heavy bedsteads, and various soft textiles can easily harbor hair, skin kes, and simr particles. If handled and cleaned by professionals, there would be some room for concealment. But this deputy head had been arrested unexpectedly. Aside from being involved in drug trafficking, his daily life had been essentially normal, and he had made no special preparations for being caught. Chapter 562 - 510: Sitting on the Fence and Prodding the Pig (Seeking Monthly Votes)_2

Chapter 562: Chapter 510: Sitting on the Fence and Prodding the Pig (Seeking Monthly Votes)_2

At least, he had made no preparations to hide the identity of his lover. Jiang Yuany on the bed for a while and then separately found more than a dozen strands of hair, three or four pubic hairs, and several eyebrow or eysh hairs. It was very easy to recognize hair, especially long hair belonging to females, which most people could identify. Pubic hair was rtively easy to distinguish too; it had good sticity and a high degree of curl. Female pubic hair tended to be coarser, and those who had handled it often could recognize it at a nce. On the other hand, eyebrows and eyshes had a lot inmon, and in light that was not so good or when one¡¯s eyesight was not particrly keen, they required scrutiny with a magnifying ss to be identified more easily. After examining the sheets, he lifted them to search the mattress underneath, then proceeded to check under the bed. Before even starting on the wardrobe, Jiang Yuan had already collected over a hundred hairs, most of which were likely Hong Ziqin¡¯s own, but at least a dozen were female pubic hairs, very high in evidentiary value. It was neither possible for Hong Ziqin to produce female hair himself, nor was it likely for a female to carelessly leave pubic hairs in his room. Therefore, the possibility that these coarser, stic, and curly short hairs belonged to Hong Ziqin¡¯s lover was very high. "There¡¯s so many," Mu Zhiyang said, leaning on his gun as he walked around and returned to see a row of evidence bags alreadyid out in the box. "It¡¯s probably only a few people¡¯s, a lot of it is repetitive," Jiang Yuan mentioned briefly, before moving on to scan the dressing room and bathroom, where he found an approximately simr yield. Turning back, Jiang Yuan then scanned the kitchen followed by two other guest rooms before regrouping to return. In the past few days, the search for evidence had been conducted in this manner, with the Huang-Li Drug Trafficking Group¡¯s drugb presenting some difficulty, and the rest, including the residences of Huang and Li, were straightforward inspections. As for the findings, Jiang Yuan had high hopes for today¡¯s. The flirtatious techniques of the deputy head were unlike those of most other drug trafficking group members. Take his subordinate, Liang Yanrong, for instance, who mostly engaged in superficial rtionships. Numerous female biological traces were found in his home, too, but these were all purely transactional, at most just regr clients. The deputy head was somewhat different. ording to his confession, he liked to y house. Judging by the female biological material found at the scene, he had fewer, and most were repetitive. The next day. Indeed, the information returned from the DNAb confirmed it. The DNA sweep at the deputy head¡¯s house showed that a total of only four women had visited his home. Excluding one who was his wife, there were only three who frequented the Hong residence. "Bring them all in for interrogation," Yu Wenshu ordered after reviewing the list. Thus, The deputy head¡¯s new mistress, former mistress, and thetest mistress were all brought in. Lovers reunited, particrly jealous¡ªthere was no need for Zhou Chuanwen to take action. In just half a day, the three turned on each other thoroughly. The most valuable was thetest mistress herself. Hong Ziqin shared this mistress with another deputy head of the chemical nt. This was of course prohibited by Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s internal rules. However, with Yuan Jiansheng getting older, his management capabilities over the gang had greatly weakened. If it weren¡¯t for Jianyuan¡¯s significant enterprise and rare external influence, he might have already been overthrown. Hong Ziqin and the other deputy head¡¯s sharing behavior was both a meeting of minds and a strategic alliance. Some of their strategies were also conveyed through thetest mistress. After a simple exnation of the consequences, thetest mistress obediently divulged four names. The police in the surveince room were stunned. "Wasn¡¯t it shared between two people?" Yu Wenshu began to doubt his own memory. "Two are long-term meal tickets, one is a mid-level executive from Jianyuan involved in an affair, and the other is a young lover from outside for asional taste," Wan Baoming summarized. In the interrogation room, thetest mistress still looked a bit embarrassed and defended herself, "I have to think about my future too. Hong Ziqin only covets me for my youth and beauty, just like all old men, pretending to like me, but in reality, they won¡¯t live until I retire... Yang Sheng truly has feelings for me, I can tell... Xu Xiangbei just happen to meet, we¡¯re both young..." The officer conducting the interrogation made no judgment, only asking, "Is Yang Sheng also involved in drug trafficking?" "Yes." "What about Xu Xiangbei?" "He¡¯s just a student, the kind who doesn¡¯t know anything." "Yang Sheng...what¡¯s his position at Jianyuan, and what¡¯s the nature of his work in the drug trafficking gang?" "His position at Jianyuan is called, externally, Investment Market Department. As for the drug stuff... he hasn¡¯t really told me specifics, but he travels frequently." Thetest mistress blinked her pretty eyes innocently, showing a very genuine expression: "But he doesn¡¯t do drugs. And he¡¯s also very gentle." In the surveince room, Yu Wenshu seriously looked at the face of thetest mistress and sincerelymented, "Though the drug dealer is bad, his taste is not off. Arrange the arrest of this Yang Sheng, better to catch him outside hispany." At this stage, they were like someone riding on a wall poking at wild boars¡ªYu Wenshu was not too eager to jump into the yard for a duel just yet. His subordinate immediatelyplied and set out to make arrangements. Jiang Yuandao stated, "I¡¯ll go scan the Huang-Li group¡¯s scene again. There are still many ces I haven¡¯t checked out." These days, with the investigative force being strengthened, his mission "to catch all in one" had reached 88%. As he moved further along, the progress of the mission had slowed. In particr, with the interrogation of the Huang-Li group, hardly any new information was being pressed out. Most of its members had already been arrested, and although some evidence asionally turned up, no new persons could be caught. Most importantly, members of the gang who had previously been outside police sights were likely now in hiding. Jiang Yuan felt that reaching 100% was probably impossible, but he hoped to push it to 90% before ending the mission. With some time avable today, he wanted to give it another earnest effort. If he couldn¡¯t really push it any further, finishing at 88% should be quite good too. Jiang Yuan had a high degree of autonomy, and Yu Wenshu and others wouldn¡¯t restrain him. On the contrary, they were delighted that Jiang Yuan was willing tomunicate and were under the impression that he was not as stubborn and exceptional as high-tech talents were rumored to be, and they all expressed their agreement. "I¡¯ll take Captain Wu¡¯s squad one as well," Jiang Yuan decided, thinking that as nightfall approached, it was better to have more people when scanning the homes of drug dealers. Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t agree more and added another instruction, "The ministry¡¯s people should being tomorrow, so if you have time,e early to wee them." "Sure thing," Jiang Yuan waved without turning his head. "The technical guys always seem to have such a dignified air," Yu Wenshu sighed, then said to the several young officers present, "You should also learn from Jiang Yuan. This is what our new-era policeman looks like." The young officers smiled and mercifully chose not to beat Yu Wenshu on the spot. Chapter 563 - 511: Smash the Cup as a Signal

Chapter 563: Chapter 511: Smash the Cup as a Signal

p.m. After turning over the house of a bachelor from the Huang Li gang who had settled in Qinghe City, bottom side up, Jiang Yuan found a significant number of biological samples and fingerprints, along with other trace evidence. Conveniently, he also discovered a bank card hidden in a crevice of the wall, and returned home satisfied with his haul. The core members of the Huang Li gang all lived in Changyang City. Their homes had all been visited by people sent by Wan Baoming. Today, Jiang Yuan cleaned up this member, who was a stationed member of the Huang Li gang in Qinghe City. Had it not been for a cohort ratting him out to earn merit, there might have been a chance for him to slip away. As for now, judging solely by the amount frozen on the bank card, he was like a squirrel at the winter solstice who found its food storage pilfered. If he ever got out of prison, he would probably be so angry that he¡¯d burst a blood vessel in his eye. The policemen were all as delighted as if they were celebrating the New Year. Despite having arrested so many members of the drug gang this time, the spoils divided among them meant that each person did not even get a "leg¡¯s" share. Especially the members of the Bald Strike Team, who arrivedte and rarely had a chance to independently crack a case. Now, having cut off a criminal¡¯s escape route and incidentally bringing back conclusive evidence that could send him to heaven, each felt as though they had a predestined connection with Buddha. On the way back, the conversation was spirited and exuberant. Once the guns were handed in and the uniforms were changed, and it was time to head back to the hotel, Jiang Yuan invited everyone to go out for ate-night snack. After working overtime until this hour, anyone would feel famished. No one refused the offer, and a group of people followed Jiang Yuan to a brightly lit restaurant in their own cars. Qinghe City, being a prefectural-level city, did not boastrge or particrly luxurious restaurants, but this one specialized in dinner andte-night snacks and had a certain charm about it. The online reviews were favorable. After getting out of the car, among those who came to the scene was the forensic investigator from the Changyang City Criminal Science Center. After searching the restaurant¡¯s name online and feeling a bit embarrassed, he whispered to Captain Jiang, "Captain Jiang, this ce looks quite expensive. I don¡¯t think the special investigation team will cover this expense." He feared that the Ningtai People were too wild, and that when it came time to submit expenses, it would be awkward if they got denied. Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissively. "I¡¯ll treat everyone to dinner." "This..." The forensic investigator had heard the stories about Jiang Vige People but being ustomed to working in ab, he hadn¡¯t taken it seriously, and now seemed hesitant. "Stop worrying. Captain Jiang is a Jiang Vige Person among Jiang Vige People. Just eat your meal and listen. Just don¡¯t go around talking about it or posting recklessly on social media, and it¡¯ll be fine," Mu Zhiyang said, wrapping an arm around the simple investigator, already filled with an intense desire to devour his meal. The group entered, and the manager of the hall hurried to greet them. After exchanging pleasantries, he suggested probingly, "All our private rooms are full, but there aren¡¯t too many people in the dining hall. How about we set up in the dining hall? I can bring over a few screens and reserve three tables for you all. It¡¯ll be spacious and convenient." "That¡¯s fine." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t nning on dining extravagantly; he merely wanted to express his gratitude to the many who apanied him in the investigation. Frankly, it was quite nerve-wracking to enter a drug dealer¡¯s housete at night, strapped in cumbersome equipment, and then focus intently on collecting evidence while crouched on the ground. If luck was not on their side, someone could easily crack their skull open from behind. But with a group of strong, bald men both inside and outside the house, the sense of security was truly invaluable. Once everyone was seated and they had the menu in hand, Jiang Yuan looked at the number of people at his table, especially at the brawny members of the Bald Strike Team, and then at the menu, filled with more illustrations than text, and suggested, "Just fry up one of everything on the menu." The restaurant staff, evidently unustomed to hosting Jiang Vige People, asked, "Could you please repeat the dish names? I didn¡¯t get them clearly." "Just fry up one of each dish listed in the menu," Jiang Yuan said, casually flipping through the menu, assuming it wouldn¡¯t add many dishes. He added, "For those not avable, don¡¯t bother, and please serve them quickly." "Uh... okay," the server finally understood, took a look at Jiang Yuan and the others, and, not thinking that they were there to cause trouble, hastily went to inform the kitchen. Lu Tongda was joining Jiang Yuan for dinner for the first time and was dumbfounded by the request, blurting out, "The food at this restaurant can¡¯t be cheap, right?" "Our sries definitely can¡¯t handle this kind of splurge," Mu Zhiyang knew what he was thinking, and responded, "Just enjoy the treat. For some activities, it only takes one person to pull the weight." Wu Junhao, however, understood Jiang Yuan very well andmented, "If my dad were this rich, I¡¯d treat the brothers at the station to roujiamo and hand-grabbed pancakes every day." The team members, sipping tea, looked at Jiang Yuan, then at Captain Wu, and thought about roujiamo, deciding that having such a dad wouldn¡¯t be too bad... The dishes arrived quickly. A dozen tes of cold dishes were first brought to the table. Without any fanfare, they were swiftly devoured by the group. Then came the dishes, two or three, then three or four at a time, all of which were quickly emptied by the group. Jiang Yuan and his people were fine, but Wu Junhao and his subordinates were true gluttons, fighting with an ever-increasing vigor. Mu Zhiyang eventually couldn¡¯t keep up, quietlydled out some soup, and while sipping said, "Think about it, Captain Wu really has it tough, leading a team of men as fierce as wolves. Even if it¡¯s just treating them to roujiamo, it must cost a pretty penny." "My treat is for roujiamo, not all-you-can-eat roujiamo," responded Wu Junhao with augh when he overheard. Mu Zhiyang also chuckled, "That¡¯s true. With subordinates like yours, if they ate meat all they wanted every day, the drug dealers would have to work overtime." Chapter 564 - 511 Breaking the Cup as a Signal_2

Chapter 564: Chapter 511 Breaking the Cup as a Signal_2

After he finished speaking, Wu Junhao did not smile. Instead, he looked over the top of his head to the back. A group of about a dozen people appeared beside the screen. Once a stout man violently pushed the screen aside, the group became even more noticeable. Standing at the forefront of the crowd was a woman dressed in a Chanel suit¡ªYuan Yushan. The policemen here all sat up straight; they were all members of the special case team by now and naturally recognized one of the most core members of the Yuan Family. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s fourth daughter, the current general manager of Jianyuan Group and the de facto chief operating officer, Yuan Yushan. "Officer Jiang, we meet again." Yuan Yushan used a titlemon among outsiders, not urate but very clear. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded in response before looking at Mu Zhiyang and the others. It was now off-duty time, and since they were at a restaurant for dinner, none of them were carrying guns. In terms of numbers alone, they were not less than the opposing side, but Jianyuan dealt in drugs. If Yuan Yushan and her people now pulled out a couple of Uzis or some sort of Chicago Typewriter from under their clothes, he would not be surprised at all. Yuan Yushan was obviously not that crazy yet; she just smiled discreetly and then, looking at Jiang Yuan, asked, "Captain Jiang, you and your team have been lingering in Qinghe City for several days. Are you investigating Jianyuan?" That was what she hade to ask today. From the perspective of the task force, Jianyuan seemed like a robust wild boar, just waiting to be stabbed repeatedly until it bled out and weakened, its flesh tenderized and ready to be ughtered. However, from Jianyuan¡¯s perspective, they were not yet certain if they had beenpletely cornered. The consistent violent charges were definitely an attempt to find a way out. Today, Yuan Yushan had sent people out of the city, and once they were gone, they vanished. But Yuan Yushan could not tell whether the person had fled on their own, been captured, or ambushed by rivals. In such a situation, Yuan Yushan herself certainly did not dare to leave the city to probe, and her father Yuan Jiansheng was even holed up in the factory area, not returning home. Jianyuan¡¯s factory area was like a fortress to the Jianyuan people, providing them with thest constion. Yuan Jiansheng also tried calling for help, but to no avail. Yuan Yushan and others realized that something was wrong, but to what extent, they did not know. The police might have found clues rted to Jianyuan, might have locked onto some of Jianyuan¡¯s key figures or even gang members, but this was something Yuan Yushan and her people could not confirm. Abruptly running away and abandoning Jianyuan Group, which was about to go public, was something Yuan Yushan was reluctant to do, and surely the gang members would have their own opinions about it. Yuan Jiansheng did want to leave, but given his advanced age, he could only travel by transport. Not only was he an obvious target, but he also feared delivering himself right into the hands of the police. Yuan Yushan had given it a lot of thought and, using many connections and a mix of coaxing and deceiving, had obtained a bit of information from Jiang Yuan. She took a risk and came over. Yu Wenshu and others held too high a rank and had been leaders for too long, and she feared that carelessly approaching them would cause dissatisfaction and backfire. Jiang Yuan, inparison, was more suitablecking the baggage of official authority and being at the core of the police investigation. Yuan Yushan stared at Jiang Yuan, her face gentle but her eyes firm. What shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, however, were scenes of the roaring dump trucks, the charred bodies in the warehouse, and the death scene of Yuan Yushan¡¯s elder brother. Thetter two scenes were his two interactions with Yuan Yushan. In both cases, Yuan Yushan had not been implicated. In the warehouse arson and corpse-burning case, Jiang Yuan had a slight suspicion of Yuan Yushan, butter, without evidence or leads, it had passed. Thinking back on it now, Jiang Yuan... Jiang Yuan had not the slightest intention of a verbal duel. After just ten seconds of thought, Jiang Yuan grabbed a te in front of him and threw it at Yuan Yushan. "Police! Nobody move!" Jiang Yuan rarely shouted thismand. Mu Zhiyang and Wu Junhao were both paying attention to Jiang Yuan, and seeing his signal, did not care about anything else; it was time to capture first and talkter. Yuan Yushan was taken aback and then, her face losing its color, swiftly retreated. She had never imagined that Jiang Yuan¡¯s response to her would be to arrest her without a word. Having no actualbat experience, she was at a loss for what to do for a moment. Jiang Yuan charged ahead, leaping onto the round table and pouncing directly at the nearest suited brawny man. His height and long legs gave him an advantage, and he immediately tackled the man to the ground. Then, Jiang Yuan used the wrestling techniques Uncle Qiang had taught him, attempting to control the man with groundwork. Right after, Mu Zhiyang dashed over to take a punch for Jiang Yuan with his face. Thud. Thud thud. The sounds of fighting, shouting, and yelling were incessant. The scene became incredibly chaotic. Jiang Yuan just focused on the fight, trying with all his might to subdue the opponent in front of him. Yuan Yushan, leading such a group of suited strongmen, appeared before him in the dead of night, even inquiring about the police¡¯s investigative direction¡ªIn Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, this was as good as stamping the words "drug trafficker" on their foreheads. Answering Yuan Yushan¡¯s question was out of the question. The only concern Jiang Yuan had was that the other side might be armed with guns, possibly even submachine guns. But then he thought, if both sides were this close and he dared not use force, wouldn¡¯t it be even worse if Yuan Yushan and the others pulled back and drew their guns? His group of police officers would bepletely at their mercy, wouldn¡¯t they? Yuan Yushan probably didn¡¯t want to openly break rtions yet, hoping to extract some information without attacking the police. But Jiang Yuan was never going to answer her, and who knew if her intentions might change once they exchanged a few more words back and forth? In fact, if the Jianyuan Group really managed to take a whole team of police officers hostage, they might indeed turn the tables. It was an extremely dangerous situation, potentially just a brief turnaround. But for a wild boar trapped within the enclosure, the moment it injured someone might just be the best chance to escape. Any other form of struggle was just like boiling a frog in warm water. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know if Yuan Yushan harbored such thoughts, but he certainly wasn¡¯t willing to take that risk. Rather than risk being kidnapped or shot and bing a national joke, Jiang Yuan had more faith in the capabilities of the Bald Strike Team. In Ningtai County and even in Qinghe City, Wu Junhao and his squad were famously known as the bulldozer squadron. Over the past few years, they had indeed fought tough battles, participated in multiple realbat operations, sessfully arrested drug traffickers, and faced the threat of firearms. Jiang Yuan chose to trust Wu Junhao. "Police, get down and cover your heads!" Wu Junhao shouted again, throwing himself at another strong man. Wu Junhao was also mindful of the firearm issue, so he dared not let the enemy create distance between them, preferring to cover himself in vegetable soup to tackle and subdue the person. It was already a messy fight, and messy fights called for messy tactics. "Let¡¯s go." The bodyguard close to Yuan Yushan, seeing the scene, didn¡¯t hesitate any longer and started pulling Yuan Yushan to run away. Yuan Yushan staggered as she was pulled, looked back for a moment, but ultimately didn¡¯t dare to stay. At the same time, Jiang Yuan looked up to see Yuan Yushan and two bodyguards had already run about ten meters away and simply let them go. Chasing them down was too risky; if Yuan Yushan wanted to run, let her run. The police were in no hurry to arrest Yuan Yushan and Yuan Jiansheng. There was no direct evidence of their crimes at present, and capturing them would only lead to facing a rigorous examination of procedures. What Jiang Yuan considered more pressing was to eliminate the immediate danger to his own side. "Remember to search them," Jiang Yuan said until he could no longer see Yuan Yushan and her bodyguards, then he slowly stood up. They had left behind 8 people, while the rest had broken free and fled in all directions. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care; he called over the restaurant staff, paid for thete-night meal himself, left the police station¡¯s number for handlingpensation, and then called for reinforcements from the special investigation team. Chapter 565 - 512

Chapter 565: 512

When Director Song Tiancheng arrived at the Qinghe City Bureau, he was apanied by members of the Shannan Provincial Department. Director Song had specifically instructed not to make a ceremony out of his arrival and not to put on a spectacle, but upon arrival, there was still a crowd that came out to greet him. All Director Song could do was sigh and then turn to Shen Xiaofeng from the Shannan Provincial Department, saying, "It¡¯s not easy for everyone." Shen Xiaofengughed heartily, "To receive suchment from you, everyone feels it¡¯s worth it." "Well..." Once the car stopped, Director Song opened the door, got out, and shook hands with Sha Yingren, Yu Wenshu, and the others who were approaching quickly. The routine pleasantries werepleted. Director Song quickly changed the subject, "Director Sha, I¡¯d like to have a chat with Jiang Yuan first, if that¡¯s convenient?" Director Sha hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Does Director Song know Jiang Yuan?" Director Song smiled and said, "I haven¡¯t met him in person, but I¡¯ve been hearing a lot about himtely, and some have strongly rmended him to me. I just want to meet him first." He actually didn¡¯t want to understand the situation from the perspective of the leaders of the special task force. From his understanding, a technical officer with a promising future like Jiang Yuan, is usually upright and honest, or at least stricter with himself than others. Instead of looking down on the situation from the leadership of the special task force, Director Song preferred to understand the specific details of the special task force through a technical officer like Jiang Yuan. After all, his role did not necessarily involve directing work; understanding the work might be a more important aspect for him. If the special task force¡¯s investigative work was going smoothly, he could then shift to purely supporting the work. However, solving cases is usually not aplished overnight, and there¡¯s not only the direction of solving cases to consider, especially in major drug trafficking cases, involving more than a hundred criminals, maybe even several hundred, and the rted personnel involved could exceed a thousand. The number of officers in the special task force, as well as the police cooperating with the team, would be even greater. So many people, in another unit, might be equivalent to a smaller college in terms of scale, and moreover, a college with very prominent internal and external conflicts¡ªjust think of how many things can happen in a day at a college, how many people¡¯s joys and sorrows are affected, and people fight, cause trouble, or even jump off buildings. The situations involved in a special task force could only be more, not less, and Director Song Tiancheng and Sha Yingren, representing the ministry and the provincial department, were all for more positive oues, fewer negative ones. For example, the shorter the detention of the involved persons, the better in theory, but obviously, this would affect the work of the special task force; finding the right bnce is also very challenging. Sha Yingren was not meeting Director Song for the first time and had a rough understanding of his style of work. He smiled and said, "Jiang Yuan caught quite a few people yesterday, stayed up all night gathering evidence, and went back to rest at noon. I¡¯ll have someone notify him in a moment." "Isn¡¯t Jiang Yuan a technical person?" Director Song was a bit surprised. This was different from his understanding. Sha Yingren described the events of the previous night andughed, "To describe it with two idioms, it¡¯s like falling into one¡¯s own trap, and Jiang Yuan emerged victorious when they met on a narrow path." Director Song listened with wide eyes, also catching the critical point, "That¡¯s a bit dangerous. Did the members of the drug trafficking gang not have guns?" "Yuan Yushan¡¯s bodyguard might have had one, but he didn¡¯t use it. They withdrew, and Jiang Yuan and the others didn¡¯t pursue," Yu Wenshu interjected. In fact, he also didn¡¯t know whether the opposition had guns; they might have brought them, they might not, either could be true. Director Song nodded, "That¡¯s good there were no casualties... How is the public safety situation in Qinghe City?" Sha Yingren knew what Director Song meant and immediately responded, "It¡¯s been very stable in the past few days. The asional cases are just incidents of drunken brawls and injury incidents caused by enmity disputes..." The presence of a drug trafficking gang, if it caused harm to the lives and property of innocent citizens, might necessitate an immediate eradication. But if the situation is still stable and controble, the Jianyuan Group, as Qinghe City¡¯srgest enterprise, which involves thousands of workers, incremental progress like cutting up a sausage might be more feasible. "Since Jiang Yuan stayed upte, there¡¯s no rush to call him now," Director Song felt the progress of the special task force was good, so he wasn¡¯t in a hurry. The appearance of Yuan Yushan was quite significant. His presence in Qinghe City indicated that the leaders of the drug trafficking gang had not yet fled. Moreover, Yuan Yushan¡¯s hasty visit to Jiang Yuan and his panicked escape also suggested that they did not have a clear or effective n to break through. With that thought, Director Song asked about the issue of blocking the city¡¯s periphery. Modern cities are well-connected, giving the impression that one could go anywhere. However, in fact, the construction of cities has considered the control of entry and exit from the onset. The ancient city walls and gates served as entry control for cities; simrly, the modernwork of highways and railways has checkpoints. As for how effective, just look at how many people managed to escape during the pandemic lockdown, and you¡¯ll get the picture. A cursory analysis of media reports would reveal that, during the lockdown, those who managed to escape basically used the waterways. In Qinghe City, there are several rivers, such as the Tai River that passes through Ningtai County. However, these rivers have limited water flow and navigation capabilities. With a little bit of enhanced management, it is possible to effectively prevent the escape of criminals. A few people chatted as they entered the conference room, exchanged a few more words, and then began to inspect the special case group. In this period, various units within the special case group had also made preparations. Song Tiancheng, dressed in a white shirt and with a slender figure showing clear signs of fitness, walked at the front of the team, exuding a sense of authority even without anger. The Qinghe City Bureau had already devoted an entire building to the special case group, befitting the scale expected of the Jianyuan Group. Song Tiancheng visited and offered condolences office by office. Not many frontline officers remained in the office, as Yu Wenshu and others wouldn¡¯t summon their frontliners back just to amodate Song Tiancheng¡¯s visit. It was unnecessary and impossible. As a result, Song Tiancheng¡¯s tour was quite swift, with most offices getting nothing more than a fleeting nce. It wasn¡¯t until he reached the third floor and met the female forensic doctor Wang Lan that Song Tiancheng paused and asked, "Forensic Jiang Yuan works here, right? Does he have an office on this floor?" Wang Lan replied, "Captain Jiang has his own office, but we forensic doctors report to Doctor Jiang." In truth, as the head of Qinghe City¡¯s forensic doctors, Wang Lan was supposed to provide guidance to the forensic doctors at the county bureau. But to be honest, this "supposed to" should never ur in front of Jiang Yuan. Since there was a substantial difference in technical expertise, using administrative power for remote guidance was feasible only if the gap was not too wide. But if the disparity was too great, you would need Jiang Yuan¡¯s cooperation even with administrative measures. You don¡¯t even need to mention anything else. Just consider the determination of the time of death. If Wang Lan dared to guide Jiang Yuan and he chose not to listen, that¡¯s one thing. But if he came back with a different time, the Forensic Unit of Qinghe City could expect a social death. Once or twice might be alright, but after three or five times, would Qinghe City¡¯s Forensic Unit dare to guide Jiang Yuan? They wouldn¡¯t be able to run away fast enough. Persevering in providing guidance without justification would only result in a loss of authority. On the other hand, if Jiang Yuan wanted to guide Qinghe City¡¯s forensic doctors, it would be easy for him. The procedure was always the same, and he simply needed to offer guidance whenever you made a mistake. Would you listen or not? Would you change or not? Of course, for the most part, the forensic doctors from the subordinate county bureaus had a strong sense of autonomy. If the city bureau¡¯s forensic doctors didn¡¯t intervene, it was fine. This kind of guidance was usually meant to be helpful. If a county bureau suddenly excelled, the city bureau would be happy to have one less burden. However, this approach doesn¡¯t work during a special case group operation. Everyone is gathered to face the same issues, with simr objectives, but there is only one truth¡ªin the end, they would still have to listen to Jiang Yuan. This oue was a result of the vast gap in technical skills. At first, Wang Lan and others were not used to it, but honestly, over time, they grew ustomed to it. Song Tiancheng, not sure whether he got the point or not, smiled and nodded, asked a couple more questions about the Skull Restoration Skill, and then moved on to the next Trace Evidence Office. As usual, Song Tiancheng inquired about the person in charge, and a trace evidence technician stepped forward, saying, "Our office primarily reports to Forensic Jiang Yuan at the moment; operationally, we¡¯re led by Captain Jiang." "Is that so," Song Tiancheng nodded in acknowledgment. Continuing on to the third office, the Image Reconnaissance Brigade had a team on duty reviewing videos. They also dered, "We are currently managed by Forensic Jiang Yuan and report to Doctor Jiang." The Physical and Chemical Laboratory... The DNA Laboratory... The Bloodstain Analysis Office... Everyone reported being under Jiang Yuan¡¯s management. As Song Tiancheng walked on, he suddenlyughed, "After this visit, I really do want to meet Jiang Yuan." Chapter 566 - 513: Being the Villain (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 566: Chapter 513: Being the Viin (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Lu Tongda sat in the dormitory living room, with one hand clutching his phone and the other on the door. His eyes weren¡¯t on his phone, in the room only the subtle snores of Jiang Yuan could be heard, truly leaving him scratching his head in frustration. Mu Zhiyang had been a bit anxious himself, but seeing Lu Tongda so worked up, he became less so. Instead, he advised, "Chief Yu also said, let¡¯s wait until Captain Jiang wakes up. Waiting a few hours won¡¯t matter, so you don¡¯t need to keep watch like this." "Leaders from the ministry might say it doesn¡¯t matter, but in reality..." Lu Tongda used to be in the Iron Cavalry, working early mornings andte nights, and hadn¡¯t really interacted with any leaders. Mu Zhiyang said, "The one who said it doesn¡¯t matter is Captain Yu, he wouldn¡¯t say that without knowing better than us. Just do as he said, no need to worry unnecessarily." ncing at his watch, he added, "If we go over now, it¡¯ll almost be time for dinner too. I think Chief Yu was reluctant to have Captain Jiang go and drink. If you go, it¡¯s improper not to apany them in drinking, might as well goter. Worst case, we work overtime." Lu Tongda hesitated and said, "I feel it¡¯s quite a rare opportunity, think about it, how often does the ministrye to our ce? When I was in Changyang, I never heard about it, and it¡¯s even less in Qinghe City, they might note once in several years." "The people of Qinghemit fewer crimes against their own, so frequent visits from the ministry aren¡¯t something good, are they?" Mu Zhiyang, now firmly rooted in Ningtai and, one could say, by Ningtai Jiangyuan¡¯s side, no longer liked to hear critical voices. Lu Tongdaughed helplessly: "What I mean is, if Captain Jiang wants to advance, isn¡¯t this a good opportunity? If Captain Jiang gets a promotion, we will benefit too... right?" Mu Zhiyang looked Lu Tongda up and down: "You¡¯ve only been with Captain Jiang for a few days..." "Progress isn¡¯t made in just a day or two," said Lu Tongda. As the two of them talked, Lu Tongda became less restless. When the snoring in the room finally ceased, Jiang Yuan had cleaned up, and outside, the sun had already set. Lu Tongda eagerly reported the situation as soon as Jiang Yuan came out of the bedroom, adding, "Director Song just returned from having dinner at the canteen, the timing is perfect." "Then let¡¯s go. The sky is clear tonight, perfect for a takedown," said Jiang Yuan, refreshed after his nap. Jiang Yuan, dressed in his duty uniform, strode into the office building looking sharp. He was already tall enough to stand out from the crowd, but now with the tall figure of Lu Tongda, who was 1.8 meters, and the contrast with Mu Zhiyang beside him, he was particrly striking. The policemening and going couldn¡¯t help but straighten up when they saw Jiang Yuan. It wasn¡¯t aboutparing stature, but over thest few days, Jiang Yuan had created a mindset within everyone ¨C that when Jiang Yuan, fully equipped, made an appearance, it was time to respond to a call. When Jiang Yuan walked into the conference room, the atmosphere among the policemen there was exactly the same, everyone¡¯s spirit focused. Song Tiancheng noticed immediately. He had once worked in the city bureau and then, due to a twist of fate, transferred to the ministry, following a path of integrating resources. Regardless of where the incident urred, the first thing he did upon flying in from Beijing was to observe the spirit of the local police. To him, the budget and equipment were minor issues; if needed, they could be airlifted temporarily without problems. The main focus was on the performance of the executing officers. After looking around today, Song Tiancheng¡¯s evaluation of the "Twin Drug Special Task Force" was 75 points, well above the passing threshold but still a bit short of excellence, clearlycking in some areas. However, the moment Jiang Yuan arrived, the morale of the officers present lit up with an elite momentum that Song Tiancheng could feel. "Jiang Yuan, meet Director Song. He¡¯s been mentioning you quite a few times today," Yu Wenshu effusively ushered Jiang Yuan over. Jiang Yuan then greeted Song Tiancheng with a smile. "You might not know me, but I¡¯ve heard a detailed introduction about you from Feng Qiong," Song Tiancheng, usually a stern presence, smiled warmly, giving the impression of an ice queen melting and smiling just for you. Feng Qiong was the officer in charge of the Anhai gun theft and murder case, who had been stunned by Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment on the time of death for an entire year. This time, with Song Tianchenging to Qinghe, he couldn¡¯t resist discussing it at length with Feng Qiong. With this background, the conversation between them focused on the technical aspects. Song Tiancheng listened as Jiang Yuan briefed him on the ins and outs of the dual drug case, from the ancient tomb corpses to Yuan Yushan¡¯s hasty escape. The normallyposed cells of Song became excited. For someone like him, who often sat in a leadership position in criminal investigation, this kind of case, interlocking and propelled by strong technical means, was his favorite. Those detectives who can guess the whole picture of a case with a beautiful snap of their fingers are the least helpful; the scenarios they imagine cannot be imnted into the minds of prosecutors and judges. If the suspect has strong mental fortitude, they just need to stubbornly deny everything, and then deductive detectives have to seek help from outside the courtroom. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical investigative approach, although seemingly slow, saves more time in the investigation and reduces wrangling, perhaps by tenfold. As a leader, hearing such a case made him feelpletely at ease. Song Tiancheng leisurely sipped a cup of tea and, after Jiang Yuan finished speaking, they chatted for a bit. Song remarked with a smile, "You guys are doing quite well. I¡¯ve just arrived and might need a day or two to adjust. For now, just keep working as usual, and if you need any help, let me know." Thereupon, Jiang Yuan looked to Liu Jinghui and Yu Wenshu and asked, "So, do you have any new tasks for me?" "Hmm, we caught 7 people this afternoon, and we¡¯ll continue arrests tonight. It¡¯s up to you whether to investigate the previous case or join the team going out tonight." Liu Jinghui was responsible for the day-to-daymand. His meticulous mind, clear thinking, and smoothmunication made him an effective leader. The special task force wasposed of aplex mix of members from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, the Narcotics Division, as well as personnel from Qinghe City Bureau and Ningtai County Bureau. With Liu Jinghui directing operations, the results were likely to be better than if someone else took the lead. Jiang Yuan had arrested a group of Yuan Yushan¡¯s subordinatesst night. The investigation and interrogation went smoothly, revealing more associated individuals. Several were arrested under the cover of night, and Jiang Yuan also conducted a search at the scene. People arrested during the day were basically associates of those associates, and there were also uniformed officers conducting temporary searches at the scene. Jiang Yuan believed that evidence from the primary scene held greater value and, without much thought, said, "I¡¯ll go with those arrested at night and take the low-hanging fruit." "That¡¯ll work. Here is the list of people we¡¯re going to arrest tonight, mainly those whom Yuan Yushan¡¯s subordinates have confessed about, and whom we believe we have enough evidence against," Liu Jinghui said as he distributed the printed lists. Jiang Yuan took a copy, nced at it, and saw a total of 17 people listed with their home addresses and workces. Flipping further, there was a brief description of each person¡¯s situation. Yu Wenshu scanned the list and asked, "Are they all residing outside the Jianyuan Factory Area?" "Correct. My n is to focus on arrests outside the Jianyuan Factory Area. After tonight¡¯s round of arrests, we¡¯ll start catching people on theirmuting routes tomorrow," Liu Jinghui said, summarizing, "First we¡¯ll catch those working outside, then those who dare to go out, and finally smoke out those hiding inside and catch them!" This was the previously discussed n, also intended for Director Song to hear. Everyone nodded in agreement. Seeing this, Director Songughed, "Your strategy is quite good, though it sounds a bit viinous." Liu Jinghui smiled, showing his teeth, "We need to slice their flesh bit by bit, make them hurt, and then have them spill out from the body of Jianyuan on their own." ... The arrest n was set; what remained was to organize the manpower. These past few days, the main focus of Yu Wenshu and others had been on this, specifically on organizing manpower and how to capture criminals safely and efficiently. It¡¯s like bleeding a pig that¡¯s been cornered on a wall; in fact, the daily arrest count is decided by the efficiency of the police arrest teams. Though there might not be enough evidence to capture everyone yet, it¡¯s no problem to stay one or two days ahead with the arrests. Jiang Yuan followed Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team, targeting a mid-level manager at Jianyuan Chemical. Compared to the likes of parking lot security guards, the staff inside Jianyuan¡¯s chemical nt, even those not in the most core departments, had been long-time workers sticking with Yuan Jiansheng and were maintained with exceptionally high sries. Even though they only worked within the factory, they knew more than the outside security guards. Those who had reached the middle management level were even more involved and informed. Wu Junhao was studying the existing information carefully in the car. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang at that moment. The call was from Liu Jinghui, "Director Song is heading over with you." "Uh... okay," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much room to refuse. He informed Wu Junhao and then closed his eyes to rest. The suspect, Ma Wanjun, was staying at his lover¡¯s ce tonight... After Yuan Yushan returnedst night, the Jianyuan Drug Trafficking Ring had be so panicked that they ordered their members to reduce their outings. Ma Wanjun was reluctant to part with his newly acquired lover and, unable to hold back, still went out at night. The two of them were sickeningly sweet all through dinner, and as soon as it got dark, they headed straight to bed. In the midst of their fervor, a loud bang echoed next to their ears. Following that were a series of footsteps and shouts. As for what exactly was being shouted, Ma Wanjun¡¯s attention was elsewhere, and he couldn¡¯t hear clearly. Jiang Yuan and Director Song waited until it was quiet inside before they followed in. Director Song was curiously trailing behind Jiang Yuan, eager to see if Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods were indeed as extraordinary as Feng Qiong had described. Jiang Yuan brushed past the suspect, Ma Wanjun. At that moment, the system interface abruptly popped up: Mission: Net Sweep Mission Details: Capture as many members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang as possible. Mission Progress: 92% The final part of the mission progress had jumped from 88% to 92%. Jiang Yuan was taken aback, only then realizing that the person he had arrested today was a member of the Jianyuan gang. And his mission was to capture members of the Huang Li Crime Gang. Well, a mole nted by Huang Li within Jianyuan? Chapter 567 - 514: Deduction (Request for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 567: Chapter 514: Deduction (Request for Monthly Pass)

Jiang Yuan felt that he had still taken on too few tasks, as this thing seemed to directly correspond to Level 6 skills when profiling the scene. However, there generally weren¡¯t opportunities to encounter suchrge gangs in ordinary cases. To speak of it, typical vibrant social organizations don¡¯t necessarilymit murder, and those that do aren¡¯t too covert in their actions. Situations like this required individuals with the political organizing abilities of Song Tiancheng, rather than case-crackers like Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. Drug trafficking organizations certainly rank among the higher-end of lively organizations. Without mincing words, armed with guns, money, people, and a strict organizational structure, and with members unafraid of death, such organizations can threaten political power when they riot, as seen in Mexico and the countries in Central America. Skills at the Level 6 tier should be utilized exactly when dealing with such gangs to avoid wasting them. "Hold on a second," Jiang Yuan turned his head to stop the person, "Keep the suspects here, and keep them under control." He didn¡¯t need to exin why; Bald Strike Team members immediately stopped and shouted at Ma Wanjun, "What are you looking at? Lower your head." Ma Wanjun was dressed haphazardly in just a couple ofyers of clothing, without even underwear, looking totally disheveled. Despite this, he still red at the police officers with a defiant gaze. Unlike most suspects in ordinary cases, who might shout about their innocence, Ma Wanjun¡¯s gaze was provocative, looking up with his chin raised at Jiang Yuan. Without Jiang Yuan needing to react, Wu Junhao, holding a thin and hard electric baton in his hand, came forward with a fierce look in his eyes, as if ready to electrocute Ma Wanjun¡¯s stomach any minute, and said, "Be more cooperative, for your own good. Get him hooded and bring over a leg cuff." Wu Junhao didn¡¯t ask Jiang Yuan what he was going to do, but with such drug trafficking gang members who had been rooted locally for many years, even if they set off an explosion by tapping the bedside table, Wu Junhao wouldn¡¯t find it strange. In short, it¡¯s always best to be cautious, and one couldn¡¯t show weakness against such elements. Ma Wanjun¡¯s little lover was much more timid; she had put her clothes back on and added a coat, but was still shivering, whispering, "Why are you arresting me..." Dong Bing and Gao Yuyan nked her, showing no sign of rxation. They had experienced kidnapping cases and seen various female suspects; maybe this girl was a good girl who was just deceived by a scumbag, but if you guessed wrong, who knows what dangers could arise. Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t know what he could do by keeping the suspects there, but under the current circumstances, these two suspects were actually part of the evidence. Letting them stay at the entrance, Jiang Yuan led two trace investigators and started searching from the bedroom. What they found first were over twenty bags, including luxury brand names as well as some unrecognizable lesser brands. Some bags contained a few items, which were also separately removed. Jewelry, watches, documents, and other items were then video recorded, photographed, and each properly ced. However, the main items they were searching for¡ªthe drugs or drug paraphernalia¡ªwere nowhere to be found. Jiang Yuan turned to look at the rapid drug test conducted on Ma Wanjun by the officers, where all themon types showed only a single line. Several forensic investigators wiped areas such as door handles, tables, and the bathroom with cotton swabs, which were then handed over to the narcotics forensics team to be tested with a portable Raman spectrometer. A portable Raman spectrometer still requires significant funding support and can be a bit of a hassle to use, but both its broad spectrum and uracy are quite reliable. Typically, a county bureau wouldn¡¯t be able to afford such equipment. Jiang Yuan silently noted this, nning to introduce Huang Qiangmin to it upon returning. The narcotics forensic team busied themselves changing the probe head and dealing with the measurement cell for a while, finally producing a spectrogram and quietly reporting to Jiang Yuan, "We detected alcohol, somepounds that might be from cosmetic bottles or lubricating grease, trace amounts of p-amino-benzoic acid, which is a main ingredient in Zolpidem and also a controlled substance, and a weak curve for ketamine." The levels of these substances might be considered pollution abroad but would definitely be problematic in this country. The several forensic investigators looked at Jiang Yuan with a certain degree of satisfaction, feeling that today¡¯s findings were sufficient to prove the crime had beenmitted. As long as the crime was proven, subsequent interrogations would be rtively simple. For the average forensic investigator, this would be considered a sess. Ordinarily, with findings like this at a crime scene, Jiang Yuan would have been satisfied too, but today it wasn¡¯t enough. Jiang Yuan nodded his head and told the narcotics forensic team, "Test a few more spots, and everyone else, continue the investigation." Jiang Yuan had given an order, and there was nothing much for anyone to say; they just got on with their work. Song Tiancheng was getting a bit bored at the entrance. The location was, after all, just a three-bedroom, two-bathroom t, not very spacious. Standing at the entrance in the living room and looking inward, one could see the forensic team busily at work. The problem was that even the backs of the investigators gave off an air of tedium. Most of the time, they might spend half a day hunched over a single drawer, and all you saw was their behinds without really knowing what they were doing. Even if you could see in front of them, you still wouldn¡¯t actually understand what was happening. Song Tiancheng felt embarrassed to take out his phone and y, so after watching for a while, he couldn¡¯t help asking, "Is this how Jiang Yuan usually works?" "Usually, he works faster than this; Captain Jiang is quite efficient," Dong Bing controlled the suspect while quietly replying to Song Tiancheng. Song Tiancheng nodded, and then with a smile, he said, "Don¡¯t do anything on my ount, you don¡¯t have to put on a show or anything." At this point, Jiang Yuan heard the movement, stood up to stretch his back, and took a moment to move around before saying, "Something about today¡¯s scene feels off, I want to check it thoroughly. If you have other matters, Director Song, you might want to head back first..." He was giving Song Tiancheng an out, suggesting that if he was bored, he should leave and not waste time at the scene. After hesitating for a moment, Song Tiancheng gave a heartyugh, "I¡¯d just be following them to a meeting if I went back, so I might as well stay with you. You go about your work; don¡¯t mind me. But you mentioned that there¡¯s something off about the scene, what exactly do you mean?" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t say that the system had given him a prompt, so he gestured with his eyes at the two suspects. Quickly, Wu Junhao suggested, "How about I take them to the car downstairs?" "No need, keep them here at the scene," Jiang Yuan immediately rejected the offer. From his perspective, the scene should epass these two suspects. What mattered most was that he now needed to prove Ma Wanjun had been working for two different crime syndicates at the same time, but which specific piece of evidence could prove that, he was unclear about. Taking an example, Jiang Yuan was like writing a summer vacation homework, with certain known conditions, inadvertently seeing that the answer was 2, and the process "omitted." Now he had to work out the process. Letting Ma Wanjun leave would mean reducing the known conditions, which obviously wasn¡¯t suitable. But when ites to the specifics of the process... Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t articte it either. Jiang Yuan still had to answer Director Song¡¯s questions, so he said, "I can only say that something felt off, not quite right, and I wanted to do more research. Actually, leaving a few people with me would be enough; the others can go back first." "No need," Director Song rejected the suggestion once again. With that, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say anything more, carrying his horseshoe mirror and continuing to inspect each house one by one. At this moment, Ma Wanjun broke into loudughter, "You police are really funny, aren¡¯t you dismissing science altogether? In a chemical factory, if anyone dared to say that, I¡¯d ask him to leave right away. A feeling that something isn¡¯t right, and based on that you can just arrest people arbitrarily?" "You weren¡¯t arrested because something felt off," Mu Zhiyang retorted to Ma Wanjun. Ma Wanjun asked, "Then on what grounds did you arrest me?" "Do you know how fierce thepetition was to give you up?" Mu Zhiyang cut off Ma Wanjun¡¯s hope with a single sentence. "Who gave me up?" Ma Wanjun persisted. Mu Zhiyang felt that he had already said too much and was unwilling to answer now. At that moment, Jiang Yuan stood at the kitchen door and asked, "You¡¯ve been quiet all the while, but you spoke up when you saw me about to search the kitchen. Was that to distract me?" "No," Ma Wanjun answered, then felt it wasn¡¯t the right response and said, "What gives you the right to search my home, do you have a search warrant?" Jiang Yuan smiled, picked up his box, and entered the kitchen. Mu Zhiyang said coldly from the side, "Is this your home?" Ma Wanjun was startled, "I bought this house, why wouldn¡¯t it be my home?" "Interesting, your statement will be useful when it¡¯s time to confiscate your assets," Mu Zhiyang finally gloated, apuding himself for his intelligence. The girl involved in the case, who had been silent all along, suddenly raised her head and looked at Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan with a murderous gaze. The bald Wu Junhao didn¡¯t say a word, just picked up a ck bag and covered the beauty¡¯s head with it. If looks could be of any use, what¡¯s the point of forceful measures! Jiang Yuan examined the kitchen. A Level 4 crime scene investigation, even without a temporary promotion to Level 5, was already top-tier in the country. All Jiang Yuan needed to do was adjust his mindset and determine the direction of his investigation. Then, a slit behind the refrigerator caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. Jiang Yuan reached forward, and from the slit, he dug out a strap, pulling out a USB drive in the process. This discovery immediately shocked everyone present. Director Song was also surprised that there really was something hidden. "Let¡¯s take a look," Jiang Yuan called over an IT guy and opened up the USB drive. Inside were several dozen pictures of equipment and a few small videos, mainly of production. "What do you need these for?" Jiang Yuan asked on the spot. Ma Wanjun didn¡¯t want to say at first, but then considered and said, "I was just preparing a backup n for myself." Jiang Yuan smiled and said to Wu Junhao, "Captain Wu, take them back." Wu Junhao nodded and started leading them away. Jiang Yuan smiled at Director Song and then called Liu Jinghui to report the situation on the scene. Liu Jinghuiughed and said, "I was wondering why you were taking so long, what do you think he¡¯s up to?" Jiang Yuan said, "He¡¯s a chemical engineering graduate and works with these devices and machines every day. Saying he¡¯s making a backup n doesn¡¯t hold up. Moreover, he only filmed a few machines and production videos, which are definitely not prepared for himself." Liu Jinghui hummed in acknowledgment but didn¡¯t express an opinion. "I think he was probably showing these to the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Group," Jiang Yuan said, jumping to a conclusion. This time, not only was Liu Jinghui astonished, but Director Song was also utterly taken aback. How did he arrive at that conclusion? But after thinking it over, both of them began to harbor doubts. Chapter 568 - 515: Meat Bun (Vote for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 568: Chapter 515: Meat Bun (Vote for Monthly Tickets)

"Ma Wanjun had actually been turned by the Huang Li gang, sending them messages day after day." When Jiang Yuan returned to the meeting room, Liu Jinghui first informed Jiang Yuan of the results. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, "He admitted it just like that?" "We first interrogated Li Jianfang, who hadn¡¯t confessed earlier. After a couple of warnings, he obediently spilled the beans. Then we confirmed it with Huang Li. Huang Li was still a bit hopeful." Huang Li and Li Jianfang could be considered the bosses of the Huang Li gang. ording to the information gained from the interrogation, Huang Li and Li Jianfang had deep-seated ns. Huang Li was constantly optimizing his organization structure, always building up his core team, and putting members¡¯ loyalty first. From the subordinates¡¯ descriptions, Huang Li was bold and murderous, a bit Cao Cao-esque. He always rewarded his subordinates with astonishing bonuses, the likes of which ordinary drug dealers would never see. On the other hand, once he suspected someone, that person usually did not get a chance to defend themselves and would quickly disappear from sight, the so-called ¡¯precipitous cliff-style rtionship termination¡¯. Li Jianfang, on the other hand, was happy to spend time on technical research. He also managed the basement production, always staying in the basement, rarely interacting with members of other departments. In fact, his contact with Huang Li was also mainly focused on the volume of shipments, working hours, pollution control, raw materials, and such. If it had not been for the police raid, the two would have taken another step up and would have likely returned to the city, reverted to farming, or perhaps even gone abroad. After being arrested, Huang Li and Li Jianfang¡¯s survival strategies were also different. Li Jianfang was rtively weak and, knowing he wouldn¡¯t live, cooperated with the police, hoping to leave something for his people and to have a better time in custody, then to dy the execution as long as possible. Huang Li, believing he held the main information of the Huang Li gang, confessed bit by bit, to dy the trial and execution. As for his wealth, he seemed to have stopped caring about it a long time ago. Ma Wanjun¡¯s identity was also viewed by Huang Li as a bargaining chip. However, because Li Jianfang knew about it too, it was cheaply confessed. "I didn¡¯t expect that there would be espionage even between two drug trafficking gangs," Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue and shook his head. Liu Jinghui¡¯s hair stood on end, "Wasn¡¯t it you who cracked the case?" "I was guessing... deduced it at the time, it always felt a bit shaky," Jiang Yuan mused. Deduction shaky? Liu Jinghui¡¯s temper red up instantly, his hair practically igniting. Song Tiancheng then asked curiously, "So how did you deduce it?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s attention also shifted. Jiang Yuan could only concoct a story, "At first I wasn¡¯t sure either, Ma Wanjun is a mid-level manager at the chemical nt, everyone else obediently stayed inside the nt, only he came out, which shows he¡¯s restless. Moreover,pared to the Jianyuan Group, the Huang Li gang was obviously at a disadvantage. Initially, they might all have been considered downstream factories of Jianyuan, and without Jianyuan wanting to get their hands dirty, they wouldn¡¯t have had this chance. So they definitely yearned for information on Jianyuan." Liu Jinghui frowned as he listened. From his perspective, this wasn¡¯t deduction, at most it was just a line that stated "Given: XXX," and what he wanted to know was the proof process. At that point, Jiang Yuan spread his hands, "Anyway, I looked around, found evidence, and dragged him back here." "Too hasty!" Liu Jinghui was speechless; to think that you uncovered a w this way, can only say that the organization of Jianyuan Company was not tight enough, and supervision was notprehensive... "I didn¡¯t think that much," Jiang Yuan said with a smile. Liu Jinghui put on a serious face and said, "Actually, you didn¡¯t intend to solve the case through deduction. If you had been meticulous in your deductions, there should have been clues to grab onto. Like you said, Ma Wanjun is unconventional, but drug dealers being unconventional is the norm. Ma Wanjun should be considered a bit foolishly bold, and also lustful and greedy." Liu Jinghui continued, "The Huang Li gang just took advantage of Ma Wanjun¡¯s weakness and turned him. Of course, you didn¡¯t know this before, but Ma Wanjun sneaking out was a hint in itself." Liu Jinghui went on, "But to truly deduct, you need to look at what¡¯s stored in his USB. Photos and a few videos, videos are more convincing than photos, especially for drug trafficking gangs, they definitely trust videos more, so we need to see what was said in the video first." "The video was of the Jianyuan gang¡¯s production line. Who would care about Jianyuan gang¡¯s production line? The police surely don¡¯t, we just need to confirm this ce is a drug factory, a photo is enough. It was unnecessary for him to risk taking a video." "The junkies definitely don¡¯t care about the production, nor do they have the right to care. In recent years, the supply of drugs has been shrinking, they should be d to have any, no one cares about how you produce it." "In the end, only those in the same industry really cared about this production line. The most likely suspects... could it be the Huang Li gang? Of course, it¡¯s also possible that he sold it to more than one party..." Liu Jinghui¡¯s face darkened as he spoke. It was difficult to prove this point. Huang and Li probably didn¡¯t know if Ma Wanjun had sold himself to a third party, and it was unlikely that Ma Wanjun would voluntarily confess. Even the existence of a third party was uncertain at this point. On this topic, Liu Jinghui stopped short of going into further detail. Expanding the scope of the investigation indefinitely was not feasible. Just taking down Jianyuan was already a formidable task for them. Song Tiancheng listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning and his eyes widened; he even began to look at Liu Jinghui with newfound respect. This meticulous reasoning, starting from the type of videos and photos in the USB drive, led to logical conclusions. Song Tiancheng felt it was approaching the ceiling of deductive reasoning. Even among the experts specially invited by the ministry for their deductive prowess, this was probably the standard. However, Song Tiancheng¡¯s attention did not linger for long. He came from the ministry seeking grounded strategies, speaking anguage everyone could understand, rather than crafting a highbrow deductive narrative. No local criminal police captain would ept reasoning without evidence. "What are we going to arrest next today?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to continue discussing theories either. Arrests were a topic everyone had recentlye to enjoy. Liu Jinghui also chuckled and said, "Today we n to round up all the security guards from their parking lots, as well as the small leaders who managed these guards." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. The parking lot security at Jianyuan was tasked with the dirty work. Initially, Yuan Jiansheng might not have wanted to keep them so dirty, but as his control waned, these physically capable units became all too useful. Liu Jinghui¡¯s strategy was simple: arrest these men, lock up those with evidence, and those without evidence would probably be easy to interrogate. At the same time, it would cut down some of Jianyuan¡¯s fangs, to lessen their potential resistance. ... Jianyuan. Yuan Jiansheng, seated in a wheelchair, appeared at the chemical nt. Yuan Yushan pushed the wheelchair, standing tall and straight, her Chanel outfit lending her a formal air. Both of them wore solemn expressions, while the gang members standing opposite them seemed even more dejected. "Buck up, don¡¯t be afraid," Yuan Jiansheng coughed twice and said, "The current situation is not clear yet, let¡¯s just focus on our own tasks for now." The gang members nodded obediently. "Alright, get back to work," Yuan Jiansheng said. Speaking had beborious for him, and he abstained from meetings unless his attendance was essential. At that moment, someone stepped forward and said, "Ma Wanjun has disappeared." Yuan Jiansheng and Yuan Yushan frowned at the news. "Where did he disappear?" Yuan Yushan asked. "Outside the factory area, he seems to have left the premises," the response from the member reporting the incident slightly eased their tension. "Have you checked to see if he ran off on his own?" Yuan Yushan asked another question. "We haven¡¯t checked. Should we go out and look?" Not everyone was feeling so pressured; some were quite well-defended. Yuan Yushan slowly shook her head. Sending people out to search now would be a futile effort, throwing good money after bad. Chapter 569 - 516 Unfussy

Chapter 569: Chapter 516 Unfussy

"We¡¯ll just keep production running as usual today. As for the situation outside, there will naturally be a way to handle it. At the very least, until Jianyuan Group goes public, the city will have to protect us. We can¡¯t just forsake money in the name of justice, right?" Yuan Yushan tried to boost morale and even cracked a joke. Among the employees of the chemical factory, only a fewughed. Everyone actually understood that it was highly unlikely the city would protect them any longer. Officials might not care about justice, but they definitely care about their official hats. In a country humiliated by the destruction of opium at Humen and the Opium Wars, even uneducated drug dealers knew that this stuff would not stand the light of day. "If we¡¯re going to produce as usual, then let¡¯s get started," the workshop director called out to the workers to begin work. The workers at the chemical factory began their tasks with listless motions, their attitude perfunctory, but their techniques were all quite good. Yuan Jiansheng was 70 years old. He had started building the chemical factory in his 40s, and then a pharmaceutical factory, and to keep the factories running, he continuously skirted the edge of thew to produce various special precursors. He then put together teams, expanded the scale, screened employees, recruited new people, and maintained the team... By now, most of the employees in the chemical factory were long-term workers of Jianyuan, with many in their 40s and 50s. They were all experienced workers who owned several houses, lived inrge ts, had affairs, went through divorces and remarriages¡ªold men who had seen it all. In the entire chemical factory, even the workers who checked and cleaned the tanks were millionaires to start, but they still diligently did their work. Of course, employees within the official staff of the big oilpanies, tobopanies, and the power grid wouldn¡¯t give up their jobs just because they made a lot of money. In this respect, everyone¡¯s work ethic wasmendable. Yuan Yushan watched the production proceeding smoothly and let out a sigh of relief before saying to her father, "As the saying goes, ¡¯When the enemyes, we block; when the water rises, we cover with soil.¡¯ Aren¡¯t we one of Qinghe City¡¯s major taxpayers? Can they really afford to let us go?" "I don¡¯t know if they can let go or not, but my calls are no longer going through," sighed Yuan Jiansheng. "Not a single one goes through? Did they n this together?" "I got through to Old Gu before, but in just a couple of days, Old Gu was gone. Now, tell me, who dares answer my calls?" Yuan Jiansheng said with augh. He actually took it quite well; he was ready to retire anyway. And since Yuan Yushan had taken over, she had been doing very well, even by the standards of traditional private enterprise sessors, she had reached an excellent level. The crux of the issue was that the sky was falling, and Yuan Yushan could only be so tall. Thinking this, Yuan Jiansheng¡¯sughter faded, and he said to Yuan Yushan, "Find a chance to leave if you can." Yuan Yushan was taken aback, her expression changing slightly, "It hasn¡¯te to that point." "You should have left yesterday," Yuan Jiansheng shook his head. "If there were still a chance, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t dare to directly grab your bodyguard." "He¡¯s the impetuous young type, unpredictable." "Ningtai Jiangyuan, an ominous force to reckon with..." Yuan Jiansheng muttered, "I¡¯ve heard he¡¯s killed more than a hundred people. With such a savage after you, you can¡¯t just think about the positives." Yuan Yushan looked down and remained silent. If not for the best, what should we do? Really just give up on Jianyuan? If Jianyuan could be preserved, and the group went public, the Yuan Family would control apany worth tens of billions. To amass such wealth, one has to face myriad trials. How many ordinary drug traffickers have weathered bloody storms to umte such fortunes? If a typical drug dealer earned a million for one drug run, it would take ten thousand runs to reach tens of billions. Assuming one was an official in Japan, to embezzle tens of billions, even if embezzling 10 million at a time, it would take a thousand acts of corruption, and even then it might just be in yen. Why did Yuan Jiansheng take the risk to produce special precursors if not to save thepany? Yuan Yushan was not even thirty yet, but shecked the confidence to start from scratch like her father had. To shed the Chanel suit and deal drugs would be to truly be just another greasy, ordinary drug trafficker. "Yushan..." Yuan Jiansheng said, "Listen to your father, while there¡¯s still a way out..." "They¡¯ve already started arresting people from the chemical factory, the roads we left open before might not be safe anymore," Yuan Yushan paused, then continued, "You should pick a few people and take my older brother with you." Yuan Jiansheng had three sons and a daughter. One son was dead, another imprisoned, only the eldest son, Yuan Yuming, was marginalized. Ironically, it was the marginalized eldest son whom Yuan Jiansheng had added to the drug trafficking team. He had thought of it as making use of waste, but now it seemed like he had led Yuan Yuming to a dead end. If it were just Yuan Jiansheng himself, he might not want to run, but thinking of his remaining son... "I¡¯ll talk to Yuming tonight," Yuan Jiansheng began to consider who to take with him. In terms of intelligence and talent, Yuan Jiansheng was far inferior to his daughter Yuan Yushan, but in terms of mental strength and character, Yuan Jiansheng was much stronger than his daughter. He didn¡¯t give uppletely just because the situation was utterly grim. Yuan Yushan looked around and said, "Take as many of the old employees with you as you can." Originally, ording to Yuan Yushan¡¯s n, she intended to continuously rece these old timers with neers. Yuan Jiansheng also agreed with her approach, and even the veterans of the chemical nt themselves agreed. They had made enough money but still had toboriously work overtime in production, with high quality requirements to boot. If it weren¡¯t for the fear that Yuan Jiansheng might turn against them, these veterans would have resigned long ago. Unfortunately, there just wasn¡¯t enough time. Perhaps it was also because Jianyuan¡¯s scale was toorge¡ªwhen it began to metabolize on arge scale, the impact it caused inevitably spilled out. To the Jianyuan syndicate, manufacturing drugs was an attempt at a new business, but for Huang Li¡¯s group, it was a matter of life and death. They used the most violent means to kill Wang Xingzhai, which demonstrated their stance. Not disying the body publicly meant they still had a need for cooperation and a measure of restraint. However, all of this was now worthless. Yuan Yushan thought silently and then said, "We¡¯ll try to find someone one more time tonight. Whether it works or not, I¡¯ll help you and big brother leave. I¡¯ll deal with tomorrow when ites." "You might as well leave first," Yuan Jiansheng persuaded her again and said, "If I stay in Jianyuan, I can still do something. These workers have been with me for so many years. As long as I stand up, nobody will be able to take Jianyuan away without any trouble." Yuan Yushan held back her tears and shook her head. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s health had already declined significantly; he wasn¡¯t capable of organizing activities, not even withstand for two hours. The father and daughter¡¯s moment of tenderness was extremely brief before someone came running to report, "None of the people we sent out havee back, and we can¡¯t get in touch with any of our distributors outside, either." "The noose is tightening," Yuan Jiansheng snorted coldly. "Also... the trucks that went out today haven¡¯te back," the person reporting hastily added when he saw that the two of them didn¡¯t explode with emotion. If the trucks couldn¡¯t return, production would soon run into trouble. Neither Yuan Jiansheng nor Yuan Yushan spoke. They no longer cared about production. But this signal was terribly bad, indicating that the time left for them was running short. Seeing that the bosses were still approachable, the young man who came to report added, "There¡¯s one more thing, the local police station is calling the workers, saying they must update their residence permits within three days. Those who don¡¯t report will have their social security stopped and be fined. Now many are moring to leave the factory area, what should we do?" Yuan Jiansheng was so furious he started breathing heavily. "Tell the workers that the factory will coordinate with the police station and handle the updates together at ater date. Everyone need not go out, so as to avoid confusion, or they may end up having to go through the process twice," Yuan Yushan controlled her temper and offered a stalling solution. This quick thinking was what Yuan Jiansheng admired, but it only deepened his sense of sorrow. ... Jiang Yuan sat in the office, identifying fingerprints one by one. After all, fingerprints, once known as the king of evidence, still carry a significant sense of authority even now. They can quickly pinpoint suspects¡ªif the technology is strong enough, using fingerprints to lock down suspects can save a considerable amount of time. Today, Jiang Yuan¡¯s main task with fingerprints was to filter andpare the fingerprints of Jianyuan¡¯s employees and rted personnel at the crime scenes. The origin of these fingerprints was widespread and the difficulty ofparison wasn¡¯t high, but the output rate was too fast. So much so that although it wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan identifying fingerprints, those that were determined to match by him ounted for seventy to eighty percent. Fingerprints identified as matches could be used to make arrests or help in selecting problematic lists of names. Once people were caught, or problematic suspects found, it opened up the possibility to search their homes for more evidence, including fingerprints. This cycle didn¡¯t originally exist, but as Jiang Yuan took the lead, it naturally began. Director Song, who was supposed to be overseeing the work, wisely said nothing and just silently watched the progress of the special investigation team. "Director Song? Do you see any areas that need improvement?" Yu Wenshu, having finished his work, courteously addressed Song Tiancheng. Having observed the entire day, Song Tiancheng could only give a wry smile. "I¡¯m not in a position to speak of improvements. It¡¯s just that the way Jiang Yuan works..." Yu Wenshu¡¯s heart leaped, hoping for some feedback, hoping he wouldn¡¯t just go straight to the root of the issue. "The way Jiang Yuan deals with evidence, it¡¯s rather unexciting even when the case is cracked. Right?" Song Tiancheng suddenly looked at Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshuughed heartily, lowering his voice even further, and sat down next to Song Tiancheng beforeughingly whispering, "Jiang Yuan is the kind of person who doesn¡¯t choose weapons when killing." Chapter 570 - 517 Wiring

Chapter 570: Chapter 517 Wiring

Night. Yuan Yushan made sure to reply to all the emails of the day and approved all the procedures that needed approval before she stood up, rubbed her neck, and then walked over to therge floor-to-ceiling window to look into the distance. From her vantage point, she could see parts of the factorypound and the city. The lights of the factorypound and city at night could not be described as very beautiful, and they were far fromparing to the charm of the Ten Li Foreign Field, but this was the Yuan Family¡¯s territory, the foundation of the Yuan Family¡¯s legacy. Yuan Yushan let out a regretful sigh. In the end, she hadn¡¯t managed to keep it safe. She didn¡¯t me her father for walking a tightrope; if not for his high-wire act, apany like Jianyuan would have been finished long ago. But if one of her three brothers had been reliable, had not fought so fiercely amongst themselves, had not drained Jianyuan¡¯s vitality to death, thepany¡¯s exposure could have been dyed, and they might have survived until going public, aplishing the transformation from carp to dragon. Her father, Yuan Jiansheng, was also to me. If he could have remained steadfast for another ten years, spending the time he fooled around with women working, adjusting and bncing the rtionships among his children, and finding a suitable sessor for Jianyuan, perhaps thepany might have survived. That included the old brothers by her father¡¯s side, the uncles whom Yuan Yushan affectionately addressed in ordinary days ¡ª if only they could have restrained themselves a bit, not rushed to drag her father down, they could have persisted longer, and their chances of survival would have been greater. "It¡¯s all the karma we nted ourselves," Yuan Yushan muttered to herself, taking a few more steps in front of the window as if in thought. Her floor-to-ceiling window had only a thin curtain pulled across it. From the outside, one could see the silhouette of a graceful figure moving about. Yuan Yushan¡¯s looks were not particrly stunning, but she managed her figure well. Dressed in a cocktail dress, even standing faceless in front of the window, she could still be praised as a beauty. In fact, many of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡¯s workers would take a look at Yuan Yushan in the evenings and then privately make inappropriate jokes that were not suitable for public discussion. Yuan Yushan knew yet carried on as usual. In recent days, Yuan Yushan made it a point to appear in front of the floor-to-ceiling window every day, sometimes even drawing the curtains aside slightly for a clearer view. Many knew that she was implicitly expressing that the high-level executives were still persevering inside the factorypound. For the anxious employees of Jianyuan, this was indeed crucial. What most Jianyuan people could not ept the most was losing their jobs. They weren¡¯t afraid of the police either; most were just white-cored and blue-cored workers who had only recently escaped poverty. Working honestly couldn¡¯t be wrong, and even if the police came, what could they do? Knock knock. The assistant knocked and entered, whispering, "Madam Yuan, it¡¯s 9 o¡¯clock." "Mhm," Yuan Yushan turned around and then offered a smile, speaking in a gentle voice, "Xiao Lian, I¡¯m counting on you next." "Don¡¯t worry, Madam Yuan. I will do my best," Assistant Xiao Lian replied softly. Yuan Yushan nodded, personally helped adjust Xiao Lian¡¯s pencil skirt, and then reminded her, "In about an hour, just stand by the window for a while. You can walk a few steps if you like, but not too frequently and not at regr intervals, to avoid making it obvious." "I understand, Madam Yuan." "Just call me Sister Yuan," Yuan Yushan smiled and added, "Once I¡¯ve met with those people with Dad, this farce at Jianyuan shoulde to an end. If it reallyes to it, we¡¯ll just cut our losses... You should just take care of your own tasks, and don¡¯t worry too much." This was the story Yuan Yushan fabricated for the little assistant. She transformed the drug trafficking story into one of trafficking controlled medications, shifting the cause from the Criminal Law to the greed of officials and the problem of benefit distribution before thepany went public. But this waspatible with the values of ordinary people. Most importantly, the assistant had a clean personal record. On one hand, she wasn¡¯t afraid of the police, and on the other, she was willing to bet on the senior executives of the corporation. What a great opportunity. Her peers or those who had just graduated would want to bet too, if they could, but probably had no chance. Yuan Yushan quickly changed clothes in the office¡¯s dressing room and then left the office. At this moment, she felt a bit envious of the little assistant. After all, some statuses are determined at birth, and she never had the chance to be an ordinary person. Yuan Yushan took the high-level elevator to the chairman¡¯s office on the top floor. Her father, Yuan Jiansheng, and her eldest brother, Yuan Yuming, were waiting silently inside. "Did sister-inw leave?" Yuan Yushan asked as soon as she entered. "She¡¯s gone," Yuan Yuming answered with a pale face, looking as if he had used drugs. Yuan Yushan guessed that Yuan Yuming must have turned to drugs after he was cast aside. At that time, losing his inheritance rights to the corporation must have felt like the end of his life. Of course, he must realize now that life is far from over, and this ending will only be more tragic. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s throat moved slightly as he said, "Let¡¯s skip the unnecessary talk. If we can get out, then go your own ways. If not, don¡¯t me anyone. I¡¯ll stand my final watch." In thest moments, Yuan Yushan let out a heavy sigh. After all, he couldn¡¯t keep Jianyuan afloat. Yuan Yuming looked at his younger sister, then at their father. He could read social cues well enough to hold back his words despite the urge to speak. Yuan Yushan bent over to hug her father, Yuan Jiansheng, tears streaming down in strings. "Ah, you girl, you¡¯ve killed all my friends, leaving me alone and friendless, and now you start to cry," said Yuan Jiansheng with augh, as he pushed Yuan Yushan away, "Alright, go now. There isn¡¯t much time left." "Dad, we¡¯re leaving," said Yuan Yuming with a tinge of emotion, pulling his sister along as they quickly left. Yuan Jiansheng had loyal old friends who volunteered to stay and take care of him. By the next morning, they were to announce a halt in production, then cut off water and electricity to force the workers out of their dormitories and the nt area. After that, Yuan Jiansheng could set the chemical nt aze depending on the situation, destroying most of the evidence. A fire at the chemical nt is no small matter. By then, both Jianyuan and Qinghe City would be in disarray, providing the best chance for Yuan Yuming and Yuan Yushan to escape. Having exited the elevator, they headed straight for the basement, where two groups of Jianyuan gang members were already waiting. They exchanged nces, nodded to each other, and then split up, each going their separate ways. Each group proceeded to a venttion shaft, put on miner¡¯s hard hats, and descended one after the other. Jianyuan started as a chemicalpany and had no shortage of pipelines andworks after various transformations. Many years ago, Yuan Jiansheng built escape tunnels on top of the regr production pipelines. Those tunnels and shafts were designed by old friends from the chemical nt; during construction, the work was distributed among different construction teams who were unaware of the overall n. In fact, Yuan Jiansheng prepared not just one escape route for Jianyuan. Having been in illegal business for many years, he had longe to terms with his potential demise. Yuan Yushan and Yuan Yuming each chose a different path for their escape. The gang members leading the way were usually only aware of their own route. Yuan Yushan marched in silence. They needed to crawl through tunnels to get out of the nt area. It was estimated that this would take about two hours to reach the suburbs, followed by more walking to find transportation. By the following morning, Yuan Yushan would not only have left Qinghe City but might also have the chance to leave Shannan Province. The only concern was not having enough cash on hand, but fortunately, she had plenty of cryptocurrency stored in a cold wallet, and had memorized 24 seed words. All she needed was a stable environment to easily withdraw the funds. "Judging by the time, the first team should be nearly there," the leader of the group whispered as they led the way. Yuan Yuming¡¯s wife and children were with the first team to exit, partly to scout the way ahead. They reached another underground cavity where there was more room to maneuver. The whole team stopped to drink water and rest. Yuan Yushan held her gun with one hand, also slowly regaining her strength. This was the most dangerous phase, and she knew it well, though there weren¡¯t many options. ... Chapter 571 - 518 Encirclement

Chapter 571: Chapter 518 Encirclement

Dawn. The sun had barely risen above the horizon, slow and steady, just enough to make things visible, a perfect moment to take a breath of fresh air and swear a little. Many who had nned to watch the sunrise togetherst night had, after seeing it beforehand, slept in so deeply that they couldn¡¯t wake up. But in Qinghe City, many were wide awake all night. Jiang Yuan was roused by the jangling of his phone. "Captain Jiang, emergency announcement, they¡¯re ready to make a move. Director Liu asks you to return to themand center," the junior detective informed Jiang Yuan, indicating that Liu Jinghui and others must already be busy. The Yuan Family, driven to desperation, had mobilized workers to create disturbances, a situation the police had anticipated and for which they had prepared in advance. Despite this, Liu Jinghui and his colleagues were still extremely tense. This was a factory site involving thousands; regardless of the Yuan Family¡¯s ns, even action not going ording to n could easily lead to danger. Jiang Yuan said, "Got it," hung up the phone, washed his face quickly, and left the house. He lived in Qinghe City in a small apartment that hadn¡¯t been rented out. He had also called over Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, Wu Junhao, and a few others; six people each took a suite, and the unrented apartments were lent to the officers from Ningtai. In this way, by the time Jiang Yuan went down to the garage to drive, nearly 20 people were tagging along. The temporarymand center. It was bustling with activity. Police who often worked on special task forces knew that if a case didn¡¯t go smoothly at the beginning, overtime was a given. If it did go well, that meant even more overtime. Emergency calls began early in the morning, and after most detectives arrived, they all hadposed faces. Jiang Yuan obediently took a seat in the corner of the conference table, waiting for his tasks to be allocated from above. Policemen came and went; the sound of engines from the street below merged into a continuous hum. Due to the Jianyuan case, Qinghe had already received police support from numerous cities, and now their contribution was even more vital. Needless to say, there would surely be involvement from the armed police. Theoretically, as long as the response was quick and steady, stability couldrgely be achieved. Because this was organized action against unorganized action, thetter required several times more time to form amand core, align on a unified goal, and formally start operations. Not to mention this was a scenario for which they had prepared. Theoretically, the higher-ups at Jianyuan should also have been aware of this dynamic. Once they lost the protection of the workers, their own positions would be at risk. So, the fact that Jianyuan still exposed their defenses showed one thing... "The people from Jianyuan are nning to escape!" said Liu Jinghui, busy with his tasks, calling Jiang Yuan over, then to the detectives specialized in case-solving, "We need to think of a way to dig them out." "Can Image Investigation lock down their location? Would using dogs work?" someone immediately suggested an idea. Liu Jinghui shook his head: "Neither Image Investigation nor dogs will work." A few people quicklyughed amidst the chaos to relieve some pressure. Yu Wenshu cleared his throat twice and said, "We¡¯ve always been on guard for their escape and destruction of evidence. We¡¯ve made ns for it, and now the key is to execute them effectively with force!" Hoping that a method conceived on the spot would be better than a carefully considered n was na?ve in itself. Especially when dealing with so many people from so many departments, a strategy great on paper would still require half a day just formunication, agreement, task assignments, exining demands to various department heads, oveing bureaucracy to instill the spirit, arranging personnel, and ensuring proper execution. Thus, at this moment, clever tactics were either simple, effective, and straight to the heart, capable of being carried out by a few people or small teams¡ªor else, the most crucial task at hand for themand center was to ensure all departments and units follow the contingency n without trying to outdo each other, without dragging their feet, without overinterpreting, and without exceeding their authority. In summary, in the face of a major event, managing to execute the tasks systematically andpletely ording to n was already first-rate handling. Yu Wenshu, the chief of Yin brigade, the head of Qinghe Bureau, as well as leaders from the provincial department and ministries, each took their assignments and left the room one by one. When there were only about a dozen people left in themand center, Liu Jinghui first loosened his tie, then plonked down opposite Jiang Yuan and asked, "Any ideas?" Jiang Yuan spread his hands and said, "Send people directly to the core to strike at the heart?" "It¡¯s because we suspect that their core members are nning to flee," Liu Jinghui curled his lip. "Yuan Jiansheng might have stayed behind, but the rest are likely to run." "The boss himself isn¡¯t running?" Not just Jiang Yuan, but several others remaining in the conference room were surprised; drug cartels were known for their selfishness, and the saying ¡¯even a tiger doesn¡¯t eat its offspring¡¯ didn¡¯t apply to them. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "Yuan Jiansheng is over seventy, he definitely can¡¯t climb mountains and wade through rivers anymore. He also has to take a fixed amount of medication daily, including treatments for heart and lung diseases, diabetes, nephritis, prostatitis, and so on. If he ns to travel a long distance now, he certainly needs to bring these long-term medications, a wheelchair, possibly a respirator and a doctor. We have people watching these things." Thest sentence also subtly revealed a bit of the prior arrangements. For apany like Jianyuan, it is not easy forw enforcement to handle itpletely; on the other hand, Jianyuan could certainly not maintain its previous control and cohesion. The police could easily find a host of people who could serve as special informants; there were even more who could be contacted at any time to send a few photos and videos. Under circumstances like today¡¯s, people from Jianyuan knew they were done for. In their bewilderment and confusion, few would refuse a police request. Therefore, starting in the morning, Liu Jinghui gradually entered a state of excitement. If there was enough information, the deductionists could have a really good time, and such opportunities were truly rare. Liu Jinghui confidently smiled at that moment and summed up, "If Yuan Jiansheng wants to leave, he must have vehicle assistance. In this regard, we have very strict control; they can¡¯t do much. Moreover, Yuan Jiansheng probably wants to stay with Jianyuan. If he really abandons it, wouldn¡¯t he feel heartache?" "If Yuan Jiansheng is still with Jianyuan, he should being out to stabilize morale by now," Wang Chuanxing said thoughtfully. Liu Jinghui nodded, "He should. As for why he hasn¡¯te out yet... there could be many reasons." Liu Jinghui¡¯s spections were more in-depth, such as whether Yuan Jiansheng had any cards left to y or if he had any leverage over people. However, Liu Jinghui did not borate further on this point. "So, you think that they¡¯re not escaping by vehicle, but on foot?" Jiang Yuan followed Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought. Liu Jinghui nodded, "With Jianyuan¡¯s factory as huge as it is, with roads leading in all directions, escaping over mountains and through valleys is a possibility." "There are arrangements on the outside too," Jiang Yuan paused, then said. "If the entire gang runs, there should be informants reporting back, right?" Informants could be outsiders to the gang, or possibly even members; Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure, but he had the feeling that the Narcotics Brigade couldn¡¯t have failed to make arrangements. It wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui in the conference room ¡ª Liu Jinghui just smiled and then said, "For now, there definitely are some abnormal signals. In any case, we havepleted routine security measures, but we also need to consider manhunt issues or reinforcing against any oversights." He discussed strategy, looking at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had limited information and was not proficient in deduction. As a technician, to arrive at more detailed conclusions, he could only seek additional evidence and clues. Following Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought, Jiang Yuan said, "Then... shall we proceed with a crime scene investigation?" "Alright, let¡¯s do it," Liu Jinghui had originally wanted to see if Jiang Yuan had any impressive techniques, but seeing none, he simply stood up. Yu Wenshu and others had gone up, which meant themand post had also moved forward. Moreover, if an arrest was to be confirmed soon, it would certainly bemanded by someone at a higher level. "Let¡¯s go," Liu Jinghui grabbed his coat and left. They quickly arrived at the scene and saw that the front-linemand post had already been established within Jianyuan¡¯s office building. At the same time, the Image Reconnaissance Brigade began to identify locations with clusters of people. Jiang Yuan asked for severalputers and essed the surveince footage, sending people to each node to investigate based on the camera cements. By this time, the walkie-talkie was already ringing, "We¡¯ve found Yuan Jiansheng." "Where?" Yu Wenshu grabbed the walkie-talkie. "In the chemical nt¡¯s storeroom, suspected of possessing explosives and a remote control..." The voice on the walkie-talkie broadcasted publicly, immediately lowering the volume inside the room. The chemical nt was capable of producing explosive and toxicpounds, and its power and lethality could be extremelyrge. Many movies that don¡¯t know how to end eventually resort to a grandiose scene of mes shooting into the sky and thick smoke billowing to conclude the story. Chapter 572 - 519 Chaos of War

Chapter 572: Chapter 519 Chaos of War

Everyone¡¯s expressions grewplex. Everyone understood that a chemical nt explosion was something that no party could tolerate. idents like these in production were hard to bear, let alone a criminal case like this. A tremendous pressure bore down on them, and even Jiang Yuan, who was skilled in every way, couldn¡¯t simply dispel it. "There was a time I didn¡¯t go home for three months. When my wife called, as soon as I saw that phone number, I¡¯d get this panic attack. My heart rate would be about the same as it is now¡ªreally," Yu Wenshu suddenlyughed, telling an anecdote that wasn¡¯t exactly a joke. Everyone forced a smallugh in response. "Pull back the officers up front, leave two behind, get the surveince set up, and let the snipers get into position," Yu Wenshu continued, issuing a string ofmands, before adding, "Check the previous records to see what they stored in their warehouses." Several people immediately sprang into action. Yu Wenshu went on, "Later, let¡¯s ask Yuan Jiansheng what he¡¯s up to, and see if his demands are more absurd than my wife¡¯s. You guys..." He beckoned three more people over and whispered a set of instructions to them. Seeing the methodical way that Chief Yu was handling the situation, everyone¡¯s emotions gradually peeled away from fear. Whether or not they trusted Chief Yu was one thing, but there was no doubt that when it came to handling such incidents, Chief Yu was the most experienced. As for the others, seeing a sturdy figure taking the lead, they all bowed their heads and got down to work. Working under pressure was like a required course for the police. Even the most routine beat cops could get scolded like dogs by upset elderly, middle-aged women, toyed around like dogs by young couples, or even chased by actual dogs... Tackling such a major drug trafficking case, they were all prepared for danger and pressure. It¡¯s just that many hadn¡¯t expected the situation in Jianyuan to deteriorate so quickly. The task force¡¯s strategy of ¡¯sitting on the fence and jabbing the pig¡¯ appeared to be executed, and the pig looked to be bleeding profusely. However, no one anticipated the pig would suddenly pull out explosives and threaten to blow up both itself and the task force¡¯s vi. By any measure, this situation had gone beyond the scope! Chief Yu turned back, called over Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, and without discussing, asked, "Yuan Jiansheng has only one person with him; what about his family? And the gang members, you two find them." Usually, Chief Yu was very courteous towards Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan, but today he was too anxious to care for such formalities. Liu Jinghui nodded and moved back with Jiang Yuan, chuckling wryly, "The core mission hasn¡¯t changed, just the timeline has gotten more urgent." Mu Zhiyang had been following Jiang Yuan around, standing behind and listening to Chief Yu¡¯s orders. He cautiously said, "It seems Chief Yu didn¡¯t set a time limit either." "Yuan Jiansheng is the time limit. If he bes tired or can¡¯t hold on, will he press the button? Or what if they¡¯ve agreed on a time?" "This..." Mu Zhiyang wanted to say that such a time limit was impossible to deal with. But it was indeed true; crime does not aim for fairness, and certainly, Yuan Jiansheng was not about to tell a story like a noble thief. Perhaps when his trigger point was reached, he wouldn¡¯t even bother tough before pressing the button. Liu Jinghui stroked his chin, no longer paying attention to Mu Zhiyang, as he entered rapid thought, muttering to himself, "I wonder how big the st radius would be. If the radius isrge, then maybe there¡¯s still hope..." Mu Zhiyang was shocked, "Arge radius... that gives hope?" "First off, Yuan Jiansheng orchestrating an explosion isn¡¯t simply for venting rage. If it were just to vent, he would have blown it up already," reasoned Liu Jinghui, "Based on this, with Yuan Jiansheng currently in possession of explosives, he¡¯s either looking to negotiate or cover someone else¡¯s escape. No matter his reason, if the st radius is big enough to cover half, or even most, of Jianyuan¡¯s factory area, doesn¡¯t that suggest that the person Yuan Jiansheng wants to protect is no longer within the range of the explosion?" Mu Zhiyang was startled, "Now that you mention it..." "There are many prerequisite conditions," Jiang Yuan had worked on many cases by now and knew that not everything could be judged by appearances. Even piling up probabilities was meaningless, as the most likely possibility did not necessarily equate to the truth. Crimes were often a stack of low-probability events. Despite this, Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was very thorough and could be considered useful. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t stop there; he continued, "The prerequisite condition that can be confirmed is that Chief Yu is already investigating the explosives. If the st range of the explosives is small... If the range isrge enough, we can eliminate a lot of possibilities. In fact, even if the st range is small, I think we can still proceed as if it were arge range, considering this is a chemical nt; who can definitively state the extent of an explosion¡¯s impact?" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod in agreement at this. Indeed, during an explosion, the environment could trigger many reactions that wouldn¡¯t normally happen, so even if a chemical expert were brought in, it would be difficult to ascertain the full impact range of a chemical nt¡¯s explosion. Better to estimate on therger side. Yuan Jiansheng probably had the same thought. "With that said, we can first rule out the possibility that Yuan Yushan and the others are still within the nt area. With so many people, I doubt they could disguise themselves and leave with the workers," Liu Jinghui emphasized, "This point is crucial. Once we confirm they¡¯re not among the workers, we can speed up the worker inspection and evacuate the people." Liu Jinghui paused for a moment before continuing, "If they¡¯ve already left, since yesterday, all the vehicles leaving the nt have been held back. That leaves only going to the heavens or into the earth." He looked up at the sky and then at the ground. In the distance, the horizon was lined with the massive pipelines characteristic of chemical nts, not just sprawling across the ground, but also mounted up to the second, even third-floor height, with diameters asrge as one or two meters, noticeably conspicuous... "The surface pipelines and underground sewers make digging tunnels needless," Liu Jinghui pointed forward, indicating the conclusion of his deduction. Stories of people escaping through underground tunnels weren¡¯t new to the police. Back when thieves were moremon, many had gained experience, and after the stories of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, manymented how the domestic urban construction was too backward every other day. But now, the underground pipelines are all monitored by surveince, so they¡¯re obviously unsuitable for thieves¡¯ regr paths, but for Jianyuan members to asionally use them seems quite usible. "It¡¯s indeed a possibility," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t deny the feasibility, and after thinking for a moment, added, "I¡¯ll go check Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s and Yuan Yushan¡¯s offices and see if there can be any clues found there." "Okay, I¡¯ll check on how the interrogation room is doing," Liu Jinghui thought about how to gather intelligence, turned his head, and then asked, "Have the police dogs arrived yet? See if they can find anyone." A police officer took themand and left. Jiang Yuan called over Mu Zhiyang and Lu Tongda, thought about it, and also brought two members of the Bald Strike Team before heading out. The office building was already full of police officers, so taking two people was already very safe, but considering this was still a drug trafficker¡¯s office building, Jiang Yuan decided to bring two more people. After all, another possibility was that Yuan Yushan and others hadn¡¯t left but were hiding in a safe house somewhere inside the office building, waiting to slip out after some time had passed. However, this method was still too passive. In theory, if such a safe house existed, surely others would know about it. Furthermore, if the safe house was so secure that only Yuan Jiansheng knew about it, then it wouldn¡¯t be worth setting off explosives; they might as well have moved in together. Jiang Yuan treated Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s office as a crime scene and began a new search. Outside, the world was in turmoil. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to continue his thorough search patiently. Yuan Jiansheng could certainly hold out for a while; the police had a certain response rate, and since Yuan Jiansheng hadn¡¯t detonated the explosives immediately, it indicated he still had ns. After inspecting Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s office, Jiang Yuan moved on to investigate Yuan Yushan¡¯s office. Upon entering this office, Jiang Yuan just nced around before a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. Chapter 573 - 520: Gentleman

Chapter 573: Chapter 520: Gentleman

Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze fell on Yuan Yushan¡¯s changing room. Ever since she became the general manager of Jianyuan Group, Yuan Yushan had devoted most of her time to thepany every day. Thus, after her work stabilized, the first modification Yuan Yushan made to her office was to create a separate changing room. At this moment, the door to the changing room was open, revealing various clothes, hats, shoes, and bags neatly arranged. Yuan Yushan was the type to change clothes each time she returned to her office before going out again. Moreover, she had very high requirements for the frequency and appearance of her outfits. Most of her clothes were worn only once, with asional favorites being remixed and matched, but most never had that chance. In fact, most of Yuan Yushan¡¯s suits were Chanel, and the left side of her wardrobe, arranged directly by Chanel sales staff who delivered to her office, reflected this. A monthly clothing budget of over a million was in line with her dual identity. When Jiang Yuan saw Yuan Yushan¡¯s wardrobe, a familiar feeling surfaced in his mind immediately. In Jiang Vige, some young girls also lived like this, evenparing with each other on social media for a time. It stopped only after two or three families became bankrupt due to the men gambling away their fortune. Yuan Yushan¡¯s changing room was also filled to the brim. Since it was a renovation within the office, her changing room wasn¡¯trge, at most around 20 square meters. With cabs all around, there was just enough space left in the middle for changing clothes and a mirror. Such a changing room had to be made with exquisitepactness. With one nce, Jiang Yuan noticed that the rows of clothes in the wardrobe were all fully hung, with garments spaced nearly identically from each other, which was pleasing to the eye. Only on the right side of the wardrobe was there a gap. On either side of the gap, there were sportswear, shorts, and yoga pants. Most likely, they were the clothes Yuan Yushan changed into for her daily exercise. The shoe rack below the clothes was simrly organized, but there was a pair of sports shoes missing. At this critical juncture, it was obvious Yuan Yushan couldn¡¯t possibly have gone out for exercise. So, herst changing spot must have been this office, without going home for further preparation. This also meant that the shoes she changed into here were the ones she continued wearing. Jiang Yuan then called over Yuan Yushan¡¯s assistant, pointed to the empty spot in the changing room, and asked, "What brand and model of clothes and shoes does Yuan Yushan wear?" The little assistant seemed surprised and a bit timid as she said, "I¡¯m not quite sure. I¡¯ve only been employed for a little over a year..." Jiang Yuan asked amiably, "Who is in charge of organizing the changing room?" The assistant¡¯s expression changed slightly as she said, "I¡¯m responsible for organizing it, but sometimes the salespeople bringing the clothes will help organize, and sometimes the logistics girls will help too..." Jiang Yuan interrupted her, "The missing pair of shoes and clothes, what brand are they, and what do they look like?" "I really don¡¯t remember..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s face darkened, "If you truly don¡¯t remember, I won¡¯t me you. But then we¡¯ll have to ask the logistics staff and brand salespeople, who was thest one toe up here, on which day they came, whether they helped organize the wardrobe, and if you were involved in organizing or instructing them. I¡¯ll also ask them if you regrly manage this changing room, and if you know the details of the clothes and shoes inside. If the answers aren¡¯t in your favor, do you know how that will end for you?" The little assistant¡¯s eyes widened, unable to utter a word. The two bald members of the Bald Strike Team looked at the slender, pretty assistant and back at Jiang Yuan who had fully entered investigation mode, and they almost felt a swell of sympathy. Jiang Yuan, who had shortly left a hundred people dead, exuded a sweeping fury, almost overwhelming the recently graduated assistant. Jiang Yuan continued, "If you are merely fulfilling your responsibilities as an assistant and have not participated in drug trafficking, you will go back to your normal life and receive your sry afterwards. But..." Jiang Yuan looked at the small assistant and said, "If you fail to report what you know, that¡¯s harboring a criminal, viting Article 310 of the Criminal Law, punishable by up to three years in prison. In serious cases, the sentence can be up to ten years. You know what ¡¯serious cases¡¯ mean? If the person you¡¯re harboring receives a life sentence or more, if they are the leader of an organized crime group, a key member of a crime syndicate..." "It¡¯s just a Nike, the clothes are Nike. The shoes are from Zambe," the little assistant blurted out with closed eyes, as if her own sentencing was imminent if she kept silent. "Where¡¯d you get the items? Who gave them to you? Write it down for him," Jiang Yuan then pointed at the office desk again, and had Lu Tongda bring her pen and paper one more time. The little assistant wrote at her desk in a fluster, tears falling as she wrote, "I¡¯ve only been employed for a little over a year. Being chosen by the general manager to be his assistant was a great opportunity for me, and I couldn¡¯t possibly not take it. How could I have known such a bigpany would... wouldmit crimes..." "Make sure your handwriting is clear!" Mu Zhiyang, standing two meters away with his hand resting at his waist, didn¡¯t believe a word she was saying. Even a female assistant could be a well-trained expert. "The clothes and shoes were delivered by logistics. Typically, Mr. Yuan would make his choices and email them directly; my only responsibility was to check..." The little assistant basically wrote what she was saying, carefully handing it over to Jiang Yuan. "Call Director Liu and have them find someone from logistics," Jiang Yuan nced at the note and continued, "Ask them what else was delivered besides Nike clothing and Zambe shoes, send over the specific model of the shoes, and if possible, a picture of the sole." Turning back to the little assistant, Jiang Yuan directly asked, "How did Yuan Yushan hand things off to you when she left? What did she say, what did she do, what tasks did she leave you with, and what was she wearing? Tell me everything..." As the little assistant listened, tears started to pour down. Her crying not only failed to garner any sympathy from the few policemen present but actually heightened their vignce. If she hadn¡¯t been involved, she wouldn¡¯t be crying like this. Mu Zhiyang became even more impatient, "Enough crying, it¡¯s just wasting time. Crying doesn¡¯t change that you might be charged with abetting a crime. Answer what you¡¯re asked, and hurry up." "I... when I saw Mr. Yuanst night, he told me to put on a skirt, and to stand by the floor-to-ceiling window for a while after an hour..." The little assistant, wiping her tears, recounted the previous night¡¯s events. By now she had almost understood that Yuan Yushan was unlikely to return, and the promises and grand ns from the previous night were empty. Having toiled as an assistant for a year, she would end up with nothing, and worse yet, she might even go to jail? The more the little assistant spoke, the more heartbroken she became, her tears causing her eyshes to clump together. "What else did she arrange? Did she leave on her own? What was she wearing?" Jiang Yuan continued to urge. When the little assistant looked up, she saw five men staring at her with fierce expressions, not a gentleman among them. With no other choice, the little assistant continued, "There were no other arrangements. She left by herself carrying a canvas bag, with water and a shlight, as well as a power bank, charger, and two thousand yuan..." "What kind of shlight?" Jiang Yuan interrupted her. The little assistant hesitated, "Just an outdoor shlight; I don¡¯t recognize the brand..." While they spoke, the information from logistics arrived. The shlight was indeed on the list. Jiang Yuan had the little assistant taken away, then called Liu Jinghui, "She must have used the underground pipes. Yuan Yushan left with a shlight." "Which way did she go?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice rose all at once. Theorizing was one thing, but having evidence to support it was thrilling. "I don¡¯t know the exact location. But thest thing she did was change clothes in the office building and take a shlight." Liu Jinghui grunted in acknowledgment, "I¡¯ll bring in dogs," he said. "By the way, Yuan Yushan left around 10 o¡¯clockst night." Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, then reluctantly continued, "It¡¯s very possible that she has already left the Jianyuan factory area." "All the roads in and out of Qinghe City are checked," Liu Jinghui started, then paused briefly before he emphasized, "I don¡¯t think she could have escaped, otherwise, Yuan Jiansheng wouldn¡¯t need to make such a big scene." Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing this, indeed, if she had escaped on a normal route, considering it had been 12 hours since 10st night, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if Yuan Yushan had left the province. But if it were that simple, what was Yuan Jiansheng up to? "I¡¯ll send you the pattern of the sole of Yuan Yushan¡¯s shoes; they¡¯re Zambe, unlikely to be amon make. I¡¯ll scan around here a bit more and then head to Yuan Yuming¡¯s office," Jiang Yuan offered the information without even inquiring about the situation with Yuan Jiansheng. At this stage, one had to trust theirrades-in-arms. Chapter 574 - 521 Surrender

Chapter 574: Chapter 521 Surrender

Jiang Yuan¡¯s office was at the other end of the downstairs floor, a small one about twenty to thirty square meters in size, roughly the same as Yuan Yushan¡¯s changing room. The office contained a desk, sofa, and filing cab, all looking brand new and hardly used. In contrast, the cigar humidor, safe, and tea table seemed to have seen much more use. However, they were all in a state of disarray now; the shattered teacup and dropped cigars indicated the haste of the owner¡¯s departure. Walking out of Yuan Yushan¡¯s office and into Jiang Yuan¡¯s, even the several police officers could feel a stark disparity, as if they had left a panda enclosure and stepped directly into a ck bear¡¯s. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but say, "Even though I can¡¯t afford such a big house, I still think Jiang Yuan is quite pitiful." "Others transform into CEOs, he¡¯s fallen from being a CEO, and doesn¡¯t even have an assistant anymore," Lu Tongda alsomented the downfall of the wealthy, shaking his head and saying, "If my office space was reduced to a tenth of its size, I probably wouldn¡¯t want to go to work either." "Your previous work location was a motorcycle..." Mu Zhiyang teased. "That¡¯s why the office space can¡¯t get any smaller!" Lu Tongda emphasized. Since they had already found clues to Yuan Yushan¡¯s whereabouts, Mu Zhiyang and the others were rtively rxed. They hadn¡¯t yet considered the possibility that Yuan Yushan and Jiang Yuan would split up and escape separately; after all, setting up one escape route was already difficult enough, and for two people to part ways and flee independently was something perhaps only a drug trafficker of Jianyuan¡¯s caliber would attempt. Learning from previous experience, Jiang Yuan collected some necessary evidence upon entering the office, then went to look for Jiang Yuan¡¯s wardrobe. After moving to this office, Jiang Yuan had done some redecorating, but his requested wardrobe was only about two meters in length. It was filled with several suits, ties, and shirts that were now inplete disarray, clearly having had no one to properly organize them. It seemed that after losing an office with a bedroom, Jiang Yuan no longer had any demands regarding changing his clothes. Jiang Yuan scanned the wardrobe and found nothing. Proving innocence was extremely difficult; at least on Yuan Yushan¡¯s side there was a witness, but Jiang Yuan had long since lost anyone by his side. "This guy uses drugs," a Bald Strike Team membermented, holding up a crystal-clear hookah from the bathroom, its dragon design slightly yellowed, an object that at a nce appeared rather attractive. But a closer look at the hookah¡¯s essories made it clear this was no innocent item, reminiscent of bidding farewell in a college entrance exam cram ss and meeting again at the White Horse Club. At that moment, the cram ss¡¯s handsome, studious heartthrob no longer shone from his forehead, and the waist of the plump, insecure girl who struggled academically straightened out. "People use a hookah for drugs?" Lu Tongda, helping to collect the evidence, curiously asked the Bald Strike Team member, "What do they smoke with this thing?" "Meth, ketamine, marijuana," the Bald Strike Team member had seen it all before and even mimicked a smoking gesture, adding, "This Jiang Yuan really is like a ¡¯Prince¡¯ for a second term. Drug users, if they knew he could produce drugs himself, would probably get so high they¡¯d want to be him." "But Jiang Yuan still wasn¡¯t satisfied," Lu Tongda said. The Bald Strike Team member snorted twice and said, "In Captain Wu¡¯s words, what this guycks is discipline. No matter how good the food is, they¡¯ll always want better, and the ones who train the hardest are usually the best behaved." Jiang Yuan, unconcerned with the others¡¯ conversation, continued to search the office at a slow pace. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t tried to hide things when he left; clothes were thrown about, drawers had been opened and not closed, and the door of the safe was left ajar. Inside the safe, there were still quite a few things left behind, including official seals, some rose gold jewelry, several boxes of stamps, all items that were not easy to liquidate. The cigar humidor in the office had also been rifled through; a box of Cohiba¡¯s GR cigars had been opened, with only about five taken. Jiang Yuan recorded each detail, summarized them, then ryed them to Liu Jinghui, saying, "Judging by the state of the cigars, Jiang Yuan probably wanted to take the whole box, but was stopped." "That indicates their escape will not be easy," Liu Jinghui concluded with a single remark. This was considered corroborative evidence. If the escape route was essible, especially with a vehicle, carrying a bit extra could be tolerated. Only with the foresight of a difficult escape would subordinates prevent Jiang Yuan from taking too much. While Jiang Yuan was still pondering, Liu Jinghui added, "Xu Taining has arrived." "He¡¯s here already... Huh, already?" Jiang Yuan was surprised. If Xu Taining had arrived now, it meant someone had already summoned him at the first sign of trouble in the early hours. Liu Jinghui hummed in affirmation, "He¡¯s been directing the city lockdown on his way here, and now he ns to deploy a search party for the mountains." "Searching the mountains..." Jiang Yuan muttered the term, feeling the budget burning at the thought. However, for a case this big, the budget certainly wouldn¡¯t be an issue anymore, or perhaps, from another perspective, the Jianyuan Group itself could serve as the budget... probably. "What about the police dogs, how¡¯s that going?" Jiang Yuan inquired further. "Not deployed yet, as the current focus is setting up the blockade. There¡¯s also Yuan Jiansheng..." Liu Jinghui was somewhat overwhelmed. The Jianyuan Factory Area was extensive, and capturing the members of Jianyuan¡¯s gang required a thorough search of the factory area. They couldn¡¯t assume that all the gang members had fled with Yuan Yushan and others; it was possible that some deemed it safest under their ownmp, or that there were long-established safe houses within the factory premises where they could hide. On the other hand, with Yuan Jiansheng sitting in the warehouse, holding such arge bomb and threatening to set off an oversized "dirty bomb," every police officer entering the Jianyuan Factory Area was at risk of losing their life. Deploying too many officers for the search was bing increasingly perilous. Jiang Yuan shook his head, empathizing with the pressure Liu Jinghui and others were facing. ... Time passed amid the anxiety. Yuan Jiansheng appeared increasingly weary, with every move startling everyone into a cold sweat. The police officer responsible for the negotiations was also covered in sweat, holding a cellphone and ceaselessly conversing with Yuan Jiansheng. As noon approached, Yuan Jiansheng grew irritated. ording to the agreed time, he had almost dyed long enough. He had no desire to engage further with the police; he was unwell, and speaking and acting were exhausting for him. Ordinarily, he would be taking a nap by now, sustained only by medication. Buzz buzz. The cellphone rang again. "Brother Sheng," his loyal old friend picked up the phone. "Don¡¯t answer. Day after day, it¡¯s the same old drivel. If talking were useful, we wouldn¡¯t have ended up here..." Yuan Jiansheng felt various dissatisfactions within. The old friend hesitated, then ncing at the phone screen, he said, "The call is from Li Fu." "Li Fu?" Yuan Jiansheng hesitated for a moment, then with a sigh, he said, "Put it on speaker." Heeding his words, the old friend activated the speakerphone. "Little Fu? Have they found you?" Yuan Jiansheng asked. From the other end of the phone came a simpleugh, "They found me; they¡¯ve dredged up everyone who took big money from Jianyuan in the past years." In earlier years, Yuan Jiansheng had not thought about dealing drugs but simply wanted to extend his life with high-yieldpounds like special precursors. Once thepany was safe, naturally, he would cease such business. So, when it came to dividing money, it was also done through Jianyuan¡¯s public ounts, which was safer thanundering money externally. Yuan Jiansheng had not anticipated this to be a vulnerability. "They leave no stone unturned." Knowing the police were listening, Yuan Jiansheng continued, "Back then, you were unaware, merely an engineer following orders. When you guessed somethingter, you resigned, and I couldn¡¯t have kept you if I wanted. There¡¯s no reason for you to be arrested." "Shared too much," said Li Fu with a simple chuckle. The amount of profit is often used by domestic judicial authorities to assessplicity. For example, in apany thatmits tel fraud, is the janitor involved in the crime? If the janitor earns a sry of 3,000 or 5,000 a month, they can be presumed ignorant, but if they earn 20,000 a month and im ignorance, it¡¯s highly unlikely to be believed. The same principle applies to Jianyuan¡¯s chemical nt, which employs nearly ten thousand workers; including those who have worked there before and other staff members, who are the criminal participants? Who are the ignorant working stiffs? There¡¯s a saying: pull out a horse or mule for a stroll to see which it is. Those receiving an average sry can be seen as horses or mules, but those receiving several times or even ten times the standard sry are mostly mules, at a minimum, they need to exin the source of their ie. Yuan Jiansheng, who knew thew, said over the phone immediately, "Little Fu, don¡¯t be scared, the police have to stick to evidence too. Back then, Jianyuan couldn¡¯t go on, and you all voluntarily took pay cuts. Later, you even just received living expenses, and we all got through together by rallying together. When things turned around and we made money, you took a bit more, and that was in return for the loans, unrted to anything else." "I¡¯ve exined it, and the investigating officer told me too, as long as I honestly confess and then make this call to you as they said, I might get a suspended sentence or, at most, two to three years of actual imprisonment. I¡¯m retired now, so a suspended sentence would be best; otherwise, three years isn¡¯t too bad." Little Fu said with a sigh, "They asked me to send you some photos and videos and then tell you a story." "Go ahead, send them." Yuan Jiansheng knew that this was another of the police¡¯s conciliatory tactics, but he couldn¡¯t harden his heart to refuse. Had he just stepped down from the position of general manager, he might have been able to remain steadfast. Now, he was prepared for death, and was most nostalgic for the past; how could he possibly resist Li Fu¡¯s voice and pictures. As he had said, Li Fu and others were his loyal brothers who had apanied him through the most dangerous and difficult times. Thinking back on the tough road trodden as apany, Yuan Jiansheng himself dare not reminisce. Ultimately, when the dawn broke, Li Fu and the others courageously retired, taking only a small amount of money before they chose to retire. Over the years, living their lives quietly, they never once troubled Yuan Jiansheng, nor did they threaten to report him. At this moment, how could Yuan Jiansheng possibly reject the other party¡¯s voice and images. Soon after, Li Fu sent a photo to Yuan Jiansheng via WeChat. It was just a travel photo of a portly man holding his thin grandson, standing in front of a beach and grinning foolishly, but from the image, Yuan Jiansheng could see Li Fu¡¯s happiness, the joy of pampering a grandchild, as well as his future... Yuan Jiansheng let out a deep sigh. At that time, another man¡¯s voice came from the other side of the phone: "Yuan Jiansheng, don¡¯t turn a major criminal case into a terrorist attack. If you do so, even if we arrest and sentence people, it will all go by the Criminal Law. Jianyuan is also your hard work; leaving behind Jianyuan Group is better than leaving ruins. Surrender." Yuan Jiansheng was silent for a long time. The phone filled only with the sound of static. "What time is it?" Yuan Jiansheng looked up at his loyal old friend. "It¡¯s 11:40 a.m.," whispered the old friend softly. "Alright. I surrender," said Yuan Jiansheng, without making any additional demands. By this time, it was already past the agreed deadline. Detonating the explosives would indeed be advantageous for the escape of Yuan Yushan and Yuan Yuming, but from their attitude, Yuan Jiansheng did not feel that blowing up the bomb would increase their chances of survival. For Yuan Jiansheng, it was all over. Chapter 575 - 522 Tracking

Chapter 575: Chapter 522 Tracking

In the mountains, toons of soldiers dressed in military uniforms climbed along the trail. Above their heads, the buzzing of unmanned drones hardly ever ceased. Along the road, vehicles were parked bumper to bumper for hundreds of meters, and in any slightly open spaces, there were piles of mineral water, bread, and instant noodles, a meter or two high. Two field kitchens were already in ce, belching white smoke; early arriving search team members would simply wash their hands ande over to eat. One could say that these deste wilds had never been so bustling before. Yu Wenshu made a special trip by car. After Yuan Jiansheng had been captured, the major crisis was averted, and what remained was the normal process of handling the case. The Jianyuan gang had a substantial number of members, with many part-timers or those involved as drugborers; the special investigation team definitely wanted to capture everyone. But Yuan Jiansheng refused to disclose the specific whereabouts of his gang members, so the only option left was a massive manhunt. Still, upon arriving at the scene and seeing the lengthy convoy, Yu Wenshu felt a twinge of pain: "Xu Taining really knows how to spend." This operation¡¯s expenses were to be shared by the units involved, and the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, having stronger capabilities than units such as the Qinghe City Bureau, took on more responsibilities. "I heard he set up 7 checkpoints." Wan Baoming, who hade to review the personnel deployment of the forensic center, was equally impressed by Xu Taining¡¯s capabilities, "With such spendings, he can¡¯t afford not to produce results¡ªhigher-ups will have to ensure his sess!" Yu Wenshu understood what Wan Baoming meant but had a different view, saying, "With this scale of manpower deployment, if there¡¯s one slip-up, there won¡¯t be a next time. But seven checkpoints, is that necessary? Arranging 1000 vehicles?" "Not that exaggerated; this is the biggest checkpoint. Director Xu thinks it¡¯s most likely they¡¯lle from the north. This ce should have one-third of the vehicles and manpower; the remaining six checkpoints total up to just two to three hundred vehicles. But the military police just dropped off their people and the vehicles went back; the numbers in the search teams should have already exceeded three thousand." Wan Baoming had specifically inquired about the situation, but even as he exined, it started to seem excessive to him. "The number of personnel isn¡¯t too much," Yu Wenshu remarked, then headed toward thergest tent. The weather in Qinghe City might bring rain, and the tent served not only as shelter but also as a fully-equipped fieldmand center; it was unclear whether this was an expense of Xu Taining or something arranged using military police resources. The environment inside the tent was morefortable, shielded from the sun and the wind. Yu Wenshu wiped his face upon entering and looked at Xu Taining, "Director Xu, you¡¯re hosting another vehicle expo." Xu Taining acknowledged and replied, "Using vehicles saves more money than using people." Though correct, field kitchens could be deployedter; we could get by for a couple of days. Maybe we¡¯d find them by then. Even our own searches and stakeouts are done under these conditions..." Yu Wenshu wasn¡¯t truly frugal, but managing household expenses meant a fixed budget; spending on food and drink would mean less funds for solving the case. Field kitchens could be temporarily reced with instant noodles, unlike the non-negotiable expenses for travel and amodations when detectives go on trips. As Yu Wenshu mentioned, during the first one or two days, everyone could make do with instant noodles, which wouldn¡¯t be uneptable. If it came to searching the mountains, the first two days wouldn¡¯t delve too deep, and the supply of goods would be rtively abundant. Xu Taining, with hands sped behind his back, studied the map. After hearing Yu Wenshu¡¯s words, he simply replied calmly, "If the search goes on for more than a week, the field kitchen will actually save you money. Really!" Yu Wenshu was certain from his professional perspective that this wasn¡¯t the first time Xu Taining had addressed this issue; he had even begun using the prospect of saving money as an enticement. The usual Xu Taining would never mention saving money. It was almost like Xu Taining¡¯s poison. "I don¡¯t trust you one bit," Yu Wenshu could only y the fool. In the end, Xu Taining was spending his money, using his people, and won¡¯t take responsibility for any mess left below. As long as he achieved his goal and turned around to leave, whatever Yu Wenshu said would be futile. "The key now is to find some clues, at least to confirm that his gang members are within the encirclement, especially the main force. Next, we need to determine their direction," Xu Taining also had his concerns. He could make a blockade impervious, but if the target wasn¡¯t inside, it would be a joke. Furthermore, while Xu Taining could now seal off the area surrounding Qinghe City, the cost was extremely high, and the pressure from society was significant. And a blockade-only approach, without searches, is meaningless. Thus, what Xu Taining needed most now was to obtain partial clues about the target so he could turn the city-wide blockade into an area-specific one. Then, he could reallocate the saved manpower to search the mountains. Of course, Xu Taining also had a backup n: with absolutely no clues, he could call up three to four times more people to conduct both a blockade and mountain search¡ªblockades were unsustainable over the long term and could onlyst for a few days. If the detectives didn¡¯t produce results in this time, he would have to rely on himself. Once this scale of search operation started, there was no possibility of stopping, for to halt would be tantamount to dering failure. However, even Xu Taining wouldn¡¯t casually double or triple the budget without good reason. Xu Taining checked his watch and said, "We need to hurry. If we have to adjust our deployment, it¡¯ll take at least two hours. To be on the safe side, we cannot make any changes to our defensive positions three hours before nightfall. An extra night will significantly increase our expenses." "Let¡¯s see if the search dogs can go online in time," Yu Wenshu could only wait. The chemical factory was rife with interference, and Jianyuan covered a vast area. Even though several search dogs were deployed, the search for Yuan Yushan and the others was not going smoothly. Nevertheless, Yu Wenshu and his team were experienced and knew it was only a matter of time before they found traces of Yuan Yushan and the others; it was just a matter of when... "Jiang Yuan is there," Yu Wenshu offered some constion to Xu Taining. With a grunt of acknowledgment, for Xu Taining, Jiang Yuan was a double-edged sword. Without Jiang Yuan, hecked clues, and with Jiang Yuan... thest time, Jiang Yuan had solved the case while Xu was still setting up his dra! ... Meanwhile. Jiang Yuan followed Dazhuang down to the basement. The pitch-ck Dazhuang moved lightly in the dark basement, with an almost spectral grace. Simr to the other search dogs, the myriad of scents from the drug factory affected it, causing it to wander restlessly at the feet of its handler, never quite ready to spring into action. For the search dogs, this was a particrly ufortable state. Their noses were assaulted with unpleasant smells, and a sense of frustration built up as they struggled to work. It was only because the dogs were well-trained and resilient. If a thief had been prowling from dawn to dusk without stealing a thing, and being scolded to boot, they would have long since given up and scampered off. "Woof!" Dazhuang walked a little, lingering in circles, then sniffed around a pir, moving much like a pet dog out for a stroll. Jiang Yuan found it somewhat amusing. He took a few steps forward, only to spot a set of footprints at the very spot Dazhuang had been sniffing. The basement of Jianyuan was cleaned by special little carts, making dust scarce and leaving few footprints. However, the footprints near the pir were somewhat more distinguishable. "Crime scenemp," Jiang Yuan called out as he stood firm. Mu Zhiyang quickly took off the crime scenemp he was carrying on his back. After adjusting the light source of themp and finding the right position to ce it, several distinct footprints appeared, one of which matched the sole pattern of Zambe¡¯s shoes. "Ahead," Jiang Yuan pointed, and including Li Li and Dazhuang, everyone followed him forward. They reached a manhole cover after just a few dozen steps. "Notify the surface, we¡¯re going down," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate anymore. "I¡¯ll go first," Mu Zhiyang lifted the manhole cover, shone a shlight down, and slowly climbed down thedder against the shaft wall. Li Li silently picked up a bag to let Dazhuang climb inside. Then Li Li, with Dazhuang on her back, descended the shaft. "This is definitely the ce." As soon as Jiang Yuan descended, he immediately found footprints belonging to Yuan Yushan on the ground. Chapter 576 - 523 Old Brothers

Chapter 576: Chapter 523 Old Brothers

The underground pipelines were low, cold, and smelly. Though not as filthy as the subterranean utility lines of a city, Jianyuan¡¯s pipes were not genuinely designed with pedestrian traffic in mind. Most of the pipeline could be navigated by bending over, but some parts required crawling. asionally, in the more spacious areas, everyone would inevitably stand a while longer to ease the difort in their shoulders, necks, and backs. Jiang Yuan had it the worst. His height and long legs were a significant disadvantage; most ces where others could stand up straight were too low for him. Being there felt like sleeping in a train¡¯s middle bunk. Dazhuang was the mostfortable one because its size was quite suited to the dimensions of the pipeline. However, the surrounding odors still made Dazhuang quite ufortable. The pipelines would intersect at times, and it was during these moments that Dazhuang needed to sniff around. Mu Zhiyang followed behind, holding the inspectionmp and continually turning it on to illuminate the way, allowing Jiang Yuan to determine if there were any footprints left behind and whether they matched the characteristics of Yuan Yushan¡¯s group. Having the inspectionmp wasn¡¯t strictly necessary at this point, but Mu Zhiyang insisted on holding it while they crawled through. For Jiang Yuan, the broad coverage and even, steady light of the inspectionmp made it much easier to see the footprints in full detail. As a result, he quickly memorized the characteristics of Yuan Yushan and his group¡¯s footprints. Therefore, even at a crossroads, if Yuan Yushan¡¯s footprints were asionally not found, he could attempt to locate footprints of others in the group. The main pressure to make decisions was really centered at the crossroads. Upon entering a crossroad, it was best to make an urate judgment. If that wasn¡¯t possible, they needed to confirm the presence of Yuan Yushan¡¯s footprints as soon as possible along the subsequent path. If it was thetter case, it was clearly more anxiety-inducing, as everyone feared taking a wrong turn and going down the wrong path. After all, their trust in Jiang Yuan was greater than in a dog¡¯s ability, so even if Dazhuang was leading the way with sniffing, everyone still hoped for Jiang Yuan¡¯s secondary confirmation. There were a few asions where neither Dazhuang nor Jiang Yuan could make an immediate judgment, but after several attempts, they managed to locate the correct position. Theplexity of the pipeline system went from simple toplex and back to simple again. Gradually, it became more straightforward. At the end, the group followed a long stretch of pipeline and eventually entered an air-raid shelter. The shelter could amodate over a hundred people. Beyond, there were tunnels interconnected with other shelters. Mu Zhiyang and the others got their guns ready. They hadn¡¯t needed them in the pipes, fortunately not getting trapped, but once they reached the air-raid shelter, holding their weapons significantly increased their sense of security. After descending a gentle slope of over a hundred meters, they pushed open a steel door. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft "wow." "There¡¯s a small factory here," said Mu Zhiyang, holding his gun and a small round shield. He formed a search formation with two other members of the Bald Strike Team and automatically moved forward a bit. Jiang Yuan came up only at this point, taking a long breath. Looking beyond, indeed, there was a dpidated factory that was no longer in use or inhabited. "It¡¯s an old three-line factory," said Li Li, leading Dazhuang over and identifying, "It must be one of those small factories from the past." "I heard that some members of Jianyuan¡¯s gang who followed Yuan Jiansheng started from a three-line factory," added Shen Yaowei, who followed behind. He had been delving deeply into case files recently and had even conducted specific research on certain gang members within Jianyuan. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Starting from that time, these people would be nearing retirement age." "They probably wanted to do legitimate business back in the day," Li Li remarked. Shen Yaoweiughed, "Considering their ie and assets back then, even if they went bankrupt doing legitimate business, they¡¯d still have much more left over than the average person. The worst off were those left working in the three-line factories¡ªthose who didn¡¯t retire had no ie, and even those who did retire had very little..." "Woof." Dazhuang barked once, giving Shen Yaowei a look that seemed to say: All you do is talk. Aren¡¯t you going to get on with the chase? The suspects are still on the run, and you start chatting here? Going on sentimentally as if you¡¯ve forgotten what you came here to do? Don¡¯t you remember your own role? Feeling a bit sheepish under Dazhuang¡¯s scrutinizing gaze, Shen Yaowei said with a smile, "This dog is pretty perceptive." "Keep searching. Once this case is closed, I¡¯ll make you a good dog meal," Jiang Yuan contemted. He thought about using a level 6 "one extra meal" skill for dogs on his day off, wondering what Dazhuang¡¯s expression would be when faced with a feast of level 6 dog food. "Woof!" Dazhuang barked again as if it understood, its spirit seemingly lifted by +1. "This way," Li Li felt the pull on the leash and quickly called out. The rest of the team immediately followed her lead. After running out, Yuan Yushan¡¯s group made less effort to cover their tracks; they were headed straight for an old building in the factory. "Call Director Liu and Chief Yu," Jiang Yuan suggested when they got a little closer and then stopped. At this moment, the number of officers around Jiang Yuan, including Dazhuang, totaled eight. For eight people to capture a murderer or such would be more than enough, not to mention that Mu Zhiyang and others had brought along three guns. But the drug trafficking gang members surrounding Yuan Yushan numbered twelve. Even assuming Yuan Yushan¡¯sbat effectiveness was zero, twelve against eight¡ªwith the former potentially possessing stronger weapons¡ªmade closing in on them clearly unwise. Especially when one¡¯s own side moves from an exposed tnd towards a building that may house gunmen, one could easily be a living target for the enemy. Jiang Yuan preferred to wait. By the time the search reached this point, Yuan Yushan had almost lost her advantage. Now there was no need to pursue too closely. It was nearly impossible for a team of 13 people to break through the blockade. And that was indeed the case. Though Yuan Yushan reacted quickly and made her decisions decisively, the advantage was inherently on the side of the officers pursuing the fugitives. It wasn¡¯t that she had done anything wrong that led to her capture. The reality was that if she did even one thing wrong, she could be caught. Unless she demonstrated extraordinary abilities, escape was not an option. Yuan Yushan looked around; twelve pairs of eyes were staring at her intently. "Let¡¯s rest for a bit," Yuan Yushan said softly. "The police probably don¡¯t know we¡¯re here. They are just following standard procedure with the blockade and patrols. If it reallyes down to it, we can cross Jiming Mountain, or we could even break out forcefully. The few people they have manning defenses won¡¯t be able to stop us." Jiming Mountain was thergest mountain nearby. Not only was it vast in size, but alsoplex in its terrain. Aside from the difficulty and danger of traversing wild mountains, crossing Jiming Mountain was a foolproof n. Starting the escape route from this location was also one of Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s ns. Having fled, even with money on hand, they still needed supplies and manpower. Fleeing on foot was the most reliable option. Of course, they had vehicles stashed on their side, but the police blockade made all the easy routes dangerous. After a short rest, Yuan Yushan led the team on their way once more. They hadn¡¯t gone far when an experienced member approached and said, "Boss Yuan, I have a suggestion." "Go ahead," Yuan Yushan said with an amodating tone. The seasoned brother suggested, "Our team is toorge. If we¡¯re not nning on a head-on breakout, I think we should split up. Several smaller groups would have a better chance of escaping." Yuan Yushan was silent; she obviously knew that too many people could be a problem, but bringing more had its advantages, such as the ability to storm a checkpoint and then scatter in different directions to escape. But Yuan Yushan really didn¡¯t want to run for her life. Furthermore, with arger group, Yuan Yushan¡¯s personal safety was better assured. Yuan Jiansheng¡¯s old friends had watched Yuan Yushan grow up; they were like uncles and brothers to her. Most of the time, she trusted thempletely, but on the run, with the funds for a new start left by Yuan Jiansheng, would these uncles and brothers reveal a drug trafficker¡¯s true colors? "Let¡¯s consider this issueter." Yuan Yushan wanted to keep more options open. As for their next steps, next targets, and the surrounding circumstances, she hadn¡¯t thought it all through yet. Moreover, Yuan Yushan would rather defer to her older brother, Yuan Yuming, for decisions. In other words, if she set up her brother¡¯s men to act ording to her instructions and they acted preemptively, at least Yuan Yuming could attract most of the attention. As Yuan Yushan was contemting this, a low call came to her ears: "The police are here." All members of Yuan Yushan¡¯s group stood up, and some immediately looked towards the direction of the mountain base. "The police areing from the south side of the road," the lookout of the gang said in a calm, not too loud voice. Upon hearing this, Yuan Yushan¡¯s previously calm forehead furrowed instantly. Why would the policee from that side? She hurriedly looked in that direction and saw a tall figure from a distance. "Jiang Yuan!" Yuan Yushan ground her teeth. The failure of the dump truck arrangement to kill Jiang Yuan was her greatest regret. Yuan Yushan even wanted to p herself for not learning her lesson. If the first attempt, during the case of her father¡¯s mistress¡¯ warehouse burning corpses, to stab Jiang Yuan¡¯s tire with a knife was considered an ident, then sending a dump truck to hit Jiang Yuan was a calcted move by Yuan Yushan. What Yuan Yushan didn¡¯t expect was that Jiang Yuan came outpletely unscathed! Looking back now, Yuan Yushan felt she should have arranged for some gunmen to follow the dump truck, so if they couldn¡¯t kill with the vehicle, they could rush forward and shoot to finish the job. Of course, Yuan Yushan was just thinking about it; the situation at that time didn¡¯t allow her to entertain such violent thoughts. However, in the current situation, she felt like she could execute even the most violent ns. "Once they get closer, shoot them dead with guns." Yuan Yushan didn¡¯t understand tactics, but after saying this, she looked to her side and said, "Mr. Mu, Jiang Yuan knows how to track footsteps; he¡¯s the tallest one. Please lead the team down and make sure to kill him and the police dog." "Alright. Those of us with guns, let¡¯s get organized," Mr. Mu didn¡¯t see it as much of a challenge as he drew a P90 submachine gun from behind him and while checking it, he looked back and said, "Boss Yuan, once we start firing, the police below will hear it. You should start moving forward now." Yuan Yushan became visibly more tense and nodded, "Okay," she said, "We¡¯ll meet at supply point number 2." "Don¡¯t have to meet up necessarily, just move ording to your own situation," Mr. Mu said, then called out and led 7 people away. Facing 8 versus 8, he was still confident. Chapter 577 - 524

Chapter 577: 524

Mr. Mu sent three people on a big detour to cut off Jiang Yuan and his party¡¯s escape route, while another two rifle-armed men climbed the side of the slope. They were the main force tasked with shooting the police dogs, and with a clear line of fire, taking out eight targets with two guns would only take a matter of seconds. Mr. Mu, along with two others, crouched on the second-floor of the building on this side, his hand on his gun, watching Jiang Yuan and the others a few hundred meters away, contemting something unknown in his mind. The police dogs had to be killed. Otherwise, no matter how far they ran, it would be child¡¯s y, and even if they managed to get half a day¡¯s lead, it wouldn¡¯t matter if the direction could be found behind them. With police closing in from the front, the longer they ran, the quicker they would be sentenced. If the police dogsing from behind weren¡¯t familiar with their scent yet, once they reached the mountain, a few crossings through streams and rubbing some animal feces on themselves could greatly increase their chance of escape. But police dogs this close at hand were all too familiar with their scent, making it too easy for the dogs to follow persistently and hard to shake off. However, Mr. Mu actually hesitated at the thought of killing Jiang Yuan and the others. Firing a gun was easy but escaping afterward was hard. If they shot dead seven police officers and a dog all at once, the wanted level would probably skyrocket to five stars. At that point, Yuan Yushan, thepany¡¯s General Manager, would no longer be the primary target¡ªit would be them. Although the chances of escaping were already very slim, everyone still clung to hope. This included Yuan Yushan and others who definitely hadn¡¯tpletely given up yet. When they built this escape route years ago, they did so thoughtfully and with a substantial investment, designing it quiteprehensively¡ªof course, now they were being pursued, but that was okay. The next few supply points not only helped escape in multiple directions but also had pre-designed routes. If they could quickly cross the blockade, there was a chance of survival. The premise, however, was not to be the "thorn in the police¡¯s side." For instance, not running alongside key figure Yuan Yushan, and... not killing police officers. "Let¡¯s go," Mr. Mu said in a low voice as he watched two groups of people gradually distance themselves. The other two, subordinates who had followed Mr. Mu for many years, were momentarily stunned by themand but quickly came to their senses. They started stowing their guns and asked, "What about the dogs?" "If you can shoot them dead, do it; if not, the dogs will just keep chasing them," Mr. Mu said as he turned and added, "Yuan Yushan probably knows some other routes, but we don¡¯t need them. We¡¯ll just take the old route." The old route was designed by Jianyuan in the early days, back when they first started making the special precursor. Yuan Jiansheng was also nervous at the time. Tofort himself and to reassure other team members, Yuan Jiansheng led the design of the first escape route, burying canned food, clothing, lighters, and other items at several key rest spots in advance. In those days, once over the mountain and into the town on the other side, a motorcycle was all it took to disappear without a trace. Jianyuanter developed several other routes, but they were controlled by different gang members, and Yuan Yushan likely knew several new ones. Hopefully, the new routes worked better. Mr. Mu couldn¡¯t worry about that now. He slung his gun over his shoulder and started to walk with his head down. He didn¡¯t insist on the other two following; if they wished toe, they could. After all, life was earned by oneself, and right now, Mr. Mu wanted nothing more than to secure his own. "Mr. Mu." "Mr. Mu!" The two subordinates kept pace with him. They were younger brothers among the old gang and didn¡¯t know the escape routes. Although they could go back to find Yuan Yushan and the others, at this point, why bother. Once the three had their rifles ready, they climbed up the mountain without a word. There were some trails leading to the various mountain passes, some walked by vigers nearby, others by visitors for fun. However, the further they went into the mountain, the less these traces became, and Mr. Mu struggled to navigate. Yet, he still devoted some attention to the soundsing from the mountain foot. After a while, Mr. Mu felt they had climbed quite a distance. He found a rock to sit on, looked towards the factory area that was almost concealed by the mountainndscape, rubbed his legs and asked, "Did you hear any gunshots?" "No," the two shook their heads. Mr. Mu was convinced that it wasn¡¯t his ears that were the problem. He frowned and considered for a moment, then looked at the other two and said, "Seems like everyone has their own ideas." Even if the three of them had run off, Mr. Mu had five more people arranged below; it looked like all the police had pistols. Five against seven plus a dog, the prepared against the unprepared¡ªit should be no problem. Moreover, they shouldn¡¯t even know that he had run off. So, the other five must also have had other thoughts, which ounted for their actions. They most likely intended for Yuan Yushan to press forward, and they themselves didn¡¯t want to stand out. Reflecting on this, Mr. Mu felt a twist in his heart. The once close-knit team was falling apart just like that. ... At the mountain¡¯s base. A few excavators were working hard, their engines grunting as they loaded the dug-up soil onto trucks that immediately hauled it away. Two engineers, wearing hard hats and measuring with a rangefinder, scribbled on paper, then turned to the construction team leader and said, "We can only dig up to this point, and no further. It¡¯s forestnd ahead, don¡¯t take the risk." The captain acknowledged, asked a few more questions, and then picked up the walkie-talkie to start givingmands. More construction workers began to arrive on site, quickly setting up a kitchen followed by work on a temporary parking lot. Liu Jinghui stood beside Xu Taining, watching the progress of the project while clicking his tongue, "You¡¯re practically building them a highway service center." "They¡¯re doing the construction, I just helped them with the process. There was already a n in ce; I just expedited it by a year. This way, they don¡¯t have to go through the procedures themselves. It¡¯s a mutual benefit," Xu Taining paused, adding, "I know how to save money too, don¡¯t think I just spend it." "Where did you save money? I see Chief Yu doesn¡¯t evene around you anymore, everyone¡¯s numb to it now¡ªthey don¡¯t mind as long as it¡¯s out of sight. The cars are parked a kilometer away. If someone didn¡¯t know, they¡¯d think we¡¯re engaging in some major construction work. Hey, and speaking of which, we are indeed undertaking a construction project..." Liu Jinghuimented. "It can¡¯t be helped. We¡¯re talking about search teams of thousands. How else to provide for them? It¡¯s not like in the past where you could just let people bring their own dry rations," said Xu Taining with a firm resolve, ready to spend money where needed, not swayed by others¡¯ opinions. "Attention¡ªease! Right, dress..." In the midst of conversation, they heard the paramilitary forces starting to form ranks up ahead. Xu Taining and Liu Jinghui fell silent, watching the teams of armed police head up the mountain. "This is going to be a tough one," Liu Jinghui remarked as he watched the fully-equipped squads setting out and gazed towards the daunting Jiming Mountain. Jiming Mountain stretched out from the city, with peaks rising hundreds of meters high, one after another, and many of the ridges between the peaks also towering over a hundred meters. To navigate such mountains, one usually sticks to well-trodden paths, often following the valley floors until no path remains, then trying to squeeze through the passes between two mountains, or if that won¡¯t work, traversing halfway up the mountainsides¡ªthis is what "crossing mountains and ridges" entails. For modern people to climb mountains like these, walking on foot is already beyond the norm. But the intensity of a manhunt is even greater because fugitives might choose any path in panic, diving deep into the wilderness, and then it¡¯s not about crossing mountains, it¡¯s about scaling them. To describe it in terms of city life, this "scaling mountains" would be like walking to the end of a pedestrian street and then starting to climb the skyscraper at the end, reaching the top,ing back down, proceeding along another street¡ªpreferably one with an incline¡ªand then climbing another skyscraper... Without helicopters, journeying 5 kilometers through the woods might include climbing the equivalent of three skyscrapers. In such dense forests, both escape and pursuit quickly turn into a contest of will. The escapee is tested, and so is the pursuer. "We¡¯re about to connect with Jiang Yuan." Xu Taining nced at the time. Liu Jinghui¡¯s attention was immediately drawn to this. Um... Xu Taining¡¯s walkie-talkie crackled to life. "Director Xu, we¡¯ve located Jiang Yuan. We¡¯ve trapped Yuan Yushan," the voice on the walkie-talkie said concisely. Xu Taining was surprised, "Trapped her? Do you need reinforcements?" "It would be best if you have some. She has a rifle but is mostly holed up; however, her men have scattered." Xu Taining let out a sigh of relief. His vast ambush was transitioning from aplete lockdown to focused defense and search, and now, assured that Yuan Yushan was cornered, his efforts were not in vain. "Yuan Yuming isn¡¯t here..." Jiang Yuan came in over the walkie-talkie with an update. Xu Taining acknowledged with a "hm" and said, "We haven¡¯t located Yuan Yuming here either; we¡¯ve already dispatched teams to check the sewers and underground pipelines." "That¡¯s good," replied Jiang Yuan. Liu Jinghui could only add a word of caution, "Stay safe." After ending the call, Xu Taining¡¯s spirits once again surged. The current mode was his favorite: the search perimeter was urate, and they had achieved some results, so now each team could remain settled in ce. Meanwhile, the case was still ongoing, with several suspects left to be found, including key figures. Anxious to proceed, Xu Taining hurried back to the tent, unfolded the map, and began to ponder. Boom. A loud explosion reverberated through the nearby mountains, prompting everyone in the tent to lift the ps and rush out. No need to ask¡ªthe news came back quickly: "There¡¯s been andslide, likely caused by an explosion, reason unknown. The search team has spotted Yuan Yuming through binocrs, still quite a distance away, and they¡¯re in pursuit." Chapter 578 - 525: Closing In

Chapter 578: Chapter 525: Closing In

Wu Junhao, carrying an overly heavy gun bag, led his team and gave a sigh of relief only after finding Jiang Yuan. By then, a few of them had switched to a building with a good view and sturdy exterior walls. The police officers and armed policemen who hade to the rescue left five or six people in the house, and the rest went to encircle Yuan Yushan. The overall situation seemed to still be under control. After all, there were only two people left around Yuan Yushan. They guarded a position near a downhill exit, but they didn¡¯t descend the mountain because the encirclement below had called for reinforcements, and should they go down, even more forces would umte at the bottom. As for going uphill, that would be like running up to be a sitting duck considering Yuan Yushan¡¯s stamina and abilities. So, what was once a battlefield rife with killing intent appeared exceptionally calm at this moment. "Captain Jiang, you can¡¯t do this again, charging into a den of drugs by yourself. It¡¯s too dangerous. Chief Yu and the others have given orders already. Director Huang was also very anxious," Wu Junhao said while opening the gun bag. Mu Zhiyang and the others looked askance when Wu Junhao mentioned charging into a den of drugs alone, and nearby, Dazhuang, anxious, started to exim. "I know your merit," Wu Junhao said affectionately, patting the Rottweiler¡¯s head. Mu Zhiyang puffed out his chest and thrust his face close to Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao looked at him, then slowly pulled a type 97-1 anti-riot shotgun from the gun bag, and began loading the bullets one by one. The anti-riot shotgun is essentially a type of shotgun, and the mostmon scenario for a type 97 is it being carried by an armored cash transport guard. Of course, the ammunition Wu Junhao was loading was quite different from what the cash transport guards used. Mu Zhiyang, watching Wu Junhao, softened his gaze and said, "Captain Wu, you can charge ahead with confidence, I¡¯ll be in front of you with the shield." "They have rifles, and you still want to carry a shield," Wu Junhaoughed, then added, "Don¡¯t overthink it. Later, you take the shield and apany me to call out to them. If that doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll probably have to use the sniper rifle." "Eh, aren¡¯t we capturing them alive?" Mu Zhiyang asked, surprised. "We¡¯ll try to capture them alive, but if they don¡¯t surrender, we can¡¯t drag this out forever. They still have nearly 10 people who have scattered, right..." Wu Junhao effectively ryed themand center¡¯s order. Mu Zhiyang then looked at Jiang Yuan. "We just need to cooperate," Jiang Yuandao said. "Captain Jiang, you shouldn¡¯t go up there," Wu Junhao flipped the gun and said, "We don¡¯t need many people anyway. I can take the team up." Jiang Yuan hesitated, then said, "I am a police officer too, after all..." "Captain Jiang!" Wu Junhao¡¯s voice raised slightly, then he earnestly continued, "If you go up, I¡¯ll have to assign people to protect you. There are only three people on the other side now, one of them a woman. We still have snipers..." Wu Junhao didn¡¯t allow Jiang Yuan a chance to reply, as he had already startedmunicating with the forces down the hill via the walkie-talkie. In just a few minutes, Wu Junhao had briefly arranged the tasks, and small teams of three members each began spreading out towards the target area. Bang! Yuan Yushan¡¯s side, seeing the activity, fired first. The shots were fired into the air; it was clear they, too, didn¡¯t want to shoot at the police. The distance of two to three hundred meters was right within the range of their rifles, and a lucky shot could hit someone. Upon hearing the gunshot, Wu Junhao immediately ducked behind cover, since the situation was already clear, he simply pulled out the megaphone and shouted: "Yuan Yushan, you are now surrounded with no way out. Drop your weapons and surrender immediately to receive lenient treatment!" "Resisting will lead to no good oue." "You have one minute to consider, after which we will move forward." The content of Wu Junhao¡¯s shouting wasn¡¯t particrly original; it was the kind of persuasivenguagemonly seen and heard. However, the deterrent effect of such in persuasion was immense in a standoff involving dozens of guns. Death is mundane, and the deaths of drug traffickers even more so. Behind the simplenguage was the in approach of the police, a choice between the simplicity of prison and death. Dat dat dat dat dat... Several shots were fired in quick session up ahead, followed by a gun being thrown out of the building. Then another two guns. "Put your hands on your head and walk outside the house!" Wu Junhao continued to shoutmands. Yuan Yushan and her remaining two subordinates slowly got up, descended the stairs, and walked out the door without much hesitation, clearly havinge to a decision together. From a distance, the three of them were also covered in mud and water, as if they had been surviving in the wilderness for several days. In reality, today¡¯s encirclement operation had started in the morning and hadn¡¯t evensted a full day yet. And the case against Jianyuan had only been going on for three days since the capture of Jianyuan¡¯s gang members began. From the poised general manager of the soon-to-be-listed billion-dor Jianyuan Pharmaceutical to a prisoner caked in mud, Yuan Yushan herself felt as though she hadn¡¯t fully woken up from the shock. Wu Junhao led his team, spreading out as usual to approach the building covertly, then rushing up to detain the suspects, while also sending a team to search inside the building. It was only then that Jiang Yuan made his way to the front with Mu Zhiyang. Yuan Yushan watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s long legs, her lips pressed tightly together, her expression changing again and again. When she had said they "would meet again," it was at a time when she was at her most self-assured, confident, and proud. When she led her people to see Jiang Yuan again, she believed she was clever and powerful. However, it was quite clear that the confidence she had built within the Jianyuan Group did not apply to all scenarios. At that moment, Yuan Yushan did want to utter harsh words like the captured criminals, or say something memorable that could influence the police¡¯s judgment... But when it came to her turn, Yuan Yushan suddenly realized, I can¡¯t just say anything! What I say now is equivalent to handing over evidence to the police. Although she had left behind plenty of evidence, who could say for certain? There were cases where drug traffickers received a suspended death sentence... "I will send someone to escort them down," Wu Junhao called for half a team to take the three down the mountain. Only when the figures were out of sight did Wu Junhao regroup and take Jiang Yuan as part of the second wave descending the mountain. The search on the mountain would continue, but Jiang Yuan was unlikely to be needed anymore. Upon reaching themand post at the bottom of the mountain and reconnecting with Xu Taining and others, Jiang Yuan asked, "What about Yuan Yuming? Have you found him?" "We found him," Xu Taining¡¯s response was equally surprising. "Where did you find him?" "Near the explosion site, there was a natural cave. Yuan Yuming was in there skating." Jiang Yuan was taken aback and then realized, asking, "So he was just captured like that?" "All his underlings ran off, and he was pretty much wasted himself. Even if we didn¡¯t capture him, he wouldn¡¯t have lived much longer." This time, the speaker was Liu Jinghui. In contrast, Xu Taining¡¯s emotions were moreplicated. All three members of the Yuan Family had been captured, and the leadership of the Jianyuan gang was now all in one ce. This greatly reduced the significance of Xu Taining¡¯s search operation in the mountains. But still, the search for the others had to go on. Xu Taining had to get back to organizing his team. He gave Jiang Yuan a deep look, his mind possible already penning several volumes of maxims. "So, who was Lao Gui in the end?" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but ask, a little curious. "It was the Yuan Family who went out. They were Lao Gui," Liu Jinghui easily provided Jiang Yuan with the answer. A bit unexpected, yet not surprising. Chapter 579 - 526

Chapter 579: 526

Triumphant and returned, Jiang Yuan and his team were immediately given a long vacation. There was still more to the case to investigate, including the fleeing members of the Jianyuan gang and at least a double-digit number of uncaught suspects from the two drug trafficking gangs, including upstream and downstream leads and connections¡ªif it weren¡¯t for the involvement of the Jianyuan Group, especially Jianyuan¡¯s chemical nt, the scope of the investigation could have been expanded even further. Beyond that, there might have been some rted persons inside and outside the case; some required just questioning, others needed to be arrested, but no matter what, the main body of the case was essentiallypleted. The continuation mightst for another year or two, but maintaining the current scale and state of the special case squad was no longer necessary. Back at the police station, Jiang Yuan first made some dog treats from minced meat and vegetables wrapped in breadcrumbs, each as hard as a bone and the size of a fist. The minced meat was hand-chopped, with a high degree of stickiness, primarily using pork leg meat but also including a bit of shrimp, and finally an egg was mixed in, all in very deliberate proportions. The dog treats were made slightly harder, but their vor was in no way inferior, hitting just the right bnce that dogs love. Dazhuang was gnawing on the treats and drooling, so pleased that he nearly wanted to roll on the ground. "The rest of the dog treats, you can have a maximum of three a day. You decide whether to use them as rewards or as a regr treat," Jiang Yuan said as he packed them into a food container about the size of a dog¡¯s head, handing it over to Li Li. Li Li quickly thanked him, took the container in her hands, hesitated for a moment, then opened the lid and sniffed. Dazhuang hadn¡¯t yet finished chewing the bone-shaped treat in his mouth, but his head was already nudging her way. Li Li pushed his head away, "Don¡¯t worry, you think I would eat your treat?" Dazhuang kept his eyes on the bone-shaped treats in Li Li¡¯s hands until her nose and mouth moved away, and she distanced herself, before he was somewhat reassured and continued to chew his own treat. "Silly dog, I¡¯m just trying it so I can learn how to make it for youter," Li Li said, embarrassed to eat it but couldn¡¯t help pping his head. Dazhuang let out a whimper, didn¡¯t turn his head, as if a dog had hit him. Jiang Yuan affectionately stroked the Rottweiler¡¯s head, then added, "When we get back to Ningtai, I¡¯ll take some time to make Dazhuang a proper dog meal. I¡¯ve learned some new things recently." "Yes, yes," Li Li nodded excitedly, then a bit sheepishly twisted her waist and said, "I mean, Dazhuang will definitely be very happy." "Dazhuang did well this time," Jiang Yuan said with a smile as he petted the dog. Of the scents from the chemical nt, in the end, only four police dogs could persist in the search work. It was not easy for Dazhuang to firmly follow the underground path all the way to find Yuan Yushan; he deserved to eat Level 5 dog food. When they got back to work, Jiang Yuan could try making Level 6 dog food. Compared to other skills, the effect of this skill could really be seen immediately. It couldpletely serve as a reference. Watching Dazhuang finish his treat, Jiang Yuan yed with him a bit more before heading back. Ordinary people can¡¯t just y with police dogs since they go through rigorous training. But Dazhuang showed his belly to Jiang Yuan, and Li Li couldn¡¯t possibly stop that. The next day. It wasn¡¯t until he returned home that Jiang Yuan finally wrapped up thest wave of tasks. Taskpleted: Netting the Whole Gang Task details: Capture as many members of the Huang Li Drug Trafficking Gang as possible. Task progress: 96% Task reward: Legal Botany (Level 3) The task progress had increased by another 4 points, which was an improvement. In such arge gang, there are always some people out working; those not caught at the time be harder to catch as time goes on. The Level 3 Legal Botany skill that was acquired felt somewhat unfamiliar to Jiang Yuan. He could say he was over-familiar with forensic pathology and the like, having studied it thoroughly during his school days, and used it frequently on a daily basis. But as for "Legal Botany," Jiang Yuan had only heard the name during his studies. Despite the prefix "legal" in its name, botany is just botany. To a forensic doctor, it is a separate field of study altogether. Those who understand it are not necessarily forensic doctors, and forensic doctors who don¡¯t... are the normal ones. While that may be the case, lessmon skills in criminal investigation aren¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. The policy has tended towards this as well, especially in earlier years when many criminal investigation materials would be marked "internal use only" or something simr. Even now, technical investigation teams still prefer to use various numerical codes. In theory, a world where only criminal investigators mastered investigative skills might be an easier ce to solve crimes. It¡¯s like if DNA techniques were only known to certain people, then almost all rapists and murderers out there would be caught, and they wouldn¡¯t even know why. However, a perfect world would inevitably have its anomalies. Suppose under certain special circumstances, those unique skills were to leak out... In short, Legal Botany is quite an obscure skill, even among criminal investigators. As for its application, it¡¯s not necessarily limited. Jiang Yuan might have studied it, but he had no ns to start a new case in the short term. This wave of cases was a bit exhausting, especially with the emergence of two drug trafficking gangs, which put considerable pressure on Jiang Yuan. When he got home, Jiang Yuan simply fell asleep. When he woke up again, it was a new day, having slept for a whole day and night. Barefoot, Jiang Yuan got out of bed, left his room, and immediately smelled smoke. In the kitchen, the big wood-fired cauldron was bubbling away with who knows what inside, and in the small room next to it, the incense for Lord Guan was burning strongly. Jiang Yuan thought it over and decided to burn an incense stick for Lord Guan. The fact that he could return this time safe and unharmed was all thanks to the disunity of the drug traffickers. If they had encountered a gang willing to fight to the death without regard for their own lives, it would have been very dangerous for Jiang Yuan and his colleagues. After all, being a detective is not the same as being a soldier; normally, one¡¯s life is rtively secure. Most detectives spend their whole lives without having to fire a gun outside. The real dangers are those that are unknown. After offering the incense, Jiang Yuan opened the window to air the room out, and upon returning, he saw his father, Jiang Fuzhen, looking at him with satisfaction. "Dad," Jiang Yuan felt a sense of embarrassment for no particr reason. "It¡¯s good, you should offer incense when it¡¯s needed," Jiang Fuzhen said with a chuckle, then changed the topic, "I also steamed the red eggs your master mentioned for you, just in time for breakfast. They¡¯re in that stainless steel pot." "Oh." Jiang Yuan responded and went to get the eggs from the pot. The stainless steel pot used at home was of the same model as the ones used for boiling bodies at work, barrel-shaped andrge enough for an infant to take a bath in. When Jiang Yuan lifted the lid, he saw arge te of eggs... and an ostrich egg among them. The ostrich egg was painted red too, but no matter how ming red it was made, it couldn¡¯t disguise its nature¡ªit was a red ostrich egg! "Dad, red chicken eggs and red ostrich eggs aren¡¯t quite the same, are they?" Jiang Yuan mainly disliked the taste of ostrich eggs, and besides, it was too big and a struggle to eat. "Give the big ostrich egg to Uncle Qiang, he hasn¡¯t tried one of those yet. How long are you going to stay at home this time?" "I can stay for a few more days." "Is the big case over?" Jiang Yuan just smiled without a word. Details of the case progress were not meant to be disclosed, and besides, there was no need to tell his father. Jiang Fuzhen seemed to realize this, chuckled twice, and said, "You seem pretty official. What are your ns for these few days? Should our family host a banquet?" Hosting a banquet meant inviting guests for a meal. If the Jiang Family hosted a banquet, Jiang Fuzhen would take charge of cooking, setting up tables in the vige using an excuse to invite the whole vige to eat. The most troubling part was finding an excuse. Jiang Yuan waved his hands and said, "I don¡¯t have any requirement to host a banquet. I n to practice wrestling with Uncle Qiang." Upon hearing this, Jiang Fuzhen took it as a serious matter and agreed, "Hosting a banquet won¡¯t interfere with that. Let me think¡ªwhat season is it in the next few days?" Chapter 580 - 527: Just So-So

Chapter 580: Chapter 527: Just So-So

Jiang Fuzhen had a principle when hosting a feast: all who coulde, shoulde. The emphasis was on boisterous and harmonious celebration. Normally, each family would send one member to attend with a gift in hand. However, Jiang Fuzhen didn¡¯t follow this rule; each family was allowed to contribute a gift, and any number of people coulde. Being able to contribute a gift meant that Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s gift table typically didn¡¯t keep track of offerings. If a guest wanted to give a gift, they could simply slip it onto the table, and if not, that was fine too¡ªthey could just stride confidently to their seat, no questions asked. The reason for having a gift table was so those who wanted to give more could write their name on the envelope. There were many wealthy folks in Jiang Vige, and naturally, they had more customs to follow. For instance, Jiang Yuan¡¯s great-uncle, also known as the eighth uncle of Jiang Fuzhen, enjoyed giving generous gifts around the region. As he grew older, he lost interest in joining the feasts but revelled in giving gifts, and would often give quite a bit, delighting in the joyful looks and sincere gratitude from those he gave to. On a busy day, the eighth uncle might visit seven or eight ces just to give gifts. There was no need to worry that he wouldn¡¯t know where a feast was happening, as professional eventpanies and individuals made sure to have him in their WeChat contacts¡ªthat¡¯s the least they could do. Jiang Yuan and the others used to be puzzled by the eighth uncle¡¯s behavior, but with the rise of live streaming, they came to understand. Compared to online tipping of female streamers, each of the eighth uncle¡¯s gifts was only a few hundred to a couple of thousand yuan at most, but what he received in return was more than just one woman¡¯s gratitude¡ªit was the thanks of entire families, and sometimes even the gratitude of the ancestor¡¯s entire n. In Jiang Fuzhen, things were simpler. Not just people from Jiang Vige, but those from outside could join the feast without restrictions. With a fixed number of seats avable, locals would just pull up extra chairs for recognized guests once the seats filled up. Today, Jiang Vige had its share of people who had ruined their fortunes as well as outsiders looking for a free meal, but Jiang Fuzhen never inquired. Jiang Yuan himself had enjoyed "meals at a hundred homes" for years, and now that he was well-off, it didn¡¯t matter to him who came to dine. Jiang Fuzhen personally took charge of cooking, stirring up a lively atmosphere. He even set up a stage, inviting local bands and singers to perform, and Jiang Vige¡¯s own band took the stage with Jiang Yongxin, the vige¡¯s entrepreneurial star and owner of a used car dealership and rental service, pounding on the drums. Watching Jiang Yongxin¡¯s excited head-banging, Jiang Yuan felt as if he were transported back to his college days. College is often the happiest time in many people¡¯s lives, and if one were to give this period a "buff," it would be that wealthy college students are the happiest people in the world. After bing an adult, achieving the same level of happiness requires much more, at the very least a halo of sessful career, and ideally, some form ofmendation. Buzz... Buzz... Jiang Yuan¡¯s cellphone started to ring. ncing at the call, he saw it was Huang Qiangmin. "Director Huang," Jiang Yuan said, his mood not particrly uplifted, tinged with the fatigue of the day and a reluctance to be bothered. Huang Qiangmin, sensing Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood,ughed and said, "You don¡¯t have to step out today; it¡¯s good news. It¡¯s pretty noisy there. Are you in a nightclub experiencing life?" "I¡¯m at a feast in Jiang Vige," replied Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin was obviously taken aback by the answer and, after a slight pause where he couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask more, he said, "Let me start with the good news. The special-case team has submitted a rmendation for a first-ss merit for you. If this gets approved, you¡¯ll be quite something¡ªtwo first-ss merits in just over a year, that¡¯d rank you nationally." Recognition andmendation in the police force are different from the military. In the military, after a major battle, dozens or even hundreds of medals might be awarded. But in the police,mendations are rtively limited. Take, for example, the Criminal Investigation¡¯s "Eight Tigers" who might solve over 200 cases a year, with major ones getting wide recognition. But when ites to awards, getting two first-ss merits in one year would be considered quite an achievement. Starting from a lower point gave Jiang Yuan more opportunities for recognition. Although not every case resulted in full credit, the attention he received was quite significant. For a regr officer who worked high-profile cases all year and stayed up nights on major incidents, going the entire year without anymendation was quite normal. Jiang Yuan naturally thanked Huang Qiangmin following this lead. Huang Qiangminughed again, saying, "It looks like they¡¯re trying to organize an event in Changyang City. We¡¯ll discuss the specifics once there¡¯s a result. Now that¡¯s the good news, let¡¯s talk about the task at hand. Director Song from the ministry has taken a liking to you." Jiang Yuan remarked, "Director Song has a good eye." "Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s work you can do from home," Huang Qiangmin added, knowing that Jiang Yuan preferred staying at home, or at least in Ningtai. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have stayed working at the Ningtai County Bureau. However, having a position doesn¡¯t necessarily mean being physically present there. Large units like the ministry or provincial departments can¡¯t make room in their structures since their quotas are already filled. For example, most of the "Eight Tigers" of the Criminal Investigation Department don¡¯t have positions within the ministry; they maintain their original titles and duties in their home units. This arrangement is mutually beneficial. The ministry mayck the manpower, but the police officers there¡ªeven with a position¡ªwouldn¡¯t want to give up their duties, would they? And how many official roles could the ministry offer? Furthermore, a skilled detective might at best reach the rank of a bureau-level position within the Criminal Investigation Department. How many of those exist, and how many subordinates could they possibly have? In contrast, personnel remaining in local police units not only save the hassle of dealing with staffing issues but also enjoy rapid promotion prospects. It is at the local police bureaus where there are enough human and material resources to develop talent. Later on, even as a squadron leader, having a hundred subordinates is an asset hard toe by in the ministry. And when they need someone, they just need to ask. Most city and county bureaus have no real resistance in this aspect. Jiang Yuan could only ask, "What¡¯s the task that doesn¡¯t require going out?" "They have a batch of footprints they want you to examine," Huang Qiangmin said. Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill in footprint analysis had reached Level 5, and had further been temporarily promoted to Level 6 during the investigation of the Huang Li gang¡¯s building. Director Song Tiancheng recognized talent when he saw it: he may not have witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingerprint analysis or other techniques, but he had seen his footprint analysis firsthand¡ªand he wanted that skill. Hearing it was about reading footprints, Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation. This task could be done anywhere, and as long as it didn¡¯t require a business trip, it wasn¡¯t going to be too much trouble. "I¡¯ll head back to the station tomorrow morning and take a look at it then. Could you have them send me an email or something?" said Jiang Yuan. "That can be done." Huang Qiangmin, having confirmed this matter, felt much relieved and then added, "I¡¯ll have someone clean up your office..." Jiang Yuan quickly interjected, "That¡¯s not necessary..." "Dudu..." The call on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s end had already been disconnected. ... The next day. Jiang Yuan set an early rm and, as soon as it rang, he climbed out of bed. He didn¡¯t really feelfortable having someone else clean his office. Moreover, a civil servant with a special status should ideally have ample time, time to leisurely clean the office himself, take a rest to have a sip of tea, and then get up and continue the diligent cleaning. If one didn¡¯t even have leisure time to clean the office, then the level of hardship was too high. After getting up, bathing, and changing clothes, when he came out of his room, he saw his father, Jiang Fuzhen, sitting in the kitchen, flipping and inspecting several pieces of meat. Jiang Yuan checked the clock ¨C it wasn¡¯t even eight o¡¯clock yet. Was he going to start cooking meat now? "Dad, you got up so early today? What are you looking at?" Jiang Yuan approached and asked. "Oh... The meat I¡¯ve cooked these past few days hasn¡¯t been as tasty as before." Jiang Fuzhen came back to his senses, pinching the meat, "I¡¯m trying to figure out what the problem is." "What¡¯s the issue?" "This cattle from Old Zhu¡¯s ranch, the quality has declined a bit, you see. Look at the muscle fibers, it¡¯s degraded more than just one level from before. I need to have a talk with that kid," Jiang Fuzhen put down a piece of half-cooked beef. Jiang Yuan caught the drift, "So, someonemented that the meat you made wasn¡¯t up to par yesterday?" "Well, they didn¡¯t say it wasn¡¯t up to par... just that it wasn¡¯t as good as before!" Jiang Fuzhen frowned as he spoke. "At least it¡¯s not your fault," Jiang Yuan consoled his father. Jiang Fuzhen nodded in satisfaction, then sighed, "In the end, I wasn¡¯t vignt enough! This Old Zhu, I¡¯ll have to give him a good talking to!" Jiang Yuan chuckled and exchanged a few more words before leaving first. Jiang Fuzhen did have a few familiar ranches to utilize, but when it came to control, that was still not on the table. At most, he could probably scold the other party until they apologized. ... Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. The office and desk had indeed been cleaned spotlessly. He wasn¡¯t sure whether the neers had suffered, or whether a subordinate of the specialized team had been singled out. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t worry about such details. First, he sat in his chair and took a couple of spins, feeling the long-missed office atmosphere. On someone else¡¯s turf, it certainly wasn¡¯t as carefree as on his own. Thud, thud. Huang Qiangmin knocked and entered. Without saying, it was clear that as soon as Jiang Yuan entered, someone had reported to him. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised and even rose to tease, "Director Huang, in such a rush?" "Let me introduce you, these are tworades from the ministry, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen," Huang Qiangmin bypassed Jiang Yuan¡¯s joke, introducing them quite formally. To Ningtai County Bureau, the arrival of two officials from the ministry, regardless of their youthful appearance as if they had just graduated, meant no discussion about ranks necessary ¨C they were naturally regarded as superiors. Jiang Yuan greeted them ordingly, then said with some surprise, "Director Huang mentioned reading footprints yesterday. I thought an email or something would suffice..." "Since the data volume is quiterge, we brought it with us," Cui Xiaohu said, smiling to reveal two tiger-like teeth, his round face appearing rather honest. He ced his briefcase on the desk, opened it, and then took out a hard drive. Jiang Yuan blinked, "A whole hard drive of footprints?" "Not that much, just of one town," Cui Xiaohu set down the hard drive and continued, "It¡¯s a murder case from Jingji, active for over three months without resolution. The scene had a half-print left in blood. We had almost given up hope, but then Director Song saw your footprint identification and suggested we give it another shot." When Cui Xiaohu spoke, his demeanor was calm, without much expectation or resistance. After all, he was an experienced man, working at the ministry and having seen countless experts. Regarding Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities, he wasn¡¯t optimistic, but he would dutifully proceed with the tasks as instructed by his leader. "Alright then, let¡¯s give it a shot," Jiang Yuan replied calmly, footprints after all, were just that. Chapter 581 - 528

Chapter 581: 528

"Captain Cui, Captain Li, please have some tea first." Huang Qiangmin took the cup from Wang Chuanxing¡¯s hand, personally poured water from the electric kettle brought by Tang Jia, and prepared a Deputy Bureau¡¯s handcrafted ¡¤ Spring Festival Special ¡¤ Pure Chinese Style ¡¤ Limited Return ¡¤ Bud and Shoot Dragon Well tea. Cui Xiaohu expressed his thanks, his tiger teeth breaking into a sincere smile, saying, "There¡¯s no need for you to trouble yourself. We¡¯re just foot soldiers; apanying Captain Jiang toplete the footprint identification is all we need to do." "There are no foot soldiers inside the ministry, all are celestial soldiers descended to the mortal world." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face carried a smile, 88.88 degrees wide, not caring in the slightest that his ttering might be seen as embarrassing in front of his subordinates. Huang Qiangmin firmly believed in one principle: dignity is only above the de, truth only within the range of a cannon! Subordinates look down on him? Please tell me, is it this half of the subordinates on the left, or is it the snarl from the front half of a subordinate? Cui Xiaohu¡¯s loyalty ¡¤ honesty ¡¤ caution ¡¤ reticence ¡¤ low profile ¡¤ youthfulness and eagerness to learn, not ostentatious ¡¤ skilled at observation and a good student, could not withstand Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile and he humbly said, "We simply carry out orders from above and below, serving experts like Jiang Yuan. You really don¡¯t need to be so courteous; we just wait for a result and then head back to report." Li Haochen adopted an even more of a follow-along attitude, nodding and smiling without saying a word. "How long might you be staying here? I¡¯ll put together a customized wee n for us." Huang Qiangmin asked. "There¡¯s really no need to roll out the red carpet, seriously, I still have to follow orders all day and night." Although Cui Xiaohu said this, he still gave a timeframe: "We should be able to wait three or four days. Captain Jiang can take his time with the work, and if there¡¯s any need or changes along the way, you can notify me at any time." He then nced at Jiang Yuan. As someone who had served many experts, Cui Xiaohu thought that three or four days should be enough time to make some headway. Huang Qiangmin thus obtained a time frame and felt Jiang Yuan should be able to finish the job. He felt somewhat relieved and, changing the subject with a smile, said, "Ningtai has two prominent features: one is that we have many andrge mountains, and the other is that we have many rivers with deep waters. The game from Siningshan... Of course, many are not allowed to be eaten anymore, but we still have second and third generation farmed products... "But what I highly rmend is our Tai River fish. The Tai River is quite long, you see, and it runs through several counties and districts within Qinghe City. But if we¡¯re talking about fish production, only our Ningtai region can im that. Fish from other counties are too small; only the deeply flowing waters here can nurture big fish. Moreover, since these are migratory live water fish, the wild fish caught from the Tai River have exceptionally good physiques¡ªnot the kind you find in a gym, but rather those from a fighting ring. They¡¯re extraordinarily delicious when cooked..." Gulp... Jiang Yuan shifted his chair, producing some noise. Huang Qiangmin immediately ceased his culinary enlightenment upon hearing the sound and looked over, concerned, "How is it? Did you hurt yourself climbing out of the sewer?" "No, I was just looking at my own feet, thinking about something..." Jiang Yuan was actually activating a temporarily acquired +1 skill, and the sudden influx of information caused a slight change in his demeanor. The skill was originally reserved for Dazhuang today; now it had to be deployed sooner. Dazhuang missing a day wasn¡¯t a big deal; with a bit of luck, he might even enjoy an extra LV5 dog meal. But the expenses of the special case team back in Jingji are unlikely to be small. Jiang Yuan, who had juste out from the special case team, was well aware of the exaggerated costs. As the saying goes, where the cannon fires, thousands of gold flow, and once people umte, expenses skyrocket exponentially. The costs for 100 people are certainly not 100 times that of one person, and if those people start to be on the move, expenses increase even more sharply. However, what Jiang Yuan truly cared about was the difficulty of matching the bloody footprint. Bloody footprints were not hard to analyze¡ªquite the contrary. Looking at the bloody footprints provided by Cui Xiaohu, Jiang Yuan felt the difficulty level could be considered medium, and an LV3 footprint identification skill would be more than sufficient. While it¡¯s true that an LV3 footprint identification skill is scarce in Shannan Province, it¡¯s not so rare in the Jingji area, especially to a ministry department. China truly abounds with talent, but when one says this, they¡¯re not referring to the vast rural and county areas, but to Beijing itself, not even including Shanghai. In an era when the appearance of a Tsinghua and Peking University high-flying graduate in a county town draws days of discussion, the Beijing area is home to six-figure counts of such graduates. In such an environment, an LV3 difficulty bloody footprint requiring external assistance through ministry channels is quite unreasonable. So, there is only one truth¡ªnot that the footprint is difficult to match, but that the database forparisoncks the corresponding footprints. This is a conclusion that Jiang Yuan already reached when doing fingerprint analysis. If a fingerprint does not pose a high difficulty for matching, yet still doesn¡¯t find a match, it definitely means the databasecks the corresponding fingerprint. It¡¯s like a creature that looks and smells delicious, rumored to make for a supremely fresh soup or a tender stew. When such a creature strolls through the center of a vige, yet no one attempts to catch it, it either has an owner or it is a high-level protected species. Footprints are the same. The difficulty of matching the half-bloodied footprint isn¡¯t high, so Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s request for assistance is understandable. Footprint experts in Shannan Province might face certain odds of getting stuck or fall short in terms of efficiency, but not the ministry department. Chapter 582 - 528

Chapter 582: 528

In their pool of experts, it might be difficult to enlist the help of a Level 5 footprint expert due to their busy schedules or other reasons, but securing a Level 4 footprint expert should definitely be possible. For a Level 4 footprint expert to analyze Level 3 footprints, it¡¯s akin to a mother disciplining her child, the question is merely how it¡¯s done. If this round was lost, it means there were no matching footprints in the hard drive. Jiang Yuan connected to the hard drive and after reviewing just a few dozen footprints, he stopped and activated his temporary skill boost of +1. This only strengthened his conviction. "You must have had someone examine these footprints before," Jiang Yuan asked Cui Xiaohu directly. Cui Xiaohu nodded earnestly. "Did they go through all of them and find no matches?" Jiang Yuan pointed at the keyboard. Cui Xiaohu nodded, then shook his head, saying, "There were some suspected matches, but they wereter ruled out. There¡¯s a separate folder in here for the suspected fingerprints..." So Jiang Yuan went back to the main interface of the hard drive to look for it. The hard drive was filled with many folders, each household¡¯s footprints were separately categorized, with the superior folders being viges and streets, along with some additional organizations, all listed separately. Jiang Yuan scrolled to the bottom of the interface before he saw a folder titled "Suspected (wtl)." Jiang Yuan guessed that wtl might be the initials of the expert¡¯s name. After hesitating for a moment, Jiang Yuan turned to Huang Qiangmin and said, "Usually when an expert has already been consulted, I wouldn¡¯t feel it¡¯s appropriate to review their work..." Indeed, that would be the case with private invitations. Experts often haveparable levels of expertise. Renowned experts within the province are mostly around Level 3, and once someone reaches Level 4, after handling several cases, it wouldn¡¯t be long before they attract the attention of the higher authorities. Jiang Yuan was in such a position himself; after dealing with the 503 armed robbery case and this current case, there was no question he was now on the radar of the higher authorities. Going forward, if he performs well for a certain period, he is likely to enter the expert pool of the higher authorities, and thereafter, receive a title such as "Special Invited Expert." In such circumstances, if Expert A couldn¡¯t solve a problem, it¡¯s quite unlikely that Expert B at the same level would have a higher chance of sess. Engaging Expert A and then Expert B isn¡¯t very meaningful; furthermore, if Expert B dedicated a lot of time and effort to solve the issue, it could lead to an awkward situation between A and B when they met. To circumvent such issues, it¡¯s best to have orders from above. Carrying outmands is always unproblematic. Cui Xiaohu often interacted with various experts and immediately understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s point, saying, "This is a request from Director Song, apanied by an official document. Let the case take priority." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he had already nced through several suspected images. With a temporary +1 skill and 405 minutes avable, his footprint analysis ability surged to Level 6. In just a minute or two, not only did he finish reviewing the suspected photos, but he also recognized why the wtl expert had identified them as suspects in the first ce. This expert must be a dual-specialist in trace and footprint analysis, with their footprint analysis likely being at the upper end of Level 3. He estimated that this expert was consulted during the early stages of the case, and for the half-imprint of the bloody footprint, the expert might have focused too much on the variations in the shoe tread pattern. Jiang Yuan quickly scanned through the pages twice, then turned to Cui Xiaohu and said, "I don¡¯t think there are footprints in the hard drive that could match the bloody footprint." Cui Xiaohu furrowed his brows in silence. The footprints in the hard drive had already beenpared once, and seeking Jiang Yuan was like clutching at straws. However, Cui Xiaohu didn¡¯t quite understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s seemingly "arbitrary" decision. "From the perspective of a criminal investigator, there¡¯s a very high probability that the murderer is among those captured by the hard drive¡¯s footprint. After the crime urred, we sealed off the area as quickly as possible, and moreover, considering the criminal¡¯s habit of lingering in the area after the previous two crimes..." Cui Xiaohu outlined the situation, which amounted to an expression of dissent. "A serial robber?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes, this time he panicked after an idental killing and left footprints; in the previous cases, due to thete reporting by the victims, not many clues were left." Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, "I don¡¯t know the details of the case, but based on the state of the blood footprints, I think it¡¯s unlikely that the previous experts made such a big mistake." Cui Xiaohu and his colleague Li Haochen exchanged nces. Li Haochen stepped forward and said, "If this is your final judgment, it¡¯s not impossible, but we were hoping..." "It¡¯s impossible for me to let you make such a trip and just go back like that," Jiang Yuan interrupted Li Haochen and continued, "I will look over the footprints on the hard drive againter, but from the perspective of solving the case, I have a suggestion now. Take a look and see if it is feasible." "Please, tell us," Cui Xiaohu immediately perked up. He knew that if experts like Jiang Yuan wanted to decline, they would, as routine tasks sometimes urred; one couldn¡¯t just hand things off to an expert and expect everything to be settled. However, when an expert offers a new perspective, it¡¯s surely the result of some thoughtful consideration. That was, after all, the greatest value of an expert. Jiang Yuan said, "I¡¯ll reassess this blood footprint and redefine its range. Then you can conduct another search. How does that sound?" "Good, good," Cui Xiaohu readily agreed. Searching was a matter of zero times or countless times. Searching a few more times was no big deal; it was like a ne flying an extra three to five kilometers¡ªwhat was the difference! Jiang Yuan then pulled out a notebook and quickly began to record: Male. Age 20-28. Height 165 to 168 centimeters. Weight: 60 to 70 kilograms. Physique shows signs of exercise. Shoes have insoles that increase height, shoe size isrger than usual, size 42. Actual shoe size should be 40 to 41. ... The ranges Jiang Yuan marked this time were all quite broad, not out of greater caution, but because making a judgment based on half a footprint indeed posed a higher difficulty. Fortunately, it was a blood footprint; if it were atent print collected by electrostatic lifting, the range for annotation would be evenrger. Despite this, Cui Xiaohu still frowned as he looked it over, then pulled out a notebook with his colleague Li Haochen topare. "Captain Jiang, the range you¡¯ve provided is actually smaller than the scope of our search," Cui Xiaohu said with difficulty. A smaller range than their search implied that the people Jiang Yuan wanted to be searched should have already been checked. "It will take some effort, but search again," Jiang Yuan, with his fair share of cases, was well-versed in search procedures. He looked over the conditions he¡¯d written once more, then circled the words "height" and added two characters below: "bare height," drawing three lines underneath to emphasize the point. Jiang Yuan tore off the page and said, "I suggest that within this scope, you conduct a more thorough recheck. It¡¯s not umon for various reasons to evade a search. Since the search range I¡¯ve drawn is narrower, I hope it can be examined more carefully." The detectives from a certain branch in Jingji were in charge of the search, not ministry personnel. Cui Xiaohu took the page from Jiang Yuan, nodded, and said, "I understand. I¡¯ll go report right now." Chapter 583 - 529: Especially Good at Solving Cases

Chapter 583: Chapter 529: Especially Good at Solving Cases

Jiang Yuan looked up at his system page, the skill temporarily +1 for 405 minutes, now still more than 380 minutes left. This temporary skill +1 function allows temporarily raising a skill by 405 minutes every 24 hours, which could be said to be quite powerful. However, if faced with enough cases, choosing which skill to temporarily enhance every day can still be quite a head-scratcher. For skills like "Trendy Clothing Taste," Jiang Yuan would find it difficult to even assign it a rank; the queue would be very long. From this perspective, skills should still be used sparingly. The remaining 380-plus minutes of footprint identification +1, which equals 380 minutes of temporary Level 6 footprint identification, would be too much of a waste not to use. Jiang Yuan watched as Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen walked out the door, coughed twice, and said to Huang Qiangmin, "Now that I¡¯m here, do we have any cases that mainly involve footprints? I can work on a few if possible." Huang Qiangminughed, "There are always cases, you want ones with footprints? What about those fingerprints, the forensic doctor¡¯s techniques?" "Today, let¡¯s just do footprints, focusing on one thing makes for greater efficiency," Jiang Yuan found a casual reason. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t really care about the reason; he pondered for a moment and said, "Here in Ningtai County, there haven¡¯t been any traditional cases in the past couple of months, just some thefts, and the second team is all over them. Now we just have some old cases and tel frauds... How about we look for cases from outside? We don¡¯t go in person, just look at the footprints?" "That works as well, let me choose the cases then. If we¡¯re doing it, let¡¯s just finish the whole case, just doing a footprint identification makes it seem like I¡¯m some kind of specialist." Jiang Yuan cared a lot about his hometown¡¯s development. He, a person from Jiang Vige, born and raised in Jiang Vige, surrounded by familiar rtives and friends, naturally hoped that Jiang Vige would be well-developed. Merely being a specialist wasn¡¯t valued highly. Intellectuals are thin-skinned, and by just being polite and saying some nice words, technicians are willing to exert some mental effort. Butpleting a full case is different; it constitutes aprehensive solution, which is considered high-level, domestically and internationally. Huang Qiangmin immediately understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s intent; even if not, he could still put his own spin on it, and went to make a call with a smile. Nowadays, no city dares to im it has an ample police force. The poption of cities in China is toorge. If we were to meet the police force standards per ten thousand poption as set by developed countries, not a single city in China would meet the criteria. While Chinese police can work overtime and stay upte on cases, the criminals are also Chinese, and those who are willing tomit crimes professionally also work overtime. Knowing that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t intend to tackle a major case, Huang Qiangmin specifically asked for some minor ones. The effort involved in small cases isn¡¯t necessarily less than in big ones, but the advantage is theck of pressure to solve them immediately; getting many at once can also y the odds favorably. Such cases were priced low by Huang Qiangmin, a clear discount offered as a welfare, purely for market development. Jiang Yuan only waited about twenty or thirty minutes before he had over a dozen case numbers in front of him. Still using his skills, he immediately opened hisptop and started reading in the backend. All the cases were from Jianjiang City. Jianjiang City is adjacent to Qinghe City, and has quite a few interactions with Qinghe; for instance, the reservoir corpse sinking case, where the murderer ended up living in a small township under Jianjiang City. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t really worked on cases from Jianjiang City before, but now, flipping through the cases, he first focused on the footprint evidence. There were plenty of footprints; this was good. He flipped back to look at the case, which was about a factory warehouse in Jianjiang City that lost arge number of metal parts. For such cases, you either follow the money, look at waste-recycling ces, or you track the people directly involved. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of such cases, the probability of an inside job was quite high. Outsiders getting into the factory area couldn¡¯t even find the restrooms, let alone stealing heavy metal parts that likely required transportation vehicles. Finding a route with no surveince would obviously require some homework. Jiang Yuan thought about it and marked out the heights and weights of the owners of the three footprints. Afterpleting this task, Jiang Yuan took another photo and directly transferred the information about the recently rified suspects to the newly created WeChat group. The WeChat group had been set up by Huang Qiangmin, and apart from Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, it included a dozen criminal police officers from the Jianjiang City Criminal Police Brigade. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t shy about taking charge, first posting the name of the case, then saying, "Please use this standard to screen the factory workers again, including both current and former employees." The criminal police officers of Jianjiang City graciously epted the assignment. They had naturally screened the factory¡¯s internal staff before, but without a target, it all depended on the detectives¡¯ eyesight, and when the first screening didn¡¯t produce results, they fell into passivity. It was mainly because the factory theft case itself didn¡¯t have high investment; just one team was thrown into it, and as they meandered without finding any clues and time passed with new cases piling up, they could only set it aside. Having initiated this sweep, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for their results and proceeded to look at the next case. Huang Qiangmin hadn¡¯t demanded any major or serious cases this time, so they were all minor ones, which made the work rtively rxing and pleasant. While working, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen ran back in. The two had literally run back, still catching their breath slightly as they entered Jiang Yuan¡¯s office. "Amazing, Captain Jiang!" Cui Xiaohu¡¯s voice was loud, with a bit of a twist, like a keen student answering a question from the teacher¡ªcrisp and straightforward. It was like a hardworking tiger from outside who had the strength and a loud call but dared not show any temper. When Jiang Yuan heard him say that, he knew there was hope and chuckled, "You¡¯ve been learning from TV dramas, haven¡¯t you?" "You¡¯re truly amazing!" Cui Xiaohu, like a na?ve and in-spoken little tiger,id on the ttery with all his might, saying, "I sent back the conditions you wrote, and the team circled a list of names. Then we measured the bare height, and while measuring, we actually found such a person. Look at his footprint." Cui Xiaohu directly brought over a pad for Jiang Yuan to look at. The picture on the pad showed the freshly made footprint and a photo of the bare foot, followed by a video of a man walking away from the camera. "It¡¯s definitely this person." After viewing the dynamic video, Jiang Yuan immediately confirmed it. Gait itself could reveal a great many things. Cui Xiaohu let out a "whoosh" of relief: "That¡¯s great. The criminal police have already dispatched someone to search, and now it¡¯s a matter of whether they can findpelling evidence. I wanted toe and report to you quickly..." He had served many experts, but he had never seen anyone at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level. For Cui Xiaohu, it was an entirely different level. Even if they were just ordinary experts, even if quite formidable, if they were just ordinary, there were plenty hanging around the ministries. Even among specially invited experts, there were differences in strength. Moreover, in this day and age, the gold content of experts was also in question. But for someone Cui Xiaohu had never seen before, that level was incredibly impressive. The many times Cui Xiaohu called him "a god" was not only to make Jiang Yuan feel good but also because he genuinely felt that way. "How did this person evade the first round of screening? Just by wearing lifts?" Jiang Yuan became curious, lifting his cup of light tea and taking a light sip. Li Haochen, who hade with Cui Xiaohu, took a step forward and fetched the kettle to refill Jiang Yuan¡¯s cup with water. Cui Xiaohu chuckled twice and said, "It¡¯s quite interesting when you think about it. This guy had lifts not only in his shoes but also in his socks. When measuring his height, the detectives only measured his shoes, including the height of the insoles, butpletely overlooked his socks." "And then?" "The second round had fewer people being measured, with a group of criminal police watching closely. Someone noticed it. His weight and age and everything matched, except his height was a bit off, and he was already a key suspect. After discovering the error with the bare height, they immediately had him step on his shoe prints, and the forensic examiners immediately recognized the suspicion." After finishing his exnation in one breath, Cui Xiaohu sighed once more and said, "You¡¯re chasing criminals from a thousand miles away, you¡¯re really a god." "Hahahaha... Special case-solving is indeed Comrade Jiang Yuan¡¯s superpower," Huang Qiangmin entered the office with a light, 44.4-degree smile. Chapter 584 - 530 Reviewing Papers

Chapter 584: Chapter 530 Reviewing Papers

"Both of you, I¡¯ll treat you to dinner tonight, we can enjoy some Ningtai County specialty dishes." Huang Qiangmin warmly invited them. He had made simr invitations before, which Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen politely declined. This time, when Huang Qiangmin issued the invitation again, both of their gazes involuntarily fell on Jiang Yuan. Some experts only need to be provided for during official business, while others truly emanate an irresistible charm, making people unconsciously want to be around them all the time... "Let¡¯s eat river fish together tonight." Jiang Yuan extended his own invitation. He had seen through Huang Qiangmin¡¯s intentions and, coincidentally, he was quite willing to cooperate. The ministry indeed had many resources. Without looking too far, if he wanted to set up an additionalboratory or something of the sort, having the provincial level actors speak for him, and the Qinghe City Bureau putting in the lion¡¯s share, the county bureau might be able to handle about a quarter of the costs by itself. But with the backing of the ministry, the county bureau might only need to cover an eighth, and the city bureau¡¯s contribution could also be halved. Moreover, the ministry could provide all sorts of interesting cases. The creative power of a county city is limited but that of a province or a nation is truly extraordinary. Many people may spend months or even years conceiving crimes, then take time to practice and refine their ns before execution... Bringing such individuals to justice is a small joy in a police officer¡¯s career. Receiving Jiang Yuan¡¯s invitation, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen felt great satisfaction and quickly agreed. They naturally wanted to get closer to Jiang Yuan. Though the ministry is a lofty presence, concrete work must always bepleted by those below. And most of these tentacles¡ªtheir suction cups as loose as two-month-old masks¡ªsome can grip tightly but can¡¯t handle heavy weights, or they might need to be ced for 24 hours or even longer to be effective. Jiang Yuan was different, no waiting needed and he could handle extremely heavy loads, rendering his efficiency and capacity akin to that of a crane-level tentacle. Seeing this, Huang Qiangmin smiled so hard his mouth almost flew off, thinking to himself that this must be what people refer to as "mutual rush towards each other". Truly beautiful. Lunch was enjoyed at a riverside stall with delicious river fish. Riverside stalls rely on rtionships with fishermen to survive. Those who maintain good rtionships with fishermen receive more of the beautiful fish, which they can sell immediately or temporarily keep in fish enclosures. This is an advantage that big hotels don¡¯t have. Big hotels specialize in seawater tanks, housing seafood and lobsters from other regions, charging even more than big cities, catering to their own customer base. Freshly caught river fish, full of bones and little meat, but the freshness is extraordinary. Especially a two-pound coarse-scaled fish that was served, it was swiftly devoured by everyone within minutes. "This coarse-scaled fish looks like a grass carp, but it tastes incredibly delicious." Cui Xiaohu praised while savoring the vor. "Fishermen also like to catch it, it feels good, a two-pound coarse-scaled fish feels like ten pounds in the water," Huang Qiangminughed as he exined, "Plus, the price of this fish is good too, one fish can cover the costs." "This fish looks too much like a grass carp, if I caught it, I¡¯d probably release it without realizing," said Cui Xiaohu. "Its scales are muchrger than those of a grass carp. You¡¯ll recognize it after you see it enough times," Huang Qiangmin said with a smile. "Could it simply be a kind of grass carp that, due to growing in a different environment, is like the crisp-fleshed bream of Guangdong?" The crisp-fleshed bream is a grass carp that has been fed fava beans during cultivation, with no gic difference, it¡¯s only the differing environments that make the flesh be crisp and firm. By this logic, to say that human flesh is sour is scientifically inurate, or at the very least a gross generalization. Jiang Yuan picked up a piece of cucumber with his chopsticks, cleared his mouth, and said, "The coarse-scaled fish is a carnivorous species, its habits are also different than those of grass carp. It¡¯s rather fierce in the water." "Oh, right, Captain Jiang is from Ningtai," Cui Xiaohu suddenly remembered. "This is all thanks to Jiang Yuan¡¯s influence, we wouldn¡¯t have this coarse-scaled fish to eat. I¡¯ve been here many times asking for it, and they always said they didn¡¯t have any," Huang Qiangminughed. "That¡¯s because there really weren¡¯t any, this was just a lucky coincidence," the stall owner, who happened to bring over a side dish, quickly exined. After the owner left, Cui Xiaohu tentatively asked, "Do you know the stall owner, Captain Jiang?" Jiang Yuan had no intention of hiding it and replied, "Thend that the stall owner rents belongs to my family. So yes, we know each other." "Huh?" Cui Xiaohu turned around and saw that the stall was scattered with dozens of tables and a kitchen of over a hundred square meters. Thend in the county city isn¡¯t valuable, but for such arge area, the rent must be quite substantial. Cui Xiaohu suddenly fell silent. In this way, Jiang Yuan was really not short on money. There are many people in Beijing who are not short of money, and he knows such people, but he must say, dealing with such people is truly different. At that moment, Huang Qiangmin smiled and said, "Jiang Yuan is rooted in his hometown, and he does live quitefortably here. In fact, if Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t so driven, with the current situation in Ningtai, there would hardly be any cases to handle, and we could really spend our days clocking in at work and drinking after work." "Yes..." Cui Xiaohu sighed deeply. This guy doesn¡¯tck money and has technical expertise, and if hecks ambition, he¡¯s really a tough nut to crack. At least, he¡¯s something that a simple kid like him can¡¯t fathom. Huang Qiangmin also noticed this, and said with a chuckle, "Actually, if the departments have case needs and give them to our Jiang Yuan to handle, that would be quite good. However, if we could screen the cases and pick those that are Jiang Yuan¡¯s specialty, that would be ideal." Cui Xiaohu said earnestly, "Of course, that¡¯s precisely my job. Getting familiar with experts in various fields, finding the most suitable scope for everyone to excel in... preparing strength for solving major and serious cases is also part of our work..." "Not bad at all..." Huang Qiangmin silently praised him as a naive child in his heart. However, for such a young man to be working in the departments, he must either have exceptional academic achievements or his family must have given him opportunities. Huang Qiangmin smiled and steered the conversation back to the dining table. In the afternoon. After a hearty meal, news from the Jingji area arrived, stating that the suspect had confessed and began to exin the criminal facts. Cui Xiaohu came over to report the situation, saying, "The criminal is quite pitiful, unemployed at home, owing money on credit cards, unable to pay the mortgage. When the bank¡¯s debt collection calls came, he grabbed a knife, thinking of robbing the people at the rural fair. But nowadays, people don¡¯t carry much cash to the rural fair. He seeded three times, onlyting two thousand yuan, three mobile phones, a pair of headphones... Thest time, he didn¡¯t expect the other party to actually have money..." Huang Qiangmin sighed, "These days, those who still think of robbing are all simplistic in thinking. A few thousand yuan worth of case value has attracted the department¡¯s attention; that¡¯s quite impressive." "People stillmit robbery, but to injure someone and continuously rob in Jingji area..." Cui Xiaohu shook his head. "This criminal is quite peculiar; he likes to rob tall people and then make them kneel and beg for mercy. In total, hemitted four robberies, injured people three times, twice encountering resistance, and thest time, he actually stabbed someone to death..." "He specifically targets those taller than him? He¡¯s just wielding a dagger, not a gun. What was he thinking?" "He must be obsessed with matchmaking. It¡¯s not easy to find a match in the countryside, and the women all despise him for being too short. He must have been bullied often." Cui Xiaohu noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s height and quickly changed the subject, saying, "This case is essentially solved now. The sub-bureau leadership specifically asked me to express their gratitude to you..." "You¡¯re too kind," Jiang Yuan said. Seeing that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t upset, Cui Xiaohu silently praised him and continued, "There¡¯s another case here. The main evidence left at the scene is footprints, and we would like to invite you to take a look." Jiang Yuan nced at Huang Qiangmin, who slowly nodded. Fishing doesn¡¯t require haste, nor can one be reluctant to bait the hook. The bigger the fish you want to catch, the bigger the bait you should use. Technical experts of average skill are plentiful in the departments, but Huang Qiangmin had seen those average experts, and there was a difference from Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. Thus, Huang Qiangmin believed that, with a few more cases, Jiang Yuan would certainly be addicted and unable to stop! Therefore, Jiang Yuan took the dossier to study. The dossier, brought by special courier on a flight at noon, was the investigation dossier,monly known as the vice dossier. It contained a vast amount of information and was supposed to record all evidence, documents, and processes that arose during an investigation. Not counting the dozens of various decision documents and appraisal letters, just rted to the evidence itself, there were "On-site Examination Records," site diagrams, site photographs, "Seized Item Lists," "Inspection Records" and photos, "Review Records" and photos, "Investigation Experiment Records" and photos, drawings... The investigation dossier was confidential, not shown to suspects orwyers; even the police from other departments often couldn¡¯t ess it if they wished to. The fact that Cui Xiaohu was able to bring this dossier over indicated that he had trust in Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities. The willingness of the original investigating unit to personally deliver the dossier showed that they were well aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation. So Jiang Yuan began to read the dossier in front of several people. Huang Qiangmin called the three men to drink tea. The police officer from the Jingji Hongqiao Sub-bureau who had delivered the dossier was a little ufortable but still sat down, took a few sips of tea, and nced at Jiang Yuan, hesitatingly saying, "Otherwise, I¡¯ll head back now, and if needed, I cane back in a few days..." The vice dossier was much thicker than the main dossier, and it was normal to spend several days reviewing it. However, Jiang Yuan had seen far too many such dossiers. Whenever he ran off to other cities and counties for cases, there was never an instance when he couldn¡¯t see the investigation dossier. Without ess to the dossier, it would have been pointless to work on the case¡ªas if he were a private detective. Huang Qiangmin was also familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace, so he persuaded the officer from the Hongqiao Sub-bureau, saying, "Captain Fang, since you¡¯re here, let Jiang Yuan have a look at the dossier first. If there¡¯s anything, it¡¯s better tomunicate directly. Later, when we¡¯re off work, our bureau chief would like to personally entertain everyone." Uncertain about which part had convinced them, the three settled down contentedly to sip their tea. Jiang Yuan also began to read the footprints at the crime scene with ease. ording to the task force¡¯s analysis, this was a case of burry and murder in a rural home. The murderer might have been discovered by the victim or was just brutal in nature. He broke in by scaling the wall at night and bludgeoned the homeowner to death with a blunt object in bed. Afterwards, the murderer casually ransacked the ce, collecting a substantial amount of valuables, mainly some gold bars and jewelry that the homeowner had stored, along with a small amount of cash, mostly Yuan Shikai silver coins, as well as over thirty phtelic albums and yearbooks, and other collectibles. It seemed the murderer¡¯s motive for wealth was quite clear. Of course, it was also a very slight possibility that the murderer targeted a specific individual and used theft as a cover. But judging from the thoroughness of the search, if it was just a disguise, it was far too earnest. Also, the murderer likely wore gloves whilemitting the crimes, as the main evidence left at the scene included footprints from scaling the wall, a trail of footprints left in the courtyard, and a set of footprints in the soft ground outside the door as he left, along with suspected tire tracks from the motorcycle used by the murderer. There were plenty of footprints and tire tracks, but the vige wasn¡¯t densely popted, mostly elderly people, and none matched the murderer. No clues arose from the victim¡¯s social rtions, and there was no information about the stolen goods being fenced, leaving the investigation at a standstill. As per the task force¡¯s analysis, it was as if the murderer was an infamous bandit from ancient times,ing from another ce and fleeing afterward with almost no interaction with locals, leaving the police with nothing to pursue. Whoosh whoosh. As Jiang Yuan rapidly flipped through the photos, the noise attracted the uneasy attention of the several people present. Chapter 585 - 531

Chapter 585: 531

From a temporal perspective, the case had already been over two months old. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help feeling impressed. True to Jingji region¡¯s reputation, a murder case that remained unsolved for two months could obtain support from the ministry. "It¡¯s gettingte, I¡¯d like to head back to my hotel room to tidy up a bit..." Fang Jingxin from Jingji Hongqiao Sub-bureau took another sip of tea, indicating his intention to leave. At this moment, Jiang Yuan looked up and waved his hand, saying, "Just right, I have a footprint analysis report ready on my end. Why don¡¯t you take a look first?" Fang Jingxin was taken aback and said, "That fast?" "Yeah, the footprint analysis I did is rtively brief and hasn¡¯t formed into an official document. If we can hit the mark, that¡¯s best; if not, then we¡¯ll see," Jiang Yuan said without looking up, opening his notebook and writing as he spoke. Fang Jingxin responded affirmatively, "Please, go ahead." Jiang Yuan then stated, "Based on the evidence I¡¯ve seen so far, I have the following forensic conclusions: The perpetrator is male. He is 27 years old, with a height ranging from 173 to 177 centimeters, barefoot measurement. He is rtively light, weighing less than 130 jin. His shoe size is 42, with a slender foot shape. His body is fit, likely the type with defined muscle lines. He is not a local. There is a high probability that hees from a mountainous area, a true mountainous region, showing signs of long-term walking in the mountains and experience in carrying goods over such terrain. He has been engaging in long-term physicalbor, specifically heavy manualbor, in the mountains." Not only Captain Fang, but also Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen, who were listening, were stunned. What did you just say about brief? Fang Jingxin had been briefly checking his phone, already deciding whatte-night snack to have. Now, Fang Jingxin was burning with eagerness. Having served as a police officer in the Jingji region, he immediately recognized that he was dealing with an expert, and not just an ordinary expert. The stories he had heard about Jiang Yuan at the station were not only not exaggerated, but they might even have been downyed. Fang Jingxin promptly put down his tea, took out his notebook, and said more respectfully, "Expert Jiang, you can call me Xiao Fang or Jingxin. I would like to ask one more question for the report¡ªhow did you determine that the perpetratores from a pure mountainous area?" "That¡¯s somewhatplex," Jiang Yuan nced at the newbie across from him. He was beginning to understand why immortals were reluctant to enlighten mortals. Not to mention affecting the average value of their dwelling ces, mortals were too numerous, and trying to enlighten them all day long was an endless task. Fang Jingxin, with all sincerity, said, "Just a rough exnation will do, I don¡¯t seek a thorough understanding..." Jiang Yuan simply sat at the tea table, took a sip of tea, and said, "Then I¡¯ll just talk about a few points casually. First off, walking in the mountains changes your stride, gait, and the angle of your steps. Look, what¡¯s distinctive about mountain roads? They are uneven with many obstructions that require constant changes in direction. To avoid falling, you have to step firmly, which leaves deeper impressions." Jiang Yuan continued, "Moreover, you tend to walk with a wider stride and arger step angle in the mountains." This is simr to how off-road vehicles preferrger wheels and four-wheel drive. Fang Jingxin, only half-understanding, hastily took notes. Otherwise, how would he respond when questioned by his superiorster on? If he had to approach Jiang Yuan again and Jiang Yuan happened to be displeased, what would he do then? Jiang Yuan waited for Fang Jingxin to catch up, and then added, "Additionally, the forefoot exerts force while walking, leading to dig marks on one side when carrying items..." And so, Fang Jingxin filled a whole page with notes. Jiang Yuan had drunk an entire pot of tea and said he was tired. He then asked, "Is that enough for you to report?" "Hey, look at what you¡¯re saying. I¡¯m just rifying things, not testing you..." Fang Jingxin quickly exined before hurrying back to make his report. A short whileter, Fang Jingxin returned, his attitude even more respectful. The few of them therefore continued to enjoy their tea in high spirits. After a while, Fang Jingxin checked his phone andughed, "The team has already produced a list and is preparing to conduct overnight checks. I reckon we won¡¯t have results until tomorrow, so why don¡¯t we call it a day?" "That works," Huang Qiangmin agreed, smiling. In the absence of a case, leaving work on time was the norm. The only abnormal thing was typically the absence of a case itself. Huang Qiangmin made a call to Director Chai Tong to set a time, then turned back enthusiastically to invite Cui Xiaohu and Fang Jingxin for dinner. Cui Xiaohu considered it and agreed, while Fang Jingxin declined twice before saying, "I¡¯ll just head back to my hotel room first, and then I can head over by myself." "I¡¯ll have someone take you," Huang Qiangmin, not sure why he was so insistent on returning to his hotel room, warmly called over Mu Zhiyang to give him a lift. Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin, and Cui Xiaohu were then driven to the restaurant by Wang Chuanxing. As Fang Jingxin got into the car, he breathed a sigh of relief. After ensuring that Mu Zhiyang was a regr police officer through a brief chat, heughed, "Sorry, I¡¯m going to y a game for a bit, okay?" Subsequently, Fang Jingxin quickly took out his phone,unched a game, and began ying immediately. Mu Zhiyang drove the car, smiling as he said, "There aren¡¯t many detectives who y games, right?" "You don¡¯t know, I¡¯m sometimes really unlucky. When I have nothing to do and am about to leave, something wille up, and then it¡¯s not that there¡¯s really anything urgent, it¡¯s just waiting, just waiting and waiting, and in the end, I find something to do for myself," Fang Jingxin sighed. Mu Zhiyang, feeling suddenly sympathetic, said, "The kind of situation you¡¯re talking about, I¡¯ve encountered it, too." "It¡¯s different from just being idle. Even if everything¡¯s normal and I¡¯m about to finish my shift, I don¡¯t have to say anything or make any moves, and something wille up, ah, like today..." Fang Jingxin shook his head. Mu Zhiyang said, "It¡¯s quite simr to my own experience, almost the same in nature, but I¡¯m not about having things to do, rather, often when I speak of someone, I¡¯ll run into them, like, for example, if I now say something about a traffic police checkpoint or something..." Mu Zhiyang¡¯s voice trailed off, and Fang Jingxin, looking up,ughed, "There really is a traffic police checkpoint ahead. Are you doing this on purpose? Is this a regr checkpoint for you guys?" "We didn¡¯t used to have it." Mu Zhiyang shook his head seriously, his expression somewhat grave. He used to think his words were somewhat prescient, but never to this extent. ncing back at Fang Jingxin, could it be that he was doubly blessed? Fang Jingxin, amused by his gaze,ughed: "This has nothing to do with me. It¡¯s all right, I¡¯m just idling anyway, nothing much, just wait a few more minutes." No sooner had his words ended than his phone rang, and without a doubt, the game interface was popped out of view. Fang Jingxin, looking at the phone number, immediately became solemn. Mu Zhiyang also frowned deeply. "Understood. Yes! I will report to Captain Jiang immediately!" Fang Jingxin responded earnestly. Mu Zhiyang, gliding the car, watched Fang Jingxin in the rearview mirror. Without a doubt, this must have been a call from his superiors. Mu Zhiyang looked on, feeling quite emotional, it seemed that even high-ranking leaders in big cities were all the same. It wasn¡¯t long before Fang Jingxin hung up the phone, sighed, and said, "Captain Mu, please take me to the restaurant, the one where Director Huang and Captain Jiang are." "Can¡¯t you call?" Mu Zhiyang said as he started to turn the car around, prompting the traffic police to immediately shout at him to stop. "The case is important, it¡¯s better that I report in person," sighed Fang Jingxin, reopening the game to y it with peace of mind. Mu Zhiyang, meanwhile, got out of the car and waved his hand. The approaching traffic cop immediately recognized him, and someoneughed, "If it isn¡¯t Shield Brother." "Shield Brother, nothing. Come by the station for a cup of tea sometime," Mu Zhiyang waved his hand and got back into the car to start the engine. Fang Jingxin was somewhat surprised, "You¡¯re quite the celebrity, eh?" "Celebrity, nothing. I¡¯ve just been shot at twice. One time it was a minor injury, and the other time the bullet got lodged in the shield. They didn¡¯t want to call me ¡¯got shot kid,¡¯ so they settled for Shield Brother." Mu Zhiyang was still a bit proud. Even in a small town, being a policeman out of hundreds, even thousands, having a nickname was quite something. Fang Jingxin also expressed his deep respect. These days, someone who had been shot at was indeed quite remarkable. ... At the restaurant. Arriving outside the private room, Fang Jingxin sent another message to Jiang Yuan, and after waiting outside for a while, he saw Huang Qiangmine out to beckon, smiling, "Come in and talk, it¡¯ll be fine." "This... I want to report some news about the case," Fang Jingxin hastily exined. "It¡¯s just that Director Chai and several deputy directors are also here," Huang Qiangmin smiled. Fang Jingxin then entered the room, first apologizing, and then said, "I havee to report a piece of good news to Captain Jiang. ording to the conditions provided by Captain Jiang, we have identified a criminal suspect." "Indeed, that is good news, let¡¯s hear it," Director Chai tried to be down-to-earth. There wasn¡¯t much conversation happening on his end anyway, and a caseing up was certainly very wee. Fang Jingxin looked left and right, making sure he was surrounded by leaders from the Ningtai County Bureau, then said, "We had a list of suspects all along, and based on the criteria set by Captain Jiang, we finally identified one of them as the criminal suspect." Fang Jingxin paused for a moment, then continued, "The criminal suspect used to work in the victim¡¯s son¡¯s store, from Kun Province. He had been fired and had made some harsh statements afterward. This suspect had a female cousin who got married in Jingji, so when we found her cousin, we discovered the suspect had left his motorcycle to her before leaving." "Although the suspect had told his cousin to sell the bike, because a colleague of hers needed it, she sold the motorcycle to the colleague for a cheap price." "After finding the colleague, forensics detected the victim¡¯s blood under the seat cushion of the motorcycle." Fang Jingxin exined all this in one breath and then looked up at Jiang Yuan, "The team has already headed to Kun Province to apprehend the suspect, with the preliminary n being to investigate in the suspect¡¯s hometown. I just wanted to ask if there are any precautions to take, as we¡¯re not sure if the killer might still be at his hometown..." "I need evidence to perform an analysis," Jiang Yuan said, "Shall I wait until you¡¯re on site?" "Yes, yes, yes, that would be best," Fang Jingxin agreed repeatedly. Cui Xiaohu, who had been listening on the side, was visibly excited and cut in before Fang Jingxin could speak, "Captain Jiang, by this ount, this case is almost wrapped up. If that is so..." "Xiaohu, it¡¯s time to eat, let¡¯s not talk about work now. We¡¯ll discuss it in detailter," Huang Qiangmin interrupted cheerfully, serving him a shrimp with the public chopsticks. Cui Xiaohu stuffed the shrimp into his mouth, chewing it up, shell and all, and all the while, his eyes were fixed intently on Jiang Yuan. Chapter 586 - 532: Kidnapping Case

Chapter 586: Chapter 532: Kidnapping Case

That night, many people had not yet fallen asleep. Huang Qiangmin tossed and turned in bed for a long time, like practicing the rolls of death alone, or like simting the tension on the line when big fish are hooked. Huang Qiangmin put himself in the shoes of others, considering what he would be willing to give if there were a major unresolved case on his list. First, the twenty or thirty main forces of the special case team, the so-called officers, would forget about going home or sleeping. If there was something pressing, they would take leave; if not, they would stay and work. There was no need to talk about overtime¡ªthe concept didn¡¯t even exist for police, as it wasn¡¯t supported byws or regtions! Next, other police officers in the criminal investigation brigade would have to bear two to three times their usual workload while still being ready to assist the special case team at any moment. In this state, Huang Qiangmin could hold on for upwards of four months, spending up to 90 percent of the team¡¯s funds! And what about if it were a major cold case? Huang Qiangmin felt that he could conscientiously persist for half a year without a problem¡ªprovided that the case could be solved. The crux of the problem was actually being able to solve the case. If everyone expected the case to be solved, then hard and selfless work was worth the sacrifice of one¡¯s spouse and children. But without such expectations, no matter how loudly those above shouted, the officers below knew plenty of ways to ck off. This was exactly the problem with Longli County¡ªthe lower the criminal case clearance rate, the weaker everyone¡¯s motivation, creating a vicious cycle in the end. Latterly, Longli County was willing to pay a substantial amount to hire Jiang Yuan, and even while subject to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s scrutinizing gaze, part of their motivation was to break this cycle. It was just unknown how things were in Jingji. Unknown whether the local police stations were cking. And whether they ced high demands on solving cases. The more Huang Qiangmin considered others, the sounder he slept, until he finally fell into a deep slumber. The next day. Huang Qiangmin came to work looking radiant and soon met Cui Xiaohu and Fang Jingxin, who appeared listless. "Did you have trouble sleeping?" Huang Qiangmin asked with concern. Both shook their heads in unison. "Barely slept at all," Fang Jingxin said, rubbing his forehead. "We had meetings for half the night and then prepared materials for the other half. Director Huang, about our cases here..." "Director Huang, let us borrow Jiang Yuan for a bit," Cui Xiaohu interrupted Fang Jingxin, addressing Huang Qiangmin, "Director Song also heard our report and instructed me to take good care of Expert Jiang¡¯s well-being. The ministry has umted many cases, lots of them significant ones from various ces. Expert Jiang working on these cases would really demonstrate his capabilities." After Cui Xiaohu finished speaking, Huang Qiangmin just smiled without a word and turned to look at Fang Jingxin. Fang Jingxin clenched his teeth and stamped his foot, saying, "Director Huang, our Hongqiao Sub-bureau has a targeted support project this year, and after discussions within the bureau, we wanted to ce it here at Ningtai County Bureau. We hope Ningtai County Bureau can work together with us on this project, to tackle cases together, like one big family..." Cui Xiaohu coughed softly twice, whispering loud enough for everyone to hear, "That¡¯s pretty direct, isn¡¯t it?" Fang Jingxin looked calmly at Cui Xiaohu, his expression cid yet slightly provocative. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile grew even more refined, 33.3 degrees, so to speak. Using a popr metaphor nowadays, what would this be called? This was what they call a double hook setting at once, shielding blown away, signaling the drums of harvest in a fish-filled pond! After putting out so much bait, it was time for the payoff. Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen exchanged nces. This situation had been discussed during their meeting yesterday, though they hadn¡¯t expected it toe so quickly. Cui Xiaohu frowned, nced at Fang Jingxin, and then said to Huang Qiangmin, "As for targeted projects, our ministry has them too, and on arger scale, better projects. They are just a sub-bureau; what good targeted projects can they have?" "Our targeted support is ongoing," Fang Jingxin countered. Cui Xiaohu: "Our targeted support isn¡¯t one-off either." Fang Jingxin: "We have ready equipment and personnel, willing to help hands-on." Cui Xiaohu: "We have that too; we can choose the best technicians to assist." Fang Jingxin: "We can also provide manpower." Cui Xiaohu: "We can borrow and send people over!" ... Huang Qiangmin¡¯s teeth were nearly loose fromughing, listening to the increasingly heated exchange between the two. He quickly said, "Alright, that¡¯s enough. Jiang Yuan works on cases very quickly, and he isn¡¯t limited to just one case. Let¡¯s take them one at a time, right? First, let¡¯s look at the cases, let¡¯s look at the cases..." He was a meticulous man, who understood the principle of not draining the pond to catch all the fish. Both departments were quite lucrative, and since there would be other lucrative departments in the future, everyone should abide by some rules and not truly engage in a game of the highest bidder winning. Of course, the price needed to be high, but the initiative had to be in his own hands. Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen immediately took out theirptops to show Jiang Yuan the backend. Jiang Yuan politely thanked them twice and began to select familiarly. After much deliberation, Jiang Yuan still chose Cui Xiaohu¡¯s side. Even if the size of the fish was about the same, the fish on the side of the ministry definitely had a greater variety of patterns. Fang Jingxin felt somewhat disheartened. Auctions are fine until you start setting price limits; then things get tricky. Huang Qiangminforted him while pouring tea and saying nice things. Fang Jingxin choked down the pie-in-the-sky promises Huang Qiangmin sketched out with the tea. At that moment, Jiang Yuan also chose a case. A kidnapping case from Luo Jin City, Baijiang Province. Luo Jin City. Jiang Yuan had been there before and, with such a foundation, in conjunction with cooperation from the ministry, things might go more smoothly. Additionally, the kidnapping case had just urred recently. Since the kidnapper had abducted two elementary school students, causing an uproar in the parents¡¯ group, the incident spread rapidly. The ministry had no choice but to intervene ahead of time. Seeing Jiang Yuan pick this case, Cui Xiaohu was both surprised and pleased, saying, "Captain Jiang, if you can crack this case, the department will be overjoyed. It¡¯s been a week since the case urred, and I can see the colleagues involved in the case are almost anxious to death... However, this case seems to have hit a dead end." "Let¡¯s go to Luo Jin City and see. We¡¯ll talk more after I have a look." Jiang Yuan chose this case because there was still a possibility the two victims could be alive, and also because the case left quite a few clues behind. Beyond fingerprints and footprints, the special case team had found the house rented by the three kidnappers, knew their names and appearances, had discovered tools they had used, and even found a car they had abandoned. The problem was, in such a kidnapping case, the key wasn¡¯t in bringing the criminals to justice, but in rescuing the kidnapped children as much as possible. The detectives in Luo Jin City had no big issue with the former and, given enough time, it was possible to dig out these three people in a few days. However, as for thetter, they were temporarily at a loss. "Let¡¯s set off." Jiang Yuan confirmed the case and got up to leave. Cui Xiaohu, still in shock, asked, "Are you going to Luo Jin City? Right now?" "Yes, make the arrangements with them on the way. You can make the arrangements, right?" Jiang Yuan asked Cui Xiaohu. Faced with a professional challenge, Cui Xiaohu snorted and said, "Don¡¯t worry. Everything will be sorted out by the time we get there." "That¡¯s good." Huang Qiangmin and the others didn¡¯t have much to say, they just packed up and rushed to the airport. Late at night. Huang Qiangmin and his team smoothly arrived at the airport of Luo Jin City. The local criminal police brigade was indeed prepared and sent a politicalmissar to wee them. Silent all the way, they entered the prepared conference room of the criminal police brigade, and all the evidence, as per Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, filled the tables. What surprised everyone slightly was that Jiang Yuan did not examine the fingerprints and footprints evidence he was most familiar with but began to pick up the criminals¡¯ clothes one by one. These clothes, some found in the rental house and others left in that abandoned car, indicated that the kidnappers had invested a significant amount of energy and cost into the kidnapping. Of course, the returns were astonishing ¡ª to date, two million yuan in ransom had been delivered by the families, yet more was still being demanded. "That abandoned car is still around, right?" Jiang Yuan suddenly asked. "It¡¯s still here," replied the politicalmissar of Luo Jin City, still a bit perplexed. In fact, everyone was a bit perplexed. Just in the afternoon, they were in Ningtai County, and now, after a car ride and a flight, they found themselves in the provincial capital of another province, surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Only Jiang Yuan was excited about the newfound application for forensic botany and said, "I would like to see that car, and also, send a microscope to the garage." Chapter 587 - 533 Taking a Different Path

Chapter 587: Chapter 533 Taking a Different Path

The Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment doesn¡¯t have its own vehicle inspection department; simr to Changyang City, they had ced the suspect¡¯s abandoned car in the Traffic Police Detachment¡¯s vehicle inspection center. Thus, everyone took a car to the location. Jiang Yuan sat in the back seat and quickly went through all kinds of physical evidence rted to the case: fingerprints, footprints, DNA, etc., as well as looking at the information provided by the technical investigation team and other aspects. With LV5 fingerprint and footprint identification, he looked at these photographs very quickly. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to handle them; a brief check was enough to move on. For Jiang Yuan, who was ustomed to cold cases, this current kidnapping case provided almost too many clues. Given enough time and ample investigative resources, Jiang Yuan might have been able to determine the perpetrator¡¯s information from several angles. However, the situation now was such that the identity of the criminal was already known and that wasn¡¯t important; what mattered was where they were hiding and where they would go next. Revealing the rtionship between people and ces fell within the scope of Legal Botany and was one of the reasons Jiang Yuan chose this case. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin and others probably still didn¡¯t have a clue. Very few people in the country mastered this technique, and normal people probably hadn¡¯t even considered this angle. Traffic Police Detachment vehicle inspection center. In arge indoor parking spot, the Jianghuai pickup truck awaited inspection. The vehicle itself was a bit battered and shabby, perfectly reflecting the image of a struggling poor family. Looking at the battle-scarred interior and the messy back of the truck, Jiang Yuan partly understood one of the reasons it wasn¡¯t stolen but was instead reported to the police. "Have fingerprints and DNA already been collected?" asked Jiang Yuan, standing a few meters away from the vehicle. "Pretty much, I guess. Someone has already brushed it over anyway. Many photos have been taken too." In the mind of the custodian, a car from which fingerprints and DNA had been collected was considered thoroughly inspected. Indeed, this wasn¡¯t wrong; normally, aplete inspection of a vehicle included these steps. Jiang Yuan felt a slight relief upon hearing this. What he feared most was that trace evidence had already been collected; then he could only rely on the results organized by others. As a beginner at LV3 in Legal Botany, it would be somewhat troublesome for him. However, if only fingerprints and DNA were collected, normal procedure wouldn¡¯t involve wiping the entire vehicle. Investigators would usually use a forensic light or simr tool to scan and collect evidence only when they spot fingerprints or footprints. For trace evidence or legal botany, that level of preliminary investigation wouldn¡¯t count for much. "Get our tools over here." Jiang Yuan asked for a brush and began to collect microparticles from various parts of the vehicle. He started from the chassis and the tires to the floor mats, bumper, air filter, radiator... Huang Qiangmin and Mu Zhiyang stood by, somewhat unable to keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. As Huang Qiangmin coordinated with the leaders of the Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment, he asked Jiang Yuan, "Are we looking for trace evidence? Don¡¯t you usually do this muchter?" In his memory, Jiang Yuan typically turned to trace evidence only when no other evidence could be found. As the name implies, trace evidence is scarce and provides less information than conventional evidence. Besides, trace evidence is expensive, so logically it should be considered in theter stages. But this time, Jiang Yuan was looking for pollen and spores, so he said, "Luo Jin City has probably already gone through all the evidence that could be found. I just thought I¡¯d try a different approach, try another solution. That should be okay, right?" Jiang Yuan used a bit of emotional intelligence and turned to Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s Commissar Ge with a smile, asking the question. He usually couldn¡¯t be bothered to employ this skill. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to a promotion or a pay rise, and with Huang Qiangmin covering for him, using emotional intelligence every day would simply be a waste. This time was slightly different, however, having changed provinces. It was not quite the same as in Shannan Province. Seeing that Cui Xiaohu also seemed young, under these circumstances, it was necessary to use a little bit of emotional intelligence. Of course, Huang Qiangmin had considered all of this, and emotional intelligence was part of the bill¡ªnot to be wasted. Commissar Ge was unaware that every gift in fatees with a price tag, some particrly expensive. Yet he showed a faint smile at Jiang Yuan¡¯s intention to take a different approach. If someone were to find evidence in something that his side had already searched, it would be quite embarrassing. Even if it was the renowned Expert Jiang Yuan from the ministry who found the evidence, the embarrassment would be the same. However, if Jiang Yuan found a new way to solve the case, that would feel much better. It wouldn¡¯t be that they weren¡¯t good enough; it would just be that they had taken the wrong approach, simply bad luck. Commissar Ge chuckled, "Indeed, it¡¯s Jiang Yuan, Expert Jiang, taking a unique approach right from the start. Yes, this is best. Let us all forge ahead together, working on ways to solve the case..." Huang Qiangmin smiled silently. All this about forging ahead together¡ªJiang Yuan had never shown such an attitude before. Commissar Ge continued discussing the case, "The kidnappers this time are extremely insolent. We suspect they must have made long and thorough preparations beforehand; otherwise, they couldn¡¯t have possibly evaded such an intense search. It even seemed they purposely wanted to make a scene, snatching the child right in front of other parents..." "Do they want you to pay the ransom more quickly?" Huang Qiangmin was very well aware of the case¡¯s social impact. If it were a kidnapping kept secret, the police would have ample time to stall the kidnappers, and would not readily choose to pay the ransom. But if it were a case with significant impact, yet not overly so, in order to quickly mitigate the repercussions and resolve the case, particrly to save the hostage, it was even possible that senior officials would press the police to pay the ransom earlier. This bnce would at least require kidnappers of an LV1 theory level. Commissar Ge was very clear about what Huang Qiangmin meant and nodded gravely, "That is indeed very possible. Our assumption is that they aim to get the money and flee the country directly. Initially, they even demanded Bitcoin, which we argued was illegal. After much back and forth, we ended up not making the payment..." "Two million in cash is quite a heavy bag. Can they take it with them?" All three were now known factors, naturally making it impossible to deposit the cash into their cards. In fact, with today¡¯s banks, trying to deposit an extra 500,000 would prompt inquiries about the color of the dog the Great Ancestor saw when he was 18 years old, not to mention that the serial numbers of the bills were definitely recorded. Commissar Ge¡¯s expression grew more solemn as he continued, "We have several conjectures about this. One, they might hide the money and find someone to retrieve itter. Another is that they could have a well-nned route, like smuggling themselves out by sea." Baijiang Province is most famous for the Bai River. From the Bai River, a small boat can take you to sea, and then you can switch to another fishing boat, etc. Leaving the country isn¡¯t as hard as one might imagine. This process is mostly about spending money. A decently speedy boat could cost several hundred thousand, and giving money to a fishing boat at least also requires several hundred thousand before someone would be willing to risk it with you. And ordinary smuggling folk couldn¡¯t produce such arge sum of money. "Is the victim¡¯s fate confirmed, dead or alive?" Huang Qiangmin asked again. "We could confirm it yesterday, haven¡¯t made the call yet today," Commissar Ge paused for a moment before adding, "We always verify the child¡¯s condition with each call, but the risk still exists." ... Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t join in the conversation between the two and remained focused on inspecting the car. The car body was covered in pollen and spores. In the natural environment, the pollen from anemophilous nts can drift away for a hundred meters. Think about the peak seasons for willow and por catkins; it¡¯s only because the willow and por trees are too obvious that they draw people¡¯sints. During different periods, pine, cypress, mulberry, and wormwood are the main forces spreading pollen. It¡¯s normal for pollen to spread a hundred meters. Most importantly, as proof of location, the types and ratios of pollen and spores differ in each region. Put simply, a criminal standing at the entrance of a garden will collect apletely different pollen spectrumpared to standing a meter away. Of course, producing a pollen spectrum of this precision would require LV3 expertise in Legal Botany. "Do you have a centrifuge?" Jiang Yuan asked, wiping and then washing, and separately categorized the washed silt to one side, ready forter use in a centrifuge. "We have it in the Trace Evidence Laboratory," Commissar Ge said. "Then please have them process it," Jiang Yuan delegated the task. Luojin City is the capital of Baijiang Province, and economically well-off. The newly established Trace Evidence Laboratory also had three to four years of experience. Compared to ordinary physical and chemicalboratories, the Trace Evidence Laboratory had a much higher level of technical content. Sifting through some silt should be no problem. Jiang Yuan also requested a variety of strong acids, ready to process the other samples collected from various ces. The strong acids were used to nitrate the background of the samples, such as sand, y, fibers, lignin, humic acids, and so on. It might sound unbelievable, but in reality, when the above substances are corroded by strong acids, the spores and pollen will remain. Spore casings, pollen grains, insects, fungal remnants, and the exoskeletons of crustaceans all have a special kind of polymer that can resist strong acids that even quartz and y cannot, called sporopollenin in nts, and chitin in insects and fungi. Even this step, and certainly those following, are best performed in theboratory. This is not just because using strong acids is dangerous, but also because, in the end, a cleanboratory is required to prevent contamination. In city spaces, spores and pollen also float around in the air. Over the next day, Jiang Yuan spent almost all his time in theb and in front of the microscope. The white-shirted detectives of the Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment awaited Jiang Yuan¡¯s findings with anticipation and a bit of confusion. Cui Xiaohu didn¡¯t understand either, but he had to reassure the detectives of Luojin City, and incidentally exin the situation to departmental leaders concerned with the case... After making the rounds, Cui Xiaohu felt more exhausted than the kidnappers. Huang Qiangmin, understanding, gave Cui Xiaohu a pat on the shoulder¡ªit wasn¡¯t easy for anyone. Chapter 588 - 534: Pollen Atlas

Chapter 588: Chapter 534: Pollen As

Trace Evidence Laboratory. White paint, white tables, white scientific equipment, andb technicians in white coats... This was the highest-levelboratory at the Luo Jin City Bureau Criminal Science Center. Universities and research institutes might have more advancedbs, but in the field of criminal investigation, the Trace Evidence Laboratory was considered the pinnacle. Not to mention, just the requirements for a clean room far exceeded the total budget of a standardboratory, and as for the various pieces of equipment, the smaller they looked, the more expensive they naturally were. The technicians working in the Trace Evidence Laboratory were typically full-time professionals¡ªacross other forensic disciplines like medical examiners that usually emphasized specialization, requiring professional certification and training, whether it be on-site investigation, trace examination, toxicology, or chemical analysis, all were an assembly of elites. Although rted police academies also offered relevant majors and courses, the internal requirements within the police force were not strict. It wasn¡¯t strange for some police specialties to start working after only a few months of training. The standards for the Trace Evidence Laboratory were rtively high, and because of its high construction and operational costs, theboratory naturally had high expectations for its personnel. Yet even such a group, when faced with the invading Jiang Yuan, wisely chose to follow his lead. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t actually shown any aggression, but his operations were inherently forceful. It was like everyone was ying basketball, and someone joined in, gave a very polite smile, then started making mid-range shots, sinking one after another with a swish. Everyone would cheer and say how wonderful it was until he moved to the three-point line and kept hitting shots with a swish. By then, people started to give him their full attention while pping, and when he began to drive to the basket, repeatedly dunking... Of course, apuse was still in order, but it now carried a hint ofpulsion, as if not apuding meant being a resentful idiot jealous of someone¡¯s talent. What should they do if he started dunking from the free throw line? It was appropriate to cheer, but keeping a little distance from the court also seemed necessary. Otherwise, being relegated to a mere backdrop was quite ufortable. Especially when many ssmates held up their phones, gathering around. Jiang Yuan was now practically dunking from the free throw line, switching his style with each dunk. There was no choice, he had just acquired the skill of Legal Botany, so he wasn¡¯t too familiar with all the techniques and naturally had to operate on full capacity. It wasn¡¯t feasible to intentionally lower his skill level for the sake of hiding his brilliance. Hence, one could see Jiang Yuan staining pollen, spores, and organic residues, embedding them, and watching as he ced the embedded samples on a ss slide, then went on to ssify these items with a microscope,posing experiment reports. Identifying pollen and spores was actually an incredibly difficult task. Why are there so few botanists in the world, particrly those who delve into the area of pollen? Is it because people dislike it? It¡¯s because it is difficult and not lucrative! Many types of pollen look almost the same toypeople. Some pollen really is virtually indistinguishable, and it¡¯s not an exaggerated rhetorical device; they are genuinely undifferentiable. For example, the pollen from roses is basically indistinguishable from that of apples, hawthorns, or wild roses. As for those types that are easy to differentiate, that still applies to botanists. There are so many types of pollen in the world that even among botanists, only a few specialize in pollen, and most of them are only familiar with the pollen from their own region. Thus, simr to the Cranial Reconstruction Skill, Legal Botany is an ultra-high-end skill with explosive difficulty. Of course, the effects are also explosively impressive. After all, this skill is incredibly hard to safeguard against, and even fewer people are aware of it. Not until the 1990s did the United States begin to explore the application of Legal Botany. The results were good, but botanists showed little interest, and the difficulty was too great; this situation persists to the present day. And in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, Legal Botany today is almost as revolutionary as DNA was when it first emerged. Only its difficulty has prevented it from bing as widespread as DNA identification. Yet for the investigation of specific, individual cases, its value isparable to DNA identification. "From what I see, grains are the dominant type; they must have stayed in a ce with arge quantity of grains for quite a while," Jiang Yuan concluded his report leisurely after identifying the types of pollen and spore samples under the microscope. The original researchers of the Trace Evidence Laboratory collectively sat opposite Jiang Yuan, listening to him speak. It was as if a group of tall yers on a basketball court were watching an ordinary citizen dunk from the free throw line. Here, status didn¡¯t matter anymore; apuding was all that was required. Jiang Yuan operated the microscope while stating: "The radiator contains inhaled insects, which can be further studied individuallyter on." "The pollen inside the tire tread is much less than the mixed pollen found in the mud outside the tire." "The air filter has a variety of pollen that can be regroupedter." "The pollen patterns on the floor mats and pedals are simr, withtle, grass, goosefoot, hawthorn, wild rose, ivy, birch, pine, elm..." As Jiang Yuan spoke, a technician nearby had already unfolded a map and started looking at it. After a while, when Jiang Yuan finished speaking, the technician said, "Captain Jiang, in Luo Jin City, there aren¡¯t many ces with hawthorn trees; they should serve as an indicator." Jiang Yuan nodded his head, "Sure." "Gramineae means rice, right? There shouldn¡¯t be much of that left in the city. If it¡¯s outside the city, coupled with a hawthorn tree or something, there should also be few," said the technician, who seemed to have some interest in the matter and started to mark it on the map by himself. Jiang Yuan actually wanted to say it wasn¡¯t necessary to go through such trouble; they simply needed to find a satellite image that could disy the ground vegetation and then search through it area by area. Pollen profiles not only determine the qualitative aspects but also the quantitative. The most time-consuming part for Jiang Yuan was counting the number of pollen grains. This process was strenuous for him, involving identifying the species and counting, with recording in between. However, afterpleting this step, Jiang Yuan was roughly able to determine the proportion of some nts in the area. Perhaps there were two, three, or even ten areas that all had the above-mentioned nts, but their proportional quantities would definitely be different. Therefore, by using pollen profiles, it was possible to find a unique location. This was a very strong aspect within the field of advanced forensic botany. It was akin to DNA for a location. Of course, having someone to help narrow down the search area was a good thing as well. After leaving theboratory and changing his clothes, Jiang Yuan made a phone call to Huang Qiangmin asking him to coordinate with Luo Jin City¡¯s detectives to obtain satellite imagery. When the phone call ended, he turned around to find a row of people behind him still grouped in a half-circle, surrounding him just as they had in theboratory. Jiang Yuan felt a chill down his back, and if he hadn¡¯t suppressed it momentarily, he might have used the wrestling skills he learned from Uncle Qiang. The leading technician said with an embarrassed smile, "Just curious." Scratching off the car paint to find pollen and then determining the kidnapper¡¯s location¡ªthis matter sounded intriguing enough to arouse curiosity. The technicians from the Trace Evidence Laboratory had watched Jiang Yuan working, so naturally, they were even more curious. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind and said with a smile, "Then let¡¯s go take a look." He then led the crowd toward the conference room. ... At this very moment, Xu Tian, the Deputy Director of Luo Jin City Bureau, was escorting the entire office staff to aid the victim¡¯s families. The victim¡¯s families hadn¡¯t said much; they were just anxiously crying. The parents of the two primary school students, along with the apanying grandparents, aunts, and uncles, filled the spacious room to capacity. Initially, Xu Tian didn¡¯t want so many family members toe, but they couldn¡¯t calm the parents of the two families, so they had to let the rtives get involved. At the very least, with the rtives there to help soothe them, they had somewhere to start. "Director Xu, why haven¡¯t they released the person yet? We¡¯ve given the money, so what else do they want?" asked the mother of one of the girls, stopping her cries momentarily before breaking into sobs again after speaking. Xu Tian let out a heavy sigh and said, "We specte that they may want another sum of money. The initial 2 million might have had a specific purpose for them, but this next amount is probably what they actually want." "More money... we... we..." the mother looked towards her husband. The man¡¯s face was ashen. Clenching his teeth, he said, "I¡¯ve talked to the bank; we¡¯ll borrow some first, and when we get home today, we¡¯re selling the house!" The woman rxed noticeably at his words, then clung to her husband¡¯s arm and began to sob uncontrobly. The man patted her shoulder and said, "We didn¡¯t have a house back in the day either. As long as Yuan Yuanes back, we can always make money to buy another one." "Yes, yes..." the woman nodded vigorously, her tears soaking her husband¡¯s shoulder. Another couple nearby exchanged looks and also embraced each other, hand in hand. Xu Tian felt terribly ufortable watching this. It wasn¡¯t just him; the mood of the police officers present was also quite bleak. The victims¡¯ families were forced to endure more and more, yet they felt powerless to help. The kidnappers had already demanded more ransom, and this was money the police department couldn¡¯t provide. If the victims¡¯ families were unwilling to pay, the negotiation could very well break down, and the kidnapping case could turn into a homicide... However, watching the families¡¯ actions and feeling their emotions, everyone¡¯s hearts were twisted with anguish. If good people could only express their emotions through tears while the bad reap tangible benefits, what purpose did the police serve? Xu Tian sighed inwardly and tried to reassure them, "This case is not only taken seriously by our city bureau but also by the provincial department and ministry, which have sent people over, and we have experts from all sides providing support. You must maintain your confidence and an optimistic spirit. We are coordinating forces to locate the other party and rescue the children..." He would have been better off not saying anything, as his words made the parents¡¯ just-contained tears fall again. The olddies from both families also began to pull at their sleeves and wipe their tears. Just then, Huang Qiangmin walked in with a beaming smile. Chapter 589 - 535 This Is the Place

Chapter 589: Chapter 535 This Is the ce

In the office, the women sobbed with pear blossoms bathed in rain, and the men also showed faces of profound sorrow. The police¡¯s expressions were a mix of sympathy and anger, with an air of shared enmity against amon enemy, as if ready to battle the heavens and fight the earth. The beaming smile on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face waspletely out of sync with the overall atmosphere. Truth be told, Huang Qiangmin was usually a very serious person. When he served as the captain of the criminal police, just looking at him a few times could make one skip a meal, sending them straight into working overtime without rest. This is why, after arriving in thepletely unfamiliar Baijiang Province, Huang Qiangmin started to employ whatever little emotional intelligence he had umted. Unexpectedly, it shedpletely with the moment. Jiang Yuan followed Huang Qiangmin into the room, behind them a handful of technicians. Upon entering, they stood behind Jiang Yuan in an arc, whispering with smiles on their faces. Then they noticed the group on the opposite side, where the atmosphere was somber with grieving family members of victims and the grim expressions of the deputy director and his subordinates. Facing Huang Qiangmin, Deputy Director Xu Tian couldn¡¯t really say much, so he asked with suppressed anger, "What¡¯s the matter?" The head of the Trace Evidence Laboratory quickly said, "Director Xu, Director Huang and his team have some results; they came to find you." "Oh?" Xu Tian was startled, his gaze shifting from his own subordinates to Huang Qiangmin, and then to Jiang Yuan. His mind shed with the legends of "Ningtai Jiangyuan, with raging mes," and thinking of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s recent smile, a glimmer of hope arose, "What results?" "That... about the case." The head of the Trace Evidence Laboratory nced at the family members next to Xu Tian, not daring to speak out right there. Xu Tian realized his own mistake and pped his forehead, "Let¡¯s go outside to talk." "Director Xu!" the family members all called out, clearly also wanting to know thetest information immediately. Xu Tian waved his hand, "What we¡¯re going to discuss may not be about your case, and besides, many details of an investigation are ssified. Just wait here, and I¡¯lle to inform you if there¡¯s any news." As he spoke, Xu Tian pulled Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan out the door. Left in the office, the policemen looked at each other, some quickly followed suit to leave, while others took out their cellphones and started to make calls. In the hallway. Walking along, Xu Tian said, "Sorry about that, the victims¡¯ family members are very worried, we were exining to them, and everyone¡¯s emotions are quite tense." "It¡¯s okay, we¡¯re the visiting team, after all. Providing emotional value is part of the service," Huang Qiangmin smiled unabashedly. Xu Tian was slightly stunned, feeling that Huang Qiangmin¡¯s tone was a bit too brusque. Xu Tian¡¯s smile receded a bit. Just then, Huang Qiangmin said, "Our Jiang Yuan just analyzed the pollen on the suspect¡¯s abandoned car and produced a pollen map, which could rtively urately pinpoint the area where the suspect had stayed for a long time." "Pollen map?" Xu Tian felt like he had heard someone report this to him before, yet he didn¡¯t quite remember. Huang Qiangmin knew he was lost, so he didn¡¯t bother having Jiang Yuane up to do the analysis. He simply said, "We¡¯ve analyzed that we might be able to find where the suspect is hiding or something like a safe house." Xu Tian¡¯s smile blossomed again, "That¡¯s great... Where is it?" "You need to get us a satellite map for Jiang Yuan, one of those with high precision. He can point it out for you just by looking," Huang Qiangmin stated his requirement. "No problem at all, that¡¯s easy," Xu Tian responded immediately. "That¡¯s great, let¡¯s head to the meeting room. I¡¯ll message Cui Ke and the others toe over," Huang Qiangmin sent a text, calling Cui Xiaohu and others. Xu Tian also contacted the IT department to meet in the conference room and began pulling up the satellite images that Jiang Yuan needed. The technician from the Trace Evidence Laboratory had already hung a paper map next to him and drawn several circles on it in red, marking all the ces he knew where hawthorn trees were located. Rather than searching inch by inch on the map, this method was obviously much faster. Jiang Yuan thought to himself that when he returned, he should also go through Ningtai County, Qinghe City, and Changyang City to get a better sense of the local nts. As much as Jiang Yuan thought, his attention quickly reverted to theputer screen. The IT talent who had been sent to the local office by argepany was now using a mouse unique to the department, opening the first marked location and zooming in to the bottomyer. "Let¡¯s have a look at the surroundings within 100 meters," Jiang Yuan said. The IT guy operated the mouse and keyboard, beginning to showcase the surroundings within 100 meters for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, with his arms crossed, waited for him to finish the disy, then shook his head, "Not this one. Next." The IT guy immediately switched to another location. Xu Tian, Huang Qiangmin, and the others stood eagerly by, watching. Although there were no immediate results, seeing how confident Jiang Yuan was, they all held great expectations. Truth be told, Jiang Yuan was feeling a bit of trepidation himself. Because of this, he also activated his temporary +1 skill. However, since he didn¡¯t have an intuitive understanding of LV3, nor did he experience how strong LV4 Legal Botany was, he basically looked at a location and could quickly and clearly judge whether it matched the pollen map or not. As to how difficult such a judgment was, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have aplete concept himself. Naturally, the muggles around him were even more clueless. They watched Jiang Yuan make one judgment after another, though they thought it somewhat slow. The hawthorn trees in Luo Jin City are indeed sparse. This fellow from the Trace Evidence Laboratory is truly a nt enthusiast, well-versed in the distribution of many nts throughout the city. In addition to that, he¡¯s also fairly knowledgeable about the locations within the city where rice is grown. Of course, that¡¯s limited to the main urban area. If nothing turns up within the main urban area, scouring the suburbs and outer areas would be a huge task, and would have to be undertaken slowly. Amidst various concerns, Jiang Yuan¡¯s "next one" continued unabated. Just as everyone started to feel a bit weary, Jiang Yuan suddenly eximed, "Stop!" Huang Qiangmin perked up like a rabbit targeted by a hawk, his ears instantly on alert. Xu Tian and the others, a little slower on the uptake, turned to look with sleepiness still clouding the corners of their eyes. "Zoom in and take a look," Jiang Yuan said, pointing at the screen. The location Jiang Yuan had chosen was a city park. The park was situated on the southern side of the city, wrapping around a small hill. It was originally a private school from olden times, but after being requisitioned following the founding of the nation, it was rebuilt on the original site and extended to be a park. The spot Jiang Yuan pointed to was on the southern side of the park, far from the private school, and was a remote location within the park itself. The expressions of Xu Tian, Huang Qiangmin, and others turned somber. From a detective¡¯s point of view, the area Jiang Yuan indicated was more suited for burying a body than hiding a person. Several technicians from the Trace Evidence Laboratory leaned in to get a better look at the area Jiang Yuan had selected and the nts disyed on the screen, silently taking it all in. Where Jiang Yuan pointed, there was a wastnd with trails, but no tall trees. Yet, to its north, south, east, and west, there was an abundance of nt life. A pollen footprint is a collection of various nt species, where the core is not the species but the proportion. In fact, if we speak solely of the species, legal botany has its issues because the pollen from many anemophilous nts can drift very far. ording to records, the pollen of certain anemophilous nts can even be found in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Therefore, if a person has a certain type of pollen on them and ites from an anemophilous nt in very small quantities, it¡¯s impossible to conclude that they¡¯ve made contact or been in the vicinity. But proportions are different. In a small area, particrly within a few square meters, anemophilous nts confront simr environments, so the proportion of pollen that gets transferred to objects would be generally simr. This type of pollen footprint is of much greater evidentiary value than pollen from individual genera or species. Jiang Yuan was now focused on the proportions. Looking at the erged satellite images, the distribution of hawthorn, birch, and elm trees in this area seemed correct, with a slightly lower proportion of pine trees, which actually made more sense considering the quantity of pine trees nearby. "Zoom in a bit more, so we can see smaller nts," Jiang Yuan requested. The IT guy did as instructed, erging the satellite image further to reveal more nt life. Oval-leaved wild roses with yellow flowers lined the roadways, ovate climbing nts were striving to reach the top of nearby buildings, and broad ovatetles were attracting bees and butterflies on the slopes next to the path... In the city, a lone patch of rice stood out, seeming as if it had been sown wildly; although no Chenopodiaceae were present, a closer look at the weedy rice fields suggested that they could still be mixed in. After making some quick calctions, Jiang Yuan no longer hesitated, confirming with certainty by pointing at the screen, "It¡¯s right here." Xu Tian and others who had been waiting for the results couldn¡¯t quite believe it, saying, "Found it already?" "Yes, the three kidnappers must have spent a considerable amount of time in this area," Jiang Yuan stated with even more certainty. The pollen footprint had been collected from the floor mats and pedals, indicating that both front and rear passengers left simr profiles. The identities of the three kidnappers were now confirmed. Although all three were unemployed drifters, their backgrounds differed and they wouldn¡¯t have reason to be in this park without cause. Simply put, they wouldn¡¯t be here for "daily life," only for a "matter." "Director Xu," Huang Qiangmin looked at Xu Tian, then at Cui Xiaohu who had arrivedter. "I understand. Ah, it took me a moment to catch on," Xu Tian, after being prompted by Huang Qiangmin, quickly pulled out his phone. In no time, various sounds could be heard echoing down the corridor. For this case team, activation meant scaling up to at least 30 members. "I¡¯ll go take a look too," Jiang Yuan said. Legal botany calls for a clearer look on-site. Huang Qiangmin tried to dissuade him, but without sess, and decided to apany him. Cui Xiaohu and the rest didn¡¯t hesitate and followed as well. With bureau department heads heading to the front line, Xu Tian had no choice but to join them along with his assignedpanions, and the size of the departing team instantly doubled. Chapter 590 - 536

Chapter 590: 536

Lucun Park. Since the beginning of the year, the park¡¯s own parking lot had never been full. Today, cars were parked haphazardly everywhere. When Jiang Yuan and the others got out of their vehicle, all they heard was that the fourth criminal police unit had already gone up, so they could only wait on the spot for the results. The area he had outlined, whether it be the ce where the body was buried or the ce where the perpetrator hid, would need to be searched by the police before it was suitable for examination. Mu Zhiyang, wielding a shield, stuck closely to Jiang Yuan. For him, this was already the scene. "How is the front line? Any updates?" Cui Xiaohu asked Xu Tian. "No news at the moment, we¡¯re not sure what the situation is." Xu Tian paused, then said, "The captain of the fourth unit, Pang Jidong, is very experienced, and the fourth unit is also an elite force of our criminal police brigade. They have already organized an assault team." Huang Qiangmin moved his lips but wisely refrained frommenting. Police from different ces have different response ns, and he could not apply the experience from Ningtai County to Luo Jin City. Cui Xiaohu continued to inquire, "Have they reached the ce? Have they seen exposed patches of earth... or soil mounds?" "Not yet." Xu Tian knew what Cui Xiaohu was getting at; he was worried that the location might be where the victim was buried. The volume of a normal adult is approximately 0.06 cubic meters. Two elementary school children put together could be roughly considered simr in size to an adult. Therefore, burying two elementary school children would mean that at least 60 liters of soil would be disced on the ground. Soil is much heavier than water, with one liter of soil weighing about 2.5 kilograms, so 60 liters of soil would amount to about 150 kilograms. It would be quite difficult to remove this amount of soil all at once, and it wouldn¡¯t be easy to do so in multiple trips either¡ªthis is why many people who bury their spouses in their backyards, especially husbands, end up with a small mound of earth. It¡¯s not that they don¡¯t know how to disguise it; it¡¯s just that moving those materials takes a lot of time and effort. In theory, under the current circumstances, if the three kidnappers chose to bury the bodies, they probably wouldn¡¯t have dealt with it so intricately, as they wouldn¡¯t have needed to take a long time to bury them. Cui Xiaohu breathed a slight sigh of relief, saying, "It would be best if it¡¯s not a burial site." However, Xu Tian countered, "They might have also carried the soil to the flower beds or sprinkled it in the bushes. There are ces like the well in the park..." It was then that Cui Xiaohu realized he had been too simplistic in his thinking, and his expression became even more serious. "Director Xu, Pang Jidong is requesting to deploy the assault team first," the brigademander reported,ing over with a walkie-talkie. Xu Tian said, "You¡¯re the frontlinemander; you give the orders." "I¡¯ll send the assault team then," said the brigademander. Standing next to Xu Tian, he pressed the walkie-talkie button and said, "Old Pang, send in the assault team. Be careful and provide cover." "Assault team, move out. Received. I¡¯ll reinforce from behind. Stay safe," Pang Jidong quickly replied. As the provincial capital, Luo Jin City boasted a criminal police force that was also quite skilled. In fact, in recent years, the government departments at the provincial level had an overflow of staffing needs. Apart from the top three universities, graduates from other schools had to work hard to get in. Those who managed to break through were acknowledged for theirpetency and thoroughness. The six-person assault team that Pang Jidong selected included two experienced detectives and four strong young men who had recently joined the team. Pang Jidong had all six armed and sent them to the target location first, with the intent of surprise attack. As for the remaining dozen people, he didn¡¯t station them at the front. Some were sent to block the rear, while others followed the six for reinforcement. Normally, deploying six people to catch three violent criminals would be too few, even if they were all armed, it would only cause more concern. But Pang Jidong still made such a decision. Although the six-person team¡¯s assault was risky, if sessful, the rewards would be substantial. Otherwise, having more than twenty people swarm in would certainly be safe, but with the kidnappers holding two elementary students, the case would still be unresolved, and the aftermathplicated. However, Pang Jidong had confidence in his subordinates. Especially the young ones, who had superior physical fitness and several years of training in closebat, capable of taking on two alone unarmed. With firearms, theirbat effectiveness was assured. The six-man squad approached the target area with caution. At the same time, nearby police were evacuating the scant visitors from the park. Continuous reports from the front line came through the brigademander¡¯s walkie-talkie. "There¡¯s an electrical substation on the left." "Can you see clearly into the shrubbery?" "Yes, it¡¯s clear. No one could hide there." "There¡¯s a small path at the back that leads into the thicket." "We have already sent people over." The squadron leader and Xu Tian standing behind him listened without a word, while Cui Xiaohu, Huang Qiangmin, and Jiang Yuan, among others, were certainly not qualified to override their superiors and takemand. In fact, had it not been for Jiang Yuan¡¯s decision toe to the scene, Xu Tian and the others would not have felt this sense of urgency and anxiety. They were not sure whether this ce was where the criminal was hiding, where the bodies were buried, or some other kind of clue. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude, especially his decision toe to the scene, indeed made Xu Tian and the others feel a sense of urgency. Sssss... The squadron leader¡¯s walkie-talkie crackled to life, immediately drawing everyone¡¯s attention. "No one near the plot ofnd, there¡¯s a manhole cover, we¡¯re about to open it," the police officer on the walkie-talkie panted. Even for a seasoned detective, this was an extremely tense moment, not to mention for the six members of the assault team. At that moment, Cui Xiaohu on the other end of the walkie-talkie even held his breath involuntarily. "Hostage found. Hostage found in the well, unharmed, no, in good health... no sign of the kidnapper, repeat, no sign of the kidnapper!" The voiceing from the walkie-talkie was tense and exhrating. The squadron leader could not maintain silence any longer, grabbed the walkie-talkie and said, "Ensure safety, protect the hostage, fourth team enter the scene..." After finishing, the squadron leader looked at Xu Tian and said, "Director Xu..." "Let¡¯s go there too." Xu Tian waved his hand and walked forward. The crowd then moved together towards the target area. Upon reaching the designated plot, they saw two elementary school students already sitting on a bench by the roadside, crying, but soundlessly, tears almost gone. Their clothes were dirty, and their wrists showed blue marks from being bound. Their faces were simrly sullied and bruised, but thankfully their limbs were intact, their facial features all there, and there were no signs of excessive blood loss. Looking ahead at the grass, in the midst of the unkempt wild grass, a manhole cover had been pried open. Some had already gone down to check, while about a dozen police officers had spread out to search for simr situations. Pang Jidong jogged over, saluted, and reported, "It¡¯s a dry well. The tunnel underneath has been blocked off, there¡¯s nowhere else to go, only the two hostages were found in the well, bound and gagged. Our team members asked, and they were lowered down from above. They don¡¯t know how long they have been there." "Great! Great!" Xu Tian nodded repeatedly. Although there were still many unanswered questions, finding the hostages was a major achievement, equivalent to solving eighty percent of the case. As for the rest, catching the three kidnappers, he thought, would not be difficult. Even if they couldn¡¯t be caught in the short term, so what! "Send the children to the hospital, and ensure confidentiality. Also, inform all personnel involved in the operation to make sure they maintain secrecy." Deputy Director Xu suddenly felt a pang of regret; had he known Jiang Yuan¡¯s deductions were so urate, he should have arranged these matters in advance. As Xu Tian considered this, he turned towards Jiang Yuan with a smile and said admiringly, "To be honest, I¡¯ve underestimated him. Ningtai Jiang Yuan truly lives up to his reputation, it¡¯s unimaginable!" "It¡¯s good that the hostages were found." Jiang Yuan had solved many cases, but rescuing hostages was still quite rare. Especially two elementary school children, their tears were particrly heartwarming. "I think the kidnappers ced the two hostages here, probably nning it as a getaway," the squadron leader said with greater calm, analyzing the situation. "It¡¯s likely that after the next sessful ransom demand, the kidnapper would disclose this dry well¡¯s location to us. By then, having found the hostages, we wouldn¡¯t pursue them too closely, and even if they were caught, they wouldn¡¯t be sentenced too heavily." "If I were the kidnapper, I would have kept the two children separate," Li Haochen, who had been mostly silent, suddenly spoke up. "It should not be too difficult to find two dry wells. This way, whether a family pays a ransom or whether they use one child to prove it, it would be more flexible. After all, for the kidnapper, the focus would then be on how to demand a second ransom." The group fell into deep thought. "We have been requesting to talk to the hostages for the past few days. Maybe that¡¯s the reason they put the two hostages together," the squadron leader said slowly. "Even though this ce is remote, frequently entering the park would be increasingly dangerous for the three of them," Li Haochen paused before continuing, "Moreover, if I were the kidnapper, I wouldn¡¯t want to move the hostages again after the kidnapping, unless..." "Unless what?" the squadron leader was unable to follow Li Haochen¡¯s train of thought this time. "Unless I lived nearby, with the freedom toe and go during off-peak hours, ensuring I wouldn¡¯t be caught on surveince or by security..." Li Haochen closed his eyes in contemtion, "If it were me waiting for the ransom, indeed I might choose a ce like this with few people and familiar to me; a very good choice." Li Haochen surveyed their surroundings, "There are many roads near the park, and plenty of paths to choose from, making escape convenient. Not heading directly out of the city mainly because after the abduction, they wouldn¡¯t want to risk going too far. This ce would be both an offensive and defensive option, even if the cops got a whiff, they could hide in the park..." "I¡¯ll call people over." The squadron leader looked at Li Haochen and nodded emphatically. Chapter 591 - 537 Trap

Chapter 591: Chapter 537 Trap

"Mobilize the nearby police stations and traffic police teams, and let¡¯s encircle this area first," Xu Tian requested a map and circled an area with a red pen,pletely enclosing the vicinity of Lucun Park. The detachmentmander nced at it, snapped a couple of photos, and then started to arrange roadblocks. One phone call after another was made, and the city¡¯s criminal police immediately sprang into action. Thework of roads and waterways near Lucun was dense, with several urban viges in the vicinity. But if you stretch the cordon a bit farther, the roads leading into and out of the city were limited, and most of them had checkpoints. Thus, Xu Tian seemed to draw arge circle, but in reality, the requirement for police forces wasn¡¯t that exaggerated. Of course, the three kidnappers could also abandon their car and proceed on foot. However, that wouldn¡¯t be efficient, even if they managed to realize this and avoided major highways in favor of minor paths. Once the police found their previous hiding spot, or if someone encountered them along the way and reported it, the trio wouldn¡¯t be far from the prison. The only concern was the nearby water system. There were several rivers and waterways around Lucun Park, always filled with water, and not only were there surface waterways, but there was also an undergroundwork. Whether there were underground rivers was unclear. The water system was moreplex than the roads, but the detachment head handled it in much the same way. Anyway, the chances of directly catching someone around Lucun Park were slim, and it was rtively easy for the suspects to escape. However, it wouldn¡¯t be so easy to flee the area and run off into the distance. If their hideout was previously unknown, and the time of their departure was undetected, then the three robbers, sneaking away from the vicinity of Lucun Park, had a decent chance of escaping beyond Luo Jin City, or even beyond the confines of Baijiang Province. Under the current criminal investigation mechanism, if they crossed the provincial border, the probability of a sessful escape was quite high. But they would need money. Take Ma Chui Chui, for example. Despite the pursuit of so many, he managed to flee to Hainan. If he had money in his hands, and a more stable mindset, and a more resolute character, the chances of escaping the country or hiding would be quite high. However, to get back to the point, if he had a stable mind and resolute character, his roommate¡¯s child would be attending The Great Learning by now. Regardless, the police were now at an advantage. The three kidnappers probably didn¡¯t know they had been exposed, and this period was the easiest time to catch them. The detachmentmander naturally thought of this and gave a few additional reminders. Turning back, Pang Jidong, the head of the fourth squad, said, "It¡¯s appropriate for the roadblock officers to wear uniforms and use police cars, but if we spread out the searching officers too much, we could easily startle the snake." "Not wearing uniforms won¡¯t work either, it¡¯s inconvenient when checking people," the detachment head paused and said, "Everyone just act like it¡¯s a routine check, and if that doesn¡¯t hold up anymore, then we¡¯ll deal with it. Right now, it¡¯s about being quick to beat slow..." While saying "quick," he unconsciously slowed down his speaking pace. Just as he said, once the search began, startling the snake was a real risk, and it wasn¡¯t possible to spread out aprehensive search due to limited manpower. So, if the direction of the search was wrong, the initiative would once again switch sides. The more absurd the mistake, the more time the other party would have to run. "If I were the robber, I probably wouldn¡¯t have imagined that the well-prepared hostage pit would be discovered in this way," Li Haochen, who had been silent throughout thest case, except for the proficient serving of tea and water, was nearly invisible. But this case was clearly within Li Haochen¡¯s scope. Li Haochen took the initiative to step forward and said, "I think we should proceed as usual, then ambush in the park, and when the kidnappers call again, we strongly demand proof of the hostage¡¯s status. As long as we are firm and promise to pay, if I were the kidnapper, I would probably agree. Because we are three people, we would eventually tend topromise." Cui Xiaohu coughed twice, knowing that his colleague¡¯s strong identification with the role was surfacing again, and interrupted, "There are three criminals." "Right... the three criminals would also tend topromise," Li Haochen paused, then continued, "The hostage is still here, and the criminals haven¡¯t contacted the family. It¡¯s impossible for them to just run away. They would want to exploit the situation one more time." It was evident that this person had seriously studied criminal psychology, perhaps even experienced it firsthand. The few people present looked at Li Haochen with unusual eyes. Unperturbed by their gaze, Li Haochen finished speaking and fell silent again. Xu Tian, as the highest-ranking officer on site, hissed, "Setting a trap... could be an option..." He looked over at the detachment head. "Then we need to pull our people back now and bet that they haven¡¯t received the news and have no informants around here," the detachment head muttered. He wasn¡¯t opposed to the idea, but setting up a trap was risky¡ªif it went well, it wasmendable, but if the criminals turned the tables, it could be aughingstock. Xu Tian was also uncertain and consulted with Pang Jidong, the head of the fourth squad, who would be in the field directing the operation. Pang Jidong was hesitant but eventually supported the idea of setting a trap. If a search were to be conducted, he would be the one tomand on the front lines. Given the prevalence of shared rentals in the urban viges and residential areas nearby, the volume of work for a search would be huge, and most likely, it would just end up chasing the criminals away. ... Jiang Yuan listened to their discussion, silently stepping back a few paces. He looked down and slowly circled the dry well. Weeds grew thick around the dry well. Even though there were signs of trampling, little evidence could be gathered. Regrettably, nature is detectives¡¯ greatest enemy, with a variety of dposers able to erase myriad traces and evidence. Bloodstains, for instance, might persist in a building for ten or twenty years, but in nature, surviving even a week would be a miracle of microbial underachievement. On the other hand, the interactions between nature and humans are extensive, far exceeding those in artificial environments. This was advantageous for solving the case at the onset, much like... The soft earth not only made it easy to leave footprints but also provided plenty of information. In the park environment, it was quite hard to avoid leaving footprints, especially when one has to walk deep into the grassy areas, where ditches inevitably leave traces. Jiang Yuan quickly found a pair of Nike shoe prints. That bold check mark, to crime scene investigators, was somewhat provocative. "These must be Guo Haiyun¡¯s footprints," Jiang Yuan bent down to measure them with his hand, called Mu Zhiyang over, and took out a PAD from his backpack. He then pulled up the information on the suspect topare. Guo Haiyun was the oldest of the trio of kidnappers, 48 years old this year, nearing the age when a middle-aged man¡¯s violent criminal behavior might flicker before fading altogether. If he could have held off for another two years, he might have entered the ¡¯sage phase¡¯ of life. For now... Jiang Yuan was prepared to send him into the final stage of his life. "It¡¯s definitely Guo Haiyun¡¯s," Jiang Yuan actually had the footprints and other information of the three criminals memorized, but with the constant influx of cases throughout the year, he double-checked to avoid any errors. Having exposed all personal information of the three kidnappers, Jiang Yuan confirmed the details and said to Mu Zhiyang, "Did you bring a gun?" "I did." Upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, Mu Zhiyang immediately focused, took out his gun, and inspected it on the spot. "Call a few more people over, let¡¯s make another round," Jiang Yuan said while dialing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s number, "I want to follow a trail of footprints. Should we get a dog to follow as well?" "Director Xu has already ordered someone to get a dog, but there¡¯s water around the park, and once outside, with theplex flow of people, it¡¯s not certain the dog will be able to keep up," Huang Qiangmin paused, then added, "They¡¯re now discussing the details of the ambush. Whether or not we¡¯ll use a dog is still undecided." "Alright." "Mhm, it would be best to change clothes. If we¡¯re setting a trap, we don¡¯t want any police appearing nearby." Huang Qiangmin, while cing more trust in Jiang Yuan, also tried not to disrupt the unit¡¯s cohesion. Jiang Yuan acknowledged the advice. It did not matter to him whether or not he wore a police uniform. "I¡¯ll ask Director Xu to send a few more people your way. Hang on; I¡¯ll find a way to get some clothes over to you..." Huang Qiangmin made a few more rmendations. Jiang Yuan agreed to each point, put away his phone, and continued forward, scanning his surroundings vigntly. Before long, Mu Zhiyang brought six people, all in in clothes, and they brought clothes for Jiang Yuan as well. Jiang Yuan changed on the spot, greeted the men, and without much else to say, continued on his way with his hands behind his back, looking down. The criminal investigators present were avidly discussing Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of using pollen to track down the hostage. Now, seeing Jiang Yuan was almost like seeing a magician, and they were excessivelypliant. Mu Zhiyang divided them into three pairs, forming a protective ¡¯Æ·¡¯ shape behind himself and Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to worry about any of that and just focused on searching for footprints. The loose and unpredictable soil of the park made it possible for the criminal to leave footprints in soft areas and unlikely in hard ones. The park was cleaned regrly, and the water from the afternoon watering might have washed away the traces. Overall, though, it was quite easy to follow Guo Haiyun¡¯s footprints. He seemed tock counter-surveince awareness, at least within this section of the park, and had not taken it seriously. The kidnapper might have thought that the dried well in the park he chose at the spur of the moment would never be found by the police unless they themselves disclosed it. And the likes of track tracing were not well understood by criminals who had scant education. With his hands behind his back, Jiang Yuan moved at a leisurely pace, examining and walking like an elderly person. Footprints have a direction, and with the presence of a toe point, it¡¯s even better to see clearly. In circumstances like turning corners, Guo Haiyun tended to push off with his big toe, which made it easy to notice. In no time, Jiang Yuan had walked a considerable distance. Mu Zhiyang and the others followed close to Jiang Yuan, feeling a mix of boredom and tension. From a distance, they had be mere specks. Woosh... A car whizzed past the gate, and looking up, Jiang Yuan realized he was now at the park¡¯s exit. This was a side gate to the southeast. Outside was a disorderly street. The side gate featured a manually operated revolving door that only allowed one person through at a time, but on the park side of the gate was a public toilet, attracting many people from outside just to use the facilities. "This park isn¡¯t too dog-friendly," Jiang Yuan said, his brow furrowed at the thought. Such a scene with a toilet, a broken road, chaotic pedestrians, and street hawkers in a vige within the city posed a tremendous challenge for police dogs and for people equally. Chapter 592 - 538 Hang

Chapter 592: Chapter 538 Hang

"Go ask around, see if there are any surveince cameras." Jiang Yuan noticed there were several small shops across from the park; if they were lucky, perhaps there would be surveince cameras capturing theings and goings at the park entrance. Mu Zhiyang immediately arranged for two pairs of people to make inquiries, and whispered, "If we reveal our identities while checking the surveince cameras, the kidnappers might get wind of it." "Just record the shop owners¡¯ mobile numbers and WeChat IDs, and warn them not to spread any information through groups or Moments. That should suffice." Jiang Yuan, having dealt with many cases, didn¡¯t believe anyone would dare to actively tip off the three kidnappers now. The rtives and friends of the three had already been checked, and legal education had been provided to them. If anyone dared to leak information, they would be making trouble for themselves. The Cybersecurity Brigade probably wouldn¡¯t mind earning some merit as well. In the current environment, the only ways for the trio of kidnappers to obtain information would be through their own surveince or public channels like mobile groups or Moments. Even if they conducted their own surveince, Jiang Yuan felt it wouldn¡¯t be easy. Assuming they could work shifts monitoring areas outside their hideout, it would be akin to standing guard, and without any military discipline, how could they endure that? This was also the foundation for their search. If the kidnappers had the means to have eyes and ears everywhere, they would have fled the moment the hostages were discovered. The two teams visited each shop in turn, and soon sent back the message: there were no cameras that captured the park¡¯s entrances. Here, they were all small shops, and only three had installed cameras; not one of them was aimed at the park¡¯s entrance. Jiang Yuan nodded upon hearing this. Mu Zhiyang was more worried than Jiang Yuan and said, "It¡¯s so crowded, and there¡¯s even a public toilet. Dazhuang will find it challenging, too." The sess rate of police dogs tracking within the city wasn¡¯t particrly high, and the capabilities of different police dogs varied greatly. Like hunters in the mountains, the sess rate of a pack of dogs tracking prey was also limited, and it certainly involved a bit of luck. The trail of footprints had also gone cold, and while Jiang Yuan was thinking about this, the image of the pollen lifted from the pickup truck surfaced in his mind. The pollen obtained through legal botany was the most significant evidence he had gathered recently. The search for the hostages relied on the pollen found in the foot mat and pedal area, essentially providing an indirect indication of the passengers¡¯ stops. Besides these two areas, pollen and spores were also found in other parts of the pickup truck, with varying degrees of differentiation. Jiang Yuan asked for a tablet and opened the local satellite map, studying it carefully. "Morning glory, hydrangea, violet..." These were the types of pollen found on other parts of the pickup truck, not in great quantities, which meant they held less evidentiary power. However, trying to use them to guide the way seemed feasible. But looking around at the surrounding residential areas, Jiang Yuan was unable to determine where these flowers might or might not be. After searching once, he searched again, and at that moment, Jiang Yuan saw a patch of corn poppies on the roadside greenery to the south. For detectives, this flower, which bears a striking resemnce to the poppy, is somewhat conspicuous. Upon closer inspection, the roadside nts were covered in coarse hair¡ªdefinitely corn poppies. And during the search for pollen in the pickup truck, the corn poppy pollen was also identified. "Let¡¯s go check the south side." Jiang Yuan guessed that the pollen had been picked up by the pickup truck as it passed the greenbelt to the south, so he decided to have a look in that direction. The group moved at a walking pace, observing as they went. Jiang Yuan paid careful attention to the patch where the corn poppies grew, ensuring there were no poppies among them before he continued on. Some fools like to nt poppies in their yards and mix them in with a bunch of corn poppies as a form of camouge. But in reality, ordinary people can¡¯t even recognize poppies, let alone professional narcotics officers who can easily distinguish between corn poppies and poppies. After passing the greenbelt with the corn poppies and continuing forward for a bit, they came to a fork in the road; to the right, a brand new residential area with twenty or thirty tall buildings stood erect. To the left was a vige in the city by the river, made up of self-built houses. Without question, they must¡¯ve headed to the vige in the city. In Luo Jin City, new residentialplexes with ess controls, security guards, and surveince cameras were clearly not conducive to the secretive lifestyle favored by the trio of kidnappers. As for the vige in the city, Jiang Yuan was all too familiar with it... "Let¡¯s go have a look," Jiang Yuan muttered, and Mu Zhiyang caught on immediately. As they walked past the entrance of the urban vige, although a few old grandpas were chatting nearby, no one paid any attention to the peopleing and going. If one were to drive, it would be even easier. Inside the urban vige, the roads were narrow, but there was a certain order to the parking spots. Jiang Yuan and his group made their way inside and soon arrived at the riverside. The river was unnamed, but it stretched over ten meters in width; its green waters hid any indication of depth. There were two or three food stalls or teahouses by the river, and several speedboats and fishing boats moored at the water¡¯s edge. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate, he pulled out his phone and called Huang Qiangmin. Once the reinforcements arrived, Jiang Yuan, leading Mu Zhiyang and the others, took control of the boats, especially the speedboats. A man with a bare chest came over, asking in an unfriendly tone, "Who are you?" "Police," Mu Zhiyang showed his badge and asked, "Whose boats are these?" "They¡¯re all boats from our vige," the man¡¯s tone softened considerably upon seeing the police badge. "All of them belong to your own vige? Are there any that are rented out, or bought by outsiders?" Mu Zhiyang inquired. "Yeah, these days the boats aren¡¯t used for work; they¡¯re all for fun. If you want to rent one, we can rent to you," the shirtless man replied. Jiang Yuan said, "Show him the photos." So, Mu Zhiyang took out photos of the kidnappers to show the man, asking, "Did they rent any boats?" The shirtless man frowned as he looked for a while, not too sure, "I can¡¯t really tell... but two of them look a bit alike... These two, always wearing masks, asionally take the boat out, say they¡¯re going fishing and stuff..." "Don¡¯t you watch the news?" Mu Zhiyang asked as he put away the photos. "Decent folks don¡¯t watch that stuff," the manughed. "These two, do you keep records of them renting boats or mooring them? Do you usually write anything down?" Mu Zhiyang pressed further. The shirtless man nodded, "We have to pay mooring fees, and there are charges for washing the boats too." "Show us your logbook," Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang followed him to have a look, and saw the man pull out a registration book. The registration book¡¯s records were very simple, just boat numbers, times, and amounts of money, but at the end, there was a string of numbers. Jiang Yuan, finding them familiar, asked, "Is this an apartment number?" "Yes." "1307030, what does that mean?" "Building 13, 7th floor, Apartment 3, 0 means it¡¯s a whole rented apartment, if it¡¯s sublet then we write additional numbers after that." Jiang Yuan nodded; the habits in Luo Jin City were simr to those in Ningtai. Jiang Yuan called Huang Qiangmin again, and then cautioned Mu Zhiyang, "Keep a good watch, beware of any desperate actions." "Don¡¯t worry," Mu Zhiyang replied with a serious expression. The few people by the shore were also kept behind, looking bewildered on the side. After about 10 minutes, Huang Qiangmin sent a message to Jiang Yuan: "It¡¯s started." Then there was a thud from within the vige. The specifics sounds were unclear, but one could hear a variety of noises emerging in chaos. Following that, Huang Qiangmin called, "Caught them, all three are here, they were actually cooking noodles." Chapter 593 - 539 Designation

Chapter 593: Chapter 539 Designation

Trap Squad. Pang Jidong and the othersy hidden in the bush, perched on tree branches, nestled under dry wells, with detestable insects crawling at their feet and annoying mosquitoes swarming around them, all amidst an unbearable silence. When Pang Jidong¡¯s phone silently buzzed for the seventh or eighth time, he finally noticed. He checked the message, frowned, and dialed back in a very soft voice, asking, "Captain Wang?" "Jidong, I just sent you a message. The three kidnappers have been arrested. Clean up your side and send someone for the investigation. The team can withdraw now," the squadron leader said with augh on the other end of the phone. "Ah... cracked it?" "Yes, solved. Jiang Yuan followed the footprints and pollen to locate the residential area where the kidnappers were hiding, andter found their specific apartment. When the team stormed in, the kidnappers were still boiling noodles," he exined. Pang Jidong¡¯s temples throbbed as if electrocuted; images of dogs, bees, and hanging noodles fluttered through his mind... "Just like that, the suspects were caught?" Pang Jidong sought confirmation again. "Yes, the kidnappers were captured, no doubt about it. You can call back your team now." "This... is this how cases are cracked now?" Pang Jidong said, ncing at Li Haochen, whoy beside him covered in dirt and grime, then slowly stood up, "Well, then I¡¯ll take down the arrangements here." "Right. We¡¯ll talk more back at the police station. Thank you for your hard work." The squadron leader was aware that Pang Jidong and his team hadbored in vain, but that was just how it went¡ªno need to overemphasize it. For the entire team, as long as the case was cracked, it was grand news. Pang Jidong¡¯s team had set a trap that no one sprung, but that wasn¡¯t a big deal. Setting a snare in the forest doesn¡¯t guarantee catching prey. With a sense of resignation, Pang Jidong put away his phone, then turned to Li Haochen and said, "Let¡¯s go, the kidnappers have been caught." Then, Pang Jidong raised his voice and called out, "Everyone, regroup! The suspects have been captured,e on out. I need two people to help pull our brother out of the well." "They got caught?" Li Haochen could only get up and look around, "Such a pity, it was a good trap." Indeed, it was an excellent trap; had it caught a robber, it would¡¯ve made quite the story. Pang Jidong sighed and said, "The kidnappers must feel pretty much the same as us¡ªhiding the hostage so well, only to have them pried out without a clue, still boiling noodles in the room while they themselves were about to be hung up to dry!" "It¡¯s a bit outrageous, this forensic botany..." Li Haochen nodded, recalling the story of Jiang Yuan researching pollen. The whole story seemed rted to the criminal suspect, yet, in reality, it was unrted. Solving the case without any contact with the criminal suspects or even the informants went against Li Haochen¡¯s philosophy of crime-solving¡ªever since he joined the ministry, Li Haochen had practiced immersing himself among criminals, using their mindset to solve cases, leveraging their connections, and utilizing their power... In this kidnapping case, Li Haochen had thought he would get a chance to demonstrate his abilities. What he didn¡¯t expect was to witness a case being solved with zero contact. It was as if the wheels of technology had rolled right over his face. "Let¡¯s go back," Pang Jidong¡¯s mood began to lighten. He had been involved in this case from the start and had seen the parents of the two children cry until they copsed more than once. As a police officer, being able to solve this case was enough for him. Although he felt a bit disappointed that the trap hadn¡¯t been utilized in the final phase, overall, his emotions were quite positive. And the closer he got to the police station, the better his mood became. The former days, when returning to the station, he always worried about encountering the hostages¡¯ families; now, he was not only unworried but also somewhat eager to meet them. Back in the office, there wasughter and cheerful chatter. From the director to the deputy directors, along with officials from the ministry and the provincial department, as well as the squadron and toon leaders, they all gathered together, as warm as if hosting a tea party. In fact, that was the setup: everyone had a cup of green tea in front of them, along with apples and pears that no one dared to eat, and the genuinely offered local cigarettes, chatting as if they were in high spirits. The case was cracked, the criminals caught, and this was the happiest time. Of course, it was also the perfect time for mutual ttery. In this regard, Comrade Huang Qiangmin was also quite adept, seamlessly joining in the ambiance with a few words. Pang Jidong, as the captain of the Fourth Squad, took a modest ce, merely giving a brief introduction when today¡¯s operations were mentioned. To him, it felt a bit like a case analysis meeting, or more like a crime-solving bragging session. As the conversation progressed, everyone became interested in Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic botany. An experienced squadron leader, after speaking a few words, went as far as to directly ask, "In that case, as long as there¡¯s evidence, can¡¯t you always find the location?" "You need a rough area, but that¡¯s about the gist of it," Jiang Yuandao replied. "Can always find it?" the squadron leader pressed. Jiang Yuan exchanged nces with Huang Qiangmin and smiled, "Pretty much. I can¡¯t guarantee a hundred percent, but the chances are quite high." "Indeed, when I saw you working, you were quite quick too." "Whether it¡¯s quick or not also depends on the type of pollen and spores, as many pollen can be quiteplicated to differentiate, like whether the spines on pollen grains are straight or nted, and the helical pattern on top could belong to either the ntaginaceae or the Rosaceae family. If you¡¯re not familiar with them, looking up the information can take a lot of time," Jiang Yuan said with a smile. The captain was surprised, "I couldn¡¯t tell... I heard you¡¯ve only graduated a few years ago, and in addition to forensic and trace evidence skills, you¡¯ve also studied botany..." "I guess I¡¯m self-taught," Jiang Yuan said, smiling. If he had said this before solving the case, everyone would probably have justughed it off. But now, Jiang Yuan had cracked such a difficult case, finding the hostage alive with almost no other evidence to go on. With such proven ability behind him, no one dared to underestimate Jiang Yuan¡¯s "self-study." "If that¡¯s the case, then many past cases may still have a chance of finding new clues," the captain said, ncing towards the directors. The director and the deputy director both looked at Huang Qiangmin, then nodded slowly to the captain. Seizing the opportunity, the captain immediately said, "Captain Jiang, it just so happens that we have a few cases over here that could use..." "Ahem." Huang Qiangmin interrupted the captain, "Let¡¯s discuss the specific casester, it¡¯s gettingte today, we should also head back and rest." He knew that interrupting the conversation so directly wouldn¡¯t please the Luo Jin people, but Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t care. If he couldn¡¯t handle even this small matter without offending someone, he wouldn¡¯t be able tomand a price. The Luo Jin people could only say their farewells in chorus, maintaining a friendly attitude. Legal Botany indeed; now you really have to hold it high. On the road, Huang Qiangmin gave Jiang Yuan a few more words of advice and then started taking calls. Once they reached the hotel, Jiang Yuan went to take a shower and rest, changing his clothes, while Huang Qiangmin began preparing to wee visitors. As night fell... Xu Tian and his men made their way into Huang Qiangmin¡¯s room. A quarter of an hourter, Captain Wang also made his way into Huang Qiangmin¡¯s room. Then some office personnel, also in casual attire, sneaked into the elevator and looked around furtively as they entered Huang Qiangmin¡¯s room. The young men in the hotel¡¯s surveince room watched this scene, theirmonce and numb expressions slowly turning into a very new kind of smile. ... Dawn. The hotel¡¯s breakfast was nothing special, but there was a pot of beef soup, fragrant and tempting. The chef must have been instructed, for upon seeing Jiang Yuan enter, he said with a beaming smile, "Good morning, Mr. Jiang. Today¡¯s special is unsalted beef soup. Would you like to try a bowl?" Feeling the other dishes were nd, Jiang Yuan immediately nodded and asked, "Is it simr to Luoyang¡¯s beef soup?" "Yes, indeed. I¡¯m from Luoyang, and my family used to make beef soup. We pride ourselves on its fragrant, sweet, and refreshing taste. You don¡¯t need to add salt to beef soup; it won¡¯t have any odd taste," the chef boasted confidently. Hearing him say this, Jiang Yuan took a bowl and drank on the spot. "Indeed, it¡¯s really good..." Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded as he took two bowls at once, sat down at a nearby seat, sipped the soup, and thought that, in terms of level, the beef soup would probably rate an LV3 or LV4; if it were to go up by +1, one¡¯s taste buds might truly be spoiled. Moreover, the beef and vegetable vors in the beef soup were also excellent, enough to stand alone as a dish. After finishing a bowl of beef soup and just putting down the bowl, his phone rang. Jiang Yuan answered and heard Huang Qiangmin¡¯s weary voice, "It¡¯s settled. We¡¯ll start by setting up a Trace Evidence Laboratory for you. Director Song from the ministry has also agreed to establish a project n. We just need to recruit people on our side, and theb standards are high, matching those of Changyang City. What do you think?" "I have no objections. Are we working on cases from Luo Jin City?" "Yes, that¡¯s the way it is here in Luo Jin. We¡¯ll handle three cold cases with homicides; they want to specify one, two of which must bepleted within a year, all three within two years. I¡¯ll send you the details of the case they specified to take a look at," Huang continued. Jiang Yuan then opened his phone to skim through the case summary and thought for a moment, "I have no objections. Are we deciding on the other two ourselves?" "Yes." "And we¡¯re not necessarily using Legal Botany, right?" "Of course not. What do you have in mind?" Jiang Yuan took a sip of his beef soup and smacked his lips in appreciation, speaking his thoughts candidly, "I¡¯d like to work on a case where the victim was a chef." The chef, bringing a dish of soup dumplings over, heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s words and trembled, causing the vinegar in the condiment bowl to spill out. Chapter 594 - 540 New Case Commencement

Chapter 594: Chapter 540 New Case Commencement

Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment meeting room. Director Xu and Captain Wang of the Luojin City Bureau, along with numerous officers, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen from the ministries, as well as Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan, were all present. Entering the meeting room, Jiang Yuan could feel the atmosphere differed from yesterday. If yesterday¡¯s ambience was tense, lively, and united, today¡¯s meeting room felt lively, rxed, and happy. It was as if yesterday was a meeting of police dogs, whereas today was a gathering of golden retrievers. Were it not for the leadership keeping watch, such as Pang Jidong and others, they would probably be eager to give Jiang Yuan little eyes and itch his scratch. Of course, people like Director Xu remained quite serious, maintaining a somewhat haughty stance. After all, this time the Luojin City Bureau was absolutely the dominant party, feeling like the father, those in the know understand. Taking a light sip of tea, Director Xu smiled and said, "Jiang Yuan, you also don¡¯t need to feel burdened. With your ability, handling cases will definitely be easy. Even if you hit a snag, just finishing three within two years will do. If you really can¡¯t finish, we can discuss it further." Captain Wang also followed with a smile, "Indeed, at first, we proposed that you just provide technical support. Director Huang¡¯s attitude was quite firm, still hoping you could havemand authority, and that we agreed to. In summary, solving the cases is what matters..." What they referred to as the "case thrust upon" Jiang Yuan was the 110 Luo Jin Double Sexual Assault Case. The Luo Jin prefix indicated that the incident urred in the capital of Baijiang Province; 110 is the date of the first incident, which happened on January 10st year; the double sexual assault represents the particrity of the case. The offender used a rather unique method tomit the crime. He first immobilized the victims with electric shocks, then blindfolded them with a cloth strip, and took them to a nearby location for sexual assault. Next, he would take the victims by car to another unknown location for repeated sexual assaults over an extended period. After the crime waspleted, he would drive the victim back to the original location and dump them. He chose rtively secluded locations without cameras and surveince, targeting young females as his victims. After the back-and-forth assaults, the victims couldn¡¯t even identify the crime scene. Beyond the meticulousness in his modus operandi, the timing of his crimes also embarrassed the police. The first two incidents urred on January 10 and January 19. The way the police named these types of cases easily conveyed a sense of provocation. The case was not easy to crack. Although normally, the more crimes an offendermits, the more mistakes they should make, in this case, the culprit left behind very few clues. The victims, shocked by electricity and restrained by rope, had low resistance, to say the least, and the information they could provide was very limited. Physical evidence was also scarce, virtually nonexistent. In such a situation, the Luojin City Bureau had already begun to try criminal profiling, using psychological methods to solve the case. Yet there was still no breakthrough. Director Xu and others¡¯ main expectation of Jiang Yuan was also this case. The serial rape case is one of the eight major crimes, and its nature is even more heinous with a serial offender. Plus, with all the victims being middle school girls, the social impact of this case is far greater than one might imagine. Sincest year, the Luojin City Bureau had invested a lot of manpower and resources into this case and had specifically upgraded the surveince systems in the suburban areas. After the fourth incident in the middle of the year, the police even crazily set up checkpoints hoping to catch the perpetrator by luck. Although the case had not been solved, the trend of the offender¡¯s rampant crime wave had been severed, and the number of incidents in this case remained fixed at four to this day. Nevertheless, the Luojin City Bureau continued to see the case as a disgrace, so once the kidnapping case concluded, with a bit of spare capacity, the bureau¡¯s first thought was the 110 Luo Jin Double Sexual Assault Case. After receiving the information yesterday, Jiang Yuan had already first reviewed the case files and obtained his consent before today¡¯s meeting took ce. Now, in front of the Luo Jin people, Jiang Yuan gave a firm reply, "As long as the resources can be assured, there is still an opportunity to solve this case." Even though they had already received an answer earlier, everyone was still visibly delighted upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s affirmative response. Director Xu hurriedly said, "For this case, there is no upper limit; funding will be on a reimbursement basis, so Doctor Jiang can rest assured." The captain was a forthright man who had already discussed this with Huang Qiangmin, so he said, "The fourth team can be set up separately, and all its members will join the special case team." "The expenses for the Trace Evidence Laboratory may be a bit high, and I¡¯ll need to prioritize the timeline," Jiang Yuan added another request. Director Xu and the others naturally agreed. Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin again and continued, "Then let¡¯s get this case started. As for the three cases we agreed upon..." "There¡¯s no rush for those, just focus on case 110 for now," Director Xu suddenly became very amodating. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "While browsing the internalwork for cases yesterday, I took the opportunity to examine some other cases as well. There was an unresolved murder case where the fingerprint evidence seemed unusual, so I worked on it casually. The fingerprints have been matched, and someone can follow up on itter." Jiang Yuan took out a folded A4 sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it over. The captain hurriedly took it, unfolded it, and saw it was a fingerprint identification report, with the matched criminal suspect¡¯s information attached at the bottom. The suspect turned out to be an ex-convict who hadpleted his sentence. "Does this mean this person is a suspect?" The captain, having had little interaction with Jiang Yuan, was still unsure of the specific protocol. "A bloody palm print indicates that the person is either a suspect or a witness. Bring him in for interrogation, and we¡¯ll know," said Jiang Yuan, who had focused on a blurry bloody palm print and proceeded directly with fingerprint analysis. With Image Enhancement Level 5 and two fingerprint analysis skills, he temporarily boosted a Level 4 fingerprint identification by +1, and within just half an hour, he had matched the fingerprint. ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, this unresolved murder case was as good as solved. The captain was greatly shocked, and Director Xu was amazed and bewildered. Huang Qiangmin smiled without saying a word. Jiang Yuan¡¯s first second-ss merit award hade from a fingerprint contest breakthrough; Luo Jin City itself did not have such a strong fingerprint expert like Jiang Yuan. "Lao Yi, take over this case for your team," ordered the captain to the head of his own second team. The head of the second team was a traditional, deeply concerned veteran detective with a sharp gaze who looked at everyone as if he distrusted them. He simply nodded in agreement now. The captain cleared his throat and asked, "That... Captain Jiang, regarding case 110, do you have any direction for the investigation?" He had wanted to ask this question earlier but was interrupted by Jiang Yuan¡¯s presentation of a fingerprint. Now, when he spoke again, he seemed even more polite. Without any need to conceal his thoughts, Jiang Yuan replied directly, "Yesterday, when I saw the evidence list, it included clothing from four victims. I think we can start from there, first using Legal Botany to narrow down the location of the crime." Legal Botany connects people on one side and locations on the other. Using Legal Botany, it¡¯s easier to find ces than people. In this series of serial rape cases, the inability to locate the crime scenes was a significant issue. This was not only crucial during the investigative stage but also for subsequent legal proceedings. Jiang Yuan, observing everyone¡¯s expressions, realized they didn¡¯t quite understand and continued, "My idea is rather straightforward. When the perpetratormitted the crime, the victims¡¯ clothing would havee into contact with both the primary and secondary crime scenes. Moreover, the contact would have been for a considerable duration. With four cases, we might find a pattern." "Second, the ce where the perpetrator first assaulted the victim should be close to where the victim was electrocuted. Due to being electrocuted, blindfolded, and in shock, the victim is unable to provide urate time and location details. Pollen doesn¡¯t have this problem." "Can we really find it this way? It¡¯s been over a year, is pollen evidence still useful?" asked the captain, feeling more incredulous the more he heard. All Jiang Yuan said was, "For pollen, even a decade is child¡¯s y, but the specifics will depend on today¡¯s experimental procedures." As the captain and Director Xu listened, they nodded nonstop, without knowing why. Chapter 595 - 541: Save Traffic

Chapter 595: Chapter 541: Save Traffic

The meeting ended. Jiang Yuan followed the head of the fourth team, Pang Jidong, straight to the evidence room to collect the main pieces of evidence, namely the entire clothing of all four victims. Besides that, the forensic science technicians of the day also collected some other evidence from the victims, including tiny grass and tree leaves, soil and fibers found in the victims¡¯ nails, and lubricant residues on the victims¡¯ bodies and underwear, etc., but none were decisive pieces of evidence. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t take these pieces of evidence and returned to theboratory with just the clothing. Compared to the human body, pollen can remain on textiles for even longer. Especially for certain types of pollen rtive to certain textiles, the size may be such that the pollen can evenst for several months or longer without being lost. In fact, the mostmon application of pollen research is in archaeology. A ssic example is when archaeologists found rye, barley, great willowherb, and mugwort pollen from cultivated crops and herbaceous nts in a perfectly preserved Iron Age tomb. The pollen was embedded in the textiles and clearly could not be the result of contamination during burial, but rather was old and preserved within the textiles. The exoskeleton of pollen,posed of a chitin-like polymer, if magnified to the scale of buildings, would have defensive properties even stronger than the strongest human fortifications, particrly in terms of resilience to natural erosion, being several magnitudes stronger than man-made materials. Under the stereomicroscope in the Trace Evidence Laboratory, the evidence also proved this point. There was a significant presence of pollen and spores on each garment. If not specially cleaned, it¡¯s normal for everyday clothing to be like this¡ªa little tip from this is how to tell if the clothes you buy from Taobao are brand new or returned after being worn. Spend a few hundred yuan to buy a stereomicroscope from Taobao, and you¡¯ll know by the amount of nt pollen in the fibers. If you read more and have a richer knowledge base, you can even deduce the previous owner¡¯s living environment and even their lifestyle patterns based on the types of nt pollen in the fabric. If you¡¯re lucky and have enough free time, you might even be able to pinpoint the previous owner¡¯s address. As for operating the stereomicroscope, it¡¯s not difficult. The mostmon scenario for this type of microscope is the workbench of watch or smartphone repair specialists, as well as those who do carvings and antique appraisals. So, finding the previous owner doesn¡¯t require any advanced skills¡ªif you have hands, you can do it. "I¡¯ll do an initial check first, then prepare to make specimens of the pollen," Jiang Yuan instructed the technicians in the Trace Evidence Laboratory as he observed the pollen within the fibers of the clothing through the stereomicroscope and began to extract them. A stereomicroscope is great for observing pollen, but it¡¯s not sufficient for presenting evidence in court. The stereomicroscope showsplete pollen grains, but it¡¯s not so clear when ites to the finer details, like the fuzz, grooves, and teeth on the pollen. At that point, you need to switch to apound microscope, that is, one with slides where light shines up from underneath. The microscopes most often used in school biologybs are of this kind; they can reveal cellr structures and, naturally, they can clearly show the specifics of pollen. The technicians in the Trace Evidence Laboratory immediately got busy preparing. cing pollen on a slide requires additional processing and takes a bit more time. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan began to identify and count therger and more easily recognisable pollen grains, making careful records. This is a lengthy process, and even if a regr botanist is very skilled and can work independently after extensively studying pollen for a long time, they might still struggle to handle the work of Legal Botany. At the very least, a nt scientist who haspleted a PhD and worked in the field of palynology for several years¡ªbarely reaching Level 2 in expertise¡ªwould need several days to prepare a piece of evidence. It¡¯s like mixing together a bunch of birds that look quite simr and giving you a bird encyclopedia to figure out their species and kinds. Or more specifically, giving you a bunch of photos of microbes along with an encyclopedia of microbes and asking you to identify them. A regr botanist would actually use the book to search. Most people specialize in just a tiny area within their field of study, like someone who exclusively studies pine trees or someone who focuses on birch forests and their associated nts. As the field expands, theplexity of the work increases significantly, and the practicality decreases just as much. After Jiang Yuan raised his Legal Botany skill from Level 3 to Level 4 with a temporary skill boost, a particrly advantageous aspect was that it greatly reduced the need to consult references and lowered the level of detail at which searches needed to be conducted, thereby saving a considerable amount of time. ... Yi Shihuang, the head of the second team, also saved time. Yi Shihuang was a traditional and seasoned detective. There was nothing remarkable about this; there were many old detectives like him in the detective squad. They had gone through hardships, believed in hardships, and trusted in their experiences. Taking pride in wearing out the soles of their shoes while cracking a case was their bragging right. Compared to the disappointment of not being promoted, they cared more about respect from others. Therefore, as the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, Yi Shihuang was not fond of the task assigned to him to arrest the suspect. Of course, the case codenamed 828 was still juicy material. Any murder cold case was premium stuff in the detective team; not something you could just restart or investigate whenever you wanted. But not being required to investigate, just going to arrest a suspect and bring him back for interrogation, Yi Shihuang felt it somewhat underestimated him. This feeling was like attending a dinner with ssmates, spending a month¡¯s sry, and then someone nonchntly picking up the tab. Yi Shihuang didn¡¯t want to pay, nor did he think he needed to, but he felt he could afford it, and thought the person was showing off too much. With a strange emotion, Yi Shihuang arrived outside the residence of the criminal suspect, then sent someone to knock on the door. The suspect, a released convict with a clearly registered home address, had the door opened by the police and put on an innocent face, smiling and saying, "What¡¯s the matter this time?" "Your trouble has cropped up,e with us," the police officer said to him without a friendly face, shed his badge, and proceeded to take him away. Gulug. A noise came from not far behind the door. Yi Shihuang frowned and immediately gestured with his hand. The officer at the door pulled the suspect into his arms, pinned his chest, and whispered into his ear, "Is there anyone else at home?" The suspect chuckled, "A friend is staying over... Please, be gentle, I¡¯ve injured my corbone..." The police officer dragged him back before loosening his grip a little. By now, Yi Shihuang had entered the room with three other officers. Inside, another man skinny as a rail was all smiles. "On drugs?" Yi Shihuang nced at him and asked directly. These days, when you see a man skinny as a skeleton, you ask two questions: Are you ill? Are you very poor? If the answer to both is no, then it¡¯s likely drugs. Yi Shihuang skipped the first two questions this time. In the room of a released criminal suspect, asking the skinny man about drugs before poverty was definitely not a mistake. The rail-thin man in the room gave a sheepishugh. He nced at the stout officer in front of him, then at the window, then at the door, and finally sighed, "asionally I use." "Take him away," Yi Shihuang couldn¡¯t be bothered to ask; this one was certainly a repeat offender, aware he couldn¡¯t dodge a rapid drug test, so he confessed right away. Once inside the interrogation room, such a person would indeed spill everything. A team of police officers went in and out quickly, soon returning to the Luojin City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade. Then they assigned someone to interrogate him and brought out the evidence of the bloody handprint. The one who opened the door confessed even faster than a drug addict. The interrogating officers redoubled their efforts, working quickly, and managed to get everything out of him before the end of the workday. When they came out to report to Yi Shihuang, he was somewhat dazed. "Is case 828 solved?" Yi Shihuang didn¡¯t realize that many officers had said the same thing before. The interrogating officer looked thoughtful, "This guy was a drug user too; he knew the victim from the past. When he couldn¡¯t borrow money, he got emotionally agitated and killed the person. Since their rtionship was established ten years ago, previous investigators didn¡¯t find him." "Alright... We¡¯ll interrogate further tomorrow, I¡¯ll go report to the leaders." Yi Shihuang felt almost drunk, as if his understanding of the world had been shaken. Soon, that sensation of being shaken was genuinely conveyed to the leaders of the Luojin City Bureau. The thought "Did we lose out?" shed with the thought "Were we foolish before?", unable to reconcile with each other. Chapter 596 - 542

Chapter 596: 542

Late at night. In the Luo Jin City Bureau meeting room, the lights were still on. Thud, thud. Pang Jidong knocked on the door and entered, only to see Yi Shihuang with his apprentice, flipping through case files at the table. "Not heading back yet?" Pang Jidong asked with a smile. Yi Shihuang looked up, his face wrinkles flickering, "It¡¯s toote to go back now. If I wake up the wife, I¡¯ll get a scolding. Better to sleep in the office. Aren¡¯t you also not going back?" "I¡¯m preparing to go back. My wife is more considerate," bragged Pang Jidong, then asked, "What are you busy with? Problems with case 828?" "No." "Then what¡¯s the rush? You saved time during the investigative stage, so you have plenty of time to work on the case." "Well, I¡¯m looking at how... how this case was cracked," said Yi Shihuang, pushing the documents in front of him, "We can¡¯t let these tech types call the shots forever, right?" As he said this, Pang Jidong¡¯s expression also became more serious, before saying after a while, "No matter what, fingerprints are still retrieved by us, aren¡¯t they?" "Now retrieving fingerprints is done by professionals specialized in crime scene investigation," Yi Shihuang nced at Pang Jidong, "Arresting someone, though, that¡¯s our job." "Hm..." Pang Jidong rubbed his face, "It¡¯s toote; I¡¯m all muddled, my brain¡¯s not working properly." Yi Shihuang sighed, "Not enough brainpower is a big problem. It¡¯s no longer the era of resilience alone." "Young people today are not the same as us. They all have some technical knowledge, and there are more and more university graduates," Pang Jidong said, naturally taking a seat at the table. He looked through the documents before asking, "Without the tech guys, how would you tackle this case?" "I¡¯ve been pondering that very question tonight. First, we definitely need to look for eyewitnesses. There might not be anyone who saw anything, but perhaps someone heard something," Yi Shihuang did not directly answer, quietly flipping through the documents. After a while, he said, "As for fingerprints, we actually had Li Tong look at those. At the time, there were no matches." "Was the suspect in the database then?" "Old viper, just released after serving his sentence. How could he not be?" "Li Tong is supposed to be pretty good..." As Pang Jidong spoke, he suddenly snickered like a lovable old man, "Imagine if Li Tong heard this story, do you think he¡¯d doubt himself? He might not have slept tonight either, spending the whole time looking at that fingerprint." "He wouldn¡¯t," said Yi Shihuang. Pang Jidong said in surprise, "You¡¯re sure of that?" "I called and asked," Yi Shihuang said, his expression as innocent as a Shar Pei dog. Pang Jidong was stunned, "Are you rubbing salt in the wound? Do you not n to use him again?" "I¡¯m about to retire anyway. But Li Tong seems to be in good spirits, at least better than us." "How so?" "He said Jiang Yuan used something called image enhancement, from Image Investigation, and it¡¯s very advanced. He can¡¯t replicate it, so it has nothing to do with us." "There¡¯s quite a lot of new stuff," Pang Jidong seemed fairly receptive. He turned his head to look at Yi Shihuang still intent on flipping through case files, and just smiled. Technology has indeed been constantly innovating. Even without Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival, just in these recent years alone, who knows how many cases have been solved using cell phones. In the past, borrowing techniques from the Technical Investigation department was quite a hassle, and was generally unnecessary for minor cases. Now with the establishment of the Cybersecurity Division, simply by scraping through WeChat records, many cases are easily solved. As for technologies like Trace Evidence, their coverage and effectiveness in case-solving are tremendous, yet the police have traditionally been reluctant to publicize this area. "Alright, don¡¯t think too much about it. Not just us who solve cases, but those willing tomit them are dwindling. Professional criminals are all turning to telmunication fraud. Without some technical knowledge, you can¡¯t even find anyone," said Pang Jidong as he put down the case file and left for home to be with his wife. Yi Shihuang, unperturbed, continued to study the case files intently. He did not n to solve every case; solving half or even a third of the remaining ones would be sufficient. ... Jiang Yuan had been in the Trace Evidence Laboratory for three days. Pollen wasn¡¯t so easily managed, and with such arge quantity to look at, picking out each grain was truly back-breaking and neck-straining work. Suddenly, Jiang Yuan understood the widespread problem with Legal Botany¡ªitsck of prevalencey right here, where hardly a few high-level botanists were willing to do this sort of work for criminal investigations. And those with inadequate expertise were of no use. There¡¯s no need for moral coercion either. While criminal investigation is important, so is paleontology; exploring human origins also meaningful. For instance, if one explored an ancient tomb or a group of old buildings, at least a few research papers mighte from it. If a youngster fresh out of university arrived at an academic institution, facing a ¡¯publish or perish¡¯ situation within five years, sweeping through an ancient tomb might at least secure one¡¯s job. But assisting the police in solving a case might yield nothing more than a thank you. ¡ªUnless the case was extremely important. On the fourth day, Jiang Yuan finally called upon Pang Jidong and his Fourth Squad to head out to the location of the first case. It was a very quiet residential area, with lush vegetation, numerous estates, and generally narrow roads, suitable for pedestrians with rtively less traffic for cars. As they neared the ce, Pang Jidong briefed, "This is considered Luo Jin¡¯s wealthy residential area, full of vis and western-style houses, almost no high-rises. There are a few upscale hotels, then schools and small shopping districts, no big malls or office buildings, making it a rather pure residential location. It¡¯s quite popr with Luo Jin residents, and property prices are higher here than in surrounding areas." Chapter 597 - 542: The First Scene_2

Chapter 597: Chapter 542: The First Scene_2

This isn¡¯t something that gets written into the case files. Jiang Yuan, grasping the key points, asked, "So the case drew a lot of attention as soon as it came out?" Pang Jidong replied, "You could say that. But generally speaking, it¡¯s an area where the middle ss can afford to live, and the rich are willing to live as well, so it¡¯s supposed to be a very safe neighborhood. Actually, we have a hypothesis, because there were surveince cameras around the area at that time, any vehicle entering or leaving would have the risk of being exposed. We suspect that the killer might also live in this area." Jiang Yuan neither agreed nor disagreed. This also counted as reasoning, though not very rigorous. Compared to Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning, itckedpetitiveness and felt more like a guess. Pang Jidong continued, "The problem is that there are many residents here, easily over a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand in total, and the area is actually quiterge. Many residentialmunities nearby are quite remote since only people from themunitye and go, with very few passing vehicles. The busier ces are near schools, plus a little supermarket." "So the crime scene could be anywhere?" Jiang Yuan understood what he was saying. Pang Jidong nodded, "Before this case, some schools had school buses, while others relied on students walking or biking home on their own. It¡¯s normal for middle school students to walk home by themselves. If the offender kidnapped someone on the way, just driving a short distance may lead him to a secluded area. After assaulting the victim, he could drive another short distance, possibly even back to his own home." This was another guess, and Jiang Yuan listened withoutmenting. At this moment, Mu Zhiyang, who was sitting with them, said, "Typical rapists tend to run away after the deed. Why would this person take the risk of doing it twice?" This was a question everyone who saw this case would ask. Cases of secondary rape were extremely rare, many people hadn¡¯t even heard of them. Pang Jidong said, "It might be for the thrill. Or possibly, there¡¯s some psychological issue?" Pang Jidong paused, then added, "We followed up with some criminal psychology earlier, like the FBI profiling. It was done with help from experts from the provincial department, but we still haven¡¯t caught the person. They ssified the offender as possibly impotent, needing specific scenarios to be aroused. The first time could be to relieve stress, as well as for the thrill." After another pause, Pang Jidong continued, "The second time, we suspect it very likely took ce at the offender¡¯s location, his home, or a rented spot, where he might have also taken drugs himself. We estimated the timing based on the four victims¡¯ ounts and even drew up a map, but it was futile..." "It wouldn¡¯t take ce at the offender¡¯s home, at least not at a fixed location." Jiang Yuan, who had been silent until now, spoke with certainty. Pang Jidong had been following the double rape cases for a long time, and he dared note to such a definitive conclusion. He inquired, "Why not a fixed location?" "The types of pollen found on the clothing of the four victims all differ significantly, withrge variations in proportions. It couldn¡¯t have been inside a fixed building." Jiang Yuan had been working on pollen for several days straight. Now with some downtime, he had his own analysis of the case. Pang Jidong could only nod. He was there to assist Jiang Yuan this time and naturally followed his line of thinking. Then he said, "So, eight different locations were selected for the four cases?" "Correct." Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer waspletely different from the task force¡¯s previous conjectures. "We are almost at marker A," the driver reminded them at that moment. Soon, the car stopped by a small riverside path. The flow of the river was very slow, resembling a stagnant pool from a distance. A signboard by the road read ¡¯Yongtong Canal¡¯. Jiang Yuan got out of the car and slowly walked along the path. Pang Jidong followed closely. A few criminal policemen from another vehicle also got out and started observing the surroundings. This ce was about several hundred meters from where the first victim was electrocuted, still very isted to this day, but thendscaping was quite beautiful. There were lush trees along the road, with green grass underneath and bushes about half a person¡¯s height. "It should be here." Jiang Yuan suddenly stopped in front of awn, took photos with his phone, then heaved a sigh and said, "Ask thendscaping maintenance personnel here if there¡¯s been any major renovations in the past year or so." "I¡¯ll find out whether it¡¯s managed by the municipal department, or the property management of the nearby area," Pang Jidong quickly made contact via phone. Jiang Yuan gestured with his hand. Mu Zhiyang immediately brought him gloves, a hood, and shoe covers, among other things. Jiang Yuan slowly started putting them on. They stood about 20 meters from the river, beside a twone asphalt road, next to a bicyclene with no bicycles. The crime location identified by Jiang Yuan was next to a thick ne tree, casting arge area of shade. Thewn under the ne tree was about three to four meters wide. The bushes on either side were in twoyers, one taller and one shorter, both trimmed to a t top at a height of over one meter. Jiang Yuan could imagine that if the offender brought the victim here, pushed them onto thewn, and theny down, the bushes could perfectly conceal their forms. As for screaming... Once the victim opened their mouth to speak, they would be electrocuted. The offender clearly did not care whether the victim was conscious or even alive... Using thenguage of the criminal psychology experts Jiang Yuan had read about in the case files, this was a type of extreme control. The offender wanted to carry out the most repulsive and offensive act possible in a location that was almost public. The files also contained photos of the locations where the first victim was electrocuted four times. For an average person, those four electric shocks would have been enough to be fatal. One could say this was an act of violence even more brutal than ordinary beatings. If possible, such a person should be sent to the underworld as soon as possible. Jiang Yuan, fully dressed, crouched down and started looking around. More than a yearter, ordinary biological evidence was unlikely to be found. The focus now was whether there were any items unintentionally left by the offender or the victim. After asking around, Pang Jidong returned to report to Jiang Yuan and started helping with the search. Jiang Yuan searched an area of about twenty square meters, then stopped and shook his head, "It seems that nothing was left behind. Mark this ce; let¡¯s move on to the next one." Pang Jidong did as instructed but paused after a few steps, looking back at the site with some uncertainty, "So, have we found the first scene of the first victim?" "Correct." "Do we just leave like this?" Pang Jidong was reluctant. If it were during the task force period, finding a victim¡¯s first scene would have resulted in an exhaustive search. Jiang Yuan merely said, "There are seven more ces to check. Otherwise, leave two persons here to look further." Upon hearing this, Pang Jidong quickly left two people to scout around, to see if they could find any eyewitnesses or the like, while also calling for additional personnel. As an experienced detective, Pang Jidong knew well that if they could locate all eight scenes, the case would naturally lead to various clues. Chapter 598 - 543

Chapter 598: 543

The car traveled three kilometers and arrived at the second target area demarcated by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, as usual, got out of the car and walked about a hundred meters or so before waving for others toe over. This was beneath the high wall of a viplex. The wall was three to four meters tall, topped with ayer of barbed wire, cautioning with the intimidating words "Danger: Electrified". Below the wall was a green belt where some tall trees had been nted close to the wall. The trees weren¡¯t very old, yet they seemed climbable enough to overlook the interior of the wall. The green belt was roughly three to four meters wide and edged with a row of low-growing broadleaf podocarpus, their dark green, egg-shaped leaves were smooth, hairless, and extremely dense. Beyond the green belty the pedestrian sidewalk and the road, while across the street was another wall enclosing a different viplex. In such roads between viplexes without garage exits, there was scarce traffic, with the asional car speeding by at forty to fifty kilometers an hour. Pedestrian traffic was pitifully sparse; Jiang Yuan and his team had not spotted a single person since they parked. If a criminal chose this green belt and operated behind the shrubs, the concealment was almost as good as that in a car rocked by its movements. The chance of being discovered was meager, which could be particrly thrilling for some. Jiang Yuan signaled the apanying technicians to take pictures and keep the video rolling, then said to Pang Jidong, "This is the ce. Let¡¯s double-check it." Jiang Yuan himself put his gear on properly once more and re-entered the green belt for another survey. Half an hourter, Jiang Yuan came out, disappointed. The spot was right, but no useful clues were found. It must be said thatmitting a crime in the green belt did have its advantages, especially in cases of violent rape where the vigorous activity could leave behind hairs, skin kes, and various fluids on the ground. If it were a concrete surface, one might still find some remnants after a while. However, in a green belt like this, numerous dposers would swiftly and dutifully eradicate the evidence. Of course, there were dangers too, just as people are sometimes caught on camera during car sex, or busybodies would head up to Siningshan to check each and every car... "No clues found," Jiang Yuan reported back at the car, shaking his head. Focusing on a crime scene investigation for half an hour was quite exhausting. Pang Jidong expressed his appreciation for the hard work and looked at the second crime scene, saying, "The criminal stayed at the second site for a long time, just doing... the deed in the green belt? Isn¡¯t that a bit overconfident?" "ording to the pollen profile, this is the spot," replied Jiang Yuan. He couldn¡¯t specte on the state of the crime when it happened and discussed, "Could it be that the criminal seeks this kind of thrill?" Pang Jidong replied uncertainly, "Maybe. But still, the risks are considerable... To go unnoticed in all four instances..." This question was beyond Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to answer. After a pause, he said, "We should move to the first crime scene of the second victim." "Alright..." Pang Jidong agreed, getting into the car and then shaking his head with a chuckle, "I always find it strange how we could never find the crime scenes back in the task force, and now they are showing up one by one... I don¡¯t mean to be skeptical; I¡¯m just struck by how much the world has changed." "The uracy of a pollen profile is quite high. Even if all the green belts have simr nts, if we calcte the distances, they won¡¯t be far off. Besides, despite the simrity of nt species in green belts, underneath the shrubs will naturally grow a variety of nts, just as weeds grow in fields..." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate on these nt species, but generally speaking, in a few hundred meters long green belt, if the nts have been there for a while and the area is fairly substantial, there would always be thirty to fifty varieties of wild grass and wildflowers. Pang Jidong felt somewhat embarrassed to have Jiang Yuan exin it again, so he waved his hand, "Every few years, new stuffes out in theb. I just can¡¯t learn them all, but I can still coborate on the work. Don¡¯t worry; I won¡¯t drop the ball..." Having seen Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous case-solving process, Pang Jidong was now worried only about making a mistake that could hinder Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. Jiang Yuan smiled and was about to say some reassuring words when the system screen in front of him popped up: Mission: An old warhorse in the stable still aspires to gallop a thousand li. Mission content: The young detective Pang Jidong from before was the person in the team most familiar with advanced technologies, an emerging force with knowledge and culture, understanding both technology and science. Utilizing all kinds of technical capabilities, he solved several major cases, avenging the dead and pacifying the living... Struggling to keep up with the onught of new technologies in a new era, help the nearly fifty-year-old Pang Jidong. Mission objective: Ensure that Pang Jidong fully understands the elements of Legal Botany and is familiar with how to solve cases using forensic botany. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched as he finished reading the system¡¯s mission, and he turned to look at Pang Jidong with a frown. Pang Jidong was close to 50 years old, his memory and understanding surely had declined somewhat. And the content of forensic botany was indeed extensive. Even if the system didn¡¯t require him to teach forensic botany, just learning to use it wasplex enough. Most important, was Pang Jidong willing to cooperate? The new location designated by Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t far. This was the first crime scene of the second victim. Compared to the first case, this crime urred just eight dayster, but the criminal was much more cautious. He chose the underside of a small bridge for the first scene. The bridge was only a few dozen meters long, with an over twenty-meter-long approach bridge, nked on both sides by green belts and residentialplexes. The criminal operated in the green belt at the junction between the approach bridge and the bridge. The probability of this ce being discovered was rtively low, and cars could even park temporarily under the bridge¡ªthere was space for about three to four cars, no supervision, and no cameras. Here, the stimtion may have been lessened due to the implementation of aggravated assault, but provoking the police probablypensated for the dopamine he had lost. Jiang Yuan found the location and had the other officers take photographs and videos first. While putting on his gear, he exined to Pang Jidong, "A pollen signature is also called a pollen fingerprint, and it¡¯s as urate as an actual signature. This is something that can¡¯t be proved by single-species pollen. Single-species pollen doesn¡¯t prove much; we have to consider the possibility of it drifting in from outside..." As he spoke, he watched Pang Jidong. Although Pang Jidong was somewhat perplexed, he still nodded along, "So it means that the types of pollen mustpletely match, right?" Jiang Yuan, who had just taken on the task, carefully exined to Pang Jidong, "That¡¯s not necessarily the case either. It also depends on the species. Spores are basically ubiquitous in the modern environment. Including inside the skyscrapers of cities, there will be pollen, but generally, those are anemophilous. There are also those pollinated by insects and birds, and those dispersed by water. Thetter types are different from the former..." After briefly finishing, Jiang Yuan continued, "It¡¯s also not an exact quantity. Generally speaking, we first identify the species, then find the scene; once the scene is found, we determine the proportion..." Jiang Yuan spoke with enthusiasm, "Of course, it¡¯s not purely unquantifiable. Some spores are well-studied by botanists. For example, pine pollen grains. Seeing this type of anemophilous pollen with its sate structure, we know it¡¯s a type that is dispersed over long distances, and even the distribution of pine pollen throughout the entire city, we have diagrams and forms for that¡ªyou just need to look them up if you¡¯re not familiar..." "There are also species like cotton grass, sedges, straw, and so on; they all have their own characteristics. To be specific, we can refer to some diagrams..." As Jiang Yuan was talking, he saw that the light gradually faded from Pang Jidong¡¯s eyes, just like a child who listened attentively, who suddenly couldn¡¯t focus his eyes anymore. So Jiang Yuan stopped and said with a smile, "No rush..." Pang Jidong jerked to attention, "What¡¯s not in a hurry?" "Nothing. I¡¯ll check the scene first," Jiang Yuan said. "Oh, I... I¡¯ll take a rest first," Pang Jidong sighed with relief, feeling his brain swelling. Jiang Yuan then ended the lesson for Pang Jidong, letting him digest the information for a while. As for whether Pang Jidong was willing to learn... Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t ready to give him that choice yet. At the third crime scene, there were still no usable clues. Now Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry. Knowing the criminal was cautious, Jiang Yuan started to focus on teaching Pang Jidong during the crime scene investigation. Pang Jidong was older and slower to react, but the upside was that he was willing to listen. For his generation, if someone was willing to teach them something, they at least had to show respect. Otherwise, it was considered a social problem. The downside was that at Pang Jidong¡¯s age, after learning for a while, he would start bing distracted and hazy... Jiang Yuan kept an eye on Pang Jidong¡¯s expression and condition, unleashing a flood of information when he was alert, and letting him rest when he was dizzy. The fourth crime scene... The fifth crime scene... The sixth crime scene... By the time they reached the seventh crime scene, Pang Jidong was done for, falling asleep while listening on the road. He wasn¡¯t even aware of what had happened. The sudden onught of learning from Jiang Yuan had exhausted Pang Jidong¡¯s mental resources in a very short time. Now his head was full of spores, and he couldn¡¯t think of any other problems. The other officers nearby were also not fairing well. They had all heard some of Jiang Yuan¡¯s output, and after listening too much, they felt almost contaminated, with their bodies swaying and their reactions bing slower. Seeing the task was not yetplete and knowing Pang Jidong was not ready, Jiang Yuan alighted from the vehicle himself to continue the crime scene investigation. Finally, at the eighth crime scene, there was still no gain. The fact that nothing was discovered at each crime scene actually indicated certain issues in itself. This suggested that the criminal was very careful and meticulous, and his proficiency might even improve in subsequent crimes. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan felt that there was a possibility that the criminal would return to the crime scenes. Not to return shortly after, but toe back after some time to further clean up the scenes¡ªthe reason for this assumption was the excessive cleanliness of the scenes. With 8 crime scenes, all featuring only greenery without any litter or man-made objects, it was possible, but it always felt a bit too clean. This didn¡¯t quite match the sanitary conditions of the green spaces that Jiang Yuan had observed along the way. Even with many nearby vis and low-density residential areas, therge green spaces always had some trash like paper, broken bottles, stic, etc. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts were also spective and equally unsupported by evidence. This trip down, the real clue obtained was the locations of the 8 crime scenes. The 8 scenes were at most four or five kilometers apart, meaning they were all confined within a certain area. "Let¡¯s head back. That¡¯s enough crime scene investigation for today," Jiang Yuan said as he settled back into the car and patted Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong twitched as if startled awake, his eyes wide open yet unseeing. Chapter 599 - 544: If You Say You Can Do It, Then You Can Do It

Chapter 599: Chapter 544: If You Say You Can Do It, Then You Can Do It

Luo Jin City Criminal Police Detachment. Several young detectives hustled in, greeting everyone along the way. Upon seeing Pang Jidong, they called from a distance, "Captain Pang, good morning." Pang Jidong moved slowly like a wandering soul, carrying a cup of coffee in his hand. If he did not move so slowly, the coffee might spill over and scald his hand. Thinking that Pang Jidong hadn¡¯t heard them, they approached and said loudly, "Captain Pang, good morning." "Ah... morning... morning," Pang Jidong finally responded, looking up at them with a still rigid expression. The young detectives climbed up the stairs with a smile. Reaching the third floor, they greeted others around them while quietly discussing: "What happened to Captain Pang? His eyes were all zed over." "It¡¯s simr to how I feel after running five kilometers; can¡¯t think of anything, my brain stops working and I just have to vegetate until energyes back." "Reminds me of how I felt before a joint exam, especially during make-up sses when the teacher would drill you non-stop, and by the end of it, my head felt like it was stuffed full." "You¡¯d better hope that¡¯s all that¡¯s stuffed full..." Conference room. Once everyone had arrived, the head of the detachment immediately convened a case analysis meeting on the second sexual assault case. Discounting the urgency of the current case, this project, named after the 110 emergency call, was Luo Jin City¡¯s most pressing case to solve. Not only was the case itself extremely vile, but the unpunished criminal was also very likely to offend again. There could be many reasons for the current halt in crimes. Perhaps the criminal got run over by a car, maybe he¡¯s bedridden with illness, or perhaps he got hit by a car on his way to barbecue, didn¡¯t die initially but then got hit again on the way to the hospital, and agonizingly perished in the ambnce... However, it¡¯s also possible that the criminal just encountered some issues but didn¡¯t die. With the resolution of these issues and changes in his environment, he could decide tomit crimes again. Serial rape, like serial killing, indicated that the perpetrator had some level of psychological issues. Relying on him to stop on his own due to his willpower or some other reason was wishful thinking. Capturing and punishing him was the most rational n. Present at the meeting were members of the Luo Jin City Criminal Police Detachment and two people from the ministry, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen. Legal Botany was quite rare, the ministry might have needed it, but seldom used it, and for the most part, they sought external botanists for coborations. Unlike police officers like Jiang Yuan, who could solve cases in one go, presenting a ime solution. The ministry¡¯s expectations for Jiang Yuan were also very high. If this worked out well, many cold cases could be solved, and it could even extend back quite far in time. It was analogous to the possibilities for case resolutions that arose after the advent of DNA technology, even potentially solving crimes from the Napoleonic era. After a brief narration, Jiang Yuan pressed the microphone and said, "The geographical traits of this case are rtively pronounced. The criminal must be very familiar with all eight scenes and the surrounding areas, having cased them out at least before the crimes. Although it¡¯s been a long time, we still hope to check the surveince footage." The head of the detachment immediately replied, "No problem, let the fourth team handle it, Old Pang." "Well..." Jiang Yuan, who normally wouldn¡¯t interfere with leadership decisions, spoke up with some reluctance due to the task at hand, "Captain Wang, I¡¯ve just be familiar with Captain Pang. Could I continue working with Captain Pang on this case?" Captain Wang looked over. Pang Jidong appeared clueless, his eyes clear. He had been inundated with so much information by Jiang Yuan over the past few days that he felt overwhelmed. As for being familiar with the task, he wasn¡¯t sure if his brain burning out counted as being familiar. "It¡¯s fine, if you like Old Pang, then he can continue to work with you," Captain Wang easily agreed and assigned a neer to handle the surveince footage. The Luo Jin City Bureau didn¡¯t have a specialized Image Reconnaissance Brigade, mainly because theycked the conditions and positions to amodate many technical staff members. So they temporarily used regr police officers to do the work of Image Investigation, looking at surveince monitors. Under such circumstances, exceptional Image Investigation results were unlikely. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t seeking this either; he continued, "If everyone agrees that the criminal lives nearby, actually, I have another method to find the criminal." "Go ahead," said Captain Wang, looking over with a bit of surprise. He had seen Jiang Yuan¡¯s report and had pondered for a while at his desk without thinking of a n to catch the perpetrator, but he didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to have another solution. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and then said, "We¡¯ve identified the eight crime scenes based mainly on the spores found on the clothing of the four victims. But looking at it from another angle, the spores on the victim¡¯s clothing don¡¯t solelye from the crime scene. A smaller portion alsoes from the assant, that is, the criminal himself or herself..." Captain Wang¡¯s eyes lit up, and he immediately asked, "Does this mean we can locate the perpetrator now?" "We can pinpoint a rough area, but it¡¯s quiteplicated and there are chances of error," Jiang Yuan turned to look at Pang Jidong and said, "Captain Pang, could you exin to Captain Wang the n I mentioned earlier about locating the perpetrator?" Even with rote teaching, questioning and assessments are necessary, or else how can knowledge be solidified and one¡¯s own knowledge structure be established? Pang Jidong was somewhat dumbfounded. Wasn¡¯t this your stage to perform? You¡¯re asking me? But... hey, it seems I do know a little. Pang Jidong touched his newly grown brain, frowning doubtfully. "Old Pang?" Captain Wang urged. Pang Jidong cleared his throat and said, "ording to what Captain Jiang mentioned earlier, it seems we can find some pollen profiles that are not in the main pollen as, meaning there arerge and small pollen profiles. The discrepancy between them could be what the perpetrator brought... Is that the idea?" He turned his head to ask Jiang Yuan. "Not entirely urate, but it¡¯ll do... Just use that understanding," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect Pang Jidong to master Legal Botany. He just needed him to be able to utilize people who have mastered it. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, as long as Pang Jidong could understand the scope of Legal Botany, knowing which clues could be produced by it and which were beyond its capabilities, that would be sufficient. Of course, Pang Jidong should also understand some of the principles, which would help ascertain the value of the clues. It¡¯s like having two leads pointing in different investigative directions, one being DNA and the other a footprint; without a doubt, you¡¯d follow the DNA lead because it¡¯s much more reliable than the footprint. That is, DNA evidence has a much higher confidence level. The degree of confidence in Legal Botany is even more scrutinized, for instance, a pollen as has a higher confidence level than a single pollen, and arge amount of pollen differs from sparse pollen; wind-pollinated pollen is less reliable than insect-pollinated, which in turn is less reliable than algae... "Be more specific, how do we find the suspect?" Captain Wang couldn¡¯t listen anymore. Pang Jidong looked towards Jiang Yuan slightly confused. "You go first," Jiang Yuan continued to give him the opportunity. "What do I know... But... if it¡¯s within the area, does that mean if we find a ce that matches this discrepancy in the pollen profile, we could possibly locate the perpetrator?" Pang Jidong tapped his head, feeling like something not his own was growing inside. Captain Wang looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, "Will that work?" Jiang Yuan nodded, adding, "More or less, but we have to consider the source of the pollen on the perpetrator. It¡¯s definitely not just from home and location, so searching this way, we can¡¯t urately find the one and only ce; we¡¯ll still need to check several locations." "That¡¯s enough," Captain Wang felt much relieved and looked at Pang Jidong with a grin, saying, "Old Pang isn¡¯t half bad, picking up a few things." Everyone in the conference room, familiar with Pang Jidong, nodded their approval. "I¡¯ve been listening to a lot of things from Captain Jiang recently," Pang Jidong, slightly embarrassed, humbly said, "I did learn a little bit, but it¡¯s not enough." Jiang Yuan opened the system page to take a nce; the task had not beenpleted, signifying that indeed, the learning was insufficient. Building on what Pang Jidong had said, Jiang Yuan remarked, "It¡¯s because I didn¡¯t teach for long enough. I¡¯ll pair up with Captain Pang in theing days and try to spend more time on it." Pang Jidong¡¯s smile slowly shifted and gradually became stiff, "That¡¯s not necessary..." It wasn¡¯t that he was unwilling to learn; he just felt that cramming education was too cruel, and also, he didn¡¯t quite like the feeling of fainting at any moment. The surrounding colleagues, offering encouragement as if it cost them nothing, didn¡¯t mind all that and rushed to say: "Old Pang is amazing!" "Old Pang, good job making full use of the partner advantage." "Pang Jidong will be Luo Jin City¡¯s number one in botany!" Pang Jidong quickly waved his hands to correct them, "That¡¯s not it; I¡¯m too old for this." "No problem, since Captain Pang is willing to learn, I¡¯ll definitely teach him well. Let¡¯s go catch the criminals," Jiang Yuan patted Pang Jidong¡¯s shoulder, looking very familiar. Pang Jidong wanted to say he wasn¡¯t willing, wanted to say no, but he couldn¡¯t just not go catch the criminals... Chapter 600 - 545: The Single Man Without a Wife

Chapter 600: Chapter 545: The Single Man Without a Wife

Star Moon Road. Jiang Yuan woke Pang Jidong with a pat and said, "Pang Da, we¡¯ve arrived." With an "Ah", Pang Jidong wiped the corner of his mouth, his eyes nk as he obediently slid out of the car and asked, "Which way?" "We¡¯re going to this one," Jiang Yuan pointed to a detached vi ahead. Pang Jidong uttered an "Oh," like a tourist being directed by a guide, and followed the crowd toward the location. Once there, some from the big group took photographs, others videotaped, while people went up to knock on doors, show their faces, and identify themselves. Pang Jidong nced back, waiting for tour guide Jiang Yuan to start exining. Regarding the time devoted to lecturing, Pang Jidong had definitely learned his lesson. Jiang Yuan indeed did not waste the time right after Pang Jidong had woken up, and while observing their surroundings, he began, "The types and quantities of pollen and spores we extract from samples depend on many variables, which we call ¡¯forensic botany factors.¡¯ This is a term that refers to all the factors that determine whether pollen will be found at a specific time, in a specific ce..." "Take, for example, why we muste to the crime scene topare, because the terrain is different, and so is the distribution of pollen. Don¡¯t think that wind-pollinated pollen can spread very far; any building or nt barrier can stop their propagation..." "Like this high wall here, it can stop the spread of most of the pollen." "As a result, like the pear tree over there, when it blossoms, the flowers will fall to the ground, and as with the tree at the center, they spread out in circles. It¡¯s the same with the pollen; the farther from the tree, the less pollen there will be." "There¡¯s a problem with dispersion efficiency here..." Jiang Yuan spoke as he walked; it didn¡¯t take long for Pang Jidong to feel dizzy and hardly able to walk. Jiang Yuan sighed and ended the teaching session for that period. It must be said that Pang Jidong¡¯s ability to acquire knowledge had noticeably slowed, like a grinder that used to mill 500 grams at a time but after a while could only manage a bit over 400 grams, with a consistent downward trend. The metaphor didn¡¯t use batteries because Pang Jidong¡¯s intellectual decline wasn¡¯t that rapid. Jiang Yuan handed Pang Jidong a thermos, and said with concern, "Have some water and take a rest." Hearing the invitation to rest, Pang Jidong grabbed the thermos and took a few gulps, then wiping his mouth, he frowned and said, "Sugar water?" "Sugar can enhance memory and attention span. Drinking a little bit can help with learning new things," Jiang Yuan applied his biological knowledge. Of course, sugar can also cause weight gain and might lead to diabetes and other problems, but as far as learning is concerned, consuming sugar has its benefits. Pang Jidong also felt that he should indeed replenish himself. After drinking the sugar water provided by Jiang Yuan, Pang Jidong blinked his eyes; he felt slightly more alert. It was just a little bit, but at least he wasn¡¯t outright fainting anymore. At this time, the police in front had filed into the detached vi. The vi had three stories plus a basement and came with a yard surrounded on three sides, nted with bamboo, ensuring quite good privacy. Theoretically, if one wanted to bury a body, such a yard would be quite convenient. Many foreign serial killers bury their victims in their yards; perhaps this method is most beginner-friendly and allows for the training of a murderer from scratch. In this regard, domestic conditions arecking. Of course, many vis around Star Moon Road visited today had potential. Jiang Yuan took Pang Jidong, with Mu Zhiyang following beside them, to the backyard as if they knew the ce well. The backyard, totaling four to five hundred square meters, made for a wide gap between each house. They nted arge number of rose family nts such as roses and Chinese roses, several kinds of shrubs, and there was ntain and clover on thewn... Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze swept over the area, his attention gradually increasing. Although most weremon nts, the species were quite simr now. Using the "burial science factors" Jiang Yuan had exined to Pang Jidong, this ce could already be considered suspicious as a secondary transfer spot for the fungal spores. Jiang Yuan mentally calcted as he cast his gaze into the distance. Through the low wall and the not-so-dense bamboo fencing was the neighboring property. The nts in the neighbor¡¯s yard seemed different upon closer inspection, just slightly fewer in variety, making room for tables, chairs, stools, and game consoles for leisure. Jiang Yuan walked a few steps forward, closer to the neighbor¡¯s side, and saw a small pile of fallen leaves and grass clippings in the corner of their yard. "Where¡¯s the homeowner?" Jiang Yuan called over the owner of this vi and asked, "There¡¯s a lot of fallen leaves and such in your neighbor¡¯s yard, some of which have rotted. Doesn¡¯t it smell bad to you?" The homeowner, a man in his forties, frowned at Jiang Yuan¡¯s question and immediately said, "I¡¯ve talked about it several times. Every time I do, he cleans it up, but after a while, it piles up again. Even the property management hase by once and it was no use. Good neighbors don¡¯t even talk anymore." "So he¡¯s got leaves piled up there all year round." "Pretty much. It¡¯s better when the weather is cold, but in the summer, it reeks and we often have to push him to clean it up." The homeowner shook his head. "You¡¯d think people who buy vis would be of better quality, but no, people nowadays just don¡¯t care about appearance." "Okay, I got it," Jiang Yuan dismissed the homeowner and then said to Mu Zhiyang who was waiting nearby, "Let¡¯s go take a look at the neighbor¡¯s. Don¡¯t go alone; take a few people with you." Pang Jidong, still gathering his strength, widened his eyes when he heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s words. "Did you find something?" Pang Jidong could feel the sugar he had just drunk going to his head. Jiang Yuan gave an "Mhm" and said, "Remember the cylindrical spore I showed you in theboratory? The light brown one." Pang Jidong¡¯s brows, which had just raised, drooped again in resignation. Are you luring a dog over for a lesson? Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and continued, "In short, this type of spore is usually found on decaying leaves and tree debris, like birch, holly, oak leaves, which tend to grow this kind of fungus." Jiang Yuan muttered to himself, then added, "The trees with lots of leaves are birch and holly, and those are what his house is surrounded by. Of course, the focus isn¡¯t on the trees themselves. The dispersal range of fungal spores is quite limited, despite the omnipresence of rotting leaves or dead wood. The indicativeness of fungal spores is strong because they usually require direct contact to transfer. As previously mentioned, the dispersal efficiency is low, making it a more meaningful forensic marker." "Got it, I¡¯m off to make an arrest," said Pang Jidong as he turned and walked away, his speed no slower than that of Mu Zhiyang and the others. At the same time, a few other detectives exited through the back door and went around to the neighbor¡¯s back door without entering, squatting there. What they most hoped to see was the neighbor making a break for it right now. If that happened, even if they didn¡¯t catch anyone, everyone would be happy. Because it would prove that the suspect had been identified. However, such a delightful turn of events did not actually ur. When Jiang Yuan went over again, he saw a man in his thirties, looking like a career-driven elite, leisurely puffing on a cigar in an empty living room. Pang Jidong couldn¡¯t help but remark as he waited for Jiang Yuan, "A bachelor with no wife who can smoke at home, howfortable." "Living alone in such a big vi?" Jiang Yuan looked up, estimating that the two-story open space was over seven meters high. Staying there at night would only make it seem darker and darker. He knew this all too well, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have bought such a small ce for himself in Changyang City. Pang Jidong naturally agreed, "It¡¯s a bit eerie." That¡¯s when the bachelor without a wife, sitting on the sofa, looked up with a sneer and said, "I know you ind police have no manners, but take note of my Mysian citizenship." The detectives present looked towards Pang Jidong and Jiang Yuan. "Take him away," Jiang Yuan had already inspected the backyard and now, after seeing the interior and the owner, he said without any hesitation. Without another word, Pang Jidong made a chopping motion with his hand and repeated the order, "Take him away. Politely." The bachelor frowned at Jiang Yuan, "Are you dumb? Do you have any evidence?" Jiang Yuan waved his hand in disdain, unwilling to give him any information. Chapter 601 - 546 Plant DNA

Chapter 601: Chapter 546 nt DNA

The unmarried, wealthy foreign man without a wife was taken away, and Pang Jidong watched his silhouette, the very air around him suddenly turned chilly. Like a student who had exhausted themselvespleting all their summer vacation homework in three days, he stood motionless, drained of the energy to speak, with no motivation to do anything. "What¡¯s wrong?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence kicked in, and he asked with concern. He still needed to continue his studies, so stopping was not an option. Of course, being this weak wasn¡¯t good either. Pang Jidong undid his discipline button and loosened his shirt, saying, "I just felt a bit unprepared, unprepared to arrest a criminal suspect." "What kind of preparation is needed for that?" Jiang Yuan said with augh. Pang Jidong, reminded of the criminal suspects he had arrested before, alsoughed, "That¡¯s true." Jiang Yuan gestured to Mu Zhiyang to go andfort Pang Jidong. Mu Zhiyang was a bit troubled; asking him to take a bullet, he was quite skilled at it now, butforting someone... He had almost no experience in that area. After thinking, Mu Zhiyang said, "Captain Pang, the case is solved. Let¡¯s celebrate tonight. How about singing karaoke?" Pang Jidong gave a wry smile, "With a case like this, it¡¯s only really solved if we can submit it for examination. Given it involves a foreigner, the prosecutors will definitely have high demands for evidence, and they might even ask us to conduct a supplementary investigation." As he spoke, he looked toward Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was preparing for the investigation with his head down, as though he hadn¡¯t heard a word he said. Thus, Pang Jidong directly asked, "Captain Jiang, can we get the evidence? I mean the kind that¡¯s irrefutable." Thereupon, Jiang Yuan asked, "Regarding legal botany, you¡¯ve studied it for a while too. What kind of evidence do you think we have now that can be irrefutable?" Pang Jidong was taken aback. Wasn¡¯t I the one asking the question? How did I get questioned? Should I answer it? My scalp¡¯s starting to itch again... I need to switch to a different shampoo when I get back... "I think that relying solely on nt evidence might be difficult for a conviction," Pang Jidong took a moment to think, then answered. "Why?" Jiang Yuan asked back. Pang Jidong replied, "As for legal botany, it¡¯s still quite unfamiliar here in China. Regarding pollen diagrams, if they are to be used in convictions, wouldn¡¯t we need to provide a specific exnation? As for proving it in court..." "Indeed, that might be the case," Jiang Yuan nodded. The judicial system is particrly slow to ept new things. It might be exined as only liking to use mature technology or as distrust of the technology itself, or even distrust of everything. Like DNA evidence, which was adopted very quickly, was still behind by more than a decade, and in that time, it went through numerous verifications and tug-of-war. Others like audio evidence still face tug-of-war today, and the certification of evidence from theputer field is very slow, including evidence like WeChat messages, which aremonly used in the investigation stage, yet the courtroom verification remainsplicated. Pang Jidong was actually hoping to hear a negative answer from Jiang Yuan, but hearing Jiang Yuan say the same thing, he suddenly became even more worried. "I¡¯ll start with the crime scene investigation. However, during the interrogation, I have a suggestion," Jiang Yuan said as he dressed neatly, simultaneously collecting samples. "During the interrogation, you can start with the topic of nt DNA." "Speaking of nt DNA..." Pang Jidong hesitated for a moment, lowering his voice, "Is it that the DNA of many nts is the same?" Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, giving Pang Jidong a new look of respect: "How quickly things change in just three days, Captain Pang indeed took it to heart." "Hehe... With you emphasizing it so much, how could I not remember?" Pang Jidongughed as he scratched his head. Although he did not know why Jiang Yuan insisted on teaching him, Pang Jidong still felt grateful. He was like a wild duck temporarily taken in, feeling many times thankful to the person willing to feed him, though he found it difficult to express it. And if the food was forced upon him a little slower, the gratitude would increase even more. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyes bugged out, and he was on the verge of tears as heughed and said, "What does Captain Pang mean? I didn¡¯t quite catch it." Jiang Yuan then looked at Pang Jidong and said, "Captain Pang, why don¡¯t you exin." Pang Jidong organized his thoughts, as if answering a test question, and said, "Because nt reproduction isn¡¯t necessarily sexual, many are asexual. So, sometimes a dominant species continues to expand. Like arge grove of willows, if you test their DNA, you might find it¡¯s all the same. It¡¯s simr with roses, potatoes, pors, apple trees, and such. Plus, factors like the distance pollen can drift add to theplexity. Therefore, using the DNA of a single nt for evidence is a bit difficult." Jiang Yuan nodded, expressing satisfaction with Pang Jidong¡¯s statement. There were still points to discuss, but toe this far in just a few days was quitemendable. Feeling a sense of aplishment, Pang Jidong naturallymented, "These days people are spoiled by DNA, always expecting 100% uracy. There isn¡¯t such high uracy. Now, some media cry foul when they see no DNA evidence, as if they understand anything about DNA..." As he spoke, Pang Jidong had a realization and said, "You n to do DNA testing on all the pollen found, and then use it as proof? That actually makes sense. Some nts reproduce asexually, but not all. Plus, if the DNA from various nts matches too, it¡¯s not something that can be exined by coincidence." "Moreover," Jiang Yuan added, "I¡¯m guessing the suspect doesn¡¯t necessarily understand biology, right? Does he even know that nt DNA and animal DNA are different?" It struck Pang Jidong like a revtion. How difficult this stuff was! If he hadn¡¯t crammed biology textbooks in thest few nights, he would be utterly confused for forty-nine hours nonstop. The person who owned this detached vi clearly was the type with a screw loose and rich parents. It was time to scam him. "I¡¯ll call the interrogator and arrange the DNA matching story for him. When most people hear DNA has been matched, they tend to confess," Pang Jidong said, andughed with a sense of intellectual superiority. Jiang Yuan also smiled and said, "Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter if he understands. If he does, he¡¯ll be even more afraid." With the pollen profile determined and multiple nt DNAs matched, even if nt DNA uniqueness isn¡¯t as robust as animal DNA, having so many nt DNAs matching is quite sufficient, not to mention proportion issues. Really, ites down to exining the Legal Botany to the prosecutor and judge, which takes a bit of effort. So, getting a confession would be ideal. Having said what needed to be said, Jiang Yuan then led his team to conduct a thorough crime scene investigation, collecting numerous samples. When they arrived at the pile of fallen leaves in the backyard, Jiang Yuan dug out a bunch of bones from within. "No human bones," Jiang Yuan quickly concluded after going through the decayed or semi-decayed bones, utilizing level 3 Forensic Anthropology skills for rapid ssification. "No wonder it stinks around here. He¡¯s using the stench of rotting leaves to mask the smell of these things dposing," said Mu Zhiyang, feeling a chill, "With such an environment, disposing of a person or two wouldn¡¯t be an issue. Is this guy practicing or what?" "Maybe he¡¯s conducting experiments, testing the dposition time of bodies," Jiang Yuan¡¯s first thought was of a body farm. Many aspects of the human body aren¡¯t well-researched. Medical ethics is aplex issue, and not many forensic doctors make it through, let alone conduct experiments. Having a suspect willing to gather key data by testing dposition times is considered quite remarkable. "So it can be done like this..." Mu Zhiyang found himself struggling for words. Pang Jidong muttered, "Who knows what he¡¯s been up to these past years." Chapter 602 - 547: Joint Operation

Chapter 602: Chapter 547: Joint Operation

Interrogation room. The suspect Bao Wenxing¡¯s hands were shackled to the interrogation chair, and his body was also bound to the chair back with restraint straps, but he still challenged the police officer across from him with his gaze, remaining silent, saying not a word. The restraint was more out of fear that he might be emotionally agitated. Such situations, while rare in the eyes of outsiders, were quitemon for the police. Particrly with repeat offenders, who often attempt to avoid punishment by self-harm. What the interrogating officer hadn¡¯t expected was that Bao Wenxing¡¯s emotions were very stable; instead, he used his gaze to provoke the officer, keeping silent and withstanding the officer¡¯s verbal onught. "You should know, even if you don¡¯t speak, we can still convict you with no confession," the interrogating officer adjusted his stance and began to look more serious. What to do when a suspect doesn¡¯t talk? Reason with him. Reason with him, present evidence, and even deliberately say things to provoke the suspect... In some countries that particrly respect the right to silence, if a suspect requests awyer or chooses to exercise their right to remain silent, the police are not allowed to continue the interrogation and have to wait until thewyer arrives before resuming. But domestically, if a suspect doesn¡¯t talk, while the police certainly can¡¯t force him to speak, the police speaking themselves isn¡¯t affected. The interrogating officer simply sat opposite Bao Wenxing and started to leisurely discuss policies andws with him. This one-on-one or even two-on-one legal education session was something Bao Wenxing couldn¡¯t avoid listening to. As time went on, the defiance in his eyes gradually turned to confusion. Not the kind of confusion thates from attending a morning of advanced mathematics, but more like the befuddlement of sitting through a day of Marxist philosophy. Upstairs. Pang Jidong washed his face with a towel, eyes still zed over. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan stopped further lecturing and started focusing on counting pollen under the microscope. This work was tedious, even more so than fingerprinting, sustained only by a sense of novelty and aplishment. Teaching Pang Jidong had been a bit of fun amidst the monotony, but now that Pang Jidong was overwhelmed, Jiang Yuan could only y with the microscope alone. Fortunately, the technicians at Luo Jin City¡¯s DNAboratory werepetent and helped on the side. After a while, Pang Jidong finally gasped for air as if a winter swimmer had just surfaced from underwater. A few secondster, Pang Jidong nced at Jiang Yuan, somewhat panicked, and seeing that he hadn¡¯t yet noticed him, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while also sighing inwardly. Being an old detective, he could tell that Jiang Yuan was intentionally mentoring him. Although it seemed a bit funny for the twenty-something Jiang Yuan to mentor someone in his fifties like himself, Pang Jidong felt that the term "mentor" was absolutely applicable because that¡¯s what Jiang Yuan was doing. Only, Pang Jidong didn¡¯t know why. The past few days had reminded Pang Jidong of his younger days. Back then, he had just be a people¡¯s police officer, with full ambitions and boundless energy. He had a good mentor and was learning new things every day. That period was when Pang Jidong grew the fastest. He rapidly moved from the role of a rookie to a veteran officer, evolving from one who needed care to one who could handle cases independently and take care of others, eventually climbing the ranks from squad leader to battalionmander... In recent years, personal growth had be a distant concept for Pang Jidong. Given his age, the likelihood of being promoted was low, and even maintaining apetitive edge in his core position was difficult for Pang Jidong¡ªhe had to expend extra effort to meet daily challenges. The neers in the team did asionally let Pang Jidong feel the vitality of "growth," that exciting and vigorous spirit, which sometimes even stirred envy in him. Pang Jidong never imagined that one day, at the age of fifty, he would again be subjected to force-fed teaching, to be "cultivated" again, to be forced to grow again. This time, he felt it was at least ten times more exhausting than in his youth. But he didn¡¯t dare to ask Jiang Yuan "why," fearing that if he did, Jiang Yuan would stop what was painful, endless, and unbelievably force-fed teaching. In the time his brain still had some capacity¡ªwhile using the bathroom¡ªPang Jidong resolved that even if Jiang Yuan was teaching an old man new things because he lost a game of Truth or Dare, he wouldn¡¯t give up! Because what Jiang Yuan might be doing for a game, Pang Jidong was gaining as genuine personal growth. Only by reaching fifty did he understand how precious such growth was for an old detective of his age. "Drink some electrolyte water," Jiang Yuan, who seemed either tired of looking through the microscope or had noticed Pang Jidong¡¯s gaze bing clear again, came over. He understood postnatal care for sows, and at an LV4 level no less. Although being tired from learning wasn¡¯t the same as from giving birth, Jiang Yuan felt there were simrities. It was like the warm, multi-electrolyte water he provided, which could ensure a rapid replenishment of water in the sow¡¯s body, quickly restoring her strength and preparing her to nurse her piglets. By the same token, having drunk this bottle of electrolyte water, Pang Jidong could also ensure a quick replenishment of his body¡¯s water, rapidly restore his strength, and prepare for the uing study session. Pang Jidong picked up the thermos, gulped down most of it, wiped his mouth, and his eyes gleamed with a crystalline light. Back in the day, his master did the same for him. At that time, the newly-employed Pang Jidongcked experience and didn¡¯t know how to take care of himself. He didn¡¯t know to bring a water bottle when staking out and, parched, had no choice but to keep swallowing saliva. It was his master who went out to fetch water for him, handing it over in the same way. And it wasn¡¯t just once. "Finish it," Jiang Yuan reminded him. With a smile on his face, Pang Jidong downed the remaining electrolyte water. His body was indeed recovering rapidly. "Yeah, that should be good, let¡¯s wait for theb report," Jiang Yuan said, leaving the remaining biological materials to the technicians and sitting down directly across from Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong¡¯s expression tightened: this was... "At the crime scene of Bao Wenxing¡¯s home, we didn¡¯t find any tools used in the crime, nor traces of the vehicle used," Jiang Yuan began, not with a lecture, but discussing the case. Pang Jidong¡¯s intelligence was still sufficient for other things besides legal botany, and upon hearing Jiang Yuan, he immediately said, "Indeed, to perfect the evidence chain, finding the tools used in the crime and the vehicle is best." All four victims had been taken to a car, but they were blindfolded and didn¡¯t know any specific details about the vehicle. However, considering normal logic, Bao Wenxing likely used his own car. Rental cars equipped with GPS and other devices are generally not suitable formitting rape or murder. Besides the car, the high-voltage electric shock weapon was also of great concern to the police. There were marks from electric shocks on the victims¡¯ bodies, so it was confirmed that the same electric shock weapon was used in all four cases. If the first two cases had urred closely together in time, then the usage of the same electric shock weapon in the subsequent two cases highly suggested that the perpetrator had retained it. If the vehicle and weapon were found, both could be considered strong evidence. Even after a thorough cleaning, it¡¯s difficult topletely remove all traces from the former, and the marks from thetter can be matched with those on the victims. But none of these items were found in Bao Wenxing¡¯s home. While there actually was a sedan parked in Bao Wenxing¡¯s garage, registered in his own name, it was newly purchased this year. Although it was also towed away, nobody was holding out much hope. And from this perspective... "As for the car, it might have been sold already," suggested Pang Jidong. "Compared with destroying it, selling it as a used car is more discreet. The electric shock weapon was probably disposed of as well." "If the car isn¡¯t in his name, it must be registered under someone else¡¯s," Jiang Yuan said. "A ¡¯backdoor¡¯ car?" Pang Jidong was referring to a category of used cars that cannot be re-registered, which typically happens when the previous owner has debts and hence the vehicle remains registered under the original owner¡¯s name. These cars are a risk for ordinary buyers but significantly safer for criminals. "There should be traces left from selling the car, right..." Jiang Yuan admitted hisck of understanding in this area. Pang Jidong thought for a moment and replied, "We could check with second-hand car dealers, but if it¡¯s a ¡¯backdoor¡¯ car, they¡¯re basically part of a gray industry and won¡¯t cooperate well. The timing is also unclear." Having worked on many cases, Jiang Yuan knew that finding weapons or simr items in old, unsolved cases was extremely difficult. Even the most inexperienced criminals knew to dispose of blood-stained clothes and weapons. Jiang Yuan had previously encountered a case where the weapon was thrown into the Tai River; with current cases, one could ask divers for evidence retrieval, but with cold cases, if you knew, there would still be nowhere to search. Building on the rity provided by the recently consumed electrolyte water, Pang Jidong suggested, "Bao Wenxing appears to be the son of a wealthy family; there are things he probably wouldn¡¯t have done himself. It might be better to check the people around him. Following his social connections, it¡¯s possible someone helped him sell the car or did something else." The special case team was led by Deputy Director Xu Tian, with squadron leaders below him, butmand had been delegated to Jiang Yuan, leaving Pang Jidong without the authority to make decisions on his own. Jiang Yuan agreeably said, "That¡¯s possible," and then continued, "Another issue is what Bao Wenxing was doing overseas most of the past year?" This question also exined why after the four rapes, Luo Jin City had not seen any simr cases. Pang Jidong nodded seriously, "Cui Xiaohu and the others are already in contact with the Mysian police. It might take a few more days." "If the response is quick, we might get somewhere," said Jiang Yuan. Pang Jidong couldn¡¯t help but nod. If it was merely assistance, the foreign police were unlikely to be very active. On the contrary, if they had a need for case resolution, it¡¯s highly likely they would be quite proactive. Seeing Pang Jidong¡¯sposed demeanor, Jiang Yuan said, "Alright, let¡¯s discuss thister. In fact, with the current evidence, we can already convict Bao Wenxing. He resides alone in a detached vi, and the pollen fingerprint evidence is already quite conclusive; we can delve deeper into this..." Pang Jidong stood rooted to the spot as though spellbound. Chapter 603 - 548: Come Out and See the Immortal

Chapter 603: Chapter 548: Come Out and See the Immortal

p.m. Two police officers from Mysia arrived in Luo Jin City. "Zhong Renlong, Ni Cha." Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen from the Ministry went to the airport to pick up the people and introduced the two Mysian police officers to everyone upon their return. Zhong Renlong was a Dama Chinese, slightly handsome but not tall, with dark skin. He could speak Chinese and also read simplified characters. Ni Cha¡¯s skin was even darker; he only spoke English and required trantion through Zhong Renlong. Jiang Yuan and Pang Jidong were called back to the police station, exchanging smiles. As they had analyzed, if the Mysians also had a case, they would certainlye very quickly. The case itself was shrouded in pain, but for solving the case, the Mysian case would obviously bring new clues, evidence, and ideas. "Let¡¯s look at the case first." As a foreigner, Zhong Renlong didn¡¯t bother with too many pleasantries. Neither did Captain Wang and others care to chat much with the foreign police. Their focus remained on cracking the case at hand. Soon, a police officer brought out some of the files and evidence. Zhong Renlong sat down, looking through the files while tranting for Ni Cha. Ni Cha didn¡¯t sit but stood next to Zhong Renlong, asionally asking him a few questions before examining the various photos himself. Jiang sat next to them and asked Captain Wang, "Captain Wang, what kind of case is it from Mysia, do we have data?" "We haven¡¯t talked in detail yet, but it is also a series of serial assault cases, urring in the capital. They must be under great pressure too," Captain Wang said. Pang Jidong, standing by, cast a nce at Captain Wang and said in a choppy tone, "Captain Wang, they haven¡¯t even introduced their case to us, and you¡¯ve already handed over the files to them, this is like brownnosing." "Our foreign friends havee. That¡¯s all for now," Captain Wang coughed twice. Zhong Renlong heard him but pretended not to understand and continued to review the materials with Ni Cha. However, they soon discovered that the material they received was very different from traditional case-solving information. Page after page ofb reports, photos of pollen, ssification ases, pictures of nts from the crime scene... "Legal Botany?" Having scanned everything quickly from start to finish, Ni Cha raised his head with difficulty, and the first word that came out was this. "Exactly, Legal Botany." Cui Xiaohu repeated in English and asked them for the case information from the Mysian side. "Just a moment, I¡¯ll get it for you," Ni Cha said, pulling out a USB drive from his pocket, but instead of handing it to Cui Xiaohu, he asked, "Which forensic doctor is the expert in Legal Botany?" Cui Xiaohu was taken aback, thenughed and pushed Jiang Yuan to the front, saying, "This is our best expert in Forensic Botany." From his understanding, there were no dedicated Legal Botany experts in the Ministry, so calling Jiang Yuan the best seemed unproblematic. Ni Cha sized up Jiang and asked in English, "So young?" Jiang smiled and took the USB drive, then handed it to Cui Xiaohu. Like the young officers from the provincial department, Cui Xiaohu and others from the Ministry were very proficient in various office software, and quickly read all the data from the USB drive. It was mainly some photographs, along with a few crime scene evidence photography; there wasn¡¯t much in the way of text documents, mostly consisting of tables. Jiang sat down and slowly looked through the data on aptop, while Pang Jidong and the others stood behind him, following along. Seeing the state they formed spontaneously, Ni Cha knew that Jiang was indeed central to solving the case. Recalling the material he just saw, he couldn¡¯t help but say in English, "I didn¡¯t know you use Forensic Botany to solve cases, otherwise I would have brought some relevant material over. Hold on, I will call back and ask them to prepare, see if they can collect anything useful." Ni Cha spoke, and Zhong Renlong tranted on the spot. As soon as the trantion was over, Ni Cha took out his phone to make a call, while Zhong Renlong seemed a bit surprised and said, "Ni Cha is quite proud... But your method of solving the case is indeed very surprising, especially Officer Jiang¡¯s..." Cui Xiaohu and others felt honored and couldn¡¯t help butugh. Jiang looked at the photos in front of him without the mood to joke with them. Compared to the domestic cases, the scenes of the serial assault cases in Mysia were even more brutal. In one case, the victim was killed at the scene, then dragged onto a car and redeposited at the starting point. From the photos, the victim was a local high school girl, lying face down in a clearing of a small grove, with drag marks on the ground that were consistent with the direction of her head and feet. Her upper clothing remained intact, while her pants had been pulled down to her knees... Authorities from Dama included the local forensic doctor¡¯s report, but Jiang Yuan only nced at it; he could make a lot of judgments just by looking at the photos: There were scattered petechial hemorrhages on the conjunctiva of the eyelids, small patches of bleeding on the upper lip¡¯s mucous membrane... There were small, patchy areas of epidermal peeling around the mouth and nose, submucosal hemorrhaging in the oral cavity... Soil was adhering to the back and buttocks... All of the above indicated that the victim¡¯s mouth and nose had been smothered. Jiang Yuan recalled the four domestic cases with simr circumstances, but the force used to smother was not strong, a determination made from the injuries inside the mouth. Additionally, the variation in the number of electric shocks suggested that the assant felt more securemitting the crime within Luo Jin City, likely because he was more familiar with the surrounding environment. On the other hand, the assant¡¯s level of excitement in Dama was probably higher, which might be the reason why he did not immediatelymit another crime upon returning to his country, but instead started researching body farms. He likely wanted to experience something more thrilling. Looking at the photos of the chest examination, multiple electric shock injuries, and gastric reflux material rising and blocking the trachea and bronchi, were the primary causes of death. In other words, the victim died of asphyxiation. Jiang Yuan surmised that the murderer must have electrocuted the victim several times during the crime, and from the number of times, it was probably not just to subdue the victim, but more likely in the pursuit of greater excitement. Following this secondary sexual assault and murder case, there were two more sexual assault cases in Dama, both characterized by the very particr secondary sexual assault and multiple electric shocks, only the total amount and frequency were reduced, not to the point of causing death. Nevertheless, in thetter two sexual assault cases, the victims ultimately lost consciousness and were dragged into vehicles. This indicated that the perpetrator was very adept at learning and even managed to control his desires to some extent. This was an act of crime esction. Jiang Yuan thought of the small-scale "body farm" Bao Wenxing had at his home; he was likely bolder after traveling abroad, with higher demands, and no longer satisfied with releasing the victims. He preferred to kill his victims or act more unrestrainedly, hence trying a new approach at home. Bao Wenxing was already capable of abducting young women or, in other words, illegally detaining them. If he had the capability to dispose of bodies, he would not only satisfy his perverse desires but also evade capture more easily. For the same teenage girl, if she simply went missing, the level of concern would be nowhere near that for sexual assault and death. Ni Cha finished the phone call and, with consent from the Chinese side, faxed some photos and autopsy reports back home, then discussed further with domestic authorities. After some procedures, Ni Cha turned back to Jiang Yuan, who had been analyzing the files for quite some time, and asked, "Officer Jiang, would it be convenient for you to perform an analysis of our collected evidence using legal botany?" "It could be done," Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, "Is it necessary? Your goal should be to prove that the cases weremitted by the same person, right?" "Right," Ni Cha replied and then, somewhat confused, asked in English, "Is it not necessary?" "Hmm, when a murderer kills, he leaves behind a lot of evidence," Jiang said. "I personally believe that we can ascertain it without the involvement of legal botany." The trouble with legal botany was quite substantial, and it required physical site inspection, which Jiang Yuan was not very keen on doing in Mysia. Jiang Yuan opened the notebook by his side, looked at the sequence numbers recorded there, and flipped back to the previously seen photos, saying, "Let¡¯s start with the first item, the time of death of the victim. Since asphyxiation caused by electric shock led to death, your forensic doctor¡¯s estimated time of death was very vague, spanning 6 hours. I believe it can be narrowed down to within an hour..." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan drew a line in the notebook, at the ce where he had jotted down the time of death while viewing the photos: August 5, 9:20 PM - August 5, 10:20 PM (local time). Ni Cha saw this and couldn¡¯t help but be a little stunned, and somewhat incredulously said, "Is it that urate?" Of course, Level 6 is super urate, and forensic doctors across Mysia might not be as proficient. Jiang Yuan confidently nodded and said, "Tracing back from this time, if there are suitable surveince or eyewitnesses, perhaps evidence can be found." If no one had died, due to the victims being unconscious, it would be difficult to determine the exact end time of the incident and the location of the crime, making it hard to find the culprit. But with a dead body, the corpse itself is the strongest lead. In this respect, Bao Wenxing¡¯s evasion of investigation in the past was a matter of luck. His esction in crime, on the other hand, has exposed him. Thus, just like in the online world, leveling up in real life carries risks. Ni Cha was still processing the information. Jiang Yuan said, "This you can checkter on; actually, there are also clues on the victim¡¯s body, especially the fingerprints left on the chest and abdomen area, which actually have a high degree of match..." Zhong Renlong quickly did the trantion, then looked at the photos and, surprised, said, "These fingerprints are very blurry, can they be matched?" "Yes, just some image processing is needed." Jiang Yuan said as he started demonstrating with the software. Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong watched with furrowed brows. As they watched, Ni Cha took out his phone and said to Zhong Renlong in My, "Can I record a video? Can you repeat the process just now? I want to show it to everyone..." After tranting, Zhong Renlong added, "What Ni Cha means, to put it in anguage familiar to Chinese people, is roughly... e out and watch the deity at work.¡¯ Chapter 604 - 549: People Undervalued When Away from Home

Chapter 604: Chapter 549: People Undervalued When Away from Home

The fingerprints left on the body proved to be a blunder by Bao Wenxing. In his quest for thrill, he removed his gloves after stunning the victim, which wasn¡¯t too problematic while the victim was alive because a living person¡¯s metabolism could, to some extent, eliminate the traces left on their skin. However, when Bao Wenxing escted his crimes, this habit of his didn¡¯t change; once the victim was dead, the bruises suddenly became much more pronounced. Nevertheless, for the fingerprint traces Bao Wenxing left behind, it was very difficult for a normal forensic doctor to extract usable fingerprints, let alone match them to the perpetrator¡ªit was a fool¡¯s dream. But, using imaging technology, Jiang Yuan quickly rified a few mangled fingerprint fragments and thenbined them, barely piecing together a semiplete fingerprint suitable for matching. After Jiang Yuan¡¯s processing, the clearest fingerprint obtained was three-quarters of the right index finger¡¯s print. The missing quarter was left nk, like a fingerprint with a few small pieces chipped away from the middle. This kind of fingerprint shape was also top-notch, the kind that even a regr trace examiner would find daunting, but... Jiang Yuan... LV5... right... Jiang Yuan, giving consideration to international colleagues, gave another live fingerprint matching demonstration on the spot. Ni Cha had not recorded itst time, so this time he filmed the entire process, and in his mind, hepared it with what he remembered from the previous session. This showed his cunning side; a contrived action would not be possible to replicate a second time. Jiang Yuan¡¯s two sequences of actions were basically identical; seeing this, Ni Cha became utterly cooperative and proceeded to send the video back via email, then patiently awaited a reply from his homnd. Zhong Renlong, acting as a trantor, interjected with grounded Chinese phrases, "Genius, our forensic doctors might need to discuss this, perhaps even consult with others. It¡¯s not for any other reason, mainly just a matter of capability." Without waiting for Jiang Yuan to speak, the deputy team leader couldn¡¯t help butugh, "Verification is still necessary, of course. By the way, I will find a reporter toe overter; you should record what you just said one more time." Jiang Yuan recorded how to capture fingerprints from a corpse one more time, and asked Zhong Renlong to do the same with his trantion, which thetter thought seemed somewhat reasonable and hesitantly nodded his head. The deputy team leader¡¯s face bloomed with a smile, looking at Huang Qiangmin as if he were viewing a baby fish. Soon, Ni Cha initiated a video conference, allowing his country¡¯s forensic doctors, crime technicians, detectives, and leaders to directly face Jiang Yuan. ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s statement, the case was nearly concluded at this point. Closing a case was certainly good news, but for the Dama Police Force, they did not have a suspect in custody; unable to put the suspect on trial or incarcerate them, they needed more solid evidence. Jiang Yuan, naturally, was indifferent to this. The deputy team leader and others regarded this with utmost importance. Quickly, a special task force led by the director reassembled. After reordering their ranks and bringing in a specialist to take photographs, their corresponding inspection work was also nearingpletion. "The fingerprint is indeed a match," dered a fingerprint expert from Mysia on the spot. Apuse erupted at the scene and through the speakers. The director looked at Jiang Yuan with an exaggerated expression, showing a satisfied smile and said, "Ningtai Jiangyuan, your reputation is well-deserved." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile split 88.8 degrees wide, seemingly even more satisfied than Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence came online. He smiled and exchanged a few words with the director, followed by modest remarks. Then, acknowledging the recreated fingerprint transmitted from the other side with a nod, he added, "If the killer¡¯s car and electroshock weapon can be found, the evidence would be ample. If needed, Legal Botany can definitely be utilized as well." Prior to this, the Dama Police Force had absolutely no leads, just like the Luo Jin City Bureau; not to mention knowing the identity of the killer, even the so-called offender profiling orposite sketches werergely incorrect¡ªthey were far from solving the case. Now it was different. Jiang Yuan had already figured out the correct answer. If they took the process seriously, the difficulty decreased significantly. Even a little carelessness, and the entire process would seemingly reveal itself. Luo Jin City had a backlog of cases; over a year had passed, and for reasons that included Bao Wenxing¡¯s desire to go abroad, he had already disposed of the vehicle and other items. Moreover, the manner in which he disposed of them was quite shrewd, and now it was unclear where they had ended up. However, whether Bao Wenxing possessed such skills and forethought in Mysia was doubtful. Many serial killers focus their killings in one city for a reason; those who did not were mostly apprehended. People are less esteemed away from their hometowns, and the same applies to serial killers. The Dama side kept responding affirmatively. At this time, the detectives who had gone earlier to check the surveince footage also reported back. The surveince equipment in Mysia couldn¡¯tpare to that in China. However, the area where Bao Wenxing lived was an affluent neighborhood with rtively more surveince, especially some of the main entrances and themercial areas, which was different from the situation in China. Bao Wenxing, not knowing enough about the local situation in Mysia,mitted his crimes in haste. Although there was a significant chance he would escape punishment, in the end, he hit a wall. Especially after Jiang Yuan provided the precise time, reviewing the surveince footage became a rtively simple task. Bao Wenxing¡¯s vehicle was photographed near the crime scene at the time of the incident, and the image timely appeared before everyone. Although it couldn¡¯t serve as direct proof, it indirectly proved he had the opportunity tomit the crime. Combined with other evidence, it could form a rtivelyplete chain of evidence. With this development, the case in Mysia had achieved a significant breakthrough. Whether to prosecute or publicize the case, they more than had it covered. However, just like the Luojin City Bureau was keen on Legal Botany, the Dama Police Force was even more eager. Mysia has a tropical environment, teeming with flora, vastly diverse and numerous in species and quantity of spores. If they could utilize this method to solve cases, both uracy and convenience would increase¡ªlikely even more efficient than in Luo Jin City. Any policeman with a bit of imagination simply needed a brief introduction to the principles of pollen diagrams and could then rte it to the variety of nts found nearby; one could sense the tremendous potential within. Taking advantage of the high spirits, the technical lead from Mysia asked while climbing onto the bandwagon, "Jiang, we do need your help with Legal Botany... Could you help us secure the botanical evidence in this case?" Director Xu and others immediately looked towards Jiang Yuan. If they had the authority, they probably would have sent Jiang Yuan out immediately. Huang Qiangmin also looked towards Jiang Yuan, pondering internally whether it would be against thew if Jiang Yuan agreed and this foreign request led to haggling over price. Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, "Actually, the existing evidence should already be sufficient to convict Bao Wenxing. If the vehicle and murder weapon could be found, it would be irrefutable." Zhong Renlong, struggling with the trantion, hadn¡¯t finished when he was preempted by an English reply, "Jiang, evidence can never be tooplete. This is already an international homicide and aggravated assault case, and we are very interested in understanding Legal Botany." Cui Xiaohu noticed that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem very willing and coughed twice, choosing his words carefully, "Captain Jiang, Bao Wenxing was caught using Legal Botany. It¡¯s only natural that they¡¯d want to understand more." "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan, being emotionally intelligent at the moment, quickly caught on and directly asked Cui Xiaohu, "So, am I going to Mysia?" "If they invite us, I don¡¯t see a problem," Cui Xiaohu had said, adding, "We have many cooperative activities with the local police, especially joint operations against telmunications fraud... Wait a moment, I¡¯ll ask someone." Cui Xiaohu started making a phone call right there. Jiang Yuan waited, turning his head to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin smiled and nodded, "Going abroad is going abroad; at the beginning, one should indeed be enthusiastic." Soon, Cui Xiaohu started discussing the details with the Mysian police officer on the other end of the video conference. Both were speaking English, bypassing the trantor, which greatly improved efficiency. Finally, the officer from the Dama Police Force asked through the video conference, "Jiang, we look forward to your visit. What do you need us to do?" "Keep the evidence in its original state, ensure it¡¯s stored separately to avoid cross-contamination. Also... I will need to perform an autopsy," Jiang Yuan pondered quietly. If the victim was willing, could he perhaps obtain a share of My legacy and thereby facilitatemunication with the local police? Chapter 605 - 550 - : Commando-Style Case Solving

Chapter 605: 550 Chapter: Commando-Style Case Solving

Dama¡¯s capital. Jiang Yuan took several hours of flight and transfer, and headed straight to the Dama Police Station uponnding. Cui Xiaohu, Huang Qiangmin, Ni Cha, and Zhong Renlong apanied him, as well as Chu Guanliang, a liaison officer sent by the Dama embassy. The liaison officer, appointed by the ministry to overseas embassies, had now enforcement authority and focused mainly onmunication. Compared to Cui Xiaohu and the others who had just rushed over from China, the liaison officer Chu Guanliang was more familiar with the localws and cultural environment. Local time was 11:30 a.m. Jiang Yuan arrived at Marunpo Police Station and saw several officers waiting as he got out of the car. Liaison Officer Chu Guanliang greeted everyone with a hint of surprise, while Jiang Yuan simply waited quietly to the side, responding briefly when spoken to. After the initial exchanges, Chu Guanliang spoke to Jiang Yuan with an even friendlier tone and said cheerfully, "What we do most here is negotiate the arrest of telmunications fraud gangs. It used to be us pleading with the Dama police force, but now they¡¯re turning to us, and their attitude ispletely different." "Working abroad isn¡¯t easy for you all," Cui Xiaohu responded obligingly. Chu Guanliang sighed, "Even those few officers we¡¯ve seen just now aren¡¯t easy to meet usually, and they frown upon seeing me, thinking I¡¯m causing them trouble. But there¡¯s nothing I can do, when the task from home presses down, I have to help coordinate..." He expressed his feelings briefly, then looked at Jiang Yuan with a smile and said, "Officer Jiang,e by more often when you¡¯re free, to back us up." "You¡¯re joking, but I¡¯ll help as much as I can," Jiang Yuan replied, with his emotional intelligence maxed out. While abroad, things were different from back home, and it was better to behave well. "Once this case is sessfully resolved and a certain rtionship is established, future exchanges will also be more convenient," Huang Qiangmin added from the side. "Indeed..." Chu Guanliang nodded and continued, "Let¡¯s go inside, they must be getting anxious." It was 12 p.m. The group crowded into theboratory. Inside, a team of technicians d in white coats eagerly watched Jiang Yuan. Apart from Chu Guanliang and Zhong Renlong, there were also several Dama locals who understood Chinese. Everyone worked together, creating a noisy but efficient atmosphere inside the room. "Let¡¯s have fewer people, then we can start the examinations," Jiang Yuan surveyed the surroundings and added, "The foundation of Legal Botany is to count pollen grains, and most importantly, to eliminate contamination. Do we have apletely enclosedboratory?" "Yes," responded theboratory supervisor, who had naturally prepared everything. A Trace Evidence Laboratory was not too umon in those times. It might be rare in a county like Ningtai, but not so much in a nation¡¯s capital. Others were divided into groups, being pulled into different corners for conversations. Even Huang Qiangmin found himself in a casual chat with a few interested officers¡ª Huang Qiangmin now appeared more like a hardworking and honest man. Jiang Yuan, however, inspected theboratory equipment. After ensuring everything was in order, he began the tedious task of counting pollen inside a fume hood after opening the packaging of an evidence bag. Several researchers in white coats closely monitored Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. There were also experts in botany on the Dama side, but there was less coboration with the police. Like botanists in China, the main reason they did not engage in forensic botany was simply because it was too difficult and the rewards were too low. There was an overwhelming variety of tropical nts in Dama, not only was species identificationplex, but differentiating the numerous variants was challenging. Ordinary botanists would not willingly choose this as their primary research focus. On the rare asion that someone could, they often didn¡¯t stay in Dama. Even when the police sought expertise in this area, experts often scoffed and ridiculed the request. Botanists¡¯ parochialism could be even higher than that of giant pandas. Not only are China¡¯s nts different from Dama¡¯s, but even within Dama, nts exhibited regional variations! In such an environment, a Chinese botanist helping the Dama police force with botany was almost a joke among professionals. It was not impossible; after all, botanists from the once-great British Empire traveled all over the world, and the most familiar with Dama¡¯s nts could be in London, a im not easily questioned. But if they were said to be from China, that would be intolerable. Yet, skill gained through external means didn¡¯t follow the same logic. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t a real botanist, and he didn¡¯t care about the doubts of an expert not present. Level 3 Legal Botany had no regional restrictions or requirements. Utilizing a temporary skill upgrade to Level 4, Jiang Yuan could perform pollen analysis much faster for more than six hours. And once such a skill extended its reach globally, it would be incredibly powerful, not just at Level 4, but Level 3 as well. Since Jiang Yuan had no lecturing duties while abroad, he familiarized himself with theb¡¯s apparatus and began working at increased speeds, aiming to return home sooner. Bag after bag of evidence was rapidly umted. Most of the pollen could be identified using apound microscope. Whenever he encountered challenging samples, he simply handed them to an assistant to prepare slides, then projected close-up images for identification. Jiang Yuan barely had to move, efficiently directing the process. Common florae such as the hibiscus, exotic orchids, ubiquitous Bird of Paradise and purple butterflies, various types of clematis, Rose Mallow, the Rafflesia, and more... At 3 p.m. Jiang Yuan had inspected and categorized the first victim¡¯s clothing and personal belongings. The remaining process wasn¡¯t much different from what he was used to back home, look for satellite images, then set out to find the crime scenes. Of course, efficiency could have been slightly improved if he had inspected the evidence of all three victims before searching, but the emotionally intelligent Jiang Yuan decided to first let everyone ease their emotions. A convoy of more than a dozen cars set off, drove over 20 kilometers, and arrived near the first scene Jiang Yuan had marked off. "We¡¯re here," Jiang Yuan said from an elevated vantage point, seemingly pointing to a location quite casually. Soon, he pointed out the second scene. The ce where the bodies were ultimately discovered was marked as the third scene. Among the apanying officers, there was inevitably suspicion andint, but fortunately, the senior officers were sensible, pressing the officers to search rigorously while also pulling up surveince footage from the surrounding area. Before long, an officer found Bao Wenxing¡¯s car in the surveince footage from a nearby chain convenience store. This was Bao Wenxing¡¯s first criminal act in Dama, and his familiarity with local roads and traffic rules was clearly much less than in Luo Jin City. He waspletely unaware that some local convenience stores¡¯ external surveince was directly connected to the police force. It can only be said that it¡¯s too difficult for a foreigner tomit crimes in a strange city. Moreover, this case was different from the unsolved ones in Luo Jin City. Bao Wenxing wasn¡¯t as cautious as he was at home, and he didn¡¯t have the chance to return to the scene for cleanup. With the case being fairly recent, a half footprint was indeed found after thorough searches at the two crime scenes. This kind of evidence isn¡¯t great in Dama, just as it isn¡¯t reliable in court back home; it¡¯s only useful during the investigation phase. But to the Dama Police Force, what they werecking wasn¡¯t evidence. What they wanted now was Jiang Yuan! 20:00 in the evening. Jiang Yuanpleted the evidence analysis for the second victim. By this time, it was toote to go to the crime scenes, so Jiang Yuan continued with evidence analysis. More than four hourster, the evidence analysis for the third victim was alsopleted. This process was much faster than what a regr botanist could achieve, not to mention cross-regional botanical analysis. But at this point, Jiang Yuan no longer needed to exin. A light sleep. The next morning at 7:00, Jiang Yuan got in the car and headed back to the crime scenes once more. Zhong Renlong followed him closely, expressing his concern, "God, there¡¯s no need to rush like this. You could rest a bit before continuing with work..." "The sooner I finish, the more rxed I¡¯ll be. It¡¯s also too hot," Jiang Yuan said, not wanting to stay longer than necessary. Once arriving, he walked around with a hat on and started pointing out locations. All four crime scenes where thest two victims met their unfortunate end were sessively pinpointed by Jiang Yuan. This time as well, he didn¡¯t even need to participate in the crime scene investigations and headed back to the vehicle. The police in Marunpo no longer had anything to say; Jiang Yuan had proven himself, and while they humbly called him "God" and wanted to offer some local specialties, their gifts were not epted. "I would like to see the body of the first victim," Jiang Yuan said upon returning from the crime scenes, making a direct request. Zhong Renlong immediately agreed, made a phone call, and soon a familiar technician came to take Jiang Yuan to the forensic autopsy room. The victim J was lying in the morgue, slightly decayed, but the moment she faced Jiang Yuan, she immediately gifted a blue dumpling: J¡¯s legacy¡ªIndonesian Dialect Level 2: My is one of thenguages of Indonesia. J grew up in Indonesia by her mother¡¯s side. After moving to Dama, her dialect ent caused many inconveniences. J tried to change her ent as much as possible, but she missed her childhood and wished her mother could live well, without worrying too much about her. "Is J¡¯s mother doing well?" Jiang Yuan turned and asked the forensic doctor. "Not bad, she should be working at a hospital," the forensic doctor said. "Then please tell her that J... her pain was slight when she passed away," Jiang Yuan spoke softly. The forensic doctor responded and then said, "You could tell her yourself; I can call her over..." "No need," Jiang Yuan waved his hand. "I need to return to my country now. Chapter 606 - 551: Going the Distance

Chapter 606: Chapter 551: Going the Distance

The nended at Luojin Airport when it was already deep into the night. Jiang Yuan had left early the morning of the previous day, flew half the day, then worked for a whole day, and spent another half a day flying back, totaling two days of time, during which his work was at full capacity. Upon arriving in Luo Jin City, Jiang Yuan had nowhere to go, so he booked a hotel room next to the airport and slept until daylight. Early morning. Back at the Luojin City Bureau, in the temporary meeting room, a crowd of leaders were already waiting. Apuse broke out incessantly. The bureau chief stepped forward with a beaming smile, firmly shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, and said, "Wee back, Jiang Yuan, you have worked hard. The Mysian side has given you very high praise, the ministry has also sent a letter over... Our Luojin City Bureau also takes pride in this..." He was good with words, linking Luojin City with Jiang Yuan in just a few sentences. If it weren¡¯t for Huang Qiangmin, an average technician would have been overwhelmed by now. Jiang Yuan now didn¡¯t need to deal with these matters. Beforeing, Huang Qiangmin had briefed him¡ªit was sufficient to show respect. Jiang Yuan then demonstrated respect ordingly, and after the bureau chiefs finished speaking, he approached Pang Jidong and asked, "Pang Da, how have your days off been?" Pang Jidong¡¯s inner thighs involuntarily began trembling¡ªa more elegant way to put it would be ¡¯quaking¡¯¡ªand he whispered, "My rest has been alright. That... Bao Wenxing should almost be ready for the forensic examination." With four domestic cases of aggravated rape and three international ones,bined into one murder case, the chances of Bao Wenxing being sentenced to life imprisonment or even the death penalty were quite high, as he had multiple aggravating circumstances against him. Even if he were lucky enough not to receive the death penalty, after his sentence ended, he would still have to continue serving time in Mysia. Therefore, Jiang Yuan no longer needed to concern himself with Bao Wenxing. Jiang Yuan also said, "Bao Wenxing¡¯s case is in the past now, shall we move on to the next one?" "Sure," Pang Jidong readily agreed and asked, "Which case?" "Let¡¯s pick one," Jiang Yuan said to Pang Jidong, also utilizing his familiarity with the cases in Luo Jin City. Pang Jidong was very willing in this regard and chuckled, "Should we find an easy one or a more difficult one?" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s agreement with the Luojin City Bureau included three homicide cases, and two have already been solved. If the goal was purely toplete the task, naturally the easiest homicide case would be the best choice. Of course, the definition of an ¡¯easy¡¯ homicide case itself still needed further rification. However, from the recent interaction, Pang Jidong felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts were extremely unconventional, oftenpletely divergent from ordinary thinking. At this moment, the bureau chief noticed Jiang Yuan and Pang Jidong whispering to each other andughed, "What are you two discussing so privately? You seem very happy." Pang Jidong hastily responded, "We are discussing the selection of the third homicide case." "Oh, you¡¯re already nning the third homicide case?" The bureau chief was somewhat surprised. "I still need to take a little rest, but we can start preparing beforehand," Jiang Yuan said. "I n to rest for a couple of days while also deciding on the case to tackle." The bureau chief naturally nodded, "Abination of work and rest is the most rational approach. What kind of case are you preparing for?" "That still needs to be determined," Jiang Yuan smiled, obviously unable to mention something as juvenile as choosing a case where the victim was a chef. After all, he was the one solving cases, notmitting them. The wee event in front of the building ended, and the Criminal Police Brigade returned to tranquility. Then, in the office, Jiang Yuan met Wang Zhong, whom he hadn¡¯t seen for a long time. As the LV0.9 forensic technician in Ningtai County, Comrade Wang Zhong only appeared when there was a shortage of people. After Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team became strong and robust, he gradually stopped appearing. Seeing him this time, Jiang Yuan was quite surprised. Yet, a confident smile surged on Wang Zhong¡¯s face as he said, "Captain Jiang, Captain Wu heard you took a trip to Mysia and specifically sent me here to bring you something." With that, Wang Zhong took a delicately-made small canister out of his backpack. Made of stainless steel with arge lid, upon opening and overturning it, several red eggs rolled out ttering. "I guess it¡¯s just..." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised at all, the gift from Wu Jun was red chicken eggs, isn¡¯t that supposed to be the case? Wang Zhong said, "Captain Jiang, eat them while they¡¯re hot. The eggs are allid by Captain Wu¡¯s own chickens, they¡¯re really tasty." "My master has started raising chickens?" Jiang Yuan took a red egg, knocked it open, peeled it, and asked while eating. "He raised five, and almost every day there are about five eggs. Captain Wu said that even if you¡¯re in a terrible mood, he can at least guarantee a supply of red eggs." Jiang Yuanughed. "By the way, I also brought something else, should I set it up here?" Wang Zhong patted his backpack, his expression bing serious. Although he had practiced for a long time in Ningtai, this was still his first time working independently sinceing out. And he was facing Jiang Yuan, who had just returned from abroad. Jiang Yuan sensed the gravity from Wang Zhong. It must be said, just this demeanor alone was not something a mere LV0.9 could withstand. "Alright then. Youe with me, let¡¯s find an office." Jiang Yuan then went out, found Pang Jidong, entered his office, first locked the door from the inside, and then drew the curtains. Pang Jidong didn¡¯t understand why, but his expression turned serious in an instant. "Captain Jiang, is there a case?" Pang Jidong asked while ncing at Wang Zhong. Wang Zhong too looked back at Pang Jidong with an extremely solemn gaze, adding another person could easily result in not having enough materials, but fortunately he was well-prepared... "My master brought some special products for me, borrowing your esteemed ce for a moment," Jiang Yuan exined to Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong nodded even more seriously. In the saying "Once a teacher, forever a father," although it¡¯s not as strict in the current era, Wu Jun, Jiang Yuan¡¯s master, could pretty much be considered Pang Jidong¡¯s grandmaster. Therefore, the "special products" Wu Jun sent, Pang Jidong naturally took them even more seriously. Under the extremely solemn gaze of Pang Jidong, Wang Zhong¡¯s confidence was once again elevated. He took off his backpack, unlocked the sps, unzipped it, then took out a cloth bag, untied the string on top, revealing the inside¡ªa copper furnace. Pang Jidong¡¯s brows twisted into a knot: "Is this... evidence?" "It¡¯s for jumping over a fire basin," Jiang Yuan answered promptly. Without waiting for Pang Jidong to ask further, they saw Wang Zhong busily taking out charcoal, pulling out a blowtorch, then cing the charcoal into the copper furnace to light it with the blowtorch... The charcoal quickly turned red. Wang Zhong then took out a stack of yellow paper, saying, "Captain Jiang, this was specially prepared for you by Captain Wu, there¡¯s English on it." Jiang Yuan squatted down, took the yellow paper, and looked at it. The yellow paper was solid color, and indeed, there were red stamped characters on it: don¡¯t. "Don¡¯t?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Captain Wu carved the stamp himself with a radish," Wang Zhong said as he stepped aside, letting Jiang Yuan jump over the fire basin. Once. Twice... Pang Jidong watched numbly from the side: "Captain Jiang, what are we doing?" "My master believes jumping over the fire basin can dispel bad luck, it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t believe," Jiang Yuan stepped diagonally, stepped straight, stepped left and right... The fire was lit; not jumping over it would be a waste. After hesitating for a moment, Pang Jidong finally followed Jiang Yuan, jumping over the fire basin together. Jiang Yuan nced at Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong dered calmly, "Consider itying down a marker." Chapter 607 - 552 Acquaintance

Chapter 607: Chapter 552 Acquaintance

Evening. Captain Pang Jidong treated everyone to Haido Hot Pot privately. Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Wang Zhong, and Huang Qiangmin, among others, had meat in the hot pot while chatting casually and feeling rxed. After a couple more beers, Mu Zhiyang grew sentimental, "I¡¯ve followed Captain Jiang to so many ces, but Captain Pang is the first leader to treat us to Haido." With an expressionless face, Pang Jidong swished the pork belly in the broth and said, "There¡¯s no fine food in Luo Jin." "Is it even worse than Hangzhou?" Mu Zhiyang asked. "At least Hangzhou has its famous dishes, whether they taste good or bad, there¡¯s something to exin. In Luo Jin, our signature dishes aren¡¯t really significant. Even Haido has been here for a while, and you see, it still requires waiting in a long line..." Wang Zhong summed it up, "It¡¯s a rescue mission." He was now mixing with Wu Jun, his speech even had a bit of style, and he was no longer looking like a newbie. "Indeed, it has rescued us Luo Jin people," Pang Jidong nodded, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "So, although we have many deaths in Luo Jin, there really aren¡¯t many chefs among the dead. People are even embarrassed to call themselves chefs; at most, they can only cook..." He was exining the source of the bodies to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan began to realize, "That Luoyang Beef Soup I had at the hotel the other day was delicious, so it was prepared by a chef from out of town, right?" "Yeah, locals don¡¯t like to be chefs, and there aren¡¯t any local dishes to cook. Moreover, being a chef in Luo Jin for too long really deteriorates the skill level. In their words, the local environment of Luo Jin doesn¡¯t nurture chefs," Pang Jidong exined earnestly. Hearing this, Jiang Yuan began to understand and asked, "The case involving chefs as victims, is it not going well?" "It¡¯s not that it¡¯s not going well, but the skill level of the chefs is definitely not going well; they are all just ordinary chefs," Pang Jidong sighed helplessly and asked, "I don¡¯t know what technique you¡¯ve mastered, but why are you looking for chefs? Is it because of the chefs¡¯ years of experience, their skill level, or their working environment?" Captain Pang asked seriously. He assumed Jiang Yuan had some special method of selection that was particrly beneficial for cases with chefs as victims. This situation was quite normal; working in a certain profession for a long time could lead to upational diseases. For example, chefsmonly suffer from upational diseases such as bronchitis, rhinitis, and lung diseases. As a forensic doctor, it wasn¡¯t too strange for Jiang Yuan to use his profession to solve crimes and catch criminals. Captain Pang wouldn¡¯t ask Jiang Yuan for reasons; adults know they shouldn¡¯t burden or trouble others. Even if Jiang Yuan exined his rationale in forensic terms, what would he understand? Moreover, Jiang Yuan was still instilling knowledge of legal botany in him day after day. Pang Jidong was actually a bit scared that if Jiang Yuan knew he had developed an interest in forensic pathology, it would be even worse. Jiang Yuan initially mentioned wanting a chef victim on a whim, but he felt it wasn¡¯t a bad idea. People should have goals in life. If he handled cases so haphazardly and carefree, what would differentiate him from those young people in Jiang Vige who could only lie at home collecting rent and utility fees, dealing with real estate agents all day buying properties? "Preferably a higher skill level, that¡¯s the most important thing. Other than that, a longer working experience is also good, no other requirements," Jiang Yuan pondered a bit, then concluded that skill level was indeed the most crucial. Pang Jidong nodded, picked up a piece of duck intestine, and said, "If that¡¯s the case, this Haido had a middle-aged chef die. He used to be in charge of the kitchen at a hotel but then started working at Haido after the hotel switched to a central kitchen for supplies. He was responsible for slicingrge pieces of kidneys and doing the hand-cut potato slices. Someone chopped open his throat... Oh right, talking about dead bodies while eating is fine, right..." "It¡¯s fine, go ahead." Huang Qiangmin and Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t have a problem, and Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn¡¯t either. So Pang Jidong continued, "This case is quite vicious. When the body was found, his head had been chopped several times, half of his face was hacked off, an eyeball was hanging out..." Wang Zhong stopped his chopsticks. Pang Jidong went on, "The victim was facing away from the scene, apparently didn¡¯t struggle, his neck was shed with one blow, and the perpetrator even cut off his genitalia." Mu Zhiyang stopped eating. Pang Jidong took out his phone, "Take a look at the photos." Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan looked over together and fished out the simmered pig brains to share and eat. "It does look like there¡¯s some emotion involved. Was itmitted by an acquaintance?" Huang Qiangmin finished the pig brains and asked as he picked up his beer ss. "Our initial investigation considered acquaintances, but after two rounds of screening, we didn¡¯t find a suitable suspect." "Is the body still there?" Jiang Yuan asked. "It is," Pang Jidong replied, "but it has been there for about a year." "I¡¯ll take a lookter. Are there other photos?" Jiang Yuan said. Pang Jidong must have organized them, as he swiftly opened the photo album on his phone and handed it to Jiang Yuan to look for himself. Jiang Yuan clicked and read through one photo after another. There weren¡¯t many photos saved by Pang Jidong, roughly several dozen in total. Jiang Yuan quickly finished browsing, then went back and looked at a few more photos before handing the phone back to Pang Jidong, saying, "From bloodstain analysis, I also agree it wasmitted by an acquaintance." "Bloodstain analysis... Oh, right, you¡¯re skilled in that too," Pang Jidong said as if he just remembered. His mind was so filled with Jiang Yuan¡¯s Legal Botany that he had forgotten Jiang Yuan had also solved cases with Bloodstain Analysis. Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgement, picked up a piece of pork intestine from the pot to eat, and said, "In simple terms, the killer swung the axe from behind. The victim was sitting on a low chair, facing away from the killer with practically no guard up when struck the first time." Jiang Yuan continued, "Second, you can see blood stter behind the door. This suggests that after the killer entered, there was an action of closing the door, and since the door¡¯s hinges are all rusted out, closing it would definitely make a noise." With Level 6 Tool Trace Identification skills, Jiang Yuan could roughly figure out the situation just by looking at the photos. He went on, "Only if the victim was distracted by conversation with an acquaintance would they possibly not turn around. Otherwise, anyone would normally nce back. The killer was wielding an axe, and if the victim saw, they¡¯d be on alert." Pang Jidong pondered and said, "The victim lived in a shared rental house, and the main door is usually open. If the room¡¯s door was open too, the killer might have snuck in, struck the victim with the axe, then returned to close the door, and sttered blood on it while chopping the victim several more times after that. It could be possible, right?" "The stter from chopping afterwards wasn¡¯t like that," Jiang Yuan¡¯s response was quite unexpected for Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong lost his appetite for the hotpot and pushed his bowl aside, asking, "Are you sure? It¡¯spletely impossible?" Jiang Yuan swallowed the food in his mouth before wiping his lips and said, "Have you watched the old version of ¡¯Three Kingdoms¡¯? Generals shing in battle, one rides up and chops off the enemy general¡¯s head, and blood spurts out." Pang Jidong nodded with a look of partial understanding. "The bloodstains on the walls of the room were formed by sttering, which also happened with the first strike of the axe. But from the second strike, the patterns of the bloodstains were from being flung off the weapon,pletely different in shape," Jiang Yuan gave Pang Jidong a rough overview of bloodstain analysis, but didn¡¯t go into much detail. He felt it was better to save Pang Jidong¡¯s brainpower, having used it too much already, and if he continued at this rate, his rest days would be wasted. Pang Jidong¡¯s expression finally turned serious. He picked out the photos Jiang Yuan had spoken about and looked at them one by one again, saying, "So, it was stillmitted by an acquaintance. Did we not check thoroughly enough? Did we miss someone?" "Perhaps, we could try expanding the list of names," Jiang Yuan said nonchntly as he nched the meat. Of course, this was now with his skills piled up: Level 6 Tool Trace Identification paired with Level 5 Bloodstain Analysis, plus half-used Forensic Pathology and Clinical Sciences, it was already a top-tier forensic configuration. Under normal circumstances, unless someone critically important died, it would be very difficult to assemble such a team. "Let¡¯s expand the list of names," Huang Qiangmin chimed in, his mood delightful, feeling that if this case was solved, his tasting tour in Luo Jin City would beplete. Chapter 608 - 553: Life’s Reactions

Chapter 608: Chapter 553: Life¡¯s Reactions

"Hmm... the cook from Haido, I remember that," "This case wasn¡¯t solved, and my family booked a meal at Haido, I was too embarrassed to go," "Me too,ter I found out that the staff there had all been reced, many quit, their turnover rate was much higher than at other branches," "Isn¡¯t it... Jiang Yuan just got back, right? Has the case been solved?" "Almost, Pang Jidong brought back a group of people for questioning," A few detectives sat in the office, chatting with great enthusiasm. They might not be familiar with every homicide case at the bureau, but if there were unresolved homicide cases, they had at least heard of them. Because when a homicide case was about to be a cold case, it would mean that the situation had grown desperate. At that time, many detective teams would be pulled in, and naturally, they would be aware of relevant information. Furthermore,pared to the already scarce number of homicide cases, unresolved cases were even fewer. In recent years, the officers of the bureau had, more or less, some understanding of the unsolved homicide cases. And such cases being solved naturally led to discussion. In fact, looking at various police bureaus, if not for actions organized by ministries and provincial departments, solving cold cases on their own had a certain uniqueness and element of chance. The mostmon scenario was when the crime suspectsmitted other crimes and were subsequently caught. Cooler than that was when a certain detective stuck with a case and finally waited for clues, leading to its resolution. Solving cold cases through actions organized by higher authorities, part of it was the benefit of resource integration, another part was simply throwing more resources at the problem. Starting from scratch to solve cold cases within one¡¯s own jurisdiction was exceedingly rare. Instead, there were a few cases like Jiang Yuan¡¯s, where colleagues from other police departments, for some reason or other, incidentally solved cases from this locale. Of course, from any perspective, Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to solve cases far exceeded the normal level, to the point where it made the discussions among the ordinary detectives seem even more calm and measured. "Let¡¯s go, it¡¯s time to set off," a team leader who had just returned from a meeting waved his hand, summoning his subordinates. "The Haido cook case?" The detectives had already discussed all the gossip in the office, and they immediately guessed it right. The team leader grunted in affirmation and said, "The list of names has doubled. We¡¯ve been assigned more than 20 people to handle it more carefully. Director Xu said, past oversights are to be forgiven. But this time, if anyone lets a suspect slip through again, they¡¯ll have their hide peeled, their bones ground to dust, and that dust sprinkled in their eyes." "Understood," the detectives felt no stir in their hearts. It was just a threat, not the first they¡¯d encountered. However, if there had been issues with the previous screening, they indeed had to be extra careful this time. So someone asked, "The direction of the investigation hasn¡¯t changed, Jiang Yuan also thinks it was someone known to the victim?" "Right." "But we¡¯ve already checked twice following a familiar perpetrator theory, the likelihood of a suspect slipping through is really low." "That¡¯s why Director Xu also said, past oversights are forgiven, provided they weren¡¯t intentional. But this time, we have to be on guard." "Is it really a case of the skilled being bold?" The team leader hummed twice and said, "He used Bloodstain Analysis to reconstruct the scene, demonstrated it to the leaders. I¡¯ve seen it, it¡¯s wless. I believe the most likely scenario is that it was done by someone familiar." A few detectives furrowed their brows. Omissions during screening weren¡¯t too rare; even the culprit in the Baiyin case slipped through the police¡¯s vignt screening several times. But there was always a reason for someone slipping through, and it indicated that the perpetrator certainly had some tricks up their sleeve, which necessitated further consideration. The morgue. Jiang Yuan, alongside a Luo Jin City forensic doctor, pulled the body out of the ice coffin. He wasn¡¯t nning on performing an autopsy, so he didn¡¯t request for the body to be defrosted in advance, focusing primarily on inspecting the body surface. The cause of death of the victim was quite clear, and no abnormalities were found during the first autopsy, so there was no need for Jiang Yuan to perform a second autopsy. Autopsies are destructive examinations and are not meant to be conducted excessively. A typical case was the four autopsies of a woman surnamed Huang, were, due to various demands by rtives, the fourth autopsy conducted by a ministry forensic doctor revealed only a half-decayed body, naturally yielding no further results. Jiang Yuan also focused on examining the wounds, measured them with a ruler, and cross-referenced the autopsy report once more, saying, "The murderer should be a male, not weak, with a height between 170 to 180 centimeters." This was determined by the angle of the chopping motions. When ites to something as crucial as chopping someone, people generally don¡¯t jump up to do it, nor do they squat down, so height can be inferred from the angle of attack. However, since the murder weapon hasn¡¯t been found yet, its length could only be estimated, and as a result, the range of possible heights was quite broad. Jiang Yuan¡¯s estimation was already rtively clear. However, the height range provided by the murderer wasn¡¯t very helpful, a male between 170 cm to 180 cm¡ªsuch a height measurement was almost useless for narrowing down the poption. The forensic doctor from Luo Jin City stood obediently to the side, not at all disrespectful due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s seemingly pointless assessment. Legal Botany, eh? Barely any serious forensic doctors work in that field. From another perspective, if someone has reached that level of expertise, is there any wall left in the world of forensic science? Jiang Yuan¡¯s head could shatter that wall upon impact. "The victim was likely killed by the first axe strike." Jiang Yuan examined the wound again, swinging his arms twice in the air, and said, "The angle of the chop, with no blood stter on the body, also suggests they knew how to handle an axe." If the murderer had been sttered with blood, the blood spatter on the walls would be iplete. The forensic doctor from Luo Jin City nodded in agreement. "Looking at it this way, there was a certain interval of time between the first and second axe strikes, and the murderer¡¯s emotions were probably not particrly agitated," Jiang Yuan carefully examined the wounds and provided the most valuable judgment of the day. Part of his judgment was based on Bloodstain Analysis. The forensic doctor from Luo Jin City did not have this expertise and could only listen. "There¡¯s only the first axe¡¯s blood spatter on the wall; I used to think there might be a difference with the location of the second axe strike, but now it seems there¡¯s no problem," said Jiang Yuan, and the forensic doctor from Luo Jin City immediately understood. It was just like the story of the Three Kingdoms murder Jiang Yuan told Pang Jidong: the presence of blood spatter indicated that the victim was alive when they were struck. In professional forensic terms, this is called a vital reaction. When the second axe hit, the victim had no vital reaction. There are two possibilities for this: either the strike was off-target, missing the major blood vessels, or time had passed, and the victim¡¯s heart and internal organs had stopped functioning, eliminating any vital reaction. Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment was that time had passed. In that case, the murderer paused for a very short time after the first axe strike before delivering the second, the third... A murderer killing in the heat of passion generally wouldn¡¯t act like this. A typical crime of passion murderer is like the madmen seen on the streets, wielding a knife frantically. Normal people in their right minds do notmit murder; only those who havepletely lost their sanity in rage will do so. Therefore, the murderer in a crime of passion should be haphazardly hacking away with the axe. In this case, however, the perpetrator paused for the duration it took for the vital reaction to cease, that is until the person waspletely dead, before swinging the second axe. What was the murderer doing during this time? Either observing or talking. It¡¯s not like they would throw an axe and then pull out a phone to start reading a novel. "Could there be resentment or a financial dispute between the murderer and the victim?" pondered the forensic doctor. Jiang Yuan nodded. The forensic doctor from Luo Jin City frowned and said, "But we¡¯ve checked their acquaintances twice; if there was any resentment or financial dispute, how could it not be found?" Jiang Yuan shook his head, uninterested in specting without concrete evidence. "Alright. Push the body back," said Jiang Yuan, seeing that the victim had no further information to leave behind, only allowing for its return to the morgue. Driven back by Mu Zhiyang, the yard of the Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment was now quiet. Most of the detectives had already set out to carry out a search and inquiry operation. After more than a year, many people on the list had left their original addresses. Some had even moved to different cities or returned to their hometowns. Not only was it taxing to get in touch, but questioning them face-to-face was even more difficult. If it were a minor case, the detectives might have just made a phone call, but for a murder cold case like this, phone inquiries were absolutely prohibited, and personnel had to be sent out to conduct the interviews. At such times, the detective detachment was as empty as apany during holidays. But Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem too worried. He returned to the temporary office and called over Pang Jidong, ready to rally the troops, and said, "Captain Pang, while we conduct the search, why not work on another case during the wait?" "Another chef case?" guessed Pang Jidong, trying to figure out Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind. Jiang Yuan smiled, "It doesn¡¯t have to be a chef specifically. This case isn¡¯t closed yet. For the new case, let¡¯s prioritize finding someone in Legal Botany." Pang Jidong felt a knot form in his stomach, "Aren¡¯t you worried about the results of the search? Should we reconsider our investigative approach during this time?" "It¡¯ll turn out to be an inside job again, and if we really can¡¯t find anything upon further search, I¡¯ll introduce an expert to you," Jiang Yuan thought of Xu Taining and didn¡¯t immediately mention it, so as not to face premature opposition from Luojin City Bureau. Chapter 609 - 554: Returning Home

Chapter 609: Chapter 554: Returning Home

"No cooing... no bubbling..." The birds outside the window sang in a very orderly manner, and the air seemed to have a sweet taste. The Devil¡¯s Ivy by the bed was like waking from a dream, its leaves a shiny green, as if trembling slightly. Jiang Yuan slept until he naturally woke up, curled up in his nket, not wanting to get out of bed for a while. It wasn¡¯t until the bird calls stopped that Jiang Yuanzily got up and went downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast was still the aromatic beef soup. The chef recognized Jiang Yuan and was even more cordial, making it all the more regrettable. "Over here." Huang Qiangmin had arrived a bit earlier and waved to Jiang Yuan when he saw him. "Director Huang," Jiang Yuan said as he sat down with his soup. "I¡¯m heading back today," Huang Qiangmin said cheerfully. "The motor pool needs to be taken back; leaving it here just doesn¡¯t feel right. I¡¯ll also take the opportunity to deal with recent work." Huang Qiangmin specifically exined his schedule to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan wished him a smooth journey and then asked, "So, I¡¯ll just continue working on cases in Luo Jin City?" "Sure, it¡¯s up to you. Anyway, now it¡¯s one case at a time. Just give me a heads up in advance," Huang Qiangmin said with a chuckle. The package deal had been favorable, but there was no need for it now. Huang Qiangmin had seen many police bureaus and after working under Jiang Yuan¡¯s leadership, he would always remember the experience. Quick and urate case solving, arge amount of objective evidence, a tight chain of evidence, and a no-nonsense style were all advantages in Jiang Yuan¡¯s criminal investigations. In the current environment, only Jiang Yuan had the luxury of choosing his team; there was no need to worry about not being valued. "However... the case of the chef from Hai Di Lao here hasn¡¯t yielded any results yet; are you starting a new case?" Huang Qiangmin was still somewhat worried. His concern was not that the case couldn¡¯t be solved, but that Jiang Yuan would face increasing pressure during the investigation. The previous day¡¯s investigation had been all thunder and no rain, with suspects brought in for questioning virtually cleared of suspicion, bringing the case to a self-doubting phase. Logically speaking, the first day of investigation is the most hopeful for yielding results. If not a single clue is found on the first day, the subsequent days will be even more difficult. After drinking half a bowl of beef soup, Jiang Yuan casually reminisced about the photos of the crime scene and the site he had seen in person¡ªthe bloodstains had been cleaned, and the rental apartment was once again fully upied, including the single room where someone had died, now inhabited by a vigorous young man¡ªno matter how one looked at it, the likelihood of an acquaintancemitting the crime was very high. "Currently, with no other clues or evidence, persisting in the investigation seems to be the most reasonable n," Jiang Yuan shook his head. There should be no easy case for a homicide cold case. This logic, it¡¯s presumed, was understood by everyone at the Luo Jin City Bureau. However, understanding is one thing, but the real effort to be put into reality is another. Applied to everyone¡¯s work and study¡ªif one reads and studies tirelessly every day, continually increasing the pressure and investment, then you¡¯re told there will be a payoff in the end, but every test yields no improvement in scores or rankings, how many people can keep it up? Fanatics are forever, "Forever Air Force, forever in love" only with anglers. Ordinary people still need feedback. "If you start a new case, Luo Jin City has to do the investigation, and they don¡¯t have people to spare for you," Huang Qiangmin¡¯s main concern was this. Jiang Yuan had of course considered this and said, "Initially, not many people are needed for the investigation. If more manpower is requiredter, I am thinking of transferring people from the Cold Case Squad." His Cold Case Squad¡¯s staff were also mostly on loan; they were currently spread out working on various cases, essentially wrapping up previous cases¡ªa case solving is just the precursor part for a case¡ªjust organizing the files is enough to annoy anyone. From submitting evidence to the prosecution phase, cooperation is always needed. The most critical point is that many of Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases are death penalty ones, and these suspects almost always opt for an appeal, even if just to dy the process. From the appeal to the death penalty review, there are both easy and immensely frustrating cases. But no matter what, criminal police¡¯s main job is still to solve cases, and even more so for the policemen on Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t mind at all, nodded, and said, "As long as you can use it, that¡¯s fine. Let me know if there¡¯s any new development in the case. The same goes for Luo Jin City. Don¡¯t agree to any other conditions with them. The central ministry has enough cases as it is. There¡¯s no need to stay too long in Luo Jin. They¡¯re about to run out of steam." The resources of a police station are limited, and no bureau can keep solving murder cases non-stop. Moreover, solving cases requires the support of various departments. In the current environment, relying on the criminal police team to work alone is definitely unfeasible. Jiang Yuan is a technician, which ultimately means he utilizes resources heavily. Especially with trace evidence like this, it¡¯s something you wouldn¡¯t even consider in the old Ningtai County Bureau. Even if you take it to a provincial capital city like Changyang City or Luo Jin City, it wouldn¡¯t be very easy. Jiang Yuan is now working on three major cases for Luo Jin City, and the Luojin City Bureau is also under pressure. After eating two bowls of beef soup, Jiang Yuan went downstairs to send Huang Qiangmin to his car, watching as a line of more than a dozen vehicles left in procession. This time, the leaders of the Luojin City Bureau did not see him off, pretending not to know about Huang Qiangmin¡¯s departure. Huang Qiangmin himself did not care about these formalities, as he was definitely going to return after transporting the supplies, considering it only a temporary leave. Jiang Yuan called Pang Jidong before getting into his car to head to the funeral parlor. Case 913, a drowning case. This was a murder case Jiang Yuan had chosen for Pang Jidong. Drowning can be said to be the most widespread andmon application of forensic botany. Because drowning is always apanied by fluid in the victim¡¯s lungs. This fluid contains not only nkton but also algae. Sometimes, even simple contact with water can contaminate with algaeponents. Even at a wet crime scene, such as a pond or swimming pool, various types of algae are present. All of these can be used as evidence. Solving cases through algal evidence has been applied for many years in modern criminal investigation and is an early application of forensic botany. To Jiang Yuan, it felt very suitable to educate Pang Jidong as an introduction. When they arrived at the funeral parlor, the first task was to examine the lung samples left previously. The previous forensic doctor had done an excellent job, not only analyzing stomach contents and lung tissue but also taking samples from the bone marrow. This was quite a professional approach. Because if a victim dies from drowning, they would usually inhale or swallow a lot of water violently, and natural water bodies inevitably contain diatoms. Diatoms are smaller than typical algae and can enter all organs of the body, including the bone marrow, along with the bloodstream. Furthermore, if the victim is already dead and the heart has stopped beating, diatoms will not be transported to the organs. Therefore, you will not find diatoms in the internal organs, or you might find only a very small amount. Thetter is due to the presence of diatomaceous earth, resulting in some toothpaste, metal polishing, or other environmental contacts with diatoms. In short, if arge number of diatoms are found in the internal organs, the victim undoubtedly died from drowning. Due to the high insrity of bone marrow, its evidentiary power is the strongest, and it eliminates the issue of diatomaceous earth. It means that if there are diatoms in the bone marrow, the person died from drowning ¨C this is the gold standard of forensic evidence for drowning. Not only that, the diatommunity in the bone marrow and the diatommunity of the water body where drowning urred also match. They are slightly fewer in number, but the main species are essentially consistent. Yes, just like pollen maps, algae don¡¯t operate in istion. A single algal species is hard to prove anything, but algalmunities or diatommunities have a higher level of evidentiary power. "Very good, very good," Jiang Yuan said, looking at the container of algal evidence with great satisfaction. Thebel on the bottle recorded the case number, the victim¡¯s name, the date and ce of the sample collection, and other information about the evidence. "Typical forensic doctors wouldn¡¯t go to such trouble," Jiang Yuan remarked, pointing to the bottle containing the algae extracted from the bone marrow. "I¡¯m quite interested in forensic botany too," Lu Jie, the forensic doctor from Luo Jin City, quickly replied. It was because he knew a bit about it that he was more attentive to Jiang Yuan. "It¡¯s not easy to extract diatoms from bone marrow, is it?" Jiang Yuan asked with a smile. "Yeah, it¡¯s dissolved out with strong acid, and it¡¯s pretty dangerous," Lu Jie also responded with a nod and a smile. Pang Jidong, seeing everyoneughing and in good spirits, couldn¡¯t help but join in with augh and asked, "Does this mean the case will be easier to handle?" "Of course not," Jiang Yuan still smiling, said, "The previous evidence was very thorough, which indicates that it was hard to solve the case with the existing evidence. And since the evidence was collected well, it means that finding new evidence won¡¯t be easy." Chapter 610 - 555 Classification

Chapter 610: Chapter 555 ssification

"Why not choose the easy cases?" Pang Jidong found it a bit hard to understand. ording to conventional thinking, if the benefits of each project are simr, then one would certainly choose the easiest one to tackle. Even if criteria for judging the difficulty of projects vary, it¡¯s always right to pick the rtively easy ones. Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer was entirely beyond Pang Jidong¡¯s expectation, "The other cases might not involve Legal Botany, and then you would have to forget all the things I¡¯ve told you." This was really... Pang Jidong felt as if his chest had suddenly been filled with warmth. "You chose this case for me?" Pang Jidong stood in the cold basement, feeling stunned, his heart warm, his mind bemused, his expression nk, and his limbs fidgeting aimlessly. Jiang Yuan smiled frankly, "It¡¯s for myself as well. I originally thought thest few cases would be enough. You¡¯ve been struggling to get started, and I think that starting directly with pollen is too hard. The most practical application of Legal Botany is in drowning cases; since we have one, let¡¯s take a look..." "It¡¯s... it¡¯s because I¡¯m too slow..." Pang Jidong regretted so much. He should have worked harder in the past days. Pang Jidong couldn¡¯t help but reminisce; it had been over a decade since he left the ranks of the young, and no one had been so kind to him since then. Once, when he had just started out, his master was very kind to him. The following leaders, including the bureau chief, treated him quite well too, but gradually, the leaders retired, left office, were transferred away... His master retired to enjoy his old age at home, and the only ones who were kind to him were his wife andter, his children. Eventually, the focus of care from his wife and children shifted too... Approaching middle age, it seemed the only option left was to burn oneself out. "Captain Jiang, I..." Pang Jidong¡¯s heart pounded in his chest. "You do your best, and I do mine. That way, if there¡¯s ever a case in Luo Jin City that can use Legal Botany, you¡¯ll at least be able to handle it," said Jiang Yuan, not giving Pang Jidong the chance to speak his heart. It¡¯s not suitable for three men to discuss such matters at work; the bodies in the ice coffins wouldugh if they could. Pang Jidong nodded vigorously, "I¡¯lle to you when I find a suitable case..." "That¡¯s not necessary, but there certainly are technicians who know how to do Legal Botany, and you can look them upter. One good thing about our country is that researchers are lowly paid. Offer a little extrapensation, and you¡¯ll always find someone willing to help," Jiang Yuan thought. Even the most demanding normal botanist in China couldn¡¯t open their mouths wider than Huang Qiangmin. Of course, Jiang Yuan provided a one-stop service, and it wasn¡¯t just about utilizing Legal Botany techniques, which is another matter. During the conversation, the three of them went to the autopsy room to examine the body. The body was swollen, and only two fingerprints had been extracted, which failed to match any records. One of its thighs had already been removed for bone marrow and diatom analysis, but even so, the body¡¯s point of entry into the water and identity remained unverified. If they couldn¡¯t establish the identity, it made the case very difficult to proceed with. The forensic doctor of Luo Jin City, Lu Jie, again produced arge number of photos, which he hung on a backlight screen, "When the body was brought in, there were obvious signs of strangtion on the neck, leading us to conclude it was a homicide." As he spoke, he pointed to the photos for Jiang Yuan to see. The neck of the body, due to dissection and storage, was not very clear. The photographs, however, were much more discernible. After Jiang Yuan had a good look, Lu Jie continued, "The body was found in the Jinshui River. Jinshui River has arge volume of water and is extremely long. We searched upstream for a long time and took many samples, but haven¡¯t found any useful clues." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and then said to Pang Jidong, "This is a downside of algalmunities, unlike pollen profiles, because algae are more concealed and cannot be directly observed, they can only be used as proof, not as a directional tool." Pang Jidong understood this aspect and nodded, "It means we can only find the location and use the algalmunity to prove it¡¯s here but can¡¯t directly find the ce through the algalmunity." "Pretty much," Jiang Yuan said, looking at Lu Jie. "It should be freshwater. River water," Lu Jie said. "River water is the most troublesome. If it were saltwater, we could determine the approximate sea area based on salinity. Most crime or ident scenes are in bays, so it¡¯s easier to pinpoint location. Lake water also has certain characteristics in its algal distribution. But for river water, especially long rivers like the Jinshui River, it is difficult to determine the position," Jiang Yuan gave Pang Jidong a brief introduction. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, what Pang Jidong needed was this kind of superficial information, which would help him harness expertise in the future. As for real academic judgment, trying to teach Pang Jidong would be asking too much. "So what do we do now?" Lu Jie asked. Jiang Yuan was a forensic doctor, and so was he; he wanted to learn and progress as well. Jiang Yuan considered for a moment and said, "Two ns. First, perform cranial reconstruction. Once we have the cranial reconstruction,pare it with photos of missing persons, and we might find something. Forensic Anthropology could help too, same idea, but it works better in conjunction." Forensic doctor Lu Jieughed. Yes, indeed, Jiang Yuan knew how to do cranial reconstruction and understood Forensic Anthropology. While they were both forensic doctors, it would be presumptuous to expect a forensic doctor to understand cranial reconstruction and Forensic Anthropology intimately. They were all well-educated, after all; why not go to Tsinghua University? Jiang Yuan made a briefment, then continued, "Second, we could ssify the algae and see if we can narrow it down to a small range and then look for the scene; it might have a bigger chance of sess." "ssification?" Lu Jie furrowed his brows, sensing that what Jiang Yuan referred to as ssification was definitely not what he had imagined. "Yes, let¡¯s prioritize the diatoms. Once other algae are dried out, it bes very difficult to identify their genus and species. By contrast, water doesn¡¯t really have any effect on the siliceous frustules of diatoms." Jiang Yuan casually introduced Pang Jidong to this, then continued, "For the other algae, we¡¯ll try as much as we can. We will ssify as many as possible." Lu Jie could only nod nkly. Diatoms and other algae¡ªhe had extracted them all, but why hadn¡¯t they been ssified before? Not because he didn¡¯t like to, of course! Among these, there were over 200 species of diatoms. As for algae, stating a total number is not very meaningful since many species are not local, but for reference, here¡¯s a figure: more than 27,000 species. Even if Lu Jie¡¯s head were ttened, it was impossible for him to learn how to distinguish all the species of algae. Finding a professional expert on algae might be possible, but that would be a huge amount of work; and besides, it wouldn¡¯t be over just by identifying the species of algae found on the body. Subsequent samples sent over would still need to be analyzed. Moreover, even if the scene was located, there was still a distance to go before cracking the case. So, a forensic doctor like Jiang Yuan, a one-stop solution for solving cold cases, was absolutely not overpriced by Huang Qiangmin. "Let¡¯s start." Jiang Yuan felt he had said enough and rolled up his sleeves to get to work. Lu Jie silently followed suit, curious to see how Jiang Yuan would do it. He watched... He watched from the side... He watched from above... He watched, leaning against Pang Jidong... Night fell. Pang Jidong went to get some takeout and returned to find Lu Jie hiding in a corner, crying. Here was a man in his thirties or forties, crying like an ugly, rough-skinned, thin-haired fat child, and Pang Jidong couldn¡¯t help but feel a wave of sympathy. "What¡¯s wrong?" Pang Jidong sat down next to Lu Jie and asked softly. "Pang Da, tell me, am I an idiot?" Lu Jie asked with tearful eyes. If it were a youngdy, Pang Jidong would usually say something to warm the heart, but facing a grown man looking this ugly, Pang Jidong could only say truthfully, "If you¡¯reparing yourself to Jiang Yuan, then yes, you are an idiot." "He uses the nine-step method, I use the nine-step method, why are the diatoms he screens out more numerous and easier to identify than mine? Why does he recognize 200 species of diatoms..." Lu Jie got to the painful part and plunged into Pang Jidong¡¯s arms. Pang Jidong firmly pushed him away,ughing, "I thought it was something serious. It¡¯s only 200 species, you can learn them slowly." Lu Jie looked at Pang Jidong nkly, "How many kinds of green leafy vegetables do you know?" "What?" "The differences between diatoms under a microscope are even less than the differences between green leafy vegetables. If I give you 200 kinds of green leafy vegetables, could you distinguish each one?" Lu Jie asked earnestly. Pang Jidong: "It does sound like it would be difficult." "He also identified over twenty other kinds of algae," Lu Jie said, shaking his head. "He actually recognized all the algae that still had features..." "Difficult... quite challenging?" Lu Jie let out a dryugh, "If I gave you 27,000 dogs and asked you to pick 20 and name them, could you do it?" "How about trying with 27,000 ex-girlfriends?" Pang Jidong hadn¡¯t met his share of copsing criminals and victims, including sometimes the detectives under him, and knew how to change the subject. Lu Jie indeed burst outughing, then continued, "He also revised the post-mortem submersion interval... Tomorrow morning, it¡¯s time to take samples..." Lu Jie¡¯s voice grew fainter and fainter, clearly, the blow received at the scene was nothing like the stories he had heard. Pang Jidong just smiled. Algae? Pollen was even more twisted. And if you wanted to talk about being frustrated, just look at how frustrated the bureau leaders were now. Chapter 611 - 556 Swift Progress (Seeking Monthly Pass)

Chapter 611: Chapter 556 Swift Progress (Seeking Monthly Pass)

In front of the long maroon conference table, Director Xu Tian¡¯s brows were tightly furrowed. Those familiar with him would instinctively stick their butts out three inches further when they saw him make this expression. All around was deathly quiet, as though the dozen or so people in the room were all holding their breath. "Ha-ha..." Director Xu suddenly let out a restrained chuckle. Then, the meeting room was filled with subduedughter. "What shall we do?" Director Xu asked with augh, turning to the chief who sat in the middle. In front of him were the two reports that Doctor Jiang had sent over. Two cold cases, two clear investigative directions, two sets of clues, and also the implication of double the resource investment. Not to mention the cost of investigation itself, just the manpower for these two murder cold cases was quite a bit of pressure. The leaders of the Luojin City Bureau were experiencing this kind of happy trouble for the first time. When had they ever been this overjoyed? "What are everyone¡¯s thoughts?" the chief thought it was a good opportunity for a bit of levity. Being a criminal investigator was tough; on the rare asions something good happened, it was truly a cause for celebration. The faces of the few around the conference table indeed stretched with smiles as if they were getting facelifts. "Though it cost us money, this return on investment ising back too fast and too thrilling," the detachment captain remarked with emotion. He was very keen on keeping Doctor Jiang around. Director Xu was nodding non-stop. Helping to establish and equip the Ningtai Countyb was expensive, but solving murder cold cases would be even more challenging. A simple logic was at y here¡ªif some current murder cases couldn¡¯t even be solved on time, then going back after a year or more, to tackle those that had turned cold using even more difficult methods and managing to solve them, well, the gap here couldn¡¯t be measured in terms of miles. After everyone had their moment of happiness, the chief then asked, "How is the screening process going? Is there any hope?" When it came to the specifics of the cases, the smiles on everyone¡¯s faces immediately disappeared. Being a criminal investigator actually isn¡¯t a very blissful job. Or rather, it is an extremely masculine task. It¡¯s at its most joyful and exhrating for a very short time, typically only thest few seconds. Before that, a detective needs to sweat profusely, take great risks, and withstand a tremendous amount of emotional fluctuation. Like the chief mentioned, screening rtionships of the chef from the lost and found¡ªif there were results to show for it, that would naturally be joy-inducing. But before reaching the end, all efforts could be fruitless. And no one could tell you where the finish line was. The detachment captain took a deep breath and said, "The screening is still in progress, and as of now... there are no results yet." "This investigative direction... since it was proposed by Doctor Jiang, then you all should continue to work hard," the chief would normally have asked the detachment captain for his opinion first, but he went ahead with the conclusion. He didn¡¯t want his subordinates to simply go with the flow and change the investigative direction on their own. Now that there was another drowning case, which was also a murder cold case, if it were solved, he wouldn¡¯t just avoid me, he¡¯d need to give ample praise. But as a consequence, the lost and found chef case could be postponed indefinitely. Turning two murder cold cases into one was something the chief wasn¡¯t willing to ept without a fight. When it came to whether he believed in Doctor Jiang or his own subordinates, whom he had worked meticulously with for over a decade, it was obvious that the chief chose to trust in Doctor Jiang. Even if the circle of acquaintances of the chef had already been sifted through several times, he still held firm belief in Doctor Jiang. Now, Doctor Jiang had dealt with more murder cold cases than many would handle in their entire lives. In fact, his cases exceeded the total number of specialized task forces many would join in a lifetime. By the chief¡¯s experience, if he didn¡¯t trust Doctor Jiang, then whom could he trust? Age and technique set aside, in terms of experience dealing with murder cold cases alone, Doctor Jiang was among the national elite. For an average detective, after five or six years on the job, beginning to do misceneous tasks for a task force in their mid-twenties and averaging one major case solved per year was considered good performance. More likely, it was only after solving two major cases that one could barely close a case¡ªpossibly even necessitating a manhunt. If one could keep this up until their forties, providing they could still work by then, they might solve twenty major cases, with the number of murder cold cases amongst them being uncertain. Viewed from this perspective, the chief saw Doctor Jiang and his own subordinates as being in entirely different leagues. The detachment captain felt obliged to get rification from the chief, saying, "Should we adjust our investigative resources? If new cases arise, we¡¯ll be short on manpower. So we may need to increase support." "How many people do you need?" the chief asked. "A hundred," the detachment captain asked for a substantial amount now that he had voiced it. The chief grunted and bargained, "I¡¯ll give you 10 people. Borrow some from the ranks below¡ªhowever many you can get, let¡¯s start with three months." Nowadays, the city bureau survived by requisitioning officers from lower levels. The county bureaus were so strained by loans that they had slowly developed coping strategies. For instance, strict adherence to loan durations¡ªif they said three months, then it was three months¡ªand another was to ensure everything was documented in writing, only counting it if there was an official request. The detachment captain was aware of the general shortage of manpower and sighed, "If that¡¯s the case... alright then." In any case, the work was initially about collecting water samples upstream. If they were short on manpower, they would just do it more slowly, which he could ept. The chief simply grunted and suggested, "Let¡¯s walk on two legs. As long as one case is solved, we¡¯ll have enough manpower." "Yes," the detachment captain could onlyply. ... Back in the office, the usual bustling scene of peopleing and going was no more to be seen. The police staff had been sent out by the detachment captain in droves, including deputy captains and others, who were now leading teams to other provinces. There are always some people who run off to work far away, and inquiring about these people is also indispensable. Leaving after the crime inherently counts as a suspicious item. "Captain Wang." The leader of the second squadron came to report, saying, "We have found something." "Speak." The squad leader immediately perked up. It had been so many days that the ordeal was making him eat two extra bowls of rice each day. "When our team¡¯s Qi Pao was questioning a former coworker of the victim, he noticed that the person¡¯s emotions were unusual. After detailed questioning, the former coworker admitted that he had been in a romantic rtionship with the victim." The squad leader was taken aback: "The female cook?" "Male cook..." "That... oh..." The squad leader nodded his head, as he was well-experienced and his mind immediately began to associate: "Was their rtionship not public?" "Right." "This is a new development, meaning the victim was a homosexual, and the closeted kind at that. What about his boyfriend? Is he on our list?" The leader of the second squadron said, "He is, but he wasn¡¯t heavily questioned. He was marked as a ¡¯C¡¯." "Change that to an ¡¯A¡¯, send someone to question him," the squad leader said, rubbing his hands together, a spark returning to his eyes. If there was no new information on the cook case from Sea Bottom Skimming, he was almost ready to change the direction of the investigation. ... Jiang Yuan, leading the fourth squadron headed by Pang Jidong, proceeded upriver. Yesterday, he mainly did two things. The first was to determine as many algae species as urately as possible. Different algae have different living conditions. To put it more professionally, they thrive in varied aquatic environments. Some parts can be distinguished through satellite imagery, but others require on-site judgment. Theplication is that many algae are invisible. The environment might be suitable for their survival, but the proportions might not match, and this requires water sampling and testing. The second thing Jiang Yuan did was to make a more urate deduction of the post-mortem submersion time, meaning how long the body had been in the water. This is a peculiarity with drowned bodies. After a body has been submerged, the reproduction of insects and other microorganisms is affected, so death time estimates based on necrophagous insects be unreliable. Consequently, the overall determination of the time of death bes much harder. However, there are many methods to assess the time spent in the water. For instance, in freshwater, a body submerged for a week will show "gloving" and "stocking" skin slippage, which is theprehensive detachment of skin from the hands and feet... Once the post-mortem submersion time is established andbined with hydrological data, it¡¯s possible to roughly determine the section of the river where the body entered the water. However, the uracy of this is much lower, with many assumptions involved. So when reaching the respective areas, it has to be cross-checked with the first task. The car stopped. Jiang Yuan got out and surveyed the distance before observing the riverbank for a while. He then pointed to a spot, and someone stepped forward to throw a bottle and collect a sample every few meters to gather enough samples before loading them into the car. Jiang Yuan continued to walk and point. Algae distributions can still differ even in rivers of this moderate size with broadly simr living environments. Pang Jidong and his subordinates, carrying boxes of small brown bottles, walked and threw, collecting several boxes and then hurriedly transporting them back. Theboratory was already well-prepared, with even new centrifuges purchased. The time-consuming part of the nine-step method is centrifuging. In fact, a single diatom requires three centrifugations to be viewable under a microscope, a rather tough task. After walking approximately three to four kilometers along the left bank and then returning along a simr distance, even without Jiang Yuan personally taking samples, the intensity of the work was extremely exhausting. Fortunately, sampling for algae species in theboratory is a well-established technique, not requiring Jiang Yuan¡¯s direct operation. After going back for some sleep, the next day... he continued with centrifugation and sampling... From the second day on, Jiang Yuan had to start identifying the algae samples. This was a task he alone could do; others wanted to help but couldn¡¯t, and all they could do was watch. So, in the yard of the Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment, only the fourth squadron remained, wandering around like lost souls. The squad leader, looking out from his office, suppressed the urge to drag these people out to work. While other teams were nearly overwhelmed with tasks, the fourth squadron still had individuals with time to kick around the grass. If it were before, it wouldn¡¯t have mattered, but now, with new findings and leads in the Sea Bottom Skimming chef case, it was a time when more hands were needed. The squad leader thought about this and then left his office, unconsciously gravitating towards theboratory¡ªno particr reason, just to greet Jiang Yuan, see if he liked his current working environment, and find out when he intended to need more personnel... Upon reaching theboratory, the squad leader sat in the reception room, waiting. The operating room inside required decontamination, making it a hassle to enter, and the squad leader couldn¡¯t be bothered to go over. He himself was also getting ready to ponder what to say when they met. As he was thinking this, he saw Jiang Yuaning out from inside. "Doctor Jiang." The squad leader felt inexplicably guilty and quickly stood up. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised to see the squad leader here, but upon encountering him, said, "I was just about to report to you. The point where the body entered the water has been identified upstream at Fulin Town. We have checked the local missing persons and confirmed the victim¡¯s identity. He was a local resident who lived at home with his parents and sibling in a self-built house. There¡¯s an issue with his family; they reported him missing toote. At the very least, they know something." The squad leader nodded continuously as he listened. This situation could be referred to as having major suspicions. "By the way, did youe here for something?" asked Jiang Yuan as he took off hisb coat. The squad leader took it from him, hung it up neatly, and said with a smile, "Nothing in particr, just checking to see if you needed any help with anything." Chapter 612 - 557: Dual Case Concluded (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Chapter 612: Chapter 557: Dual Case Concluded (Seeking Monthly Votes)

"What are your ns next?" asked the team leader politely. "Grab something to eat and meanwhile wait for Captain Pang¡¯s news?" Jiang Yuan nced at the sky and said, "I reckon by the time we finish dinner, Captain Pang will have some results." The team leader¡¯s face lit up with pleasure, "I like this n. Do you mind if I join you for dinner? Have you decided where to eat?" "The original n was to have a barbecue at the canteen. I¡¯ve invited the technicians from theb, we¡¯ve all had a tough few days," Jiang Yuan nced at the team leader. The team leader was a bit surprised, "The canteen does barbecue now?" "I bought some barbecue equipment and meat. We agreed to barbecue on the roof of the canteen." The team leader twitched at the corner of his eye. How could one possibly barbecue on the canteen¡¯s roof? No matter how you looked at it, it¡¯s an appendage of a serious institution, setting up the dark barbecue grills and heaping up the bright red charcoals... What would that look like? Half an hourter... The team leader sat behind the glowing charcoals, his face glowing red from the reflection. The rooftop of the canteen was semi-transparent, with half of it built and the other half covered with a dark green shelter. There were tables and chairs previously, but now they were moved aside for Jiang Yuan to set up two barbecue grills. The grill and charcoal were bought online, and the skewered meat was shipped from home, using the "Extra Ice" cold chain service from Jiang Fuzhen, which arrived still rock-solid, looking very authentic. Theb technicians sat down casually. Those who preferred not to sit with leaders found seats nearby. Theb director, deputy director, and a few ambitious technicians joined the table with Jiang Yuan and the team leader. Everyone chatted while grilling meat, enjoying a rxed atmosphere. The team leader also put aside his dignity, chatting warmly with Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was a visiting officer, and the team leader was still a squad leader; none of this affected him. It was impossible for Jiang Yuan to transfer from Shan Nan Province to Bai River Province, so the rtionship between the two men depended either on personal feelings or on the sharp teeth of Huang Qiangmin. The team leader was still willing to put on an even brighter smile. Of course, his mood was indeed very bright at the moment. Hot charcoal, fragrant barbecue, and some rather good dipping sauces¡ªall of these were rare treats in recent days. The team leader grilled, leaning back in his chair and feeling suddenly rxed. Recently, he had dealt with several unsolved murder cases, and the mental pressure was indeed no small matter... "Suddenly thinking about it, in just one month, we¡¯ve sessively cracked two major unsolved cases, one of which was a transnational serial case, and now we¡¯ve also made smooth progress on two murder cases..." the team leader mused, his smile unconsciously spreading across his lips. For a regr criminal investigation team, solving a serious case is as difficult as an ordinary person dating. Current cases are like dating now, while unsolved cases are like dating an ex-girlfriend who dumped you. So, for the team leader, the situation felt like having dated two ex-girlfriends in a month, and now concurrently pursuing two other ex-girlfriends with quite some progression. What a shura field (a scene of carnage). "How about two skewers of barbecuedmb?" Jiang Yuan offered the team leader two skewers of meat without continuing along with the team leader¡¯s topic. The team leader¡¯s sense of happiness came at a cost, and Jiang Yuan cared even less. He already had Captain Huang at home and couldn¡¯t afford so many captains. Giving away two skewers of meat was good enough. Yet the team leader ate with great gusto, savoring the fat as it spread on his taste buds, a smile appearing in his eyes, "This barbecue of yours is really tasty, have you practiced it specially?" "Kind of. My dad barbecues often." Most of Jiang Yuan¡¯s barbecuing skills came from Jiang Fuzhen, including the current marinade and dipping sauces. "It¡¯s a family tradition, very nice," the team leader nodded repeatedly. "Not exactly. The ingredients are all ready-made, just grill and that¡¯s it." After eating another skewer of beef, the team leader was even more pleased and couldn¡¯t help asking, "Where did you buy these meats and dipping sauces from?" "The dipping sauce was prepared by my dad. As for the meat, this batch should be from our family¡¯s ranch, and we just wanted to try it out to see if it¡¯s good." The ranch Jiang Yuan mentioned was newly bought by Jiang Fuzhen. Dissatisfied with the previous supply chain, Jiang Fuzhen took over a new ranch, hoping it wouldn¡¯t be demolished. Theb director nearby couldn¡¯t helpughing, "Captain Jiang¡¯s family is in the breeding business? Isn¡¯t that the kind of family that sells a cow to afford school, owning hundreds of cows?" Jiang Yuan smiled without a word, for there indeed were hundreds of cows in the newly bought ranch at home, but it was not necessary to sell them to pay for his schooling. Amid the drifting smoke of fireworks, Pang Jidong¡¯s phone call came through. Jiang Yuan asked a couple of questions, then turned on speakerphone and informed Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong raised his voice andughed, "Captain Wang, I was nning tomunicate with Jiang Yuan and then report to you. I have sessfully apprehended the suspect in the 913 drowning case¡ªit was the victim¡¯s older brother." "Do you have evidence?" the Captain immediately asked. Pang Jidong said, "The victim¡¯s father is an eyewitness. Ah, both brothers wanted to run the family¡¯s small supermarket and hoped the other would open a new one elsewhere. On the day of the incident, they went to the riverside to discuss it because they feared neighbors overhearing and affecting the family¡¯s reputation. But to their misfortune, the older one strangled the younger and pushed him into the water, and the younger brother, who couldn¡¯t swim, drowned." Pang Jidong paused, then continued, "There are scratch marks on the older brother¡¯s arm, and he has admitted to it." "That¡¯s good. Hmm, for such a family case, you must preserve the evidence carefully, and be cautious when taking notes," the Captain meticulously instructed. The case was just too important; he could not afford to lose it. Pang Jidong immediately acknowledged, treating such cases with the utmost care himself. Reluctantly ending the call, the Captain still held a skewer in his hand, his mind no longer on eating. The drowning case had actually been solved. To be honest, the Luojin City Bureau had not put much effort into the 913 drowning case. Even if they had wanted to, they couldn¡¯t have contributed more, since Jiang Yuan had thrown out a set of skills, not even giving them a chance to investigate. The Captain had indeed been prepared to allocate some manpower to this case afterwards. But ording to his n, this deployment was likely to happen after the Hotpot Chef case. Who could have imagined that Jiang Yuan, leading ab and pairing it with a fourth squad, would wrap up the case from start to finish sopletely? Reflecting on what Huang Qiangmin had said, the Captain fell into deep thought. Meanwhile, theb technicians erupted in cheers. Algology is often used to assist in judging cases, but it¡¯s quite rare to directly solve a case with it. Of course, the most important aspect was that everyone had put their hands to work on it, just like barbecuing, part of the joying from their own effort. Buzz buzz. The Captain¡¯s phone started ringing. "The suspect has confessed," a man¡¯s voice conveyed the good news from the other end of the phone. The Captain was startled and took a moment to remember that this report was about the Hotpot Chef case. He couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Crime of passion?" "Crime of passion. The young man was weeping and wailing, saying he wanted to go public with the rtionship with the victim, but the victim was unwilling and even suggested breaking up. Feeling exploited, the young man demandedpensation for the breakup, which the victim refused to provide. He grabbed an ax, iming he just intended to scare the victim. But when the victim kept his head down and ignored him, he swung the ax at him, then asked the victim another question..." The detective on the other end of the phone was describing the recently acquired confession, especially the details of the crime. This was a crucial part of the investigation. In theory, including theft cases, suspects are required to recount the crime scene. It¡¯s best if they can clearly describe the crime process as well. There are many benefits to this approach. It not only eliminates the urrence of situations like "false confessions," but it also helps the police rify many facts, such as whether there were aplices, whether there was another party involved, and so on. It¡¯s actually quite difficult to fabricate a realistic scene. Especially when there is a lot of evidence and clues at the scene, fabrications can easily lead to contradictions. In this case, since Jiang Yuan had even reconstructed the crime scene, the possibility of fabrication was virtually nil. After a while, the Captain hung up the phone and faced Jiang Yuan, slowly saying, "The Chef case has been solved too." The Captain¡¯s tone carried a hint of wistful loss. Chapter 613 - 558 tired

Chapter 613: 558 tired

"Jiang Yuan,e by often." "Jiang Yuan, consider Luo Jin your own home, and now that transportation is convenient, you can just hop over." "Bring your family over for a visit. Just give us a call, and we¡¯ll definitely treat you well and make you look good. By the way, if you have a girlfriend, bring her over too. We can organize a team to help you out!" The various levels of leadership from the Luo Jin City Bureau earnestly entrusted Jiang Yuan, apanying him all the way down to the building and into Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hands, seemingly reluctant to leave. Deputy Director Xu Tian grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, saying, "Luo Jin is like your second maternal home. If you ever feel aggrieved in Shan Nan, just call us, and I¡¯lle over to pick you up. Without further ado, I can set up ab for you¡ªwhether it¡¯s for forensic work or trace evidence, it¡¯s just a matter of a word. We¡¯ll equip theb with the instruments and equipment you request, and you¡¯ll have full control..." "Director Xu, that¡¯s not necessary," Huang Qiangmin said, patting Director Xu¡¯s hand, trying to pull it away. Director Xu red: "You¡¯ve almost moved an entireb; I have to equip a new one, don¡¯t I? Theb I prepare will be waiting for you, isn¡¯t that appropriate?" "Jiang Yuan was born in Ningtai, raised in Ningtai; he isfortable there." Huang Qiangmin pulled away Director Xu¡¯s hand, adding, "If there are cases in the future, we will contact each other again. Don¡¯t be too hasty." "Our Luo Jin City is the provincial capital, isn¡¯t the provincial capital better than a county town?" Xu Tian grasped Jiang Yuan with his other hand, unable to let go, and earnestly said, "Come back when you have time. Honestly, not for anything else, juste and take a look around, it would make us happy too." "No problem. Actually, with today¡¯smunication, you can just give me a call or send me the information on WeChat. That works too." Jiang Yuan¡¯s stay in Luo Jin was pleasant; he found the people of Luo Jin City to be quite friendly, their words gentle, their actions reliable, and their spirits rtively high. During the time Jiang Yuan was "in the field," Luo Jin City was one of the few cities where everyone was enthusiastic and friendly. Of course, from another perspective, Jiang Yuan was brought out this time by "higher-ups" from the ministry. His own aura and buffs also stacked up a lot, apparently naturally leading the people around him to be better versions of themselves. Nowadays, people around Jiang Yuan spoke much more nicely. Pang Jidong approached Jiang Yuan after the leaders had expressed their heartfelt words, grabbed both his hands, and let out a long sigh. Compared to others, Pang Jidong appeared rather inarticte: "Master..." "It¡¯s not that serious. There will be plenty of opportunities to meetter on." Jiang Yuan patted Pang Jidong¡¯s shoulder, also a bit emotional, for by the end of this teaching period, it wasn¡¯t just aboutpleting a task. Pang Jidong, despite his age, had worked hard following him during the day, working while learning, and even reviewing and preparing at night for fear of losing the best opportunity... Despite everything, Pang Jidong still hadn¡¯t reached the system-setpletion line, but that was because Legal Botany was too difficult, not Pang Jidong¡¯s fault. Even if it were a younger person, it would be hard to do any better. Take Wang Zhong, for example; he too had learned from Jiang Yuan for a while, and Jiang Yuan answered all his questions, quite preferentially, yet Wang Zhong¡¯s trace evidence skills had been stuck at LV0.9 for a long time, and it wasn¡¯t something that could be exined away by just calling someone a dunce. "After I go back, I¡¯ll talk to you via video, and if you have any questions, just send me a WeChat message." Jiang Yuan paused and then said to Pang Jidong, "Don¡¯t take on too many heavy cases recently. If Ie across a botany case, I¡¯ll call you." "Okay, okay." Pang Jidong nodded repeatedly, knowing that with Jiang Yuan willing to teach him this way, there was no need to say thanks or anything¡ªit was like epting a master. After saying goodbye to everyone else, Jiang Yuan turned and got into an Audi A6 with a license te starting with "Bai A," and drove off. The leaders from Baijiang Province waved their hands, unable to hide their reluctance. ... Ningtai County. The newly constructedprehensive building¡¯s auditorium was spacious and bright. Theprehensive building was a joint project supported by the provincial department, Changyang City Bureau, Qinghe City Bureau, and Ningtai County. The investment was significant, and the construction period was not short; it was not yetpletely finished. On stage, Director Chai was beaming with joy, while Huang Qiangmin could only maintain aposed expression. This project was one that Director Chai had pushed for, and all parties had given him face for it¡ªhis asking price wasn¡¯t as steep as Huang Qiangmin¡¯s, so naturally, he was more popr. This, however, was exactly what irked Huang Qiangmin, not just because of theck of smoothmunication between them, but also due to the struggle for power. It shouldn¡¯t be that just because someone bes a director, they naturally have the right to trade their subordinates. Moreover, selling so much at once this time was too big of a dy. Before, Director Chai had introduced Jiang Yuan to Luyang City, but since that was where he had started his career, and with a new official in office, Huang Qiangmin hadn¡¯t made an issue of it. But now... of course, there wasn¡¯t anything to argue about. "Jiang Yuan, congrattions on being awarded the title of ¡¯First-ss Meritorious Officer¡¯ once again. I hope that in your uing career, you will continue to work hard, never forgetting your original aspiration..." Director Chai did not care about Huang Qiangmin¡¯s dissatisfaction. Snatching Jiang Yuan was one of his set ns; he wouldn¡¯t stop just because Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t happy. When facing Jiang Yuan, Director Chai had a full smile on his face. Jiang Yuan was an asset, and anyone seeing their assets growing was bound to smile sincerely. Jiang Yuan, in cooperation, lifted the certificate and medal. For a police officer, a first-ss merit was essentially the peak of honor, and the second-tier role model and the first-tier role model, which came next, were more like lifetime achievement awards and were generally not given to those in the early stages of their careers. With this asion, Jiang Yuan had achieved first-ss merits twice, something that, at least in recent years, was unrivaled in Shannan Province. "Thank you, Director Chai." Jiang Yuan politely epted the award, nodding his head before turning to face the cameras. Director Chai¡¯s smile was so broad that his eyebrows and eyes seemed to take flight, and he apanied Jiang Yuan for quite a few photos. Then came the representatives from the Qinghe City Bureau, the provincial office, and the ministry, each taking turns to take pictures with Jiang Yuan. The people from Changyang City Bureau, like the visitors from other cities and counties, also had to wait for their turn at the back. Leaders from Ningtai County all made their attendance as well, warmly greeting Jiang Yuan before each wandered off to chat with familiar acquaintances. The ceremonysted for quite a long time, and after it, there was the option to dine together. Midway through the meal, Jiang Yuan began to feel tired. It wasn¡¯t just due to the exhausting travel over the past two days; it was also because Director Chai¡¯s arrangements were overlyplicated. In the past, under Huang Qiangmin¡¯s leadership, the process would never have been this long. Chai Tong seemed like someone who enjoyed lively social interactions; he created many opportunities for socializing. However, Jiang Yuan did not share this fondness - he was even reluctant to participate. From very early on, the Jiang Family father and son had be the objects of social interaction for outsiders. In those days, Jiang Vige often organized external activities, butter on, everyone lost interest in these because those who came were always looking to make trouble, aiming for Jiang Vige People¡¯s money and houses. To the Jiang Vige People, such social settings were like being surrounded by a group of bears, with everyone sniffing around. Apart from the pleasantries spoken, they were all useless individuals. Simply put, the social settings that the Jiang Vige People often encountered were simr to the social event that Chai Tong had organized today; while others socialized using Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation as a drawcard, for Jiang Yuan himself, these social gatherings were pointless. "How is it going, tired yet?" Chai Tong came over, a ss of wine in hand, and took Jiang Yuan by the arm. "Indeed a bit tired." Jiang Yuan stood up, resigned. "Hang in there a little longer. Oh, let me introduce you, this is Director Ma from the Liyuan County Bureau." Chai Tong brought over a burly man with his other arm. Liyuan County, close to Luyang City, was also considered an economically strong city, and Director Ma was likely an old acquaintance of Chai Tong. Jiang Yuan greeted him politely. Chai Tong, having had a few drinks, blushed slightly. He had someone pour a drink for Jiang Yuan and, chuckling, said, "I was just telling Director Ma we should extend the fame of our strong criminal investigation county to their territory in Liyuan County. What do you think, confident?" Jiang Yuan was taken aback and his gaze shifted, searching for Huang Qiangmin. When cases are thoroughly prepared, having political connections and harmonious rtionships is merely part of solving cases; otherwise, the situation can beplicated. Many criminal cases remain unsolved not just because they areplex but also due toplexities involving the people associated with the case. Such cases give the provincial office headaches, not to mention a young police officer like Jiang Yuan. Therefore, Jiang Yuan would only take on cases that had been discussed with Huang Qiangmin. He even refused to discuss them himself, as he was unfamiliar with local conditions and didn¡¯t know the state of police-citizen rtions in the area. Encountering a messy case could lead to a lot of trouble. Naturally, Director Chai had sufficient seniority and probably understood the situation in various ces as well, but there was no mutual trust between him and Jiang Yuan. How could Jiang Yuan readily agree to his proposal in such circumstances? Director Chai¡¯s expression darkened. He clinked his ss with Jiang Yuan¡¯s and said, "Director Ma¡¯s word is golden in Liyuan County, and he has helped Ningtai County a lot. We can¡¯t fall behind the others, can we?" While he was speaking, Huang Qiangmin approached. Director Chai released Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm and faced Huang Qiangmin directly. Approaching closely, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face bloomed with a 44.4-degree smile, yet he addressed Jiang Yuan, saying, "How is it? Tired?" "A little. I still have to go back to the vige for a banquet tonight." Jiang Yuan sounded slightly helpless. "Then you should go back early. The banquets in Jiang Vige are quite famous. If you just earned a first-ss merit and don¡¯t attend, people might talk, couldn¡¯t they?" "That would be best." Jiang Yuan nodded towards Director Chai and the others and said, "Then I¡¯ll be heading back now." Regardless of how Director Chai¡¯s face contorted with emotion, Jiang Yuan waved his hand and left. Chapter 614 - 559 Taking Annual Leave

Chapter 614: Chapter 559 Taking Annual Leave

Jiangcun Residential Area. Jiang Yuan¡¯s car had just entered when crackling firecrackers erupted. Following that, there came the "boom boom boom" of the cannon, startling Jiang Yuan. It was only upon entering that he realized it was the newly purchased electronic ceremonial cannon from the vigemittee. "From now on, whenever the cannon sounds, everyone will know it¡¯s mealtime, which is quite convenient," said Mrs. Hua with a chuckle. It was her suggestion for themittee to buy this equipment, and it evidently worked well, as everyone knew about it. "Quite special," Jiang Yuan remarked, looking at the yellow cannon. What else could he say, as long as it brought joy. In the storehouse of Jiang Vige, such a collectible would not be missing. As for wastefulness, any organization tends to waste, and the vige level was no exception. "First-ss merit... first-ss merit!" A bunch of kids, upon hearing themotion, ran over in a frenzy, swarming around Jiang Yuan like pigs bolting at the sound of a feeding bell. Jiang Vige had a high birth rate, and in a moment, more than a dozen small children umted at Jiang Yuan¡¯s feet. Mrs. Hua handed Jiang Yuan a red envelope, from which he drew out bill after bill and distributed them to the youngsters below. Since the redevelopment, Jiang Vige had embarked on a path of unting wealth, with a focus on showing off prosperity. The children had more pocket money now, and most importantly, the parents wouldn¡¯t take it away. Thus, every bill they now held would ultimately end up at the convenience store at the entrance of the residential area, making it truly circting and belonging to them. For this reason, they were particrly diligent about running errands. Jiang Yuan thought it was a good thing, as the people of Jiang Vige were certainly notcking in money. But there wasn¡¯t a proper way to distribute it among the family members, especially the adolescents. Compared to that, giving out red packets was a very good practice. "I heard from dad that there¡¯s a feast being prepared, how¡¯s it going?" Jiang Yuan asked after he finished handing out the stack of money, turning to Mrs. Hua. Mrs. Hua smiled and said, "It¡¯s going really well, very lively. Your dad has organized so many parties. He¡¯s been thinking about your ceremony for achieving first-ss merit for a long time; he just waited for you to do it again. There¡¯s even a live band performing. But he didn¡¯t dare tell you, afraid that you¡¯d take risks just to achieve merit. Did you face any danger this time?" Mrs. Hua¡¯s rapid session of words left no time for Jiang Yuan to respond. Jiang Yuan shook his head with a smile: "I deal with the technical side of things. I don¡¯t usually encounter criminals, so there¡¯s not much danger." "That¡¯s good if there¡¯s really no danger. Your dad has been too busy collecting rentstely; if it¡¯s too dangerous, you coulde back and help him out with that. The ranch he¡¯s running is quiterge; it takes more than an hour to drive there. One trip would take almost a whole day..." Mrs. Hua rambled on, saying the kind of things people in the vige often talked about. Jiang Yuan kept Mrs. Huapany chatting as they moved deeper into the residential area, where he could see the bustling crowd in themunal space, a lively scene indeed. Some people were even running around with drinks in hand, reminiscent of Chai Tong and other officials, but Jiang Yuan found this atmosphere much more appealing. "Dad," Jiang Yuan went straight to the back kitchen to see his father. The father and son didn¡¯t make a big deal of such meetings at home, and Jiang Yuan could usually find him downstairs. Jiang Fuzhen lifted his gaze from the steaming pots, waved Jiang Yuan over, and asked, "You¡¯ve been awarded first-ss merit again?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan replied, showing his father the certificate and the medal. Jiang Fuzhen nodded, then nodded again, letting out a sigh, "Was it difficult?" "Not too much. The case wasn¡¯t that hard," Jiang Yuan said. Jiang Fuzhen caught something in his son¡¯s voice, threw down the spoon he was using to skim the broth, and asked, "The case wasn¡¯t hard; what was?" Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "The new director at the county bureau is quite scheming. He¡¯ll probably startpeting with Director Huang soon." Some people don¡¯t like discussing work or school matters with their parents, finding it pointless. But Jiang Fuzhen was different. As the wealthiest man in Jiang Vige, he might seem to be just cooking meat all day, but maintaining wealth was a feat in itself. The issues Jiang Yuan brought up didn¡¯t seemplicated to Jiang Fuzhen. "Are you supporting it?" Jiang Fuzhen asked. "Yes," Jiang Yuan briefly exined. "The gap between the chief and deputy positions in your type of organizations is huge," Jiang Fuzhen pointed out sharply. The chief positions in the bureau were high profile, equipped with many tools, and it was only because Chai Tong was new that Huang Qiangmin had a window of ease. Jiang Fuzhen asked a couple more questions, then said, "It¡¯s inevitable anyway, but you don¡¯t have to take sides." Jiang Yuan grinned, "Working on cases with Director Huang is pretty straightforward, and I have a lot of say. With Director Chai, he¡¯s too purpose-driven, and he chooses cases based on different criteria..." Jiang Fuzhen understood most of it. Honestly, he couldn¡¯t care less about Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements. From this perspective, even a director could only offer promotions at best, and it wasn¡¯t likely Jiang Yuan would be promoted out of turn. To Jiang Yuan, what would a promotion in Ningtai County amount to? If he considered promotions, transferring to a higher-level unit would lead to a quicker rise, and it would be better to return to Ningtai Countyter. If he wasn¡¯t choosing that path, why bother pandering to Chai Tong just for a promotion? "Given that, take some time to rest at home; you should have some leave, right?" Jiang Fuzhen offered a viable suggestion. Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan thought it sounded good. He pulled out his phone¡ªnot to make a call, but topose a message to Huang Qiangmin, requesting his annual leave. Chapter 615 - 559 Taking Annual Leave_2

Chapter 615: Chapter 559 Taking Annual Leave_2

The police annual leave is like a mystical doctrine. Some units arrange it during quiet periods, meaning it¡¯s scheduled based on the unit¡¯s needs rather than the police officers¡¯; others are a bit more considerate and allow for a choice of time, specifying certain periods when leave is forbidden... Jiang Yuan¡¯s request for annual leave was very straightforward, and Huang Qiangmin approved it without any hesitation. Chai Tong wished he could defer Jiang Yuan¡¯s tax collections 30 years into the future and, despite opposition from others, aggressively promoted this idea. Jiang Yuan¡¯s absence itself was a strong show of support for Huang Qiangmin. After sending out the text message, Jiang Yuan felt much more at ease. He took adle and started to help his dad skim off the froth. The band on the small square excitedly began another round of performance, and the cooked beef and mutton were brought to the tables in stacks, steaming hot and filling the air with a delicious aroma. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to think too much about it. After helping cook the meat for a while, he simply went over to the area for frying rice, got a wok, and started making fried rice. The fried rice technique, a legacy bestowed by Uncle Seventeen, hadn¡¯t been used for some time, but as soon as it was served, it immediately became hugely popr. The next day. Jiang Yuan followed his dad to inspect the newly purchased ranch. Jiangcun Residential Area is located on the edge of Ningtai County. It¡¯s just over an hour¡¯s drive torge expanses of grasnds at the base of mountains. Here, the elevation shoots up quickly, greatly reducing the value for cultivation. Historically, the area was used for raising sheep and horses, but because of the terrain, it never developed intorge pastures, and thus the level of animal husbandry was not high. The outermost part of the grasnd is now dominated by farmstays, and in between, there are a few ces with "XX Ranch" signs, mainly to hike up the price of horseback riding for tourists. A mere 10-minute trip into the grasnd leads to the ranch bought by Jiang Fuzhen. Upon getting out of the car, Jiang Yuan looked into the distance and saw a stream flowing from the base of the mountain, winding through the middle of the ranch. Lush green grass spanned on either side of the stream. A bit further away,rge patches of exposed earth dotted thendscape. Half of the pasture sloped, with low trees and rocks on one side of the slope. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think that with such terrain, if no one passed by, dropping a body on the slope would mean it could remain undiscovered for three to five years. And with the local environment, a body left exposed for less than two years could decay to the point where only a Level 2 or higher forensic doctor could identify it. Of course, if the murderer was a fool or pretended to be clever and set a fire, then the body might be discovered sooner, providing more information. "How is it? The ranch is good, right?" Jiang Fuzhen proudly showed Jiang Yuan the empire he had established. Jiang Yuan shifted his gaze from the most likely body-dumping spot, nodded, and said, "I thought you would buy something closer to the edge." "Being on the edge makes it easy to losend, and what if it gets requisitioned?" Jiang Fuzhen was worried about this area and couldn¡¯t help saying, "Requisitioning is such a hassle. Just when I¡¯ve gotten the farm equipment sorted and hired new people, getting everything in order, it would all be disrupted..." "That¡¯s true," Jiang Yuan had to admit his dad had considered everything. If there were a requisition, all the hard work put into the ranch would be in vain, aside from perhaps receiving a significant sum of money. "Let me take you to the office to have a look. Previously, the ranch mainly raised dairy cows, which are mostly kept in enclosures, along with sheep. The grass from the pasture is harvested on schedule. I¡¯ll get some more beef cattleter and focus on grazing," Jiang Fuzhen exined. Jiang Yuan asked, "Is the pasture big enough for grazing?" "Our cattle raising here is mainly grain-fed even when grazing, using Angus breeds, which are delicious when roasted," Jiang Fuzhen said, leading Jiang Yuan to the office. There were three people in the office who stood up and greeted Jiang Fuzhen without much talk. Working on the ranch was very free, and with the low sry, there was really no need to suck up to the boss. Suddenly, the ranch supervisor came up with a stack of documents, looking for Jiang Fuzhen to sign. The supervisor, who looked to be in his thirties, was dressed in a small leather jacket, wide-legged jeans, and boots, giving off a rather handsome vibe. He nodded at Jiang Yuan and said, "Boss, this is the new contract for purchasing milk, along with the contracts for the sheep we bought previously..." "Let me have a look," Jiang Fuzhen handed half of them to Jiang Yuan. He was willing to let Jiang Yuan get involved in the family business, thinking perhaps if Jiang Yuan was lucky, he might just resign? Jiang Yuan flipped through the contracts indifferently and casually asked, "Is our ranch dominant here? Do we issue the standard contracts and ask the other party to sign?" "Definitely not, they¡¯re the ones who bring the contracts to us. If we have anyments, we add them to the supplementary terms," the supervisor exined with a smile, "Our ranch is the weaker party, or else Boss Liu would not have sold the ranch." "The other party¡¯s standard contracts?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised. "Yes, many of the prices and such are fixed, and there¡¯s no room for negotiation," exined the supervisor with a smile. "That¡¯s quite troublesome. Boss, how about we look at the contractster and deal with the matter I mentioned earlier first?" Jiang Yuan put down the contract. Jiang Fuzhen agreed and smilingly said to the supervisor, "Then you go back to work first, I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯ve sorted this out here." "Alright." The supervisor nodded and left. Gada. As the door closed, Jiang Fuzhen turned to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan shrugged helplessly and said, "I¡¯ve studied document examination. All these documents were printed from the same printer, merely with slight adjustments in the font size and such. It¡¯s impossible that they were brought by the other party." "You can tell?" "There are tricks to it." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t admit to being a level 3 document examiner, so he casually pulled out a portable loupe he carried with him, pinched it open between his fingers, picked two contracts at random, and showed his father how to use the loupe. He continued, "You canpare, especially with identical characters, like ¡¯contract¡¯, ¡¯party A¡¯, ¡¯party B¡¯. The edges of the strokes should have tiny serrations, wave patterns, and slight misalignments. These contractsck all of that; it¡¯s not possible." "Aren¡¯t printed words supposed to be the same?" "Different manufacturers have different versions of printer drivers, different technology, different precision in the print heads, and the stability is certainly not the same," Jiang Yuan retorted with a curled lip, adding, "Moreover, the print heads they all used employ Epson¡¯s technology, the same model across seven or eight manufacturers. Local Epson sales are a bit too aggressive, aren¡¯t they?" "You can even tell by the manufacturer?" Jiang Fuzhen was already convinced, simply curious now. Jiang Yuan nodded. "HP uses thermal inkjet technology, Canon uses bubble jet technology, and Epson uses piezoelectric technology. The characteristic of piezoelectric technology is that it generates fewer ink stter dots, which makes it very easy to distinguish. Withoutparison, they all might look simr, but in reality, if youpared them, you¡¯d see right away. Text printed with Epson printers has very few edge stter dots, almost none." After pausing for a moment, Jiang Yuan added with a smile, "Inkjet printers are the easiest to pinpoint because their nozzles tend to clog easily. Like this printer we¡¯re using now, it¡¯s slightly clogged, so there will be a regr pattern of missing ink. Look at these stripes..." Jiang Fuzhen followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s direction and indeed saw the obvious white stripes, and the width and length of the stripes were roughly the same. "No wonder Liu ran away leaving debts behind," Jiang Fuzhenughed as he looked at the contracts. Chapter 616 - 560

Chapter 616: 560

--- The Jiang family father and son had identified the problem, but didn¡¯t rush to point it out. They stuck to the n, ughtering a cow and two sheep at the ranch, and after loading them onto the truck, they were eager to get back to Ningtai County. The ranch manager worked hard to help, and now he brought over the contract, saying, "Boss, the feed the ranch needs to buy and the milk that needs to be delivered can only get sorted out after the contracts are signed." Jiang Fuzhen smacked his forehead as if he had just remembered something, saying, "I was just saying I should ask someone. I was thinking of calling awyer over to have a look at the contract. Let¡¯s head back, and I¡¯ll bring someone overter to get everything signed." The ranch manager didn¡¯t care about hiring awyer since there was essentially nothing wrong with the contract itself. Some details were even quite favorable to the ranch¡¯s interests. He was only in it for the money and didn¡¯t want the ranch to go out of business. But if the new boss¡¯s new contracts weren¡¯t signed promptly, the money he used to get easily would now be difficult to obtain. With a sense of helplessness, the ranch manager said, "Some contracts aren¡¯t urgent, but some really are, like the warehouse repair¡ªthe roof has already started leaking. It¡¯ll be troublesome if it rains. Also, the alfalfa is cheap right now, we need to buy a batch to mix in..." "Xiao Wang," Jiang Fuzhen didn¡¯t let him continue, speaking earnestly, "don¡¯t rush. Whatever needs to be done around the ranch, just arrange to do it. For things like repairs and buying supplies, pay cash and get an invoice. Report it to finance for reimbursement, just the way it was done before. There¡¯s no rush to sign contracts. If I let this beef sit much longer, it won¡¯t be fresh anymore. I was hoping to treat everyone to hotpot beef tonight, and there isn¡¯t much time left..." Posing as a wasteful magnate unconcerned with wealth, Jiang Fuzhen left the ranch manager utterly unable to resist. His previous boss was business-oriented, relying on ranch profits to sustain thepany and afford his mistress. Money matters always made the boss anxious, and since hecked industry knowledge and didn¡¯t visit the ranch often, he was easily fooled by Manager Wang Fang. Now, with Jiang Fuzhen adopting an attitude of "I¡¯m not short on money, I¡¯m just eager to taste this delicacy," Wang Fang was at a loss, unclear on how to proceed and unsure of how to deal with the situation. Jiang Fuzhen, with Jiang Yuan in tow, got into the car. Before leaving, he instructed, "Make sure you take good care of the cattle and sheep in the ranch. That¡¯s the most important thing. Don¡¯t be too tight with expenses. Oh, and when you have time, buy some chickens, ducks, and geese to keep here. Choose good breeds and don¡¯t feed themmercial feed¡ªwe¡¯ll eat them ourselves." "Okay," the ranch manager could onlyply, asking, "So should I buy twenty or thirty of each?" "Get a hundred of each. Get more chickens if you like, even two or three hundred is fine," Jiang Fuzhen said as he started the car. Once the car was on the national highway, Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "Dad, you¡¯re really patient." "What¡¯s there to be impatient about? He ruined the ranch, and I don¡¯t care. Between office staff and workers, the ranch has twenty or thirty people, and it¡¯s hard to tell who got the money and who didn¡¯t. When we get back, we¡¯ll have ways to deal with them." "What are you nning?" "I was thinking..." Jiang Fuzhen grinned, driving and speaking, "I thought I¡¯d give Boss Liu a call. His ranch has been running at a loss for three years, but if nobody was stealing, it might actually be profitable..." Jiang Yuan nodded along. "A profitable ranch and a losing one, that¡¯s two different prices right there. Add a bit of new and old grudges, and we provide evidence to him..." Jiang Fuzhen mused, "If he is willing to pay an extra thirty or fifty percent to buy it back, I¡¯ll sell the ranch to him. We can just buy another er on. The new purchase of a hundred or so cattle could be considered a bonus. After that, whatever Boss Liu wants to do with that guy is his business. We can make a profit of thirty or fifty percent with peace of mind..." Jiang Yuan nodded, thinking it sounded pretty good. Money gained effortlessly is nothing toin about. Of course, it was a bit excessive for the manager to lie to their face, but Jiang Yuan supposed the previous ranch owner, Comrade Liu, would be even more furious¡ªafter all, selling anger could be profitable too. When Jiang Fuzhen got home, he first wrote down a few key points on paper, then picked up thendline to call Boss Liu. Jiang Yuan sat by his side and listened. At first, he couldn¡¯t hear what was said over the phone. After a quick exchange, the voice in the receiver grew louder. Jiang Fuzhen held the phone slightly away from his ear and, covering one side of the receiver with his hand, smiled at Jiang Yuan, "Boss Liu is worried about money." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile. Indeed, not everyone had the ie from property demolition like Liu, who, realizing his three years of losses were fabricated, must have been devastated. Yet what probably infuriated him more was the fluctuation in the ranch¡¯s value. The voice on the phone gradually softened, and Jiang Fuzhen said, "I¡¯ll ask my son about it," before hanging up. After the call, Jiang Fuzhen shook his head with a smile, saying, "Boss Liu wants to think about it. I bet he wants to investigate how much that kid siphoned off first before he makes a decision." "That¡¯s normal," Jiang Yuan said. The profitability of the ranch determined its value, which in turn, to some extent, depended on how much Manager Wang Fang embezzled. Furthermore, the methods of embezzlement are actually also quite significant. For instance, deliberately reporting losses could indirectly increase the ranch¡¯s expenses. As for Jiang Fuzhen, it doesn¡¯t matter to him when he deals with Wang Fang or even whether he deals with him at all. Even if Wang Fang embezzled a lot of money, the one entitled to im it back is the original owner, Boss Liu. As the new buyer, Jiang Fuzhen can¡¯t im the previous profits. On the other hand, it¡¯s highly likely that Wang Fang won¡¯t run away, even if he senses trouble. He is too attached to his position to give it up. So, Jiang Fuzhen really did take Jiang Yuan downstairs to deal with the cattle and the sheep first. The newly purchased cattle hadn¡¯t been raised for very long, but they were of an excellent breed, high-purity Angus Cattle, with entirely ck bodies and calm-looking faces. However,pared to cattle that have been fattened over a long period, these younger frame cattle aren¡¯t as plump, especially the meat from their legs and rumps. Ordinary boiling or grilling won¡¯t taste that great, but it is more suitable for hotpot dishes in the Teochew beef style. The chef, who had been called in advance, quickly got busy under the direction of Jiang Fuzhen. The next day. Jiang Yuan made another call to Huang Qiangmin. After listening, Huang Qiangmin pondered for a moment, then said, "That¡¯s fine, let Wu Junhao help you keep an eye on things, and by the way, let them get some air." "Did something happen?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised, but also anticipated this possibility. "These past few days, there¡¯ve been meetings at the county and within the bureau, and with foreign guests visiting, Director Chai has assigned a whole squad to stand guard, a bit of overkill," Huang Qiangmin paused, then added, "Even without your situation, I was nning to assign them work to get them out of the way for a bit." Standing guard isn¡¯t a big deal; when manpower is short, those who are needed must go. Some big cities even require police assistance for concerts. But the criminal police are the busiest and their work is critical. Normally, they wouldn¡¯t be used for such tasks unless there was a real shortage of personnel. The actions of Chai Tong carried a punitive nature, to some extent. Wu Junhao often worked with Jiang Yuan and had a somewhat fiery temperament¡ªperhaps these were the reasons he was chosen for this task. "Alright then. Have Captain Wue over for some fun; I¡¯ll treat them to a roasted wholemb." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask too many questions. He had the system¡¯s help and had acquired many techniques, but among the ones he learned, he didn¡¯t possess the skill to navigate the politicalndscape. All things considered, the most useful might be something akin to "toddlermunication skills." Wu Junhao arrived quickly, bringing two vehicles and a total of six people. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much and, taking his father along, they sped off toward the ranch. Wang Fang had no idea what the group was there for and assumed Jiang Yuan¡¯s police friends just wanted to visit the ranch. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t exin either, and briskly led Wu Junhao and the others into the office area. Then Wu Junhao shouted, "Everyone stop what you¡¯re doing, police! Stay away from the keyboards, don¡¯t touch the mouse, do you hear me?" Being a cop for a long time gives one¡¯s voice an authoritative edge. The white-cor workers at the ranch were caught unprepared and didn¡¯t even understand what was happening¡ªthey were led out in a matter of seconds. A group was temporarily confined to the conference room, while Wu Junhao and his team packed upputers and various files and loaded them onto the vehicles. Wang Fang was so frantic he was hopping mad, approaching Jiang Yuan and asking, "Boss, what... what¡¯s going on here?" "Just cooperate," was all Jiang Yuan said. Although most minor officials involved in embezzlementck real counter-surveince abilities, who knows, what if Wang Fang was a criminal genius? Wu Junhao and his team felt the same way. These past few days, they had been overworked and assigned tedious and annoying tasks, which left them feeling frustrated. This time they showed up shining bald heads, one hand carrying aputer tower, striding boldly, appearing even more formidable than when they closed down Jianyuan Group. Only Wang Fang didn¡¯t believe in himself. He took two steps back, leaned against the wall, his eyes wide open, his lips so dry they were peeling. Chapter 617 - 561: Breaking Through the Ceiling

Chapter 617: Chapter 561: Breaking Through the Ceiling

"These past few days, I¡¯ve been working overtime until 10 or 11 at night. Us police officers, we don¡¯t mind working overtime, but overtime should be worthwhile, right? Not just working overtime for the sake of it. Even the cattle back in the vige are only worked this hard during the nting season." "For a day or two, it¡¯s all trivial tasks, nothing pressing. When a mall holds an event, they even dispatch us to be there. To the uninitiated, we might as well be there to tear the ce down. Is this how police resources should be used?" "Moreover, no tasks are assigned during work hours; they wait until it¡¯s time to knock off to assign work. Now, they don¡¯t even go through Director Huang. He just created a WeChat group and allocates tasks directly. You don¡¯t work overtime? Fine, but it counts as leave, and they dock your pay by the day. Everyone relies on their paycheck to live; who can bear this!" Wu Junhao grew more and more irate as he spoke, grabbing a skewer, wolfing down two in one bite, then guzzled half a bottle of beer with grunts and gulps. "Don¡¯t get too upset," Jiang Yuan offered, pouring him more beer. He was a little embarrassed. Chai Tong¡¯s actual target, ostensibly Huang Qiangmin, was actually after Jiang Yuan. To be more precise, Chai Tong wanted the tax collection rights that Jiang Yuan had. It was Jiang Yuan¡¯s leave of absence that had led to Wu Junhao bing Chai Tong¡¯s new target. However, the problem wasn¡¯t caused by Jiang Yuan. Above him was Huang Qiangmin, who was in charge of resource allocation; it wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s ce to stand in the line of fire. Mu Zhiyang picked out two raw skewers, hung them over the grill, and after fanning the mes, said, "Your concern is understandable, Captain Wu. They are the directors after all, andtely, we really have had no choice but to grit our teeth and get on with the tasks we¡¯re given." "I know, Huang Da... erm, Director Huang also mentioned to me, they¡¯re just trying to provoke me," Wu Junhao sighed. "Eventually, they¡¯ll have their way with me, manipting me as they please. But it feels like they¡¯re already doing it now." "True," Jiang Yuan nodded, grabbed a piece of meat skewer, gently chewed the meat off it with his teeth, and then crunched it with his mrs. The slightly lean meat released more juice, a savory taste with a hint of sweetness. After finishing a skewer of meat, Jiang Yuan added, "What I¡¯m best at is solving cases. If there¡¯s a need in that aspect, I can be of help." Wu Junhao nodded silently, "I can hold on for a little while longer. I¡¯ll see how it goes. If it really doesn¡¯t work out, I might have to ck off." cking off isn¡¯t that easy, especially when tasks are pressed down; they are usually assigned to the squad as a whole. If one person cks off, the other colleagues in the unit have to take on more work... In the following days, the atmosphere in the office was somewhat peculiar, but Chai Tong made no further adjustments. Apart from continuously pressuring Wu Junhao, the situation seemed to have eased somewhat. Jiang Yuan took a week off and returned to the Criminal Police Team to report back from leave. He had made some preparations but, unexpectedly, Director Chai didn¡¯t show up all day. It wasn¡¯t until it was nearly time to clock out that Huang Qiangmin strolled up. "Jiang Yuan." Huang Qiangmin only knocked on the door after entering the office, then promptly closed it behind him. "Would you like some tea?" Jiang Yuan had a tea set on his desk, savoring the luxury of one cup of tea per office day. "The tea is good," Huang Qiangmin acknowledged after taking a sip, then added, "Your pay won¡¯t beplete this month." Jiang Yuan responded with an "Oh," then realizing what it meant, asked, "Is the entire squad¡¯s pay going to be iplete?" "Wu Junhao has been taking leavetely as well, and Director Chai has piled on so much work," Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t borate much but went on to exin the consequences, "Quite a bit is going to be docked. Wu Junhao relies on his sry to feed his family; a lot of people in our squad are like that. After this month, there will be some who get an earful from their wives." Those referred to as the sried ss are those who live off their wages. Police officers are no exception. Many have probably budgeted their sries well in advance, so any sudden shortfall would definitely hurt. Jiang Yuan may have money but he couldn¡¯t subsidize people like Wu Junhao. Jiang Yuan then inquired, "So, what do we do?" Huang Qiangmin also felt somewhat helpless as he spoke, "Really, if there¡¯s an issue,e at me. No matter what, it¡¯s fine. I didn¡¯t expect Chai Tong would cling so relentlessly to Wu Junhao. If this continues, looking back onmendations and awards, distinguishing the outstanding performances, none will fall to the first squad..." In the workce, someone wealthy like Jiang Yuan, as long as he is indifferent and desireless, even if he cks off, the leaders are powerless against him. Faced with someone soft oveing the hard, they could even frustrate and annoy the leaders. On the other hand, men of steel like Wu Junhao, who are the economic pirs and heads of their families, and who dare to struggle and get things done at work, assigning them mindless repetitivebor or seeking out their shorings to give them work they¡¯re not good at, like decorative arts, is not just unpleasant, it also causes them actual difficulties. For young people with mortgages or children, a sudden cut in household ie brings immediate pressure. Take away all those little rewards and opportunities for recognition, and their prospects at work be worrisome. Among Huang Qiangmin¡¯s former subordinates, Wu Junhao was the most straightforward, the toughest, but also the most fragile. "Director Chai has a pretty urate eye." Jiang Yuan believed he must have been experienced. Huang Qiangmin took a sip of his tea and said, "If you ask me what to do, I really have no good solution. Going to the higher-ups... that¡¯s difficult, it¡¯s not just Wu Junhao¡¯s issue, the first squad all faces simr difficulties. Plus, carrying on this way isn¡¯t a solution... For the moment... I¡¯m considering, is there a way to give Wu Junhao and his team a case?" "In Captain Wu¡¯s name?" Knowing why Huang Qiangmin put it so tactfully, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh and said, "That shouldn¡¯t be a problem. We handle cases for other ces too, so why not for Captain Wu? What kind of case?" "The case needs to be impactful, the kind that upper management notices. Also, it can¡¯t be too small; it has to be big enough for the full squad to be deployed. I¡¯ll work on it, try to get through this year." Huang Qiangmin pursed his lips, prepared to struggle, but he had not anticipated Director Chai would target the first squad. The first squad was indeed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s favored team. During his time in the criminal investigation department, the first squad had been the core attack team and had indeed yed no small part. In any case, Huang Qiangmin needed to consider their feelings. Jiang Yuan agreed immediately, "I¡¯ll start looking at cases, try to find one that¡¯s fairly certain." "Right, that¡¯s very important," Huang Qiangmin said, reassured yet still apprehensive. Speaking of reassurance, he had followed Jiang Yuan and witnessed too many miracles, but on his apprehensions, after so many years as a police officer, Huang Qiangmin knew that some cases are unsolvable, truly a matter of chance, or simply tooplex. Typical examples include the Kennedy assassination. There¡¯s so much evidence it could fill ab, but what¡¯s the conclusion? There are plenty of conclusions, buting up with one that convinces everyone is nearly impossible, a case structurally difficult to conclude. In China too, there are simr cases, like the assassination of Song Jiaoren. There¡¯s plenty of evidence, the murderer was caught, but who masterminded it became unknowable after the assassin was silenced. It¡¯s not that political assassination cases areplex by nature; it¡¯s because the investigation process and evidence for such cases are more public and transparent, highlighting theplexity. All in all, no matter the size of the case, to do it perfectly, without fault, is far from easy. So-called irond cases are either a high-levelmendation or just a derived adjective. After seeing off Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan turned on hisputer and started looking through cases. ording to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s intentions, he should find an influential case to counteract Director Chai¡¯s offensive, where the difficulty of the case was also a consideration. Yet, Jiang Yuan had additional thoughts on the matter. After all, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s understanding of Jiang Yuan might still be based on the Jiang Yuan from a few months ago, or to say, the amazing skills he couldprehend, up to Level 4 or at most Level 5, were his limit. But now, not only did Jiang Yuan master several Level 6 skills, he could also temporarily enhance their levels. In other words, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill level had actually broken through the ceiling. From this perspective, he could theoretically break through the limitations of any case with a technical breakthrough. Jiang Yuan even recently acquired a first-ss merit and could now choose a Level 6 skill on the spot. Therefore, Jiang Yuan could be very selective about cases. Chapter 618 - 562 Outskirts

Chapter 618: Chapter 562 Outskirts

The next morning, Jiang Yuan continued toe to work, and when it was about time, he went to report to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s office. When he arrived, he found Wu Junhao was already sitting inside. "What a coincidence," Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile. "I specially waited for you," Wu Junhao wiped his bald head without disguise, "Lately, things are really a mess. I¡¯m not good at pacifying people, yet I can¡¯t avoid it." Wu Junhao had the look of a straightforward, no-nonsense man, and his squad members had all been trained to adopt the same demeanor. When Huang Qiangmin was the squadron leader, all Wu Junhao needed to focus on was training and following orders. Even the skinniest rookies would be robust and bald after two years under Wu¡¯s regime. Back then, whenever someone felt a bit unhappy, they would just go to the gym and work it off with a nging workout, which would clear their minds. Therefore, when they were faced with problems that required a softer touch, all they got was Wu Junhao¡¯s disingenuous constion. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh at the thought of Wu Junhaoforting people, but then heposed himself and said seriously, "I¡¯m considering starting with the Jingyang Line triple murder case." Huang Qiangmin and Wu Junhao both looked at Jiang Yuan and then at each other. Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat twice before saying, "I mean finding an influential case would suffice, like the one we went to Luyang for before..." "A case with provincial influence probably won¡¯t affect Director Chai¡¯s decision; at most, he¡¯ll dy it," Jiang Yuan said, "We might as well handle a case that has national impact. Since they are all cold cases, it¡¯s hard to say which one is tougher." "The Jingyang Line triple murder case is one that¡¯s been gged by the ministry, with experts involved," Huang Qiangmin trusted Jiang Yuan immensely, but now, with his old subordinates in mind, he hoped for the highest sess rate possible. Of course, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s reminder was just that¡ªa reminder. He had long stopped interfering in Jiang Yuan¡¯s choice of cases. Jiang Yuan reaffirmed, "I think there is still room to work." Huang Qiangmin then looked towards Wu Junhao. "I¡¯ll do whatever Captain Jiang says," Wu Junhao wasn¡¯t one for showing off originality, and with Jiang Yuan taking the lead, he had no objections. "All right then," Huang Qiangmin nodded and asked Jiang Yuan, "What do you need now?" "Let¡¯s start with reviewing the case files," Jiang Yuan said, the information he could see from the backend was too limited for a likely breakthrough. Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment and suggested, "Cui Xiaohu would be a good choice, he has been wanting to work a case with you. If you say it¡¯s the Jingyang Line triple murder case, he will definitely support you." The Jingyang Line referred to the railway from Beijing to Changyang City. The three consecutive cases of people lying on the tracks immediately drew widespread attention as the crime scenes and jurisdictions changed, involving several units, none of which made a breakthrough, further amplifying the cases¡¯ impact. In the following twenty years, various provinces and ministries included this case in their clearance operation. The Shannan Provincial Department also participated, and as other cases were cleared, the "Jingyang Line triple murder case" garnered increasing attention. Of course, its difficulty was also quite apparent. Cui Xiaohu, hearing of Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest in the triple murder case, flew over that very day. They agreed to meet in Qingbai City, with Cui Xiaohu bringing Li Haochen and Jiang Yuan arriving with several cars of people. "If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d think you¡¯re about to make an arrest," Cui Xiaohu joked upon seeing so many people, which entailed no small expense. Jiang Yuanughed, then asked, "Have you sorted things out? Can I view the case files?" Qingbai City was another prefecture-level city in Shannan Province, but it rarely interacted with Jiang Yuan and his team, who usually just passed through and asionally came to Qingbai City to make arrests. Of course, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation in the province, Qingbai City weed them warmly. But for certain official duties, Cui Xiaohu¡¯s status was more useful. Cui Xiaohu confidently nodded, then joined another convoy headed straight for the Qingbai City Criminal Police Squad. Everyone did theirworking and resting as necessary, while Jiang Yuan went straight to the archives, beginning to page through the case files one by one. The so-called Jingyang Line triple murder case did not refer to three bodies found at once but rather to three bodies that appeared separately at different locations over time. The first body was found 22 years before, with the killer¡¯s methods being crude and obvious signs of restraint on the victim¡¯s limbs. However, it didn¡¯t attract much attention from the police at the time. The era of resolving all murder cases had not yet been proimed. Soon, the second body appeared, and there was a significant change, with very little blood at the scene. This raised great caution among the crime scene investigators. If one has never killed a person, they generally can¡¯t appreciate the issue of the amount of blood shed by a living personpared to a dead one. This also puzzles many¡ªwouldn¡¯t there be a lot of blood at a dismemberment scene? In fact, murder scenes can have lots of blood, but dismemberment scenes often do not. The Jingyang Line triple-murder case can serve as proof¡ªwhen a train struck and mangled the bodies, there was surprisingly little blood on the rails. What drew the most attention from the police was the third victim. The third victim appeared four monthster at night; a night train plowed straight into it, scattering flesh and blood at the scene. It indicated the victim was alive, and this time, the forensic doctor specifically conducted an examination, only to discover that the killer had used ether. The three cases involved three different ces and two different railway bureaus, along with the killer¡¯s obvious esction of crime. These factors resulted in the police devoting a considerable amount of effort to the case. At that time, there was a serial killer in another province, who had murdered 64 people. Neither the Shannan Provincial Department nor the ministries wanted to make the same mistake and let another serial killer emerge. Therefore, when the three cases were consolidated, they caused a sensation. The fact that they remained unsolved also had a sensational impact. Other provinces had simr cases that appeared one after another, and all levels of departments went to great lengths to investigate and solve them¡ªexcept for the Jingyang Line triple-murder case, which, despite two sensational waves of attention, remained unresolved. Twice stirring a sensation naturally made the Jingyang Line triple-murder case stand out. Later, the case was reopened once more without results, only adding anotheryer of mystique. "Are all the evidences here? Can I see them?" Jiang Yuan asked the evidence room officer. After receiving an affirmative answer, Jiang Yuan went inside for a look. The officer from the evidence room helped out and observed Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions with some curiosity. Such old and difficult cases, even with a low chance of sessful challenge, still held significant allure. Jiang Yuan looked through them for an entire afternoon. After leaving the evidence room, Huang Qiangmin and Wu Junhao had been anxiously waiting. "How is it?" Wu Junhao immediately stood up and asked as Jiang Yuan came out. Jiang Yuan shook his head with a smile, "No clues." "So..." Wu Junhao hesitated. Jiang Yuan smiled, "You should have expected this beforeing here. With such a notorious case, difficulty was certain." "Yeah..." Wu Junhao, knowing he was being impatient, shook his head helplessly. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan and nodded silently, noting that Jiang Yuan had already begun to show the makings of a great leader in such short time. "Let¡¯s go, get some food," Jiang Yuan said, pulling Wu Junhao out the door with him. Wu Junhao obviously wasn¡¯t very spirited, letting out a sigh and following Jiang Yuan. As they were about to leave, he said, "If it really doesn¡¯t work out, we can stop bustling about. We¡¯re no strangers to hardship. We can endure, and if all else fails, I¡¯ll just transfer out." "What if Director Chai won¡¯t let you go?" scoffed Huang Qiangmin. It wasn¡¯t just Wu Junhao getting pushed around. Offending the big boss and still hoping to transfer? That was wishful thinking. Before Wu Junhao could say anything more, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, "It hasn¡¯te to that yet. I¡¯ve looked at the evidence in the case. There¡¯s a lot of it. We¡¯ll just have to grind it out slowly." "How do we grind it out slowly?" "Consistent effort is enough," Jiang Yuan thought, with the multitude of techniques in his mind, to start elevating the evidence level day by day. Surely they would find more evidence. While pondering this, Jiang Yuan then gave an example, "I see they¡¯ve found quite a bit of peripheral evidence. We can start by looking for eyewitnesses in the next few days. If we can¡¯t find any, we¡¯ll look for people who were around the area. There are plenty of methods, don¡¯t rush." Chapter 619 - 563

Chapter 619: 563

Qingbai City wasn¡¯t small in terms of urban area, with its five districts spreading quite far apart. The most important third case in the Jingyang Line triple murder took ce in Qingbai City. Thus, Qingbai City and the provincial department had mobilized. ording to experts, the murderer had to be someone very familiar with the railway lines and the train timetable, and at the same time, well-acquainted with the local situation. Thetter point made the experts hold great expectations for Qingbai City. After all, the poption of Qingbai City wasn¡¯trge 20 years ago, and it was mainlyposed of state-owned enterprise workers with little personnel turnover, increasing the probability of finding the murderer. However, results did not meet expectations, and the case remained unsolved for over a decade. Although there had been attempts to restart the investigation, there were no results, and it continued to be shelved. About half of the police officers who handled the case at that time had already retired. The highest-ranking officer who remained was Zhang Shizhong, the Captain of the Cyber Security Division of the Qingbai City Criminal Police Brigade. He was also over fifty years old, but when it came to the Jingyang Line triple murder case, he was quite articte and evidently had a deep memory of the case. A few people simply found a restaurant, eating while they chatted. The restaurant was a fresh fish restaurant, specializing in river delicacies without pursuing any special cooking techniques, just a pot of fresh fish, all about half a pound each, stewed in a rich broth, truly enhancing the freshness. The fish was stewed to the point of falling apart, needing careful handling when picked up, as the flesh and bones separated once ced in the bowl. Of course, the most delicious part was still the soup, so fresh that one couldn¡¯t help but to sip continuously. The tofu in the soup was even tastier than the fish, but if one consumed several pieces of tofu and then ate a piece of fish, the fish would again seem delicious. And if coupled with a bowl of soup, it would indeed be a heavenly delight. Jiang Yuan, sweaty from eating both soup and meat, asked Zhang Shizhong, "I saw you collected quite a few footprints around the area. Didn¡¯t you find any suitable leads at the start?" Zhang Shizhong put down his spoon, wiped his mouth, and shook his head, saying, "While we did collect footprints, in the end, only a minority led us to actual people. Moreover, the collected footprints were far from the crime scene and couldn¡¯t be linked to any suspects." The crime scene was on the railway tracks, with both sides lined with gravel, making it virtually impossible to leave any footprints. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have high hopes for this, taking a couple sips of soup before continuing, "What about eyewitnesses? Perhaps through the footprints, you could find eyewitnesses?" Zhang Shizhong looked at Jiang Yuan with surprise and said, "Just from the footprints alone, you can¡¯t determine the time, can you? The person who left the footprints might have passed by several hours ago or even many days ago; it¡¯s difficult to find an eyewitness." "What you mentioned, regarding the freshness of the footprints, it¡¯s unlikely they¡¯re from several days before since it had rained two days before the incident. Everyone was affected by this. After analyzing the footprints closely, those from the day of the incident and the previous day amounted to at least almost ten separate prints." "This I do not know," Zhang Shizhong said helplessly, shaking his head. "Regarding the footprints, we actually had expertse to look at them at the time, but we tend to find the person first and thenpare the footprints." "Yes, technology has indeed improved now," Jiang Yuan nodded. Undeniably, technology is always progressing. Although over the past few decades in China, many technical masters have emerged in the field of footprint analysis, a 53-year-old shepherd became one of the top criminal investigation experts in the country, known as "Divine Eye" for his skillful "footprint tracking." But the next generation builds on the research of their predecessors. The overall level of identification has improved over half a century, and some techniques and skills that the predecessors did not possess have also been developed. This series of techniques, especially in thest two decades, is in a period of explosive growth. When the triple murder case urred, footprint analysis was alreadymon, and estimating the age, gender, and height of individuals was not a big problem. However, in terms of usage, finding people through footprints was not the main approach. The primary method was to find the person first, then use footprints for confirmation, and it relied more on shoe prints than barefoot prints. This was also rted to the era: people around the year 2000 did not have a collection of shoes at home. It was normal to just have one or two pairs of shoes for daily wear, and people generally didn¡¯t change shoes unless the seasons changed. Moreover, shoes were not easily discarded until worn out; cobblers weremonly found at street corners and alleys able to repair anything from soles to uppers to surfaces. Hence, even if a suspect discarded their shoes, from rag-pickers to waste collectors to garbage dumpers to scavengers, there would always be someone picking up the discarded shoes. This provided a basis for theparison of suspects through shoe prints. Nowadays, such opportunities have be increasingly rare. Ordinary people frequently change their shoes and even sell second-hand shoes. Shoes thrown into the garbage bin aren¡¯t necessarily picked up by anyone anymore... Switching from shoe print identification to footprint identification adds anotheryer of difficulty and requires continuous experience umtion byter researchers. To put it academically, even forms need to be written down. In fact, over thest twenty years, various scientific achievements have exploded. While there are certainly shoddy articles that fudge numbers for funding, there are also real achievements made. In the field of footprint identification alone, several Science and Technology Progress Awards have been issued. Of course, there are still those who distrust such awards. In the realm of basic science, scientists may not argue over doctrines, but for technicians in the criminal investigation field, proving themselves is quite simple. To those doubters, just urinate at an important or peculiar ce, incidentally leaving a urine footprint, and then see how many days it takes to catch oneself. Zhang Shizhong had only a vague idea about footprint identification; he neither knew its limits nor the level of experts¡¯ skills. However, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s confident expression, Zhang Shizhong said, "If the culprit can be caught through footprints, then there certainly won¡¯t be a problem..." "We¡¯re not there yet." Jiang Yuan coughed twice, emphasizing, "The footprints at the scene are far from the crime scene, and it¡¯s not clear who left them, nor can it be proved that they were left by the murderer. We¡¯ll start by looking for eyewitnesses." "Using footprints to find someone, and from twenty years ago at that, seems very difficult." Zhang Shizhong was a bit surprised. Jiang Yuan uttered a nomittal "Hmm" and said, "As for difficulty, it¡¯s probably about the same as finding a culprit in an ordinary case." He was using Image Enhancement Level 5 for footprint identification, plus a temporary skill bonus of +1 to find the murderer, and if things didn¡¯t go well, he might even need Image Enhancement Level 5. Frankly speaking, with this set of skills, solving a current murder case might be easier thanmitting one. However, even with Level 6 footprint identification, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to directly produce the murderer¡¯s ID number, so the resources to be used in conjunction must be substantial¡ªthe necessary screenings, the people to be found, and the inquiries to be made are indispensable. In other words, Jiang Yuan could reduce the difficulty of finding someone through footprints from a technical standpoint, but he would still need a substantial amount of resource support. Looking at this case in particr, just finding these passerby might take several hundred to a thousand man-days, and the results obtained might not even be useful. Zhang Shizhong immediately grasped this point, and his expression became serious. One can boast and draw cakes to satisfy hunger, but these expenses, these resources to be used, are indeed real. Slurp... Huang Qiangmin slurped his soup, making a contented noise. Zhang Shizhong couldn¡¯t help but look over and said helplessly, "Director Huang, our Qingbai City isn¡¯t exactly a wealthy metropolis..." "This time we came out here, we are working for you for free. Not only do you have Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise, but there are also many people like Wu Junhao helping you, and we don¡¯t want a penny of your sry," Huang Qiangmin said indifferently. "As for the expenditure, it mainly depends on the direction the case takes; it¡¯s not about wasting your funds..." "Of course, of course," Zhang Shizhong hastily apologized. "I didn¡¯t mean that, I mean... well, all right, I¡¯ll report to the boss, whatever it takes to solve the case." Jiang Yuan spoke softly, "This case happened so long ago, to rebuild it from scratch, no matter which angle we tackle it from, there will be several steps that will consume a massive amount of funds and manpower, you have to be prepared for that." "I understand. I get it, really," Zhang Shizhong said with wry smile. There¡¯s an old saying, ¡¯One does not know the cost of a heart until the billse.¡¯ The Qingbai City Bureau may have ns for the case, but the sting of the cost hits hard all the same. Huang Qiangmindled some fish soup for Zhang Shizhong, and once his heartache subsided, he then said, "For this case, the provincial department and the ministry will definitely offer support, and the railway side will probably wish to provide some assistance too. Cui Xiaohu, Director Cui, and Director Li are already working on it for us..." Zhang Shizhong¡¯s mood improved greatly, "It would be best to have support..." "By tomorrow, there should be an interrogation expert from the ministry here." Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan, "If we can find the person, that is." Jiang Yuan nodded silently, knowing that identifying footprints after so long was easy, but finding someone through them was difficult. Fortunately, Qingbai City had arge poption of factory and mine workers, and although there were also individual vendors in the small markets by the railway lines, most of the pedestrians likely belonged to the factory and mine workers and their families. In fact, most of the individual vendors in the markets were also family members and rtives of factory workers, and this group, if efforts were made to search, could always be traced. Moreover, Jiang Yuan was not aiming to find the owners of all the footprints; he just wanted to find as many people as possible, thenbine that with the records from back then to decide which direction to pursue. Thus, on the second day of his arrival in Qingbai City, Jiang Yuan¡¯s temporary skill +1 was added to... Image Enhancement Level 5. With the help of these 400-plus minutes of image enhancement, Jiang Yuan first processed the various footprint images. That day in the office, theputers never stopped roaring. Zhang Shizhong, along with several leaders from the Qingbai City Bureau, came and went, listening to the loud cries of the newly bought high-performanceputers, louder than the calls of women inmercial KTVs, and he inwardly cursed the situation. The machines were being used so intensively; he dreaded to think how demanding it would be when it came to people. Chapter 620 - 564: Time of Death

Chapter 620: Chapter 564: Time of Death

Knock knock. In the early morning, two police officers, led by a staff member of the Qingtong Factory, knocked on the door of the experts¡¯ building. "Director Yang, two officers would like to ask about the details of a past case," the staff member introduced. Director Yang had retired almost ten years ago, but he still dressed as though he was going to work, wearing a shirt that was neatly ironed with the sleeves rolled up to reveal the metal watch on his wrist. Holding a rolled-up newspaper, he gently tapped it on his other hand and said, "Thene in." The two officers looked at each other, apologized, and then entered. The factory worker smiled and said, "I¡¯ll wait outside," and didn¡¯t enter. Director Yang¡¯s living room still had the style of the old era, with arge, plush leather sofa, a wide-screen television, and a low coffee table set between the sofa and the TV... "Would you like some tea?" Director Yang asked. "No, thank you," the police officers declined with a wave of the hand, then continued, "Director Yang, we are here to investigate the Jingyang Line triple murder case. On April 18th and 19th of that year, do you remember anything that can help us?" "It¡¯s been nearly 20 years, how can I remember what I did that day?" Director Yang shook his head in response and asked, "Do you remember what you did that day?" "I was still in elementary school then," the leading officerughed. Taken aback, Director Yang sighed deeply, "Time really flies." "Director Yang, is your wife here? We have a few questions, it would be better to ask you separately," they proposed. "Oh, she¡¯s at my son¡¯s ce, looking after my grandson," Director Yang shook his head, asking, "What does this have to do with her anyway?" "We suspect that the couple who was walking nearby at that time were you and your wife. We wanted to ask both of you," the police officer said, hinting at their reasoning, seeing that Director Yang was not very cooperative. Compared to assessing a single person, it¡¯s rtively easier to match the age, height, and gender of two people and find them on various lists. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t just have the records of several factory personnel and most of their families; he also referred to the transcripts from previous investigations. The triple murder case was tooplex and wide in scope. The previous investigators had made thousands of transcripts with over ten thousand names listed. Jiang Yuan used footprints to screen and narrow down the list, and then the Bald Strike Team, along with the Qingbai City Bureau, brought over about twenty or so people forparison. Finally, they went door-to-door. Director Yang, unaware of the machinations behind the scenes, was stunned for a moment, "My wife and I took a walk together, how would you know that? There were no cameras back then." "So it was indeed you and your wife who took the walk together, right?" the officer smiled, still not disclosing the source of their information. After deep thought, Director Yang asked, "Is someone using me?" The officers chuckled at his guess but still did not reveal the reason, simply asking, "Can you confirm which day you went for a walk outside?" "I¡¯ve already told you I can¡¯t remember clearly, you go first, then I¡¯ll try to recall," he replied. "Director Yang, the day of the incident, there was a fatal train track ident, the Jingyang Line triple murder case. How could you not remember?" the police officer reminded him. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Director Yang grew serious, pondered his words, and said, "I wasn¡¯t trying to hide anything, but... there¡¯s nothing wrong with saying it now. My wife and I did indeed pass through the area where the incident urred. However, we passed by in the afternoon, which does not coincide with the time when the victims were found at night." "What were you doing at the time?" the officer asked. "I knew it..." Director Yang said: "Back then, my wife and I opened a small retail space secretly in the nearby market. It wasn¡¯t illegal, we just didn¡¯t want people to know. That afternoon, we were going to check on the store and collect some of the day¡¯s earnings." The two officers fell silent for a moment, as this was a new development for them. However, this result was not bad; new information and leads were always better than none. Regaining their focus, the two proceeded with their questioning. ... Series of interview reports umted in this manner, eventually making their way back to the office at Qingbai City Bureau. The City Bureau had specially cleared out arge office, which still appeared quite crammed. Despite this, the officers¡¯ enthusiasm was steadily growing. "There really are some new leads," they noted. "Things that were difficult to discuss 20 years ago are nowing to light." "The key is, I didn¡¯t expect we could actually use footprints to find someone," they realized. "That¡¯s Ningtai Jiang Yuan¡¯s trademark move," they acknowledged. In the small office next door, Zhang Shizhong was simrly invigorated. He had transferred from a criminal detective to a cybercop several years ago, but as he reminisced, it was clear that the stories from his time as a detective were more thrilling. "There might really be a chance," Zhang Shizhong murmured, feeling a surge of confidence as he listened to the report below. He had not expected that Jiang Yuan could locate a pedestrian from 20 years ago who had never been found. Although it was not yet a breakthrough in the case and there was no direct evidence pointing to the murderer, this start was still quite astonishing. "Captain Jiang is back," a chatting officer reminded him. Zhang Shizhong looked out the window and saw Jiang Yuan getting out of the car apanied not only by Huang Qiangmin but also a senior police officer in in clothes. Before long, Jiang Yuan led them up. "Let me introduce you, this is Senior Inspector Liu Jinghui," Jiang Yuan stepped aside to make room. Zhang Shizhong immediately remembered and said eagerly, "Director Liu, I know of you. We often hear about the cases you¡¯ve solved; they¡¯re even used as study materials for us." Liu Jinghui, listening to the familiar small talk, smiled and said, "If we¡¯re talking about achievements, Jiang Yuan is right here. How¡¯s the case progressing?" "It¡¯s going ording to n," said Jiang Yuan, who had already briefed Liu Jinghui about his "little-by-little" n during the ride. "Alright, I¡¯ll review the case files first," said Liu Jinghui, who naturally didn¡¯t have a clue either and decided to read the materials first. Jiang Yuan thus set Liu Jinghui free to review the case on his own and began to ponder which pawn to push today. Jiang Yuan¡¯s choice was... Time of Death Identification Level 6. A Level 6 identification of the time of death was already quite excessive, and with an additional temporary skill boost of +1, without the need for advanced mathematical skills, one could tell that this was Level 7. To be honest, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t really experienced Level 7 skills before. Seeing that there was no task to push a pawn today, Jiang Yuan left Liu Jinghui to his work, activated the skill, and started examining photos. This time, he was looking at the photos of the corpse from the second case. The first and third victims in the triple corpse case had been alive when struck dead. Only the victim in the second case was dead when hit. A victim already deceased meant that they had been killed before, and the time of death became a key point. However, unlike a standard corpse, the second victim had been shattered by a train while already dead, which made determining the time of death very challenging. The reports Jiang Yuan saw indicated a time of death range spanning 20 hours, pretty much just short of writing "in the past two days" inside. Even with a Level 7 assessment of time of death, Jiang Yuan did not feel it was going to be particrly easy. This was purely difficult territory. Actually, if the time since death had been a bit longer, say a week or more, the requirements for pinpointing the time of death would have been lower, making a 20-hour span or even a two-day timeframe not too excessive. But the issue was that the corpse hadn¡¯t been dead for very long, which significantly increased the difficulty of the assessment. Jiang Yuan took out the photos one by one, flipping through them over and over. In the photos, there was the shattered skull of the corpse, intestines scattered over the bast, ghastly white bone fragments, and peeled-back skin... Jiang Yuan inspected them with extreme attention to detail. When the second body was discovered, the triple corpse case had yet to be identified, and the remains were eventually cremated, leaving only photos to examine. Of course, even if the bodies had been preserved until now, they would not have been of much use. At most, only the bones would have been avable for inspection. And back in those days, forensic doctors who kept bones were few. "How¡¯s it going?" After an indeterminate amount of time, a weary Liu Jinghui from reading files came over. "Died 6 to 8 hours before," Jiang Yuan put down the photos and said. "It¡¯s hard to get any closer than that." Liu Jinghui raised an eyebrow. "That¡¯s already quite urate, but the difference between dying 6 to 8 hours ago and about a day ago is substantial," he remarked. "How so?" "Transporting a body weighing around 100 pounds onto the railroad tracks isn¡¯t easy. If the victim was killed only six or seven hours earlier, it means the murderer would have had to start disposing of the body immediately, that kind of psychological state... the method for disposing of the body would also be difficult to handle..." Liu Jinghui stroked his chin, deep in thought. Chapter 621 - 565: Change Path

Chapter 621: Chapter 565: Change Path

Liu Jinghui had not yetpletely finished reading the case file, but during the review process, he subconsciously chose the second body as the main focus of attention. This waspletely different from Jiang Yuan¡¯s thinking. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the first case and the third case were where the murderer was most likely to slip up. The first case could potentially be the killer¡¯s first crime, and as everyone knows, a serial killer¡¯s first crime is often imperfect. By the way, the slogan "Every homicide case must be solved" was coined shortly after the triple homicide in 2004. One background of this slogan was therge number of serial murders that urred domestically. Of course, at that time it was not referred to in this way, but one of the understandings was this: Because the solve rate for homicide cases was low, many killers went unpunished, which gave them the opportunity to practice and learn how to kill, indirectly increasing the number and difficulty of serial killings. Therefore, it was essential to concentrate police force on solving fresh cases as soon as possible, to fundamentally contain the spread of serial murders. For simr reasons, when police encountered serial murder cases, they often considered tracing back to the very first case, which means they first considered consolidating cases, then focused on the first case in the series. Often, they would even ignore the current case and concentrate their efforts on investigating the first cold case. The first case was very important, and the third case¡ªas the finishing piece¡ªfelt even more important to Jiang Yuan, because this case was obviously meticulously staged. It was this case that triggered the alertness from various sides, leading to its inclusion in various lists. The more meticulously staged the case was, the more likely there were to be slip-ups, in theory. However, Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts werepletely different from Jiang Yuan¡¯s. After an in-depth review of the case, Liu Jinghui found Jiang Yuan and said, "I suggest focusing on the second case as the main attack target." "Go ahead," Jiang Yuan suggested when he asked Liu Jinghui over for advice. Liu Jinghui sat down opposite Jiang Yuan and said, "To me, the second case has actually the highest difficulty in terms of execution, and it¡¯s the easiest to run into problems." Jiang Yuan eximed with a "Huh," "Isn¡¯t it the third case? The killer even used drugs and had to quietly bring a living person over at night." "There are many ways to obtain ether, especially 20 years ago." Liu Jinghui paused, then continued, "Actually,pared to a living person, a corpse is harder to deal with. Even if ordinary people can¡¯t understand how heavy a 100-pound body is, having tied people up before, how can they not understand." Liu Jinghui went on, "Moreover, after the experience of the first time, the killer clearly could subdue a frail woman and take her to the railroad. Why would he kill her first and then take her there?" "Third, the issue of the primary crime scene. There¡¯s a primary crime scene once a person is killed, and it¡¯s rtively difficult to cover up the primary crime scene. Even if the police never discover the primary crime scene, but as the killer, one should guess that the police might be able to find it, so it should still be cleaned up, right? And to hide oneself and also to make the primary crime scene easier to clean up, wouldn¡¯t one need a room? Isn¡¯t that a matter of a few hours of work? Is the house owned or rented? How do you exin that?" Listening to this, Jiang Yuan slowly nodded, Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasons were very sufficient. Cleaning up a crime scene is no joke, more tiring than post-renovation house cleaning. A few hours of work would be driven by the sheer urgency of preserving one¡¯s own life; for tedious tasks, it might take even longer. Of course, the killer could also use cleaner methods of murder, such as strangtion, but clearly, the killer did not adopt this method. Perhaps it was the fear of leaving traces upon contact with the victim, or maybe there were other reasons. In any case, the killer used stabbing. Looking back at the analysis, no matter which method the killer initially chose, they should have anticipated scenarios like stabbings. In other words, time should have been arranged ordingly, and physical stamina stored up. Although these requirements are indeed demanding, for a serial killer who has escaped punishment for 20 years, his abilities should not be underestimated. Liu Jinghui considered even more than Jiang Yuan had thought, and he continued, "If the primary crime scene was in a remote and wild area, that¡¯s a possibility. However, there wasn¡¯t much mud or leaves on the body¡ªkilling someone in the wilderness and then bringing the body in is like taking off trousers to fart, why not just leave the body outside." Jiang Yuan replied, "That makes sense. Could the killer be the kind who is very ritualistic?" "I think it¡¯s because of the means of transportation. It wasn¡¯t easy to get a vehicle 20 years ago. Bicycles and motorcycles are far too conspicuous. The first and third cases are easily exined; it was quiet at night, and the victims could have walked there by themselves. But how was the second case¡¯s body brought in?" Jiang Yuan then fell into thought. After a while, he said, "There don¡¯t seem to be many vehicle traces at the scene, the vehicles we found belonged to institutions, and nothing was discovered." Jiang Yuan still had the skill to identify vehicle tracks, but even looking at the photos, he couldn¡¯t find any obvious clues. Liu Jinghui hummed, then elongated his tone and asked, "Do you think, could the body have been transported here by train?" "Hmm?" Jiang Yuan was startled, indeed, if the body was brought over by train, that would have made transporting it much easier, but, train management was much stricter than that of ordinary vehicles. Huang Qiangmin interjected, "I saw in the report that the railway had been checked several times in this regard." "It¡¯s hard to say, it¡¯s just a guess of mine." Liu Jinghui had only looked through the dossier and naturally could not provide a definitive answer. "Are you saying that we should shift our main investigative focus to Victim No. 2?" Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly. Liu Jinghui nodded again. Jiang Yuan sighed, "Alright then, let¡¯s change our focus." In the past few days, he had been fixated on Victim No. 3, sacrificing several pawns in the process, and most importantly, many police officers had done a great deal of work based on his judgments. Now, to withdraw police resources and reinvestigate Victim No. 2 seemed indecisive, a waste of police effort. After all, no one wanted their work to be in vain or easily invalidated. But, based on his trust in Liu Jinghui and his persuasive judgment, Jiang Yuan readily changed direction. Moving forward one pawn a day isn¡¯t about blindly charging forward. Now that the river had been crossed, it was time to move the pawns that needed to be moved. Making the change now was easier than waiting until theypletely lost the trail on Victim No. 3 and then having to start over. Once Jiang Yuan decided to make a change, he immediately retrieved Victim No. 2¡¯s case file to review it. Fortunately, when the case wasst reopened, the task force had transferred over all the evidence from various sources; otherwise, he would have had to travel to another city to view Victim No. 2¡¯s case file. Soon, the room was filled with just the sound of rustling case files being turned. Like Victims No. 1 and 3, Victim No. 2¡¯s socialwork was notplicated. The three victims lived in different cities and hardly had any connections with each other. This was one of the reasons why the case was judged to be a series of serial killings. If the three victims had been connected and had conflicts of interest with the murderer leading to the murders, it would have been considered a normal multiple-victim homicide. However, with no rtionships between the three victims, solving the case became very difficult, as random killings have always been a difficult point in homicide cases. "Why do you think the murderer killed three people and then stopped?" Liu Jinghui, looking at the case file and seemingly talking to himself, raised the question. The lighting in the office was getting dim. Huang Qiangmin stood up to turn on the light and said, "An ident? A transfer? Or maybe a prison sentence?" "This person is a master. To kill three people and then stop, it doesn¡¯t feel right." Liu Jinghui was always one to raise questions without solving them. After pondering for a while, he turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "It would be great if we could find the primary crime scene of Victim No. 2." Jiang Yuan went over his own skills and said, "Then it¡¯s still , extracting pollen from the victim¡¯s clothing to see if we can reconstruct her route on the day she was victimized, though it seems difficult." Liu Jinghui was even less hopeful about this, wondering where he could find a nt distribution map from 20 years ago, simply shaking his head in deep thought. Chapter 622 - 566: Resorting to Every Conceivable Method

Chapter 622: Chapter 566: Resorting to Every Conceivable Method

"So we¡¯re changing ns?" After making a full circuit and returning, Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen arrived in Qingbai City, only to receive someint-like feedback, and had no choice but toe and inquire from Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan then ryed Liu Jinghui¡¯s series of deductions to the two of them. Li Haochen nodded frequently while listening, and after asking a couple more questions, he couldn¡¯t help but express his surprise, "I¡¯ve heard of Shan Nan¡¯s Liu Jinghui¡¯s reputation, but I didn¡¯t expect him to have the real goods. Captain Jiang, introduce me to himter." Li Haochen looked like he had just graduated from the police academy, and he wasn¡¯t much of a talker before. It was only after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s ry of Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions that he became interested. There was nothing to say about that. Jiang Yuan turned around and called Liu Jinghui over, then made the introductions. "I¡¯ve heard of Director Li Haochen¡¯s reputation." Liu Jinghui clearly knew about Li Haochen as well, being an official sent from the ministry; even if he was young, he was still a leader whose slightest actions could stir the entire province with their unusual scent. Li Haochen humbly declined the praise, thenfortably started discussing with Liu Jinghui. He also used to travel for work frequently and knew how tomunicate with famous detectives from different ces. Within just a few sentences, Li Haochen revealed his own aphorism, "If it were me killing these three people, I¡¯d definitely need a means of transportation. Otherwise, even if I left at dawn, encountering someone on the road would be hard to exin. If I weren¡¯t careful, I might even be caught." "That¡¯s true. So, considering the conditions 20 years ago, we¡¯re looking at trains, cars, tricycles, that sort of thing." "Getting on a train is pretty tough, though. How do you get such a big person to the train station? Even if it¡¯s a freight station, there are still plenty of peopleing and going. Maybe use one of those maintenance tcars on the railway tracks?" "A railcar? That¡¯s possible." Liu Jinghui was still maintaining an open mindset and, looking at Li Haochen, smiled and asked, "If you did it, which would you choose?" Li Haochen actually took a moment to think seriously and said, "A tcar is also fixed onto the rails. The problems encountered moving a body onto a tcar would be simr to moving it onto the tracks, unless the murder took ce right beside the railway. But then, why not just abandon the body there?" "All said and done, we still need a vehicle." Liu Jinghui nodded. "And proper camouge is needed," Li Haochen added, "I couldn¡¯t possibly n so meticulously only to have it all fall apart due to an unexpected event." "Exactly." Liu Jinghui nodded in agreement, admiring the youthful face of Li Haochen, "Director Li is also quite adept at deduction. And your perspective is quite unique." "There¡¯s no helping it." When the conversation turned to this topic, Li Haochen couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. Liu Jinghui asked, "What do you mean?" Li Haochen shook his head, "Given the current environment, just deducing things in the Criminal Investigation Department isn¡¯t cutting it anymore. I have to do fieldwork from time to time, going undercover and such..." Liu Jinghui listened, almost moved to tears. That really sounded tough! ... Jiang Yuan spent three days in theb before he managed to extract some of the pollen from the clothing of the second victim. Even being able to do this was a reflection of his rising status. The extraction of pollen was a destructive process, so Jiang Yuan¡¯s method was to cut out six pieces of fabric from the clothing. If an expert wanted to work on this case in the future and needed theplete clothing of the victim, they would be hindered. However, considering it was a case from 20 years ago, thinking about the future wasn¡¯t really significant. If the murderer was young back then, they might still be alive now. If they were middle-aged or older, the killer might already be dead. Even solving the case and uncovering the so-called truth, what significance would it hold? Of course, the main thing was that Jiang Yuan¡¯s demonstratedpetence was enough; for leaders at all levels, Jiang Yuan now had the standing to decide the direction of a case. And Jiang Yuan had indeed produced some results. At the subsequent small-scale case analysis meeting, Jiang Yuan prepared a PowerPoint presentation and simply stated: "Victim number two was a 27-year-old female who owned a frozen food store. There was a florist within the same market, which is why her clothing had arge amount of pollen frommercial flowers, making the botanical analysis a bit challenging." "However, something peculiar, I found pollen from fir, dawn redwood, Chinese juniper, and ginkgo trees on her clothing¡ªa series of tree pollen..." "The body of victim number two was found in the southern outskirts of Huo City, where such trees are seldom nted, but the botanical garden on the western outskirts has a wide variety of species, so we can reasonably specte that the western botanical garden is likely the primary crime scene for victim number two." Jiang Yuan paused here before adding, "Captain Wu Junhao has already led a team there to search for witnesses." Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression was serious, "Finding the primary crime scene should have been a major breakthrough, but if it¡¯s the botanical garden, the traces from 20 years ago are unlikely to have remained, right?" "Unless there was something like a weapon left behind." Jiang Yuan also felt helpless. If the scene had been inside a residential building, in a tenant¡¯s home, there was indeed a chance to find bloodstains or DNA. Although 20 years is a long time, things that weren¡¯t cleaned up properly then might still not be clean now. But the botanical garden is different. There are natural dposers in botanical gardens, from insects to microorganisms to various fungi, with no ecological niche going unfilled. In such a ce, let alone biological evidence, even normal clothing can bepletely dposed. "At least it shows that the victim visited the botanical garden that day," Liu Jinghui said, reviving the somber atmosphere. Jiang Yuan nodded and continued, "The victim had dinner with her parents the night before, and themute from the southern outskirts to the western outskirts of Huo City the next day should take about 30 minutes to an hour. She probably took the bus." "Are there any witnesses?" Liu Jinghui looked to the side. Among those present were the Huo City police officers, who had been assigned to the task force. At this moment, one leaned forward and said, "There were people who saw the victim leave the market, but there were no more witnesses after that, and at that time, we didn¡¯t know where she had gone..." Suddenly, Liu Jinghui felt a surge of excitement, "It was a weekday, wasn¡¯t it? A frozen food store owner wouldn¡¯t just go to the botanical garden for no reason, even 20 years ago, there wouldn¡¯t have been anyone going to the botanical garden for fun, right?" Li Haochen also suggested, "The victim was 27, unmarried, no boyfriend... Could it be a romantic rtionship? A crime of passion?" "We can¡¯t rule out that possibility." "If it was a crime of passion, this victim would be the only one connected to the killer." "How can we prove it?" At this, Liu Jinghui and Li Haochen both turned to look at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan spread his hands. Even if there had been surveince 20 years ago, the tapes might have been ruined by now. Not many items could endure like pollen spores do, and many things that felt tough at the time would have decayed a few yearster. "We could try asking people close to her. Maybe there was a secret boyfriend or something," Li Haochen sought confirmation from Jiang Yuan again, "Was the victim a virgin? Any signs of pregnancy?" "No, she wasn¡¯t. There were no signs of pregnancy," replied Jiang Yuan, who had thoroughly reviewed the autopsy report. "I think we need to do aprehensive questioning of the victim¡¯s rtives, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances," said Li Haochen. "There probably wasn¡¯t online dating 20 years ago, right? If she was in a rtionship, there must have been some way they met." "There was online dating," said Liu Jinghui, looking at the younger Li Haochen, "we were making friends in chat rooms back in the ¡¯90s." "Alright," conceded Li Haochen, not arguing further, and then added: "We should also look into the transportation used. If the victim died in the botanical garden, the killer would have had to transport her out of there to reach the railway on schedule. A car would have been inconvenient. A tricycle? Seems better than a motorcycle, more concealment and not expensive." "Tricycles were indeed quitemon in the city back then," Liu Jinghui agreed without opposition, though following these two leads seemed easier said than done. Jiang Yuan, at a loss for what to do next, then said, "Call Director Xu over." Huang Qiangmin took a look at Jiang Yuan and said, "You¡¯ve stood up Xu Taining twice. He might not be willing toe anymore." "Just tell him I¡¯m at my wit¡¯s end, and this case is unlikely to be solved in the short term," Jiang Yuan said with a slight smile, speaking the truth. The corners of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth also couldn¡¯t help but rise into a smile of 66.6 degrees, "That might be quite tempting for Director Xu." Chapter 623 - 567: Deadlock

Chapter 623: Chapter 567: Deadlock

Qingbai City meeting room. Members of the special investigation team from the ministries, provincial departments, Changyang City Bureau, and Qingbai City Bureau were all in a heated debate. Previously, everyone got along amiably, inviting each other out for meals, chatting over drinks. It was when the topic of budget came up that everyone was still very restrained, whether one party was contributing a bit more or a bit less, they could alwayse to an agreement. That was until they heard the story of Xu Taining... "Our budget has already reached its limit!" "Ours is maxed out as well." "Who can bear this." To say that the scene was electrifying would be putting it mildly. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need to discuss the budget issue and sat distantly, whispering to Jiang Yuan beside him, "Honestly, with all the trouble it takes to request Xu¡¯s assistance each time, if we can¡¯t make use of him this time, let¡¯s not bother inviting him." "I have no idea now, do you?" Jiang Yuan retorted. Liu Jinghui rubbed his face with his hand, "I have plenty of ideas, can you verify them?" Jiang Yuan could only smile and shake his head. It was an old case from 20 years ago; indeed, there wasn¡¯t much that could still be verified. The few leads they had now all required investigation, backtracking to people and items from 20 years prior. Only after going through these investigations could the case continue to progress. Or, they would have to start looking for new clues. Members of the special investigation team from various units also recognized this situation. So, despite the arguing andmotion, the focus remained on a budget amount and distribution issue, not on whether to call in Xu Taining. Themotion in the meeting room didn¡¯t subside even with the arrival of Xu Taining in Qingbai City. After all, Xu Taining himself wasn¡¯t asking for payment; their current discussions were mainly about the expenses during the investigation period, so very likely they would continue arguing until Xu Taining left. "Director Xu, thank you for your hard work," Jiang Yuan and others greeted Xu Taining at the door. Dressed in a white shirt, with slight traces of fitness on his body, Xu Taining stared intently at Jiang Yuan as soon as they met and seriously said, "It doesn¡¯t matter whether I work hard or not, but you can¡¯t keep trying to solve my cases." "Unjust usation. I came across the breakthrough clue while you were conducting investigations..." Jiang Yuan quickly exined. Xu Taining huffed, "If you have a breakthrough clue, why not use it sooner? What¡¯s the situation this time? Are you going to solve the case ahead of me!" "If I could solve the Jingyang Line triple corpse case, I¡¯d definitely crack it immediately," Jiang Yuan shrugged, "But at the moment, we¡¯re a bit stuck. We need to find people from 20 years ago, not sure if they can still be tracked down." "As long as the strategy is well-nned, people can always be found," Xu Taining shared his umted experience and paused before asking, "What made you decide to take on this case? It¡¯s not an easy one." "It¡¯s quite difficult, we¡¯ve exhausted every trick," said Jiang Yuan, starting to fill Xu Taining in on the details. He began by discussing the unsessful investigation of the third body, including the search for witnesses, extensive footprint identification, the application of Image Enhancement Technology, and thebined efforts to search and inquire about these individuals. Then he moved on to describe the methods used after shifting focus to the second body, including Liu Jinghui and others¡¯ conjectures, as well as the information obtained through Legal Botany, botanical garden circumstances... Xu Taining listened intently as they walked and began to take the situation very seriously. Upon entering the meeting room, Jiang Yuan continued briefing Xu Taining, who simply took out pen and paper to make notes. Liu Jinghui and the rest sat on either side, faces all bearing solemn expressions. "This case is quite challenging," Xu Taining said, lifting his head with a heavy tone. Jiang Yuan was okay, but the leaders of Qingbai City felt a pang of anxiety first. They really wanted to solve this case, but their small local concerns couldn¡¯t sustain such an ordeal. Yet Xu Taining didn¡¯t look at anyone, just scribbled a few strokes on the paper before saying, "Actually, it¡¯s about what I expected beforeing. The difficulty of the case is clear, and we can discuss the specifics of execution. However, the preparations that need to be made upfront can be roughly estimated right now." This was also Xu¡¯s working habit; he didn¡¯t y the game of cutting flesh with dull knives, for most units simply couldn¡¯t stand it. When Xu worked, he valued cutting through the mess swiftly, carving the bone cleanly with a sharp de. With one stroke, the scene would be a bloody mess, then the bloodletting would continue... Xu pondered, "First off, we need to inquire with as many people as possible who worked in the market where the victim was, preferably 50 teams of two, eachposed of a police officer and an assistant officer..." Liu Jinghui suddenly looked up, "That little? That doesn¡¯t seem like Xu Taining¡¯s style!" Xu Taining noticed Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression, haughtily lifted his neck, like a ck truffle goose, and proudly said, "Making a delicate point, I can do that too." Liu Jinghui smiled and nodded his head. Xu Taining nodded in response and continued, "The botanical garden, this first crime scene, is very important. I saw that the tree species Jiang Yuan identified includes the ginkgo tree and such trees usually aren¡¯t cut down, right? A tree from 20 years ago should still be there. Try to see if we can find any evidence left behind from that time, such as clothing buttons, or even hair ties, those should all be useful." The officer sent from Huo City to liaise answered. "Check through the botanical garden¡¯s employees." Xu Taining rapped the table, "What else?" Liu Jinghui helpfully added, "We can also check to see if there were any vehicle registration records from that time, if there was vehicr ess, whether it was recorded or not. Generally speaking, the distance one is willing to walk to dispose of a body usually doesn¡¯t exceed 100 meters. If no vehicle had entered the botanical garden, I think it¡¯s more likely the perpetrator would choose to dispose of the body nearby." "Unless making the body get hit by a train was meaningful in itself." Li Haochen filled in the nks, "Why did the perpetrator need to ce the body on the railway tracks?" "Mainly for cover-up, I suppose. Turning a murder into an idental death." Liu Jinghui said, "After the first case happened, the railway bureau didn¡¯t disclose any specific details. To outsiders, doesn¡¯t it seem like they managed to dodge the first case entirely?" Xu Taining slightly nodded, "That¡¯s a possibility, so we¡¯ll have to search within the railway bureau as well. I think we can question all the employees from that time, to see if there are any leads..." This single statement revealed Xu Taining¡¯s true naturepletely. To investigate a part of a case, to look into an entire railway bureau from 20 years ago because they have employee records and can find the staff. Even though it felt extravagant, no one raised any objections, because this clue could actually be useful. Even though the special case team had surely investigated here before, 20 years had passed¡ªwho knew? For a case like the Three Corpses, the key point was to leave no stone unturned. If one were to think about cost-effectiveness or y the odds, it would be best not to touch such cases, because the most likely oue is that money and resources would be spent in vain, the case would remain unsolved, and it would just make things harder for those who follow. "How do you n to proceed with the other two victims?" Xu Taining abruptly changed the topic and circled back. The leadership of Qingbai City Bureau tensed up instantly, fearing that a single word from Jiang Yuan would triple the expenses. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan¡¯s n was to make steady progress, as he said, "For now, let¡¯s focus our efforts and follow up on case number two." "Aren¡¯t you going to check for connections between the victims?" Xu Taining was somewhat surprised. In a typical serial murder case, it ismon to examine the rtionships between the cases¡ªlike whether the three had any mutual friends, attended any mutual parties, or if they participated in any regr activities together, or shared interests; all of these could potentially lead to their deaths. However, ording to the analysis by Liu Jinghui and others, the connections between the three victims in the Three Corpses case were very minimal. Most importantly, the previous special case team had already followed this lead quite far, and Liu Jinghui¡¯s group hadn¡¯t yet found any holes. This wasn¡¯t like tallying a list; going over it again was apletely different concept. Liu Jinghui quietly offered some exnation, and Xu Taining sighed regretfully, his envisioned scale being somewhat smaller than he had hoped. Of course, Xu Taining¡¯s goal was not to pursue scale... Xu Taining then said, "Then revisit the friends and rtives of the victims a bit more, see if we can still find them." The detachment leader of Qingbai City Bureau quickly expressed agreement, as long as it wasn¡¯t three directions at once, this was still eptable... rtively speaking... Xu Taining organized the manpower that very day. For him, this scale of work was ordinary level, not only effortless but it even felt like a warm-up exercise. It was the ordinary police officers who were really tired, as each was assigned several names; if they could find the corresponding individuals in the city, that would be good luck. If not, they would have to try to make video calls, and if that failed, they would have to travel by ne to find them. Jiang Yuan had faced a simr situation when working on footprints, but the number of people that Xu Taining had listed this time was muchrger. So, despite the smaller total number of people, the overall expenses were climbing rapidly. Before anyone could voice their concerns, a brand-new clue shattered the dull deadlock: "It seems that victim number two was in a romantic rtionship." As the message came through, there was no need for Liu Jinghui to summarize; an emotional melodrama had already exploded in everyone¡¯s minds. Chapter 624 - 568: Search

Chapter 624: Chapter 568: Search

"If the girlfriend¡¯s dead, it must have been the boyfriend who killed her." "If it was a secret boyfriend, the odds of him murdering her double." "Is the case closed? The task force before didn¡¯t find anything?" "The previous task force didn¡¯t focus on Victim No. 2 as a key direction. Moreover, at that time, the victim¡¯s best friend wasn¡¯t sure about this piece of information, and out of consideration for her reputation, she chose not to disclose it." "So, was there really such a thing?" "The victim had a younger cousin, who also mentioned seeing the victim get dolled up and then spotted her hand in hand with a man outside." Various reports kepting in, especially from the victim¡¯s close friends and younger rtives, providing answers that differed from those given 20 years ago. Following that, stallholders at the market where the victim worked began to submit unusual reports one after another. "I wasn¡¯t sure back then and was warned by her family, so I didn¡¯t speak out. If Liu Limin operated past eight in the evening, she often had someone pick her up. Sometimes it was her brother, other times a different man. She mentioned once that he was a friend of her ¡¯big brother¡¯." "When her real brother came to tidy up the stall, he told everyone that his sister wasn¡¯t married yet and to speak kindly of her. That¡¯s just the way it was. We didn¡¯t know the specifics." "Liu Limin¡¯s business was quite sessful, and she always had a smile for everyone. Some customers even tried to set her up on dates, but she never agreed, saying she didn¡¯t need it, something like that. I don¡¯t remember clearly." When the police dispatched by the task force started to investigate along the lines of a "boyfriend," many of the responses they received were somewhat unexpected. Twenty years have changed many things, cleared many memories, and also lifted many burdens. Nowadays, whether Liu Limin had a boyfriend or if she was a spinster no longer mattered. Those who had left the market long ago, no matter their current state, weren¡¯t concerned with neighborly or colleague opinions, speaking without any reservations. Xu Tainingprehensively reviewed the materials at hand, quickly changed the inquiry strategy, and readjusted the direction and scope of the questioning. Soon, all of Liu Limin¡¯s ssmates were included in the questioning process. Like before, Liu Limin¡¯s ssmates might have lived and worked in Huo City, but after 20 years, less than half of them remained there. The rest were scattered across the country, and some even settled abroad. Xu Taining still made every effort to send people out for questioning. The travel expenses were covered by the Huo City Bureau. "The most obvious clue we have now is Liu Limin¡¯s boyfriend. Both of them did a good job keeping their rtionship secret, including Liu Limin¡¯s parents and older brother; none knew the specific identity of her boyfriend or had even seen his face." During the daily briefing, Xu Taining, with his notebook in hand, presented the situation to the task force members. The leaders listened with grimaced faces, unsure if it was from frustration or headache. Criminal police officers like Jiang Yuan, who didn¡¯t mind the finances, were also slightly frowning. Not a single lead from 20 years ago was easy to follow. "I have an idea now," Xu Taining shared the challenges, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "Liu Limin¡¯s parents have preserved her belongings well. Although the task force took some of it, most were left behind, merely a bit jumbled, which Liu Limin¡¯s parentster reorganized." Xu Taining then asked Jiang Yuan, "Although it¡¯s been quite a while, is it possible to find something like Liu Limin¡¯s boyfriend¡¯s DNA among them?" Jiang Yuan looked up at Xu Taining for a while. Truth be told, Xu Taining¡¯s question was terrifyingly naive¡ªhe actually thought that the crime scene investigators could find useful DNA in a room that had been ransacked multiple times, and through it pinpoint a specific individual! Absurd. However, in front of Jiang Yuan, Xu Taining¡¯s question was somewhat informed. Because Jiang Yuan indeed had a fair chance of locating the victim¡¯s boyfriend¡¯s DNA. After all, 20 years is not an extremely long time for DNA; as long as the right ce is examined, there¡¯s a high probability of extracting it. Major distractions are a huge problem but not insurmountable. "I¡¯ll take a look," Jiang Yuan said without making any promises or mentioning the difficulties. After the meeting, Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang headed to the victim¡¯s home, which was also her parents¡¯ residence. The drive from Qingbai City to Huo City takes about an hour; 20 years ago, it might have taken two to three hours. Thinking about having to swap such distant ces each time a body was dumped, it surely wasn¡¯t easy. Liu Limin¡¯s home, located in the center of Huo City, was a three-room one-living room t of about 150 square meters¡ªa bit of a deceitful advertisement¡ªbut even so, the conditions were very good back then. After meeting up with three local police officers downstairs, they knocked on the door and were let inside, where Liu Limin¡¯s whole family was already waiting. "Hello," Mu Zhiyang stepped forward towork and proactively showed his work badge to everyone. Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, observed Liu Limin¡¯s parents and older brother. Her brother was about 50 years old; her parents were in their 70s, with her father needing a cane and her mother moving rtively nimbly, though hunched. They spoke clearly, but soon began to choke up. Twenty years let many people forget Liu Limin¡¯s name, but for her parents, time merely extended their pain. "Limin¡¯s things are all kept in her room. I¡¯ll take you there," Liu Limin¡¯s mother said, wiping away tears as she stood up. Jiang Yuan followed her to an adjacent south-facing room, stopped her from entering, started putting on his mask and head cover, and asked, "Does anyonee into this room regrly?" "I clean here periodically, her father barelyes in," said Liu Limin¡¯s mother. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes furrowed as he listened. Regrly cleaning the victim¡¯s room could havepromised the evidence, contaminating it several times over¡ªif there was still anything to find that could be considered evidence, that is. But since he hade all this way, it wasn¡¯t as if he could turn around and leave. "You all stand outside the door, we¡¯ll check the room again," he said. Even if the scene was thoroughly contaminated, the procedure still had to be followed. Liu Limin¡¯s older brother came over to help their mother away, then returned to watch. He seemed like someone who had hired a worker for his home and then stood by, supervising the job. Jiang Yuan paid him no mind and, with the assistance of Mu Zhiyang, began meticulously looking for evidence. Of the three officers from Huo City, two were technicians, who followed inside to help and soon started to show their agility. When technicians from different ces work together, it¡¯s a bit like strangersing together to y a pickup game of basketball. Before the game starts, you can judge each other¡¯s strength by height, physique, or muscr appearance, but once the game is underway, everyone¡¯s capabilities and how they measure up be abundantly clear. Moreover, the range of skills you typically find on a public basketball court isn¡¯t fixed, but it¡¯s generally simr. There may be a few exceptionally strong yers, but only by a level or two. Someone like Jiang Yuan, who started at Crime Scene Investigation Level 4 and had casually leveled up today, was akin to an NBA yer crashing a local pick-up game. He might not be a star yer, but his effortless dunking, guaranteed blocks within range, and ability to bypass two defenders in a pivot cast a long shadow on the hobbyists of the court, one that would linger for a long time. Jiang Yuan diligently swept the scene and conducted his investigation. The two technicians from Huo City silently cooperated in scanning the scene and investigating, without uttering any unnecessary words. It was as if two amateurs temporarily joined a pick-up game and were simply happy to trail behind someone of NBA caliber, not knowing if they were enjoying themselves or not, their minds surely baffled at that moment. That¡¯s possible! It can be done that way! Are you serious! Exmations like these circled in their minds, not needing to be distinctly articted, just taken as a rare life experience. Jiang Yuan worked steadily, but the bedroom wasn¡¯trge. With the bed and cabs taking up space, there soon wasn¡¯t much left to search. Having sealed another evidence bag, Jiang Yuan slowly rose and looked around before turning to Liu Limin¡¯s brother at the door. "Did Liu Limin¡¯s boyfriend evere over to the house?" he asked. "No. My sister has been independent since she was young and doesn¡¯t like to share her personal affairs with the family. We weren¡¯t even clear she had a boyfriend, though we guessed as much. She is 27, after all, and the family was quite anxious, but we didn¡¯t interfere," Liu Limin¡¯s brother exined. Then he asked, "Do you suspect it was her boyfriend?" "We do not know yet," Jiang Yuan immediately replied. Family members of victims tend to read too much into police officers¡¯ words, and Jiang Yuan, no longer a rookie, had be cautious in this regard. Liu Limin¡¯s brother nodded, half convinced, his eyes roving as though considering something else. Jiang Yuan surveyed the room once more before packing severalrge bags of clothes and slowly making his way out. He closed the door and said, "Please do not clean the room for now. We will contact you if needed." His rationale was that if Liu Limin had been physically close to her boyfriend, there could be traces of hair or skin kes on her clothes. It¡¯s not feasible to search through them in the bedroom, better to take everything back to theb and sort through it under a forensic light. Liu Limin¡¯s brother responded grimly, then hesitated before offering, "How about some tea? Take a sip of water, have a rest." "We don¡¯t have time for a rest now¡ªwe must get back. There¡¯s more work to be done," Jiang Yuan replied, assessing Liu Limin¡¯s brother¡¯s demeanor. "Could you show us the way out? We came up in a hurry and I can¡¯t quite recall where we parked." "No problem," said Liu Limin¡¯s brother, hurrying to open the door for Jiang Yuan. Their parents stood in the living room, watching the backs of Jiang Yuan and the others, reluctant to move away. Once outside and on their way down, Jiang Yuan asked Liu Limin¡¯s brother, "Was there something you were trying to tell us earlier?" At crime scenes, Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence also had improved, mainly because he was now more attentive to others. After a moment of hesitation, Liu Limin¡¯s brother shared, "I was just thinking... my sister actually did make some money back then. When we looked through her belongings afterward, there wasn¡¯t much left in her bank ount..." "Oh?" The officers all looked at Liu Limin¡¯s brother with furrowed brows. "I¡¯m not after the money," Liu Limin¡¯s brother quickly said, then sighed. "Actually, what I mean is... there was a time when my sister often didn¡¯te home at night, iming she was sorting out stock at the market and sleeping at the store. We never delved deeper, but now with you searching, I¡¯m wondering if my sister might have used the money she made to buy herself a house?" "Your sister bought a house and neither you nor your family knew about it?" another officer asked. Liu Limin¡¯s brother gave a wry smile. "She was 27 and independent, I was already married and living on my own. If she did make some money and secretly bought a house... people used cash for transactions 20 years ago, and the money she made would certainly have been enough to buy a house." "Did you check with thend registry?" the officer pressed on. "I did, there¡¯s nothing. She doesn¡¯t own any property," was the clear answer. The officers posed a series of questions on the spot and took a statement for Liu Limin¡¯s brother to sign before leaving. Jiang Yuan returned to theb to examine the clothing and evidence and shared the new information with Liu Jinghui and the team. Having new leads was better than having none, despite the additional expense that would entail. Chapter 625 - 569 Arch

Chapter 625: Chapter 569 Arch

"Property information from 20 years ago can only be found by checking the archives in each city and county." Liu Jinghui had asked around before sharing this information at the meeting. A police officer from the special case team stationed in Huo City said, "This shouldn¡¯t be difficult. The victim made a cash transaction, right? Let¡¯s find all the property transactions paid in cash within the three years before the incident. There couldn¡¯t have been that many housing trades back then..." Xu Taining pondered, "We can¡¯t be sure it was bought in Huo City." When the police officer from Huo City heard this, he realized the logic was sound. If the victim bought the property for himself, then it might indeed be in Huo City, but what if it wasn¡¯t registered under his own name, and was bought for a secret lover? If the secret lover turned out to be the murderer, and hemitted crimes in three cities along the Jingyang Line, it proves that he is at least familiar with the train routes of these three ces. Wouldn¡¯t that mean the range of potential property purchases could extend to these three cities? "So, it¡¯s Huo City, Qingbai City, and Changyang City?" Liu Jinghui read out the names of these ces, feeling a chill down his spine. Huo City and Qingbai City were bearable, two prefecture-level cities. Going back 20 years, there couldn¡¯t have been many property transactions, but Changyang City, being the provincial capital, was different. Even 20 years ago, there would have been at least tens of thousands of housing deals per year. Xu Taining said, "There¡¯s also the Railway Bureau." "Hmm?" "20 years ago, the Railway Bureau would have had welfare housing allocations, and it¡¯s uncertain in which city they were located. We still have to consider the possibility that the murderer might have a background in the railways and could have used this identity to purchase property." Liu Jinghui hissed in response. Xu Taining¡¯s logic was sound, but the funds were as good as thrown into the water with such reasoning. "Fine, this can be part of the investigation," Liu Jinghui said, feeling that this expense was a bit much. He often headed investigations himself, favored logic, and was skilled in logical analysis, but he would never spend money like this. Nowadays, not many police stations are willing to hire a "King of Logic" to assist, and if you spend like this, the client is bound to explode. However, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t prevent Xu Taining from spending money, and he knew well that some clients naturally tremble when spending even a penny, yet facing someone like Xu Taining, maybe they would feel like throwing hundreds wasn¡¯t a big deal at all. Of course, Xu Taining¡¯s judgment was correct. Housing allocated by the Railway Bureau a few years before the incident should indeed be taken into ount. Actually, to be urate, housing throughout the entire province should be considered, since we don¡¯t know where Liu Limin¡¯s boyfriend is from. If he bought the property in his own hometown¡ªthis thought just crossed Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind, and his thoughts quickly wandered off. The tasks ahead were still daunting. Xu Taining was also extremely busy. This investigation was different from the norm. His previous investigations mainly involvedrge-scale personnel arrangements, task assignments, various logistical supports, and work progression. This time, although the scale of the on-site investigation was notrge and they were following several leads at once, the number of people assigned to each lead was only about a hundred or so. So far, Xu Taining had only mobilized around three to four hundred people in total. These numbers were muchrger than a typical investigation in Shan Nan Province but not out of the ordinary in the world of investigations. In Beijing, an ordinary sub-bureau facing a live homicide case might organize a 3000-person-scale investigation as if it were nothing. However, this investigation organized by Xu Taining had one distinct feature: it was a "hands-off" approach. To put it simply, the police officers he sent out could not return for a while. Whether it was now, checking real estate transactions, or previously tracing vendors in the market, or all the people associated with footprints found near the scene, once Xu Taining sent someone out to investigate, they couldn¡¯t return shortly after they left. These police officers, traveling across the country, had to thoroughly investigate the local situations wherever they went, and the moreprehensive the investigation, the higher the difficulty, and the longer it would take. This was a significant change from Xu Taining¡¯s past investigations. The high-capacity, high-turnover model had been forcibly switched to a low-capacity, low-turnover model. Xu Taining was scratching his head over this. Frankly, getting 3,000 people to dig up bodies on the highway isn¡¯t too demanding of a task. It is always possible to deploy 3,000 people somehow. But now, things have beplicated. The requirements for the experience of the officers sent out to interview informants are high. Especially those who are sent out of town on business trips, they must be well-trained officers. Otherwise, what if they are taken advantage of? It sounds like not a lot with just over 300 people, but that equates to switching them all out for elite ones. It¡¯s the same issue now with checking houses. Sending a few novices to sift through documents without producing results is also pointless. But in order to produce results, for the three-locations-one-bureau system set up by Xu Taining, at least another forty or fifty people will be needed. Xu Taining was also rubbing his eyebrows, contemting. It didn¡¯t take too long for him to consider. By the afternoon, Xu Taining had transferred the heavy responsibility to the three-locations-one-bureau and naturally said, "Everyone should send 15 people, consider it additional support." Those attending the meeting reflexively resisted: "Our bureau really has reached its limit. Now even the parking lot is congested, with section chiefs going down to direct traffic." "It¡¯s quite good to send section chiefs out, people parking have also reduced," Xu Taining did not offer any opportunity for rebuttal, emphasizing, "Each bureau should check their own area. Having fewer people and falling behind is definitely not eptable." He did not spell out the consequences of failing, but with such a big case, no one wanted to be the weak link. Another representative from the municipal bureau cried out, "We¡¯re already handling a lot of cases. If we divert more staff, daily operations will be affected. Director Xu, please be considerate and let¡¯s use the staff we have currently..." "That won¡¯t do, working on such a big case without any reserves on hand is reckless," Xu Taining finished and also advised, "I need those experienced detectives who can review documents and cases this time, the demand is high but the task is not heavy. If your bureau doesn¡¯t have enough operations officers, drawing a few from administration might also work, maybe even better." Several representatives from the municipal bureaus looked a bit stunned and somewhat amused, but after thinking it over, all expressed willingness to go back and ask. Those working on the front lines always enjoyed mocking the desk jockeys, but the workload in the offices was not trivial. In fact, the daily workload might berger than that in the operations department. If these people were really dispatched, it would be like an army going to war, sending out the administrative troops and guardpanies, with everyone giving their all. Imagining how from now on the directors and deputy directors might have to make their own tea and dine alone, the representatives felt a vague excitement. Only Xu Taining could make client work seem so humble. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about these things; he had returned with the clothing and could only search through them one piece at a time. Technical work is actually very masculine, often thought of as morous and incredibly rewarding. However, that feeling usuallysts only for a moment, disappearing after a mere ten seconds or so. But to achieve that brief moment requires long hours of cultivation, repeatedly engaging in mundane tasks. Most technical work is exceedingly dull, with moments of innovation and explosive creativity being very rare. Or rather, the more advanced the technology, the lower the requirement for innovation and mental breakthroughs should be, in order for it to be more widespread. Today, Jiang Yuan was using Forensic Material Evidence, a level 4 skill. If one were to assign the simplestbel to Forensic Material Evidence, it would be forensic techniques for finding DNA. More specifically, it includes blood, seminal fluid, milk, saliva, mucus, urine, amniotic fluid, hair, nails, bones, teeth, and so on. In short, all the misceneous things on a person¡¯s body fall within the scope of study of Forensic Material Evidence, with the most important aspect being the study and handling of evidence contamination. Because most human tissue, once it scatters, is basically contaminated. For example, seminal fluid might contain oil or special antibacterial agents if it is trapped, dust if it falls on the ground, powder if itnds on a wall, saliva if it has passed through the mouth, and paper scraps if it sticks to paper... A forensic doctor like the former Chief Medical Examiner Niu, who specialized in analysis and identification of household papers, would utilize techniques from Forensic Material Evidence to a considerable extent and at a high level. Jiang Yuan kept an eye on the time and gave himself a temporary +1 skill, starting to go through each article of clothing one by one. He mainly searched areas like the cors and cuffs, especially on woolen products, where it was very easy to find skin kes or hairs in the gaps between fibers. Searching for pollen was done in a simr way, although with a much lower probability. Forensic Material Evidence is also a technique frequently needed by lower-level county bureaus. Many things that cannot be done in ordinarybs, when handed over to a higher-levelb, often yield better results, and this requires a higher standard of technology and equipment. Jiang Yuan now had both, but whether he could obtain the samples was another matter altogether. Chapter 626 - 570 Bald Strike Team Strikes Out

Chapter 626: Chapter 570 Bald Strike Team Strikes Out

Changyang City Criminal Science Center. Jiang Yuan took the clothes he had retrieved and boarded the high-speed train to Changyang City. These garments had been washed and rifled through numerous times. To say that it was extremely difficult to find evidence like hair fibers in these clothes was an understatement. Even if any were found, most would likely be contaminated with hair from unrted individuals. Jiang Yuan¡¯s hopes were pinned on skin kes, especially on the several woolen overcoats, wool cashmere sweaters, knitted garments, wool hats, and scarves he had specifically brought back this time. Although these items of clothing had also been searched multiple times, they were not suitable for washing with water, nor did they require regr cleaning. The Liu family had not taken them for dry cleaning after Liu Limin¡¯s death, so they were the most likely to still contain ked skin. Secondly, the gaps in these woolen and knitted products had enough space to amodate skin kes, especially during close contact scenarios such as hugging, where the kes could embed deeply into the fibers. Only then would the recovered skin kes be most valuable. The difficulty of this task could be described as hellish. Thus, despite facing just a basket of clothes, half of the technicians at the Changyang City Criminal Science Center started shaking. The other half had no idea how to do it. Nevertheless, Wan Baoming was insistent on gathering the people together. Standing in the center of theboratory, Jiang Yuan said, "Thank you for your hard work. This task is quite challenging. We need to extract the skin kes from the clothes as much as possible. Better slow than missing any." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t nning to do it alone. Don¡¯t be fooled by the mere twenty-odd articles of clothing, hats, and scarves¡ªworking on them could exhaust three people to death. The workload for this task could be greater than that of dealing with pollen, almostparable to the concept of trace evidence. In current cases dealing with pollen, if one wishes for a bit of ease, a washing method is often adopted to rinse the pollen off the objects. Since pollen is resistant to acid and corrosion, even after torment in a washing machine, the pollen evidence would just be swirled in water, then extracted with a centrifuge. If skin kes were handled in this manner, it would work if there were many, but with few, the loss would be too great. Having discussed this in advance with Jiang Yuan and knowing that it was a needle-in-a-haystack situation, Wan Baoming emphasized, "The case is important, everyone be spirited. Let¡¯s divide into Group A and Group B, and cross-check the findings. The group with the most oversights will be punished with three drinks at dinner!" "I¡¯ll treat everybody to a roasted wholemb dinner and provide plenty of craft beer, along with Maotai," announced Jiang Yuan, invoking his financial prowess. The technicians immediately perked up. These days, nobodycked a bit of spare change, but the opportunity to gather together for a festive meal with roastedmb and drinks like Maotai and beer was something to be happy about. Besides, they were helping out Jiang Yuan from Ningtai, who had kindly offered to treat them, so naturally, everybody was willing to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Without mentioning anything else, leaving a good impression with Ningtai Jiang Yuan meant the potential for consultation or future technical coboration, and getting familiar was extremely beneficial. Technical giants might be a bit less influential than political giants, but as long as they don¡¯t die, they can continue to bring their expertise to bear, which is quite impressive. The Criminal Science Center in Changyang City was originally thergest criminal scientific and technical team in the province, evenrger than the Shannan Provincial Department. During this period, those who did not understand trace evidence worked on other projects and tasks, while those knowledgeable in the area were all hands on deck, making theboratory a bustling ce. Jiang Yuan also made a call to Huang Qiangmin, used the funds owed by Changyang City Bureau, and purchased a batch of head-mounted microscopes for everyone in the Changyang City Bureau. A group of people, equipped with the head-mounted microscopes, dived into the task of searching for skin kes hidden in the crevices. The harvested skin kes were sent directly to theboratory to undergo PCR analysis. Using skin kes, particrly from the scalp, for DNA identification, was a technique introduced by the ministries around 2008. It spread to Shannan Provincial Department by 2010, and to various city and county bureaus about 12 years ago. Before that, if criminal police weren¡¯t especially attentive to this area of knowledge, they wouldn¡¯t think of collecting scalp kes. Knowledge updating is a very lengthy process, and for criminal police, aside from their already heavy daily tasks, there is also a vast amount of knowledge requiring updates. Attending a briefing today on smart lock technology does not mean one will be caught up on the sixth briefing on DNA technologies; such is the norm. From this perspective, finding the boyfriend¡¯s scalp kes in the victim¡¯s clothing was still possible. It¡¯s particrly straining on the eyes. A group of technicians got to work, and very soon there was no sound. On the other side, Xu Taining was also exhausted. With three local departments and one city bureau involved, not to mention a provincial department and a ministry above, although thetter two appeared in a supportive role, they had their demands. They asionally required reports, and Xu Taining, a senior superintendent dispatched from the provincial department, faced even higher expectations from the department. Furthermore, reports couldn¡¯t consist of mere hollow descriptions; they had to be filled with substantial data. Even if the leaders only listened briefly, the data and information could not be omitted. When it came time to contribute funds and manpower, the three major contributing localities found it increasingly difficult to coordinate. The provincial department and the ministry only provided matching funds, giving a proportionate amount based on how much each locality contributed. Despite this, the voices from the provincial department and the ministry were starting to sound unpleasant. At such times, amon leader might seek support. Xu Taining did not do that; he used PUA tactics. "Huo City has already contributed 30%, just add a little more, and I¡¯ll wrap up the report." "Yes, if Huo City adds more, will you add too? Okay, then you still rank first. Rest assured, the report will stay as it is." "Yeah, your contribution will definitely be specially noted. Actually, I suggest using personnel to rece funding. It¡¯s more cost-effective to do it now than to exchange personnelter when the rtive value changes." "No problem includingb time. Youter issue a separate request for that, but for funding, you need to add a little more... Ah, you can count it towards theb¡¯s fundingter, but everyone else has paid, only you haven¡¯t..." "Hello hello, Changyang City Bureau¡¯sb funding is all in, how about your side... " Just in terms of task management, even though he had to manage several lines, Xu Taining did not find it too difficult, nor did he find it very hard to use PUA tactics on each unit. Standing in the conference room, Xu Taining was animated and in his element, his voice booming as he waved his arms and shouted, much like a ser coach, as though he was pushing everyone forward. But indeed, all the units were being pushed by him. The next evening, a lead that had been sifted through multiple times finally became the definitive one. Xu Taining checked repeatedly, then without even caring to inform the leaders at the provincial department, he couldn¡¯t wait to call Jiang Yuan. Xu Taining had been involved in Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases twice recently, setting up borate operations that ended with no result, with frustration too deep for words. Now, finally, he felt a sense of vindication. "Captain Jiang, we might have found our man," Xu Taining¡¯s voice loud enough to travel through the ss window and out of the conference room. "Found him? How did you manage that?" Jiang Yuan was also unexpectedly ted. Xu Taining, full of pride, said, "It¡¯s simple when you think about it. Wepiled a list of real estate transactions across the three localities and one bureau from the three years before the case. The list of cash purchases on the market only totaled four digits. Compare that with the transfer records from the victim Liu Limin¡¯s list, and we got our guy." He made it sound easy, but considering the effort it took to trace the clue all this way, a single county bureau might not have held out until this moment. Xu Taining boasted, "This man¡¯s name is Wang Shiji, and would you believe it, his family is actually a railway dynasty. A Changyang native with uncles, brothers, and grandfathers who all work for the railways..." "Have you arrested him?" Jiang Yuan asked eagerly. Just these details alone were enough to bring Wang Shiji in for interrogation. "We¡¯re setting out immediately," Xu Tainingughed heartily, masking his embarrassment. He had called Jiang Yuan first this time, leaving no time to order the arrest. After hanging up, Xu Taining immediately called Wu Junhao to have his Bald Strike Team assemble and head straight to Changyang City. Then, Xu Taining called the provincial department and the Changyang City Bureau. By the time Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team arrived and met with the local police of Changyang City, it would likely bete into the night, but no one raised any objections because of the hour. Chapter 627 - 571: A Turn of Events

Chapter 627: Chapter 571: A Turn of Events

"All present, check your equipment." In the underground parking garage, after the elevator was jammed, Wu Junhao started to organize the team. Changyang City had also dispatched four criminal police officers, a testament to the reputation of Ningtai Jiang Yuan; otherwise, in most cases, one or two young police officers would suffice to serve as liaisons. There¡¯s no need to trouble two masters for one task; Wu Junhao had brought so many people, and even though the arrestee was a suspect of a serial murder case, given the number of years that had passed and confronting the informed with the ignorant, there was no necessity to dispatch two separate teams that didn¡¯t sharemand for the arrest. "Stab-proof vests, shields, make sure you check everything. The instructor brought a gun, right?" Wu Junhao asked again. The instructor of the first squad nodded, pulled out his gun, and checked it again with a click-ck. "The gun is a precaution; you are not allowed to shoot unless absolutely necessary," Wu Junhao specifically reminded them. He was afraid that the suspect might end up dead. The case was too significant, and what¡¯s more, it had been piled up for too long; if there were no confession, the difficulty of concluding the case would be considerable. Wu Junhao was worried that his men were too nervous and might kill the person identally, which would be aplete loss. "I will now assign tasks. Let¡¯s synchronize our watches; it¡¯s currently 3:22 a.m., we willmence the arrest at 3:30 a.m. Old Wang, Xiao Liu, Sanxin... follow meter, Old Wang will be responsible for the battering ram..." Wu Junhao started to walk around the team members, giving orders as he went. The standard battering ram, often seen in American TV shows, is a ck cylinder as thick as a calf¡¯s leg. Ites with its own eleration, and except for specially reinforced doors, the lock mechanisms of all themercial security doors you usually see cannot withstand one hit from a battering ram. If the lock is smashed, the door will be broken open naturally. And for the specially reinforced security doors, there are also door-breaching tools like wrenches, pliers, power drills, saws, and even frame-expanders at their disposal. Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team had practiced with these pieces of equipment, and this time they also brought electric saws and breach pincers, focusing on an effective pushing result. However, based on Wu Junhao¡¯s earlier observations, the security door of Wang Shiji¡¯s home was quite ordinary and likely wouldn¡¯t require the moreplicated equipment. Thump. A crisp sound, and the security door on the 17th floor was breached in an instant, the noise not loud enough to even wake the sleeping suspect. Wu Junhao entered, taking three steps as if they were two, and stepped directly into Wang Shiji¡¯s bedroom where he grabbed Wang Shiji, who had just woken up. Wang Shiji¡¯s eyes widened, like a fish that had been scooped out of the water. He moved slightly, then began to struggle violently. "Police! Stay still." Two officers who entered after him came forward, joining forces to handcuff Wang Shiji. Only then did another person slowly sit up from the bed¡ªit was Wang Shiji¡¯s wife. She was dressed in pajamas and looked to be in herte forties or fifties. She still seemed dazed with a slightly frightened expression on her face. "Don¡¯t be afraid, we¡¯re the police." Wu Junhao patted his police badge, straightened Wang Shiji up, and then took him away. The officers who entered afterward did the necessary note-taking and gave necessary reminders, while also searching Wang Shiji¡¯s home and taking some items away. Wu Junhao, not minding the others, called a few people to first take Wang Shiji to the underground parking lot, shoved him into the car, and swiftly returned to the Changyang City Bureau with sirens wailing. Not until Wang Shiji was locked in the interrogation chair did Wu Junhao finally exhale a sigh of relief. With such a case, there was no possibility of giving Wang Shiji a chance to get his thoughts in order or regroup; the interrogation experts, already prepared, were eagerly anticipating securing this rare opportunity for amendable achievement. "Old Wu, impressive!" When Wu Junhao stepped outside, a criminal police officer working the night shift greeted him. The criminal police from the provincial capital¡¯s department weren¡¯t typically impressed with policeing from small county cities. But with Jiang Yuan from Ningtai, everyone¡¯s courtesy escted. Many criminal police officers from Ningtai County, including Wu Junhao, often followed Jiang Yuan to Changyang to work on cases; gradually, they became acquainted. Furthermore, many of the officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were originally from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, signifying a high degree of coboration. Wu Junhao smiled and nodded, took out a cigarette and passed it over, and with the snap of a lighter, five men gathered together. Dawn broke quickly. Xu Taining, Liu Jinghui, and others also rushed over from Qingbai City. Now that the criminal suspect was captured, the case was leaning towards rity. What was most important now, aside from securing evidence, was the interrogation. If they could get a confession and then have the suspect reenact the crime scene, exining the methods used, there would be almost no doubt left about the case. Even if someone really was willing to take the me, an outsider wouldn¡¯t be able to rify many specific details of the case. Xu Taining also had people buy youtiao, soy milk, and jianbing guozi to eat together. It was charged to the public ount. When a case reaches the concluding stage, there is no longer a need to mp down on the budget so tightly. As a group of rough men and women without makeup were eating happily, they saw a police officer involved in the interrogation walk out expressionlessly. "How did it go?" Wu Junhao asked directly. The officer shook his head and said, "The suspect has an alibi." "What the hell?" Xu Taining stood up abruptly, "Where did he find an alibi for something 20 years ago?" "On the day of the incident, the suspect was undergoing surgery at Changyang City¡¯s First People¡¯s Hospital," the officer sighed helplessly, "It was a general anesthesia surgery for gallstones." "Having surgery..." Xu Taining hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, "Can we check the surgical records?" "Just made a call, and had someone to check it," the officer spread his hands, "We also suspect that he deliberately created an alibi, but from the medical records, at least the gallstones part is genuine." The police officers present, upon hearing their conversation, lost their appetites one after another. Wu Junhao silently took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from Jiang Yuan, distributed them to everyone without a word, and then lit one up and puffed fiercely. This time, just when there was the most hope, with a snap, the clue was severed again. "So, there¡¯s a reason why this Wang Shiji didn¡¯te under the previous special task force¡¯s radar," Liu Jinghui also sounded a bit disappointed, sipping tea and slipping into quiet contemtion. In the end, it was Xu Taining, with the strongest heart, who finished his cigarette in silence, stood up, and said, "It¡¯s not over yet, even if we¡¯ve reached the end of the road for victim number two, there¡¯s still hope for numbers one and three..." "The previous task force, they hit dead ends with victims numbers one and three," Liu Jinghui said. Xu Tainingughed, "It¡¯s best if they didn¡¯t exhaust all options, otherwise, we are the ones who are running out of road." If Xu¡¯s extensive screening over such a long time yielded no results, several people at the city bureau would truly lose their minds. No one said a word, continuing on meant starting over, which wasn¡¯t to say they hadn¡¯t faced such things before, but it always brought frustration whenever encountered. Frustrated people only want to give up. "Let Jiang Yuan know," Xu Taining, as if back to his normal self, took out his mobile phone. "Jiang Yuan might already be sleeping," Liu Jinghui remembered just as Xu Taining¡¯s call connected. After a few seconds, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone was busy. Then, Wu Junhao¡¯s phone rang. Wuuu wuuu wuuu... Wu Junhao answered quickly, "Captain Jiang?" "Get your team ready to arrest someone," Jiang Yuan¡¯smand was simple and clear. "Yes," Wu Junhao replied, then added, "Captain Jiang, Director Xu and Director Liu are right here, Director Xu just tried to call you but couldn¡¯t get through." "Oh, then put it on speaker," Jiang Yuan said. Wu Junhao put the call on speaker. "Jiang Yuan?" Xu Taining asked. "Yes. Director Xu, from the partial DNA identification results, it seems that the Wang Shiji you¡¯ve caught might have a brother," Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone remained steady as he spoke, "His dandruff was found on the victim Liu Limin¡¯s clothing." Xu Taining felt like his head was about to explode, "Wang Shiji¡¯s brother? There¡¯s no need for the brother tomit murder, either." "We don¡¯t know the specifics yet, but the two of them must have been in contact. Bring him in first, to prevent him from running away," Jiang Yuan made the call to ensure they were promptly informed about this development. Chapter 628 - 572: Instructions

Chapter 628: Chapter 572: Instructions

Wang Shikai¡¯s elder brother, Wang Shiji, worked at the Changyang City railway bureau. When the police arrived, he had just received the news, but he didn¡¯t flee. Instead, he organized his identification documents and other belongings, and was in the midst of instructing his children. The police did not give him much warm space, and after a short wait, took him back to the police station. Wang Shiji was silent throughout the journey, and was detained in another interrogation room. This time, including Xu Taining, many people couldn¡¯t help but watch the surveince video. Yu Wenshu simply cleared out arge conference room and then connected it to the signal from the interrogation room. There wasn¡¯t much of an interrogation battle. Wang Shiji only asked, "What evidence do you have?" The Jingyang Line triple homicide was not only famous in police circles but also a frequent topic of conversation in the railway industry. The session of fruitless investigations had given Wang Shiji considerable confidence. The interrogation expert, Dai Siyan, who was invited by the ministry, was one of the leaders of the criminal science team in Lu Province. He sat with an imposing air, smiled, and asked, "What kind of evidence would you like to see?" Wang Shiji then fell silent. He had followed the case and, better than the average person, understood the style and methods of the domestic police. Without solid evidence, they would most likely not have brought him to the interrogation chair. In fact, following Wang Shiji¡¯s arrest, the Changyang City Bureau had dispatched tworge teams of detectives to continue the investigation along this lead. The triple homicide, the triple homicide, now one of the bodies was connected to Wang Shiji. How the other two were linked was also a problem that needed to be addressed. Moreover, Wang Shikai had an alibi for that day; he was at the hospital for a galldder surgery. As his elder brother, had Wang Shiji apanied him? Had he signed any hospital forms or withdrawn money from an ATM that day? If not, what was his exnation, and where had he been? The words "Jingyang Line" could not be ignored. It was indeed Wang Shiji who worked at the Changyang City railway bureau, so he was well-versed with the railway situation. But why had he chosen the Huo City, Qingbai City, and Changyang City railway sections for his crimes? Why at that time and ce, and what was the relevance to his daily work? To be more specific, the work roster for the railway was recorded. Was the work Wang Shiji was doing at the time rted to the deceased? Having the answers and searching for the process is much simpler, and as long as these processes are found, the evidence naturallyes to light. While the officers were busy outside, the atmosphere in the interrogation room gradually returned to the main topic. Wang Shiji spoke again, slowly, "This whole thing has nothing to do with my brother. You shouldn¡¯t have arrested him." This statement clearly showed where Wang Shiji¡¯s inclinationsy. The interrogating Dai Siyan no longer dangled the evidence and made a decisive statement, "Right now, we believe that your brother Wang Shikai did not directly partake in the murder of Ms. Liu Limin. As for whether he is an aplice or involved in incitement, we are still investigating. We also have to investigate whether he was involved in the other two murders." "It was all me. It has nothing to do with him," Wang Shiji had spoken only to clear his brother, Wang Shikai. It was like haggling before cing an order. The interrogator, Dai Siyan, epted his offer, and Wang Shiji began to talk. For Dai Siyan, interrogating Wang Shiji came with great pressure but was not particrly difficult, and was far less challenging than interrogating Wang Shikai. Thetter might genuinely know nothing, yet Dai Siyan had put a lot of effort to confirm this fact. "Let¡¯s hear it then. Why did you kill Liu Limin?" Dai Siyan asked casually, but the question was actually very crucial. For the police, many things are only separated by a thinyer of paper, like the murder method, the aftermath handling, and so forth. Most cases don¡¯t even have thatyer of paper, they are akin to brazen debauchery in broad daylight. But the motive for murder is different. It is extremely personalized. Many cases are solidly cracked without ever guessing the motive. This situation is mostmon in Europe and America, where many famous cases end with unclear motives. And for the Jingyang Line triple homicide, if there was a motive for the murder, the case would be much easier to straighten out. So, after Wang Shiji showed willingness to confess, the first question Dai Siyan asked was, actually, the most important one. With the atmosphere at this point, it was impossible for Wang Shiji to decline to answer even the first question. And even if he was a clever psychopath, he could never imagine that someone could immerse themselves in interrogation, spending many years studying which question to ask at precisely what time. "Killing Liu Limin was because she wouldn¡¯t listen," Wang Shiji leaned back in the chair, took a long sigh, smiled a little, and said, "Back then, I was the first one to date her." Even as Dai Siyan anticipated many things, this still took him aback; he almost eximed out loud. Fortunately, he had enough training and had seen a multitude of human affairs to keep a constant expression as though he heard something ordinary. Ultimately, human beings are social animals. Seeing Dai Siyan¡¯s unchanged expression, Wang Shiji felt more inclined to speak and added, "People might think it¡¯s normal now, but 20 years ago, such matters were hard to speak of. Whether it was our family or we ourselves, it was difficult to ept." Dai Siyan thought to himself that people nowadays still wouldn¡¯t necessarily consider it normal and that dating and being in a rtionship had two different moral standards. In the conference room, the detectives watching the monitor were also reacting with "good heavens," "damn," "a plotting frog always feels your belly," "no wonder," and other simr expressions. Liu Jinghui gave his own head a pat, "Who could have seen thating!" As he said this, he nced at Li Haochen. Li Haochen understood the look in Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes and responded silently, "I¡¯m a part-time undercover agent, not a professional pervert." Liu Jinghuiughed but did not express either approval or disapproval. Interrogation room. Wang Shikai continued, "After breaking up with Liu Limin, things were just like that. I never intended to kill her, but out of all the men in the world, she just had to choose my brother. Shiji is naive, the type who gives his all if you treat him well. This woman, she took advantage of my brother precisely because of that..." "Did she buy your brother a house?" Dai Siyan interjected at just the right moment to show hismand of the situation. Wang Shikai snorted, "She yed my brother like a fiddle. Buy a house? Our whole family works in the railway system, and back in the early 00s, the ie of the railway bureau was several times that of ordinary civil servants. Did we need her to buy a house? She just wanted to use such a tactic, to tie down my brother." "She¡¯s a small business owner from a small town. Even if she earns a bit more, my brother wouldn¡¯t spend her money. She has a brother too, a good-for-nothing. My brother had never been in a rtionship before, he¡¯s tall and handsome, and a university graduate!" "I warned her to stay away from my brother, but she refused to listen. There was no other way but to send her off." Wang Shikaipletely gave up resisting and began venting his emotions, cursing indistinctly. For twenty years, even when he was alone, he had never dared to speak these words; now was his first time really letting loose. Dai Siyan intentionally didn¡¯t let him curse to his heart¡¯s content and interrupted, "You had a past with Liu Limin. What about the other two victims? Why did you murder them?" As before, the motive for the murders was always difficult to investigate. Wang Shikai¡¯s expression changed slightly, and he was reluctant to respond for a long time. Dai Siyan patiently waited. After a while, Wang Shikai finally said, "I was afraid you would trace it back to me through Liu Limin, so, I killed a couple more people, to muddle the waters. After all, killing one or two, the punishment is death either way!" Dai Siyan frowned, "Then why were the other two left alive on the railway tracks, while Liu Limin was ced there after death?" "The first one... I didn¡¯t dare to kill," Wang Shikai said with a fair smile, then added, "By the time it was Liu Limin¡¯s turn, she recognized me too. I was afraid something might go wrong, so I killed her." "What about the third one?" "The third one, ah, I found that killing people was kind of filthy, so I flipped her with drugs." "What means of transportation did you use?" "A tricycle." "Where is the tricycle now?" "Sold it long ago." "The crime scene..." Dai Siyan asked one question after another, and Wang Shikai responded smoothly. The detectives in the conference room finally rxed, and then their thoughts began to drift. This was the Jingyang Line Triple Corpse Case, and they had actually cracked it! "I¡¯ll make a call," a representative from Huo City Bureau stood up. "I need to report to the leader too," a representative from Qingbai City got up as well. The representative from the provincial office lifted his cellphone and gave it a shake. Cui Xiaohu silently took out his cellphone and started tapping out texts right there and then. Chapter 629 - 573: Unforeseen Path Ahead Known to None

Chapter 629: Chapter 573: Unforeseen Path Ahead Known to None

All participating units in the Jingyang Line triple murder case were silently reviewing the case. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment was originally the unit most likely to solve the case, but they focused on the wrong points, primarily zeroing in on the first victim and trying to find the connection between the two victims. However, the choice of the first victim was entirely random, so the case became an extremely difficult random murder case. Moreover, it was a random murder case without any rape involved, which made it even more challenging to solve. Even when the special case team restarted the investigationter and considered the random murder scenario, they were faced with an even more challenging situation. The situation was simr for the police in Huo City and Qingbai City. Their manpower and resources were simply inadequate for such a long-drawn-out investigation. Even if Jiang Yuan gave them a well-developed n, it would be very difficult for the two to push the case forward even if theybined forces. Wang Shikai¡¯s "learning spirit"pletely misled the investigation¡¯s direction. There are a fewmon investigative approaches to homicide, such as those motivated by greed, lust, or perpetrated by pure psychopaths like random serial killers. Regardless of the type of case, the police usually break through by focusing on the modus operandi. For example, someone whomits robbery with a knife is likely to do it again; someone who robs by hitting the back of the head with a hatchet will use the same tool and target the same spot; a criminal who uses ether for assault will stick with it for their next crime... The "hand-chopping gang" will always chop hands, burrs known as "white-dashers" don¡¯t scale walls, and those who climb walls don¡¯t pick locks... After seeing the crime scene, some veteran detectives could immediately recite the identity card number of the perpetrator, and there¡¯s good reason for that. To describe it with a modern term, this is called path dependence. A robber with past sess will likely rob again using the same technique, maybe with slight improvements, but the overall way will not change much. When ites to crimes, most people still choose to y it safe. The risks of innovation are high, and most serial casese to light precisely because the criminal deviates from their established patterns, thus exposing themselves. However, in the Jingyang Line triple murder case, Wang Shikai¡¯s methods for each murder werepletely different, the transportation might have been simr, but because it spanned three cities, the scenarios varied and the means of transportation perforce changed. Secondly, Wang Shikai¡¯s motivations for each crime were also different. For the first case, his purpose was to learn; for the second, it was premeditated murder; in the third, he aimed to confuse the police and escape punishment. When choosing his targets, Wang Shikai¡¯s approach was different each time as well. In the first case, he targeted the easiest victim to kill, and since it was Wang Shikai¡¯s first murder, his hesitation meant he was waiting for the right moment, which effectively reduced his exposure. In the second case, Liu Limin, the victim, was someone Wang Shikai was determined to kill. Therefore, he had no selection process for his target but used his experience from the first murder to make the two cases simr yet distinct. In the third case, Wang Shikai only wanted to distract the police¡¯s attention. Thus, with the experience from the previous cases, he refined his criminal methods and optimized his selection of targets before changing locations again for the act... In the end, DNA seemed the most likely way to catch Wang Shikai. DNA testing only really began to be promoted in China from 2003, mainly within the purview of provincial authorities. Of course, the use of DNA in solving crimes goes back to 1987, but that was a time without testing kits, without standardized DNAbs; never mind the cost of thousands just talking about the time it took to process one DNA sample. Most importantly, it wasn¡¯t until around 2003 that a DNA database started to be established in China, and therge-scale use of DNA to solve cold cases began. It was from that time that the authorities dared to proim that all homicide cases must be solved. However, Wang Shikai incredibly exploited a bug known to very few people. That is, DNA contamination on the railway is actually very serious. During the era of green-skinned cars, trains would often be without ck water tanks, meaning that the continuous stream of passengers using the toilets essentially left their feces along the railway line. A lesser-known fact is that the feces dropped by high-speed trains would be in a wind-dried state, scattered on both sides of the tracks. When the train struck a human body at the high-speed location carefully chosen by Wang Shikai, the scattered human tissue was essentially contaminated the moment it hit the ground. On the other hand, back then, criminals hardly paid attention to DNA, nor did the investigating officers. So, when the police got railway staff to help collect the dismembered corpses, almost all incriminating DNA was lost. As for samples on the train, they would naturally get washed away at the next station. The railway bureau reported the incident after it happened, but the train wouldn¡¯t stay put. By the time detectives realized it was a series of cases, the same train could have hit another small animal. In the end, the case was gradually cracked open. The judgment of Liu Jinghui, the screening by Xu Taining, and the targeted demolition by Jiang Yuan all yed a significant role. It¡¯s not to say the case couldn¡¯t be resolved without any of them, but the time and effort required would unquestionably double, maybe even tenfold. When the investigation reached this stage, the city bureaus, provincial office, and ministryrades all gave up. There are many things in the world that cannot be replicated, and there¡¯s no need to insist on them. Besides, Jiang Yuan had initially cleared up the case with a clear price tag, which had now only be more expensive. Wrapping up the case took a few more days. On the morning Jiang Yuan was due to return, representatives from the Changyang City Bureau, Huo City Bureau, Qingbai City Bureau, provincial office, and the ministry appeared actively to bid him farewell. Everyone gathered at the high-speed train station, bound by a farewell thick as blood. "If you¡¯re not happy staying in Ningtai County, why note live in Changyang City for a while," Yu Wenshu said with a feigned seriousness, inviting Jiang Yuan as if he were rolling withughter inside. "You¡¯ve bought a house anyway, and if you feel like going home, it¡¯s just a step away." Jiang Yuan declined with thanks, saying, "I¡¯ve gotten used to living in the vige and don¡¯t quite fit in with the big city life. Once I¡¯ve sorted out the county¡¯s affairs, I¡¯lle to Changyang to continue working on cases." "Sure, that works," Yu Wenshu patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder and whispered close, "Just say the word if you need help." If Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make a request, Yu Wenshu obviously wouldn¡¯t intervene on his own ord. Jiang Yuan nodded his thanks, then was pulled into a hug by the leader of the Huo City Bureau¡¯s team, followed by a deputy bureau chief from Qingbai City Bureau. It took Huang Qiangmin a lot of effort to get Jiang Yuan back. Next, the team leader from the Huo City Bureau wrapped Huang Qiangmin in his arms and started chatting in detail. Huang Qiangmin first bared his teeth at a 44.4-degree angle, but as the Huo City Bureau¡¯s offer increased, his smile slowly transformed into a 66.6-degree beam. "I¡¯m booked up recently, we¡¯ll talk in detailter," Huang Qiangmin said, pushing the Huo City Bureau¡¯s team leader¡¯s chest, and left determinedly. The team leader from the Huo City Bureau responded with a smile. After a round ofworking, everyone¡¯s excitement gradually subsided. They then listened to the prosecutor who hade with them to transport the vehicle say, "Based on the current evidence, Wang Shikai¡¯s problem isn¡¯t significant. It¡¯s difficult to convict his brother, and ording to what we know so far, his brother most likely had no clue at the time of the incident. He might have guessed afterwards, but probably wasn¡¯t sure." "He took someone¡¯s house," remarked the team leader from the Huo City Bureau, who cared a lot about this matter. "The Wang family is willing to return the house, plus rent for the years passed," the prosecutor paused, then added, "Wang Shikai deliberately chose the time his brother was in surgery tomit murder. There was no element of instigation. When Wang Shiji came out of the hospital and learned of his girlfriend¡¯s death, it was Wang Shikai who advised him to stay calm to avoid bing a suspect..." "That¡¯s all ording to Wang Shikai," said the team leader from the Huo City Bureau. "It makes sense and fits withmon logic," the prosecutor replied. "Also, regarding the transportation of the bodies, Wang Shikai is 1.83 meters tall and well-built. He targeted three female victims, all under 100 kilograms, so he could have carried them on his own. During the crime scene reenactment, we had him demonstrate, and there were no issues. Most importantly, he used a tricycle as a means of transport, which would be disadvantageous to carry another tall person." This exnation was also for the police officers from other units, including Jiang Yuan. In a regr minor case, the prosecutor would decide everything about the prosecution, but with big significant cases like this,munication was necessary. Jiang Yuan and the others just listened, not speaking. In some way, Wang Shiji was also a victim. Although he epted the woman¡¯s house, both parties were aiming for marriage, and the purpose of buying the house was to persuade the man¡¯s parents to meet theirmon goal. Thus, at that time, he was truly grieving for his lost love. However, the real stain on his record was how Wang Shiji hesitantly kept the house. That was a major blemish. An even bigger blemish was the fact that the murderer was Wang Shikai. For Wang Shiji, Wang Shikai¡¯s brother, it was very difficult topletely disassociate himself from the crime. Yet thew doesn¡¯t punish moral issues, after all. Just like Bureau Chief Chai Tong, the means he used were not noble, but they were legal and legitimate. Amongst the farewells, Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Wu Junhao, and his Bald Strike Team boarded the high-speed train back to Ningtai County. Wan Baoming, who had been silent all along, was now desperately waving his phone, showing his WeChat to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan opened WeChat and saw Wan Baoming¡¯s new Moments post: Colleagues part with hard-to-forget memories, past events flood the heart like a tide. Shared hardships on the same boat linger, team spirit deeply preserved. Tightly bound by busy work, rare free moments for deep conversations andughter. Life is short, full of partings, may joy apany you after this farewell. May the bright moon always be with you, lighting up the distance where dreams are sought. The journey together isn¡¯t over, wishing smooth sailing ahead. Don¡¯t say the road ahead is without friends, for who in this world doesn¡¯t know you. ... Chapter 630 - 574: Ming Ascending

Chapter 630: Chapter 574: Ming Ascending

The breeze caressed the face, and the Ningtai waters rippled. Just a few days after Jiang Yuan and the others returned, Chai Tong convened a department-wide meeting, emphasizing themendation letters from several municipal bureaus, and did the same for Jiang Yuan, Wu Junhao, and others. "Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, collective third-ss merit." "The first squad of the detective brigade, collective third-ss merit." "Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan from the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron of the detective brigade, awarded a personalmendation." "Wu Junhao from the first squad of the detective brigade, awarded a personalmendation." Chai Tong read the documents with a cadence at the podium. For the county bureau, a collective third-ss merit was somewhat substantial, as those who received suchmendations were given priority consideration for excellence awards, promotions, and professional titles; depending on the financial situation, there was usually also a small bonus. The personalmendations were also good, but for Jiang Yuan and Wu Junhao, they were somewhat basic. For Jiang Yuan, he currently had one first-ss merit and onemendation, and hadn¡¯t chosen a skill for either, meaning he could gain an additional Level 6 and a Level 3 skill, which was quite nice. Of course, Chai Tong was unaware of this, and his purpose lied elsewhere. When the meeting ended, Chai Tong left the venue on his own without uttering an extra word. The nonpliance of Huang Qiangmin and others, especially Jiang Yuan¡¯s, had naturally umted quite a bit of pressure on him. The flood of praise and invitations that came with solving the triple homicide on the Jingyang Line further multiplied the pressure. "Director Chai is going to make a big move," ryed Huang Qiangmin to Jiang Yuan after the meeting. "What kind of move?" Jiang Yuan asked curiously. "Nothing but personnel and financial power. Financial power is a bit slow, and it¡¯s a matter of whether it¡¯s used or not. So, it¡¯s personnel adjustments," said Huang Qiangmin in a low voice. On their trip, they had incidentally resolved the ie issue for the Bald Strike Team. If Chai Tong held back performance bonuses and the like, it didn¡¯t matter if other counties provided some support. However, when it came to personnel matters, no one else could interfere. Director Chai¡¯s style was actually unremarkable; many leaders were like that, but not many subordinates were like Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan. So, for Huang Qiangmin, what Chai Tong was going to do, what he could do, and his possible reactions were not particrly surprising. However, guesswork aside, as a newly promoted deputy, there wasn¡¯t really a way for him to hold his own against someone with the top authority, like trying to arm-wrestle without a point of leverage; normally it meant more failures than sesses. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s familiar Guan Xi had gone to the municipal bureau. His only support was Jiang Yuan, and to a lesser extent, homegrown advantage. However, turning back to Jiang Yuan, staying in Ningtai with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s protection was the mostfortable option. Director Chai belonged to the type who wanted to sell the piglets as quickly as possible and get promoted. If they followed the regr political route, now would be the time to discuss promoting Director Chai, which would be most beneficial. However, neither Huang Qiangmin nor Jiang Yuan had the heart for that. The waters remained calm for a few days, and Huang Qiangmin even rxed for a couple of days, with time to burn ritual paper money with Wu Jun, purportedly to bring good fortune, prevent disasters, and secure promotions and pay raises. Then,e Monday, Huang Qiangmin returned with a face of iron. "Wu Junhao has been transferred," he dered. Huang Qiangmin strode into the forensic office, fuming, and chugged down a bottle of mineral water at once. "Transferred to where?" Jiang Yuan passed another bottle of water to Huang Qiangmin. "To the Litang Township Police Station, as the deputy chief," Huang Qiangmin said angrily. "Under the grand-sounding policy of job rotation, the detective brigade was to support the township police stations, with three personnel swapped between them, including Wu Junhao." The captain of the detective brigade had been reassigned as the deputy chief of a police station, which nominally seemed like a promotion and important assignment. Many people might have been happy with this, as a deputy chief of a police station held some power and the workload was rtively light. But what it actually felt like was something only the person concerned would know. "What did Captain Wu say?" Jiang Yuan was curious about Wu Junhao¡¯s thoughts. Given his age, bing a deputy chief should be a good thing, as it was a big step forward in his career and also beneficial to his health. However, this move would mean that the Bald Strike Team woulde under someone else¡¯s control. Moreover, Litang Township is a certain distance from the county seat of Ningtai County, and working conditions are not very good, which could potentially harm family harmony. Huang Qiangmin was also a bit uncertain for a moment and slowly said, "I haven¡¯t told him yet, but he should find out soon." As Huang Qiangmin spoke, he took a Zhonghua cigarette from Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk, lit one for himself, and then called Wu Junhao. After a while, Wu Junhao arrived, rubbing his shiny bald head. Huang Qiangmin roughly exined the situation of the meeting and then asked Wu Junhao, "What do you think?" "Whatever you say, I¡¯ll do, and that¡¯ll be the end of it." Wu Junhao expressed his desire not to use his brain. With an inquiring expression, Huang Qiangmin turned to Jiang Yuan and asked, "What do you think?" Jiang Yuan passed a cigarette to Wu Junhao and said, "If you¡¯re asking me, my opinion is to solve cases. I¡¯ll follow Brother Wu to Litang Township and crack a wave of cases before we talk." Upon hearing this, Wu Junhao felt great and immediately nodded, saying, "That¡¯s good! I agree. Let¡¯s just focus on solving cases. Who cares about the rest." Huang Qiangminughed in exasperation, "Your first squadron is gone. What are you going to do?" "I never liked managing people anyway. If it¡¯s okay, then okay; if not, forget it. I can resign and go home to be a security guard. Isn¡¯t the soil everywhere good enough to bury a person?" Wu Junhao said this out loud, but deep down, he was actually fed up. If not for Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s utmost help, Wu Junhao might have already let everything go. What he couldn¡¯t let go of and couldn¡¯t tolerate the most was his first squadron being treated with disdain. Now that he had resigned from his position, he actually felt more rxed. Huang Qiangmin, angry with himself, still had tofort Wu Junhao. Before Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, the system interface popped up: Task: The Final Straw, A Group¡¯s Lightness Breaks the Axle Task content: Wu Junhao has an outspoken and brave personality and does not like topromise. Now, the pressure he¡¯s under has reached 30% of what normal people can bear. He can¡¯t take any more. Help him with his work in Litang Township. Task progress: 0/X Task reward: +1 Crime Scene Investigation ... Jiang Yuan had acquired the skill of Crime Scene Investigation Level 4 a long time ago. Nowadays, even withplex scenes, the skill is still very handy. But, to speak frankly, adding +1 to the skill to reach Level 5 would definitely make it more handy, especially handy! This type of skill is used so frequently that the cost-benefit of upgrading it appears particrly high. Not to mention that Jiang Yuan already supported Wu Junhao, now with the system providingpensation, it just had to be done swiftly and decisively. Seeing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s helpless and pained expression, Jiang Yuan said, "Regardless, Captain Wu is getting a promotion. Let¡¯s all go together and send Captain Wu off to his new post... and while we¡¯re at it, help Captain Wu solve a bunch of cases." "Solving a bunch of cases sounds more like it." Wu Junhao¡¯s pressure slightly eased, and he smiled briefly before saying, "Actually, Jiang Yuan, if you¡¯re too busy, you don¡¯t need toe over. I can look for cases myself, and when I need technical support, I¡¯lle to you. I¡¯m only going to be a deputy, so I might not even be able tomand the people there..." "Captain Wu, even if you¡¯re getting transferred, you shouldn¡¯t talk about Director Huang like that," Jiang Yuan said seriously. Wu Junhao was taken aback, thenughed, clearly relieved. Seeing this, Huang Qiangmin just gave Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulder a firm pat. To tell the truth, his own pressure was immense, but as someone who had served as the chief of the criminal police for a long time, his tolerance for stress was very high. Wu Junhao left quietly, without notifying anyone else. The three men, with three cars, escorted Wu Junhao to his new position as the deputy head of the station. Chapter 631 - 575: Fish in the Pond

Chapter 631: Chapter 575: Fish in the Pond

Litang Township. The police station was built next to the provincial road, inside arge courtyard on the roadside. The gray concrete walls and the big iron gate exuded a slightly imposing aura, not quite fitting with the modern trend. The shops in the alleys on both sides were all adorned with blue and red signs, joyously incongruent with the mood of the public when entering and leaving the police station. The head of Litang Township Police Station, Tang Xiaobo, had received a phone call and came down with his staff to wee the visitors. The weing ceremony was pretty high-end at the township level. After all, Huang Qiangmin was a deputy director, and although he wasn¡¯t a standingmittee member and was new, his presence carried weight in the township. Jiang Yuan fell to the back, looking around. Entering through the main gate, directly ahead was the service hall: two stories high, facing south from the north, with a row of transparent ss, much like the service halls of telpanies, nked by waiting rooms, household registration offices, and other workspaces. Behind the service hall, there were two other buildings: one was a three-storyprehensive logistics building with a row of six or seven offices, while the other was a slightly smaller dormitory building with a total of four floors that looked simr in size to the three-story logistics building. "Captain Jiang, over here, over here... Let¡¯s have a quick meal in the cafeteria first," the instructor warmly invited. "Where is the interrogation center set up?" Jiang Yuan asked directly. "Ah..." The instructor hesitated for a moment before responding with a smile, "In our township, we only have one interrogation room, on the first floor of theprehensive building." "Are the interrogation room and the interview room integrated?" Jiang Yuan had seen simr setups before. The instructor affirmed with a sound. "So, how many people can be detained? Both separately and together?" The instructor had not expected to be asked such a question today; he coughed twice before smiling and saying, "We have tworge cells, and one can hold five or six people. It¡¯s rare for our township to detain criminals, and if any need to be held separately, they¡¯re sent directly to the detention center in the county after interrogation." "What the instructor means is that they mainly catch those involved in gambling, and if they catch someone more serious, they just send them to the county and that¡¯s the end of it,"mented Wei Zhenguo, the deputy leader of the sixth unit who hade along on the trip, who was also Mu Zhiyang¡¯s master. Since training Mu Zhiyang, he seldom apanied Jiang Yuan anymore, but this time he hade specifically to escort Wu Junhao. With his seniority and years spent catching thieves, Wei Zhenguo was very familiar with all the neighboring township police stations. The instructor smiled upon seeing him and shook his head, saying, "There¡¯s no need to tear down the stage, especially not in front of Captain Jiang." "Captain Jiang won¡¯t give you trouble. Our Captain Jiang is mainly concerned about the matters of cases," Wei Zhenguo reassured the officers and assistants of Litang Township Police Station, putting them much at ease. Everyone present was well aware of the maniptive tactics employed by Director Chai. In terms of institutional paranoia, apart from secret agencies, the police department could rank first. Especially criminal detectives, who had dealt extensively with the darker aspects of society, seemed to observe you from a four-dimensional space when speaking... However, from another perspective, the career advancement opportunities for police were limited, and they possessed a collective simplicity. It was like each could shepherd alone, but together, they were more suited for pulling carts. The officers and auxiliary police of Litang Township Police Station weed Wu Junhao as warmly as they could and arranged a separate office for him, then dined together in the cafeteria. Afterwards, Tang Xiaobo and the others were eagerly looking at Jiang Yuan and his team, ready to see them off. With a cheerful smile, Huang Qiangmin left with Wei Zhenguo and others in one vehicle. Left behind were Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and Wu Junhao. Tang Xiaobo looked towards his new subordinate, Wu Junhao, and suggested with a smile, "Old Wu, see how you¡¯d like to arrange things for Captain Jiang..." "Let¡¯s use the conference room next to my office," Wu Junhao suggested straightforwardly. Tang Xiaobo was stunned for a moment before saying, "For sleeping, we have dormitories..." "Let¡¯s arrange for three dorm rooms," Jiang Yuan took the initiative to say, "I¡¯ll be staying for about a week." The original team at the police station exchanged nces. Even if our township is a bit remote, you could drive back to the county town in just over an hour. To stay in the dormitory, could it be that... "Since I¡¯m here, I¡¯d like to work on a few cases with Bureau Wu. Is that alright?" Jiang Yuan asked politely. The mystery was solved; there was no need for Tang Xiaobo and the others to specte any further. But after much thought, Tang Xiaobo said with difficulty, "Captain Jiang, Director Chai might have some thoughts about this." "Director Chai doesn¡¯t get to say where the detectives from the criminal investigation squad go to solve cases," Wu Junhao was not one to tolerate nonsense, and he was even less interested in makingpromises now. Tang Xiaobo could only sigh and say, "Actually, there are not many unfinished cases left in our station, and your Cold Case Squad has cleared almost all of them recently." Since the establishment of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, dozens of people have been stationed in Ningtai County, and while they solve cases across the entire province, they would still sweep through Ningtai County¡¯s cases when they had spare time. Moreover, Jiang Yuan had specifically cleared several rounds of Ningtai County¡¯s old cases, so over the course of more than a year, even for a small ce like Litang Township, there were hardly any significant cases left. Jiang Yuan, undeterred and straightforward, said, "This time I¡¯m here to work on cases with Bureau Wu. No matter the size of the case, I am ready to handle it. Let¡¯s start tonight, and we¡¯ll begin by sorting out a batch of cases." When it came to criminal cases, Tang Xiaobo had nothing much to say. The criminal investigation squad was responsible for solving all the criminal cases in the county, and even if Jiang Yuan didn¡¯te, if a document was sent demanding cases, they would have to cooperate and organize the files for submission. With this in mind, Tang Xiaobo decided to call over a police officer to apany Jiang Yuan and the others, then silently stepped back. Tang Xiaobo felt he needed to seriously reflect on his life. The next morning, Tang Xiaobo got up early and drove to Chen¡¯s Fried Dough Twist Shop to buy fried dough sticks, soy milk, and tofu pudding. He then went to the station, ready to entertain Jiang Yuan. As the saying goes, the key to giving gifts lies not just in the price, but also in the frequency. Tang Xiaobo believed that by being diligent, he could at least warm the heart of a young person like Jiang Yuan, so that in the end, he wouldn¡¯t end up being an innocent victim. Thinking this, Tang Xiaobo couldn¡¯t help but sigh. In fact, it was already a case of ¡¯the city gate catches fire, and the disaster falls on the fish in the moat.¡¯ As a station chief in a remote rural outpost, he should have been leading an idyllic life until retirement. Yet, after one weekend, he found himself unexpectedly in the presence of a ¡¯celestial being.¡¯ Not to mention the past, just considering the Jingyang Line triple murder case that Jiang Yuan had just solved, that was a case of a significant level. If it had fallen into the hands of any officer at Litang Township Police Station, without even solving the case, just having any key part in achieving a breakthrough would start at a third-ss merit, and with a bit of luck, it would be a second-ss merit. As for why Jiang Yuan and Wu Junhao only receivedmendations, that was another matter. Leaving politics aside, speaking strictly in terms of criminal investigation and problem-solving, Tang Xiaobo knew he was eight lifetimes inferior to Jiang Yuan; but real life isn¡¯t only about solving crimes. "Has Captain Jiang arrived yet? Has he had breakfast?" Tang Xiaobo asked as he entered the station, and saw a clerk wandering in the yard. "He¡¯s up and has gone out," the clerk said. "Where did he go? Which case did he look at?" "He said he won¡¯t look at any specific case for now but wants to check out the local nt distribution first, saying to be more precise about it," the clerk responded, confused. Tang Xiaobo was even more puzzled. Being older, even if he paid attention to the cases Jiang Yuan worked on, he mainly focused on the famous major cases. Considering the sheer number of cases Jiang Yuan handled, he wasn¡¯t very clear on the specific technical details. In the end, Tang Xiaobo just nodded and said, "Anyway, take good care of him. The Ningtai Jiang Yuan has a daunting reputation. Just make sure it doesn¡¯t burn us." "Got it. He¡¯s probably just apanying Bureau Wu to get a sense of the situation," the clerk spected wishfully. Chapter 632 - 576: Red, Yellow, Blue

Chapter 632: Chapter 576: Red, Yellow, Blue

Tang Xiaobo had been waiting until noon and hadn¡¯t seen Jiang Yuan. He continued to wait patiently until the evening, and then until eight o¡¯clock at night, at which point the canteendy had had enough. The canteendy, who was about the same age as Tang Xiaobo, tugged at her apron and said, "My husband is waiting for me to watch the TV drama at home. If you guys want to cook, do it yourself tonight. Leave the dishes, and I¡¯ll wash them tomorrow morning." Helpless, Tang Xiaobo stood up and apologized, "I¡¯m sorry; it¡¯s a special situation that has dyed your closing time today." "It¡¯s no big deal. You officials also have it tough. But I can¡¯t wait any longer." Thedy waved her hand and rode off on her electric bike without a hint of politeness. Tang Xiaobo had no choice but to call his wife, Wang Xiuyun, toe to the rescue. In a short while, Wang Xiuyun arrived, scolded Tang Xiaobo as usual, and then said, "You call me over to cook, but it¡¯d be better to invite people over to our house for dinner. Didn¡¯t you often invite colleagues over in the past? It¡¯s even more intimate that way." Surrounded by trusted colleagues, Tang Xiaobo just sighed and said, "It wouldn¡¯t be good to appear too close." "Then why did you call me here to cook?" "And it wouldn¡¯t be good to seem too cold either," Tang Xiaobo sighed again. Wang Xiuyun looked at her husband and shook her head, "Being a station chief is even more difficult than raising pigs. You¡¯re worried if the pigs eat too much they¡¯ll get diarrhea, and if they eat too little they¡¯ll lose weight..." Thinking of Chai Tong and Huang Qiangmin, Tang Xiaobo felt like crying at his wife¡¯s words. Wang Xiuyun went into the kitchen and familiarized herself with the pots and pans. The office worker, a man in his thirties, half-heartedly entered the kitchen to help in some not so useful ways. A few people eagerly waited until 10 p.m., when they finally saw car lights shining into the courtyard. The office worker hurried along with Tang Xiaobo to greet Jiang Yuan, coaxing him inside with sweet talk. "You must be tired from the trip. We were saying we¡¯d wait for you to have dinner together..." As Tang Xiaobo re-entered the dining hall, he loudly called everyone over. "Ah... it¡¯s good to eat together. I¡¯ve prepared hot pot," Mu Zhiyang said as he approached with tworge bags, their red exteriors signaling they were from Haido. Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang brought out the pots, bowls, chopsticks, the packaged hot pot base, and the vegetables, spreading them out across the table, then went back to the car to bring more. Tang Xiaobo was startled and hurried forward to help, asking, "Why did you buy Haido? Where did you get it from?" "It was sent from the city," Jiang Yuan exined, referring to Qinghe City. "Since we spent a lot of time looking at nts, I thought of doing something I could prepare myself in the evening." The takeout hot pot stoves came prepared, and they just needed to be plugged in to start cooking. Compared with the far-traveled stir-fried dishes, hot pot was naturally fresher and more appetizing. Seeing this, Tang Xiaobo decided to call over his wife to set up the hot pot together. They poured the two-colored hot pot broth into the takeout yin-yang pot, one side red and the other white, reflecting on Tang Xiaobo¡¯s face, which looked uncertain. "Captain Jiang, how did the investigation go today?" Tang Xiaobo asked. "We just checked the mountainous areas near the roads in the township. The more distant mountains were inessible." Jiang Yuan paused before adding, "Compared to satellite images, there are some differences, especially with many vine nts and herbaceous nts thriving under tall trees. From above, it¡¯s not very clear what you¡¯re looking at." "What¡¯s the purpose of doing this?" Tang Xiaobo was puzzled. "Toy a foundation for legal botany," Jiang Yuan replied, both clearly and ambiguously. Tang Xiaobo waspletely at a loss. When he had joined the police force, there wasn¡¯t even a shadow of DNA evidence. After working in the police station, he was practically disconnected from cutting-edge technology. And it wasn¡¯t just him; even the detectives from the provincial criminal police squad didn¡¯t usuallye into contact with much of legal botany. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate and simply said, "It¡¯s just a safety. If we can solve the case with other techniques, I¡¯ll use those first. If we really need to use legal botany, having taken a look in advance gives us a sense of expectation and a budget. " Legal botany is not widely used, partly because it¡¯s expensive. Especially since it demands a high cost of humanbor. Hence, even in Europe and America, legal botany isn¡¯tmonly used. A person who works 40 hours a week has limited capacity to contribute to legal botany. Located in Ningtai County, the Litang Township Police Station operates on Ningtai County¡¯s budget, which naturally mustn¡¯t be squandered. Relying solely on legal botany would mean operating in a microtrace evidence+ mode for the entire case. Even if all the cases in Litang Township were solved, it would just cause pains for those in the station. However, establishing a foundation in legal botany is essential. The exceptional aspect of this skill is that it can reveal the rtionship between people or things and ces, which is difficult for other forensic skills to achieve. Tang Xiaobo might not fully understand, but he knew that Jiang Yuan was gearing up for a big job. "Ah, fine then," Tang Xiaobo sighed, not wishing to be the Iwo Jima of Sulfur Ind, but since he hade this far, he could only slice off a piece of pork belly and roll it vigorously through the sesame sauce. The night passed without incident. On the third day in Litang Township, Jiang Yuan finally took his ce in the meeting room, ready to properly start the day¡¯s case work. Like in other cities and counties, Jiang Yuan sat in the middle of the long conference table, assisted by Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang helping out. Wu Junhao, responsible for operations, sat and watched from the side, with Xiao Wang from the station who hade to assist. "The first current case." Mu Zhiyang handed over a case file that had been organized the day before yesterday to Jiang Yuan. The cases that were still at the police station were minor ones, but minor cases were still cases and required various evidence, photos, interrogation records, and so on for cooperation. In the past two days, Jiang Yuan had been leading his team to sort out mainly thepleteness of the evidence, the quality of the photos taken, and whether the interrogation records were proper. If these were not well done, it would take time to redo them, and it might be impossible toplete a single case in one day. On the contrary, if the police at the station had already spent the day doing the preparatory work, Jiang Yuan actually didn¡¯t care what kind of case it was. Most cases, in fact, were cracked by ordinary police officers after some investigation. The ones that were not solved were mainly theft cases¡ªdo not underestimate theft as a minor property offense; most of them involve quite sophisticated opportunistic crime. The rural areas had little surveince infrastructure and few checkpoints, so to this day, theft cases remained frequent. The total amount involved was often notrge, with many people not even reporting a stolen phone or being unable to file a report, which is why the total number of cases was not that big. The first case Jiang Yuan took on had its own unique characteristics: a farmer¡¯s vegetable garden had over a dozen steel pipes used for repairing greenhouses stolen, so they called the police. Naturally, there was no surveince in the vegetable garden, but footprints and tire tracks were left at the scene. Jiang Yuan looked at the footprints and then at the tire tracks, feeling that starting from the footprints, it was going to be a bit troublesome. The tire tracks varied in depth, indicating that the steel pipes were stolen by loading them onto a vehicle. The thief was very likely not a local, making it somewhat difficult to search for a person based on the footprints. It was impossible to conduct a search for such a minor case. Even if it were possible to draw up a rough list of names through eyewitnesses or by canvassing, it would probably take an estimated thirty to fiftybor days. Therefore, Jiang Yuan turned his attention to the tire tracks. The tire tracks on the dirt road next to the farnd were very clear. Jiang Yuan had a Level 3 Vehicle Trace Identification skill, but since he had mostly been dealing with major and cold cases, this skill had not been particrly useful. This time, looking at the tire tracks from the current case, he could gather much more information. The police officers at the scene had also measured the length and width of the tire tracks, butcking experience in trace identification themselves, they were somewhat uncertain about some details. As for sending it for trace identification... it was probably submitted, but the only trace identification experts in Ningtai County were Yan and Wang Zhong. If feedback was to be expected, it would take several days anyway. Using a bit of knowledge of vehicle traces, Jiang Yuan quickly wrote down the notation 175/70R14 and handed it to Wang Chuanxing, saying, "Check to see what kind of vehicles use this tire model." "All right." Wang Chuanxing immediately began searching on the internalwork. Jiang Yuan, meanwhile, opened a map and began studying the route of the highway. Soon, Wang Chuanxing reported, "For original models, there¡¯s Nissan Livina, Kia K2 produced by Dongfeng Yueda Kia... Palio, Wuling Rongguang, Wuling Hongguang... Honda Fit..." "Most likely it¡¯s Wuling. Other cars wouldn¡¯t be able to fit such long steel pipes," Jiang Yuan wrote down the names of two county roads on paper and handed it to Wang Chuanxing. "Pass this to the guys in the video office and tell them to track the time and look for the vehicle. See if a Wuling Hongguang or Rongguang passed through these checkpoints that night." The surveince system in Ningtai County was something Jiang Yuan had participated in setting up, with funding from Changyang City, matched contributions from the provincial department, and secured by Huang Qiangmin. Not only did Ningtai County haveprehensive surveince, but important nodes on each of the national, provincial, and county roads were also installed with vehicle checkpoints. Driving on highways, national and provincial roads, the elongated cameras that sh as you pass are the vehicle checkpoints. Their mode of operation isn¡¯t to capture images of traffic vitions, but to photograph the front of each passing vehicle. When the police need to trace a particr vehicle at a particr time, they can do so using the photographs from the vehicle checkpoints. To get out of Litang Township, there were just a few intersecting roads, and very few cars passed through at night. If looking for a specified vehicle model, it should be rtively easy to find. Jiang Yuan, having proceeded to this point, ced the case file in a bamboo basket hanging with a yellow ribbon to the side. The yellow basket meant the case had moved into the investigation phase. Next to it, the blue was prepared forpleted cases, and the red for difficult cases. Jiang Yuan had nned well, and execution had not encountered any bottlenecks. In the following hit-and-run case, a match was made with fingerprints, and in the blue basket, there was now one more file. Then another one. And then another... By lunchtime, there were three file folders in the yellow basket and four in the blue basket. So much so that when Jiang Yuan came to get his meal, the chatter inside the canteen abruptly stopped. In Tang Xiaobo¡¯s mind, for some reason, a phrase emerged: able to hush a child¡¯s cry... Chapter 633 - 577: Finding Someone by Footprints

Chapter 633: Chapter 577: Finding Someone by Footprints

After lunch. Jiang Yuan rested a bit more in the dormitory, and when it was almost time to go back to work, he heard amotion in the courtyard. "What¡¯s going on?" Jiang Yuan asked Wang Chuanxing, who had alreadye over to watch the excitement. Wang Chuanxing, looking enthusiastic about themotion, said, "The first case we worked on this morning, the theft of agricultural supplies, the video office found a Wuling Hongguang. They tracked down the car¡¯s owner using the license te and now the car owner¡¯s family and rtives have alle over, except for the car owner himself." "The steel pipes in the vegetable patch, right? Were the pipes found?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Not found." "There are pictures of the driver at the checkpoint, right? Is the driver the car owner? Didn¡¯t hee?" "The driver is the car owner, who didn¡¯t show up." "Some smarts there," Jiang Yuanmented. If the involved party isn¡¯t present, you can¡¯t arrest anyone, much less have an absent trial, which creates room for troublemaking. Wang Chuanxing said, "Isn¡¯t that why they¡¯re so arrogant, because we¡¯re a bit short of evidence? The family includes five cousins alone, and the father¡¯s generation consists of three brothers, plus two uncles, just in terms of men, that¡¯s 10 people. I heard even an uncle or someone is rushing over." While they were talking, the instructor also spotted Jiang Yuan and came over, helplessly saying, "It looks like we¡¯ll be fussing over this for the entire afternoon. This family is just obstinate, and the uneducated kind at that; they¡¯re just here to cause trouble." As the instructor spoke, he looked at Jiang Yuan, somewhat hoping he would spit out some guidance. The case value of a dozen steel pipes wasn¡¯t high, nowhere near the solid threshold of 3000 yuan. Theoretically, cases with a value of 5000 yuan must be filed, but that¡¯s not to say there¡¯s no room for discussion. Like now, if themotion is too fierce, it might be better to pacify their mood first to avoid greater losses. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "This family doesn¡¯t seem like the type who doesn¡¯t understand thew. Moreover, not stealing should be amon social consensus, shouldn¡¯t it? Even those who don¡¯t understand thew should know that." "You¡¯re right," the instructor said, and, noticing that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very pleased, exined, "From the look of the victim, they probably don¡¯t want to make it a big deal either. They live in the vige and don¡¯t want to offend the Jin family..." "Criminal cases have nothing to do with whether the victim wants to pursue the matter or not." Jiang Yuan, who came from the rural area himself, understood what the instructor was worried about. A family with several brothers and numerous rtives, even if not vige tyrants, could be quite a dominant force in the countryside. Sending one of their family members to jail would surely result in displeased rtives making trouble for the victim¡¯s family afterward. If it were a major case, it might be different, but for this kind of case where the culprit would only be jailed for a few months, the convicts would seek retribution from the victim upon release. Then, the police station would be continuously called out to mediate, exhausting its resources. If the Jin family acted recklessly, it would be easier to deal with; one could just imprison someone again for provocations or disturbances, which could quiet things down for a while. However, if they started by throwing manure when passing by one day, or tossing a couple of rabbits into the victim¡¯s vegetable patch the next, life would only get harder for the victim. However, Jiang Yuan, observing the aggressive demeanor of the family, wasn¡¯t keen on letting them off easily. The family was a bit too audacious, daring to cause trouble at the police station even though they clearly knew they were in the wrong... Jiang Yuan then said, "Most people in Ningtai Rural Area go out to work if they don¡¯t have demolitionpensation, right? Howe all the young people in this family have stayed in the vige? What do they live off of?" "They run a shop," the instructor said, bumping into a soft spot. Deciding to stop bothering, he cleared himself of responsibility and said, "I asked the resident police officer in that area; the Jin family runs shops in the township. Some rtives have opened shops in Qinghe and Ningtai County or in the next township. They do all sorts of things. This time they just gathered together." "Dressed quite well, and they can even afford a car," Jiang Yuan remarked. "Is their business doing well?" "Possibly," Jiang Yuan replied, unconvinced. Residents in townships generally don¡¯t have much cash on hand; even if they run a shop, the profits are quite limited. Judging by the situation of this family, they were noticeably better off than average. And from thenguage and manner they demonstrated, it was clear they were not simply relying on intellectual or physical effort for their ie. "Go call Mu Zhiyang over," Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing. Wang Chuanxing nodded and left without a word, bringing Mu Zhiyang back with him. "You two do something for me. First, go find some loose soil to spread in the courtyard, then call the Jin family members over one by one and have them walk through the loose soil. Take photos of their footprints," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "It might be tricky to take the photos, so I¡¯ll stand by to keep an eye." Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang nodded and immediately went to do it. The instructor watched on, not understanding the purpose. "Instructor, if it¡¯s convenient for you, find a couple of people to offer some water to the Jin family members. Later, collect the cups and other things, and take some fingerprints?" Jiang Yuan made another request. Only then did the instructor begin to understand what was going on and couldn¡¯t help saying, "Do you suspect there are other cases involved?" "People love a big spectacle," Jiang Yuan said with a smile that needed no exnation, "Beating a child on a rainy day, idle hands are the devil¡¯s workshop. I¡¯ll go first." After saying hello, he stood beside the courtyard, looking on like a bystander. Soon, Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing brought over two boxes of soil and carefully sprinkled it over the center of the courtyard. Then, Mu Zhiyang positioned himself in a shady corner and took out a notebook to start recording, waiting for Wang Chuanxing to call people over. The first time Wang Chuanxing called someone, four people came together. As they passed through the courtyard, their footprints were clearly visible, and their gait distinct. Wang Chuanxing looked toward Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded almost imperceptibly. Once the four people reached the corner, they were spread a few meters apart. They were not disciplined and pricked up their ears, intent on hearing the questions Mu Zhiyang asked. Mu Zhiyang simply asked each of them a few basic questions like their names, ages, and phone numbers. Confused, the four people were then led back by Wang Chuanxing, while Mu Zhiyang took the opportunity to take photos, matching the footprints with the names. After a while, Wang Chuanxing brought out two more people. The procedure was exactly the same. As a result, the Jin Family started to feel smug, and those who cameter would walk with a swagger. After seeing more than a dozen people from the Jin Family, Jiang Yuan watched until the end and then headed back to the office. Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing gathered their notebooks and took several more photos in the courtyard before cleaning up and returning to the office themselves. As for taking fingerprints, which the instructor had arranged, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t pay much attention to it. Taking fingerprints was simple, but obtaining aplete set from all ten fingers was slightly more challenging. However, if necessary, there would be ways to do itter. "What now?" Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang came back to the office, still slightly excited, guessing what Jiang Yuan was thinking. "Pull up the cases from the nearby vige where the Jin Family lives, focusing on the recent years, especially those with footprints. Let¡¯s start with those," Jiang Yuan instructed. Jiang Yuan was focused on footprints. Modern people are generally aware that fingerprints can reveal their identity, so even a foolish criminal would know how to cover up their fingerprints. Moreover, in rural areaspared to cities, it¡¯s even harder to preserve fingerprints and use them to solve crimes. Footprints are different. It¡¯s nearly impossible for most people to conceal their own footprints¡ªsweeping them away while walking is easier said than done. Criminal activity is arduous, such as stealing in the dead of night, usually during the still of darkness, groping around, easily walking thousands of steps in one night. Walking around aimlessly in the pitch dark is tiring enough, let alone stopping to sweep up. And what if you¡¯re carrying somethingrge? Like the recent case of the missing steel pipes: you can¡¯t sweep while transporting steel pipes, can you? After all that effort, would you really go back and sweep? How can you tell where you¡¯ve walked inplete darkness? Should you use a shlight to check? If it was a murder, it might be worth meticulously cleaning the scene, but for stealing a dozen steel pipes¡ªworth maybe a couple of thousand yuan, if that much? It would be less hassle to work at a factory. Or set up a night market stall. Besides, such efforts might not even be effective and could instead reveal more information. Compared to that, the chances of encountering high-end trace identification that can use footprints are slim; a bit of luck, and you¡¯ll likely avoid it. But for those who encounter Jiang Yuan, it¡¯s just in bad luck. Jiang Yuan quickly pulled up cases from Litang Township with footprint photos through the software¡¯s backend. Searching for a person through footprints is troublesome, but if you start with someone¡¯s footprints and thenpare them to photos, isn¡¯t the database problem practically solved? If the Jin Family members werew-abiding, not engaging in petty theft or violent crimes, then Jiang Yuan would just be wasting his time. Or if it weren¡¯t for someone like Jiang Yuan, say Qinghe City¡¯s top trace analyst and footprint expert Chen Wenming, who might have to repeatedlypare photos to identify a print, it would be time-consuming to follow this procedure. But for Jiang Yuan, flipping through a footprint photo took mere seconds¡ªit was that simple. "Hey, got one," Jiang Yuan grinned after just half an hour. The instructor who came in with the collected fingerprints saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s smile and felt his heart skip a beat for no apparent reason. Chapter 634 - 578: Opening Mystery Boxes

Chapter 634: Chapter 578: Opening Mystery Boxes

"Let¡¯s open a mystery box." Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone was as casual as ever. Compared to the triple murder case on the Jingyang Line or the recent series of strong-arm rape cases, the cases left at the police station were not as severe or urgent. If they were that serious, they would have been sent to the criminal police team. Especially here in Ningtai County, the criminal police team had ample time to handle medium and small cases, so the local police station was happy to take it easy. Of course, not all cases sent there would be solved. Some, although they met the standard of criminal cases, were really just minor cases. And if they were somewhat tricky, they would definitely fall back in the queue for attention. The instructor at Litang Township Police Station was also curious as he approached Jiang Yuan and asked with a smile, "Did you find a fingerprint or a footprint?" "There¡¯s a footprint in one of the cases that should belong to the third son of the Jin Family, Kangliang Jin. Let me first take a look at the case," Jiang Yuan exined briefly. It wasn¡¯t until the instructor stepped closer that he fully understood what was going on. Jiang Yuan had checked the footprint photos first without even taking a nce at the case itself. He didn¡¯t understand how difficult it was, but it was true that no one had ever used this method before. Jiang Yuan pulled out the file and after just skimming through the summary shook his head, saying, "This guy is really a hooligan. He went into someone¡¯s yard and stabbed two of an old man¡¯s sheep to death." The footprint was one of many left inside the sheep pen. If Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t memorized the footprints of the Jin brothers, it would have been easy to overlook. The instructor uttered an "Ah" before taking a closer look and couldn¡¯t help saying, "This case, it¡¯s this family who did it?" "You remember?" Wang Chuanxing asked. The instructor nodded, "I do. The sheepherder, an old bachelor living alone on the edge of the vige, was taking a nap at noon when someone brazenly entered the sheep pen and stabbed two sheep to death. But nothing was taken. Even the knife was from the old man¡¯s yard, a dagger that was only sharpened halfway. We asked the old man if he had offended anyone, but he wouldn¡¯t say, and so the case was left unresolved." The instructor, worried that Jiang Yuan and others wouldn¡¯t understand, further exined, "He didn¡¯t use poison, so it doesn¡¯t constitute a dangerous method endangering safety. Moreover, it happened during the day, outside in the sheep pen, and the murder weapon belonged to the old man and wasn¡¯t taken away. Even if we found the person responsible, the most he would get is a charge of destroyingpany property, and it would be difficult to warrant even a suspended sentence. The prosecutor¡¯s office probably wouldn¡¯t take the case." Mu Zhiyang frowned deeply, "But this is just despicable! It¡¯s clear they¡¯re bullying the old man, and they even sshed sheep blood everywhere..." "Right, like Captain Jiang said, just a ruffian, but it¡¯s hard to deal with. Even if we caught him, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to find evidence. Just some footprints at the most prove that he went to the old man¡¯s sheep pen... Actually, even if there was evidence, the most likely oue would be an administrative punishment, 15 days¡¯ detention," the instructor spoke realistically. This situation was a bit like stabbing a dog walking in a neighborhood. Without any other aggravating circumstances, the most someone would face is an administrative penalty followed by civilpensation. Jiang Yuan curled his lip, "First-time offenders get probation, not repeat offenders. This guy seems too skilled, it couldn¡¯t have been his first time." The instructor chuckled without saying anything; since they had never caught him before, the first capture could only be treated as a first offense. Following Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thought, the instructor said, "That¡¯s how bullies operate: they avoid major mistakes and continually make minor ones. Getting detained a few days is like going home for them, and they talk even more trash than we do. If he had used poison, we could charge him with a more serious offense... That¡¯s why a lot of cowards don¡¯t dare to act openly and resort to secretly poisoning, which in the event of an incident, actuallynds them in prison." Wang Chuanxing, more familiar with the legal provisions, added, "One sheep could be valued at 1,500 yuan, two sheep at 3,000 yuan. If poisoned, perhaps a sentence of six months? Then probation? Stabbing them to death, leaving the meat intact, it¡¯s debatable whether it even counts as 3,000 yuan worth, definitely can¡¯t result in such a long sentence." "He could also argue that he had a dispute with the sheepherder. In such a situation, the court might even take that into consideration," said the instructor. "And that¡¯s assuming he pleads guilty." What the instructor really wanted to say was that a few photos of footprints weren¡¯t enough to prove someone was the criminal. There were other people¡¯s footprints in the sheep pen as well. "We¡¯ll leave the rest to you. Investigate the specifics; if there¡¯s a case, pursue it, if there¡¯s cause for detention, act on it," Jiang Yuan said nonchntly. This was just an appetizer; bullies and hooligans focus on cost-effectiveness, making themselves look like they have nothing to lose to increase the cost of being against them. But for Jiang Yuan, his main focus today was emotional value, and he also had to help Wu Junhao establish a foothold, with the mission providing a kind ofpensation... The fate of the bully was sealed! Tap tap. Jiang Yuan tapped on the keyboard, then continued to look through more photos of footprints. Seeing this, the instructor smiled slightly and quietly left the conference room where Jiang Yuan was. Wang Chuanxing naturally followed, catching up in two quick steps, he said, "Captain Li, if you¡¯re short on manpower here, you can call on people from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad." "Isn¡¯t that a bit of overkill?" the instructor said with augh. "Captain Jiang is right here analyzing footprints. What does overkill have to do with it? Right, the ministry¡¯s recent summer security crackdown operation is called the Hundred Days Action, right? When you write your report, just follow that theme," Wang Chuanxing elevated the subject for the instructor. The instructor¡¯s expression became serious, and he then sighed, "The minds of you young people are indeed agile." "I was chatting with Director Cui from the ministry the other day. They happened to mention it," Wang Chuanxing bragged a bit, making the instructor nod in agreement. Jiang Yuan treated it as a leisure activity, not rushing through the footprint analysis. But it couldn¡¯t be denied, the crime density of the Jin Family brothers in the tiny Litang Township was significant. After looking through just over a thousand photos, Jiang Yuan had identified another set of footprints. "An agricultural pesticide sprayer... people even steal these? Plus two bags of fertilizer, just a few hundred yuan in total value," he muttered, flipping through the case summary and feeling a bit sentimental. The pattern was strikingly simr to the steel pipe theft case, a series of opportunistic thefts? "Check this out," Jiang Yuan wrote the case number in his notebook and tore off the page to give to Mu Zhiyang standing beside him. Jiang Yuan continued his own search. This time, the case he found had a bit more vor to it¡ªa road rage incident. Drunken men walking in the middle of the road, annoyed by a car honking from behind, simply dragged the driver out and beat him up, even kicking his car several times. The footprint Jiang Yuan found was lifted from the paint on the rear car. Jiang Yuan wrote another case number, then handed it to Wang Chuanxing, who had just returned, and casually asked, "Have the people downstairs left yet? The Jin Family." "Not yet. They still don¡¯t want to leave a criminal record," Wang Chuanxing replied. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "Well, this case includes the third of the Jin brothers, plus an uncle from the Jin family, four people in total. Go call Wu Junhao, and exin the situation to the station chief. If possible, let¡¯s keep these fellows here." "It¡¯s like they¡¯ve delivered themselves to our doorstep," Wang Chuanxing said with a chuckle. He had actually been a bit worried about not being able to detain anyone. Watching Wang Chuanxing go down to summon people, Jiang Yuan also got up, stretched, and moved around to get his blood flowing, then stood by the window, watching the bustle below. When it came to action, Wu Junhao was a professional. Although he wasn¡¯t familiar with the officers at Litang Township Police Station, after more than a day of interaction, they were no longerplete strangers to him. At that moment, Wu Junhao had gathered his team, briefly exined the situation, and then led the way out, managing to round up more than a dozen individuals in one go. The police station yard suddenly became a scene of chaos. Four men were singled out and apprehended, and after being handcuffed, their shouting notably subsided. The women of the Jin Family, however, became somewhat panicked, their voices growing extremely loud. Watching from above, Jiang Yuan touched his chin and muttered to himself, "These women seem rather fierce." "There aren¡¯t many in the city who would dare to physically confront the police," added Mu Zhiyang, who stayed beside Jiang Yuan instead of going down. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Women hold up half the sky. Let¡¯s also collect their Chapter 635 - 579

Chapter 635: 579

Criminal detectives all have their little tricks. Without needing further instruction from Jiang Yuan, Wang Chuanxing took advantage of the arrest to photograph the footprints of the two Jin Family daughters, the three daughters-inw who arrivedter, and even those of a more distantly rted aunt. Jiang Yuan just stood in the yard and watched, focusing on the gait. When he came across rathermon footprints, he would take a closer look. The gait of an individual is actually quite distinctive. For example, in families with children, when the child follows an adult and learns to walk, almost every child will imitate the adult¡¯s way of walking perfectly. This is a special ability that children have to grasp details. Footprints are much the same. To the average person, identifying footprints is akin to distinguishing between the faces of dogs, cats, or pigs¡ªif there are significant differences, they stand out; otherwise, they seem vague and uncertain. But for experts with special training in footprints, reading them is as natural as recognizing faces. There is no need for overly special descriptions. With experience, the differences be naturally apparent, and sometimes they can¡¯t even be objectively described. This is one reason whyputer systems struggle with facial recognition. In the end, at least for now, the human brain¡¯s processing capability is still more advanced than that ofputer systems. Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint identification has now reached level LV5. He didn¡¯t even need to activate temporary skills to memorize the footprints of the Jin Family¡¯s female members within minutes. Of course, this was only a temporary memory, but it was like sitting on the couch in a SK bar and calling out, "Next batch," and then recognizing anyone who reappeared. Jiang Yuan, with his hands behind his back, went back to the meeting room, brewed a cup of tea, and took a couple of sips before saying to Mu Zhiyang, "Call home and ask for reinforcements from the Cold Case Squad for the next few days." "Roger that." Mu Zhiyang immediately took out his phone and began to make a call. While waiting, he asked, "Did you find a major case?" Jiang Yuan gave him a puzzled look and said, "No major case, but I feel that solving such cases is quite smooth, and the police station might not have enough personnel." They had just arrested the four men of the Jin Family and sent them directly to the county detention center. Given the Jin Family¡¯s domineering style, it was only a matter of time before they caused trouble in the township police station. Thus, with the arrests, there were not many officers left in the station. Whether or not the Jin Family¡¯s women had the same capacity for crime as the men, calling for backup was the safest move. Mu Zhiyang was a little disappointed. In his opinion, the ces where a gun incident was most likely to ur were drug cases and rural cases. Although sometimes homemade guns in the countryside are excessively powerful and some even shoot buckshot, given the current domestic situation, there isn¡¯t much opportunity for him to showcase his skills as a gun-control ¡¯Prince.¡¯ When Wang Chuanxing returned, he was excited. While uploading the photos to Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer, he said gleefully, "The Jin Family members were stunned when they found out the charges and didn¡¯t dare resist. They just let themselves be taken away, all guilty. These women haven¡¯t been making much noise either and are getting ready to leave." "Let them go. We¡¯ll catch them separatelyter," Jiang Yuan was not too preupied with efficiency. He just directed Wang Chuanxing, "Sort out these cases and get the footprints up on the big screen." On the one hand, Jiang Yuan was a bit tired from all the looking, and on the other hand, he realized that the footprints from the cases in the police station didn¡¯t show much variation. The footprints from these cases had never been examined by a footprint expert¡ªnot to mention an expert, even Wang Zhong, with his LV0.3 footprint identification in Ningtai County, hadn¡¯t scanned them. Thus, these were not like theplex footprints Jiang Yuan usually encountered; they were just ordinary. Furthermore, this time Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to identify individuals from the footprints, meaning he didn¡¯t have to determine the age, sex, height, weight, etc., of the person who made them... He just needed to match them up and recognize if they were the same. It can be said that the difficulty of identification was not on the same level at all. To put it simply, the most basic level LV1 footprint identification would suffice, and at most, with level LV2, he could perform a broad scan. Last, the criminals¡ªperhaps they didn¡¯t feel they hadmitted a crime, but regardless, the criminals of Litang Township were rather simple-minded. They were still bad people, but not very bright, which made their counter-investigation capabilities quite weak. The first match Jiang Yuan found was a pair of identical footprints¡ªin other words, this aunt hadn¡¯t even bothered to change her shoes. Compared to men, women have a wider variety of shoes, and many have heels, which causes a change in their center of gravity when they wear different shoes. Therefore, as long as the woman changed her shoes, it naturally caused interference with the footprint identification. However, this third sister-inw, who is the wife of Kangliang Jin, the third sibling of the Jin Family, did not discard her shoes aftermitting the crime, and even wore them to the police station this time... It was as if she delivered the evidence herself! "The first Jin Family member we caught just now seemed to be Kangliang Jin, right? Is this his wife?" Jiang Yuan was saying while he opened the software backend to read the summary. Wang Chuanxing said, "Kangliang Jin is the one who stabbed the sheep to death, right? A pure hoodlum. His wife still has that protective look about her, ¡¯birds of a feather flock together¡¯... What did she do?" "Spreading heretical teachings, distributing leaflets." Jiang Yuan carefully read through once, clicked his tongue twice, and said, "She was distributing leaflets in the mountain viges, got chased away by the vige cadres, and they even called the police." This kind of case was usually a headless public case; if the person ran away, they ran away. It was impossible to make a big fuss over such a low-levelckey. However, if such a case was caught, the sentence could be far more severe than stabbing two sheep to death. "Not bad, a premeditated criminal case." Jiang Yuan wrote the case number in his notebook and nced at the footprints in the photo again before saying to Wang Chuanxing, "Remember to collect her shoes as evidenceter." "Okay," Wang Chuanxing replied, his eyebrows twitching as he said, "If she was distributing leaflets, there must be a source for these leaflets, right? She must have a higher-up." Mu Zhiyang stood up, nced at the bustling courtyard, and said, "Once we¡¯ve arrested her, we can turn her over to the National Security Brigade." Jiang Yuan nodded and then continued to inspect the footprints that followed. With eight pictures on one page, he scanned through them at breakneck speed. "This one..." he stared at the screen for a quarter of an hour before getting up and stretching, and pointed out a footprint, "matches with the second one." "That¡¯s Jin¡¯s wife then." Wang Chuanxing renumbered the person and immediately stood up to verify, then looked at the reason for the case and burst intoughter, "This is a serious case." "A serious case?" Jiang Yuan, who was in the middle of stretching, also looked over. "They stole the stone lions in front of a viger¡¯s home." Wang Chuanxing nodded solemnly, "A stone lion weighs around 100 pounds, so two stone lions amount to 200 pounds..." "So heavy!" Mu Zhiyang curiously rushed over to marvel, and praised, "Vige police station cases are really interesting. How much are those two stone lions worth?" "Three to five thousand, probably, just enough to meet the standard for a theft case, so that¡¯s why a case was filed." While looking, Wang Chuanxing said, "It must have been four people stealing them together; there are footprints of four people at the scene. My blind guess is it¡¯s still that Wuling Hongguang van." "Four people plus two 100-pound stone lions, not overcrowded at all, they seem to be quite conscientious in following traffic regtions," Mu Zhiyang gave high praise. From the photos, you could tell that the family who lost their stone lions must have a newly built three-story western-style house, with a red painted gate adorned with studs. On both sides of the red gate, there used to be two pedestals with two stone lions on them, traditional carving craftsmanship, a male lion stepping on an embroidered ball and a female lion stepping on a cub¡ªfinely carved, albeit located right next to the county road... But that wasn¡¯t a w; the w was with the people who stole the stone lions! What sort of upstanding household would mobilize a vehicle and four people just to steal two stone lions worth three to five thousand with free shipping? "The footprints of the other three people, two of them are from the Jin Family¡¯s third and fourth sibling. The fourth person is unknown. Print out a picture and put it up next to the rest," Jiang Yuan pointed at the whiteboard on the side of the conference room where over twenty people were already posted, all members of the Jin Family and their associates. To sweep up everyone at once was improbable, but the remaining Jin Family members would probably need to arrange a small dinner table to fully gather all their nephews, nieces, and extended rtives. Chapter 636 - 580 Tanhou Village

Chapter 636: Chapter 580 Tanhou Vige

"Someone go to their... what¡¯s it, Tanhou Vige, right? See if there¡¯s a lion statue like the one in front of the Jin Family¡¯s house, and take a photo to bring back," Jiang Yuan looked at the footprints in the photo and could feel an air of rxed ease. He casually flipped through the photos from the scene, and although it was just a minor case picked up by the local station, now that digital photos didn¡¯t cost a thing, many of the cops had girlfriends, and the sheer volume of snapshots taken was not inconsiderable, the quality was also quite passable. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t concerned about the conditions in the room or the courtyard, the scene was merely the area in front of the door. With his eyes closed, he tried to reconstruct the scene... He could almost see a Wuling Hongguang van passing the vermilion gate, then suddenly stopping, a passenger getting off with a chuckle and brazenly pointing at the stone lion, saying something or other. Next, the passenger shouted for the others to get out, they might even have taken photos with the lion, with someone¡¯s foot even propped against the white wall, leaving a conspicuous checkmark behind¨C¨CNike could be considered the beginner¡¯s tutor for every trace evidence technician when it came to footprint identification. After that came the much-anticipated transport part. Someone cleared out the back of the van, leaving behind a pile of trashposed of stic bags and beer bottles¨C¨Cwhat are now called evidence. Chatting away, probably not bothering to keep it down, they just casually carted off the stone lion. Because of its weight, two people¡¯s feet sank into the makeshift flowerbed by the wall, leaving deep imprints. If they were a group of young rock singers, and this had been a scene in a movie, it might have been quite a funny sight. Imagining the four of them, yearster, reminiscing about today¡¯s events, they might find it rather amusing, orange-red hues coloring their memories if there were perhaps first loves or secret lovers involved. Unfortunately, they were just four shameless bumpkins from the countryside. Ugly ones at that. After waiting for twenty or thirty minutes, several photos from Tanhou Vige finally made their way to Wang Chuanxing¡¯s hands. "Huh, they put the stone lion in front of a small restaurant." Wang Chuanxing disyed the photos on therge screen with some surprise. "Is the restaurant owned by the Jin Family?" asked Jiang Yuan as he sipped his tea, taking itpletely easy. Getting the Jin Family behind bars was a task that, in fact, didn¡¯t require much effort. Wang Chuanxing, while ttering away on the keyboard, pulled out his phone and said, "I¡¯ll check." Every department has its own backend system, many of which can¡¯t be essed by police, so everyone¡¯s solution is to add a bunch of WeChat contacts to ask... If it¡¯s a slightly bigger case, the responsible officers even create a WeChat group and add people from rted departments. One group for each case. After a year¡¯s work, the number of these groups could exceed the number of regr friends. From this perspective, if everyone were using foreign instant messaging apps, something like information security would basically be non-existent. It would just be pure, one-directional transparency. After a series of phone calls and WeChat conversations, Wang Chuanxing came back with a smile, "There¡¯s something off about this little restaurant." Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang both looked over. "The restaurant is registered to someone named Li Shengwei, but the locals probably just hang his name up there," Wang Chuanxing paused before continuing, "Given the tight timeline, what we¡¯ve found strange so far is that the restaurant¡¯s tobo license is grade 25, which is a bit preposterous." "What¡¯s the amount of tobo for level 25?" Jiang Yuan only vaguely knew about this and wasn¡¯t clear on the specifics. "In the county, they have to take seventy to eighty cartons a week. How can such a small vige restaurant sell all that?" Wang Chuanxing shook his head. "Did they sell it elsewhere?" Mu Zhiyang asked. "That¡¯s illegal just the same. Tobo is restricted for sale, the tobo license is here, so it can only be sold here." "Doesn¡¯t the Tobo Bureau care?" "Who knows, maybe they can¡¯t manage it, or perhaps there¡¯s a connection. That¡¯s not the key point," Wang Chuanxing paused again, then said, "I think they¡¯ve sold all the cigarettes. If there¡¯s a ce outside where cigarettes are sold, they could just get a tobo license there. Wouldn¡¯t it be safer to send the hard-to-sell cigarettes this way?" "Makes sense," Mu Zhiyang nodded, unable to help but agree, "Bro Wang, you¡¯ve grown a brain." Wang Chuanxing rolled his eyes, "Just pay me apliment, will you?" Jiang Yuan, toozy to think for himself, followed Wang Chuanxing¡¯s train of thought and asked, "You think the cigarettes have been sold off, what does that indicate?" Wang Chuanxing smiled and said, "What else can you do in a vige? It¡¯s nothing but the three vices: pornography, gambling, and drugs. They¡¯re probably too scared to deal with drugs and wouldn¡¯t be so brazen about it, so that leaves pornography and gambling." "That¡¯s possible, this ce is likely a major source of the Jin Family¡¯s wealth," Jiang Yuan agreed, no longer looking at hisputer as he stood up, "I don¡¯t think we need to find any other excuses, this stone lion is reason enough. Let¡¯s get a prosecutor involved to avoid any trouble from themter, and we might as well write up a report or something." Previously, Jiang Yuan disliked colluding with the media, a privilege he naturally enjoyed as a technical expert. He had the privilege of solitude, the privilege of experiencing the emotional value provided by others, and the privilege of not having to provide emotional value in return. However, the recent situation had changed, and Wu Junhao had also ended up implicated by both Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, looking pitiful. So, Jiang Yuan had no choice but to bring his emotional intelligence into y and make use of it for a few days. Wang Chuanxing immediately agreed, as this was his area of expertise. ... In the evening, Just after sending off the remaining members of the Jin Family, Chief Tang Xiaobo got into a fairly new Toyota Land Cruiser and headed for Tanhou Vige. Also in the car was a quota-based prosecutor from the county. A quota-based prosecutor can be understood as a prosecutor with the authority to handle cases independently. After the implementation of the quota system, prosecutors and assistant prosecutors who cannot meet the quota can only work under the supervision of a quota-based prosecutor, who essentially bes the head of a team. In big cities, there are many quotas avable, and the cultural quality of the judicial system¡¯s members is high, making it not too difficult to be a quota-based prosecutor. However, in county towns, quota-based prosecutors are pretty rare. They are usually too busy to think about apanying the police on calls. So, seeing this prosecutor with him, Tang Xiaobo decided not to beat around the bush, opting to discuss something unrted, "This is a nice vehicle. It¡¯s not like the clunkers in our station that sometimes can¡¯t even climb a dirt slope." "If you like it, I can leave it for your use," Jiang Yuan said casually from the side. Tang Xiaobo was taken aback, "Is that... appropriate?" "This car was supported by Luyang City. The criminal investigation team and Director Huang went over to help them solve a case. The insurance and maintenance are all covered by Luyang City. Use it for a few years and if you don¡¯t like it anymore, you can give it back," Jiang Yuan exined very clearly. Tang Xiaobo, who was out of touch with urban affairs due to being stationed in the countryside, couldn¡¯t help but be amazed, "So the rumors are true?" "What rumors?" "They say that Director Huang has collected quite a few cars from around the ce." "It¡¯s not just cars, but various types of police equipment, gear, and evenboratory equipment and instruments," Jiang Yuan said, "Last year¡¯s New Year¡¯s offering of pomfret and fruit was also organized by Director Huang as part of a policemunity partnership." Tang Xiaobo nodded repeatedly, "I know about that..." "The A6 that Director Huang drives now, with a White A license te, was also brought back thest time we helped Baijiang Province solve a case," Jiang Yuan said clearly, "As long as Director Huang is here, we can keep this equipment." Tang Xiaobo paused for a moment, then dared not speak again. Jiang Yuan made himself clear, shifting his position slightly and looking ahead. Soon, they arrived at the small restaurant famous for its stone lions. The restaurant was brightly lit, with the sound of mahjong tiles shuffling clearly audible from afar, apanied by many loud and rowdy voices. A criminal investigator hurried over, and upon Jiang Yuan and others alighting from the vehicle, reported, "It¡¯s a gambling den, catering to the nearby rural towns and exclusively by invitation. We sent someone special to take a look inside, there aren¡¯t any weapons¡ªit¡¯s mainly regr clients. There¡¯s a total of several hundred thousand in there." "Then let¡¯s go in," Wu Junhao said, already d in a bulletproof vest and ready for action. Jiang Yuan nodded and instructed, "Everyone, protect yourselves. Prepare the cameras. Prioritize filming and photographing on all routes. It¡¯s fine if we don¡¯t catch anyone; these are locals, we can slowly apprehend themter." A group of criminal investigators surrounded the restaurant, and then someone stepped forward to knock on the Chapter 637 - 581: Write an Article

Chapter 637: Chapter 581: Write an Article

"This stone lion is indeed quite beautiful, the carving is very delicate." Jiang Yuan stood at the entrance of the small restaurant, stopping to admire it. The stone lion had a slightly greenish exterior that wasn¡¯t obvious in the video, but in the morning light, it seemed to emit a green-white luster, especially the part where the fur was exquisitely carved. "It is very beautiful indeed," Mu Zhiyang said in agreement. He was holding a shield in his hand, his eyes fixed on the yard where his colleagues were pressing gambling guests who tried to scurry away, like foxes and rats, to the ground, his arms itching to join in. Jiang Yuan himself was wearing a stab-resistant vest, but he didn¡¯t go up. This part was simr to busting prostitution rings; during the most chaotic moments, nobody listened to what you said, and the first instinct of the group consciousness was to run. If you encountered a foolhardy youth, getting stabbed by a knife would be just your bad luck. Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t go up either, standing to the side watching. This time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad had deployed a dozen or so officers, plus whomever they could scrounge up, so there were several dozen officers and auxiliary police on site. Only a few went inside to catch people; most were herding the crowd from the outside, then guarding the exits and windows, grabbing anyone who came out, and stuffing them into the police van like packing pigs into a pen. The police van had also been brought over from Ningtai County; Huang Qiangmin had spent time cultivating resources all over the province, his equipment moreprehensive than that of a typical municipal bureau, which was proving useful now. The smarter ones took advantage of theirst moments of freedom to send a couple of messages, informing friends and rtives of their situation. The dumbest ones were those who jumped from the second floor; if they didn¡¯t break their legs, they¡¯d still be in so much pain that they¡¯d be easily arrested, no different from the rest, but with the added suspicion of resisting arrest. Once everyone was loaded into the vehicles, the inspector greeted Jiang Yuan with a smile and walked away. Jiang Yuan said hello to Chief Tang Xiaobo before ducking into the small restaurant to start examining the scene. Tang Xiaobo had been standing outside for a good while, helplessly shaking his head. He couldn¡¯t keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. After another greeting, he returned to the police station. Inside the station, the noise was deafening. The tworge detention rooms were overcrowded; when Tang Xiaobo went down to check, people were practically hanging from the iron bars spanning the center of the rooms. First timers looked like zombies, extending their arms through the bars. With seven or eight people crammed into one room, there was no spare space left even for sitting; any more would only add to the trouble. ording to past practices, these gambling arrests were handled quickly, with most gamblers getting off with a fine. Even if administrative detention was warranted, the number had to be kept within manageable limits. Tang Xiaobo was also concerned about potential issues during detention and called Jiang Yuan again. Jiang Yuan, upied with evidence gathering, thought for a moment: "Take the people from the Jin Family out and send them straight to the detention center. They are definitely guilty of operating a gambling den, and the pattern of family crime is clear; there won¡¯t be any problems." Tang Xiaobo immediately agreed and began to sift through the captives. In such a situation, it was impossible to conceal one¡¯s identity. Those from the Jin Family and those rted to it were quickly identified¡ªalmost ten individuals. Tang Xiaobo didn¡¯t hide his intentions; it was clear he aimed to take down the Jin Family as a criminal syndicate. Petty theft was a minor issue, but running a gambling operation with high stakes, various forms of betting, chips, and service staff was in essence the initial stage of a casino. The Jin Family had recentlye into wealth and had yet to shed their old bad habits. In a few more years, if this small restaurant were upgraded to arger one with the casino as the heart of their business, the family¡¯s future would be boundless. Eventually, however, several among them would need to be eliminated to bring their story to an end. "Mr. Government, I have a report to make." A tall and thin suspect raised his hand to speak as he entered the interrogation room. The detective in charge of the interrogation looked up and asked, "What do you want to report?" "I know where the boss of the casino lives," the tall, thin man said with his head held high. "I know who the real leader is." The interrogating officer frowned. Was there a hidden story here? "That¡¯s what I know." If it weren¡¯t for his hands being restrained to the interrogation chair, the tall, thin man would beughing triumphantly right now. The interrogation officer looked at the tall, gaunt man with a cold face. He was just an ordinary police officer from the local station, and today it was his turn for this task¡ªto conduct interrogations here, which was different from the expert interrogations Jiang Yuan usually employed. What was also different was his temper. If he said he was unhappy, he could be unhappy; if he decided to scold you, he would scold you, without any need for reasoned analysis. The tall, gaunt man let out a chuckle and said, "Those from the Jin family work as underlings, earning just a sry. It¡¯s the mastermind behind the scenes who¡¯s impressive, running these little gambling dens in several ces." Light began to gleam in the eyes of the interrogation officer, who asked, "Who is the owner of the gambling den?" "I want a reduced sentence!" ... At dawn. The precinct chief, seeing Jiang Yuan busy all night, rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve gotten a hold of a big case." "Oh? What case?" Jiang Yuan had inspected the scenest night, had the evidence sent back, and had then gone to rest in the dormitory. He had arrived a bitte this morning but was still fairly alert. The precinct chief Tang Xiaobo smiled and said, "The gambling den case from yesterday. We found out the owner of the den wasn¡¯t just running one gambling den!" "So brazen?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. "It¡¯s a man named Zhang Enfan. Years ago, he smuggled himself abroad, came backst year, and started organizing people to run this small diner. On the surface, it was catering, but it actually focused on mahjong. Gradually, it turned into what it is now. He¡¯s opened three ces, usually operates two, and keeps one in reserve to watch for any signs of trouble." "What¡¯s the connection between the Jin family and him?" "They knew each other from before, just riff-raff, except Zhang Enfan made it abroad and has nowe back." Jiang Yuan let out an "oh" andughed, saying, "Alright then, you handle it. I won¡¯t run with you today. I¡¯ll call over a couple from scene investigation and trace evidence toe here." Jiang Yuan had gone to the raidst night to ensure no good person was wronged and no member of the Jin family was overlooked. As for running a gambling den... since the culprit wasn¡¯t a member of the Jin family, Jiang Yuan actually lost interest. He had plenty of cases to deal with, just a simple case of running a gambling den... Tang Xiaobo let out an "ah," finally understanding and couldn¡¯t help but chuckle a few times, "True, you¡¯ve been worked hard enough, and you were busy allst night." "Hard work is not quite the word; I didn¡¯t do much," Jiang Yuan paused and then said, "Today, I n to go over some cases again since it was a pre-set n..." If there had been a homicide, he would have definitely changed his ns. Tang Xiaobo suddenly realized the issue. He thought that busting gambling dens was much more high-profile than catching individual gamblers, but to Jiang Yuan there was no difference. Whether sentenced to three years or just a few months, the difference wasn¡¯t significant. Jiang Yuan remained enthusiastically flipping through those footprints. Using footprints to directly identify cases seemed to him to be a pretty good approach. In just a few days, all five brothers and their wives from the Jin family, along with some of their rtives, had been arrested. So many had been caught not by depending on testimony or by linking cases together, but by evidence like footprints. Jiang Yuan felt he could write an article to be published. Of course, before that, umting material was very important. So Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have time to respond to Tang Xiaobo anymore. Yet there wasn¡¯t a hint of unhappiness on Tang Xiaobo¡¯s face, nor did he dare to show it. Chapter 638 - 582 Excavating Soil

Chapter 638: Chapter 582 Excavating Soil

"Xiao Wang, organize this case." After Jiang Yuan identified the case, he only took a brief look before passing it to Wang Chuanxing. The biggest difference between cases at the police station and those processed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad is that they are usually characterized by straightforward, simple behavior. Not only are the criminals simple, but the police station¡¯s handling is also quite straightforward. For example, in the case Jiang Yuan had just matched, there really wasn¡¯t anything fancy: a viger was knocked out with a cudgel. He had several theories, but police investigations turned up no substantial evidence. On the other hand, the victim had clear mud footprints on his body, but these were only archived and pendingparison. It wasn¡¯t until it reached Jiang Yuan that it was confirmed to be the work of Jin Family¡¯s second and third sons and their wives. Four against one, the situation was fully escted; and they didn¡¯t aim for a cost-effective approach, acting on a whim, which is a characteristic of township cases. Many cases, once solved, seem to have a clear trail. In reality, because of the numerous local grudges that can trace back generations, many of the investigations end up being opportunistic crimes among acquaintances. Without technical evidence, relying solely on deduction means filling baskets with interrogation notes, leading to arge-scale murder mystery game scenario in the end. Wang Chuanxing and the others were getting into the groove, cheerfully epting the notes from Jiang Yuan and starting on the case documentation work. One of the reasons behind the umtion of cases at the police station is that paperwork is time-consuming. However, from the public¡¯s perspective, some time spent is indeed well wasted. "This means Jin Family¡¯s third son has popped up again, currently with five cases to his name, taking the lead," Mu Zhiyang said, not too busy, or rather, utterly bored, as he began ranking the Jin Family¡¯s younger members. "Jin Family¡¯s fifth son should get the longest sentence, with two cases of child molestation, and there¡¯s certainly more to follow," Tang Jia said indignantly. She had interacted with the victims of both molestation cases and collected the evidence. Even thinking back on it now made her blood boil. The girls who remained in the countryside for schooling were usually from rtively poorer families, often without their parents nearby, only under the care of their grandparents, and thus were more vulnerable to hooligans. However, the identification of a molestation case poses its challenges. Jin Family¡¯s fifth son was nailed for two cases because he was too arrogant, sweatily touching little girls and leaving sweaty marks on their clothing, including on the chest and butt areas. Of course, it was only after the suspect was caught and DNAparisons were made that the cases were connected; previously, the two cases were never considered together. "Actually, we could do some publicity," Wang Chuanxing said. "From previous cases against vige bullies, making an arrest and then publicizing it in the vige usually has good effects, especially for minor cases, where people are more inclined toe forward." Tang Jia¡¯s eyes lit up at this suggestion, "Then let¡¯s do some publicity!" Wang Chuanxing used a look to signal her to talk to Captain Jiang. Naturally, Tang Jia switched to a coaxing tone, "Captain Jiang, let¡¯s do some publicity." Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, "Our main objective is still to demonstrate investigative effort; we¡¯re not about to wipe out the Jin Family." "Captain Jiang, Jin Family¡¯s olddy has already been detained for public order offenses like knocking down a neighbor¡¯s wall and repeatedly throwing trash into the vige pond. The whole family doesn¡¯t even have someone to answer phone calls now. Doesn¡¯t that count as wiping them out?" Wang Chuanxing spoke as if sympathizing with the Jin Family, "People from their vige or neighboring ones are not too willing to be witnesses. A minor case has to be approached with zero testimony to make progress. Proper publicity could at least get the olddy pretrial detention; it can¡¯t be just this small affair." Tang Jia nodded in agreement, "Several old men and women in their family, whenever someone gets married, they gather around and demand money, anywhere from a hundred to several hundred yuan. In one year, who knows how much they¡¯ve extorted." "And they also cause trouble for truck drivers." "Any time someone passes by with manure, they have to taste it for saltiness." All members of the special team were young, some familiar with rural life, others not. But no matter which, just three days of reviewing the crimesmitted by the Jin Family were enough to make them feel disgusted. Seeing that everyone¡¯s mood had reached this level, Jiang Yuan decisively said, "Then let¡¯s go ahead with the publicity, Shen Yaowei, you take charge." Jiang Yuan felt that among the Cold Case Squad, Shen Yaowei had stronger organizational skills, with a bit of family learning in the background. Additionally, he was familiar with various public security cases, fitting the Jin Family members¡¯ pattern of crime. Everyone then excitedly got busy. If initially, Jiang Yuan had used the Jin Family to sharpen skills, now, upon seeing their deeds, everyone felt that the punishments under Criminal Law were not harsh enough. The majority of misdeedsmitted by the Jin Family were actually not severe enough to be punished under Criminal Law, but any one of these actions, if disclosed, could disgust ordinary people for many years. Even the kindest olddy of the Jin Family would dissolve her days-old hardened stool in water and ssh it onto the walls, rooftops, and living rooms of her fellow vigers... Cleaning it up wasn¡¯t too difficult; the surface could be cleaned within two or three days, but the stench could linger for several months, and the olddy even seemed to find it amusing. As a group of young people still harboring ideals, the officers of the Cold Case Squad were willing to physically cleanse this filth. While everyone was busy, Jiang Yuan took Mu Zhiyang out for a stroll. It was too noisy for him in the conference room. Outside, Wu Junhao was arranging his unit. Compared to the former Bald Strike Team, the unitposed of a few young officers and auxiliary police from Litang Township Police Station seemed slightly less robust, but their morale was high. It¡¯s hard not to say that Wu Junhao, with his brave and resolute personality, possessed a unique charm and influence. After gaining a foothold in the station, Wu Junhao quickly gathered around him a group of young people willing to keep fit, undergo assault training, and sport short haircuts. "Are you guys heading out on a task?" Jiang Yuan noticed two cars parked nearby. "Going to catch the one running the gambling den," Wu Junhao had mostly recovered his spirits. The police station itself took the establishment of the gambling den very seriously. Jiang Yuan asked, "Are you sure about the location?" "It should be at the cemetery; they have a small house for vigil there, someone has been seen. It¡¯s a few kilometers from here, do you want to join us?" Wu Junhao warmly invited him, with a demeanor akin to inviting someone out for a meal. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, waved his hand, and said, "Never mind, it might turn into a credit-grabbing situation." "Alright then, I¡¯ll let you know once we¡¯ve caught the person," Wu Junhao didn¡¯t press any further, setting off high-spiritedly. He loved fieldwork, preferring to be drenched in sweat rather than leisurely drinking tea and chatting. The team he led was also decisive; ready to go at a moment¡¯s notice, the two cars started up and roared up the slope. Before long, Wu Junhao sent a message: [Caught the person. All smooth!] Then, he sent over a few photos with rapid taps. In the photos, Zhang Enfan was kneeling in a suit in front of a grave mound. Beside the grave, vegetation was sparsely distributed and uneven. Jiang Yuan, looking at the image on the phone, asked, "Is this whole area Zhang Family¡¯s graves?" "Yes, his father is buried here as well." "Open a video, let me have a look," Jiang Yuan stood still and initiated a video call on WeChat. Wu Junhao showcased his newly captured suspect. Jiang Yuan nodded as he watched, and said, "Walk further inside, towards that small grove in the back." "Alright," Wu Junhao replied, holding the phone as he walked towards the back. In just a matter of tens of meters, Wu Junhao arrived. Then, he saw tall trees, short trees, shrubs, and herbs all gathered together, a perfect example of biodiversity. "This has been dug up... and it doesn¡¯t seem like a proper burial," Jiang Yuan pointed on the screen, realized Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t see it, and described it instead. Wu Junhao was skeptical: "How can you tell?" "Soil that has been dug up doesn¡¯t let nts thrive as easily. The patch of ground in front of you is like this; it¡¯s been dug up a few years ago, and the size just happens to match the proportions of a human." Chapter 639 - 583: The Small Grave

Chapter 639: Chapter 583: The Small Grave

Identifying secret graves through forensic botany is considered a rtively simple application of the field, roughly at a Level 1.5. It doesn¡¯t require the identification of specific nts, but rather a knowledge of how certain nts will quickly root in freshly disturbed soil, with new seeds germinating until a bnce is reestablished¡ªa process that often takes decades. On one hand, vegetation in the disturbed area is at a different stage of growthpared to the surrounding environment; on the other hand, theposition and distribution of the new nts differ from the original ntmunity. Furthermore, a buried body could chemically alter the soil, either fostering or inhibiting nt growth, or promoting the growth of some nts while suppressing others. People often talk about the pH bnce of the human body, which is useless while a person is alive, but if that person bes a corpse buried not too deeply underground, then their pH bnce indeed bes useful. Of course, for a regr Level 1.5 botanist, it might require extensive observation in a specific area and careful judgement to possibly identify the existence of a secret grave. But for a Level 3 forensic botanist like Jiang Yuan, the process is much simpler. Jiang Yuan arrived at the Zhang Family¡¯s ancestral grave as quickly as possible. The road was not easy, a plowed dirt track overrun with weeds in the middle, with deep ruts on either side made by the passage of off-road vehicles and tractors, essentially navigable only by such vehicles. A cluster of graves sat at the end of the road. "Going to work is like visiting a tomb," Mu Zhiyang waved to the distant Wu Junhao and others. Wu Junhao hurried over and said to Jiang Yuan, "I¡¯ve protected the scene already, Sir. I haven¡¯t let anyone touch the spot you pointed out." "Good. Is the city bureau¡¯s forensic doctor notified?" Jiang Yuan was referring to Wang Lan and others from Qinghe City Bureau. By protocol, when a homicide urs in the county, help can be requested from the city bureau. Ningtai County has two forensic doctors, making it a rather strong county district, so technically they could manage without assistance, but Jiang Yuan felt it was necessary to liaise with his city colleagues anyway. At least he ought to let his city colleagues know what he was working on¡ªJiang Yuan made this judgment in a moment of emotional intelligence. Wu Junhao responded, "They said they could be here in two to three hours." "That¡¯s fine," Jiang Yuan said. "In the meantime, let¡¯s collect other evidence." "Other evidence," Wu Junhao nced at the Zhang Family¡¯s ancestral tomb and then at the unfamiliar forest, murmuring, "You¡¯re not nning to dig up everyone¡¯s grave, are you?" Jiang Yuan was taken aback, "Why would I do that?" "Where else could you find evidence?" Wu Junhao countered. Jiang Yuan gave an exasperated look at Wu Junhao¡¯s shiny forehead and sighed, "The forest, of course." "How do we collect evidence in the forest?" Jiang Yuan chuckled, "Come on, I¡¯ll show you." Frankly, the case hadn¡¯t even reached the investigative stage since the body hadn¡¯t been exhumed. Who knew if there was really a body inside? What if it was just a dog? But due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation, Wu Junhao and the others hadn¡¯t raised this question, and the forensic doctors from Qinghe City Bureau, who hade for reinforcement all the way from Qinghe City upon a single phone call, hadn¡¯t asked either. Wu Junhao organized his makeshift assault team and began collecting nts alongside Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had brought standard equipment for nt specimens, cutting leaves directly fromrger nts for evidence and preserving smaller nts with blotting paper in a scattered-bag fashion. Arge amount of weeds were both photographed and sampled. All these nt evidences were ced in a field specimen folder, which was then mped between corrugated paper and tightened with stic bands before being transported out. One of the reasons Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t used forensic botany on smaller cases previously was the cumbersome process; the evidence had to be dried and processedter, causing the overall costs to skyrocket. Without system support and a track record of achievements like Jiang Yuan¡¯s, an average county bureau wouldn¡¯t even consider employing forensic botany techniques. If standard trace evidence collection is akin to public school spending, forensic botany is undoubtedly private school expenses. Without a sound economic foundation, one shouldn¡¯t even touch it. A group of people huffed and puffed as they worked on taking photographs and clipping leaves; it took a long time before the area suspected to be a grave was somewhat cleared. Once excavation begins, these nt evidences will no longer exist, so it¡¯s better to collect them as specimens directly. Wang Chuanxing, feeling dizzy from the effort, stood up and took another look at the Zhang Family¡¯s gravesite and couldn¡¯t help but express his curiosity, "Does that mean this road is specifically for visiting the gravesite?" Wu Junhao replied in a muffled voice, "It¡¯s not surprising. In our family group, we constantly collect funds, which are saved specifically for road maintenance." "How long will itst after being repaired?" "Seven or eight years should be no problem, even twelve or thirteen can do," Wu Junhao thought for a while and continued, "In the past, people from our own family would fix the roads, or there were often peopleing up the mountain, so maintaining it wasn¡¯t difficult. Nowadays, fewer peoplee, which means the roads deteriorate faster. That¡¯s why we regrly need to raise money for maintenance." Jiang Yuan, observing the environment,mented, "In the past, when people in the vige passed by these kinds of roads, they would repair them if they had time. It wasmon for someone to hoe the road a couple of times as they passed by. Now that¡¯s not possible, and we have to hire a dedicated road maintenance team for regr repairs." Wang Chuanxing nced at Jiang Yuan to confirm he wasn¡¯t speaking overly grand, then shook his head and said, "This road from the Zhang Family isn¡¯t that great. Does it mean that Zhang Enfan didn¡¯t earn much money? Or is it that he didn¡¯t have enough time to maintain the road?" This line of thought was rather interesting, and Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod. If he pursued this angle, the formation time of this grave mound became very significant. If it had formed during the two or three years Zhang Enfan had been running the gambling den, then it would be worth considering a high corrtion with Zhang Enfan¡ªafter all, running a gambling den and still entertaining thoughts of being a good citizen deserving equal police treatment would be nonsensical. However, if the grave mound had been formed over a much longer period, Zhang Enfan¡¯s degree of suspicion would decrease. As Jiang Yuan pondered this, Wang Lan arrived with her team. Wang Lan had brought along Niu Tong Niu, Forensic Doctor from Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District. Normally, Chief Medical Examiner Niu would not be required to provide support, as the city bureau¡¯s forensic doctors are for the city bureau, and the district bureau¡¯s for the district bureau. However, considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s recently soared reputation and the frustrations he had encountered, Wang Lan decided that he should be treated with high standards. Lest Jiang Yuan felt he was being neglected. Of course, there were obvious benefits to bringing more people... during the excavation process, there would be more hands to catch insects... Once the grave mound was pried open, those little bugs that had thrived on the corpse desperately tried to scatter. The wilderness is naturally suited for the growth of insects, and with the corpse of arge mammal serving as a food reserve, countless generations of insects had bred here... If you don¡¯t know, just catch them and ask! Several young people, armed withs and wearing gloves, surrounded the gravesite, catching insects; once caught, they stuffed them into poisonous ss bottles. In a short while, they had collected dozens of insects,rvae, and eggs. The full vista of the corpse was gradually revealed. Off-white bones soaked in somewhat darkened body fluids indicated there might be waterproof material like tarps beneath, which means this wasn¡¯t a hasty disposal of a body, but rather a nned burial. Chief Medical Examiner Niu squatted down, carefully beginning to collect bones. Jiang Yuan did not immediately get involved, instead watching from the side, his expression turning solemn. Without intricate verification, Jiang Yuan could tell the body in the pit was that of an adult female. Moreover, it is quite rare for adult females to partake in gambling, especially in these local gambling scenes. In small-town gambling dens like the one Zhang Enfan ran, one could hardly speak of ambiance; just ensuring basic living conditions was considered good enough. If casinos in ces like Macau stimted their patrons by pumping pure oxygen into the halls for them to gamble excitedly for longer durations, the small-town gambling dens would rely on oxygen shortages, letting gamblers¡¯ primitive instincts take over for sustained excitement. Ordinary women, upon seeing such a ce, wouldn¡¯t even consider participating. If they were not involved in gambling, it would be less likely for various disputes rted to money lending or behavioral conflicts stemming from temperament to arise. Chief Medical Examiner Niu could see it too, digging and picking through the shallow grave, collecting and piecing together the white bones... Upon confirming the body was female, Chief Medical Examiner Niu looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "To pull out a case of thisplexity from a police station, it takes someone like you." Chapter 640 - 584: The Tough Nut to Crack

Chapter 640: Chapter 584: The Tough Nut to Crack

"Roughly estimating, the body has been there for three years, buried rather shallowly, but in a suitable location; it was wrapped in a straw mat. Could this be considered interment?" Chief Medical Examiner Niu was also confidently making assessments on the scene. A technician who could elevate the study of a piece of toilet paper to Level 3 had to be skilled in their primary job as well, at least showing the capabilities of Level 2. Faced with a body that had not undergone special adornment, providing an approximate age was not an issue. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and said, "It coincides with the time around when Zhang Enfan returned to the country, but I¡¯m not certain. We¡¯ll have to test the straw matter." The lower half of the body had notpletely decayed, so some of the muscles on the back could still be seen adhering to the straw mat. As for the precise time of death, they would have to go back and examine the collected insects, scrutinize the bones in detail, or look for substances in the body fluids. They could also estimate based on the nt growth inside and outside the grave. However, no matter what, when ites to a body that had been skeletonized for three years, obtaining a rtively urate estimation of time is not an easy task. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 6 death time assessment would also require time to evaluate. Nevertheless, the use of burial suggests that the initial death scene was not here, and furthermore... "This doesn¡¯t really fit the rtionship between a gambler and a gambling den," Wang Lan expressed this conclusion, which Jiang Yuan and Niu Tang both acknowledged with a nod. If it were a murder by a gambling den, they were more likely to have the victim dig their own grave, and when it was nearly dug, they would stab them to death or something like that. In such situations, the victim often bore marks of having been beaten or abused¡ªwithout applying some severity, they naturally wouldn¡¯tply easily and dig their own grave obediently. Additionally, this method usually depends on having ample manpower in the gambling den. If one were to murder solo, then they¡¯d likely have to do the digging themselves, but in any case, wrapping up in a straw mat would be out of the question. Even under duress, a living person would not quietly allow themselves to be wrapped up in a straw mat. And for a killer, there¡¯s little sentiment to speak of. "The source of the corpse is hard to determine," Niu Tang said as he squatted down once again and began to earnestly collect bones. There was also a forensic assistant from Qinghe City Bureau who was silently working hard with a hood over their head. "Let¡¯s go back and see if we can identify the person. At least the skull is still intact," Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, then addressed Wang Chuanxing beside him, "We still need to investigate Zhang Enfan¡¯s social rtionships, and also see if the Zhang family has any missing persons." The workload of cranial reconstruction skill is not small, simr to that of legal botany. Unless absolutely necessary, Jiang Yuan was not keen on initiating it. It¡¯s like when aputer goes into blue screen; the first choice is to restart theputer, not to reinstall the operating system. Inparison, forensic anthropology is more humane. The three forensic doctors worked together, collecting the body, straw mat, various insects, and transporting them back to the forensic autopsy room at the Qinghe City Bureau. Chief Medical Examiner Niu picked up severalrge pots and unhesitatingly boiled the bones that had not fully decayed. The boiled bones had a dull, white color and seemed very slender overall. Just by looking at the bones, it is difficult to imagine that such a framework often supports a body weighing two or three hundred pounds. As the pelvis of the body was intact, more could be determined. Factors such as sex, age, height, and time of death could all be ascertained from it. Of course, when all the bones are present, the pelvis can be used as the main reference, and other bones supplementarily. Jiang Yuan, unassuming, quickly measured the various length to width ratios of the bones while they were still steaming hot, dering, "Female, young, 21 years old, height between 165 and 167 cm, as for the time of death... three years and a bit over two months... to be more precise... I¡¯ll check the lunar calendar." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he removed his gloves and turned to look for a tabletputer. Wang Lan and Niu Tang had been listening in a learning mode, but at the end, they both looked up, exchanging nces in surprise. Niu Tang asked in a low voice, "Has he learned some new trick from Wu Jun?" Wang Lan shook her head nkly, not having heard anything, but the term "lunar calendar" was a bit jarring. "1,160 days, give or take a week," Jiang Yuan reported back after searching the lunar calendar. Wang Lan then asked, "The time of death? What does it have to do with the lunar calendar?" "Oh, because we can use the growth of nts as a reference. The nts on top of the grave had definitely been chopped off before, and the nt roots inside the grave had also been cut. I just checked the lunar calendar to determine the growth rate," exined Jiang Yuan, and upon hearing this, Wang Lan and Niu Tang understood. In the wild, digging a hole would certainly sever the nts originally in that location. After three years, some of the old roots might have been eaten by insects, but some resilient ones would remain. On the other hand, the growth of new nts is also seasonal. Some nts can grow anytime, while others need to wait for a certain seasonal marker to begin growth, like bamboo, which starts sprouting after Qingming Festival. More than thirty types of nts were found at the scene, including both familiar and obscure weeds. Wang Lan and the others had some understanding of the principles of legal botany, but when it came to the practical application, they were in the dark. Upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, both Wang Lan and Niu Tang tacitly agreed. Since they didn¡¯t understand it, they went with Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. In the case of deaths that happened three years ago, it was usually enough to determine the year. In special cases, being able to pinpoint a month was considered extremely impressive and exceptional. This time, Jiang Yuan narrowed it down to a two-week period. As for whether it was necessary, that depended on how the case unfolded. In terms of technical support, it was definitely maxed out. The three forensic doctors didn¡¯t deal with the case directly, they just handed their findings over to Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team used to be a part of the major case squadron of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment and shone just as brightly as Liu Wenkai¡¯s second team. Wu Junhao had regrly worked on homicide cases before, it was just that old cases were difficult to handle. However, Wu Junhao had a bold and daring personality, and even with only the youthful Bald Strike Team under hismand, he was not intimidated at all. If the young people missed something while sorting through interpersonal rtionships, he would help tidy up, fill in the gaps. If someone had a bad habit, or if their interrogation records were sloppy, Wu Junhao would take them and teach them how to write properly. If anyone waszy and prone to cutting corners, Wu Junhao would work alongside them. From the moment he took on the case, Wu Junhao threw himself into itpletely. In just three days, he had bought hundreds of meat-stuffed tbreads alone. The members of the youthful Bald Strike Team, eating the meat-stuffed tbreads provided by Wu Junhao, could only continue to work on the case day and night, run two kilometers in the morning, and even lift dumbbells when they had a spare moment. Saturday. A meeting for case analysis. Huang Qiangmin also rushed to attend. Compared with technical personnel like Jiang Yuan, Wu Junhao had a more serious expression. The case was still with the Litang Township Police Station because of Jiang Yuan¡¯s influence, which he was in charge of participating in. But Wu Junhao also knew that if there was no further progress, Huang Qiangmin would definitely have the Criminal Police Detachment step in. It wasn¡¯t just Chai Tong keeping an eye on the case; a homicide was something that couldn¡¯t afford any mistakes. The body unearthed by Jiang Yuan was tantamount to a newly discovered homicide case, with the optimal time for solving it being more than three years ago, followed by the present. Huang Qiangmin would not tolerate Wu Junhao wasting time. Huang Qiangmin was not particrly interested in the petty thefts or messy public order cases of the police stations, but he would not let up on a homicide case. It was precisely because the incident took ce in Litang Township, where local police had an advantage, and with Jiang Yuan by his side, that Huang Qiangmin gave Wu Junhao a chance. Everyone was seated. Wu Junhao made a brief arrangement and said, "In terms of interpersonal rtionships, Zhang Enfan¡¯s rtives are clueless about his recent activities. The Zhang Family itself has no missing persons. It feels a bit like a headless case." "However, some of Zhang Enfan¡¯s subordinates have mentioned some rumors." "Allegedly, when Zhang Enfan himself was drunk, he said that he had been betrayed by a girlfriend while overseas, and he handled it very decisively. ¡¯Decisive in killing,¡¯ these were Zhang Enfan¡¯s original words." "We don¡¯t know much about the situation abroad, but from a timing perspective, Zhang Enfan should have been in the country at the time." "Moreover, the burial site is the Zhang Family¡¯s ancestral grave, which is only essible by one road, very secluded, and unlikely to be known by outsiders." "Taking all these points into ount, we believe that Zhang Enfan still has a major suspicion ofmitting the crime." After Wu Junhao finished speaking, Huang Qiangmin tapped the table and asked, "What evidence do we have? How did the interrogation of Zhang Enfan go?" "He¡¯s a tough nut to crack, has remained silent the whole time," said a police officer nearby. Huang Qiangmin immediately looked at Jiang Yuan. "The murderer¡¯s method was strangtion, with considerable strength; the victim¡¯s hyoid bone is fractured... We have examined the victim¡¯s nails and other areas but found no residual DNA, which might have been cleaned..." Jiang Yuan paused here and continued, "I started cranial reconstruction yesterday, and it should be finished in a few days. Then we can determine the origin of the corpse." With that statement from him, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mood inexplicably rxed, and the corners of his mouth couldn¡¯t help but rise into a 33.3-degree smile. Of course, his mood should rx. Thebination of Cranial Reconstruction Skill, Legal Botany, and Forensic Anthropology, paired with a Level 6 death time assessment, and not to mention a Level 4 crime scene investigation in between, was undeniably top-notch even if it were used for psychologicalfort. Chapter 641 - 585: Viewpoint

Chapter 641: Chapter 585: Viewpoint

Having decided to reinstall the operating system... to perform Cranial Reconstruction Skill, he settled down to concentrate on the task at hand. Simr to picking pollen in Legal Botany, the majority of the time spent performing cranial reconstruction is filled with busyness: less waiting time, more active operation time, consuming a great deal of the technician¡¯s energy and physical strength. This was also the reason why, after having learned the skill, Jiang Yuan always saved this method forter use. The intensity of thebor was indeed high, much more difficult than modeling a face by hand; it was like crafting a face based on a set of problems where all parameters had to be traceable. For a novice just starting out, it could take several days just to urately measure all the facial data. Even Jiang Yuan, who was fast, had to spend over a week on this. During this period, the over twenty people on Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, along with the several dozen officers from the police station, certainly couldn¡¯t just sit idly by waiting, so they were actively looking for cases to work on. All members of the Jin Family had been arrested, including coteral rtives who should have been rounded up as well, and they had testified about quite a few cases. After the interrogating officers sorted through the information, most of the suspects were sentenced to at least five years in prison. Of the five brothers, the one with the least charges was estimated to face at least ten years of incarceration; those involved in operating the gambling dens could potentially face up to twenty years. The cases involving the women of the Jin Family were numerous as well, but even when punishments werebined, their time of imprisonment was shorter. Some might only need five years before release; however, those proficient in management and more aggressive, like the wife of the fourth brother, who was exposed for usury, violent debt collection, and knife-wielding break-ins causing injury, could end up serving more than fifteen years, with her maternal family members generally facing upwards of ten years in prison. In general, the potential of the Jin Family members had been almostpletely tapped out, and stacking more cases on top wouldn¡¯t add much to their sentences. Wu Junhao and his team gradually shifted their attention toward the Zhang Family... The Jin Family had only been recruited by Zhang Enfan over the past year to exploit their local influence. Compared to that, the other two small gambling dens had been running for a longer time, and many of the personnel involved had connections with the Zhang Family. How could one not be influenced by being in such an environment for a long time? Incidents of brawls and debt-rted violence were unavoidable. Perhaps a few years back, they only ran their dens during festivals, but this year, Zhang Enfan¡¯s gambling dens had be regrized and formalized. For those working inside, the number of criminal activities was certainly increasing, and particrly in the early stages, not even sentences of three to five years would be enough to deter them. The officers at the police station began to grow more proactive. Working on criminal cases can be very rewarding, especially when the cases are sessfully closed, and the suspects caught are particrly despised by everyone, boosting the morale of the officers tremendously. ording to the trendy emotion-value theory, an average good-looking gentlewoman, who is cute and coquettish, speaks eloquently and can cook, provides an emotional value equivalent to the capture and sentencing of a filthy old man in his forties, with a crooked mouth and squinting eyes, who escted from subway harassment to raping young girls. Being openhanded and straightforward, Wu Junhao enjoyed working in high spirits, and the officers under him felt as if they were constantly on a winning streak, simr to an unceasingly victorious team in a love-rted reality show. Departing in the morning from Baidi amidst colorful clouds, A thousand miles to Jiangling returned in a single day. Watching the criminals strung together and boarding the prisoner transport, the officers smiled sincerely, as if they were seeing bountiful fruits hanging on the branches. Not all members of the Zhang Family were as hard-mouthed as Zhang Enfan. In fact, none of them were as hard-mouthed as him. Ordinary members of the Zhang Family were just that¡ªordinary members of the Zhang Family. Although they did get involved in fights and minor thefts, their involvement wasn¡¯t as deep as that of the Jin Family members. If it had not been for Zhang Enfan¡¯s return, leading the family to make quick money, half of the Zhang Family would only have faced administrative detention. But now, of course, that was no longer the case. The small vige gambling dens didn¡¯t earn much, which was due to the poverty of the gamblers; however, the level of addiction and fanaticism among the gambling den customers couldpete with, if not exceed, that ofrger venues. In other words, gamblers who destroyed their homes and rued lifelong debt were not fewer than those atrger dens. Through this, members of the Zhang Family bought houses, cars, married, and raised children, thoroughly enjoying themselves for several years. Now that it was time for incarceration, they too had to face it altogether. Weekend. After working overtime all night, Wu Junhao stretched and, lifting his chin, asked, "I feel like having roujiamo, anyone else not eating?" "I¡¯ll take some," said Jiang Yuan as he walked downstairs, just in time to hear Wu Junhao¡¯s words. Wu Junhao chuckled twice and immediately said, "Great to have a big eater. You didn¡¯t go backst night either?" "I did the final rendering and then produced the image yesterday, so I slept in the office," Jiang Yuan replied. He had a private office in Litang Township Police Station, where he¡¯d bought a camp bed and a sleeping bag, which didn¡¯t affect his sleep. As is well known, the time when a case is about to be solved, especially the moment when key evidence emerges, is also the most dangerous. If a detective were to die, it would most likely be at this time, with injuries far exceeding the count of French army deaths in World War II. Since Jiang Yuan had been performing Skull Restoration Skill for so long, especially on Zhang Enfan, a young Mob boss type who had returned from abroad with an unknown background and could keep his lips sealed, at such a crucial moment, it was certainly more secure to stay within the police station. Wu Junhao only heard that the photo was going to be released and immediately asked, "Is the identity confirmed? Can we do facial recognition?" "Yes." Jiang Yuan took out an A4 sheet from his pocket, with a photo of a pretty girl with a melon seed-shaped face on the front and an ID number on the back. Jiang Yuan handed it to Wu Junhao, saying, "I scanned it with the policework. You guys scan it again and see." The uracy of facial recognition in China had be very high. For instance, traffic police, when checking vehicles, could directly ess the driver¡¯s identity and basic information, including ID number, hotel registration records, and so on, by scanning the face even if the driver didn¡¯t carry their driving license. The likeness produced by cranial reconstruction skill generally looked about 80 percent simr to the actual person, which was considered quite good. After all, many measurements used in the process were averages and couldn¡¯t be exactly perfect. However, this level of uracy was generally sufficient for facial recognition, and if other information such as geofencing corroborated, the identification could be virtually confirmed. After conducting a simple verification, Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help nodding his head in agreement. The ID number was from Shannan Province, and thest known address was in Qinghe City. There were multiple hotel registration records in Qinghe City using the same ID number as well... "Check her WeChat," Wu Junhao nodded to Jiang Yuan and began to instruct his subordinates to carry out the investigation. "Jiao Lina...an orphan, no wonder no one reported her missing," said the police officer as he began searching her WeChat history with authorized backend ess. The WeChat records viewed from the police backend were not like themon WeChat app interface, specifically... Overall, the search by the police would take some time, but Wu Junhao had already begun to mobilize his team. Jiang Yuan meanwhile ordered two roasted whole sheep to be delivered. Both Qinghe City and Changyang City had businesses specialized in catering roasted whole sheep for gatherings, which could be roasted on the spot or delivered pre-cooked for reheating. As long as the price was right, a distance of a few hundred kilometers was not considered too far. Jiang Yuan called a merchant from Qinghe City, which was about an hour away, making it quite convenient. Wu Junhao felt a little embarrassed and said, "I should be the one treating you to dinner..." "Your house hasn¡¯t been demolished," Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissively, adding with emotional intelligence, "Consider it taking from the people and using it for the people." Wu Junhaoughed, rubbing his smooth head with his rough hands, "Then it¡¯s settled. I¡¯ll buy some tbreadter to make sandwiches with the leftover meat; that¡¯ll save some expenses." Suddenly, Wang Chuanxing and others who received the message came to help as well. Little by little, Jiao Lina¡¯s socialwork began to take shape. "She met Zhang Enfan¡¯s aunt when she was working as a salesperson, and through the aunt¡¯s introduction, she had a blind date with Zhang Enfan." "Zhang Enfan kept a mistress in Changyang City and was also dating Jiao Lina, though they were not living together." "Jiao Lina¡¯sst circle of friends post said she was going to Zhongnan Mountain to contemte life... from the timing, it¡¯s very likely it wasn¡¯t posted by herself..." The WeChat records were not surprising, even predictable. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Let Meng Chengbiao do the interrogation, and aim to resolve the case in one fell swoop." In the Cold Case Squad, the 40-something-year-old Meng Chengbiao had the strongest interrogation skills, at least at a level of LV1.8. With adequate preparation, he could even function at a level of LV2. To Jiang Yuan, who had solved moreplicated cases before, this case was quite ordinary byparison. However, the difficulty of the case was not low. Especially trying to establish "irrefutable evidence" and facing a tough criminal like Zhang Enfan increased the difficulty of the case significantly. The technology used by Jiang Yuan for this case, as well as the time invested, in previous cases, would have been enough to resolve two or three cold cases. He too hoped the uing interrogation would sessfully break through Zhang Enfan¡¯s defenses. Otherwise, even with additional evidence, it would be increasingly difficult to obtain a confession. Wang Chuanxing responded and went to notify Meng Chengbiao. Wu Junhao had already started making arrangements to call in Zhang Enfan¡¯s aunt and others for questioning. Compared to the Jin Family, the proportion of women in the Zhang Family who were arrested was much lower. Now, it seemed that their own perspective was too narrow and likely had blind spots. Chapter 642 - 586 Another Person

Chapter 642: Chapter 586 Another Person

"Zhang Enfan, take a look at this photo." Meng Chengbiao sat opposite Zhang Enfan, his presence domineering. Zhang Enfan hung his head, not resisting, silent. Resisting interrogation was also exhausting. For one thing, it was a nine-to-five job, during the legally stipted time, the police could summon him for questioning. Secondly, he could scorn thew and use silence to resist interrogation, but the police could talk. They could discuss policy with him, talk about thew, or they could use psychological tactics, swaying him with photos of his family, the bonds of his loved ones. Meng Chengbiao had carefully researched Zhang Enfan¡¯s situation and knew that he did not resist examining the evidence. One might even say Zhang Enfan was eager to actively examine the evidence. So, taking advantage of the moment Zhang Enfan looked up, Meng Chengbiao ced a photo of Jiao Lina in front of Zhang Enfan. Not just any photo of Jiao Lina, but one Meng Chengbiao found in her social circle, liked by Zhang Enfan¡¯s alternate ount¡ªa photo of her in a white dress, the hem fluttering, her smile lively and sincere. Zhang Enfan¡¯s eyes visibly changed. Somewhat fierce, somewhat bleak, like an enraged wolf in a circus, wanting to bare its teeth, yet its chains did not even clink. "A girl in the prime of her youth shouldn¡¯t have met such a fate," Meng Chengbiao continued, cing another close-up photo of Jiao Lina¡¯s smiling face in front of Zhang Enfan. The close-up, also from Jiao Lina¡¯s social circle, was a bit yful, a tad confident. Meng Chengbiao went on, "Jiao Lina was an orphan, without the love of parents. Her original hope must have been to find a true loving partner..." He ced down a photo from Jiao Lina¡¯s Cranial Reconstruction Skill procedure. The image from the cranial reconstruction carried the forensic doctor¡¯s characteristic chill, devoid of smiles, and even less so of a living person¡¯s emotions. Zhang Enfan froze for a moment. This photo always felt a bit strange to him, involuntarily bringing back some memories. Meng Chengbiao put down onest photo without saying a word. It was a photo of Jiao Lina¡¯s skull. The stark white skull was slightly yellowed, its empty eye socketsrge and deep, the nose without its bridge pear-shaped, and the central vomer bone as thin as paper, bent and twisted. Whoosh. Zhang Enfan¡¯s handcuffs and shackles stirred. A police officer nearby was about to scold him but was silenced by a gesture from Meng Chengbiao. Giving Zhang Enfan a dozen seconds to think, Meng Chengbiao finally asked, "Tell me, why did you strangle such a girl in the prime of her life?" Zhang Enfan¡¯s expression visibly stiffened, then he looked straight at Meng Chengbiao. Meng Chengbiao inwardly cursed, Zhang Enfan¡¯s expression revealed that he had inadvertently provided him with unexpected information. What was it? Was he dissatisfied with the "prime of her life" that he had mentioned? Or was the description of being strangled incorrect? The determination that the death was by strangtion had been made by Jiang Yuan. Meng Chengbiao had never doubted it, and there was no way Zhang Enfan could be unaware of his own method of killing... "She was strangled?" Zhang Enfan spoke for the first time after many days of interrogation. No matter what, this was a breakthrough in the interrogation. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, but he ultimately decided to trust Jiang Yuan and affirmed, "Yes, she was strangled." Zhang Enfan gritted his teeth, making a grinding sound. Meng Chengbiao resisted the urge to speak. He knew that if he chose the right angle of attack now, he might have a chance to breach Zhang Enfan¡¯s defenses. However, Zhang Enfan¡¯s earlier expression had already proven that selecting the right angle of attack was risky. And if he didn¡¯t ask questions now, he might get a chance to wait for Zhang Enfan to open up again, providing information that would aid his judgment... "They told me it was an ident," Zhang Enfan spoke again, indeed offering new information, but its magnitude left one unsure how to proceed. "Who are they?" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice was gentle. "My aunt." Zhang Enfan said, "My third aunt." In Meng Chengbiao¡¯s mind, the image of a traditional rural woman emerged. This must be the aunt who introduced Jiao Lina to Zhang Enfan. "What did she say?" "She slipped and broke her neck walking down the mountain road on a rainy day. I was out of town, and by the time I got back, it was toote to see her." Zhang Enfan¡¯s response was sinct, yet he captured the crucial points very well, and a contemtive look began to appear in his eyes. Meng Chengbiao asked, "Why didn¡¯t you report it to the police?" "She worked as the ountant for a casino. That day she was carrying money down the mountain, and she fell not far from the casino, so we couldn¡¯t report it to the police." Zhang Enfan paused, then continued, "She had an ount in her name and was carrying several hundred thousand yuan. The money wasn¡¯t missing..." "A girl carrying money down the mountain?" Meng Chengbiao asked. Zhang Enfan¡¯s eyes hardened as he slowly said, "My little nephew was with her." Meng Chengbiao quickly recalled the rted familial rtions and said, "Your nephew is your third aunt¡¯s grandson?" "Yes... My third aunt only has this one grandson. Zhang Haobin." Zhang Enfan¡¯s eyes narrowed, and after a moment, he slowly said, "He¡¯s almost 20 years old, strong and well-built, crude andscivious." ... In the conference room, the police officers looked at each other. The case had made a significant breakthrough, which was undoubtedly great, but the direction of this breakthrough waspletely unexpected. After finishing the interrogation, Meng Chengbiao came back, sorting through the materials while saying, "Although Zhang Enfan had many reasons to kill Jiao Lina, and there were witnesses saying he was decisive and might have killed before, he had no reason to make up a story that would damage the reputation of his family and himself." "Unless it was to take out his own nephew, Zhang Haobin," said Wang Chuanxing. "Zhang Haobin in the Zhang family gang is the type that¡¯s all muscle and no brains, posing no threat to Zhang Enfan," Meng Chengbiao said. "What about Zhang Haobin¡¯s third aunt and her family?" Jiang Yuan asked. Meng Chengbiao said, "Pretty much the same. Plus, they no longer have any foundation to vie for power or profits. The whole Zhang family has been caught, and his third aunt¡¯s family will all go to prison too." Wu Junhao nodded in agreement and said, "His third aunt handled quite a bit of money and was one of the operators of a small restaurant, not poor by any means, but she was not prominent within their family." Meng Chengbiao said, "Zhang Enfan is a very strong-willed person and also persistent. He managed to stay silent for so many days, so if he specifically mentioned that Zhang Haobin is strong, crude, andscivious, it must be targeted." "Rape and murder?" Wu Junhao slowly said what everyone had guessed. Meng Chengbiao nodded and said, "Zhang Haobin is 20 this year; three years and two months ago, he was just over 16, the age when sexual curiosity is high. Jiao Lina was beautiful, with a good figure. On a rainy day, her clothes getting wet could have triggered Zhang Haobin¡¯s impulse..." "Would he dare?" someone asked. Meng Chengbiao sighed, "I wouldn¡¯t dare, but judging by Zhang Enfan¡¯s assessment of Zhang Haobin, he thinks Zhang Haobin would." "Rape, murder, then call his parents over to secretly dispose of the body, and inform Zhang Enfan to secretly bury her..." Tang Jia joined the discussion, grinding her teeth with anger, "They¡¯ve gone too far in bullying people!" "Zhang Enfan was kept in the dark," Meng Chengbiao paused, then added, "We must also be wary of Zhang Enfan slipping away. With his current charges, he could still get out, but if he gets tied to a murder case, then it¡¯s not possible." Even if Zhang Enfan turned himself in, with so many charges stacked up, if he was involved in the murder case, it would almost certainly mean the death penalty. Conversely, if the murder case were set aside, even if he had to stay a long time in prison, he would at least be alive. "Split up for the interrogation. Pay attention to technique," Jiang Yuan directed Meng Chengbiao. The body had been washed before burial, and with over three years gone by, it¡¯s very hard now to technically pin the crime on anyone in the Zhang family. In the previous cases, several people had reasons to lie, pointing the finger at others. When ying games like Werewolf or Murder Mystery, you can easily decide on the verdict, but for such a serious murder case, the evidence must be scrutinized. The interrogation records are the same. Meng Chengbiao slowly nodded, his expression grave. Chapter 643 - 587: Send Him to His Death

Chapter 643: Chapter 587: Send Him to His Death

Regarding the death of Jiao Lina, the Zhang Family were all tight-lipped. However, after a detailed analysis of the case, the members of the Cold Case Squad realized that the only ones qualified to keep mum were Zhang Enfan¡¯s maternal aunt, Zhang Xin, and her family. This included Zhang Xin and her husband, their son and daughter, and their little nephew Zhang Haobin. The rest of the family didn¡¯t know the details. All the information came from Zhang Xin and her people. On the day of Jiao Lina¡¯s death, only Zhang Haobin was by her side. Zhang Haobin had called Zhang Xin¡ªshe was the one who raised him, as Zhang Haobin¡¯s parents had been working out of town for years. They only returned after Zhang Enfan¡¯s "career was sessful". Zhang Xin did not make a big fuss to notify others, instead, she just called her own husband, son, and daughter. She didn¡¯t even call the son¡¯s wife or the daughter¡¯s boyfriend. Just by themselves, they dragged Jiao Lina back to the small restaurant, which was also the temporary gambling house. The reason for not dragging her back to the vige but instead to the small restaurant was very sufficient. Firstly, they were closer to the small restaurant at the time. It was also more remote and easier to control. For the Zhang family, they could go directly into the backyard, invisible to anyone. Secondly, Jiao Lina had tens of thousands of cash on her, which even for a small gambling house was not a small sum. For a gambler blinded by losing, that amount could lead to a fight to the death. Even among the members of the Zhang family, there were many who were no-gooders. Even those who helped with the gambling business, earning only twenty to thirty thousand a month, could be envious at the sight of tens of thousands in cash. Most importantly, what if there were mistakes in the ounting and it caused trouble for fellow family member Zhang Haobin or Zhang Xin? Therefore, the first thing Zhang Xin did after bringing Jiao Lina back to the gambling house was to recheck the ounts and lock the money back into the safe. This step, from the perspective of the Zhang family, was not only meless but could even be seen as a timely response. However, due to this, the original crime scene where Jiao Lina died was effectively lost. After the heavy rain washed it away, no traces were left¡ªof course, the crime scene was also directed by Zhang Haobin, so if we talk about his suspicion, the scene itself bes unreliable. Likewise, the first 24 hours after Jiao Lina¡¯s death were wasted. The small gambling house did not have any professional financial system. There was only one ountant, a rtive of a rtive who had been deceived from outside. He received a high sry every month to do a job akin to one that an idiot would do. With this cashier dead, tens of thousands of yuan in the ounts had to be rechecked, along with the new iing and outgoing ounts. There was so much to add up that the ountant had to work overtime all night. The body, of course, was something this rtive wouldn¡¯t have the right to see. In the beginning, he didn¡¯t even know what had happened; he was merely told to check the ounts. It wasn¡¯t until after the ounts had been checked that Zhang Xin informed the family about the situation, and under her suggestion, they decided to manage the body first and then notify Zhang Enfan. Because Zhang Enfan was out discussing business, and since Jiao Lina, as one of his girlfriends, was already dead, a dy of a dozen hours more or less didn¡¯t seem that important. Even managing the body couldn¡¯t be made public. They had to do it covertly. Before Zhang Xin had discussed it with the family members, her daughter had already helped to bathe Jiao Lina, change her clothes, roll her into a body bag, and hide her in a corner of the courtyard. By then, over 30 hours had passed since Jiao Lina¡¯s death, and rigor mortis had already ended. In fact, after the rain in the sweltering weather, not only did rigor mortis end before 24 hours, but the decay process was also faster than usual. Wrapped in the body bag, and without being ced in a cold storage, the decay would only elerate. By the time Zhang Enfan received the message and returned to Litang Township, over 48 hours had passed since Jiao Lina¡¯s death. The dposition was so advanced that it was difficult to approach, and they had to use a lot of chemicals to mask the smell. To avoid rming the police, Zhang Enfan and his people could only bury Jiao Lina¡¯s body hastily at the edge of the Zhang family ancestral grave. Not until Jiang Yuan re-examined the body did Zhang Enfan begin to give this matter serious thought. The exnation provided by his aunt¡¯s family was just an unfortunate ident. Zhang Enfan was somewhat heartbroken but notpletely unable to ept what had happened. He even had to thank his aunt¡¯s family for their help. Not every rtive would help deal with a body for you. It was not until Meng Chengbiao¡¯s interrogation that it presented to Zhang Enfan an utterly uneptable truth. One of his girlfriends, who had been a public lover of his, might have been killed by his nephew Zhang Haobin through sexual assault, and when Zhang Enfan became aware of this, he was still struggling to remain silent during the interrogation for the benefit of the Zhang family. Zhang Enfan wanted Zhang Haobin dead. On this point, his interests aligned with those of the police. Meng Chengbiao had noticed this and decisively used it to his advantage. Originally, Zhang Enfan was only willing to reveal clues rted to Zhang Haobin. But soon, the emergence of multiple pieces of evidence prompted Zhang Enfan to start providing various clues about the family of Aunt Zhang Xin, the main person in charge of one of the three gambling houses. As the charges against her mounted, and it became evident that they wereing from Zhang Enfan, Zhang Xin had no choice but to start fighting back. Unfortunately for her, Meng Chengbiao did not take her counterattacks back to Zhang Enfan. Utilizing the prisoner¡¯s dilemma to have the prisoners snitch on each other, allowing the interrogators to benefit from both ends, is one of the most fundamental strategies in interrogation methods, perhaps even moremonly applied than the "good cop, bad cop" technique. This time, however, Meng Chengbiao made a point of taking notes, creating a one-way transparent scenario on purpose. He did this to prevent Zhang Xin from using the release of information tomunicate with Zhang Enfan. After all, Zhang Xin knew many things about Zhang Enfan. If she spoke recklessly, Zhang Enfan would suffer greatly. Therefore, the answers given by Zhang Xin could very likely be warning in nature or contain some sort of coded information that only they would understand. Regardless of whether Zhang Xin¡¯s skill level could reach such a stage, Meng Chengbiao instinctively discarded the prisoner¡¯s dilemma approach, adopting a precautionary mindset. After all, the more information Zhang Xin and Zhang Enfan provided, the heavier it weighed. So why needlessly employ the prisoner¡¯s dilemma to instill fear? In the interrogation room, the interrogating officers already have the upper hand. Meng Chengbiao also has an LV1.8 interrogation skill. Once Zhang Enfan¡¯s silence broke, the entire Zhang Family was no match for him. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s professional abilities were quite remarkable. Across Qinghe City Bureau, few interrogation talents could match Meng Chengbiao¡¯s level. Of course, Meng Chengbiao originally belonged to therger pond of Changyang City, but he was also a backbone member of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. For an interrogation officer of his level, Zhang Enfan was a tough nut to crack¡ªnow that the nut had cracked, the rest of the Zhang family was easily handled. With the umtion of collected clues and obtained information, Meng Chengbiao began to re-interrogate Zhang Xin¡¯s husband, daughter, son, and grandson Zhang Haobin. Their defenses, too, started to copse step by step. In the meeting room of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, smiles were increasingly seen on everyone¡¯s faces. Jiang Yuan began mulling over new cases, Wu Junhao started training the team members again, and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile grew wider... Just as the final criminals of Litang Township were about to face the fatal blow, on the brink of total annihtion, the hurried footsteps of Meng Chengbiao once again hit the pause button. "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve got two pieces of news, one good and one bad," Meng Chengbiao said as he knocked on the door and entered, not really ying the good news, bad news game, and immediately added, "The good news is that Zhang Haobin has basically confessed. He¡¯s the one whomitted rape by force and then strangled Jiao Lina." Jiang Yuan frowned, "What¡¯s the bad news?" "The bad news," Meng Chengbiao said with a serious expression, "is that Zhang Haobin and his parents im that he was not yet 16 years old, three years and two months ago." Suspects under 16 must still bear criminal responsibility but will receive lighter punishment. In other words, he wouldn¡¯t be eligible for the death penalty. "The birth certificate was lost?" Jiang Yuan repeated the question and asked, "How much time was he under 16?" "He was two months shy of 16." Meng Chengbiao also seemed regretful. Such a crude teenager, not even 20, if he were let out in society, who knows how many more people he would harm. Better to send him to his death. Chapter 644 - 588: Dig Deep

Chapter 644: Chapter 588: Dig Deep

There are numerous methods to deduce age through forensic science. Summarizing them... someone even wrote a book about it, the kind that spans several hundred pages. Basically, from teeth to finger bones to pubic bones to the six major joints to DNA and mitochondria, there¡¯s a way to infer age for all of them. For living individuals, all imaging techniques can be used to identify age, including X-rays, CT scans, MRI, ultrasound, and so forth. However, different approaches and locations yield different levels of error. To pinpoint an age within a two-month range is not easy. "The hospital or health bureau should have records, I remember helping with that, applying for a recement birth certificate." Shen Yaowei chimed in from the side casually. Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t help but nce at Shen Yaowei and chuckled, "Yaowei is good at getting things done. But for records from 20 years ago, I guess we¡¯ll need to do quite a bit of digging." "Then let¡¯s have a look. Can you manage it, Yaowei?" Jiang Yuan pointed to Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei responded and took out his phone, saying, "I¡¯ll make a call and ask around first." Next to him, Wu Junhao suggested, "I think we can also search the residences of Zhang Xin and the others again. The birth certificate is very important, and it might not necessarily have been thrown away. When we captured them, they probably didn¡¯t anticipate this." "Agreed, you can lead a team to go search." Jiang Yuan concurred. Meng Chengbiao cleared his throat twice and said, "I have another idea." "Oh, go ahead, Team Meng," Jiang Yuan invited, with his hands on the table, looking at Meng Chengbiao. "This Zhang Haobin, I checked his file, and just in recent years, because of fighting and hooliganism, he¡¯s been in and out of the police station no small number of times. However, the Zhang family has money, and they usuallypensate quite promptly, so the consequences haven¡¯t been too severe..." Meng Chengbiao paused here, then cleared his throat again, saying, "The words Captain Wu mentioned earlier made me suddenly think¡ªcould the Zhang family have fabricated details on the birth certificate? Could these cases also involve fraud?" Jiang Yuan asked, "For example?" "Having someone else take the me? Or maybe after injuring someone, they just run off, and the victim might not recognize them and can¡¯t track them down..." Meng Chengbiao looked at Jiang Yuan, then at the silent Director Tang Xiaobo beside him, seeing that neither of them showed signs of disagreement, he continued, "Zhang Enfan¡¯s assessment of his nephew Zhang Haobin was that he is rough and lecherous. What I¡¯m wondering is whether or not he knows about Jiao Lina¡¯s case. If his assessment doesn¡¯t take Jiao Lina¡¯s case into ount, then how does it manifest? When Zhang Enfan evaluates his own nephew, he surely wouldn¡¯t do so on a whim. There¡¯s no need for that; he could have just said it outright, right?" Everyone fell into deep thought. Jiang Yuan, in particr, nodded inwardly. It¡¯s said that experienced detectives are inherently suspicious¡ªbased on Meng Chengbiao¡¯sments, a suspicion level of LV1.5 would undoubtedly be appropriate. Jiang Yuan asked, "Do you think he hasmitted other offences?" "He¡¯s definitely been involved in many cases already," Meng Chengbiao was now fully engaged and quite forthright. "Now, the question is whether he¡¯s had the opportunity tomit a major offence. I think it¡¯s very likely, not just based on Zhang Enfan¡¯s assessment but also, considering his personality. A young man who likes to resolve things with violence, who has attempted rape and murder before, is he likely tomit simr crimes again?" The detectives present nodded softly. As the saying goes, "A prodigal who returns is more precious than gold," but domestically mined gold of ordinary quality contains only 2g per ton of ore and is rarely seen by detectives. Most violent criminals they encounter are habitual offenders. For example, a man whomits domestic violence isn¡¯t likely to do it just once. Only those violent criminals who serve long sentences might change, but not necessarily because of a change in beliefs¡ªit might be that the long duration of their imprisonment alters their behavioral habits. Additionally, as they age, the levels of hormones like testosterone in their bodies decrease, which can make them less violent. And rapists are particrly prone to bing repeat offenders. Choosing tomit rape already indicates ack of control over desires, and those desires will undoubtedly surface again and again. If they weren¡¯t punished for their first offence, it¡¯s not iprehensible for them tomit a second or a third offence when their desires peak. "How do you propose we investigate?" Jiang Yuan felt that Meng Chengbiao¡¯s theory was sound, but how to actually proceed and from which angle to investigate was the real issue at hand. The first thing that came to Meng Chengbiao¡¯s mind was interrogation, and he suggested, "I think we can question Zhang Enfan; he might know something. Also, perhaps we could bluff the Zhang family?" Wang Chuanxing said, "Ordinary members of the Zhang family probably don¡¯t know anything; I¡¯m afraid Zhang Xin¡¯s family wouldn¡¯t turn in their own grandson or son." Meng Chengbiao had to admit that this was indeed a concern. Getting Zhang Xin and others to confess to Zhang Enfan¡¯s actions was difficult enough, let alone their direct descendants. "However..." Meng Chengbiao was a bit unwilling to let it go, saying, "Zhang Xin¡¯s family, they handled the corpse very well too. They knew when rigor mortis would set in, knew how to clean the body, and also knew how to make it dpose more easily, how long to leave it..." "Indeed, they¡¯re bolder than the average person," Jiang Yuan nodded. Mu Zhiyang said, "There are old people in the vige who can dress the deceased in their burial clothes; Zhang Xin isn¡¯t young and should have helped out before." "That¡¯s also a reason," Jiang Yuan replied, acting like a reed swaying with the wind. From his perspective, the deductions made by the group were all reasonable, and there were also grounds for refutation. Overall, further investigation was needed. But to tell the truth, with the progress of the case at this stage, it would be appropriate to conclude the investigation. Simply pursuing a heavy punishment seemed like a bit of a waste of resources... however, digging deeper around a person or a series of events was also one of the ways to crack a case. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan lightly tapped the table twice and said, "Team Meng, continue the interrogation ording to your thoughts. Wang Chuanxing, go through the assault and sexual assault cases from thest two or three years, not just those from Litang Township, but also from the surrounding areas. Bring them to meter; there shouldn¡¯t be too many." After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan added, "Also, go through the missing persons cases thoroughly and organize them as well." Litang Township is also part of Ningtai County, which meant that all major local cases had already been screened by Jiang Yuan. However, Jiang Yuan had initially screened the cases for the entire county; some less serious injuries that did not meet the standard for major cases, simple cases of indecency, or cases outside of the county, were all excluded from the scope. Additionally, if a woman like Jiao Lina had no rtives and nobody to earnestly look for her after she went missing, the police would also be in the dark. The group agreed and went about their tasks. Although they had objections to each other¡¯s suggestions, when it came to bringing criminals to justice, they were all on the same page. Jiang Yuan was already nning to deal with smaller cases after finishing with the Zhang family¡¯s case, so he was not changing his original intention and continued working. He did not look for cases with scarce evidence; instead, he sought out cases that had gathered ample evidence but had not been further processed. Especially cases of minor assault and indecency. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, cases of minor assault were not difficult to investigate. Generally, such incidents involved mutual fighting due to various reasons. If no one was injured, it was a typical case of public security, resolved through mediation, apology,pensation, up to 15 days of detention at most. If someone was injured, then the party with the more severe injuries had leverage; a second-degree minor injury led to months in prison, while a second-degree serious injury could mean years in prison. In ces like a county town, it was very likely that the fighting parties knew each other, or one could easily find out who was involved with just a few questions. The difficulty in handling these cases did not lie in the investigation. Those who ran away and couldn¡¯t be found were more interesting. Jiang Yuan specifically focused on such cases, using the same method as before: he memorized the Zhang family members¡¯ fingerprints, footprints, and other information, then directlypared them with photos from the cases. In less than a day, Jiang Yuan actually found a match in an indecency case, or rather, it could be considered an attempted rape case! Zhang Haobin¡¯s fingerprints appeared on the victim¡¯s personal backpack, but they hadn¡¯t been matched before due to the difficulty ofparison. Of course, a single case of indecency was not enough to be convincing. Just as Jiang Yuan was pondering whether to persist or to seek an alternative approach, Meng Chengbiao returned, bringing with him the so-called "curse of Zhang Enfan." "This guy now wants to make meritorious contributions," Meng Chengbiao said with a chuckle, then his expression turned serious, "He says that Zhang Haobin had several girlfriends, some of whom have gone missing." Chapter 645 - 589: Excellent

Chapter 645: Chapter 589: Excellent

Jiang Yuan and his team were fully prepared for thetest developments, seriously dividing into several squads to follow the leads of Zhang Haobin¡¯s several ex-girlfriends and investigating them separately. As it turned out, there was no need. If the Zhang Family¡¯s heads, such as Zhang Xin, still had a sense of counter-surveince, the 20-year-old Zhang Haobin, once the fearless scion of Litang Township¡¯s Zhang Family, was arrogant to the point of wanting everyone to know how awesome he was. He never hid his activities, especially not when it came to having beautiful girlfriends. For Zhang Haobin to set his social media profile to "semi-public" for six months was already a disy of respect for his current girlfriend. As his several mobile phone numbers were exposed, almost all of Zhang Haobin¡¯s movements and timelines could be found on various social media tforms. Text and photos, sometimes videos, were avable without the need for police to toil in their search. When the police brought photos and names to interrogate Zhang Haobin again, hepletely fell apart and confessed in detail to the murder methods and the burial sites. It should be said, Zhang Haobin had already crumbled once before; it was only because his family had given him a preemptive warning that he managed to hold on a little longer. However, when a new set of evidence emerged, Zhang Haobin¡¯s defenses utterly copsed. The 20-year-old Zhang Haobin didn¡¯t quite understand the difference between the death penalty, a reprieve, and life imprisonment. With his personality, he fantasized a life of luxury and pleasure. Rather than being locked in prison for 20 years,ing out at 40, he would prefer... This thought, people at 40 generally disagree with, but that¡¯s how a 20-year-old thinks. Most importantly, Zhang Haobin wasn¡¯t immediately facing the death penalty, and with Meng Chengbiao¡¯s coaxing and provoking, Zhang Haobin slipped up. He didn¡¯t realize that for the police, there was a huge gap between filing a case and solving one. Especially with burial cases, if the murderer keeps tight-lipped, sometimes the body really can¡¯t be found. In such cases, even if the death penalty can be handed down, it might be dyed for a long time. Of course, with so much information exposed, facing Jiang Yuan, it was very difficult for Zhang Haobin to achieve this goal. So he copsed, and copsed. It could be considered a time and energy saver for both parties. From this perspective, Zhang Haobin was also wise. Given his modus operandi whenmitting crimes, if Jiang Yuan were to scrutinize him closely, he wouldn¡¯t havested long anyway. Wu Junhao led his team to the location Zhang Haobin had indicated. They indeed found two women¡¯s bodies under a cliff. "This guy had quite a n in mind, intending to find some detonatorster to copse this cliff, and then these bodies would have been even harder to find," Meng Chengbiao, who came with Jiang Yuan to examine the bodies, recalled the information Zhang Haobin had confessed, feeling a chill. "No matter how well he hides the bodies, what use is it if he himself gives it away," Wu Junhao said, but he also felt that Zhang Haobin¡¯s n was cruelly sophisticated. If he had actually managed to copse the cliff, thousands of tons of earth and rock would bury the site. The depth could be more than ten meters, and even if the ce was known, it would not be easy to dig them out again. "He nned to st the cliff... was he nning to bury more bodies underneath?" Jiang Yuan looked at the position of the graves, very close to the cliff, which didn¡¯t seem to be chosen randomly. Meng Chengbiao "hummed" and said, "I think he intended that, but he didn¡¯t express it explicitly." Umitted crimes couldn¡¯t be convicted, so Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t keep holding onto them. "Neither of the victims¡¯ families reported the missing girls?" Jiang Yuan stood waiting, with two forensic assistants and two young police officers digging ahead. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s face grew darker: "The two girls he picked were both orphans." "Huh?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised. "When a fool turns into a devil, that¡¯s what happens. His first crime might have been coincidental, but after that, it became a pattern," Meng Chengbiao said coldly, "like a ritual." The police officers on the scene instantly grasped his meaning; many criminals actually have simr tendencies, especially the less educated ones. He didn¡¯t understand why, nor did he want to know why. They justmitted crimes following their sessful experiences, and by fluke, they often managed to avoid detection for a time. Meanwhile, some criminals with higher education levels often liked to innovate, and in changing their methods, they often ended up incriminating themselves. "It¡¯s been dug up," reported the forensic assistant. Jiang Yuan and the others approached and began to carefully shovel away the dirt, collecting the skeletal remains from the grave. The death time for both bodies was less than two years, meaning Zhang Haobin had only killed his two previous girlfriends in thest two years. Why there was such a change was probably due to some unique psychological journey of his own, but Jiang Yuan and his team didn¡¯t care. For such people, as long as you could ensure their execution, that was enough; understanding more would only bring more frustration. During the process of collecting the bones, a luminescent blue dumpling flowed into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands: Yu Dongyue¡¯s legacy: Japanese Makeup Art (LV2)¡ªYu Dongyue considered her face a canvas, painting on it a blueprint for hope. She often fantasized about being a princess, an ugly duckling, dreaming her parents would descend from heaven and take her away... But her fantasies never became reality. Only when she made herself up seriously, would men treat her seriously¡ªhow she wished she could rise on the wind, bing a free and easy swan... Jiang Yuan silently collected the legacy, counted Yu Dongyue¡¯s bones, found the hyoid, and confirmed its fractures, that was it. ... With the deepening of the interrogation, the number of cases involving the Zhang Family turned out to be many times that of the Jin Family. It was then that Jiang Yuan could understand why the old detectives used to value pre-trial investigations so much. For a long time, many police stations had treated the pre-trial division as the core for solving cases. Catching a veteran thief and digging deeper, finding more cases, naming more suspects, linking one to another, there wasn¡¯t any need to spend time and effort solving the cases, and the quantity of solved cases was even higher. Take the Zhang Family, for example; with rtives spread across several families, nearly a hundred people could end up in prison, with the longer-term convicts facing execution, and the median sentence would have to be upwards of five years. Jiang Yuan could imagine that four or five yearster, when the people of the Zhang Family and Jin Family began to gradually "graduate" from prison, the officers at Litang Township Police Station would definitely be overwhelmed with work. In fact, the best approach would be to keep the Zhang Family and Jin Family living in a separate area, which would also facilitate the provision of necessary police support, and if needed, even their dining and daily consumption could be arranged, and a certain amount of work provided, like in simplebor-intensive industries... "Chuanxing, let¡¯s work on new cases," Jiang Yuan called Wang Chuanxing over to continue helping him organize the cases. Even small cases have all their essentials; searching through them alone was far too inefficient. Wang Chuanxing seemed quite enthusiastic. Phrases like "eradicating evilpletely" were still very attractive to detectives. Following Jiang Yuan on cases, they could achieveprehensive results, which everyone intuitively felt good about. Moreover, as the Litang Township¡¯s police stationpleted a rapid andrge number of cases, continually reporting the achievements also caught the attention of superiors. Soon, Cui Xiaohu once again arrived in Ningtai County... Litang Township with a full smile on his face. Station Chief Tang Xiaobo greeted therade from the ministry with a bewildered face. As a veteran police station chief rooted in the countryside for more than twenty years, Tang Xiaobo had rarely seen any provincial officials, and it was his first time ever seeing staff from the ministry. If he were a decade or so younger, Tang Xiaobo might have other thoughts, but at his current age and work status, he only found it outrageous. Looking at Cui Xiaohu¡¯s smile, Tang Xiaobo couldn¡¯t help wondering: We¡¯re all working at the police station, you guys are even just temporary workers, howe all you colleagues are so exceptional? Chapter 646 - 590: Riding on Faces to Deal Damage

Chapter 646: Chapter 590: Riding on Faces to Deal Damage

In front of the many police officers at the station, Cui Xiaohu asked Jiang Yuan, "Where is Wu Junhao, Captain Wu?" "Bureau Wu... is now Deputy Director Wu." Jiang Yuan turned and called out, and beside him, Mu Zhiyang smiled and pulled Wu Junhao out. Wu Junhao, prompted by habit, wiped his bald head and was ready to shake hands when he quickly rubbed them on his pants instead. Cui Xiaohu, not at all put off, took Wu Junhao¡¯s hand firmly and shook it several times,ughing, "I¡¯ve met Captain Wu before, and seeing you again now, I can only say, ¡¯the real person is truly beyond his reputation.¡¯ Wu Junhao was slightly taken aback, cautiously asking, "What does ¡¯the real person is truly beyond his reputation¡¯ refer to?" Cui Xiaohu couldn¡¯t help looking at Jiang Yuan, "You didn¡¯t inform Bureau Wu?" "The report was quite urgent," Jiang Yuan exined with a smile. Cui Xiaohu clicked his tongue twice, still holding Wu Junhao¡¯s hand, and said, "Bureau Wu... it¡¯s not really my ce to exin this to you, but recently our ministry organized a summer public security crackdown, also known as the Hundred Days Campaign, and Captain Jiang¡¯s submitted list includes you as one of the key leaders." "Ah... this..." Wu Junhao somewhat caught his breath. Cui Xiaohu continued with a smile, "What I mean is, your side only joined halfway through the summer crackdown, but in just one month, you achieved the number one crime-fighting target in the country. Your aplishments are too outstanding; the leadership has nothing but praise..." Wu Junhao knew what Jiang Yuan was doing, but upon hearing Cui Xiaohu¡¯s words, he still froze and said, "Number one in the country?" At this moment, Cui Xiaohu wasn¡¯t joking, pulling out a leather notebook and flipping it open before looking up, "In the ranking of county-level police stations, you¡¯re absolutely the first. As of my departure..." Cui Xiaohu nced down, then looked up and said solemnly, "The Litang Township Police Station in Qinghe City Ningtai County of Shan Nan Province, during this summer public security crackdown, solved a total of 468 cases, criminally detained 287 individuals, arrested 253 people, and took down a criminal organization with characteristics of a mafia led by Zhang Enfan, based on familial and local connections, involving up to 63 individuals..." After reciting the notebook without pause, Cui Xiaohu then revealed a smile and added, "You¡¯ve also cracked a series of murder cases, exonerating three victims. Upon hearing this, the ministry¡¯s leaders stated that Litang Township Police Station has done the work of another county¡¯s yearly case-solving with the strength of one station." Wu Junhao¡¯s expression shifted, finding it hard to speak for a good while, before finally looking at Jiang Yuan and letting out a sigh, "I am truly unworthy." "It doesn¡¯t affect anything. Your merit is yours, and my merit is still mine," Jiang Yuan smiled. Cui Xiaohu also said, "Jiang Yuan has already been mentioned in front of the leadership, but Deputy Director Wu, your name has also attracted a lot of attention this time." "Ah, I really am unworthy, truly unworthy," Wu Junhao sighed again and again, unable to truly refuse. For him, without his career or his Bald Strike Team, he would lose everything. Could he really go work for a privatepany? Taking on a job that sounds like 007 but in reality is less meaningful than aborer¡¯s, merely selling time for survival? To the point where even exercising, or maintaining one¡¯s health, has be a luxury in life." "The leadership sees all of your hard work. Director Tang has worked hard too," Cui Xiaohu said as he shook hands with Tang Xiaobo. It was a firm handshake. Tang Xiaobo wasn¡¯t overwhelmed by the favor, but he truly felt an array of emotions within. Such a leader¡¯s hand to shake hade to him because of Jiang Yuan and Wu Junhao. Tang Xiaobo also knew that perhaps it was simply to make Jiang Yuan and Wu Junhao happy that the handshake happened. He couldn¡¯t help but feel a sense of wistfulness. "Everyone has been Han Xin at one point, everyone has been humiliated by a young bully in their vige, yet very few will ever meet their own Xiao He." Even Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions this time could be described as ¡¯chasing Han Xin under the moon.¡¯ Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities were beyond doubt, but as the King of Han once asked, ¡¯Generals flee every day, you don¡¯t chase them, why chase after Han Xin alone?¡¯ Exnations are useless. Xiao He proved Han Xin¡¯s uniqueness from other generals with his relentless pursuit for three days and nights. Jiang Yuan was also proving Huang Qiangmin¡¯s distinctiveness with his long-term hard work. Cui Xiaohu was the one sent from the higher-ups who understood the signal, and the very appearance of Cui Xiaohu was a signal itself. With the awareness of a backdrop, Tang Xiaobo apanied Cui Xiaohu on a tour of the station, giving special attention to the young version of the Bald Strike Team trained by Wu Junhao. The Bald Strike Team members, who had been eating chicken breast for two weeks, had bulked up a bit where they could, and slimmed down a bit where they should, looking as if they had undergone two weeks of military training at The Great Learning, slightly resembling the real deal. Cui Xiaohu gave them a warm praise and after taking another round, settled down next to Jiang Yuan in the meeting room. Tang Xiaobo then suggested, "How about we go to a local soup house for lunch and have some soup... " "No rush. I¡¯m still learning from Captain Jiang," Cui Xiaohu said with a chuckle, "Captain Jiang, would it be convenient to take some photos, videos, and stuff for some publicityter on?" Jiang Yuan nced up and asked, "Which type of case would you like to see?" "Anything is fine, I¡¯m not picky. However, the material we shoot might be seen by leaders back home, so we have to be careful during the shooting," Cui Xiaohu reminded him. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. He was a technician, and the process of solving a case was inherently fully verifiable. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s response, Cui Xiaohu let out a sigh of relief and started shaking people over with his phone. Tang Xiaobo felt a surge of admiration rise within him, showing perhaps a bit too much respect, making him question his own past experiences. Soon, several publicity officers carrying cameras came in. Any case that wasn¡¯t public was ssified, and even filming had to be done carefully. Jiang Yuan, as usual, looked over cases at the table, and Cui Xiaohu¡¯s arrival only indicated that they were at the final stage. The publicity officers seemed very professional; they didn¡¯t film the specific contents of the files, setting up cameras in the four corners of the room and positioning them properly before red lights started to glow. Worried that Jiang Yuan might not be at ease, Cui Xiaohu coughed twice and said, "The material we film will certainly be editedter on, and not all of it will be used. We¡¯ll just keep doing what we usually do." Jiang Yuan just grunted in acknowledgement, briefly looking around and nodding at the publicity officers. The others were much more nervous; regardless of whether it would be edited or not, this was material intended for the ministry, which could potentially be promotional material. In other words, their image could be solidified in this way. But no matter what everyone thought, with the red light on and work underway, time ticked away. As the publicity officers began considering how to adjust the filming method, they saw Jiang Yuan turn on hisputer, input something, check something, and then the printer began to rattle. "What just happened?" the publicity officers immediately asked. "There was a familiar fingerprint, I checked it. It should be the right one," Jiang Yuan replied, after signing his name on the printed paper and passing it to Wu Junhao, who began organizing personnel. The publicity officer was taken aback, "What do you mean by a ¡¯familiar fingerprint¡¯?" "Oh, the habitual criminals in Litang Township are only so many, and with time, you start to remember themon fingerprints," Jiang Yuan exined, of course not needing to rify how difficult this was, since the publicity officers touring the country could only nod in confusion. "That... What¡¯s the case about, can you give us a brief?" Cui Xiaohu, who was already familiar with Jiang Yuan, asked, knowing how to get a clearer answer. Jiang Yuan organized his thoughts and replied, "It¡¯s a simple case of breaking and entry, where I analyzed the fingerprints at the suspected entry and exit points and recognized one, so did aparison..." The publicity officers beside him nodded as they listened, unsure if they had actually understood. Jiang Yuan stood up to stretch his body, while also reorganizing some of the printed documents. The publicity officer nudged Cui Xiaohu, and the two took the opportunity to step outside the meeting room. The publicity officer whispered, "Can the leaders ept this kind of material when we take it back?" "Those who are skilled boast with confidence on their faces; that¡¯s normal," Cui Xiaohu said with a calm demeanor, as though he was experienced and well-versed. Chapter 647 - 591: Expansion

Chapter 647: Chapter 591: Expansion

"It¡¯s still best if we could work out some process and refine the details," said the police officer in charge of publicity, turning to discuss with a few of his colleagues. Although their task was just to document some materials, which could be meticulously selected upon their return, it¡¯s certain that if no interesting material was captured at the scene, what could possibly be selected afterward? The case that Jiang Yuan had just handled did indeed broaden the horizons of the publicity officers¡ªnot to exaggerate, but work that impresses them must hold tremendous innovative value, and thus, great publicity value. However, such work should not be filmed too roughly, because even if there might be significant edits required for confidentiality reasons when publicizing, the leaders should not see the edited version when they review it. While thinking, the publicity officermunicated with his colleagues, and soon they each held their equipment, spread out, and started their investigations and evidence collection. This officer was not only interested in Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime-solving methods, but they also wanted to interview and record the practices, thoughts, and emotional journeys of the other team members. The mission of the ministry has never been to nurture countless excellent individuals. Cultivating mature teams, poprizing advanced tactics, and developing practical techniques have always been the key points of their implementation. Of course, the ultimate goal is still to train high-level investigators. Characters like Jiang Yuan are virtually temtes, except that his technical level is so exceptional that even the publicity officers have a hard time keeping up with the pace. "But, if they really memorize the habitual offenders¡¯ physical characteristics, footprints, fingerprints, etc., of this township, then these habitual offenders¡¯ space to survive in their own territory would truly disappear, right?" the publicity officer mused uncertainly after making a round. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t believe it; he had just never seen such a thing before. Cui Xiaohu had never seen it either and now pretended to understand, saying, "Li Huan, what you don¡¯t know is that since this week, Litang Township has hardly had any cases. The frequency of police dispatches has declined, and those who are somewhat ruffian-like and unclean in their dealings have either quietly hidden away in the countryside or have fled far away." "Isn¡¯t that like a crackdown?" the publicity officer, Li Huan,ughed, amused by Cui Xiaohu. Cui Xiaohu was quite serious as he said, "Do you know what the difference is?" "What is it?" "They can¡¯t escape. Now, the police of Litang Township can simply dispatch a few officers for duty each day. The rest are here to review past cases. For any case that Jiang Yuan sets his eyes on, the culprits should just wait to be arrested. It¡¯s only because weck manpower and funding that the arrest numbers are not higher." Li Huan was surprised, "But aren¡¯t there arrests made from out of town?" "You didn¡¯t look carefully; they are all captured from several cities. They umte a bunch of cases now, pick a location with the most fugitives, and then conduct concentrated arrests," Cui Xiaohu paused, then added, "It¡¯s only aftering here that I realized, it¡¯s truly not easy to work at the grassroots level." umting cases before making arrests sounds simple, but it¡¯s actually not easy. On one hand, fugitives might continuously run away. If they ¡¯shoot and scoot,¡¯ arrivingte could mean that the person has already escaped. On the other hand, arresting multiple people at once greatly increases the risk on the way back. Normally, two detectives would take care of one fugitive, treating them well on the way home, providing them with more emotional value than they would even give to their own wives. When dealing with a group of fugitives, just imagining it could give you a headache, all relying on the transportation provided by Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. It¡¯s also because the cases at the police station are minor and the arrested habitual offenders are mostly petty thieves. asionally there¡¯s also a straggler from the Jin Zhang Group, which can offset some of the disadvantages mentioned before. But to be fair, a disadvantage is still a disadvantage, and thisck of funds and personnel wouldn¡¯t ur in ces like Beijing or Shanghai, as their detectives don¡¯t capture fugitives this way. Of course, from another angle, it is precisly because the cases are minor and criminals have a weak sense of vignce that this approach is viable. Having grasped the situation, Li Huan chuckled, "You¡¯re also thinking of asking for funding on behalf of the local police station." "It would be more useful to give Jiang Yuan and his team some funding. So¡ªyou have to shoot well," Cui Xiaohu emphasized, "This is only for a few days. Once this batch of cases is processed, Jiang Yuan and his team will be returning." "Litang Township is cleaner than a crackdown?" Li Huan blinked. "Arge number of cases were solved with incontrovertible evidence, settling historical debts," Cui Xiaohu offered a new definition, then added, "You¡¯ll understand once you¡¯ve seen it¡ªit¡¯s all solid evidence." Li Huan, who had been working on the frontlines of publicity for years, didn¡¯t fully believe Cui Xiaohu¡¯s boasting. He wasn¡¯t very familiar with Cui Xiaohu either; although they both worked in the department, they were usually traveling for business, and he had seen all sorts of boastful leaders. Although he had watched one of Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases just now, he didn¡¯t have any profound understanding of what Cui Xiaohu referred to as ¡¯riding on the face.¡¯ After briefly understanding the situation, Li Huan lifted his camera and stood behind Jiang Yuan again. Jiang Yuan was still poring over fingerprints. The fingerprints he was looking for involved only minor cases, and any that were somewhat "serious" had been handed over. Of course, this was the police¡¯s definition. For ordinary victims, any item qualifying for a case filing was significant and hard to part with. And if injured, it was even worse. Second-degree light injuries were pains most people would not experience in their lifetimes. Most evidence for minor cases was also fairly well established. Nowadays, inspired by the spirit of Shandong, young people are keen on bing "men of spirit" from Shandong, willing to spend time passing exams to be government employees. The quality of young police officers is rapidly surpassing that of their British and American counterparts. The police officers from the local stations and the detectives from the criminal investigation squads, almost all of theme from a few police academies both within the province and beyond. The methods taught for evidence processing at these simr institutions are also quite alike. However, the number of qualified forensic personnel is insufficient and not strong enough. Level 1 forensic personnel are found everywhere in each county bureau, and some veteran detectives might reach Level 1petency just by looking at fingerprints or such things. But as for Level 2petency, most county and even city bureau detectives fall short. For Jiang Yuan, however, processing such evidence was too easy. Li Huan simply watched as Jiang Yuan flipped through pages, then suddenly stopped. Next, he saw Jiang Yuan pull out all the photos of the case and start reading through them again. Feeling that he couldn¡¯t wait any longer, as waiting would once again result in merely watching nkly, Li Huan took advantage of the moment Jiang Yuan paused and asked in a quiet voice, "Have we found simr fingerprints again?" "Oh, this...it¡¯s not..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply was unexpectedly. Li Huan, "Then what are we looking at..." "Well, look at this window, the marks from where it was pried open, and here¡¯s another mark from prying open a window. Are they practically identical?" Jiang Yuan asked Li Huan. Li Huan scrutinized them carefully for a moment and said, "It seems like they might be?" "Yes, the characteristics are actually quite obvious. The culprit used a crowbar, and the edge of his crowbar is missing a small piece... We can do aparisonter on, but it seems there should be no issue with this case," Jiang Yuan said. With Level 6 Tool Trace Identification, he didn¡¯t need it all the time, but when he did, he was almost invariably on point. Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem to be pretending, Li Huan called someone over to take pictures, while asking, "So, does that mean we¡¯ve solved the case?" "Correct." "That was too easy," Li Huan couldn¡¯t help eximing. Cui Xiaohu hurried over and said, "It wasn¡¯t easy. Jiang Yuan has been persistent for a long time, only after bing thoroughly familiar with the entire Litang Township were such results and efficiency possible." "Is that so?" Li Huan looked at Jiang Yuan, feeling this might be worth discussing. Cui Xiaohu eagerly encouraged Jiang Yuan to share his experience. After considering, Jiang Yuan said, "Actually, solving these minor cases at the police station is roughly as difficult as the major cases in the traditional sense. They might be a bit simpler, but not by much. However, our recent work revealed one characteristic of the station¡¯s cases: a high frequency of repeat offenders." Li Huan nodded in agreement. ces like Litang Township were unknown to outsiders, and it was unlikely that transients would even pass through. As for petty thievery, its repetitive nature is inherent. If the thief is a professional, their ¡¯working hours¡¯ naturally won¡¯t be short. Jiang Yuan continued, "After summarizing our experience, we found that solving stand-alone criminal cases is most difficult with the least reward, offering the lowest cost-performance ratio. On the other hand, for a series of cases, if you can find the same or simr modus operandi, tools, or identical footprints or fingerprints, the cases be easier to solve." "That¡¯s a great approach, sort of like the intuition of a veteran detective. You seem to know the cases in your jurisdiction inside out." "Exactly, especially if we¡¯re familiar with previous cases, it¡¯s even more helpful. It¡¯s just that it requires a high initial investment," Jiang Yuan said, smiling. "As for the investment in Litang Township, we¡¯ve already made it, so these past few days we¡¯ve been seizing the moment to harvest our efforts, trying to filter out as many solvable cases as possible to prevent any waste." "On behalf of the residents of Litang Township, I thank you," Li Huan immediately waved the banner of representation. "It¡¯s our duty, and moreover, we¡¯re nning to extend and propagate this method to other ces, like Ningtai County. It could be applied using a simr tactic," Jiang Yuan had really thought this through. Previously, while screening cases in Ningtai County, he prioritized major cases such as homicides and robberies. How to face minor cases had actually be a challenge. This visit to Litang Township had once again increased Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficiency. Without any dy, Jiang Yuan plunged into a new round of case filtering. Just like he said, it was time to pick the fruits ofbor, and not solving cases now would be a waste. Li Huan had the camera crew record a few more shots before leaving the conference room. Following him, Cui Xiaohu asked with a smile, "What do you think? Our Captain Jiang is quite unique, isn¡¯t he? Any thoughts?" Li Huan nodded, saying, "The thieves from Litang Township have really hit rock bottom in their luck." Chapter 648 - 592: The Horse Path

Chapter 648: Chapter 592: The Horse Path

While the film crew was there, Jiang Yuan worked overtime to clean up the cases in Litang Township. To say he was clearing cases was actually more akin to clearing people. Those from Litang Township who had been in prison, in detention, who left behind fingerprints and footprints, almost all had to pass through Jiang Yuan¡¯s scrutiny. Among them, there were always some who would be singled out and be a name on the task list. Mu Zhiyang watched as the young assault team members left with a list and returned with suspects, and inexplicably began to feel sympathy. "To be honest, it¡¯s a bit too cruel," Mu Zhiyang said with a sigh looking at the young, shabbily dressed, wildly haired, attractive tattooed girl, "If it weren¡¯t for Captain Jiang taking action, this girl who merely stole clothes, bags, and money wouldn¡¯t have been caught." "The value of the items involved is more than thirty thousand," Wang Chuanxing said, standing beside him, each holding a Zhonghua cigarette. Mu Zhiyang hummed twice and said, "The clothing store pays less than 3,000 yuan in wages, and they deduct for full attendance too. The girl worked there for half a year and stole over thirty thousand yuan worth of goods, effectively giving herself a monthly raise of more than 5,000 yuan, sigh, it¡¯s not worth it..." "You need to find a girlfriend," Wang Chuanxing patted Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder. "I¡¯ll go on a blind date when I get back," Mu Zhiyang curled his lip and said, "I am of the promising future type now." "Promise me you won¡¯t be a sycophant. I can¡¯t believe you¡¯d say something about giving herself a raise." "A girl who can work continuously for half a year is not bad." "Is it possible that she only worked for a month before quitting, was frequently absent, and then came back after half a year to resign, demanding six months¡¯ wages, and got into a fight with the boss¡¯s wife, which is how she left her fingerprints?" Wang Chuanxing hypothesized, counting on his fingers. Mu Zhiyang slowly nodded and said, "Sounds like someone from Litang Township." "The atmosphere in Litang Township, both past and future Litang residents, will definitely be different," Wang Chuanxing said, taking a drag from the Zhonghua cigarette Jiang Yuan had given him and then fervently extinguishing the butt. Mu Zhiyang maintained his honest smile and said, "You can¡¯t be sure it will be different though, right?" "I will keep an eye on this ce," Wang Chuanxing said calmly but earnestly, "Even if Captain Wu retires, I will still be watching." This was the first township he had cleaned up thoroughly, and even if he returned to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment or found himself elsewhere in the future, Wang Chuanxing would always pay attention to this ce. Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t fully understand Wang Chuanxing, yet he kind of did. ... Jiang Yuan felt his brain was filled with various identity photos of the people of Litang Township. From footprints to fingerprints, from tool marks to vehicle traces, Jiang Yuan recorded arge amount of information in his mind. If he didn¡¯t leave soon, he felt he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold any more. It was mainly because the average number of cases solved each day had plummeted. There were hardly any new cases being generated here; vige bullies like the Jin Family had been caught, local snakes like the Zhang Family had been caught too, transient criminals, and asional violent crimes had no way out, and petty thieves couldn¡¯t find a foothold. The crime ecology is a very important thing; once the ecology has been destroyed, it¡¯s very difficult to proceed with criminal activities. In the current Litang Township, saying "roads will not be strewn with lost valuables" is somewhat an understatement; in theory, "houses do not need to be locked at night" could be achieved. Even if there were criminals or potential criminals who hadn¡¯t been caught, they could only stay home and rot away. The active, diligent, hardworking ones are now mostly in prison, and sometimes there isn¡¯t any news about them, it¡¯s just a positive selection process. Those who were resistant got hit with an iron fist. Those who were pummeled frequently enough by the iron fist for not being reasonable started to seek out reason. Jiang Yuan picked a sunny and breezy afternoon to return to Ningtai County. Task: A Single Feather Overwhelms the Boat, A Multitude of Light Causes the Cart to Break Task Content: Assist Wu Junhao with his work in Litang Township. Task Progress: 535/535 Task Reward: Crime Scene Investigation +1 Crime Scene Reconstruction (Temporary +1 andsts for 535 minutes) This was the task Jiang Yuan received when he was on his way to Litang Township. The fixed reward was Crime Scene Investigation +1, but the temporary +1 in Crime Scene Reconstruction was somewhat special. Theoretically, Crime Scene Reconstruction is actually part of Crime Scene Investigation. However, in practice, Crime Scene Reconstruction is a specialized field in its own right. But indeed, it relies heavily on the conclusions drawn from Crime Scene Investigation. Moreover, not every scene can undergo Crime Scene Reconstruction. It requires a lot of information. For example, if someone rushes into a porcin store with a knife and shes three people, two dogs, one cat, and half an Angora Ferret, then with Crime Scene Investigationbined with Bloodstain Analysis, a very pretty Crime Scene Reconstruction can be done. But if someone slips into a subway station during an afternoon rush hour and slits someone¡¯s throat in an area without surveince cameras, that Crime Scene Reconstruction would be much more difficult. For Jiang Yuan, upgrading his Crime Scene Investigation by one more level would get him to the very top, Level 5, which isparable to Bloodstain Analysis. So, whether it¡¯s leveraging Crime Scene Investigation for a +1 in Crime Scene Reconstruction, or building on Bloodstain Analysis for an additional +1 in Crime Scene Reconstruction, either would briefly reach Level 6. Level 6 is a level that normal detectives can only dream of reaching, and there probably aren¡¯t even a few in the whole country. Considering the wide applicability of Crime Scene Investigation, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but feel fondness for Litang Township. He suddenly wanted to turn around, go back, and work hard there for another half a year to properly give back to the residents of Litang Township. ... Apanying him were Cui Xiaohu and Huang Qiangmin leading the team downstairs to meet them, but there was no sign of Director Chai. Jiang Yuan greeted everyone and didn¡¯t ask Huang Qiangmin about Director Chai until he returned to the office out of curiosity. Usually, Director Chai was quite good at surface-level courtesies, particrly when superiors were visiting, always arranging everything appropriately. His absence was rarely seen. Huang Qiangmin curled his lips and said, "He¡¯s seeking a transfer. I heard he¡¯s hunting for connections to move on." Jiang Yuan was startled, "He¡¯s giving up just like that?" "You¡¯ve made your stance clear, what can he do if he doesn¡¯t give up?" Huang Qiangmin was quite emotional. Director Chai¡¯s biggest demand had actually been to have the rights to sell Jiang Yuan¡¯s services, preferably exclusively, but even at his most arrogant, he had never truly pursued the exclusive right to sell Jiang Yuan. Once Jiang Yuanpletely shut down cooperative attitudes, Chai Tong suddenly realized that not only could he no longer hold his position, but it had also be a burden. The cases in Ningtai County were already few, and he couldn¡¯t direct Jiang Yuan. Dispatching the remaining police officers alone to other ces would really be asking for trouble. Units from other ces would not be pleased, and the local officers would be unhappy... Even if he shut the door to live his own little life, it wouldn¡¯t mean much anymore, with no business inside and the value of a police officer not able to shine through. As for controlling Jiang Yuan, Chai Tong had already lost the initiative. During this period, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t involve himself in the cases Director Chai had sold, and now it seemed Director Chai couldn¡¯t even catch up cleaning up the mess. "He probably still wants to find a ce in advance. It¡¯s also a bit more dignified that way." Huang Qiangmin stopped talking about it and turned to ask Jiang Yuan, "What¡¯s your n?" "I¡¯ll go home and rest for a few more days, then sort out the gains from Litang Township and see if I can write an article," Jiang Yuan had already thought it through. "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good..." Huang Qiangmin nodded repeatedly. After all, Jiang Yuan¡¯s rank was low enough that his request for leave would be more than approved by him. And without Jiang Yuan at the unit, Director Chai had no means of easing the situation. Units that had cases and wished to invite Jiang Yuan, after confirming his attitude and thoughts, would only increase pressure on Director Chai. Jiang Yuan simply handed over his duties and followed his mentor Wu Jun in a set of rituals before heading back to Jiangcun Residential Area. He got home, drank soup, ate meat, yed with the dog... Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan stretched his arms while descending the stairs, only to see Jiang Yongxin standing at the roadside with two middle-aged police officers after taking a stroll around the neighborhood. Upon closer inspection, one was Zhou Ta, a middle-aged auxiliary officer from Zoumadao Police Station whom he had encountered before, and the other was Tan Jing, the chief of Zoumadao Police Station. Jiangcun Residential Area was within Zoumadao Police Station¡¯s jurisdiction, so Jiang Yuan stopped to greet them, "Station Tan, is there something you need?" "I need a favor from you," Station Tan greeted with a full smile and a very direct attitude. "If there¡¯s anything you need, feel free to give the order," Jiang Yuan said with a grin. "I¡¯ve heard about the matter at Litang Township Police Station. They¡¯ve made quite a name for themselves in this year¡¯s summer public safety crackdown," Station Tan took a deep breath and looked toward Jiang Yuan, saying, "Strictly speaking, summer isn¡¯t over yet." Chapter 649 - 593 Typical

Chapter 649: Chapter 593 Typical

Zoumadao Police Station is a suburban police station of Ningtai County, and its jurisdiction includes old apartment buildings that haven¡¯t been demolished, newly built residential areas, as well as ces like Jiangcun Residential Area that are still under development. Not to mention, there are also a number of small factories making aluminum alloy doors and windows, along with moreplex areas around the national and county roads. In fact, aside from a particr scarcity inmerce, the range of management tasks at Zoumadao Police Station is incredibly broad. Theplexity within its jurisdiction goes without saying¡ªthere are all sorts of police dispatch tasks 24 hours a day. asionally, when a criminal case arises, it¡¯s handed over to the criminal police team. Overall, they¡¯re not under substantial pressure to solve cases. However, the umtion of petty cases still adds up to a considerable amount over time. Simr to the Litang Township Police Station, the cases that worry Zoumadao Police Station are those that teeter between administrative penalties and criminal detention. Such cases are easily solved by the criminal police team as well,, considered as taking people in when their numberes up. If the suspect can be found and the case can be solved, they are notified toe in and report themselves. Those with some experience in counter-surveince, however,, asionally manage to escape punishment¡ªnot that they always can, but they possess some legal knowledge and aren¡¯t genuinely fearful of detention centers. Instead, theymit crimes with the least possible repercussions. For the police station, such slippery characters are the source of an array of public security pressures. At least a tenth to a fifth of disputes within the jurisdiction are created by these individuals. There wasn¡¯t much that could be done in the past: just keep working day after day, as the cases would never end. For police officers, it¡¯s unheard of to have no cases on hand. Director Tan had been at Zoumadao for quite some time, just going about his daily work, until he heard the story from Litang Township. Under normal circumstances, Director Tan would have felt ufortable seeking out Jiang Yuan. But with the current summer security crackdown not yetpletely over, and since Jiang Yuan had already helped Litang Township, it seemed quite reasonable for Director Tan to make a bold move and seek help for his own hometown police station. Moreover, as a member of the Ningtai County Bureau, Director Tan also knew that Jiang Yuan was currently in a lull period. If Director Chai were to leave or things otherwise stabilized, Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn¡¯t have time to linger in a small ce like a police station anymore. All things considered, in Director Tan¡¯s view, this was a convergence of the right timing, right ce, and right people. He even specifically brought Zhou Ta, who had dealt with Jiang Yuan before, and asked Jiang Yongxin, the most sessful businessman from Jiangcun Residential Area, to mediate. Jiang Yuan indeed showed a contemtive expression. "If Captain Jiang is avable, you could firste for an inspection visit at our station," Tan Jing cordially invited. Zhou Ta gave a signal with his eyes, and Jiang Yongxin smiled and said, "Brother, right next to Zoumadao Police Station is the xiaolongbao shop. Let¡¯s head over and have something hot to eat." He knew Jiang Yuan well. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "I¡¯ll call my father first." He indeed had no other matters to attend to. Jiang Yongxin immediately waved down an Alphard. Tan Jing, in uniform, and Zhou Ta didn¡¯t get in but resumed their journey in the police car, leading the way. Shortly after, they arrived at... Li Qiang¡¯s Xiaolongbao Store. Ningtai is a small county town, with a limited number and variety of shops, and in terms of categories, it¡¯s iparable to big cities. However, small shops that manage to operate for a long time in a small town usually have some unique secrets. Like this xiaolongbao shop, for example, it was originally named "Hangzhou Xiaolongbao," but now it¡¯s modestly bearing the owner¡¯s name. And their xiaolongbaos are quite delicious; perhaps because of frequent consumption, Jiang Yuan hase to like their slightly translucent but not fully transparent soup skins. Naturally, to enjoy this taste, one must dine in at the shop; takeout would only result in greasy buns at home, which ispletely unappealing. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t had these for a while, so he ordered several baskets at once, savoring them with chili oil and vinegar dip, truly enjoying himself. Tan Jing had already learned about Jiang Yuan¡¯s preferences on the way here, and now he said with a smile, "I¡¯ve beening to this shop for breakfast ever since I started working at the police station. I even conducted several surprise inspections of the owner¡¯s kitchen back then. He uses good meat, it¡¯s pretty good." "Running a shop across from the police station demands some extra attentiveness," said Li Qiang, the owner who clearly recognized Tan Jing, even without a police uniform, and specifically came over to offer several bowls of seaweed and egg drop soup. Tan Jing was reluctant to ept them and declined twice, then said with a smile, "Alright, thanks for the soup, could you send 20 baskets of buns over to the station, just say the station chief is treating everyone today..." He paid for them on the spot. Jiang Yuan, sitting still, was used to eating the buyer¡¯s food. The four of them devoured five baskets of buns in no time, followed by another five, and then five more. After finishing these, Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, showing a look of satisfaction. "Li Qiang¡¯s xiaolongbao, you¡¯d say it¡¯s simple, and it really is delicious. Saying it¡¯s a delicacy might be a bit much, it¡¯s just an ordinary bun shop, but making buns day in, day out for ten years...he¡¯s done it until now," Tan Jing chimed in as he saw that Jiang Yuan was almost done, starting his preamble. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, then added, "Actually, it surpassed the level of an ordinary bun shop right from the start..." "Right, I remember when Li Qiang first started his business, he was still a young fellow..." Tan Jing said, continuing, "The first time we greeted them was when there was a disturbance in his shop caused by someone drinking alcohol." "Drinking at a breakfast shop?" "They came in drunk from the night before, wanted something to eat in the morning, and then wanted to keep drinking," said Tan Jing with augh, "I had just arrived at the police station at the time, and I remember this case quite clearly. The owner would often want to send me xiaolongbao afterwards, and it took several serious talks before he stopped." "How did the case end up?" Jiang Yongxin was actually a bit curious. Tan Jingughed and said, "There¡¯s not much to say about the case. We brought the person back to the station to sober up, gave him a lecture once he was awake, paid the owner for the food, and that was that." Hearing this, Jiang Yuan chuckled. Compared to the public security cases in Litang Township, the cases at Zoumadao Police Station were more typical of a city. "Actually, the most troublesome cases are the various property-rted ones. Nowadays, people really go to extreme lengths to make money. Like that time we concentrated our efforts to specifically crack down on fake alcohol solicitors¡ªwe had great results, but just the investigation phase took over two months, wearing everyone at the station down." Listening to Station Tan¡¯s words, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then asked directly, "What kind of case do you want me to work on now?" Director Tan immediately perked up. He didn¡¯t actually have any specific case in mind. If it was a big case, one with a sentence of a few years, it would have gone to the criminal police team. But, the police station had many cases. Director Tan had sought out Jiang Yuan on the spur of the moment, but immediately as though he had given it deep thought, he said, "You know about the parking lot near the foot of Siningshan, where many scam guides specifically target tourists?" "Of course, our Jiang Vige is right at the foot of Siningshan," Jiang Yuan said, looking up at Director Tan, "The situation with those people must beplicated. Many of them are probably from out of town." "Mainly, we¡¯re just too busy to keep up," Director Tan sighed, "Now people always suspect that these scam guides have some kind of protection or something. Honestly, Ningtai County is only so big, and the valuable tourist areas are just Siningshan and Tai River. If there were any protection, it wouldn¡¯t fall to our station." Jiang Yuan nodded. He had also looked into these types of cases, and indeed, it wasn¡¯t just a problem for the Zoumadao Police Station. "However, this problem does need to be dealt with. Our current trouble is, on one hand, we¡¯re short-staffed at the station, making it hard to gather evidence. On the other hand, these scam guides are transient, constantly changing personnel, not to mention some rental car drivers with fake tes, photographers, fake goods sellers, they alle and go with the tourist seasons. Not only is evidence hard to obtain, but if we only book them for ten days or half a month, I really can¡¯t cope." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, understanding that moreplex cases required several hours of work from the officers at least, and if the sentencing was short, the effects of the crackdown were hard to see. "My thought is to catch a few typical cases, with solid evidence, and harshly sentence a few of them..." Director Tan shared his idea. Jiang Yuan instinctively said, "That might not be necessary." "What?" Jiang Yuan said, "Let¡¯s look at the cases first. But I think, making an example isn¡¯t always effective. The lesson hits harder when itnds on yourself." Chapter 650 - 594: You’ve Been Surrounded

Chapter 650: Chapter 594: You¡¯ve Been Surrounded

Seeing Jiang Yuan agree, Director Tan unexpectedly felt a bit of inexplicable excitement. Although the station was backed up with only minor cases, these small matters could still affect many people. They could also umte pressure and public discontent. On the other hand, it¡¯s quite difficult to find help for minor cases. Whether it¡¯s fingerprints, footprints, DNA, or mobile phone footage, anything the police station can¡¯t handle on its own would mean a long wait in a queue. Any situation that arose in the county was almost certainly going to impact the police station. Even without major cases like homicides, something as minor as a man, frustrated by an unsessful blind date, stealing a happily married couple¡¯s dog, forcing the dog to eat chili peppers, and then releasing it, before, upon encountering someone he didn¡¯t like on his way, randomly shing the person with a knife and running away... Before the perpetrator was caught, the county had to deploy more than two squads for the case. As for seeking expert assistance, such endeavors were not typically part of the station¡¯s routine. Tan Jing himself felt a bit awkward about asking experts for help with the station¡¯s public security cases. At least, the cases handled by Zoumadao Police Station over the past few years never necessitated such expert intervention... If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan having gone to Litang Township to assist, Tan Jing wouldn¡¯t have felt it was appropriate toe to him for help. However, changing the perspective, Jiang Yuan had previously sought help from Zoumadao Police Station. The electric bike that Jiang Yongxin lost before, it was Jiang Yuan who helped to find it. When Tan Jing brought Jiang Yuan back to the station, he did so with an air of pride. It was somewhat like the feeling of "The king assigned me to patrol the mountain, and I have brought Monk Tang home." Zoumadao Police Station also had its own independent courtyard. However, the space inside was very limited; it only had two police cars parked for dispatch, with the remaining area allocated with a few nters and barely enough space for a half-basketball court for assembly. Besides that, the station had a four-story office building without dormitories or a cafeteria, which, by Ningtai County standards, meant a rtively low level of amenities. But since it was in the suburbs, there were actually more people willing to transfer here to work¡ªstaff at Zoumadao Police Station could go home every day, whereas those at Litang Township Police Station, if not local residents of Litang, could at most go home only once a week. "What documents do you need? I¡¯ll have someone sort them out and bring them here," Tan Jing asked hopefully as he settled Jiang Yuan¡¯an into the office. Clearly, he had heard some stories. In fact, insiders were thest to believe that cases in Litang Township had been resolved so quickly and in suchrge numbers. Moreover, everyone was most concerned about the details of how Jiang Yuan managed to do this. After all, the thing everyone most hoped for was to prove themselves by seeding in their own path. About such matters, there was naturally not too much secrecy, so the fact that Jiang Yuan could remember criminals¡¯ footprints and fingerprints had spread to some extent. Naturally, Tan Jing hoped Jiang Yuan could pull it off once more. Jiang Yuan just smiled and said, "Let¡¯s start with the ck market tour guides. After reviewing the files, we¡¯ll discuss further." It wasn¡¯t as simple as Tan Jing thought. Jiang Yuan currently had no resources at his disposal, not to mention solving big cases¡ªjust arresting a few ck market tour guides would already keep the police station¡¯s officers too busy. As for whether to bring his subordinates over, that would depend on the situation at the police station and the cooperation of the officers. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan had tomunicate with Huang Qiangmin and also inform the district prosecutor¡¯s office about the situation, to say nothing of possibly having to alert the detention center. Otherwise, handling a pile of cases all at once would definitely lead to an explosion in one part of the process. Soon, Tan Jing had someone fetch many files rted to ck market tour guides. Jiang Yuan began to review them from the beginning, his brow quickly furrowing. The people of Jiang Vige had originally lived and farmed at the foot of Siningshan, and they had long been dealing with the tourism industry associated with the mountain. However, just like most viges, when the vigersck capital, they could only engage in the most basic of manualbor, such as porters, cooks, or cleaners. After being relocated, the Jiang Vige people naturally no longer had to do such arduous work, but for somewhat easier jobs¡ªfrom ticket sellers to salespersons, from driving to running shops¡ªthere were still no opportunities for migrant workers; these roles were filled by state-owned cultural and tourismpanies recruiting staff from the broader society. Including the ck market tour guide job, it was considered a white-cor upation. Children who were not eloquent simply couldn¡¯t do well in it. After all, this job is different from outright robbery. The unscrupulous guides at Siningshan are the ones whose sweet-talking skills arecking and whose hearts are particrly dark, leading to so many conflicts. The most typical case is leading tourists to several shopping spots in one go, and to save time, they rush through the actual attractions, barely dipping in. They not only fail to do the work a guide should do but also urge the tourists to hurry down the mountain... Even worse, some guides demand forced shopping, use maniptivenguage, and threaten to kick tourists off the bus, among other things. Besides, there are asional gatherings that threaten people¡¯s safety, some of which escte to brawls or physical assaults. This type is also the mostmon cause for police dispatch. In addition, there are contract disputes, shopping disputes, and so on, involving shopping venues, as well as illegal cabs, ck-market restaurants, and more. Jiang Yuan frowned more and more deeply as he read. Siningshan was such a wonderful ce and had been home to the Jiang Family for generations. Now, because of its reputation as a national 5A-level tourist attraction, it had attracted arge number of tourists, only to be eroded by these scoundrels. Bluntly speaking, we Jiang Vige People don¡¯t rely on Siningshan to put food on our table, so what right do you parasites have? Even if one is no longer short of money or even cares much about it, the idea of such people tarnishing the beauty of Siningshan is still displeasing. "How did you deal with cases involving tourists and guides before?" Jiang Yuan asked Tan Jing. Director Tan gave a wry smile, "To be honest, very little. Our main job is to handle issues on the spot. If tourists call the police, we go and deal with it. If it¡¯s a fight, that¡¯s the simplest. We bring them back for mediation, and if we can impose administrative penalties, we do." Pausing, Director Tan continued, "The most troublesome are actually economic disputes. For instance, if tourists buy something and then want to return it, but the merchant refuses, we can only mediate and bargain with the other side. Generally, we refund a part and try to keep the tourists satisfied. Sometimes it takes hours to handle just one case..." "There are also some extreme situations, like guides abandoning tourists mid-tour. In such cases, we direct the tourists to fileints with the tourism department. There was also an incident where a guide was locking up tourists and not letting them leave. That happened once, and I got the tourism bureau involved. That guide¡¯s license got revoked." Director Tan sighed as he spoke, "The problems with tourism, not to mention the responsibilities of other departments, are mainly about evidence collection for us. Think about it, the touristse from all over the country. Just to take a statement, they have to be here in person. Phone calls are useless. Asking the tourists toe again, they certainly won¡¯t agree, and if we have to go to them, there¡¯s the issue of travel expenses, right..." If a criminal police team encounters a major case, they can spend freely on expenses, but it¡¯s much harder for a police station to do the same. Moreover, without a budget for handling cases, one can¡¯t even afford train or ne tickets to take statements across the country. And even after recording statements from dozens or hundreds of people from all over the country, it might still not be enough to prosecute... Jiang Yuan understood and said, "So you want to select a few typical cases to work on to deter the local market? "Exactly, that¡¯s what I mean," Director Tan nodded repeatedly. "I think we should do it this way," Jiang Yuan said, having almost finished going through the files. He snapped them shut and said, "Let¡¯s directly join a tour group." Director Tan was startled. Was this an undercover operation? In an instant, when Director Tan thought of Jiang Yuan¡¯s identity, he shivered and quickly protested, "That¡¯s not eptable, it¡¯s too dangerous." "It¡¯s just a tour group; what danger could there be?" "It¡¯s still hard to say, what if there¡¯s some kind of danger..." "No worries, I¡¯ll just bring a few more people. How about this, I¡¯ll call some people from the Cold Case Squad over," Jiang Yuan said as he took out his phone, already decided. Director Tan was in a daze when he heard Jiang Yuan speak on the phone, "Chuanxing, call over the team members who aren¡¯t busy at home. Yeah, handle the front-end cases first, those who are busy don¡¯t need to be pulled away. Many from the Bald Strike Team are avable? That works too, call whoever is free... Number of people, let¡¯s keep it under 30." While speaking, Jiang Yuan looked at Director Tan and asked, "Thirty people for a tour group should be enough, right?" At Tan Jing¡¯s Zoumadao Police Station, there were about thirty full-time officers, including several station leaders. Tan Jing nodded solemnly, watching Jiang Yuan hang up the phone, and said, "I said going undercover is dangerous... but surely, a tour group with thirty people won¡¯t all be undercover, Chapter 651 - 595 Undercover Group

Chapter 651: Chapter 595 Undercover Group

"Our goal in this trip isn¡¯t to arrest people, or to look for criminal evidence," Captain Jiang exined. "We¡¯re just joining this budget tour to experience what it¡¯s like with the ¡¯ck guide,¡¯ the tourist restaurants, the shopping stores, and so on. Our focus is on experience, and moreover, don¡¯t reveal your identities to avoid arousing their suspicion." Jiang Yuan organized an undercover group of 30 people, which included him, Tan Jing, and Zhou Ta, bringing the total to 33 people. The gathering spot was a courtyard near Siningshan owned by the Jiang Family. Everyone arrived early out of respect and with great interest. The courtyard was spacious, with plenty of space to sit, but police officers, being disciplined, naturally formed three loose lines. Tan Jing, seeing this, couldn¡¯t help but frown and said jovially, "We can stand a bit more casually, and loosen up our mood too. Let¡¯s treat it like a normal tourism activity." "Let¡¯s consider it a team-building exercise then," Jiang Yuan said with a smile. He had also changed into a T-shirt and sports pants and put on a cap. In deference to Jiang Yuan, everyone slightly shifted their positions and then formed into even looser lines. "Now then, Tang Jia, you take the lead and adjust the group," Jiang Yuan called out the name of the female officer. "You got it," Tang Jia replied with an exaggerated Beijing ent, then turned and smiled, "Alright folks, listen up¡ªlet¡¯s alternate people in the two lines, every other one." "Where do we start alternating?" someone began to move, then confusion ensued. Tang Jia giggled and said, "Just switch randomly. Now, let¡¯s start switching front and back..." Her somewhat chaotic direction did help to loosen up the group. Jiang Yuan looked towards Tan Jing and asked, "Director Tan, what do you think?" "It¡¯s fine, I guess," Tan Jing wiped sweat from his brow, feeling it was all rather pointless but was too polite to say so. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was quite satisfied. Even though Wu Junhao¡¯s Bald Strike Team was now donning body-hugging T-shirts or shirts showing off their physiques, carrying small bags as if they were ready for anything, and young people like Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang were in sportswear looking lively as if ready to work overtime. Even Meng Chengbiao, despite being the oldest at over 40, did not look like the usual tourist group material... But at least, the three female officers¡ªTang Jia, Dong Bing, and Gao Yuyan¡ªhad now changed into ordinary clothes and makeup, appearing very much like average people. Most importantly, who would imagine this bunch was entirely made up of cops? And even more crucially, what would it matter if they were found out? With this generous sentiment, everyone¡¯s demeanor became exceptionally rxed. They swung their arms and walked towards the parking lot at the base of Siningshan. Jiang Yuan chose the cheapest day trip, just 35 yuan per person for two meals, with the bus only stopping at one shopping spot. Chang Pingsi, the guide, held up a small red g, looking excited as he waited. Behind him was a brown air-conditioned coach, its windows sealed shut, with the driver standing by the open door and smoking. Both individuals seemed to be in good spirits. Travel agencies nowadays tend to operate on a light-asset model. Whether online or offline, they typically handle only charges and ticketing. Their profitsrgelye from selling tourists. Local agencies and their guides take on all the risks associated with tourist consumption. They have to spend real money to buy tourists per head, and the cost varies with the nature of the tourists. For example, guests from Hu City might be twice as expensive as those from the Zhongyuan region, or tourists from state-owned enterprises in the north might cost more than those from privatepanies in the south. The pricing also depends on past profit and loss records. The harder to hoodwink and profit from, the lower the selling price of the tourists, which is easy to understand. For guides like Chang Pingsi at the end of the line, purchasing tourists is only one aspect. Truly capable guides need to adapt to the situation and rely on specific operations to make money. The sharper ones can even hustle thousands of yuan in a single day. Chang Pingsi¡¯s smile had been quite bright before meeting the members of the Bald Strike Team. But then... Chang Pingsi fell into contemtion. "Guide, are we setting off?" Tang Jia stepped forward, her nasal voiceing into y. "Oh... it¡¯s rare to see young people like you joining a tour group together..." Chang Pingsi was full of confusion. They were all youngsters¡ªwouldn¡¯t buying a ticket and hiking the mountain on their own be more enjoyable? Why suffer and get cheated in a travel group? Even if one or two didn¡¯t watch the news or listen to advice, they shouldn¡¯t all be doing this together. Tang Jia couldn¡¯t exin this phenomenon either, so she justughed and said, "Just thought we¡¯d never been in a tour group before, wanted to try it out." "Are you all together?" "A few departments. Some know each other, some don¡¯t." "You¡¯re all from state-owned enterprises in Huo City? I saw in the materials that you¡¯re from a forestrypany?" "That¡¯s right." "What does the forestrypany do?" "Chop down trees, sell lumber, that sort of thing," Tang Jia made up on the spot. The guide¡¯s counter-surveince ability ended there. Although some of the group members looked burly, Chang Pingsi was not just a small-time guide with only coercive measures. To him, ttering the big shots in society was also a way to swindle money. Chang Pingsi just reminded Tang Jia extra, "A tour group is different from traveling alone, and the group won¡¯t necessarily spend less¡ªjust that the money gets spent in different ces." Chang Pingsi hinted pointedly. Pretending not to understand, Tang Jia replied with an "Oh," looked at the tour bus, and asked, "This is our bus, right? Let¡¯s board." As her words fell, therades keen on discipline habitually lined up to board. Chang Pingsi wanted to stop them but it was toote, so he could only shout, "Everyone, please give me your ID cards, I¡¯ll help you all buy the tickets together." This was prearranged, and Tang Jia took the initiative to hand over her ID. Her profession as a police officer wouldn¡¯t be revealed on her ID card. Chang Pingsi didn¡¯t have a police terminal to use, and after looking over everyone¡¯s ID cards for a while, he couldn¡¯t figure anything out. The driver finished smoking, got on the bus, started the engine, and began to head toward the day¡¯s first scenic spot. Chang Pingsi cleared his throat, picked up the microphone at the front of the bus, and said, "Wee everyone to our tour group. As the saying goes, ¡¯It takes ten years to cultivate a journey together.¡¯ We are a group of 34 people, and it¡¯s quite rare for us to gather here. I hope we can all have a wonderful day. Okay, let me introduce myself first. My name is Chang Pingsi, and I¡¯ve been a guide for ten years..." Jiang Yuan was sitting next to Tan Jing, half-listening to Chang Pingsi¡¯s standard spiel while quietly discussing. "That... you two friends, let¡¯s chatter, huh? If you don¡¯t want to listen to mymentary, I can cut it short, but it¡¯s best if everyone listens when I¡¯m speaking. If you have something to say, we can talk in private afterwards to avoid disturbing others..." Although Chang Pingsi felt odd about the tour group today, he still needed to manage when it was time. The entire tour group¡¯s PUA mechanism was established bit by bit in moments like this. Jiang Yuan and Tan Jing indeed fell silent. Chang Pingsi nodded in satisfaction and continued, "You may all have learned about Siningshan beforeing, but here¡¯s something no one would have mentioned: Siningshan¡¯s topography has its mysteries..." As a native of Siningshan, Jiang Yuan calmly listened to Chang Pingsi fabricating stories, gazing through the window at scenes that were familiar yet strange, gradually sinking into contemtion. His eyelids unconsciously began to close, memories surged, recent cases lined up passing before his eyes, along with several criminals recently executed¡ªtheir faces blurred, yet oddly more charming in death. Chang Pingsi¡¯s gaze also swept over Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, causing him to frown. He turned around and said teasingly, "Seems like we have a friend here who doesn¡¯t likementary. What¡¯s the point of being in a tour group if you don¡¯t listen to exnations? I..." Pfft. Mu Zhiyang stepped forward and unplugged Chang Pingsi¡¯s microphone. "Enough with the prattle, sit down and rest." Mu Zhiyang, whocked any undercover sense, spoke harshly, "Captain Jiang finally managed to get some sleep; you sit down too." Chang Pingsi tried to speak but was dissatisfied when a burly member of the Bald Strike Team gently nudged him, pulling him down to a seat. Another Bald Strike Team member sitting beside him, with callousedrge hands, wrapped Chang Pingsi into an embrace and asked, "How are we going to proceed?" Chapter 652 - 596: Unpredictable Weather

Chapter 652: Chapter 596: Unpredictable Weather

Chang Pingsi¡¯s nape was mped by someone¡¯s arm, sprayed with cologne, his face pressed against another¡¯s pectorals, and his mind swirled with many, many thoughts. Whew... Chang Pingsi¡¯s face was pulled away, and he quickly gasped for air. "You guys..." Chang Pingsi began angrily, turning around, ready to scold someone. "Sorry, guide, our colleague was too anxious," Tang Jia apologized, her voice carrying an instrumental timbre. The other two burly members of the Bald Strike Team, with their shiny bald heads, also looked at Chang Pingsi with a yful gaze. Simr to what Chang Pingsi had envisioned, today¡¯s tour group had just started, and there was still time to switch, after all, they came to experience, and joining another tour group would also be part of the experience. Both sides had their thoughts, and a few secondster, Chang Pingsi straightened out his appearance and stood up, saying, "Let¡¯s get one thing straight, you can¡¯t start grabbing and pushing anymore, we guides have our dignity, don¡¯t we..." Chang Pingsi lowered his stance even more, which actually made the group of men feel a bit embarrassed. "We¡¯re all young here, it¡¯s normal to have some resistance towards guides, to dislike them, I understand that. Our little encounter just now, it was just a small episode of the day... Actually, I rarely lead groups that are entirelyposed of young people, and I might have said something offensive earlier, so I want to apologize to everyone..." As Chang Pingsi spoke, he bowed, making the men of the Bald Strike Team feel even more awkward. Mu Zhiyang too found himself at a loss for words, scratching his head. With the guide acting like this, to go and cause trouble again would truly be bullying. Thereby, Chang Pingsi began to feel a bit of the familiar atmosphere, his smile growing more sincere. He wasn¡¯t unfazed, he simply couldn¡¯t bear to let go of the opportunity with this bus full of customers. Besides, dealing with conflicts was already a daily routine for guides. Their short day trips, unlike the four or five-day tours, did not allow much time to establish a trusting rtionship. The ¡¯chives¡¯ nted in the morning had to be harvested by the evening; it was normal to have more conflicts. Chang Pingsi wasn¡¯t concerned about his pride, after all, he had lived by deceiving the elderly up until now, so he wiped his face and stood up, deciding then and there: I am going to make money from this group no matter what. Therefore, after his sincere apologies, Chang Pingsi employed everything he had learned and began exining again with all his might. This time, he focused less on management and more on exining, genuinely and sincerely, warming the crowd with his heartfelt enthusiasm. Toward the end, Chang Pingsi even mentioned hismission rate. "You guys don¡¯t have to worry about me, thepany¡¯s cut is their business. We should have a conscience. Those who can afford it and want to support your little brother here, feel free to buy a few items if you like something. It doesn¡¯t matter where you buy, you¡¯re buying anyway. If not, no pressure..." "But even if you don¡¯t buy anything, as long as you spend enough time inside, I still get a headcount fee, and that money is essentially my guiding fee for today. Please do me a favor, stay inside a little longer, just to umte the required time, okay?" Chang Pingsi spoke cheerfully, his tone tinged with a hint of bitterness. The members of the Bald Strike Team, unustomed to such a speech, all looked quite solemn. Chang Pingsi cleared his throat without using a microphone, and said: "In a little while, we will arrive at our first site in Siningshan, the Cloud-walking Phoenix Chariot. Once the bus stops, you all can get off and walk towards the site. Remember, we have a total of 30 minutes for sightseeing, and the time to regroup and get back on the bus must be noted..." "The Cloud-walking Phoenix Chariot site is quite interesting. Its origins can be traced back to ancient times..." "Siningshan is also a favorite destination for many of our country¡¯s national leaders. However, the way leaders tour the sites is slightly different from ordinary people..." Chang Pingsi¡¯s exnations were interesting in their own right. The scripts he used had been refined repeatedly by the travelpany. The site¡¯s origins could be traced back to ancient times, with some scripts written by officials from the 1950s and others specifically intended for leader tours. Over the years, the scripts had been modified multiple times, with target audiences, time allocation, andnguage tones all changing. But overall, the content still held points of interest. As Chang Pingsi said, Siningshan asionally received visits from leaders. The tourism bureau¡¯s meticulous ns were so detailed that even the rabbits in the mountains would obey. The first site was also a ce that tour guides often used to ¡¯root¡¯ their ¡¯chives¡¯, the only purely recreational site in the entire tour. "Cloud-walking Phoenix Chariot" was indeed one of Siningshan¡¯s attractions, with poetry from the Tang and Song dynasties on its stone walls, a panoramic view of Tai River and mountain streams, ancient stone steps and a hundred-year-old Taoist temple, blending cultural and natural beauty splendidly. In such surroundings, the muscr fibers of the strong men softened. When they got back on the bus, Chang Pingsi continued his exnations and led everyone to the back mountain, saying, "This here is Taquan, the most renowned attraction of Siningshan." "Taquan is not only a spring, nor does it just have a pagoda; it also has a deep pool. As for how deep, some say 200 meters, others say 500 meters. In any case, when it was measured in the ¡¯70s, it left many experts astonished. Themon belief is that the pool formed because of the quarried rocks used to build the pagoda." "Of course, you might ask, would they quarry that deep? Indeed, they wouldn¡¯t. So, the real reason is that during the quarrying, a gem mine was discovered, which is the well-known peridot, famed throughout Ningtai and all of Shannan Province." "Peridot is also called the lucky stone..." Jiang Yuan and Tan Jing, who had woken up, nced at each other, both corners of their mouths curving into a smile. It seemed this move was to sell peridot. As part of a day tour, this should be quite an essentialponent, although the average price of peridot is not high. But packaged at a tourist spot, the profit should be quite considerable. It wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan and Tan Jing who took the situation seriously as the meat of the y arrived; the other police officers also began to pay close attention. Though they had entered the tour group in good spirits, considering the case they were to handle afterward, each of them became more vignt. Tour guide Chang Pingsi at the front of the bus was also employing all of her life¡¯s learning, years of experience, to convey her emotions and as much of the "Pick Up Artist" power as she possibly could. After the coach bus stopped and the doors opened, Chang Pingsi confidently handed the tourists over to the shop owners next to Taquan, then sat down in the reception room, silently sipping tea. Someone from the shop brought her a fruit tter and said with a smile, "Howe you ended up with an all-male group today? That kind of group must be tough to handle." "Definitely," Chang Pingsi thought to herself, my throat was almost choked out. "Handling 20 rural old men is much morefortable than dealing with 40 young men." "For sure, there¡¯s no helping it when you¡¯re handed a group like that... But it¡¯s also fine. Oil can be squeezed from stones, now it¡¯s up to you guys," Chang Pingsi said cheerfully. The people in the shop were also confident. No matter where the tourists in the travel group came from, having seen many, the crowd is essentially the same. Just a little excitement in the shop, coupled with the concepts established by the travel group¡ªit¡¯s not to say that everyone will spend money, but if a few out of dozens do, it¡¯s quitefortable. If you¡¯re lucky, you might even encounter several big spenders, themissions will be thrilling. Once Chang Pingsi had her fill and had enough to drink, she went to the back of the shop to meet the people. Shops at these tourist points are typically designed like long corridors. They prevent tourists from wandering curiously in all directions, instead forcing them to keep moving forward without backtracking. That way, they have to look at everything in the shop, and if they want to buy something, they have to make an immediate decision. Of course, some tourist spots can add lecture arrangements, but that raises the cost even more and might not be suitable for day trips. About 20 minutester, Chang Pingsi saw the first tourist emerge. Chang Pingsi nced at her watch, frowning, "Even if you don¡¯t want to browse, you could have just yed with your phone inside. You came out so quickly, the guide¡¯s fee doesn¡¯t even count for me." "What does your guide¡¯s fee have to do with us?" The first toe out was Shen Yaowei, hands in his pockets, with a brazen manner, looking like a warrior against PUA tactics. Chang Pingsi was taken aback, "Saying that is really disrespectful. Look, either you go back in and stay for another quarter of an hour, or you¡¯re not getting on my bus." Since the soft approach wasn¡¯t working, Chang Pingsi was ready to resort to throwing the guests out directly. Shen Yaowei just pursed his lips, unfazed. Before Chang Pingsi could retort, she saw Jiang Yuan and others also emerging from the back one after another. Seeing a group of peopleing out without even a single souvenir bag, it was imaginable that not a single person had made a purchase? Chang Pingsi¡¯s eyes almost popped out! "Are you guys ying me? Forget it, I¡¯m not leading this tour!" Chang Pingsi wasn¡¯t truly ready to give up, but threats were still necessary. Unfortunately, those who had been criminal police officers for years were also veterans of confrontation; none of them took Chang Pingsi seriously. The police officers only needed a puppet tour guide to go through the motions, no one was truly concerned with her. Jiang Yuan even discussed in a low voice with Director Tan, "This shop was built in thest few years, right? If they¡¯re doing this, it¡¯s a bit like fraud." "It¡¯s hard to define," Director Tan said. "There¡¯s a point," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "If we get someone from the inside who¡¯s willing to step forward, it will be easy." "That¡¯s difficult, too," the director replied. "Not necessarily. First, we find a list of their employees, track the bank transactions, and then investigate them one by one. Such a huge fraud shop can¡¯t possibly be full of new hires from themunity. Find two with issues, interrogate them, and they be our people." Jiang Yuan dealt with so many cases that he coulde up with numerous approaches off the top of his head. Director Tan could only nod in agreement. He of course endorsed the n, but this kind of operation was something Jiang Yuan could execute; given to him, a secret investigation of each individual would be quite time-consuming. "Hey, if you¡¯re going to be like this, you can forget about lunch too!" Chang Pingsi saw that no one was paying attention to her, and her tone grew sour again. PUA tactics, after all, are all about being hot and cold. A few police officers, hearing this, actually touched their stomachs andughed. They had been running around all morning, and the touring meals were included, which was pretty nice. Chapter 653 - 597: Return

Chapter 653: Chapter 597: Return

Restaurant. Chang Pingsi frowned as he watched the members of the travel group spooning up rice again and again, consuming staple foods such as steamed buns, mixed-grain pancakes, potatoes, and corn¡ªall of which a regr tour group would not finish¡ªalong with the broth, leaving absolutely nothing behind. To be honest, even though traveling can be exhausting, this was the first time he had seen such a gluttonous group. Past senior tours would at most cause a smallmotion, which was nothingpared to now¡ªit was like a whirlwind sweeping through leaves. Even the restaurant owner, seeing that all the chili oil and sesame oil were used up, couldn¡¯t help bute out and remind Chang Pingsi, "If they continue to eat like this, I¡¯m going to start losing money." Chang Pingsi spread his hands and replied, "They haven¡¯t spent a single cent just now. What can I do?" "They¡¯re that stingy? I see there are girls among them, aren¡¯t the guys willing to spend money on the girls anymore?" The restaurant owner was clearly experienced too. Chang Pingsi bitter-smiled, "Every trick has been tried." "If it were me, I would have ditched them." "Easy for you to say," retorted Chang Pingsi. He really wanted to ditch the clients, but although the policies of the local receiving agency were terribly twisted, they still held some basic integrity. If they abandoned the entire group and received aint, there would certainly be penalties. In reality, the local receiving agency has never been stingy with fining tour guides; as for the effectiveness of such punishments, they didn¡¯t care. So formally speaking, when a guide encounters a group that doesn¡¯t bring in profits, they still have to provide the service. Showing a sour face is the guide¡¯s decision, but the basic itinerary must still bepleted. Naturally, such groups equate to tours where the guide ends up in the red. And now, Chang Pingsi was also ready to take the loss. He had to pay for every headcount, the rental for the coach, the fuel for the coach, the two meals, the parking fees, the entrance tickets¡ªhe was bleeding money... If it weren¡¯t for travel stores actually paying by headcount, Chang Pingsi would really have lost everything. This sort of situation... this sort of situation actually always existed; every outrageous event could happen in travel groups that set out daily. Like now, Chang Pingsi had countless suspicions that these people came just to set him up. But Chang Pingsi knew even with his wisdom teeth¡ªfiguratively speaking¡ªthat he wasn¡¯t that important, he wasn¡¯t worth that much, and his ex-girlfriend wasn¡¯t that insane... presumably, so gathering dozens of people to target him would be impossible. Lunch was somehow dealt with, and Chang Pingsi immediately led the group to the next scenic spot and shopping location without a break. His only hope now was to visit several more shopping stores in the afternoon. Even if this bunch of stinky men didn¡¯t buy anything, they could still be counted as visitors¡ªperhaps the only option was to squeeze into a few more shops. Jiang Yuan and the others didn¡¯t object to this approach. Honestly, which stores on Siningshan Mountain were in cahoots with travel agencies, the extent of their cooperation, and their styles of operation¡ªthe police station wasn¡¯t very clear about these. Theplexity of the city nowadays is too high, especially with shops opening and closing frequently. If one doesn¡¯t pay special attention to this matter, the average police officer wouldn¡¯t have a systematic impression. Shops in the tourist areas especially liked to conceal their activities; they knew what they were doing wasn¡¯t quite right, but the profits were so substantial that it was hard to stop. Wang Chuanxing and the others were specifically recording and analyzing these shops. For them, as undercover officers, it was essential to understand the situation here thoroughly. Zoumadao Police Station said they couldn¡¯t handle cases from this area, but in reality, they just didn¡¯t have the manpower resources like Jiang Yuan did. Let alone deploying over thirty people undercover, it would be difficult for Zoumadao Police Station just to spare four people for half a month¡¯s time. And solving a tourism-rted case in half a month, by arresting a few ck tour guides and fining a few shops, would definitely not be worthwhile. The police station was not so idle. As one of the busiest units in the police system, the demands on their time often pushed the limits. It was alreadymendable if they could just about handle the daily and security cases. Jiang Yuan could easily gather thirty people; this was the surplus power that Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment and the county bureau could muster. With the current level of strain on police work, if it wasn¡¯t because Jiang Yuan was in a quiet period, these individuals would logically be assigned to backlog cases. However, now that there were so many of them, any case was rtively straightforward to manage. Afternoon. Shen Yaowei stepped in and bought 5,000 yuan worth of health products. Shen Yaowei asked for a receipt on the spot and started writing his own statement as soon as he stepped out the door. Tour guide Chang Pingsi was greatly shocked and excited. Isn¡¯t this a turn for the better? Wouldn¡¯t this one sale bring a return on all his efforts? Chang Pingsi¡¯s mental exhaustion ended in an instant. He lifted his head and puffed out his chest as he got back on the bus, cheerfully saying, "Thanks to the big brother upfront..." "Shut your mouth," Shen Yaowei scoffed. "Drive us home, and be quick about it." The customer had spent money, so Chang Pingsi dried his face and said, "What about dinner tonight..." "What¡¯s so good about your chicken feed? By the way, has anyone ever got a stomachache from eating in your cafeteria?" "That couldn¡¯t be. Our food might be simple, but it wouldn¡¯t cause illness..." Chang Pingsiughed ¡¯ha ha,¡¯ his facial expression not very convincing. Someone nudged Shen Yaowei beside him and whispered in his ear, "Easy to check." Shen Yaowei thought it made sense and couldn¡¯t bother to ask more, saying, "Let it be. The boss is treating us to dinner, let¡¯s head down the mountain." Everyone had already wasted enough time; they couldn¡¯t afford to waste dinner time on the tour guide as well. After all, they weren¡¯t really out on a leisure trip. By dinnertime, it would be time to clock out. Still, tour guide Chang Pingsi was happy to see the money and save on a meal, cheerfully instructing the driver and then making a call to the restaurant. The tour bus descended from the back mountain, and by the time they reached Ningtai County, it was nearly 6 p.m. Jiang Yuan and the others got off the bus and gathered in a hot pot restaurant. Everyone convened on the second floor, asking the server to leave first before they started discussing in low voices. "Send someone to pick up the tour guide and take him to the police station," Jiang Yuan arranged, then continued, "Scare thest shop that sold olivine by bringing in the salesperson to see if we can get something out of them." Heads nodded in agreement. Shen Yaowei added, "I¡¯ll get the health products testedter." Selling health products isn¡¯t illegal, but if the ingredients are fake, that would certainly be a vition. 5,000 yuan wasn¡¯t a lot, but if it could break the case open, it would be worth it. In such cases, if they could get their hands on a purchase list or ount book, along with a statement from an employee, the evidence would be very solid. But Zoumadao Police Station had never nned to invest so much effort. Shen Yaowei continued, "In the restaurant earlier, I saw they also sold wine. That should probably be checked too." "Right, if the tobo or alcohol is fake, the penalties could be severe." "We should check the tobo and alcohol and get in touch with someone from the Tobo Control Bureau," said Jiang Yuan. Tang Jia promptly took note of it. Wang Chuanxing said, "We should also check the staff. They all work at the tourist site and have little contact with the outside world, with low moral standards, making them ideal for fugitives." "Agreed," Jiang Yuan approved. "And about the restaurant encountering diners with diarrhea or vomiting, I think that is also worth investigating," Shen Yaowei suggested again. "Agreed," responded Jiang Yuan obligingly. He then added, "The most important thing is to gather more victim statements. Let¡¯s start that work tomorrow, waiting for those low-price tour groupsing back, and make sure their statements are thoroughly acquired." ording to regtions, the first statement must be taken face-to-face, and it¡¯s only after the responsible officerpletes the initial questioning that colleagues from other regions may assist. Essentially, gathering victim statements is the most direct approach. However, Jiang Yuan hadid out every possible strategy, eliminating the need to debate on which might be better or worse. Director Tan stood by, watching with his eyes wide and mouth agape, drooling with envy. Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was evidently modeled after handling a homicide case. Such high-profile investigation methods were beyond what Director Tan had ess to. Chapter 654 - 598: Capture Now

Chapter 654: Chapter 598: Capture Now

a.m. Chang Pingsi followed the tourpany owner to Zoumadao Police Station. On the way, the two maintained a light conversation until they saw the blue and white station sign, at which point they involuntarily fell silent. "No big deal, probably just someone who called the cops, the difficult type, and the police want us to help smooth things over," said the tourpany owner, seeming well-versed in these situations. Chang Pingsi didn¡¯t say a word. Hispany was neither big nor small, not exactly above board but at least an actual business that paid its employees¡ªmany small tour agencies had turned into shellpanies by then, with seasoned ck-market guides simply renting office space to set up their own studios, taking on groups from travel agencies, and keeping profits or losses to themselves. Inparison, Chang Pingsi¡¯spany at least tried to help, with a boss who was willing to show up in person and contacts to call upon. "What do you do?" asked a police officer, who had been waiting there and came over, feigning a chance encounter. Chang Pingsi looked at the boss. Although he was eloquent with tourists, trips to the police station were lessmon for him. The boss cleared his throat and said, "Um, is Director Tan in? I know him..." The police officer was taken aback, then instantly replied, "Then call him." The officer didn¡¯t leave; he just stood there watching. They didn¡¯t let Chang Pingsi and the others go inside because the reception hall downstairs hung a photo of Director Tan¡ªthey didn¡¯t want Chang Pingsi to recognize him and inform his colleagues. After all, they only had reason to detain Chang Pingsi. The boss was momentarily stunned by the question; he really had had dinner with Director Tan and was nning to go straight to his office. Now that he was stopped, he couldn¡¯t exactly make a scene, so he took out his phone to browse through WeChat and his contacts. Watching the boss fruitlessly make several calls, Chang Pingsi started to feel uneasy. Under normal circumstances, the boss would have gotten through by now, but of course, that wouldn¡¯t be the case today. Tan Jing simply ced his phone on the desk, set it to silent, watched the screen light up without expression, and said, "I guess it¡¯s all through someone who knows someone. I don¡¯t have any dealings with them." "Of course, or else you wouldn¡¯t have had to look for Captain Jiang," Mu Zhiyang logically said. He knew Tan Jing and was familiar with the day-to-day operations of the station. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about these things; the case had been initiated, and it would proceed ordingly. "Hurry them up," Jiang Yuan said to someone beside him. Tang Jia immediately phoned the officer downstairs. After answering the call with a couple of "mhm"s, the officer packed up the phone and asked Chang Pingsi, "What brings you to the station?" "Um... I got a call telling me toe to the station," Chang Pingsi obediently responded. "Let me see the mobile number." The officer went through the motions, checked it, and then said, "Come with me." The officer turned and left. Chang Pingsi responded and followed a few steps, then called out to his boss. The boss hesitated, then waved his hand and said, "You go ahead, I¡¯ll find someone else." Once Chang Pingsi was out of sight, and no one was in front of the boss, he considered barging into the station. Of course, he came up empty-handed. Even if he knew a few officers, under Jiang Yuan¡¯s watch, at best he would get a couple of brush-offs. Chang Pingsi was first taken to the interrogation room. Police stations were all working on establishing three separate rooms, with the interrogation room being the most serious, designated only for suspects, fully video-recorded, with various strict regtions. The holding room was for detaining individuals. The interrogation room had a rtively more rxed atmosphere, where witnesses or victims were interviewed and depositions recorded. Unlike the mandatory recording in the interrogation room, the interrogation room only allowed recording, not required it. Meng Chengbiao was in charge of the interrogation, and worried Chang Pingsi might have consulted awyer beforehand, he purposefully chose the interrogation room to lower Chang Pingsi¡¯s psychological expectations. Once Chang Pingsi sat down in the interrogation room, the officer who had entered first was also from the station. They sat opposite Chang Pingsi and conducted the standard questioning before Meng Chengbiao entered. Chang Pingsi immediately recognized the dark-faced middle-aged man! The tour group from the day before yesterday was the worst he had led in recent years. And the dark-faced man in front of him had been the oldest in that group. In that instant, Chang Pingsi thought of many things... "We meet again," Meng Chengbiao said cheerfully, speaking as if a tourist was greeting a guide. Chang Pingsi clenched his fists and asked, "Are you abusing your power for personal gain?" "What abuse of power for personal gain?" Meng Chengbiao chatted casually, not in a hurry, as if he was certain of his control over Chang Pingsi. Chang Pingsi said, "You joined a tour group, weren¡¯t satisfied with the experience despite spending money, and then called me in just to hassle me..." "Would the police join this kind of tour group?" Meng Chengbiao asked with a smile. "Wouldn¡¯t they?" Chang Pingsi frowned, "Then why did you join my group?" "At that time, it was like... we were undercover." Meng Chengbiao said casually. "Which of you are undercover?" "All of us." "All of us, what do you mean by that?" "Well, if you count it up, except for you, we¡¯re all undercover," Meng Chengbiao said, and before he knew it, he too startedughing. What a rare experience, he thought. In the future, he could boast about having participated in thergest undercover operation of the 21st century. Chang Pingsi waspletely flustered. How big a case was it that required undercover work from over thirty people? Chang Pingsi was already very agitated, "We need evidence to catch you guys," Meng Chengbiao added another sentence. Chang Pingsi suddenly stood up. The chairs in the interrogation room were ordinary armchairs, with four legs and rubber ferrules, not designed to restrain. The police officer in front quickly stood up, hand on his waist, andmanded, "Sit down, did you hear me? Sit and talk!" When it came to arguing, Chang Pingsi wasn¡¯t scared of anyone. To be honest, he had been to the police station several times, but such a formal interrogation was very intimidating. Moreover, the people he used to argue with were usually tourists, and most of the time they were old men and women from out of town. Once the money was in hand, ying dead could get him through the situation. Facing the police officer, Chang Pingsi¡¯s resistance seemed insufficient. Chang Pingsi slowly sat down. "We met the day before yesterday, right?" Meng Chengbiao gave a slight smile as his demeanor seemed to rx a little. Chang Pingsi came to his senses and nodded lightly. "Two days have passed, do you know how much evidence we can find on dozens of people in two days?" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s expression appeared somewhat terrifying to Chang Pingsi. Indeed, Chang Pingsi started thinking along the lines that Meng Chengbiao suggested and lowered his head. Two days wasn¡¯t much time for the police to uncover things, but from a criminal¡¯s perspective, the scenarios were frightening. At the end of the day, as a ck tour guide for all these years, Chang Pingsi knew that what he and others did had many illegal aspects. "Alright, tell me, how does your gang operate?" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s words were all carefully crafted. Chang Pingsi¡¯s gaze turned uneasy, and he forced a smile, "How did we get to talking about a gang..." "In criminal activities, if there¡¯s no clear division ofbor but there are rtively fixed members, it¡¯s considered a gang," Meng Chengbiao looked at Chang Pingsi and said, "Of course, if you guys have a clear leader, a defined division ofbor, and fixed members, you can consider yourselves a vibrant organization..." "No, no..." Chang Pingsi quickly waved his hands in denial. "Actually, you¡¯re quite lucky. We got to know each other through an unfortunate incident, and our encounter the day before yesterday was quite pleasant..." "Yes, yes, yes..." "So now is the perfect time for you to make amends. The more people you name, the lighter your own criminal responsibility will be. If thanks to you, the entire gang gets uncovered, you might even get a suspended sentence. A suspended sentence means you don¡¯t have to serve a real prison term, just stay home as usual, and as long as you don¡¯tmit any more crimes, you¡¯ll be fine..." Meng Chengbiao started using themon interrogation technique of telling tant lies, also known as creating an informational disadvantage to solve a case. Chang Pingsi¡¯s heartstrings were fiercely plucked. A suspended sentence sounded great. If he could get a suspended sentence, he wouldn¡¯t work as a tour guide once he went home. He had made quite a sum over the years, and he could buy a house, find a partner, have two kids... Upon further thought, actually having one child was also okay, or even not having children was fine too. Marriage also wasn¡¯t a necessity, or maybe he shouldn¡¯t buy a house at all, just living off the interest from his savings seemed pretty good... "Let¡¯s start with your boss," Meng Chengbiao gave a clear directive. Chang Pingsi reflexively began to ponder. ... The conference room. Jiang Yuan and Director Tan were looking at the surveince together and having a friendly discussion: "We can arrest that boss now." "The restaurant indeed sells counterfeit cigarettes, let¡¯s go together with the tobo people." "Ah, I knew there was a problem, let¡¯s arrest those jade sellers first." Chapter 655 - 599: Unsealing

Chapter 655: Chapter 599: Unsealing

Jiang Yuan, leading a group of more than thirty people, arrived at the Zoumadao Police Station and within just a few days, had delivered dozens of talents to the detention center. The main reason was that the operating patterns of various units were simr and, over the years, had almost solidified into a fixed method of defrauding money. As soon as one problem was grasped, it could lead to a whole string of them. Among them, there was a fugitive who had once been imprisoned for three years due to economic crimes. During his incarceration, he honed his skills on a sewing machine, but when hemitted another crime, he escaped. This time he was caught again, and with the two casesbined, he was looking at upwards of 10 years in jail. It was estimated he would be able to develop a foundation-level mastery of the sewing machine. The other cases¡¯ participants seemed pale byparison, with very few being able to be sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. Especially a few young people in the tourist shops who had just graduated and found employment as salespersons in thepany. They sang and danced, lively and cheerful, but didn¡¯t earn much money. They probably only performed for dozens of busloads of tourists. These people were very likely to receive probation. Running this round of cases took another three days, which was even more exhausting than the investigation phase. The main cost stemmed from taking statements from tourists. Most tourists visiting Ningtai would only stay for a day, some arriving by train in the morning and leaving by bus in the evening. To pinpoint these tourists, the police officers had to wait on the inevitable path of the tour buses, stopping them to take statements as soon as they saw the confirmed license tes. Some tour buses led by guides were full ofints on the return trip, and both sides had already started hurling insults at each other. In such cases, taking statements proved very effective. But some guides were really good at managing people. On the return trip, the tourists would be singing and dancing, potentially seeing the police as meddling and dying their meals. Latterly, the police began cornering people in restaurants, then taking their statements separately. However, the problem remained the same: many tourists hadn¡¯t suffered any loss and were anxious not to miss their schedules, constantly urging the police officers... It was only because Jiang Yuan had reinforced the manpower of Zoumadao Police Station by one hundred percent that others didn¡¯t know, but Tan Jing, Station Tan, was already on the brink of copse. Of course, he was not far from copse even now. After all, as an experienced station director, Tan Jing¡¯s physical health allowed him to pull an all-nighter asionally and walk tens of thousands of steps during the day¡ªthat was his limit. But the current situation involved a constant inflow of criminal suspects, many of whom needed to be urgently interrogated, while the number of cases within the jurisdiction showed no sign of decreasing. Any conflicts or disputes still required officers to be dispatched. Although Tan Jing wasn¡¯t required to do the most tiring and difficult tasks, his workload had still significantly increasedpared to his usual routine. After another hard day¡¯s work, Tan Jing left his office with his legs wobbling. Passing by the main office, he heard the police officers still bustling about: "Where¡¯s my pen? Who took my pen?" "Lend me a pen..." "Where¡¯s the inkpad?" "Where¡¯s my cap badge?" Hearing the familiar voices, Tan Jing felt somewhat relieved. "Is Station Tan off work?" Jiang Yuan emerged from behind and greeted him. Tan Jing felt somewhat embarrassed, although it was indeed time to finish work, but as the station chief, facing the supporting force, Jiang Yuan... "I just came out to take a look. If there¡¯s nothing else, I am preparing to go back," Tan Jing delicately conveyed his intention to finish work. "I¡¯m treating everyone to dinner, does Station Tan want to join?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care whether Tan Jing was off work or not. He had now be familiar with the use of Zoumadao Police Station¡¯s police officers, who were more convenient for him tomand without the station chief present. Naturally, Tan Jing wanted to go home, but hearing Jiang Yuan say this, he could only force a couple of awkwardughs and respond, "It should be us treating you to dinner." "Come on, your station¡¯s ount is in the red this month," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t actually spend much of Zoumadao Police Station¡¯s funds. But how could a small police station possibly handle the expenses of a homicide-level investigation? Now that Chai Tong was no longer in charge, the Zoumadao Police Station was able to persist until now. Tan Jing didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or worried, he sighed and said, "Let¡¯s not talk about money, it gives me a headache." "We¡¯re grilling beef tonight," Jiang Yuan said with a smile, then added, "I¡¯m personally treating everyone. It¡¯s time to cull the cows from my family¡¯s ranch, so my dad brought some over to let everyone have a taste and give some feedback." "How could we ept such generosity..." "Don¡¯t worry about it. Come if you can, no pressure if you can¡¯t," Jiang Yuan waved his hand and left for the day. He came home early today because he needed to cook. Ever since therades of Jiang Fuzhen started their meat-cooking tradition, Jiang Yuan asionally cooked as well, but more often for dogs than for people. This time was actually the same¡ªthe real star of the invited guests was Dazhuang. It¡¯s just that the others didn¡¯t know it. Jiang Yuan also added the temporary skill points he hadn¡¯t used in thest few days, +1, to Dog Food (LV5). Level 6 dog food took shape right in front of Dazhuang. Compared to Level 5 dog food, Level 6 dog food took into ount style and seasonality. The ingredients chosen were not only fresh, but also seasonal, and some adjustments were made with the needs of police dogs in mind. Unlike many dog owners who always like to buy expensive foods such as steak,mb chops, and salmon, the ingredients Jiang Yuan selected were rtively cheap, such as beef heart and liver. The low price of these beef by-products didn¡¯t mean they werecking in nutrition. On the other hand, the expensive foods reflect human preferences, which are clearly different from what dogs prefer. Adhering to this philosophy, Jiang Yuan quickly cooked up a big pot of dog food that was cheap in terms of ingredients, yet looked and smelled delicious. The moment he lifted the lid, not only dogs gathered around the outdoor stove, but many people also watched. The police dogs, in particr, were so excited they barked incessantly. Feeling the gaze of so many people and dogs, Jiang Yuan decided to cook another batch, preparing a whole pot of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice. Severalrge bowls of rice, moistened with five or six eggs, were poured into a well-seasoned iron wok with just a touch of oil, immediately turning a golden color, ready to be savored. Attracted by the dog food, the people watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s cooking were amazed. "No wonder Jiang Fuzhen is wealthy; Jiang Yuan is truly economical!" "The ingredients for his stew are all beef offal." "The fried rice is just like how Seventeen made it back in the day, with a clean and straightforward recipe." Of course, the ones most eager to show off were the dogs, including Dazhuang and several other off-duty police dogs who couldn¡¯t help but bark excitedly, unable to contain their anticipation. While Jiang Yuan had people serve the dogs their food, he also scooped out fried rice to share with everyone. A group of off-duty police officers from the station started tearing up as they ate. "It would have been great if Captain Jiang stayed. He could teach us a few more skills," a young officer from the station said, rolling up some fried rice with emotion. Mu Zhiyangughed. "Even if you learned the skills, do you n to eat fried rice every day?" "The fried rice is really good." Mu Zhiyang sneered, "You all think too positively. Unless there¡¯s a homicide case, Captain Jiang has to go back most of the time." While they were talking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. "Someone died at the restaurant," Jiang Yuan said briefly after the call, putting down the meat skewer in his hand. Chapter 656 - 600: Medical University Professor

Chapter 656: Chapter 600: Medical University Professor

"Yongxin, get an Alphard over here and send a driver to take us to Siningshan." Jiang Yuan scooped up half a pot of fried rice for them to take along, and casually packed a stack of disposable lunch boxes. Jiang Yongxin responded and made a call for the car, thenughed, "No need for a driver, I¡¯ll drive." "Suit yourself, just put the car expenses on the tab." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, then added, "Pack up some dishes from the table; we¡¯ll eat them in the car." "Righto." Jiang Yongxin actively got to work. As a second-generation tear-down mogul, he didn¡¯t need to work so hard; by merely coasting through life, the cost of an Alphard every few months would have been a negligible dent in his savings. But as the entrepreneurial star of Jiang Vige, he had to bend down and get his hands dirty, taking every chance to chat with the police officers from the jurisdictional station, always seeming happy to do so. A bunch of them stuffed their faces in the luxuriously furnished Alphard¡¯s back seat. It was getting dark, and many officers hadn¡¯t had lunch; their stomachs growled with hunger. With Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice and some mutton and beef cooked by Jiang Fuzhen, it all tasted incredibly good. The truth was, it was indeed quite delicious. Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice was ssed as LV3 human food, and the beef and mutton cooked by Jiang Yuan¡¯s father in Jiang Fuzhen had to be at least LV2. A decent restaurant¡¯s chef would be doing well to achieve this level with their signature dish. Sometimes, certain specialties from smaller eateries could break through the LV3 threshold. The Alphard had been on the road for a little under half an hour when it arrived at the restaurant where the incident urred. The restaurant was situated next to Taquan and was a standard tourist eatery, which hadter been found wanting in several areas¡ªa fact that Jiang Yuan recalled quite clearly. The restaurant¡¯s owner didn¡¯t sell counterfeit cigarettes or liquor, but they did use gutter oil and arge number of nearly expired goods, including expired ones, especially meats, flour, and rice, with few items actually within their expiration date. Dealing with cases like this involved a joint operation with multiple departments, such as the business and tourism authorities, a process that was quite cumbersome, but the results were significant; the restaurant was very likely to be transferred to new ownership, and quite a few employees had beenid off. However, a homicide urring under these circumstances was something Jiang Yuan and the others didn¡¯t want to see. By the time they arrived, the criminal police team¡¯s vehicles were already there, and the police tape was properly erected. Several police cars were parked at the entrance, and members of the criminal investigation squad were going around with cameras, filming and taking photos. The mountain restaurant was deserted, and nowcked even a single patron, but people from the nearby shops were out looking around, all captured by the cameras of the police. Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth clean, dressed neatly, and entered the restaurant, apanied by another camera. There were other police tapes inside, and the officers on site greeted Jiang Yuan warmly. For the officers from Ningtai County Bureau, Jiang Yuan now had an aura of distinction; he seemed close but wasn¡¯t someone they had much interaction with. After all, it had been a long period since Ningtai had seen a homicide, so much so that the full-time forensic expert Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have to appear on-site. The restaurant, "Sining Mountain Free-Range Chicken Specialty Store¡ªSining Mountain Pot Chicken," belonged to the slightly more upscale dining options on the mountain. If you hadn¡¯t seen its kitchen and refrigerators, you would think it was a restaurant that cared about vor and specialization. The restaurant was also quite spacious, not to mention indoors, with several hundred square meters, and an outdoor yard where dozens of tables and chairs could be set up during the peak season. Of course, during that time, you wouldn¡¯t be able to eat the pot chicken but would have to settle for rge-pot fried" braised chicken pieces instead. The body was lying near the kitchen door. There was fresh blood all over the floor and overturned tables and stools. The stic chairs had been thrown or kicked with great force, ending up seven or eight meters away. Looking up, the ceiling was spotlessly clean with no blood shed on it. There were blood stains on the walls too, mostly coagted, which meant some time had passed since they were made. Jiang Yuan was scrutinizing this, when he heard the sound of someone running toward him from behind. Jiang Yuan¡¯s brow furrowed instantly, and as he turned his head, he saw it was Director Chai Tong, who was a bit out of breath from running. "Director Chai..." Jiang Yuan was unsure what to say. He silently handed Chai a face mask and added, "There are cameras everywhere." "Fine then." Chai Tong looked around. More than just the cameras, all thew enforcement recorders were turned on in front of everyone. There wasn¡¯t much to discuss, so he put on the mask. Jiang Yuan turned back, ready to continue examining the scene. Chai Tong said, "Good timing, Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve invited an expert to work with you, okay?" He was quite polite. Jiang Yuan looked over in surprise. It was clear Chai Tong had something in mind, and his reasons were quite transparent¡ªif this homicide was due to Jiang Yuan and the Zoumadao Police Station¡¯s irregr operations, there would be no question that someone had to take responsibility. One could say that Chai Tong¡¯s instincts were exceedingly sharp, as if waiting through an ebb tide for an opportunity to counterattack. Several people who heard him speak turned their curiosity towards the person behind Chai Tong. They were curious about which expert would dare topete with Jiang Yuan. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s current reputation within the province, an ordinary expert simply wouldn¡¯t have the credentials to challenge him, besides, a somewhat famous and more capable expert would least be seen as unnecessary. In anticipation, an elderly man with graying hair, wearing a transparent head cover, came over with a serious expression. "Professor Chen is an anatomy professor at Changyang Medical University, and he used to be a forensic doctor for a while. Later, due to the intense teaching responsibilities, he gradually stepped back from the front line... Professor Chen has already reached the age of retirement, but has not retired because he is too excellent, and the school has been unable to find suitable talent. Therefore, they have repeatedly requested Professor Chen to re-employ..." Chai Tong introduced the candidate. This was a contact he had known before, and as soon as the incident urred, he immediately arranged for a car to bring Professor Chen over. Calcting the time, it was basically as soon as he received the news that he started making calls and arrangements. Being able to make arrangements and arrive promptly was also a testament to Chai Tong¡¯s abilities. "Nice to meet you, Professor Chen. I graduated from Changyang Medical University," Jiang Yuan said with a smile, greeting him. Professor Chen was taken aback, then recalled and said, "Right, right, right, I remember, you graduated just two years ago, didn¡¯t you?" "Yes. I even attended your lectures." "Formidable young talent indeed." "I¡¯ve been rather lucky," Jiang Yuan admitted frankly. "Hmm... Let¡¯s examine the body first," Professor Chen decided. He was aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation, a rising star in the field of forensic medicine, and also a local graduate from the province and university. However, after reviewing the cases Jiang Yuan worked on, Professor Chen and the other teachers at the school all agreed¡ªformidable young talent indeed! Had it not been for Chai Tong using his strong connections to find him, Professor Chen wouldn¡¯t have taken the field. Nevertheless, since he was there, Professor Chen didn¡¯t shy away; he started pondering over the body. Jiang Yuan followed along and observed, maintaining a respectful distance. The officers who arrived earlier exined: "The victim was a waitress at the restaurant, a female, 22 years old, from Ningtai County. Another waitress from the restaurant discovered the body, and upon seeing blood all over the floor, she immediately reported it to the police." "Upon our arrival, we found the body breathless, lying on its back with the face upward, possibly bleeding from the back of the head." "One of the restaurant¡¯s windows was smashed by a chair. There were no eyewitnesses nearby, and no obvious murder weapon or other items were found..." As Jiang Yuan listened to the officer¡¯s report, he began to bend down and examine the body for himself. Professor Chen, not as familiar with such a scenario, fell a step behind. The two of them assisted each other in examining the condition of the skull, exchanging a few words from time to time. Soon, they grew familiar with each other¡¯s methods. Then, Jiang Yuan¡¯s speech gradually shifted from respectful to casual: "Could you move the head over here, please? Look at this." "Take a look at this bloodstain..." "I¡¯ll take a sample; could you collect that one over there?" At first, Chai Tong kept a smiling, hopeful demeanor, but soon he couldn¡¯t keep smiling. Even to an outsider, it looked as though Jiang Yuan was the one leading Professor Chen in their tasks. Meanwhile, Huang Qiangmin arrived in a hurry. He had gone tomunicate with the prosecutor¡¯s office that day, as Jiang Yuan had a slew of cases to handle all at once, and the entire chain of work needed to be smoothed over to continue functioning properly. However, Huang Qiangmin had already learned about the situation at the scene while en route, and originally, he too had a grave expression. But upon actually reaching the site, Huang Qiangmin saw nothing unusual. It was just like any other scene with Jiang Yuan present¡ªmore people, more activity surrounding Jiang Yuan, moreprehensive use of investigative equipment with people capable of using it, a noticeable increase in consumables like evidence bags being delivered, and specialized evidence room personnel managing them. Moreover, Mu Zhiyang was nearby, and that was it. "Didn¡¯t they say Director Chai brought in a professor from the university?" Huang Qiangmin whispered to Liu Wenkai, the captain of the second team. Liu Wenkai mumbled, "That one, crouching beside Jiang Yuan, striking like a snake¡ªthat¡¯s him." Huang Qiangmin took a closer look and, apart from the white hair and frail frame, he really couldn¡¯t see any difference between this expert and those from before. Huang Qiangmin turned to look at Director Chai, whose expression seemed increasingly haggard. They couldn¡¯t understand; as a leading figure in anatomy, Professor Chen would surely have been able to showcase his talents on the dissection table. But at a crime scene, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s significant level 5 crime scene investigation skills looming overhead, even if they split open Professor Chen¡¯s head, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to showcase his own abilities. Naturally, he could only follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s directions and act ordingly, much like any other criminal investigator. Chai Tong soon couldn¡¯t bear to watch anymore and was about to retire when a message came through: "Someone has turned themselves in." ... Chapter 657 - 601: Fold Back (Request for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 657: Chapter 601: Fold Back (Request for Monthly Pass)

"The murderer has turned himself in!" "The victim¡¯s ex-boyfriend, named Han Shengyan, imed he had a conflict with the victim over rtionship issues. The time was around noon today..." "This Han Shengyan has some mental issues, his parents came with a diagnosis report and such." Bureau Chief Chai Tong ryed the message he received, let out a sigh, and put away his phone. A murder with mental health implications can be logistically understood in terms of investigation, but politically it¡¯s difficult to connect it with logical problems. In other words, with this tide receding, Bureau Chief Chai Tong would inevitably retreat as well. "Professor Chen, thank you for your hard work." Chai Tong took a couple of steps forward, ready to take Professor Chen back with him. Now that the murderer had confessed, although there were still a series of case procedures to follow, for Chai Tong, this case had effectivelye to an end. Even if a forensic doctor needed to issue a report, that would be the job for Jiang Yuan or Wu Jun. Professor Chen, being an external consultant, wasn¡¯t even qualified to sign off on it in the first ce. Professor Chen stood up, feeling somewhat regretful, and said to Jiang Yuan, "I was hoping to continue working on the front line, but it seems I didn¡¯t get the chance." Whether as a forensic doctor or as an anatomy professor, seeking front-line work always required cooperation from the deceased. It was quite normal that Professor Chen rarely found such opportunities. In fact, for a ce like Ningtai County, a murder caseing to a close without the need for detection was also quite normal. The perpetrator this time was a typical city murderer with mental health issues, who, after a crime of passion and fleeing, returned to turn himself in under family persuasion... Although there were no statistics, murderers like this were all toomon. Huang Qiangmin also came over and said to Jiang Yuan, "We¡¯re about done with the crime scene, let¡¯s transport the body back." The scene was, after all, only good for some external examination. The detailed autopsy report would still have to be done back at theb. The surrounding officers also began to stand up more rxedly. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and said, "Hold on a moment." "Hmm?" Huang Qiangmin turned around, puzzled. "Who is conducting the interrogation of the murderer? It hasn¡¯t started yet, has it?" Jiang Yuan asked. "They¡¯re in the middle of it," Huang Qiangmin, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, dialed straight back. When the call connected, Huang Qiangmin handed it to Jiang Yuan. After exchanging pleasantries, Jiang Yuan asked, "Could you please rify the details during the interrogation, verify the exact time of the conflict, and track the number of attacks and whether there was a return." The first two requests sounded normal, but Jiang Yuan¡¯sst point about a return raised more interest. Everyone present was a police officer, except for Professor Chen, but pretty much everyone caught on to the implication. Huang Qiangmin asked, "Is there a situation of secondary injury?" Hearing this, Professor Chen immediately came over and took another look at the body, saying, "The back of the head sustained multiple traumas, but it¡¯s difficult to confirm if there was secondary injury." His own expertise in anatomy was top-notch, and naturally, he was also highly skilled in forensic science, so he spoke with confidence. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Based on the wounds, it is indeed difficult to differentiate. However, I think there is an issue with the timing of the bloodstains. Also, from the state of the body, the criminal act was notpleted in one go." "Bloodstain..." Professor Chen, with less experience, thought about directly determining the creation time of bloodstains just by looking¡ªwhile not impossible, it would most likely require some reference to documentation and calctions. After all, this was a very serious murder, and to provide an urate conclusion, one would definitely need to take into ount the environment, including whether there was direct sunlight, the temperature inside the restaurant, etc. Assuming the victim died at noon, it would have been at most six or seven hours by now. To say there was secondary criminal activity based on blood evidence, the time difference might be just one or two hours. Such a short interval could be influenced by whether the restaurant had air conditioning, the intensity of the sun, and whether there was a breeze, all of which could be key factors. Moreover, different time dimensions would vary by region and season. From a schrly perspective, there would be numerous regression equations... Of course, Professor Chen couldn¡¯t memorize all this; he specialized in anatomy, and the distance between him and someone skilled in Bloodstain Analysis was like the difference between a crocodile and a turtle. But to say he needed to look them up now, Professor Chen actually felt it was quite unnecessary. He directly asked, "How long do you believe the difference in the timing of the bloodstains to be?" "One and a half hours, at least," Jiang Yuan replied, precise and cautious, because for this particr murder case, the time difference was especially significant. At the same time, Jiang Yuan was quite confident. Honestly, when it came to the current case, Jiang Yuan had an abundance of techniques at his disposal. For a freshly deceased body that had only died at noon, faced with Level 6 death time determination, Level 4 forensic pathology, and a full set of Level 5 Bloodstain Analysis, crime scene investigation, and so on, it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say that Jiang Yuan knew better how the victim died than the victim knew himself. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s answerpletely brought everyone, who had just rxed, back to a state of high tension. Everyone was familiar with Jiang Yuan, and their confidence in him could be said to be stronger than in their own wives. If Jiang Yuan had mentioned a discrepancy in time, then there were two possible exnations, one killer or two. If it were one killer, it would be simple¡ªjust interrogate the current suspect who had turned himself in. But if there were two killers, finding the second one would be no joke. The investigation boxes that were just about to be packed away were now readjusted for brightness and continued the search for fingerprints and footprints. Jiang Yuan changed his gloves and observed the bloodstains while waiting for the interrogation results from the station. Since the suspect had surrendered, the interrogation shouldn¡¯t be a problem¡ªat least getting some basic information wouldn¡¯t be an issue. Sure enough, the phone call came through after not too long. Huang Qiangmin passed it directly to Jiang Yuan. "This Han Shengyan ims he didn¡¯t double back. As for the specific details of the violent conflict, Han Shengyan can¡¯t recall. The current issue is that he has had a mental breakdown due to the incident and his testimony might have ws," the officer on the phone kept it as brief as possible, clearly aware that there were changes at the scene. "What about Han Shengyan¡¯s parents? When did they see Han Shengyan?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Around 4 p.m.," the officer at the station replied. Calcting the time, it was just enough for a round trip. But unless it was a premeditated double back, the timing was a bit tight. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin said, "We could check thest time his cell phone connected to a base station." That would require a request to the technical investigation team. Jiang Yuan nodded and also activated the Crime Scene Reconstruction (temporary +1 andsting 535 minutes) skill. This skill was a recent acquisition, and its reconstructive effect didn¡¯te solely from Bloodstain Analysis but also from crime scene investigation, Image Enhancement, and other skills. In the current scene, it was at least equivalent to Level 6 Bloodstain Analysis. "Firstly, the victim hit a wall," Jiang Yuan observed the scene again and took a step forward, calling over a technician to take pictures and said, "This should be an absorption bloodstain." Professor Chen also came over, nodded, and said, "Indeed, but it¡¯s quite normal for absorption bloodstains to form over several hours." "I¡¯d bet there are also wipe marks in the blood here," Jiang Yuan spoke and then realizing that Professor Chen was his former professor, he quickly added, "What I mean is, based on the location of this absorption bloodstain, it appears the victim had moved." "That¡¯s quite a bold bet," Professor Chen didn¡¯t know how to feel at that moment, seeing a student who had graduated only two years ago growing to such an extent that he even started to wonder about the capabilities of his own academy. Jiang Yuan just smiled and called two people over, saying, "Let¡¯s move the body away." Together, they carefully lifted the body. As the body was removed, underneath it, a distinctly obvious wiped bloodstain was revealed. Of course, wiped bloodstains can have many exnations, such as the victim crawling with difficulty before death, which could lead to such bloodstains. However, crawling would typically leave other traces around, such as bloody handprints, or marks from the knees or feet exerting force. Without these, and considering the body was lying on its back, the wiped bloodstain was likely the result of passive movement. Professor Chen slowly nodded and couldn¡¯t help saying, "You really got it right." Jiang Yuan acknowledged tacitly. Indeed, it was quite a difficult move. Bureau Chief Chai Tong, who had been standing on the sidelines, suddenly felt extremely ufortable. Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities were perhaps too strong. And such a strong subordinate managed to slip through his fingers? Chapter 658 - 602: Crime Scene Reenactment

Chapter 658: Chapter 602: Crime Scene Reenactment

The body had been taken away, and Professor Chen was inclined to follow it. He specialized in autopsy, which, by nature, involved working with corpses. A crime scene actually wasn¡¯t really within the scope of his work. Jiang Yuan was reluctant to let go of the temporary skill he had just started using, saying, "I want to look around some more. It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve seen a frontline crime scene. Once we¡¯re back, I¡¯ll have to look at pictures again." With over 500 minutes¡¯s time, improving the skill by one point would enhance his understanding of the case and crime scene reconstruction. "Uh... okay," Professor Chen said, a bit embarrassed, and decided to stay as well. The scent at the scene was intense, not just the smell of blood, but also the lingering odors of an uncleaned kitchen and dining area, which continually drifted in. The weak lighting of the dining area was reced by several brightmps. Themps were pure white and as intense as a middle-aged man¡¯s crotch soaked with oysters, trying to serve their purpose in the limited time avable. Jiang Yuan calcted while observing the scene. Compared to photos, the scents at the scene were also one of the bases for judgement. Apart from that, things like the coagtion level of half-dried blood or the softness of pooled blood were hard to observe in photos. Estimating the time of death through blood is actually a very mature technique; there are multiple dimensions and indicators that can be used to make the estimate. Simr to bloodstain analysis, many veteran detectives are skilled in this area, often outperforming academicians like Professor Chen. In past years, when dealing with immediate murder cases, or robbery cases involving bloodstains, veteran detectives often needed to estimate the time of death right down to the hour. In times with a high volume of cases, special practice was hardly necessary. After arresting the suspect and interrogating them to confirm the time of death, they would check it against the bloodstains at the scene. With this method, it didn¡¯t take long to be familiar with the rtionship between bloodstains and the time of death. This could even be called a part where practice makes perfect. With more methods of investigation now, bloodstains have be less valuable; their most distinctive purpose in crime scene reconstruction has partly been transferred to cameras and has been slowly forgotten. Jiang Yuan looked over the scene, simting it in his mind. Once the wiped bloodstain under the corpse had been determined, the scene in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind nearedpletion. Based on recent experience with cases, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t downy his abilities. Once certain, he said directly, "Shall I do a scene reconstruction analysis so everyone can have a basic understanding, which will facilitate the subsequent investigation of the case?" "Sure," said Huang Qiangmin. Having seen Jiang Yuan perform a simr ¡¯act¡¯ while promoting him in other counties and cities, Huang had particrly hoped that Ningtai County would have such an opportunity. Previously, there hadn¡¯t been a suitable case in the jurisdiction, but now that Jiang Yuan had taken the initiative, Huang was somewhat pleased. The other police officers, whether they¡¯d witnessed such things before or not, all gathered around. Someone even asked, "Can we record this?" "Of course, and we must record it. Get two more people tobel and take photos, so we have clearer informationter," Jiang Yuan replied. He then stood a few meters away from where the body had been and said, "I¡¯m starting now. This is where the conflict erupted. Mark this spot." A police officer ced abel with the number 101 in yellow with white letters where Jiang Yuan indicated, and a forensic technician came to take a photo for the record, while the camera continued to record without pausing. The scene had already been sampled entirely. Jiang Yuan then stepped back and said: "The victim and the first assant must have had a sudden conflict. In the initial stage, there might have been some restraint, with some furniture being damaged, but the extent of bodily harm is uncertain." "As the first assant lost control, he escted the force in the conflict, causing the victim to hit the wall." "The victim copsed on the spot. At that point, the first assant came up to check, resulting in the first dragging movement. Because the victim¡¯s bleeding wasn¡¯t that severe yet, the swipe bloodstain left behind wasn¡¯t very obvious." Professor Chen, hearing this, couldn¡¯t help bute forward to observe, saying directly, "I didn¡¯t even notice there was a swipe bloodstain here before." Jiang Yuan nodded, bent down to point it out, had another photo taken, and continued, "Later, the swipe bloodstain was covered by the pool of blood, but because the pool of blood formedter, some inferences can still be made." Professor Chen looked closely and nodded slowly. Even though it had been a long time since he had been at the front line, he knew even at his peak, it wouldn¡¯t have been easy to detect this. The blood pool was formed more than an hour after the wiping marks, resulting in varied shades on the bloodstains. This alone can already exin a lot of issues. At this time Jiang Yuan said, "Actually, if you look closely, the blood pools were formed twice." Professor Chen was surprised. He had been teaching for too long and habitually refuted, "You can¡¯t infer evidence from the result. There¡¯s no need to make this judgment. Even if the blood pool was formed from two pools of blood, it¡¯s very difficult to say they were formed at two different times." Jiang Yuan just smiled and said, "I¡¯m judging from the insects." "Hmm?" "When the first small blood pool was formed, insects like ants came over to muddy the waters," Jiang Yuan briefly described, then squatted in front of the blood pool, took another look with a magnifying ss, and said, "These fine scratch-like marks are actually left by ants and other insects that waded over. And then they were covered up by the blood that cameter." Professor Chen tried hard to see for a while but eventually said, "I¡¯m getting old, my eyes aren¡¯t good anymore, I can¡¯t see clearly." He didn¡¯t fully admit it, but he couldn¡¯t deny Jiang Yuan¡¯s view either. Jiang Yuan was no longer a student in school, and he didn¡¯t need Professor Chen¡¯s recognition. He then walked a few steps and said, "This side is very likely the escape route of Assant Number One." Because Assant Number One is currently a mental patient, this route map is not so easy to verify. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much more about it. Strictly speaking, Han Shengyan, who had already surrendered himself, was no longer a problem. Unless he really hadn¡¯t done it, was spouting nonsense due to mental illness, otherwise, the part Han Shengyan needed to be responsible for didn¡¯t require much evidence to support it. Furthermore, considering that most of the area outside the restaurant was paved, and some shops also had external security cameras, etc., it should be possible to find footage of Han Shengyan upon a careful review¡ªafter all, a mentally ill person definitely wouldn¡¯t engage in extensive counter-surveince tactics. "What about Assant Number Two?" Liu Wenkai of the second squad was all aquiver with excitement and eager to know the follow-up. Jiang Yuan walked back to the original position opposite where the body was found and said, "As for Assant Number Two, he would have arrived here about an hour and a half after Number One." Jiang Yuan carefully took two steps forward, simted a bending motion, extended his hand forward, and said, "This is where the second dragging urred. At this time, the victim wasn¡¯t bleeding a lot yet, as can be seen from the wiping marks." "Assant Number Two checked the victim¡¯s condition at this point. He likely had a conversation with the victim, as the victim was still alive then; otherwise, there would have been no need for another attack." "The victim then suffered a fatal head injury that caused his death." ... Jiang Yuan then detailed several meticulous points and instructed the technicians to take samples again, and only then was the crime scene investigation truly concluded. The team returned, the forensic personnel processed the evidence, and the detectives fanned out to explore the victim¡¯s interpersonal rtionships. Under the cover of night, Professor Chen and Jiang Yuan rushed to the mortuary to perform an autopsy on the body. The main focus of examination was the injury to the back of the victim¡¯s head. The two of them, with the cheer of incense lit by Wu Jun, quickly peeled the scalp off the body. First looking at the scalp, one could see a rectangr, controlled abraded contusion and some epidermal peeling. The lifted scalp was thin, with a thickness and feel simr to a leather wallet, slightly slippery; after being moistened with a bit of saline, it also gained some toughness. This was helpful forter sewing the body back together. Besides, some debris near the scalp was also collected for examination. "There were indeed multiple blows," Jiang Yuan confirmed as he scratched the skull. This time, Professor Chen was more confident and said, "And they were all t blows. Looking at the location, the second assant likely lifted the victim¡¯s head and then smashed it down heavily." "Yeah, Assant Number Two likely had a strong rtionship with the victim," Jiang Yuan sighed, and turned to Mu Zhiyang, who was waiting on the side, "Follow the rtionshipwork to investigate, and you may find something." Chapter 659 - 603 Incense

Chapter 659: Chapter 603 Incense

Huhu... Professor Cheny on the autopsy table, sound asleep. Next to him was Jiang Yuan, still diligently performing autopsies. He had to slice all the internal organs and also prepare samples for toxicological examination. The damp, sticky workbench did not affect Professor Chen¡¯s sleep, nor did it affect Wu Jun¡¯s. Wu Jun slept against the wall where two benches were joined together. Since Professor Chen was a guest and a professor from The Great Learning, with his advanced age, it was quite appropriate for him to sleep on the autopsy table. Wu Jun, too, had been busy with Jiang Yuan all night. By the wee hours, his head was splitting, and he quickly found a ce to grab some sleep fully clothed. Mu Zhiyang had no choice but to sleep slumped over the table, which was rather ufortable. Jiang Yuan neither had a ce to sleep nor was he particrly inclined to sleep. After finishing the tasks at hand, Jiang Yuan silently began to suture the skin of the corpse. At 4 a.m. in the funeral home, other than taking care of the corpse, there was nothing else to do ¡ª the autopsy room was too cold and small, and sleeping when too tired was not worth it; it was better to continue working on the body. LV4 forensic pathology allowed him to perform very meticulous autopsies on the bodies. However, that was as far as it went; as far as the case was concerned, there was only so much information a body could provide. Leaving aside the first assant, the second assant had simply grabbed the victim¡¯s head and smashed it forcefully onto the ground, acting very decisively and directly. This was one of the reasons why Jiang Yuan believed that the second assant was someone closely rted to the victim, Mijia. Such a clean, efficient killing move requires a very strong motive. In modern society, excluding the mentally ill, normal people would only choose to kill when they have a very strong motive. At the time, Mijia was already lying on the ground, barely alive. In other words, she was almost incapable of doing anything, and it was even questionable whether she could speak or make a sound. Moreover, Mijia should not have had any additional valuables on her person, at least not enough to warrant killing for profit. Of course, political factors and such could also be a part of the motive for murder; one always has to leave a ce for Kennedy. But from what Jiang Yuan saw at the moment, the most likely reason for the murder of the waitress was a crime of passion. The wealthy may die in countless ways, but the poor often meet their end in quite simr fashions. At only 22 years of age, Mijia, who wasn¡¯t bad looking and would be considered a pretty girl, worked in a restaurant in the tourist area. With a sry of over 4,000 yuan a month, no savings, and a mentally ill ex-boyfriend... Jiang Yuan performed a very careful autopsy, also hoping to find any exclusionary factors. Unfortunately, there were none. Mijia¡¯s muscle mass was below average, with no signs of specialized training; she didn¡¯t seem like a special agent or anything of the sort. Her body tissues were also normal, consistent with a 22-year-old, and there was nothing like documents or USB drives inside her. Yet with this, the investigation of the case now relied on the criminal police¡¯s scrutiny. Early morning. The sun rose. Professor Chen stretchedzily, climbing off the autopsy table, and said with a smile, "I haven¡¯t had such a good sleep in a long time." Wu Jun also got up rubbing his shoulders, listening to Professor Chen¡¯s words. He lit incense, and forced a wry smile. Jiang Yuan was sitting at the table, drinking tea with the bleary-eyed Mu Zhiyang, and greeted, "Master, how did you sleep?" Wu Jun shook his head and said, "I¡¯ve had enough sleep in the funeral home, with Director Huang setting up the new criminal investigation building. Who knows when it¡¯ll be erected, this ce is really small and old." "It¡¯s these old-fashioned autopsy tables that arefortable to sleep on." Professor Chen said with emotion, "Our school has reced them with new models now. The sink beside them is quite ufortable, and the shadowlessmp above needs to be moved around, not asfortable as this one." "We need to pay attention to that when buying," Wu Jun couldn¡¯t help nodding. As a professor of Anatomy who came out of the school, he indeed could provide some new information. "Let¡¯s go have breakfast." Jiang Yuan had also been up all night, but he did not want to sleep. He led the group out the door and found a breakfast shop next to the funeral home. In the customs of Ningtai County, cremations are done in the morning. After collecting the ashes, people go home to continue the mourning rituals. Usually, guests are invited for a meal at noon, and the family continues to keep vigil for several days in the afternoon. To save time, many people brought corpses early in the morning and only went out to eat after the ceremony had ended. Therefore, the breakfast shops near the funeral home were quite bustling, serving neither tofu pudding nor stuffed foods. Having changed into a fresh set of clothes, Jiang Yuan chose a noodle shop where he ate until he was warm all over and finally managed to blow his nose several times. The noodles in the restaurant were nothing to write home about, but the broth was good, made with a lot of ingredients; it felt very much like Ningtai. After the meal, the group headed back to the police station, coinciding with the start of work hours. Professor Chen had enjoyed his meal so much, he hadn¡¯t even considered the fact that he could have gone home by now and ended up following them to the police station. Liu Wenkai, the captain of the second squad, saw Jiang Yuan arrive and immediately came over with a notebook in hand. "Webed through quite a bit of informationst night," Liu Wenkai started as he entered the room. "Right now, I¡¯m inclined to think it was a crime of passion." This judgment coincided with Jiang Yuan¡¯s guess, and he nodded in agreement, then added, "Based on the autopsy, I wouldn¡¯t rule that out. If there¡¯s anything noteworthy, the victim seems to have undergone some cosmetic procedures. Mostly a nose job and eyebrow tattooing, with no signs of liposuction." Upon hearing this, Liu Wenkai immediately grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s implication. "Cosmetic procedures can easily lead to small loans. However, it wasn¡¯t reflected in the credit report. I¡¯ll check it again." Mijia had no credit cards registered in her name. She worked at a restaurant, and her monthly bank statements didn¡¯t show high cash flow. Lacking an education, it wouldn¡¯t be easy for her to obtain standard bank loans, making it possible that she had dealings with non-credit-relevant small loans. Jiang Yuan nodded. He was merely rying the information obtained from the autopsy and did not believe Mijia¡¯s death was rted to small loans. The rhythm of small loan debt collection was predictable, initially amounting to just some threatening phone calls, none of which were found on the victim¡¯s mobile phone. Furthermore, the goal of debt collection is to retrieve money¡ªkilling cleanly and efficiently seemed senseless. "Let me tell you what we¡¯ve learned so far," Liu Wenkai said, seeing that there was no new information from Jiang Yuan¡¯s end, and opened his folder. Everyone nodded. "ording to our understanding, the victim Mijia was a rather popr woman. Apart from her ex-boyfriend who is suspected of having mental issues, Mijia had three other ex-boyfriends or boyfriends. They are of the same age group, characterized by being rather tall and handsome," Liu Wenkai said with a hint of emotion. "Young girls all go for looks." Liu Wenkaiid out photos of the total four ex-boyfriends and continued, "Our current focus is on the victim¡¯s present boyfriend. Guo Lushang, a fitness instructor with a good physique and handsome appearance, has participated in some bodybuildingpetitions and may have used some banned drugs." "Does he have a tendency for violence?" Jiang Yuan looked up. "No records of that, but under the influence of drugs, it¡¯s hard to say," Liu Wenkai closed the folder, adding, "We¡¯ve sent someone with a subpoena to bring him in for interrogations." "And the motive?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Jealousy?" Liu Wenkai was, of course, uncertain as well; he was merely narrowing down the list of people from theplex reports. "I¡¯ll look into the footprintster," Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, "And check his mobile phone again." Tomit the murder, the culprit had to be at the scene. Since Guo Lushang was a fitness instructor, if he had appeared at the restaurant, it would surely be to see Mijia. However, if the two of them were in a boyfriend-girlfriend rtionship, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for his traces to be in the restaurant. At this point, there was nothing to do but wait for further leads. But in reality, they didn¡¯t have to wait long. The officer responsible for the interrogation soon ryed a message: "Guo Lushang ims to have an alibi." Chapter 660 - 604: Case Analysis

Chapter 660: Chapter 604: Case Analysis

Bureau Chief Chai Tong arrived at the criminal police brigade to preside over and participate in the case analysis meeting. Several deputy directors and Huang Qiangmin were also seated in the conference room, followed by a group of criminal police. Everyone seemed to be in quite good spirits; in fact, not only were they good, but there was also a bit of liveliness. Jiang Yuan was back in Ningtai! After more than a year of familiarity and having witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s triumphs in various ces throughout the province, seeing Jiang Yuan return to Ningtai County Bureau gave everyone a sense of closeness and reassurance. Even Bureau Chief Chai Tong now felt only profound regret and remorse, and his respect for Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities had deepened even more. In such an atmosphere, they analyzed a newly urred murder case¡ªalthough it was still a tragedy, the participating detectives were spirited and hopeful. The preliminary steps of the process were quickly covered, and Liu Wenkai, who was in charge of the main investigation direction, introduced, "Regarding the alibi of the victim Mijia¡¯s current boyfriend, Guo Lushang. We conducted a new round of investigation and found his evidence to be quite effective." Without waiting to be asked, Liu Wenkai continued, "On the day of the incident at 12:30 PM, Guo Lushang entered the gym, and under surveince video, he taught a private lesson to two clients, with a brief departure from the video,sting no longer than 15 minutes. Around 4:00 PM, Guo Lushang went to the changing room to shower, leaving the surveince for 25 minutes. Neither period was enough to reach Siningshan." The people present nodded in resignation. With such strong alibis, there was little need to consider Guo Lushang¡¯s suspicion ofmitting the crime. If this fitness coach could devise a method to kill his girlfriend in such limited time, then using that method on his own girlfriend seemed like a waste. It¡¯s like being able to kill anyone in the world without punishment, who would you choose? Isn¡¯t this the time to think big, to talk about devotion to home and country? Liu Wenkai organized his thoughts and then said, "The other ex-boyfriends of the victim Mijia also have their respective alibis, and their motives are insufficient. From what we understand, Mijia¡¯s rtionship with Guo Lushang was quite stable, and the two were already discussing marriage." "Moreover, although Mijia dated four boyfriends, the timeline is quite clear, with each rtionship starting over three months after the previous one ended. There were also few disputes in her love life. By today¡¯s standards, it¡¯s quite discerning for a youngdy." "We are still going through Mijia¡¯s phone. Many of her WeChat messages have been deleted, which slows down the investigation. We are also checking tforms like QQ and Momo, but there are no results yet¡ªwe might need a bit more time..." Liu Wenkai¡¯s tone carried a hint of exhaustion. Checking phones, like monitoring surveince footage, sounds straightforward, but it¡¯s actually a tedious task. If there¡¯s a specific target or entity to verify, it¡¯s rtively simple. But this kind of wide searching, looking through private messages is alright, but for various group chats, it really takes a long time. Liu Wenkai has the patience, and his subordinates are diligent, but time waits for no one. Everyone was hoping the case could be solved quickly. Once 72 hours had passed, it felt like an erosion of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation. Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t mind and said with a smile, "No need to rush, let¡¯s be thorough." In many of the cases he had solved, the victims had waited for years. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think that the current case going beyond the crucial 72 hours was a big deal. He had no control over other people¡¯s cases, but he had his own rhythm for his own. Jiang Yuan asked, "Has the motive of the first assant, Mijia¡¯s mentally ill ex-boyfriend, been determined?" "The breakup made Han Shengyan¡¯s emotions somewhat difficult to control," Liu Wenkai hesitated, then said, "We also searched his home, phone, etc., and spoke with his primary care physician. So far, it seems that a crime of passion is more likely." Huang Qiangmin asked, "What was his purpose for going to the restaurant in Siningshan that day?" "It seems he saw something on Mijia¡¯s friends¡¯ circle," Liu Wenkai nced at Jiang Yuan then continued, "Mijia had posted that the restaurant was closing down, and she would be left homeless once again. Han Shengyan imed to be moved, as if he saw all the moments from their rtionship, so he went up the mountain to see Mijia. Also, the restaurant owner is a fellow townsman of Mijia, who took care of her for several years, which could be another reason for her upset." "The restaurant owner doesn¡¯t have a wife, does he? How did he take care of a girl in her adolescence?" Huang Qiangmin frowned. "There were several female waitresses from the same hometown who came with Mijia, and it was not necessary for the restaurant owner to take too much care of them. Providing room and board plus a sry was enough," said Wen Kai. "Are there any news about the waitresses who came with her?" Huang Qiangmin asked naturally. Wen Kai slowly shook his head, "Currently, there is nothing useful. Moreover, since the restaurant is being transferred, many waitresses have found other jobs, making it inconvenient to get in touch with them now." "We must pay attention to this lead. The waitresses might have had conflicts with the victim, especially those from her hometown. There could be some history we are unaware of that eventually led to this tragedy," Huang Qiangmin pondered, saying, "Even those who have resigned and found new jobs must be located and questioned. Even if they have returned to their hometowns, we should follow up. The more they hide, the more likely they are to be problematic." Wen Kai immediately agreed. At this point, Chai Tong chuckled and said, "Nowadays, girls having four or five boyfriends say it¡¯s normal, but who knows what they are really thinking. Could it be that she had been unfaithful in the past and one of her boyfriends found out, or perhaps she had a boyfriend back in her hometown?" "We will send someone to investigate her hometown," Wen Kai could only follow Chai Tong¡¯s instruction. The others also started to propose their ideas. Some case analysis sessions may guide the direction of the investigation, while others are a form of brainstorming. For today¡¯s case, without considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation, everyone basically spoke their minds freely. Jiang Yuan also found it difficult. After everyone had talked for a while without hearing anything valuable, he said, "The current case itself is not simple; there are many potential suspects, and we can¡¯t find an obvious motive. Therefore, let¡¯s investigate every person who has been to the scene one by one." This was a more concrete npared to spection. However,pared to most people¡¯s spective ns, this one was also quite expensive. In the restaurant, there were not only traces left by the owner, waitresses, and mentally disturbed individuals, but on that day, it also served two groups of customers,rge and small. Altogether, thirty or forty people hade in for a meal. Besides, some shops next to the restaurant also had peopleing in and out, not necessarily to eat or spend money¡ªsome were there to see the customers. Although these people could be located, some probably had already gone home and would likely not want toe back and get involved with the investigation. Wen Kai responded with a heavy heart. This meant traveling until they were weary, but there was no helping it. However, Jiang Yuan was the one to start the discussion, continuing, "Speaking of which, although the restaurant¡¯s footprints were chaotic, near the body, there were not many footprints or the like." "Hm?" Wen Kai couldn¡¯t help but look over. "Speaking of it, there were quite a few footprints of the restaurant owner at the scene," Jiang Yuan continued, summarizing the information he had just heard in his mind. The footprints of the restaurant owner were scattered throughout the restaurant, which wasn¡¯t strange¡ªit was his ce, after all. However, if someone were capable of grabbing Mijia¡¯s head and smashing it to the ground, based on the footprints alone, the restaurant owner was one of the possible suspects. However, in a ce like a restaurant, footprints are not reliable evidence. If the soles were very clean,bined with the restaurant being swept twice a day, the hard floor wouldn¡¯t retain many traces. "After the incident, it doesn¡¯t seem like the restaurant owner hase out much?" Jiang Yuan asked. "He must be quite busy. He¡¯s transferring the restaurant, has to deal with inspections, and maybe even detention and fines for selling expired food..." Wen Kai mused, before suddenly sounding intrigued, "It seems to be making some sense now." "Check his phone," Huang Qiangmin ordered naturally. He was still the criminal police captain, after all. Chapter 661 - 605: Just Gutter Oil

Chapter 661: Chapter 605: Just Gutter Oil

Information about the members of the two tour groups, onerge, one small, was delivered, and Jiang Yuan and the members of the Cold Case Squad carefully distinguished among them. Discussing probabilities, the likelihood that people from the two tour groups chose tomit murder was extremely low. It was even less likely that they colluded with the victim¡¯s ex-boyfriend, so, if a murder did ur, it would be a purely random act. However, one had to admit that such low-probability events could indeed happen. Jiang Yuan¡¯s most dangerous crime scene investigation involved a case where the killer had joined a tour group andmitted murders nationwide, also showing a penchant for returning to the crime scene. Jiang Yuan had almost be a prop for the criminal¡¯s esction. It was genuinely not for money, power, fame or profit, but purely for the thrill of killing, a purely antisocial personality, the so-called serial killer type. Media reports of simr incidents can indeed be found, like a 10-year-old girl who, upon encountering a young child in an elevator, did not choose to help them home but instead inexplicably began to beat them, continuing until reaching the 25th floor, before throwing them down. There was also the 13-year-old who dismembered a ssmate... Random killings are inherently difficult to solve, and while a regr police team might not even consider this possibility, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had to. Previous unsolved cases had contained such elements, which could not simply be dismissed as urban legends. There were many ways of distinguishing, mainly questioning, taking fingerprints and footprints, along with collecting alibis. These findings might not need to conclude immediately, but as long as they can provide effective evidence forter review, that was sufficient. Just as the credibility of evidence in a research paper is questioned, so too is the strength of evidence. For example, an ordinary alibi such as sleeping with one¡¯s wife at night is weaker because the wife might have a strong motive to lie for her husband. An alibi involving sleeping with a mistress is slightly stronger. If the alibi is sleeping with a time-based love experience provider at night, then the evidence strength bes very strong. Consequently, the two tour groups were detained in Ningtai County. Over thirty people gradually became irritable. Fortunately, by the next afternoon, Jiang Yuan hadpleted the screening of these tourists from different ces, and the station had waived a day¡¯s room charge, allowing a smooth send-off. "The probability of a random killing is rtively low," Jiang Yuan judged for himself. Detective work is actually a job with a heavy reliance on experience. In the first half of one¡¯s life, the experiences one umtes are on par with those from detective work. Therefore, so-called ¡¯super detectives¡¯ are not trained but emerge on their own. Ordinary police can be a bit more formidable by handling cases one after another. That is how Jiang Yuan now is. Many criminals think they havee up with a master stroke, but most of these tricks have been thought of before. So, often, when police encounter simr situations, they can react promptly. It¡¯s somewhat like doing practice problems. Strange and unseen questions can indeed seem difficult and different at first encounter, but with more exposure, the solutions be clearer. In cases like the current one, the most mysterious pattern would be the random killing pattern. Having ruled this out, there wasn¡¯t much else that worried Jiang Yuan. In the afternoon. Liu Wenkai returned as expected, a look of joy on his face: "The restaurant owner has a problem." Jiang Yuan and the others immediately returned to the table. The exnation that the owner killed the waitress was much more readily understood. Things that are easy to understand are usually more likely to ur, and police like it that way. "The boss has two cellphones, and the other phone also had the victim¡¯s WeChat on it. The record was deleted, but after we restored it, it seems they were sleeping together," Liu Wenkai went straight to the most explosive part, adding, "It looks like this has been going on for several years, and the woman now likely wants to break off the rtionship." "This could be seen as a motive," everyone in the special case team suddenly brightened up. "Very likely. The boss probably took advantage of the girl when she was young, using their shared hometown and the difference in status to deceive her. Now, when the girl wants to break up with him and have a proper boyfriend, he doesn¡¯t want to let go," Liu Wenkai made a quite usible inference. "If he doesn¡¯t want to let go, there¡¯s even less reason for him to have killed her," Wang Chuanxing retorted. Liu Wenkai nced at him and said soothingly, "It¡¯s not surprising to see a scenario where if someone can¡¯t have it, they destroy it. Moreover, this boss has been in a special situation recently, which should be understandable." "What special situation?" Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t catch on for a moment. "The restaurant he¡¯s painstakingly run for so long is about to be transferred, and he will have to go to prison afterward. In other words, Mijia was already destined to slip out of his grasp. Without the intervention of a mentally ill boyfriend, by the time this boss¡¯s case goes to trial and he gets out of prison, Mijia could be anywhere," Liu Wenkai actually wanted to express this point and took the opportunity to bring it up in response to Wang Chuanxing¡¯s inquiry. Wang Chuanxing hissed, as though feeling the pressure that the veteran chief detective was exerting. Jiang Yuan remained unmoved and said, "The punishment formitting a crime is not a reason for him tomit another. If he doesn¡¯t want to live, then so be it. Let¡¯s bring him in for interrogation." "Eh, interrogate him directly?" Liu Wenkai had his own rhythm and said, "I still want to understand more from the side. We don¡¯t have anything solid in our hands right now; I¡¯m afraid we might not get much out of an interrogation." "Nothing else can be found at the scene, and from the side... this boss is about to go to prison, he is definitely handling his affairs, so the chances of him slipping up again are slim, let¡¯s interrogate him directly. The victim was underage when she started seeing him, and theye from the same hometown; this point alone is sufficient. Looking at the crime scene¡¯s footprints and other elements, the likelihood of him being the perpetrator is very high," Jiang Yuan made the decision. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, the caution exercised by Liu Wenkai differed starkly from his own. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, the primary issue was the absence of direct evidence pointing to the boss. The evidence was abundant, but since the crime scene was his own restaurant, finding DNA, footprints, and fingerprints there was to be expected. Since the victim had a rtionship with the boss, even if there was physical evidence, it would be exinable. Liu Wenkai, however, wasn¡¯t worried about these factors. He had handled many more cases where the evidence wasn¡¯t even up to this standard. But he was more concerned that the boss might be prepared, so he wanted to gather some evidence from those around him to create a breakthrough for interrogation. It wasn¡¯t a matter of right or wrong, just that Liu Wenkai¡¯s work style differed from Jiang Yuan¡¯s, and the resources avable to Liu Wenkai, including past experience in handling cases, were also different from Jiang Yuan¡¯s. Jiang Yuan had now recognized this and decisively decided to move the case forward. Liu Wenkai hesitated for a moment but then followed suit. They went to the boss¡¯s home, and in less than three hours, they had brought him back. Once Meng Chengbiao was ced in the interrogation room, the tense standoff ensued. Meng Chengbiao had little in the way of possessions, almost none, which was his greatest source of anxiety. As for the restaurant owner ¨C he was mainly afraid of dying. The two men sat face to face in the interrogation room, as though locked in confrontation. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s gaze grew increasingly resolute and cold. The restaurant owner suddenly gave a wretched smile, "Just tell me what charges you want to pin on me, I¡¯m ready to go to prison." In his tone were mixes of bravery and fear, desire and despair. Seeing this, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t follow the script and instead delivered a blunt statement, "The charge is murder, and we will be seeking the death penalty." The restaurant owner was immediately stunned: "Just for using gutter oil..." Chapter 662 - 606: Gone

Chapter 662: Chapter 606: Gone

Meng Chengbiao saw that the restaurant owner had interspersed jokes, avoiding the question, but instead of being influenced, he was slightly pleased. "No problem, what are you evading?" The victim, Mijia, died in the restaurant. In the initial statement, not only was the restaurant owner informed, but he was also one of the reporters. Now you dare not mention it, and you think the biggest problem in your restaurant is kitchen waste oil? Naivety cannot exin this idea. Meng Chengbiao smiled slightly, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and decided to use the strongest offensive to break the restaurant owner¡¯s psychological defenses! "Your rtionship with Mijia was not simply that of a boss and a waitress." "Your rtionship with Mijia was a vition of morality!" "We already know that your rtionship with Mijia started before she turned 18!" "You still go back to your hometown every year, right? I heard you even bought a burial plot there, nning to be buried back home, right? Did your family back home know about what you were doing with Mijia?" "The speed at which scious news spreads is the fastest. The protagonists of such news are also the most easilybeled!" "What kind of reputation do you want? A beastly boss? A chick? A rapist?" At first, the restaurant owner could barely answer Meng Chengbiao¡¯s questions, but he soon fell silent. All criminals share amon problem; they often think they are good people and their actions are excusable. Sometimes the interrogating police exploit this, and sometimes it¡¯s the other way around. Meng Chengbiao easily showed the restaurant owner another perspective, that of an outsider seeing himself, a devil-like murderer, a rapist! This was a self-image that a middle-aged man could hardly ept. Middle-aged men often consider themselves society¡¯s pirs, possessing the greatest power in human society, until they are unemployed or divorced, which shatters their confidence. Meng Chengbiao directly threw filth upon him. The restaurant owner was a businessman, a man of the world. Running a restaurant in Siningshan scenic area, he had certainly encountered both thewful and the underworld. Thus, he understood immediately what Meng Chengbiao¡¯s attack was aimed at. But precisely because he understood, the restaurant owner became silent. He hadmitted too many crimes; normally he could cover them up, but now the police were dragging everything into the open, and he couldn¡¯t fabricate enough stories to cover up all at once. Meng Chengbiao quickly reached an impasse and said, "In general cases, the police tend to maintain confidentiality. The police can keep criminal cases confidential, but that doesn¡¯t mean they have to!" With not many chips in hand, Meng Chengbiao was extra fierce, saying, "The Mijia case is extraordinarily heinous, and if necessary, we will announce it to the whole society." The restaurant owner¡¯s expression visibly calmed down. It was a somewhat depressive calm. "What do you want?" the restaurant owner suddenly asked. "Is the person killed by you?" Meng Chengbiao demanded harshly. It was another crucial question, one that he also had difficulty controlling¡ªif it were a brother who had already served time, they might have drawn a simr conclusion: when the police are calm in their demeanor and tone, it usually means trouble, in such cases, the police might even have the foundation to prosecute without any confession, and they might not ask much whether the suspect confesses or not. If the case is simple and there is no need to dig into other cases, then the police will just proceed methodically, there won¡¯t be any emotional fluctuations, not even skills, just a foolishly righteous demeanor. If the police are anxious, it often means the evidence they have is insufficient. However, even so, it is still very difficult to escape punishment. China¡¯s judicial system is very different from what is depicted in European and American TV shows; generally speaking, being able to find a way to reduce the sentence, or to be given a lighter punishment, is considered a rtively good oue. Although the restaurant owner was a man of the world, he ultimatelycked the experience of being imprisoned. Overwhelmed by emotion, he couldn¡¯t help but feel despondent, saying, "If you want to pin it on me, then pin it on me." "What do you mean ¡¯pin it on you¡¯?" Meng Chengbiao asked. "By the time I got there, Mijia was already gone. Even if I did nothing, she was gone," the restaurant owner said, as he described the scene of his conversation with Mijia. Meng Chengbiao listened to the restaurant owner¡¯s evasions and felt a little happy inside. Mijia had been first attacked by her mentally ill ex-boyfriend and then killed by another murderer, meaning there were two culprits for one victim, but this was kept secret by the police. Apart from the second murderer, no one else was supposed to know this. The fact that the restaurant owner saw Mijia critically injured proved that he indeed was the killer, rather than a coerced confession. His exnation, instead, confirmed his participation. Meng Chengbiao rxed all of a sudden, it was good that they found the murderer, and although the evidence at hand was slightlycking, it would be easy to find more. "What was the situation like when you saw it?" Meng Chengbiao continued to interrogate, but he was no longer anxious inside. The restaurant owner said, "I saw there was some blood under her head, quite a lot had already flowed out. I went over to check and offered to call an ambnce for her..." The restaurant owner fell into a trance, and after a few seconds, he added, "I heard her calling someone else¡¯s name, I asked who hit her, and she said it was her ex-boyfriend..." "This child, she had too many boyfriends." "Actually, I had told her to settle down with me and stop fooling around outside, but she didn¡¯t want to listen." "All those men outside were just deceiving her, and she never stopped to think, she had no money and no job,pletely depending on me for support, what could those men possibly see in her?" "Even the restaurant is gone, after I leave, it will be even harder for her alone." Listening to the restaurant owner¡¯s outpouring of words, Meng Chengbiao only asked when he stopped, "Then what happened, how did you kill Mijia?" "I originally wanted to help her up," the restaurant owner hesitated to say. "And then?" The restaurant owner paused and then said, "Mijia was too thoughtless..." "And then?" "I held her head and mmed it into the ground." "How many times did you m it?" "Twice!" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s interrogation grew more rxed as it went on, and what followed was simply a matter of process. In the office, the members of the special case team watched the scene, and they too started to rx. After a while, leaders like Huang Qiangmin also received the news and came over to listen to the case briefing. Jiang Yuan roamed around with a beaming smile. The leaders at all levels also greeted him cheerfully. In this case, he had not been very involved, but the investigation was still organized under his charge. For the higher-ups of the police station, the specific process of the case wasn¡¯t as important as the time and degree ofpletion. Especially the sense of reassurance that Jiang Yuan brought with him was extremely valuable. Even Chai Tong was a bit obsessed with that certainty¡ªthe hardest thing toe by as a policeman is that sense of rity. Very few officers dare to say they are confident in solving their cases. Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t say that either, but to outsiders, that¡¯s the first thing they perceive. Chai Tong coughed a couple of times and approached Jiang Yuan, trying to salvage the situation. That¡¯s when Jiang Yuan said to Huang Qiangmin, "Director Huang, I¡¯m heading back to Zoumadao." "Are you going back there?" Huang Qiangmin asked. "To clear up the backlog," Jiang Yuan replied. "Why not at Qingxian Bureau¡¯s... Oh, I forgot, sure, you go back to Zoumadao then," Huang Qiangmin said with a mix of sincerity and feigned casualness. Many subconsciously nced at Chai Tong. Everyone understood that Jiang Yuan was avoiding Chai Tong. In that instant, Chai Tong suddenly felt what seemed like the collective and unconscious bullying. It felt especially hurtful! "I¡¯m leaving," Chai Tong said without pretense, turning to leave. His colleagues, as if they hadn¡¯t heard him, all kept their heads down and did not move. Only after Chai Tong¡¯s car had driven away did everyone seeminglye to life, bing active and walking around withughter. The squad leaders who had just returned from downstairs were also talking in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft: "The recent cases have been pretty easy to interrogate." "Those in tourism, I heard that a restaurant owner is going to be sentenced to death, they¡¯re all scared witless." "Not just those in tourism¡ªin the tourist area, many shops are transferring ownership." Chapter 663 - 607: The Limited Edition Chai

Chapter 663: Chapter 607: The Limited Edition Chai

Chai Tong left work early, and suddenly the atmosphere in the office improved markedly. Everyone gathered around Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan, saying pleasant courtesies and making the scene particrlyfortable. Logically speaking, there were politicalmissioners and several deputy directors below Chai Tong, and Huang Qiangmin had only been promoted recently, ranking rtively low. However, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s strong support, and the impressive victory he had just secured, Huang Qiangmin now seemed very different in everyone¡¯s eyes. Whileughing and chatting, they reflected on the case once again, and there were many sighs of emotion. A deputy directormented, "If it were not for Jiang Yuan, a case with one corpse and two felons would have been truly troublesome." "The restaurant owner would have likely run away," Huang Qiangmin alsomended, "Had this case been handed over to another county bureau, it would have required extensive publicity for months, but we¡¯ve handled so many major cases that we haven¡¯t had the time to publicize them." "We do need to focus more on publicity," said the deputy director in charge of publicity, falling into deep contemtion. "I think we can do segmented publicity," another deputy director said with a smile, "We can have one approach for domestic publicity, another for out-of-province, and even allocate some publicity resources for the ministry. It would be best if the leaders at the ministry could also see some of the work we are doing." "That¡¯s a tall order," immediately someone cast a sideways nce. "How is it a tall order? Don¡¯t we now have the resources brought back by Director Huang?" "Director Huang probably doesn¡¯t n to use them here," came the response. "We¡¯re just discussing it," someone replied. ... Jiang Yuan listened to their conversation and slowly left the meeting room. Being young and of low rank, he had little to contribute to the conversation, and as for making pretenses or practicing emotional intelligence¡ªafter today¡¯s case, based on the current situation, Jiang Yuan felt he didn¡¯t need emotional intelligence for the time being. He could return to the blissfully ignorant life of a technician, doing whatever he wanted, and Jiang Yuan certainly didn¡¯t feel like chatting with a bunch of robust old men. There was no point in having a good chat, and a bad one could offend someone, so it was better to just walk away. Seeing this, Liu Wen Kai hurriedly followed him out, ostensibly chasing after Jiang Yuan to say something, but in reality, he was making his escape. Catching up with Jiang Yuan, Liu Wen Kai said with a smile, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re not really going back to the police station, are you?" "My home is within the jurisdiction of Zoumadao Police Station. Helping them with cases will also improve the area," Jiang Yuan stated his intentions directly. "Oh, oh," Liu Wen Kai sounded, and then smiled, "How about I dig up some old unsolved cases from around Zoumadao, and we see what we can do?" While Chai continued to hold his position, Jiang Yuan would not handle major cases temporarily, to avoid any risks. But Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to take a vacation and rest either; he would instead work on minor cases. Liu Wen Kai¡¯s thoughts were simr to Station Tan¡¯s; such an effective Jiang Yuan was a "Chai-limited edition," and once this opportunity passed, there might not be another chance. Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Wen Kai in surprise and said, "The second squad used to be the heavy case team; you must have cleared most of the old cases by now." He had cleared the county bureau¡¯s backlog before, and as the main force of the criminal police team, the second squad had the majority of cases resolved. Liu Wen Kai chuckled and said, "You can count major cases, but who can count the minor ones? So many cases have passed the statute of limitations. Even for the first half of this year, there are still some cases that we haven¡¯t cracked." "There couldn¡¯t have been that many cases this year." "The total number has dropped a lot, especially professional crimes; those have decreased significantly. But we still have cases of non-professional crimes, and they are especially difficult to solve," Liu Wen Kai said with a sheepishugh. Professional criminals, like those who steal electric bikes, would have to steal a double-digit number of bikes a month if they specialized in it. Among these, some owners might report the theft and press charges, while others might not bother reporting it at all. But no matter how many people report, such thieves won¡¯t continue their activities after a few run-ins with thew. The punishments will grow more severe, and the sentences will get longer. In other words, cracking down on these types of cases quickly will curb their prevalence. Shutting down the channels for disposing of stolen goods can have an even better effect. And in Ningtai County, life for these professional thieves is certainly getting harder and harder. Not to mention the countless surveince cameras across the city, even their own cohorts, arrested and seeking leniency, might betray their bike-stealing partners. The channels for disposing of stolen goods are also moving from fixed locations to mobile ones, gradually distancing themselves from Ningtai County. However, non-professional criminals are usually unaware of these developments. Take, for instance, the older man who enjoys snatching things from others; if he gets caught after a habitual theft and is sentenced, he might try once more, but after a second sentence, he would likely refrain from future thefts. More often, though, such thefts are impulsive. Other impulsive crimes include sudden threats, spontaneous rape, or opportunistic solicitation of prostitution, among others... These kinds of cases, if the value involved is small, don¡¯t typically attract much police attention; they fall into the category of ¡¯catch if you can, let go if you can¡¯t.¡¯ "But if the value of the case isrge, it would be a major case and thus enter the jurisdiction of the second squad. If it remains unsolved..." "Let¡¯s go take a look," Jiang Yuan readily agreed. He was now ying the role of a little genius of the Ningtai County Bureau, helping whoever caught him with their case. In essence, that was the role of the Criminal Investigation Brigade. Liu Wenkai therefore took Jiang Yuan with him and brought him back to the second squad. The second squad¡¯s office. When the detectives saw Jiang Yuaning, it immediately became chaotic¡ªthose tidying up desks, moving chairs, pouring tea... "Captain Jiang, you¡¯ve finallye!" One yful detective immediately lunged forward. "Get out of here," Liu Wenkai pushed the person away. In his view, a limited edition technician like Jiang Yuan did indeed have the allure of a giant panda, but you couldn¡¯t just reach out and grab a giant panda. Polite admiration was sufficient. "Folks, whoever has a case, bring it here quickly. Let¡¯s make the most of our time," Liu Wenkai called out before sitting down next to Jiang Yuan to start filtering the cases. The first detective who brought over the case files saw Liu Wenkai take two out and hand them to Jiang Yuan. The rest were sent back with themand, "Filter them yourself first, don¡¯t bother with the overly simple ones." Jiang Yuan smiled and began to review the case files. Then, more detectives came over with their case files. In the detective squad, major cases certainly require the involvement of the entire team, while ordinary cases are usually handled by one or two detectives. Most of these cases get dyed for some time before gradually being resolved, but there are always some cases that cannot be cracked for a while. Some cases could even haunt someone for a long time. But because of the different circumstances and severity of the cases, getting them assigned to Jiang Yuan was not easy. Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t want to waste the precious limited opportunity, so his selection was quite strict: "There¡¯s no need to bother Captain Jiang with these trivial cases." "Why bring soliciting prostitution cases here? That¡¯s for other teams to handle, our team doesn¡¯t waste time on that stuff!" "This scam involving swindling a youngdy¡¯s money is indeed excessive and involves tel fraud, but let¡¯s talk about thatter. If it¡¯s international, it could be impossible to catch the perpetrator, not interesting at all!" Though Liu Wenkai rejected many, several cases still made the cut. Jiang Yuan casually filtered through a few cases and without finishing, picked one out, saying, "Let¡¯s start with this burry." "Isn¡¯t that a bit toomon?" Liu Wenkai was slightly embarrassed. "It¡¯s the residential area right in front of my house, let me have a look," Jiang Yuan recognized the affected Jinding Mingyuan Residential Area. It was only a few hundred meters away from Jiangcun Residential Area and also a redevelopment area, which he felt could potentially be dangerous. The thought that someone couldmit burry within a kilometer of Jiang Vige was quite frightening. The homes in Jiangcun Residential Area indeed had valuables that could be stolen. Liu Wenkai smiled, understanding Jiang Yuan to some extent. The detective in charge quickly gathered the relevant photos and evidence. A whole box full. Normally, reopening an old case would have a certain procedure, including considerations for time and personnel allocation. But everyone had seen the speed at which Jiang Yuan dealt with backlogged cases, including the detectives in charge, who preferred to avoid making multiple trips. Jiang Yuan sipped his tea twice, then put on a mask and gloves before examining the evidence out of the evidence box, starting with the photos and case description. It appeared to be from a household with the surname Shen in the Jinding Mingyuan Residential Area. Recently, their son returned home from school in the afternoon to find the front door open. He thought his parents, who were on a trip, hade back early. However, upon entering, he realized something was amiss as everything was in disarray¡ªit was clear there had been a burry... After the police were alerted, it was discovered that 200,000 yuan in cash hidden under the Shen¡¯s bed had been stolen. Mrs. Shen¡¯s substantial collection of jewelry, worth nearly a million yuan in total, was also gone... For Ningtai County, this was naturally a major case, but unfortunately, it had not been solved. The lead officer, seeing that Jiang Yuan had started looking at the photos, said, "After the technicians conducted an on-site inspection of the house, they deduced that the criminal suspect broke in by knocking out the peephole and then picking the lock. It¡¯s a crime that requires some skill, but we didn¡¯t find any usable footprints or fingerprints of the perpetrator, so we didn¡¯t call you..." "Even if you had called me, it¡¯s not guaranteed that I would have been able to solve it," Jiang Yuan said with a smile, looking at the photos. The leading officer chuckled, "Everyone is saying these days that if a thief leaves footprints, they can¡¯t get away. Who knows if this person heard about that..." Chapter 664 - 608 Slippers

Chapter 664: Chapter 608 Slippers

"It¡¯s not easy to leave no footprints at a crime scene," Jiang Yuan flipped through the photos, speaking as if in casual conversation. The attending officer nodded, "Exactly, which is why we¡¯re specting whether the killer wrapped something around their shoes, perhaps?" He drew out his words, looking at Jiang Yuan as if seeking an answer. Jiang Yuan looked at the photos and replied, "Doesn¡¯t seem like it. There are no abnormal footprints either. If they used stic bags or newspapers to wrap around the shoes, there would still be some trace of it on the ground." "Oh... I see. Then Wang Zhong¡¯s assessment wasn¡¯t too off the mark," the officer chuckled, deciding to trust Wang Zhong¡¯s judgment. Liu Wenkai also recalled this case, saying, "When we investigated, this household only had signs of intrusion on the main door. No other entry or exit points were found at the scene. Besides the messy clothes in the room, the stolen items were mainly cash and jewelry. More expensive electronics, includingputers and alcohol, weren¡¯t taken, so at first, we even suspected an inside job." "Indeed, was the one who called the police a teenager?" Jiang Yuan expressed agreement. Teenagers are exactly at the age where they challenge the world and authority¡ªand thew itself is part of that world and authority. Liu Wenkai nodded and said, "If it was done by the son of the Shen family, one should be able to trace the cash and the disposal of so much gold and silver jewelry... but no clues were found." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. Even though the means of the police in ordinary cases are rtively limited, it all depends on whom you¡¯reparing with. A mere student would have tremendous difficulty merely hiding that amount of money, not to mentionundering it. It¡¯s hard to believe there wouldn¡¯t be any whispers about it. "So it goes to say, every crime is meticulously crafted by the perpetrator," Jiang Yuan mused, finding the case intriguing. Liu Wenkai chuckled and nodded, "It¡¯s like a woman; every woman has her gentle and cute side. An ordinary girl also has her unique beauty. Every hostess at a venue is different, regardless of whether it¡¯s a low-price or high-end ce." Jiang Yuan looked up at Liu Wenkai and said, "Your trantion of my words... somewhat twists them... Let¡¯s focus on the case. We should double-check the situation of the person who reported the crime, see if anything has changed after half a year." If it really was an inside job, the teenager¡¯s spending in the past six months would have likely increased. Even if it didn¡¯t show in daily life, checking his WeChat, shopping records, ticket purchases, and amodation bookings should reveal something. If not, then inside theft might not warrant much consideration. Without needing instructions from Liu Wenkai, the officer in charge of the case acknowledged and went to check. Jiang Yuan thus set this case aside to look at other cases. Extraordinary conclusions require extraordinary evidence. Inside theft is the most conventional judgment. Even if the previous officers had followed this lead, Jiang Yuan would still have to check again once it was in his hands. Because ruling out this conclusion meant that one had entered into an unconventional line of judgment. This is also why big hospitals prefer patients to undergo tests again. When patientse to major hospitals, they often have already eliminatedmon ailments. To arrive at an unconventional diagnosis, one naturally needs more supporting evidence. The officers brought other case files to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan felt that working on deduction was somewhat taxing, so he picked cases involving fingerprints to tackle first. Thefortable thing about these cases is that other conditions had been sorted by others, allowing one to focus solely on the technical aspects. The forensic technicians in Ningtai County were still Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, whose skills remained the same. Facing various minor cases, they weren¡¯t necessarily able to match fingerprints... Jiang Yuan chose to work on fingerprints with a difficulty of Level 1.5 and above. Fingerprints below that level of difficulty could likely be processed by Yan Ge and Wang Zhong, so Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t spend much time researching them. With two cases involving over a dozen fingerprints, if the difficulty matched Wang Zhong¡¯s capabilities, it would take him about an hour or two to process them. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, including the time to boot up theputer and software, took only fifteen minutes in total toplete theparison. "Bring them in for questioning," Jiang Yuan matched a suspect to one case and felt that it was probably about right. With such minor cases, it would usually be clear after an interrogation whether the person brought in was actually involved or an outside party. There was no need to make it overlyplicated. Liu Wenkai cheerfully agreed and arranged for someone to carry out the task. Jiang Yuan continued to work on a case involving footprints, following a simr process. The second squad was in high spirits, starting to appreciate the benefits of a standardized approach. Jiang Yuan smiled, feeling quite happy himself. Compared to running around early andte outside, spending nights on end smoking and staking out, or the exhausting effort involved in making arrests, sitting in front of aputer and catching criminals was quite nice. Moreover, the cases handled by the second squad were considered significant and severe rtive to the county bureau¡¯s regr cases. Even amon burry, for example, starts with a sentence of three years imprisonment. If the perpetrator was a habitual offender, or a repeat offender, it wasn¡¯t unusual for the sentence to be increased by a couple of years with an additional charge. Three to five years might not sound like much, but in terms of Criminal Law, it is quite severe and poses a significant deterrence to ordinary criminals. Jiang Yuan finished working on five cases in one breath, and seeing that it was almost time to get off work, he stood up and stretched,ughing, "That¡¯ll be it for today, I¡¯m going to y with Dazhuang for a while." "Sure, sure." Liu Wenkai agreed quickly and personally went out to send Jiang Yuan down to the police dog squadron. In the training field of the police dog squadron, Dazhuang was exercising. Suddenly, catching Jiang Yuan¡¯s scent, Dazhuang, in the midst of running an obstacle course, twisted in mid-air and looked towards the direction Jiang Yuan wasing from. Jiang Yuan waved from afar, grinning cheerfully. Li Li also saw him, wiped off sweat, greeted him, andughed, "Shall I give you two brothers some time to y?" "Thanks, sis." Jiang Yuan took the leash. Dazhuang "woofed" back in response, as if to say thanks. Li Li gave Dazhuang a stern look, her expression mirroring his. Jiang Yuan, leading Dazhuang, ran side by side with the dog for a fewps. After warming up a bit, Jiang Yuan then took Dazhuang for a leisurely stroll. Police dogs only eat once a day, so for today, the food quota was already used up. Dazhuang knew this, but he was still thrilled that Jiang Yuan was there to y with him. Whether it¡¯s Level 5 or Level 6 dog food, it didn¡¯t matter much if they couldn¡¯t get it... slurp... When Jiang Yuan finally left, Dazhuang drooled as he watched his retreating figure. Li Li watched with a sense of helplessness, first wiped Dazhuang¡¯s mouth, then said, "You really are hopeless, it¡¯s just dog food after all... slurp..." ... The next day. The officer responsible for "Jinding Mingyuan" came back to report, "No evidence was found that the person who reported the crime was stealing from themselves." This meant that the simplest way to start the case was ruled out. "In that case... both the husband and wife of this family, they don¡¯t have any issues either?" Jiang Yuan had reviewed the case file, but still wanted to confirm. The responsible officer nodded, saying, "I also investigated the couple¡¯s situation, that¡¯s why it took so long. By all appearances, because this family are people affected by housing demolition, they are not short of money. Their worth far exceeds this sum, there are no strange ies recently, and... neither can obtain any benefit from this theft, they seem like ordinary people..." "There were no other people¡¯s footprints in the room..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind first thought of the hidden thief in the ceiling. If it were the residence of ancient people, a thief could move high and low, not touching the ground, avoiding detection. Obviously, conditions in Jinding Mingyuan did not allow for that. Jiang Yuan actually had an idea in mind, and upon confirming this detail, he revisited the photos of the case again, took out a few of them, and said, "It looks like the perpetrator must have worn the shoes of this family." The photo he took out was of the family¡¯s shoe cab. Jiang Yuan pointed to a pair of slippers in it, saying, "Regarding the living habits of this family, the slippers should be worn indiscriminately, without being specific to one person. So, all the footprints inside the house are from the family¡¯s shoes, but a careful analysis reveals that the same footprint has multiple shapes..." At this point, Jiang Yuan picked out a pair of blue slippers and said, "All the other shoes are worn by the family of three, three types of footprints, but this pair of blue men¡¯s slippers has four." "What about guests?" The responsible officer suddenly thought of this puzzle. "Maybe, but it¡¯s less likely. There are many rtively fresh footprints of this blue slipper at the scene." Jiang Yuan shrugged and said, "Now we¡¯re at a standstill, so let¡¯s first see what we can find from this pair of slippers." The rity of footprints found inside was not very good to begin with. It was all because the family¡¯s room wasrge enough, and additionally, the boy waszy enough at home to not sweep or mop the floor. But no matter how you look at it, to solve the case based solely on such footprints was going to be challenging. They must find those blue slippers to continue pursuing this lead. "I¡¯ll go find these slippers," the responsible officer said without much ado, ready to leave with his team. Jiang Yuan reminded him, "When you get them back, we will collect DNA, so pay attention to not contaminating the evidence. Do not make a phone call in advance; take the DNA of the husband and wife from the scene." "Okay," the responsible officer acknowledged. Liu Wenkai was a bit concerned as he asked, "It¡¯s been half a year, can we still obtain the perpetrator¡¯s DNA?" "We¡¯ll see. If he didn¡¯t wear socks at the time and the shoes weren¡¯t washed, then there¡¯s a good chance of finding something. If he did wear socks... if he sweated, he should have left something behind..." Jiang Yuan analyzed in detail. Liu Wenkai curled his lip, "House slippers not washed for half a year? These people¡¯s habits are really filthy." "How often do you wash your slippers at home?" Jiang Yuan suddenly became curious. "Slippers... I don¡¯t seem to have specifically washed them before," Liu Wenkai hesitated and then fell into deep thought. Chapter 665 - 609: Fuel Rats

Chapter 665: Chapter 609: Fuel Rats

The blue slippers were quickly brought back to the police station. The officer in charge spoke in a cheerful tone, loudly eximing, "This family never washes their slippers!" In the office, the police expressed their approval, and some even apuded. It was somewhat like the scene in a real estate agency when a house is sold and everyone celebrates together. Jiang Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief. If this family had been a bit more hygiene-conscious, solving the case would have been really difficult. Without DNA evidence, having only a set of footprints would havended them in a predicament with no targets forparison. "We can now wait for the DNA results in peace," Liu Wenkai quickly put the case aside and poured Jiang Yuan another cup of water, grinning, "Let¡¯s work on the other cases first, no rush." "Sure," Jiang Yuan replied with a smile and continued to leisurely review other cases. No matter how fast one works on cases, they always seem toe in faster. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t finish all the cases he had received that very day in a short amount of time. The room became quiet again, with officers doing their own work, organizing documents, and some already out of their chairs and gone. Jiang Yuan quickly finishedparing a case and sent it through theputer, then continued his work, feeling a bit like doing homework during the summer vacation. It wasn¡¯t much longer before the main office became agitated again. Turning his head, Jiang Yuan saw Liu Wenkai standing up, and as he followed his gaze, he spotted Director Tan from Zoumadao Police Station leaning against the door, gazing with a sly look at the rough men in therge office. Jiang Yuan shifted ufortably in his seat. Director Tan made him feel as though he had been caught by his own dog feeding a stray. Not that one could really say that. By all ounts, Liu Wenkai was part of the criminal police team and closer to Jiang Yuan, so it wasn¡¯t fair to liken him to a stray dog... "Director Tan," Jiang Yuan smiled,tely toozy to use emotional intelligence, but now feeling slightly embarrassed, inevitably had to stir it up. "Captain Jiang, I was just saying you should have taken a good break these past few days," Director Tanined with an overstretched neck as he stepped inside. Jiang Yuan would have to pass by Zoumadao Police Station on his way home. Whether he left the house or not, Director Tan might know better than he did. However, with such a remark, any man with emotional intelligence would respond with a smile. No exnation was given. It was as if to say, "I¡¯ve fed a stray dog, what about it?" "Our station hasn¡¯t finished dealing with its cases yet," Director Tan spoke softly. It was Liu Wenkai¡¯s turn to step in, "Old Tan, that¡¯s enough. You¡¯ve already caught all the illegal tour guides. Siningshan¡¯s tourism is in decline, and you¡¯re still not done?" "Out with the old, in with the new. I even went to the county recently and was praised by County Chief Li," Director Tan revealed casually, saying, "There¡¯s been talk about Siningshan recently, online discussions im it¡¯s not really affected. The county¡¯s revenue from tickets, amodation, dining, etc., doesn¡¯t change. These illegal tour guides and restaurants going out of business, it just saves money in the middle, and the unemployment rate doesn¡¯t increase since they¡¯re all going to jail, right?" "You¡¯ve said it all," Liu Wenkai remarked, not overly confident. "I think we should meet halfway. How about we take care of the cases sent over from Zoumadao, specifically those under the responsibility of the second team? Our station is strong and capable now, we¡¯re looking forward tobining forces with you, Captain Liu," Director Tan requested cheerfully. "Actually, among the cases Captain Liu brought up before, there were some from Zoumadao," Jiang Yuan coughed twice, smoothing things over before directly asking, "Director Tan, do you have any specific cases in mind that you¡¯d like to work on?" Tan Jing did indeed have something in mind, inhaling deeply before saying, "I want to take down the gas thieves on the outskirts of the city!" Unlike Liu Wenkai, who was stationed in a single ce, Tan Jing held a deep understanding of his jurisdiction after years of working there and had developed a real attachment to it. The gas thieves in the outskirts represented a persistent problem within the Zoumadao Police Station¡¯s jurisdiction. Tan Jing and the police had fought against them more than once. Jiang Yuan himself had previously handled a simr case, arresting a gang that stole fuel near highway toll stations. Liu Wenkai clicked his tongue with a sound, "Old Tan has a bit of a leader¡¯s air. We handle whichever casees our way, but Tan always focuses on a particr type." Catching a gas thief here and there won¡¯t affect the big picture, but if we catch them all, that will make a difference," said Tan Jing earnestly. The so-called stubborn illness isn¡¯t something that can heal on its own once the rotten flesh is excised; it requires thorough debridement. In fact, fuel thieves are a widespread issue nationwide. Some gangs evenmit crimes across different areas. Even if a gang is taken down, individual fuel thieves still exist. Fuel is now sufficiently expensive that stealing a hundred litres or so from a truck is quitemon, and it sells easily. They just have to discount it slightly to make a sale. Diesel and gasoline can both be considered solid currencies and are long-term consumables. Even if they can¡¯t sell it right away, the thieves are in no hurry. On the other hand, truck drivers, the main victims, are simr to tourists in that they have fixed arrival and departure times. They are usually from out of town, unfamiliar with the area, and don¡¯t want to cause trouble. When the fuel in their tanks is stolen, aside from cursing, truck drivers usually do no more than make a phone call to report the crime, and few are willing to wait on site for the police to arrive. Many people have time limits for their deliveries; if they reach their deadline, they cannot afford to stay, otherwise, they have to paypensation. The cost for fuel thieves to steal is incredibly low. Even if they¡¯re caught by the victim, it¡¯s usually just a couple of threats before they turn around and walk away. Trucks aremercial vehicles, and it¡¯s not practical to hire extra drivers just to deter them¡ªthat would be too costly. On the highways, the flow ofrge transport trucks is endless. Thus, fuel theft as an upation has growth potential¡ªit naturally forms into gangs. If a fuel thief initially worked solo, he would soon feel the need to expand and strengthen his operations. He might upgrade from stealing with a motorcycle to using a small van, and evolve from a solo act to a teamwork approach. Unlike truck drivers, who are hard to increase in number, the security and ie of a fuel-stealing gang can significantly increase with just two or three members. Because there are so many trucks, a trio can steal two to three times the amount of fuelpared to a lone thief. In the end, the ie is high enough not just for the thieves to splurge, but also to have savings. As a result, every time the police organize a special operation, they can just run off to avoid it, or even move to another city. Tan Jing produced a USB drive, inserted it into theputer on the spot, and showed Jiang Yuan and the others the details of the case. Jiang Yuan spread his hands to Liu Wen Kai andughed, "Well, let¡¯s take a look." "Ah, they¡¯re all broken cases," Liu Wen Kai had nothing else to say since Chai¡¯s limited edition actually looked a bit like Chai; the time was too short. Tan Jing showed three cases in one go - thefts at a service station, on a provincial road, and on a county road, highlighting aprehensive issue. Tan Jing then looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, "What do you think?" "It feels like gathering evidence won¡¯t be easy, seemsbor-intensive." Jiang Yuan spoke candidly. "Indeed, if we can only catch them once, the sentence won¡¯t be heavy." "Could there be an issue with a protective umbre?" Tan Jing hesitated for a moment then said, "It¡¯s hard to tell someone¡¯s true nature by their appearance. If you want me to guarantee... I think we could use some younger police officers, they are less set in their ways and more enthusiastic. If Captain Liu is willing to cooperate, that would be even better." With a "Ha," Liu Wen Kai pointed at Tan Jing and said, "You¡¯re quite the schemer, aren¡¯t you? Might as well mobilize the entire Ningtai County Bureau at yourmand!" "Then what else do you have?" Tan Jing countered. "Do you have any major cases on your hands?" Liu Wen Kai found himself speechless for a moment. A thought shed through Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind and he said, "Alright then, I¡¯ll bring the Cold Case Squad along, and I¡¯ll also call in a cop from out of province." "From out of province?" "From the Luojin City Bureau of Baijiang Province. The captain of the fourth brigade, Pang Jidong¡ªhe learnt Legal Botany from me. He got halfway through his studies and I¡¯ve been meaning to call him over for a major case, but there hasn¡¯t been one yet. I¡¯m afraid he¡¯ll forget what he learned... so, might as well," exined Jiang Yuan. Pang Jidong had a task pending over there, but what the reward entailed was unknown. Tan Jing could only nod. The concept of calling people from other provinces is generally something organized by the ministry. Chapter 666 - 610 Techniques

Chapter 666: Chapter 610 Techniques

Pang Jidong brought a subordinate, took ate-night flight in spring, and arrived in Changyang City the next morning. They got into the Alphard that Jiang Yuan had sent and instantly fell into a deep sleep. Early in the morning, at the start of the workday for Zoumadao Police Station, Pang Jidong had already appeared at the entrance ahead of time. His rank as a first-grade police supervisor was quite conspicuous. "Captain Pang. You¡¯ve had a hard timeing all this way. Was everything smooth?" Jiang Yuan, hearing that the Alphard was arriving, had left home early to go to work. "Smooth, smooth," Pang Jidong shook hands with Jiang Yuan, expressing his thanks, "I¡¯m really happy that Captain Jiang could remember me..." Jiang Yuan said, "I always felt that I didn¡¯t exin Legal Botany clearly enough. I happen to have some timetely. If you¡¯re willing, I can go over it with you again." "Willing, willing!" Pang Jidong said repeatedly. At the Luojin City Bureau, he had already started developing ways to solve cases using forensic botany by inviting and utilizing some botany professors. Although it was a bit troublesome, for cases that had absolutely no leads, forensic botany provided an opportunity. Jiang Yuan had recentlye to understand some of Pang Jidong¡¯s methods, which was why he had thought of him this time. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s point of view, although teaching Pang Jidong was a bit troublesome, once Pang Jidong acquired the relevant knowledge, he truly used it. Furthermore, as the captain of the fourth team of the criminal police brigade of the Luojin City Bureau, his official duties allowed him to utilize this knowledge, which was also a very important point. For the nimble-minded younger generation, like Wang Chuanxing, even if they learned how to use forensic botany, how to connect with relevant botany professors, and how to apply it to cases, they still had much to learn about these extracurricr skills. "Let¡¯s go inside first, I¡¯ll introduce you to the station director here," Jiang Yuan pulled Pang Jidong inside and said as they chatted, "I¡¯ll buy your return ticketster ¨C no need to be polite with me." Pang Jidong chuckled awkwardly, "That would be really embarrassing. Mainly, it was because I left in a hurry, but I can im the expenses when I go back." Director Tan quickly came out to greet them. Officially, Pang Jidong was here to support Zoumadao Police Station. The captain of a provincial city criminal police brigadeing to support a county-level police station was a method of support that even Tan Jing himself had never heard of. He was actually quite curious and wanted to see what kind of extraordinary powers a senior police officer from another province like Pang Jidong possessed. Everyone sat down in the conference room, and they saw Pang Jidong respectfully ce Jiang Yuan in the seat of honor and then quietly started asking questions. His manner and expression were like that of an apprentice to a master, despite Jiang Yuan being younger. Thinking this in his heart, Tan Jing maintained a smile on his face. After a while, Liu Wenkai also hurried over from the detective squad, and along with the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and the personnel from Zoumadao Police Station, everyone began discussing the case concerning diesel thieves. Tan Jing stood up to introduce the situation, saying, "Based on the cases we¡¯ve cracked before, there are two types of diesel theft gangs. One has a rather loose organizational structure, forming partnerships on an ad hoc basis beforemitting crimes, making them difficult topletely eradicate. The other type forms a stable gang after long-term cooperation. Generally speaking, a stable gang has a higher capability and potential for destruction." "From what we¡¯ve observed so far, a diesel theft gang usually has at least one oil tanker. An oil tanker is a modified vehicle, often stolen, with just a few being purchased ¡¯backdoor¡¯ vehicles. They mainly use older high-end imported cars with an engine life of over 20 years. The rear seat and trunk are all modified into fuel tanks that can hold over 600 liters. As for the price, an oil tanker currently costs around 10,000 yuan on the market." "Another aspect is the underground oil depot. ¡¯Oil depot¡¯ may be a bit of an overstatement; most are just a truck, and having a slightly more private or remote warehouse counts asrge scale. Those who deal in the stolen goods usually use 200-liter oil drums for the oil, selling it for around 1,200 yuan, in cash transactions. The purchased oil is then sold to some regr customers, at a price about one to one and a half yuan cheaper per liter than the market price," he said. Jiang Yuan and the others listened carefully. The methods of operation that Tan Jing introduced were, to an extent, considered valuable secrets among thieves 100 years ago. Nowadays, there were still some barriers to entry. However, Tan Jing was very detailed in his exnations, and it did not take long for Jiang Yuan and the others to catch up with the progress. Liu Wenkai then asked, "How does this underground oil depot operate? Through phone calls?" "Phone, WeChat, Telegram, anything goes," Tan Jing counted on his fingers, adding, "Generally, after the diesel thieves send a message, they go to pick up the oil. If someone wants to buy, they go and deliver it, just providing this middleman service." Liu Wenkai¡¯s expression sharpened, "That means, if I were a diesel thief, and I stole 600 liters today, I could call the fence directly to trade the oil on the spot, and then continue stealing oil?" "In theory, yes," Tan Jing paused before continuing, "But that¡¯s too much of a hustle. The average diesel thief probably wouldn¡¯t want to tire themselves out like that." Liu Wenkai also smiled, then seriously said, "So, isn¡¯t our core in catching the diesel thieves about nabbing the fences?" "There are many fences, and these days, it¡¯s a struggle. Just buy a small truck or operate an ¡¯oil tiger¡¯; this business can be undertaken by anyone," Tan Jing replied. Pang Jidong slowly nodded, saying, "So, essentially, the diesel thieves could also switch to buying oil. But for the buyers, how do you find people willing to purchase the oil?" "There are plenty of truck drivers at service stations willing to buy cheap oil," was the reply. "It doesn¡¯t impact them directly, so they don¡¯t feel it," Pang Jidongmented, adding, "It¡¯s like when your bike gets stolen, and then you buy stolen goods to get it back." Coming to an understanding, Liu Wenkai said, "So, catching the fences is also useless?" "You¡¯ll never finish catching them," said Tan Jing. This kind of problem is generally onlypletely solved when there is a specialized campaign from above. On a day-to-day basis, given the staffing of the police stations, securing their territory is already a challenge, let alone achieving a thorough resolution. "Let¡¯s just catch a few to take a look," Jiang Yuan suggested after listening to their discussion, proposing a simple n. Tan Jing hesitated, saying, "I¡¯m just worried about alerting them by rustling the grass." "As soon as we start investigating, there¡¯s a chance we might rustle the grass," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too bothered by this concern and turned to Pang Jidong, "What do you think?" "I was wondering how we could apply forensic botany," Pang Jidong said hesitantly. "Do we need to?" countered Jiang Yuan. Pang Jidong chuckled, saying, "It would be best if we could. Do you have a n in mind?" "Not really. We¡¯ll just y it by ear," Jiang Yuan remarked as he began to select cases. After some thought, Pang Jidong also picked up a case file and began to read it carefully. Chapter 667 - 611 The Eve Before Catastrophe

Chapter 667: Chapter 611 The Eve Before Catastrophe

Director Tan Jing also looked over the case files but did so casually. Not to mention these were cases he had handled before, speaking of cracking them, it wasn¡¯t that straightforward. If the cases could be solved with a wave of his hand, he wouldn¡¯t have left them here in the first ce. As for why these cases remained unsolved, the difficulty was partly to me, as was theck of resources. But both these issues were essentially unsolvable. At least up to now, there had been no fundamental change in either respect for Director Tan and his Zoumadao Police Station. Therefore, Director Tan¡¯s attention was more on Jiang Yuan. It was like a poor student watching a top student do their homework. There was no point in trying it themselves; it was better to wait until the top student finished and then copy directly. "Captain Tan, would you like to pick out a couple of cases?" After looking over several cases and finding them indistinguishable, Jiang Yuan turned to ask the host directly. Some cases couldn¡¯t be evaluated solely based on what was in their files, perhaps Tan Jing had some ideas. Once Jiang Yuan asked, Tan Jing perked up a bit, thought for a moment, and said, "Why not start with this oil theft case, number 403? Our evidence collection is moreprehensive in this case." Wang Chuanxing, who was nearby, quickly located the corresponding files and pulled up additional photos and videos on theputer. Jiang Yuan read through them one by one, while others looked at files or examined reports. After a while, seeing that Jiang Yuan remained silent, the others started discussing among themselves. Someone like Pang Jidong, who usually worked in major cases in Luo Jin City, could simultaneously handle three or four cases like this oil theft through his subordinates in the criminal police unit. Sitting in the station¡¯s conference room, when the others saw Jiang Yuan keeping silent, they simply did as they pleased. It wasn¡¯t long before Pang Jidong organized several interrogation records and said, "I noticed that there are a few names that keep appearing frequently. I¡¯ve extracted some of them..." Everyone looked and saw on the paper: "Feizi told me", "Dunzi came looking for me", "Ran into Feizi"... The records were full of very colloquial content. A police officer from the station read through them andmented, "This Feizi is a former offender with a history of diesel fuel theft. I¡¯ve arrested him once..." Pang Jidong nodded and said, "He often appears in the statements of various suspects. He¡¯s definitely an active participant and should be closely watched." So, Captain Tan stood up, went over to Pang Jidong, reviewed the materials he had organized, and said, "Looking at this, there¡¯s indeed a possibility he¡¯s involved in the crimes. Shall we bring him in for questioning?" "I suggest we do some surveince and stakeout first. It would be best if we can find evidence before making a move," Pang Jidong said cautiously. Director Tan seemed slightly troubled; surveince was not an issue, but trailing was not something they often did. Nowadays, police investigation often spent half the time at the desk. Given therge area of Zoumadao¡¯s jurisdiction and its location at the outskirts of the city, most cases were referred to the detective unit, and they were not particrly adept at solving crimes themselves. "Captain Jiang, what do you think?" Tan Jing turned to Jiang Yuan. He was more willing to listen to Jiang Yuan. Pang Jidong may have higher rank insignia on his shoulders, but he had no authority over a station in a neighboring province. Jiang Yuan snapped out of his reverie, thought for a moment, and knew where Tan Jing¡¯s difficultyy. He then suggested, "Why don¡¯t we have Captain Liu take care of the surveince and stakeout?" "It¡¯s doable," Liu Wenkai agreed,rgely because of Jiang Yuan¡¯s presence. Tan Jing also breathed a sigh of relief. Surveince and stakeout were not easy jobs, the kind that were both exhausting and grueling. Imagine a woman meeting someone for a private encounter, we wouldn¡¯t know if she was tired and just wanted to sleep, or if she wanted to exhaust herself with someone else. You can neither rush in furiously nor turn around and leave; instead, you sit in your car, watching the hotel entrance, hoping to catch the moment the twoe out. This could take 20 minutes or even a day and a night. During the wait, it¡¯s not practical to leave, nor is there room to stretch out, only bing more and more tired and ufortable... Liu Wenkai¡¯s willingness to agree was the best oue, at least Tan Jing felt he couldn¡¯t have managed it himself. "I¡¯ll study this evidence a bit more; you go ahead with the case." Jiang Yuan seemed inspired by the case files, and decided to delegate the task at hand. Director Tan agreed, though he didn¡¯t understand the reason. After heading out, a doubtful Director Tan asked Wang Chuanxing, "Is Captain Jiang unhappy about something?" "No, Captain Jiang probably thought of something big he wants to tackle," responded Wang Chuanxing naturally. Pang Jidong also said, "It was the same in Luo Jin. Captain Jiang spent a long time studying nts and pollen before he made his move..." "Oh, that¡¯s good then," Captain Tan responded, although he still felt somewhat uneasy. If it were a single case, he would have no problem with Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach, but for a series of cases, could there really be anymonality? It¡¯s not like they were allmitted by one person or one group. Despite his thoughts, with over twenty members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad and Squad Two¡¯s Liu Wenkai leading a dozen or so people, Zoumadao Police Station was stronger than ever before. Director Tan, a bit embarrassed, thought that with such forces, they might not need Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement after all. Or rather, even with Jiang Yuan joining, it might not make the situation any better. The fighting power of Zoumadao Police Station seemed to have reached its maximum that day. That day, Liu Wenkai dispatched four officers in two cars, along with eight bottles of Pocari Sweat, to surveil the residences of "Feizi" and "Dunzi". Chapter 668 - 611 The Eve Before Catastrophe_2

Chapter 668: Chapter 611 The Eve Before Catastrophe_2

In addition to that, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team dispatched four vehicles, plus two more from the Second Squadron, and four from the Zoumadao Police Station. They headed to three service areas around Ningtai under the cover of night to investigate. The main ce where the theft of truck drivers urs is in service areas. Among these, fuel theft is the mostmon, followed by tire theft and cargo theft, with the difficulty of these crimes increasing in that order. Thetter cases also indicate a deterioration of public safety. Pang Jidong and the Luojin City Bureau police officers who came with him were taken care of; they did not have to work this night shift and could just wave goodbye. As a fleet of twelve vehicles departed, one of the apanying police officers suddenly said, "Pang Da, did you notice the license tes?" "Hmm." How could Pang Jidong not have noticed? Out of the 12 vehicles, not a single one had a license te starting with "Shan L." There were hardly any with "Shan O" either, and several had out-of-province tes, which was outrageous. Pang Jidong could guess with his nose that these vehicles, which were neither locally registered in Shan Nan Province Qing He City nor police vehicles, were mostly acquired through Huang Qiangmin¡¯s "ingenious plundering." "In our brigade, we might not even have as many cars as this county bureau has," muttered one of the police officers who came along. Pang Jidong chuckled and said to him, "A car is just a possession after all. Thest time we did DNA for The Great Learning, the payment alone could have bought a Porsche. The only trouble is if Huang starts wanting people instead of cars." The apanying police officerughed, "They can¡¯t possibly get into human trafficking, right?" Pang Jidong pointed at him, then at himself. The wind in Ningtai suddenly turned bitingly cold. ... Back at the police station, Jiang Yuan was still flipping through photographs, simply reviewing them and making notes from time to time. The other police officers didn¡¯t understand why, and Jiang Yuan did not bother to exin. He was actually looking for tool traces. The diesel ofrge trucks is particrly easy to steal because their fuel tanks are almostpletely exposed. Moreover, the fuel tank caps are standard-sized, so thieves can easily insert a high-powered pump and siphon the fuel within minutes, then conceal the pump under their clothes. However, inserting the pump requires a certain technique. Mostrge truck fuel tanks are locked, and some are quite firmly secured. New thieves in the trade can also be stumped by the lock. Generally, they use a knife to pry it open, a process simr in difficulty to shucking oysters. Those who are more prepared might use a crowbar. There are outliers who use Swiss Army knives, but the most adept use actual lock picking tools, showcasing another level of professional internal strife. No matter what tool is used, they all leave behind identifiable traces. Most importantly, in all cases ofrge truck theft, the issue of tools is ever-present. Not only locks need to be pried open, but siphoning hoses and pumps also must be used. Thetter two generally do not leave any traces on the truck, but the siphoning hoses used to steal the diesel can¡¯t bepletely clean; the diesel dripping on its exterior will fall onto the ground, creating distinctive traces. Some hoses also leave dragging marks¡ªsince the thieves¡¯ tankers aren¡¯t necessarily parked next to the truck being stolen, they could be in the middle of the road with a ten-meter-long hose dragged to siphon fuel from parked trucks. Given the thieves¡¯ck of scruples, it¡¯s likely that they don¡¯t bother to clean and carefully carry back the hoses when they¡¯re done. The mostmon approach is to drag them along the ground for a while before gathering them up. These are all tool traces. In addition, tankers can easily leave other corresponding traces, such as tire marks. Often, whererge trucks park, the ground is soft, making any left-behind impressions even clearer. Since the police station usually handles cases one by one and the detective team doesn¡¯t have adequate forensics personnel to sort through these, such traces are often not thoroughly processed, even if their presence is known. But to Jiang Yuan, his target isn¡¯t just one or two cases, nor is it, as Director Tan imagines, to work on a batch of cases over a long period. At this moment, Jiang Yuan could fully exploit the Level 6 Tool Trace Identification to categorize these cases. Though there are quite a few oil thieves in nearby cities and counties, and even gangs traveling within and outside the province, in reality, those who rely on this for a living are just a few hundred people. After all, stealing 600 liters of oil in one night equates to an ie of three thousand yuan. If two people cooperate, that¡¯s just over a thousand yuan per person. For these thieves to sustain their living, they mustmit crimes at a high frequency. Jiang Yuan used tool trace identification to categorize the cases. Not only did he associate multiple cases under each coded thief¡¯s name, but he could even ssify resolved cases into these categories. In other words, if a repeat offendermits a crime again, Jiang Yuan could directly identify them through tool trace identification. Even if they change tools, their operational habits remain rtively the same, providing a basis for judgment. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even need to activate the "temporary+1" skill¡ªLevel 6 was already overwhelmingly powerful. The only slight difficulty was the volume of umted cases. Looking back five years, there were so many photos that even two or three days wouldn¡¯t be enough to review them all. But if the look-back period was too short, there was the concern that some thieves might not yet have been released from jail. Keen to send repeat offenders back to prison, Jiang Yuan quietlymitted himself to this task, just as he heard someone shouting downstairs. Taking a break from the tiring review, Jiang Yuan got up and walked out to the corridor, looking down from above. The first floor of the Zoumadao Police Station is a high-ceilinged lobby used to wee peopleing to make reports and conduct other business. From the second floor corridor, one could see the tops of the heads of those reporting crimes. At the moment, there was an elderlydy with white hair, apanied by a young girl with a bun. "Captain Jiang," a police officer from a neighboring room, who was also watching themotion, greeted him cheerfully. Jiang Yuan nodded with a smile, "You¡¯re here every day at the station, yet you¡¯re also keen on watching the excitement?" "This one¡¯s pretty intense," said the neighboring police officer with augh. "Theinant¡¯s family member makes video livestreams in their spare time, amassing over a thousand fans in less than a month. Then, a mediapany approached, iming they could train her to be an inte celebrity, but requiring a training fee. Theinant wouldn¡¯t let her transfer money, which led to a big uproar at home, ending in a police report." "That sounds like a scam." "It¡¯s something like that, though it¡¯s a bit tricky to define. They¡¯re asking for a training fee, but the issue is the person believes in it themselves, willing to gamble the money to take a chance." Jiang Yuan nodded, "Nowadays, too many young people want to be inte celebrities." The neighboring police officerughed out loud, "I bet you wouldn¡¯t guess - it¡¯s Granny Zhang with the white hair who wants to be the inte celebrity." Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment before looking down again, and indeed, the case suddenly seemed much more lively. Chapter 669 - 612: Doomsday

Chapter 669: Chapter 612: Doomsday

Under the meticulous exnation and education of the police officers, Granny Zhang, with her white hair, finally believed that what she encountered was not an inte celebritypany but apany that wanted to deceive her of her money. Then, Granny Zhang sat down on the ground and started to cry: "I can¡¯t be an inte celebrity..." Her voice was loud and her crying had a dramatic cadence. Her granddaughter was both angry and helpless as she said, "So you can¡¯t be an inte celebrity, what¡¯s the big deal? Why do you have to be one?" "Being an inte celebrity means people will support you, someone will give you money. After I be famous, I could buy you a car, buy you a house, wouldn¡¯t that be nice?" the olddy asked, turning to look at her granddaughter. The granddaughter was stunned for a moment, then turned her head and said, "Only if that were true. Bing an inte celebrity isn¡¯t that easy." "It¡¯s just 1,800, and none of you are willing to give it a try." The olddy was still reluctant. The granddaughter said with exasperation, "That really was a scam." "A scam? They were willing to sign a contract with me. How can someone who signs a contract be a scammer? Can you be cheated with something in ck and white?" The granddaughter could only bow her head and exin again. The police officers had no choice but to smile beside her, putting in more effort than if they were dealing with girlfriends. After much persuasion, they finally managed to appease the olddy. Granny Zhang took out her mobile phone, opened a karaoke app, and said to the police officers, "Then you add me as a fan." The police officers were stunned, whispering, "I don¡¯t have this app on my phone." "Then you download it," Granny Zhang directly said. The police officer didn¡¯t want to download it, whispering, "My phone¡¯s storage is almost full." "You can delete some other apps, and then you¡¯ll be able to download it. Isn¡¯t that what you told me when you had me install the anti-fraud app?" The auntie was quite eloquent in her argument. The police officers upstairs were about to crack up withughter. Atst, the officer downstairs took more than ten minutes to satisfy Granny Zhang¡¯s request and properly sent her on her way. Jiang Yuan had watched enough of the excitement and contentedly returned to the meeting room. In the evening, Tan Jing and others, who had mobilized for a full-force operation, kept surveince all night but didn¡¯t catch a single person, and eventually returned empty-handed, not knowing where the operation had gone wrong. Tan Jing, after sleeping for a while, arrived the next morning, fuming with anger. Having slept a full night, the visiting officer Pang Jidong was veryfortable,ing over with a cheerful demeanor, and consoled him by saying, "Not catching anyone is normal,dude. It was sent out on short notice without any intelligence support. If we could easily catch a few diesel thieves just by going out, then the security situation here would be considered seriously wed, right?" Tan Jing was speechless, covering his face with his hand, and he said, "I¡¯ve disgraced the Ningtai County Bureau." Pang Jidongughed and said, "Ningtai Jiangyuan has brought enough honor for your Ningtai County Bureau. The asional loss of face doesn¡¯t affect the bigger picture." Tan Jing thought Pang Jidong would continue tofort him, not expecting the older man to start teasing him instead. Before he could respond, he saw Jiang Yuan enter the room. "Captain Jiang, what¡¯s the n for today?" Pang Jidong hurried over to ask. "For me, I¡¯ll continue looking at photos," Jiang Yuan said as he stretched his neck and began to brew tea for himself. He suggested, "Captain Pang, I rmend you start reviewing legal botany." Just as Pang Jidong was preparing to brew tea for Jiang Yuan, his body stiffened, and the painful memories of the past surged up, much like the aftermath of drinking too much. "You¡¯re here for legal botany; don¡¯t get it twisted," Jiang Yuan said, pulling a book from his bag and handing it to Pang Jidong. "You don¡¯t have to be a botanist. Just read the Chapters I¡¯ve marked. It¡¯s enough to understand what the botanists are doing, so they won¡¯t deceive you, right?" Pang Jidong took the book, a starting textbook of over 500 pages, and saw the earmarked sections in the contents, with several pages covered in red lines and Jiang Yuan¡¯s red corrections: "Just need to read the preface." "This part requires doing some exercises." "It would be best to practice these." Pang Jidong was filled with bitterness. As a middle-aged student, he was moved by Jiang Yuan¡¯s enthusiastic high-pressure education. Yet, as a middle-aged student, faced with Jiang Yuan¡¯s enthusiastic high-pressure education, he was truly struggling to keep up. Tan Jing watched from the side, grimacing at the sight and feeling the curse of knowledge. His temples began to throb inexplicably. "Station Tan," Jiang Yuan called out again. Tan Jing quickly replied. "These next few days, please gather more information on the ex-convicts involved in diesel theft, including their addresses and current status," Jiang Yuan reminded him. Tan Jing nodded again, hesitantly asking, "Are we only going after ex-convicts?" "First we catch the ex-convicts. Once we catch a bunch, we¡¯ll see if we can expand from there," Jiang Yuan exined, his strategy so simple that everyone understood. Tan Jing slowly nodded, then added, "It¡¯s not hard to find someone with a prior record, but the interrogation might not be that easy..." Those who have been incarcerated tend to have a reduced fear of prison. It¡¯s like how someone who has never been scorched views fire as a terrifying beast; once burned, though they may not wish to experience it again, their fear definitely plummets significantly. Therefore, getting a confession out purely through interrogation isn¡¯t going to be easy. Jiang Yuan said, "Once I get some results from my research, we¡¯ll all look for evidence together and confirm the people involved." Tan Jing agreed somewhat vacantly. "Second Squad, could you keep an eye on the ex-convicts in the county and the city?" Jiang Yuan asked Liu Wenkai for confirmation. "Sure," Liu Wenkai responded. Jiang Yuan then said to Wang Chuanxing next to him, "You guys do some organizing too, not just the ones dealing with diesel, but also those fencing stolen goods, thieves of all sorts¡ªget on it. The main thing is to confirm these people¡¯s ces of residence and their current status to the point where if we call their name, we can bring them in just like that." "Yes," Wang Chuanxing immediatelyplied. He guessed somewhat what Jiang Yuan was nning, but his mind harbored many more questions. However, the police are indeed a force of discipline and in such moments, orders are to be followed first and foremost. Jiang Yuan then continued to look at the photos. Zoumadao Police Station thus remained quiet for several days. If it wasn¡¯t for seeing Jiang Yuan bring Pang Jidong over and the officers from Second Squad and Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad spending their days in the station like attending a ss and researching, Tan Jing would almost think Jiang Yuan was there to run a study session. Monday. Jiang Yuan had put in an extra shift over the weekend and had finally finished looking through all the photos. Back at the station, there was a different air about Jiang Yuan. "Today, we begin work on specific cases," Jiang Yuan said, with aptop in front of him. He opened it, rubbed his hands together, looking somewhat excited. Tan Jing replied with a smile, "Good," and said, "We¡¯ve all been anxious too." Wang Chuanxing, hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, was already bracing for battle. He nced at Tan Jing, thinking: You have no idea what you¡¯re talking about. Next to him, Jiang Yuan also began the first case and simultaneously applied a temporary +1 skill to Tool Trace Identification. With LV7 Tool Trace Identification and the memory of those tool traces from the past few days... "This case 223 should be the work of Xu Baiqiang," Jiang Yuan slowly named, while on anotherptop next to him, he looked up the person Xu Baiqiang. Tan Jing, who was about to take notes, was utterly dumbfounded. Is this how cases are solved now, without any process? Seeing this, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, "Let me quickly exin. Xu Baiqiang has a pattern when hemits crimes; he likes to use a crowbar, and if you notice, he always pry at around the two o¡¯clock direction, which is quite distinct. His force is also quite precise, so the marks left on the fuel cover are not that heavy..." Tan Jing stood up and went to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, looking at the so-called marks on the fuel cover on theputer. The stationcked clear projection equipment, and what Tan Jing and the others usually used were only capable of disying PPTs. However, whether or not they had simr equipment, it didn¡¯t affect Tan Jing¡¯s tranquil expression at that moment. Yes, tranquil, because what else could he do? Tan Jing waspletely at a loss in the face of Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of directly linking suspects and evidence. Or rather, he understood a little, and because of that, he felt it shouldn¡¯t be done this way! "Send a team to capture him," Jiang Yuan felt he had said enough. Tan Jing was a bit panicked and quickly suggested, "Shouldn¡¯t we first gather some evidence from the side?" "That works too," Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry to arrest anyone and said, "Then this case will be assigned to Station Tan." "Alright," Tan Jing hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone to start organizing his forces. He quickly assembled a 7-person team, feeling it was about enough, and went out to make the specific arrangements. When Tan Jing returned, he heard Jiang Yuan already discussing the third case: "This case 1205 should be the work of Zhou Huijun. A very obvious knife-based prying and even left footprints on the victim¡¯s car; his way of using force is quite sloppy. I¡¯vepared the footprints with previous cases, no issues there. Rted cases amount to 8, all done within thest two or three months, which we can pull out for review." Tan Jing sat down with his head buzzing next to him. "Are you interested in this case, Station Tan?" Jiang Yuan asked politely. Tan Jing replied, "This... I didn¡¯t listen just now..." "Then Captain Liu will take it," Jiang Yuan quickly arranged, then said to Tan Jing, "We have plenty more cases toe, no need to worry about running out of work..." Tan Jing could only nod. Liu Wenkai, seeing this, only arranged for 4 people to follow up on the case. It turned out, even that was too many. Chapter 670 - 613 Concentrated Arrests

Chapter 670: Chapter 613 Concentrated Arrests

"The cases involving the Toyotas were all done by Li Jiaoliang. He likes to steal oil by the national highways, which is quite distinctive. It¡¯s not easily captured by cameras, but the tire tracks are very conspicuous. Moreover, Li Jiaoliang has a habit of involving multiple people in oil theft, which often leads to conflicts. It¡¯s a bad habit." Jiang Yuan, who had looked at many cases, couldn¡¯t help butment as he spoke. From the cases he had seen in the past few days, Jiang Yuan felt that if he were to n them, he could probably do a much better job. Of course, this wasn¡¯t a matter of modesty, since most thievesmitted rather sloppy crimes. People who lived by crime often had lower education and capabilities, and most turned to crime only when they had no other solutions, choosing modes of crime that were high risk for low reward. So, crime could indeed be about cost-effectiveness, but most criminals don¡¯t even consider this factor. By now it was noon, and Tan Jing was having a hard time allocating his officers. Looking at the scale of the case, he said, "I can¡¯t do this anymore; I¡¯ve really got no one left. Li Jiaoliang¡¯s gang often consists of three to six people, and counting myself, there are less than five of us at the station who can be mobilized. I¡¯ve already called back those who were on leave." There were still fixed duties at the police station. Even though one could asionally hear about mobilizing all avable staff, including those from the Household Registration Office, to the front line, this clearly couldn¡¯t be the norm. Otherwise, residentsing to get things done would find every office door locked, which would definitely lead to dissatisfaction. Jiang Yuan was in high spirits and thought to himself, "Then I¡¯ll go with you. There¡¯s me, Mu Zhiyang, and Wang Chuanxing, that makes three of us. And Pang Da too? That¡¯s five people." Everyone from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had been dispatched, leaving only a few in the office. "No, no, no," Tan Jing hastily waved his hands. "It¡¯s just to catch a few thieves; there¡¯s no need for you to go out there. And Captain Pang definitely doesn¡¯t need to be involved¡ªhe¡¯s in charge ofmanding even in murder cases." In terms of brutality, oil thieves could be even more violent than murderers, and Tan Jing felt that if he sent Jiang Yuan to the front line, he would definitely be scolded harshly by Huang Qiangmin. Jiang Yuan, who was still young, said nonchntly, "No problem; I am a police officer, too. We can take our guns." "Don¡¯t bring guns!" Mu Zhiyang and Tan Jing said simultaneously. Looking at each other, Mu Zhiyang said, "Considering our county¡¯s environment, 99% of oil thieves don¡¯t have guns if we don¡¯t carry them. If we do, there¡¯s a 1% chance that the oil thieves will have guns." Tan Jing didn¡¯t have time toment on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s math. He continued, "Even with guns, we wouldn¡¯t dare to use them. There¡¯s so much diesel at the scene that even stun guns should be put away, preferably not used on site." He was experienced; it didn¡¯t matter if they couldn¡¯t catch anyone. Causing a fire in a residential area would turn the situation into a joke. Jiang Yuan asked, "In that case, Captain Liu, can you gather a few more people on your end?" "I¡¯ll call for a few more people from the bureau to join me, add three to my count." Liu Wenkai wanted to catch as many people as possible. Jiang Yuan might seem rxed, but who knew how much effort he had put in behind the scenes. Liu Wenkai had seen his fair share of people who were morous on the surface but pitiable behind closed doors, or those who appeared innocent but yed wild in private. Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t quite understand Liu Wenkai¡¯s point of view. After counting their manpower and looking at the cases at hand, he said tly, "We should have mobilized everyone today. Since the cases are all minor and I didn¡¯t notify Director Huang in advance, I¡¯ll give him a call. Let¡¯s get some more people over to y it safe. With gangs like Li Jiaoliang¡¯s, who often fight and brawl, ten people catching five is definitely not safe." Thereupon, Jiang Yuan called Huang Qiangmin right away and received immediate approval. After hanging up, Jiang Yuan said, "Let¡¯s take a short break. Captain Huang said to reinforce our team with the people from squads one, four, and six who are still at home. We should have about thirty or forty people. We won¡¯t need the armed police for now." That call was something Liu Wenkai would never dare to make, and he couldn¡¯t help but admire, "Captain Jiang, I really respect your ability to manage upwards." "Director Huang is actually pretty reasonable if you present him with the facts," Jiang Yuan said with a smile. Liu Wenkai also smiled and said, "It seems we¡¯ve all seen different sides of Director Huang." Shortly after, several squad leaders arrived at Zoumadao Police Station. There wasn¡¯t any need for their officers toe; they would arrange the targets for arrest and head out directly from the police bureau, which was more convenient. Jiang Yuan then continued with his work. Liu Wenkai quickly led his men out to make arrests too. The newly arrived squad leaders got a brief understanding of some of the cases, and after expressing their heartfelt "damn" in various forms, they set off. Station Director Tan stayed by the side, mentally repeating "damn" to himself until only echoes remained in his mind: Ningtai Jiangyuan, a towering inferno of ferocity! The cases might have all been minor, but those they caught in this wave were sure to face heavy sentences. Because the methods of arrest are different. In the past, when the police station caught these oil thieves, it was always one case, one arrest, or just a lucky capture. The evidence collected wasn¡¯t extensive and mainly focused on the current case. Under such circumstances, if other evidence was found or if more cases were uncovered during interrogation, the prosecution would still aim for a sentence of less than three years. If there was no prior record, the value involved in a single case might not even amount to three thousand yuan, so sentencing to a few months or a year was considered normal. But Jiang Yuan approached it from the start as if it were a series of cases. For a criminal suspect involved in seven cases, the value of the crimes would skyrocket, not to mention the aggravating factor of being a repeat offender, possession of weapons, gang involvement... Jiang Yuan always started with those who had a criminal history. The prosecutors just have to pair things up a bit, and a sentence of less than three years wouldn¡¯t fit them anymore. Thinking of this, Director Tan could only exim in his heart: How satisfying! If he had such a person under hismand, he would be even more willing toply with higher management than Huang Qiangmin. Afternoon. The first batch of officers who went to make the arrests had returned. Jiang Yuan and others immediately went downstairs to take a look. The two suspects were separated and ced in different rooms for interrogation or awaiting trial¡ªthe interrogation rooms were surely not going to be enough. Anyone else captured would likely have to be sent to the county bureau or directly to the detention center. Jiang Yuan and his team crowded into a small surveince room to watch the interrogation process. Watching the young suspect, going from nonchnt to restless and finally breaking down in tears. "When they made money by stealing oil, everyone was happy. When ites to jail time, they cry so pitifully." After so many years as a police officer, Tan Jing couldn¡¯t muster any sympathy when looking at the ugly faces of the suspects. Jiang Yuan remembered the details of the case and said, "This one probably started stealing oil since middle school and probably feels entitled to the money after stealing so much. Too bad there¡¯s hardly any evidence from the previous cases left." "There¡¯s no need to deal with so many cases at once. If three or four cases are handled, that¡¯s sufficient. If there¡¯s a chance in the future to connect to these cases, they can be sentenced again." Tan Jing said with a smirk. This was one of the reasons why some petty thieves admitted guilt for leniency. If the previous cases hadn¡¯t been dealt with, they could still be arrested and tried after serving a three-year sentence. A group of men joked andughed as they watched the young man leave the interrogation room in despair on the screen. Jiang Yuan took a deep breath, feeling that his spirit that had been focused on reviewing photos the past few days hadrgely recovered. Upon leaving the surveince room, a police officer from the station was waiting outside. Seeing Tan Jing, he hurriedly said, "Director Tan, there¡¯s something I¡¯d like to report to you." "Oh, go ahead." The officer said, "We¡¯ve caught a suspect who was felling trees and would like to request to use an interrogation room." "What kind of case is it?" "Well, the park manager of Songxiang Park filed a report that someone sawed down one of their pine trees, causing a loss of twenty thousand yuan. We checked the surveince and found the person who cut the tree. Now we want to use the interrogation room..." "There¡¯s a slot avable, so you should conduct the interrogation quickly." Tan Jing paused, then asked, "Why did he cut down the tree?" The officer said, "A fortune teller told him that a tree in the park was obstructing his sess for over forty years. If he cut it down, his fate would turn around..." The men looked at each other and said, "Pretty urate prediction." Chapter 671 - 614: Involvement

Chapter 671: Chapter 614: Involvement

Jiang Yuan and others watched the middle-aged man cutting trees sign his name and press his fingerprints before finally being taken away and sent directly to the detention center. Chop down a small tree at random, and if you get caught, at most, you pay a fine. Cut a lot, or if the amount isrge, the most you get is administrative detention. But this guy had chopped down a precious, age-old pine tree¡ªsomething a fortune-teller had specified by name, naturally it had to be something conspicuous. The park had it priced at 20,000, and the follow-up assessment by the Bureau of Commerce would only be higher, not lower, escting it to the level of criminal detention. As Jiang Yuan watched the uncle leave in handcuffs, he couldn¡¯t help but say, "The work at the police station is quite interesting." "This is one of the more interesting parts," Director Tanughed. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much more. The more mundane aspects didn¡¯t need special inquiry; a forensic doctor had plenty of those. Squeak. Just a few minutes after the interrogation room became empty, another criminal suspect was brought in. Meng Chengbiao, at the head of the table, didn¡¯t even shift his butt. He red with eyes like those of a shoddy factory¡¯s HR and asked, "What¡¯s your name?" The seated criminal suspect, tall and portly, with a finely tattooed dragon on his arm and a head shaved shinier than a turtle shell. His eyes, big as copper bells, had a ferocity that spilled out with just a slight bulge. Upon hearing the question, he frowned deeply and said loudly, "Reporting to the government, my name is Huang Biao." "You¡¯ve been in prison before?" Meng Chengbiao asked. "I have," Huang Biao bowed his head, then added in a low voice, "Sentenced to one year and two months for stealing diesel, sentenced to two years for stealing diesel, sentenced to three and a half years for stealing diesel..." Meng Chengbiao, sitting opposite, was momentarily startled before recalling the contents of the dossier: "Oh, you were convicted three times." "Yes," the criminal suspect Huang Biao answered, with bowed head and subservient eyes. "This is the fourth time." "Yes." "Let me see... you¡¯re directly involved in several cases this time, so you¡¯re going to be inside for a long time this time..." Meng Chengbiao feigned seriousness, "It could well be ten years." Huang Biao was stunned, "No, government... I... I just stole oil." "Then let me read this to you. On this year¡¯s April 7th, April 3rd, March 21st, what were you doing?" "That..." "And on March 16th, March 14th, you were also stealing oil, weren¡¯t you?" Huang Biao didn¡¯t dare to make a sound. He was only hearty in appearance. Confronted with the prospect of jail, he really couldn¡¯t muster that heartiness. Meng Chengbiao grunted, ced the dossier aside, and said, "If you don¡¯t wise up, I¡¯ll send you straight to the detention center first. Once we¡¯re less busy here, I¡¯ll have my subordinates take another statement from you, all right...?" Huang Biao, with a jolt, hastily said, "I¡¯ll wise up, I¡¯ll wise up!" "What do you understand?" Huang Biao ventured to ask, "What would you like me to understand?" "How about you confess a few aplices? That¡¯d save us some trouble, and we¡¯d consider it meritorious," Meng Chengbiao said slickly. Huang Biao hesitated a few seconds before asking, "How many?" "As many as you like. The more you confess, the shorter your own prison term will be. If you don¡¯t want to earn merit, someone else will," said Meng Chengbiao with a shrewd tone. Actually, it was about the same. Those who were brazen in their actions were easily ratted out by their peers. And the extent of what peers could know about each other was limited to just those few individuals. After a couple more words with Meng Chengbiao, Huang Biao began to slowly spill the beans. With that, he named three people, all of whom he had worked with temporarily as fellow oil thieves. The case officers recorded it without surprise or excitement. Ordinary minor cases were just this simple: catch a few people, and you can start rolling the snowball. It¡¯s typical like cases of soliciting prostitution; nowadays they find people through the prostitutes¡¯ payment records, and if they¡¯re slow, they might only notify the johns half a yearter toe in for punishment. Stealing oil was simr; most offenders were likely to get less than three years, but if they could find some old friends to join them, they might be out in a year and a half. As the saying goes, when two people share the burden of pain, the pain is halved... After Meng Chengbiao squeezed Huang Biao dry, he had him taken away, took a sip of water, and waited for the next one toe in. It was like he had told Huang Biao, today¡¯s criminal suspects who were willing to confess quickly would have a detailed statement taken. Those who were stubborn were sent directly to the detention center. After today¡¯s arrest operations were over, someone would be sent to the detention center to slowly bring people in for interrogation. The chain of evidence pulled out by Jiang Yuan, just from what had been gathered before, was enough for arrests. Finding a bit more evidence on the spot, or have suspects point fingers at each other, provided more than enough evidence for criminal detention. One after another, the work of interrogation soon turned into a grueling assembly line. Meng Chengbiao remained unfazed. Work was work. During his time at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, he frequently encountered simr situations. Whenever there was a major operation, several squads would head out together, and it was not umon to apprehend over a hundred people in one go. In a capital city, the scale of crime generally increased, that was just the way it was. Of course, when in Changyang City, there were always more interrogation officers, but the nature of the work didn¡¯t change. "Name?" As the suspect settled in, Meng Chengbiao opened a new case file. "An Zhiqiang." The voice of the suspect was filled with apprehension. Meng Chengbiao looked up and showed not a hint of sympathy. In just one day, he had handled nearly a dozen cases, and while the suspects came from various ces with different backgrounds, they were essentially all of the same sort. "Age," Meng Chengbiao asked. "25, 26 years old," replied An Zhiqiang. Meng Chengbiao pursed his lips and continued with the routine questions. As the interrogation was about to conclude, Meng Chengbiao noticed An Zhiqiang shivering and offered some reassurance, "You don¡¯t need to be afraid. Behave well in prison, strive for meritorious service, and you might be released in a year or two." "What if I report a few more people?" An Zhiqiang had already ratted out his "colleagues," but the results seemed not satisfying enough for him. Meng Chengbiao smiled, "If you can report a few more people, of course you can earn more merit, but avoiding jail time altogether is impossible, unless it¡¯s for a major contribution." "Does a murder case count as a major contribution?" An Zhiqiang¡¯s voice grew somber. "Of course, if you can report an unknown murder case to the police, your own case might even be considered for a suspended sentence," Meng Chengbiao¡¯s focus intensified. Despite An Zhiqiang¡¯s frail appearance, that did not affect his knowledge of ndestine matters. An Zhiqiang hesitated once more. Meng Chengbiao engaged him in a little back and forth. Then An Zhiqiang began again, with a startling admission, "I saw my mom and her boyfriend murder someone and dismember the body." Meng Chengbiao had not expected that, even at over 40 years old, he could stille across something new in an interrogation. Murder and dismemberment cases were alwaysplicated. Yet to report one¡¯s own mother for murder¡ªMeng Chengbiao asked himself, if it were him, he would rather serve a few more years in prison than do such a thing. If a murder was confirmed, especially with dismemberment involved, the sentence was almost certainly death. Meng Chengbiao used the act of recording to buy a few seconds, pondered briefly, then struck while the iron was hot, "Where is the body?" "They took it out and buried it," An Zhiqiang said. "Where did they bury it?" "I don¡¯t know." "Who is the victim?" "I don¡¯t know, I don¡¯t recognize the person," An Zhiqiang quickly replied. Meng Chengbiao pressed on for key details and said, "Tell me exactly what you saw." An Zhiqiang recalled the moment, shuddering involuntarily, then continued, "I came home early that day, heard noises from the room, didn¡¯t think much of it, and just opened the bathroom door..." An Zhiqiang lowered his head, "My mom was there, dismembering a body, lying to me that they were ughtering a sheep. The leg still had a shoe on it..." Meng Chengbiao continued to question him for more details, while quietly sending a message to Jiang Yuan and the others. At first, he wasn¡¯t sure whether An Zhiqiang was telling the truth or fabricating a story. Some people with psychological issues even confess to imagined scenarios. However, as the questioning deepened, the likelihood of the existence of a homicide became very high. Chapter 672 - 615: Empty Cannon

Chapter 672: Chapter 615: Empty Cannon

Huang Qiangmin received the message and promptly arrived at Zoumadao Police Station. Although it was an old case, it was still a newly urred homicide. Thereafter, Chief Chai also arrived at Zoumadao Police Station and observed the interrogation of the suspect, An Zhiqiang. "What are you all nning to do?" Chief Chai, while listening, asked Jiang Yuan directly. He was about to be transferred and was even less interested in Ningtai County¡¯s affairs. Many people were paying attention to Jiang Yuan, some of whom were quite high-ranking. Chai Tong felt they were too much for him to handle, but he could avoid them. Seeing this, Huang Qiangmin took the initiative to take over the conversation, saying, "I think we can start with some investigation, especially the identity of the victim, to see if there have been any missing person cases during that period and if there is any rtion between the two suspects." The people in the conference room nodded their agreement. Jiang Yuan followed up by adding, "I think we can inspect the restroom An Zhiqiang mentioned. If it is the restroom where the body was dismembered, there¡¯s a good chance evidence is still there." As is well known, restrooms where dismemberment has urred are very hard to clean thoroughly. A thoroughly cleaned restroom, on the other hand, is likely to retain traces of intense cleaning. Although this is not sufficient for court evidence, it is admissible as evidence during the investigation. At the very least, if traces of intense cleaning are found, there is reason to start an intensive investigation. However, the dismemberment took ce six years ago, and after six years of use, even if the restroom retained traces, they would be very slight, and it would still be very likely that the investigation would turn up nothing... Huang Qiangmin said, "Let¡¯s conduct a secret probe. ce the two suspects under surveince, and if necessary, reassign people." He wanted to see the results of the investigation before deciding whether to arrest anyone. "Alright," Jiang Yuan readily agreed. A secret probe would not affect his approach; the key was still the result of the inspection. Huang Qiangmin immediately organized a team and headed to the crime scene. ... An Zhiqiang and his mother, Zhang Yi, lived in an old residential area in the center of Ningtai City. The district had a 20-year history, consisting of six-story buildings without elevators, and Zhang Yi¡¯s home was on the fifth floor. Seeing this building, Jiang Yuan¡¯s first thought was, "The primary murder venue is probably also inside." The police officers beside him nodded in agreement. Without an elevator, carrying a body up to the fifth floor to dismember it was an absurd endeavor ¡ª akin to a fitness trainer looking to exercise muscles with nothing better to do. In such old residential areas, dismemberment usually happens only because moving the body is not an option, and the perpetrator is forced to dismember it. If the viiny of killing and dismembering scores a 10, this would typically be an 8.5, equivalent to two Michelin stars. "Hello, is this Ms. Zhang Yi? Are you at home? There¡¯s a delivery," Liu Wenkai found a mobile phone and called Zhang Yi. After a brief conversation, Liu Wenkai hung up the phone and said, "She¡¯s at home." "Let¡¯s lure the tiger away from the mountain," Jiang Yuan suggested, following the established n. Liu Wenkai then called the police station, asking them to notify Zhang Yi that her son had been caught. After ending the call, Liu Wenkai added, "We still don¡¯t know how many people are in Zhang Yi¡¯s home. The murderer¡¯s aplice, Li Gan, has gone to work. The two of them live together without a marriage certificate." Liu Wenkai had already conducted a preliminary investigation. Jiang Yuan nodded and they all huddled in the car, waiting for changes upstairs. In a short while, they saw Zhang Yi dressed in sportswear, rushing out of her home and heading towards Zoumadao Police Station on an electric scooter. Needless to say, the ploy to lure the tiger away from the mountain was effective. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Wang Zhong and Mu Zhiyang, then went upstairs. The main inspection location was a restroom, and it was an old-style one with a total area of only six or seven square meters. With too many people, it would be difficult even just to turn around. However, they still had to be cautious of other people in the room, so he brought Mu Zhiyang along, who would also be responsible for filming, to avoid someone ambushing them with a blow to the head while the two trace inspectors were busy examining the space. Using a key they had taken from the son, they unlocked the door and entered into a narrow living room with a sofa, coffee table, and TV set¡ªthe three-piece suite. Next to it was a sealed balcony. Jiang Yuan stopped to observe the living room. Given the structure of the room, it seemed that killing someone in the living room would be the most convenient. Mu Zhiyang, holding an electric baton, rechecked the two-bedroom apartment, turned over wardrobes without finding any hidden men or women, and then took out the camera to start filming. Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong entered the restroom, beginning to create a grid for inspection. The bathroom used for dismemberment six years ago, now searching for evidence in it might as well be searching for a sword sunk at the bottom of a river. It was only because Jiang Yuan was extremely confident, plus a "let¡¯s just try" attitude, that he embarked on this mission. If it were up to Wang Zhong himself, he certainly wouldn¡¯t have thought of this. If Huang Qiangmin were to make a request, he¡¯d at least resist for a bit first. "Turn on the light," Jiang Yuan said without letting Wang Zhong lift a finger, he donned his gear, especially changing into a 3M mask, before getting down on his hands and knees to search inch by inch. Mu Zhiyang filmed for a while but even standing made him tired, so he set up the camera and sat on the sofa to rest his eyes. "Get up!" Jiang Yuan, kicking with his foot, woke Mu Zhiyang. Flipping himself upright and rubbing his lower back, Mu Zhiyang looked at Jiang Yuan, bleary-eyed for a moment, before asking, "Did you find it?" "No," Jiang Yuan curled his lip, "It¡¯s been too long." He had activated a temporary +1 skill, but not finding anything meant just that, and Zhang Yi had likely cleaned the ce not just once over six years. Honestly, the fact that Zhang Yi could continue living in this house was something Jiang Yuan truly admired. Ordinary people might not be able to continue living in such a "murder house" they had created themselves. Mu Zhiyang wiped his lips, feeling like he had slept too long, and asked, "So, what do we do now?" "Move the furniture away, I¡¯ll check the living room again," said Jiang Yuan as he began to inspect the area. Hastily, Mu Zhiyang and Wang Zhong started moving furniture, switching positions, busy and quite pleased with themselves. Two hourster... "Let¡¯s call it quits. Notify Director Huang. See what he thinks," Jiang Yuan shook his head¡ªa good cook can¡¯t cook without rice; no evidence is no evidence. With a "tch" sound, Mu Zhiyang said, "This is pretty troublesome, without evidence, should we arrest Zhang Yi and her lover?" Without evidence, an arrest would rely on interrogation, which is actually the least reliable method. Especially in a murder case, just having a confession obtained through an interrogation is not enough for a conviction. Even a tiny bit of physical evidence isn¡¯t enough; aplete chain of evidence is required. Faced with such a situation, Jiang Yuan momentarily had no ideas, and even upon returning to Zoumadao Police Station, he felt the same. "What should we do? Zhang Yi is still causing a fuss, demanding to see her son," Tan Jing offered thetest news as he came over to ask about the situation. Jiang Yuan spread his hands. Liu Wenkai asked, "Should we detain and interrogate her?" For a moment, no one responded. "Could her son be lying?" asked Tan Jing, as an experienced officer, he had a deep understanding of people¡¯s capacity for deceit. Reflecting on the interrogation process, Meng Chengbiao slightly shook his head, "It doesn¡¯t seem like it." "Who is the victim? Has the victim been identified?" Huang Qiangmin steered the conversation to the core issue. If a body could be confirmed, a case would be established, and an investigation would proceed seamlessly. But if there is no body, or the body can¡¯t be found, a homicide case can¡¯t really be constituted, and that¡¯s when the real trouble begins. "Or, could the son who reported the crime have mental issues?" someone else inquired. Huang Qiangmin shook his head again and added, "We can checkter, but it doesn¡¯t seem like it." "Then... if it reallyes to it, shall we detain Zhang Yi and her lover Li Gan, and interrogate them separately, create a prisoner¡¯s dilemma?" suggested Liu Wenkai, ready with another n when one fails. "That¡¯s also very risky," Jiang Yuan said. If the police had nothing, it would not be easy to create an effective prisoner¡¯s dilemma. "Then should we interrogate An Zhiqiang again?" Huang Qiangmin could only take a step back and then looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Do you have any ns?" "Call Director Liu over to have a look?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply was decisively given. Chapter 673 - 616 Relations

Chapter 673: Chapter 616 Rtions

Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t someone who could be summoned with a mere shout. Of course, once Jiang Yuan extended the invitation, he rushed over promptly. The Alphard picked up Liu Jinghui directly from Changyang City and brought him to Zoumadao Police Station. Everyone met in the courtyard of the police station, and the atmosphere instantly felt rather rural. Huang Qiangmin greeted Liu Jinghui with a beaming smile and a handshake, to which Liu Jinghui responded with a perplexed expression, directly asking, "Has Jiang Yuan been demoted?" "No." "It¡¯s not that severe." "Almost." Everyone¡¯s responses varied, but for Liu Jinghui, the basic situation was now clear. Hence, Liu Jinghui shook Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand and said, "Congrattions, Director Huang, you still won in the end." "Hahahaha." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t even know what Liu Jinghui had guessed, butughing seemed to be the right response. After mingling for a few minutes, the group entered the conference room of Zoumadao Police Station. The room could seat over twenty people yet was half the size of the one in Changyang City Bureau, exuding a sense of intimacy and friendliness conducive to conversation. Wang Chuanxing quickly briefed the case details and demonstrated the ultimate limits of his PPT skills. Liu Jinghui was indeed intrigued and said, "So you¡¯re saying, you know there¡¯s been a murder and you know who the killer is, but you don¡¯t know who the victim is, nor where the body is. As for the killer, they don¡¯t know that you¡¯re aware of the case, but only they know the identity of the victim and the body¡¯s whereabouts?" Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin among others pondered for a moment before slowly nodding in agreement. Liu Wenkai said, "Putting it that way really does bring out the mysterious vour of the case." "Hmm, let me first take a look at the witness testimonies. How many are there?" Liu Jinghui asked professionally. Meng Chengbiao smiled and said, "Four." To the police, the sole reason or evidence confirming the existence of a murder thus far was the testimony of An Zhiqiang, the whistleblower. And An Zhiqiang, being the son of the murderer, was a status that had its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, Liu Jinghui had to first confirm the veracity of the matter before deeming it necessary to participate in the investigation. Otherwise, what if An Zhiqiang was just putting on an act? Such instances were extremely rare in the process of police investigations, but were not umon in detective novels and films. Making a fool of the police is a timeless trope in mystery literature, which Liu Jinghui enjoyed reading, but he definitely did not want to encounter it in his work. For Meng Chengbiao and others, one statement was certainly not foolproof. Repeated questioning and recording, especially scrutinizing specific details, was essentially basic procedure. It was precisely because of An Zhiqiang¡¯s consistent statements that the current task force was established. As Liu Jinghuipared the four testimonies, he took his time before turning back to Jiang Yuan and asking, "Do you believe this case is real?" Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying, "There¡¯s a high probability. However, that¡¯s not my area of expertise." "Oh, right..." Liu Jinghui suddenly became excited upon hearing Jiang Yuan admit there was something he wasn¡¯t adept at. Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and flipped through the testimonies again, adding, "Well, let¡¯s give it a try. I also feel there¡¯s a high probability of a case. An Zhiqiang¡¯s ount is quite detailed and doesn¡¯t seem to be imagined..." The others nodded, sharing a consensus on this assessment. Inviting Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t just about confirming the existence of a case, the key was also to solve it. Liu Jinghui knew this as well, and after a moment¡¯s thought, he said, "Actually, identifying the person is simple. If an interrogation is too risky... we could just make a phone call, list out the people in both of theirworks. We can start by checking those who have connections with both individuals, then move on to others. It won¡¯t take much time." Homicide cases are different from others, first being that they require extreme caution, and second, the killers in homicide often won¡¯t shed a tear until they see the coffin. Because in traditional homicide cases, it¡¯s a life for a life: facing the death penalty, what¡¯s the significance of crying and confessing during interrogation? To aim for leniency through an early confession? The problem is that just confessing might not be enough tomute a death sentence to a life sentence. This case also involves dismemberment and concealing the corpse; it can be said that once confirmed, Zhang Yi and Li Gan are both looking at the death penalty. In such circumstances, getting the two to confess without evidence is extremely difficult. Even in the era of seasoned detectives, coercive methods might not have guaranteed evidence, let alone now. Tan Jing listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s words and said, "We¡¯re also looking into their rtionships, and so far we haven¡¯t found any unexpected deaths or disappearances..." "We need to look even more closely," Liu Jinghui said, grabbing a piece of paper, "You should have already checked their rtives, family, spouses, and boyfriends or girlfriends; go over that a bit more carefully. Re-examine their ssmates andpany colleagues. Also, look into their financial transactions during that period, whether they bought anything, did any business, lent money to someone or borrowed from others..." Liu Jinghui spoke again, saying, "Thisstyer is harder to investigate, especially the rtionships with acquaintances; the murder could have been a crime of passion... Hmm... I guess it was more likely a crime of passion; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have allowed their son toe back and see it, indicating the preparations were definitely inadequate." Jiang Yuan also said, "The bathroom for dismembering the body was also quite cramped; maybe the equipment was poor." "In that case," Liu Jinghui said, "we have to recreate their lives from six years ago and visit some people from back then..." With that, Liu Jinghui had effectively established the investigative approach. Not just Jiang Yuan, but Tan Jing and others were quite impressed. Initially, the case was like pulling at a chicken¡¯s neck to find a turtle head: impossible to solve. Now, after Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis, everyone seemed to have a direction. Although the case was stillplex and had not truly unraveled, at least they were not just staring nkly anymore. The manpower now gathered at Zoumadao Police Station was plentiful. Teams of two were sent out, over twenty people in total, to learn about the lives of the two murderers six years ago. The rest were making lists, making phone calls, and more needed to visit the family or workces for inquiries. Liu Jinghui directed the assignments, organizing the tasks with high density. There were noints from the team; everyone knew that with such a wide-ranging investigation, the news would definitely not stay hidden. In other words, as soon as therge-scale investigation started, the countdown to the arrest of the two murderers had begun. In fact, at least a dozen people were already keeping a close eye on both individuals, ready to arrest them at any moment. What everyone hoped for was to gather enough evidence at the time of their arrest. Jiang Yuan too received a list of three people and took Mu Zhiyang for a stroll near Zhang Yi¡¯s residential area. The residentialplex had a total of eighteen buildings, which was consideredrge among the oldmunities and was also close to the city center, making the location quite good. For ordinary people, living in such amunity mademuting to work very convenient. If one didn¡¯t have particrly high demands, choosing such amunity for a simple life was very suitable. However, as one of thest few batches of welfare housing allocations, such oldmunities always conveyed a rather deste atmosphere. It wasn¡¯t just the elderly residents that contributed to this feeling, but the younger people also generally seemed deeply mired in gloom. It felt as though the entiremunity¡¯s residents were on a downward trajectory. "If I killed someone in a house like this, I¡¯d have it renovated. I¡¯d rip out the tiles in the bathroom, scrape off ayer of cement; any evidence would be gone," Mu Zhiyang said worriedly as he frowned and spected about the case. Jiang Yuan said, "What if the renovation workers saw the bloodstains?" Mu Zhiyang was stunned, "That¡¯d really be bad luck, huh?" "And what about the reason for the major renovation? Wouldn¡¯t that invite even more suspicion?" Jiang Yuan pressed on. Mu Zhiyang paused again, thought for a moment, and then said, "Seems you have a point." "You go chat with the aunts over there; I¡¯ll talk with the uncles," Jiang Yuan casually sent Mu Zhiyang off. Short exchanges might be futile, but as long as a substantial conversation is established, the neighborhoodmittee¡¯s aunties and uncles could always provide more informative feedback than expected. Chapter 674 - 617: Missing Population

Chapter 674: Chapter 617: Missing Poption

"An Zhiqiang, that kid, never learned his lesson. He dyed his hair blond a while ago and got into fights;ter on, things got so bad that the police station got involved. His mother was so anxious, pulling strings and spending money..." "His mom has it tough too, a single woman raising a child. The man she found is a slob, just idling his days away ying Mahjong. He even uses Zhang Yi¡¯s money for gambling. They had hoped their son would turn out better, but he¡¯s just as useless, a lost cause." "Zhang Yi used to be quite feisty herself. Her husband¡¯s family had a factory, and when she talked she carried herself with an air of superiority. ¡¯Our factory is this and that,¡¯ she would say. But then the factory went bust, and with it, so did their lives." Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang listened while taking notes. Mu Zhiyang was mainly responsible for the note-taking, while Jiang Yuan observed. Note-taking is pretty exhausting; new police officers wonder about the meaning of life after a year of doing it. So, when people ask what¡¯s the use of copying down texts when studying? It¡¯s to make sure you don¡¯t just quit your job when it¡¯s time to work! Mu Zhiyang had already moved past the stage of finding note-taking tiring because there were tasks in his job that were much more exhausting than that. The elders downstairs, seeing how serious Mu Zhiyang was, couldn¡¯t help but join in. They were all retired workers from state-owned enterprises, truly fearing nothing. Their main problem was just being bored all day long. Seeing that Mu Zhiyang wanted to hear about the lives of "Zhang Yi and An Zhiqiang," the mother and son, everyone started chipping in, each adding their piece to the story. Jiang Yuan, listening from the sidelines, gradually came to understand Zhang Yi¡¯s situation from six years ago. Afternoon. After filling a notebook with notes, Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan back to the police station. A few people sat down in the conference room again to discuss. Of course, it was mainly about providing information to Liu Jinghui, who would then process it and feed it back to the group. If you call in the king of deduction and still exhaust the group¡¯s brains, that¡¯s disrespectful to Director Liu. Liu Jinghui¡¯s job was precisely that, and he processed information very quickly. He reviewed the notes from the elders that Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang had collected, as well as the notes from several of Zhang Yi¡¯s colleagues, and even the notes from Zhang Yi¡¯s lover Li Gan¡¯s Mahjong partners... Quickly, Liu Jinghui began writing and exined: "From the information we¡¯ve gathered, six years ago, at the time of the crime, Zhang Yi was pretty much at the end of her rope. On one hand, her son was showing more and more that he was good for nothing, and on the other hand, she herself was failing at everything she did, without money and with many expenses. She was depending on a man who did nothing but y Mahjong all day long." "At the time, Zhang Yi was desperately looking for a way out. But her boyfriend, Li Gan, was thinking about just scraping by day by day." "Her son, An Zhiqiang, was messing around with the wrong crowd, hoping to make a name for himself one day. But in Zhang Yi¡¯s eyes, this was probably also part of her despair." "Zhang Yi herself was desperately looking for work and had started trying jobs she had never done before, like a cashier at the supermarket, which she did for a week before quitting. She also tried setting up a street stall, but hardly sold anything. She also worked as a waitress in a restaurant, a job she didn¡¯t like doing much, andsted only half a month." "Simrly, when analyzed chronologically, Zhang Yi¡¯s demeanor notably changed after the crime." "She wasn¡¯t looking for jobs as frequently and started to look for work again in sales or the beauty and hairdressing sector." "Li Gan also became a bit more generous when ying Mahjong during that period. Some neighbors mentioned that Li Gan used to be stingy about treating people to meals. He treated his Mahjong friends to dinner twice during that time, although it was always after winning, which was a rare urrence that stuck in their memory." "From these details, we can initially confirm that Zhang Yi and Li Gan likely benefited economically from this case." Having said this, Liu Jinghui picked up his cup and gently sipped his tea twice. The tea was high-quality Longjing tea brought by Jiang Yuan, seemingly authentic, which involuntarily smoothed Liu Jinghui¡¯s frown. Brain-draining activities do require some additional sustenance. Jiang Yuan and the others received Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis and nodded gently to themselves. Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was very clear. As long as the foundation of evidence was solid, his deduction could be considered "obvious." Of course, normal people rarely grasped it on their own before Liu Jinghui voiced it. Liu Wenkai also took a sip of water and continued, "I have an idea, that is... Actually, the total expenses of Zhang Yi and Li Gan haven¡¯t increased much. At least, the information we received indicates that they only spent a few thousand more each month over those months. Of course, it¡¯s not a small amount, but aftermitting such a serious crime as murder and dismemberment, might their view on spending have changed and thus they dipped into their savings?" "There is no record of withdrawals," Liu Jinghui said. "We¡¯ve already checked the bank records of Zhang Yi, Li Gan, and An Zhiqiang, and there are norge withdrawals or transfers. This means they had another channel for getting a sum of money. Maybe not much, ten thousand, twenty thousand? In any case, they have spread this sum of money over several months¡¯ ie. This sum is very likely to have been carried by the victim." No one spoke. Compared to the previous reasoning, this one seemed a bit more tenuous. But it had to be said that if the case was really as Liu Jinghui had deduced, the case was indeed bing clearer. "Disappearance cases where the victim carried tens of thousands in cash must also be rare." Wang Chuanxing immediately went to look through the files. Liu Jinghui said from behind him, "It¡¯s not necessarily someone from Ningtai County." There were few disappearance cases in Ningtai County, and based on the timeline, there were only so many, all of which Liu Jinghui had reviewed. Wang Chuanxing, getting the hint, immediately expanded the search to the entire province. The number now was muchrger. It was impossible to sift through them using only the date, but by adding the criterion of carrying money at the time of disappearance, one could at least rule out the majority of cases involving missing youth. Liu Jinghui then flipped through the interrogation records and encouraged everyone to speak freely. Everyone rxed a bit, chatting casually... It was only when Wang Chuanxing returned that the group resumed the appearance of diligently working. Wang Chuanxing, rubbing his eyes and looking exhausted, said, "I¡¯ve found six missing persons who fit the criteria..." "Let¡¯s see," Liu Jinghui immediately asked for the list. Jiang Yuan also looked at the list together with Liu Jinghui. The list and profiles were quite thorough. The two of them read side by side, and upon reaching the second one, they nodded to each other almost in unison. "From Jianjiang City, deals in buying old clothes, and this business requires door-to-door visits carrying cash. Zhang Yi used to do a simr business, didn¡¯t she? She didn¡¯t stick with it?" Liu Jinghui asked with a tone of inquiry, but he actually remembered the specifics. Buying and selling old clothes was a rtively covert business. Nowadays, people have more clothes, often going through decluttering phases, and those buying old clothes can usually acquire them cheaply from "clothes collection bins" in residential areas or from janitors. They would then sell the clothes at a price of several hundred yuan per ton. Some of these sold clothes are sent to third-world countries for resale as second-hand, but most are used for fiber recycling or pulping. Because of therge difference in price from the acquisition to the selling point, this business is essentially risk-free with a guaranteed profit. However, due to therge volume and weight of the clothes, the business is physically demanding, requiring door-to-door visits and interaction with many people, making it a fairly arduous job. Zhang Yi originally counted on Li Gan to work with her in this, but Li Gan was unwilling. After quarreling to no avail, Zhang Yi also had to give up in the end. However, it was still possible that she had some exposure to it. Especiallypared to the other disappearances, the likelihood of Number 2 was obviously higher. Jiang Yuan checked the time and said, "Then we¡¯ll start the investigation from this person. It will take at least a day, right? What should we do with Zhang Yi?" Liu Jinghui looked at Tan Jing. Tan Jing coughed twice and said, "I asked her to wait in the waiting room and took away her cell phone, but we can¡¯t hold her for much longer." "Then let her go," Jiang Yuan decisively decided, then added, "If we can¡¯t confirm it on this end, then this case is pretty much dead in the water." Chapter 675 - 618 Achievements in Learning

Chapter 675: Chapter 618 Achievements in Learning

With An Zhiqiang¡¯s testimony, it was sufficient to apply for the arrest of Zhang Yi. But the key to deciding whether to bring charges was whether the subsequent evidence could keep up. Otherwise, when the time came, they would still have to release the person. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, based on the evidence at hand, had assumed that the victim was Liu Hongbing, who collected clothing for a living. This was still risky, as much of it was spective and based on facts from six years ago. In a normal investigation, this sort of hypothesis wouldn¡¯t be an issue¡ªit was just a matter of forming bold conjectures and verifying them carefully. As for now... there really was no difference; they still had to make bold conjectures and verify them carefully. Wang Chuanxing was quickly dispatched to Jianjiang City to locate Liu Hongbing¡¯s family and investigate the situation. The investigation in Ningtai County was handed over to various individuals for implementation. Liu Hongbing¡¯s financial situation was given special attention. This was because there were suspicions that Zhang Yi and Li Gan had received economic benefits, which might not be limited to cash. One astonishing fact that might seem inconceivable to the average person is that many robbers, aftermitting a robbery, will demand the victim transfer money to their own bank ount, Alipay, or WeChat. Furthermore, some will use the victim¡¯s bank card to withdraw cash from an ATM. Many robbers are caught in this way. Robbery is already a crime that¡¯s difficult to solve, characterized by random acts, strangers, outdoor locations, and high tension among numerous other unfavorable factors¡ªeven though it is still a low-cost-effective criminal activity¡ªit is a crime that significantly lowers the intelligence of the criminals, greatly increasing the solve rate of robbery cases. Everyone hoped that Zhang Yi would conform in this respect as well. Unfortunately, she did not. In the early hours of the morning, the special case team reconvened to report on their findings. Disappointed by the feedback, Liu Jinghui surmised, "I think Zhang Yi is messing things up, it is the prudence of a female criminal. Otherwise, with Li Gan¡¯s stupid behavior, how could it be so wless. How about the mobile number?¡¯ As this involved technical investigation, it was Liu Wenkai who interfaced, replying, "No result." After a brief moment of contemtion, Liu Jinghui proposed, "I think we should proceed in two steps." Everyone listened intently. Liu Jinghui continued, "The first step is to interrogate Zhang Yi and Li Gan. They should be interrogated separately, and we need to design the interrogation questions carefully. We need to consider whether to use Liu Hongbing as a bluff, whether to spring a surprise with An Zhiqiang ¨C these things need careful thought." While speaking, Liu Jinghui looked over at Meng Chengbiao, who nodded somberly. This was a very pragmatic and also very challenging request, and for Meng Chengbiao, an extraordinarily difficult challenge. Liu Jinghui went on, "The second step is to assume the victim is Liu Hongbing. He must have gone to Zhang Yi¡¯s home on his own initiative because it was a crime of passion, right. Otherwise, Zhang Yi and Li Gan would have likely arranged to meet him at a warehouse or somewhere simr ¨C more convenient, safer." "Liu Hongbing went to Zhang Yi¡¯s home to collect old clothes or to talk, perhaps. What transportation did he use? And if he was dismembered, where was his body sent, and what transportation was used for that?" Tang Jia had investigated the transportation and promptly said, "Liu Hongbing had an electric trike in Ningtai County and rented a storage unit. Usually, he¡¯d collect items, deliver them to the storage, sort them with his spouse, and sell the better and newer clothes secondhand, while disposing of the rest in bulk." Liu Jinghui raised his eyebrows: "His workload seems a bit too much." "It¡¯s said to be very tough, so he was nning to find a business partner in Ningtai County." Wang Chuanxing, who had rushed back overnight, shared what the wife of Liu Hongbing had said. Liu Jinghui asked, "What kind of partner?" "Liu Hongbing would provide the capital andbor, while the partner could contributebor without capital, or they could split everything fifty-fifty. These were ideas from six years ago, which may have changed." "So, it¡¯s possible that the partnership negotiations failed," Liu Jinghui nodded slightly. Tan Jing immediately agreed, "Possible. In a line of work that¡¯s too hard to make money, partners are prone to conflict." "Could there be other partners involved, orpetitors? Who¡¯s in Ningtai County currently in this business?" Captain Pang poked his head out of theplex field of legal botany to add thoughtfully. As a captain of a criminal investigation team from a big city, his question was of high caliber. "I¡¯ll ask about that," Tan Jing promptly said. "And Liu Hongbing¡¯s previous warehouse. I wonder how his family dealt with it after reporting him missing. Are the items still there, were they sold by the family, or did someone flip them..." Liu Jinghui lined up the questions one by one: "How was the lease dealt with?" "Liu Hongbing¡¯s WeChat, mobile phone, etc., must also be checked again. The previous investigation was based on a missing person¡¯s framework, this time it can be considered from the perspective of homicide." Tan Jing nodded again, taking note. One question after another was thrown out, all waiting to be verified. Taking advantage of the night, the team dispersed like petals, each blending into the local area like farmyard manure, silently carrying out their investigations. Up to now, there hadn¡¯t been much for Jiang Yuan to do. The current investigation somewhat resembled searching for a needle in a haystack. It required the detectives¡¯ relentless legwork; everything else had to be put aside. Jiang Yuan simply grabbed a stool and sat down beside Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong was here to learn, and had volunteered to study Legal Botany, but he still felt a bit inexplicably intimidated as Jiang Yuan approached. Mainly because Jiang Yuan was too strong, and the content of Legal Botany was just too vast. "Any questions?" Jiang Yuan asked casually. Pang Jidong hesitated for a moment, then said, "There are quite a few questions." "Let¡¯s hear them." So, Pang Jidong pulled out a notebook, opened it, and Jiang Yuan saw lines and lines of ck characters, squiggling like earthworms, filling the pages. In no time, Pang Jidong had buried Jiang Yuan in a slew of questions. Were it not for the case being at a crucial stage, Jiang Yuan would have invoked a skill increase on the spot. However, having questions was a good thing for learning. Jiang Yuanposed himself and began to answer each one. The next morning. After half a night¡¯s sleep, Jiang Yuan woke up and came over to see everyone exchanging information. The most important thing was the interrogation of Meng Chengbiao... Meng Chengbiao was also seated in the middle of the meeting room, but with a benign smile on his face. Great, as expected, nothing came out of the interrogation. When ites to life-or-death matters, people are generally unwilling tomit. More news came from Liu Hongbing, and people like Wang Chuanxing continuously collected, organized, and turned it into documents to share with everyone. Jiang Yuan opened and read it for a while, frowning. The news from six years ago was full of spections and forgetfulness, making the information gathered difficult to judge. "So, do you feel the difficulty of dealing with a cold case now?" Liu Jinghui came over with a smile when he saw Jiang Yuan. "It would be a bit better if we had the body," Jiang Yuan smiled back. No matter how chaotic the external changes, the body itself is excellent evidence. "I also want to find the body. If we can¡¯t find the body, even the reasons for detaining Zhang Yi are not sufficient," said Liu Jinghui, pausing before adding, "ording to the information feedback from everyone, Liu Hongbing¡¯s electric tricycle is also missing. So I have this thought, how did they dispose of the body after dismemberment?" "Carried it away with the electric tricycle?" Jiang Yuan responded naturally. "Right, otherwise, even in chunks, the body would be quite heavy," Liu Jinghui nodded, "And since the electric tricycle had to be disposed of too, they couldn¡¯t possibly bury the body nearby." "Correct." "Nobody has touched Liu Hongbing¡¯s warehouse, or at least it¡¯s unclear if it¡¯s been touched. But I think, if Zhang Yi and Li Ganmitted the crime, they would at least go to the warehouse to have a look." Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes brightened at the suggestion. Liu Jinghui stood up and started drawing several routes from Zhang Yi¡¯s house to the warehouse on the map on the table, saying, "There are quite a few remote spots in between. Considering the body has not been found in six years, I think we need to prioritize the burial sites." The focus of everyone¡¯s gaze then fell on several parks in the center. "How do we search for it?" Tan Jing felt a sense of frustration suddenly. Captain Pang, Pang Jidong, who had been studying all day yesterday, looked at the map and suggested, "We could use forensic botany to locate potential burial sites!" Chapter 676 - 619 Weeds

Chapter 676: Chapter 619 Weeds

Jiang Yuan looked Pang Jidong up and down. To be honest, at that moment, he was not as confident in the functionality of forensic botany as Pang Jidong himself. Pang Jidong looked at Jiang Yuan with an excited expression, as if to say, "See, I guessed right, didn¡¯t I? I got it right!" Out of a desire to encourage teaching, Jiang Yuan asked, "How do you think we can find the body burial site?" "I saw how you handled that case in Litang Township before, wasn¡¯t it by examining the vegetation that you found the buried body?" asked Pang Jidong. Jiang Yuan was somewhat taken aback by the question and shook his head, "That was much easier, a judgment within a small area. Moreover, it was found by chance, not by actively searching for it." "But a judgment should still be possible, right?" Pang Jidong had learned a lot in recent days, and it was not in vain. Furthermore, his main focus was on how to make use of a forensic botanist, not actually doing it himself. Based on what Pang Jidong had learned, although he also knew it was difficult, with his current understanding, it seemed like something Jiang Yuan could aplish. Jiang Yuan took another look at the map, coughed twice, and hesitated slightly. This task wasparable to a search operation; the difference was that a search was conducted by a group of people carefully, afraid that overlooking a single spot could ruin everything. In contrast, using legal botany to find a body meant he would have to search on his own, which was not only tedious but also unlikely to be very efficient. The most crucial point was that this method was highly challenging, with few precedents, and it would be hard for Jiang Yuan to ept if he could not fully aplish it. "Jiang Yuan, give it a try," Liu Jinghui said upon seeing this, and then added, "If you don¡¯t do it, we¡¯ll have to turn to Director Xu." "Oh, oh, oh, oh... How did this conversation go off track..." Huang Qiangmin, who had been quiet until now, could not stay silent any longer and quickly interjected, "This is our own Ningtai County¡¯s money, don¡¯t waste it." ording to the lines Liu Jinghui had drawn out, conducting a search operation was simr in intent to the one carried out over 100 kilometers of national highway in Luyang City, potentially even more difficult. The benefit, however, was that it was within the county, which made supplies more essible, though the trouble would certainly be greater. But no matter how simple the task, if the cost was even a tenth of the one in Luyang City, Ningtai County simply could not afford it. Even though Jiang Yuan had done many deals, what he brought back were supplies; Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s finances were still tight. If it came to a point where spending money was essential, there was no choice, but at the moment, it was clear there was no such urgency... Huang Qiangmin grabbed Jiang Yuan with one hand and Liu Jinghui with the other, suggesting, "Let¡¯s talk this over nicely and not waste money rashly. We¡¯re a poor county in Ningtai, and it¡¯s not easy to save a little nest egg. Jiang Yuan, can you make do with that botany of yours, will it work?" "Even if we use drones to fly over the area, it would be too time-consuming to scrutinize each part, just by myself..." Jiang Yuan trailed off and looked at Pang Jidong, asking, "Have you tried reaching out to any botanists?" "Yes," Pang Jidong nodded earnestly and offered, "Should we invite someone over to try?" "It would be best if you could get someone," Jiang Yuan quickly said. With someone to help, the situation would be different. "How many should I call?" Pang Jidong took out his phone. "How many... the more, the better, of course. You can invite a lot?" "I¡¯ve found about four or five people so far, all researchers from botanic institutes or professors from universities¡ªthose with teams. Let¡¯s see how many cane." Jiang Yuan was surprised, "I¡¯ve seen that it¡¯s quite difficult for foreign police to hire experts; it¡¯s also quite costly." While texting and messaging, Pang Jidongughed and said, "How can foreign policepare with us here at home? We are the people¡¯s police. And despite how harshly people criticize experts, thesepetent botanists are still very idealistic. When I told them they could apply their knowledge, they didn¡¯t care about the money at all; they even paid for their own round-trip tickets." Jiang Yuan had never dealt with this aspect before and could only nod obediently. The task force then got busy. Following the lines drawn by Liu Jinghui, the policeunched several drones for low-altitude photography. This part of the technology was already mature;mon neighborhoods undergoing demolition wouldunch drones to capture everything on the ground, to prevent people from randomly building or even nting trees and reimingnd after the demolition notice was issued. Meanwhile, Huang Qiangmin called in the entire K9 unit, attempting to use them on-site. The experts invited by Pang Jidong arrived as early as noon, racing against the clock. By the afternoon, several botanists had arrived one after another at the meeting room of the Ningtai County Bureau¡ªthe meeting room at Zoumadao Police Station was too rudimentary; Huang Qiangmin did not want outsiders to misunderstand the working conditions of the people¡¯s police. Jiang Yuan arrived at the conference room early, watching the screen while taking notes. Whenever a botanist entered, he greeted them but didn¡¯t engage in much social interaction. Liu Jinghui had mapped out a total of five routes; the area to be surveyed was quite extensive, and each person would have a full workload. Thest botanist to reach Ningtai County Bureau was Sulei, a tall and slim female researcher dressed in a professional suit and stockings, with long, slender legs. With her arrival, the number of people in the meeting room increased by quite a few. The botanists who had arrived earlier courteously briefed her, saying, "We¡¯re currently in the initial screening phase. Each person takes a region or a route to review on theputer. Report any findings, but it¡¯s rmended to record them in a notebook for a collective submissionter. The body isn¡¯t going anywhere." "Okay," Sulei replied, then asked, "How¡¯s your search going?" "We found an isted grave, buried three or four years ago. The timing doesn¡¯t match; it¡¯s probably a local who snuck it in. We¡¯ve already dispatched officers to look for people," Jiang Yuan answered. Sulei chuckled, "Is it interesting to work with the police like this?" "I am a police officer," Jiang Yuan indicated his epaulettes and introduced himself, "I¡¯m a forensic doctor at Ningtai County Bureau." "I know, Officer Pang mentioned you understand legal botany. Actually, I¡¯m quite skeptical. Does anyone really understand legal botany?" Sulei, being a true insider, posed a question that was deeply professional, adding, "I think legal botany is a bit of a pseudo-concept. Botany covers too much information. Being a part-time forensic doctor and botanist could be overly challenging, couldn¡¯t it?" In fact, it would be. If Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the system to help him, he would certainly not have chosen to challenge the field of legal botany. This type of expertise genuinely requires systematic education to master. It¡¯s one of those skills that if you haven¡¯t grasped before graduating, there¡¯s little hope of mastering it afterward. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t exin his own situation, so he could only spread his hands and say, "Legal botany is indeed difficult, and we are now looking for experienced botanists. My case is special." "Indeed, special," Sulei said as she approached Jiang Yuan. She hadn¡¯t started working yet, but she walked over to look at Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer screen, ncing at his notebook as well. With one look, she saw Jiang Yuan had noted down a bunch of weed names like crabgrass, bermudagrass, purne,cquer tree... She instantly understood and said, "Soil disturbance?" "Right," Jiang Yuan nodded. Soil disturbance can convey various environmental influences to the seeds in the soil, triggering their growth. This principle is also rted to the "Seed Bank." The Seed Bank refers to the soil containing seeds from all nearby nts, but under unsuitable conditions, the seeds are merely stored like in a bank, inactive, waiting for the right moment. When the soil is disturbed, the seeds within the disrupted soil believe the time hase, and they begin to sproutpetitively. This is also the principle behind vegetation changes at a burial site. Initially, the burial site will be barren; afterward, a multitude of nts will spring uppetitively. As the most numerous and lowest maintenance nts in the seed bank are weeds, after the barren stage, the secondary indicator that appears at a burial site is weeds. However, eventually, everythinges down topetition. nts with greaterpetitive ability will ultimately cover the burial site. One thing that must be rified is that the nts near a burial site do not grow very lushly. The variation pattern differs with each location and time, requiring botanists to observe and umte information. That¡¯s what Jiang Yuan was doing. Sulei, just by looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s notebook, understood his work pattern, and her expression immediately turned serious. "I¡¯ll take this one. Route C," Sulei returned to her seat, chose her route, and began to work diligently. Chapter 677 - 620 Botanists

Chapter 677: Chapter 620 Botanists

Conference room. The begonia flowers on the windowsill were a soft pink, and the ashtray had been carefully cleaned of cigarette butts by a botanist, making for a pleasant scent. The conference room was very quiet, with only the sound of a frustrated person shaking a pen that had run out of ink. Huang Qiangmin hastily summoned a batch of pens over, finally resolving the issue. The botanists then went back to working in silence. For Sulei and others, botany itself was a dull science that didn¡¯t require much verbalmunication¡ªmost knowledge came from years of umtion. This made her doubt Jiang Yuan¡¯s botanical abilities. Considering his age alone, a student like Jiang Yuan could at best be a graduate student who had only just begun his doctoral studies. This was because, logically, an undergraduate or master¡¯s student wouldn¡¯t have had the time to umte enough botanical knowledge. Not every botanist could recognize all the nts in a botanical garden, and many might not identify most of them. However, knowing all the nts in a botanical garden was still far from being a botanist. With Sulei¡¯s way of thinking, it was easy for her to consider that if Jiang Yuancked genuine expertise in forensic botany, then the botanical evidence passed through his hands might be highly problematic. At this thought, Sulei¡¯s sense of social responsibility instantly exploded. And her scientific spirit led her to focus on her work at hand. She believed that the conclusion of her work would be the best exnation! The video extracted from the drone was divided into a grid of images. Sulei erged each one to take a closer look, marked the spots that raised doubts, and then reviewed them in detail, finding the process quitefortable. After jotting down a couple of notes, Sulei asked a fellow botanist, "Who processed these images? They seem almost as good as satellite remote sensing images. The image enhancement is pretty well done too." Satellite remote sensing images are a necessary application step¡ªit¡¯s only after image correction, enhancement, and information extraction that manual interpretation is performed. The image area that Jiang Yuan and the others were dealing with might not be as extensive as satellite remote sensing images, but withoutputer aid, the difficulty would be too high, and the number of reworks would undoubtedly be many. The current method clearly involved a more advanced approach, significantly improving uracy and convenience. The earlier arriving botanist also seemed very satisfied, smiling and mouthing off, "Captain Jiang did the image enhancement. Rumor has it he¡¯s self-taught from working with video surveince and such." "This..." Sulei was instantly at a loss for words: "Self-taught in video surveince, image enhancement, and botany all at the same time?" "Umm..." The earlier botanist clearly didn¡¯t think it was normal either, but hecked the energy to refute it. Sulei blinked, nced around, and said, "Among us five botanists here, it seems none of us know how to process satellite remote sensing images, right?" "Because we are botanists!" another botanist emphasized. "But is it normal for a forensic doctor to know satellite remote sensing image processing?" Sulei looked at the images on herputer. Not to mention anything else, the geometric correction alone was done very nicely. Modern botanists almost always deal with satellite images, including those from drone aerial photography, because the raw images are distorted due to the photographic material, lens distortion, atmospheric refraction, and never truly aligned. And the correction of these... in simple terms, is much more difficult than using Photoshop for enhancing someone¡¯s appearance. Apart from that, the original images captured are not always clear. Adjusting the contrast, colorposition, density segmentation, and image fusion are all essential. Finally, even image cropping is part of image pre-processing. Sulei, having seen bothfortably and poorly processed images, now felt that the images she was dealing with were among the best-processed she had encountered. The few botanists in the room, with deeper experience than Sulei and having seen more images, began to praise Jiang Yuan upon hearing the subject being discussed. Jiang Yuan humbly said, "Our forensic studies are indeed quiteplex, with specialized branches such as forensic imaging and legal botany. We only study these to a basic level, so please be patient with us." "If you delve any deeper, those of us in remote sensing and botany might as well be out of a job," another botanist said, shaking his head. "That won¡¯t happen; we only dabble and that¡¯s why we need everyone¡¯s help," Jiang Yuan replied while clicking on theputer¡¯s printmand, which set the inkjet printer beside him whirring into action. Sulei was somewhat restless. She stood up again, clicked her high heels across the floor, and came to the printer. A sizablemercial printer, with a fixed asset tag on it, shone with the words "Jianjiang City, Shannan Province." Sulei frowned slightly, feeling a sense of difort, but couldn¡¯t pinpoint the specific issue. "Is there a problem with this depression?" Sulei saw the image that had been zoomed in andbeled. She examined it closely; thebels were urate. The vegetation pattern indeed resembled that of a ce with a body and concluded, "New shrubs, look about four or five years old, should not be six years yet." "Hmm, let¡¯s dig it up and see, maybe it¡¯s wrapped in something," Jiang Yuan walked over, standing a head taller than Sulei. Utilizing Legal Botany, one can generally determine burial situations within a few years, and moreover, bodies that aren¡¯t encased in coffins are especially more noticeable. Therefore, if the body is wrapped in straw mats or stic sheets, the underground environment or condition will differ. As to exactly how it differs, forensic doctors have not yet fully understood. The concept of a body farm has existed for a while, but there aren¡¯t so many corpses to gue both domestic and international fields. If other professions face ack of research funding and personnel, forensic doctors face ack of research materials, especially in recent years. Forensic researchers are almost keeping pace with those studying extraterrestrial beings¡ªbeginning to advance theory beyond practicality. Sulei looked up at Jiang Yuan. To speak of age, Jiang Yuan was younger than her master¡¯s degree students, but when ites to the work he spoke about and did, even his current proficiency, it surpassed that of most botany schrs. "Doctor Jiang seems to be working rather swiftly," Suleimented. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "I arrived a bit earlier. In a while, once I¡¯m done, I can help out everyone else." "That would be great," Sulei said politely, then went back to her seat to work. Later, an officer from the Cold Case Squad came, collected the printouts from Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, and organized a small team, including the entire canine unit, to head to the site for excavation. A momentter, after Jiang Yuan printed several sheets of paper, he began to stroll around. Sulei looked over in surprise and asked, "Just a moment then?" "Yep, I¡¯m turning in early. Is there anything I can help with?" Jiang Yuan asked politely. Anyone listed by Pang Jidong and daring to ept the invitation toe was undoubtedly a prominent figure in the domestic botanicalmunity. Jiang Yuan¡¯s specialty in Legal Botany was just a branch of botany, with no cause for pride. Sulei always found it incredible. Recalling her previous thoughts, she decided to test Jiang Yuan a bit and said, "I have a few plots here that raise questions. Could you take a look for me, Captain Jiang?" Jiang Yuan nodded, came over to look, and quickly proposed solutions, "I think there shouldn¡¯t be a problem, but if you¡¯re worried, we could process the images further." Saying this, he returned to his seat, clicked away at his keyboard, and soon sent the enhanced images back to Sulei. Looking at the exceptionally clear images and the plots that were cleared of suspicion, Sulei couldn¡¯t help falling into self-doubt. To outsiders, Jiang Yuan appeared highly capable, like one of those expertly developed children from other families. Only Sulei fit the description of someone else¡¯s child, with ferocious academic prowess, skipping grades while taking exams, attending university entrance exams at fourteen, graduating from university at seventeen, then going abroad, acquiring a doctorate within five years, immediately working at a station, returning to her home country in two years to start at a junior faculty level, and in less than five years, leading her own team; within seven years of choosing a new direction and leading her students with vigor, she had already be one of the emerging bigwigs of the biological field. It could be said that other botanists present might be very powerful in strength and ability, but because of their older age andparatively ordinary resumes, they could not be categorized as geniuses within the upper echelons of academia. Sulei was a true academic prodigy, brought up under full load, and she acknowledged that among her peers, others may surpass her achievements, after all, it¡¯s also a matter of luck, but looking at Jiang Yuan, who was only in his twenties and a forensic doctor with substantial knowledge in botany, was really challenging Sulei¡¯s worldviews. Add to that high-level image enhancement technology... "Thanks. Could you do a few more images for me?" Sulei made a direct request. "Sure," Jiang Yuan replied. His work was already done, and he was ready to support the others now. The images from C-line were also quiteplex, which Sulei had specifically chosen. Although most images had already been processed by Jiang Yuan, allowing for smooth interpretation, Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous limited time meant he could only give them a rough edit given the sheer volume of images. The few images Sulei brought up were exceedinglyplex in nt conditions while also possessing sufficient rity. Although they could be researched and analyzed, the efficiency and effectiveness surely wouldn¡¯t be great. Jiang Yuan, without hesitation, sat down and began working swiftly. With Level 5 imaging processing technology, he was overwhelmingly effective against these normal drone aerial images. Shortly after, Sulei received new images. Compared to the previous ones, this new set of images was not only clearer but it was evident that the nts had been ssified, meaning that he used prior knowledge of the types found in this area to use these sample types¡¯ features to create a discriminative function, thereby categorizing the whole image. To botanists, the value of such images needs no exnation. Sulei felt these were even morefortable to work with than those she received from the nationalboratory. The remote sensing experts over there wouldn¡¯t process images to be this considerate. Sulei silently made her assessment, and then just as quietly, she passed the new images to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan continued processing, just as swiftly as before. Their back-and-forth coboration significantly sped up the work progress. Gradually, Sulei even began to feel a hint of guilt toward Jiang Yuan: that I perhaps slighted such a genius among geniuses because he was a forensic doctor is precisely the unfair treatment I once received. How did I suddenly be like this? It¡¯s just not right... Chapter 678 - 621 Achievements

Chapter 678: Chapter 621 Achievements

"There¡¯s a problem here. I¡¯ve posted it in the group." Sulei didn¡¯t have much time to introspect, as a bald patch in one of the images caught her attention. As everyone knows, forests don¡¯t just develop bald patches without reason, much like a kitten¡¯s bald spots, there is always a cause. Jiang Yuan and others immediately went to the group to look at the picture. The image wasrge, the inte connection was good, and the bald patch was clear. "Send someone over, with a dog," Jiang Yuan nced at it twice and was certain there was a problem, and it didn¡¯t look like the burial site from six years ago, but more like... six months ago. A few police officers received the order, got ready, and prepared to leave. Jiang Yuan stepped outside and called over Liu Wenkai, saying, "Captain Liu, could you take a team to check out this ce?" "Okay." Liu Wenkai agreed first, then asked, "Do you feel like it¡¯s here?" Jiang Yuan shook his head, saying, "Ny-nine percent it¡¯s not here, but there¡¯s a seventy percent chance it¡¯s the site of a buried body." Liu Wenkai was startled, his expression turned very serious, saying, "I understand then, I¡¯ll go and protect the scene." "Mhm, we¡¯ll probably be a while longer here. I¡¯ll have my master apany you. I¡¯ll also call downtown and ask for Dr. Wang and their team toe for support." "That¡¯ll work." Liu Wenkai nodded, then said again, "Though you said that, you could also bring a couple of apprentices along." "There¡¯s no need for that," Jiang Yuanughed. Liu Wenkai said, "You handle over a hundred murder cases a year, not counting the unnatural deaths. There are plenty of ces where they could be of use." "That¡¯s true," Jiang Yuan conceded after a moment¡¯s consideration, but there was no need to make any immediate decisions. Watching Liu Wenkai lead the second squad out, Jiang Yuan then returned to the conference room. Inside the room, several botanists seemed quite excited. Someone was even clinging to the ss, looking out while saying, "So this is how you police operate? Pretty cool, geared up to the teeth like that. Doesn¡¯t it get hot?" "Can¡¯t help it. It¡¯s colder over in Pingzhou," Jiang Yuan replied with a smile. Sulei curiously asked, "What does that have to do with Pingzhou?" Jiang Yuan: "It¡¯s a long story..." "So, they went to look for the body? Could it be a homicide?" The oldest professor there, roughly 60 years old, still maintained a strong sense of curiosity. Jiang Yuan nodded, "It¡¯s possible, or it could be something else. We¡¯ll only know once we¡¯ve found it." "What you said about finding... never mind, I don¡¯t really want to see a dead body..." In the midst of speaking, the old professor¡¯s curiosity faded. Everyone continued to work on checking the images, and any questions were thrown into the group. It was simr to a panel of expert reviewers. This wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s invention ¨C current journals all use this peer-review method. Everyone was ustomed to it without the need for adaptation. Moreover, with everyone in the conference room, any issues could bemunicated directly, which was very convenient. The only thing causing a bit of anxiety was that the images were bing fewer, and the burial site rted to Zhang Yi¡¯s case had yet to appear. Six years might be too long, and trying to locate it by aerial observation of vegetation was proving to be quite difficult. Xu Taining would have been useful in this situation; in such an environment, dogs weren¡¯t as helpful as Director Xu. "What will happen if we can¡¯t find it?" Sulei finished her Line C, and with the remaining three lines there wasn¡¯t much left; Sulei started to feel concern and curiosity. Comparing it to their scientific projects, Jiang Yuan had not only brought in experts but mobilized hundreds of police officers. The expenses were definitely not small; could they really afford to have no results? Jiang Yuan could only smile and say, "If we can¡¯t find it, we¡¯ll keep looking until we do." "Keep looking forever if we never find it? There must be an end, right?" Jiang Yuan spread his hands. "It¡¯s a bit inhumane." Sulei sighed. Jiang Yuan turned his head to look at her andughed, "You can¡¯t just consider the issue from our perspective, try thinking about it from the criminal¡¯s point of view. Suppose... you killed Professor Mu." He saw other experts and professors looking over, so he followed the topic and made a hypothetical statement. The most curious of them, Professor Mu, was indeed amused andughed, "Why does it have to be me who gets killed?" "Then we¡¯re all killed. I¡¯m dead too. Professor Su goes missing, in fact, has run away. The police pursue the murderer for a year or two without any sess, but to then stop in order to save on budget and manpower, is that really the best option? To let Professor Su live worry-free from now on?" Jiang Yuan asked in return, then added, "Byparison, the police asionally reopening cold cases, that¡¯s the biggest deterrent to Professor Su, right?" Sulei put herself in that situation for a moment and couldn¡¯t help saying, "So it¡¯s about keeping criminals living in fear all the time?" "The living have already gained far more benefits than the dead, they can¡¯t expect to have their cake and eat it too, right," said Jiang Yuan, pointing to the screen in front of him. "Take this case for example; I can¡¯t reveal the specifics, but if we were to really weigh it based on cost-effectiveness, it definitely wouldn¡¯t be worth it to bring in five experts for such a faint possibility. Yet, we still do it." However, schrs are not going to have their thoughts shaped so easily. At this moment, Professor Mu adopted a serious expression and said, "But resources are limited. You can disregard cost-effectiveness, but there must be times when you run out of money, right?" "Quite often, we¡¯re short on funds." "What happens when you cannot continue anymore?" "Then it¡¯s not just the police who can¡¯t continue; it¡¯s more likely that society itself has copsed," Jiang Yuan said somewhat lightheartedly. The others understood what Jiang Yuan meant and rxed a bit themselves. The progress bar advanced in the conference room, and outside, things were also happening. Two more illegal graves had been discovered¡ªthese were not graves constructed in the wild for some particr reason but rather the kind of unmarked graves without a mound, a headstone, any sign of worship, or even a coffin, as if they were meant for hastily burying or discarding bodies. What followed was indeed an actual corpse rted to the case. A corpse with its head separated. It didn¡¯t fit the requirements of this case, and it was also clearly not a result of natural death. Liu Wenkai, though he had brought a full team and was prepared, couldn¡¯t help calling Jiang Yuan with a sense of helplessness: "The body has already skeletonized. This is tough." "I¡¯m on my way," Jiang Yuan could only say. At the very least, a murder with a body was always better than one without. Mu Zhiyang knocked and entered right then, saying, "Captain Jiang." "Yes, what is it?" Jiang Yuan looked over and noticed Mu Zhiyang¡¯s expression was somewhat unnatural. "Ahem." Mu Zhiyang curled up his hand, pretending to cough, and said, "Captain Jiang, this is the information on the electric tricycle I found." "Electric tricycle?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. "Yes, because Director Liu had mentioned that the killer had to dispose of an electric tricycle, I was thinking about what means of disposal they could¡¯ve used." Mu Zhiyang looked at Jiang Yuan, saw no displeasure from him, and went on to say, "I wasn¡¯t busy earlier, so I decided to follow this clue to look into it, and I really found the vehicle involved in the case." "You found it?" Jiang Yuan was greatly surprised. "How did you find it?" Mu Zhiyang was a bit embarrassed, "Because I had dealt with electric tricycle cases when I was a junior officer. In our county, these electric tricycles were previously used to transport people and goods, you know, the kind that charges a few bucks per trip. In terms of numbers, there are only over 3000 electric tricycles in our county, and less than 1000 of them are capable of hauling goods." Looking at Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang continued, "I just thought, unless the killer threw the tricycle into the river, their best option would be to leave the keys on the tricycle and let someone steal it." "So, even after six years, this tricycle might still be in the market." "I asked for help from the traffic police and local police officers to look for it, and we actually found this tricycle!" Chapter 679 - 622: Recognition

Chapter 679: Chapter 622: Recognition

"It really is this tricycle." In the yard, everyone circled around the electric tricycle that had just been delivered. Its red and blue colors, the Paul Z brand with a sky and ck cloud motif, the front fork missing some paint, but the indentations were the same. The frame of the rear bin also had identical features, the tires seemed to have been changed twice, but simr scratches could be found on the other two hubs too. The traffic police department had issued a preliminary appraisal report at top speed. In fact, in the county with over a thousand freight electric tricycles, to have about a hundred or so of the same color and model was already a lot, it¡¯s just that in murder cases, such caution is necessary. What surprised everyone wasn¡¯t the sharp eyes of the traffic police and local police station colleagues, nor the improved tracking abilities of the office of imaging. It was Mu Zhiyang, who had activated this series of functions and applied them. "Six years, and this tricycle probably hadn¡¯t even been repainted once. Any normal person could find it. But then it fell into little Mu¡¯s hands." "It was Mu Zhiyang who asked the traffic police and local police station to find it." "When it¡¯s time to write the report, he¡¯s certainly one of those who ought to be mentioned first." "Not even a scratch on it, and he gets such a big merit for it?" Some familiar officers were wandering around Mu Zhiyang and the electric tricycle, muttering in his ear. Mu Zhiyang, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, posed like he was reincarnated into a model of the electric tricycle, albeit one not good at flirting or showing off. He didn¡¯t care about what others were saying. In the criminal police force, many are foul-mouthed when smoking, but what matters is that he had indeed aplished this task. Even when he was doing it, Mu Zhiyang himself wasn¡¯t sure, but now that it was done, he was the n¨²mero uno shepherd...so to speak. "Just a bit of inspiration, along with a long time of effort and persistence." When a neer approached, Mu Zhiyang said casually with a smile. The neer was Wang Chuanxing. Wang Chuanxing was brimming with jealousy, sizing up Mu Zhiyang from top to bottom, unable to resist saying, "Who would have thought..." In terms of educational background, he was multiples ahead of Mu Zhiyang, in terms of status, he came from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, in terms of professional skills, he was good at PPT, writing documents and reports, capable of fieldwork, and knew how tomand and coordinate operations... Wang Chuanxing had never imagined that the one to stand out this time would be Mu Zhiyang. "Captain Wang, out on fieldwork?" Mu Zhiyang greeted with a broad smile. Wang Chuanxing simply grunted, adjusted his mood, and said, "Let¡¯s go verify a few jobs of this vehicle¡¯s owner." The current owner of the electric tricycle was the fourth owner, with the one who found it being the second owner. Since phone numbers were left during the vehicle¡¯s sale, people were easily found. And most crucially, the evidence that this electric tricycle could provide was the location where the second owner had found it. ording to the second owner, he spotted the tricycle underneath the Jiufu Department Store. The key was in the ignition at the time, and the doors were left open, he was momentarily tempted... The police didn¡¯t care about these details; they were interested in the location itself. In the realm of body dumping, there¡¯s a theory that a normal person, willing to carry a corpse solo, won¡¯t do so farther than 100 meters. Certainly, the ce where the killer disposed of the body couldn¡¯t be the parking lot of Jiufu Department Store, but normally, it wouldn¡¯t be far from there. With this in mind, they drew a circle, narrowing down the area that needed to be searched. Behind Jiufu Department Store, adjacent to a small alley, was a small park that came into the police¡¯s view. The vegetation was lush in the small park, withwns and woods and winding walking paths, but few visitors. Ningtai County wasn¡¯t short of leisurely ces to stroll, with the riverside path along Ningtai River offering better scenery and more convenience. What Ningtaicked were industry andmerce, vibrant ces to y and opportunities to make more money. This ce was quite suitable for burying a body. Drones were deployed, and the police canine unit was called in. A slope was designated as a key area for a thorough search, and several small woods were also sniffed out by Dazhuang. Sulei also came to observe the site. For her, the dramatically cordoned-off scene, with police dogs sniffing around and several technicians digging holes, was quite interesting. in botany surely didn¡¯t offer such scenes. "What if nothing¡¯s found?" Sulei turned to Jiang Yuan and asked as she watched the crowd of dozens blocked there. Jiang Yuan did not even think before replying, "Nothing special, just business as usual." "Business as usual? So much effort from so many people turns out to be for nothing, and it¡¯s just dismissed as normal? I bet your colleagues would be angry," Sulei instinctively disliked the idea ofing back empty-handed. Jiang Yuan spread his hands, "That¡¯s the nature of our job,ing back empty-handed is nothing new. If we really can¡¯t find the body, I can¡¯t just lie down in there to apologize." Sulei thought Jiang Yuan¡¯s point made sense, but as she watched Mu Zhiyang directing confidently up on the slope, she suddenly chuckled and said, "We could bury the most pretentious one." Jiang Yuan followed Sulei¡¯s gaze towards Mu Zhiyang, who was still waving and smiling. Woof woof woof! Dazhuang barked sharply and began to paw at the ground. Several officers immediately went over. Some small bones were unearthed from the soil. Jiang Yuan, who was a little far away, trotted over, put on gloves, and after the photographing was done, he picked them up and said, "These are definitely human bones, notify Captain Huang, and give Meng Chengbiao a heads-up." Having found the body, the pace of the interrogation was different. The nature of the questions asked caused tension between the two suspects, facing a choice between confessing or not was not so easy anymore. The most important thing was that the police were able toplete the chain of evidence during the investigative phase. In other cases, things might be simpler, but when ites to a murder investigation, the requirements for the chain of evidence are extremely strict. If they really couldn¡¯t find the body, or the body couldn¡¯t be linked to the murderer, the process would be stuck right at the submission for examination. Jiang Yuan personally took on the task, exhuming all the skeletal remains that had been reduced to bones, ensuring that nothing was overlooked, before collecting samples of nearby insects and nts, and only then did he rise and remove his gloves. For a long while, Sulei watched from the side. Seeing that Jiang Yuan had finished, she couldn¡¯t help expressing regret, "It¡¯s a pity I couldn¡¯t be of any help." "How could you not be? Didn¡¯t you also uncover a body earlier?" Jiang Yuan replied with a smile. Sulei was at a loss for words and said, "Was that body really the start of a case?" "Of course. As one case ends here, another just begins there," Jiang Yuan said in a very natural manner. Sulei slightly shivered looking at the skeletal remains and shook her head, "None of this is easy." "You¡¯ll get used to it. You can think of it as Professor Mu¡¯s work, someone has to seek justice for the body," Jiang Yuan said in a light-hearted tone, speaking more casually. The surrounding police officers felt much the same. When a murder case remained unsolved, the atmosphere in the station was as if they were attending a beauty pageant for fishingdies. If they were lucky and solved it quickly, then they could rx, like bing a seeded contestant and simply following protocol until the end, which was always good. But if they couldn¡¯t solve it quickly, the mood would be increasingly oppressive. Furthermore, as the process went on, it was like constantly raising the stakes, and in the end, if they still couldn¡¯t solve the case despite exhausting all means, it could break a person. "I¡¯m going to perform the autopsy now," Jiang Yuan told Sulei, patted the Rottweiler on its head, then led his team to carry the skeletal remains to the hearse and departed for the mortuary. The autopsy room. On each sidey a body, one dead for six years, the other for six months, both having turned to skeletons, but the one dead for six months had not dposed as thoroughly, its stark white bones somehow shinier. Medical Examiner Wang Lan, who hade to assist from Qinghe City, helped Wu Jun and Jiang Yuan arrange the corpses in an orderly fashion. Sampling, sampling, and more sampling... Since entering the room, Jiang Yuan had been busy at work. One body needed to be identified as Liu Hongbing, who had died while collecting clothes. The other¡¯s identity was to be discovered. In reality, the requirements for both were the same, only the difficulty differed. To confirm that the first body was Liu Hongbing was easy; a paternity test would suffice. The second body was more challenging. If no clues could be found from missing person cases dating back six months and the DNA didn¡¯t match, then the process would need to involve forensic anthropology, perhaps even skull restoration techniques. The overall autopsy process could be considered somewhat easy. Without a forensic anthropology assessment, Jiang Yuan had already examined the shoulder joint issue for the first body. It was evident that all three edges of the scap showed varying degrees of wear, clearly from exerting significant force in earlier years and improper use of the body. Such a condition, if not given proper attention, could lead to issues like periarthritis before the age of sixty, and inevitable shoulder and neck pain inter years. All these morphological features also matched Liu Hongbing¡¯s professional nature and lifestyle... As they examined the second body, information about the first body was ryed over. "Captain Jiang, the first batch of samples processed by the DNAbpared Liu Hongbing¡¯s son¡¯s DNA with the first body¡¯s samples, and they do not support that the sample is the biological father," said the call from Tang Jia, with Jiang Yuan listening on speakerphone, causing a chill in the autopsy room. The few medical examiners looked at each other, each taking a few seconds to think, then silently resumed their work without a word. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and asked, "The hair left by Liu Hongbing¡¯s family when they reported him missing, has it beenpared?" "The DNA from the hair is still being processed," Tang Jia replied. "They said the blood sample resultse back faster." "Well, let¡¯s not rush, we¡¯ll discuss it when we have the results fromparing the hair and such," Jiang Yuan said. "Understood," Tang Jia responded, then asked in a low voice, "Could there have been a mishap somewhere?" "Perhaps. Let¡¯s wait and see." After Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, he picked up the first body¡¯s scap again, examining it over and over, and recalled Liu Hongbing¡¯s photos in his mind, "It still seems to match well. The height and age are right, and the upational injury matches." The scap is a triangr bone, resembling a spade. Ancient people used scape as hoes. In the north, when buying meat, the triangr bone that is sold along with the shinbone by butchers is also the scap. Its function and other aspects have been studied very thoroughly; Jiang Yuan had many bases for his judgment. Wang Lan coughed twice and said, "Let¡¯s move on to something else. It¡¯smon to face more problems when things are already going bad." No one in the autopsy room voiced a response; they continued with the second body. Just about when they were wrapping up, Tang Jia called back, her voice noticeably happier: "Captain Jiang, it¡¯s a match. The DNA extracted from the hair left by Liu Hongbing¡¯s family during the report matched the skeletal remains found in the park, confirming they belong to Liu Hongbing." Jiang Yuan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "A match is good. I¡¯ll call Captain Huang. You all prepare the report." "What about the previous DNA report?" asked Tang Jia. "It won¡¯t affect the case, just organize it into the report as well," Jiang Yuan answered. "But isn¡¯t that contradictory?" "It only does not support the notion that Liu Hongbing is his son¡¯s biological father, which does not contradict the conclusion of the second report," Jiang Yuan said before hanging up the call. The other detectives present had different expressions, but all regarded the situation as nothing out of the ordinary. Chapter 680 - 623 Growth

Chapter 680: Chapter 623 Growth

"I¡¯ve collected Liu Hongbing¡¯s remains," said Jiang Yuan as he took a white, transparent evidence box and methodically ced the skeletal remains from Examination Table One inside. This case started with a thief reporting his own mother, and the crux of it was finding this very skeleton. Now that the remains had been found, the focus of the case shifted back to the thief, An Zhiqiang, and his mother, Zhang Yi. Liu Hongbing and his bones could rest for a while now. As Jiang Yuan ced thest bone into the box, a blue cloth emerged from among the remains. Liu Hongbing¡¯s legacy¡ªOld Clothes Identification LV2: Liu Hongbing had held many jobs, none of which he liked. He chose to recycle old clothes, the job that paid most, simply to make ends meet. The job was dirty and exhausting. He had to maintain good rtions with the security and janitorial staff in residential areas, and day after day, he packed, transported, and sold the collected clothes. Bundling up hundreds or thousands of garments made the collected scents of different people nauseating, and the bundles were so heavy that they made one¡¯s legs tremble. In order to earn a little extra, whenever he had a rare moment of downtime, Liu Hongbing would sort through the clothes in the warehouse. Doing this over time honed his skill at identifying clothing, but if he had the chance, he would have abandoned this work for something else... If he could have lived without working, perhaps he would have seemed more human. Jiang Yuan gently closed the lid of the evidence box. Even the lessons brought by death are hard for the living to learn. Living people always n far into the future, up until the moment of death. If Liu Hongbing were still alive, he would surely be concerned about the condition of his shoulder de, and care deeply about his son¡¯s paternity test result. But now that he¡¯s dead, he no longer cares about any of these things. Perhaps it¡¯s because his life was filled with too many regrets, and these things simply didn¡¯t make the list. Perhaps, he just didn¡¯t want to care anymore. "Let¡¯s call it a day. Time to go home after work," said Jiang Yuan. Looking at the time, he no longer wanted to stay in the autopsy room. The autopsy of the second body wasplete, but the most critical DNA test was yet to be done, and that was the most pressing task at the moment. Whether it was forensic anthropology or skull restoration skill, these required far more time toplete. They would only be needed if the DNA match failed. Wang Lan and the others were actually exhausted too. She hade from Qinghe City without stopping to participate in the excavation of the bodies, and then went straight back to the mortuary to perform autopsies. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was not nning to stay up all night, Wang Lan breathed a sigh of relief. She tidied up a bit before heading off to shower and change her clothes. She had not only been in contact with skeletonized remains that day but had also dug up soil from the grave, caught insects, and picked up chrysalises. There was a scent about her that freshness could not dispel. Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun waited for Medical Examiner Wang Lan to finish washing up, then took their turns in the spartan shower room for a quick bath. They left without mentioning how they burned paper offerings and incense before heading home separately. Dawn. Mr. Jiang got up early and cooked a bowl of noodles for Jiang Yuan. The noodles were instant, just needed to be boiled, served with beef in fried sauce, garnished with several chunks of beef, and sprinkled withtro and scallions. Paired with pickled radish and tiger skin peppers, it was exceedingly refreshing. Jiang Yuan, too, ate arge bowl in one go, along with a bowl of beef soup, before he finally patted his belly and stopped. Jiang Fuzhen himself had only a small bowl without any meat, just sipping weak tea while sitting beside the dining table, he asked, "Not a smooth couple of days at work?" Jiang Yuan did indeed have the urge to talk, but he couldn¡¯t discuss the sensitive case details. After a moment, he said, "The victim suffered terribly, and the perpetrator was vile. It¡¯s unsettling." "At least the perpetrator was caught," said Jiang Fuzhen. "I can¡¯t say," replied Jiang Yuan as he wiped his mouth and stood up. "That¡¯s all I can discuss, I¡¯m off to talk to people at the station." "Right, talk more if you¡¯re feeling down," Jiang Fuzhen suggested, taking off his Richard Lange watch and handing it to Jiang Yuan. "They say this is the most beautiful simple three-hand watch. Wear it. When you have nothing to do, just stare at the timepiece a little¡ªit¡¯s not a waste of time and is good for mental health." "The watch salesperson must have fooled you," Jiang Yuan remarked, but he put on the watch anyway and added, "I have to take it off during autopsies. If it gets lost, I¡¯m not responsible." "Try not to lose it; I had it custom made," Jiang Fuzhen said as he stood up to go to the kitchen and asked, "What would you like to eat tonight?" "I probably won¡¯t be back tonight; there¡¯s still a lot to do today." Jiang Yuan waved his hand and went downstairs to drive away. Criminal Investigation Detachment. In the meeting room, the team leaders from the various squads were gathered to listen to the case briefing on the Liu Hongbing case. The person responsible for the briefing was Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai, who had been up all night, stood up with bright eyes, and began, "Through our work over the past few days... especially the efforts of Jiang Yuan, who used various means to find the remains of the victim Liu Hongbing and confirmed it through DNA identification... the murderers Zhang Yi and Li Gan have also confessed to the specific details of the killing and have respectively recognized the scene..." After this simple statement, gentle apuse echoed in the meeting room. With details and the crime scene confirmed, this case was basically considered solidified. Huang Qiangmin also smiled a serious smile of 11.1 degrees. The difficulty of this case was still very high, and it utilized Legal Botany, a field he found quite unfamiliar. But regardless, the oue of the case was positive, and it was satisfactorily resolved in front of the chief of a Criminal Investigation Detachment from another province, so Huang Qiangmin was quite content. Liu Wenkai then mentioned a few more names, with particr emphasis on Mu Zhiyang, before changing the subject, "At present, the informant An Zhiqiang seems to intend to recant his statement, but it won¡¯t affect the overall situation." Huang Qiangmin furrowed his brow, "An Zhiqiang is that oil thief, right? He sold out his own mother to reduce his sentence. What is he trying to do by recanting now? Has he been in touch with someone?" "It¡¯s possible that in the detention center, someone heard about this and started saying things like An Zhiqiang is responsible for his own mother¡¯s death... An Zhiqiang¡¯s own im is that he thinks his mother should be imprisoned but not sentenced to death... We¡¯ve already exined to him that the death sentence isn¡¯t certain, but An Zhiqiang is quite emotional and even demanded that we write a guarantee, which is definitely impossible..." Liu Wenkai briefly exined. Huang Qiangmin snorted, "Now he remembers it¡¯s his mother, that little beast!" In his heart, Huang Qiangmin, who had seen many killers, looked down even more on the likes of An Zhiqiang. In a way, it was for his own sake that he sent his mother to death. Thinking of this, Huang Qiangmin asked, "How is Zhang Yi¡¯s emotional state?" The biggest concern in detention centers and prisons is suicide risk, and in Zhang Yi¡¯s situation, she was a person of particr concern once she was imprisoned. Liu Wenkai shook his head and said, "She¡¯s very agitated. She never expected to be reported by her own son, and now she¡¯s using her lover of being the mastermind..." "Pay close attention to her. I¡¯ll speak to the detention centerter..." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t wish to dwell on this topic and turned to ask, "What was the motive for the murder?" Liu Wenkai took a breath before continuing, "The victim Liu Hongbing had originally wanted to coborate with Zhang Yi, asking her to collect some clothes and then buy them back at a marked-up price. Zhang Yi had lived in the area for many years, was well-known, and was a strong and assertive person who had good control over the janitors of the nearby neighborhoods. But when discussing it at her door, Zhang Yi demanded the right to choose clothing first from Liu Hongbing¡¯s warehouse to sell on her own." "Zhang Yi figured that among the clothes Liu Hongbing bought from various ces, there were certainly some that were rtively valuable. If she could get some for free, she could open a second-hand clothing shop and earn a tidy profit without any initial investment." "Liu Hongbing thought it was too much hassle and would increase his workload, so he insisted on splitting the profits as originally nned." "After the argument escted, Li Gan got involved and the conflict intensified, ultimately leading to Liu Hongbing¡¯s death." Huang Qiangmin shook his head as he listened, "It¡¯s all unnecessary. They could¡¯ve simply not cooperated... Has the primary culprit been identified?" "They¡¯re still disputing it. The prosecution thinks the nature of this case is egregious and seems to want to sentence both of them to death!" Liu Wenkai exined. Jiang Yuan silently nodded. Murder, dismemberment, and then burial; before the body was found, Li Gan and Zhang Yi were still stubbornly resisting; stacking up all sorts of aggravating debuffs... It proved from another perspective that after long cooperation with the prosecution, there was indeed growth. Chapter 681 - 624: Aspiring to a Great Journey (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Chapter 681: Chapter 624: Aspiring to a Great Journey (Requesting Monthly Votes)

The meeting ended. Jiang Yuan, with blessings from Huang Qiangmin, went to greet Pang Jidong and the botanists. When he got to the meeting room downstairs, he saw that Pang Jidong and the botanists were in the midst of an animated conversation. Several of them already knew each other, and since Pang Jidong was cultivating an image of being studious and thoughtful, he only asked the simplest of questions. The botanists felt a strong sense of being needed and were able to meet those needs in return, so the back-and-forth discussion quickly became lively and enthusiastic. As Jiang Yuan entered the room, he could even sense a feeling of intellectual invigoration wafting through the air. "You¡¯ve all worked hard," Jiang Yuan greeted everyone with a smile and added, "It¡¯s almost noon; let¡¯s go have a simple lunch together." "Just a little something to eat is fine," the group easily agreed. Even though it wasn¡¯t time to get off work yet, the botanists¡¯ job was essentially done. Sulei asked with concern, "That body we found separately, did we finally identify where it came from?" Jiang Yuan hesitated a moment before answering, "The case has already started going through the process, so I can¡¯t talk about it for now. But to be honest, looking for Liu Hongbing¡¯s body and finding this one was quite unexpected." "In a county like Ningtai, to find such a ce for burying bodies... one wonders what it¡¯s like in other ces," Sulei mused, perhaps drifting into overthinking. "Many counties don¡¯t have environments as good as Ningtai. They would probably bury bodies in the mountains," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "that is, if they can leave the city without getting caught." "Coming to the police station just once makes one feel the world isn¡¯t so safe," Sulei shook her head. "We should invite the criminals to the station to see our new technology; I bet nine out of ten would be despondent," Jiang Yuan did not address Sulei¡¯s remark directly, for a technician is not a romantic and does not believe that any social measure can truly make society better. In fact, the so-called better world has always been just a fantasy of literati from a certain era; they don¡¯t realize that today¡¯s world is already the better world for some people. It¡¯s just hell for others, that¡¯s all. Jiang Yuan took the group to a small restaurant near his home. Just as Mount Tai is to Tai¡¯an and Shaolin is to Dengfeng, the areas surrounding Siningshan were Ningtai County¡¯s prime consumption spots. However, because of the local economy, the sense of luxury here was reflected more in frequency than in price. Near the Jiangcun Residential Area, there were several good small restaurants. The owners were all middle-aged chefs who could not continue working inrge hotels and, by a twist of fate, ended up in Ningtai. They opened their own small establishments based on the culinary skills they were best at. Unlikerge hotels, these small establishments only make a limited number of dishes, some selling just a few types. But because they excel in those few dishes, they give the impression of being very tasty. The concept of a hole-in-the-wall restaurant producing gourmet food is based on this principle - when the chef is sick of making the same food, that¡¯s when the customers find it irresistible. After confirming everyone¡¯s preferences and dietary restrictions, Jiang Yuan led the group into a donkey meat restaurant and skillfully ordered meat, sausage, and soup, then said, "This Zhang Xiang Ji has been an old donkey meat restaurant in our Ningtai for a while. It used to sell one donkey¡¯s worth of meat every few days, but now they can sell one per day. Business has improved and the vor has gotten even better." "It¡¯s fresher," Pang Jidong nodded. "That¡¯s right," said Jiang Yuan as he led everyone into a private room and ordered beer, tea, and soft drinks. Then heughed and continued, "This owner emphasizes diligence in preparing donkey meat. Donkey meat is actually more tender than beef, but like venison, it has the problem of a strong gamey smell. The solution in this restaurant is to wash it a lot. After ughtering the donkey, they soak the meat in a tub of water and keep changing it until the water runs clear, with the aim of washing out all the blood. This task is quitebor-intensive and many restaurants that be less tasty over time do so because they reduce the frequency of the water changes." The guests listened intently, with Professor Mu nodding continuously, remarking, "Turns out it¡¯s a dish that requires real dedication." "My father actually came here to learn the skill, but it¡¯s so exhausting he¡¯s barely done it a few times after mastering it," Jiang Yuan said, bursting intoughter. Another reason Jiang Fuzhen himself didn¡¯t prepare donkey meat was to avoid affecting the business of Zhang Xiang Ji. There aren¡¯t as many people who eat donkey meatpared to those who eat beef,mb, or pork, and most people who do want to try the novelty mighte for a taste once in several months or even years and probably won¡¯t eat it again anytime soon. If Jiang Fuzhen cooked donkey meat and gave it away to everyone, the end result might be that Zhang Xiang Ji would have to close down and leave. And this wasn¡¯t just undue worry on Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s part. When Jiang Yuan was in high school, Zhang Xiang Ji once faced a crisis; it was only by purchasing a donkey from them every week and giving it away that they were able to keep going. Many people even started eating donkey meat because they had tasted the donkey meat sent over from Jiang Fuzhen. Over these years, Zhang Xiang Ji had developed several new dishes. However, ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s taste buds, the most delicious was still the soy sauce donkey meat. What was especially tasty, though, was the thinly sliced donkey meat eaten in hot broth. This hot-pot style cooking involved taking thick slices of cooked soy sauce donkey meat and boiling them in a well-prepared broth until piping hot. Enjoying them simply or dipped in sauce was exceptionally delicious. It was a different experience from the traditional cold mix vor and also distinct from theplex taste of hotpot, focusing on the rich vor of the donkey meat and the tender texture of the flesh. Theplementary donkey meat soup was also very delicious, with some even adding a sour and spicy vor to it, making you feel warm all over and full of energy. After the meal. Jiang Yuan was picking his teeth while chatting with Pang Jidong, but the conversation quickly turned into a lecture. The botanists initially had a social vibe, but as Pang Jidong scratched his head, everyone started joining in. It seems that the propensity to teach is truly ingrained in human DNA. Just thinking about how even celebrities dare to instruct people on how to act, how to live, and how to face the world gives one an appreciation of the humor in it. Ding. Mission Completed: An old horse may be stabled but still longs to gallop a thousand miles. Mission Objective: Make Pang Jidong fully understand the elements of legal botany, and familiarize him with using legal botany to solve cases. Mission Reward: Legal Botany (LV3) skill level +1 Jiang Yuan drank tea while watching Pang Jidong hold a pen with a lost look, then reviewed the search scene from the past few days with his newly acquired Legal Botany (LV4) skill. A national-level expert now! In the afternoon. Jiang Yuan asked Jiang Yongxin to arrange for a car to take Pang Jidong and the botanists to Changyang City Airport, where they took the VVIP channel and a Coaster vehicle right to the ne. Jiang Yuan himself then returned to the funeral home to examine the second body. In the evening. The DNA report for the second body waspleted. Theboratory called immediately, saying, "Captain Jiang. The second body matches a merchant from Ningtai living in Changyang City, 38 years old, named He Yuxiang, who was reported missing on April 20th in Beijing." "Was the case filed in Beijing?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes. By the book, we should notify them," said theb. The procedure is actually inflexible, but respect must be shown. Jiang Yuan said, "Then notify them, and send me the report to look at." "Okay, right away." After the call ended, Jiang Yuan spread his hands to Wang Lan and Wu Jun in the autopsy room, smiling, "There we go, we¡¯ve outpaced ourselves, it¡¯s Beijing¡¯s case now." Since Beijing had filed the case, that jurisdiction remained with them here. They would still need to cooperate and arrange the evidence properly. Wang Lan, being a visitor, didn¡¯t mind and said with a smile, "We¡¯ve nearly finished the autopsy report, and the DNA results just came out. Nothing we can do about that. I¡¯ll head back tonight if there¡¯s nothing else." "Ah, don¡¯t go before we have dinner," Wu Jun said, not willing to let Wang Lan just leave, even if this was an official matter. Some social eating and drinking were always in order. Wu Jun took off his gloves and started washing his hands, saying, "Jiang Yuan, I remember you mentioned a donkey meat restaurant that¡¯s really good. Book a private room for us tonight, will you?" Chapter 682 - 625 Precious Body

Chapter 682: Chapter 625 Precious Body

"Oh, this is so embarrassing..." "Nowadays, finding ck donkey hooves isn¡¯t easy. Many people just know what they¡¯re supposed to be good for and buy them to misuse." "We must calcte the money, yes, let¡¯s use this corporate card." Beaming with a smile, Wu Jun was holding arge bag of ck donkey hooves, happier than if he¡¯d received a bonus. Jiang Yuan, his emotions stable, cleaned his mouth and stepped forward, offering, "Master, should I help you carry it?" "No need. It¡¯s better if fewer hands touch these hooves," Wu Jun declined tly. Having eaten her fill, Wang Lan, carrying a small bag of sauce-coated donkey meat, asked Wu Jun with augh, "Is there a specific reason for that?" "Nothing special. It¡¯s just that people have their own energy, you know. Too much handling and the nature of these ck donkey hooves might destabilize. How does that razor theory go again? ¡¯Do not multiply entities beyond necessity¡¯, right?" Wu Jun spoke more scientifically, convincing everyone present. Zhang Xiang Ji¡¯s owner, Zhang Xiang, nodded continuously and said, "Doctor Wu makes a good point. Here¡¯s what we¡¯ll do: next time we ughter donkeys, I¡¯ll directly take the hooves off and keep them separate. Juste and pick them up when you have time. You can go straight to me when you arrive; I¡¯m usually in the shop. We can add each other on WeChat." "Alright then." Wu Jun took out his mobile phone and said, "Actually, I don¡¯t need too many. Just keep aside any pure ck donkeys like these. A few each month should be enough." "You really know how to pick. De Zhou ck donkeys are indeed excellent. Truth be told, we may not even get one or two a month; they get mixed in with other sales," the owner, Zhang Xiang, was won over by Wu Jun and quietly revealed his bottom line. Of course, Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan were also aware of this. The De Zhou ck donkey is thergest domestic breed in China,rge and robust with delicious meat. However, because the De Zhou ck donkey¡¯s origin area is close to Dong¡¯e, most of them end up skinned, boiled into ejiao. Moreover, donkey meat takes a long time to breed, possibly longer than cattle, and with the rise of the ejiao trend in China, the domestic donkey poption has basically been wiped out. Recements havee in the form of donkeys from Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe... It¡¯s a blessing for a normal donkey meat shop owner to even find a young donkey¡ªbelow the De Zhou ck donkey, the younger ones taste better than therger ones. Moreover, under normal circumstances, dealing in famous donkey breeds would only result in losses for the merchants if the customers are not familiar with the donkey meat market. So when Zhang Xiang Ji¡¯s owner finally gets one or two, he¡¯d raise them in his old yard and only butcher them when longtime customerse by. Normally, he wouldn¡¯t let them pull the mill as he continuously feeds them premium feed, emphasizing that they are pampered and valuable. "Alright then, we¡¯ll be going. Just adjust that water tap when you have time, and try to use well water as much as possible. The Well Dragon King is also a dragon king, it wards off evil. Consider the Well Dragon King like our police outpost; the closer you are to it, the farther away the nefarious types will stay," Wu Jun exined in a way that was both essible and convincing. The owner, Zhang Xiang, waved as he sent Wu Jun out the door, reluctant to see him leave. ... After getting into the car, Jiang Yuan also received several reports on body number two and opened them up on his phone right away. Once he started reading, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t stop. The car had just started onto the main road when Jiang Yuan said, "I¡¯m going to make a call to the station." Having said that, Jiang Yuan dialed the number. The phone rang twice before connecting, and Jiang Yuan asked, "Tang Jia, ording to the report, did the family of victim number two report him missing four months ago? Do you know the specifics?" "The person who filed the report was He Yuxiang¡¯s wife, Huang Yu," Tang Jia said. "The reporter ims thest time she saw He Yuxiang was a week before filing the report, so that would be April 13th?" "That¡¯s correct," Tang Jia, who had also prepped the relevant information, said. "Huang Yu¡¯s parents work in Beijing, and both went back to Beijing to celebrate the New Year in January, staying at Huang Yu¡¯s parents¡¯ ce. Since He Yuxiang was in debt due to poor business at the start of the year, he didn¡¯t return to Changyang City. During that time, the couple toured around Beijing, and He Yuxiang took the opportunity to scout the markets around Beijing, going out early and returningte for several days, and he went missing on April 10th. Huang Yu reported it on April 13th." Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "So, thest time Huang Yu saw her husband was more than four months ago, but less than five months." "Yes." "Got it." Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, then looked at Wu Jun and Wang Lan who were already sitting up in the car, and said, "The timing doesn¡¯t match. I think we need to take a look in the autopsy room." "Then let¡¯s go. Besides, we can probably score a meal," Wang Lan knew Jiang Yuan was just consulting her for her opinion. Jiang Yuan then told the driver, "Change course, we¡¯re going to the funeral home." The driver was one of Jiang Yongxin¡¯s men, but he had never been to the funeral home. Seeing the sky already dark outside, the driver was close to tears, "Jiang, you¡¯re my bro, but sending me to the funeral home at this hour really gives me the creeps." Wu Jun was the first tough, "What are you afraid of? We¡¯re not going to dissect you, are we?" "Grandpa... please don¡¯t be like this, I have the elderly and the young to care for..." The driver started to slow down and gradually got into character: "My mom is 69 this year, she¡¯s never had a day of ease, and a monk once told her fortune, saying she¡¯d face a cmity at 69. We didn¡¯t take it seriously. I was foolish; I didn¡¯t realize this cmity would end up falling on me..." "Enough, get out of the car, I¡¯ll drive myself." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t let the driver go on, otherwise, he would really start to cry. The driver quickly stopped the car, handed over the keys, and darted out of the cab, shouting as he ran, "Jiang, drive safely. You can just give the car to Jiang Yongxin tomorrow; I¡¯m off..." Jiang Yuan shook his head with a smile, moved to the driver¡¯s seat, and leisurely began driving up the mountain. The mortuary was exceptionally tranquil at night. Now and then, scraps of yellow paper were whipped up off the ground, swirled into the air, curling into the shape of an ingot... Bang. The door to the autopsy room burst open with a sound that could scare a ghost. The three forensic doctors simply changed into white coats, donned masks and gloves, and got to work. The bones of corpse number twoy on the autopsy table, a chilling sight of white bones that showed no signs of decay. Although the process of skeletonization in a few months was unusually quick, such cases were quitemon and not the central issue. Jiang Yuan picked up the bones that could reveal the core of the issue and looked them over from start to finish, inspecting six pieces in one go, before saying, "I don¡¯t see four months here, considering the local environment and circumstances, the body¡¯s time of death is at least six months ago." Jiang Yuan was a Level 6 death time assessor, and even then, he was being conservative by not giving a specific time of death. However, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, a death time of around 180 days was most likely, and it would be a stretch to push the estimate down to 170 days based on the current preliminary assessment. The time of thest sighting imed by the person who reported it was over 140 days ago. There was a gap of more than 30 days in between, and unless there was a special situation, one side had made an error. Medical Examiner Wang Lan and Wu Jun also each examined the bones. Wu Jun looked in a rather casual manner and, after finishing, said to Jiang Yuan, "Go with what you think." Wang Lan examined each bone very carefully, flipping through several bones, and even took notes and made calctions in his notebook, taking even longer than Jiang Yuan, and still smiling wryly said, "My skills are limited, I can¡¯t make as urate a judgment, and I might need to consult entomology using the insects found in the graveter." For a general forensic doctor, determining the time of death from a few months earlier using forensic entomology knowledge is more urate and much simpler than using forensic anthropology as a basis for judgment. Especially for local forensics assessing local bodies, there are only so many corpse-frequenting insect species, such as Calliphora vicina,monly known as the green bottle fly. In summer, a corpse can attract it in around 10 minutes, and in as fast as an hour, the flyys eggs on the body, with maggots appearing within dozens of hours, and then the maggots grow 0.2 to 0.3 centimeters a day, maturing in four to five days. That is to say, within five days of a body¡¯s death, if you encounter maggots of Calliphora vicina, you can almost determine the approximate time of death, measured in days, just by measuring their length. A maggot of Calliphora vicina takes 6 days to mature, then burrows into the ground to pupate, and after 14 days, breaks out of the cocoon as a fly. Therefore, seeing the broken pupae can also help estimate the time. And a green bottle fly soaring in the sky will not leave a fresh decaying body. It grows in one or two weeks, then quicklyys eggs again, repeating the above process. So, if a body is exposed in the wild long enough, determining whether the nearby green bottle flies are of the grandchild or great-grandchild generation can also help calcte the time. Of course, all these timings are affected by environmental factors, like the maggots in summer grow twice as fast as those in spring or autumn. A normal forensic doctor, familiar with a few local insect species, can do basic forensic entomology assessments, but when ites to breadth and depth, the difficulty increases exponentially. It doesn¡¯t matter that Wang Lan recognizes only a few insect species and knows little about the various non-linear equations involved; she could easily consult with experts using the insects obtained from the scene. In the current context, Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment was sufficient. In fact, Jiang Yuan had already made an assessment using forensic anthropology, it was just that Wang Lan hoped Jiang Yuan would double-check. After all, everyone present understood that the body¡¯s time of death was closely tied to the case itself. The insect samples were stored in the cupboard in the autopsy room. Jiang Yuan went with the flow and took the insect samples for inspection. Soon after, Jiang Yuan provided a rtively precise time of death: between 183 and 190 days. "With this, He Yuxiang¡¯s wife, Huang Yu, bes a prime suspect in the case," Wang Lan voiced the crux of the matter. Having just reviewed Huang Yu¡¯s statement, the one who reported the incident, Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Based on our estimated time of death, the victim was underground and still supposedly posting on social media. Huang Yu¡¯s testimony clearly has problems... I¡¯ll call Director Huang..." Chapter 683 - 626: Famous Reputation

Chapter 683: Chapter 626: Famous Reputation

"Wee aboard Oriental Airlines flight from Beijing to Changyang City..." It was 11:30 PM. Listening to the sweet voice of the flight attendant, Liu Cheng let out a long sigh. As he fastened his seatbelt, he said, "We finally made it, any slower and we wouldn¡¯t have been able to fly today." "The timing is just too tight." His fellow team memberined, "Wouldn¡¯t it have been better to wait until tomorrow morning for a peaceful flight?" "You can sleep through the night, but I can¡¯t." Liu Cheng said, "The body found in Ningtai County has been skeletonized, and it¡¯s uncertain if we can find any leads at all. I don¡¯t want to make the trip just to bring back a cold case." The two team members beside him, Wei Cheng and Fan Wei, both looked at Liu Cheng. "Ningtai Jiang Yuan, with his raging fire. You¡¯ve heard of it, haven¡¯t you?" Liu Cheng asked. "Of course." "It¡¯s almost be a legend in the police worldtely. Honestly, looking at the internal bulletins, I feel like I¡¯m watching an old Hong Kong or Taiwanese movie." "Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies are all about fighting and killing, how can youpare with that?" "The legendary nature!" The two police officers beside nodded, somewhat excitedly at that. Both police officers, Wei Cheng and Fan Wei had worked hard to enter the Beijing force. They all dreamed of making a big impact and achieving something significant. Now, seeing someone else achieving it, their emotions were inevitably affected. Liu Cheng, a squadron captain at the district bureau, could easily guess what they were thinking. But he just smiled and said, "This body was dug up by those people over there. We¡¯ll just take the opportunity to ask them for a forensic examination, determining the time and ce... While the bones are still fresh, let¡¯s work hard and look pitiful. Maybe with Jiang Yuan¡¯s soft heart, he might just help us out. Isn¡¯t that the idea?" Wei Cheng and Fan Wei looked at each other and nodded reluctantly. "The captain is cunning after all." "Old Wei is right." Liu Cheng was used to his subordinates¡¯ teasing. He curled up, casting a discreet nce at the flight attendant, then said, "Alright, let¡¯s get some sleep. When we wake up around two or three, we¡¯ll rent a car to Ningtai County. It should be dawn by the time we get there, and we¡¯ll still be asking for help then." "So we¡¯re in for a long night," Wei Cheng said helplessly. "If you don¡¯t show initiative, act proactive, and appear somewhat pathetic, why would they help you? If we get an extra night¡¯s sleep now, the whole team might have to pay it back by working nights for a month." The candid words of the squadron captain left his subordinates with no argument. All Wei Cheng could do was sigh, "We have so many cases unfinished, and now we¡¯ve got a murder case with only bones left. Honestly, if this keeps up, I¡¯m afraid I won¡¯t outlive the inmates on death row with a suspended execution." By this time, the airne had already taken off, and the only sound in the cabin was the roaring noise of the engines. All three fell silent and gradually drifted off to sleep. The next day. At six in the morning, Liu Cheng and his team arrived in Ningtai County. The trio found a breakfast ce for a quick bite before hurrying to the Ningtai County Bureau. Upon arrival, the duty officers in the lobby hadn¡¯t yet received word and only after checking Liu Cheng¡¯s credentials did one say, "Let me report this, and you can sit and rest for a bit. The thing is, it¡¯s still before office hours, but the leaders should be leaving their homes soon. I¡¯ll make some calls, it won¡¯t make much difference..." Liu Cheng was there to ask for assistance and said with a smile, "It¡¯s fine, we¡¯re not in a rush. We can sit and wait." The wait turned into half an hour. Watching the county bureau¡¯s officers gradually arrive for work, the two younger officers began to grow restless. "Actually, our bureau¡¯s forensic expert is quite impressive too, holds various expert titles," Wei Cheng couldn¡¯t help saying. Liu Cheng, ufortable himself, but with a resigned expression, said, "Don¡¯t we have to wait our turn? You want an expert to look at it, we¡¯ve just taken on the case with nothing to show, why would an expert look at it? When can we expect that level of expertise for our case?" Liu Cheng fired off a string of questions, interrogating like a prosecutor. Fan Wei chuckled beside him, "When it gets to that, it means Captain Liu, you¡¯ve been hanging by a thread." "I¡¯m not afraid of hanging by a thread, I¡¯m afraid of continuing with the case after that, then hanging by a thread again, and still carrying on." Liu Cheng¡¯s tone carried a hint of despair along with a dose of life experience. The tone of Liu Cheng¡¯s voice dampened the mood, and all three fell into silence. Huang Qiangmin arrived in a hurry. Upon meeting Liu Cheng in the lobby, after a brief introduction and apologies, Huang Qiangmin said, "Sorry about this. I was nning to contact you this morning when I got to work, thinking you¡¯d be on today¡¯s flight. I didn¡¯t expect you leftst night..." After a pause, Huang Qiangmin asked, "Is there something particrly special about this case?" "Nothing special." Liu Cheng paused, and hesitated before asking, "You mentioned you were nning to contact us this morning, why is that?" Huang Qiangmin smiled and replied, "Oh, I was thinking you wouldn¡¯t need toe here..." For a moment, Liu Cheng¡¯s mind raced with many thoughts, and he blurted out, "You were thinking of..." "We thought you might want to re-interrogate the victim¡¯s wife, who is also the one who reported the crime, Huang Yu." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words caught the three officers from Beijing off guard, causing them to hold back the words they were about to say. This can no longer be considered a trivial matter, especially with interregionalmunication involved, Huang Qiangmin was clearly aiming at something specific. Liu Cheng looked at Huang Qiangmin with a skeptical expression, "Have you guys discovered something?" "Well, ourrade, forensic expert Jiang Yuan, has determined that the time of death of the victim should be said to be over 180 days ago, whereas the person who reported the case, Huang Yu, imed theyst saw the victim over four months ago. There¡¯s obviously a discrepancy." Liu Cheng and the other three onlookers were all shocked by what Huang Qiangmin had revealed. They were not only shocked by the significant progress in the case, but also at the realization of their hard work, staying upte nights, and living a life under the stars. Huang Qiangmin sighed, "I¡¯m truly sorry, mainly because Captain Jiang also discovered thisst night. He also worried that he might be wrong, he checked until after 10 p.m. at the funeral home before calling me. I felt it was toote, and also I didn¡¯t have your private numbers, so I thought we¡¯d talk about it when youe in to work this morning..." Liu Cheng could only sigh in return, "We came in too hastily." The deputy director said it clearly¡ªthey didn¡¯t even have your private numbers. They¡¯ve practically solved the case for you, what more do you want? What else could Liu Cheng do? He could only call the bureau right away and quickly send someone to take the victim¡¯s wife back for questioning. Meanwhile, Liu Cheng humbly said some good words and asked Huang Qiangmin for the autopsy report to look at. ording to the rules, their department ought to cooperate with the investigating department. But if people took these rules seriously, many tasks would be very strenuous. Jiang Yuan brought the autopsy report on his way. He was the one who wrote it, and when he came by early in the morning, he was just filling it out in the office. Wu Jun helped Jiang Yuan fill out most of the report. The main part, which he was toozy to ask about, was left for Jiang Yuan to write himself. He was busy dealing with fermenting donkey hides, fearing they would spoil if left too long. Office. Liu Cheng saw a tall, young technical officer bringing the report, also drinking tea, and casuallyplimented, "The officers from Ningtai are quite handsome..." "This is our Forensic Jiang Yuan," Huang Qiangmin said with a smile as he introduced him to Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng suddenly spit out his tea, staining the floor. "Captain Jiang, ah, right, I saw his picture before, but I¡¯ve never met him in person. I really didn¡¯t expect this," Liu Cheng got up to shake hands with Jiang Yuan, feelingpletely befuddled. He had seen plenty of experts at the bureau; usually, they were holed up in theb, or traveling around the country. He didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to actually deliver reports himself. Liu Cheng nced at Wei Cheng and Fan Wei, suddenly having a strong desire to use these two to trade for Jiang Yuan to take home. "Let me also give you a brief overview of what I understand about the case," Jiang Yuan sat next to Liu Cheng, nodded at the two young officers behind him, and said, "As I¡¯ve written in the report, the time of death is more than 180 days ago, roughly around 185 days. To be precise, the time of death should be between 183 and 190 days." Liu Cheng hurriedly took out a notebook to take notes; this kind of information, difficult to put on paper, might provide important clues during the investigation. "The most likely cause of death is poisoning, but we haven¡¯t identified the type of poison yet. Your equipment at the Beijing Police Department is good; you can run more tests," Jiang Yuan said,cking skills in chemical analysis and relying on the Ningtai County Bureau Physical and Chemical Laboratory; no conclusion was normal. Liu Cheng nodded repeatedly. One speaking, the other taking notes¡ªthey cooperated very well. In cases involving skeletons found in graves, the evidence recovered is of great value. Otherwise, even if the victim¡¯s home was searched monthster, it would be hard to say what could be found. And with things like surveince cameras, whether they could save footage for six months or find any clues was totally uncertain. Even if they did find something, like mobile phone signals, this evidence was mostly circumstantial, useful for corroborating minor cases, but not the main course in a murder case. The autopsy report was not only useful for investigation but would also be used in subsequent prosecutions and death penalty reviews. Without their own forensic expert, the following steps could easily be chaotic. Jiang Yuan had seen many homicide cases, most of which were done for other police departments. He had developed his own way of working, essentially exining to Liu Cheng all the potential pitfalls in each link of the process. He meticulously outlined the areas prone to mistakes. As Liu Cheng took notes, he felt a wave of emotion wash over him. Look at Jiang Yuan, who didn¡¯t need any cajoling to help. And then there was himself, full of worldly concerns from yesterday till now... During his reverie, a in-clothed middle-aged officer entered. Liu Cheng nced at the rank and quickly stood up to salute, showing a marked attitude of respect. "No need to stand on ceremony, sit down, sit down," the neer was Director Chai, and he didn¡¯t really have anything to do. Hearing that police from Beijing had arrived, he thought toe andwork. Huang Qiangmin politely greeted him, and Director Chai sat down to watch, then noticed how decorously Liu Cheng was acting towards Jiang Yuan, like a studious student holding a notebook, diligently taking notes. A vision of Pang Jidong sprung to Director Chai¡¯s mind, and then he felt an inexplicable pang of sorrow. Not many Ningtai people or those whoe to Ningtai are truly sensible! At the desk, Jiang Yuan continued talking about the case to Liu Cheng for a while longer before finally exining the autopsy report clearly. Liu Cheng kept thanking him, hurriedly making no hesitation to call his department; he had no time for small talk. By the time he was done with his phone call and returned, Director Chai was already getting ready to leave. Thinking of him as the boss, Liu Cheng shook his hand firmly and expressed his tremendous gratitude, "Director Chai, ording to the messages from our district bureau, the suspect Huang Yu has been arrested and is extremely panicked. Our technicians also found deleted drafts rted to her husband¡¯s social media circle on herputer. I didn¡¯t expect the skeleton case to progress so quickly. Our leadership said they are very grateful for the cooperation of the Ningtai County Bureau..." "It¡¯s good that the case is solved," Director Chai looked at Liu Cheng¡¯s excited demeanor and suddenly felt a bit bored. A Beijing officer, still acting this way in front of Jiang Yuan, then patted Liu Cheng¡¯s hand and said, "I have to go now." Chapter 684 - 627: Eliminate Unhealthy Practices

Chapter 684: Chapter 627: Eliminate Unhealthy Practices

Liu Cheng had a quite pleasant stay in Ningtai County. As the captain of the criminal police squad, Liu Cheng¡¯s daily work was busy and came with tremendous pressure, and this pressure and busyness weren¡¯t passive; there was a proactive element to them. After all, if current cases weren¡¯t solved and became cold cases, it was still his responsibility. If the performance assessment tasks weren¡¯tpleted, the whole team would be affected. Dozens of brothers followed him through thick and thin, and in the end, if they were inferior to others in every aspect, as a captain, he would lose face. But in Ningtai County, Liu Cheng was responsible formunication, and this work was particrly simple; it was just too easy. To say he should now go back and let someone else take over was certainly unnecessary. The travel expenses alone were not negligible. With a "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" attitude, a bit of work, and the asional supply of delicious food, Liu Cheng was almost too content to think of home. Speaking of home, one couldn¡¯t help but mention hot pot... The local beef from Ningtai, sliced so thinly, dropped into the hot pot, briefly poached for a few seconds, and it was scorching hot in the mouth, unstoppable. There was also tripe, omasum, duck blood, duck intestine, chicken, gizzards, goose intestines, goose feet, and a full set of pork belly slices,rge cuts of kidney slices, pork intestine, pig stomach, pig¡¯s trotters... Liu Cheng now understood the concept that every part of the animal is precious, more clearly than he did in Beijing. In Beijing, to specifically have food from a certain ranch woulde at what price? Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t be sure, but he¡¯d only heard of it, never tasted it. Moreover, there is one problem with the food in big cities: it is great for trying new things, as there is always a variety of vors to satisfy everyone, from the tastes of obscure small towns to a collection of world-famous delicacies. But those that can truly focus and delve deeply are very rare. In the end, most of these foods somehow be apromised product, which may satisfy temporarily but cannot provide long-term fulfillment. In contrast, a small town like Ningtai, where chefsbor day in and day out on this reasonably paid drudgery, are forced to improve their skills daily, unlike big city chefs and small shop owners who always have various opportunities, chances, and risks. And if these don¡¯t beat them, thendlord will. If Jiang Yuan were to inherit Liu Cheng¡¯s boon at this time, he would most likely feel nostalgic for Ningtai County. "From now on, Ningtai County is my second hometown." Having another bowl of white kidney bean stew with pig¡¯s trotters, Liu Cheng was so excited that his nose was about to run. As a detective with a heavy pte, Liu Cheng was originally reluctant to eat something like clear stewed pig¡¯s trotters. But at the Sichuan Aroma Small Store, the white kidney bean stew with pig¡¯s trotters was cooked until the trotters were so tender they could be snapped with chopsticks. After rolling them in the bright red dipping sauce, the taste was truly a revtion for Liu Cheng¡¯s taste buds. The soup was not bad either, although it couldn¡¯tpare with the pork stomach chicken soup he had a few days ago, it was still above standard. However, with such delicious pig¡¯s trotters avable, it was a waste of stomach space to drink the soup. Liu Cheng heartily ate, especially because he had nothing else to do today. The bones were packed up, ready to be taken back any time, the interrogation at the station also went smoothly, and Changyang City Bureau was helping with evidence collection... "Captain Liu, how about joining us for a bonfire tonight?" Wu Jun had also eaten two pig¡¯s trotters and was now sipping pig trotter soup with relish. Liu Cheng had nothing to do that evening and agreed without hesitation, then asked, "What¡¯s the asion for the bonfire?" "It¡¯s mainly for a sense of ceremony, nothing special really. There haven¡¯t been big cases in Jiang Yuantely, just a lot of petty ones, so we have to guard against the petty people making mischief," Wu Jun gestured with his mouth towards Jiang Yuan across from him. Jiang Yuan smiled obediently and continued gnawing on the pig¡¯s trotters. Speaking of which, this pig¡¯s trotter store was also brought up by the Jiang Vige People. This was a good tradition formed since ancient times in Jiang Vige, located at the foot of Siningshan. Even in the era when roads were unsafe, there were still visitors. And where there areings and goings, there¡¯s a need for food and lodging. Any cook from anywhere, as long as they made delicious food, could set up a shop at the foot of Siningshan and always attract business. The vige¡¯s ingredients could be sold to restaurants and small shops, earning some pocket money. At the same time, because of the high exposure to outsiders, the vigers themselves had a strong desire to consume. Nowadays, the food atmosphere around Jiangcun Residential Area was gradually emerging. Even for storefronts on the samemercial street, the rent near Jiang Vige was nearly as high as in Qinghe City, and they were hard toe by. The housingpensations received by Jiang Vige People from demolitions were renting out stronger day by day. In contrast, many houses and businesses in the south of Ningtai County had been vacant for many years. This model could not be learned elsewhere. Just like this pig¡¯s trotter store in front of us, even if thendlord was willing to reduce the rent, it couldn¡¯t continue to operate. It had to rely on daily, stable consumption to support the owner to be more and more skilled. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t understand why, but he assumed it to be a ritual of either Jiang Vige or Ningtai County. After having his fill of food and drink, he rested for a while and then, watching the time, headed to Jiangcun Residential Area. Inside the area, the vigers were lining up to jump over bonfires. There were three sizes of bonfiresrge, medium, and small. The children only jumped over the small ones, and everyone else jumped however they liked, with the main goal being to have fun. Liu Cheng and others just yed along casually, only noticing Wu Jun seriously jumping three circles with Jiang Yuan before standing in front of a small bonfire, muttering something. Liu Cheng looked up and was surprised to see that above the small bonfire, there were three pieces of cured meat hanging there. "What are those?" Liu Cheng approached and asked. "ck donkey hooves," Wu Jun replied truthfully. Liu Cheng, not understanding, asked, "What¡¯s the purpose of hanging ck donkey hooves?" "Recently, there¡¯s been some ominous and evil influences in Ningtai. Grilling these few ck donkey hooves can change the air for everyone," Wu Jun said, his speech calm and unhurried, as if recounting amon tale. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t know how to respond, so he simply assumed Wu Jun was making things up. The next day. As soon as Jiang Yuan arrived at the office, he saw Chai Tonging to his door with a cup in hand. "Jiang Yuan," Chai Tong called out with a smile, his tone very warm. "Director Chai," Jiang Yuan stood up. "No worries, no worries, I just wanted to chat with you for a bit," Chai Tong said. His voice gradually became more enticing, "I¡¯ve been watching your Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team for some time now, and it¡¯s been operating without any official status. What are you thinking?" "I haven¡¯t thought about that yet." Chai Tongughed and said, "I think we can set you up with a deputy director level position. That way, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team will be singled out as a separate unit, which you will be responsible for, and you may choose the cases yourself." Jiang Yuan just smiled and said nothing. The deputy director position was something Wu Jun had struggled for days to secure before his retirement, a rarity within the county bureau... The substantive deputy director position mentioned by Chai Tong was even tougher to achieve than the one Wu Jun wrangled for himself. But for Jiang Yuan, these were just supplementary benefits. Chai Tong knew this very well, and with a chuckle, he said, "I don¡¯t want anything for it; I¡¯m simply giving you this deputy director position. I hope you¡¯ll remember me after I¡¯m gone." He did this purely to annoy Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin had already been working on securing this position for Jiang Yuan. For the county bureau¡¯s police officers, the deputy director position was a threshold¡ªvacancies were rare, and many couldn¡¯t attain it until retirement, resulting in a significantly lower sry. Moreover, unlike at the provincial and municipal level, promoting someone to deputy director in the county required amittee meeting. Some squad leaders, office heads, or station and deputy station chiefs within the police bureau would sometimes take office before their promotion. However, Chai Tong¡¯s influence was greater than Huang Qiangmin¡¯s, and if he gave this deputy director level to Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin would struggle to find an appropriate counter-reward for some time. "I¡¯m not going to do any ceremony; I¡¯m just letting you know I¡¯ve already reported it upwards, and we should have a response shortly," Chai Tong said, looking like the good guy, smiling at Jiang Yuan, "This settles us up. And in the future, if we have a chance, we can talk more." Without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s response, Chai Tong turned gracefully and left. He had offended both Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, meddled with Wu Junhao and others, but he still considered himself a good leader. At least, that¡¯s what Chai Tong thought. Chapter 685 - 628: Murder in the Locked Room

Chapter 685: Chapter 628: Murder in the Locked Room

Liu Cheng hadn¡¯t expected that by simplying over to transfer a corpse, he¡¯d actually witness the changing of the guard at the Ningtai County Bureau. Fortunately, this series of personnel changes seemed to have been brewing for a long time. In just one day, the doorte of the county bureau¡¯s politicalmissar¡¯s office had been changed to that of the director, the familiar Deputy Director Huang Qiangmin had be the politicalmissar, and it seemed that the deputy section chief Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to switch roles. Having acted as a background prop for a day, Liu Cheng felt it didn¡¯t really affect him¡ªhe ate when he was supposed to eat, drank when he was supposed to drink, and had bought his ticket, waiting to go home. In the evening. In the midst of the eating and drinking, Huang Qiangmin plopped down next to Liu Cheng. "Oh, Director Huang, congrattions, congrattions," Liu Cheng put down his chopsticks and started with some auspicious words. "Thanks a lot. You¡¯ve witnessed our awkward moment. How are you getting on in Ningtai County..." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perfunctory conversation came effortlessly, and after a few words, he began chatting more intimately, "There must be a lot of cases in Beijing, right? Are you usually busy?" "Busy, how could it not be busy," as the job came up, Liu Cheng went into full rant mode: "Having a heavy workload is one thing, but the work is simply never-ending. You¡¯re an experienced detective, so let¡¯s be honest, some cases really just require time to grind through. If it¡¯s a serious or major case, then you find time to work on it. If not, you just have to squeeze in the time to do it, and if you really can¡¯t keep up..." "These past few years should be a bit easier, I guess." "Certainly, and there are fewer contact-rted cases now. The economy has improved, and criminal cases have decreased..." "But there are more economic crimes." "Haha, that¡¯s how it is. The economic crimes unit in our area is growing bigger day by day, and young people prefer working there¡ªwhite-cor crimes look a bit cleaner, after all. Unlike us detectives, who often deal with bloody sights..." Huang Qiangmin, a good listener, nodded from time to time, allowing Liu Cheng to vent his emotions greatly and speak morefortably. The two didn¡¯t discuss specific cases, just chatted about generalities, especially about working conditions, bonuses, and subsidies, almost feeling like white-cors. After drinking a beer, Huang Qiangmin opened another bottle and asked, "The budget at the Beijing Bureau must be pretty high, right? From what I¡¯ve gathered, it seems like you guys have an unlimited budget." "But we also have high expenses. Anyway, I don¡¯t have to worry about that," Liu Cheng paused for a moment beforeughing and adding, "To tell the truth, for our grassroots departments, the budget has actually been quitefortable these past few years. As long as we can crack the cases, the budget is usually not a problem. It¡¯s just this ¡¯as long as¡¯¡ªsometimes it costs us dearly." "Are there really difficult cases?" "The unsolved cases, well, there are various factors, some are really... hard to describe." Liu Cheng, as a detective, had a very strong sense of pride, especially when facing cases; he didn¡¯t like to say "impossible." But there were always cases that remained unsolved, a harsh reality of the job. Huang Qiangmin poured more drinks, remaining silent. Liu Cheng hesitated for a moment, then said, "There are just too many cases. Just homicide cases alone, there are over 200 each year. Our detachment gets quite a share, and if there are one or twoplex cases in the mix, it¡¯s a real headache." "Beijing really is Beijing, not like us. Our new homicide cases each year amount to just two or three, and three or four is already quite a lot." Huang Qiangminughed, "Like Jiang Yuantely, he¡¯s often dealing with minor cases." Liu Cheng was taken aback: "That¡¯s such a waste." "Exactly," said Huang Qiangmin. Putting himself in their shoes, Liu Cheng suggested, "You could dig into cold cases. We do that too now; we handle several cold cases every month." "We used to do that. Lately, I¡¯ve been nning to implement a ¡¯one case, one file, one responsible leader¡¯ model to strengthen file cleaning and evidence bottoming, particrly organizing archival units tob through information on homicide cold cases systematically, to maximally reinforce evidence, and collect physical evidence, especially unexamined evidence rted to the cases. This might take some time, but once we get results, we can call Jiang Yuan back to work on cases." Huang Qiangmin hadn¡¯t assumed office, but he had already clearly mapped out his first actions as the new official. Previously, as the head of the criminal police detachment, he could only manage his own business. Now, as the politicalmissar of the county bureau, he could mobilize the whole county¡¯s resources to work onpleting physical evidence and systematizing homicide cases. With such a foundation, he believed that the remaining cold cases in Ningtai County could be dealt with as best as possible. Of course, Huang Qiangmin had not adopted this approach for Ningtai County¡¯s cold cases alone. It simply wasn¡¯t cost-effective. He wanted to demonstrate its effectiveness to Qinghe City Bureau, Changyang City Bureau, and even to bureaus across the province and beyond. Having worked with Jiang Yuan on several cold cases, although most of the time sessfully, he had to admit that there were always some cases with too few leads, to the extent that even Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯tplete them alone and had to repeatedly call on Liu Jinghui and Xu Taining for coboration. Unspoken as it might be, this somewhat diminished Jiang Yuan¡¯s own influence. Therefore, in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s view, it was very necessary to re-examine cases everywhere. Indeed, the re-examination was necessary, and Liu Cheng had even been involved in it. He simply continued drinking beer, discussing it with Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was very pleased and drankte into the night with Liu Cheng, arranging their ns for the next day. This time, Huang Qiangmin wasn¡¯t nning on simply handing Jiang Yuan over to Liu Cheng. Firstly, because Liu Cheng¡¯s rank wasn¡¯t high enough to decide many matters. Secondly, the conditions in Beijing were too favorable, and there were too many experts. For minor cases, experts were not needed, but for significant cases¡ªnot even very big ones, just those with some impact¡ªthe Beijing Bureau had plenty of personnel to choose from. Huang Qiangmin believed Jiang Yuan was very strong, but was he up to the level of a nationally renowned expert? He wasn¡¯t too sure. So, seizing the opportunity of this asion, Huang Qiangmin took Liu Cheng on tours while also seeking advice and learning advanced experience from him. The news of Director Chai¡¯s departure spread quickly. By the afternoon, two other counties¡¯ criminal police detachment chiefs had already called to inquire about Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s recent situation. Since Chai Tong had left, no one cared for him anymore. Yet, Huang Qiangmin still staunchly rejected them. It wasn¡¯t until a call from Yu Wenshu of Changyang City that Huang Qiangmin engaged in a genuine conversation. In Ningtai and its surroundings, Changyang City is clearly the biggest buyer, as can be seen from the entire delegation of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. In this era of insufficient police force, only the criminal police teams of provincial capitals have the capacity to spare more personnel. Of course, what¡¯s shornes from the sheep, and Changyang City can borrow more staff from the cities below, a case of getting something for nothing. Huang Qiangmin still found it very appealing. A night of lengthy discussion. Early the next day. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were all assembled, and after many days, they were eager to set off for Changyang City. Liu Cheng and his two team members were also in tow. The white Audi A6 with a license te starting with ¡¯A¡¯ led the convoy, which almost filled the parking lot of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. The variety of license tes amused the police passing by who didn¡¯t know the true situation, while those in the know felt a chill down their spines. "Are we handling these cases one by one?" Yu Wenshu was also excited. Those used tofort and luxury, when returning to a challenging environment, find it ufortable no matter what. Huang Qiangmin nodded solemnly and then added, "Let¡¯s find an ongoing case, and aim for a good start. Any recent cases?" "There is one..." Yu Wenshu hesitated for a moment, "The case is a bitplicated, I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s suitable for a good start." "Let¡¯s have Jiang Yuan take a look first. If it¡¯s suitable, we¡¯ll take it on; if not, we¡¯ll discuss further." "Right away." Yu Wenshu immediately arranged for someone to take care of it. Seeing familiar facesing and taking Jiang Yuan and the others to the conference room, Huang Qiangminfortably exhaled. This way of doing business was interesting; unlike going to other provinces where one had to prove themselves first. What¡¯s the point of proving? Now, people should be asking for their help eagerly. Business that¡¯s too eager is not business. While thinking this, Huang Qiangmin out of the corner of his eye nced at Liu Cheng, hoping this veteran detective would apply his investigative intuition and get with the program. ... Jiang Yuan had traveled from Ningtai, resting with his eyes closed all the way, not wanting to think or care about anything. Handling a case in Changyang City was all too familiar to them. Strangely, Jiang Yuan felt a bit of anticipation. Without any prejudice, criminals in bigger cities tended to be more intellectual in their crimes. Incidents like the one that urred in Ningtai County before, where someone was killed over a three-yuan meal, would not happen in Beijing, Shanghai, or even Changyang City. Why? Because there are no three-yuan meals in Changyang City! Zhou, the captain of the second division of the criminal police detachment, came over with the case files, his deeply troubled face lit up with a liberated smile. "Captain Jiang, you¡¯ve arrived. This time, we really have an interesting case," Zhou said, like a matchmaker, both his face and his scheming heart clearly audible throughout the building. Jiang Yuan smiled politely and said, "Let¡¯s have a look." Zhou uttered an ¡¯eh¡¯ and continued, "We¡¯ve had this case for four days now. The victim is a female, who in the morning, got into a Mercedes-Benz C parked on a public parking spot outside the residential area and then there was no further movement. When the car was found, the engine was still running. The victim, Yue Ling, was already dead. The forensic doctor determined death was due to carbon monoxide poisoning." Mu Zhiyang, who came along, chimed in appropriately, "Wasn¡¯t it due to exhaust gas poisoning?" "Right, carbon monoxide poisoning inside the car first leads one to think of exhaust gas as the cause. But, after inspecting the vehicle, we found that the doors, windows, and trunk were securely closed with no signs of forced entry, the car had no illegal modifications, and the starting environment wasn¡¯t enclosed, so exhaust gas poisoning is out of the question." Zhou paused and then said, "It¡¯s for this reason that the case went from an unexined death to a homicide." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded, pulled out the forensic report, and began to read the crucial parts aloud, also to brief his team members: "Examination of the body on the scene reveals pale red hypostasis, finger nail beds light red, slightly bright. Involuntary release of urine and feces. No apparent injuries on the body." "Autopsy the next day shows, the pectoralis major muscle has a peach-red coloration; the surface of both lungs has notable hemorrhagic spots; the heart blood appears cherry red and unclotted. Other organs showed no abnormalities." "Nomon poisons such as methamidophos, dichlorvos, omethoate, parathion, rat poison, barbiturates, etc., were detected in the heart blood." "Detected carboxyhemoglobin levels at 70%." ... After reviewing the forensic report, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod, "It really was carbon monoxide poisoning." The beautiful pink hue to a corpse is usually indicative of carbon monoxide poisoning. This simple form of judgment likely originates from Japan, due to their traditional practice of charcoal burning suicide. Ordinary people and reporters, after seeing enough victims of such suicides,e to this conclusion. But for forensic doctors, they might encounter simtions of carbon monoxide poisoning. Testing for carboxyhemoglobin levels, checking the lungs for hemorrhagic spots, conducting toxicology tests, and so on, all serve to eliminate the possibility of simtion. After all, if there was no exhaust leak, the most likely scenario would be death by poisoning. However, it was not the case. Jiang Yuan then looked at Zhou: "Have you not identified the source of the carbon monoxide?" "Exactly, it¡¯s like a locked-room murder," Zhou sighed, his troubled eyes unwittingly ncing up at Jiang Yuan. Chapter 686 - 629: Evidence Collection Stage (Requesting Monthly Pass)

Chapter 686: Chapter 629: Evidence Collection Stage (Requesting Monthly Pass)

"Since it¡¯s a current case, let¡¯s start with this one," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too picky. Theoretically, the difficulty level of current cases is already quite low. As for whether this case is difficult or not, you only have the right to speak after a thorough investigation. Since a thorough investigation has to be done anyway, it might as well be solved¡ªthis was Jiang Yuan¡¯s straightforward thought. He didn¡¯t want to waste too much energy on anything beyond the case, as long as there were no pitfalls in this one. Huang Qiangmin apanied him on this trip, and Chai Tong had been transferred away, so Jiang Yuan felt there should be no issues in this regard. Wang Chuanxing and others stepped forward, distributed the case files, and spread them out on the long conference table for everyone to take and read. Jiang Yuan also sat down, reached for the forensic report again, took the photographs, and read them one by one. The level of forensics for this case was quite good; suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning, a heart blood sample was taken immediately. Based on the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the heart blood, it¡¯s not only possible to confirm that the victim died of carbon monoxide poisoning but also to deduce that the onset of the condition was not chronic poisoning but acute¡ªhad it been 50% concentration of carboxyhemoglobin, it might have indicated the former. This also coincided with the scene. The victim hadn¡¯t even opened the car door, nor had any self-rescue measures been taken. This indicates that the deceased must have lost consciousness or the ability to control their limbs within a short period. This, from another perspective, suggests that the victim had not been physically restrained. At the same time, the victim¡¯s expression was natural, their clothing intact, and the autopsy had not revealed any mechanical injuries¡ªagain proving that the victim was not under physical control when they died. So the question arises: why would the victim, who wasn¡¯t physically restrained, be poisoned to death by high concentrations of carbon monoxide in a closed vehicle? As a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan¡¯s first thought was to use drugs to control. The forensics team at the beginning had indeed performed some toxicological tests, but they only checked formon drugs. Beyond those, there are plenty of others that can cause unconsciousness. Jiang Yuan wrote down the word "drugs" in his notebook. Secondly, could it be the work of someone familiar? However, the victim died from acute poisoning. If the perpetrator was in the same room with the victim, they would surely meet the same fate unless they were wearing a gas mask or something simr. Furthermore... Despite this, Jiang Yuan still wrote down "insider job." The reason for doing so was that it urred to him that many people wear masks daily. Wearing a mask wouldn¡¯t be out of the ordinary. If the killer wore a mask with activated carbon or another special, adsorptive type, it might have been possible to evade detection for a short time. Finally, could someone have killed the person outside and then moved the body into the car? Jiang Yuan flipped to photos of the car¡¯s interior after the victim was removed. Excrement was strewn all over the driver¡¯s seat. Without discussing elegance, the filth was left there before the victim¡¯s death. In other words, herst moments must have urred in that driver¡¯s seat. Even if the killer could move the body, they couldn¡¯t have relocated the waste. As for moving the body at thest minute, the conclusion brought by the concentration of carboxyhemoglobin in the earlier blood still stands: the victim died of acute poisoning, leaving no time for the killer to exploit any loopholes. In summary... Jiang Yuan put down his pen and paper and said, "Next, I n to inspect that car. For the others, I think we should start by investigating two directions. One is the drugs aspect, which I want to examine more thoroughly. Could you, Zhou Da, please contact theb about this?" "No problem," Zhou had been a detective for a long time and quickly grasped what Jiang Yuan was thinking. Although he wasn¡¯t entirely sold on this idea¡ªafter all, if one had ess to unconventional drugs, they could simply poison the victim directly without the need for carbon monoxide, which would be redundant. So, even though Zhou had considered this approach, he hadn¡¯t bothered theb with it. However, now that more than 72 hours had passed, the golden period¡ªor rather the bronze period¡ªwas well over, and it was only natural for Jiang Yuan to expand the scope of the investigation. "The victim¡¯s social circle should have been investigated, right? No results yet?" Jiang Yuan asked Zhou at this time. Zhou shook his head and said, "No results so far. The victim¡¯s marital rtionship was stable, they have a child in junior high school. The family is financiallyfortable, with several hundred thousand in savings, a three-bedroom apartment in Beijing, and two cars. Both sets of parents are still alive, they¡¯re living... much better than me, at the very least." "Anything else?" "The victim was a state-owned enterprise employee; she had an average rtionship with her coworkers at the unit¡ªnot particrly good or bad¡ªas just an ordinary office staff member without any acute conflicts with those around her. As for rtives and friends, we¡¯ve been verifying their statements one by one; they generally expressed shock. She also lent money to two rtives, one fifty thousand and the other thirty thousand. Then there are ssmates and some clients; those might need more detailed investigation." Jiang Yuan first expressed approval, saying, "Being able to find out this much in three days is pretty impressive." Zhou chuckled and then took the initiative, "So shall we continue to follow the web of rtionships?" "Sure. You¡¯ve been working hard." Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, even when sent out on investigation, is best apanied by local police, as they would struggle to get things done without knowledge of the area. Direct tasking, such as explicit arrests, wouldn¡¯t be too greatly affected. "The parking spot had no surveince; what about the surroundings? Have you reached any conclusions?" "None. We specifically checked several key rted people, including the victim¡¯s husband, son, and the debtors, and none were captured in the surveince footage on the day. I also asked the owners of some of the cars in the vicinity, but there was nothing useful there." "Alright then. Let¡¯s leave it at that for now." For Jiang Yuan, the case was essentially just beginning; no matter how many hypotheses there were, they all had to be investigated before anything could proceed. After arranging and instructing on a few more things, Jiang Yuan directly said to Wang Chuanxing, "Chuanxing, you take charge of allocating the remaining personnelter. I¡¯m going to take a look at the car." "Yes." Wang Chuanxing was very pleased toply since he was, in fact, from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Although he wasn¡¯t returning as a ¡¯king,¡¯ his spirits were quite high. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Mu Zhiyang, then went to the forensic science center to examine the car. Wan Baoming at the forensic science center could now be considered an old acquaintance; knowing that Jiang Yuan wasing, he had someone clean the bathroom¡ªhaving a way of cleaning up after corpses ensured the cleanliness of the bathroom! Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to be polite. Dressed properly, he went to inspect the car. Vehicle examination room. Upon entering, one could smell a strong odor. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look towards the two technicians in charge here. He saw them wearing deeply meaningful smiles. "The body has been moved, but the piss and shit haven¡¯t." Wan Baoming conveyed the current most tangible impact with the simplest of words. Even as a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but frown. "It¡¯ll be better once it¡¯s dry," one technician kindly counseled. "I don¡¯t want toe here a second time," Jiang Yuan sighed deeply and went forward to open the car door. A pungent stench of feces assaulted his face; it smelled foul and was... toxic. "Fingerprints and DNA have already been collected... get me a whiteboard." Jiang Yuan was mentally prepared and toughed it out. One technician ran quickly and brought over a whiteboard, cing it in front of Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan hung a series of extracted fingerprint photos on the whiteboard, then, turning on the investigation light, leaned into the Mercedes-Benz C ss to check fingerprints, DNA, and other information. Pure trace examination during the investigation stage can only cover different areas and isn¡¯t about teamwork. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene investigation skills had now reached level LV5; not using them would be a waste. As for the oue, even Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know. In any case, rtive to previous cold cases, this one felt more promising to Jiang Yuan. The pressure with current cases wouldn¡¯t be small, but that was for the higher-ups. Jiang Yuan himself just needed to solve the case. Jiang Yuan was even more looking forward to using various liquids, solids, and other traces to do a simple crime scene reconstruction. If he could deduce what happened at the crime scene, maybe he could understand the source of the carbon monoxide that killed the victim. Chapter 687 - 630 Repetitive Process

Chapter 687: Chapter 630 Repetitive Process

Upon resampling the objects in the driver¡¯s cabin and collecting fingerprints and other traces, Jiang Yuan stood up, moved a bit away from the vehicle, removed his gloves, and while putting on new ones, observed the interior environment of the cockpit. He activated his skills directly, "Crime Scene Investigation Temp +1", and "Scene Reconstruction Temp +1", thus effectively having a temporary, iplete Level 6 scene reconstruction in ce. At this time, looking at the interior of the driver¡¯s cabin again, Jiang Yuan had even more thoughts arise. From the changes in therge number of fresh fingerprints, one could envision the victim feeling around with her hands; from the bodily excretions below her waist, one could infer the involuntary contortions of her body. In thest moments of her life, the victim wasn¡¯t dying calmly as many people might think. Struggle and reluctance still apanied her. In this world, a truly peaceful death is rare and hard toe by. The victim¡¯s body ultimately leaned to the left side, indicating she had the desire to get out of the car. At the same time, Jiang Yuan also noticed that there were very few scratch marks on the seat belt buckle. The normal method of fastening a seat belt should be by pressing down¡ªnot with scratch marks from an entire hand... At this point, Jiang Yuan looked more purposefully at the area near the seat belt and felt that there were too many traces left behind. Arge number of fingerprints was normal, but the considerable residue of skin kes and what appeared to be remnants of some sort of greasy cosmetic was not. Jiang Yuan bent down again into the driver¡¯s seat for a closer examination of the seat belt buckle and took a sample, then said, "Take the buckle of the seat belt offter and put it in an evidence bag." "Alright," the tracer present immediately agreed. Everyone had been watching Jiang Yuan work and could roughly grasp his thought process, but there¡¯s a difference between realizing something by following someone else and doing so on one¡¯s own initiative. Moreover, the crowd hadn¡¯t realized the BUG-level effectiveness of Jiang Yuan¡¯s scene reconstruction skill and didn¡¯t know what role it was currently ying. "The victim fastened her seat belt after getting into the car, and then she started to experience difficulty breathing," Jiang Yuan said slowly after emerging from the car for the second time. Wan Baoming, the head of the forensics center, was fundamentally a technician and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "What does this imply?" "It indicates that the carbon monoxide was localized. It filled the car immediately after the victim got in, fastened her seat belt, and started the engine," Jiang Yuan paused and continued, "So, it wasn¡¯t that the carbon monoxide was already in the car when the victim got in." If it had been thetter scenario, the victim likely wouldn¡¯t have had the time to fasten her seat belt before feeling the difficulty breathing. Wan Baoming, not very familiar with the case, just nodded slightly. After inspecting all traces inside the car, Jiang Yuan thoroughly checked the exterior, the trunk, and even the undercarriage of the vehicle; by the time everything was done, an entire afternoon had passed. Director Wan, may I ask for the technician who did the car inspection earlier toe over?" Jiang Yuan, soaked in sweat, felt droplets trickle from his head. It was only at that moment that he dared to remove his hat and let the sweat flow. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s "woeful state," Wan Baoming pretended to be sympathetic and said, "Captain Jiang is working too hard. Sigh, it really ought to be shown to the media. You already have such a big reputation, yet you still have to work to this extent." "If someone else were to do the crime scene investigation, then I wouldn¡¯t be of any use, would I?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel that he was suffering too much; if he were afraid of hardships, he could have hired someone to literally feed him mouthful by mouthful. Rather than being like some vige youths who just sweat it out in the gym every day with nothing else to do, he would rather sweat at crime scenes. While the vige youths gain strong muscles, he could bring down a vige¡¯s worth of criminals, making everyone happy. Wan Baomingughed heartily and then took out his overheated phone, which he had been using to watch short videos, and said with a smile, "I¡¯ll call Xiao Liu over, why don¡¯t you sit down and rest for a while?" "No need, I¡¯ve got several things stuck to the protective suit." Jiang Yuan was referring to things like motor oil. After making the call, Wan Baoming stretched out his phone and said, "You know, while I was sitting and waiting for you, I couldn¡¯t help but write a few poems. Now that there¡¯s time, would you care to appreciate one or two?" Jiang Yuan looked at Wan Baoming¡¯s earnest face, then lowered his head and said, "Forget it, I¡¯d better change out of the protective suit, so I can be more presentable when they arrive." Having said that, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the bathroom. After taking a shower and changing, he returned to find that two technicians responsible for vehicle appraisal had already arrived. Being a technician himself, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t beat around the bush. After a brief greeting and exchanging pleasantries, he asked, "I saw from your earlier appraisal that you found no containers with carbon monoxide or any suspicious items that could generate it in and around the car, and the scene didn¡¯t have the right conditions to produce carbon monoxide, right?" "Yes. The vehicle was parked on an open road, and the exhaust generated by the engine would normally be released to the outside immediately. Further investigation confirmed that the vehicle had no defects, no illegal modifications, hence ruling out the possibility of exhaust fumes entering the cabin during emission and causing harm to the people inside." The ¡¯Xiao Liu¡¯ referred to by Wan Baoming was actually a thirty-seven or thirty-eight-year-old Xiao Liu, who spoke with a carefree tone that suggested indifference to the workce hierarchy and ack of fear for optimization. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "If that¡¯s indeed the case, then this is truly a locked-room murder." He had already conducted a thorough investigation, from the cause of the victim¡¯s death to the environment the victim was in. If all of that was true, then it was certainly a locked-room murder. Xiao Liu subconsciously let out a sneer, then realized that neither Jiang Yuan nor Wan Baoming were smiling, so he quickly reined in his grin. The forensic investigators who have dealt with many cases simply do not believe in locked-room murders. Some cases are indeed very hard to crack, even to the point where they might be dered unsolvable. But usually, that doesn¡¯t mean they are perfectly designed; it¡¯s more often ack of investigative methods or outright issues during the investigation phase, just not convenient to disclose to the public, that¡¯s all. Xiao Liu suddenly realized that what he could think of, Jiang Yuan obviously would not overlook. The Jiang Yuan asking him questions today wasn¡¯t just any mediocre leader, but Ningtai Jiangyuan! Wan Baoming¡¯s mouth curled into a slight smile as he said, "Xiao Liu, you need to read the atmosphere." "Reading the atmosphere" is a very Japanese expression, roughly equivalent to "be perceptive." In Wan Baoming¡¯s view, Xiao Liu clearly had failed to grasp Jiang Yuan¡¯s meaning. Xiao Liu calmed down and began to think slowly. "You¡¯re actually asking what led to the case appearing like a locked-room murder, aren¡¯t you?" Xiao Liu ventured. Jiang Yuan said, "The evidence I see now all supports a locked-room murder, and there is nothing wrong with the forensic report you did, but if I were the person in charge of the scene investigation, I don¡¯t know if I would reach the same conclusion..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s meaning was somewhat aggressive, and he was overly tired today, hot and bothered, which made him somewhat irritable. As a forensic scientist, if, after all the investigation, the conclusion is a locked-room murder, that really is quite far-fetched. Jiang Yuan believed that the forensic technician standing before him did not wish to be just a backdrop to a locked-room murder case either. Xiao Liu once again fell into deep thought. He knew in his heart that Jiang Yuan was still questioning his work, but after their recent conversation, he himself couldn¡¯t help but be troubled by doubt. Either a true locked-room murder had urred, or he had been negligent somewhere¡ªessentially, that was Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusion. Another technician, or any other expert, would likely not dare to make such a conclusion. How do you know you haven¡¯t made a mistake? How do you know there wasn¡¯t a problem at some step in the process? If one were to entertain conspiracy theories, it could be that there were issues at the scene, possible problems in theb, or even with the person conducting the analysis. While Jiang Yuan¡¯s initial judgment agreed with Xiao Liu¡¯s, it didn¡¯t mean that Jiang Yuan concurred with Xiao Liu. It was through scene reconstruction and various other means of investigation that he had eliminated all other possibilities. Therefore, Jiang Yuan dared to express the following implication: Either you made a mistake, or we really are facing a locked-room murder. This time, Xiao Liu thought for a long time. Another technician who hade along was already bing impatient when Xiao Liu finally spoke again, "If there was any problem, it must have urred before we arrived on the scene." "Let¡¯s hear it," said Jiang Yuan. "The driver who discovered the victim¡¯s body first called 120. We were dispatched by the 110 emergency number," Xiao Liu said, his brows tightly knit. "By the time we arrived, medical personnel had already helped to seal off the scene. They also noticed the victim¡¯s skin was red, so they took measures to preserve the scene immediately. But we don¡¯t know exactly what they did." The other technician interjected, "We did take statements from the medical staff." "We can review that step again," Jiang Yuan said, not aiming for detective grandeur or clever ways to solve cases. He was prepared to follow the timeline, to redo every step of the process, and then see if the result would reveal itself. Chapter 688 - 631 Proactively Offering Help

Chapter 688: Chapter 631 Proactively Offering Help

"We stopped the ambnce right here." Two paramedics from the ambnce stood at the crime scene, beginning to point things out. The two individuals, one a part-time driver, the other strictly a paramedic for the rearpartment, both had certifications and were temporary workers. Summoned by the police for questioning numerous times, they felt a bit annoyed as well as uneasy. Jiang Yuan, along with several others, looked around the parking space for a while before asking, "Did you check the surroundings? How far out did you go?" "We¡¯ve swept the area within a hundred meters that has a view of this parking spot. There¡¯s no obvious sign of someone keeping watch." Xiao Liu understood what Jiang Yuan meant and immediately responded, eager to demonstrate his professionalism. If someone had been waiting nearby for the victim, Yue Ling, to get in the car, they would likely have left some traces behind. Common signs included an abundance of cigarette butts, scuff marks from leather shoes, and sometimes a lot of snack wrappers, mineral water bottles, and even bottles of liquor. In short, if a person spent the whole night awake, waiting here for the victim to drive to work, even if they only stood watch for one or two hours, they would need some kind of diversion. Human beings, after all, cannot truly sit still and stare at a scene without movement. The only people who can are the truly idle and dull-minded. Therefore, when criminal investigators encounter cases with clear signs of someone lying in wait, they often search the surroundings. There¡¯s no need to doubt the extent of some human¡¯s boredom ¨C from the top down: twirling hair, picking at dandruff, rubbing eyebrows, cleaning teeth, spitting, smoking, dusting off neck hair, picking at fingers, scratching walls with fingers, scratching the groin, scratching feet... In short, when a person is idle, they really might do anything. Xiao Liu and the team were seasoned detectives, and they had brought along several people to conduct the search. Even in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, their standard of work was passable. Jiang Yuan temporarily moved on from this topic and continued to question the two paramedics, "When you arrived, was the person who called still there? Did he open the car door?" "He was there, but he didn¡¯t open the door," a paramedic recalled the scene. Zhou, the chief of the second squadron, added while apanying Jiang Yuan, "The caller was a neighbor from the samemunity as the victim. His car was parked behind and he called when he passed by and saw the victim¡¯s condition. He didn¡¯t open the door because he thought the victim was probably already gone. Also, he might have been afraid of getting involved in trouble. Nowadays, people are afraid to even help the elderly, let alone in a situation like the victim¡¯s, who must have been in a ghastly state." "Have you ruled out the caller as a suspect?" "The caller and the victim did not know each other and had no financial dealings, um... we¡¯ll check again." Zhou didn¡¯t have any definite clues or targets, but upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s implication, he added the caller to the list of possible suspects. Mu Zhiyang watched him write down the name and sighed, "Otherwise why wouldn¡¯t the guy open the car door? If he had opened it, he would probably have been put directly on the suspect list." Zhou quirked his mouth: "We can¡¯t rule out without investigating. But I¡¯ve talked to the one who reported the crime, and he doesn¡¯t seem like it." An old detective¡¯s experience can often be more urate than any instrument. Zhou exined his thoughts very clearly. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Well, let¡¯s continue forward. So, the car door wasn¡¯t opened until after the paramedics arrived. Did anyone notice any particr smells?" "The stench of urine and feces," the driver of the ambnce replied candidly. "And then what did you do?" "We stated all of this when we made our statements," they said. "It¡¯s a bother, but please go over it again. With such a major case, verifying procedures are necessary," Jiang Yuan said with feigned sincerity. Out of respect for the murder case, the driver said, "We pried the door open, called out a few times, then checked the pulse and found that the person was already dead. Then we called the police, and dispatch instructed us to preserve the crime scene and not to let anyone touch the body. We did just that." Seeing that Jiang Yuan and the others were listening intently, and with so many police officers present, the driver opened up, "We¡¯ve encountered murder cases before and knew what to do." "Then tell us, what did you do at the time?" Zhou, now grasping Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thought, simply took over the questioning. "We just closed the car door back up, turned off the engine, as directed by the 110 emergency center. And then, when onlookers came over, we tried to keep them at bay, that¡¯s about it," the driver exined. "During that time, did anyone touch the car?" "No one touched it after we called the police," answered the driver. The police officers present all turned to look at the driver. "No one touched it after you called the police; what about before? After you arrived on the scene, there were already people gathering around, right?" Zhou pressed. The driver hesitated, then nodded, saying, "At that time we didn¡¯t know the person was dead. We parked right beside and when we opened the door and called out, that¡¯s when people came over to help. They were just being kind-hearted." "Is itmon for people to volunteer to help like this?" The driver paused, then shook his head, "Not somon anymore, but it happened a lot when I first started working..." "How many people volunteered to help?" Zhou asked. "About three or four people, they thought it was a heart problem and wanted to move the person out; I thought it was a good idea too..." "Did three or four peoplee up together to volunteer, or did somee before others?" "Obviously, some came up first... Someone said it might be a heart attack and called for others to help move the body. I felt their carotid artery and said to forget it, the person was already cold." Zhou exhaled and looked at Jiang Yuan with a slightly embarrassed expression. Even though he was the one who asked, it was clear that the previous police officer had been negligent during the testimony recording. Of course, saying this now was a bit like locking the stable after the horse had bolted. When the criminal police came to take testimonies, they had so many to do at once; there has to be a sense of priority. You can¡¯t possibly question everyone who happens to pass by, even if they¡¯re just walking their dog, about everything including their ancestors. However, no matter how you look at it, it¡¯s now proven that the recordings of the two emergency responders had ws¡ªkey pieces of evidence were missing. If it were just an internal matter, it wouldn¡¯t be much of an issue as new leads in the investigation could fill the gaps, and besides those in the team, hardly anyone else would know. Jiang Yuan pretended not to notice Zhou¡¯s expression and first asked the responder, "Do you know the name of the person who came up to help first?" "I don¡¯t know that." The driver said with augh, "Nowadays, those who volunteer to help really can be suspicious, eh?" By the side, Wan Baoming, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, sighed deeply, "We are just the maintainers of order in an era." This kind of talk usually seemed somewhat pretentious, but to those who had just dealt with a case of homicide and death, it sounded just right. The slightly upset driver and responder both calmed down. "He¡¯s a man in his thirties or forties, a bit on the heavy side, nothing distinctive, round face, small eyes?" The responder gave a brief description. Zhou calmly asked, "Did you take any photos or videos of the scene? Did you capture this person in any of them?" "Well... Let me check." The responder took out his phone, flipping through the photo album while exining, "I took a few photos once I got to the scene, just in case the doctor needed to see the situation when trying to save the person." He offered the exnation, and the police listened. Soon, the responder found a video with a few people who had helped with the rescue in it. "I was worried something mighte up, so I took a video at the time," the responder added. Zhou nodded with slight annoyance. If they had discovered this clue on the day of the incident, they wouldn¡¯t have needed to involve Jiang Yuan. A police officer took over, screenshotting the person¡¯s photo for facial recognition through the police database, instantly getting a result, and he read aloud: "Tang Weili. Male, 34 years old, owns a hotpot restaurant... I can¡¯t see any connection with the victim." Zhou took the phone, looked at it for a while, frowned, and then said, "Call the victim¡¯s husband over and ask him." The group was currently outside the residentialmunity where the victim lived, so Zhou led Jiang Yuan and a few detectives to the door. The victim¡¯s husband was at home, depressed. Seeing the group, he was even more surprised. "Do you recognize this person?" Zhou showed the photo on the phone to the victim¡¯s husband and said, "Tang Weili, does this name sound familiar to you?" The victim¡¯s husband was taken aback, looked at the photo again, and said dejectedly, "Did he kill Yue Ling?" "It¡¯s not yet clear. Do you know him?" Zhou pressed. "I¡¯ve heard the name." The victim¡¯s husband sighed and said, "He¡¯s Yue Ling¡¯s ex-boyfriend, from over ten years ago." Chapter 689 - 632 Carbon Monoxide

Chapter 689: Chapter 632 Carbon Monoxide

Team Leader Zhou didn¡¯t waste a moment, heading out to bring Tang Weili back to the police station. If there were no direct suspects in contact, the police might consider surveince. However, Tang Weili was the victim¡¯s ex-boyfriend, which was a highly specific connection, immediately raising the degree of suspicion to 8 million. The fact that he hadn¡¯t been outright convicted was a testament to a society governed byw. On the other hand, although the case wasn¡¯t a locked-room murder, it was certain that the murderer had meticulously nned the killing. The method of murder was fundamentally different from victims being stabbed or hit on the back of the head with a blunt object. While stabbings or clubbings could be exined as crimes of passion, of course, a court might not ept this; but during a police investigation, as long as you act within the limits of thew, there¡¯s no need to think like thew. As a natural person, one can imagine that even if you meet someone with a knife in your pocket, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean you intend to kill them. But if you¡¯re carrying a bottle of carbon monoxide, the murderous intent is unmistakably increased. You can¡¯t get your hands on that stuff without a bit of effort. And since the murderer had nned to this extent, for the police to resort to mere surveince would only provide the murderer with opportunities to erase evidence. Team Leader Zhou even prepared for the possibility that Tang Weili wouldn¡¯t confess. After capturing him, he immediately took him to Tang Weili¡¯s home with the crime scene team for a search. At the same time, they mobilized personnel to sweep through the garbage bins of the neighborhood where Tang Weili¡¯s home was located. All containers that seemed capable of holding carbon monoxide were searched. Unfortunately, they found nothing. But this time, including Team Leader Zhou and the others, everyone wasn¡¯t in a hurry. Facing a city of several millions, finding a murderer is truly difficult. It¡¯s somewhat of an exaggeration to say it¡¯s like finding a needle in a haystack, but it¡¯s akin to the difficulty of catching wild yellow croaker in the vast ocean. But if there¡¯s already a prime suspect, the situation is much different. Especially for a prime suspect in a major homicide case, the treatment they receive is virtually equal to a target of the United States Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. First, the detectives went through Tang Weili¡¯s phone, then checked his bank ount and the flow of funds. The third team traced his steps. Person, money, and belongings¡ªall were clearly allocated for investigation. People close to Tang Weili were also questioned and investigated one by one... It might not be a tight dra, but the kind of the police use is something many ordinary people might have never seen; things like checkpoints, recognition systems, barriers, and the like, were not avable a few years back, yet now they¡¯ve appeared out of the blue. Even the police need to learn and train for them¡ªoutsiders don¡¯t know so much. As for not using any electronic devices... As it turned out, Tang Weili did just that. He rode a bicycle from his own neighborhood directly to the neighborhood where the victim lived. It¡¯s still the theory of the wild yellow croaker¡ªwith the vast sea making it hard to find, but now they focused solely on tracing Tang Weili¡¯s steps, and there was even facial recognition ess control at the entrance of his neighborhood. There really weren¡¯t many people who left their homes at 5 o¡¯clock in the morning. Along the way, cameras were not always present, but whenever he went through checkpoints, his full face was captured. As to why he left home at 5 in the morning, Tang Weili couldn¡¯t provide a clear exnation, yet he was far from giving up resistance. Standing before a one-way mirror like in the TV dramas, Jiang Yuan and the others looked at Tang Weili¡¯s round face and round eyes, feeling the resilience akin to the bounciness of a Q-ball. "Didn¡¯t expect this little fat guy to have such a strong psyche," Mu Zhiyang remarked. "His own story is full of holes, yet he stubbornly ims he¡¯s innocent. He¡¯s quite stubborn indeed." "He¡¯s a businessman; he¡¯s ustomed to being confronted and he can¡¯t do much about it," Wang Chuanxing said, holding a pad full of documents. Mu Zhiyangmented, "Why bother with this when you¡¯re living a good life, running such a big hot pot restaurant? I can¡¯t figure out what the murder motive is. If I had such a big hot pot restaurant, I¡¯d get up at 5 o¡¯clock every morning to cook hot pot." "The hot pot restaurant¡¯s business isn¡¯t good; it¡¯s losing money," Wang Chuanxing said while looking at thetest news. He flipped through the pages and added, "The turnover isn¡¯t high, and with over thirty staff members, they spend more than one hundred thousand per month on sries alone. Moreover, the lease is soon due. His financial situation seems pretty bad. Could this be a motive?" Crime motives boil down to three types: greed, lust, and aggression. Financial situations are naturally one of the focal points of concern. In the crowded little room, steaming with seven or eight people, everyone was slightly agitated and began discussing: "Unless the victim, Yue Ling, sold her house, she couldn¡¯t fill her ex-boyfriend¡¯s bottomless pit. Moreover, how would Tang Weili benefit from killing her?" "Did the hot pot restaurant open before or after the two broke up? Could there be any financial disputes?" "The secret recipe of the hot pot restaurant?" "The hot pot restaurant is about to go out of business; the secret recipe isn¡¯t worth a dime." "Could the two have been secretly in contact? The man¡¯s hot pot restaurant is doing worse, and previous promises failed?" Everyone spected, each theory sounding somewhat reasonable, yet none supported by sufficient evidence. Those with lessposure were already pulling at their hair. If there was an equal point of contention between the police and the criminals, the psychological battle would surely rank first. When the suspects were in self-doubt and agony, the police were actually going through the same. And from the perspective of a person in charge, observing the discussion among everyone also proved a ssic truth: What¡¯s the use of reasoning? "How¡¯s the search for the source of carbon monoxide going?" Jiang Yuan interrupted the discussions. "No news yet," Wang Chuanxing checked and answered. He had been thinking too, and from his own mode of thinking, finding evidence was the first thing he considered. The most important evidence in this case was carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide could be produced by oneself, with car exhaust or ipletebustion both being possible sources of production, so as far as scarcity was concerned, carbon monoxide was worth little. It was even present in the air itself. But the victim¡¯s death was acute. As is well known, deaths caused by carbon monoxide typicallye in three types: lightning-fast, acute, and chronic, thetter often requiring half an hour of death time. A typical example, such as suicide by charcoal burning, is very slow, belonging to the slow production of carbon monoxide, slowly killing a person. To achieve an acute death by carbon monoxide, the concentration has to be high enough¡ªproducing such a high concentration of carbon monoxide on one¡¯s own is very difficult. This must have been considered by the murderer; if it weren¡¯t for high concentrations of carbon monoxide, the victim would realize something was wrong and simply open the door to leave. If Tang Weili were the murderer, how did he obtain high-concentration carbon monoxide? There were only two options: offline and online. Offline, one could visit rted shops, while online would mean checking sales records. Online had apparently already been checked, while offline was being investigated by Team Leader Zhou. Thinking back to the times he went to collect rent from the shops at home, where the poorly managed shopkeepers hustled and bustled, scrambling to find money to make payments, Jiang Yuan turned to Wang Chuanxing and said, "Tang Weili is a businessman; he might have more than one ount under his control. Ask the staff at the hotpot restaurant, especially those in charge of finances, to find out about Tang Weili¡¯s other ounts and see if there¡¯s any record of purchasing carbon monoxide." "We¡¯ve already checked the ounts under Tang Weili¡¯s name... You mean the ount might not be in his own name? We¡¯ve also checked a few ounts of other people from the shop," Wang Chuanxing said while looking through the records. Jiang Yuan said, "Expand the search further, try our luck." "Yes," Wang Chuanxing agreed and began making calls to arrange for personnel. Since Jiang Yuan had mentioned it was a matter of luck, they needed to expand their search broadly. The case was essentially already solved, so it was time to take some liberties. Evening. Jiang Yuan and his group went to eat mutton noodles in Changyang City. Mutton soup is the essence of freshness. Whether mixed with noodles or mixed with rice noodles, as long as it doesn¡¯t overpower the taste, it is delightful, and in the end, as long as the cook skims it frequently and the secret recipe isn¡¯t too odd, the quality of the mutton will shine through. Sitting in the mutton noodle shop, Yu Wenshu, who had found an excuse to return homete, cheerfully said, "Using the lingo of today, this shop is a ¡¯hidden gem¡¯ I¡¯ve discovered. Sometimes when I go home at night, I stop by to eat a bowl of noodles before heading back." Huang Qiangmin clicked his tongue appreciatively, "If it¡¯s that delicious, I must try it." "Mhm, you can pair it with some pancakes. Those with a smaller appetite can just eat the meat and drink the soup. Like someone who feels like they¡¯re catching a cold, theye here, slurp down a bowl of soup, blow their nose a bunch, and the cold can get better by half," Yu Wenshu praised without reserve. In fact, Yu Wenshu enjoyed anything as long as he didn¡¯t go home. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t expose him, cooperatively sampled a pancake, and praised it a couple of times. When it was time to leave, Yu Wenshu still seemed reluctant to part with the ce... Just then, a phone call came through to Yu Wenshu¡¯s cell phone. Yu Wenshu, just about to head home, nced at the caller ID and immediately picked up. He didn¡¯t say much before a sincere smile appeared on his face. After hanging up, Yu Wenshu turned back and said, "We¡¯ve found the source of the carbon monoxide. An online purchase record of carbon monoxide was found under the ount of a veteran employee from the hotpot restaurant. The employee confessed that the ount was registered with Tang Weili¡¯s help, and Tang Weili usually had control over it!" With that, Jiang Yuan and the others cheered up as well. Yu Wenshu waved his hand, "I¡¯ve got to go back and check this out. You guys rest first, especially Jiang Yuan¡ªmake sure to get plenty of sleep. Alright, I¡¯m heading back to the station to see the details. You cane tomorrow to hear the results..." Watching the excited Yu Wenshu return, Huang Qiangmin mused, "That¡¯s our branch chief for you." Liu Wenkai said thoughtfully, "Marriage makes a person grow... " Chapter 690 - 633: The Next One

Chapter 690: Chapter 633: The Next One

Jiang Yuan really did go back and take a long sleep. In Changyang City, there were more unsolved murder cases; it wasn¡¯t necessary for everyone to be worn out here, waiting for a case that wasn¡¯t a "locked-room murder" to conclude. The small apartment in Changyang City hadn¡¯t been lived in for a while. Today, he had asked a familiar housekeeper to clean it up; all the bedding had been freshly changed, emitting a scent as if basking in the sun had killed all the mites, fragrant like sleeping in a barbecue nest. In the early morning, Jiang Yuan got up and made himself a bowl of salty soy milk. Salty soy milk is a bowl of soy milk with extra ingredients. Although there are many different recipes, the basic principle of salty soy milk is to add some savory items into the soy milk and soak fried dough sticks in it. For instance, seaweed, dried shrimp, pickled mustard nt, and other such ingredients are ced in the bowl, then seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments before pouring in steaming hot soy milk, into which diced fried dough sticks are then added to soak and be eaten. Compared to traditional soy milk, salty soy milk doesn¡¯t require a high standard of soy milk; the addition of salty and savory ingredients gives it a unique taste. Jiang Yuan filled his stomach before heading out, walking to the Criminal Police Detachment, where he indeed encountered a bunch of overworked dogs who had been busy the entire night. In the office, a small mountain of messy takeout bags and food containers indicated that the progress of the investigation was quite good yesterday; otherwise, the quality of the takeout ordered by the leadership would have been a lot lower. "Captain Jiang," Team Leader Zhou greeted, rubbing his eyes. "Morning. How¡¯s the case?" "Almost there. Tang Weili has basically confessed. He used someone else¡¯s ID to register a Taobao ount and bought two bottles of carbon monoxide to an address nearby, and then intercepted the delivery by phone," Team Leader Zhou paused, then said, "It¡¯s outrageous that these things can be bought so easily online." "Knives can also be bought online," Jiang Yuan mildly countered the old detective¡¯s notion. Team Leader Zhouughed it off and turned back, saying, "Tang Weili was waiting at the entrance of the residential area early in the morning. s, we anticipated many scenarios and monitored near the parking spots, but we didn¡¯t expect him to be one step ahead. A whole stretch of the road outside the residential area has no surveince." Jiang Yuan caught on: "His preparation for the crime was quite thorough." "Or it might have been a fluke. People park their cars there because there are no cameras," Team Leader Zhou, not willing to credit the killer, said before continuing, "In any case, Tang Weili waited for the victim to leave her house and then produced an encounter. One walked, the other pushed a bicycle towards Yue Ling¡¯s car. After Yue Ling got into her car, Tang Weili imed he had a gift for her. He opened the trunk and, from a red cloth bag, unscrewed a small steel bottle of carbon monoxide and dropped it into the trunk..." Jiang Yuan suddenly realized that a high concentration of carbon monoxide could cause an almost instantaneous death, but even just ced in a trunk, it was enough to cause acute death. Since carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, Yue Ling might not have even known how she really died. "Did Tang Weili take the steel bottle away while pretending to help with the rescue?" "Yes, he was the second toe forward, saying he¡¯d check the trunk for a nket to cover the victim. The person who called the police was busy on the phone by the driver¡¯s seat and didn¡¯t notice." Jiang Yuan recalled all the evidence he had seen at the crime scene, after a bit of deduction, he asked, "How did Tang Weili deal with the fingerprint issue?" "Cycling gloves," Team Leader Zhou said bluntly. Jiang Yuan sighed, "What about the motive for the crime?" "This is where it getsplicated..." Team Leader Zhou gathered his thoughts and said, "Yue Ling had secretly lent Tang Weili a sum of money, about 300,000 yuan, which also had something to do with Tang Weili. It was her personal savings. At the time, Tang Weili was starting his business and doing quite well. But when the hotpot restaurant¡¯s business suddenly plummeted, Yue Ling asked for the money back..." Team Leader Zhou nced at Jiang Yuan, then continued, "Yue Ling did not want her husband to know she was in touch with her ex-boyfriend, so she didn¡¯t use phones or WeChat; she just went to the hotpot restaurant to find Tang Weili. The two hadn¡¯t been in touch for the past two years, but Yue Ling¡¯s demand for the money was a big blow to Tang Weili. He didn¡¯t want to admit he couldn¡¯te up with the money, so..." Jiang Yuan remained silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Have you found the steel bottle?" "We have. On his way back riding the bike, he threw it under a pedestrian overpass, and someone picked it up to sell as scrap." "He really did n it out," Jiang Yuan had to admit that the guy had some tricks up his sleeve. Nheless, there is no such thing as a perfect crime; mere nning can¡¯t uphold an entire operation. Pursuing acquittal in a murder case and special operations by the military are actually quite simr, specifically, you have to... right? "This way, Tang Weili won¡¯t really need to repay the debt," Jiang Yuan changed the subject, saying, "It also solves an imminent problem for him." Exactly, for this kind of murder that involved long-term premeditation and nning, with deep subjective malice, the chances of being sentenced to death with a two-year suspension are very low. Even if Tang Weili eagerlypensates and the victim¡¯s family issues a letter of forgiveness, it¡¯s unlikely to make a difference. When you¡¯re going to die, continuing the business clearly bes unimportant. Perhaps Tang Weili has this mindset as well, the idea of reneging on debts if things don¡¯t work out. "Let¡¯s go. Next case." Jiang Yuan no longer wished to see what Tang Weili looked like. Physical appearances are dime a dozen, it¡¯s what¡¯s inside that¡¯s truly evil. Men like Tang Weili, slightly overweight with round face, round eyes, and a round belly, could be said to be the standard crowd found in a hotpot restaurant. But his method of killing was truly one in a million. A city like Changyang City, with a poption of several millions, also took years to foster such an anomaly. "Who would have thought that borrowing money could involve risking your life." Once outside, Wang Chuanxing felt a sense of unease. "I had a rtive who recently asked to borrow money from me. I was still hesitating whether to lend it or not." Tang Jia hugged her notebook, starting to self-reflect. If you could say that the elimination of a murderer has any social value, it would be to remind everyone, even if only the more significant part of our nature. When ites to borrowing money, everyone has plenty toin about, hence the vigorous discussion. Arriving at the meeting room, everyone was still chatting merrily. The suspect was caught, the evidence chain was established, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad didn¡¯t need to work on cases at the moment,fortably rxed, it was indeed a time for happiness. Even Jiang Yuan opened Dianping, picking out a restaurant for dinner, and asked Mu Zhiyang to call for reservations. Soon, Yu Wenshu arrived at the meeting room with another head of the Criminal Police. "Here¡¯s another case for you," Yu Wenshu was forthright, his tone carrying the authority of a client as he said, "Huang has already looked over the case. It¡¯s a missing person case, but you know." Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding, guessing that the police¡¯s initial assessment had already determined it to be a murder case, just not upgraded yet. "The case is being handled by Qian, let Qian exin it to you," Yu Wenshu introduced. Qian Tongyi was a team leader in his forties, wearing sses and looking somewhat schrly. Qian Tongyi nodded to Jiang Yuan and others, saying, "The victim of the missing person case, Shang Geyong, is a young entrepreneur from Changyang City, who had started a business overseas and had returned to work on anciry products for the photovoltaic industry, attracting the attention of provincial and city leaders." He paused, then continued, "As of today, Shang Geyong has been missing for a month. Thest sighting of him was on the evening of the 7thst month, dining with his girlfriend. After dinner, he said he was going back to his office to work on the project, but he never appeared at the office. His business partner thought he was apanying his girlfriend, so the police were not alerted until the 9th." Qian Tongyi swiftly briefed them on the case details, then sighed, adding, "This case was quite urgent at the beginning. ording to our investigation, after dinner, Shang Geyong went to a poker game with friends. They yed Texas Hold¡¯em, and he turned off his mobile phone before entering the game, which hasn¡¯t been turned on since." "That evening, Shang Geyong lost more than 30,000 yuan, which he paid in cash from his car. The remaining cash was likely over 20,000 yuan, but it¡¯s nowhere to be found." "And the car is missing too." Chapter 691 - 634 Brain-Eating

Chapter 691: Chapter 634 Brain-Eating

Jiang Yuan took over the case and went to have hotpot with the members of the Cold Case Squad, as well as the newly joined Qian Tongyi and others, including Liu Cheng from Beijing. The Emperor wouldn¡¯t let his soldiers go hungry, and for the members of the Cold Case Squad who had just been busy with a murder case, it was necessary to take a break and clear their minds. As for Qian Tongyi and Liu Cheng, they were simply along for the ride. Especially Liu Cheng, who had followed Jiang Yuan from Ningtai County and witnessed the entire process of how Jiang Yuan solved the "locked room murder case." It wasn¡¯t stunning, but rather, devoid of any pretense. From the perspective of a professional investigator like Liu Cheng, Jiang Yuan¡¯smand in this case left little to be admired. His techniques could be described as effortlessly bearing a heavy weight, or more frankly, like wielding arge g of technique and bringing it down hard. It was an efficient, if visually unimpressive, way to solve a deviously constructed pseudo-locked room murder case that the criminal had attempted to conceal with clever thinking. But this was not the stage for selecting China¡¯s best detective. Liu Cheng, as a criminal police officer, especially amand officer, was constantly in awe of Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods. What could be more dazzling than sophisticated tactics, flexible application, and broad maneuvering? Of course, it was the terrifying dominance of overwhelming force. Liu Cheng dared to say that with Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical capabilities and methods of application, most cases could be solved! Seeing the case and cracking it right away, who would believe that? Which detective wouldn¡¯t be baffled by Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach? Therefore, even though things were quite busy at home, after Liu Cheng ryed what he had seen and heard to his superiors, he still obtained a three-day grace period to observe and understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s new actions. In these times, which police department didn¡¯t have cold cases they wished to solve? There was no need to invoke cold cases; if any team could improve their case-solving efficiency and let everyone fully enjoy their legal holidays, that would be a great boon for the police station. Liu Cheng, through the steam of the hotpot, observed Jiang Yuan, pondering how to say a few persuasive words. At that time, Qian Tongyi had naturally started discussing the case. The group wasn¡¯t too familiar with each other, and the case was the focal point of their interest. After Qian Tongyi waited for the waiter to serve all the dishes and let him leave, he stood up to close the door, then poured beer for Jiang Yuan and said with a smile, "The pressure on us for this particr case was actually quite significant." Qian Tongyi took a sip of his drink and said, "Shang Geyong was called back by his ssmates to start a business, and the capital was mainly invested by those ssmates and loans from Shannan Province Bank. Such a project that started with tens of millions of yuan, Shang Geyong himself suddenly disappeared, and to be honest, although it¡¯s annoying to receive calls about it, I still think it¡¯s reasonable." The person sitting across couldn¡¯t help butugh. "Shang Geyong was very good at interpersonal rtionships; he was the kind of person with special personal charm. You know what I mean, right? You wouldn¡¯t feel jealous even when looking at someone as impressive as him. During the interrogations, several people shared this view with me. Moreover, he had some ssmates who are also in our businessmunity, really concerned about him, tried all sorts of ways to help, and even provided us with various investigative conveniences... Ah, he was a popr person, such a shame," said Qian Tongyi, both making conversation and providing some background information on the case. Things like the victim¡¯s personality, sometimes useless, can indeed lead to disaster because of that very nature. In the course of investigating a case, the direction of the investigation is often not singr; it¡¯s fair to say that for most of the cases detectives encounter, there are at least four or more ways to approach the investigation. Thus, it¡¯s quite meaningful to gather as much information as possible in the early stages of a case. Commissioner Ma, who came with Qian Tongyi, had some meat, put down his chopsticks, and said, "I had a talk with Shang Geyong¡¯s family. His father is a professor at Shannan University. An ordinary university professor, he has three children, and Shang Geyong is the youngest... Mmm, the old man was very distressed, but he is well-educated. Shang Geyong¡¯s mother is the same." Commissioner Ma, reminiscing, said, "Above Shang Geyong, there¡¯s a brother and a sister. His brother works in a central enterprise, currently in the Yangtze River Delta, and his sister is married in this city, with a well-off family, and her husband also works in a monopoly state-owned enterprise... We have already ruled out Shang Geyong¡¯s family as suspects, one reason being the timeline, and another, the family atmosphere is quite harmonious, with no economic disputes or long-standing grievances..." "The disappearance of the vehicle is also a factor. Shang Geyong¡¯s office was in the factory area of Xinjian District. After leaving the urban area, his car no longer appeared in the surveince area. We have initiated a search, yet didn¡¯t find his car. From this perspective, the murderer should be familiar with the illegal vehicle market; otherwise, given the current environment, it is hardly possible for an ordinary person topletely hide a car." Jiang Yuan polished off half a te of tripe in one go, then took a swig of beer, blissfully eximing "ah," and cooperatively added, "In a month¡¯s time, what should be found probably would have been found." "So our initial direction was to look for the car. But as you know, we are too close to Pingzhou, and Shang Geyong¡¯s car was a Honda CR-V, which, if it took a back road out, would be impossible to trace once it reached Pingzhou," Qian Tongyi quietly sipped his beer and heaved a sigh, "At first, we thought maybe one of his gambling friends had done something and finding the car would lead us to the person..." "No surveince caught anything?" "Mmm, it feels like they had a seasoned route to run off directly," said Qian Tongyi. "Xinjian District is to the east, Pingzhou to the north; there are only a few routes to take, but it¡¯s hard to say. If he headed straight out from Xinjian District and left the Changyang City boundaries, we would have no idea. The surveince in the counties below is just so-so, and if he covered his license te..." Qian Tongyi spread his hands. From his tone, Jiang Yuan could detect a strong bias pointing towards a habitual offender. But to be fair, from what he had heard so far, Jiang Yuan also leaned towards the idea of a habitual offender. An ordinary person would likely have no idea where to dispose of stolen goods. Even though Pingzhou, due to its grasnds and mountainous areas, has many people willing to buy unlicensed vehicles, even so, ordinary people wouldn¡¯t know any buyers from Pingzhou. Besides, the Pingzhou police force isn¡¯t ipetent, with manyrge-scale car trafficking gangs getting busted every year. To say they haven¡¯t cultivated informants within those car traffickers would be unbelievable. And for these informants, their mode of survival often involves selling out the novices. When ites to suspected criminals involved in a case of homicide like this, an informant would have enough from selling just one to celebrate the new year without any repercussions; otherwise, even the crime syndicates would have to value connections. Jiang Yuan set down his chopsticks and furrowed his brow slightly, focusing his mind as he looked at the spicy hot pot and pondered, "Put the pig brain in the pot. Let¡¯s have some pig brain before thinking about the case more." Chapter 692 - 635: Enhancing Wisdom

Chapter 692: Chapter 635: Enhancing Wisdom

Pig brain is very tender. After trying it, it falls clearly above 8.5 points in food rating, with 9 points reserved for the likes of Liu Yifei, which is considered a legendary benchmark. In fact, the brains of most animals are delicious, a typical example being sheep brain, which should also be at least an 8-point standard. The principle is the same with rabbit heads; while the meat on the brain is certainly good, it¡¯s still not quite right without the brain itself. However, the main issue with animal brains is that they are too small. Pig brains are rtivelyrge, but at most, they¡¯re the size of a rebellious teenage girl¡¯s fist. If only they could be a bit bigger... From this perspective, one might specte¡ªmerely specte¡ªthat monkey brains would taste quite good... However, after consuming pig brains, a group of detectives didn¡¯t see any noticeable improvement in their IQ. Jiang Yuan agonized over the conundrum and found it rather challenging. Firstly, for him as a forensic doctor, there was no point in mentioning bodies, as there wasn¡¯t even a crime scene. Forget about the first or second scene; they didn¡¯t even know where the incident had urred. Beyond the absence of a body or crime scene, the time of the crime was unclear, and even the car driven by the victim couldn¡¯t be located... As Jiang Yuan ate hotpot and contemted the case, Liu Cheng beside him felt he could guess Jiang Yuan¡¯s state of mind. Though he was Ningtai Jiangyuan, at this moment, Ningtai Jiangyuan¡¯s brain was probably mush. He was in exactly the same state as Liu Cheng himself. In truth, as an inconspicuous police officer, Liu Cheng frequently encountered simr situations with cases. For detectives, it¡¯s not like there are always perfect strategies or so much advance nning to be had. If they really thought it through... thinking things through isn¡¯t so easy, especially when there¡¯s not a shred of evidence. But if they couldn¡¯t figure it out, did that mean they could just give up on the case? Of course not. Thus, the detectives¡¯ usual strategy in facing a case could be summed up with one phrase: Just do it! Liu Cheng observed Jiang Yuan, trying to further guess his thoughts. At that point, Jiang Yuan also spoke up, "Keeping the focus on the car as a direction for investigation, I think that¡¯s correct." The others, engrossed in their meal, couldn¡¯t help but look up at Jiang Yuan. "You always need some sort of transportation. Even without a vehicle, disposing of a car is a challenging process. It¡¯s easier to find a car than a person." Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "If we pull all the surveince footage, theoretically, there¡¯s still a chance to spot the target." Qian Tongyi¡¯s squadron probably had twenty to thirty people. With that number of people, it would still be impossible to review all the roadside surveince. So... if Jiang Yuan could organize a few hundred people to check the footage, then there might be a chance to locate the vehicle. Jiang Yuan had cooperated with Xu Taining a few times before, and as the saying goes, even if you haven¡¯t seen a pig run, you¡¯ve eaten its brain. Liu Cheng and the others were somewhat stunned by his suggestion; the cost seemed too high. Besides, even if they found the vehicle¡¯s trace, there was no guarantee of finding the car, and even if they found the car, there was no guarantee of uncoveringany clues. So much manpower invested upfront... Normally, they wouldn¡¯t handle cases this way. "It¡¯s been a month already. If the car went to Pingzhou, the evidence is probably already contaminated. If it¡¯s been dismantled or dumped in ake, finding it would be useless." Qian Tongyi expressed mild opposition, because if this task was set in motion, it was he who would truly have to undertake it. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Indeed, even if they managed to find surveince footage from a month ago, it might be in some small corner, serving only to confirm the direction the vehicle took. The clearer images from checkpoints had already been checked. Reviewing them again would be pointless. Jiang Yuan blew on his food and ate half a pig brain, reviewing his own arsenal, and wondered if it was time to call on Xu Taining again. Liu Cheng thought it was too difficult and pitied the waste of Jiang Yuan¡¯sbat power. He cleared his throat and said, "If this were happening at our station, an expert like Captain Jiang wouldn¡¯t need to waste time on such a case." Qian Tongyi, in the midst of eating meat, was unhappy with the remark. He grunted, put down the pig brain, turned his head, and asked, "How is this a waste? What kind of case is this?" "This kind of case might be one where the victim has gone home on his own. He could be sneakily ying poker somewhere for all we know." Liu Cheng paused, then continued, "When utilizing an expert, you should use their core expertise. You¡¯re making Captain Jiang do everything, which is a waste of both his time and your own capabilities, isn¡¯t it?" His words left Qian Tongyi somewhat speechless. Jiang Yuan, however, looked at Liu Cheng with newfound respect and then chuckled, "I also get impatient staying in theb all day. It¡¯s nice to go out and crack cases. How about this, tomorrow morning, we¡¯ll visit the victim¡¯spany and home to have a look. If he ran off on his own, there should be some clues." This thought widened Jiang Yuan¡¯s own perspective. For him, as long as there was a scene, there was always something to be gleaned. Like an old house lived in for over a decade, it may seem devoid of old traces, but if someone in the house was a victim of domestic violence to the point that blood sttered on the walls, and the paint was applied thinly, there was a chance to spot it. The traces of life over a decade could reveal many details. If an experienced psychologist or a family and marriage expert were to investigate, they could write an entire book. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t counting on uncovering any key evidence directly, but the victim might have left clues hinting at key personal rtionships at home, such as the presence of a current girlfriend, an ex-girlfriend, or a casual partner, or possibly unique sexual preferences. As for thepany, productivity, work patterns, and the state of the employees could all potentially provide information. Jiang Yuan¡¯s spirits lifted after he figured out his n. He waved to summon a server and said, "Bring us the same amount of pig brains." After putting his hand down, Jiang Yuan exined with a smile, "I feel like my intelligence has been nourished." Thus, the group responded with good-natured smiles, not wanting to be impolite. Mu Zhiyang nced at Qian Tongyi from the corner of his eye, thinking: You have no idea about the financial crisis you just narrowly avoided! ... The next day. Jiang Yuan got up, went downstairs and entered a Cantonese-style dim sum restaurant. He ordered everything on the menu before leisurely sipping his tea and methodically eating it all. The restaurant, located beneath the small house Jiang Yuan had purchased, was a ce he asionally visited while living in Changyang City. Due to his tall stature, which stood out from the crowd, the owner recognized him and often greeted him. It was quite a pleasant ce to visit. Qian Tongyi and the others drove straight to the restaurant to pick up Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan packed some food for the group before getting in the car. After a short nap, they arrived at the home of the victim, Shang Geyong. "This is the ce Shang Geyong rented for ten thousand a month, which is considered one of the bestplexes in Xinjian District. The apartment is also quite spacious, measuring around 170 to 180 square meters," Qian Tongyi exined as they walked. "Shang Geyong also bought an apartment here with a simryout but slightly smaller. It¡¯s currently being renovated. His factory is about twenty minutes¡¯ drive away. The roads in Xinjian District are good and clear, though somewhat deste..." After wandering around Shang Geyong¡¯s apartment for quite some time, Jiang Yuan asked, "Is his newly renovated apartment nearby? Does Shang Geyong visit it often?" "He does. Shang Geyong designed the renovation himself. But you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell right now; we¡¯ve also had a look. They¡¯ve just finished the plumbing and electrical work, haven¡¯t even started tiling yet." "Let¡¯s also take a look," Jiang Yuan said. The crime scene was sadlycking; it felt as though there was one fewer ce to inspect. The group went downstairs and moved to another building not far away. The newly renovated apartment had arge advertisement from Xin Xin Construction and Decoration Company stered on the door. After opening the security door, they were greeted by a rough cement floor and a chill wind that swiftly enveloped the space. With a spacious living room in a cross-hallyout and an open kitchen, the room felt very expansive. The partitions for the other rooms had already been put up, ultimately forming a three-bedroom, two-living-room floor n... Jiang Yuan followed Qian Tongyi inside, his brow furrowing slightly. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s reaction, Qian Tongyi chuckled, "The smell of a newly renovated ce is quite strong; they¡¯ve left all those construction materials inside... Go open some windows." "Wait a moment." Jiang Yuan stopped everyone and then sniffed the air, "There¡¯s a faint smell of decaying flesh." Qian Tongyi was taken aback but then took a deep breath. "Ugh... there really is." Qian Tongyi was genuinely surprised, "We didn¡¯t notice this smellst time we were here." "It might have been too soon," Jiang Yuan replied calmly. Mu Zhiyang pulled out his baton, put on shoe covers, and started inspecting the interior. "It¡¯s empty." "All the rooms are empty." After a thorough search by the police officers, their attention turned to the newly built east wall in one of the rooms. This was supposed to be the TV wall. In the middle of renovation, the apartment was essentially empty except for some construction materials and debris. If there was still a decaying smell... "Let¡¯s open it up and take a look," Qian Tongyi instructed, after taking photos and recording videos. He found a crowbar in the corner of the room and began to pry at the bricks. Others found various unsuitable tools and began prying at the wall. "There it is." The newly built wall wasn¡¯t very sturdy, and a few strong men quickly pried open a small hole. A toe, which seemed unmistakably human, poked through the small hole in the TV wall, wrapped in a cement bag. Chapter 693 - 636: Mummy

Chapter 693: Chapter 636: Mummy

"Get the crime scene team and the trace evidence team here, and call in the forensic doctor too. Take pictures. And check out the situation with this renovationpany, call the family..." Qian Tongyi issuedmands swiftly, his excitement at seeing the body all pouring out. He had been working on this case for a month now, and with a substantial breakthrough finally at hand, Qian Tongyi was almost too preupied to pay attention to Jiang Yuan and the others. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind, though; these were routine arrangements, and if there were any issues, he would have raised them. Putting his ¡¯three-piece suit¡¯ back on, Jiang Yuan approached once more, observing the body inside from a distance and through a crowd. Several detectives went downstairs to buy crowbars, hammers, drill bits, and the like from a nearby hardware store and started chipping away at the walls with nging and banging. "They made it pretty solid," Mu Zhiyangined as he worked. "It¡¯s just like a prison wall they built for themselves. If the workers made my house renovation this solid, that would¡¯ve been something." "Want to be buried in it?" chuckled a police officer standing next to him. Thinking about it, Mu Zhiyang said, "Burying the owner in the wall, that¡¯s pretty ruthless. If we hadn¡¯t found it this time, who knows when the body would be discovered. Would it be when the smell spread to the neighbors?" "It might not necessarily smell worse," Jiang Yuan noted from afar, pointing with his hand and saying, "The murderer poured more than two bags of quicklime into this wall, and it seems like cement was mixed in with the lime. It should at least absorb moisture without a problem. As for the smell, without any fluids from dposition, it wouldn¡¯t be very strong. The body¡¯s decay would progress slowly, and if someone hasn¡¯t smelt a dposing body before, they might not be able to identify it." Quicklime ismonly used as a desant in food products and is also one of themon construction materials. When many people enter a freshly renovated house, the first thing they usually smell is a whiff of lime. For a body, decay is the primary cause of the odor of dposition; if it¡¯s a dried-out corpse or in a mummy-like state, then the smell of dposition is minimal. However, looking at it from another angle, the sense of smell varies from person to person. Some people, after suffering from a cold, take a long time to recover their sense of smell and can¡¯t smell anything, whereas pregnant women often experience a significant increase in their sense of smell, turning odors they normally wouldn¡¯t notice into a big annoyance during pregnancy. The general poption¡¯s sensitivity to the smell of dposed bodies also varies, and although many stories involve neighbors who smell the stench of dposition and call the police, there are neighbors who wouldn¡¯t notice that smell. Additionally, the state of the body and the weather environment can also affect the production of odors. For instance, a person with more body fat in their abdomen and visceral areas, logically speaking, should decay to a greater extent upon death. Simrly, in humid weather and high temperatures, meat spoils faster, which is well known by regr people. "Stack the bricks on the stic sheet." Seeing whole bricks being taken down, Jiang Yuan specifically mentioned this. There could potentially be fingerprints on the bricks, so while the chances were slim, it was still worth checking. Mu Zhiyang obedientlyplied and turned back to look at the TV wall, saying, "I¡¯m thinking, if we hadn¡¯te this time, would the people behind us ever have discovered this?" "Not necessarily, they might have found it, or maybe the next people would have renovated it all over again," Jiang Yuandao said. "If it hadn¡¯t been found, and the next person buying the house happens to love watching TV, does that mean they would be facing a corpse every day?" Imagining the scene, Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. "If there¡¯s no smell, it shouldn¡¯t really affect anything," Jiang Yuan spoke with a forensic doctor¡¯s tone, his voice reassuring, "It¡¯s like how some people hang a deer head or bear head on their walls. It¡¯s the same with mounted fish specimens." Mu Zhiyang focused on his work, "I get it; even if I be a fisherman in the future, I won¡¯t make specimens anymore." As Qian Tongyi¡¯s excitement subsided a bit, he chuckled and said, "Given our vacation days and sry, we wouldn¡¯t be able to afford being fishermen, let alone making specimens." All the police officers in the room nodded in agreement: "That¡¯sforting." "Better than being a corpse." "Actually, some people can make money and not be corpses at the same time." Backup police forces arrived as quickly as possible. With more people and equipment, they quickly dismantled one side of the eastern wall. The body flowed out along with the quicklime and cement. "The back of the head was hit with a hammer," Jiang Yuan skipped over the jargon and gave Qian Tongyi and the others the cause of death first to facilitate their further investigation. Qian Tongyi nodded in understanding, "Blunt force!" "Mhm, most likely a hammer, about the size of a pig¡¯s brain," Jiang Yuan gestured for emphasis. Qian Tongyi ryed the information, and the search for the Xin Xin Construction and Decoration Company was already being prepared within the city. During this time, hammers and other types of blunt instruments were certainly among the key items to search for. Jiang Yuan continued to examine the body with utmost seriousness. It was incredibly difficult to spot a body like this; there was an element of luck involved. If it hadn¡¯t been for the discovery in a house undergoing renovation, this case would still be at zero clues. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan specifically looked at the limbs of the body and then said, "This should be the primary crime scene. Look for any bloodstains to see if there are any. Also, the killer likely drove away from here. Check the nearby surveince to see if narrowing down the search area yields any findings. Wait while I check the time of death... It should be the night she disappeared." "The time of death can be determined that urately?" Liu Cheng, who had been standing in the room like part of the backdrop, couldn¡¯t help but ask aloud. Jiang Yuan hummed in affirmation and said, "The quicklime has a dehydrating effect, which has preserved the condition of the limbs quite well. We can inquire with the decorationpany about when this wall was built, which should pretty much confirm it." Without mentioning the forensic doctor¡¯s judgment on the time of death, the time the wall was built should be a very stable base point for determining the time of death. Qian Tongyi immediately expressed his agreement, then went out to make a phone call. Yu Wenshu had already mobilized the entire Criminal Police Brigade, sending two teams to raid the decoratorpany¡¯s premises, while others began to review surveince footage for video evidence. In no time at all, the owner and project manager of the decoratorpany, as well as a dazzling array of designers at various levels, were all brought under control. Qian Tongyi immediately received the news and reported, "The time of death is indeed the day she went missing. The wall was built by a worker hired by the decorationpany. The worker took on the job individually, settled ounts after finishing the work, and was paid in cash. The project manager from the decorationpany only kept the worker¡¯s mobile number; he didn¡¯t even see an ID. People have been sent to look for him." "Trace the mobile number as well," Jiang Yuan reminded him. Qian Tongyi acknowledged with an "okay" and continued busily responding to various messages. As the case broke open, there were many more people interested in it. After they finished speaking, Liu Cheng moved closer to the body and whispered to Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, your estimate of the time of death is incredibly precise." "That¡¯s how it is when you¡¯ve been doing this for a long time," Jiang Yuan responded, lightly fiddling with a few chunks of quicklime while looking at the body. "The old forensic doctors at the Beijing Bureau have been doing it even longer," Liu Cheng said with a smile. "Actually, in some cases, urately determining the time of death might just crack the case." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t beat around the bush and said offhand, "If you have a case you want to look at, send it directly to Director Huang. If he confirms everything is fine here, I¡¯m always willing to help." "Really?" Liu Cheng hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to be so "easy-going." Jiang Yuan nodded, "In fact, you could have sent cases directly to me before, but now theplexity of cases is increasing. We need to be sure of the specifics." "That¡¯s only right," the unspoken topic did not need exining. While they were talking, Qian Tongyi returned and said, "The mobile number of the wall-building worker was purchased. This guy is very suspicious!" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised. He stood up and stretched his waist before saying, "The method of murder is very clean, and moreover..." He paused for a long time. Unable to resist, Qian Tongyi asked, "Moreover, what?" "Remember we said before that he knows how to deal with vehicles, that he¡¯s a repeat offender?" "I remember." "He opened up the victim¡¯s abdominal cavity and took out all the internal organs from inside," Jiang Yuan said, looking up at Qian Tongyi. "This..." Qian Tongyi was bewildered and repelled, even as a policeman, by this step. Mu Zhiyang, who was standing nearby, frowned deeply, "Wouldn¡¯t that leave a big mess?" Jiang Yuan said, "He probablyid quicklime on the floor, conducted the operation there, and then buried the quicklime inside the wall." Jiang Yuan, while speaking, pointed to the clumps of quicklime before him and said, "These are the extracted organs. Additionally, the victim¡¯s abdominal cavity was likely filled with quicklime, too." "That¡¯s a bit like making a mummy," Liu Cheng eximed in amazement. Jiang Yuan nodded, "A crude version, but it should have worked. However, because the body is mostly dposed, it¡¯s still not easy to determine his exact method of operation, but anyhow, I don¡¯t think this is his first time doing this." Chapter 694 - 637 Under the Skin

Chapter 694: Chapter 637 Under the Skin

Three o¡¯clock in the morning. Thousands of households illuminated. Twinkling stars above, flickering lights below, the Xinjian District, teeming with factories, seemed to be summoning immense power, doing push-ups upon thend. Qian Tongyi was smoking a cigarette, Liu Cheng was smoking a cigarette, Jiang Yuan was also smoking a cigarette... Once the lime had been shoveled aside, the stench that had been gathering for days burst forth. Even the forensic doctor would find it revolting, only with a stronger endurance. The body had just been moved out, and only then did the teame out for some fresh air. The job was far from done. All that lime was, in theory, evidence. The bricks had to be taken back as well¡ªtesting was one part, but some would also be kept as evidence. Furthermore, several walls had been erected inside the room, and Qian Tongyi¡¯s intention was to pry them open for inspection. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t nning on going back in just yet. Having smoked one to freshen his mouth, Jiang Yuan pulled out his phone and while texting said, "I¡¯m nning to reserve a Cantonese dim sum breakfast. This ce also has Chaozhou-style congee in a y pot, the kind with all sorts of ingredients. It¡¯s pretty fresh, pretty tasty." Qian Tongyi frowned deeply, "The Chaozhou-style congee you¡¯re talking about, is it the kind that has a lot of offal in it?" The men who were smoking suddenly showed signs of retching. Jiang Yuan sighed and said, "There¡¯s also seafood congee, and other types too. Everything can be turned into y pot congee, I guess. I¡¯m not sure, but it seems to be the case..." "As long as it¡¯s not offal, it should be fine. Pig brain won¡¯t work either; I can¡¯t stomach pig brain," Liu Cheng gestured, being a pure northerner, he was ustomed to simpler fare. Jiang Yuan agreed and asked, "How many servings should I order?" "Just for the whole team. But let¡¯s control the budget a bit, shall we? Thirty yuan per person," Qian Tongyi said. Thirty yuan was roughly the price of one extra dim sum plus a pot of tea. If an old man was dining alone for breakfast, it would be no problem, but a bunch of hungry wolves would definitely find it insufficient. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "Today¡¯s unusual, the brothers have all worked hard, I¡¯ll treat." "That¡¯s... not really appropriate," Qian Tongyi truly felt embarrassed, hastily adding, "We can raise the budget, it should be expensed to the public ount. I¡¯ll im it back in your nameter." "Alright then, I¡¯ll order first,ter Director Huang can ask Chief Yu for reimbursement," Jiang Yuan said, then texted the owner, "Fifty servings of dim sum, over-ordered." Of course, there weren¡¯t fifty people this time, but with Cantonese dim sum, having just two or three pieces of each kind is normal, four or five is already a lot. Doubling or even tripling the number wouldn¡¯t be enough to fill the stomach. Having settled on breakfast for three hourster, Jiang Yuan let out a long sigh, distributed another round of Zhonghua cigarettes, and then returned, reeking of smoke, to Shang Geyong¡¯s new house with the others. The stench was as vile as before. Fortunately, the crime scene had been mostly cleaned up. Jiang Yuan turned to look at it and soon sank into thought. The higher the level of crime scene examination, the more information could be gathered. Even within such an unfinished house, there was much to see. On the other hand, the multitude of contractorsplicates matters with their numerous footprints and what¡¯s more troublesome is that in such rooms, the workers always stand, crouch, lie, or perch in various odd corners and positions, making it extremely challenging for those analyzing the scene to avoid getting their heads full of dust. It was somewhat self-inflicted trouble, yet also somewhat amusing. Everything wasplete, and as the police gradually left the scene, it was already six in the morning. The older policemen couldn¡¯t wait to go home, even the promise of free snacks couldn¡¯t keep the sleep-deprived seniors around. In contrast, the younger officers were all eager, as if determined to bankrupt the police bureau with their appetites. Qian Tongyi was genuinely afraid of going broke. The old saying ¡¯youngsters can eat their parents out of house and home¡¯ was a perfect description of the situation at hand. He specifically stood close to Jiang Yuan and whispered, "Let¡¯s not order anything too expensive." "It¡¯s already been ordered," Jiang Yuan exined. "With so many of us, if we don¡¯t reserve ahead of time, there wouldn¡¯t be any food left when we arrive." "Right, right..." Fortunately, the teahouse was just in front of the Criminal Police Brigade, so no time was wasted. Once there, the owner was very weing and hospitable, making the meal very pleasant for everyone. Only Qian Tongyi was preupied with thinking about how to exin the situation to Chief Yu. After the meal, Jiang Yuan went home to sleep before returning to the police station in the afternoon. There, he worked with the forensic doctors from Changyang City Bureau to process the body. For the police, the focus of the investigation had shifted to tracking down the bricyer. To this day, the police didn¡¯t even know the man¡¯s real name. In this era of big data, that¡¯s quite rare. Of course, it¡¯s not surprising since the ¡¯Sanhe gods¡¯ are often deeply involved in various cases. Dealing with a body that had been treated with quicklime was another kind of morbid experience. As everyone knows, one of the most important tasks in forensic work is to take samples and make slides of the body¡¯s internal organs. If there are no organs or if they have been left too long and have decayed, there is nothing that can be done. But if there is a way... Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know whether he could sessfully take samples from the quicklime-treated organs, but he attempted the procedure anyway, which took a tremendous amount of time and effort. The delicate organs, brutally ripped out by the killer and then sprinkled with quicklime to be rubbed... If they had been normal organs, such treatment would have left nothing usable, but for sampling purposes, even tissues that had been rubbed with quicklime could still be of use. Jiang Yuan used many solvents to clean off the quicklime, primarily oils, until the organs were almost clean, and then he rinsed them with water before continuing with the paraffin wax slide preparation. Paraffin waxing of organs is inherently difficult, and during the creation of slides, they can easily break if not handled carefully. The organs that had suffered the indignity of quicklime treatment were particrly soft and mushy. It was only because Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 4 expertise in both Forensic Pathology and Forensic Material Evidenceplemented one another that he managed to create pristine slides. Without dwelling on other aspects, a forensic doctor with this skill could feasibly open a central kitchen specializing in demanding dishes like sliced kidneys, certainly outperforming in a field well beyond his own. Particrly when it came to Level 4 Forensic Material Evidence, this expertise was even more helpful in processing the organs. Jiang Yuan estimated that it would take a nearly Level 3 Forensic Material Evidence specialist to clean organs of this condition thoroughly. For industrial scale application, a true Level 3 specialist in Forensic Material Evidence would be required. The cooperating forensic doctors all felt like they were learning something new. The routine autopsy, especially the process of dissection itself, is actually not difficult; the main issues are the disgusting and foul-smelling aspects. The challenge lies in making further judgements based on these facts. Slide preparation is one of the more technically demanding and time-consuming tasks. Many forensic doctors spend a lot of time under the microscope for this very reason. For Jiang Yuan, dissecting bodies was no difficult task at all. The body at this time had only some of its flesh remaining, but it wasn¡¯t just a skeleton; the tricky part was dealing with the remaining flesh, which was simr to a mummified state. Forensic doctors didn¡¯t know much about this type of body, and there were few relevant data to support their analysis, making it tough to make effective judgements just from looking at them. "Let¡¯s boil it," Jiang Yuan suggested as he prepared to examine the body and then put it into a pot. The facilities at Changyang City Bureau were good, equipped with something akin to a Japanese-style bathtub for boiling. This was a tub where the height was greater than both the length and the width. Such a tub, or pot, is much better at concentrating heat, it heats up quickly, and it requires less energy to maintain temperature; it is, thus, a green and environmentally friendly product. A few forensic doctors were busy turning on the machine and adding water¡ªthe principle is much like a regr kettle with a built-in heating function at the bottom, but adding water was quite time-consuming. While they were busy, Jiang Yuan set down the pelvis of the body and said, "How old was Shang Geyong again?" A gloveless forensic doctor immediately tapped on his PAD and replied, "Around 40, I think. Let me check... Seems like he was 38." "The age doesn¡¯t match up," Jiang Yuan said, looking closely at the pelvis that seemed nitrate-treated. He stripped away some of the remaining flesh before saying, "At most 33 years old, probably around 32 or 33. That¡¯s a 5-year difference." "Did he change his age? A 5 year discrepancy isn¡¯t that exaggerated,"mented one experienced forensic doctor. Jiang Yuan grunted in agreement and then took a closer look at the contorted body. Quickly after peeling away the flesh from the leg with a knife, he found a clue: "Shang Geyong was a skier, his fib had been fractured, but there is no such mark on this body." Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan took off his gloves and called Qian Tongyi, "The deceased is not Shang Geyong!" Chapter 695 - 638: Results Coming Soon

Chapter 695: Chapter 638: Results Coming Soon

Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice nearly caused Qian Tongyi to ck out, his heart pounding rapidly. Qian Tongyi was the captain of the detective squad responsible for Shang Geyong¡¯s case. The psychological pressure was intense, and the responsibility even greater. He had just glimpsed the light of victory and slept less during the day than Jiang Yuan, fighting hard for sess. But all that was predicated on the assumption that Shang Geyong had been found, the murderer identified, and the case had moved from the investigation phase to the pursuit phase... Then Jiang Yuan said, "The victim is not Shang Geyong," and everything went dark before Qian Tongyi¡¯s eyes. In this day and age, how could they possibly get the wrong person? "Are you still there?" Qian Tongyi, leaning against the wall with the look of a middle-aged man reaching the endpoint of a urination, asked, "Is it confirmed? Do you know who the victim is?" "The age and bone marks don¡¯t match, and the DNAb hasn¡¯t released results yet, but it¡¯s unlikely that they¡¯ll support the body being that of Shang Geyong," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "We still haven¡¯t confirmed whose body it is." "This Shang Geyong...he does a house renovation and it turns up a body? Now we have to start all over again!" Qian Tongyi was exasperated. "It¡¯s not that recent. Shang Geyong truly disappeared, and the phone number of the wall sterer is indeed out of reach, the person has vanished," Jiang Yuan exined the facts he had, trying to provide some sce to Qian Tongyi. In terms of the number of homicide and major cases handled, Jiang Yuan might have even dealt with more than Qian Tongyi at the moment, and moreover, being technically skilled, he solved cases with more stability. Qian Tongyi took a deep breath. After pondering a bit more, he said, "Let it go, then. So, this wall sterer still has a strong suspicion. As for Shang Geyong... If he¡¯s not an aplice, why didn¡¯t the murderer kill him too? Therefore, Shang Geyong might also be a prime suspect." "On that matter, I have a different opinion," Jiang Yuan was direct with his views, with no need for tact while on a 1V1 call. He immediately continued, "Firstly, the killer might have thought about it but failed to follow through. It was already the wee hours by then, and we don¡¯t know how long Shang Geyong was on the move, but it should not have been long before the workday started. It¡¯s very likely that people would havee to start their shifts soon." "Moreover, after killing someone, the murderer took the trouble to get arge amount of quicklime, then had to remove the internal organs, smear the abdominal cavity, and then build the wall, and transport, etc. It¡¯s quite possible that he didn¡¯t have the time or energy to repeat such a process." Jiang Yuan added, "Secondly, the level of wall-building by the murderer is quite skilled; he¡¯s definitely at an LV2 level. To put it simply, the culprit must have at least three to five years of experience, and that, in the context of someone skilled. You should go back and look at the walls this person has built and make aparison." Qian Tongyi felt more confused as he listened, "You can makeparisons with wall-building?" "Of course, the tools used for wall-building leave marks that can bepared. Basic scratches on the wall can indicate the tools used. The angle of the wall, the ratio of the cement, and so on..." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to borate further for a non-expert, knowing that it was indeed possible. He had previously acquired an LV4 skill in wall-building, and although he seldom used it, it was enough to examine the quality of the finished work and guess the level of the wall sterer¡¯s skills. Qian Tongyi gave a couple of "hmm" sounds, though finding Jiang Yuan¡¯s words unbelievable. If the rumors he had heard about Jiang Yuan were to be believed, even such an obscure field as Legal Botany seemed to exist, so wall-building was nothing much. "So you¡¯re saying, the wall sterer is still the mastermind. He didn¡¯t have the time to deal with Shang Geyong and took him away?" Qian Tongyi attempted to reason. "It¡¯s possible. Are all the surveince cameras in the residential area disabled? Look for more nearby surveince footage," Jiang Yuan replied, not sure enough to specte further and simply making inferences based on the state of the body and such. Qian Tongyi felt better now and said, "I¡¯ll get Image Investigation to work on it a bit more. Right, the identity of this body hasn¡¯t been confirmed yet, has it?" "Not yet, we¡¯re still waiting on a confirmation from the DNAb," replied Jiang Yuan. Actually, Jiang Yuan could imagine the frenzy inside the DNAb not long ago, as the technicians were manicallyparing the DNA test results. Toypeople, DNA test results appear as a conclusion, typically framed as either "supporting" the im or not inyman¡¯s terms. However, inside the DNAb, the instruments actually output what is known as a "wave." Thus, the original data of DNA identification somewhat resemble an ECG, or to be more precise, data from a mass spectrometer, with the location and height of the peaks and troughs determining whether the same loci match. Multiple loci need to match to confirm an identity. That the samples from Shang Geyong didn¡¯t match was probably the technicians¡¯ first thought¡ªthat the samples were contaminated. It wasn¡¯t until Jiang Yuan¡¯s call came through that the director of the DNAb finally took a long breath of relief. ... In the evening, the DNAb finally delivered the identification report. By this time, Jiang Yuan and others had already started having hot pot in the forensic office. The forensicb is not an autopsy room; as the name suggests, it mainly consists of office elements. Upon entering, there are desks and other office equipment, along withputers and the like. The facilities in the forensicb of Changyang City are quite good, with several rows of cabs that look simr to the iron cabs of the finance department, also divided into individualpartments, mainly for storing forensic evidence like bone fragments. Besides this, there are cabs filled with specimens and other items, mainly used for conducting rted experiments and research, while also serving as decorations. However, despite appearing like an ordinary office, regr colleagues who stroll around or visit are not likely toe over; for any matter, they¡¯d rather make a phone call. During the daytime, the forensic office tends to be busier. After all, in addition to Shang Geyong¡¯s case, theb also serves other detective teams and cases. But in the evening, the atmosphere in the office bes much more rxed. Some forensic doctors prefer to spend the quiet night hours examining human tissue slices under a microscope, as this time is quieter, allowing for a more leisurely and less pressured reading of these materials. It has been proven that for taskscking definite progress or standards ofpletion, working without pressure yields the most significant results. Jiang Yuan likes to have hot pot at such times. So, that¡¯s what they were doing in the forensic office of Changyang City tonight. "The intestines are ready." "Put the brain in the strainer and cook it a bit longer." "The stomach is ready after a quick dip, quite crunchy." The steam rose in billows, drifting upwards, while the bright lights became twisted and hazy as a result. When Yu Wenshu and Huang Qiangmin pushed the door and entered, this was the scene they encountered. "Chief Yu." "Director Huang," Jiang Yuan still called Huang Qiangmin by this name. Huang Qiangmin greeted them with his usual smile, while Yu Wenshu asked with an indescribable expression, "These are bought animal innards, right?" "Are you asking if they¡¯re bought, or if they¡¯re animal innards?" Wu Jun, who had already been promoted, had be very self-assertive, even daring to joke with Chief Yu, who ranked eighty levels above himself. As the saying goes, as one is about to retire, even meeting an official one rank higher bes easy. Yu Wenshu shook his head with a wry smile, "I came to see how you all were doing, but it seems unnecessary." As he spoke, he had someone ce a box of snacks on the table, then turned to Jiang Yuan, "The DNAb¡¯s identification report is out; have you received the news?" "I have. The victim was a project manager at a constructionpany?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes, that¡¯s right. This decorationpany is really unlucky; I don¡¯t know how they¡¯re going topensate for this." Yu Wenshu, who had seen many simr cases, didn¡¯t need to discuss the legalities; he knew the next scenes all too well even with his eyes closed. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "The wall builder was a temporary worker hired by the project manager, right? Or was there a longstanding grudge?" "It¡¯s you, Jiang Yuan, who always gets to the heart of the matter. I came over for this issue." Yu Wenshu sat down and continued, "After inquiries by our officers, it was found that some decoration managers or foremen of this decorationpany have a habit of finding temporary workers at the decoration market. I¡¯ve encountered this during my own renovation. There¡¯s no need for contracts, no need for ID cards; it¡¯s just a daily wage settlement, about 400 a day, sometimes up to five or six hundred, and some vary if materials are involved..." Jiang Yuan gave an "mm-hmm"; he was quite familiar with this part. Yu Wenshu and Huang Qiangmin exchanged nces and said, "We suspect this worker hasn¡¯t just started working recently, so we checked the project managers from somerger decorationpanies in Changyang City and found that at least three project managers are missing." Jiang Yuan blinked, and recalling the TV wall constructed by the killer, he couldn¡¯t help saying, "There might be more walled in." "We¡¯ve sent for a portable X-ray machine to get some shots; we should have results soon." Yu Wenshu said as he settled down beside the hot pot, looking ready to wait for the results alongside everyone, sharing in the hardship. Chapter 696 - 639: Science and Innovation Building

Chapter 696: Chapter 639: Science and Innovation Building

"Wow, this beef is really good, and nicely cut, too. Where did you buy it?" Yu Wenshu also had a taste for good food and would often find various excuses to not go home, choosing instead to dine out. Jiang Yuanughed and said, "It¡¯s from my dad¡¯s cattle." "Isn¡¯t your dad..." Yu Wenshu wanted to say a demolition relocator but paused, then tactfully said, "a professionalndlord or something?" "No, he¡¯s quite good at raising things. We used to have a pig farm at first, but stopped raising pigs after it was demolished." Jiang Yuan briefly introduced the situation. "Raising cattle is different though, right? Is it harder or easier than raising pigs?" "It used to feel harder. My dad originally ran a cattle fattening farm, which was quite difficult due to high costs and the risk of failure. Later, when the cattle farm was demolished, we stopped raising them. Now, we raise range cattle, which should be a bit simpler," Jiang Yuan exined in more detail. What everyone heard was simply the word "demolished." As one of the big shots in the police force, Yu Wenshu could only shake his head and took a few big bites of beef. Jiang Yuan, very observant of everyone¡¯s appetite, dumped two tes of beef into the pot, eager to eat. Everyone knew that it wouldn¡¯t be quite right to continue eating once the news arrived. The beef was quickly devoured. Next came the goose intestines and ck tripe, followed by the thousandyer stomach and the pig brains that thought they had escaped their fate. Buzz buzz... Yu Wenshu¡¯s phone started to ring. Yu Wenshu looked seriously at everyone, solemnly put down his chopsticks, picked up the phone, pressed the speaker button, and said, "This is Yu Wenshu, I¡¯ve put it on speaker." Then, Yu Wenshu took a paper towel and wiped his greasy mouth. "Chief Yu, we found one. It¡¯s in a resident¡¯s home in the Jianghua Kechuang Building," a policeman reported cryptically, hinting that the homeowner might be nearby. Jiang Yuan put down his chopsticks and said, "Please send me the address; I¡¯ll be there in 20 minutes." "Okay," the policeman on the other end immediately replied. "I¡¯m going ahead," Jiang Yuan said, nodding to Huang Qiangmin before quickly getting up and leaving. Downstairs was a dedicated forensic examination vehicle with fully equipped gear and protective suits, unlike in the county where each item had to be picked and packed on the spot. Mu Zhiyang also made a "woo woo" sound and followed Jiang Yuan down. ... Jianghua Kechuang Building. This was one of the older residential buildings in Changyang City. When it was built 20 years ago, it was reputed to be a wealthy district. Time, however, had changed that. The four-elevator, 20-unit-per-floor b-type buildings had fallen out of favor with contemporary aesthetic standards, but their robust image matched that of construction workers. The scene this time was on the 21st floor, which was a decent floor level. The apartment measured 148 square meters with a small percentage of shared area and a three-bedroom, two-living-roomyout, including a TV wall in the middle. When Jiang Yuan and the others entered, the homeowner¡¯s family of three was still sitting on the living room sofa, looking at the arriving policemen with distrust. However, when Jiang Yuan, d in a whiteb coat, walked in and began to put ontex gloves, both husband and wife copsed. "We spent so much money on this apartment, and its value dropped drastically, losing hundreds of thousands, not to mention the renovation costs of tens of thousands. And now you tell us there¡¯s a corpse in the wall? I might as well die myself!" The wife couldn¡¯t sit still any longer, stood up to stop Jiang Yuan, and yelled, "You can¡¯t demolish it; this is our home, our beautifully renovated home. What right do you have to demolish it?" Jiang Yuan looked at her, sighed, and said, "If we don¡¯t demolish it, should we just leave the corpse inside?" The female homeowner was momentarily at a loss, then angrily retorted, "There¡¯s no corpse, you¡¯re making this up!" At that moment, the husband came over and embraced the woman, and they both broke down, speechless. The daughter, no older than a primary school student, burrowed into her parents¡¯ embrace. Qian Tongyi mumbled and gestured for the police officers standing in front of the TV wall to start working. Woo woo woo... After a messy tter of sounds, a bone fell out from within the wall. Rattle rattle... The long bone rolled more than a meter away. The couple, who were holding their heads, stared at the long bone for several seconds before letting out a piercing scream. Qian Tongyi let out a sigh of helplessness, "I told you so." The homeowners fled the room as quickly as they could, not looking back as they ran downstairs. Jiang Yuan watched the people excavating bones nearby, while offering them some guidance on their work. Mu Zhiyang stepped forward to help, working very enthusiastically and with a research-like tone said, "This TV wall doesn¡¯t seem very thick, yet it could fit such arge corpse." "As long as the head can fit, the other parts of the body can be squeezed in," exined Jiang Yuan, a professional with a level 4 wall-building skill, describing on the spot, "First, construct the base of the TV wall, slightly wider than the width of the corpse¡¯s head will suffice. Then, build the wall to half a person¡¯s height, use quick-drying cement, and you can quickly ce the corpse inside. If the wall, like this one, is narrower, you can just put it in sideways, head first." "Like a cat, if the head can fit through, the body can too, it¡¯s the same for humans?" a police officer asked curiously from the side. "Not for humans," Jiang Yuan stopped, then corrected, "Not for living humans." "Eh, but shouldn¡¯t a dead body be even stiffer?" "So even though the killer was a wall builder, why did he remove the organs? His initial purpose was probably not for preserving the body or making a mummy," Jiang Yuan spected, looking at the corpse and muttering, "Look at the handprint on his chest; the whole chest cavity has beenpressed t." The chest cavity, which is protected by the ribcage and mainly contains the lungs and heart, would free up a significant amount of space if everything were pulled out. The police officers working in front of the TV wall all felt queasy in their stomachs. Compared to aplete corpse, the sheer materialization of the body by the perpetrator made most people ufortable. The extracted corpse also appeared somewhat putrid. Jiang Yuan this time directly located the pelvic bone of the corpse, pulled away some of the remaining decayed material, examined it for a moment, then looked at a few other bones and said, "32 years old, male, about 175 cm tall, with an old injury on the right ankle... It closely matches missing project manager number three. Let¡¯s confirm with a DNA test when we go back." "A missing person¡¯s case that¡¯s actually be a murder case, and then a series of serial killings!" Qian Tongyi said, his tone turning unexpectedly joyful,ughing as he added, "It¡¯s always interesting to work with Captain Jiang!" To a police officer like Qian Tongyi, herding one sheep and herding ten is the same job, and working on one influential case is more meaningful than tackling a hundred minor ones. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "Just don¡¯t call me a jinx." "How could I? It¡¯s because you are skilled that you discovered this case. Otherwise, Shang Geyong¡¯s case could have be a cold case, and who knows when this wall builder would have been discovered," Qian Tongyi, being a police officer, wouldn¡¯t believe in something like a jinx. Actually, domestic serial killings are not umon, it¡¯s just that they rarely make it to the news, and unlike in Europe and America, they aren¡¯t allowed to be adapted into films or TV shows. Even so, domestic serial killers have emerged one after another, especially in the 1980s, when there was a high incidence, with cases involving over 20 deaths, such as the 1983 Hohhot massacre with 27 people killed, the Long Zhiming murder case with 48 people, the Huangnihe train explosion with 33 deaths, Li Shangkun with 26... Some demons, once they start killing, be reckless. They don¡¯t even worry about being caught and be more and more wanton until the moment they are arrested. "Better a single hammer blow, quick and clean," Jiang Yuan remarked, frowning slightly at the injury behind the corpse¡¯s head. Hammering is a very efficient method of killing. Compared to a weapon like a short knife, the effect of a hammer blow is better; a hammer to the back of the head can knock someone out if they aren¡¯t wearing a helmet, and if they aren¡¯t killed outright, at the very least they¡¯re dazed. By contrast, a stab with a short knife might meet with a vigorous counterattack from the stronger victims, which is riskier for a killer. If the victim and the murderer know each other, and the victim is unguarded, murder can indeed be as simple as one hammer blow. "Keep looking. This person is probably not the first victim," Jiang Yuan instructed, as he began picking up bones one by one. Chapter 697 - 640

Chapter 697: 640

In the autopsy room of Changyang City, there were three bodiesid out, each on its own autopsy table. Excluding the first body that had been put away, there were three more victims of hammer attacks, now lying here. Among the three, one was uncovered from inside the Jianghua Kechuang Building, a project manager from Xin Xin Construction and Decoration Company, while the other two were foremen from anotherpany, Day and Night Decoration Design Company. Though their positions were slightly different, their job responsibilities all includedmunications with bricyers. Adding in the simr manner of killing and disposing of the bodies... These three bodies, together with the body of the project manager from Shang Geyong¡¯s home, were all attributed to the bricyer¡¯s doing and were treated as rted cases. Even though it was somewhat expected, upon seeing these three bodies, Jiang Yuan and others still felt a heavy silence weighing on them. Even for a provincial capital like Changyang City, a case with four bodies still demanded significant attention. "It¡¯s a call from Qian," dered the autopsy room¡¯sndline, as it rang. The forensic doctor nearby nced over and handed the phone to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan took off his gloves and head covering and, taking the opportunity to rest for a moment, answered the phone. "Qian," he said. Qian Tongyi let out a heavy sigh, seemingly exhausted. "How is it going? Any conclusions?" he asked. "In terms of direct conclusions, first and foremost, it¡¯s confirmed that all four bodies were victims of the same weapon, the hammer we previously identified. It should be considered the murderer¡¯s weapon of choice, most likely carried with him at all times," Jiang Yuan exined afterparing the skulls of all four victims, certain about the murder weapon. Qian Tongyi grunted in acknowledgment, "This conclusion is very important, though I wonder whether the murderer will carry the hammer with him while fleeing. If he does, he¡¯d likely be unable to board high-speed trains or take flights." Jiang Yuan curled his lip; now wasn¡¯t the time to worry about these things. Besides, the murderer still had Shang Geyong with him... At this thought, Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow and asked, "Are you assuming Shang Geyong is already dead?" "It wouldn¡¯t make sense for him to be alive," Qian Tongyi replied. "The murderer, taking him along, is purely a burden and very dangerous. After killing so many, one more, Shang Geyong, wouldn¡¯t make a difference. Of course, there¡¯s also the possibility that he¡¯s using Shang Geyong as a driver, which would be better. We¡¯re actively reaching out to Pingzhou now." Shang Geyong¡¯s car was never found, which to the police meant that either the vehicle was parked somewhere unmoving, dismantled, or it went to a ce like Pingzhou, where no one would notice. Otherwise, if it were driven south or east, given the increasing number of surveince cameras on the roads, apleteck of news would be impossible. On the other end of the phone, Jiang Yuan nodded slightly. "Indeed." In Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion, Qian Tongyi¡¯s logic was sound. The only reason the murderer took Shang Geyong was likely because he witnessed what he shouldn¡¯t have, and the murderer didn¡¯t have time to deal with him then. Now, several dayster, the most probable scenario was that Shang Geyong was already buried somewhere. The best-case scenario of being alive was if he was being used as a driver. If neither of those options held true, the situation wasplicated. "Our current work is divided into two main areas: one is the pursuit of the murderer, and the other is finding additional bodies," updated Qian Tongyi on their work progress, then added, "There are likely more bodies out there, right?" "Likely so," Jiang Yuan sighed. "The four bodies we¡¯ve found so far all follow a simr pattern. Except for number 3, who was embedded in a bay window, the rest were concealed within walls, and all underwent preservation treatments, pointing to a rather experienced pattern, not the work of a novice." Qian Tongyi made a curious sound. "Embedded in a bay window, that¡¯s a clever idea. If a few holes were opened on the outer wall, would the inside not smell?" he asked. "Creating openings would certainly elerate the decay of the body; the initial smell, I estimate, would be even stronger, particrly during rainy days or overcast weather, as the body would easily be damp again," Jiang Yuan paused, then remembered, "Insects too can easily get in, and the abundance of insects or their excrements could leave traces on the exterior wall, although there¡¯s no saying for sure without experimentation. But I think, the killer might not have considered all of this." "Hmm, that¡¯s a possibility indeed," Qian Tongyi sighed, "We¡¯ve been inquiring with some decorationpanies and workers in the market. The killer ims to be Chen, from Jian County, not too far from our Changyang City. Everyone just calls him Chen or Master Chen; some have heard his name, but no one remembers it. They say he¡¯s a reserved and taciturn person, who barely speaks a word. The workers think such a person is a bit foolish and prefer not to interact with him. He doesn¡¯t smoke, doesn¡¯t drink, doesn¡¯t gamble, and isn¡¯t interested in women either. Could it be he has some mental issues?" "Just works all the time, no entertainment, no leisure, does he send the money back home?" "It¡¯s said he doesn¡¯t have a wife or children, and his parents are no more," Qian Tongyi blurted out with frustration, "A doomed lone star indeed, he¡¯s really tough to deal with." Jiang Yuan grunted silently for a few seconds, then said, "In that case, he must have quite a bit of money in hand, why does he still take odd jobs in the market? It¡¯s not an easy job, right?" "Isn¡¯t that typical of serial killers? They prefer steady jobs, don¡¯t they?" "It¡¯s not described that way, but that¡¯s the idea," Jiang Yuan agreed. "So, we¡¯re dealing with a typical serial killer without a formal arrangement but likes steady work?" Qian Tongyi thought aloud, then decisively said, "I¡¯ll spread out some more people to check the construction material markets near Pingzhou." After working with Xu Taining, Jiang Yuan now felt that Qian Tongyi¡¯s way of investigating sounded like ying a game, just guessing a ce and going for it. How could the sess rate be guaranteed? Yet the reality was, while Xu Taining¡¯s methods yielded high sess rates, they came at an even higher cost. If Xu Taining were to follow this line of inquiry, it would mean having to visit and inspect markets in multiple cities, even covering cities across two provinces. Even for Xu Taining, that wouldn¡¯t be feasible. It was necessary to narrow down the target. Jiang Yuan nced at the several bodies on the autopsy table, then offhandedly said, "Think about it, this bricyer doesn¡¯t seem to understand high-tech, but he knows to change his phone number, to change phones. If he knows about these, why doesn¡¯t he have a WeChat or QQ ount? Does he pay for everything in cash?" "Right, this guy has no Alipay, no WeChat; he can only spend in cash!" With a sense of helplessness, Qian Tongyi added, "I¡¯ve set up a facial recognition alert, we¡¯ll see if we can catch him that way. Once we confirm a city, it will be easier to find him." "If we¡¯re just trying to confirm the city, I do have an idea," Jiang Yuan had been pondering it all this while. Each of the bodies was in a mummified state, but with theparison of identities of the missing persons, tracing the origin of the corpse was easy. Moreover, because the cause of death was already determined, there was actually very little scope for a forensic doctor to contribute. However, the lime smeared on the mummified bodies, something Jiang Yuan had seen a lot oftely, sparked an idea in him. At this moment, considering Qian Tongyi¡¯s request was only aimed at city-level information, Jiang Yuan deliberated and then said, "I¡¯ve noticed the lime on the corpses, especially the lime smeared inside the body cavities, which is all powdered lime. This is likely purchased by the killer himself or at his instruction." "What¡¯s powdered lime?" "I only found out after looking it up myself, but lime is ssified by its fineness into lump lime, fine lime, and powdered lime. Some decoration sites may not necessarily use powdered lime, but the lime used after the murder to smear inside the body cavities is powdered lime..." Qian Tongyi suddenly became animated, "So you think the powdered lime is something the killer brings with him?" "It¡¯s possible. Because at two of the crime scenes, there were two types of lime present, and the lime used inside the body cavities was consistently the same type, indicating the killer has specific requirements for the lime. Moreover, lime is also categorized into high-calcium lime and low-calcium lime, including underburned lime, properly burnt lime, and overburned lime... In any case, the killer is particr about the lime he uses. I¡¯ll send you the detailster. You guys can check the markets to see if anyone has been buying this type of lime with cash." "This is a solid lead," Qian Tongyi said, then hesitated before adding, "The purpose of buying lime was probably for covering the bodies, right? He... might notmit a crime immediately if he¡¯s on the run." Jiang Yuan sighed, "Shang Geyong hasn¡¯t been found yet." Chapter 698 - 641 The Great Wall Mason

Chapter 698: Chapter 641 The Great Wall Mason

Changyang City, north. Maguan Post. Chen Wanjia stared nkly at the road surface, without thought or desire, motionless and umitted, as if he were not in the garb of a construction worker, with a posture of a mighty warrior, and a sign in front of him that read "Expert Bricyer," people might mistake him for an enlightened monk. His face was covered with a beard, almost hiding half of his visage, his eyes were tired yet vacant, and his body was lean and thin, not appearing to have much strength at all. A foreman looking for workers took a liking to his silence and approached, saying, "The pay is 240 for a day¡¯s work, you in or not?" "Not doing it," Chen Wanjia rejected without a second thought. The foreman paused in surprise. In his experience, the more savvy workers would often respond with something like, "240 doesn¡¯t sound good, 260 will do." Those who weren¡¯t good with words would usually ept the price, only to be shortchanged by him. It was his first time encountering a worker who refused work. The foreman felt inexplicably annoyed, "If you¡¯re not working, what are you squatting here for?" Chen Wanjia shifted the sign in front of him and said, "Expert work, 500 a day!" The foremanughed, "Just because you say you¡¯re an expert doesn¡¯t make it so. How about this, you work a trial first, and if you really do a good job, we¡¯ll discuss further." "Trial work, no less than 450." "Who pays that much for trial work? Let¡¯s say 260 for your trial, and that¡¯s as high as we go," the foreman retorted, not intending to pay him 500, just using the pretext of trial work to press the price down first. Chen Wanjia fixed his gaze on the foreman and countered, "Trial work for one day only, minimum 300. If no issues, then 600 the next day." The foreman affected a look of struggle and capitted, "Fine, 300 it is!" "And 600 for the next day!" Chen Wanjia emphasized. The foreman reasoned, "You can¡¯t tell much from just one day of trial work..." "That¡¯s it!" Chen Wanjia insisted adamantly. The foreman pretended to hesitate again, "Alright, alright, get in the car, I¡¯ll call a couple more guys over." "If you¡¯re nning to cheat, I won¡¯t let you off," Chen Wanjia warned in a serious tone, his eyes shining with a light as if to change the world! The foreman was unimpressed; half his job consisted of haggling and arguing. Along with a few other workers, Chen Wanjia boarded a Wuling Hongguang van that could also carry cargo and headed to the renovation site, a spacious three-bedroom house with a yard and a basement on the first floor. Seeing this house, Chen Wanjia¡¯s eyes involuntarily brightened. Although it was a bit off from the house of his dreams, the basement on the first floor was just perfect. Chen Wanjia could already imagine how convenient it would be to bury bodies if he owned such a house. Once the basement was filled, he could build walls above, burying many more people. Chen Wanjia had no ns to live long, but if he could fill the basement, he felt he would have made a contribution to the world and truly changed it! Chen Wanjia worked hard all day, not cking off at all. That evening, the foreman, as promised, handed him 300 for the day¡¯s construction work. Chen Wanjia requested cash, and the foreman thought nothing of it, as most people willing to work these days were of an age that didn¡¯t trust mobile payments. They preferred cash. Before leaving, Chen Wanjia asked, "My wages are 600 tomorrow, right?" "Let¡¯s try another day¡¯s work tomorrow, and we¡¯ll talk after that," the foreman smiled genially. Chen Wanjia¡¯s expression became calm as he inquired, "Didn¡¯t I do well today?" "You did quite well, but trial work isn¡¯t just about doing well, it¡¯s about both of us being satisfied, right?" "Then I won¡¯te tomorrow. Give me 450 for today, plus another 150." "Do I look like I¡¯m made of money!" the foreman¡¯s tone grew assertive, "If you don¡¯t want toe, just scram, Maguan Post isn¡¯t the ce for you to throw a tantrum!" "We had an agreement. 300 for today¡¯s trial, and 600 for proper work tomorrow." "Didn¡¯t I already give you the three hundred?" "I¡¯ll work another day for 600 tomorrow." "If youe tomorrow, I¡¯ll make it 450, let¡¯s take this step by step, okay?" "The daily wage starts at 600." "Work for a few days at 450, once we¡¯re familiar with each other, I¡¯ll then pay you 600." Chen Wanjia¡¯s expression became grave: "You¡¯re lying to me!" "This isn¡¯t lying, it¡¯s market choice, right. You opted for a trial, so I have the right to decide how much to pay you. It can¡¯t be as much as you demand..." The foreman was both soft and hard, not afraid of how these migrant workers could respond. If they were tough and rough enough, why would they need to leave their hometowns to work? They could just be a local foreman like him and that would be enough. Chen Wanjia, as expected, did not continue to argue. He gathered his things, bowed his head, and left. At night, in the rented farmhouse he was staying in, Chen Wanjia casually gave Shang Geyong some water, and while stroking the back of his head, he muttered, "There are so many swindlers nowadays. When you¡¯re reborn, don¡¯t cheat people anymore. Cheaters have protruding mouths." "Old folks say, those who cheat will not die a good death. I see that those who did not die a good death are few, while many live morefortably than me." "The foreman is inhumane, I have to make sure he doesn¡¯t die a good death today. I¡¯ll use this lime first, and buy some new ones for youter. Ah." Chen Wanjia patted Shang Geyong, and casually removed the rag stuffed in Shang Geyong¡¯s mouth. Shang Geyong struggled violently twice and said hastily, "Let me go, I have money saved overseas, I¡¯ll give it all to you." After speaking, he gasped for breath. With a hum, Chen Wanjia said, "You haven¡¯t dug up all the gold in your vi for me yet. If you dare to deceive me, I¡¯ll bury you alive, understand?" "I understand, I understand. Don¡¯t bury me, there should still be gold in my vi, let me think again," Shang Geyong said as he closed his eyes to ponder. He was extremely tired. Ever since he got in the car, Shang Geyong had been tied up by Chen Wanjia. At first, it was just his thumbs that were tied, then he was bound hand and foot, and now he was tied up like a hog, lying on the ground like a chicken waiting to be ughtered. Moreover, he was facing down, his navel pressing against the cold ground, making it very easy to catch a cold in the stomach. Shang Geyong was in agony, but he continued to hang on. The only reason Chen Wanjia didn¡¯t kill him was because Shang Geyong imed he had gold buried in his hometown. Chen Wanjia believed him. Because if he had money, he felt he would do the same. Chen Wanjia¡¯s dream was to buy a house with a basement and a yard, preferably local so he wouldn¡¯t have to leave. Building one himself was also an option. By then, if he had a body, he would bury it underground; if he had money, he would bury that as well. By a twist of fate, Shang Geyong preserved his life. The key was that there was indeed gold buried in the yard of the vi he bought in his hometown. Not only gold, but also vintage wine and Yuan Datou coins. Shang Geyong, along with Chen Wanjia, went to the vi in his hometown, and after pretended digging for a few days, fortunately unearthed some gold, thus struggling on for a few more days. Then they dug up Yuan Datou coins, vintage wine... The yard was basically dug up, and what Shang Geyong called more gold was just a pure ruse by then. Chen Wanjia guessed as much, but he did not kill Shang Geyong directly because he was not ready yet. He hadn¡¯t found a suitable ce to bury the body, hadn¡¯t bought suitable lime. Chen Wanjia was concerned that killing Shang Geyong prematurely would make the corpse smell, which was why he spared his life. To Chen Wanjia, murder was no problem anymore. He hadn¡¯t even considered the possibility of being caught, with evidence stuffed under the bed. He was acutely aware that if he were to be caught, any exnation would be a waste of time. Moreover, he didn¡¯t like to lie. Shang Geyong could only keep living by cheating. Chen Wanjia therefore looked down on Shang Geyong: "People like you never speak a word of truth, killing you wouldn¡¯t be too much." He felt he was much nobler than Shang Geyong. "I can get you Bitcoin, stored in a USB drive, and you can travel the world without fear," Shang Geyong gasped, starting his attempt for the day. Chen Wanjia bent over and stuffed the rag back into Shang Geyong¡¯s mouth, saying, "All these things you¡¯re talking about are meant to deceive, just don¡¯t y with them when you¡¯re down there, you know." Having just put Shang Geyong back under the bed, there was a knock at the door: "Hello, is anyone home? I¡¯m here to check the electric meter." Chapter 699 - 642: Closing In

Chapter 699: Chapter 642: Closing In

Hearing the shouting outside, Shang Geyong was the first to get excited. His body was bound from head to toe like a maggot. Using the words from old storytelling scripts, being tied up this tightly for too long, a person wouldn¡¯t die but would certainly end up crippled. Shang Geyong strenuously wriggled his body, trying to bounce a couple of times to make some noise, a skill he had practiced for days. Chen Wanjia, however, calmly got up, casually picked up his hammer, weighed it in his hand, and looked at Shang Geyong. A cold sweat poured down from his head in an instant. Shang Geyong couldn¡¯t help thinking, wasn¡¯t this how he had ended up in this mess? Alone and facing Chen Wanjia without so much as a weapon in his hand, and without a strategy in mind, he had been quickly subdued by Chen Wanjia and pinned to the ground. Shang Geyong could still recall the iron-like grip of Chen Wanjia¡¯s hands, a strength he had never felt amid the countless pleasantries exchanged during his social mingling. An electric meter reader wouldn¡¯t likely possess much strength, and most importantly, when had the average city dweller ever thought about engaging in hand-to-handbat? No one was prepared to suddenly enter a diatorial arena. But Chen Wanjia alone was like a wild beast, watching the door frame intently. Thump thump thump. The person outside continued knocking and said, "Would you mind opening the door? We¡¯ve heard noises already. If you don¡¯te out tomorrow, we have to finish this today. Please, open the door." Chen Wanjia ced the hammer beside the back of the door, within easy reach, then turned around to push Shang Geyong under the bed and whispered, "If you make a sound, I¡¯ll grab whoever¡¯s outside and have them help me bury you." Fear filled Shang Geyong¡¯s eyes as he nodded vigorously. Chen Wanjia stood up, satisfied. The room was small, with the bed on the side of the door. Shang Geyong¡¯s feet faced the door, and his head was towards the window. He tried hard to tilt his head towards the side of the bed, watching Chen Wanjia¡¯s feet move towards the door. As the door opened, Chen Wanjia braced his foot against it, seemingly ready to close it at any moment, extremely cautious. Shang Geyong perked up his ears, straining to listen, trying to catch a glimmer of hope. Thud. A dull sound rang out and Shang Geyong¡¯s vision blurred, only to see Chen Wanjia¡¯s face appear in front of his own. Shang Geyong was startled, and then he realized that Chen Wanjia had been knocked down. Shang Geyong and Chen Wanjia locked eyes, with Shang Geyong showing panic, while Chen Wanjia remained calm as ever. "Police!" Only then did a roar fill the room. Shang Geyong was stunned, and then he started to jump up with all his might. Jumping and jumping, a stream of tears flowed down Shang Geyong¡¯s face. On Chen Wanjia¡¯s face, however, a mocking smile emerged, and he mouthed a familiar shape to Shang Geyong: Swindler! ... When Wang Chuanxing dragged Shang Geyong out from under the bed, his expression was one of utter astonishment. In a special task force of over a hundred people, including Jiang Yuan, no one had anticipated that Shang Geyong would still be alive. Although he looked like a dumpling, bound up in such a way, he was still alive, and that was what mattered! Wang Chuanxing then looked at Chen Wanjia, who was pinned to the ground, and was once again surprised by his calmness andposure. "What¡¯s your name?" The one on top of Chen Wanjia was Du Zhansheng, a newly graduated officer from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, who came from a Kung Fu Family. He was of championship level in Sanshou martial arts while still in school, and had been specially positioned at the front today for a swift victory. Chen Wanjia¡¯s photo and sketches had long been distributed, and upon seeing his face, Du Zhansheng was sure he had found the right man. What remained was simply carrying out the tasks nned out for them. Chen Wanjia was pinned beneath him, sneering, he said, "I am Chen Wanjia." "Hmm," Wang Chuanxing checked against the photo again, and several people together lifted the handcuffed Chen Wanjia to his feet. Shang Geyong, who was nearby, was also pulled aside, and his ropes were slowly untied. Wang Chuanxing led his team to carefully search both sides before taking out his mobile phone to report the capture. The arrest site here was very important. For future prosecution, court hearings, as well as appeals and death penalty reviews, the photos and physical evidence from this moment would be scrutinized countless times. Death row inmates generally undergo a second trial, not to overturn the case, but in most instances, they merely use this process to live a few more months. ... Changyang City. Upon receiving the call that the capture was sessful, Jiang Yuan and the others let out a collective cheer. Manhunts indeed require a bit of luck, which is why even the most meticulous manhunt can return empty-handed, and even the most far-fetched needle in a haystack can turn out to be a tremendous sess. Even as criminal police, sometimes one can only trust that fate will make the best arrangement, allowing the deceased to rest in peace and the devils to be punished. "The search for the bodies must continue," Qian Tongyi began to organize the work, saying, "I¡¯ve heard that the killer was quite calm after being caught. I doubt he will confess to his previous deeds properly, so we should confirm as many cases as we can for now. At worst, confirming one more body now is like solving an additional cold case, right?" Everyone nodded in agreement. Homicide cold cases or current homicide cases are ounted for by the number of victims, so a case with multiple deaths is counted as that many cases, and subsequent reports and briefings are calcted in the same manner. From this perspective, solving a case with four deaths is a bit easier than solving four separate cases of single deaths. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to worry about that. Being a guest officer, he had already exceeded the expectations of the mission. Qian Tongyi dispatched a series of personnel and then came over to talk to Jiang Yuan, "Shang Geyong was lucky this time, he¡¯s been sent to the hospital. He suffered quite a shock psychologically, but physically, he¡¯s mostly fine." "Did Chen Wanjia keep him just to look for the gold?" Jiang Yuan felt that the reason for keeping Shang Geyong didn¡¯t seem entirely sufficient. Qian Tongyi shook his head slightly, "As far as we know, Chen Wanjia probably had him do some dirty work." "Hmm?" "Like helping with disemboweling and such. Chen Wanjia found it disgusting, so he had Shang Geyong handle it." The people around were stunned, "He finds it disgusting, he could just not kill people instead!" "This month, Chen Wanjia changed locations twice, ending up in Maguan Post, working day by day on wall construction. When wages were withheld, he would just hammer them to death. One foreman at Maguan Post has already died, and if it weren¡¯t for our arrival, another would have perished. He had already prepared lime and such." "Is this guy begging to be caught?" "After killing so many, he must not have been able to hold back," said Qian Tongyi, who, not being a psychologist, felt not the slightest sympathy for such a psychopath caused by some psychological problems. There are many choices for someone with psychological issues. Let alone that killing is not the way to solve problems, even if it was, it shouldn¡¯t be up to these individuals to resolve their issues by murdering others. Jiang Yuan said, "So that means we¡¯ve found 5 bodies so far." "Right. ording to Shang Geyong, Chen Wanjia killed as needed, like butchering chickens, only considering his own ns without regard for others," Qian Tongyi mainly obtained information from Shang Geyong, while Chen Wanjia¡¯s interrogation would likely need to be handled by an expert. In the following period, the people of Changyang City would probably alter their perception of the television walls. "Send the new body over quickly, after I¡¯ve seen it, I need to go home and rest. The sight of the bodies from this case also makes me ufortable," Jiang Yuan urged lightly. As a forensic doctor, he was supposed to be indifferent to things like mummies, but Chen Wanjia¡¯s approach wasn¡¯t a pure mummification method, rather a distorted one, which Jiang Yuan found even more horrifying from his professional standpoint. Chen Wanjia¡¯s handling of bodies exhibited a certain nonchnt proficiency, especially noticeable in the knife marks and the patience with which he applied lime. Such details filled Jiang Yuan with an even greater sense of unease. Chapter 700 - 643: Tidying Up

Chapter 700: Chapter 643: Tidying Up

In the following days, three more bodies were unearthed from walls and kang beds, and were sent to the forensic autopsy room. The number of bodies in the Chen Wanjia case rose to eight. Two of the bodies were the familiar foremen, and the third, discovered by police in the old house of Chen Wanjia¡¯s aunt Wang Lihua¡¯s kang bed, was a mummified corpse. No one had expected this body, because Wang Lihua had disappeared years earlier, and there was a record of the disappearance. A search team had sent two people with a portable X-ray machine to scan the area. They didn¡¯t find anything in the wall, but when they scanned the kang bed, they detected a human figure. The Chen family had used this kang bed for several years for eating, drinking, sitting, and sleeping, but not a single person had uncovered its secret. When the kang was dug up and a mummy highly suspected to be Chen Wanjia¡¯s aunt Wang Lihua appeared, everyone in the area was shocked. Chen Wanjia had been raised by his aunt Wang Lihua for a long time; he ate at her house and was cared for by her. After she disappeared, no one suspected Chen Wanjia. It was during the time Chen Wanjia¡¯s uncle was building a new house, a sign that the family¡¯s life was improving. Chen Wanjia had contributed greatly, and the uncle¡¯s family had nothing but praise for him, no discontent. Wang Lihua¡¯s disappearance was treated as an isted case. When Jiang Yuan saw the body of Chen Wanjia¡¯s aunt Wang Lihua, he was quite surprised. The body, baked over the years, had muscle and skin tissue that had metamorphosed into ayer of dark brown crust, and the bones were brittle, crumbling at the touch. The trauma to the remaining bones and tissue suggested the victim¡¯s chest cavity had likely been cleaved open with an axe. That was probably the cause of death. To use the words from a storytelling script, "When that axe came down, the heart, liver, and lungs poured out, and couldn¡¯t be gathered up." The term "extremely cruel" seemed quite appropriate here. "Extracting DNA from this one should be impossible, right?" Tang Feng, a forensic doctor from Changyang City apanying Jiang Yuan, asked. He wore a continuous glucose monitor on his arm and was always cautious during autopsies, just as he was when eating. Jiang Yuan silently nodded. If the body had been buried underground for a dozen years, it would still be possible to conduct DNA analysis, but being dried out in a kang bed, DNA really would give up in such conditions. "Let¡¯s start with a basic examination," Jiang Yuan said nonchntly. To forensic doctors, DNA was a great invention that solved many problems and reduced their workload. On the other hand, the advent of DNA technology somewhat overshadowed the development of other areas in forensic science. For example, Forensic Anthropology, which had been capable of identifying bodies decades before the invention of DNA. "The deceased was a 54-year-old female, between 148 and 155 centimeters tall," Jiang Yuan said as he carefully touched and measured the bones, fearing he might identally crush them. Tang Feng nced at Jiang Yuan, saw an assistant taking notes, and just watched in silence. He greatly admired Jiang Yuan¡¯s way of speaking. Something that sounded so basic as a "basic examination" was, in reality, making aprehensive assessment. "Captain Jiang, is there anything to be mindful of with a body burnt to this extent?" Tang Feng asked cautiously, hoping to pick up a few techniques. Jiang Yuan, havingpleted a round of assessments, pondered and said, "There are two things, I suppose. One is the choice of parts for testing. For example, the pelvis, which wemonly use, is hard to manipte in this state, so it¡¯s not the best choice..." Jiang Yuan turned to Tang Feng as he spoke. Tang Feng immediately responded, "Tooth enamel should be the prime choice?" "Yes, normally, forensic odontology would be most suitable. Look at the victim¡¯s teeth, they are rtively intact, with clear signs of wear..." Jiang Yuan had previously acquired a level 4 proficiency in forensic odontology. Understanding, Tang Feng said, "Using the Demirjian system or Shogo Tsuchida¡¯s tooth wear stage for scoring?" "That¡¯s right." "But I didn¡¯t see you score the teeth earlier..." "Oh, I actually examined the pelvis, just in passing. It provides a lot of information, making it convenient to judge several aspects together." After answering, Jiang Yuan felt the temperature in the autopsy room grow even colder. With a tactfulness perhaps expected from someone who had moved from a small county town to the provincial capital, Jiang Yuan coughed twice and added, "For a body charred like this, I think it¡¯s worth referring to cases of bodies from fires, those burned alive or whose bodies were burned after death, and even those burned multiple times. Each case differs, but by focusing onmon features, we can still draw useful conclusions." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan wrote several regression equations on the spot. These were from publicly avable literature, but Tang Feng immediately took photos of them. Taking the opportunity, Tang Feng hurriedly asked several questions he had umted over the days. Forensic science is a profession that ces heavy emphasis on practice. In theory, as long as one conducts enough autopsies, they can develop their own understanding. However, forensic science also demands a certain level of talent. With the same number of autopsies, some practitioners have a deeper and more urate understanding. The difficult part is that many forensic doctors rarely get the chance to correct their methods. Once an issue like that arises, it¡¯s the start of big trouble. Normally, the reports written by forensic doctors have a wide margin of error, making it hard to learn just by reading others¡¯ reports. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t secretive; if Tang Feng wanted to listen, he was willing to share. Wang Lihua¡¯s autopsy wasplicated in nature, but fundamentally it wasn¡¯tplex, and it could essentially be determined to have been Chen Wanjia¡¯s doing. Under such circumstances, the autopsy of Wang Lihua¡¯s body actually didn¡¯t carry that much pressure. However, the condition of Wang Lihua¡¯s body itself was very challenging, which made it quite suitable for teaching purposes. Since Tang Feng was eager to learn, Jiang Yuan conducted a thorough autopsy from start to finish, and by the end, a glowing blue orb coalesced. Wang Lihua¡¯s legacy¡ªWild Vegetable Identification (LV2): Wang Lihua came from a life of hardship, foraging for wild vegetables in the mountains and fields since childhood. If she found them, there would be vegetables to eat at home; if not, there would be none for the day. After growing up, Wang Lihua¡¯s life improved slightly, but wild vegetables remained a significant aid in her household. After she was forced to adopt Chen Wanjia, food became even scarcer, to the point where the entire vige, young and old, started to rely on wild vegetables as a side dish, and Wang Lihua kept searching tirelessly. Perhaps leaving this world just meant one less suffering for her. Jiang Yuan sighed quietly to himself. From Wang Lihua¡¯s legacy, it was clear that Chen Wanjia also had a tough upbringing, which wasn¡¯t the issue. This was because serial killers often make excuses of childhood traumas. Sadly, Wang Lihua didn¡¯t need to suffer as much as she did. She adopted Chen Wanjia, which made the food situation at home even tighter, but clearly, Chen Wanjia was not grateful. His act of murder was proof of this. Wang Lihua didn¡¯t have a chance to exin, and perhaps she didn¡¯t know how to. It was highly likely that Chen Wanjia would not have epted any exnation anyway. Some people will never consider others¡¯ perspectives; when they do wrong, they only leave judgment to the King of Hell. ... The Shang family made a lot of noise as they presented a silk banner, apanied by several prominent figures from Changyang City. After all, Shang Geyong had been rescued and brought back. No matter how emotionally shattered he was after returning, being alive meant having another chance. Shang Geyong himself was extremely grateful to Jiang Yuan and his team. He had lived with Chen Wanjia, and had even been forced to help him handle bodies. As his hope of survival dwindled and his outlook on the future grew increasingly pessimistic, he was suddenly rescued from the lowest point in his life. Shang Geyong himself was more than willing to visit the police station. Especially under the skylight in the lobby of the police station, with the warm sunshine beaming down, Shang Geyong wished he could just close his eyes and fall asleep. Shang Geyong¡¯s older sister stood from afar, wiping away tears with a worried heart, and then gave a bitter smile to the leaders from Changyang City beside her, "Geyong has hardly slept these past few days, always waking up from nightmares. Maybe he feels safe at the police station." "No problem, let him sleep if he wants," Yu Wenshu said cheerfully, "We wee people toe and sleep at the Criminal Police Brigade. Their restful sleep is positive proof of our effective work." Everyoneughed. Theughter from Shang Geyong¡¯s family was a bit forced. After a while, Shang Geyong¡¯s sister, gritting her teeth, said, "Our family Geyong is nning to go abroad. The trauma from this period has been a bit too heavy, and the doctor also advised him to change his environment." "Shouldn¡¯t he stay closer to his family?" someone asked with concern. "With his current state, our family can¡¯t help much. All he does at home is sleep; he doesn¡¯t even touch his phone, and he can¡¯t keep the factory running. It might be better for him to go abroad." The crowd fell silent. ... After the autopsy of Wang Lihua¡¯s body, no bodies had been sent over for the next two days. Jiang Yuan asked Huang Qiangmin for permission, gave his team members and himself time off, and went home. Solving two murder cases in a row, one of which involved multiple victims, was enough reason for any detective squad to crack open beers in celebration. Even for Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, which often solved major cases, theplexity of this case was sufficient. Inparison to the other team members, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t gone out much, but the others had run through seven or eight cities and regions just to recover a few more bodies, not to mention the energy previously exhausted. They were all thoroughly worn out. Jiangcun Residential Area. Amidst the sound of firecrackers, another banquet was happening today. Jiang Fuzhen specifically asked Jiang Yuan toe through the main entrance, using both the electronic ceremonial cannons and ck gunpowder firecrackers borrowed from the host, to celebrate his return and cleanse him of dust. Oncepletely enveloped in the smell of gunpowder, Jiang Fuzhen led Jiang Yuan to a table, where they peeled red eggs and chatted together. Since bing wealthy, Jiang Fuzhen had started paying more attention to Jiang Yuan¡¯s spiritual welfare. From his own experience, he knew that satisfying material desires was easy, but filling the void of the spirit was difficult. Jiang Yuan enjoyed the spiritual pampering from his father, Jiang Fuzhen, on the spot. By the end of the banquet, he felt much more rxed. Chapter 701 - 644: The Abandoned Bloody Garment

Chapter 701: Chapter 644: The Abandoned Bloody Garment

The next day. Jiang Yuan cooped up at home, making zongzi with the vigers. In Jiang Vige, the meat-filled zongzi are the specialty, boasting generous portions of both meat and filling, with meticulously selected rice. Overall, they¡¯re rather tasty. Especially the newly wrapped meat zongzi, once freshly boiled, they¡¯re truly fragrant and rich in vor. Compared to the northern zongzi, renowned for their light and refreshing taste, southern-style zongzi tend to pursue a moreplex vor profile. In this respect, there seems to be a reversal of characteristics between the north and the south. Moreover, some of the elderly in the vige also make in alkali zongzi, simr in content to the pure rice zongzi of the north but with a slight salty taste and no sugar added, looking like lustrous white jade; pure with the fragrance of rice. These alkali zongzi taste the best when they¡¯re just out of the pot, sometimes even outshining meat zongzi, but once stored, their quality drops significantly, requiring a particrly skilled hand to make. With the same ingredients and exact same wrapping and steaming method, the zongzi made by a few grandmothers taste exceptionally sweet and aromatic, a bit magical when you think about it. Even Jiang Yuan can only enjoy these alkali zongzi during specific times of the year. Past those days, even if the vige grandmothers were willing to make them, the taste just wouldn¡¯t be the same, and their stored counterparts couldn¡¯t even be discussed in the same breath. After having his fill at home, when it was time to work, Jiang Yuan and the folks from Jiang Fuzhen loaded a pickup truck full of zongzi and headed back to the criminal police brigade¡¯s office, distributing them to the members of both the Investigations Unit and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. The officers were all pleased, and Jiang Fuzhen was even happier, saying, "Your team is really great, if you want to gift something, you can actually give it away. In our vige, there are so few people, and exchanging gifts among each other is no fun at all." "Next time you have extra beef from ughtering a cow, send some over to us," Jiang Yuan had no intention of saving for his father. Jiang Fuzhen chuckled, "When I ughter a cow, if you can be in Ningtai County, I¡¯ll send some over to you." All Jiang Yuan could do was smile; the request wasn¡¯t demanding, but it did have its barriers. After visiting Wu Jun¡¯s office to greet him, Jiang Fuzhen and Wu Jun shut the door and busied themselves with their own work. Back in his office, Jiang Yuan turned on hisputer, opened WeChat and email, and casually started replying to messages from various ces. The world of criminal investigation is one family; when a detective he knew ran into a problem, they would message him for advice, and Jiang Yuan would offer a simple answer if he could. Common issues like fingerprints, traces, or problems encountered during autopsies¡ªsolutions that would take Jiang Yuan just a few seconds might save others days of effort. And as Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team moved across the province, cracking cases with increasing sess, their smooth progress was also rted to Jiang Yuan¡¯s good rtionships. Many cases involved other areas, including the current case of the wall-building maniac, where Chen Wanjia was suspected ofmitting crimes in multiple locations, and police needed to investigate in various ces. Knowing some local detectives in those areas could make the job much easier and more effective. In addition, some criminal police and technicians in online groups, perhaps due to theyer of camaraderie from being in a group, spoke much nicer to each other on the inte. Jiang Yuan particrly enjoyed speaking up in the "Qinghe Tech Sharing Group," asionally answering questions in the group. Because of this, not only did the local technicians from Qinghe join the group, but many more from Shan Nan Province as well. This time was no different. After replying to a few private messages, Jiang Yuan took out a few questions that had been saved in the tech sharing group and addressed them one by one. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival, "Qinghe Tech Sharing Group," which had been somewhat quiet, instantly erupted into activity: Li Rui: [The time hase again for a mighty disy.] Wang Yue: [With a spark of Jiang¡¯s three-point true fire, our tough cases this year will probably all be solved.] Usually Dispirited: [Let¡¯s be reasonable, one case per person should suffice, don¡¯t get greedy for multiple cases. If you want several, go find Huang Qiangmin.] Wang Yue: [Hahahaha, that¡¯s hrious, he¡¯s out of our league.] South Conquers North Defends: [Speak respectfully. Director Huang offers one-stop solutions, whereas we share techniques.] While reading the chat log, Jiang Yuan matched a fingerprint on the side. After privately sending it to the original owner, the group immediately reached a climax: Wang Yue: [Thanks to the big guy for his help, Ningtai¡¯s Jiang Yuan, your powers are limitless!] Jiang Yuan: [No need for thanks. The fingerprint was a bit smudged, but that¡¯s my specialty.] South Conquers North Defends: [Captain Jiang is renowned for image enhancement across the country.] Jiang Yuan: [That¡¯s because many experts skilled in image enhancement aren¡¯t familiar with and don¡¯t participate in our criminal investigations.] South Conquers North Defends: [Valid point. In fact, getting more professionals involved in our criminal investigations is pretty important...] The conversation took off from there as everyone chimed in on the topic. Jiang Yuan went on to analyze two tool marks, and finally matched another fingerprint, contributing to four cases in total. He no longer insisted on matching every fingerprint¡ªthe group requests and the ones during fingerprint campaigns were different after all. The fingerprints from the campaigns were usually key to identifying criminals, often critical ones like blood prints. Requests for fingerprint assistance do not have that many stringent requirements, and different levels of police departments have their own judgements about the importance of a case. For Jiang Yuan, if he could rtively easily process a fingerprint, he would attempt to do so; if it were tooplicated, he wouldn¡¯t insist. For truly important fingerprints, police departments at all levels naturally had other channels for assistance. While sipping tea and busying himself, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. Jiang Yuan picked it up to see: Liu Cheng! This captain of the criminal police brigade from the Beijing Bureau had much more time to make decisionspared to the captains of the Shannan Province. One can only say the Beijing Bureau had more rules. Jiang Yuan took another sip of tea before pressing answer, smiling, "Liu, have you arrived in Beijing?" "I have, I have, transportation these days is really convenient, the flight is just three hours," Liu Cheng had followed him in Changyang City, seeing through two murder cases. From Liu Cheng¡¯s perspective, being greatly shaken was just the beginning. Thus, in recent days, Liu Cheng had been thinking day and night about Jiang Yuan. After exchanging pleasantries, Liu Cheng chuckled, "Jiang Yuan, are you alone in the office?" "Ah, yes," Jiang Yuan replied. "Director Huang is not around?" Liu Cheng probed further. With a smile, Jiang Yuan said, "He¡¯s not. If you have something to say, just say it." Clearing his throat, Liu Cheng started with his prepared persuasive speech, "Hey, I was thinking, you¡¯re young, don¡¯t you want to try your luck in a big city? Let me tell you, just our branch..." "Liu Da, I¡¯m a countryside brat," Jiang Yuan interrupted. "Even countryside brats can have ambitions," Liu Cheng retorted. "Would your branch allow me to participate in cases in other cities?" Jiang Yuan asked, flipping the conversation on Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng stuttered, "That... there¡¯s always a way, and moreover, our branch has so many cases we can¡¯t finish them all. Do you know how many people we have in our branch now? Over 4,000 on the books, and more than 3,000 off the books. A huge unit of over 7,000 people, can the support they offer you evenpare with a county bureau?" "Not going to the branch," Jiang Yuan cut off Liu Cheng¡¯s argument. "The city bureau rarely gets directly involved in operations..." "Director Liu, I just like working on cases purely," Jiang Yuan emphasized with extra weight on ¡¯purely¡¯. Liu Cheng was taken aback for a long while, then sighed helplessly. When it came to purity, the central powerhouse couldn¡¯tpare. As a second option, Liu Cheng again led with a chuckle, "Let¡¯s not talk about that, I¡¯ve got a case for you, you¡¯ll definitely be interested." "Go ahead." "This case, it¡¯s been over a week now, was discovered quite by chance. Oh right, does Shannan have those charity boxes for clothing donations? The big metal ones." "There should be some in Changyang City. I think I¡¯ve seen them in the neighborhoods there," Jiang Yuan spoke of the ce where he lived. Liu Cheng gave a grunt of acknowledgment and continued, "The clothes inside these boxes are actually recycled and sold, but that¡¯s not the point. Let me tell you about the discovery. Our retiree auxiliary police officer, who took up this job after resigning and makes a decent ie, found out¡ª8 days ago¡ªthat among the clothes in the box, there were two pieces that were washed bloodstained garments." "If it were someone else, they might have overlooked it, but our former auxiliary police officer had dealt with murder cases before. He could tell something was off just by the smell, and after getting some chemical reagent to test it, it was confirmed to be human blood." "There were a total of two pieces, one top and one pair of pants, women¡¯s clothing." It couldn¡¯t be helped, Jiang Yuan was genuinely interested and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "No body was found?" "No body was found, and moreover, there were no rted case reports that day." Liu Cheng added meaningfully, "The clothes were well-preserved, a hoodie and a pair of jeans, both had signs of use, not brand new, they weren¡¯t washed very clean, like it was done in haste." If the hoodie had its hood up, it meant that unless the victim was attacked in the face and killed, the probability that the clothing belonged to the perpetrator was higher. On the other hand, violent incidents involving women, especially murder cases, have a rtively low urrence rate. The sudden appearance of a hoodie suggesting that the perpetrator might be a woman... Jiang Yuan asked, "The clothes and the pants, how do you determine that they belong to a woman?" "Both the clothing and the pants are from female brands¡¯ women¡¯s collections, this year¡¯s new models on sale, with a feminine design, and roughly women¡¯s sizing..." Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue, "As expected of the Beijing Bureau..." Liu Chengughed, "Ha ha, with this said, have you agreed?" Jiang Yuan alsoughed, "I¡¯ll talk to Commissioner Huang first." Chapter 702 - 645: A Familiar Feeling

Chapter 702: Chapter 645: A Familiar Feeling

"Alright then. Since Liu Cheng and his team are so eager, you can lead a team over and help them with the case. Do you think it can be solved?" After listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, Huang Qiangmin spoke to himself for a while before remembering to ask about the difficulty of the case. On his way over, Jiang Yuan had already considered the case and said, "Whether it can be solved is not certain, but there¡¯s hope. With clothes, we can use legal botany; pollen and spores are also hard to wash away if the bloodstains are not cleaned thoroughly. Bloodstains themselves carry DNA, and there are usage traces; we might even find the DNA of the murderer." Jiang Yuan paused here before adding, "The only issue is that I¡¯m not familiar with the environment in Beijing; the poption is quiterge, and it¡¯s hard to say whether it will still be easy to find people after narrowing down the area." Huang Qiangmin clicked his tongue twice and said, "Listening to you, it seems there¡¯s a good chance of making a breakthrough in this case, so that¡¯s doable. You can lead the team over. Consider this a trial; you don¡¯t need to worry too much. If you can solve the case, do so, and if not, just say it outright. It¡¯s all voluntary help anyway." "Voluntary help?" Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth with some surprise. "Yes, our Ningtai County Bureau often has to travel to Beijing for work. We¡¯ll earn a favor, and this way, when our colleagues go there in the future, they¡¯ll at least have a ce to stay." Huang Qiangmin was never worried about the payment ability of the Beijing Bureau. Unlike what most people might imagine, police work, when it involves physical tasks, generally requires travel. A few years ago, any business rted to penguins would have had to queue up at the capital of Antarctica, and any business involving Alipay would have had to queue at West Lake. Even for ordinary citizens, there¡¯s no such thing as inquiring about various privacies over a phone call; you always have to make a visit and present something. At the very least, you need to be in uniform, and the other party might still feel the need to dial 110 for verification. The same goes for various foreign branches orrgepanies; if you want to investigate them, you have to take a letter to their headquarters. On the other hand, the prosperity of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou attracts not only young people but also criminals of various types like Luo Rongzhi. Without further ado, Jiang Yuan called up a team and booked flights to Beijing, telling Wang Chuanxing to send the flight information to Liu Cheng. That night, the two sides met at the airport. To Jiang Yuan¡¯s surprise, Liu Cheng had also arranged a convoy of three business vans to take them straight to the hotel, proudly saying, "It can¡¯tpare to an Alphard, but here, we can certainly ensure the basic conditions, especially in terms of the budget for handling cases, which is quite sufficient." Jiang Yuan touched the leather of the seat and nodded in agreement, "Indeed, our domestic business vans have more spacious interiors. The Ningtai County Bureau can¡¯tpare to the Beijing Bureau; two years ago, the best cars we had were the Jetta King and the Santana¡ªthe Jetta King had smooth gear shifting, and the Santana had responsive brakes." Mu Zhiyang and others in the car let out quietughter. Compared to the current situation, the vehicles of the County Bureau indeed might seem like a joke. Liu Chengughed along for a moment, but then sighed and said, "The Ningtai County Bureau is different now. From what I see, even just in terms of vehicle conditions, it¡¯s quite good." "Director Huang does have a knack for this," Jiang Yuanughed. Now Liu Cheng also knew what was going on andughed too, "Commissioner Huang also has your support..." He wasn¡¯t trying to lure Jiang Yuan anymore. Knowing their deep-rooted childhood friendship, his charm was limited, and it wouldn¡¯t work; if Jiang Yuan could be useful, they would utilise his help. However, regarding sincerity, Liu Cheng did show plenty of it. Setting aside whether the dinner that night was good, the individual meal system drove the price up, which in itself was proof of the attention and ample funding Liu Cheng had mentioned¡ªit wasn¡¯t just talk. Jiang Yuan also enjoyed the meal. If Lin¡¯an were a culinary desert, then Beijing, at most, would be an oasis in the northern desert¡ªthere was some good food, but not much. And undoubtedly, one had to lower their standards. However, on the other hand, as the capital of virtue, the city¡¯s resources were inevitably decent, so while taste might becking, the presentation couldpensate somewhat. The pure individual serving system was quite distinctive. It equated to numerous tes of small dishes, and the benefit was that each dish required individual seasoning, which wasplicated and exhausting for the chefs during busy times. But for diners, every dish wasplete, with main and side dishesplementing each other. It was like a simple dish of blue-and-white fish, a rather inexpensive ingredient that emanated a strong fragrance with just a sprinkle of salt and a brief grilling. Cut into bite-sized pieces and artfully ted, the dish suddenly seemed three times more delicious than anything at the night market, truly showcasing the skill of Beijing¡¯s renowned chefs. After several courses, with something in his stomach, Jiang Yuan sipped the tea paired with the meal and asked, "Captain Liu, is it convenient to discuss the case here?" "Shall we not rest and start again tomorrow?" Liu Cheng asked with a smile. "Having traveled this far for business, the sooner we finish, the sooner it¡¯s over." "Alright, with Ningtai Jiang Yuan on the case, there¡¯ll be no issues," Liu Chengplimented once more, then became serious, choosing his words carefully, "The physical evidence in the blood-stained clothes case primarily consists of the clothes from that day, and most importantly, the two pieces of blood-stained clothing. In the early stages of the investigation, we tracked the brand and sales channels of the clothes, but they had a high sales volume, including in Beijing, so we couldn¡¯t connect them to any suspects." Liu Cheng paused before continuing, "We¡¯ve also done DNAparisons with the other clothes found in the same donation box. The box was ced under an apartment building, which isn¡¯t isted in aplex manner and is connected to office buildings, so the identity of the person who donated the clothes remains uncertain. What we do know now is that the blood and the sweat on the clothes belong to females, but to two different individuals." Jiang Yuan slightly nodded, "This means that both the murderer and the victim are most likely female." "Yes," Liu Cheng nodded gravely, "This is where the case has hit a wall. The main issue is that we can¡¯t find the body, so we have no idea how the murderer disposed of it or why she left behind only the blood-stained clothes." He left the question open-ended, sparking interest among the detectives present. Wang Chuanxing put down his chopsticks and suggested, "It¡¯s possible that she buried the body, perhaps in a park nearby. She couldn¡¯t bury her blood-stained clothes with the body, nor could she just dispose of them carelessly. A woman doesn¡¯t have the strength to dig a second hole; upon seeing the donation box, she might have stuffed them there?" "Then why didn¡¯t she just throw them in the trash?" Tang Jia questioned after listening to his reasoning, "Moreover, the clothes appeared to have been roughly washed. Cutting them up and throwing them away would be safer than putting them in a donation box." "Burning them would be even safer," Wang Chuanxing said. "Burning clothes would create thick smoke, and they wouldn¡¯t burnpletely, especially denim and synthetic fabrics," Tang Jia seriously pointed out. "The body was probably dismembered," Mu Zhiyang suddenly interjected, "Otherwise, it would be difficult to move a body weighing over 100 pounds." He had actual experience with carrying bodies and knew the weight involved. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod; Mu Zhiyang had worked with him on many cases, and his judgement was usually quite sound. While violent killings could result in blood-stained clothing, the likelihood of dismemberment was higher because it was a female murderer. After all, with arge body lying there, immovable and unwanted by the police, how would one deal with it? At this point, many criminals would choose to dismember the body to evade thew¡¯s punishment. But dismemberment is actually very challenging. Not to mention the difficulty of the task akin to a butcher disassembling an ox, even an ordinary person who has purchased half a pig or amb would understand some of the difficulty when trying to fit it into a fridge. Therger volume of a human body means the challenge of disassembling it would only be greater. Getting covered in blood in the process would be more than normal. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s serious face, Liu Cheng¡¯s emotions unexpectedly rxed a little, and he said, "The case has stalled here due to some rather illogical issues... " "No worries, we¡¯ll let the evidence speak for itself tomorrow," Jiang Yuan responded, his expression still grave, but without a trace of hesitation or worry. Liu Cheng¡¯s mood immediately tensed up again; this feeling was so familiar... Chapter 703 - 646 Ula Ula (First update in batch)

Chapter 703: Chapter 646 (First update in batch)

Zhengguang District Branch Bureau. Jiang Yuan followed Liu Cheng, and from the moment he entered, he received countless curious gazes. He was tall with an extraordinary bearing, a very obvious characteristic. Apanied by Liu Cheng, almost everyone, both inside and outside the division, within and outside the organization, recognized him. Ningtai Jiangyuan, an imposing figure. This phrase, spread by Liu Cheng, was the talk of the Zhengguang Bureau internally. No one doubted anything. In the vastnd of China, with its spirited people and endless emergence of geniuses, the people of Beijing, who were well-informed and had seen it all, were overwhelmed by the sheer number of gifted young talents and had no time to be astounded. However, when a genius arrived at their division, it was natural to secretly gauge their "purity," much like people tirelesslyparing the worth of the magnates listed on the Forbes list¡ªSpecial Jun isparable to Ci Qing, but Ci Jun is indeed wealthier. People looked at each other through the windows, watching Jiang Yuan and discussing amongst themselves: "Solving a case isn¡¯t something you can umte experience in; even Sherlock Holmes, upon facing such a headless case, would probably be left spinning in circles." "Without sufficient evidence, even Conan would have to bow his head and pretend to be a primary school student." "Never mind the evidence and all that, there aren¡¯t even any clues. Ningtai Jiangyuan... probably just came to take a look. The poption density and mobility in Beijing are more than what their whole county can manage." "It¡¯s not that bad, maybe he has some unique insights." ... Meeting room. Liu Cheng¡¯s immediate superior, the captain of the criminal police squad, Tao Lu, hade early as well to see what Jiang Yuan had to say. In essence, the mandate to solve homicide cases differed slightly between a county city and the Beijing Division. To put it simply, the incidence rate of homicides in bigger cities was higher, and there were times when cases just couldn¡¯t be solved, which the higher-ups were more tolerant of. In county cities with lower homicide incidence rates, if you couldn¡¯t solve the case, the higher-ups would not indulge your failures. Of course, for those responsible for operations, like the captain of the criminal police squad Liu Cheng, or the subdivision leader Tao Lu, failing to solve a homicide case was always distressing. If criminal investigation were considered project-based, then this would be equivalent to the failure toplete the biggest project. Tao Lu looked Jiang Yuan up and down, thinking that he looked even younger than the interns under hismand. Interns at the Beijing Division, many of whom had Master¡¯s degrees by the time they joined, really tended to be older. However, Tao Lu was patient. He just sat calmly, drinking tea, prepared to listen attentively to Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative thought process. At the conference table, the other criminal police squad captains who hade along shared simr thoughts. Then, Jiang Yuan opened his mouth and said: "Legal Botany..." "Tool mark examination..." "U..." "Forensic Material Evidence..." The sensation Tao Lu had was that of his brain heating up, as if knowledge had knocked on his door, a wild donkey had plowed his field, a technician had broken his abstinence, a key had been inserted into the lock... Jiang Yuan spoken non-stop for a quarter of an hour, and with that, it seemed he had analyzed the case thoroughly. When Jiang Yuan paused, the meeting room, which was supposed to continue with the discussion, fell silent. Everyone was busy trying to expand their thinking, and their mouths were temporarily out of service. Jiang Yuan picked up his teacup and took a sip of water. It was amon tea leaf, but in the office, it should be considered good tea. It tasted smooth without any bitterness and had a slight hint of sweetness. Most importantly, it wasn¡¯t jasmine tea. It took a while before Tao Lu snapped out of it and signaled with his eyes, prompting his subordinates to speak. The captain of the third team next door, a squint-eyed fellow, coughed twice and said, "Doctor Jiang¡¯s n is mainly technical, and as for... I don¡¯t really understand technology, can this thing you call Legal Botany really identify the exact location?" Jiang Yuan, who was out of the office, was someone who always had at least a third of emotional intelligence on him. Now, without touching on any cause and effect, he said, "I work in Legal Botany mainly in theb. I¡¯ve brought my team with me and the equipment is very simple. It¡¯s the same whether we do it here or if I take it back to work on. You can continue with your other investigative directions without any dy." The pollen and spores on the clothes were just as described, and although Jiang Yuan had not yet seen them, as he mentioned, the other actions of the local detective squad would not affect the evidence¡¯s performance. If that was the case, they were essentially two parallel lines. Jiang Yuan simply offered a new investigative direction, and it had an even greater chance and potential forpletion. If it were a game, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach would be akin to adding an item rather than recing one, at the very least an enchantment effect. For those in leadership, there was nothing not to like about the way Jiang Yuan worked. Whether the actual effects would be good was still unclear, but the theoretical effectiveness had really been greatly enhanced. Tao Lu, the head of the detachment, immediately said, "We fully support whatever technical conditions and equipment Doctor Jiang needs. As for the specific experimental n and its execution, that will be handled by Doctor Jiang... How should we assist on our end?" "Let¡¯s first see the conclusions of Legal Botany," Jiang Yuan added, "Through Legal Botany, we can determine the rtionships between the location and the individuals involved." "Well... okay, having a range is still good," Tao Lu thought. Even if you could establish rtionships between locations and individuals, with so many varieties of flowers and Beijing being so vast, it was still like looking for a needle in a haystack. He still didn¡¯t grasp the significance of the pollen profile. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t possibly educate him on the spot, so he just smiled politely, like a brooding hen doting over a preserved egg. Huang Qiangmin had said that the Beijing Bureau was a wealthy organization; just the budget of the Zhengguang District Branch Bureau alone was 2.2 billion a year, not to mention their umted fixed assets and intellectual property over the years. One could say that for such arge organization of nearly ten thousand people, even a slight leak of funds would be enough for Ningtai County Bureau to live off for a lifetime. Moreover, their umted cold cases would only increase, making them a prime... partner for cooperation. Tao Lu didn¡¯t even understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and forced a smile, saying, "All right. I trust the work on Doctor Jiang¡¯s end; let¡¯s have the teams report in turn, and also let Doctor Jiang get up to speed on thetest case developments." Actually, there wasn¡¯t much to get up to speed on. Although Tao Lu had easily dispatched a team of over a hundred people, which was more than the entire staff of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, in such arge city, to make a breakthrough with just two bloodied garments was truly difficult. The officers from the various teams exined their search efforts. Theoretically, although no leads or correct answers were found, they at least eliminated some possibilities. Jiang Yuan took brief notes and, after the meeting, followed Liu Cheng to theboratory. On the way, Liu Cheng seemed a bit embarrassed and said, "Actually, it¡¯s almost time for lunch. We could eat first and then take our time to get familiar with the equipment here." "Legal Botany doesn¡¯t require any special equipment, just a suitable microscope would do," Jiang Yuan paused and then added, "Collecting pollen requires full concentration, and if theb conditions are good, I¡¯d rather not go out for lunch." Liu Cheng quickly said, "You don¡¯t have to work that hard." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, indicating that Legal Botany was inherently hard work. However, demonstrating it to the colleagues in Zhengguang District Branch Bureau was a good idea, especially since it was an organization with a 2.2 billion budget; they deserved respect. Forensic Laboratory. Under the incandescent lights, three rows of tables were parallel, with seven or eight groups of tall cabs behind them. Although the arrangement was different and the sizerger, overall, the forensicboratory of the Beijing Bureau was not much different from Ningtai County¡¯s. Thebs located inside the Bureau were not for conducting autopsies; the main work involved examining samples under a microscope. In fact, in most cases during the investigation process, forensics would often need to be involved multiple times, mainly to inspect specimens. The second or even third autopsies that victims¡¯ families often request have a very low urrence rate. Because of the destructive nature of a forensic autopsy, the most valuable evidence should theoretically have been collected during the first autopsy, such as parts of internal organs and the brain, which can be sliced, immersed in paraffin, and then used for making slides with a microtome for preservation. Thus, at this moment in the forensicb, those cabs that could hold twenty or thirty sets of clothing hangers were mostly filled with tissue samples. When the special case team wanted to revisit an old case, they would find samples in these cabs to re-examine. From a scientific standpoint, this method is more effective and less costly than preserving bodies. However, for the current case, with no bodies, there were no tissue slides; what Jiang Yuan needed was just a microscope, the evidence, and plenty of time. Chapter 704 - 647 Not Exerting Force (Second - )

Chapter 704: Chapter 647 Not Exerting Force (Second Chapter)

Early morning. Jiang Yuan arrived at the forensicboratory early in the morning, made himself a cup of tea, tidied up his desk, and then started his day¡¯s work¡ªlooking into the microscope. The bloodstained clothing that served as evidence, had been cut into several pieces, for Jiang Yuan to pick out pollen under the microscope. Contrary to what many people imagine, when forensic scientists face evidence, their goal is often not to preserve its original state. Common items like bed sheets and pillowcases from crime scenes are roughly cut when testing for blood or luminol, soaked in reagents, and further tested. Simrly, pieces of paper stained with other substances are treated in the same way. Some might feel uneasy about this destruction of original states, but from another perspective, many pieces of evidence aren¡¯t collected in their original state to begin with. For example, a bedsheet that someone has died on doesn¡¯t necessarily need to be packed and returned in its entirety, and it¡¯s even less necessary to pack the entire bedding set. If it¡¯s a technician from the criminal department handling the task, the most normal method is just to cut a piece and take it back. Whether evidence is missed because of this depends on the crime scene personnel¡¯s abilities. Generally, if there is any doubt, they would pack more items to take back. Otherwise, they would just cut a piece to use as evidence. Of course, the importance of the case dictates how much gets packed and taken back. In cases like a small-scale burry with a low value of stolen goods, you can¡¯t even take more evidence if you want to; even if the evidence room doesn¡¯tin, the intiff wouldn¡¯t want you packing up a truckload of their belongings for a case involving just a few thousand yuan. Jiang Yuan picked out pollen grain by grain. There is a great variety in the size of pollen grains¡ªthe smallest pollen is only about 4 micrometers long, while thergest can have diameters up to 200 micrometers. In terms of shape, there are many species with spiked spherical pollen, abalone-shaped ones, triangr ones, and so on... Overall, if it¡¯s just LV1 level forensic botany skills, one can easily categorize the pollen, but technicians with lower levels may encounter many problems when determining the specific species or genus. In terms of cases, LV1 forensic botany can hardly provide direct clues; at most, it can serve to verify evidence or maybe narrow down the range with single-species pollen. An LV2 forensic botanist would have significantly enhanced identification capabilities, but would still need to constantly refer to materials for confirmation. Needless to say, in a task that was already very time-consuming, constantly referring to materials means that progress could be frustratingly slow. By LV3, most pollen no longer requires material consultation, or at least not extensively. In such cases, practicality is greatly enhanced. Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic botany skills had now reached LV4, where he could recognize many pollen species at a nce. Moreover, for somemon types of pollen, he could even distinguishmon ornamental subfamilies. In the eyes of someone knowledgeable, it wouldn¡¯t be an overstatement to utter a word of respect. As a result, the other forensic doctors from the Beijing Bureau working in the sameboratory noticed that Jiang Yuan kept picking pollen without needing any reference materials, taking notes in a notebook beside him. A TN brand genuine leather notebook might look like something a clueless office worker would carry, but the forensic doctors in the Beijing Bureau knew a bit about modern cutting-edge technology¡ªafter all, the training they received always followed the Bureau¡¯s lead. So, this seemingly unscientific practice made several forensic doctors suspicious. "It couldn¡¯t be made up, could it?" A forensic doctor¡¯s skepticism started to surface. Being a detective involves questioning things up to 800 times a day, which is considered on the low end. Faced with Jiang Yuan, whom they weren¡¯t very familiar with, his reputation notwithstanding, doubt was unstoppable. The main investigator in the Hugjiltu case was known as the Mongolian Sherlock Holmes, yet it still ended up a mess. "Xiao Li, go take a look," a senior forensic doctor in the office thought for a moment and then quietly instructed the younger doctor beside him. So Xiao Li got up, pretending to be bored, and walked over to Jiang Yuan. He saw a list of nt names already recorded in Jiang Yuan¡¯s notebook, with several marked by Jiang Yuan with five-pointed stars: daffodil, "Carry Water Mother-In-Law" (Spathiphyllum), ¡¯Tiger¡¯s w¡¯ (Episcia)... Xiao Li couldn¡¯t help but nce over, wondering silently why these were marked. At that moment, Jiang Yuan looked up from the microscope and caught the gaze of the doctor beside him, as if seeing through his thoughts. He wrote down "hyacinth" in his notebook and marked it with five stars while saying, "Those marked are all toxic nts." "Ah?" Xiao Li¡¯s exmation was half because of what Jiang Yuan said, and half because he thought his thoughts had been exposed. Indeed, Jiang Yuan had guessed his thoughts. Having worked out in the field for more than just a day or two, his more than a year of experience had mostly involved simr scenarios. Especially the technicians, they tend to be even more skeptical because ordinary people simply don¡¯t understand the depths of technology, assuming that things like fingerprints and DNA results appear automatically. It was different for the technicians; they knew some things were incredibly difficult, like certain math problems that left thempletely befuddled, believing someone could solve them, but not that such a person would be right there beside them. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes once again fixed on the microscope, and he said, "The pollen extracted so far is predominantly from domesticated nts, and there are varieties of toxic nt pollen as well. Additionally, there are some vegetable pollens, such as from cucumbers, chili peppers, eggnts, loofahs, pumpkins, and onions... The owner of these clothes must have had an area around them." In the office, the other forensic doctors¡¯ attention was now drawn. The most experienced forensic doctor, Guo Xiang, stood up and first asked, "Why wouldn¡¯t it be from somewhere like a vegetable garden?" "Because there are more indoor nts, the variety of ornamental nts is veryplex, and moreover, it should be quite rare for a vegetable garden to intermix toxic nts." Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "Looking at the overall pollen spectrum, it resembles more the type that nts flowers and vegetables on a balcony; a little bit of lot of different kinds. In vegetable gardens, the types of nts are rtively more uniform." Jiang Yuan¡¯s statement was deductive reasoning. Guo Xiang did not dwell on it and curiously asked, "What does cucumber pollen look like? May I see it?" "This one." Jiang Yuan then showed Guo Xiang the sampled cucumber pollen. Under the microscope, the cucumber pollen was a tender green, slightly elliptical and irregrly circr with densely wrinkled surfaces, along with three grooves of varying shades of yellow. The thickest groove had an even more irregr connection. Guo Xiang scrutinized it,mitting it to memory, then exchanged a few polite remarks before returning to his seat. He then searched the legal botany as on the internalwork, looking up cucumber directly. It was indeed an exact match. Still not fully reassured, Guo Xiang searched for the appearances of the pollen from daffodils and chili peppers as well, memorized them, and then went over to join Jiang Yuan, sitting next to him and observing the sifted pollen through another microscope. Indeed, it was simr. Guo Xiang breathed a sigh of relief, but then his suspicion deepened, and he sized up Jiang Yuan from top to bottom, saying, "I just checked, and there are about 250,000 species of angiosperms. You can¡¯t possibly remember every species¡¯ pollen. That¡¯s a bit much to believe." "How could that be possible," Jiang Yuanughed. Guo Xiang alsoughed. Jiang Yuan said, "There¡¯s a pattern." Guo Xiang¡¯s smile faltered slightly, "250,000 species?" "Of course, that is not possible. For the umon ones, I still need to distinguish their genus before making a judgment," Jiang Yuan stated ambiguously. For Guo Xiang, Jiang Yuan¡¯s modesty at that moment made him even more inscrutable. And as a technician who had verified the evidence, all Guo Xiang could do was to trust Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. "So, if we disregard the vegetable garden, are we looking for someone who grows vegetables at home?" Guo Xiang began discussing the specific leads. Jiang Yuan pondered briefly and said, "Actually, we don¡¯t need to overthink it. Setting the location where the bloodstained clothes were found as the center, how about we first survey the area with a drone? Judging by the types of flowers and vegetables, the contact point for the bloodstained clothes shouldn¡¯t be purely indoors. It has to have sufficient sunlight and a certain area to grow so many different kinds of nts. If it were purely indoors, the lighting would have to be very good." "That would mean growing vegetables on a balcony or on a rooftop," Guo Xiang concluded. "It could also be a green space in a residentialmunity, or inside a courtyard house," another forensic doctor added. Guo Xiang readily nodded, then said, "Could you report this, Captain Jiang? If we¡¯re going to use drones, we still have to consider the surrounding area of the scene. I don¡¯t recall any no-fly zones." Jiang Yuan knew that Guo was avoiding taking credit for himself, and replied nonchntly, "You go ahead and call. It¡¯s easier for your team tomunicate internally. Besides, leads from legal botany can only be mine; you can¡¯t take them from me." His candid response left Guo Xiang feeling somewhat helpless. Without further ado, Guo Xiang pulled out his mobile phone and made the call. Then he recalled that this was indeed the first piece of good news since the case began. Guo Xiang nced back at Jiang Yuan; not even a day and a half had passed, and despite not seeing Jiang Yuan exert much effort, the results seemed quite modest, yet the leads were concrete. And for the detectives in the unit, that was most crucial. Chapter 705 - 648 Search

Chapter 705: Chapter 648 Search

Flying drones in Beijing, especially those legally equipped with cameras, still poses a bit of a challenge. However, the officers from the Zhengguang District Branch Bureau had their ways and the execution to match. A few young members of the Image Investigation team carried several drones and carefully flew them over a two-kilometer radius surrounding the donation box area. Two kilometers might not sound like much, but in practice, it amounts to a circle with a 2-kilometer radius, covering an area of more than 12 square kilometers. In Beijing, how many buildings are there within a 12 square kilometer area? In this case, ces like gardens, mausoleums, parks, botanical gardens, and zoos couldn¡¯t be simply overlooked; they needed to be meticulously searched as well. It¡¯s just that the Beijing Bureau had sufficient manpower. Squad Leader Tao Lu mobilized more than a hundred people from three teams to watch surveince videos, ensuring the progress wasn¡¯t dyed. In the following days, everyone returned to their normal routines, watching videos at work and disciplining their children at home without a hitch. For a case without a clear-cut beginning, the fact that not a single detective ended up hospitalized midway through the investigation suggested just how ample Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s manpower was. Over several days, the Image Investigation detectives captured thousands of pictures and identified hundreds of illegal constructions, but they found no green nts that met the criteria. As with previous cases, as time wore on, everyone¡¯s confidence inevitably waned. It was clear to all that the longer it took, the less evidence there would be. Not to mention the most crucial piece of evidence in this case, the body, which could very well have been disposed of during this time, the target nts the team was searching for might have been processed too. When Tao Lu contemted this, he couldn¡¯t help but find Liu Cheng before leaving work and then together, they approached Jiang Yuan to express his concerns, "Beijing has a huge poption flow. If the killer fled after the murder, what if the green nts he cultivated are sold or discarded? If that¡¯s the case, our idea of finding the killer through the type of nts may end up as rootless duckweed." He stopped short of saying "searching for a sword at the bottom of a river," which was at least polite. Jiang Yuan was already packing up to leave work. His task of finding pollen had essentiallye to an end, and his current focus was on locating the corresponding ntmunities. Tao Lu¡¯s question was something Jiang Yuan had obviously also considered. He took a moment topose his thoughts and said, "Although we can¡¯t guarantee it one hundred percent, we¡¯ve identified so many types of pollen, and the area required is quiterge. Whether the ce is rented or owned, the killer must have a considerable level of economic strength. Of course, the killer could simply live or work there, in which case he¡¯d be even less likely to dispose of the nts." "That makes sense..." Tao Lu felt a bit relieved, though his doubts were not entirely dispelled, just as Jiang Yuan had suggested, there was no absolute guarantee. Liu Cheng spoke up from the side, "Could two kilometers be too short?" Tao Lu and Jiang Yuan both looked at him. Liu Cheng, someone who didn¡¯t stress over domestic worries, simply said, "The donation box is on amercial street. The range should span more than two kilometers in all directions. Have we perhaps missed something by only defining a two-kilometer radius?" Tao Lu red at this ¡¯unfilial son¡¯ as if his patience was running thin and said, "It¡¯s taken a week to survey within 2 kilometers..." "Let¡¯s consider it as a backup option," Jiang Yuan agreed that 2 kilometers wasn¡¯t enough. But the reality of Beijing¡¯s environment was such that adding another kilometer would more than double the workload¡ªthe area of a circle with a 3-kilometer radius would be 28 square kilometers, which was farrger than the current 12 square kilometers. Even with the Beijing Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad willing to take on the task, the burden felt overwhelming. Tao Lu heaved a sigh of relief, only to be tense again soon after. He felt like he was in Cao Cao¡¯s position, yet without sess, filled with both urgency and fear, wanting to venture ahead alone, yet afraid of being cut off from behind. Liu Cheng, as if watching a live broadcast and not afraid to stir things up, said, "There¡¯s also a subway near themercial street. Could the killer, after discarding the bloody clothes, have been nning to take the subway?" Tao Lu almost spat out blood and really wanted to address the person raising questions by giving Liu Cheng a fierce re, "It doesn¡¯t matter where he goes, as long as the crime scene is nearby. What¡¯s most important now is to find the crime scene." As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan looked at the two men, both of whom didn¡¯t understand Legal Botany and had plenty of worries. So Jiang Yuan said, "I think our investigative approach is sound. Let¡¯s continue the investigation for a while longer. After we finish the first wave of searches within the two-kilometer range, then we can decide." There is a problem with Legal Botany: most detectives simply can¡¯t grasp it. As a result, everyone¡¯s anxiety bes quite intense. Meanwhile, the application of forensic botanics was inherently very time-consuming, which was another part of the growing anxiety. Tao Lu could only nod and offer a strained smile, saying, "It¡¯s time for lunch, let¡¯s eat something together." "No need, I brought my own food," Jiang Yuan paused, continuing, "I couldn¡¯t be bothered to go out today, nning to get some early rest tonight." Tao Lu politely offered, "Let me treat you to some Beijing specialties, you can eat the food you broughtter." Jiang Yuan shook his head, saying, "My dad made it and had someone specially fly it over, it¡¯d be a waste not to eat it tonight." Tao Lu was momentarily surprised, "Your dad is that considerate?" "He¡¯s been ughtering cattle and sheep recently, also wants me to try the taste," Jiang Yuan added a few more words before heading back on his own. Most Beijing delicacies aren¡¯t a must-try. The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived early at the bureau to help review drone-captured video footage. His team from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team wasn¡¯t small, and including the subsequent support that followed, they had almost 30 people by now. This number might not seem significant in the several thousand strong Zhengguang Sub-bureau, but a group of detectives seasoned in homicide cases held some value. Even the Zhengguang Sub-bureau would find it difficult to suddenly deploy such a vigorous force. When Wang Chuanxing and others first started following Jiang Yuan, they were indeed rookies. But now, every member of the Cold Case Squad had at least seven or eight lives on their hands, with most boasting a rxed double digits. Even the detective squad of the Zhengguang Sub-bureau wasn¡¯t so well-off. A group had taken arge conference room, set up their operation, and got busy. Reviewing surveince footage was work Wang Chuanxing and his colleagues were already familiar with, and ustomed to coordinating with Jiang Yuan, they didn¡¯t struggle like the detectives from Zhengguang Bureau when encountering blurry images, they simply handed it to Jiang Yuan for feedback. Jiang Yuan conducted the image enhancement at a swift pace. Honestly, applying LV5 image enhancement on such quality footage was a bit of overkill, but the results were exceptionally prominent. Soon, a potted green nt on a balcony was marked by Jiang Yuan. "Crabapple, Chinese rose, butterfly orchid... they all match," said Jiang Yuan, circling the flowers on the printed photo and handing it to Tao Lu. Tao Lu was thrilled, "A match? Is this the ce?" "Not certain, but many of the nts do match," Jiang Yuan said. "Didn¡¯t you mention that the pollen profiles are unique?" Tao Lu frowned slightly. Matters involving operations needed extreme caution. Jiang Yuan then exined, "What we can see now is just a corner of the balcony, we can¡¯t be sure if there are other nts on the rest of the balcony or in the room since the video doesn¡¯t show it. But I think, with the degree of simrity we have so far, it¡¯s worth making a visit." "Then let¡¯s go," Tao Lu decided immediately upon hearing this, chuckling apologetically to Jiang Yuan, "I was a bit harsh just now, an old bad habit of mine, don¡¯t take it to heart..." "I won¡¯t," Jiang Yuan replied calmly, a smile on his face. Some division heads get furious after dealing with Huang Qiangmin, but what was a little temper to the head of the detective squad of Zhengguang like Tao Lu, who had good conditions. Before long, a group of detectives had been assembled by Tao Lu. Jiang Yuan also took Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing with him, joining Liu Cheng¡¯srge team on their way to Huirong Building where the target was located. Chapter 706 - 649 Provocation?

Chapter 706: Chapter 649 Provocation?

Huirong Building. This was an office building constructed at the beginning of the 2000s. By the standards of that time, it was quite high, but it¡¯s somewhat outdated by today¡¯s standards. In terms of appearance, its curtain wall isn¡¯t as sleek as an all-ss structure, nor can itpare with the new materials office buildings that follow the environmental protection route and are more expensive. Upon entering the building, the property management was obviouslycking, whether in terms of cleanliness or the maintenance of equipment such as elevators, all exuding an outdated vibe, reminiscent of a boys¡¯ dormitory. "Such office buildings shouldn¡¯t be sold, right? Everyone is just renting?" Liu Cheng observed his surroundings with a slightly worried look. If the property had been purchased, Liu Cheng believed it would be quite difficult for the killer to sell the house and handle the transfer in such a short time. But if it was rented, wouldn¡¯t the killer be able to easily abandon the ce and leave? Jiang Yuan knew what Liu Cheng was worried about and reassured him, "At least as long as the nts are there, it¡¯s fine if we can ascertain the identity." Liu Cheng thought about it and nodded, "Even if he used a fake ID card, we should be able to track him down." Renting such office spaces usually required at least providing an ID card. From the perspective of the police, for most murder cases, it¡¯s considered a partial failure if they end up in a manhunt. But this case was a headless case, where solving it was evidently more difficult, so it wouldn¡¯t be a loss even if it turned into a manhunt. Given the current domestic environment, unless the killer hid deep in the mountains and forests to live by hunting and fishing,pletely abandoning cell phones, not contacting the outside world, andpletely cutting off from society, it would be very difficult to escape. Just in terms of police strength, having two or three people responsible for the manhunt would be more than enough. With this mindset prepared, Liu Cheng stopped talking. He focused on the elevator until they reached the 22nd floor. Once he stepped out, he already wore the demeanor of a serious criminal detective. The entirety of the 22nd floor was rented by a home furnishing enterprise. Liu Cheng first had someone block off the elevators and staircases before revealing his identity, and then he entered the premises with Jiang Yuan and the others. The employees, who were in the middle of their work, looked at Liu Cheng and the others with the eyes of the sleep-deprived. Like donkeys of a production team suddenly encountering folks from another vige, their blurry eyes lit up as if they were anticipating something exciting to happen. Liu Cheng and the camera following him captured the expressions and movements of everyone without missing a thing. If Jiang Yuan could confirm the species of the nts, then all these video records could be used as clues. The person in charge of the office was hurriedly dealing with Liu Cheng and the others. A medium-sized enterprise from Beijing, quite ordinary, still felt somewhat apprehensive in the face of criminal cases and detectives. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to deal with these matters, and together with Mu Zhiyang, he moved down the corridor. Wang Chuanxing followed behind, taking photos, with continuous video recording as evidence. The coverage of thew enforcement recorders on the officer¡¯s chest was limited after all, and for a murder case, capturing more evidence could never hurt. In the office area of this enterprise, there were quite a number of green nts. Each employee had a pot of pothos on the side of the aisle near them, and some nts were specifically ced in the window area; most of them ovepped with the list, such as daffodils, moth orchids, red and white anthuriums, kaffir lilies... Jiang Yuan found more than thirty types of pollen on the bloody garment, with nearly thirty types being abundant. Most of them weremon indoor nts, so some repetition was normal. However, the ovep rate at thispany was already above average. Jiang Yuan¡¯s brows involuntarily furrowed. In terms of pollen spectrum concept, this was a status of mismatch. As for the suggestion that someone first got pollen from certain nts at thepany and then got pollen from other nts at home, theyers of ovep in the pollen would be different. That is to say, even if the pollen from two distant ces made up the same types of species, they wouldn¡¯t belong to the same group of pollen spectra due to differences in quantity, position, and other reasons. Jiang Yuan went on to check a few smaller offices and meeting rooms, then returned to Liu Cheng¡¯s side, speaking in a low voice, "There are some flowers I haven¡¯t seen, but those I have seen are mostly on the list, with a very high repetition rate. We need to ask if there are other nts near here and where these ntse from." Liu Cheng was first pleased, then his brows furrowed too. The most annoying thing for a criminal detective was such a near miss. Being slightly off meant not being able to convict, and lots of effort would be for nothing... "So, is it here?" Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t help but ask again. This was aplex question. Jiang Yuan replied, "Let¡¯s ask first." Consequently, Liu Cheng got the office¡¯s person in charge into a meeting room. The individual was faced with a row of police officers, a situation akin to a tribunal. A manager of modest renown had never seen such a sight and said carefully, "We are just a furniture enterprise..." "Answer only what you¡¯re asked," Liu Cheng cut off the other person with a single sentence, then added, "Who takes care of these nts in your office?" "nts?" The person in charge racked their brain but couldn¡¯t fathom what this was all about. Liu Cheng hummed an acknowledgment. After blinking and thinking it over more carefully, the person in charge said, "If you¡¯re referring to the office nts, we rent them all from a specializedpany for greenery." "Rented?" This answer was indeed beyond Liu Cheng¡¯s expectations and equally surprising for Jiang Yuan. Seeing an avenue of exnation, the in charge hurriedly said, "Yes, a nt maintenance or flowerpany¡ªit¡¯s them. They bring over a catalog from which we can choose nts, and they offer packages too. After we make our selection, they deliver the nts and also handle all the upkeep. We don¡¯t have to worry about anything. This includes recing any dead nts; they take them away and bring in new ones." Liu Cheng and Jiang Yuan exchanged nces, their expressions shifting. If thepany operated in such a fashion, then it meant their clients included more than just this onepany. Liu Cheng promptly said, "Give me the name and contact information of thepany, as well as the contract you have with them." "Okay, okay," the other party quickly agreed. "And another thing," Liu Cheng stopped them, pondered for a moment, and asked, "Has anyone from yourpany gone missing recently or not shown up for several days?" "No." "Everyone¡¯s ounted for?" "Yes, ourpany rewards full attendance," the in charge answered. Liu Cheng hummed in response and then said, "Go find the contract." Fearing deceit, he had already arranged for a police officer to follow along. Shortly after, the information Liu Cheng requested wasid out on the table. Reading thepany¡¯s address and noting it was in the suburbs, Liu Cheng hesitated briefly but then decided, "Let¡¯s go there directly." In a serious case like this, they couldn¡¯t possibly handle things over the phone. Being mistaken for scammers was the least of their worries; what they feared was tipping off the criminal, who might then slip away. Without a word, Jiang Yuan followed Liu Cheng. While the outskirts of Beijing were quite distant, the Ningtai County Bureau often had to travel to townships, where distances might not be greater, but travel time certainly was. Everyone hurried into the elevator, leaving only two officers behind to continue registering information and taking statements. This was now a link in the chain of evidence. Besides, given thepany¡¯s location within a two-kilometer radius, suspicion still lingered. On the way there, Liu Cheng¡¯s mood was rtively good; this was, after all, some form of progresspared to the previous dead ends. Jiang Yuan spent the entire trip with closed eyes, deep in thought. The case was being investigated based on forensic botany; but considering the currentposition of the special investigation team, Jiang Yuan was the only one who fully grasped the concept. In other words, Jiang Yuan was the sole provider of information and had to take responsibility for it. Jiang Yuan was now reflecting on all the tests done in theb, careful not to miss anything. "We¡¯re here," the driver said, following the navigation to the green ntpany¡¯s location. "This is a fine ce for a murder," Liu Cheng noted as he got out of the car and surveyed the surroundings:rge fields of crops stretched to the foothills, and white, ck, and blue low-lying greenhouses cluttered in patches. Stretching, Liu Cheng remarked, "No emperor in sight, no surveince, near the roadside with water pipes and ditches, and the ground is earthy. Killing someone here, you could just rinse the blood into the ditch with water¡ªconvenient." "If you killed someone here, you could bury bloody clothes right in the ground. There¡¯d be no need to go all the way to the city center to dispose of them," a detective joked. Mu Zhiyang said, "A taunt to the police?" "This... that¡¯s impossible. Those are just plots from TV shows; nobody risks their own life to get into trouble like that," Liu Cheng said, although his expression became serious. If such was the case, the Zhengguang Sub-bureau would really lose face. Chapter 707 - 650: The Missing Person

Chapter 707: Chapter 650: The Missing Person

The Green nt Company was built right behind the vegetable plots, using the vige¡¯snd¡ªa stretch of paved ground, a concrete road about four to five meters wide, and then a deceiving wall, which pretty much made up their basic infrastructure. Liu Cheng clicked his tongue as he walked, saying, "People in office buildings are so easy to fool, huh? With apany like this, they can rack up over a hundred thousand a year, but you can¡¯t grow that many flowers." "So that¡¯s why there¡¯s a need to expand the middle-ss demographic, huh?" Mu Zhiyang timely chimed in with his opinion. Liu Cheng nodded then shook his head, "We¡¯re considered middle-ss too, right? I don¡¯t spend that money." Thus, Mu Zhiyang asked, "Is it your wife and kids who help you spend it?" Liu Cheng¡¯s expression stalled for a moment, and he finally sighed, "Spending money doesn¡¯t require taking an exam, that¡¯s what I¡¯m most unhappy about." "With so many trades out there, there¡¯s always one that¡¯ll have you wrapped around its finger." As they talked, they arrived at the entrance of the Green nt Company. Liu Cheng stepped forward, showed his badge to the security guard, and called over two police officers to stand guard, additionally cautioning the security guard, "Behave yourself. If you try to tip anyone off, I¡¯ll send you straight to jail." The security guard was somewhat defiant, "At least let me make a phone call. Otherwise, if my boss fires me, I¡¯lle to your office every day for my meals." "Trying to argue with the police, I see you really want to taste prison food," chuckled the police officer who had been pointed out, with a sneer. He had seen plenty of tough guys act tough in front of the police¡ªthe criminal investigation department doesn¡¯t tolerate freeloaders. The security guard was intimidated by the "ferocious" police officer. It¡¯s important to note that people¡¯s police doesn¡¯t necessarily mean handsome officers. At this moment, Liu Cheng was working on a homicide case and was definitely not in the mood to be polite, speaking straightforwardly, "Behave and you can sit tight, misbehave and you get cuffed." Mu Zhiyang, on the other hand, smiled at the security guard, "Don¡¯t be scared. If your boss gets caught, how can he fire you?" The security guard didn¡¯t know which statement got to him, but he stopped struggling. Liu Cheng looked at Mu Zhiyang helplessly, then led a group of people into Green nt Company and quickly dispersed, with officers stationed at the front entrance, the back, and along the perimeter wall. Even though the recent discussion had concluded that the Green nt Company likely wasn¡¯t the body-burying site, the possibility of the killer being one of its employees still existed. A servicepany like this that provides green nts and flowers to variouspanies has close interactions with them, which makes it easy for conflicts to arise. Especially with today¡¯s youth who value their pride over their wages, they tend to act impulsively, which is something that cannot be ignored. When they next saw the boss of the Green nt Company, the rms went off in everyone¡¯s heads. Tattooed arms, a muscr bruiser, and a middle-aged man with a fierce demeanor... The boss had the look of a "thug", which got the police officers all revved up at once. With that appearance, using an old inte term, he matched the prison "big data" profile¡ªsomeone with even a slight criminal record wouldn¡¯t need a reason to kill again; his face was motive enough. "What¡¯s all this about?" The boss himself seemed guilty, his protruding belly sucked in, his shoulders slumped, his eyes full of hesitation. "Let¡¯s find an office and have a good talk," Liu Cheng changed the original n and began a thorough interrogation with a few people. But the result... Disappointing. "You were away on a business trip recently?" "Gone for half a month, that long?" "You were inspecting agriculture? Got photos of the local area?" "Even took an airne, huh..." Liu Cheng looked at the records on the boss¡¯s travel app, checked his social media moments, and tried to align the timeline, but nothing matched. The bloodstained clothes had been washed, but the duration for bloodstain preservation is limited; even with a generous timeframe, it still didn¡¯t fall within the relevant period. Despite this, Liu Cheng still collected the socialite brother¡¯s DNA and reminded him not to leave the city. He also took DNA samples from everyone in thepany, inquired about any missing persons as usual, and began investigating thepanies serviced by them. Extracting contracts and other items from thepany¡¯s safe, Wang Chuanxing and others quickly produced a list of names. Afterparing addresses, twopanies were singled out. "One is apany we¡¯ve already checked out. The other is called Ruicheng Design Co., Ltd., which is... 2.3 kilometers from the incident location," said Wang Chuanxing, measuring the distance from the map, and he couldn¡¯t help but take in a cold breath. Liu Cheng nced at Jiang Yuan, saying, "We almost missed it." "Do the types of nts they use match?" Jiang Yuan asked. "About eighty percent match, but there are no peppers or cucumbers..." "That won¡¯t be missed. If a 2-kilometer radius doesn¡¯t yield results, expanding it to 3 or even 4 kilometers is just something that has to be done," Jiang Yuan said with certainty. In the murder cases he had worked on before, it wasmon to expand the search area. One could even say that all the cases that involved Xu Taining were those where the search area was expanded. No matter howplex Beijing¡¯s environment was, when there was no other way, expanding the range was just how it had to be. Liu Cheng just didn¡¯t have that kind of boldness; that was also why he didn¡¯t have enough solid technology and evidence at his disposal. Jiang Yuan had a level 4 background in Legal Botany, and he felt justified in expanding the search area. Of course, that concern was now obsolete. Liu Cheng checked his phone, stood up, and said, "Let¡¯s head back now." "It¡¯s toote for us to go now, let¡¯s have someone else dispatched from the bureau," Jiang Yuan also stood up. If it were still early, he would have apprehended the suspect himself. However, after a full day¡¯s investigation, it was almost the end of the workday. Any further dy could lead to problems. Liu Cheng opened his mouth to speak but ended up just sighing and saying, "Alright." One phone call back to the branch bureau set everything in motion there. At the same time, Liu Cheng wasn¡¯t in a hurry to return. He gathered the documents from the ntpany and invited the boss, who had the appearance of a streetwise man, to assist with the investigation. The tattooed boss was numbed, muttering, "I really didn¡¯t do anything this time..." Upon hearing this, Liu Cheng wanted to ask, "Then what did you do before?" But seeing the pitiable look on the tattooed boss¡¯s face, Liu Cheng held back, clearing his throat and said, "We just need you toe and make a statement. If there¡¯s no traffic, you¡¯ll be home by the evening. No worries." His attempt at reassurance almost made the tattooed boss cry, "That¡¯s what you guys saidst time..." Liu Cheng sighed again. With you bringing it up, there¡¯s no way we can avoid asking aboutst time. ... The team hurried back to the branch bureau. Floors that usually had the lights off by this hour were now brightly lit. Murder cases in a big city¡¯s district bureau were not umon, especially in a main district branch where the baseline was hundreds of dead bodies a year;plicated cases were inevitable. However, the mystique of this current case was slightly higher. Not to mention the discovery of the bloody clothes, which was already quite probabilistic, the investigation process featured high-stakes rounds, and ordinary detectives could hardly get a word in. Add to that the arrival of Jiang Yuan as an outside assistant¡ªasking for outside help from Beijing Bureau wasmon, but the difference between one assistant from another could be enormous. Unlike the basic manpower borrowed from below or the weak say that ordinary technical experts had, Jiang Yuan was the kind who could take the lead, conducting the investigation with his skills as the core. This approach had not been seen in Zhengguang District Branch Bureau in recent years. Such a case, and such an investigative mode, inevitably aroused curiosity. Of course, the most important thing was that the chief of the squad, Tao Lu, had ordered to work overtime. With a breakthrough in the case, it was unclear how much manpower and resources were needed at the moment. Being prepared was what mattered most. Themand center. The silver-gray walls gave off a sci-fi vibe. Dozens ofrge screens disyed the city traffic, surveince video, various data tables, and other content. In the central screen, one could see real-time images from multiple interrogation rooms. Jiang Yuan curiously inspected the high-tech hall, which was several hundred square meters. The ce was like something out of TV, filled with screens andputers everywhere, young people who looked like they had graduated from prestigious schools sitting and typing away, and a group of middle-aged and older leaders who looked the part standing in front of therge screens, seemingly deep in thought... Such amand center was something even Changyang City Bureau didn¡¯t have. It was probably not a matter of not being able to afford it, but rather not knowing how to use it or finding it unnecessary even if it were used. If Ningtai County Bureau acquired such a setup, it would probably be incredibly cool. While Jiang Yuan observed and daydreamed, Tao Lu pulled Jiang Yuan aside. He signaled for a subordinate to hand over a printed interrogation record to Jiang Yuan, saying, "One of thepany¡¯s employees has gone missing, and the timing fits." Yes, despite such an advancedmand center, since some leaders preferred paper documents, a paperless office was still an unattainable goal. As Jiang Yuan skimmed through the interrogation record, he asked, "Has the body not been found yet?" "No, we¡¯ve sent dogs to sniff it out. We¡¯ve also sent people to collect DNA from the missing person¡¯s house. The issue now is that we haven¡¯t identified a suspect yet," Tao Lu said, his expression growing serious. Even if they found the victim¡¯s body, with apany of over a hundred people, identifying the murderer was still a problem. Chapter 708 - 651: Rooftop

Chapter 708: Chapter 651: Rooftop

The detectives from the Zhengguang Sub-bureau had been waiting for nearly another hour, but the identification work inside the Rui Cheng Company was still notpleted. Information kepting in, but not much of it was decisive. "The employee who disappeared from thepany, Wang Xin, a woman, 36 years old this year, single, living alone, without a boyfriend, and no cohabiting partner. Based on the inquiries we¡¯ve made so far, there¡¯s no premeditated enemy wanting her dead," Liu Cheng summarized the information from the front and reported to Tao Lu. Tao Lu¡¯s expression was serious, yet his mood was good, calmly saying, "No hurry, as long as we can confirm the victim, this case won¡¯t slip away." The biggest pain point of this case was the inability to find the victim or the body, which, if resolved, would make it just another ordinary murder case for the detectives. Jiang Yuan had just reviewed several interrogation records when he came over and asked, "The victim has been missing for nearly 10 days, hasn¡¯t anyone from thepany reported it?" "On the day she disappeared, the victim sent a message to her superior through WeChat, which read: I¡¯m going to the West Refuge, please give me a week¡¯s leave," Liu Cheng nced at the tablet and continued, "Her superior replied: A trip taken on a whim? I¡¯m jealous. Have a good time then." Liu Cheng paused and added, "The victim sent two smiling faces. That was thest message sent from that phone, no messages since then." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, "Knowing to ask for annual leave, it¡¯s very likely a colleague from thepany." "Best friends, other friends, and rtives might also be aware of thepany¡¯s annual leave policy if they¡¯re close," said Liu Cheng. "Rui Cheng¡¯s benefits are rtively good within the industry, and the victim was often willing to discuss this topic with others. She also boasted about it on her phone¡¯s social media." "That means the range hasn¡¯t narrowed down," remarked the deputy squad leader standing beside, holding a notebook full of interrogation records, single-sided 80g paper that feltfortable to the touch. Liu Cheng nodded and said, "The victim also had little contact with her immediate family, friends, and rtives, meeting up asionally. During the disappearance, everyone thought she was too happy ying outside to get in touch. When people couldn¡¯t reach her, they didn¡¯t take it seriously." "Colleagues failing to get in touch is one thing, but the parents not being worried when unable to contact her?" "Her parents are divorced, both have remarried, and their contact was already sparse. Moreover, the victim has a history of not answering her parents¡¯ calls or replying to messages, so..." Liu Cheng spread his hands. To a detective, Wang Xin wouldn¡¯t even count as a fringe person; after all, she had family, friends, work, colleagues, and was integrated into mainstream society. It was just that within each of her social circles, she was always on the periphery. "Knowing the victim¡¯spany annual leave system, knowing who the victim¡¯s direct superior is, and likely also knowing the victim¡¯s daily habits and phone password, the killer¡¯s rtionship with the victim must be quite close," Tao Lu summarized. Jiang Yuan agreed, adding, "The pollen and blood found on the clothes indicate the killer went to thepany where the victim worked on the day of the incident. There is a high probability it was a colleague." Tao Lu hummed in agreement, "This is important, Liu, can you check with the building management and thepany¡¯s reception to see if they had any visitors? On top of that, list the colleagues who were close to the victim and her friends as well. Also, see if the victim had a new boyfriend or a secret one." "Yes," Liu Cheng noted in his book and turned to convey the instructions. The investigative approach Tao Lu suggested wasn¡¯t anything special, a standard procedure for solving cases. Common people dealing withmon cases would fall just from these few basic approaches. Many killers n well beforehand, thinking of how they will act a certain way, and use methods that could lessen suspicion. What they don¡¯t realize is that to a detective, even looking at a dog might arouse suspicion. The mostmon method used is elimination, opting for multiple choices rather than a single one. This is like ordinary people nning a fight, possibly with some tricks up their sleeve, but once they face an opponent using the erratic ¡¯turtle fist¡¯ style, most will be overwhelmed. The only issue was that Rui Cheng had quite a few employees, more than a hundred, and the building was in a public office block in the city center. Bringing everyone back for questioning would look too conspicuous. If it were a smaller location, it might even be necessary to bring everyone back to the detective team for a thorough interrogation. Of course, the situation now was akin to a thorough interrogation, only happening within Rui Cheng and appearing more visually appealing and humane. "I¡¯m going to Rui Cheng to take a look," said Jiang Yuan who, still somewhat unconvinced, wanted to double-check. What he mainly wanted to confirm was the location of the as-yet-unfound flowers. Where there¡¯s pollen, there must be flowers. Vegetables like cucumbers and peppers weren¡¯t present in thepany or on thepany¡¯s balcony, so there had to be a source somewhere. The evening rush hour was almost over; Jiang Yuan secured a van and took five people with him to Rui Cheng. In the evening, at the crime scene, with the suspect still atrge, it was unsafe to just bring Mu Zhiyang along; Jiang Yuan felt it wasn¡¯t secure. Arriving slightly earlier than Jiang Yuan and his team were two police dogs. They sniffed around inside Rui Cheng Company, wandering and sniffing on every floor, yet showed no sign of detection. Since Jiang Yuan had free time, he often went to the police dog squadron for a stroll. Seeing that one instructor was having their dog smell the missing person¡¯s items and the other the blood-stained clothing, he said to Wang Chuanxing, "Go buy some cucumbers, chilis, eggnts, and the like, exactly those things listed in the nt chart." Wang Chuanxing understood immediately and ran off to do so. Shortly after, a small basket of vegetables was brought into the building. Jiang Yuan handed it to Liu Cheng to give to the dog trainers, who skeptically let their dogs take a sniff. The seemingly docile ck-back dog, after making several rounds in the corridor, suddenly let out a low bark and headed towards the fire escape. The police dog handler¡¯s face lit up with joy, hurrying after the dog. A few detectives followed behind, and soon, there was new information. "They found a vegetable garden on the rooftop." Wang Chuanxing, who took the call, paused before adding, "It was hidden in a corner, covered with a ck gauze cloth. If not for the police dog sniffing it out, ordinary people might not have found it." "Could the property management not know about this?" Jiang Yuan was surprised as he spoke and headed towards the elevator. "The two security guards and the janitor from the property management who patrol the rooftop are also growing vegetables there." Wang Chuanxing¡¯s mouth twitched as he spoke, "Citing the high cost of living in Beijing, they were caught red-handed. When the police dog arrived, the janitor was busy picking vegetables." "Let¡¯s go take a look." Jiang Yuan took the elevator to the top floor and then climbed two more flights of stairs to reach the rooftop. "The rooftop door is usually locked. A few people from the property management sneaked up here to nt vegetables," reported a detective who had arrived earlier. Jiang Yuan walked over, turning corners, and indeed saw a vegetable gardenid out with PVC pipes. White stic pipes thick as a calf were installed with bowl-sized holes in intervals, filled with soil for nting vegetables. The pipes themselves were rigid, so they were arranged in suspended rows, which gave off a slightly cyberpunk feel amidst the steel jungle of the city. And regarding the types of vegetables, neat rows of cucumbers, eggnts, chili peppers, and the like matched the list exactly. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyebrows furrowed slightly. When he first heard about the vegetable plot, he thought of a burial site, but obviously, these sewer pipe-thickness stic pipes couldn¡¯t fit a whole body. Even if the body were dismembered, it would be hard to cut it up so finely without heavy machinery like cutting equipment. "Do you know Wang Xin?" Liu Cheng took advantage of the janitor¡¯s flustered moment when she was caught to directly ask her. The janitor¡¯s hands trembled as she whispered, "I know her." At that, all eyes from Jiang Yuan and his team focused on her. Realizing the situation was not good, the janitor quickly added, "Not well, just nting vegetables together. I only knew her name because of her work ID." "What do you mean ¡¯nting vegetables together¡¯?" "That time she came up, the door to the rooftop wasn¡¯t closed properly. She was wandering around and saw our vegetable patch. She wanted to nt some vegetables too, so we let her have a row. Sometimes she wanted more vegetables, so she would buy them with money; it was quite nice," the janitor spoke softly, then began to plead, "We were just trying to save some money. The vegetables in the market here cost several yuan per jin. People still have to eat vegetables, don¡¯t they..." But Liu Cheng wasn¡¯t in the mood for sympathy. He deliberately interrupted her, cutting to the chase, "Wang Xin is missing, didn¡¯t you know that?" "I... I..." This time, the janitor¡¯s lips quivered. "If you don¡¯t want to talk, thene back to the police station with us and we can discuss it slowly," Liu Cheng said impatiently with a bureaucratic air. "I¡¯ll talk, I¡¯ll talk!" The janitor encountered the most trouble with people who spoke to her in this tone and hastilyplied, then hesitated again. Liu Cheng¡¯s face darkened, and he let out a light snort through his nose. The janitor didn¡¯t dare hesitate again and whispered, "A few days ago, Liu, that is, Liu Huimin, had a fight with Wang Xin. He used her ofing up here to stealthily pick vegetables without paying and both of them were cursing bitterly. Later... after Wang Xin disappeared, Liu Huimin resigned. We didn¡¯t think much of it, with you mentioning it, I would have thought the youngdy had resigned to change jobs too, since you know, the young people nowadays change jobs often..." Chapter 709 - 652: The Law is Vast and Infinite

Chapter 709: Chapter 652: The Law is Vast and Infinite

Liu Huimin was 48 years old and going through menopause, which made her temperamental and difficult to speak with, but she worked hard. That was the impression she left on the property management staff and her colleagues. She had been working well at her job, but then she suddenly resigned, leaving a slight impression on her supervisor. However, it was just a slight impression. In Beijing, peoplee and go frequently, especially for ordinary positions in property management that aren¡¯t held by locals. There are all sorts of reasons for resigning. Some cleaningdies might leave to take care of their children at home, others to build houses in their hometowns, some because they¡¯re getting too old, others if a family member falls ill, and some quit simply because they¡¯re tired. Liu Huimin didn¡¯t exin the reason for her resignation. The manager did try to retain her by offering an additional 200 yuan in sry, but she didn¡¯t agree and that was the end of it. As for Liu Huimin¡¯s whereabouts, the manager had no idea whatsoever. But to the police, Liu Huimin wasn¡¯t hard to find. Although she took a coach back home without using her ID card, and her mobile phone was turned off¡ªmaking her location untraceable¡ªshe hadn¡¯t exined her situation to friends and rtives, nor could she have. Meanwhile, her friends and rtives maintained the good habit of posting on social media and TikTok. So, under posts like "Sister Four came home to visit, we all made dumplings together", "Auntie Four brought Niuniu a toy, she really loves it", and "Sister Four visited after three years, the family joyfully reunited", Liu Huimin, who didn¡¯t want to appear on camera, was nevertheless seen. The police didn¡¯t even need to use technical means, as Liu Huimin¡¯s geographical location was clearly marked underneath the posts. For the police, solvingplex cases in simple ways is routine. Compared to employing criminal investigation techniques, having two young officers scroll through the suspect¡¯s social media is much simpler and cost-effective¡ªand they don¡¯t have back pain. Of course, the breakthrough in this case involved Legal Botany, which was quite an upscale example. Consequently, when Liu Huimin was brought in, people were quite interested. Inside themand center, some even watched the interrogation with their hands sped behind their backs. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t crowd inside; instead, he and his team went near the Shannan Province office in Beijing, ordered several local dishes, and a big pot of rice, and polished it all off together. Beijing¡¯s restaurants are of high quality, and there¡¯s a lot of delicious food if one is willing to spend money. However, exotic dishes share one problem: they are exciting to try, but one can soon tire of them with repeated eating. Jiang Yuan had been in Beijing for ten days, and his taste buds were starting to rebel. The case had been at a critical stage previously and he hadn¡¯t been able to find time to go out; now that there was a lull, he didn¡¯t waste it for a moment. It wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang and others were also getting a bit fed up. Now that they were full, they took a deep breath and smacked their lips, saying, "Actually, if you think about it, this restaurant¡¯s Shan Nan cuisine isn¡¯t that authentic..." "It¡¯s good enough. The ingredients and water here are all different, how could it possibly taste exactly the same?" Wang Chuanxing said, covering his mouth with a napkin and picking his teeth, "You can tell when you go to Xinjiang. Something as simple as grilled meat tastes so good there no matter what, but back here, all kinds of strange vors emerge, and none of them have that Xinjiang taste." "That¡¯s true. Especially since we¡¯ve been eating at the Beijing Division¡¯s cafeteria recently. After all, a cafeteria is still just a cafeteria," Mu Zhiyang sighed. "I¡¯ll ask my dad to send some stuff overter," Jiang Yuan casually suggested a solution, immediately winning everyone¡¯s agreement. Nowadays, Mu Zhiyang and the others don¡¯t talk about money with Jiang Yuan; there¡¯s no need, they just enjoy whatever is offered. In the afternoon. Not long after Jiang Yuan and the others returned to the division, Liu Huimin began to confess. She detailed her crime and, like most murderers, attempted to rationalize her actions: "I spoke to her nicely at the time. I said, ¡¯Girl, taking a cucumber or a handful of scallions from our garden asionally is no problem. But you can¡¯t juste and pick things every few days...¡¯ She wouldn¡¯t listen, andter she even started cursing¡ªsaying really nasty stuff. So I thought to myself, I¡¯m no spring chicken, I can¡¯t just let her curse at me like that. I happened to be holding a hoe, and I just... gave her a hit..." For motives like this, or so-called reasons, Liu Cheng and others were unimpressed. Passion killings are often like this: if people actually took the time to analyze the pros and cons, they wouldn¡¯t kill. Instead, it is the most primal, foolish impulses that lead people tomit the most primal, foolish acts. Liu Cheng handed the interrogation transcript to Jiang Yuan, then said, "ording to Liu Huimin¡¯s statement, it was a crime of passion. She didn¡¯t know how to dispose of the body, so in the end, shemitted murder and dismemberment in a corner of the rooftop and used water for watering flowers and cleaning supplies provided by the property management to clean the ground... The body was left on the rooftop for nearly two days. Eventually, she transported it out using a cleaning cart and then personally rode her electric scooter to throw the body into the property¡¯srge garbage bin." "But there are two things that don¡¯t add up. One is the message on the mobile phone; if the victim was killed identally, then there¡¯s no way they would have nned a sudden trip. Another thing is the bloody clothes we found. They seem to be in the style of young women¡¯s clothing. Liu Huimin is 48 years old and has a cleaner¡¯s uniform to wear..." Jiang Yuan quickly read through the interrogation transcript and raised his doubts. Liu Cheng nodded, "Tao from the division also has a simr opinion. Our guess... there must have been an aplice involved." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded, "Very likely." The difficulty of murder and dismemberment goes without saying. Dismembering a body on the rooftop itself is not a very safe situation. Having someone to help watch makes it a lot more reasonable. Furthermore, disposing of a body is also a huge amount of work. To give a very apt example, when people in the north buy pork or mutton during the New Year and bring home half a pig or a whole sheep, it¡¯s a lot of trouble and incredibly cumbersome. Multiply that by three or four times, and that¡¯s about the difficulty of disposing of a body. Even if dismemberment only makes the disposal of the body more manageable, the physical exertion of moving a body weighing over 100 pounds around four or five times is still very tiring. "Do you have a direction now?" As Liu Cheng appeared nonchnt, Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Cheng nodded, "Liu Huimin couldn¡¯t justify her actions, and she¡¯s clenching her teeth and refusing to talk. So we checked her close rtives, and it turns out her daughter has also recently resigned." Mu Zhiyang, who was beside them, was startled and couldn¡¯t help but say, "This woman dragged her own daughter into this?" "It¡¯s not clear yet whether it¡¯s a joint murder or she acted alone and then helped dispose of the body," Liu Cheng said, then shook his head, continuing, "Her daughter is a college graduate fromst year and found a clerical job at a smallpany in Zhengguang District. She had no connection with the victim. Whether it¡¯s participating in the murder or something else, it must have been to help her mother." "If she only helped dispose of the body, then it¡¯s destruction of evidence, and she might get a suspended sentence," Wang Chuanxing paused before saying, "But after this, she won¡¯t be able to get a proof of a clean criminal record." "What¡¯s that to worry about? However, when ites to dismemberment and disposal of the body, forget about a suspended sentence!" Liu Cheng spoke on behalf of the police¡¯s perspective, then added, "We¡¯ve gone to make an arrest, she¡¯ll be back soon. Once they interrogate her over there, then we¡¯ll bring in Liu Huimin again." Indeed, when Liu Huimin was brought up for interrogation the second time, the outwardly calm woman was immediately broken by the interrogating officer: "Your daughter has been arrested and has confessed to the crime!" Those watching outside the interrogation room couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Once the interrogation was over, Chief Tao Lu of the brigade rushed over and immediately asked, "Did you clear up the situation with the blood-stained clothes?" This was also an important link in the chain of evidence and had to be connected. Liu Cheng nodded, "Liu Huimin washed her daughter¡¯s bloody clothes that she wore during the dismemberment and instructed her to throw them in the trash can while she stayed behind to handle the loose ends. However, her daughter, eager to create an alibi, hurried to work at thepany, intending to dispose of them in a trash can near thepany, thinking it was less likely to be discovered. But then she ran into a colleague and was persuaded to put them in a clothing donation bin." "Hmph," Tao Lu snorted with a hint of disdain and simply said, "The of justice is wide and far-reaching." With just that remark, Tao Lu¡¯s gaze turned toward Jiang Yuan, and his face broke into a smile as he said, "This time we owe it to Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise in Legal Botany... I didn¡¯t expect... no, I should say, we¡¯ve all learned something." Everyone nodded in agreement. Beijing is a bustling metropolis filled with exciting lives, as well as all sorts of bizarre cases caused by humans. But to really talk about solving cases, to employ forensic techniques as advanced and cutting-edge as Legal Botany was still very rare. New technologies mean new methods for solving cases. Everyone understood this clearly. Before Jiang Yuan could express modesty, Tao Lu was already warmly embracing him, grinning as he said, "I¡¯ll host dinner tonight to celebrate our sess at the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s traditional victory feast. No more words, you¡¯re one of us at Zhengguang now!" Chapter 710 - 653 Thank You very much

Chapter 710: Chapter 653 Thank You very much

The evening dinner organized by the Zhengguang Bureau took ce at a Sichuan restaurant, where the taste was excellent, and the spiciness was not too overwhelming. It must be said, no matter how many cuisines exist domestically, the reach of Sichuan cuisine is definitely top-tier. Moreover, as the pration of Sichuan cuisine has strengthened, the prevalence of various seasonings and ingredients used in Sichuan cuisine has also increased. Many regional dishes, when taken out of their local context, might struggle to find all the appropriate ingredients. Sichuan cuisine doesn¡¯t have this problem, though, as ingredients can usually be found unless choosing an exceptionally exotic dish, and if you consider the various fusion dishes, its tolerance for what is considered "authentic" is quite high. The skill of Beijing chefs is even less of a concern, as evidenced by a single dish of fish-vored shredded pork, which was stir-fried to perfection. Thebined vor of pickled chili, spring onion, ginger, garlic, and sweet and sour created a taste that was sweet, sour, hot, and salty. The vegetable used in the dish was winter bamboo shoots, also known as yn petals. No matter what is considered authentic, Jiang Yuan would give his approval with a thumbs up. Jiang Yuan mainly focused on this fish-vored shredded pork, pairing it with two bowls of rice. As for the otherrge meat and fish dishes on the table, he tried them but in moderation. These past few days, he had been sating his cravings with the jarred pork knuckles, beef, boiled mutton, stewed goose, roasted chicken, grilledmb ribs, and slow-roasted brisket that his old man had sent over, so his yearning for pure chunks of meat had hit an all-time low. Seeing his fondness for the fish-vored shredded pork, Tao Lu asked the restaurant to serve another portion and then clinked beer sses with Jiang Yuan,ughing, "The case this time has definitely been winding andplex. If handed to a journalist, it could fill several serialized issues. Legal Botany... it¡¯s quite powerful, isn¡¯t it? It should be applicable to many cases." "There are quite a few restrictions still," Jiang Yuan replied. He did not want to treat Legal Botany as a standard tool; it was just that the case had beplicated. Under normal circumstances, he had LV5 and L6 techniques at his disposal¡ªit didn¡¯t need toe to this. As for Tao Lu¡¯s preferences, Jiang Yuan was not that concerned. Before Tao Lu could say anything more, Jiang Yuan continued, "There are still a few doubts remaining in this case, especially regarding the corpse. Should we continue to search for it?" After the cleaningdy had cut the body into pieces, she tossed them into the property¡¯srge trash bin. These trash bins, made of metal with lids, had their contents removed daily by garbage trucks in an automated procedure. Liu Huimin was aware of the garbage truck¡¯s schedule and would discard the body parts in advance each time. Moreover, with the recent hot weather, no one had noticed the body parts among the garbage. For the police, recovering the body parts now posed some difficulties, asbing through andfill was an endeavor both challenging and deeply unpleasant, in disproportionate measures. When Tao Lu heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, his face filled with concern. He took a sip of his beer and sighed, "We still need to search for a bit." Liu Cheng and the others, who had been heartily tucking into their meat, suddenly stopped chewing. Everyone present was part of the criminal police, and it was easy to deduce a logical chain of thought: the body parts were in thendfill, searching for the body parts required digging through the trash mountain, and the people likely to be assigned to dig through thendfill were the inclothes officers present... In such hot weather, the idea of sifting through a trash mountain... just the thought of it diminished everyone¡¯s appetite. Tao Lu let out a heartyugh and quickly raised his ss, saying, "We¡¯ll definitely start by contacting the waste disposalpany for coordination and use some of their manpower, and we¡¯ll contribute some as well... Anyway, the case is essentially solved, which is fortunate, otherwise all these days would have been for nothing." The group chuckled in amusement. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice, bringing the conversation back on track, "There¡¯s another issue. How did Liu Huimin know Wang Xin¡¯s phone password?" "Facial recognition," Liu Cheng responded briefly before adding, "That¡¯s why I say these biometric technologies are unreliable. A password is actually the best. Both facial and fingerprint recognition are just asking for trouble." Jiang Yuan did not express agreement or disagreement but continued, "Liu Huimin is quite old, and it¡¯s impressive for a rural woman of her age to even understand how to use a smartphone. How likely is it that she knows how to unlock a phone with facial recognition and then send a message to Wang Xin¡¯s direct supervisor?" While eating his dish, Liu Cheng furrowed his brows and slowlyid down his chopsticks, "That is a problem. Especially since Wang Xin¡¯s direct supervisor isn¡¯t someone from within thepany, it should have been difficult to figure out. However, having dealt with Wang Xin on a regr basis, she might have overheard something." Tao Lu shook her head at this moment and said, "Looking through WeChat, as well as that...¡¯Spur of the moment travel,¡¯ it¡¯s something an elderly person would hardly think of." Liu Cheng: "Her daughter?" "Yes, it means her daughter is more deeply involved than we imagined," Tao Lu said calmly. Coming across various problems while solving cases ismon; the most they could affect was a year or two of sentencing, which wasn¡¯t much. Liu Cheng wasn¡¯t surprised and immediately called the criminal police in the bureau who were conducting the interrogation. The criminal police officer who had just mentioned the issue with the phone also took out his phone, browsed through the album for a while, found a photo, and said, "I suddenly remembered, Wang Xin¡¯spany¡¯s wall has thepany¡¯s hierarchy chart or something like that. Liu Huimin¡¯s daughter could have seen it when she was there." In the photo, there was indeed a corporate culture wall from Rui Cheng Company, boasting its t management structure, with a propaganda graphic where the three-tier structure was clearly written. "We can focus on asking about this aspect. It would be best if there were surveince footage to prove it," said Jiang Yuan. "It would better exin the pollen found on her clothes." This was also a matter of the chain of evidence. Tao Lu immediately made arrangements with emphasis. The meal ended on a down note; Tao Lu and Jiang Yuan were in a rtively good mood, whereas Liu Cheng and the others felt the pressure mount. The following day. Liu Cheng and his team went on official duty to the garbage mountain. Liu Huimin¡¯s daughter was brought out early for interrogation, and in the face of new evidence, the young girl in her early twenties quickly fell apart. As the criminal police had guessed, the facial recognition feature on Wang Xin¡¯s phone wasn¡¯t advanced. By pulling their eyes, the mother and daughter managed to unlock it, and Liu Huimin¡¯s daughter did indeed go down to the 22nd floor. However, she initially intended to look for notes or something at Wang Xin¡¯s desk, aiming to guess Wang Xin¡¯s bank password, knowing that Wang Xin lived alone without any rtives around. It was just that she was stopped when trying to enter Rui Cheng Company¡¯s office area. After spouting some nonsense, Liu Huimin¡¯s daughter returned to the roof to continue with the dismemberment. Later, Liu Huimin¡¯s daughter also visited Wang Xin¡¯s rented house. In her words, the mother and daughter were bound to leave Beijing, and they needed some money on hand. Upon hearing this, Liu Cheng and the others exchanged looks of astonishment, as this was equivalent to doubling the evidence. However, these pieces of evidence or clues were useless before the identification of the body. Of course, Liu Cheng didn¡¯t have much time to dwell on this. The weather was hot, the garbage piled up like mountains at the dump, emitting an odor as potent as the heaps. Liu Cheng led his team, trudging with one foot deep and the other shallow, staggering like a wild boar trapped in a quagmire, stinking even worse than a wild boar. Just as he was about to give up, a call from Tao Lu came through. "Don¡¯t say I don¡¯t take care of you, this time when Jiang Yuan chose the case, the first I rmended were from your squad," said Tao Lu,ughingly buttering him up. "He picked the sewer dismemberment case from Wanlong Gardens the year beforest." Liu Cheng looked down at the rubbish under his feet and then up at the mountains of trash, sighed, and said, "Thank you." Chapter 711 - 654: Zhengguang’s Second Case

Chapter 711: Chapter 654: Zhengguang¡¯s Second Case

Jiang Yuan chose the corpse abandonment case in the sewer of Wanlong Gardens after sifting through dozens of cases. The first thing that drew his attention to the case was therge number of photos and video materials, indicating that surveince in the area was exceptionally dense. For urban cases, if surveince is avable, it tends to make solving cold cases much easier. Even for murder cases that weren¡¯t solved at the time, reviewing the surveince footage now provides at least fresh evidence on that front. As Jiang Yuan continued to browse through the photos, he found some clues, which ultimately led him to select this case as the Cold Case Squad¡¯s second case at Zhengguang Bureau. After all, working in Beijing means being surrounded by many talents and countless pairs of eyes watching, Jiang Yuan felt the need for a clean and decisive murder investigation. Theplexity of the blood-stained clothing case was rtively high, and there were unsatisfactory aspects in the investigation process. In the context of Cantonese morning tea, it would at most be considered an extra dish, not a highlight. Solving cases often resembles warfare, winning means you don¡¯t have to emphasize how strong the opponent was, after all, the opponent is a defeated army; losing means you don¡¯t need to stress the opponent¡¯s strength either, because you¡¯ve lost anyway. Whether a victory looks graceful often depends on the casualties ratio. No matter how elite your forces are, defeating an overwhelming mob still counts as victory against the odds; conversely, no matter the reason, losing is just foolish. Zhang Han at the End of Qin and Liu Xiu at the End of Han understood this. When ites to solving cases, the casualties ratio is also critical, considering the losses, both in terms of expenses and time spent. Of course, regr folks in white shirts wouldn¡¯t think this way, most detectives are happy just to solve a case; this is merely Jiang Yuan¡¯s personal discipline. The conference room. Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang had sorted countless photos across the table, neatly arranged. This was one of Jiang Yuan¡¯s traditional skills; he could deduce so much from photos that he struggled to describe to his subordinates exactly what he needed, so he¡¯d rather have everythingid out before him. Liu ¡¯Stinky¡¯ Shengy in the corner with a resentful look, as he was the main investigator on the Wanlong Gardens sewer corpse case and knew the case best. However, at this moment, steeped in experience as he was, all he wanted was to be left in peace. Because if someone was to go back into the sewer, it would likely be him, and while Liu Cheng¡¯s every cell might be ustomed to foul odors, the stench of the sewer and the trash heap are not the same. "Liu Da," Jiang Yuan called out, holding a photograph in his hand. "Just call me Liu," Liu Cheng replied modestly. Not wanting to be seen was one thing, but his body still moved swiftly to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. Jiang Yuan covered his nose and cleared his throat with slight embarrassment before speaking, "Let¡¯s discuss the case first." "Sure. You first," Liu Cheng replied, obediently stepping back. Jiang Yuan handed over the photograph to Liu Cheng and continued, "Look here, the victim¡¯s photo at the scene. I¡¯ve noticed that your special case team thought there might be body movement or robbery-homicide involved? I have a different opinion here." Liu Cheng¡¯s heart skipped a beat but quickly settled. The panic stemmed from making a mistake. While errors aremon at work, making one in a murder investigation and having it pointed out was another matter... But since it was Jiang Yuan addressing the mistake, Liu Cheng felt it wasn¡¯t a big deal. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation, some in the bureau might still murmur, but when it came to expertise, in formal settings, be it meetings or internal discussions, no one dared ignore or take Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgments lightly anymore. In other words, Jiang Yuan¡¯s corrections were not rming, and at the very least, he wouldn¡¯t be criticized for them. Liu Cheng steadied himself and looked at the photo again, frowning before asking in a calm and gentle voice, "You¡¯re going to have to give me a bit more direction." "Look, the victim¡¯s left hand is grasping the algae on the side of the drain," Jiang Yuan exined, "His left hand appears quite rxed, but that¡¯s actually just muscle rigidity after death making it seemx. Also, his neck is wrapped with a garbage bag from the scene, which is more likely the primary crime scene." Jiang Yuan had studied the photo for quite a while, and now he could describe it without even looking. Liu Cheng became even more puzzled and said, "Wouldn¡¯t post-mortem gripping typically get tighter rather than looser?" "That¡¯s not necessarily true; it depends on the environment he was in and his posture at the time of death." Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "When you all discovered the body, the rigor mortis had been over for quite some time, so it just appears to bex. He most likely sped the bundle of grass very tightly before he died." Liu Cheng nodded, half understanding¡ªhe wasn¡¯t a forensic doctor and didn¡¯t have the capability to argue with Jiang Yuan on these points. Nor did he need to; his job was to listen. At this moment, Jiang Yuan picked up another photo and handed it to Liu Cheng, saying, "This brings me to my second point, determining the time of death. You all estimated the time of death to be between two and five days ago, which is too conservative. It¡¯s been at least seven days." Even today, with all the methods avable for estimating time of death, it remains an empirical science, an area in which Jiang Yuan could exercise significant discretion. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t help eximing, "Ah," then hurriedly said, "The body was discovered on February 18th, but someone reported seeing him on February 12th." Their forensic doctor gave an estimate of two to five days after death based on this information. As for using elements beyond the autopsy to judge the time of death... that method is certainly correct, relying on broken watches and the like to determine the time of death is amon practice in criminal investigations. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dwell on these details with Liu Cheng, instead looking at the photo again before suggesting, "You should bring in thisst witness for another thorough questioning." Liu Cheng was startled and upon seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s serious expression, his own face darkened, "Is this bastard deceiving us?" "Who is he?" Jiang Yuan signaled to Wang Chuanxing and the others to flip through the reports. Under normal circumstances, when ordinary people face criminal detectives, not beingpletely exposed is a sign of good psychological quality. If they¡¯ve done something wrong or feel guilty, it¡¯s quite easy for detectives to see through them. In other words, those who can give false testimony are either in special circumstances or are not ordinary people. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t wait for Wang Chuanxing to find the report, saying himself, "He¡¯s the owner of the corner mahjong parlor, and he lives in Wanlong Gardens. He said that on February 12th, he encountered the victim in the neighborhood and greeted him. I remember that the victim was a regr customer of his, and the two didn¡¯t have much of a financial dispute, just some gambling debts at most." "Well, let¡¯s start by asking him. Meanwhile, we¡¯ll check the surveince videos especially before February 11th, going back to February 9th." Jiang Yuan chose Wanlong Gardens because there was an especiallyrge amount of video material from there. Since the time of death was previously established as after February 12th, the videos from before that date¡ªwhat Jiang Yuan considered to be the actual time of death¡ªwere not thoroughly examined by anyone. This is also a downside of having too many videos, simr to the problems faced with big data: when there¡¯s an overload of information, sorting through it bes a challenge. Liu Cheng, looking increasingly grave, acknowledged the instruction and immediately left to lead his team straight to the mahjong parlor near Wanlong Gardens. It¡¯s one thing for a case to go unsolved, but quite another to be duped to his face by the killer, which Liu Cheng found particrly hard to ept. Tang Jia watched Liu Cheng leave and then, clutching her phone, hurried over and said, "Captain Jiang, Commissioner Huang is already on the ne." "He¡¯sing to Beijing?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised, "That quickly?" "He didn¡¯t expect you to solve your second case this quickly." Tang Jia found it a bit amusing and exciting. She turned to look at the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s meeting room and suddenly felt like a starving person who has just entered a buffet. Chapter 712 - 655 Paralysis

Chapter 712: Chapter 655 Paralysis

The mahjong parlor owner, Hu Zhongyuan, seemed a bit dazed, and his actions were somewhat brash and impulsive. When ites to operating a mahjong parlor in Beijing, you¡¯re either a fool or close to it. Anyone with a sense of cost-benefit analysis would switch to a foot massage parlor¡ªeighty percent less trouble and eight times more profit. But Hu Zhongyuan didn¡¯t seem to have considered this. If he could run the mahjong parlor, he would; if not, he would just go home and sleep soundly, banking on the undivided mahjong-loving heart of the Beijingers. Sitting in the interrogation room, he kept muttering, "You can¡¯t just close my mahjong parlor every time you have some meeting. What¡¯s the meeting about this time? Reporters might as well get their news from camping out at my ce; I¡¯ve got better scoops than them!" "This has nothing to do with your mahjong parlor," Liu Cheng sat in front of Hu Zhongyuan, speaking seriously, "Hu Zhongyuan, do you remember me?" Hu Zhongyuan took a closer look: "Captain Liu? What¡¯s up? You¡¯re not running the criminal police anymore, you moved to the public security bureau? That would actually be good, you¡¯re a straightforward guy, suited for public security with a bit of a gang leader vibe, but you shouldn¡¯t be too nitpicky..." "Hu Zhongyuan!" Liu Cheng cut him off, "We¡¯re questioning you about an abandoned corpse case fromst February." Hu Zhongyuan stared nkly, "You haven¡¯t solved that case yet?" With that remark, Liu Cheng was momentarily at a loss. The video of today¡¯s interrogation might have to be shown to the branch chief and otherster on. With a face set in a frown, showing no emotion, Liu Cheng asked, "Do you have anything to say about this case?" "This case has nothing to do with me, what can I say?" Hu Zhongyuan wasn¡¯t intimidated by the police; he looked around, slouched into a "Ge You slouch," and rxed. "The victim, Lin Zifeng, was a regr customer of yours, right?" Liu Cheng asked. "Yes." "You im that on February 12th, you ran into Lin Zifeng in the neighborhood and greeted each other, right?" "Roughly so." "It can¡¯t be just roughly. Is it so or not?" "I guess so. No, wait, this happened a year and a half ago, now you¡¯re asking me to remember..." "Xiao He, read Hu Zhongyuan¡¯s previous statement," Liu Cheng didn¡¯t wrestle with Hu Zhongyuan, but instructed the policeman next to him to read the statement. The policeman picked up the prepared statement and began reading, "I went out to buy cigarettes in the morning, and it just happened to be when I ran into..." As the policeman read on emotionlessly, Hu Zhongyuan¡¯s eyes began to dodge. "Hu Zhongyuan," Liu Cheng immediately pressed, "Let me ask you now, is the statement you gave on that day true?" "If you¡¯re asking like that, then I¡¯m not clear either." Hu Zhongyuan¡¯s expression also fell into a state of despondence, and paired with his posture, he looked like an old, ugly, balding, scruffy cat that submits to being stroked. Liu Cheng¡¯s eyshes stood on end, "What do you mean you¡¯re not clear?" "Those days, I was drinking all night with the boys. Suddenly you ask me which day I saw Lin Zifeng, and I roughly answered," Hu Zhongyuan admitted with some semnce of guilt, then lifted his neck defiantly, as if to say, go ahead and scold me, if I¡¯m at fault, im your dues. "If you¡¯re not clear on it, why did you answer that you saw Lin Zifeng on February 12th?" "How else should I reply to you? My wife was right there at the time," Hu Zhongyuan said with an expression that any man would understand, "I couldn¡¯t just say that I had been drinking all night again and I couldn¡¯t even remember the day, could I?" This time, Liu Cheng heard the ring of truth in his words, and he realized that when he had questioned Hu Zhongyuan before, the man had been too exhausted or, rather, he wasn¡¯t even clear about what he had answered... This answer truly made Liu Cheng feel as though he was grinding his teeth to powder. Had it not been for Hu Zhongyuan¡¯s testimony, the forensic doctor might have suggested a broader window for the time of death, leading the detectives to review a longer period of surveince footage, maybe even arriving at a different conclusion. While it didn¡¯t mean they would definitely have solved the case, the fact that a case could be stalled due to one drunken man¡¯s words... Liu Cheng, thinking about this, gritted his teeth and said, "I didn¡¯t smell alcohol on you either at that time, you must have been sober then." "I was more or less sober, I guess. I can¡¯t say for sure, anyway, my wife was at home, and she didn¡¯t let me go out. It¡¯s not like I could drink at home." Hu Zhongyuan¡¯s expression turned indifferent again. Being an old Beijinger, he knew that the police couldn¡¯t do much to him. Having weathered the initial pressure, he reverted to his uncooperative attitude. Liu Cheng asked, "So when did you actually see Lin Zifeng?" "Captain Liu, I¡¯ll tell you the truth, I was confused from drinking before, and I couldn¡¯t remember clearly. Now... I remember even less." Hu Zhongyuan said with a smile, "But if you really need a time, I can give you a rough estimate." "You..." Liu Cheng red at Hu Zhongyuan forcefully and said, "Making false testimony cannd you in jail!" "I couldn¡¯t remember at that time; it wasn¡¯t on purpose." Hu Zhongyuan was unafraid ¨C he had been to jail before. Having been there once, a few more months wouldn¡¯t scare him; he could treat it like a weight loss boot camp. Of course, he didn¡¯t say this out loud, lest Liu Cheng hold a grudge against him. The subsequent interrogation was dull. When Liu Cheng came out of the interrogation room, he was somewhat dazed. Being deceived by a witness was something he had experienced as a rookie. Once he became leader of the middle squad and deputy head of the unit, such a thing never happened again! But, it must be said, if he hadn¡¯t stumbled here, the Wanlong Gardens case wouldn¡¯t have turned into a cold case. After sitting in his office for a while and drinking a cup of tea, Liu Cheng revived his spirits and went to report the situation to division head Tao Lu. Upon entering the division head¡¯s office, he saw there was already a guest inside, a rough and dark-skinned individual... "Commissioner Huang? What brings you here!" Liu Cheng recognized Huang Qiangmin and hastily greeted him. Huang Qiangminughed heartily and said, "I just happened to be on a trip to Beijing and thought I¡¯d stop by." Liu Cheng eyed Huang Qiangmin with the scrutiny of a criminal detective who had missed only once in recent years; he didn¡¯t believe Huang Qiangmin¡¯s nonsense. Amissioner from a county-level police station ¨C what business could he have in Beijing? If it were for case-rted work, younger officers would typically be sent; and for meetings, his rank wasn¡¯t high enough! Tao Lu smiled and first asked Liu Cheng, "Did the interrogation go smoothly? How is the case progressing?" Liu Cheng gave a wry smile. In front of Huang Qiangmin, it was not right to air one¡¯s dirtyundry. Seeing this, Tao Lu understood and chuckled before saying, "Let¡¯s talk about itter then." He then turned his head to look at Huang Qiangmin, paused for a moment, and said, "Commissioner Huang hase from afar. We should host a meal to extend our hospitality..." "No need, I specifically brought some local ingredients and a chef from Ningtai County. I have made arrangements to eat some hometown dishes with Jiang Yuan tonight," Huang Qiangmin said with a smile. "Of course, if you would like to join..." "That won¡¯t be necessary..." Tao Lu, not wanting to impose, politely declined: "Jiang Yuan must have missed the taste of home after living here for so long. You are truly attentive in your role asmissioner." "It was Jiang Yuan¡¯s father who asked me to do this," Huang Qiangmin said with a smile. "His father specially hired the chef and sent both the chef and the food over just so that Jiang Yuan could enjoy a meal from home." Liu Cheng eximed, "That¡¯s actually possible..." A 66.6-degree-angle smile flickered on the corners of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth as he nodded, then turned to Tao and said, "Division Head Tao, we¡¯re agreed then?" "Hmm. Let¡¯s leave it at that," Tao Lu said with a rather forced smile. He shook hands with Huang Qiangmin and showed him out the door. After closing the door, without waiting for Liu Cheng to ask anything, Tao Lu tapped Liu Cheng with a finger, as if to say he was frustrated with him, and said, "You guys... day after day... If you could just improve your case solving rate, would that old fellow dare to show his teeth here?" Liu Cheng frowned, "He bared his teeth at you?" "Well... it wasn¡¯t really baring teeth," Tao Lu sighed. "Then what did he do?" "He... he charges for services rendered!" Chapter 713 - 656

Chapter 713: Chapter 656

7:00 in the morning. Tao Lu had arrived at the Criminal Police Division. The lights in the office were on, the floor looked as if it had just been mopped, and the green radish had been watered¡ªit shimmered with a fresh gloss, yet looking at the seats, they were all empty. Tao Lu, as the head of the division, turned out to be the first one on this floor to get to work. Tao Lu hummed in dissatisfaction. Not a single person had taken the initiative toe to work early; no wonder they had to spend a fortune on external assistance. If only the team had anyonepetent¡ªnot necessarily requiring a hundred percent of Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities, but at least seventy to eighty percent¡ªwould he have had to beg and plead for budget approvals? A county-level public security bureau actually wanted to expand the detention center and even acquire high-standard prisoner transport vehicles. It was only because Huang Qiangmin had "earnestly" exined the urgent need for using police from other areas in Ningtai County that Tao Lu had condescended to approach the bureau chief at all. Recalling the bureau chief¡¯s expression and tone at the time, Tao Lu felt utterly ashamed. Despite Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s annual budget of 2.2 billion, most of that was allocated to sries and welfare expenses. With a police force of over ten thousand members, the sheer cost of personnel far exceeded that of the military. At an average of 150,000 per person, that¡¯s 1.5 billion for ten thousand people. The remainder wasn¡¯t at Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s disposal either; the annual budget had been set at the start of the year, and although the bureau had more liquidity than local police departments, it was still finite. Fortunately, there was always a variety of supportive policies and subsidies, and in the end, it was Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s chief who had to swallow his pride and ask for them. After all, whether it was requesting funds for case investigations or subsidies, the chief would move heaven and earth to raise the case clearance rate. The real sufferer was Tao Lu. If it wasn¡¯t for Jiang Yuan being so obstinate, especially with his outstanding family background, Tao Lu would have loved nothing more than to entice him with the offer of residency for a PhD holder¡ªmaybe even setting up a post-doctoral workstation with the money saved. "Good morning." Finally, someone else walked in... right into Tao Lu¡¯s line of fire. Tao Lu red viciously at the first officer to enter, whose name he couldn¡¯t recall, and said, "Next time,e in earlier." "Yes, sir!" The officer stood at attention in response, then returned to his seat, rubbing his eyes with a hint of confusion¡ªwasn¡¯t the office still devoid of people? However, he quickly found constion as the officers who arrivedter were dealt with even more harshly, to the point that Commissioner Huang heard about it and came over to calm Tao Lu down. "No trouble, I hope? Your daughter got involved with another loser?" Commissioner Huang asked with concern. Tao Lu¡¯s eyshes seemed to break free from their shackles, spreading outward as he retorted with fury, "It¡¯s not because of that." "Not because of that?" "She did get another boyfriend, another young punk, but that¡¯s not why I¡¯m angry." Tao Lu paused and ryed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s demands before sighing, "I gave the bureau chief my word, like a military order. Now, if we can¡¯t raise the case closure rate, if we can¡¯t clear the backlog of cases, I¡¯ll have no face to stay." Commissioner Huang was greatly surprised, "That¡¯s an overreaction, isn¡¯t it? Not another young punk? Can¡¯t she learn from past mistakes?" "Zhang, focus¡ªdo you think that¡¯s the main point of what I¡¯m telling you?" "As for solving cases, just do your best¡ªthat¡¯s all there is to say. As for your daughter, since I¡¯m in the role of an uncle, should I..." "Zhang!" Tao Lu interrupted Commissioner Huang, his eyes nearly spewing fire, though it was unclear why. Zhang collected himself and said, "Ah, why did you make such a firm promise? Is there any certainty in solving cases, especially old ones? If it doesn¡¯t work out, then just set up a few more specialized teams for those old cases. Even a blind cat can find a dead rat once in a while, which could lead to cracking a few more..." Huang¡¯s persuasive abilities were exceptional; he was aware I had my eye on Jiang Yuan and wouldn¡¯t let go. I had no choice but to agree to his terms. The other party was demanding a lot, and the bureau chief certainly wouldn¡¯t agree easily..." Tao Lu roughly described his thought process, prompting Commissioner Huang to sigh continuously. "There¡¯s no other way then; I¡¯d have to follow the same procedure if it were me. But¡ªis Jiang Yuan really the solution you¡¯re hoping for?" "Haven¡¯t you seen the cases he solved before?" "I have. I¡¯ve seen them, but let¡¯s be honest, we¡¯ve seen our share of ¡¯super detectives.¡¯ Of course, Jiang Yuan is skilled and his previous results were good, but our situation here is different." "Be selective about the cases you choose." Tao Lu didn¡¯t say much more, but frowned and thought for a moment, then said, "We also need to start our own special team. Here¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking: Jiang Yuan brings his own team, which means we get extra manpower without spending a penny. The director probably had this in mind as well." Commissioner Huang looked at Tao Lu askance, "You didn¡¯t consider this?" Tao Lu smiled, "Commissioner Huang has his ways, seizing on our desire for a bargain. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have agreed. Speaking of the special team, on one hand, we need to show some independence, and we should also learn from Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience. Besides, Jiang Yuan is mainly a tech guy, and technology isn¡¯t something only his team can use¡ªwe should be able to share it in our special team as well." "Makes sense," Commissioner Huang nodded repeatedly, "Kill two birds with one stone!" "More like several," mused Tao Lu, "Well, let¡¯s start by forming a special team and build it up gradually." No sooner had he said this, Tao Lu took out paper and a pen, discussed candidate selection with Commissioner Huang, and then made some phone calls. After a while, Team Leader Cui Qishan entered. Cui Qishan was schrly-looking, tall and slim, with a semnce of an intellectual from early years. As Tao Lu rattled off the situation, Cui Qishan immediately became passionately concerned, "Team Leader Tao, are you confused? Should solving cases involve money? The people of Shan Nan have gone bad!" "I wouldn¡¯t mind a free ride," Tao Lu snorted, "Besides, the money¡¯s noting from our detachment. It¡¯s for a project that was supposed to go to other provinces; they¡¯ll just have to make do this year." Cui Qishan felt uneasy, saying, "But it shouldn¡¯t just be given away like that, at least, at least..." He repeated himself several times, finally rifying, "You must have set some conditions, like solving the case within a certain number of days? Or if our local special team solves it first, how would the money be allocated?" "It¡¯s not about just one case," Tao Lu waved his hand dismissively, "We agreed on 10 bodies, not the number of cases. As for the rest, if you want to negotiate, you can talk to Jiang Yuan yourself." Calcting by the number of bodies rather than the number of cases seemed reasonable to both Commissioner Huang and Cui Qishan. For unresolved murder cases with multiple victims, their impact and severity differ, so even when the Zhengguang Bureau mobilizes its own forces for investigation, a case with two victims doesn¡¯t necessarily receive double the resources of a case with just one. Moreover, it¡¯s true that murder cases where the perpetrator is bold enough to kill several people at once, if unresolved at the time, be much more challenging once they turn cold. Just think about it: multiple bodies mean multiple leads¡ªin murder cases, the victim¡¯s body is arguably the most important clue. So a case with many clues that remains unsolved is naturally much more difficult. Cui Qishan, uninterested in the details, focused his attention and said, "I¡¯ll go talk to Jiang Yuan right now." "I¡¯ll join you," Commissioner Huang said, looking toward Tao Lu. "All right. Together," agreed Tao Lu, and followed them. Thus, an enthusiastic Cui Qishan led the way straight to the temporary office of the Jiang Yuan Murder Case Special Team. On the way, Cui Qishan grandly dered, "I¡¯ve already decided; the first case for our special team will be the one from three years ago about the death from a hookup arranged through a dating app. Our technical methods are more advanced now, and we still have the data from back then. If we go over it again, we might find new leads. Even if you hadn¡¯t brought up the special team, I was nning to reopen the case." Of course, Tao Lu expressed his support. The three, smiling and chatting, entered the temporary office of the Jiang Yuan Murder Case Special Team to find Jiang Yuan and his team at a long conference table covered with small baskets of Cantonese dim sum, enjoying breakfast. "Your meal standard is rather high," Cui Qishan said enviously upon seeing this. The corner of Tao Lu¡¯s mouth twitched, knowing that ording to the agreement, Zhengguang Bureau was covering the meal allowances for Jiang Yuan and his team. Although he had thought at the time it would be just a drop in the bucketpared to the cost of building a detention center, seeing it with his own eyes made Tao Lu somewhat ufortable. Commissioner Huang took the initiative to y the bad cop, clearing his throat and saying, "Ahem, we should be mindful of our image during work hours." "We all worked overtimest night," Jiang Yuan exined, then handed a document to Commissioner Huang, "We went through the previous videos again and have identified a suspect. Currently, it looks very likely that we¡¯ve found the killer." Cui Qishan, who had prepared his approach and talking points the whole way: (¡¨?£ï?¡¨) Chapter 714 - 657 Motive

Chapter 714: Chapter 657 Motive

Before noon, Liu Cheng had the suspect brought back in for questioning. ording to regtions, criminal evidence must be confirmed within 24 hours; if detention is deemed necessary, criminal detention procedures should be processed, and only then can the suspect be sent to a detention center. Criminal detention canst for 3 days. Forplicated cases, it can be extended to 7 days. In cases involving repeat offenses, organized crime, or crimes across different areas, the period can be extended up to 30 days. All of the above does not constitute an arrest in legal terms! Arrest requires that the main facts of the crime be ascertained and that the primary evidence be collected before a "Request for Approval of Arrest Warrant" is produced. Only after it is approved by the prosecutor¡¯s office within 7 days can an "Arrest Warrant" be issued to carry out the arrest. Therefore, if someone has been formally arrested, generally speaking, they can abandon any hope for leniency. As soon as they see the arrest warrant, they shouldn¡¯t even think about probation¡ªit¡¯s guaranteed to be an actual sentence. If someone is given probation after the arrest, the prosecutor¡¯s office would be held ountable; without solid evidence, an arrest warrant cannot be obtained. The time Yue Hanwei, the suspect, entered the interrogation room coincided with the arrival of Hang City¡¯s Zhengguang Bureau chief at the criminal police team, where Tao Lu personally yed the surveince footage Jiang Yuan and others had found. In the 42-inch TV screen, in a corner of the video, two people were seen engaging in a fierce tussle, and secondster, one person was pushed out of the camera¡¯s range, followed quickly by the pusher rushing out. The chief watched with great attention, repeatedly asking for the video to be rewound and paused in order to clearly see the faces and figures of the people inside, thenparing them to Yue Hanwei, the captured suspect. After a long time, the chief let out a long sigh, saying, "It looks like the same person." "The image enhancement done by Jiang Yuan is very clear," the politicalmissar added from the side. The chief waved his hand, saying, "This is our first¡ªwell, second coboration, but we still need to rely on ourselves primarily. We have to verify everything that needs to be verified; otherwise, if any issues ariseter on, we will be the ones to bear the responsibility." The politicalmissar and Tao Lu looked at each other, neither daring to make unnecessaryments. The chief harbored doubts. Indeed, the case had been solved too quickly, which inevitably raised suspicions that there might be elements of falsification involved. Regardless of the frequency, such incidents have urred before, like the widely reported case of Uncle Zhang and his nephew. At that time, Nie Haifen, the head of the preliminary investigation team in Hang City¡ªa ce known for its high level of civility¡ªconvicted the suspects through various means despite a severeck of evidence. Even worse was the narcotics team leader from some ce in the northwest who stuffed 1 kilogram of drugs into a taxi driver¡¯s trunk and then captured him... Though it goes without saying, both of the aforementioned people were well-known detectives in their locales, with Nie Haifen even appearing on CCTV and receiving the title of "March 8th Red-Banner Holder." The very case she used to substantiate her appearance was the Uncle Zhang case. However, skepticism is nothing out of the ordinary for criminal detectives. Even Tao Lu himself had triple-checked; he simply kept silent about it. Technicians from the Image Investigation Brigade were quickly called over to reassess the image enhancement done by Jiang Yuan as well as the original surveince footage. He had actually already assessed it, with his client being none other than Tao Lu sitting across from him. But with Tao Lu remaining silent, he pretended to be unaware and carefully reassessed everything one more time before saying, "Chief, the video is the original, unedited version and there¡¯s nothing wrong with the image enhancement; the technique is very good. Technically speaking, it meets the criteria." "Can it be used in court?" The chief¡¯s requirement was higher than merely providing leads. After assessing twice, the technician confidently said, "It should be possible." "Mm," the chief nodded, then picked up a photo that had been developed and studied it for a while before stating, "We hadn¡¯t noticed this surveince footage before?" "This footage was beyond our estimated time of death," Tao Lu carefully exined. "It was Jiang Yuan who re-estimated the time of death and then reviewed the video recordings of that day to find this footage." The chief silently sighed, mncholic about the resources spent in vain, since his team hadn¡¯t managed to pierce through this mystery. Turning around, the chief asked, "So, this Yue Hanwei is a major suspect. What¡¯s his rtionship with the victim?" "As of now, the two appear to be neighbors living in the same building, with the victim residing on the first floor and Yue Hanwei on the sixteenth floor," answered Tao Lu. "What kind of neighborly rtionship is that?" the chief frowned, asking, "Did the two have any financial transactions?" "So far, none have been found." "What about their social rtions?" Tao Lu shook his head: "As of now, there seems to be none, with no phone records or WeChat contacts between the two..." From the side, the politicalmissar said, "We¡¯ve checked the suspect¡¯s spouse as well and haven¡¯t found anything for the time being." The chief grunted. Merely the fact that they were neighbors¡ªin modern life, that¡¯s utterly insignificant. How many people live for ten or twenty years without even knowing who their next-door neighbor is? By contrast, if either of them had yed the role of the proverbial "neighbor Wang," the case would be half-solved already. However, even the chief knew this was not easy. While the case was still under current investigation, simr inquiries had been made, and although not as precise as this matching pairs approach, the victim¡¯s phone had been thoroughly examined, including deleted messages which had also been recovered from the server for recentmunications. Starting with that assumption actually means supposing the murderermitted the crime out of passion, and that before or after such intense emotions, a normal person fighting for the purpose of courting would mostly have some genuine verbal exchange¡ªafter all, to be so impassioned as to kill someone and yet not utter a word is something I¡¯ve only heard of, never seen. Unfortunately, neither the perpetrator nor the victim seemed cooperative. The Chief suddenly looked up, noticed Tao Lu about to speak but hesitating, and then turned his gaze towards Political Commissar Yu Xu. Political Commissar Yu Xu caught the brainwave urately, saying, "Both the killer and the victim are straight men." Everyone sighed. "Alright, let¡¯s wait for your interrogation results then," the Chief didn¡¯t want to wait anymore and simply said, "Notify me the moment the results are in. Also, make sure to handle this case with the utmost rigor, it¡¯s okay to set a higher standard, don¡¯t embarrass us at the prosecutor¡¯s office." Thest sentence was unnecessary, the main point had already been made in the first part. Tao Lu immediately agreed, sent off the Chief, and then headed straight for the surveince room to keep watch. The interrogationsted a very long time. Not much content to cover, but due to the gravity of the case, the interrogators asked the same questions over and over,pared notes from different angles, and even sent people back to the suspect¡¯s home to collect physical evidence... It was almost evening when the questioning couldn¡¯t continue, and the interrogators reluctantly called it a day. Tao Lu first looked through the transcripts signed by the suspect, then with an indeterminate expression, went upstairs to find Jiang Yuan. The temporary office. Jiang Yuan and the others were huddled around a bowl of beef, chewing on the bones with high spirits. The meticulously selected fresh beef ribs, not previously frozen, were butchered in the morning and flown in by morning flight, prepared by a chef brought by Huang Qiangmin. The beef was boiled in in water, and even just dipped in salt, it tasted delicious. Of course, to showcase his skills, the chef also diligently prepared mushroom sauce, red wine sauce, mayonnaise, ck pepper sauce, and so on, allowing everyone to dip as they pleased, highlighting abination of focus and democracy. Jiang Yuan held a beef rib in his hands and gently tore off a big chunk of meat with his teeth, munching away in a primeval manner, his demeanor sincere and his appetite tremendous. Tao Lu first watched with envy, then with speechlessness. A perfectly good office, and the scene he encountered upon each visit was that of a cafeteria. Yet if Tao Lu might have had something to say the previous time, this time he had no intention to grumble. Instead, he greeted them cheerfully, saying, "Better lucky than early, I haven¡¯t had dinner yet." "Join us, join us," Jiang Yuan called him over to sit down. Tao Lu sat down beside Jiang Yuan with a chuckle, actually put on a glove, grabbed a piece of beef, and started eating. "Wow, this is delicious!" Tao Lu eximed half sincerely, half mockingly. "Try it with a bit of salt, it tastes even better, just eat double the rmended intake of salt for the country, it¡¯s delicious," Jiang Yuan swallowed the beef in his mouth, paired it with some raw onion, waited for the spiciness to rise, then grinned before asking Tao Lu, "Tao, did the interrogation yield any results?" "Yeah, the suspect confessed," Tao Lu took a bite of meat and followed Jiang Yuan by having a bite of raw onion, the spice nearly bringing tears to his eyes, so he quickly took two more bites of meat. "What was the motive?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised the suspect confessed. With the video evidence out there, it was tough for the suspect to clear things up. As for not exining? If every average person could do that, it would be the interrogators¡¯ck of professionalism. Tao Lu put down the half-eaten piece of meat, swallowed what was in his mouth, and said, "Garbage disposal." "What?" Tao Lu spread his hands, saying, "The victim was a bachelor living on the first floor, who often liked to leave his garbage outside his door, umting it for a day or two before disposing of it all at once. The suspect, although living on the 16th floor, would see the victim¡¯s garbage and smell the odor every time he exited the elevator. The two had an idental run-in a few months ago, which led to a verbal altercation that quickly ended but left both parties displeased." Tao Lu gave everyone a moment to digest the information, then continued, "On February 9th, the two encountered each other in the residential area, argued for a few words, then quickly came to shoving, and as they fell to the ground one after the other, Yue Hanwei imed he used a chokehold to calm the victim down, only to let go and find the victim had died." The sounds of chewing in the temporary office stopped. Mu Zhiyang muttered quietly, "I¡¯m also a bachelor, I like to leave my garbage by the door..." Chapter 715 - 658: Key

Chapter 715: Chapter 658: Key

The next day. Tao Lu joined Jiang Yuan and the others for breakfast in the temporary office. The long conference table, onceid out with food, was surprisingly convenient. Tofu pudding, soy milk, fried dough sticks, oil cakes, sticky rice dumplings, soup noodles, and noodles¡ªsome of which were purchased and some were prepared by the chef from Shan Nan. Beyond that, the most popr was the braised beef. Different from the boiled beef from yesterday, the braised beef had a darker color and a slightly spicy taste. Chewing it revealed theplexity of its vors, and the sense of satisfaction from eating it alone was very strong, and paired with noodles or rice noodles, it was unbeatable. Especially in a ce like this office, any kind of noodles or rice noodles topped with ayer of braised beef would instantly elevate the dish by three grades. It was not only about feeling an increase in the quality of life but also about feeling alive like a person. Tao Lu chose a bowl of beef soup noodles and was toozy to talk. He topped it with a thickyer of beef and ate respectfully. So-called beef soup noodles were simply noodles boiled and then put into the broth from yesterday¡¯s beef. The broth was steaming hot, and just with a handful of noodles and a dash of salt and pepper, the aroma filled the room. Because it was breakfast, the portion of noodles wasn¡¯trge. Tao Lu slurped them down quickly, leaving behind a bowl full of soup. After drinking a few sips and not feeling quite satisfied, he ordered a meat-stuffed bun. Today¡¯s bun was a steamed bun filled with braised beef. The steamed buns had just been made, covered in cloth in the cafeteria, and promptly brought over while still steaming. Choosing a somewhat fattier piece of the cool meat with a gtinous texture and sandwiching it inside the steaming hot bun, the fat on the beef gently melted from the heat. Biting into it, the light saltiness of the beef, the subtle wheat vor of the bun, and the faint taste of fat all mixed together, provoking an involuntary smile and vigorous chewing. And just when that bite of bun was about to be swallowed, having a sip of the mildly salty beef soup brought a feeling of bliss that simply exploded. For those who knew how to appreciate food, adding a sip of slightly sweet soy milk was the cherry on top, bringing together carbohydrates, sugar, salt, and fat. Your taste buds would instantly take off! Tears of joy were almost streaming down Tao Lu¡¯s face as he couldn¡¯t help but exim, "Your meals here are just too good!" Despite being the head of his department, wearing a shirt as clean as if it were brand new, and even though Jiang Yuan and the others¡¯ meal expenses were approved with his signature. But Tao Lu¡¯s wife worked too, so unless their daughter came home for a visit, he had no breakfast to eat. Of course, there was no lunch either, and whether he could even scrape together dinner depended on whether the criminals were cooperative or not. If he could have something hot like this in the office¡ªit did have a canteen, but eating there often made even the steaming meals tasteless. Sometimes, he even thought the scent of a steaming pile would be more appetizing. "This is toofortable," sighed Tao Lu, patting his belly and looking at the table with lingering fondness. "Want some tofu pudding soup or spicy soup?" asked Jiang Yuan. "In Beijing, we usually mix spicy soup with tofu pudding," said Tao Lu, waving his hand, "I dare not eat any more, or I won¡¯t be able to walkter." Jiang Yuan just smiled and didn¡¯t insist. He himself wrapped the meat in a pancake and ate it with spicy soup. The spicy soup was also based on beef, and since Jiang Fuzhen bought the ranch, he had been very focused on collecting recipes that were good for cooking beef dishes, as well as chefs. "That is the one whom my thoughts entwine, whom my deep love embraces ..." Tao Lu¡¯s phone began to ring. The group of people, who had been busy eating and drinking, unconsciously stopped in their tracks. Jiang Yuan also ced his second wrapped pancake back onto his te as a sign of respect. "Hello, it¡¯s me... Yes, yes, alright, alright!" Tao Lu quickly ended the call, set down his phone, and looked at Jiang Yuan and the others with a serious expression. However, he then smiled and said, "The crime scene identification went smoothly, the suspect urately pointed out the location, the entry and exit points. Now we¡¯re going back to verify the surveince footage." Everyone once again revealed collective smiles. Crime scene identification is an important part of a criminal case; going through this process doesn¡¯t necessarily mean a rock-solid case has been made, but it certainly firms up the very foundation of the case. Even with a simplistic view, "If it wasn¡¯t you, how would you know how the victim died!" this statement is generally hard to dispute. On the other hand, what Tao Lu mentioned¡ªthest step of verifying surveince footage¡ªbelongs to the category of indirect evidence. Of course, the more evidence there is, the smoother the case judgment tends to be. In fact, if the evidence is sufficient, the sentencing might be harsher, or to put it another way, judges might be bold enough to impose the death penalty, instead of handing down a suspended death sentence as a precaution. "So, is this case considered closed?" The speaker this time was Wei Zhenguo, who had been brought along by Huang Qiangmin due to theplex situation in Beijing, and left at Jiang Yuan¡¯s side to assist. Wei Zhenguo¡¯s own understanding was to do some thankless tasks, to say what can and cannot be said. Like now, Wei Zhenguo confirming the case closure, meaning the KPI goes up by one. As for the case itself, there¡¯s a long process ahead, including post-investigation checks and possibly additional detective work; the suspect won¡¯t be formally sentenced for at least another half a year. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad naturally can¡¯t linger here. Tao Lu nodded decisively and said, "For us, this case is considered closed." Then, with a smile and half-jokingly, Tao Lu asked, "ording to our discussion with Commissioner Huang, this counts as resolving a dubious corpse case. What case do you n to pick next, Captain Jiang?" "The triple homicide in Fang Xia Vige," Jiang Yuan used theputer provided by Zhengguang Bureau, where all the case information was essible; it was just that many specific details, especially evidence, needed to be retrieved. Tao Lu¡¯s mouth twitched slightly and he said, "I figured as much, it¡¯s doable. We will cooperate fully. I¡¯ve been following this case closely too. Fang Xia Vige is remote and hardly ever has any issues. With this triple homicide, the whole family of three died, and it¡¯s been over two years without a solve. The local popce is fuming." "This case does indeed have many suspicious points," Jiang Yuan finished thest bit of his cookie, then drank all his soup. Tao Lu: "I¡¯m eager to hear the details." Jiang Yuan reached out to Wang Chuanxing for his notebook, flipped through the pages and began, "From what we can see at the scene, the whole house was ransacked. It¡¯s very likely the perpetrator had financial motives. Considering the circumstances of Fang Xia Vige, someone going to such a remote ce to kill, then spending a significant amount of time looking for valuables, points to a premeditated murder." Tao Lu nodded. "Moreover, based on Fang Xia Vige, where the area is remote and there are few outsiders, and strangers stand out, the possibility of the crime beingmitted by someone familiar is higher." Tao Lu continued nodding. "But..." Jiang Yuan spat out the word but, "when reviewing the evidence at the scene, I found that the most important piece of evidence obtained by the police was a palm print. As a result, they didparisons with everyone in the vige, with no match..." "Hmm?" "Solely based on leaving behind a palm print, although it happens, I feel it doesn¡¯t fit the character of this case." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t actually able to deduce anything specific from a single palm print, but rather, his overall reading of the case gave him that impression. Although Tao Lu couldn¡¯t understand, he said simply, "You proceed as you see fit, without needing to consider us." Chapter 716 - 659: Hastily Done

Chapter 716: Chapter 659: Hastily Done

Fang Xia Vige. Tao Lu apanied Jiang Yuan, driving for over three hours, specifically for this trip, chatting andughing all the way, with an attitude that could not have been any better. Tao Lu was extremely satisfied with Jiang Yuan. If the chief had some additional expectations of Jiang Yuan, it was because he was the real financier, bearing the burden of the budget, which he couldn¡¯t outwardly express. Tao Lu, however, didn¡¯t have that much on his mind. As the captain of the Beijing Division, his role was pretty much the same as the captain of the county¡¯s unit, perhaps with even more worries, but as long as he did his job well, most of his work was considered done. And when it came to work, Jiang Yuan¡¯s answers were just too standard, especially with yesterday¡¯s "Wanlong Gardens sewer dumping case," Tao Lu was not just satisfied, he was pleased. He now resembled a bear that had overeaten, apparently too sluggish to chase after prey, entertaining Jiang Yuan with trivial conversation. When Jiang Yuan arrived in Fang Xia Vige, he immediately went into work mode. The dumping case a few days ago was routine to him. A determination of the time of death directly changed the entire logic of the case from the ground up. Theoretically, once Jiang Yuan corrected the death timeline, the remaining work could have been done by Liu Cheng or someone else, and the oue would have likely been the same. In fact, the follow-up work was actually done by Liu Cheng and others. However, without Jiang Yuan¡¯s presence, whether Liu Cheng and the others could concentrate fully and invest substantial resources in advancing the case in a new direction was another matter. The crime scene of the case in Fang Xia Vige was in a self-constructed house on the east side of the vige. Composed of the Fang and Xia families, Fang Xia Vige was arge vige with three to four hundred households. Of course, there weren¡¯t many people left now, but as a countryside location in the Jingji region, Fang Xia Vige still had close to a thousand residents, living on agriculture, animal husbandry, farmbor, and "remittances," maintaining a semnce of bustle despite its remoteness. The deceased Xia Hong and his family survived on several vegetable greenhouses and a hillside of fruit trees, and their economic condition was quite good, one of the rare families that maintained a rural way of life. Perhaps it was their favorable economic conditions that brought about their violent deaths. Although their ie could not match that of someizens, Xia Hong¡¯s family of three had a gross annual ie of about four to five hundred thousand, with a profit of around three hundred thousand. Despite both spouses working hard, in such a remote ce as Fang Xia Vige, they were substantially better off. Other vigers would be doing well to earn thirty to forty thousand a year, and most households had only one main breadwinner. As for those who worked away from home, the vigers of Fang Xia Vige who lived long-term in Beijing had already left this ecosystem behind. "Xia Hong¡¯s house has been left as it was, without much alteration," the local police officer leading the way said, "Xia Hong¡¯s parents are both alive, and they have siblings, but currently, no one has inherited this house. The vige hasn¡¯t interfered with it; it¡¯s been left deserted just like this." Houses in the vige aren¡¯t valuable, even though it¡¯s considered part of Beijing, but it¡¯s a bit far from the Sixth Ring Road. Thus, as an ordinary rural self-constructed house with a history of murder, it not only had no inhabitants, but the neighboring households had moved away too. Approaching the house, it looked even more deste. The concrete house, sturdy and solid, was two levels high, but ugly. The front of the house had tiles stuck onto it, but both sides were bare, and due to the angle, unless one stood directly in front, one could see the bare concrete on both sides. In front of the concrete house was a yard of about a hundred square meters,pletely paved with blue bricks, which made it look somewhat nicer. The yard¡¯s iron fence was locked with a chain, hanging down, giving off a rather carefree appearance. Noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze, the leading police officer exined, "We locked the chain. Normally, this gate isn¡¯t locked; at most, they would justtch it from behind. Someone could just reach in to unlock it themselves." Jiang Yuan asked, "Has anyone gone in?" "Some mischievous kids went in to explore," the officer said with a hint of resignation, "A total of four kids. The first time, two went in, the second time, four. They stayed for about ten minutes each time. Someone told Xia¡¯s family, and they weren¡¯t happy about it. The kids who went in wouldn¡¯t admit they did anything wrong, and some people even called the police. In the end, we mediated." "How did you mediate? What did Xia¡¯s family want?" Tao Lu inquired with interest. The officer replied, "The parents beat the kids in front of Xia¡¯s family as a punishment; that put an end to it." Tao Lu thought, "That¡¯s not too bad..." Liu Cheng then stood in front of the yard gate and said, "On August 10th, the neighbor of the Xia family discovered that Xia Hong¡¯s door had been closed all the time. Not only had no onee out, but also the greenhouse had not been tended to, so they entered on their own. Upon reaching the bedroom, they found bodies on both the ground and the bed, and then reported it to the authorities..." Listening, Jiang Yuan nodded, then put on gloves and tried to open the iron gate from the outside... it could be easily done by just reaching in. Very simple. "These people are really careless," sighed Tao Lu. "People are all like this nowadays. Many think they can sleep without locking their doors. Just the other day, I worked on a theft case where the victim lived in a vi and never locked their doors during the day, practically luring a security guard inside," said Liu Cheng, shaking his head, though it was unclear for whom he felt sorry. "Let¡¯s go inside and take a look," suggested Jiang Yuan, who had read the case file carefully beforehand and now held a photocopy. Starting from the main entrance, he went step by step, saying, "The room is messy. In the second room from east to west, there is blood seepage. The female homeowner, Zhu Meifang, was found facing the direction of the door, copsed. In the northeast corner of the room, there was a double bed with a young child in a prone position, and arge amount of blood on the exterior wall of the window... The male homeowner, Xia Hong, was leaning against the eastern wall, with bloody handprints left on the writing desk and pools of blood on the floor..." The bloodstains in the room had already been cleaned, but the furniture remained unchanged in position, only some bedding had been taken away as evidence. Jiang Yuan walked and observed, following the sequence of the investigation detailed in the case file, re-examining the bedroom once again. "The palm print was found above the bedside table?" Jiang Yuan pulled out a photo and stood in front of the bedside table to verify. From the photo, it was clear that a faint palm print hadnded on the edge of the bedside table, looking as if the left hand had inadvertently left it there while someone was rummaging through the drawers. Jiang Yuan looked left and right, almost as if he was conducting the initial investigation of the bedroom all over again before finally stepping out and continuing to examine the other rooms. "Over here, there are mainly signs of searching for valuables. The perpetrator searched very thoroughly, pulling out many drawers..." The police officer from the police station meticulously exined. Jiang Yuan stopped in his tracks and turned to look at the officer, asking, "Was it your station that conducted the initial investigation entry?" "Yes." "What areas does your station cover?" "This side of Liugouyan, some parts of Zhengguang District are ours." "Has your station solved murder cases before?" Jiang Yuan asked this for a reason. Police stations have various responsibilities, which differ from ce to ce. In theory, as a branch of the police, they have their own authority to sign documents and manage finances, which isn¡¯t much different from a division, except for the difference in their capacities. In practice, most police stations do not handle major cases like homicides; some don¡¯t even handle criminal cases and call for the criminal investigation team when encountering one. The police officer shook his head and said, "At most, we help with preserving the scene. We don¡¯t directly participate in the investigative work." "What does preserving the scene include?" "Protecting the scene, checking if the perpetrator is hiding, being mindful of the crowd, managing the flow of people, and so on..." The police officer earnestly listed several tasks. Jiang Yuan nodded as he listened, then continued to survey the scene. After several groups of people hade and gone, Jiang Yuan finally finished examining the scene thoroughly and said, "Let¡¯s go back." "Hey, wait, wait, since we¡¯re here, let¡¯s have a meal together; it¡¯s not often we get this chance," hurried in the chief of the police station. Jiang Yuan politely declined. On the way back, Tao Lu felt a bit regretful and said with a smile, "We really should have tried it. Liugouyan has a tradition of raising donkeys, and their donkey meat is quite authentic." "They were a bit hasty in their investigation process," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t follow up on Tao Lu¡¯s remark but instead handed over a few selected photos to Tao Lu, saying, "Their level is about the same as Longli County. I thought something felt familiar yesterday." "Longli what?" "In short, the results of their initial investigation are unsatisfactory. There are many issues with the scene, including that palm print, which all have to be reconsidered," Jiang Yuan concluded, giving Tao Lu an answer that was hard to ept but sparked hope. Whether it¡¯s appropriate to point it out or not, if they could solve this ¡¯three-corpse¡¯ case, it wouldn¡¯t matter if it overshadowed their own department¡¯s pride. Chapter 717 - 660 Blossoming

Chapter 717: Chapter 660 Blossoming

"If it¡¯s true that there is a problem with the evidence collected by the technicians, then our case has nothing left," Tao Lu pondered for a while, looking somewhat frustrated. For them, this case had also involved a great deal of time and effort. If they had to start all over again... Tao Lu wasn¡¯t afraid of his subordinates getting tired, but this case was no longer current, and much of the evidence was no longer usable, yet finding new evidence was not possible. "That is indeed a problem," Jiang Yuan stroked his chin, thought for a moment, and said, "Which evidence can be used and which cannot will be something we need to determer. I think we can start by verifying the palm prints. Because from the initial investigation direction, the crime was thought to bemitted by someone familiar, hence the palm printparisons were made with the rtives and friends of the victim from Fang Xia Vige." Tao Lu¡¯s face turned ashen, as if someone had smeared pot ash on it, giving off a faintly faded gray look. "If there¡¯s a problem with the palm prints, does that mean the murderer might have slipped away right under our noses?" Tao Lu said in a heavy voice. "We can¡¯t be certain yet," Jiang Yuan used a bit of emotional intelligence, after all, it was the result of the efforts of hundreds of people over a long time. If it was because a few criminal investigation officers weren¡¯t careful... It could only be said that the criminal police in Beijing had it a bit too good; they seldom encountered unreliable technicians. In Shan Nan, there was no need for the likes of Longli County to take the stage with their bottom-ranking skills. Just the LV0.5 crime scene investigation abilities of Comrade Wang Zhong from Ningtai County could easily lead to problems if not careful enough. Nothing strange about that, the world is full of people who just muddle through. Some people can¡¯t find jobs, some be civil servants, some be police officers, others be doctors, and some be authors¡ªeveryone has a side that cks off. Even with dogs, there are meritorious canines like Dahei, as well as useless mutts. "What¡¯s your n?" Tao Lu adjusted his attitude. Jiang Yuan said, "My suggestion is to do a palm printparison for all the police officers involved in the investigation." "This... Alright. The sooner we check, the sooner we can be at ease," Tao Lu sighed, knowing the decision would certainly face some resistance, although not too much. To be honest, it was nothing new for crime scene investigators to leave their own fingerprints or DNA at the scene, even in the brightest beacon of a country, it¡¯s the same. "What next?" Tao Lu asked. "If there is indeed a problem with the palm prints, we¡¯ll go back and investigate along the lines of personal rtionships again, looking for obvious suspects as if it were an inside job. Meanwhile, I will study the evidence in the case further." Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s calm demeanor, Tao Lu suddenly felt envious. In fact, if the palm prints are set aside, it¡¯s as if the case has to be reinvestigated from scratch, and there are plenty of mature approaches to follow for reinvestigating a case. Unless Jiang Yuan opts for some unconventional approach, the basic model is more or less the same, and Tao Lu could arrange it with his eyes closed. But such youthfulness and confidence as Jiang Yuan¡¯s were what Tao Lucked. Even now, Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but harbor doubts and fears. He shook his head and said to Jiang Yuan, "You don¡¯t seem worried about the case hitting a dead end." "We¡¯ll deal with a dead end when we get to it," Jiang Yuan was indeed not too worried. Not to mention that cold cases didn¡¯t have the same pressure to be solved, but considering the resolution of the case itself, why should a sloppy criminal get the better of a fully equipped Jiang Yuan. Back at the police station, Tao Lu hurriedly set things in motion. The local police stations and the criminal police were unrted, and he also had to coordinate with the chief. On the other hand, the technicians dispatched by the criminal police that day needed to be checked as well, and those involved in cases outside had to be called back. Before the verification even began, the team was already abuzz with activity. Cui Qishan, the captain of the fourth brigade, seized the opportunity to recruit, forming a small group and said, "The forensic doctor from outside looks at us with such cold indifference. Not to say we are the clients here, the ones who have paid, and even if we were freeloading, based on how it used to be, he couldn¡¯t act this way, right? That¡¯s why, to strike the iron, one must be strong. We should form our own elite task force, crack the case beautifully, and establish ourselves." Xiao Si said, "But these cold cases are the leftovers of our own doing. Didn¡¯t we solve them before because we didn¡¯t like them?" Cui Qishan replied, "Don¡¯t talk such disheartening words. When have we ever done a cold case cleanup without solving three to five of them?" Xiao Si said, "But those were many times the size of a task force working together for several months to achieve the results. This year, we¡¯ve had no shortage of current cases." Cui Qishan answered, "The previous task forces wereposed of members from one brigade after another, but this time it¡¯s different. We¡¯re going to form an elite group, all core criminal police officers. Can¡¯t thebat effectiveness be the same?" Wang Chao asked, "Are all of us in this group elites?" Cui Qishan confirmed, "That¡¯s right, you should be feeling a bit excited now." Li Jiang: "So, who¡¯s in charge of ordering takeout, keeping the ledger, and stuff like that?" Holding his phone, Cui Qishan was stunned for a moment, furrowed his brows, and looked at the question, realizing that it indeed was a loophole. After some thought, Cui Qishan, feeling helpless, continued to type: "Once our special case team is set up, I¡¯ll call a couple of young people over." Li Jiang: "It¡¯s best to call them in advance, set up a working group responsible for all sorts of misceneous tasks when forming the team." Cui Qishan was stunned again, but eventually, he caved in to reality. So, Cui Qishan had no choice but to choose two young criminal police officers from his own unit to join the group, which greatly dispelled the elite group¡¯s atmosphere. Fortunately, the overall atmosphere of the special case team was still decent, and the cases selected by Cui Qishan were also approved by everyone. Thus, a 12-person special case team was operational. After busying himself with this task, Cui Qishan stretchedzily, listening to the crackling of his bones for a while, then strolled over to report to Tao Lu, ready to earn some praise. As a middle-aged man, apart from having his subordinates achieve some sess that he could report to his superiors, opportunities to receive praise were already few. Approaching Tao Lu¡¯s door, before Cui Qishan could enter, he heard a thunderous roar from inside: "Entering the scene without gloves? Have your brains been kicked by a donkey?" "The donkeys in Liugouyan are tasty, it¡¯s not their hooves you should be on the receiving end of!" "Why didn¡¯t you report after touching the scene? Forgot? What do you remember? You only remember the donkey burger, I bet!" Tao Lu was usually just serious, but when he started scolding, it was as if he was car-sick from eating too much hot pot¡ªhis speech was fast and copious, leaving people dizzy and confused. Cui Qishan turned his head to leave, but at that moment, Tao Lu, who had just finished scolding someone, happened to open the door. "Cui? Is there something you need?" Tao Lu¡¯s tone had returned to normal. If not for the poor soundproofing of the door, Cui Qishan wouldn¡¯t have known that he had just chewed someone out. "I wanted to report to you about the special case team," Cui Qishan said in a low voice. Tao Lu loosened the cor of his white shirt, "Oh? Has the case been solved?" Cui Qishan was startled, thinking how things had not reached that point yet. Seeing his reaction, Tao Lu was also startled for a moment, then burst intoughter: "I was talking to Jiang Yuan and got carried away. No worries, no worries. What¡¯s up with your special case team?" Cui Qishan felt a bit wronged. Even if it were Jiang Yuan... Of course, Jiang Yuan did solve thest case in just a few days, which was quite impressive, but such oues shouldn¡¯t be considered the norm. Tao Lu cleared his throat and said warmly, "No worries. Go ahead, do you need funding?" "No, I¡¯m not here for money," Cui Qishan had intended to ask for funding, but he certainly couldn¡¯t bring himself to do it now and simply said, "We¡¯ve sessfully formed the team now..." He reported the work from the past few days, and at the end, somewhat unsatisfied yet curious, he asked, "Tao, about the family annihtion case in Fang Xia Vige, the palm print didn¡¯t match?" "Yeah, a young officer from the police station, when he went in to examine the bodies, identally touched the nightstand." "This... is within reason, yet unexpected," Cui Qishan was genuinely baffled. Simr situations usually urred when a case had been solved and the evidence was contradictory. Like this time, it was rare for Jiang Yuan to directly point out a problem with the evidence. Tao Lu nodded slightly and then unexpectedly, his face showed a hint of anticipation, "It¡¯s now a bit harder to investigate the victim¡¯s socialwork than during the actual case, but as long as we solve it, we¡¯re not afraid of difficulties." "You¡¯re right," Cui Qishan, observing the rare expression on the chief¡¯s face, silently made up his mind: Moving forward, I will see that smile bloom again! Chapter 718 - 661

Chapter 718: 661

Cui Qishan had selected a social media dating case, or better said, a meet-up murder case, which belonged to a new era of tough cases. First of all, such cases were characterized by a dy in discovery; when a victim travelled to a different ce and couldn¡¯t be contacted for several days, it was easy for friends to view it as normal. By the time a report was filed, a lot of time had already passed. Plus, the reports were usually filed at the departure location rather than where the crime urred,plicating the police response. Sometimes, they didn¡¯t even know where the victim had actually gone, which posed an even higher level of difficulty. Next, there was the issue of body identification. Disappearance and death were viewed with varying levels of concern, especially for victims of hookup meet-ups; it wasn¡¯t out of the question to think they had eloped to the Qaidam Basin in the name of love. And for a killer with plenty of time in an unfamiliar ce, there was a decent chance of hiding the body. The key to solving the case mainly rested on technical investigation. With the implementation of real-name systems online, most people¡¯s identities could be traced. Therefore, ordinary long-distance meet-ups leading to crimes of passion were generally solvable. The trouble came with prepared criminals. Non-registered SIM cards, coupled with fake identities, and whatever else, even though the police had whatever kind of barriers, whatever technical investigation methods, if the perpetrator resorted to using fake identities, did whatever else, andmitted crimes on the move, it would be more challenging if they knew just a bit about counter-surveince, like removing SIM cards, switching contact methods, and such¡ªhow then would the police respond? Honestly speaking, there weren¡¯t many strategies avable to deal with this. This is also one of the reasons why human trafficking persisted, not solely because of economic factors but also due to the difficulty in cracking such crimes. If encountering a case guaranteed solving, especially an easily solvable one, then its economic profitability would diminish on its own. Besides that, meet-up murders were, to a certain extent, simr to random acts. Hookup apps typically facilitated stranger interactions, and whom one encountered or managed to meet wasrgely a matter of chance. The murderer might have had a pattern, but cracking patterns usually happened in TV series; movies shied away from it due to the lengthy verification process. For the police, solving such cases normally depended on how effective their technical means were. Fortunately, domestic software servers were well-controlled, and perpetrators generally didn¡¯t possess high technical skills, but there¡¯s always an exception to worry about... Of course, Cui Qishan was now betting that his case wasn¡¯t one of those exceptions. The nine officers he had handpicked all had extensive experience in technical roles. They weren¡¯t necessarily experts in technology, but they were well-acquainted with various technical methods and knew whom to approach in any given situation. They were also highly experienced detectives who could work independently or in a team, conducting investigations ording to regtions, know how to gather evidence, and could withstand the stringent demands of the courts. Essentially, the officers Cui Qishan sought were akin to detectives like Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong had learned so much about Legal Botany from Jiang Yuan; the purpose was merely to use that knowledge to solve cases. Cui Qishan was optimistic about this, throwing himself and his detectives into their work with zeal. He believed that, given the professional level of his special team, solving the social media dating cases wouldn¡¯t be like catching fish in a barrel, but he was certain that progress would be steadily made. Cui Qishan nned to restart the case from scratch. Simultaneously, Tao Lu personally led a team to investigate the residents of Fang Xia Vige. Jiang Yuan, as usual, pulled out his footprint identification techniques and first categorized the footprints that had entered the bedroom. The footprints left by police officers were eliminated first, followed by those from other vigers who hade to see themotion; a dozen or so remained, increasing the number of possible suspects. Liu Cheng, who was in charge of this area, said with a troubled frown, "Nowadays, people travel all over; the killer most likely took the opportunity to leave. At the beginning, they might have stayed in the vige to avoid suspicion. It would have been easy to find them then, but after so much time has passed, if they¡¯re still hanging around the vige, I¡¯d question their intelligence." Liu Cheng seemed to beining, and in reality, he wasining. Asking him, with a crew of dozens, to check the addresses of over a thousand people...just making contact would be exhausting enough, and without venting, the work couldn¡¯t bepleted. Tao Lu frowned and asked, "How many people were originally in the vige and are no longer there now?" "Definitely hundreds," Liu Cheng replied. "The number of people in the vige is dwindling. Fang Xia Vige is actually one of the better ones, with some middle-aged people remaining to leasend and orchards, engage in animal husbandry, or work for agriculturalpanies. Still, it¡¯s mostly the young people who leave, and some elderly go to help with childcare..." As Liu Cheng spoke of the difficulties, his forehead creased with the hassle. What started as an ordinary task, with the addition of such numbers, became anything but. Contacting hundreds or even thousands of people to confirm their addresses and trying to summon them back, or, if that was impossible, sending someone to their location to make inquiries... Just thinking about all that was enough to make one¡¯s skin crawl. Tao Lu thought for a moment and said, "If we eliminate the elderly and the minors..." Jiang Yuan was sitting on the other side of the table and now coughed twice, saying, "We can¡¯t screen like this. Whether they were in the vige at that time depends entirely on the records kept by the local police. I¡¯ve seen the log, and it was recorded by the Liugouyan police station¡¯s officers; we can¡¯t rely on that." Tao Lu was rebutted, but he wasn¡¯t upset and straightforwardly admitted, "That¡¯s true." In fact, there are also secrets about entering the vige. To prove who was in the vige on that day is still yable at this stage of the case¡ªwhen there are contradictions or doubts, at least they could verify and inquire. But now, more than two yearster, they only had the records to rely on, and those records were unreliable... Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t give Tao Lu any emotional leeway as they still had to cooperate on nine bodies. He spoke directly, "The elderly and minors cannot be ruled out either. I looked at the photos of the corpses and the murderer used a long-handled axe with a long lever arm. Judging by the grip, even an elderly person or a minor could have smashed the victim¡¯s head and face with sufficient force." Jiang Yuan nced at Tao Lu, saw he could ept this, and continued, "The elderly in Fang Xia Vige have been farming for a long time and are strong. Even men in their fifties or sixties could use an axe to kill a whole family of victims and produce simr wounds." "As for minors... Today¡¯s minors grow up quickly. A 14-year-old might be 1.8 meters tall and weigh 180 pounds. They also shouldn¡¯t be ruled out." Tao Lu spread his hands: "So we have to face the whole vige? That¡¯s a huge task." Comparing footprints is a simple matter, but the problem is, how topare when people are outside? Ask them to take a photo of their footprint? That seems clever in theory but is illegal in reality. When facing a murder case, the most reliable and legal method is to call and ask for the person¡¯s address and, with careful wording, invite them back to the vige. If they¡¯re unwilling, then send someone to collect evidence on site. Including footprints¡ªbest taken by the police themselves. Liu Cheng¡¯sint was about this. If it had been a task that could bepleted, he wouldn¡¯t have made such a fuss, but clearly, it was an impossible task, and withoutining, wouldn¡¯t the case just be dyed on his watch? Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "You¡¯re still worried about making a futile effort." This was also a situation Jiang Yuan often encountered. Commanders faced with a plethora of clues couldn¡¯t possibly invest all their energy into every single one¡ªa saturated investigation might sound cool, but not when the billes due. But this case was just in the initial stages of being reopened, and Tao Lu certainly couldn¡¯t deploy his reserve forces just yet. But Jiang Yuan was different, as the conclusions he drew usually had the endorsement of advanced skills. So, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, the input-output ratio was rather good. Just on the identification of a single footprint, there was already a certain trust gap between them. Tao Lu¡¯s idea had been punctured, but heughed it off, not taking it to heart, and said, "As long as you¡¯re confident, in this case, you take the lead!" He had already given Huang Qiangmin the advance payment, and if he didn¡¯t trust Jiang Yuan at this point, it was like selling himself out. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Then we¡¯ll still target the whole vige, including the victim¡¯s rtives, ording to the contact list. Next, we¡¯ll categorize these people and investigate them in waves." Liu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That¡¯s more like it, it¡¯s doable. Who should be picked for the first wave? Rtives of the victims living in the vige?" "The footprints inside the house have been trampled over too much, with many peopleing and going, andter some vigers also entered. However, I can still summarize a range... at least 165 centimeters in height, male, over 130 pounds, right-handed, having an intimate rtionship with the victims, and able to enter the bedroom..." Jiang Yuan had already used skills such as footprint identification, tool identification, and bloodstain analysis in this first wave. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t understand, but was greatly encouraged, saying, "In that case, the number of people can be greatly reduced." "It¡¯s just that these are the first wave; if they don¡¯t match, the numbers will increase again." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t guarantee that the murderer wouldn¡¯t have the ability to counter-investigate or coincidentally foil investigation efforts. But for now, the scale of the investigation was still small, and it did not provoke Jiang Yuan¡¯s sense of urgency. Chapter 719 - 662: Pork Head Meat

Chapter 719: Chapter 662: Pork Head Meat

Xinghe Electronics Factory. Xia Liucheng followed the line, shuffling forward step by step. The scorching sun was high in the sky, and there was not a hint of shade for the heads of those queuing. The line was crowded, the passage narrow; even though they weren¡¯t crammed shoulder to shoulder, the agitation in the heat wave was almost intolerable. Xia Liucheng¡¯s work uniform waspletely soaked through. He wanted to take it off, but since he wasn¡¯t wearing an undershirt, all he could do was unbutton a few more buttons to let off some steam, while wiping sweat with his towel and using it to fan himself. "What are you doing? Acting indecent? Button up your shirt," a female supervisor came over from the adjacent air-conditioned room. Xia Liucheng pouted, "In this heat, who has the energy to act indecently? At least provide a sunscreen umbre." The female supervisor wasn¡¯t entirely stern. She changed her tone and said, "We¡¯ve got air conditioning and cold drinks inside. If you¡¯re willing,e in with me." "I¡¯m not going." Xia Liucheng was in line to resign. Ever since a call came from his hometown Fang Xia Vige a couple of days ago, his mood became tenser by the day, and today, he simply resigned. However, at electronic factories now, there were many resigning and few joining. Many young people would resign after just a few days; those who couldst a few months were considered veteran workers.Instead of raising wages or adding benefits to reduce the number of resignations, the electronic factory adopted various methods to create obstacles. For example, as it was now, standing under the zing sun, people could faint from exhaustion at any minute. Those who couldn¡¯t bear it either gave up on resigning or simply bolted without taking their wages. Not only that, people like the female supervisor specifically enticed resigning employees to rest. Unable to withstand the temptation, some would leave the line for the air-conditioned room to enjoy a bottle of free ice-cold c, only to find out they had to rejoin the queue to resign, leading many to give it up altogether. Xia Liucheng¡¯s determination to resign couldn¡¯t be stronger. He was a murderer! What was a bottle of c to him? He had killed a distant uncle and his family years ago, and the money he took could have bought a warehouse full of c. Too bad he had spent it all. If only he had held back then and bought a house. Reflecting on this, Xia Liucheng felt a trace of regret. Now, he had just over a thousand yuan left on him. Fortunately, resigning would mean he could still get some wages, move to a smaller ce, and maybe even afford to not work for a while, holed up ying video games for months. Laying low like this, he figured the rumours would eventually die down. Although, thinking back to thest time the police checked fingerprints and didn¡¯t find his, Xia Liucheng had broken out in a cold sweat. That time, when avoiding them seemed impossible, he thought hard and considered that since he had been wearing gloves, he couldn¡¯t have left any so-called fingerprints. So he boldly joined the fingerprintparison, and as expected, no one was caught in the end. A few days earlier, Xia Liucheng would even deliberately reminisce about that moment and think of himself as both brave and clever! Unfortunately, you can¡¯t brag about a murder case. There were times after drinking that Xia Liucheng nearly blurted out the truth and scared himself into drinking less afterward. When he did drink, it was only a bit of beer. What frustrated him the most was that this did not help him find a girlfriend. "Where are the women who ¡¯like a man who doesn¡¯t drink¡¯ to honor their word?" All the women he met were fools who couldn¡¯t appreciate him! "Forget it; I¡¯m going in for a coke." The worker who had been standing behind Xia Liucheng suddenly tossed his towel aside and headed into the air-conditioned room. Influenced by him, a few more people also gave up. Xia Liucheng snorted, suspecting that this man was a nt from the factory, but he didn¡¯t care too much. He had seen all sorts of strange things in the factories he had worked at over the past year and had grown ustomed to it. "Hey, where do you n to switch to?" Two people ahead were whispering to each other. "How about checking out Juxin Factory? I heard they pay 28 per hour." "No one would go to Juxin; you have to wear a dust suit there." "But 28 an hour, if you work for a whole month, you might make over ten thousand!" "You haven¡¯t worked there, that dust suit is suffocatingly ufortable. Not only is it hot, but you can¡¯t even scratch an itch, going to the toilet is a hassle, drinking water is inconvenient, and you daren¡¯t drink too much, otherwise you¡¯ll have to hold it in. And when you want to ask for a toilet break, it¡¯s not as simple as just asking. You know what¡¯s the worst part? It¡¯s hard to talk. Trying to chat with the person next to you is just ufortable. In the end, no one on the line wants to talk; it¡¯s more suffocating than jail." Xia Liucheng, listening, was intrigued. Wearing a dust suit that covers the whole body meant no one could recognize your face, and staying silent was even better to avoid prying questions that could eventually reveal your ent. He had two identity cards he¡¯d bought from fellow workers who had taken flight from the factory; they weren¡¯tplete sets, but were just enough to get into a factory. Xia Liucheng decided to keep this as an option. Maybe he would just move to somewhere near the Juxin Factory, stay put while he had savings, and once the money ran out, work at Juxin for a couple of months before going back into hiding for half a year. By then, he was sure everything would have blown over. Comforted by these thoughts, Xia Liucheng felt better, even the heat while lining up didn¡¯t bother him anymore. He had been queuing since the morning, and it wasn¡¯t until the afternoon that the line began to move. By that time, half of the queue had dissipated. The inhumane HR department moved to the very end of the line, directly pulling down the gate behind them, and then erected a sign instructing anyone else who came to pleasee early the next day. The next day would naturally require queuing for such a long time as well. A conflict was inevitable, and several people from the HR department, along with the security guards, surged out. This kind of thing happened every few days, so they were used to it. Xia Liucheng was tall and sturdy, but he kept his head down, deliberately avoiding looking that way. He had business to attend to now and didn¡¯t dare stir up more trouble, otherwise, as soon as the police station came to investigate, detention wouldn¡¯t be enough to solve his problems. After finally reaching the front of the line and some more dallying, Xia Liucheng took less than two weeks¡¯ pay and silently left the factory. It was getting dark. Xia Liucheng ate a bowl of knife-cut noodles outside the factory, wiped his mouth, and then walked back to his rented room. On the way, Xia Liucheng couldn¡¯t help but stop when he saw a marinade shop, he went over and said, "Boss, give me two pounds of pig¡¯s head meat, don¡¯t cut it." "Not cutting it, huh? Alright," the boss replied with a nod. Xia Liucheng grunted and said almost to himself, "It¡¯s for a memorial." "I¡¯ll round it down for you," the boss said, showing a good business sense. Xia Liucheng thanked the boss, took the pig¡¯s head meat, and then said to him, "It¡¯s for my uncle. My uncle treated me very well when he was alive. It¡¯s a shame." "Condolences," said the boss. Xia Liucheng nodded, "There¡¯s no other way. He came across someone who was desperately needing money, went to borrow from him, he wouldn¡¯t lend, and ended up getting attacked in his bedroom. Just like that, they killed him all in one go... If he had just lent the money, he would have been fine." The boss shook his head, "These days, when people borrow money, how many are willing to pay it back? They either deny the debt or find some excuse to borrow more. Then you¡¯re faced with the question, to lend or not to lend? If you don¡¯t, isn¡¯t that just inviting trouble again?" Xia Liucheng suddenly looked up, ring, and said, "Everyone has a time of hardship. When you lend money to someone in need, and they get past the hard times, they¡¯ll surely find a way to repay you. Even if they can¡¯t, it¡¯s better than losing their life." "What kind of trouble is so bad that it leads to murder?" The boss chopped half a pig¡¯s ear, ced it in a bag, and handed it to Xia Liucheng, "This one¡¯s on the house, a little token from me." Xia Liucheng¡¯s expression softened as he took the bag and let out a sigh, "You¡¯re a good person, boss. You don¡¯t know, when debt collectorse knocking on your door, they¡¯re really after your life." "Every family has its own troubles. I used to borrow money for my daughter¡¯s education. Now it¡¯s about the same. Even with a small shop like this, the transfer fee costs hundreds of thousands," the boss said, who saw all kinds of people every day and felt something was off about Xia Liucheng¡¯s gaze, chatting away with one hand holding a knife. Xia Liucheng nodded silently and turned to leave. The boss breathed a sigh of relief and immediately went to lock the door, turning to his wife who heard the noise and said, "Those people living in the factory area are always on edge. We should find some sucker to take over the shop." ... Underneath the rental ts of Jinglin New Vige. Mu Zhiyang was leaning against a tree, idly scrolling through his phone. He hade over with two police officers from the Zhengguang Bureau. When Huang Qiangmin sold people, he included Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, so naturally, the hardship of business trips couldn¡¯t all fall on their benefactor. Moreover, for the detectives of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, was there really much difference between a business trip to Beijing and to any other city? Although Mu Zhiyang often followed Jiang Yuan, he had no official title and so couldn¡¯t ask for special treatment. This time, he picked a big city, thinking a quick flight there and back would be rxed enough. Mu Zhiyang never expected that his first appearance at the Zhengguang Bureau would happen at this moment. No sooner said than done, as soon as Xia Liucheng, carrying the pig¡¯s head meat, saw the two policemen under the rented t, his first instinct was to turn and run. This action seemed like one he had practiced a thousand times, or perhaps rehearsed a thousand times in his mind, so Xia Liucheng instinctively used it straight away. All his most valuable possessions were on him; if he escaped, he could just live under a false name. At the same time, Mu Zhiyang and another detective, both in uniform and on their phones, were somewhat startled. In that instant, without thinking, Mu Zhiyang took two steps forward while drawing his right hand back and rotating his right shoulder to the side, facing Xia Liucheng sideways. Then, without hesitation, he hurled his Huawei phone at Xia Liucheng. The detective who came with him was only just starting to move when he heard a "thump," and his colleague had already sent the third-ss merit tumbling to the ground. Within the time it took to stagger and fall, the two detectives had thrown themselves on him. Xia Liucheng was pinned down, first stunned and then desperately resisting, arching his body while clinging to the bag of pig¡¯s head meat and letting out a wail, "Uncle, uncle, why were you so foolish? Why were you so foolish!" Chapter 720 - 663: Visiting

Chapter 720: Chapter 663: Visiting

Zhengguang Sub-bureau. Criminal Police Brigade. People wereing and going in the office of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. At the center of the human stream sat Mu Zhiyang, perched in his chair. In front of Mu Zhiyang was an 80-inch LCD monitor, wheeled in on a stand, now looping footage of Mu Zhiyang¡¯s suave action of throwing his cell phone. The picture was slightly blurred because it was recorded by a colleague¡¯s body-worn camera. Speaking of which, the quality of police officers from the Beijing Bureau was high; upon seeing the suspect turn to flee, they immediately started recording with their body-worn cameras, unlike the Criminal Police Mu Zhiyang from Ningtai County, who first instinct was to throw his cell phone at the person. But the one who received a third-ss merit was Mu Zhiyang. The police world is just like this, seemingly premised on procedural justice, yet in reality it¡¯s victors taking all. Mu Zhiyang pursed his lips to avoid showing his self-satisfied teeth and kept exining to the newly arrived officers, "I was a bit stunned at that moment, I just wanted to give him a scare, never thought I¡¯d throw it with such precision." The officers walking by, witnessing his smug expression, shook their heads and sighed. "Even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes." The ones who envied him the most were the youngsters who had only been in the police force for a few years; to them, a third-ss merit was quite tempting. Liu Cheng, who was nearby and heard this, nced at them but didn¡¯t say a word. He admired Jiang Yuan greatly, having followed him from Ningtai all the way to Beijing, witnessing the solution of multiple cases was nothing sort of being utterly impressed, as for Mu Zhiyang... Well, saying he stumbled upon luck was quite an apt description. There were over a hundred officers sent to inquire in Fang Xia Vige, and it so happened that Mu Zhiyang was assigned to Xia Liucheng, and coincidentally, Xia Liucheng decided to run. That¡¯s how Mu Zhiyang had his opportunity to be a human grenade-thrower. If only that suspect had been a tad smarter, calm and collected enough to chat with Mu Zhiyang and the others, although he would probably still be captured eventually, he wouldn¡¯t have ended up in Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hands. Maybe the one that ended up getting the merit could have been the officer in charge of examining the financial situation of the vigers of Fang Xia, or possibly the officer who was taking statements from other vigers and found a clue... However, none of these matter now; what¡¯s important is that Mu Zhiyang decisively made his move, not only capturing the criminal suspect Xia Liucheng but also doing it without causing substantial harm. He also saved the Zhengguang Bureau hundreds of thousands in funds with such a method. Having more than one hundred detectives traveling out of town for just a few weeks would have left the Zhengguang Bureau bankrupt. For a small county like Longli, three days would have been enough. "Captain Jiang, congrattions. You¡¯ve cracked another big case," Liu Cheng approached and offered his congrattions to the captain. "Was the murder weapon found?" Jiang Yuan had been enjoying the spectacle, but upon hearing Liu Cheng¡¯s remark, he immediately shifted his attention. The victim Xia Liucheng had already confessed on the road and made a formal statement at the police station, but mere confessions were certainly not solid enough, the murder weapon was of utmost importance. Liu Cheng nodded, saying, "It¡¯s a wood chopping axe. He first hid it in a flower pot at the Xia¡¯s, covered it with soil. Later, when he thought the coast was clear, he retrieved it in the middle of the night and buried it in the orchard of the neighboring house. It has been recovered." Jiang Yuan frowned slightly. Liu Cheng sighed, "Yeah, that is indeed a problem. During the initial crime scene investigation, that flowerpot should have been inspected." Jiang Yuan shook his head; dwelling on these issues now was pointless. No matter how stringent the entry assessments, there would always be those who deviate from their intended path, achieving bbergasting feats. Wang Chuanxing, on the other hand, chuckled, "If we¡¯re counting that, then our task is about forty percentplete." Tang Jia gave him a fierce look, "One of the victims was a child not even 10 years old!" "We avenged him, we brought justice, what more do they want!" Wang Chuanxing was the rational type, or rather, his emotions were nowhere as rich as Tang Jia¡¯s, and having not seen the actual scene, only photographs, it was hard for a veteran detective like him to feel deeply empathetic. In Tang Jia¡¯s mind, however, the image of the child lying facedown on the bed kept surfacing. She has been through many cases, but despite saying so, the death of a young child and the horrific nature of the annihtion left a significant impact on her. She couldn¡¯t help but re at Wang Chuanxing and said, "Good actions are rewarded. You should at least respect the deceased." Wang Chuanxing was unconvinced and retorted, "His own rtive ughtered his family and then went on to happily squander all the money they¡¯d saved over decades. I worked on the case, losing sleep over several nights, and in a way, avenged him. Just because Iughed, I should face retribution? Your theory doesn¡¯t make sense." Tang Jia was momentarily at a loss for words. Though she could argue that "no wicked deed should be considered too small," police officers don¡¯t believe in that. If there were no degree to evil, what would be the purpose of sentencing. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t dare to watch the Ningtai people quarrel and hurriedly asked, "Captain Jiang, which case are you nning to take on next?" He guessed Jiang Yuan must have a list of prepared cases; it was unlikely that he would review so many cases and files just to select one. Jiang Yuan, however, smiled and said, "I¡¯m not tired, but my team members have been fighting continuously for such a long time. They need to rest for a few days before taking on another case." "That¡¯s good, resting for a bit is great," Liu Cheng said half-heartedly. Speaking of continuous operation, their Criminal Police Brigade had been fighting day in and day out, especially in the investigation of the recent annihtion case. Although it was resolved quickly, nearly a hundred people were involved in intense, short-term travel. However, the visiting forces had performed well and naturally had better conditions; Liu Cheng couldn¡¯tpare his treatment with that of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Team. So, after touring Mu Zhiyang, the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Team went their separate ways to rest. As for whether they were going to catch up on sleep, visit tourist attractions, or try all the snacks Beijing had to offer, that was up to individual choice. ... Meanwhile, the team led by Cui Qishan also made new discoveries. The murderer¡¯s ount and mobile phone were difficult to trace, but the victim¡¯s mobile phone information was still traceable. Although the victim¡¯s mobile phone had been turned off half a day afternding, Cui Qishan and his team still managed to find a tech expert who, by retracing base station information and using big data, identified a fellow traveler¡¯s mobile phone. Having reached this step, Cui Qishan thought victory was within grasp for the case. Victory does not differentiate between high and low. What Cui Qishan didn¡¯t anticipate, however, was that thest known location of the newly identified suspect, right before the mobile phone was turned off, was in a wastnd. "Call in the canine unit for help," Cui Qishan said, looking at the wastnd with a hint of nervousness. Two police dogs were swiftly brought to the scene. After sniffing around for a short while, they began barking excitedly. "A body!" The handler dug on the spot and quickly uncovered a piece of bleached femur. Dig further, and there¡¯s more. Keep digging, and there¡¯s still more! The handler suddenly froze and asked, "How many femurs can one person have?" Everyone looked on as if they were gazing at an imbecile, their eyes fixed on the handler, until he lifted three femurs. Chapter 721 - 664 Strong Soldiers and Sturdy Horses

Chapter 721: Chapter 664 Strong Soldiers and Sturdy Horses

Tao Lu and a deputy director quickly arrived at the scene, but no matter how fast they got there, it could not outpace Cui Qishan¡¯s digging. "We¡¯ve found three bodies already," Cui Qishan reported, head bowed. As it turned out, the three femurs did not belong to one person, nor did they belong to the same person. Cui Qishan did not want to be the bearer of bad news, either. Although in theory, Cui Qishan¡¯s discovery of previously undiscovered bodies could be consideredmendable, such a distasteful type of merit was something everyone preferred not to see or hear about. Furthermore, the case that Cui Qishan was facing was even moreplex. Even the deputy director, who had long been out of the field, frowned and asked, "The case you¡¯re pursuing involves a killer using chat software tomit the murders?" "Uh... Our initial judgment is that the murders may have involved hooking up through socialworking software, which could have led to robbery and then murder," Cui Qishan said in a low voice. This assumption seemed insignificant in front of three bodies. In fact, in crimes where the perpetrator consciously used socialworking software to meet strangers, ny percent of those were robberies. And murder was usually the result of an esction from robbery. However, this type of robbery leading to murder generally involved impulsive killings. Most criminals initially intended to rob, and if the robbery went smoothly, they might be inclined to arrange further meetings to rob again. But once murder urred, it actually indicated that the robbery did not go well, and for whatever reason¡ªfear or something else¡ªmost criminals faced with this situation would flee and rarelymit the crime again. The fact that three bodies were buried together, with the bones all a simr color, implied a truly frightening message. Hookups are usually one-on-one, of course. While there might be instances of one-on-three, a criminal intending to rob and murder would probably not choose this method. Therefore, three bodies meant at least three instances of murder. What does three random murders represent? Tao Lu looked at the deputy director, whose face was as somber as still water, and he clearlymanded, "Remind all the police officers involved in the case about discipline. Not a single word about the ongoing investigation must leak out." "Yes," Tao Lu immediately responded. Even without the deputy director¡¯s order, he would have made the same decision tomand the scene. How could there be a random or even a serial killer in the significant area of Jingji? "Are all three bodies female? Can we confirm their identities?" Tao Lu stepped forward and asked the forensic doctor from their bureau who had arrived earlier at the scene. In many cases, identification of the bodies is actually done through external belongings, such as identification cards. Beyond that, jewelry, distinctive marks, or personal items like wallets and lighters can provide rtively direct evidence. Most bodies are buried wearing their clothes, and even if the clothing is severely dposed, the remaining fabric can still offer some information. Zhan Kan, the forensic doctor from the Zhengguang Bureau, shook his head and said, "We cannot confirm the identities yet. Moreover, not all three bodies are female. Two are female, one is male." Tao Lu raised his eyebrows, then nodded deliberately, feigningposure, "I understand." A man¡¯s ability to resist is typically far greater than a woman¡¯s, although there are many ways to incapacitate a victim. Nevertheless, from the assant¡¯s perspective, choosing a male victim is certainly more audacious. Or to put it in terms that Tao and his colleagues could not voice explicitly, this potentially indicated an esction in a serial killer¡¯s crimes. "Bring a few more police dogs over and search the entire open space," the deputy directormanded without a close examination of the bodies, instead standing on a rock and surveying the area briefly before issuing the order. This open space had to be about twenty to thirty acres, with both building debris and weeds, and small trees scattered about. In the center of the open space were a few sewage pits, and the edges had several areas resembling self-cultivated vegetable gardens. Seeing this, the deputy director ordered, "Find out who nted those vegetable gardens, ask them if they have seen anyoneing or going. Who owns thisnd?" After quickly passing down the order, Tao Lu made some inquiries and reported back, "Thend has already been confiscated by the district, vacant for over three years now." "The girl has been missing for over two years?" the deputy director was already briefed on the case. Tao Lu and Cui Qishan nodded simultaneously. Cui Qishan said, "Two years and eight months, which is less than half a year after thend had been confiscated." "Then it¡¯s likely not someone nearby, but someone knowledgeable," the deputy director paused, then continued, "Of course, this is just part of my spection. We still need to continue the investigation." "Yes. With Director Fan¡¯s guidance, we feel much more reassured," Tao Lu said, pping politely with earnest seriousness. The deputy director returned a polite smile. Tao Lu hesitated for a moment and asked, "Director Fan, do you think we should ask Jiang Yuan toe and take a look?" In an instant, Cui Qishan¡¯s eyes shot out dissatisfaction, displeasure, and bewilderment, as aptly described by the phrase, "Can neither eat despite the set table nor act though the sword is drawn¡ªlost in thought", at this moment, Cui Qishan could very well stand up and shout: I¡¯ve got these three bodies covered! However, unsolvable serial murder cases were piling up¡ªthey couldn¡¯t be covered up! The deputy director spoke without any hesitation, "We¡¯ve trained our troop for a thousand days, and now it¡¯s time to use them. Have hime over as soon as possible." "Alright. But Jiang Yuan and his team just wrapped up that Fang Xia Vige serial murder case and the whole team is on vacation. It might take some effort to gather everyone," Tao Lu said. "That¡¯s fine. Have Jiang Yuane over first," the deputy director said. "Yes," Tao Lu turned around to make the call. Cui Qishan silently bowed his head and pulled out his phone, venting his frustration in the group chat with a deafening cry: [Brothers, Tao is calling Jiang Yuan to work on our case again, what should we do?] Xiao Si, who was transferred from Squad Seven, spoke his mind freely: [You should be asking, with three dead bodies suddenly popping up from the ground, what should we do?] Cui Qishan: [Show some confidence!] Xiao Si: [Captain Cui, is this a matter of confidence? If you can¡¯t get hard there¡¯s medicine for that, but what can you take if you can¡¯t solve a case?] Cui Qishan: [We¡¯ve all been busy day and night for the past few days, and just as we were making some progress, someonees along and takes everything, including the te; are you okay with that?] Xiao Si: [Bnced.] Wang Jianjun: [Bnced.] Zhang Yishou: [Bnced.] Li Jiang: [To be honest, finding three dead bodies isn¡¯t bad; it¡¯s a phased achievement. Let¡¯s be content with what we have.] Wang Chao: [So our special team just disbands like this?] Cui Qishan typed swiftly: [Of course not!] Li Jiang: [If we stay, we¡¯ll probably end up doing Jiang Yuan¡¯s errands.] Cui Qishan, who was on-site, shivered. This Li Jiang had a way of hitting the nail on the head with everyment, though it was always ufortable to hear. Doing errands for Jiang Yuan¡ªCui Qishan wouldn¡¯t mind bowing down to Jiang Yuan given his current track record, but then there was Liu Cheng ahead, and as both were team captains, Cui Qishan didn¡¯t want to waste the elite team he had just formed. To be fair, his newly formed special case team was a little short-handed and some outspoken members were hard to listen to, but truth be told, these guys were quite capable detectives¡ªafter all, if they weren¡¯t so blunt, other squads wouldn¡¯t have let them join his team. Cui Qishan himselfmanded a squad of criminal police and coupled with this special case team, if he could just bear with it for a while, he felt the level of criminal investigation at his fingertips could double. In fact, they were able to find dead bodies out of thin air¡ªby other case standards, they might have already solved the crime. After all, in cases of disappearance due to online friendships, finding the person is absolutely most important. The only problem was that he had found too many at once¡ªfinding three corpses had ramped up the difficulty of the case, shocking them. Even so, the use of various technical methods applied to criminal investigation ced them at the top within Zhengguang Bureau. Cui Qishan nced at the group chat, seeing they were still chatting away with unpleasant words, but his gaze softened. The tech expert they had brought in to find the bodies was thanks to Xiao Si, who had dialed him in. Not only was he a perfect professional match, but he also worked efficiently and could keep up with their thought process. Despite Xiao Si¡¯s harsh words in the group chat, hismunication with the tech expert was extremely smooth. Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but think: How can I disband my well-armed and mighty team? While contemting this, Tao Lu returned, and once he finished reporting to the deputy director, Cui Qishan took the opportunity to say, "Director Fan, Tao, I want to continue investigating through thework. Though the killer¡¯s cell phone signal has disappeared here, I suspect he might have switched phones, but if his anti-surveince skills are limited to this, I believe there will still be slip-ups to trace." Director Fan looked at Tao Lu. Tao Lu thought for a moment and nodded, "That works. You lead your team in the investigation for now, and we¡¯ll decide on the direction of the investigation as we go." "Yes," Cui Qishan replied loudly, before returning to type in the group chat: [Our special case team will not disband and won¡¯t need to run errands for Jiang Yuan. We will continue to investigate independently without reporting to Jiang Yuan, with the aim of catching the killer on our own.] Xiao Si: [Hey, Captain Cui is pretty generous.] Li Jiang: [So which direction do we investigate now?] Wang Chao: [Are we still the elite group then?] Cui Qishan: [Let¡¯s continue using technical methods for our investigation. Xiao Si, I¡¯m approving 500 yuan for you to take Dr. Wang out for a meal.] Xiao Si: [Captain Cui¡¯s really generous!] Chapter 722 - 665: Dissection Center (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 722: Chapter 665: Dissection Center (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

By the time Jiang Yuan arrived at the scene, the sky had already darkened. The forensic doctors from Zhengguang Bureau had collected the remains and sent them to the autopsy center. Beijing has its own forensic identification center, an independent small building in the suburbs. Arge, red sign was on the rooftop, illuminated by a red lightbox from behind. Even hundreds of meters away, one could sense its unparalleled ability to depreciate property values. For some reason, the lightbox stopped workingter on, and no one repaired it. So Jiang Yuan changed his shoes and clothes before collecting some soil, maggots, and insect eggs from the body pit, and followed the vehicle to the forensic identification center. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand much about inte technology, so in the face of these new-age murders, what he could still do was to start from the body itself. Fellow forensic expert Zhan Kan looked at Jiang Yuan with curiosity. In the field of forensic medicine, not only in Beijing but nationwide, Jiang Yuan¡¯s fame had grown quite substantial. However, forensic medicine itself is a solitary circle, and even forensic doctors don¡¯t interact much with each other. Zhan Kan, not being particrly adept at socializing, rode all the way with Jiang Yuan without saying a word, watching him fall asleep. Entering the forensic identification center, Jiang Yuan took Mu Zhiyang with him to change clothes, while a young man from the center approached Zhan Kan, poking him lightly and asked, "What do you think? What¡¯s Jiang Yuan like?" Zhan Kan paused, remembering the appearance of Jiang Yuan he had been observing all the way, and replied, "Nice skin." "What skin?" "Bnced oil secretion, good hydration, probably normal skin." "Is that what I asked?" The young man, who had been enthusiastic, was nowpletely turned off by Zhan Kan¡¯s response, feeling like a man who had stripped naked, cleaned himself thoroughly, prepared the lighting and all necessary items, and sat squarely on the toilet to have a smooth bowel movement, only for someone to start banging on the door saying, "I¡¯m in a rush." What a rush! The young man left with his pants in tow, since the new protective suits purchased by the autopsy center were allrge sizes, and the ones for the newly hired young men couldn¡¯t even be secured because they hadn¡¯t gained weight yet. Zhan Kan entered the dissection room and saw that three bodies had already beenid out t in the middle. The moved rotting material, insects, maggots, eggs, and various remaining pieces of clothing were all in the next room. Seeing that the center¡¯s senior forensic doctors were already in action, Zhan Kan couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" "He¡¯s researching insects next door." The senior forensic doctor, who was busy positioning bones and taking photographs, answered without raising his eyes. Just the state of these bones, to take a set of photos of them from every angle, will take quite some time. Zhan Kan was somewhat surprised, "Captain Jiang knows about insects too?" "Then you don¡¯t know Jiang Yuan well enough." The young man at his side found his interest again as though a restroom had been vacated, stating proudly, "Jiang Yuan has used forensic entomology in several cases, and his determination of time of death is exceptional. He worked on a case from Beijing once, a murder that had gone cold for more than a decade, the case of a police shooting. By just looking at photos, he was able to correct the time of death¡ªand urately at that." "Was the case solved?" Zhan Kan was more practical. "Of course it was solved. I¡¯m talking about a murder case that went cold over a decade ago!" "That¡¯s quite impressive," Zhan Kan nodded slightly. He himself knew a bit about forensic entomology. Working at the forensic identification center in Beijing, how could he not have a few specific skills to show off? Without such, he would easily encounter embarrassing situations in daily life. "Let¡¯s get to the identification," said Zeng Lianrong, the on-duty senior forensic doctor, in a muffled voice. Beijing and Shannan Province have entirely different ecosystems. In Shannan Province, there are very few forensic doctors capable of forensic anthropology examinations, and even those who know a little are not very confident. Whenever Jiang Yuan was involved, they would actively contact him to participate or, if too prideful, they would still carry out the examination thoroughly and cautiously. But in Beijing, there are many forensic doctors who know forensic anthropology. Not only within the police system, but the two institutes also have plenty of impressive forensic doctors, and it¡¯s unknown how many more there are among the cleaners in schools and research institutions. And when ites to practical experience, Zeng Lianrong was also an expert-level forensic doctor, likewise a sought-after consultant for various institutions. Zeng Lianrong had no intention ofpeting with Jiang Yuan, but since the case had fallen into his hands, he naturally went about his work as usual, not simply shrugging it off for an outside forensic doctor to handle. As for Director Fan¡¯s request, Zeng Lianrong had no objections either, it was simply a matter of working together. The workce for middle-aged individuals is primarily about following orders, never rebelling, being respectful, and doing one¡¯s own thing. "Body number one, the deceased is female, has never given birth; take a photo here, mark as negative..." Zeng Lianrong quickly entered his work mode. The job of a forensic doctor performing body identifications is much like solving mathematical proof problems. It¡¯s a particrly meticulous job, but it¡¯s not about racking your brains and trying to "crack" it. For this task, the first step is to list all known conditions; the more known conditions there are, the more resources you have at your disposal, and the greater choice of solutions avable. As for the final result and how it¡¯s proven, there¡¯s actually a form for that; what¡¯s important is how to fit the known conditions into the form. Body identification is the same; certain states represent certain oues, which have been researched by predecessors, and don¡¯t require a forensic doctor to "imagine" on the spot during their work. Zeng Lianrong considered himself a meticulous person, and his years of umtion and sess only added to his confidence. When Jiang Yuan came out, Zeng Lianrong merely nodded in greeting with a somewhat reserved expression. Seeing that Zeng Lianrong had already started working on table one, Jiang Yuan first looked over three bodies, then moved to table two. He looked it over as well and asked, "Have the photos been taken?" "They have been taken." The process at the autopsy center was very mature, and someone had already done the necessary preparatory work. Not entirely reassured, Jiang Yuan said, "Let me see the photos." Since he had not worked with these people before, he naturally needed to confirm their level of work. Once the examination began, the photos that were taken thereafter were different. The photos were not problematic, but Jiang Yuan selected a few and requested them to be retaken. At the same time, he took the bones from areas like the pelvis and measured them. Jiang Yuan whispered a few words to Mu Zhiyang, asking him to record some data, then, with a slightly louder voice, said under observation of the camera in the room, "Body number two, female, 21 years old, 156 centimeters tall, fractures in both arms, likely caused by an electric scooter or motorcycle ident. Check the traffic police records. Signs of physical exercise, probably a frequent visitor to the gym. Severe wear on the knees..." "From the teeth, there have been dental crowns, and a smoking habit... The dental work can be looked into." "No fatal injuries visible on the skeleton, but looking at the condition of the petrous part of the temporal bone, the likelihood of mechanical death is high." What Jiang Yuan was saying was nothing new to a forensic doctor versed in anthropology, but his almost non-stop delivery was hard to ignore. Even the unusually efficient Zeng Lianrong couldn¡¯t help ncing at Jiang Yuan a couple of times. However, he said nothing. Forensic work is meticulous; the speed at which it¡¯s done is actually not that important. Zeng Lianrong used to say such things to his apprentices, but it wasn¡¯t appropriate to educate Jiang Yuan on the spot. Later on, it could be used as a case for some ideological training for the apprentices. "I¡¯ll move on to body number three first then," Jiang Yuan said. Not long after, Jiang Yuan moved directly to the front of the third autopsy table. Zeng Lianrong nodded in his restrained way; he was happy to see someone willing to work more. Jiang Yuan, as usual, looked at the photos first, then took the skull in his hands, examined it from side to side for a moment, and clicked his tongue, saying, "This person is mixed race." His level 3 Skull Restoration Skill meant he didn¡¯t need to fully restore it to see the features; just imagining a Frankfurt ne in his mind and looking at indicators like facial width, length of skull base, and the vertex of the skull, he could make out some clues. Chapter 723 - 666: The Half-Blood

Chapter 723: Chapter 666: The Half-Blood

Different races have distinct physical characteristics, and before the winds of political correctness blew in, this was absolutely correct knowledge. One very typical example is the "Carabelli¡¯s tubercle," which refers to an enamel cusp often found near the cervical margin on the lingual surface of the first mrs in Caucasians. Carabelli¡¯s tubercle is actually an essory cusp, and some Caucasians also have it on their second and third mrs, but it is extremely rare in people of color. The shovel-shaped incisors, which appear with a 90% probability among Asian people, are also rare in both Caucasians and people of African descent. Many people go to hospitals to have bone-shaping surgeries, like cheekbone reduction, precisely because they seek to distinguish their facial features through changes in their bones. So-called "high ss faces" with wide interocr distances, high cheekbones,teral-pointing chins, and prominent brow ridges also manifest their features through bone structure. It was only after Jiang Yuan mastered the LV3 Skull Restoration Skill that he began to have insights in this field. After all, the scope of this skill isn¡¯t just limited to domestic use¡ªmany countries internationally, especially immigrant nations like the United States, study the racial characteristics of different races and mixed-race individuals, both voluntarily and involuntarily. By contrast, even if forensic doctors in China have studied the racial characteristics of different races, they seldom touch upon the features of mixed-race individuals, even in Beijing. Veterans like Zeng Lianrong also have a very limited understanding. "Mixed race, what kind of mixed race?" Zeng Lianrong couldn¡¯t help but ask first, driven by curiosity. "Eurasian mixed race, I suppose," replied Jiang Yuan, who could only provide a rough idea. However, even a rough idea was a significant narrowing of the scope, and it could be said to be a major breakthrough. There are many foreigners and mixed-race people in Beijing, but if you only count Eurasian mixed-race individuals, the total number is definitely not that high. More importantly, the police don¡¯t need to find all Eurasian mixed-race people, just those who are missing would suffice. As for those victims whose families haven¡¯t filed a report, that would be an even bigger issue. If the corresponding individuals can¡¯t be found among the missing persons, this in itself is another clue. No matter howposed Zeng Lianrong usually was, there was no time to dy now. He first removed his own gloves, then put on a new pair, and asked, "Doctor Jiang, would you please exin?" He felt responsible for the conclusions of the autopsy and with such a significant lead, it should be reported immediately. Before doing so, however, he needed to confirm that Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgement was correct, or at least reasonably so. Zeng Lianrong sensed something unusual; typically, he didn¡¯t face such issues. If his subordinates found some detail or decisive evidence, a mere nce from Zeng Lianrong was enough to determine the uracy of their conclusions and whether the evidence was factual or biased. But today¡¯s scenario was entirely different. He was familiar with mixed races, he was familiar with forensic anthropology, but when it came to the forensic anthropology of mixed races, was it beyond his expertise? However, Jiang Yuan was all too familiar with Zeng Lianrong¡¯s concerns, having encountered them countless times. Jiang Yuan turned around. With a convincing smile, he said, "There are many ways to make a judgement. I primarily rely on the skull, focusing on the following three points: canine fossa, mr tubercle, and theteral part of the sphenoptine foramen." The three areas Jiang Yuan mentioned were all on the front of the face and are standard academic terms. Zeng Lianrong, taken aback, quickly assumed his role, picked up the skull on the dissection table, and said while examining it, "If I remember correctly, these three points are all nonmetric traits." Jiang Yuan nodded and replied, "That¡¯s correct, but there are some indicators that can be used, or rather, that should be used just like that." Nonmetric traits, as described by anthropological observation, are important tools in anthropological research. Simply put, they are identified by sight, qualitatively rather than quantitatively. This is actually quite easy to understand. Without any theoretical knowledge or anthropological exnation, by simply cing a Caucasian and an Asian person side by side, one can easily distinguish the differences between the two. In fact, if the individuals were alive, a mixed-race person standing in front of ordinary people could likely be distinguished without certainty, but there would be a high probability of doing so. Of course, such a scenario doesn¡¯t hold much significance. It¡¯s like using the pelvis to determine gender; if the person is alive, it really shouldn¡¯t be a subject at all, as there are better ways for the masses to make more detailed ssifications. But at the end of the day, it alles down to practice makes perfect. Zeng Lianrong frowned and asked, "How urate are nonmetric traits? I mean, how can you tell it¡¯s a mixed race through these?" Jiang Yuan pondered the question for a moment before replying, "If you¡¯ve seen many, it¡¯s rtively easy to tell. Take, for example, the bulging of theteral part of the greater sciatic notch ¨C it¡¯s higher in Europeans, and the same is true for skull number three. However, its other two characteristics tend to favor an Asian face shape. If we were to make a Frankfurt ne, I estimate it would be even easier to see." In fact, as soon as the phrase "non-measurable traits" came up, the topic shifted from scientific to authoritative. Indicators that can¡¯t be quantified are like antique appraisals ¨C the expert calls the shots. But looking at it from another angle, if no one is fiddling with the evidence, the uracy of this thing is guaranteed, and there¡¯s room for discussion among peers. On a broader scale, it¡¯s difficult to deceive people. As for the Frankfurt ne, when this term appears in forensic circles, it¡¯s high-end. Zeng Lianrong frowned further and asked, "Have you studied skull restoration?" The young man from the Beijing Bureau quickly interjected, "Captain Jiang had previously cracked a case using a restored skull." Everyone¡¯s gaze shifted. Zeng Lianrong couldn¡¯t help but look surprised and quickly recalled his own knowledge, found it didn¡¯t match up, and said, "I hadn¡¯t expected... since you understand skull restoration, then let¡¯s report as you suggested." Skull Restoration Skill is the amazing technique of using a skull to restore the decedent¡¯s ante-mortem appearance. Zeng Lianrong didn¡¯t know it, but he knew he couldn¡¯t learn it. Therefore, when it came to examining the face of the body, obviously Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion would prevail. Moreover, at the more advanced level, using a single skull to determine the precise race is the home ground of anthropological observational methods. This thing wasn¡¯t even invented for solving crimes; from its inception to the present position, its primary application has been in paleoanthropology. The majority of human fossils unearthed from the ground are iplete ¨C theplete ones usually end up on television. So, anthropologists have to rely on observational methods of non-measurable traits for research and screening. Their daily routine often involves holding a skull, staring at it indefinitely, and then writing an entire doctoral thesis. Seeing that Zeng Lianrong understood, Jiang Yuan nodded politely in return and briefly exined again, "You go ahead and report first, we¡¯ll see what Tao¡¯s opinion is." Zeng Lianrong took off his gloves and stepped outside to make a call. Jiang Yuan returned to work, and the others bowed their heads, silently working while exchanging frantic looks. Tao Lu, on the other end of the phone, was speechless. Discovering three bodies in one go was a major case, which he had tolerated. But having one of the corpses be of mixed race was something he truly struggled to cope with. This case was already sensitive, and both Tao Lu and Director Fan had worked very hard to manage it. Yet, the racial status of the victim meant the case was likely to attract sky-high attention. Not having much else to say, Tao Lu continued to report. The specifics of the operation would still be his responsibility, but he needed to inform the higher-ups of the situation. After reporting up the chain and searching through missing persons based on further information provided by Jiang Yuan and Zeng Lianrong, they quickly identified an individual ¨C Mike, Chinese name Li Mai, a U.S. national with both parents working as executives in foreign-funded enterprises in China. With this set of information, Director Fan felt the situation had be problematic. There wasn¡¯t any issue with solving the case per se, but attempting to contain the news seemed increasingly difficult. Tao Lu could only deploy more staff, voluntarily asking for a deadline to solve the case. At such a time, all the detachment teams scattered outside needed to be called back. Tao called each one by one to inform and persuade them. When he called Qi Shan, Cui Lu had yet to speak when Qi Shan, sounding exhausted, began, "Tao, you¡¯ve received the news already?" "Of course, I¡¯ve received it... no, wait, do you have any news on your side?" Tao Lu felt something was amiss. Qi Shan replied, "We¡¯ve just found another body." Chapter 724 - 667 Pry Up

Chapter 724: Chapter 667 Pry Up

Returning to the icy office of the Criminal Investigation Division, Cui Qishan enjoyed the pleasant breeze from the air conditioning while somewhat disdainfully fanning in front of his nose, "If you¡¯re going to keep the doors and windows shut so tight, stop eating instant noodles and takeout, the smell is too strong, can you all stand it?" "Captain Cui, are you not feeling great inside?" Xiao Si held a cigarette in his hand, sniffing it while casting a sidelong nce at Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan now understood why the Second Division had let go of such a useful officer as Xiao Si so readily. The heart condition of the head of the Second Division wasn¡¯t that great, probably unable to withstand Xiao Si¡¯s relentless pushing. Cui Qishan even figured out the reason for the Second Division leader¡¯s poor heart condition. Unable to muster a pleasant demeanor toward Xiao Si anymore, Cui Qishan said, "It¡¯s not easy living a life despised by everyone, is it?" Xiao Si was stunned, "Captain Cui, are you talking about me, or..." "I¡¯m talking about myself." Cui Qishan curled his lips and said, "We have found four bodies in one go, involving a foreign national, the pressure from the bureau is huge, and so is the pressure on everyone. How can we avoid disdainful looks? Oh, by the way, overtime today." "Oh." Xiao Si didn¡¯t care whether Cui Qishan was implying something, simply saying, "Finding the bodies is a great achievement, they are just jealous." "Finding bodies, if we can crack the case afterward, it will be a great achievement for us, otherwise, we¡¯ll be no better than pieces of shit stuck to a stick," Cui Qishan said, his expression and tone bing much more serious as he spoke. It¡¯s easy to be branded with a nickname in the workce, especially one as evocative as this. Considered for a moment by Li Jiang, he said, "A shit stick does have its uses, can¡¯t go without one when taking a dump, but nobody likes it; they disdain it when they need to use it, heh, quite an apt metaphor." Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t even be bothered to re at him; speaking such tant truth, Li Jiang was at the level of a second-rate shit stick himself. "What¡¯s our task now? Is the special investigation team no longer independent?" Xiao Si poked at Cui Qishan¡¯s sore spot with another question. Cui Qishan sighed heavily and said, "With four bodies found consecutively, the pressure is immense. It¡¯s only right that the division has called us for support. At a time like this, everyone must focus their full effort." The veteran smooth operators in the task force all seemed to have been dunked in hot and spicy soup, ck wrinkles ofughter forming on their faces. Seeing their reaction, Cui Qishan knew his words were no longer effective. There is a reason whymercial enterprisesy off employees over the age of 35; these guys, having stayed in the department for so long, are like bears that worked in a zoo for too long. They know which visitors will throw food and which ones are annoying pests; they can¡¯t treat every visitor uniformly. Wouldn¡¯t that be a disrespect to God? Cui Qishan casually assigned a few tasks and then left confidently to report to the chief. He wasn¡¯t worried about these guys¡¯ capability to work, which was the only piece of good news. Chief Tao was also in his office, fraught with anxiety. When Cui Qishan walked in, he saw Chief Tao massaging his temples, the way a significant figure exteriorly expresses, "Although I¡¯ve been sitting in my office today, not having shifted my rear once, the pressure is immense, and I¡¯m performing extremely well at work." Immediately, Cui Qishan said, "Chief Tao, you¡¯ve been working hard. My special investigation group has been nothing but a hinderance all day..." Taking a step back himself, Chief Tao indeed found it difficult to pursue the matter further and sighed, "It¡¯s not exactly a hinderance. Finding the bodies is a step forward. It would be nice if the killer were found along the way... Besides, this isn¡¯t your first time." Cui Qishan tactically touched his head and smiled, "All said and done, at least we¡¯ve determined one body¡¯s origin, and the other two are nearly figured out." "The other three." Chief Tao looked at Cui Qishan, who had unearthed four bodies in one fell swoop, truly a talent, far superior to an average cadaver dog. Rushing to speak, Cui Qishan said, "From the perspective of solving the case, the more bodies, the more clues we have." "The logic is sound," Tao Lu paused before continuing, "You¡¯lle with me to meet the victim¡¯s family shortly." Cui Qishan¡¯s face turned pale instantly. It was easy to make thoughtless remarks, but actually meeting the victim¡¯s family, for him, was tougher than meeting the parents before getting engaged. The promises made during an engagement, even if boastful, carried at least some confidence. But meeting the family of an unsolved case, what could he offer besides overconfident boasting? Cui Qishan asked in a low voice, "Can we not meet them?" "The victim was a top executive of a Fortune 500pany, a foreign national, and died in our Beijing. A request passed through intermediaries directly from the chief, and we don¡¯t even meet face to face? Is that reasonable?" Tao Lu countered. "Unreasonable," Cui Qishan started rubbing his temples. Unlike Tao Lu, his headache was real. Li Mai¡¯s parents came with the media. Seeing his colleagues from the media, Tao Lu¡¯s brow involuntarily furrowed. Li Mai¡¯s mother, Wang Mei, spoke softly, "Chief Tao, please understand. As parents, if we once harbored illusions, hoping Mike was just being mischievous and ying a disappearing game with us... Now that the final oue is known, our only, urgent, most important demand is to bring the murderer to justice." "I¡¯m afraid the media cannot achieve that," Tao Lu spoke calmly and reasonably. "Of course, but we believe now is precisely the time for the media to y a supervisory role. Moreover, we also hope to leverage the media¡¯s power to inform rtives and friends concerned about the incident through filming, and if necessary, even produce it into a documentary," Li Mai¡¯s father said, wielding a heavy statement; not only did they intend to film, but they might also make it into a documentary. Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but nce at Tao Lu, noticing that thetter did not object vehemently, he realized the matter must have the higher-ups¡¯ approval. "Before the case is solved, all case information is confidential!" Tao Lu emphasized, then instructed Cui Qishan, saying, "Captain Cui will exin the specific precautions to you. Also, he will be the contact for the next few days." Cui Qishan felt that Tao Lu was retaliating against him, but could only nod in agreement. "Mike... was Li Mai in pain when he passed?" Li Mai¡¯s mother, Wang Mei, asked again, her voice trembling slightly. Tao Lu shook his head slightly, telling a kind lie, "Not very painful." "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good..." Wang Mei seemed somewhat reassured. Her husband wrapped an arm around Wang Mei; he was Portuguese with high arching brows and deep-set eyes, dark brown hair, and features that were well apart. His years of experience as a senior executive enabled him to stayposed as he said in Chinese, "Chief Tao, my friends and I are willing to offer all the help we can. If you encounter any difficulties while investigating the case, you can tell me, and even if it¡¯s outside my field, I will try to find a way." "Alright, I understand," Tao Lu felt somewhat better. At that moment, a reporter sitting nearby said, "As far as I know, several foreign social media influencers have already posted the news about Mike¡¯s body being found on TikTok." Tao Lu was taken aback, "What do you mean?" "Mike was a popr student leader, and his ssmates and friends abroad are all very concerned about him. In fact, there were spontaneous fundraising and information-providing activities when Mike first went missing. Now that Mike¡¯s... final oue has been confirmed, there are many people who want to know..." The reporter paused, then continued, "Of course, those spreading the news are all social media influencers. We, as the traditional media, still hope to get a response from you." "I..." Tao Lu opened his mouth, wanting to bite into the recorder thrust before him. Wang Mei¡¯s low cries filled the room, pulling the atmosphere back to a state of shared animosity. Tao Lu looked involuntarily at Cui Qishan; this screw-up had really unearthed a major case. Chapter 725 - 668: Beckoning the Willows

Chapter 725: Chapter 668: Beckoning the Willows

Restaurant. Mu Zhiyang stood by the dining table, stirring the congee in the y pot with adle. Once he felt it was well-mixed, hedled out a bowl. The first bowl was for Huang Qiangmin, followed by Jiang Yuan and Wei Zhenguo, among others. Huang Qiangmin slurped a mouthful and nodded, saying, "The Cantonese cuisine in Beijing is really good, much tastier than what we have in Shan Nan¡ªauthentic." "When you¡¯re out and about and don¡¯t know what to eat, you either go for beef noodles or Cantonese food," Wei Zhenguo summarized his experience, his dark, wrinkled face seemed to spell out deep-seated bitterness. "That¡¯s quite a price gap you¡¯ve got there," quipped Huang Qiangmin with a smile. He brought the conversation back on track, saying, "So, does that mean the parallel special task force set up by Tao Lu has fallen through without any illness?" "It seems so," Wei Zhenguo, who had been observing the operations within Zhengguang Bureau these past two days, nodded with a hint of emotion and said, "The task force set up by Tao Lu, led by Cui Qishan¡ªcalling him a troublemaker would be an understatement. With no breakthroughs in the case, the situation became muddled under his watch, even more so than this pot of congee." Huang Qiangmin, who was eating the congee, looked at Mu Zhiyang stirring the pot and involuntarily both paused in their actions. "The previous two cases were already solved, avenging the four corpses. And with this case, there are another four corpses. So as of now, Zhengguang Bureau has reached a critical point," Huang Qiangmin pushed aside the stirred congee, put down his chopsticks, and said earnestly, "To my mind, I¡¯m afraid this case involves more than just these four corpses." "Quite likely. The four corpses were well buried, with high concealment and depth of about half a meter. If it weren¡¯t for Cui Qishan finding the spot and sending cadaver dogs to search, they wouldn¡¯t have been discovered for years," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "Judging by the burial technique, this doesn¡¯t seem like the first time." If one hadn¡¯t received relevant training, the first murder would usually be sloppy, as would the burial. The cement of three bodies together and another one buried separately seemed somewhat nonchntly skilled from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective. The depth wasn¡¯t particrly deep, but sufficient; the size of the grave was appropriate. Squeezing three bodies in was a bit of a tight fit, but the victims certainly couldn¡¯t argue, and the perpetrator had saved some effort. For most novices, the grave would either be too shallow, less than half a meter, leading to untrained stray dogs or wild animals dragging the bodies out, which wasn¡¯t umon. Or,cking practical experience, guided only by books, they would insist on digging the grave to a depth of one and a half meters, nearly working themselves to death. As the saying goes, "With no son, dig three feet nine; with one son, dig four feet two; with many sons, four feet seven." Families with few sons dared not dig graves too deep, as it gets harder the deeper you go. For a murderer to dig a grave of one and a half meters was just making trouble for themselves. Upon receiving affirmation, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile gradually widened from 33.3 degrees to 44.4 degrees and said, "That¡¯ll work. I¡¯ll take this as a basis and have a talk with Tao Lu." Jiang Yuan nodded. He couldn¡¯t say for sure how many corpses this case would involve, and he couldn¡¯t even be certain if more would be discovered. But from what he had seen, if the person were caught, there would definitely be more corpses unearthed. "It¡¯s just that the case might not be solved," Jiang Yuan reminded Huang Qiangmin. The difficulty of the case was obvious. Even now that the bodies had been found, there wasn¡¯t much useful information gleaned from them. Even if it hadn¡¯t been for his use of several skill sets to identify the third victim¡¯s identity, determining the identity of the three naked corpses might have been a long process, and they may have even remained unfound. There were many unidentified bodies in the morgues that had been unimed for years. Not every corpse¡¯s origin could be traced¡ªthat was the basic rule in the world of forensic science. Huang Qiangmin was even more aware of the difficulty of the case than Jiang Yuan, but he had more faith in Jiang Yuan, offering him reassurance, "Since you say so, it shows the case is quite challenging, but I believe no big case can stand in your way with your abilities." The detectives at the table envied him openly. Although Huang Qiangmin was usually stern, everyone respected him for his conduct and affairs. Now, with such unabashed admiration for Jiang Yuan from Huang Qiangmin, it was like everyone¡¯s dream when they joined the police force. Jiang Yuan achieved it easily. Ding. A light blue interface popped up in front of Jiang Yuan: Mission: Return Home Mission details: The murderer uses socialworking software tomit murder, plunging many families into grief and confusion. Find the victims¡¯ bodies, confirm their origins, and bring the murderer to justice. Mission reward: "Skull Restoration Skill" technical level +1 Jiang Yuan silently read through the mission and couldn¡¯t help but put down his chopsticks. Everyone naturally turned their attention to him. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s negotiate with the Zhengguang Bureau on the basis that we can solve this case." "Great! That¡¯s the spirit we need." Huang Qiangmin suddenly felt confident, as if he had also epted a mission, saying, "This will make things easier. Just for this case alone, the Zhengguang Bureau is willing to make concessions. By the way, what do you need on your end?" "I¡¯ll ask Director Liu toe over." Jiang Yuan saw the system task pop up and naturally treated it as a major challenge. The investigative process is often damaging, just like when scene-of-crime officers enter the site. No matter how carefully they try to preserve it, the site will inevitably bepromised to some extent by the investigators. Activities such as sampling further result in the unavoidable destruction of evidence. The criminal investigation process is simr. After a witness is questioned, parts of their memory may be reinforced, while other details may be vague. The interrogation of criminal suspects and the changes at the scene also evolve over time. Therefore, the best staff should be the first to enter the scene, rather than waiting until the scene ispromised before elevating its importance. The evidence Jiang Yuan could find at the moment consisted of four skeletons that had just been unearthed and two crime scenes. A lot of information was obtained, but not much of it was useful. Jiang Yuan felt that he really needed Liu Jinghui¡¯s boundless imaginative deductions. Sometimes, when there is no clear direction, randomly guessing one is not a bad idea. Huang Qiangmin nodded in agreement: "Then there¡¯s the issue with the press. The Zhengguang Bureau agrees on this¡ªif you don¡¯t want to do interviews, that¡¯s fine, but always be careful not to be caught on video, otherwise it could turn into trouble." Mu Zhiyang muttered, "They¡¯re of no help at all, only causing trouble." "It¡¯s not much of a problem. Having fame within the system makes future work easier," Huang Qiangmin tried to put a positive spin on it, smiling, "Like in the past, we didn¡¯t have the inte or search engines. When we went to another ce to handle a case, we had to either force our way through, or it was best to have a friend there. The mostfortable is being a well-known detective; wherever you go, a bunch of people are eager to help out. If you need to arrest someone, the local police will cooperate wholeheartedly..." Mu Zhiyang became curious: "What about now?" "The basic situation hasn¡¯t changed. Like your special team now going to different ces in Shan Nan, don¡¯t you feel it¡¯s been a lot easier?" "I thought it was because we are the creditors." Mu Zhiyang renewed his thinking once more. Huang Qiangminughed: "That¡¯s rted as well." ... Liu Jinghui took the evening flight the following day and arrived in Beijing at night. The next day he reported to the Criminal Police Brigade at the Zhengguang Bureau, having already studied the case for two days. Jiang Yuan had also autopsied all four bodies, his four notebooks packed with notes, but still, no conclusive verdict was reached. "It seems I¡¯ve arrived just in time. I was really worried that by the time I got here, you all would have solved the case," Liu Jinghui said as he entered, causing a group of detectives buried in their files tough. "With Director Liu here, there¡¯s new hope." "Director Liu has worked hard. Would Director Liu like to say a few words?" Mu Zhiyang and the others, taking advantage of the crowd, even dared to tease for a while. Liu Jinghui waved his hand and said, "I don¡¯t have much to say, just here to provide whatever support I can. However, speaking of the case, I think it¡¯s necessary to start by looking at the socialworking aspect." "What do you mean?" Jiang Yuan handed Liu Jinghui a bottle of water as he spoke. "As far as I know, online hook-ups are actually quite difficult, especially for men seeking women; it¡¯s not easy to arrange. Considering all the talking that¡¯s involved, can¡¯t we extract some information from the content of these conversations?" Liu Jinghui looked behind Jiang Yuan. Indeed, Wang Chuanxing said, "Cui Qishan¡¯s task force has checked a lot in this regard, but so far, nothing has been found." "Then look at the chat records between the victims and their friends and confidantes. Some content is quite private and may not be voluntarily disclosed to the police," Liu Jinghui continued with a hint of confidence, "From what I know about women, they are usually willing to share their secrets with close friends, including those about male friends." Chapter 726 - 669: The Reasoning Clan

Chapter 726: Chapter 669: The Reasoning n

"Regarding the investigation conducted by the Zhengguang Bureau, have you questioned the residents near the body disposal site? Any progress?" Liu Jinghui asked, having gleaned information from the case files, but was aware that many details wouldn¡¯t be updated in real time. Wang Chuanxing sat up straight and said, "There have been some unusual reports, such as noises heard at night, the sound of a motorcycle, someone flying a drone, and sightings of an electric tricycleing and going... In fact, there are a lot of witnesses, but so far, there¡¯s nothing that can be used as evidence." "What¡¯s the situation with the electric tricycle?" Liu Jinghui asked. Transportation was a key point in cases of body disposal. No one would transport three bodies without a vehicle. Wang Chuanxing said, "We¡¯ve checked the records of this resident, who has reported the tricycle multiple times for dumping garbage." "Really?" "Yes. The tricycle is unlicensed and untraceable; we hadn¡¯t found it before. This time we sent someone to stake it out, and the driver, who runs a shop nearby, has already been penalized." "Did the drone capture anything?" "No." "The motorcycle?" "Ghost Fire Boy." "Anything else? Feel free to share anything else you have," Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t in a rush; he knew that final answers don¡¯te with just one question. Wang Chuanxing checked his notes, cleared his throat, and said: "Half a year ago, for a period of time, there were often multiple people entering the vacant lot at noon and not leaving until evening. Later, it was confirmed they were workers from a nearby market who came to y cards during their lunch break." "Several residents reported burries, with losses ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands of yuan, only cash and jewelry were taken. After fingerprint analysis and inquiries, it was the work of a gang coercing local youths intomitting the crimes." "Some residents imed that there were strangers sneaking around, watching and taking photos, but it turned out to be a false report. The ones taking photos and watching were street office workers wearing their badges..." Wang Chuanxing read for two to three minutes before stopping, then he gave a wry smile and said, "This vacant lot has been empty for more than two years, almost three. There have been several rumors about redevelopment, and some people even try to pressure the street office and district government into starting demolition by using the police¡¯s name." "In Beijing, demolition can mean a lot of money," Liu Jinghui paused before asking, "Is there an actual n for redevelopment?" "Not in the short term," Wang Chuanxing had also asked about this matter. "We can continue to investigate this angle, keep questioning and ask more in-depth questions. Transporting three bodies and digging holes to bury them would be very difficult for just one person. With multiple people involved, it could easily lead to mistakes, and timing would be hard to manage. It would be easy to get caught during daytime, and working at night without any light is not an option either." Liu Jinghui spoke with strong logic and could clearly articte his points. The detectives from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were invigorated. Frankly speaking, working on cases with Jiang Yuan gave them a strong sense of achievement, albeit not an overwhelming one. They had solved numerous cases, bringing justice to many victims andforting many families. To date, some of the arrested criminals had begun to be executed sequentially, marking significant aplishments. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of solving cases was always a head-on approach, using expert skills and solid evidence to capture both the smart and the foolish criminals. This felt a bit like electrofishing: did they catch fish? They did, and quite a few, but the method was inelegant, far from stylish. But Liu Jinghui¡¯s approach was more like angling, perhaps even the technique-intensive sport of lure fishing, holding a rod elegantly without needing bait, impressing with skillful moves. If you asked the detectives of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad what they aspired to be, it was naturally to be like Jiang Yuan. But the sense of achievement they felt when involved in cases with Liu Jinghui was genuinely greater. Liu Jinghui listed several points to note in one go, then turned to Jiang Yuan with a smile and said, "Sorry for talking so much all at once." "Let¡¯s follow Director Liu¡¯s direction. It¡¯s good," Jiang Yuan truly believed that Liu Jinghui¡¯s investigative approach was sound. The bodies didn¡¯t provide much information, so canvasing was a pretty good strategy. Before the advent of surveince cameras and DNA technology, many cases were solved in this manner. Hence they say a detective needs a good pair of legs, as house-to-house visits used to take a long time. If there had been a pedometer leaderboard back then, every detective would be an outstanding member of their family. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team detectives each went about their tasks, while Liu Jinghui sat down next to Jiang Yuan, sighed softly, and asked in a low voice, "Jiang Yuan, what¡¯s your take on this case?" "The technique is seasoned, and the crime scene has been thoroughly cleaned up, with hardly any mess; finding direct evidence is going to be quite difficult," Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly: "This case still poses quite a challenge." "Hmm." "The murder happened over two years ago and the killer hasn¡¯t been caught; they¡¯ve had plenty of time to refine their skills," Liu Jinghui paused before continuing, "If they have altered their appearance and are continuing tomit crimes or have stopped altogether, for us to catch them... honestly, I¡¯d say to another detective squad... the difficulty is incredibly high." "The murderer can eliminate their own traces, but it¡¯s very difficult, if not impossible, to get rid of all the information from the body itself. I¡¯ll have another look at the body," Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach remained technically focused. Liu Jinghui said, "It would certainly help if we could identify the source of the body." This indicated that Liu Jinghui also didn¡¯t have a solid idea for the moment. Of course, there was nothing surprising about it; seasoned criminals knew well that once they got past the police¡¯s initial routine investigation, they could elude capture for a long time. Mastering an investigative technique is hard work, and if the current methods are inapplicable or ineffective, the difficulty of the case increases tenfold. Some younger detectives might only be familiar with one or two methods of investigation, and when these prove ineffective, they have little to fall back on besides their fervor. "Let¡¯s go for dinner first, and meanwhile, meet the people from the special case team," Jiang Yuan made arrangements for Liu Jinghui. Being a forensic doctor, his priority was dealing effectively with corpses, but Liu Jinghui, as a reasoning expert, inevitably had to interact with people, especially with detectives of all ranks, otherwise, what would be the point of making him run around investigating all by himself? Even pairing him with a Watson would be in vain. When Jiang Yuan offered to dine, it was the mostplete gathering outside of the official meetings of the special case team. Moreover, they were going to eat special produce delivered from the Jiang Family farm, including beef, mutton, poultry, fish, and vegetables, all fresh and appealing. Having been out of town for thest couple of months, Liu Jinghui sat down at the table and couldn¡¯t help asking after hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s introduction, "When did your family start raising fish?" "Fish from the reservoir," Jiang Yuan paused before adding, "a small reservoir, but we had to buy it to ensure a stable water supply for the farm." "Then they really are your own fish," Liu Chengmented with a couple of clicks of his tongue and quickly took a few bites of fish to neutralize the acid in his stomach. As the meal progressed, Li Haochen, who was sitting across, swapped ces to sit next to Liu Jinghui and asked in a subdued voice, "Director Liu, how do you see this case?" Li Haochen and Cui Xiaohu, both officers from the ministry, had previously visited Ningtai County to work on cases with Jiang Yuan and were acquainted with Liu Jinghui as well. He shared some simrities with Liu Jinghui in that both made a living through deduction, but unlike Liu Jinghui¡¯s rtively rxed and free status in the provincial office, young people in the ministry faced tremendous pressure and had high expectations for themselves. Liu Jinghui gave Li Haochen a smile, took a sip of beer, andid out the investigative approach he had discussed with Jiang Yuan - there was nothing to hide. The purpose of this meal was to integrate into the special case team and work together to crack the case. If we go by the usual standards, for a case of this level, Liu Jinghui reckoned the special case team would be running at full capacity for over three or four months. If there was significant pressure from various quarters and the case wasplex enough, it could be possible for the team to operate for half a year; of course, this was under the scenario of an investigation not going smoothly. If progress were smooth, naturally, the case would be solved as soon as possible, followed by a celebration and a farewell party. Li Haochen had a keen interest in this case and was also here to assist in his capacity as a ministry officer. Now, listening to Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis, he nodded thoughtfully, considering for a while before slowly saying, "If I were the killer, I would definitely have a flexible short-range tool to abandon the body here. Otherwise, it would be safer and more convenient to bury it a bit farther out in the suburbs, wouldn¡¯t it?" "Indeed, killing someone in the city and burying the body is somewhat challenging; the killer must have buried the body at least twice, suggesting there must be something special about that ce," Liu Jinghui agreed with a nod. "But there¡¯s also a possibility that I could lure the victim... I mean, if I were the killer, I could invite the victim onto the grounds for some reason, kill them, and then collect their clothing and other items to take away..." Li Haochen delved into the discussion. Liu Jinghui replied, "That would require avoiding surveince footage, and the victim might not cooperate." "Not necessarily, what if I lured them under the guise of some sexual game?" "Are you young people really ying that wild these days?" Liu Jinghui hade to understand the unrestrained thinking patterns of the younger generation. Chapter 727 - 670 Consecutive Deaths

Chapter 727: Chapter 670 Consecutive Deaths

Liu Jinghui was in charge of arranging the direction of the investigation, so Jiang Yuan returned to the autopsy room. He still had a lot to do, but time was bing somewhat insufficient. First of all, the Skull Restoration Skill was still a supermodel-level forensic technique. Of course, its technical requirements and difficulty were also supermodel-grade, which meant it required a lot of time. Not to mention performing skull restorations on three bodies, even doing it for just one would take one or two months. Two months was the normal time frame, one month or even less would require working overtime and constantly holding impromptu skill sessions during critical phases. In the case of the current investigation, Jiang Yuan had already started working on the skull restorations, but he had not announced it widely. The scale of the special case team had already grown to nearly the size of threerge teams, upwards of three hundred people. With so many people, it was not possible for everyone to wait for his skull restorations to bepleted. Beyond skull restoration, forensic anthropology always remained a high-end trump card skill. Jiang Yuan also wanted to make a breakthrough with this, but to be fair, all four bodies discovered so far were young people¡¯s, which meant that the traces of years left on their bones were very shallow, shallow to the point where professional diseases had not yet taken hold. If a person had no hereditary diseases, had not encountered major trauma like car idents during growth, and was young and tended towards inactivity without working, then their bones would be shiny and new, looking as ordinary and in as they did when they left the factory, both new and beautiful, and difficult to find traces that would provide a breakthrough. This was like sheep bones. If you cook two youngmbs at once, the bones left over after eating would be mixed together and it would be difficult to distinguish which was which. Jiang Yuan moved a chair and sat in front of the autopsy table, looking at the four bodies before him, and fell into deep thought. The fourth body was still male, so now the victims were two men and two women, making it impossible to even guess the killer¡¯s sexual orientation. Or could it be that the murderer was not killing for sexual purposes, and using social media to lure victims was just a ruse? Was the goal to select suitable victims? If viewed from this angle, by changing to a psychological analyst, one would specte at this point whether the killer¡¯s sexual functions were impaired, or when he had received some kind of trauma... Jiang Yuan shook his head. His experience was not yet sufficient to tackle this proposition and he should instead focus his attention on the bodies themselves. All four victims were not old, all below 30 years of age. The second body did have a fracture and wear on the knee, but none were severe enough to be identifiable by name. Herey a big problem, for they all came from different ces, and it was even possible that they came from other countries, like Mike. Without being able to define a scope, even if some anthropological characteristics were determined, it would still be hard to find the specific identities of the bodies. This could be said to be the limitation of forensic anthropology. It is a collection of various conditions, but unlike fingerprints or DNA, it cannot point to a singr individual. "Let¡¯s go over it again," Jiang Yuan decided as he jumped off the chair, ready to start anew and go through the bones once more. When in doubt, draw the diagram again; it was also a kind of solution. This look took another two days. Afternoon. Liu Jinghui came to the autopsy center tomunicate with Jiang Yuan and saw that Jiang Yuan was already studying insects. "How¡¯s it going? Any new discoveries?" Liu Jinghui was still somewhat hopeful. "Not so far. I want to re-determine the time of death and see if that will yield any additional clues." Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill in determining the time of death was extremely high; with a temporary +1 skill, maybe there would be a breakthrough. He considered it this way, but as for the clues, none were obtained for the time being. "What about you? Any news?" Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Jinghui smiled and said, "Didn¡¯t we send someone to check the victim¡¯s residence the day before yesterday, the one in Hu City? Found a bit of something, but not much." "Oh, what did you find?" Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t followed them there, mainly because the forensic center at Zhengguang Bureau had a very high technical level in crime scene investigation, at least LV3, and possibly even LV4, which would be on par with Jiang Yuan. Under such circumstances, he didn¡¯t need to insist on taking personal action. Liu Jinghui said, "The victim¡¯s house was rented in Wutong District, which is the prime area of Hu City¡¯s Puxi, with expensive rent. It costs 60,000 yuan a month, and the interior decoration is quite nice. During the more than two years he was missing, his parents continued to pay the rent, even though it was withpany money." "Benefits of a Fortune 500pany?" "More like personal perks of a Fortune 500 executive," Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t delve further into the topic and continued, "We collected DNA from many people at the scene. His house was also stocked with arge amount of condoms and other adult products. Based on the interviews and video footage, this Li Mai appears to have been a yboy, and moreover, he was bisexual... Ah, here we go again." Jiang Yuan understood his meaning. If Li Mai was bisexual, it meant that the killer could still be someone whomitted the murder with a sexual motive, and the investigation had circled back to the starting point. "Li Haochen has already started considering writing the psychological profile of the killer," Liu Jinghui revealed the main reason for his visit that day. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but give Liu Jinghui a nce and asked, "Is it effective?" "It¡¯s still in the works, but it¡¯s roughly the same old story about childhood trauma, with bedwetting and all that," Liu Jinghui, though skilled in deduction, wasn¡¯t much of a believer in psychological profiles and didn¡¯t show much respect in his tone. Jiang Yuan recalled Li Haochen¡¯s demeanor, let out augh, then gradually his smile faded. In other words, the investigation of these past two days had still not yielded any clues. "Technical investigation is also doing a screening. This is a costly endeavor as well, but hopefully, we can identify the other two victims." There were four victims in total, with only two identified so far, one male and one female, but there weren¡¯t many simrities between the two, let alone a connection to the killer. "I do have a bit of a discovery on my side that can serve as a reference," Jiang Yuan said as he took out a notebook from the drawer. Liu Jinghui immediately took out his own notebook and pen and said, "Go ahead, I¡¯ll take notes." "It¡¯s not that serious," Jiang Yuan waved his hand and continued, "It was when I was assessing the time of death for the bodies, I noticed that the death times of these three bodies were clearly different, especially between body number two and number three. Even though they were both skeletonized, you can still see that there¡¯s a significant difference in the weathering of their bones. If their times of death had been close, there wouldn¡¯t be such an obvious difference." Liu Jinghui¡¯s spirits lifted as he heard this: "There¡¯s a significant difference in the death times of the three bodies? How much of a difference?" "Number two died first, then about two weekster, number one died, followed by number three, approximately another two weeks after number one," Jiang Yuan paused, then said, "There¡¯s also an issue with the insect session. Actually, I found the cause by tracing back from the abnormal insect session." "So you mean that after the killer murdered number two, they didn¡¯t bury the body right away, waited around two weeks, until number one arrived, killed again, and still didn¡¯t bury them, waited again for number three toe, killed again, and then buried them all together? Where did he keep the bodies?" "It can¡¯t be certain, but it¡¯s very possible that the corpses were exposed to the wilderness," Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t figured it out either, and simply said, "Some insect eggs,rvae, and the adult stages require a terrestrial environment; the insect systems on the three bodies are very chaotic. A careful analysis indicates that they weren¡¯t buried at the same time or ce." "First left on the ground surface, then buried bones and the like altogetherter on?" Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help shaking his head, "That would be a lot of work, wouldn¡¯t it leave traces on the ground?" "Perhaps it did, but after more than two years, it¡¯s no longer discernible," Jiang Yuan said, also mentioning, "ced on the hot ground surface, a body can skeletonize in 14 days." Liu Jinghui asked, "What about the smell? And it might be seen by people, right?" "Perhaps," Jiang Yuan shook his head. Regarding this part, he hadn¡¯t figured it out either, or perhaps there were other mysteries. "So you¡¯re saying that we need to find the first crime scene where the body was discarded?" Liu Jinghui immediately believed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusions. If it were someone else, hearing such a far-fetched technical conclusion would require some time to verify. Liu Jinghui skipped this step and proceeded to think based on this foundation. This time, Liu Jinghui pondered for a long time and pulled out the tablet he carried with him, continuously flipping through the photos of the crime scene. As he looked, Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze settled on a photo of a wastewater pond. "We¡¯vebed this wastnd several times in a grid search, but we¡¯ve never carefully examined these wastewater ponds from beginning to end." Chapter 728 - 671 I will stretch my left foot first

Chapter 728: Chapter 671 I will stretch my left foot first

The sewage pit on the empty ground of the crime scene was shallow, but covered quite arge area, apparently several hundred square meters. Four sewage pits in a row, not far from each other, dotted thendscape. The depth at the center of each was between half a meter and a meter, but if the water level rose slightly more, these four pits might just converge into onerge pond. Liu Cheng stood on the bank, his gaze woodenly fixed on the distance. Even so, the pungent odor persistently drilled into his nostrils. One wonders whether anyone has ever tried such an experiment: collecting the liquid waste produced by their household garbage, cing it in a carefully selected ss beaker, and then sitting in front of the beaker, fanning above it with their hand to force the smell into their nostrils¡ªit was that smell! "Criminals in Beijing these days, who knows what they¡¯re up to? Either dumping on garbage hills or in sewers, and now we have sewage ponds. Can¡¯t theymit crimes at clean ces!" Liu Chengined as soon as he opened his mouth, desperate to vent the foul odor that filled him. Standing in the waist-deep pond, a police officer, hand over hand feeling through the mud, crawled out and cast an irritated look at Liu Cheng: "Liu Da, why don¡¯t you get into the pond? It doesn¡¯t stink there." "What¡¯s the logic behind the pond not stinking?" Liu Cheng asked, amused. The mud-covered officer replied, "It¡¯s so slippery in there, all you can think about is the nausea; the stink doesn¡¯t evene to mind." Liu Cheng chuckled in embarrassment, "You guys are working hard. Once we¡¯re done here, I¡¯ll get the division chief Tao Lu to approve and we¡¯ll eat and drink on public funds." "Public funds for boxed lunches?" "No way, it has to be at least... at minimum it should be of hotpot standard," Liu Cheng said, though he wasn¡¯t quite sure. Division chief Tao Lu had always been stingy, andtely, he had been tighter with money than ever, especially with unnned expenditures, practically embodying the pennilessness of someone plundered by the Ningtai people. Liu Cheng sighed. If all else failed, there were still some funds in the squad, but if they continued splurging them, there wouldn¡¯t be many hotpot dinners left. "Liu, into the pond," Cui Qishan urged, having appeared at who knows when, wearing long rain boots and a protective suit. The head of the Beijing Division squad was about the same rank as a precinct chief in a county city; both were considered the backbone of the force. It was inevitable that they¡¯d have to be the first to wade in. Wading hand in hand through the runoff pond wasn¡¯t just for show, to be captured by the photographer at the side. The detective squad actually had professional technical personnel for criminal photography. In the past, this position was highly regarded due to the high cost of film and video tapes. When a color roll of Kodak film cost almost half a month¡¯s sry of a police officer, it demanded professional photography. Now, it was to avoid many disputes. Particrly in homicide cases, high standards were established for photography and videography, which helped solidify evidence and facilitate trials. It was hard on some of the older police officers¡ªnew recruits came into this environment and did their work by the book. The older generation, especially those who liked shortcuts, could onlyin now. Liu Cheng and Cui Qishan waded through the pond, hand in hand. This was thest sewage pit, spanning thirty to forty meters in length, and twenty to thirty meters in width, almost as big as a swimming pool. The deepest area was half a meter, but most ces were only twenty to thirty centimeters deep. Dense unknown organic matter grew within the pond, with mud that could swallow half a lower leg. While walking, Liu Cheng muttered, "I may have trudged through garbage mountains before, but I must say, this pond is truly revolting." "The guys from your squad really have it tough following you around." "It¡¯s just bad luck. Simply bad luck." "If you guys keep up this bad luck, you¡¯ll be the Stench Squad," Cui Qishan gave Liu Cheng¡¯s team a fitting name, his smile greasy like that of a middle-aged intellectual. Liu Cheng retorted, "Are you guys the Corpse-Digging Squad?" Cui Qishan paused, then quickly changed the subject, "Let¡¯s hope we actually dig up a body this time, otherwise who knows how long this damned case will drag on." As they talked, Liu Cheng pulled his foot from the mud, "Director Tao is really stingy. Couldn¡¯t he have just pumped the water out first?" "Do you know how much it¡¯d cost to pump out these four ponds?" Cui Qishan grumbled. Liu Cheng sneered; he didn¡¯t know the exact price, but he was sure it would be exorbitant. The sewage here had to be pumped out by specialized trucks and couldn¡¯t just be disposed of anywhere; it had to be taken to a designated spot for a fee. Of course, a more convenient method would be to find a couple of pumps and unceremoniously create a pond on the spot, but such an act would not only ruin the crime scene but also be against regtions, making it difficult to publicly justify and likely to drawints from nearby residents. "But in the end, it still has to be pumped," Liu Cheng said. "If we find something, we pump; if we find nothing, we still pump." "Now that we¡¯ve found something, we can apply for special funding from the division, right?" said Cui Qishan, who could understand the detachment leader¡¯s perspective since he himself hoped to be one in the future. "It¡¯s not so easy to find things. Do you have any idea how much we¡¯ve had to dig through at thendfill? We could have built a house with all that, and we still haven¡¯t found a thing." Cui Qishan chuckled, "It¡¯s not that hard. Finding a body is just about keeping on trying. Sometimes you step out with your left foot and you just might stumble upon..." Cui Qishan paused for a moment, twisted his left foot a couple of times, then reached down and pulled out a piece of bone from beneath. "Does this look like human bone?" Cui Qishan asked Liu Cheng, who was next to him. Liu Cheng stared at therge bone, nodded silently, and then spent a good while looking at Cui Qishan¡¯s left foot. ... The suction truck was humming as it worked. A group of criminal technicians surrounded the perimeter of the sewage pond, meticulously searching further inside. This time¡¯s examination was much more detailed; many buckets of silt were being dredged up and sifted through. Tao Lu stood next to Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan, looking out over the work from a distance and felt much calmer. "Although we might have one more body, it should provide us with quite a few useful clues. Hopefully, we can make a breakthrough this time," Tao Lu said with a chuckle. "Director Liu¡¯s n is quite meticulous." Liu Jinghui smiled. To be honest, he had seldom left the province before, with his fame circting only within Shannan Province, nowhere near Tao Lu¡¯s level. However, deduction doesn¡¯t rely on fame. As long as you use the correct methods and utilize the evidence properly, you cane to the correct conclusion. "There¡¯s likely more than just one additional body," Liu Jinghui predicted, a touch of pride in his voice. Tao Lu wasn¡¯t surprised but asked, "What¡¯s the reason?" "If there was only one additional body, the killer could have simply buried them all. There¡¯s no need to leave one separated." Tao Lu nodded in agreement, "That¡¯s right, that makes sense." "If there¡¯s one more body, that makes ten in total," Huang Qiangmin appeared from the other end, speaking with a calm and assertive voice as if he were in his own turf. Tao Lu chuckled awkwardly, "Just right." "Mm," Huang Qiangmin nomittally responded with a crisp nod, his lips curling up at exactly a 22.22-degree angle, discreetly hiding his pearly whites behind his lips. "Victim number five is a female. We haven¡¯t collected all her bones yet, but we have about eighty percent. For now, it seems her time of death predates victims one, two, and three," Jiang Yuan analyzed on-site, though he didn¡¯t give a specific time of death. The condition of the bones wasplex this time, so his previousparison was in rtive terms. He listed the sequence of death times of the bodies affected by simr environmental conditions in the same area, rather than their precise times of death. Contemting, Tao Lu asked, "This body is soaked in water now. What about victims one, two, and three? Have they also been submerged for an extended period?" "There¡¯s no evidence of long-term immersion. Short-term is... much harder to determine." Jiang Yuan said, then added, "In the case of a body exposed to the elements, being rained on or briefly submerged in water is unpredictable." Bodies that have been lying for two to three years are mainly dated using forensic entomology, and insects don¡¯t care about water levels to that extent. They¡¯re ustomed to it; some even prefer toy their eggs in such moist environments. "What we can be sure of is that victims one, two, and three have all been moved postmortem. This suggests the killer has made multiple trips here," Liu Jinghui¡¯s words made Tao Lu¡¯s eyes light up. "Go into detail," Tao Lu said. "The person who frequented this spot over two to three years ago is most likely male, and I think we can narrow it down to that," Liu Jinghui concluded, then continued, "I believe we should first consider their work, and then their personal life. Also, the fact that the perpetrator managed to collect every bone of three people into the graves indicates meticulousness and attention to detail, or perhaps, he didn¡¯t dispose of the bodies haphazardly." Reminded by Liu Jinghui¡¯s words, Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "The skeletons are intact, with no missing bones, which shows at least they weren¡¯t simply discarded in the open. Otherwise, stray dogs, cats, or birds, like crows, could have damaged the remains." "The bodies were discarded, but notpletely?" Liu Jinghui pondered deeply upon receiving confirmation, trying to imagine what sort of environment that could be. Chapter 729 - 672: Six Bodies

Chapter 729: Chapter 672: Six Bodies

"A body." A police officer shouted, drawing everyone¡¯s attention to the scene. With the water level of thergest sewage pond receding, a bamboo basket emerged, containing a pile of eerie white bones. Based on their experience and inferences grounded in reality, considering factors such as orientation and weather changes, the crowd surmised that these were very likely human remains. Gurgle. Tao Lu swallowed, "Is there really one?" Huang Qiangmin was also somewhat surprised, "As expected of a major city with a poption of tens of millions." To put it in perspective, the daily influx of people into Beijing often surpasses the entire poption of Ningtai County. It¡¯s only natural for the Zhengguang Bureau to have such a substantial budget. It¡¯s a ce where a lot of moneyes in, and equally a lot gets spent, like now, where the quota for ten bodies was rapidly filled. Of course, solving two consecutive murder cases is already the workload of many criminal police teams for an entire year. As for the current case involving six bodies in an international murder investigation, cracking it would be enough for all the participating personnel to boast about for a lifetime. Huang Qiangmin nced at Tao Lu, his eyes conveying a time, a ce, and an event, but he said nothing. This time, Tao Lu didn¡¯t dodge the gaze. Facing Huang Qiangmin, he said, "Doctor Jiang, the body is in your hands now. This case has be Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s top priority. Whatever resources you need to solve it, we¡¯ll provide them, without any limit or need to economize." Before Cui Qishan¡¯s left foot stepped on this piece of human bone, this was an international case involving four bodies. Frankly, in a city as big as Beijing, homicide cases involving four victims asionally do happen. Especially those passion-driven cases where families are wiped out, which typically involve three or four people. However, cases that intermittently involve victims from different groups are truly different. The appearance of this body, with its chilling white bones, shattered Tao Lu¡¯sst illusion and carved a hole into his train of thought. Now, concerns about funding were irrelevant, and how the rest of the year would pan out was also unimportant. What mattered was solving this case. Tao Lu immediately took out his mobile phone to report to his superiors. Jiang Yuan responded, then began unfolding a protective suit on the spot, slipping it on as he said, "I¡¯ll go in first to take a look. Stop pumping the water here for now; we¡¯ll continue after I take samples." "Understood." Liu Cheng hurriedly picked up the walkie-talkie to notify the sludge removal truck on the other side. As the water was pumped out of the sewage pond, arge quantity of mud remained at the bottom, and, of course, it was impossible to remove all the waterpletely. Jiang Yuan hurried into the pond to begin examining the body. Liu Jinghui inhaled deeply the stench of the sewage, standing on the shore nearest to the body, musing aloud, "Jiang Yuan, can you determine how long the body has been immersed in the water and how long it has been exposed to the air?" "What do you mean?" "The first, second, and third bodies were buried in the soil, the fourth one as well, and they all had been exposed on the ground for a significant time. I want to know the specific sequence and duration." "Given its current state, it¡¯s difficult to determine that." Jiang Yuan shook his head as he looked at the bones below. If there were some flesh and insects, it would be somewhat easier to judge. Now, the only indicators were waternts, and the specific situation in the sewage pond was still unknown. Moreover, the dposition rate of a body in water is quite slow. Water is moreplex than air, and it constitutes a rtively isted environment. The temperature also rtes to the volume and depth of the water body, and temperature is closely associated with the time of death and the time to skeletonization... Liu Jinghui could only nod, "At first, I thought the killer was very careful, but now, it seems they are quite capricious. There are bodies in the water, buried ones, and even those exposed in the wilderness. And, sewage ponds are eventually going to dry up. If the summer sun bakes it long enough without rain, the water will recede, and the bodies are bound to be revealed..." "Dig it out just to bury it again?" "Why bother doing that? Besides, how could one urately determine the time like that, and it¡¯s not too easy to get into the pool either," Liu Jinghui shook his head. "Sounds like a lunatic," Cui Qishan was not the type who enjoyed listening to deductions and was growing a bit impatient now. Liu Jinghui said, "It¡¯s not surprising to be a lunatic, if a murderer goes to such lengths with his crimes, they might as well be insane. Antisocial personality disorder, things like that, could all be diagnosed." But to not solve the case¡ªthis was what Liu Jinghui did not say. Whoosh... The other two forensic doctors entered the water to go towards the bamboo basket and start collecting the skeletal remains. The bamboo basket was t, made with wide and thick bamboo strips. It had not fallen apart even after soaking in the water for more than a year, which was truly not an easy feat. The skeletal remains, however, were scattered in a heap, some of the smaller bones had already slipped out of the encirclement of the bamboo basket. Jiang Yuan proceeded step by step with the inspection and sampling, and after sending up the remains, some insect corpses and bodies, and parts of the mud and water all onto the hearse, he returned to the edge of the pool, stripping off his protective suit by the scene, all the while turning a blind eye to the crowd¡¯s pinched noses and turned heads. Standing at the edge of the sewage pond, there¡¯s no need to disdain those who just walked out of it. Jiang Yuan threw the protective suit into the trash bin and then said, "Number Six was also female, roughly 1.7 meters tall, and about 21 years old at the time of death. The estimated time of death is about 2 years and 6 months, to 2 years and 7 months..." With an LV7 determination of the time of death, giving such a wide margin was also a form of respect for the murderer. This murderer can be counted as one of the mostborious body handlers Jiang Yuan had ever encountered. He dumped bodies, buried bodies, and in between also moved the bodies from ce to ce, rearranging positions... Jiang Yuan did not know the reason behind these actions, but the result of doing so made the estimation of the time of death extremely uncertain. "The behavior of this murderer is still quite abnormal," Liu Jinghui¡¯s tone was steady, his eyes shining as if he had seen an old ssmate at a trade fair. For Liu Jinghui, who was not in pursuit of fame or fortune, such a challenging case was truly a gift. He often willingly participated in Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases partly for this reason; Jiang Yuan would solve mundane cases in the blink of an eye, and only these interesting, difficult cases would seep into his hands. As Liu Jinghui pondered, he said, "Just looking at the way the killer handled bodies one, two, and three, one could say it was ingeniously calcted. Of course, it would have been perfect if the graves were dug a bit deeper, but it doesn¡¯t affect the oue. It is already a very good method of disposal, and the grave digging was quite professional." "Number Four was handled ordinarily. Numbers Five and Six were too casual, thrown into a stink pit, and even using a bamboo basket; the implements used for disposing of bodies Five and Six were different..." "We should thoroughly investigate the origin of the bamboo basket." While saying this, Liu Jinghui frowned and gradually fell silent. The photographer hired by Mike¡¯s parents, at this moment, tried to step forward silently, aimed the camera, and wanted to capture the slightly despondent expressions of everyone. Mu Zhiyang stepped forward and used his body to block the camera¡¯s view from the photographer. Chapter 730 - 673: Show of Strength

Chapter 730: Chapter 673: Show of Strength

They had fish for dinner. Having collected bodies from a sewage pond during the day, which left many feeling unwell, they could only manage to eat aquatic creatures that evening, such as coral trout, grouper, mantis shrimp, crabs, squat lobster, and deco pod squilloids from the Decapod Squi Family. This meal was on Jiang Yuan¡¯s tab, and not expensed to the Zhengguang Bureau, to lift the spirits of Tao Lu and the others a bit. Tao Lu seized the chance and heartily chatted with Huang Qiangmin, arms linked and faces flushed, for a good fifteen minutes. The case had to progress no matter what, such that even if Huang Qiangmin¡¯s demands were a bit more stringent, Tao Lu might have agreed to them. So, when the final terms were agreed upon, Tao Lu even felt that Huang Qiangmin¡¯s demands were not so outrageously excessive. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t pay them much mind, devouring nearly half of the coral trout in a whirlwind, followed by cracking open a mantis shrimp, and then pairing half a bowl of shrimp, two spoonfuls of Lao Gan Ma, and a touch of mustard with half a bowl of rice. Wiping his mouth, he said, "I¡¯m off to check on the bodies." Tonight was destined to be a sleepless one; the task force needed the autopsy reports before the next morning¡¯s office hours, otherwise, the rest of the team would have to wait for the report to proceed with their work. Staying upte didn¡¯t bother Jiang Yuan much, simr to how doctors always admonish their patients to rest well and eat light, yet they often binge and stay up all night themselves. Many doctors have seen too many cases of people getting sick mysteriously. Forensic doctors are simr to some extent, as with the six bodies this time. Although they hooked up, drank, stayed upte, and some may even have smoked, they were all in the prime of youth, far from the clutches of death under normal circumstances. Yet each of these six people had no definitive reason to die. They merely chose a certain lifestyle. Strictly speaking, one could argue that the murderer also chose a lifestyle, but his way of living erased the lives of others. At that point, it was necessary for someone to step forward and exact an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. "Any findings?" Jiang Yuan brought arge food container over, cing it on a vacant table. The veteran Zeng Lianrong smiled amiably and said, "We¡¯ve justpleted some examinations and measurements; all the data is in the notebook. The two victims, number five and six, are both female. Number five¡¯s knee also shows significant wear and tear, suspected to be sports-rted injuries..." Zeng Lianrong didn¡¯t even look at his notebook as he recounted the conclusions he had drawn, then stepped aside to give Jiang Yuan space. Jiang Yuan nodded and unhesitatingly stepped up to the autopsy table. With bodies stripped down to bones, there was no need for sharp objects like scalpels. The autopsy tables themselves were spotlessly clean, glistening metallically. But few forensic doctors would prefer such corpses. Everyone rather deal with fresh bodies, which tremble when touched; they are simpler to work with and conclusions are more easily drawn, unlike stark white bones. Clean, yes, but often of little use, a waste of effort. Jiang Yuan inspected the bones on the autopsy table one by one, and when he reached the knees, he remarked, "Victim number two¡¯s knee wear is also very severe." "Yes, and it looks like it¡¯s due to a sports injury," said Zeng Lianrong, who had specifically mentioned this because he had also considered the possibility. Out of the six bodies, four were female, two of which had sports injuries on their knees. Though the numbers were too small for a definitive conclusion, they certainly couldn¡¯t be ignored. After carefully examining victim number five¡¯s knees, Jiang Yuan asked for number two¡¯s knees to be brought forparison and added, "The type of activity they engaged in feels different. The injuries on number two are more consistent with weight training, while number five¡¯s are more indicative of running or race walking." Zeng Lianrong could see it too and immediately agreed, saying, "I concur. However, if the exercise was done in a gym, both could fit the profile." "Indeed," Jiang Yuan responded nomittally. Assuming the victims were lured through a social app, the likelihood of them being from the same area or even the same gym decreased, unless they were all locals, but that conflicted with the reported missing persons¡¯ information. To the side, the junior forensic doctor Zhan Kan and others listened to Jiang Yuan and Zeng Lianrong¡¯s conversation while also craning their necks to examine the knees, pondering their line of thought. Forensics, like the antiques trade, is hands-on. Many things require examination by touch and continuous affirmative stimtion to form concepts. For instance, sports injuries to the knee¡ªwithout handling the actual object, relying solely on textbook descriptions is almost akin to guessing blindly. Only with extensive experience and observation can one confidently make a judgement, of course, this is provided that there¡¯s a foundation in anthropology. Zhan Kan had just started examining the knee when Jiang Yuan picked up several vertebrae from body number five and began inspecting them. Zeng Lianrong was the first to lean in, moving even faster than the young forensic doctors. "You¡¯ve noticed it too," Zeng Lianrong didn¡¯t wait for Jiang Yuan to speak before he revealed the answer. The few young doctors looked over, not understanding. "Are you referring to the scratch marks?" Jiang Yuan set the first thoracic vertebra aside. Zeng Lianrongughed heartily and nodded, "Exactly, the marks are very fine; they can¡¯t be detected without close inspection. What tool do you think caused them?" "A boning knife, I¡¯d guess. The single-edged kind with a bit of curvature, pointed, with a thin and sharp de..." Jiang Yuan listed the various characteristics of the knife de that caused the marks all in one breath. Zeng Lianrong¡¯s smile gradually faded. "How can you tell it¡¯s single-edged?" Zeng Lianrong asked. "Look at the indentations, they¡¯re uneven." Jiang Yuan handed over a magnifying ss. Zeng Lianrong inquired, "And the point?" "There¡¯s a nick," Jiang Yuan pointed out a spot where the bone had a slight dip downwards, nearly indistinguishable from normal indentations due to corrosion from sewage. Zeng Lianrong looked for quite a while before he sighed, "Your eyesight is really exceptional." "Youthful," Jiang Yuan modestly added. Zeng Lianrong smiled again, his expression gradually bing serene. He could see that the marks were fine and had spected that they were probably made by a single-edged knife with a very thin de, judging from the width of the scratch marks, but that was all he could deduce. He hadn¡¯t noticed whether the knife had a point or a curvature. And these two points, in fact, greatly determine the type of knife. Just like how Jiang Yuan quickly mentioned "boning knife," those two words could save a significant amount of time in the investigation and police resources, which is extremely meaningful in the race against the clock during an investigation and absolutely exemplifies the expertise of a forensic doctor. "A boning knife used at the location of the thoracic vertebra doesn¡¯t seem like it was stabbed in..." With at least a LV2.0 skill level in forensic pathology, Zhan Kan gestured twice and noticed something unusual. Zeng Lianrong nced at Jiang Yuan and then said, "These are the marks of dismemberment." "Wait, number five was dismembered?" Zhan Kan was surprised. "It¡¯s possible that when the body was being put into the bamboo basket, it had already stiffened a bit, so it was cut into pieces to fit inside," Zeng Lianrong, who had seen a lot, immediately suggested a possibility. Jiang Yuan then said, "It would still be somewhat difficult to dismember with a boning knife." "Maybe someone with a medical background, or experience in butchering?" Those who have killed know that without the right technique, dismemberment is best done with an ax, or at the very least, a thick-handled cleaver. To daringly use a boning knife for dismemberment and leave only very shallow knife marks required superior skills. Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. Zhan Kan appeared slightly excited, "At least that narrows down the scope." "Check the other bodies for signs of dismemberment." Jiang Yuan changed into a new pair of gloves and continued, "If all of them were dismembered with a boning knife, the marks could be very shallow; any simr knife marks should be examined carefully and noted." Chapter 731 - 674: One Step Closer

Chapter 731: Chapter 674: One Step Closer

Chen Nian¡¯s skeletal remains had been soaked in sewage or corpse water for about two years. Even if she had regrly drunk milk to strengthen her bones as a young person, by now they would have likely deteriorated. Using a magnifying ss, pits and indentations on the bone surface were inevitable. This differed from the bones of pigs, cows, and sheep wemonly see. Those pigs that make their way to countless homes from the market, most of them are between 8 to 12 months old. The sheep are a bit older, akin to just havingpleted a summer school session, and most of the cows are around three years old, hence they appear more robust. Regardless of the species, their bones are still much younger than those of a human in their twenties, and so are naturally smoother and more polished. It was only after confirming the presence of scratch marks that Jiang Yuan and his team took up the magnifying ss to meticulously search, inch by inch. At this point, Zhan Kan and the other junior forensic doctors could only do secondary work, apanying the rest through the entire process. Soon, everyone noticed that Zeng Lianrong maintained a consistent speed, moving rtively uniformly as he examined the remains, whereas Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace was getting progressively faster. By the end, Jiang Yuan was moving his magnifying ss over the bones at a speed three times that of Zeng Lianrong. If these had been his own apprentices, Zeng Lianrong would have surely scolded them severely. Searching so hastily could lead to missed details, voiding the entire effort and necessitating aplete redo. But seeing Jiang Yuan operate in such a manner... it was hard for Zeng Lianrong to raise objections. Although he felt that Jiang Yuan was not being thorough enough, considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s track record and capabilities, he had no criticism to offer. After all, even if Jiang Yuan were just to feel around with his hands, he would still be at least eight times more effective than Zhan Kan. Jiang Yuan himself was oblivious to this. He was a Level 6 in Tool Trace Identification; it was currently his top skill. At the moment, he had activated a temporary skill boost to +1, which for nearly 7 hours brought his Tool Trace Identification to Level 7. It was as if the knifes had no ce to hide; he could find them wherever they were made. In no time, Jiang Yuan found six traces that had been lightly scored by a sharp knife, so shallow and corroded by the environment that they were very easy to overlook. Jiang Yuan analyzed that it would take at least a Level 4 in crime scene investigation, forensic anthropology, forensic pathology, or the like to find and confirm these extremely faint scratch marks. To identify themfortably, one would ideally need a suitable Level 5 skill. In Shannan Province, this would require a top expert, one who sits upright in front of the dissection table, scrutinizing with a magnifying ss for a day and a night. From this perspective, the technical level of Zeng Lianrong was truly outstanding, befitting his status as one of the leading experts in the city¡¯s dissection center. "The dismemberment marks on number one are quite clear, totaling eleven spots. Number two also has knife marks at the joints, indicating the body was cut intorge pieces," Jiang Yuan put down his magnifying ss and pondered, "It was done very carefully, with almost only the knife tip touching the bones, likely in the act of severing tendons or simr tissues." Jiang Yuan simted the movements, feeling that the perpetrator¡¯s actions were very precise. "He¡¯s a pro," Zeng Lianrong said with a sigh. "He¡¯d best be someone who honed his skills in a ughterhouse." Upon hearing the forensic doctor¡¯sment, several of the younger doctors present, including a female, couldn¡¯t take it and showed visible signs of disgust. Zeng Lianrong examined the knife marks Jiang Yuan had indicated and found them to be even finer than the ones he had found, easing his concerns. He then added, "Back in my younger days, to find such a person, I would have consulted the information department to scan the list of local meat processing enterprises,bined with a list of those who have engaged in private ughtering before, and that would generally narrow it down. But now... this is no longer just our city¡¯s issue." "Let¡¯s first notify Tao," Jiang Yuan said. "A horn knife and a bamboo basket are notmon items. With some luck, we might be able to locate them." Though he said this, he didn¡¯t hold much hope. This approach was more effective against the average murderer because an ordinary person nning a murder goes through countless iterations before a certain trigger leads them to act. The ones who end up carrying out the act are often the most desperate, while those who can hold off might eventually give up. Thus, the murder tools of an ordinary person are eithermon household items or something purchased just for the asion. But the killer in this case likely had a weapon handy, as we can tell from the bodies here, numbers one, two, and five were all dismembered with the same butcher knife. Obviously, the killer doesn¡¯t have the habit of abandoning the murder weapon aftermitting a crime. Zeng Lianrong also made the phone call with a bit of hope. In the case of serial killers, one cannot expect a golden path leading the police to the culprit. As mentioned before, bing a serial killer is both a result of psychological aberration and a societal selection process. No premeditated murderer intends to end up in prison; if not apprehended, those who benefit from their killings are likely to continuemitting crimes throughout their lives. If still undiscovered or uncaught, they might well be serial killers. And once serial killers have eluded multiple rounds of elimination, they¡¯ve already acquired many skills they shouldn¡¯t possess, making conventional investigative methods ineffective against them. Only meticulous investigations, advancements in technology, sheer luck, or mistakes made by the killers themselves, might lead to their apprehension. Many serial killers abroad have ultimately evaded capture, with famous cases such as Zodiac taunting the police and still escaping capture, truly shaking society. Jiang Yuan continued examining bones with a magnifying ss, a tiresome task that normal forensic doctors under normal circumstances wouldn¡¯t undertake. Most of the time, forensic doctors work under microscopes, creating pathological sections of the corpses to study¡ªsimr to the pathological departments in hospitals. However, when forensic doctors find cancer in their subject of study, all they need is a heartfelt smile: not a big loss. While the magnifying power of a magnifying ss can¡¯tpare to a microscope, it¡¯s more convenient than a microscope and is often used for tool trace identification. Jiang Yuan, ustomed to on-site investigations, didn¡¯t mind using the magnifying ss. Zeng Lianrong had been on the phone for a long time. When he returned, he found Jiang Yuan engrossed in studying a bone. Approaching, Zeng Lianrong coughed twice and said, "I just had a lengthy talk with Tao. There¡¯s still a decent chance with the butcher knife. Even if the killer bought the knife a long time ago, a person who uses such a knife is likely to have purchased rted items, like a sharpening stone, for instance. Moreover, professionals like doctors or forensic doctors would typically use a scalpel for dissecting a body; using a butcher knife suggests that the profession is probably rted to the butchery industry..." At that moment, Jiang Yuan looked up and said, "Zeng, hold on a moment." Having said that, Jiang Yuan took a piece of PVC electrostatic film from the tray beside him, covered the sternovicr joint he had been examining, and smoothed it out as best as he could. Zeng Lianrong looked over as well, noticing other items on the tray such as tweezers, scissors, transparent tape, evidence bags, sulfuric acid paper, and nearby, an aspirator; he instantly understood that Jiang Yuan was in the process of collecting trace evidence. Zeng Lianrong queried his apprentice, Zhan Kan, with a look. Zhan Kan was taken aback for a moment, then quickly said, "Captain Jiang was pointing out a white speck on the sternovicr joint that doesn¡¯t look like bone residue." "What is it then?" "It looks more like white paint. Let theb have a look." Jiang Yuan flipped the electrostatic film over, and a nearly invisible white particle was clearly visible on it. "It¡¯s not something from the soil or sewage, is it?" Zeng Lianrong picked up a magnifying ss and examined it from a distance, before answering his own question: "It really doesn¡¯t look like it, seems more like paint." His eyes lit up as he spoke. Paint materials are a very specialized chemical product, and among the various material databases collected by industry ministries, they are quiteprehensive. Most paints can be identified down to the type throughparison, so inparison to the butcher knife, this is an even bigger step forward. Chapter 732 - 675: Stirring Up the Situation

Chapter 732: Chapter 675: Stirring Up the Situation

Hearing that paint had been found, Tao Lu and the others grew even more excited. Tao Lu came from a detective background and didn¡¯t know much about criminal science, but he knew one thing: whenever there was paint evidence in the samples, theboratory hardly ever failed. They would always have something to say, and their findings were widely epted in court. This was because paint evidence had an extremely wide range of applications, with the mostmon being automotive paint. In road traffic idents, vehicle paint evidence was often used to identify suspect vehicles and determine whether a collision had yed a key role. In addition, marine paint, architectural paint, spray paint, and so on, also frequently appeared in cases. Theplexposition of paint might be troublesome in industry, but in criminal identification, it turned out to be very useful. There were an absurd number of testing methods, such as microscopic examination, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Py-GC/MS testing¡ªif only officials¡¯ loyalty could be tested with so many techniques, integrity would have be the norm long ago. The police department¡¯s own Trace Evidence Laboratory also didn¡¯t dare to ck, working overtime to help them jump the queue. In just one day¡¯s time, the test report was delivered to Tao Lu¡¯s desk. Tao Lu quickly skimmed through the test report, his face already beaming with a triumphant smile. Upon hearing the news, members of the special case team filled Tao Lu¡¯s office in no time. The smiling Director of the Testing Center passed the report around and exined on behalf of everyone, "The white particles are indeed paint, and theye from a Foton microvan. We used multiple methods to verify this, but the report shows the test was done with the most reliable infrared spectrometer, where you can see an absorption peak at 1724, along with ones at 1601 and 1583..." A few veteran detectives nodded "hmm, hmm," like they were appeasing their wives, not really listening to the Director¡¯s thorough exnation, but each stretched their necks to look at the report, as though they understood it. The Director of the Testing Center¡¯s expression turned resentful in an instant, "I¡¯ve told you the ultimate conclusion..." "For microvans, should we start by checking the vehicle¡¯s travel history? Just to be safe, should we also talk to residents in the vicinity? Such a vehicle would be quite conspicuous in a residential area," said Cui Qishan, looking at the report, his emotions already on the rise, "The time frame is broad, but that shouldn¡¯t be a problem." Nowadays, by entering a vehicle¡¯s license te number into the police system, one could see its lengthy travel history, which was mainlypleted by surveince and constituted the application of big data, sparing the detectives the trouble of blindly following vehicles. Even if a vehicle concealed its license te, the police could still trace its movements through fuzzy searches. Liu Cheng on the side said, "We should be able to find nearby vehicles of simrity, not sure how many there might be, but the workload isn¡¯t much if we search one by one." "There¡¯s an issue, though. Having van paint on the bones doesn¡¯t mean the van had to drive to the open space. The van might be the primary scene, and the open space where the body was dumped, but another mode of transport could¡¯ve been used in between." That statement was key, and it cooled the detectives¡¯ enthusiasm quite a bit. Tao Lu turned his head and saw that the sobering reminder came from Xiao Si, who had recently joined the special case group organized by Cui Qishan. Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and said, "It¡¯s indeed possible that the van was parked somewhere else, but I think it¡¯s quite likely that it did go to the open space. Otherwise, transporting six bodies would have been a huge hassle. Even if the killer didn¡¯t know at first, after transporting one or two bodies, he would¡¯ve given up that method." "Microvans are about three meters, maybe three meters twenty in length, yeah? Many ces in the city are off-limits for them. This open space, at least during the day, couldn¡¯t be essed, anding here at night, in the dark, isn¡¯t easy either, plus it¡¯s conspicuous," countered Xiao Si, who had put a lot of time into this case and had his own way of thinking, not easily persuaded by others. Liu Jinghui carefully weighed his words then smiled again, "We can¡¯t entirely rule out that possibility, but moving bodies isn¡¯t easy either. Right after death, bodies are extremely heavy, to the point that the murderer had to dismember them; we¡¯ve all seen how messy decaying bodies can get. Even once they¡¯re reduced to bones, there often still are things attached. Moving the bodies from one vehicle to another, the killer would just be making things harder for himself." "And there will be a lot of evidence left in the car, which will be difficult to clean," Tao Lu nodded to Liu Jinghui and said, "Let¡¯s not consider the issue of transport for now. Director Liu, please continue. Oh, Jiang Yuan¡¯s here. Captain Jiang, please have a seat over here." He effectively negated Xiao Si¡¯s line of thought. Seeing Jiang Yuan, Tao Lu revealed a genuine smile. The case was showing promise, and it was all thanks to Jiang Yuan¡¯s efforts. As a detective, by following the questioning procedure, he was able to clearly grasp the situation at the scene. The young forensic doctors present had already excitedly described Jiang Yuan¡¯s findings several times over. If this case were solved, this moment would be fondly remembered by everyone for a long time. Jiang Yuan greeted everyone with a smile and instead of taking a seat, he said, "I¡¯ve looked over the electronic version of the report. Please, continue." Before anyone else could speak, Xiao Si refused to give up and said, "I admit the likelihood of switching vehicles isn¡¯t high, but we should still consider that possibility. Also, the paint we found might not be from the exterior of the vehicle, but rather, its interior, right? If that¡¯s the case, couldn¡¯t the perpetrator have simply used Foton¡¯s paint to touch up another vehicle? I¡¯m not trying to be contradictory for the sake of it, but it¡¯s feasible that a repair shop might use their paint to spray on other cars, since Foton vehicles are rtively cheap." The brows of Tao Lu and the others furrowed tightly. To say Xiao Si was being argumentative, his point was still valid and had to be considered. After pausing for a moment, Liu Jinghui said, "The core breakthrough now is this vehicle. We should first search for Foton-branded vans, checking all that have driven past this vacant lot in their trajectories. If we still find nothing, then we¡¯ll consider the scenario Xiao Si mentioned." With this reasoning, everyone¡¯s thoughts immediately became clear. Cui Qishan grabbed Xiao Si andughed, "You almost had us sidetracked." Xiao Si spread his hands, no longer insisting on agreement. Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said, "I have a shortcut we can try." Tao Lu immediately looked over. While there was no budget cap on this case, he still felt uneasy due to his ownck of funds. A shortcut was particrly suitable for him. Liu Jinghui continued, "I thought of this while reading the transcripts. Several residents near this vacant lot frequently report and call the police. Also, due to reasons rted to demolition, they are quite sensitive to construction vehicles and trucks, often mentioned in police reports. Perhaps we can check andpare records from two years ago. We might just find a license te number." Tao Lu pped his thigh and turned around, saying, "Liu, this task is yours." Liu Cheng quickly epted. This method was practical and cost-effective, requiring just a couple of people to check the records. It might just be the breakthrough in the case, a godsend. Even if they found nothing, what was the workload for two people anyway? Cui Qishan wanted to raise his hand but didn¡¯t do so in time. As he left the room, he still felt a hint of regret and said to Xiao Si, "You could have just called out earlier. They¡¯re all like captains, too embarrassed topete with you. It doesn¡¯t matter if you didn¡¯t get the chance; Tao doesn¡¯t like you anyway." Xiao Si shook his head and said, "In the ¡¯Poop Poker Group¡¯, I¡¯m essentially the troublemaker. How could they let me touch such a piece of cake?" Cui Qishan was stunned for a moment, staring at Xiao Si for a while before saying, "If it really were a ¡¯Poop Poker¡¯, you couldn¡¯t stir it." Chapter 733 - 676: Arrest

Chapter 733: Chapter 676: Arrest

Li Haochen, holding a file, walked briskly into the building of the Zhengguang Branch Criminal Police Brigade, apanied by Cui Xiaohu. There had been a breakthrough in the task force at Zhengguang Bureau, which stirred a sense of urgency in Li Haochen. As they walked, he urged Cui Xiaohu, saying, "Hurry up. I told you we should have brought this psychological profile over earlier. I heard Jiang Yuan has made another breakthrough." "A breakthrough doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the case will be solved. Jiang Yuan has been here for so long, it¡¯s normal to have breakthroughs," Cui Xiaohu said with a smile as he looked at Li Haochen. He knew Li Haochen wanted to prove himself with psychological profiling. The pressure from the ministry was immense, and for a young man like Li Haochen, it was very difficult to make a name for himself with investigative skills alone. He wanted to make his mark with psychological profiling, but that would require the backing of a decisive or major case. Otherwise, it would always be considered a minor technique. However, the development of this technique was very slow in China. Although Li Haochen¡¯s reasoning was strong, the uracy rate of his psychological profiles could only be said to be good¡ªat best. Of course, that was actually quite remarkable, as even the psychological profiles provided by the founder, the FBI, were often filled with errors, sometimes evenpletely off the mark. In general, psychological profiling is a technique that is half art and half science, but it involves even more of the artistic element than skull restoration skills do, which in other words, means it¡¯s much less reliable. Li Haochen had been somewhat insecure about presenting his psychological profile, but now, upon hearing about a breakthrough in the task force¡ªthough he did not yet know the specific details¡ª the efficiency with which Jiang Yuan had previously handled cold cases made it impossible for him to remainposed. Other task forces working on cold cases might n on a timeline of half a year or even a year just for starters. Three months was just the beginning. Yet, Jiang Yuan had already demonstrated a markedly different approach to solving cases, and Li Haochen was not keen to let the report he had spent days on go to waste. After not finding anyone in Tao Lu¡¯s office, they headed to the task force meeting room, where they saw Tao Lu and several detectives gathered in conversation. Li Haochen felt a sudden tightness in his chest and hurried over, having to report his name to the detective who stopped him. "Ah, Director Li, Director Cui are here," greeted Tao Lu with great affability. Li Haochen forced a smile and said, "I¡¯m sorry to interrupt. I heard there was progress in the case, so I rushed over." "Indeed, there has been progress. We¡¯ve identified the suspect¡¯s vehicle," said Tao Lu with a face flushed with excitement. Even in the Beijing Criminal Police Brigade, solving such a significant case was a great aplishment. It wasparable to a Beijinger getting into Tsinghua University¡ªwhile it may sound simple, it¡¯s incredibly difficult. Li Haochen¡¯s eyes widened on the spot, like a bookish 007 who, after six years and eight months of grueling tutoring, suddenly learned he was taking an exam for overseas Chinese students. He quickly asked, "Have you set up a surveince? How did you identify it?" As having been appointed by the ministry, Li Haochen was duty-bound to be kept informed about the case details. Tao Lu replied, "We found a paint chip on the bones through Jiang Yuan¡¯s examination, which confirmed the remains hade into contact with a Foton van. Then, Director Liu suggested that there had been frequentints from local residents about noise from construction machinery in a vacant lot. So, we checked theint records and sure enough, discovered a Foton Ollin M1 van that was present in the vacant lot multiple times during the period of the crime, and had been the subject ofints about bad smells and pollution." Continuing, Tao Lu handed a printed profile to Li Haochen, saying, "The owner of the van is Han Xu, a 27-year-old local from Beijing. His home address is just over 3 kilometers from the lot where the crime urred, so he¡¯s likely familiar with the area. Also, we¡¯ve checked his phone records and found that Han Xu has been in the vicinity of the lot several times, though, since he lives nearby, the evidence, though not substantial alone." Tao Lu summarised with a smile, "Overall, we still have a lot of evidence to gather toplete the evidence chain, and the suspect hasn¡¯t been arrested yet..." Though he spoke of insufficiency, his tone was practically boastful. In the same city, the Zhengguang Bureau didn¡¯t often get the chance to show off in front of ministry officials. Li Haochen grudgingly smiled, his hand gripping his briefcase until his knuckles turned white. He was one step toote. Cui Xiaohu looked at Li Haochen with a mixture of amusement and helplessness. A psychological profile might seem like just a few pages of paper, but the effort put into it was genuinely substantial. Regardless of its reliability, the task of deducing a criminal from existing data, sometimes even with sketches, was an enormous amount of work. But with the suspect nearly in custody, Li Haochen¡¯s psychological profile was naturally rendered less useful. Just then, Xiao Si, sitting in a corner, looked thoughtfully at Li Haochen¡¯s briefcase and ventured a guess, saying, "Director Li, have youpleted the psychological profile you were working on?" At this, Tao Lu¡¯s heart skipped a beat, and he nced fiercely at Cui Qishan. This unfortunate kid, not knowing the right time for words, how much warmer would it have been to ask this question privately? Asking it now, how awkward must it be for Li Haochen? Li Haochen also frowned for a moment, then quickly released a smile and said frankly, "Indeed, I did a psychological profile, but just on the age alone, it was off the mark." He was reluctant to see his efforts go to waste, so taking advantage of the fact that the suspect had not been fully exposed yet, Li Haochen simply took out a folder from his briefcase and said, "The murderer I predicted is between 40 to 50 years old, not exceeding 60, employed, with a particr sexual fetish, has an average level of education, works in a physically demanding job with low remuneration, probably rted to the ughtering industry. Lives without any female rtives, not good with words, or doesn¡¯t like socializing, is very diligent during work, skilled at doing manual tasks, has a good reputation among colleagues, but is not respected..." Li Haochen spoke without hesitation, unafraid of guessing incorrectly. Since he created a psychological profile, he wasn¡¯t afraid of being ridiculed. Foreign criminal profilers also grew up amidst mockery, some even imed they needed to see a psychologist themselves at one point. The reality was that people didn¡¯t remember those failed cases; only the ones who failed would brood over such failures. On the contrary, people always remember sess, so the number of failures isn¡¯t important, what¡¯s important is sess. As long as the profile yed a certain role in major cases, and ideally was urate in identifying the murderer, the status of psychological profiling would be solidified. Then, previous failures would be seen only as stepping stones to sess. Jiang Yuan was also somewhat curious and took a look at the profile Li Haochen created, it really did follow a logical sequence and was stated with certainty. It¡¯s just that it didn¡¯t quite match the image of the murderer. Tao Lu coughed twice, trying to relieve the awkwardness, and said, "Let us catch the person first, and after we catch them, then we¡¯ll see if they fit the profile." At that remark, Li Haochen¡¯s expression became a bit uncontroble; it was as if Tao Lu was saying his profile was a failure, otherwise Tao Lu would certainly bevishing praise on the spot. "If there¡¯s anything I can help with, just let me know," Li Haochen said as he stepped to the side, unwilling to remain the center of attention any longer. Tao Lu quickly arranged tasks, dispatching several team leaders, and then said, "Director Li, I am preparing to go to the scene. The suspect is currently on the fifth ring road, and we n to arrest him at his unloading point to prevent anyplications." "Okay. Then... I will go with you," Li Haochen nced at Cui Xiaohu and immediately followed the team. Jiang Yuan naturally followed the team as well, and including Liu Jinghui among others, just the central teammanding the arrest operation, seven cars drove out. Of course, the actual arrest work wasn¡¯t something Jiang Yuan and others would need to be involved with. Tao Lu conducted remote controlmands, just listening to the cheers that came through the walkie-talkie. "We¡¯ve caught the person, it was close but without danger," Tao Lu was actually nervous, and only rxed when he heard the report from the frontlines. Cui Qishan smiled, lightening the mood by saying, "Now that¡¯s good, just got off the loop road, and there¡¯s not even a chance to use the restroom." "He¡¯s a driver, holding it in is not a problem," Tao Lu gave Cui Qishan an annoyed look, thinking that the new special case team had be tainted and it was about time to disband them with the case closing, to prevent them from dirtying the team... At that moment, Jiang Yuan asked, "The suspect is 27 years old and is a professional driver; does he have any experience with butchery? Is he experienced?" He was thinking of that butcher¡¯s knife. Although the clue with the butcher¡¯s knife wasn¡¯t used to track down the murderer, the details of the killer using the butcher¡¯s knife to dismember the body and the proficiency with which it was done, left a deep impression on Jiang Yuan. The skill of cutting up an ox requires certain experience and knowledge. If the 27-year-old didn¡¯t have any special experience, it would be difficult to acquire such expertise. Tao Lu also thought of this, and his expression involuntarily darkened. At that time, Liu Jinghui stabilized everyone and said, "The suspect doesn¡¯t necessarily act alone, and might indeed have the rted skills; let¡¯s first review his social rtionships!" Tao Lu immediately delegated the task, and with the identity of the suspect confirmed, looking into the social rtionships of a criminal suspect was a matter of minutes. Soon, a 47-year-old chef surfaced¡ª "Mei Gangzou, frequently exchanged text messages with the suspect Han Xu; during New Year¡¯s greetings, Han Xu once called him ¡¯Mentor¡¯..." Chapter 734 - 677 Interrogation

Chapter 734: Chapter 677 Interrogation

Interrogation room. Han Xu was tied up in the interrogation chair, his hands, feet, and back all securely locked in ce. With his back to the clock, all he faced were three police officers sitting on edge and the camera, with iron bars in between. The windowless, enclosed room wasn¡¯t stifling hot but had a kind of damp basement smell. Han Xu guessed that this must be in the basement. Therefore, the possibility of escaping, like in the movies, by opening a window or bursting through a door was virtually non-existent. He would need to ovee three police officers, open the iron bars, and the locked door to reach the outside basement, not to mention the unknown conditions outside... After daydreaming for a few seconds, Han Xu then said, "I¡¯ve already said, yes, the person was indeed killed by me, and I acted alone without any aplices." The interrogation officer, without changing expression, said, "Alright, then tell us where you hid the body." "Some I threw into a pond, others I buried. Haven¡¯t you found them all?" "We have found them, but what if we got it wrong? So we need you to verify," said the interrogation officer, as if making casual conversation, but essentially he was trying to get Han Xu to rx. He didn¡¯t believe Han Xu¡¯s confession. Normally, criminals like Han Xu should be rtively easy to interrogate. People have a desire to confess, and murder is essentially a form of "victory" from a position of superiority. Boys, youths, middle-aged, or elderly men ¡ª if they win a fight, they get excited and talk up their victory, even bragging about it multiple times. Serial killers might be nervous or even involved in some benefit disputes the first time they kill, but subsequent murders definitely involve psychological elements. This is one of the foundations of psychological profiling. Criminals like Han Xu, who previously would have kept silent to avoid punishment, should realize by now that there is no escaping and might as well vent emotions¡ªoften a characteristic of such offenders. However, Han Xu didn¡¯t do so. He calmly looked at the interrogation officer and said, "You¡¯ve found them; I¡¯m under no obligation to verify for you." "Do you think this is a negotiation? Take this seriously!" the police officer beside him immediately barked, ying the ssic tough cop. Han Xu, unaffected, let out a chuckle and leaned back, "Those who tried to be tough with me, I¡¯d wrap a towel around their neck, and snap..." Han Xu revealed two teeth, smiling like a rogue taxi driver soliciting passengers at the airport. "We¡¯ve seen enough of these tricks. If you don¡¯t cooperate, we¡¯ll send you back to detention," said the interrogation officer. He was very anxious inside, but it didn¡¯t show on his face. Those who often go to detention know that being brought in for questioning is actually more interesting than staying inside. The preparation and back-and-forth disrupt the routine life in detention, and paradoxically, it rxes the inmate a bit, akin to enjoying a brief May Day holiday. Tired? Very. Fun? Not at all. Would you go again? Definitely! In addition, there are specific systems within detention facilities, mandating a live-by-the-rule lifestyle, such as themissary snacks. Once purchasable with ample cash, they¡¯ve now be regtedmodities exchanged via a point system where you have to meet certain point criteria to buy a certain amount of goods. And of course, those points are earned by good behavior, which includes attitude and performance during interrogations. The smile involuntary faded from Han Xu¡¯s face. He generally navigated the world with an honest man¡¯s persona, driving his 3.2-meter box truck around the city was no easy job. He often had to help with moving goods, earning a hard-earned ie. When dealing with clients, he asionally had to give a smile. Compared to this, a ferocious disposition was rarely exhibited by him. In fact, during his murders, he always strangled from behind, as direct confrontation wasn¡¯t that easy. "You just said that you threw some bodies into a pond, whose bodies, which pond?" the interrogation officer asked again. Han Xu¡¯s evasive answers had beenpletely futile. For the police officers, the most basic interrogation skill was to ask for details, and fabricating details was very difficult. ... The surveince room. Li Haochen silently watched Han Xu¡¯s interrogation,paring it to the profile he had created. At that moment, Li Haochen realized that what most affected his judgment was the assumption that the murderer was working alone. In fact, he had also considered the possibility of a groupmitting the crime, but various pieces of evidence suggested that this was unlikely. For instance, the three bodies buried in the grave at different times did not fit the pattern of a group crime. In addition, the body dumped in the sewage pond exhibited a level of randomness, and if it had been a group crime, even if they were not more careful, the aplices would not have let you dispose of the body so sloppily. Digging another hole by two or three people wasn¡¯t that big of a deal. No matter how Li Haochen thought about it, he never anticipated that the murderer and his aplice would act separately. As for exactly how they operated... Li Haochen couldn¡¯t help but look toward Tao Lu and ask, "Han Xu¡¯s master, the chef, have we found him?" "We found him. He¡¯s still working at the restaurant, and it¡¯s crowded with customers right now," Tao Lu nced at his watch, feeling considerable pressure. Mei Gangzou, Han Xu¡¯s master, had been under police surveince since yesterday, but Tao Lu had not agreed to arrest him. From his appearance, Mei Gangzou seemed to be just an ordinary chef, with barely any ovep in his social circles with Han Xu. And a preliminary investigation into him had not yielded any solid evidence. Although there were many text messages between Han Xu and Mei Gangzou, the content of the messages was mostly simple phrases, making it very difficult to prove any partnership in crime. They couldn¡¯t just arrest him because he was acquainted with Han Xu. Tao Lu¡¯s strategy was to wait for the news of Han Xu¡¯s arrest to reach Mei Gangzou and then gather evidence based on Mei Gangzou¡¯s actions. Of course, this involved enormous risks. The primary concern was that if Mei Gangzou fled and seeded, Tao Lu would be directly ountable for both the credit and the me. Furthermore, even if Mei Gangzou did not run but simply chose to end his own life, Tao Lu, who made the decision, would still bear responsibility. Therefore, the most correct action now was to arrest and then interrogate him. Even if the interrogation failed and they couldn¡¯t prosecute Mei Gangzou, Tao Lu would have followed procedure. However, facing the most significant murder case Zhengguang Bureau had cracked in recent years, Tao Lu was not prepared to deal with it perfunctorily. He resisted the opinions from above and focused solely on waiting for Mei Gangzou¡¯s move. "He should know that Han Xu has been arrested by now," Li Haochen frowned and said, "When we captured Han Xu, we didn¡¯t conceal it." "He probably firmly believes that Han Xu won¡¯t betray him," Tao Lu nced at the surveince room. Li Haochen said, "Indeed, he hasn¡¯t. If it weren¡¯t for the issue with the bull¡¯s knife, we wouldn¡¯t even have guessed that others were involved in this series of murders. To be honest, if I were to carry out this case, I would prefer to work alone. This master, Mei Gangzou... I wonder what he taught and where he got his teaching experience from." The expressions of everyone present were somber, and many actually shared Li Haochen¡¯s spection. Without having killed anyone, how could you be a master? And Mei Gangzou was already 47 years old. It was unknown when he started killing, when he stopped, or if... he never stopped? Tao Lu¡¯s gaze was especiallyplex. He had just corroborated 10 bodies with Huang Qiangmin, and a single apprentice like Han Xu hadmitted 6 murders! Chapter 735 - 678: Temperament

Chapter 735: Chapter 678: Temperament

A cigarette that had been smoked more than halfway was stubbed out by Tao Lu in a flowerpot. The person-sized flowerpot shook from the force of Tao Lu¡¯s action, and the begonia trembles tremblingly on top of it, like the delicate human tissue described in ordance with thew for adults. Jiang Yuan silently passed over a box of Zhonghua cigarettes, and Tao Lu still took only one, lighting it himself and exhaled, saying, "My daughter won¡¯t even let me smoke, but today I¡¯m truly anxious." "If you¡¯re really worried, then pull the in," Cui Qishan was also anxious. Han Xu had already recognized all six bodies that were found, and although the details are yet to be filled in, from an investigative point of view, it¡¯s basically a satisfactory conclusion. As for Han Xu¡¯s master, Mei Gangzou, he could be investigated and prosecuted in a separate case. But Tao Lu was not satisfied and shook his head, "We can¡¯t pull in yet, and there¡¯s no need to rush, Mei Gangzou is more scared than us, even if he has a strong mental fortitude, can he withstand the usations of a serial murder case? Plus, we have so many people to discuss with, but he has to bear it all alone. Under these circumstances, he should be the first one to break." "We¡¯re also falling apart one by one, ordinary workers might not be more resilient than a serial killer," said the police officer puffing on a Huanghelou cigarette deeply. Tao Lu took the Zhonghua out of his mouth and turned to look, sure enough, it was Comrade Xiao Si. Cui Qishan¡¯s eyebrows drooped heavily, he took a deep drag from his cigarette, then quickly exhaled it, hoping to hide his head. The public smoking area, which was the balcony for growing flowers, wasn¡¯t a ce where only leaders could smoke. Although Cui Qishan was the head of the special task force, he couldn¡¯t control that much. Tao Lu let out a heavy sigh, "You¡¯re right, sometimes two ropes are harder to hold taut than one." The smoking area fell into a silence that everyone understood. Jiang Yuan put down a pack of cigarettes to help everyone blow thick rings of smoke that concealed themselves. "Hello?" Tao Lu picked up the phone, holding the cigarette in his mouth as he spoke, looking like someone undercover. "Mm?" After responding twice, Tao Lu¡¯s expression changed slightly as he hung up the phone and said, "Liu Cheng has lost him!" Tsss tsss tsss tsss tsss... A group of people twisted their cigarette butts into the flowerpot with the begonias. The delicate branches and leaves of the begonia thrashed wildly, as if the bright red flowers would be shaken off at any second. But even after thest cigarette butt was extinguished, the begonia stood firm. It had seen a lot. "Dispatch the police first and inform the defense locations on the way," Tao Lu made a quick decision and started to make calls to mobilize people, then reported up the chain. Mei Gangzou must not be let go, and the method to ensure he doesn¡¯t disappear isn¡¯t to look for him blindly like a headless fly, but to draw a big circle on the map immediately and arrange as dense a defense as possible. Given the density of surveince cameras in the city center and the road conditions, Mei Gangzou would really need wings to escape. Tao Lu had not only made simr contingency ns before, but he had also organized and implemented them several times, so there was no hesitation in task allocation and arrangement. Jiang Yuan was still not very familiar with the Beijing system; Liu Jinghui, who had been around Changyang City in the province for years, had seen quite a lot. When Tao Lu¡¯s phone call spree had temporarily paused, Liu Jinghui reminded him, "I¡¯m just worried that Mei Gangzou isn¡¯t trying to run away." "Hmm? You mean, he wants to go destroy evidence?" Tao Lu thought for a moment and immediately picked up the phone again. Liu Jinghui spoke quickly, "He might have gone to handle evidence. What I¡¯m most afraid of is that there¡¯s still a living witness. So we need to pinpoint his location as soon as possible." Tao Lu¡¯s brow furrowed, and without saying much, his tone carried a more urgentmand. As criminal police officers, they¡¯ve seen many horrendous cases; there was no need to always assume the worst at this time. "We¡¯ll go help too." Jiang Yuan still had a team of criminal police under him, who could still be quite effective if dispatched at this time. However, the situation was urgent, and everyone, including Mu Zhiyang, had no time to draw their weapons. So Mu Zhiyang tucked a clear, small shield into his clothes, and they all got into the car and drove towards the small restaurant where Mei Gangzou worked. Liu Jinghui shared a car with Jiang Yuan, and while watching Mu Zhiyang practice with his shield, he said, "If we encounter Mei Gangzou, don¡¯t worry about anything else. First, make sure to neutralize his ability to fight. Got it?" Mu Zhiyang was taken aback for a moment and said, "Is that appropriate?" "If he surrenders without a fuss, then handle him with care. But if he dares to resist, then don¡¯t hold back," Liu Jinghui emphasized. "He¡¯s 47 years old, definitely not as physically strong as he used to be. But having taught that Han Xu to kill, leading to six deaths, he¡¯s definitely not soft-hearted. To escape from a group of youngsters like you, he¡¯d have to fight for his life. Don¡¯t hold back, or else both Jiang Yuan and I could be in trouble." "Understood," Mu Zhiyang said with a resolute expression and checked his equipment again. Among those in the car, Lu Tongda, who was driving, had a background in traffic police. He¡¯d encountered Jiang Yuan during the Yuan Family case and was significantly involved in a major case, but hisbat ability was clearly inadequate¡ªafter barely three bullets, he couldn¡¯t help but fall. The only one with somebat ability was Mu Zhiyang¡ªboth Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui were more brain than brawn. Even against a 47-year-old chef, they were highly likely to get diced up like vegetables. Mu Zhiyang was psyching himself up, tapping on his shield periodically. They exited the ring road. Mu Zhiyang readied himself again. An address popped up in Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone group chat. "This..." Before Jiang Yuan could understand, Tao Lu¡¯s call came in. Tao Lu said, "Did you see the message? I had it sent to you directly." "I saw it. What is that ce?" Jiang Yuan asked, somewhat guessing but still wanting confirmation. "It¡¯s the address of a house bought by Mei Gangzou¡¯s mistress. Surveince captured a photo of him passing by," Tao Lu exhaled. In today¡¯s big cities, there are more cameras than people. Mei Gangzou can run all he wants, but the moment one camera catches him, all his efforts are in vain, just like now. Mu Zhiyang spoke with some confusion, "Mei Gangzou is 47, right? And he still has a mistress? Is he really just a chef? Did he buy the house with illicit gains?" Jiang Yuan had the speakerphone on, and Tao Lu replied from the other end, "The mistress bought the house herself and has a job with decent ie. Regarding Mei Gangzou, he hasn¡¯t really spent much on his mistress. We found him through his mistress¡¯s social media ount." Only then did Mu Zhiyang realize and said, "Right, they used social media to kill. Mei Gangzou is so old, can he still meet people through it? How old is this mistress?" "The mistress is younger than you," Tao Lu responded from the other side of the call, "Some people don¡¯t need material conditions for love." "Serial killer charm?" Mu Zhiyang wasn¡¯t convinced. "Well, Mei Gangzou really does have that sort of vibe," Liu Jinghui muttered. Taking the cue, Mu Zhiyang looked ahead and saw Mei Gangzou standing on a balcony not far away, hands in pockets, standing straight, his sharp gaze like that of a vulture searching for prey. Chapter 736 - 679: Return to Where We Came From

Chapter 736: Chapter 679: Return to Where We Came From

Mei Gangzou wore a blue, striped suit, a demanding choice of attire that, coupled with his middle-aged wrinkles, gave him an air of defiant vigor. The semi-open balcony, enclosed by a ring of transparent ss, fully showcased Mei Gangzou¡¯s figure. If the wailing sirens from the surrounding police cars could be considered a kind of background music, then Mei Gangzou at this moment appeared as though he was performing a stage y. He looked down with a disdainful gaze, as if he were looking down on mere ants. "Mei Gangzou, we are the police, you are now surrounded..." The shouting officer used a very clich¨¦ line, but in this situation, there was never a need to be original. Life is your own, so is freedom, and when they are lost, you won¡¯t care what took them, whether it¡¯s a scumbag, whether there were any gifts, or where it happened. In the end, it alles down to the same old tricks. Mei Gangzou nced in the direction of the yelling, pulled his hand from his pocket, waved, and revealed a mild smile, just like a chef greeting his patrons. "Mei Gangzou, is the person inside the house still alive? If alive, nod your head; if dead, shake your head." The calling officer tried to find out the situation inside the room. At times like this, it¡¯s definitely most important to preserve life¡ªfirst the lives of others, then that of Mei Gangzou. Mei Gangzou then nodded his head, and then shook it. The calling officer was a bit confused for a moment and, after a pause, asked, "Are you trying to say that you don¡¯t know whether they are dead or alive?" Mei Gangzou gave a disdainful curl of his lip, looking arrogantly into the distance. Inside the car. Liu Jinghui watched this scene and immediately said, "Check the mistress¡¯s social rtions, check her WeChat, see if there are any deleted chat records, see if she has any secondary ounts." Wang Chuanxing and the others, carrying their notebooks, got busy on the spot. A piece ofmon knowledge that many people are aware of is that deleting WeChat chat records only removes them from the local device; the server still retains the full chat history. Furthermore, one taboo that police friends should all be aware of is that checking a resident¡¯s records without the proper credentials is illegal. "What are you trying to check?" Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui from the side. Liu Jinghui shrugged, "I don¡¯t know, but Mei Gangzou had a chance to leave, and he purposely came here, there must be some reason." "Saying goodbye to a lover?" Tang Jia came over from another car, wearing a stab-resistant vest, with an electric baton at her waist. "Maybe, but if it were a goodbye, shouldn¡¯t he be holding his lover and talking, or kissing goodbye right now?" Liu Jinghui had seen such scenes before; he even witnessed people killing their lovers as a farewell, but such a possibility was something the detectives present could all think of, and there was no need for him to speak rmingly. "Maybe it¡¯s to disclose bank passwords, or to hand over a treasure map," suggested Tang Jia. "Fuck!" Wang Chuanxing suddenly cursed out loud. Everyone looked at Wang Chuanxing. The mature and steady Meng Chengbiao even walked over, saying, "Mind the impact, we are in Beijing." Wang Chuanxing simply said, "Mei Gangzou¡¯s mistress, Tang Lijing, was threatened and harassed by her ex-husband asking for money. She transferred amounts of 8000 and 15000 yuan on two asions; after being threatened again, she blocked him butter unblocked him, seeming to do so because the ex-husband had gone to her workce..." "What¡¯s the surprise?" Meng Chengbiao inquired. "Two hours ago, Tang Lijing unblocked her ex-husband from the cklist, arranged to meet him under Tang Lijing¡¯s apartment... then, the call log was deleted, and the person was blocked again..." As Wang Chuanxing said this, he found the phone number of Tang Lijing¡¯s ex-husband and looked at Jiang Yuan, asking, "Should we call to check?" "Wait a moment," Liu Jinghui hurriedly interjected, "Mei Gangzou probably doesn¡¯t know we¡¯ve found out this much. If there¡¯s any negotiationter, this can also be a bargaining chip; let¡¯s not alert him prematurely." "Just worried about his safety," Wang Chuanxing said. "Theplex, unit, and room have all been sealed off. If he¡¯s in danger, it would be inside the room; otherwise, it doesn¡¯t matter," said Liu Jinghui, pausing a moment before asking, "Have we confirmed how many people are inside the room?" This required the use of a thermal imager. Jiang Yuan made a call to Tao Lu, and soon replied, "Just two people." Liu Jinghui took the phone, ryed Wang Chuanxing¡¯s findings, and added, "Tao, I suggest we start with phone tracking to see if we can find the person. If we can confirm their safety, then we don¡¯t need to worry about this lead. If the phone tracking leads us to this neighborhood... we could send a cadaver dog to search." "I understand," Tao Lu responded, his emotions showing little fluctuation. The fact that a serial killer¡¯s master was a serial killer wasn¡¯t exactly news to Tao Lu. He knew exactly the kind of situation he and his team were facing and didn¡¯t expect any rosy bubbles to fall from the sky, painting the world in beauty and peace. Of course, fairness was impossible¡ªIn even the most beautiful world, as long as there are princesses, there will inevitably be those who are exploited. Liu Jinghui looked up at Mei Gangzou. This guy was about the same age as him, both men in their forties¡ªmiddle-aged with still adequate physical functions but no longer at their peak. Although their skills had reached the pinnacle, there was an underlying sense of them being past their prime. As for differences, his esteemed deductive abilities still had room for growth, while it seemed Mei Gangzou was about to get his "boxed lunch." Nheless, Mei Gangzou had a mistress who brought her own provisions, and by the looks of him now, he still had quite a bit of charm... Two somewhat handsome police dogs, muzzled, quietly made their way from the balcony into the building. Soon, panting sounds could be heard from their throats. Jiang Yuan received the message immediately and rushed over quickly. Also arriving was the forensic doctor from the Zhengguang Bureau, Zhan Kan. "Does it look like strangtion?" Zhan Kan, seeing Jiang Yuan there, spoke with a bit more casualness. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "It¡¯s simr to Han Xu¡¯s method of killing." The victim lying on the ground was Tang Lijing¡¯s ex-husband¡ªa tall and burly man who looked a bit fierce and whose stature was evident even as hey on the ground. Zhan Kanpared the information on his phone and then sighed, "It looks like Mei Gangzou is trying to finish off his victims before being imprisoned or worse..." Cui Qishan, who hade along, curled his lip and said, "Nobody has hindsight that perfect; at best, it¡¯s just a bureaucrat making error-free decisions." Xiao Si followed up, "That¡¯s still better than those who get every decision wrong." Cui Qishan nced at Xiao Si sidelong, not particrly feeling that Xiao Si was backing him up due to their past experiences. Jiang Yuan bent down to inspect the corpse¡¯s body chart. Thinking about it, it had been a while since hest performed an autopsy on a fresh body, and there was a trivial sense of guilt for finding the process too easy. "The time of death was about an hour ago." Jiang Yuan first quietly reported the body¡¯s surface features to Zhan Kan, checked a few key points, then took out a thermometer to probe for rectal temperature, calcting the time of death. This timing coincided with Mei Gangzou¡¯s return, which essentially confirmed that he was the murderer. When Jiang Yuan called Tao Lu, he could feel the chilling atmosphere through the phone. "I¡¯m ready to send in the SWAT," Tao Lu said, pausing as if to seek Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion. After waiting and seeing no objection from Jiang Yuan, he continued, "Captain Jiang, this case is essentially closed. I know you¡¯re used to taking a break, but this time I have an unusual request. I¡¯d like you to help me follow up on another case." Jiang Yuan asked, "What case?" "You can choose, but it¡¯s better if it¡¯s a significant one," Tao Lu exhaled and said, "The conclusion of this case is quite unsightly, but it doesn¡¯t overshadow the merits. The resolution of the ¡¯Six Bodies¡¯¡ªnow ¡¯Seven Bodies¡¯¡ªcase is still impressive. I think we should capitalize on our momentum and add another well-executed case to our record." Jiang Yuan had no objections, so he replied, "I¡¯ll pick a case when I get back today. Give the team a half-day off first; we¡¯ll start on the new case tomorrow." "Okay, great," Tao Lu sounded relieved. The pressure on him that day had definitely been intense. Thud! Upstairs, several SWAT team members rappelled onto a balcony and broke through the door along with the officers at the main entrance, subduing Mei Gangzou and his mistress. In front of Jiang Yuan, a missionpletion notification popped up: Mission Completed: Return Home Mission Content: The murderer used social media tomit crimes, causing many families to fall into sorrow and confusion. Find the bodies of the victims, determine their origins, and bring the killer to justice. Mission Reward: "Skull Restoration Skill" level +1 Chapter 737 - 680 Concluding

Chapter 737: Chapter 680 Concluding

"I noticed Han Xu very early on," Mei Gangzou, sitting in the interrogation room, showed no signs of resistance. "A rather gloomy young man, with not much money and a strong malicious aura, but very steady-minded, and very vicious when he strikes, he just seemed especially in need of training." Having done everything he needed and wanted to do, he casually killed his lover¡¯s ex-husband today, putting an end to this wicked rtionship, and he felt very rxed emotionally now. The police interrogator, not minding his arrogant demeanor for the moment, followed up on his statement, "You said you noticed him early on, how early? When exactly?" "About three years ago," replied Mei Gangzou without much thought. "And then, what did you train him to do?" "To kill." "How did he kill?" "With a towel. At first, I taught him to use a chain, but that kid found it cumbersome andter started to use a towel like I did. If he¡¯s going to, he might as well, he did it fine, people are so unguarded nowadays, especially after doing that, they just lie down and scroll on their phones. A slip knot goes around their neck, they could even say it was for a game, haha... So stupid." Mei Gangzou said with a reminiscent look. The interrogating officer listened without showing any particr emotion, but his gaze could not help but drift toward the camera. After a few seconds, the officer continued to ask, "You initially used a chain... Have you ever used a chain to kill someone?" "Of course, I have." "How many people have you killed?" "Three," responded Mei Gangzou casually. "Where are the bodies?" "Buried." Mei Gangzou said this and shook his head, "This kid, Han Xu, is very rebellious. What I taught him wasn¡¯t to just sink them in the pond; it¡¯s a dirty water tank right at his doorstep. Toozy. Of course, I didn¡¯t expect that even though the corpses were rotten like that, you could still trace it back to us." Once Mei Gangzou loosened up, the volume of information he released made the interrogating officer feel dizzy, and he had no choice but to quickly take notes and then question each point. In the monitoring room, a group in white shirts looked at each other. The director of the Zhengguang Bureau couldn¡¯t help but voice his opinion, "Utterly arrogant!" Tao Lu, squished into a corner, could only rant in his heart. A serial killer destined to die could only act tough and set up a front; what more could he do? Despite the rant, Mei Gangzou¡¯s words stirred waves in Tao Lu¡¯s mind. Han Xu had also killed three people with a chain, meaning the number of victims in this case alone had risen to nine. What about Mei Gangzou himself? Not only Tao Lu wanted to ask, the interrogating officer was asking as well. But Mei Gangzou just chuckled and did not respond. The officer wasn¡¯t in a hurry, as there were already many details to inquire about, like the locations of the three bodies mentioned earlier. The bureau chief couldn¡¯t wait around all day; after listening for a while longer and giving a few reminders, he went to check on Jiang Yuan along with a few in white shirts. This case had several breakthroughs all thanks to Jiang Yuan¡¯s efforts, which were indeed eye-catching. Huang Qiangmin was also smugly following the white shirts. Before leaving, he grabbed Tao Lu, saying, "ording to our previous agreement, the bodies discovered during the interrogation shall also count. We¡¯ll calcte them at a discount, the more we find, the greater the discount. Don¡¯t be anxious..." He also reassured Tao Lu with thesest words. Tao Lu¡¯s expression was indifferent. "That¡¯s the bureau chief¡¯s business. I can¡¯t worry about that now; my only concern is my case. By the way, Jiang Yuan needs to find new cases quicker. We shouldunch into action rapidly to prevent any further mishaps." Huang Qiangmin gave Tao Lu a meaningful look. As a former head of the criminal police squad, he was too familiar with this scene; he just patted Tao Lu¡¯s shoulder before turning to leave. ... Forensic office. Jiang Yuan and the others had received notice and were waiting in the office in advance, having tidied up the room a bit. In the vast precinct of the Zhengguang Bureau, with thousands of staff, it¡¯s actually rare to see the top leader in person. Some young people like Zhan Kan might asionally see a deputy bureau chief and seem to recognize them but at times can¡¯t recall exactly who they are. Compared to the dissection center, the forensic office feels much fresher. If one didn¡¯t scrutinize the disy cabs, it would barely differ from an ordinary middle school chemistryb. The leadership of the police bureau is naturally quite familiar with this, and the focal point of a group was indeed directed at Jiang Yuan. The personnel of Zhengguang Bureau, d in their white shirts, had seen powerful external assistance before and had heard of expensive expertise. But external help that was both so strong and so costly was truly being deployed by the Zhengguang Bureau for the first time. Of course, the result was nothing short of extraordinary. Frankly, although those in white shirts didn¡¯t understand what Level 6 Tool Trace Identification, Level 6 Time of Death Identification, Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation (temporary +1), Level 4 Forensic Material Evidence... meant, those who had earned their white shirts, even if they had moved away from the front line, still possessed the necessary acumen, especially those from the Beijing Bureau¡¯s Zhengguang Sub-bureau, who had been steeped in the strongest technical talent pool in the country. All sorts of techniques¡ªpowerful, front-line, and even nonsensical ones¡ªconverged here. Indeed, it was true that the technicians from this bureau could not collectively master this suite of skills. The bureau chief started with some formalities and then asked, "I see that Jiang Yuan is quite young. With so many skills, I wonder how he learned them all." "That, I just gradually learned over time," Jiang Yuan said vaguely. "It¡¯s mainly a matter of talent," Huang Qiangmin had thought this issue through very clearly. The wide array of techniques mastered by Jiang Yuan, if left for an ordinary person to learn, might take a lifetime. But Jiang Yuan, in just a few short years, had visibly enriched his arsenal and was clearly self-taught. This extraordinary learning ability was seen by Huang Qiangmin as a sign of genius. Tao Zhexuan learned calculus at the age of eight and published a book, won a bronze medal in the math olympiad at ten, and no one thought there was anything wrong with the child. Of course, he couldn¡¯t possibly have had a system because even as an adult, he was still often outperformed by other mathematical prodigies. The bureau chief also found it incredible, and said, "Even studying day in, day out, without a teacher, to hone the skills to this level now..." "Ever since Jiang Yuan joined the bureau, one could say he has been working tirelessly on cases..." Huang Qiangmin used a slightly exaggerated expression and took the opportunity to introduce several major cases Jiang Yuan had cracked, such as the Wu Long savage case and the Yuan Family of the Jianyuan Group massacre in Qingjiang, among others. In just a few minutes of exnation, the white shirts felt as if background music should be ying in their ears. The bureau chief sighed, his eyes fixed on Huang Qiangmin, and said, "You¡¯re quite lucky." Huang Qiangminughed heartily and said, "Jiang Yuan is a native of Ningtai, returning to work in Ningtai, there¡¯s no help for it." "The case closure rate in Ningtai County must be quite high, right?" asked the bureau chief, a bit curiously. Huang Qiangmin chuckled, "We can¡¯t say it¡¯s a hundred percent, as there are still asional factors in some theft cases. We¡¯ve cleared cases going back as far as 30 years..." The white shirts looked at each other in disbelief; to them, this answer was like something out of a story. The bureau chief, even more so, pulled Jiang Yuan aside and kept asking questions. The initially nned one-hour meeting was postponed multiple times by the bureau chief. Almost three hourster, Tao Lu came running up. "Han Xu has started to confess. We showed him a few sentences from his mentor¡¯s testimony, and he gave up," said Tao Lu, her mood gradually stabilizing. After all, having solved one of thergest cases in recent years, even if there were snares, it wouldn¡¯t lead to severe demotion. The bureau chief postponed the meeting once again and said, "Let¡¯s hear it." Immediately, Tao Lu said, "The basic process is simr to our spection. Han Xu used social media to make friends and thus filter his victims. He was very devoted to chatting, and with his good looks, dating went smoothly. But there was one issue with Han Xu: after killing, he tended to dump bodies rather than bury them... which ran contrary to the principles of Mei Gangzou." "At the start when Mei Gangzou took Han Xu as his prot¨¦g¨¦, Han Xu would reluctantly dig a hole to bury the bodies. Later, when he started acting alone, he reverted to his habit of dumping bodies; at first, he left them in his car trunk, then ced them on vacantnd, hoping to make it easier to dispose of bodiester and reduce the workload." "Mei Gangzou didn¡¯t want to argue with Han Xu about the merits of the two methods, only to dig up and rebury the bodies when he had free time..." "The fourth body was killed by Mei Gangzou; he did it on a whim andter dug a hole to bury it alone." "Han Xu was indeed bisexual; when heter realized that men put up stronger resistance, he specialized in targeting women..." "Many of Han Xu¡¯s techniques and equipment were provided by Mei Gangzou, so from the beginning of his criminal activities, he had a high capacity for counter-investigation." Chapter 738 - 681: Rotten Corpse in the Rain

Chapter 738: Chapter 681: Rotten Corpse in the Rain

The clouds on the horizon were brilliantly red. Mounding dark clouds desperately squeezed for their position, but they could only circle at the edge. Some ashen clouds continuously flung themselves at the red clouds, only to be stripped of parts and then fall back in defeat. Sometimes, the gray clouds expelled by the red ones would flop listlessly at the edge of the mass, unable to blend in, unable to break away, and yet so frail on their own. Tao Lu exhaled arge puff of smoke, seemingly trying to assist the dark clouds in their struggle, his entire being exuding a sense of mise. Huang Qiangmin, tired of keepingpany, sighed and said, "Tao, why don¡¯t you head back to the office to rest? I¡¯ll call you when there¡¯s a result?" "I won¡¯t be able to rest well if I go back. I¡¯d rather stay here." Tao Lu was unwilling to leave; he was waiting for the oue of Jiang Yuan¡¯s case selection. What if he left now and Jiang Yuan also clocked out? Huang Qiangmin brewed Tao Lu another cup of tea and took a few sips of water himself before saying, "Jiang Yuan is taking it seriously. Do you know how he used to select cases back in Ningtai?" "How did he pick?" Tao Lu was indeed intrigued. "In order," Huang Qiangminughed. "In order?" Tao Lu was a bit puzzled. "That is, he¡¯d take a stack of case files and solve them in order," Huang Qiangmin curled his lips and continued, "You don¡¯t know, back then, everyone in our entire county bureau was running around everywhere. We were arresting people left and right; the judicial and court branches of the bureau were overwhelmed. Cases that could be re-assigned were sent to ces like Qinghe City¡ªthe whole city was busy!" Tao Lu¡¯s eyes almost gleamed at the story; this was a police officer of mythical proportions, as if he had stepped right out of a CCTV broadcast. Huang Qiangmin went on, "Now Jiang Yuan is earnestly choosing a case, probably worried about tackling a big one he can¡¯t crack, or picking one that¡¯s not significant enough. He seems a bit conflicted." With this exnation, not only did Tao Lu feel more contented, he even felt grateful¡ªJiang Yuan was genuinely considering his position. Apart from his consideration, who else would specifically pick out such significant and serious cases? Solving a case was not like a TV drama; if a case was epted and couldn¡¯t be solved, the aftermath was a hassle. In fact, now there was a lifelong responsibility system for cases. Even after retirement, someone could show up at your door with a notebook, asking about an old case. And when you think of some crucial piece of evidence, that¡¯s when the assassins are about to arrive. For ordinary detectives, a murder case was just that¡ªa murder case. Being able to boast about solving significant cases was well and good, but to actively seek them out truly required a stout heart. In truth, those who could solve ordinary murder cold cases were already the elite of the elite. Tao Lu lit another cigarette and handed one to Huang Qiangmin, smiling, "No rush, let¡¯s take it slow; I can wait." Huang Qiangmin smiled, nodded, and resumed their conversation about more lighthearted matters. Soon, Cui Qishan, Xiao Si, and Li Jiang, who hade for the special case team¡¯s procedure, joined the chat, and the mood in the smoking area sank into gloom again. The sky gradually darkened. The lights in the office were ringly bright. Just as Tao Lu felt nauseous from smoking, he saw an extremely tall silhouette emerge from the office. Tao Lu immediately stubbed out his cigarette butt deep into the flowerpot. "Tao," Jiang Yuan called out politely, then said, "I¡¯ve selected a case; take a look." Tao Lu naturally epted the case file, steadied himself, and couldn¡¯t help but smile. In such a short time, he¡¯d already be a bit anxious¡ªa Criminal Investigation Detachment head who only messed up when taking action, and whose heart nearly stopped at the ring of a phone call at night. Honestly, that role was for anyone who wanted it. After mentally preparing himself, Tao Lu looked at the file again. Although he expected a significant case, Tao Lu was still shaken by the content of the file: "Rainy Corpse Decay Case?" As is well known, crimesmitted on rainy days are difficult to investigate. There are several key points, such as evidence being easily washed away by rainwater, the reduced efficiency of cameras and other equipment, and fewer pedestrians and poorer visibility during rain, making eyewitnesses unlikely. These points are generally understood by anyone with a basic knowledge of criminology. Cases like the "Rainy Night Butcher" in Hong Kong took advantage of the cover provided by rain. Naturally, some criminals thought they were clever by choosing simr methods tomit their crimes. But of these, not many evolved into cold cases. The "Rainy Corpse Decay Case" was one of them. The victim was discovered beside a rarely trodden path. The path led to an abandoned quarry that no longer saw much vehicle or foot traffic. It was only when a passing viger smelled something foul and investigated further that they found the severely dposed body. When the detective squad arrived, the first thing they noticed was that the area around the body had been meticulously cleaned. And, ording to the forensic doctor¡¯s estimation of the time of death, it had been raining during the days the body was discarded. However, the case wouldn¡¯t have been dubbed "rainy" if it ended there. In the following two months, two more simr cases were discovered. Bodies were abandoned in the wilderness, and it had been raining before and after the estimated time of death¡ªBeijing¡¯s forensic physicians were capable, and pinpointing the day of death was no problem. After the identities of the victims were established one by one, a pattern emerged: all three were traveling singers-for-hire. The standardization of the three cases, along with the careful cleaning of each body and its surroundings, and the fact that the victims were all sex workers¡ªa favorite target of serial killers¡ªmade the timing of the "rain" particrly prominent. Knowing how to use the weather and choosing vulnerable victims, such an obviously professional killer would naturally receive extra attention. And the killer¡¯s actions also showed that the murders were nned, not impulsive. Normal people actually find it very difficult toe up with three enemies they still need to kill after careful thought. So, this kind of killer is essentially killing for the sake of killing, not for profit, and this theory naturally attracted arge police force from the Criminal Police Brigade, particrly after the third case, when Tao Lu not only deployed troops but also sought help from ministries and experts from other ces. But they still had not cracked the case. Fortunately, after the three incidents, for the next half a year there were no simr cases, leading Tao Lu and others to believe the killer might have disappeared. However, the fourth case reappeared three years ago. It was another prostitute who apanied clients on trips, the body was again discarded in the wilderness, and the crime scene was meticulously cleaned in the rainy weather... Then, the killer went into hiding again. Tao Lu had not expected Jiang Yuan to choose this case and couldn¡¯t help saying, "The case you¡¯ve chosen is indeed a serious one, but isn¡¯t it too difficult?" His gaze swept toward Huang Qiangmin. Didn¡¯t you say that Jiang Yuan was choosing a case that was not only valuable but also easy to solve? How did it be such a difficult case? Huang Qiangmin understood Tao Lu¡¯s look, coughed twice, and started to use rhetoric to defend himself: "We just said, among the unsolved major cases, are there any easy ones? They¡¯re all unsolved major cases, and it¡¯s not necessarily true that bigger cases are more difficult than smaller ones, right..." "The resources invested in major special cases could be a hundred, even a thousand times that of small cases!" Tao Lu said, "The Rotting Corpse in Rain case also had heavyweight technical experts from the ministries look at it, and if really..." "How long did the technical experts look at it?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask who it was, nor did he wait for Tao Lu to finish speaking, and somewhat rudely interrupted him. Tao Lu was a bit surprised, but after recalling for a moment, he said, "They looked at it for over an hour in total, and then provided us with a technical analysis for another hour." "Over an hour is just enough to finish looking at the dossier and photos. If they spent more time looking at photos, then they could only skim through the dossier," Jiang Yuan was much too familiar with the work pattern of technical experts because that was how he worked too. For most cases that came knocking, being able to invest over an hour of time was already considered a great courtesy. Technical experts provide appropriate technical guidance or coaching based on existing conditions, which is simr to a teacher discussing questions with students. It¡¯s about giving inspiration and support, not directly solving the case for you¡ªthat kind of service is only avable in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s style. Therefore, it¡¯s better to have your own technical experts. Even if they¡¯re at a lower level, the work they do over several hours or even days may not necessarily be worse than that of the technical experts. Of course, if you¡¯re skilled and can get guidance from high-level experts, then the results will definitely be even better. Jiang Yuan¡¯s level was already high enough, even perhaps stronger than the technical experts Tao Lu had sought. However, this is something that most people did not clearly understand yet. Tao Lu hesitated slightly, then added, "We agreed the case was up to you to decide, so naturally, it¡¯s still your call. Uh... did you find something?" "I still suspect, but..." Jiang Yuan, holding the dossier, paused for a moment and said, "The third case is highly likely to be an imitation crime!" "Imitation? How..." Tao Lu was greatly shocked; the amount of information was enormous. Even those who have never been serial killers know that to imitate a crime, you first need to know the details and methods of the crime you are imitating. But unlike abroad, details of such serial killer cases are not necessarily made public before or even after they are solved in China. If they are released, it¡¯s only the more general information, and very rarely the details. So, if the third case was an imitation crime, how did the killer obtain the details? Tao Lu was horrifically rmed! Thinking further, if the third case was an imitation, then what was the fourth case? At this moment, Jiang Yuan directly opened the dossier and said, "Many details of the third case were well-executed; at first nce, I didn¡¯t immediately notice the differences. But when I saw the autopsy photos, the differences between the two killers became clear. Although they both used daggers, the weights and shapes of the daggers, the condition and hardness of the des, and the force exerted by the users were all different; thus, even if the stabbing locations were simr, the killers could still be distinguished as not being the same." Jiang Yuan¡¯s level in trace evidence identification had reached Level 6, and with it, he could discern at crime scenes what kinds of tools were used and how they were used, a skill primarily held by trace examiners. Forensic pathologists also have to infer wound-inflicting tools in forensic pathology, but that one aspect alone is not quite on par with trace evidence identification. In fact, Jiang Yuan¡¯s level in forensic pathology was also at Level 4, which even in a ce like Beijing would qualify him as a technical expert. Tao Lu didn¡¯t understand the technicalities, but he understood what Jiang Yuan was saying. After thinking briefly, he asked the final question: "Could it be an aplice?" "Not ruled out, but it doesn¡¯t seem like it. Moreover, the fourth case used the same weapon and methods again, which is quite special," Jiang Yuan moved his slightly stiff neck and added, "I think this discovery is enough to reopen the case." Tao was bewildered and nodded, shocked. The corners of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mouth inadvertently revealed a 66.6-degree smile; he now most enjoyed watching the shocked and somewhat foolish look of other cities¡¯ criminal police chiefs as they stared at his own Jiang Yuan. "As expected of the big city, the cases are fancier than those of our small county town," Huang Qiangmin maintained his smile. Chapter 739 - 682: Direction of Investigation

Chapter 739: Chapter 682: Direction of Investigation

When Jiang Yuan mentioned dividing the case, Tao Lu was already conquered. For cases like this suspected serial murder, the squadron and even the sub-bureau spare no cost in their investigations. In Zhengguang Sub-bureau, organizing a search involving over a thousand people, as rarely seen in Shannan Province, was not a problem at all. It wasn¡¯t even necessary to invoke the level of a cold murder case; for amon murder or any of the eight major types of serious crimes, organizing a search involving a thousand people is verymon. To make Tao Lu or the bureau chief hesitate, it had to involve at least three thousand people. How much funding would it take to organize a search with three thousand people? Those who often get married could imagine, organizing a three-thousand-person wedding banquet without epting gift money would cost at least that number. Conducting such a search over several days was akin to hosting weddings for several sessive days... Therefore, after such thorough searching, any bit of a clue was incredibly valuable. Just the skill for Jiang Yuan to find a clue from the case files was enough for Tao Lu to make a decision, not to mention his previous distinguished record. The "Rain-Soaked Corpse Case" task force was quickly set up without much fanfare, still mainlyprising Liu Cheng and Cui Qishan¡¯s two squads. Tao Lu considered Jiang Yuan¡¯s familiarity with Liu Cheng, and the detectives from both squads were also somewhat familiar with Jiang Yuan. Being a detective is highly reliant on rtionships; with a certain degree of trust, work definitely bes much easier. The next day. Tao Lu presided over a case analysis meeting and said in front of all the detectives, "In ourst case, two murderers were arrested one after another, and the overall progress of the case was very smooth. This was a highlyplex case involving multiple victims, including Chinese both from our country and abroad, with the nature of a serial murder involving acts like abandoning and burying corpses. The investigation process was outstanding, and the bureau chief has alreadymended everyone... However..." Tao Lu said, "In the final stages of this case, some unexpected events urred, this... was mainly due to miscalctions in my decision-making, no need to worry." Before the crowd could react, Tao Lu continued, "The celebration banquet will have to be postponed, partly due to the determination of responsibility and partly because the two murderers are connected to many cases. We need a significant amount of evidence to be secured, so we have to wait here a bit... But the case does not wait for people!" Tao Lu looked at everyone and said, "This time, Captain Jiang Yuan has chosen a highly challenging case. The Rain-Soaked Corpse Case. If solved, it would provide greatfort to the victims and their families and would also be an excellent opportunity for our squadron to demonstrate ourbat prowess... Um, next, the floor is given to Jiang Yuan..." Hearing this, Jiang Yuan stood up, smiled at everyone, took the remote for the projector, clicked a few times, then said, "The Rain-Soaked Corpse Case is a rather strange one..." Liu Cheng and the others sat up straight, not because Jiang Yuan¡¯s description of the case was that strange, but because Jiang Yuan himself was fascinating enough. "The Rain-Soaked Corpse Case consists of four incidents. The evidence gathered is rtively scarce. The murderer knows how to clean up the crime scene and has a certain level of expertise..." When Jiang Yuan spoke of professional ability, it had to be at least a level 2 skill in crime scene cleanup. This had already gone beyond merely wiping floors or pouring cleansers. The meticulousness of the cleanup, the order, the objects involved¡ªall were very important; otherwise, extra actions would only leave more clues for the police. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue on the previous investigative direction but instead said, "The identities of all four bodies are clear, and there is ack of intersection in their social rtionships. However, during my review of the case files, I discovered that Victim Three, the corpse from the third case, had noticeable differencespared to the other three incidents." Jiang Yuan casually clicked the remote, disying several photos. Some were of the bloated, deformed corpse from the first case, as well as others found earlier but had likewise changed in appearance. Jiang Yuan repeated the analysis he had given Tao Lu in more detail and then said, "Some anomalies with Victim Three¡¯s corpse are illogical. Especially with the presence of Victim Four, the murderer changed their weapon, the location of the stab wounds, even the force used. These changes are abnormal. For now, I am inclined to think that Victim Three¡¯s case was an act of imitation." "If the details of the Rain-Soaked Corpse Case were not disclosed, how could it have been imitated?" Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t help but ask as he heard this. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "But it wasn¡¯t strictly confidential, and although the case seemsplicated, it actually is highly feasible. Tomit a murder on a rainy day, using a dagger, then tightly wrapping the body before abandoning it, while meticulously cleaning the scene..." "It sounds easy but is hard to execute," Liu Cheng slowly said. "One must have experience in killing, experience in cleaning a crime scene, and also be skilled with using a dagger..." The more he spoke, the grimmer his expression became. If one considered it from this angle, there was a significant possibility that aw enforcement officermitted the crime. Such incidents were not unheard of. For example, the Old American police periodically had various scandals erupt. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dwell on these matters, simply saying, "My suggestion is to split the case into two parts. One part is the third case, to be considered independently on the basis of imitation. The other part is the first, second, and fourth cases, to reconsider their connections. Currently, we should concentrate our efforts and prioritize the third case." "If the third case is an imitative crime, even solving it wouldn¡¯t mean the ¡¯Rainy Day Decay Case¡¯ is solved," someone reminded in a low voice. "The imitator of the third case might provide us with a breakthrough in understanding the overall Rainy Day Decay Case," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "Of course, a direct breakthrough in the Rainy Day Decay Case is also possible. It is just a matter of priority." Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative approach was always straightforward and direct. If one were to say he had any special techniques, they were based on histest findings. Yet, it must be said, such investigative thinking was hard to fault, and naturally, Liu Cheng and the others had no objections. Tao Lu asked, "Jiang Yuan, will you arrange the work?" "You do it. I n to stay in theb today," Jiang Yuan said, then exined, "For a moved body, when the primary scene has not yet been determined, Legal Botany can still be very useful." For such an absolutely difficult case that urred in Beijing, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t considered conventional approaches from the start. Crime scene investigation, footprint analysis, and simr skills were not rare in Beijing. Experts at level 3 or level 4 were not umon, and when a special taskforce needed them, they were readily found. In other words, to solve cold cases that prior experts could not, using such skills would at least require a level 5 expert, and even that might not be very effective ¡ª the technical staff of the previous taskforce might have only had level 3 skills, but they could spend weeks or even months studying, possibly consulting higher-level experts. Even if Jiang Yuan were level 5, without dedicated research, he might not achieve any results. However, Legal Botany was different. This niche skill was scarce, not just in Beijing but nationwide; those proficient to level 2 were extremely rare. Most importantly, the expert group in the Rainy Day Decay Case had not tried using Legal Botany before, which gave Jiang Yuan a significant opportunity to contribute. Tao Lu and others naturally thought of the first case Jiang Yuan rushed to handle upon arriving. They all nodded repeatedly, hoping he could replicate his past sess. Liu Cheng and the others spontaneously arranged their subordinates. With the series of cases being reopened, there was a lot to do. Furthermore, some detectives also needed to wrap up the cases they were currently handling. Jiang Yuan went to theb to gather pollen. Time, location, and people ¡ª these three elements still yed a crucial role in criminal cases. In the "Rainy Day Decay Case", the time could be determined, the victim¡¯s identity was confirmed after verification from multiple sources, but the primary scene was the only missing piece. But this time, whether Legal Botany would be effective, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t entirely sure. Compared to urban environments, Legal Botany is actually more suited to rural or wilderness settings. Chapter 740 - 683: Breakthrough

Chapter 740: Chapter 683: Breakthrough

"The clothes have been brought back." Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei returned with severalrge boxes of evidence. As Wang Chuanxing ced the items into a cab, he said, "The facilities at Zhengguang Bureau are really nice. Their evidence room is even better than our new office." "You can¡¯tpare it to Beijing. Besides, they¡¯re just big. The decoration alone is so-so, and the evidence room doesn¡¯t have much equipment. Just some cabs and a fewputers." Huang Qiangmin was sitting right there and smirked. Beijing¡¯s infrastructure is something small counties can¡¯tpete with. Regardless of the high housing prices in Beijing, when ites to constructing public facilities for the departments, achieving grand and majestic goals is fairly easy. For an agency like Zhengguang Bureau, the annual normal budget is more than two billion yuan, really hefty indeed. Wang Chuanxing, who was seconded from the provincial capital to Ningtai County, was not so intimidated by Huang Qiangmin and chuckled, "Their evidence room has constant temperature and humidity. If I turned into evidence, I¡¯d like to stay in a ce like that." "If you turned into evidence, in Beijing, you¡¯d be in an autopsy center¡¯s ice coffin." Shen Yaowei was very tactful and smiled at Huang Qiangmin. "The good thing about Beijing is that they preserve evidence well. I guess Captain Jiang might collect quite a few pollen samples." As he spoke, everyone¡¯s gaze turned to Jiang Yuan, who was sitting in front of theb bench. There was just a microscope on theb bench, and then a tray with tweezers and such. You could ask someone for help with this task, but given the significance of the case, with pollen on the clothes being the most favorable evidence, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be bothered to delegate the initial collection of the pollen. To be honest, teaching a forensic doctor who had never done such work before, watching them for a while, answering some questions, and dealing with minor incidents during the experiment, would probably be more tiring than doing it himself. "What I¡¯ll find, I don¡¯t know yet. I¡¯ll know when I see." Jiang Yuan spread out various vessels and took out the first piece of clothing from the evidence bag, releasing a foul stench that had been festering for years. It was even more potent than usual, like a long-stifled fart, neither fully gaseous nor solid, neither soft nor rigid... Huang Qiangmin¡¯s breathing was disrupted for a few seconds, swiftly donned a mask, and said, "I¡¯ll sit with you for a while, I¡¯m not busy right now. I¡¯ll scroll through my phone and then we can find a good restaurant and have something nice to eat tonight. On the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s expense." At that, Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei exchanged nces and quickly said, "We¡¯ll stay too. Though we can¡¯t be of much help, we¡¯re at Captain Jiang and Commissioner Huang¡¯s disposal." Huang Qiangmin smiled and casually took out his phone, "Right, let me show you the new detention center our bureau is building. They¡¯re still working on the underground piping. Take a look at this construction standard. If this video got out, escapees would cry their eyes out." Jiang Yuan had already seen it and let out a chuckle, then focused his attention back on the microscope. As he had just said, only upon seeing the evidence would he know what could be found. Rainwater, various cleaning agents, friction, time factors, and environmental elements could all potentially cause some pollen to lose its adhesiveness or to disappearpletely. Overall, though, pollen is a very resilient form of evidence. It is not like blood or hair¡ªthose trivialities that can¡¯t stand acid or alkali. Pollen has survived through many major extinction events of past centuries. Volcanic ash, deep ice, floods and beasts, beauties and stockings, hairy parasites, sleek microorganisms, and nuclear radiation from across the ocean¡ªare all trivial in the eyes of pollen. Under the microscope, many pollen samples looked like fortresses, with long and tough spikes, thick bones, and a dense and fine mesh. Magnified tens of thousands of times, they appeared like futuristic space fortresses. They were not to be trifled with, no matter how you looked at it. Ific artists were ever short of ideas, they could look up a few pollen guidebooks to modify, and it would be more powerful than making up space fortresses. The somewhat yellowish pollen could even be used in adultics. "Aster Tribe pollen," dered Jiang Yuan as he shook his neck and began to log notes in his notebook. There wasn¡¯t a lot of pollen on the clothes, so Jiang Yuan started by picking out the more apparent ones first. Huang Qiangmin, who had been scrolling through his phone, immediately came over and asked, "Chrysanthemum?" "Asteraceae is not simply a daisy." Jiang Yuan continued to look through the microscope, speaking somewhat subconsciously as he observed, "Based on pollen typification, Asteraceae has three types of pollen: the sunflower type, the thousand-mile-light type, and the spring golden daisy type. This one should be of the sunflower type." "Does that mean there were sunflowers at the crime scene?" "It¡¯s not that simple. Because within the sunflower-type pollen, there are many kinds, including the Sunflower Tribe, Zn Tribe, Aster Tribe, heart-leaved aster Tribe, Marigold Tribe, and in addition, the nket flower Tribe and thousand-mile-light Tribe also have this type of pollen..." Jiang Yuan spoke of tribes, and beneath these, there were about 30 genera, which were exceedinglyplex. Most who dabble in Legal Botany give up when they hear this. Huang Qiangmin also felt overwhelmed, his dark face furrowing, "Just tell me if there were sunflowers at the scene." "There were." The pollen Jiang Yuan found was indeed from the genus Helianthus. This judgment alone could drive a normal botanist mad. Sunflower-type pollen has both simrities and differences, making it not easy to identify. In fact, it should be quite difficult. Jiang Yuan reached a conclusion without referring to any data, equivalent to casting a spell instantly without a magic book, a shame because everyone present was a Muggle, with not a single one understanding. "When victim number three was found, there were no sunflowers at the scene, so are we getting closer to the primary crime scene?" Wang Chuanxing, invigorated, turned over. "We¡¯re still far from pinpointing the location." Jiang Yuan looked up at Wang Chuanxing, then began to pinch another pollen grain. Wang Chuanxing shook his head, "Even so, it¡¯s a breakthrough. Considering other factors, such as the victim¡¯s mobile location on the day, witness testimony, etc., we might just find the primary crime scene." Indeed, practicing Legal Botany within a city doesn¡¯t have the thrill of the wild outdoors. However, looking from another perspective, the origins of pollen in a city are also very singr, and even the pollen frommon nts like sunflowers isn¡¯t necessarily readily found. Armed with technology, Jiang Yuan certainly wouldn¡¯t use such rough methods. Besides, the pollen on the clothes was already being examined, and this time, it had to be fully analyzed. Otherwise, if the case didn¡¯t progress smoothly and a re-examination was needed, it would be a second examination, which would limit uracy, and a lot of information might be lost. Whether or not the case is solved, the documentary work must be done thoroughly. This is also one of the foundations Jiang Yuan relies on to solve cases through case files. Soon, Jiang Yuan also scanned for the pollen of willows and pines, followed by camellias and clematis... However, the most abundant was still the sunflower pollen. In a moment of life questioning, Jiang Yuan suddenly looked up, "Sunflowers are insect-pollinated." "Hmm?" Huang Qiangmin and the others present did not catch on immediately. "Wind-pollinated nts have a far dispersal distance, insect-pollinated nts have a short dispersal distance. If it¡¯s a sunflower field, beehives are usually nearby," Jiang Yuan said as he took notes. The locations foundter had to match the criteria to be useful. In general, the requirements for Legal Botany are quite strict, but when ites to investigation, the discipline holds its own in an assertive way. No matter how professionally the murderer might have cleaned up the crime scene, how could they possibly contend with Legal Botany? Chapter 741 - 684: Forbidden Spell

Chapter 741: Chapter 684: Forbidden Spell

Jasmine, Bougainvillea, Gardenia, Hibiscus, Lotus... As Jiang Yuan identified more and more types of pollen, even the criminal police, who knew nothing about legal botany, were greatly encouraged. Although they were mostlymon nts, locations that fully meet the requirements of these pollens were definitely few, and might even be unique. Jiang Yuan had no doubt about this either. While the victim might frequent multiple locations, the pollen he carried was regionally and proportionally distinct. This was the most critical point of a pollen profile. In addition, sunflower pollen was extremely unfriendly to the perpetrator. Insect-pollinated pollen is a favorite among legal botanists, which means that, globally, at least hundreds of people are very fond of them. Insect-pollinated pollen is typically much thicker, as it does not need to disperse with the wind like wind-pollinated pollen, and to bees, insects, or hummingbirds, the thickness of pollen hardly makes a perceptible difference in weight. But for pollen, a thicker wall means better preservation conditions and vastly different resistance to external environments. Therefore, the sunflower pollen Jiang Yuan saw was shaped like a space fortress, and its defensive power in the world of pollen was about on that level. Sunflower pollen of this caliber was naturallyrger and more likely to stick to people¡¯s clothes, and thus, it was also easier to identify. Even a novice legal botanist at level 1 could not possibly miss suchrge sunflower pollen. However, the identification of the Asteraceae family is a truly cruel task for botany students, akin to the difficulty of cutting cowpea seeds. To confirm it was sunflower pollen would probably require a herculean effort. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t stop there. This time, he found a specific taxonomic guide and meticulously ssified the sunflower pollen he found, ultimately concluding that the pollen belonged to an edible variety: Sunflower ¡¯Sukei No.2¡¯. Only after doing all this did Jiang Yuan let go of the microscope, rubbing his neck, he wrote a simple appraisal report, and handed it over to Tao Lu. In fact, it had taken just over a day, but for Tao Lu and the others, the clues obtained in this one day were more than those obtained in the previous month. Most importantly, after the previous "training" in searching for pollen sources, everyone had already gained considerable insight. "¡¯Sukei No.2,¡¯ does that mean the edible type of sunflower we usually grow? The kind nted by farmers?" Tao Lu, after reading the appraisal report, handed it to Liu Cheng. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, sunflowers can be divided into several broad categories. Commonly seen ones, like the cut-flower type sunflowers sold in flower shops, have longer stems and flower quickly, some with longer blooming periods. There are also ornamental sunflowers, potted sunflowers, the edible type we¡¯ve found, and even oil-producing types." Cui Qishan, who was next to them, felt it wasplicated and said while scratching his head, "I thought the pollen detected this time would be from the cut-flower type sunflowers sold in flower shops, right? Can they really be differentiated just by the pollen?" "Many varieties of the cut-flower type sunflowers don¡¯t have pollen, like ¡¯Red Mill¡¯ and ¡¯Chianti Red Wine.¡¯ Some well-known varieties have different colored pollens, like ¡¯ck Oil¡¯¡ªyou can tell by the name, the middle pollen is ck," Jiang Yuan exined, some of which he had researched on the spot, as new nt varieties were constantly emerging with some undergoing changes in their pollen, while others didn¡¯t change or changed very little, all requiring real-timeparison. Cui Qishan and the others, still confused, nodded their heads, unaware that Jiang Yuan had just silently cast a prohibited spell. Even though new varieties of sunflower pollen have records and descriptions, there are no images. In fact, most pollen only has descriptions and not images. To capture an image of a grain of pollen, it is necessary to coat the pollen with gold foil under a scanning electron microscope and then ce it in a vacuum to urately photograph. This is why some nts have images of their pollen, but most do not. One of the reasons why research on pollen in Legal Botany or botany in general has always beengging is that you may think botany is about memory, like a liberal arts subject, but in fact, botany also demands your spatial imagination, as well as the ability to analyze, abstract, summarize, and synthesize¡ªpurely scientific. It was with the aid of his LV4 skills in Legal Botany and a temporarily unlocked +1 skill that Jiang Yuan was able to correctly identify the type of sunflower pollen. Cui Qishan and others, looking at the identification report, thought that this was just how Legal Botany worked. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother to borate on this part, simply saying, "Although Su Kui No. 2 is an edible type of sunflower, ording to its pollen as, jasmine, bougainvillea, gardenia, hibiscus, lotus, and so on, are allmon ornamental nts. The victim likely fell to the ground in some garden, yard, or park-like ce and was subsequently contaminated with these pollens. It¡¯s unlikely that it happened in a pure agricultural field." "If we¡¯re looking across the entire city for a ce that has nted a dozen varieties of flowers, the scope is still a bit toorge," Tao Lu said as he looked down and pondered. The reason he said ¡¯across the entire city¡¯ was because carrying a corpse into or out of Beijing was extremely risky¡ªcheckpoints in between were much stricter than ordinary toll stations, many ces also had police dogs to assist, and any criminal weighing the pros and cons would know that dumping a body in Beijing was downright insane. Furthermore, Victim No. 3 himself mainly keptpany in Beijing and had no record of leaving the city; it was likely a case of murder and body disposal within Beijing itself. But as Tao Lu said, despite this, the area of Beijing was still toorge. At that moment, Jiang Yuan said, "I think we can continue to trace the sunflower. Although Su Kui No. 2 is a rtivelymon edible type of sunflower, its main nting areas are in the northwest and Inner Mongolia. There is also some in Beijing, but the quantities are very small. Therefore, within the scope of Beijing, there definitely aren¡¯t many people who have sold and purchased seeds of Su Kui No. 2..." Actually, Tao Lu was already excited before Jiang Yuan finished speaking. "We have experience with this, tracking the origin of seeds... right, including the sales records online, there shouldn¡¯t be many. If it¡¯s nted in a garden, then only a small quantity of seeds will be purchased, or maybe it¡¯s given by someone. Either way, there¡¯s a source. Once we find the source, we can find out where the sunflowers were nted." Tao Lu stood up, feeling that they were getting close to a breakthrough in the case. "It¡¯s also possible that the seeds were left by the killer himself," Cui Qishan said. "The average person isn¡¯t that idle," Tao Lu said, looking at Cui Qishan, "I mean, saving seeds is somewhat difficult... Let¡¯s look back 5 years and see who purchased these sunflower seeds. If we can find the original crime scene, there might be hope for this case!" "That¡¯s true too," Cui Qishan chuckled twice, then suddenly had an epiphany, and looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, "What about these pollens, like the lotus ones, can we also determine a specific species?" Jiang Yuan responded with a smile, "Lotus is a perennial and survives year after year. However, I will take a look at other species of flowers." Even if he had to investigate, Jiang Yuan would need his temporarily unlocked +1 skill to cool down before he could continue the search. By this time, Tao Lu and the others were already too preupied to care about this. While verifying the source of the sunflower seeds, they eagerly rushed to the scene, checking each farm household one by one. Despite a daunting list of hundreds of names, for Zhengguang Bureau, this was just routine investigation! Chapter 743 - 686: The First Scene (Request for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 743: Chapter 686: The First Scene (Request for Monthly Pass)

From the moment they saw the lotus flowers, the attitude of several detectives became serious. Upon seeing the Jasmine, Bougainvillea, and so on each corresponding one by one, the expressions on everyone¡¯s faces remained unchanged, but their actions had already entered a state ofbat readiness. For people like Liu Cheng, who had been investigating for more than a day, and today braved the heatwave for half a day, a household that matched their criteria so well was the only one like this; to say they didn¡¯t cherish this lead would be impossible. Even though they hadn¡¯t seen any sunflowers, Liu Cheng now looked at the homeowner as if he were looking at a bowl of braised pork. It was certain that this family had bought sunflower seeds, not to mention there was a backyard in the vi. Besides, this was also a cold case; it was possible that they had harvested the sunflowers and not nted them again. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t care less about these details; he knew that this guy was at least worth a collective third-ss merit, and if things went well, maybe even a second-ss, which wouldpensate his brothers for their hard work under the scorching sun all this time. At that moment, Liu Cheng saw Mu Zhiyang sneak to a position behind the homeowner, close to the door lock. With just a stretch of a foot, the homeowner would not be able to run inside, close the door, and would only be left to be piled on in the yard by seven or eight detectives. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t help but praise silently, with such inconspicuous ability to move to critical positions, no wonder the man had earned so many third-ss merits¡ªperhaps this time, he might snag another one. Liu Cheng had no time to think about other things. In the time it took for his thoughts to make a quick round, and seeing everyone else had secured their positions, he smiled and asked the opposite homeowner, "May I know your surname? How should we address you?" "No need for formalities, my surname is He. He Wei." The homeownerposed himself; he also felt something was amiss, but no matter what, he did not have the confidence to take on eight people alone, so he could only pretend to be calm and said, "You are trespassing on private property now." "Didn¡¯t we tell you, we just register the people here and then we¡¯ll leave, please cooperate with us. How many people are in your family?" Liu Cheng brushed it off with a few words, and then continued to inquire. The homeowner He Wei frowned again. After two seconds, he said, "Just me." "Such a big house for just you alone?" "Yes." "Married?" "Divorced." "When did you get divorced?" "More than two years ago." Liu Cheng noted another point in his mind; someone who divorced over two years ago and then began to kill, fit the profile of a typical serial killer quite well. Feigning to take notes, Liu Cheng asked another question, "Any children?" "My wife took them away." The homeowner He Wei spoke bitterly, "She took away everything." "Do theye visit here regrly?" Liu Cheng continued to ask. The homeowner He Wei subtly shook his head. "What about the kids? They don¡¯te either?" Liu Cheng kept probing; his actual goal wasn¡¯t really to register information, but to confirm whether there were other people in the house. As for whether He Wei himself was vignt, it was no longer very important. With eight well-trained detectives, armed with stun guns, handcuffs, and telescopic batons, all on high alert, even a crafty rat would be forced to meow like a cat. The homeowner He Wei still felt that something was off but wasn¡¯t sufficiently alert or decisive. Mainly because he was trapped in the courtyard without any room to maneuver, turning hostile wouldn¡¯t yield any good oues. Therefore, faced with Liu Cheng¡¯s questions, He Wei could only coldly say, "I already told you the wife took them, I really don¡¯t want to answer any more questions. I have other matters to attend to, can you please leave my house?" "Just wait a moment. I¡¯ll ask three more questions, and then we¡¯ll leave." Liu Cheng didn¡¯t know what He Wei was waiting for, but he was waiting for the other detectives to get into position. Hearing it was only three more questions, He Wei grudgingly uttered a response. Liu Cheng asked another question, He Wei answered, and before the words were finished, Wei Cheng and two other young detectives had already silently pounced on him. It all happened in the blink of an eye, He Wei spun around and retreated, managing to throw two detectives down the stairs in the foyer. Even though Wei Cheng managed to grab his waist, he was also somewhat unsteady. While the detectives had all spected, they really hadn¡¯t expected that this homeowner, He Wei, was actually a martial artist. Before Liu Cheng could react, Mu Zhiyang, who was a step behind, moved forward, sweeping a leg out and directly knocking He Wei, along with Wei Cheng, to the ground. Liu Cheng and the others saw their chance and pounced, pinning the man firmly to the ground, then like schoolboys in a fight, raised the stun gun while groping with both hands for one of He Wei¡¯s hands, looking to Mu Zhiyang to handcuff him. Shen Yaowei stared at the handcuffs for several seconds, feeling both familiar and strange. "He Wei, I hereby summon you in ordance with thew..." Liu Cheng struggled to lift He Wei up, his smile barely concealing his effort. Had they caught the murderer of the "Rain-sodden Corpse Case"? No, the copycat criminal, but regardless of which, there was no doubt he was a murderer. "Search the ce." Liu Cheng stood at the door for a moment, allowing the others to enter the vi first to make sure no one was inside, then brought He Wei in, closed the door again, and started making calls. A few detectives had done a quick sweep of the room and then quietly withdrew, congregating on the first floor. After Liu Cheng finished his call and requested backup, Fan Wei said, "Liu Da,e take a look at this." So, Liu Cheng walked into the dining room where he saw arge stainless steel bowl on the table, beside it a stic bag of White Elephant instant noodles. The bowl was clean, the noodles eaten, and only a bit of soup was left at the bottom. "Looks like he¡¯s indeed living a bachelor¡¯s life," Fan Weimented. "Mm." Liu Cheng nodded. "Living in a vi like this, it¡¯s pretty sad." Talk is talk, but Liu Cheng didn¡¯t feel a bit of sympathy for him. Being able to eat a bowl of instant noodles that one cooked themselves in a vi indicated an explosion of happiness already. At this point, He Wei recovered from his confusion, struggled a bit, and asked, "On what grounds are you arresting me?" "Don¡¯t you know what you¡¯ve done?" Liu Cheng didn¡¯t give He Wei any information and, leaving a couple of people behind, he led his team back to the division. On the way, an officer on duty sent over a photo. In the photo was a picture frame, and the framed picture was of a little boy and his father smiling with a sunflower. The officer typed a note in WeChat: a photo from the second floor¡¯s photo corner. A smile crept upon the corners of Liu Cheng¡¯s mouth involuntarily. "Good news?" Mu Zhiyang, riding in the same car with Liu Cheng, had tossed He Wei into another vehicle. Liu Cheng nodded his head, "Found the sunflower." "Is it Helianthus annuus No. 2?" "How would I know? Give it to Captain Jiang to see," Liu Cheng said while sending a message. By the time they arrived at the detective squad, Tao Lu and others were already waiting in the surveince room, while Jiang Yuan had set out towards the vi to begin the crime scene investigation. After all, what Legal Botany was searching for was the first crime scene. In other words, if the variety of nts at He Wei¡¯s vi matched the pollen pattern on the victim¡¯s clothing, then his vi would be considered the primary crime scene where the victim was murdered. In the event that the primary crime scene had been outdoors, like a park or farnd, they would have to use the primary crime scene to locate the murderer. But since the scene was at He Wei¡¯s house, the task became securing evidence. They at least needed to rule out the possibility that "someone came to my house, killed a person, and then left." Tao Lu wasn¡¯t too worried about this and watched the interrogation room with interest, enjoying the cat and mouse game within. The "Rain-sodden Corpse" case had been very troublesome at the time. Tao Lu felt his back ache just thinking about it; they had even tried to use live bait and stake out in the rain. Compared to this, the current leads were so obvious that there was no need for any clever tricks. Wu... Tao Lu¡¯s phone rang. "Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s it going, did you find anything?" "Yes. Found human blood, found a suspected murder weapon," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came slowly from the other end of the phone. "That¡¯s fantastic." Tao Lu pped his thigh, "Does this mean we¡¯ve cracked the case of the third body at least?" "Mm, regarding that," Jiang Yuan paused, "I¡¯ve just finished the botanical maps for bodies one, two, and four these past couple of days. ording to the results, their pollen maps are simr." "What does that mean?" Tao Lu was momentarily stunned, then joyfully realized, "Could it be that there was no real copycat criminal at all?" He couldn¡¯t care less if Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous work was correct or not; as long as they could catch the real murderer, Jiang Yuan could be forgiven for any number of mistakes. "It means the primary scenes are simr, likely all at He Wei¡¯s house." Jiang Yuan analyzed calmly, then added, "But the third body does show clear signs of being copied, that much is certain." Chapter 743 - 686: The First Scene (Request for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 743: Chapter 686: The First Scene (Request for Monthly Pass)

From the moment they saw the lotus flowers, the attitude of several detectives became serious. Upon seeing the Jasmine, Bougainvillea, and so on each corresponding one by one, the expressions on everyone¡¯s faces remained unchanged, but their actions had already entered a state ofbat readiness. For people like Liu Cheng, who had been investigating for more than a day, and today braved the heatwave for half a day, a household that matched their criteria so well was the only one like this; to say they didn¡¯t cherish this lead would be impossible. Even though they hadn¡¯t seen any sunflowers, Liu Cheng now looked at the homeowner as if he were looking at a bowl of braised pork. It was certain that this family had bought sunflower seeds, not to mention there was a backyard in the vi. Besides, this was also a cold case; it was possible that they had harvested the sunflowers and not nted them again. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t care less about these details; he knew that this guy was at least worth a collective third-ss merit, and if things went well, maybe even a second-ss, which wouldpensate his brothers for their hard work under the scorching sun all this time. At that moment, Liu Cheng saw Mu Zhiyang sneak to a position behind the homeowner, close to the door lock. With just a stretch of a foot, the homeowner would not be able to run inside, close the door, and would only be left to be piled on in the yard by seven or eight detectives. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t help but praise silently, with such inconspicuous ability to move to critical positions, no wonder the man had earned so many third-ss merits¡ªperhaps this time, he might snag another one. Liu Cheng had no time to think about other things. In the time it took for his thoughts to make a quick round, and seeing everyone else had secured their positions, he smiled and asked the opposite homeowner, "May I know your surname? How should we address you?" "No need for formalities, my surname is He. He Wei." The homeownerposed himself; he also felt something was amiss, but no matter what, he did not have the confidence to take on eight people alone, so he could only pretend to be calm and said, "You are trespassing on private property now." "Didn¡¯t we tell you, we just register the people here and then we¡¯ll leave, please cooperate with us. How many people are in your family?" Liu Cheng brushed it off with a few words, and then continued to inquire. The homeowner He Wei frowned again. After two seconds, he said, "Just me." "Such a big house for just you alone?" "Yes." "Married?" "Divorced." "When did you get divorced?" "More than two years ago." Liu Cheng noted another point in his mind; someone who divorced over two years ago and then began to kill, fit the profile of a typical serial killer quite well. Feigning to take notes, Liu Cheng asked another question, "Any children?" "My wife took them away." The homeowner He Wei spoke bitterly, "She took away everything." "Do theye visit here regrly?" Liu Cheng continued to ask. The homeowner He Wei subtly shook his head. "What about the kids? They don¡¯te either?" Liu Cheng kept probing; his actual goal wasn¡¯t really to register information, but to confirm whether there were other people in the house. As for whether He Wei himself was vignt, it was no longer very important. With eight well-trained detectives, armed with stun guns, handcuffs, and telescopic batons, all on high alert, even a crafty rat would be forced to meow like a cat. The homeowner He Wei still felt that something was off but wasn¡¯t sufficiently alert or decisive. Mainly because he was trapped in the courtyard without any room to maneuver, turning hostile wouldn¡¯t yield any good oues. Therefore, faced with Liu Cheng¡¯s questions, He Wei could only coldly say, "I already told you the wife took them, I really don¡¯t want to answer any more questions. I have other matters to attend to, can you please leave my house?" "Just wait a moment. I¡¯ll ask three more questions, and then we¡¯ll leave." Liu Cheng didn¡¯t know what He Wei was waiting for, but he was waiting for the other detectives to get into position. Hearing it was only three more questions, He Wei grudgingly uttered a response. Liu Cheng asked another question, He Wei answered, and before the words were finished, Wei Cheng and two other young detectives had already silently pounced on him. It all happened in the blink of an eye, He Wei spun around and retreated, managing to throw two detectives down the stairs in the foyer. Even though Wei Cheng managed to grab his waist, he was also somewhat unsteady. While the detectives had all spected, they really hadn¡¯t expected that this homeowner, He Wei, was actually a martial artist. Before Liu Cheng could react, Mu Zhiyang, who was a step behind, moved forward, sweeping a leg out and directly knocking He Wei, along with Wei Cheng, to the ground. Liu Cheng and the others saw their chance and pounced, pinning the man firmly to the ground, then like schoolboys in a fight, raised the stun gun while groping with both hands for one of He Wei¡¯s hands, looking to Mu Zhiyang to handcuff him. Shen Yaowei stared at the handcuffs for several seconds, feeling both familiar and strange. "He Wei, I hereby summon you in ordance with thew..." Liu Cheng struggled to lift He Wei up, his smile barely concealing his effort. Had they caught the murderer of the "Rain-sodden Corpse Case"? No, the copycat criminal, but regardless of which, there was no doubt he was a murderer. "Search the ce." Liu Cheng stood at the door for a moment, allowing the others to enter the vi first to make sure no one was inside, then brought He Wei in, closed the door again, and started making calls. A few detectives had done a quick sweep of the room and then quietly withdrew, congregating on the first floor. After Liu Cheng finished his call and requested backup, Fan Wei said, "Liu Da,e take a look at this." So, Liu Cheng walked into the dining room where he saw arge stainless steel bowl on the table, beside it a stic bag of White Elephant instant noodles. The bowl was clean, the noodles eaten, and only a bit of soup was left at the bottom. "Looks like he¡¯s indeed living a bachelor¡¯s life," Fan Weimented. "Mm." Liu Cheng nodded. "Living in a vi like this, it¡¯s pretty sad." Talk is talk, but Liu Cheng didn¡¯t feel a bit of sympathy for him. Being able to eat a bowl of instant noodles that one cooked themselves in a vi indicated an explosion of happiness already. At this point, He Wei recovered from his confusion, struggled a bit, and asked, "On what grounds are you arresting me?" "Don¡¯t you know what you¡¯ve done?" Liu Cheng didn¡¯t give He Wei any information and, leaving a couple of people behind, he led his team back to the division. On the way, an officer on duty sent over a photo. In the photo was a picture frame, and the framed picture was of a little boy and his father smiling with a sunflower. The officer typed a note in WeChat: a photo from the second floor¡¯s photo corner. A smile crept upon the corners of Liu Cheng¡¯s mouth involuntarily. "Good news?" Mu Zhiyang, riding in the same car with Liu Cheng, had tossed He Wei into another vehicle. Liu Cheng nodded his head, "Found the sunflower." "Is it Helianthus annuus No. 2?" "How would I know? Give it to Captain Jiang to see," Liu Cheng said while sending a message. By the time they arrived at the detective squad, Tao Lu and others were already waiting in the surveince room, while Jiang Yuan had set out towards the vi to begin the crime scene investigation. After all, what Legal Botany was searching for was the first crime scene. In other words, if the variety of nts at He Wei¡¯s vi matched the pollen pattern on the victim¡¯s clothing, then his vi would be considered the primary crime scene where the victim was murdered. In the event that the primary crime scene had been outdoors, like a park or farnd, they would have to use the primary crime scene to locate the murderer. But since the scene was at He Wei¡¯s house, the task became securing evidence. They at least needed to rule out the possibility that "someone came to my house, killed a person, and then left." Tao Lu wasn¡¯t too worried about this and watched the interrogation room with interest, enjoying the cat and mouse game within. The "Rain-sodden Corpse" case had been very troublesome at the time. Tao Lu felt his back ache just thinking about it; they had even tried to use live bait and stake out in the rain. Compared to this, the current leads were so obvious that there was no need for any clever tricks. Wu... Tao Lu¡¯s phone rang. "Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s it going, did you find anything?" "Yes. Found human blood, found a suspected murder weapon," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came slowly from the other end of the phone. "That¡¯s fantastic." Tao Lu pped his thigh, "Does this mean we¡¯ve cracked the case of the third body at least?" "Mm, regarding that," Jiang Yuan paused, "I¡¯ve just finished the botanical maps for bodies one, two, and four these past couple of days. ording to the results, their pollen maps are simr." "What does that mean?" Tao Lu was momentarily stunned, then joyfully realized, "Could it be that there was no real copycat criminal at all?" He couldn¡¯t care less if Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous work was correct or not; as long as they could catch the real murderer, Jiang Yuan could be forgiven for any number of mistakes. "It means the primary scenes are simr, likely all at He Wei¡¯s house." Jiang Yuan analyzed calmly, then added, "But the third body does show clear signs of being copied, that much is certain." Chapter 744 - 687: Liu Jinghui Feasting in the Rain

Chapter 744: Chapter 687: Liu Jinghui Feasting in the Rain

"Could it be another master-apprentice tradition? Has Beijing preserved the traditional culture so thoroughly?" Liu Jinghui arrived upon hearing the news, happily engaging in discussion as soon as he entered the room¡ªof course, with all due respect for the deceased. Tao Lu wasn¡¯t sure whether to be happy or distressed, rubbing his forehead he said, "Thest case was a master-apprentice one, and if this case turns out to be another master-apprentice, I think we really could start a special operation from prison, which could be called..." "Unashamed to ask and learn from one¡¯s subordinates," Cui Qishan joined the discussion with enthusiasm. "Tirelessly ruining others," Xiao Si said with a serious expression, as if he were seriously discussing the matter. "What I meant was... follow the vine... never mind, for us police, it¡¯s by mentoring that we solve cases. It¡¯s possible that the criminals are just now starting to learn, if they¡¯re a bit dumb, right?" Liu Jinghui spoke, picking up the investigation file from the table to read. In the room, there were two other criminal investigation experts sent from the city police, both to understand the situation and to offer assistance. Various groups each took a file and formed small circles to discuss in low voices. Liu Jinghui might seem like he was joking, but his joke was something no one could refute. Logically, there was indeed such a possibility, and considering that the Zhengguang Bureau had just encountered such a situation in the previous case, discussing probabilities was meaningless. "How did the interrogation go?" Jin Baozhen, a senior police superintendent from the city bureau, could be recognized as a veteran from the "´¨" character lines on his forehead. Tao Lu replied, "We¡¯ll definitely get a confession, but when they¡¯ll break is unknown." "Then don¡¯t rush it, take your time with the interrogation," Jin Baozhen arranged. "Hmm. The main concern is that the aplice might get wind of it and run away," Tao Lu said, clearly a bit anxious. In the previous case, it was a master and his apprentice, and the apprentice, not sure if he had been forewarned, withstood several rounds of interrogation, giving his master the chance to escape and kill again. For this, Tao Lu was likely to be held ountable. His rush to get Huang Qiangmin to sign off on a new quota was also to make up for this mistake. However, nobody expected that the "Rain-soaked Corpse Case" would proceed extremely smoothly, only to get stuck during the interrogation. If there was another master, and he managed to escape, Tao Lu would not be able to take it anymore. The experienced detectives present all particrly understood the pressure Tao Lu was under, but they were also powerless to help. In fact, from the beginning, this case had already strayed from the old detectives¡¯ understanding; it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s personal case through and through. Legal Botany, the pollen profile¡ªit sounded straightforward, but recognizing and understanding it was another matter entirely. And if one couldn¡¯t understand, and was merely following Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions, then what right did they have to question Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment... Soon, everyone¡¯s eyes turned to Jiang Yuan. "This case is a bit strange," Jiang Yuan, who had returned from the scene, said, "The long-handled dagger we found at the scene, after analysis, was confirmed to be the weapon that caused the death of victim number three. The bloodstains found in the suspect¡¯s vi, which are suspected to belong to the victim, were also confirmed to be from victim number three. However, how the suspect knew the details of the ¡¯Rain-soaked Corpse Case¡¯ and why he chose to imitate it remains uncertain." "The suspect himself imed that he saw the reports online, and that day, because of an argument over the price of prostitution, he had a conflict with hispanion and killed him in a fit of rage. He then thought of the case he had seen online, felt it suited his situation, and as it was raining a lot those days, he imitated the way the body was disposed of," Liu Cheng followed up behind Jiang Yuan, providing additional exnation. "The pollen profiles of the first scenes of bodies number one, two, four, and three are simr, indicating that the first scene is not in He Wei¡¯s home but rather in a vi close to his home. We¡¯ve begun to investigate his neighbors and close rtions," Jiang Yuan added. The experts from the city bureau frowned and said, "A tremendous effort is now focused on He Wei alone? If this thread breaks, we will be left with nothing." "Old Sun is already conducting the interrogation over there," Tao Lu shook his head, indicating he was powerless to do anything. The atmosphere in the office became somewhat gloomy for a moment. Liu Jinghuiughed heartily, forcibly lightening the mood, "No matter what, we¡¯ve solved a murder case. Even if it¡¯s not the ¡¯Rain-soaked Corpse Case,¡¯ it¡¯s still pretty good. Let¡¯s not be so tense." Tao Lu gave a wry smile, "Once bitten, twice shy." Liu Jinghui shook his head, "You¡¯re like a student who scored 99 on a test and insists on crying about losing that one point. We don¡¯t have to ace every single subject..." Tao Lu, now smiling too, turned and said, "Actually, it¡¯s Jiang Yuan who got the 99. I didn¡¯t score at all. Honestly, I¡¯m still somewhat bewildered about how this case was solved." The process and details of the case were clear to everyone present, including the two criminal investigation experts from the city bureau; at this point, they were also in favor of what Tao Lu had said. Working on this half-baffling case up to now, where could one even begin to look for omissions and fill in the gaps? Atst, everyone confirmed the time for dinner and dispersed. After all, it was still the stage of cracking a major case, and even though the leads had stalled here, it really wasn¡¯t appropriate to gather for dinner in such a rxed manner. Jiang Yuan led the members of the Cold Case Squad as well as Liu Jinghui and others back to the temporary residence. The house had also been bought by his father. Back when Jiang Vige was being demolished, a street next to the resettlement housing developed overnight with various foot massage parlors, KTVs, mahjong and poker rooms, and the like. Some vigers ended up spendingrge amounts of demolitionpensation on pleasures and gambling. Jiang Fuzhen was likewise tempted, fooled by an agent to go to Beijing, and bought several apartments in a remote area outside the third ring road. He returned with only a few thin pages of documentation, at one point even suspected to have been scammed. Now, Jiang Fuzhen hadn¡¯t really seen much of these houses either, as they had been rented out for years; it was only when Jiang Yuan came to Beijing and an apartment lease happened to expire that he took it back. But the chefs from Shan Nan were very convenient¡ªit wasn¡¯t long before they came over on a scheduled flight, bringing with them some local delicacies. By the time Jiang Yuan and the others arrived home, the chefs were already rattling pans in the small kitchen. Liu Jinghui settled into the independent sofa to the side, stretched his back and let out a sigh of relief, saying, "Having our own ce is pretty good. At times like this, eating out at restaurants is uneasy, for fear of being recognized and hearing them say we¡¯re indulging in food and drink while in the midst of solving a case..." "We are indeed nning to have a big meal," Wang Chuanxing actively ced a can of beer in front of each person and said, "Remember, those on driving duty tonight should not drink, or we¡¯ll need to switch drivers." Liu Jinghui cracked open a beer with a "pop," took a sip, and said, "The current situation is that we¡¯ve hit a dead end with the leads. The copycat crime cases are as good as solved. The Rotten Corpse in Rain case either needs to be reopened or we must have a breakthrough with suspect number three. This meal is like a banquet to close the case." As he spoke, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan, somewhat expecting to be contradicted. Jiang Yuan also took a sip of beer and then continued, "Speaking of leads, the crime scene investigation yielded very clear signs of the crime and there is evidence that He Weimitted the act. The problem is, these can only prove the case of victim number three. The only thing now that ties cases one, two, and four to number three is the pollen map created by Legal Botany." "So the breakthrough still lies with the suspect we¡¯re looking at today," Liu Jinghui said after finishing most of his beer in one gulp and then asked, "If the pollen maps are simr, does that mean the primary crime scene is at the same location or at least in close proximity?" "That¡¯s pretty much the case," Jiang Yuan nodded. "Then I actually have a question. There were too many people in the office just now, so I didn¡¯t mention it," Liu Jinghui began, continuing, "You found the murder weapon that killed victim number three at the scene, as well as the victim¡¯s blood, right?" "Right." "There was nothing from victims one, two, and four?" "Right." "This actually suggests that finding the blood of number three is quite strange," Liu Jinghui looked around at the detectives, confirming they were all Jiang Yuan¡¯s people before adding, "The murderer disyed extreme caution at the secondary crime scene, including the third victim. I remember the investigation record stating that the area around where the body was dumped was spotlessly clean of any blood and other bodily fluids, and the murderer didn¡¯t leave any trace, so how could there be bloodstains of number three in his own home?" Jiang Yuan slowly nodded, admitting that from a logical standpoint, this indeed didn¡¯t make much sense. Wang Chuanxing said, "The secondary crime scene had rain and was in the wilderness, so traces like small amounts of blood were probably washed away and dposed." Liu Jinghui shook his head, clearly not agreeing with Wang Chuanxing¡¯s analysis, yet reasoning was like this¡ªlogic wasn¡¯t always facts, the oddities of reality often mystify rational people, and the irrational behavior of criminals is often extreme. Liu Jinghui continued, "I looked at the crime scene photos. He Wei¡¯s home was also very clean, and since he lived alone, if he was diligent in cleaning, how could the ce where he killed not be meticulously cleaned up? Were the leftover traces easy to find?" "Not too difficult¡ªbehind the drain pipe, traditional location," Jiang Yuan, now at LV5 in crime scene investigation, was actually unsure whether the traces left by the murderer were too easy or too difficult to find. "We should investigate He Wei¡¯s social rtionships thoroughly; it¡¯s unlikely that he would let a stranger into his house to deal with a body," Wang Chuanxing suggested. Liu Jinghui shook his head, "That brings us back to the original question. If he really had a master or apprentice, is that something outsiders could find out?" "What about the ess control in the residentialplex? In this kind of vimunity, they check everyoneing in and out, right? Even if they don¡¯t register, there must be some use for the surveince." "Perhaps. But I think no matter what the rtionship between the two, they definitely wouldn¡¯t visit frequently," Liu Jinghui deduced, his expression revealing some difficulty, yet his eyes gradually brightening. It had been a long time since he had encountered a case with such apelling feel! Chapter 745 - 688 Brainstorming

Chapter 745: Chapter 688 Brainstorming

Jiang Yuan¡¯s dinners were always sumptuous, and as mealtime approached, Li Haochen, Cui Xiaohu, Liu Cheng, and Cui Qishan, among others, would show up uninvited. This group of criminal investigators was essentially the main force in the "Rainy Corpse Case." Those who didn¡¯te, like Tao Lu and Huang Qiangmin, were mostly concerned with administrative roles, taking the lead in meetings but waiting for news when it came to actual work. As usual, Jiang Yuan provided a variety of beers, while the chefs went all out preparing over a dozen appetizers for everyone to enjoy while chatting. Since the house was newly reacquired and Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t had time to renovate, he had bought arge round table that could seat more than a dozen people in advance. At this moment, everyone had reced the chairs with arms with small round stools, and after a bit of squeezing, they all found a seat. The conversation quickly turned to the case at hand. Li Haochen, who had been preparing for a while, started, "I asked Tao about thetest progress, and the current suspect, He Wei, also has financial issues. He¡¯s taken out a lot of loans, and even mortgaged his vi a second time. If the banks pressure him to repay now, even selling his vi wouldn¡¯t cover it." "Someone living in a vi has financial problems?" Mu Zhiyang put down his chopsticks while pairing beer with meat and asked, "Where did all his money go?" "His wife probably asked the same thing," Xiao Simented leisurely while sipping his beer. "Mainly prostitution," Li Haochen said. "He liked to visit prostitutes even before the divorce, and after it, he became even more unrestrained. Combined with the division of assets from the divorce and a downturn in his business, his expenses are now exceeding his ie." Xiao Si nodded, "His wife surely inquired about it." "Prostitutes are too expensive, and it¡¯s such a low return on investment," Cui Qishan muttered, then shook his head and added, "That could indeed be a motive for the conflict stemming from prostitution expenses." "It¡¯s possible, but probably not," Li Haochen said seriously, treating today¡¯s discussion as a rare opportunity. "From the murderer¡¯s perspective, the cost of prostitution wouldn¡¯t be ast-minute negotiation but rather a firm figure agreed upon at the start. If there were dissatisfaction midway, it¡¯s unlikely they would bring someone home to resolve it¡ªit¡¯s too dangerous. Just one message from the other party would lead to endless trouble." "People familiar with the victim would have reported the matter to the police long ago; it wouldn¡¯t have dragged on till now," Liu Cheng agreed. "Even a serial killer knows that murder is dangerous," Mu Zhiyang said with a click of his tongue. He was experienced and could say to many of the younger officers, "I¡¯ve caught more serial killers than you¡¯ve had rtionships." "However, financial issues are a fundamental problem. A murderer short on money, even an experienced one, is bound to slip up," Li Haochen said, looking at Liu Jinghui. "Observing He Wei, he still seems to have a strong will to survive, and it doesn¡¯t make sense for him to let himself slide into a financial crisis." His main goal that day was to brainstorm with Liu Jinghui, of course, if Captain Jiang could provide technical support, that would be the best. Liu Jinghui was naturally willing to discuss the matter. He racked his brain and said, "You make a good point. Prostitution isn¡¯t a simple matter, and Beijing¡¯s vis are expensive, right? He could mortgage his for at least ten million. If he paid a little attention to his spending, it¡¯s impossible for him to burn through that much money. If he noticed financial trouble, a normal person would pause and reevaluate... Does he have a sexual addiction?" "It¡¯s abnormal but not to such an extent," Li Haochen said. "After all, he¡¯s been in business; how could heck any sense of money? I also asked his ex-wife; during their divorce, she took the cash, jewelry, stocks, and other liquid assets, leaving the house to He Wei. They even agreed in writing to leave it to their child in the future. Could it be for this reason that he decided to spend all his money?" "Started killing thinking he might eventually get caught, so he decided to spend all his money?" Liu Jinghui continued thinking aloud, taking a big gulp of beer before adding, "If that¡¯s the case, it actually shows he values money. And you need even more money once you¡¯re in jail. If he were thoughtful, he should understand this." Cui Qishan was getting impatient with the back-and-forth reasoning and said, "Why not just check his ounts? Spending millions in just two or three years, not all of that could have gone to prostitutes. Let¡¯s speak frankly off the record, whether you pay by the day or by the service, who couldst three years and spend ten million like that?" The group nodded in agreement. Following his team leader¡¯s train of thought, Xiao Si still sounded skeptical, "Maybe he doesn¡¯t just call one at a time..." Cui Qishan looked at the young Xiao Si with disdain, "For a crafty old dog like that, you can¡¯t handle even one. You think he¡¯s calling two or three at a time? Every day? He¡¯s sick." The room suddenly felt colder, so Mu Zhiyang hurriedly stood up to toast everyone to lighten the mood while thinking unconsciously: Such matters shouldn¡¯t just be taken at Cui Qishan¡¯s word, it might be good to ask Liu Wenkaiter. He¡¯s been in public security for so many years, he may not have eaten the chicken, but he has certainly seen the chicken run. "Let¡¯s continue discussing the case," Liu Jinghui said as he pulled out the leather notebook he always carried and made a note. "Looking into the finances is one aspect, but I believe there¡¯s even greater hope in exploring interpersonal rtionships. To imitate a crime, he must have a model, and once we resolve who that is, we¡¯ve essentially solved the core issue of the case." "The serial killer is most likely male. Given the method of murder and the way the bodies are disposed of, he is extremely confident, even somewhat arrogant, and probably older, likely having had sess in certain fields..." Li Haochen had limited time and conducted a brief psychological profile before turning to Jiang Yuan and asking, "Captain Jiang, what do you think?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and responded, "He¡¯s likely male. If the body was moved by one person, the killer must be physically strong, able to carry a person for dozens of meters, and still have the energy and strength to clean up the crime scene... Beyond that, I can¡¯t really tell." "In that sense, He Wei actually fits the profile of the killer quite well," Mu Zhiyang remarked, recounting how He Wei had managed to shake off two police officers with a twist of his body when he was arrested at the scene. The police officers who regrly worked on the front lines, especially those tasked with arresting serious felons, might not be masters ofbat, but they certainly met physical standards and had certain skills and focus. Since He Wei could shake off two officers, it was clear his physical condition far surpassed that of an average person, which perfectly fit the requirement of being physically strong. "If we use that as a basis, there aren¡¯t many people in He Wei¡¯s social circle who fit the bill," Liu Cheng said more casually, considering the setting. "Indeed. He Wei¡¯s father is already deceased, his son is still young¡ªmaybe we could consider some weaker ties, like ssmates or fellow fitness enthusiasts?" Li Haochen suggested, looking over at Liu Jinghui. Clearly, he had already considered this issue. Liu Jinghui, in turn, looked at Liu Cheng and said, "There must have been some intelligence assessment done previously when investigating this case." The so-called intelligence assessment can be understood as collecting information through various channels like criminals. Just as ordinary people don¡¯t know where to buy drugs, some are more thoroughly andprehensively knowledgeable about illegal websites than the cyber police, which isn¡¯t strange at all. The police often receive information that cannot be obtained through normal investigations, through deeds reported in prisons and detention centers, and via special informants, among other means. Liu Jinghui¡¯s question was essentially asking if multiple people could have been involved in the crime. Generally speaking, serial killers tend to work alone because keeping secrets with multiple participants is challenging, but now that an imitator had emerged and people were even considering a master-disciple rtionship, the possibility of multiple perpetrators was not out of the question. For criminals to remain tight-lipped over several years, not boasting while drunk with excitement, not mentioning it out of anger or fear, and not taking advantage of any benefits or emotions gained from the crimes, is in fact, extremely difficult. In the years before DNA testing, many serious cases were solved in this way. Especially in cases like robbery or aggravated rape, the victims might not even report the crime, but the suspects eventually couldn¡¯t help but speak of it themselves. People on the fringes of the criminal world are actually very sensitive and intelligent in this respect; living life on the edge makes it hard to refuse a bonus "life-saving coin." Some would even go home at night and meticulously record such information, noting time, ce, and characters involved, waiting for the day they might be caught and use it to barter for their freedom. Liu Cheng naturally nodded in agreement to Liu Jinghui¡¯s question, adding, "We have done an intelligence assessment, and quite in-depth at that." "In that case..." Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice trailed off as he rubbed his hands together and smiled, "We¡¯re really looking at two aspects here: personal rtionships and financial issues. I think we can add a small item¡ªinformation exchange. We don¡¯t need to borate on the first two, but regarding information exchange, since He Wei was arrested suddenly, could it be possible that his phone or other electronic devices still contain a browsing history, records ofmunication?" "We could also look for things like his membership cards... gyms, clubs, and so on. These could all be tools for him to contact people," Li Haochen said, visibly excited by the rare opportunity for intellectual coboration. Buzz. Liu Cheng¡¯s phone rang. "It¡¯s from Tao," Liu Cheng said, and quickly went to the balcony to answer the call. After a minute, Liu Cheng returned, looking at the tableful of expectant eyes and announced, "He Wei is showing an intent to confess, but he is asking for the person in charge of the special investigation team, as well as the investigating officer who found him, to be present. The interrogator suggested that Captain Jiang and Tao participate in the interrogation, as it might be helpful." Both Liu Jinghui and Li Haochen, who were good at reasoning, frowned simultaneously. Based on the current conditions, was there a risk that our brainstorming was in vain? Chapter 746 - 689: How Many People Have You Killed?

Chapter 746: Chapter 689: How Many People Have You Killed?

Interrogation room. He Wei was tightly bound in the interrogation chair, yet his expression conveyed a kind offortable contentment, as if he were in a casual meeting with his subordinates during normal business operations. Compared to the stone-faced police interrogators often dealing with ferocious criminals, He Wei¡¯s demeanor was calm and collected, which gave him a rather imposing air. "Let¡¯s hear it, what¡¯s your purpose in wanting to see us?" Tao Lu was not taken in by He Wei¡¯s antics; he had seen many big shots before. He Wei had merely killed a few people and was still evasive, which might be startling but hardly intimidating in modern society. He Wei rxed into a smile, "Don¡¯t be tense. I intend to confess truthfully, but before I do, I just want to confirm whether you have the ability to catch the culprit. I wouldn¡¯t want to sell myself out only for you to close the case directly." "Do you still not know whether we have the ability?" Tao Lu was somewhat energized. Since He Wei had mentioned this, he must be ready to spill something, even if only to amuse himself with some fabrications. And for the police, any word from a suspect was information. "How did you find me?" He Wei¡¯s gaze shifted toward Jiang Yuan. A police officer had briefly introduced him earlier on, and Jiang had appeared as the chief investigator. Tao Lu spoke out of turn, "You don¡¯t need to know that. Right now, it¡¯s your turn to give a statement, not the other way around." If possible, the police would rather not give the criminal suspect any information at all. The notion of equal rights to information between parties, as seen in the legal systems of Europe and America, did not align with domestic judicial practices. Jiang Yuan was even less inclined to educate theyperson again. After several days of interrogation, He Wei had grown ustomed to the process and, with augh, said, "I don¡¯t think I left any traces, yet you still caught up with me... However, the case that you seem so keen to pin on me involves the victim named Sha Lirong, right? You keep focusing on this case; do you think I¡¯m behind this one?" "Isn¡¯t it?" Tao Lu countered. "So... do you think that¡¯s the only case I¡¯ve done?" He Wei continued with another question. This time, a chill crept up Tao Lu¡¯s spine. Tao Lu looked at He Wei, forced himself to wait a few seconds, then asked, "What are you implying?" "You think this is a copycat crime, don¡¯t you? Did you find any evidence at my home? Did you find the murder weapon?" Despite not getting an answer, He Wei kept questioning. This time, Tao Lu pondered, then recalled the interrogation records before answering, "We found the victim¡¯s bloodstains and the weapon you used in the crime. What¡¯s your exnation?" "Sha Lirong was killed by me." He Wei readily admitted, nced at the interrogation officer, and said with a smile, "Sorry for not leaving the credit to you, but I couldn¡¯t help it, brother, I have my reasons." Tao Lu was somewhat surprised but seized the opportunity to ask, "Do you have any evidence?" "I¡¯ve already turned myself in, do you still need evidence from me?" "We need to prove that you aren¡¯t taking the fall for someone else." "The details of the crime? I have them. The lethal positions were roughly here." He Wei gestured to the area over his ribs as he spoke, "Two strikes, one of them hit a bone." Tao Lu looked toward Jiang Yuan, who gave a slight nod. "To wrap the body, I used an old model blue tarpaulin, the kind used outdoors, from a stock clearance sale..." He Wei continued, even appearing somewhat smug. Tao Lu and the others let him talk freely. A criminal entering such a state was the easiest to elicit a confession from. For a convict facing a predetermined death sentence, this was also a rare moment of satisfaction. "Focus on the main points," He Wei said after a few more sentences, then suddenly stopped. Tao Lu frowned slightly as he looked at him. "Officer Jiang, can you guess?" He Wei wanted to speak but also hesitated, still ying coy like a person about to jump off a building, wanting to make the plunge yet feeling the need to wait a bit longer. Jiang Yuan listened to the crime details He Wei had just described, his mind working with lightning speed. As a forensic doctor, he naturally had a deep impression of the four victims¡¯ bodies. Although several of the corpses were severely dposed due to being exposed to the rain when found, the areas of trauma, the angles of pration, and so on, could still be made out to some degree. Jiang Yuan reflected on the wounds of these bodies,paring them to what He Wei had said, and couldn¡¯t help but be deeply engrossed in thought. Because some things about the bodies couldn¡¯t be seen anymore, but He Wei definitely didn¡¯t know the specific conditions of the bodies, so, ording to what he said, the simrity of these four bodies was a bit too high... Considering this angle... At this point, He Wei didn¡¯t really wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer. After his provocation, he decisively said, "Apart from this case that you think is a copycat, the other three cases were all done by me. I imitated myself!" "Huh?" "Why?" There were different voices in both the monitoring room and the interrogation room. At this moment, He Wei stoppedughing, and his eyes turned a shade darker as he said, "The second time I disposed of a body, someone captured it on camera. Theyter sent me a phone withdder and self-destructing message software installed, and used the video they took to ckmail me." Without waiting for inquiries, He Wei continued, "The case you are now trying to pin on me, this case involving Sha Lirong, involves a person who was designated by the other party for me to kill. I intentionally imitated my own modus operandi to differentiate it from my own cases, and moreover, I deliberately left some evidence just in case I could use these one day..." Even an experienced detective like Tao Lu was stunned, not sure where to begin with his questions. He Wei kept talking to himself, "That guy didn¡¯t know my exact method of killing, but he knew about my family situation, even took a video, and threatened to kill my son. I had no choice but toply. I thought, directly using the method of murder to prove there¡¯s someone behind the scenes would be the safest bet." "Your thought process..." Tao Lu looked at He Wei, waited a moment, then decided to follow his narrative, and asked further, "What about the fourth victim?" "I couldn¡¯t hold back," He Wei paused, then asked, "You¡¯ve found only four bodies, right?" An electric shock shot through Tao Lu¡¯s head. Tao Lu asked, "How many people have you killed?" "Following the other party¡¯s request, I killed another person, but this person, he asked me to take into the mountains. After killing him, I buried the body." He Wei nonchntly curled his lip, "It seems you haven¡¯t found them." Tao Lu with a stern face, "You didn¡¯t look for him?" "Looked for him, but couldn¡¯t find him. This isn¡¯t really my forte. I just thought, after spending money over the years and nearly running out, it¡¯s better to turn myself in." As He Wei spoke, he nced at Tao Lu and then at Jiang Yuan, and said, "I was nning on admitting to a copycat crime, which might not necessarily result in the death penalty. However, if you can catch Old Nine, I wouldn¡¯t mind going down with the death penalty." "Is Old Nine the person you mentioned who took the video? Is that his self-proimed title or a nickname you gave him?" Tao Lu pressed on. "His own im," said He Wei in a lowered voice. "He hasn¡¯t contacted me for a year, and I¡¯m not sure if he¡¯s still watching me." If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had killed people, his words would sound like those of a psychotic. But for someone who had killed, even if psychotic, they stillmand utmost attention. Chapter 747 - 690: Old Nine

Chapter 747: Chapter 690: Old Nine

"Everyone says Beijing is a ce where the elites gather, but I didn¡¯t believe it. After these two cases, though, I really have to say that Beijing¡¯s talents don¡¯t match up to Beijing¡¯s cuisine..." Listening to He Wei¡¯s confession in the surveince room, Liu Jinghui was so excited that his mind felt as if it had been hit by a storm. He had seen plenty of murderers, extortionists were a dime a dozen, and he hade into contact with many witnesses. But Liu Jinghui really never thought that these three roles could one day converge into one. It was like hot and numbing soup with roast duck. Did someone think of this by identally dropping the duck into the spicy broth? Elsewhere, witnesses who see a murder would be too panicked to even call the police, let alone anything else. But this guy was good. He took photos as evidence and then started to y the extortion game. "You know, if you had a serial killer at your disposal, someone you could order to kill anyone without having to take responsibility, that would be really convenient," Li Haochen said, swallowing hard, his mind also beginning to storm, "like when meeting a rival, some love enemy, an annoying nemesis, a bullying boss at work, a nosy neighbor... one order and poof, the world bes a quiet ce!" Seeing that Li Haochen was clearly projecting himself into the scenario, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help asking, "Is that how it¡¯s used?" Li Haochen nodded, "If you could kill without being responsible, you wouldn¡¯t be able to help but to keep using it, right? This mastermind, how did he restrain himself?" "Maybe he just doesn¡¯t have that many love rivals, nemesis, or annoying neighbors around him. As for his boss, I don¡¯t know. Maybe he just hasn¡¯t had the chance for a promotion yet?" Liu Jinghui joked. Li Haochen coughed twice and said, "We¡¯re talking about criminals." "I am talking about criminals," Liu Jinghui responded with a smile. "This Old Nine, if he exists, would be tough to profile," Li Haochen said, not minding Liu Jinghui¡¯s teasing and continuing to think along his own familiar lines, "If I were him, the first person I¡¯d ask to be killed would probably be aplete stranger, just to test He Wei¡¯spliance. If heplied, that would mean he¡¯s usable and more evidence can be collected to bring himpletely under control." "What if he didn¡¯tply?" Liu Jinghui was just purely curious about Li Haochen¡¯s thought process. Li Haochen said, "If he didn¡¯tply, either he¡¯d be forced with other methods, like threatening his son or something. But if it were me, I¡¯d probably give up right away. After all, it was just a chance encounter. If He Wei didn¡¯tply, I¡¯d just report him, send the photos and videos to the police myself, and let him go to his death." "That¡¯s true, but..." Liu Jinghui looked at Li Haochen and said, "Was it really just a chance encounter?" Li Haochen was taken aback, "You think it wasn¡¯t?" "Ordinary people who witness a murder or disposal of a body would normally call the police, or at worst, run home and pretend they didn¡¯t see anything. The one who knows how to use this situation, and controls a serial killer tomit murder through sending a phone, pre-installing foreign apps, and the like, do you think he¡¯s a normal person?" Liu Jinghui continued, asking, "He Wei still chooses to dispose of bodies on rainy days, and yet he was caught on camera. The person taking the pictures is such a ruthless character. What are the odds of that?" Li Haochen listened and slowly nodded, "But if someone is purposefully collecting evidence on He Wei, how did they first find out? Maybe it was a she?" Both of them looked up at the same time, "Ex-wife?" Liu Jinghui immediately shook his head, "No, watching He Wei squander tens of millions in three years, there aren¡¯t many women who could tolerate that. She would be better off sending He Wei to prison, leaving the property and everything for her and her son." Li Haochen also said, "Indeed, a killer is not necessarily more valuable than a dead ex-husband." "If we consider it from this angle, then we still have to look for Old Nine in He Wei¡¯s social connections," Liu Jinghui concluded. "As for the fifth body, if we could have just a bit more information, we might be able to crack the case through this lead," said Li Haochen, who was generally very optimistic. The reason serial killers are difficult to catch is an important one, they vent emotions instead of pursuing profit. Most criminals, after all,mit crimes for profit. By following the trail of profit, the scope of suspects is often defined. Just like He Wei¡¯s confession about the fifth body, if it was indeed the real target of the so-called Old Nine, then the body could provide a wealth of information. The discussion between the two came to a pause at this point; their reasoning had be too divergent. To continue deducing, they still needed some evidence for support. In the interrogation room, He Wei had decided to confess, and the information he revealed became more and more extensive, including the murder weapons used in three other cases, which he had also kept close to him, stashed in the gym of his residentialmunity. And the vehicle he used formitting the crimes was also borrowed¡ªa friend¡¯s off-road vehicle specifically for fishing. No matter how rough the seas, a fisherman never retreats. Borrowing a car every few months only made his friends praise him for having a hobby. Even if the car got dirty or stained with blood, he¡¯d just say it happened during a pic, and that would be that. While He Wei was confessing, the police were already striking out in all directions, gathering evidence and looking for people. Including He Wei¡¯s ex-wife and son, who were summoned to the police station under the guise of protection and had their statements recorded, regardless of whether they were suspects or not. By the time Jiang Yuan emerged from the interrogation room and headed to the scene of the fifth body, the task force was abuzz with discussion. Although the case hadn¡¯t beenpletely solved yet, if one didn¡¯t set the bar too high, the case could be considered 60 to 70 percent solved. Some even spected that there might not be an actual mastermind behind the scenes after all, and it might just be a fabrication by He Wei. Liu Jinghui cut off such spection with a simple sentence, "To seek a lighter sentence, insisting that he imitated the crimes would be most beneficial for him." In fact, He Wei had originally been caught because of his imitation crimes. If he hadn¡¯t confessed, linking the remaining cases to him would have only been possible after further investigation into those three cases. "Would it be toote now to use He Wei¡¯s phone to contact this Old Nine?" someone from Cui Qishan¡¯s team asked. They had connections to the big shots in the security field, maybe they could get some information. After much hesitation, Tao Lu said, "We can¡¯t make contact. Old Nine might not be sure yet if He Wei has exposed him. It¡¯s too early to stir the snake in the grass. We need to be at least a little prepared, to define a range first. Hm... let¡¯s wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s news." "Jiang Yuan is really skilled at investigating crime scenes," Liu Jinghui casually described some of the cases he had worked on with Jiang Yuan, as if he was telling stories, which also helped alleviate the pressure on the detectives. Tao Lu could only nod, "If we calcte the time, they should have dug it out by now." While he was speaking, his phone rang. Tao Lu immediately answered the call and asked, "Captain Jiang, how is it going?" "Thirty meters away from where the body was buried, near a small path, there are traces of worship. I found an old footprint with incense ash in the middle of it. The worshipper is about 30 years old, 1.7 meters tall, male, weighing around 120 pounds..." Jiang Yuan rapidly went over the results of the scene¡¯s investigation. Tao Lu was momentarily confused, then quickly perked up. Old Nine¡¯s n was bold, but his execution scored far too low. Chapter 748 - 691 Screening

Chapter 748: Chapter 691 Screening

The footprints of the worshipper Jiang Yuan had found near the burial site weren¡¯t particrly unusual. The person of average height and age, slightly lighter in weight but still within the tens of millions of ordinary weights, couldn¡¯t directly point to Old Nine¡¯s identity. However, the act of worship exposed much more. It indicated that Old Nine had an emotional connection with the buried victim, regardless of whether it was love, hate, grievances, or human suffering. In short, the act of worshippletely dragged the case back from a serial murder to an ordinary homicide. The scariest aspect of a serial killer is actually their antisocial nature. If you have a serial killer who desires nothing, that is the most helpless situation, and most of those who do as they please are also very difficult to investigate. Even if the police manage to connect with their thought process, it doesn¡¯t necessarily lead to effective investigation. Crimes of passion are much better. Despite it seeming like a person may know many others, in reality, the social limit of a normal person is about 500, with around 150 that one maintains contact with. This is known as the Dunbar¡¯s 150 rule. And from the detectives¡¯ point of view, surely these 150 people can¡¯t all be enemies. The number of people who harbor love and hate intense enough to result in murder is naturally even fewer. Thus, upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s discovery, without the need for Director Liu to remind them, the detectives frequently involved in cases could easily conceive a variety of ways to solve the case. Tao Lu directly drove to the scene. Liu Jinghui, Li Haochen, Cui Xiaohu, and others followed suit. Upon arriving, the group quickly ascended the mountain. Tao Lu, walking a bit behind, said as they walked, "I was initially thinking of letting Jiang Yuan go all out, calmly inspect the scene, and then allocate resources to restart the grand battle. I never dreamed that Old Nine would engage in some sort of worship... Now I¡¯m worried it¡¯s the work of nearby vigers, which would be a false rm." "Even without this act of worship, following the socialwork to investigate is the correct approach," Director Liu smoothed out, "If Jiang Yuan says it¡¯s a suspect, then the likelihood is still pretty high." Liu Cheng from the side remarked, "There aren¡¯t many people left in the nearby viges, and there are no graveyards ahead. However, we sent people to inquire whether anyone was buried here." Many vigers in different ces would quietly bury their dead, but in Beijing, this was lessmon. Liu Cheng was just being cautious. Tao Lu nodded; such basic procedures didn¡¯t require his arrangement. As they continued and began to sweat slightly from the climb, they reached the burial site. From afar, they could see the police tape and drones flying overhead, resources that Ningtai Countycked. In the Zhengguang Bureau, these weremon practices, but in the county, even if purchased, they were seldom used. Up close, Jiang Yuan was busy inside a gravesite, d in a whiteb coat and rain boots. Next to him were several jars each containing insects andrvae among other small creatures. "The body has been sent away, and I¡¯ve done a preliminary check. The body is nearing skeletonization, but remnants of clothing are still present. Furthermore, the victim¡¯s personal items contained keys and jewelry, primarily made of metal... Further ahead is the worship site, also guarded by colleagues..." Jiang Yuan gave a brief exnation, also allowing Tao Lu and the others to see for themselves. After looking, Tao Lu was immediately much more at ease. The worship site was located off the path and surrounded by secondary forest. Judging by the thickness of the trees, they were at least twenty to thirty years old; it was normal to think that there were no graves beneath. "Can the identity be confirmed? Can DNA and fingerprints be retrieved?" Tao Lu promptly turned and asked Jiang Yuan, "It needs to be matched clearly with the victims reported by He Wei." "DNA should be no problem. As for fingerprints, the skin on the hands is gone, not sure if they can be retrieved from the keys," replied Jiang Yuan, his tone quite rxed. These were simple tasks; any LV1 could handle them, and an LV2 could do them quite well. Meanwhile, Director Liu and Li Haochen had started sifting through the victim¡¯s interpersonal rtionships upon confirming the site of the worship. Although they didn¡¯t have aplete and detailed list, a person¡¯s significant interest connections are limited, as are the possible motives of love and hate. Liu Jinghui had been a criminal investigator for many years, and upon seeing the identity of a victim, he could immediately call to mind a few vulnerable rtionships, most of which would typically match the case. Such as marital rtionships, debt rtionships, couples, adulterers... What could be a bit troublesome were those intimate rtionships marred by years of resentment; however, to the criminal investigators, they didn¡¯t need to be so meticulous. In the face of such malicious cases, it was a given that they would review all close rtionships thoroughly. Therefore, there were people who meticulously nned crimes, hoping to distance themselves from them. Some even designed quite clever schemes, showing ack of deep understanding of the judicial system. Police investigations werergely about overwhelming force; there were hardly any investigators who would seriously haggle for ages just to exclude a few suspects from the list. Liu Jinghui was no different; he was capable of crafting very intricate investigation processes, but there was no need for it. Given the current staffing of the Zhengguang Bureau, handing them a narrowed-down list was like cutting down the opportunities for the younger officers to distinguish themselves, which could be considered hical. Even Cui Qishan, a middle-aged squadron leader, volunteered, saying, "Should I take people to sweep through the woods here?" "Well... sigh, go ahead," Tao Lu reluctantly agreed. Think of it as a thorough cleaning; more workload, but at least it¡¯s done more cleanly. After Jiang Yuanpleted the autopsy, it was almost the next day. By the afternoon, when Jiang Yuan woke up and returned to the task force, he saw in therge conference room a long list hanging, continuously crossed out, checkmarked, starred... "How¡¯s it going? Is the progress smooth?" Jiang Yuan knew this was a repeat check, using Xu Ke¡¯s words from before, it was like having so much wealth that they were burning through it. Liu Cheng, busy and sweating, yet in good spirits, replied, "We¡¯ve nearly finished scouting out the rtionships around the victim. However, we have yet to find a definite suspect; we¡¯ve just listed some possible suspects..." "What does Director Liu say?" Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Cheng looked towards Liu Jinghui and Li Haochen not far away and said, "Director Liu and they are having quite a heated discussion; it¡¯s a sh of different theories." That meant they were each sticking to their guns and could not reach an agreement. Jiang Yuan understood and, looking at the list on the whiteboard ahead, asked, "Haven¡¯t you brought people in for questioning yet?" Just like some people who flirt online with flourish, but when ites down to offline encounters, they lower their heads, bashfully hiding themselves. Criminal suspects who are evasive aren¡¯t scary. By pulling them in one by one for questioning, the suspects might very well reveal themselves. However, Liu Cheng shook his head, saying, "The total number is still quite high; we have at least dozens of remaining suspects. The victim, Liu Zhiwu, was a project manager at a renovationpany which handled many projects, and there were quite a few instances of under-the-table dealings, so there¡¯s no shortage of people involved in financial disputes. Tao thinks we need to secure some evidence before we can arrest anyone. Otherwise, if the suspect destroys the evidence, this case will get ugly." It all came down to different considerations from different positions. It was inherently difficult to prove someone as the mastermind behind the scenes; if Laojiu could scrub the evidence clean, the prosecution phase would be extremely unappealing. "You¡¯ve filtered through the footprints and only have a few people left?" Jiang Yuan asked. Liu Cheng hurriedly replied, "We¡¯ve widened the weight range a bit, considering that over the course of a year, one¡¯s weight might change. We¡¯ve nearly exhausted all other methods." Jiang Yuan immediately said, "If it¡¯s just a few people, that¡¯s not too many for footprintparison. Why don¡¯t you collect their footprints for me, and I¡¯llpare them one by one. If they prove identical, we can basically confirm the suspect." "Is that possible?" Liu Cheng, who had dealt with footprint analysis, knew it mainly helped narrow down the range; instances where it could directly establish identity were very rare. Jiang Yuan just nodded. He had rested enough and was ready to begin intensive work at any moment. The scope of application for footprint analysis had just expanded! Chapter 749 - 692: Cousin

Chapter 749: Chapter 692: Cousin

Coming over with Liu Cheng to deliver photos of the suspect¡¯s footprints was Chen Guoning from the Zhengguang Bureau Forensic Science Center. The two first ced the photos on Jiang Yuan¡¯s office desk before Liu Cheng said, "From the footprints, we¡¯ve narrowed the suspects down to a total of seven people. I had Chen broaden the search a little, to a total of twelve. Take a look and see if you can narrow it down further." After speaking, Liu Cheng continued, "Chen, Chen Guoning is a veteran trace examiner at our Zhengguang Bureau, also adept at footprint analysis. His master is one of the pioneers of the Forensic Science Center. He also studied under the apprentices of the master of tracking, Ma Yulin. After he came back, in a single month, he caught several truckloads of criminals. It was considered legendary." "Impressive. Nice to meet you, Director Chen..." When Jiang Yuan came to Beijing, he did bring some EQ to his work. Chen Guoning, who seemed to be in his forties or fifties, smiled and said, "The impressive one is my master. If we¡¯re talking about legends, that would be the senior Ma Yulin. My life¡¯s biggest regret is not having met the old gentleman. I have consulted with several of Ma¡¯s disciples along with my master, but ording to my master, I¡¯m a bit slow on the uptake, only half-baked, and still have a lot to learn from Captain Jiang." With a few sentences, he dispelled the slight awkwardness in the office using stories of the old masters. Of course, it was still possible to detect a hint of dissatisfaction¡ªafter all, Jiang Yuan was going to sift through the list and photos that he had already filtered. If one were a bit more hot-tempered, it could even be said that Jiang Yuan was stepping on his neck to do the job. But with the case of the "Corpse in the Rain," the stakes were too high. Now, with a behind-the-scenes mastermind like a case within a case, Chen Guoning indeed felt powerless. Under these circumstances, he could only let Jiang Yuan take the lead. Moreover, given the capabilities Jiang Yuan had shown before, Chen Guoning even felt the need to defuse the atmosphere a bit. Jiang Yuan was actually quite familiar with this kind of atmosphere. Working on cold cases always had this issue: the cold case unit essentially filled in the gaps left by the current case team in cracking cases. Even without a single problem in the current case team¡¯s work, the cold case unit¡¯s efforts could still highlight imperfections in the current one. Jiang Yuan simply smiled, ustomed to this. He could only say that half of the fee collected by Huang Qiangmin included bearing pressure. "Footstep tracking is best performed with multiple sets of footprints," Jiang Yuan stated, offering a simple exnation. The domestic footprint identification technology can be said to have all stemmed from Ma Yulin¡ªa herdsman who started shepherding and carrying loads at the age of 12. He developed a forensic art entirely through his own observation,parison, and contemtion. For a long time, disciples who had learned from Ma Yulin set up numerous training sses across the country, nurturing China¡¯s first batch of criminal police officers specialized in footprint identification. In terms of self-taught sess, even Jiang Yuan, who was endowed with a systematic knowledge, acknowledged there was still a gap in depthpared torade Ma Yulin. Jiang Yuan surmised that to surpass the capabilities of ordinary individuals and to surpass forensics experts worldwide of his time, one would likely need to be at an LV8 level. It¡¯s imaginable that before the 1980s, mainly in the 60s and 70s, when the whole country was full of dirt and mud roads, Ma Yulin¡¯s tracking techniques could almost be applied in various cases. In contrast, today¡¯s footprint identification has a more solid theoretical foundation and wider applications. However, as for practicality, it might not be as effective as in the past. "Where do you n to start, Captain Jiang?" Chen Guoning didn¡¯t discuss technical details with Jiang Yuan. He had privately reviewed several of Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint identification cases and was not entirely sure to what extent Jiang Yuan could achieve. In many instances, where Chen Guoning thought it was no longer possible to advance a case using footprint identification, Jiang Yuan could still make astounding judgments, which invariably turned out to be correct after the fact. Today¡¯s case also had that vor, as Jiang Yuan had said. If there were multiple sets of footprints, Chen Guoning could also make more detailed judgments. But with just a single footprint, without stride and gait, the difficulty of making urate assessments increased significantly. Anyway, Chen Guoning had reached his own limit. For a serial murder cold case, he didn¡¯t need reminding; he had already given it his utmost effort. To refine it further was beyond his capabilities. "Let¡¯s take a look first," Jiang Yuan said with a smile as he started to examine the photos. Spending a minute or two on each, after looking through over a dozen photos, Jiang Yuan said, "You have the originals, right? Load them onto theputer for a closer look." "I¡¯ll have them uploaded to the server." Liu Cheng, who was sitting and feeling listless, immediately stood up to make a call. Jiang Yuan then turned on the 55-inch screen hanging on the wall, waiting for the photos to be uploaded from the server so he could read the original images in detail. After looking through two or three images, Jiang Yuan stopped and said, "We can focus our investigation on this one." "Yang Wanjun?" Liu Cheng first checked the number on the photo and then confirmed the suspect, saying, "This is the victim Liu Zhiwu¡¯s cousin, the son of his mother¡¯s brother, so they¡¯re close kin... Hmm, the height and weight are consistent, we¡¯ll focus our investigation here." Liu Cheng was essentially in the dark. Now that the case had reached this stage, all the information was new to him, and he hadn¡¯te into contact with it before. In crimes like these where the perpetrators are close rtives, the motive often bes more important and even harder to ascertain. Liu Cheng first made a phone call instructing his subordinates to start the investigation, then turned back and asked, "Captain Jiang, is the footprint definitively matched to a single person? Or is it just a suspect?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and replied, "There is an eighty percent chance it¡¯s from the same person, that¡¯s what the footprints at the scene suggest. The main factors we can observe are the reaction pressure of the footprints, as well as the width of the pressure area and the angle of inclination. Judging from these criteria, it matches up with Yang Wanjun¡¯s." Liu Cheng hurriedly rified, "I was thinking, since Liu Zhiwu worked as a project manager for a renovationpany and may have offended many people, we still haven¡¯tpletely sorted out his work-rted contacts." Right now, Liu Cheng just didn¡¯t feel secure enough; his list of suspects didn¡¯t seem long enough for a detective to be confident. Chen Guoning was staring at the screen, studying the points Jiang Yuan had just mentioned, when he heard Liu Cheng¡¯s words and couldn¡¯t help saying, "Didn¡¯t you say there was a sacrificial ceremony? Would a client pay respects to him?" Liu Cheng was taken aback, then chuckled, "It could be someone with a guilty conscience. Right, we¡¯ll start by looking into Yang Wanjun." Having said that, Liu Cheng left the office to make arrangements. Theoretically, a crime suspect without a criminal record could provide a wealth of information if questioned directly at their home; many people can¡¯t withstand an in-person interrogation by the police. In the case of minor incidents, this is how it¡¯s usually handled. The collection of evidence in advance is something left for the big cases. In other words, even for a case like today¡¯s, where the detectives feel confident they could intimidate a confession out of a suspect with sheer presence, it¡¯s still preferable to gather evidence first if possible. This is like at the card table, where a strong mental game is no match for the stroke of luck that blesses a novice. Jiang Yuan and Chen Guoning worked together to write up and sign the forensic report, then headed downstairs. By that time, the office was bing more lively. "Director Liu." Jiang Yuan saw Liu Jinghui and Li Haochen crouched in a corner looking at a screen as soon as he descended the stairs. "Oh, Jiang Yuan is here," Liu Jinghui said with a listless expression. "Any progress on the case?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat familiar with that look on Liu Jinghui¡¯s face. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "After Liu Zhiwu¡¯s death, Yang Wanjun became the first heir to Liu Zhiwu¡¯s mother¡¯s estate." "Eh, for the money?" "Real estate worth 3 million, at most 4 million, so can¡¯t be too sure," Liu Jinghui said with a grimace. "That¡¯s all his mother had in terms of real estate, with no more than 200,000 in cash assets." "A house worth 4 million is still quite something, many people wouldn¡¯t earn that much in a lifetime," Li Haochen remarked seriously. "Yang Wanjun¡¯s employment is unstable; he barely manages to stick to any job for half a year, hardly earning 100,000 in a year. His father¡¯s residential property back home isn¡¯t worth a million. His aunt¡¯s apartment is his only path to owning a home in Beijing." "Does he have technical skills?" Jiang Yuan asked the crucial question. To capture the process of He Weimitting the crime, or even just the process of dumping the body, a certain level of equipment and technical know-how was necessary. Furthermore, theirmunication afterward using foreign software was not something an average person could manage. "We¡¯re not sure yet. But Yang Wanjun is something of a photography enthusiast and has worked for several emerce startups," Liu Cheng interjected upon returning, his expression one of tion. From his perspective, as long as the case was solved, whether the method of resolution was elegant or not didn¡¯t matter in the slightest. Chapter 750 - 693: Close the Case

Chapter 750: Chapter 693: Close the Case

The victim Liu Zhiwu¡¯s mother came with her brother and nephew. Along the way, the rtivesforted Yang Xiuli, which somewhat improved her mood. Upon meeting Liu Cheng, she even asked, "Officer, when can I take my son home?" Liu Cheng¡¯s attention was originally focused on his nephew Yang Wanjun. He was taken aback by Yang Xiuli¡¯s question before responding, "I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll have to wait until we close the case. Please be patient for a little while longer." "When can the case be closed? When can the murderer be found?" Yang Xiuli pressed on. The attitude of the victim¡¯s family is very important to the police. Liu Cheng replied amiably, "We are currently investigating. There have been some findings, which is why we¡¯ve called everyone in to make a statement. It¡¯s also helpful for us to learn about the situation." "What have you found?" Yang Xiuli was somewhat eager. To her, her son had been gone for a long time, and she wanted to know every bit of news. Liu Cheng shook his head slightly and said, "I apologize, but the case is still under investigation, and this information is confidential." "Even if I am the victim¡¯s mother, I can¡¯t know?" Liu Cheng shook his head again and called a detective over, saying, "Let¡¯s start by taking your statement. As soon as there is something I can share with you, I will notify you immediately." Yang Xiuli¡¯s sister-inw came over and took Yang Xiuli away. Yang Wanjun had been observing the police officers the whole time, but he had been silent throughout. He now followed closely behind his aunt until the detectives called him into a separate interrogation room. After the group dispersed, Liu Cheng let out a sigh and said to Jiang Yuan, "Shall we go to the surveince room together?" "Okay," replied Jiang Yuan. He closed his eyes and recalled the gait of Yang Wanjun, who had just left, saying, "The footsteps left at the memorial site should belong to Yang Wanjun." When faced with the man himself, Jiang Yuan was still not certain whether Yang Wanjun was the one behind the murder. From the observation just now, Yang Wanjun appeared to be an ordinary young man around 30 years old, wearing a id shirt and sneakers, with somewhat weak social skills, but notpletely incapable of social interaction. The impression he gave was less like that of a photographer or photography enthusiast and more like that of a programmer or programming hobbyist. Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t be sure either if Yang Wanjun was the mastermind, but he was still encouraged and said, "Any breakthrough is a good thing, even if he¡¯s not the murderer, he¡¯s definitely an informant." Liu Jinghui nodded slightly in affirmation of the reasoning enthusiast. The surveince room. On the big screen, the interrogation room where Yang Wanjun was located was isted, taking up a quarter of the screen, while the live footage from the other interrogation rooms was disyed on the side. Liu Cheng¡¯s rank wasn¡¯t high enough to use the department¡¯smand center, so the level of information technology instantly reverted to that of Ningtai County, which Jiang Yuan and his colleagues found quite familiar. People like Liu Jinghui and Li Haochen stood behind Jiang Yuan, each wearing a wireless earpiece, able to adjust the sound from different interrogation rooms. Almost in unison, they all selected interrogation room 3, where Yang Wanjun was. It was evident that Yang Wanjun¡¯s voice was still calm at the moment. After briefly describing his rtionship with his cousin, he added, "My cousin liked to boss people around. Just imagine, he worked in a renovationpany, fighting and arguing all the time, and he had to deceive and swindle people. Then he thought he understood society, but look how it turned out... Sigh, my aunt is the same, thinking that her way of educating is so great..." Upon hearing this, Li Haochen couldn¡¯t help but take out his notebook, flipped it open, and started taking notes: he has a strong desire to show off, and when mentioning the deceased and his mother, he exhibits strong emotions... Liu Jinghui nced at the notes and whispered with a smirk, "You¡¯re jumping to conclusions a bit here." "Based in part on Yang Wanjun¡¯s Weibo and Moments," Li Haochen whispered. "He¡¯s more arrogant when he speaks online than he is now." Liu Jinghui raised an eyebrow. He often paid attention to the online presence of people involved in a case, but clearly, he wasn¡¯t as dedicated to it as the younger Li Haochen. At that moment, in interrogation room 3, the officer asked, "What were you doing when Liu Zhiwu disappeared?" "I don¡¯t remember clearly, probably just at work as usual, ying games or something," said Yang Wanjun, appearing extremely nonchnt. The interrogating officer frowned seriously and continued, "Your own cousin goes missing, such a serious matter, and you don¡¯t quite remember it?" "Who remembers the exact time? It was so long ago. Plus, my cousin hadplex dealings. It was normal for him to disappear for a day or two. By the time my aunt felt something was wrong and started calling around for him, several days had already passed," Yang Wanjun said with a convincing air. Surveince room. Li Haochen frowned and said, "This Yang Wanjun clearlycks experience in being interrogated, but he¡¯s lucky in one aspect, he didn¡¯t personallymit the murder, so he really doesn¡¯t have much of a psychological burden." "Doesn¡¯t plotting the murder count?" Mu Zhiyang, who had been with Jiang Yuan for a while, bore some measure of abhorrence against evil. Li Haochen hummed and said, "Legalities aside, just talking about personal psychology, the psychological burden of actuallymitting a murder and nning one are not on the same level." "So you¡¯re saying, nning a murder even helps him resist interrogation?" "That¡¯s about the size of it. However, if he truly is the mastermind behind this, the ending will be the same," Li Haochen didn¡¯t believe an ordinary person could pass an interrogation test without training; relying on fabrications won¡¯t get one very far. Many people think they can lie calmly amongst friends, but that¡¯s usually because their friends don¡¯t call them out, or the lies are insignificant, and some friends are just carefree. But with criminal police, the purpose of taking statements is to record, and once all the made-up content is written down, any contradictions are uneptable. And after the police have grasped a portion of the facts, the chances of getting through an interrogation be even slimmer. Someone like Yang Wanjun, even if his lies are tightly woven, would still face intense scrutiny. "We¡¯ve already sent people to search Yang Wanjun¡¯s house, plus we¡¯ve called in aputer expert to analyze his electronic devices. In a few hours, we¡¯ll know everything about his online activities, whether he buys memberships or not," Cui Qishan said with a slightly ferocious smile, somewhat reminiscent of a domesticated wolf showing its feral nature. Mu Zhiyang, thinking of something, hissed, "High-tech crime is not advisable." "The victim¡¯s mother is still praising Yang Wanjun," Wang Chuanxing reminded in a low voice. He was on a task and couldn¡¯t just look at any surveince room he wanted. Hearing this, Liu Cheng switched therge screen to the victim¡¯s mother¡¯s perspective, and everyone adjusted their volume ordingly. The victim¡¯s mother was rambling on, "Wanjun is someone I¡¯ve watched grow up. As a child, he was often sent to stay at my house during the winter and summer vacations. I paid for his school fees, helped him find a job, bought him a camera, furniture... Wanjun is a good kid. If only my Zhiwu were as obedient as him..." "So, you¡¯ve been giving Yang Wanjun long-term financial support? Why?" the interrogating officer asked. The victim¡¯s mother shook her head, "That wasn¡¯t support, Wanjun is one of our Yang family. It¡¯s only right for me to give him a bit of money, isn¡¯t it?" "What about your son?" "My son is treated the same. He nevercked anything and used to y with Wanjun a lot when they were kids." "How¡¯s their rtionship?" "They got along well." "And now? Do they see each other often?" "We always gather as a family for holidays, and I often take my son back with me. He¡¯s been busier these past two years, so he¡¯s gone back less." "In your will, your son Liu Zhiwu is the primary heir and Yang Wanjun is the secondary heir? Why is that?" the interrogating officer pressed further on the matter of interests. The victim¡¯s mother exined naturally, "Wanjun isn¡¯t married yet. What I mean is, if I¡¯m around, I could lend Wanjun money for his marriage. If I¡¯m not, then I¡¯d leave half the house to Wanjun, which should be enough for a down payment." "Does your son agree with this?" "Of course, he does. He doesn¡¯t concern himself with my affairs and I haven¡¯t spent his money," the olddy¡¯s tone was very firm. The people in the surveince room looked at each other before hearing Cui Qishan softly say, "With a mother like that, it¡¯s not surprising anyone could turn out to be a Chapter 751 - 694: Testimony

Chapter 751: Chapter 694: Testimony

Noon. Jiang Yuan and the others had lunch at a donkey meat restaurant near the Zhengguang Bureau, choosing it for its affordable and interesting menu as a break from the usual cafeteria fare. Beijing¡¯s local dishes were hardlymendable, essentially just tourist traps. But the restaurants from other regions werepeting fiercely, earnestly seeking recognition. The Hejian Donkey Meat Huoshao Shop they chose was serious about its craft, using real donkey meat, real donkey intestines, and freshly baked tbread, along with just-cooked millet soup¡ªabination of high-quality protein and explosive calories that was delicious and guilt-inducing, perfectly replicating Western fast food but with a transcendent twist. "Captain Jiang, try this donkey tripe," said Wei Cheng, who hade along, while Liu Cheng was still busy in the office. "It¡¯s one of the owner¡¯s specialties, dry pot donkey tripe, first braised, then fried, and finally stir-fried with chili peppers, without the slightest off-vor." Jiang Yuan obligingly took a piece of the donkey tripe, chewed it carefully, and indeed, it was both aromatic and tender. Liu Jinghui next to him also tried a piece and kept nodding his head, "It¡¯s really good. As the old saying goes, I¡¯d rather lose my wife than give up donkey tripe. There¡¯s some truth to that." Mu Zhiyang pondered for a moment before catching on andughing, "Director Liu, if your sister-inw heard you say that, you¡¯d be in trouble." Li Haochen was taken aback and then smiled, "Director Liu, you wouldn¡¯t want your sister-inw to hear you say that..." All the young people present startedughing. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t understand the joke and didn¡¯t care, just doubled up on the donkey tripe, ate it, and thenughed, "If I took some donkey tripe home, my kid¡¯s mom would probably let me off the hook, since I¡¯m not any important person, not worth a meal of donkey tripe." "It¡¯s normal for a man not to be worth a strand of donkey tripe at home," Meng Chengbiao, who felt the same way, clinked his cup with Liu Jinghui¡¯s and took a big sip of tea. The detectives, whomanded the weather in their units, jurisdictions, and technical fields, couldn¡¯t help but raise their cups. The few female officers present exchanged looks but didn¡¯t see any issue. After a satisfying meal and tea, upon returning to the bureau, they saw Liu Cheng with a delighted expression on his face. "A breakthrough?" asked Liu Jinghui. Liu Cheng nodded and beamed, "Yang Wanjun couldn¡¯t hold out anymore; he¡¯s pretty much confessed to everything." Liu Jinghui also lit up with joy, "How did he suddenly be cooperative?" "We found a video of He Wei dumping a body on a USB drive we seized from his house. With that, we¡¯ve solidified the case against He Wei, and Yang Wanjun¡¯s motive and means are also confirmed," Liu Chengughed heartily. "He hid the USB in the lens of a digital camera, totally ineffective; amateurs really do think too simply." "He¡¯s dealing with a death penalty case, so he¡¯s considered an industry insider," Cui Qishan corrected from the side. "Okay, for Cui¡¯s sake, we¡¯ll consider him an industry insider, even though he¡¯s a bit subpar," Liu Cheng said,ughing. "So he confessed just like that, his psychological defenses were weak," Director Liu shook his head. Liu Cheng exined, "That¡¯s because we informed him about the policies. We told him that since he hadn¡¯t killed anyone with his own hands and if he showed a positive attitude, and especially if he could get a letter of forgiveness from the victim¡¯s family, he could very well be sentenced leniently." Liu Jinghuiughed upon hearing this, "And he believed that? No different from the average petty thief, huh?" "After all, it¡¯s his first time. Although most people start their criminal activities quietly and sneakily." "But if he really managed to get a letter of forgiveness, that would be truly absurd," Mu Zhiyang knew Yang Wanjun¡¯s target was his own aunt, but still found it uneptable. The system of writing letters of understanding is designed to coerce the perpetrator topensate the victim; otherwise, some may cling to the thought of serving time in prison as a way to avoid paying damages, trying to endure imprisonment to the end. In such cases, it¡¯s very difficult for the victim and their family to have their rights protected. Of course, letters of understanding can only be one of the conditions for a lenient punishment, and the extent of leniency is limited. In a murder case like this one, even if there is a letter of understanding, its effect isn¡¯t significant. Yang Wanjun is implicated in at least two cases, being the mastermind, engaging in extortion and coercion, and specifying the burial and abandonment of the corpse¡ªthese are all aggravating factors. Even with a letter of understanding and factors such as a confession, escaping the death sentence would be hard. Liu Cheng just smiled and said, "It¡¯s a desperate attempt to find life in death. Why are people with terminal illnesses easily deceived? What I¡¯ve given Yang Wanjun is akin to legitimate treatment. If he confesses properly and actually obtains a letter of understanding, at least he¡¯ll die with some dignity." "Even if it¡¯s useless, it¡¯s still disgusting." Mu Zhiyang felt that Yang Wanjun¡¯s aunt, the mother of the deceased Liu Zhiwu, might actually end up writing a letter of understanding! Liu Cheng shrugged his shoulders: "You¡¯re a police officer now; don¡¯t expect to see a perfect happy ending." "Does Liu Zhiwu¡¯s mother know that Yang Wanjun is the murderer?" Mu Zhiyang pressed on. "She knows; she¡¯s crying right now." Speaking of this, Liu Cheng had someone switch to the monitoring screen of the room where Liu¡¯s mother was being questioned. She was weeping over her hands, her entire body trembling. "Ah..." Liu Jinghui watched the scene, his mind filled with thoughts that eventually just turned into a sigh. Liu Zhiwu is dead, Yang Wanjun will die. Whether Liu¡¯s mother wants to change her attitude or continues as before, it makes no difference now. The greatest impact of death on the people around is the perpetual existence of regret. ... Tao Lu brought the director over to review Yang Wanjun¡¯s confession. As the director learned more about the case, he couldn¡¯t stop praising it: "Not bad at all. The ¡¯Rain Drenched Corpse Case¡¯ turned out to be a case within a case. Now that we¡¯ve caught both murderers, we¡¯ve at least given the victim, their family, and the public an exnation." Tao Lu humbly said, "Getting this case done, first of all, I have to thank the bureau for providing so many resources. It¡¯s because the director resolutely approved my application that we were able to make progress in the case..." The director waited for Tao Lu to finish and then chuckled: "Let¡¯s not talk about this. Save thepliments for the reporters. They should be interested in the ¡¯Rain Drenched Corpse Case¡¯." "Of course," Tao Lu agreed immediately. "The most frustrated one here must be this serial killer." The directormented in a good mood after reviewing the dossier. "He was a sessful man with a wife and children, a vi and apany. Aftermitting murder, he temporarily escaped legal punishment. Little did he know, the second time he killed, he was filmed, and then he was ckmailed incessantly... This suspect, Yang Wanjun, is somewhat foolish." In card games, 235 can beat a triple, including three aces, but it can only beat triples and loses to any other ordinary hands. Tao Lu smiled and responded, "That¡¯s quite true." "Now, this murderer, He Wei, he¡¯s lost everything, hasn¡¯t he?" the director shook his head. Tao Lu replied, "His vi was already mortgaged twice, and now that he can¡¯t pay off his debts, it should be put up for auction due to awsuit. Hispany was already failing, and now it should be over." "Midlife bankruptcy, wife and children gone, better that he¡¯s dead," the director couldn¡¯t help butment. Tao Lu also felt moved and said, "He was caught by forensic botany, it¡¯s not unjust." "Ningtai Jiangyuan, lives up to its reputation?" the director immediately asked. Tao Lu nodded emphatically: "Absolutely unstoppable!" "Then make good use of it, seize the opportunity." Chapter 752 - 695: A Small Question

Chapter 752: Chapter 695: A Small Question

Early morning. The birds chirped noisily, boasting about the abundance of bugs they¡¯ve caught, about their good health, about their strong reproductive abilities, over and over again, without any respite. Jiang Yuan, awakened by the birdsong,y in bed, feeling a bit toozy to get up. In Beijing, the environment surprisingly embraced nature. The park next to the residentialplex had forests and bodies of water, and was home to a constant presence of flying birds. Looking out of the bedroom window, greenery predominated. Even those who paid no attention to urban construction could sense the funds burning through... In the kitchen, chefs sent from Ningtai busily prepared breakfast. Freshly ground soy milk, tofu and tofu pudding all appeared to be bought from outside, while the deep-fried dough sticks were made on the spot using Type 95 soybean oil, frying them until they were crispy, a pure northern taste. If it were Southern style dough sticks, the inside would be slightly soft and chewy, more suited to dipping in soy sauce and eating with soup. Beyond that, the gourd-like twisted dough sticks from the Zhongyuan region had their own unique ir, especially when paired with spicy soup. They constituted a breakfast so satisfying that it was the equivalent of consuming most of the delicacies of a whole province. Mu Zhiyang, Liu Jinghui, and others also emerged from their bedrooms one after another. The houses Jiang Fuzhen had bought earlier were all calcted based on the living area of rural people. Sometimes, in order not to be ridiculed by Beijingers as country bumpkins, he would deliberately buy arger ce, vanity being an unavoidable trait among those whose homes had been demolished. As a result, the house Jiang Yuan currently lived in was somewhat unsuitable for living alone. If it was just one person, the wind whistling through the living room at night could be quite loud. Therefore, Jiang Yuan simply made the rooms, other than the master bedroom, avable to his team members as dormitories, without charging any fees. It was on a firste-first-served basis, whoever wanted to room together could do so. Compared to the real dormitories provided by the Zhengguang Bureau, the conditions here were obviously much better, especially with chefs offering three meals a day plus supper, along with a full walk-in refrigerator avable around the clock with food, more than enough to keep the detectives well-fed despite their hectic schedules. "What¡¯s on the agenda today?" Liu Jinghui sat down opposite Jiang Yuan, skillfully pouring himself milk, soy milk, and yogurt. "We can rest in the morning, and if there¡¯s nothing in the afternoon, how about we go to the Zhengguang Bureau to pick out cases?" Jiang Yuan recalled, saying, "Last time I checked, there were a few cases that looked promising. If we can¡¯t find a suitable one, we¡¯ll start with the recent cold cases." "Hmm, we can¡¯t let them designate the case for us. What if they choose a decades-old case with an extremely high difficulty level? We can¡¯t possibly solve cases out of thin air. You have to maintain your principles!" Liu Jinghui was always thoughtful. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, casually grabbing a dough stick and violently dunking it into his soy milk bowl, the dough stick soaking up several gulps of soy milk in one go. After breakfast, Mu Zhiyang had just turned on the PS5 when Tao Lu¡¯s phone call timed perfectly came in. "Tao, is there a case?" Jiang Yuan asked directly after picking up the call. Tao Lu merely hummed his acknowledgment and said, "Are you willing to get involved in a live case?" "Has it just happened?" "Yes. At present, it¡¯s considered a death by unusual circumstances, but due to the deceased¡¯s identity, it is still necessary to conduct aprehensive investigation as if it¡¯s a homicide. The body also needs a full autopsy." Tao Lu specifically pointed this out, because regardless of whether it was an unusual death or a homicide, the case required aprehensive autopsy by a forensic doctor, and if Jiang Yuan were to be involved, this would be his responsibility. All Jiang Yuan said was, "I¡¯ll report to Commissioner Huang, and if it¡¯s possible, I¡¯ll participate." "I¡¯ve talked to your Huang. If you agree on your end, you¡¯ll lead the forensic examination," said Tao Lu. Jiang Yuan thus agreed to it. After quickly getting ready but before leaving, Huang Qiangmin called. Following a brief conversation, Huang Qiangmin said, "It doesn¡¯t seem to be a particrly special case. I get the feeling from Tao that it¡¯s only because the deceased had a rather special identity that they¡¯re treating it as a homicide, even if it¡¯s an unusual death. Additionally, the higher-ups have requested that we bring our best personnel... So, you are now Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s best forensic doctor!" Huang Qiangmin chuckled as he said this. There¡¯s a clear difference between being first and second, not to mention... the pay. If it can be proven that Jiang Yuan is the best forensic doctor in Zhengguang Bureau, perhaps even in the Beijing Bureau, then the treatment he receives should obviously be different. Huang Qiangmin specifically said, "To show our respect, take the entire Cold Case Squad with you. They¡¯d be idle otherwise." So, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, along with Liu Jinghui, set off in five brand new Beijing-registered cars. Technology University Family Housing. In a small circle of gardens adjacent to the campus gate, there are dozens of quaint two-story residential buildings. The houses are quite old, at least forty to fifty years, not veryrge in total area, but with independent courtyards, serene and natural. By this time, the yard was already full of police officers. Tao Lu had arrived a bit earlier than Jiang Yuan. He did not expect Jiang Yuan to bring the entire team, feeling both respected and a little embarrassed, he hurriedly said, "There¡¯s no need for a full deployment yet. First, examine the body, and then take it back for a detailed autopsy." After saying this, Tao Lu added, "Currently, there¡¯s no sign of homicide, but you should be careful in your inspection... Respect the deceased and take the family¡¯s emotions into consideration." "Right," replied Jiang Yuan, who had no objections, he changed into his coveralls, slipped on shoe covers, a head cover, a mask, and gloves before entering the scene. Liu Cheng¡¯s team was in charge of the investigation, and the detectives were already familiar with Jiang Yuan. They greeted him with friendly smiles and guided him into ce. There were fewer people in the room, but from the living room to the bedroom, there were still seven or eight people taking pictures or gathering evidence, busily at work. Liu Cheng followed closely behind Jiang Yuan, whispering, "The deceased is Zhou Xiangyang, a professor at Technology University, 72 years old, with a string of titles. From what they say, he was almost an academician. At such a ripe age, he was still employed by the school to work on significant national projects. After the incident, several leaders made calls, demanding a thorough investigation." Liu Cheng paused for a moment, then, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression as usual, continued, "Like with the previous cases, our investigation of this case will also be recorded throughout. We need to be cautious in every aspect." Generally speaking, the body cameras carried by on-duty officers are sufficient, but as demands increase from all sides, a separate camera has its benefits, at the very least it can protect the officers themselves. Having worked at the Beijing Bureau, Liu Cheng had long since be ustomed to "enforcing thew under the watch of cameras," following the requirements of the ministry. He mentioned this to Jiang Yuan as a reminder and continued, "After the deceased¡¯s wife passed away, he mostly lived alone. His children hired a nanny who did not live in. She cleaned and cooked for him and had the keys to the house. She arrived at around 10 a.m. this morning and found that the elderly man had already passed away..." The body was in the bedroom on the first floor. The bodyy on its back on the bed with vomit on both sides and beneath the bed, and a dark red secretion streamed from the corners of the mouth. The nails on both hands were purplish in color. In forensic terms, they exhibited nail bed cyanosis... The forensic doctor, Zhan Kan, who had arrived earlier, just conducted some basic surface examinations and took measurements like the anal temperature, followed by extensive photography. He knew that today¡¯s lead forensic doctor was Jiang Yuan. The two had previously coborated on several cadavers at the autopsy center. More precisely, Zhan Kan had assisted Jiang Yuan in dissecting several bodies and understood that Jiang Yuan was a model of expertise. However, Zhan had never worked a crime scene with Jiang Yuan before and was not familiar with his habits and methods, so he remained alert. "Captain Zhan, we¡¯ll be working together today," Jiang Yuan greeted Zhan Kan. Zhan Kan hurriedly replied, "Just call me Little Zhan, being too polite makes me uneasy. I¡¯ll follow your lead. Where should we start?" "Let¡¯s take the anal temperature again," Jiang Yuan suggested, beginning the procedure. Little Zhan quickly assisted. "The time of death is roughly around 4:30 a.m.," Jiang Yuan concluded after reviewing the anal temperature recorded by Little Zhan. Liu Cheng, who was close by, acknowledged and mused, "So he died in the middle of the night. At that hour, it would have definitely been impossible to enter or leave the school." Jiang Yuan began the external examination without expressing agreement or disagreement. Little Zhan stood by taking notes and observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions. Forensics is a rather personal job. Many forensic doctors have their own habitual movements, and in some cases, these prove to be quite useful. They are like small tricks that aren¡¯t exactly secrets. Yet, Zhan Kan did not find this in Jiang Yuan¡¯s procedures. In fact, Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods were almost entirely standard. To put it inly, even somewhat unremarkable and slightly slow. Of course, Zhan Kan had no ce toment and just followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead. An external examination took nearly half an hour, until Liu Cheng came over and asked, "Captain Jiang, how is it?" "There are no obvious external injuries, nor any particr skin damage," Jiang Yuan said. "That¡¯s good," Liu Cheng sighed in relief, a smile appearing on his face as he said, "If there¡¯s no issue, then we can prepare to wrap up here." There are many causes for unnatural deaths, such as various idents, diseases, and even suicide. The deceased, Zhou Xiangyang, was already 72 years old. Although that¡¯s not considered very old by modern standards, the probability of sudden disease is still quite high. On the other hand, theck of external injuries and the time of death at around 4:30 a.m. significantly lowered the possibility of homicide. From Liu Cheng¡¯s perspective, this almost ruled out homicide. Of course, to definitively rule out homicide, a full autopsy from the forensic side would still be needed, but that would be a matter for one or two dayster. Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly before saying, "I want to take another look around the scene." Liu Cheng agreed first, then after waiting a moment, asked, "Captain Jiang, do you suspect something?" "I have a few minor doubts," Jiang Yuan said pensively. "Let¡¯s hear them," Liu Cheng said lightly. Jiang Yuan removed his gloves and put on a fresh pair before saying, "Firstly, analyzing from the cause of death, although the specific cause is not yet clear, the deceased¡¯s nail bed cyanosis and hemorrhagic spots on the upper and lower eyelid conjunctiva are signs of asphyxia. Even if we exclude mechanical asphyxia, murder is still a possibility." Not all cases of cyanosis are due tock of oxygen, but cyanosis certainly implies ack of oxygen. It can even be said that nail bed cyanosis is already an indication of a significant degree of hypoxia. Although it may be caused by certain diseases, it still warrants close attention. Liu Cheng and Little Zhan both nodded in agreement. Jiang Yuan continued, "Secondly, considering the time of vomit and the time of death, the deceased must have started vomiting between 1 and 2 a.m. He did not call for help during that period, which likely means he had lost consciousness while vomiting. Considering his medical history, although he had a heart condition, it still doesn¡¯t quite fit with simple food poisoning or disease." Little Zhan¡¯s eyes widened, and Liu Cheng nodded though he seemed perplexed. Jiang Yuan further exined, "Third, the rigidity of the deceased¡¯s shoulders and chest is stronger than expected, which does not match the timeline of death. Of course, there are no strict standards for this, but it should be noted." Little Zhan blinked frequently, and Liu Cheng¡¯s frown deepened. Jiang Yuan: "Fourth..." Jiang Yuan: "Fifth..." Liu Cheng waited until Jiang Yuan finished speaking and eagerly said, "I understand, Captain Jiang. Just tell us what to do." Chapter 753 - 696: At the Pinnacle

Chapter 753: Chapter 696: At the Pinnacle

"First, conduct the crime scene investigation," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, still in a methodical work mode. Zhan Kan found himself involuntarily focusing intently. Recalling the work he had just done, even with some foresight, he could only describe it as mundane ¨C yet, listening to Jiang Yuan articte the conclusions step by step, it seemed bizarre to use ¡¯mundane¡¯ to describe the investigation he was part of. From his perspective as a forensic doctor, it would be more apt to describe it as ¡¯a bolt from the blue.¡¯ But even if given another chance, Zhan Kan still could not pinpoint anything extraordinary in the work he and Jiang Yuan did. It was truly just ordinary,monce work, and the condition of the body was equally ordinary andmonce. Zhan Kan had been a forensic doctor for several years and was one of the more skilled in his field, yet he still couldn¡¯t fullyprehend Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusions ¨C he clearly understood the content of the conclusions and the conditions which he helped Jiang Yuan to establish, but how to progress from the ¡¯known¡¯ to reaching those conclusions was beyond him. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have time to exin and simply proceeded with the investigation methodically. Crime scene investigations are, by nature, detail-oriented tasks, and the higher the profile of the investigation, the more meticulous it bes. Ordinary crime scene investigators often select specific targets when processing a scene, just like Qinghe City¡¯s famed Chief Medical Examiner Niu, who, in his early years, would ignore everything else and first collect items like toilet paper. Even fingerprint collection is not done inch by inch; investigators typically look at the positions of doors and windows, handle knobs, drawer pulls, and the nearby area of missing items. For most minor cases, receiving one or two hours of attention from crime scene investigators is quite good. Only when it¡¯s necessary to scan every inch do issues like determining the source of fingerprints or DNA, and whether there¡¯s been any contamination, arise, requiring a much higher-level crime scene investigation capability. After scanning the bedroom, Jiang Yuan moved on to the living room, taking samples where needed, photographing what was needed, effectively acting as a crime scene investigator again. It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t trust the investigators from Zhengguang Bureau, but everyone¡¯s perspectives varied, and he was now handling it purely as a homicide case. Besides, there were already several people working the scene, so one more person wouldn¡¯t hurt. "Any findings?" Liu Cheng hurried over to inquire as soon as Jiang Yuan started to take off his gloves. "Can¡¯t say for sure now, need to go back and review everything," Jiang Yuan said. "I¡¯m heading to the autopsy center." "Sure, sure, sure," Liu Cheng replied eagerly, then added, "I¡¯ll continue to stay at the scene. If there¡¯s any news from your end, it will help me to respond promptly." Facing a live murder case, Liu Cheng had braced himself to stay up all night the moment he took on the case. It wasn¡¯t just because several leaders had highlighted this case, even if the suspect was caught on the scene with the weapon, in a crime of passion sort of murder, the detectives might still have to spend days and nights gathering evidence, interrogating, documenting... Mu Zhiyang drove, taking Jiang Yuan and Zhan Kan straight to the autopsy center. The victim, Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s body, had arrived even earlier and was already lying on the cold stainless-steel table. A few avable forensic doctors came by, specifically to watch Jiang Yuan perform the autopsy. Jiang Yuan, not often having such an experience, couldn¡¯t help butpliment, "It¡¯s really great that you have such an autopsy center with so many colleagues working together." "You could ask for an autopsy center," said the senior forensic doctor Zeng Lianrong, who evidently knew quite a bit. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, "In Ningtai County, there are only two forensic doctors including me, and my master is about to retire..." In the meantime, the autopsy table had been prepared. The body wasid out t on the surface. The elderly man had been over one meter seventy tall and was of a lean build; now as a corpse, he belonged to the type that forensic doctors typically prefer. One cut would neither cause fat to splurt out, nor would it be so tough to cut through. "Log the time, and then... we are now seeing dark purple-red livor mortis, rigor mortis is present across all joints of the body, the conjunctival sac is pale, and there is congestion in the conjunctiva..." Jiang Yuan conducted another external examination before making the first incision. Zhan Kan quickly set down his notebook to assist, while a forensic doctor diligently picked up the camera to begin taking photographs. The autopsy room was equipped with continuous video recording, but the detail was certainly not as precise as photography, most importantly, due to differing angles which sometimes revealed varying content. Zeng Lianrong, a veteran in the autopsy center, only needed to lean in and watch. He had worked with Jiang Yuan on two cases before, and their process of getting to know each other was alreadyplete; they were currently in a learning phase. Watching Jiang Yuan open up the three body cavities, Zeng Lianrong naturally bent down and offered a bucket to Jiang Yuan. Forensic doctors prefer to use buckets to contain organs like the stomach, heart, and lungs; using basins can lead to spige, which even forensic doctors find disgusting. Moreover, it affects uracy, and in some cases, when people have eaten a lot or have an erged heart and lungs, the volume can far exceed expectations. As the old saying goes, you never know how many bowls of cold noodles someone¡¯s stomach can hold until you open it up. "Inside the tracheal cavity, we can see a small amount of pale red frothy fluid..." "There¡¯s arge amount of liquid in the stomach..." "Beneath the pancreatic capsule, we can observe patchy hemorrhaging..." "There is homogenized pink-stained edema fluid in the alver cavities..." At this point, Jiang Yuan looked up at the other forensic doctors and said, "In this situation, we should consider death by poisoning." Zhan Kan was still stunned, but Zeng Lianrong was already nodding in agreement. Whether to consider poisoning as the cause of death affects whether an immediate toxicological examination is necessary, as well as the level of detail required for the examination. Most importantly, if death by poisoning is suspected, heart blood must be collected immediately to prevent arge metabolism of the poison. Although today¡¯s toxicological examinations are highly sensitive, the sheer number of different poisons means that some residues may be minimal. Furthermore, contrary to what many people may think, toxicological examination isn¡¯t just a matter of cing blood with poison into a machine for it to ¡¯beep-beep-beep¡¯ out an answer. Fundamentally, toxicological examination is still aparative process. While the machines do contain data on somemon poisons and can, to some extent, ¡¯beep-beep-beep¡¯ out an answer, anything more obscure requires individual,parative analysis, with its own set of challenges. Jiang Yuan quickly drew heart blood, collected contents from the stomach and urine among other specimens, and immediately sent them to the Toxicology Laboratory. Next, the team carefully examined the body for external injuries, needle marks, and other signs, before proceeding with the remaining postmortem examination. Towards the end of the procedure, a bluish mass rolled down from the mouth of the corpse,nding near Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s legacy¡ªCryptography (LV5)¡ªZhou Xiangyang had always been the genius among his peers, starting from elementary school, through middle and high school, and even in The Great Learning. He remained at the top effortlessly, always consciously seeking challenges. Cryptography might be the mostpetitive of all disciplines, especially when he first entered the field, a time of bipr world powerpetition, with an endless demand for cryptography. The future of cryptography seemed boundlessly wide... In recent years, themercial value of cryptography has been increasingly exploited, with developments in new inte technologies like blockchain ensuring Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s students always managed to secure very high sries. However, Zhou Xiangyang himself started feeling disinterested as earning money was never his initial motivation for studying cryptography. Jiang Yuan sighed internally afterpleting the examination, quietly suturing Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s body together. He thought to himself that even in death, Zhou Xiangyang left behind a top-level mystery, hoping he could decode the puzzle of his death. "Give Tao a call for me," said Jiang Yuan, gesturing with his hand before turning to the forensic doctor beside him. The forensic doctor hastened to dial the number and ced the phone next to Jiang Yuan. "Tao," Jiang Yuan began as the call connected, "I¡¯vepleted Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s autopsy. The cause of death is not yet clear, but it¡¯s highly likely he was poisoned. The heart blood has been sent for toxicological analysis. I noticed that the project he had been working on is rted to cryptography. Would it be worth notifying the national security authorities?" Chapter 754 - 697: Update News Anytime

Chapter 754: Chapter 697: Update News Anytime

After finishing the autopsy work and taking a shower in the autopsy center, Jiang Yuan changed into fresh clothes, grabbed a bottle of Coke from the vending machine, and sat down on the balcony at the end of the corridor, drinking half of it in one go. At the horizon¡¯s endy the thriving beauty of Beijing, to which Jiang Yuan had never paid much attention before. However, having received Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s legacy, his perception suddenly changed. No wonder everyone flocks to Beijing; the legacy this ce offers is exceptional! In the past, the best legacy Jiang Yuan had received was about an LV5 dog food, which was indeed remarkable. If he were to open a pet store, that would at least be on par with having a Chinese breed as the star. But the LV5 cyber cryptography that Comrade Zhou Xiangyang bequeathed has a much higher societal value. Another skill with a very high societal value that Jiang Yuan had obtained previously was LV3 Image Enhancement, which, afterpleting a task, was upgraded to LV4. But whether it¡¯s LV4 or LV3 Image Enhancement, the gap with LV5 is huge. If mastering LV3 Image Enhancement could get you a million-yuan annual sry position at some intepany, then LV5 cyber cryptography is about bing the boss. In fact, even within the campus of Technology University, Zhou Xiangyang was a boss-level figure. Not just in his own field, but across the entire Technology University, he was at the highest level. And in terms of his own expertise, he was at the top nationwide. Cyber cryptography epasses a wide range of content, from remote encrypted telmunication to current inte technologies such as blockchain; almost all are built upon cryptography. Moreover, its difficulty level is extremely high; there are only a handful of people nationwide who master LV5 cryptography. It¡¯s not hard to imagine, if one were to live in Beijing and work at the autopsy center year-round... ... "Jiang Yuan." Tao Lu came to the autopsy center with a few people, went directly to the office, and asked upon arrival, "Was it a homicide?" "It could also be idental ingestion, but it¡¯s definitely not caused by disease," Jiang Yuan, who was having soup and looking at photos in the office, replied after setting down his spoon and pushing away his chair to sit to the side. "Could it be some kind of drug?" Tao Lu asked. Jiang Yuan had been looking at scene photos and various reports for half the day. After a moment¡¯s hesitation, he said, "That possibility hasn¡¯t been ruled out, but we need to see the results from the Toxicology Laboratory to determine the exact cause." "How long will the results take?" This time, the question came from someone behind Tao Lu. Tao Lu coughed twice and said, "I forgot to introduce, this is my colleague from the National Security Brigade, Qi Changye, and other members of Qi¡¯s team." He emphasized thest sentence. National Security is part of the police family, and from time to time, when there¡¯s a need for assistance with some work, they have contact. There are also National Securitymissioners in the county bureaus, who have independent offices and work, and who interact more frequently with the officers of other teams. As for Qi¡¯s colleague, Tao Lu did not borate, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care to know. A colleague¡¯s colleague is not my colleague. Jiang Yuan actually knew that LV5 cryptography was very powerful and that professors like Zhou Xiangyang would typically be involved in the civilian sector as well. However, Technology University is not a military institution, and most of the work by its professors, including Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s current projects, which are publicly listed and civilian, is oriented toward the public. They are often development projects for inte or financialpanies. And among his students, nine out of ten go to suchpanies, and the remaining one mostly ends up working at a university or research institute. Jiang Yuan looked up and said, "A full toxicological analysis can take several days, but we should have some preliminary results by tomorrow. However, those will likely just be routine toxic substance tests, for things like organophosphates, organochlorines, rodenticides, cyanides, and so on." Even though "poisoning" sounds quite impressive, the poisons used for homicides in the country have been the same old three for many years: pesticides, arsenic, and rodenticides. Since the new millennium, some higher education institutions have introduced new trends, such as the element thallium, which a Tsinghua University student managed to poprize across the entire country, marking a significant case of Tsinghua¡¯s social responsibility development over the past two decades. Tao Lu naturally knew the toxin detection process Jiang Yuan mentioned. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "If Professor Zhou¡¯s death was due to poisoning, I fear it won¡¯t be from a simple toxin." Following him, Qi Changye gave a slight nod. "I agree," said Jiang Yuan, and then waited for Tao Lu to continue talking. He was the visiting team, after all. When the leaders spoke, you listened, and you maxed out your emotional intelligence when it was required. Qi Changye looked back at his colleagues, and after a brief non-verbal conversation, he turned back and said, "Let¡¯s just continue the investigation for now. There¡¯s no rush to hand it over. Even after we take over, we¡¯ll still have to wait for the toxicology tests. Also, we¡¯re familiar with Forensic Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical expertise. If possible, we¡¯d like Doctor Jiang to lead this case." He spoke politely, but his request was anything but, effectively assigning the criminal police¡¯s tasks. Theoretically, Tao Lu could have refused, but why bother? With an indifferent smile, Tao Lu turned to say, "Jiang Yuan, then just carry on with the case, and if you have any problems,e to me, and I¡¯ll coordinate with Captain Qi." Qi Changye nodded and said, "Okay." After he finished speaking, he looked over at his colleagues. "Keep us informed of any developments and update us regrly," a colleague whose name is unknown chimed in at this point. Qi Changye agreed, then turned to Jiang Yuan with a friendly smile and said, "Captain Jiang, don¡¯t find it troublesome. It¡¯s just the normal process, but whenever you find something, have any evidence, just let us know. If there are photos or anything, send them to me. After all, there is some information that you don¡¯t have here, and I can check it on my side, and then we¡¯re sharing information." Jiang Yuan consented. Qi Changye continued with a cheerful tone, "Let¡¯s leave it at that for now. If you need anything else, be it technical support, equipment, or manpower, feel free to ask." "Speaking of which..." Just as the group was about to leave, Jiang Yuan stood up and called them back. Qi Changye¡¯s brow furrowed slightly, a fleeting expression, as he continued with a smile, "Go ahead, as long as it¡¯s a reasonable request and it helps the case, we¡¯ll try to find a way..." "It¡¯s not about that. If we are to update information, I was just looking at some photos a moment ago..." Jiang Yuan said, pointing to hisputer, and suggested, "Shall I just show everyone?" "Uh...sure," the group followed him to the desk where Jiang Yuan had just been sitting. Jiang Yuan moved his half-eaten abalone rice to the windowsill, ced the steaming bowl of vegetables, honey-zed sweet potatoes, crispy-skinned pigeon, two buns, two handfuls of sushi, three shrimps, an assortment of braised delicacies to the side, and then opened hisputer screen, saying, "Mainly here, please take a look." The photo on disy was of Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s liquor cab. Like many elderly people, Zhou Xiangyang liked to disy his collection and varieties of renowned liquors he had drunk on a shelf in the living room, but over time, it became quite disorganized and untidy, just as it was now. "What are we looking at?" Qi Changye asked directly. Jiang Yuan zoomed in on the photo slightly and pointed out, "This bottle of medicinal liquor, on the side here, does it look like there are water stains?" "Hmm?" The group looked over, appearing rather skeptical. Qi Changye inquired, "Are you sure they¡¯re water stains?" Jiang Yuan nodded, offering no further exnation, and instead said, "The key is that, given the time of Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s death, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to touch this bottle of medicinal liquor." "What¡¯s in the medicinal liquor?" Qi Changye began to realize the implication. "Ginseng, Rhododendron, among other ingredients. Look here, there¡¯s a monkshood seed," Jiang Yuan pointed out and added, "Monkshood is highly toxic, but processed monkshood is much less potent. The amount of this single seed alone might not be lethal." "But is it possible that someone added more monkshood to it?" Qi Changye¡¯s logic was now clear. Jiang Yuan gave an affirmative "Mhm," and continued, "Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s symptoms of death are also consistent with monkshood poisoning. From the exterior, this bottle of medicinal liquor appears to be frequently consumed by Zhou Xiangyang. I¡¯ve already asked Captain Liu to inquire with the family and the housekeeper. Additionally, the Toxicology Laboratory will prioritize testing for monkshood." Qi Changye and his colleagues, who were prepared to leave, exchanged nces, then couldn¡¯t help asking, "So, have we found the cause of death?" "It¡¯s just a suspicion right now. There¡¯s no concrete evidence yet. You said to update you with any developments, so I¡¯m just telling you in advance," exined Jiang Yuan, not wanting to be the kind of technician who almost knows the answer but stubbornly refrains from revealing it, only to end up disastrously. As for Qi Changye and his colleagues, it was getting slightly difficult for them to maintain theirposure at this point. Chapter 755 - 698: Fluttering Like a Little Deer

Chapter 755: Chapter 698: Fluttering Like a Little Deer

Qi Changye was particrly skilled at observation, which was the foundation of his livelihood. Just like a minute ago when he noticed the tips of his colleagues¡¯ toes pointing slightly outward, he knew they were growing impatient. After all, it was uncertain whether this case was even within their jurisdiction, not to mention that there was no progress whatsoever. However, a minuteter, at this very moment, Qi Changye observed that all of his colleagues¡¯ toes had pointed back inward. This case¡ªnow confirmed to be a murder¡ªwas on the cusp of a major breakthrough,pelling everyone¡¯s undivided attention. Of course, most of the attention was on Jiang Yuan, who seemed to have a much deeper understanding of the case than anyone else. "Set aside the toxicology testing for now. If we assume Zhou Xiangyang was indeed poisoned by aconite, I heard you say earlier that there were water stains on the inside of the medicinal liquor, indicating it had been tampered with?" Qi Changye¡¯s colleague, no longer holding back, stepped forward to ask. "It must have been tampered with otherwise there wouldn¡¯t be water stains. Moreover, based on the time of our investigation, the medicinal liquor was disturbed after Zhou Xiangyang was already dead," Jiang Yuan said with certainty. "So, the person who tampered with the medicinal liquor did so in order to... remove the aconite?" The colleague¡¯s mind was sharp, and now fully immersed, he immediately followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thought. Jiang Yuan, having no intention to hide anything, nodded and said, "I think that¡¯s a very likely reason. The activeponents of aconite mainly include aconitine, mesaconitine, and hypaconitine. Aconitine is extremely toxic, but after processing, it ultimately hydrolyzes into hypaconitine which has only one-thousandth of the toxicity of aconitine." Seeing that a few were listening intently to the exnation, Jiang Yuan continued, "Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s home contained two bottles of medicinal liquor infused with aconite, which he reportedly drank regrly for rheumatism treatment. From this, it appears Zhou Xiangyang knew how to use aconite. The original content of his medicinal liquor might have had only hypaconitine, with little or no aconitine. However, he probably never conducted a toxicological analysis on the medicinal liquor, which cannot be confirmed now." "Can we detect any issues by testing the medicinal liquor and the aconite within it, such as whether only hypaconitine is present in the aconite, and if the concentration of aconitine in the liquor is above the lethal level?" "That¡¯s difficult because there is no standard," Jiang Yuan replied concisely, then added, "The oral lethal dose of aconitine is 3 milligrams, but the poisoning dose is only 0.2 milligrams, and consuming a little more than that could be enough to reach the lethal level. Moreover, there are no standards for the lethal and toxic doses of the mixture of aconitine, mesaconitine, and hypaconitine." The colleagues looked at each other in dismay. Qi Changye frowned and said, "In that case, even if we find that Zhou Xiangyang died of aconitine poisoning, and then upon testing the medicinal liquor we discover that its aconite content is sufficient to be lethal, because the liquor had already been prepared, and either Zhou Xiangyang or someone from his household had infused it, could it be concluded that his death was an idental one?" Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, then added, "Furthermore, processed aconite may still contain aconitine. Including its concentration, everything is uncertain. What you mentioned earlier about the medicinal liquor¡¯s aconite containing only hypaconitine is also unlikely to be the case. Moreover, ording to reports of deaths from aconitine poisoning, while most fatalities reached the oral lethal dose, there were some who did not. Forensic doctors also don¡¯t have toxic and lethal blood concentration standards. Overall, the dosage for aconitine poisoning varies from individual to individual, and sometimes the differences can be quite significant." "It¡¯s a bit like homemade liquor in rural areas," Tao Lu chimed in at this point, "Ethanol is fine, but some produce methanol, which is also present in small quantities. But some people are sensitive and can have problems after just a few sips!" Jiang Yuan chuckled without a word; there was a slight difference, but not much. Qi Changye and his colleagues understood, and they understood very clearly. Qi Changye¡¯s colleague, a man with a square-shaped face, pondered for a moment before saying, "So, you mean to say, the murderer¡¯s use of aconite to poison was extremely clever?" Tao Lu coughed twice and said, "Poisoning as a method of murder has always been quite concealed. I haven¡¯t seen anyone use aconite myself, but I¡¯ve heard of cases." The square-faced man didn¡¯t respond straight away, pondered for a moment, then said, "The state of a body after death caused by aconitine can be quite confusing. As I see in the autopsy report, there¡¯s nothing particrly unusual, indicating that this toxin isn¡¯t very distinctive, and its toxicity is strong, quite rare, easily overlooked during an investigation. It¡¯s not like cyanide, where you¡¯d see cherry-red livor mortis, a bitter almond smell in the body cavities and blood, and organ necrosis. Some people even scream at the moment of death..." Before the office could sink into an awkward silence, Qi Changye said, "So, you¡¯re saying we need to take this case very seriously?" He was looking at the square-faced man, obviously asking if they should take over the case. Before the two could negotiate a response with their eyes, Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, "Well..." "Captain Jiang, if you have something to say, please do," the square-faced man turned with a smile. "I¡¯d like to add something... Actually, it should be written in the survey report, Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s home showed no signs of forced entry, no traces of lock-picking, and no evidence of doors or windows being pried open," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "The perpetrator must have had a key. It¡¯s likely an inside job, not usible that they tricked their way in." In some stories, they¡¯d write about borate schemes to create a mold for a key and then replicate it. But actually, picking or breaking locks is much simpler, and the sort of thing petty thieves can do. However, what petty thieves can¡¯t do is cover up signs of breaking in. Whether it¡¯s using a lock pick or bump key, as long as it¡¯s a standard lock, there will be traces left behind if someone tries to open it, and the scene investigators will find something if they look closely enough. The doors and windows of Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s house are all high-end, so there was no possibility of undetectable lock picking. With Jiang Yuan having said all this, the square-faced man couldn¡¯t help frowning, "Someone who has the keys to Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s house... The housekeeper?" "I think that¡¯s very likely. If not, the situation is trulyplicated," Jiang Yuan nced at Tao Lu, then added, "I¡¯ve discussed it with Captain Liu." Tao Lu smiled and nodded, then looked at Qi Changye and his colleagues, "If it was the housekeeper whomitted the crime, it¡¯s more likely to be amon criminal case. If not, shall I notify you?" The housekeeper was the one who discovered the victim and reported the police, and she knew about Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s habit of drinking wine containing aconite; also, she had plenty of time to administer the poison and wait for Zhou Xiangyang to die before removing it. Even if Zhou Xiangyang didn¡¯t die on schedule, the housekeeper could still wait... Of course, there was also a billion-to-one chance that the perpetrator replicated the keys of the housekeeper or a family member, then poisoned Zhou Xiangyang, waited for him to die, and then retrieved the aconite, all the while avoiding surveince¡ªif it really was this scenario, it would be easier to bribe the housekeeper, or get rid of her and rece her with someone else... If it truly was one of those "billion-to-one chances," then maybe Qi Changye and his colleagues would need to be involved, but everyone present had practical experience, and this kind of meticulous,plicated, and costly criminal activity would normally not present itself openly. "Well... we¡¯ll head back then," the square-faced man was decisive, no emotion visible on his face, just smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, "Ningtai Jiangyuan, a fierce and burning case." After that, the group quickly left the office. Leaving behind Tao Lu, Jiang Yuan, and a windowsill-full of delicacies. "Remember to get a receipt for reimbursement." Tao Lu¡¯s eyes sparkled withughter, like deer darting haphazardly. Chapter 756 - 699: Shocking: Cryptography Professor Dies, The Truth Behind a Sinister Crime

Chapter 756: Chapter 699: Shocking: Cryptography Professor Dies, The Truth Behind a Sinister Crime

When Qi Changye came to interrogate the nanny, he specifically made the trip. However, he arrived a littleter than expected and by the time he got there, the main part of the interrogation was essentially over. Without waiting for Qi Changye to say anything, Tao Lu called Liu Cheng over to report in person. Liu Cheng sat upright, hands on his legs, and said, "We found the aconite the nanny, Li Shuyi, had disposed of in the green belt near Zhou Xiangyang¡¯s home through the police dog. After showing it to her, Li Shuyi confessed to everything..." "What was the motive for the crime?" asked Tao Lu. Liu Cheng first nced at Tao Lu, then continued, "This year, the nanny Li Shuyi is 56 years old, and has worked for Zhou Xiangrong¡¯s family for four years. Roughly after the first year of her service, which was a year or two ago, a few of Zhou¡¯s nephews and nieces thought highly of Li Shuyi¡¯s meticulous work, good attitude, and strong ability. They hoped she would stay with them long-term, so they promised her that if she could work for the Zhou family for five years, or until the old master, Zhou Xiangrong, passed away, they would secure a job for her son, either temporary work at a school or a public institution in Beijing, the kind with social security..." Pausing for a moment, Liu Cheng continued, "Li Shuyi nned well, but her daughter-inw unexpectedly became pregnant. The couple initially did not want children, so this was quite a surprise, and Li Shuyi was delighted. However, her daughter-inw was nning on having an abortion on the grounds that there was no one to take care of her during her confinement, look after a pregnant woman, or help with the baby. Li Shuyi was in a dilemma. She wanted to resign to take care of her daughter-inw, but also did not want to give up the promise from the Zhou family, so she came up with this ¡¯best of both worlds¡¯ idea." Qi Changye listened with knitted brows. Truth be told, nanniesmitting murder was nothing new to the police; simr cases like the Hangzhou nanny case were not umon nationwide, including those where the nanny turned into an "angel of death," specifically targeting elderly people to collect "deposit fees." But Qi Changye always felt it was too straightforward, which did not match the case proceedings he was familiar with, nor the nature of the cases he had dealt with. Moreover, the first half of the case seemed to have a considerable amount of concealment andplexity. Unable to resist, Qi Changye asked, "So after the crime, the nanny was at the scene, right? Did you let her go home afterward, or did you bring her in?" "After recording her statement that day, we allowed her to go back," Liu Cheng thought for a moment and added, "She was brought back again the next day." Qi Changye appeared somewhat disappointed; if the nanny had died or disappeared, it would indeed have been a major case, possibly necessitating asking for help and conducting a city-wide search. Although it seemed troublesome, wasn¡¯t that what made it a major case worthy of attention? Feeling somewhat unsatisfied and uneasy, Qi Changye probed further, "Did anything strange happen during that day, any unusual phone calls, or any other unexpected incidents? Traffic idents?" "Cough cough..." Liu Cheng understood Qi Changye¡¯s intentions and shook his head helplessly, saying, "Director Qi, as far as we can tell, she is just an ordinary nanny. We asked, and there were no strange urrences. We did some digging into the nanny¡¯s background; her son and daughter-inw have been married for over three years, with no ns for children until the unnned pregnancy, which is true..." Under Qi Changye¡¯s gaze, Liu Cheng detailed the evidence obtained and other information. In conclusion, Liu Cheng emphasized, "Li Shuyi¡¯s uncle used to be a barefoot doctor, and she learned about the extreme toxicity of aconite and the even greater toxicity of fresh aconite from him at a very young age. These are all details Li Shuyi confessed herself." "Alright. I get it," Qi Changye shrugged, looking somewhat conflicted, but more so, he was just not ustomed to such a smooth proceeding of events, his frown remaining throughout. Liu Cheng did not dwell on it, as he was now used to cases resolving smoothly. He smiled at Tao Lu and said, "Tao, I¡¯ll be heading back if there¡¯s nothing else. The guys havebed through thousands of meters of green belts and dozens of trash cans today; they¡¯re all waiting for me to treat them..." "Go ahead, go ahead," Tao Lu waved him off and then turned back to Qi Changye. Having said all there was to say, logically, it was time for Qi Changye to take his leave. Of course, if he felt there were doubts and wanted to continue investigating or even take over the case, that was his prerogative, and Tao Lu couldn¡¯t interfere. "Captain Jiang, I still have one more question," Qi Changye said, turning his gaze to Jiang Yuan, who had remained silent throughout. Jiang Yuan was a half-step slow to react, but then he smiled diplomatically and said, "Please speak, Director Qi." "I wouldn¡¯t dare im such courtesy," Qi Changye modestly declined twice, then smiled and took out an envelope, saying, "I have some photos here, and I¡¯d like you to have a look at them, if you would?" "Sure," Jiang Yuan received them and took a nce, saying without surprise, "These aren¡¯t photos from the current case, are they?" The photos in his hand were of a distant shot of a storefront, giving off a vibe that didn¡¯t quite fit with the Zhou Xiangyang case. "These are photos from another case. I must apologize for withholding the specific details of the case, Captain Jiang. Please help us see what you can find, and just say whatever you can, no matter how much or how little, deep or shallow." Tao Lu didn¡¯t even nce at the stack of photos, but simply picked up his heavy cadre mug and said, "Jiang Yuan, just talk about the technical aspects, only mention what you¡¯re more certain of." Qi Changye sighed, "Tao, it¡¯s not that serious." Tao Lu just smiled and said nothing. Jiang Yuan then began looking at the photos one by one. From the perspective of the scenes shown in the photos, this was a case of a storefront being burrized. The shuttered storefront, after being pried open, had its contents ransacked, and the remaining items were scattered messily all over the ce. On closer inspection, they were mainly hardware and building materials. Jiang Yuan had seen many simr scenes before. Each burry had its differences, but the core elements were mostly the same. However, this didn¡¯t mean burry cases were easy to crack. Most burry cases were easy to solve, often due to the carelessness of the perpetrators¡ªof course, this could also be seen as inevitable because burry tends to be a long-term activity. The more one does it, the harder it is to remain rational, meticulous, thorough, and disciplined over the long term... Conversely, if the burrs were careful enough, the case would be very difficult to solve. Just considering the motive, burry cases are often annoyingly random. The objective of burry is usually to seek wealth, but that wealth isn¡¯t necessarily in in sight. The burrs themselves can be quite capricious, with some preferring visible riches, others preferring the degree of difficulty, and some might just like certain numbers, or the color of a door, the direction of a window, and so on... If the burrs don¡¯t turn their crimes into a series, dealing with purely random burry cases is even harder than shaking off a frenzied crowd. The photos of the case brought by Qi Changye seemed difficult. There were no fingerprints, no footprints, no DNA, and no surveince footage. Even a special case team equipped with considerable resources would frown upon such a case. Jiang Yuan was also looking at the photos, one by one, then flipping through them again, and again... Qi Changye waited until his teacup was dry, and seeing that Tao Lu didn¡¯t offer a refill, he cleared his throat twice and said, "Captain Jiang, maybe I should just leave the photos here, and you can take another look when you have time. Of course, if you think it¡¯s necessary, you can also visit the scene, but it¡¯s already been cleaned up, so you would only see the peripheral circumstances." Jiang Yuan, who was looking at the photos, responded a bit obtusely with a "Hm." Qi Changye didn¡¯t mind, stood up with a smile, and said, "Let¡¯s leave it at that for now. If there¡¯s any update, just let me know, we can update each other at any time..." Jiang Yuan looked up, his response dyed, "Speaking of updating each other at any time..." Chapter 757 - 700 Clarifying Doubts

Chapter 757: Chapter 700 rifying Doubts

Qi Changye had just turned halfway around when, as if triggered by a mechanism, he pivoted back to his original position. "Do you have any updated news?" Qi Changye had an excellent memory, capable of recalling the faces of his middle school ssmates, and the scene of Jiang Yuan updating the news was vivid in his mind. Jiang Yuan picked out a few photos, spread them out on the table, and said, "I¡¯ll show them to you." While speaking, Jiang Yuan pointed at a photo of a shutter door lock and said, "This rolling shutter was pried open with a special tool." Next, Jiang Yuan lined up two photos of the ground lock devices and said, "From here, you should be able to see that the lock of the shutter door was pried open with a homemade Z-shaped steel tebined with a hydraulic jack." "Have you encountered a simr case?" Qi Changye asked, surprised. "No," Jiang Yuan calmly denied and then exined, "That¡¯s why I said it was Z-shaped, which is what I inferred from the marks on the ground. Actually, the principle of using a jack to pry open a rolling shutter is the same as that of a crowbar; this suspect has just standardized the lock-picking equipment and is likely to be quite skilled at it." Qi Changye listened, somewhat perplexed. Of course, he didn¡¯t have Level 6 skills in trace tool identification, not even Level 1, so it was natural that he didn¡¯t understand. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan grabbed a piece of paper and sketched a force analysis on the spot, saying, "You can show this to a technician you¡¯re familiar with. The characteristic marks left by jacking a rolling shutter door show that under the upward force F, the bottom edge of the shutter door will be squeezed and deformed by the Z-shaped steel te, and you will see something different in the marks here..." "To distinguish between a jack and a crowbar, the imprint of the base of the jack would usually be on the outdoor ground outside the rolling shutter door. It¡¯s not visible in the photos, probably because it was swept away. But there were also no marks of a crowbar inside the door. Crowbar marks are generally hard to clean, so the absence of crowbar marks indicates the door was pried open with a jack." Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was a bit intricate, but Qi Changye understood it quite easily. Moreover, Qi Changye asked with emphasis, "Does that mean that the methods used to open the rolling shutter door are limited to a jack or a crowbar?" "Based on the marks on the shutter door, it¡¯s generally either of the two. Especially the deformation at the lower edge of the shutter door, where you find indentations with bumps and depressions, these positions can reflect the end features of the Z-shaped steel te," Jiang Yuan replied. Having said that, Jiang Yuan confidently concluded, "If you can find this homemade tool and examine it under a microscope, you can definitely determine it¡¯s the same tool!" Listening to this, Qi Changye, no longer concerned with the technical reasoning, pped his thigh and said, "I understand now; I¡¯ll go look for this homemade tool right away. This person, could they be a professional at breaking into rolling shutters?" "It¡¯s possible," Jiang Yuan agreed. If someone has gone to the length of making their own tools, they¡¯re definitely doing so for frequent and convenient use. Therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be wrong to suspect the thief specializes in breaking into rolling shutters. Of course, there is more than one thief with such preferences. Especially in a ce like Beijing, you never know when characters from all over the country mighte to make a name for themselves. However, thieves skilled in using Z-shaped homemade tools are certainly notmon. Ordinary people might never encounter such individuals in their lifetime, and even those in the underworld may not know the specifics of their homemade tools, but there are always those who know. To seek out this information, whether it¡¯s Qi Changye or Tao Lu, detectives like them have their ways of investigation. Qi Changye, full of enthusiasm, thanked Jiang Yuan repeatedly before hurrying off, pulling out his phone while walking, and swiftly sent out several messages. The hallway was quiet, with the rhythmic tapping of keyboard keys sounding like the Grim Reaper at a disco. Tao Lu watched Qi Changye¡¯s back disappear, then closed the door again. Turning to Jiang Yuan, he shook his head and said, "You spoke too quickly. There¡¯s actually no rush for this kind of case. To casually inquire about news or anything, it takes several days, so there¡¯s no need to hurry in a matter of a moment." Jiang Yuan was a bit slow to respond, "Because Director Qi said to update the news at any time..." "You can update the news with Huang first. Doesn¡¯t it seem like the updates are very timely here with me?" Tao Lu¡¯s tone ofint was tinged with a slight sense of injury as he took the opportunity to teach Jiang Yuan a lesson. Jiang Yuan chuckled twice and replied, "I¡¯ll mention it to Commissioner Huang, but, on this end, it¡¯s just a theft case." "Who knows what¡¯s tied to a theft case. Even our criminal police cases involving breaking and entering tomit murder can be solved by following theft cases... Don¡¯t be embarrassed because of his position. What, just because they have a high security level, they can freeload? If they¡¯re capable, they should ask for their own resources, right? When I first started working, I even traded canned food with submarine soldiers. The radar station¡¯s guys treated their meal with respect, and they talked politely with the forest police, didn¡¯t they?" Jiang Yuan felt it was different but then thought, why bother puzzling over it himself when he could leave it to Huang Qiangmin to consider. Seeing Tao Lu emitting a faint air of resentment, Jiang Yuan immediately took out his phone and said, "Then I¡¯ll give Commissioner Huang a call." "Go ahead," Tao Lu smiled, turned around, and picked up the cadre mug, a porcin cylinder straight as a gut,forting to the soul. Jiang Yuan made the call and quickly exined the situation. Huang Qiangmin listened intently, "Mm," he said, "This indeed is new information, yeah, I¡¯ll talk to Director Guan about itter, he knows more about this area. Hand the phone to Tao." As instructed, Jiang Yuan handed over the phone, saying, "Tao, our Commissioner Huang would like to speak with you." "Mm," Tao Lu took the phone and began, "Huang, I¡¯ve noticed you¡¯re being a bit sly... Yeah, uh-huh, huh?" A few minutester. Tao Lu returned the phone to Jiang Yuan and said, "The call has ended, and if Qi Changye has more cases, I¡¯ll help youmunicate with him. I guess there will definitely be cases sent over, who wouldn¡¯t smack their lips over such juicy meat, cough... What I mean is, Qi Changye¡¯s cases also need to be coordinated and not just immediately done for him." Jiang Yuan, as the son of Jiang Vige¡¯s wealthiest man, pretended not to hear the middle part, having long been ustomed to being the proverbial Tang Monk meat. Jiang Yuan merely exined, "It¡¯s because the scene in the photo was quite clear. Moreover, judging by the photo alone, it¡¯s rather simple." The difference between a one-stop solution and a reminder of the key issues is still quite significant. Tao Lu responded with a "Mm," and said, "All in all, if Qi Changye contacts you again, just get in touch with me and Old Huang. Like today, you don¡¯t have to hurry to throw out an answer." "Alright," Jiang Yuan saw that Tao Lu was somewhat fixated and rified, "We¡¯re usually willing to do a case or two for new units." "That¡¯s not a bad strategy. Having tasted fine bran, one feels a sense of loss when going back to wild grass..." Tao Lu said, seemingly struck by a thought and falling temporarily silent. After a long while, Tao Lu sighed and said, "Doctor Jiang, you should rest well today. Tomorrow, pick out cases with Liu Cheng; I¡¯vemunicated well with Old Huang." Chapter 758 - 701: Becoming Ordinary

Chapter 758: Chapter 701: Bing Ordinary

After handling numerous cases, Jiang Yuan finally had a rare day off. He granted the whole Cold Case Squad a holiday and even distributed extra bonuses from the Zhengguang Bureau. Jiang Yuan took this opportunity to invite his father Jiang Fuzhen, Master Wu Jun, and others to Beijing for what amounted to a vacation. Jiang Fuzhen was quite willing. After receiving Jiang Yuan¡¯s call, he quickly got ready, and had Jiang Yongxin send him to the airport. He left after lunch and arrived before dinner. Jiang Fuzhen and Wu Jun arrived together, both carrying the aura of ritual as they entered, with Wu Jun especially taking care to cross the threshold with fire in his fingers, at his feet, and on his chest¡ªa significant practice. It was apparent that Ningtai County had been rtively peacefultely. After washing his hands, Jiang Fuzhen looked with respect at Master Wu Jun moving around the room and said to Jiang Yuan, "Your master really takes good care of you. He packed a suitcase full of things for you and only brought two changes of clothes in his backpack for himself." "I¡¯ll buy some clothes for Master." Jiang Yuan immediately replied obediently. Only then did Jiang Fuzhen nod, looked around the house, and sighed, "When I bought this house years ago, I felt a bit cheated, mainly because the salesperson¡¯s attitude was too good. They took us on a city tour and even brought us homemade bean sauce, making it awkward not to buy a second apartment." Mu Zhiyang, who had settled into one of the bedrooms, felt an impulsive urge to speak upon hearing Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s nostalgic words. The words reached his lips, and he said, "Uncle Jiang, if you want to stay here, I can just move into the amodation provided by the Zhengguang Bureau." "No need, I¡¯ll just stay upstairs." Jiang Fuzhen waved his hand. Mu Zhiyang: "Upstairs?" "The upstairs was bought at the same time, and they even gave me the rooftop garden. I previously rented it to apany as a guesthouse, but I spoke to their boss and moved them to a unit in the second phase, so now I can use this ce myself. Later, I¡¯ll have someone fix it up a bit so it¡¯s morefortable for you all." Mu Zhiyang¡¯s lips twitched, but he then uttered words of gratitude, "Thank you, Uncle Jiang." "What¡¯s there to thank? Like this, I¡¯ll go up and tidy it up a bit, have it cleaned, and then you alle up for dinner tonight," Jiang Fuzhen rolled up his sleeves, ready to get down to business. Wu Jun chose the right moment to return and said to Jiang Yuan, "Your dad really takes good care of you. He even brought a pot of the old broth used for cooking meat. The pot was checked-in luggage, saying you haven¡¯t had his cooking in a long while... " Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "I¡¯ll make sure to eat well at dinner." Wu Jun nodded and handed him a sachet, saying, "You can wear it while you¡¯re off work. A person¡¯s scent is also very important." Jiang Yuan epted the sachet without any resistance and casually hung it at his waist, not caring whether it looked good or not. Two dayster. Zhengguang Bureau. Jiang Yuan arrived at the office a bitter than usual. After taking a few sips of tea, he was called over by Tao Lu. Upon entering the small meeting room, he could feel a low pressure spreading. The office desk, which could seat about eleven or twelve people, was fully upied. Liu Cheng, Cui Qishan, and others looked somewhat restless. Qi Changye wore a calmer expression but was also frowning. They all managed a forced smile when they saw Jiang Yuan. When Jiang Yuan entered, Tao Lu greeted him first, then addressed the squad leaders below, saying, "Why so anxious? You¡¯re not always this eager... Alright, everyone go back to work. If you have time, organize the case files so you don¡¯t scramble to find them when you need them... " Soon afterwards, only Tao Lu, Qi Changye, and Jiang Yuan were left in the small meeting room. Qi Changye smiled and asked, "Is it just us now?" "If you have a case, you go first," said Tao Lu with a cough before turning to Jiang Yuan, "Commissioner Huang must¡¯ve told you, Qi here has a case that he wants you to look at... " "Commissioner Huang mentioned it," Jiang Yuan answered, then looked toward Qi Changye. Qi Changye, after a customary nce around, took out an envelope and handed it to Jiang Yuan. Upon opening it, it indeed contained a stack of photos. "Let me take a look," Jiang Yuan said quietly as he spread out the photos to examine them one by one. Compared to the theft case of the rolling shutter door from a few days before, the photos Qi Changye presented were far more shocking. The second photo that Jiang Yuan opened depicted a man with a massive facial injury. To say it was a massive injury wasn¡¯t just a simple adjective; his lips and surrounding area had burst open inrge radial wounds, with muscle tissue yed and fragments of teeth and gums starkly visible, resembling a ghastly bloom that all but obliterated the lower half of his face, while the upper half remained rtively intact, presenting a grotesquely unsettling sight. Not only that, but the body had also been burned, to the point where it was charred and curled up, the face a mix of ck and red. Qi Changye, seeing Jiang Yuan examining the burned skin, added, "When we found him, the fire had just started. After we quickly extinguished it, this is what was left." Jiang Yuan nodded and continued flipping through the photos without pausing. He soon came across a close-up of the oral cavity. From here one could see that the osseous support within the mouth hadpletely copsed. The so-called upper jawbone and lower jawbone were nothing but shattered bones now. The soft tissues in the mouth were even less recognizable, with the tongue, inner walls, and so on, all broken and unidentifiable, along with arge amount of charring. "The wounds are veryplex, and it¡¯s not very convenient to judge just by the photos. If possible, it would be best to have videos or something like that..." Jiang Yuan mentioned as he reached this point. Qi Changye immediately said, "That¡¯s what I was about to say. We¡¯d like to invite you to perform an autopsy. The body should have been sent to the dissection center already." "Oh, it¡¯s a current case," Jiang Yuan remarked and looked at Tao Lu. Tao Lu nodded and said, "You can just bring someone with you. It¡¯s mainly technical support, right?" Hisstment was directed at Qi Changye. Qi Changye smiled and nodded in agreement. Without anything more to say, Jiang Yuan gave Huang Qiangmin a call to confirm, then called over Mu Zhiyang and the two got into Qi Changye¡¯s car, heading to the dissection center. Before they left, Tao Lu pulled Qi Changye aside and said a few more words before sending the group out the door. Upon returning to the office, Tao Lu closed the door and leisurely started to sing an Andy Lau song that older people love: "Chilly rain like ice hits the face pdash...". The recent work had given him a sense of aplishment that he had not felt in a long time. Solving current murder cases was a relief, and cracking cold murder cases brought joy. With resources bing abundant, arge number of cases that had umted over the months were swept away, especially those involving property crimes that ordinary people were most likely to encounter. Therge number of cases solved had garnered praise from the public and social media. Someone like Qi Changye, who had nowe to seek assistance and was even willing to subsidize the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s expenses, was clearly at his highest emotional value. Tao Lu felt he had finally found the correct way and method to work. ... Qi Changye also brought a forensic doctor to help. Qi Changye himself changed into his clothes and entered the autopsy room. He introduced the doctor to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Medical Examiner Gong heard that you would be performing the autopsy and requested to be present, seeing it as an opportunity to make the most of the dissection..." Medical Examiner Gong, a man in his thirties with a chubby face and greasy skin, held the scalpel with his plump fingers, while arranging his instruments and smiling, "I just thought since Qi is asking you for the autopsy, why do it twice when you can do it once, right? A second autopsy never reveals as much as the first one." "In most cases, there¡¯s nothing to be seen in a second autopsy," Jiang Yuan responded politely, faced with an unfamiliar unit and forensic doctor. Medical Examiner Gong chuckled, "I¡¯ve seen the cold case you worked on where the policeman was robbed of his gun and then killed. The determination of the time of death..." As he spoke, he shook his head and said, "If the case hadn¡¯t been solved, confirming the uracy of the death timing, I would have found it hard to believe." "I do have a sort of talent when ites to determining the time of death," said Jiang Yuan matter-of-factly, as it was true that Level 6 time of death determination could only be attained by someone incredibly gifted. "Then today, I really have a lot to learn from you," said Medical Examiner Gong, his chubby face showing a confident smile. In Beijing, being able to secure a position as a leading forensic doctor in a powerful unit certainly requires real expertise. Jiang Yuan, too, turned serious. He looked at the time; it was already past 1 p.m. It had been nearly 10 a.m. when he arrived at the Zhengguang Bureau. After traveling to the dissection center and eating a quick meal downstairs, and then waiting for the body to be prepared, it was already this time. It looked like there would be no time for other work that day. Jiang Yuan decisively activated a temporary +1 skill boost and applied it to forensic pathology. As a result, for the next 405 minutes, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 4 forensic pathology skill would be temporarily increased to Level 5. Although this was still a vast difference from the Level 6 skill in death timing they had just discussed, Level 5 skills themselves represented an immense gap from the ordinary. Combined with other abilities, even if the body today was somewhat unusual, it would likely turn out to be quite ordinary. Chapter 759 - 702: Dissecting the Corpse

Chapter 759: Chapter 702: Dissecting the Corpse

"The body was burned, the skin mostly carbonized..." "Below the lower eyelids, down to the margin of the jaw, the facial area is severely copsed and deformed..." "No obvious trauma was seen on the neck, torso, or limbs, and there were no defensive wounds on the hands." As Jiang Yuan spoke, hepleted the external examination of the body. For a Level 1 forensic pathology yer, conducting an external examination requires very careful and repeated confirmation. Especially when ites to taking photos¡ªif you record something incorrectly, it¡¯s not only embarrassing, but it can also affectter work. But for someone like Jiang Yuan who started at Level 3 in forensic pathology, external examinations have never been an obstacle. Medical Examiner Gong, assisting at the side, nodded slightly, thinking: Just by looking at the external examination, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills are indeed solid, meticulous from top to bottom; it¡¯s hard to find any fault. Today wasn¡¯t a waste of time after all... "Let¡¯s start the dissection. Hand me the scalpel... We need to loosen this area..." Jiang Yuan said and reached for the scalpel, making an incision on the body. Dissecting a body after it has been burned is much more difficult than with an ordinary corpse. Here, not only is the work of determining the cause of death moreplicated, but the dissection itself bes somewhat difficult. The charred body, due to dehydration, has muscles that have contracted, causing the body to be quite firm. In a standard autopsy, the mostmonly used tools are a scalpel and scissors, while bone saws and chisels are typically used only briefly. However, in the case of a body that has been burned, thetter heavy equipment bes standard tools. Some forensic doctors with less strength may go directly for the electric bone saw or craniotome. Medical Examiner Gong, also experienced, saw that Jiang Yuan had begun the dissection and started looking for the electric bone saw. He lowered his head to rummage through the tools, casually changed the de on the bone saw, and when he looked up again, he saw that Jiang Yuan had alreadyid the body t. The body was originally in a curled position and could not beid outpletely t, but now it was fully stretched out. Medical Examiner Gong couldn¡¯t help eximing "Eh," somewhat uncertain how Jiang Yuan managed to do it, and why so quickly. Jiang Yuan, of course, had no time to pay attention to Medical Examiner Gong¡¯s thoughts. He went straight to opening and exposing the trachea and esophagus, first taking samples of the ck mucus found inside for testing, then methodically opening the chest to reveal the lungs. The lungs, seemingly unharmed on the outside, were now a rotten mess, with bloodstains between the lobes and visible pulmonary bue at the edges of both lungs. When touching the lungs, there was also a gritty feeling. "What¡¯s going on here?" Qi Changye wasn¡¯t there to assist; seeing something abnormal, he was the first to ask. "It should be due to the explosive detonating in the mouth, with the energy conducting downward, causing the lung lobes to expand rapidly, resulting in this damage. When we open the cranial cavity, we should also see contusions on the brain tissue..." Jiang Yuan casually exined as he continued with the dissection. Medical Examiner Gong worked and nodded at the same time. Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was very clear. He understood it immediately and agreed. While theories are easy to construct, actual evidence gathering is not so simple. Procedures like loosening tissues, taking photos, and collecting evidence must be done step by step. And because the body had been burned, there was also internal twisting and deformation, making standard dissection knowledge somewhat inadequate. If forced, not only would the difficulty increase, but it would also require more effort and time. It¡¯s like the inverse of masterfully carving up an ox. But Medical Examiner Gong¡¯s difficulties didn¡¯t affect Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. With Level 5 expertise in forensic pathology, it was virtually impossible for Jiang Yuan to encounter problems during such a fundamental process of body dissection. He worked through it effortlessly, applying mature and ssic solutions. At the same time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus was more on interpreting phenomena and analyzing problems. He made every effort to find as much of the explosive residues in the lungs, trachea, esophagus, and mouth as possible. Some residues were exposed, but most of the explosive fragments were actually embedded in tissue. Since the mouth and trachea had many wounds, it was nearly impossible to urately locate the explosive fragments by the rupture points. This task would ordinarily take a considerable amount of time. However, Jiang Yuan only gestured a bit, and after having Medical Examiner Gong take a few more photos, he was able to excavate a fragment in merely two cuts. Medical Examiner Gong¡¯s brows furrowed deeply. Why was this so? Watching Jiang Yuan swiftly dissect over a dozen fragments, Medical Examiner Gong finally couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Jiang, how did you know where the explosive residue was?" "I actually yed a trick..." Jiang Yuan smiled while continuing his work. "Generally speaking, we first find the fragments of explosives, then identify the explosive, right? But since there were actually several pieces of explosive residue exposed in the oral cavity, I first determined what they were, their power, and thus I could deduce which wounds were caused by the st wave, which were burn injuries from energy, and which were caused by shrapnel pration..." "Huh?" Medical Examiner Gong¡¯s eyes widened, and his mind instantly generated seven or eight questions. Before he could ask more, Qi Changye by his side had already be intrigued, "What do you think the explosive was?" "A battery, I guess. We¡¯ll need to run some physical and chemical tests. If we can detectponents of a battery in this viscous substance, that should be conclusive," Jiang Yuan responded confidently with his level 5 protection. Qi Changye was surprised, "Using a battery tomit suicide? Could it be that only the battery exploded, while the real explosive didn¡¯t detonate?" "We can¡¯t conclude it was suicide," Jiang Yuan turned his head and nced at Qi Changye, saying, "The current evidence doesn¡¯t support the suicide theory either." "Didn¡¯t you say that no injuries were found on his limbs, and there were no defensive wounds on his hands? If it¡¯s not suicide, who could have stuffed the explosives into his mouth?" Qi Changye paused, then added, "I forgot to tell you earlier, this person is the suspect who used that Z-shaped tool to pry open roller shutters and has a record of violent crime, doesn¡¯t seem like the type to surrender without a fight." Jiang Yuan was taken aback, then slowly shook his head, "Without finding other explosives, just speaking of a battery used for suicide, detonation is also a challenge. Even though the victim had the ability to make homemade tools... using a detonator or even a percussion cap would be easier and more reliable than a battery, right?" "That seems reasonable..." Qi Changye hesitated a bit. "The method of stuffing explosives in the mouth tomit suicide is quite umon. If the victim was familiar with tools, there would be more choices, so, I believe it¡¯s premature to determine it as suicide." Qi Changye nodded slightly, "No defensive wounds and it¡¯s not suicide; it also couldn¡¯t have been an ident, that would be too coincidental... Remote controlled?" Jiang Yuan blinked, "Not ruled out." "Can that be proven? He couldn¡¯t have just put a battery in his mouth and it exploded; there must have been some kind of casing, right?" "No clues were found at the scene?" Qi Changye shook his head, "The fire-affected area at the scene is quite extensive." "Then I¡¯ll have to search some more," Jiang Yuan said before burying himself in his work again. The fragments left in the victim¡¯s oral cavity were very tiny, and retrieving them one by one was indeed quite difficult. Besides, Jiang Yuan also didn¡¯t want topletely destroy the victim¡¯s oral cavity, in case further inspection was needed. Medical Examiner Gong followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead, but quickly felt disheartened. For him, this was a multiple drain on his intellect, physical strength, and confidence, the higher the difficulty, the harder it was to persevere. At that moment, Jiang Yuan was somehow managing to find dozens of tiny fragments, and after using tweezers to tentatively piece them together, he formed several small piles that were shapeless. Just when others thought the attempt had failed, Jiang Yuan tossed aside the tweezers and let out a breath, "It might have been an electronic cigarette." "Ah?" Qi Changye immediately perked up, "He was an e-cigarette user!" Jiang Yuan nodded, "The battery in the electronic cigarette exploded, some of it even sprayed onto his face, and most of the fragments probably fell to the ground, most likely burned up in the fire." Qi Changye furrowed his brows in concentration, "So, the arson wasn¡¯t necessarily to destroy the body to conceal evidence; it could be more about covering up the method of murder? But how did they know when the victim would be smoking an e-cigarette? What did they use to observe him?" That being said, he wasn¡¯t expecting Jiang Yuan to answer all his questions; instead, the questions he raised excited him even more. Chapter 760 - 703: The Sound of Rain

Chapter 760: Chapter 703: The Sound of Rain

An e-cigarette explosion killed someone, and not long after this conclusion came out, several forensic doctors arrived in the autopsy room. Zhan Kan also came in with an e-cigarette in his mouth and asked as soon as he entered, "Captain Jiang, I heard that someone was killed by an e-cigarette explosion? I¡¯ve heard about e-cigarettes catching fire, but not exploding." Jiang Yuan looked at him with a bit of surprise and said, "I didn¡¯t know you smoked." Zhan Kan had assisted Jiang Yuan several times before, and some autopsies took several hours, yet Jiang Yuan had never seen Zhan Kan step out for a smoke. Zhan Kan shook his head and said, "I just use it to counter the old smokers in the office. The smell of second-hand smoke is too unpleasant. When I first started vaping, many people told me it was harmless, butter I realized that vaping has its own set of harms, so I cut down. Today, when I heard about the e-cigarette explosion, I felt a jolt of fear and hurried over to see." "The e-cigarette explosion might not be what you¡¯re thinking," Jiang Yuan felt that the possibility of remote control or triggering was still quite high; otherwise, it couldn¡¯t have coincidentally killed the victim just when certain people needed it to. It even started a fire that nearly burned all the evidence away. Zhan Kan let out a breath and said, "As long as it¡¯s not a simple explosion, I¡¯d better take a couple of puffs to calm my nerves." Seeing him take a serious drag, Jiang Yuan could not help but smile and said, "Overseas, there have been straightforward cases of people killed by e-cigarette explosions." "Cough cough cough..." Zhan Kan choked and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Can such a small battery really be deadly?" "Yes, not as severe as our case, but still lethal, probably because the explosion¡¯s fragments pierced the carotid artery," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "There are a lot more cases of fires starting..." At this point, Jiang Yuan fell into thought. The nner had really thought things through, considering how the case was orchestrated. It¡¯smon knowledge that lithium batteries can explode, and the main force of this explosion was indeed provided by the battery. As for why the explosion in this case was more powerful than recorded ones, it could be fully exined by different e-cigarettes and batteries, as well as how they were used at the time. Also, a battery fire that¡¯s difficult to extinguish is a very good side effect. It¡¯s even possible the nner didn¡¯t personally set the fire but instead used the battery explosion to ignite it, killing two birds with one stone. The autopsy was almost finished, and just as Zhan Kan walked in, Jiang Yuan invited both Zhan Kan and Medical Examiner Gong to jointly write the autopsy report. The main content was to be narrated and signed off by Jiang Yuan, with the rest to be blended smoothly by their capable hands. Most technical folks don¡¯t like clerical work. Zhan Kan and Medical Examiner Gong naturallycked enthusiasm for this, but since it was a request from Captain Jiang, they could only nce at each other and take turns pretending to write it down. Rushing home, Mr. Jiang had already prepared a table full of food. In the center of the big table was arge iron basin big enough to bathe a small child, heaped high with bone-in beef, seemingly weighing over a hundred pounds. As a result, the delicate side dishes and colorful cold tes around the basin seemed quite ordinary. "That¡¯s way too much," Mu Zhiyang, licking his lips, estimated that even if the table was full of big eaters like him, they probably couldn¡¯t finish all that meat in the basin. Jiang Fuzhen handed out several small knives to everyone andughed, "We don¡¯t need to finish the meat, we¡¯re only eating the bone-adjacent meat today. There¡¯s nothing more delicious than the meat next to the bone, haven¡¯t you heard that saying? It¡¯s the piece attached to the bone that has the most tendons and cogen, which is why it¡¯s the tenderest and most vorful." "Like the meat on the shank bone," Mu Zhiyang said, his understanding was pretty good when it came to food. Jiang Fuzhen nodded, grabbed a piece of cow leg bone that was thicker than his own arm with gloved hands, and said, "This is the beef shank bone. I¡¯ll first shave off the meat on top for everyone, then we can cut the meat close to the bone." Jiang Yuan sat by and casually exined, "The topyer of meat is kept intact for cooking, so it can retain water. Plus, when you eat it, it stays warm. By the time we finish our meal, even the meat without the outeryer, the deboned meat, is still hot." Mu Zhiyang, who was listening, swallowed his saliva andughed, "That does seem to trouble Uncle Jiang a bit." "I¡¯m the chef either way. Deboning now is easier than before cooking. Just talk a bit and it¡¯s done," Jiang Fuzhen said as he made a sizzling noise, the sound of the inneryer of meat scalding him. The exposed beef close to the bone looked a little shiny, even slightly transparent under the light. With a slight movement, it would tremble with a *duangduang* sound. "The ratio of fat to lean is just perfect," Jiang Fuzhen said as he cut off a piece of meat the size of a fingertip and ced it on a small te nearby to serve everyone first, then continued cutting and said, "Kobe beef is also marketed for its fat, but it¡¯s too fatty and can make you feel sick after a while. You can only eat a little at a time. Unlike this boiled beef, it¡¯s neither greasy nor dry, not smelly nor tough..." Jiang Yuan tried a piece and tasted the familiar soft and sticky vor of fat. Compared to pork products rich in cogen, such as pig trotters, beef deboned meat is chewier. On such a tender base, the joy is doubled. "I never knew you could eat beef this way," Mu Zhiyang beamed as he ate, unable to stop himself from asking, "What do we do with the rest of therge piece of beef after we¡¯ve had the deboned meat?" "We generally slice it and eat it. Either put it in a bowl of noodles that¡¯s been cooked, or just mix it with chili oil and vinegar. I usually take it out when I¡¯m hosting a feast, and everyone eats it together. It¡¯s all gone by the end of the meal." After slicing for two rounds, Jiang Fuzhen went out to the balcony and murmured something to Wu Jun. He ate very little himself, mainly enjoying the pleasure of cooking the meat. Jiang Yuan and the others were even more at ease. After a while, the chefs brought out a variety of staple foods, beer, and several dishes freshly prepared toplement the meal. Everyone picked their favorites, whether eating rice, drinking beer, or continuing with the meat, thoroughly enjoying themselves. *Whoosh! Whoosh!* Unbeknownst to them, a heavy rain had started outside the window, dense and heavy raindrops pounding down like a pile driver, making a loud noise as they hit the ground. Jiang Yuan poured himself a ss of ice-cold, orange beer, taking a sip of beer and a bite of the deboned meat, then enjoying the cool breeze from the rain, feelingpletely rxed. ... Qi Changye was running frantically in the pouring rain. Only two policemen were left beside him with just one gun. The suspect they were pursuing was clever and skillful, always choosing the right direction to avoid the roadblocks ahead. As a result, Qi Changye had been running for the entire day without even catching a glimpse of the suspect. Despite this, Qi Changye was ecstatic. The stronger and more professional the opponent, the more it reflected the importance of his catch. If he could make the arrest, even if he were drenched and starving, Qi Changye would just feel thrilled, as if he had gulped down a bottle of ice-cold beer on a sultry night. Chapter 761 - 704: Hunting the Culprit

Chapter 761: Chapter 704: Hunting the Culprit

Qi Changye trudged through the mud, one deep step followed by a shallow one. He wasn¡¯t actually skilled at tracking down enemies; in fact, he hadn¡¯t had many opportunities to learn or practice such techniques. Most of the time, Qi Changye¡¯s work involvedmunication or, asionally, helping colleagues clean up their cases. But this time, he had moved a little too quickly, so fast that colleagues from other departments hadn¡¯t even had time to react before he had the chance to show off his skills. It was just his luck to run into a downpour. Qi Changye looked up at the sky, wiped the water from his face, and then continued to trudge forward with his head down. Deep down, Qi Changye had a sense that he probably wouldn¡¯t catch the suspect. The person had clearly received professional training and might even be a former special forces member. Considering that his own side had only suffered two injuries so far, they were lucky. However, Qi Changye still wouldn¡¯t give up. As long as he was in pursuit, the suspect, feeling the pressure, would have fewer options, making it easier for others to track him down. What Qi Changye feared most was alerting the suspect, allowing him to flee a thousand miles away¡ªthat would be a real problem. The criminals they were trying to apprehend weren¡¯t like ordinary suspects; many of them hadplete sets of fake IDs, backup phone numbers, and mobile phones. Once they decided to flee, it would be very difficult to capture them again. Thinking this, Qi Changye also encouraged hispanions, saying, "Let¡¯s hold on a bit longer; backup might arrive at any moment." "As long as we hold out until the rain stops, we can send for a helicopter." Hispanion pretended to be optimistic as well. Qi Changye nodded emphatically. Despite being scattered, the other police officers in Jingji were numerous. Given the slightest chance, they could quickly form a cordon. The rain, however, continued to pour even harder. The three of them supported each other, struggling to move forward, until... they lost their way. o¡¯clock at night. Covered in mud, Qi Changye knocked on the door of Jiang Yuan¡¯s residence, his shoes squelching, his trousers rustling, and while shaking his hair, he rapped on the door. "Is it Da Hai with the drinks? Let me tell you, even in a drinking game, you need the right booze!" "Someone brought peanuts, right?" "Hurry back and drink; don¡¯t think of ditching us..." When the door opened, the strong scent of alcohol and meat mixed with the stinky human odor and the smell of leftovers, alongside the lively noises brimming with vitality and joy. With his body chilled to the bone, Qi Changye felt as if he had entered another world for a moment. "Who are you?" The officer who opened the door didn¡¯t recognize Qi Changye, but seeing that he was wearing a police uniform underneath his raincoat, he still called for Jiang Yuan. Upon seeing him, Jiang Yuan quickly weed Qi Changye inside and asked, "What happened? Do we need to call a doctor?" "No need. Are you... having a party?" Qi Changye was somewhat unsettled. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, "My dad cooked some beef and asked me to invite colleagues over to eat. Then we started drinking beer, and here we are. Is there something wrong?" "Hmm." Qi Changye nodded. "Then let¡¯s go to the study," Jiang Yuan suggested, leading Qi Changye inside. Qi Changye passed through the entryway and found himself unable to move any further. The massive, towering mound of meat captivated him with an absolute visual shock, locking his gaze firmly in ce. Qi Changye hadn¡¯t eaten a bite since noon, having only gulped down some rainwater. He had traversed several mountains, his mental stress reaching a peak. "Director Qi,e have a drink, eat something." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need any high-level reasoning; Qi Changye¡¯s expression said it all. Qi Changye sighed and ultimately shook his head, saying, "Businesses first." Swallowing hard, Qi Changye followed Jiang Yuan into the study. After taking a seat and looking around, Qi Changye said, "Today, I went to apprehend a suspect rted to remote-controlled electronic cigarettes." "Oh? Found it already?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, as the efficiency was quite high. Qi Changye nodded and said, "The remote control definitely has to have a range, and it only works if it explodes while the victim is using the electronic cigarette. So, it was necessary to have visual contact with the victim¡¯s room. Based on these two points, we checked the surveince on the two buildings opposite and identified several suspects..." Qi Changye licked his lips, then shook his head, saying, "In short, the suspect was not sessfully apprehended, and all their identity information turned out to be fake, so I had toe back." "With your efficiency being so high, the suspect wouldn¡¯t have had time to clean the room, right? You should have been able to find fingerprints or DNA," Jiang Yuan said. In most criminal cases, finding either of those two things meant the case was half solved. However, Qi Changye was not so optimistic, and with resignation, he said, "We found DNA, and it matches with the previous two cases, but there is no matching subject." Jiang Yuan thought about it from Qi Changye¡¯s perspective and also found it quite challenging. In modern society, it¡¯s incredibly difficult for an ordinary person to evade a powerful authority¡¯s pursuit, but the most challenging part is just at the beginning. Once you sessfully leave the crime scene and understand and blend into the local environment, when you¡¯re caught depends on luck and your own willpower. But if there¡¯s an organized flight, the pressure falls on the side of the police. If you haveplete identification, a phone, some money, and know a bit about makeup, you essentially have a fifty to sixty percent chance of sess. Afterward, it¡¯s all about the strategies chosen by both sides and whether they can be resolutely executed. The suspect that Qi Changye was looking for met all these criteria. Now that he had escaped, it was like a fish slipping into the sea; trying to catch it again was easier said than done. Seeing Jiang Yuan silent, Qi Changye sighed and said, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯m out of options here. This suspect is connected to multiple leads. If we let him go, or even if he¡¯s silenced, this case could be ruined." Jiang Yuan spread his hands: "It¡¯s hard for a clever woman to cook without rice." Qi Changye clenched his teeth and said, "I can ask the higher-ups for permission for you to review the evidence involved in this case..." "The previous evidence, does it have anything about the suspect we¡¯re tracking now?" Qi Changye hesitated and said, "No." Jiang Yuan thought, just as expected, it was aplete cold case. "Then there¡¯s not much I can do," Jiang Yuan said frankly. "Now I¡¯m the one who can¡¯t do anything," Qi Changye said with a wry smile, then added, "Captain Jiang..." "Even to look at the files, I still need Director Huang¡¯s permission," Jiang Yuan still needed Huang Qiangmin to back him up, otherwise, who knows what kind of case Qi Changye had brought over. Qi Changye readily agreed. Jiang Yuan thus didn¡¯t dwell on it further and went out of the study to sit at the table and partake in the meal. Qi Changye wolfed down his food, finally getting a bit of satisfaction. After making a phone call and discussing for a long time with Tao Lu, Huang Qiangmin finally received confirmed news, which he then exined to Jiang Yuan. With confirmation on this side, and Qi Changye having eaten his fill, he asked Jiang Yuan, "Where do we start?" "If there¡¯s a crime scene, we start there," Jiang Yuan did not have any special requests, sticking to very conventional operations. Qi Changye felt a hint of disappointment, although he wasn¡¯t sure what exactly he had been hoping for. Perhaps because the prior two times, Jiang Yuan had solved the cases in mere moments, raising his expectations too high? "Shall we leave now?" Qi Changye turned back to Jiang Yuan and asked again. "Oh, wait a moment," Jiang Yuan said, slightly lowering his head so that his facial expression couldn¡¯t be seen. In front of him, what actually appeared was a pale blue interface from the system: Mission: Apprehend the Criminal Mission Content: An experienced criminal with high anti-investigative capabilities must be brought to justice! Mission Reward: Skull Restoration Skill +1 Chapter 762 - 705: From Nothing to Something

Chapter 762: Chapter 705: From Nothing to Something

The suspect left behind two crime scenes. One was the residence of the burned victim, and the other was the room rented by the murderer to observe the victim¡¯s residence. The room that had burned was inevitably limited in what could be investigated, so Jiang Yuan chose to inspect the room rented by the murderer first. There were still some things in this room. After all, even though the murderer made some preparations, he was forced to leave and inevitably left behind some items, including traces of daily life. If it were an ordinary suspect, with these items, it would be easy to determine their identity, and then it would just be a typical pursuit and capture operation. There was no need for an expert of Jiang Yuan¡¯s caliber to be involved. LV5 crime scene investigation is an explosive presence on a national level. Most provincial investigation experts peak at LV3, with only a very few reaching LV4, who are considered top experts in their province. On a national level, those who reach LV5 are rare. In most of the thirty-some provinces and regions, such resources are absent, found only in ces like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong, and it¡¯s uncertain where these few might be employed, whether they are touring the nation, or even retired. Despite how impressive Qi Changye¡¯s department might seem, even the most elite department has limited resources, and this includes human resources. In fact, because they do not handle social case investigations and do not conduct as many scene investigations as the police, they simply cannot afford to maintain especially elite scene investigation experts. At most, they borrow them when needed. Experts at the LV5 level would not let their talents go to waste. It¡¯s difficult to keep such experts without utilizing them, just like Jiang Yuan in Ningtai County. If Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t proactively offer his services, sooner orter, someone else would no doubt borrow and lose him. The murderer rented an apartment. The first four floors downstairs were a shopping mall, with an old-fashioned tower above with over twenty floors. The location of the apartment was excellent, situated in the center of the localmercial district, where daily necessities were within walking distance. However, theposition of the building wasplex. From the shopping mall on the lower floors to the apartments above, as long as one found the elevator, ess control was almost meaningless¡ªtoo many people wereing and going, and one could simply follow the others. The division of 36 households served by 6 elevators also made the building¡¯s security almost non-existent. Correspondingly, it was incredibly difficult to collect DNA and fingerprints from the corridors or elevators. It was somewhat better inside the room. With almost a hundred square meters, it had two bedrooms and one living room. In the living room, there stood an astronomical telescope, its lens facing the balcony of the victim¡¯s residence. Of the other two bedrooms, one had a window with a view of the target, and the other was used as a tool room, containing a long table with at least a dozen different tools and two iron racks holding some scattered parts. "When the victim Zhang Xuanting smoked, he used to open the window, and he had the same habit when using e-cigarettes. The murderer probably observed this habit and chose to rent a room here," Qi Changye said as he followed Jiang Yuan into the room, summarizing the situation so far. "Better than using a sniper rifle in the movies," Jiang Yuanmented, looking at the tripod-equipped telescope and feeling slightly immersed. "To be honest, explosives are much more reliable than a sniper rifle. Hmm, the murderer seemed to have assembled explosives here. He took away the explosives, but from the remaining tools, we can still discern his actions," Qi Changye said with a sigh, adding, "So we have to catch this person fast." Jiang Yuan nodded silently. The murderer¡¯s target was clearly not Zhang Xuanting; rather, Zhang Xuanting was merely a step towards that target. Eliminating him was more likely an act to buy time to achieve the real objective. Therefore, the main purpose of the murderer staying in this room was probably to assemble the explosives. Monitoring or killing Zhang Xuanting was more of a secondary task. In some sense, Zhang Xuanting was more like a fuse. Once it burned out, the murderer knew it was time to leave. "So, the murderer assembled the bomb in this room, and due to some opportunity, decided to eliminate Zhang Xuanting," Jiang Yuan surmised as he walked to the windowsill, gazing out at the dark night sky and the bright lights. After pondering, he continued, "The murderer used a remote control device to blow up Zhang Xuanting on the spot while he was vaping. Then, the murderer tidied up and swept this room, went downstairs to the opposite side, cleaned up Zhang Xuanting¡¯s home, and then set it on fire before leaving?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s guess was somewhat akin to a crime scene reconstruction model, only extending the scope of the crime scene. Qi Changye nodded slightly, saying, "It¡¯s possible." "But isn¡¯t it overkill to blow a person up and then set fire to Zhang Xuanting¡¯s home?" Jiang Yuan asked in return. "Not really. Zhang Xuanting was a habitual thief and very cautious in his actions. Even though the house he lived in was rented, he had changed all the locks, and the murderer broke in using force," Qi Changye exined, concerned that Jiang Yuan might not understand, and added, "When murdering someone indoors, if the victim is prepared, it can be quite dangerous. Life is precious; no one truly likes to take risks." "So, it¡¯s like how predators hunt, always aiming for a kill without injury?" Jiang Yuan somewhat understood. "That¡¯s the general idea. The area the murderer could observe was limited, so it¡¯s hard to say if there were other preparations inside," Qi Changye paused for a moment before adding, "Also, the murderer might have wanted to confirm the death and possibly took something away..." At this point, Jiang Yuan agreed, "The explosive power of the e-cigarette might not have been enough to kill him." As they talked, Jiang Yuan began to photograph everything from beginning to end, then started to inspect bit by bit. This scene, of course, had already beenbed through once. Frankly, Jiang Yuan had rarely been present at an initial crime scene as most experts faced a simr issue. Because they were always traveling around the country, they often saw evidence that the local police had already gone over once, which naturally increased the difficulty by more than a notch. Some serial killers were caught exactly by such experts. Aftermitting multiple crimes without being detected by the police, they would act again in a short time, only to fall directly into the hands of experts who hadn¡¯t yet left the area. The crime instantly shifted from cold to current cases, leading to a swift arrest... "We¡¯re finished here; let¡¯s go downstairs," Jiang Yuan said after spending more than two hours scouring the apartment of less than 100 square meters. Qi Changye had been waiting impatiently for a while but dared not to rush, and now he finally asked, "Did you find anything?" "Now, the problem is, even if we manage to confirm the killer¡¯s identity, it is very likely a false one. With this, conventional measures used to identify a person, such as DNA and fingerprints, are useless." Qi Changye was startled, "That¡¯s true. So... do you have a method?" "We can only let the evidence speak for itself, let¡¯s look further." In fact, Jiang Yuan had some trick up his sleeve, such as the secret weapon he often used, Legal Botany, which can look for characteristics of a specific site. At this moment, it mighte in handy. However, Legal Botany also has its troubles. One is that it¡¯s time-consuming andbor-intensive. If Jiang Yuan started looking for pollen now, by the time he found the ce, it could be several dayster, which doesn¡¯t fit the current pursuit. What Qi Changye was hoping for was for Jiang Yuan to simply report a room number and then barge in and rattle around. As for Jiang Yuan, choosing which pollen to target was the trouble. If there was a body, there¡¯d be no question, as you¡¯d look for pollen on the body, and most of the locations identified would be meaningful. But in the killer¡¯s residence, which spot or object to choose as the target? It was very likely that after a hard work, one would find a meaningless result. Therefore, using Legal Botany at this moment was a high-risk, high-investment, high-reward endeavor, and Jiang Yuan did not want to choose it unless absolutely necessary. The group moved on to the dwelling of Zhang Xuanting, which had been set aze. This was where Zhang Xuanting rented. The renovation, furniture, and everything else were provided by thendlord. The interior was either burned or drenched after arge fire and firefighting efforts, leaving no part undamaged. At such a fire scene, most evidence would have been destroyed, but the fire scene itself is evidence, including the traces of smoke, burning, spreading, and carbonization, all reflecting the changes at the site. Ordinary fire investigators would do a four-step exploration based on this, namely environmental exploration, preliminary exploration, detailed exploration, and specialized exploration. As Jiang Yuan proceeded this way, he naturally obtained a series of evidence, but none were decisive. "I¡¯ll go back and think about it, and check the surveince again," Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry. In terms of skill level, he was now one of the top experts in the country. The killer had left plenty of clues; it was just a matter of approaching from the right angle. Plus, he had some tricks he hadn¡¯t yet used. Qi Changye, however anxious, had no choice but to follow Jiang Yuan. After all this running around, by the time they returned to the police station, it was already work hours. Jiang Yuan was also extremely tired, but with Qi Changye watching him with golden-retriever-like eyes and given the special nature of the case, Jiang Yuan managed to perk up, ordered a cup of coffee, and started watching the videos while drinking. The killer¡¯s regrings and goings in the apartment could not avoid being captured, front and back photos taken, but the subject was always wearing a mask and sunsses, making the collected facial information somewhat insufficient. Jiang Yuan extracted a few pictures and roughly did some image enhancement, but the effect was mediocre. Just as he watched on and on, and Qi Changye had almost dozed off, Jiang Yuan suddenly woke him with a p. "Look at the killer¡¯s shoe cab," Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes were a bit red, but he still looked alert. "Shoe cab..." Qi Changye frowned as he looked at the photos Jiang Yuan was showing and, knowing that he wouldn¡¯t act without purpose, pondered carefully, "Are you talking about the types of shoes? Outdoor shoes, hiking boots, and formal leather shoes..." "What we need to look at is what¡¯s missing." Jiang Yuan pointed to several empty spots in the shoe cab and took out a few more photos, saying, "Look at the several pairs of shoes he wore at that time; none of them are in the shoe cab." "Did the killer take them with him?" Qi Changye immediately thought of the reason and frowned, "He still had time to prepare his travel gear, although taking several pairs of shoes is a bit strange..." "The shoes he took away were all from Zegna," Jiang Yuan interrupted Qi Changye and took out a stack of printed photos for him, "These are the shoe models I confirmed on the official website. Comparing with the shoe prints confirmed at the scene, the killer took away at least four or five models of this brand¡¯s shoes. It looks like he¡¯s a faithful fan of Zegna shoes." Qi Changye nodded slowly, "Some people get used to wearing a certain model of shoes and will keep repurchasing them..." At this, Qi Changye finally caught on, "Do you think he will repurchase shoes of the same brand?" "It¡¯s better to trace his previous purchases first." Jiang Yuan felt that Qi Changye was still a bit groggy and added, "Even though there are many wealthy people in Beijing, continuously buying several pairs of the same brand of shoes, and size 43 at that, while we know the color and style of four of the models, we should be able to find some information about this customer, shouldn¡¯t we?" Jiang Yuan pointed to the shoe models in the photo, emphasizing, "As far as I know, luxury brands pay special attention to the long-term behavior of their customers. If someone always buys shoes as a new customer, they probably can only get the more basic styles. If they want popr or limited editions, then their membership needs to be maintained... it¡¯s up to you to see if the brand will cooperate." Qi Changye smiled without answering Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, just nodding emphatically, "We won¡¯t let him get away this time." Chapter 763 - 706: Good

Chapter 763: Chapter 706: Good

Dawn. On the balcony, the flowering crabapples exposed their tender, red leaves, glistening with sweet dew, their branches enticing the early-rising insects. The pine trees in themunityzily stretched their needles. Just yesterday, they were thoroughly watered and, shielded by the surrounding buildings from wind and basking fully in the rain, they still liked to show off their needle-like shapes, as if to pretend they were in the wild, enduring heroes of cold and drought. The homeowners, burdened with mortgages, walked briskly in their suits and leather shoes; they needed to set out before the morning rush to avoid beingte. A man in a dirty jacket, with bloodshot eyes and a limp, was walking against the tide of people, passing through the shadows of the pine trees, beyond the field of crabapples, and into the building at the center of themunity. Living room. Thin wisps of blue smoke were already rising. After bathing and changing his clothes, Wu Jun felt refreshed, and it seemed so casual for him to light three sticks of incense in the living room, timing it just right. Knock, knock, knock. Qi Changye knocked on the door and was first met with the long, lingering, and substantial scent of the incense. Qi Changye blinked his eyes and suddenly felt a great urge to sleep through it all. He had been running around again all ofst night and, by his count, had almost gone two days without sleep. Although he hadn¡¯t reached his limit, he was relying on sheer willpower and adrenaline to keep going. "Where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" Qi Changye asked straight away. "He¡¯s still sleeping. If it¡¯s urgent, I¡¯ll wake him up," Wu Jun guessed it wasn¡¯t urgent, or else a phone call would have sufficed. Making a trip here in person, with Wu Jun¡¯s wealth of experience, was akin to the pride of a hen afterying eggs. Indeed, Qi Changye swallowed and said, "It¡¯s not urgent, let him sleep a bit longer; he¡¯s had it tough, too, following up at the scene yesterday. I can wait a bit." Actually, he wanted to sleep, but considering how drowsy he felt right now, he feared he wouldn¡¯t wake up until evening. Wu Jun chuckled and said, "In that case, it¡¯s perfect, the chefs are starting to make breakfast. The chefs hired by Jiang Fuzhen are pretty skilled, and though there aren¡¯t many varieties, the taste is good. You should try it." As they spoke, four chefs in white uniforms and tall white hats filed out of a room, nodding at Wu Jun as they entered the respective Chinese and Western kitchens, taking their stations and busying themselves. Qi Changye, who was worldly wise, was still a bit taken aback and decided to wait for breakfast, meanwhile wrinkling his nose andughing, "The incense you lit smells quite nice. Is there a particr reason?" "Nothing special, it¡¯s just to help everyone concentrate and calm their minds, revitalizing and awakening the senses. Those asleep will naturally wake up upon smelling it, and it helps to rejuvenate and lighten the body," Wu Jun said with a calm smile, like a true master¡ªwhich he really was, as his reputation had grown, his apprentice was exceptional, and his work was leisurely. Qi Changye felt Wu Jun¡¯s strong confidence and could not help but be slightly mesmerized, maybe too overtired to keep up with the conversation. Soon, the chefs began to serve breakfast. The police officers who woke up early gathered in the dining room automatically and voluntarily. Four chefs bustled about, with the pastry chef even beginning to make bread in batches¡ªthese breads could be eaten not only by the officers living in Jiang Yuan¡¯s house, but also by the members of the Cold Case Squad at the unit, who were quite fond of them. And it wasn¡¯t just for breakfast, but for lunch, dinner, and even afternoon tea, making for a convenient and tasty choice. This was very simr to what Jiang Fuzhen did in the vige, except that it was carbohydrates instead of meat, and the chef wasn¡¯t Jiang Fuzhen himself. Jiang Yuan also preferred this kind of atmosphere. When there were many people outside, he left his bedroom and sat down in his usual spot, saying, "Mr. Zheng, I¡¯ll have the savory porridge today, with fried dough sticks and a few dishes." "Okay," the chef replied. "Today it¡¯s a meat and vegetable porridge. I personally went to pick out the meat this morning; it¡¯s really fresh. I¡¯ll also prepare a couple of buns for you. I¡¯ve got a piece of pork belly which I first boiled, then chopped, and now I¡¯m steaming it; it¡¯s sizzling with fat." "Great," Jiang Yuan responded with a smile, and then noticed Qi Changye next to him, looking grubby. Compared to the casual officers getting ready for work, Qi Changye looked like he had fallen on hard times, with messy hair and a dirty face, and his eyes were deep. "Director Qi, when did you get here?" Jiang Yuan greeted him with a smile. "Just arrived. I was out on a casest night. Shall we talk in the corner?" Qi Changye picked up his bowl and moved to another table. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to follow and asked, "Did it go smoothly?" "It did," Qi Changye perked up, quickly took a couple of gulps of soy milk to soothe his throat, and continued, "This guy has spent a few million at Zegna. We found his payment records and uncovered one of his deeper hidden identities. Then we got his email address and mobile number, sent a few probing emails, and the guy bit..." Qi Changye, looking proud, added, "Actually, once we got to this point, he was pretty much trapped. There were so many ways to find him. There was also a problem with the address he used for sending packages. He probably felt this identity was too secure, and he used it too much. He thought using a neighboringmunity¡¯s address and leaving it at Rookie Station would suffice. Na?ve... Eventually, we even found him on the surveince video, although it was no longer necessary by then." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t quite understand the details of apprehension, but he was a bit curious, "Wasn¡¯t it said that he ran off to the mountains? Did he go back again?" Qi Changye¡¯s face flushed for a moment, and after downing two more mouthfuls of soy milk, he said, "The scoundrel can certainly run, but he hadn¡¯t finished his task. Moreover, he was confident his identity was secure, and indeed, it would have been really hard to find him. He didn¡¯t expect the shoes he discarded to betray him, and that could only happen to households like yours..." A pair of shoes costing seven or eight thousand, some even more expensive; ordinary people could hardly afford them, just like a family that has chefs for breakfast, clearly beyond the ordinary. Jiang Yuan shook his head but didn¡¯t exin. To identify the shoe model required more than the LV5 footprint analysis and LV5 crime scene analysis skills¡ªit dependedrgely on the LV2 trendy clothing recognition skill. Although it was only LV2, the content it covered far exceeded the requirement of recognizing the brand. "So is the case closed now?" Jiang Yuan asked somewhat relieved. "We¡¯ve caught the person, but as for the entire case... We want to dig deeper. What do you say, Jiang Yuan? Join us?" Qi Changye was eagerly convincing. "Honestly, this case has widespread implications. The perpetrator¡¯s motives and his previous work involve a broad spectrum. Uncovering it all would be extremely significant..." "Solving criminal cases holds the same importance for society," Mu Zhiyang interjected without hesitation. "Director Qi, if you have a case, just contact Commissioner Huang. The case can be solved, and the societal impact will be just as significant." "Commissioner Huang... your Commissioner Huang..." Qi Changye said, shaking his head, and then, with anger, took a big bite of a steamed bun, "Tao is no saint either." Chapter 764 - 707 Girlfriend

Chapter 764: Chapter 707 Girlfriend

Drip. Huang Qiangmin pressed the code to unlock the door, entered, and asked, "Have they left? Is Director Qi here?" Mu Zhiyang, hearing the noise, hurried out and said, "Director Qi is inside, asleep and snoring away." Upon hearing this, Huang Qiangmin indeed detected a faint snoring sounding from the bedroom. "Seems he¡¯s sleeping pretty soundly," Huang Qiangmin chuckled, then asked, "Nothing else was said after that, right? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t deal with him, did he?" "What else could there be? I just didn¡¯t expect them to be so t broke," said Mu Zhiyang, grinning as if he himself had made a sale. Huang Qiangmin waved his hand and said, "Nobody¡¯s funds are overflowing. Not having to coverst year¡¯s shortfall with this year¡¯s budget is already an upturn." As he spoke, Huang Qiangmin stood tall and straight. In this past year, he had built up the Ningtai County Bureau more than the previous ten yearsbined; if there were a "Bureau Chronicles," it would only be fair to write that his "contributions were indeed immense." Huang Qiangmin smiled to himself, then asked, "And, where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" "Catching up on sleep, gathering his energy. Should I go wake him?" "Call Director Qi first. Let him take a shower and wake up, then we¡¯ll talk." Even Mu Zhiyang showed a look of pity, "Director Qi just fell asleep. Waking him now might just kill him." "It¡¯s fine, their bereavement benefits are generous," said Huang Qiangmin, not preparing to wait. Not to mention if the case could wait or not, Qi Changye¡¯s attempt to poach someone didn¡¯t entitle him to lounge high in the Jiang residence, sleeping with thunderous snores. Mu Zhiyang, receiving the order, went to wake Qi Changye. Huang Qiangmin brewed himself a pot of tea, leisurely sipping, when Wu Jun and Jiang Fuzhen joined him, one after another. They were like different breeds of fish in a river, the kind that needn¡¯t worry about being snatched away in a crocodile¡¯s casual bite. Soon, from the room where Qi Changye was sleeping, angry howls could be heard. The voice of Qi Changye was clear and distinct: "I¡¯ve only slept for a short while, can¡¯t one get a full night¡¯s rest?" "What a grudge." "I haven¡¯t slept for two days." "Even if the Jade Emperor himself arrived, I wouldn¡¯t care!" Latter, Qi Changye still emerged, freshly washed and slightly unsteady on his feet, but his expression not quite in a daze. "Old Huang, is there something so urgent that we must discuss it now?" Qi Changye asked unhappily as he took his seat on the other side of the tea table. "Jiang Yuan needs to arrange his schedule," said Huang Qiangmin calmly as he brewed tea, pouring a cup for Qi Changye before continuing, "This time was an exceptional circumstance, and we tried our best to amodate you. Everyone is happy with the smooth progress of the case, but if you continue to need Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement, you first need his agreement. Secondly, you have to arrange a time. He cannot be at your beck and call anymore. Some units have been waiting for several months already. It¡¯s firste-first-served, which is why I had Mu call you to get up..." "Then I¡¯ll reserve for the next three months!" Qi Changye immediately said. "It doesn¡¯t work like that," Huang Qiangmin chuckled, then suggested, "If you don¡¯t have a lot of case work, I rmend you arrange by the number of cases. Complete one and tally one. That way, you won¡¯t lose out, and our pressure is also lessened." "Then let¡¯s arrange for three cases," Qi Changye responded. Huang Qiangmin nodded, "Then we¡¯re looking at starting from the second half of next year, handling the three cases one by one?" "Next year... How could it be next year!" Qi Changye almostughed, but his expression changed immediately because Huang Qiangmin did not seem to be joking. "So I¡¯m saying there¡¯s a time crunch, even if I help you push it forward, it would still be next year..." Huang Qiangmin muttered, as if he were truly helping Qi Changye schedule something. "Wait a minute... If we¡¯re talking about working on one case at a time, we haven¡¯t even finished our current case yet." Qi Changye, who had not slept in a long while, was thinking sluggishly, only just realizing the loophole in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words. Huang Qiangmin immediately countered, "The criminal has been caught; how can you say the case is not finished! You can¡¯t pull out one clue and say it¡¯s part of the same case." "It is the same case," said Qi Changye with effort, catching his breath. "The criminal has been captured, but our case doesn¡¯t just revolve around catching the criminal. Moreover, the criminal¡¯s contacts above and below are still hidden. Even if we can¡¯t catch them all at once, we still need to capture the key figures inside to consider itplete." Huang Qiangmin frowned, "How many people would that be? Wait, I¡¯ll call Tao over." Qi Changye¡¯s face reddened, and with a cough, he said, "We can discuss it ourselves, no need to share a piece with him." "Tao¡¯s cases on this side, the recent ones, have all been solved in a matter of days, a little over a week at most." Huang Qiangmin nced at Qi Changye and continued, "If your case goes on this long, it¡¯s not just a matter of how much time is spent; all the subsequent arrangements will be thrown into disarray." Qi Changye had countless retorts but ultimately decided against voicing them. After all, it was all official business. As a small cog in the machine who just passed orders up and down, there was no need to quibble over such details. The higher-ups could do the talking. Tao Lu arrived quickly. In theory, he was still Qi Changye¡¯s direct superior, so Tao Lu had also brought along the politicalmissar, the squad leader Liu Cheng, and Cui Qishan. The group mixed together, talking in a messy and lively manner. The loudness of the conversation eventually woke Jiang Yuan. "Did we wake you?" Seeing Jiang Yuane out, Huang Qiangmin waved and said, "We¡¯re just discussing the case with Director Qi. It seems there might be some follow-up work to do." Jiang Yuan, recalling the unfinished task, nodded immediately, "I was also thinking there might be some loose ends to this case." Jiang Yuan sat down at the tea table, drank two cups of tea, and sighed with relief. Qi Changye couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity and eagerly asked, "Do you have any leads?" Jiang Yuan slowly nodded and said, "I looked over the case file yesterday and examined the crime scene photos again, and I¡¯ve got a bit of an idea..." Qi Changye sat upright, listening intently. Crime scene investigation wasn¡¯t only carried out by Jiang Yuan; others also did their work, but if their findings didn¡¯t guide the investigation, they would only get an "Appreciate your efforts." But if someone like Jiang Yuan coulde up with clues and leads to break a case, naturally, he had to be held up with respect and admiration. In terms of managing expressions, Qi Changye definitely had some strength. Tao covered his face with a hand and turned his head towards Jiang Yuan. "I¡¯ve noticed something. The criminal must have spent a lot of time observing the victim, mostly staying indoors, and he used the dumbbells and other simple fitness equipment quite frequently," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "Also, in the bathroom, there are facial cleanser, sunscreen, face cream, serum, and other skincare products... Plus, he regrly bought luxury items like Zegna clothes and shoes. That seems quite excessive for a single man, doesn¡¯t it?" Qi Changye immediately caught on, "Are you saying he had a mistress?" Jiang Yuan found it distasteful, "It could also be a girlfriend." "A girlfriend wouldn¡¯t stay away from home without leaving a trace. Impossible! It could only be a mistress, maybe even a married woman!" Qi Changye, acting as if he was well-versed in such matters, nodded slightly and said, "Indeed, the guy isn¡¯t bad-looking, over six feet tall, well-exercised, and wearing Zegna. Finding women wouldn¡¯t be hard for him!" Whether the killer¡¯s woman knew about his line of work or anything else was not discussed. Everyone was an experienced detective; they knew that some people truly could keep their lips sealed. But from another perspective, it¡¯s natural for two people who spend a lot of time together, often sharing a bed, to know certain information about each other. Whether or not the killer talked about it, the people close to him would always end up knowing something after spending time with him. "Let me report this first." Qi Changye quickly stood up and made a phone call. Returning, he thought unconsciously: Jiang Yuan, twice now, has used the absence of evidence at the scene to make judgments. That¡¯s a good method. I should learn this and won¡¯t have to depend on others from now on! Chapter 765 - 708 Fresh Scene

Chapter 765: Chapter 708 Fresh Scene

Over the next two days, Jiang Yuan focused on resting. He checked in at the Zhengguang Bureau in the morning, then picked out a few cases and headed back home. The members of the Cold Case Squad were busy organizing the data from previous cases, cooperating with the criminal police of the Zhengguang Bureau, andpleting various paperwork tasks. "One-stop service still requires attention to service,"¡ª Commissar Huang Qiangmin, who hadid down a decade¡¯s foundation for the Ningtai County Bureau, said so at a mobilization meeting. Solving the cases that others couldn¡¯t was indeed the corepetitiveness of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, but filling out paperwork that others were unwilling to handle could also be one of the core aspects of service. As a result, the criminal police of Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad were quite happy. If a case were solved, the credit and rewards would go to the people of Ningtai, but the subsequent tedious work would fall on them, and the overall budget had even been cut, so naturally, there would be some dissatisfaction. Now, since everyone wasn¡¯t overworking, they weren¡¯t too concerned about the attribution of credit. After all, solving cold cases did remove some worries for people, especially this kind of atmosphere that allowed for solving cold cases was incredibly enticing. The atmosphere at Jiang Yuan¡¯s home was also quite good. Jiang Fuzhen had always enjoyed a lively atmosphere and was skilled in cooking delicious food. To the young people of today, if you fed them meat with one hand and offered them a drink with the other, they¡¯d be so excited they¡¯d spill all their guts just to hang out. Jiang Fuzhen himself was even more excited. It must be said, though the people of Jiang Vige enjoyed eating the meat he cooked, after so many years, their fighting power had inevitably declined a bit. Additionally, the folks of Jiang Vige had been wealthy for a while now, indulging in all kinds of rare and expensive foods. They no longer ate three pounds of meat in one meal as they used to. But the young people from the criminal police team could really eat three pounds! Especially those in their twenties who had just joined the job, they could eat three pounds of meat at lunch and still manage another pound in the afternoon just for the sake of it, which excited Jiang Fuzhen. "Beforeing to Beijing, I thought people here, being so experienced and knowledgeable, might not fancy the meat we cook. But look how popr we are," Jiang Fuzhen said happily as he stayed in the kitchen, skimming the froth and boasting to Wu Jun, who was ying with beads beside him. Wu Jun nodded with a smile, "It has the sense of an Anhui opera troupe entering Beijing." "Anhui board?" Jiang Fuzhen was from a relocated family, with rtively specialized knowledge. "Anhui opera troupes came to Beijing, and that¡¯s how Peking opera was born," Wu Jun exined abruptly. "It¡¯s a historical reference," Jiang Fuzhen nodded, pondered for a moment, tapped his iron spoon twice, and said, "Then we could call it ¡¯Southern Beef Heading North¡¯. We could open a restaurant with that name. Or maybe, start a ranch? It¡¯s probably hard to do that here, right?" "If you have the money, it should not be difficult, though I don¡¯t know what procedures you need to run. But if you want to do it, you should ask Tao and their team, they should know a way," Wu Jun, as a deputy department level official, felt arranging something like a squad leader was no pressure at all. ... Evening. Jiang Fuzhen specially had someone bring over a pack of fresh beef ughtered from his own ranch, and called on the chefs to prepare avish table for "Southern Beef Heading North". And unlike chefs who are fixated on a particr ingredient, Jiang Fuzhen also intentionally bought some crabs, fish, and shrimp, along with some exquisite vegetables¡ªnaturally, these were prepared by the chefs. Jiang Yuan, returning home from work, was also very happy with the meal. The chefs were well acquainted with the father and son from the Jiang family, always having a few tricks up their sleeve to catch their appetites. Thinly sliced boiled beef, the white and tender scallion-braised mantis shrimp, the slightly yellow yet tender emperor crab, the tender shrimp with hues of white, and a nest of noodles cooked with seafood trimmings, beef broth, unattended chicken soup... Paired with some beer, red wine, a group of people eating to their heart¡¯s content, sweaty heads and all... Wuu wuu... The sound of a phone halted everyone¡¯s actions at once. Jiang Yuan felt the vibration, wiped his hands clean, took out his phone to look, and then said, "It¡¯s a video call from Director Qi. I¡¯ll take it." After finishing his words, Jiang Yuan clicked to answer the call and said, "Director Qi, we are having a family dinner." He rotated the phone¡¯s camera to show Qi Changye who was present, incidentally informing him of the attendees. On the other end of the video, Qi Changye was also drenched in sweat, gasping heavily. Upon seeing a table full of fish, shrimp, meat, and crab, his expression immediately lost itsposure as he said, "I¡¯ve been running all day, didn¡¯t even have breakfast, just climbed 16 floors, almost fell off the balcony, I can¡¯t look at this..." "Is it an emergency?" Jiang Yuan shifted the camera away, then took a sip of his ice-cold beer. Forcing down his saliva, Qi Changye said, "We¡¯ve tracked down the killer¡¯s mistress. The mistress¡¯s family has been silenced." "Another death?" Jiang Yuan was also startled. As a forensic doctor who had been on the job for so long, he had never encountered a case involving a series of deaths. Qi Changye made a sound of affirmation and continued, "The more brutal, the more it shows their fear. However, we must not take this case lightly. The female victim was a government employee, not of high rank, but in a key position, with ess to arge amount of confidential information... When we arrived at the rented house of the victim, the killer was likely still there. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t catch him." "The rented house?" "Yes, it was looking for this house that dyed us, practically their love nest built by the two. Now it has be a crime scene. When we arrived, the killer, the second murderer, was probably doing a search and cleanup. He was very calm, probably notified by an aplice in advance, but he almost waited until we were at the unit door before evacuating, extremely bold, and he had preselected his escape route but we still couldn¡¯t catch up..." Qi Changye briefly described the harrowing scene. Having said that, Qi Changye then asked, "Captain Jiang, can youe over now? I have already sent a car to fetch you. Do you want to take a video look at the scene?" The fresher the crime scene, the more timely it is and the greater the volume of information. Qi Changye understood this principle, which is why he made a video call at the earliest opportunity. "Okay." Jiang Yuan readily agreed, casually grabbing a crab leg and saying while eating, "I¡¯ll eat a little more. After the investigation at the scene, I¡¯ll probably need to perform an autopsy, and that can make one hungry." "No problem, you eat. I¡¯ll give you a brief look first, then you can say where to start from..." "First, protect the scene well. Don¡¯t touch anything now, wear shoe covers, a hood, and gloves. If there¡¯s no nk bridge on the floor, then walk a fixed route..." Jiang Yuan continued to instruct while keeping an eye on the scene in the video. The video¡¯s resolution was low, making many things unclear. Jiang Yuan quickly directed Qi Changye toward the body. The bedroom. The body was half-draped over the bed, with legs dangling to the floor. Blood flowed from the lower half of the bed to underneath it, not yet fully coagted. On the face of it, the victim appeared to have been facing the assant and was directly, coldly slit across the throat. During the process, the killer also pressed the victim¡¯s head and neck with a pillowcase, preventing any struggle until she bled out and lost strength. At the same time, the room showed many signs of being searched, suggesting that the victim could also have been interrogated. Upon further reflection, the fact that the victim¡¯s male lover, the number one suspect, had been caught, made her reasons foring to this rented house seem less coincidental. "Start from the entrance, get closer, and try to walk at an even pace." Jiang Yuan said, his eyes fixed on the screen. Obediently, Qi Changye lowered the phone and slowly walked over, following Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions. Upon reaching the body, Qi Changye asked, "What now?" "Now... what do you want to know?" Jiang Yuan countered. "Want to know what..." Qi Changye was momentarily taken aback before quickly asking, "Can I know anything?" "Pretty much," Jiang Yuan said. "There¡¯s a lot of information at the scene, except I can¡¯t directly tell you the killer¡¯s name..." Jiang Yuan added, considering that this was a fresh body from an ongoing case. Brightening up, Qi Changye said, "Can we know the killer¡¯s physical characteristics?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan replied, taking another crab leg and dipping it unconsciously as he spoke, "180 cm tall, wearing sports shoes, the shoes might add about 5 cm in height. He¡¯s muscr, weighing between 160 to 180 pounds, fit, with broad shoulders. He¡¯s likely to have a military background or experience. His gait still bears certain distinct traces... Around 38 years of age, strong arms,rge hands and feet, size 44 shoes, and thicker fingers..." "I¡¯ll have someone check the surveince immediately," Qi Changye said, unable to resist giving the order upon hearing this. Chapter 766 - 709: Although it’s unnecessary, but...

Chapter 766: Chapter 709: Although it¡¯s unnecessary, but...

"The car is about to arrive, and it¡¯ll stop right outside the residentialplex. Captain Jiang, you cane down now," Qi Changye said with a dry throat and a hoarse voice. He was actually quite excited, but holding the phone too long, talking too much, and thinking so hard, in addition to pulling several all-nighters, were beginning to take their toll. At that moment, a slightly unfamiliar yet familiar voice sounded from beside Jiang Yuan, "Bring some meat to your colleagues. I¡¯ve put the seasoning packets on the side, but to be honest, the meat we cooked is delicious even without the seasonings; it¡¯s fragrant even when eaten in." "Alright. Then let¡¯s take two boxes, they seem pretty hungry," Jiang Yuan said, epting therge box that Jiang Fuzhen had brought over. The boxes were specially custom-made in earlier years. They were convenient for gifting, taking with, or carrying on one¡¯s person, and were packed with meat, along with designated spots for simple bowls, chopsticks, and seasonings; everything one would need for a meal outdoors could beid out and ready to eat. Thus, Jiang Fuzhen had the chefs quickly pack a box of beef, and after some thought, added a box of steamed buns and pickles and such. As the saying goes, meat goes well with carbs¡ªsomething even a county leader wouldn¡¯t exchange. For the ranks of the Beijing officers, it was just right. Qi Changye, holding his phone, heard the words on the other side and said in a rather embarrassed whisper, "Captain Jiang, there¡¯s no need to bring it, we are at the scene, and we can¡¯t eat there..." "Who¡¯s eating at the scene? Just let theme to theb and look through a microscope," Jiang Yuan first reacted sharply, then said, "You can eat outside the cordon, it¡¯s best to find an indoor ce. Also, change things like gloves and head covers, and then put on new ones before re-entering the scene..." Without waiting for Qi Changye¡¯s response, Jiang Yuan gathered his things, ended the call, and called over Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and the rest, totaling six people. Now facing the second killer, one who could escape from Qi Changye and his professional colleagues, Jiang Yuan had no desire to investigate just how skilled the opponent was. And when six professionally-trained officers gathered together, even without using firearms, their defense was still reliable. ... Meilin Court. The police car, with a traffic police motorcycle escort, reached the crime scene in just 20 minutes. Jiang Yuan thanked them and then quickly headed upstairs. Time was of the essence now. Things like pools of blood, before they congealed, could be used to determine time on a minute-by-minute basis, but once they had set, because the exact moment of coagtion was unknown, determining the time of death would be off by at least a quarter of an hour. Fingerprints, DNA, or other biological evidence, including trace evidence, certainly had the advantage of being longsting, but obviously, the fresher they were, the better. Those old fingerprints might require a Level 3 fingerprint expert forparison while the freshly minted ones might be handled by Wang Zhong. More likely, however, was that some samples would have deteriorated over time or have been broken down biologically, making them invisible to crime scene technicians and precluding any talk of quality. "Brought you guys some beef," Jiang Yuan said at the doorway of the crime-scene residence, passing the meat box from Dad to Qi Changye. Qi Changye repeatedly thanked him and then sighed, "I¡¯ll let the colleagues eat first, I¡¯ll apany you in." "Just assign a few people to set up the cordon, to keep the second killer from making a return visit," Jiang Yuan said earnestly. Qi Changye was startled, "They usually wouldn¡¯t." "Safety first," Jiang Yuan said as he got dressed in full gear and began the internal investigation. Mu Zhiyang followed behind, casually advising Qi Changye, "You eat some meat and take a break. Delegate if you have to delegate, there¡¯s no need to follow along, it¡¯s really tiring." Qi Changye was indeed exhausted. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s suggestion sparked a realization, "I¡¯ll delegate, I¡¯ll delegate..." As Qi Changye spoke, he craned his neck and said in a low voice, "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve found surveince footage of the second killer in the vicinity, but we lost himter on." "Do you have any footage of the killer? Show me?" Jiang Yuan continued to exin, "If there¡¯s video, we can determine the killer¡¯s gait and physique, which would be helpful for both footprint analysis and bloodstain analysis." Qi Changye quickly agreed and soon returned with aptop. "These are the main video segments." The first video Qi Changye yed was from a surveince camera near the building; it clearly showed the second killer¡¯s physical characteristics, body shape, but the face was nearly unrecognizable, obscured by a mask and sunsses. "The resolution and rity of this camera are much better than the ones we use in Ningtai County," Jiang Yuanmended. Qi Changye felt ttered and chuckled twice, then suddenly realizing something wasn¡¯t quite right, he hurriedly added, "It¡¯s not that much better, though. The standards in Beijing are higher, so the requirements when selecting them are a bit different... It¡¯s also because this case is urgent, we prioritized surveince footage with higher rity." "In theory, skull restoration skill could be used to reconstruct the second killer¡¯s facial features, but that would take several days..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s first half of the statement nearly lit up Qi Changye¡¯s eyes, but the second half made his gaze waver uncertainly. Qi Changye whispered, "Actually... a few days might be feasible. Although the case is urgent, the urgency isn¡¯t there..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand to cut off Qi Changye, moving on to the second piece of surveince footage and said, "Look at the killer¡¯s walk, the military bearing is still there, probably from long-term sustained physical activity. If you could ess a database including military personnel, even retired, andpare it with the fingerprints found at the scene, you might directly get a name..." "There¡¯s definitely no issue with essing the fingerprint database, but have we found the second killer¡¯s fingerprints at the scene?" Qi Changye couldn¡¯t focus on his beef anymore, although he was hungry enough to salivate. Jiang Yuan pointed to the bedsheet and said, "We should be able to lift a few prints from here." Qi Changye looked over and saw a patch of bloodstains but no apparent fingerprints. "The killer wiped his hands here first, leaving a trail of smudged prints, but then covered them up with more bloodstains afterwards. Our crime scene today is fresh enough that we can peel thisyer back and confirm the prints," Jiang Yuan exined as he operated, quickly obtaining what looked like fingerprints. Qi Changye was dumbstruck until Jiang Yuan told him to connect to the database, which snapped him out of it. "That¡¯s great! So we might directly obtain the killer¡¯s identity information?" Qi Changye¡¯s mood fluctuated greatly today. Typically, the more professional the opponent encountered, the less informational advantage one¡¯s own side had ess to. The work Jiang Yuan did, however, clearly broke through this category. At present, it seemed that Jiang Yuan was choosing the most convenient method to solve the problem, not struggling with whether it could be done. Jiang Yuan simply nodded, then added, "The fingerprint database might be rather fragmented. You can have them startparing to see if there¡¯s a match." Qi Changye continued to be bewildered, nodding as he answered, "Alright. So we..." "In such a good environment, let¡¯s do a crime scene reconstruction using bloodstain analysis," Jiang Yuan suggested, stepping back two paces and casually initiating the crime scene reconstruction (temporary +1 andsting for 535 minutes). In fact, it wasn¡¯t necessary. The crime scene was very fresh, with plenty of blood and lots of footprints and other traces left behind; a level 5 crime scene reconstruction would have been more than adequate. But from another perspective, not utilizing the crime scene¡¯s temporary +1 skill on such a fresh scene would also be wasteful. This skill was independent of any other temporary +1 ability. If no one else died in the next 24 hours, it really would be a wasted resource. As a result, Jiang Yuan¡¯s crime scene reconstruction skill temporarily reached level 6, and with a slightly serious expression, he spoke slowly, "An acquaintancemitted the crime. After the killer knocked on the door and entered, the victim intercepted him at the entryway. The two likely had an argument, and the killer forced the victim into the bedroom with violence..." "The victim had virtually no ability to resist, which indicates the killer¡¯s actionspletely exceeded her expectations..." "The killer interrogated the victim for a short time and with high intensity, probably gaining something from it. Judging by the order in which items were searched, there was a clear purpose..." Afterpleting his description, Jiang Yuan sighed and added, "Actually, thetter part isn¡¯t that useful anymore. You should have a list of the victim¡¯s associates. Once the fingerprintparison is done, the most reliable way to get results..." Qi Changye showed a level 6 shock, but his hands reaching for his phone only had the stability of level 0.2. Chapter 767 - 710: New Tea

Chapter 767: Chapter 710: New Tea

Jiang Yuan spent over two hours meticulously examining the crime scene, satisfying a personal yearning for a fresh scene of crime. In Ningtai County, such an on-the-spot first crime scene would also warrant a two-hour investigation, any longer would be a torment for both Yan and Wang Zhong. Of course, usually, that would be enough. As the saying goes, "a clever move can work wonders," most detectives operate in a Cheng Yaojin manner when solving cases; if key clues can¡¯t be found after their set of "three strikes," it¡¯s about time to summon others. To rely solely on oneself would indeed be irresponsible. For Jiang Yuan, however, over two hours was enough time for him to assume several different positions to break the case. From his perspective, the murderer wasn¡¯t particrly adept at concealment, hastily leaving behind the scene withoutpleting a thorough clean-up. In fact, upon reflection, the second murderer was essentially caught off-guard. It¡¯s possible that in his expectations, the rental room where the victim resided wouldn¡¯t be exposed so soon. Furthermore, considering that the first murderer used arson to cover up the crime scene, had the second murderer been prepared, he might have employed the same method; while he still wouldn¡¯t have escaped Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation, at least he wouldn¡¯t have left such a freshly hot scene. "Oooh..." Qi Changye was gnawing on beef, took another bite of steamed bun, followed by a bite of green pepper, tears of happiness almost streaming down his face. Counting the time, he had slept less than 8 hours in the past three to four days, with broken bouts of two hours or half an hour of sleep, mostly in the car. He had eaten even less; sleep was to prevent sudden death, but more importantly to keep his brain somewhat clear. Inparison, eating seemed not as critical, so much so that now he could barely speak from hunger. "Would you like a drink of water?" His subordinates didn¡¯t sympathize with him, they were just afraid he¡¯d choke. "Yeah. You eat, too," said Qi Changye considerately. "No need, we¡¯ve already eaten." His subordinates pushed the remaining scraps of meat toward Qi Changye. Beep... The phone rang, and Qi Changye hurriedly swallowed the food in his mouth and picked up the call. "We¡¯ve found a suspect, is Captain Jiang still there? We¡¯d like him to confirm again." The voice on the other end of the line was polite but also very serious. Qi Changye guessed the politeness was for Jiang Yuan¡¯s sake, so he felt even more choked... "Urgh..." Qi Changye pounded his chest. "Is there a problem?" The voice on the other end remained calm yet serious, "If there are any requests from the Ningtai County Bureau, we can agree to some, within reason. It¡¯s not easy for local jurisdictions to train high-caliber talent. If we demand someone without negotiation, it¡¯s too overbearing. Offeringpensation or even a reward is reasonable." By this time, Qi Changye had managed to swallow the mouthful of bread and meat, and he hurriedly said, "No, I¡¯ll go find Jiang Yuan right away, and also Commissioner Huang." After hanging up, Qi Changye hesitated no longer. While sending messages to check on his colleagues, he swiftly went in search of Jiang Yuan. Soon, Jiang Yuan saw several fingerprint photos from Qi Changye, a few ID portraits and everyday photos, clearly screenshot rear-view images, several photos of a dagger, and numerous photos of footprints and shoeprints... One could guess with only LV1 reasoning that the inside and outside, home and away, of this suspect must have been thoroughly searched. "The suspect is a driver from the small vehicle unit, so we hope we can be sure before arresting..." Qi Changye exined softly to Jiang Yuan, also hinting at some information, which could help Jiang Yuan make a judgment. "Confirmed. It¡¯s this person." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even look at many photos before giving Qi Changye an answer. Qi Changye hesitated, "Don¡¯t you need to look at them all?" "This case does have quite a few clues, but it¡¯s not necessary to review all the evidence to draw a conclusion," Jiang Yuan said, looking at Qi Changye, whose intelligence seemed to have slipped, "You better go and get some sleep before you suddenly die." "I¡¯m fine. Ourpensation is high," Qi Changye said, with a hint of pride. ... That day. The Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Zhengguang Bureau had fully mobilized as well, cooperating toplete several capture tasks. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, however, remained behind, continuing office work, and watched as the police officers from various units gradually returned. Jiang Yuan carefully flipped through the case files as if it were just another day. "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re busy," Cui Qishan said with a smile, knocking on the open door, greeting him with particr courtesy. "Cui Da..." Jiang Yuan stood up to greet him. Cui Qishan immediately stepped forward quickly, saying with a smile, "No need to stand up, no need, we are well acquainted, no need for formalities, I just came to pop in." "Oh, then please take a seat. Would you like some tea?" "Speaking of tea, I brought you a can of tea." With a thunk, Cui Qishan ced a can of tea leaves down, smiling, "I don¡¯t really understand tea, it was given to me by a friend before. I see that you drink tea, so I thought I¡¯d bring it to you." Judging by the packaging of the tea can, Jiang Yuan could tell it wasn¡¯t cheap and hastily declined. Cui Qishan naturally did not permit it and quickly left with a smile. Jiang Yuan, unable to refuse, could only sigh as he epted the tea and then turned to hand it over to Wang Chuanxing. "Cui Da gave a can of tea. 480 grams," said Wang Chuanxing as he noted it down and then opened the box behind him. He organized items like coffee, pots, health products, and tea leaves, making space to ce the can of tea inside. "Cui Da has upped his offering," Liu Jinghui said, amused yet nonchnt. He had recently been toozy to return to Shan Nan and had stayed in Beijing, reviewing cases with Jiang Yuan, finding it more interesting. Jiang Yuan sighed and said, "Upping his offering is useless, and besides, if they really wanted to up the offering, they should go find Commissioner Huang." "Makes sense," Liu Jinghui nodded in agreement, then added, "But you should hurry up and pick a case. Once you¡¯ve chosen the case, those several captain¡¯s minds will also be settled." "Yeah. I thought the detectives in Beijing would have more resolve..." "Having abine harvester and not using it, carrying a scythe to harvest rice with the old and the young in tow, that¡¯s not called having resolve, that¡¯s having one¡¯s brains fixed in ce." "Then let¡¯s go with this one, the floating corpse case in the suitcase found in the river," Jiang Yuan said, picking up a file from the stack he had already selected. "Are you nning to use the Skull Restoration Skill?" Liu Jinghui, having looked over some of the cases Jiang Yuan picked, immediately recalled this one. The case had been discoveredst March. At the time, a grey suitcase was found floating on the river. Passersby opened it to find a heavily dposed female corpse and, inside the suitcase, a 10-kilogram dumbbell. This case perfectly illustrated a forensic mystery¡ªhow much weight is needed to offset the buoyancy of a human body in water. In practice, 10 kilograms was clearly not enough. For the police, however, the difficulty of the case had reached its peak. Even just the identity of the deceased had not been determined. Skull Restoration Skill was obviously an excellent approach, yet even if they could restore the victim¡¯s facial features through the skull and confirm her identity, there was still a long way to go. To put it further, even if her identity was confirmed, it couldn¡¯t guarantee the case would be solved, which was part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s hesitation. However, with the conclusion of a previous case, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Skull Restoration Skill had advanced to level 5, and it was time to put it to the test. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, I¡¯m nning to see what we can find with the Skull Restoration Skill." Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice and said, "The time cost is too high, you¡¯ll spend the whole month on this case." "It doesn¡¯t take that long now," Jiang Yuan paused, then said, "Of the remaining homicide cold cases, there are no better breakthroughs." "That¡¯s true. The ones left over by the Zhengguang Bureau..." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t finish, then said, "We could ask Commissioner Huang if taking on a few current cases would count for us." Mu Zhiyang reminded from the side, "Director Liu, the resources Commissioner Huang is bringing are all for the Ningtai County Bureau, not for you." "Low standards," Liu Jinghui nced at Mu Zhiyang, "You even need a membership to watch TV series. Since when do you have to share the spoils to watch the excitement?" Chapter 768 - 711 Art

Chapter 768: Chapter 711 Art

Meeting Room. Bright red begonia flowers, trembling as they bloomed; plump stamens, quivering erectly; the thoroughly soaked soil, the damp pot, all stood alone in the center. A bunch of stinky men, as if gathered for gambling, surrounded the conference table from all sides, each with a sharp look in their eyes. "The suitcase floating corpse case, this one is quite difficult isn¡¯t it?" Liu Cheng looked at the dossier in front of him, his brows deeply furrowed, and he sincerely voiced his opposition. This case wasn¡¯t his! Cui Qishan, who had hit the jackpot, stood up first, saying, "That¡¯s not what you said when you worked on this casest time. Let me recall, it was something like, how could such a simple case not be solved by you guys, those were your words, right? Now it has be very difficult?" Liu Cheng replied indifferently, "It was a simple case during the current period but ended up being dragged into bing a cold case, the difficulty is too great, it¡¯s very risky..." Cui Qishan¡¯s eyes widened, wishing he could bite his tongue off and spray Liu Cheng in the face! Tao Lu cleared his throat twice and asked, "Jiang Yuan, what are your thoughts on the approach?" "Oh, I was considering the use of Skull Restoration Skill. If we can determine the victim¡¯s appearance, facial features and the like, identifying the corpse¡¯s origin should lead to a breakthrough." Jiang Yuan always started with the technical aspects when it came to solving cases, and this time was no exception. Tao Lu slightly furrowed his brow. If it were someone else, one of his subordinates, giving such vague answers, he would definitely be unsatisfied and might even dismiss the person in charge of the case. What does it mean that there should be a breakthrough? Is it possible to confirm the identity of the corpse just by facial appearance? In addition, the Skull Restoration Skill takes a long time, right? There¡¯s also a certain sess and failure rate. Tao Lu¡¯s standards for his subordinates were quite high; if he were to invest substantial resources in a cold case, the initial nning by his subordinates had to be wless. The case had already be a cold case, after all; what¡¯s the hurry. But, thinking that it was Jiang Yuan who spoke, it was worth careful consideration. Tao Lu thought to himself, if Jiang Yuan were to operate, the Skull Restoration Skill should be fine, identifying the corpse¡¯s origin should be feasible, and as for whether there would be a breakthrough¡ªat least Tao Lu believed in Jiang Yuan. "I don¡¯t understand technology like the Skull Restoration Skill. In this regard, I¡¯ll leave it all to you," Tao Lu said to Jiang Yuan very politely. If smiling could solve murder cold cases, Tao Lu was confident he could smile like the most celebrated courtesan. In the presence of all the squadron leaders, Jiang Yuan also politely responded, "No problem, if we receive the body today, we can start once it¡¯s thawed tomorrow. It should take about a week or so. During this time, there are a few points I need to confirm..." "One week, is that enough?" Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but interject, "I¡¯ve seen most Skull Restoration Skill procedures take at least one or two months. If there¡¯s a queue, three to four months isn¡¯t unusual. We are not in such a rush; uracy is more important." If the case is arranged ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s n, it depends on the Skull Restoration Skill. If the skill is not well executed, everything that follows is groundless! Not to speak harshly, even if they nab the right person afterward, the prosecutor¡¯s office might not necessarily sue. From Cui Qishan¡¯s perspective, now was the time to not quibble over every inch of ground. Even if it genuinely took two or three months for the Skull Restoration Skill, Cui Qishan himself could ept it. After all, he wouldn¡¯t be the one doing it. And for a murder cold case, solving it within three months would already be a blessing. What more could one ask for? Jiang Yuan could hear Cui Qishan¡¯s concerns and smiled, saying, "About a week or so, possibly ten days, I¡¯m faster than before. My proficiency has increased, and my level is higher too." A level 5 Skull Restoration Skill might be unique in the country; Jiang Yuan¡¯s demeanor was already quite modest. The direction of the case investigation was thus determined. Jiang Yuan turned and enter the autopsy center, starting the Skull Restoration Skill on the thawed skull. Last March¡¯s dposed corpse, after all this time, wouldn¡¯t do even with an ice coffin. Once the rotting flesh is frozen and then thawed, it turns into trickling sewer water. Naturally, to clean it up properly, one must boil it in arge pot. This part of the task, naturally, wasn¡¯t for Jiang Yuan to do; people in the autopsy center were eager to undertake it. After all, Jiang Yuan was preparing ostentatiously to perform the Skull Restoration Skill. Which forensic doctor in the autopsy center wouldn¡¯t want to watch? The Skull Restoration Skill, hailed as the art within forensic medicine, has been associated with talent, genius, and scarcity since its inception. Most forensic doctors have only heard of it and never seen it in action. Not only are there few who understand it, but there are also few who teach it, few who learn it, and even fewer forensic doctors who dare to perform the Skull Restoration Skill. Because it is considered an art within forensic medicine, and art and uracy are typically in opposition. Thus, lower-level Skull Restoration Skills often produce facial reconstructions that are not 100% urate. Many times, one can only vaguely recognize the facial features, like meeting an illegitimate child. Only at a slightly higher proficiency level does the uracy of the Skull Restoration Skill greatly improve. However, to increase proficiency in such a skilled area is not easy. The cost of practice is also high. For these reasons, Jiang Yuan¡¯s dissection room quickly filled with curious forensic doctors and the foul smell of decaying bodies. The thawing skull bobbed up and down in therge pot, as Jiang Yuan organized and prepared the materials. A group of forensic doctors observed and conversed: "The best part of the Skull Restoration Skill is that if you truly identify the victim¡¯s identity, a single photograph could confirm if it¡¯s the same person." "Meaning, whether the job is done well or not, both experts andymen can tell. If only sixty to seventy percent simrity is achieved, wouldn¡¯t that be rather shameful?" "There are some who can¡¯t even achieve sixty to seventy percent simrity." "Then why perform the Skull Restoration Skill at all?" "Some units do it to establish distinguishable features." The forensic doctors buzzed with discussion, but Jiang Yuan remained undistracted. A level 5 Skull Restoration Skill, achieving results is expected. However, to produce a high-identification, high-uracy reconstruction still isn¡¯t easy. Jiang Yuan resisted the urge to immediately activate a temporary +1 skill, at the very least, he had to wait until the skull was boiled out of the pot. Chapter 769 - 712 Practical

Chapter 769: Chapter 712 Practical

The anatomy room, d in silver-white ceramic tiles, was packed with forensic doctors in white coats. The seasoned forensic doctors, like Zeng Lianrong, sat on an autopsy bed nearby, while the younger ones, like Zhan Kan, either stooped in front or stretched their necks from behind on a footstool. The steaming iron pot was still emitting smoke, filling the room with a strange scent amid the foul odor. The forensic doctors in white coats were also steaming hot, breathing heavily. Jiang Yuan took out a stark white skull, started turning it around to photograph and measure it. With many colleagues present, Jiang Yuan introduced while taking pictures, "The preliminary work of skull restoration is very tedious, starting with recording somendmarks and checking for any significant traces. This is almost the same as what we normally do, typically surgical scars, teeth, residual attachments, scars, and so on..." "If the victim¡¯s information could be found through other means, there would naturally be no need for skull restoration, which after all takes a lot of time." "After the photography isplete... actually, CT scanning is also feasible, just like skull repair in hospitals, but we don¡¯t have such luxurious equipment, so photography will suffice. Next, webel the skull." As Jiang Yuan spoke and worked, the forensic doctors beside him listened, some taking notes, all quite serious. When ites to learning the Skull Restoration Skill, most forensic doctors may not necessarily have such an inclination¡ªof course, deep down, everyone certainly looks forward to mastering it. Especially the younger doctors, who harbored some hope that perhaps they harbored this hidden talent. After all, they had never had the chance to encounter the Skull Restoration Skill before. But for most doctors, they would just watch, broaden their knowledge, and incidentally be better informed about rted information. In Beijing, with incredible techniques and experts aplenty, not everyone necessarily had to follow and learn. However, broadening one¡¯s horizons was essential, knowing at least what to do and whom to ask for help when necessary. Jiang Yuan also thought this was good. Forensic doctors actually need to work together. The content of forensic science is soplex that normal humans could not possibly learn it all, so mastering the knowledge one can and knowing how to cooperate with colleagues is the most practical operating mode. Everyone aims to bring criminals to justice, and if the forensic doctors in Beijing could understand more about the Skull Restoration Skill, it would be a good choice for future coboration. The skill was at LV5 now, making the process not as difficult as it used to be at LV4 or even the earlier LV3 stages. "I¡¯m going tobel the skull now," said Jiang Yuan as he produced a small box and opened it, revealing all-white cylindrical stickers inside. One end of each sticker bore a number, and the other end had a peel-off adhesive. "The numbers here indicate what we believe to be the thickness of the victim¡¯s soft facial tissues. For example, this victim, I¡¯ve marked the upper end of the upper lip with 5 millimeters, and the lower end with 6. Then, the upper end of the lower lip is 7, and the lower end is 8," Jiang Yuan exined, gently pressing the stickers numbered 5678 onto the skull. "Why these numbers? How do we determine them? That¡¯s a bit moreplicated and the first step in the test of our Skull Restoration Skill," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "The simplest method is to look it up in books, which have data on the thickness of facial tissues." "However, for greater uracy, we first need to make anthropological judgments on the skull. For instance, determining her race and gender is foundational. For example, ck people naturally have thicker lips. If it¡¯s an Asian, there are also differences among the various ethnic groups." "Additionally, given the vast geographical area andplex history, the facial tissue thickness varies between different regions or ethnic groups. For instance, the traits of Ancient North China People are protuberant thick lips, single eyelids, high tness, and wheatish skin. Ancient North China People were mainly distributed in the current North China and Northeast." "Ancient South China People also have protruding thick lips, previously chiefly inhabiting the area from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Lingnan..." "The thickness of the upper and lower lips of Ancient South China People are consistent. Manchus have a slightly thicker lower lip, but overall thinner lips, Han People are medium, and Zhuang People are on the thicker side..." Jiang Yuan said casually, then stopped and added, "Of course, the challenges faced by forensic anthropology in different countries are simr today, as we all deal with a mix of races or ethnicities, making it easy to run into areascking in research." "Then the first step is to determine the race and ethnicity based on the skull," Zeng Lianrong, an expert in forensic anthropology, said with a heavy tone. The other forensic doctors nodded with furrowed brows. Even this first step was beyond the scope for an ordinary forensic doctor. Using skeletons to determine ethnicity and race is already a high-level challenge in forensic anthropology. If you switch to simply using the skull, the difficulty triples. As we all know, the pelvic bone is a favorite among forensic anthropologists. Most with a basic understanding can determine gender based on the pelvis. Next, estimating height from long bones is considered an easy task. Therefore, thebination of pelvis¡ªgender and long bones¡ªheight is the extent of a forensic doctor¡¯s cover in anthropology. Of course, this presupposes only two genders. In practice, there are still doctors who, due to damaged pelvises or insufficient skill, can¡¯t determine gender even with the pelvis in hand. Clearly, human diversity is not only reflected in our bones. Furthermore, using the skull to make such assessments is challenging; without flesh, many struggle to make urate judgments. Because this isn¡¯t something you can simply learn from reading a few books. The forensic doctor who does the appraisal, has to sign the authentication report. They must use unequivocalnguage to inform the detectives of their judgment. If this were an exam, a 90% uracy rate would be far from enough, and even a 95% uracy rate would only invite ridicule. When hundreds of officers have worked tirelessly for three days and nights, walking dozens of kilometers to carry out investigations, and it turns out the forensic doctor has mistaken even the gender of the body, no one would offer a smile of understanding or politeness just because it was a 5% margin of error. Jiang Yuan quickly filled the surface of the skull with small white cylindrical posts, then took more photographs. This time, he was even more meticulous and slower. Sitting on the autopsy table nearby, Zeng Lianrong suddenly felt a bit dispirited and said, "Generally, it takes several days to mark the facial thickness, right? I¡¯ve seen people take two to three weeks." "Hmm... that might be the case if the judgment is not urate, plus the time for checking books and data," Jiang Yuan put down the camera and nodded. He also came from LV3, where doing a Skull Restoration Skill for the first time could rush him for an entire month. But now he¡¯s at LV5, and to be frank, he could entirely write a book called "Practical Skull Restoration Art" or something, and it could be used as a textbook with no problem. Moreover, one of the advantages of the skill itself is that it doesn¡¯t require researching the data. However, it did cause a certain psychological impact on Zeng Lianrong, who earnestly relied on his genius brain and hard work as a forensic doctor. "Then you just mentioned ethnicity, how do you determine her ethnicity?" Zeng Lianrong asked a challenging question. Jiang Yuan repositioned the white skull to disy its characteristic features and said, "My judgment is that there are gic elements of Ancient Qiang, Miao Yao, and Su Shen Hui Mo mixed in. Actually, we could also extract DNA for reference. However, in terms of skull restoration, this kind of gic ancestry tracing isn¡¯t very urate; the expressions are inconsistent. You have to cross-check for it to make sense." "That¡¯s a very high requirement," Zeng Lianrong said, with his eyelids twitching, upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer. "Mmm," Jiang Yuan acknowledged, "it tends towardplexity." His Skull Restoration Skill had also just been upgraded to LV5, so he was particrly aware of the increasedplexity. Although he was also doing skull restoration, he did not consider it as in-depth before. Not to mention distinguishing ethnicities throughparison. Zeng Lianrong sighed and shook his head helplessly. Jiang Yuan could only bow his head and continue working. Afterpleting the photography, the data had to be imported into theputer to start creating two-dimensional and three-dimensional images. In earlier years, all of these were done manually, taking more time and costing more. The requirements for forensic doctors were mainly in the areas of sculpture and aesthetics. Now, these steps are mostly reced byputers, but the threshold has not been lowered as a result; it has only added the need forputer operation skills. By this stage, Jiang Yuan was still adept at the work, while Zeng Lianrong could hardly understand it anymore. Other forensic doctors had all entered a phase that they could notprehend. Perhaps when Jiang Yuan ced the small white cylindrical markers, everyone felt at ease. But once that step waspleted, the work instantly became alien to them. Some forensic doctors quietly left, and new forensic doctors joined to observe, but overall, more were leaving than staying. Everyone had work to do, and for most, the experience had already been enlightening enough. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother exining anymore at this point. Without a foundation in Skull Restoration Skill at least at LV2, it¡¯s likely difficult to understand. Jiang Yuan then immersed himself in the work. After a while, Jiang Yuan looked up, only to see a face quickly darting away. "Forensic doctor Zhan," Jiang Yuan looked around and noticed that the once buzzing autopsy room was now so quiet that only Zhan Kan remained. "I just wanted to see the software you were using, I didn¡¯t mean to sneak a peek," Zhan Kan quickly exined in a low voice. Jiang Yuan smiled and asked casually, "Interested?" "A bit, but I¡¯m just average withputers. I was thinking, perhaps hand-drawn sketches might make it easier to understand." "Of course. Can you sketch?" Jiang Yuan was surprised. "I learned a little in school. I also studied sculpture for two years," Zhan Kanughed and disclosed his background, "I¡¯m from Beijing. I originally intended to take the art path, but somehow I ended up studying forensic medicine by a twist of fate." Zhan Kan looked at Jiang Yuan with bright eyes. He had learned about the Skull Restoration Skill before, but what he knew was greatly different from what Jiang Yuan demonstrated. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s method was clearly more appealing to him. Chapter 770 - 713

Chapter 770: 713

"If you¡¯re from Beijing, your family must be quite well-off, right?" Jiang Yuan could tell that Zhan Kan had some interest in learning the Cranial Reconstruction Skill. Zhan Kan felt the opportunity hade, and while using the deductive abilities honed through his work to figure out Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, he said, "You could say I haven¡¯t had to worry about food and clothing. Both my parents work for state-owned enterprises and they¡¯ve even bought me a house. With my sry, I have enough to spend just by myself." That could be considered as having a foundation for learning the Cranial Reconstruction Skill. Jiang Yuan nodded. Only when he had reached his current LV5 status did he fully understand theplexity and the enormous cost involved in cultivating an expert in the field. Without a substantial family background, one might start learning but then struggle to keep going. Even aiming for just LV2 in the Skull Restoration Skill required years of study. During this period, it was best to focus solely on learning; otherwise, it would take even longer. Besides, the materials for the Skull Restoration Skill weren¡¯t cheap either. Sculpture, as an activity, was never intended for the poor. Even if you typically use the bureau¡¯s resources, from time to time, you need to buy some materials for research. It¡¯s the same principle as art students purchasing paints and paper for drawing. "You studied sculpture for two years? To what extent can you create?" asked Jiang Yuan. "Yes, I started with sketching then moved on to sculpture. As for my level, I actually did some sculpture on my ownter on, and I can make things like figurines..." Zhan Kan was careful not to overstate his abilities. Jiang Yuan nodded; this skill was quite rare. Nowadays, most people hadn¡¯t even had exposure to sculpture. Art schools might offer sculpture as a major and after five years of study, it was uncertain how much time was actually spent on practical work. While Skull Restoration Skill is known as the art within forensic science, if pure art sculptors get involved, forensic doctors might find their work too artistic. Overall, having studied sculpture is an excellent starting point for the Cranial Reconstruction Skill; it brings about a significantly different mindset. In the practical process, because mainstream cranial reconstruction is done withputers, a foundation in sculpture can be advantageous, making 3D modeling much more efficient. Jiang Yuan looked Zhan Kan up and down again. They had coborated many times, and judging from Zhan Kan¡¯s performance when he started as an assistant, his fundamentals and dexterity seemed quite solid. "How about anthropology? How well have you studied that?" inquired Jiang Yuan while working on theputer. The Cranial Reconstruction Skill is difficult to learn chiefly because there are too many prerequisites. Otherwise, in a job like forensic science, which heavily relies on experience, many people could be trained through practice. Zhan Kan blinked and said, "Anthropology... How should I put it..." "For this skull, what can you deduce?" Jiang Yuan specified the question. Zhan Kan was slightly stunned, then stared at the skull next to him for a while, unconsciously walking around it. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother with niceties and continued with the skull¡¯s 3D modeling. This step, if ced in inte or gamepanies, would involve a workload and cost that are not insignificant. It can be said thatmercialpanies have a much greater ability to mize their capabilitiespared to forensic doctors. "The eye sockets are nearly round, the brow ridges are not prominent, and the foramen magnum is rather round too, indicating it¡¯s a female skull." "There are signs of trauma on the skull cap, but based on the abrasions, it should be postmortem damage." "Age can be determined by the wear on the teeth, and another indicator would be the sutures of the skull. For that area, I¡¯ll need to look up some information." Zhan Kan looked at the skull while thinking and answering, gradually bing more proficient. At that point, Jiang Yuan gave an "hmm" and said, "Go check." Zhan Kan was startled, then reluctantly washed his hands, took a few pictures, and went off to consult some books. It¡¯s easy to say but hard to aplish. Just like the symptoms of amon cold can be caused by pneumonia or stress¡ªthe proverbial can be serious or trivial. Most people who catch a cold their entire lives might note up with any urate experiences, just like most doctors. Anthropology is much the same. Viewpoints are viewpoints, analysis is analysis; written in books with an authoritative tone, data listed in detail and rity, but when ites to applying them in real scenes, it¡¯s apletely different matter. Zhan Kan, who hadn¡¯t done much work in forensic anthropology, found himself at his wit¡¯s end when Jiang Yuan posed a question. However, he vaguely sensed the intention behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s inquiry. A big shot wouldn¡¯t spend time and energy just to ask a rookie a question, solely to embarrass him. And they certainly wouldn¡¯t show off in such a way. Therefore, Zhan Kan researched very diligently, restraining the urge to secretly ask his senior brothers for help. The autopsy center at the Beijing Bureau wasrge and well-equipped, and thepetition inside was fierce. If they relied solely on forensic pathology and forensic clinical medicine, like the forensic doctors in ordinary county bureaus, in the end, they would only be left doing the toughest and most exhausting work. Flip, flip... Zhan Kan flipped through the book rapidly while simultaneously keeping an eye on theputer screen as he typed. Judging age based on the wear of teeth seems like a simple concept; due to the non-regenerative nature of permanent teeth, the longer one lives, the more they use their teeth, and naturally, the greater the wear. But this is akin to the frequently heard saying, "A 20-year-old person with 40-year-old teeth." However, if you, as a forensic doctor, judge a 20-year-old¡¯s age as 40, wouldn¡¯t that warrant a scolding? How shall a forensic doctor draw a conclusion if the victim has lived a life of affluence from childhood, always eating coarse food, and died young? "Tooth wear isn¡¯t reliable," Zhan Kan pondered aloud. "Basing it on tooth wear as a foundation and looking at itprehensively, the uracy rate is very high," Zeng Lianrong came by and gave Zhan Kan a piece of advice. Zhan Kan quickly expressed his gratitude. Zeng Lianrong grunted an affirmative and walked away a few steps, then turned back and added, "Work hard, opportunities like this are rare." Zhan Kan hurriedly showed an honest and simple smile, characteristic of a chubby person. ... On the screen, the outer circle of the skull was beingyered and filled in with strokes. Adhering small white cylinders to the skull, which indicate the thickness of the head¡¯s soft tissue, the height of the small cylinders also represents the same measurement. If it were the traditional approach, one would have to apply materials like y inyers until level with each cylinder at every location, thus determining the thickness of the soft tissue. On reflection, this step isn¡¯t particrly difficult; the key is dposing the task into sufficiently meticulous elements. The only problem is, the more meticulously you dpose, the greater the pressure to make judgements. Just the lips alone can yield four different heights, and the basis for each judgement might be iplete. Therefore, to make the final determination, continuous validation and modification are necessary. This part of the work took Jiang Yuan several days. During this period, Zhan Kan always followed Jiang Yuan; although he couldn¡¯t do much, he was gaining a clearer understanding. Task: Mentorship Task content: Zhan Kan has been following and learning for 48 hours; he can be taught the Skull Restoration Skill to reach LV1 proficiency. Task reward: Pistol Shooting (LV3) Chapter 771 - 714: Second Senior Brother (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Chapter 771: Chapter 714: Second Senior Brother (Requesting Monthly Votes)

Office. The skull, dotted with white spots, stood eerily on the desk, its slightly rounded eye sockets gazing out the window as if admiring Beijing¡¯s beautiful city skyline. Jiang Yuan received a task and involuntarily turned his gaze toward Zhan Kan beside him. Zhan Kan was plump, with a face that hadn¡¯t been bullied much, but looked like it could be easily bullied. To a certain extent, Zhan Kan was considered a promising candidate by the system. The chosen skill was still the Skull Restoration Skill. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but recall Captain Pang Jidong¡¯s previous experience. As Jiang Yuan¡¯s first apprentice, Comrade Pang Jidong had merely fully grasped the essentials of Legal Botany and was familiar with the method of solving cases using Legal Botany, which had taken a considerable amount of his time and energy. The most important thing was, Pang Jidong, even at the age of 50, though slow-witted, had a very correct attitude toward learning, which made teaching at least a morefortable state. Zhan Kan, on the other hand, was a young man just a few years older than Jiang Yuan, with a restless mind and being a native of Beijing, if he only had a passing interest... Just three minutes could send two criminals to their deaths; it would be a pity to waste it. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand released the mouse and he looked Zhan Kan up and down several times, saying, "Little Zhan." "Captain Jiang," Zhan Kan promptly responded. "Do you want to learn the Skull Restoration Skill?" Jiang Yuan used a forensic conversation method, a verbal scalpel, to dissect the topic of conversation. Zhan Kan was momentarily stunned, then couldn¡¯t hide the joy on his face, eagerly replying, "Yes, I really do!" He had been following Jiang Yuan for several days, serving him in every possible way, if not for the sake of learning something from Jiang Yuan? Though notcking money, with an extremely stable job, and never receivingints or grievances from his work partners, living a life without aspirations was simply out of the question. The highly advanced skill of Skull Restoration ranked among those worth learning that could secure a front-seat position. Zhan Kan was somewhat apt for it; to tell the truth, even Zhan Kan himself was pleasantly surprised. Yet Jiang Yuan still hesitated. After a few seconds, he said, "Learning the Skull Restoration Skill takes a lot of time, and at the beginning, the uracy is not high, and the effectiveness of its application is not good. Are you aware of this?" "I know, I understand that Skull Restoration is very difficult, but I¡¯m willing to give it a try," Zhan Kan quickly said. "Trying isn¡¯t enough," Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze was profound as he stared at Zhan Kan. "If you decide to learn it, you must continue until you master it!" Judging by his experience with teaching Pang Jidong, Jiang Yuan estimated that teaching Zhan Kan would cost at least as much time and energy as three death row inmates. In other words, if Zhan Kan couldn¡¯t independently apprehend six death row criminals, the effort would be a loss. A negative social value and a waste of his own hard work. Zhan Kan couldn¡¯t guess Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, but he saw the seriousness on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, shuddering inside, and quickly said, "I will definitely persist." "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Words alone aren¡¯t enough..." Zhan Kan: "I¡¯ll put it in writing!" "Don¡¯t jump the gun." "Huh?" "Words alone aren¡¯t enough. Go back and think it over properly, and also discuss it with your family," Jiang Yuan said. "Learning Skull Restoration could take a very long time, and while my teaching time might not be very long, you need to persist in practice and reflection, which could take several years toplete." Zhan Kan listened somewhat silently. Indeed, he had only considered the radiance that mastering Skull Restoration would bring but had obviously not given the learning process serious thought. "At the beginning, even if you have learned Skull Restoration, you might not do the skull restorations well. An average technician can recreate three to fifty percent of the intended target, which is considered talented, and it¡¯s easy to create a useful restoration only once you¡¯ve be proficient. You need to be mentally prepared for this." "Yes..." "Go back for today." Zhan Kan¡¯s expression was solemn: "I understand, I¡¯ll think about it and get back to you with an answer..." "Good, discuss it thoroughly with your family and see what your career and life ns are for the future. An ordinary forensic doctor may face dead bodies every day, but with Skull Restoration, you¡¯ll face skulls like this every day," Jiang Yuan said, tactically sipping his tea as he watched Zhan Kan leave the office. Zhan Kan, who had been in a state of shock for a long time, clearly did not realize that in Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, he didn¡¯t actually have a real choice "whether or not." The office. Afterpleting part of his work, Jiang Yuan called Tao Lu and said, "Tao, I¡¯ve been doing skull restoration recently, and Zhan Kan has been following me. I think he has some talent... Yes... I should say that both he and I are somewhat hesitant, but it should still be quite useful once learned... Yes..." Jiang Yuan was full of emotional intelligence on his end, speaking in a calm tone, while on the other end, Tao Lu was thrilled beyond words, soft on the inside while pretending to be calm on the outside... If Zhan Kan became Jiang Yuan¡¯s disciple and learned the Skull Restoration Skill, it would not only provide his department with another capable hand, but wouldn¡¯t it also mean that Jiang Yuan was tied down? When the time came and his disciple couldn¡¯t handle a corpse, wouldn¡¯t it be natural to ask for the teacher¡¯s help? The more Tao Lu thought about it, the more excited he became, and he assured Jiang, over the phone, pping his own behind, "What¡¯s there to hesitate about? Our Squad fully supports the mentorship tradition of forensic science. As for Zhan Kan, I will arrange his work on the criminal team to amodate your schedule..." "Well, we will see what Zhan Kan decides. I told him to go back and consider it carefully. Oh, and we haven¡¯t talked about any teacher-disciple thing..." "How can that be!" Tao Lu said sternly, "The tradition of mentorship and guidance in the police force is an excellent tradition of ours. In this case, I¡¯ll talk to Zhan Kan in detailter." "There¡¯s no need to insist on formality," Jiang Yuan coughed. "But we must. If you¡¯re willing to teach him the skills, isn¡¯t it appropriate for him to call you ¡¯Master¡¯? The forensic doctor who was Zhan Kan¡¯s mentor when he joined probably was Zhang, but then he switched to administrative work. I¡¯ll mention it to himter, it¡¯s a separate matter and won¡¯t cause anyplications," Tao Lu said seriously. "In that case, I¡¯ll also inform my own master." Jiang Yuan hung up and then called Wu Jun and Huang Qiangmin respectively, followed by informing Pang Jidong, who was far away in Luo Jin City, Baijiang Province. As the eldest apprentice, if they were about to wee a second, it was only right to let the eldest know. Pang Jidong, however, was even more excited than Jiang Yuan had imagined, saying tedly, "That¡¯s wonderful, Master! A prosperous school is the best, I¡¯ll tell my wife tonight, and fly to Beijing first thing tomorrow!" "Uh, okay, it¡¯s fine to have a witness." The next afternoon. Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad meeting room. Wave after wave of police officers, as if casually passing by, passed the meeting room just to catch a glimpse of Zhan Kan in his police dress uniform. Not to mention, even as a police officer, one doesn¡¯t see the police dress uniform often. Especially when it¡¯s a colleague wearing it, diligently learning. Wu Jun, Jiang Yuan, and Pang Jidong, meanwhile, sat in a row, speaking softly to Zhan Kan. Now that they were all officially master and disciples, and brothers, it was natural to pass on some insights and experiences. Tao Lu was even standing next to Huang Qiangmin, looking over at the several people sitting around theputer with a feeling of great satisfaction. At this moment, Jiang Yuan looked up and said, "Tao, I¡¯ll keep Pang Da for a while." "No problem, no problem," Tao Lu immediately nodded and said with a smile, "Captain Pang looks very capable just by his appearance, able to support the work of our Squad. We can¡¯t thank him enough. Pang Da mainly does..." "Legal Botany, right?" Jiang Yuan turned to look at Pang Jidong and said, "Pang Da has been doing botany himself for a while. It¡¯s good to strengthen that area." Pang Jidong nodded his head continuously, happy that he had the chance to take part in extra training. When Tao Lu heard "Legal Botany," his mind shed with caution, asking, "Any progress on the case?" "The skull reconstruction is nearly done, but even when it¡¯s finished, we¡¯ll only have the victim¡¯s face. It will still be hard to determine the specific identity of the victim. If we team it with Legal Botany, we could narrow down a geographic region, which would make it easier to find the person," Jiang Yuan exined casually. Even if Pang Jidong hadn¡¯te, Jiang Yuan nned to do Legal Botany, but it would probably have beenter, at least after the skull restoration was finished. Now that Pang Jidong had arrived, it was simply a matter of bringing the timing of Legal Botany forward. As for Jiang Yuan employing two top-tier techniques simultaneously to crack the case... it was just bad luck for the culprit! Chapter 772 - 715: Judging by Appearances

Chapter 772: Chapter 715: Judging by Appearances

"Captain Zhan is here." Just like any other day, Zhan Kan took the subway to the vicinity of his workce, then walked over to the restaurant for breakfast, and encountered an unexpected situation. Somebody actually made a point to greet him! As a rookie among forensic doctors, Zhan Kan didn¡¯t interact much with other departments. Although he wasn¡¯t invisible, his usual routine was to arrive and leave the office quietly. No one ever met him with a smile in their face. "Is that... Captain Wang?" Zhan Kan quickly recognized the person. "We handled that serious injury case before, you were the one who did the forensic assessment, right?" Captain Wang said cheerfully, "Haven¡¯t had breakfast yet?" Zhan Kan thought to himself, If I had already eaten, why would I be at the restaurant... Fortunately, he was a little chubby guy with good emotional intelligence, and simply smiled, "Yes, just grabbing a bite before heading to the office." "You¡¯ve been working hard, really hard. Oh, let me swipe mine too... Don¡¯t be shy, don¡¯t be shy... Let me do it, let me do it..." Captain Wang insisted while they exchanged pleasantries, finally settling with gifting each other a bottle of drink. Zhan Kan "phew" sighed with relief, plopped down into his chair, picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, and prepared to truly enjoy himself. Starting the morning with a meaty breakfast was the best reward for putting up with the tedious pleasantries! "Captain Zhan!" Another surprised call came from behind him. Zhan Kan stared intently at the piece of meat 8 centimeters in front of his lips, thought quickly for 0.8 seconds, and reluctantly let his chopsticks retreat from it. "You can just call me Little Zhan," he replied with a smile, not recognizing who it was. "That won¡¯t do, if someone hears, they might think I¡¯ve be a branch chief." Amidst heartyughter, the person patted Zhan Kan on the shoulder, then added, "Captain Zhan, is it okay to add you on WeChat? I am Zhao Qixing from the first division..." Zhan Kan hurriedly pulled out his phone to add the contact. After a few more words of small talk, Zhan Kan finally saw him off and sat back down with a long sigh, immediately grabbing that piece of meat again. "Captain Zhan!" Crack. Zhan Kan cut through that piece of meat with his chopsticks, and when he turned his head, his chubby face was already covered with a smile. ... The office. Dyed by more than ten minutes due to "social interaction" rather than meat, Zhan Kan sneaked into his temporary workstation on tiptoes, set down his stuff, and started his day¡¯s happy work. Wiping the desks, sweeping, mopping the floor, watering the nts, boiling water... Zhan Kan busied himself tirelessly. Had it not been for the high-performanceputers from three years ago being able to boot up instantly, Zhan Kan would have counted the time and turned on everyone¡¯sputers, too. 8:40 AM. Pang Jidong and others gradually arrived at the office, chit-chatting andughing, until Jiang Yuan walked into the office. Zhan Kan carried a small stool over, obediently sitting next to Jiang Yuan. For the past few days, his main activity had been sitting and watching beside Jiang Yuan. Theplexity of Skull Restoration Skill is extremely high, and it cannot be mastered overnight. Since Zhan Kan has no superpowers to use, he could only mainly watch. In the past, he could not even see everything fully, and even when he did see something, he might not understand what he was looking at. Nowadays, when Jiang Yuan works, he at least introduces the functions of the tools he uses to Zhan Kan, and sometimes even exins the methods of use. Zhan Kan somewhat mastered some of this content, and after watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s practice, he could go back and practice and study on his own. As for not learning...he definitely wouldn¡¯t master it immediately, but as long as he worked hard day and night, there would eventuallye a day when he would learn. This is like the white cylindrical pegs used in Skull Restoration Skill: the curves of the face are undoubtedlyplex, but if you divide them up, the finer the division, the simpler the individual situations be, and the more urate the final results. Of course, the threshold for fine division is not low either. Just like Jiang Yuan once exined about the problem with the upper and lower lips, if it were just a Skull Restoration Skill from level LV1 to LV2, they almost never discuss the thickness of the upper and lower lips, just assuming uniform thickness by default. Because discussing thickness involves discussing ethnicity or race, and that alone makes the difficulty skyrocket. And even if that issue were resolved, not all ethnicities or races have corresponding research. Without data, making judgments would be meaningless. However, for LV5 level Skull Restoration Skill, these are not problems. "It should be about right now," said Jiang Yuan as he checked and rechecked before hitting the save key. Zhan Kan, who had been watching all morning, didn¡¯t know when he had zoned out. Only when Jiang Yuan spoke did he suddenly snap back to attention and looked up to see that Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer had already started to buzz. Shortly after, a photo appeared on the left side of Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen. On the right were a long row of photo thumbnails. One benefit of using aputer for skull restoration is that many images can be produced at once¡ªafter all, most of the values are estimated, so there will invariably be errors. Most forensic doctors, when assigning values to soft tissues, typically refer to tables to provide the most likely value. This is the most standard and safest practice, but it certainly doesn¡¯t yield the best result. The software, through value fluctuation, offers more choices, allowing technicians more room to select. Jiang Yuan selected the top 10 images and pulled them for facial recognition. The results of the imageparisons came out quickly. Because the settings were rtively broad, out of 10 images, a total of 3 ID cards were produced. Jiang Yuan briefly looked at them without going into detail himself, and first dialed Tao Lu¡¯s number. After simply saying a few words, and then silently chanting a mantra to "strive through the arduous Shu Road", Tao Lu appeared, hopping and skipping joyfully like a little deer. "Have you determined the identity of the body?" Tao Lu asked cheerfully. "We need to send someone to verify it," said Jiang Yuan as he printed out the information for the 3 ID cards and handed them to Tao Lu. "Mmm-hmm, that¡¯s simple," Tao Lu replied as he pulled out his phone. After a few words were spoken, he looked up at Jiang Yuan with a smile and said, "I was thinking this case might drag on for a while, didn¡¯t expect it to be so quick..." "We¡¯re still confirming the identity, there¡¯s still a distance to go before the case is solved." Tao Lu smiled without saying a word. He was now more rxed than Jiang Yuan, because the specifics of the case weren¡¯t his responsibility. And when it came to Jiang Yuan working cases, efficiency was usually high enough. "This body looks quite good-looking," Liu Jinghui said, having heard the news ande over just in time to see Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen. Jiang Yuan was taken aback for a moment before he realized what he meant and said, "The victim has mixed Miao Yao heritage, and Miao Yao women usually fit the modern aesthetic well." "Right, weren¡¯t there any missing person reports?" Liu Jinghui inquired further. Jiang Yuan looked again and shook his head, "No missing person reports." "She¡¯s so attractive; she should be the focus of attention wherever she is. To go missing for so long without anyone reporting... this case is not simple," Liu Jinghui stated without looking at the details, but his experience was enough to make this conclusion just by looking at the Chapter 773 - 716 Suspicion

Chapter 773: Chapter 716 Suspicion

Some people die and by the time they begin to smell, they¡¯re merely mistaken for arge, dead rat; some people are alive, and yet every day they are asked, "Are you dead yet?" If you¡¯re good-looking or handsome, it¡¯s easy to be the center of attention, just like in school, where people always mention the pretty student¡¯s name, asking "Where did XX go?", while some less noticeable students, returning after three days off, are greeted with "Oh, so you weren¡¯t here these past few days?" "Being so beautiful and going missing without anyone reporting it, the husband must have done it," Zhan Kan, seated behind Jiang Yuan, boldly spected. He had gotten used to speaking his mind in the office and, without realizing it, said this in front of Tao Lu. Wang Chuanxing, opposite him, was using theputer to search for rted information and slowly said, "None of the three have husbands. They are all 29." "Boyfriends?" Zhan Kan guessed again. "That doesn¡¯t exin theck of missing persons reports," Liu Jinghui paused, furrowing his brow, and asked, "Do they all have parents and siblings? Any rtives?" "Let me check..." Wang Chuanxing quickly looked over the material, making notes on the paper, ticking and crossing things, and soon said, "I¡¯ll number them 1, 2, and 3. No. 1 has both parents, No. 2¡¯s father is deceased, No. 3¡¯s mother is deceased..." "All three have parents then," Liu Jinghui slightly furrowed his brow and quickly continued, "Check their phones, look at the call records, WeChat, chat histories." Liu Jinghui had worked on too many cases; he actually had some ideas already, and now it was just about systematically eliminating possibilities and looking for evidence. This is actually simr to a doctor¡ªwhat do you do when a patientes for a diagnosis? You just ask about symptoms one by one and eliminate them; in most cases, there¡¯s no need for a brilliant or creative mind. Criminal investigations are a bit more special, but formon scenarios, an experienced detective like Liu Jinghui already had his own summaries. Wang Chuanxing clicked the mouse and typed on the keyboard, and this time, it took him longer. Liu Jinghui rested with his eyes closed, not speaking to anyone, quietly making his own deductions. Jiang Yuan reviewed the case again, summoned Pang Jidong over, and reviewed the botanical work he had done. Tao Lu, on the other hand, began making phone calls with a low murmur. After a while, Wang Chuanxing quietly eximed, "Huh," and said, "I found something strange with number three." "Go on," Liu Jinghui sat up. Wang Chuanxing said, "I can¡¯t see anything from the call and chat histories of number one and two. But for number three, there are call records with her father, though infrequently, once every three months. Thest call was five months ago, when the victim had been dead for half a year! Besides, after the call with her father, there were no other call records. WeChat, QQ, and other apps hadn¡¯t been logged into since a week after her death." This time, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need to deduce anything; everyone present sensed something was wrong. "Cui, take this clue," Tao instructed, turning to assign the task. "Sure, I¡¯ll go personally," Cui Qishan, the captain with a rank higher than Huang Qiangmin, had duties simr to those of the squad leaders at Ningtai County Bureau. In cases like this with pending murder investigations, it was normal for the captain to lead the charge. "We should also contact numbers one and two. It¡¯s best to visit them in person, verify their IDs, and check if the photos match," Tao Lu continued with the arrangements. "Don¡¯t forget to collect DNA, including from numbers one and two. If the individuals can be found, get the DNA on site, to avoid any cases of simr looking individuals impersonating others," Liu Jinghui seriously reminded in a very detective-show manner, "Don¡¯t underestimate a murderer¡¯s imagination." Cui Qishan nodded solemnly. After spending some time in the Zhengguang Bureau, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductive abilities were well recognized by everyone. If he said this, Cui Qishan definitely couldn¡¯t take it lightly. Liu Cheng, watching from the side, was envious; in the past, these tasks would have been his. Upon reflection, Liu Cheng asked, "How do we exin the phone call after the death? Was it made by the murderer?" "Very likely. Only by doing so could the murderer reassure the victim¡¯s father. As for the specifics, well, there are quite a few ways to do that¡ªit all depends on whether the victim¡¯s father would be deceived," Liu Jinghui casually surmised, "They could pre-record a message, or splice audio together, or even use AI voice synthesis." At this point, Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression changed slightly as he added, "Nowadays, they can even change faces, and some can do it in real time. Although there are still ws, it is a powerful weapon against unsuspecting people." Pre-recording or clipping sound snippets would have been quite effective decades ago, providing an explosive effect, butpared to AI, they¡¯re significantlycking. "New technology brings new situations, we¡¯ll discuss it when we encounter them," Tao Lu adjusted the meeting¡¯s pace, not wanting to be distracted by events that hadn¡¯t yet urred. If one simply worries without taking action, anxiety is not far behind. "How is the victim¡¯s family doing, does the victim¡¯s father understand the technology in use today?" Pang Jidong, who was sitting beside him, suddenly asked. "The victim, Zhang Lizhen, has a father living in Balitang Township, Ding¡¯an County, Shu Province, in Zhanggang Vige," Wang Chuanxing began as he opened a new webpage and briefly nced at it, "Her mother passed away early, her father is still alive, mainly farming. The family¡¯s financial condition seems quite modest. The father is on welfare and has only an elementary school education. He likely doesn¡¯t understand how to useputers and such." "That means there¡¯s a possibility he could be deceived," Tao Lu summarized in a few words, quickly ending the meeting and sending everyone out. The most important thing now was to confirm the victim¡¯s identity, even though this Zhang Lizhen appeared very likely, detectives still needed solid evidence. Once the various pieces of evidence were gathered, brainstorming would be much more efficient. Of course, if the case could be cracked during the evidence collection process, that would be ideal. With orders given, everyone quickly sprang into action. Tao Lu said a few more pleasantries and then returned to his own office. When most of the people had left, Zhan Kan picked up the victim¡¯s restoration image and photo again, looking back and forth between it and the skull still loaded with small cylinders, he couldn¡¯t help saying, "She could be considered a beauty. Now in blind dates, encountering someone like her would require extra caution¡ªit¡¯s literally a beauty¡¯s skeleton." "Her features are of the cold and morous type. If she used a bit of cosmetic medicine and makeup, she could easily gather a horde of adoring fans. It¡¯s surprising that no one reported her missing," Liu Jinghui pondered for a while, then slowly added, "It could only mean she was deceived. The situation with this victim, Zhang Lizhen, is probably veryplex." "Could it be a case of familial homicide?" Wang Chuanxing, who was reviewing the data, followed Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought and said, "If the murderer is someone from the vige, or even Zhang Lizhen¡¯s father or the like, they could cover for each other... I¡¯ve heard some viges operate like an unofficial court, simr to a ¡¯bride trafficking vige,¡¯ where the whole vige helps to watch over the women they¡¯ve purchased..." "The body was found in Beijing, and although it drifted downstream, the primary crime scene wouldn¡¯t be far away. It¡¯s not possible she died at home and then the body was transported across provinces," Liu Jinghui, although he felt that Wang Chuanxing¡¯s melodramatic hypothesis was unlikely, still patiently exined. After all, he had seen many improbable things happen. If everything was logical and conducted by reliable people, homicide wouldn¡¯t ur, or at least wouldn¡¯t ur in this manner. At that moment, Pang Jidong, listening to the discussion, said, "If nobody knew about the victim¡¯s disappearance, where the victim disappeared from would also be unclear. Looking at it this way, forensic botany won¡¯t be a waste. Right, Master?" Jiang Yuan smiled, then added, "The deceased drifted from upstream. If we rely solely on legal botany, the area would be toorge, making it difficult to determine the location. It would be best tobine it with other information." "We could look into the victim¡¯s work and social circles," Pang Jidong replied with experience, then added, "However, if the conditions of pollen and spores are not favorable, it might be impossible to find the primary crime scene." Thest sentence Pang Jidong said was also filled with experience. Liu Jinghui caught on immediately andughed, "Pang Da, when you worked on botany in Bai River, were there times when you came up empty-handed?" "About half and half, and of that half, the majority aren¡¯t sufficient for evidence, only for investigative leads. But it¡¯s still pretty impressive. This technology¡¯s biggest strength is that it¡¯s unrted to previous techniques; old cold cases with no leads whatsoever can take their evidence under a microscope, and there the pollen is, intact..." "Exclusively for cracking cold cases?" "That¡¯s right, but it¡¯s a bit slow, one could easily spend a month or two on a single case," Pang Jidong got a little excited talking about this subject but then calmed down and continued, "However, we specifically select cases. With Zhang Lizhen¡¯s body floating downstream from upriver, it¡¯s probably difficult to confirm the location." "Not necessarily. By examining the algae attached to the suitcase and determining which river sections it passed through and where it drifted from, we could then center our investigation around the downstream location, inspect the surrounding pollen and spores, and likely pinpoint the site," Jiang Yuan said with a lightugh, then proceeded to exin in detail to Pang Jidong. Pang Jidong¡¯s eyes, heart, and mind suddenly overflowed with countless simr images. Zhan Kan, the second senior brother, seemed as if frozen in ce, hastily bowed his head and tiptoed backward. Chapter 774 - 717: Gathering Talents to Support Professor Su

Chapter 774: Chapter 717: Gathering Talents to Support Professor Su

"When I was in Baijiang Province and needed support with forensic botanical techniques, I would invite some botanists to participate. But working with Master really feels different," Pang Jidong suddenly couldn¡¯t help but sigh after spending a day with Jiang Yuan looking through microscopes. "Is the way Master does things different?" Zhan Kan, who was learning the Skull Restoration Skill, practically spent all his time at work beside Jiang Yuan. "It¡¯s too different, so much more rxed with Master. The botanists from outside are really impressive, but I feel that none of them reaches Master¡¯s level," admitted Pang Jidong, who hadn¡¯t mastered forensic botany himself, so his im of Jiang Yuan being the strongest was somewhat tentative. Zhan Kan took it as ttery and silently praised his elder apprentice brother before saying, "It¡¯s good to invite nt schrs from outside. Unlike the Skull Restoration Skill, where we have to do everything ourselves." "There are some good botanists outside, like the ones from the Botanical Institute I initially contacted. They paid out of their own pocket to participate. But some are only briefly interested, and others juste to learn a bit about it. Youmunicate with them, and before you know it, they¡¯ve left after a few days. Plus, these experts have a lot of things on their te, like projects and meetings cropping up..." "That¡¯s also true." "It¡¯s a pity I can¡¯t learn botany anymore. It¡¯s good to be young, with infinite possibilities," Pang Jidong trulymented. The difficulty of forensic botany was immense. While it might not have as many prerequisite skills as the Skull Restoration Skill, it required an even higher level of expertise. Botany itself was bing somewhat obscure, with fewer people taking the initiative to learn it. Typically, only students who reach university and take relevant courses get involved in the field, which means that in terms of basic numbers, it¡¯s not much better off than sculpture. Pang Jidong was already fifty that year. He had aprehensive understanding of forensic botany and couldmunicate basic concepts to botanists who had some exposure to the field, but if you asked him to get hands-on, it simply wouldn¡¯t be possible for him to continue. When Jiang Yuan first learned forensic botany, he was already aware of this situation, and he smiled as he said, "In this regard, all we can do is expand the pool of invitations and try to find botanists who are interested in this field. However, having a few botanists who coborate long-term is enough; we don¡¯t need too many." "Indeed. After all, we can¡¯t offer much money," Pang Jidong said with a bitter smile. "I¡¯ve realized that the botanists who have the ability to work in forensic botany to the level needed to solve cases have many ways to make money. Our little travel allowance is nothing more than a courtesy fee." "It¡¯s the same with the Skull Restoration Skill," Jiang Yuan said nonchntly. "Criminal investigation is a very interesting field. There are also people willing to take on social responsibilities and pursue a sense of achievement." Pang Jidong looked at Jiang Yuan and reluctantly said, "Not too many rich second generations or demolition heirs are like that." "Urban redevelopment has decreased in recent years," Jiang Yuan mused somewhat nostalgically. When he was studying, his family would have a property demolished from time to time, especially after buying some properties in the provincial capital, the houses and factories in Jiang Fuzhen would hardlyst a few years before being demolished. Pang Jidong¡¯s eyelids twitched, Are we even talking about the same thing? After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he turned his head and continued working. Pang Jidong watched for a while, then suddenly had an idea and took out his phone to engage in group chat. Before long, Pang Jidong put down the phone and smiled, "Master, remember a botanist named Sulei that I mentioned before?" "I remember her. A woman and an academic elite," Jiang Yuan naturally remembered her. There weren¡¯t many female botanists, and Sulei, although in her forties, was still more striking than the unkempt men. "There¡¯s a group chat for botanists who often help out. I mentioned that I came here for further study with you, Master, and Professor Sulei immediately proposed she¡¯d like toe along for further study, to watch and learn... I don¡¯t know if that would be convenient or not..." "I have no problem with that. I¡¯ll talk to Taoter," Jiang Yuan said, his status at the Zhengguang Bureau was high, but he was still a guest, and it wouldn¡¯t be right to invite friends over to someone else¡¯s territory without so much as a greeting. Pang Jidong immediately said, "I¡¯ll ask Tao directly then. If it¡¯s okay, I¡¯ll call Sulei and the others over. They¡¯ve already been involved in a few cases through forensic botany and want to see how you, Master, work on forensic botany. They feel it might lead to more insights." "I have no problem," Jiang Yuan agreed readily. That very afternoon, Sulei arrived in Beijing with her colleagues and students. Sulei still dressed in a professional suit, with ck silk high heels, as if she was here for a meeting or a business event. Moreover, she brought along another student with long, ck, straight hair, a broad chest, dressed in a tracksuit, carrying a backpack that left deep indentations on her shoulders. "This is my new doctoral student, Qiao Shengli. I¡¯m nning to lean her research direction towards forensic botany," Sulei exined, having done several favors for Pang Jidong without any return, umting quite a bit of academic material that should not go to waste. "Hello, Doctor Jiang," Qiao Shengli greeted proactively. "You¡¯ve been working hard," Jiang Yuan, still carrying the identity of a police officer, expressed his gratitude for the help from society. Then, without intending to engage in much small talk and still holding a mouse, he said, "I¡¯m about to process some pollen samples we¡¯ve collected. Take a seat and feel free to look around and get acquainted with the situation." Jiang Yuan was handling a murder case, and with Cui Qishan and others already dispatched to the victim¡¯s hometown, not to mention the immediate pressure from the family, they had to consider the risk of alerting the culprit. Time was of the essence; while it wasn¡¯t exactly a race against the clock, there was no spare time to waste on the reinforcements. Sulei had worked with Jiang Yuan before. She smiled gently and said, "We¡¯re here to learn. Sitting in the back and watching is fine, right? Is this a homicide case?" "Yes. Anything rted to the case is confidential. No photography allowed, no information can be disclosed to the outside world." Pang Jidong said with a smile, giving up his seat. Zhan Kan also quickly made way, ncing at Qiao Shengli before swiftly averting his eyes. "Are you currently analyzing diatoms?" Sulei asked soon after she sat down, having confirmed Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation and actively joining in. Jiang Yuan, too, was willing to have an academic discussion. He nodded and said, "The evidence collection is basicallyplete now. I want to determine the body¡¯s point of entry into the water through the diatoms first. Then, based on that, we can search for the primary crime scene." Using algae, especially diatoms, to determine the location of a body¡¯s immersion or drowning is already considered a mature technology. The principle is actually simr to that of legal botany, but inparison to terrestrial nts, algae are simpler, andmunitypositions in different bodies of water show more significant disparities, so this technology has been applied earlier. Most cities have already developed relevant techniques. As soon as Sulei heard this, sheughed and said, "Ah, then there¡¯s no need for satellite remote sensing image processing." She was referring to theirst meeting, when Jiang Yuan had people use drones to crawl arge area for images, which were then enhanced through image processing. The girl beside them, Qiao Shengli, had obviously also heard this story andughed, saying, "The nt scientist who excels in satellite remote sensing image processing turns out to be a forensic doctor." "Excel is a bit much. The field of satellite remote sensing image processing is too broad. I just know a bit about image enhancement technology," Jiang Yuan said, looking at Sulei, "Are you willing to go to the field?" "Of course. Little Qiao is longing for such a practical opportunity. Are we going to collect samples from the river?" Sulei asked. "Yes, samples along the river need to be taken a little more densely." "No problem. We are quite adept at that." "Then I will assign a few people to go with you. Let¡¯s split up and sample, one person per section. It¡¯s imperative to sample strictly ording to regtions. The more meticulous the case, the fuller the evidence, the more likely it is to result in the death penalty." Jiang Yuan specifically reminded. Sulei agreed and then asked curiously, "What method do you n to use to process the samples when they¡¯re brought back?" Unlike the criminal police who were more focused on the oue, Sulei was more interested in the examination process. "The hydrogen peroxide method," Jiang Yuan said. "That¡¯s better than the strong acid method," Sulei agreed with a nod, "The strong acid method can easily damage the diatom frustules and also causes more contamination." "And it could also lead to false negatives," Jiang Yuan added. Sulei couldn¡¯t help but smile, then said, "However, I¡¯ve read in the literature that now there seems to be a microwave digestion method using nitric acidbined with hydrogen peroxide, under vacuum ultrafiltration conditions, and using scanning electron microscope to analyze. They say the detection rate of diatoms could be significantly improved." Jiang Yuan: "No vacuum. No ultrafiltration. No scanning electron microscope." In the corner of the office, Huang Qiangmin, who was resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes. ... Guan TianHe. The unending river flowed from west to east, with no end or origin in sight. The sky was filled with clouds that stretched from far to near, imprable, indecipherable. The yellow-leaved trees appeared dense from afar, but upon closer inspection, they were scattered and sparse. A minibus stopped, and the slightly overweight Zhan Kan led the way straight to the riverbank. The bank of the wild river was overgrown with weeds and covered with muddy silt. Zhan Kan deftly stepped on a few rocks and easily jumped to the river¡¯s edge. Zhan Kan smiled triumphantly. Despite his slightly out-of-shape body, he had undergone training and was a regr at crime scenes. The muddy banks, favored byzy dumpers of bodies, were the forensic doctors¡¯ home turf. Zhan Kan turned his head, intending to call for someone to throw the sampling containers over, but before he could speak, Qiao Shengli, who had redone her hair into a bun, appeared, already in her rain boots, crunching her way through the mud. "Let me do it." The spot chosen by Qiao Shengli was more than a dozen meters away from Zhan Kan. To reach her target destination, she did not hesitate to step further into the water, immediately sinking in. Qiao Shengli appeared unconcerned as she stood firmly, regaining her bnce before casting out her sampling bottle. Once she obtained the water sample, Qiao Shengli bent down to dig out two cobblestones, throwing them too into the evidence bag and marking theirbels. Her actions were so smooth, they seemed part of her regr routine. Afterpleting the task, Qiao Shengli struggled to pull her legs out of the mud, clutched the backpack tight to her chest, and painstakingly made her way out. One deep step, one shallow, deep, shallow, deep... Chapter 775 - 718 Lost

Chapter 775: Chapter 718 Lost

Huff puff. Huff puff. Cui Qishan gasped for air, his arms stretched straight, his feet pushing hard; it took a good ten seconds before the resistance in front suddenly released. Whoo... The car in front pulled out of the trap, emitting a dull roar and sending a clump of mud into Cui Qishan¡¯s mouth. Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey... Cui Qishan spat several times, still tasting the fresh mud vor mixed with the foul smell of tires in his mouth. "Cui Da, get in the car," Xiao Si, who came along, couldn¡¯t be bothered tofort him. He used to be annoying and unappreciated at Squad Seven, but nobody there hassled him. It was nothing like how it was after being kicked over to Cui Qishan; each day¡¯s work became heavier than thest, and now he was simply off on a long trip. Thinking about the hardship he endured, not even the squad leader eating shit would appease him. "Pass me a bottle of water," Cui Qishan grumbled as he got into the car, his mouth as ufortable as if it were filled with cement. "I¡¯ve drunk from it, you want it?" Xiao Si offered a bottle of Farmer¡¯s Spring water. "Who else has water?" Cui Qishan asked again. Li Jiang, "I¡¯ve drunk mine." Wang Chao, "I¡¯ve drunk mine too." Both presented their Farmer¡¯s Spring water bottles from their pockets. Seeing this, Xiao Si also handed over his bottle of Farmer¡¯s Spring water. Cui Qishan looked down at the three bottles of water, then up at the three people, wondering whose bottle might have a milder taste of some mischievous kid. Before noon. The battle-worn Santana, tested by time, dropped off a group of people at the entrance of Zhanggang Vige. Cui Qishan was the first one out of the car, looking as pale as if he would vomit on the spot. "Cui Da, hold on, huh," Xiao Si wasn¡¯t speaking idly; he was just asking his superior to stay strong. "Won¡¯t kill me," Cui Qishan huffed, wiping his mouth and turning back to nce at that wreck of a car, "The vehicles I rode in as a kid weren¡¯t any better than this." Li Jiangughed upon hearing this, "Maybe it¡¯s the same one." Cui Qishan rubbed his prayer beads, silently chanting "don¡¯t hit people" several times before he gradually calmed down. The beads were made of old mountain sandalwood, not expensive, but they were a gift from Jiang Yuan¡¯s master, Wu Jun. Compared to Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun indeed appeared more like a revered elder. Cui Qishan liked the beads a lot, especially today¡ªwhenever he felt carsick or about to faint from anger, smelling them or clutching them tightly always made him feel a bit better. "This vige is indeed poor." Li Jiang hopped in ce a few times, then observed the surroundings. Zhanggang Vige in Balitang Township, Ding¡¯an County, Shu Province¡ªjust hearing this address indicated it wasn¡¯t exactly a wealthy ce. "Poor vige, those who don¡¯t go out to work mainly rely on subsistence allowances; they have enough to eat but not well," a local police officer emerged from the driver¡¯s seat of the damaged car, clutching his back and staggering. "Life¡¯s tough," Cui Qishan muttered, then asked, "Where does Zhang Lizhen live?" "The vige chief will be right over," the local officer, who also served in the township, wasn¡¯t quite clear on the details in the vige. After asking around, the group finally found Zhang Lizhen¡¯s home. Upon opening the door, they were first hit by a strong smell of alcohol. Looking at the fairlyrge courtyard, it was littered with beer and liquor bottles... A few old men and women passing by to enjoy the spectacle also pinched their noses andmented, "Drank himself to death, right? You here to collect the body?" The vige chief shooed the onlookers away, then hollered, "Uncle. The police are here for you." The vige chief, a man in his forties, was among the younger generation that remained in the vige. After shouting, he turned and said, "My uncle¡¯s leg got injured before; it hurts so much that he loves to drink. Now, with money sent by his daughter, he tends to drink too much." As he spoke, the vige chief pushed open another door, turned on the light, and went inside; soon after, he led out a tottering old man. Just seeing his drunken state, Cui Qishan could already guess why he hadn¡¯t called the police. "Make sure the body cameras are on," Cui Qishan tidied up his appearance, then turned on his body camera, systematically introduced himself, and asked: "When was thest time you contacted your daughter?" "How much money does she send you each time?" "Have there always been calls?" Cui Qishan asked question after question, paying particr attention to the other party¡¯s facial expressions and movements. One advantage of questioning someone face-to-face is that it¡¯s easier to detect if the person is lying. Of course, as drunk as Zhang Bao was, it was impossible for him to hide a lie. He didn¡¯t even seem willing to lie and basically responded to every question he was asked. As the questioning progressed, Zhang Bao sobered up a bit and, as if just remembering, asked, "Where¡¯s my girl? How is she doing?" "We¡¯re still not sure," Cui Qishan did not give a direct answer. Although the police had already identified the victim as Zhang Lizhen, the DNA collected here had not yet been sent over, and the report had note out, so it couldn¡¯t be 100% confirmed. Another thing, Cui Qishan had toplete the record of Zhang Bao¡¯s statement. Frankly speaking, Zhang Bao was also a potential suspect. Zhang Bao somewhat realized something was amiss, wiped his face with the cold water from the yard, and began to wake up, answering more and more earnestly: "She called me earlier, said she was going abroad for a business trip or something, that she¡¯d be out for three years, and when she came back she could get a promotion or something. And she¡¯d make more money." "She transferred ten thousand yuan to me at that time. I said it was too much..." "Right... she gave me a new phone number, saying she had to change numbers when going abroad, and calling this number would be a bit cheaper." "I called once, but the call didn¡¯t go through. She said it was because she was overseas or something... Thest time... It¡¯s been about two months, I think. We only talked a few words that time; she said she was very busy..." Cui Qishan exchanged looks with Xiao Si and others while asking questions. Xiao Si, who was responsible for taking notes, even took the time to record the timing of the calls mentioned by Zhang Bao on the side. It was easily apparent that Zhang Bao had continued tomunicate with his daughter even after the time when the victim had died. Although they only spoke about once or twice a month, and each call was only for a minute or two, sometimes even just tens of seconds, Zhang Bao evidently had not noticed any discrepancies. Even more, these calls had been going on for the past six months, only with a different phone number. Cui Qishan frowned deeply. This was frightening, and moreover, why was the murderer so deliberate and calcting? A normal murderer would just dig a hole, bury the body, and be done with it, wouldn¡¯t they? You¡¯re still contacting the victim¡¯s father? Probable use of AI voice, such fraud cases have been increasing in number But that¡¯s easier said than done. If they had the skill to perpetrate fraud, that would be enough. Murder doesn¡¯t fit the bill. Moreover, to make a call every once in a while, even changing phone numbers and transferring money, isn¡¯t it easier just to bury the body in a pit? The written record was nearlypleted in no time. At best, Zhang Bao is a clumsy middle-aged man; to put it bluntly, Zhang Bao is a foolish, confused, selfish drunkard, with limited clues to offer. "Do you have anything else to add?" Cui Qishan began to move toward the concluding process. Zhang Bao shook his head: "No nothing else." "Is what you¡¯ve said the truth?" "It¡¯s the truth." "Please look at this record. Does it match with what you¡¯ve said?" Zhang Bao: "I... don¡¯t know so many characters." "Read it to him," Cui Qishan sighed. As per regtions, at the end of the statement, the respondent is supposed to read through it all and sign, usually adding something like "I have read the above record, and it conforms to what I have stated." But if the person can¡¯t read, or can only read a little, then the police officer has to read the statement line by line to the person. Finally, they will write "The above record has been read to me and matches what I have stated." This task is a bit tiring; Xiao Si read until foam formed at his mouth, continuously reaching for a cup of water to drink. Zhang Bao was a bit embarrassed and whispered apologetically, "Sorry about this, there aren¡¯t any young people left in the vige, otherwise, they could have read it to me." Xiao Si nodded. Zhang Bao continued, "When Chunfang was around, she could help, but then she disappeared too. Ya¡¯er disappeared as well." Cui Qishan, who had been somewhat distracted, furrowed his brows, "What do you mean ¡¯disappeared too¡¯? Did they go to another ce?" "They¡¯re just untraceable, no news from them. It¡¯s the same with several young women in the vige; I was prepared for this," Zhang Bao let out a long sigh. Cui Qishan sat up straight, and immediately said to Li Jiang beside him, "Go get the equipment from the car, we need to have another talk with the vige chief here." Chapter 776 - 719: Invisible

Chapter 776: Chapter 719: Invisible

"DNA identification confirms that the victim is indeed Zhang Lizhen," came Tao Lu¡¯s voice from the other end of the phone. He sighed deeply and then asked, "How is the situation on your end? How is the safety?" "There¡¯s no problem with safety. The local police station has sent over two more people, a regr officer and an auxiliary officer, both in their thirties, who are quite familiar with the local conditions. Besides, there is a vige cadre from the county here too. Originally, he was from the vige next door where the administrative vigemittee is located, but he has been staying with us for thest few days..." Cui Qishan was particrly detailed in his report, figuring if someone slit his throat at night, all of this would be clues. Tao Lu asked a few more questions and then cautioned, "It¡¯s good that you didn¡¯t bring guns. But you must carry your police equipment with you, and most importantly, don¡¯t act alone. Even if it¡¯s just to use the toilet at night, always go in pairs. It¡¯s just a few days, so please bear with it. Safetyes first." "Yes." "The car is fueled, right? Keep control of both the car keys and the vehicle on your side, and report back immediately if anything happens." "Yes." After Tao Lu finished his rambling instructions, his tone changed, "Cui, you should check the almanac before you go out next time. You can¡¯t just make every case bigger every time you leave. Even rabbits don¡¯t breed as much as you do!" Anticipating the rebuke, Cui Qishan felt an incongruous sense of happiness when it finally came. It was like being whipped for so long that a sense of relief was felt, or like drinking tea and savoring the lingering sweet aftertaste. Gently, Cui Qishan replied, "Tao, I didn¡¯t want it to happen either." "This time you¡¯ve even made it an inter-provincial matter... Anyway, take it easy. Our brigade isn¡¯t exactly flush with resources right now!" Tao Lu¡¯s words wereden with implications. Cui Qishan silently put away his phone. Xiao Si, who was beside him, asked curiously, "What did Tao give you a telling-off for? Jinx? gue spreader? Turd poker? Dog shit stick?" Li Jiang chimed in, "Broom star? Dark star? Death star? Disaster star? Evil star? Lone evil star?" Wang Chao followed up, "Or maybe something trendy like, Homicide Breeding Rabbit, Death Spiral Machine, Bone Excavation Machine, Bad luck elerator..." Cui Qishan spun his prayer beads swiftly, silently thinking: I must notmit crimes knowingly! Over a few days, Cui Qishan and his team visited Zhanggang Vige and several nearby viges, collecting hundreds of statements before heading back. In this area with over ten thousand registered residents, the number of missing people was not insignificant. In fact, almost anyone with rural living experience could attest that nearly every vige had someone who had gone missing. Some went missing due to idents, some lost contact, some didn¡¯t want to return, but there were always those who truly disappeared. Cui Qishan was no savior. He mainly focused on missing women, and particrly those who were attractive. Just the information about these individuals was incrediblyplex topile. Finding some time, he went to the county to scan all the statements and other evidence, and then called Tao again, cheerfully suggesting that he should go back home. Tao Lu coughed twice and said, "About that, Cui, we need you to hang in there a little longer." "Hang in there... hang in there for what?" Cui Qishan was puzzled. "Keep collecting evidence and continue the good coordination work at the crime scene," Tao Lu instructed. "But Tao, I¡¯ve been on business trip for so long. Send someone else. Besides, this case was originally part of our team¡¯s workload. Being away for this long isn¡¯t good, right?" Cui Qishan protested. Tao Lu responded with a grunt, "Let me rephrase." "Please go ahead." Tao Lu said, "Since you¡¯re already quite familiar with the local conditions, you¡¯ll stay there for a while longer. Take care of yourself and ensure your team¡¯s safety. Cooperate actively with the special case team¡¯s requirements here, until the shit you¡¯ve stirred up is cleaned up, or you lick it clean yourself! Then you can return, got it?" "Understood! I promise toplete the mission," Cui Qishan replied, holding the phone with a smile. ... Beijing. Upstream of Guan TianHe. Jiang Yuan and the others were sitting in the back of the pickup truck, watching the images transmitted back by the drone. After days and nights of hard work, as well as the testing of several hundred water samples, this ce had been confirmed to be the location where the body had entered the water. This ce was already far from the main urban area, with Qingling Mountain being the closestndmark. It was nominally a scenic area, but in reality it saw few visitors, falling into the category of being too close for a trip and too far for dumping a body. There was a small path along Guan TianHe leading to Qingling Mountain that could barely amodate pickups or tractors. The area was surrounded by dense forests, and only searchable with the help of drones. "A girl on her own wouldn¡¯te to a ce like this," Qiao Shengli, who had been the mainbor force over the past few days, also came out this time and was very interested in expressing her opinion. She had actively sought out and then joined Sulei¡¯s doctoral program after learning about Sulei¡¯s new research direction, so she was genuinely interested in criminal investigations and reasoning. Liu Jinghui was quite happy to have fresh blood join the reasoning camp and praised her, saying, "That makes some sense, which suggests the crime may have involved an acquaintance." "The killer even sent money to the victim¡¯s father, so it must¡¯ve been someone really familiar," Liu Cheng said gloomily. Today he was following the team but felt out of sorts. He was technically supporting Cui Qishan¡¯s team, and yet Cui Qishan was nowhere to be seen, and they had to venture through mountains and valleys... As for whether Cui Qishan himself was suffering or in pain, Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t empathize. Liu Jinghui, however, nodded and said, "Theplexity of the case also has its advantages. My understanding is that the moreplex the background of a case, the more there are actual interests and clear motives behind it. Someplex cases may appear to be sudden and driven by passion, but if one gets to the root of them, there is often a necessity to them..." This was pure theory. Frankly, although there are many police school graduates inw enforcement now, those who are skilled and interested in theory are still rare. Most students, if they are particrly fond of theory, wouldn¡¯t even apply to the police academy in the first ce. "In such cases, when the full picture isn¡¯t clear, there are troubles in unraveling the threads and peeling the cocoon. But once the full picture is seen, perhaps by just analyzing the interests and motives, one could find the suspect," Liu Jinghui said further,ying out his train of thought. Qiao Shengli¡¯s eyes shone as she listened; afterboring in vain for three days, her sense of achievement at this moment was even stronger than when testing water samples. Jiang Yuan said, "We still have no idea what the victim¡¯s job was, where her ie came from, or what her social circle was like." "That¡¯s the trouble with this case. In modern society, without using your own identity card or bank card, you can already be half invisible," Liu Jinghui frowned lightly. He had several ideas, but none of them were veryforting, and there was no need to say them without evidence. Jiang Yuan stared at the screen in front of him, watching the vegetation images captured by the drone, but said nothing. The issues with living people are often veryplex, but once a person dies, theplex issues often start to simplify. Just like medicine isplex enough to have dozens or hundreds of sub-disciplines, requiring thousands of doctors and huge budgets for top-tier hospitals, legal botany is one of the moreplex areas of forensics. But at this stage in the investigation, its direction will also be clear. "Here!" After an indeterminate length of time, Jiang Yuan pointed and said, "At the confluence of the broadleaf forest and the coniferous forest, there¡¯s a stream running through..." What Jiang Yuan mentioned was the judgment they had formed over the past two days about the primary crime scene. Sulei and Qiao Shengli also squeezed next to Jiang Yuan, leaning in from left and right to observe carefully. "Just from the scenery of this area, Beijing¡¯sndscape is really quite beautiful," Sulei said with a smile. "Birch trees, por woods, pine trees, cypresses... There are bushes dominated by brambles over there, subalpine meadows; from low to high, the distribution is really beautiful..." "It looks like you¡¯re not the only one who thinks that way. It¡¯s a nice ce, and there are people who appreciate it..." Liu Cheng pointed to the bottom left corner of the screen. As the drone moved closer, they could see a courtyard, indistinctly hidden among the trees. The courtyard was situated close to the cliff. At first nce, it looked like a farm stay¡¯s yard, but a closer look revealed that the buildings were somewhat more refined. The barbed wire pulled across the high walls made it even more distinctive. Chapter 777 - 720

Chapter 777: 720

Liu Cheng first had the drone return in order not to spook the quarry, then took out his phone and called Tao. After he finished the call and returned, Qiao Shengli couldn¡¯t help but ask curiously, "Aren¡¯t you afraid of hitting a snag?" "What snag?" Liu Cheng feigned ignorance. "In such a secluded ce, secretly building such high walls can¡¯t be the work of just anyone," Qiao Shengli raised her eyebrows and said, "Could it be someone formidable?" Liu Cheng curled his lips, "I¡¯m handling a case in a fair and open manner, it¡¯s all the same no matter who I encounter." After finishing his confident statement, Liu Cheng lowered his posture a bit and said, "Moreover, my thoughts are quite the opposite of yours. A courtyard built in such a remote ce isn¡¯t likely to be the formidable kind you mentioned. It just shows that they have something to hide. So, the solution is to expose it to the light." After taking a deep breath, Liu Cheng turned to look at Jiang Yuan, Sulei, and the others and said, "So, I¡¯ll send a few people with the drone around the back to make sure no one escapes, while the rest of us watch the front and wait for reinforcements before moving forward." Jiang Yuan and the others had no objections. Only Mu Zhiyang said softly, "Let¡¯s distribute the equipment to everyone. Can the reinforcements bring me a shield? A gun would be even better." "I¡¯ll ask, but forget about the gun," Liu Cheng said and then looked toward Jiang Yuan and the others, saying, "Captain Jiang, do you want to head back first?" "No need, I¡¯ll wait to sweep the scene." Jiang Yuan usually took good self-protection measures, such as never being involved when two forensic doctors went to the scene. But self-protection is one thing; fear and retreat are another. Fear only leads to mistakes. Without further ado, Liu Cheng put on handcuffs, a baton, and a stun gun, and specially checked his body camera before quickly and briefly assigning tasks. The mountain path seemed near, but walking it was far, and the group had to move as covertly as possible, making the detour no easy task. Fortunately, the drone¡¯s performance was solid, not only able to remotely monitor the courtyard but also to help guide the way. Jiang Yuan stayed with Zhan Kan, Sulei, Qiao Shengli, Liu Jinghui, and others as the technician. Mu Zhiyang, uneasy, paced back and forth with a baton in hand. Sulei, growing weary from watching, called to Mu Zhiyang toe and rest. Mu Zhiyang shook his head, holding the baton and said, "I can¡¯t sit still right now. We are understaffed; if real criminalse, Pang Da and I would have a hard time protecting everyone." "You¡¯re in a police uniform, what criminal would target a cop?" "That¡¯s why it¡¯s dangerous. What if they¡¯re extremely vicious?" Sulei said helplessly, "If criminals reallye, we just run. You saw how Captain Liu and the others moved; they can¡¯t get far in an hour. If we spot someoneing, we can definitely run away." "We¡¯ll run even slower," Mu Zhiyang said, then turned his head to nce at Jiang Yuan and whispered, "I might be able to escape, but not necessarily you all. If I ended up escaping alone, Commissioner Huang would skin me alive." Hearing this, Qiao Shengli rolled her eyes and said, "Alright then, if criminalse chasing us, you just guard under that pine tree up front and let us run first." "What if they bypass me?" "They won¡¯t. That¡¯s the only path up the mountain. Just hold that position," Qiao Shengli swept her hand to the left and right, "We¡¯ll run up the mountain and then down again. There should be a highway in front. If you¡¯re worried, then cover our retreat. As long as you hold your ground and don¡¯t surrender that critical spot, everyone else will be safe." Mu Zhiyang listened with rm bells ringing in his ears¡ªthis person wasn¡¯t joking; she was seriously suggesting a deadly standoff. Luckily, the criminals never really came up the mountain. The backup forces arrived before evening at the scene of the crime. In total, over a dozen police cars loaded with Zhengguang Bureau detectives, as well as officers borrowed by Tao Lu from other brigades, came to the site. Apanying them was a small armed police squad, weapons at the ready. Jiang Yuan and his team were at the closest and best observation spot, so Tao set up themand center there and then sent people out to search the courtyard at the front. Mu Zhiyang instantly rxed, unable to resist saying, "Next time we go on such a field task, I really should be equipped with a gun." "Don¡¯t you find it troublesome?" Tao Lu was a bit surprised. Scenarios requiring a gun these days are very rare, but once a gun is carried, the reports are inevitable. Mu Zhiyang sighed, "When it¡¯s needed, it¡¯s needed. Just don¡¯t give me a toy gun." "I¡¯ll arrange it for next time," Tao Lu said, ncing at Jiang Yuan with a bit of concern. It was like a newly acquired 27,000-acre paddy field at home that warranted extensive manpower and resources to build dykes for protection. Up ahead. Liu Cheng picked up the walkie-talkie and whispered, "All units in position, is the assault team ready?" "Ready," the assault team,posed of armed police, was armed with rifles and shotguns. In the distance, there were two groups of snipers lying in wait. By domestic standards, this was already top-notch equipment. It was only because of Tao Lu¡¯s great trust in Jiang Yuan that he could mobilize all these forces immediately. The one farthest from a police identity on the scene was Qiao Shengli, who regarded the police operation as a rare experience. Her lips parted as she breathed out, her eyes wide while she observed. Liu Cheng asked Tao Lu for confirmation and after receiving it, he began to count down: "Three, two, one... go, go go go..." Liu Cheng¡¯s voice quickly faded, then in the distance with a "thump," the shouting suddenly rose: "Police! Police!" Everyone at the scene tensed up. Even Mu Zhiyang tensed up, the muscles over his ears tight. Tao Lu also silently clenched his fists, his gaze alternating between the scene in front and the screen of the drone. In front of him was a vast expanse of greenery, and on the screen, there were only the figures of the police. Liu Cheng, along with several armed police, rushed into the building and there was a long silence without news. "No one found. Repeat, no one found!" When Liu Cheng¡¯s voice came again, Tao Lu and Qiao Shengli both let out a sigh at the same time. "That¡¯s a relief," Qiao Shengli patted her neckline. Tao Lu nced at her and said, "What¡¯s so good about that? If we didn¡¯t find anyone, we still need to continue searching for people." "I was considering your position, not everyone can be unafraid of retaliation or the like," said Qiao Shengli. "The more people there are, the less fear there is," Tao Lu replied tersely. Wasn¡¯t this the reason he had brought people from other detachments on this operation? To cast a wider? Qiao Shengli paused, thenughed, "Seems like there is some wisdom to that." "It¡¯s not thatplicated," Tao Lu waved his hand dismissively. He had intentionally revealed a bit of his rationale to forestall thoughts simr to those of Qiao Shengli, but he was unwilling to say any more than necessary. Jiang Yuan waited a moment before saying, "I¡¯ll search the scene." Mu Zhiyang hurriedly followed. After traversing the uneven ground for a while, they finally entered into the house. The residence was quite small for a mansion, with its outer courtyard walls reaching a height of four to five meters, and the building inside standing merely three stories tall, around a dozen meters, backed against a cliff on one side and built along the mountain on the other, jutting out slightly. Just judging by the area, it was probably around 1000 square meters, muchrger than the typical (average?) house, but much smaller inparison tomercial buildings in the city. Jiang Yuan first examined the surroundings of the mansion, the overgrown nts blocking paths indicating that for at least thest half a year or even more, no one had traversed inside or out of the mansion. Even the best houses will run into issues if left unattended for a long time, let alone those hidden deep in the mountains. Naturally, the building materials and construction quality were up to standard, so from a distance, it still looked quite good, but up close it showed signs of neglect. The reason it hadn¡¯t been spotted earlier was because the drone hadn¡¯t dared to get too close. Liu Cheng¡¯s expression was clearly filled with disappointment. If they could have caught someone, the case would¡¯ve made significant progress; now they were left with only an empty nest, increasing theplexity of the situation. In a way, the stench of trouble had begun to seep out before they even saw a trace of it. "The cost of building this house wasn¡¯t low, and since it¡¯s built against the mountain, it couldn¡¯t possibly have been built by locals," Liu Jinghui followed inside, whispering to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded. Liu Jinghui added, "With this sort of case, we need irond evidence to proceed." Jiang Yuan nodded again, simultaneously activating his "Crime Scene Reconstruction" skill (temporary +1). He still had one broad-spectrum temporary +1 skill untouched, and he would decide whether to use it based on the particr details of the scene. Chapter 778 - 721: Searching for Clues

Chapter 778: Chapter 721: Searching for Clues

The red light was powerfully piercing, and looking out from the darkness immediately brought about a sense of daze. Liu Cheng shielded his eyes and waved his shlight twice, prompting the red dot on the opposite side to move. "There are too many cameras, one might think they¡¯ve been targeted by a sniper," Liu Chengined as he walked to the entrance. "More evidence isn¡¯t a bad thing," Liu Jinghui actually agreed with Tao Lu¡¯s setup; although it might not be very useful at the trial stage, during the investigation, the "mountain" within the irond evidence really did have significance. Liu Cheng muttered something under his breath, not really opposing anything, but instead stood there somewhat gloomily. There wasn¡¯t much left for him to do. The ce was extremely remote and leaving was out of the question, so all he could do was stand guard. Liu Jinghui walked up and down, and as his mind burst with inspiration, he too stood beside Liu Cheng, deep in thought. From across the room, one could see that both men¡¯s eyes were unfocused, but while one man¡¯s mind was whirring furiously, the other¡¯s was t-lining. Jiang Yuan first walked through all three floors, then returned to the first floor to change his clothes and gloves. At this point, Liu Cheng seemed to spring to life, eagerly asking, "How is it?" "There¡¯s a lot of evidence. The evacuation wasn¡¯t too rushed, but they didn¡¯t clear much evidence, hardly doing any systematic cleaning," said Jiang Yuan, ncing at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui was instantly invigorated, frowning as he said, "That suggests that this might not be the primary crime scene." The location where the victim, Zhang Lizhen, fell into the water was nearby, and the spore information on her body also indicated she had been in this courtyard, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean she died there. It was possible she died outside the courtyard, or even in the grass or under the trees. Logically deducing, the police had found this estate by following the information from Zhang Lizhen¡¯s corpse. Considering that such a fine estate, obviously not cheap to maintain, had been abandoned around the time of Zhang Lizhen¡¯s death, there must be a connection between her death and the estate. Then, bymon sense, if Zhang Lizhen had died within the estate, it would be most logical to clean up as a way to eliminate evidence. So, theck of cleaning traces within the estate greatly suggests that the primary crime scene was not inside the estate, making the cleanup unnecessary. Of course, there¡¯s also the possibility that the person in charge of the estate wasn¡¯t aware of Zhang Lizhen¡¯s death. But, bymon sense, it¡¯s hard to believe that the manager of such a remote and unique estate would have such weak control. On the other hand, even if the person in charge didn¡¯t know about Zhang Lizhen¡¯s death, and therefore didn¡¯t clean the estate, the murderer should have returned to the scene to clean up. Liu Cheng also snapped back to reality, pondered for a while, understood, and proceeded to ask further, "Actually, even if this isn¡¯t the primary scene and nothing happened here, wouldn¡¯t it still be normal to clean up?" "That¡¯s an interesting question. If the person in charge had time to take away things like picture frames, why not clean the room?" Liu Jinghui paused, then said, "There are only two reasons, either they felt it was unnecessary, or they felt it was necessary." "Unnecessary to clean up? Someone has died, that reasoning obviously doesn¡¯t fit," said Liu Cheng. Liu Jinghui nodded. Liu Cheng continued, "By necessary, you mean the person in charge felt it necessary to leave evidence behind?" Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "That¡¯s the only exnation." The two of them looked at Jiang Yuan as they spoke. They were here to show off their deductive reasoning, but the truth ultimately needed to be supported by evidence. Jiang Yuan called over an officer with a camera and another for crime scene investigation, and they began to examine the scene from bottom to top in order. "Start with collecting footprints from the ground," Jiang Yuan instructed, brightening the forensic light and collecting footprints one by one. Soon, the dim room was illuminated by the forensic lights. As of now, Jiang Yuan believed the footprints were of great value. Not only could footprints reveal a series of identity characteristics of those present at the scene, but most importantly, they could indicate whether there had been any scuffles, resistance, or dragging. It is easy for a person to die but difficult to kill, and even if the victim was female, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to kill her cleanly. Although previous reasoning discussions had leaned towards the first crime scene not being indoors, it was still necessary to investigate to be sure. Moreover, actions such as scuffles and dragging could be discerned because they were out of the ordinary, more intense activities. For Jiang Yuan, as long as there were footprints, even less intense activities could be evident. He had now activated the Crime Scene Reconstruction (temporary +1) skill, which amounted to having Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation skills and an additional higher level, equivalent to Level 6 expertise in Crime Scene Reconstruction. At this level, given enough time and effort, one could not only deduce how the owner of the footprints moved and where they went, but even the actions of the footprints¡¯ owner before and after stepping could be discerned. A simple example, when a twisting mark appears on a footprint, it suggests that the owner of the footprint might have turned. Many human actions require a point of force, and as long as the ground conditions are good enough, these can be identifiable. The dust that had umted over more than a year of closure in this residence now became an advantage for footprint identification. Jiang Yuan and his team first used nks to collect and record the footprintsyer byyer. At the same time, while the others were collecting footprints, Jiang Yuan performed another round of analysis, then circled several footprints in a spiral pattern of observation. He picked up some hair or kes of skin, which were also marked and photographed separately. For Jiang Yuan, the difficulty wasn¡¯t in the crime scene investigation itself, but in organizing it well¡ªnot just systematically during the investigation phase but also providing robust evidence in the subsequent phases of the investigation and during the trial was the most challenging part. It was predictable that there would be many residents and visitors in the mansion, and the task of filtering all of them out efficiently and systematically was not a small one. Three floors, going around each oneyer byyer, collecting evidence¡ªit was dark by the time they were done. After collecting the footprints, they collected fingerprints and ssified various other traces. A normal crime scene investigation wouldn¡¯t proceed this way¡ªtypically, only key fingerprints and traces would be collected from strategic locations. Otherwise, in this digital age, it might not be much of an issue, but 20 years ago, when paper documentation was prevalent, the sheer volume of evidence would have been problematic. This time, the scene was different; including Tao Lu and others, there was a tendency to collect as much evidence as possible and to identify as many individuals as possible. This continued untilte in the evening, when most of the crime scene examination was finallypleted. Compared to the interior, the yard yielded little of value. Over one year in the woods was entirely different from over one year in the city. In an environment teeming with microorganisms and fully filled ecological niches, it was difficult to find fingerprints and footprints in the yard, let alone use them to prove anything. "Tao, the crime scene investigation is finished," Jiang Yuan said as he removed his gloves again, the sky nowpletely dark. "The fingerprint and footprint identification work, has that been assigned to you as well?" Tao Lu added. Jiang Yuan nodded, "I can handle it." "Okay, then I¡¯ll bring in the dogs," Tao said. The forensic doctor nodded again. Tao Lu took out the walkie-talkie, saying, "Let the dogs in." Several robust police dogs immediately appeared before Jiang Yuan and the others. Chapter 779 - 722: Unknown Path Ahead

Chapter 779: Chapter 722: Unknown Path Ahead

Police dogs are great helpers, but once they enter the scene, they contaminate the site. Technicians, cute or not, with their hoods and gloves at least don¡¯t shed hair. Police dogs not only shed, but they also drool and their little paws trample all over the ce, so we must be cautious. However, the advantages of police dogs are also quite obvious. Scent tracking is a skill where humans are weaker and difficult to rece with technology. With proper training, one or two police dogs can find a multitude of clues. Tao Lu brought five police dogs this time. Two dogs were kept behind to work in the courtyard, while the remaining three immediately left the yard to start searching the fields. Including Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and others, everyone couldn¡¯t help but focus most of their attention on the dogs. These shiny coated creatures, with just a few barks, could escte the case at hand. Tao Lu was even a little nervous. He was starting to lose count of whether he wanted the dogs to bark or not. Wuu wuu... An evil wind passed through the woods, emitting an oppressive howl. In such arge rural mansion, if only two or three people lived there, maybe even five, the sound of the wind would likely be somewhat scary. But with a hundred police officers staying in such a small mansion, the wind¡¯s slightly menacing noise just seemed amusing. "Let¡¯s go back," said Jiang Yuan after waiting a while, seeing the two dogs left in the courtyard showing no signs of going online and starting to feel a bit tired. If they can¡¯t smell anything, they just can¡¯t. Waiting any longer would be pointless. Liu Jinghui sighed, "What a pity." Qiao Shengli, who had been hiding in the corner, wanting to leave but not daring to, asked quietly, "A pity for what?" Liu Jinghui let out a long sigh, "Big cases aren¡¯tmon. Especially digging up a big case from scratch is truly rare. Just think about it, if you discovered a new species in botany, what would that feel like?" "We often make discoveries," Qiao Shengli quipped smartly, "Last year we found about 300 new nt species, but our research isn¡¯t focused on that..." Liu Jinghui waved his hand and sighed again. Jiang Yuan took a group of technicians back to the Criminal Police Brigade. He slept on the way and arrived rtively refreshed, immediately starting the fingerprintparison work. This case was somewhat special. In the same kind of wild mansion, if it were located in the mountains of Ningtai County, the police station from top to bottom would probably be energized, solely focused on capturing the suspect. But in a ce like Qingling Mountain, whether we can concentrate solely on capturing the suspect is not certain. Jiang Yuan also had to take advantage of the time to work. Not finding a body in the courtyard doesn¡¯t mean there isn¡¯t another body rted to the case. As for being "wholeheartedly"mitted, acting fast might just be effective. Jiang Yuan had a simple understanding that if he could do things normal police couldn¡¯t then, logically, the case-solving rate should increase. Just like the current case, Jiang Yuan sped up the whole process today, confident that within the next two days, he would be able to pull out all the fingerprints and footprints. However, without his participation, a strong bureau like Zhengguang, even mobilizing an elite force, would probably need about a week. Zhengguang Bureau didn¡¯t have a Level 4 fingerprint expert or a footprint identification expert. To get one, they¡¯d have to borrow from the city bureau. Even if they managed to get one, the expert wouldn¡¯t be readily avable. And even if the expert dide and was above Level 4, a perfect coboration didn¡¯t guarantee that the task could bepleted in two or three days. This was all under the premise that Jiang Yuan had established a baseline with his Level 5 crime scene survey and Level 6 crime scene reconstruction. In the end, it wasn¡¯t just a fingerprint expert that Zhengguang Bureau or the Criminal Police Brigade needed; they also needed experts in forensic material evidence, legal botany, and so on for coboration. Assuming Jiang Yuan¡¯s opponents¡ªthe criminals¡ªhad a clear understanding of the police¡¯s strength, normally, they should be prone to miscalcting. That¡¯s the most reasonable and safe way he had thought of to handle the case. So, when Jiang Yuan returned to his office, he immediately got to work. He had forensic technicianse over to help, and Jiang Yuan was unabashed inmanding them. Fingerprintparison was his foundation skill and the first thing Jiang Yuan checked; now back at the office, it was also the first thing he dealt with. Fingerprints are known as the king of evidence for a reason. They are highly efficient and provide clear direction. As primates, it¡¯s very easy for humans to leave fingerprints¡ªworking with gloves on is far more troublesome than wearing a mask or a condom. So, putting themselves in the criminal¡¯s shoes, is it easy for a crook to wear gloves the whole time? Not at all. It¡¯s akin to expecting someone to wear a mask every time they leave the house or a condom every time they go to bed; the stricter the demand, the shorter the duration ofpliance, the harder it is to follow through. Moreover, whether before or after the fact, everyone prefers to go without protection if they can. Just like with face masks, as soon as people reach a ce where they can take them off, many can¡¯t wait to do so. The same goes for crime scenes¡ªpeople often leave cigarette butts at the entrance or fingerprints in the alley when they leave; it¡¯s extremelymon. In the mansion on Qingling Mountain, the fingerprints left behind were even more brazen. Because of this, the technicians handled it pretty well. It was still dark outside, but because the fingerprint processing went smoothly, everyone was in a quite good mood. Sitting next to Jiang Yuan, the trace examiner Dong Ai hummed a tune beforeughing and saying, "You can tell when someone knows their stuff by the fingerprints they collect. There are some crime scene investigators or detectives whose work really makes you want to hit them." Feng Chao, sitting opposite Dong Ai, chuckled, "Don¡¯t even mention some crime scene investigators and detectives; even fingerprints taken by some trace examiners make me want to hit someone." "What trace examiners..." Dong Ai started to say before he suddenly realized and red, "Old Feng, watch your words. Are you saying the fingerprints I collected are trash?" "That envelope you processed with iodine fuming, remember? The big, brown fingerprint that appeared, what was that supposed to be? The photo looked like a lump. My son¡¯s poop in the mud looks better than that," Feng Chao openly mocked, without the slightest consideration for his colleague. Dong Ai was taken aback and, feeling slightly embarrassed, said, "Old Feng, why bring up old stories? That was a long time ago." "Just so you don¡¯t get carried away," Feng Chaoughed. With a sigh of resignation, Dong Ai turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "Old Feng here never spares anyone with his words. I was in a hurry back then, and I didn¡¯t adjust the lighting properly. The iodine fuming only takes a few minutes to develop the image, and we were pressed for time to take pictures, plus someone¡¯s shadow got in the way. Old Feng has been nagging me about this for years." "If an error only happens once every few years, that¡¯s quite impressive," Jiang Yuan said as he was handling thisplex case with a high level of emotional intelligence. Feng Chao smiled again, "Of course, errors can¡¯t just happen once every few years; otherwise, you¡¯d be a god." Feng Chao was clearly an old desk jockey who wasn¡¯t interested in advancing his career; he was content with just having thest word. However, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, Feng Chao¡¯s fingerprint identification skills were at least at a Level 2 standard. He could be considered an expert in Qinghe City, but in the Jingji police bureaus, he was just averagebor. When working, he probably didn¡¯t feel much sense of aplishment. Jiang Yuan simply ignored them and continued with the fingerprintparison. As soon as he got results, he recorded them. Tao Lu quickly returned, habitually going straight to Jiang Yuan¡¯s office instead of the meeting room. "How¡¯s it going? Any new leads?" Tao Lu didn¡¯t even look at the screen, asking Jiang Yuan directly. "Of the fingerprints scanned so far, we have matches for 2 men and 7 women. The women are generally good-looking and were mostly recorded due to public security punishment. Mainly for prostitution, but some were involved in other public security cases as well," Jiang Yuan reported, ncing at his notebook. "The 2 male individuals are the same." Tao Lu nodded, as if expecting this, and said, "So you¡¯re saying this building is a den of debauchery?" "It¡¯s possible," Jiang Yuan replied. "They set up a whorehouse in the mountains of Qingling and still only offer services for five or six hundred? Are they afraid the business would be too good and the girls couldn¡¯t handle it, or what?" Feng Chao, who had popped his head from the other side of the desk, posed a rather valid question. Tao Lu and Jiang Yuan exchanged nces and both nodded involuntarily. Indeed, although prostitution is illegal, those who sell sex have to follow market rules. If this were a storefront, located so far away and with difficult ess, how many people woulde to patronize it? No matter how safe it was, not many people woulde. Is safety the primary concern for those seeking prostitutes? Obviously not. If absolute safety were their goal, they wouldn¡¯t seek prostitutes in the first ce. "The price per customer is too low." In Tao Lu¡¯s view, this ce was likely a very high-end establishment. After all, with the trouble it takes to get here, those willing toe would have already incurred high costs and should be willing to pay a higher price. Only then would it be profitable for the person who built this mansion. Otherwise, what¡¯s the point? "Could it be a drug den?" Liu Jinghui joined the discussion, having heard the others¡¯ conversation. "That¡¯s a possibility," Jiang Yuan paused before responding, "There are no quick tests for that, but let¡¯s see if we can detect anythingter." Given the severity of drug-rted sentences, retreating into the deep woods for drug use isn¡¯t unusual. And if there¡¯s the added allure of femalepanions, it would indeed be a form of pleasure for the addicts. "However, logically speaking, if this were a drug den, it seems too well constructed. Unnecessary¡ªaddicts don¡¯t care about their surroundings once they have their fix. Instead of going through all this trouble, it would be better to find a ce with easier ess, like those sparsely upied residential areas that are much morefortable," Liu Jinghui seemed to recall another case, smirking as he spoke, "Many drug users are wrecks; they can hardly make the effort to climb mountains and ford streams." "Are johns physically fit then?" Feng Chaoughed, "If johns are in good shape, it only means the prostitutes aren¡¯t working hard enough." "Your logic is sound," Liu Jinghuiplimented. "Let¡¯s bring some people back for questioning," Tao Lu didn¡¯t wish to discuss further. Checking the time, he saw it was almost dawn¡ªa good time to send someone out. Jiang Yuan nodded and added, "Remember to ask them where they went. If they left because of the homicide, they might have been unprepared." Moreover, criminals who have already murdered are more likely to decide to kill again, which could escte the crime. Chapter 780 - 723: Serving Whom

Chapter 780: Chapter 723: Serving Whom

"You,e here, what are you running for? What¡¯s your name?" Cui Qishan, panting heavily, caught the teenager and dragged him over by the cor. As he restrained the youth, Cui Qishan also took deep, forceful breaths, a broken bellows-like sound emanating from his lungs, as if he were a person deting. The teen looked at Cui Qishan fearfully and whispered, "I didn¡¯t stab you." "I... you..." Cui Qishan opened his mouth, moistened his throat, and then said, "Why did you run?" "I... just wanted to run," the teen replied. Cui Qishan: "I told you to stop, did you hear me?" "I heard." "Then why did you keep running?" "Mm." "Why did you run?" "I was scared." "Scared of what?" "Just scared." The exchange between the boy and Cui Qishan was dry and repetitive, and yet Cui was at a loss for what to do. This wasn¡¯t his first encounter with this kind of situation. When he first came to Zhanggang Vige, Cui Qishan was quite reserved, often adhering to the philosophy of not resorting to force unless necessary. But then he realized it was futile, as the vigers would bolt at any minor issue. Just likest time, he had to run until he was out of breath. It was alsost time that a 16-year-old youth tried to outrun him. Compared to this boy, that youth was simply an I-person, and an E-person, making a pair of nuts. "When a policeman tells you to stop, you need to stop, understand?" Cui Qishan lectured the boy briefly before letting him go. There was no choice; the boy just wanted to run, that¡¯s all. Just a few short days, and the lifestyle of the vige had cured two of Cui Qishan¡¯s three "highs" Dragging one leg after the other, he returned to the vige¡¯s little store, where he saw two technicians in white coats taking throat swabs from the vigers with white sticks, while Xiao Si and others stood idly by, finally looking like they were doing some office work. "How¡¯s it going?" Cui Qishan asked as he walked over. "The sampling¡¯s going quite fast; we just have to see if there are any fish that slipped the," replied the technician casually. He was dispatched from the local county bureau and wasn¡¯t worried about the case, just going through the motions. Cui Qishan grunted, then looked around at the emptiness and said with resignation, "Do the best you can." Thetest task they had received was to collect DNA from all the vigers of Zhanggang Vige and thenpare it with the DNA found in Qingling Mountain. With current technology, even if it wasn¡¯t the individual¡¯s own DNA, they could identify rtionships through rtives¡¯ DNA. The crime scene on Qingling Mountain had yielded a wealth of fingerprints as well as numerous DNA samples. Comparing the two, they could find more participants or informants. However, the bigwigs back in Jingji would never understand the challenging conditions of Zhanggang Vige, nor would theyprehend the hardships faced by Cui Qishan and his team. Cui Qishan shook his head and turned to make another phone call. He needed to report back to Tao thoroughly to request to return to Zhengguang. Tao Lu was quite satisfied with Cui Qishan¡¯s work. Upon the call, first, there were words offort, and then with augh, he said, "Cui, the work you¡¯re doing is very important. We spoke about it before, remember?" "I remember, you told me to ¡¯eat shit¡¯," Cui Qishan said crudely on purpose, hoping to provoke a smile or even a hint of sympathy from Tao. But Tao Lu didn¡¯t take the bait and justughed, saying, "That wasn¡¯t quite what I meant... Anyway, Zhanggang Vige and its vigers have an inseparable connection with the case. You need to stay on guard and take good care of yourself." "Yes." With the deputy chief¡¯s orders, Cui Qishan could onlyply. Xiao Si, watching him hang up, asked concernedly, "Cui Da, can we go back now?" "Go back my ass," Cui Qishan scowled. "Tao says to continue protecting the vigers. And to take good care of ourselves too." Hearing this, Xiao Si shook his head and muttered, "Cui Da, Tao doesn¡¯t love you anymore. He used to say take care of yourself first." Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t be bothered to respond. Li Jiang stood behind Cui Qishan and said, "Cui Da, have you seen those undercover movies? At this rate, we might as well all join the vigemittee." "Wait for news from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side," Cui Qishan gestured with his hand. ... Zhengguang Bureau. Jiang Yuan looked at theputer screen and slowly said, "Let¡¯s wait for news from Cui Da¡¯s side." The fingerprints had indeed locked onto some individuals, but what was unsettling was that after the criminal police conducted their search, they hadn¡¯t found any of these people. Considering the disappearance of the initial victim Zhang Lizhen, a case of "hiding in in sight," Jiang Yuan and his team had to consider the possibility that the number of victims might increase. Huang Qiangmin had made two trips back and forth and had even taken Tao to dinner. Tao Lu had be numb to the expenditure. Frankly speaking, up to now, the number of homicide cases solved by the criminal police brigade of Zhengguang Bureau exceeded the total of the past two yearsbined. With the same budget structure, Tao Lu was satisfied as long as he could solve cases. However, theplexity and mystery of this case never allowed Tao Lu to rest easy. "So many people, it¡¯s possible they acted collectively, otherwise their identities couldn¡¯t all be concealed. Somebody should have eventually made a phone call, reported their safety or something," Tao Lu mused to himself, growing increasingly uneasy with his own analysis. In the current domestic environment, once an ID card or mobile phone number was used, it could be traced. In other words, at least a dozen people had been to Qingling Mountain. Yet these people hadn¡¯t used their ID cards or mobile phone numbers for over a year, which was even more extreme than the restrictions ced on debt defaulters. Beyond that, in the currentrge cities, and even on highways, there are facial recognition and vehicle checkpoints. The shing lights that capture facial photos are all used for facial recognition. In other words, these people not only had never taken nes or high-speed trains, but they might have never even used the highways, and especially might have never passed through bustling areas or key routes... This unavoidably led to some disturbing spections. "We still need to analyze their motives." Liu Jinghui, holding a teacup, wandered around the room. He only approached after Jiang Yuan and Tao Lu¡¯s conversation had ended and whispered. This indicated that he too wasn¡¯t very confident and was still in the phase of discussing privately. Jiang Yuan¡¯s trust in Liu Jinghui went without saying. He nodded and asked, "What do you think their motive is?" "I¡¯ve looked at theb report, and narcotics have been ruled out," Liu Jinghui paused before continuing, "With sex, gambling, and drugs often linked, could it be a casino they¡¯ve set up?" Jiang Yuan had previously handled cases involving vige casinos, but in a deste wilderness... Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "If it¡¯s a casino, it must be a very new one; otherwise, there would be wear and tear on the floor, the walls, and the appearance of the ounts room would have changed." "A simple clubhouse doesn¡¯t seem likely either." "Right, too far and too secluded." "Recruiting prostitutes, who might not be especially attractive, just for the purpose of killing, wouldn¡¯t be sustainable," Liu Jinghui pointed out the issue of many peopleing from the same ce ¨C without profit, such a chain of events would be hard to maintain. "Pyramid schemes?" Mu Zhiyang had been standing guard all along. Liu Jinghui shook his head: "They wouldn¡¯t be qualified to live in such houses." Mu Zhiyang was taken aback: "That¡¯s true." Nowadays, those involved in pyramid schemes are generally in poor economic conditions, surviving on rotten vegetables. Those capable of constructing a three-story building wouldn¡¯t engage in such business. Liu Jinghui continued, "From a motive perspective, the purpose of recruiting prostitutes is primarily to serve people, or to use them as clients. If we consider that, the businesses that could generate this amount of capital, apart from sex, gambling, and drugs, are really not many." "Which one do you think it is?" Mu Zhiyang asked. Liu Jinghui licked his lips and blurted out two words: "No people to serve, they can serve the gods." Jiang Yuan sat up straight: "Cults?" "Organized, lucrative, secluded from the world, secret congregations," Liu Jinghui counted on his fingers, "If that¡¯s really the case, we just need to find one person, and it might lead us to everyone else." Chapter 781 - 724 - : Assembly

Chapter 781: 724 Chapter: Assembly

Zhanggang Vige. Cui Qishan sat in front of a bonfire, grinning as he roasted the fire, casually flipping the ribs on the mes, sprinkling some salt, taking a sip of beer, utterly at ease. Having stayed in a ce for a long time, one would gradually adapt. Zhanggang Vige indeed was a poor area¡ªso much so that the temperature was even 10 degrees lower than in Beijing¡ªbut once you epted its poverty, you could still find some good things. For example, the local pork was delicious. Of course, there was no beef or mutton to be had, let alone seafood to buy. You had to invite a butcher over to ughter the pig, but no matter what, the vigers¡¯ home-raised hogs, not just saved for the New Year¡¯s feast, were very tasty. Ribs like these, simply seasoned withmon spices, sealed on high heat, then slowly roasted next to the fire until well-done or even a bit overcooked, were still sizzling with fat when eaten¡ªmore delicious than what many upscale hotels in Beijing could serve. Beijing¡¯s hotels didn¡¯t have such conditions. They had to maintain consistent quality, meaning even if asionally they got hold of something exceptionally good, they couldn¡¯t use it. Besides, the river delicacies from Zhanggang Vige deserved mention. The carp soup was good, and frogs caught in the evening could be eaten the next day¡ªas long as you didn¡¯t watch the process, it was wonderfully delicious. Eels and loaches were another dimension of food that Cui Qishan personally didn¡¯t like. He hadn¡¯t eaten them much as a child and didn¡¯t fancy them as an adult. However, team member Li Jiang liked to eat them and knew how to cook them. With a few people gathered around a small pot, the vor was exceptionally good. That was until the travel allowance ran out. But Cui Qishan thought it was rather nice. Maintaining team morale in such a tough ce was quite difficult. Finding something of interest was more important than anything else. The main reason why people were reluctant to take on such assignments was that the hours of leisure time outside the eight hours of work were even more torturous than work. At least now, there were delicious farm-raised pork and local Snow Pioneering beer to enjoy¡ªa considerable constion. Buzz... The vibration of the mobile phone started, and Cui Qishan hurriedly stood up to answer, taking the opportunity to go to the bathroom to relieve himself. "Reinforcements have been sent to you. They should be arriving at Zhanggang Vige soon. Take charge of receiving them. Cooperate with each other to prioritize thepletion of tasks, ensure your safety, and report any situation at any time..." Tao Lu wrapped up the instructions in a few words, and with a "beep," the call ended. Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit mncholic. Such an advanced smartphone, as the vige¡¯s most high-tech electronic device, was hung up after just a brief conversation, not evensting the duration of a pee, a sheer waste. Typically, no calls woulde in, and it wasn¡¯t practical to call home every day. With teammates around, if you mentioned you missed home, they might burst into tears on the spot¡ªwhat then? Go aroundforting a burly 190-pound man? Whoosh whoosh... "It¡¯s raining!" Xiao Si¡¯s shout came over, and then raindrops as big as coins hit Cui Qishan¡¯s face. "The rain¡¯s pretty... oh crap, the ribs!" Cui Qishan put away his phone and ran back into the courtyard. The rain fell fast and hard, as if released by a teenage Dragon King in a fit of temper. When Cui Qishan reached the courtyard, he saw the once delightful bonfire had been extinguished by the downpour, and Xiao Si and others stood under the eaves, each clutching a couple of ribs, faces as ck as if their rice bowls had been overturned and lost. Morale, truly, was in shambles. Mncholically stepping under the shelter of the eaves and wiping his face, Cui Qishan sincerely hoped no one would suddenly cry out, "Captain, I miss my mom!" If that happened, to maintain this team, wouldn¡¯t he end up marrying and having children in Zhanggang Vige, perhaps even with an 18-year-old suspect? "The meat got rained on; I¡¯m afraid it won¡¯t taste good," Xiao Si shook the ribs, suggesting he was thinking of throwing them away. Cui Qishan responded with a nomittal grunt and asked, "Didn¡¯t have time to take them down?" "They were too hot. I used a cloth to pull a couple down, but the rest were all soaked before I managed to remove them," Xiao Si sighed, "When it rains, it really pours. This damn ce!" "Quiet, don¡¯t let the locals hear you." Cui Qishan sighed. He temporarily agreed with Xiao Si¡¯s assessment of Zhanggang Vige¡ªit was really a desperately poor ce¡ªand thought that staying in such a ce, he should also think of a way out. If there was one. "The good news is that the rice is cooked," Li Jiang said, holding a less than appetizing rib. "Once the rain stops, we can reheat them, and they should still be edible." "It¡¯s still better than nothing," Xiao Si muttered, adding, "If a restaurant in Beijing served me ribs like this, I¡¯d call the police on the spot." "We¡¯ll make some braised pork or somethingter. We¡¯ve got reinforcementsing today," Cui Qishan updated his team members with the new information. Xiao Si clicked his tongue twice, "So this rain literally trapped them on the road, huh?" Thinking about it, Cui Qishan realized it was indeed so. This was trouble¡ªthey had to push their vehicle at certain parts whening to Zhanggang Vige. Cui Qishan himself had ended up with a mouthful of mud. Now with such heavy rain, who knew what the neers would have to endure. "Prepare some hot water. They might be able to take a bathter," Cui Qishan made arrangements. They had rented two sets of rooms in the vige, both equipped with sr water heaters. If they were frugal, they could just about manage a warm shower. Wang Chao nodded and went off to make arrangements. Cui Qishan personally went to the kitchen, asking the hired cook to prepare some meat dishes. As wisps of smoke began to rise again, Wang Chao came running back. "The rain broke the pipes, and the roof is leaking. There¡¯ll be no showers today, and even sleeping will be an issue," Wang Chao said, hands spread in a gesture ofplete resignation. "Well, that¡¯s their bad luck," Cui Qishan paused before shaking his head, "Or our bad luck. Are we not going to have a hot shower either?" "Heat some water for a bath?" "As if that wouldn¡¯t be troublesome enough." "Forget it, we still need to free up a room for them tonight." After discussing in the kitchen for a while, Cui Qishan¡¯s phone rang again. The call was from the vige chief. "The road to the vige is cut off and there might be a mudslide; let your people know, so they don¡¯t get washed away." The vige chief¡¯s voice was loud and urgent; he was genuinely afraid that the officials from Beijing would get buried here. "I got it, thank you so much." After hanging up, Cui Qishan stood there in a daze before remembering to call Tao Lu, informed her about the situation here, and then asked, "The reinforcements... I mean, who areing, do I know them? I¡¯ll call them directly." "Hmm, it¡¯s Qi Changye leading his team, so I didn¡¯t tell you earlier," Tao Lu finally exined and briefly shared Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning. "Understood, I¡¯ll make sure to cooperate." Cui Qishan hadn¡¯t asked before for the same reason ¨C the police are, after all, a disciplined force, and if the superiors didn¡¯t mention something, there must be a reason. With cases like this one, involving irregr religious activities, it¡¯s definitely Qi Changye and his team¡¯s job. After ending the call, Cui Qishan also felt at ease. "It¡¯s Qi Changye and his teaming. Looks like they won¡¯t be able to make it for a while; let¡¯s eat." They didn¡¯t interact much usually, and these rains causing the chaos weren¡¯t his doing, so let it be. Everyone heartily ate up dishes like braised pork, and imagining the hardships Qi Changye and his team faced on their way, they slept soundly in the houses that didn¡¯t leak. The next day. It wasn¡¯t until almost noon that a mud-covered Qi Changye and his team arrived at Zhanggang Vige. "The vehicle broke down on the road," Qi Changye exined with a wry smile to Cui Qishan, "the road was damaged, the bridge copsed. We had to detour, and then we faced a mudslide, so it took us longer." He tried to minimize the description of the hardships they endured. Qi Changye understood that no one would sympathize, they would only ridicule. Cui Qishan listened quite seriously and said, "We¡¯ve been affected by the heavy rain here, too. The roof is leaking a bit, the water heater is broken, but we have enough food for now; should we get some for you?" "Alright. Thank you." What else could Qi Changye say? Given yesterday¡¯s experience, he was just d to be alive. The recent cases had increased, making life and work particrly tough. Qi Changye gritted his teeth; if there was one quality he could boast about, it was his resilience. Solving cases under tough conditions was nothing new for him. ... Zhengguang Bureau. Jiang Yuan pondered over the mass of fingerprint, DNA, and footprint evidence before him. Liu Jinghui¡¯s thinking was good, Tao Lu provided ample resources, but without finding the people, it all came to nothing. "For such a group to vanish without any trace, living or dead, is not a good sign." Tao Lu also felt somewhat anxious and, after a short while, wandered into Jiang Yuan¡¯s office. He usually wouldn¡¯te by so frequently, preferring to have others report to him. Now, however, Tao Lu was slightly worried about interfering with Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. Liu Jinghui sat by the side, not even distracted by his phone, just appearing deep in thought. Hearing Tao Lu¡¯s words, he spoke slowly, "Escapism or collective suicide often marks an esction in heretical sects." Many fringe religious groups overseas have taken one of these two paths. The famous include the Amish, who reject modern technology, and the tragic mass suicide of over 900 people by the Peoples Temple. Liu Jinghui and Tao Lu didn¡¯t truly believe the situation was that severe, but as police officers, vignce was essential. Moreover, the possibility was too terrifying for Tao Lu even to contemte ¨C imagining digging up such a case was enough to shock the higher-ups! Even tripling expenditures would be an understatement. "Jiang Yuan, if you have any ideas, feel free to share," said Tao Lu, knowing Jiang Yuan was resourceful and,pared to Liu Jinghui, he trusted Jiang Yuan more. Liu Jinghui was all talk and had no ountability, akin to ancient strategists. In contrast, Jiang Yuan was different; he led a team with the explicit goal of solving cases. Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t tarnish his or Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation. Those who are paid tend to be more reliable. Such was Tao Lu¡¯s thinking. Jiang Yuan had also been pondering for a while and said, "Assuming we follow Director Liu¡¯s line of thought and it indeed pertains to religious behavior, if these people are all dead, that¡¯s one thing; but if they are alive and there¡¯s no information, it¡¯s likely they have isted residences and separate livingmunities, just like Qingling Mountain." Tao Lu nodded earnestly; it was a natural choice. An organization that had managed to build such estates wouldn¡¯t likely copse thereafter. Especially those with heretical leanings, which typically aren¡¯t short of funds. In modern society, where money isn¡¯tcking, there are quite a few ways to live in seclusion. "Should we start by tracking living supplies?" Tao Lu naturally suggested an approach. Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui and thought for a moment, "If we¡¯re going to conduct a search, I¡¯d like to rmend someone. From our Shannan Province, Xu Taining is a first-ss senior police officer, excellent at organizing search operations. We often coborate." "That¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll invite him through the ministry and talk to the Shannan Provincial Department," Tao Lu agreed immediately. Although the ministry itself had experts specialized in organizing searches, ranks were not written on their faces, so it¡¯s hard to say who¡¯s the best. Since it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s rmendation, and a senior police officer he was used to working with, Tao Lu had no objections. On the other hand, everyone knew searches were expensive, and Tao Lu thought, if it were a police officer from Shannan Province, they would at least be a bit more frugal. Chapter 782 - 725 Gathering People

Chapter 782: Chapter 725 Gathering People

Rain. Heavy rain. Continuous and unceasing. Xu Taining got out of the car and nced at the raindrops a few meters away, shaking his head involuntarily. "Beijing¡¯s weather is just like that; there¡¯s rarely a light drizzle, and instead, it often pours heavily." Huang Qiangmin came forward to greet him, his face brimming with smiles, showing none of the embarrassment and unease he¡¯d had when they met in Ningtai County. This time, the funds used by Xu Taining woulde from the Zhengguang Bureau and even the Beijing Bureau, so Political Commissar Huang was very happy, finding watching others spend money far morefortable than spending his own. At most, everyone was simply engaged in healthypetition. Xu Taining, dressed in a white shirt, stepped out of the car calmly and, after shaking hands with Huang Qiangmin with a smile, said, "A light rain is indeed easy to forget. But even if torrential downpours happen less often, they leave asting memory." "Director Xu has quite the literary ir," Huang Qiangminplimented casually. Tao Lu stepped forward to shake hands with Xu Taining and exchanged a few pleasantries as well. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui followed suit, making the entire weing ceremony informal but very lively. "I¡¯ve heard about the several cases you¡¯ve cracked here in Beijing. The provincial department even organized a discussion meeting, but there was not much understanding of your cases, and the discussion was rather superficial." Xu Taining was still happy to see Jiang Yuan and naturally began to talk about work. Jiang Yuan followed Xu Taining¡¯s lead, chatting for a bit until they entered the office, where Jiang Yuan began to discuss the specific details of the current case. Xu Taining listened intently. This was a report from a frontline detective, the kind that best describes the situation on the frontlines. When looking back at the case analysis meeting, even if the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s side was able to be a bit more practical, many details still wouldn¡¯tpare to the meticulousness of a frontline detective. Of course, case analysis meetings often provide high-level directives, exining the case from another aspect, but Director Xu didn¡¯tck that kind of content with his abilities. Most importantly, Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation held a value that was more thorough than that of an ordinary detective. Even Tao Lu and others, who were already familiar with the case, were listening intently to Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, standing by and paying close attention. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t possibly report every detail to Tao Lu and the others, but in front of Xu Taining, his exnation was evidently much more detailed. Investigations were not just a matter of spending money; they also required the use of a significant amount of police force and resources. To put it bluntly, thousands of police officers working hard for three days could crack thousands of cases, and if they were minor ones like theft, it was possible to charge ten thousand people. Now, everyone¡¯s level of seriousness had increased a notch just for one part of a case, given the resources invested in it. Xu Taining sat down in front of Jiang Yuan¡¯s office desk and took an old leather notebook out of his jacket pocket to begin taking meticulous notes. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes narrowed; Director Xu¡¯s notebook was somewhat famous in Shannan Province. It was said that Xu Taining only used this battle-worn leather notebook when he was preparing to devote a significant amount of manpower and resources. The notebook¡¯s inner shell could be reced, but its leather cover remained the same. Xu Taining often liked to record names, times, and ces on it, and most notably, he had been drawing mind maps on his notebook for many years. In an era when major cases relied on investigations, Xu Taining had traveled throughout Shannan Province with this leather notebook, asionally invited to work in other provinces, and he made a great name for himself with his generous style and high case-solving efficiency. "So you¡¯re saying that you¡¯ve essentially obtained the information on the people involved in the case, but you just can¡¯t find them, and you can¡¯t even confirm whether these people are alive or dead?" Xu Taining, after listening to Jiang Yuan, tapped his pen on the desk twice and made a brief summary. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Facial recognition, fingerprint, and DNA searches have yielded no results. We¡¯ve identified over thirty suspects now, and apart from the deceased Zhang Lizhen, the others have had no record of using transportation ormunication tools in the past year, no contact with family or friends, and no eyewitnesses or the like..." "Vanished off the face of the earth?" Xu Taining said. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, "It¡¯s hard to imagine, but that¡¯s the situation we¡¯re facing." In the operation of modern society, the difficulty for an individual to disappear without a trace is exceedingly high. It is almost impossible to aplish by oneself. As soon as one starts to acquire the resources necessary to vanish, they are already exposed. Only a powerful organization, and only a powerful organization, has the capability to execute such a level of disappearance. Considering that the spy case does not align well with this one, religion indeed bes a highly probable option. Ordinary brothels and the underworld operate on the very foundation of disregarding rules. They don¡¯t even heed the words of their own parents and teachers, so to expect these people to adhere to prohibitions is simply too naive. Xu Taining nced at Liu Jinghui and then at Tao Lu, saying, "On my way here, I too considered how to conduct the investigation of this case... Investigating from the angle of living supplies seems unfeasible to me. Primarily because there are many different types of living supplies, and most are difficult to track. Moreover, there are many collective entities around Beijing, and with kitchen purchases, or even some people buying in bulk at once, it¡¯s hard to trace. Furthermore, some units may not even allow us to track them. If we proceed timidly, the investigation woulde to a halt." "This is indeed a problem," Tao Lu said, not minding that his suggestion about tracking living supplies was rejected. ording to Xu Taining, it seemed that only upon finding additional bodies would they gain the extensive authority needed to conduct such an unreserved investigation. But if multiple bodies were indeed found, the case would be more or less solved already. Xu Taining flipped through his genuine leather notebook and continued, "I think we can simplify the case for a moment. Assuming this organization behaves consistently, what they need most and what is most conspicuous is not living supplies, but a ce to live." Liu Jinghui and the others involuntarily turned their attention to Xu Taining. Xu Taining exined, "They couldn¡¯t possibly live in a residential area, and it¡¯s not very likely they¡¯re in the urban district either; otherwise, facial recognition checkpoints and even neighborhood surveince cameras would have picked up something. Therefore, I believe their most likely course of action would be living on the outskirts of the urban area, constructing an estate simr to the one on Qingling Mountain and then residing there collectively. We could start our search by looking for these isted estates." Seeing the spark in everyone¡¯s eyes, Xu Taining poured cold water on their enthusiasm, "There are two issues here. The first is, the location they might have moved to is hard to pin down, they could be around Beijing or might have gone to another city... The second point is, if it¡¯s the small probability event of total casualties, then this method of looking for houses would be ineffective." "With so many people leaving Beijing, they would likely be captured on camera at the checkpoints. So, the likelihood of them dying within Beijing seems higher than the likelihood of them leaving," Liu Jinghui quickly supplemented Xu Taining¡¯s partial and omitted points, and then said, "Total casualties are indeed a low probability event, which I think we can momentarily disregard. It¡¯s rare that an organization loses most of its members yet doesn¡¯t copse. And if it weren¡¯t an organization¡¯s doing, killing dozens of people unscathed would be too difficult." As is widely known, killing is an incredibly physically demanding task. Take, for example, the killing of chickens and pigs. To safely subdue a victim and then kill them requires the cooperation of several people, which is as difficult as ughtering a pig. Even if the victim is as weak as a chick, a certain amount of strength and skill is still necessary. From this perspective, killing over thirty people in one go is almost an insurmountable challenge, not to mention the subsequent cleanup. And using a part of the people to kill another part, as Liu Jinghui had said, would mean the organization is already in copse. Xu Taining tied back to Liu Jinghui¡¯s point and said, "Since both these issues have been avoided, I think we can start the investigation with the buildings. We¡¯ll draw a perimeter, and then every isted building within that area must be checked..." Tao Lu frowned upon hearing this, "The area of Beijing is over 16,000 square kilometers!" "And we have to add some of the surrounding areas as well," Xu Taining added, then continued, "We can exclude the urban area and focus on the remote ces." "Satellite?" "Yes, we can use satellites in conjunction with drones. If any buildings arouse suspicion, then we send people to search." "Would that include farmers¡¯ self-built houses?" "Yes, especially the ones rented out or sold, far from other homes. We must investigate them." Tao Lu¡¯s eyebrows twitched at the thought. This n might not require too many personnel, but it demanded significant political resources. For the Jingji Criminal Police Brigade, gathering people is much easier than securing political resources. "I¡¯ll report this to the Director," Tao Lu replied, unable to decide on his own. Xu Taining then said, "If we agree to this n, I suggest we start in multiple locations simultaneously. Otherwise, if the other side gets wind and flees, it¡¯ll be even more troublesome." Starting at multiple points at once meant a significant increase in the number of personnel needed. Tao Lu felt a headache brewing at the thought. Gathering people now seemed overwhelminglyplicated! Chapter 783 - 726 Continue on the Journey

Chapter 783: Chapter 726 Continue on the Journey

After work. Jiang Yuan invited Xu Taining to his home, along with Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin, Pang Jidong, Mu Zhiyang, and others, for dinner. The head chef was Comrade Jiang Fuzhen, and the assistant chef was a new friend he had recently met, the head chef of a famous restaurant in Beijing. The two had hit it offtely, studying and sharing the differences between web abalone, Australian dried abalone, and South African dried abalone. They had even attempted preparing several pots of Buddha Jumps Over the Wall before turning their interest to winemaking. Today was still Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s practice session, the whole meal utilized beef and mutton from the Jiang Family ranch. Influenced by everyone¡¯s feedback, the sous-chef had the opportunity to fully research various meat products, aiming to find the most suitable dishes for the Jiang Family¡¯s cattle and sheep. As for Xu Taining and the others, they didn¡¯t need to concern themselves with so many details, yet they still thoroughly enjoyed their meal. In the end, Xu Taining even had a bowl of steaming hot noodles, and patting his stomach, he eximed, "That was delicious, the meat from the Jiang Family is truly fragrant." "Meat from the Jiang Family ranch," Jiang Yuan corrected him. Xu Taining just nodded in agreement, continuing to pat his belly and saying, "I was worried thating to Beijing might not agree with me. But with you folks around, and such delicious food, I¡¯m feeling much more confident now." "The people you will bemanding this time are from the Beijing Bureau," Huang Qiangmin teased somewhat. "As long as they followmands, the people from the Beijing Bureau will be even more effective," Xu Taining said with confidence. Although his experience was limited to Shannan Province and its surroundings, directing investigations is, in essence, simr to managingrge-scale military operations. The tasks of issuingmands and facilitatingmunication are indeed important, but the real core is stillmand and control. Arranging the work for a few dozen people is easy, for a few hundred is challenging, and for a few thousand is extremelyplicated. Especially when one does not wish to create too many hierarchical levels, there aren¡¯t many who can aplish this. Even in Beijing, there are a number of senior police officers with this type of experience, but Xu Taining was still very confident. He came to work, not to vie for power or benefits, and whenever a police station encountered arge-scale investigation, especially one requiring Xu Taining¡¯s involvement, the internal consensus was typically already unified. Such a wholehearted dedication to solving the case greatly aids Xu Taining in taking control of the team. As for the senior police officers in Beijing, Xu Taining always believed that the pressures they faced were different from the ones he and his colleagues faced. No one seemed willing to shoulder the kind of pressure Xu Taining dealt with. In fact, Xu Taining had always thought that the senior police officers in the big city were toofortable. Though they constantly bear all kinds of political pressures, who doesn¡¯t? What truly limits amander is resources! Xu Taining hade from a time when even cars were scarce, and he had a very proactive approach towards resource management. There is no foot soldier that artillery can¡¯t overwhelm¡ªif there is, then the artillery isn¡¯t sufficient. Simrly, there is no criminal that investigations can¡¯t find¡ªif there is, then the intensity of the investigation isn¡¯t enough. "Starting tomorrow, we can discuss the specifics of the n and start preparing. The Beijing Bureau should be ustomed to conducting investigations, it¡¯s not a difficult task," said Xu Taining after he spoke, grabbing a piece of meat and savoring it deliciously. "You also need to make contact with Qi Changye," Huang Qiangmin said as he described Qi Changye¡¯s position. Xu Taining nodded, "If he has any requests, we just need to amodate him, but they can¡¯t disrupt our overall n, or else, if the criminal gets away, it¡¯s on them." "Of course," they agreed. "When is heing, this Qi Changye?" "He was supposed to arrive tonight, but if he didn¡¯t show, he should be here by tomorrow morning," Wang Chuanxing, who was responsible for coordination, replied from the side. Xu Taining didn¡¯t seem worried, saying, "Arriving tomorrow morning is fine; he might have been dyed on the road." ... The next day. As expected, Qi Changye arrived at the police station early. He changed out of his pitch-ck clothes, brushed his teeth and rinsed his mouth several times before using iodine and gauze to cover all the abrasions and broken skin, then he waited as the other officers gradually started showing up for work. In the office, a faint scent of sandalwood lingered. Qi Changye knew that this was incense sent by Jiang Yuan¡¯s master, Wu Jun. Qi Changye suddenly found the scent of the incense exceptionally rxing. He simply sat nearby, inhaling the fragrance and resting with closed eyes, until the surrounding noise woke him up. By then, not only was the room full of people, but the scent of sandalwood had been overwhelmed by the stench of secondhand smoke. Luckily, sleeping on the job was extremelymon, so Qi Changye did not feel too embarrassed about it. Click. Qi Changye also lit a cigarette, since the scent of sandalwood was no longer detectable anyway. "Qi, you¡¯re awake. That was quite the trip you had, must¡¯ve been tough," Liu Cheng called out to Qi Changye after hearing some noise. "Yeah, the bridge was out, and it was raining, plus the car got stuck. Leaving early still seemed to waste a bit of time," Qi Changye did not go into detail about the hardships of the journey, fearing his colleagues might use him of overreacting. Liu Cheng clicked his tongue twice, casually remarked, "Sounds quite challenging indeed." "Well... Let me update you on thetest," Qi Changye cleared his throat and continued, "There definitely is secret proselytization happening in Zhanggang Vige. Their method of proselytizing involves selecting an individual and then preaching to them one-on-one, before taking them away. During this process, the family of the proselytized individual receives some money but is not allowed to interfere with the preaching." "They seem to have quite the operation," Liu Jinghui said, a bit surprised, as this appeared to be a tight organization. Qi Changye nodded, "These fringe religious groups are under a lot of pressure to survive and tend to put a lot of thought into these areas. Cui Da and the others have little contact, but even the vigers staying behind don¡¯t interact with these people. They are not looking to expand by focusing on one vige; they might only visit once every two or three years." "Has it been going on for a long time?" Jiang Yuan asked, taken aback. "Almost ten years, I¡¯d say," Qi Changye paused for a moment before adding, "However, these small-scale operations tend to be heavy on personal benefits. The sect hierarchs put in some effort, and they start creating dens of depravity. Then there are those who are keen on making money; those are more troublesome and could easily result in deaths." Having said this, Qi Changye looked toward Xu Taining, "Our National Security Detachment will cooperate fully. If needed, other relevant units will also be involved." "That is good to hear, you¡¯ll be the general reserve team," Xu Taining immediately arranged this without showing any hesitation. He had been part of too many cases in Shannan Province. There wasn¡¯t a type he hadn¡¯t encountered. Although involvement of certain units could be worrisome, as long as they approached it with the right mindset and the spirit of fearlessness and resilience, there was no case that couldn¡¯t be handled. Having just offered cooperation, Qi Changye naturally did not hesitate to agree. Xu Taining then said, "You need to be ready with the vehicles. Ensure at least five people per vehicle. Can you manage that?" "That... is doable," Qi Changye hesitated only a moment. "You¡¯re the general reserve team; you must be ready to move at any moment, be able to deploy as soon as we say go," Xu Taining further instructed and then took out his notebook, starting to assign tasks to the people present. He was not in the habit of holdingrge meetings. Although such practices could be very imposing, they were too inefficient. When everyone was united with the single purpose of solving the case, to the point of calling in Xu Taining, he felt it was his duty not to waste everyone¡¯s time or do anything inefficient, as that would diminish his authority and credibility. Xu Taining preferred arranging tasks on a smaller scale. After all, most people did not need to know others¡¯ tasks nor concern themselves with global analysis. Simplypleting the search of their own assigned area was sufficient. The criminal detectives from Ningtai County were quite ustomed to this. The detectives from Beijing weren¡¯t too used to it but were willing to observe and wait. However, Xu Taining did not give them a chance in this regard. Anyone carrying the title of squad leader was quickly assigned to a certain area and began searching. Liu Cheng was no exception, and soon he received a printed map with a range clearly marked in red. "Well, this is quite professional," Liu Cheng said with augh as he showed the map to his subordinates. "This area is not small," his subordinate looked at the map and then at the mobile phone¡¯s map, saying, "It¡¯s all mountainous terrain. It¡¯s going to be a killer climb." "We have drone support. Just focus on our part," said Liu Cheng, though he too was nervous. It wasn¡¯t easy for drones to scan an area without missing anything, and the biggest fear was a drone falling from the sky. Retrieving it could be extremely tough. Leaving the room, they saw that the garage was already more than half empty, with colleagues heading downstairs to retrieve their vehicles. Liu Cheng shook his head in disbelief. He had rarely participated in a city-wide search. Over ten thousand square kilometers in area, it was not an exaggeration to say that even ten thousand police officers could not cover it thoroughly. Drones would make it somewhat easier, but given the current situation, even drones were probably in short supply. Jiang Yuan, along with Mu Zhiyang and others, set off in a Coaster to their assigned location. He hoped to narrow down the search range, but achieving this would depend on the initial results of the investigation. Chapter 784 - 727: The Trace of Passing Geese

Chapter 784: Chapter 727: The Trace of Passing Geese

Jiang Yuan parked the Coaster in the designated parking lot, got out of the vehicle to stretch his legs, and had someone take out the equipment ahead of time to set up a makeshift stand in front of the car. The location of this parking lot was negotiated by Xu Taining; it had been decided in advance to serve as themand center. Soon, Tao Lu and the others also arrived at the scene, each getting out of their cars and swinging their arms and legs. The older ones couldn¡¯t help butin, "Beijing¡¯s traffic is so good, yet they could find such a remote ce for themand center, what were they thinking?" "It¡¯s mainly for the convenience of flying drones. I hear that the area here is quiterge; they want to build a centralized drone maintenance base, as well as a separate runway for medium torge drones, to fly a second time for easy inspection," someone who knew the situation stepped forward to exin. Right now, it served no purpose to undermine Xu Taining, as he was essentially a mercenary¡ªonce the job was done, he would leave, and if this job waspleted well, it would benefit everyone. The knowledgeable nodded slightly, "Still, it¡¯s quite cautious." The biggest fear in carrying out searches is overlooking something, and the problem is the same with satellites or drones. It¡¯s likeing home and realizing you¡¯ve lost your ID in your pocket; when you go back to look for it, are you afraid that the walk back is too tiring? The main fear is missing something. It¡¯s the same principle with drones; flying them once is easy, but if you overlook something, that¡¯s a grave mistake. Some people asked, "How can a house so big be missed?" It¡¯s like looking for an ID on the sidewalk¡ªa veryrge ID card may just be lying there on the ground. If you¡¯re unlucky and can¡¯t find it, then you just can¡¯t find it. Running the search twice is somewhat better, at least it¡¯s less worrying. To take it a step further, mindset can also affect performance. The capabilities of the criminal investigators were there for all to see; they were not for Xu Taining to judge, nor for him to train. His roley in how to best use his people. Helping to adjust the attitude of those involved in the operation was part of Xu Taining¡¯s job. Often, a single act of diligence or negligence by an ordinary search officer could determine the oue of a search. Although variables cannot bepletely controlled, being able to control some of them is also a sign ofmand abilities. Xu Taining, this time, had brushed up on his energy, applying all he had learned, and even more¡ªsuch as the new technology of drone searches. Although Xu Taining had used drones in the past, it was on a small scale. The vast area and scope of this drone search was new to him, which included a period of learning. And for the Beijing Bureau, they were also observing Xu Taining. The center of power often sees mighty dragons from the local forces, whose capabilities are without question; it¡¯s just a matter of whether they can adapt to this environment. Those who do adapt be powerful dragons and following a term of service with them is all benefits and no downsides. People like Tao Lu shared a simr mentality. Coming to this somewhat abandoned parking lot, a few people initially deducted points from Xu Taining¡¯s score. However, as reports from all directions converged, revealing that search operations had begun in many ces, those people added points back to Xu Taining¡¯s score. Just starting work on time and normally is not very easy to aplish. Take for an example a school¡¯s athletics meeting¡ªit requires a long time to prepare. If there were no rehearsals, or rather, considering how much time is wasted on the first rehearsal, one can estimate how arge event can squeeze time. Thousands of police officers getting their proper equipment, arriving at the correct locations, and searching through the right areas is already a very troublesome matter. Especially thest aspect¡ªyou can draw lines on a map easily, but how do you ensure everyone understands the map, doesn¡¯t misread it, and strictly follows it to conduct their searches? It¡¯s nearly impossible to guarantee that. What you can do is to keep checking repeatedly, and to have some people¡¯s search areas ovep, or mark out areas that are hard to define, or divide them among the stronger team members. In short, making mistakes is inevitable; how to adjust in the shortest time topensate for errors and minimize everyone¡¯s redundant workload is the task of themander. As for the more detailed aspects, many of them required improvement as the work progressed. For instance, how to store the footage shot by drones, how to promptly transfer it intopliant storage devices. Or how to organize personnel specifically for watching and examining the footage¡ªthese were all unprecedented tasks. So, for those like Tao Lu who had experienced massive investigations before, watching the situation gradually unfold without copsing on the spot was already a testament to Xu Taining¡¯s remarkable ability. "Shannan Province is truly a ce of hidden talents." Tao Lu made a few calls, felt somewhat reassured, and then joined Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, smiling as he spoke. Huang Qiangmin chuckled and said, "Shan Nan is a poor province. With not enough resources, they can only rely on people." "Shan Nan isn¡¯t considered poor anymore." Tao Lu added only this before saying, "Director Xu¡¯s performance here is impressive. As long as the search can be carried out, there¡¯s no need to worry for the time being." In reality, this respite might onlyst two or three days, but for someone like Tao Lu, the chief of the criminal police squad, two or three days felt almost like a summer vacation. Huang Qiangmin had served as the head of a criminal police team and understood Tao Lu¡¯s mindset all too well. Taking delight in others¡¯ troubles, he said, "Director Xu¡¯s approach does seek perfection and thoroughness. If today¡¯s investigation is sessful, tomorrow¡¯s will certainly be stricter and broader." Tao Lu was startled and then waved a hand dismissively, "Let the chiefs worry about that; I can¡¯t manage so much." Turning around, Tao Lu looked at the various instruments and equipment cases that Jiang Yuan had packed in the vehicle and asked, "You seem to be over-prepared on your end. It will probably take several more days to confirm the location. Are you that confident in Director Xu?" "These aren¡¯t prepared for them." replied Jiang Yuan calmly. "Not for them?" "Mm-hmm." Jiang Yuan nodded, then spoke with experienced authority, "Such arge-scale search, such a detailed hunt, is unlikely to yield only a single target." Tao Lu was a bit puzzled at first, but after a moment, he was startled, "You think we might find other bodies?" Jiang Yuan spoke as if it were a given, "Not necessarily bodies, but after sweeping such arge area, we are bound to find something." Huang Qiangmin coughed twice on the side, saying, "What Jiang Yuan means is that if there are unexpected findings, we should confirm them as soon as possible. This way, we can grasp the situation at the earliest opportunity and aim to solve the case quickly." "This..." For a moment, Tao Lu didn¡¯t know whether to praise Jiang Yuan for his thorough preparations or to suspect that he had fallen into one of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s traps. Fortunately, with his years of experience as a criminal policeman, Tao Lu quickly adjusted his mindset, chuckling, "It would be good to make some discoveries. However, bodies are not so easy to find." "Right, for now we¡¯ll just deal with the bodies found on-site. In cases of buried bodies, we¡¯ll analyze the footageter," Jiang Yuan replied, clearly having thought it through. Speaking in a softer tone, Tao Lu asked, "Analyze the footage, can we still find buried bodies that way?" "Of course. We¡¯ve done simr work before, with excellent results. There are several approaches, such as using ¡¯Dposition Ind,¡¯ a botanical concept. There¡¯s also drone remote sensing technology. The drones we¡¯re using this time carry certain specific sensors; if I remember correctly, we have drones with biochemical sensors, thermal infrared sensors, and hyperspectral sensors..." Jiang Yuan broadly exined before adding, "Although Director Xu did say that the primary goal this time is to locate the residence, if it proves elusive, we will have no choice but to shift to searching for bodies." Hearing all this, Tao Lu was somewhat stunned, unsure whether to admire the Shannan people for their thorough preparation or for being tooprehensive! Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan¡¯s side also started popping up tasks: Task: Traces Left by Geese Task Content: Crimes cannot vanish without a trace; nor can bodies be easily buried. Find the hidden bodies, deliver justice for them and bring peace to their families. Task Progress: (0/X) Chapter 785 - 728 +1

Chapter 785: Chapter 728 +1

Squeak. A white medium-sized van pulled into the parking lot, emitting an awkward braking noise. Tao Lu looked up for a moment but didn¡¯t pay it further attention. Judging by the time, it could very well be a food delivery truck or something of the sort. At that thought, Tao Lu felt a bit peckish, but not in a rush, for he was middle-aged, belonging to that ancient age where not eating was considered healthier¡ªhe didn¡¯t ce much importance on food. Several police officers approached to help with the unloading, soon starting to shout and exim. Then, Tao Lu saw boxes of beautifully packaged drones being piled up in the parking area. The people from the van, wielding knives, started to open each drone box on the spot, taking out the expensive drones inside and immediately assembling them for testing. Some waiting officers had already taken out their cellphones, stepping forward to scan and im one. Tao Lu¡¯s eyelids started to twitch wildly. A simple deduction: beautiful dronese at a handsome price, government procurement is costly, sudden procurement is costly, and amodating service means a hefty price... once the packaging is cut open, returning them bes difficult; it¡¯s even harder after they¡¯ve been used... "Are these drones for investigation purposes? Weren¡¯t there enough of the old ones?" Tao Lu walked over and asked one of the responsible officers. "It¡¯s a new model that was ordered in advance and has just arrived," one of the technicians assisting nearby immediately stepped forward to report. At this point, the director couldn¡¯t help but walk over and, after a nce, furrowed his brow heavily. Tao Lu quickly asked, "These must be the drones Xu Taining wanted, did he act first and report after?" He nced at Jiang Yuan, thinking: If all else fails, for Jiang Yuan¡¯s sake, I might put in a good word for this guy; the local cadres do tend to be a bit wild... "They were reported," the director answered slowly, his tone grave: "And that¡¯s what¡¯s doubly upsetting. They say it¡¯s equipped with some advanced sensors, outrageously expensive." Tao Lu thought for a moment before realizing andughing, "On the bright side, these are considered durable goods; they can be used for quite a long time." "Are we going to search for corpses in the suburbs every day? What will the other departments think of us?" "If we could find them every day, at first they might envy us, but then they might start fearing us," Tao Lu replied. The director couldn¡¯t help but revel in the thought, "Even when ying mahjong, they¡¯d have to let me win." Tao Lu, thinking of something, also chuckled twice before saying, "If only finding corpses were that easy, I¡¯d say it¡¯s actually a good oue if we manage to find one after all this fuss." Fruitless searches were the result that leaders least wanted to ept. It¡¯s not like the usual progress of cases; as long as everything is done ording to thew, even if the case remains unsolved, it¡¯s just a business failure. But pushing for arge-scale search, especially on the scale of thousands of people like this, even the Beijing Bureau would need someone to take responsibility. If something is found, it can be seen as bravely taking on a major responsibility; if nothing is found, even if it doesn¡¯t count as a waste of resources and effort, it¡¯s still considered a misjudgment. The director nced unnaturally in the direction where Huang Qiangmin was standing and said, "You all be careful too. Our budget for the year is running low. We can¡¯t spend all the funds on criminal investigation..." Tao Luughed awkwardly, "It won¡¯te to that, surely..." In a sub-bureau, not to mention the dozen or so criminal investigation units, even though the Zhengguang Bureau operates on a massive annual expenditure of 2.2 billion, the criminal investigation brigade could only carve out a small portion of it. However, while everyone said so verbally, in reality, they didn¡¯t expect the search to actually turn up several bodies. Finding corpses isn¡¯t that easy. Not to mention whether there might be any bodies buried in deste ces, even if there actually were bodies buried, would they really use drones and legal botany to locate them? The difficulty of this case was so high that Tao Lu and others, who had experience as criminal police officers, felt it was a bit like a fantasy. As Tao Lu was thinking this, he looked up and saw Jiang Yuan walking over. "Director Chu, Tao," Jiang Yuan greeted, "On plot Y116, a body has been confirmed." "Hm?" Tao Lu didn¡¯t react immediately. It was the Director who quickly asked, "Under what circumstances was it discovered? Are there police officers at the scene?" "Yes. The scene has been secured," Jiang Yuan reassured the Director of his concern before continuing, "The body was disposed of in the bushes and is highly dposed. In addition, the body was dismembered, separated into three parts. The torso was packed in a rice sack, the limbs were wrapped in a bedsheet and then ced in a snake skin bag, and the skull shows signs of charring and was put into a stic bag." Without a doubt, this was a murder case, and a particrly heinous one at that. The Director¡¯s face instantly fell. Fighting on two fronts? It¡¯s not feasible for the criminal police brigade to be under too much pressure either. With so many resources just invested in the screening work, it would be most correct for the criminal police brigade not to be distracted by other concerns. Even Jiang Yuan... should be focused on the screening. Well... the discovery of the body could be considered a result of the screening focus. In an instant, many thoughts shed through Director Chu¡¯s mind, as if a current had passed through his heart. "Should I go conduct the crime scene investigation first and inform here once there are results?" Jiang Yuan was stationed in the parking lot precisely to support the scene at the first opportunity. Although this was a case of body disposal from long ago, the initial scene, even if just the disposal site, could provide a wealth of information. For the police, what they actually needed wasn¡¯tprehensive information; even one-sided, biased information would suffice, as long as it could lead to a person, or even just connect to some clues, the officers would be very satisfied. Despite their concerns, Director Chu and Tao Lu still responded to Jiang Yuan immediately, arranging for additional personnel to apany him while setting off together towards the body dumping site. For Zhengguang Bureau, no matter the reason the body was found, it was first and foremost a brand-new murder case, or as the saying goes, a "must-solve" kind of murder case. The scene. Underneath the birch trees. All three parts of the body were covered under the leaves, and the bags wrapping the body were obviously found in haste, using whatever was avable. From a distance, although the body was already dposed, due to its packaging, the leaked pollutants weren¡¯t substantial, and the area within sight remained rather clean, ignoring the sense of smell. "Were there leaves covering it before? How was it found?" Tao, following behind Jiang Yuan, was feeling uneasy. "There are a lot of non-native species among the nts growing around here, so I took a close look at the videos," Jiang Yuan exined simply, but in fact, he had now achieved level 4 in forensic botany plus one more. However, this meant that the crime scene investigation had to rely on his own skills, maintaining a level 5 to proceed. Tao Lu and the others, not quite understanding but acknowledging the point, didn¡¯t ask any further questions. Jiang Yuan waited for a moment, put on his gear neatly, and as Tao and the others had no more questions, he entered the scene to begin his investigation. A gust of wind blew. It was somewhat chilly. Chapter 786 - 729: Arriving Shortly

Chapter 786: Chapter 729: Arriving Shortly

Liu Jinghui rushed out of the car, took a couple of strides to gain momentum, then scaled the slope with the help of his waist, and within a few steps, he clung to a tree as thick as Xiao Ming¡¯s thigh. Leaning forward, he could now see the body dumping site. The crime scene was very small, a slope formed by a clump of trees and bushes, with three bundles of dismembered body parts spread over an area of about ten square meters. There was also nowhere easy to stand around it. Jiang Yuan and another scene investigator were both tied with safety ropes and had been lowered from a higher part of the slope. Of course, the terrain was not so treacherous, but this was also for safety considerations¡ªto prevent someone from falling andnding directly onto the corpses. Director Chu and Tao Lu, among others, also followed in their cars but did not climb up. They just stood down in a rtively t area at the bottom. "We can¡¯t take this case lightly. We still need to establish a special task force for it. If necessary, we could ask the municipal bureau to coordinate and set up a task force in its name," Director Chu said as he looked up at the thicket, frowning deeply. Tao Lu hurriedly reassured him, saying, "It won¡¯te to that. Otherwise, I¡¯ll transfer a brigade to set up the framework of the task force first." "But just setting up the framework won¡¯t do. We cannot dy the newly emerging murder cases for the sake of solving umted cases. It¡¯s just the start of the investigation, and we can¡¯t just stop the investigation now..." Director Chu would not normally pay such close attention to murder cases, but this time, he had no choice. After thinking it over, he added, "Both sides are of utmost importance. We do need to focus on the Zhang Lizhen case, but for the new murder cases, you can bring a brigade over if you like. But just setting up the framework is useless. You need to have the mindset of solving the case." "We definitely hope to solve the case," Tao Lu stated, then quickly admitted his apprehension, saying, "Dismemberment cases are always moreplex, and the bodies here are also highly dposed. The difficulty of solving this case is not less than the Zhang Lizhen case. Normally, it might require several brigades working together. The main issue is that now all technical resources are biased towards the investigation, so it¡¯s not very realistic to predict how long it will take to solve the case." "This is a homicide case..." Director Chu was reluctant to procrastinate, and he expressed his unease, "Today is just the first day of the investigation. If more bodies appearter on, we might need to split our forces..." Tao Lu¡¯s face also changed slightly. He naturally had thought of such a possibility but did not like to dwell on it. For his criminal investigation brigade, handling two or three homicide cases at the same time was actually no problem. During busy periods, by slightly managing priorities, most murder cases do not require many people. So, whether it is difficult or not really depends on the case itself. Like now, the entire district¡¯s manpower, thousands of people, are scouring the forest all over the city for the investigation, which leaves very limited resources for a second case. If the second case was simply a crime of passion, it would be simple. In theory, a few officers could just follow the trail and get results. What requires the most support is the people who prepare the case files, conduct interrogations, and organize the evidence and materials. A full-strength brigade couldb through the case in a few days. But this case involves dismemberment, and theplexity changes instantly. Which kind-hearted person would dismember a corpse? Once dismembered, it means the anti-forensics radar is activated. There¡¯s no difference in intention, just in capability. Even an ordinary person, if they process the body carefully, dismember it properly, and then throw it to such a remote ce, just a bit of luck and several weeks or months could pass by, the body would be heavily dposed¡ªif luck is even better and it reaches skeletonization, they might just get away with it. But no matter what, ording to the theory of the golden 24, 48, 72 hours, at this time we dare not blindly guess that the killer is an idiot. Thinking this way, in the end, it¡¯s very easy to be blindsided ourselves. So, facing a dismemberment case, it makes sense to throw two or three brigades into it right away, with severalboratories ready to work overtime day and night. And all these were lessons learned from countless predecessors¡¯ blood and tears. For Tao Lu to break these principles, it wasn¡¯t just courage that he needed, but also the consideration of whether it was worth it and how he could manage the aftermath. "If it doesn¡¯t work, then we¡¯ll borrow troops," suggested the Director, his thoughts more far-reaching than Tao Lu¡¯s, much like at the beginning. This was only the first day of the investigation, and they were already short-staffed and considering asking for assistance. It meant that there would definitely not be enough manpower during the investigation process. Instead of getting to a point where they were desperate and at the mercy of others, it would be better to raise the issue now and retain some leeway. However, since Tao Lu was the one who had to execute the n, the Director couldn¡¯t just start by saying he was inadequate, so he gave Tao Lu the right to agree. Tao Lu sighed, "In that case... I¡¯ll discuss it with Jiang Yuan as well." The more strained the manpower, the more dependent they became on Jiang Yuan; thus, Tao Lu could make use of him to stall a little longer. Director Chu hummed in agreement, "Jiang Yuan will certainly be a bit more confident. It¡¯s good for a soldier on the front lines to be brave and fearless. When we are holding down the rear, we need to protect the soldiers at the front as well as provide as many reinforcements and support as possible." Tao Lu nodded gently like an adorable sika deer, almost as if he were using the antlers on his head to nuzzle the Director. No one gets their official position by picking it up off the ground! At the tform scene. Jiang Yuan hadpleted the initial survey and photography and began to move the body piece by piece, under the recording of the camera. Liu Jinghui came up to assist and asked Jiang Yuan, "Can you make out anything?" "The victim seems to be female. Young. There are signs of cutting and burning on the face, which suggests the victim and the perpetrator likely knew each other and had an emotional connection. Moreover, the perpetrator has strong psychological quality, acts cautiously. Just now, I noticed that the limbs were wrapped in newspapers, covered by a sheet on the outside, and finally enclosed in a snakeskin bag ¨C the wrapping was very tight, hardly anything would have leaked during transport..." Jiang Yuan exined. Liu Jinghui paused, then asked, "What was the transportation?" "Probably a motorcycle," Jiang Yuan had already inspected the traces underneath the body earlier and found the tire marks of a motorcycle ¨C not an easy find. After several rainfalls, only the tire prints on the slope had been preserved. It would require at least a Level 3 crime scene investigator to detect and confirm such traces. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Pretty much what I was thinking... But driving a motorbike on such mountain roads is not easy; the driver must be very skilled in this kind of mountain driving, likely a local resident, right?" "That¡¯s possible," Jiang Yuan recalled the tire marks he had seen, "Judging by the wear and type of tire, it seems to be a regr motorcycle, not meant for mountains, but likely with a good amount of horsepower." He was certified in Level 3 vehicle trace identification; though the tire marks weren¡¯t fresh, they were still usable. "Another point, not many households have newspapers these days," Liu Jinghui flipped through one, adding, "When we get back, we should carefully extract this newspaper and see if it has any information..." As Liu Jinghui spoke, Mu Zhiyang below was swiftly taking notes. "Let¡¯s transport the body back first," Jiang Yuan got up and looked around, "I¡¯ll follow shortly." Chapter 787 - 730 Overthrow

Chapter 787: Chapter 730 Overthrow

The corpse had to be transported down from the hillside, which would take some time. Fortunately, the officers from Zhengguang Bureau were experienced and quickly dispatched people to take over the respective tasks. Amid the hustle and bustle, Xu Taining, dressed in a white shirt, also came by car to take a look. "Can the cases bebined?" Xu Taining stopped Jiang Yuan at the foot of the slope and asked as soon as they met. His primary objective and task were still the inspection work at hand. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "There¡¯s no reason tobine the cases for now." "Then this is an unrted, isted incident?" Xu Taining said. Jiang Yuan replied, "The time of death was within thest three months, quite possibly only seventy or so days ago, because the killer wrapped the body in a unique way, I haven¡¯t unwrapped and inspected the body parts carefully. Follow-up reports from the autopsy may not be avable until tomorrow or the day after." Liu Jinghui, seeing Xu Taining, also came over to join the conversation, "Auditing the parts of three wrapped corpses must be more troublesome than dealing with a whole body, right?" "Definitely, especially if the level of dposition is high. If the autopsy doesn¡¯t yield enough information, we may even have to boil the remains to examine the bones." Jiang Yuan briefly exined. Everyone present was part of the high-end police force, and forensic anthropology was often encountered, so a mention was enough to understand theplexity and difficulty involved. Speaking of which, the corpse of Zhang Lizhen was also highly dposed, and the conditions weren¡¯t much better than here... Xu Taining¡¯s thought process, however, was different from that of an ordinary police officer. After hearing what Jiang Yuan said, he first pondered and then said, "If this isn¡¯t a serial case rted to the Zhang Lizhen case, Jiang Yuan, you should be able to resolve it quickly." "Ah... That¡¯s hard to tell..." Jiang Yuan was fairly confident, but as of now, he had not gathered sufficient evidence and clues. Xu Taining, however, just waved his hand, "I haven¡¯t seen youck confidence like this when you dealt with simr cases before. On the contrary, several challenging cases were ready for review, and you solved them directly." Jiang Yuan felt that he could hear resentment in Xu Taining¡¯s tone! Indeed, there were two or three, maybe even four times before, when Xu Taining had alreadye over, even formed his team, prepared to conduct inspections, only for Jiang Yuan to solve the cases through technical investigative methods, saving the local police departments a significant amount of budget. Xu Taining obviously wouldn¡¯t me Jiang Yuan... right? Regardless, it was clear that Xu Taining held Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving abilities and style in high regard. From Xu Taining¡¯s perspective, when a department or a city decides to resort to inspections, especially when they¡¯re about to ask him, Xu Taining, to lead the inspection, it¡¯s either a desperatest resort or a choice made after the case really can¡¯t proceed any further. Such cases, irrespective of whether the investigating officers are intelligent or not, are typically approached with exhaustive methods. To be honest, even with inspections, Xu Taining doesn¡¯t always get the answers. He is just a senior chief with a rtively high sess rate. Yet Jiang Yuan, able to solve cases single-handedly under these circumstances and save a budget from plunging off a cliff, not just once or twice, made Xu Taining¡¯s appreciation of Jiang Yuan rise ordingly. If it weren¡¯t for this recognition, how could Jiang Yuan summon him, a Level 6 senior chief from Shannan Province who could lie low without anyone being able to push him to act? Seeing Jiang Yuan listening, Xu Taining used a discerning, maic voicemon for coaxing his subordinates, "What¡¯s the likelihood of two difficult cases urring at the same time? Besides, this killer is unlucky enough as it is, having the body discovered by us without any anticipation, which means even if he had a n, it was disrupted. No matter how you look at it, this case shouldn¡¯t be a difficult one for you." Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly, "Whether a case is difficult sometimes has to do with luck." "We now have thousands working on the inspection, leaving it to chance? Even if it¡¯s about luck, we¡¯re the ones winning," Xu Taining was exceedingly confident during the inspectionmand. As colleagues, and more importantly as coborators, Xu Taining¡¯s strong intent made Jiang Yuan take the matter seriously, thinking with a slight frown. Liu Jinghui interjected from the side, "Xu is worried that this case will affect the inspection, right?" "It will definitely impact it, it¡¯s just a matter of time," Xu Taining said with experience, "During the inspection, it¡¯s highly likely that other cases will be uncovered. Normal minor cases are one thing, but a homicide is quite troubling, especially with a dismemberment case like this. If you don¡¯t follow up, you fear missing a good lead, losing a current homicide case, akin to picking corn and losing the cob. But if you do follow up, unless you quickly catch the killer, the longer it drags on, the more awkward it bes." Xu Taining has done many inspections and didn¡¯t need to wait until theter stages to guess the thoughts of the Criminal Police Brigade and Zhengguang Bureau. Xu Taining took out a cigarette but didn¡¯t smoke it, simply tapping it against the cigarette box before adding, "If we can find a strong lead, showing Zhengguang Bureau that there¡¯s hope to break the case, they will consider it calmly. But, it¡¯d better be quick, today would be ideal. By tomorrow, the Zhengguang Bureau will likely try to marshal manpower. The teams are already spread out, and to regroup now would waste time and resources." The reasons Xu Taining gave were sufficient, and with that, Jiang Yuan began to concentrate and think. Liu Jinghui did the same. The three of them stood under a pine tree at the foot of the hill, heads bowed, indifferent to the gazes of others. Odd behavior among detectives wasn¡¯t rare, especially during the investigation phase of major cases. Many were in a fragile state both psychologically and emotionally, easily developing strange habits and behaviors. Seeing this, Mu Zhiyang, without thinking, positioned himself slightly in front of the three, staring straight ahead, effectively blocking any inquisitive onlookers. After a long while, Liu Jinghui looked up and said, "First of all, the newspaper is a good entry point. Newspaper cirction is very low now, hardly any are sold in the market, and the subscribers are fixed. Although we don¡¯t know the specific circumstances of how the murderer got the newspaper, there should be a potential to trace it." "Maybe," Jiang Yuan was not optimistic and said tly, "The murderer wrapped the body very thoroughly, not like someone who would make such a basic mistake." "If you look at it from this angle, the woven bag, the rice bag, and the stic bag the murderer used are all hard to trace as evidence," Liu Jinghui said. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, thought for a moment, then added, "We still haven¡¯t confirmed the source of the body. If we can confirm it, there might be a breakthrough." "What about a direct approach? Do you have any straightforward solutions?" Xu Taining believed that Jiang Yuan could identify the source of the body. Apart from anything else, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Skull Restoration Skill was a trump card for confirming the source of the body. However, he was most concerned about time, which directly opposed this method. "Actually, we don¡¯t need to think of the murderer as being very meticulous." Liu Jinghui used Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment to reframe the exnation: "The murderer wrapped the body very carefully, maybe it¡¯s just a habit he has, or perhaps it¡¯s his life and work experience. For example, having been a courier, packer, supermarket stocker, or something like a doctor or nurse. Judging from the way the murderer handled the body, I tend to think he acted on instinct." Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan, noticed he didn¡¯t mind his conclusions being overturned, and continued, "Using woven bags, rice bags, and stic bags to contain the body indicates the murderer didn¡¯t prepare much. The reason to kill might have been a crime of passion or an idental killing. But to escape punishment, he resorted to dismemberment. These items were likely found at home, I presume." Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining both nodded. Rice bags, woven bags, andrge stic bags, all found at home, were few of the suitable options for concealing dismembered body parts. This was a reasonable exnation. Liu Jinghui said, "This suggests one thing, the murderer has the conditions to live alone, probably in an independent residence, which to arge extent rules out young people living in dorms or in shared houses." Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining nodded again. Liu Jinghui: "The murderer is most likely male, otherwise dismembering and dumping the body would be too difficult. However, the fact that he didn¡¯t bury the body but covered it with leaves and branches also shows he was unprepared, one of the reasons I said he wasn¡¯t meticulous. Throwing far and burying close is a characteristic of many murderers. It¡¯s also a rather instinctual choice. Considering the crime scene, actually burying is better than throwing, throwing and burying is even better." Xu Taining said, "Maybe he ran out of strength. Murdering, dismembering, and then transporting the body here¡ªit¡¯s tough enough to climb this slope..." "I agree." Jiang Yuan suddenly interrupted Xu Taining and said, "It took several of us to carry the corpse just now, even though it was to ensure its integrity, but regardless of how the murderer abandoned the body, he must have been extremely tired." Liu Jinghui nodded, "Right, unless it was done by multiple people, even someone with great strength would get tired carrying a body. Look at where he parked the motorcycle, he basically just dumped it within ten meters or so on this side." "With such physical exhaustion, did he immediately ride away after discarding the body? Could he keep up the strength? Even if he rode away, it wouldn¡¯t be easy to go all the way back on such a poor mountain road in one breath," said Jiang Yuan, standing up and returning to where the body had been abandoned. After ncing around, Jiang Yuan activated the Crime Scene Reconstruction (Temporary +1) skill with Level 6 credentials and began to pace counterclockwise. The scene had been isted for too long, and the ground, littered with leaves and organic matter, bore no footprints or any other marks. As he inspected his surroundings, Jiang Yuan made a full circle, found nothing, and simply followed the path downhill at a leisurely pace. Liu Jinghui and Xu Taining began to grasp what he was doing and hurriedly followed. Liu Jinghui murmured, "It rained a while ago. We might not find any tracks." "This ce is rarely visited. Maybe there will be motorcycle tracks left," said Jiang Yuan, walking briskly. There was only one narrow path, no wider than two meters, leading up and down the mountain¡ªit was the only way through. Even if the murderer¡¯s motorcycle was nimble, it couldn¡¯t possibly squeeze through the forest and underbrush. Jiang Yuan walked briskly for about two hundred meters before he saw another rtively t patch of ground ahead. Arge cedar tree with dense foliage took a dominant position, with several tree root stumps beneath it bearing witness to their unfair treatment. Jiang Yuan immediately walked over and easily found familiar tire tracks next to the tree root stumps. Equally conspicuous were the pile of cigarette butts in front of the stumps. "Bring more evidence bags," called Jiang Yuan, then set up the perimeter tape himself. He took out spare evidence bags and tweezers from his pocket and began to collect the cigarette butts one by one, cing each butt into a separate evidence bag. These cigarette butts could have been left by others who visited the hill, but if the murderer smoked, then his life was essentially in the hands of nicotine and Jiang Yuan. Chapter 788 - 731 Locking

Chapter 788: Chapter 731 Locking

Wang Chuanxing ran up the mountain and, after taking two boxes from the assembly point, he quickly made his way back down. Then, two other police officers ran up, each grabbing an investigation box and heading down as well. Tao Lu, who was discussing manpower allocation with the director, couldn¡¯t help but stop talking when he saw people continuouslying up to collect things. He abruptly called out to one of them, asking, "What are you all doing?" "The team lead, Jiang Yuan, found an area down below that is suspected to be a resting ce used by the murderer. He asked us to bring down investigation equipment to try to sweep for some evidence," exined Shen Yaowei, who was stopped. He made things very clear in just a few sentences. Tao Lu, who had already been discussing manpower issues with Director Chu, exchanged a nce with him, then said hurriedly, "Let¡¯s go together." "Yes," Shen Yaowei answered. He called over a young officer to take his investigation box down first and then led Director Chu and Tao Lu, along with the others, downward. The 200-plus-meter mountain path wasn¡¯t far to walk, but to Director Chu and Tao Lu, it felt like a long distance. That¡¯s because what Shen Yaowei said was too clear, filling their hearts with anticipation. At the same time, they feared their anticipation might be misced. After all, it hadn¡¯t been very long since the dismemberment case began. To say there was a major breakthrough already didn¡¯t seem realistic. For the same reason, they didn¡¯t feel it would be appropriate to ask again, as it could show ack ofmon sense. This is akin to a factory leader asking a worker, "I heard you moved 800,000 bricks by yourself today?" No one would seriously entertain such a statement. It was only because of their deep experience andposure that they refrained from constantly pressing for answers. At therge camphor tree. More than a dozen police officers had turned this area into a bustling scene. There were those taking photographs, filming, collecting soil samples, climbing the slope to pick up trash, and kneeling to collect trace evidence¡ªpeople of all kinds were there. Jiang Yuan was also half-kneeling in front of a tree stump, looking down as he collected physical evidence. Liu Jinghui had climbed up onto the tree branch, about three or four meters off the ground, surveying the distance. The only somewhat normal one was Xu Taining, who was on his phone, continuously making calls. "What¡¯s the situation now?" Tao Lu and the others hadn¡¯t entered the cordoned-off area yet and shouted from a distance. "Just a moment, I¡¯ll be right there," Jiang Yuan looked up, but decided to first ce the item he had in the tweezers into an evidence bag and seal it before getting up anding over. "Tao, you¡¯ve alsoe down." Tao Lu asked, "Did you find something?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan briefly recounted the discussion they had previously. "The tire tracks of the motorcycle found here can be basically determined to be the same as those found at the body dump site. Based on how deep the tracks are, we can infer that the murderer stopped here to rest after dumping the body." The body dump site was a wild slope made up of secondary forest and shrubbery, where under normal circumstances, there would be no need for anyone to stop and stay. Hence, the motorcycle tracks found on the side of the slope were highly likely to have been left by the killer. The same mode of transportation naturally linked the two sites. Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but nod, a smile appearing on his face, "So, you found the killer¡¯s traces here?" "The killer clearly let his guard down here. We have already collected dozens of cigarette butts, hoping some might belong to the killer. Additionally, down in the grass, we found a cigarette box, tissues, stic bags, a mineral water bottle, and other trash that we¡¯ll take back to theb to see what clues we can find," Jiang Yuan stated. Taking into ount the authority of the branch chief, he specially exined, "Even if the killer can¡¯t be identified for the time being, we have assumed that the killer likely lives nearby and is familiar with the area. Therefore, finding these people who frequentlye to the mountains may also lead us to some clues." Listening, Tao Lu nodded; it was an obvious fact with a decent probability. The simplest method for a policeman could be to take the statements of all these people¡ªprobably totaling no more than twenty to thirty individuals. Then have them list everyone they know whoes, or mighte to the mountain. Cross-referencing that information to identify individuals with motorcycles or who often ride motorcycles... Since these are people who know each other or are rtively familiar, a few phone calls and home visits would likely narrow down the list significantly. Given that the case might involve a crime of passion, an idental killing or involuntary manughter¡ªowing to the use of packaging materials, the murderer and the victim could also most likely have a personal acquaintance¡ªit seemed reasonably straightforward to develop a pool of suspects. In addition, since there are traces of a motorcycle, identifying the owner basically means identifying the murderer. Plus, there may be reports of missing persons and so on, this case can now be said to be seeing the first light of dawn. Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh of relief and, when he looked at Director Chu, an uncontroble smile appeared on his face, "With this, the dismemberment case seems to be getting some direction." "Indeed," Director Chu was generous with his smile. This incidental dismemberment case, if solved, would have no impact on his status, but if unsolved, it would be a huge blow to his personal prestige and the overall budget. The slogan "Every murder case must be solved," when analyzed with the cost-output method, is a pure loss, but the proposal of this slogan is a great protection for the ordinary citizens under Chinese society. It is a great restraint on the unlimited expansion of upper-level power. Its virtue is immeasurable. Turning his head, Director Chu looked at Jiang Yuan, almost wishing he could feed him deer blood as a tonic, first rolling out the routine praise, then asking, "I saw you inspecting that stump earlier, was there something on it?" "Someone wiped their booger on it, and there¡¯s what appears to be spit, I guess," Jiang Yuan said nonchntly, "The snot and spit on the ground have basically dposed, but the ones on the stump have retained some form." "Hmm... it¡¯s been hard work." Director Chu, the head of the Zhengguang Bureau, hadn¡¯t touched base with the grassroots level in a while. "I¡¯ll continue with the inspection, we need to get this area cleaned up quickly before it gets dark," said Jiang Yuan to Director Chu and Tao. "Go on with your work. Don¡¯t overdo it," Director Chu quickly said before watching Jiang Yuan kneel back down at the stump without hesitation, feeling somewhat touched. Jiang Yuan¡¯s movements were far from elegant; even in the wilderness, suchmonly used resting spots could only appear filthy. Yet Jiang Yuan just knelt there, clearly so strong that even the criminal police of the Zhengguang Bureau had to look up to him, still unabashedly cleaning up snot and saliva that might have umted at some unknown time... "This kid needs some extra hands, maybe a promotion or something," Director Chu couldn¡¯t help but mutter. Tao Lu was startled and quickly said, "Jiang Yuan is assigned to Ningtai County." "Then are you willing to let him go back to Ningtai County? Besides, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s demands are too harsh, we can¡¯t just let him ughter us like this," Director Chu said, his back teeth clenching when he mentioned Huang Qiangmin. He hadn¡¯t brought this up before because he saw benefits in temporary transfers. Zhengguang Bureau, like other police bureaus at various levels, had a history of borrowing manpower and was experienced in it. Borrowed people are best used in the first few years; whether they like it or not. Neers try to prove themselves, or to fit into the team, or in hope of the slim chance of staying on, or even possibly out of boredom, they tend to put in the effort at the beginning. But as time passes, people¡¯s inertia sets in, and only a few can break through this emotion. Thus, borrowed people, like someone else¡¯s wife, are good only for temporary use; it is futile to expect a long-termmitment. But this time, Director Chu felt an unprecedented stir. Director Chu instinctively felt that he could not lose Jiang Yuan, and Zhengguang Bureau couldn¡¯t afford to be without him either! Tao Lu also thought that buying was better than renting, frowned, and said, "Then I¡¯ll think of a way and talk to Jiang Yuanter. The main issue is he¡¯s a Ningtai local, and his family is wealthy..." As Tao Lu pointed out the difficulty, chatting idly for a moment, Xu Taining received a phone call and came over. "We¡¯ve had a breakthrough; the burned cigarette butts sent down earlier for a rapid DNA test have matched someone in the database," Xu Taining reported: "Pei Yongsi, living in a new vige 3 kilometers away, local resident, detained twice by public security. His wife has been missing for two months, and he reported it two days after the disappearance, but she hasn¡¯t been found..." "Pei Yongsi has experience as a chef, and they owned a flower shop in the city. Contact with the shop staff revealed that Pei Yongsi¡¯s daily responsibilities included packaging flower boxes and delivering them to homes..." "Pei Yongsi has a car registered under his name, as well as a motorcycle." The descriptions by Xu Taining matched their earlier conjectures one by one. At this point, everyone was excited, and Xu Taining silently took a step back, already considering the next steps for broadening the search. Chapter 789 - 732: Steadfast Heart

Chapter 789: Chapter 732: Steadfast Heart

Evening. Xu Taining, wrapped in a quilt, had a good night¡¯s sleep in the hotel. In that sleep, Xu Taining even found a hint of religious feeling¡ªsince he started undertaking investigations, sleep during these periods had be a profound mystery. What was profound wasn¡¯t how long one slept, but whether one slept at all. Think about it, when a unit has invested the next two or three years¡¯ budget into something, how could the leaders sleep soundly? If leaders can¡¯t sleep, can the senior police officers in charge of the investigations just say "there¡¯s nothing of concern here" and hide away in a hotel for a good snore? This time, Xu Taining could, because an incidental dissection case encountered along the investigation route had been smoothly concluded, eliminating most of his anxieties. It¡¯s not that the investigation was deemed valuable because it resolved a homicide, or that the pressure of the investigation was alleviated, or that the series of tasks rted to the investigation became any less onerous¡ªthough all these were indeed true¡ªbut more importantly, everyone¡¯s spirit was bolstered. An unsolved decapitation case, which no one had to investigate, where the source of the corpse had yet to be determined, without any surveince footage, needing no door-to-door inquiries, was cracked in just a short day. Such a bizarre incident made everyone¡¯s concerns about the investigation seem less grounded in reality. The next morning. Xu Taining returned to the scene refreshed and clear-headed. In the sky, drones continued to dance; on the ground, pickups and off-road vehicles crawled; in the thickets, personnel worked like busy bees in difficult conditions. Xu Taining enjoyed setting down his binocrs and fiercely bit into a croissant next to him, saying, "This is Beijing." His subordinates who hade with him smiled knowingly and quickly devoured their bacon, cheese, and egg sandwiches. Eating such a Western breakfast was a first in his ten-year career of investigation. It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t afford it, but whenever arge-scale investigation was organized, with Western-style breakfast of the same caloric content costing three to five times more than Chinese-style breakfast, dispensing it to everyone just once would cost so much, so in fact, they couldn¡¯t afford it. But in Beijing, such expenses didn¡¯t matter to Zhengguang Bureau; they provided a variety of food at once. Besides that, all sorts of special vehicles were deployed in turns, dazzling Xu Taining who came from a smaller ce. In past investigations, it¡¯s not that there were no special vehicles. Changyang City¡¯s service vehicles weren¡¯t necessarily fewer than Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s, but those vehicles were poorly maintained, old, and prone to malfunctioning, especially on rural routes like this one; when they broke down, there probably wouldn¡¯t be enough tow trucks avable, which was hardly helpful for the work itself. Ultimately, it was about being unable to afford them. Even in ces a little smaller, without reaching the level of Ningtai County, organizing arge-scale search in Qinghe City meant that Qinghe City Bureau had to be frugal with fuel. An average of 15 liters of fuel per hundred cars meant driving 100 cars a kilometer would require 15 liters, and driving 1000 cars a kilometer would consume 150 liters. With these figures, just hearing the sound of vehicles would make a city bureau director frown. The Beijing Division didn¡¯t have these concerns, or at least Xu Taining didn¡¯t see Director Chu showing any pained expressions. People from the administrative department also didn¡¯t seem to show that county-level thriftiness, and Xu Taining wasn¡¯t exactly a senior police officer considerate of others... "Let¡¯s do a shift check in the afternoon, run through the graphics starting from yesterday once more. Is the shift n ready?" Xu Taining wasn¡¯t trying to be wasteful, he simply wanted to be more meticulous. Using drones for a little over a day, if the investigation personnel could cover seventy to eighty percent of the area, it was remarkable. The terrain structure of the Jingji region was still veryplex. Not to mention the ins, the mountainous areas presented peaks from above, valleys and side peaks from the side, and the trees in the valleys were often especially lush, requiring a close flyby to confirm the presence of any buildings. What appears as ridges from the front transforms into peaks from the side. Such a search was like looking for a money tree in a city of steel and concrete; if you¡¯re lucky, one nce and you might spot it, but if luck wasn¡¯t on your side, you¡¯d have to circle around building by building, checking each perspective, because who knows, maybe the money tree is hidden on a balcony or even on an air conditioner unit. Xu Taining¡¯s approach was to first search therger areas, that is, regions with rtively essible transportation. His rationale was that even unconventional religious groups needed transportation, especially those that engage in nefarious activities. Whether it be the pursuit of food, clothing, pleasure, or behavior, transportation was crucial. Without going into details, even when going out to pick up a delivery, there should be a delivery spot within an hour or two of travel distance, right? Xu Taining hoped to meticulously search these broad areas. If they still couldn¡¯t find anything, then they would change their approach and start searching more remote locations. And by that time, what might also need to be considered is a shift in the overall approach. "Details for the substitution n haven¡¯t been worked out yet," said a subordinate quietly. "Work on it now," Xu Taining wasn¡¯t upset, for he was fast in conducting searches and didn¡¯t require finished products at hand at all times. If there was none, create it; if it couldn¡¯t be done, add people and money¡ªthat had always been Xu Taining¡¯s approach. The subordinate quickly responded and then added, "Should wemunicate with the Beijing Bureau about this? This is essentially repeating yesterday¡¯s work." "Who can guarantee that thousands, tens of thousands, are meticulous and dutiful?" Xu Taining was unconcerned and said, "The essence of a search is firstly to prevent omissions. A heavy workload isn¡¯t scary as long as the direction is correct; the search will yield results. But if anything is missed, all the work will have been for nothing. We¡¯re not here to rely on luck, nor is any bureau willing to spend so much funding on lottery tickets..." Having stressed this point, Xu Taining pointed to someone and said, "Pi, go andmunicate with them, say that today¡¯s inspection is the most cost-effective solution. We start this afternoon. Although alternating inspections mean switching the teams¡¯ positions and redoing the map, only the frontline troops will be mobilized. By tomorrow, support departments at all levels, logistics vehicles, will all need to move, and they¡¯ll have to move twice. It¡¯s not just about wasting money, it may even cause congestion..." Pi had cooperated with Xu Taining for several years. He nodded and said, "I know how to put it, but ultimately, ites down to their funding, doesn¡¯t it? If they insist on not performing alternating inspections, should I give you a call then?" Xu Taining made an affirming noise and said, "Alternating inspection is just a matter of timing; there¡¯s no option of not doing it." "They definitely hope to find the target in the first round of inspection," Pi said. "I, too, wish for unlimited funding, always hoping for the best," Xu Taining remarked. "Maybe they really will find it in the first round..." Pi also harbored hope. "I¡¯m here to conduct a search, not to gamble with them," Xu Taining paused before continuing, "Even if I were to bet, I would bet that the enemy has built their base in a remote location, not right at the corner of Jiahengele." With the boss¡¯s opinion made clear, Pi and the others had nothing more to say and got ready to pursue the matter. Noon. The ordered troops, like a giant abalone, slowly began to retract. Having returned to the parking lot, Xu Taining saw Director Chu, Tao Lu, Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and many others under the canopy eating. Most people appeared rxed, an expression Xu Taining rarely encountered during routine inspections. This darkened Xu Taining¡¯s mood. "You all seem pretty happy?" Xu Taining asked, displeased. "The case from yesterday, the one where the husband killed his wife, Pei Yongsi, the tools he used to dismember the body have been found, and the motorcycle tracks have been identified as the same. The DNA from the body also matches, confirmed to be his wife, Wu Cuiyun," Liu Jinghui said with a smile, "The time and motive align, and the bathroom at home is a mess, it¡¯s a solid case." "I thought you ran into a new case," Xu Taining smiled, stood up, carrying a cup of tea, and said with a smile, "Just in time, since everyone¡¯s here, I¡¯ll substitute tea for wine and toast everyone. Searches are tough and thankless work, and it¡¯s hard to achieve results. I appreciate everyone¡¯s cooperation and help..." After toasting together, Xu Taining proceeded to toast a few leaders specifically. Turning around, Xu Taining toasts with Jiang Yuan and others, then approaches several team leaders from the Zhengguang Bureau and says with a smile, "You¡¯ve all suffered these past few days, the search work is onerous... And Cui Da, when did you get back? You had a hard time in Zhanggang Vige." "Came back yesterday. Tao said there was a shortage of hands here, and back in Zhanggang Vige, things are now familiar, leaving a couple of people there with the cooperation of the local police should be enough," Cui Qishan¡¯s voice was hoarse. Yelling was basically part of the job and quite effective. Xu Taining smiles as he clinks cups, casually asking, "What about your team? Are they resting today, or have theye out to work hard with you?" "Well, work is important..." Cui Qishan was mid-sentence when his phone began to ring. Cui Qishan excused himself with an "Excuse me" and took the call. Xiao Si¡¯s voice then came from the receiver, "Captain Cui, we just went into the woods to pee and came across a body, looks like the deceased was an adolescent." Chapter 790 - 733 Youth

Chapter 790: Chapter 733 Youth

A small grove. In terms of city park standards, this type of forest,posed of trees as tall as a two-story building, would be considered a dense jungle where murder and arson, along with forced rtions between males and other genders, could ur, but in the northern outskirts of Jingji, such a grove would simply be called a "small grove." Of course, there could still be dead bodies in such a grove. Li Jiang stood a few meters away, keeping himself outside the cordon, taking photographs while saying, "We¡¯ve finally found a body, just to stare at it from afar. Isn¡¯t it appropriate for us to go inspect it?" His teammate, Wang Chao, also took photographs and responded calmly, "It¡¯s not exactly ¡¯finally,¡¯ is it? Since the special case team was established, we¡¯ve followed Cui Da and discovered several bodies." "The total number is rtively high, but if we consider it from the perspective of the Criminal Police Brigade, the number of bodies we¡¯ve found isn¡¯t thatrge..." "We¡¯re covering a whole Criminal Police Brigade with just one special case team, aren¡¯t we?" "Let¡¯s not get into that; what I mean is..." Li Jiang stretched his neck, "ording to regtions, we should at least do a basic check, right?" "ording to regtions, what¡¯s important is that we don¡¯t disturb the scene. Jiang Yuan is right nearby; he¡¯ll be here soon, which is better than any checking we could do. With our level of technical skill, we¡¯re like goris looking at r=a(1-sin¦È), thinking it¡¯s a big butt." Xiao Si, standing quite far away and exuding an air ofziness, said while drinking water, "You all should have a drink, too. You¡¯ve already contaminated the scene with urine,ter we¡¯ll have to contribute a sample ourselves. Don¡¯t let anyone look down on us." "You talk too much, you should drink more." Wang Chao passed him another bottle. Li Jiang took two steps back and said, "Cui Da mentioned that Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t omnipotent." The group looked at each other and burst outughing. Jiang Yuan soon arrived. Xiao Si and the others were backups that had arrivedter, acting as supplementary forces for secondary lines, not far from themand center. When Jiang Yuan came over, the three of them were standing on a small slope not far from a path, with their hands sped as if they were a family of meerkats. Jiang Yuan ran a few steps up the slope, greeted them and asked, "How was the scene discovered?" "We came up from this side, stopped to pee by the road. Li Jiang didn¡¯t darepare sizes with us, so he went farther in, sneaking a pee, and that¡¯s when he saw the body," Xiao Si said with childlike innocence, casually rattling off a string of words. Li Jiang, standing to the side, turned green at the story, lowering his voice and saying, "The director is right behind us." "What does the director know about you, you bird," Xiao Si¡¯s voice was also quite low, like a bird that had taken flight but was still stealthily eating. Director Chu heard them but pretended not to, otherwise, what could he do? He only even remembered Cui Qishan by the unlucky appearance he had during phone calls. Following Xiao Si¡¯s indicated position, Jiang Yuan leaned over to look and saw fresh tracks scraped on the ground. However, tracks in the woods are different from those on the ground. Most of the tracks here are on the trees, branches, and leaves, usually showing only small abrasions, like the staff in a KTV, shing skin is a must, but not much of it, scattered, not focused, not central, the parts that are revealed are not easy to hit. Of course, at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level of footprint analysis, it was like a local earthmoving contractor venturing into the financial sector, ncing at the bark scraped off branches and then at the footprints left by several people by the road, he could even tell the sequence of their walking. "After entering, how far did you walk before you saw the deceased?" Jiang Yuan asked, while Mu Zhiyang kept a record behind him. Jiang Yuan rarely did interrogation recordings due to his few encounters with active cases, but in reality, the more familiar he was with the scene, the better he could record. Li Jiang said, "I saw it after circling around two trees, just three to four meters away." "This few meters... did you have to jump in?" Jiang Yuan asked, his words containing a hint of skepticism. Without retorting, Li Jiang focused on the facts, "We returned from Zhanggang Vige; we¡¯ve pooped in the fields a lot, so walking a bit further in is no harm." He had been in the criminal police longer than Jiang Yuan and was aware of what Jiang Yuan was skeptical about, and he didn¡¯t feel offended. If he had to take the interrogation recording, he would ask the same questions because it was obviously againstmon sense, especially for people in Beijing who are used to pooping in toilets¡ªhow would they know where it¡¯s easy to climb by the road, and the logic of not pooping too close to the edge, if not from experience? And Li Jiang¡¯s exnation was like updating his own database ofmon sense. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. No wonder Cui Qishan¡¯s subordinates found the body; despite being just a few meters away, this secondary forest out here with all its shrubs and vines required a real need to go inside to hack through, or to jump into it. Simrly, the victim must be in the same state. Jiang Yuan nodded, observing as he walked further in, and thought that if it was also for the need to defecate, this young man had gone a bit too far. "Did you touch the body?" Jiang Yuan continued to ask. "No," Xiao Si answered sinctly, "We approached until about two meters away, confirmed death, then looked closer, and retreated back. We were wearing body cameras." After all, they were Beijing detectives, their spirit of due diligence shining like a beacon, their instinct to avoid meddling rolling in like a mudslide. "Didn¡¯t you smell anything?" Jiang Yuan asked this question again looking towards Li Jiang, which was a small trap he had set when asking "how far did you walk to see him." Being a detective for so long, the mindset of suspecting everything had also somewhat integrated into Jiang Yuan¡¯s brain. Li Jiang smiled and said, "Initially thought it was the smell of the forest, didn¡¯t think much about it, figured it was rotting leaves or something. Who knew there would be a body in the forest." Jiang Yuan nodded, then said, "Let me look at the body first." He spoke and moved forward to observe the body as closely as possible. The victim was seated leaning against a pine tree. From the body¡¯s build, the victim was on the slim side, and his face still retained some features that resembled those of an adolescent. The clothing was a matching Nike tracksuit, a mix of green and purple, hugging a backpack on his chest, with a fallen water bottle by his side. Although the body was sitting, Jiang Yuan judged that the victim¡¯s height must have been over one meter seventy-five. As for the cause of death... There were no obvious external injuries on the head and neck, so Jiang Yuan put on gloves and gently moved the body. A swathe of red appeared on the victim¡¯s chest. Jiang Yuan frowned slightly; he had just been specting about the possibility of the victim being poisoned, only to find an obvious external injury. If it were poison, the victim might have died identally, but if it was an obvious external injury¡ªgiven the forest they were currently in, there probably was norge animal that could easily kill a young adult over one meter seventy-five. And even if such an imusible misfortune urred, why wouldn¡¯t the victor consume its prey? It couldn¡¯t be that it fought to the death just for entertainment. On Blue Star, only humans are capable of such acts. "Come and take pictures. Bring over two more lights," Jiang Yuan ordered in quick session. They were now deep within the forest, over a dozen meters from the edge; this wasn¡¯t much on open ground, but in the forest, it was already densely packed with hardly any room to step, and visibility was not very good. After two forensic lights were turned on, Jiang Yuan hadpleted the external examination and, with Mu Zhiyang¡¯s assistance, gently turned the body halfway. "This is a gunshot wound," Jiang Yuan noted, looking at the exit wound on the victim¡¯s back, even spotting white bone fragments protruding, a typical star-shaped exit wound with some blood-stained white fatty tissue and fragments resembling internal organs attached. After taking photos, Jiang Yuan carefully removed the backpack from the front of the victim¡¯s chest. The evidence became clearer, an oval entry wound right in the center of the chest, with clothing and skin both showing signs of damage post-pration... Xiao Si and the others were stunned. Xiao Si couldn¡¯t help but say, "Was the person shot with a shotgun? Could they have been hunted like prey?" "The characteristics of this wound... it¡¯s from a rifled firearm," Jiang Yuan¡¯s level 4 expertise in forensic pathology was intact. Although he had not seen gunshot wounds previously, he was still able to make a very urate assessment. And this time, Tao Lu and the people behind him could not keep theirposure. "Rifled firearm, do you mean the kind used in military rifles?" Tao Lu was at a loss for words for a moment. Jiang Yuan said, "Some hunting rifles also have rifling, but regardless of the type, they are definitely prohibited from personal ownership." Chapter 791 - 734: A Thorough Investigation of 5 Kilometers

Chapter 791: Chapter 734: A Thorough Investigation of 5 Kilometers

Director Chu stepped over the roadside shrubs, navigated past the droppings of arge upright ape, and stood before the victim. He examined the wounds on the corpse closely before straightening up and letting out a long sigh. "Such a young kid, is there any identification?" Director Chu asked. "There¡¯s an ID in the backpack. Sixteen years old, from Beijing, a high school sophomore at a key school in the city, no criminal record, parents are both senior intellectuals, still married..." Jiang Yuan had just finished checking the backpack. It was the fastest he had ever managed to establish the identity of a corpse. The key points Jiang Yuan outlined also implied certain exclusions. For example, being a key school student with no criminal record suggests most of the time is spent studying, making it unlikely toe into contact with industries rted to gambling and drugs that are prone to gun-rted crimes and often force desperate actions. In an absolutely discriminatory way, those who club hop and loiter around KTVs all day would find it hard not toe across gambling and drugs. If one worked in rted fields, just doing well for three years could easily be an underworld reserve. Director Chu nodded and proceeded to the most pressing question, "Was the victim shot with a standard-issue firearm? Can we determine the type of gun?" "We haven¡¯t found the bullet yet. The wound is a through-and-through with a starburst exit wound, typical of rifling marks. Considering the power, it¡¯s likely a standard-issue gun," Jiang Yuan pondered for a few seconds before adding, "No soot ring, no stippling, it was a distant shot. ording to the forensic doctor, the shooting distance was over one meter." "This case..." Director Chu was truly overwhelmed and asked with a sigh of resignation, "Can it bebined with the Zhang Lizhen case?" "Not at the moment," Jiang Yuan answered decisively. "At least for now, there are no connections." "Alright, then we have another gun-rted case. What are your thoughts? Should we coordinate the handling, or should I set up a separate task force?" Director Chu, having had little past interaction with Jiang Yuan, was worried he might not understand and exined, "If we set up a separate task force, the jurisdiction here would have to be ceded to them, and if they need to conduct searches or investigations, you¡¯ll have to discuss the jurisdictional issues..." If they were to handle it through coordination, it would mean taking on both cases simultaneously, which is also difficult. It was a choice between bureaucratic wrangling and taking on responsibility. Jiang Yuan, of course, chose thetter. Being a sort of mercenary, he was bound to lose in any bureaucratic wrangling. Director Chu was not surprised and nodded, "Then I¡¯ll report this to the higher-ups right away. You guys hurry up with the investigation." The priority level of gun-rted cases is very high, however, the number of gun-rted cases is not as few as many might think, not to the extent that they demand immediate attention from the highest authorities. For instance, as some publicly avable data revealed, from May of 2020 to March of 2021, a total of 24,000 firearm and explosive cases were cracked nationwide, 113 gangs were taken down, 314 dens dismantled, and 24,000 criminal suspects arrested. Another public notice reported, as part of a special crackdown on firearm and explosive crime, the 24th round of concentrated arrests captured 1,724 suspects, destroyed 52 dens, and seized 3,975 firearms and 111,000 bullets. In Beijing alone, in the first half of 2019, 18 gun-rted cases were cracked, with more than 170 illegal firearms, over 650 imitation guns, over 33,000 bullets, and over 30 used artillery shells ndmines) confiscated. There were also more than 140 people detained for public security reasons and over 30 criminally detained. A logical deduction would be that if gun-rted cases were indeed rare enough to cause an uproar every time one urred, then there would be no need for the various types of special operations against gun-rted crime. Tao Lu and others also surveyed the scene in turn, while Jiang Yuan continued with the crime scene investigation. Following the lead of the higher-ups, Cui Qishan, after shaking his head helplessly at his own team, turned to Tao Lu and said, "Chief Tao, I¡¯m not sure if Captain Jiang is skilled in gun-rted cases. Should we bring in a weapons expert?" This was a totally reasonable suggestion since ordinary police officers rarely handle gun-rted cases. After all, with only fifty or so gun-rted cases a year in Beijing and even fewer shootings, the frequency is simr to that of unnatural deaths in small county towns. Just as a single forensic doctor can handle these deaths in small towns, the Beijing Bureau could technically have one person manage all the gun-rted cases. Tao Lu hesitated for a moment before turning to ask Huang Qiangmin for his opinion. Huang Qiangmin offhandedly said, "Since Jiang Yuan hasn¡¯t called for backup, he probably doesn¡¯t need it at the moment. Of course, having someonee over to take a look wouldn¡¯t hurt..." If it were up to Huang Qiangmin to decide, he would fully defer to Jiang Yuan on technical aspects. But looking at it from another angle, he was concerned about overburdening Jiang Yuan, so he thought it might be good to have an experte over to consult. Tao Lu nodded and continued to watch Jiang Yuan work. There was a sense of urgency, but not so urgent that he couldn¡¯t wait even a moment. Jiang Yuan was taking a step-by-step approach to processing the evidence. In handling gun-rted cases, the first step is usually to search for bullets, shell casings, and firearms. These three pieces of evidence have direct physical contact with the perpetrator and are key to obtaining rted information. Most gun-rted cases are solved based on these items. When luck was on their side, the murderer would leave the gun at the scene, with the shell casing beside it and the bullet lodged inside the victim. This was a case of everythinging down to luck ¡ª the victim probably wouldn¡¯t see it that way, but he was no longer in a position to express an opinion. As for the current case, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t see any firearms at the scene, so he just sent people to search the surrounding area. They were also trying to find the primary crime scene and any possible shell casings. Based on the traces at the crime scene, after being shot, the victim probably didn¡¯t realize what had happened right away and subconsciously moved forward, but soon became physically drained and suffered a loss of consciousness. Therefore, he took his backpack off his back, held it in front of his chest, and sat down on the spot, then took out his water bottle to drink, after which he lost too much blood and fell into shock and died. This process must have been rtively quick. Referencing the bleeding time at a pig ughter scene, a human¡¯s ability to struggle and move isn¡¯t that much stronger. As for specific data, there¡¯s generally no experimental data avable. Over a dozen criminal investigators and police officers fanned out to search for the gun and bullets. In theory, they could follow the blood trail to the scene, but in reality, in the forest during this season, it was difficult for humans to discern bloodstains. Considering the potential influence of the perpetrator on the location of the firearm and the shell casings, forcibly searching for blood wasn¡¯t very meaningful. Moreover, the bullet might have passed through the victim¡¯s body, and it was hard to say where exactly it had ended up. Jiang Yuan focused his main effort on the shooting traces. There are two types of shooting traces. One is the bullet¡¯s impact trace, which includes the point of entry, the exit wound, and the bullet¡¯s trajectory. For instance, the star-shaped exit wound that Jiang Yuan emphasized earlier could provide information about the type of firearm used, and the trajectory could likely provide the positional rtionship during the conflict. However, because of the victim¡¯s movements at thest moment, determining the bullet¡¯s trajectory via the wound channel in his body wasn¡¯t very convenient. Jiang Yuan briefly looked over it and then put this part of the work on hold, waiting for the others to return from their investigation topile all the information. Next, Jiang Yuan began to deal with the second type of shooting traces, which are shooting residues. This part includes traces left on the clothes and abrasion rings from wiping and nicking. This is a concept rarely encountered by the average person in China, which is when a bullet spins into the skin, the dirty substances attached to the bullet, such as metal filings, grease, nasal mucus, soil, etc., rub against the edge of the entry wound, scraping out a brownish-ck ring about one millimeter wide, generally circr. Once dried, it bes extremely noticeable. If there was a sufficient database, information from the wiping ring alone could potentially solve the case. Jiang Yuan was engrossed in his study while Liu Jinghui finished his observation and climbed down from the tree. Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment, then pulled over Xu Taining and asked, "Director Xu, have we conducted a thorough investigation in this vicinity? To what extent can we be thorough?" "It¡¯s average," Xu Taining said. An average level meant a few people per square kilometer. Since the drone teams wereposed of multiple personnel as integrated squads, in practice, there were a handful of police officers per square kilometer. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "Can we conduct a strict search of the surrounding area, centered on this ce?" "Howrge an area?" "Within a radius of 5 kilometers that can be reached on foot? At least 3 kilometers." Xu Taining did some calctions and realized that the area wasn¡¯t small and then said, "A detailed search within 3 kilometers should be possible." "My main concern is that the victim didn¡¯t walk far after being shot, and the belongings around him were intact, which indicates that the murderer¡¯s motive wasn¡¯t robbery. Furthermore, the victim was a teenager, unlikely to have provoked death to this extent, at least not in a manner that would have resulted in being shot dead at once. Thus, the murderer¡¯s intention doesn¡¯t seem to be to kill. If the murderer wasn¡¯t after money or a life, an idental shooting bes highly likely," Liu Jinghui exined quietly. "You mentioned earlier, a hunting ident?" "Very likely, or it could even have been a stray bullet that the murderer never realized. Of course, the probability is still quite low. But no matter what, the perpetrator is either a licensed hunter or an illegal one. If licensed, I¡¯ll have Wang Chuanxing and his team investigate; if illegal, it might be connected to the Zhang Lizhen case, could be a group of people!" Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was tight, and Xu Taining listened with a serious expression. "Alright. Then let¡¯s do a detailed search within 5 kilometers," Xu Taining quickly ordered. Chapter 792 - 735 Skin Shedding

Chapter 792: Chapter 735 Skin Shedding

Therge sedan cars came to a halt in sequence. Police officers dressed in training uniforms, one by one, with equipment on their backs, alighted from the cars and quickly assembled into formation, then followed their superiors towards the predetermined search area. Xu Taining, holding a pair of binocrs, watched the umandedmand from above and smacked his lips, muttering to himself, "The police officers in Beijing are really quite useful, disciplined, sensible, able to understand orders and read maps, and they don¡¯t drag their feet when it¡¯s time to work..." "Can¡¯t our Shan Nan officers do that?" Liu Jinghui asked with a sidelong nce. "They can do it, but there¡¯s always a few bad apples," Xu Taining sighed and said, "Now it¡¯s okay. A few years ago, when I went out for a search, I spent the first day dealing with troublemakers. There was no helping it." Liu Jinghui smiled and then said, "Now they¡¯re all police academy graduates, trained for three, four years in The Great Learning, ready to be useful as soon as theye out, not like in our time." "The main thing is they¡¯re systematic, making things handy to use, as if directing an arm," Xu Taining said, shaking his head. In his position, everything else was fine, but the constant running around meant he had no subordinates of his own, and every time it was like working with strangers in a new environment¡ªthere was a sense of freshness, but naturally, the feeling of tacit understanding wascking. Liu Jinghui, hearing the tone of Xu Taining¡¯s voice, gave a couple of coughs and said in a low voice, "Director Xu, is Jiang Yuan still inside inspecting the scene?" "Yes, it¡¯s a gun case scene. He probably has taken arge perimeter, searched whatever was there..." Xu Taining said while still shaking his head, "I was hoping to get him to look at the video over here. Jiang Yuan does video enhancements, way better than any expert I¡¯ve used before. I don¡¯t know where he learned it from; he¡¯s just a genius and great at everything..." "This is a rare opportunity!" Liu Jinghui interrupted Xu Taining. "What opportunity?" Xu Taining, being a bit older, was startled by Liu Jinghui and took a moment to catch on. "Jiang Yuan has taken on arge scope for the inspection this time. Next, he will have to transport the body back for an autopsy, right? This whole process, even if done quickly, will take until tomorrow morning, or even tomorrow afternoon. No doubt about it, he¡¯ll be half-dead tired," Liu Jinghui said with a smile, "If we take this time to crack this gun case, then Jiang Yuan will have been busy for nothing." Before Liu Jinghui could finish, Xu Taining¡¯s eyes lit up like neon lights. Having done searches for so many years, Xu Taining had many ssic cases to share, but there were some cases that were freshly etched in his memory. Like those that had just been set up, not yet rolled out, those he had been ready to break into with great zeal but were effortlessly resolved by Jiang Yuan... If he could return a simr case in the same way... Xu Taining felt his heart, which hadn¡¯t raced in many years, begin to pound fiercely. This was even more thrilling than an affair, more exciting than a first love, more passionate than infidelity... "Now that you mention it..." Xu Taining¡¯s voice was hoarse, as if he had shouted himself hoarse. Liu Jinghui confidently smiled and said, "Based on our previous analysis, as long as we work overtime and stick to it, with a bit of luck, we could close this case." Xu Taining nodded slightly and concluded, "It¡¯s either illegal or legal yet idental." "Right, the specifics are uncertain; it depends on how quickly we can conduct the search," Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was quite straightforward. First, they excluded the possibility of fringe religious members in the vicinity, a small probability event, but since everyone had searched this far, it indicated that this low probability couldn¡¯t be overlooked. This was the illegal scenario. If that was ruled out, then this death incident was likely caused identally by someone with a licensed hunting rifle. The so-called legal yet idental case. However, Xu Taining had been doing searches for years and yed the odds, so when it came down to it, he took it seriously, "But there¡¯s also a possibility that it¡¯s an illegal ident unrted to the Zhang Lizhen case and to any religious group. It¡¯s just some unknown person with a gun from who knows where..." "In Beijing?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s tonecked any hint of mockery as he said, followed by a self-answered question, "We¡¯ve all assumed it¡¯s an idental stray bullet that caused the victim¡¯s death. Here in Beijing, the likelihood of an idental gun showing up, firing identally¡ªit hardly gets any lower..." "Exactly. Low-probability events really do happen sometimes." Xu Taining truly revered the concept of low-probability events. Liu Jinghui solemnly nodded his head, then took a long breath and said, "Low-probability events have always been the nemesis of reasoning. If we can¡¯t get anywhere with these two paths, let¡¯s turn back and consider something illegal and idental." Illegal implied concealment, and idental meant fewer clues as well as unconventional patterns, all indicating a more difficult task for investigation and confirmation. Oftentimes, such cases simply cannot be solved. Xu Taining also made up his mind. Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was logical and indeed an excellent method to crack this case. As for the possibility of a low-probability event, it was only pushed back, though it could lower the chances of sessfully solving the case, but this option wasn¡¯tpletely discarded. This was already a very good investigative direction, and there was no reason not to choose it. "The key is to act quickly!" Liu Jinghui stressed again, "Whichever possibility, the murderer might run and can easily take away the evidence." "I understand." Xu Taining frowned in thought, confirmed several details, and then pulled out his phone to call Tao and Chu. He was going to use the reserve team. More training uniforms, more police officers, more manpower and material resources, all converging on the vicinity of the crime scene. Engrossed in the crime scene, Jiang Yuan was oblivious to all this. The body had been taken away, and Jiang Yuan had nned to leave afterpleting the survey, which usually took an extra two or three hours, but the scene survey exceeded Jiang Yuan¡¯s expectations. First was the elusive bullet. The victim¡¯s wound was severe; regardless of whether he realized it or not, without any corresponding hemostatic measures, the number of steps he could have taken was limited. The police officers conducting the scene survey circled around again and again but couldn¡¯t find the bullet. Fortunately, the Metal Detector that arrivedter solved the problem. About a dozen meters from the body, they found the bullet deeply embedded in a tree. "Finally found it." Tired from a day¡¯s survey, they all felt happy hearing the beeping sound of the Metal Detector. "Photograph it, then dig it out." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t do it himself; the bullet seemed deeply entrenched. And the answer was far beyond the expectations of Jiang Yuan and the others. "The bullet is 11 centimeters deep." The surveyor in charge of the measurement made a record, measured it again, and got the same result. The crime scene lights gleamed brightly, casting a series of dark shadows in the dim forest. "The bullet isn¡¯t shattered, over 26 millimeters long. Looks like the 7.62 millimeter type. The kind used in AKs." "Actually, no need to measure; just one look and you know. It¡¯s a 7.62 medium-power bullet, uncolored tip, probably a standard round. There are armor-piercing versions of this, with even stronger pration." "Many in the AK rifle family use this kind of round, and it¡¯s also ours... cough cough, it¡¯s much more powerful than a shotgun." Jiang Yuan exhaled a breath. Even among rifles with grooved barrels, there are actually many types. In China, shotguns are the easiest to encounter. As for military standard rifles, especially the powerful AK family, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected them either. "Mu, give a shout," Jiang Yuan said, looking down at the bullet head. Mu Zhiyang nodded, took a deep breath, then turned and yelled, "Tao..." An hour earlier, Tao Lu had been watching Jiang Yuan conduct the investigation, but unable to contain his impatience, he had gone to rest. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shout easily teased him back. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for Tao Lu and continued to frown at the bullet head. Speaking of evidence, the current scene was full of unexpected elements. The bullet head had prated too deeply! While the 7.62mm ammunition is notoriously prating, the hardness of pine wood is also quite substantial. For this bullet to prate 11 centimeters in one go was truly remarkable. Especially considering it was a stray bullet, its prating ability was somewhat surprising. Next, Jiang Yuan also analyzed the bullet¡¯s trajectory, the angle of entry, and the position, which wasn¡¯t very smooth either. Jiang Yuan looked at the dense woods behind him, his brows involuntarily furrowed. Although bullet trajectories aren¡¯t straight, and heavy machine guns often fire in a parabolic path, given the thick woods behind, the bullet¡¯s journey here was truly difficult. "Found the bullet head?" Tao Lu came running and hopping back into the woods as quickly as he could. Jiang Yuan showed it to Tao Lu. "Great!" Tao Lu pped his hands in delight. "It¡¯s too early for that," Jiang Yuan had to interrupt Tao Lu¡¯s joy, continuing to gesture and say, "Even if it was shot from a great distance and came down in a high arc, the angle of entry wouldn¡¯t be like this." Tao Lu, having just had a chat with someone, said, "Perhaps it¡¯s an extremely unlikely event." "That¡¯s possible..." Jiang Yuan pondered, then shook his head, "But it doesn¡¯t seem like it." In his current LV5 crime scene investigation, he could not confirm that a low-probability event was true, but when faced with an outrageous scene, he knew how it had been created. "Rather than saying it fell from a distant shot, it¡¯s more like a high-angle shot from a closer distance..." Jiang Yuan gestured and looked ahead. The trees were dense, but within dozens of meters, the terrain was far from steep andplex. Jiang Yuan followed the expected direction of the bullet¡¯s path, jumping over impassable areas, and after walking twenty to thirty meters and looking back, swinging his gaze from left to right, he could still see the pine tree that was hit through gaps in the foliage. "Bring the metal detector over here, let¡¯s search this area," Jiang Yuan beckoned as he continued to back away. The other forensic investigators began to grasp Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea; he was searching for the farthest possible point of a level shot. Though not necessarily reliable, it indeed was a line of thought. The forensic team, without much fuss, tried their various methods, some reaching as far as forty to fifty meters away. The metal detector followed, scanning left and right as it went. Everyone hoped to find shell casings or other human-discarded items. Especially shell casings, not only are they strong evidence, but they¡¯re also more likely to be overlooked by the perpetrator. When firing a gun, the shell casing can fall far from the shooter due to the recoil force coupled with the movement of the gun body. If it hits something like a tree trunk, it might even bounce several meters away. The search was tough, but everyone was hopeful. The harder the location to find, the less likely the perpetrator was to retrieve it. Of course, this was under the assumption that the scene was as Jiang Yuan anticipated. One hour... Two hours... When someone grew tired, they¡¯d leave to rest, and others would take their ce. The woods were slightly eerie, not afortable ce to stay for long. Tao Lu was utterly worn out, went out of the woods under the guise of needing to relieve himself. "Phew." Mu Zhiyang lifted his head, scanned the surroundings, and prepared to take a break too. Instead of returning the same way, where his colleagues were still at work, Mu Zhiyang decided to walk straight ahead, taking a detour to n for a mid-way bathroom break of his own. At that moment, he spotted a tree branch. The branch wasn¡¯t high off the ground, just over a meter. Mu Zhiyang, as if possessed, pointed his shlight at the branch. "That... Captain Jiang," Mu Zhiyang called out. "What?" Jiang Yuan walked over a few steps and looked. "If someone stood on this branch to shoot, could they hit over there?" Mu Zhiyang paused, then added, "This branch has peeled bark!" Chapter 793 - 736: The Small Probability

Chapter 793: Chapter 736: The Small Probability

"Guns? I¡¯ve never even fired one!" Ye Tang sat on the sofa, one hand resting on the armrest, yet still couldn¡¯t help its trembling. His wife, Xu Shuang, held his hand, her eyes equally filled with sorrow. Their son had died, the 16-year-old in the throes of rebelliousness, who caused trouble everywhere, was obstinate and wouldn¡¯t listen to advice or lectures, whose mediocre performance in school tended towards disdain for studies, who was tall and strong, with a courageous and gentle personality, loved pets, was patient and enthusiastic, liked to challenge himself, and was full of curiosity, had left this world without the slightest warning. Liu Cheng sighed inwardly and said, "You can think carefully, and anyone who might have had ess to firearms, you can mention them. It¡¯s okay to guess; right now we are justpiling a list, and someone will verify this informationter." "But, this..." Ye Tang¡¯s mind was in chaos, words that usually came easily to him now seemed difficult to speak. "I¡¯ll do it." Xu Shuang patted her husband¡¯s hand and sat up straight, saying, "First is my cousin, the son of my father¡¯s brother. He¡¯s an officer in our Jingji Military Region, so he should have ess to firearms..." Liu Cheng nodded. He was now collecting such a list. "And another. Do rtives who live abroad count? They should be able to ess firearms overseas..." Xu Shuang tried her best to think. Liu Cheng nodded again, saying, "We¡¯ll start by making the list asprehensive as possible, and then we can screen it carefully." "That¡¯s good." Ye Tang managed to say, and for him, this was apliment to the policeman in front of him. Liu Cheng didn¡¯t mind much. Normally, he was not very willing to talk to these highbrow intellectuals fresh from their ivory towers, too pretentious, and exhausting to chat with. However, facing a couple who had lost their only child, Liu Cheng could only feel deep mncholy. For a long time toe, they would probably not feel any joy. If they were unlucky, this period devoid of happiness might even oust the killer¡¯s joyless days. ... On the outskirts. Xu Taining looked at the satellite map projected by the projector with a serious expression. In the dim light, the satellite map filled the entire 100-inch projection screen with its detailed and undting terrain. It was dotted with various little gs, circles, triangles, and other markings. The silhouette of Liu Jinghui appeared ahead. Xu Taining immediately waved his hand: "Liu, I was wondering where you had gone off to?" "There¡¯s new information that came through." Liu Jinghui took a couple of sips from a bottlebeled "drinking water." Xu Taining just nodded. He was constantly updating the information here, and saidughingly, "I just took a nap, got up, and saw that the progress is good. The detailed inspection within 5 kilometers is basicallypleted on schedule. Most importantly, it hardly affected the overall progress. Mainly, it¡¯s the reserve team¡¯s fatigue that has increased, and also, the expenses are slightly over budget..." Theoretically, police officers don¡¯t get overtime pay, or rather, their overtime is bought out monthly, so Xu Taining didn¡¯t seem to have extra expenses in this area. However, in practice, when asking everyone to workte, there always needs to be somepensation. Non-listed auxiliary police, or those from brother units whoe to assist, such as traffic police, as well aspanies providing support and logistics, all require more spending. Of course, this level of spending primarily concerns the city and county bureaus. For example, just forte-night snacks, to provide for ten thousand people for two meals, if it costs 20 yuan per person, that¡¯s 200,000 yuan. Some ces have such limited funds that they have to find ways to pinch every rted expense, such as the transportation costs for delivering meals, the additional cost of bottled water, and even the money for breakfast the next day. Ideally, all of it could be ounted for. And creating a budget for the Zhengguang Bureau meant a 20-dor meal allowance was exactly that¡ªfood and drink for 20 dors, with other expenses covered by the overall budget. Xu Taining, therefore, spent money quite happily and was willing to spend a bit more. Liu Jinghui quickly expressed his appreciation, "As long as it¡¯s done on time, that¡¯s what matters, not an easy feat..." "Indeed, it¡¯s not easy. I¡¯m okay; I just snuck in a bit of sleep. The middle-levelmanders below must be exhausted," Xu Taining shook his head, "pacifying and persuading them is no easy task. Moreover, the 5-kilometer thorough search didn¡¯t turn up anything. This is hurtful for the new team. To mount such an effort again, we¡¯d at least need some leads." "A search is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Liu Jinghui said with augh, "Anyway, no clues in the five kilometers around means we have eliminated a major distraction, which is a huge boost to the case. It will also benefit the unfolding ofter stages." Xu Taining nodded and hummed in acknowledgment, "So next, we¡¯ll investigate in the direction of legal yet idental? Legally owned guns, in this area, there may be those with special identities..." "Ahem..." Liu Jinghui tactfully took a sip of water, exhaling a breath of turbid air, ncing towards Cui Qishan who hade with him. Cui Qishan scratched his head, slightly regretting delivering the message, but had no choice but to say, "Jiang Yuan found the bullet." "Huh? That¡¯s excellent news," Xu Taining was overjoyed; although the discovery was not made during his search, finding a bullet was naturally a breakthrough in a gun-rted case. Cui Qishan nodded, "The bullet is a 7.62mm intermediate-power round, initially suspected to have been fired from a Type 56 rifle. Additionally, the firing position has been located. It wasn¡¯t a stray bullet; a more likely scenario is aimed shooting from 70 meters away from the victim." Xu Taining started listening intently, expressing shock, but slowly fell silent. The Type 56 is not a hunting rifle; even if it is legally owned, using it this way is illegal. And aimed shooting overturns any idental theories! This damned act is illegal and intentional! The 5-kilometers detailed search was, in essence, a waste! Seeing Xu Taining¡¯s expression, Liu Jinghui knew what he was thinking and hurriedly said, "It wasn¡¯t for nothing. Like I said just before, the 5-kilometers search had to be done sooner orter. If we hadn¡¯t done it before, we would still need to do it now. We justpleted that part of the work ahead of time, don¡¯t you think?" Xu Taining exhaled through his nose, somewhat displeased and disappointed. Of course, being upset and disappointed is normal for those doing searches. Xu Taining had nothing much to say, simply nodding, "Alright then, let¡¯s continue with the original search n..." Liu Jinghui wore a silent, wry smile and kept quiet. Xu Taining paused, easily seeing through him, and said annoyed, "Don¡¯t tell me you¡¯re about to jump ship?" "What does this have to do with jumping ship!" Liu Jinghui protested, "There¡¯s no role for me to y here anymore. Now that Jiang Yuan has a new lead, it¡¯s all hands on deck. I¡¯m just going over to take a look, it¡¯s for the case." "Isn¡¯t that jumping ship?" "This... this is for the greater good." Liu Jinghui took another sip of water. "Go on, then." Xu Taining looked emotionally drained as Liu Jinghui turned to leave, finally saying, "Just don¡¯t let me find something before you do." "We¡¯re just going to work on a subordinate case," Liu Jinghui, feeling a bit guilty, said as he quickly walked away... Chapter 794 - 737: Two Degrees Higher

Chapter 794: Chapter 737: Two Degrees Higher

Autopsy Center. Jiang Yuan sat in the police car, speeding back with shing lightning, and began to perform an autopsy on the deceased upon arrival. He truly felt urgent; on one hand, the fresher the body, the more information could be obtained, and on the other hand, the case had reached another bottleneck, seeming somewhat eerie. Jiang Yuan¡¯s first thought was "speed." This was a tactic he had employed before; in many cases, if you acted quickly, they remained simple and direct criminal cases. Drag them out, and they might turn into political cases. As for what the situation was like in the Jingji region, Jiang Yuan from Ningtai County couldn¡¯t quite figure it out, and he wasn¡¯t all that eager to do so either. After all, acting quickly was always going to be safer. Of course, in addition, Jiang Yuan also brought four colleagues from the Cold Case Squad, and Mu Zhiyang was even issued a Type 92 handgun. If the killer could pull out a rifle, it would be outrageous for the police not to even have a pistol. In fact, the riflemen had already been deployed in position; they just couldn¡¯t possibly scamper around everywhere with Jiang Yuan. "The time of death is roughly about a week ago. Six days is more likely." Jiang Yuan had made an estimate of the time of death at the scene, and he reiterated it now. Zhan Kan was carefully attending to him, looking at theputer data and saying, "The victim¡¯s family reported the disappearance 7 days ago, so does that mean the victim was killed on the day of the disappearance?" "Juvenile delinquents don¡¯tst overnight," said Liu Jinghui, who had found following Tao Lu and the others meaningless and had simplye to the autopsy center with Jiang Yuan instead. Zhengguang Bureau had mobilized the entire department this time; nearly thousands of people were busy with this series of cases. There was a lot of information, but Liu Jinghui trusted Jiang Yuan the most. Sometimes, more information isn¡¯t necessarily better, especially when it involves 7.62mm bullets; Liu Jinghui even had to consider trustworthiness when analyzing the evidence. Jiang Yuan continued with the autopsy in silence, analyzing meticulously. After so long, the body¡¯s stench had long emerged, and insects had bred several generations, with shells, maggots, and eggs, like arge, happy family. As Jiang Yuan dissected the body, the falling maggots and eggshells were promptly collected by Zhan Kan into bottles, killed on the spot, and then stored away. Liu Jinghui waited a bit longer, and when he saw no new information from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, he took off his gloves, washed his hands again, and started contemting on his own. He often liked to prop up his chin with his hand when thinking, and touching corpse grease would affect his mood. "There¡¯s a through-and-through wound in the left lung, 3 centimeters by 2 centimeters." "Between the 3rd and 4th ribs, there¡¯s a wound measuring 4 by 2." "The bullet¡¯s angle was small, the victim was shot in the front; they may have been face-to-face with the killer, though probably at some distance." Jiang Yuan asionally voiced a finding, while another younger forensic doctor took notes at his side. This case¡¯s scale wasrge and had even encroached on the space for other cases, thus reducing the workload at the Autopsy Center. Liu Jinghui just listened, asionally making notes in his own notebook. When Jiang Yuan had finished processing the internal organs of the body and captured all the insects alive, Liu Jinghui snapped his notebook shut and said, "Looking at it this way, it¡¯s highly likely that the victim and the murderer knew each other." "Hmm," Jiang Yuan acknowledged, then said, "The list of the deceased¡¯s family members questioned by Cui Dayou seems to be constructed from the angle of acquaintance perpetration as well." Whether the crime wasmitted by an acquaintance or a stranger makes a big difference. You could even say it changes the entire content of the investigation. This is a question of investigative direction and also a main reason why the special case team asionally organizes a case analysis meeting. Differences of opinion on the investigation direction are often argued over at case analysis meetings. Deciding the direction means focusing efforts ordingly; failing to speak up during the meeting but conducting private investigations afterwards is definitely something that, if discovered, will be dealt with seriously. It¡¯s not just a matter of defying superiors¡¯ orders; it can significantly interfere with themanding officer¡¯s judgement and is disruptive to the work of others. Therger the task force, the broader the scope of the initial investigation, and they can attend to every detail. However, the investigation inevitably needs to deepen, and once it does, the scope of the investigation will naturally change. Even the list-based investigation led by Liu Cheng was conducted following those who had ess to firearms. Liu Jinghui had been following up on the progress of all parties and shook his head, saying, "His acquaintance won¡¯t do." "What do you mean?" Jiang Yuan looked towards Liu Jinghui. "The list that Liu Da made is basically the deceased Ye Shun¡¯s family¡¯s acquaintance, not Ye Shun¡¯s acquaintance. Of course, this difference is not too big; the bigger issue is rted to guns. If we assume the weapon was a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, I don¡¯t know much about guns, but what does this gun have to do with ordinary people who can ess firearms? It¡¯s like having rtives in the army, who could bring a gun here?" Jiang Yuan nodded as he listened. Liu Jinghui said, "Such standard-issue weapons are definitely strictly managed by their units. I don¡¯t know the specifics, but I¡¯ve heard that even internal inspections by some units found nothing. From what I vaguely understand, there are too many points where the gun could have been taken out, and anyone with a normal brain wouldn¡¯t use such a hard-to-obtain weapon to shoot an ordinary adolescent." Jiang Yuan continued to nod. Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was always persuasive, probably a result of his many years of experience. He didn¡¯t have any enforcement powers himself; even when supervising local cases with the rank of a senior police officer from the provincial department, he couldn¡¯t directlymand the local police but had to convince the officers in charge to get things done. Over the years, Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning had be grounded, making sense to both ordinary people and intelligent leaders, without resorting to mysterious and suspenseful cases to highlight himself. After all, once the investigation was over, he would return to the provincial department, and he might never visit a certain county town again in his life. His sole focus was on solving the cases. Jiang Yuanpared the recently examined corpse with the previous analyses and asked, "So, do you have any ideas?" "I think there¡¯s a problem with our direction of investigation. Looking into the gun, which I just mentioned, is not that we shouldn¡¯t investigate, but firearm management is too strict to kill an adolescent so easily. There¡¯s no need," Liu Jinghui said, counting off on his fingers before continuing, "Looking into acquaintances or acquaintances involved with guns is fine, thework of rtionships and all, but for an adolescent, what kind of financial entanglements could there be? It¡¯s perhaps more likely to look into early love rtionships." "Cui Dayou has been investigating that aspect," Zhan Kan, who was no longer just a forensic doctor but had also been following the progress of the case with Jiang Yuan, added, "Apparently there was an early rtionship, and it caused a conflict with other boys at school." "I¡¯ve seen that, just two high school boys secretly liking the same girl, it¡¯s nothing," Liu Jinghui dismissed with a curl of his lip. "But there was conflict," Zhan Kan whispered. "Then check it out. It won¡¯t take many people," said Liu Jinghui with an indifferent tone. "The key is still the direction. These random ways of investigating are all wrong." "So¡ª" Jiang Yuan helped Liu Jinghuiplete his thought. "We should follow the timeline. Now that we¡¯ve confirmed the time of death is the day the victim disappeared, as long as we rify the victim¡¯s whereabouts that day, everything will be clear." Liu Jinghui patted his notebook and added, "Beforehand, the focus was mainly on idental causes, chasing the gun issue and not considering the victim¡¯s side. Now that we¡¯ve confirmed the time of death..." "We investigate the victim¡¯s timeline!" Jiang Yuan agreed with Liu Jinghui, summarizing the point. Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was very reliable. Jiang Yuan wiped his hands and called Tao Lu. Although without the persuasiveness of Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning, the trust Jiang Yuan had built up over the past few days was enough to make Tao Lu decide without question. With minor adjustments within the special case team, several police groups were immediately dispatched. Before long, news started toe back. "Ye Shun went out that day with two ssmates." "All three carried backpacks and wore some outdoor gear." "Their chat history shows that their goal was to go on an adventure. An adventure akin to that of special forces, typical of high schoolers, that was roughly the idea." Jiang Yuan went directly to themand center, and Tao Lu arrived nearly at the same time. They listened together to reports from all sides. As news came in rapid session, one piece stood out and electrified everyone. "Li Guangzhi, this student used his cell phone to search for ¡¯how to assemble a Type 56 rifle¡¯!" The reporting officer, unable to contain his excitement, raised his voice a couple of notches when delivering this piece of information. Chapter 795 - 738: Adventure

Chapter 795: Chapter 738: Adventure

After Li Guangzhi was brought to the police station, Tao Lu¡¯s phone had not stopped ringing. However, Tao Lu¡¯s face showed no sign of displeasure. She was actively responding, answering the phone when necessary, and saying what needed to be said. Huang Qiangmin deliberately stood close by to listen for a while, looking as though he was learning something. "No problems, right?" It was Zhan Kan¡¯s first time dealing with such a big case, and seeing Huang Qiangmin and Tao Lu¡¯s demeanor, he couldn¡¯t help but ask with concern. "What problems could there be? This might even help Tao supplement her household a bit, so she doesn¡¯t get drained by Huang," said Liu Jinghui, adding with augh, "Later on, the prosecution will definitely get involved early. Once they do, Tao will just push it over to them, and then it¡¯ll be all right." ording to current regtions, anyone who discusses a case with the prosecution, whether pleading or inquiring, or even just mentioning it inadvertently, must record it in the file¡ªif this is not done and the matter ister exposed, the prosecution will face consequences. Therefore, once a case reaches the prosecution, ordinary phone calls usually stop. As long as there were no problems with the case itself, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care either. He nodded and said, "Whates next depends on the interrogation of Li Guangzhi. If it really was them, then the case would be considered closed." "Yes, it¡¯s finally over. Fortunately, it was done by two kids. Otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t have gone so smoothly," Liu Jinghui also remarked sentimentally. In this case, there were many things that were not very clear. The evidence collected by Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning, or the details Xu Taining unearthed, were all iplete and failed to reveal the full picture of the case. This was one of theplications of gun-rted crimes. Remote weaponry made murder far too easy, especially outdoors where too little information was left behind. Since the killer didn¡¯t bury the bodies, it increased the difficulty of tracing the suspect directly from the bodies and wounds. Zhan Kan, listening to the two men¡¯s conversation, was somewhat confused and couldn¡¯t help asking, "Aren¡¯t you afraid that the interrogation won¡¯t yield results? Li Guangzhi managed to get a gun, and it looks like he has connections at home. If he refuses to confess, we don¡¯t have any evidence." Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, contrary to Zhan Kan, had handled too many cases. Hearing Zhan Kan¡¯s words, they bothughed. Zhan Kan was sensible and young. Blushing, he asked, "Why do youugh, Master, Uncle Master?" "Let your Master exin," Liu Jinghui stepped aside. Jiang Yuan did not decline, "If Li Guangzhi is willing to speak, that¡¯s best. If not, isn¡¯t there another one?" Three peoplemitting a crime could not keep it a secret, especially teenagers. The one who hadn¡¯t fired the gun would definitely talk. The shooter would either pretend to be calm or outright use the other party, then both sides would start topete over details, eventually revealing the full picture of the case. Soon, the police officer in charge of the interrogation came out to report. Tao Lu gestured for Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui to join her in the conference room. "ording to the interrogation of the two suspects, the three really did stumble upon a gun during their adventure," the interrogator began, his news so sensational that Tao Lu rubbed her ears in disbelief. Liu Cheng, who had conducted the interrogation alongside him, smiled bitterly. He himself had had to ask several times to believe it, and with a helpless shrug, he said, "Li Guangzhi and Liu Shun¡¯s grandfathers worked at the same factory. They would tell them stories about preparing for possible wars and famines back in the day, including one about a hidden cache of weapons in an air-raid shelter..." "Most kids would just listen to such stories and that¡¯s it. But Li Guangzhi and Liu Shun, having heard it before, decided this time they wanted to film a short video. So they brought along a ssmate, Zhang Yankai, to venture into the air-raid shelter and look for relics from the past." "And they actually found it. Initially, they mainly found discarded items like bed nks, table legs, clothes poles, and such. Later, in one room, the three of them found a well-sealed military weapon box. Inside the box was a fully-parted, oil-sealed Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and one box of bullets. The bullet box was arm-length, made of tinte, simr to spiced ham cans in sealing technique, which could be twisted open. Inside were 15 paper-wrapped packages of bullets, each with 25 rounds, totaling 750 rounds." Hearing this, Tao Lu could barely contain herself, "idental discoveries of military weapons happen every year, didn¡¯t they think to report it? How do others handle it in the news, don¡¯t they watch at all? Don¡¯t students these days watch the news?" "They just wanted to shoot a short video. Li Guangzhi¡¯s exact words were... We thought, since it¡¯s a rare opportunity, let¡¯s shoot some short videos before calling the police, then make another video of turning in the weapons, and maybe we could get a lot of followers..." The interrogating officer spread his hands and said, "They really did shoot videos. There¡¯s one of them exploring and finding an ammunition box, another with weapons and ammunition being unboxed, and also one showing them practicing shooting... all stored on the digital camera Zhang Yankai had brought from home. Someone has been sent to retrieve it." Tao Lu clenched her teeth and asked, "They even practiced shooting?" "The three of them, each fired 100 rounds. That¡¯s equivalent to four packs of bullets per person," Liu Cheng spread his hands, "It was all recorded. The shooting practice took ce near the air raid shelter, more than twenty kilometers away from the scene of the incident." "What did they run over there to do?" "Hunting." "They know how to hunt? And what was the purpose of hunting?" Tao Lu posed the question and then answered it herself, "To shoot videos?" "Yes," Liu Cheng repeated, "There is aplete video record. However, they didn¡¯t encounter any game." Tao Lu¡¯s brow furrowed upon hearing this, and Liu Jinghui also shook his head repeatedly, unable to even muster a smile. Seeing this, Liu Cheng sighed helplessly, "When we initially investigated, we also questioned Liu Shun¡¯s ssmates, including Li Guangzhi. He was very calm when he was asked, and the police in charge of the investigation did not expect a 16-year-old child to be so good at concealing the truth. It was only after we tricked him during the interrogation that he confessed." "Who fired the gun?" Tao Lu, not dwelling on the regret of the funds flowing away like seawater on their end, immediately pursued the important question. Liu Cheng said, "Li Guangzhi." "And the reason?" Liu Cheng exchanged nces with another interrogating officer, then said, "Based on what we know so far, it appears to have been an ident." "Shooting from a tree and it¡¯s still an ident?" Liu Cheng sighed, "Climbing the tree was for posing. And yes, they recorded that process too. Li Guangzhi imed that they were ready to leave at that time. Zhang Yankai handed him the gun, and he thought all the bullets had been removed since the bullet bag was with Zhang Yankai. Zhang Yankai, on the other hand, stated his bullet bag was very heavy and had already mentioned that whoever uses the gun should check it..." "Not removing the bullets is one thing, but aiming at a person from a tree?" Tao Lu¡¯s anger grew as she spoke. Liu Cheng had already been through his anger and could only shake his head, saying, "It¡¯s just the foolish actions of unruly kids. Holding a gun, they just want to aim at something. Li Guangzhi said that he was just concerned with posing and inadvertently pulled the trigger..." "And then they all ran away?" "Yes." "So, they just took a life like that." Tao Lu shook her head gravely and looked towards Jiang Yuan. From her perspective, if the video is indeed true, then this case might also have reached its conclusion. Although the deceased¡¯s parents are in infinite sorrow and the deceased has passed away in the prime of life, the result is as it is now. Jiang Yuan noticed Tao Lu¡¯s gaze, looked back at her, then nced at Liu Jinghui and slowly said, "Earlier we mentioned the abandoned air raid shelter. Within the Jingji area, there are many abandoned air raid shelters, right? In our search scope, have we taken air raid shelters into consideration?" Chapter 796 - 739 - Increasing Budget

Chapter 796: 739 Chapter Increasing Budget

"An air-raid shelter?" Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, Xu Taining couldn¡¯t help but loosen his shirt cor and said, "Our basis for the search n, involving arge-scale area, is to utilize satellites and drones." "Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. "But satellites and drones can¡¯t see inside the air-raid shelters," Xu Taining repeated. "That¡¯s true," Jiang Yuan concurred. Suddenly, Xu Taining turned his head toward Liu Jinghui and said, "The search range was deduced by you, wasn¡¯t it?" Passing the buck is a basic workce survival skill, and Liu Jinghui also loosened the cor of his shirt, "Setting aside the constantly changing preliminary conditions, as staff officers, the final decision-making reasons are multifaceted. In fact, instead of seeking who made a decision, it¡¯s more about the direction of collective will. Moreover, from a realistic dimension, a changing environment naturally leads to various possibilities..." Jiang Yuan stared nkly ahead at the system panel in front of him. Mission: Trace of the Wild Goose Mission Content: Crimes won¡¯t just simply vanish, and bodies can¡¯t be easily buried. Find the buried bodies, seek justice for them, and bring peace to their families. Mission Progress: (2/X) Mission Reward: Forensic Sketch (LV1) The moment he received the skill, Jiang Yuan turned it over in his mind and tried out the skill in the air with his hands. He had previously obtained a level 2 sketch, but obviously, although the level 2 sketch might seem like aprehensive upgrade from the Forensic Sketch (LV1) based on the Chinese name, there was a difference. The main distinction was probably that the forensic sketch involved some dynamic conjectures. After all, forensic sketching is not really about drawing the image or form of the corpse in front of you¡ªthat can be solved with a photo. Forensic sketching is about seeing the body and drawing what the victim looked like before death. Within this, there can be very simple conjectures, or it may involveplex judgments like the determination of the cause of death, autopsy techniques, and anatomical features. However, Jiang Yuan had never received a level 1 skill before, and its low level made him reminisce about Wang Zhong. "Jiang Yuan," Xu Taining called out and handed him a bottle of water, saying, "Do we need to adjust our search n?" "I¡¯m afraid we need to include the air-raid shelters in our scope of consideration," Jiang Yuan turned off the system interface and came back to reality. It was a clear oversight, also because most of them hade from Shan Nan and had no concept of Beijing¡¯s air-raid shelters and defense system. Though they didn¡¯t know the exact scale, if needed, Ningtai County¡¯s air-raid shelters could more than amodate its entire poption. And with such arge scale, regardless of how strict management might be, in reality, it wasn¡¯t possible to manage it thoroughly. Xu Taining shook his head; he actually knew this would be the oue and could only say, "Then the n must be redone, and the budget rewritten." Jiang Yuan chuckled. I¡¯m the forensic doctor; these matters aren¡¯t my concern. Xu Taining¡¯s gaze moved past Jiang Yuan,nding on Tao Lu. Tao Lu¡¯s skin tightened all over. The atmosphere in the meeting room resembled a forest before a thunderstorm, all the members bing tense. The subordinates were all shrinking into themselves at this moment, with Liu Cheng speaking up for Tao Lu, baring his teeth and saying, "Director Xu, are you really going nuclear?" "What do you mean?" Xu Taining nced at Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng swallowed and said, "We don¡¯t even know if the target is dead or alive, and you¡¯re hitting us with indiscriminate demands. Stop harping on about budget and funds all the time and get moving first." What Liu Cheng really wanted to say was that throughout thousands of years of human history, people like you who start by outright killing their own leaders are akin to nuclear weapons. Xu Taining just shrugged nonchntly and replied, "Before moving the troops, provisions must go first; all this eating and consumption, where wouldn¡¯t money be needed? The n has changed, so naturally the budget must too. Charging in without a n or budget is irresponsible both to the mission and to therades involved in the work." Tao Lu¡¯s voice was much weaker now as he tentatively said, "Even so, the original budget period hasn¡¯t even ended yet. Can¡¯t we just use the previous budget for now, instead of considering an increase?" "The previous budget can be considered as the cost for searching the entire suburban area. Now that we¡¯ve added the underground section, are we supposed to abandon the above ground part? We can only proceed with both simultaneously. It¡¯s equivalent to a significant increase in the search area, hence the personnel will naturally need to increase, and logistics support andmand systems must be upgraded ordingly..." Xu Taining was serious andpelling as he argued for the budget. Tao Lu licked his lips and nced at the officers on both sides of the conference table. No matter how lively the discussion among the police officers was just a moment ago, now they all appeared as silent as cicadas in winter. The scene was like a group of sixth-grade big kids, each over 1.8 meters tall and weighing more than a hundred kilograms, in the middle of whom entered a nurse with a syringe. The needle isn¡¯t thick; it can¡¯t kill, but it hurts. The key point is, Xu Taining¡¯s argument makes sense! It¡¯s like everyone is afraid of injections because they really work, they are really necessary. Yet, they are also painfully so. If the investigation has to be intensified, how could it be possible without increasing the budget and manpower expenses? Tao Lu understood this without needing Xu Taining to say it again. However, understanding is one thing; actually pushing this matter forward made Tao Lu feel the pinch. Not to mention, the remaining funds for the Criminal Police Team were not plentiful, and this money was originally overspent... "I¡¯m going back to review the videos," Jiang Yuan decided his part in the meeting had concluded and stood up, ready to leave. Upon hearing this, Tao suddenly remembered the bodies Jiang Yuan had spotted while watching the videos, unconsciously reaching out, wanting to grasp onto something. But he couldn¡¯t hold on to Jiang Yuan. He could only watch as Jiang Yuan left the meeting room. Xu Taining also stood up, saying, "I¡¯m going to get prepared. As for the budget, it must be updated in a timely manner. Otherwise, if the investigation is interrupted halfway through and has to be restarted, the cost will be much higher." This was one of Xu Taining¡¯s usual "cunning tactics," and with such a move, none of the units involved in the investigation dared to do otherwise. If you don¡¯t have the money ready, it¡¯s going to cost you even more! Just ask yourself if that scares you. Of course, one could stubbornly give up on the investigation. But the decision to investigate was not made on a whim; there was a genuine need. Ultimately, Xu Taining was there to assist, not to collect debts. Which unit could really afford to let Xu Taining run their operations on credit? They needed to be able to continue functioning. "Tao, we should also... head out," Liu Cheng saw that the situation was not looking good and quickly made his exit. There was no need to mention Liu Jinghui and the others from Shan Nan; they stood up, said their goodbyes, and left. In the end, only Tao Lu was left. He picked up his phone and dialed Chu¡¯s number: "Director Chu, the gun case over here is pretty much wrapped up... Yes, yes, that¡¯s right. Regarding Zhang Lizhen¡¯s case, I also wanted to report to you. Considering some of the issues rted to the gun case, we feel that we need to include air-raid shelters in the investigation scope..." Tao Lu spoke gently and softly, as if he were caressing Director Chu¡¯s ego, slowly building up his point: "Yes, the air-raid shelters, they really could be exploited by some organizations... Right, it seems we should expand the scope, and the budget might need to be adjusted to cover the whole city... Exactly, so with that in mind, in terms of expenses..." Beep beep beep beep. Tao Lu looked at the hung-up phone without feeling upset. Although Director Chu was much higher in rank than him, Director Chu had his own difficulties and temper to vent. Tao Lu could wait. Chapter 797 - 740 Suck

Chapter 797: Chapter 740 Suck

The wilderness breeze, blowing gently, prated deep into the forest, deep into the air-raid shelters, eliciting their intive wails, stirring the trembling leaves, sweeping the dampness in and out of the shelters... The heavy door of the air-raid shelter was pulled open, and squad after squad of riflemen entered in single file, proceeding to search in turn. Dogs, life detection devices, and other equipment were also distributed methodically. This time, too many elements were involved: there were standard-issue rifles, civil defense works, and the potential involvement of fringe sect members. Coupled with insufficient manpower, Director Chu simply called in the riflemen. Even though the means by which the three teenagers obtained the firearms was questionable and did not necessarily mean that fringe sect members could replicate it, the fact that a gun of considerable size had just been discovered in a solved case, along with over 600 remaining bullets, meant that to say there wasn¡¯t any worry at all would be unconvincing. Being a bureau chief, even if one can¡¯t provide the same food and clothing as the lowest-ranking soldiers, nor be without ceremonial mats... it is also very necessary to reduce the chances of casualties. In an environment like an air-raid shelter, if a group entered without rifles and then encountered a heavily fanatical member armed with a Type 56 carbine, the consequences would be unthinkable. Qi Changye waited with Tao Lu at the assembly area for news. This round of inspections inevitably required his and the headquarters¡¯ involvement; it was just that the murder case that had emerged in the middle had somewhat disrupted the rhythm of Qi Changye and the others. "Has Captain Jiang arrived?" Qi Changye looked at the moving markers on the map, feeling no sense of relief. "He¡¯s here, working on theputer in the car, probablyparing fingerprints or something," someone in the know reported. "Good that Captain Jiang is here," Qi Changye nodded slightly, feeling less anxious. How difficult a city-wide inspection could be, Qi Changye had more experience than Tao Lu. This thankless task was one that nobody wanted to take on, so when Jiang Yuan suggested getting Xu Taining involved, there was practically no resistance. The same was true now. In theory, if Xu Taining actually proposed any excessive conditions, the Beijing Bureau had plenty of top figures ready to take over. But no one stepped up, because having others oversee the inspection would either cost more or carry too high a risk of failure. No one wanted to choose thetter, so greater expense was the only answer. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities were prating. Qi Changye knew many high-level forensic professionals, and the institutes in Beijing were prestigious ces with many years of history. But in terms of trust¡ªQi Changye trusted Jiang Yuan more, whom he had only known for a short time. His methods and efficiency in solving cases were things Qi Changye felt he had seen before and yet had not. There¡¯s a saying in the world that the stranger the weapon, the faster the death, and Qi Changye felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s set of weapons and techniques were truly capable of cleansing the underworld. Perhaps in a few years, or even just one or two, once people in the underworld became familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s new weapons and new methods, his edge might diminish, but until then, Jiang Yuan was definitely the sharp end of a de. "I¡¯m going to check on Captain Jiang." After waiting awhile, Qi Changye reported to Tao Lu and then headed toward the Coaster in the corner of the parking lot. Apart from the vehicle Jiang Yuan was in, there were several cars from the forensic center, capable of performing some simple testing and examinations, mainly for collecting and storing investigative materials, transporting various pieces of evidence, and holding various equipment and devices. "Captain Jiang?" Qi Changye shouted, pausing to look around. Squeak. As a bus door opened, Mu Zhiyang waved and called out, "Captain Qi, over here, need something?" "Just wanted to have a chat with your Jiang Yuan," Qi Changye responded with a smile. "Just you?" "Yeah." Qi Changye was a bit puzzled; did wanting to see Jiang Yuan require registering the number of people now? At that moment, Mu Zhiyang beckoned and led Qi Changye onto the bus, then immediately closed the door. Once inside, Qi Changye immediately sensed something was amiss. Whoosh whoosh whoosh. The bus was filled with the quiet yet noisy sounds of slurping noodles. Upon closer inspection, a group of disheveled men surrounded a transport corpse rack, each with arge bowl of noodles in front of them, slurping away so furiously that when someone came in, they just nced up and continued eating without further attention. "What is this?" Qi Changye was puzzled. "We¡¯re just having a meal, the guys who¡¯ve been up all night," exined Zhan Kan, as the others were preupied with their bowls: "We don¡¯t need daylight for the air-raid shelter, so it¡¯s a 24-hour search. The boxed meals at night are unappetizing, so everyone turned to Jiang Yuan for food." Naturally, those who coulde to Jiang Yuan for food werergely members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, plus Zhan Kan¡¯s sort of disciples and followers. It was only then that Qi Changyepletely understood, looking at the transport corpse rack that was typically used for bodies, and asked, "So Captain Jiang has to take care of your midnight snacks too... What¡¯s that you¡¯re eating? It smells quite good?" "Spicy oil,rge intestines,mb, and beef stew noodles," Mu Zhiyang returned, found his bowl, and resumed his vigorous slurping. Qi Changye was taken aback: "What?" "Boil the noodles, scoop a fewdles of beef broth, add chunks of beef, slices ofmb,rge intestines, then a spoon of spicy oil, and drizzle some vinegar if you like, and you¡¯re done," exined Mu Zhiyang as he took another big slurp. "Captain Qi, have a bowl," one of the skills Jiang Yuan inherited from his father was the knack for feeding people. Before Qi Changye could refuse, Shen Yaowei swiftlydled out arge bowl of noodle soup for him. The red oil, the reddish-brown meat, the noodles emerging at the surface¡ªthe sight caused a ripple, and the steamy heat rushed towards him. Qi Changye took a deep breath, the rich, fatty aroma of the beef soup tantalizing him into salivation. "Then I¡¯ll have a bit," Qi Changye¡¯s throat moved as he spoke and, decisively taking the bowl, looked around before cing it on the corpse table. Actually, when eating noodles, this spot was quite appropriate. "The table has been cleaned several times; the amount of bacteria is probably only one ten-thousandth of what¡¯s in a restaurant," Shen Yaowei said with a smile, as if lifting a seal for Qi Changye. Qi Changye looked somewhat reassured. He took a sip of the soup, squinting with delight. Mu Zhiyang, slurping his noodles, raised his head and said, "Even though there¡¯s only one ten-thousandth of the bacteria, they are descendants of some badass bacteria that have seen and tasted a lot." "So were our ancestors," Qi Changye was already sipping the soup, undisturbed by Mu Zhiyang, blowing on it a bit then taking another two sips. The strong beef vor, with a hint of pepper and a touch of spicy red oil to enhance the taste¡ªthere was nothing particrly special about it, it was just the most consistently delicious beef broth. inly delicious, but in such a remote and deste ce, having such a bowl of soup brought its own kind of happiness by contrast. The pork intestines were tender, themb was fresh and soft, the beef rich, the noodles chewy... Qi Changye quickly became engulfed in the world of noodle soup, simply bowing his head and eating vigorously. Gulping sounds... All around the corpse table, there was the sound of slurping noodles. After a while. Qi Changye put down his empty bowl, wiped his mouth, and upon looking around, noticed that some had already started on their second bowl. Qi Changye wasn¡¯t that hungry. Unlike the regr police officers who would stay in the mountains all day, he could usuallye down and do other things, sneaking in a bit of food here and there was not a problem. After cleaning his mouth, Qi Changye cleared his throat and said, "Captain Jiang, I heard you were watching the drone footage?" "Yes, just happen to have some spare time today." "Since you¡¯re looking at drone videos anyway, how about I give you an area to try watching?" Qi Changye moved closer and whispered. "You¡¯ll have to ask Commissioner Huang, and besides, it¡¯s not certain yet if we can spare the time from the cases here," Jiang Yuan said, turning to look behind him. From the shadows, Huang Qiangmin emerged with a 66.6-degree smile on his lips: "What kind of case is it?" Commissioner Huang¡¯s voice was quite amiable, his teeth shining and pointy. Licking his lips, Qi Changye chose his words carefully, "Well, actually it¡¯s a simple case. We had a special situation of a missing person back in the day, and I suspect they were buried." What Qi Changye described as simple sent chills down one¡¯s spine. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s lips twitched twice. He sighed and said, "Send me some information, and I¡¯ll take a look." "I¡¯ll show you the dossierter," Qi Changye was eager, and after a pause, added, "Probably in the next couple of days." "These next few days are going to be busy," Huang Qiangmin said, and then asked, "Do you have any new information?" Jiang Yuan also looked toward Qi Changye. "There are only so many bunkers, actually easier to investigate than the mountains. People can¡¯t really live in the darkness, so, the bunkers that are truly habitable are few, maybe with some camouge at most. If this group really chose such a ce to live, a search of this scale will quickly yield results," Qi Changye spoke with earnest assurance. "Makes sense." Everyone around, having slurped up the noodles, nodded in agreement one after another. Qi Changye took the opportunity to look around and saw that the faces buried in their bowls just moments ago were all familiar: "Eh, Cui Da, Hu Da? Li... you guys are here too?" "Just here for a meal," those whose names were called outughed and casually greeted. Before Qi Changye could say anything else, his phone rang. After a few words, Qi Changye put away his phone and said solemnly, "Director Xu is calling up the troops." "Is there a discovery?" Jiang Yuan knew Xu Taining would not use the standby force lightly. Qi Changye saw there were many people in the car, cleared his throat twice but didn¡¯t answer, "I¡¯ll go over first, and you also be careful with the secrecy." With that, Qi Changye got out of the car. Soon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang as well. Xu Taining¡¯s voice came through clearly, "We¡¯ve found a grave pit with at least six bodies. The living have been trapped and are still resisting, fortunately without any casualties. How many people are there exactly, we do not yet know!" Chapter 798 - 741 The Corpse Jungle

Chapter 798: Chapter 741 The Corpse Jungle

The air-raid shelter where the body was discovered was located in the distant eastern suburbs, far from the hustle and bustle. Here, amidst birdsong and fragrant flowers, there were also twone asphalt roads; here, amidst dense forests of towering trees, there were neatly manicuredwns and old-fashioned buildings; here, high walls were paired with vignt surveince, as well as sturdy civil defense facilities and expansive spaces. By the time Jiang Yuan arrived at his destination, not only were police cars parked in front of the "Jianxing Crystal Green Food Co., Ltd.", but there was also an armored vehicle equipped with two small, slender, long barrels that did not resemble cannons, agilely swiveling about. "So, our initial thoughts were not wrong¡ªthe opponent not only has an isted building in the suburbs but also, as before, it is surrounded by walls and monitored," Jiang Yuanmented with some surprise as he got out of the car. In fact, it wasn¡¯t surprising after giving it some thought. Although they might have moved in a bit of a hurry, the venue they moved to must have been prepared in advance. Even if it wasn¡¯t ready at the time, it now met their original needs. The buildings they produced looked simr to before and had excellent security measures, both inside and out, all the while being removed from others¡¯ prying eyes. Liu Jinghui got into the car halfway, and as they approached the factory together, he too couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit helpless: "This factory must have been marked for attention. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t conspicuous before, and only after adding the air-raid shelter element did ite to light. However, being sated on the eighth cookie doesn¡¯t mean the others were eaten in vain..." "That¡¯s the idea," Jiang Yuan knew he was talking about the investigation. At this time, Xu Taining also came over and nodded to the two men, saying, "This ce used to be a repair shop, specially built in the mountains as a bomb shelter. Later it transformed to produce several different things, all hanging by a thread. At its peak, it had hundreds of workers, primarily to solve employment issues. A few years ago, the property rights were rified, and it was sold to a private owner." Xu Taining pointed towards the gate and continued, "They imed to be making food, obtained the certification, and said they were using the existing air-raid shelter for cold storage, growing mushrooms. Since the year beforest, they¡¯ve been building it, though actual production and sales were close to none, but continuous supplies were being procured." "Under the guise of constructing a factory?" Liu Jinghui understood immediately upon hearing. "Yeah, it¡¯s basically the same drill as those involved in religious activities," Xu Taining said, taking a deep breath. "Logically, this building meets the investigation criteria, but it has always evaded detection. When the officers responsible for the investigation came here, they would hide people inside the air-raid shelter until they started to check the shelters and finally caught them all at once." Without initial suspicion and verification, it wouldn¡¯t have been possible to uncover it during the air-raid shelter search," Liu Jinghui sympathetically helped exin for Xu Taining. Xu Taining grunted in agreement: "They can¡¯t run, just a matter of which round they¡¯re caught in." After all, this was a factory under normal construction, with very strong concealment capabilities. Moreover, the factory had umted a veryplete set of elements, simr to the structures of the residences previously discovered. It was built just outside an air-raid shelter, where the shelter¡¯s main gate adjoined thepound wall, which also had a separate small door for entry and exit. Given its current state, if Xu Taining¡¯s first round of investigation yielded no results, the second round would have thoroughly checked it. However, the fact that it wasn¡¯t included in the first round distressed Xu Taining, even making him feel a little humiliated: "I just didn¡¯t expect it to be so brazen, with all its licenses in order, especially being in an unfamiliar area..." Liu Jinghui patted Xu Taining with a smile,forting him, "Add it up, and it¡¯s only been a few days, and less than half the funds have been used, right? If the people from the Beijing Bureau were to do it, it would have cost several times more. Besides, investigation is like sifting through a sieve. There¡¯s no way one pass suffices to produce a finished product; that would just mean the sieve is too fine." Xu Taining felt cheered up by these words, waved his hand and said, "You don¡¯t need tofort me. We¡¯ve got results from the investigation, and it¡¯s full of ¡¯should have knowns¡¯ and ¡¯what ifs¡¯. Go see the body. Now that we have experience, next time, we¡¯ll handle it." It wasn¡¯t just the body; the people from the factory were also hiding deep within the air-raid shelter, putting up resistance. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan went inside first. The body was also inside the air-raid shelter. Guided by a police officer who had arrived earlier, the two of them entered through the dormitory building of the factory, passed through a courtyard covered with a ck canopy, and then went into a row of bungalows close to the mountain, which was already connected to the air-raid shelter. The entrance to the air-raid shelter was somewhat narrow, leading to a gathering hall of about a hundred square meters, which then branched into several functional areas. At that moment, the gathering hall was fortified like a battlefield, tightly locking down the two roads on the east side. A few police officers were discussing in hushed voices near the road entrance on the west side. As they got closer, they could hear people whispering: "To think that such a ce could be uncovered. I heard they insisted on seeing the air-raid shelter and then they found it. The locals really know their way around." "Actually, we should be more like the locals. If we¡¯re going to search, we should do a thorough search. We just look at their documents and if everything seems in order, we leave, which is just like doing nothing. The ces people don¡¯t want us to see are exactly the ces we should be looking." "That¡¯s why I say they have their own ways. If we did things like this, we¡¯d be swamped withints." "I heard that the first time they also just checked the documents and left. It was the air-raid shelter that was linked this time, and they insisted on getting in." "Xu Taining is really putting on the pressure. Only he would conduct so many spot checks and review so many bodycam recordings. It¡¯s not something ordinary people can do." Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t expected there would be people discussing Xu Taining here. After listening for a while, they felt it was inappropriate to eavesdrop any longer and pretended to cough twice. "Captain Jiang." "Director Liu." The officers from the Zhengguang Bureau recognized them at a nce and exchanged smiles with no embarrassment about their discussion on the people from Shan Nan. "Are the bodies inside?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Yes, nothing has been moved. Tao has specifically said to wait until Jiang Yuan has seen them to decide," said an officer. "Thank you," Jiang Yuan said, not further prolonging the conversation. He started putting on protective gear at the entrance before entering the shelter. The ce seemed to have once been a storeroom or something simr, with a row of structures resembling bay windows along one wall where four skeletons were now sitting. Below the windows were four jars, and it was clear that they contained bones. In addition to this, there was a pile of bones in the corner of the room, with two skulls ced on opposite sides of the pile. Now Jiang Yuan understood why they said there were at least six bodies, for there were undoubtedly six skulls. A well-known fact is that a person can lose four long bones or take a few extra ribs for some religious reasons without it being fatal, so it¡¯s not certain death. However, if someone loses their head, current technology has no remedy for that. "Is this some kind of religious ritual?" Jiang Yuan examined each bone one by one. "Whatever it is, it¡¯s not legitimate," Liu Jinghui sighed and said, "With so many bodies, this is quite a serious matter. There must be more than six, right?" Jiang Yuan nodded, "Don¡¯t know what¡¯s inside the jars yet, but from a rough look, there are at least seven bodies. There are quite a few extra bones over here, but..." "But what?" Liu Jinghui tensed with uncertainty. "Of these four bodies up here, at least two suffered from bone cancer before they died, and they had treatment. Judging by the spread, these patients didn¡¯t need to be killed¡ªthey could die at any time, and they would need to be well taken care of," Jiang Yuan directed Mu Zhiyang to take some photos and continued, "The bone quality is basically shot. At this stage, the patient couldn¡¯t be without painkillers, and even during medication, they would be in so much pain that it would be very difficult for them to stay conscious." Liu Jinghui was not surprised; instead, he felt a sense of relief, "Nothing special then, just another case of exploiting severe illness and death. So, it looks like the skeletons in this room fall into different categories." "Not just the skeletons in the room," Tao Lu, having heard of their arrival, came over on purpose and stood at the entrance, "More bodies have been found in the factory area." Chapter 799 - 742: The Health Bureau

Chapter 799: Chapter 742: The Health Bureau

The single-story factory building, standing over a dozen meters high, still maintained the divisions from forty years ago. The walls had been thoroughly cleaned, and decorative brickwork at the top aided venttion. The factory had been emptied, with hardly any manufacturing equipment in sight. The floors and walls, however, were very clean, seemingly with traces of recent renovation. A fewrge jars were piled together, most covered in dust, while a few had been used for pickling vegetables or simr purposes. In a corner of the factory, where the earthy floor had been dug up, one could see a series of bodiesid out in a row, totaling eight in number. Just counting them shook Jiang Yuan and his colleagues deeply. Mu Zhiyang, with practiced ttery, said, "Worthy of Beijing." "We¡¯re starting at fifteen bodies, and with Zhang Lizhen¡¯s, that makes sixteen," Liu Jinghui calcted, furrowing his brows and whispering so only a few could hear, "It doesn¡¯t add up. Burying bodies here is much safer than dumping them in water. The skills demonstrated before and after are too varied." With more people gathering around the bodies, Liu Jinghui hurried to remind Jiang Yuan to avoid any judgment errors. Jiang Yuan, standing still, likewise whispered, "Was Zhang Lizhen¡¯s body the beginning, and this here an evolved pattern?" "Then the gap in between is a bit too wide. From my understanding, there should be an intermediate form," Liu Jinghui said, then quickly added, "Don¡¯t mention this point first; it might lead to misunderstandings. With the number of bodies now, it¡¯s likely to make everyone very sensitive." Jiang Yuan gave an "mm" in acknowledgement and then stepped forward. "Jiang Yuan is here; these are the newly unearthed ones," said the leading military officer from the armed forces group, with an assistant bureau chief in charge ofmunications stepping forward and adding, "So far we have arrested five people, and they have just confessed to the location where the bodies were buried. Whether there are more and what the specifics are, we still are mostly in the dark." A brief statement, stressing the uncertainty. Liu Jinghui repeated, "Was it the suspects who confessed? Did they confess to just this one spot?" "This is where the bodies are buried." "The people who buried the bodies here, do they have any particr identity? How are they different from the ones in the air-raid shelter?" "Oh, they were performing a ritual of scavenging bones. That is, they would bury for a while, interring in the ground, then after three to five years, they¡¯d dig them up again to retrieve the skeletons and orderly ce them into porcin jars or something simr..." In fact, there was no need for utter rity; as soon as the assistant bureau chief mentioned scavenging bones, several individuals understood. In domestic terms, in ces like Guangxi, the reason for the special forces-style grave visits is because of the bone-collecting burial ritual. Unlike here, they choose locations with exceptionally good feng shui the second time they bury, which tends to be inconveniently essible, thus requiring climbing mountains and crossing rivers. Also, it¡¯s the bone-collecting burial that allows them to choose secluded mountainous areas. Otherwise, carrying a coffin and such would be too difficult and expensive. Mu Zhiyang suddenly realized, "So, those few porcin jars we found in the cave had the collected bones inside?" "Add four, we¡¯re at twenty now," Liu Jinghui meant to count the bodies found in the porcin jars. The assistant bureau chief nodded, "However, ording to the suspects, those buried here and in the cave were generally devout believers who had suffered severe illnesses. Ah, ¡¯believers¡¯ is their exact word." Jiang Yuan listened to their conversation while moving forward to inspect the bodies. Compared with the skeletons in the air-raid shelter, these half-dposed bodies were far more amodating. In fact, skeletonized bodies pose a major challenge to any forensic doctor; even for Jiang Yuan, this was the case. While skeletons can reveal certain information, they inevitably provide limited feedback. Without stating the obvious, a body with flesh and intact bones theoretically offers much more information to the forensic doctor. For all criminal science professionals, time is an eternal adversary. Time is truly subtle in its impact, gradually erasing traces. The amount of information lost as a body goes from fresh to decayed, and finally to skeletonized, is immense. Jiang Yuan started by observing each body carefully without touching any. After examining all eight bodies, he chose a few and directly checked the neck area. Quickly standing up straight, Jiang Yuan said, "From what I can see at the moment, at least four of these eight people died of mechanical asphyxiation." "Strangled?" Liu Jinghui quickly caught on. "Yes, the method was rather brutal, with virtually no attempt to conceal it. All four individuals had fractured hyoid bones," Jiang Yuan said as he removed his gloves. "They were probably strangled directly with hands." Anyone intending tomit murder could learn from a little research that there are numerous sub-techniques to inducing asphyxiation. Of these, the most severe involves using a rope, which a Jiajing pce maiden employed, but her nervousness led to tying a knot too tight, resulting in a sentence to be executed by dismemberment. However, in terms ofbat effectiveness, even a delicate pce maiden could use this method to kill a middle-aged man, indicating a very high degree of lethality. Then, using a hard object to strangle or strangling with hands both require significant strength from the perpetrator, leading to severe traces. Some victims even bear the fingerprints of the murderer on their necks. The method with the least traces would usually be suffocation with a pillow, but this requires a difference in strength between the parties involved, typically a man killing a woman or a younger person killing an elderly individual. The biggest advantage of this method is that it¡¯s less likely to cause fractures to the hyoid bone, which makes it more conceble. For a Level 1 forensic doctor, this presents a basic level of difficulty. A Level 1.5 forensic doctor should be able to handle such a body more easily. Jiang Yuan mentioned "extremely brutal" specifically because of this point. The victims here are mostly the elderly or those who are weak and sick. Even though one could use more covert methods to kill, the perpetrator tantly strangled them instead. If this caused a fracture in the hyoid bone, even if the body became skeletal, it could still be detected upon examination. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan was inclined to go back and check the bodies in the air-raid shelter again, where even the seated corpses would likely be missing bones, and something like the hyoid bone might have to be searched for amongst a pile of bones underneath. Liu Jinghui also understood what Jiang Yuan meant and took out his notebook to record, saying, "If four people were murdered, then it¡¯s actually simple. With the other bodies, they probably didn¡¯t bother to conceal them too much." "That¡¯s possible." Liu Jinghui wrote a few sentences in his notebook, then added, "This case is probably going to explode at the prosecutor¡¯s office." Once submitted for prosecution, the murderer had to be clearly identified, including who killed whom and how it was done, all of which had to be reflected in the case file. For the prosecutor, the massive amount of bodies and individuals involved in this case would inevitably lead to a huge amount of paperwork and evidence, just thinking about it was enough to give them a headache. Jiang Yuan then called Tao Lu to report the preliminary autopsy results on his end. After hanging up, he said to Mu Zhiyang, "Call a few more people over to help move the bodies. We¡¯re going to be busyte into the night again." The eight buried bodies might be simpler to autopsy, but extracting them from the ground would require much more work. The main objective was to dig out all the bodies without mixing any up or leaving any behind. When a forensic doctor does this work, the level of detail must exceed that of the person who buried the bodies, meaning the amount of excavation is only ever greater, never less. If Jiang Yuan had to dig up these eight bodies alone, by the time he finished, it would likely be next week. This is why the forensic doctors in smaller towns often need the help of criminal investigators. With only one or two forensic doctors in a town, they can get overwhelmed when faced with multiple bodies. Beijing is different. In Beijing, no matter how many people die in a single room, the autopsy center can handle it. Soon, Zeng Lianrong personally led a team, bringing over a dozen forensic doctors and assistants to help. Meanwhile, the work inside the air-raid shelter entered a new phase, as the white-shirted individuals kept moving in and out, finally managing to max out their workload. "What¡¯s our procedure?" Zeng Lianrong, a pure forensic doctor, didn¡¯t even bother to look inside the air-raid shelter, focusing all his attention on the bodies. "Transport all the remains back. Collect all the evidence, then we¡¯ll all head back to piece the bones together," said Jiang Yuan sinctly. A group of forensic doctors got dressed on site, called over some criminal investigators to assist, and began the arduous work of unearthing, bagging bodies, collecting entire families of insects, and transporting soil... Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, went inside the body cavity in the air-raid shelter, collecting and examining bodies. Picking through bones was certainly lighter workpared to the physically demanding task of digging bodies out of the ground. Zeng Lianrong, being of an older generation, also wasn¡¯t interested in digging up bodies. He wandered inside and, seeing Jiang Yuan with a kindred spirit, couldn¡¯t help but smile, intending to help. At that moment, Jiang Yuan took a few bones that hadn¡¯t been put in a body bag, had them photographed, and said to Zhan Kan behind him, "Take note, there are defensive wounds here. Designate it as air-raid shelter murder case 1." Zeng Lianrong rubbed his eyes and looked closely at the forearm bones on the table, and after carefully examining the slight fracture andparing its location, he indeed thought they resembled defensive wounds. "Was the victim beaten to such an extent to cause this wound?" Zeng Lianrong conjectured instinctively. Jiang Yuan replied, "It¡¯s possible they just blocked a hit. Air-raid shelter murder case 1 is also a cancer patient, with severely reduced bone mass and very brittle bones... Of course, it could also be an idental injury, but in this environment, ssifying it as a defensive injury, nine times out of ten, won¡¯t wrong anyone." Zeng Lianrong nodded in agreement, and without saying more, he stopped handling the bones. Normally, the bones should be taken back to the autopsy center for thorough examination, but Jiang Yuan had already sorted and ssified them with just a nce... Zeng Lianrong had nothing to say. While he was contemting this, Jiang Yuan swiftly packed a pile of bones into a box, then picked up an ankle bone, saying, "Sports injury, there are signs of repeated fractures..." Then, looking at the corresponding bones again, he added, "Looks like it could be a professional athlete." Determining whether a skeleton was that of a professional athlete or a sports enthusiast can be done in many ways, but none of them is entirely reliable. But Zeng Lianrong trusted Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t make such a judgment lightly and that it must have been a conclusion based on aprehensive look at a set of bones... Zeng Lianrong was interested in delving deeper and thought about how to inquire properly. Whoosh. Jiang Yuan moved aside anotherrge portion of remains, picked up a few more bones, and said, "Bones of corpse number 3 and corpse number 4 are mixed up, indicating they were excavated together." Zeng Lianrong, whose eyesight wasn¡¯t the best, strained to make out the small bones in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, but quickly gave up trying to identify them. The task of determining which bones belonged to which body was exceedingly challenging; Zeng Lianrong had seen people perform such tasks before, but those were more like showcase events... Now, as Zeng Lianrong contemted, he realized he was getting on in years. He¡¯d had a difficult journey to his current status and it suited him now to be a noble man of leisure, perhaps taking a stroll amid the scent of the dead to improve his health. Chapter 800 - 743 Corpse Wax

Chapter 800: Chapter 743 Corpse Wax

"Clear out the hall," Jiang Yuan instructed. "Take apart a few beds and bring them here. No need for autopsy tables, could you even move them? Just take the beds from the dormitory. Actually, forget the beds, we just need the bed boards. Also, bring some tables over to arrange alongside them." The Autopsy Center was bustling. As soon as Director Liu Jinghui heard the situation, he cheerfully abandoned his ns to celebrate the holiday with his wife and rushed to the Autopsy Center, first figuring out how to prepare beds for the bodies. Truth be told, even Beijing¡¯s Autopsy Centers were not prepared to normally amodate a group of twenty corpses. Setting aside the center¡¯s capacity, other bodies were currently being autopsied. Beyond the Zhengguang Bureau, there was a shift from district bureaus and various other units, as well as individuals, who all had needs. Luckily, most of the bodies were already skeletonized, so there was no need to worry about corpse fluids leaking out. Ordinary beddings would suffice for this task. In fact, it wasn¡¯t necessary toy all the corpses out for a normal autopsy, which is more of a plot device in TV dramas, seeking to provide a visual shock to attract viewers. But speaking of viewers, if audiences appreciate it, wouldn¡¯t leaders appreciate it too? For such a big case, there¡¯s a good chance leaders woulde to the scene and might even want to see the bodies. After all, leaders often share the same tastes as audiences; what viewers find cool, leaders usually do as well; and viewers whock knowledge,mon sense, understanding of the business, practical experience, and arezy to think or to reflect,fortable in ignorance¡ªso are some leaders. Liu Jinghui spread out the workspace in the first-floor hall. The artificial hill in therge water tank had been removed, and the water had been drained to a puddle where a group of fat fishy pitifully and fearfully before being taken away with the water tank to some office. Two tables ced together, topped with a bed board and covered with a stic sheet, now served as makeshift mortuary tables. Lined up neatly in rows and columns, they presented a rather chilling sight. Liu Jinghui just put up a couple of screens at the entrance to prevent anyone from identally wandering in and getting a scare. Why someone would inadvertently walk into the Autopsy Center was beyond him at that moment. Just as everything was about ready, the first batch of corpses arrived. "Dposing bodies go to the autopsy room; skeletons can be taken straight to the hall," Liu Jinghui directed with enthusiasm, arranging the cement of guests like a wedding nner at the reception. Every arrival was a guest, even though they were strangers, and one by one, they wereid out on the tables. Jiang Yuan followed with thest batch of fragmented bones. On the way, Jiang Yuan had already sorted the bones. Upon arrival at the Autopsy Center, Zhan Kan and others each carried arge box and entered. "These are the sifted ones," Zhan Kan said, setting down the box and gasping for breath. Bones were also not light. ording to China Medical University in Shenyang¡¯s past sampling and weighing, the average weight of a wet male skeleton was around 10 kilograms, and about 4.4 kilograms when dried. For females, it was 6.8 and 3.2 kilograms, respectively. Additionally, bones of males from the north were heavier than those from the south. Whenid out, the bones appeared fragile and delicate. Judging by the size, it was hard to imagine that such skeletal frames could carry over a hundred pounds of flesh, even up to two or three hundred pounds. "If we cany them out, then let¡¯s arrange them from head to toe," Jiang Yuan said, seeing that Liu Jinghui had prepared so thoroughly, and began organizing ordingly. It was necessary to do so. Not to mention anything else, starting from the skull andying the bones down to the toes involved over two hundred bones altogether. Even professional forensic doctors would need to pay close attention. Non-professionals¡ªreferring here to those still trapped in the air raid shelter¡ªwere highly unlikely to manage it. Therefore, after collecting the bones, although they had assembled something resembling skeletons, Jiang Yuan doubted whether the number of bones was correct or if they all belonged to the same person. Now, forensic doctors at the Autopsy Center started arranging the bones, with Jiang Yuan washing his hands and lending a hand. The main objective was to determine the cause of death of the bodies, as well as to analyze their origins and identities. At this point, the identity wasn¡¯t too important; these weren¡¯t nameless corpses in the wilderness. Even if they were used by fringe religious groups, most would still have records, or there would be some knowledge of their identities. Aparison could be madeter. So, the primary task at hand was to determine the cause of death. You couldn¡¯t expect the killer to confess; only by discovering the cause of death and determining whether it was homicide or an abnormal death did they have grounds for interrogation. On the bright side, the murderer wasn¡¯t too careful. Among the eight dposing corpses found earlier, four showed clear signs of strangtion, which suggested a rather casual approach. In reality, with the favorable conditions of a factory and the crime being a collective one, it would have been possible to opt for more targeted ways of killing and disposing of the bodies. Like... right? Though the killer had been sought after, evidence could still be easily found, but the difficulty and risk involved were vastly different. "This person was quite old, around 80, and also had metastasized bone cancer," Jiang Yuan said after inspecting another skeleton. He walked over to Liu Jinghui, who was taking notes, and added, "An 80-year-old cancer patient would probably have rtives around, wouldn¡¯t they? Where has the family gone?" "That¡¯s a good question," Liu Jinghui noted, tapping his notebook. "I was considering this too. There are basically four possibilities: they don¡¯t know, they know but don¡¯t care, they know and want to intervene but can¡¯t, or they¡¯re involved." "There are likely many rtives. Even if they knew but couldn¡¯t do anything, word would get out, wouldn¡¯t it?" Jiang Yuan suggested. "Actually, that¡¯s difficult to say," Liu Jinghui replied, exhaling before continuing, "These fringe cults can be quite patientpared to other money-making schemes. Plus, they are selective. You see an 80-year-old cancer patient, but they might have interfered in his life when he was 70." Jiang Yuan frowned as he listened, having indeed had very little contact with this kind of thing. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui smiled and said, "No problem, all the informed parties in this case are still here. Even if nobody in the cave is left alive, there are still five people arrested outside, and there may be more. We could get the information by questioning them." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile, "I thought you would use deduction." "They are a non-mainstream religious group; how could they act ording to conventional patterns?" Liu Jinghui also smiled. Jiang Yuan grinned, his mood rxing a lot. The current case, as terrifying andrge-scale as it seemed, was actually nearing its conclusion. As of now, the forensic doctors¡¯ main job was basically concluding the investigation, and the same was true for the criminal police. The search teams had also been promptly scaled back, and more tasks were falling to people like Tao Lu and others in white shirts. The forensic doctors in the hall seemed to feel this rxation too, gradually starting to chat more casually. Doing a puzzle with more than ten bodies was still a sizeable amount of work. It was not difficult to ce most bones in their correct positions, but one would indeed be embarrassed as a technician in the department if they ced anything incorrectly. Thus, it was only right to spend more time double-checking. Soon, bones were being carefully taken out from those fourrge urns. The bones from one urn were ced on a bed, and the puzzle process continued. Jiang Yuan naturally wandered over to look, and as he watched, he started picking up a bone himself. "This is corpse wax." Jiang Yuan pinched the long bone and scratched it with his hand. Oily, hard, and somewhat dry, the gray color confirmed without a doubt that it was corpse wax. Zhan Kan couldn¡¯t help bute over, curiously examining it. Corpse wax was not something forensic doctors saw often; theoretically, it was a derivative form developed during the dposition of a body, a substance made from the saponification of body fat. However, since the saponification process requires an anaerobic environment, it only urs in soil or water, and it¡¯s not guaranteed. Zhan Kan had seen many bodies, but he had not encountered corpse wax often. He asked, "Can I touch it?" "Go ahead," said Jiang Yuan, handing it over to Zhan Kan while picking up another bone with some corpse wax remnants. Zhan Kan felt it and observed, "It¡¯s slippery, really does feel like soap. It feels different from what I¡¯ve touched before." "Let me feel it," said a young forensic doctor from the neighboring table, who also wanted to try. Soon, several forensic doctors put down their work, changed their gloves, and came to look at the corpse wax. Those who had felt it before asked simr questions to what Zhan Kan had mentioned. Jiang Yuan had already been thinking, and after contemting for a moment, he said, "The difference could be due to two reasons. First, this corpse wax has been artificially cleaned. Because the presence of corpse wax suggests the body was better preserved, someone likely cleaned it, making it feel different, like scraped soap." Pausing for a moment, Jiang Yuan continued, "The second reason for the difference could be the conditions of formation. The corpse wax you¡¯ve encountered before was from bodies buried in soil, right?" "Yes," nodded Zhan Kan, and then he said in surprise, "This body was in water? How can you tell?" "It¡¯s hard to tell, but there are indeed differences, mainly in the degree of saponification..." Jiang Yuan briefly exined, and five minutes passed by. The surrounding forensic doctors quickly exhausted their mental energy. The issue of body saponification is a cutting-edge topic, still under research. Some conclusions have been reached, but the subject is not yet fully understood, and some conclusions remain doubtful. Thus, discussing and analyzing at this time was naturally very intricate because this field doesn¡¯t have direct indicators or clear standards. Liu Jinghui also stood nearby, but he didn¡¯t listen to Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical exnation. Instead, he pondered for a while, and when Jiang Yuan paused, Liu Jinghui asked, "Can we be sure that the body with corpse wax was submerged in water for a long time? Are all the bodies in these four urns from water?" "We can only confirm that the body with the corpse wax was immersed in water for a long time," Jiang Yuan answered, then added, "As for the other three, what the burial conditions were like at the time, if necessary, will require additional analysis." "So, these guys did sink bodies, at least some bodies, into the water," Liu Jinghui summed up, nced at Jiang Yuan, and then exined, "Zhang Lizhen¡¯s body floated in from the water, with dumbbells inside. The intention must have been to sink the body; otherwise, there would be no need for the dumbbells..." "Is submerging in water a transitional period?" Jiang Yuan was referring to the previous discussion with Liu Jinghui about the transition between overtly brutal body disposal techniques and more surreptitious ones. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Zhang Lizhen¡¯s case may have involved some idents. If they managed to retrieve all the submerged bodies to put into urns here, it indicates that the bodies were originally meant to be controlled... Should we call Tao? If we can¡¯t get anything from the interrogations here, it might be necessary for Xu to take action again." The exact burial locations of the bodies might not be easy to get out during the interrogation since the associated penalty could be death, and suspects confessing in hopes of leniency wouldn¡¯t do so just to find death. With precautions in mind, Jiang Yuan said, "You call Tao, and I¡¯ll talk to Director Huang again." Chapter 801 - 744: Breakthrough

Chapter 801: Chapter 744: Breakthrough

"Lu Zhi, you might need to get ready on your side too," Tao Lu whispered to themander of the long spear soldiers alongside him as he watched the police officer advance to negotiate again. Lu Zhi grunted in acknowledgment, "No problem here. Just make your decision, and we are ready to go into action at any time." "Let¡¯s opt for non-lethal weapons first, right?" Tao Lu confirmed. "We might still have undiscovered bodies, and we really need these suspects¡¯ testimonies." After receiving Liu Jinghui¡¯s call, Tao Lu had headed to the air-raid shelter immediately. Compared to reopening Xu Taining¡¯s case, he¡¯d rather be the first one in, wearing a bulletproof vest and rushing into the bunker. Funds weren¡¯t something you couldn¡¯t burn through, but after the burning, you had to leave some embers, right? If, as Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui had analyzed, they were to find another batch of bodies, considering theplexity of Beijing¡¯s water system, the cost would definitely surpass Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s investigative budget limit. Tao Lu could even imagine the scene when Xu Taining hired all the city¡¯s divers. The hourly fees would probably shoot up to the extent that he¡¯d consider diving in himself. Thus,pared to Xu Taining, Tao Lu hoped that these fringe religious followers could resolve their own issues¡ªlogically, this might be their only genuinely sessful attempt at solving a problem. Lu Zhi looked at Tao Lu and seriously said, "If we have enough time, it¡¯s possible. But it mainly depends on the resistance will of the other party. If their will to resist isn¡¯t that strong, we¡¯ll use tear gas, and you try psychologically persuading them to see if they¡¯d surrender. But if their will to resist is quite strong, I¡¯d advise against using tear gas and go straight for shock bombs." "Are shock bombs more effective?" Tao Lu asked. "It¡¯s about catching them off guard," Lu Zhi paused and said in a slightly lowered voice, "Firing a gun also requires mental preparation. Throw in a shock bomb, and our assault team can storm in immediately, just needing to control the armed individuals¡ª the main issue would be resolved." Controlling, naturally, included shooting to kill, though this option¡¯s risk was slightly higherpared to detaining everyone, Tao Lu could still ept it. "Then let¡¯s do as you suggest," Tao Lu quickly made a decision. This kind of environment required the involvement of long spear soldiers; although detectives were fine with making arrests, they were somewhat unreliable in a head-on confrontation. Needless to mention, detectives like Tao Lu, Cui Qishan, and Liu Cheng, all above the age of 35, were still employed as civil servants without the worry of beingid off; however, when speaking of physical fitness, they couldn¡¯tpare to long spear soldiers around the age of 20. The length and content of their training were fundamentally different. Lu Zhi didn¡¯t say much else and simply acknowledged, then began to organize his men. Although they were always ready, when it came time to enterbat, a proper pre-battle briefing was needed. Tao Lu turned and went back, first informed the negotiation specialists, then started donning his bulletproof vest and inserting ceramic tes. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t be among the first to rush in. That would merely interfere with the operation, but there were still risks involved with enteringter. The police were most concerned about explosives, followed by arson involving oxidizers. The moment either of these scenarios urred, no matter how the police responded, significant casualties were almost inevitable. The negotiation specialist, now fully equipped, stepped forward and started shouting: "Huang Jianzun... isn¡¯t it suffocating in there? How about we pump some oxygen in for you?" "Do you have any demands? Do you have enough medicine?" "How about some water for you?" While he shouted from the front, the stealthy long spear soldiers formed their lines. Standing in the second line, Tao Lu listened to the shouts ahead and whispered, "In the future, dealing with anyone surnamed Huang will need extra caution." Cui Qishan followed him, holding a newly issued gun, and said, "Being cautious won¡¯t make a difference; they won¡¯t sell for much." "It¡¯s not just about money," Tao Lu emphasized. "What is it about then?" "It¡¯s about you, kid, not getting into trouble with bodies all the time," Tao Lu nced back at Cui Qishan. I may not be able to control Huang Qiangmin, but can¡¯t I handle one of the unlucky guys under me? Cui Qishan only felt a cool sensation on his neck, quickly hunched his shoulders, and said quietly, "I didn¡¯t expect it either, and besides, wasn¡¯t it Jiang Yuan who found the body?" "The body Jiang Yuan found was a credit to him, but you are the one who attracted the body," Tao Lu directly defined him. Cui Qishan was speechless and said, "You are so biased that you favor people from other provinces. When ites to bad luck, I am the unluckiest, yet you stillpare me to Jiang Yuan. I can¡¯t outdo him. Does it still needparison? Everyone in Zhengguang Bureau cannot surpass him. Ah, in this world, there really is no one more unlucky than me..." Boom. A loud explosion was followed by a series of sts, leaving Cui Qishan and the others dizzy. The assault team ahead had already received an order and quickly charged through the opened door. Lu Zhi, clutching the walkie-talkie, also jogged over and said, "The other side had guns when they opened the door, so the assault team went straight in." Tao Lu was startled but soon realized. Although it was uncertain how many guns the people inside had, the meeting¡¯s analysis earlier had guessed that one or two guns were most likely. Even if they could obtain them through illegal means, the cost was not low. In the current domestic environment, they had no reason to hold many guns. Based on this assessment, seeing the armed person appear and directly charging was a very wise decision. But the risk was not small at all. Tao Lu nodded calmly, his ears perked, listening to the noises inside without speaking. Lu Zhi also gripped the walkie-talkie in silence. The sess of the operation was irrelevant now; unexpected incidents were an unavoidable risk... "They¡¯re all subdued!" Suddenly, a message came through the walkie-talkie from the front. Whew... Lu Zhi and others all let out a breath and then started smiling. Tao Lu, pulling a ceramic te from his chest, chuckled and said, "It¡¯s best not to fight desperately..." As they spoke, people inside began to walk out. The bunker¡¯s space was limited, but it at least ensured two officers escorting one suspect. At this stage of the case, manpower was purely in surplus. "Go and check the outside, keep everyone in separate detention, and prevent any chance of collusion on the way!" Tao Lu nced at Huang Jianzun, who seemed to be the chief suspect, without approaching to speak. From the moment of arrest, the sh between police and criminals had turned into a kind of undercover tug of war, especially in a case which might lead to the death penalty. Expecting the suspects to spill everything like an open bamboo tube was impossible, at least at the initial stage. How deep the interrogation could go, whether it could achieve the desired results, and how long it would take, all required attention to detail. "There are a total of 42 people inside," reported the captain of the assault team, his voice rxed. "Well done!" Tao Lu immediately followed with a cost-freepliment. As for whether 42 was a lot, it depended on how many were criminals, how many were murderers, and how many were victims caught up in the ordeal. "Let¡¯s go inside." Tao Lu waited until the suspects were taken out and then walked further inside. Passing through a long narrow corridor, they entered arger room, approximately four to five meters high and about 200 square meters in size. The room had floor tilesid down and the walls painted. Although there was still seepage, the room looked rtively normal. Around this room, there were several smaller rooms, making the inside look more like a normalrge apartment. What was slightly ufortable was the smell in the room, a strong human scent and the odor from the shock bombs, which lingered for a long time. Tao Lu looked around the corridor they had just passed and felt apprehensive. Then he wrinkled his nose and shook his head, "I don¡¯t know how these people could stand this smell." "They were living quitefortably," Liu Cheng, who had already looked through the other rooms, came out and said, pursing his lips, "The rooms inside are all themed rooms. This sect knows how to attract people." Chapter 802 - 745: Sunken Pond

Chapter 802: Chapter 745: Sunken Pond

Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t even fully examined the body when he was pulled back to the air raid shelter for an onsite inspection. At the same time, the arrested non-mainstream individuals were scrambling to confess, and this gradually evolved into a race to inform against others. Not everyone was implicated in blood, and those who confessed first were believers who considered themselves "deceived." Some didn¡¯t even need police motivation or policy preaching; they couldn¡¯t help but spill the beans. After Jiang Yuan arrived, Tang Jia, who had gotten there earlier, had already gathered information. Waiting at the entrance, she briefed him as they walked: "Captain Jiang, from what we¡¯ve seen so far, the factory building outside the air raid shelter is the main activity area for these people. The fourth floor of the office building has been converted for the exclusive use of the Sect Hierarch. Its decoration level is about the same as the second and third floors, and not much renovation has been done on the first floor to keep it under cover." "The second and third floors have reception rooms, public activity spaces, as well as a gym, restaurant kitchen, practice rooms, meditation rooms, recreational rooms, and so on. It¡¯s like a whole factory area, originally intended for the use of hundreds, now utilized by just a few dozen people." "The dormitory building is still maintained, but withmunal living as the mainstay. Only a few key members have individual rooms. They¡¯re small, around thirty to forty square meters with a bed and bathroom, about the size of a standard hotel room. They mainly emphasize group activities." "The exception is for believers with serious illnesses. If they¡¯re seriously ill, they get private rooms and then practice a certain technique invented by the Sect Hierarch. Once their virtue is fulfilled, a ceremony is held in the Hierarch¡¯s floor to bid them farewell. Afterward, the Hierarch announces they¡¯ve gone to the Western paradise, and everyone buries them. Eventually, they are exhumed and disyed, iming a sharing of virtue..." Tang Jia provided Jiang Yuan with a rough description of the cult¡¯s use of the factory space, to facilitate his judgment during the inspection. This information is still very meaningful for inspection. Just like if you see a balloon in an adult paraphernalia store, you can¡¯t simply consider it a five-cent balloon. Simrly, if you see a balloon in Disnend, you also can¡¯t assume it¡¯s just a five-cent balloon. By the same token, if you see a balloon at an altitude of thirty thousand meters in some country, you still can¡¯t dismiss it as just a five-cent balloon. Jiang Yuan listened as he walked and quickly made a decision to enter the air raid shelter for inspection. This was thest ce Huang Jianzun stayed and was rtively hidden. Jiang Yuan thought it was the most likely ce to yield results. As for other ces, that was left to the Zhengguang Bureau and the Beijing Bureau¡¯s other forensic staff to inspect. This time, the involved area was too vast; even if Jiang Yuan had three heads and six arms, he couldn¡¯t possibly inspect it all. Inside the air raid shelter. Several high-power electric fans were whirring, attempting to exchange the foul smell inside the ce. This wasn¡¯t for thefort of the inspection staff but for the convenience of theing police dogs. No matter how the suspects touted it, the core of the air raid shelter space was a ce for "mischief." Here there wererge amounts of drugs, anesthetics, adult paraphernalia, and daily necessities, among which there were certainly parts involved in crime. The task of the police dogs was to sniff them out. Of course, if there were bodies or bones or something in the shelter, they should be able to find them too. Tang Jia followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace, making records the entire time. And the most numerous pieces of evidence were the wealth of adult paraphernalia: sleeves, rings, eggs, sticks, plugs, whips, balls, mps, bindings, hoods, lubricants, tail candles, machines, electric shocks, ones with edges, points, hooks, spikes, threads, chains, moving, stationary, shaking, squirting, sucking, poking, prodding, plus those for binding, tightening, pulling, twisting, buttoning, clipping, squeezing, as well as strap-on and belt-style, heating, remote-controlled, pulse, and dual-stimtion. Sleeves with ultra-thin, t or textured, cold sensation, hot sensation, cooling and heating, orange-scented, clove-scented, thirteen-spice, colored, vibrating... (I have a brilliant punchline, but for fear of being called out for padding, I won¡¯t continue.) Several police officers, in coordination, took photos of these adult items, bagged them,beled them, and then boxed them up to be shipped out. Later, in court, these items would all serve as physical evidence. Many officers took advantage of the task of transporting items toe and witness this astonishing scene. "Their sleeves can be used for 30 years." "So much lube, they must be preparing to y until the end of the world." "Maybe they applied it over arger area?" Even with Tang Jia present, it didn¡¯t affect everyone¡¯s low-voiced discussions. After a while, Cui Qishan also rushed over. In theory, Cui Qishan was still the one who initiated the investigation on this case, it just quickly slipped out of his control, that¡¯s all. "You don¡¯t say, you really don¡¯t say, Huang Jianzun has some clever tricks up his sleeve," Cui Qishan remarked after inspecting the scene, clicking his tongue in admiration, "let alone old men in their sixties or seventies, using this test wouldn¡¯t work on officials either." "The body-cam is turned on," Jiang Yuan reminded him. "No problem, what we¡¯re discussing here illustrates the feasibility of his methods. To tell you the truth, in recent years, the number of elderly people caught soliciting prostitutes has been increasing. Elderly people have needs too, you know. If they can¡¯t get satisfaction at home and social welfare measures are not effective, isn¡¯t Huang Jianzun hitting right where it hurts?" Cui Qishan said, shaking his head. Tang Jia couldn¡¯t listen anymore and said, "Captain Cui, you can¡¯t just tar everyone with the same brush." "Of course, there are still less than 100 suspects involved, right? This shows that only a minority have these ideas,e into contact with them, and end up going through with them," Cui Qishan replied with a smile. Tang Jia shook her head and said, "There are a lot of cancer patients here, in thete stages of cancer, seriously ill, how could they possibly..." "There are basically note-stage cancer patients admitted here," Cui Qishan interrupted her, continuing, "Huang Jianzun only allows early and mid-stage cancer patients to make donations and move in, except for two who gave a lot of money. These people, nominally they are here for treatment, but in reality, it¡¯s both for their illness and for... satisfying life¡¯s regrets, you could say." "The Little Overlord learning machine tactic," Xiao Si chimed in, having arrived at some point to back up Cui Qishan, "Patients definitely want to get treated, just like kids obviously want to study well. But once they¡¯re really in, it¡¯s like the Little Overlord learning machine is switched on, and there¡¯s not much time that can truly be spent on studying. What ultimately prompts their decision is definitely not the learning capabilities of the machine." Tang Jia, a bit bewildered, asked just before Cui Qishan and Xiao Si could show their smiles, "What is the Little Overlord learning machine?" The smiles on Cui Qishan¡¯s and Xiao Si¡¯s faces instantly froze. "It¡¯s something called a learning machine, which is actually a gaming console... an early model of home gaming consoles. Games in the past... the games back then, you yed them with it," Xiao Si exined, his mood having dampened. Tang Jia then nodded, "So, the girls from ces like Zhang Lizhen and Zhanggang Vige aren¡¯t believers, but tools for entertaining the believers and maintaining the sect?" "At the beginning, it surely started like that, but how it developed afterward is up to the interrogation results," Cui Qishan put it simply, but wasn¡¯t optimistic about the oues, at least not for some of the people involved. Not to mention Huang Jianzun¡¯s setup was quite profitable, and his subordinates had made a good amount of money; the organization itself didn¡¯t allow dissenting voices. At the beginning, the girls might have had some room to negotiate, some right to haggle, but as time went on, especially after they came to this factory, their right to speak was undoubtedly diminished. Otherwise, the variety and quantity of the sex toys found in the bunker wouldn¡¯t be so extensive. Judging from the situation in the bunker, the environment was clearly unfriendly to the sex workers. If they truly had enough choice and freedom, logically, at least some of the girls would choose to leave. However, such things never happened. There was no news of Huang Jianzun spread around, but instead, the number of bodies in the factory kept increasing, and Zhang Lizhen¡¯s death was also full of violence. Jiang Yuan could guess some of it and shook his head, continuing with his work. Before long, Cui Qishan returned. "Captain Jiang, Tao just called. He couldn¡¯t get through to your phone," Cui Qishan exined, and then said, "The underwater bodies are confirmed. A team has been dispatched to verify." Jiang Yuan asked, "How many?" "We only have circumstantial evidence now. It¡¯s from the testimony of the driver. He ims he didn¡¯t do it personally but knew something was off. He helped transport bodies three times, at least three bodies." Chapter 803 - 746: Conclusion

Chapter 803: Chapter 746: Conclusion

Four corpses tied up, a thick column of water shot up high, gushing out of the dam. Tao Lu stood grimly by the shore of the small reservoir, staring silently at the vast blue water. The reason for finding this reservoir was simple: the rights to operate the reservoir belonged to the left protector of the illegal group. In fact, when they built their first set of mansions, it was with the strong support of this left protector and several of his disciples. During the investigation, those who knew about this situation naturally would not volunteer the information, amon problem during investigations. The depth of the inquiry was limited, and one could only obtain answers to the preset questions. To expand, especially for the investigators to take initiative, would require lowering the intensity of the inquiry. Thus, influential figures like Xu Taining would optimize the preset questions and even the intensity of investigations in different areas¡ªeven so, inquiries were just that, not truth serums, and it was hard to obtain answers to questions that hadn¡¯t previously been anticipated. The water level in the reservoir gradually fell, revealing construction debris and other objects at the bottom. A uniformed detective crouched on a tricycle, camera in hand, beginning to film the bottom of the water. Several corners of the reservoir were manned, but it wasn¡¯t possible to cover every area; they still needed the tricycle to make rounds. Because if there were more than one corpse below, they likely wouldn¡¯t be clustered together. "There¡¯s a box here!" Someone shouted, and the closest electric tricycle immediately headed over. The detective standing on the tricycle took a steady stance, looking as if he had been trained. However, seeing the cautious demeanor of the policeman driving the tricycle, Jiang Yuan suddenly understood the condition for using a three-wheeler. Years ago, when road conditions everywhere were poor, the three-wheeler was indeed a handy device. "Is it a box for holding corpses?" Jiang Yuan arrived and a policeman asked him. Jiang Yuan leaned forward for a look, the water had mostly drained, but the distance was still too great. He could only smile and shake his head, saying, "Can¡¯t tell. Let¡¯s go down and checkter." There was still a lot of water and silt at the bottom of the reservoir, now they had to rely on water pumps to drain it. About a dozen water pumps roared together, generating immense noise but not very efficient. However, it was much cheaper than using divers, and most importantly, it made the forensic doctors¡¯ work easier. If divers were to bring up the remains, not to mention whether all the remains would be retrieved, the environment for discarding the bodies would be ruined. Pumping was the best option, but if it was amon case with fewer deaths or arger body of water, they might have to resort to dredging. Soon, the water by the shore receded, and two forensic doctors were lowered down using ropes, sinking into the mud up to their buttocks. The two helped each other to pull their legs out, then moved to the nearest leather suitcase, took a look around, and then turned and shouted, "It¡¯s a corpse!" Their tone was slightly jubnt, which might sound quite unpleasant to outsiders, but for these two low-ranking young forensic doctors, struggling through the mud and seeing the result was somewhat exciting. Tao Lu¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t so good; confirming it was a corpse, he sighed heavily: "These people are really ruthless." Now that the criminals had been caught, the murderers were very likely facing the death penalty¡ªany additional corpses were just that, an added regret. Even after so many years as a detective, the number of corpses in this case still made Tao Lu shudder. "I¡¯m going down." Jiang Yuan donned a full leather suit, tightened his belt, fastened his safety harness, and followed Zhan Kan down into the reservoir. Mu Zhiyang watched from above, looking very tense. Below the reservoir, years of umted mud sunk underfoot; a third of the suitcase containing the corpses was buried in the mud. Jiang Yuan struggled to the site, first examining the surface of the suitcase. He saw a ck travel suitcase with severalrge holes stabbed in it. Peering into the holes, he could see bones, rotten mud, and a clump of stic. Zhan Kan immediately understood, saying, "They punched holes in the suitcase, so it wouldn¡¯t float up?" "Right, there might still be weights inside, like the dumbbells in Zhang Lizhen¡¯s case." After Jiang Yuan had inspected the surface and confirmed that photos had been taken, he checked the outside parts and then used a rope to pull over a stic basket. Four people together lifted the suitcase into it. Naturally, someone pulled on the rope, dragging it towards the reservoir¡¯s edge and then lifting it up. The entire process wasplex, aimed at preserving the original condition as much as possible, and the erected lifting machinery by the reservoir still symbolized substantial expenses. Moving corpses from the reservoir could bepared to moving to a high-rise building without an elevator. One suitcase was yet to be dealt with when another appeared ahead. Jiang Yuan and the others continued moving forward, quickly pulled it over, and unsurprisingly, there was still a corpse inside. "It looks like it was dismembered." Jiang Yuan looked inside through therger hole, not surprised. The suitcase was rather small; dismemberment made it easier to pack. Jiang Yuan methodically dragged the corpse from the dried-up reservoir and transported it away. A total of six, not surprising at all. The number of corpses involved in the case reached as many as 26. Given that Huang Jianzun and his followers totaled just over 40, the 26 corpses could certainly be described as maniacal. "All the suitcases have holes punched in them, Zhang Lizhen¡¯s suitcase doesn¡¯t," Jiang Yuan climbed up to the reservoir, and the first thing he said to Tao Lu highlighted the issue. Tao Lu shuddered subconsciously, then quickly exined, "In Zhang Lizhen¡¯s case, someone confessed. It happened when they were abandoning the body; they slipped while dragging the suitcase, and the corpse fell into the river and was washed away. Huang Jianzun knew about this and was very angry, eventually deciding to move..." Jiang Yuan paused, then slowly nodded, "That also makes sense, though it¡¯s quite coincidental." "Losing seven corpses, only one was a mistake. There were two people at the scene, plus the moving, and multiple people knew the details, it should be fine now..." Tao Lu conveniently exined, "They only punched holes in the suitcases here at the reservoir to prevent things inside from leaking out and dirtying the vehicles." "Understood." Jiang Yuan recalled the process of dissecting Zhang Lizhen¡¯s corpse, nodded, and said, "I¡¯m heading to the dissection center now." He was also exhausted today, and having discovered so many corpses in one go, he didn¡¯t feel like talking. Tao Lu nodded, "Thank you for your hard work." He didn¡¯t have much in the way of requests for this round of dissections, although determining the cause of death was still necessary, and having a time of death would be even better; but since Huang Jianzun and his group were undermining each other, from the police perspective, most of the detective work was alreadypleted. In theory, as long as what was done satisfied the prosecution and wasn¡¯t sent back for additional investigation, the task would be consideredpleted. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan meticulously performed dissections on each corpse. The next day, Jiang Yuan even brought out the bodies examined previously and checked them again. Zeng Lianrong was quite moved by this, especially after reading Jiang Yuan¡¯s report, and held a long lecture with a group of young forensic doctors: "Look at him, see how quickly he¡¯s improving. Every corpse is very important. No matter how the case is progressing, doing your best on every body is fundamental..." Jiang Yuan was somewhat unable to pay attention to external affairs. With the case concluded, the previous bodies also began to reveal their stories. Zhang Lizhen¡¯s legacy¡ªGuitar (LV2): Zhang Lizhen was not from a wealthy family, but she loved music and was willing to spend time learning instruments. However, she never had the opportunity for formal training. The men willing to teach her guitar were far more interested in her body than her talent. Huang Jianzun was one of the few men who made her feel respected and equal; he never encouraged Zhang Lizhen to change her profession, and during their encounters, he always seemed eager and enjoyed himself, often giving her extra tips, evidencing a sincerity with money far beyond those moralistic clients. If she hadn¡¯t been foolishly swayed to sign a long-term contract and move to Huang Jianzun¡¯s residence, Zhang Lizhen might have saved enough money to learn the piano. Mei Fangling¡¯s legacy¡ªCooking Italian Pasta (LV4) Shi Fan¡¯s legacy¡ªFrench Language (LV4) Pan Shaoli¡¯s legacy¡ªKunqu Opera (LV3) Chapter 804 - 747 Stealing Home

Chapter 804: Chapter 747 Stealing Home

The autopsy was all finished, and Jiang Yuan returned home with traces of exhaustion and excitement, as well as a profound silence. The inheritances from Beijing had been particrly generous, full of fine things not seen in Ningtai County, such as the French Language and Kunqu Opera. Even a Level 1 enthusiast of these would be hard toe by in Ningtai County. A Level 3 Kunqu Opera expert might not even exist in Changyang City, not to mention a top-tier Level 4 French expert. Even Level 4 Italian pasta-making skills might be unrivaled nationwide. In contrast, Level 2 guitar skills were a practical survival skill in Ningtai County. One could open a music shop or tutoring center in Ningtai, or use it to live afortable life as a kept man. It could likely make one the top influencer in Ningtai County, perhaps even dominating Qinghe City. However, no matter how excellent one was, they would eventually leave this world with the pride of their lifetime, causing an unavoidable sense of mncholy. Even if they left behind their most valuable knowledge, skills, and experiences, it was still hard to let go. "I¡¯m going to sleep first," Jiang Yuan, back in his Beijing home, greeted his father before stripping down and going to bed. He had already showered at the autopsy center, and the clothes he was wearing were fresh. The smell of mites baked in the sun-dried quilt ushered him swiftly into sleep. Hauling bodies from the reservoir was truly exhausting. Jiang Fuzhen was originally in the living room having tea but now was a bit worried about his son. Previously, when his son came home, he had seemed rtively rxed, simr to the techniciansmonly seen returning home from work in the county. But today was different; he looked as tired as an old farmer after plowing the fields. In Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s eyes, Jiang Yuan, who was already a minor leader, clearly shouldn¡¯t need to be so worn out. With that thought, Jiang Fuzhen silently took out his phone and called Wu Jun, describing the situation before saying, "I heard them talking over tea yesterday that the case was closed, but it seemed to involve some Heretical Teachings. And I heard they went to some bomb shelters or ces like that, found a bunch of bodies or something. I don¡¯t know the specifics, but seeing how soundly Jiang Yuan is sleeping today, I wonder if..." "Exin it to me in detail." Wu Jun, initiallyckadaisical on the other end of the call, immediately became alert upon hearing the keywords. Jiang Fuzhen also turned serious, nced at his son¡¯s closed bedroom door, and said calmly, "I don¡¯t know much, but I do know many people died, and their forensic doctors are very busy. Jiang Yuan even took an apprentice, also a forensic doctor. Otherwise, should I ask around?" "That might not be good, it could cause misunderstandings. Let me find out," replied Wu Jun, who was already a deputy chief and theoretically had the right to know everything happening within the Ningtai County Bureau. "What should I do now, then?" After thinking for a moment, Wu Jun said, "You see..." The next day. Jiang Yuan woke up to the strong smells of alcohol and incense. He pulled back the curtains to see the bright sunshine outside. After brushing his teeth and hastily washing his face, he went out to see the living room foggier than a kitchen during steak grilling. "Dad... ah, Master... huh? Wang Zhong?" Jiang Yuan walked into the living room, his voice shifting within the short distance. The living room had also changed noticeably. One wall of the TV had projected a high-resolution image of a Bodhisattva¡¯s statue, with incense offered below it. The dining table wasid out with two rows of food, all offered with incense. At the doorway was another offering table, also with incense. Wu Jun was dressed in a Sun Yat-sen suit, looking very solemn, pinch of incense in his hand. And there was Wang Zhong, wearing a white T-shirt, holding a Lingdang bell which he rang three steps at a time with a silver jingle, looking serenelyposed. Observing his steps, he was clearly walking in a Bagua pattern. "Have some water," said Wu Jun, turning to fetch a ss of water for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan hesitated before asking, "Incense water?" "Saltwater. What use is incense water? Yellow paper turns to ash when burned, mainly consisting of calcium carbonate and potassium salts, so it¡¯s better to drink saltwater directly," Wu Jun paused and added, "I heard you were busy all day yesterday; I suspect you¡¯re a bit electrolyte imbnced." "Oh," Jiang Yuan, convinced, downed a ss of saltwater. "Crazy you, dragging six corpses up from the reservoir in one go," Wu Jun continued. "Why not let the younger guys do it?" "The reservoir environment is quiteplex. If the initial investigation isn¡¯t done well, a secondary investigation bes even harder," Jiang Yuan exined pragmatically. Having worked many cold cases, he knew too well the difference between a first and second investigation; cking off now meant paying it all back in potential subsequent inspections. "You still shouldn¡¯t be dragging the bodies yourself," Wu Jun shook his head, then pointed out, "Look at Wang Zhong, he can carry incense and candles weighing dozens of pounds with no problems. If you don¡¯t put these younger forensic doctors to work, they¡¯ll never grow." "You¡¯re right," Jiang Yuan gave up on the argument. Wu Jun smiled again and said, "Take a seat for a while, we¡¯ll just finish up thest bit." As he spoke, Wu Jun got back to work, and Wang Zhong also gave Jiang Yuan a grin, continuing to turn the Lingdang. "Are you hungry? It might still be a bit of a wait," Jiang Fuzhen came over to ask. Jiang Yuan had a thought, "I¡¯ll cook, let¡¯s get some pasta." Jiang Fuzhen didn¡¯t know what he had in mind but followed Jiang Yuan to the kitchen to ask. The head chef said, "We have some leftover pasta, it was prepared earlier, pretty standard. If you want noodles, I can ask the master to make some handmade hanging noodles..." "I¡¯ll make the pasta myself. You guys just prepare a sauce," said Jiang Yuan. "Pasta sauce, right? What vor would you like?" The chef was dubious about Jiang Yuan¡¯s cooking skills. Cooking pasta wasn¡¯t like boiling regr noodles; it was a bit more challenging. If it were them, professional chefs, they had to cook it perfectly al dente, and yet, Jiang Yuan was still talking about "sauce"... Of course, the earthiness of the Jiang father and son didn¡¯t hide their generous spirit. The chef really liked them, so he just smiled and started to cooperate. Being a head chef, even though he was a local chef from Shan Nan, after bing ustomed to working as a private chef, simple Chinese-style Western dishes were no problem at all. Jiang Yuan took some pasta, sorted it a little, and after sprinkling some salt in the water, he started boiling it. In a little while, a red pasta sauce was also prepared. Jiang Yuan ted the pasta, cing it on dishes. The ringing of the Lingdang stopped. Taking the chance, Jiang Yuan called everyone over for the meal. Wu Jun was given the seat of honor by Jiang Fuzhen, and everyone sat around, pouring their preferred sauce over the pasta, and began to eat with chopsticks. Even in the Jiang Family, they asionally had a simple meal like this. But it was unexpectedly delicious! Jiang Fuzhen, who had seen and eaten a lot, slurped and looked at Jiang Yuan several times, asking, "How did you cook this pasta so well?" "I studied it a little when I had some free time," Jiang Yuan answered casually and then added, "Seeing the body in the reservoir yesterday made me think of pasta." The chef who had just taken a bite and wanted to praise the dish put down his fork. The Jiang father and son were sometimes not so likable! "Today we have new crabs, I¡¯ll make everyone a ¡¯Eighteen Cuts¡¯," the head chef stood up and smiled, "New green crabs, just frozen and put in the refrigerator downstairs." ¡¯Eighteen Cuts¡¯ is a method of cooking crabs, named as such because it involves chopping the crab into 18 pieces, each with some roe. It¡¯s a dish that a chef can make only after reaching a certain level of skill in dissecting crabs. However, unlike regr raw pickling, ¡¯Eighteen Cuts¡¯ requires freezing the crabs, so that each of the eighteen pieces will have ayer of ice crystals. The benefits are clear: on one hand, the freshness demands for the crab are lowered, making the dish doable for most restaurants and greatly reducing food waste with a two-to-three-day margin of error. On the other hand, freezing the crabs to death also meets the requirements of some customers andws, facilitating the dish¡¯s wider eptance. The head chef had specifically learned this dish for the convenience of the Jiang father and son; otherwise, it would only be the two of them eating and they couldn¡¯t be ordering fresh crabs daily. The green crabs that had just arrived and were freshly frozen were expected to be especially plump and tasty. After the chef mentioned it, he sent someone to fetch the crabs, starting the prep work himself in the meantime. In a little while, the assistant chef who had gone to fetch the crabs came running up, reporting, "Master, the crabs are gone!" "What?" The head chef furrowed his eyebrows. "The green crabs that arrived today, along with the sea cucumbers, squid, bird¡¯s nests from the other day, and the Dried Morels, Jinhua Ham, Xuanwei Ham and the like that were kept in the cab, and, and also the jar of dried abalones, they¡¯re all gone!" the assistant chef said loudly, clearly agitated. And agitated he had to be¡ªnever mind the ham worth thousands, the jar of dried abalones and sea cucumbers were assets worth six figures. No one would eat an entire jar of dried abalones in one go; it was money just sitting there! The head chef was both angry and anxious, his hand holding the knife started shaking, "This is Beijing for goodness¡¯ sake, this... it¡¯s not even like Ningtai County, call 110..." "I¡¯ll call," said Jiang Yuan, already standing up quietly, pulling out his phone, and dialing Tao Lu. Under the varied expressions of those around him, the call connected. The anxious voice of Tao Lu came through clear and strong, "Jiang Yuan, what happened?" Jiang Yuan stayed silent for three seconds, then slowly said, "It¡¯s a small matter... My ce was robbed." Chapter 805 - 748: Form a Special Task Force

Chapter 805: Chapter 748: Form a Special Task Force

Snap. Tao Lu put away his phone, returned to the meeting room, closed the door, and slowly sat back down in his chair. He then picked up his tea cup and took a sip of the strong brew. Liu Cheng, Cui Qishan, and the others were all nervously watching Tao Lu. The deeply furrowed brow of Tao Lu, coupled with the call from Jiang Yuan, inevitably led themanding officers in attendance to harbor some unpleasant conjectures. "Is there another big case?" Cui Qishan asked on behalf of everyone. Liu Cheng also eagerly asked, "Did Jiang Yuan discover something new?" It wasn¡¯t that they were normally daunted by any case; big or small, it simply meant meeting the enemy with equal force or covering water with earth. With the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s capabilities and scale, they could swallow any size of criminal gang; if it got too big, they could always call on the Changqiang Soldiers Brigade. It was just that the frequency of cases was so high that it started to wear on the spirit. On the other hand, this offbeat religious case seemed to be drawing to a close, and any newplications would be tantamount to unexpected extra work... Tao Lu took another sip of tea, and yet another, before slowly saying, "It¡¯s not a major case, but there¡¯s new information from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side." "What... information?" Cui Qishan asked. "Well... just¡ªhahaha..." Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter. In the meeting room, over a dozen senior officers watched Tao Lu crack up and gradually joined in on theughter. "This isn¡¯t¡ªwhat are you allughing at..." Tao Lu,ughing so hard that he wiped away tears, waved his hands, "Stopughing, it¡¯s a forcedugh, and it¡¯s freaking eerie." The deputy brigademander coughed twice and said, "Tao, what kind of case is it?" "Um, it is¡ª" Tao Lu still couldn¡¯t keep the smile off his face, coughed as well, and then said, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s house was robbed." "A problem in Ningtai?" Liu Cheng was startled, initially wanted to ask if there were any casualties, but, seeing Tao Lu¡¯s smile, he rxed and said, "Was it really robbed?" A policeman¡¯s home being burgled wasn¡¯t exactly new; officers wouldn¡¯t stick their job badges on their doors when they left for work, and there were plenty of short-sighted thieves who didn¡¯t necessarily enter through the front door. Tao Lu nodded, "It was really robbed, but not in Ningtai. It was his ce in Beijing." "Haha..." Realizing it was just a theft, the officers present couldn¡¯t help butugh indecently. Cui Qishan said, "Perhaps it was just a local petty thief. I¡¯ll make a few calls to see..." "Right, I¡¯ll get in touch with the public security brigade too." Tao Lu stood up and said, "Let¡¯s call it a day for the meeting, I¡¯m going to confort Jiang Yuan a bit." "I¡¯ll go check it out too," Liu Cheng quickly got up. "I¡¯ming along!" Cui Qishan didn¡¯t hesitate at all, eager for the rare opportunity to see Jiang Yuan embarrassed. "We¡¯re all going, we¡¯re all going!" In the meeting room, half of the senior police officers wanted to see Jiang Yuan in this situation. Half an hourter. Jiang Yuan¡¯s spacious t was crammed with senior officers there to gawk¡ªthe rank and file officers also wanted to join the spectacle, but couldn¡¯t exactly squeeze in with their superiors, so they were queuing up outside. Jiang Fuzhen was already adeptly greeting the visitors, finding them seats, serving up fruit tes and tea, and even offering a tter of meat¡ªfitting, though perhaps not quite appropriate, but he couldn¡¯t help it. The incense and other offerings had been cleared away in the room, but three sticks of incense were still burning inside, sending up curling smoke, and nobody bothered to investigate. "Captain Jiang, what did you lose? Ha..." Cui Qishan covered his mouth and chuckled, not like an old man reminiscing on his youth, just purely unable to suppress it. "The main things stolen were from the kitchen, and most of what was lost was food," Jiang Fuzhen said apprehensively, worried it might affect his son¡¯s work, and brought it up first. Cui Qishanughed heartily, "Food being stolen is not a big issue, we have so many people here, there¡¯s always a way to get it back. The only thing is, I don¡¯t know how much we can recover before it gets eaten... As for what exactly was lost... uhm... Xiao Si,e here to record the statement." Cui Qishan gestured to the back and pulled Xiao Si out of the crowd. Although Xiao Si often spoke unpleasantly, his capabilities were nheless strong. To Cui Qishan, the brigade captain, as long as the business skill was sufficient, a foul mouth was eptable. Xiao Si emerged with a cheerfulugh. Today, whoever saw Jiang Yuan had to crack a smile. "Captain Jiang, let me take your statement," Xiao Si said, taking out his notebook. Jiang Yuan nodded and then said to Cui Qishan, "Wait for me for a moment when the forensic technician goes to collect tracester. I want to caution them." "No problem," Cui Qishan agreed and said, "I thought you would have already surveyed the scene yourself, quite by the book." "Just so they can¡¯t appeal the ruling." Cui Qishan smiled, "They won¡¯t. It¡¯s just a kitchen theft. Even though it¡¯s a burry, to be honest, if the thief stole food just out of hunger or something, detaining them or putting them under surveince is normal. But if it¡¯s a habitual offender or the like, they¡¯ll ept their punishment, and the sentencing won¡¯t be too severe..." "The main things stolen were dried goods," Jiang Fuzhen quickly said, "The total amount is not much, honestly, hosting a meal would have been enough, but it¡¯s just unsettling that someone sneaked into the room. I was a bit scared; Jiang Yuan was not around these past few days, and I often went to the kitchen. If I had encountered them... I knew I should have brought the two dogs over for more security..." Cui Qishan, feeling a bit embarrassed, hurriedly said, "Not at all, I was just pointing out a possibility. Actually, it does have a lot to do with the amount involved. Can you estimate roughly how much?" "I¡¯m not great at estimating, some things were bought years ago, and if we consider current prices..." Jiang Fuzhen said with a sigh. Other stuff was alright, but dried abalone and such, which taste better when stored longer, it was really a pity to lose them... Xiao Si quickly made notes in his book and then asked, "It¡¯ll be enough to give a rough figure for now, like a few hundred, a couple of thousand, two to three thousand, you can calcte at the retail price..." "It¡¯s over 300,000," Jiang Yuan said, knowing his father was worried about affecting him, and took the initiative to answer. The figure of 300,000 was the starting point in theft for a "particrly huge amount." Below this were two levels: "huge amount" and "rtivelyrge amount," each corresponding to different prison sentences. "A particrly huge amount" corresponded to ten years to life imprisonment, which was more severe than the sentence for idental manughter. Xiao Si was initially startled and then clenched his teeth in annoyance: Damn it, damn it, how could there be stuff worth 300,000 in someone¡¯s kitchen? Can you even eat all that? How do you digest it? Not just Xiao Si, but even the usually smiling Tao Lu¡¯s expression changed. Li Jiang, who was in the same group as Xiao Si, squeezed in at that moment, widened his eyes at Jiang Yuan, and asked, "How big is our kitchen? What was kept in there?" "It was in the downstairs kitchen, because not many people lived there; it was mostly full of clutter, mainly food," Jiang Fuzhen paused, then said, "The area of the downstairs suite is 388 square meters, the built-up area. Among the stolen items, the most valuable were the dried abalones, I had both the-caught and the premium ones. Some of them were over fifteen years old, maybe even twenty, quite rare." The chef then added, "Sea cucumbers are also worth a lot of money. We had nearly three kilograms of dried sea cucumber downstairs, worth over a hundred thousand, all recently purchased, and we have receipts... Hey, could it be that we were targeted when buying the sea cucumbers?" "Generally speaking, it¡¯s unlikely, but let¡¯s see what the survey results say," Cui Qishan walked over and said, "Given this, we need to treat this case seriously. Should we set up a special task force?" With that, Cui Qishanughed. Everyoneughed too and volunteered eagerly, "I want to join the special task force." "Our sixth brigade applies to join the special task force." "Our public security squadron will contribute a team." "Our national security is also in!" "Our SWAT team has people to offer." "Our cyber security too." At this point, Xiao Si had no say in the matter. He just whispered to Li Jiang at the side, "I really want to see the suspect¡¯s face." Chapter 806 - 749 Dry Abalone

Chapter 806: Chapter 749 Dry Abalone

In the lingering drizzle, Yang An called for a ride-hailing car, carrying the briefcase he had stolen, which contained four dried abalones and a box of dried sea cucumbers, arriving in silence at the Jingfeng Building where he had made a reservation. The Jingfeng Building was three stories high, with red bricks, red tiles, red corridors, and a red roof. Whether the imitation of ancient architecture was a sess was unknown, but the main theme of brilliance and splendor made it clear to all who came: this ce was exceedingly expensive. And it was precisely this exorbitant air that Yang An wanted! He knew he had struck luck this time. Having been a thief for so many years, including the more than a year he had spent in prison, had taught Yang An a simple life lesson: ordinary people with ordinary jobs only earn ordinary ies. To make big money, you either needed strength, like ¡¯Locksmith¡¯ who at 17 years old stole from three dormitory buildings in one night, or you needed connections, like Chai¡¯s son, Six Hundred, who was a young cattle head leader. Otherwise, you could only rely on luck. Yang An had neither strength nor background, but he had always hoped for good fortune, which was why he persisted in thieving and, when he felt the time was right, he even dared tomit burries. Finally, his time hade. Before checking Baidu, Yang An didn¡¯t know how valuable dried abalone was, but he was well aware of the value of sea cucumbers. Just finding sea cucumbers in a kitchen had already hit the level of good fortune for Yang An, but after he returned home and auctioned the dried abalones on Taobao, Yang An knew he hadpletely turned his life around! As long as he sold this batch of dried goods, his worth would instantly increase by two zeros. Although he wouldn¡¯t be financially free, he felt he was about to sprint down this path. Next, if he casually invested in some equipment, bought a car or something, the ces he could steal from... no, he might even be able to change professions, like dealing with stolen goods, or even money-lending, then the speed of making money would be much faster. Money was also a form of strength. "What would the gentleman like to buy?" A middle-aged man came over to inquire, looking quite professional, although Yang An still preferred female salespeople. "I¡¯ve got some sea cucumbers and abalones, all dry, and I¡¯m thinking of selling some," Yang An said, suppressing his emotions and speaking expressionlessly. He had practiced this act in front of a mirror. If the other party asked where the goods came from, Yang An was ready to exin that they were left by his family, hinting at his downfall from wealthy nobility. The middle-aged man, however, didn¡¯t ask further and smiled with a "fine" before leading him to the second floor. Shortly after, in a smallpartment, an old man dressed in traditional silk attire knocked on the small door and took a seat opposite Yang An. "These four abalones. And the sea cucumbers." Yang An took out the dried abalones and sea cucumbers he had selected as a test. The dried abalones were about 8 head grade. That is, the weight of eight dried abalones amounted to one jin (old Chinese unit of weight). A traditional "jin" referred to a Sima Jin, which is roughly 600 grams, calcted as sixteen Sima Liangs, or half a jin and eight liangs in the traditional sense. The traditional markets in Hong Kong and Taiwan used the Sima Jin as a unit, andter, as maind China¡¯s purchasing power increased, it gradually transitioned to the market jin. In short, dried abalones of size 8 head grade meant that each weighed about 75 grams. And to dry fresh abalone, seven or eight, even up to ten jin are needed to obtain one jin of dried abalone, so even if size 8 head abalones don¡¯t seem that impressive, as fresh abalone, they also weighed about a jin, without the shell. Dried abalones of this size were the most consumedmodity abalone, belonging to the volume sellers within dried abalones. As long as the appearance was good, there were plenty of businesses willing to purchase them. Of course, the price had to be negotiated. The silk-d elder put on his gloves, examined the four dried abalones, then smiled and said, "The quantity is a bit small, but since it¡¯s the gentleman¡¯s first visit, we¡¯ll take them. As for the price... how about 5000 yuan?" Yang An frowned and stood up abruptly, saying, "That price doesn¡¯t show sincerity!" "6000 yuan each, four pieces regardless of appearance, all at that price," the silk-d elder immediately raised the offer. Yang An was startled; he had thought the offer was 5000 yuan for four pieces, which was significantly lower than the prices he had seen online, and that made him angry. But 6000 yuan each, making it 24,000 yuan for four, was still a significant difference from the prices he had researched online. Years of thieving made Yang An immediately realize that there must be something special about this batch of abalones he had stolen. Otherwise, the purchasing price wouldn¡¯t be higher than the selling price he was aware of. But faced with the buyer, it wasn¡¯t appropriate for Yang An to inquire. After hesitating a moment and unable to resist the temptation, he said, "Let¡¯s settle these four at that price." "Quick decision!" The silk-d elder¡¯s face lit up with a smile. Heart-shaped premium-quality abalones ofrge size were scarce, and size 8 was quite fine; it was top-notch among the premium goods. Compared to that, the sea cucumbers were just standard goods. The elderly man in the silk robe overcharged Yang An by hundreds of dors, immediately had someone fetch the money and the contract, andpleted the transaction on the spot. Afterward, he earnestly said, "Mr. Yang, if you have any more dried abalone in the future, please bring them to our store, and we will definitely purchase them at a high price." Yang An nodded absentmindedly, pocketing the money, and walked out in a daze. It wasn¡¯t until he got home and locked the door that Yang An still felt surreal. "I need to find someone more professional to ask about this, maybe this bottle of abalone could shoot me straight to sess..." Yang An excitedly threw himself onto the bed, unable to stop smiling. Bang! Boom! Boom! Before Yang An¡¯s mind could react, the balcony windows were already shattered into pieces, and two dark figures burst into the room from outside. Immediately afterward, another stream of shadowy figures charged in from the front door. "Police!" "Don¡¯t move!" "Police!" The suddenly heightened voices erupted like thunder from both the front and the back. Yang An instinctively stood up, only to be knocked over by a clear shield striking his face. In the next second, people were all over Yang An, on his body, arms, head, and legs. "Got him." "Don¡¯t move." "What¡¯s your name? What¡¯s your name!" The harsh questions immediately pulled Yang An back to a few years ago. That time, Yang An was still a clueless fool of a thief, pinned down on the spot by two police officers, with what seemed like the same barrage of noise in his ears. Yang An really wanted to answer, but found he couldn¡¯t open his mouth at all. He tried to turn his head, but his neck simply wouldn¡¯t obey. In fact, it seemed like not a single muscle in his body was under his control. "Is everyone uninjured?" "There¡¯s no one else in the room." "Handcuff him, and be careful with the evidence." "Camera, get the camera in here." Yang An didn¡¯t know how many people were around him, just that it was unbelievably noisy, like 500 ducks quacking away, excited as if they were shedding feathers. The police who arrived were indeed excited. This was the thief who had stolen from Jiang Yuan¡¯s home, and without Jiang Yuan¡¯s help, my Criminal Police Brigade, along with the SWAT Team, the Cybersecurity Brigade, the Graphic Investigation Brigade, the Traffic Police Brigade, the National Security Brigade, the Public Security Brigade, the Economic Investigation Brigade... and other departments had closely coordinated to solve a home burry case worth 300,000 yuan in less than 8 hours, catching the suspect on the spot and confiscating the stolen items! With this level of skill and responsiveness, wasn¡¯t it worth being proud of? Cui Qishanughed heartily with hands on hips, thenmanded, "Lift him up, aim the camera at his face." In an instant, Yang An was hoisted up. "What¡¯s your name?" Cui Qishan asked loudly. "Yang An." Yang An looked around nkly, feeling surrounded byyers of police on all sides, above and below, inside and out. At that moment, all thoughts of luck had vanished from Yang An¡¯s mind, with only one thought remaining: It¡¯s over, the abalone hid top-secret data! Chapter 807 - 750: Joy and Sorrow

Chapter 807: Chapter 750: Joy and Sorrow

"Thank you, thank you." "It¡¯s all thanks to the police!" Jiang Fuzhen shook hands with Tao Lu, Cui Qishan, and Xiao Si, expressing his sincere gratitude, "This can of dried abalone was purchased by me many years ago. I would add a little each year and eat a little. It has quite a sentimental value for me. It¡¯s really great that it was recovered. Today, I will prepare the abalone, and it should be ready to eat in about a week..." "No, no!" Cui Qishan quickly stopped Jiang Fuzhen, saying, "Supervisory eyes are watching us, if we dare to eat abalone worth hundreds of thousands today, tomorrow we will all be skinned!" "Then let¡¯s havemb. Wait, I¡¯ll have some sheep ughtered from our ranch and sent over right now!" Jiang Fuzhen decisively broke free from Cui Qishan¡¯s restraint and immediately called home. Seeing this, Tao Lu thought it over, let Jiang Fuzhen make the call, then said, "Old brother, I¡¯ve had themb from your ranch before, it¡¯s really tasty. I won¡¯t be polite this time." "As long as it tastes good!" Jiang Fuzhen was one of those early human beings who thrived onpliments and was very happy when praised. Tao Lu smiled and added, "We¡¯ll take themb, but we need to pay. It¡¯s noting out of my pocket, it¡¯s the police station¡¯s money. We can just chalk it up to the expenses. You don¡¯t need to tally it with me, we can¡¯t have you personally paying for the meal, then what have we be?" "This..." Hearing Tao Lu mention that the unit would pay, Jiang Fuzhen hesitated. It¡¯s problematic to take money from the unit... Tao Lu shook hands with Jiang Fuzhen and joked, "If you don¡¯t take it, I might just have someone deposit it directly into Jiang Yuan¡¯s sry ount, then the supervisors would ask him why he¡¯s selling his family¡¯smbs to the unit... Hahaha..." Jiang Fuzhenughed, "Alright then, I¡¯ll have them pick out a few beautifulmbs and prepare them nicely." Xiao Si watched Jiang Fuzhen leave energetically and somberly said, "The Jiang family¡¯s joy and sorrow, they cannot share with the sheep." ... Not just the sheep, Qi Changye¡¯s sorrow couldn¡¯tmunicate with the Jiang family either. Jiang Yuan was hosting guests at home, even throwingvish feasts, while Qi Changye could only watch helplessly. The beautifulmbs were ughtered, and Jiang Fuzhen even cooked the meat personally, making it hard for Qi Changye to say, "Let¡¯s stop eating and go find the body." Qi Changye could only respectfully toast Jiang Fuzhen several times at the banquet, primarily to maintain awork of rtionships. Jiang Yuan saw this but kept silent, continuing to eat the meat and vegetables, dragging it out for several days. In the end, Qi Changye turned to Huang Qiangmin, looking as if he was ready to sell himself into servitude for the next 20 years. Huang Qiangmin had already been briefed on the case, he asked, "Is there a solid line on this? How long had it been worked?" "Less than two years, she was intermittently providing intelligence before, but she was an undercover for just over a year. One day she just went out to work, following a lead, and then she disappeared," Qi Changye sighed. Every police officer had cases they couldn¡¯t forget, and for him, this case was filled with guilt. Before Huang Qiangmin could speak, Qi Changye continued, "She had a child over four years old, still in kindergarten. Originally, she didn¡¯t want to go undercover, but I couldn¡¯t find any other suitable candidates at the time, so I repeatedly persuaded her... s, she was short of money and wanted to send her child to a better school, so I promised to solve the schooling issues and even offered her a high sry. Which mother could resist such temptation!" Qi Changye sighed again, "At the time, we urgently needed the intelligence, she might have been exposed. The problem is, to this day I do not know who called her to go up the mountain, I only know the codename... The case waster investigated from other angles, some suspects were captured, others fled, but who should be responsible is still unclear, we even can¡¯t prove she died in the line of duty because there¡¯s no body." "Doesn¡¯t that count as dying in the line of duty?" Huang Qiangmin looked up. "Right. Because a lot of money also disappeared, the people she was in contact with also ran off," Qi Changye shook his head, "But we all know she cared greatly for her child, how could she bear to abandon her child and run away, and moreover, it has been so long without any contact." Hearing this, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t hold back anymore, waved his hand, "Forget it, we¡¯re not that demanding about new equipment. I need to head back and recruit some people anyway, there¡¯s no need to have equipment waiting for people... I¡¯ll talk to Jiang Yuan about it. However, Jiang Yuan dragging this out might have other reasons." ording to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s understanding of Jiang Yuan, he was not one to dy cases, especially already agreed ones. Huang Qiangmin simply took Qi Changye to ask Jiang Yuan. Kitchen. Jiang Yuan was seen with gloves on, maneuvering a small knife, making cuts on a freshmb carcass. Their movements evoked a sense of familiarity in Huang Qiangmin and Qi Changye. Using phrases like "carving with the skill of a chef" had never suited Jiang Yuan before, and it seemed no more appropriate now. "Jiang Yuan, Director Qi is anxious about his case. How are you feeling?" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s first concern was still Jiang Yuan¡¯s health, thinking that if Jiang Yuan was well, Qi Changye¡¯s case could also be scheduled. Jiang Yuan put down the knife, turned to look at them, and smiled, "I think we would need to free up some manpower before taking on this case." "Uh, are you worried it¡¯s tooplicated?" Qi Changye felt a bit embarrassed and hurriedly added, "While we did use an undercover agent in the original investigation, it was mainly to confirm the identities involved. Essentially, the case had concluded. Of course, there were some that slipped through the..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissively, "I¡¯m not afraid of being retaliated against." Qi Changye quickly exined, "Normally you wouldn¡¯t be, it¡¯s been a long time since we¡¯ve heard of such incidents. Besides, you¡¯re a policeman yourself..." "My main concern is timing," Jiang Yuan cut off Qi Changye, stating his reason, "My main task in this case would be to locate the site where the bodies were buried, right? That would mean there are two possibilities: one is that we find it quickly, and then we need to form a new task force to swiftly solve the case, which requires a significant amount of manpower." Jiang Yuan continued, "The second possibility is that it drags on for an extended period, still requiring a significant amount of manpower. Considering Tao¡¯s department just wrapped up a major case and hasn¡¯t evenpleted the interrogations, starting another case now would immediately present staffing issues." With that said, Qi Changye came to understand and couldn¡¯t help but respond, "If it reallyes down to requiring manpower, I could find some more..." "It would have to be the criminal police who are suitable. If we really need several hundred people for a prolonged investigation, it should be directed by an expert like Director Xu. We can¡¯t just rece them with just anyone; that might backfire," Jiang Yuan made his point very clear. Qi Changye had no choice but to nod, "I was being too anxious, well... this is good, I can make some more arrangements,municate more." "It¡¯s not certain we¡¯ll find the body," Jiang Yuan added specifically. "I understand, I understand, I will exin this to the leadership," Qi Changye said verbally, though he held hopes. If Qi Changye hadn¡¯t been so hopeful about Jiang Yuan, he wouldn¡¯t have made a special trip here. Jiang Yuan picked up the knife again to slice themb, seemingly content to wait. That was indeed necessary. Starting work hastily now, even if Tao Lu took extra care of Jiang Yuan, it wouldn¡¯t yield much support. For a case involving over twenty bodies and more than forty suspects, clearing up the details is exceedinglyplex. Waiting a few days would broaden the options considerably. By then, the progress might even be faster. Huang Qiangmin, thinking to himself nearby, also felt that waiting was the right call. Having Qi Changye bring in new people couldn¡¯tpare to using Tao Lu¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade. No matter what the ss of Qi Changye¡¯s case, the secretive and dangerous nature was inevitable. But no matter how mysterious a case is, once hundreds are aware and involved, the fogrgely dissipates. Especially when a few hundred organized detectives from the Beijing Bureau participate, more effective than any guarantee. "I¡¯ll also go and prepare more! Um... Captain Jiang, is there anything we can do? If it helps the case, we still have plenty of resources on our end," Qi Changye now determined that the case would soon restart, his spirit visibly lifted. In his opinion, such a cold case from years ago would require a lot of preparation, such as re-examining the case, for example, pre-setting restricted zones, and finding former suspects to relearn about the case and so on... Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before responding, "Find some botanists, if you have excess resources on your side." Chapter 808 - 751 Setting up the Game

Chapter 808: Chapter 751 Setting up the Game

Beijing is a ce with an excess of highly educated intellectuals. Pang Jidong searched around Baijiang Province and only found a few botanists interested in Legal Botany, despite the presence of botanical institutions in the area. Yet in Beijing, Qi Changye went around for two days and gathered over 20 botanists. The expertise of these specialists was generally of high caliber. However, this wasn¡¯t solely due to a sizeable presence of botanists. The case investigated by Zhengguang Bureau this time was also somewhat attractive. When Qi Changye went to recruit people, he naturally used Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases in Beijing as promotional material where he could. For Beijing¡¯s botanists, Legal Botany wasn¡¯t some utterly unfamiliar novelty either. It had started in the United States in the 1980s, and even earlier, in the sixties and seventies, the courts worldwide frequently required various nt identifications. Those who had done identifications and participated in the development of Legal Botany naturally didn¡¯t hoard their knowledge. Publishing papers energetically and writing monographs was the norm. Most botanists who were even minimally attentive to cutting-edge research were familiar with this field¡¯s developments. After all, the forefront of botany is so narrow that it¡¯s easy to notice Legal Botany. But knowing is one thing; actually getting involved is another and requires a certain opportunity. Mere academic discussion wasn¡¯t enough to attract these individuals. Even adding another Legal Botany academic wouldn¡¯t work. It had to be someone like Jiang Yuan, who had the capability, mainly the case studies, along with practical opportunities and a considerable background, to draw in many botanical experts. By the time Jiang Yuan was informed, the number had already risen to 26. It was almost catching up to the number of victims in thest case. "Okay, stop looking," Jiang Yuan said, promptly halting the search. Working with over 20 schrs was an exhausting affair¡ªwhile both involvemunication, schrs, as opposed to ordinary technicians, can be seen as high-maintenance babies. Technicians are obedient and well-behaved, able to independently review materials and watch videos. Schrs, on the other hand, usually have a strong desire tomunicate due to their constant need for output, and they like to understand issues through a question-and-answer process, which often results in a deluge of questions. Jiang Yuan had asked Qi Changye to find experts to help, not to invite trouble for himself. Qi Changye naturally had the same idea, and upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, he grew anxious and quickly asked, "Is that too many? If it really doesn¡¯t work, we can draw up a new list, and I can ask some to leave..." "It¡¯s not to that extent; there¡¯s a way to manage arge group. Hmm... My original n was to find a few people to review the drone footage together. Now with more people, the n may need some changes," Jiang Yuan said and then exined the approach used to locate bodies in Baijiang Province to Qi Changye. Initially, Jiang Yuan first applied Legal Botany for body retrieval in Luo Jin City, using satellite remote sensing images processed with image enhancement technology. Then, Jiang Yuan coborated with a few botanists to analyze the satellite images and drone-captured ground images, eventually pinpointing suspicious plots ofnd that might contain buried bodies before sending people to search these areas. Jiang Yuan gave a rundown of this method to Qi Changye, who became very excited, reinvigorated by the sessful experience. "Having sess stories is great; it makes me feel more at ease, and it¡¯s easier to exin to the higher-ups," Qi Changye said with relief, thenughed a little embarrassedly, "Honestly, I still don¡¯t quite understand how you can tell from the vegetation on the ground whether there¡¯s a buried body underneath." "I¡¯ll give you a few lessons, and you¡¯ll understand," Jiang Yuan said while pondering. Qi Changye nodded repeatedly and asked, "Is it for all the officers, or...?" "Having the chief of police who¡¯s in charge of themand is enough, though it won¡¯t hurt if other officers want to listen," Jiang Yuan drew on past experience. Previously, by employing Legal Botany and drone imagery to find burial sites, Jiang Yuan used an adaptable approach, navigating obstacles on an as-needed basis and improvising along the way. Effectively harnessing Legal Botany, he managed to locate bodies buried underground. And once this n worked, naturally it could continue to be used. It could be modified, but from an efficiency standpoint, it actually didn¡¯t need to be altered at all because modifications would consume time and energy, and it was not certain whether efficiency would improve significantly. One only knew that any improvement wouldn¡¯t be much, and it was more likely to introduce problems. Thus, the correct approach was rather to use the previous n, and address any issues as they arose... Then, Jiang Yuan now faced the first problem, which was the recruitment of an excessive number of schrs. This would be quite satisfying during the task distribution stage, but slightly troublesome in other stages, considering themunication with so many schrs... Jiang Yuan said again, "I think it would be better to get some more people to help." "You may proceed," said Qi Changye with utmost propriety. Jiang Yuan counted off the names of Pang Jidong, Sulei, and others on his fingers. Qi Changye confirmed each one. Since the Zhang Lizhen case, his status had subtly risen. Now when asking for assistance from people like Pang Jidong and others, he could issue official letters, cover travel expenses, and providebor fees. From a professional standpoint, being able tomand a special case team of hundreds and solve an extremelyplex multiple homicide in a very short time with excellent results already made him a top-level police officer. As for rank and such, sometimes it is as important as a military title, and sometimes it is as inconsequential as a police rank. In a few days, Pang Jidong, Sulei, Qiao Shengli, and several botanists from Baijiang Province arrived in Beijing. Sulei came as if she were attending an academic conference. In fact, with more than twenty experts, this was akin to a small-scale academic conference in the field of botany. Pang Jidong considered himself Jiang Yuan¡¯s senior apprentice and was immediately on the ground to help, being even more diligent than the police officers. After all, he was serving as the criminal police chief in Luo Jin City; he had management experience and practical social experience, and he had be somewhat familiar with the officers of Zhengguang Bureau, so his work was unimpeded. In just a few days, the special case team that Qi Changye had hoped for was formed. This was actually no easy task, unlike the usual criminal police special case teams, which were led by criminal police officers, and upon an order, members of the disciplined forces would assemble and begin work. The botanists whom Qi Changye invited were all renowned experts, hence very busy, and could not always be on standby waiting to be summoned. It was already quite an aplishment to gather everyone at a set time. Sulei arrived a bit earlier, along with Qiao Shengli, to help prepare some conference materials. Once the preparations were nearlyplete, Qiao Shengli, puffing out her chest, asked Sulei, "You don¡¯t seem worried about Doctor Jiang. He¡¯s about to run a meeting with a group of experts; it¡¯s easy for him to show his inexperience, isn¡¯t it?" Sulei chuckled twice and said, "Because I¡¯ve been in a meeting with him." "What was it like?" "Just directly onto satellite imagery." Sulei said and jerked her head towards the front of the conference room where a huge projection screen was gently quivering with the wind blowing in from outside. Chapter 809 - 752: Live Effect

Chapter 809: Chapter 752: Live Effect

o¡¯clock in the morning. Jiang Yuan had arrived early at the meeting room, where he checked theputer, the projector, and even tested a few slides of the PowerPoint presentation before starting to inquire about the current situation at the crime scene with Qi Changye. Qi Changye had been busy the entire night before too. With dark circles under his eyes, he said, "Several people from our unit have already gone over there, plus I borrowed ten more, so now there¡¯s about a dozen people on the site... by around 10 o¡¯clock, everyone should be in ce. Some of them had assignments before, and were scheduled to start new tasks today..." Police work is never done, and Qi Changye¡¯s unit is a typical example of being highly equipped yet understaffed. The ranks of the unit and personnel are high, but the number of people is small, the workload isrge, and they are perpetually busy. Even those he had borrowed from other units had their own duties to perform. Police work is not like other jobs where you can simply say it will be done by tomorrow and expect it to be done by tomorrow. If the criminals don¡¯t cooperate, a case can drag on indefinitely. At this early stage of the special case, even if Qi Changye was eager, it wasn¡¯t possible to throw all resources at it. In his mind, if Jiang Yuan could maintain the speed of solving the Zhang Lizhen case and find a corpse within a week or two, it would be miraculous¡ªalthough in reality, Qi Changye just thought of it wishfully. After all, the Zhang Lizhen case had Xu Taining, and this case wasn¡¯t so urgent. Jiang Yuan was too busy to pay attention to Qi Changye any longer. He nodded and said, "During the meetingter, I n to create some live effects. I¡¯ll need the cooperation of the officers on the scene, and they may have to travel some distance. Oh yes, have the police dogs arrived yet?" "The police dogs have been dispatched and should arrive within an hour," said Qi Changye, who could mobilize personnel, but he had to abide by basicw and couldn¡¯t simply ask officers from other units to work overtime on short notice without special reasons. Jiang Yuan nodded again and continued to review the PowerPoint slides. Seeing how serious Jiang Yuan was, Qi Changye naturally began to feel a hint of skepticism. His professional instinct made him quickly review the conversation he had just had with Jiang Yuan, and he realized something, promptly asking, "Captain Jiang, you just mentioned some kind of live effect. What kind of live effect do you mean?" Jiang Yuan looked at Qi Changye with some surprise, then at the empty meeting room, and said, "Considering that the botanistsing this time are quite outstanding, a mere discussion on legal botany might not have a very good effect. So I was thinking of finding some points on site where bodies could be buried, dig on the spot, and see if we can locate a body right there." "Ah?" Qi Changye couldn¡¯t help himself. Was this a game? But could it really be yed like this? This is about a body! If it was so easy to find bodies, his years of hard work would have been in vain. Wouldn¡¯t those nights of drunken revelry seem as foolish as a naive young man who concocts sorrows to woo a young maiden? If a body really could be found so easily, wouldn¡¯t the technology of forensic botany explode? Police officers around the world, in every country and province, would have to take up forensic botany! Forget about difficulty. Once learned, wouldn¡¯t it be worth a white-shirted position? You should know, nothing is too difficult if you have the right establishment! So, looking at it from another angle, the live effect that Jiang Yuan was talking about seemed too far-fetched. What if they really found it... But then, the quick-witted Qi Changye thought again, this wasing from Jiang Yuan himself! "Can we really find a body on site? Do you already know where the body is? Or..." Qi Changye wondered if Jiang Yuan could possibly think that he would help him bury a body. Of course, if it were for a spy case, and if it could be cracked, he might think of asking for approval from higher authorities or simply handle it himself without informing Qi Changye. That wasn¡¯t entirely out of the question. But today¡¯s situation didn¡¯t seem to call for such measures... "I did some homework yesterday," Jiang Yuan said, knowing that Qi Changye had questions. He exined in detail, "First, let me say that even if we find a body, it might not necessarily be the one you¡¯re looking for, and it might even turn out to be a non-human corpse!" Qi Changye nodded, his mind updating the technical details. In fact, if Jiang Yuan was just asking him to bury an animal corpse, they could manage such a level of deception quite well... Jiang Yuan continued, "The basis for our search for bodies is actually the UAV footage from the recent investigation and search operations conducted by Director Xu Taining. I spentst night reviewing the designated search areas and quietly marked the questionable spots, conducting a fair amount of research." Jiang Yuan added, "Although it¡¯s a bit of cheating, during the meeting, I¡¯ll mostly be presenting a case study. More importantly, we need cooperation on site. The better the cooperation on site, the more case demonstrations we can conduct, and... the chances of digging up a body at one go are still not too high." Jiang Yuan addressed Qi Changye, "Director Qi, please coordinate and provide support on your end." "No problem at all," Qi Changye understood, though he was concerned again, "What if we search several times and either don¡¯t find any bodies or only find animal carcasses?" "It¡¯s just that we might not achieve a shocking effect. It doesn¡¯t affect the work itself," Jiang Yuan reassured him. "You have a point there," Qi Changye said, pausing thoughtfully, and then remarked, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re really putting a lot of effort into these botanists." "The workload of legal botany is quite significant," Jiang Yuan sighed. Chapter 810 - 752 Live Effect_2

Chapter 810: Chapter 752 Live Effect_2

He did have a need for the botanists. Solving cases with legal botany sounded simple, but just searching for spores under the microscope could blind a person. But getting botanists to join him in solving cases wasn¡¯t easy without Qi Changye¡¯s influence¡ªrelying solely on Jiang Yuan himself was problematic. As with the botanists from Baijiang Province, they¡¯de together mainly out of respect for Pang Jidong. Otherwise, why would these schrs, either university professors or senior researchers from research institutions, averaging above their forties and fifties, spend days, or even longer, helping Jiang Yuan? Not to mention everyone had their own career paths, academic goals, and work schedules. Even Jiang Yuan¡¯s status and age made it difficult for him to unite such a group of people. Last time, Jiang Yuan managed to handle things with image enhancement techniques and LV4 legal botany, but this time there were more schrs to deal with, all from Beijing, and it was hard to tell what kind of trouble they might stir up. If the discussion deviated from legal botany into pure botany¡ªJiang Yuan could certainly avoid the topic, but that would definitely be less effective in rallying support. After careful consideration, Jiang Yuan decided to coordinate efforts online and offline. His advantage wasn¡¯t solely in legal botany techniques. 8:40 AM. People started to trickle into the meeting room. Jiang Yuan nced up but kept busy modifying his PPT, adjusting software, and from time to time checked his WeChat on his phone to ensure everything was in ce. Qi Changye was furiously typing in the group chat while making incessant phone calls offline. Online-offline coordination hinged on human factors, and secondly, ensuring real-time operation of various software. Setting software issues aside, the human factor was constantly in flux. For instance, until today, Jiang Yuan had no idea how many people Qi Changye could bring. Qi Changye himself wasn¡¯t sure, so adjustments had to be made ording to the situation on the ground. Believing everyone would cooperate was naively optimistic. Even as a celebrity detective, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t sway a group of men in their thirties and forties, who might strip down for a star early in the morning in the wilderness, but wouldn¡¯t necessarily scooch over for one. After confirming with each team, the 9 AM rm rang. With a press, Jiang Yuan silenced the rm, lifted his head, turned on the microphone, and said, "Let¡¯s begin." All fifty seats below were filled. In addition to the over twenty Beijing botanists invited by Qi Changye, there was Pang Jidong and his four Baijiang Province botanists, numerous students, and several police officers of various ranks. Looking over the room, Jiang Yuan could see expectation on the faces of the police officers; among the botanists, only Sulei and Qiao Shengli wore encouraging expressions. Jiang Yuan smiled, opened the PPT, and said, "First, I¡¯d like to thank everyone for taking time out of their busy schedules to participate in this case. Criminal cases are unique, and there are some guidelines below for everyone to read." After disying the instructions page, Jiang Yuan paused for half a minute before continuing, "Today¡¯s introduction will focus on two parts: one is the practice of legal botany, mainly discussing how we use it to serve criminal cases. The second part involves some actual practice work with the help of our police colleagues." As Jiang Yuan spoke, the botanists took it as a simple description, but the police officers in the audience were already excited. The officers were deeply impressed with Jiang Yuan and took his mention of "actual practice work" quite literally, unlike the attending botanists who perceived it as merely a degree of description. Jiang Yuan moved to another slide in the PPT and said, "Alright, let¡¯s watch this video. This is plot K67, itsbeling method and range can be seen by scanning the QR code on the map; first, let¡¯s discuss this plot... Actually, I already went over this videost night, and I thought there were problems here..." Jiang Yuan erged the image to highlight a cluster of bushes. The botanists in the room straightened up, studied the image intently, and some, like the students, began taking pictures to record their observations. "This is birch, elm, also Scots pine, and ferns..." "It¡¯s really abnormal for the wild environment to grow like this." "Judging by the tree ages, they¡¯ve only been here for a few years, no more than ten; this ce is definitely problematic." Jiang Yuan waited half a minute before adding, "In legal botany, this is a typical case we call the Seed Bank. I¡¯ll exin for the non-professionals present. A Seed Bank refers to the soil that contains all the nearby nt seeds, and above ground, after a long period ofpetition, the vegetation had be stable. But once the soil in an area is disturbed, the germinating new nts initiate a new ecology, a newpetition." "So this ce was disturbed a few years ago, someone dug up the ground to bury a body? In the wilderness, digging up several square meters of ground is indeed not normal," a schr in front said immediately. This is what happens in meetings with schrs; those confident enough to have made it this far could extend the discussion far beyond scale at a small meeting like this when problems arose. "Some animals have a habit of digging, don¡¯t they?" a young student inquired softly. "Just digging alone would allow the surrounding nts to invade immediately, giving no chance for the seeds in the Seed Bank to grow," replied a schr, without needing Jiang Yuan to chime in: "Only in a case like a buried body, with the corrosive fluid produced by dposition, would you prevent the invasion of nearby nts, allowing new seeds to sprout." "So you¡¯re saying, under such a plot, there must be a body?" the student inquired with surprise: "Is it that easy to find?" "It¡¯s not that easy because we start from arge map." Jiang Yuan continued to shrink the map he had expanded. As the detailed plot reverted to an ordinary looking map, the young people in the room grew quiet. Given a national map, identifying ces where bodies were secretly buried¡ªthis was their understanding of legal botany. "Let¡¯s discuss another plot while the police check this area, and then we can talk about the search process for bodies," Jiang Yuan said, dealing out practical information because he still needed the help of these botanists for the search. For the botanists, today¡¯s event had just taken an exciting turn. They began to grasp the real meaning of "actual," peppering questions: "Are we digging up a body on site?" "What do we do if we find one?" "Can we find it? If something¡¯s dug up, does that mean it¡¯s a murder case?" Even some were already eagerly sharing with others, botanist chats and social media were buzzing with unprecedented fervor and attention. Chapter 811 - 753: The Truth

Chapter 811: Chapter 753: The Truth

"Excavating bodies at the scene? Are they really digging up bodies?" Even with Jiang Yuan¡¯s repeated exnations, a schr still stood up and asked loudly to confirm. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, we really are trying to excavate bodies. The reason for inviting everyone here is to locate the burial sites associated with some plots ofnd." "But... but..." the standing schr repeated twice, seemingly in disbelief before sitting down again. For most people, the matter of finding bodies is extremely serious, not something that can be casually searched for at the scene. However, because of theirck of understanding, the schr standing up was also unable to confidently articte their thoughts. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and said, "Let¡¯s move on to the next plot, U43. This location was also confirmed by me yesterday. Everyone, take a look. It seems quite obvious, a typical feature of the Seed Bank, right?" The botanists below all perked up, their eyes widening as they observed: "This tree looks older, probably over a decade. It¡¯s a Corydalis shrub,monly used inndscaping, looking pitiful growing in the woods." "So, if we also dig up a body here, does that mean we are uncovering two bodies on the spot? Are there so many dead people now?" "I have a question. Why are we digging now, instead of yesterday when it was discovered?" Finally, a schr stood up to ask Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before grasping his point, then said, "I started looking yesterday afternoon. Although I confirmed several locations by evening, organizing manpower for excavation during this period is rtively difficult. Moreover, the police officers scheduled to gather this morning were working overtime toplete their tasks yesterday. Calling them in ahead of time would have affected their work." The schr hesitated, then asked, "So you are saying, you found several bodies overnight?" "The exact number of bodies we might find is still uncertain," Jiang Yuan replied. "But... if you can find so many bodies in one night, shouldn¡¯t we expand the search area? Search like this every day. Or, is it not so unusual to find so many bodies..." "That¡¯s certainly not possible!" Jiang Yuan immediately interrupted the ridiculous suggestion, saying, "The police take murder cases very seriously. Not to mention finding bodies, even suspected bodies would involve a substantial amount of manpower and resources. As for finding so many bodies overnight, there was a premise for that." "What premise?" "First, there must be enough video footage. Images from drone aerial photography need to be processed. Secondly, I have actually seen a lot of these drone videos before. Not to mention finding bodies, even identifying suspected burial locations is very difficult, and subsequent excavations have confirmed this," Jiang Yuan looked at Qi Changye, took a sip of water, and continued: "The reality is, we might survey many plots and still struggle to find any suspected containing bodies. If not for this, I wouldn¡¯t need to invite so many botanists to assist with our work." His final remark was very logical and received the botanists¡¯ approval. If it wasn¡¯t necessary, who would go to such lengths to gather such a group of people to help? Those who have participated in projects know that having more people involved in a project isn¡¯t always better. If it were novices they might randomly recruit people, but those with experience in projects wouldn¡¯t recruit unnned. Jiang Yuan took another sip of water, seeing that everyone understood, and once again looked at Qi Changye before saying, "The plot we are currently using as a demonstration was also identified during my review due to some special characteristics. Simply put, this plot is likely to indeed contain multiple bodies. Of course, we haven¡¯t dug up any bodies yet, so we¡¯ll have to wait and see what happens." As he spoke, others still didn¡¯t quite understand, but Qi Changye¡¯s expression suddenly stiffened. They had followed a special situation to this forest area and went missing soon after arriving. Later, unable to find any leads on the special situation, they had to change the investigation direction to solve the case. Yet, Qi Changye had never expected that under this forest, there would be more than one body. At that moment, Qi Changye saw someone using a mobile phone to send messages, quickly stepped over, blocked the phone with his hand, and said sternly, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are dealing with a murder case here. If anyone leaks information, they might as well stay in the dormitory with me until the case is fully solved!" The hand that was sending a message stiffened, and a low voice asked, "What extent counts as leaking information?" "What¡¯s discussed in the meeting shouldn¡¯t be disclosed. Didn¡¯t Captain Jiang mention discipline at the beginning?" Qi Changye looked almost fiercely ready to confine someone at any moment. "I¡¯ll delete it then," said the caught botanist, not willing to take a risk. He quickly opened his mobile phone, retracted the message, and deleted his social circle. Everyone else followed suit. Qi Changye¡¯s stern face exerted a heavy pressure. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan changed the screen¡¯s disy from the PowerPoint to a live video from the scene. An earlier adjusted channel, overlooking the scene from a high angle, didn¡¯t offer much in rity, but had arge coverage. "Is this the first ce we found just now?" someone easily identified the location based on the site¡¯s vegetation. Jiang Yuan hummed affirmatively, saying, "This is the first scene used as an example, plot K67, suspected of having buried bodies. Police officers are examining the scene, and soon a patrol dog will enter..." As he spoke, a ck-backed dog was brought to the edge of the camera. It was a clever police dog that instinctively nced at the camera before lowering its head to sniff lightly. Inexplicably, in the conference room hundreds of miles away, everyone held their breath and watched intently. The ck-backed dog sniffed to the left, then to the right, then walked forward in circles. Its handler quietly encouraged from behind. In the room, people watched the dog with more effort than the dog itself. "Come on!" Qiao Shengli clenched her fist with one hand and softly cheered. "Come on! Come on!" Students who had apanied their teachers responded enthusiastically. "Come on!" In the conference room, the cheers kepting as if they could encourage the dog through the camera. Sitting in the corner, Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but stand up with a chuckle, finding these schrs¡¯ minds quite interesting. "Woof, woof!" The sounds of the dog barking suddenly came from the speaker. Cui Qishan looked back at the screen and saw the dog barking in front of a bush. From Cui Qishan¡¯s experience, the shape of this bush indeed looked rather suspicious! Chapter 812 - 754: Unpretentious

Chapter 812: Chapter 754: Unpretentious

The delicate little shrub, amidst the gloomy forest, managed to enjoy a sliver of sunlight, which allowed it to grow into what it was today. Yet it was this little bit of sunlight that exposed it under the drone, facing tremendous risk. Crack crack. Two criminal police officers, without a moment¡¯s hesitation, chopped down the youthful shrub. It wasn¡¯t a protected nt, and none of the botanists present requested its transntation. The forest was full of trees; if you make room, there¡¯s nowhere left to make room for you. Woof woof. The police dog barked twice, as if in encouragement. The officer wielding the hoe looked back, smiled and shook his head, and began to swing the hoe ferociously. He didn¡¯t really seem skilled at farm work, hacking away for ten or so strikes, only managing to clear the above-ground part of the bush. It took three or four minutes of continuous work to create a shallow pit in the ground, one that would hold two urinations without seeping into the earth, or, by the standards of pouring a drink, four male pees at most. "A bit tiring, eh? This isn¡¯t something one person can do alone," concluded the officer with the hoe, passing it on to another officer behind him. Thetter, gloves already on, swung it without saying a word. They would trade off when tired, and when the area was expanded sufficiently, others began shoveling soil with spades. The entire process felt somewhat lengthy due to its tedium, but the schrs observing via camera didn¡¯t find it dull. This very ce, this very spot was discovered through the coboration of Jiang Yuan and everyone else, employing forensic botany techniques. For the botanists, it was quite like expanding their field. Of course, the field had indeed expanded back in the ¡¯80s, but the extent to which it was demonstrated to everyone was the current level of Jiang Yuan. Qiao Shengli, sitting beside her mentor Sulei, nced at the serious expressions of the prominent figures around and couldn¡¯t help but whisper, "It¡¯s so suspenseful, what if we don¡¯t find a body?" "What do you do when your experiments don¡¯t yield results?" Sulei retorted. Qiao Shengli thought for a moment, "Cold shoulder?" "Something like that," Sulei red at her apprentice. During the initial interview, she hadn¡¯t detected Qiao Shengli¡¯s naivety, now she had to endure those insensitive remarks untempered by societal hardship. Qiao Shengli grew a little bored and continued, "But if we do find a body, wouldn¡¯t it be super cool?" "Yeah, with so many botanists here, definitely someone will take an interest in forensic botany," Sulei mused, one such schr interested herself. The current state of affairs, with increased interest, was not a bad thing. At the very least, your published papers get cited! Qiao Shengli, less academically inclined, dreamt aloud, "Imagine if forensic botany became asmon as DNA, think of all the job opportunities it would create. Police departments would be scrambling to invite botany experts. It would make job searches easier, botany undergrads could join the force as technicians or something, sweet." Suleiughed, "Always thinking of the positives. DNA became widespread because of equipment like PCR; what can our field of botany widespread, microscopes? Relying on people to collect pollen... Don¡¯t you know why Jiang Yuan is showing everyone the disinterment?" Qiao Shengli was stunned, "Is he doing it to recruit people to collect pollen for him?" "Of course, the case isn¡¯t solved just by finding the body; to solve it, you still need botany. Judging by the condition of the ground¡¯s surface, the forsythia bush we just dug up is quite thick, so if there is a body underneath, it¡¯s been there for at least five years. With a body that old, I bet the case is difficult to crack," Sulei had seen several cases and was no longer a novice. Qiao Shengli crossed her arms vigntly, gazed at Jiang Yuan on stage, and then at the expert schrs around, asking, "Do you think everyone knows what Jiang Yuan is thinking?" "They probably can guess." "And they all stille, happily?" "Peoplee because they were invited, and that¡¯s just someone asking for help. If you¡¯re unwilling, you don¡¯t have to ept the invitation; they can¡¯t do anything to you. Jiang Yuan is even willing to perform for everyone, so what¡¯s there not to be happy about? It¡¯s technology that attracts you, clearly and openly, take the bait if you wish." "So, it¡¯s be quite upright?" Sulei smiled, "Because it still requires everyone to invest time in learning, I suppose. That¡¯s the issue with legal botany, the specific research content and scope aren¡¯t clear enough yet. However, it¡¯s also an opportunity. If everything bes standardized, they¡¯d just need to call you folks in, calling experts would be simply wasteful." Qiao Shengli pursed her lips, wondering what to do about her mentor¡¯s scorn? It was just daily routine after all. Sulei was speaking out of her own interest, but when she looked around at the schrs present, she decided not to continue. The fields in their development stages all had their bonuses, and if Legal Botany were to take off, the frantic pursuit of project funding that everyone faced would be resolved in a short time. If, as Qiao Shengli had said, police across the country needed the help of Legal Botany, they wouldn¡¯t need to reach the current level of DNA analysis. Just like a trace evidenceboratory, if every province were to establish ab, countless interdisciplinary projects would arise. Identification of nts from different provinces and cities, the distribution of nts from different provinces and cities, and anotherrger project, could involve creating a digital tag for nts in all regions of a province... "Woof, woof." Another bark came from the speaker. The police officers waving their shovels also stopped one after another. "We found something," one officer bent down and dug in the soil with gloved hands, revealing something greyish-white. "The camera, zoom in," he shouted, continuing to dig while waiting for his colleagues to bring the camera in closer. Soon, after a few blinks of the eye, an image of a bone appeared on the projector screen in the conference room. The officers continued to dig by hand, exposing a bone that was twenty to thirty centimeters long. "Is it human?" In the conference room, Qi Changye was more anxious than anyone else. But when you see a bone fragment, as a professional detective, you can¡¯t just dere it¡¯s human because both experientially and mathematically, the likelihood of stumbling upon a human bone is very low. Those who preferred vegetarianism and hadn¡¯t seen the sight of a whitish beef leg bone sawn into halves, salted, wrapped in tin foil, and then roasted until it sizzled and dripped with oil, were the pitiful friends. At least they should have seen something like a pork tubr bone. And such bones were asionally misreported as human bones. As for why a body buried deep in the wilderness wasn¡¯t human, that¡¯s a matter of discussing the ratios of lunatics to killers. The botanists present also looked at Jiang Yuan. They were mostly vegetarians and infrequently witnessed such a meaty scene. "Dig a bit more and look at the proportion," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t immediately announce the result, opting for a steadier approach instead. The rity of the camera wasn¡¯t very high, and the bone in the soil hadn¡¯t even been fully exposed... Jiang Yuan was ny percent sure, but what was the rush? It wasn¡¯t a pressing issue, including the body itself, probably thought so. As for the curiosity of the botanists present, they would just have to hold it in. The several officers on-site all wore gloves and knelt down to dig with their hands, except for the canine handlers, to avoid stimting the dogs to imitate them. If they were to hurt a dog¡¯s paw, that wouldn¡¯t be good. Soon, another small bone was uncovered, and only then did Jiang Yuan speak into the microphone on the table, "Yeah, we can basically confirm it¡¯s a human body. With that, our search for the first suspected burial site can be considered confirmed!" The tense atmosphere below immediately lightened. People started discussing in voices both loud and soft. "Is it the body of a murder victim?" someone asked in non-professionalnguage. Jiang Yuandao, "There¡¯s a high likelihood it¡¯s rted to a criminal case. As for whether it¡¯s a murder, we¡¯ll have to go back and examine it before we can determine." "Using botany like this, although I¡¯ve read the literature, seeing it firsthand like this is truly eye-opening," a schr eximed, eliciting a flurry of agreeing voices. "Generally speaking, it¡¯s still hard to find. Looking for a body based on the growth environment of nts is not a sufficient and necessary condition." "You can¡¯t see it that way either, Legal Botany has essentially be a practical science. Like today, in cooperation with police dogs and the investment of detective manpower, we don¡¯t need 100% certainty." "That¡¯s true. Otherwise, Jiang Yuan would have confirmed several locations by now, it¡¯s not possible for there to be so many bodies in a single forest." The schrsughed. Qi Changye didn¡¯tugh; his expression was somber. He now recalled that the address near that plot ofnd had appeared more than once in reports. Yet, he had failed to notice the connection. At this moment, a younger doctoral student, driven by curiosity, asked, "Doctor Jiang, how did you recognize that this was a human corpse? Because I¡¯ve studied a bit of forensics, and with just the long bones and a few small bones, it seems difficult to confirm..." "The small bone that was dug up just now was a phnx," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "There was also a ring in the soil." Chapter 813 - 755

Chapter 813: 755

The soil contained not only rings but also nes, bracelets, and anklets as well as some fabric residues whoseposition couldn¡¯t be discerned. The police officers digging the hole became more vigorous as they worked. Having personal belongings was best since they might determine the source of the body through these items. As is widely known, the primary factor in establishing the source of a corpse is the objects around it¡ªbased on the corpse itself? This task is not only difficult but also subject to chance. For instance, even if Jiang Yuan was ny percent certain that he had found human remains, he wouldn¡¯t immediately announce it. Because there was still a ten percent chance that the remains could be from an animal, and a forensic doctor cannot afford to gamble on that chance just once in their lifetime. Nor would anyone want to work with a forensic doctor who was right nine times out of ten. When police detectives asked forensic doctors questions, they expected answers beyond a doubt. The detectives couldn¡¯t start operating under the assumption of a murder case, only for the forensic doctor to suddenly apologize, saying he had made a mistake, that it was actually an orangutan! Even one such incident urring out of ten times, or even once in ten years, was an unforgivable major error. By contrast, identifying a person through their belongings was a more familiar pattern to the detectives. "It must have been a rather young girl; her ne and rings are the unique kind," guessed one of the excavating officers as he worked. The older detective across from him, digging with his hands, grunted an acknowledgment: "Nothing strange about that; usually, middle-aged women wouldn¡¯t end up here." "You¡¯re being somewhat discriminatory with that statement." "The jewelry wasn¡¯t taken; this wasn¡¯t a theft. And buried this far away, this group, even if not professional, is nearly so. How would an ordinary middle-aged womane into contact with such people? A beauty¡¯s fate is a fragile one, as the saying goes." "So it was for love or lust, huh? It could also be a romance from the previous generation or a vendetta!" "It could also be a random killing." "If it were random, there would be no need to bury it here. A body buried here is as good as disappeared; this ce is quite remarkable. It wouldn¡¯t be wasted. Those who kill on a whim would just dump the body anywhere." "Is there such a thing as cost-effectiveness when burying someone? If there¡¯s a ce and a time, of course, you bury it in a safe ce." As the detectives talked and worked, they eventually fell silent. "Jiang Yuan seems to have marked a position in front as well." "There are several spots; our team is just covering two, and Team Seven has at least two as well." "This month¡¯s vacation is down the drain." "This month? It¡¯ll be good if we get any vacation time this year." As they spoke, the detectives dug up some more soil, and when they saw bones, they stopped. Their task was essentiallyplete; what came next would wait for the arrival of the forensic doctor. Some took off their gloves, others stopped to get water from a distance, but no one felt rxed. Meeting room. Everyone¡¯s focus had already shifted to the second marked location. The vegetation at the second site was sparse too. Anyone educated or who had buried a body knew that the nts above a corpse didn¡¯t grow well in the early years due to the effects of dposing fluids, electrolyte imbnces, and so on. Thus, the poorly grown nts were uprooted from this area. Not requiring special exnation by Jiang Yuan, the botanists present had already made their findings clear. "There are also broken trees nearby, and this tree stump has mushrooms growing on it. Based on the growth cycle of the mushrooms, we can estimate the time of the event," said an excited schr specialized in mycology upon seeing the mushrooms. Listening from the side, Qi Changye immediatelymunicated: "The mushrooms on the tree stump must be protected; they can help determine the time." For cold cases, the time of death is a major hurdle; if the source of the body can be established alongside the time of death, the case¡¯s investigation would then have a solid foundation. Jiang Yuan, of course, would not hinder this. Even with his Level 6 death time assessment, he still required various factors as a basis for his judgement, with fungi being an excellent indicator. Soon anotherrge pit was dug out. When the bones appeared, several people stood up. "These don¡¯t look like human bones," said the botanists, who didn¡¯t need to be as certain as a forensic doctor before speaking up. Some botanists, aside from their main research, also dabble in more grisly studies. At that moment, they looked at the bones and said, "They¡¯re too thin. This length couldn¡¯t be a rib, and the bone quality seems off too, right? Is it a change that bones undergo in soil?" Botanists belong to a branch of biology with a different focus; during their undergraduate or even graduate studies, they usually learn about various other fields. Theirck of familiarity was more with underground environments, not knowing what kind of changes a bone would undergo after several years. Jiang Yuan erged the image a bit, did some image processing on the fly, and then said, "Does it look like the remains of a dog?" "Yes, yes, yes, it looks like an animal." The botanists who had stood up breathed a sigh of relief. They felt reassured that their assessment was correct and, more importantly, that there was not another human body. Qi Changye also rubbed his temples, "This is too intense. Why would these sickos bury a dog¡¯s body here." Jiang Yuan ignored him, looked at the processed image, and then called the police at the scene, "Please continue to dig further, protect the crime scene. There may be another body beneath the dog¡¯s remains." He spoke very clearly and did not y coy, all to avoid any misjudgment by the criminal police at the scene. Qi Changye¡¯s face swelled with anxiety, hastily asking, "Are the dog and a person buried together?" That would make sense. Otherwise, why bury just a dog¡¯s body so far away. If the purpose was to prevent the body from being discovered, consuming the dog would be more sensible than burying it. As for whether it could be eaten or whether it was edible, those issues were not concerns for a criminal. "Possibly," Jiang Yuan pointed at the screen and added, "The number of carrion insects is too high. A dog¡¯s flesh wouldn¡¯t sustain so many carrion insects." His answer was quite fresh, and the botanists started looking at the image more closely. The criminal police at the scene also began digging with renewed vigor. At this point, Jiang Yuan turned the screen to the third site and said, "Let¡¯s continue to the third crime scene..." "Hey, let¡¯s take a look at the second site first." The botanists were eager, many standing up, desperately wanting to see if what was buried in the earth was indeed a body. Someone inly said: "Don¡¯t rush, let¡¯s look at them one by one." "Let¡¯s review the previous one first." Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and said, "There are several more sites; we should review them quickly because I need to go to the site to see the bodies." The botanists looked somewhat forlorn but did not want to interfere with the work and sat down one by one. Jiang Yuan nodded and then began showing the third site, the fourth site... Qi Changye¡¯s heart was pounding. This time, Jiang Yuan spoke very quickly, as most of the content was a repeat of what had been discussed before. Now, it was more about examining the instances, observing the variations across different crime scenes. The third and fourth sites also unearthed bodies. Jiang Yuan went back to the second site, where under the remains of the dog, there indeed was another body. It was only at the fifth site that there was a deviation. The animal remains in the underbrush proved that the changes to the vegetation there were due to other reasons. Then came the sixth and seventh sites. In the end, Qi Changye¡¯s team had found six bodies. "Let¡¯s all rest for today; tomorrow, we¡¯ll start work," Jiang Yuan said, having exceeded the expected oue at the site, but he had no more time for the botanists. The discovery of six bodies in one go meant many people would have trouble sleeping that night. Jiang Yuan ended the meeting and got into a special forensic investigation vehicle, heading toward the burial site. Qi Changye got into another car, a Passat, and formed a convoy with Jiang Yuan, only he spent the journey continually making phone calls. Chapter 814 - 756: Powerful Output

Chapter 814: Chapter 756: Powerful Output

Body discovery scene. "Jiang Yuan! Wait a second." Jiang Yuan, Qi Changye, and others had just arrived not long ago and were still walking toward the slope where the bodies were buried when Tao Lu and a group in white shirts quickly caught up from behind. Tao Lu, who was middle-aged and had average physical strength yet was a high-ranking leader, was still swift on his feet; his hurried trot made it easy for one to understand his urgent mood. The people following him were a diverse group¡ªthere were familiar faces from the Zhengguang Bureau, semi-familiar faces from the police department, and somewhat new faces of Qi Changye¡¯s colleagues from other departments. At the very back, Huang Qiangmin, Liu Jinghui, and Wang Zhong were leisurely trailing. "Did you report this from the car?" Jiang Yuan teased Qi Changye a bit. "Six bodies!" Qi Changye took a deep breath, then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "This case has blown up!" "Don¡¯t worry too much. Although we haven¡¯t surveyed in detail yet, from the previous videos, I believe this case leans towards organized crime. The difficulty in solving it should not be too high." Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was simple; from an investigative perspective, six bodies were not necessarily moreplicated than one. Even abroad, the focus of organized crime investigations is not on clues or suspects but on gathering and preserving evidence. Domestically, with years of campaigns against organized crime, the difficulty in handling the case was likely not significant¡ªorganized crime meant multiple participants. Compared to individual serial killings, the likelihood of leaks in such cases was high. Most importantly, ording to what Qi Changye had said earlier, the organization had already been cracked. That meant just pulling the people from prison for another round of interrogations could very likely provide leads. Yet, Qi Changye took advantage of the moment before Tao Lu and the others were in ce to whisper, "You forgot when I handled this case before, I had looked for our special intelligence whereabouts. There are six bodies here, and not a single one has been ounted for..." At this moment, Jiang Yuan started to react, "So, you think there¡¯s more than just crime involved here?" "Yes, it might indeed be organized crime, but it could also involve espionage or intelligence agency participation." Qi Changye let out a sigh, not hiding his use of the word "espionage." In movies, espionage is quite an exciting term, but in reality, it¡¯s a bit too thrilling. Back when Jiang Yuan was handling cases in Qinghe County and investigating the organized Yuan Family, even construction vehicles would crash into him; if he encountered an even more threatening organization here... Jiang Yuan carefully thought it over, then slowly said, "From the appearance of the corpses I¡¯ve seen just now, the handling of the bodies is quite basic, unlike those trained professionally." Regarding murder, the first kill certainly can¡¯t be described as the work of an expert, but by the second kill, iming to be professional is no problem¡ªgrowth in this industry is indeed rapid. But in trueparison to spy organizations, professionals from informal backgrounds definitely have too many shorings. Not to mention, all those jewelries and bracelets, why weren¡¯t they taken? Throwing them into a river would be better than burying them like this. Moreover, traveling this far to bury bodies isn¡¯t the most cost-effective method. Of course, its concealment is strong, but for spy use, the workload is slightly excessive. "The main thing is that this case has already ended." Qi Changye spoke again, helplessly saying, "Initially, it wasn¡¯t a total roundup, but we caught almost everyone we could. These bodies that we found now show that we didn¡¯t fully understand the full scope of the case back then..." Qi Changye said this with a tight frown, his mind seemingly racing through countless thoughts. Tao Lu caught up from behind and from far asked, "What¡¯s the situation now?" "Six human corpses, we are preparing to go take a look," Qi Changye snapped back to reality. "Let¡¯s go take a look." Tao Lu and Qi Changye walked side by side for a few steps, then Tao Lu asked, "Qi, what are you thinking? Do you need our help?" Qi Changye gave him a troubled look before ncing over Tao Lu¡¯s shoulder. Tao Lu was the head of the Criminal Police Brigade; technically, he was Qi Changye¡¯s direct superior. However, in certain operational aspects, Tao¡¯s role was merely supportive, and when it came to those aspects, Qi had to liaise with other colleagues behind Tao. Now, the question Tao asked was crucial. If it were deemed an ordinary criminal case, even if there were multiple bodies, it would still be a criminal case, and Tao would shoulder the case with him, perhaps even taking over and reallocating resources. But if Qi Changye didn¡¯t think it was an ordinary criminal case and involved spies or something simr, then Tao wouldn¡¯t take the case. He would only respond to notifications from Qi¡¯s side, maybe even through more formal channels. Concurrently, Qi¡¯s work focus would shift toward cooperation with colleagues from other anti-espionage departments. Naturally, the corresponding resources couldn¡¯te from Tao¡¯s side anymore. The problem was, the case was very difficult to judge. The conversation Qi had just had with Jiang Yuan aimed to conclude this, yet the situation was still evenly undecided. "We still can¡¯t say for sure," Qi Changye admitted honestly, "We¡¯ve just discovered the bodies, and we still can¡¯t rify their specific sources." "Then let¡¯s take a look first," Tao Lu responded understandingly, smacking his lips, "What arrangements have you discussed with him prior? Huang came along too." Qi Changye swallowed his saliva, barely concealing his reaction through his professional demeanor. "Previously... We only discussed cases of special circumstances. Commissioner Huang... Huang is quite reasonable," Qi Changye exhaled, feeling physically limp, a tiredness that wanted to be firm but couldn¡¯t. Before the two could further discuss, Huang Qiangmin came jogging up from behind, taking three steps in two. "Did I hear there are six bodies?" Huang Qiangmin asked right away. Qi Changye cleared his throat twice and said, "Indeed, that¡¯s the situation." "A criminal case?" Huang probed further. "Still uncertain," Qi Changye spread his hands. "So will Tao¡¯s team be involved?" Huang wasted no time. He himself had been the chief of a major criminal police team for over a decade and knew this area very well. His tasks in Ningtai County were at least fundamentally simr to those of Tao Lu. If it was uncertain whether it was a criminal case, it was very likely that Tao¡¯s team wouldn¡¯t even participate. Qi Changye¡¯s team was a typically well-equipped squad with a substantial volume of work and a peculiar shortage of personnel, making it even harder to spare staff for a dedicated case. Qi Changye nced at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression and said helplessly, "Do you have any suggestions?" "We can pull two squads from Ningtai County, 50 men, seconded to the Zhengguang Bureau for a month," Huang Qiangmin replied, a grin splitting his face. The first and second squads he had painstakingly nurtured, one specialized in armed operations and the other in intellectual pursuits, were both excellent at solving cases. Now, with the caseload in the county being too low, not utilizing them would be a waste. Regarding transfers, within this system, it was no longer rare¡ªalmost every young officer had experienced being seconded, from county bureaus to city bureaus and even to direct-administered municipalities or provincial Ministry departments. Qi Changye sighed and silently moved towards the site. On the hillside, several officers, leaning on their hoes and shovels, were resting. Jiang Yuan himself, carrying a case, quickly climbed up. Zhan Kan, Liu Jinghui, and others quickly followed, then members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Team, followed by Pang Jidong, Sulei, and several botanists. The group lined up, appearing almost as a toon. In fact, there were more than all the members of Qi Changye¡¯s squad. Tao Lu coughed twice and whispered to Qi Changye, "Those with money contribute money, those with strength contribute strength, that¡¯s how it goes." Chapter 815 - 757: Collecting Evidence

Chapter 815: Chapter 757: Collecting Evidence

Zhan Kan assisted Jiang Yuan, carefully extracting the body from pit number one. The young forensic doctor with them made a phone call, then whispered, "Captain Jiang, Zeng and the others will also be arriving soon, probably in another half an hour." "Good, once they get here, start with number six." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t unearth all six bodies alone; even if he had the stamina, maintaining focus and managing time would be extremely difficult. And with cases like this one, it was better not to stay overnight if possible. This wasn¡¯t just because it was hard to set up defenses in the forest, but also because morning and evening were times when rain was likely to fall, creating a swift change in temperature that could be dangerous for exposed corpses. Tao Lu was leading Huang Qiangmin and Qi Changye, with two half-alive faces in tow, quietly exchanging words. Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was focused on the pit of bodies. Jiang Yuan, Zhan Kan, and the others continued the bone-collecting work that the police officers hadn¡¯t finished. Meanwhile, the officers carried on with their previous tasks of collecting insects and soil samples. One by one, the bones were ced into the prepared boxes. Zhan Kan picked up a segment of bone, looked it over carefully, and then asked Jiang Yuan in a low voice, "The bones seem very clean; does that mean the time of death could exceed four or five years?" There wasn¡¯t a shred of connective tissue on the stark white bones. The "connective tissue" referred to the sinew that¡¯s usually thest muscr tissue to disconnect from the bones during theter stages of a corpse¡¯s dposition. Jiang Yuan had already examined the bones before and now looked around, saying, "You can be bolder in your estimate." "More than five years? Seven years?" Zhan Kan expressed his surprise. "At least eight years, I¡¯d say," Jiang Yuan replied. "What do you think could have slowed down the dposition of the body?" Indeed, for a body to decay to apletely clean state, it usually takes three to five years. Zhan Kan¡¯s estimate of four or five years was based on the assumption that dposition was slow. Clearly, Jiang Yuan believed the rate of dposition was much slower than what Zhan Kan had estimated. After some thought, Zhan Kan said, "Firstly, I think a colder climate would reduce the rate of decay. On the other hand, the environment inside a forest would actually increase the degree of decay... so I¡¯ve considered abination of factors." "There¡¯s another reason; the wind is too strong," Jiang Yuan muttered. "Beijing generally has strong winds. The slope they chose has some wind resistance capability, but it still isn¡¯t enough. Why would strong winds slow down the decay of a body?" "Uh... because it... blows away the fly eggs?" Zhan Kan, who had nearly forgotten the information he¡¯d studied years ago, felt like his brain was straining to regrow its knowledge. Jiang Yuan simply nodded and continued, "So, considering the environment here, it would probably take more than three or four years to form bones this clean; at least eight years would be necessary." "But there¡¯s water here, and the water paths seem quite good; that should elerate the formation of decay, right?" "This is a hillside; water doesn¡¯t linger here, and the eggs would likely be washed away," Jiang Yuan exined in a way that Zhan Kan could understand. Zhan Kan nodded repeatedly. The group continued collecting bones. Once the collection was mostly done, Jiang Yuan had a basic understanding of the situation inside the grave and then moved on to the second grave. Then it was the third and fourth graves, checking each in turn. Zeng Lianrong and others were about to arrive, so Jiang Yuan also needed to check the other bodies. If he had any thoughts, it was better tomunicate them in advance. Although all located on one hillside, the distribution of graves was quite widespread. There were hundreds of meters between one grave and another. A drone could quickly fly over them, but walking by foot was somewhat taxing; the outdoor forests were not as rxed as city parks. When Jiang Yuan was approaching the sixth burial site, Zeng Lianrong climbed up. He was older, carrying a box himself, and was breathing hard. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan quickly urged the older man to rest first, then updated the situation, saying, "I just checked the body at position one, and the time of death is around eight years ago. The timing of these burials is longer than we expected." "When Team Captain Qi closed the case, it was two or three years ago, right? So there have been at least five years of buried bodies, five bodies in six years, which isn¡¯t too many," Zeng Lianrong, though out of breath, still had a clear mind and added, "Actually, there were many homicides in the earlier years, especially during the nies. When things first opened up, out of a billion people, nine hundred million were down, and the remaining hundred million were searching. Back then, businesspeople would always carry money with them when they went out..." "Those were truly golden years," Liu Jinghui joined in, havinge over upon hearing Zeng Lianrong¡¯s words and added sentimentally, "When I first started working, we would practice on robbery cases. Now, whenever we encounter a violent crime, we get as tense as anything." "Indeed, there was one time, when I autopsied over a dozen bodies in one week, to the point where I could hardly move them toward the end. However, times were different back then, many family members were willing to help move the bodies, and I even conducted an autopsy in the yard of the victim¡¯s family home, with neighborhood children peering over the wall..." "To perform an autopsy at the victim¡¯s home, could the victim¡¯s family really stand it?" Zhan Kan had been working in the clean and bright autopsy center in Beijing since graduation, where the processes were strict and the proceduresplicated. He couldn¡¯t even imagine such a barbaric era. Zeng Lianrong couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, took a sip of water, stood up, and said, "Actually, that was only a little over twenty years ago." "In fact, it hasn¡¯t been that long. In our Qinghe City, there were still such cases a few years ago." Jiang Yuan recalled and smiled, "My master told me that in more remote viges, bodies were not necessarily moved back; the autopsy would be done right in the vige." Zhan Kan was astonished, "But it wouldn¡¯t take more than a few hours to transport them by car." "Putting them on a vehicle might take several hours of lifting alone." Jiang Yuanughed, ncing around: "The traffic can¡¯tpare to the convenience of Beijing." "Indeed, once the bodies are on the vehicle, driving them here is just a matter of time. Once here, in the middle of nowhere, if there are two or three people to help, carrying it a few hundred meters is not a problem. Digging the hole is the exhausting part," Liu Jinghui had been pondering on the way. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, "This burial site is definitely not suitable for a single person tomit the crime." This was his reason for suspecting organized crime. If it were a lone serial killer, he would have to carry the bodies to the vehicle by himself, being careful not to dirty himself, then drive to this hillside, and carry the body up the slope, climbing hundreds of meters of difficult mountain paths, before digging a deep enough hole to bury a person, and that meant first clearing away any nt life on top¡ªany 35-year-old who doesn¡¯t exercise regrly wouldn¡¯t choose this n. But if three or four people worked together,ughing and talking, they could probably finish the job in an afternoon. It would be a struggle for two people as well, but anyone with experience carrying a drunkard knows that two people carrying a body is not much easier than one person carrying it on his back. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "So I keep thinking, how could a murdermitted by several people co-operating, with multiple victims, ur without a whisper, not only with no one turning in the culprits for a reward but not even a report made to the authorities." "Isn¡¯t it because of the special circumstances at Team Captain Qi¡¯s end?" Jiang Yuan had no such experience yet. Liu Jinghui grimaced, "How special can it be? Spies are even less likely to die quietly; it¡¯s just that there hasn¡¯t been a high-profile investigation. Peripheral members indeed have a certain probability, but it can¡¯t be that multiple people in a row are all solitary individuals, can it?" Jiang Yuan could only nod. He hadn¡¯t thought that far; considerationes after the evidence¡ªthat was the forensic doctors¡¯ way. He was thinking over Liu Jinghui¡¯s words from beginning to end. "I¡¯ll go collect the bodies now." Zeng had rested enough and went off to work with several forensic doctors. Jiang Yuan then went to dig out body number four. Number four was a typical male body, dead for about six years as well. Number three was a female body, also dead for around six years. In fact, ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, her time of death was only two or three months different from that of number four. Returning to pit number two, he unearthed another male body, dead for about five years, but even it was only a few months apart from the death time of body number three. "It seems a lot happened six years ago." Jiang Yuan could only draw a few conclusions for now, and had Zhan Kan take notes specially. In the time that followed, Jiang Yuan collected the dog¡¯s body from pit number two as well, then turned his attention to pits five and six, by which time the forensic doctors led by Zeng werergely done. By then, it waste, and everyone was too exhausted for socializing, heading home in their own cars. Jiang Yuan followed back to the dissecting center, where the bodies from the non-mainstream religious case a few days ago had still not been fully processed yet. "Zhan Kan, find a body and do a cranial reconstruction," Jiang Yuan had not forgotten about his task. Zhan Kan was a bit uneasy, asking, "Will you be guiding me through it?" "You do it yourself; I¡¯m busy with other things," Jiang Yuan said. "Then you pick first, and I¡¯ll choose after you¡¯re done." "No need," Jiang Yuan said: "I¡¯ll start with taking DNA from this dog." Chapter 816 - 758 Our Way

Chapter 816: Chapter 758 Our Way

Dog DNA technology developed a bitter than human DNA technology. Essentially, it involved determining which gic markers were stable and could be used forparison and testing. Around the early 2000s, the Ministry¡¯s Evidence Identification Center began with cattle DNA identification, mainly to address the question, "Why do you im this cow belongs to you?" The ancient practice of marking cattle and horses eventually proved less reliable than paternity testing for cows, especially when someone intended to lead your cow away or even steal it, there was doubt whether it still bore any markings. As for dog DNA testing, a notable case happened in Estonia where a young woman was bitten to death by a dog in a vige. Forensic doctors used dog hair and saliva stains collected from the woman¡¯s clothing to test six dogs from nearby households, eventually identifying the suspect dog. Today, dog DNA testing has be very simple and convenient, with the technology¡¯s development now focusing on rapid DNA screening. Mainly, these are quick-test kits used by market regtory authorities, typically capable of rapidly detecting genes from dogs, foxes, minks, cats, ducks, rats, and the like. This means taking a swab from an uncertain meat product, inserting it into the kit, and in a matter of minutes, you¡¯ll know if it contains meat from dogs, foxes, minks, cats, ducks, rats, and so on. The old saying "selling dog meat under the guise ofmb" has ancient origins, and in modern times... Europe has had the scandal of 16 countries involving horse meat sold as beef. The variety of meats detectable by DNA test kits illustrates another less amusing phenomenon: the meats on the market have a reason to be suspected of adulteration, which mighte from cats, foxes, minks... In addition, roon dogs, also members of the canid family, have often been used to pass as dog meat. In summary, most of the DNA cases involving dogs handled by the Evidence Identification Center are economic in nature. Therefore, suddenly bing involved in a murder case, especially a significant one, understandably excites the technicians. Before Jiang Yuanpleted the autopsy, the technician from the Evidence Identification Center brought the report personally from afar. "Uh, the dog corpse you¡¯re going to examine belongs to a Belgian Malinois," eximed the technician joyfully as he asked for directions on his way in and met Jiang Yuan and others. "Ah... Captain Lou has arrived. What a hassle for you to deliver it in person." Zhan Kan was dealing with skull restoration, which was giving him a headache, yet he came to greet and took the opportunity to introduce Doctor Jiang. "We¡¯re so familiar by now that there¡¯s no need for handshakes, ha... Doctor Jiang, hello, I am Lou Fengguo..." Lou Fengguo approached, eyeing Jiang Yuan like a front-row fan at a concert. With the report in hand, much like a concert ticket, Jiang Yuan took it with repeated thanks and read through it. Lou Fengguo exined by his side, "The Belgian Malinois is amon working dog. However, they are prone to getting into trouble, especially excitable, suitable for lengthy working hours, but as pets, they easily cause mishaps¡ªparticrly mixed-breeds. The Malinois temperament is already unstable, and mixing breeds only worsens this instability." Jiang Yuan, listening attentively, asked, "What about this one?" "Purebred," Lou Fengguo pointed at a chart in the report, adding, "Belgian Malinois aren¡¯t expensive. Purebreds usually go for a couple thousand, depending on how you obtain them. In cities, they are troublesome to keep, eating a lot, requiring long walks, and they shed." "But they¡¯re very suitable as police dogs or for working, aren¡¯t they?" Zhan Kan didn¡¯t want to deal with skulls anymore and moved over to join the conversation. Lou Fengguo nodded affirmatively, "Definitely, Belgian Malinois are strong workers, can climb trees, scale walls, with exceptional leaping ability. A police Malinois can easily ascend a second-floor building, with keen alertness and a ferocious bite. Moreover, as pets, their lengthy excitable periods are a drawback, but for working dogs, it¡¯s perfect." "Can their DNA lead us to their owner or someone rted?" Jiang Yuan took the dog¡¯s DNA with the goal of solving the case. Lou Fengguo became excited at this point, the hairs on his arms standing, as he eagerly awaited Jiang Yuan¡¯s question. "For others, it might just be waiting for you to bring in the DNA forparison. The Belgian Malinois¡¯s lineage is quiteplicated," Lou Fengguo chuckled confidently: "But in this area, I do have some insights." "Hmm... Do you want to join our special investigation team?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s inquiry was exactly what Lou Fengguo wanted to hear, although the directness caught Lou Fengguo by surprise. Lou Fengguo couldn¡¯t help touching his short hair, "You don¡¯t even ask about the technology I¡¯m prepared to use?" "I don¡¯t know much about DNA identification," Jiang Yuan confessed, then after thinking about it, and realizing the other party wasn¡¯t just a dismissive leader, added, "What technology are you nning to use?" "Different bloodlines of dogs definitely possess some stable gic DNA. Our domestic dogs have simpler origins. Frankly speaking, people in the circles call me ¡¯Dog Understanding Emperor¡¯," Lou Fengguo boasted with pride. Probably there is indeed some pride in those points. In a ce with the spirit and people of Beijing, Lou Fengguo daring to call himself an emperor suggests that he must be at least Level 3 in understanding dogs. If not just from an enthusiast¡¯smunity, Lou Fengguo¡¯s degree of understanding might even go higher. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think of his first skill acquired, Level 5 Dog Feeding Skill, this legacy from the victim Chen Manli. Without any professional training, just pure passion and talent, she waspletely self-taught to reach Level 5. Jiang Yuan estimated that if he entered a DNAb, his DNA identification skill level at best would be about Level 0.8, and possibly only Level 0.4. This subject is notoriously easy to learn yet hard to master, with the most basic operation simr to self-administered nucleic acid testing. Advance just slightly, and it bes academically challenging¡ªthe equipment and its manufacturer, particrly which country andpany produced it, must be scrutinized for consistent results. The treatment of test samples is even more demanding, from the solution used for soaking to the homogenization ns, optimal temperatures, enzymes, and the variety of solutions added multiple times, especially the primers, withplexity that wouldn¡¯t be exaggerated even at Level 5. Although DNA identification is simr for different organisms, as Lou Fengguo mentioned, tracing a dog¡¯s origin and determining its stable hereditary traits significantly increases the difficulty. "Therefore, I¡¯ll leave the task of finding the dog to you," Jiang Yuan made the decision swiftly. Lou Fengguo was a bit unustomed and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Don¡¯t you even want to do an assessment?" Jiang Yuan nced at him, began to put his gloves back on to prepare for the continuation of the autopsy, and asked, "Do you really understand dogs? Can you trace the bloodline and origin of this dog through the existing remains of its skeleton?" Lou Fengguo immediately said, "Tracing its bloodline is not a problem, but to trace its origin, we might need a bit of luck..." "That¡¯ll be enough," Jiang Yuan interrupted Lou Fengguo. Lou Fengguo: "That¡¯s enough?" "Yes, this case is being followed from top to bottom. I am a Ningtai person, and I don¡¯t really have the authority to manage you all..." "How could that be? With Captain Jiang¡¯s current reputation..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "What I mean is, this case is not cheap, it involves a lot, it¡¯s not only the Zhengguang Bureau that is watching, everyone is paying attention; I don¡¯t need to manage everyone one by one, and I don¡¯t have the time..." "Captain Jiang, don¡¯t just say scary things," Zhan Kan quickly interrupted Jiang Yuan, "I feel a bit cold just listening to that." Jiang Yuan uttered an "Oh" and switched to a gentler tone, "Team Leader Lou, wee to the task force. Just try to do things as well as you can. Everything you do is being watched by Tao and his team." ... Not only was Tao Lu watching, Qi Changye and his colleagues were growing increasingly anxious. After putting in 24 hours of personal effort, Qi Changye could hardly wait to get to the autopsy center. The words ¡¯autopsy center¡¯ embedded in the wall looked dusty and, from a distance, it seemed like just any ordinary building, but in Beijing, nothing is ordinary. Bodies had to gather in numbers, at least enough to y a half table of mahjong, in order to form a scale that would attract attention. Before entering the door, Qi Changye also scratched his hair to make it look as messy as if it were covering a thinking skull. "Captain Jiang..." Qi Changye entered the door, his voice was wailing. Hearing the shrill voice, Jiang Yuan first took a serious look at the skeleton on the autopsy table, making sure it wasn¡¯t the one calling out, before turning to look at Qi Changye, "Director Qi, I haven¡¯t finished my autopsy...is there another body?" "I wouldn¡¯t dare, ah... I don¡¯t know," Qi Changye sighed, then added, "We interrogated all day yesterday and encountered some problems." "What kind of problems?" "Nobody really knows what¡¯s going on with these bodies." Qi Changye spoke with a mix of solemnity and perplexity, "I was there that day, watching theme down this path." Jiang Yuan frowned slightly upon hearing this. Indeed, from Qi Changye¡¯s perspective, the bodies were most likely left over from a previous spy case, and there should normally have been some whispers of information... "Did the killer escape?" Jiang Yuan ventured a guess. "Everyone got away? That¡¯s hardly likely." Qi Changye also agreed with Liu Jinghui¡¯s hypothesis that several individuals were required for such a method of burying bodies. Moreover, based on Qi Changye¡¯s feeling, if it took four or five people to form a team to bury bodies, then the team couldn¡¯t just consist of four or five people because things might happen among them, injuries might ur, leave might be taken, and if they were short-staffed, either the remaining members had to take on all tasks, or new members had to be added. Adding new members was the most likely scenario, so there should be quite a few informants. Furthermore, given the sequence of the spy case, the levels of these informants probably weren¡¯t high. Operations are generally prioritized below intelligence inside the organization, so it wouldn¡¯t make sense for all the informants to have fled when many had been captured. After a moment of silence, Qi Changye asked in a low voice, "Did you find my person of interest?" "Not yet, no matches." Jiang Yuan spread his hands and then added, "But the bodies buried underground, it¡¯s not possible to find them all." "This...ah..." Qi Changye sighed heavily. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, "If things aren¡¯t going smoothly on your end, why not try our methods?" Chapter 817 - 759: Leading by Example

Chapter 817: Chapter 759: Leading by Example

"Your approach? What Xu... approach?" Qi Changye came to Jiang Yuan, prepared to ramp up the investigation, but when it came to it, he found his mouth a bit sluggish. It was like he was earning three thousand a month, nning to buy himself a Rolex. The decision had already been made, and he¡¯d prepared mentally; but facing the cashier, he still didn¡¯t want to easily say the words "I¡¯ll take it." Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "Xu Taining flew back." Qi Changye let out a sigh of relief and smiled, "So he flew back..." "The transportation in Beijing isn¡¯t the issue," Jiang Yuan said, silencing Qi Changye with a single sentence. Qi Changye made a bitter face, "Give it to me straight, please." Investigation funds and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s basic infrastructure support funds were two different concepts. The amount required would be muchrger and was indispensable. Talking about money was a vulgar matter, but resources were a fact of reality; without money... Without money, you couldn¡¯t even afford reagents for a dog¡¯s DNA. Jiang Yuan, however, never haggled over finances. He didn¡¯t have that concept but merely watched Qi Changye with amusement and said, "I suggest that the first step is to gather all the botanists together to continue searching for bodies." "Getting organized is necessary," Qi Changye managed to say with a smile but then sighed, "Inviting them here was indeed for this purpose, and it¡¯s certain that it will take time to search for other possible remains, but now... can we handle it?" He nced at the corpse on Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy table. But that wasn¡¯t the only reason. Six bodies were already quite a few; from themander¡¯s perspective, the autopsy reports for these six bodies hadn¡¯t been released yet, and corresponding leads hadn¡¯t been investigated. Having even more might not necessarily be meaningful. However, if there were more bodies, they would definitely attract more attention. For Qi Changye and his colleagues, the espionage case a few years ago had been carried out very well, but the appearance of so many unidentified corpses made it easy for others to feel there were holes in the case, giving a sense of numerous defects. This was a bit hard to swallow. Nevertheless, Qi Changye quickly adjusted his mood, shook his head, and said, "Then let¡¯s call out the botanists. The more bodies we find, the more leads we¡¯ll have." "Because they¡¯ll be slower to identify them, it¡¯s best to organize this work now to prevent dyster on," Jiang Yuan reassured Qi Changye in return. Qi Changye quickly asked, "Do you mean it will not be easy to find bodies afterward?" "The easy-to-find bodies have already been searched for once, what remains will definitely be harder to locate, and will likely require repeated verification," Jiang Yuan replied, a bit embarrassed. He had spent two days marking the locations where he thought it was most likely to find bodies. Then, not to mention the lower technical proficiency of the other botanists, the difficulty had already increased by at least one level. Moreover, digging up bodies from a hillside, huffing and puffing to uncover one, was extremely exhausting. But if you huffed and puffed and dug for half a day and found nothing, the difficulty of the work soared. "Alright then. Let¡¯s start searching," Qi Changye wasn¡¯t sure if he felt relieved. Jiang Yuan continued to smile, saying, "Let them search for bodies for a couple of days, just as I would havepleted the autopsies here. Then, we can invite everyone toe and collect pollen." Collecting pollen didn¡¯t mean they had to rely on legal botany for the investigation. It wasn¡¯t even clear if the six bodies belonged to the same case. As a forensic scientist, Jiang Yuan naturally aimed to collect as much evidence as possible. Qi Changye now understood a bit more and thought of Jiang Yuan¡¯s remarkable capabilities in forensic botany¡ªhe didn¡¯t understand it at all, which made him even more confident in Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills! "Also, we need to replenish manpower as soon as possible. Once Iplete the autopsies here, no matter who is in charge of the investigation, we cannot run short of people," Jiang Yuan urged this time. "Okay, I¡¯ll get the paperwork done as soon as possible," Qi Changye said firmly, resolving to transfer dozens of people over, though it would involve numerous procedures. Fortunately, the entire process was streamlined. Now, police stations operated like pump stations, transferring staff from the Ministry down to the county bureau, all striving to reallocate personnel. Qi Changye just needed to make an effort to run around, then pay for the ne tickets of dozens of people, and find amodations for them, which would be regarded as an initial sess in securing manpower from the two squadrons. Two dayster. Jiang Yuan finished the autopsy and, after cleaning up, went home to start preparing ingredients for his father¡¯s meal. The bones he had picked out today had all been washed clean, and he himself was washed clean enough; theoretically, there should have been no odor. Huang Qiangmin and the others who arrived in session also had no objections. Everyone pitched in to help prepare for the uing dinner for a hundred people. Even in Jiang Fuzhen, whererge vige feasts weremon, they still needed people to help out. "What¡¯s the main course today?" Liu Jinghui also came to help and rolled up his sleeves as if he was ustomed to doing chores at home. "Lamb or beef?" Jiang Yuan guessed. "Boiled beef ribs." Jiang Fuzhen, who was always keen and alert in the kitchen, heard their conversation and poked his head out. "So it¡¯s beef ribs, nice, nice." Liu Jinghui nodded in approval. "Yeah, I reserved a spot for beef short ribs because they yield more meat when cut and are fragrant when cooked. The workers had never cut it this way before; we even did a trial cut." Jiang Fuzhen bragged about the details only he knew, then chuckled and went back to the kitchen. Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "You father and son have quite an enthusiasm for bones." Jiang Yuan spread his hands, knowing that after bing a forensic doctor, any involvement in kitchen work would earn himments of a simr vein. Even though they were cooking meat today, he could still receive remarks about the inseparability of meat and bones. As the kitchen began to emit delicious aromas, the Ningtai County First Squadron led by Wu Junhao and the Ningtai County Second Squadron led by Liu Wenkai arrived one after the other... at Jiang Yuan¡¯s house. "Everyone rest first, then have a bite to eat; in a while I¡¯ll take you to where you¡¯ll be staying..." Huang Qiangmin also carried the neighborly presence of a local boss, his smile curving up into a 5.5-degree grin. The police officers didn¡¯t fuss, finding seats for themselves while sharing the happenings of their journey and quietly inquiring about the situation here. Everyone wisely refrained from asking about the case. On one hand, they were unsure who among them was part of the special case team and who was not; on the other hand, they all understood that once work began tomorrow, their minds would surely be filled with case briefings. "The beef ribs are here!" Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s call seemed to pull everyone back to Ningtai County a few months earlier. Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help butugh. He had been transferred to a local police station before, but now he was back and had been sent to support the capital, which ironically made him feel somewhat at ease. Huang Qiangmin patted Wu Junhao on the shoulder, saying, "Your task here is crucial, so enjoy yourself for today." "Huh? Is there danger?" Wu Junhao quickly caught on and fixed his gaze on Mu Zhiyang. "Haven¡¯t really encountered any yet." Mu Zhiyang felt unjustly used. "The situation is quiteplicated." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t borate. "No worries, our squad is here and we¡¯ll ensure Captain Jiang doesn¡¯t suffer so much as a scratch," Wu Junhao rubbed his shiny bald head andughed heartily. In front of Jiang Yuan, the system¡¯s screen slowly emerged and, in one breath, popped up two tasks: Task 1: Protect Task Content: While protecting yourself, also ensure the safety of yourrades. The entire team is required to avoid on-duty injuries. ... Task 2: Lead by Example Task Content: As a criminal science and technology officer, you can asionally be on the frontline, setting an example for others. Task Progress: (0/X) Chapter 818 - 760: Simple and Complex

Chapter 818: Chapter 760: Simple and Complex

Early morning. The reinforcements borrowed from Ningtai County arrived at the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad¡¯s building, seated in a coach bus. Under the blue sky and white clouds, the building of the Zhengguang Bureau stood solemn and serious, its very straight appearance exuding a strong atmosphere. Wu Junhao and Liu Wenkai walked side by side, casually chatting while taking in the sight of the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s building. "This building of the Zhengguang Bureau, though it looks smaller than our new one, has a pretty good design, especially the yard¡ªit¡¯s so big. Not like ours, you cross a small parking lot and you¡¯re already at the road," Liu Wenkaimented on the differences he observed. Wu Junhao just smiled and said, "Our new building, maybe we owe a bit of that to Zhengguang Bureau too, seeing as we¡¯re sort of rted now. Say something nice." "Got it. Back when I used to bust Johns, some guys didn¡¯t even know the girl¡¯s real name; they¡¯d just point at her hair and say, ¡¯I paid for that hairdo, how can we not be rted?¡¯ It¡¯s the same thing," Liu Wenkai said with earnest. Wu Junhaoughed, giving Liu Wenkai¡¯s thin frame a hearty p: "I quite miss your nonsense." It had only been a month since Wu Junhao returned to the Criminal Police Detachment to sort out the team, and he really hadn¡¯t had the chance to have a good chat with Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai gasped from the p and replied with nostalgia, "Thanks for caring, Big Wu." Wu Junhao was transferred back to Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment to be the captain of the first squad, and was also given the title of deputy detachment leader. Although it didn¡¯t mean much practically, it sounded good. Though Big Wu didn¡¯t really sound that great. "Let¡¯s just stick with the old titles. Don¡¯t want anyone getting confused," Wu Junhao said, rubbing Liu Wenkai¡¯s shoulder. Liu Wenkai grinned in pain, "No confusion there, everyone in our brigade knows Big Wu likes to treat us to meat-filled tbread." "That¡¯s called Roujiamo." "If it¡¯s Big Wu treating, naturally we should call it a tbread. Just like in bigpanies, the girls they hire to sing and dance should be called an ¡¯entertainment troupe.¡¯" ... Conference room. The squad leader Tao Lu organized a meeting to introduce the police officers from the special case team to the reinforcements from Ningtai County. The officers apuded politely out of respect for Jiang Yuan. Naturally, the ones pping most vigorously were Qi Changye and his squad members. Without any help, it wasn¡¯t just the pressure on their spirits that was a concern; they were about to be worked to death. "Let¡¯s talk about the case," Tao Lu said without too much small talk. The life of detectives was simple, somewhat like soldiers in constant battle. They always march to the front, asionallying back for repairs, sometimes fighting through the night, engaging in annihting battles, breaking encirclements, pursuing fugitives... Pre-battle socializing wasn¡¯t that meaningful; camaraderie was built on the front lines. Qi Changye cleared his throat and said, "Let¡¯s start with the status of our review of old cases. The ¡¯Half-Ton Case¡¯ is essentially amercial espionage incident, which began with the discovery that the origin and registration of half-ton goods didn¡¯t match. Subsequent investigations revealed that this started out as a case ofmercial espionage, then the case gradually became moreplex, involving some domestic and international organizations..." "Reopening this case was based on the disappearance of a special informer..." "The problem now is that we¡¯ve re-interrogated rted suspects, but haven¡¯t received any useful information, which is a rather difficult situation to exin..." After finishing in one breath, Qi Changye grabbed a cup and guzzled down some water. The technicians from the forensic investigation center, who had conducted the on-site examination, started to exin the situation at the scene. When he finished, Tao Lu naturally looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled and first turned to Wu Junhao and Liu Wenkai and said, "Captain Wu, Captain Liu, do you have any thoughts?" "None," Wu Junhao replied immediately. In Ningtai County, he wasn¡¯t responsible for brainstorming. Liu Wenkai cleared his throat and said, "I¡¯ve only juste into contact with this case. Could I know what directions our current investigation is taking?" "Currently, our investigation has several directions," Qi Changye, the direct person in charge of this case, began to offer some ideas. "Firstly, we¡¯re looking into the essories of the first victim, hoping to locate the source of her essories to confirm her identity." "Secondly, we¡¯re also doing our best to investigate the clothing found on several bodies. Additionally, there might be textiles used for transporting the corpses discovered in the grave, which we¡¯ve asked theb to test." "Third, the issue of transport. The burial site is quite far from the urban area, so transportation would have been necessary to get here. Since a lot of time has passed, the video surveince is definitely gone. We¡¯ve tried collecting information on some traffic vitors from that time and gathered some information on involved vehicles, as well as questioned some persons of interest. However, we haven¡¯t found anything on this front so far." "Fourth, the collection andparison of DNA and other samples. We¡¯re trying to collect and expand information on rted individuals, but so far, we have no news." Even though Qi Changye talked about many things, he sounded somewhat discouraged yet faintly resilient. From a police perspective, the chances of getting a favorable oue from reopening this old case had already be quite slim. In fact, if a cold case were performing this way, it probably shouldn¡¯t have been reopened. Most cold cases are like this. Because of the passage of time, the once readily avable information and evidence are no longer essible, and current leads can¡¯t be confirmed... It was the discovery of multiple bodies that forced Qi Changye to persevere. More precisely, it forced Qi Changye and his colleagues to persevere. At this moment, many people¡¯s attention fell on Jiang Yuan. Clearly, conventional thinking was hardly enough to crack the case. This wasn¡¯t difficult to judge for any police station, anywhere; unearthing bodies from years ago in the wilderness is always a challenging case. Having six bodies instead of one didn¡¯t make the case much easier to solve; it only added to the pressure out of thin air. Under the gaze of everyone, Jiang Yuan straightened up and said, "The autopsy on the six bodies isplete, let me briefly outline the findings." "Out of the six bodies, there are two female bodies and four male bodies." "The first and the third are female. The first victim¡¯s time of death was about 8 years ago, with various essories on the body, approximately 22 years old, and 1.7 meters tall. Zhan Kan is performing Skull Restoration Skill on her, but it¡¯s estimated that it will take two to three months toplete." "The third victim was also young, 23, not over 24 years old. She¡¯s been dead for about six years. There were clothing remnants in the grave, but no match has been found yet. Her teeth had two crowns, but we haven¡¯t traced their origin either." "Among the four male bodies, the fifth and the sixth died more than five years ago, and both the second and the fourth also died more than six years ago. Although it can¡¯t be confirmed, except for the first body who died eight years ago, the remaining five seem to have died five to six years ago, one after another." "As for the cause of death, at first nce, it seems to have been primarily stabbing, with currently four different sharp weapons identified, used on the first, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth victims. There weren¡¯t any clear sharp instrument traces on the second body..." "Several of the bodies have old fractures, but none had internal fixations like steel tes or iron nails." Jiang Yuan then performed upational and lifestyle analysis on several of the bodies. This was based on a simple analysis of the conditions of the bodies¡¯ bones and injuries, not very in-depth. Although a forensic doctor can make certain judgments based on the impact of the victim¡¯s lifestyle on their bones¡ªsuch as those with tennis elbow could be presumed to have enjoyed ying tennis, squash, or badminton, or the work might involve painting, sculpting, or they might¡¯ve had a poor posture while typing or writing... It was still possible to make some judgments based on different bone conditions, but not all skeletons could yield positive identification. Some people, they might not have exercised, had hobbies, worked much, or ever had injuries or illnesses... Such people, unless they were found with their ID cards, would be very difficult to identify. And there were others who might have been injured or even had surgery, but without distinctive injuries or marked internal fixation devices, it was virtually fruitless; such former injuries offered little help in identifying their bodies after death. Tao Lu listened with a frown, while Qi Changye was even more disappointed, his brow deeply furrowed. After a while, Qi Changye said, "That said, we stillck breakthrough clues..." "It¡¯s going to be quite difficult to solve this case with a simple approach," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Qi Changye subconsciously nodded, then quickly realized something was off and asked, "Is there a moreplex method?" "Hmm, there are a few approaches to consider. Let¡¯s discuss and see which direction of investigation seems most appropriate," Jiang Yuan opened his notebook, ready to begin. Everyone in the meeting room instinctively settled in their seats. Only Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help saying, "Do we need to choose a direction? Of course, we should utilize all forces! Investigate every possible lead." "We don¡¯t need to start like that." Jiang Yuan smiled at Cui Qishan, then continued, "Let me start with the first strategy. Victim number three had two crowns installed, namely... left three and left five. If they were installed in Beijing, there should be X-ray images that we canpare. Additionally, she seems to have had two wisdom teeth removed, which could also be traceable through X-ray images." Qi Changye nodded as he listened, "So, should we visit all the clinics and hospitals in Beijing to look for X-rays that match these two crowns?" "Yes, it will be a lot of work, we have used simr strategies in past cases," Jiang Yuan said, pointing out potential issues, "But if the victim had her dental work done elsewhere, this n would be a waste of effort." Qi Changye couldn¡¯t help but frown. The possibility of a fruitless effort was indeed hard to ept. "The second strategy is to backtrack from the perspective of dogs, which Lou Fengguo, who is knowledgeable about dogs... will exin to everyone in a moment," Jiang Yuan gestured to the back. Lou Fengguo stood up to salute, then sat back down. "The third n involves providing a more precise time of death for some of the bodies, urate to the month, and perhaps to the week for one or two, but with arger margin of error. Investigations could proceed from this angle," said Jiang Yuan, reluctant to proceed in this way, speaking rapidly. Qi Changye sensed the reluctance and asked, "Is it difficult to ascertain the timing? How are you nning to do it?" Jiang Yuan exined, "Firstly, we can use ultraviolet spectrophotometry for an initial determination. After measuring the values, we use a regression equation and look up tables, but the error is significant. Personally, I suggest using the profile of microbialmunities; there are existing PMI prediction models... but it requires grinding bone powder, and handling the samples is quite cumbersome. Most samples¡¯ margin of error would exceed 34 days, and if we¡¯re lucky, we could get a conclusion within a week or two of error..." Qi Changye, feeling overwhelmed, simply asked, "What do you think about the feasibility of this strategy?" "Let¡¯s put it aside for now." "The fourth is the Skull Restoration Skill. This one will take even longer; if I do it, it could take two to three weeks to finish one, and that¡¯s being quick. Moreover, there¡¯s no guarantee of a match." "And the fifth?" Qi Changye was uncertain, his desire for a solid lead was evident, but now faced with even a few possible strategies, the choice was difficult. Jiang Yuan said, "The fifth is simr to the first, since the victims had broken bones. We can look for X-rays of the same areas. This only requires visiting hospitals, which is easier given their databases are quite good now, much easier than looking for dental clinics." "Do you favor the fifth approach?" Qi Changye inferred somewhat. Jiang Yuan nced at Cui Qishan with a smile and said, "I think we can pick several investigative directions, I¡¯ll follow up on the fifth. The rest, you guys decide how to divvy it up?" A thick sense of tension quickly dissipated. Chapter 819 - 761: Going to the Hospital

Chapter 819: Chapter 761: Going to the Hospital

"We¡¯ll team up with Captain Jiang," Wu Junhao volunteered, stepping forward. Qi Changye nodded in agreement and then asked, "How many people are in your team?" "There are 26 of us here this time," Wu Junhao answered crisply. Qi Changye did a quick calction; half of 50 is 25, and 26 is one more than 25! That meant his reinforcements had instantly been halved. But this was only reasonable; since Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative direction was the main offensive, it made sense to allocate half of the reinforcements to it. Even so, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad plus Wu Junhao¡¯s first squadron, that made just over 50 people. Take a few steps forward, add a few leads, and they¡¯d already be stretched thin. Investigations of murder cases in China cannot be conducted like in American TV shows. The model where two officers roam all over the world investigating cases can only cover a very limited scope. Not to mention conformity to regtions; just two people could run themselves ragged. As for a lone officer storming a den of criminals, that would be an insult to procedural justice. Qi Changye then took a look at Liu Wenkai and the others and said brusquely, "The rest of us will have to make careful and calcted use of our people. Right, the team originally assigned to investigate essories and the team for investigating clothing might need reinforcement... As for investigating transportation, I¡¯ll check with the traffic policeter... Then there¡¯s the collection andparison of DNA samples. That will be your responsibility, Captain Liu, as for investigating dental clinics, we¡¯ll see if criminal investigation has any manpower left..." Qi Changye¡¯s case was a major one alright, but it was precisely because it was such a significant case that every direction in which he deployed his resources was bound to be stretched. In the end, he¡¯d either have to abandon some investigative directions or hope for a miracle with a small team. But because the investigation was just beginning, abandoning any leads was not an option. Sending small teams to investigate and then making decisions was a more standard approach. Despite sending small teams, Qi Changye still couldn¡¯t spare enough personnel for every investigative direction¡ªeven if it was just two cars and eight people, or even one car and four people. In this respect, Jiang Yuan was out of Qi Changye¡¯s control. The proposals Jiang Yuan had made at the end also ced a significant amount of pressure on himself. If Qi Changye was short on staff, he could just go shake people down. Tao Lu, as the deputy chief, was right in the meeting room; he could just ask him for help. Directly across the conference table, Tao Lu too sported a smile, his lips parting to reveal his first premrs, second premrs, first mrs, second mrs... ... After the meeting ended, Jiang Yuan took his team to eat first. A task force of about a hundred people was too small to solve arge-scale multiple-homicide case, but for the daily operational scale of a police station, it was quiterge. With a team of this size, keeping a steady work rhythm was more important than efficiency. The cafeteria of Zhengguang Bureau did its best to provide good food. Day-to-day seconded personnel were treated like workhorses¡ªnot in a derogatory sense, that¡¯s just how it was. But clearly, the people from Ningtai County couldn¡¯t make do with merely soybeans. Without considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t tolerate it either. He was clear in his demands when sending people over. A group huddled around the dining table, eating and talking at the same time. The cafeteria was originally buffet-style, but Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t fussy, so neither were the others. When Huang Qiangmin arrived, they casually called a chef over to order dishes. The head chef, having received instructions earlier, didn¡¯t mind and had someone bring over several bowls of braised meat, crayfish, and pickled vegetables, chuckling, "The crayfish is my creation, while the braised meat is Fu Ji¡¯s specialty. He has a secret recipe, and always ensures the supporting ingredients don¡¯t overpower the main ingredient. The selection of the main ingredient has to be precise; for pigs¡¯ feet, he uses the front legs, for beef shank, he chooses from the rear leg, for pig ears, he trims off the fat tendons, and for pork belly, it¡¯s always the premium cut. Give them a try." The ingredients used in the cafeteria weren¡¯t too expensive, but the chefs¡¯ skills could be superb. Some of the older institutions in Beijing had experience in this regard. The cabbage may not be suitable for ¡¯boiled cabbage in broth¡¯ dishes, but it could be organic. The rice did not have to be from Wuchang, but it could be new rice from a good production area. For yellow croaker, they didn¡¯t need to pursue wild-caught but farming them in offshore coppers was also a reasonable choice. Jiang Yuan chewed on the braised meat, pondering the case, and soon said, "I think we can focus on two people. Numbers five and six; both died over five years ago, which is closer to our current time. Another point is that both have fractures consistent with boxing, the fracture of the base of the fifth metacarpal, indicating old injuries." Jiang Yuan gestured on the table for everyone to see. "Both number five and number six weren¡¯t old; my estimate is that number five was around 28, and number six about 26. Their boxer¡¯s fractures show signs of treatment, but such injuries are usually recurrent. A boxer doesn¡¯t stop getting injured, andplete healing is difficult. After arriving in Beijing, the victims would likely have gone for checks and treatment," Jiang Yuan said, looking at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui gave a thumbs up, "That reasoning is solid. Indeed,pared to other fracture sites, this one is more likely to yield results." So Jiang Yuan continued, "In that case, everyone can spread out to the various hospitals. Start with records from over five years ago, up to ten years, during this period, look for cases of boxer¡¯s fractures that match the age profile, and for X-ray imageparisons, the forensic doctors at the autopsy center can handle it." "I think we should start with the top-tier hospitals," Liu Jinghui added, "There are so many good hospitals in Beijing, and if it¡¯s old injuries we¡¯re looking for, people from out of town would likely opt for top-tier hospitals first. They might even choose the very best ones, and they¡¯re probably well-off so they might go for VIP or international medical departments. Some hospitals keep these cases separate, so everyone needs to watch out for that..." Chapter 820 - 761: Going to the Hospital_2

Chapter 820: Chapter 761: Going to the Hospital_2

"Okay," Jiang Yuan agreed. With that, the investigative direction was pretty much sorted out. Liu Jinghui silently counted the number of people and said to Jiang Yuan, "Are we just looking into boxers with bone fractures, or should we also consider other avenues of investigation?" Jiang Yuan, holding some sauce-coated meat, chewed carefully and ate two pieces before replying, "Just this for now, hope toplete the check in two or three days." It had already been a week since they took on the case. There were actually clues, but the simple ones had all gradually fizzled out¡ªan issue that was quite telling in itself. Jiang Yuan had been thinking about the case these past few days. From his experience, he found it quite difficult to investigate based on clothing and other simr aspects. At the same time, although he had no strong evidence, he had begun to assume that the victim was from out of town. Otherwise, why would someone who clearly seemed like an enforcer, with multiple injuries, leave no criminal record behind, not even a trace of DNA or fingerprints? He truly had no evidence to prove these people were from outside Beijing, but thepleteck of evidence was itself evidence. Liu Jinghui had Wang Chuanxing and others print out several sets of forms and started to assign tasks to everyone. Hearing them consulting in low voices, Jiang Yuan said, "Let¡¯s go by the ranking of orthopedics at tertiary hospitals. It would be best if we could find the rankings from a few years ago. Group every ten and I¡¯ll go with the first group. Which is the top orthopedic hospital in Beijing, Jishuitan?" "Yes, within China¡¯s hospital rankings, for orthopedics in Beijing it¡¯s Jishuitan, 301, Beijing University Third Hospital, Xiehe, Beijing University People¡¯s Hospital," Wang Chuanxing quickly responded. "Alright, let¡¯s set out. I¡¯ll go to Jishuitan with the first group. You guys arrange the rest," Jiang Yuan patted his stomach and stood up. "Leaving now?" Wu Junhao, the leader of the Bald Strike Team, reluctantly eyed the full table of dishes, "The dessert hasn¡¯t even been served yet." "There are no desserts in a Chinese canteen," Liu Jinghui patted Wu Junhao¡¯s shoulder and sent him off. Back at the table, the chef personally served doubleyered milk custard and Yangzhi Ganlu. Liu Jinghui picked a bowl of each, sumptuous. Sweet. ... At Jishuitan Hospital. Qi Changye hadn¡¯t even eaten lunch, bringing along colleagues in in clothes to get a head start; when Jiang Yuan arrived, they could immediately start disying whole pages of X-rays. To save time, the hospital brought in three 55-inch monitors. Jiang Yuan just needed to sit on the sofa, looking at the screen and clicking the remote controller. Although there were still many relevant X-rays, at least Qi Changye breathed a sigh of relief. "Next, to 301? Then Beijing University Third Hospital, always not the easiest to talk to..." seeing Jiang Yuan getting in the zone, Qi Changye started thinking about the next tasks. Jiang Yuan, while looking at the X-rays, asked, "Are the other teams doing okay?" "Smoothly, our squadron has been dispatched to run around. Actually, the lower-ranked hospitals are a bit easier to talk to; higher ranking ones are less cooperative." "Hmm, as long as we get all the X-rays. Until confirmation, we don¡¯t need any other information like medical records." "I¡¯ve told them that. The core isn¡¯t there. But anyway, I¡¯ve got everything under control. You just focus onparing," Qi Changye confidently patted his chest and, checking the time, hurriedly said, "I arranged to drink with them, running out of time, I¡¯m off." Qi Changye left one liaison officer behind and hastily departed, full of energy. To tell the truth, despite all the investigative directions the special case team held, Qi Changye¡¯s real hope¡ªor rather, where he invested significant resources¡ªwas still with Jiang Yuan. For Qi Changye, he¡¯d rather Jiang Yuan follow one lead and, if it leads nowhere, then move to another. Regarding the investigative abilities of others¡ªit wasn¡¯t that Qi Changye didn¡¯t trust them, but by simple logic, he thought if they could have done it, why would it have been dragged out until today? Jiang Yuan and his team remained in the office, letting time tick by, second by second. Having indulged in desserts, Liu Jinghui, who came in afterward, was nested on the sofa next to them ying with his phone. Mu Zhiyang and Wu Junhao, however, didn¡¯t rx in the slightest. Qi Changye¡¯s methods were too wild. Following Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang always heard news that turned from 37 degrees hot off Qi Changye¡¯s lips to 78 degrees. One bizarre event could be a fluke, but several indicated something fishy. And from the results, Mu Zhiyang felt even more that danger lurked at every turn. What kind of safe ce would harbor six corpses? What sort of warmhearted forest would bury even dogs? Looking at X-rays might be simple, but Mu Zhiyang truly worried that, the moment Jiang Yuan found the victims¡¯ X-rays, several striped-shirted brutes would burst through the door from the other side. Thinking this, Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but stand up and lock the office door from the inside. Wu Junhao just nced over and didn¡¯t make a fuss. Only the liaison officer left by Qi Changye spoke in a reassuring tone, "Rx, we still have so many hospitals to cover. Captain Qi was tired dead calling today; if you exhaust all your energy now, will you give up on the rest?" "We can switch peopleter," Mu Zhiyang answered very pragmatically. "Shouldn¡¯t you aspire to be an irreceable talent?" the liaison officerughed. "Don¡¯t worry. Everyone¡¯s irreceable; a forensic doctor can prove that," Mu Zhiyang signaled to Jiang Yuan. The liaison officerughed out loud. Jiang Yuan looked over. The liaison officer quickly sat up, "Sorry, didn¡¯t mean to disturb you..." "We have a match," Jiang Yuan gestured, "Call Captain Qi." "Oh, okay!" The liaison officer was astonished while dialing on the phone, "I thought we had to look through many hospitals..." After a while, the phone finally connected. In the background of the other end was loud noise and the voice of another police officer from his team, "Captain Qi¡¯s drunk, we¡¯re heading back now, 301 is all set..." "Alright. Got it." The liaison officer didn¡¯t pass on the news, quietly hung up the phone, and turned to Jiang Yuan and others, saying, "Captain Qi seems to have been made drunk." Jiang Yuan chuckled, then shook his head, "Let¡¯s do it ourselves." When there were no clues, it was one thing, but with a clue, they definitely couldn¡¯t wait for Qi Changye to sober up, and there was no need to. "Which one matched?" Liu Jinghui also put Qi Changye out of his mind. "Number five. From Jingzhou," Jiang Yuan pulled up the information on the spot, "The X-ray was taken when he was 28 years old. Looking at the timing, he died soon after checking his old injury. He worked for... Chaikb Import and Export Trading Company employee... Thepany has been dissolved..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze lingered on the words ¡¯import and export trade¡¯ for a moment, then he turned to the nearby Wang Chuanxing, "Check the employee list for thispany, see if there are any records of them in the hospitals here." Before long, an employee named Wang Bo stood out. "This one... that¡¯s number six," Jiang Yuan flipped to his hand X-ray, which was identical to the bone injury of the sixth victim¡¯s fingers. Chapter 821 - 762 Bullet Marks

Chapter 821: Chapter 762 Bullet Marks

"Captain Jiang, why don¡¯t you stay and look at the tapes instead ofing with us?" Wu Junhao watched as Jiang Yuan put on his anti-stab vest, feeling uneasy. This case was somewhatplex, and now they had to go to the scene for an arrest¡ªwho knew what situations they might encounter. Despite his assault team being well-trained, no amount of preparation could cover every potential real-life situation. Moreover, they were all trained in Ningtai County and were unfamiliar with Beijing, relying on local criminal police for support. Jiang Yuan carefully checked his equipment and said, "This case, I want to see it firsthand..." "There¡¯s nothing at the scene worth seeing. It¡¯s unnecessary," Wu Junhao continued to persuade. "What¡¯s there to fear about checking it out? If there¡¯s a special situation, shouldn¡¯t I be even more present?" Jiang Yuan argued. Wu Junhao was briefly taken aback, then said, "If there¡¯s a special situation, I¡¯ll video call you immediately. If things go south to the point where I can¡¯t even video call, then you definitely shouldn¡¯t be there." "Is video really as good as seeing it with your own eyes? Besides, what I need to see and what you might record could be very different." Jiang Yuan insisting on being on the front lines greatly increased the Bald Strike Team¡¯s respect for him. A inclothes liaison officer, hearing this, said, "It¡¯s good for Captain Jiang to go with us. If there are any issues, we can handle them on site." Qi Changye hadn¡¯te, but his colleagues had. In fact, this case had already garnered a lot of attention and might soon progress to a point where it wouldn¡¯t require Beijing Bureau¡¯s involvement. Seeing this, Wu Junhao could only say to Mu Zhiyang, "Then stick with Captain Jiang and call out when you need manpower." He didn¡¯t assign more people to Jiang Yuan. Besides, Mu Zhiyang already carried a 92 pistol on his waist. Fully armed, Mu Zhiyang cradled a helmet in his left arm and nodded, then said to Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, let¡¯s just stay behind them. This case is different; these guys even kill dogs." "I understand." While Jiang Yuan was keen to lead by example, he was not reckless. Being a police officer, he wasn¡¯t afraid of being on the front lines. Danger is rtive; police work is dangerous, but not quite like a real battlefield. If Jiang Yuan weren¡¯t of significantly increased worth but merely a regr county forensic doctor, he would still step up when necessary, though in the past Ningtai County didn¡¯t even have anti-stab vests. Wu Junhao and the others tried hard to stop him, mainly because of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s instructing. A team wearing full gear filed out and got into their vehicles. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang shared a BMW X3, borrowed from Qi Changye¡¯srge team through Wu Junhao. Qi Changye¡¯s deputy, Fang Peimao, also got in the car, turning it into amand vehicle. His other colleagues followed with Wu Junhao or drove separately. A total of ten vehicles slowly left the garage and then dispersed in three directions. Ten vehicles might sound like many, but both Wu Junhao and Fang Peimao felt it still wasn¡¯t enough. Their task that night was daunting. It wasn¡¯t just about catching an individual but extracting an entirework. But pursuing awork required following each clue meticulously, and naturally, they worried that chasing might tip off other suspects, causing them to flee and thus breaking the chain. Under normal circumstances, Fang Peimao or Qi Changye would consider using special situations or undercover agents to carefully ascertain the state of affairs before acting. However, this case was quite special. On one hand, the case had already been closed, and reopening it indicated a bit of vulnerability. Because of this, their side wanted to wrap it up swiftly, not prolong the matter. On the other hand, one reason Qi Changye had reopened the case was due to a special situation intertwined with the case. Reusing special measures involved tremendous decisional weight. Moreover, there was some blind trust in Jiang Yuan¡ªthose who had closely followed his previous cases harbored some unrealistic expectations of him. If they could leverage Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities to directly solve the case, Qi Changye¡¯s colleagues would prefer not to use special situations or other extraordinary methods. They weren¡¯t just dealing with this one case, like ordinary police officers, everyone¡¯s desk was also piled up with cases, and which case that got prioritized wasn¡¯t important? "Almost there. All units prepare." Wu Junhao¡¯s voice transmitted from the walkie-talkie: "Target person number one, Guo Tian. 42 years old, currently owns a bar, has shares in a budget hotel and a cake shop. Photo ID G101, all operatives please confirm." "Target person number two, Ouyang Wei. 38 years old, a shareholder in Guo Tian¡¯s bar, also has shares in the budget hotel. He¡¯s Guo Tian¡¯s deputy, and had previously worked with Guo Tian at the Chaikb Import and Export Trading Company. Photo ID G102." Jiang Yuan also pulled out the photosbeled G101 and G102 from a kraft paper bag distributed before the mission. G101 was a half-body portrait of a middle-aged man with a rather sinister look, slightly hunched back, holding a cigarette, and looking ruggedly unattractive. The information on the back of the photo indicated that it was pulled directly from his social circle. The photo of G102 had the same origin, showing Ouyang Wei in front of the hood of a Jeep, posing with a hip-hop gesture and dressed in a simr style. He was slightly overweight. Jiang Yuan memorized them carefully and then passed them to the front row. Wu Junhao paused and then continued, "Soon, members from the public security and police station will go in first for a routine check and will keep Guo Tian and Ouyang Wei in the office, but they won¡¯t be aware of the specifics. Vehicles 2 and 3, you wait at the back door, enter after receiving the signal and directly take the individuals back for interrogation." He paused and then carried on, "Vehicle 4, lie in ambush at the front door, ready to support at any moment. Vehicle 1, wait at the back door, if backup is needed, you will be called, do not act on your own, your task is to hold the line and secure the route of retreat." Vehicle 1 was the vehicle Jiang Yuan was in. Normally, catching two people with a team of eight, along with the help and control of officers from other units, and another four as backup in an additional vehicle, was very secure. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, along with others, waiting in the vehicle wasn¡¯t a problem. Especially since Mu Zhiyang was armed, and with rifles also loaded in the vehicle, it was not suitable for them to enter theplex situation of a bar. Jiang Yuan just calmly waited at the back door, watching the police from the other two vehicles quietly disembark and swarm into the rear entrance. Qi Changye¡¯s colleague seemed nervous as he nced at his watch and after waiting a bit more whispered, "Are the other two groups seizing their targets simultaneously? Did they synchronize the time?" "They did. They must have moved by now." Wang Chuanxing, looking at the brightly lit bar ahead, felt like it was in a superimposed state of noise and silence. Crack... The walkie-talkie chirped once, followed by Wu Junhao¡¯s voice: "We¡¯ve caught Guo Tian and Ouyang Wei. We are now heading out." Mu Zhiyang looked around and gently opened his holster. Then, two teams of muscr men, each pulling a hooded man, exited the rear of the bar and shoved them into two separate vehicles. "Retreat!" With thatmand from Wu Junhao, a line of four vehicles swiftly left the scene. At the same time, the disy of Jiang Yuan¡¯s system unfolded before him: Mission 2: Leading by Example Mission details: As forensic science personnel, it¡¯s asionally possible to personally go to the forefront. Progress: (1/X) Reward: Bullet Mark Identification (LV1) Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched, Who would have thought that just staying at the back door counted as leading by example? Forensics¡¯ frontline requirements are really not that high. Then, the walkie-talkie in vehicle 1 crackled to life again, and Wu Junhao said, "Captain Jiang, follow the car back to Zhengguang Bureau and interrogate the two individuals we captured." "No need, I¡¯lle with you," Jiang Yuan decisively said. "Just focus on leading the capture operation; don¡¯t worry about me." "Alright then." Wu Junhao really had no time to worry about Jiang Yuan anymore, as team 2 was not progressing smoothly, and besides, Mu Zhiyang, being armed, was quite handy. They might actually need him soon. Chapter 822 - 763: Settlement in Silver and Goods

Chapter 822: Chapter 763: Settlement in Silver and Goods

The journey from point 1 to point 2 took about fifteen minutes. In the night of Beijing, Wu Junhao, who was in car 2, and Jiang Yuan, in car 1, sped along and finally arrived at the foot of a shopping mall that was undergoing renovation. Once in the parking lot, Jiang Yuan immediately understood the predicament of team two. In the early hours of the morning, the mall was buzzing with renovations at multiple stores, with hundreds of workers busily at work, continually moving materials with carts and elevators. The noise inside the mall was not loud, but there were plenty of people, and arge number of color steel houses could be seen throughout. Likely for fear of theft or injury to passersby, the periphery of the mall was surrounded by soft barricades. One could get by, but doing so would surely draw attention and bring things to a halt. Furthermore, there were guards stationed at the real entry points. Whether the police revealed their identity or entered directly, the target would be alerted to some extent. And in a mall at night, there were simply too many potential escape routes. Not to mention the sprawling staircases, in the middle of the renovation there were ropes used for moving goods, and nearbyrge stores had their own internal staircases. If the target decided to imitate Jackie Chan, with just team two¡¯s ten people, they might really end up being taken for a walk. The critical issue was that the location of target number three, Liu Xichen, had not yet been confirmed. Seeing Wu Junhao and Jiang Yuan arrive, the captain of team three breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "I sent Liuchi and Dangong inside, both armed and in in clothes. I gave the order to capture Liu Xichen if possible, or if not, just to confirm his position and status before withdrawing." "Isn¡¯t Liu Xichen a contractor? At this time, shouldn¡¯t he be asleep?" asked Wu Junhao, ncing at his watch. The target¡¯s location was determined through his cellphone first, and then they began to gather indirect information. "We¡¯ve found out that Liu Xichen often likes to y cards at the construction site," said the deputy captain, pausing before changing his tone. "It¡¯s uncertain where he is ying cards now. The personnel inside are rather mixed up,ing from various construction teams, and many workers are temporary hires. A lot of people do not recognize Liu Xichen, but there are definitely workers inside who are familiar with him." "You were right not tounch a direct assault," said Wu Junhao, checking his watch. "There¡¯s still plenty of time, no need for direct action. How long have Liuchi and Dangong been inside?" "About ten minutes." "Hmm. So, your n is to confirm the location before going in for the capture?" Wu Junhao asked. If they were to go in directly, the safest n would be to cordone off the entire area like they do at a bar, blocking front and back doors, watching over gates and windows, and then moving in for the arrest. The construction site environment might be moreplicated, but as long as they reveal their identity, the workers definitely would not get involved. This n has the highest margin for error, but for a mall of this size, it¡¯s feared that it would take a force of hundreds to be feasible. Capturing him after confirming his location would make the current number of personnel sufficient. The police could quickly enter the premises, find a small space to surround, and then move in for the arrest. Or they could be more wild and just storm in for the capture, not bothering with blockades or control. But while this might be effective against ordinary people, Liu Xichen could potentially have received special training. Although it¡¯s not clear whether he has or how well he has been trained, or even what condition he¡¯s in now. With all the iron shovels, hammers, nail guns, and chainsaws at a construction site, what if he turned them into weapons, and it turned into a scene out of a Jackie Chan movie? This would be more than just a risk of injury or idental harm, there¡¯s also the fear that the target might just escape, or someone might film a short video and upload it, then big data spreads it to certain people... By then, they might not have captured the target, have injured police officers, have an iplete mission, and even possibly rm the suspects unknown to the police... Wu Junhao¡¯s first squadron was responsible for making arrests year-round and did not always have to bulldoze their way through. Looking at Jiang Yuan at his side, Wu Junhao thought and said, "We trick him intoing out for the arrest. You mentioned someone manages the entrance, right? What do they manage?" "Mostly the inflow and outflow of materials. How much goes in, they weigh it, how muches out, they weigh that too, then they wash the tires and such," the deputy captain replied, having not been there long but already rtively knowledgeable about the situation. Wu Junhao nodded: "We¡¯ll find him. Go together with Captain Fang? We¡¯re not familiar with Beijing, and our credentials aren¡¯t suitable. Maybe ask local police station colleagues toe over?" Making a phone call could be very simple, but it could also easily be seen through. Fang Peimao didn¡¯t refuse and nodded, "Let¡¯s go together." The two men then adjusted their clothes, donned some casual outerwear, and went together to the construction site entrance to find the materials manager responsible for the inflow and outflow. The others split into several teams, each controlling strategic points, with Jiang Yuan following behind Mu Zhiyang, both taking up positions at the main entrance. At this time, there were only a dozen or so police officers on-site, not enough to speak of any ce being safer, and no one was overseeing them. In fact, even Liu Jinghui, who should have beenmanding from the rear, was on the scene. The materials manager was a local young man. Seeing Fang Peimao¡¯s shed badge, he was extremely excited. He nced at the vague silhouettes of nearby officers, spat, and said eagerly, "Alright, you just knock it. I¡¯ll definitely trick him intoing out." "Don¡¯t get too excited, act as usual," advised Fang Peimao. "Don¡¯t worry, just like always," responded the materials manager, then assured solemnly, "Guaranteed toplete the mission." "Be as normal as you can, as normal as you can." "Rest assured," said the materials manager before he started dialing. As soon as the call connected, he yelled, "Shit, where¡¯s Liu? Damn, how many times have I said, your materials can¡¯t just be fine! Fuck... " After hanging up the phone, the materials manager smirked with satisfaction and said, "Wait a bit, he¡¯ll be here soon." A few minutester. A bald-headed middle-aged man came running out, greeting cheerfully from afar. Once he reached the materials manager, he reached out for a cigarette. "Don¡¯t move, try reaching and I¡¯ll blow your spine out!" Two burly criminal police officers mped Liu Xichen from both sides, while jabbing their guns into his waist. Following this, the criminal police officers who were hiding further away rushed forward, pinning Liu Xichen to the ground and handcuffing him. At the same time, standing ten meters away and watching the scene unfold, Jiang Yuan saw the system screen pop up again: Mission 2: Leading by Example Mission Progress: (2/X) Mission Rewards: Bullet Mark Identification (Level 2) Jiang Yuan felt that the system was quite fair in its dealings. Moreover, the improvement from Level 1 to Level 2 seemed like it should be more than double if there was some sort of experience points algorithm. Level 2 skills were already quite useful. If there was any trace left by ordinary criminals, most could be properly handled with Level 2 skills. If asionally there was an unmanageable situation, he could still adequately prepare for the aftermath and then call for reinforcements. For Jiang Yuan, having a Level 2 Bullet Mark Identification meant that if he encountered a simr problem, preserving the evidence and calling in reinforcements would be enough. When the time came, national experts, except for those who were busy, there would likely be none he couldn¡¯t call over. Of course, having a Level 3 would be even better. He would then possess the capabilities of a regr expert. "How is Team 3 doing?" Jiang Yuan watched as car number seven drove off. Currently, cars number 1, 2, 5, and 6, with a dozen people in total, remained at the scene, still only amounting to a middle squad capacity, which was just right to support Team 3. However, Wu Junhao lifted his phone and said, "Team 3 is fine now, the target has been captured and brought back." Jiang Yuan¡¯s disappointment shed by, and he smiled, "The apprehension went smoothly." Everyone rxed a little, with many loosening their cors and taking a short rest. Wu Junhao checked his watch and then suggested, "I say we go have somete-night snacks. With four suspects, the interrogation might take a while. If we get results, it could probably be within the span of ate-night meal. If not, we¡¯ll go back and rest. Anything else can wait till tomorrow." Jiang Yuan readily agreed. The four people captured were all former employees of the Chaikb Import and Export Trading Company, and among the few who weren¡¯t dead, they were the ones that could be found. Realistically speaking, their roles within the criminal gang probably involved minor offences at most, akin to little Karamis. But precisely because of their low status, and with potentially limited involvement in crimes, it was very likely that they would quickly confess to the criminal facts. By then, after cross-referencing with the initial information gathered, they might have to catch another group of people tonight. If all four kept silent, revealed nothing during the interrogation, or even colluded to tell false lies, it would imply a more significant case. By tomorrow morning, it should be handed over to Qi Changye, or even his colleagues behind the scenes, and this case could be considered closed. Old cops like Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need an exnation to understand this logic clearly. The group sought out a nearby food alley and, after considering options like casserole porridge, barbecue, and meat pie shops, they settled on meat pies. Meat pies involve wrapping a hearty amount of meat filling in dough and frying it in an iron pan until cooked, usually served with some thin porridge or pickled vegetables and seaweed soup. The meat filling in the meat pies didn¡¯t need to be excessive¡ªjust a resilient dough surface would suffice. The subtleties relied on the seasoning of the meat and the control of the pan¡¯ heat, testing even a big hotel¡¯s chef but a trivial matter for a night snack stall owner. Because, without the need for a chef to bend over and inquire, patrons would simplyment while chewing on their meat pies: "Boss, the pie is too salty!" "Boss, the fire is too hot!" Wu Junhao and the others were not too fussy, requesting the owner to turn up two burners and quickly fry up two batches before they hungrily devoured the food. It had been nearly six or seven hours since theirst meal in the afternoon. They hadn¡¯t dared to eat too much before the operation to avoid getting sick during a chase. During these hours, most of them had gone through two rounds of apprehension missions, and along with their natural muscle demands, each was as famished as a starving ghost. Jiang Yuan, too, quietly ate before speaking. If there was new information soon, they might have to be on standby all night. By then,ining about hunger wouldn¡¯t gain any sympathy. As the meat pies on the table were quickly consumed and new ones were still cooking, everyone woke up from their feeding frenzy and started to chat in softughter: "Liu, go grab some casserole porridge, and some other ready-to-eat dishes. How can you be so dumb, only sticking to one shop?" "Get some skewers too." "How about some barbecue?" "Nah, skip the barbecue; it¡¯s bad for the hair." Wu Junhao, touching his bald head, was somewhat fastidious. Chapter 823 - 764: Circle Layer

Chapter 823: Chapter 764: Circle Layer

The meat pies were gobbled up, the marinated dishes were gobbled up, the skewers were gobbled up, the congee was finished off, and after reluctantly eating some barbecue, the phone at the interrogation center rang. Meng Chengbiao on the other end of the phone said, "We got a confession, and it turns out they are just small fries, former smugglers. Director Qi¡¯s colleague showed their credentials, and those guys immediately knew what was going on." "I¡¯ve put it on speaker, Director Liu and Captain Wu are here," Jiang Yuan ced the mobile phone on the table. Meng Chengbiao, a member of the Cold Case Squad, had followed them all the way from Shannan Province, so what he knew, Wu Junhao and others naturally knew as well. Meng Chengbiao carefully chose his words and said, "Based on the current confession, the actual controller of this import and export tradingpany is named Ye Quanyou. Ye Quanyou is involved in a half-ton case; he¡¯s a minor leader of a fringe gang..." "Fringe gang? Howe he wasn¡¯t captured?" Wu Junhao asked. "When he was arrested, Ye Quanyou fired a gun and was shot dead," Meng Chengbiao said. Wu Junhao eximed in shock, "The clue is cut off?" "Not exactly. But, may I first summarize the hierarchical rtionships among them?" "Go ahead, say it." Meng Chengbiao continued, "The firstyer should be the several business spies caught in the half-ton case. This spywork developed some smuggling channels, including normal channels, gray channels, and purely smuggling channels. There are four people responsible for operating these channels, forming the secondyer, among them is a smuggler named Zhou Shansong, who manages several ck smuggling channels." "Zhou Shansong originally had multiple subordinates and his own smuggling channels; he managed the most channels and had the most involvement in the ck elements. After the incident, including Zhou Shansong, six people were arrested and two were killed, one of whom was Ye Quanyou." Wu Junhao counted on his fingers and followed, "So, Zhou Shansong is the secondyer? Ye Quanyou is the thirdyer? Ye Quanyou died, what about Zhou Shansong?" "Zhou Shansong was captured. He¡¯s still serving his sentence, but he is not very clear about the matters Ye Quanyou was secretly handling." "As long as he is alive, go on," said Liu Jinghui, listening intently. Meng Chengbiao went on, "ording to the dossier, Zhou Shansong controlled many ck channels, primarily small batch, multiple batch operations, probably for smuggling information and goods in and out. Ye Quanyou was just in charge of several of these channels. Initially, Zhou Shansong was doing the actual work but gradually delegated tasks such as transferring smuggled goods, personnel management, and delivery to his subordinates, including Ye Quanyou." Meng Chengbiao said, "Above is the information involved in the previous case." "Next, are the conclusions drawn after today¡¯s interrogation." Meng Chengbiao stated, then continued, "As Zhou Shansong delegated power, Ye Quanyou started to secretly establish Chaikb Import and Export Trading Company, which he purchased. Thepany¡¯s business mainly utilized the channels given by Zhou Shansong to secretly make money for Ye Quanyou himself." Meng Chengbiao, "Ultimately, the four people you arrested are all subordinates of Ye Quanyou. That¡¯s all." Wu Junhao patted his head, "Let me sort this out, so there were a few spies who created some smuggling channels, then, the spies recruited a few people locally to manage these channels, those who were recruited each formed a group, and one member of the group secretly started apany, then, we caught the people from thispany." "Right," Meng Chengbiao nodded. Liu Jinghui said, "There were also people from thispany among the dead." Wu Junhao was startled, "Thinking about it this way, is the motive for the murder rted to the smuggling business?" "Pretty much," Meng Chengbiao said. "The person you brought back, Ouyang Wei, imed that Wang Bo was taken away by Ye Quanyou alone for hiding rhino horns, and he never saw him again after that." "When did this happen?" "Over five years ago." The estimated time of death matches, and this clue was quite significant, making Wu Junhao say, "He¡¯s been hiding this secret all along? Well, since Ye Quanyou is dead, it would be hard for him to try to turn in evidence for a lighter sentence." "He doesn¡¯t need to turn in evidence," Meng Chengbiao stated. "Ouyang Wei has never been under the police¡¯s radar. The entire Chaikb Import and Export Trading Company was outside the special investigation team¡¯s surveince. Ye Quanyou was shot and killed on the spot, and the others probably didn¡¯t know he was still skimming off thepany." Liu Jinghui pondered and then said, "The people from this import and exportpany that could be caught have been caught... Was there no witness to the homicide? Is there a hidden mole by Ye Quanyou, or could the killer be someone who escaped?" "I don¡¯t know, some people did escape abroad. Those in the country are probably living under assumed identities." "So the trail¡¯s gone cold?" "Not necessarily," Meng Chengbiao was not surprised and continued, without making everyone anxious, "Ouyang Wei brought up someone, named Duan Xueping. ording to him, Duan Xueping¡¯s role should be simr to his, also working for a smuggling group. He even specifically observed him." "Why did he take notice of this Duan Xueping?" Liu Jinghui was particrly sharp right now; he didn¡¯t want his team to unknowingly walk right into another group. Meng Chengbiao smiled slightly and said, "After Ouyang Wei had money, he met a beautiful girl in a bar, the two hit it off, only toter discover she was Duan Xueping¡¯s girlfriend. Ouyang Wei then followed Duan Xueping for a while, discovered he was also involved in smuggling, and nned to get him arrested, only..." Mu Zhiyang quipped, "Only what?" "Ouyang Wei found another missing person, Wei Denggui, for help and took out Ouyang Wei¡¯s photo. Wei Denggui discouraged Ouyang Wei, saying that their bosses knew each other." "The boss refers to the dead Ye Quanyou?" "It should be Zhou Shansong," Meng Chengbiao paused, then said, "Anyway, two monthster, the beautiful girl broke up with Duan Xueping and stopped dealing with Ouyang Wei. Ouyang Wei didn¡¯t bother Duan Xueping anymore." "Now turning him in to get a lighter sentence is just right," Liu Jinghui nodded and stopped talking. Wu Junhao and Jiang Yuan exchanged nces, saying, "So now we go catch this Duan Xueping?" "Yes. Let¡¯s go," Jiang Yuan picked up his phone, asking Meng Chengbiao to send the relevant information to himself and Wu Junhao. A convoy of 7 vehicles set out again. As they approached the destination, the three vehicles that had previously transported the suspects also returned, forming arge convoy of 10 vehicles. The lead car followed Duan Xueping¡¯s cell signal, stopping in front of an eSports hotel. "What¡¯s the situation, isn¡¯t he a local? Staying in a hotel? Hosting friends?" Wu Junhao, being from a smaller town, had only heard that this was the custom in big cities and wasn¡¯t sure if it was true. "I¡¯ll go ask around. You guys are a bit too intimidating," Wang Chuanxing volunteered, got out of the car alone, went to the hotel front desk to inquire and took over the front deskputer. Two members of the first team then stepped forward, securing both the main entrance and the elevator. This e-sports hotel was the size of a typical express hotel, but it had ample parking spaces in front and rtively nicer interior decorations; however, the lobby was small, barely a hundred square meters, which could be easily controlled by two or three people. Wang Chuanxing soon returned to the team and reported to Wu Junhao and Jiang Yuan, "Duan Xueping didn¡¯t register with his ID, but he has been staying in Room 311 since yesterday. Room 311 was booked by a man named Tao Wen, who reserved a luxury 5-person suite. Surveince confirmed that there are at least four people already staying there, including Duan Xueping." "Does Duan Xueping, whopeted with Ouyang Wei for a girlfriend, like ying e-sports? He¡¯s also well into his thirties," Wu Junhao mused with a frown. Raiding a hotel room is simple, but there¡¯s clearly a difference between a room with two people and one with five. It was like having five pigs in a sheep pen; injuring oneself or the pigs would be tricky. And how would the sheep view this situation! At that moment, Fang Peimao from Director Qi¡¯s deputy team walked over and sagely suggested, "Probably gathering for drug use. E-sports hotel rooms often can fit five or six people, though bunk beds aren¡¯t exactly convenient. I looked at this luxury five-person room; it has an extra bedroom with five small beds, which could prevent them from breaking a leg if they get too high..." Wu Junhao realized the implication and his expression grew solemn. He whispered, "Let¡¯s handle it as a drug bust then. Chuanxing, get another roomyout. Is the hallway and elevator setupplex? If it¡¯s like the Home Inn or Hanting, fetch a position chart as well." After he finished, he started assigning tasks to the others. This time, inclothes weren¡¯t necessary; all officers wore fully equipped uniforms, and members of the Bald Strike Team each carried a baton and a spray. Jiang Yuan obediently put on his stab-proof vest, helmet, and gloves, also carrying a baton and spray. Seeing this, Wu Junhao refrained from any furtherment. They had been running around all day, and there was no point in hurrying now. Few were tasked with guarding the vehicles, entrances, the lobby, and the underground parking, while roughly twenty others, half swarmed into the elevator, and half took the stairs. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang followed the stair group, as per Wu Junhao¡¯s assignment, which in theory was also somewhat safer. They reached the third floor in a moment. Jiang Yuan caught his breath, thinking about whether Wu Junhao would give a pre-raid pep talk, when he heard a "beep" in front. Wu Junhao and the others silently entered the room. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t enter, so he remained in the corridor. Even from afar, he could smell a strong scent in the air. Taking advantage of his height, Jiang Yuan could see several stainless steel bottles toppled in the room. "Police. Don¡¯t run!" Wu Junhao grabbed a druggie, pinned him to the ground, and had someone handcuff him. In a moment, four people were handcuffed in the middle of the room, surrounded by a stainless steel bottle and questioned. "What is this?" Wu Junhao asked, pointing at the steel bottle. With drug-use evidence now at hand, controlling these individuals became easier, obviating a need for another round of interrogation. "Dinitrogen monoxide." The target, Duan Xueping, appeared much thinner than in his photos, listlessly suppressed by Wu Junhao, reluctantly answering the questions. "What¡¯s dinitrogen monoxide called in the market? What name do you use when you buy it?" Wu Junhao pressed on under the camera andw enforcement recorder. Duan hesitated, then said, "Laughing gas." This satisfied Wu Junhao, who nodded and asked, "Where did you get it?" "Bought it on Q." ... While the dialogue continued, the door of the adjacent room quietly opened, and a figure stealthily slipped out. Watching themotion, Jiang Yuan nudged Mu Zhiyang without saying a word; another detective nearbyunched a kick that sent the figure flying. "Go help!" No longer just an observer, Jiang Yuan quickly ran over with Mu Zhiyang and others. Arriving at the door of the neighboring room, Jiang Yuan instinctively looked up and saw several terrified drug users inside, among them a skinny young man, holding a switchde! "I¡¯ll kill you!" The skinny young man sneered, vigor surging from the drugs, and he lunged forward. Zi! A stun baton jabbed into the skinny young man¡¯s left rib. The young man twitched noticeably. Thud! A baton smashed onto the skinny young man¡¯s right hand, knocking the switchde to the ground. Puff! Simultaneously, a cloud of pepper spray enveloped the skinny young man¡¯s face. The weapon, touted as the strongest police tool, would cause uncontroble tears and mucus flow, rendering him immobile. The young man¡¯s reddened eyes seemed to dim. Only the profuse mucus and tears testified to his physiological reaction. Zi! Another stun baton, dyed only by 0.1 seconds, jabbed the skinny young man¡¯s right rib. The young man clearly moved no more. Chapter 824 - 765: Manpower

Chapter 824: Chapter 765: Manpower

"Doctor, is there a doctor?" Several drug users were pinned down in the room, but a woman shouted out loudly, not wanting the emaciated young man who had just been sprayed to die. Jiang Yuan stepped forward and said, "Let me have a look." The woman nodded repeatedly and then, seeing that Jiang Yuan was not wearing a white coat, asked subconsciously, "Are you a doctor?" "I¡¯m a forensic doctor," Jiang Yuan said as he knelt beside the young man and began to examine him. The other drug users in the room looked at Jiang Yuan and the other police officers with fear. They took drugs, but they didn¡¯t want to die. Jiang Yuan had also learned a bit about clinical medicine, although he hadn¡¯t used it much in many years... Of course, determining whether someone was alive or dead fell within the purview of a forensic doctor. Jiang Yuan felt the young man¡¯s neck, and the guy¡¯s eyes suddenly snapped open. "Ah, is he revived?!" The drug users, who were being dragged out just then, saw this scene, and everyone seemed very excited¡ªmostly because of whatever they had consumed. Jiang Yuan then stood up; the person was alive, and there was nothing more he could do. The young man gasped for air a couple of times and then began to wail as if awakening from a nightmare. Those who were frequently jailed knew the pain of being beaten or shocked was nothingpared to being sprayed. The spray caused ongoing damage, with endless tears and snot, and relief was short-lived. Unfortunately, the detectives had no sympathy for him. The assault team, when out on field duty, followed a tough approach and seldom treated anyone gently. There was even less need to be gentle with drug users. He was harsher on himself than the world was on him. The team quickly identified the suspects, handcuffed them, and then escorted them away collectively. Meanwhile, they checked the neighboring houses one by one. Duan Xueping was left in the hallway, watched by two officers. He did not know he was the real target today; instead, he whispered, "Government, government, I want to report something to earn a merit." "Speak," Wu Junhao came over. "You have to record this; it¡¯s a report," Duan Xueping said, his face no longer showing the fierceness seen in pictures, but rather a hint of cunning. "There¡¯s aw enforcement recorder, and cameras are here too. What do you want to report?" Wu Junhao was willing to let him talk. Duan Xueping said with satisfaction, "The farthest room down the hallway, 330, they¡¯re using too." Wu Junhao was taken aback, nodded to his deputy, and thetter led a group of officers over. They carded open the hotel door, used hydraulic cutters to cut through the locked chain, and the detectives swarmed in. "Ah..." Room 330 had only two windows fitted with iron bars. The people inside shouted when they saw the hydraulic cutters, but there was no way to run or to clear the room of gas cylinders. "The cell phone was thrown out of the window," said the detective who entered first, holding the hydraulic cutter in one hand and pulling out his baton with the other. He did this for the drug users¡¯ sake, fearing the cutter might result in brain damage. His deputy responded, and once the detectives had controlled all five people inside, he used the walkie-talkie to inform the officers downstairs about the cell phone. This situation wasmon; nowadays, cell phones contained a lot of information, but criminals¡¯ skills in destroying them hadn¡¯t kept up. In a while, a detective from downstairs picked up a cell phone from the ground and retrieved another from a second-floor air conditioning unit using adder. "They¡¯re both working, not broken," reported the detective, and the information instantly drove the drug addicts in room 330 to despair. Wu Junhao¡¯s brow still showed no sign of rxation. This time, aside from arresting the target, Duan Xueping, they had apprehended drug addicts across three rooms, surpassing fifteen people. Even if Wu Junhao had fewer people on his side, it would still take seven or eight vehicles to transport everyone back. Regarding waiting for support from the criminal police or the local police station, not to mention that this ce was no longer under the jurisdiction of Zhengguang Bureau, escorting so many people at three o¡¯clock in the morning, there was no way to gather that many people and vehicles. Most importantly, the effects of inhaling nitrous oxide were difficult to determine. If they couldn¡¯t find other substances during the blood tests, most of these people might only be held for public security detention, with only those involved in trafficking and organizing facing severe consequences. In other words, the local police station wouldn¡¯t be too enthusiastic; aside from the duty officers cooperating, they certainly wouldn¡¯t summon their leaders or policemen who had just endured a 24-hour night shift at three in the morning. Wu Junhao had someone interrogate Duan Xueping on site while calling over Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui among others, whispering, "If we¡¯re to transport these people back to the station, we¡¯ll need to allocate most of our police forces back." "Are we short-staffed?" Liu Jinghui contemted and said, "Mainly because it¡¯s not easy to get help from Qi Changye¡¯s side either; they barely have enough people themselves. Is it somewhat inhumane to call Tao now?" Under these circumstances, sending them to a detention center was impossible. Each detention center had different requirements, but essentially, only healthy individuals could be admitted; most needed medical examinations and were admitted during regr working hours. Those with emergencies or injuries were treated in the hospital first. Wu Junhao shook his head helplessly, "He¡¯s the squad leader. To call him for something like this, he wouldn¡¯t sleep for the whole night. Let¡¯s be considerate." "I¡¯m considering Jiang Yuan too," Liu Jinghui said with a smile. "Let¡¯s see what Duan Xueping confesses. If it¡¯s just one or two, maybe three arrests, we can handle it ourselves. If it¡¯s too many, we¡¯ll see," Jiang Yuan said, and the others nodded in agreement. This wasn¡¯t an emergency homicide requiring immediate reporting. Ultimately, the case Jiang Yuan and his team were investigating was still an old unresolved case. Now, they were mainly worried about startling the suspects. Besides, they weren¡¯t critically short on manpower. It was just notpletely foolproof. The deputy got a room from the hotel and ced the suspects in arge suite, leaving a few officers to watch over them while waiting for Zhengguang Bureau to send a prison van. The hotel staff cooperated actively. Their boss might even end up in prison; cleaning up in the middle of the night was a minor issue. Jiang Yuan slouched on a couch, scrolling through his phone while waiting for the interrogation results from Duan Xueping. Duan Xueping was an addict; with just a bit of interrogation skill, a confession was nearly guaranteed. It just depended on whether the content of his confession suited their next actions. During this time, the officers found ces to rest, scattered around. Few were willing to sleep, afraid that being abruptly awakened would feel worse, but within minutes, the sound of snoring was everywhere. "Duan Xueping has implicated four people!" His deputy returned, his expression both excited and worried. Capturing four people wasn¡¯t too many, just about at their limit. Wu Junhao nced at Jiang Yuan again for confirmation, quickly made a decision: "Leave two cars of people here to watch over this ce, the remaining eight cars, two cars per team. Captain Jiang, stay here..." "I¡¯m with Mu Zhiyang; we¡¯re safe. Just assign me some strong team members," Jiang Yuan suggested, then added, "Everyone does what they can. If it¡¯s safe, make the arrest; if it feels dangerous, just keep surveince for now. I¡¯ll call for backup if needed." If really short on staff, Jiang Yuan could make a few phone calls to muster support. Now, with two vehicles and eight people for one target, they were already more than well-equipped. Calling more people would be seen as overly fussy. Wu Junhao was simply worried about Jiang Yuan. Under normal arrest missions, his men wouldn¡¯t darein. Wu Junhao decisively said, "Then Captain Jiang,e with me. I¡¯ll call a few more people." After saying that, he picked several names, then took Duan Xueping directly to the car, ready for the next apprehension scene¡ªif Duan dared to lie, he would have a serious talk with him on-site. Jiang Yuan watched as Duan Xueping got into the vehicle, a system interface shing before him: Task 2: Lead by Example Task Progress: (3/X) Task Reward: Bullet Mark Identification (Level 3) ... Jiang Yuan hissed; now, the anticipation was indeed rising. With simple math, it was clear that one more instance of leading by example would advance the task progress from 3 to 4. A Level 4 skill, even in Beijing, was worth being noticed. Chapter 825 - 766 Bang!

Chapter 825: Chapter 766 Bang!

"Six Feet. You ride with Captain Jiang." Wu Junhao had filled Jiang Yuan¡¯s car to capacity before he got into another vehicle, still issuing orders as they set off. Six Feet was a young chap whose muscle-building endeavors had reached his neck, but in a police uniform it was hard to tell his physique, leaving one to notice only his bright eyes and shining pate. "What¡¯s yourst name, Brother Six Feet?" asked Wang Chuanxing, making an effort to interact. He was part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, and though he had been seeing people from the first squad frequently since his temporary transfer to Ningtai County, their interactions had been minimal. "Just calling me Six Feet is fine. Myst name is Chi, a rather rare one." Six Feet replied with a smile, appearing quite down-to-earth, though his eyes were piercing. "Officer Chi," said Wang Chuanxing respectfully, then added, "So how did everyone start calling you Six Feet?" Six Feet chuckled and exined, "You know about the Japanese loincloths, right?" "The kind with just a string and a piece of cloth?" "Pretty much. Loincloths are also referred to as ¡¯six-feet clothing¡¯..." Wang Chuanxing was surprised, "You like wearing loincloths?" Mu Zhiyang started to speak but ended upughing, coughing a few times to regainposure. Six Feet gave a smile and said gravely, "When I first started working, I was visiting locals one time and happened to encounter a suspect. My teammate had one pinned down, but two others tried to flee. It was summer, and neither of us had handcuffs, so I just grabbed hold of a suspect¡¯s underwear and twisted it into the style of a loincloth, then hoisted them up by it." Wang Chuanxing had been amused at first, but by the end, he couldn¡¯t help but gasp. Considering the loincloth design features a string going through the buttocks, turning a suspect¡¯s underwear into one meant twisting a pair of underwear into a rope, then lifting the rear end to the highest position and hanging the person upside down¡ªthe strength required... Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t help remarking, "Brother Chi, you really don¡¯t judge a book by its cover. That nickname is awe-inspiring; I¡¯ve never heard anyone boast about it." "Because I wasterined about by the suspect and had to write self-criticism reports, attendrge meetings to reflect on my actions¡ªaltogether the records were about two meters long. That¡¯s why people started calling me Six Feet," Six Feet said with augh, then added, "But from now on, when new folkse around, I¡¯ll be telling them this loincloth version, so don¡¯t you guys let the cat out of the bag." Wang Chuanxing acknowledged, "Got it." Mu Zhiyang also patted his sidearm holster, "Brother Chi, we¡¯ll be counting on you for the arrest." "Don¡¯t worry, if he dares to run, I¡¯ll risk a department-wide bulletin to twist him a loincloth," said Six Feet, who now, when he smiled, seemed slightly fierce. Mu Zhiyang quickly advised, "Brother Chi, there¡¯s no need, really no need..." Twenty minutester. Dongsheng Hospital Emergency Department. From afar, as Six Feet watched the graceful woman emerge from the infusion room, he couldn¡¯t help but mutter Mu Zhiyang¡¯s recent words: "No need!" Indeed, for Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety, Wu Junhao had not only brought a top talent like Six Feet along but also picked a female suspect. "Chu Yanqin. She ran with the same gang as Duan Xueping, used to be into smuggling, likely recruitedter by Ye Quanyou," Wu Junhao quickly briefed, then began toy out the arrest n on-site. Mu Zhiyang clicked his tongue twice in amazement, "This Ye Quanyou is quite something, eh? Started as a nobody, but then he opens apany and gets his own little gang going?" "There¡¯s profit in it. Plus, don¡¯t look at how inconspicuous he seems in the ¡¯half-ton case,¡¯ but when you add it up, he¡¯s probably the most central member of the smuggling ring in that case. Those business spies put a lot of effort into creating their channels, and the most critical part of it ended up in Ye Quanyou¡¯s hands." "So Zhou Shansong, who should have been directly responsible as the second tier, delegated power to Ye Quanyou?" "Zhou Shansong had made enough and didn¡¯t want to work tirelessly, so he passed the baton of taking risks to Ye Quanyou," Wu Junhao exined. Reflecting for a moment, Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help saying, "As it turned out, Ye Quanyou did indeed risk his life. If he hadn¡¯t been running the darkest smuggling route, he wouldn¡¯t have carried a gun with him. With a gun on him, he couldn¡¯t withstand scrutiny; he had no choice but to take the risk." At that moment, Six Feet focused his attention on Chu Yanqin, "What is she doing at the hospital?" "Her husband¡¯s got acute gastroenteritis. He was admitted this afternoon," Wu Junhao, who had just obtained Chu Yanqin¡¯s information, recalled and added, "This woman has no criminal record, hardly any data on her. Within Ye Quanyou¡¯s gang, she must have been a warehouse manager or something. Duan Xueping said after disbanding the gang, there was no more contact." Wu Junhao said this, patted the handcuffs on his waist, and said, "Let¡¯s move. She probably doesn¡¯t know we¡¯re going to catch her. Let¡¯s still trick her intoing. Let¡¯s ambush near the doctor¡¯s office. Xiao Zhang, you go change into a doctor¡¯s clothes and lure her over, tell her toe to the office to discuss something. If our cover is blown, arrest her on the spot. Liuchi, you follow Xiao Zhang for backup, and don¡¯t get caught." "Yes." Xiao Zhang and Liuchi had already changed into in clothes. Xiao Zhang first went into the doctor¡¯s office to get a set of clothes, then came out and approached Chu Yanqin. Liuchi trailed silently ten meters behind. The hospital emergency department was still overflowing with peoplete into the night, with children crying and adults yelling; there wasn¡¯t a quiet ce to be found. Such an environment was not conducive to making arrests. Only near the doctor¡¯s office could one find a ce with slightly fewer people. Wu Junhao had informed the several people in the doctor¡¯s office and, disregarding their astonished expressions, pulled Jiang Yuan along with Mu Zhiyang, pushing him into a corner of the corridor. This spot was essentially at the bottom, also the furthest from Chu Yanqin. Even though they stood far away, at this moment, Jiang Yuan was already battle-ready. Including Wu Junhao and Mu Zhiyang, everyone who was supposed to get into action would do so. Most of the ambush officers were dressed in police uniforms and took their respective positions around the area, spreading out to all sides. Jiang Yuan obediently pressed against the wall, right beside Mu Zhiyang¡¯s cold... belly. Jiang Yuan touched it and said in surprise, "You brought a ceramic te?" "Better safe than sorry. I thought since Liuchi is so awesome, when ites time to deal with a delicate woman, if I¡¯m needed, the ceramic insert might be useful too," Mu Zhiyang said with a chuckle, patting his stomach and chest. "It can stop a 7.62; it can even handle the type Type 56 used by that high school studentst time!" "I doubt it will be needed," Jiang Yuan chuckled. "After all, this is Beijing. Who knows?" Mu Zhiyang alsoughed, his mood still rtively light. Up ahead. Xiao Zhang spoke a few words to Chu Yanqin and then led her towards the doctor¡¯s office. Chu Yanqin seemed anxious, quickening her pace to keep up with Xiao Zhang and humbly asking questions in a low voice. Xiao Zhang, maintaining an aloof demeanor, brushed her off with, "I¡¯ll tell you when we get there," quickly leading Chu Yanqin into the encirclement. At this point, Liuchi was also following closely behind, unseen. At that moment, Wu Junhao and others timed their entrance perfectly, advancing towards Chu Yanqin without a word. Xiao Zhang, who was closest to Chu Yanqin, tightened his expression and turned to grab her. But it was toote... The instant Chu Yanqin caught a glimpse of Wu Junhao¡¯s police uniform from the corner of her eye, her expression changed. With a nimble spin, she managed to pull at Xiao Zhang, throwing him off bnce, and deftly drew a gun from her lower back! "Gun!" The moment Xiao Zhang saw the ck barrel, he felt numb. In his years of service, this year he had encountered more guns than ever. But at this moment, he was in mid-fall. Chu Yanqin didn¡¯t even nce at the falling Xiao Zhang. With gun in right hand and flipping off the safety with her left, hands sped together, she aimed the barrel directly at... Wu Junhao! Bang bang bang! Three rapid shots hit Wu Junhao squarely in the chest. Wu Junhao fell backwards silently. Chu Yanqin then swung the gun barrel toward Jiang Yuan, not far from Wu Junhao¡¯s side. Chapter 826 - 767: Fierce Battle

Chapter 826: Chapter 767: Fierce Battle

Jiang Yuan was shielded behind Wu Junhao. But when the sturdy Wu Junhao was shot down, Jiang Yuan was exposed. Mu Zhiyang took a quick step, wanting to move up to fill the gap, but Jiang Yuan was extremely tall, almost a half head taller than him. At that moment, Mu Zhiyang could only hope that the woman opposite would choose to shoot at the chest again rather than the head. Bang! A foot, flying in a sprint, kicked the slender Chu Yanqin, flipping her over. This foot belonged to Xiao Zhang, who was supporting Zhang. Although he noticed something was wrong immediately, there was a distance of nearly ten meters, and no matter how fast he ran, he only managed to catch up at this moment. Meanwhile, right after Chu Yanqin had knocked down Zhang and shot Wu Junhao, it was difficult for her to dodge. But when Chu Yanqin was kicked, she didn¡¯t panic, rolled with the momentum, instantly widening the distance from Xiao Zhang, and aimed again from a crouched side pose. Bang! Bang! Bang! Three more shots fired, and Xiao Zhang had no ce to hide, falling t on his back. "Xiao Zhang!" Old Zhang was both shocked and furious, roaring as he got up and charged at Chu Yanqin again. Chu Yanqin, calm and collected, bent over, grabbed Zhang¡¯s clothes, used his own momentum against him, and made him tumble forward in a face nt. Then, Chu Yanqin¡¯s gun barrel continued to turn toward Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang. By this time, Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan were already rushing forward, side by side. Chu Yanqin¡¯s gun barrel moved imperceptibly, hesitating between Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, and she chose... Mu Zhiyang. Bang! Bang! Bang. Yet again three shots to the chest, shattering the ceramic te across Mu Zhiyang¡¯s chest on the spot. If Chu Yanqin¡¯s first shot was meant to ensure a hit due to the emergency situation so she aimed for the chest, by the third time she had sufficient conditions to hit Mu Zhiyang¡¯s face but hesitated for a moment and still chose therger target¡ªthe chest. Because next to Mu Zhiyang stood a tall policeman, and two more behind him, all of whom were rushing forward. With so many people, Chu Yanqin was already prepared to be captured. What she didn¡¯t expect was that these policemen were all wearing bulletproof vests. But at this stage, since the three policemen who were hit were wearing bulletproof vests, Chu Yanqin no longer had a strong impulse to kill. Bang! Jiang Yuan bent over with his shoulder and mmed hard into Chu Yanqin¡¯s waist, at the same time embracing with both hands, using the wrestling techniques taught by Uncle Qiang to throw Chu Yanqin to the ground. At this moment, there was no longer any concern for propriety, even if he would have to write a lengthy report afterward. Chu Yanqin, enduring the pain, shifted her gun to Jiang Yuan¡¯s abdomen, ready to pull the trigger at close range to free herself. Chu Yanqin might have been psychologically prepared to be captured, but that didn¡¯t mean she wanted to be. Bang! Wang Chuanxing delivered a flying kick that turned Chu Yanqin¡¯s arm from a ©» shape into a ©¿. Chu Yanqin screamed in pain, and with her other hand, still using her waist¡¯s force, she continued to struggle to break free. At this moment, Jiang Yuan, who might not even be Level 1 caliber in wrestling, made his move, using his body¡¯s strength to pin Chu Yanqin down while controlling her left hand with both of his and also trying to lock her legs with his. In terms of weight ss, Chu Yanqin was at best in the flyweight category, while Jiang Yuan was at least a middleweight, at least ten weight sses heavier than her. Jiang Yuan had only pinned Chu Yanqin down for a second before other officers had already caught up. Bang! Bang! Bang! Wang Chuanxing and others each pinned down Chu Yanqin¡¯s hands and legs, then handcuffed her before they had a chance to look back. Jiang Yuan took out two face masks, bunched them into a ball, and stuffed them into Chu Yanqin¡¯s mouth. By this time, the crowd, attracted by themotion, had begun to gather, eagerly pressing forward to watch. Wu Junhao struggled to his feet, first checking ahead, then looking down at himself, before he lifted his bulletproof vest and reached inside to feel around. Next, Mu Zhiyang also sat up suddenly with a cry of "ah." Seeing that Chu Yanqin was under control, Jiang Yuan quickly went over to support Mu Zhiyang and asked, "Don¡¯t move so abruptly, where does it hurt?" He asked while checking Mu Zhiyang over. "My chest is killing me. Got hit pretty urately," Mu Zhiyang said as he removed the shattered ceramic te from his chest, along with the three deformed bullets that were found alongside it. "At least it was just a handgun," Mu Zhiyang sighed, adding, "If it had been an AK-56, the ceramic te probably wouldn¡¯t have withstood three shots. Chi hasn¡¯t gotten up yet..." Hearing this, Jiang Yuan felt a surge of panic, but instead of turning to look at Chi, he quickly opened Mu Zhiyang¡¯s bulletproof vest to perform a check. Even if bullets had not prated, the risk of being shot was still present¡ªsome people in disputes, just taking a punch in the chest, could end up with a stopped heart, let alone three bullets. Moreover, the conclusion of being hit by three shots was based on sound¡ªgiven the intense scene just before, it was hard to be certain, and the person shot might not clearly realize how many bullets had hit them because of adrenaline. Jiang Yuan first confirmed that Mu Zhiyang hadn¡¯t been shot before patting his shoulder and turning to look for Chi. "Chi, Chi!" Xiao Zhang got there before him and checked Chi¡¯s breathing, panicked to the point of not even knowing if there was breath. Jiang Yuan felt his neck, then pulled open his shirt to check, saying, "He¡¯s not shot; he must have passed out from being too close." Chi was two to three meters closer to the shooter than Wu Junhao and a little further from Mu Zhiyang but didn¡¯t have a ceramic te¡ªlikely just fainted from holding his breath. By this time, the emergency department staff had arrived, and Jiang Yuan urgently called for people toe help. He was more skilled at assessing damages than reversing them. Wu Junhao pulled himself up painfully, nced at the arrested Chu Yanqin, then seeing that Jiang Yuan was alright, he instructed Xiao Zhang, "Call for backup, take Wang Chuanxing, ande with me to get Chu Yanqin¡¯s husband under control. Bring guns." After saying this, Wu Junhao nced at Jiang Yuan and added, "Stay safe." There was nothing else to say at that point. With Chu Yanqin being the sort to open fire without a word upon meeting, hoping to get any useful information from her would be like trying to fetch water with a sieve. Simrly, Chu Yanqin¡¯s husband might truly havee for medical treatment, but with a wife who carried a gun to the hospital, her husband¡¯s character was also quite suspect. "Take one more person with you," Jiang Yuan looked around; his task was to protect the scene and guard the suspect, and so he couldn¡¯t give everyone to Wu Junhao. However, the danger Wu Junhao faced in capturing Chu Yanqin¡¯s husband was also immense. Wu Junhao hesitated for a moment, nodded, looked at the increasinglyrge crowd of onlookers, and then shed his police badge, announcing, "Police here, I need a favor from everyone, please wait a moment, we need some witnesses for statements¡ªit won¡¯t take long..." The crowd, initially excited to watch the spectacle, quickly started to back away after hearing Wu Junhao¡¯s words, with many turning to leave. Wu Junhao gave Jiang Yuan a nod, called out "Let¡¯s go," and led Xiao Zhang and the others resolutely toward the treatment area. Chi was now ced on a gurney but regained consciousness, struggling to sit up, "I¡¯ll have my check-upter; let¡¯s wait for the others to arrive." The doctors on-site tried to convince him otherwise, but recalling the terrifying exchange of gunfire, someone said, "We¡¯ll examine you here now; you lie down." Chi hesitated, but still attempted to jump off the bed. "It¡¯s okay, we¡¯ll put up police tape for you." Several security guards from the hospital rushed over, led by one who was nimble with a baton in his hand, saying, "I¡¯m a converted officer from Level 4, and a party member." Only then did Chi settle down and whispered, "Thanks, Captain Jiang is... a national treasure-level detective, more important than the suspect." The leading security guard paused, then nodded solemnly. Chapter 827 - 768: War Horse

Chapter 827: Chapter 768: War Horse

Click, click, click, click. In less than fifteen minutes, a team of police officers in uniform and with badges stormed into the hospital, rushing towards the doctors¡¯ office where they came face-to-face with the half-naked, six-foot tall man who still clutched a gun in his hand. The newly arrived officers hadn¡¯t brought guns with them, and they were momentarily flustered upon seeing the man out of his police uniform with hisrge, firm chest muscles, clearly defined arms, and crisscrossing abdominal muscles, holding such a tiny pop gun¡ªcareful not to let it go off by ident! The group didn¡¯t proceed any further and simply reported their names before standing guard outside. Soon after, reinforcement from other police units arrived. Qi Changye¡¯s Deputy Squad Leader Fang Peimao fixated his eyes and upon seeing someone he recognized, he promptly called out, "Bai, Bai..." Bai recognized the person and ran over. "We have officers who have taken people into the ward to search for the suspect¡¯s husband, suspecting he may have a weapon..." Fang Peimao gave a brief butprehensive report, before adding, "Please assign a few men to follow, Captain Wu only took three people, we are short on hands and don¡¯t dare split our forces further." Bai hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Understood. I¡¯ll send over more reinforcementster, and you¡¯ll arrange for additional people toe." "Certainly," Fang Peimao immediately agreed. Only then did Bai select four people, with just one carrying a gun, to go over. They hade in such a rush that only the officers on duty had managed to obtain guns. The Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s detective squad arrived rather slowly at first, showing up in pairs or trios, likely havinge straight from home upon receiving the call. Later, members of the Bald Strike Team joined in afterpleting arrest tasks elsewhere. After organizing another group of Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s detectives for support, Fang was able to rx a bit. Since there had been no gunfire heard yet, it was good news for everyone. As long as guns weren¡¯t drawn, having numbers was the major advantage. Jiang Yuan too remained obediently within the protective circle. Following Wu Junhao now might earn him an opportunity to level up his "Skills," but the risk was also genuinely high. Moreover, Jiang Yuan showing up now wouldn¡¯t be of much help; it might actually reduce his own fighting strength. In the current situation of patching up the gaps, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t just rush out either. The six-foot tall man also rxed a little, lying back on the gurney, feeling pain all over his body. The head of security, a former NCO turned civilian, also felt at ease and came specifically to check on the six-foot man before saying, "If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll be leaving." "Thanks for your help, leave me your number," the six-footer sat up, smiling, "I¡¯ll treat you to a meal once I¡¯ve recovered." "Sure thing." The head of security added him on WeChat readily, and then said, "If there¡¯s an issue with your bones, you can register with our hospital in the next few days. Yunhua¡¯s Lv Wenbin will be here for de therapy." "Alright. If Ie, I¡¯ll look for you." "Mmhmm." The head of security nodded and before leaving, he nced at Jiang Yuan, curious, "Just how impressive is the ¡¯Divine Detective¡¯?" "You bring him a dog as evidence, and he¡¯ll clean out the thieves in an entire county for you. That¡¯s how impressive," the six-foot man quipped with a touch of artistic license. The security chief was greatly impressed, chuckling, "That¡¯s reassuring. With someone like that, us ordinary folks can rest easy." ... The prison van arrived, first transporting Chu Yanqin, followed by Duan Xueping who had been brought in with the vehicle. Chu Yanqin¡¯s husband didn¡¯t resist. When he saw the police, he attempted to flee, but once restrained, he fell into a mild stupormonly known as feigning sleep. Wu Junhao and the others handcuffed him, seated him in a separate ward, and waited there for reinforcements. It wasn¡¯t long. Wu Junhao, brimming with pride, and Qi Changye, with a face full of worry, got into the car together. Jiang Yuan turned his head from the passenger seat and saw the system screen in front of him: Mission 2: Leading from the Front Progress: (4/X) Task Reward: Bullet Mark Identification (LV4) It could be said to be a very generous reward. However, considering the danger involved in capturing Chu Yanqin, this LV4 skill was by no means a profit. "Captain Jiang!" Qi Changye got into the car and let out a long sigh. Jiang Yuan turned his head, nced at Qi Changye¡¯s expression, and coughed twice, "Captain Qi, did you wake up?" "Ah... You guys didn¡¯t call me... Ah... It¡¯s my fault for drinking too much, for having such a poor tolerance!" Qi Changye was full of regret; the night of drinking had been absolutely heart-wrenching. Wu Junhao patted Qi Changye¡¯s shoulder with a chuckle, "Captain Qi, you¡¯ve put yourself at a disadvantage. The three of us only took 9 bullets from a 9mm Glock altogether. I¡¯ve just got a broken rib, a minor injury for a policeman." "No, no... Ah, my fault, all my fault." Qi Changye quickly sat up and took Wu Junhao¡¯s hand earnestly, "I made a mistake this time. I can only apologize, but watch my future performance..." "You don¡¯t need to perform. Just don¡¯te looking for us in the future," Wu Junhao shook off Qi Changye¡¯s hand, "We¡¯re not qualified to follow up on this case anymore, right? It should stop here. Your cases are too dangerous. We were lucky this time, but what if Jiang Yuan gets caught in the crossfire next time?" "Safety issues do need to be considered," Qi Changye said earnestly. "But that being said, our cases are not that dangerous, especially those that require a lot of investigation work; those are usually about trickery, and physical confrontations onlye at the veryst moment." Wu Junhao looked at Jiang Yuan, then shook his head at Qi Changye. This was no longer just about being tired; it was genuinely dangerous. Even from Wu Junhao¡¯s career perspective, this incident was one of the rare dangers. That they had survived was not due to their intensive training or excellent fitness; it was entirely due to Chu Yanqin¡¯s momentary decision. Otherwise, none of the three injured men might have survived. Even if Qi Changye spoke well, Wu Junhao had to go back and seriously persuade both Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. Being a workhorse is one thing, being a warhorse is quite another. Qi Changye actually didn¡¯t have much else to say. The group drove back to the police station and continued to interrogate the captured suspects. Apart from Chu Yanqin and her husband, the Bald Strike Team had captured 3 other suspects, who, along with the previous ones, were all being interrogated busily. Of course, the most important were Chu Yanqin and her husband, who were sent directly to the facility of Qi Changye¡¯s colleagues for separate interrogation. The next noon. Huang Qiangmin came looking for Jiang Yuan with red eyes for lunch. Sitting at the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s dining table, Huang Qiangmin brought over food and, having no appetite himself, he looked Jiang Yuan up and down and sighed, "I should not have let you run around like that." Jiang Yuan actually felt a bit scared himself and patted Huang Qiangmin¡¯s shoulder with a smile, "You¡¯ve seen more than I have. As a policeman, you¡¯ve got to face danger." "As a forensic doctor, you¡¯re supposed to encounter the dead the most," Huang Qiangmin paused, then added, "And I¡¯ve never seen anyone so vicious. In the early years when we came across armed suspects, no one would shoot 9 bullets at us." "I¡¯ll be more careful in the future," said Jiang Yuan, spreading his hands, then asked, "Did the interrogation yield any results?" With such cases, either there¡¯s an immediate oue, or it can take several days for any information to surface. Huang Qiangmin adjusted his mood and nodded solemnly, "That woman, Chu Yanqin, has confessed. Qi Changye has already taken people to dig up bodies. So far, two have been unearthed and there are probably three more. His special agent should also be among them." Jiang Yuan was surprised, "They didn¡¯t notify me?" "It¡¯s considered their case now. Qi Changye didn¡¯t have the face to look for you. Actually, the case should be almost over. Even if we could trace more leads from here, with yesterday¡¯smotion, anyone who could run would have run away," Huang Qiangmin said very realistically. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly and then asked, "What about the bodies we unearthed before, are they rted to her?" "They¡¯re rted. Chu Yanqin cameter; she¡¯s a professional and used those corporate espionage channels, but she wasn¡¯t part of that group. Later, when she found problems with the channels, she started to build her own in secret while quietly dealing with some individuals..." Huang Qiangmin was not very clear about the details, but he was aware of the general content. "So, who exactly is the killer?" "Many victims could have previously been the aggressors," Huang Qiangmin spread his hands, "At least that¡¯s how Chu Yanqin described it." It¡¯s unlikely that Chu Yanqin would volunteer information about the killing; doing so wouldn¡¯t easily grant her a chance to bargain, and she¡¯d be more likely to be sentenced to death. Even in times of war, blood debts must be ounted for. However, Chu Yanqin had not killed any police when she opened fire yesterday, which might be a weak point in her favor. After thinking it over, Jiang Yuan said, "When the murder urred, Chu Yanqin must have been at the murder scene. Let her describe the process in detail, and I¡¯ll examine the condition of the bodies. Oh, and the murder weapon¡ªwe should get a detailed description from her and try to find it if possible." "Okay, I¡¯ll let Qi Changye know," Huang Qiangmin responded casually, as he had lost interest in the case. Chapter 828 - 769: A Fine and Sunny Day

Chapter 828: Chapter 769: A Fine and Sunny Day

Afternoon. The sun was bright, the weather pleasant. Not long after Jiang Yuan arrived at the autopsy center, Qi Changye came with three bodies. "Newly excavated bodies, letting you have a look," Qi Changye said cheerfully, his smile as warm as the cooling water flowing from a nuclear power nt, and as humble as a lone wolf begging by the roadside, awkwardly aiming to please. Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised, "Weren¡¯t these supposed to be examined by your own forensic doctors?" "I thought about it and still preferred you. It¡¯s better not to bother too many people with one matter. Plus, for long-standing cases with skeletonized bodies, our forensic doctors also rmended that you take a look." Qi Changye wasn¡¯t lying. He was mainly here today to apologize again to maintain their cooperating status. Additionally, their forensic doctors had a smaller workload and primarily focused on current cases; they indeedcked experience with skeletonized bodies. "I don¡¯t really mind, but you need to talk to Commissioner Huang," Jiang Yuan said, echoing what Huang Qiangmin had emphasized the day before. Qi Changye hurriedly replied, "I was nning to give Commissioner Huang a good exnation. It really was an ident this time. When I received the call, I was stunned... Hey, I was still thinking about the follow-up at the hospital, right? The other party could drink a lot, I thought since rtionships also need to be maintained, why not drink... I never left the table, directly went to be observed, I was almost up for a stomach wash..." "That¡¯s all in the past," Jiang Yuan said, with no intention nor basis to pursue it. "If Commissioner Huang can think so, then good..." "Did Chu Yanqin exin the details of the murders?" Jiang Yuan interrupted Qi Changye. "Oh, she confessed to two cases, the rest are still under interrogation," said Qi Changye, hastily grabbing a file from his briefcase, "I was thinking of showing it to you in a bit." "Which two cases?" "Number Two and Number Five." "Hmm, I¡¯ll take a look at the bodies first. Commissioner Huang mighte by in a bit, feel free to have a walk around." Jiang Yuan had people bring over the bodies of Two and Five, which included the body of a dog from case Number Two. Qi Changye stood by pitifully, scratching his head, pondering how to chat with Huang Qiangmin when he arrived. Normally, he could speak eloquently, especially to Huang Qiangmin, where Qi Changye even felt somewhat psychologically superior since after all, they were the wealthier clients. But times were different now. If you say Jiang Yuan, like a bigbine harvester, suddenly says no use, would it not mean that the whole team has to return to the era of harvesting with sickles? How could they handle the days of bending over, starting early, workingte with no efficiency? Qi Changye didn¡¯t even want to think about it. Jiang Yuan quickly arranged the bones on the dissection table, then began to stare nkly at them. Forensic Anthropology is a job that tests one¡¯s patience or could also be referred to as ¡¯endurance¡¯. Many might wonder what those archaeology students and teachers, who meticulously brush graves, think about during their work, as their job is indeed rather boring. In fact, at times, it¡¯s all about contemtion. To notice changes in the bones, recognize the reasons for these changes, and then connect them to lifestyle, upation, and even society, the chain of difficulty is still extremely long. Forensic doctors faced slightly lesser difficultiespared to anthropologists, but unlike anthropologists, forensic doctors had pressing tasks with real societal pressures, something anthropologists don¡¯t often face. Jiang Yuan just kept looking, kept looking... When Huang Qiangmin arrived, Jiang Yuan was still looking. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t disturb Jiang Yuan and instead pulled Qi Changye aside for a long conversation. It wasn¡¯t long before Tao Lu also hurried over. As a mediator, he felt somewhat embarrassed by the situation. Of course, he also had numerousints against Qi Changye. Tao Lu stood alongside Huang Qiangmin, reprimanding Qi Changye almost to the point he wished he could disappear into the floor. Qi Changye bore it silently, making it awkward for Tao Lu and Huang Qiangmin to press harder. At this moment, Qi Changye had somewhat of an artistic aura¡ªlike dancing soaking wet while praising the boss¡¯s elegantughter... "Bodies Two and Five don¡¯t have any issues, of course, if the murder weapon is found, another analysis could be done," Jiang Yuan spoke, shifting the atmosphere back in the room. "So, Chu Yanqin didn¡¯t lie?" Qi Changye quickly turned back. "I can only say she was at the scene. The details are urate, probably witnessed by her own eyes, not recounted from others," Jiang Yuan spoke as he took notes. "Chances are she didn¡¯t kill him, either. Her height and weight don¡¯t really match." Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 5 crime scene inspection includes crime scene reconstruction and Level 6 tool mark examination, along with Level 4 forensic pathology, all of which allow him to deduce the status of the perpetrator. The perpetrator¡¯s strength, the angle of force used, the tools utilized... However, when the basis is skeletal remains, the effectiveness of these skills inevitably gets discounted. Paired with Chu Yanqin¡¯s confession, it greatly simplifies matters, effectively turning an open-ended question into a true-or-false question. Especially when the answer is "true," there¡¯s much less to verify. Qi Changye nodded repeatedly, "That should be enough; we are still making detailed inquiries. By the way, the corpses sent over by us might have some special circumstances..." His tone grew a slight bit heavier as he mentioned this. The deceased have passed away; Qi Changye had also pushed himself to his limits. A blue, rolling sphere rolled out from the dissection table. Jiang Yuan waved his hand and retrieved the item. Li Jian¡¯s legacy: Nunchucks (Level 3)¡ªLi Jian had spent a lot of time on the nunchucks, ultimately earning him the title of King of Nunchucks at KTV. Since Li Jian had genuinely apprenticed to practice nunchucks, as long as the KTV private room was big enough, he could sing "No matter the dagger, gun, or club, I wield them all with style," while swinging the nunchucks softly yet firmly, garnering a chorus of cheers. If he had chosen another profession, he would have preferred to be a yoga instructor, teaching female students, exercising by day and singing by night... Jiang Yuan slowly gathered up two sets of skeletal remains, without calling for an assistant¡¯s help. In the evening, Qi Changye invited everyone to eat mutton hot pot. As is known, among Beijing cuisine, which can barely be counted as part of its own camp yet can still be considered delicious, that would be mutton hot pot. Especially, the hand-sliced mutton is really tasty. In fact, the cooking of any meat, if it can be quickly poached in water and still taste good, then it is probably really delicious. The problem is that it¡¯s too expensive. A te of meat costing seventy, eighty, or even one hundred renminbi disappears into the pot in ten seconds, making Qi Changye cringe at the cost. This time, to show his sincerity, he was treating everyone on his own behalf. "We can... wait for it to cook before eating," Qi Changye added another te of meat and then stirred it with the serving chopsticks, appearing a bit guilty. Three minutes into the meal, nearly the entire table had been cleared, and his wallet was practically screaming. "It¡¯s about done," Wu Junhao said, his expression serious as he grabbed a third of the meat in one go and dipped it into the sesame sauce, not caring at all about sparing Qi Changye. He¡¯d taken three bullets to the chest; not poaching Qi Changye¡¯s meat today was already civilization. Liu Jinghui¡¯s chopsticks were still clean; he just silently picked up a te of meat and poured it into the pot. When eating hot pot, if someone prefers their meat half-cooked in the first half, then others either join them or go without. "Waiter, another portion of each!" Qi Changye called out in pain. "I¡¯ll go get some sauces," Liu Jinghui stood up to begin his pre-dining warm-ups. Upon returning with the bowls, Qi Changye frowned even more at Liu Jinghui¡¯s bowl, which was even worse than Wu Junhao¡¯s. "What did you put in it?" Qi Changye¡¯s Mandarin took on an even stronger Beijing ent. "Sriracha as the base, added some oyster sauce and soy sauce, then more fermented tofu and chili oil, topped off with sesame paste and peanut butter, then vinegar," Liu Jinghui mixed his sauce and said, "It tastes good with Chaozhou beef as well." "Just sesame paste is fine," Qi Changye sighed. "I¡¯ll get you a bowl of it specially." "No need. Mutton tastes good dipped in sesame paste only for the first few bites," Liu Jinghui looked at Qi Changye and said, "Sesame paste is just an obsession of Beijing people. Back then, there was a shortage of food, and themon taste was too rich. This is a modified sauce for eating Chaozhou beef, as Chaozhou has been wealthy for a long time and their sauce bowls are more abundant." "You¡¯re just going to offend both Beijing and Chaozhou people like this," Qi Changye insisted on getting Liu Jinghui a bowl for the sesame paste. Jiang Yuan silently picked up a chopstick of meat, holding onto it even as it dipped into the hot water, and only let go once the meat was cooked, safely retrieving it. The hand-slicedmb was a bit thicker, giving a faint sense of juice when chewed. Not to mention the taste, the toughness was like the back muscles of a body just beginning to skeletonize, slightly firm, but tearing easily. "The bodies at the scene probably weren¡¯t killed by Chu Yanqin," Jiang Yuan suddenly remarked, then said, "Based on the evidence seen earlier and Chu Yanqin¡¯s description, the method of the victims¡¯ deaths is essentially confirmed." "We don¡¯t need topare the details of the killings anymore?" Qi Changye was somewhat surprised. "No need topare them anymore. After ruling out a few previous suspicions, other methods of killing couldn¡¯t have been achieved by Chu Yanqin¡¯s height and weight," Jiang Yuan swished a few more pieces ofmb in the pot, eating them and saying, "The subsequent bodies are the same; the murderer who killed them is mostly buried in the forest. Chu Yanqin¡¯s method is quite clever..." "It¡¯s good she hasn¡¯t killed anyone; it makes it more flexible for us to deal with," Qi Changye breathed a sigh of relief and smiled slightly. "Waiter, another six tes of this meat," Six feet calling over the waiter, having also taken three bullets to the chest. Chapter 829 - 770: Harvest Season

Chapter 829: Chapter 770: Harvest Season

Through the interrogation of Chu Yanqin, Qi Changye managed to unearth six more bodies. Thus, the number of bodies involved in this case reached a total of 12, causing quite a stir even within the Beijing Bureau. During meetings, people often talked about this "006 case"¡ªa notch below 007, initially involving six bodies. Now with the discovery of six more, some also referred to it as "Double 006." Double 006 naturally couldn¡¯tpare to 007; humility was necessary. Qi Changye¡¯s chest gradually puffed up with pride, especially as the case deepened and disconnected from the "half-ton case," earning him bountiful praise. In those days, espionage cases actively cracked were extremely rare. This case was something Qi Changye had personally requested to reopen, despite not having ample resources¡ªa vehicle handed over to Ningtai County serving as proof¡ªQi Changye¡¯s initiative was indisputable and, most importantly, he had perfectly solved the case. The criminal, Chu Yanqin, was a formally trained intelligence officer, a rarity amongst prisoners, garnering attention and... interrogation from all quarters. At this stage, Qi Changye had effectively handed over the personpletely. Also handed over was his own car. A nearly new Passat that had only driven 200,000 kilometers in seven years. "Hey, be careful with the loading, couldn¡¯t we just use it in Beijing?" Qi Changye said with reluctance. "It¡¯s you who said your license tes were special and we couldn¡¯t use them..." Huang Qiangmin watched the Passat being secured onto the tbed, smiling, "If I don¡¯t take it back, how can I use it?" "You could apply for a license in Beijing..." "Can¡¯t be bothered to apply, and we don¡¯t need to." Huang Qiangmin said indifferently, "Our vehicles in Beijing are ensured by the Zhengguang Bureau, and maintaining a car here is expensive, a bit too wasteful." "Ah... I¡¯ve traveled quite a bit with this old partner. When I first got this car, only two vice directors had used it for less than three years, it was just like new!" Qi Changye said, shaking his head and sighing. Huang Qiangmin pursed his lips, "Your budget this year must be quiterge, buying a brand-new one is like ying for you." Qi Changyeughed, then quickly pretended to be poor, "I still don¡¯t know when that will be, and a lot of the budget is earmarked for specific things..." Huang Qiangmin waved his hand, then asked, "Have all the criminals been sent for processing?" "Yeah. Several have already signed their confessions and agreed to their penalties. The Chu Yanqin couple might struggle a bit; the prosecution has requested the death penalty." Qi Changye spoke of this with ease. The 12 victims were mostly participants in a few smuggling channels, including Qi Changye¡¯s special informant, who was disguised as a smuggler and killed in the woods without hesitation after being discovered. During this process, Vicitms No.1 and No.2 were killed by participants No.3456 and others. The same happened to Nos. 3 and 4. Chu Yanqin prioritized the elimination of participants in the murders, often with her husband¡¯s involvement. The couple was responsible for nning and executing their operations wlessly. Through this method, Chu Yanqin effectively concealed her identity and maintained her secrecy for an extended period. Huang Qiangmin nodded at this, not asking for more details. Qi Changye probably wouldn¡¯t have said more anyway. "Alright, I¡¯ll be going back then." Huang Qiangmin packed up all the vehicle documents, and after a word, he was ready to leave. "Director Huang, Director Huang." Qi Changye quickly took Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand, "About the next case..." "We¡¯ll see when ites." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t make any promises and turned to leave in a stylish Beijing-licensed A6. ... Jiang Yuan also ced thest batch of bones into the box. Compared to regr corpses, bones were easier to store. However, after being identified, these bones would soon be cremated and returned to the families. Jiang Yuan personally wrote down the numbers and stuck them on the box. After thest number was written, a blue orb spilled out. Wan Xi¡¯s Legacy: Origami (LV2)¡ªPracticing origami was the most painful and happiest process Wan Xi had ever experienced, akin to raising a child. She personally didn¡¯t like origami much, but experts said origami could develop children¡¯s intelligence and concentration, so Wan Xi reluctantly learned it. She really wanted to return to her child¡¯s side and fold a little boat for her. Jiang Yuan sighed softly. Wan Xi was the real name of Qi Changye¡¯s special informant. But this skeleton had been buried for several years, meaning Wan Xi¡¯s child had grown to an age where she no longer liked origami. "Ask Team Captain Qi about the deceased informant, Wan Xi¡¯s child¡ªhow should I go about sponsoring him?" Jiang Yuan put away the blue orb and turned to Medical Examiner Gong. Medical Examiner Gong was a frequent lead forensic doctor used by Captain Qi¡¯s team. In his thirties, he was technically very capable, his forensic pathology skill was roughly at a Level 2.5, making him stand out amongst his peers. Jiang Yuan made the inquiry through him to have an additional witness. Medical Examiner Gong didn¡¯t have any objections; after connecting with Qi Changye¡¯s phone and initially babbling away, he finally reiterated Jiang Yuan¡¯s question. "He¡¯s been adopted by rtives, has some supervision and a schrship, but his living conditions are quite ordinary." Medical Examiner Gong ryed Captain Qi¡¯s words to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Well, our Jiang Vige sponsors a certain number of students every year regardless of age. Adding one more person won¡¯t be an issue; could you have Captain Qi coordinate this?" "Sure," said Medical Examiner Gong promptly. After a lengthy back-and-forth, the parties finally settled the matter. Ending the call with Qi Changye, Jiang Yuan also let out a light sigh of relief. With that, the case was officially closed. ... The system screen reappeared before Jiang Yuan. Mission Completed: Trace of the Passing Geese Mission Details: Crimes won¡¯t easily disappear, nor can bodies be easily buried. Find the buried bodies, seek justice for them, and give the families peace of mind. Mission Progress: (12/X) Mission Reward: Forensic Sketch (LV6) Graphical Investigation - Trajectory Analysis (LV6) Seeing these two skill rewards, Jiang Yuan struggled to maintain hisposure. This was a task Xu Taining had taken on during an investigation when Jiang Yuan found two buried bodies, acquiring the Forensic Sketch (LV2) skill. Unexpectedly, this mission was still umting. Once Forensic Sketch skill level reached LV6, it directly led to the next skill, Image Investigation - Trajectory Analysis, also maxing out at LV6. Any skill reaching LV6 was nearly divine. At this point, Jiang Yuan no longer felt tired. He rubbed his face and asked his colleague Mu Zhiyang, "Where are my biologists?" Chapter 830 - 771: Group of Botanists

Chapter 830: Chapter 771: Group of Botanists

The botanists had set up a group chat and the conversation was fairly lively. In the group, everyone discussed work, chatted, shared pictures, forwarded jokes and news, watched drama unfold, posted links, and ranted about ipetent leaders and policies, sharing new perspectives on world and historical issues... It was clear that, since this was a group of biologists, just like any other creatures, everyone tried their best not to talk about work. Using changes in the natural environment to locate bodies was not easy. Despite Jiang Yuan unearthing several graves with ease, it had taken him several days, and he had to search in a targeted manner, grounded in Level 4 Legal Botany expertise. That day, the location where the special case went missing was determined by Qi Changye. Although it was only a direction with a vast area, there was still a defined range. Jiang Yuan dug over the most identifiable locations within that range and left the leftovers for a bunch of schrs who didn¡¯t even reach Level 1 in Legal Botany to research. Needless to say, their progress wasn¡¯t as smooth. It was like a handsome expert spending days sweet-talking each girl in a dormitory, only to leave behind those girls who were unresponsive for a ssmate who was a virgin, single since birth, average-looking, of ordinary family background, average height, not eloquent, not into dressing up, with no sense of fashion nor care for food and clothes, poor sports abilities,cking confidence, and too proud to lower his face. This group of over twenty botanists¡ªtheir enthusiasm was drained in just a few days. Jiang Yuan returned to his office, scanned over the group chat, and had a clear understanding of the situation. Soon, Jiang Yuan updated the group announcement: Announcement: [Everyone, in the next two days, we will excavate the locations you¡¯ve marked. If you have more ces to mark, please send them to me privately. The trial excavation is expected tost two to three days.] Jiang Yuan estimated that everyone had indeed marked some locations. The past few days of dy might have been somewhat dull, but as botanists, could they really be scared of monotony? Ding dong. Sure enough, in no time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone started ringing. Marking a location meant the police would verify whether there were any remains there, which in itself was quite exciting. Jiang Yuan opened a WeChat message to see that it included a location, marker, photo, and a lengthy description exining why this ce was chosen. Pure concern of a good student eager to learn. Jiang Yuan immediately replied with a thumbs-up emoji. By evening, Jiang Yuan checked and found that the group of nearly 20 botanists had provided 78 marked locations. It was evident that everyone had different hobbies. The botanist who provided the most locations had marked nine spots, even more than Jiang Yuan had. And his proficiency in Legal Botany was far inferior to Jiang Yuan¡¯s. It was clear that Professor Zhao Tian was genuinely interested in this field. Jiang Yuan then roughly sorted through these 78 marked locations. He primarily looked for obvious signs of buried remains. Such locations needed to be dealt with promptly to prevent unforeseenplications and also to cover any oversight. But there were none. Level 4 Legal Botany was overpowering for these freshmen botanists. Although after a brief period of study and practice, they might reach Level 1 or Level 2 proficiency, at this moment in time, their expertise paled inparison to the difference between Jiang Yuan and Wang Zhong in the field of trace evidence. However, the involvement of the botanists was still very meaningful. Satisfying their curiosity was just the first step; unearthing bodies was the bait Jiang Yuanid for them, the nest he had made. Afterward, as long as the botanists were willing to gradually participate more, the number of tasks they could aplish would naturally increase. "Cui Da, I¡¯ll send you the marked locations; have someone check if any bodies can be found," Jiang Yuan phoned Cui Qishan. This was also part of the n that Tao Lu had already arranged. Cui Qishan responded immediately and after looking at his phone, he was taken aback and carefully said, "If there were 78 bodies in Beijing, that would be too many, we..." "It¡¯s just 78 suspected locations, not 78 bodies," Jiang Yuanughed. Cui Qishan didn¡¯tugh, "Last time you also gave a few ces, and we dug up 6 bodies." "Those few were carefully selected, the best of the best..." Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "These 78 locations were not chosen by me, they were picked by those botanists." "Last time also... Then how many did you personally select?" "None, they were all picked by the botanists." On the other end of the line, Cui Qishan breathed a sigh of relief, sounding much more rxed, "That¡¯s a relief. I¡¯m not against finding bodies, but these big cases really take a toll on us." Jiang Yuan and his team were certainly in danger on the front lines, but the police officers in the rear weren¡¯t idle either. Even those not in the special case team were actually under a lot of pressure. In a county town, one murder case could have the whole station mobilizing; the Zhengguang Bureau, facing so many corpses, was no better off. "Right," Cui Qishan asked before hanging up, "we can hire people to dig, right? With 78 pits, we¡¯d be digging until next year on our own." "It should be fine; you go ahead and create another group. After each location is dug up, drop some photos and videos in the group so the botanists can all have a look and learn," Jiang Yuan still ced great importance on user experience. Cui Qishan acknowledged the request, and soon Xiao Si had created a group. Being a police officer for a long time, one naturally developed a dislike for chat groups because there were too many¡ªthey almost needed a separate group for each case. It was not unusual to have several groups for a single case. Detectives handling multiple cases at once was the norm. For team leaders like Cui Qishan, who darted between various special case teams daily, it was typical that even if a task force for a murder was established in a sub-bureau, the ones previously set up for serious injuries or burries weren¡¯t likely to be disbanded. Moreover, for most cases, the investigation stage was just the beginning and middle of the case process, which included securing evidence and interrogating all the way up to the inspection stage; this could take even more time. Therefore, there were groups not only among police officers but also between police officers and victims¡¯ families and with witnesses. Xiao Si created the group, hesitatingly not bringing Jiang Yuan into the group, and then Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan: [No need to add me...] But seeing that Jiang Yuan was also in the group, Cui Qishan ultimately didn¡¯t have the heart to leave. Xiao Si then added Li Jiang, Wang Chao, and others, followed by a group of botanists. Xiao Si: [This group is for the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s live excavation of corpses. Everyone, please add your affiliated school before your name.] Agricultural University Wang Bin: [?] University of Science and Technology Zhao Tian: [Is it about digging up that corpse of Jiang Yuan¡¯s? Quite thrilling.] Polytechnic University Pang Shiqiang: [What¡¯s the order of excavation?] Agricultural Research Institute Sulei: [What about the results of the corpses that were dug up before? Has the case been solved?] Seeing this, Xiao Si quickly replied: [The previous cases are still confidential. Everyone, please don¡¯t discuss it openly, and those who know should also pay attention to keeping it secret. Yes, this current case is also confidential, including the content discussed in the group. Don¡¯t leak information, don¡¯t take screenshots, and be responsible for yourselves.] With that, the group went quieter. Previously, people were willing to chat in the group because botanists from different schools sharedmon hobbies and were willing to discuss topics like politics and history. Now that they had switched to a group with more police officers, everyone just automatically kept quiet. However, as the first marked location began their excavation work, the group gradually became lively again. University of Science and Technology Zhao Tian: [Is this the location I chose? Good, good, let¡¯s see what can be dug up.] Polytechnic University Pang Shiqiang: [Professor Zhao¡¯s choice is quite good.] University of Science and Technology Zhao Tian: [@Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, what do you think? Will anything turn up?] Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t reply immediately, but the experts and professors below started to voice their opinions. Some say it¡¯s possible, others say it isn¡¯t, with some giving reasons and others just making bets. By the time Jiang Yuan finished his round and looked at the group again, the excavation team had just uncovered the nts on the surface, and the group had scrolled through hundreds of messages. At this time Cui Qishan also strolled over, making a special trip to Jiang Yuan¡¯s office to say with augh, "Your botanist group is guessing whether a body will be found or not." "If they¡¯re guessing, then they definitely can¡¯t," Jiang Yuan silently closed the novel page on hisputer, opened theputer version of WeChat for a nce, and started typing rapidly, "This is perfect, I¡¯ll exin it to them." "Exin what?" "Discuss why the body wasn¡¯t found at that location," Jiang Yuan answered as he typed. Cui Qishan looked carefully at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and realized he spoke as if it were true, not like he was acting. Chapter 831 - 772: Look at This Pit I’m In

Chapter 831: Chapter 772: Look at This Pit I¡¯m In

Jiang Yuan cked away at his keyboard in the group chat: [To find a body through nt changes, the core of it actually involves studying the rtionship between nt growth and human dposition...] [There is a theory that refers to a corpse as Dposition Ind. Taking the ind as a unit, the surrounding nts show different effects. Suppose the forest is the ocean and the body is the ind; naturally, the surrounding waters will change. Moreover, these changes vary with the time of death...] [Looking at the live broadcast location, I think there are no bodies here because although the nt changes match the concept of the Seed Bank, theyck the effect of Dposition Ind. First of all, the nearby nt growth is uneven, while a Dposition Ind actually releases substances evenly around it...] For a short time, only Jiang Yuan was typing in the chat. Cui Qishan stood across from Jiang Yuan, watching him type and monitoring the chat. Seeing nobody else was talking, he felt a bit concerned, so he opened a private chat to message Xiao Si,[Say something, lighten the mood in the chat], concurrently advising Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, aren¡¯t your words a bit too pointed? It might be too much for the guys to handle." "Teaching them the techniques. If they¡¯re not happy, just kick them out and that¡¯s the end of it." Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence hadn¡¯t dwindled; he just spoke with an air of superiority: "They are botanists, and if they don¡¯t participate or like Legal Botany, the next time we meet might most likely be on the dissection table." After thinking it over, Cui Qishan understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s words and couldn¡¯t help butugh, saying, "You better not talk like this outside; it might cause people to misunderstand that you¡¯re the killer. Well, let¡¯s just not give others a reason to call us high-handed..." While they were talking, a message popped up in the group chat. Wang Bin from Agricultural University: [Thanks for the guidance, Doctor Jiang. Indeed, I had some understanding of Dposition Ind before but hadn¡¯t studied it in detail. It truly shows how specialized each field is. I think some of my subsequent markers might also be problematic] Wang Bin from Agricultural University:[Maybe I should correct the next few markers of mine to avoid wasting the police¡¯s time. Today has really been tough on all the policerades...] Xiao Si:[Okay, our excavation team has already dug down to 50 centimeters. Next, we have to dig deeper. Everyone, guess if there might be a body inside...] Wang Bin from Agricultural University:[The policerades seem quite excited.] Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University:[Are they more excited because they¡¯re on site?] The face of Cui Qishan turned ashen. Inside the office, he couldn¡¯t hold back, "Xiao Si always messes things up." "I see you quite like using him." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care about the mood in the chat; his level 4 Legal Botany skills alone were enough to have a firm grip on those schrs who were fond of Legal Botany. As for those who weren¡¯t... Fishing targets the fish that like the bait; those who don¡¯t bite, just let them swim freely. Cui Qishan felt somewhat helpless, "Xiao Si, this guy, sometimes he can really surprise you, it¡¯s just his mouth that¡¯s annoying. Now, even watching him chat is frustrating." "It¡¯s probably because he¡¯s slow in responding," Jiang Yuan said andughed, then continued typing in the group chat: [Professor Zhao, sorting out the markers could help, indeed a few of them might not need digging.] Sulei from the Agricultural Research Institute: [If that¡¯s the case, I need to adjust a few of my markers too.] Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University: [Same here.] Jiang Yuan: [Then everyone, please send me a private message.] Meanwhile, the excavation at location 1 was nearing its end. Xiao Si had hired a construction team to help with the excavation. Typically, a normal construction team would be reluctant to dig up bodies, but they had regr dealings with the police unit¡ªinitially, they were reluctant to dig up bodies and only took on some regr tasks from the police unit, but as the urrence of finding bodies grew more frequent, they grew ustomed to it and even started charging extra money, which made them happier. "Should we continue digging?" asked a construction worker standing in a pit about a person deep, looking at Xiao Si. "Stop digging, switch to the second point," Xiao Si waved his hand and directly uploaded a short video to the group chat. Inside the office. Jiang Yuan clicked open the video on hisputer, and Xiao Si¡¯s voice came through. Xiao Si: "Dear botanists and leaders, the excavation at point 1 ends here. Unfortunately, we didn¡¯t seed in unearthing a body. Moving on to... ah, point 2 is useless now too. Let¡¯s see, point 3... point 4... alright, next we head to point 5!" The chat began to liven up. Pang Shiqiang from Polytechnic University:[Can we start guessing again?] Sulei from the Agricultural Research Institute:[Who marked this one? It doesn¡¯t look right.] Wang Yongchao from Agriculture & Forestry:[It was me who marked it. My analysis is that there is a clear fault in nt growth in this area. If there are norge animals living nearby, then I think, almost only humans could cause such an effect...] Cui Qishan had already found a ce to sit down, looking at the chat and Wang Yongchao¡¯s authoritative analysis and couldn¡¯t help but ask curiously, "What do you think about this?" "It¡¯s wildly incorrect, but from another perspective," replied Jiang Yuan breezily, then continued, "It¡¯s actually a very good example, easy for everyone to understand." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he started typing on the keyboard again. So, Cui Qishan watched as Jiang Yuan began to reim dominance in the group chat. Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help shaking his head, thinking to himself that only intellectuals could bear such abuse. If it were his own team¡¯s chat, it would probably have turned into a shouting match by now. The digging group quickly quieted down. Instead, it was Jiang Yuan, whose keyboard tapping noises grew louder. With the former Cui Qishan, he might have thought that everyone was being silent, but now, he knew that some people simply didn¡¯t care about being refuted. Perhaps they were even happy to be contradicted. Jiang Yuan was quite pleased as well. After all, sometimes you just need to express yourself. "In short, Number 5 was a bust, but since we¡¯ve dug this far, let¡¯s just keep at it," Jiang Yuan joyfully typed out these words, rubbed his fingers, then nced at his watch and said, "Looks like it¡¯s time to knock off." "Ah, yes. Time to leave!" Cui Qishan, who was still looking at the group chat, couldn¡¯t help feeling a bit mncholic. "It¡¯s been a long time since we had normal office hours; we¡¯re all Stockholm-syndromed from overtime." "Want toe to my ce for dinner?" Jiang Yuan invited proactively. "My dad cooked a new batch of pork knuckle today¡ªit¡¯s super tender, the kind that falls apart, you don¡¯t even need to chew, just suck it off with your lips..." He had recently been staying in Beijing, with Jiang Fuzhen also apanying him in the city. Life was generally joyful, except he wasn¡¯t quite used to having so few peoplee over for meals, missing the liveliness of Jiang Vige. Licking his lips, Cui Qishanughed, "I¡¯d feel bad, there¡¯s already dinner waiting for me at home." "Just call a few more people, today was just a WeChat investigation anyway." Jiang Yuan got up to pack his things. In reality, he didn¡¯t even have toe to the office; he was just giving face today. Seeing this, Cui Qi Shan hesitated, but finally, something convinced him, and he nodded in agreement. As Jiang Yuan walked home, he invited more people along the way, and by the time he arrived, he had nearly 20 people with him. Jiang Fuzhen greeted them with a smile and praised his son, "Not bad, rounding up so many people for a meal at home, very good..." Cui Qishan, being over forty, still felt somewhat awkward going to someone else¡¯s house for a meal, and said, "We should have brought something..." "No need,ing for the meal is the best gift!" Jiang Fuzhen expertly waved his hand and asked, "Married?" "Ah... yes." Jiang Fuzhen nodded and said, "That¡¯s perfect. I also cooked oysters in the pressure cooker today; those of you with wives should definitely try them." Cui Qishan hesitated, "Then nevermind, I don¡¯t need it." "Even if you¡¯re in good health, a little boost won¡¯t hurt!" "No, I mean I don¡¯t need a wife." Cui Qishan¡¯s expression was indiscernible, whether serious, joking, or half-joking. Jiang Fuzhen thought it over andughed heartily, "You big city folk are quite amusing. No worries, as long as you find your own way to be happy, that¡¯s enough." With that, Jiang Fuzhen returned to the kitchen to tend to the pressure cooker. The hiss of steam surged towards the exhaust hood. Jiang Yuan invited everyone to sit down, choosing a solitary sofa for himself and pulled out his phone. "Did you dig up any bodies yet?" Cui Qishan asked curiously from across him. "No," Jiang Yuan shook his head, "It¡¯s not likely." "How far did you dig?" "To Number 45." "Halfway there?" "We¡¯ve actually only dug up six spots," Jiang Yuan chuckled, "Many people revised their choices." Cui Qishanughed as he listened, "That¡¯s true, a lot of people changed their minds." "Yep, but we had to open a few to test it out, otherwise, there¡¯s no way to verify, like this one... um..." Jiang Yuan paused mid-sentence. Not just Cui Qishan¡ªmany people present were familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s style. Mu Zhiyang stood up immediately, "Found a body?" "It doesn¡¯t look like a body, but we did dig something up." Jiang Yuan paused again and rechecked the location, which was the only spot Zhao Tian had kept. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone started ringing. Then, Cui Qishan¡¯s phone also began to ring. The two exchanged looks and their budding smiles froze. "Hello." "Hello, hello." Their phones echoed responses. Soon after, Xiao Si¡¯s voice rang from both handsets: "Hello, hello, hello... Can you hear me?" "We can hear you, no need to call both phones." An irritated Cui Qishan hung up his own phone and said, "I don¡¯t know what¡¯s with this guy¡¯s brain." Xiao Si¡¯s cheerful voice came through Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone, "There¡¯s also something else you don¡¯t know. Guess what we found in the pit we just dug?" "What?" Cui Qishan was still intrigued. "Two suitcases, inside them two porcin jars wrapped in courier bubble wrap, and two bronze Buddhas," Xiao Si announced, thenughed, "If you guyse to the site, bring me arge pork knuckle, with some rice to go with it would be best." Chapter 832 - 773 Labor Achievements

Chapter 832: Chapter 773 Labor Achievements

"Let¡¯s have a video call," Cui Qishan said after taking a sip of tea, not seeming in any hurry. Xiao Si ended the call and did as he was told. When they reconnected, he saw chunks of meat at the corner of Cui Qishan¡¯s mouth. "This is the spot," Xiao Si said, turning the camera toward the pit in front of him. Digging in the woods, they couldn¡¯t use machinery, only traditional tools like hoes and shovels. Several workers took turns to work, now wiping sweat from their brows by the pit. Two police officers squatted beside two suitcases, collecting evidence and taking photographs. "Did you only find two suitcases? Is there anything else inside?" Cui Qishan pressed. "The ground below is hard; there shouldn¡¯t be anything buried. We¡¯re nning to collect the evidence and then expand the area a bit. If youe over now, you can catch it," Xiao Si said, shaking the camera to give Cui Qishan and the others a clearer view. "There are no bodies, right?" Cui Qishan confirmed. "No, and there are no signs of bodies either," Xiao Si replied, sounding relieved. Cui Qishan thus remained nonchnt, "Xiao Si, in that case, you just takemand there. I¡¯ll listen to your report tomorrow." "Huh?" Xiao Si was taken aback for a moment. "Look around some more, see if there are any other traces. If there¡¯s more contraband, bring it all out," Cui Qishan instructed with feigned importance. Xiao Si bewilderedly asked, "Aren¡¯t youing over?" "What would I do there?" Cui Qishan smiled. "It¡¯s not that... aren¡¯t youing because there¡¯s no body? The porcins and copper Buddhas are also impressive. These copper Buddhas, if auctioned, fetch millions each. We found two here; this could well be an antique case worth tens of millions!" Xiao Si vented into the phone. What¡¯s with the captain? Can the captain just not show up on the scene? So what if there¡¯s no body? Does that mean it¡¯s no longer interesting? "Xiao Si, make sure you keep the scene under control, and keep updating the group with ongoing messages, okay?" Cui Qishan¡¯s voice was lukewarm, as if he had something in his mouth. Xiao Si nced and saw it wasn¡¯t just something; Cui Qishan was indeed chewing on a chunk of meat. "Captain Cui, have you started dinner?" Xiao Si touched his stomach. He had been looking forward to having a big knuckle to eat as well. Cui Qishan gave an indulgent smile, "Helplessly, as you called, I had to work while eating... Alright, have someone appraise the antiques to see if they¡¯re genuine. If they are, go ahead and open a case. We¡¯ll talk if there¡¯s an update tomorrow." Then, Cui Qishan hung up the call. Xiao Si slowly put away his phone. In the evening cool of Beijing, there was a slight chill in the room and a gentle breeze outside that sent shivers down his spine. But no coldness in the air could match the coldness in Xiao Si¡¯s heart. "Xiao Si, should we continue digging?" the leader of the excavation team asked with a smile over his tea. "Keep digging." "That would mean starting a new hole." "Fine." "Alright then, let¡¯s carry on. It¡¯s overtime from this point on!" The excavation team once again began swinging their hoes. Xiao Si sighed, sent another short video to the group, and started making various calls. The next day. The team that had been digging all night went back to rest. The new shifts came to familiarize themselves with the situation, and incidentally took care of a drowsy Xiao Si. He never pulled all-nighters, always trying to avoid work if possible, feigning misery and stubbornness if he couldn¡¯t escape¡ªtruly an early practitioner of the lying-t lifestyle. But today¡¯s task, which he misunderstood when taking it on, meant he couldn¡¯t shake it off after unearthing the antiques. So he had to endure. Sipping some tea and munching on a weird breakfast from who-knows-where, Xiao Si sighed again, replied to a few messages on his phone, and then saw the botanists climbing up the case like monkeys on a pole¡ªescting the case sky-high and starting to entangle various minor details. Even newbies were added to the group. But noticing that the approvals came from Jiang Yuan, and the new members appeared to be botanists from either a school or a research institute, Xiao Si was toozy to care. "There¡¯s no body at this spot, so we¡¯re moving to the next one," Xiao Si mumbled wearily, leading his team to the next location. In the group chat, someone excitedly sent a red packet, "My turn, my turn!" Honestly, regr folks spend money on blind boxes and can never get this kind of thrill. The botanists who joinedter were especially envious, bombarding the chat with messages: "Can we still choose?" "Is it toote to mark it now?" "Who has the materials? I¡¯ll send a student to collect them!" Xiao Si, feeling quite helpless, took the opportunity while filming a new site to multitask, saying as he recorded, "If it¡¯s a professional, report to Captain Jiang first. If you get permission, you can also mark the locations." He was originally sent out here to dig up corpses, although he hadn¡¯t found any to date, but didn¡¯t he uncover an antique box? By police standards, this was considered a win. A person who would bury two suitcases in the wilderness like this, what kind of good guy could they be? It was likely a high-profile case that cost millions and remained unsolved! The crowd in the group chat naturally became even more excited. Botanists usually seem dull and not good with words, just like nts. In fact, they are. But ording to the well-knownw of contrast, such people be talkative and social when online, with maxed-out social attributes. Soon enough, the botanists who arrived earlier began sharing their experiences: Engineering University, Pang Shiqiang: [Don¡¯t hesitate to choose if you want, no one has ever hit the target anyway.] Agricultural Research Institute, Sulei: [Jiang Yuan will exin to everyone. It¡¯s best to include your reasons when you mark your selections. That way, it¡¯s easier to analyze during the exnations. Especially forter marks, as over time, initial thoughts and feelings change and can be easily forgotten.] Engineering University, Pang Shiqiang: [Right, I have a temte here, friends who need it cane to me.] ... Xiao Si rubbed his head, finding these botanists way too abnormal. As their chat got hotter, he also typed: [This is serious police work, let¡¯s not treat it as something fun. Maintain respect. Also, marking potential corpse locations is a very tough job, involving long hours in front of aputer, don¡¯t think of it as y!] The buzzing WeChat group only quietened down for a few seconds before someone quietly posted: Wang Yongchao of Agriculture & Forestry: [Digging up a body at a ce you have chosen yourself, isn¡¯t it more interesting than eating the corn you¡¯ve nted?] Xiao Si, taken aback, thought... that actually makes some sense! The WeChat group immediately exploded in activity: Science and Technology University, Zhao Tian: [Professor Wang makes too much sense.] Agricultural Research Institute, Sulei: [Agreed.] Engineering University, Pang Shiqiang: [Turning stone into a corpse? Or is it a case of you reap what you sow?] Snap! Xiao Si threw his phone into his bag. This kind of group chat, if you read too much, can turn your thinking upside down. The excavation team was rather happy. They came to work for digging up bodies, and with no corpses to be found, they were clean work, a clear gain. And seeing the number of holes being dug increasing, they were feeling more hopeful about society. "Xiao Si, Big Boss and Jiang Yuan areing over," Li Jiang came over and said. "Let¡¯s go meet them," Xiao Si sighed. "Surrendering to authority?" Li Jiang chuckled. Xiao Si smirked, "Giving Jiang Yuan some face." It took a while before Jiang Yuan and Cui Qishan and the others managed to climb up the slope. "Let¡¯s go straight to see the spot where the antiques were uncovered," Jiang Yuan gasped for air, then looked behind, "Carrying two suitcases this far to bury them, what was the other party after?" "People from Beijing are quite special, burying bodies so deep in the woods. Unlike us from Shan Nan, just burying them by the roadside is good enough," Mu Zhiyang also analyzed with emotion. "Two suitcases, at least two people needed to carry them," Captain Jiang analyzed, saying, "Digging is tiring, let¡¯s go have a look." Cui Qishan followed silently. From his perspective, this case was tough to crack. There were probably no fingerprints on the luggage, and the antiques were wiped clean, even though the formal appraisal reports were not yet out. But it was already certain they were genuine. Such valuable antiques, lying here for so many years, the origins and destinations unknown, the owners don¡¯te to im them... maybe the person already met with an ident. "How¡¯s it?" Cui Qishan waited until Jiang Yuan had finished inspecting therge pit where the antiques were found to ask again, emphasizing, "Let¡¯s get it straight, this case isn¡¯t worth an investigation." "Then it¡¯s a job for legal botany," Captain Jiang mumbled, and everyone turned to look at Xiao Si. Chapter 833 - 774 Address

Chapter 833: Chapter 774 Address

"Jiang Yuan, are you tired? Do you need to rest?" Tao Lu specifically came to the forensic doctor¡¯s office and asked Jiang Yuan with concern. Jiang Yuan moved his mouth forward, smiling, "Not tired. It¡¯s quite interesting to work with so many people." At this moment, the two long tables in the forensic doctor¡¯s office, covered with ck leather, were now fully seated on both sides, totaling more than 20 people. There were naturally more people in the Legal Botany team, but since they limited the number of people to 20, that¡¯s when enough people actively responded. After all, what everyone had to do now was real work. Tao Lu confirmed again, "Actually, if you want to rest, just let your senior apprentice take charge. He¡¯s supposed to learn this stuff anyway, right?" "I was nning to have Captain Pangmand, but I¡¯m not tired," Jiang Yuan said, handing Tao Lu a bottle of soda water. "Feel free to look around; I¡¯ll get back to my work." Tao Lu understood; this was Jiang Yuan¡¯s polite way of saying he was in the way. However, it was good that Jiang Yuan felt bothered by his presence; Tao Lu just didn¡¯t want Jiang Yuan to really get exhausted. For a cultural relic case involving tens of millions, it wouldn¡¯t be worth it! Tens of millions might be a horrifying amount in Ningtai County, but in Beijing, it really wasn¡¯t much. Given the current market for cultural relics, just randomly selecting a few would, unless sold at a ce like Panjiayuan, all be worth tens of millions. Inparison, for Jiang Yuan who could crack over a dozen murder cases in one go, his time and energy were too precious. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s initiative, Tao Lu would never dream of using him for such a case. Shasha shasha. At the experimental table, the botanists were each busy with their tasks. Some were collecting pollen, others were marking it, and some were ssifying andparing it. Like Jiang Yuan, who found pollen under the microscope and then directly identified it, had Level 3 Legal Botany skills. Everyone present, no matter how good their basic knowledge in botany, were still beginners in Legal Botany. If not, they wouldn¡¯t havee to learn from Jiang Yuan. For these academics, once they grasped the basics, the rest was rtively easy to learn on their own. This waspletely different from someone like Pang Jidong, who was clumsy in his methods. Pang Jidong himself was quite happily wandering around the room, asionally attending to the botanists¡¯ needs. This included tasks such as fetching slides, looking up books, as well as serving tea, pouring water, and bringing coffee and other beverages. Looking at Pang Jidong, Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but express to Cui Qishan how frustrating it was that others were pulling their weight, "Look at Captain Pang, he¡¯s a big-city captain and still does all this." "Just doing the grunt work," said Cui Qishan, who was already in his forties and felt no less capable, "Old Pang is eyeing retirement, looking to contribute while he can, seeking a sense of aplishment; I¡¯m not like him." "What do you want to do then?" Tao Lu stared at Cui Qishan. Of course, Cui Qishan wanted to be a deputymander; no one stays a unitmander for life. But faced with Deputy Commander Tao Lu, Cui Qishan naturally wouldn¡¯t dare say so. "I... I just want to solve a few more cases, regardless of the scale, catching some criminals and such, that would be pretty good," Cui Qishan said. "You should also get along well with these botanists," Tao Lu snorted, "They¡¯re all resources from Beijing. Don¡¯t let them be snatched away by Pang Jidong." Cui Qishan nodded in agreement and added, "I don¡¯t even know if what they¡¯re doing will be effective; using Legal Botany to solve cases, it all seems to take quite a long time..." "While speaking," Zhao Tian raised his hand and said, "Captain Jiang, I saw ginkgo leaves and purple-leaf plum on this side. Someone just mentioned seeing Western Courtyard Begonias and lcs, right?" "Yes, I did see those," Jiang Yuan walked over. Today, although they had gathered 20 botanists, their work was like an assembly line, where the identified nts were collected and then had to be sorted by different locations. Zhao Tian took out a notebook from his side, looked down at it, made a few marks, and said, "If that¡¯s the case, then we have ginkgo leaves, purple-leaf plum, Western Courtyard Begonia, lc, mapleleaf viburnum, and climbing roses..." "Right, that¡¯s correct," Jiang Yuan also had a notebook in hand, which he opened and nced at to confirm. "I¡¯m going to take a wild guess here. There should also be Hosta and Chrysanthemum ¡¯Golden Baby¡¯ among the perennial ground cover flowers," said Zhao Tian, naturally drawing the attention of the crowd. "I¡¯ve seen ¡¯Golden Baby¡¯ over here, but I haven¡¯t confirmed it yet," Sulei spoke up. Jiang Yuan immediately went over, looked at it under the microscope, and nodded, "It is indeed ¡¯Golden Baby¡¯." Tao Lu and Cui Qishan also came over and asked, "What does this tell us?" "It suggests that the location might be Olympic West Road. Because all these are types of nts used in green belts," Zhao Tian stated with confidence. "Are you that certain?" Pang Jidong came over. He was quite familiar with Legal Botany by now but didn¡¯t expect Zhao Tian to pinpoint a location directly without the need for a map or anything. It was something not even Jiang Yuan could do. Zhao Tian smiled modestly and said, "We were involved in thendscaping there. I recognized these varieties at a nce¡ªthe central reserve with Chinese arborvitae, intersperse the rose bushes and mapleleaf viburnum, and then the main auxiliary istion strip with sophora japonica, bigleaf privet, and surround it with various ornamental flowers, right?" "It really is," someone had already opened the satellite image of Olympic West Road on aputer. "The time is roughly in October," Zhao Tian pointed at the map and said, "Only then would there be so much pollen." Listened with an invigorated spirit, Tao Lu and Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but say, "So we¡¯ve even got the time now? Both the location and the time?" Zhao Tian smiled faintly, "I just happened upon it. Moreover, we haven¡¯t found nts like the Chinese arborvitae and sophora japonica yet. Should we confirm these as well?" "I¡¯ll go check the surveince footage. If we¡¯re talking about videos from October, many ces might have deleted them by now," said Cui Qishan. Despite saying so, he was very alert. After all, some ces¡¯ footage is retained a bit longer, particrly traffic police videos. With a specific time in hand, it would be much easier to investigate. The botanists seemed equally energized, and many people gathered around. Then someone asked, "Does this mean the case is solved?" "No, not yet. We only have clues now," Cui Qishan hastily said, "We¡¯re going to check the surveince now, but we need to look at a month¡¯s worth of footage, maybe more. We don¡¯t even know if anything will turn up..." "We could analyze the pollen further and find a more specific location. A rtively urate address," suggested Jiang Yuan, and everyone nodded in agreement. A pollen chart can be precise to about 10 meters if there is something topare it to. Of course, this also sets the bar quite high. But for the botanists, it felt more like an engaging experiment: "In this case, solving the case doesn¡¯t seem too difficult." "If we¡¯re only looking at the downtown area, we couldunch a project to standardize the various types of spores and pollen." "Thendscaping changes quickly," someone noted. "So we update in real-time? That might be costly, but if it could simplify solving cases, the police department should have the budget," another person suggested. Cui Qishan was on the phone instructing his subordinates to investigate the designated locations. Hearing the botanists, he wanted to object but didn¡¯t quite know where to start. Chapter 834 - 775 Consolidation

Chapter 834: Chapter 775 Consolidation

"Looking at the nts from the excavation site, the luggage containing antiques was buried between one and two years ago. If we preliminarily set the time aroundst October, we just need to confirm the prior rough location, and the case could make significant progress." Jiang Yuan stood out and started integrating the case details with technology. Suddenly, the direction of everyone¡¯s conversation shifted. Pang Jidong asked, "Can your road surveince data be kept for so long?" "No," Cui Qishan replied and added, "Some main road facial recognition checkpoints might work, but we have to determine which road section first and then see whether the suspect drove, biked, or walked." "What about trying satellites?" The botanist who had just pulled up satellite images immediately opened hisputer, browsed several websites, and pondered, "We could try our luck with some satellite data, like WorldView-3, Worldview-4, Beijing-3, which all have a resolution of 0.3 meters; it should be able to recognize people." "Just so happens the satellite passed by when the suspect did? That¡¯s too coincidental." "The frequency of some satellites is very high, many passes a day, especially here in Beijing. Also, there are a lot of satellites. Besides those mentioned, there are at least a dozenmercial optical satellites like GeoEye, KOMPSAT-3A with 0.4 meters, and even more with 0.5 meters like Pleiades, Gaofen-1..." the botanist listed with expertise. Cui Qishan¡¯s interest was piqued, "Can it really be done like that? This is much clearer than Baidu¡¯s satellite maps." The botanists allughed. Pang Jidong coughed, saying, "Don¡¯t buy extra satellite data. Use the remote sensing satellite resources avable at Zhengguang Bureau; if not affordable, forget it, they¡¯re expensive." Tao Lu sensitively said, "We are handling an antiques case... Satellites are too high-end, unnecessary,pletely unnecessary." The botanist who had just recited a list of satellite names frowned, "Aren¡¯t police stations quite wealthy now?" "That doesn¡¯t mean we should spend money on lottery tickets." "Buying more wouldn¡¯t be like buying lottery tickets. In fact, if you are willing to spend the money, you could even avoid buying data altogether. Just pay the satellitepany to locate this suspect for you. That way, you would save millions on satellite data resources. Even if they hire 100 people to search the data, it¡¯s just an expense of a few hundred thousand. Ah, this way, it¡¯s much cheaper!" Tao Lu, feeling his ears swell from listening, eximed, "I¡¯m investigating a million-level case, and you suggest I spend millions or even tens of millions? That¡¯s a losing deal!" "You police departments were meant to spend money anyway. Even if the antiques are retrieved, you can¡¯t sell them. Whether it¡¯s millions or tens of millions spent, it¡¯s all for solving the case... Ah..." the botanist shook his head, realizing Tao Lu truly might be out of funds. Then let it be. "Let¡¯s first determine the specific location. Pull up the satellite map of Olympic West Road," Jiang Yuanmanded Wang Chuanxing. Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s backend also had satellite remote sensing images of the whole city. In fact, many satellite images were freely avable, such as many of NASA¡¯s databases, and the American surveince satellites up to 1984, providing nearly 25 years of free data. Theoretically, people worldwide could see what Americans saw via satellites in the sixties and seventies! Comparatively, the green belt of Olympic West Road seemed quite ordinary when continuously scrolled on the satellite map. "The distribution of pollen in the green belt of Olympic West Road indeed matches the types of pollen we extracted," Jiang Yuan first made a conclusion, then added, "To pin down the specific location, we need to look at the proportions of pollen." Jiang Yuan again took out his notebook, nced at it twice, and said, "Although the suitcases were buried in the soil for a while, there is still pollen attached to the suitcases, and a significant amount of pollen in the soil, particrly on the side between the two suitcases where thergest quantity was left." "The quantity and variety of pollen inside the suitcases are far less than the outside, but if you look closely at their types, they are basically from near the green belt of Olympic West Road." "This indicates that not only did the outer parts of these two suitcasese into contact with the green belt of Olympic West Road or were ced near it for a long time, but there was also exposure when the suitcases were opened." Speaking, Jiang Yuan paused, and the group of botanists was not surprised, they just quietly waited. Academics often had bursts of excitement when new ideas suddenly struck; this was normal. Some who took notes were now rereading what Jiang Yuan had just said¡ªif Jiang Yuan could gain insights from these remarks, perhaps they too might. "In fact, the pollen found inside the suitcases might not have fallen in after they were opened; nobody would leave suitcases open for a long period. However, it is possible for antique vases and statues. The foam stic in the suitcases might have brushed the pollen off from inside and outside the vases." With Jiang Yuan saying this, everyone nodded in agreement. The botanists, having not conducted such experiments, weren¡¯t very clear¡ªthe difference between botany and forensic botany is that botany deals with nts themselves, while forensic botany often involves the rtionship between nts and other objects. "For example, whether pollen can stick to a bottle and under what circumstances it could be wiped off..." Cui Qishan, as a police officer, didn¡¯t want to think too much and only asked, "So, can we determine the location now?" "Let¡¯s look for it." Jiang Yuan had Wang Chuanxing slowly pull up the satellite images. The green belt was just a line, and although it was long, looking through it bit by bit didn¡¯t feel tooborious. The botanists even felt quite happy about it. "Here, here!" someone suddenly shouted while looking. "The proportion of lcs is not right." "You are looking at the current proportion; in October, the proportion might be right." "Is it possible that the number of lc trees now and in October is consistent, and the number of flowers and their proportion follow a pattern?" When discussing schrly matters, schrs could certainly be very harsh. The schr who was attacked, although not young, could only calm down. Most schrs never hoped to be outstanding young schrs in their lifetime; hence, they weren¡¯t particrly meticulous about social niceties. Wang Chuanxing continued to pull up the satellite images, but for a long time, no one spoke. Cui Qishan stood ufortably close and whispered to Tao Lu, "Don¡¯t skip it. The rity is a bit low." "Open theyout," said Tao Lu. "If we skip it, we can just do it again. It doesn¡¯t cost money." "How about here?" Jiang Yuan stopped Wang Chuanxing. This time, Sulei stepped forward, "Could the number of roses be too few?" "Hmm, indeed..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling Wang Chuanxing to continue. After several attempts, they finally selected a location. "An antique vase or box must have been ced here for a long time," concluded Jiang Yuan and his colleagues after a brief discussion. Although the direction of the investigation had changed from before, this was verymon. Cui Qishan nodded while making a phone call. Soon, Xiao Si¡¯s call came back, "We found an auctionpany." It was quite logical for an auction house to have antiques. Cui Qishan thought for a moment and said, "Check with the nearby police station about the situation. It might be better to have local officers or others from different departments take a look, and be careful not to alert anyone." "Yes," said Li Jiang before hanging up the call. "This might take a long time, we should probably grab something to eat first," Tao Lu volunteered, standing out this time. Regardless of whether the case could be solved, the botanists at the scene had certainly put in a lot of effort. Everyone filed out and headed to the cafeteria to eat. Shortly after sitting down, Xiao Si¡¯s call came through again, "We went into the auctionpany, and the people inside ran when they saw the police!" "Everyone ran?" Cui Qishan¡¯s expression darkened, it wasn¡¯t possible that they were all innocent and ran upon seeing the police. Xiao Si gave a wry smile, "Not everyone ran, the front desk staff were still there. Plus one guy who was in the restroom got stuck there; the rest ran out of another door, some were chased but probably not many will be caught." Chapter 835 - 776: Tracing Back

Chapter 835: Chapter 776: Tracing Back

Gaga gaga... "What¡¯s this noise?" When Cui Qishan arrived at the scene, he could hear a scratching sound inside, like a bamboo rat having its meal. "The one defecating is scratching the door with his fingernails." Xiao Si was standing at the restroom entrance, not entering and said, "Everyone else has gone to chase the runaway, I¡¯m alone watching the front desk, and also watching him; he doesn¡¯t listen when I call out." Cui Qishan nced at the girl who had been ordered to sit across, looking wronged and a bit scared, resembling a car model, then red at Xiao Si, "You¡¯ve handcuffed her, couldn¡¯t you just go in and deal with it?" "Ah... I was thinking... she didn¡¯t seem to pose an immediate threat." Xiao Si gave the girl a friendly smile. The girl¡¯s smile was one of panic and disarray. "Take her away, take her away." Cui Qishan specifically called over a policewoman, "Listen to your logic. If she¡¯s not a threat, then what¡¯s that scratching sound all about?" While speaking, Cui Qishan gestured forward and said, "Go pull that person out; I haven¡¯t seen such a noisy suspect in a while." Two criminal police stepped forward and loudlymanded, "Police! We are now ordering you to open the door, put your hands up, and stand at the farthest point from the door." The sound of a hand scratching a wooden door in the restroompartment suddenly ceased. "I just came in to use the restroom," said a weak male voice from inside the door. The criminal police at the door nearlyughed, "No matter what you came for, you followmands, understand?" "I¡¯m not from thispany..." "You¡¯re not from thispany, even better, if you¡¯re not an employee of thispany, just obey ande out clearly, and we will let you go back, understand?" The criminal police¡¯s attitude seemed very amodating, just like typical yers, before achieving their goals, they satisfy the emotional needs of others as fully as possible, thenguage predominantly sugar-coated, irrespective of truth. The man behind the door cowered for a while and still engaged in verbal defiance. Cui Qishan signaled with his eyes, and a strongly-built criminal police wobbled his head, carrying a shield, stood two meters apart, gestured, and fiercely kicked. Crack. The wooden door was kicked open. The person inside, speaking, let out a scream of fright and started throwing strange things. "Shit!" Even the criminal police suddenly became scared. Pap pap! Two moderately sized, pointed stools were thrown out, causing stter damage. Compared to the negligible physical damage, the sudden psychological damage was strikingly heart-wrenching. Xiao Si silently moved forward and locked the restroom¡¯s main door. Inside the restroom, just as Cui Qishan was about to turn and run, he got stuck at the door. "Open the door!" Cui Qishan was absolutely frantic! Through the door, Xiao Si faintly said, "Captain Cui, if I open the door now, can you stop the suspect? If you can¡¯t, and he gets out, it¡¯s easy for him to damage the antiques in this work area or jump out of a window to escape." Cui Qishan looked back and saw a man in a suit, holding shit, smiling maniacally. Honestly, Cui Qishan had dealt with a man ready tomit suicide with explosives, and even he hadn¡¯t smiled so terrifyingly. Considering the distance between the two, Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t just shake him off without consequence. Just the time taken to open the door would be enough for the other to pounce. Cui Qishan sighed. Xiao Si¡¯s eerie point also made sense. The suspect was clearly struggling; letting him out and then him jumping off a building would be troublesome. With that thought, Cui Qishan could only turn around, cover his face with his hand, and shouted, "Catch him!" As the squad leader stood in front absorbing the brunt, the other three criminal police saw and also lunged. The suspectughed wildly, half augh, dug into his hands, and smeared thest bits of shit on his own front chest, shoulders, wrists, and cheeks. This move further intimidated the three criminal police. Seizing the moment, the suspect roared and charged directly at Cui Qishan. What could Cui Qishan do but step aside to dodge the assault, then use his left hand to block the shit on the suspect¡¯s right shoulder, his right hand to block the shit on the left chest, twist both hands, and m the person heavily against the wall. "Seven-Injury Fist, huh." Cui Qishan looked at the two policemen, one hand and body covered in shit, pressing the suspect beneath him, then looked down at himself, nearly crying from the stimtion. With this kind of strength, why not be a mercenary? What skill is there in ying with shit! After a brief cleanup, they opened the door and walked out. The entire office was suffused with a thick smell. "Everyone clean yourselves up. Take care of the evidence," Xiao Si retreated while holding his nose. Cui Qishan looked at him, his eyes wider and rounder than the sharp shit. "What¡¯s your name?" The other three criminal police, while questioning, dragged the suspect to the corner for an improvised interrogation. At the very least, they needed to understand why thispany panicked and ran collectively. ... Jiang Yuan arrived a bitter; he had first collected samples downstairs, securing the botanical evidence. On the other hand, it was also because Tao Lu, fearing for his safety, specifically requested it. Being in apletely unfamiliarpany with one suspect hiding in the restroom, potentially seven suspects in the drawers, those who enter first certainly face risks. Not to mention, until he entered the door, Jiang Yuan felt Tao Lu was making a mountain out of a molehill. But now, seeing Cui Qishan and the other three criminal police¡¯s conditions, Jiang Yuan thought the brigademander truly lived up to his name with abundant experience. "The store sells antique blind boxes," the burly detective reported grimly after conducting a temporary interrogation. "Antique blind boxes? Can antiques also be sold in blind boxes?" Jiang Yuan asked curiously. "The main items are low-value cultural ythings, but there are also antiques and jade items, with a high price tag. The cheaper ones cost a few tens of dors, and the expensive ones are hundreds or thousands of dors. If someone gets something valuable, they will buy it back..." Jiang Yuan frowned, "Recycling is illegal, isn¡¯t it?" "It¡¯s illegal, and moreover, they engage in fraudulent activities. They deliberately send boxes with low-value items to customers who buy frequently..." Lotteries are allowed, and blind boxes are legal, but if the merchant gives money directly instead of gifts in the lottery, or if the gifts can be exchanged directly for money, then it¡¯s illegal and constitutes the crime of operating a gambling house. The boundary between legal and illegal lies in whether money can be exchanged. As for changing the contents of blind boxes, that¡¯s outright fraud. Xiao Si stepped closer, "So, do they think their scheme has been exposed?" "Probably." "And the things we dug up... were they items from two blind boxes?" "Not exactly," the detective shook his head and said, "I showed them the photos, and they said these items were showcased by their regr performers in live streams before. They got lost previously, and the boss was quite angry about it. They never found them and just let it go." "They also have live streams?" asked Xiao Si. "Which tform?" "A small tform. The kind that vites regtions." Cui Qishan pressed further, "Two bronze Buddhas and two porcin pieces, worth a lot of money. Do they know how much they are worth?" "These bastards don¡¯t know. Their boss should understand, though; I heard he got really angry and even sent people to look for them." "In that case, we must catch the store¡¯s owner," Cui Qishan dered with a stern expression. "Items worth tens of millions of dors¡ªno one would let it go, especially someone already involved in the underworld, who could potentiallymit murder." ... Interrogation room. The auction house owner, dressed in a suit, had a contemptuous sneer on his prominently cheekboned face: "Ten million. I don¡¯t care about that. How could I possibly kill someone over such a trivial amount of money?" Sitting in front of the interrogation table, Xiao Si suddenly found it amusing and couldn¡¯t help butugh. "You don¡¯t believe me?" The auction house owner sat up straight. "I believe you, but tell us about your cash flow," the interrogator asked nonchntly, adding just one more question. The confidence of the auction house owner immediately waned; the answer intended to absolve him of a homicide had be the fuel roasting him. "Don¡¯t worry, just say it. If you don¡¯t confess properly, your employees and your ountant will, and once you¡¯re heavily sentenced and they lightly, will it be worth it?" the interrogator, experienced in such cases, took it lightly. The auction house owner sighed with resignation, "It varies. Sometimes, a single live stream can bring in millions in one day, and sometimes there¡¯s no money at all." "What about the average monthly, or yearly cash flow?" "A month... maybe tens of millions." The interrogator knew it wasn¡¯t realistic, but continued to probe, "And the profit?" "The profit... about half, I guess." "What are your cost expenditures? What¡¯s the biggest expense?" "The biggest... that would bebor costs. We have to give everyone a share. Some of our employees earn hundreds of thousands a month..." The owner now desperately shifted the me. Meanwhile, watching therge monitoring screens, the botanists each had their expressions difficult to discern. After three long decades of hard studies, and all theplicated applications for projects worth hundreds of thousands of dors, it seemed they were better off selling fake antiques. "You¡¯ll be facing over 10 years. A definite sentence. And the illegal gains will be confiscated; the money made will have to be coughed up. Whatever¡¯s been spent doesn¡¯t count, assets like bought houses and watches will be auctioned off by the justice system," Jiang Yuan offered aforting remark, sensing the mood. The faces of the botanists indeed lightened greatly. After earning Ph.D.s and working hard for over a decade, if they didn¡¯t contract cancer, at least they could own a house eventually. "So how does the case proceed from here? Are we at a dead end again?" Zhao Tian was somewhat displeased. "The suspect has already been captured," Jiang Yuan spread his hands. "Their shop had surveince, they knew the name of the person who stole the items, they just couldn¡¯t find him." "Oh right, could you find him?" "Our team¡¯s detective flew therest night and coordinated with the Hangzhou City police to arrest the person this morning. The suspect is a repeat offender, a self-media photographer earning thirty to forty thousand a month, living in his girlfriend¡¯s house; his girlfriend is a pretty livestreamer who even bought him a Rolex and LV clothes..." The botanists were silenced once again. "Let¡¯s go. Let¡¯s head back." Zhao Tian gestured, and the botanists filed out of the monitoring room. Jiang Yuan followed them out and then saw Zhan Kan excitedly waving. "What¡¯s up?" Jiang Yuan walked over to ask. "That Skull Restoration Skill, I¡¯vepleted it!" Zhan Kan showed Jiang Yuan a photo on his phone. "Is this... the skull from the previous case?" Jiang Yuan took a while to confirm. Indeed, Zhan Kan hadpleted the Skull Restoration Skill of the deceased from Qi Changye¡¯s special case. Considering the time, that was pretty fast. Jiang Yuan looked closely and nodded, "Well done... ah, but there¡¯s some room for adjustments, like here..." Zhan Kan immediately pulled out his notebook, listening intently. At some point, the system screen popped up in front of Jiang Yuan: Taskplete: Mentorship Task details: Zhan Kan has followed for 48 hours and is now trained in the Skull Restoration Skill to reach Level 1. Task reward: Handgun Shooting (Level 3) Chapter 836 - 777 biu (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 836: Chapter 777 biu (Vote for Monthly Ticket)

The shooting range of the Zhengguang Bureau was also underground, with entry through Gates A and B, separate management for firearms and ammunition, dedicated supervision, and strict control. Jiang Yuan asked Liu Cheng to take himself and Mu Zhiyang to get three Type 92s and shoot 30 rounds each to get a feel for it. The Level 3 pistols were so urate that hitting the target at 25 meters was like pointing and shooting. Jiang Yuan could easily hit the bullseye and precisely hit any specific scoring ring he wanted. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, maybe even a Level 2 could reach the marksmanship of a stationary target shooter. But Level 3 pistol shooting also included many more practicalbat details. For instance, one-handed shooting when injured, emergency handling of gun malfunctions, and most importantly, theplex tactical system of CQB (Close Quarters Battle). CQB is often seen in movies; it¡¯s the tactical approach used by a team of SWAT or military personnel when entering a building. Since it¡¯s a system, it involves a lot of branches andplexities, including tactics, techniques, procedures, observations, judgments, decisions, and actions at various team andmand levels... Just speaking technically, Jiang Yuan felt it was a bit of a waste. There¡¯s really no need for it. Especially after returning to Ningtai County, where could he find an armed suspect? Qinghe City offered more hope, after all, there had been the drug traffickingwork brought down by the Yuan Family. Even though Jianyuan Pharmaceutical had been eradicated, who knows how many slipped through the. It would be natural for city security to deteriorate after the copse of the biggestpany in the city... It seemed Beijing had the most universal application, with all sorts of talented individuals and advanced techniques that seemed to have a ce to shine. Just like CQB, it would be right on the mark when dealing with cult members hidden in air-raid shelters... "Let¡¯s go, return the guns." Jiang Yuan¡¯s 30 rounds were long spent, and after some idle thoughts, seeing that Mu Zhiyang was also done, he prepared to head back. Mu Zhiyang thought Jiang Yuan was unhappy and, pointing to his seemingly messy shot group, encouraged him, "You did extremely well. For a beginner, hitting the target at 25 meters is considered gifted. You even hit a bullseye." "Is that considered good?" Jiang Yuan was surprised. He saw Mu Zhiyang hit the 9 and 10 rings and, setting his own boundary at the 7 ring, simply shot randomly without realizing that Mu Zhiyang¡¯s standards were exaggeratedly high. Liu Cheng nodded from the side, "Indeed, that¡¯s very good. Police nowadays don¡¯t practice shooting enough, too many cases to handle, no time for practice. Many only get to fire 10 rounds a year. How many times have you shot before, Jiang Yuan?" "Just a few times," Jiang Yuan vaguely said. "Lucky you, a natural talent," Liu Cheng clicked his tongue twice, then asked, "Do you want to shoot more? I can go get more ammunition." "Can we get more? Then let¡¯s shoot a few more rounds," Jiang Yuan was quite eager, as firing a gun felt quite good, at least before shooting too much. Liu Cheng nodded, "It might be a hassle for others, but if Captain Jiang wants to shoot more rounds, what can they say? Let them go dig graves on the mountain!" Thest sentence was the popr saying of the Zhengguang Bureau at the time, truly reflecting the fear of the Zhengguang officers. biubiubiu... Jiang Yuan, wearing his ear protection, fired another 150 rounds before stopping as his arm started feeling slightly sore, but it wasn¡¯t very ufortable. Liu Cheng was bustling about, and in the end, he even helped return the guns. Upon leaving, he saw Jiang Yuan deep in thought and Liu Cheng smiled again, "If you enjoy it, Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll find you some coachester to practice properly." "Coaches? What kind of coaches?" Jiang Yuan was a bit curious. "Professional shooters, special forces, SWAT, snipers ¨C whatever you need, we¡¯ve got," Liu Cheng smiled. "We don¡¯t have many in the police force who practice shooting, but some of them practiced so hard they almost got sick before joining the police." Jiang Yuan realized at that moment, given theplexity of Beijing¡¯s system, it was indeed true that they had whatever was needed. As for himself, bing a forensic doctor was only possible because he passed the exams at the county bureau. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan smiled and shook his head, "I was considering whether to take on a gun-rted case, but I¡¯m hesitant..." Mu Zhiyang shivered, "Brother Jiang, there¡¯s no need for that. From what we¡¯ve been through here in Beijing, gun-rted cases involve people who will actually shoot." "I¡¯ve considered that too," Jiang Yuan nodded solemnly. He had traveled through several provinces and encountered gun cases. For instance, the dangerous Wu Long Mountain wild man case, where the suspect, as an old hunter, was indeed skilled, but he only had a pistol. In Beijing, however, even middle school students had Type 56 rifles. Although their sources were somewhat coincidental, even someone like Mu Zhiyang could be severely injured. The recent encounter with a female spy was even more frightening; she shot three men with three shots each, and those three men were among the best criminal policemen. If not for the full gear and numerical advantage, it might have been aplete wipeout. "Alright. It¡¯s good to rest," Jiang Yuan quickly made his decision. Mu Zhiyang and Liu Cheng both breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly pulled Jiang Yuan away. Back at the office, while Liu Cheng worked on paperwork and couldn¡¯t help but feel uneasy, he paused to call Tao Lu and after exining the situation, said, "I feel like Captain Jiang might be a bit of a workaholic. As he rests, might he seek out another gun case?" "That¡¯s indeed a possibility," Tao Lu thought for a moment on the other end of the line, "In fact, involving him in solving a gun case isn¡¯t a bad thing; not all gun cases are dangerous. What we really need to worry about is him sneaking off to work on cases by himself or just bringing one or two people with him..." "Like Sherlock Holmes?" "Something like that. The main thing is, Jiang Yuan is really like a detective genius. A tiny detail in the case files, and he might find a clue..." "Should I go check on Captain Jiang?" Liu Cheng pondered, "I actually have plenty of cases here, some are minor, and I¡¯ve been reluctant to bother Captain Jiang with them." "Alright, you go ahead," Tao Lu agreed. Liu Cheng thought for a moment and quickly delegated some of his work before hurrying out the door. Jiang Yuan was not in the office, so Liu Cheng went to Jiang Yuan¡¯s house in Beijing. When he arrived at the entrance of the residentialplex, he saw a somewhat familiar figure emerging from an old Santana. "Old Cui? What brings you here?" Liu Cheng frowned. "Whatever you¡¯re here for, I¡¯m here for the same reason," Cui Qishan lifted his chin and said, "Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t someone¡¯s personal property, you know." "That little shit you ran into a couple of days ago, did you take care of it?" Liu Cheng challenged directly. "It¡¯s taken care of." Cui Qishan had been ridiculed so muchtely that he wasn¡¯t so easily thrown off bnce anymore. Seeing this, Liu Cheng "hmphed" and said, "I didn¡¯t intend topete, but if you insist oning to check, then I won¡¯t bother. There¡¯s so much to do back at the station..." "Enough with that, let¡¯s be real, one Jiang Yuan is enough for both our squads to use. Are you able to spare a few men right now?" Liu Cheng hesitated briefly before responding, "We can always afford to spare four or five people, and if needed, we can spare a few more." "I have about the same. Let¡¯s go upstairs and take a look." Cui Qishan took the lead. They knocked on Jiang Yuan¡¯s door, and it was opened by Jiang Fuzhen. "Uncle Jiang, where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" Cui Qishan felt like a child visiting a neighbor¡¯s house. Jiang Fuzhen smiled warmly and said, "He went out to fetch something, in quite a hurry. Didn¡¯t he go with you guys on a case?" Cui Qishan tightened his expression, "Then I¡¯ll check around. Did he mention where he was going?" "He didn¡¯t say," Jiang Fuzhen replied nonchntly. After Cui Qishan asked a few more questions, until Jiang Fuzhen began to look puzzled, he calmly took his leave. Once Jiang Fuzhen closed the door behind them and they entered the elevator, Cui Qishan said to Liu Cheng, "This isn¡¯t right, where could Jiang Yuan go by himself?" "I¡¯ll call Mu Zhiyang," Liu Cheng grew anxious as well. "I¡¯ll call Wang Chuanxing." The two of them made their calls in perfect coordination, asking only about Jiang Yuan¡¯s whereabouts and avoiding any superfluous conversation. Having finished their calls, Liu Cheng and Cui Qishan exchanged nces. "This doesn¡¯t look good. Jiang Yuan has never acted alone like this before," Liu Cheng, who had worked with Jiang Yuan many times, felt increasingly worried the more he thought about it. Cui Qishan said, "When you think about it, Jiang Yuan has made quite a few enemies. Although the recent cases have been wrapped up neatly, who¡¯s to say there aren¡¯t some oversights outside?" "There are always oversights," Liu Cheng didn¡¯t delve into details and instead suggested, "Should we notify Tao? Maybe he just went out for a walk, and we¡¯re overreacting..." "Maybe? Maybe he went to Garbage Mountain, fell on a de, and ended up cutting himself into three pieces?" Cui Qishan forcefully said, "I¡¯ve seen too many cases like that, where bodies were found in just such ways!" "You¡¯re something else..." Liu Cheng couldn¡¯t refute, muttering as they walked, "Your way of putting it is just too distressing..." "Trust me, Captain Jiang is in the most dangerous situation possible," Cui Qishan said earnestly. "Think about it, those religious fanatics, could there be some quietly hiding at home? Ones who aren¡¯t too deeply involved but are given to extremes? And the case with Qi Changye, behind him are the spy agencies..." "What are you guys doing here, chatting away?" Jiang Yuan appeared suddenly by the flowerbed in the middle of theplex, looking puzzled at Liu Cheng and Cui Qishan just appearing. The two men stared at Jiang Yuan as if they were seeing a ghost. "Is something the matter?" Jiang Yuan stood up. Woof, woof, woof. Five stray dogs simultaneously lifted their heads, baring their teeth at Cui Qishan and Liu Cheng, their eyes ceaselessly roaming between their food bowls, the two men, and Jiang Yuan. "What are you doing here?" Cui Qishan asked, tensely gripping his phone. "Feeding the dogs? I made some dog food to share with the strays downstairs," Jiang Yuan said as he picked up a stainless steel bowl, "I even had a bit myself. Want to try?" Compelled almost against his will, Cui Qishan used disposable chopsticks to take a piece of what seemed to be fried rice and put it in his mouth, his expression gradually changing. To Liu Cheng, the look on Cui Qishan¡¯s face went from indifference to surprise, to shock, to disbelief, followed by irrepressible enthusiasm. "What is this?" Cui Qishan pointed at the stainless steel bowl with his chopsticks, as though using a criminal. "Dog food," replied Jiang Yuan. "Then being a dog is just too damn good." Cui Qishan grabbed the stainless steel bowl and gobbled down a couple of mouthfuls. Chapter 837 - 778: Practical Combat

Chapter 837: Chapter 778: Practical Combat

Jiang Yuan, Cui Qishan, and Liu Cheng, along with five stray dogs, shared arge pot of dog food and then dispersed, each satisfied with their meal. Before leaving, the stray dogs nodded to Jiang Yuan and sniffed around Cui Qishan and Liu Cheng before contentedly leaving the central flowerbed of the residentialplex to roam around their familiar haunts. "You Jiang family folks have quite a bit ofpassion," said Cui Qishan as he let out a contented belch. "Your dad likes cooking for people, and you like cooking for dogs." "I only do it asionally, as a way of fulfilling a wish," responded Jiang Yuan. He had received many legacies, but such a strong one as cooking dog food only urred twice. Once it was from the prostitute Chen Manli and another time from Professor Zhou Xiangyang. To some extent, the legacy from Chen Manli was both heavy and passionate. So, like Chen Manli, Jiang Yuan would cook dog food when in a bad mood. The act of feeding stray dogs was a form of extreme self-identification as part of humanity, something that a police officer sometimes particrly needed. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s frequency of feeding the dogs was too low and too random. To the stray dogs, Jiang Yuan might have seemed more like a Santa us-type myth. The next day. Huang Qiangmin showed up at the doorstep of Jiang Yuan¡¯s home, carrying fried pancake wraps, dough sticks, and tofu pudding from the entrance of Ningtai First Middle School. Both Jiang Yuan and Jiang Fuzhen were somewhat surprised. Although it wasmon for goods to be sent over from Ningtai, it was the first time they had seen such a thoughtful gesture as the one from Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin smiled proudly; this move was something he had learned from a certain entrepreneur. "I happened to being to Beijing, so I brought some things along," Huang Qiangmin said with a light smile. Entering the room, he added, "You guys eat while it¡¯s hot; just make some tea for me. I have some workter." "What work?" asked Jiang Yuan as he ced the various foods on the table before grabbing a fried pancake wrap and tofu pudding for himself, quite excited. In his heart, Huang Qiangmin thought, my main job in making this trip was to appease you. Of course, Huang Qiangmin did have actual work to attend to. Sitting next to Jiang Yuan and seeing that Jiang Fuzhen was happily taking his tofu pudding and soy milk to the dining room, Huang Qiangmin smiled apologetically and then said, "I¡¯vee to see a real-world operation of a surveince vehicle they have here." "A Beijing Bureau surveince vehicle?" asked Jiang Yuan as he scooped up a mouthful of spicy tofu pudding, its smooth and tender texture coupled withplex seasoning instantly awakening the taste buds. Foods suitable for breakfast were like the taste champions of a ce. Ordinary people usually chose only one or two, maybe three varieties for breakfast. To be able to enjoy eating the same one or two dishes over and over and still find them delicious, ces high demands on the food. From this perspective, morning porridge or rice noodle rolls in Guangzhou, spicy soup in Henan, rice noodles in Guangxi and Hunan, and the fried pancake wraps in Tianjin are regions with very characteristic foods, carrying the banner of tradition. Beijing with its fermented mung bean juice seems to have given up on treatment somewhat. Huang Qiangmin slurped his tea and said, "Yes, they¡¯ve gotten a new batch of surveince vehicles. They say we can have one for a price of 7 million." "That expensive?" eximed Jiang Yuan in surprise. "It¡¯s probably worth five or six million at least. The stuff is good, but indeed, it¡¯s also very expensive," said Huang Qiangmin, extending an invitation to Jiang Yuan. "Come take a look with me; if it¡¯s not worth it, we won¡¯t take it." "Okay," agreed Jiang Yuan, quickening his pace of eating. Criminal Police Brigade. Beijing Bureau technologists had already arrived and were exchanging thoughts with the technologists from Ningtai County in a corner. It¡¯s said that technologists worldwide are one family. Theymunicate very well with one another and have their own ways of interacting. As for how exactly theymunicate, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know the details. Even for ordinary police officers, the Technical Surveince Unit is like a ck box: they can input questions and receive results, but the specific process within is unknowable. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t actually curious and just waited patiently. Meanwhile, Wu Junhao and Liu Wenkai had also arrived from Beijing. The technical surveince vehicle worth several million yuan was unheard of not just in Ningtai County, but also in Qinghe City. Naturally, everyone was eager to see it. "Come on over, Commissioner Huang, Captain Jiang is here too. Have a seat, and take a look at the case that Old An has picked out for you," said Tao Lu, signaling the start of the formal exchange. After Tao Lu¡¯s introduction, An Xibing from the equipment department brought over some case files. Heid them in front of Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, and the others, smiling as he said, "The case I¡¯ve picked for today was just filed three days ago. Commissioner Huang wanted to do a demonstration, so we asked our colleagues from technical and criminal investigation to select a case. This is the one we chose, and we began the investigation on the same day..." An Xibing¡¯s main purpose was to rify that there was no deception involved, although some pre-operation was inevitable. Once he made that clear, he asked the case officer toe over and exin. The case officer was an officer from the Zhengguang Bureau. He saluted and presented his report formally: "...This case involves a home burry... In one night, the perpetrator burrized six households, all in the same apartment building in the sameplex. The stolen items include over forty thousand yuan in cash, eighteen pieces of gold and silver jewelry, three mobile phones, one iPad, one pair of women¡¯s silk stockings, four pairs of men¡¯s sneakers¡ªall collector¡¯s Air Jordan models¡ªand fifty-seven figurines, valued at 80,000 yuan." The officer paused after exining the case in one breath and looked at Jiang Yuan and Tao Lu before continuing, "The crime scene investigation has beenpleted. The criminal entered the victims¡¯ homes by climbing the drainage pipes and essing their balconies. Considering that six households were burrized on the same night and the quantity of the stolen items, we suspect the culprit is a habitual offender. Therefore, we first considered the possibility of a series of linked crimes..." After the case officer finished outlining the situation and progress of the investigation, An Xibing stood up with a smile and said, "We basically have a clear picture of this case. Next, we can start discussing the direction of the investigation." Everyoneughed and stayed silent, waiting for An Xibing to show off his skills. Only Jiang Yuan watched more seriously. His nature was always cautious. On the other hand, as the reputation of "Ningtai Jiang Yuan" grew, Jiang Yuan himself became increasingly mindful of his own influence. This was also something that Huang Qiangmin had admonished him about numerous times. If, like others, he casually passed the case files along, and peopleter said, "This is evidence reviewed by Jiang Yuan," how would he exin that? An Xibing obviously didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to read through such a lengthy case file, so he invited another officer to join them. "I¡¯m from Technical Surveince," said the neer with a chuckle. "Let me discuss our solution." He nced around at everyone, then at Jiang Yuan, before continuing, "In typical burry cases, we often rely on footprints, fingerprints, and the like to solve the case, or even better, surveince footage. This case had footprints but no fingerprints or surveince, so we chose to prioritize locking onto mobile phone signals." The technical investigator continued: "We initially searched for mobile phone signals but did not find any suitable suspects. We suspect that the criminal nned ahead and turned off his phone beforemitting the crime. Consequently, we chose to reverse engineer the process and listed mobile users who turned off their phones after 10 p.m. and turned them back on after 4 a.m. as suspects." "In the base station range of theplex on the day of the incident, there were two individuals who disyed this behavior. One had a criminal record, and the other was a high school student who secretly got up to y on his phone at night. Home surveince proved he was still doing homework at 12:30 a.m., and thus was ruled out." "With that, we focus on the male with a prior record for a detailed investigation. We found he was highly suspect of the crime. Next, we need to ascertain his exact location. Traditionally, we have many options, but today, we¡¯ll choose to deploy the technical surveince vehicle to directly find the location of the mobile phone used by this man. Let¡¯s board the vehicle." After concluding, the technical investigator beckoned everyone onto a Coaster bus while he himself got into a van styled like a technical surveince vehicle. Along with a police car, the three-vehicle convoy set off. On the Coaster, Wu Junhao eximed, "They¡¯re pretty swift and efficient." "Well, of course. Deploying the technical surveince vehicle even once can cost some ces up to ten thousand yuan," Huang Qiangmin remarked enviously. "Ten thousand yuan for what?" Wu Junhao didn¡¯t quite understand. "Some ces, like X location, have bought technical surveince vehicles, and they find them expensive. If police from other arease over and need to use the technical surveince vehicle, they charge ten thousand per deployment; Beijing¡¯s counties have to pay up without exception," Huang Qiangmin exined with a sigh, "I don¡¯t have the nerve to do that. Even if I had a technical surveince vehicle, I wouldn¡¯t dare charge. At most, I¡¯d lend it out to people from other areas." "They¡¯re definitely charging too much; that¡¯s the price of six chickens right there," Liu Wenkai shook his head. "The technical surveince vehicle is loaned out for a day," Huang Qiangmin¡¯s gaze flicked towards Liu Wenkai as if to say: What nonsense are you spouting? Liu Wenkai defensively replied, "I¡¯m talking about renting it for the whole night too." Chapter 838 - 779: Smooth

Chapter 838: Chapter 779: Smooth

A group of people drove to amercial district, where the front car slowed down. The walkie-talkie soon broadcasted the voice of Captain Tang, who had just introduced the technical reconnaissance team, saying, "Next, we¡¯ll use the tech recon vehicle to lock onto the mobile phone¡¯s location. Normally, in old models of tech recon cars, we would turn off the walkie-talkies at this point. However, today we¡¯ll conduct a test and add a bit of difficulty by not turning them off." "Received." Huang Qiangmin responded with a smile. In the walkie-talkie, Captain Tang continued, "Usually, to find a phone, we first locate the base station and then triangte. But this method works best during calls. Another method, using the base station to search, has lower resolution¡ªit works fairly well outdoors, but is less effective in more urban areas. Tech recon lock-on is different... Ah, found it." The front car kept moving as it spoke, and then stopped in front of a residential building withmercial shops on the ground floor. This neighborhood wasn¡¯t a closedmunity but rather a mixed-use apartment model. The ground floor consisted of four levels all upied by shops, bustling like a smallmercialmunity. The floors above the shops were upied by residences or apartments, totaling around twenty-some buildings. It was challenging to pinpoint the exact building containing the phone when the person wasn¡¯t making calls. The tech recon car was different; it smoothly drove straight to Building 6 without any hesitation. The basic model of a tech recon car, often seen in spy dramas, is a radio direction-finding vehicle that can monitor surrounding radio waves while driving, thereby pinpointing the origin of radio signals as precisely as possible. In earlier years, when electromaic signals weren¡¯t as wildly pervasive, driving a radio direction-finding vehicle near a building would generally determine the location. However, today¡¯s environment, with moreplex electromaic conditions and increased building height and density, has made it almost impossible to pinpoint a person in a building like decades ago. The environment added to theplexity. After the tech recon car came to a stop, they brought out several small boxes. "This is the ¡¯manpack,¡¯ officially known as the Man Portable Reconnaissance Device, costing 100,000 each. We¡¯ll use this to address thest mile problem," Captain Tang exined as he opened a few small boxes and switched them on before heading upstairs. The manpack essentially simtes a cell tower. It induces nearby phones to voluntarily register and report back their data, which can then be aggregated for analysis or focus on locating a particr phone. Several tech recon team members first took the elevator to the 10th and 15th floors, explored a bit, and eventually converged on the 11th floor. The apartment building had a pattern of four elevators servicing sixteen units, and the rooms, all appearing rather small, were packed closely with one door next to another. Captain Tang then showed Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan the signal on the manpack, saying, "The manpack allows the criminal police to be trained for its use. Typically, we just look at the signal strength and proceed to search each household." "This home¡¯s signal is 8, the next door is 9, and the one after that is back to 8. So let¡¯s loop back, check again, and if the signal really is 9, then it¡¯s this one." Captain Tang walked around with the manpack, identified the location, and then made way. The criminal police who apanied them naturally gathered at the door. Knock, knock, knock. Knock, knock, knock. The officers knocked on the door, but no one inside responded. Captain Tang whispered, "The phone is inside; the person must be inside too." This evidence was already sufficient. Wu Junhao nodded and said, "Prepare to break in." After saying this, Wu Junhao shouted, "Police! If you don¡¯t open the door, we¡¯ll force our way in." Creak... The door cracked open. Wu Junhao immediately rushed in, showing no sign of someone who had just been shot three times through a bulletproof vest. Liu Wenkai and the other police officers stormed in as well. The Zhengguang Bureau officers also held the 92 type¡ªa more advanced model often distributed in Shannan Province, whereas in Beijing, such outdated revolvers had long been phased out. "Who are you looking for?" asked a flustered young girl who had opened the door, her face adorned with nightclub-style smoky makeup and d in ck silk stockings, looking timid. "Ah... Where is Li Xiangming?" Liu Wenkai asked, holding his gun, his brow furrowed but handling the situation gently... The girl shook her head. "What¡¯s your name?" "Li Shunyang." "How is Li Xiangming rted to you?" "He¡¯s my brother." "Where has he gone?" The girl shook her head again. "You, move aside." Liu Wenkai motioned with a gesture for the girl to stand by the wall. The apartment wasn¡¯trge, basically a slightlyrger one-bedroom unit, with no ce to hide except for the kitchen and bathroom. Several technical surveince officers also frowned, whispering by the sides of Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, "Could he have left his phone behind? Does he have a work-specific phone?" At this time, the police officers in front of Jiang Yuan had already approached, and Jiang Yuan nced sideways at the girl standing against the wall, slightly raising his voice, "Please take control of Li Shunyang." Inside, Wu Junhao hesitated for a moment, since it was inconvenient to take action, he just stood by and said to Li Shunyang, "Raise your hands, are you carrying any weapons?" "There¡¯s no need to be so polite," Jiang Yuan called out again, "Captain Wu, keep guard, Captain Tang, cuff him." "Do you think I¡¯m particrly adept at handcuffing women?" Liu Wenkai¡¯s personality wasn¡¯t very serious, but he still took the handcuffs and approached Li Shunyang, saying, "Please turn around..." "Why... why?" Li Shunyang looked pitiful. Liu Wenkai hesitated a bit; if there was no rush, he would actually prefer to wait for a female officer to handle it, to avoid any troubleter. At this moment, Jiang Yuan stepped forward and looked at Li Shunyang¡¯s feet, saying, "Because this person is actually Li Xiangming himself. Judging by the foot shape and walking posture, they are undoubtedly male. The footprints also match those in the file." "A man?" Not only Liu Wenkai and Wu Junhao but also the technical officers outside the room all looked over. The girl, pretending to be pitiful, was also shocked, trying hard to say, "I am not..." "Turn around! Raise your hands!" Wu Junhao, understanding what Jiang Yuan had said, no longer cared about the suspect¡¯s excuses, and his voice deepened abruptly. The girl still wanted to pretend, but Liu Wenkai¡¯s voice also turned fierce, "Li Xiangming! Don¡¯t cause trouble for yourself! You¡¯ve got enough problems already!" With so many police officers in the room, all heightened their vignce, and Li Xiangming no longer harbored any illusions, his voice returning to a normal male tone, "I know. I just changed into a different cosy..." At this point, everyone was certain. Liu Wenkai snapped the cuffs, spreading Li Xiangming¡¯s legs apart, "Put your hands on the wall. I¡¯m going to search you now!" Since the suspect was a man, Liu Wenkai had nothing to hesitate about. Liu Wenkai first lifted Li Xiangming¡¯s skirt, ensuring there was nothing in the bulging petticoat underneath, and then tore open the steel-ringed bra to check inside before grimacing and saying with a smirk, "Quite the sensation." Li Xiangming calmly responded, "If you like, I have several more dresses." "Your voice really breaks the immersion," Liu Wenkai said unswayed as he handcuffed Li Xiangming¡¯s hands and then started to inspect the room¡¯s contents. The technical officers watched, somewhat stunned. Captain Tang packed up his portable equipment, chuckling, "Life as a criminal police is indeed interesting." "It¡¯s rare to encounter such cases," the apanying criminal police also watched the excitement. With so many people present, those outside chatted while those inside methodically conducted the investigation. It was a minor case, but the investigation procedures were still necessary, though the area and number of items to be examined could be reduced. After a while, Captain Tang seemed reluctant to waste more time and turned to Huang Qiangmin, "Our practical application this round is just like this. Speaking of technical surveince vehicles, ours is quite well-made..." He was ready to take his leave. At this moment, Jiang Yuan called out to him, "Captain Tang, since you¡¯re here, let¡¯s check another person." "Uh... who?" Captain Tang hesitated. Theoretically, deploying technical surveince required authorization from the provincial or municipal bureau. However, since the technical surveince vehicle was already deployed, the procedure must have been followed. Nevertheless, Captain Tang inherently remained cautious about using technical surveince methods. Jiang Yuan said, "I collected some fingerprints from the stolen goods and scanned them through the police service system, and matched them to a habitual offender with a prior record of receiving stolen goods. Let Li Xiangming identify his phone number, and you can locate it, shall we go directly to the arrest?" "Well... okay then," Captain Tang led Jiang Yuan and others downstairs, entered the technical surveince vehicle, performed some operations, and came back saying, "Based on the phone¡¯s location, he should be nearby, just a few hundred meters." "Let¡¯s walk there," Jiang Yuan called Wu Junhao, Liu Wenkai, Mu Zhiyang, and a group of young, energetic police officers, who grandly arrived at... A hotpot restaurant. The suspect, along with two others, was noisily enjoying hotpot and drinking ice-cold c. "Be careful with the hotpot base, it¡¯s boiling hot. Find someone to get a lid or something in case the suspect goes crazy and tries to overturn the hotpot; control the pot first!" Wu Junhao, experienced in arrests, quickly assigned roles, then ordered several key arresting officers to change clothes and enter from both the front and back doors. The initial preparations were somewhat tedious; because of this, when it came to the actual arrest, the three unsuspecting suspects didn¡¯t resist at all and were captured without a fight. "These two also have cases pending, they are on the wanted list," Liu Wenkai verified the fingerprints of the three on the spot, and seized the two hotpot sessions of the fence. Meanwhile, several cell phones and about a dozen figurines were found in the three¡¯s backpacks. "I¡¯ll scan the fingerprints," Jiang Yuan, intrigued, borrowed a private room in the hotpot restaurant, and started dusting the figurines right there. Chapter 839 - 780 Trust

Chapter 839: Chapter 780 Trust

Jiang Yuan took a figurine that was not lost in the home burry case and first observed its form and structure. It was a Saint Seiya figurine; as for which Saint Seiya, that was beyond him due to his age. The key point was that there were no Saint Seiya figurines on the list of stolen items from the burries. So, this figurine was rted to a different case. More specifically, the figurine might carry the fingerprints of another thief. Of course, thieves nowadays certainly wear gloves when stealing items, but once they steal something and begin the dealing process, they hardly ever wear gloves. Especially for items that have already made it into the receivers¡¯ pockets, everyone tends to consider them their own property and nobody cares about fingerprints. On the other hand, once the figurine gets back into the home of the receiver of stolen goods, proving its origin bes a troublesome matter. Whether it¡¯s professional receivers or those who moonlight as receivers on second-hand trading tforms, they tend to spruce up an item before selling it, cleaning it here, washing it there, or even putting it in a box, which is all possible. By that time, catching people through the stolen goods is less efficient than doing so through WeChat contacts. Moreover, lifting fingerprints from irregrly shaped objects like action figures poses certain difficulties. Firstly, its curvature is significant, whichplicates taking aplete photograph, and secondly, applying fingerprint powder doesn¡¯t result in even coverage, and the imprint left by a suspect¡¯s fingers might not even beplete. Naturally, the quality of such fingerprints would be somewhat inferior. Of course, these are all issues for criminal investigators below Level 1 expertise in fingerprint analysis; for Jiang Yuan, slightly altered fingerprints merely added to the intrigue. The criminal investigators in front of him were taking their study very seriously; by now, everyone knew of Jiang Yuan¡¯s strong skills. For a tech big shot like him to employ the simplest method of fingerprinting was a rare learning opportunity, and they all wanted to pick up a few tricks. Huang Qiangmin watched with a sense of pride, thinking: This is a bonus from being associated with our Jiang Yuan. Captain Tang, who specialized in technical surveince, was already overflowing with skills and had lost interest in trace evidence technology. After a little wait, he stood up and said, "Commissioner Huang, we¡¯re done here. Why don¡¯t we take the tech surveince van back..." "Find someone else," Jiang Yuan interrupted as he stepped out of the crowd, holding his mobile phone, and said, "Add me on WeChat. I¡¯ll send you the personal name, ID number, and mobile number; let¡¯s take a look." The personal name and ID number were extracted by Jiang Yuan from the police database using fingerprints. There were several fingerprints on the action figure, and retrieving them was not an easy task; the highest difficulty level could reach 2.5. After a final screening, there was only one individual with a criminal record. Naturally, he would be the first one to approach for a chat. Meanwhile, Liu Wenkai had already taken the receiver of stolen goods aside to inquire about the details. Captain Tang of the technical surveince team felt somewhat distressed and helplessly said, "Captain Jiang, isn¡¯t it a bit wasteful to use the tech surveince vehicle for such a petty case?" "The exchange has just beenpleted, the case is still fresh. It¡¯s possible that an officer from the Criminal Police Brigade is working on this case right now. If we catch them directly, it¡¯s time-saving and efficient," Jiang Yuan replied with a smile. Captain Tang scratched his head: "Alright then..." "Take a break first. Have a smoke. In a moment, bring that receiver with you to identify people," suggested Jiang Yuan as he handed packages of Zhonghua cigarettes to several members of the technical surveince team. Technically, chasing suspects with a technical surveince vehicle did save a lot of effort. Digging clues from the receiver also made it more efficient and easier. As for whether the technical surveince vehicle was a waste or not, this vehicle was soon to be sold to Ningtai County, implying it was surplus to requirements. If the criminal police needed to strictly defend their reasoning, they would have much to say, but it wasn¡¯t necessary. If reason was effective, what was the need for criminal police? Huang Qiangmin took out his mobile phone and silently noted down a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. This was an official expense, so it couldn¡¯t be appropriate to let Jiang Yuan pay for it himself. Captain Tang sent two people back to the technical surveince vehicle. After the group quietly smoked a cigarette, a call came through. "He¡¯s nearby, within 600 meters; still in this business district, continue with individual operations," Captain Tang checked the location and picked up his gear to leave. At least one thing Jiang Yuan said was correct: since they were here, it was better to catch a few more people. Wu Junhao and the others swarmed out. Their first case in Beijing had been a spy case, and they had plenty of pent-up frustration to release now, eager to vent on some lesser thieves. No need for the talk of bullying the weak and fearing the strong; in military terms, this is called "concentrating superior forces to annihte the enemy individually." Police work isn¡¯t about showing off strength; it¡¯s an organized unit carrying out fieldwork with a focus on safety and efficiency inpleting the mission. If it were possible, Wu Junhao would rather stay cozy in the office, handling a case over a cup of tea. But it wasn¡¯t doable¡ªhe had to head out and use brute force, and that¡¯s why Wu Junhao made sure he was well-built. Wu Junhao¡¯s first squad believed in overwhelming force: one squad to catch one person, add the "Long Gun Squad" to catch a group. They never bothered with the notion of a fair fight; they practiced asymmetrical warfare. Seeing how things were going, Captain Tang gave Wu Junhao a solo operator and even taught him the basic usage before heading up to the 16th floor of Building No.3. The procedure was almost identical, but the suspect inside wasn¡¯t wearing ck stockings. What was more different was that in this one-bedroom apartment, there were two bunk beds. Beddings were messily strewn across all four bunks, and given the chargers and other items next to the pillows, it was clear that four people were living there. "What¡¯s the deal with your roommates?" Liu Wenkai smelled a rat. He dragged the suspect by the handcuffs to a corner and said, "Don¡¯t feed me a bunch of nonsense. You were released from prison less than half a year ago¡ªwho would want to live with you? Now, light up these three people for me. I¡¯ll put in a word for you with the prosecutor. If you give me the runaround, I¡¯ll stick around for it. The rest, search the room. Anything rted to the case, it¡¯s on your head. Later, when I set up an ambush for these three, I¡¯ll have them point the finger at you." Ex-cons tend to be pretty reasonable. The suspect understood Liu Wenkai¡¯s words and agreed readily. Huang Qiangmin sat down with Captain Tang at the living room table, opened a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes that he¡¯d just bought, and handed out a pack to each of them. They smoked and waited. Captain Tang resigned himself to the situation, yet still sent two people back to stand by in the surveince vehicle. He lit up a cigarette and said, "Now look here, Commissioner Huang, you¡¯re a bureau-level politicalmissioner, and God Jiang has a wide renown. We¡¯ve got two squads here... more than that, there¡¯s a liaison from the Criminal Police Brigade, plus we¡¯re backed up by a surveince vehicle worth millions. Is it really necessary to catch a few petty thieves like this? How much are we spending just on today¡¯s cost?" Huang Qiangmin chuckled, "You¡¯ve got a point, but we could consider a different way of ounting for this." "Please, enlighten me..." Captain Tang put down his cigarette, all ears. Huang Qiangmin said, "If we¡¯re not busy, we¡¯re not busy..." "Huh?" "Hitting kids on a rainy day¡ªif not busy, still not busy," Huang Qiangmin added. Captain Tang couldn¡¯t help but give a wry smile, "This..." "Mm-hmm," nodded Huang Qiangmin as he gestured around with his cigarette, adding, "Actually, you were just talking about manpower, surveince cars... have you guys been busy with many tasks recently?" Captain Tang smiled faintly; that was ssified information, he couldn¡¯t say. Huang Qiangmin went on, "If there aren¡¯t any major cases, we still take on the minor ones, right? Big or small, they¡¯re all cases." "That¡¯s true, but... " "Work on small cases, and you never know when it¡¯ll lead to a major case." Huang Qiangmin changed tack, "Our Beijing Bureau¡¯s recent murder cases were either confessions or the culprit bleeding and on the run. We need to dig up cases ourselves, right?" Captain Tang was at a loss for words¡ªit was way beyond his understanding. After a while, Captain Tang took a drag of his cigarette, catching a w in Huang Qiangmin¡¯s logic, "Turning a small case into a big one while working on it, that¡¯s not certain." "That depends on who¡¯s working on it." "Not necessarily," Captain Tang replied before quickly adding, "I¡¯m not doubting God Jiang¡¯s skills¡ªit¡¯s just that, first you need someone tomit a crime, and then we solve it, right?" Huang Qiangmin shook his head, "Not necessarily." Captain Tang took an rmed drag, "Even though I know that¡¯s not what you mean, so... what¡¯s our angle here?" "There are plenty of cases. How did they used to phrase it in pretrial? Digging up residual crimes, breaking cold cases, right? Reading case files is investigating, catching suspects is investigating." Huang Qiangmin followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead entirely, pushing a narrative of belief. The Ningtai County Bureau had a whole new look now¡ªwhat was there not to believe? Captain Tang, puffing on the slender Zhonghua cigarettes, chose to believe as well. Chapter 840 - 781: The Divine Detectives

Chapter 840: Chapter 781: The Divine Detectives

A group of people huddled in an apartment of mere tens of square meters, smoking cigarettes. The smoke visibly rose at a great speed, even as the range hood buzzed into action, but the smoke showed no sign of decreasing. ck. A key was inserted into the door lock. The police officers smoking inside didn¡¯t even bother to lift their heads, mostly absorbed in silently scrolling through their phones. The entrance was packed with people, so if the petty thief lured back here managed to escape¡ªthat would be an incredible stroke of luck no one dared to dream of. He must be involved in some major cases behind the scenes, otherwise who with extraordinary skills would conceal their identity and content themselves with being a petty thief in a Beijing apartment? Thump thump. Someone let out a heavy sigh. The sound of the thief being pinned against the wall indicated that this "blind box" was no prize. "Bring him over," Huang Qiangmin said, his voice dripping with indolence. He hadn¡¯t been in charge of arge team for over a year and hadn¡¯t dealt with such a grassroots case in a while. The newly caught thief walked through the apartment he rented, only finding the floors and ceilings familiar, while the surrounding police uniforms seemed like a scene out of an apocalypse. Seeing so many police uniforms in a dream would probably scare anyone awake. Upon arrival, the thief easily pinpointed Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan amidst the smoky environment. It was simple, just like in the mmer, the ones sitting in the spot with the best venttion were the bosses. "Your brother ratted you out, you probably guessed that already," Liu Wenkai said with anguid air. "So, what¡¯s your story?" "I... what story do I need?" the newly caught thief whimpered. Liu Wenkai curled his lips, "Be honest. You are thest one, you know? There are four of you, and three have pointed fingers at you. For instance,st night at 10 o¡¯clock, what were you doing?" "I was... visiting prostitutes," the thief lowered his guilty head. "Fifteen days, right? Where did the moneye from?" "I picked up a few batteries." "How did you pick them up? Come on, details." "Stole... stole..." the thief admitted the time, location, and methods. He had been to jail before, so since he was pointed out, he had nothing to hide and just spilled it all. Liu Wenkai took notes and then asked, "You¡¯re a professional battery thief, right? What other cases have you done?" "Who... who is a professional battery thief!" the thief protested. "I... I¡¯m an actor." "What do you act in?" With handcuffs on, he said, "I¡¯ll act in anything. I used to hang around Hengdian, and then someone brought me to Beijing. But the cost of living here is too high, I have a criminal record, so I can¡¯t deliver food or anything. I have to live, don¡¯t I? But I¡¯m telling you, one day, I will star in a blockbuster that thousands will admire..." "You¡¯re 25 already." "So what if I¡¯m 25!" "At 25, if you go to prison, and after 15 years, you¡¯ll be 40. Will that leave you enough time to star in a blockbuster admired by thousands?" Liu Wenkai asked sincerely. "Fifteen years..." The thief number four was visibly shaken, his voice turning hoarse, "Why fifteen years..." "You¡¯vemitted burry, right? Your aplices have confessed, saying you were also carrying a knife, which means you were armed. You¡¯ve burrized multiple times, haven¡¯t you? And the stuff you got wasn¡¯t insignificant. You sold them for quite a sum, didn¡¯t you? That¡¯s a grand amount! You are a repeat offender with a prior record..." Liu Wenkai had plenty of experience interrogating petty thieves like this one, spouting a mix of true and false allegations that few could face without fear. The aspiring actor-thief slumpedpletely, unable to hold back, "Those corrupt officials embezzle billions and they don¡¯t get 15 years, so why should I?" "Just because the crimes of the corrupt officials are more egregious doesn¡¯t mean your misdeeds aren¡¯t serious. You sneak into people¡¯s houses with a knife in the dead of night... Giving you 15 years is not unfair, is it? Do good people have to wait for you to kill a corrupt official before they can seek justice? Of course, there¡¯s also a chance you won¡¯t have to serve 15 years." Liu Wenkai smiled slightly. The thief was stunned for a moment, his gaze alternating between the slightly familiar, sleazy smile of Liu Wenkai and the crowd filling the room. A frown formed as his mind involuntarily shed with legends from the entertainment industry. ... Afternoon. Jiang Yuan hummed a tune as he walked away with two boxes full of evidence. The number of petty thieves who had confessed had reached 20, and both Wu Junhao and Liu Wenkai were bing overwhelmed, all rushing out to make arrests. Tao Lu, of course, was pleased with this, as these minor cases were the most time-consuming. The detectives spent most of their days dealing with such cases. The Ningtai People were willing to help with this work, and Tao Lu was delighted. Moreover, Huang Qiangmin showed no intention of raising the price, which he expressed quite amicably. Tao Lu regarded it as a testament to everyone¡¯s friendship. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan also took great care in sorting through the evidence in the thief¡¯s residence. Such a high-stakes search connected to two suspects with past theft convictions caused Cui Qishan and the others to exim in frustration at the waste of resources. In the jurisdiction of the Zhengguang Bureau, which had a poption of over 2 million ording to the census, not counting those whoe and go daily for shopping and work, the forensic center of Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s criminal department had fewer than 40 people, and none dared say they were on par with Jiang Yuan. In such circumstances, Jiang Yuan spent an entire afternoon searching through the residences of a thief, to be precise¡ªfour thieves. This baffled some people. Captain Tang of the technical investigation unit yfully stretched until the end of his shift, took a deep breath, and said to Huang Qiangmin, "We should head back now; the technical investigation van also needs to be tidied up." "Alright then. See you tomorrow." Huang Qiangmin was not stingy with his offerings and handed over another pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. Compared to the technical investigation van, cigarettes were nothing. Captain Tang declined with augh, "I¡¯ll try to make it tomorrow, but whether I cane depends on the leaders¡¯ orders." Petty cases¡ªthose weren¡¯t particrly his favorites. Everyone desired a sense of achievement. Having mastered the skills, one naturally preferred to apply them where they were most needed. Huang Qiangmin chuckled, sliding the Zhonghua back into his pocket, as he watched Captain Tang depart. The next day. Under a brown-red residential building, a technical investigation van awkwardly pulled up. The one who emerged was still Captain Tang. "Commissioner Huang," Captain Tang sighed upon seeing him, "You have quite the influence." "A technical investigation van worth 7 million, they undercharged them by 1 million." Huang Qiangmin said with augh, patting Captain Tang¡¯s shoulder, "Besides, it¡¯s not just about one van." Taking the cigarette that Huang Qiangmin offered, Captain Tang lit it up and chuckled, "It feels wrong to call him Detective Jiang. More like God of Wealth Jiang." "As long as he solves cases, he¡¯s a god." Huang Qiangmin replied calmly, "When I was young, Changyang City got a new bureau chief who offered a 500,000 reward for solving a cold murder case, with the money divided ording to contribution, detailed in the guidelines. There was this one massacre case that we managed to crack. The officer who got the most earned over 200,000." "That must have been a lot back then." "If you took that to Beijing, at that time, the price in the central districts of Beijing was about three to four thousand yuan per square meter. You could buy 50 square meters. Know why I remember it so clearly? Old Qian and I actually came to Beijing to look at houses." Huang Qiangmin reflected with emotion. "Did you buy it?" "No, we bought in Changyang City. 1,399 yuan per square meter, with a 10% discount, it came to 1,260. Old Qian took his 240,000 and bought a 200 square meter house. It was thergest house we¡¯d ever seen at the time." "200 square meters, that¡¯s nice. Changyang City¡¯s property prices aren¡¯t low anymore. Your colleague made a killing; got his kids¡¯ house all set up, must¡¯ve had a good life afterward." "Later on, he made the ultimate sacrifice. When the house prices hit 3,000 per square, his family sold the house, earning a little profit." Huang Qiangmin held a cigarette, prepared to smoke. He struck his lighter several times, but it wouldn¡¯t light. With the unlit cigarette between his fingers. Captain Tang gave Huang Qiangmin a firm pat on the shoulder: "Hey, house prices don¡¯t have much to do with us, it¡¯s good enough just to be alive." Click. The lighter finally worked. The cigarette was lit. Huang Qiangmin took a heavy drag and exhaled rings of smoke. As if three people were smoking together. Old Qian was blowing smoke rings too, cursing, "Damn it, Huang, that son of mine, if he could have waited two more years to sell, it would¡¯ve been 11,000 per square, at least he could have left them a bit more money..." Chapter 841 - 782: Tasty (Request for Monthly Pass)

Chapter 841: Chapter 782: Tasty (Request for Monthly Pass)

Another hard day of investigation had passed, Captain Tang had diligently followed Jiang Yuan and the others around all day. In fact, once one got beyond trivial pleasures, the experience of solving cases consecutively was quite satisfying. Although they were minor cases, in the end, cases were solved. Seeing these young guys, who would have to spend four or five, seven or eight, or even more than ten years in prison, as a police officer, my emotions gradually leveled. Of course, there was a lot more work to be done in handling the cases, such as retrieving confessions from suspects, statements from victims, witness testimonies, scene investigation records, on-site identifications, appraisals, fingerprint or DNA analyses, video materials, etc. But working on cases with Jiang Yuan was rtively worry-free. First, the evidence would always be solidly prepared, and secondly, the higher-ups clearly paid more attention to the cases that Jiang Yuan was involved in. Procedures like approvals, meetings, leaders¡¯ signatures, and navigating the system were all somewhat streamlined. Once he got over his reluctance, Captain Tang was quite cheerful in his work. By the time the shift ended, he even made a point of giving Huang Qiangmin a cigarette andughed, "Actually, if there are no major cases, it¡¯s quite interesting to catch small-time thieves day by day." "It depends on how you look at it. For example, in our Ningtai County, all eight major cases from the past 30 years have been solved, and there are very few new cases within our jurisdiction. There are even fewer petty thieves," Huang Qiangmin happily filled Captain Tang in on the situation in Ningtai County. Taken aback by this, Captain Tang asked subconsciously, "Then the police have nothing to do?" "How could there be nothing to do? Those who need to call 110 will still call 110. There¡¯s always a fight or brawl at a beer stall, and cases of wives killed or husbands poisoned¡ªthese never end," said Huang Qiangmin, gesturing first toward himself and then toward the Ningtai criminal police around them. Upon seeing this, Captain Tangughed, "Sounds like you¡¯re outsourcingbor. It must be quitefortable for you guys. Alright, let¡¯s drive back now. If there¡¯s another task tomorrow, I¡¯ll continue to follow along." While they were speaking, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s phone rang. Captain Tang hesitated for a moment but did not leave right away. "It¡¯s Captain Cui¡¯s call," said Huang Qiangmin, who hurried to answer after a nce at the caller ID, "What¡¯s up?" "There¡¯s been a murder. Is Jiang Yuan there? We need him toe and take a look," said Cui Qishan, who generally wasn¡¯t a very serious person, but often had his serious moments. Huang Qiangmin consequently became serious, ryed their location, and said, "Jiang Yuan is organizing evidence right now. We can set off immediately. Is the caseplicated?" "Not simple. The body of the victim has been mutted. You¡¯ll understand better once you¡¯re on the scene," exined Cui Qishan without going into detail over the phone. Huang Qiangmin immediately located Jiang Yuan, gathered the team, and then they all headed for the scene together. The call from Cui Qishan to Huang Qiangmin also implied a request for personnel support. Zhengguang Bureau, having handled several major cases, had arge number of officers tied up in specific case work, and with some cases not easily releasing manpower, they were in need of reinforcement. Two minibuses, protected by a fleet of police cars, quickly arrived at Xinjia Hutong. All the way there, Jiang Yuan observed the environment. Xinjia Hutong was a somewhat remote location, with several factories and residentialpounds for their staff nearby. The factories had long since shut down, but the staffpounds, having gone through several generations, remained standing, with the upants not being very familiar with each other, still forming a distinctive living environment. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s observation, there seemed to be many illegal constructions in the area. Of course, they were all legal buildings now, as most of the unauthorized construction happened forty or fifty years ago. Due to historical reasons, they wereter legalized and would require relocation efforts to make any changes. With the hutong¡¯s side packed with parked cars preventing the minibuses from entering, Jiang Yuan switched to a police car, while most of the team got out and walked. Some of them were immediately assigned to support the busy local police officers at the entrance. Jiang Yuan¡¯s police car drove all the way to the police cordon before letting him, Huang Qiangmin, Liu Wenkai, and Mu Zhiyang out. Upon disembarking, a faint scent of flesh hung in the air. Considering the reason they were there, including Jiang Yuan, everyone¡¯s expressions were not very good. The expressions of the Image Investigation team leader and team members, who came out in the next car, were even worse. Although they also worked on the scene, such an explicit scene was not something they encountered often. Ugh. Beside the trash bin, a police officer was vomiting, indirectly confirming the group¡¯s spection. They looked at each other and continued to walk forward in silence. Cui Qishan waited at the entrance of arge cluttered courtyard. When Jiang Yuan arrived, Cui handed him a pair of gloves and sighed, "The report came in this morning. The ground is a mess with footprints and fingerprints. I thought it was a simple case at first, but none of the prints matched, and there¡¯s no surveince camera out front. The escape routes are numerous and sprawling. We¡¯re already collecting surveince footage, but I don¡¯t know if Image Investigation will be able to find anything." Jiang Yuan nodded, as Cui Qishan was essentially exining why they had called him now. Actually, with regard to newly emerging murder cases, those easy to solve usually yield results within a few hours, often with multiple breakthroughs¡ªit might be a breakthrough in image investigation, forensic evidence, or technical investigation. It can be understood that current investigative methods areprehensive and advanced, like a thorough exam paper criminals not only fail to score high on but also struggle to answer each question properly. However, if there are no results after several hours, that indicates the presence of a high-scoring criminal. This is a very dangerous situation, and whether it¡¯s due to sheer luck or the perpetrator¡¯s strong counter-investigative abilities, such cases risk sliding into unsolved cases. Calling Jiang Yuan, Cui Qishan was effectively cutting losses. Inside the messy courtyard, various items were haphazardly piled up, with broken furniture being the mostmon. Some had been smashed right there, and judging by the cuts, it seemed to have been done in the past few days. "This courtyard was sold to the currentndlord just over a year ago. Thendlord left it vacant after the purchase. Then yesterday, neighbors heard noises, thinking thendlord had returned. But when they knocked and no one answered, they eventually called the police," Cui Qishan paused, then led Jiang Yuan through the courtyard to the kitchen, saying, "When the police arrived, they discovered it was a murder scene, where someone had killed, dismembered, and then boiled the body parts." As they talked, they saw therge stove in the center of the kitchen. On the stove were tworge iron pots¡ªone filled with water, boiling body parts. Atop the other, there were threerge steaming baskets, still slightly steaming at the moment. That smell of cooking meat that had drifted to the entrance came from here. Even Jiang Yuan found this scene hard to ept. Cui Qishan, having seen it several times, still struggled to ept it and turned his gaze aside, saying, "This stove was built by masons hired by the currentndlord. It¡¯s an old-fashioned rural stove that burns coal and firewood below. Thendlord brought friends over a couple of times for fun. The neighborhoodmittee confronted them, forbidding the use of this kind of stove, and since then they haven¡¯te back. Neighbors called the police because of it." Cui Qishan continued, "The fire in the stove had died out, with some coal left by thendlord, and wood obtained from chopping up furniture. The steaming pot on the right held arge amount of water, and it was so well insted that the steam baskets were still warm." Cui Qishan added, "The body wasn¡¯t fully cooked; some parts were left, but the source of the corpse couldn¡¯t be identified." "It implies this was their first timemitting such a crime. There¡¯s thought behind it, but no experience," Jiang Yuan offered a simple conclusion. Cooking a body to destroy the DNA within, thereby making it difficult for the police to identify the corpse¡¯s origin, should count as an effective tactic that can hinder the investigation. But there are two points here. First, the body must be dumped so the police can¡¯t find the primary crime scene. Otherwise, the DNA left at the primary scene could not only help the police identify the corpse¡¯s origin but also potentially reveal the killer¡¯s DNA and lead to an arrest. Second, a steaming little-known fact is that cooking a human body requires a lot of time and multiple pots toplete. The fact that the perpetrator knew to use steaming baskets signifies an advance in detail. However, even using steaming baskets, it¡¯s impossible to cook a body weighing upwards of 100 pounds in one go. An inappropriateparison is, during Chinese New Year, to fully cook the meat from a freshly ughtered pig, it also takes considerable effort and strength. "I¡¯ll take a look first," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t speak rashly but began his inspection. Chapter 842 - 783: Screening

Chapter 842: Chapter 783: Screening

Tao Lu arrived a bitter, with a gloomy expression. As he entered, seeing that Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan had already arrived, he nodded and exined, "There was traffic on the way. Any findings?" Huang Qiangmin shook his head slightly, "Jiang Yuan is still looking." Jiang Yuan lifted his head, "Most of the evidence, including fingerprints, DNA evidence, footprints, etc., was already collected by the CSI earlier. Currently, there are no matches." Cases like this were the mostmon in criminal police work. Cases without any evidence were rare, especially homicides, as the forces mobilized were substantial enough to gather a lot of information. For a murderer to remain hidden under such circumstances was extremely difficult. Even hiding is not useful, just like the home burry case the Image Investigation team had just worked on. Looking for the owner of a phone that was turned off at 10 p.m. and turned on at 4 a.m., asking why they entered an unfamiliar area with their phone off at that time? In contrast, cases like the current one, which left evidence but had no matching information in the police database, were a bit more troubling. If the case involved acquaintances, tracing the victim¡¯swork of rtionships would likely solve it, but that would be just an ordinary premeditated murder case ¨C not an excellent investigation, but just ordinary. Most premeditated murder cases were just at this level. Many people never scored full marks in their studies, never upied the heights of intelligence from childhood, had to take civil service exams several times, and couldn¡¯t even respond fluently in interviews in front of a group of middle managers, let alone disy any quick-wittedness. Yet, when it came to murder, they suddenly felt they had infallible ns and could fight against the whole system, crushing the intelligence of hundreds with the help of valuable professional equipment and software, making countless seasoned experts stumble over it, and reflecting on their career devastation. ¡ªIt¡¯s simr to stock traders who believe they can make money. Of course, there are always those who are lucky, who hit the jackpot by fluke. For instance, currently, the DNA didn¡¯t match, the fingerprints didn¡¯t match, the murderer¡¯s didn¡¯t match, and neither did the victim¡¯s. When proving that the murderer might indeed have gotten lucky, Cui Qishan had called Jiang Yuan. After speaking to Tao Lu for a bit, Jiang Yuan squatted back down to examine the footprints. If fingerprints don¡¯t match, they just don¡¯t. If they¡¯re missing, there¡¯s still a chance for technicalpensation, but if they¡¯re not in the database, then it¡¯s no longer the domain of criminal forensics. The situation with DNA was simr. Compared to that, footprint information was moreplex. Naturally, it demanded more from forensic personnel, requiring at least a Level 2 and, ideally, Level 3 proficiency to decipher above-average footprint info. Tao Lu,cking a technical background, saw Jiang Yuan busy and serious, so he simply looked up and asked Cui Qishan, "Have you found the head?" In dismemberment cases, the forensic doctor needed the pelvis most, while police focused on the skull. The skull is very hard; it¡¯s difficult to break it in an average household setting, and even harder to crush. Comparing it to a coconut, which is far less hard than a skull, even smashing a coconut shell is troublesome, let alone a skull. Theoretically, with enough force, the tiles should break before the head does under current home conditions. Thus, when ordinary people attempt to dismember a body, they can¡¯t break the skull, and since a human head is sorge, it¡¯s difficult to transport it unnoticed. That¡¯s why police, when checking security footage, prefer to look for the head. Cui Qishan had, naturally, looked for the head too. Now, with a frosty expression, he said, "The head is being boiled in a big pot. The murderer likely dismembered the body first and then boiled the remains. After boiling one pot, they dumped it on the ground;ter, probably realizing it was slow, they started steaming using a steamer." "Were the boiled remains taken away? What about the head, was it taken too? What¡¯s the situation?" "The head is still in the pot." Tao Lu was stunned, "Why didn¡¯t you take it out?" "It has been boiled to the point of deboning. If we take it out now, the bones will separate. Keeping it in the pot preserves its shape; let¡¯s see if Captain Jiang has any way to deal with it." Cui Qishan continued, "The murderer likely left in the middle of boiling the head. This head was boiledter on fire and then soaked for a while to reach this condition..." "Ah, I got it..." Tao Lu twisted his face in disgust. In the next few months, he probably wouldn¡¯t be able to face pork head meat or simr food. Cui Qishan continued, "We suspect the murder happened in the courtyard, and that the killer probably used an axe for chopping wood. They might have also used the axe and kitchen knives for dismembering. The murderer cooked two pots of body pieces, each pot approximately forty pounds, and three steamers, each possibly holding just... "Perhaps that¡¯s why the body was dismembered," Huang Qiangmin interjected. "From this perspective, there could have been a crime of passion." "It is indeed possible. The location of the murder is not very ideal. The neighbors here are rtively close-knit, with a lot of old residents, and the houses are quite near to each other. The conditions for dismembering aren¡¯t good either. The axe caused debris everywhere, and there was blood all over the floor. It¡¯s a wonder they didn¡¯t prepare electric tools in advance," Cui Qishan analyzed step by step. "It looks like whoever did this had no experience with murder or even dismembering a corpse. They probably had no kitchen experience either," Huang Qiangmin agreed. Cui Qishan continued, "In fact, there was no need to cook the body; it waspletely unnecessary. Just look at the chunks of flesh on the ground and the walls. Forensic could easily collect some for DNA. Currently, if it doesn¡¯t match any database, it doesn¡¯t get tracked. Clearly, the killer was unaware of this." "The killer probably wanted to cook the body in one go and then clean the scene afterwards. But they didn¡¯t manage to finish," Tao Lu spected. "If the yard had been thoroughly cleaned and the neighbors hadn¡¯t called the police, by the time the home owner returned, whether to sell or live in it, they would face renovations, and perhaps the traces could indeed have been erased." Everyone stood in the yard, near the kitchen, exchanging thoughts while police officers bustled around them. Expressing their thoughts, Tao Lu felt a headacheing on. Each difficult case had its own challenges, and this one, it seemed, was heading towards a deadlock. "Are the surveince cameras at the junctionprehensive? What¡¯s the traffic like?" Tao Lu asked hopefully. If the surveince covered everything and the passersby were few, theoretically, all of them could be screened. Although it was almost impossible, pursuing leads through surveince footage was still a viable option. Cui Qishan shook his head slightly. "They¡¯re mostlyprehensive, but there are some blind spots..." "Hmm..." pondered Tao Lu, who took a deep breath and said, "In that case, we need to start our analysis from scratch. If we can¡¯t directly confirm the origin of the corpse, where did ite from? Did the killer transport the person here, or trick them intoing..." "Let¡¯s take a look," said Cui Qishan, not very optimistic about this approach since he had seen the surveince footage; the alley had too many blind spots, mostly relying on luck, and there were far more cameras outside the alley. "Captain Cui!" From inside the kitchen, Jiang Yuan called out. "Coming," Cui Qishan hurried over. "Cui Da, could you collect all the shoe prints of everyone who entered the yard and passed through the kitchen today? I need to rule some people out," Jiang Yuan said, still crouched on the ground examining footprints. This was a standard request. Cui Qishan immediately arranged for personnel to collect the shoe prints, then asked, "Did you find something?" "We¡¯ll see what the shoe prints reveal," Jiang Yuan replied. This wasn¡¯t evasive but rather cautious to avoid leading the investigation astray. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t have to wait long. At Cui Qishan¡¯smand, the participating officers quickly made impressions of their shoe soles, and the digital versions werepiled. Jiang Yuan then examined each one, and after that, crouched down to look at the ground again, saying, "I can tell a few things here." Cui Qishan immediately pulled out a notebook to record the findings. "First, there appear to be two suspects, one male and one female." "The male is around 20 years old, the female likely slightly older, 21, no more than 22 years old." "The male suspect is about 173 centimeters tall, of average build. The female is 165 centimeters, 50 kilograms." "The two suspects are very close, based on the proximity of their contact. They likely engaged in hugging." After stating these points, Jiang Yuan stood up and said, "As for the time of death, it was yesterday afternoon, around 2 PM." "Understood, I will go talk to the image investigation team," Cui Qishan snapped his notebook shut. Having the time of death and knowing the suspects likely hugged made them more conspicuous on surveince, which was easier to screen than just height and weight alone. Chapter 843 - 784: Cover

Chapter 843: Chapter 784: Cover

Tao Lu felt a bit surprised; he had already started to brace himself for arge-scale screening, but he hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to figure out the information of two suspects just by their footprints. With such detailed descriptions, Tao Lu believed that the Image Investigation team would definitely make a discovery. The number of surveince cameras in Beijing did not need mentioning. While there were fewer in the alleys, the main roads were almost saturated with them. It was nearly impossible to continually walk out of sight, at least not for someone without specialized skills. Tao Lu¡¯s mood instantly rxed, and a smile formed on his face, "Then let¡¯s take a break. The Image Investigation team is probably swamped right now too. Once they get the intel, we should have results quickly." If the results didn¡¯te quickly, that would be a serious problem, indicating the perpetrator had some unique circumstances, or that Jiang Yuan had made a mistake in his judgment! The former was naturally more likely, and by now, Tao Lu trusted Jiang Yuan more than he trusted himself. Jiang Yuan nodded, secured the evidence, and exited the kitchen directly. Yes, he was a forensic doctor, but that did not mean he could only do forensic work or that he had to. The case was essentially in its closing stages now, with the core focus being on the Image Investigation team rather than forensic identification of the body. If they were to really solve this case from the source of the corpse, it would take a lot more time and wasn¡¯t necessary now. Zhan Kan and two other young forensic doctors entered the kitchen and started to tidy up, heads bowed. They began by scooping the oil out of the pot with adle and pouring it into arge bucket for waste liquid. It wasn¡¯t until the chunks of flesh in the pot were exposed that someone put on gloves to collect them. Due to the lengthy cooking and soaking, the first young forensic doctor who pinched a piece of flesh burst it on contact, sttering juicy chunks everywhere. "How disgusting," Zhan Kan shuddered after a nce. In the current scene, everyone was just enduring it. Which was why Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be bothered toe in. "Can we just take the bones and discard the rest? Collect all the bones and throw away the meat and... the meat and water," asked a young forensic doctor who had only been working for a couple of years. Zhan Kan regained hisposure and turned to deal with the steamer, speaking softly, "Taking the bones and discarding the liquid is fine, but under these circumstances, I suggest using a sieve just in case some tiny bones are discarded. Because we must catch very fine bones, the mesh of the sieve should be finer. The flesh and skin that have boiled to a gtin-like consistency wille out in strands, like noodles made of meat passing through the sieve and it all must be done manually..." "I get it, I¡¯ll use a spoon," the young forensic doctor replied bitterly, all enthusiasm for chatting gone. The detectives nearby were even less inclined to listen or watch, each finding something else to do as they stepped away. In the yard, there were still many pieces of evidence to secure. Given the increasing value ced on human life, the demands for proof in homicide cases have been rising, often requiring evidence from multiple sources. Even if one chain of clues was sufficient to prove the case, another chain might still need to be explored. Jiang Yuan stretched his limbs and looked around the yard. The case wasn¡¯tplicated, and though it seemed a bit odd, as long as they could catch the person, all questions would quickly be resolved. With so many fingerprints, DNA, and footprints at the scene, they could easily determine the killer oncepared with the suspects. As for the somewhat bizarre and strange behaviors, the detectives at the scene didn¡¯t take it seriously. He hadmitted murder; what more context did it need? However, Jiang Yuan was prepared for unexpected situations arising from the Image Investigation team and continued to examine other types of evidence, considering alternative possibilities. If this had been in Ningtai County, he might not have given it a second thought, but in Beijing, he had already encountered a woman spy who was broke and agile, with a fiery character and capable of powerful, extensive actions. The boundaries of suspicion suddenly expanded. Buzz buzz. As Cui Qishan¡¯s phone rang, everyone¡¯s attention shifted. Cui Qishan picked up quickly, and after a few words, his expression became animated. After ending the call, he reported to Tao Lu, "We¡¯ve found a pair of suspects. The ages match up, the heights match up, and they seem to be in a boyfriend-girlfriend rtionship. The woman has worked at a milk tea shop at the end of the alley. Shall we go make the arrests?" "Let¡¯s go. Be careful," Tao Lu immediately responded. Cui Qishan, energized, took a team and set out. Xiao Si followed Cui Qishan, preparing for action by putting on a bulletproof vest and ceramic tes. Cui Qishan watched with resignation, "The two suspects have ordinary backgrounds, clean records, and no military service or simr experience. You don¡¯t need to gear up so heavily." "Just listen to yourself, clean records? They boiled a person alive," Xiao Si inserted the ceramic tes firmly while speaking, "Not just one pot, but two, and steamed three baskets. I don¡¯t know if their records are clean, but they sure have in tastes, didn¡¯t even add salt." "They used an axe, not a gun, what are you afraid of?" Cui Qishan nced at him, "Besides, we may need to run or jump when arresting them; how will you manage with ceramic tes? Like a turtle picking up green beans?" "It also makes it easy to be sent up front as the vanguard," Li Jiang muttered, "When it¡¯s time to arrest, those with the ceramic tes go first." "The probability of them not having a gun does seem higher," Xiao Si muttered as he pulled the ceramic tes back out. The destination was a vige within the city, approximately 8 kilometers away. Chapter 844 - 784: Cover_2

Chapter 844: Chapter 784: Cover_2

Given Beijing¡¯s size, a distance of 8 kilometers was practically next door. Cui Qishan hurriedly arranged the tasks, and upon arrival, worried about someone tipping off the suspects, he led a group of people in a frantic sprint. Fortunately, the local police station was very supportive, arriving first by car and even calling out thendlord who lived downstairs. Out of everyone, only Xiao Si wore a bulletproof vest, exhausted as if he were the grandson. When they reached the target building, he was almost in tears. "Check the equipment," Cui Qishan ordered quietly, and after a short wait, had thendlord open the door. "Go!" Cui Qishan, leading Xiao Si, rushed into the house. Hoo... Clear snoring sounds wereing from the corner of therge bed. That¡¯s right, what does a murderer need most after killing, dismembering, and cooking human flesh? Sleep! It was a whole day of strenuous physicalbor. The two young men probably had never done such heavy household-style work before. After a busy day, both were in deep sleep, savoring a quality that would make anyone envious. Until both were handcuffed, they were still not fully awake. From the corner, Xiao Si pulled out a dirty bag containing a BV men¡¯s wallet, arge gold chain, and a Rolex Green Submariner. Xiao Si weighed the gold watch in his hand, then showed it to Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan nodded and asked the policewoman with them to take the female suspect away first. He then cornered the male suspect against the wall and asked, "Chen Luoping, do you know why you were arrested?" Chen Luoping remained silent. "Take his fingerprints," Cui Qishan ordered, putting psychological pressure on the suspect. Many people didn¡¯t break until they saw a really serious consequence. After his fingerprints were taken, Chen Luoping visibly started to panic. He might have been feeling a bit lucky just before, but now that was gone. "Do you know why we¡¯ve arrested you?" Cui Qishan asked while taking his prints, interrogating him on the spot. The moments just after being caught are the most tumultuous, and many criminals might think to themselves, ¡¯What have I got to lose?¡¯ By the time they were at the interrogation center, those with strong mental resilience were calmer, and their resistance could grow again. Chen Luoping continued to be silent. Cui Qishan took the evidence bag containing the gold watch and waved it in front of Chen Luoping, "This watch wasn¡¯t cheap, was it? Is it yours?" "Can¡¯t it be?" Chen Luoping suddenly retorted. "This kind of watch has a serial number. We can find out if you bought it with a few phone calls." "I bought it second-hand. Is that wrong?" Chen Luoping challenged. Xiao Si came over and said indifferently, "Even second-hand, a Green Submariner starts at 500,000." "That expensive?" Cui Qishan was the first to express surprise. Xiao Si nodded, and Chen Luoping suddenlyughed. "What are youughing at?" asked Cui Qishan. "You can¡¯t afford it either." Chen Luoping sneered, sizing up Cui Qishan, "Work another dozen years and you might be retired. Could you save up 500,000?" "For 500,000, sending two lives away, is it worth it?" Cui Qishan retorted. Chen Luoping¡¯s expression changed again and again. It¡¯s incredibly difficult to remain calm when facing life and death. Look at the hospitals and you¡¯ll see how many people get a report and immediately their face visibly falls. "It doesn¡¯t matter if you won¡¯t admit it; of the two of you, someone has to be responsible." Cui Qishan lifted Chen Luoping up. "I did it," Chen Luoping seemed to have made up his mind, suddenly dering, "It has nothing to do with Xiao Lian." Once he admitted it, Cui Qishan smiled inwardly and asked, "How is it not rted?" "I killed the person, Xiao Lian knew nothing about it," Chen Luoping said. "But when you were boiling the body, the two of you did it together." "That was after I had already chopped the person up." "How did you chop him up?" "With an axe." "What kind of axe, where did you get it from, and how did you chop him? Tell me in more detail." Cui Qishan ordered someone to start taking notes. These criminal details sounded troublesome, but having this detailed content in the confession made it very difficult to refute itter, and courts often do not ept it. After all, if you were not the murderer, how could you describe the murder details exactly like the murderer? Cui Qishan waited until Chen Luoping had finished describing the killing process before asking, "Why did you kill him?" "He wanted to pursue Xiao Lian, and Xiao Lian had told him she already had a boyfriend, but he kept pursuing her, unting his dirty money..." Chen Luoping spoke with full hatred, "The next time I encountered him, I gave him an axe." "Who? Who wanted to pursue Li Xiaolian?" Cui Qishan could now ask, even if Chen Luoping realized that he didn¡¯t have enough information on his end, it was toote for him to back out. Chen Luoping, however, did not realize this and blurted out, "Ma Jianxin, eats like a pig, and when boiled, all fat..." Cui Qishan waited for him to finish the description and then asked, "You said you encountered him, where did you encounter him?" "Just... in a decrepit house in an alley." "Why did he go there?" "He was following Li Xiaolian." "Did the two of you n this?" "No, I... I followed Xiao Lian and then I saw it..." Chen Luoping stumbled a bit with his words, but gradually sorted it out. He then confessed the details of how they dismembered the body, as well as the process of handling the body. Because they were interrupted twice by neighbors knocking at the door and the extremely slow speed of boiling the body, they eventually decided to give up and ran back to the rental. They nned to get some sleep afterwards, then take the watch to the Pearl River Delta, and try to escape. Once they sold the watch, they would at least have the means to live. Cui Qishan listened for now. Chen Luoping probably felt that taking on the entire murder charge alone, letting his girlfriend only bear part of the dismemberment charge, seemed too simple a story to the police. But, for now, Cui Qishan was not probing further. Having achieved such a result from the scene interrogation, he was quite satisfied. Interrogation Center. Li Xiaolian took a seat in the interrogation chair as calmly as possible, and as soon as the interrogation began, she collected her thoughts and dered, "I did the killing. And I also asked Luoping to help me move the body." "Oh, how did you kill him?" the detective at the interrogation table asked meticulously, his expression unreadable, just following procedure. Once she had started talking, she could only keep going. Li Xiaolian, following the thought process she had devised in the car, started narrating with ny percent truth mixed with ten percent lies. The interrogating detective wasn¡¯t in a rush to expose her, first questioning her about the details of the crime, repeatedly asking about it. Only afterpleting this part would they circle back and meticulously pick at her story. "Two young lovers, quite affectionate, both trying to take the me onto themselves," observed Tao Lu in the monitoring room listening to Li Xiaolian describe the murder details. The murder details given by both were very urate, showing that when the murder urred, both were at the scene, even near each other. Only this way could they clearly see where the chopsnded, the direction of the blood stter, et cetera. Regardless of who acted, neither could escape the me. Cui Qishan nodded in agreement, "It¡¯s a pity, the two coordinated well with each other; they killed together, boiled over tens of kilograms of a person together, and even after giving up, there was no ming each other; they could still cuddle and sleep together. Not many wives could do that, huh?" "For sure, that¡¯s asking too much," Tao Lu paused, then said, "No me and still holding each other in sleep, where do you find such a deal?" Chapter 845 - 785: Repairs

Chapter 845: Chapter 785: Repairs

The body of the deceased, Ma Jianxin, had been processed for three or four days. Although the investigation wasplete, there was still a long way to go before the case was closed. Evidence that needed to be organized and reports that must be done, nothing could be omitted. Thefort Jiang Yuan felt came from not having to do these tasks that sounded like wrapping up but actually ounted for seventy to eighty percent of the workload. Captain Cui was so busy he felt weak, then he watched Jiang Yuan go hunting in the morning, and in the afternoon return with a dozen petty thieves, increasing their workload once again, and he couldn¡¯t help but contemte advising him. Just as this thought surfaced, Xiao Si hurriedly knocked on Captain Cui¡¯s door, "There¡¯s good news." "What is it?" Captain Cui sat up. "Jiang Yuan broke up a gambling den, apprehended a dozen drug users, and brought them back¡ªeveryone¡¯s rushing to im them!" Hearing this, Captain Cui thought it was a gift¡ªwhy not hurry to im it! In Beijing, catching drug users was rtively easy. But what was considered easy wasn¡¯t necessarily more rxing than catching burrs. Moreover, drug users were generally more marginalized than petty thieves; many didn¡¯t even have cell phones, lived on the outskirts of the city, or even under bridges. asionally, someone would spot them, but when the police went searching, they often couldn¡¯t be found. For the Beijing Bureau police, drug users were somewhat like ckfish in a pond; once they appeared, capturing them was very hard, catching a big fish wasn¡¯t easy either, but they couldn¡¯t simply not make the effort as they could easily harm the other fish in the pond. In the yard, several team leaders had already arrived, all dressed in coats, hands in pockets, looking jubnt as if they wereing to collect candy. "Our team is exactly three short; we were saying this month would be tough." "Feeding the dog can¡¯t all be done in one go. Our team is also short three; we only need two, and for the rest of the time, we¡¯ll strive to dig up another ourselves." "Can¡¯t you stop being sopetitive? You all got your chances in the first half of the year, and now you¡¯re only short three or two; our team is short by five, we¡¯re really struggling..." The group argued noisily, naturally happy about the giveaway. After a while, Tao Lu also came over and began to oversee the division¡ªa meeting to distribute the suspects. Captain Cui knew it would be like this and feigned indignation, "You guys never want the petty thieves Jiang Yuan brings back. We handle them all, and now that there¡¯s something good, you all rush over. It can¡¯t be like this, what does this look like?" Xiao Si: "Like vultures." Captain Cui red at Xiao Si, "What are you saying, you brat?" "That brat has always been like this. He speaks without restraint; makes people want to tear him apart and sew him back together." Themander of Team Seven looked at Xiao Si as if he were an abandoned child. Xiao Si responded with a defiant smile, "Mostly because Captain Cui is willing to listen to advice, Old Peng, you¡¯re not. You don¡¯t heed good advice; you¡¯re a muddled ruler." "You¡¯ve been with the Fourth Team, and now you call me Old Peng?" themander of Team Seven grinned. Xiao Si nodded, "A ruler unloved by his subjects won¡¯t have a good temple name." Amidst theughter, Mu Zhiyang strutted into the hall, holding a stack of printouts. The drug users were all sent to the interrogation center and had no right to loiter in the hall; everyone didn¡¯t care much about who they were specifically. Drug users were simply how ordinary police officers described and understood ordinary drug offenders; no one delved deeply into their emotions, understood their sorrows, or grasped the life stories behind them¡ªthat was for artists to discuss, who might even be drug users themselves. Some always liked to make decisions against their ancestors¡¯ wishes and then expected the mainstream world to respect them; unfortunately, the mainstream world was never that great, only offering returns that matched its interests rather than morality. Under Tao Lu¡¯s distribution, the drug users¡¯ names were distributed among the teams. Next, each team went to interrogate the drug users they had just been assigned, to see if they could uncover other suspects or cases. It all depended on them now. Everyone was unusually proactive. It was also because the Zhengguang Bureau hadn¡¯t had any major cases recently, so everyone had the capacity to focus on these smaller objectives. If there had been an unresolved homicide, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to focus on this at all. While Tao Lu was still there, Liu Wenkai stepped forward and said, "Tao, we in Ningtai have just nabbed some drug users, and it¡¯s quite likely we will be arresting more, possibly even drug traffickers. Do you think you could help us coordinate with the Drug Enforcement Brigade, especially regarding the necessary equipment, so we can get things set up in advance?" If anyone else had made such a request, Tao Lu would likely have directly dismissed it. But since Liu Wenkai was speaking on behalf of Jiang Yuan, Tao Lu gave it some consideration and asked, "What equipment do you need?" Liu Wenkai, who actually had experience in drug enforcement, replied without hesitation, "A portable X-ray machine, trace evidence detector, and police dogs." Tao Lu raised an eyebrow, "How big of an operation are you nning?" "It¡¯s better to be prepared. At least we should be able to secure them when needed," Liu Wenkai said. Tao Lu thought for a moment and said, "We definitely have those items, so it¡¯s not a big problem... but after all, we are the Criminal Police Brigade, our preparations might not be as thorough as specialized units." Among these items, police dogs are naturally capable of detecting drugs, but it¡¯s not that simple. Different dogs undergo different training, and can recognize different types of drugs. Another point is that the working time for a police dog is actually very short, mainly because their sense of smell is only sharp for a limited time, after which their efficiency and uracy significantly decrease. The advantage of a portable X-ray machine is its long working time, which allows for X-raying various objects, such as car wheels or fuel tanksmonly used for smuggling drugs. Trace evidence detectors are now quitemon in airports. Passengers, upon entering an airport, are often swiped with a piece of paper by the security officer, who then inserts it into a machine¡ªthat¡¯s the trace evidence detector, which can detect substances down to the nanogram level. However, those used in airports primarily target explosives and are slightly different from those used by police for drug detection. But all these items have one thing inmon¡ªthey are expensive. Not to mention the police dogs, which are precious assets that money can¡¯t buy. A portable X-ray machine alone costs over a hundred thousand Yuan each, and often, one was not enough. Trace evidence detectors are even more expensive, and theoretically, more are needed. But these items are indeed very useful. For instance, with a portable X-ray machine, every suspicious vehicle can be inspected, which is much more stable than using dogs. And the advantage of using dogs is also significant. They are actually the most efficient drug detection tool. In theory, a drug-sniffing dog can inspect the contents of a truck in just five to six minutes. Moreover, they can sniff people, which X-ray machines cannot do. "If we really fall short, I can bring some over from Ningtai. We have gathered some basic equipment there," Huang Qiangmin casually suggested. "No need to be polite¡ªit¡¯s just equipment," Tao Lu was not keen on using Huang Qiangmin¡¯s equipment; he wasn¡¯t even sure where it hade from. Hesitating briefly, he added, "As for the police dogs, we would need the cooperation of the K9 unit, and they can¡¯t be dispatched at a moment¡¯s notice." Police dogs have working hour requirements, typically avoiding overtime when possible, "We have police dogs too," said Huang Qiangmin confidently. The workload for the K9 team in Ningtai County was incredibly light, almost to the point of affecting their training. Sending them to the Zhengguang Bureau to work could be considered a sort of rental. Tao Lu thought it over and agreed, then added, "Drug enforcement cases are quite unique, so Jiang Yuan also needs to ensure his safety. Actually, the bureau still has quite a backlog of cases..." "Let¡¯s rest, deal with the backlogter, and allow everyone some time to recuperate," Jiang Yuan replied sincerely. Tao Lu smiled wryly and nodded. "If we are to transfer Dazhuang here, it¡¯d be best to check out the working and training environment for the police dogs on their side first," Jiang Yuan thought of Dazhuang, whom he had not seen for a long time and felt his mood lift. He discussed the matter further while texting his father. Dogs are different from humans; humans often like to try various local specialties, whereas dogs usually prefer familiar smells. And speaking of Ningtai¡¯s food, the best by far was produced by the Jiang Family Ranch. Chapter 846 - 786: Doesn’t Seem Made Up

Chapter 846: Chapter 786: Doesn¡¯t Seem Made Up

Gurgle, gurgle. Arge iron pot contained beef stacked in the shape of a pyramid, the pieces jutting out just a bit as the hot water bubbled around the sides of the beef, asionally surging, while steaming more heat into the air. The chunks of beef were each about the size of four fists, gently rolling in the simmering water. Beef of this size cooked very slowly, but the meat inside would be extremely tender. If you extravagantly peeled away the outeryer of meat, leaving two fingers¡¯ thickness behind, what remained inside essentially became like what¡¯s called "low-temperature, slow-cooked" in modern cuisine. Jiang Fuzhen would asionally adjust the positions of the beef. He loved inviting people over for meals and enjoyed the process of preparing food on thisrge scale. If it were just Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan eating together, they wouldn¡¯t be able to finish even one of these chunks of beef, let alone a whole pot. Besides, who would they give the discarded two fingers¡¯ thickness of outeryer to? Jiang Fuzhen, who had known hardship, would never indulge in such pure wastefulness. Even when it came to dogs, Jiang Fuzhen only allowed Jiang Yuan to feed beef to the police dogs. Stray dogs were given only the scraps of the scraps, and that was only when he had enough produce of his own. However, with enough people, food would be consumed very quickly. Jiang Fuzhen nned to cut two pieces of beef today, one he would not split but cut intorge slices¡ª after poaching, it would be served with dipping sauce. The other piece, he would take the core, simply sprinkle salt over it, not even adding pepper, savoring the pure taste of the beef. The prepared beef could be considered a fully-cooked steak, and high-quality at that, slow-cooked at low temperatures. The only difference from a typical steak was the charred crust on the exterior, which usually appears from grilling or frying at high temperatures, and this Maird reaction was key to the deliciousness of a steak. As for this aspect, Jiang Fuzhen didn¡¯t pay much attention. His creation was not meant to be a steak; it just happened to bear a great resemnce to one. Moreover, if someone wanted the experience of eating a steak, pan-searing on a hot cooktop was the easiest step of all. Besides, the beef cut from the outer ring was also extraordinarily delicious. It absorbed the rich beef broth, and those businesses that injected their meat with hydrating agents and used high-tech processes sought to achieve this same effect. The Shaanxi-style pork-stuffed buns enjoyed having minced meat stuffed into white tbreads, drenched with some broth inside, aiming for the same tantalizing effect. Therefore, the second delicacy Jiang Fuzhen had prepared was the meat-stuffed bun. He decided to use the Shaanxi-style tbreads but not with sauce-coated meat; instead, he would season the boiled beef and then stuff it inside the bread. The master chef had also learned his skills in Xi¡¯an¡ª from kneading the dough, allowing it to rise, to shaping and baking it, he did every step independently. It just required waking up a bit early in the morning. By the time Huang Qiangmin and others arrived at Jiang Yuan¡¯s ce, they were already greeted by the rich aroma of beef. "Wow, your boiled beef smells incredible; even the people next door are being tempted by it," eximed Huang Qiangmin, leading the way and offering his praise spontaneously. Jiang Fuzhen giggled, bashfully replying, "The neighbors across the street did have someints, so I bought their ce. I¡¯m going to knock through it and renovate soon, turning it into a guest room or maybe a recreation room. You guys cane over to y cards if you want. I should mention, though, I don¡¯t y cards. You can just enjoy yourselves." Huang Qiangmin paused, "There¡¯s no purchase limit?" "It¡¯s bought by thepany. I¡¯ve almost finished setting it up; it should be ready in a week or two," Jiang Fuzhen exined. Cui Qishan, who asionally liked to y cards, rubbed the back of his head, "Well, that¡¯s very generous of you, but we might end up ying through the night and disturb your sleep." "I can simply sleep upstairs. There are plenty of empty houses in this neighborhood. If you¡¯re tired, just go sleep in the guest room. There¡¯s a housekeeper whoes in the morning to clean up, just like a hotel," Jiang Fuzhen said while inviting everyone to sit down. Soon, Cui Qishan found himself holding half of a tbread in his hands. "Nibble on this to tide you over, eat less, it¡¯s also good for the appetite," Jiang Fuzhen said expertly, smiling warmly, "When we start eating, you can have a few bites of carbs, it won¡¯t take up much space in your stomach." "Jiang, you¡¯re too kind," Cui Qishan was nearly moved to tears. "As long as you enjoy the food, that¡¯s good. Take a seat for now, we¡¯ll start the meal in a bit. There¡¯s also fried rice and pasta made by Jiang Yuan. That silly guy focuses on carbs day in and out. It¡¯s quite tasty, just fills you up quickly!" Jiang Fuzhen ushered everyone inside. The guests from Zhengguang Bureau were not numerous that day, just over twenty people, but the officers from Ningtai were too many, crowding the room. The guests of honor were the police dog squad, led by Dazhuang. The Ningtai County police dog squad now had three police dogs with the leading Rottweiler as the oldest resident. The two newest recruits had just started serving: one was a German Shepherd named Er Zhuang, and the other, a Beagle named San Zhuang. This naming convention was decided upon the squad¡¯s establishment. Back then, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment was too poor to do much more than secure a training ground and build a kennel. When it finally came to keeping dogs, Huang Qiangmin winced at the cost. For several years, there was only Dazhuang in the squad. Things were different now. The newly arrived Er Zhuang was a top graduate from the police academy, outshining 99% of policemen just by schooling, acquired with strong support from the Shannan Provincial Department. San Zhuang, the Beagle, had a lower rank, not serving as a dual-purposebat dog like the Rottweiler or German Shepherd. But as a drug sniffer, its efficiency was outstanding, and its intelligence high, fitting the demands of police departments everywhere, making it an extremely popr choice. Chapter 847 - 786: Doesn’t Seem Made Up _2

Chapter 847: Chapter 786: Doesn¡¯t Seem Made Up _2

Tao Lu was really happy to see the three police dogs. He could afford to keep police dogs, but the allocation for police dogs was already full, and the demand for police dogs within Beijing was simply too high. "Huang is really capable. These three dogs are all good dogs," Tao Lu came to realize, which made him feel better. Huang Qiangmin nodded confidently, "We carefully selected them. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan having taken down Jianyuan Pharmaceutical in Qinghe City in one fell swoop, we wouldn¡¯t have even brought out these police dogs due to their few work opportunities. Our Dazhuang even gets carsick, right, Dazhuang?" As Huang Qiangmin spoke, he turned his face toward the dog. Dazhuang let out a whimper, his eyes locked on Jiang Yuan unwilling to veer away. Li Li felt a long-absent pang of jealousy, tugging on Dazhuang¡¯s leash, she said, "Your meal allowance has been raised to 120 Yuan, why are you still looking at Jiang Yuan? Ungrateful." Xiao Si raised his eyebrows when he heard this: "This dog¡¯s monthly meal expenses are 3600? My living expenses aren¡¯t even 3600." "It¡¯s 3600 for meals, not living expenses. It doesn¡¯t include transportation costs,munication costs, or money for rent and mortgage," Li Li emphasized, adding, "Our Dazhuang has consecutively earned merit, receiving Second-ss Merit once and Third-ss Merit four times; he¡¯s already a meritorious dog!" When she mentioned the meritorious dog, she intentionally turned towards Dazhuang. Dazhuang immediately showed a smug expression, almost identical to Li Li¡¯s. Then, Dazhuang also showcased his two food bowls. Not to mention that he learned this from Dahei in Longli County, this was a characteristic of the Qinghe City police dog team. Er Zhuang and San Zhuang enviously looked at Dazhuang¡¯s food bowls, helpless. "Are all dogs in Ningtai Second-ss Merit?" Xiao Si clucked his tongue twice. Li Li stood tall and proud, saying, "Our Dazhuang has assisted in solving over ten cases. Commissioner Huang just mentioned Jianyuan Pharmaceutical in Qinghe City, which was recently sentenced, resulting in the immediate execution of over thirty people and hundreds sentenced to more than ten years. An entire drug traffickingwork waspletely destroyed, our Dazhuang¡¯s cor is stained with blood." While Li Li was praising Dazhuang, the Zhengguang Bureau detectives present seemed to automatically y a chant in their minds: Ningtai Jiangyuan, with a fierce and raging presence... "Dinner time!" Jiang Fuzhen happily brought out arge basin of meat, serving slices to the guests while smiling, "We have few friends in Beijing, it¡¯s rare to gather so many people today, it¡¯s quite special..." The master chefs in the kitchen also busily began serving various dishes and snacks. After the three police dogs acted cute, they were led to the yard outside. Jiang Yuan also brought out the prepared dog food. Today, he activated a temporary skill +1, elevating the dog food from Level 5 to Level 6 which had no color variations; on the contrary, the dog food Jiang Yuan brought out today only consisted of yellow, blue, grey, white, and ck - the limit of colors a dog can recognize. The vor was primarily sweet. Dogs preferred simple sweet vors, which also didn¡¯t require much effort to prepare. However, in terms of smell, to give the utmost respect to the dogs¡¯ 300 million olfactory cells, Jiang Yuan chose a rich assortment of ingredients, primarily meat. What dogs loved most was always meat! Level 6 dog food fully respected the dogs¡¯ needs, it looked even more ordinary than Level 5 dog food, but after the vor was fully released, two trainers almost couldn¡¯t hold back their dogs. The trainer of the Schutzund dog could hold on, he was a man with muscle strength not inferior to a squadron, keeping the Schutzund dog¡¯s neck in his grip as he left its legs hanging in the air. Watching his two older brothers forcefully scuffling on the ground, San Zhuang shamefully lowered his head. "Go ahead and eat!" Jiang Yuan filled both of Dazhuang¡¯s bowls with Level 6 dog food, and though the quantity was calcted ording to the rules, dividing it into two bowls made Dazhuang even happier. After three rounds of meat and a variety of vors in pastries, Jiang Fuzhen had someone fully open the windows and doors, allowing the fresh breeze to blow in, refreshing everyone present. Those not on duty quietly enjoyed their drinks, Tao Lu and others saw the time, feeling embarrassed to start drinking. Mu Zhiyang, seeing this,ughed and brought over a case of beer, saying, "Today is a holiday, let¡¯s wait for another work time to end, I¡¯ve set an rm. When the timees, we¡¯ll start drinking." "I won¡¯t be drinking," Tao Lu waved his hand, standing up and saying, "I¡¯ll head back first, if I stay, you all won¡¯t have as much fun..." He took a few steps, and Cui Qishan¡¯s phone rang first. Everyone nced at Cui Qishan. "Forgot to turn off the ringer, sorry," Cui Qishan said while answering the phone. After a long conversation, Cui Qishan hung up and looked at Tao Lu. Tao Lu waved and silently left the room. Cui Qishan hurriedly said, "Captain Jiang, pleasee as well." Jiang Yuan then followed him out. Outside, the wind was stronger, cold. "We have a drug user who confessed, iming to know about a homicide," Cui Qishan sighed, "It doesn¡¯t sound made up." "What did he say?" "He said the drug dealers used a liquid for dissolving bodies. The body was thrown into arge stic barrel,pletely dissolved, then poured out," Cui Qishan paused, then added, "He described the details quite thoroughly..." "Let me see the record." Jiang Yuan directly took Cui Qishan¡¯s phone to read. "The interrogating officer said it bears some resemnce to a scene from ¡¯Breaking Bad¡¯, but it¡¯s richer and more detailed," Cui Qishan exined for Tao Lu¡¯s benefit, "Breaking Bad is an American TV show where they start by dissolving a person with a chemical. It¡¯s quite famous. However, the drug user¡¯s expression ability is weak, and he has only a middle school education, iming he¡¯s never seen Breaking Bad." "Do you think he could make this up?" Tao Lu asked. "Old Qiu also interrogated him. He doesn¡¯t think it was made up either," Cui Qishan said. "Middle school education likely couldn¡¯t fabricate this... It¡¯s very possible it¡¯s not made up," Jiang Yuan had finished reading the notes on the phone, saying, "The reagent used in Breaking Bad is wrong; using it to dissolve bodies isn¡¯t very effective and is quite dangerous." "Wrong?" Cui Qishan was surprised. "Yes, the show depicted Hydrofluoric acid, which is harmful to the body and not very effective for dissolving bodies. They probably chose it deliberately. The consultant wouldn¡¯t be that weak. A more suitable form would be XX mixed with YY... This has a characteristic of producing a lot of mist when dissolving bodies..." Jiang Yuan pointed out a segment in the interview notes to show Cui Qishan and Tao Lu, saying, "Here it mentions seeing a lot of smoke enveloping the people nearby... This isn¡¯t something he could make up; at least he must have read something to know this." Chapter 848 - 787: Difficulty Levels

Chapter 848: Chapter 787: Difficulty Levels

The factory wasrge, damaged as if it had been bombed. The red brick exterior walls were dirty and broken, the ceiling tattered and torn, the supporting concrete pirs looked fine but were covered with graffiti, urine stains, and unidentifiable filth. The interior ground of the factory was uneven with sewage flowing everywhere, covered with excrement from humans, dogs, cats, mice, birds, and insects. On the rtively intact walls on the east and west sides of the factory, there were piles of bricks and stones. Covered with a few stic tarps, they served as nests where people could sleep. Zhang Jigu, whose cheeks were sunken from drug use, had his hands cuffed. Pointing to a corner, he said, "I was lying right there at that time, covered with something, not daring to move." "Which way was your head facing?" Meng Chengbiao hade with Jiang Yuan, and he had been asking for details all the way. Details are the hardest to fabricate and the easiest to give you away. It¡¯s said that a person cannot imagine something they¡¯ve never seen before. If Zhang Jigu had never seen someone dissolve a body, he probably wouldn¡¯t even think of it. And at the scene of identification, details are the crucial step that determines sess or failure. Zhang Jigu looked back and replied, "Facing away from that door, the wind was too strong over there." Meng Chengbiao walked over there, bent down, and looked close to the ground for a while. The ground was just too dirty, and there were bugs more terrifying than rats¡ªMeng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t lie down. This also indicated that, so far, the case wasn¡¯t yet worth being ssified as a murder or part of a series of serious crimes. "What were you covered with?" Meng again asked. Zhang Jigu thought for a moment and said, "Bed sheets, clothes, all stacked with paper, the kind for packaging express deliveries. Piled high, blocking the wind. I didn¡¯te out even to sleep." "What about going to the toilet? What about urinating?" Mu Zhiyang asked. Zhang Jigu replied, "Some people just wet their pants¡ªI mean some people... I generally drink less water and don¡¯t go to the toilet at night." "How long had you been sleeping here?" "I was all sleeping inside that day." "What specific time?" "Around noon, I guess. It was pretty cold, so I didn¡¯t get up, and then those guys came. I recognized one of them, nicknamed Duan Zhang, thest three fingers of his left hand had been chopped off. He¡¯s a tough one, so I just hid and didn¡¯t move." "How long did they take to dissolve the body?" "Several hours, I think." "In several hours¡¯ time, with so many cardboard boxes and such on you, you didn¡¯t make any noise?" "I was wearing a down jacket, and I¡¯m no vagrant... I quietly pushed the cardboard boxes aside and hid behind them," Zhang Jigu spoke earnestly, then added, "If you don¡¯t believe me, I can show you how I did it." "You¡¯ll have a chance to perform in a bit," Meng Chengbiao pressed, continuing to question him. Jiang Yuan walked towards the spot Zhang Jigu had indicated where the body was dissolved, having listened to the exchange. When dissolving bodies with chemical agents, most people instinctively think that if the right solvent is used, the body can be quickly dissolved. In fact, the opposite is true. Dissolving a body takes time, and even if the operation is smooth, it often requires at least a few hours to start. Sometimes stirring or even adding more agents is necessary. Simr is the case with incinerating bodies; many people believe that some fuel or dousing with diesel will do the job, but it¡¯s not that simple. Incinerate a few bodies and you¡¯ll understand that elerants such as diesel are almost a necessity, and to ensure fullbustion of a body, without professional equipment, it¡¯s best to keep watch. With a particrly appropriate analogy, when burning paper for the ancestors, if you don¡¯t asionally stir the pile, despite therge mes, a lot of paper will still curl up inside the fire, not burningpletely. For them to burn down thoroughly, it takes time. Imagine a pile of paper weighing 80 kilograms burning together¡ªit would take a lot of time as well. Simr is the principle when using a solution to dissolve something. If not cut into pieces, the solution dissolves from the outside in. And once the outeryer of flesh reacts with the solvent, the nature of the outermost solution naturally changes. Whether using acid or alkali, it¡¯s like being partially neutralized. So, if you want the solvent to work fast, it¡¯s best for the solvent to be able to... right. At this point, another requirement is deduced¡ªthat the dissolution of a body is best done during the day, or at least under good lighting. Otherwise, an idental ssh of acids and alkalis can cause painsting two or three months. Considering the state of this broken factory, if dissolving a body at night, lights would have to be turned on, which is actually unsafe and can lead to discovery. So, disposing of bodies during the day seems particrly reasonable. However, fantasizing that a body could be dissolved without leaving a trace, that¡¯s another fantasy altogether. Jiang Yuan wandered around the empty space inside the factory building and then motioned for people toe over. "Where they dumped the waste liquid," Jiang Yuan pointed out. The acid capable of dissolving bodies would severely corrode the ground, something anyone could notice at a nce. Two crime scene technicians immediately went to work, setting up yellow markers and began snapping photos. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan observed the corroded ground. This was a significant drawback of using acid to dissolve bodies. To deal with the waste acid, it would need to be neutralized, but that raises even higher demands, on the one hand, it makes the process moreplicated and dangerous, and on the other hand, hundreds of pounds of acid might need hundreds of pounds of alkali to neutralize it, doubling the required materials. Furthermore, precise neutralization is basically impossible, as it calls for too high a degree of uracy. But if it can¡¯t be neutralized exactly, how do you handle the remaining acid or alkali? The best solution Jiang Yuan could think of was to use an excess of alkali to neutralize the acid and then carry the remaining alkali bottles back home. "Find out where this pipe leads. Start digging from where they dumped it and follow it along. Dig for 20 meters and see," Jiang Yuan now spoke with confidence. Of course, since they were already digging, making the trench a bit longer was normal. Xiao Si, who was close by, immediately went to make arrangements. Zhang Jigu, who was handcuffed, shrank back upon hearing this. He was no stranger to detention facilities. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯smand and seeing the focus of the surrounding police officers, he silently prayed and felt that the Duan Zhang gang was likely in for trouble. When the police get serious, they can be truly formidable. "Over here. They must have burned the stic barrels," Jiang Yuan walked a few steps and pointed to another spot. It must be said that if it weren¡¯t for Zhang Jigu tipping them off, it would have been very hard for the police to investigate this case independently here. Most of the evidence could have other exnations, including the acid-washing marks. Is it not reasonable to find such marks in an old factory building? Although now it seems that the acid-washing resembles more of dumping, this requires forensic experts to determine, something most ordinary police officers wouldn¡¯t be certain about. Other things, such as the traces of burning stic barrels, don¡¯t even need exining. In an old factory frequented by vagrants, it¡¯spletely normal for someone to light a fire for warmth. But if you consider this factory as a crime scene, then there are a multitude of forensic methods to apply; the ce is full of traces. Especially with Jiang Yuan¡¯s level of examination expertise, it became even easier: "Here, there might be bloodstains. Test them, and then call a sniffer dog over." "Here, tool marks. Looks like someone idling here was ying with a knife. Catch him andterpare the marks." "Check the nearby surveince." Jiang Yuan turned back and said to Cui Qishan, "We can basically confirm there¡¯s been a murder here. Just no body." In typical cases, a murder investigation wouldn¡¯t proceed without a body. Or to put it another way, the first step in a murder investigation is at least to find the body. However, since Jiang Yuan has suggested there¡¯s been a murder, Cui Qishan and the others naturally epted it. Following the trail of a murder case, Cui Qishan quickly thought it over and said, "Zhang Jigu knows a drug dealer¡¯sckey, nicknamed Duan Zhang, that should be easy to handle. Just ask around to find out who he¡¯s connected to. Bring him in for questioning, and this case won¡¯t stay hidden." "Okay," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Catch them first if possible or rely on DNA. That¡¯s the mainstream approach now. Several people continued searching the factorypound. Shortly after, news came from the city center: "Duan Zhang has been missing for several months now. Rumor has it he was taken out." Cui Qishan took the call and with a sense of resignation told Jiang Yuan, "The fewckeys who hung around with him have also run away." Chapter 849 - 788 Pursuit

Chapter 849: Chapter 788 Pursuit

"Duan Zhang¡¯s older brother is called Coconut Meat; he dealt in heroin and was quite a notorious wrecker. We had our eyes on him since a year ago and about six months back, we pooled together various forces to wipe out Coconut Meat and several other wreckers, including their associated members, in one fell swoop. Coconut Meat took hostages and was killed on the spot." Shi Zhonglong from the Narcotics Brigade gave a rough overview, leaving Jiang Yuan and the others looking at each other in bewilderment. "Coconut Meat is dead, Duan Zhang¡¯s life or death is uncertain, and several of his minions have fled..." Cui Qishan summed up the situation and couldn¡¯t help asking, "So, does this mean our case is closed?" "Pretty much. The line with Coconut Meat is essentially dead," Shi Zhonglong said. "What about the level above? What about Coconut Meat¡¯s boss?" Jiang Yuan pressed. "He doesn¡¯t have a boss anymore." "Is the scale that small? Coconut Meat didn¡¯t seem like a very high-level drug dealer." "That¡¯s the environment nowadays. Big-time drug lords seldom cross into our territory anymore, nor do they need to. They develop small wreckers inside the country. Ayer below these small wreckers is usually sufficient. The drugs are brought in by disposable mules, normally in a ry. If theyplete five or six out of ten deliveries, they can make a killing." Shi Zhonglong exined the on-the-ground narcotics situation and then said, "Those big drug lords abroad contact groups specialized in tel fraud and debt collection to buy lists, targeting desperate people. It might be hard for the average person to imagine, but some are willing to swallow 500 grams of drugs wrapped up for a mere 20,000 or even 5,000 yuan and transport them by ne." "These disposable mules, from abroad to our country and from the border ind, just need to follow instructions on apps like Telegram. Whatever they¡¯re told to drop off, they drop off. Wreckers like Coconut Meat do the same but pay with Bitcoin and such, and then they receive an address to pick up the goods." Jiang Yuan understood, "So, this means the big drug lords have be very safe." "Yes, they basically require cross-border enforcement to be effective," Shi Zhonglong nodded in agreement, "like taking out the ¡¯hive¡¯ of the insectoid species." "If the drug lords aren¡¯t in the country, they probably aren¡¯t involved in murder cases," Jiang Yuan said, his goal clear, and then reviewing the case files he had seen, "ording to witness testimony, besides Duan Zhang, Coconut Meat had several other minions. Were these individuals on the same level as Duan Zhang? Do you know their whereabouts?" "Your informant is a drug user, right?" Shi Zhonglong from the Narcotics Brigade said. "If he only recognizes Duan Zhang and not the others. Duan Zhang started as a lowly frence minion, while the others under Coconut Meat were originally his bodyguards. Once promoted, outside drug users wouldn¡¯t recognize them, which is safer. However, those who worked for Coconut Meat and survived have gradually disappeared." "Has someone new taken over?" Cui Qishan was starting to understand. Shi Zhonglong silently nodded, "The good news is that the supply of heroin has noticeably decreased; that stuff has a very high mortality rate. Regarding Coconut Meat¡¯s line, at Duan Zhang¡¯s level, there might have been six people. We killed one, arrested three, but missed two who were elsewhere during the raid. It¡¯s uncertain whether they¡¯re dead or alive now. There might still be some of the lower-level minions scattered around." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, "Not counting the one killed, we could re-interrogate the three arrested to confirm the details of this case. It would also be good to ask them about any involvement in other murder cases, although they likely won¡¯t tell us without a fight... What about the two who got away, one is Duan Zhang, but who is the other?" "Niu Er. He may have fled out of town. We previously had a rough fix on his location but didn¡¯t find him. These people are cunning, always prepared for such a scenario," Shi Zhonglong was not dismayed by the setback. Career criminals and ordinary suspects are entirely different creatures. For instance, for the typical murder suspect on the run, the first three days are the most perilous; many hide in another familiar city, which the task force can often predict, but it¡¯s still a decent option. That¡¯s because getting captured in a strange city is much more likely. With the many technical methods avable to the police today, if they manage the scenario well, not to mention staying in hotels or taking high-speed trains, suspects might already be caught on camera at checkpoints when leaving the city. However, the case differs if it¡¯s a professional criminal who¡¯s well-prepared. Firstly, scouting escape routes is safe when no crime is beingmitted, and secondly, on determined routes andworks, one can make certain arrangements in advance. Jiang Yuan, for instance, once encountered an instance where several clean, fully-fueled cars were ced in a safe yard ready for use. Just changing cars mid-journey can waste a tremendous amount of police time and efforts. And if there¡¯s additional preparation like money, escape routes, and safe houses, safety levels can rival those of a spy. Average people shouldn¡¯t try this; those who can afford such arrangements generally aren¡¯t average by any means. The difficulty in capturing drug dealers is also rted to money. Wealthy people are harder to capture because they face fewer restrictions and have more options. For example, hiring an unlicensed vehicle for escape, getting off at some out-of-the-way location, and then buying a motorcycle to get away, makes the suspect 100 times harder to catch than one escaping on a bus. And typically, criminals are rather poor, including middle-ss men who flee in a panic after killing their wives, often ending up broke and turning themselves in after just a couple of days. Starving. Duan Zhang and Niu Er, of this level, naturally had money in their hands, and with some preparation, once they escaped, pursuing them would be extremely difficult. Jiang Yuan and Cui Qishan naturally knew this as well. The two men exchanged nces and Jiang Yuan said, "Then let¡¯s start with Niu Er, catch one at a time. Additionally, it would be best topile a list of these people¡¯s underlings, bring them in for questioning first." Upon hearing this, Shi Zhonglong sensed the tempo of a sweeping arrest, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are they implicated in some major case?" Cui Qishan looked at Jiang Yuan, then said to Shi Zhonglong, "They¡¯re dissolving bodies with acid, one case has been confirmed so far, we need to see how many cases they¡¯re involved in altogether." Shi Zhonglong was startled upon hearing this, then his eyes lit up, "Should we establish a joint task force for this case?" "That¡¯s for you to discuss with our Tao," Cui Qishan was cautious tomit. Shi Zhonglong nodded, took out his mobile phone, and said, "I¡¯ll let our brigade leader know." The Drug Enforcement Brigade operated on a different track, and their day-to-day work didn¡¯t intersect too much with the Criminal Police Brigade. However, this time, with involvement of drug dealers, narcotics lines, and homicide, it was indeed very fitting for the two brigades to coborate on the case. "While they¡¯re having their discussion, let¡¯s take a look at the case," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to concern himself with how the joint task force was formed and asked Shi Zhonglong, "Have you guys pursued Niu Er before? Can we take a look at his file?" "Eh, start now?" Shi Zhonglong was somewhat surprised by Jiang Yuan¡¯s swift action. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Catch them as soon as possible. With so many people, it will probably take several days to catch them one by one." Shi Zhonglong couldn¡¯t help but size up Jiang Yuan and chuckled, "You really live up to the name of Ningtai Jiangyuan... Your approach is different from ours. Let¡¯s go to our brigade then. All the files are there." Shi Zhonglong was always quite humble, after all, the attitude for cooperation was there, and if someone was willing to catch drug traffickers, the Drug Enforcement Brigade couldn¡¯t be happier. As for Jiang Yuan¡¯s attitude, it was also quite humble; he had been traveling around various ces for over the past year, whether it was arresting people or investigating, in fact, all needed the cooperation of various parties, it¡¯s just that when it came to the case, his estimate was somewhat realistic. Cui Qishan hurriedly cleared his throat twice, spoke of some trivial matters, then ushered everyone out the door. The Drug Enforcement Brigade had their own building. When Shi Zhonglong brought Jiang Yuan over, the brigade leader also came out of his office and expressed his wee. Then, with about a dozen people crowding around, Jiang Yuan sat down in the meeting room in what appeared to be a very lively social pattern. Jiang Yuan took the lead in the conversation, "Let¡¯s start with Niu Er¡¯s dossier. You mentioned there was a general location previously, where exactly is it? Is there video footage?" Jiang Yuan was thinking about the new skill he had obtained, Image Investigation ¡ª Trajectory Analysis (Level 6). He had tried using the skill on theputer himself and found it quite effective. Of course, all investigative skills arepetitive; whether Level 6 Trajectory Analysis is effective or not depends on Niu Er¡¯s eluding capabilities. On the other end, Shi Zhonglong reported the situation to the brigade leader, then said, "We tracked Niu Er to Luo Jin City, and the subsequent search to Luo Jin City revealed that their image investigation team was busy with a major case and their cooperation wasn¡¯t very enthusiastic. For the specific video footage, we may need to visit Luo Jin City to review it..." Jiang Yuan smiled when he heard "Luo Jin City," waited for Shi Zhonglong to finish, then said, "Speaking of which, it¡¯s just right; one of my apprentices is in Luo Jin City. I¡¯ll ask him." "That¡¯s good too," Shi Zhonglong also smiled slightly, thinking to himself, what good would finding a young police officer do, even if he¡¯s from Luo Jin City. Jiang Yuan wanted to resolve the case while all parties were present and immediately called Pang Jidong on his mobile phone, "Jidong, I¡¯ve got a suspect who¡¯s fled to Luo Jin..." Shi Zhonglong, who had interacted with Luo Jin City several times, and the brigade leader as well, lifted their eyebrows upon hearing the somewhat familiar name. Chapter 850 - 789: Running the Map (Requesting Monthly Pass)

Chapter 850: Chapter 789: Running the Map (Requesting Monthly Pass)

"I have some leaders from the Zhengguang Bureau Anti-Drug Brigade here with me, I¡¯m putting you on speaker," Jiang Yuan told Pang Jidong on the other end of the phone, then turned on the speakerphone and ced it at the center of the conference table. "Okay, Master," Pang Jidong quickly responded, and then greeted with augh, "Hello everyone, I¡¯m Pang Jidong from the Luo Jin City Criminal Police Brigade Fourth Squadron." "Captain Pang, hello, hello, I¡¯m Shi Zhonglong from the Anti-Drug Brigade; we¡¯ve probably met before, haha..." Shi Zhonglong had actually been to Luo Jin City to make arrests and had spent some time there, so he remembered several of the squadron leaders there. Looking up at Jiang Yuan, Shi Zhonglong was both curious and striking up a conversation, "Captain Pang, when did you be an apprentice to Doctor Jiang?" "It¡¯s been about a year. My master is very serious about teaching me; I even went to Beijing not long ago to study with him for over a month," Pang Jidong introduced himself cheerfully, without going intoplete detail, as he didn¡¯t know the situation on the other end and naturally wanted to support his master in the situation. The leaders from the Anti-Drug Brigade quickly exchanged greetings. It was only then that Shi Zhonglong and the others finally confirmed that Jiang Yuan was indeed Pang Jidong¡¯s master and that it was a formal apprenticeship, with teaching and learning involved. Within the policemunity, such mentor-apprentice rtionships are rtively traditional, and they are quitemon and highly respected. The room full of people nced at each other, smoking cigarettes, and looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, all falling into thought. Ningtai Jiang Yuan, utterly outrageous! Snap. Jiang Yuan took out a cigarette, preparing to fend off second-hand smoke, and flicked his lighter without lighting it. Shi Zhonglong quickly reached for the lighter in front of him and lit Jiang Yuan¡¯s cigarette for him. Jiang Yuan nodded in thanks to Shi Zhonglong, then addressed the phone, "Jidong, we now need to trace a drug trafficker known as Niu Er. Thest information we found was that he called his girlfriend from Luo Jin City. We have his location at the time of the call; see if it¡¯s convenient for you to follow up..." Niu Er had fled in a panic, leaving many goods and money at his home and his girlfriend¡¯s ce. The reason Niu Er made the call was to have his girlfriend help hide the goods and transfer the money. As for whether his girlfriend was under police surveince, he couldn¡¯t afford to think about that at the time. That was thest message from Niu Er; afterward, he vanished without a trace, probably having assumed a new identity by then. Pang Jidong listened carefully as Jiang Yuan exined the case, then said, "That¡¯s easy, I¡¯ll first speak to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, then head to themand center. All our footage is streamlined there now..." The Luo Jin City Criminal Police only go up to the brigade level, and the subordinate image investigation units are also at the brigade level, simr to those in Changyang City. Byparison, the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team only reaches the squadron level, and image investigation previously had just an office with three people. Jiang Yuan first hung up the phone, then spread out the case file of Niu Er and started to read. Li Qian, the head of the Anti-Drug Brigade, thought for a moment and decided to stay, eager to root out the heroinwork now that they had made contact with Luo Jin City¡¯s side, which was more traditional than the synthetic drug routes. If they could take it down, it would be difficult to regroup quickly, and drug dealers would have to pay a higher price to resume operations. Cui Qishan coughed twice, taking on the task of diplomacy. While the room was cloaked in a hazy atmosphere from smoking, creating a feeling like an "Immortal Realm," Pang Jidong¡¯s call came through again. Several technicians then took over, getting to work. Soon, therge disy in the Anti-Drug Brigade¡¯s meeting room was synced with the content from the Luo Jin City Image Reconnaissance Brigade¡¯s screens. "Master, let me know which time and ce you want to check the surveince footage for," Pang Jidong was already familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods and knew that video resources were his current priority. Jiang Yuan turned to look at Captain Shi. Shi Zhonglong immediately reported the time and ce. The Luo Jin city image investigation swiftly pulled up a 9-screen disy, and said, "These are the main intersections in the Wufeng District with vehicle checkpoints and facial recognition cameras. I have just run the facial recognition, and there¡¯s no match for Niu Er." The cameras at the facial recognition checkpoints are very clear, almost as good as a smartphone camera ced close to the face. The pedestrian walkways and intersections where people usually pass by are captured by the cameras. If someone isn¡¯t paying attention, they will definitely be photographed. If someone is especially careful so as not to be captured, they obviously need to be paid more attention to. "Run a set for faces with masks," Jiang Yuan said after checking the software model used by Luo Jin City, issuing an order. The Luo Jin City image investigation team responded and quickly brought up arge number of images, "There are 2720 images." "Add sunsses. Look for those wearing masks and sunsses at the same time," Jiang Yuan instructed. The Luo Jin City image investigation team followed through, and this time, there were only a little over twenty images. Jiang Yuan and his team reviewed each one, but unfortunately, found no match for Niu Er. "That might take a while, maybe we can organize a team to go through the 2720 images, see if there¡¯s any that resemble Niu Er," Pang Jidong suggested proactively. "All right, then. Thank you," Jiang Yuan said. "No problem, our brigademander said that Captain Jiang deals with major cases, and he specifically instructed us tomit fully," this time, an officer from the Image Reconnaissance Brigade spoke. On the other end of the line, the people from the Zhengguang Bureau Anti-Drug Brigade looked at each other with solemn expressions. After all, there was no mistake in it; Jiang Yuan had handled so many significant cases, and it was absolutely right to cooperate fully. "OK, all set, we¡¯ve organized a review team. It should take about an hour to get some results," exined the captain of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade over the phone. Jiang Yuan thanked him profusely. With masks on, directparison is no longer possible, but manual searching still yields significant results. The main thing is that identifying suspects doesn¡¯t have to be perfectly urate; finding a general resemnce will do. When there are fewer suspects, they can be investigated specifically, or even visited in person. This is the huge difference between theoretical and practical investigation. Theoretical investigation always seeks "the one solution," whereas practical investigation is straightforward¡ªfinding someone who looks sixty or seventy percent simr and knocking on their door ismonce, especially in cases that seem a little substantive. "Let¡¯s keep going and check the vehicle checkpoints," Jiang Yuan said, his Level 6 Image Investigation (Trajectory Analysis) skills keeping his ideas flowing. "So first we¡¯ll check for vehicles with no tes, cloned tes, blurred tes, and temporary licenses?" suggested the Image Investigator from Luo Jin City, offering a habitual rmendation. "Sounds good," Jiang Yuan agreed, awaiting further action. Some people act smart by covering their license tes with mud. Such tes, once they pass through a checkpoint, trigger an immediate rm. The traffic police, who wouldn¡¯t normally check the footage, now have to click and see because of the little red alert. When conventional image investigation turned up empty, Jiang Yuan added, "Include the vehicles where the faces inside, including the front passenger, are not clear." "Understood. That would be... 48,568 images," reported the Image Investigator. Jiang Yuan rubbed his chin. This is what big data is like nowadays¡ªit¡¯s overwhelming. The key is how to process and extract the meaningful data. "Add a detour analysis," said Jiang Yuan. "Look at vehicles that have passed the same location multiple times on the same day, and see what you find." Given the prudence of drug dealers, whether driving themselves or having a chauffeur, they¡¯re unlikely to get out of the car immediately upon arrival¡ªthey usually scout around first. This time, the number of vehicles pulled up by the image investigation was much smaller, just seven. The Image Investigator pulled up the images one by one. "That¡¯s the one," Jiang Yuan said after a short nce, identifying Niu Er andmanding, "Track this ck Sonata! The one with the license te ending in 778." "Roger that." The technician from Image Investigation was excited and began tracing the trajectory of the ck Sonata on the video. Soon, the Sonata left the main road and entered a small alley. On the screen, the car then vanished from sight. The experts from Luo Jin City¡¯s Image Investigation, being professional, quickly pulled up the surveince footage of the ck Sonata from two kilometers away. "There, it arrived and then left," Jiang Yuan noted the time and said, "Niu Er must have gotten out here. He likely made a phone call too." "By the time he made the call, the car had already left the Wufeng area," stated the Image Investigator from Luo Jin City. Once the vehicle was locked in, they could pull up the time of its passing through each checkpoint and even have the software plot the trajectory on a map. But if someone got out midway, they had to start over. It made several of the Image Investigation staff slightly disappointed. Jiang Yuan remained unmoved. Some suspects in criminal cases tend to be more vignt, but from his perspective, it was merely a more interesting form of resistance. "Niu Er is so cautious, and since he made a phone call in the Wufeng area, he probably wouldn¡¯t stay there. Search for vehicles with a single upant that left ten minutes after the call ended, within an hour. Include those covering their faces," Jiang Yuan said. After more operations by Image Investigation, over 1300 additional images came up, but no results were found. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, then said, "In that case, he probably left on foot or by bicycle." "The checkpoint photos include this area," one of the police officers from Image Investigation reminded him, the previous batch of 2720 images having only just been reviewed. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "He must have taken a back road. He may not know where the checkpoints are, but he could bypass them by taking back roads." "There is no record indicating his familiarity with the area," one Image Investigator couldn¡¯t help expressing his disagreement over the phone. In the process of case investigation, no matter the scale, especially with major cases, no level of leadership cares about subordinates¡¯ "offensive"ments. In such high-level cases, they fearcking clues¡ªhaving one or two extra investigative directions is no issue. Moreover, while experience in case investigation is crucial, the flexible thinking of younger individuals is also essential, a fact well-understood by any professional investigator. At most, if a direction suggested by a young person is difficult, they would just send that individual to investigate, like searching septic tanks, climbing Garbage Mountains, and so forth... Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t bothered by the young officer¡¯s retort and simply said, "Niu Er is a drug dealer. He doesn¡¯t use his own ID card or phone in daily life, so whether there¡¯s a record is irrelevant... Right now, we¡¯re focusing on the time issue because Niu Er is on the run. Time is his main concern. I believe he wouldn¡¯t waste time unless necessary." While saying this, Jiang Yuan marked several points on the map, took screenshots, and sent them to Pang Jidong, saying, "Check the surveince at these locations. If anything is missing, look for other official surveince systems or civilian ones." "Sure, I¡¯ll send someone right away," Pang Jidong epted the task immediately. Jiang Yuan then opened arger map, marked another thirty-something points on the outer circle, and after a while, removed half of them. "If we can¡¯t find him, check these ces next," he said. Bolstered by his Level 6 Trajectory Analysis, despite scarce information, Jiang Yuan remained exceedingly confident. The detectives and narcotics officers on both ends of the phone were infected by Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence, smirking optimistically, while the professional Image Investigators were full of questions: Why did we suddenly switch to this map after everything was going fine? Chapter 851 - 790 Point 27

Chapter 851: Chapter 790 Point 27

The 11-seater Iveco was crammed full of burly men, making it seem like a scene from a perverts¡¯ film. Pang Jidong sat in the passenger seat, still quitefortable, and it was only when they were close to the destination that he gave orders in a low voice, saying, "Put on your bulletproof vests and check each other, make sure all the buttons are fastened." "Boss, do we have to wear them? We can just stand in the back," a team member whined casually. Pang Jidong gave a "hmmph" and said, "This is Master Jiang Yuan¡¯s case, and it involves drug dealers at that. You¡¯re telling me not to wear a bulletproof vest? I don¡¯t even want to wear a ceremonial police uniform!" The deputy captain straightened out the person and fastened the buttons of the bulletproof vest, saying, "Keep babbling and you¡¯ll wear a hard body armor." The police are mostly issued with soft body armor, which goes up to level 3. Level 3 vests can stop lead bullets from a Type 79 submachine gun, a measure of excellent protective capability. Level 2 vests can withstand shots from a Type 54 pistol within five meters, quite impressive as well. As for level 1 vests, their operational effectiveness is to withstand shots from a Type 64 pistol within 5 meters, which is roughly the same as a short military coat. The thickness is also simr. The Iveco, escorted by two other SUVs, quietly made its way to the Wufeng Area. Following that, the criminal policemen from the SUVs dispersed, seeking out the locations marked by Jiang Yuan. The 11 people on the Iveco still sat quietly, waiting for the moment intelligence woulde through. "Do you have any cameras at home?" "Do you keep a record from this camera?" "Have you seen this person?" Although Jiang Yuan only requested to check the cameras, looking for imaging and surveince, the criminal police of Luo Jin City still followed the normal questioning process. It was just that the ces marked by Jiang Yuan were so mystifying that even the officers from the Image Reconnaissance Brigade seemed tock confidence. When these locations were handed to the criminal police, their hesitant demeanour stripped them of any persuasiveness. However, inspecting surveince live is a well-established routine; it¡¯s just that ordinary cases don¡¯t require it. Pang Jidong didn¡¯t leave the vehicle but stared at his phone, silently waiting for the news. As he had said, this case involved Jiang Yuan, drugs, and fugitives, making the arrest a very hazardous task that needed his constant attention the most. Reviewing surveince footage and even the witness questioning that Jiang Yuan did not ask for were mostly routine tasks. This mission didn¡¯t require any special skills - it was all about canvassing the necessary areas and trusting to luck. The team members were now fully equipped, hot, and crammed together, leaning on each other as they fell asleep. This was the best way to conserve energy at the moment; when it was time to deploy, Pang Jidong would simply wake everyone up. Pang Jidong fell asleep soon after. Buzz, buzz... Two hourster, Pang Jidong was awakened by the vibration. "Pang Da, we have found a person whose physical characteristics match Niu Er," reported the policeman on the phone. Pang Jidong immediately sat up and asked, "Which location?" "It was found at location 27. We have gotten hold of the surveince hard drive, but we are not sure where he went," came the reply. "Location 27," Pang Jidong called out to the back. A police officer from the Image Investigation brigade pulled up a high-definition map printed out, quickly finding the location ¨C indeed it was one of the spots inside the second circle drawn by Jiang Yuan. The officer from Image Investigation waited for the on-site police to upload the video, and the detectives inside the car all crowded around to watch. In front of the smallptop screen, heads filled the space in an instant. The officer from Image Investigation struggled to click the mouse a few times before cutting to the location in question. In the video, a man in a grey coat, riding a shared bicycle, slowly pedaled away from the front of the camera. Judging from the side of his face, the sagging corners of his eyes, and his prominent ears, it was indeed the features of Niu Er. "It really is beyond all expectations," the Image Investigation officer couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. Including location 27, just how Jiang Yuan had selected this particr circle of locations baffled the Image Reconnaissance Brigade even after extensive research. Initially, everyone was about to give up on studying these locations. However, by a quirk of fate, Niu Er just happened to appear within this circle. The officer from Image Investigation rubbed his sparse hair before hurrying to report back to the brigade. With this lead, the officers from Image Investigation could continue tracking with their own surveince videos. Naturally, the tracking through video was shared in real time with Jiang Yuan and the Drug Enforcement Squad - this would not typically be necessary, but the Image Reconnaissance Brigade of Luo Jin City felt it was crucial. Niu Er rode for four or five kilometers before leaving the Wufeng Region and walking to a nearby park. There, he left the bike and chose to proceed on foot. However, his anti-surveince choice wasn¡¯t as strong this time; looking at the map, the officers from Image Investigation saw that there were just a few ces he could reach by foot. Eliminating the ones with human-image checkpoints, it could only be Li¡¯he Vige, a vige within the city, a kilometer away. The criminal police on the scene set out again, this time heading straight for the area around Li¡¯he Vige for their investigation, a process far less strenuous than following the stipted circle of locations as before. The Iveco, carrying 11 people, quietly followed, waiting to move out once the location ahead was confirmed. This round, basically, no one slept. Everyone knew that, more likely than not, Niu Er¡¯s final destination was here. It¡¯s rather difficult to investigate someone just passing through a ce, because even that brief moment might entail very little interaction with people and events around them. But if one lives there, then there are far too many avenues for investigation. For example, basic necessities like clothing, food, lodging, and transportation¡ªall leave traces. Whether you bought a safe house, rented one, or even rented something more temporary, there¡¯s always a trail to follow. Visit a few intermediary stores, ask the neighborhood property management, and if you want to get into details, check their surveince footage. You might get lucky. Then there are records of natural gas, water, and electricity usage. If you know a specific timeframe, you can look for houses with low consumption that suddenly started using more from a certain day¡ªthose can be suspected. Beyond that, surveince cameras at marketces, restaurants along the way, courier service outlets, and so on, are all useful resources. A few detectives changed into in clothes and split up into pairs, heading out in the direction that had beenid out, questioning as they went. The stores and business halls along the way were quite cooperative. In urban viges or urban-rural junctions like this, with a high concentration of rental properties, they were always low on the security front, so it was all too normal to see policee by to make inquiries every few days. Pang Jidong¡¯s apprentice, Qiao Gui, took charge in leading the team. At 40, after braving two decades of trials and tribtions, he had be the deputy brigademander. Now, he was observing the scene with his own apprentice, Yao Zhihui, acting as a senior investigator. Although in the span of a few short months, Qiao Gui and Yao Zhihui had been demoted from being Pang Jidong¡¯s apprentice and grand-apprentice to being Jiang Yuan¡¯s grand-apprentice and great-grand-apprentice respectively, both of them were fairly stable emotionally. "There¡¯s a small supermarket ahead, let¡¯s check it out," Yao Zhihui followed Qiao Gui out of a tobo and liquor store and continued forward. As soon as Yao Zhihui entered, he called out to the shopkeeper, "Boss, do you have..." "Zhonghua!" Qiao Gui grabbed Yao Zhihui¡¯s arm, saying, "Don¡¯t buy Furong Wang, get Zhonghua, go for something more upscale!" Yao Zhihui reacted quickly. Using the motion of being pulled, he swiftly scanned the store¡¯s interior. A man with a gaunt face andrge ears, who looked like Niu Er, was fussing over a selection of puffed food products. "Then Zhonghua it is," Yao Zhihui said. "How much?" the shopkeeper turned to get the cigarettes. "Just... two packs will do," Yao Zhihui spoke and added, "Hard Zhonghua." "90 yuan," the shopkeeper grimaced, cing two packs in front of him. "I¡¯ll pay with WeChat," Yao Zhihui said while taking out his phone and started sending a message to Pang Jidong. "...Received... 90 yuan!" As Niu Er was about to leave, he heard the announcement from the store¡¯s speakers and his vignce dropped significantly. Yao Zhihui and Qiao Gui, however, were on high alert. Watching Niu Er heading out, Yao Zhihui and Qiao Gui exchanged a nce and pounced together. Thud. Bang! Ah... The three sounds were consecutive, marking the moment Niu Er hit the ground. "My knee, my knee!" Niu Er howled loudly. "What¡¯s your name?" Qiao Gui cuffed him first. "Jin Jianchun." "What¡¯s your nickname?" "Niu Er." "Who¡¯s with you?" Yao Zhihui bluffed. "I came alone, no one¡¯s with me. My knee is shattered, for real," Niu Er struggled to express. "Can¡¯t be that bad..." "I use drugs!" Niu Er said, his body twitching. "Our bones are naturally fragile!" Screech! The 11-seater Iveco slid to a halt in front of the supermarket. The door swung open and a swarm of burly men emerged. Pang Jidong, sweating profusely, charged out of the vehicle with a small handgun at the ready. Qiao Gui and Yao Zhihui, each holding a Zhonghua and dragging Niu Er, walked out of the supermarket to face the 11 fully-armed officers. "Hey, guys, have a cigarette," Yao Zhihui sighed and reluctantly pulled out the newly bought Zhonghua. Chapter 852 - 791: Collective Arrest

Chapter 852: Chapter 791: Collective Arrest

Pang Jidong had spent quite some time to fully understand the case before he arrived at the hospital to begin interrogating Niu Er. At this time, both of Niu Er¡¯s legs had been put in casts and adjusted on the hospital bed, and hey there looking utterly despondent at the ceiling, as though he didn¡¯t care about anything at all. Pang Jidong turned on thew enforcement recorder and started with an introduction, "We are officers from the Luojin City Criminal Police Detachment... we are now questioning you in ordance with thew..." Pang Jidong also showed Niu Er the notice of litigation rights and obligations and signed it, then asked him his name, ID number, age, and gender¡ªIn novels from years ago, when the police would ask this, there would always be someone who couldn¡¯t help but retort, "Can¡¯t you see for yourself?" Nowadays, with over 100 genders in Europe and America, even if the domestic versions haven¡¯t been updated, what¡¯s wrong with foresight in asking? Throughout the interrogation, Niu Er exhibited a disheartened demeanor, appearing as if he did not care about anything, answering questions only when asked but his responses were brief and weak. Pang Jidong didn¡¯t give it much thought and methodically continued with his inquiries. Some police officers used sophisticated psychological tactics during interrogations, capable of dissecting a suspect¡¯s inner world as effortlessly as slicing through a meal¡ªoften leaving suspects exposed and vulnerable, pulling out their poignant secrets for everyone to see. Pang Jidong was data-driven, constantly revolving around certain key points when questioning, often pre-establishing his own information then probing deeply, persistently puncturing the suspect¡¯s lies, forcing them to confess honestly. If one were to describe his method, it was more like a chainsaw approach, resolutely and powerfully cutting downward, not ming the uncooperative but himself if unable to cut through. Under such circumstances, it was either silence from the suspect¡ªwhich was not allowed domestically¡ªor it was about whether the stored information sufficed. Whenparing police with criminal suspects, the information was inherently asymmetric. While suspects knew certain things unknown to the police, they could never be sure what the police actually knew or did not. Especially now with various electronic devices avable, details about time, location, and people could often be ascertained indirectly, making fabricating lies tremendously difficult. A better lying strategy involved falsifying only on a pivotal point, something more real than the nine-truths-to-one-lie approach. However, any question could be broken down into innumerable smaller questions, and once police began to deconstruct these, lying became exceedingly tough. For example, with the question "Did you kill the person?" the procedural breakdown was "How did you do it?" Identifying the crime scene was not as simple as just pointing it out; it often required the suspects to reenact the murder or the disposal of the body. If it was fabricated, aligning the lie with the forensic doctor¡¯s assessment was necessary. Most murderers fell at this stage. Niu Er faced even more issues; he couldn¡¯t even continue lying about his drug use. Pang Jidong said calmly, "Think it over. You¡¯ve transported and sold drugs multiple times, assaulted others... without any merit and an aggravating factor of failing to confess truthfully, your death is merely a matter of time." Niu Er¡¯s body shuddered almost imperceptibly. Many people, when in good health and before facing real challenges, fantasize that they are not afraid of death or could ept it¡ªthis is a trick yed by the brain on humans because life is too brief in this world, barely a century, and without some self-deception, it¡¯s easy to be scared to death. Thus, embracing death as a return is truly a noble quality, requiring a grand vision and ideals behind it. Han Feizi said, "Once the army is arranged, make the soldiers embrace death as if returning home, but that is not as easy as what Prince Cheng Fu achieves." Even for those ustomed to life and death during the era of the Warring States, facing death was still excruciating. For Niu Er, a drug dealer, it was naturally difficult to rely on mental strength at this moment. Pang Jidong continued, "If you honestly disclose the details of the case and name a few more drug dealers that we don¡¯t have on record, this would be considered mitigating, and if the drug dealers you mention are ones we haven¡¯t captured, that would count as merit. With meritorious service reducing the sentence, while life imprisonment can¡¯t be guaranteed, a suspended death sentence is still possible." "I..." Niu Er¡¯s throat went dry. "Let¡¯s look at it from another angle, if you don¡¯te clean, then you¡¯re definitely facing imminent death. Don¡¯t even think about it - and I assure you, your case would be tried very quickly since if it¡¯s just you, the case is simple, and we would transfer it to the prosecution immediately," Pang Jidong half-truthfully stated, but Niu Er was unable to discern. He was a drug dealer, and this was his first time falling into the hands of the police. Thus, even though Niu Er had a notorious and brutal reputation on the outside, his personal experience with prison was a nk te. "If I identify some people for you, what if you say you already had them on record? Wouldn¡¯t that mean I spoke in vain?" Niu Er had no qualms about using his associates to gain merit; his greater fear was being deceived by the police. "After making the record, it means the matter is on file. By reviewing the filester, we can naturally know whether we had prior knowledge of this person." Seeing this, Pang Jidong knew that Niu Er had surrendered and directly asked, "Let¡¯s start with your subordinates. Where are they currently?" ... Beijing. Narcotics Squad. Shi Zhonglong rushed into the office and eximed, "Keep some people free, we might have a task soon." "What task?" "I have to go now, I had previously made an appointment." "Do we need to work overtime? I really can¡¯t handle more today." The police officers in the office were writing reports and talking, not taking it too seriously. If it were a formal operation, Shi Zhonglong would have named specific individuals. Shi Zhonglong grunted and said, "Captain Jiang said they are sending a list over, a list of Niu Er¡¯s acquaintances. We¡¯ll gather a few people and investigate based on those clues. If there are those we can arrest, we¡¯ll round them up." "Niu Er handed over his guys? Ha, he must be having a tough time," a police officer immediatelyughed, the scar extending to his ear looking somewhat terrifying. Shi Zhonglong turned back sternly and said, "He probably doesn¡¯t want to die. He was hiding them pretty well, and had already started arranging his supplies. I guess his men must have ryed some information to him." Among drug dealers, there is no honor, and higher-grade drug dealers may not even know where their subordinates sleep at night. Just as Niu Er wouldn¡¯t share information about his safe houses or else he¡¯d have been caught this time. But some information always leaks. The scar-faced police officer pursed his lips in a smile, "That¡¯s good, count me in." "Yu Da joins the fray, one man equals two," Shi Zhonglong gave a thumbs up. Soon after, Wang Chuanxing knocked on the door and entered the office, exchanging greetings with Shi Zhonglong before handing him a file bag. "How is it? Any confirmed addresses?" Shi Zhonglong was hopeful. It would be most satisfying to be able to directly arrest someone, just go straight to the address. However, such opportunities are rare. Generally, identifying the real identity of a suspect before they are alerted is already quite good. Many drug dealers don¡¯t even have a long-term phone. Those who have phones often keep them off, and phones used for personal use are carefully distinguished from work phones, without SIM cards. Managing to get hold of such level of information generally means the case is 80% solved. Shi Zhonglong felt that a list of this level shouldn¡¯t be shared with him; with such detailed information in hand, they would directly make the arrests, no need to pass it to him. Wang Chuanxing pointed at the files and then nced at the remaining number of officers in the office, smiling, "There are names of 13 people inside, all linked to addresses or usable phone numbers. Please arrange the arresting officers swiftly. Captain Jiang intends for a group arrest tonight to prevent suspects from changing locations or phone numbers." "All at once, a group arrest?" Shi Zhonglong was stunned. When was this investigated? How did it jump straight to the arrest stage? And a group arrest, were other units involved too? How many units in total? For a moment, Shi Zhonglong had seven or eight halos of words hovering over his head. In an instant, he also realized that Jiang Yuan had never used their narcotics personnel from start to finish. They used some of their information, but if the Image Investigation used people from Luo Jin City, and Jiang Yuan had his own team to utilize... "Chief Shi, there are 13 people, potentially armed, and some might currently be trafficking drugs. If you don¡¯t have enough officers, let Tao know in advance and we¡¯ll arrange additional staff," Wang Chuanxing considerately said. "Enough! How could we not have enough for an arrest!" Shi Zhonglong quickly responded, but his mind swirled with even more questions. Why didn¡¯t I know about this drug bust? Chapter 853 - 792 Cluster Campaign

Chapter 853: Chapter 792 Cluster Campaign

"Shi, how¡¯s it going over there?" The voice of the brigade chief, Jin Nanyan, was clear and sounded slightly concerned. Shi Zhonglong¡¯s body wriggled twice in the cramped space of the car and said, "Everything is going smoothly; the suspect is currently under our surveince." The brigade chief said, "Make sure you¡¯ve got the right person; don¡¯t make a mistake." "Yes. There won¡¯t be a mistake. The suspect is as thin as a quail and even runs a Rookie Station. He can barely move a delivery box. One of these days, we really need to screen all these delivery point operators." "Simpler said than done. Just try bringing me back 13 people one of these days," Jin Nanyan snorted and said, "You talk tactics like a pro, but when ites to catching criminals, you throw your hands up." "Chief Jin, honestly, if you¡¯reparing me to Jiang Yuan, I would take that as apliment," Shi Zhonglong chuckled happily. "Fine, just remember to bring the person back safely. Jiang Yuan wants clues, statements. We at Bai Luo are counting on these third-ss merits; we¡¯d better wrap this up properly with everyone ounted for," the brigade chief quickly instructed before hanging up. suspects, spread across 12 locations. Arresting them would require 13 teams. Considering two of them were suspected of carrying firearms, the remaining 11 groups were not to be taken lightly either; each fully staffed with eight members and two vehicles, all armed. This is what sets narcotics police apart from other police forces, always prepared for the worst scenario, ready to attack even when outgunned. The so-called fire-power inadequacy phobia truly exists among narcotics officers. "Little Ma, how is it on your end?" After hanging up with the brigade chief, Shi Zhonglong began making calls to check on his subordinates. Officer Ma Xiaopei responded sternly, "We are ready and can make the arrest at any moment." Shi Zhonglong: "Make sure you¡¯ve got the right person; don¡¯t make a mistake." "Yes." "What¡¯s the situation on the ground?" "The suspect..." Ma Xiaopei paused, then said, "is a single mother, with her child. Probably very short on money, which is why she became a mule... The difficulty in arrest shouldn¡¯t be high, but dealing with the child will be challenging." "After you¡¯ve caught her, contact the support staff to get in touch with the women¡¯s federation, and also ask if the suspect has any rtives who can take care of the child," Shi Zhonglong¡¯s voice was cold and ruthless. "When you make the arrest you can be tactful, but your primary concern should be your own safety. If threatened, draw your guns decisively, understand?" Ma Xiaopei eximed, "Shi, we will take care of ourselves." "Not just yourself, but your team members too. The brigade chief won¡¯t say this, nor will the bureau chief. They speak what people want to hear in media appearances. But life is ours to protect. Everyone is born of parents. She¡¯s a single mother, and we are children of parents too. If you were to weigh whose life is more valuable, everyone¡¯s life is more valuable than that of drug dealers!" "Yes!" "Don¡¯t pity her. Which mule isn¡¯t pitiful? All these mules are from the same channel, people who have been driven to the wall by online loans; it¡¯s not a new thing." Ma Xiaopei hesitated and then said, "It might also be that she was harassed by debt collectors to desperation. Being a single mother with a child isn¡¯t like other situations." "Our country has plenty of regtions against debt collection methods," Shi countered. "If a single mother calls the police, wouldn¡¯t someone help her? Crying in a police station with a child can definitely find someone to assist. Little Ma, I¡¯m telling you, those willing to be mules for ten to twenty thousand yuan, while some may be truly desperate, others see it as an opportunity to turn things around." Ma Xiaopei was stunned, watching the busy single mother at the roadside stall making pancake rolls with a genuine and natural smile; her little daughter, about four or five, had juste back from kindergarten and was quietly sitting under the eaves of a neighboring shop, drawing. Would this scene drawn on canvas, remembered by the little girl yearster, be happiness or sadness? If her family were wealthy and happy, that memory would likely be happy. But if her family were impoverished or unhappy, it would likely be saddening. And a single mother hoping to turn sadness into happiness by being a mule would have to harm enough teenagers in a school to even hope for that. Ma Xiaopei checked her Model 64 handgun holstered at her waist. Its firepower was much less than that of the Model 92; hitting a person felt much like the difference between being hit by a cow and a pig. But the Model 64 had much better concebility than the 92. As a female officer often tasked with extremely dangerous advance reconnaissance missions, sometimes she didn¡¯t even carry a gun for the sake of concealment. In her heart, Ma Xiaopei hoped that this single mother could be apprehended smoothly without the need to use weapons. "In a moment, I¡¯ll go up to buy something. When she¡¯s making the pancake, you guys move in, one person secure the child, two others restrain her. Be careful with your moves, don¡¯t get burnt..." Ma Xiaopei went on to detail the task n meticulously. Everyone got clear on their roles, and then came the long wait. Ma Xiaopei continued to consider all possible changes. What if the operation dragged on until the suspect packed up? What if it dyed until she went home? Multiple people involved in an arrest always carried such risks, Ma Xiaopei didn¡¯t even know how many would actually participate, but no matter what, this task of their side was unlikely to be prioritized. "All ready, begin the arrest in 30 seconds." The moment the order came through, Ma Xiaopei¡¯s eyes snapped open. "Proceed as nned." Ma Xiaopei pushed open the car door, headed straight for the roadside stall, and then said the line she had prepared for a long time, "Bossdy, one pancake please." "Sure," replied the stall owner crisply. "Business is tough for a woman running a stall alone while also taking care of a child, isn¡¯t it?" Ma Xiaopei observed the woman¡¯s technique in cooking pancakes. The stall owner smiled, nced at her daughter, and said, "It¡¯s been hard for a few years, but it¡¯ll get better once my daughter grows up. Honestly, life wasn¡¯t much better before, it was just manageable, these past few years... well, they¡¯ve been manageable too." While she spoke, two other police officers quietly moved closer. As the owner of a snack stall, the woman noticed their approach but simply smiled. "Do you eat spicy food?" "I do." While speaking, Ma Xiaopei took a side step and pushed the stall owner away from the stall. The other two officers stepped forward simultaneously, each grabbing one of the suspect¡¯s arms and pinning her to the ground. The stall owner was momentarily stunned, then started to fiercely resist until the cold handcuffs were ced on her wrists. "Are you the police?" the stall owner asked Ma Xiaopei. "We are the police." Ma Xiaopei nodded slightly and asked, "What is your name?" The stall owner suddenly stopped struggling, lying t on the ground. Seeing another female officer holding her daughter and turning away, she lost all her strength. "What is your name?" the officer on the left pressed down on her arm and asked loudly. "I¡¯m Wang Qian, call me Wang Qian!" the stall owner said as tears streamed down her face, "Why are you arresting me?" "Why do you think we¡¯re arresting you?" Ma Xiaopei¡¯s expression was cold. She felt sympathy for Wang Qian, but only during the discussion phase prior to the arrest; once it came to action, the rigor of training and several real-life experiences left no room for sympathy. Besides, the procedure after capturing the suspect was no longer in her control. ... Zhengguang Bureau. Themand center. Still, the silver-gray walls, a huge screen wallposed of a dozenrge screens, disyed the different situations on more than a dozen fronts. Live video from the enforcement scene, recordings from surveince cameras, videos from interrogation rooms, images from satellites and drones, traffic and monitoring videos, unidentified data icons... A dozen screens showing vast amounts of information seemed chaotic, but in reality, each screen was managed by a technician below it, with two disys in front of them¡ªone showing real-time data, the other for their own operational use. The bureau chief, satisfied with the several-meter-long screen wall, remarked somewhat proudly, "The performance of ourmand center is quite impressive, especially in cluster operations; the effectiveness is notable, and its role is significant." "Indeed, the departments receive substantial support from the rear, get real-time feedback, and themand core also receives the fresh intelligence..." Tao Lu chimed in, his eyelids twitching. Cluster operations were a significant concept, introduced in recent years as the most advanced domesticbat strategy bybining multiple departments to serve one or several cases. This method spanned across police types and regions, featuring intelligence sharing, cooperative investigations, and unified actions. Compared to the task force model, cluster operations had much more substantial striking power and could handle moreplex cases. This approach was equivalent to a temporary coalition of police forces, adding whatever units were necessary and involving any region needed forbative purposes. In terms of oues, cluster operations were pronounced, routinely resulting in the arrests of hundreds, spanning provinces and regions, and eliminating the travel-rted hardships of task force officers. Naturally, such a level of operational capability required high-ranking officers formand. For Zhengguang Bureau, Tao, as head of the Criminal Police Brigade, was somewhat underqualified. Typically, this role would need someone from the Ministry, or at the very least, an official dispatched from the city bureau. However, from another perspective, if someone couldmand a cluster operation, they essentially qualified for the position of a high-ranking officer. Tao couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yuan; this operation might not qualify as a cluster operation, but it certainly bore some resemnce. And Jiang Yuan hadmanded simr operations several times already. "All the suspects on the Coconut line should be arrested now." Jiang Yuan waited for reports from various teams and then came to report cheerfully. The bureau chief had already heard the report before he arrived andughed heartily, "Excellent, though we put in a lot of effort, it was worth it! It¡¯s as if a hidden heroin traffickingwork was eliminated, and several homicides were solved in the process!" "The main goal was to prevent them from forming aplete chain." Tao Lu alsomended Jiang Yuan, "Coconut was aspiring to transition to synthetic drugs, but the chemist he recruited underperformed and Coconut¡¯s capabilities in sourcing raw materials were alsocking. However, the chemist gained some experience from processing corpses, and now we have confirmed there are 11 bodies, all drug addicts and drug dealers¡ªstill very dangerous." The bureau chief nodded, "Indeed, we need to properly establish this front, increase the regtion of various chemical reagents, intensify inspections and reviews of controlled items..." By this time, his conversation was no longer directed at Tao. Tao was now facing Huang Qiangmin. "With 11 bodies, our ¡¯Newly Added Second Supplemental Agreement¡¯ is consideredplete," Huang Qiangmin whispered to Tao, not to alert others. Tao forced a smile, "I know, what¡¯s next..." "Next, we need to return for a bit," Huang Qiangmin cut Tao off, smiling, "The cases in Zhengguang Bureau are already few, and Qinghe City¡¯s ¡¯Cold Cases Resolution Initiative¡¯ has reached a critical phase; we need to go back and lend a hand." Huang Qiangmin detailed the "Cold Cases Resolution Initiative" of Qinghe City to Tao, who, recognizing it as an annual task arranged by the higher city bureau, understood it indeed required serious attention. Despite his regret, he inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief. Chapter 854 - 793 Ningtai County

Chapter 854: Chapter 793 Ningtai County

Overpass. A long string of police cars with shing lights formed convoys, shooting like lightning down the roadway. Upon reaching the high-speed rail station, the officers alighted from the police cars, escorting Jiang Yuan into the station¡¯s police outpost. "I really wish you didn¡¯t have to go back... Ah, if only you could stay a couple more days, we could have a proper drink together..." Tao Lu said, clutching Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand, unable to let go. Touching Huang¡¯s skin at this moment felt like touching the smooth, refined leather of a special wallet, reluctant to release it. "Commissioner Huang, we¡¯ll have a good chat next time we¡¯re free." The head of the Narcotics Task Force expressed deep regret, after speaking with Huang Qiangmin, he turned to Jiang Yuan and kindly said, "Captain Jiang, the current drug situation is unprecedentedlyplicated, with so many drugs being brought in and consumed, we must break their chains..." Qi Changye held Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand on the side, unwilling to let go, and whispered, "Captain Jiang, why go back to the county? Over here, any unit, any ce, you can choose freely, really..." The head of the Criminal Investigation Center stood on the other side, quite emotional, "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve recently updated our equipment, and it¡¯ll be even more convenient if you need to find bodies again..." Image Investigation: ... Cybersecurity: ... Economic Investigation: ... Everyone fully expressed their reluctance and longing. It was as if the vigers, from the threshing ground, were bidding farewell to a once-in-a-blue-moonrge-scalebine harvester. Everyone hoped that next year¡¯s harvest would wee back this giganticbine harvester with a capacity of ten thousand liters. Ningtai County Bureau. Several officers, under the direction of Wu Jun, were inching a banner into ce. "Hey, move it a bit to the left, yeah, so it lines up with the centerline, just right... okay. Good work, good work. Be careful when you tie the ropes, okay? Loop them over and over, with the ends flicking outward, let them hang down; don¡¯t drape them over..." Wu Jun was beaming, gently patting his belly, as content as a prime minister. He was now a deputy section chief, Jiang Yuan¡¯s mentor, a respected forensic doctor, feeling as though he had reached the peak of his life. "Master, Brother Jiang has boarded the train." The new forensic doctor, Miao Ruixiang, reported nervously. He was the new coroner recruited by Ningtai County, and as usual, he was ced under Wu Jun¡¯s mentorship, nning to take over Jiang Yuan¡¯s position after Wu Jun retired. After all, with Jiang Yuan and his Cold Case Squad moving further and further away, it wasn¡¯t possible for him to stay in Ningtai County for long, and people in the county still died under unnatural circumstances from time to time. Thus, when Miao Ruixiang became Wu Jun¡¯s disciple, it was as if he became Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior brother, which instantly skyrocketed his status in the forensic world. Two months into the job, Miao Ruixiang fully understood his situation, feeling both happy and anxious, fearing that if Brother Jiang returned and found him wanting, he might be expelled from the mentorship. "Go out and wee him," Wu Jun gestured westwards in reverence. Miao Ruixiang naively followed the gesture. Wang Zhong, standing a little further away, didn¡¯t need to be reminded. He quickly took a bowl, poured some liquor, dabbed his fingers in it, flicked three times, and muttered to himself. "What¡¯s the significance of that?" Miao Ruixiang couldn¡¯t help but ask. "This is based on the Bagua, calcted ording to the time and direction; it¡¯s quiteplicated." Wang Zhong showed the Bagua diagram on his smartwatch. Miao Ruixiang looked on seriously for a good while, unaware that humanity¡¯s most advanced technology could also take such a direction. Wu Jun nodded slightly and said, "Nowadays AI technology and such are really convenient, some things that were difficult to calcte before can now be asked directly. Rui Xiang, you should also follow and practice more in the future." "Yes." Miao Ruixiang nodded solemnly, hoping even more that his senior brother woulde back soon and stay longer. Noon. The crackling sound of firecrackers erupted. The Audi A6 convoy carrying Jiang Yuan elegantly drove into the Criminal Police Squad¡¯s courtyard, passed between two rows of ancient trees, and stopped in front of thetest administrative building. The administrative building was constructed with assistance from other ces, the central axis was supported from outside, the ancient trees were transnted from elsewhere, the courtyard andndscaping were redistributed from several neighboring units, and the A6 was found. The head of Ningtai County Bureau stood in front of the administrative building, beaming with smiles. These recent times had been very good for the police station, not just for the station, but life in Ningtai County had also be much better. Starting with the major upgrade to the county¡¯s monitoring system, the county¡¯s infrastructure had taken a step up, and the employment opportunities that came with it injected vigorous vitality into the county¡¯s life. Now, the county leaders had changed their vehicles and offered even more support to the police work. The rtionships between other units and the police department had grown even tighter. This included several units built next to the police department which, although they gave up a significant amount of space, benefited enormously in return. Now, even Huang Qiangmin could secure orders for the county¡¯s state-owned enterprises. Needless to say, the rted system units were also in a good spot, with the judicial system¡¯s detention center beingpletely upgraded, almost fulfilling the dreams of three generations of judicial staff. The digitization and intellectualization of the prosecutor¡¯s office and the court were underway, with new buildings being constructed because the volume of business had indeed increased massively, even leading to an increase in staff allocations. Just in this year alone, the arrest and prosecution numbers of Ningtai County Bureau had already amounted to three-quarters of those in Qinghe City, with many of the suspectsing from other ces. Moreover, unlike in many other areas where half of the cases were telmunication fraud, 80% of the cases in Ningtai County were traditional cases. From this perspective, Ningtai County had genuinely improved the stability of social security at themunity level. The county leaders were pleased; the bureau chief was pleased; and when the bureau chief was pleased, everyone was happy. Jiang Yuan got out of the car, and the bureau chief, along with a crowd of people, burst into vigorous apuse before surrounding Jiang Yuan and weing him inside. Jiang Yuan nced back at Huang Qiangmin, who nodded with a smile. Thus, Jiang Yuan followed the bureau chief into the crowd of colleagues. The socializingsted a full 30 minutes. Only then did the bureau chief look at his watch andugh, "It¡¯s time for me to attend a meeting..." After the crowd lively added Jiang Yuan¡¯s WeChat, they dispersed. When Jiang Yuan sat back down in the forensic doctor¡¯s office, he felt as though the work was almost equivalent to having dissected a body. "Senior brother, please have some tea." Miao Ruixiang was tall with long legs and had a very handsome buzz cut. With his big eyes and high nose bridge, he possessed somewhat of a campus hunk¡¯s charm. If it weren¡¯t for the limitations of his profession as a forensic doctor, his appearancebined with a regr position would make him an absolute weapon on the marriage market. "Thank you," Jiang Yuan epted the tea and smiled, "You¡¯ve been working hard while I was away." "Not at all, not at all," said Miao Ruixiang, shaking his head quickly. He had only recently graduated and not only was he unsure of this new senior brother¡¯s character, but he was also clueless about the temperament of anyone in the workce, and worried about encountering a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing. "Do you smoke?" Jiang Yuan asked. "I do." "Great." Jiang Yuan opened the backpack that Jiang Yongxin had just brought over and took out two cartons of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed them to Miao Ruixiang, saying, "Take these for smoking." "No, no, no," said Miao Ruixiang, hastily refusing. He couldn¡¯t even bear to give away two cartons of Zhonghua when asking for favors from others. Jiang Yuan casually tossed the two cartons of Zhonghua onto Miao Ruixiang¡¯s desk and handed the rest to Wu Jun, saying, "Master, keep these for when you need to give gifts." "Alright," Wu Jun opened a pack of cigarettes, lit one up, and then, while holding the cigarette, lit an incense stick before telling Miao Ruixiang, "Take what your senior brother gives you; he¡¯s from Jiang Vige after all." "Thank you, Jiang," Miao Ruixiang hesitated for a moment before putting the two cartons of Zhonghua into his drawer. Watching Jiang Yuan joke around with Master Wu Jun, he suddenly felt that whether someone was a wolf in sheep¡¯s clothing or not wasn¡¯t that important. "I¡¯ll go down to the police dog squad." Jiang Yuan chatted with Wu Jun for a while and, seeing that the time was about right, he stood up and said, "If you¡¯re freeter,e down and help out. Are there any bodies to be dealt with in Ningtai County?" "No, they are all non-natural deaths. The bodies have been handled," Miao Ruixiang hurriedly replied. Downstairs. The police dog squad had also been upgraded. What was onceposed of three bungalows and a training field for the police dog base, now boasted six kennels, a bathroom, a dog¡¯s bathroom, a kitchen, an on-duty room, and other facilities such as a training equipment room. The entire membership of the police dog squad had expanded from the original two people, Li Li and Dazhuang, to three handlers and three police dogs, three times the original size. When Jiang Yuan arrived, he saw the three police dogs in their cages, one handler was tidying up the training equipment, and the other two were busy in the kitchen. "Is the rice ready?" Jiang Yuan asked as he entered. "It¡¯s ready. Are we making fried rice today? Do you want to make some dog food?" Li Li asked back, her eyebrows that resembled those of a Rottweiler moving, and she hurriedly exined, "I¡¯m asking on behalf of Dazhuang. It was fine with the high-speed train today, but it got a bit carsick on the way back from the station." "Isn¡¯t it past the dogs¡¯ feeding time?" Jiang Yuan looked at Li Li with suspicion. Police dogs eat one meal a day; there was no such thing as making dog food at night. Li Li hesitated and then said, "I thought it would beforting for Dazhuang, considering the trip was quite exhausting." "Let it eat tomorrow. I¡¯ll start with the fried rice." Jiang Yuan measured out enough rice for ten people, gave it some thought, added another ten people¡¯s portion, and began to stir-fry it vigorously in a huge iron wok. The egg fried rice from Uncle Seventeen, although not expensive, involved a mass production technique that made Jiang Yuan¡¯s movements feel as natural as fish swimming in water. In no time, an appetizing aroma wafted from the wok. Next, Captain Hou from Longli County, leading Dahei, entered the police dog squad camp and loudlyughed, "I¡¯ve brought our Dahei over for a visit, just to hang out for a bit." Chapter 855 - 794: The Upcoming Case

Chapter 855: Chapter 794: The Uing Case

"I sensed the smell and guessed Jiang Yuan wasing over," Wan Baoming strode into the police canine unit¡¯s territory, his voice modting expressively, quite characteristic. Apanying him was Lei Xin from Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District Criminal Police Team, shaking his head and following after Wan Baoming as if he were in a drill. "I¡¯m making fried rice; have some when you get here." Jiang Yuan had cooked rice for 20 people, anticipating visitors. Wan Baoming knew Jiang had expected them, but he still felt a chance encounter was more fitting for the scene. He politely epted a bowl of fried rice andughed, "I¡¯ve been longing for this bowl of fried rice for a long time." The first to enter was Hou Lejia, the captain of the Longli County Criminal Police Team, who nced at Wan Baoming and said, "Changyang City is so big, don¡¯t they have any decent fried rice?" "Beijing is even bigger, and they don¡¯t have fried rice this good." In terms of literary cultivation, Wan Baoming was well-regarded in the entire provincial police system. Hou Lejia naturally couldn¡¯t let the Changyang people overshadow him, so he patted Dahei¡¯s head and said, "Call someone." Dahei then faced Jiang Yuan and barked, "Woof, woof!" "Good boy!" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but pat Dahei¡¯s head and asked, "Have you eaten?" Dahei: "Woof, woof." "Dahei has retired, and our police force has adopted him," Hou Lejia announced proudly. "He earned another third-ss meritst time, his final battle, and he even personally took down a theft suspect. He¡¯s spent a lifetime with our criminal police team, so we¡¯re keeping him here. It¡¯ll be good for him to teach the younger police dogs." "Congrattions, congrattions! Dahei is awesome! Let me give you a hug." Upon seeing that Dahei was no longer a police dog, Jiang Yuan immediately hugged him and heartily stroked him a few times. Next door, Dazhuang in the kennel was stunned and began to bark angrily: Woof! Woof! Woof! Li Li hurried over tofort him, holding Dazhuang and coaxing, "Don¡¯t be angry, don¡¯t be angry, he¡¯s just ying with Dahei. You know Dahei is retired. From now on, you¡¯ll be the number one meritorious dog in Qinghe City!" Hou Lejia heard this and muttered while stroking Dahei¡¯s head, "We don¡¯tpare with them, we¡¯re early birds. We¡¯ve already achieved fame and sess, right?" The lifespan of a police dog is limited, and being able to retire without injuries is a fortunate thing. Of course, some people think that happiness for a police dog means dying in the line of duty, but it depends on who the subject of that happiness is. Lei Xin didn¡¯t really like dogs. He held a bowl of fried rice and started to eat eagerly. He had indeed rushed over from Qinghe City and was currently handling a case, so busy that he hadn¡¯t eaten much. Lei Xin finished off his bowl of fried rice in no time, leaving the bowl shining clean. "Another serving, please!" Lei Xin reached out for more. Li Li, her hand still petting Dazhuang, served Lei Xin another heaping bowl of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice. The rice was slick with oil and speckled with only bits of green onion, surrounded by the yellow of the egg that covered the fried rice. Yet when eaten, it was mysteriously devoid of any taste¡ªa marvel¡ªif this were at a street stall, customers would easily guess that this trick was the vendor¡¯s way to save on eggs. But the fried rice Jiang Yuan made would only make people praise it as an amazing feat. "You Qinghe people just love to have more and take more. Bonuses go to you, and we get the transfers, yet you still want an extra bowl of fried rice," Hou Lejia handed Dahei over to an instructor and sat down again,unching into his routine of aggressive personality output. Compared to the counties below, the downtown criminal police team naturally had all the advantages. In the past, Qianjin District always ranked near the top of the power rankings. In the past, resources allocated from the city weren¡¯t avable to Hou Lejia, and he had much to say about it. Now, with Jiang Yuan emerging as a sign of good fortune from the neighboring county, it was only natural that Hou Lejia¡¯s voice would carry weight. "Jiang Yuan," Hou Lejia turned around and approached Jiang Yuan, saying, "This time, you truly need to help out our Longli County." "Has Captain Jiang not already helped your Longli County enough?" Another person emerged from the shadows, pushing a cart of meat-filled buns; it was Wu Junhao. As Wu Junhao handed out the buns while walking, he said, "I had been to Beijing and just couldn¡¯t stop craving this taste. I called ahead and ordered a hundred buns, all with extra meat." "Wow, meat buns worth seven hundred yuan? Did you strike it rich or what?" Lei Xin eximed. "Pretty much, I had no expenses in Beijing. Zhengguang Bureau covered everything, and they even provided allowances for transportation, meals,munication, and lots of other things. It¡¯s like I earned an extra sry." Wu Junhao was simply stating facts, but this silence the police chiefs from a few counties nearby. The price had clearly gone up! Compared to fixed assets and the cost of various rtionships, cash expenses were more challenging for any criminal police team. Of course, they didn¡¯t actually have many fixed assets or rtionships to expend. And part of these additional expenses was, in fact, much lower than the cost of maintaining the current public security. The chiefs of the criminal police teams from the various counties had all received hints and were pondering to themselves, but none showed any signs of backing down. Raising the case closure rate and improving the public security in their counties were goals pursued by every city. However, ces like Longli County or Ningtai County suffered from a severe shortage of talent, and once their public security reached a certain level, it became difficult to improve further, regardless of the money offered. Simrly, ces like the Zhengguang Bureau or Changyang City Bureau had an abundance of talent, but their public security levels were still hard to raise, and money could hardly make a difference. "Jiang Yuan," Hou Lejia said, pulling Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand while waving to Dahei in the distance, "let¡¯s proceed as we discussed earlier and add the extra allowances. Our county bureau can also cover it. Tomorrow, you will follow your older brother first, how about that?" Dahei, who was ying with Li Li and others in the yground, rushed over as soon as he saw Hou Lejia¡¯s gesture, frightening several instructors to run over. "Let Dahei rub against you, Brother Jiang," Hou Lejia pushed Dahei into Jiang Yuan¡¯s arms, encouraging Dahei to nuzzle Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but pat Dahei¡¯s head. "Captain Jiang, here in Qianjin District, we encountered a case of forcible rape," Lei Xin interrupted Hou Lejia, saying with a serious expression, "And it¡¯s suspected to be a series of connected forcible rapes. Most importantly, another one could happen very soon!" "What do you mean by ¡¯could happen soon¡¯?" Not just Jiang Yuan, several others looked towards Lei Xin. Lei Xin lit a cigarette with a snap and exined, "Earlier this year, close to the New Year, our county had a case of forcible rape, where the perpetrator hooded the victim, bound her, and took her to the wilderness on a motorcycle tomit the crime. During the investigation of this case, we discovered that just one year before, at around the same time, there was another simr case of forcible rape. The victimmitted suicide by shing her wrists at home, but the details of the case were simr." Looking at Jiang Yuan, Lei Xin continued, "Then, as we conducted a more detailed investigation, we found another situation. A woman was walking on Mayang Road even earlier than that, two years ago near the New Year, when suddenly, someone put a bag over her head and pushed her down. However, a car approached, and the suspect hastily fled. The woman then reported the incident to the police apanied by the car driver." "Do you suspect it¡¯s the same person responsible?" Jiang Yuan asked. With a sound of affirmation, Lei Xin said, "We¡¯re almost certain it¡¯s the same individual because the binding marks on the wrists and ankles of the two forcibly raped victims are simr; the method used was also alike. The victim whose assault was unsessful encountered a motorcycle and other environmental factors that were very simr, and most notably, if the three cases are connected, each urred exactly one year apart!" Lei Xin looked at Jiang Yuan and added, "Now, we¡¯re less than two months away from the New Year. Once it turns, people will start returning home gradually. We hope to catch this guy before another incident urs! At least, we can¡¯t let him get away this time!" Chapter 856 - 795: Must Strike Like Thunder

Chapter 856: Chapter 795: Must Strike Like Thunder

"If we¡¯re talking about negotiating terms, Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t really bother with that. It¡¯s all handled by Huang Qiangmin, who doesn¡¯t know the market or understand these cunning individuals. However, the case that Lei Xin brought up is indeed intriguing. In the past two years, Jiang Yuan has solved more criminal investigation cases than most detectives do in their entire careers ¡ª although there are detectives in the Ministry¡¯s Criminal Investigation Bureau who have solved thousands of cases, from any angle, Lei Xin still presents an impressive buff. First is the possibility of the crime "about to ur." It is clear that preventing heinous crimes has a higher priority than repairing the aftermath. Next, theplexity of the case itself is already very high. At present, stranger rape cases are actually quite rare, using the data from "China Sexual Assault Judicial Case Big Data Report," in rape cases involving strangers only ount for 3.77% of the total. More than half involve acquaintances from the inte, and the third mostmon are current partners, ounting for 17.9%. In other words, most rape cases don¡¯t even require investigation because when the victims report the incident, they can identify the perpetrator immediately. At most, you have to peel back ayer of online acquaintances, and with the current real-name system online, it¡¯s just a matter of a few more clicks in the police system. But if an investigation is really needed, then the difficulty of this case is indeed significant. Covering the head means the suspect¡¯s face was never seen. The binding means the assant likely has no defensive wounds, the victim¡¯s fingernails may not yield DNA, or if they do, the DNA might not match... If this case urs in rural conditions without video footage, it easily falls into an investigative deadlock. Thinking this through, Jiang Yuan asked, "Were DNA and fingerprints obtained?" "No, the perpetrator wore a condom both times. Moreover, both victims reported the crime the day after and two dayster respectively; they had changed clothes and showered. The clothes weren¡¯t washed, but they didn¡¯t yield any usable DNA. The pressure on the victims, especially around the New Year, is tremendous... Fortunately, they cooperated with the police in gathering evidence," Lei Xin shook his head. After being raped, one should not shower, which is a fact nowmonly known. However, most people, when they arrive home, are first overwhelmed by immense pain and a psychological desire to escape, washing themselves to face a new life, not immediately thinking about pursuing justice. Data from the United States show that 25% of rape victims choose not to report the crime. However, 75% do go to the police, including some who have showered. They might only regain their judgment and decide to report the crime on the second or third day. For cases where the suspect¡¯s identity is known, whether or not the victim showered doesn¡¯t really affect much. In cases involving strangers, it naturally increases the intensity of police investigation. "Were the victims¡¯ clothes preserved? Were DNA and fingerprints found on them?" "No. The clothes were handled ording to protocol, and although some were torn, none were stained with semen or blood. Uh... is that useful?" Lei Xin knew about Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise in forensic botany and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Could that botanical analysis be used?" Jiang Yuan replied, "Forensic botany can indicate the location on the garments, hinting at the exact ce where the incident urred, but... that information is useless now as you already know the specific location of the crime. It could, however, be used as evidenceter on." "Alright. Even divine skills don¡¯t work, huh," Lei Xin sighed. "Surveince and checking mobile phones, the usual procedures, those have been done right?" Jiang Yuan confirmed again. Lei Xin nodded again, "The incident area has little surveince. We¡¯ve checked more distant ces too; too far, not much use. Mobile phones as well, the technical investigation team didn¡¯t provide any suitable suspects." Listening to their conversation, Wan Baoming, deputy director of the Changyang City Criminal Technology Center, chimed in, "In that case,mon technical methods are basically useless. But this person¡¯s skills are a bit strong, ropes, hoods, these are no ythings. Were any ropes or fibres found?" "We found rope fibers. When he left, he¡¯d cut the rope with a de and also used it to threaten the victims. However, tracking the rope fibers has led nowhere so far," Lei Xin continued, counting on his fingers. "We¡¯ve also thoroughly checked motorcycles and footprints. Before, Captain Jiang even reviewed it and gave some opinions through WeChat." Wan Baoming raised an eyebrow, "Is this person that cautious? Not a single slip-up?" "There¡¯s an important reason; the perpetrator likely works or lives outside and returns home during the New Year period. During our investigation, there¡¯s a great possibility that the perpetrator isn¡¯t even in the city, which makes our investigation even more difficult." Hou Lejiamented, "It sounds like they have anti-investigation capabilities." "Yes, we¡¯ve considered that," Lei Xin spoke quietly, exining, "The suspect chose the roads carefully; all three times, they were secluded roads on rtively high terrain. We suspect he might have been hiding at a vantage point, spotting the victims before riding down... So, we once suspected the suspect might have a military background, like a veteran." That military personnelmit crimes isn¡¯t surprising; the strength of military families lies more in organized power, and for ordinary individuals, every type exists." "Get me two bowls of fried rice, put it in one bowl." Wu Junhao shouted, disrupting the conversation of several people. Lei Xin, who now recognized Wu Junhao, could only smile and said, "Sincest year, due to the copse of Jianyuan Pharmaceutical, our security situation in Qinghe City has actually declined. Of course, I¡¯m not saying that taking down Jianyuan Group was a bad thing, but on a societal level, it¡¯s indeed unstable, and several cases have urred. Many of these cases are rted to veterans." Lei Xin spread his hands and spoke helplessly, "Not to mention the tens of thousands of people at Jianyuan, including their families, and those small factories and major suppliers that relied on Jianyuan for business, are the main workforce in Qinghe City. Now, these businesses are copsing first, and people can¡¯t find jobs. What can they do if they are not wandering the streets?" Wu Junhao frowned and said, "Lei, this case wasmitted by someone returning to their hometown. What does it have to do with employment in Qinghe City?" "My point is that recently in Qianjin District, we have umted many cases, including some difficult ones, which are most in need of Captain Jiang¡¯s expertise," Lei Xin had by now moved beyond the case itself, and continued, "Those of us in criminal investigation understand that the worse the socio-economic conditions, the worse the public security, which in turn drags down the economy. But conversely, even if the socio-economic conditions are very poor, if efforts are made to improve public security, it would indeed be highly beneficial for economic development and make a greater contribution to society." "Lei is taking it to a high level," Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice arrived before he walked in from outside, it was unclear if he had been lying in wait for a while. "Commissioner Huang!" "Huang is here!" The once peer-ranked criminal police captains greeted Huang Qiangmin with politeness. Huang Qiangmin responded to everyone, creating a pleasant atmosphere around the police dog. Li Li also brought a bowl of fried rice to Huang Qiangmin. "I want another bowl." Wu Junhao didn¡¯t consider himself an outsider and raised his hand on the spot. "There¡¯s enough food for everyone, I don¡¯t eat much nowadays," Huang Qiangmin said with a cheerful smile. "There is more," Li Li said. "I¡¯ll go fry some more." Jiang Yuan stood up and entered the kitchen, where the rice cooker had just cooked rice for twenty people. Huang Qiangmin picked up his chopsticks and slurped up a bowl of rice. "I¡¯ll go and have a look." Huang Qiangmin stood up and went into the kitchen, leaving the crowd behind, asking, "So, how about it? Do you want to go to Qinghe City?" "If there¡¯s no other situation, let¡¯s head to Qinghe City first. From what Lei said, it seems the criminal might strike again around the Lunar New Year," Jiang Yuan replied while frying rice. "Okay. Then I¡¯ll go out and say it. More people areing soon, probably a few other criminal police captains, even if we decide on the first case location, we can still rearrange the orderter. Everyone¡¯s quite happy that you¡¯re personally frying rice, it gives them a sense of respect," Huang Qiangmin simply thought, believing it at least appropriate to provide a bit of respect where feasible. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care much, simply saying, "I haven¡¯t got a clue about the case Lei is handling, it might take a while to solve it." Huang Qiangmin frowned, "Indeed, they¡¯ve been working on this case for a while now. If there were any leads, they should have solved it already. You don¡¯t have any ideas either?" "The current technical specifics aren¡¯t directly applicable. The crime scene is outdoors, with usable clues being footprints or a recreation of the crime scene. Lei just showed me the footprint records, I looked them up on WeChat, even though there were descriptions of the criminal, 168 cm tall, around 130 pounds, about 30 years old... but it¡¯s not enough to solve the case based on this." Hearing this, Huang Qiangmin waved his hand, "Don¡¯t get hung up on it. Call Director Liu and Xu over, let¡¯s sit down and discuss it properly." Jiang Yuan paused, "Just back, and calling them already?" To be honest, Jiang Yuan felt a bit like he was returning with newly acquired knowledge. Compared to when he left the county, he had gained almost 10 different skills, along with a temporary +1 master skill, and felt overwhelmingly superior, but... Starting by calling for help contradicted somewhat Jiang Yuan¡¯s expectations. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t care at all, simply stating, "A lightning strike, quickly solving the case is key! No one cares how many resources you use, especially with these kinds of cases, as long as you can solve it, you¡¯ll be a legendary detective!" Chapter 857 - 796: Technology is Not Omnipotent

Chapter 857: Chapter 796: Technology is Not Omnipotent

Qinghe City. Qianjin District. The kitchen of the Criminal Police Detachment. Jiang Yuan was still vigorously stir-frying rice. Captain Lei Xin of the Criminal Police Detachment, along with the instructor, deputy instructor, deputy captains, and squad leaders, stood on the other side of the window, looking at Jiang Yuan inside, then at Liu Jinghui, Xu Taining, and others sitting beside him. They couldn¡¯t help but utter the same words, "It¡¯s really not necessary... truly unnecessary..." Huang Qiangmin chuckled, "Jiang Yuan has been in Beijing for a long time, he has really missed everyone sinceing back. The kid is sentimental, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have wanted to stay in Ningtai County, right?" "Yes, we truly like Captain Jiang¡¯s fried rice," Lei Xin hurriedly said. "The Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team choosing to start with our Qianjin District is an honor for us. Actually, we should be the ones cooking; it¡¯s just that my culinary skills are not up to par. Later on, I¡¯ll perform a ¡¯tomato and noodle¡¯ show for you all..." *Cough cough.* The instructor behind him coughed. Lei Xin sighed again and nced back at Xu Taining, "Commissioner Huang, this... Why did we already invite Director Xu here? We¡¯re saying that with Director Xu around, we are, to some extent, indeed a bit nervous..." "There¡¯s a problem on my end," said Huang Qiangmin with the same attitude as Jiang Yuan, who was cooking fried rice. "I should havemunicated with you in advance, but after thinking it over, I felt thatmunicating beforehand might not have been the best idea. If I had talked to you, you definitely would have reported to the bureau chief, even the city bureau, and to those in charge at the city level. The conclusions they might reach without understanding the situation could differ from our judgment." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s exnation wasn¡¯t too convoluted, but still a bit tricky. However, Lei Xin understood perfectly; it meant that Huang Qiangmin insisted on this request, and any opposition from you or your superiors was incorrect! This answer differed from what Lei Xin and others had expected, particrly in attitude, leaving several people stunned. They had initially nned to persuade gently and dy for a few days... One of the deputy captains, Xie Yongle, was the first to speak up, "We have coborated with Doctor Jiang before. I¡¯ve also reviewed many cases solved by Captain Jiang, whatever I could get my hands on. I¡¯m not the least bit embarrassed to say that I am now a super fan of Captain Jiang. I believe that with Captain Jiang¡¯s level of handling cases in Beijing, spending a few days to go through the cases thoroughly might lead to some kind of breakthrough that could solve this case." "Actually, no need for a few days; Jiang Yuan thought a few hours would be enough. Moreover, he had gone through themst night for several hours and couldn¡¯t find any better leads. That¡¯s why he came over today to cook fried rice for you," said Huang Qiangmin, looking at the various counterparts. "You can also take it as Jiang Yuan believing your investigative approaches and ns are fine, even quite good. Because of this, he thinks that conventional investigation methods may not be suitable anymore." With one sentence, Huang Qiangmin made the Qianjin District detectives go through three changes in expressions! Worry, pride, anxiety¡ªLei Xin said, "We could conduct a preliminary investigation based on Captain Jiang¡¯s thoughts. Maybe we¡¯ll uncover something?" "It¡¯s going to be difficult with an ordinary investigation. Especially some of the earlier investigation ns might take one or two weeks, which does carry some risks for this case. Moreover, it¡¯s uncertain whether it would save any investigation costs," Jiang Yuan came out with two bowls of fried rice at that moment, naturally followed by assistants carrying bowl after bowl of rice. He still used rice fresh out of the pot. Using hot rice directly to make fried rice was actually quite easy, but it tended to be sticky because of the excess moisture in the rice. The correct method would be to put the hot rice in the refrigerator, then take it out once cooled and break it up by hand, stirring a few times in the process if possible. Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice was always about taking shortcuts, such as dismissing the technique that fried rice made with cold leftover rice from the previous day tasted better. If it was about improving vor by adding more ingredients, why not just toss in an extra egg? Everyone started serving their rice, and only when everyone had a bowl in hand did Lei Xin ask, "Captain Jiang, one or two weeks might indeed be too long. We could start with a week-long investigation and then request Director Xu to take over. What do you think?" Lei Xin nodded at Xu Taining, full of friendliness and respect, as well as vignce. "Under normal circumstances, investigating for a few days is fine, but after having read through this case, I think direct screening would be better," Jiang Yuan said. The initial n he had discussed with Huang Qiangmin was indeed to go through the files first. Xu Taining was not one to be summoned at a moment¡¯s notice; he would need a few days to adjust his schedule, and that was if there were no ongoing cases. But as for this case, just as Huang Qiangmin had said, the work of Qianjin District Bureau was without fault. Since there were no faults, using ordinary investigation means would waste time somewhat. Might as well maximize the intensity. Jiang Yuan looked at the group and said, "The most recent case, which is also the third of the entire series, happened at the beginning of this year, nearly 10 months ago now. It¡¯s impossible to get more physical evidence from the scene." Jiang Yuan continued, "There was no camera nearby to begin with. The closest footage you obtained was about two kilometers away, wasn¡¯t it? It¡¯s impossible to get any more now. In essence, we have to make progress with the existing evidence, which is not really my specialty." Chapter 858 - 796: Technology is Not Omnipotent_2

Chapter 858: Chapter 796: Technology is Not Omnipotent_2

Jiang Yuan was skilled in technical methods, but these methods required physical support. Of course, acquiring more physical support was not impossible, but it all required time. Deputy Captain Xie Yongle was the first to disagree, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re underestimating yourself. You¡¯ve worked on so many cases, many of which were solved using every possible method. Everyone uses technology, but is all technology the same? I have an arm, Captain Wu has an arm, if we arm-wrestle, does that mean my arm isn¡¯t an arm?" When he said that, Huang Qiangmin and the others didn¡¯t know whether they should refute. Liu Jinghui put down his chopsticks and said, "Technology isn¡¯t almighty. Regarding this case, you¡¯ve been working on it for nearly a year. The special task force has exerted a lot of effort, and various kinds of visitation records have been collected. If we were to conduct a general investigation, we could only base it on your work, which would not only be inefficient but also not very meaningful." Some police teams or detectives create a tragic amount of redundant investigation, which may be due to bad habits or simply ack of ability. However, as the precinct of Qianjin District is the core of Qinghe City, their level is indeed eptable. They consistently rank high on thebat power leaderboard for good reason¡ªthe quality of their investigation is solid. Under these circumstances, the only possibility is finding evidence as if picking bones from an egg, hoping to find a breakthrough. That is to say, everyone¡¯s busy work for several months is merely an archaeological dig through case files, for just a mere possibility. The criminal is not a test question, guaranteed to have a solution. Some leads, followed through, just end in dead ends. What can you do about that? Liu Jinghui waited, then continued, "We discussed it while reviewing the files earlier, so let me talk about our understanding. The criminal chose different locations for the three incidents, indicating they are indeed familiar with the environment in Qinghe City. But we can¡¯t just conclude that the person is a Qinghe local." Liu Jinghui said, "Regarding the criminal¡¯s identity, the first possibility, returnees, I see that Captain Lei and your team have already investigated thoroughly, even pulling out the health insurance lists to check... Apart from that, other possible identities the criminal might have, let me list some. There are actually many, such as the second kind, possibly the son-inw of Qinghe people, or someone of the grandson or nephew¡¯s generation whoes to Qinghe City to pay New Year¡¯s visits. Third, businessmen, those who only do business during the New Year,ing to Qinghe City then, or maybe, only having free time tomit crimes during the New Year..." Liu Jinghui said, "The fourth kind, professions that require long-term business trips, but not the traditional sense ofbor work. For example, survey teams, people like engineers, or staff assigned to work overseas and out of town by certain institutions. The fifth, active soldiers, members of the disciplinary forces, also must be considered as possibilities..." Liu Jinghui continued, "Fifth, students, especially college students from The Great Learning. Sixth, possibly someone who has lived in Qinghe City before, familiar with the local area, butes from another ce just tomit crimes. Seventh, family factors, the criminal has a spouse or children or other family, who only leave on business trips during the New Year, thus providing the criminal with the opportunity tomit the crime." Liu Jinghui went on, "From this series of analyses, since the investigation of returnees is already very detailed, I think continuing to investigate from the angle of identity is still going to be difficult." Listening, everyone nodded in agreement; many were rapidly finishing their stir-fried rice and began listening intently. The cafeteria had turned into a temporary case analysis site, which actually was quite normal. The stiff and formal meetings held in offices were often too official and not very appealing to many leaders in the police department. They preferred settings that were more showy for the press. Liu Jinghui, having finished his notes, continued, "We just discussed, including the investigative directions you had, Captain Lei, many which considered the nk spots in the timeline, attempting to solve the case through them. The idea is fine, but since it hasn¡¯t led to a breakthrough, I think we should start considering other directions." Upon hearing all this, Lei Xin was at a loss for words, only obediently saying, "Go ahead." "The seven elements of crime: what, when, where, with what, the emotional state, the reason, the person," recited Liu Jinghui swiftly. "The first two have been discussed. The locations have changed across the three incidents. I think, we should shift the focus to ¡¯with what,¡¯ particrly the motorcycle." "We have also investigated the motorcycle in detail..." "You investigated the motorcycles in in sight, the ones on the roads, barking up the wrong tree!" Liu Jinghui slightly chastised, then quickly got back on track, saying, "Of course, that isn¡¯t a w. Mainly, based on our analysis, we consider this point worthy of further investigation, though it might be beyond what you can handle." Liu Jinghui nced at Xu Taining, then said, "What we know so far is that the motorcycle tire tracks at two crime scenes are the same, meaning we can basically determine it¡¯s the same motorcycle. So let¡¯s boldly assume, since the criminal did not dispose of the motorcycle after the first and second crimes, they likely didn¡¯t dispose of it after the third crime, which was at the beginning of the year." Lei Xin and others slowly nodded. Liu Jinghui then said, "With this premise, you¡¯ve already investigated the motorcycles that appeared on the roads or were visible. So now I ask, where did the criminal hide the motorcycle? At their home or somewhere else? How can we find this motorcycle? If we find the motorcycle, does that mean we find the criminal?" "I believe finding the motorcycle would essentially mean we¡¯re close to solving the case. But if the motorcycle doesn¡¯t appear on the road, how do we find it?" Lei Xin said, gradually understanding and looking toward Xu Taining with a deep frown. As the saying goes, one person hides something, ten people can¡¯t find it. Buying a motorcycle is easy, and its size is notrge, making it easy to hide. But it¡¯s very hard to find. Lei Xin shook his head silently. Xu Taining elegantly wiped his mouth with a paper napkin, then slowly said, "Gasoline." "Uh?" Lei Xin was startled. "As far as I know, in Qinghe City, purchasing bulk gasoline requires identity registration. Storing gasoline poses certain risks, and you can¡¯t buy too much each time. For three consecutive years, it¡¯s quite likely the criminal had to purchase gasoline," Xu Taining paused, then continued, "Filling up the motorcycle¡¯s tank with fuel beforemitting the crime would seem necessary." "Indeed... that makes sense." Lei Xin nodded, though it was possible the criminal could use someone else¡¯s or a fake ID to purchase gasoline, which itself is illegal. However, for safety reasons, suspects in major cases typically would notmit smaller crimes like this. Chapter 859 - 797: Acknowledgment

Chapter 859: Chapter 797: Acknowledgment

"Best of luck to everyone!" Lei Xin stood in the office, addressing a line of 24 police detectives. They were headed to 12 cities to question more than 40 suspects. Meanwhile, in Qinghe City, the detective team also had to separately question over three hundred suspects. These individuals had already been filtered: owners of Haojue motorcycles who refueled with bulk oil in Qinghe City gas stations over the past three years, and individuals without a recorded vehicle type. The tire print on the car was from Haojue¡¯s original factory tires. Although it was possible that the criminal could have changed the tires on their motorcycle, this hypothesis could be set aside for now. If a suspect wasn¡¯t identified among these three hundred plus individuals, they would consider expanding the scope to 3,000 people. The 24 detectives filed onto the department¡¯s shuttle bus, heading next to Changyang City. Naturally, their boarding times varied, but waiting a few hours at the airport to save on travel costs was no big deal. Before this, another group of 36 detectives had already gone to the high-speed rail station in several shifts to carry out their investigations elsewhere. Their task was to locate the vehicle owners, photograph their gait, collect their footprints, and conduct questioning. Lei Xin himself turned and got into a car, heading out to the countryside to continue the investigation. There were only so many gas stations in Qinghe City that allowed bulk oil refueling, yet the customers came from all over¡ªsome lived in the city, many in towns and viges, and others in surrounding areas. It was only after the suspect hadmitted the crime three times that Xu Taining was able to define a radius of activity for potential suspects. Otherwise, the random nature of the investigation would have been even greater. Of course, if the suspect had onlymitted the crime once, Xu Taining¡¯s investigative efforts probably wouldn¡¯t have been necessary. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, didn¡¯t have much work to do. His task was to provide feedback to the investigating officers at any time, mainly concerning two issues¡ªwhether the footprints and tire prints matched. These were the main traces left at the crime scene. Jiang Yuan had Level 3 expertise in vehicle trace identification. Although not often used, his skills were at an expert level, ensuring that he might face challenging cases, but never make an incorrect judgment. One reason Xu Taining liked working with Jiang Yuan was his technical expertise, which greatly reduced the difficulty of the investigation. A major challenge in cases like this was that the suspect was likely not at home. ording to the principle, "call for minor cases, visit for major ones," the detective team had to rely on registered names, identity card numbers, and phone numbers to locate the suspects¡¯ cities and then ask local police forces for assistance. They would need to find the individuals, photograph their gait, collect their footprints, and send them back to the team for Jiang Yuan to assess the match. Without the confidence of a Level 3, navigating such a process in a case like this would naturally be quite difficult. Of course, there were often cases where the police spent hundreds of thousands or even millions, only toe up empty-handed¡ªsomething Xu Taining strove to avoid. The investigative pressure within Qinghe City was rtively less. Although Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis did not rule out the possibility of a localmitting the crime, experience suggested that this was less likely. Still, the detectives couldn¡¯t simply make phone calls; they had to visit each suspect in person, and if necessary, rely on technical surveince to pinpoint locations. In addition to this, an important detail was that two people on the list were overseas and couldn¡¯t be visited. The detectives could only go to their homes to see if they could find a motorcycle and verify the tire prints. Knock knock. The knocking was loud and rapid, annoying and disruptive. "Who are you looking for?" the olddy inside didn¡¯t open the door right away but looked outside to ask first. "Is this Li Jiansheng¡¯s home? We¡¯re the police, here to register some information. Could you please open the door?" Wu Junhao outside showed his credentials. Li Jiansheng was an engineer working abroad, and the timing of the crime coincided with his work schedule. Wu Junhao hade to assist, naturally starting with those most likely involved. "I don¡¯t know if you¡¯re real police or fake... Li Jiansheng isn¡¯t home. It¡¯s just me, an olddy. Whatever it is, you can wait for him toe back." "It¡¯s no problem if he¡¯s not home, registering is the same." The police officer outside stood without moving. The elderlydy said, "How do I know you¡¯re not bad guys?" "You can dial 110 and say there are police at your door, then ask if that¡¯s really true." Wu Junhao had seen this sort of thing many times and wasn¡¯t too concerned. The elderlydy hesitated for a moment, but she didn¡¯t actually make the call and opened the door instead. "What¡¯s the matter?" the elderlydy asked. "We¡¯re conducting an external personnel registration." Wu Junhao and his colleague entered the room, made up a reason on the spot, and took out a notebook. Looking around, he asked, "How may I address you?" "Liu Lan." The elderlydy watched the two officers closely, her expression somewhat anxious. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t mind and nced at his phone. He asked, "Are you Li Jiansheng¡¯s mother? Do you usually live here?" "Yes. My son runs a business outside and returns for only two to three months a year. He just came back around the New Year." The elderlydy¡¯s guard seemed to lower slightly. The police officer opposite nodded and asked a few more questions before inquiring, "What kind of transportation do you usually use around here? A car? Motorcycle? Electric bike? Or bicycle?" "I just walk or take the bus," the elderlydy shook her head. "What about your son?" "He¡¯s pretty much the same." "Doesn¡¯t he have a vehicle?" "No." At this point, Wu Junhao¡¯s vignce had risen. Many criminals and their aplices, when talking about items rted to the crime, would subconsciously deny or hide them. It¡¯s like asking a suspect who used a kitchen knife tomit murder if they bought the same type of knife, most would deny it. Although in some people¡¯s minds, it seems possible to initially give a positive response and then exin the irrelevance of the two, in fact, those who dare to do so are few. Because thetter step, exining the irrelevance, is very hard to do convincingly. Compared to that, a direct denial is much simpler. Indeed, denying reality is often many people¡¯s first reaction when faced with fear. Wu Junhao stared at the elderlydy, speaking seriously, "Ms. Liu, the police have records. Think carefully." Liu Lan was a bit scared and really took a moment to think, then said in a low voice, "We truly don¡¯t have a car. My son works overseas; he wouldn¡¯t need a car there. That¡¯s right, my son once bought a BMW from abroad and sold it after shipping it back. Are you looking for that car?" Wu Junhao waved his hand, "Ms. Liu, our records show that two years ago, your son had fuel added to a vehicle¡ªit was for a motorcycle..." Liu Lan thought for a while and cautiously said, "Could it have been a borrowed vehicle? When he returned from overseas, he often borrowed his uncle¡¯s motorcycle." "What¡¯s his uncle¡¯s name, and where does he live?" Wu Junhao fired off a series of questions. Xu Taining had already made it clear that tracing the origin of the motorcycle was difficult; the domestic motorcycle market is chaotic, and some even assemble a motorcycle from loose parts. But refueling channels are limited, and most criminals wouldn¡¯t be aware of this detail. Liu Lan,pletely unprepared, obediently gave out the information under Wu Junhao¡¯s questioning. Wu Junhaomunicated with themand center while he and his team headed back. Li Jiansheng¡¯s uncle lived in the countryside, so Qinghe City¡¯s Criminal Police Team had to send someone over and coordinate with the local police station for assistance. Wu Junhao waited for nearly two hours before following Jiang Yuan to get the first-hand news. "Tire tracks, identified as not matching," Jiang Yuan scrutinized the photos sent from the front and gave a decisive answer. Wu Junhao was taken aback, "You misspoke, right? You mean matching?" "Not matching," Jiang Yuan asserted firmly, "At least not this set of tires." Chapter 860 - 798: It’s Him

Chapter 860: Chapter 798: It¡¯s Him

"Could it be that he changed the tires? He borrowed his uncle¡¯s motorcycle, but does his uncle usually ride it? Maybe the tires were changed?" Wu Junhao was still very concerned about the suspect, Li Jiansheng. His mother¡¯s behavior also wasn¡¯t typical of an ordinary elderly woman. Wang Chuanxing, who knew more about the situation, came over and said, "Li Jiansheng¡¯s uncle only rides the motorcycle asionally, going out once every one or two months. But the tires were changed beforest year at a repair shop nearby their home, and we have already gone to ask the owner about it. So, unless the criminal himself changed the tires, it is highly unlikely that this motorcycle was involved in the crime." "There¡¯s no need to borrow a vehicle formitting crimes," Liu Jinghui said. "A motorcycle is not a car; there are many ways to disguise its origin without resorting to borrowing one. Borrowed vehicles are also harder to modify in appearance. Moreover, the criminal didn¡¯t seem to take much care of the motorcycle during the crime, casually abandoning it by the roadside and even going off-road without worrying about scratching the paint. This doesn¡¯t fit the logic of borrowing." Beside him, Liu Wenkai said, "You could stand up and pedal a borrowed bike, but you can¡¯t afford to damage the seat, as it would easily upset the owner." Liu Jinghui gave Liu Wenkai a serious look, then continued, "It¡¯s more or less the same logic. After all, the price of a motorcyclepared to Li Jiansheng¡¯s ie isn¡¯t high. If he were using it formitting crimes, he wouldn¡¯t borrow it at the same fixed times over three consecutive years." Thisst reason was more convincing. Wu Junhao nodded too; the criminal might not have thought about the need to refuel, but the concept of a crime-time is well ingrained in people¡¯s minds. Many innocent cases are confirmed because of "not having the time tomit a crime." Logically, a criminal would not borrow the same person¡¯s vehicle every time hemits a crime, even if it¡¯s his uncle¡¯s, as it is unnecessary. Buying his own vehicle and using it only whenmitting crimes would be the most suitable n. Wu Junhao¡¯s expression grew tense as he said, "Could he have anticipated the need to refuel in advance, perhaps siphoning fuel from other vehicles?" "It¡¯s a possibility," Liu Jinghui replied, obviously having considered this issue, and nced at Xu Taining. Xu Taining had been silent until he finally said, "Solving a case, particrly the investigation phase, involves looking for opportunities in the criminal¡¯s mistakes. If a criminal makes no mistakes, then indeed, the case might remain unsolved." "Should we change our approach?" someone immediately suggested. Solving a case is a bit like making a movie; before filming starts, preparation is a minor cost, but once filming begins, the operational cost of the team skyrockets. The most money is spent when producing the final product¡ªthose romantic long takes, swirling red skirts, and mes, the overhead shots of innocent smiles, and scenes from a nonexistent ¡¯Immortal Realm¡¯ escte the costs immensely. If we¡¯ve really headed in the wrong direction, correcting it promptly is always better than dragging it out without changes. But had they really gone wrong? This was a problem Xu Taining needed to consider carefully. "There are still quite a few people on the list we haven¡¯t questioned," Xu Taining first observed the expressions of the police officers from the Qianjin District Bureau, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "It¡¯s not that the criminal can avoid these issues, but given his history of crimes, he is likely driven by emotion, just using somewhat unique methods and techniques." This was essentially Xu Taining¡¯s profiling of the criminal¡¯s identity, albeit not in so many words. In Xu Taining¡¯s understanding of the case, there was a high likelihood of catching the criminal if hemitted another crime. The previous cases went unsolved due to certain randomness, especially since each victim had taken a bath afterward, which inconvenientlyplicated the collection of DNA and other evidence. However, the least advisable course of action for the current investigation would be waiting for the criminal tomit another crime. Considering this, Xu Taining said, "In my opinion, there¡¯s no need to adjust our current investigative direction. If, in the end, we still can¡¯t find any trace of the criminal, that in itself could be a clue." "I thought you were going to cover everything," Liu Jinghuiughed, "then let¡¯s continue the investigation. There are still many people on the list who haven¡¯t been fully investigated. Let¡¯s clean up the list before moving on." "Shall we proceed like this, Captain Lei?" Jiang Yuan looked at Lei Xin. "Suffer through it." What else could Lei Xin say? If it was about suffering, he was truly suffering, but he was actually used to it. This case had changed investigative directions several times already, so regardless of whether Xu Taining changed the investigative direction again, Lei Xin could ept it. "I¡¯ll go check on another person who went abroad," volunteered Wu Junhao, taking one of his own team members and pulling in a local criminal police officer. Among those listed, two were overseas. Wu Junhao had investigated one; the other, Lu Xuekun, despite having settled in Qinghe City, had no mother and a father who remarried and lived away from home all year round. Lu Xuekun himself was a seaman, spending 10 months of the year away, only returning home for about two months during the New Year before heading to different ports to board ships. The Lu family didn¡¯t own a house in the city, instead, they had built a five-story house on the rural homestead, each floor approximately 120 square meters, with a very small backyard, but it was uninhabited most of the time. For such a case, "To collect criminal evidence and apprehend criminals, investigative officers may search the body, belongings, residence, and other relevant ces of criminal suspects and persons who may conceal criminals or evidence of crime, but there must be no fewer than two people." It required a search warrant, but in urgent situations, a search could proceed without one. This included circumstances like suspects possibly carrying weapons, concealing explosive or highly toxic substances, hiding, destroying, transferring criminal evidence, or concealing other suspects; other sudden urgent situations also qualified. This case had the potential of "hiding, destroying, transferring criminal evidence," and of course, given the magnitude of the case, "other sudden urgent situations" could likely ur. Wu Junhao and his team arrived at the location, first got vigers¡¯mittee members to act as witnesses, then opened the door of Lu Xuekun¡¯s house. A motorcycle was parked cleanly on the first floor. Wu Junhao took photos, sent them along with videos to Jiang Yuan, and then continued investigating upstairs. A vige official followed, smiling, "Now fewer people live in the vige; everyone goes to the big cities to work. Lu Xuekun¡¯s family is considered well-off here. He earns quite a bit as a seaman; at first, young people followed him to work on ships, but couldn¡¯t handle it after one trip. Only Lu Xuekun has been doing it for almost 10 years now." "This man also enjoys outdoor activities." A police officer with him opened a room upstairs, revealing a collection of various outdoor clothes, equipment, and shoes. "Seaman¡¯s ie is higher than ours; he can afford to indulge," Wu Junhao scoffed. "He even ys with drones." The officer pointed at a clear cab nearby, indeed holding several drones. "This stuff must cost quite a bit of money," the vige official shook his head, "Young people these days, they don¡¯t save. I told him before to save a bit, at least a hundred thousand or so, to pay a dowry and get a wife. He also said no, so I told him..." At that moment, a phone rang. Wu Junhao answered. Then he heard Jiang Yuan on the other end, "Confirmed it¡¯s the same one, this motorcycle!" Chapter 861 - 799: Live-Streamed Death

Chapter 861: Chapter 799: Live-Streamed Death

"May you all triumph gloriously!" Lei Xin stood in the office and expressed this sentiment once more, feeling quite emotional. The mission for the two detectives setting off this time was to go to Mysia to bring a person back. The suspect, Lu Xuekun, was a deep-sea mariner, currently aboard an 80,000-ton Panamax bulk carrier. These kinds of ocean-going vessels have fixed itineraries at ports, where they load or unload cargo, and all the crew needs to do is to keep working continuously. Of course, when docking, they could get off the ship and rest for a few hours to several days, depending on the situation. However, before the end of a contract period, crew members don¡¯t take long vacations, and if there are no Chinese ports on the stopover schedule, they don¡¯t return home. Lu Xuekun¡¯s vessel was just like that; even close to the New Year, his ship wouldn¡¯t return to China. He was nning to disembark in the Philippines and then fly back home. The task force naturally didn¡¯t want to wait that long and, after discussing, decided to extract the person from Mysia. Choosing Mysia was also due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous encounters with the Mysian police. Moreover, the criminal involved in those past cases was a serial rapist whose crimes had given the Dama Police Force quite a headache. With this experience, Jiang Yuan once again contacted Cui Xiaohu from the Ministry and went through the formal channels of the Qinghe City Bureau via the provincial office. Then, through Chu Guanliang, the police liaison officer stationed at the Mysian embassy by the Ministry, he was able to connect with Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong from the Dama Police Station, who were the senior officers in charge of the previous case. The process might seemplicated, and indeed, it is, but for the police, handling inter-regional criminal cases isn¡¯t usually much simpler. For most inter-regional criminal cases, detectives also tend to seek cooperation with local police forces. Of course, most of the arrests are still made by themselves, but when ites to handling cases abroad, domestic police can¡¯t make arrests even if they wanted to. However, Mysia has an extradition treaty, and from Chu Guanliang to the two senior Mysian officers, all are familiar faces, which makes the entire process run quite smoothly. Lei Xin apanied them to the car and, still worried, smiled at Huang Qiangmin and said, "We¡¯re really counting on you this time. We trulyck experience when ites to working on cases abroad." "We¡¯ve only been out once too. But at that time, we helped the Dama Police Force crack several cases. Jiang Yuan still periodically receives technical requests from them," Huang Qiangmin said with evident pride. Such international requests, even experts from the Ministry may not always receive. After all, most experts tend to follow mainstream practices, such as fingerprinting, DNA, and so on. Although also formidable, there are plenty of experts in these fields abroad who are equally strong. It¡¯s rare that a case would specifically require an expert with skills stronger than Level 4 but weaker than Level 6 to crack. Jiang Yuan, however, possessed a variety of techniques and some specialized skills, making him very effective whether handling casesprehensively or utilizing individual skills. Simr to domestic situations, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t involve himself too much in cases that required merely browsing evidence online and providing some technical guidance. Thus, logically and emotionally, asking the Mysian police to make the arrest and then extradite the suspect was extremely convenient. Even themunication between the two sides often had Jiang Yuan acting as the trantor. His Level 2 proficiency in the Indonesian dialect might not sound strong, but in reality, not only everyday conversation, even professional dialogue was not a problem for him; it was just a matter of not quite capturing those subtle native nuances. But Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need these. Indonesian and My are mutually intelligible and are used not only in Mysia and Indonesia, but also in Singapore and Brunei; however, outside of Southeast Asia, the use of My or Indonesian is extremely limited. To the Mysians, Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to speak Indonesian was already a significant recognition, much like how Chinese people in earlier years delighted in foreigners speaking Chinese. The dialogue between the detectives from both sides was unprecedentedly harmonious. And so was the process of arresting Lu Xuekun, which had been smoother than ever. He made it ashore, he disembarked, he passed through customs, he entered the house, he was arrested... News arrived and the Qianjin District Criminal Police Squad was in an uproar of celebration. Huang Qiangmin from Dama Police Station even made a special call, speaking to Jiang Yuan in Chinese, "God, my colleague reminded me to tell you that the suspect used drones to observe the victim. He likes to operate drones and only when he had confirmed that no one was around the victim would he ride a motorcycle to carry out the crime. It is said that it was after his first failed attempt that he came up with this idea." "Understood. I¡¯ll have them list the drone as evidence." The call was on speakerphone, and with a gesture from Jiang Yuan, Lei Xin and the others were already bustling about. Huang continued, "We found several drone-captured videos on his phone, which included footage of the victims. These should also serve as evidence." "Eh, if there are drone footages, could there also be videos of the sexual assault cases?" A detective immediately raised the question. "No, some countries¡¯ customs check the videos on phones andputers. The suspect is a seafarer and must have had concerns," Huang also expressed regret. "Every time the criminal returns to the country, he is eager tomit crimes. Could it be possible that he also engaged in criminal activities while abroad?" Another detective asked. "We have been asking this question too, but so far, the criminal¡¯s confession is that he prefers a safer environment and does not wish tomit crimes in unfamiliar ces. Therefore, outside of China, he satisfies his needs through prostitution..." Huang answered earnestly. In the absence of reporters and senior leaders, the detective squad was rtively free, whether it was analyzing cases or anything else. If someone wanted to speak, they could. Especially during case analysis, everyone could share their ideas, regardless of qualifications. Because now, major cases are tackled by pouring in excessive resources. To draw an analogy with the movie "The Wandering Earth," it is a saturation approach to solving cases, so anyone who can put forward a new direction for investigation is doing a good thing. ordingly, not all of these ideas necessarily need to lead to results. Huang was involved because of Jiang Yuan and didn¡¯t care who was asking the questions. After everyone said what they wanted to say, Jiang Yuan thanked Huang. Huangughed and said, "Don¡¯t mention it..." After the pleasantries, Huang changed his tone, "God, if you have the time, could you help us look at a case?" "Of course." Jiang Yuan stood up, nodded to Lei Xin, then said to the phone, "Just a moment, I¡¯ll find a private office..." "You can use this room right here." Lei Xin immediately got up, and the group quickly cleared the room, leaving it for Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin and Wang Chuanxing from the Cold Case Squad remained, and Huang also notified his superior as well as the Chinese police liaison officer Chu Guanliang. What was originally an audio call soon turned into a video call, and each notified their respective external departments. Once everyone had arrived, Huang introduced, "The case just happened yesterday, and I expect you will soon hear the rted news." While speaking, Huang nced at the several higher-ups who joinedter before continuing, "The victim is the daughter of a local businessman, 22 years old, living alone in a downtown apartment, with live streaming as her main job. The apartment is in a bustling area with good conditions. What is unique about this case is that as the victim was attacked and nearing death, she started a live stream on her phone, and in the live footage, she bled to death..." Just a few sentences were enough to send a chill down everyone¡¯s spine. As detectives, they all knew that the images captured in the final moments of death, especially when murdered, are not always peaceful. And such images, turned into a live stream video, one could imagine its virality. "You can probably understand the pressure we are under. Right now, the police are under tremendous pressure to solve the case..." Huang started by simply describing the situation. As he described, more colleagues from Dama Police Force, especially those wearing senior badges, began to gather behind Huang. Chapter 862 - 800: Exchange between Forensic Doctors

Chapter 862: Chapter 800: Exchange between Forensic Doctors

"Cool, cool, cool, cool..." In the screen, the girl with blood in her throat, with wide-open eyes, desperately tried to speak to the extent that the bloody foam in her mouth was visible, but still, noplete voice could be heard. Following that, she tried to write something on the ground with her hand, but it seemed all her strength was spent on reaching for the cellphone. With one stroke down, nothing discernible was formed before she could move no more. In thest twenty-thirty seconds of the screen, the only thing visible was the girl¡¯s eyes shifting from pleading to anger, from anger to regret, from regret to despair, and from despair to disappointment... Even as a forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan could not determine the exact second the girl had died. "This live broadcast continued for about fifteen more minutes before it was finally stopped. Arge number of viewers, who did not recognize the inte celebrity, still crowded into the live room to watch the process of her death," Zhong Renlong sighed helplessly, "Our national education is still very insufficient." "It¡¯s just some morbid curiosity," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯tment further. In fact, including the live streamingpany where the inte celebrity worked, they chose to profit from this tragedy at the first opportunity. Of course, they could argue that they were not clear on the reality of the situation, maybe the images shown during the live stream were just a performance by the inte celebrity? If the hard-spread footage was cut off just like that, it would be a wrongful death. But if this were an interrogation, naturally, such an exnation would not hold up because so many new viewers came specifically to see a dead person. If ordinary viewers had already spread the word and joined the live room, then for the live streamingpany to im they couldn¡¯t tell if the inte celebrity was dead or alive was a bit far-fetched. However, the police¡¯s current focus was more on the murder case. Zhong Renlong said, "Aziza¡¯s apartment is in the downtown area. After the incident, our officers arrived at the scene as quickly as possible, but some viewers also arrived at the scene at the same time, which resulted in some of the scene images being spread around." Huang Qiangmin frowned deeply, "Did you control the scene? Was the scene contaminated?" "A few people entered the scene," Zhong Renlong sighed, "But they were mainly taking photos and filming. There might have been a vacuum period of about a dozen minutes. Now the scene has been controlled, and everyone who went in has been recorded and had their fingerprints, shoe prints, DNA, etc., taken. However, today¡¯s news is all about this case!" "Did anyone arrive at the scene faster than the police and not encounter the murderer? Did the live stream capture any relevant images or sounds?" Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help asking. "No," Zhong Renlong said decisively, "This is also a major problem with the case. When the victim started the live stream she was still alive, with a strong desire to survive, but as she gradually died, no images or sounds of the murderer appeared. We are still digging deeper for relevant information, hoping to get more content from the video..." Zhong Renlong continued to exin, "Judging from the victim¡¯s time of death, there was only about 10 minutes between the time of the victim¡¯s death on live stream and the arrival of the first onlooker. Furthermore, people kept arriving continuously, and some filmed the footage; we¡¯ve acquired these materials. However, whether the murderer is among them and the route of the murderer¡¯s escape is hard to ascertain." "What about surveince?" Jiang Yuan asked in a very Chinese way, "Are there surveince cameras in the victim¡¯s home, the corridors, elevators, or the apartment building?" "The apartment where the victim lived ces great emphasis on guest¡¯s privacy," Zhong Renlong lowered his voice, "Inte celebrities or rich people don¡¯t want videos of themselves bringing home men or women to be shared on social media. The management of the apartment chose to forgo surveince cameras and used traditional security measures instead, with more personnel to ensure safety and forbidding security staff from carrying cameras on their phones..." Upon hearing this, Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t help but snort, "That¡¯s like buying a chastity belt and hoping your wife won¡¯t cheat." "Huh?" Zhong Renlong, after all a Dama native, and although he understood Chinese, he didn¡¯t quite catch the meaning. Behind Zhong Renlong, the officers started muttering to him, and then a few more joined in. Without needing to understand what they were saying, their expressions showed they were all under immense pressure. The case was too sensational: the victim live-streamed her death, and she was a beautiful inte personality, moreover, the murderer¡¯s escape time was surprisingly short and might even have been caught on camera by the onlookers who arrivedter. This significantly increased the audience¡¯s sense of participation. Now, on Mysia¡¯s inte, people had shared their own videos, some were analyzing them frame by frame, turning the whole case into a kind of inte detective show. For the police, this was not only about solving the case but also dealing with the public pointing fingers or even mocking them, with the frightening possibility that the crowd might very well be right! And in such a politically charged climate, this surge of public opinion was sure to attract a lot of political figures¡¯ attention and involvement. When the tide of traffic surged, the high-ranking officers in the police station whomanded respect like big fishes near the shore would attract blood-thirsty political sharks with their sshing. As long as this case went unsolved, the greater the risk the police chiefs at the station bore, with high-ranking officers potentially being eaten like snacks by the political sharks every day. "Doctor Jiang," after mumbling for a bit, Zhong Renlong faced the camera and said, "Our forensic doctors are ready to dissect the body now. Regarding this matter... could Doctor Jiange to Mysia?" "If I set off now, would I make it in time for the first autopsy?" Jiang Yuan asked. Essentially, he was asking if the other party could wait. Zhong Renlong awkwardly smiled, looked back at the officers, and then said, "I don¡¯t have a say in this autopsy, sorry." It wasn¡¯t just Zhong Renlong who couldn¡¯t interfere with the ownership of the case; even the higher-ups at the Dama Police Station couldn¡¯t fully intervene. For work like an autopsy, which was now in the public eye, it was impossible to dy, let alone let Jiang Yuan take charge¡ªZhong Renlong and others actually valued Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative skills more and didn¡¯t focus as much on his forensic expertise. However, being smart people, after a few simple words, they understood each other¡¯s thoughts. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Since I can¡¯t participate in the autopsy, then I will not fly over. Can I participate in the dissection via video?" "This..." This still wasn¡¯t something Zhong Renlong could decide, and he hurriedly tranted it into My to exin to the others. The My officers who joined the video call actually had some expectations for Jiang Yuan. Soon, one of the high-ranking officers said to Zhong Renlong, "Exin to Mr. Jiang Yuan, since the coroner for this case is Jacob, Doctor Jiang Yuan would like to participate in the autopsy via video, right? This might require consultation with Coroner Jacob..." "Can I have a chat with Coroner Jacob?" Jiang Yuan switched to Level 2 Indonesiannguage, which is a local dialect of the Mynguage, and said, "A forensic doctor speaking with another forensic doctor should be more convenient." Chapter 863 - 801: Persuasion

Chapter 863: Chapter 801: Persuasion

"Hello," Jiang Yuan greeted Jacob in Indonesian. "Hello. Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, I have read your autopsy reports," Jacob, a man in his fifties with a small, darkplexion but with a calm demeanor, possessed a British chill and a cool attitude. "I just reviewed some of your previous autopsy reports; they are quite meticulous," Jiang Yuan returned the greeting. Behind the two forensic doctors stood several policemen, who were curiously listening to the conversation. The Chinese side had interpreters, who had just arrived by bullet train and were quite proactive. Liu Wenkai was the most excited; this case had nothing to do with him, yet his significant experience with such serious cases made him quite active among the crowd, saying in Chinese, "It seems like they are testing each other, two masters showing their skills, first acknowledging each other¡¯s reputation and methods?" "A probe, is it?" Wu Junhao flexed his muscles. "Yourment sounds like something out of a pornographic film." ... After a few exchanges, Jiang Yuan and Jacob began discussing the case. Jacob, who had studied in the United Kingdom and had been an authority in forensic science since his youth, spoke directly, "Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, you want to participate in the autopsy, don¡¯t you? Actually, we don¡¯t need much discussion on this; if you were here in Dama, it would be more appropriate to discuss further. Otherwise, my opinion is quite clear..." "Mr. Jacob, I have seen the pictures and videos of the crime scene, and there are a few points I¡¯d like to share with you," Jiang Yuan interrupted Jacob. Jacob seemed displeased and nced at the time, saying, "I am about to perform an autopsy soon. I made this video call specifically because of your request, Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan. However, this case has drawn widespread attention, and I must prepare in advance..." "I can help you reconstruct the crime scene if you¡¯re interested," Jiang Yuan offered the benefit. Jiang Yuan possessed Level 5 skills in crime scene reconstruction and could even improvise a temporary +1. Despite how effortlessly he possessed this skill, for other technicians, crime scene reconstruction was like high-level magical expertise. Anyone writing a thesis on crime scene investigation wouldmand the full attention of their readers. Jacob hesitated, saying, "Going to the crime scene now would be too rushed..." "We can do it with videos and photos. I often perform such tasks." Jiang Yuan, active in various technical groups, frequently volunteered to help others with their image analyses and usually did not refuse requests. He could analyze these materials much faster than others, who might need several hours or even days toe to a conclusion. There wasn¡¯t anything mysterious about it; in his country, a number of experts reached Level 5 expertise, but hardly any would respond to WeChat inquiries. Typically, detectives had to respectfully schedule an appointment and personally visit with their materials to consult such high-caliber experts. Experts from Jiang Yuan¡¯s generation, ustomed to smartphones, were only just starting to emerge. Twisting a bit, Jacob said, "If the crime scene can be reconstructed through video and photos, of course, I have no problem with that." If the crime scene reconstruction could bepleted, many aspects of forensic work would be easier. Variousplications in forensic cases, such as determining whether a victim was stabbed from above because the perpetrator was taller or because of their rtive positions, like one standing while the other sat, ... Such questions, while answerable by autopsy and forensic science, posed a high difficulty and risk of error. Jacob faced national scrutiny now. The results of today¡¯s autopsy would instantly hit the headlines of major media outlets. Even if the media couldn¡¯t ess theplete autopsy report, unprincipled politicians who read it wouldn¡¯t keep the police¡¯s secrets, simr incidents had urred countless times. Thus, if Jiang Yuan could assist him with crime scene reconstruction, it would greatly reduce the pressure on his autopsy work and enhance its uracy. Of course, Jacob had some crime scene investigation skills himself, but like most forensic doctors, his fieldwork focused mainly on aspects rted to the body, and he wasn¡¯t capable of conducting crime scene reconstructions. There¡¯s a specialization in each professional field, and those who could perform crime scene reconstructions were on a different level from Jacob. But Jacob knew that Jiang Yuan probably wasn¡¯t boasting. Although he wasn¡¯t very clear about Jiang Yuan¡¯s exact capabilities in performing crime scene reconstructions, given the nature of the case and the context, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t be making casual ims. Any lesser skills would not be brought up, to avoid embarrassment. "Alright, let¡¯s start from the beginning," Jiang Yuan said without any superfluous words, and without overthinking like Jacob had assumed. Having solved cases all over the ce, Jiang Yuan had encountered many more forensic doctors from different ces than Jacob had ever worked with, thus Jiang Yuan had long umted countless modes ofmunication with forensic experts. Jiang Yuan leaned over to open hisptop and said, "First, let¡¯s rify one thing, the scene of the crime is the original scene, with no obvious alterations." "Um... this..." Jacob, also on a video call on the other side, opened hisptop but couldn¡¯t be as certain as Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan continued, "The apartment actually has only one entrance and exit. There are no traces of entrance or exit at the windows, so the door had to be the route the murderer took. Now, looking at the bloodstains at the scene, from the living room to the doorway and the bedside in the bedroom, there are lots of bloodstains wiped. Among them, there are spatter traces on the wall of the living room, indicating that this is where the assault began." "Yes, that¡¯s right," Jacob understood this point. "From the direction of the blood droplets, it can be seen that the murderer first hit the victim¡¯s head, and thetter, covering the wound, fled into the bedroom. The murderer followed in and stabbed multiple times. The victim then ran back to the living room, opened a live stream, and then died during the live stream." "That¡¯s right, the murderer probably saw the victim¡¯s actions, and to be safe, did not approach the victim but instead cleaned up the scene and fled immediately." Both of them shared this basic content, providing each other with basic intelligence and establishing a basic mode of conversation. Jiang Yuan said, "The scene appears this way, but the timing is wrong." "Huh? What do you mean?" Jacob didn¡¯t expect to be challenged by Jiang Yuan while they were discussing an agreement. Jiang Yuan nodded and added, "Now, looking at picture C62, it shows some special circumstances¡ªa lot of bed sheets..." "Used to wipe the blood," Jacob interjected. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "If we conducted specific tests, I believe the blood on these bed sheets would far exceed the normal amount of bleeding. Of course, analyzing from this angle is tooplex, let¡¯s choose another angle that is easier to understand." "Huh?" Jacob was slightly lost, wondering why they needed to change perspectives. Jiang Yuan said, "Looking at the wiping marks on the floor, what can you tell?" "This... could it indicate that the murderer wasn¡¯t very experienced? The wiping is all over the ce..." "What you mean is actually that the area wiped is veryrge." "Correct." "Exactly, the area wiped far exceeds the extent of bleeding, and moreover, we can see in this wiped area in the center, the range of wiping is very small, and there are circr patterns and dabbing traces. This shows that the murderer, holding bed sheets or cloths, was not merely wiping, but using the fabric to soak up blood, reducing the amount of blood at the scene." "It does seem to be the case, but... why? The murderer would be pressed for time and shouldn¡¯t waste so much time on blood that can¡¯t be dealt withpletely." "Therefore, the timeline you all have is problematic. Therge area of wiping marks and blood soaking traces point to one answer¡ªthis ce formed arge pool of blood." Jiang Yuan put forth his conclusion and continued, "The formation of a blood pool, and its size, indicate that the victim stayed in this area for a while." Jacob was stunned, "So, you mean the murderer chased the victim into the bedroom, then stabbed the victim, and next... the victim escaped to the living room?" "No, the murderer stabbed the victim and must have thought she was already dead, then started rummaging through things, as evidenced by some objects covering the bloodstains. Subsequently, the victim must have regained consciousness, stood up, and stumbled toward the living room," Jiang Yuan exined while showing several pictures from the hallway. Jacob, with widened eyes, asked, "Although the bloodstains appear this way, for a victim with such severe injuries to still stand up..." "Therefore, during the autopsy process, it¡¯s necessary to verify this hypothesis," Jiang Yuan paused before adding, "I haven¡¯t finished yet; the victim most likely fell down in the hallway once because of excessive blood loss, creating a small blood pool, though the dripping columnar blood flow can be seen. At this time, the murderer probably focused on cleaning the bedroom..." Jacob was already somewhat confused, "The victim got up after falling, then fell again, and then got up to go to the living room to seek help?" "ording to the crime scene, that is roughly the process. When she fell the second time, the murderer still thought she had died, so the murderer continued searching within the room, subsequently retiring from cleaning the room once realizing it couldn¡¯t be aplished, and then fled. By this time, the victim regained consciousness again, went to the living room, opened her phone to try and seek help." Jacob listened, feeling dizzy, "Two unconscious episodes and then death by blood loss? That¡¯s very rare." "Yes, so we need the support of an autopsy," Jiang Yuan looked at Jacob. Jacob immediately said, "Mr. Jiang Yuan, please do join us in the autopsy work!" Chapter 864 - 802: Sudden Incident——

Chapter 864: Chapter 802: Sudden Incident¡ª¡ª

"Jiang, do you want to eat something first?" Miao Ruixiang, the forensic doctor who had joined the team this year, was busily rushing around. After passing the exam to be a forensic doctor in Ningtai County, he became Wu Jun¡¯s apprentice, effectively making him Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior brother. Because of this connection, everyone was very polite to him. Miao Ruixiang himself was quite proactive, with a quick tongue and swift actions, definitely a forensic doctor with high emotional intelligence. Jiang Yuan was waiting for Coroner Jacob to begin the autopsy. The time for the autopsy had been set, and not only forensic doctors and police officers would be watching, but also the family of the deceased and some political figures. In recent days, the traffic in the whole of Dama was surging towards this event; politicians couldn¡¯t help but get involved even if they wanted to. Jiang Yuan looked up at therge screen¡ªempty for now¡ªand then said, "Then let¡¯s have a meal. What¡¯s for lunch?" "Commissioner Huang ordered hotpot. He said you like hotpot," Miao Ruixiang called someone in while speaking, and to their surprise, there was an electric hotpot with a yin-yang pot and a box of side dishes and sauces. "Then take the camera away. Don¡¯t film my face," said Jiang Yuan, an expert involved in the autopsy analysis, not a student without the need to show his face as proof of education. Miao Ruixiang acknowledged and quickly went out to arrange it. In a short while, the screen and filming setup were ready. The screen was a newly purchased 4Krge TV, hung slightly higher so that everyone sitting on one side of the conference table could see it by looking up. Their side no longer needed a camera, only the microphone with a push-to-talk button, ced in front of Jiang Yuan and the others; whoever wanted to speak would press it to talk. On the conference table, the steamy hotpot was already boiling, and bowls of ingredients were ready in the corner. Jiang Yuan sat in the middle of the conference table, with the hotpot right in front of him and the screen facing the body above him although the autopsy had not yet begun; they were only using the waiting time to have a meal. "Eat quickly, we have half an hour before it starts, let¡¯s aim to finish eating in half an hour!" Huang Qiangmin was organizing everything and then said to the IT staff, "Adjust the screen properly, especially the inte, make it clear, so we don¡¯t make judgments in errorter and be aughing stock." "Got it," a fewwork engineers, usually responsible only for restarting, frowned upon the task, feeling both that their expertise was finally being put to use and also that it was somewhat annoying. "Let¡¯s start with the meat," Wu Junhao called out,vishly pouring three tes of meat into the pot¡ªtwo into the spicy broth, one into the non-spicy. The meat in the spicy broth rolled three times; by the fourth turn, someone had already picked it up. Soon after, the meat from the non-spicy broth was also picked up, disgracefully rolled in the spicy broth, and then taken away. "Indeed, the meat from the spicy broth tastes better," Wu Junhao nodded as he ate. The othersrgely agreed. At that moment, the 80-inch television flickered twice, and suddenly the image on screen came to life. "We¡¯ve prepared quickly, and the police need our information urgently, so we¡¯ve decided to start the autopsy 20 minutes early. This autopsy will be led by Coroner Jacob. I have specially invited Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan from China for remote assistance. Is Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan there?" Jacob¡¯s voice came through the speake_rs__, mixing with the bubbling of the hotpot into a flurry of sounds. Jiang Yuan swallowed a bite ofmb he had just swished in the hotpot and then pressed the talk button on the microphone, clearing his throat twice before speaking, "I¡¯m also ready." "Good, I hope that you are not indulging in a feast before watching today¡¯s live broadcast. Just kidding! It doesn¡¯t matter if you are full; we are all professionals," Jacob spoke in a rxed tone, even knowing how to lighten the mood. This time the professionals watching the live broadcast were probably not as curious as the officials, so Jacob¡¯s task for the day wasn¡¯t just to perform a simple autopsy. Jiang Yuan looked down at the hotpot, with nothing much to say, picked up another stick of meat, and ate as a sign of respect. On the screen, Jacob pulled back the shroud on the autopsy table, revealing the body beneath. Several forensic doctors and assistants gathered at the site, ready to get to work. "The deceased is 166 centimeters tall, with the skin all over the body exhibiting signs of pallor, and livor mortis is not obvious. Rigor mortis is concentrated in the major joints of the body and can be ovee. Both eyeballs and conjunctivae are pale, cornea is clear, pupils dted..." Jacob spoke while proceeding with the work, without any pause in his monologue. Judging by his expertise in external examination, Jacob must also be Level 2 and above. "The injuries are mainly concentrated on the head, face, neck, and both upper limbs. There are... Let¡¯s count them," Jacob said as he began to count with other forensic doctors and assistants. "85 wounds!" "On the front and right side of the neck, you can see scattered subcutaneous hemorrhage..." Jacob¡¯s external examination was not quick, in fact, it was quite sluggish. Jiang Yuan ate hotpot quickly, slurping loudly, with the microphone off. The other detectives were doing roughly the same, with the meat right in front of them, who could resist eating? The stuff on the screen is not good for the appetite, so just don¡¯t look at it. Of course, Jiang Yuan had to watch as he still needed to seriously analyze the condition of the body, especially since his Indonesian was only Level 2. This level was fine for everyday conversation, but hecked professional vocabry, so Jiang Yuan had to asionally look up and seriously check the progress of the autopsy. Soon, Jacob picked up the scalpel and began the dissection of the body. He mainly dissected the neck, which was the area the perpetrator stabbed multiple times. The organs in the chest cavity and abdominal cavity were not damaged, although Jacob still took them out one by one, weighed them, took samples, and specifically conducted an onsite analysis of the stomach contents. By the time he reached this step, the piping hot hotpot was finished. Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, waited for the hotpot and condiments to be cleared away, and then directly called Zhong Renlong. Zhong Renlong was actually at the scene watching the autopsy, but upon receiving Jiang Yuan¡¯s call, he quickly stepped out of the room and whispered, "Boss, do you need me to say anything to Coroner Jacob?" "Oh, no need. Jacob¡¯s autopsy will probably take a while longer to finish. He definitely wants to be more thorough, but the facts of the crime are already rtively clear, and I think it¡¯s better tomunicate with you first," Jiang Yuan said. "Of course, of course," Zhong Renlong nodded repeatedly and asked, "What are you referring to?" "Jacob should have shared with you the information regarding the reconstruction of the crime scene, right?" "He has told us." "Based on the autopsy, let me add a few points." "Alright, taking notes." Jiang Yuan recalled the autopsy he just watched and continued, "First of all, our reconstruction of the crime scene should be correct. I maintain my previous opinion. The basic sequence of events is clear: after the perpetrator entered, they had contact with the victim in the living room; following that, due to escting conflicts, they grabbed a knife from the scene and inflicted harm..." Jiang Yuan firstmunicated the basics of the crime scene reconstruction to Zhong Renlong, then said, "From here, we can infer several conclusions. First, the perpetrator entered gently, suggesting a certain level of familiarity with the victim. Secondly, the numerous injuries on the body, but with a low degree of damage, suggest the offendercks experience and strength, and had poor control over the victim." Jiang Yuan: "Thirdly, the perpetrator¡¯s infliction of harm on the victim was not thorough, and the weapon, a chef¡¯s knife taken from the spot, was not sharp enough, indicating the crime was not premeditated but rather spontaneous. In addition, the victim got up twice, and the perpetrator took no further measures to restrain. The manner in which the crime scene was searched for valuables was also rough and iplete, without specificity, objectively indicating clumsy actions and limited ability. These are consistent with the characteristics of a youth offender." "Ah? A youth?" Zhong Renlong was surprised by Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusion. If the perpetrator was a youth, then the range of potential suspects would be greatly narrowed. Jiang Yuan hummed on the other end of the phone and said, "The perpetrator¡¯s age is very likely under 18. You can start your investigation and gathering of evidence from this angle." "Okay, okay," Zhong Renlong was visibly excited. He nced again at Jacob, still in the autopsy room, but without paying further attention to the ongoing autopsy, he quietly reported to his own superior, who then arranged for subordinates to report to the higher-ups... In a short time, several police officers quietly left the autopsy room. Jacob noticed but did not understand; he didn¡¯t give it much thought. Autopsies were not exactly an appealing performance to begin with, the process was brutal and tedious. It was normal for people to leave halfway through. Jacob continued with the autopsy. Under the watchful eyes of those present, Jacob¡¯s autopsy took over 8 hours, gradually ousting most of the people. As the end approached, someone from the TV station nced at their phone, then turned on the television in the autopsy room. On the screen, a line ofrge text took up one-third of the frame: "Breaking¡ªInte Celebrity Death Case Solved!" Chapter 865 - 803: A Better Person

Chapter 865: Chapter 803: A Better Person

"Ding ding!" "Beep beep!" The phones of the officers kept ringing intermittently, much like the reporters at the scene. "Hello?" "Please speak!" At that moment, no one was leaving anymore, everyone was inside the autopsy room making calls. Coroner Jacob frowned, feeling somewhat challenged by the situation. He looked back, seeing a certain bureau chief making a call in the corner... hmm, a certain mayor¡¯s assistant standing by the door making a call... uh, a certain news producer looking out the window while on the phone... hiss, a certain political activist pacing and making calls with arms crossed... huff... Touching the cold body with his hand, Coroner Jacob calmed himself down. There was no need for this, he was a forensic doctor whose job was to perform autopsies¡ªthat¡¯s all a normal forensic doctor needed to do, focus on the autopsy and not mind others! So, Coroner Jacob continued to dissect the body attentively. The body had 85 wounds, each needed to be carefully photographed and documented, especially the fatal wounds which required extra attention. Otherwise,wyers could im that the 63rd wound was caused by a different weapon indicating a second person at the scene, and once the body was processed, there would be nothing left to exin. "Coroner Jacob, what do you think about the suspect?" the reporter who had been filming Jacob finished his call and began to pry into Jacob¡¯s matters. Jacob nced at him and asked, "Who is the suspect?" "Oh, haven¡¯t you been informed about the suspect?" the reporter insensitively blurted out, igniting Jacob¡¯s anger momentarily. But soon, Jacob calmed down again. ording to the information avable, the murderer was a minor who might have left the apartment building before the actual time of the victim¡¯s death and was acquainted with the victim... These three factors, filtering through acquaintances for minors and adding a timestamp for an alibi, made deducing the identity of the murderer not so far-fetched. Ding. Jacob set down the scalpel he was gripping, the stainless steel handle shing with the stainless steel tray, producing a crisp sound. The youthful face of the reporter suddenly stiffened. "What is the status of the suspect?" Jacob asked again. The reporter hurriedly exined, "It¡¯s indeed a minor, 15 years old, working as a delivery boy. He often delivered parcels to Aziza¡¯s apartment, so he was quite familiar with Aziza. Usually, Aziza would tip him well, and sometimes, she would ask him to do other errands, like moving a flowerpot or fetching some items." Evaluating Jacob¡¯s gaze, the reporter added, "This time, the suspect reportedly rued a significant gambling debt and, out of desperation, asked Aziza for money. When she refused, their conversation turned sour, and the suspect got physical. What he didn¡¯t anticipate was that Aziza was stronger than he thought, nearly overpowering him. In panic, the suspect grabbed something and stabbed Aziza, then fearing that she would call the police, he killed her..." While this reporter narrated the case, he started cautiously but then moved on to a more graphic description as if he had witnessed it himself. Jacob was skeptical, but one thing seemed quite certain¡ªthe suspect was probably not going anywhere. The body of Aziza showed clear defensive wounds, and there were traces under her fingernails that could be subjected to DNA testing in theb, possibly confirming the suspect through DNAparison. This would make it easy to confirm the murderer. Additionally, considering Aziza had traces under her nails and the suspect had stabbed 85 times, it was highly likely he would have injured his own hand in the heat of the moment. Such an injury didn¡¯t need a forensic expert to confirm¡ªa seasoned detective would understand it at a nce. Moreover, with the high-profile nature of Aziza¡¯s murder, the Dama police would be sure to perform their duties diligently, especially since the suspect might be a minor. Without solid evidence, even if the police dared to apprehend someone, they would not rush to disclose it. Thinking this way, it seemed almost inevitable that the case would be solved. Jacob sighed inwardly and picked up the scalpel again, resuming his work. Even if the case was solved, the autopsy still had to bepleted. As the trial phase approached, such a case might attract ambitiouswyers willing to work pro bono, starting with challenging the evidence... Jacob¡¯s focus sharpened as he methodically dissected the body. Those around him started to feel bored, having originallye for first-hand information, and now that the case seemed to be solved... ng... Ding... The door opened and then closed as the people originally crammed in the autopsy room began leaving one by one. Once Jacob had finished the full autopsy, only his colleagues and a camera remained around him. "Why haven¡¯t you left?" Coroner Jacob couldn¡¯t help but ask thest photographer. "I¡¯m shooting a documentary," the photographer smiled. "A documentarian, so you¡¯re better at waiting, huh?" Jacob sighed. Photographer: "The tripod is too heavy, I can¡¯t move it alone, I need to wait for someone to help." ... "Zhong Renlong, try this." The policewoman handed him a cup of milk tea, enthusiastically punctured the straw for him, and directly stuffed it under his nose. Zhong Renlong felt a bit embarrassed but had to take a sip, thinking to himself: If only she had bitten the straw beforehand, the service would have been spot-on. "Renlong..." the policewoman¡¯s voice was soft, slightly imploring. Zhong Renlong grunted: "Thank you. The milk tea is very sweet." "Renlong, could you please speak to Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan for me, see if he could look into my case?" The policewoman¡¯s voice became more pleading. But as soon as she mentioned Jiang Yuan, Zhong Renlong became alert, thought for a moment, and then said, "I can ask Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, but I can¡¯t guarantee that he will agree." "That¡¯s enough," the policewoman nodded happily, her eyes speaking volumes in an instant. Zhong Renlong watched her retreating back, and when he snapped back to reality, he was faced with another gleaming oily face. "Renlong..." This time, it was Team Leader Ma Larna from the major crime unit, his voice also imploring, eyebrows furrowing, even his pectorals seemed tense. Zhong Renlong, who was drinking his milk tea, awkwardly turned his neck, frowning more deeply than Ma Larna: "You don¡¯t need to talk to me like this..." "As long as you can get Doctor Jiang to help us with the case, I can keep talking to you like this." Ma Larna gently bumped into Zhong Renlong, knocking him back two meters. Zhong Renlong tried to escape in the chaos but was pulled back into Ma Larna¡¯s arms. "I¡¯ll make a call," Zhong Renlong tilted his neck back to avoid touching Ma Larna¡¯s chest hair while struggling to reach for his phone. Ma Larna¡¯s expression slightly changed: "Don¡¯t be in such a hurry..." Zhong Renlong¡¯s hand tensed even more, What... am I grabbing? ... Qinghe City. Dinner was light, a stir-fried selection of seasonal vegetablesplemented by some marinated dishes and enjoyed with Qinghe Daqu liquor. Jiang Yuan, Lei Xin, Wu Junhao, Liu Jinghui, and others were drinking fluidly. Today¡¯s menu was unusual because a Cantonese chef had been detained in a Qinghe City holding facility. Of course, they didn¡¯t exploit hisbor; instead, they moved him from sewing to the kitchen station, which didn¡¯t significantly change his life since bing a chef. Being an actual chef, the marinated dishes he prepared, including goose, pork, and tofu, were delicious. Lei Xin even pointed out: "Zhang¡¯s cooking skills are really getting better. You know, we set up a teaching ss for him in the detention center so he can serve his time focused solely on cooking." "The inmates in detention don¡¯t have much longer to serve, right?" Jiang Yuan took a bite of the greens, nodding contently to the undercooked taste and the well-bnced seasoning and broth¡ªit was indeed difficult to achieve in home cooking. Lei Xin also nodded regretfully, adding: "No worries. We¡¯re trying to catch his apprentice; I heard his skills are also quite good. Once he arrives and polishes his skills, the food might be even tastier." "What are their charges?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Operating a gambling house," replied Lei Xin. "They ran a restaurant where they provided automatic mahjong machines in the VIP rooms. After eating, people would y big games of mahjong. He supplied them with chips, and eventually, to book his VIP room, one had to be a VIP with over 30,000 yuan loaded. A VIP room in a restaurant that only gives back 5% is quite a cut." "With such tasty food, why start a gambling den?" "They can cook well, but they¡¯re not good at doing business. They don¡¯t want to lose all their life savings in it," Lei Xin said, blinking, and suggested with a smile: "Captain Jiang, why not try finding Zhang¡¯s apprentice? His wild boar meat is exceptional." "I¡¯m too busy for that now." Jiang Yuan looked dismissive of such minor crimes, flipping through his tablet and clinking his ss with Lei Xin, saying: "There¡¯s been a build-up of cases in Qinghe City recently; I¡¯m checking if we can get some chef death row inmates." "They can¡¯t cook if they¡¯re on death row," Lei Xin responded with a bitter smile, "Moreover, the prison administration is strict; they don¡¯t really cooperate with us." Wang Chuanxing chuckled: "Then we¡¯ll just have to increase DUI checks around our favorite restaurants." "Some people aren¡¯t chefs, but they can cook really well..." Liu Jinghui said, suddenly hit an idea: "The case just now, analyzing the timing might yield better results." So Jiang Yuan handed the tablet to Liu Jinghui, allowing him to rapidly input. Afterpleting the analysis, Lei Xin followed Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductions to begin further verifications. When Liu Jinghui and others had some free time, they also helped Lei Xin sweep through cases. As he said, since the fall of the Jianyuan Group, the security situation in Qinghe City had indeed gotten moreplicated; now only Ningtai County was particrly stable while the Qianjin District remained particrly chaotic. Jiang Yuan was also considering whether to prioritize a major crime case or handle a series of cases first, then deploy investigative strategies from a security management perspective. Chapter 866 - 804 Sorting

Chapter 866: Chapter 804 Sorting

Early morning. Jiang Yuan¡¯an made his way on foot to Qianjin District Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Team for work. Members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team also followed the same route, with more than twenty lively young people chatting away as they walked, all d in reflective-striped trousers, heads swinging, exuding charm. "If a thief were to strike now, with a robbery right in the street, and we subdued him, that would just be too cool," Mu Zhiyang said. If he had a tail, he¡¯d be swishing it, possibly knocking over the wares of the vendors on both sides. "The situation with petty thieves here in Qinghe City is a bit different, because the decline in public safety happened suddenly," Jiang Yuan was considering the possibility of catching small-time criminals. But Qinghe was not like Beijing, where many of the petty thieves really are trying to make a living, whereas many such thieves in Qinghe resort to theft only because they can¡¯t make a living. The difference between the two lies in that Qinghe¡¯s thieves are mostly first-time offenders, so they upy the lower echelons of the criminal underworld. Such thieves, once caught, are unlikely to give up any mid-to-high-level criminals. Liu Jinghui, walking alongside,mented, "Your deduction is very urate. In Qinghe, it¡¯s quite difficult to work up from the small to the big fish. Especially over thest two years, we¡¯ve sifted through each city and county in Qinghe, and the criminals who¡¯ve grown from small-time offenses, closely linked to themunity, basically can¡¯t survive." Liu Jinghui was quite proud of this point. He might be considered asing from the provincial department, but for the past year, he had been following Jiang Yuan, and the Provincial Criminal Police Department didn¡¯t have anyints. For police officers, a track record is persuasive power. Even if Liu Jinghui had only focused on one city, by unearthing criminals there, he would have relieved others¡¯ workload, and the provincial department¡¯s goals would have been met. Liu Jinghui and his colleagues also reaped a tremendous sense of achievement. In ces like Qinghe City,rge entities like the Jianyuan Group or the numerous small-time yers, all involved the participation of Liu Jinghui. Now that public security had improved to this level, he naturally had plenty of reasons to feel proud... Whoo... A motorcycle rolled in lightly from afar. Two men were sitting on the motorcycle, one in front and one in the back, with thetter¡¯s feet poised on the footpegs, while the rider was sitting upright, as though exerting strength throughout his body. Liu Jinghui nced at them and a string of deductions shed through his mind: The motorcycle was not speeding, seemingly due toplicated road conditions, but in reality, they could have moved to a more central position to pick up speed. The state of the two on the motorcycle was also peculiar; their bodynguage was clearly tense, yet the driving speed was slow, and there was no sign of conversation... From these aspects, one might deduce... "They¡¯re motorcycle robbers," Wu Junhao advanced from behind, positioning himself in front of Jiang Yuan and flexing his arms, which were as thick as ck silken thighs, signaling his team to get into formation. In the past, motorcycle gangs were prevalent in Ningtai County too. Those young people, who had returned home after learning their trade in coastal areas, would zoom through the countytown... After a few raids and arrests, they began to engage in guerri tactics¡ªthere were always young people who thought working once every three months was a very ssy thing. Wu Junhao and hispany were formed to counter such criminals who depended on "physical value," and they possessed greater "physical value" too, withrger numbers, better equipment, and a greater variety of tactics. Thus, although still in the stupor of the morningmute, with the swaying of Wu Junhao¡¯s arms, thicker than a pair of silken legs, several members of his team were already choosing the most suitable positions at the first instance. Liu Jinghui was somewhat surprised, looking at the apparently bag-snatching bikers ahead, he asked Wu Junhao, "How did you know they were about tomit a motorcycle robbery?" "Just look at them, and you know. These bastards, they all have the same look. I¡¯ve seen enough of them to know what they¡¯re up to just by lifting my hand," said Wu Junhao, his tone remarkably nonchnt, already exuding an air of having everything under control. Liu Jinghui was about to further inquire when, suddenly, a "yah" sounded from the front¡ªady¡¯s bag had been snatched away. As the saying goes, quicker than words, a policeman who had been lurking nearby charged without a sound. "Go, go, go,"ughed the young men on the motorcycle. They thought that the approaching officer was just a bystander trying to perform a good deed. As the motorcycle sped up, another officer from the same squad surged forward from the other side. The motorcycle rider gave a disdainfulugh, the motorcycle slightly swerved, easily avoiding the officer. The rear passenger rose to his feet, pointing at the officer who had approached and shouted, "Don¡¯t go looking for trouble, anyone elsees up here, I¡¯ll finish you off!" Thud. The real strike was delivered by the third officer who had been standing under the well-groomed pine trees, waiting for the motorcycle to turn. With a flying kick, he knocked over the motorcycle. The young man from the rear stood up from his flip and pulled out a small knife from behind, brandishing it. He could have run, but he couldn¡¯t swallow his pride and felt like getting some exercise. The motorcycle rider also stood up, but upon seeing the approaching officer¡¯s trousers, he let go of his hold. He looked left, then right, then ahead, and behind, and again left and right, only to find several blue trousers closing in around him. After a moment¡¯s thought, he suddenly snatched the knife from his partner, stabbed it into the ground, then grabbed hispanion, shouting, "I¡¯ve caught him for you!" A falling-out among thieves was not unusual. If he had done this during the actual robbery, he could have been considered as attempting to stop the crime, and might even avoid punishment. Unfortunately, their crime had already been carried out, the victim¡¯s bag had been stolen, so this could only be seen as a disy of repentance after the fact. Wu Junhao was all too familiar with this routine. Whenever his squad went out to make arrests, they often encountered criminals showing remorse. "Alright, off to work they go, like I¡¯m carrying breakfast," Wu Junhao said as he licked his lips, looking downright terrifying in the eyes of the two criminals. Jiang Yuan felt a bit thrilled. Compared to technical surveince, real-life action tends to get the blood racing, no wonder Wu Junhao and other guys who loved to lift weights were always itching to get out. However, Wu Junhao didn¡¯t immediately start walking but focused his gaze on a car nearby. The person from the car soon got out. "Guys... we¡¯re criminal police from Jizhou. I¡¯m Li Jikuan. We saw you catching a thief, so we thought we¡¯d better not disturb you, buddy, you¡¯ve got sharp eyes," the people from the car introduced themselves and showed off their shiny suit pants, which put everyone at ease. "What are you doing here?" Wu Junhao put the two petty thieves aside and introduced himself. "We¡¯ve got a fugitive who seems to have run off to Qinghe. We came over today, nning to find you in the afternoon..." Li Jikuan started exining. "We¡¯re not locals either," Wu Junhao interrupted Li Jikuan and said, "We¡¯re from Ningtai County." "I know Ningtai, Ningtai Jiangyuan, the scourge runs deep!" Li Jikuan recited andughed together with his colleagues. Wu Junhao and the others didn¡¯tugh. As a detective, Li Jikuan instantly knew he had misspoken. Looking ahead, he hurriedly asked, "Is this Ningtai Jiangyuan?" "I¡¯m Jiang Yuan. Good morning," Jiang Yuan greeted as he had been recognized. Li Jikuan pretended to be embarrassed, quickly exining, "We really didn¡¯t know... We didn¡¯t expect to run into Ningtai Jiangyuan here. Is Ningtai part of Qinghe City, has Doctor Jiang been transferred to Qinghe?" "I¡¯m just helping them with a few cases," Jiang Yuan and his colleagues walked and talked. Li Jikuan was a smooth talker and immediately followed up on Jiang Yuan¡¯s topic. His colleagues also chimed in sporadically as they arrived at the detective team office when a few middle-aged police officers came out to wee them. "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re finally back," Cui Xiaohu grabbed Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and didn¡¯t want to let go. It had to be said that his past few days had been quite pleasant. Working in the Ministry, he naturally received much admiration from lower-level officials, though their daily work didn¡¯t involve those at the grass-roots level. This time, with Dama showing a humble attitude and activelymunicating with the Ministry, it had piqued the interest of several leaders. Cui Xiaohu, who personally handled the negotiations, especially felt the sincere earnestness from the Dama side. "Jiang Yuan, you¡¯ve really done us all proud," Cui Qishan shouted deliberately loud. Such matters needed to be known by as many people as possible for the person involved to feel the happiest. The apanying Li Jikuan and others cooperated with looks of astonishment. And in the midst of their act, Li Jikuan and the others realized something ¨C indeed, this was quite astonishing! "Jiang Yuan, Dama would like to coborate with you on a few more cases..." Cui Xiaohu pulled at Jiang Yuan, saying, "There are two models now, one is an honorary position at their police station with a sry; the other is to cooperate on a few cases in the Ministry¡¯s name..." Cui Xiaohu spokepellingly, his tone filled with a bit of anticipation. Li Jikuan and the others listening upfront were dumbfounded. Everyone was working the same job, why was there such a big difference? Cui Xiaohu also intentionally left them there, as having more people around might make it easier for Jiang Yuan to make a quick decision... "What does Commissioner Huang say?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t affected at all. "Well... Commissioner Huang still rmends taking it one case at a time," Cui Xiaohu sighed, aware that when Jiang Yuan asked this, he was unlikely to go against Huang Qiangmin¡¯s decision. However, Jiang Yuan simply nodded and said, "Then let Dama send over some cases for me to look over, but I¡¯ve already prepared to take on a case in Qinghe, so theirs will have to wait." "Ah... alright," Cui Xiaohu could only agree. As the host, Comrade Lei Xin, the captain of the Qianjin District Bureau¡¯s detective squad, inexplicably puffed out his chest at this moment ¨C he hadn¡¯t expected to be the first in line. Chapter 867 - 805: Depicted a Murderer

Chapter 867: Chapter 805: Depicted a Murderer

"Check the case files and evidence for these cases, will you?" Jiang Yuan picked out a few cases and had Lei Xin go look for the materials. Having worked on a greater number of cold cases now, he had developed a different understanding of them. The challenge of a cold case is not solely reflected in the nature of the case or the type of evidence, but also in howprehensive the evidence is, and whether the evidence collection was thorough. To put it bluntly, some cold cases were ruined by some idiots. But faced with such cold cases, you¡¯re absolutely powerless. Jiang Yuan was quite familiar with the Criminal Police Team of Qianjin District, which was considered top-notch in Qinghe City. However, even for a team of this caliber, it was quite difficult topletely eliminate the presence of idiots. By having Lei Xin sift through the cases, Jiang Yuan hoped to find one that was rtively less challenging to solve, or at least appeared to be. As for actively seeking out difficult cases, that would be like treating the members of the Cold Case Squad, the criminal police team, and even the entire police force of several hundred people as if they didn¡¯t matter¡ªif there were the influence of politics, that would be an irresistible force; if not, it would just be pure folly. Lei Xin led his group directly to the archives and evidence rooms. The cases from the Qianjin District Bureau were numerous all year round, and naturally, their evidence room wasn¡¯t as orderly as those on television. Of course, the hardware of the evidence room was definitely orderly, especially the big stainless steel cabs at the front, which even looked a bit cool. However, the evidence stuffed inside the cabs was a bit disorganized. "One case, one cab" is a good system, as long as the number of cabs can keep up with the growing number of cases. If it can¡¯t keep up and the cabs are filled, then the only solution is to stuff in more. Naturally, cases that weren¡¯t finished received extra consideration, but even so, various evidence and case files stuffed the cabs to the brim, making it difficult to sort through. Lei Xin sorted everything out seriously, taking a hands-on approach with gloves on. His apprentice followed suit and whispered, "Lei Da, you could take a break and we¡¯ll call you to check once we¡¯ve sorted it out." "What¡¯s there to break for now," Lei Xin red back, "We¡¯re not working hard on Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases for his sake, we¡¯re doing it for our own cases. If we prepare the cases well and Jiang Yuan can smoothly solve them, who knows, maybe he¡¯ll be able to do a few more cases. Now that he¡¯s here, he won¡¯t just work on one case and leave." Lei Xin knew well that he didn¡¯t have another serial rape case to summon Jiang Yuan with, so he intended to make the most of Jiang Yuan while he was still around. While Lei Xin and the others were hard at work in the basement, Jiang Yuan and others in the meeting room were chatting in small groups. Some who didn¡¯t like to talk just held their smartphones and watched in a corner. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t decided on a new case yet, and the cold case detectives present were actually more proactive, boldly analyzing the cases at hand and asionally asking Jiang Yuan for his opinions. Li Jikuan, feeling a bit itchy listening, seized an opening during the conversation and threw in, "Captain Jiang, could you help me take a look at a case?" "I can look at the evidence involved in the case, no problem." Although Jiang Yuan would help people with fingerprints and footprints in the group chat, he definitely wouldn¡¯t have time to handle cases from start to finish like he did in Qinghe City or Beijing. Li Jikuan naturally didn¡¯t expect that, and hurriedly said, "It would be great to just look at the evidence. Our special case team took on a current case five days ago and has been busy until today without any results. The people we¡¯vee to arrest are also suspects involved in the case." "Are there footprints, fingerprints, or bloodstains?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even ask what the case was but instead inquired about the evidence first. Li Jikuan nodded quickly, "There are footprints, there¡¯s DNA, and there are bloodstains." As Li Jikuan spoke, he quickly essed the internalwork from theputer, showcased it to Jiang Yuan, and exined, "We analyzed this case and think it was either vengeance or a crime of passion. The victim was a subcontractor in charge of decorating a residence in a smallmunity. He was moving machinery like an angle grinder when he was stabbed three times and died of excessive blood loss..." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan also saw the photos of the crime scene. The incident urred in the stairwell of amunity under renovation. The victimy on the stairs between the second and third floors, head down and feet up, with arge pool of blood formed beneath him. The victim suffered three stab wounds to his abdomen, showed signs of struggle, and appeared to have crawled forward a couple of steps. An angle grinder and a toolboxy scattered beside him, and his clothes were rtively clean, indicating that he either hadn¡¯t started working yet or had only just begun. Since themunity was under renovation, there were no cameras inside; only one at the main gate was working. However, the ess control to themunity wasn¡¯t strict, entry and exit were basically unrestricted, and during the renovation phase, it was still a mixed flow of people and vehicles. The camera couldn¡¯t capture all the faces in the cars. The surroundings of themunity were simrly situated: several hundred meters around were either farnd orrge construction sites. There was a vige nearby, but it was also a few hundred meters away, equallycking surveince. Liu Jinghui, also curious, had been listening by the side and peeking at the crime scene photos behind Jiang Yuan. He couldn¡¯t help saying, "Good thing it wasn¡¯t a robbery-homicide, otherwise, solving this case would be all about luck." Li Jikuan gave a wry smile, "It¡¯s about luck now, too. We¡¯ve checked the victim¡¯s socialwork and haven¡¯t found a suspect. The victim, well, he was a decorator; he had some disputes with his clients and workers, but none serious enough to kill him." He wasn¡¯t so pessimistic before he left the house. Back then, the case was a freshlymitted murder, and the confidence among the task force officers was palpable. But within two days of Li Jikuan¡¯s departure, the case had already transitioned from the critical three-day mark to a five-day silver period. At this point, there was still no suitable suspect, a truly dangerous sign. Jiang Yuan fully understood Li Jikuan¡¯s feelings¡ªit was simply due to their extensive experience. Murders nowadays tend to be quite ordinary. The main cohort of murderers has shifted from skilled individuals born in the ¡¯50s and ¡¯60s to those born in the ¡¯70s and after. This newer generation tends to be abundant in ideas, yet prone to difficulty in execution, with particrly uncontroble emotions. Like the inte celebrity case in Dama that Jiang Yuan handled, the 15-year-old perpetrator, despite working as a courier requiring substantial physical strength, was not robust, even struggling against a young inte celebrity in his early twenties who regrly exercised. Yet, the teen¡¯s temper was explosive, resorting to theft when he couldn¡¯t borrow money, and when theft failed, he turned to knives... Moreover, the inexperienced 15-year-old also foolishly attempted to clean up a significant amount of blood¡ªhad he been able to easily aplish this, he might have even entertained the idea of dismembering or discarding the body. In fact, many perpetrators harbor simr fantasies, which are often quashed by reality. An average person punctured in an artery or a major blood vessel can lose over 3000 milliliters of blood, some even as much as 4500 milliliters. Furthermore, a corpse may release urine, potentially adding several hundred milliliters of fluid to the mix¡ªimagine the difficulty in cleaning this. Just pour out four 1.25-liter bottles of c on the ground and see if you can wipe them clean. Anyone with a bit of housekeeping experience wouldn¡¯t choose this method if nning a murder and dismemberment. At the minimum, they would move the victim to a bathtub before slicing the neck, simr to catching blood in a basin during a pig ughter. Otherwise, the family might spend the New Year cleanup extending all the way to the third day. The murder case at the Jizhou renovation site seemed straightforward, but after several days of investigation yielding no results, anxiety was inevitable. Li Jikuan was just at the point of needing assistance but hadn¡¯t actively sought it out yet. It wouldn¡¯t be until after a week without solving the case that Jizhou police would truly start to panic. With the entire team thrown into such a case, it¡¯s highly likely to be a cold case if not solved within a week. Jiang Yuan had no intention of taking over their case, merely offering help. After inspecting the bloodstains and footprints at the crime scene, he suggested, "Here¡¯s what I¡¯ll do¡ªI¡¯ll give you a range to work with. Compare it and see if it leads to anyone." "Okay." Li Jikuan still didn¡¯t realize what Jiang Yuan was about to do. Beside him, Wang Chuanxing was already taking out his notebook, testing his pen, andying it in front of him. "The suspect is 175 centimeters tall, male, with an athletic build and a weight of around 140 pounds. He has a slightly longer right leg than his left, which is clearly indicated by his footprints, possibly by two centimeters, indicating a limp. Additionally, he is left-handed. Have you determined the type of weapon used in the killing?" Jiang Yuan spoke slowly, but Li Jikuan¡¯s mind was operating even more sluggishly. At that moment, only one thought was swirling in Li Jikuan¡¯s head: A limping left-hander¡ªisn¡¯t the case practically solved with just this information? Responding to Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, Li Jikuan took a moment before realizing and said, "You¡¯re referring to a single-edged de, about 30 centimeters long, pointed, with a small guard¡ªlikely a boning knife." The murderer had stabbed three times, leaving significant traces of the weapon. Based on the victim¡¯s wounds, the forensic doctor could analyze the physical characteristics of the weapon. Nodding, Jiang Yuan added, "Your forensic doctor¡¯s initial assessment is correct, but regarding the exact type of knife, I lean more toward an ethnic de, such as a Tibetan knife." Jiang Yuan randomly pulled up a picture of a Tibetan knife on his phone to show Li Jikuan, then mentioned, "I don¡¯t know how strict your city¡¯s de regtions are, but in Qinghe City or Changyang City, such knives wouldn¡¯t pass through security checks; therefore, one wouldn¡¯t be able to take nes or have an easy time taking trains. So people generally don¡¯t carry them around, especially sharpened ones." "So it could be a person from an ethnic minority?" Li Jikuan¡¯s mind finally caught up, "They might have cultural practices involving knives or simply prefer to keep one on their person..." Jiang Yuan nodded, "It¡¯s possible, but not certain. We¡¯ll verify it once we find a match." Li Jikuan nodded repeatedly, picked up his phone, nced at Wang Chuanxing, and whispered, "Captain Wang, may I take a photo of your notes? I¡¯m worried about getting anything wrong..." Wang Chuanxing generously turned his notebook around. Hurriedly taking a photo, Li Jikuan chuckled and ran off, seemingly as if he had acquired some Secret Manual. "Why is Li running so fast?" Lei Xin walked in and saw Li Jikuan¡¯s legs moving at a breakneck pace. "Jiang Yuan just described a suspect for him." Liu Jinghui, feeling a bit eager as well, asked, "How¡¯s your case going? Got all the evidence?" "Uh, yes... all there..." Lei Xin nodded and frowned, still pondering, What does it mean to describe a suspect? Chapter 868 - 806: The Killers

Chapter 868: Chapter 806: The Killers

Jiang Yuan was meticulous when he selected cases, and Li Jikuan rushed back again, his slender legs pumping. "There¡¯s actually a cripple¡ªno, I should say a person with a mobility impairment," Li Jikuan finished saying before waving his hand dismissively, "But that¡¯s not important. The main thing is that this guy... this person took off before finishing his job. The foreman thought he had gone to work elsewhere. And, he matches the ethnicity, height, and he¡¯s even left-handed!" Li Jikuan grew more excited as he spoke, mainly because everything was falling into ce so smoothly. During his time as a police officer, he had seen many murder cases, but just as this one was looking to be a major headache, it suddenly shifted to an investigative breakthrough. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "So the ethnicity matches, huh? However, looking at his method of stabbing thrice, a mere urban collector wouldn¡¯t be so decisive, nor so easily counterattacked. He must have used quite a good knife, probably one he regrly uses¡ªit¡¯s very sharp. There¡¯s a cut that scraped right along the bone, leaving a long groove..." Li Jikuan quickly grabbed pen and paper from nearby and hurriedly took notes. Once Jiang Yuan finished speaking, Li Jikuan offered a sheepish grin and said, "We haven¡¯t caught the person yet, nor seen the murder weapon. The suspect fled right after the stabbing... But no worries, we¡¯ve pinpointed his location and have already sent someone to capture him." "Did he run off with his cellphone?" Liu Jinghui asked curiously. "No, he probably snapped his SIM card. He¡¯s been administratively punished before, spent 15 days detained. He must have picked up a few tricks," Li Jikuan remarked with a chuckle, "Not very sophisticated though; he called his wife yesterday. Her phone only receives verification codes, local delivery calls, and calls from three or four family members. One look and we pinpointed it." Li Jikuan¡¯s tone was light, his face illuminated by a genuine smile. He was truly delighted, unable to hide it even if he wanted to. Lei Xin felt a palpable sense of difort. What was this? It seemed like hiring an expensive,bined harvester, paying the deposit and rental, shipping it over on arge trailer, providing hospitality, and then, when it had reaped what would typically take months to harvest by noon, a neighbor says, "Can I borrow this machine for a bit?" Li Jikuan resembled such a neighbor. Watching him, Lei Xin knew he wouldn¡¯t share the cost for the harvester¡¯s fuel, let alone the rental and transportation fees. The more he watched, the itchier his teeth felt. "Let¡¯s take this case," Jiang Yuan decided. "Okay, okay," Lei Xin immediately shed a charming smile. His two-day stubble was a bit overgrown but did not detract from his winsome smile. Lei Xin agreed, then looked at the case, his expression turning serious. "The Xushuang Mingyuan Family Annihtion Case." Lei Xin saw an image on Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen¡ªa photo of a male victim¡¯s skull. In the picture, the victim¡¯s head had be somewhat dposed like a dry corpse, and there were deep and varying bloodstains. Lei Xin didn¡¯t need to read the text; he immediately knew the case Jiang Yuan had chosen. This case was emblematic of the downhill safety trend in Qinghe City this year. A family of three, living in the upscalemunity of Xushuang Mingyuan, had been exterminated in their home by an intruder. The deaths were gruesome, the perpetrator showed significant anti-investigative skills, which triggered oversight by both the city and provincial departments. Even now, the "705 Special Case Group" wasn¡¯t disbanded, with nearly ten detectives working tirelessly day and night. The case had been prodded in several directions but hadn¡¯t developed further. "Have you found any breakthrough in this case?" Lei Xin asked hopefully. He knew Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t choose this case lightly; selecting a 705 case implied it held a significant advantage among the rest, and Lei Xin naturally wanted to know what Jiang Yuan saw that was different. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t answer immediately but started by arranging photos of the several victims in sequence on the desktop. The images disyed were of the victims¡¯ heads; three victims, two adults and an 11-year-old girl, all had their hair shaved off to reveal partially rotted scalps and chaotically hacked wounds. In some ces, stark white bones were exposed. Liu Jinghui and others naturally gathered around. Though not forensic doctors, they were ustomed to viewing photos of corpses and wounds¡ªthey understoodly up to a certain extent, much like the difference between an antique hobbyist and a national archaeological team. "The brains of both spouses were chopped over a dozen times, and the child was also hacked several times. I remember this case, wasn¡¯t Song assigned by the province to follow up? In the end, it remained unsolved?" Liu Jinghui had been traveling with Jiang Yuan across Shannan Province and had some understanding, though notprehensively clear, of the local circumstances. Lei Xin nodded gravely and said, "At the beginning, this case was considered as a burry gone wrong, turned into a break-in and murder. Later, we also considered the possibility of a vengeance killing, but we didn¡¯t follow the clues thoroughly..." Lei Xin continued, "The neighborhood has four gates, all monitored, but the walls are very low, especially the one facing the river. During the dry season, it¡¯s actually possible to walk right up. We suspect that the murderer used this way to enter and exit, but we haven¡¯t found any matching footprints or shoe prints." Lei Xin added, "A key issue is the timing. After exterminating this family, the murderer pilfered some of their belongings¡ªlikely wearing gloves and shoe covers. Afterward, he dumped arge amount of salt, which was stored in the house, onto the bodies, and finally poured all the cleaning agents in the kitchen and bathroom like detergent and Mr. Muscle onto the floor, which made it a long time before the bodies were discovered." Lei Xin further exined, "The final discovery was made because the child hadn¡¯t attended school for several days and the teacher couldn¡¯t reach the parents, leading to a police alert. The police opened the door the following day. By that time, the victims had been dead for five days, but the smell at the scene wasn¡¯t very strong... The murderer had ventted the ce by opening windows and also turned on the range hood..." Liu Jinghui pulled out his notebook, noted down several points, and after Lei Xin finished, he couldn¡¯t help but say, "This case soundedplex when I heard about it, but I didn¡¯t expect it to be thisplicated. The murderers seem to indeed have some criminal experience..." "There aren¡¯t several murderers," Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui to prevent him from continuing down the wrong analytical path and exined, "The main oversight in this case lies here; there¡¯s likely only one murderer." "Only one? But... the three victims at the scene were killed by three different weapons," Lei Xin didn¡¯t want to doubt Jiang Yuan, but this detail was fundamental to the case. If there were three perpetrators, it indicates a gang crime, which ispletely different in execution, methods, and logic from a solitary perpetrator. For example, gang crimes are much more likely to leak information. Thus, detectives from the Qianjin District Bureau put considerable effort into this aspect but came up empty-handed. Moreover, gang crimes often involve repeat offenders, which is also a direction for investigation. Thirdly, checking surveince footage and looking for suspects differ significantly between group and individual crimes. Fourth, the motives for gang crimes tend to be more rational and profit-driven, requiring a shared criminal basis. Therefore the investigation stage, particrly in setting the direction of the inquiry, differs significantly between gang and lone operations. "This is indeed quite challenging," Jiang Yuan interjected, pointing to a photo of the victims¡¯ injuries. "I¡¯ve looked at this photo several times, and it was only after repeated viewings that I noticed this point. The bodies were dposed and had been salted, and the depth of the wounds on the head was also not significant... In short, in my assessment, there¡¯s only one murderer, not the three as you spected." Jiang Yuan had ess to Level 6 tool mark detection capabilities, which typically serve to simplifyplex problems. However, this time, whether by conscious effort or sheer coincidence, the murderer created a scene that, at the very least, suggested the need for a Level 4, perhaps even a Level 5 analysis to diagnose the tool marks. Of course, this did not mean the murderer¡¯s criminal abilities reached Level 5; the difficulty of setting the puzzle was clearly less than solving it. Despite this, the specifics of this case were quite extraordinary. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan believed that once this distinctive point was breached, the investigation¡¯s progress could significantly elerate. Jiang Yuan took one photo of each of the three victims and said, "The murderer used the same weapon. It appears to have been a machete with a thick back." Jiang Yuan demonstrated with his hands and continued, "The quality of the knife wasn¡¯t good. Initially, the murderer used the sharp edge of the knife to attack the male victim, the family¡¯s head, striking multiple times and even hitting the wall twice, which resulted in the de getting nicked. Thus, the marks on the male victim varied between sharp and nicked states." Jiang Yuan added, "At that point, either the murderer didn¡¯t realize or couldn¡¯t switch weapons and used the damaged knife on the female victim. She tried to block the machete with her hands but was ultimately cut down. Then, the de broke." Jiang Yuan specifically marked the breakage point on the de, then on the female victim¡¯s skull where the break urred. This was a very challenging aspect for a regr forensic doctor. Distinguishing a broken, nicked de from an intact one isn¡¯t trivial. Forensic doctors from Qinghe City, even those supported by the provincial office, likely became thoroughly confounded here. Jiang Yuan simply stated, "The murderer¡¯s strength was substantial, as even the damaged de inflicted severe injuries, ultimately killing the third victim, an 11-year-old girl." Lei Xin understood and pped his thigh, "No wonder the murderer used such force when attacking the young girl. We thought it was done by different people, but in fact, because the de had broken, he subconsciously applied more force!" Chapter 869 - 807: Investigating the Murder Weapon

Chapter 869: Chapter 807: Investigating the Murder Weapon

"If the perpetrator is one individual, then our prior investigative direction has beenpletely wrong." Lei Xin¡¯s frustration shed and was gone. Being an experienced detective himself, he knew that mistakes were part of the norm. Most investigations are a matter of trial and error; no one can im a hundred percent certainty in cracking a case. Niu Tang, the forensic doctor from Qianjin District, was also skilled. His performance in past homicide cases had been noteworthy, particrly when it came to the identification of various paper materials. Niu Tang could even be considered a master in this area, with technical investigators from many provinces and cities traveling long distances just to have Niu Tang personally conduct a paper examination. That three different wound patterns could be made by a single knife was a conclusion only a forensic expert like Jiang Yuan would dare to make from just looking at the photographs. Lei Xin quickly tossed aside the issue of ountability and turned his head, "In that case, the perpetrator¡¯s motive for the crime is likely not robbery." "Carrying a cleaver alone is inconvenient if it¡¯s for a home burry," Liu Jinghui analyzed further. "If it were three people, having one carry a long-handled weapon is normal. But for a single person, carrying a heavy cleaver that weighs several pounds serves no purpose. If there¡¯s a need to carry a knife, one would presumably carry one of better quality." Liu Jinghui spoke in a somewhat casual, conversational tone, "The weight of a cleaver is at least equivalent to the weight of a bag a woman might carry. If it¡¯s for a home burry for profit, bringing along such a cleaver is very cost-ineffective." "For self-defense?" Wang Chuanxing threw in ament, more to prompt further discussion. Liu Jinghui continued along this line of thought, "For self-defense, a small knife would suffice. Nowadays, people tend to avoid fighting with someone wielding a knife. Besides, the quality of that knife was so poor¡ªto the point that it notched after a few chops and then broke after a few more¡ªclearly, it wasn¡¯t meant for attacking someone. It looks more like a knife bought on the spur of the moment." "Impulse crime?" Lei Xin straightened up, frowning deeply. If it were an impulse crime, it would be like going from a muddy trail to a snowy path¡ªneither terrain was easy to navigate. "At least it¡¯s not for burry," Liu Jinghui¡¯s thought process was clear, then added, "If one anticipated using such a cleaver for a burry, the best course of action would actually be to not go at all." No exnation needed¡ªLei Xin nodded in agreement. A home burry is to steal, notmit a robbery. The victim¡¯s family was also not particrly wealthy, just an ordinary middle-ss household. The total value of the property the perpetrator took after tossing the house was only a few tens of thousands of yuan. Families of this level weremon in the same neighborhood. Therefore, if the goal were to steal, and there was a chance of a violent confrontation, switching homes would have been the best decision. Alternatively, preparing ahead of time, choosing a time when the householders were out to make an unimpeded entry, or when only the female homeowner was present would significantly reduce the risks associated with a violent burry. The perpetrator likely had some practical knowledge of society and would understand this bit ofmon sense. Of course, there were some burry perpetrators who were impulsive, randomly choosing a house to invade, willing to rob if the chance arose. But such individuals were generally dealt with quite harshly, and it would be extraordinarily rare to encounter one... "So, if the perpetrator acted alone and not for robbery, could it only be for murder?" Lei Xin followed Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning and asked another question. "Hmm," Liu Jinghui hummed in affirmation, then said, "It¡¯s more likely that it was for murder." "We can re-examine the surveince footage. Previously, we mainly considered a three-person scenario, but we also contemted the possibility of them moving separately," Lei Xin randomly mentioned, followed by a click as he flicked his lighter to offer cigarettes to the group. Jiang Yuan looked around and, seeing no indication that anyone else wished to speak, said, "We can check the surveince, but there¡¯s not much information there. Do the tech investigators have anything?" "Nothing at the moment." "The culprit has been quite cautious. They left behind no fingerprints or DNA. In terms of footprints, they covered their tracks with overshoes, and they essentially wiped out any trace afterwards. This family seems to have hoarded an excessive amount of salt and cleaning detergents," Jiang Yuan remarked with a touch of emotion. "An avid Singles¡¯ Day participant," Lei Xin replied, then added, "We¡¯ve also considered the possibility of delivery personnel, but haven¡¯t found anything yet." He thought of Dama¡¯s case and had casually checked on some delivery personnel. At this point, Liu Jinghui snapped the case file shut and said, "It¡¯s tough to track down people, so I suggest we look into the murder weapon. The quality of this knife is so poor, it doesn¡¯t seem like it was bought in advance for the crime. Considering the family¡¯s situation, they probably wouldn¡¯t have the need to order arge cleaver online. Moreover, a thick-backed cleaver that¡¯s been sharpened can be considered a controlled knife. I think there¡¯s a higher chance it was purchased offline, possibly by the murderer from the surrounding area." This hypothesis was somewhat bold, but Lei Xin had no objections. For him, the more leads to investigate, the better. If this lead turned up nothing, they could simply move on to the next. Lei Xin had a map brought out and said, "If we¡¯re certain it¡¯s a cleaver, then there can¡¯t be that many ces it was bought from. Hardware stores around here, home improvement markets should have them, as well as these wholesale markets for hotel supplies and camping gear. Then, there are agricultural markets; some vegetable markets also sell them, and tax there¡¯s the livestock market and dog market..." While he said it wasn¡¯t many, listing it out actually totalled up to seven or eight different types. Lei Xin then made calls to familiar contacts at police substations nearby and eventually jotted down more than forty locations. The small ones were individual hardware or home improvement stores; therge ones included building material wholesale markets that spanned an areaparable to a university. Lei Xin printed out the list and said, "Well, those are the ces. Captain Jiang, would you like to rest or..." "I¡¯ll go to the livestock and dog markets. I¡¯ll bring the Cold Case Squad with me," Jiang Yuan was also keen on taking a stroll. Qinghe City¡¯s livestock and dog markets were next to each other. The livestock market soldrger animals such as cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and the like, including young animals and all sorts of rted products: ropes for tying cattle, soybean meal for feeding them, ploughs for harnessing them, and butchers¡¯ knives for ughtering them. It had declined over time, giving way to the dog market. The dog market not only sold dogs but also other small animals, with fewer birds and nowadays mainly focusing on pets. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad had over twenty people, enough to search a market and perhaps even a bit over the top. Lei Xin naturally had no objections and agreed immediately, then distributed the other addresses to other detectives, and the team split up into their respective Jettas, Fortuners, and Audis. Liu Jinghui followed Jiang Yuan into an A6 and said with a smile, "You don¡¯t usually go into the field much. What¡¯s on your mind today?" "The thick-backed cleaver was my guess, but it¡¯s not entirely certain what weapon the murderer used. It¡¯s better to take a look on site to be more sure. Maybe we¡¯ll spot some unusual weaponry." Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "This murderer has a strong counter-surveince mindset, using salt to preserve the bodies was quite clever. We need to give it some serious attention." "Right, this case does seem to have quite a few areas that need attention," Liu Jinghui paused, then said, "If the murderer isn¡¯t someone the family knew, the motive is highly questionable." "How so?" "Didn¡¯t Lei Da from the task force ask in the meeting room if it could be a random crime? I didn¡¯t answer directly. But is it random? It¡¯s possible. However, if we interpret the case as motivated by theft, it doesn¡¯t make sense, whether it¡¯s random or not. But what if the goal was murder? For example... breaking in, rape, and murder?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s brow furrowed. "From the photos of the victims, the mother and daughter both were quite beautiful. Of course, the daughter was quite young, just 11 years old, but we can¡¯t applymon sense to this kind of deviancy." Liu Jinghui briefly mentioned, then continued, "This is just my spection. I didn¡¯t mention it earlier because there were a lot of people..." "Actually, it makes sense," Jiang Yuan suddenly expressed his support, causing Liu Jinghui to pause. "How so?" Liu Jinghui asked. "One of the reasons I mentioned the thick-backed cleaver was that I saw signs on the heads of the two female victims that looked like marks from being hit with the back of a knife. There were marks that looked like they could be from a rolled edge as well, but we¡¯d need to have the weapon to be sure. Anyway, at least initially, the murderer might have thought to knock out the two women without directly killing them." "If that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s pretty much as you said," Liu Jinghui sighed, "If it was just for murder, straight murder would have sufficed... In this case, we can also analyze the murderer¡¯s motive." Chapter 870 - 808: Sheep’s Foot

Chapter 870: Chapter 808: Sheep¡¯s Foot

Dog market. A group of adorable cats were puffing their chests and waving their tails to greet customers, trying to sell themselves for a good price. The turtles poked their heads out and mildly observed their surroundings, before stacking upon each other to bask in the sun. Fluffy and cute rabbits,rge and small, white and gray, they all seemed arrogantly poised, carrying their chins high like little lords, asionally scratching their cages with their paws. Mu Zhiyang led the way, a swing stick tucked in his waist, not carrying many extra items. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui followed some distance behind, talking as they walked, much like any men might while shopping. Their trip at most could be considered investigative visits, and if there were any mandatory requirements, it was merely to cover all the shops that sold knives. This wasn¡¯t a difficult task at all. Experienced criminal police officers could quickly visit all markets by simply asking a few vendors in the same line of business, who often had a better understanding of the market than the customers themselves. They could even detail where theirpetitors got their goods and the prices they paid. Domestic markets had long beenpetitive, and factories were also fiercely contending. Any "information gap" in wholesale markets that couldst a week was impressive. Of course, some gray and ck market items like fake cigarettes, fake alcohol, fake feed, sick dogs, and others were sold secretly, but they could be easily found if one knew the right people. The machetes involved in this case did not fall within this category. Given the current domestic prices of industrial products, even those wanting to make dirty money wouldn¡¯t sell such poor-quality machetes. Instead, it was the publicly sold, high-volume goods that could potentially be paired with counterfeit products. "These don¡¯t meet the standards," Jiang Yuan stated in a shop that also sold alfalfa, after examining their sickles and machetes, quickly dismissing the possibility. Mu Zhiyang was undeterred, simply saying, "Then let¡¯s continue to C16." The group hadn¡¯t walked far when they heard a ruckus brewing up ahead. Mu Zhiyang immediately yanked out his swing stick, while Tang Jia behind him took out her walkie-talkie. Jiang Yuan¡¯s group totaled only seven people. Other members of the Cold Case Squad were either at the livestock market, wandering around shops outside the market, or had gone to the warehouse area behind the market. There, channels were also avable for industry insiders to source and purchase goods. After making thorough preparations, they proceeded forward and soon came across two people arguing over an alpaca. "Don¡¯t go, I¡¯m calling the police, wait here," a slender man clung to the alpaca, dialing 110 on his phone. The man holding the leash looked much sturdier and, annoyed, pushed the other away, saying, "Just because you say it¡¯s yours it¡¯s yours? With so many pets in this market, you just had to pick the most expensive, and I have to give it to you?" "How many people in Qinghe own alpacas? Mine went missing, and you just happen to bring one here to sell? Don¡¯t leave, I¡¯ve called the police, let¡¯s wait for them to arrive." "I don¡¯t care to talk to you. I have important things to do, instead of staying here and helping you find your sheep?" "This is my alpaca, I recognize it." "Then you call it, see if it listens to you?" The man hugging the alpaca immediately shouted, "Yellow Hair, Yellow Hair..." The alpaca turned around and spat saliva onto his face. "Yellow Hair, you rascal!" the man hugging the alpaca said with a doting expression, looking up, "See, isn¡¯t it responding to me?" "Are you crazy?" the man holding the leash tugged at it, "An alpaca spitting at you means it dislikes you." "If it didn¡¯t recognize me, how could it dislike me?" The slender man kept holding the alpaca firmly, the gathering crowd around them grewrger by the minute, and they too started to specte. Jiang Yuan and the others walked over as well. Liu Jinghui stared at the two men and then turned to ask Jiang Yuan, "Who do you think is lying?" "No need to guess, just look at the feet," Jiang Yuan replied and then said to Wang Chuanxing, "Go ask Skinny for the photos, and ask him for the photos of the alpaca¡¯s footprints." Liu Jinghui was surprised, "You can read alpaca¡¯s feet?" "Footprints, there aremonalities," Jiang Yuan exined casually. The skills he had gained were unreasonable, and now that he had upgraded to Level 5 Footprint Analysis, he wasn¡¯t picky about which footprints, whether they were human, cattle, sheep, horses, alpacas could naturally be included. Although Liu Jinghui possessed high-order reasoning skills, he was taken aback by Jiang Yuan¡¯s irrational abilities and didn¡¯t know how to make sense of them. Wang Chuanxing stepped forward, showed his identification, and then said to the thin man holding the alpaca, "You have photos of your pet, right? Show me." The man with the alpaca quickly opened his mobile phone¡¯s photo gallery and showed Wang Chuanxing the photos of him with the alpaca. The man holding the leash also came over, frowned as he looked at Wang Chuanxing¡¯s identification, then looked at the photos on the other phone and suddenlyughed, "Your alpaca doesn¡¯t look the same at all." The alpaca in the photos was spirited and had lustrous white fur all over, while the alpaca in front of them had patches of greyish-yellow fur. The slim man said, "Before it went missing, I always groomed it, dyed it, but you can tell they are the same from the face..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand to stop the argument and simply said, "The footprints." Wang Chuanxing rummaged with the slim man for a while and finally found an outdoor photo with footprints. Jiang Yuan took the phone and looked at it, then looked at the footprints left by the alpaca on the spot, and after a few seconds, he said, "It¡¯s the same one." Before the slim man could rejoice, the man holding the leash immediately took offense and shouted, jumping three feet high, "You say it is and it is?" He brandished the leash and said, "You think you can identify an alpaca by its feet? What kind of international joke is this? Look at my feet, do you know my name?" "I can issue a forensic reportter," Jiang Yuan muttered, while Mu Zhiyang and another police officer had quietly circled around from behind. The man holding the leash still did not understand what was going on and was still shouting, "Ladies and gentlemen, give me a fair hearing, can it be so hasty? Just by looking at a photo, they say my alpaca is his? What¡¯s the reason for this? This can¡¯t just go unnoticed, I¡¯m telling you!" "Of course it can¡¯t just go unnoticed. The value of the alpaca is definitely over 5,000," Jiang Yuan spoke as the police officers were already grabbing the leash man¡¯s arms. "50,000. I have the invoice." The man holding the alpaca trembled with excitement. Mu Zhiyang promptly took out handcuffs and locked the leash man¡¯s wrists, saying, "We now suspect you of theft or fencing and are taking you back to the police station for investigation." The cold handcuffs had a special kind of magic. Most police officers had simr experiences; when you handcuff someone, there¡¯s a fifty percent chance that they will suddenly be calm and shut up. Many arrogant suspects would stiffen the moment they were locked up. Mu Zhiyang straightened the leash man out and handed him over to others, saying, "You think the police are ying with you? Go back and confess your issues, strive to serve your sentence and return home." The leash man was led away with a nk stare in his eyes, took several steps before shouting, "I found it, I found it, is that not enough?" "You mean, this alpaca isn¡¯t actually yours?" The police officer leading him wasn¡¯t going to y along with his story. Once they were in the interrogation roomter, if he still wanted to maintain this im, he¡¯d have to exin the specific location and time when he found the alpaca. Even without surveince, they could deduce the possibilities through the timing. However, even if the alpaca was found, it still constituted the crime of misappropriation under Article 270 of the Criminal Law, which is legally upying lost or buried items of others, with significant value, refusing to hand it over, resulting in up to two years¡¯ imprisonment, detention or a fine, and with extremelyrge amounts or other serious circumstances, two to five years¡¯ imprisonment and a fine. The condition for this "non-acquisition of lost property" use is "significant amount, refusal to hand over," so generally, even finding an Apple phone would be difficult to prosecute, but an alpaca with an invoice of 50,000 yuan qualifies for a case. "Do you really recognize the alpaca¡¯s footprint?" Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan incredulously, unsure whether he really recognized it or had bluffed the other party. "I recognize them," Jiang Yuan sincerely said. Liu Jinghui looked back at the alpaca¡¯s feet, the alpaca looked at its own feet, then was led onto a pickup truck, as it was now evidence. "We should find more cases where the culprit slips up," Liu Jinghui thought for a long time, finallying up with a homophonic pun. Chapter 871 - 809: Thinking Outside the Box

Chapter 871: Chapter 809: Thinking Outside the Box

"Arf arf!" "Arf!" After Dazhuang barked twice, Er Zhuang followed with a bark as well. Both dogs sounded dissatisfied. Why would someonee to the residence of the police dogs to y with a goat? Moreover, the goat¡¯s name sounded incredibly indecent. Of course, this wasn¡¯t to say that police dogs could be toyed with, or rather, allowed to be toyed with, but who lets people not y with police dogs, only toe here and y with alpacas instead? That¡¯s just too doggone crazy! Dazhuang grinned, took a few steps forward, and then stopped to look around, hesitating whether to go up and give these bipeds a lesson. "Dazhuang,e back!" Li Li called her police dog back with her hands on her hips. "Er Zhuang, youe back too!" Li Li called out again, and Er Zhuang reluctantly sauntered back with a sheepish look. "Do you know you¡¯re police dogs? What are the requirements for being a police dog? Being a police dog is just like being a police officer: You need to keep up appearances, be serious, protect the people¡¯s property safety, and also protect yourselves... Now that we¡¯re in the city, we need to show what well-behaved dogs from Ningtai County look like, understand?" "Arf!" "Arf arf!" The two police dogs obediently responded in low barks. "Bro, I¡¯ll touch it first as a salute, hahaha..." A man, who had taken off his shirt but still wore shiny police trousers, burst intoughter and rushed into the Qianjin District K9 Squad¡¯s station. Li Li took a closer look and realized it was Shen Yaowei from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. He was wearing a crumpled T-shirt, looking like he had partied for three or four nights straight, and had a frantic expression like he hadn¡¯t slept, and then he threw himself directly onto a pile of alfalfa... Li Li covered Dazhuang¡¯s eyes and softlyforted, "We¡¯re the good kids, let¡¯s not learn from them..." Er Zhuang¡¯s eyes weren¡¯t covered, and the whole dog wore a shocked expression. He was a professional police dog born at the police dog base, the kind who carried his bowl to line up for meals since he was young. He liked interacting with bipeds too, but he had never seen a biped hugging and vigorously rubbing an alpaca before. "Dinner time!" Jiang Yuan emerged from the kitchen at the back. Even though they were at the Qianjin District K9 Squad, Jiang Yuan still skillfully whipped up a pan of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice, and also made a pot of dog food. The cost of making the dog food was 100 times that of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice. During busy times, the police department couldn¡¯t afford such expensive food for people; only the police dogs were qualified to eat it. Li Li first led Dazhuang to get a bowl, and when they came back, they saw several police dogs of the Qianjin District and Er Zhuang all lined up neatly, quietly waiting to eat. A bit further ahead, Liu Jinghui, Lei Xin, Wu Junhao, and other people were also seated at a long table, each with a bowl of fried rice in front of them. "You can start eating," Jiang Yuan sat down, picked up his chopsticks, and began to urge everyone. There were also some pickles on the table, in line with the original intention of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s fried rice. "This fried rice made by Jiang Yuan is inexplicably delicious," Wu Junhao wolfed down several bites and happily sighed. "I apologize for not being a good host. Once the case is cracked, I¡¯ll definitely treat everyone to a big meal!" Lei Xin said, slightly embarrassed. Wu Junhao waved his hand, "Solving the case is what matters. Even if you offer us good food now, we wouldn¡¯t have time to eat. So, what¡¯s next, continuing with the screening or conducting further investigation?" "Screening also needs a scope. We can¡¯t just screen aimlessly," Lei Xin, who was losing his appetite, quickly added. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "We definitely have to investigate first. The problem now is that the clue of the murder weapon has turned into a sketch. The difficulty of this task is hard to predict." Through investigation into the source of the "heavy back cleaver" which was the murder weapon, the task force eventually locked on a hardware store situated 1.5 kilometers from the crime scene. The hardware store was licensed to sell knives, and somerger stores had aprehensive range of knives. This particr store operated both retail and wholesale and even produced some small brands on its own. The heavy back cleaver used as the murder weapon was one such item sold there. However, the store¡¯s internal surveince footage was deleted every three days, so no images were preserved. The owner of the store vaguely remembered the buyer, and Lei Xin, excited, called in an artist to create a sketch of the murderer¡ªsuch scenes aremon in American dramas, but in China, criminal sketches are not popr and are seldom used extensively. The Baiyin case had involved a forensic sketch that was quite urate, but it still didn¡¯t lead to the capture of the criminal. Jiang Yuan and the others were facing a simr issue now; they had a drawing, but what next? Searching based on the sketch could easily lead to errors and omissions. If the criminal knows there is a screening happening downstairs, even a slight change in his appearance could render the sketch useless¡ªAmerica is a multi-racial country; their criminal sketches include descriptions of skin color, and distinctions between having a long, wide, t, or small nose. In contrast, the differences in Chinese appearances are minimal, especially in small towns where many of the descriptors in sketches can be repetitive. "Can we identify the person by their feet?" Liu Jinghui put down his bowl of fried rice, nced at the alpaca, then looked at Jiang Yuan. "There were no footprints at the scene; they had been destroyed," Jiang Yuan spread his hands and added, "The scene has already been thoroughly investigated. Even if I go now, I probably wouldn¡¯t find anything as significant as footprints." "If we don¡¯t conduct a screening..." Liu Jinghui looked at Lei Xin and then said, "We¡¯ll just have to try our luck." "Go ahead," Lei Xin was open to relying on luck; as detectives, who can solve every case 100 percent? In some cases, even the criminals don¡¯t know how they got in and out, and detectives can¡¯t always guess their thoughts¡ªthat would make them psychics. Liu Jinghui slowly said, "Jiang Yuan and I had a hypothesis while in the car about the criminal¡¯s motive..." Liu Jinghui briefly shared their discussion and then said, "Assuming the criminal¡¯s initial motive was rape¡ªif he failed at that, does he have other means of venting?" Everyone was taken aback, as Liu Jinghui¡¯s angle was indeed unexpected. There are many theories about why criminals resort to rape, and particrly why this criminal chose this method. Lei Xin pondered and replied, "In trying to prepare for Captain Jiang¡¯s case, we reviewed cases for a long time. I don¡¯t recall any cases of forced entry with the intent tomit rape." "That likely means he doesn¡¯t have a persistentpulsion for breaking in tomit rape. From this angle, it may also exin why he quickly shifted from attempted rape to murder after being thwarted," Liu Jinghui summarized and continued, "So he goes back to masturbate? Would that satisfy him?" "That¡¯s unlikely," Liu Wenkai, who had been focused on eating, concentrated and said, "He nearly raped the mother and daughter together. Going back and just masturbating? I don¡¯t buy it." "What do you believe?" "At the very least, he would need a woman," Liu Wenkai¡¯s eyes brightened as he spoke, "Perhaps he has specific requirements, like a threesome? Average women wouldn¡¯tply with him; he would have to seek a prostitute." Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said, "That¡¯s more or less what I meant, but not limited to just that. There likely aren¡¯t many prostitutes left in Qinghe City, so we might as well find as many as we can and ask them." Chapter 872 - 810 Destined

Chapter 872: Chapter 810 Destined

"Hello, I¡¯m looking for two people for either a one-time thing or the whole night. Can you do that?" Liu Wenkai copied, pasted, and sent the message, then patiently waited. In front of himy several mobile phones andputers, some with software to get past inte firewalls to use Telegram, Facebook, and Twitter, others without the VPNs ran WeChat and QQ, and some disyed forum pages waiting for private messages. Nowadays, cracking down on prostitution is strict, but for thedies of the night, this is certainly not the worst of times, one might even say it¡¯s the best of times. The likes of Du Shiniang and Liu Rushi from past generations surely could not have imagined that in 21st century China, prostitutes could operate independently without a pimp, find middlemen without their personal freedom being restricted, not worry about being extorted by gangs and thugs, have the right not to be raped, call the police in case of danger, receive mainstream society¡¯s protection during off hours, freely set their own work hours, even pick their clients, get treatment if sick, quit anytime without affecting employment, marriage, or social rtionships, take up the job again side by side, and most importantly, charge higher rates than in times when none of the above were possible! As for the risk of being targeted byw enforcement, one just needs to look at various websites, seeing the tantly listed contact information to know that they clearly don¡¯t fear policy risks enough. Due to economic downturn and worsening public safety, Qinghe City¡¯s websites have shown an obvious increase in new faces. Liu Wenkai contacted them one by one, patiently waiting. The criminal police unit was understaffed and their primary responsibility wasn¡¯t to crack down on prostitution. They couldn¡¯t possibly go door-to-door catching people¡ªthat would be too inefficient. Moreover, unless conducting a major cross-district operation, there was also the risk of word getting out, allowing potential targets to escape. So, a few folks who had dined on Uncle Seventeen¡¯s stir-fry, after discussion, decided to follow the route of double flights first. Not all prostitutes are willing to take double flight jobs, in fact, due to safety, convenience, and various other reasons, most don¡¯t. Those who are willing, or have fixed partners, are more likely to rmend this service to clients. Another thing, the mass murder urred a week ago. If the killer wanted to vent, it would be within this week. Thedy who took his offer would either have a regr partner or a newly-formed one, highly likely to repeat the service. After all, double flights are only half the workload but charge more, just requiring a bit of team spirit, making it a very profitable service. Ding! A new WeChat ount Liu Wenkai had registered buzzed with a reply: "Yes, 5000 yuan for two people the whole night, switching people means switching condoms, bring plenty extra." "That works." Liu Wenkai felt it was expensive and the operation had high requirements, but he agreed right away¡ªthe money wasn¡¯t real anyway. After discussing the details, address, and time, Liu Wenkai called out, "Here¡¯s another one on board, tagged H7, meeting at 10 tonight." "I¡¯ll take this one," Shen Yaowei raised his hand and said, "There aren¡¯t many left. If moree, the criminal police team won¡¯t be able to handle it." Catching johns isn¡¯t hard; what¡¯s troublesome is handling the case. The police would usually send arge team to raid one address. The criminal police had a different objective and didn¡¯t have the resources for that, they could only disperse and arrest after synchronizing their watches. They didn¡¯t necessarily need to arrest. Jotting down key information and prying out what they wanted to know, it was also eptable to take them in for a few days of administrative detention and then release them. It¡¯s not ack of evidence, but rather that handling the case was too much hassle and the criminal police team didn¡¯t have the time to do the public security team¡¯s work. This time Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t on case duty, instead, he took his junior colleague Miao Ruixiang to examine three bodies. He had initially based his judgments on photographs and the previous forensic doctor¡¯s analysis results, which were actually sufficient. Normally, prosecutors and court¡¯s forensic doctors also just review case files, they don¡¯t perform autopsies. In bigger cities like Changyang City, prosecutors¡¯ forensic doctors might not see a body for years, they work only with photos and case files. Not to mention court¡¯s forensic doctors, by the time a casepleted the investigation phase and was brought to prosecution, even fresh bodies would have dposed, so a court¡¯s forensic doctor¡¯s daily work mainly consists of non-forensic tasks, making it the mostfortable job in the forensic field. Jiang Yuan decided to examine the bodies mainly to train Miao Ruixiang. Master Wu Jun¡¯s forensic expertise was rather inscrutable. There was no issue with him mentoring Miao Ruixiang; it was just that Miao¡¯s progress was rather slow. Since Jiang Yuan had some free time, he decided to personally mentor Miao Ruixiang for a while. The mass murder case at Xushuang Mingyuan was a typical major case. Examining the bodies in such cases allowed one to see theplete process, the most urate techniques, and the most official standards. On another note, given the stage the case was at, another look at the bodies by Jiang Yuan was advantageous for checking for omissions. Miao Ruixiang was also able to get involved and it didn¡¯t interfere with the case itself. That night. The three corpses were repeatedly examined. That night. The girls who were already prepared to be upset were one by one lifted to the corner of the room. Just before midnight, Lei Xin called: "We¡¯ve found a suspect." "What¡¯s the situation with the suspect?" Jiang Yuan was quite surprised. Liu Jinghui¡¯s spection seemed somewhat special, but he hadn¡¯t expected such a straightforward breakthrough¡ªa night of searching through dozens of brothels was truly simple for a mass murder investigation. Lei Xin sounded relieved and chuckled before continuing, "The suspect has called for threesomes four times in the past week, each time with different pairs of people." "Huh." Not only was Jiang Yuan surprised, but Miao Ruixiang, who was examining the corpses, couldn¡¯t help but exim as well. Lei Xinughed and then said, "The suspect ims to be a fitness enthusiast and is indeed physically strong. He paid in cash each time, but he left a secondary WeChat ount. We checked it, and he seems to be a professional mover." "The ie for movers in Qinghe City isn¡¯t much, right? Four consecutive threesomes?" Jiang Yuan quickly identified the inconsistency. Lei Xin made an affirming sound, "From what I know, they make four to five thousand a month, six thousand tops with back-breaking effort, and he still has a boss. Two months¡¯ savings wouldn¡¯t cover the cost of one threesome. So, the source of his ie is also questionable." Valuables had been taken from the victims¡¯ home, and from police experience, criminals that get their hands on easy money, even if they were honest people before, wouldn¡¯t be saving diligently to buy a house and get married now. Spending the moneyvishly, despite the massive risks involved in acquiring it, is typical of criminals. "Is there any footage? Does it match the sketch?" Jiang Yuan asked again. "It matches. I think it¡¯s definitely this guy," Lei Xin replied, and since he trusted Jiang Yuan, he made this private remark. Criminal sketches are difficult to use for solving cases in China, but they are pretty effective when ites to post-event verification. Jiang Yuan immediately said, "What¡¯s next? Is there anything I need to do?" "If you¡¯re not too busy, we¡¯re about to search the suspect¡¯s home now," Lei Xin naturally hoped that Jiang Yuan could participate. Jiang Yuan readily agreed. He had brought Miao Ruixiang along to examine the bodies, and they were waiting to get to work. Miao Ruixiang reluctantly put down the corpse, handing it over to the forensic assistant here. The two went downstairs, exited through the main entrance, and coincidentally encountered two cars full of noisy, tall, and fair women. Miao Ruixiang instinctively lit a bundle of joss paper and threw it out the window of the car. The red and blue mes floated in the air, allowing Miao Ruixiang¡¯s heart to calm down again, to the point where he could ignore the cursesing from the car across. Chapter 873 - 811: Onsite Investigation

Chapter 873: Chapter 811: Onsite Investigation

Jiang Yuan and Miao Ruixiang arrived at the scene just as the personnel from the Criminal Science Center were also nearly there. The local forensic doctor from Qianjin District, Niu Tang, who was stout and short with somewhat squinty eyes, had also been called over. "Captain Jiang is already here," Niu Tang said, yawning from fatigue, and hastily added, "Sorry, I¡¯ve been collecting evidence all over the ce ever since we started catching those involved in pairs." An important piece of forensic knowledge: biological material rted to the human body constitutes forensic evidence. That is to say, a piece of toilet paper when white and clean is just ordinary evidence, but the moment it gets stained with human tissue, whether it be mucus, blood, breast milk, saliva, or something else, it instantly bes forensic evidence, which is Niu Tang¡¯s specialty. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded to Niu Tang, "I was actually at a body examination, but got called over. Let¡¯s head inside first." "Sure, after you, after you..." Niu Tang had worked with Jiang Yuan on quite a few cases before, and they were well-acquainted with each other. They filed into the apartment one by one. The scene was a normal apartment of about 80 square meters with two bedrooms and one living room that was fairly tidy. The suspect was handcuffed with his hands behind his back, sitting on the sofa. His arms were finely muscled and quite attractive, but his face was too square, his skin rough, his expression arrogant, and his demeanor slightly manic. Thud. A detective carried out a parcel box and ced it in the center of the living room, saying, "All condoms, all from the same brand." "Buying so many of a single brand, you really don¡¯t get tired of it, huh?" Lei Xin said, trying to provoke him into talking. The suspect, having some experience in counter-surveince, sensed that something was off, but still hopeful and casual, retorted, "How many condoms I use is your business?" "Zhu Tianwei, do you have a girlfriend?" Lei Xin asked. The suspect, Zhu Tianwei, paused before replying, "Is that any of your business?" Lei Xin curled his lips and said, "So you bring your own condoms to solicit prostitutes, right?" As soon as the word "prostitution" was mentioned, the suspect¡¯s expression visibly improved, and he raised his voice, "You guys are really overstepping, using me of prostitution? Do you have any evidence? Just barging into my home." Lei Xin then nced towards Chief Medical Examiner Niu. He wanted to conduct a quick interrogation of the suspect; the crime scene evidence in this case had been severely tampered with, leaving no DNA or fingerprints that could directly identify the murderer. At this point, obtaining the suspect¡¯s confession was extremely important, as was collecting evidence through the suspect¡¯s admission. There are many ways to handle a surprise interrogation. Some prefer a thunderbolt approach, exploiting the suspect¡¯s unsettled state immediately after arrest to gather as much confession as possible. Alternatively, one might adopt Lei Xin¡¯s method, asking questions progressively and targetedly to first establish the suspect¡¯s criminal behavior, even if it concerned crimes in other areas, and from there gradually expanding the gains. Following Lei Xin¡¯s visual cue, Chief Medical Examiner Niu immediately went over to examine the parcel box that had been carried out by the detective. Niu Tangughed with just a nce, "The brand you bought is a lesser-known one." "What¡¯s wrong with a lesser-known brand? As long as I¡¯m satisfied with it," Zhu Tianwei retorted, displeased. Niu Tang chuckled and taking a box of condoms with gloved hands, he examined the ingredients list on the back and said, "The condoms you boughte from a production environment that isn¡¯t stable. They share a production line with other models. So, the lubricant used in each batch has subtle differences depending on the line¡¯s cleaning, the type of models sharing the line, and the quality of the raw materials in that batch." Zhu Tianwei frowned in confusion. Niu Tang continued merrily, "In a nutshell, I can take your box of condoms andpare it with the ones you used at the scene to prove theye from the same batch..." "So what? Even if I solicited prostitutes, what are you going to do about it?" Zhu Tianwei wasn¡¯t concerned about a possible 15-day administrative detention. A look of triumph on Niu Tang¡¯s face faltered. Indeed, the man had already admitted to soliciting prostitutes, rendering a costly proof process that ran thousands of yuan irrelevant. Niu Tang became visibly disheartened, as if his defenses had been breached. "The money, where did ite from?" Lei Xin asked, quickly stifling Zhu Tianwei¡¯s arrogance. Zhu Tianwei¡¯s arm muscles tensed briefly before rxing again. He pursed his lips and fell silent. "Don¡¯t think that if you don¡¯t speak up, we won¡¯t be able to find out. Fencing stolen goods follows certain pathways, there will be people who buy stolen goods, and money has its trails." "Nowadays, there are so many ces where you can obtain cash, and we can always track it down. But if you save us some time, we might be able to go easier on you." Lei Xin continued to apply pressure, speaking nothing but hard truths. The most feared aspect of domestic criminal investigations is being unable to identify the perpetrator, or not knowing whomitted the crime. Once a person is found and evidence needs to be gathered, China does not adhere to the exclusionary rule of fruit of the poisonous tree, nor does it emphasize procedural justice strictly enough to easily exclude evidence. In short, the domestic judicial system pays more attention to what actually happened, including the chief judge of the court. When asking questions, the main purpose is also to rify the facts. Lei Xin¡¯s purpose in the ongoing interrogation was to find more evidence. Proving solicitation of prostitution and even getting the hardware store owner to identify the killer, these are all indirect evidence. Indirect evidence alone is not enough to convict somebody of a capital crime; it would be rejected upon examination. Shen Yaowei, who had been paying close attention to the Cold Case Squad¡¯s work, shuddered when he saw Zhu Tianwei¡¯s muscles, not out of fear, but because he suddenly remembered a legend he had heard these past few days. Shen Yaowei¡¯s cousin worked in the Changyang City Public Security Detachment and had ess to various sources of information. Looking at Zhu Tianwei on the sofa, Shen Yaowei nced around and whispered in Liu Wenkai¡¯s ear, who he preferred, "I heard about this guy, there¡¯s a rumor, do you know it?" "What rumor?" Liu Wenkai put down his phone. Shen Yaowei said in an even lower voice, "It¡¯s said that this guy is incredibly strong. Once, he made a womany on the bed, then lifted another woman on top, and alternated his ¡¯output¡¯ for 10 minutes." Liu Wenkai¡¯s tongue was almost tied in a knot: "Lifted her for 10 minutes?" "The girl wasn¡¯t willing to ¡¯go for a piggyback ride¡¯ without extra payment, so he just lifted her up." Shen Yaowei paused then added, "It has to be said, a rich porter truly lives a blissful life." Liu Wenkai imagined it for a moment and slowly nodded: "However... if you really give a porter a good father, within three years, others will be carrying him instead." "It would be worth it for three years," Shen Yaowei said, punching his own waist. "What have we done in the past three years? Just caught some thieves." Liu Wenkai smirked contemptuously. ... Lei Xin conducted the interrogation on the spot and directed the Criminal Investigation Department¡¯s technicians to start working, thereby increasing the pressure on Zhu Tianwei. Jiang Yuan put on gloves, a head covering, and shoe coverings. Then he had someone move the box of coverings downstairs, and he began to search. The first thing he looked for was the shoes by the front door. After checking the soles and inside the shoes without finding anything, he went on to rummage through the dirty clothes in the washing machine. Liu Wenkai, who had acted as the de facto leader of the Serious Crime Unit for many years, understood at a nce. He approached Jiang Yuan and asked, "Are you looking for clothes or shoes worn during the crime? He probably discarded them, though. As thrifty as this guy is, he¡¯s still a graduate from ¡¯The Great Learning¡¯ of society." The two men stayed in the bathroom and closed the door, making sure the suspect outside couldn¡¯t hear their conversation. "That¡¯s not it. I just checked his criminal record; he was released after less than six months of detention once and another time received an administrative penalty of only 7 days. This is at most the equivalent of an associate¡¯s degree from ¡¯The Great Learning¡¯ of society," Jiang Yuan said while continuing to search. Liu Wenkai chuckled: "Now ¡¯The Great Learning¡¯ has educational discrimination too? But even for an associate degree graduate, he wouldn¡¯t bring back blood-stained clothes, would he?" "I looked at his academic performance when he was in ¡¯school,¡¯ and it seems he¡¯s not the meticulous type who covers all bases. Using a lot of salt and cleaner at the crime scene probably was a quick-witted move." "I agree with that. If he had known what was in the other party¡¯s home, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen to break in when all three people were present," Liu Wenkai said. "So, regarding the blood-stained clothes, I guess he probably didn¡¯t bring his own clothes and likely changed into clothes at the victims¡¯ home. It¡¯s very possible he also changed shoes," Jiang Yuan¡¯s response made Liu Wenkai freeze. Jiang Yuan continued, "Although the scene was severely tampered with, the blood loss of the three people was still massive. There would have been a lot of blood sshed onto the killer. So, before he left, he should have changed clothes and shoes, otherwise, he would have left traces at the door." "Changed clothes without taking a shower?" "He might have been afraid of leaving behind hair, probably heard of simr cases," Jiang Yuan said with a hint of regret. There were many cases where the killer bathed at the victims¡¯ house. Some who were careful got away with it, but others were caught because they left hair in ces like the floor drain. The deliverypany worker murderer that Jiang Yuan dealt with could have gotten away if it wasn¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s level 4 crime scene investigation skills. In any case, for the police, crime scene bathrooms are always carefully inspected, leading to more and more criminals getting arrested, and the experience of the predecessors being widely circted. Jiang Yuan shifted the topic and continued, "Although I don¡¯t know how the killer disposed of the bloody clothes and shoes at the scene, the clothes and shoes he changed into still have traces of blood. Especially the shoes, because blood remaining on the body could have dripped down. If it¡¯s a fresh case, before he has time to deal with these clothes, we might be able to lock down the suspect immediately!" Liu Wenkai was stunned again, then smiled helplessly: "I thought..." If it were any other technician speaking, Liu Wenkai would have been furious, but this was Jiang Yuan¡¯s words... Jiang Yuan went on, "However..." "Yes?" "When I was looking at the clothes and shoes just now, I suddenly realized that some of the suspect¡¯s clothes are cheap work attire, but some of his clothes, especially the shoes, are actually quite good, all brand-name stuff. ANTA, Nike, Adidas; none of them are limited editions, but neither are they knock-offs from Putian." Liu Wenkai frowned: "Does this indicate that the suspect¡¯s actual living standard exceeds that of an ordinary porter?" Jiang Yuan circled his finger and said, "Like such an apartment, my family also has quite a few for rent, over 80 square meters in a conveniently located apartment building. The rent per month has to be at least 2000 yuan. Zhu Tianwei, working as a porter paid by piece, mostly earns only three or four thousand a month. How can he afford such expensive rent, food, and drinks, let alone buy brand-name clothes?" "Does he have other sources of ie?" "It¡¯s very possible. The profession of a porter is quite convenient formitting burries." Chapter 874 - 812 Double the Effort

Chapter 874: Chapter 812 Double the Effort

Criminal Investigation Unit. Lei Xin urgentlybed through the recent cases of burries and incidentally had all of Zhu Tianwei¡¯s colleagues called back to assist in the investigation. By the time Jiang Yuan finished inspecting the crime scene and returned, Lei Xin had sorted out the criminal suspects. "It¡¯s not a hassle, they¡¯re mostly ex-convicts," Lei Xin sighed, revisiting the old issue, "The public security situation in Qinghe City is very severe. These people used to follow Jianyuan for meals, but once their ie was cut off, and they knew nothing else, some started engaging in traditional crimes." "They¡¯re justzy and gluttonous," said Liu Jinghui, a man in his forties who still seemed overtly indignant as he spoke. "Following Jianyuan for meals might have been toofortable, but ordinary people still work honestly. Even if being a porter is extremely hard work with low ie, that¡¯s no excuse for them to steal and live off others." As the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, Lei Xin was no longer as cynical as he used to be, nor could he speak his mind like Liu Jinghui; he could only shake his head and say, "I¡¯m not making excuses for them, just that the reality is indeedplex. What I really mean is that, under the current circumstances, our Qinghe could really use Captain Jiang¡¯s presence." His was a request made in jest, with a mix of sincerity and probing. Jiang Yuan, who was flipping through case files, looked up and said, "I was nning to stay a few more days anyway, Captain Lei shouldn¡¯t find us bothersome." Ningtai County was under the jurisdiction of Qinghe City, and although Ningtai County Bureau and Qianjin District Bureau were on the same administrative level, Qinghe City Bureau was the supervisory unit over Ningtai County Bureau and had the authority to give operational guidance. Over the past two years, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s frequent travels had benefited both Ningtai County Bureau and Qinghe City Bureau, but mainly Ningtai County, with Qinghe City Bureau providing excellent cooperation. Seeing the changing public security environment in Qinghe City, if Ningtai County Bureau had the capability to help, they should do so as much as possible. Not to mention that criminals from Qinghe City District could roam around, facilitating a breeding ground for crime, and it was unnecessary to wait until Qinghe City Bureau issued amand. Lei Xin was pleasantly surprised and quickly said, "Really? Oh, that¡¯s great. With you saying that, we can rest assured..." "The cases still have to be worked through one by one." Jiang Yuan smiled and added, "For Zhu Tianwei¡¯s case, it mainlyes down to an issue of gathering evidence. We should handle his case first and then see, yeah, we might as well take care of this batch of burries along the way." "Burry is indeed not to be underestimated; it¡¯s basically a stepping stone to more serious crime," Liu Jinghui interjected. Burry requires entering the victim¡¯s residence, which entails a higher risk than stealing outdoors or on public transport. Moreover, burrs must at least learn one skill, such as lock-picking or wall-climbing, and the learning cost alone is more than what novices in thievery can bear. At the same time, the experience and courage required for burry are significant. Burry can easily escte to robbery, violent break-ins, or even homicide, which is why the Criminal Law imposes much harsher penalties for burry than for ordinary theft. Thus, burry represents an advanced criminal activity chosen by those in the Jianghu like Little Karami looking to step up their game. The effects of this advancement path are quite significant. First, the profits are rtively high, with a single break-inting anything from several hundred to a thousand yuan, and in some cases up to tens or even hundreds of thousands. This is much less challenging than hustling on the streets. Most importantly, burrs are not much subjected to the constraints of street gangs¡ªcriminals hate those who don¡¯t follow the rules, and even burrs fear being stolen from, robbed, or killed. Lei Xin continued discussing the case details, "These people mainly gather information through moving services, such as how many people live in a house, theyout of the residence, where valuables are kept, whether there¡¯s a safe, jewelry boxes, and even hiddenpartments in closets¡ªa move can reveal a lot." "Sometimes they even steal spare keys, and there have been cases where they directly steal the keys. Those living on higher floors who seem wealthy and are inconvenient to rob are their preferred targets." "Moreover, most people¡¯s homes are particrly chaotic during a move, and some won¡¯t notice missing items for a long time, or may not even realize they have been burrized." Lei Xin summed it up, "It¡¯s mostly a pattern of perpetuation. Initially, one person did it, then drew in aplices, andter on, ex-prison colleagues who were released came to join in. We¡¯ve figured out at least six individuals from this movingpany aren¡¯t clean. They¡¯re being interrogated separately now; they shouldn¡¯t be able to escape." Liu Jinghui caught on immediately and asked, "Is the boss involved?" Lei Xin shook his head, "No. But from the interrogation, it seems he at least knows something. Whether it counts as harboring criminals, we are not yet certain." "The boss has a stable ie and doesn¡¯t want to be involved, but he can¡¯t handle these guys either, so things have just dragged on," Liu Jinghui confirmed his guess with Lei Xin and continued, "I¡¯ve worked simr cases before, where thepany staff colluded, and the boss, being too scared to go to the police and unable to deal with the opposition, ended up beingpletely taken down." "These people might not be clean either; with so many ex-convicts, the boss couldn¡¯t have been unaware when hiring," Lei Xin paused, then added, "The problem now is still the evidence..." Lei Xin looked at Jiang Yuan with hope. The key to this casey in the presence of only circumstantial evidence, without direct evidence. Direct evidence does not require corroboration of other evidence and can prove the main facts of the case, such as fingerprints or DNA found at the scene. Circumstantial evidence required corroboration or inference, such as police having video footage of the suspect purchasing the same type of machete from a hardware store, which remains circumstantial. That alone couldn¡¯t prove the purchaser hadmitted a massacre. Of course, eliminating the alibis of other purchasers andbining other evidence to increase the suspicion on the suspect would suffice for burry cases to proceed to prosecution, but for capital cases, such a hasty approach was impossible. Jiang Yuan rarely felt so pressured. Seven days had passed since the crime urred, and while this did not constitute a cold case, many pieces of evidence were no longer present. Jiang Yuan reassessed his skills and looked towards Lei Xin, "Let¡¯s look for the murder weapon." The answer wasn¡¯t far from what Lei Xin had guessed, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. "How do we find it?" Lei Xin asked in a low voice. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged nces. A strong sense of helplessness suddenly welled up in Lei Xin¡¯s heart, just like on a Saturday morning when he¡¯d managed to sleep in and then saw his wife¡¯s gentle smiling face... "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re not looking for Xu Taining," Jiang Yuan reassured Lei Xin, saying, "Director Xu won¡¯te all the way just to look for evidence, and there¡¯s no need to find him. From the victim¡¯s residential area to the suspect¡¯s residence, there¡¯s no river nearby. The suspect hasn¡¯t showered yet, so under normal circumstances, he would have gone home as quickly as possible. If the murder weapon was discarded, it¡¯s very likely it was left near the scene, or maybe..." "Dumpster?" Lei Xin finished Jiang Yuan¡¯s sentence. If the weapon was discarded, in most cases, it would be near the scene. Because there aren¡¯t many gun crimes in the country, and whether it¡¯s a blunt or sharp weapon, once it¡¯s stained with blood or flesh, it smells unpleasant and is difficult to conceal, easily leaving evidence elsewhere. Therefore, whether experienced or not, whether voluntarily or under duress, the murderer would either take the weapon with them, discard it at the scene, or nearby¡ªbut rarely would anyone take it far away to dispose of it. The dumpster that Lei Xin mentioned was even more practical; it was a trick only veterans would know. If an ordinary person paid attention to criminal cases in society, they would often see in the news that the police found the murder weapon in a trash bin. Some would discuss among themselves,menting on how stupid the murderer was for discarding the weapon in a trash bin, which seemed easy to find. In fact, throwing it in a trash bin had the highest chance of escaping detection. First of all, the police don¡¯t go through trash bins for every case. In fact, it¡¯s rare to actively search for a weapon. Most of the time, they search after an interrogation leads to a confession. Secondly, cases aren¡¯t always discovered immediately. If it¡¯s dyed for a day or two, the weapon will have left the trash bin to head to another ce, which is more mysterious andplicated... Finally, if the murderer doesn¡¯t dispose of the weapon in a trash bin but simply leaves it at the scene, under normal circumstances there isn¡¯t anyone around to move it for them, so the police will always have a chance of finding it if they search for it. In summary, the source of Lei Xin¡¯s fear was that more mysterious andplex ce¡ªGarbage Mountain. Following the principle that the one who suggests should be responsible, Lei Xin let out a heavy sigh, "Alright, I¡¯ll organize a team to search Garbage Mountain." "We¡¯ll check the scene," Jiang Yuan bravely took on the other half of the task. That day, Lei Xin set off with a dozen young criminal officers. The next morning, another team of over 20 criminal officers, after being mobilized, stepped onto the suburban Garbage Mountain with a sense of tragic determination. Jiang Yuan and the others, along with Dazhuang and Er Zhuang, apanied by the police dogs supported by Qinghe City Bureau, searched around the residential area, circle by circle. The weapon that had been used to kill had a strong smell, and the trained dogs could easily detect the scent of blood. Indeed, on the third afternoon, four hours after the third group of criminal officers set foot on Garbage Mountain, a fashionable man walked into the police station near Xushuang Mingyuan. "I want to report a crime," the man approached the reception desk. "What seems to be the issue?" The officer nced at the calm man and calmed himself down as well. "While walking my dog this morning, my dog kept barking at the base of a tree¡ªbeen doing it for days now. I got curious about what was going on, so I dug around and found a knife, broken, with blood on it," said the man, hoisting a stic bag onto the counter. The knife was a thick-backed cleaver, broken in two, and it looked familiar. The expression of the police officer receiving the report grew more solemn, eventually bing thought-provoking. "Please wait a moment, I¡¯ll make a report for you right away," the officer took out his cell phone. "Ah, you need to make a report?" The fashionable man hesitated a bit. "It won¡¯t take long. Don¡¯t worry, what¡¯s your name?" "Um... Wang Kejiang," the man gave his name and gave up any further thought, obediently sitting down with his dog on a nearby chair. The police officer immediately made a call, "Chief, weren¡¯t you saying you needed people for garbage collection today? Something just turned up here..." Chapter 875 - 813: Stone-grilled Meat

Chapter 875: Chapter 813: Stone-grilled Meat

"Comrade, thank you, thank you," Lei Xin had rushed back from the dump, shaking hands vigorously with the good Samaritan, Wang Kejiang. He had received the news and had escaped from Garbage Mountain, running and jumping to the police station here, just in time to meet Wang Kejiang, who had just finished giving his statement. Wang Kejiang was fashionably dressed, even wearing a colorful graffiti jacket, and shook hands with Lei Xin very reservedly: "No need to thank me, I was just walking my dog... uh... it really kind of stinks..." Wang Kejiang, feeling nauseous and nearly unable to bear it, let go of Lei Xin¡¯s hand immediately and stepped back two paces, his face contorted as he looked at Lei Xin, then at his own right hand, feeling an urge to chop it off. "Ah... sorry, sorry, I¡¯ve stayed too long on Garbage Mountain and forgot," Lei Xin apologized, scratching his head, then felt a bit of regret too. Wang Kejiang waved his hand and smelled the stench wafting through the air, despair washing over him: "If I go home like this, would my dog even let me in?" "I¡¯m really sorry. Eh, Lei Da, this would be biting the hand that feeds you," the station chief said cheerfully, trying to smooth things over, and then he helped Wang Kejiang wipe his hands. Soon, a household registration officer hurried over and handed a freshly made dog license to Wang Kejiang. "En, from now on, Ada is officially registered," the chief expressed his gratitude once more. Wang Kejiang¡¯s spirits lifted too; this was something he had just tentatively requested. It wasn¡¯t easy to get a dog license in Qinghe City, of course, most people couldn¡¯t be bothered, but now that he had the opportunity, he¡¯d gotten a certificate with a photo for his own dog, Ada. "I¡¯ll take a phototer, make a tag, and hang it on the dog¡¯s neck," Wang Kejiang, forgetting the foul smell from his hand, firmly grasped the chief¡¯s hands. "You can also hang the original license. If you need to rece any documents, juste and tell us," the chief was sincerely grateful to Wang Kejiang, because without this stylish young man, he himself would have been up Garbage Mountain in no more than two days. Lei Xin¡¯s criminal police team had all been sticking it out there, the first batch of young fellows had already been marinated in the scent; it was about time they were switched out for a break. The next wave to be mobilized would be the local police officers from the scene of the incident. Lei Xin smilingly escorted the people out the door and, after waiting for Jiang Yuan to confirm, hurriedly phoned the detectives on Garbage Mountain. "Come back, the murder weapon has been found," Lei Xin said, his nasal passagespletely clogged, stinking. The voice on the other end of the phone, the deputy captain, was choked up: "Found it? Really found it? Where did you find it?" "Under a tree in the residential area. It was found by a resident walking a dog," Lei Xin paused, then said solemnly, "Come back." "Okay! Okay!" the deputy captain replied repeatedly, then hesitated before saying, "Have you confirmed with Captain Jiang? I¡¯m leading the team back now. If you think about mobilizing us for garbage collection again, I really can¡¯t handle it." "It¡¯s been confirmed, it¡¯s been confirmed..." Lei Xin finished and took a deep sigh, repeating, "Come back, let¡¯s eat something good; I¡¯ll treat." "What good food, more like something stinky would be fitting!" the deputy captainughed loudly. Evening. A group of detectives sat in the yard of a barbecue restaurant, looking skeptically at the cow manure stone b barbecue in the center of the yard. This thing is edible? Why doesn¡¯t this thing stink? Why eat this thing? As detectives, one question after another sprang to mind. The owner of the barbecue restaurant, Chen Daqian, and his workers were even more baffled; they only did cow manure stone b barbecue a few times a year, usually in private events¡ªit was a unique feature of the restaurant. Thebustion temperature of cow manure is rtively low, allowing for even heating. To highlight this feature, and for better heat retention and distinction, they¡¯d added a stone b to the mix. Of course, simr methods exist in ces like Mongolia, where the resulting meat is exceptionally tender. Unmentionable as it may be, meat roasted with cow manure has a hint of fresh grass scent¡ªthe cow has four stomachs; its digestive system is bacterially based, so cow manure is essentially nt fiber that has gone through four stages of fermentation, containing about 10% crude protein, 1% crude fat, and less than 30% crude fiber. Therefore, burning cow manure doesn¡¯t stink but has a distinctive smell. Certain Indian snacks can only be made with cow manure, and there¡¯s a reason for that. It¡¯s not just a joke, but if one thinks 1.5 billion people share a uniform misconception, one must be quite outstanding oneself. But today, the barbecue yard truly stank worse than any actual excrement! Chen Daqian had been doing this for many years; whenever people teased him as the "manure barbecue artist," he justughed it off. In recent years, people had started calling him the "manure barbecue sage," and Chen Daqian just smiled faintly. However, having grilled "shit" for so many years, it was not until today that Chen Daqian understood what real stink was. "Boss Jiang, perhaps... perhaps we could eat something different today?" Chen Daqian approached Jiang Fuzhen, his expression very awkward. The one treating and signing off on the bill today was Lei Xin, but the person responsible for finding the ce was Jiang Fuzhen, and the barbecue restaurant they rented also belonged to Jiang Fuzhen. Chen Daqian didn¡¯t want to offend the police officers, nor did he dare to offend thendlord¡ªin the end, he still felt that thendlord was easier to talk to. Jiang Fuzhen asked, "Why change it?" "It¡¯s too stinky, I¡¯m afraid they¡¯ll really think we¡¯re grilling crap," Chen Daqian stated frankly, "All the neighbors around are posting it on their social media circles. If we keep this up, people will really believe our cow dung barbecue stinks terribly..." "Are there people whoe to eat your cow dung barbecue thinking it won¡¯t stink?" Liu Jinghui was just chatting with Jiang Fuzhen, when he turned around with a logic bomb. Chen Daqian was taken aback by the question; he had never considered it from that angle. During his days as the "grilling crap sage," and even earlier when he was known as the "grilling crap artisan," he always exined to his customers that cow dung didn¡¯t actually smell... But could it be that the people who really came for a full experience to eat cow dung barbecue were actually after the stink? In Chen Daqian¡¯s mind, countless images shed by, eventually merging into one: "Boss, this cow dung barbecue of yours doesn¡¯t stink at all!" Chen Daqian pped his thigh in vexation, "Right, how did I not think of that?" "Figured it out?" Liu Jinghui had his wisdom pearl in hand, as if seeing through Chen Daqian¡¯s heart. "I understand now," Chen Daqian bowed slightly, "I¡¯ll have someone go buy some snail rice noodle seasoning right now." Liu Jinghui, with his wisdom pearl in hand, "Eh?" A familiar stench of snail rice noodles rose from the courtyard, and the people around felt relieved: "Right, this is the correct kind of stink." "It¡¯s really stinky." "The stink is making me a bit hungry..." The officers in the courtyard also showed expressions of relief, as now the stink wasn¡¯t just limited to them. Using their stench-perfumed bodies, eating this stink-filled meal was fitting, appropriate, and just right. "Hard work," Jiang Yuan raised his ss to Lei Xin for a toast, and sincerely said, "It¡¯s myck of skill that has made everyone suffer..." "Captain Jiang, if you say that, I¡¯ll feel embarrassed. You gave us the opportunity to work hard. Without your strategic nning, no matter how hard we wanted to work, even climbing Garbage Mountain would be useless," Lei Xin quickly clinked sses with Jiang Yuan and added, "Honestly, as long as it helps solve the case, if you told me to climb Garbage Mountain every day... let¡¯s say half a month out of a month, I really wouldn¡¯t have a problem with it." Lei Xin nced to his side. "The rest of the half month, I¡¯ll take over," said the deputy team leader with a chuckle, joining in on the sentiment. "I can take a week," the instructor said today, not verymitted. "I¡¯m about to retire," the deputy instructorughed as he added his piece, then raising his ss for another toast with Jiang Yuan, heughed and said, "I¡¯ve seen many brilliant detectives, but I¡¯ve never seen one as extraordinary as Captain Jiang. To tell the truth, I haven¡¯t seen a single one. This case is already cracked, it¡¯s just a matter of finding evidence, a little hup; What¡¯s there to say about climbing Garbage Mountain? The first time I helped a forensic doctor shovel dposed bodies was far stinkier than Garbage Mountain, Captain Jiang can do it, so there¡¯s nothing I can¡¯t do." "Long live understanding!" Jiang Yuan toasted and drank a whole ss of beer in one breath. Liu Jinghui also joined in drinking a ss, saying, "To be fair, this case was really tough to crack. There were almost no traces at the scene, and the murder weapon was special. The killer was lucky. To carry out the entire chain of actions was not easy." "As long as it¡¯s solved," Huang Qiangminughed heartily and winked at Lei Xin, saying, "This counts as a current case for you, so there are no extra points in the rankings." In Shan Nan Province¡¯s police operational rankings, for the criminal police detachment level, solving all current cases was worth 100 points. Not solving one case amounted to 0 points; failing to crack two meant negative 100 points, which was punitive. Therefore, since the Xushuang Mingyuan case was solved, the Qianjin District Criminal Police Team wouldn¡¯t get additional points, but both Ningtai County Bureau and Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment would score points. Lei Xin waved his hand dismissively, "That ranking has long been yours, what¡¯s there to look at." With the subject changed, everyone¡¯s spirits were lifted a bit. Lei Xin then announced that those who climbed over Garbage Mountain would get two days off, and everyone cheered even more. In these times, for a criminal police officer to have a full weekend off was considered quite fortunate. Jiang Yuan drank when it was time to drink and ate meat when it was time to eat. Once he was full, he sought out Lei Xin, "Deputy Team Leader Lei, could you assign two who aren¡¯t on leave to run a few ces with my peopleter?" "Eh? Is it about the case?" Lei Xin, having had some drinks, was a little slow on the uptake. Jiang Yuan nodded, "In a previous homicide case, wasn¡¯t there a victim with a head bludgeoned by a blunt object, with bamboo fragments left behind? I have an idea." Chapter 876 - 814: Lethal Tools

Chapter 876: Chapter 814: Lethal Tools

Early morning. After a good wash and some sleep, Lei Xin appeared energetic in front of Jiang Yuan. The captains of the detective squads are all veterans ustomed to staying upte; even after returning from Garbage Mountain, they wouldn¡¯t just copse on the floor like ordinary trash, unable to get up. "Captain Jiang, give us your orders. We are all ready," Lei Xin had clearly motivated himself. The other detectives had also been rallied by Lei Xin, their expressions calm andposed like corpses. "Actually, we don¡¯t need so many people," Jiang Yuan counted the number of people and added, "I originally nned to send officers from the Cold Case Squad. You just need to coordinate with a couple of them..." "It¡¯s not like we¡¯re only here to work," Lei Xin dered boldly. "It¡¯s just Garbage Mountain we climbed, not like we slept there; let¡¯s do what needs to be done." A detective who was persuaded toe along smiled and said, "If I went home to sleep, it would still be like I was sleeping on Garbage Mountain." "My wife is used to it," Lei Xin nced at him carelessly and asked, "Have you been sleeping at work these days?" "Yes, I figured during these days at Garbage Mountain, better not to trouble my family by going home!" Liu Jinghui, standing nearby, shook his head and said, "If you do that, you won¡¯t be able to go home for a week. The smell from Garbage Mountain, even if you shower daily, won¡¯te off. People who haven¡¯t smelled it would still find you unbearable even a weekter. But if you just go home and sleep for one night, she¡¯ll get used to it in two or three days." The slightlyining detective paused and seriously said, "You make sense, but..." Liu Jinghui asked, "You¡¯re sleeping in thepany dormitory? How do you feel about the smell of stinky feet?" "That¡¯s definitely unpleasant." "And you can still sleep with that smell? Don¡¯t you think it gets fainter day by day?" A married detective grimaced, "I can still smell it, though." "To be honest, the smell in your dorms is really strong, better than Garbage Mountain, but all of you who climbed out from Garbage Mountain are sleeping there; you don¡¯t smell the stink, ever wonder why?" Liu Jinghui, confident in his grasp of wisdom, enlightened the opposite detective, "It¡¯s just like fishermen." "Fishermen?" Liu Jinghui exined, "When you first go to the seaside docks, you might feel that the wind itself carries a fishy smell, but fishermen will tell you that only old fish has a slight fishy odor, nothing else. Simrly, people from the grasnds don¡¯t think a sheepskin coat that hasn¡¯t been washed for a year smells, a sturgeon restaurant smells pungent when you walk in, they call it fragrant, and then there are durian restaurants where some people cover their noses and others drool as they walk in..." "No wonder..." the married detective appeared to have an epiphany and nodded distantly, "I sometimes ask about a sweet smell when I get back to the dorms, and they say it smells like instant noodles..." Liu Jinghui¡¯s points scattered all over, "That¡¯s not what I meant..." Jiang Yuan coughed twice, "Let¡¯s talk about the case." The group quickly gathered around him. "Case 802, also a homicide from this year. Qinghe really has had a lot of cases this year," Jiang Yuan opened the file, casually making a remark. Lei Xin shook his head with a wry smile. "No wonder Huang said that when ites to thebat power rankings, Lei Da doesn¡¯t respond," Liu Jinghui startedughing, reveling in the excitement. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t let Liu Jinghui continue to digress but brought the conversation back, saying, "The victim¡¯s head was struck by a blunt object, leaving bamboo fragments behind. The crime scene is in the victim¡¯s backyard, where construction bamboo was found, but it was not confirmed as the murder weapon afterparison. Additionally, multiple bamboo items inside the house were examined and couldn¡¯t be identified as the murder weapon either..." Jiang Yuan briefly exined the situation, then continued, "The victim, Wang Shouhu, was 52 years old, in good health, and there were no signs of struggle on his body, no defensive wounds, which mostly confirms it was someone familiar to him... I saw you also checked his known associates, any findings?" Lei Xin shook his head helplessly, "No suspects that meet the criteria. The rural poption here is already very small, mainly consisting of elderly and middle-aged people like the victim, who was rtively younger. A few young people, like the victim¡¯s own son, mostly stay indoors all the time, there are no eyewitnesses or motives." Murders in the countryside are both straightforward andplex, difficult yet challenging. Compared to the city, rtionships in rural areas are stable and secretive; many grudges umte over years, and the final "trigger point" might be something extremely minor, often passionately regarded by the murderer but hardly sufficient as a reason for murder. On the other hand, surveince cameras, cell phones, and even DNA and fingerprints might not always be useful in such environments. For instance, finding a strange fingerprint on a window in a city burry might identify a suspect, but in a vige, it¡¯s not unusual to find any local¡¯s fingerprints on any window. "Can we use Legal Botany in this case?" Lei Xin asked, hopeful. Although they had standard technological methods avable, Legal Botany was almost a specialty of Jiang Yuan. The technicians capable of using this method were extremely rare, not to mention the time it consumed, making it difficult for Lei Xin¡¯s team to even get scheduled. Jiang Yuan was amused and turned to exin reluctantly, "I should probably give you an introduction to Legal Botany sometime. Just having some bamboo fragments here doesn¡¯t rte to Legal Botany. Legal Botany involves a variety of nts, examining their botanical charts. For a single type of nt,paring mitochondrial DNA is sufficient. Moreover, these bamboo fragments likely came from a tool." Lei Xin nodded, half understanding. Jiang Yuan pondered, considering asking Pang Jidong and his team toe over and give a lecture. This thought crossed his mind briefly, then Jiang Yuan continued, "A few days ago, when I had some free time, I spected about the murder weapon in this case. First off, the bamboo stick guessed in your investigation files is definitely incorrect." "Incorrect?" Lei Xin wasn¡¯t surprised but still felt somewhat helpless, thinking to himself, Chief Medical Examiner Niu has been focusing on tissues every day, and now he¡¯s been wrong about the murder weapon, again. Jiang Yuan strategically took a sip of water before continuing, "It¡¯s not entirely Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s fault; it was just one spected direction... Anyway, if the head were struck by a bamboo stick, it would indeed create crushed wounds, but the scalp wouldn¡¯t showplete severance, particrly the skull wouldn¡¯t sustain suchminuted fractures, the damage to the skull wouldn¡¯t be so severe. There¡¯s a saying, ¡¯bamboo strikes hollow,¡¯ which refers to the marks left by blunt stick injuries. Based on the photos, I think the reason to consider the bamboo stick as the murder weapon isn¡¯t sufficient, the assumption doesn¡¯t hold." Assessing the murder weapon is indeed a very difficult task. Generally, a Level 2 capability could only differentiate between sharp and blunt instruments, along with a fewmon items, which is the limit of Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s skill. He did specte on several types of tools but can¡¯t be said to havepletely erred. However, it must be mentioned that having a Level 2 capability in Tool Trace Identification already makes one an elite forensic doctor. People¡¯s abilities vary, especially in forensic fields, and many people¡¯s wounds and manner of death are actually not typical. Requiring a definite result when you¡¯ve never encountered such cases, nor read simr books, and if the deceased was a very unique individual, then what can be done? Forensic reports rarely give negative results; in fact, some forensic autopsies yield no results at all. "Inconclusive" is actually an answer. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill in Tool Trace Identification was Level 6, much higher, enabling him to easily offer conclusions. He then said, "Regarding the murder weapon, because Wang Shouhu¡¯s skull showedminuted fractures, even with some degree of depression, and bamboo fragments were mixed in the bone fragments, it indicates the murder weapon should be a high-momentum blunt object." "High-momentum?" Liu Jinghui tranted, "A blunt object with high weight and high speed?" "Right." Liu Jinghui pondered. Jiang Yuan had already been considering this for two days and didn¡¯t wait for him, directly providing the answer, "A mallet or a hoe, considering the bamboo fragments, it¡¯s highly likely the murder weapon was a hoe." Jiang Yuan gestured, "A bamboo-handled hoe, striking the victim¡¯s head with the back of the hoe..." Those present could only nod. Jiang Yuan added, "Now we just need to see whose hoe it was, start by checking if any families have recently changed their hoes. If not, then bring back the bamboo-handled hoes from each house for examination." "This is good, this is good!" Lei Xin felt suddenly enlightened, and the hives on his body stopped itching. Chapter 877 - 815: Keep up the effort

Chapter 877: Chapter 815: Keep up the effort

In just one day, theboratory had identified the murder weapon from the 68 hoes collected. This is also a major feature of rural cases; the motives may beplicated and confusing, but the vigers¡¯ counter-surveince measures are notablyckluster. The family had merely washed the hoe, not even bothering to dispose of it or rece its bamboo handle. Moreover, they had stored the hoe in a warehouse, and it was only when the neighbors came to borrow a hoe that someone pointed out, "Didn¡¯t your family buy a new hoe?" This hoe was prominently marked by Lei Xin and sent to theboratory, where it was immediately matched. "The murderer is the victim¡¯s uncle by marriage, and the root cause was a dispute over the families¡¯ burial grounds..." Lei Xin exined briefly, then shook his head in confusion, adding, "In short, it was all about trivial, stale grudges. ording to the murderer, the two were talking in the backyard and started arguing over a canal repair, which escted into a brawl." Lei Xin went on to detail parts of the case, then spread his hands and said, "If we were to look for clues in the motive, a lifetime wouldn¡¯t be enough." "So you mean if that family had properly dealt with that hoe, this case could have been different?" Wang Chuanxing, who was sitting nearby typing on aputer, couldn¡¯t help but ask. Liu Jinghui shook his head, "Not necessarily. As long as we figured out what the murder weapon was, it would not be difficult to ask around whose hoe had gone missing." "That¡¯s true. In the vige, there aren¡¯t many secrets that can be hidden. This time, the murderer¡¯s next-door neighbor also helped out," said Lei Xin, who himself came from a rural background. While speaking, he couldn¡¯t help but shake his head, "The two families argued over building houses, fixing canals, and even burial sites, but they never escted to criminal cases." "Heard quite a lot of gossip, have you?" Liu Jinghui asked with a chuckle. Lei Xin sighed, "More than just gossip. Seeing us apprehend someone, there were those pleading for mercy, and others revealing dark secrets privately..." "At least this case is considered closed," Jiang Yuan, who was from Jiang Vige, said. As a child who grew up eating meals in many different homes, he received plenty of sympathy. After growing up, as the vige grew wealthier, although shady dealings couldn¡¯t be said to be absent, people didn¡¯t only focus on sabotaging each other. Furthermore, having studied abroad, his impressions of the vige were much better. Seeing that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t like this topic, Lei Xin quickly changed his expression,ughed, and said, "Right, at least the case is finally closed. Oh, such a significant murder case usually takes three months to solve; in previous years, the whole department would have celebrated when it¡¯s cracked. This time, it only took three to four days!" As Lei Xin spoke, he became emotional himself. The Ministry has special invited criminal investigation experts, and the first group of nine was known as the "Eight Tigers of Criminal Investigation," who were quite famous and participated in many significant national cases. Many of their cases couldn¡¯t be told as stories due to their bizarre elements. Following the first nine special criminal investigation experts, the Ministry supplemented eight more people in 2003. Up to now, there are 22 special criminal investigation experts and another 350 experts specializing in criminal techniques. Speaking of which, each of them is nationally known for swiftly solving cases. Lei Xin had met a few of them. Although his contact with them was brief, he believed that Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficiency and capabilities were no less remarkable than those of these renowned experts. Of course, the experts were highly efficient too. In fact, criminal investigation experts rarely insisted on digging too deep into a single case; they often provided insights within a few days that could lead to breakthroughs to conclude the cases, and most cases did receive breakthroughs. Especially since these experts mainly dealt with ongoing crimes, to them, criminals were like na?ve teenagers embarking on their first love. No matter what sophisticated tactics or bizarre strategies the criminals imagined, in front of these seasoned experts who had spent twenty to thirty years solving hundreds of cases each year, they were easily handled. So just like a na?ve youngster should not provoke an experienced yer, it¡¯s best for regr criminals not tomit serious crimes to avoid attracting the attention of high-level criminal investigation experts. And then, they needed enough luck to avoid being charged by a young and energetic criminal investigation prodigy like Jiang Yuan, only then could they trulypete in the ordinary criminal arena along with those who weren¡¯t particrly gifted but had still spent seven or eight, ten, or even twenty plus years at the front line of criminal investigation. "With Captain Jiang here, the day when Qinghe City returns to peace and order is not far away!" Lei Xin, caught up in his emotions, racked his brains to vigorously praise Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had saved himself and his team,prising over a hundred people, months, or perhaps even more time, in just three days; Lei Xin truly felt an exhrating sense of relief. Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice and said, "¡¯Peace and Order¡¯ doesn¡¯t sound like something you would say, Captain Lei." "Surprised that a rough guy like me can speak so elegantly, huh?" Lei Xinughed heartily. "My wife graduated from Changyang University, it¡¯s easy to pick up what she says." Liu Jinghui¡¯s face darkened, "Better not say things that could destroy team unity." Lei Xinughed even more joyously, his built-up domestic frustrations vanishing in an instant. Turning around, Lei Xin¡¯s assistant refilled the tea in front of Jiang Yuan and smiled, "Captain Jiang, are you taking a day off today?" "I nned to grill a steak today, but it seems you all might need to keep busy for a while," Jiang Yuan said with a smile after taking a sip of tea. Lei Xin was momentarily stunned before realization dawned, and he hurriedly said, "Are you thinking of starting a new case immediately? That would be great..." "Yes, I dug this out while you were busy with that hoe a couple of days ago," Jiang Yuan turned and picked up a box, continuing, "This case is actually quite old; I see it¡¯s been six years, a male body wrapped in stic, dumped in the Tai River. The special case team back then was..." "Special Case Team 411." Lei Xin was familiar with the backlog here; as soon as Jiang Yuan mentioned six years ago, he roughly knew which case it was and said, "It had just passed Qingming Festival, and the body was fished out from the Tai River. Then came the May Day holiday, which was practically wasted, s... sadly, the case was never solved." "Yes, this case has a few details that I think deserve attention," Jiang Yuan paused, took out the file, flipped through a few pages, and said, "The body was wrapped with white nylon rope and semi-transparent white stic sheeting. Also, the other end of the nylon rope was tied to a 1-centimeter diameter green nylon rope. The outer side of the stic sheet around the body was of two kinds, one new and one old, and it seems that these items were prepared in a rush, not prearranged." Lei Xin nodded as he recalled the details of the case. Jiang Yuan continued, "From the nylon ropes and stic sheeting used to wrap the body, it appears that the killer acquired the materials on hand, suggesting that the killer was probably in the same area as the first scene, where it would have been easy to obtain these materials. That was your initial assessment, wasn¡¯t it?" Lei Xin continued nodding and took notes, then tentatively asked, "Was this assessment wrong?" If it had been a police captain who didn¡¯t know Jiang Yuan, he might have started by questioning Jiang Yuan, but Lei Xin had been subtly influenced by Jiang Yuan and immediately wondered if his own assessment was at fault. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "I have no problem with that judgment; your main mistake was in the autopsy." Lei Xin¡¯s spirits lifted; a mistake meant there was a chance for revision and thus hope for solving the case. As for the forensic doctor making a mistake, such errors in the presence of Jiang Yuan, in Lei Xin¡¯s view, were just part of the process. When standards are set too high, those who make no errors be the minority. In fact, Jiang Yuan often pointed out errors while solving cold cases. Otherwise, without differing conditions, dreaming of a different oue would be like trying to fetch wood from the water. Jiang Yuan took out the autopsy report and said, "When the body was discovered, it appeared gigantic, with rigor mortis already starting to rx. During the autopsy, the right temporal bone was found shattered, the dura mater intact, brain tissue autolyzed, hyoid bone intact, subcutaneous tissue and muscles in the neck, chest, and abdomen appeared emphysematous..." After reading part of the autopsy report, Jiang Yuan continued, "The cause of death was cranial damage with additional mechanical injuries. The forensic analysis suggested that the weapon matched a blunt object that was long, rigid, and easy to swing, likely a metal rod. Additionally, there were strap-like skin injuries around the neck with some areas showing subcutaneous bleeding, consistent with injuries from a soft, rope-like object used for strangtion. This part of the judgment was quite good, but..." Lei Xin knew this was the crux of the matter. "The forensic age estimation of the body was incorrect. From the report, the pubic symphysis was rtively t, seemingly with ridges, the anterior inclined ne not reaching the upper end, the lower corner appearing, the anterior margin mostly formed, and the posterior margin not significantly everted... this observation was problematic and significantly off," Jiang Yuan tapped the desk, slightly hesitant at this point. Age estimation of a body is basic, but being basic doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s simple. Especially when assessing through bones¡ªeven in the context of having a pelvis¡ªthe estimation remains highly ambiguous. Many factors, both experiential and subjective, y a role. Essentially, assessing bones is like assessing faces; under normal circumstances, most people can estimate age based on someone¡¯s face. Assessing bones is simr, but forensic doctors refine it further, attempting to provide various specific parameters. However, when encountering unusual individuals or bodies in unusual environments, it is like facing someone wearing makeup¡ªthe uracy of age determination drops significantly. And with the age wrong, pinpointing the origin of the body bes even more challenging. "I need to take another look at the bones and make a more detailed assessment. But based on the current information, the original forensic estimate of 28 years old, plus or minus one year, was a misjudgment," Jiang Yuan quickly provided a partial answer. "How much off was it?" Lei Xin immediately asked. "It should be quite off," Jiang Yuan said. "Great, great, great... I mean to say, this constitutes a new lead," Lei Xin replied. When previously searching for the source of the body, they naturally had to consider age; if the actual age differed significantly from the estimated age, it exined why they couldn¡¯t pinpoint the source. The police instructor present didn¡¯t hesitate and pulled out his phone, saying, "I¡¯ll call Chief Medical Examiner Niu to bring the bones over; he was involved in this case." "That¡¯s possible," Lei Xin said, pulling the instructor aside, "Tell Niu not to feel burdened, let Doctor Jiang point out the errors¡ªit won¡¯t be counted as a mistake. First, get his attitude right, and do some ideological work on him." "Understood," the instructor nodded gravely, realizing this task was far more critical thanforting a divorced officer. Chapter 878 - 816: Identification Points

Chapter 878: Chapter 816: Identification Points

Chief Medical Examiner Niu, gasping for breath, clutched the Lock&Lock box filled with human bones and jogged towards the meeting room. Everyone who has read up on the subject knows that the bones of an adult male from the north weigh about 8 kilograms, while those from the south are slightly lighter, averaging about 70 to 90 percent of that weight; however, when reduced to ashes, they all weigh roughly the same, about 2.5 kilograms. Therefore, it was genuinely tiring for Niu Tang to run with the Lock&Lock box. The instructor, with nothing in his hands, followed on the run and still felt tired. He was getting older, spending more time working on documents than in the field, running and shouting, "Slow down, Niu, slow down, there¡¯s no need to rush like this." "It¡¯s not like I would have to run if you hadn¡¯t held me up preaching about the right mindset," Niu Tang, who normally equates moving bodies with weightlifting and is not adept at running, half pushed, half walked, saying only, "Captain Jiang and Lei Da must be getting impatient." "Even if you get there, they¡¯ll just pick out your mistakes. Why the rush?" The instructor shook his head at Niu Tang¡¯s regr-sized, non-long legs and said, "I wanted you to understand the situation, not to send you off to your doom. There¡¯s no need to be in such a hurry. Lei Da and I both understand there¡¯s a problem with the report, so don¡¯t worry." "You¡¯ve got to stand upright when taking a beating. We¡¯re cops who grew up watching gangster movies; we know the basic principles," Niu Tang quipped, jokingly. The instructor, being old, couldn¡¯t stand hearing such things and shook his head, "Don¡¯t talk nonsense. I¡¯m just worried you¡¯re fixating on it. Jiang Yuan¡¯s standards are very high, and he can be unrealistic..." "If there are ws in the autopsy report, then there are ws. Don¡¯t say Jiang Yuan sets the bar high; no matter how high his standards, he can¡¯t make what¡¯s right wrong," Niu Tang was aware of where his problemsy. Ultimately, it was rted to Niu Tang¡¯s own decision-making approach. Many forensic autopsy reports could be written very conservatively; for instance, an estimated age could be given as "approximately thirty years old" or "under forty." The time of death could be broadened from "within 3 hours" to a particr day or thereabouts... Even if Chen Shixian from the Eight Tigers came over, he couldn¡¯t fault them; at most, he would say they weren¡¯t meticulous enough. But Niu Tang had demands on himself. Although limited by innate talent, driven by interest, orpelled by circumstances, Niu Tang had focused his main research on the identification of various paper products. In other areas, even when he wasn¡¯t strong, he did his best to reach his personal limits. However, reaching the limits meant approaching the edge of error, and if a forensic doctor erred, it meant dozens or hundreds of colleagues had worked in vain¡ªsomething that should be strictly prohibited. It is for this reason many forensic doctors prefer a more conservative approach, aiming not for merit but for avoiding fault. The penalties for failure were too severe; it wasn¡¯t a matter of simply saying "I can handle it." Most people couldn¡¯t bear such pressure, not just in their work but in their personal lives as well. Niu Tang, however, saw things differently. He believed in the power of pushing limits. If everyone contributed their strength, there would be no need to rely on just one piece of solitary evidence. Conversely, if no one else could contribute, and it all depended on that one piece of solitary evidence, then challenging the limits was the right approach. The instructor naturally knew Niu Tang¡¯s thoughts, as they had discussed them before. He didn¡¯t have much to say about it. Different people have different understandings of their careers and even their lives, not to mention, to some extent, he partially agreed with Niu Tang. "Let¡¯s hurry up," Niu Tang said after a brief pause, urging the instructor to move faster. The instructor sighed, preparing to give Niu Tang some more mental encouragement. Annoyed, Niu Tang waved him off, "Enough, I¡¯m fine. As long as no one¡¯s pointing fingers and yelling, I can take it." The instructor felt somewhat relieved, "If you really can¡¯t stand it, just turn around and leave. Don¡¯t argue with them, okay?" "Mmm hmm..." Niu Tang nodded and, grabbing the instructor¡¯s hand, started running faster. The instructor was forced to jog. If you only looked at their silhouettes... and disregarded their faces, physiques, proportional differences, and so forth, the two of them looked like they were shining with optimism, just like in a Japanese drama. ... Thud. The Lock&Lock box full of human bones was heavily ced on the table. Lei Xin¡¯s brow furrowed, but before he could criticize, he saw Jiang Yuan, unconcerned, stand up and say, "Come on, clear a spot on the table." A handful of people immediately got to work, freeing over two meters of the long conference table. A fake flower in a porcin vase was moved a bit to the side, serving as a divider on the table. "First, let¡¯s take a look at the pubic symphyseal surface," Jiang Yuan nodded to Chief Medical Examiner Niu, not saying much more. Forensic psychology was somewhat on the fringes, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what state Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s emotions were in, so he spoke matter-of-factly about the task at hand. Chief Medical Examiner Niu internally breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Jiang Yuan¡¯s "ferocity" didn¡¯t seem too intense, and hurriedly stepped forward to help. Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior fellow, Rui Xiang, quickly stepped forward, put on gloves, and helped turn over the bone fragments. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even wear gloves. The skeleton¡¯s bones had also been boiled, and who knows if the pot used might have had remnants from previously cooked pork intestines or chicken; sterilization was definitely thorough, and no residual evidence lingered on the bones. ng ng, Rui Xiang pulled out most of the bones, and when he turned his head, Jiang Yuan had already pieced together the pelvic structure. At first nce, the bones of the pubic symphyseal surface looked like a butterfly, rough and uneven in texture. After examining it carefully for a moment, Jiang Yuan continued, "The previous forensic report thought that the pubic symphysis was rather t and seemed to have ridges, with the ventral bevel not reaching the top... Of course, tness is subjective, but to me, the surface feels smooth to the touch, yet the texture is very dense, and there¡¯s no sign of ridges." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan passed it back to Niu Tang. Niu Tang silently took the bone and scrutinized it. In fact, when the news arrived, he had spent a long time reminiscing, but honestly speaking, with a case six years old, such minute details could be hazy or even mistaken. Niu Tang couldn¡¯t be sure how he made such a judgment back then; he had no recollection of how he approached writing the report. Now reviewing it afresh, Niu Tang couldn¡¯t say he waspletely in the dark¡ªindeed, it felt so. This matter was somewhat like appraising antiques, particrly like identifying porcin from the Qing Dynasty. What characteristics define Qing Dynasty porcin are clearly written in books, but upon close inspection, most are subjective terms. Just like the term "dense quality," who knows what level of fineness constitutes "dense quality"? As aparative unit, the standard bes the core issue. Now, with Jiang Yuan saying the pubic bone is dense, Niu Tang couldn¡¯t agree, but neither could he rebut. "What¡¯s directly affecting my judgment is the ventral bevel," Jiang Yuan gave Niu Tang a moment to examine the bone, and seeing no response, he reminded, "The report mentioned the ventral bevel didn¡¯t reach the top and that the ventral margin was essentially formed, but on close inspection, the upper end of the ventral bevel is actually damaged and not unfinished..." "This..." Upon a closer look, Niu Tang saw that the upper end of the ventral bevel was indeed rough, as if it had lost some paint, a small piece no bigger than half the size of a pinky fingernail, perfectly obscuring the discriminative feature. It was very hard to notice with the naked eye, as the bone had just lost a thinyer, which could have been due to prolonged boiling or idental scraping during assembly. The color and appearance of the loweryer hadn¡¯t changed much, just that the discriminative feature happened to be scraped off. "This really is... damaged..." Niu Tang wasn¡¯t even sure whether it was broken during storage or had already been broken at the outset, but this conclusion was indeed persuasive. Niu Tang couldn¡¯t help shaking his head, "I didn¡¯t see it at the time." "Not seeing it is normal; this bone really can¡¯t be considered typical," Jiang Yuan was half guessing and half shooting the arrow before drawing the target. This wasn¡¯t surprising, much like the process of an experienced appraiser feeling something amiss at first, then upon careful inspection finding simrities, and then starting to pick out the ws. Jiang Yuan was a Level 4 forensic pathologist and Level 3 in Forensic Anthropology. In terms of expertise, it wasn¡¯t as abnormal as Tool Trace Identification, where one could easily read the answers. However, even at Level 3 in Forensic Anthropology, one starts at an expert level, much more advanced than Niu Tang. "If that¡¯s the case..." Just as everyone was feeling relieved, Niu Tang spoke again, asking, "If the bone surface is damaged, the age would be hard to estimate, right?" For an unsolved case from six years ago, finding people from that time would not be easy, and having rtively urate information would naturally make the search easier. "37 years old," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t beat around the bush and directly gave an exceptionally precise age. Niu Tang was stunned, and the question "How did you see that?" reached his lips but was then withdrawn. What to ask? It was like someone questioning him why he could tell just by touching that a piece of tissue paper belonged to a specific brand. When getting into the details, the exnation would be endless, especially since the other party might not understand, and even if they did, they wouldn¡¯t remember, or if they remembered, they wouldn¡¯t grasp it firmly, and if they did grasp it firmly, they still wouldn¡¯t learn it, and if they learned it, they wouldn¡¯t be able to use it, and if they did use it, they would still be ipetent, so... why bother exining? Niu Tang touched his head and quietly listened as the captain gave orders. Chapter 879 - 817: Follow and Feel

Chapter 879: Chapter 817: Follow and Feel

Rui Xiang watched Jiang Yuan with admiration and aspiration as he efficiently directed operations. This was his ideal image of a forensic doctor! He just didn¡¯t know how many years it would take for him to catch up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. Rui Xiang silently recalled Jiang Yuan¡¯s experiences, who had been unremarkable during his five years at the medical university, only showing his true capabilities after joining the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment; his career advanced rapidly, and within just a few years, he had be nationally renowned. Rui Xiang felt it would be incredibly satisfying if he could just reach the level Jiang Yuan was at, regardless of the years it might take, being his fellow disciple. The instructor next to Rui Xiang seemed to see right through him and chuckled, then casually took the opportunity to tter the junior disciple of Jiang Yuan by saying, "Rui Xiang has also worked hard, Ningtai County produces talented forensic doctors. Let¡¯s add each other on WeChat, so if I have any forensic-rted questions in the future, I can consult you..." This ttery was a bit overdone, making Chief Medical Examiner Niu¡¯s expression change, but this was where the instructor excelled. For young officers like Rui Xiang, if you didn¡¯ty it on thick, they wouldn¡¯t catch on. It¡¯s a rookie move in the realm of ttery; just one hook and they might get overly excited. But if you show too much sentiment, they might ask you "What are you staring at?" and feel proud of sessfully catching a joke. At that moment, Rui Xiang was indeed hooked. Being a rookie forensic doctor in a county criminal police team, he wasn¡¯t used to this sort of attention and excitedly exchanged WeChat contacts with the instructor from Qianjin District, proiming modestly, "It¡¯s not about consulting. I don¡¯t know much, but I will do everything I can if needed." "Just don¡¯t brush it off..." the instructor said, casually throwing out pleasantries. With Captain Jiang having the backing of the detachmentmander, he thought why not hook in two people from Jiang Yuan¡¯s circle as well. This task wasn¡¯t difficult, but it was tremendously useful. It was like arranging a perfect time with a superbine harvester during harvest time¡ªa truly delightful prospect. The instructor had now fully realized that the capabilities of his side weren¡¯t important anymore. In the future, unless a 96-inch cake fell out of the sky onto their heads, Qianjin District couldn¡¯t possibly gain any strong criminal investigative technology, at least none that could surpass that of Changyang City. As for Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities¡ªtaking him to Changyang City was like delivering a cake to Qianjin District. Even though most of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were temporarily transferred from the Changyang City Bureau, Yu Wenshu still felt it was a profitable exchange... "Let¡¯s start with the missing persons," Lei Xin suggested, targeting the direction that was easiest for solving cases without spreading their efforts too thinly. If they widened their coverage, many unidentified bodies actually weren¡¯t missing persons. Most homeless, scavengers, or scrap collectors often died unnoticed, with nobody to report their deaths or take care of their bodies. Of course, such individuals were frequently targeted by violent criminals. There had been a serial killer who murdered ten scrap collectors within just three months, making a dismemberment table after the sixth murder to increase efficiency, and after killing nine, rented a new house to enhance secrecy. The case was cracked when the killer blocked the doorway with a bicycle, obstructing two auxiliary police on a motorcycle. Before being caught, the local authorities hadn¡¯t even known that nine people had been dismembered into twenty-nine bags of bones. But from another angle, like the homeless or scrap collectors, these individuals on the fringes of societycked close rtionships. Not only did their disappearances go unnoticed, but their cases were also tremendously difficult to investigate. The crimes were nearly always random, with no information avable, and the victims had no records... Lei Xin internally hoped not to encounter such cases. Additionally, bodies being wrapped in tarp and discarded wasn¡¯t typical for such groups. There were many ces for discarding bodies; there was no need to specifically dump them in the Tai River. Often, the killers wouldn¡¯t even bother to dispose of the bodies, making the cases even harder to solve, or perhaps, they simply didn¡¯t care about being investigated. Jiang Yuan had no objections to the screening n proposed by Lei Xin. Investigating missing persons wouldn¡¯t take too long, of course, based on the manpower of two middle-sized squads. If results were unsatisfactory, they could always expand their scope. Two squads consisted of one squad from the Qianjin District Criminal Police Team, plus the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, both forming groups of more than twenty people. Excluding those already engaged in tasks, there were almost forty left. Lei Xin and Meng Chengbiao briefly coordinated, and the teams quickly got moving. This was all routine work for them, nothing new to discuss. Being a detective was a job that required high proficiency, especially when solving murder cases. Detectives with over six or seven years of experience were still referred to as junior officers. In privatepanies, simrly experienced employees would be considered very senior, with sries close to being capped due to optimization. From this perspective, the national police force,prising over two million officers, truly represented years of umted achievements. Starting from the inception of the country, where it was necessary to recruit former regime military and police for maintaining public order, it has evolved into its current state. Now, officers like Wang Chuanxing, with university degrees, could create PPTs, conduct raids, tter superiors, manage subordinates, work exhaustively without marrying or having children¡ªessentially covering two people¡¯s workload. They are considered an anomaly in reforming the workce, using their high education and youth to extend their college diligence into the professional sphere, causing the older generation of detectives to face marriage crises and health issues. Of course, there were also those who chose to ¡¯lie t¡¯, but such individuals would never find a ce in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team or any homicide-specific team. Solving every murder case wasn¡¯t just a slogan but a political promise passively taken on by every police bureau¡¯s chiefs; it was the lifeline of the detective teams. As for the ranking ofbat power with full marks being 100, some might scoff at it, but there were those who genuinely fought hard for it. Those who fought hard, and cared about such nebulous collective honors, wouldn¡¯t easily let go of the power in their hands to those who scoffed at it. "Captain Jiang, it¡¯s all set up," Rui Xiang had been arranging the body on this side of the conference table where the fake flowers were located, as a form of practicing the basic skills of forensic anthropology. Before working as a forensic doctor, the teachers in school could only provide a few human skeletons, so there wasn¡¯t much exposure. The bones of different people have their distinct features, like the body we have today, whose bone density among other attributes, is somewhat unusual, which is why Niu Tang had overturned the van. Captain Jiang let Rui Xiang arrange the body himself, which was akin to letting him feel the body all over. This sort of thing is a cumtive experience, where the brain records the rted information. Whether or not it gets used is another matter, but without passing through this process, a forensic doctor can¡¯t grow. "We¡¯ve got some time; let¡¯s examine the body again. Any thoughts, feel free to bring them up for consideration," Captain Jiang signaled for Rui Xiang to start at the head while he started at the feet. Niu Tang followed Captain Jiang, touching each bone fragment where Jiang touched. Naturally, Jiang didn¡¯t stop him, and if there was something peculiar, he would discuss it with the two of them, exining the reasons for his judgments. This training method is simr to handling antiques. After examining the skeletal remains, Captain Jiang had someone bring over evidence like ropes and stic sheets for an on-site check. The forensic team from Qinghe City was also present, and everyone seemed fairly rxed. After a full round of examination, Captain Jiang noted a few points in his notebook before saying, "Let me summarize and make an analysis of the crime scene." Chief Medical Examiner Niu and the newly arrived trace examiner both raised their eyebrows, wondering why he was summarizing so soon. Captain Jiang didn¡¯t say much, only stating, "From the stic sheet and nylon rope used to wrap the body, it is likely that the murderer gathered materials from nearby, which we¡¯ve discussed before. It also suggests the murder might have been impulsive." "The victim¡¯s head injuries are severe, particrly concentrated at the right temporal ipital region, indicating that the body¡¯s position was rather fixed when attacked. Also, the victim was strangled and hit in the head with a blunt object, suggesting that the perpetrator might have been alone or possibly working with one more individual." "Additionally, there¡¯s extensive subcutaneous bleeding in the frontal region reaching beneath the skin, which is typically caused by the impact of arge, t, blunt object; probably, the face hit the ground after a fall." "The lethal head wound is a straight bar-likeceration with uneven edges. There¡¯s a simr injury on the back of the victim¡¯s right hand, which as mentioned earlier, implicates a metal rod." "So overall, I lean towards the theory of an acquaintancemitting the crime." Lei Xin, who had been busy, listened keenly to Captain Jiang¡¯s conclusion, which was precisely what he wanted to hear. A crimemitted by an acquaintance means finding the body could lead to solving the case..Of course, most body disposals follow a simr pattern, otherwise, why would the murderer risk being discovered mid-transport? Still, confirming it is undoubtedly good. As Lei Xin nodded continuously, he turned to redouble his efforts. Niu Tang and the trace examiner exchanged nces, their expressions reminiscent of youthful school days: Did you understand any of that? Both shook their heads. It wasn¡¯t that they werepletely clueless; rather, too many details were crammed in too short a time, causing their mental CPUs to overload. Of course, given time to sit down and analyze thoroughly... That¡¯s when Liu Jinghui said, "The murderer is likely very familiar with the murder scene and probably had a significant motive tied to the victim. He appears to have some anti-investigation awareness, but his emotional stability seems average. From the way the body was hastily wrapped and disposed of, he seemed too hurried..." Compared to Captain Jiang¡¯s analysis, Liu Jinghui¡¯s was more detailed. Lei Xin and the others silently listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s assessment, catching each other¡¯s eyes before a slight smile appeared on their faces: So, that¡¯s the game we¡¯re ying... We¡¯ll just follow your lead! Chapter 880 - 818 Precision Strike

Chapter 880: Chapter 818 Precision Strike

"Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve now confirmed 17 local missing persons matching the profile of males around thirty years old and about 1.7 meters tall. Are we dispatching someone to visit them directly?" Lei Xin asked bluntly, seemingly unconcerned with his superior¡¯s rank. He mentioned the results of the investigations by the detectives. These 17 individuals are now key subjects for inquiry. Following the principle of house calls for serious cases and phone calls for minor ones, further meticulous investigation, including possible second home visits, was inevitably susceptible to alerting the suspects. At this juncture, it was all about the evidence at hand. In cases like this, a cautious approach dictates that one should have at least some information before progressing to the next step. Ideally, the visits would be targeted, bringing in those who fit the criteria. Otherwise, the creation of a murder suspect profile could very likely result from false impressions, and upon a second encounter with the police, there¡¯s a risk of them fleeing suddenly. Liu Jinghui chuckled and said, "You¡¯ve set quite a broad range of conditions there." Lei Xin managed an awkward smile, "Doesn¡¯t seem like we have a lot of people to look at." Liu Jinghui said, "Our victim died and was dumped six years ago; ordinarily, if someone doesn¡¯t return home for the Chinese New Year, the family should report them missing, two years is too broad. Let¡¯s start with one year, that should be ample." As he spoke, he turned to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Let¡¯s go with 37 years old then; if you¡¯re worried, expanding the range by one year either way should suffice." "So, one year would mean at the time of the incident, the victim was between 36 and 38 years old, biological age? That¡¯s quite tight, isn¡¯t it?" Lei Xin was somewhat uneasy, his main concern being that casting a wider wouldn¡¯t hurt and would simply involve investigating a few more people. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, "Actually, that¡¯s enough. If you¡¯re worried, we can expand it a bit, using 37 years as a basis." "In that case, I¡¯ll rx it to a three-year range, because some people consider their age in full years. Additionally, I¡¯ll make a separate list with a one-year fluctuation," Lei Xin said, instructing a detective at a nearby desk to make a new list. He verbally agreed to abide by the directive, but internally, he meant toply; however, the answer given by Jiang Yuan seemed too restrictive. It was like ordering a tractor online for farm work only to open the package and find a Lamborghini tractor inside¡ªnot that it¡¯s bad or undesirable, just somewhat baffling. The instructor signaled to Niu Tang and then smiled at Jiang Yuan, saying, "All 17 people could be checked actually. If we filter too narrowly, the staff below will have nothing left to do..." Liu Jinghui said, "All 17 people are locals who have disappeared. If we don¡¯t find anything, and we have to check neighboring areas, even looking into a broader range of migrating poptions, being strict can be advantageous." "That¡¯s also true. Checking the surrounding popce would result in arger number," the instructor finally took a serious tone. Liu Jinghui smiled briefly without furtherment. Liu Jinghui, unlike Jiang Yuan, couldn¡¯t rely solely on solid technical prowess. In his experiences touring the province, he often took the route of investigation byplementing what was missing, especially in earlier years. Investigating cases actually required consideration of external influences, some establishments, districts, and individuals, might be difficult to probe into, or at least would need to be relegated toter, a decision that local heads of the criminal police wouldn¡¯t exin nor needed to. There was no need for reticence on this matter. There was a time when Chinese people thought of Europe and America as paragons of judicial fairness, feeling inferior about their own investigations being subject to political influence. Nowadays, with a broader understanding, it¡¯s clear that the notion of equality before thew is something Europe and America haven¡¯t achieved. With Liu Jinghui¡¯s way of thinking, since Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise was trustworthy, drawing a bigger circle than necessary would be a disadvantage, particrly when it linked to other privileged entities; the smaller the circle drawn, the easier themunication. Just like the 37-year-old line, if it involved military personnel, it would be rtively easy to investigate because there would be very few people. But if the line was drawn to the broader range of thirty-somethings, then the scope required for investigation would be significantlyrger. This was exactly why individuals like Beijing¡¯s head of the Criminal Police Brigade, Tao Lu, including Qi Changye and others, were so fond of Jiang Yuan¡ªit wasrgely due to his precise and concise approach, which reduced many conflicts outside of the investigation. Of course, this was a nuance that a district politicalmissioner might struggle to appreciate. As they conversed, a new list was printed out, whittling down 17 names to just 4, with one name bolded. Licking his lips, Lei Xin said, "With just 4 people left, if we follow what Captain Jiang suggested, with a standard of 37 years old plus or minus one year, then within the current timeframe, we have just one missing person." This was the poption missing within the jurisdiction of Qinghe City, which did not include counties and townships below it, such as Ningtai County, which administratively belongs to Qinghe City. Furthermore, the issue of migrating poptions was significant; many people mighte to Qinghe City to work, travel, or visit rtives. When their contacts discover they are missing, they might report it in their own area without clear knowledge of which city or route the missing person had taken. This was one reason why it was difficult to locate many missing people. But as far as the current investigative strategy was concerned, the few had already prepared to first look into the poption within the jurisdiction. Hence, this sole missing individual seemed particrly conspicuous. "Then let¡¯s start by checking these four people. I¡¯ll personally lead the team to the 37-year-old victim¡¯s family to inquire," Lei Xin swiftly made arrangements. "Rural area on the outskirts of the city, right? I¡¯lle along too," Jiang Yuan checked the distance and felt that it would be about an hour¡¯s drive. Lei Xin was momentarily taken aback but then nodded without hesitation, "That would be excellent, it¡¯s reassuring to have Captain Jiang with us." Saying this, he silently doubled the number of officers departing and casually borrowed two more vehicles from the adjoining detective team. Niu Tang followed without hesitation as well. The presence of a forensic doctor at a crime scene was quite normal, of course, showing up when there wasn¡¯t a dead body was still a rarity for him. Once in the car, Liu Jinghui asked Jiang Yuan, "Is the age really that strictly defined?" Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a "Hmm" and replied, "Basically, yes." "Chief Medical Examiner Niu had it wrong, didn¡¯t he?" Liu Jinghui was curious, now that the car only held Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, Jiang Yuan, and himself, the four of them, it made asking questions more rxed. Jiang Yuan replied, "Forensic anthropology is rtivelyplex. I¡¯ve examined the other bones, and the conclusions are consistent." Because there was an error in estimating the age of the body, Jiang Yuan had carefully differentiated it. Although he had exined to Niu Tang that the issuey in the estimation of age through the pubic symphysis, in reality, Jiang Yuan had also inferred the age through other bones beyond the pubic symphysis. Skull and teeth, sternum and ribs, vertebral bones, limbs, and even finger and toe bones can all be used to determine age, and this can be further refined, such as estimating age through the sternum based on indentations, protrusions, and textures. Bybining these bones, Jiang Yuan derived a more or less consistent age for the body. Allowing a variance of plus or minus one year was quite sufficient. During the earlier discussion on the body¡¯s age, Jiang Yuan did not discuss this with Niu Tang because the pubic symphysis is the easiest part to estimate age in anthropology. Pointing out the problem directly was a more straightforward solution. To prattle on about other parts... the basics are covered in textbooks, teaching the details isn¡¯t something to go on about. Having had a long time to perfect his skills, Jiang Yuan had a clear understanding of which techniques were easier to exin and which did not need exnation at all. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t understand all this and simply nodded quietly. He didn¡¯t need to know the forensic details, but he did need to know the limits of Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities, which was obviously helpful for deduction. The car drove for 40 minutes and stopped by a county road. A two-story vigemittee building with walls covered in various slogans and a garden nted with flowers and nts resembled the front of a workce building from the year 2000. The detectives who had arrived earlier had already called over the vige cadres and the vige secretary, waiting for the full team to arrive before acting on their orders. At this time, Jiang Yuan followed Lei Xin and the others towards the destination. Mu Zhiyang, wearing a stab-proof vest and carrying a small transparent round shield on his left hand, with a heavy tactical belt around his waist, silently followed Jiang Yuan. With more than a dozen detectives in theirpany, along with the vigemittee¡¯s people, the entourage could be described as imposing. "The missing person here is called Fang Delu, matching the age,st known to have been working in Qinghe City," Lei Xin began to exin. "His wife has divorced, and he has a son who went to Changyang City with his mother." Lei Xin continued, "Both of Fang Delu¡¯s parents have passed away. The report was filed by his older brother, Fang Defu. Fang Defu is three years older than Fang Delu, 46 this year. We¡¯re going to his house now." As they walked, Liu Jinghui asked, "Defu, Delu, does the victim have any other siblings?" "There¡¯s a younger brother, the third child, Fang Deshou. Fang Deshou is around 35 or 36 years old this year, only 29 six years ago. He doesn¡¯t live in the vige; after getting married, he opened a store in Qinghe City," Lei Xin studied the data along the way. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Do you know the exact address?" "Some people have gone to inquire; they¡¯ve already reached the ce, and I¡¯ve told them to start at the same time," Lei Xin was a seasoned detective, and at this point, his proficiency was evident. Ahead, the vige cadres tried to knock on the door but were held back, a few detectives ran to the back, and then Lei Xin started knocking. An ordinary inquiry wouldn¡¯t be thisplicated, but since the squad leader and Jiang Yuan both came, everyone took great care with the details. The door opened. Fang Defu, 46, opened the door, saw a crowd of police officers, and first frowned, "Didn¡¯t the policee by already?" "Are you Fang Defu?" Lei Xin stepped forward to ask. "Yes." Fang Defu asked, "Did you find my brother?" Lei Xin didn¡¯t respond but asked instead, "Regarding your brother¡¯s disappearance, we have a few questions to ask you." "Haven¡¯t you asked all those already..." "There are a few detailed questions we need to ask you. What were you doing two weeks before you reported the case?" "Me? Why do you ask me?" Fang Defu didn¡¯t directly answer but chose to ask first. Lei Xin smiled, as a veteran detective, he felt a certain kinship with those who would question back or repeat queries upon being asked, so he took out a cigarette and handed it to Fang Defu, "Don¡¯t rush, take your time, have a cigarette." Fang Defu took the cigarette, holding it adeptly between shaking fingers, causing the cigarette¡¯s tip to wobble erratically. The cigarette swayed, and Fang Defu panicked, attempting to steady it, but it uncontrobly fell to the ground. Several detectives on site showed a mix of scornful and helpless smiles. Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan, then turned back to therge group of detectives, let out a helpless sigh - the enemies of deduction were not only surveince footage but also criminals with poor psychological strength! Chapter 881 - 819: Rest and Leisure

Chapter 881: Chapter 819: Rest and Leisure

Barbecue yard. The sleek, faintly stinky smell wafted out from the courtyard, spiraled outside, forming a helix, ascending to the heights. The familiar smell of cow dung from the grasnds had already ignited, a warm stench gently enveloping each guest, making them want to stop talking, yet unable to cease. "Hurry up and give me a bite," Huang Qiangmin, who waste, barged in, grabbed some barbeque, and ostentatiously took two skewers. Those who came with him did pretty much the same thing. After showing off, Huang Qiangmin then sniffed and sighed deeply, "I must say, it doesn¡¯t smell that bad." "The first time I smelled durian, I truly thought they were selling poop," Liu Jinghuiughed and said, "After you try it, it¡¯s okay. Now that I¡¯m smelling it, I even think it smells pretty good." "Now when I smell durian, I can start to salivate," Tang Jiamented as she also took a skewer of barbecue and showed off. The cow dung barbecue fromst time had left her conflicted for a long time, but this time she had no hesitation. As police officers, let alone the smell of stench their noses have endured, no one would dare say that they¡¯ve only ever breathed fresh air when opening their mouths. Tang Jia, being a female officer, had been to as many crime scenes as any ordinary detective, even more so due to needing to deal with female suspects, which potentially increased her frequency of onsite visits. Wang Chuanxing waved his hand, shouting, "Boss, do you have durians here? Open two." "Ah... I had actually been considering it," said the boss, Chen Daqian, rising from beside the barbecue furnace with a smile: "Sure, I was worried that some people might not like the smell of durian. Should I have someone go to the fruit store and buy a couple? Whatever the price, that¡¯s what we¡¯ll pay." "That¡¯ll work," Wang Chuanxing replied, "then buy a few more, there¡¯re so many of us here, let¡¯s get 10." "Afraid we might not finish them." "No problem, we¡¯ll open as many as we eat, and the leftovers can be taken to the canteen. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll offer them to colleagues who haven¡¯t eaten ¡¯shit¡¯." Besides handling daily ounting for the Cold Case Squad, Wang Chuanxing also managed some of their minor finances. The boss agreed and quickly dispatched a waiter to go buy them. Tang Jiaughed and said, "You guys are lucky to be able to go on a trip to Dama tomorrow, you can eat all the durian you want! I heard that the local durians there are a bit more mature and there are some special varieties like ¡¯ck Thorn¡¯ and stuff." "Didn¡¯t get a chance to try itst time; hopefully, the local police can be more amodating this time!" Mu Zhiyangughed, then added, "It¡¯s a pity durians aren¡¯t allowed on flights, otherwise I¡¯d bring a basket back for you." "You could still request it for the return trip," suddenly piped in Huang Qiangmin. Mu Zhiyang hesitated before replying, "Customs wouldn¡¯t allow it, would they..." "They could find a way, or, alternatively, they could mail it. Or even find arge trader to bring over a batch of highly mature durians..." Huang Qiangmin calmly looked at Mu Zhiyang and said, "Sometimes by making a slightly excessive request, you can find out if the other side is worth continuing to help." Mu Zhiyang quickly nodded. Since Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t from Ningtai County, he took the opportunity to get up and grab somemb skewers. Once Huang Qiangmin and the others finished speaking, he came back, distributed some to everyone, then bit into hismb skewer, satisfied, "Chen¡¯smb is really tender. Perfectly grilled, chewy with juice, it¡¯s really good." "d you like it," Chen Daqian smiled, then added, "I was worried that not everyone would like this smell, but I didn¡¯t expect to have so many returning customers." Liu Jinghui: "Chen, you have to think of it this way, the first time eating ¡¯shit¡¯... pah pah pah, the first time smelling this stench is the hardest. Everyone has alreadye here and smelled it once, if we don¡¯te a second time, isn¡¯t that a high sunken cost?" Chen Daqian was stunned, "That¡¯s... quite a unique perspective." Liu Jinghui held the pearls of wisdom, "That¡¯s why stench is actually like a stabilizer, and it naturally promotes itself. Not only will people who have eaten here once return, but they¡¯ll bringpanions next time, and eventually, with more peopleing, even those who didn¡¯t want toe would feelpelled to give it a try. It¡¯s like stinky tofu, stinky mandarin fish, and snail rice noodle; they¡¯re much easier to promote than items without a stench." "That¡¯s actually true," Chen Daqian, who spent his days head down as the ¡¯Shit Fairy Master¡¯, had never thought of that - his product had a theoretical depth. Tang Jiaughed from the side, "I can attest. Initially, in our dorm, only one girl ate durian, the others all disliked it when they smelled it. Then three people started eating durian, and the remaining one who didn¡¯t was looked down upon and ended up being tempted into trying durian..." "Speaking of which, I actually have some good stuff in the kitchen," said the boss, Chen Daqian, with a twinkle in his eye. "What good stuff?" Liu Jinghui showed a wary expression. "Do you like stinky tofu?" Chen Daqian asked, "I specifically had someone make a few bottles. They¡¯ve been soaked in sesame oil for a month now, just right for eating." "Stinky tofu... If my memory serves me right, it¡¯s also stinky, isn¡¯t it?" "You remember correctly," Chen Daqian said, "it smells stinky and tastes stinky, and when fried in oil, it¡¯s soft and fluffy inside, with a crispy outside. Not bad, right? Just a moment, I¡¯ll get some." With that, Chen Daqian left excitedly. Liu Jinghui stood frozen for a moment before letting out a long sigh and offering a wry smile to those around him. Mu Zhiyang consoled him, "Director Liu, it¡¯s okay. We¡¯vee to ¡¯Shit Fairy Master¡¯ already, what¡¯s the difference if we grill one more item or one less?" "You¡¯re soforting," Liu Jinghui red at him sideways, then added, "I¡¯m not sighing over stinky tofu. I¡¯m sighing over that case, with Fang Defu, and Fang Deshou - those two brothers, neither taking the lead nor the fall. One¡¯s a death sentence and the other a life sentence, with one more victim, and the Fang family is practically wiped out." "Without considering the victims, the extermination of a murderer¡¯s whole family sounds like a good thing," Mu Zhiyang said. Liu Jinghui: "It¡¯s just a bit mncholic that from now on, when people mention Jiang Yuan, they can call him ¡¯Jiang Yuan of the annihted family!" "It sounds pretty cool," Tang Jia chimed in beside them, trying the phrase out a few times until it really did sound cool. Jiang Yuan said indifferently, "The two brothers conspired to kill their own sibling over money. It was they who embarked on the path to family annihtion." "They really had the guts to do it," Mu Zhiyang handed over a skewer of meat to Jiang Yuan. Lei Xin said somberly, "Once there¡¯s conflict between brothers, sometimes they can be worse than enemies." "The issues umted over days and months, suddenly erupting. Now, the motives behind the cases are converging," Liu Jinghui spoke, with more than a slight dissatisfaction in his tone. Nowadays, the mostmon murder cases are crimes of passion, idental killings, and murders among acquaintances. True stranger-on-stranger killings motivated by robbery or sexual violence are actually rare. It can be said that the people who die in mystery novels outnumber those who die in a real region by far. "Ah, the stinky tofu ising," Old Chen shouted, leading several of his workers, carrying a bunch of bottles, an iron pot, and soybean oil, over. Liu Jinghui and the others thus stopped discussing the case and curiously watched. "This stinky tofu has already been mixed with chili salt and other things, and afterward, it can be eaten after sitting in sesame oil for a few days. The freshly made stinky tofu is covered in white mold, which you can¡¯t really see now... I think the best way to eat it is to deep-fry it..." Chen Daqian enthusiastically introduced the eating methods for stinky tofu while setting up therge iron pot and ngingly pouring in two buckets of soybean oil. "It¡¯s only good if you use plenty of oil." While waiting, Chen Daqian opened a bottle and carefully took out the stinky tofu inside, asking, "Do you want to have a smell?" Mu Zhiyang bravely stepped forward to try. "How is it?" The others were quite curious. Mu Zhiyang savored it for a moment before responding, "It¡¯s not like cow dung; stinky tofu has a pure stench. By the way, what¡¯s the difference between this and regr stinky tofu? It seems like regr stinky tofu is fried the same way." Chen Daqian thought for a moment while frying the tofu, then promptly said, "Regr stinky tofu tastes better." "It¡¯s also not as smelly," added the worker responsible for grilling beef dung. Once the stinky tofu was fried, Chen Daqian added seasoning to it all at once, then distributed a piece to everyone. Liu Jinghui ate his share cautiously, and after some time, hemented, "It really is tender and vorfully mushy." "It is indeed mushy." "It¡¯s got a vor." "It¡¯s pretty simr to regr stinky tofu, not necessarily worse in taste!" ... The following day. After a good rest, Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and others first drove to Changyang City, then took a connecting flight to Hu City, and finally arrived in Dama. They met up with Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen from the Ministry and, under the guidance of Chu Guanliang, the liaison officer at the embassy, they went to Marunpo Police Station. The two local police chiefs, Zhong Renlong and Ni Cha, had been waiting for them and warmly weed the group. After going through the formalities, Jiang Yuan beganmunicating with the two about the case in his Level 2 proficiency in the Indonesiannguage. The agreement to participate in the investigation had been arranged in advance, but which specific case they would be involved in had not been discussed. Soon, Ni Cha brought out a long list. "These are all recent homicide cases," Chu Guanliang said, assuming the role of interpreter. Looking at the long list, Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but say, "That¡¯s a bit outrageous." "If this ce ims a 40% case closure rate, the other 60% are not only unsolved, but they also include cases that no one is working on," Chu Guanliang paused before adding, "So, they all hope that Captain Jiang can get involved in several cases." "We might also get stuck on a particr case," Jiang Yuan said, then spoke to Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong in Indonesian, "Let¡¯s mark the ones with the bodies still intact. Having the body will likely increase the chances of solving the case." "Okay. God," Zhong Renlong swiftly marked one-third of the list, totaling at least a dozen cases. After marking them, Zhong Renlong ced a five-star mark next to one case and said, "God, if you have no specific preferences, could you please take a look at this case?" "Oh? What¡¯s the situation? Let¡¯s hear it." "Okay. The victim in this case is a billionaire, and there¡¯s controversy over the cause of death. Our local forensic experts have raised some issues... The victim died two days ago, and the family has already requested cremation. From the police perspective, we also need some solid evidence..." Zhong Renlong kept it brief, but he managed to convey the basic stakes involved. Jiang Yuan nced at Chu Guanliang, waiting for his nod before responding, "Then let¡¯s go examine the body. We can talk as we look." Chapter 882 - 820: Negative Anatomy

Chapter 882: Chapter 820: Negative Anatomy

Autopsy building. In stepping out of the car, a hearse, a Soul Summoning Banner, and rtives in mourning attire were the first sights that greeted them. Jiang Yuan and hispanions, under local police protection, entered the hallway and saw several other family members d in heavy mourning garb waiting inside. The detectives exchanged looks, somewhat surprised. This not only indicated that the victim¡¯s family was influential but also highlighted the keen interest the family had in the direction of the case. Whether domestically or abroad, this element invariably increased the police¡¯s feeling of pressure. No wonder Zhong Renlong had marked this case for special attention. "Officer, are you going to perform an autopsy on Tang Shaokui?" An elderly man approached slowly, exuding a strong presence. Zhong Renlong had no choice but to stop and quietly begin exining. Soon enough, the elder looked up at Jiang Yuan and said in fluent Chinese, "My son was in excellent health, enjoyed fitness and jogging, and usually dated two or three lovers; there¡¯s no way he would just silently die in his sleep next to his wife at midnight." With just a few words, the elder had voiced all the family¡¯s suspicions and had inevitably influenced Jiang Yuan and his team. Jiang Yuan nced at the man but said nothing, continuing inside under the protection of the local police. However, even through the lens of a forensic doctor, the old man¡¯s words carried a wealth of implications. The victim was healthy enough to maintain rtionships with multiple lovers, and at the time of his death, he was sharing a bed with his wife. Considering his affairs, the family was clearly pointing fingers at the deceased¡¯s wife. By the time they reached the autopsy table, the body had already beenid out t. The corpse was unclothed, well-built, but made up with cosmetics, and cotton was stuffed into his ears. Jiang Yuan looked at the body and then at Zhong Renlong... "The deceased¡¯s wife has requested cremation," Zhong Renlong said in Chinese. "Does Dama also practice cremation?" Mu Zhiyang asked from aside. "It¡¯s optional, burial is also possible. Currently, the decision rests with the deceased¡¯s wife," Zhong Renlong added without waiting for further questions. "On the day of the incident, the death urred in the marital bed. ording to our forensic judgment, the victim died two to three hours after falling asleep; however, although the cause of death is suspicious, the forensic doctor was unable to confirm any signs of homicide." "Was the autopsy negative?" Jiang Yuan raised his eyebrows. Zhong Renlong nodded. "We couldn¡¯t determine the cause of death." A negative autopsy, more urately termed a negative dissection, refers to when a forensic doctor conducts systematic anatomical, histopathological, and physical, chemical, and biological examinations but still fails to find any lethal alterations. For a forensic doctor, to prove fatal violence, traces of trauma must be found; to assert natural disease as the cause, primary diseases like mechanical injuries, mechanical asphyxiation, electrocution, thermal injuries, or exogenous poisoning must be evident. In any case, whether internal or external¡ªtorn, rotting, swollen, charred, or deteriorated¡ªand whether twisted, blocked, knotted, or forming cavities, or even an abnormal peak in the Physical and Chemical Laboratory, death always leaves traces. However, in practice, due to various reasons, some bodies indeed show no discernible cause of death, resulting in a genuinely negative dissection. This situation would be considered a forensic mishap in any country. If possible, no forensic doctor would want to sign a report stating a negative autopsy because theoretically, most autopsies should reach a conclusion if examined thoroughly, deeply, andprehensively¡ªknowing the cause of death at the very least. Yet on the other hand, if it¡¯s truly undiscoverable, then it remains elusive, even though most negative dissections are still likely due to omissions¡ªan embarrassing circumstance for forensic doctors. But given the limitations of ability, negative dissections inevitably ur and reflect reality. Even some highly skilled forensic doctors might reluctantly sign off on a negative dissection in an autopsy report. Moreover, it is often these skilled doctors who dare to finalize a report with a negative dissection. Jiang Yuan nced at Zhong Renlong, feeling that he wasn¡¯t trying to set him up, but simply didn¡¯t understand. Most causes of death for bodies are not difficult to determine. Forensic pathology, in forensic practice, is the most frequently used and most mature technology. Comprehensive autopsiesbined with the use of modern techniques rarely fail to determine a cause of death. However, precisely because of this, when an ordinary forensic doctor concludes a negative autopsy, it is very difficult for an expert forensic doctor to time-travel and offer a positive conclusion¡ªthe difficulty of a second autopsy is even greater, as a once-examined body already representsplex and difficult cases. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t required to sign off on the autopsy report, so he didn¡¯t have additional burdens. Zhong Renlong continued, "The deceased lived in a vi on the outskirts of the city. The vi has three floors, and the couple lived in the master bedroom on the third floor. After the police received the report, the deceased had already been moved from the third floor to the living room, and two emergency doctors had arrived. They did not perform any resuscitation and confirmed the death twice." "At five o¡¯clock that afternoon, the forensic expert at the police station arrived at the scene and conducted a preliminary examination of the body at the family¡¯s request..." During the conversation, local forensic expert Jacob came out. Jacob, in his fifties, still slight and dark in appearance, wore a cold yet strong British expression. Seeing Jiang Yuan, he unconsciously smiled, showing a few teeth to ensure that the other was certain that he was smiling. During his studies in the United Kingdom, he had mastered forensic science and stoicism, as well as humility. He was as obsequious to his anatomy professor back then as he was humble to Jiang Yuan today. During the previous live-streamed autopsy "Inte Celebrity Death Case," Jacob had a solid experience of Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities. Afterwards, he reviewed the recording over and over. Therefore, after a thorough analytical mulling, upon seeing Jiang Yuan again, Jacob smiled a much broader smile than usual, fearing Jiang Yuan might misinterpret his restrained grin. "Oh, did Mr. Jacob perform the autopsy?" Jiang Yuan had a good impression of Jacob, almost Level 3 in forensic pathology, an expert in his domain, who also had a foundation in other areas. Among humans who didn¡¯t cheat, he was excellent. The fact that there had been a negative autopsy result with Jacob¡¯s involvement furrowed Jiang Yuan¡¯s brow. Jacob, aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, quickly said, "The first autopsy wasn¡¯t done by me, but by my apprentice." He led out a man not yet forty. The man had deep nasbial folds on the right side of his face. Speaking of this case, he looked greatly troubled, "After the autopsy, there were numerous pinpoint hemorrhages on the surface of the heart, the heart walls were filled with unclotted blood, there were patchy hemorrhages between the pleura and lobes, edema in therynx, and otherwise essentially no substantive abnormalities..." "The key is that toxicology testing didn¡¯t detectmon drugs," added Jacob. "That is to say, there are minor injuries, but it¡¯s very difficult to make further determinations," Jiang Yuan summarized. Jacob and his apprentice rxed a bit and nodded together. Jacob said, "Currently, the conditions for presuming sudden death are not sufficient, and if it were homicide... the deceased¡¯s wife spent the whole night in the same bed as him, iming there were no unusual circumstances... The wife weighs 120 kilograms, and the deceased was a regr at the gym, weighing 170 kilograms. Fearfully, only poison could have been the killer." "Let¡¯s start with the external examination," Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t conjure results out of thin air, but if it were poison, toxicology testing was originally the gold standard. However, toxicology testing is aparative test. That is, one would first need samples from the deceased¡¯s heart blood or other tissues, then run it through gas chromatography or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The resulting spectrum is ced in the database for automatic searching, the principle being somewhat simr to fingerprinting¡ªnot only are samples needed, but the database also needs to have the spectrum of the corresponding substance. Many poisons, in fact, do not have a spectrum, like thallium poisoning, which the police would not test in the past, and many more biological agents might not even have standards. One often needs to identify the poison first, then makeparisons. In such cases, the forensic approach is usually to find the pathway. The poison could have been ingested, inhaled, or injected. If this can be determined, it also provides clear guidance for the investigation¡ªat least, it wouldn¡¯t result in a negative autopsy. Chapter 883 - 821: Out Then Becomes a Dragon

Chapter 883: Chapter 821: Out Then Bes a Dragon

The body had already been autopsied, with a long surgical suture running through the chest and abdomen, splitting the person in half before stitching them back together. On the head, a white towel was wrapped around, because the head had truly been cut into two halves, now bound with the towel. Jiang Yuan looked over the autopsy report and had decided not to perform a third autopsy. Coroner Jacob had just performed the second autopsy and found nothing, which was why he called Jiang Yuan over. And there wasn¡¯t much left to autopsy for a third time. As of now, the victim¡¯s three body cavities had already been emptied, with the heart, liver, spleen, stomach, kidneys, brain, and so on already removed, and the necessary specimens had all been sliced. Reopening would be meaningless, as all that would be seen were bones and flesh. And important organs like the brain were processed in a highly standardized way by Jacob and others, first preserved with paraffin before being finely sliced into dozens of pieces to make specimens. Through this process, whether the brain had petechial hemorrhages or thromboses became immediately obvious. It was also through this process that forensic doctors ruled out the possibility of the victim having a cerebral infarction. Therefore, the focus of the examination was actually on the surface of the body. Jiang Yuan thoroughly examined the body from head to toe. The muscles were already in a rxed state, and there were minor abrasions on the neck, but like the injuries to the heart and lungs, they could only serve as evidence and could not exin the cause of death. While Jiang Yuan conducted his examination, Coroner Jacob and others also looked closely. Some puncture marks, which might appear smaller when a person has just died and are easier to miss, might be more visible after a few days. Of course, it¡¯s possible that they were created with an extremely fine needle for injection, like counterfeit Moutai. But in that case, the victim usually would not cooperate, and if detected, there should be signs of struggle or restraint injuries. The group carefully checked areas like the axi, the bends and roots of the legs, and the neck, but found nothing. Jiang Yuan then pried open the victim¡¯s mouth for observation. With the head that had been split in two, opening it for examination was somewhat inconvenient, so Jiang Yuan casually used a shlight to inspect it. As he turned it in all directions, a dark purple circr mark became visible on the left cheek. The area of the circr bloodstain wasn¡¯trge, but its location was very interesting. Jiang Yuan recalled the autopsy report, confirming that this circr bloodstain was not mentioned in the report. In fact, despite the plethora of information detailed in autopsy reports, they cannot possibly epass all injuries. A real body and its autopsy report are like a doctor¡¯s diagnostic report, describing mainly major findings, and even serving to substantiate an argument. Theprehensive autopsy report that ordinary people imagine, much like a meticulous and thorough investigation, belongs to an ideal standard that is unachievable in practical police work. Domestic murder investigations might be slightly better, but in ces like Dama where the murder rate and police force allocation are concerned, meticulously handling one case would leave no resources for others. "Take a picture here," Jiang Yuan instructed the photographer to capture the circr bloodstain. After the photographer, led by Coroner Jacob, had finished taking photos, they all examined the bloodstain closely. "What does Doctor Jiang think caused this mark?" Jacob asked directly. "It was originally a blood blister that burst and left this mark," Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, and before Jacob could ask further, continued, "The blister was caused by smothering." This pointed directly to the cause and method of death and turned this negative autopsy case from a suspected criminal case to a confirmed criminal case. Not only Coroner Jacob and his disciples but also the policemen nearby became serious. "If it was death by smothering, the typical signs on the eyes and face don¡¯t seem to be present," Jacob paused for a moment, then hurriedly said, "I¡¯m not doubting, we¡¯re just... " "Discussing forensics," Jiang Yuan¡¯s Indonesiannguage was quite good; Level 2 was basically unobstructed formunication. Jacob nodded repeatedly, "Right, just in discussion. Because with this case, we actually suspected the possibility of murder, but there were indeed contradictory points in the forensic evidence." "The atypical signs on the eyes and face, from my understanding, could be for two reasons. First, I believe the victim had taken drugs, and under the influence of the drugs, the sympathetic nervous system was inhibited, the heartbeat and blood pressure were stable, and there was very little power to struggle and resist, or even possibly no struggle or resistance at all." "Just like being under anesthesia," Jacob¡¯s disciple couldn¡¯t help but say. Coroner Jacob just solemnly nodded. While answering questions, Jiang Yuan simultaneously threw out another argument, suggesting the cause of death included the effect of drugs. So, the question circled back to the beginning, "How were the drugs ingested, and what drug was it?" Jiang Yuan, regardless of how the minute details were considered, continued, "The second reason for the atypical symptoms is probably that the mouth was covered for a very short time, roughly three to four minutes. After releasing the grip, the purplish swelling in the facial blood naturally subsided. To give an example, some people die from hanging, but if they¡¯re found quickly and taken down within a few minutes, the facial purplish swelling isn¡¯t very apparent." Jacob nodded gently, mostly with a hint of surprise. This was purely based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, and given their ages, he should have been the more experienced one. The senior police officer next to them, Ni Cha, started to get anxious. Unable to understand Jacob¡¯s thoughts, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, "So, was the victim drugged first and then suffocated to death by covering the mouth?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan gave a clear answer, adding, "The difficulty with this case lies in the unclear cause of death. Currently, there¡¯s no detection of drug poisoning, the deceased had no apparent diseases, no signs of electrocution, no marks of strangtion, but mouth covering is certain. The petechiae on the surface of the heart and lungs match with the symptoms of asphyxiation. Of course, acute sudden death can also cause bleeding in the heart and lungs, so there is indeed room for discussion regarding the cause of death. However, from all the circumstances considered, asphyxiation after being drugged is the most consistent with the characteristics of death." Ni Cha looked at Jacob to double-check, "Coroner Jacob, do you agree?" Even if Jiang Yuan was a "god," Ni Cha needed confirmation from their own forensic doctor. Jacob looked somewhat abstracted, slowly saying, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment is the most consistent, and I agree." Honestly, for a forensic doctor, giving a verdict of a negative autopsy requires great courage. In terms of frequency, a normal forensic doctor might go several years, even a decade, without giving a single negative autopsy. The conclusion of a negative autopsy by Jacob meant they truly couldn¡¯t solve it. And, he understood better than anyone the repercussions this conclusion would have. If it¡¯s a negative autopsy, it essentially means that the cause of the victim¡¯s death cannot be found, which theoretically is tantamount to the non-existence of murder. Because how the victim died is unknown. Of course, practically speaking, the police can still pursue the case from the angle of a homicide, considering the motive or other aspects, but the pressure is inevitably there. This situation is like a murder case where the body hasn¡¯t been found; there¡¯s always a possibility that after all the investigations, it may turn out there wasn¡¯t a murder at all, which means no real perpetrator exists. Ni Cha could no longer worry about Jacob¡¯s thoughts, and upon confirmation, immediately said, "We now know that the death urred after the victim went to bed to sleep. The victim¡¯s wife slept in the same bed and imed to have not woken up in the middle of the night, and upon waking up in the morning, did not notice anything unusual about her husband. It was the maid who went upstairs to call them for a meal and discovered he was dead..." At this point, Ni Cha looked at Jiang Yuan again and said, "Additionally, the victim had long-term extramarital affairs and a poor rtionship with his wife, often arguing. The wife has a motive for crime." Ni Cha continued, "Although there is no evidence of the wife¡¯s involvement in crime yet, she undoubtedly has strong suspicions, at the least as an informed party... I rmend the arrest of the victim¡¯s wife, Dun Xiti." Several senior officers present expressed their agreement. They had previously been suspicious of Dun Xiti as well, but as there was no evidence, and the mere existence of the murder case was doubtful, they could only request that Dun Xiti was not allowed to leave the city, but could not put further pressure on her. Now, the information provided by Jiang Yuanpletely changed the passive situation. Ni Cha left hastily with his team. Jacob and his disciple concluded their work with much reflection. Zhong Renlong escorted Jiang Yuan and the others all the way out of the autopsy building. The family members, still dressed in heavy mourning, were unaware of what had transpired in the autopsy room. "Doctor Jiang, what would you like to eat tonight?" Zhong Renlong asked with a smile. Before Jiang Yuan could answer, the system interface had already appeared before his eyes: Mission: Out, Then Soar as the Dragon Task Content: A ce with a high incidence of cases is suitable for the forensic doctor to exercise their abilities, solve cases, until 100 foreign colleagues see you as a detective god. Task Progress: (8/100) Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect that among the Dama police, there were already 8 people who considered him a detective god, prompting a smile. After another thought, Jiang Yuan said to Zhong Renlong, "Let¡¯s go for durian, and also, bring a few case files so I can read them while eating." Chapter 884 - 822: First Draw an Image of the Deceased

Chapter 884: Chapter 822: First Draw an Image of the Deceased

"Captain Jiang, let¡¯s sit here." Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan to a small shop. The shop was a simple rectangr storefront, one of a row, mainly intended for dining with several sets of tables and chairs inside. Outside, the entrance disyed goods to attract customers, like this shop which had several baskets of durians, making it apparent what was being sold to anyone passing by. This type of roadside shop resembled the suburban street shops of China in the early 2000s or the early 2010s¡ªconstructed with prefabricated panels in the simplest and cheapest way, just whitewashed and ready for business, with minimal investment and the appeal resting entirely on the food and location. Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan and the others to sit down, then smiled, "Durian shops are always like this because of the smell, they can¡¯t really be opened inrge shopping malls or hotels." "That¡¯s quite nice." Jiang Yuan, hailing from a county town, had been to many simr ces before attending The Great Learning. Zhong Renlong quickly waved to call the owner, asked a few questions, and then personally went to the stall to pick out durians. Wang Chuanxing, curious, followed to watch and soon came back holding a te full of durians. "I¡¯ve just learned, to choose a durian that hasn¡¯t split open!" Wang Chuanxingmented, "I¡¯ve been buying the wrong ones all this time." "In Mysia, durian is amon produce, so people are more familiar with it and naturally have higher expectations," Zhong Renlong exined while introducing, "I picked ¡¯Musang King¡¯ and ¡¯ck Thorn¡¯, along with this ¡¯Golden Phoenix¡¯ variety which is rarely seen abroad. It has a slight alcoholic taste and a rich aroma; everyone, give it a try." Everyone chatted andughed as they each took some durian to eat. Eating durian in Mysia or Thand gives the vivid impression that the flesh of the fruit has a thin outer skin, which feels like puncturing a very thin fruit skin when bitten into. This difference is likeparing fresh cherries, which have a crisp texture when fresh, to ones that are left for long and only retain a sweet and sticky feeling. Jiang Yuan had a moderate interest in durians, holding one in one hand while unfolding a file with the other, quickly ncing over it. For him, solving cases was quite straightforward¡ªit all depended on how the evidence aligned, and if the evidence was suitable, it was simply a matter of pressing forward following the clues. Modern criminal investigationsrgely follow this model; it¡¯s not that clever detective skills are unwanted, but that straightforward investigations are less prone to error. Inparison, deductive reasoning demands too much from a case, especially in the detective novels of earlier years that often meticulously analyzed witnesses¡¯ or suspects¡¯ words. Unfortunately, in modern times, people sometimes just don¡¯t tell the truth, and interrogation records... they¡¯re certainly not transcribed word for word, but, rather, are the rephrasing by police based on their abilities. It can be said that the Chinesenguage, profound and vast, is born from subtlety and hence carries a life-long filter. Naturally, the cases in Mysia use the Mynguage, and the interrogation modes are quite different, but to rely solely on testimonies to break a case, even local dogs would shake their heads. "Is this photo of the victim? Was it taken in the forensic autopsy room?" Jiang Yuan nced over the text and then began to examine the apanying photos in the file. Zhong Renlong leaned over, nced at it, and nodded, "It seems this is an unidentified body case. The victim was robbed in an alley, stripped of all valuable items and wallet, and ultimately, the identity of the corpse was never confirmed, which stalled the case." Mu Zhiyang, who had been indulging in the durians, stopped briefly, surprised, "Does the capital still have such violent robbers?" Even in Changyang City, such robbers were rare. Indeed, robbery cases are lessmon nowadays, especially in traditional city centers densely covered by surveince cameras where old-style violent criminals prefer not to wander. Dama naturallycked such surveince capabilities, and Zhong Renlong merely nodded seriously, "Certain areas in Dama are ratherplex. This case has been slow to solve mainly because the victim¡¯s identity remains unconfirmed, and there were no eyewitnesses at the scene." In truth, it couldn¡¯t even be considered slow; the investigation had basically not progressed. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t there to judge their police efficiency, and he smiled, "I haven¡¯t looked at the case in detail yet, but I should be able to reconstruct the face of the deceased. Then you can see if the identity can be defined through the appearance?" The victim had been subjected to violence before death, resulting initially in facial swelling or what¡¯s colloquially known as a battered face, before being beaten to death. With such conditions, even the police didn¡¯t know what the victim looked like before death. In the absence of results from DNA and fingerprint searches, theoretically, identification could only be made through methods like Forensic Anthropology. Jiang Yuan stated he could handle it, and Zhong Renlong was naturally thrilled, quickly saying, "If the appearance can be confirmed, that would be great. What do you need us to do?" "Bring out more pictures, preferably photos from the crime scene, ones taken shortly after death," Jiang Yuan suggested. "By the time the body was moved to the autopsy room, several hours had already passed." He was ready to solve the problem using forensic sketching. He had acquired Level 6 forensic sketching skills through a task, which were just right for this situation. Byparison, Jiang Yuan had never used forensic sketching in his homnd. If simr cases urred locally, first, the probability of matching DNA and fingerprints would be much higher. Secondly, even if surveince footage didn¡¯t capture the incident, Image Investigation could likely trace back and find photos of the victim. It meant that only cases of umted files or discarded bodies led to situations where the source of the corpse couldn¡¯t be identified. When bodies were at that stage, forensic sketches wouldn¡¯t work. They had to rely on Forensic Anthropology¡ªa forensic sketch could handle refrigerated corpses, but when dposition set in, boiling the bones was the only option. On the other hand, forensic sketching, simr to the Skull Restoration Skill, is an art in criminal investigation with high demands on the practitioner and a narrow scope of application. It is also vulnerable to erosion by various high-tech methods, leading to fewer and fewer people mastering this technique and even fewer wishing to invest time and energy to refine it. Either Mysia didn¡¯t have the right talent or was too busy to handle it. In fact, locally they had trained a batch of such talents early on, but after entering the 2000s, little had been heard about this technique. Zhong Renlong quickly went to find photos as Jiang Yuan had requested. He brought several files, which contained only limited information. Jiang Yuan then took a piece of durian and savored it, not noticing much difference¡ªboth were tasty, but too much could be nauseating. Half an hourter, Zhong Renlong hurried over with a local police officer and introduced him to Jiang Yuan. It was Deputy Chief Kamaludin, who wore a cap with a five-point star on his epaulets. The deputy chief handed Jiang Yuan a stack of photos and pulled out a tablet, saying, "I also have a video from the scene, which shows parts of the discovery of the deceased." "Bring it up," Jiang Yuan said to Wang Chuanxing, then wiped his hands and looked through the photos sequentially. With the help of Deputy Chief Kamaludin, Wang Chuanxing opened the video and scrolled to the victim¡¯s facial features. Jiang Yuan took a sketchpad and a pencil from his bag and began to sketch the features right there. This skill had never been disyed by Jiang Yuan before, sparking curiosity among Wang Chuanxing and others, including Zhong Renlong and the deputy chief, who couldn¡¯t help but gather around, eating durian and watching. Deputy Chief Kamaludin stood proudly, scrutinizing Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketchpad¡ªsomewhat hopeful, yet preparing for disappointment. Jiang Yuan had solved several cases before, and Kamaludin had heard of them, but rumors were just rumors, and cases didn¡¯t solve themselves just because a brilliant detective was on it. As for the "brilliant detectives"¡ªKamaludin had met many since Dama Police Station cooperated extensively with neighboring countries. He had encountered many detectives from various nations and regions, but they didn¡¯t always bring surprises. Jiang Yuan sketched with undivided attention. His Level 6 forensic sketch was not only perfect in sketch realism but also maximized relevant forensic skills. Toypeople, the initial strokes Jiang Yuan made might have seemed like mere lines, but he sketched rapidly, and within half a minute, the outline of a face emerged. The good thing about realistic sketches is very straightforward; whether good or bad, resemnce is something evenymen can judge¡ªthis might be what experts dislike about it. But in forensic sketching, resemnce is key. And how difficult it is to capture resemnce is somethingypeople intuitively understand. Soon, everyone stopped eating the durian. On Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketchpad, a clearer face emerged, its facial features distinctly expressed¡ªmore vivid than the photos. "I haven¡¯t delved deeply into this case yet," Jiang Yuan noted as he took some photos with his phone. He then handed the sketchpad drawing to Deputy Chief Kamaludin. "First, I¡¯ve made a sketch of the deceased. See if you can confirm the source of the body." Kamaludin quickly bent down and held the sketch with both hands. Chapter 885 - 823: Solving the Case by Looking at Pictures (Request for Monthly Votes)

Chapter 885: Chapter 823: Solving the Case by Looking at Pictures (Request for Monthly Votes)

How do we find the person with the photos? In China, it¡¯s very simple. The police can scan the photo to obtain ID information and phone numbers, and recent hotel lodgings and other locations can also be seen. If you¡¯re willing to flip a couple more pages, even more information bes avable. It could be said that, in front of criminal cases, ordinary people are virtually in a state of nakedness. If technical investigation methods are utilized, the police know more about a person¡¯s movements than the person themself. Although Dama doesn¡¯t have this capability, Deputy Chief Kamaludin sent the photos back to the police department, where technicians linkedputers to a server, then conducted database searches andparisons to usually find the person. Deputy Chief Kamaludin, suppressing his excitement, crouched in a corner and began frantically making calls. Jiang Yuan and others silently ate durian. Cases where the source of the corpse is unknown, once identified, usually have a high chance of solving the case. This may sound somewhat mystical but is actually rted to the perpetrator¡¯s efforts. Apart from natural and idental situations, changes in the body arergely rted to the perpetrator¡¯s actions. All such actions require the consumption of physical energy, strength, time, and often involve risks. Take the phrase "throw far, bury near" for instance¡ªit reflects the choices of the killer. Those with familiar environments or convenient transportation will opt to discard the body, and the burial site is often not too far from the killer. Why not both throw and bury? Does the killer dislike it? Throwing or burying a body is tiring. Although not umon in cases involving multiple people or having the victim dig their own grave, doing both by a lone perpetrator involves more physical effort than a normal eight-hour manualbor job, and most killers don¡¯t have the conditions for that. Correspondingly, teams of killers often avoid dismembering the body¡ªit¡¯s messy and likely to leave evidence, and carrying a whole body is more convenient than parts. Many solo body movers are forced to dismember because they cannot manage the weight otherwise. In short, a killer¡¯s additional handling of a body always has reasons. The first 12 to 24 hours after a murder are golden for the killer to manage the body¡ªthe more time wasted, the easier they are to catch. In this case, the corpse was beaten beyond recognition, unidentifiable, and the result of the killer¡¯s hits and kicks. From a brutal perspective, this also represents the killer¡¯s input. He chose to distribute his energy, strength, and time into this¡ªcausing the victim multiple injuries, ultimately leading to death from broken ribs. Though to those few who seldommit murder, the facial injuries might seem like a by-product of a beating, those with even a little experience in deadly beatings would know that topletely disfigure someone is tremendously difficult. This can be seen in boxing matches, bare-knuckle fights, or bullying scenarios. Most boxers need more than three rounds to see significant swelling or browbonecerations, a level that still doesn¡¯t qualify as unrecognizable. Bare-knuckle fights and bullying scenes are simr. To beat someone until even their mother couldn¡¯t recognize them requires meticulous effort. Most swelling urs the second or even third day after the beating. Thus, the unrecognizability of the corpse in this case is likely intentional by the killer as a form of disguise. Why does the killer want the body to be unrecognizable? Why disguise this act? There¡¯s a high probability that recognizing the corpse would easily expose the killer. Now that Jiang Yuan is handling more cases, many can be partially deduced from past experience. However, these spections are unstable, so Jiang Yuan hasn¡¯t determined whether this is a real robbery or a staged one; he¡¯ll confirm the source of the corpse first. After eating three pieces of three different kinds of durian, Jiang Yuan felt sickened. Wang Chuanxing adeptly peeled a mangosteen for him and said with a smile, "There are also eat-all-you-can durian stalls here in Dama, but I don¡¯t know how many people could eat their money¡¯s worth." "The cheapest all-you-can-eat durian is only 9 ringgit, which is about a dozen yuan, mostly in night markets," Zhong Renlong, being ethnic Chinese, had encountered many people from China and gave this tempting piece of information first. Having already eaten five pieces of durian, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyes lit up, "That sounds good, but why is it so cheap?" "Because the all-you-can-eat durians for nine ringgit are all Kampong durians, which means they are rural durians, all native species without grafting or breed improvement. So, they can taste like anything ¡ª good, bad, sweet, bitter, even alcoholic..." Zhong Renlong said with a smile as he exined. Mu Zhiyang asked, "Can you pick out the good ones?" "No way to pick," Zhong Renlong said with augh, "Durians have a strong locality factor. It¡¯s not at the national level, but at the rural level; the durians from one vige are different from those of another vige. Moreover, transntation from one vige to another might not even survive. And within each vige, each tree might produce durians that taste different. Outsiders can¡¯t distinguish them at all." Wang Chuanxing also seemed hesitant, wiping his hands, he said, "If that¡¯s the case, the best-tasting durians in the vige shouldn¡¯t be sold outside. Since it¡¯s all priced the same, just sell the less tasty ones to the middlemen." "That makes sense." Mu Zhiyang nodded. As a criminal investigator, you ask him to believe in the light, he¡¯ll first suspect you of fraud. Zhong Renlong chuckled and said, "That¡¯s why foreigners are better off eating cultivated varieties of durians, they¡¯re reliably tasty. In Dama, new stable varieties of durians can be developed and registered with the Dama Agriculture Bureau, named as Dxx. Like Musang King is D197, ck Thorn is D200, indicating that these varieties were developedter." "Comparing them, ck Thorn has a strong fragrance..." Mu Zhiyang stuck out his tongue and added, "But if it¡¯s served to me alone, I could only say it¡¯s delicious." "Because you areparing ck Thorn with Musang King, you should try Kampong sometime; some of them really don¡¯t taste good." Zhong Renlongughed heartily and said, "Look at me talking, the durians sent to China must be of very fine varieties. Actually, I used to eat a lot of Kampong durians. Back then, there were a few familiar durian vendors, and stable supply channels, and the taste of some trees¡¯ durians was quite unique, memorable..." As they chatted, time flew quickly. Before they knew it, Deputy Chief Kamaludin was back at the table, holding his phone. Jiang Yuan naturally looked up at him and asked in Indonesiannguage, "How did it go? Did you confirm the source of the body?" "Confirmed, confirmed!" Kamaludin nodded repeatedly, swallowed, and then said, "And the case... might be solved too." This response was not unexpected, but it was pleasantly surprising. Jiang Yuan felt it was good this way, being able to solve a case directly was moreforting than dealing with endless follow-up issues. With the time saved, they could work on other cases. "How was it solved?" Jiang Yuan asked while he casually opened another file. Kamaludin¡¯s eyelids twitched, he measured his words, mentally went over the evidence collected from various sources, reviewed the testimonies of several witnesses ryed by the officers, and then said, "His wife conspired with her lover to kill him." Zhong Renlong tranted simultaneously. "Oh," Everyone nodded in unison. "Any other evidence?" Jiang Yuan asked further. The saying goes that a single piece of evidence is not enough... "They recorded a video." Kamaludin¡¯s response was very to the point. Jiang Yuan was briefly stunned, "Why would they record a video?" "It was supposed to be just a beating, but they lost control," Kamaludin said, his expression somewhat rxed, "Of course, this is ording to the statements of the two murderers." "Evidence is sufficient," Jiang Yuan said, turning his focus back to the file in front of him. Kamaludin shrank his neck slightly and turned his head, ring fiercely at some noisy fellows at the next table. Chapter 886 - 824 Continuous Unceasing

Chapter 886: Chapter 824 Continuous Unceasing

Hot wind. Shorts. Durian stall. Jiang Yuan had grown tired of durians; he held a file in his hands, drinking tea and reading at the same time. Beside him, Wang Chuanxing and others were scrolling through short videos and chatting on WeChat, subtly experiencing the joy of a vacation. This included the police liaison officer from the embassy, Chu Guanliang, and Cui Xiaohu from the ministry. They all felt quite rxed now. Jiang Yuan had already solved two murder cases since arriving, and from their perspective, he had done a beautifully sufficient job. Even if he couldn¡¯t solve any more cases, it wouldn¡¯t matter. Any detective from any ce if swapped in, the efficiency and ability he had shown were beyond reproach. Thud. Jiang Yuan refilled the teapot, cing the kettle down. Thud. Kamaluddin and Zhong Renlong both lunged forward, bumping heads in the process. "Let me pour the water," Kamaluddin said solemnly in Indonesian. Zhong Renlong did not give in, his hand clutching the kettle, said, "I have always been in charge of this task." Kamaluddin whispered, "You can rest for a while, I can take over for some time." Zhong Renlong lowered his voice as well, "You are not my superior, we should just stick to our own duties." Kamaluddin stared at Zhong Renlong for a while. Zhong Renlong was undisturbed. Finally, Kamaluddin let go of the kettle and stood up to leave. Zhong Renlong sighed in relief, quickly adjusted his posture, and reverently with a serious expression, he opened the lid of the teapot, letting the boiling water swirl into the pot. The tea leaves freely expanded in the boiling water, darkening the color of the tea. Zhong Renlong¡¯s mood also calmed down somewhat. He gently reced the lid and then ced the kettle gently beside the teapot, making it convenient for Jiang Yuan to add water himself. Thud. Another kettle was ced beside the teapot. Zhong Renlong turned his head to see Kamaluddin¡¯s rugged, dark face. Kamaluddin gave a calm smile, unfazed by Zhong Renlong¡¯s hostile gaze, squatting beside, and giving a friendly smile towards a few Chinese people nearby. Wang Chuanxing and the others also responded with a friendly smile, having experienced simr situations many times before, they were not surprised. Slosh... Jiang Yuan poured another cup of tea. The necks of Zhong Renlong and Kamaluddin whipped around, alert as if they had undergone three and a half years of training. "This case... is pretty much the same." Jiang Yuan flipped through several case files and looked closely at the one in his hand, sipping his tea as he spoke, "This was a stabbing homicide case with abundant evidence at the scene. I see there are DNA and footprints, even bloody fingerprints. None of them matched?" Zhong Renlong and Kamaluddin leaned in to look. Since Zhong Renlong had brought the case, he nced twice and quickly remembered, saying, "It was a brutal murder at the port, the victim was a woman, stabbed 11 times, killed at her home. We suspected an acquaintance because there were no signs of forced entry. However, after investigating the victim¡¯s acquaintances, there were no leads." Zhong Renlong continued, "Later, considering there were some items missing and the victim was a young, attractive woman, we suspected that the perpetrator might have tricked her into opening the door. So, we also investigated nearby deliverymen, plumbers, and other such personnel who might have had ess to the premises...again, no results." "The number of people investigated in this case, including the DNA samples and fingerprints, exceeded ten thousand. Ultimately, when there was no other option, we stopped the investigation." In the end, Zhong Renlong still felt the need to exin. As a policeman, not being able to solve a case is always somewhat disappointing and embarrassing. Not only Jiang Yuan, but Cui Xiaohu, Mu Zhiyang, and others listened intently as well. Kamaluddin appeared rather lost, bowed his head and took out his phone, constantly contacting colleagues who understood Chinese toe and assist. Zhong Renlong quickly finished presenting the case details he knew, looking expectantly at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan listened carefully as well. Many details of handling the case, or rather, situations outside the case, weren¡¯t reflected in the files, especially some unsessful attempts. After hearing the pitfalls the Dama Police Force had encountered, Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment before saying, "My understanding might differ from yours." "It¡¯s normal to have differences, feel free to speak." At that moment, Zhong Renlong glimpsed at Kamaluddin and earnestly said, "You can speak freely, I¡¯m on your side." Jiang Yuan understood and smiled, foregoing the niceties, he said, "Let me put it straight then, I still think it was an acquaintance whomitted the crime. Your initial investigative direction was correct, it¡¯s only due to various reasons that you failed to find the murderer. The direction of the investigationter on wasn¡¯t necessary." Since the previous cases were also by acquaintances, Jiang Yuan reiterated the notion of an acquaintancemitted crime. Zhong Renlong was a bit surprised but immediately, without hesitation, said, "I will ry this to the senior authorities. Do we need to conduct the screening again?" "If there are no other reasons, such as political factors involved, I think focusing on checking the overlooked should be the priority." Jiang Yuan looked at Zhong Renlong to confirm. Zhong Renlong decisively said, "To my knowledge, this case is merely a typical criminal case, if so, what should we do?" "If that¡¯s the case, I believe there are omissions in your list of acquaintances." Jiang Yuan spoke quite confidently and exined, "Looking at the crime scene, first, considering the distribution of bloodstains, the center of the crime scene was in the dining room. This is a deeper part of the room where usually a delivery person or a worker wouldn¡¯t go." Zhong Renlong hurriedly looked at the structuralyout of the house, then at the photos, though he seemed confused, he began to understand a bit. Jiang Yuan signaled to Wang Chuanxing to start recording, to avoid having to repeat himselfter, then said, "Secondly, the murderer was standing while the victim was sitting, but the victim¡¯s back was turned to the murderer, which shows a significant degree of trust. This does not align with the principle of a strangermitting the crime." Jiang Yuan said, "Thirdly, the murderer used a knife to chop and stab 11 times, which typically indicates an acquaintance¡¯s crime, have you considered this possibility?" Zhong Renlong quickly nodded and said, "Initially, there was such a notion." "Yes, one wound near the genitalia, ording to the forensic doctor¡¯s autopsy, was deliberately inflicted but then the force was pulled back midway, which is a typical method of an acquaintance murderer. Moreover, I lean towards a lover being the murderer." With this statement, Jiang Yuan narrowed down the suspect range even further. Zhong Renlong was even more taken aback, not very familiar with the case, he hurriedly flipped through the case files, and after a while, hesitantly said, "The victim had a boyfriend. His DNA and fingerprints were collected but didn¡¯t match..." "Well, look and see if there were other boyfriends." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t change his judgment based on Zhong Renlong¡¯s answer. He was relying on Bloodstain Analysis, starting at Level 5, far more reliable than a mere "boyfriend." Feeling Jiang Yuan¡¯s conviction, Zhong Renlong also grew resolute, "Understood, I¡¯ll inform the responsible Chief Inspector right now." He nced at Kamaluddin; this time, it was impossible for him to call anyone over. Chapter 887 - 825 Continuation

Chapter 887: Chapter 825 Continuation

Zhong Renlong cradled the phone, sitting at the other end of the long table and furiously dialed. By rights, he would normally find a corner to make his calls, just as Kamaluddin had done before. But now he was afraid that if he left, Kamaluddin might say something inappropriate, so he held onto his mobile phone to make the calls. Jiang Yuan stretchednguidly and casually opened the next case file. There were actually not many files to begin with, and he had already looked through this one as well. However, just because it had been initially filtered out during the early review did not mean this case was unsolvable. For Jiang Yuan, solving cases in Mysia was somewhat easier than dealing with the backlog of domestic cases. Mainly because domestic technology had advanced very rapidly, with the integration of cybersecurity, image investigation, and technical investigation units, akin to how X-ray, CT, and MRI are used in hospitals. They are costly to deploy, but their effectiveness in significantly raising the lower bound cannot be denied. By contrast, Mysia¡¯s investment in police work was not as extensive as in China, nor was the level of priority given to murder cases. Many of the cases handed to Jiang Yuan were still active... Logically speaking, except for some experts¡¯ regr duties, domestic active cases that would call for a Level 3 expert were either geographically special, involved a special person, or featured an unusual method of the killing. It¡¯s just that Jiang Yuan was not very familiar with the environment in Mysia and many technological means could not be utilized. But these factors did not have a significant impact on him. After all, when he was called upon in China, the cybersecurity, image investigation, and technical investigation units had already been through at least two rounds of use. "Can you do arge-scale search? Are you willing to?" Jiang Yuan looked at the new file and suddenly asked. Zhong Renlong had just finished a phone call and was momentarily stunned before hesitantly responding, "Howrge of a search? I will have to report this to my superiors..." "Then let¡¯s not consider it for now." Therge-scale search Jiang Yuan mentioned was on the scale of China. Not to mention the standard of Beijing, even arge-scale search organized by the Ningtai County Bureau would beposed of a high-quality team with hundreds of core members and over a thousand auxiliary staff. In China, for murder cases, this scale of search could always be initiated if necessary. Now that Zhong Renlong was uncertain, Jiang Yuan did not press further. There were many cases, and it wasn¡¯t necessary to exhaust the entire force of the Mysia Police on one case. Not to mention, there wasn¡¯t just one way to solve this case. "Let¡¯s do this, I¡¯ll give you a few suggestions, and you can check them out in your investigation." At this moment, Jiang Yuan was examining another violent murder case, but unlike the port¡¯s violent murder, the victim here was killed on a rooftop with a blunt object, with rtively little blood at the scene and few other traces. As it was a death caused by a single blow, this case was a bit difficult for bloodstain analysis, but it was only a bit challenging. Normally, a Level 2 technician could easily determine the type of weapon, the positions of the victim and the assant, and their rtive positions at the time of the incident, and so forth. However, to confirm more details, even a Level 3 expert might not suffice. Even a Level 5 expert would require more information from the scene. Jiang Yuan watched as Zhong Renlong pulled out a pen and said: "First, it¡¯s highly likely that the murderer and the victim knew each other. Their rtionship may not necessarily have been good, but they were acquainted. This can be inferred from the scene on the rooftop and the footsteps left behind by the two." "Second, the murderer was strong; the victim¡¯s skull was severely indented." "Third, regarding the murder weapon, it¡¯s made of metal, with rust and linear indentations. It could be a metal rod or pipe picked up at the scene, with a thicker diameter, more likely a pipe." Jiang Yuan paused here, looked at Zhong Renlong, and said, "It¡¯s been almost 10 days since the murder urred. If we dy further, it will turn into a cold case. I suggest organizing as much manpower as possible to find the weapon. Given its thickness is about the size of a fist and its length is over 50 centimeters, possibly up to seventy or eighty centimeters, it would be hard to hide. It¡¯s highly possible that the murderer discarded it at the scene." Zhong Renlong hesitated for a moment, then murmured, "We¡¯ve considered that aspect and searched the building¡¯s internal and external trash bins, but found nothing." "Search again," Jiang Yuan said, a bit more sternly. As a criminal detective, Jiang Yuan had been the core decision-maker of the special case team for most of his career, and often was the person in charge of the cases as well. For responses like the one Zhong Renlong gave, even as an outside force, he wouldn¡¯t let go easily. Zhong Renlong was startled and hurriedly bowed his head in agreement. Kamaluddin shrank his neck at the side, feeling a chill breeze amidst the sweltering heat of Southeast Asia. Jiang Yuan waited a moment, took a sip of water, then changed his tone, "The crime scene building is an old office building, isn¡¯t it? There are no cameras inside, but there are surveince cameras at the entrances and exits. The office building doesn¡¯t have an underground parking lot, and the nearest spot where you could take a car or other transportation is several hundred meters away. It isn¡¯t easy to carry a weapon for that distance without either being seen by witnesses or having to abandon the weapon somewhere." Jiang Yuan looked at Zhong Renlong and continued, "To say we definitely need to find the weapon now might be a bitte, but at the very least, we should try our best to look for it. The weapon had rust, which suggests it was likely picked up from the ground, a pipe perhaps. The attacker struck with concentrated force; there could well be traces left..." If this were in China, Jiang Yuan would certainly have pushed for a mass search for the weapon without dy. This approach would greatly increase the chances of confirming the weapon and the killer. More importantly, it would decrease the likelihood that the culprit could tamper with the weapon again and would also lower their chances of escape, thereby reducing the need for a manhunt. In Mysia, however, the difficulty of conducting such a search was too high, so they had to stop there. Xu Taining wasn¡¯t by his side either. If there was an oversight in the search that led to missing a strategic opportunity, it would be a great waste. Thinking this, Jiang Yuan further instructed, "We need to check the entire office building, look through the nearby flowerbeds, stores, as much as possible..." "This... This might require too many search warrants," Zhong Renlong said, startled, interrupting promptly. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "Let¡¯s leave it at that for now. See what you can do, then we¡¯ll analyze the situation more specifically." With so few traces left at the crime scene and so much time passed, the likelihood of solving the case purely based on files was not high; this was the time when teamwork and support from other members were needed. Only upon leaving China did one realize how much they missed the organization and trust back home. When conducting searches in China, even without utilizing Xu Taining, an average criminal investigation team would still be able to assign one or two experienced persons to take charge. There was no doubt in the police team¡¯s organization, with 7*24 hour searches beingmon practice. For example, when Jiang Yuan previously demanded a search through Garbage Mountain, Lei Xin and others, though reluctant, went ahead with it. This level of dedication would be unimaginable in many countries. It wasn¡¯t about the amount of money offered; from top to bottom, from public institutions to privatepanies, it would be impossible to find a team with such a level of organization and obedience. In some legendary locales, if police clocked out on time, then what was the point of searching? It would be equivalent to just going through the motions during the day and letting the tiger return to the mountain at night. Zhong Renlong squatted down in the corner and continued to make frantic calls. Jiang Yuan finished the tea in the teapot and stood up decisively, "Let¡¯s take a walk." The group, having had their fill of durian, nodded in agreement and began to stroll grandly through the streets. From the head of the street to the tail, a hurried Chinese police officer came. Kamaluddin immediately showed a smile, pulling him along to find Jiang Yuan. As they made their way to Jiang Yuan, Zhong Renlong cut in front of them with even greater speed. "God, the port murder case has been solved. The killer has been caught!" Zhong Renlong said in My confidently, nting his feet firmly. Kamaluddin frowned upon hearing this and halted his attempt to jockey for position. Chapter 888 - 826 Two Steps Forward

Chapter 888: Chapter 826 Two Steps Forward

"What¡¯s the situation?" Jiang Yuan was naturally interested. "The murderer is a colleague of the victim, her suitor. They hadn¡¯t dated, nor was there any intimate rtionship. His name was on the list of acquaintances, and he had expressed his admiration for the victim, but because he didn¡¯t have a clear motive for murder and had an alibi, he wasn¡¯t the focus of the investigation. It wasn¡¯t until the theory of a lover¡¯s murder came up that he stood out..." After Zhong Renlong hurriedly reported, he added, "The alibi has since been proven to be fabricated, and the murderer has confessed." Wang Chuanxing checked the time and said, "Your investigation speed is quite fast." The implication was that, despite having a list of suspects, they hadn¡¯t delved deeper into the investigation. Zhong Renlong sighed deeply, "The case shifted directions several times, leading to a significant waste of time and police resources. I feel somewhat ashamed to say it, but... different superintendents have different styles of working." Wang Chuanxing then smiled again, "A small boat turns swiftly, as they say." "You could say that¡¯s one reason," Zhong Renlongughed off, effectively closing the case discussion. Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang exchanged nces, both feeling like they wanted to criticize but couldn¡¯t bring themselves to actually do it. Mainly because they had experienced many major cases, they viewed the handling of these medium and small cases with a certain disdain. Domestic special homicide teams are often very serious; once an investigation direction is determined, they typically expect a phased conclusion, if not chasing every lead until there are none left. However, for ordinary cases, the attention to detail varies greatly, depending entirely on the personal qualities of the responsible officers. When Wang Chuanxing previously worked at the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, he had encountered simr officers¡ªblundering about like headless flies, somehow solving cases. Back then, Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t tell if the other party was simply foolish or naively cunning. But now, with more experience working alongside Jiang Yuan, when he reflected on their methods, they just seemed unnned. However, the individual had been a detective for over a decade, had extensive experience, and had sufficient resources backing them, so even piecemeal efforts led to solved cases. It just goes to show that, for most criminal cases, an extraordinary mind, ample resources, exceptional stamina, tenacious willpower, incredible luck, meticulous thinking, or careful deliberation... just one or two of these qualities could crack a case, with no need for a six-sided warrior. And for truly bizarre cases, even a six-sided warrior might not guarantee a resolution. Of course, these were just the thoughts of Wang Chuanxing and his colleagues. Having worked with Jiang Yuan for so long and seen much, they could afford the leisure to judge the work of other agencies. For Zhong Renlong and Ni Cha, though, the day¡¯s developments seemed incredibly fast. From their perspective, Jiang Yuan simply went out for a durian meal and then cracked major cases consecutively. The police department¡¯s lower investment in homicide casespared to domestic ones didn¡¯t mean the cases were any less significant. It¡¯s just that with limited police resources and a high number of crimes, they couldn¡¯t afford to put in more and were overwhelmed. Jiang Yuan¡¯s help in solving two homicides in a row not only significantly eased their burden but also freed up the police force equivalent to about a dozen officers, which was certainly a pleasant surprise. Ni Cha had recorded the confession for the "Port Violent Murder Case" at the station and sent someone to collect evidence from the murderer¡¯s home beforeing directly to find Jiang Yuan. He had previously experienced the overwhelming energy of Jiang Yuan solving major cases, but he hadn¡¯t expected that Jiang Yuan could also muster boundless energy at the snap of his fingers. "Mr. Jiang Yuan," greeted Ni Cha when he saw Jiang Yuan, who was nked by Zhong Renlong and Kamaluddin on either side, showing an understandable level of importance. If there hadn¡¯t been ack of space, Ni Cha would have been clinging to Jiang Yuan as well. "Officer Ni Cha," greeted Jiang Yuan in Indonesian. "I am... uh, we¡¯ve already arrested the perpetrator of the port violence murder case," Ni Cha hesitated for a moment, not quite sure what to say. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, "I¡¯ve heard about it." "Um... I¡¯m very thankful to Mr. Jiang Yuan..." "The murder weapon used on the rooftop, was it found?" Jiang Yuan had no intention of exchanging pleasantries. Ni Cha was stunned. Wasn¡¯t this the case that Zhong Renlong had just called about? He had been busy with a violent murder case at the port and naturally couldn¡¯t organize personnel in time. Was Jiang Yuan taking special interest in this case? Zhong Renlong saw what Ni Cha was thinking and hastily said, "Doctor Jiang¡¯s efficiency is exceptionally high..." "We n to start designing the scheme tomorrow morning." Ni Cha didn¡¯t have a choice; he certainly couldn¡¯t gather people in the middle of the night to search an office building. In fact, it would be difficult to start such a search the next morning. Jiang Yuan realized the differences between the two countries and thought for a moment before saying, "So, you¡¯re saying it¡¯s difficult to conduct a thorough search of the office building?" "Somepanies may be essible, but if others are too strict, or if it¡¯s argerpany, the search progress will be much slower." Ni Cha spoke honestly and then added, "The main issue is weck the necessary evidence. Without evidence linking thepany to the case, it¡¯s very difficult to obtain a search warrant. If the other party is unwilling to cooperate, we can¡¯t force a search." Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "Although I¡¯m not very familiar with yourws here, one thing you said is the reverse; only by searching as much as possible can we find the necessary evidence." "Uh?" Ni Cha frowned. "We found the perpetrator¡¯s footprints on the rooftop, so we can determine the killer¡¯s age, height, and weight. The question is, where is the killer." Jiang Yuan emphasized thest sentence, "If the killer hid the murder weapon in the public area of the office building, it suggests the killer is likely an outsider, and they may appear in the surveince footage of the building¡¯s entrances and exits... Otherwise, if the murderer stashed the weapon in a certainpany¡¯s office area, it could mean that the killer has ties to thatpany..." Ni Cha¡¯s eyes widened as he eagerly waited for Jiang Yuan to finish, then urged, "Can we really determine the killer¡¯s age, height, and weight?" "The height is about 175 centimeters, weight around 180 jin, strong, and approximately 38 years of age." Jiang Yuan provided the answer. "This..." Ni Cha almost blurted out a call to apprehend someone. But after a second thought, Ni Cha understood what Jiang Yuan meant. The key now was to pinpoint the killer¡¯s group through some solid evidence. Screening through the people in the office building based on the height, weight, and age provided by Jiang Yuan, there would likely be very few suspects. The question was, did the murderer work in that office building? Jiang Yuan intended to use the murder weapon as an anchor point to filter out the killer. Ni Cha thought it over carefully, feeling it was feasible but also fraught with difficulties. Jiang Yuan saw Ni Cha¡¯s reluctance and even understood it. After contemting briefly, Jiang Yuan said, "Alternatively, you could ask if anyone has an injured hand." "The killer has an injured hand?" Ni Cha was pleasantly surprised. "It¡¯s a possibility," Jiang Yuan said. "The skull of the corpse was entirely caved in. Such force is tremendous, so if the killer wasn¡¯t wearing gloves, the hand holding the weapon is likely to be injured." "This is good, this is good..." Ni Cha nodded repeatedly. Checking external characteristics was also simple for them. "This n could potentially miss the killer," Jiang Yuan specifically pointed out. He had not suggested this approach initially because it involved two steps of forward reasoning, specting that the killer used a rusty water pipe and didn¡¯t protect themselves, which greatly increased the chances of error in the n. However, considering the building¡¯s environment, this n might offer a better cost-benefit ratio. Chapter 889 - 827: Solving Cases on a Private Jet

Chapter 889: Chapter 827: Solving Cases on a Private Jet

The next day. Huang Qiangmin hurriedly took an early flight over. Uponnding, he didn¡¯t rest but rushed straight to the police station. Seeing Jiang Yuan and others, he let out a sigh of relief, his expression a mix of helplessness and anticipation as he asked, "Have you solved two murder cases?" "Almost." Jiang Yuan handed Huang Qiangmin a teacup, poured him some tea, and said, "We are currently investigating the third case, a rooftop murder. Surveince is sparse here in Dama, and our search and screening are restricted, which is giving us a bit of trouble." The weather in Dama was scorching, and Jiang Yuan spent half his day drinking tea. Huang Qiangmin had a lot on his mind, but after seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, he couldn¡¯t hold back. He took a couple of sips of tea to gather his thoughts and then said, "You came here to help with the investigations, but you need to abide by some basicws. How can you handle two murder cases in one day? What¡¯s the status of this third case? Any leads?" Cui Xiaohu coughed twice from the side, "More than leads, we even have the perpetrator¡¯s height, weight, and age." "Footprints left at the scene? The criminal standards in Dama aren¡¯t up to par," Huang Qiangmin knew instantly what methods Jiang Yuan had employed. He wouldn¡¯t know how, but he understood. Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "There¡¯s a lot of evidence, but it¡¯s also hard to investigate because the case happened 10 days ago. In an ideal situation, we¡¯d survey the entire building and the surrounding ones, check the building¡¯s entrance and exit surveince videos, and if we were thorough, go through the vehicles that entered and left that day. That would generally be enough, but right now, they only have surveince footage." "That¡¯s plenty to work with, the rest is up to their skill. They need to do their own homework beforehand and review afterwards. We can¡¯t spoon-feed them everything; they aren¡¯t elementary students," Huang Qiangmincked that level of sympathy, especially when a super agricultural reaper like Jiang Yuan was dyed by the crime levels in the vige. Jiang Yuan spread his hands, "In theory, we could still examine the crime scene again. The rooftop has been sealed, and presumably, no one has gone up since. If we look carefully, maybe we could find something else. However, even if we find DNA or fingerprint evidence, it might not conclusively identify the culprit, whichplicates matters..." "We¡¯re no longer just handing things over," Huang Qiangmin curled his lip, "Letting them put in some effort isn¡¯t bad. Okay, I¡¯m going to talk to Ni Cha. Officer Chu, shall we go together?" Chu Guanliang was the liaison officer at the embassy, precisely handling these matters. Of course, his most frequent discussions were about police cooperation between countries, mostly capturing suspects for each other, sharing intelligence, and more. Police officers like Jiang Yuan working abroad were lessmon. For Chu Guanliang, having a police officer like Jiang Yuan in a foreign country greatly enhanced his sense of honor. After hearing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call, he followed eagerly. In just half an hour, Huang Qiangmin and Chu Guanliang returned chatting andughing. Wang Chuanxing, seeing their mood, couldn¡¯t help but smile and asked in a low voice, "Did you find something?" Huang Qiangmin came over smiling, "I had a brief phone conference with Ni Cha and his leaders, their chief and local councilor. Mainly we all just talked, and the Dama side praised the immense help from our side." "That¡¯s for sure, two-and-a-half murder cases already," Cui Xiaohu, although from the Ministry, became more polite upon seeing Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin smiled and nodded, "Speaking of two-and-a-half murder cases, the other half case, I discussed it with my colleagues¡ªwell, peers¡ªfrom the Dama side. I can understand some of their issues. Compared to us, the Dama Police Station indeed faces more constraints, and though they have more resources than our county and city police stations, for such a big city, they are indeed stretched thin." Wang Chuanxing and the others disyed calm smiles. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, "Actually, from this angle, the Dama side really needs someone like Jiang Yuan, who is skillful and experienced." "Who wouldn¡¯t want that..." Cui Xiaohu genuinely cheered. Huang Qiangmin nodded, smiling, "They said they¡¯d send a banner of appreciation, officially send a letter of thanks, and there¡¯s even a TV programing to interview. Everyone can cooperate with that too¡ªit¡¯ll be good publicity when we return home." Cui Xiaohu clicked his tongue, "The Dama Police Station finally knows the score. Right, it benefits them without much cost, and our advantages are not few either..." Bringing honor to the country truly merited awards and des. For ordinary police officers, such standards could sustain them for a lifetime. Huang Qiangmin concluded, "So, as I mentioned, we promote mutual benefit; I also told them Jiang Yuan could revisit the scene. If he can find something, it might reduce some of their pressure." Looking at photos is never the same as being on the scene. Jiang Yuan had no objections and stood up, "Then let¡¯s go. Visiting the scene might even save timepared to reviewing the files." That wasn¡¯t a joke. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical expertise in crime scene investigation, normal police stations, even those with specialists, would likely not be asprehensive. Wang Chuanxing and the others hurried to follow Jiang Yuan and also went to call Zhong Renlong. Cui Xiaohu leaned closer to Chu Guanliang and whispered, "Huang probably wouldn¡¯t be so easygoing, would he, to reciprocate kindness like that... It¡¯s more like the other party is throwing themselves at him..." "Yeah," Chu Guanliang responded quietly. "Huang said everyone loves durian and hopes to bring some back, then he suggested that after solving this case, he wants to go back to his home country to rest." Cui Xiaohu frowned. "Is he talking about how to deal with their customs? You can¡¯t get past our own customs either." "We find a freight forwarder and take the proper shipping channels, just change it from sea freight to air freight, specifically using a cargo ne," Chu Guanliang paused, then added, "The durians will also be of a better selection, Ni Cha found a major local dealer in Dama." "I was saying, there¡¯s no way Huang woulde back empty-handed," Cui Xiaohu remarked. Chu Guanliang hesitated. "Anything else?" Cui Xiaohu sensed there was more. "Yes, after this case is solved, if there are further exchanges in the future, the Dama Police Force will provide a government jet for Jiang Yuan." Cui Xiaohu raised an eyebrow. "Flying on a private jet to solve cases? Even the FBI aren¡¯t that luxurious." "It¡¯s a chartered government jet, not always on standby." "That¡¯s still incredibly expensive, it must cost millions per trip." Chu Guanliang tilted his head, saying, "The Dama Police Station is willing to pay the money, which actually tells us something, doesn¡¯t it?" Cui Xiaohu was startled, now understanding why Chu Guanliang had exined it to him in such detail. This story, told in Ningtai County or Qinghe City, would be uninteresting because Jiang Yuan already received the highest privileges there. But if he took this story back to the Ministry, it wouldn¡¯t take an afternoon before all the leaders would remember Jiang Yuan¡¯s name. And indeed, Cui Xiaohu himself really needed to go back and tell this story properly. Dying wouldn¡¯t be appropriate. "Huang is killing three birds with one stone," Cui Xiaohu looked at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s figure. In the past, this man might have just been an ordinary captain of a county criminal police team. Who would have thought that a simple opportunity would make him shine so brightly? ... Zhong Renlong led Jiang Yuan and others up to the scene of the "Rooftop Murder" case: the rooftop. This was a 24-story office building constructed in the 1990s, from the same era as Dama¡¯s iconic Twin Towers. In that fiery era of the Asian tigers, this 24-story office building was also built impressively, with a broad footprint, and numerous and reasonably arranged rooftop facilities. However, after so many years, the wear on the rooftop was visible to the naked eye, and fewer people came up. Most preferred to take the elevator down to nearbymercial establishments to rx, so when the police sealed the rooftop, there were not many who minded. Jiang Yuan quietly walked a full circle following the path. While looking at photographs, he had already simted a full panoramic view of the scene in his mind. Now, seeing it in person, he made corrections while surveying. Ni Cha and others stood on the outer ring, watching Jiang Yuan¡¯d seemingly tedious actions but not daring to leave. Just as someone sneakily took out a mobile phone, pondering whether to lose money today on the stock market, the lottery, financial investments, or gambling, Jiang Yuan waved over the police photographer. "This footprint wasn¡¯t here before, was it? Make sure to capture the whole scene," Jiang Yuan instructed the photographer. The photographer, who also served as a video cameraman from the local TV station, had started his routine work. The photographer, working part-time in criminal investigation, "clicked" a few photos and said, "This footprint looks simr to the one next to it." "Because they¡¯re from the same person, just at different times," Jiang Yuan said. The photographer was somewhat surprised. "Isn¡¯t the one next to it the killer¡¯s footprint?" "That¡¯s right," Jiang Yuan looked up at the photographer. "The killer came back to the scene, which actually isn¡¯t odd, right?" Chapter 890 - 828 Desperate for Fame

Chapter 890: Chapter 828 Desperate for Fame

Jiang Yuan spoke to the police department¡¯s photographer in Indonesian. The television station¡¯s cameraman, who had been listlessly filming material, considered this task to be more like political shooting, where avoiding mistakes was all that mattered. However, when Jiang Yuan uttered the phrase "the suspect¡¯s return to the scene of the crime," the volcano named viewership ratings within the cameraman¡¯s heart instantly erupted. Snap, snap, snap... The pieces of equipment on the cameraman jangled as his camera lens steadily focused on Jiang Yuan and the area he was pointing to. "The suspect¡¯s return to the scene of the crime" was far too provocative for the audience¡¯s imagination. Even the cameraman himself felt a shiver run down his spine. He could imagine the kind of feedback such a topic would generate when broadcasted on television. Footprints don¡¯t run away. The cameraman adjusted the focus to fill the viewfinder with Jiang Yuan¡¯s face before pulling back to adequately capture the shoe prints on the ground. Upon closer examination, it was evident that while the shoe sizes of the prints were consistent, the tread patterns were distinctly different. Unable to contain his curiosity, the cameraman asked, "Excuse me... I have a question. The footprints on the ground, they look like they¡¯re from two different pairs of shoes, right? How can you tell they¡¯re made by the same person?" He regretted not bringing an on-site host that day, as asking the questions himself made the inquiry seem less professional. But after asking, he felt a tinge of pride¡ªweren¡¯t many celebrities known for such beginnings? At that moment, Jiang Yuan replied, "Although they are footprints from two types of shoes, a person¡¯s footprints are unique. I¡¯m referring to footprints from around the same period. In fact, even if they change over time with age, it¡¯s still possible to determine if they¡¯re from the same person." Facing the camera, Jiang Yuan¡¯s response was a bit moreplex for the sake of rity and precision. After mulling it over, the cameraman Pan Jibu quickly followed up, "I¡¯m the cameraman, Pan Jibu. Could you exin in detail for our audience?" Realizing the importance, he promptly introduced himself. "It¡¯s quiteplicated to exin," Jiang Yuan looked around. "No worries, we can edit this part in post-production," Pan Jibu hastily said. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Just wait a moment, let meplete the inspection first, then I¡¯ll exin." Judging a person¡¯s height, age, and weight based on footprints isn¡¯t a technique exclusive to China. However, Chinese criminal investigators hold a superior standard in this field globally. Other countries not onlyck such skills but also don¡¯t provide adequate legalpensation. In fact, most technical expertise that relies on subjective judgment is usually disregarded in the judicial systems of Europe and America due to differences in legal principles and aspirations. Chinese justice seeks the truth of facts, whereas the American justice system emphasizes procedural fairness. The principle of the Chinese criminal procedure is "facts as the basis,w as the criterion." That doesn¡¯t mean procedural fairness is irrelevant in Chinese justice¡ªit just means that procedural fairness must yield to factual uracy. This perspective makes it easier to understand domestic judicial trials in China. As for discerning the truth, that is a job of another dimension and can be considered one of the origins of the earlier, investigation-centered philosophy. In European and American film and television, most heroic characters are based on factual evidence; if you killed my daughter, that¡¯s an objective fact. One cannot be exonerated just because evidence is dismissed due to the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine or any other conceived reasons to uphold thew or social stability. Pan Jibu found the ability to identify a person through their footprints fascinating and quickly followed Jiang Yuan, only to be pulled back by Wang Chuanxing who controlled his movement range. After walking around the rooftop, Jiang Yuan beckoned the police photographer toe over for pictures. "What is this?" asked Pan Jibu, naturally following along. "The suspect lingered here after leaving a second set of footprints," Jiang Yuan exined. "If you look at the footprints again, you¡¯ll see they start to disappear from this point, probably crossed over that pipe, and moved forward along this thick pipeline"¡ªhe referred to a thick venttion pipe, an old-style structure where a person could easily walk. Once the photographer finished taking pictures, Jiang Yuan climbed up to look and, as expected, found no further footprints. In Dama, rain was abundant, and although there had been little rain in the past few days, the pipe was clean from being washed by rainwater. Its metallic surface didn¡¯t retainplete footprints. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t concern himself with these details. Pointing ahead and then behind, he said, "Let¡¯s look along the pipe, in both directions. The suspect came here twice; there must have been a reason." As he himself stood on the pipe and looked around, he saw nothing but themon urbanndscape, making it difficult to guess why the suspect had been there. Two detectives climbed over the pipe, exploring in both directions. The thick pipe on one side prated into the building near its edge, while the other side extended to the area where equipment was clustered. The television cameraman, Pan Jibu, hurried over and looked up to film the actions of the detectives on both sides, feeling that the scene was incredibly striking. At this moment, Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to address the previous question, saying, "The identification and analysis of footprints have actually be a very mature method of identification, which we call Footprint Identification. First and foremost, the most important part of a footprint isn¡¯t the shoe print, but the size of the footprint, the pressure, and especially the variation in gait. Through preliminary examination, we can use this to determine the person¡¯s age, height, stature, and even their upation..." "Can you tell a person¡¯s age from their footprints?" Pan Jibu immediately questioned, looking down and asking, "Can you tell my age?" "41 years old," Jiang Yuan answered after only a nce. Pan Jibu was startled, "Do you know me?" "No, I don¡¯t." "Then, can you tell me my height?" "Your actual height is 167 centimeters, with 5 centimeters of height from internal shoe lifts, that makes it 172 centimeters?" Jiang Yuan paused, not waiting for him to continue questioning, and added, "Your weight should be around 65 kilograms, the camera weighs about 1 kilogram, and the weight of the essories inside your vest must be around three or four kilograms." "Just... you can see all that from looking? And you can even tell the weight of the camera?" Pan Jibu had thought Jiang Yuan would have to undertake some process to figure it out but was surprised that it really was just a nce. "It¡¯s not easy to tell with the camera usually, but you¡¯re right in front of me, and you¡¯ve left many traces," Jiang Yuan exined briefly. His Footprint Analysis skills were at Level 5, and it wouldn¡¯t be fair to let people think this was standard. But for someone outside the loop like Pan Jibu, standards weren¡¯t important. What mattered more was the chilling sense of awe he felt toward the police, or rather, the capabilities that Jiang Yuan possessed. "Doesn¡¯t this mean that anyone in front of you can¡¯t hide their age?" Pan Jibu couldn¡¯t help but ask. Jiang Yuan had wanted to say that metal floors or normal shiny floors wouldn¡¯t retain footprints, but upon reconsideration, since Pan Jibu was referring to someone right in front of him, their gait would indeed be visible. If the gait is visible, then age naturally bes the most basic conclusion. Therefore, Jiang Yuan naturally nodded in agreement. Pan Jibu gasped, "In that case, you¡¯re like a killer of female celebrities!" It had to be said that the thought process of someone in the arts could really be varied and unpredictable, like a malfunctioning circuit board, where the normal logic processing unit seems to run its course. Even Jiang Yuan was momentarily unable to follow Pan Jibu¡¯s train of thought. "I¡¯ve found blood!" A detective who had crawled forward along the pipe for over a hundred meters suddenly shouted, pointing at a piece of metal equipment ahead. Ni Cha and the others hastened into action. To a detective, a bloodstain was a very important sign, as it¡¯s not something that would casually appear somewhere, let alone at a crime scene. Several senior officers also climbed into the pipe without regard for the effort involved. Jiang Yuan and the cameraman and others did the same. The pipe¡¯s load capacity was limited, and the individuals climbed up in turns, arriving only to see a stter of blood. "Look around here," urged Ni Cha, clearly not content with the find. Jiang Yuan stood up to look, then pointed to the right, saying, "This bloodstain was flung out, search over there." Two detectives went as told and soon shouted excitedly, "The murder weapon! We¡¯ve found the murder weapon!" Cameraman Pan Jibu grasped his camera steadily, walking along the pipe as if tightrope walking, both stable and dangerous, his heart pounding with excitement as if it were his first time chasing stars. This material turned in is going to be hot! Chapter 891 - 829: Studio

Chapter 891: Chapter 829: Studio

The murder weapon was discovered, and the case suddenly became clear. Just as Jiang Yuan had expected, the weapon bore both the victim¡¯s blood and bloodstains that seemed to belong to the bumpy, rusted areas that pricked the murderer¡ªthese two types of bloodstains exhibit different characteristics, which an experienced trace examiner could discern. Furthermore, the murderer¡¯s fingerprints were also found on the weapon. They weren¡¯t particrly clear, but for a murder case, it was like dozing off and being kissed by a beauty. Without needing further instruction from Jiang Yuan, people like Ni Cha, who were also familiar with Sherlock Holmes, immediately had the suspects from the building brought to the police station. The victim worked at that office building, and now the weapon had been found on the roof, with signs that the murderer had returned a second time, clearly contemting whether to dispose of the weapon again. Given these known circumstances, it was highly likely that the murderer worked in the same office building. Of course, it was possible that they did not, but with current evidence, initiating an investigation on the suspects within the office building was fully justified. Ni Cha and others were not eager to make immediate arrests. They first identified the males who matched the height, age, and weight, totaling just over a dozen after broadening the search criteria. Then, officers politely showed their badges and invited them to assist with the investigation at the station, only forcibly arresting those who were unwilling to go. In terms of their approach, the Dama Police Force was not all gentle and faithful. Previously, they simply didn¡¯t want to stir controversy over a clue in a case. Once the target area was narrowed and evidence secured, it was of no concern even if they had to bring back many more people. Upon arrival at the station, everyone was fingerprinted, followed by DNA collection. Fingerprintparisons could be made immediately, and blood DNA results were incredibly fast, with oues avable within two to three hours. Therefore, most of the suspects brought in were only briefly questioned before being released, leaving only the murderer who thought they were just one among many. TV cameraman Pan Jibu was ceaselessly filming, as if he wished he could y multiple roles at once. Ni Cha and the others were quite amodating. They were willing to meet Huang Qiangmin¡¯s requests because Jiang Yuan could genuinely reduce their workload and increase their case-solving rate. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficiency of solving three cases in two days, no police cars or helicopters couldpare. And if Jiang Yuan¡¯s fame increased, naturally, it would be easier to justify the funding. Meanwhile, the TV station was quite fond of Pan Jibu¡¯s footage. Nowadays, countries around the world are paying unprecedented attention to their justice systems, with nearly every nation having annual public debates about judicial cases. The famous O.J. Simpson trial, for instance, spurred a global discussion. Dama faced a simr situation; the previous "Inte Celebrity Murder Case" showed a trend of national interest, but due to the rapid resolution, itcked explosive media moments. This time, the "tform Violence Murder Case"... of course, the tform was quitemon, as was the violence, but doesn¡¯t ordinary mean that ordinary people could also encounter the same fate? With this mindset, the TV station worked overnight to edit the footage, and it was broadcast the next day. The viewership ratings were unexpectedly high. The TV station immediately contacted the chief and members of the Ministry. Previously, the TV station had sent a cameraman to follow Jiang Yuan out of respect for the bureau chief and the councilor. Now that the TV station had made a request, naturally, the bureau chief and the councilor could not refuse and had to consult with Huang Qiangmin. After a friendly exchange, Jiang Yuan was taken by Huang Qiangmin to the TV studio, ready to participate in a... variety show. "Our program will be broadcast on multiple TV stationster on. Of course, we mainly provide shows for TV stations under the Astro umbre..." said the program¡¯s assistant director, in a rxed manner, to Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin, Chu Guanliang, Ni Cha, and Zhong Renlong. The media and the police have one thing inmon: everyone is strong and dominant in their own territory, and when they step out of it, they appear weak and vulnerable. Zhong Renlong asked several details on behalf of Jiang Yuan, who listened quietly by the side. It wasmon for the Dama TV stations to invite police officers onto their shows, and they had developed a mature routine. Now, they mostly needed to exin things to Jiang Yuan. In fact, police officers participating in TV shows is quitemon worldwide, which goes hand in hand with the public¡¯s interest in judicial cases. The fame of forensic experts like Li Changyu has spread far and wide, mostly due to media promotion. The Dama show¡¯s crew also had expectations for Jiang Yuan; both the "Inte Celebrity Murder Case" and the "Rooftop Vignte Killing Case" were high-profile social cases recently, and the investigation process was considered thrilling. Jiang Yuan, as the leader in both cases, inherently had his own poprity. Besides, Jiang Yuan¡¯s identity as a forensic doctor, especially his demonstrated ability in Footprint Identification during this case, was a direct motivating factor. The assistant director mentioned a few precautions and finally reminded, "When you go on stageter, we will ask a celebrity to walk through a sandpit. Then, your main task is to determine the celebrity¡¯s age, height, and weight. We might intentionally create obstacles during this segment; how far do you think you can go?" "If the sandpit is real, there should basically be no problem," Jiang Yuan thought, the footprints seen at crime scenes never had conditions like a sandpit. The assistant director might not understand this, but still solemnly reminded, "If you need us to provide any information, you can also bring it up. Although our program is not live, we edit very quickly. What we shoot today will be broadcast tomorrow; there¡¯s not much time for retakes." "Just walk a few more steps in the sandpit," Jiang Yuan made a modest request. It is best to observe more than two steps to discern a person¡¯s gait. Naturally, more steps would increase uracy, but in most cases, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need that much. The assistant director nodded and made a note. At this moment, the cameraman Pan Jibu hurried over, nced at the assistant director, then greeted Jiang Yuan, saying, "Officer Jiang, don¡¯t let your guard down too much. Once the program starts, don¡¯t trust the guests too much. Neither men nor women. Because what you¡¯re assessing is their height, weight, and age, which are things they care a lot about, they might not follow instructions." "Understood," Jiang Yuan nodded. "It might also offend some people," Pan Jibu added as a further reminder. "Understood," Jiang Yuan exchanged nces with Huang Qiangmin and looked over at Cui Xiaohu and Chu Guanliang beside him. Their trip was officially sanctioned, escting from local authorities to the Ministry to the embassy, all through official channels, plus there wereyers of approvals and signatures for participating in a foreign TV show. If they were to offend anyone, foreign local celebrities were the least of their worries. "Alright, let¡¯s start then. Let¡¯s do some makeup first; I¡¯ll find you an appropriate outfit since you¡¯re quite tall." The assistant director looked up at Jiang Yuan, took a couple of steps back to check his height, and then sent a message to a colleague. "I¡¯ve brought a few suits myself; you can pick and choose as well," said Jiang Yuan, whose physique was far above average. Although the TV station had plenty ofrge-size clothing, nothing would fit better than what he had tailor-made. The assistant director hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Let¡¯s try them on in a bit." Jiang Yuan then handed over the Lange watch he had just bought to Huang Qiangmin. A chill ran through the assistant director¡¯s heart. He may not recognize the Lange brand, but the loud, yellow and red transparent case back was desperately conveying a message to him: This man could be very formidable! Chapter 892 - 830 Program

Chapter 892: Chapter 830 Program

The makeup artist casually applied makeup on Jiang Yuan, tidied up his hair a bit, checked his clothes, rolled up a small bee microphone from inside his clothes, and clipped it on him as he stood on a stool. Done with that, the makeup artist looked up at Jiang Yuan¡¯s shoulders and said, "Being this tall, it would be tough to be a celebrity." "Why?" Jiang Yuan asked, purely out of curiosity for knowledge. "If they cast other people with you, they¡¯ll be unhappy because if you share the stage with them, it would make everyone else look short. Look at Tom Cruise, and Kimura Takuya, the actors cast with them, unless they are special types, can¡¯t be too tall... By the way, can you tell how tall they are?" The gossip heart of a makeup artist is stronger. "My criteria for judging height is mainly based on footprints and bones, I haven¡¯t really looked at their footprints carefully." Jiang Yuan recalled that since he gained his skills, he has been busy solving cases and rarely watched movies anymore. The makeup artist felt a moment of regret and casually asked, "Bones? How do you look at bones?" Jiang Yuan casually answered, "Generally, to look at bones, you put the corpse into a pot of hot water, boil it until the bones detach, scoop them out to dry, then weigh them, measure length, width, and other key indicators, then use regression equations..." With a smile, the makeup artist sent Jiang Yuan out of the makeup room and immediately locked the door as soon as it closed. Studio. A space of several hundred square meters, most of which was upied by equipment and staff. The central area was lit up brightly, highlighting each detail of the 12 celebrity guests. Today, the program being recorded was a talk show interview called "M¡¯s Show," hosted by Dama¡¯s top host, M. It invited second-tier actors from a currently-showing movie for promotional purposes, so everyone had their needs met, and chatting and ying games was quite enjoyable. Jiang Yuan was part of the game, quietly waiting off-stage, in no rush. He had no expectations or illusions about the entertainment industry; he didn¡¯t recognize most of the domestic popr celebrities thoroughly, let alone know any of Dama¡¯s local second-tier celebrities. So, listening to their awkward chats was quite calming to him. After a while, a staff member came over and signaled that Jiang Yuan could go on stage. Jiang Yuan then followed him to the side of the stage, where another staff member stopped him, tapped their earpiece to indicate they were waiting formands. TV station¡¯s program teams are all operated in such a foolproof manner, ensuring every step is controble. Simply put, it¡¯s to avoid confusing those with less rity of mind, which could affect filming. And indeed, the necessity of doing so has been proven as sometimes additional staff are required to manage the overwhelming number. "Next, we¡¯re going to y a little game. Bino, you have been caught wearing height-increasing shoes before. Are you wearing them today?" M started with a younger actor, setting up for the rest of the show. He is a top host, and while he couldn¡¯t sacrifice all the actors in this movie crew, picking a few was not a problem. The show needs to have exciting highlights to continue thriving. Bino is just under 180cm tall and often likes small tricks; it wasn¡¯t his first or second time being exposed. Now hearing M say this, Bino secretly felt rmed but replied calmly, "Today I¡¯m wearing normal shoes. The height-increasing shoes were just a random pair I grabbed from my shoe closet, just happened to have a thicker sole." "Haha, I was just waiting for you to say that, okay, next, we¡¯re going to check." M giggled pulling Bino along. "What are you going to do?" Bino resisted mockingly a couple of times, just for show, like M thought, he wasn¡¯t opposed to being sacrificed, being a little celebrity himself, bing a highlight of the show wouldn¡¯t hurt his already imperfect persona much. "What do you think?" M giggled. "If you really need me to take off my shoes, I hope someone gentle helps me..." Bino sought to add a sense of variety show style. M cooperated with augh and said, "You guessed wrong, we don¡¯t need you to take off your shoes this time,e on, bring in the props..." While speaking, several staff dragged an air cushion as big as two beds to the center of the stage. The middle of the air cushion was filled with sand, quite thick. The program team had also had Jiang Yuan test this before, and they were also afraid of Jiang Yuan failing¡ªthe tricks like the thickness of the sand that ordinary people wouldn¡¯t care about, but could cheat, were all maxed out by them. Bino looked at the sand in the middle of the venue, puzzled, and whispered, "You guys aren¡¯t going to use some brutal method to interrogate me, are you?" "It¡¯s much simpler than that. Next, I want you to walk from one end of the sand to the other," M instructed Bino. Bino hesitated and walked to the edge of the sandpit: "Should I take off my shoes?" "No need." M signaled Bino to start walking and continued, "I¡¯m sure everyone, like Bino, has many questions they want to ask. Let¡¯s unveil the mystery. Today, we have specially invited a forensic expert from China, Officer Jiang Yuan. Officer Jiang Yuan was the chief forensic officer in the recent high-profile murder case of the inte celebrity Mrs. Aziza, as well as the rooftop homicide case..." After M finished introducing, Bino had also walked across the sandpit, leaving a trail of footprints. "Counting down three, two, one." The staff signaled to Jiang Yuan and stretched out three fingers, counting down the time backward. As soon as he finished counting, Jiang Yuan stepped onto the stage. "Wee Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan..." M pped her hands and then said in an interview style, "Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, I heard you can determine a person¡¯s height by looking at their footprints, and ording to this you have solved many famous cases, including the recent inte celebrity murder case and the rooftop murder case in Dama, is that correct?" "Yes," Jiang Yuan nodded. "Could you tell us about it?" Jiang Yuan, not shy at all, was here to participate in the show with no particr desire, and simply out of cooperation, he casually said, "Well, the core is to determine their height and weight based on the center of gravity of the footprint, walking pattern, etc." "That sounds very impressive. And you speak My very well, Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, did you study it specifically?" M interrupted Jiang Yuan, starting a new topic. Jiang Yuan naturally followed the host¡¯s lead and said a fewplimentary words. The audience below apuded. "M¡¯s Show" invited a small number of fans as the audience for the atmosphere, but no photography or filming was allowed. The actors present were also curious looking at Jiang Yuan. M prepared a bit and asked, "Jiang Yuan, shall we do a test first? Regarding the sandpit in front of us, can you determine the height of the person who made these footprints? OK, let¡¯s give Jiang Yuan some time..." "176 centimeters." Jiang Yuan answered without hesitation. "That was quick?" M looked at Jiang Yuan somewhat surprised. "Yes." Jiang Yuan smiled. This difficulty was too low for him, even Level 1 Skills in Footprint Identification were enough. Due to the show, he didn¡¯t even report the shoe height. Although M didn¡¯t understand the technical details, he was highly skilled in controlling the show and began by smiling at the camera, "Let me rify, we did not tell Jiang Yuan the answer in advance. So... Bino, is Jiang Yuan correct?" Bino had figured it out already, rxed now, and said, "176 is my barefoot height, I really haven¡¯t told anyone." "Shush..." The audience booed. "No worries, we can do another test." M shifted the focus back to Jiang Yuan, extending his hand and smiling, "How about we invite a few audience members toe up for a test?" The fans in the audience quickly became excited. This was considered an interesting interaction. M turned her head to look at Jiang Yuan, pretending to ask, "Mr. Jiang Yuan, no problem, right?" "No problem," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Chapter 893 - 831: Gift a Criminal Package

Chapter 893: Chapter 831: Gift a Criminal Package

Variety show audiences are limited, and those who are willing to participate are either die-hard fans of the stars, die-hard fans of the variety shows, or individuals with an ESFP personality who enjoy performing. As soon as M finished speaking, almost all the audience members raised their hands. "I will choose a few people. Mr. Jiang, how many people should be chosen?" M also wanted Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan to rx, so she continued, "When you solve cases usually, how many criminals do you hope to deal with?" Inappropriate parts can always be edited out by Mter, so it¡¯s better to chat more and rely on editing to create effects. Jiang Yuan followed M¡¯s words, pondered for a moment, and said, "If we do not consider the victim¡¯s psychological and other factors, the more people involved in the case, the better. Keeping it a secret is almost impossible, the more people who know, the more likely the leak, which can cause some cases to internally crumble." "There would be people who could escape if there are too many criminals." "Possibly, but as long as the criminals¡¯ information is confirmed, there will eventually be a chance to capture them back." Jiang Yuan casually informed, "Many criminals are extremely scared when they flee, some cannot withstand the psychological pressure and might even turn themselves in." "This happens as well... Alright, our editors have chosen the volunteers from the audience now. Since Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan is so confident, we have decided to increase the number of people from originally three to six." The audience below gave a friendly burst ofughter. A few audience members came on stage, and under the direction of the staff, lined up and then one by one moved through the sandpit. The first five walked forward as normal, but thest one suddenly jumped to the side and then ran outughing. Consequently, their footprints got a bit mixed with those in front, and the kicked-up sand covered the previous footprints. M frowned upon seeing this, this segment was intended to sacrifice a couple of people for a dramatic effect; if Jiang Yuan¡¯s value got diminished, the whole segment would lose its meaning. "Officer Jiang Yuan, could this increase in difficulty pose a problem?" M was ready, worst case, they¡¯d just delete the entire segment and restart with a new batch of audience. Jiang Yuan smiled and shook his head, "No problem." "Officer Jiang Yuan, this is not a real crime scene after all, you could ask for the difficulty to be reduced," M reminded Jiang Yuan with a smile. "Hmm... actually, the difficulty is already quite low. At a real crime scene, criminals wouldn¡¯t line up so neatly." Jiang Yuan spoke honestly, a little mixing of footprints was nothing; at crime scenes, footprints are never orderly, some criminals skilled in counter-surveince even try to erase their tracks, sometimes even half a footprint or a third of a footprint is incredibly valuable. "It seems like Officer Jiang is very confident, shall we start?" M briefly introduced Jiang Yuan just to prove the authenticity of the game, but essentially still treated him as a tool. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "I will start from the left. 173, 156, around 164 give or take a centimeter, this person should be wearing height-increasing shoes, the center of gravity is a bit too high, there¡¯s a 6 cm increase, the fourth person is 157 cm, with height-increasing shoes of 5 cm. The fifth person is 181 cm, also with 5 cm height-increasing shoes, the sixth person, around 149 cm, with 7 cm height-increasing shoes." "So, the audience member who ran and jumped, had the highest height-increasing shoes," a celebrity guest chuckled amidst themotion, tasteless but funny. M then nced at the note in her hand and sneered, "It seems that not only celebrities wear height-increasing shoes, but ordinary people do too. Alright, let¡¯s ask a few audience members to step onto the device." These were agreed upon beforehand, amidst faint resistance and screams, all six audience members were escorted to the electronic height measurement device. "173 cm!" "156 cm!" "163 cm!" The height measurement device called out one by one, aligning precisely with the heights given by Jiang Yuan. The audience generously gave apuse. M couldn¡¯t help but admire Jiang Yuan more, and during a break in hosting duties, turned off the microphone and quietly asked the editor behind her, "Did you give him the answers beforehand?" "We didn¡¯t measure the audience¡¯s height either." The editor answered bluntly, "It must be his own observation. The techniques used by police in solving cases must be pretty impressive." The nearby assistant added, "Not just impressive. Forget the footprints; even looking at real people, I can¡¯t tell their height, let alone if they¡¯re wearing height-increasing shoes and figuring out how much¡ªhow on earth to see that? If he teaches this skill, I think a lot of people would be interested." "Good, that¡¯s an interesting point." M quickly noted down a few things, then got onstage and started asking Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan casually responded with a few key points on Footprint Identification, eliciting a wave of gasps. These were all public knowledge, avable to anyone interested in learning, but, like poisonous free stuff, it is often shied away from. The audience, naturally, just heard it and let it pass, at most thinking to themselves: When Imit a murder, I really have to avoid leaving any footprints. The traces at a crime scene are not left behind just due to the criminal¡¯s carelessness. Just like those children who, due to carelessness, score 80 percent but only understand when they genuinely try for a hundred percent that carelessness is merely a benign embellishment. M swiftly asked a few questions, then turned her gaze back to the star guests present, sneering, "Now, it¡¯s your turn." "We¡¯re not afraid." Speaking was the movie actress Roxanne, a box office draw and popr figure, ranked as a high-second-tier celebrity in Dama Country, known for her significant public appeal and good looks, a beautiful woman with a strong physique. Roxanne, who had been famous for many years, spoke quite freely, known in the industry for being outspoken, and at this moment, she spoke in her usual breezy way. M smiled slightly and said, "Then please go ahead." "I don¡¯t need shoes." Roxanne took off her high heels and boldly stepped into the sandpit. The sandpit had just been swept clean, erasing all previous impressions. She was quite tall to begin with; it seemed she truly hadn¡¯t falsified her height. Following her lead, the others could only rush headlong into the sandpit. With 12 people rushing in together, it might be possible for someone to sneak by amidst the chaos... The surrounding stands erupted in cheers, with fans praising the bravery of the celebrities, some purely enjoying the spectacle. After everyone, including M, had run their course, it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s turn. M added, "Actually, I forgot to mention, a forensic doctor can deduce not only height and weight from footprints but also age, right, Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan?" "Indeed, that¡¯s possible." Jiang Yuan nodded. Upon hearing this, Roxanne, who had just put her high heels back on, visibly stiffened. Among female celebrities, she was ate bloomer and had never publicly disclosed her age¡ªalthough in this era, many people don¡¯t have strict demands regarding celebrities¡¯ ages, it was impossible to say it didn¡¯t matter at all. M smirked triumphantly, foreseeing lots of news stories breaking that evening. Roxanne¡¯s starring movie would probably use this as a chance for promotion. As for whether Roxanne herself was happy, in the entertainment industry, happiness is secondary. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan was handed a whiteboard with the names of the 12 guests on the left, and a marker from the staff to write down his estimations of everyone¡¯s height and weight. Turning his head to take a look, Jiang Yuan began writing numbers on the whiteboard; a few celebrities started to kick up a fuss half-jokingly, half-terrified. Elsewhere, the male and female leads of the movie gathered with another supporting actor, their expressions quite unhappy. Whether these figures of height, weight, and age were leaked to increase their own poprity, the film¡¯s promotion, or the show¡¯s hype, it all made a difference. When Jiang Yuan looked back at the sandpit, he caught the threesome¡¯s eye. Having been a police officer for so long, he was well-versed in reading people¡¯s expressions, and these individuals clearly showed resistance. "Do you not want your height and age disclosed?" Jiang Yuan asked, ignoring where the cameras were pointing. "Of course, who would want that?" The celebrity guest nced at the camera quickly and responded. "I thought you had previously discussed this with the production team. If you¡¯re sure you don¡¯t want it disclosed, I¡¯ll keep it to myself," Jiang Yuan said, then looked towards the others. Some audience members had volunteered earlier, and Bino knew his height would be revealed since he had walked through the sandpit. But now, Roxanne and the others clearly weren¡¯t prepared to have their ages revealed. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, the other celebrity guests couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. M quickly had the cameras turned off and approached. "Mr. Jiang Yuan, is there a problem?" M asked Jiang Yuan first. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "I see some guests clearly are unwilling to have their personal information disclosed. How about you?" He looked at the other celebrity guests. The others just smiled, showing no clear stance. Their height and age were not really explosive news, so they naturally didn¡¯t mind. "And you?" Jiang Yuan turned to Roxanne and the other two. "I don¡¯t want it," Roxanne answered directly. With her taking the lead, the other two gave the same response. They had been muttering together because they didn¡¯t want their personal information disclosed. "Then I won¡¯t reveal yours," Jiang Yuan then erased the three names from the whiteboard. M was taken aback: "That¡¯s not eptable." Without these revtions, the show would have nothing to watch. Jiang Yuan ignored him. M frowned and said, "Mr. Jiang Yuan, by doing this, you are breaching the contract. If you insist on not doing this..." "Mr. M, Mr. Jiang Yuan¡¯s stance is very clear," Ni Cha emerged from the darkness. The studio was already in chaos, but Ni Cha¡¯s menacing gaze instantly brought M to his senses. "Of course, I respect Mr. Jiang Yuan¡¯s decision," M¡¯s tone softened immediately, then he seamlessly switched to a pitiful demeanor, "But this episode willpletelyck appeal. Not only is today a waste of time, but we might also get criticized by the audience." "Maybe... I can catch a criminal for you?" Over the past two years, Jiang Yuan, flying here and there, had been making gifts of criminals, so naturally, he responded to M with such a suggestion. Chapter 894 - 832: Do It With Me

Chapter 894: Chapter 832: Do It With Me

"Our program is going to be broadcast tomorrow night. Arresting a criminal within one day? Is that even possible?" Before bing a host, M had been a journalist and knew the efficiency of the police, as well as how elusive the act of capturing someone could be. He had once covered a kidnapping case with the Dama police, filming throughout the entire process and presenting the police chief in all his imposing glory, but after the abducted child died, all the footage was shelved. So, even though Jiang Yuan had experience solving cases within a day, it didn¡¯t guarantee that he could solve a case in one day¡ªM understood Jiang Yuan more as trying to self-motivate, but he had only one day left to "eat the cake." Jiang Yuan just shook his head and said, "If you need it, it shouldn¡¯t take too long. Ni Cha, have you brought people with you?" "Ah... should I call a team over? It might take around 30 minutes." Ni Cha also wasn¡¯t sure what Jiang Yuan was nning. After all, Ni Cha hadn¡¯t seen a scene where Jiang Yuan delivered a suspect all wrapped up. Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgment and said, "It¡¯s better to have a team with you, for safety. How many police do you have in total? Do they have the ability to arrest?" The nature of being assigned to the TV station, I¡¯m not sure how it¡¯s considered in Dama. If it¡¯s seen as a cushy job, then it might be all middle-aged uncles and senior police officersing over, and relying on them to arrest people is somewhat unreliable. Of course, Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing had alsoe, but there was no need to have them arrest criminals in Dama, nor was it that urgent. Cui Xiaohu and the police liaison officer from the embassy were even less of a concern, being institutional police. It would be troublesome if they got hurt, and even more embarrassing if they let the suspect get away. Ni Cha nced at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, pulled Jiang Yuan a little further away and asked softly, "There should be seven or eight officers. Is there a fugitive on site? Should we lock down the area?" "For now, there seems to be at least one drug user and one thief. Not sure if they are fugitives," Jiang Yuan paused, then asked, "It¡¯s illegal to use drugs in Dama, right?" "Illegal," Ni Cha answered decisively, his eyes sharpening as he asked, "Which two people?" Jiang Yuan then whispered into Ni Cha¡¯s ear. Ni Cha nodded: "Got it, I¡¯ll arrange the manpower now. You go back on stage and follow M¡¯s filming." He had handled many cases before, and even if he didn¡¯t have many men under hismand, only three times the number of suspects, plus those on Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, they still only amounted to four to five times that. Nheless, Ni Cha bravely took on the responsibility and proactively took charge of the arrest. Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan back to the edge of the stage and was stopped. Mu Zhiyang silently took off his jacket, revealing the bulletproof vest and tactical vest underneath, then took out a ceramic te from his backpack and silently inserted it into the tactical vest. The TV station staff swallowed nervously, seeking help from the directors behind them. The directors all pretended not to see. Jiang Yuan returned to the stage. M cleared his throat, picked up the microphone and said, "Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, you just said you were going to catch a criminal for us, how are you nning to do that?" "I observed it on the spot just now," Jiang Yuan raised his chin a bit, "While recording earlier, I noticed a particr member of the audience and paid a bit more attention..." As Jiang Yuan spoke, the camera intentionally panned away from the stage, sweeping from the faces of Jiang Yuan and M to the faces of the audience. The audience had over a hundred members: some bewildered, some curious, some surprised, some whispering to each other, some sitting upright, others full of anticipation... Not to mention the changing emotions of the audience, M himself was getting excited. "I should rify that this is an unforeseen situation. We did not n this segment in advance, nor would we intentionally invite a suspect into the studio or stage an audience member¡¯s arrest for the sake of the show," M exined a bunch before asking, "Dr. Jiang, please continue." M covered all the bases, as the program was recorded. If Jiang Yuan¡¯s so-called "identification of a suspect" turned out to be a misunderstanding, or even more embarrassingly, a false usation against an innocent audience member, that segment could simply be cut and not broadcast. Jiang Yuan, however, was more concerned about how to safely arrest the criminal. Following M¡¯s words, he said, "Well, I¡¯d like to ask for the cooperation of the audience members present, is that okay?" Naturally, the audience responded with a chorus of agreement. Jiang Yuan took two more steps forward, looked at the audience seats, and said, "The audience in the left three rows, please stand up at mymand." About forty people in the left three rows stood up. Jiang Yuan: "Alright, the audience in the left three rows, please take two steps to the left." The audience did as instructed. "Now, follow mymand," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice slowed, "Everyone, that means everyone, raise your left hand and then stick up your thumb." The audience followed suit. M¡¯s eyes sparkled with excitement; if Jiang Yuan managed to identify the criminal through some method, the show¡¯s effect would undoubtedly be significant. While everyone pondered why Jiang Yuan was doing this, Ni Cha had already quietly approached from behind with several policemen and gave Jiang Yuan a confirming signal. Jiang Yuan checked their positions and then loudlymanded in My, "Last step, everyone together, follow my action..." Jiang Yuan also stretched out his left hand, thumbs up, then suddenly shouted while motioning, "Raise both hands high." The audience followed his motion, raising both hands in unison. Thud. Ni Cha personally led two stout policemen, mming hard into the ribs of an audience member in the fourth row. Simultaneously, two other policemen cut through the audience, pressing the male audience member to the ground and handcuffing him. The camera recorded the entire process, but everyone including the cameraman was somewhat stunned and a bit confused about the situation. Onstage. M asked in confusion, "Doctor Jiang, the movement we just did..." "Oh, the movement was just to facilitate the arrest of this suspect." Jiang Yuan paused, then exined, "I had observed earlier that this audience member¡¯s movements were uncoordinated, his eyes were bloodshot, and his behavior off, all indicating possible drug use. We had someone get closer and take a look just now and found needle marks under his arm." In the past, some veteran detectives could identify obvious drug users based on experience. Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods were slightly different, but his Level 3 in Forensic Clinical Medicine, Level 6 in forensic sketch, Level 5 in Footprint Analysis, and even Level 4 in Forensic Odontology, all helped in this regard. To be certain, Jiang Yuan also had Ni Cha send someone to check closely, and upon confirming, carried out the arrest on the spot. As the camera zoomed in, Ni Cha and others flipped the suspect over, inspecting the injection sites on the spot. Not just the audience, but the celebrity guests were also eximing in surprise. Dama has always been a disaster area for imported goods due to its long coastline and proximity to the Golden Triangle, but due to religious and cultural reasons, the locals have always strongly resisted drug use, thus the drug user exposed on the spot immediately became the target of criticism. Several audience members who knew him even eximed in disbelief, then were taken to the side to be interviewed. M seized the opportunity to ask, "Doctor Jiang, can you tell us about your judgment methods in detail? Is there something we can learn and reference?" "There are actually many methods, somemon ones include establishing a model, for a certain group of drug users, like opiate users, simr to the one we just caught, they typically have the characteristic of contracted pupils. The pupils can contract very small, if you¡¯ve seen enough of them, just by their eyes, you can tell them apart." Jiang Yuan sinctly educated the audience. From the perspective of public security, if the public can identify the physical characteristics of drug users, it would definitely help the police in managingw and order. Jiang Yuan continued to talk about methamphetamine and ketamine, then paused and said, "I see Officer Ni Cha is ready, let¡¯s catch the second one." "Um... The second one?" M, as a well-known host, felt her mind crash for a moment, then couldn¡¯t help but say, "My little TV studio actually has a second criminal?" "Criminal suspect, that¡¯s what we usually call them," Jiang Yuan rified andmanded, "Everyone in the audience, please step back two steps." Click-click. The audience members, both excited and nervous, stepped back two steps. "Photographers, please don¡¯te any closer. Spread out a bit to avoid interfering with the police operation," Jiang Yuan instructed from the stage. There were a total of four cameramen in the studio, who retreated as instructed. Thud. Ni Cha, who had already taken care of the drug user, now led two other policemen, grabbing a cameraman who was stepping back. "This..." M was utterly shocked. It was unexpected for a drug user to appear in the audience, but the cameraman now being arrested was someone he knew¡ªnot very well, but they had interacted numerous times! "Beforeing to the TV station, I happened to review the cases involving this station, and this cameraman¡¯s gait matches almost exactly with the footprints left at a recent theft case you reported," said Jiang Yuan, whose visit to the TV station was a diplomatic mission that he took very seriously. As a policeman and someone who came to "perform" Footprint Identification technique, it made perfect sense for him to review the footprints rted to the TV station¡¯s cases beforeing. Of course, this left M and the otherspletely baffled. "How does the gait match the footprint? No, wait... What do you mean by gait?" "I¡¯m very familiar with Song Lai. He¡¯s not a thief, and he has no reason to steal¡ªselling off his family¡¯s camera equipment could buy a house..." "Do you have evidence? You can¡¯t arrest someone without evidence." The studio, both onstage and off, was aplete mess, with all sorts ofments being made. M, as an experienced frontline host, felt somewhat at a loss. "How about it, this episode of the show, there should be something to see, right?" asked Jiang Yuan earnestly to M. When abroad, one must indeed show some consideration. M lifted her head slowly, smiling with great effort. Chapter 895 - 833: Picking the Big One

Chapter 895: Chapter 833: Picking the Big One

"Doctor Jiang, these cases all involve footprint evidence!" Ni Cha personally carried a file box and with a "thud," ced it on the table. After the live broadcast arrest and the experience of several murder cases, the confidence of the Dama Police Station in Jiang Yuan has reached an unprecedented level. However, their confidence in Jiang Yuan is still mostly focused on footprints and bloodstains. That¡¯s because what Jiang Yuan demonstrated in Mysia were mainly these two capabilities. His skills in areas like Forensic Anthropology, Legal Botany, and forensic sketch, though demonstrated, were not as direct. From the perspective of Ni Cha and others, naturally, they wanted to use Jiang Yuan¡¯s strongest techniques. On the other hand, there were just too many murder cases involving footprint evidence. This is actually the biggest advantage of solving cases with footprints. A person can avoid leaving fingerprints by wearing gloves and avoid leaving hair and dander by wearing a head cover, but how can onepletely eliminate footprints? With the technology avable now, even on a tile floor, a static cling film can capture a footprint much clearer than a regr photo. The Dama Police Force naturally also collects footprints. Although they collect footprints for shoe printparison, inrger cases, this step is necessary. In fact, like in our domestic cases, most of the cases in Mysia are simple and direct. Many times, the suspect is caught on the spot; a slightly moreplicated scenario is the suspect being captured nearby during an escape. In such cases,paring the suspect¡¯s footprints is often valuable. Of course, if using footprintparison, the value is even greater. After Ni Cha and others left, Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help saying: "Suddenly, I feel like we¡¯re dealing with cases overseas with an unfair advantage. The criminals here don¡¯t even know that footprints can lead to them." "Do domestic criminals know?" Wang Chuanxing asked Mu Zhiyang in return. "Umm... Don¡¯t they?" Mu Zhiyang recalled for a moment and couldn¡¯t help but say: "Before I knew Captain Jiang, it seems not many knew. Back then, if there were footprints that needed examination, they were sent to the Qinghe City Bureau. They woulde back with a conclusion, sometimes giving a rough age, and even distinguish between male and female. As for height and weight, the conclusions were usually just taller, average, or shorter..." "Chen Wenming, right? He would provide much more detailed conclusions to the special task team, but he would hold back a bit in the reports to the districts and counties." Wang Chuanxing was talking about the head of the Trace Examination Group of the Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Investigation Division. Jiang Yuan had also dealt with Chen Wenming and nodded slightly, saying: "Chen¡¯s techniques are capable, but not very stable." Chen Wenming¡¯s expertise in Footprint Identification is also at a sub-expert level, which means that if he invests a lot of time, including on-site analysis, he can provide expert-level conclusions. A casual nce would only yield elite-level conclusions. Naturally, under such circumstances, ordinary cases at the district and county level would not receive much resource allocation. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Footprint Identification expertise is truly exceptional. Even in the Ministry¡¯s expert database, there are many Level 4 footprint experts, but Level 5 experts are rare. Not only is Jiang Yuan a Level 5 expert in Footprint Identification, but he can also integrate other skills, which is extraordinarily powerful. Bringing such Footprint Identification skills to Mysia... Jiang Yuan flipped through the files, quickly browsing through three or four cases, and said, "If there is any advantage, the biggest advantage is that these cases have not been screened by a footprint expert. Some cases, it seems, could indeed be solved with Footprint Identification." "Really, are there cases that can be solved?" It was Chu Guanliang, the police liaison officer, who reacted eagerly on the scene. From his perspective, solving any case is very good, especially since the cases brought by Ni Cha were all cold cases. These types of cases, in terms of difficulty and importance, outweigh current cases in any country. The of justice is vast and fails to let anything slip through; different countries may have different phrasings, but the demands of themon people are the same. No matter how difficult cold cases are to crack, police officers always hope to solve them, and there will always be those who go all out to do so. Only the continuous solving of cold cases can serve as the greatest deterrence to criminals. From the perspective of the police, the main reason the vast majority of people do notmit crimes is not due to any genuinely good and beautiful soul, but rather a simple and selfish fear. Therefore, in any country, solving cold cases and continually doing so is the goal of all normal police systems and a necessity for social order. Dama is no exception. As a liaison officer, Chu Guanliang could imagine the additional courtesies he would receive after Jiang Yuan solved cold cases ¨C transitioning from a liaison officer of a country that needs close contact to one solicited by others, surely doubling the joy. Jiang Yuan, of course, is also willing to solve cold cases. He replied, "I haven¡¯t looked into the specifics yet, but based on the cases Ni Cha brought, there seems to be plenty of footprint evidence. In principle, some clues should emerge, however..." "However?" Chu Guanliang furrowed his brows. "The support for footprint evidence in Dama is quite limited; it¡¯s difficult to conduct investigations, and even if we do determine some characteristics of the suspect, we may not be able to confirm their identity," said Jiang Yuan. What he considered went beyond mere technical issues; it was a matter of resource allocation. Domestically, there are ID cards, policeworks, Image Investigation, and LV5. Once the identity of a suspect is confirmed, arresting them wouldn¡¯t be too difficult. Dama doesn¡¯t have these conditions. In fact, there are many problems just confirming the suspect¡¯s identity. "In that case, it¡¯s actually advisable to select some of the more important cases," Cui Xiaohu coughed twice, sitting closer to Jiang Yuan, speaking in a low voice with only his lips moving, "If the difficulty isn¡¯t too great, the local police might be willing to allocate more resources to high-profile cases." "This is the same for everyone," bnced Chu Guanliang. Cui Xiaohu made an "Mhm" sound, saying, "But after all, we have a policy where homicide cases must be solved. Furthermore, we don¡¯t have many cold cases left in recent years, so we can concentrate our efforts on solving them. Any solved cold case is considered a great achievement. The recognition from the Dama Police Force in this regard might be different from ours." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded; he had a simr feeling in regions with high incident rates. With limited resources, naturally, they prioritize major cases. "If we¡¯re talking about fame, among the cases Ni Cha brought, the case of Member of Parliament Renne¡¯s drowning was the most sensational at the time. The failure to solve it put immense pressure on Dama Police Station and subjected them to nearly a year of public criticism. If it¡¯s reopened now, the Dama Police Force will spare no manpower or material resources," said Chu Guanliang, who had been a liaison officer for some time and was very familiar with the local police situation. "Parliamentarian... the status must be high in Mysia, and the case remains unsolved?" Jiang Yuan and Cui Xiaohu exchanged nces. "Hmm," Chu Guanliang made a sound of agreement, saying, "Renne was a member of parliament, influential and powerful. Because of this, those around him also held power, making the investigation challenging. That may have been the biggest problem for the Dama Police Force. Moreover, Renne died on a day when a party was being held at his house, with many guestsing and going. It wasn¡¯t until the next day that it was discovered Renne had drowned by the pool, and the police were never able to pinpoint a suspect." While talking, Chu Guanliang flipped through the corresponding case file, nced over it, and then confirmed, "That¡¯s basically it, they¡¯ve investigated many people, but ultimately there was no evidence, and the case was hastily concluded." "Could there be political implications involved in this case?" asked Cui Xiaohu. Chu Guanliang closed the file and said, "Most likely. But as I said, if you want the local police to take a case seriously, hoping it to be one they are determined to solve at all costs, there is always a chance it involves politics." "Mm, then for us... especially Captain Jiang¡¯s safety, how can it be ensured?" Despite Wang Chuanxing being lower in the hierarchy, he boldly asked. "It generally wouldn¡¯t be an issue," said Chu Guanliang, then looking at Cui Xiaohu, he suggested, "Should we each report back to our superiors? Many of these cases here involve a bit of that. As long as it¡¯s all official, we can step back and leave if we encounter any trouble afterward." Cui Xiaohu couldn¡¯t help but look toward Jiang Yuan. "Let me take a closer look at the cases," Jiang Yuan took the file again to read. If there is a high probability of solving the case, then the content discussed just now would have a foundation; otherwise, it would be a mere waste of time. Chapter 896 - 834 Screening People

Chapter 896: Chapter 834 Screening People

On that day, Jiang Yuan did not decide on a case. "Member of Parliament Renne¡¯s Drowning Case" was from the year beforest, and the Dama Police Force had put a lot of manpower and resources into it, restarting the investigation bothst year and this year, but ultimately the case remained unsolved. On a positive note, the evidence collected in this case was rtively standard, plentiful, and of high quality. Additionally, since the investigation began, there have been no records of rted personnel deaths, whether idental or natural... With experience handling political cases like Cui Xiaohu and Chu Guanliang, the safety of this type of case is rtively high, and it may not involve politics that much. Of course, that¡¯s what they thought, but both of them still reported to their superiors respectively. Jiang Yuan did the same, notified Huang Qiangmin, and then went to eat durian at ease. There¡¯s no need to rush; looking at Dama¡¯s current judicial structure, the process and time from arresting a suspect to sentencing and final judgment are very long, and three to five years can be considered rtively fast. From this perspective, the few days Jiang Yuan took to solve a murder case not only excited Ni Cha but also overwhelmed him. Jiang Yuan simply took everyone out for a day, and by the next noon, Huang Qiangmin had flown over on an early morning flight. "Has anyone approached you?" was the first question Huang Qiangmin asked upon meeting. Jiang Yuan and the others looked at each other and shook their heads. "No one has been mysteriously injured, had car idents, or received strange letters and calls?" Huang Qiangmin rattled off a list in one breath. "No," Wang Chuanxing confirmed confidently. "Oh, that¡¯s good," Huang Qiangmin paused and then continued, "The opinion of the Ministry leaders is that it¡¯s necessary to handle influential cases, but the focus should be primarily on criminal forensics and focus as much as possible on the case itself." Jiang Yuan¡¯s prior criminal cases generally steered clear of politics, but it must be said that some criminal cases are inseparably linked to political incidents, such as the famous assassination attempts on presidents in the United States, or the rape case involving Kennedy, or the Chen Tuyuan shooting incident on a certain ind, and even some significant cases in ancient China like the four great mysteries of the Ming Dynasty, all intertwine political events with criminal elements, testing those in charge immensely. Although it is said criminal cases within political ones are primarily political, the factual foundation of the criminal case itself cannot be ignored, sometimes even directly determining the direction. After thoroughmunication with higher-ups, Huang Qiangmin had no objections, and Jiang Yuan packed up and headed to the Dama Police Station. In addition to the earlier group, they were joined by an embassy staff member who came midway. After calling in advance and entering the police station, they saw it filled with diverse individuals ¡ª not only police officers in uniform but also government officials in suits, and clearly non-civil servants. "Just from this lineup, we truly have received high regard from the police services," Cui Xiaohu followed closely beside Jiang Yuan, his expression solemn. Chu Guanliangughed and also staying close said, "Renne was a local veteran member of parliament, connected with various parties in countless ways. Some people hoped he would live, others hoped he would die, and at the time, many probably had other thoughts. Now, two years have passed, and many just want the truth." "Because the truth can reveal the true faces of many," the embassy staff member who joined midway added, "We need not only listen to what they say but also watch what they do." "Let¡¯s see then," Jiang Yuan was not so concerned, he couldn¡¯t manage so much. From Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective at the moment, solving the case was actually a simpler task. Not to mention anything else, just seeing the multitude of people around, withplex origins and attitudes, was enough to make one frown uncontrobly. "I¡¯ll go to the room and look over the case," Jiang Yuan told Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong. Zhong Renlong quickly responded and added, "Captain Jiang, once there are results, please call us first." Ni Cha also reminded, "You must be cautious about keeping it confidential." Jiang Yuan frowned: "If confidentiality is required, why didn¡¯t you wait until the investigation waspleted before informing others?" Ni Cha sighed helplessly and said, "The people who came were not notified by us. Um... to tell the truth, I know who leaked the information, but the Lunen drowning case indeed has attracted a lot of attention. Refusing them forcibly might not be beneficial." Jiang Yuan curled his lips, not understanding but still understanding. Ni Cha coughed twice and quickly made amends, "Actually, Captain Jiang, you are very suitable for this case because you investigate cases very quickly. It would be best if results can be achieved before others react. In fact, when west restarted this case, the initial stage was not obstructed, but as time dragged on, the power of various parties gradually formed an obstacle..." "You are urging our Captain Jiang to handle the case quickly," Chu Guanliang said cheerfully in My, and Zhong Renlong tranted it by his side. Jiang Yuan also used My (Indonesian)nguage: "Quickly handling the case is not a problem. From the perspective of criminal science, this case is not veryplicated. The key is whether you can firmlyplete the screening tasks and ensure quality." Jiang Yuan¡¯s level 2 Indonesiannguage was very clear in daily expressions. Ni Cha quickly agreed. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "I am not asking for ordinary investigative questioning. My requirement is that the screened suspects must be brought back to the police station for aprehensive examination and evidence collection before formal questioning and even interrogation." The expressions of Ni Cha and others gradually became serious. Screening is not only favored by the police in China but also abroad. It¡¯s just heard less nowadays because they gradually cannot afford it. For Ni Cha and others, Member of Parliament Renne drowned in his own swimming pool, and on the night of the incident, Renne¡¯s house hosted a party with numerous guests of various identities, encapsted by the saying ¡¯nomoners in the dealings¡¯. If it were just investigative questioning, Ni Cha and others would have no problem, and the involved parties might cooperate somewhat. However, bringing them back to the police station for questioning changes the nature of the matter, and some might directly call theirwyers and sit silently until the police run out of patience. "How many people do you need to bring back?" asked Ni Cha. "Let¡¯s screen them first," Jiang Yuan entered the conference room and ced several photos on the table, saying, "There are numerous footprints next to the swimming pool, but ording to the autopsy report, the perpetrator drowned the victim by pressing his head under the water. Thus, these footprints by the pool, which show signs of exertion, would belong to the perpetrator." While speaking, Jiang Yuanid out several photos separately. Ni Cha urgently asked, "What if the perpetrator cleared the footprints, like by sweeping or washing them away?" "There would be traces left," Jiang Yuan tapped the file and said, "As it stands, no one has tampered with the footprints by the pool, nor has anyone cleaned near the pool. The cleaner found Renne¡¯s body early the next morning, before starting work, and then reported it." "So,..." Ni Cha licked his lips, looking at Jiang Yuan expectantly. "So, we can confirm that this particr footprint belongs to the perpetrator," Jiang Yuan shuffled the photos in front of him. There wererge overhead photos and individual footprint photos, clearly visible. The tech personnel in charge of the case had previously identified several sets of footprints potentially belonging to the perpetrator. However, they could only consider the distance from the pool and could not ascertain the extent or direction of the force applied, making it impossible to identify the unique footprint, thus being of no use in screening suspects during the investigation phase and likely causing discrepancies in court. Jiang Yuan not only didn¡¯t need that, but after screening the footprints, he continued, "From this footprint, the perpetrator is approximately 170 cm tall, between 168 to 172 cm, weighs around 70 kg. Male, aged about 33 to 38 years, physically strong with considerable arm strength, very stable, suggesting long-term physical training." Compared to the previous evaluations, Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment was conservative. Nevertheless, after screening the guest list, family list, and staff list with this standard, the number of remaining suspects was significantly reduced. A jittery Ni Cha suddenly surged with confidence, even feeling a bit of regret: If only I knew earlier, I wouldn¡¯t have to ponder this much. Chapter 897 - 835: Confirm One Person

Chapter 897: Chapter 835: Confirm One Person

As long as there are enough conditions, the scope will be sufficiently narrow. It¡¯s simr to the often-told story by the matchmakers in marriage agencies; if one requires certain attributes in men such as height, weight, profession, education, ie, owning a house and a car, residence registration, parents¡¯ professions, etc., even if each requirement is very ordinary, the resulting "octagon warrior" will be a rare existence. Likewise, when Jiang Yuan lists the suspects as "A¡ÉB¡ÉC¡ÉD¡ÉE¡ÉF¡ÉG," the scope has indeed be quite narrow. Ni Cha was so excited that his voice became hoarse. "Close the door," Ni Cha whispered. Zhong Renlong was stunned for a moment, feeling that thismand sounded somewhat familiar. The people under him had already closed the meeting room door, and hearing Ni Cha¡¯smand, they turned around and locked it twice. Upon hearing the sound, Ni Cha breathed a sigh of relief and thenmanded, "No need to leave, just filter people here. Everyone hand over your cell phones, and don¡¯t make any strange movements, otherwise don¡¯t me me for being impolite." His gaze was sharp as he looked at his subordinates, and he also looked towards the Chinese members. Everyoneplied without objection and handed over their phones. Subsequently, Ni Cha had people print out the list, and a group waited as a few people filtered through it. The conditions were alreadyid out, and not too many people were needed to work on it, so Ni Cha simply had several copies of personnel files printed out and handed them to Jiang Yuan and others to review, so they wouldn¡¯t get too bored. However, these personnel files were terrifyingly detailed. Huang Qiangmin, taking it in his hands, didn¡¯t even need trantion; just by looking at the bolded names and the long paragraphs following them, he couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Why are there so many? Is this the style of local police... uh, has this case been studied so thoroughly?" Zhong Renlong said, "The list of individuals involved in the death case of the Member of Parliament Lunen was sorted out two years ago, with a lot of content, some of it very detailed, including personal histories down to whether each ex-girlfriend was actually female to that extent." "So detailed? Not sorted out by the police?" Chu Guanliang, who had long been residing in Mysia and was very familiar, said, "The media loves to exaggerate matters; it¡¯s quite clear they took a cue from the Kennedy assassination, sourcing materials from various facets, investigating everyone once until multiple warnings stopped them." "And yet, they still couldn¡¯t find the murderer?" "The focus of the media is entirely different from ours. Plus, they sometimes intentionally distort the events to craft dramatic stories, ignoring logic, using their data merely adds more suspects, making it seem as if everyone is suspect..." Zhong Renlong said, shaking his head. Older detective novels or TV dramas always liked to create a pattern filled with mystery, wishing every character who appeared and spoke a line was suspected by the audience. However, real-life police have resource constraints, even in domestic major cases, it¡¯s not feasible to investigate everyone without limits. On the other hand, investigations always leave traces, and in the American judicial system, every investigated suspect bes a boomerang for defensewyers, making a case with all members suspected likely to copse with a 99% probability. The domestic environment isn¡¯t as harsh; the police can continue to expand the investigation scope during the investigation period if they have the capacity, but investigating a suspect is not a matter of a few sentences. Aplete investigation, even if the suspect is believed not to be the culprit, still requires forming a chain of evidence with witnesses and material evidence and rting them in chronological order to form documentation. If all are suspects, the workload could make a criminal police squad doubt their life purposes. Therefore, media involvement in judicial cases is primarily about spectating and even intensifying the spectacle. After all, educated media personnel, who only studiedmunications, still fall short ofpeting with legal studies in service industries. "Identify one person," a police officer came to Ni Cha¡¯s ear and softly spoke. Ni Cha¡¯s eyes shed, "Is the list finished? How many are left?" "It¡¯s finished, there¡¯s only one person fitting the criteria," the reporting police officer took a deep breath, with only one person out of five hundred meeting the criteria, those who don¡¯t understand probabilities might also recognize this as a low-probability event¡ªindeed, as the high probability should be that no one meets the conditions. Ni Cha couldn¡¯t help but take a deep breath either, instantly understanding the pressure his subordinate was under. Looking around, Ni Cha no longer hid his concern and asked in a low voice, "Who is it?" "Badawi." The police officer reporting didn¡¯t say it lightly. Ni Cha¡¯s spirit tightened, "Member of Parliament Renne¡¯s son-inw?" As soon as he spoke, Ni Cha¡¯s spirit rxed again. Fortunately, it was just Member of Parliament Renne¡¯s son-inw! "Badawi is a professional golfer. After marrying Renne¡¯s daughter, he devoted himself to ying golf, often ying over 100 games a year, spending a lot, but perhaps due to talent and other reasons, Badawi¡¯s performance has not been good. In this regard, Renne is probably very dissatisfied with his son-inw, I heard that the two even had a couple of arguments..." His information towards the end came from media articles. "Let¡¯s not look for Badawi yet. Hmm...if the suspect is Badawi, this case will be much easier to handle." Ni Cha said, not sure if he felt relieved or regretful, then he shook his head and instructed, "First, we need to collect evidence, retrieve all the video materials, find all parts involving Badawi and mark them, draw the timeline of his activities, especially check the state when Badawi left, and see if he changed clothes..." Ni Cha¡¯s orders were all about establishing an evidence chain. In the words of the forensic doctor Li Changyu, it¡¯s about the rtionship between physical evidence, suspects, victims, and the crime scene. Among these four, if you can establish the rtionship between any two, the case might be solved; if you can establish three or more, it¡¯s virtually a closed case. For example, the rtionship between the suspect and the victim is one such rtionship. Knowing just this, some cases can be solved. If not enough, if you could prove the suspect and the victim were both at the crime scene, the probability of solving the case is also very high. By anotherbination, if you can establish the rtionship between physical evidence, the victim, and the crime scene, it simrly has a high possibility of proving the suspect¡¯s guilt. Of course, investigating a case is the lowest requirement within the judicial system at home. At the stage of submitting for inspection, it usually requires that all four aspects are covered, with additional evidence such as witness testimonies, suspect confessions, timelines, etc., forming aplete evidence chain. The same goes for court proceedings and death reviews. Facing a case such as the "Member of Parliament Renne Drowning Case," Ni Cha couldn¡¯t take it lightly and was eager to gather as much evidence as possible, but he also couldn¡¯t afford to dy too long. First, to confirm some evidence, then proceed with the arrest, and continue investigating slowly afterward. Thinking this way, Ni Cha gave further instructions to his two subordinates, then went to the corner to make a phone call. Jiang Yuan and others sat at the other end of the conference table, exchanging nces. It was still Chu Guanliang finding it hard to adjust, scratching his head, "Is our job...over just like this?" "Ensuring Captain Jiang is unharmed, this job is perfectly done," Mu Zhiyang, with his shirt open, unashamedly showed the bulletproof vest underneath. He had been wearing it like this the past few days, asionally adding a ceramic te. Only someone who has been shot knows the best way to protect themselves. Chu Guanliangughed and shook his head, "I thought it would be like when I was in criminal investigation, investigating, gathering evidence, running to dozens of ces on strong legs, and in between maybe even adjusting the investigation direction..." "It¡¯s still like that," Huang Qiangmin nodded to Chu Guanliang, saying, "That¡¯s how we, regr detectives, work." "Then..." Chu Guanliang gestured towards the front. "Ni Cha¡¯s team has also been backlogged for two years, do you think they enjoy backlog?" Huang Qiangmin scoffed, then softened his tone, "Just like DNA evidence, even if a single hair can solve the problem, it doesn¡¯t mean the problem is just a single hair." "Philosophical!" Chu Guanliang was catching on to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s way of thinking, starting to proficiently tter. In the future, they were all going to be around Jiang Yuan; it wouldn¡¯t hurt Chu Guanliang to ingratiate himself with Huang Qiangmin, the police liaison. Wang Chuanxing, Cui Xiaohu, and other young officers were not sure how to express their feelings. Unlike Huang Qiangmin and Chu Guanliang, who had gradually moved away from frontline police work, Cui Xiaohu and Wang Chuanxing were younger and still wanted to learn more. But with Jiang Yuan solving cases like this, Cui Xiaohu, Wang Chuanxing, and others really didn¡¯t know what they could learn. "When Badawi returned to his room, he had taken off his shirt," one officer found Badawi in the video database half an hour after the incident. Everyone crowded over to look. On the screen, Badawi was seen bare-chested, disying his muscr torso. He was clutching a crumpled shirt in his hand, and his pants and shoes were still wet. "Go arrest him," Ni Cha was not willing to wait any longer. Even though this evidence was still far from proving Badawi was the murderer, as far as investigative requirements were concerned, Ni Cha felt it was sufficient. Chapter 898 - 836 Truly Deserving to Die

Chapter 898: Chapter 836 Truly Deserving to Die

Click, click, click. The officer gripping Badawi¡¯s arm squinted his eyes into a slit, dizzy from the camera sh. Their arrest of Badawi hadn¡¯t been ostentatious; on the contrary, they tried to be as discreet as possible. However, Badawi was a public figure, and he was participating in a golf tournament. The police couldn¡¯t wait until the end of the game, as there would be too many variables. Ni Cha himself wasn¡¯t even confident in keeping the secret that long. By the time Badawi was brought to the police station, there were already dozens of reporters outside. The son-inw of thete Member of Parliament was now taken back to the police station, and there were rumors that the "Member of Parliament Renne drowning case" had been reopened. The various connections easily led to a series of spections, and spawned arge amount of viewership and readership. As for where the "rumors" came from, that goes without saying. "Captain Jiang, the suspect has been taken to the interrogation room, and he¡¯s requesting awyer. Besides that, he hasn¡¯t said a word," Ni Cha said solemnly, but not anxiously. This was an anticipated situation. Under the Europe and America style judicial system, remaining silent is almost the option every suspect chooses. The difference lies in whether some people actually have awyer, while others not onlyck legal help but can¡¯t even afford awyer, which means a long and meaningless wait in the interrogation room. Badawi certainly had awyer, so all he needed to do was to remain silent and wait for hiswyer to act. In this model, wealthy crime suspects initially have an advantage during interrogations. However, Ni Cha found Badawi¡¯s level of resistance to be somewhat unusual. Shouldn¡¯t a normal person¡¯s first reaction be to challenge the police with "why are you arresting me?" But questioning means talking, and dialogue could be used by the police, so Badawi¡¯s behavior seemed more like it was premeditated and practiced. Of course, this alone couldn¡¯t be considered evidence, not even spection. It¡¯s no big deal for wealthy people to receive interrogation training; it¡¯s even less so if Badawi was prepared. Nevertheless, Ni Cha¡¯s emotions gradually stabilized. "Theoretically, we can now collect various biological features from Badawi," Ni Cha looked expectantly at Jiang Yuan. "For now, footprints are what we can use, but they might not hold up as evidence in court," Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "Let¡¯s leave direct evidence aside for the moment. I think we can take a look at Badawi¡¯s previous statements. If he is the murderer, then there would be issues with his past statements." Since the Member of Parliament Renne¡¯s death case was a major one, despite the chaos, the police had recorded statements from everyone. Ni Cha pped his thigh: "I also think this could be a breakthrough." Now, the new evidence pointed to Badawi; revisiting the previous statements, if there are discrepancies, they could be thoroughly investigated. Zhong Renlong fetched Badawi¡¯s statement and presented it for everyone to assess. As Jiang Yuan had read before, Badawi stated that in thetter half of the party, he was drinking whiskey in the room with his friend Siman. Without waiting for Ni Cha to say more, someone immediately pulled up Siman¡¯s statement, printed it, and distributed it to everyone. Meanwhile, other officers started searching the surveince video for Siman. Siman¡¯s ount was simr to Badawi¡¯s, and he also appeared very cautious on the surveince. However, ording to the timeline, in thetter half of the party, Siman was spotted several times on the other end of the hall. In other words, it was at least impossible for Siman himself to be with Badawi the entire time, and his testimony was obviously a lie. "Such an obvious issue, howe it wasn¡¯t discovered before? Bring Siman back!" Ni Cha feigned anger. Only the media really treated the "Member of Parliament Renne drowning case" like the Kennedy assassination case, taking it seriously but not to the extent of meticulously investigating everyone¡¯s timeline. If the son-inw Badawi was somewhat under scrutiny, Siman waspletely off the police¡¯s radar. He was just one of the guests attending the party and was quite distant from Member of Parliament Renne. It was now 5 pm. Hardworking media reporters had no intention of knocking off; instead, their numbers only grew. Some TV station reporters even appeared with their broadcast vans, starting live coverage on the scene. Siman sat in the back seat of the car, nked by two police officers. The anger in his eyes dissipated gradually with the sound of reporters banging on the police car windows. "Why exactly are you arresting me?" Siman asked for the nth time. His reaction was typical for a person under arrest, but it also, from another angle, illustrated how his status as a fallen aristocrat had be no different from that of an ordinary citizen. The officer sitting next to him looked at him with eyes that seemed to gaze upon amoner, saying nothing. By the time Siman was brought into the interrogation room, Ni Cha and the others had sorted through most of the video footage involving Siman. Those ustomed to investigating individuals¡¯ movements through video surveince know well that tracking the same target through multiple cameras can be quite a mentally taxing task. People under surveince are already somewhat distorted, and it¡¯s manageable if you are familiar with the subject. But if the subject is new, and the video is yed too fast, it¡¯s very easy to overlook them. Moreover, surveince footage is not always continuous. Controlling the transition from one point to another isn¡¯t that easy either. Operating aputer is one thing; dealing with real-life video footage is another. Many surveince systems are not connected to the inte¡ªNingtai County has spent the budget of several districts in session to connect the video surveince in a brief period, and new problems will continue to emerge. The surveince inside and outside the Lunen household obviously had worse conditions. The original setup was not built all at once, and added surveince equipment was often neither standardized nor interconnected. You have to retrieve them separately and adjust the format for use. As for tracking the movement of people between points, problems often arise. For instance, what should be a 30-second walk from one point to another can be baffling if the subject stops to smoke a cigarette in the middle. Investigating Siman naturally posed various problems, but with enough people watching the surveince, smoking a few cigarettes wouldn¡¯t help. This is one of the advantages proposed by the Cold Case Squad. Because the case is important enough, there are sufficient resources, and that¡¯s how leads be evidence. Otherwise, allocating just a group of four or five officers to watch the footage, make arrests, drive, and write reports, it wouldn¡¯t just be difficult to conduct a thorough investigation, but even to clear up a single direction would be very challenging. "This guy must have been cheating," a cop cursed fiercely after watching less than half an hour of footage. Ni Cha immediately came over and saw, from a parking lot camera angle, Siman kissing a woman in a yellow garment before each walking to their respective cars. The surveince angle was from afar, and from this video alone, their faces weren¡¯t clear, but with other videos as corroboration, the man could be confirmed as Siman. "This guy really deserves to die," Ni Cha understood the situation at a nce and asked, "Do we know who the woman is? Are we certain?" "We¡¯re checking backward; she¡¯s probably someone¡¯s wife too," replied the officer. Ni Cha sighed, "Siman is married, right?" "Yeah, his partner¡¯s family is quite wealthy, wealthier than us at least," the officer said enviously, "and she¡¯s pretty too. This guy really deserves to die for messing up our case." "I saw Siman on the third floor earlier; the third floor is all bedrooms, right?" another officer mentioned. "Check and see if this woman has appeared on the third floor," Ni Cha paused before continuing, "Get familiar with the guest list, find a clear frontal photo topare. A woman that beautiful, how can we not remember? Once we confirm her identity, bring her in. He really deserves to die!" Chapter 899 - 837 Defeat

Chapter 899: Chapter 837 Defeat

"I¡¯m a journalist from the New Strait Times; you can¡¯t just arrest a member of the media and expect to get away with it, understand?" Nadia, dressed in a tight-fitting jumpsuit, twisted around and identally bumped into the policewoman beside her. She stopped immediately, looking even more displeased. The policewoman nced disdainfully at her full chest, perky buttocks, and slim waist, pursed her lips, and said, "This isn¡¯t arbitrary arrest. Sit still and stop fidgeting." "How long do you intend to keep me here? What reason do you have for arresting me?" Nadia was truly fearless. The New Strait Times is a well-known newspaper in Dama, and the police wouldn¡¯t dare to torture her for information. Besides that, once the newspaper found out, they would certainly send awyer to rescue her promptly. For Nadia, as a journalist, such a reckless act of arrest by the police would only serve to heighten her own fame. Click. Ni Cha turned the handle and entered the interrogation room. At his signal, one policewoman left the room, while another stepped back two paces but did not leave. Nadia blinked, feeling even more reassured. As long as she followed the rules, she could easily handle such police officers. "Nadia, right?" Ni Cha sat opposite her and asked, "Do you know why we brought you here?" "Have I been formally arrested?" With that one question, Nadia hit Ni Cha where it hurt. Seeing the slight change in Ni Cha¡¯s expression, Nadia sneered inwardly: "If I¡¯m not under formal arrest, then I have nothing to say to you, please let me go." "Just answer one question and that¡¯s it." Ni Cha, seeing the situation, also adjusted his strategy. He opened his portfolio, took out the topmost photo, and handed it to Nadia. The photo was taken outside a hotel dining area. In it, Nadia looked radiant with a broad smile, while across from her, Siman was full of admiration. To the discerning eye, it appeared that their rtionship was extraordinary. Indeed, as Nadia had anticipated, after learning she was a journalist from the New Strait Times, Ni Cha and the others paid extra attention. They not only retrieved the video footage from the day of the incident but also pulled the mobile phone records of both individuals, noted the time periods when their numbers appeared together, and investigated the locations where both numbers were found together. They checked surveince where avable and additionally sought several witnesses. The location where both of their mobile phones appeared most frequently was a luxury apartment rented under someone else¡¯s name, followed by hotels, restaurants, bars, and various entertainment venues. ording to Ni Cha¡¯s analysis, there was a ny percent probability that their meetings were purely sexual, or to put it more tactfully, their dates revolved around that very purpose. Such a despicable lifestyle! Nadia was slightly taken aback upon seeing the photo but quicklyposed herself and said slowly, "What are you trying to imply by showing me this photo?" "What is your rtionship with Siman?" "I don¡¯t need to exin." "Siman is involved in a case. If you can¡¯t exin, we will not go out of our way to protect your privacy during the ongoing investigation. Anyone, including your husband, will likely see the following photos." Ni Cha promptlyid out four more photos in front of Nadia, each more intimate than thest. In the fourth photo, Nadia was nestled in Siman¡¯s arms, his grasp epassing her bosom. A chill ran through Nadia, not merely because of the photo itself, but because she quickly realized that this photo had been taken in the elevator hall of the apartment they rented. Siman had been impatient at the time, and she, having had some drinks, felt moved... Thinking this through, theirings and goings in the apartment building had been almost without disguise. The security guards and neighbors believed they were a couple in a normal rtionship, and Nadia herself had enjoyed this rxed atmosphere... However, if the police managed to obtain surveince footage from the apartment building, their frequent visits would be impossible to exin. "What case is Siman involved in?" After Nadia asked this question, a wave of weakness overcame her. Could it be that Siman was faced with a fate worse than their rtionship¡ªimprisonment? Otherwise, why would the police need to investigate so thoroughly? The policewoman standing behind Nadia revealed a disdainful smile once again, thinking to herself, now you¡¯re not iming to be a media journalist anymore? Ni Cha spoke seriously, "The drowning case of Member of Parliament Renne. I think you must have already heard the rted news." Nadia was shocked: "Siman? Member of Parliament Renne? It¡¯s impossible, he would have no reason to kill Member of Parliament Renne, there¡¯s no benefit in it. They don¡¯t even know each other..." Nadia had interviewed criminal cases before and knew to provide exnations based on motive. "This doesn¡¯t exin why he lied to the police, saying that in thetter part of the gathering that day, he was drinking whiskey with Badawi," Ni Cha remarked coldly. "He..." Nadia uttered a word and then calmed down. Siman had no motive to kill Member of Parliament Renne. Siman¡¯s ancestors had been illustrious, but he himself was just an ordinary rich man living off trust funds. Except for his yboy lifestyle and being physically fit, his so-called career and abilities were a mess. Nadia didn¡¯t care about that, though; she had a husband, and an affair did not require taking on such heavy and dull responsibilities. At the same time, Nadia could guess why Siman would say that; he certainly couldn¡¯t admit that during that time they were upstairs in the bedroom violently abusing the mattress. Therefore, Siman could only exin that he was drinking whiskey with Badawi¡ªall of these things were not illegal and not serious enough to warrant the attention of a high-ranking officer like Ni Cha. Nadia arrived at the conclusion smoothly, looked straight at Ni Cha, and said, "Your real target is Badawi, isn¡¯t it?" Ni Cha was expressionless and said, "You should take care of yourself and think about how to exin this to your husband." "I will cooperate with you." Nadia clearly understood the situation and smiled rxedly, "If you all still want to expose my privacy despite my cooperation, I¡¯ll ept this big news. But... was Member of Parliament Renne really killed by his own son-inw?" "Now, I ask, you answer," Ni Cha remained unmoved, and instructed the policewoman behind Nadia toe forward to take her statement, saying, "Tell us about your activities on the night Member of Parliament Renne died." "I can tell you, but I must remind you..." "You just need to answer the question," Ni Cha knocked on the photos on the table, seemingly impatient with the journalist. Nadia frowned, wanting to resist a bit, but looking at the photos on the table, she finally replied, "That night, I was with Siman, we found a bedroom on the third floor..." "Siman imed that he was drinking with Badawi that evening, how do you exin that?" Ni Cha asked. "We had agreed on that beforehand because Siman¡¯s two cousins were there that day, so I told Siman to find a friend and say the two of you were drinking to avoid his cousins asking about his whereabouts. I didn¡¯t know he¡¯d choose Badawi..." As Nadia spoke, her eyes darted around quickly, as if she wished she could just bow her head and churn out a ten-thousand-word article. The specifics of criminal cases don¡¯t have to be disclosed to the public entirely, and this left a way out for Nadia¡ªas long as the police didn¡¯t disclose it actively, her affair wouldn¡¯t be known to her husband. Ni Cha narrowed his eyes, and after letting Nadia finish exining, stood up and left directly to find Siman. Before long, Siman gave up his resistance. As a result, Badawi¡¯s alibi copsedpletely. Chapter 900 - 838: Return to the Country

Chapter 900: Chapter 838: Return to the Country

Badawi¡¯s insistencested longer than expected, but as his alibi was destroyed, his resistance gradually became meaningless. Ni Cha and other police personnel appeared increasingly excited, like carnivores that had bitten into their prey, finally waiting for the moment to feast. More problems were pointed out in Badawi¡¯s statements, his appearance in the surveince video was examined frame by frame, and his unpleasant interaction with Lunen before the incident became the focus of intense media scrutiny. After the loss of the protective cover of being a son-inw to a deceased Member of Parliament, the suspected role of a parliamentarian¡¯s murderer naturally made it difficult for Badawi to move. However, without direct evidence, he still had room to resist. Jiang Yuan provided some new evidence in cooperation with the investigation and began to feel somewhat bored. A major case like Badawi¡¯s, while undoubtedly receiving police attention, was given perhaps an excessive and meticulous amount of it as Ni Cha and others seemed uninterested in starting new cases, preferring to keep adding chips to the "Member of Parliament Lunen Drowning Case." This type of work, usually handled by the prosecution in China, would not involve experts like Jiang Yuan wasting time, even if some cases are demanding, or prosecutors have high requirements and ask for additional investigations. The special task team has enough experienced and diligent officers who don¡¯t need to go home. "Let¡¯s head back," Jiang Yuan now said without needing anyone¡¯s consent, merely informing Ni Cha to arrange for a charter jet. Ni Cha naturally wanted Jiang Yuan to stay a bit longer. After failing to persuade him with a couple of reluctant sentences, he obediently arranged for it. His dealings with Huang Qiangmin were not a one-time business but a long-term, mutually beneficial, friendly partnership based on friendly negotiations. Although still far from a full-time strategic partnership, the foundation for cooperation was solidly in ce. One of Bahang Industry¡¯s Legacy 650 jets was like a pir deeply embedded in the foundation of their cooperation. Compared to the renowned Gulfstream and Bombardier series, the Legacy 650 from Brazilian aviation industry had lower costs and was a major force behind Bahang Industry emerging as the world¡¯s fourthrgest business jet manufacturer. The 13-seater aircraft is considered arge private jet, with operating costs reaching millions per flight. In fact, Bahang Industry¡¯s business and regional jets once sold very well, with orders of hundreds of aircraft flying in various countries, making it one of the first aeronauticalpanies to establish a factory in China, until one year Bahang hired Jackie Chan as a spokesperson, then sold itself to Boeing. Inside the jet, besides the seats, there was a long sofa and other facilities, offering a bitrger space and naturally much greaterfort. Mu Zhiyang, taking advantage of everyone still sitting, firsty on the sofa to enjoy the moment,zily and delightfully said, "I wish I could just lie t on this private jet¡¯s sofa and never get up." "And then let the jet take you soaring, right?" Wang Chuanxing hummed twice and with a "thud," put down hisptop and said, "Have you seen the movies? People on private jets in movies are always working." "Why work if you are on a private jet?" "That¡¯s how we prove to others that we have a reason to save time," Wang Chuanxing turned hisputer towards Mu Zhiyang and said, "Find a few cases to work on. If we can solve a murder in the few hours on the ne, it would also be justifiable." Mu Zhiyang, fingering his ear, said, "Maybe you should record it and listen to what you¡¯re saying..." ... Changyang City Airport. Yu Wenshu had been watching this narrow little nend and hurriedly drove over. Approaching, Jiang Yuan had already descended from the ne. "Captain Jiang, you¡¯ve had a tough journey," Yu Wenshu said warmly and genuinely as he shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, then turned to Huang Qiangmin emerging behind, "Now that you¡¯re here, why not stay in Changyang City for a while?" Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, "He just got back. Aren¡¯t you going to let Jiang Yuan rest a bit?" "Jiang Yuan has his own house in Changyang City, so he can¡¯t possibly rest poorly," Yu Wenshu retorted as he saw Wang Chuanxing and othersing out, immediately saying: "Xiao Wang,e over here... I see, truly, the environment does shape a person. You guys learning from Doctor Jiang also need to take good care of Doctor Jiang¡¯s health. Don¡¯t overwork him." "Yes, yes, yes..." Wang Chuanxing nodded like a pecking chicken. He was seconded from the Changyang City Bureau to Ningtai County, and waspletely under Yu Wenshu¡¯s jurisdiction. It was time for him to show his obedient side. Seeing that Yu Wenshu had no intentions of letting go and thinking about how little he had visited Changyang City this year, and also thinking that Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was staffed by people from Changyang City Bureau, Huang¡¯s smile unfurled like ink: "Chief Yu extends such a warm invitation, how can I refuse!" Yu Wenshu asked, "So do you all want to rest first today, or shall we grab a meal first?" "Jiang Yuan, what do you think?" Huang Qiangmin looked towards Jiang Yuan. "I¡¯m not very tired. If there¡¯s a case that needs immediate attention, I can look into it now. Otherwise, we can wait until tomorrow," Jiang Yuan arranged naturally. "There will always be cases. You should rest first," Yu Wenshu beamed. Changyang is arge city with a poption of 10 million, and although not all deaths involve cases, it is still a city with a constant stream of murder cases. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling everyone to get in the car, then said, "Let¡¯s head to the police station. Is there a current case? Is there a scene yet?" Yu Wenshuughed heartily: "If you say there is, there¡¯s definitely plenty of cases." Huang Qiangmin came over: "Let¡¯s talk on the drive." The two then walked side by side for a while before getting into a Coaster minibus together. Once everyone was gathered, Yu Wenshu distributed some documents and coughed twice before saying: "Good that Jiang Yuan is here. Let¡¯s talk about a case. The victim was a vige doctor who ran a private clinic. His body was discovered three days ago in a local reed marsh. The victim¡¯s background is clear and there are no strong suspects. We have also not found a good lead from the body so far..." "Is there... really no clue at all?" Huang Qiangmin was surprised. By this point, a three-day-old case should have been thoroughly investigated. If it were a typical murder investigation, the case would have been solved by now. Yu Wenshu gave a thoughtful grunt, "It rained the other days. The reed marsh also got flooded. Additionally, the condition of the body isn¡¯t great." If it weren¡¯t somewhat challenging, he wouldn¡¯t have activelye looking for Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin helped probe further, "What about the transportation?" Disposing of a body usually requires some form of transportation; one couldn¡¯t get far carrying it. Yu Wenshu coughed twice before replying, "There¡¯s a county road nearby, but because of the rain, the evidence at the scene where the body was dumped isn¡¯t clear." "What about the checkpoints?" "There were no results," Yu Wenshu answered, adding, "The forensic doctor estimated the time of death, believing the victim had been dead for two days, and we pushed back three days, but found no suspicious vehicles either." Without any other clues, directly searching for the vehicle is quite difficult. "What¡¯s the current direction of the investigation?" Jiang Yuan asked, having seen the crime scene photos and the autopsy photos of the deceased on theputer of a detective from the Changyang City Bureau. "If you hadn¡¯te, we were nning to re-investigate all interpersonal rtionships thoroughly," Yu Wenshu said, turning serious. This method would involve a lot of people, especially considering the victim was a vige doctor who typically interacted with many people. Chapter 901 - 839: Follow Your Feelings

Chapter 901: Chapter 839: Follow Your Feelings

"The victim was killed by a blunt object. The murder weapon has not been found, right? Nothing was lost in the clinic?" Jiang Yuan was flipping through the photos one by one. He first looked at the photos of the victim¡¯s body in the dossier, then the photos of the scene where the body was found. However, because the files were brought by Yu Wenshu, they were iplete,cking much content, and Jiang Yuan was momentarily clueless. Just from the victim¡¯s head wounds, the murder weapon should have been a heavier cylindrical object, simr to an infusion bottle or a beer bottle. This is also reflected in the forensic report from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, but since there were no fragments found, and the weapon was not found at the scene, it was still uncertain what the murder weapon was. Yu Wenshu also understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s point and shook his head, saying, "The clinic has been searched, but the victim was running it independently, handling consultations, prescriptions, and infusions alone, so it¡¯s still uncertain what stocks or objects were there." "The first scene hasn¡¯t been confirmed yet?" Jiang Yuan asked again. Yu Wenshu coughed twice and nodded, "The clinic is in the vige, covering arge area, with two floors facing the street, and both front and back yards. Usually, in addition to the vigers of this vige, employees from nearby factories alsoe for medical consultations and medications; the people there are quite mixed..." Yu Wenshu said this with a bit of embarrassment. Three days had passed, and the progress of the case could be described as at a standstill. In a body-dumping case, the most crucial element should be determining the origin of the body. But after the special investigation teampleted this task, the progress had shockingly stagnated, making Yu Wenshu feel anxious. The golden window for resolving the current case was so brief, and now it had almost entirely been squandered. Even if Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t returned, Yu Wenshu would have had someone bring the dossier to consult him. Of course, it was best that Jiang Yuan himself was present. Jiang Yuan looked at the photos in the dossier, deep in thought. Actually, the approach of the special investigation team had no problems; it ismon in body-dumping cases that the murder weapon cannot be found, as many killers toss the corpse and the weapon separately. The distance might be close, but if the killer walked back for five minutes, the amount of area to search dramatically increases, not to mention, the nearby waters vary in depth. Normally, in body-dumping cases, if no direct evidence like DNA or fingerprints are found at the scene, the next step after identifying the body¡¯s origin is to explore interpersonal rtionships to find potential suspects, which is a standard procedure. Because usually, only killers familiar with the victim would choose to dump the body. "In terms of personal rtionships, it might be good to check up on that as well," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "The rest, let¡¯s go back and look at the body." "Yes, let¡¯s hope we find something," Yu Wenshu, with his substantial experience as the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, said. But based on his experience, with the victim¡¯s rtionships spread throughout the vige, trying to find a suspect through these rtionships was purely down to luck. (Among 240 indictments in a coastal city, part of the interpersonal rtionships rted to victims¡¯ deaths) "Let¡¯s call Director Liu to work on the case together." Jiang Yuan disliked this kind of guesswork-driven case; if it involves painstakingly gathering clues from scattered details, then let Liu Jinghui handle it. Yu Wenshu willingly obliged, volunteering, "I¡¯ll talk to the provincial office and ask Director Liu toe and assist." Coaster arrived smoothly at the Criminal Police Brigade. All weed him. After the ceremonies, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the conference room to review the relevant case files. The officers also brought over boxes of physical evidence for Jiang Yuan to inspect. Normally, experts don¡¯t receive such treatment. Murder cases involve a vast amount of evidence, especially during the investigation phase, many of which might not be usedter. At this stage, pulling everything out fills an entire conference room. Jiang Yuan examined them one by one, while reminding the forensic doctor to thaw out the body. The body had already been autopsied and would naturally be kept frozen in an ice coffin. Since Jiang Yuan hade over for a re-examination, they had to take it out of the ice coffin to thaw, otherwise, the frozen stiff body, possibly still covered with ice particles, would make surface examination difficult. The following day. Liu Jinghui took the 7:30 AM bus and arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade at 8:40 AM. After greeting the officers on duty, he plunged into piles of documents. For a detective, taking on a case not only requires an understanding of the full picture but also the details of the case, which is a very time-consuming andborious process. Luckily, Liu Jinghui enjoyed it. It was certainly better than staying at home and cooking breakfast for his wife. Jiang Yuan slept in his small house, had breakfast at a familiar shop downstairs, and then took the pre-booked Alphard to the Criminal Science and Technology Center. The director of the center, Wan Baoming, an old acquaintance, saw Jiang Yuan and breathed a sigh of relief: "It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve arrived, Jiang Yuan. The body is almost thawed, and I¡¯ve even prepared hot pot for us to have together at noon." The first autopsy usually takes upwards of three hours, and if done meticulously, it consumes even more time. The duration of a second autopsy varies, but including the time to change clothes and bathe, it still takes about an hour in total, not to mention reviewing specimens and visiting the autopsy room, where the body needs to be opened up and the forensic doctor must give up a morning. Additionally, everyone who has performed an autopsy knows that it is quite physically demanding. Therefore, having hot pot after an autopsy is absolutely delightful. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, saying, "If the body is examined by noon, then let¡¯s have hot pot. The forensic doctor in charge this time is..." "It was me who performed the first autopsy," said the forensic doctor Tang Feng. He had worked with Jiang Yuan several times and had hot pot together in the autopsy room. Facing Jiang Yuan, Tang Feng still felt a bit guilty. In forensic examinations, there are many uncontroble factors. The so-called rules and science, when facing theplexity of the human body, often require subjective judgments to obtain a definitive result. At this moment, the disparity in the forensic doctors¡¯ expertise is conspicuously evident. Tang Feng, as an adult, especially a skilled professional in his thirties, had also tried to learn from Jiang Yuan. Yet, like many peers, this only made it harder for him to resist when he met Jiang Yuan again. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded at Tang Feng, made some small talk, and then they all entered the elevator together. Wan Baoming and the others escorted Jiang Yuan all the way to the autopsy room and then left. Washing twice after receiving someone is something most people would not enjoy doing. Autopsy room. The body was notpletely thawed yet, perfectly cuttable yet not too soft. At this moment, the state of the body was simr to cutting thinly sliced meat at home, where the knife slides in with a slight resistance, making it much easier to cut than when it¡¯spletely thawed. Of course, maintaining such a state of the body was for another consideration. With a frozen body, its surface traces are clearer, which is very helpful for forensic doctors, as freezing the body makes injuries more apparent. Any subtle surface impressions could be more easily observed at this point. However, such a degree of visibility applies more to forensic doctors below Level 3, or to increase efficiency for higher-level forensic doctors, and cannot transition from non-detection to detection. For instance, the first negative autopsy Jiang Yuan conducted in Dama also involved an observation of a frozen body, where surface traces had not been revealed. However, after freezing, the body¡¯s marks became clearer, naturally making it easier to identify injuries. Especially in identifying the shape of the hitting surface, the angle of impact of the object, etc., all of which were of certain help. Tang Feng took the opportunity to remeasure the length of the victim¡¯s injuries to avoid appearing too idle. Jiang Yuan, however, was staring at the body, lost in thought. "Should we perform a second autopsy?" Seeing him like this, Tang Feng started to feel guilty again. "Then let¡¯s dissect it," replied Jiang Yuan, which was both expected and surprising. A second autopsy often implies that there was an issue with the first one. Tang Feng couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Did you notice something?" "It just doesn¡¯t feel right; let¡¯s open it up and see," replied Jiang Yuan. At his level of expertise, he didn¡¯t need to spell out specific data or indices, intuition was enough. Chapter 902 - 840 Stubborn Corpse

Chapter 902: Chapter 840 Stubborn Corpse

Tang Feng shuddered as he listened to Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer, as if he had just finished an exam and was checking his answers, only to hear the top student next door coldly spit out two words: "Wrong." "What do you feel?" Tang Feng knew it was unnecessary, but he couldn¡¯t help asking. "The degree of leather-like transformation of the corpse¡¯s skin is somewhat abnormal." Jiang Yuan looked down at the body with a critical eye, touched the surface of the body with his finger, especially after examining the scrotum, he shook his head and said, "Let¡¯s open it up and take a look." Leathery transformation is a term specific to forensic science, referring to part of the corpse¡¯s skin that has turned leather-like in appearance. The area most prone to this transformation is the "scrotum," because the skin there is thin, prone to dehydration, and can easily turn ck and purple, simr to the leather of a handbag. But leather-like transformation requires time and conditions. It doesn¡¯t happen just because one wants it to, nor can it be easily avoided. A typical example is a fair and attractive boy, who remains delicate and tender in the south, but if he recklessly runs into the Qinghai-Tibet teau, the harsh ultraviolet rays and windy weather can roughen and darken his skin in just a few days, which is simr to the process of leather-like transformation. A corpse that has been frozen can also partially exhibit leather-like transformation, which makes it easier to reveal imprints. Some older forensic doctors, whose judgment might not be very urate, would freeze the body to see if there are any marks and what kind of marks they are. This body was the same; many small marks on the skin, such as on the knees, the bends of the legs, and the arms, were all revealed. Upon close examination by Jiang Yuan, they were mostly falls and abrasions. Imagine the victim standing and receiving a heavy blow to the head; he might stagger a step or two, hit surrounding objects causing slight abrasions, and then fall heavily on the ground causing fall injuries. If he were to survive, or live a while longer, these marks might have healed, but if he died immediately, the marks would be fixed in ce. However, these traces alone were not sufficient to solve the case. Jiang Yuan took a knife and, using his height advantage, fiercely made a straight cut across the body, employing the traditional Chinese straight-line cutting method, also known as the straight-line method. (T-shaped, straight-line, Y-shaped, inverted Y-shaped) (Forensic Pathology Fourth Edition by Zhao Ziqin, People¡¯s Health Publishing House.) Tang Feng assisted Jiang Yuan. The suturing after an autopsy involved pulling the two sides of the flesh together and stitching them crosswise, so the second autopsy still had to be cut open with a knife, and partially due to the freezing, some bits of flesh naturally fell out from the suture area. But that didn¡¯t matter as it was already a body that had been kept for several days; even in an ice coffin, there was still a certain degree of dposition. This is also why meat in a freezer spoils, and repeatedly thawn meat spoils even faster. Thus, after a second autopsy, there was basically no value left for further autopsies. A third or fourth autopsy, if not requested by the family, usually served only to confirm certain details. Jiang Yuan thus examined particrly carefully. After all, this autopsy nearly determined the body¡¯s ultimate fate. In terms of the case, it was almost equivalent to determining the fate of the case. "He was quite overweight," Jiang Yuan said as he pushed aside the discolored yellow fat, with a rancid smell reaching his nostrils. The rancid smell, like spoiled oil at home or high-fat pastries gone bad, ismonly stronger than the smell of a corpse. And of course, there was still the presence of corpse stench. Tang Feng, wearing a mask, grunted and said, "He must weigh about 180 pounds. The fact that the body hasn¡¯t been dismembered suggests that the murderer probably didn¡¯t act alone." "The murderer acted alone in delivering a fatal blow, but might have sought help to dispose of the body," Jiang Yuan said, sighing. "If the victim was a vige doctor, practically everyone in the vige could be a suspect. But under the current circumstances, it¡¯s uncertain whether it was premeditated." If the murderer had abandoned the body at the scene, this kind of blunt force killing would often be impulsive. In cases of premeditated murder, the murderer usually ensures the victim is dead, leading to additional stabs or blows. But through the stage of abandoning the body, premeditation bes hard to assert as the murder could ensure death since the murderer was present, and since the crime was ongoing, the murderer¡¯s attention could have shifted. "Let Director Liu ponder over this matter," Jiang Yuan said, having examined the body thoroughly and took a magnifying ss for a closer look at the abrasion, ended up shaking his head in disappointment. There was no debris or anything that could ¶¯Ì¬¹â±ê be used for trace evidence examination, further confirming that the victim was indeed wearing trousers prior to death. ¡ªThis is not a baseless conjecture; it¡¯s not umon for victims to die in a semi-nude or nude state and be dressed postmortem. In some cases, the families dress the deceased to cover up, and sometimes family members even tamper with the scene afterward by putting clothes on the deceased. As for examining the clothes and trousers for trace evidence, although possible, there seemed no urgent need at the moment. On one hand, the environmentalplexity at the scene and the long duration the bodyy in the reeds meant clothing-mounted evidence was excessive; on another, even if there were first-scene evidence on the clothes, it was now both hard to distinguish and identify. This exemplifies why wilderness body dumping is moreplicated than burial. If buried, due to the stable underground environment, the body generally remains as it was left by the murderer. Trace evidence can often offer more discoveries. From this perspective, if a murder team were divided into roles, the ones disposing of bodies in the wilderness and those digging deep graves to bury bodies should be two specialties, two distinct training directions. Jiang Yuan spent over an hour on the second autopsy before eventually leaving the dissected body and sitting on a chillingly cold adjacent autopsy table, pondering for a long time before asking, "What do you think?" Tang Feng, in his thirties, his eyes as clear as a fresh graduate: "I¡¯m out of ideas." If he had any ideas, he wouldn¡¯t have waited until a second autopsy. Jiang Yuan respectfully consulted the forensic doctor before nodding and saying, "The previously judged time of death for this body, I think it¡¯s inappropriate. But the exact time of death, I still can¡¯t ascertain right now! It needs thorough investigation!" Jiang Yuan said this with a very serious expression. His Level 6 uracy in determining time of death was now ambiguous, even after a re-autopsy, which itself was a major issue. What kind of body would be so stubborn? Chapter 903 - 841 Analysis

Chapter 903: Chapter 841 Analysis

"Jiang Yuan felt there was something wrong with the time of death. If we start counting from when thest eyewitness saw the victim... that means the body was not discovered until 8 dayster. Such a time difference is too long." In the meeting room, Captain Ma Jiyang of the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Second Squad was doing the math, frowning heavily. This case was originally assigned to the Second Squad for investigation, and as a star performer in the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Detachment, Ma Jiyang was rarely faced with forensic doctors drastically changing their estimation of a victim¡¯s time of death. "It won¡¯t be as long as 8 days," Jiang Yuan made a slight correction. "I estimate it was more like five or six days before the victim¡¯s body was discovered." Although the exact reason was not yet fully determined, Jiang Yuan had tentatively adjusted the time of death from 3 days to around 6 days. Ma Jiyang said, "Based on what we know now, on the evening of the 4th, thest patient left Li Yanmin¡¯s clinic. The victim, Li Yanmin, did not open his doors on the 5th, only notifying everyone via a WeChat group that he would be resting for a few days and temporarily closing up. After that, no one saw Li Yanmin again. In the following days, Li Yanmin didmunicate with people over WeChat, but he didn¡¯t make or receive any phone calls." "Has this kind of situation happened before? The clinic closing for several days, what would the vigers do if they needed medical attention?" Liu Jinghui inquired. "There¡¯s another clinic in the town, less than 10 kilometers away from the vige," the responding police officer replied, then continued, "Li Yanmin often closed his clinic for short periods; he liked to travel abroad, taking off to have fun two or three times each year during the off-season. Sometimes he would close the clinic for a day or two as well. The vigers are used to it." "He had quite afortable life, much more so than ours," Liu Jinghui was quite surprised. "You can run a clinic without having to mind the store?" "The vigers¡¯ take is that Li Yanmin was married once before; it was one of those quick marriages and quick divorces, and he didn¡¯t have any children. He didn¡¯t look for another partner afterwards, ignoring matches suggested by the vigers. Unmarried, childless, and owning both a house and the clinic, he definitely had afortable life," the police officer responsible exined with increasing envy. Ma Jiyang coughed twice, soothingly said: "Don¡¯t think like that. He wasn¡¯t living morefortably than us just because he was unmarried and childless. It¡¯s just that,pared to us, everyone else lives morefortably." The assigned police officer looked at Ma Jiyang, who was known within the Criminal Investigation Detachment as the paragon of marital happiness, and said, "Captain, hearing you say that makes me feel a lot better." "Right? Don¡¯t fear marriage; anyway, in our line of work, getting married is difficult in itself, no need to worry about it. If someone is willing to marry you, it¡¯s because she¡¯s confused, not our fault," Ma Jiyang said, increasingly cheerful. "Captain Ma truly is the epitome of psychological well-being," Liu Jinghui praised. Ma Jiyangughed heartily. Yu Wenshu, who was also present, watched with a smile, not intervening as the conversation veered off topic during the case discussion. Ordinary case analysis meetings are not always conducted with utmost seriousness, or in other words, a rxed atmosphere is conducive to creative thinking. Many Criminal Investigation agencies stress discipline, but during case analysis, the core decision-makers gather, and casual speech is still allowed. Compared to the lower Criminal Police Brigades, the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Detachment is amongst the highest institutions in Shannan Province for solving criminal cases. Members of the team are also experienced, capable elites. In managing such a unit, Yu Wenshu has always emphasized not discipline, but skills. After a few moments of light-hearted banter, naturally, a detective steered the conversation back to the case, saying, "Assuming that the time of death is modified to six days ago, that would be the 5th for the clinic closure, then the 7th or 8th for the death. During those two days, there wasmunication from Li Yanmin¡¯s WeChat; if he was already dead, is it very likely that the messages were sent by the murderer?" "WeChat chat records? Bring them here for me to see," Yu Wenshu beckoned. Immediately, a police officer handed over the printed WeChat chat records to Yu Wenshu. Nowadays, using WeChat as evidence has bemon in cases, with many financial transactions and rtionships being proven through WeChat. Yu Wenshu flipped through the WeChat chat records page by page. He had been following the case, but had not yet examined every piece of evidence in detail. Liu Jinghui had looked at the WeChat records before and mentioned, "Li Yanmin¡¯s mobile phone signal was cut off on the 9th. Whether he was under the killer¡¯s control during that time is still uncertain, but it¡¯s a direction for investigation." Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t very optimistic about this lead. The victim¡¯s vige had mostly leased itsnd for factory construction. There wererge factories with a workforce of one to two thousand people and small operations with just a few to a dozen workers. Many self-built houses in the vige had been subdivided into rentals, and some factories even had built dormitories. The environment wasplex, and the poption was mixed. Obtaining useful clues from such a ce was impossible with simple inquiries; it required a level of investigation equivalent to a search operation. Liu Jinghui was not daunted by searches, and with skills like those of Xu Taining, it was something he too was capable of, albeit it would just take a little longer to summon. Moreover, with Jiang Yuan present this time, the concern was not the search itself. The issue was that locating the mobile phone was far from finding the murderer. The phone being in the killer¡¯s possession was merely a guess, not even a reasoned inference, and even if the phone were found, it didn¡¯t necessarily lead to the killer. On the other hand, as a high-value item, a mobile phone itself has a strong level of mobility. An easy assumption to make¡ªif the killer had discarded the phone by the roadside, how long could it stay in a ce teeming with transient people? Furthermore, under the current mobile phone cirction model, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising if a phone picked up and sold by someone reached Huaqiangbei within 24 hours. Liu Jinghui would not rmend a manpower and resource-intensive search for such a clue unless it was ast resort. "I think we should focus more on the time of death," Liu Jinghui trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s findings more. In his mind, he had a level of trust in various pieces of evidence, but this was something he would not ordinarily express. Yu Wenshu trusted Liu Jinghui as well and asked, "Director Liu, what do you think?" Liu Jinghui said, "First of all, I see that Captain Ma¡¯s team has already started working on the earlier time of death. Therefore, previous investigations should also be adjusted ordingly, such as surveince footage, content from vehicle checkpoint recordings, and witness ounts from inquiries. We should extend these to at least before the 7th." Ma Jiyang nodded from the side, "We¡¯re working on that." "Secondly, how did the killer manage to create such a discrepancy in the time of death? It must not be amon technique, right?" Liu Jinghui looked towards Jiang Yuan and asked, "If we can solve this problem, perhaps the case will be solved as well." In reasoning through cases, if there are situations that clearly defy logic, exining that situation often tends to exin the entire case¡ªthis was Liu Jinghui¡¯s underlying thought process. "I¡¯ve been considering this issue all day. There are indeed some methods, but which specific one it is, we need to see the results of various examinations," Jiang Yuan said, making a particr note, "I¡¯ve sent arge number of specimens for examination to the Toxicology Laboratory, Physical and Chemical Laboratory, Trace Evidence Laboratory, and DNA Laboratory. The queue is full; let¡¯s see what the results show." "I¡¯ll have someone expedite it for you, move you up the queue," Yu Wenshu immediately said. Without sufficient evidence, even Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills couldn¡¯t be effectively utilized. The case analysis and discussion reached this point. Jiang Yuan quickly reviewed his technical checklist and said, "I¡¯ll go to the Image Investigation unit then, see if Director Liu¡¯s surveince can yield anything." Chapter 904 - 842: Anticorrosion

Chapter 904: Chapter 842: Anticorrosion

Liu Jinghui, using his wit, apanied Jiang Yuan to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. In themand center of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade in Changyang City, there were screens of various types filled the room. Whether they were all necessary was uncertain, but they certainly conveyed a high-tech feeling. The detectives there seemed well-educated, and some could change camera angles simply by using keyboards. Liu Jinghui stood in the back, watching Jiang Yuan direct the detectives through the surveince footage. His eyes were fixed on the screens ahead, but his mind had already started to wander. Handling numerous cases could sometimes be a burden. For Liu Jinghui, he had worked on simple and intricate minor cases, cruel and bloody major cases, high-profile cases of concern to leadership, and profound espionage cases; any and all seemed potentially applicable to today¡¯s case. Concerning the identity of the perpetrator, it could be an ignorant crime of passion or a premeditated murder, and the possibility of a professional using expert methods couldn¡¯t be ruled out either. If this were an American blockbuster, Liu Jinghui would now consider suspects like former CIA agents or KGB spies, or perhaps advanced terrorists who could concoct a drug in ab that confuses the time of death. Of course, if this were merely a detective novel, Liu Jinghui would consider moremon methods avable to the average person. For example, lowering the temperature of the air conditioning to dy the decay of the body, simr to refrigerating food, which is a mild method and hard to detect unless one is looking. With a thought, Liu Jinghui¡¯s brow furrowed even deeper. The perpetrator painstakingly altered the time of death surely with a purpose in mind, typically this indicates an acquaintance involved to manufacture an alibi. In popr Japanese detective dramas, scenes where the murderer frantically works to establish an alibi, followed by the protagonist rushing to prove the murderer had the opportunity tomit the crime by ruling out their alibi, often ur. They run tirelessly towards the sunlight, towards their dreams, their striving a representation of the Heisei era¡¯s spirit... father. "Has the victim¡¯s father passed away? Are there any close rtives remaining?" Liu Jinghui brought his thoughts back. A detective beside him quickly flipped through the files and said, "There are no immediate family members left." "List the victim¡¯s most frequent contacts in a chart and arrange them," Liu Jinghui said to Wang Chuanxing. This task wasn¡¯t as simple as it sounded, and he wasn¡¯t confident letting an unfamiliar young detective handle it. Wang Chuanxing acknowledged and asked, "Do you think it was still done by someone familiar?" "It¡¯s hard to say," sighed Liu Jinghui, sharing his recent conjectures. "If the perpetrator¡¯s goal was to create an alibi, then it suggests it might be someone familiar..." Liu Jinghui paused then added, "At the moment, we can¡¯t ascertain how it was done, but logically, the chances of it being someone familiar are fairly high." "I¡¯ll ry this to Captain Ma, their initial n probably was to start with the victim¡¯s acquaintances," Wang Chuanxing pulled out his phone. Liu Jinghui nodded, his brow still deeply furrowed. If the case could be solved this easily, it wouldn¡¯t be deserving. And if investigating the circle of acquaintances yields no results, where would this case head next? Liu Jinghui stood in the hall, wracking his brain, pondering intensely. Jiang Yuan also directed his team, constantly reviewing surveince footage from a few days prior. Evening. The night grew denser, and Jiang Yuan finally released the mouse, saying, "This position, it¡¯s really difficult to identify any suspicious vehicles." Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone had a touch of disappointment. With his expertise, as long as something was captured by the surveince, even if slightly blurry, he could enhance the image and restore it. In addition, the Level 3 Technical Defense Monitoring system entails skills to build an entire surveince system from the ground up, thus using ites naturally. However, all these skills are very useful, but without suspicious vehicles, even the best skills cannot be utilized. "Looking at it this way, the murderer might be quite familiar with the nearby environment, at least to the extent of avoiding monitored intersections," Liu Jinghui said, frowning again. Mu Zhiyang whispered, "Wasn¡¯t it mentioned earlier that it was an inside job?" "An inside job is deduced usingmon sense and doesn¡¯t have any evidence to support it," Liu Jinghui shook his head. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s frown deepened: "Isn¡¯t reasoning not supposed to require evidence?" "Who said reasoning doesn¡¯t need evidence!" Liu Jinghui burst out upon hearing this, rolling up his sleeves and said, "Wait a minute, I¡¯ll exin this to you properly..." "Director Liu..." Jiang Yuan quickly interjected, "It¡¯s time to go back for dinner." "We can¡¯t sit down and have a proper meal if the case remains unsolved," Liu Jinghui sighed, "Let¡¯s just go back and have some instant noodles." "No, there are plenty of opportunities to eat instant noodles, if you want noodles... I¡¯ll make a call." Jiang Yuan, still seemingly calm, quickly made a call before continuing, "I¡¯ve asked for a pot of noodles to be delivered to the police station, let¡¯s eat together. By the way, Director Liu, are you going home for dinner?" Liu Jinghui twitched the corners of his mouth and nced outside at the time, "At this hour, what kind of dinner can I have at home? Let¡¯s just treat it as if I¡¯m on a business trip." Jiang Yuan and the others were indeed on a business trip and had nowhere else to go. They gathered in the cafeteria of the criminal investigation brigade, waiting for the chef to cook the noodles. What Jiang Yuan had delivered was beef soup and beef already cooked. The chef simply ran noodles through a noodle press, boiled them in hot water, poured over the soup, added beef, and sprinkled some green onions and coriander, thuspleting this bowl of beef noodles. The key point of this dinner was the soup, a thick broth made from arge amount of beef and beef bones, and then extra beef was added. A bowl of noodles, half a bowl of soup, and one-third bowl of beef; how the noodles taste, how they are seasoned, and how the side dishes are prepared are of no great consequence. Most officers in the special case squad are young and strong, devouring bowl after bowl of noodles, with three chefs in the cafeteria¡ªone to press noodles and two others to cook and serve noodles¡ªbarely managing to keep up. Jiang Yuan joyously consumed three bowls of noodles before pushing his bowl aside and taking a break. At that moment, Wan Baoming rushed over with a file folder. "A new report from the Physical and Chemical Laboratory, take a look," Wan Baoming said, devoid of any jest, meaning it was serious business. "Let¡¯s move to another table." Jiang Yuan stood up, moved to a clean table nearby, and began reading the file. The Physical and Chemical Laboratory mainly performs physical and chemical analyses, which sounds prestigious but, like the Toxicology Laboratory, can only identify or recognize familiar chemicalpounds. Therefore, if it¡¯s a regr case, theboratory would perform routine tests and then draw a conclusion. But in major cases, or ones involving senior officers like Jiang Yuan, theboratory¡¯s testing scope is forced to expand. After testingmonpounds, umon ones also need continuous testing, keeping the technicians busy till evening. The report Wan Baoming brought was the fruit of this busy day. The first page inside the folder, highlighted by the main achievement of the Physical and Chemical Laboratory with a red line, illustrates the hardships self-reported by theboratory. "Cefoperazone sodium and sulbactam sodium?" Jiang Yuan read out loud, quickly realizing the significance. This substance is used for injections, highly effective in treatment, and the bacteria it can kill are useful not only in living bodies but also in deceased ones. If injected in sufficient quantity, it can significantly reduce decay after death and act as a preservative. Chapter 905 - 843: Determining Time of Death

Chapter 905: Chapter 843: Determining Time of Death

Liu Jinghui also came over and asked, "What do you mean?" "The victim was injected with arge amount of antibiotics, cefoperazone sodium and tazobactam sodium, which are types of third-generation cephalosporin mostly used in hospitals and less often in small clinics," Jiang Yuan exined to Liu Jinghui before adding, "But the management of antibiotics in the country is not strict, making it easy to purchase cefoperazone." Liu Jinghui was surprised, "Was it administered after death?" "How could that be possible," Jiang Yuan shook his head, "Once a person is dead, normal fluid injections are not feasible. Moreover, the marks left by the needles would be different. If the needle had been inserted post-mortem, it would have been discovered. This victim, Li Yanmin, was injected with fluids before death, and likely over several days. After death, as metabolism stops,rge amounts of antibiotics would spread throughout the body tissues, acting as an antibacterial agent. Looking at this physical and chemical report, thest samples used were extracted on the first day..." Liu Jinghui then slightly understood and asked, "So, you mean, Li Yanmin was receiving fluid injections for several days before death? Was he really sick, or was he forced to be on drip?" "It appears he was really sick; indications of an infection were found in his lungs during the autopsy, though it was mild. Moreover, the needle marks on the back of his hand were also confirmed during the first autopsy, but at that time, we didn¡¯t consider this angle and didn¡¯t screen for his medication use," Jiang Yuan said as he shook his head, adding that ordinary cold medicine would have been metabolized in a few days, so there wasn¡¯t a need to screen for it. Units like the Physical and Chemical Laboratory are always extremely busy; it¡¯s not like detectives can just bring a bunch of stuff over and expect them to check everything. It¡¯s more likely they¡¯d get scolded terribly. Demanding detailed investigations of criminal cases and even homicides by police is ultimately a result of the "CSI effect," reflecting public¡¯s excessive expectations of forensic science, whereas real criminal cases can¡¯t possibly get the level of technical resources seen on TV shows, and some techniques aren¡¯t even feasible. Simrly, when something like needle marks are found, forensic doctors will certainly give them attention, but the first thought is usually drug use. Once the samples are sent to the Toxicology Laboratory for routine drug testing, that¡¯s basically the conclusion. Unless the special team has additional evidence or demands, for example, indications that the deceased was using some new type of drug, only then wouldparative tests be conducted. Otherwise, the investigation into evidence provided by needle marks would end there. A corpse can provide plenty of evidence, but most of it won¡¯t help in solving the case. In this case, during the second autopsy Jiang Yuan conducted, the skin on the back of the hand was already deteriorated, making it pointless to worry about the needle marks. Additionally, the lungs had already been removed. Even if it was his first autopsy, the needle marks and minor lung infection might not mean much and could coincidentally exin each other. Though an ordinary person might get an upper respiratory tract infection when having a cold, it¡¯s alsomon nowadays for a cold to develop into mild pneumonia. Li Yanmin closed his clinic that day, likely because he felt unwell and, believing he had a lung infection, administered fluids and strong antibiotics to himself. Or perhaps, he initially used ordinary antibiotics, felt they were ineffective, and switched to cefoperazone. In that case, his choice wasn¡¯t wrong, and without additional support like CT scans or blood tests, he probably felt quite ufortable; using cefoperazone injections was also appropriate. Given that he had worked in a clinic for many years, he might have grown less sensitive to the second-generation cephalosporins... "Li Yanmin administering fluids to himself, including using cefoperazone sodium and tazobactam sodium, is likely unrted to his death and the murderer," Jiang Yuan thought it over, put down the physical and chemical report, and came to this conclusion: "It¡¯s probably a coincidence that because he was sick and administering fluids, he was in a state with high drug concentration when he was murdered, which resulted in the preservation effect on his body." Even Liu Jinghui, who was widely experienced, was a bit speechless at this time. All this effort, and the result is a conclusion unrted to the case! Liu Jinghui took a deep breath and silently reminded himself: Any evidence is useful. Muttering to himself, Liu Jinghui slowly said, "If Li Yanmin was still in need of IV drips when he died, then his physical condition must not have been good and he should have been resting at home. So, either there was something urgent that made him leave the house, or he must have been at the clinic." Li Yanmin usually lived in a bedroom above the clinic and also owned a small rental property in a town near Changyang City; it was unlikely he would have stayed there. Jiang Yuan nodded, agreeing with Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning. Wan Baoming, a bit anxious on the side, asked, "We¡¯ve been to the clinic twice, there were no signs of forced entry, nor did we find any evidence that it was the primary crime scene. In this case, was it still someone familiar whomitted the crime? If it was someone familiar, and the crime scene was not at the clinic, then where was it?" "Could it be possible that someone came to visit Li Yanmin if he was sick?" Liu Jinghui took out his notebook and began to write things down, then he instructed Wang Chuanxing, "How many mobile phones did Li Yanmin have? Sort out his call logs, as well as WeChat and text messages, especially those from the 5th to the 8th; focus on analyzing these." "Okay." Wang Chuanxing also began to write diligently. These were tasks Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were skilled at, no need for Yu Wenshu¡¯s team to intervene. "The death urred on the 7th." Jiang Yuan also calcted and looked up, saying, "Now that we¡¯ve identified the reason why the degree of body dposition doesn¡¯t match our expectations, it¡¯s rtively easier to determine the time of death. It can be basically confirmed as the 7th." The determination of the time of death by Level 6 was now in full swing. "This is good news." Liu Jinghui nodded repeatedly, "Finally, we have some gains. From this it seems that on the night of the 4th, the victim Li Yanmin closed his clinic because he was feeling unwell and began medicating himself. After going through the 5th and 6th, by the 7th, the concentration of drugs in his body was very high, which unfortunately led to his misfortune." "On the 8th, Li Yanmin¡¯s mobile phone still sent messages to others." Wan Baoming spoke in a low voice, "If he died on the 7th, then the messages on the 8th were sent by the killer." "Were they sent from the vige?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Yes, they were sent from the vige. He turned off his phone on the evening of the 7th, turned it on the next morning and sent a few messages, then turned it off again and it disappeared after that." Wan Baoming reiterated the previous information, then said, "We¡¯ve traced the mobile phone before, but we don¡¯t have good leads to follow." "Now that we have confirmed the time of death, we can conclusively determine that the killer was in the vige for at least two days, likely staying there." Liu Jinghui¡¯s conclusion was not unusual; due to the presence of factory dorms and rented houses, the vige had a long-standing poption of over ten thousand people, making it difficult to find the killer under such bustling conditions. Despite this, Liu Jinghui¡¯s mood started to rise as he spoke, "To further borate, there are quite a few surveince cameras in the vige. At least the central area and several major thoroughfares are monitored, and some factory entrances also have cameras. If the time of death is confirmed as the 7th, the killer likely appeared in the vige on that day. Most importantly, the killer wasn¡¯t alone; at least it¡¯s unlikely that a single person could dispose of the body, right?" "Uh-huh, the victim weighed about 180 pounds, not dismembered, and had no bumps or bruises on his body. If it was one person moving the body, they would have to be very strong." Jiang Yuan also hadn¡¯tpletely ruled out the possibility of a single personmitting the crime, but such strength would usually be apparent. "The crime scene and vige surveince footage, I think can be further studied." Liu Jinghui brought up the surveince footage once again. Chapter 906 - 844: Key Points

Chapter 906: Chapter 844: Key Points

Before Dawn. The group drove over a hundred kilometers to reach Yueyang Vige. A portion of the officers was tasked with finding all avable surveince videos as much as possible and sending them back to the Criminal Investigation Brigade by car. The rest continued to look for more surveince footage, contacting people by phone to collect it. Some apanied Jiang Yuan to re-examine the crime scene. By now, it was essentially acknowledged that this case was a normal criminal case involving elements of luck, and Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t give any special instructions like increasing personnel. He simply filled his stomach and waited in the Image Reconnaissance Brigade office. asionally, Liu Jinghui would also like to visit the crime scene, as it helps him construct the crime in his mind. But this crime scene had already been meticulously inspected, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s second investigation bore no significant fruit; whatever Jiang Yuan could perceive, Liu Jinghui could not, so he did not join in the bustle. The night grew deep. The office of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade was bing increasingly crowded. The detectives of the Image Investigation were called in on short notice. For detectives of this level of the brigade, it is rtively unusual to work overtime through the night, which generally happens only in major cases, incidents involving leadership¡¯s friends losing their bags, and so on. Usually, the higher the level of the unit, the more regr the hours, and at the brigade level, they can mostly stick to normal office hours. Unless it¡¯s when a super specialist like Jiang Yuan is involved in the case. By the time the first batch of surveince videos was retrieved, Yu Wenshu had rushed over, not to mention the other police officers. Actions speak louder than words. Don¡¯t look at what the leader says in meetings; look at what he does afterward. If a leader likes to chat with pretty female subordinates, then the good-looking male subordinates will have to... look for opportunities through intermediaries... If the leader usually respects a certain technician, then the subordinates will think twice before causing trouble. Yu Wenshu had spent so much money on Jiang Yuan and even reverse-transferred so many elite officers to Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. Such an investment would be painfully significant for any brigade, which itself speaks for Yu Wenshu¡¯s choice. At two o¡¯clock in the morning, Jiang Yuan returned to Changyang City and went directly to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. He had slept in the car to and fro and felt fairly energetic now. Upon entering the office and taking a couple of sips of water, he said, "Li Yanmin¡¯s residence should not be ruled out as the primary crime scene." This statement didn¡¯t seem different from the previous judgment on the surface, but it actually was. The officers present knew that "not be ruled out" is cop jargon, roughly tranted to: It¡¯s possible, but I can¡¯t find any evidence. It might sound unreasonable, but in fact, evidence itself has high standards. It¡¯s a requirementid out by the public to protect their own interests, not the only standard that police need to adhere to. Making a conviction without evidence would certainly lead to wrongful convictions. But the police, being human, are not solely reliant on evidence to make judgments. It¡¯s like a student who, after attending a semester¡¯s sses, can easily pass judgment without definitive evidence: XX is an idiot! Or a worker who, after just a week, can point out without any proof: Except for XX and XXX, the rest are all pure morons! When Liu Jinghui heard there was no evidence, he perked up and said, "Tell me more in detail." Yu Wenshu, Ma Jiyang, and others also sat up straight to listen. Jiang Yuan thought about his words and said, "Based on the crime scene investigation, the victim¡¯s bedroom likely had a carpet, right next to the bed. This is because the imprint on the floor is not evenly distributed. My guess is that Li Yanmin was hit and fell onto the carpet, and the assant rolled him up in it and took the whole thing away." As Jiang Yuan said this, he spread his hands and continued, "But this can¡¯t be ascertained. Too much time has passed, and his room receives quite amount of sunlight." "Was there any fiber evidence on the victim?" Liu Jinghui was knowledgeable in this area. "If it was a woolen carpet, it would not survive in the reed beds," Jiang Yuan exined. "After such a long time, it would have mostly dposed. Wool, being a natural polymer fiber, tends to dpose easily in warm and humid environments. Plus, there have been rains intermittently over the past several days, washing away any remaining wool." "Woolen carpets aren¡¯t cheap. Turns out that the more expensive materials are the least useful," Ma Jiyang couldn¡¯t help but remark. Mu Zhiyang answered on behalf of Jiang Yuan, "It¡¯s possible the person who bought the wool carpet never nned to die on it." Ma Jiyang gave a thumbs up: "That makes a lot of sense." "Another key point," emphasized Jiang Yuan, "Although Li Yanmin¡¯s bedroom once had a carpet, no one knows if there was still a carpet there during the period leading up to his death. Li Yanmin had very limited interactions with rtives, and the few female acquaintances he had almost never turned into girlfriends." "How did he solve his physiological needs then?" Liu Jinghui immediately noticed this crucial issue. Jiang Yuan paused, recalling the scene, and said, "I didn¡¯t see anything for personal use, but there were two boxes of condoms. Self-service?" "Maybe there¡¯s some secret mistress?" Liu Jinghui seemed to think of something, chuckled, then became serious again, "Proximity breeds adultery, gambling leads to theft. He couldn¡¯t have been killed for no reason. If it involved an affair, that would exin it well." "An affair means the woman is married, isn¡¯t that thrilling? Instead of finding a girlfriend for himself, he goes for someone else¡¯s?" Wang Chuanxing found the idea exciting. "Maybe it¡¯s true love?" Mu Zhiyang countered. "True love should lead to divorce. What era are we living in? There¡¯s nothing wrong with divorcing." Liu Jinghui scoffed, "Maybe it¡¯s the wife of a brother, uncle, or cousin. Is it easy to be Emperor Xuanzong of Tang?" "Is that even possible?" Wang Chuanxing wanted to say he didn¡¯t understand, but the reference to Emperor Xuanzong made it clear. Though still puzzled, he had a sudden realization. "That¡¯s why you should never assume that the only matters in a vige are trivial," Liu Jinghui was widening the younger officers¡¯ horizons with his remarks, which were deliberately concise. "If you dig deeper, you¡¯ll find everything in the vige from trivial disputes, to grievances as serious as disinheriting fathers, poisoning brothers to covet their wives, and deceiving mothers and fooling with sisters." After a pause, Liu Jinghui continued, "Of course, with this case, the possibility of the perpetrator being an acquaintance has increased again, though at present, we can only start with the surveince footage. Tomorrow morning, we¡¯ll ask around in the vige to see if there¡¯s any such situation." "Let¡¯s start with the surveince footage then," Jiang Yuan said, holding a pot of ginseng tea, and sat behind the monitor wall, letting the Image Investigation officers begin their work. Mr. Jiang asionally studied health maintenance issues. When he called Jiang Yuan at dinner time and learned that his son would be workingte, he immediately called a familiar tea shop in Changyang City and had them deliver some cooked ginseng tea. Jiang Yuan naturally did not refuse. He sipped the tea while waiting to view the surveince footage. The quality of the surveince footage collected from the vige was varied; putting aside resolution, many cameras were installed in unsuitable locations, and some couldn¡¯t even capture the full license te. The Image Reconnaissance Brigade also had corresponding software to read these videos, especially those rted to vehicle surveince footage. There were mature solutions for identifying stolen vehicles, vehicles without tes, or those with obscured license tes. Additionally, the trajectory of vehicles was one of the criteria for judgment, such as cars suddenly slowing down, circling in a particr area, or passing the same intersection multiple times. These details are often difficult to detect manually, but using software, a list of suspicious vehicles could be generated quickly. Jiang Yuan also prioritized viewing these suspicious vehicles. After watching, he filtered out several suspect vehicles, recorded them aside, and then closely watched the afternoon¡¯s traffic. He now had a clearer estimation of the time of death but didn¡¯t disclose it. Given theplexity of the body¡¯s condition, his estimate¡¯s uracy was at most 70 percent, but this didn¡¯t prevent Jiang Yuan from focusing more attention on this time period. Sip... Slurp... Jiang Yuan drank his ginseng tea, asionally jotting down the license tes of suspicious vehicles. There were many reasons for suspicion, including but not limited to the direction of the vehicles, the type of vehicle, the number of upants, and so on. The list of license tes he noted exceeded a hundred. When morning came, the police officers would visit these car owners, following the list. If this round of visits bore no fruit, it might be time to call in Xu Taining. Chapter 907 - 845 - : Circle

Chapter 907: 845 Chapter: Circle

Early morning. A refreshing breeze. Bright dew still hangs on the flirtatious willow branches, the bluish-white roadbed remains untouched and sleepless, the green grass has just escaped from the mouth of an old cow; Yu Wenshu then gets into the cold-seated BYD car, heading towards Yueyang Vige for visits. The list of over a hundred households is Yu Wenshu¡¯sst hope, if no suspects are identified among these people, Jiang Yuan will have to make use of Xu Taining. Under such circumstances, even though Yu Wenshu no longer needed to be onsite, he still personally led the team and took the car. The investigation would probably be simr with or without him, but the level of diligence and meticulousness would definitely not be the same. And now that they have entered the stage of investigative visits, being diligent and meticulous is the most crucial thing. Yu Wenshu gently pats this newly bought BYD, feeling extremely reluctant. It is impossible for a police officer not to have a vehicle; you should give up on the cases, buy a good car... Yu Wenshu now naturally dares not to buy a luxurious car. Being a brigademander and only buying a car costing about one hundred thousand, he fears being targeted by Huang Qiangmin. But all these are based on the premise that the Criminal Police Brigade still has a budget. Otherwise, once Xu Taining arrives, the budget will be depleted, at that point not to mention buying cars, even maintaining the cost of the vehicle fleet might be a burden. But to say not to use Xu Taining... Yu Wenshu absolutely wouldn¡¯t agree. What is the Criminal Police Brigade for? The Criminal Police Brigade is the safety for all provincial-level criminal police teams. Cases they can¡¯t crack, cases that are difficult to investigate, as well as significant, severe, and highly influential cases, can all be handed over to the Criminal Police Brigade. It can be said that the Criminal Police Brigade is the deterrent force of the Shannan Province criminal investigation system. A police force without deterrent power is worthless, and all exnations are pale. Thus, it is essential to ensure thebat readiness of the Criminal Police Brigade. At least in Yu Wenshu¡¯s view, this is the meaning and value of the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s existence. Even if all the funds are spent, even if all the cars in the team are sold, Yu Wenshu still has ways to rise again, but only the failure to solve cases would truly lead them to a path of dejection. Snicker... "Jiang Yuan, how are you feeling? Tired or not?" As they approached their destination, Yu Wenshu felt a bit tired, so he switched on the walkie-talkie to check on Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, groggy from sleep, opened his eyes to check the location, rubbed his face, and said, "I¡¯m okay, just a bit ufortable from staying upte. Where do we start our investigation from?" "I see you marked grades one to three, so shall we start from the ones with the highest suspicion, grade three?" Yu Wenshu¡¯s tone throughout was consultative. "As you say." Jiang Yuan underscored the discipline embodied by a disciplined force. "Then let¡¯s start from ID 301." Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t always have to be polite, and issued a series of orders through the walkie-talkie. After parking, more than a dozen detectives quickly assembled and followed Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan, apanying them on their mission. Disciplined forces, naturally, are about maintaining discipline. These more than ten people were all supposed to apany Yu Wenshu and Jiang Yuan for the visits. Conducting visits with so many people naturally seems wasteful; normally visits are done in pairs to maximize coverage¡ªwhat, fewer households to visit? Then optimize by reducing manpower, not just throwing more people to save time. However, the standard for the brigademander is different; the Criminal Police Brigade is already considered arge unit. Yu Wenshu has quite a few office police officers in hismand, and this time around, several people apanying him are also office police officers. Now was the time for those who should take photos for propaganda, those who should y up their parts, and those who disy "I also worked on the frontline in my day," to take the lead. People like Mu Zhiyang who followed Jiang Yuan did their parts, wielding their shields. Mu Zhiyang even immediately inserted the ceramic armor te into his chest. These things, reportedly, are not favored bymon American soldiers in Iraq because they hinder movement and are heavy, but those who dislike them are usually those who have never been shot at. Ask those who¡¯ve been shot and protected by a ceramic armor te, and they¡¯ll say they "love it". Thud thud. A local police officer from the precinct stepped forward and knocked on the door. After several shouts, the door opened, and a man wearing a T-shirt stepped out, then froze at the door. More than a dozen police officers, all in uniform, the impact was undoubtedly excessive. "This is..." The man couldn¡¯t even manage a smile. "Li Zhaoxin, is it?" The officer didn¡¯t mean to arrest him but first asked his name. The man nodded repeatedly: "Yes, that¡¯s me, what¡¯s this about?" "You drove past this intersection several times in the past few days, do you remember?" The officer didn¡¯t follow up his question but instead asked directly. ID 301 Li Zhaoxin¡¯s suspicion level was elevated to level three, including reasons like frequent driving urrences and tendencies to move out at night. Besides, the old Hignder he drove often had two or three persons in it, enough to transport a corpse. Moving out at night, needless to say, means avoiding public eyesight and decreasing exposure frequency, but for some people, it¡¯s they only use cars at night, which can only be part of the suspicion. Frequent driving carries a higher level of suspicion; from the police point of view, such instances most often ur when the suspect is staking out or tailing someone. Image Investigation¡¯s current software, drawing out the crime target area and the address of the victim among other target areas, would automatically analyze vehicles with unusual activities based on set parameters like traffic frequency threshold and time period. Therefore, it was not without reason that Li Zhaoxin became the first person to be visited. Li Zhaoxin was somewhat flustered, but still managed to say normally: "Are you talking about the nights of the 7th and 8th? I went to pick up the brothers." "borate a bit." "Just drinking some alcohol, having a barbecue in the yard, I drove to the high-speed rail station to pick them up..." Li Zhaoxin¡¯s psychological quality was good, and as he spoke, his tone stabilized: "The high-speed rail station is not far away, it¡¯s just that people arrived at different times, after eating and drinking, they rested in the guest room for a night, then I took them away the next day after eating something..." Yueyang Vige is quite close to Changyang City East Station, less than a 30-minute drive away. The area is lively partly due to the high-speed rail station, as many small factories can hire people more easily. Some workers whose homes are along the high-speed rail line can leave home in the morning and be back in a couple of hours, making them more willing to work here. The officers at the police station felt that Li Zhaoxin¡¯s description matched the local lifestyle, they asked another question but subtly nced aside. The criminal police waiting on the side took over the questioning for a few minutes before stepping back under the gaze of the superiors. "Don¡¯t leave the city recently," the squadron leader Ma Jiyang warned Li Zhaoxin before leaving. After all, he had umted several suspicions, and was even ranked high on the list this time; there might still be a possibility that they¡¯ll need to find him again. If he disappears by then, the suspicion towards him would be even higher. The group then proceeded to visit suspect number 204, as other investigators had already inquired suspects number 302, 303, and number 2. Visiting was tiring and bothersome, yet everyone still had to remain alert and handle it. Yu Wenshu hadn¡¯t been on the front line for a while, but he had no intention of backing down either. Compared to meetings, this work was rtively easier. Visits were often just walking from one house to another, and many suspects who didn¡¯t seem as suspicious on paper often slipped up during these visits. In general, visiting investigations and screenings are simr; the only difference is that screening has a clear purpose and a defined direction, while visiting investigations are still in the preliminary stage of investigation, requiring a lot of initiative. Jiang Yuan was also learning along. Forensic doctors normally don¡¯t do this basic groundwork. In fact, at the county bureau level, a forensic doctor¡¯s job is considered the mostfortable position; technical police officers cannot say the same - they need to handle their specified tasks and when manpower is short, they also have to do the most basic tasks. Most of the time at the county bureau, there is ack of manpower. However, Jiang Yuan, had fewer opportunities to engage directly at the front lines, hence his mindset was different. As they continued house-to-house, it was noon by the time they reached house number 135, which was towards the end of the list. The elderly man who opened the door looked stubborn. Seeing the police, he first frowned, then asked irritably, "What do you want?" The station officer, maintaining his image in front of his superiors, smiled at the old man before asking: "We noticed you have a utility vehicle that went out the other night. What were you doing then?" "Which other night?" "The 8th." "What day of the week was that?" "Wednesday." "That was when I went to handle manure." The old man pursed his lips: "You young people nowadays don¡¯t understand farming at all. The stuff grown with chemical fertilizers just doesn¡¯t taste the same..." "Do you often handle manure?" This was also a question indirectly verifying the authenticity. The old man grunted, "asionally, I take some to fertilize the vegetables I grow for myself." "There was another person in the car, right? Who was it?" While asking, the officer took notes. "My son!" "Do you have a phone number? Please tell us." "I can¡¯t remember the number; it¡¯s in my phone." "Then please find it for us, we¡¯ll leave a number to verifyter." "You¡¯re still going to call my son?" The old man said, bing a bit upset, taking out his phone and flipping through it while muttering in the local dialect: "The real culprits aren¡¯t caught, just bothering usmon folk day by day..." "Who should be caught?" Ma Jiyang, understanding, asked. The old man scornfully said, "Don¡¯t act dumb, what about those whorehouses, why aren¡¯t they caught?" "Prostitution? Where?" Ma Jiyang frowned. "What are you acting for, don¡¯t the police know?" The old man didn¡¯t believe. "We are from the city bureau." Ma Jiyang could only exin so, and said: "Exactly which one, tell me, and we¡¯ll go right away." The old man chuckled twice, then muttered: "That one next to the ¡¯Beautiful Countryside¡¯ slogan, shameless..." Before Ma Jiyang and others could respond, Yu Wenshu, with his photographic memory, quickly stood up: "It¡¯s house number 301!" Chapter 908 - 846: Capturing Someone

Chapter 908: Chapter 846: Capturing Someone

When over a dozen criminal investigators returned to the residencebeled number 301 of Li Zhaoxin, the atmosphere had already shifted dramatically. Not only Mu Zhiyang, but several young criminal investigators had also donned stab-resistant vests brought over by their colleagues in haste. They were in the front lines with the leadership of the support team, the moment to show courage and take the lead. There was no need for words of caution; by this point, there was no room for retreat. If you wanted to y it safe... the fair-weather second-generation couldn¡¯t even get close to the leadership, and the other young detectives didn¡¯t need any motivating at this stage. "Surround the area and secure a few intersections nearby," Yu Wenshu personallymanded, adding an implied directive without stating it explicitly. One extra word would mean needing an additional team of officers, so sometimes, the big leaders need to be a bit tougher. "Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re with me," Yu Wenshu said, fearing Jiang Yuan would rush forward and volunteer for the most dangerous tasks. If he really went ahead, it would be difficult for Yu Wenshu to pull him back, so he held onto his arm now, keeping him at the rear. "Chief Yu, put on some gear." Another officer arrived panting, delivering several more stab-resistant vests and bulletproof vests. "No rush, let the guys up front wear them first. I¡¯ll put one on when the gear arrives," Yu Wenshu said while handing one to Jiang Yuan, "You wear one first." Ordinary prostitution rings generally don¡¯t have firearms; after all, they conduct business openly and firearms are hard to obtain, useless, and too easily stolen by the girls to cause trouble. So, the people in the back like Yu Wenshu would not be in much danger whether they wore bulletproof vests or not. But Yu Wenshu wanted to treat Jiang Yuan differently, to express a sincere favoritism. Changyang City cannotpare with Beijing bureaus, but we have genuine emotions and persistent love! Yu Wenshu gazed at Jiang Yuan with heartfelt intensity. "Thank you, Chief Yu." What else could Jiang Yuan say? He could only don the bulletproof vest that Yu Wenshu gave him. Soon, another police car arrived, the trunk opened to reveal even more stab-resistant vests and bulletproof vests, equipping Yu Wenshu and the others fully. After a few more questions on the radio, confirming that the squad cars and officers at the checkpoints were in position, Yu Wenshu gestured downwards with a forceful press of his hand, decisivelymanding, "Move out!" The apanying publicity officer immediately turned the camera, with its red light shing, towards the entrance. Thump thump thump. Two officers approached to knock on the door and then stepped back two paces, leaving a gap. It wasn¡¯t certain to Yu Wenshu and his team that Li Zhaoxin of residence 301 was the perpetrator of this case, but judging only from the cellphone numbers and information gathered from inquiries, there was a high likelihood of him running a prostitution operation. This was different from dealing with ordinary suspects. If he was a suspect, even deploying a helicopter by the police to catch him would be their own choice. Li Zhaoxin quickly opened the door, and upon seeing the heavily armed police outside, fell into confusion once more. "What are you here for?" Li Zhaoxin tried to speak again. The officers at the door only needed to ensure he was not holding a gun in his hand, and there were no long gun barrels protruding from the second floor, to ignore him further. The two at the entrance nked him on both sides, pressing Li Zhaoxin against the wall to clear the doorway, asking, "How many people are inside the house? Tell the truth!" Li Zhaoxin swallowed, attempting one final resistance: "You can¡¯t enter without a warrant, do you have one?" "Haven¡¯t been struck down before, have you?" one of the young detectives nking him said, as opposed to the old veterans. Within specialized case teams, all were experienced officers who could intimidate Li Zhaoxin intopliance with just a look, adding, "We received a tip-off from the public. You are suspected of organizing prostitution; cooperate well for it could help reduce your sentence going forward." The other young investigator grimly added, "Organizing prostitution carries a sentence of five to ten years, and in severe cases even life imprisonment. If your people inside hurt a police officer, you can kiss your life goodbye, understand?" Using a threatening yet persuasive tone, the detective first applied full pressure, then offered a bit ofpassion¡ªa style that involved applying a three-pronged approach with one opening. When detectives operate outside, this is how they conduct themselves, especially when apprehending criminal suspects. Officers have to consider not only the possibility of resistance but also the risk of suspects injuring themselves or even dying. Death need not be mentioned. Here, any fatality warrants thorough scrutiny, and even self-inflicted injuries make writing reports an utter dread. Moreover, dealing with injured criminals at the hospital is all on the police; they can¡¯t just let the suspect run free, and doctors and nurses aren¡¯t expected to assist. Suffering through that out of filial duty is much more than for one¡¯s own father or mother. Therefore, when detectives arrest someone, speed is required in action, and in speech, one must encircle while leaving an opening. Li Zhaoxin was mped tightly by two criminal police officers, running was no longer an option. Overwhelmed by immense fear, he was forced to give the situation more thought and whispered softly, "Then I¡¯ll shout out, my brother is inside." "There¡¯s a suspect in the room, Li Zhaoxin¡¯s brother," the criminal police officer who had acquired the information turned around and bellowed himself before turning back and asking, "Who else is there? How many people in total?" "That¡¯s it, really, that¡¯s it," Li Zhaoxin said. "What about the girls? The clients?" "We don¡¯t do that here. We provide outcall service, delivering people to the hotels specified by the clients. We never go to private residences." "So what is this ce for? What are the roles of each of you here?" "Just my two brothers and me." Li Zhaoxin, seeing so many police officers flooding in, had lost the will to resist and instead argued, "We¡¯re actually saving fallen women here. Some girlse from poor families and can¡¯t earn money, they have nowhere to live, nothing to eat, so we ask if they¡¯re willing, then let them stay here for a while, just like a shelter abroad. We don¡¯t charge them, and if they¡¯re willing to work in a factory, we agree and support that too, with no coercion." The criminal police holding him immediately caught on, "So you create a family-like environment for these love-deprived girls, getting them to blend in, then, watching how the other ¡¯sisters¡¯ live in luxury and wear gold and silver, you tempt them into prostitution, right?" Li Zhaoxin gave an embarrassed chuckle, "Working in a factory is hard; you get just over 3000 yuan for 10 hours a day, and it takes 12 hours to earn 4000 yuan. Only by working weekends without break can you make 5000 yuan. With this sort ofbor, workerse back too exhausted to even think about ying with their smartphones, while earning so much less... right, it¡¯s also a personal choice." "Where did your other brother go?" The criminal police didn¡¯t miss a beat. Li Zhaoxin, thinking he had some new invention, was actually still following the most traditional procuress model, so-called coercion and temptation, one step short of outright forcing them. At this point, it wasn¡¯t known whether Li Zhaoxin used violent means, but that was something that could be verified by asking the involved prostitutes; it didn¡¯t need to be confirmed right now. Li Zhaoxin whispered, "He¡¯s taking someone there." "Where?" "To the previous express hotel." "Name?" "Hanting, the Hanting Changyang High-Speed Railway East Station Store." "Alright, call out to your brother. I¡¯ll remind you first, the officers up front are all armed, and all the roads at the nearby vige entrance are blocked by police cars. There¡¯s no escape." After saying that, the criminal police loosened their grip on Li Zhaoxin a bit and took off their left-hand glove to hold in their right hand, prepared to muzzle Li Zhaoxin at any moment. "Got it," Li Zhaoxin cleared his throat and then shouted loudly, "Third bro, the cops got me, there¡¯s a lot of them, there¡¯s no running away. Surrender, man. Do some time and you¡¯ll be out, no worries!" On the third floor, a shadow flitted past. "Bro, are you alright?" The person inside shouted through the window. Li Zhaoxin: "I¡¯m fine, alright physically, no injuries. That¡¯s it, we¡¯ve had our fun..." Third Bro, through the window: "Bro, I got it..." Bang! Thunk! Two SWAT officers rappelled from the rooftop, smashed through the window, and directly kicked Third Bro to the ground. Meanwhile, Mu Zhiyang and others also kicked down the door of the third-floor room and rushed in. The police were mainly there to confirm the number of people and their positions; they weren¡¯t really nning to wait for Third Bro to surrender. With so many police officers arriving, many of whom had trained hard for years with no opportunity to shine, they only regretted that the stage was too small, the opponents unarmed¡ªnone of them afraid of an unarmed struggle. "Are you hurt?" Li Zhaoxin shouted again before being pushed down. "That vige doctor at the vige entrance, Li Yanmin, is he your client?" Squad leader Ma Jiyang stepped forward at that moment and asked the critical question. Li Zhaoxin paused, his eyes betrayingplete panic. Chapter 909 - 847: Closed Loop

Chapter 909: Chapter 847: Closed Loop

"The guy was killed by Number Two, the fucking idiot." In the interrogation room, the boss Li Zhaoxin had already calmed down, asked for a cigarette, and smoked it with the silver bracelets on, just that his worried expression deepened as he smoked. Helping dispose of the corpse carries a prison sentence of up to three years, which he had already looked up, so after entering the police station, Li Zhaoxin gradually settled down. The way the police pointed out to him was not a bad way either. Organized prostitution carries a sentence of 5 to 10 years, as long as it doesn¡¯t get tagged as ck and evil, someone like him without the violent element, might just receive a term of seven to eight years, with another two or so years for disposing of a body, not even certain if it totals up to ten years. Behave well inside, and he could get out in just over eight years. So, in order to look good, Li Zhaoxin was very cooperative, spilling everything he knew. Ma Jiyang interrogated him personally: "Why did Number Two kill someone?" "A bunch of reasons, mainly because he¡¯s a fucking idiot," Li Zhaoxin couldn¡¯t help cursing again before continuing. "It started when he messed with that new girl, Xiao Ying. I warned him over and over not to screw our own, but he didn¡¯t listen. Then one day, Li Yanming picked her, and he wasn¡¯t happy about it. When he sent her over, he was talking shit..." "Write down the girl¡¯s name and phone number." Ma Jiyang waited for Li Zhaoxin to finish writing, then asked, "Don¡¯t you guys not do home deliveries? It should be to the hotel." "Li Yanming is a regr, right? When we first started, he was already cing orders, and the requirements weren¡¯t so strict back then. It was after a few incidents that we stopped going to the clients¡¯ homes, but for regrs, we still make home deliveries," Li Zhaoxin had no trouble talking about any of this. "Okay, continue, why did Number Two kill someone?" "Li Yanming¡¯s also got a screw loose. Every time he has a cold, he wants someone toe over to help him by sucking, saying that endorphins relieve pain and can alleviate cold symptoms, fucking moron. Anyway, it¡¯s not our concern, if he wants someone we send her. That day, that girl was being all coy, saying something about the flu being contagious and asking for an extra 600 yuan. Li Yanming bargained down to 300, said he¡¯d pay afterward, and the girl wasn¡¯t happy..." "Get to the point." Ma Jiyang was taking notes, he did enjoy when suspects prattled on about their crimes, but he wasn¡¯t so interested in this kind of prelude that seemed like motivation. Li Zhaoxin licked his lips, and after getting another cigarette, said, "They just argued a few sentences, I don¡¯t know the specifics, but nobody uses nice words in a fight. The girl got angry and went downstairs to find Number Two. Meanwhile, Li Yanming is hereining to me. Number Two went up and picked up an IV bottle, and hit Li Yanming with it." "And then?" "Then he was dead. Number Two knows how to hit people with a beer bottle, knows the force needed, but he never used an IV bottle before, hit too hard, and Li Yanming just went limp on the spot, shit and piss all over the carpet," Li Zhaoxin said with a sigh, "That¡¯s why I say not to mess with the girls, they¡¯re soft and twisty when you¡¯re doing it, then try to act tough afterward, dragging us all into this mess, fuck!" Ma Jiyang checked his phone; the officers who went to arrest Number Two hadpleted their mission and were on their way back with him in custody. But the team sent to catch the girls was still busy; there were a few dozen girls under their wing, some long-term and some part-time. Ma Jiyang entered Xiao Ying¡¯s information, tagged the responsible officer, and asked for her to be caught first. In the current environment, a regr person with just an ID and mobile phone, once targeted by the police, almost certainly can¡¯t escape without certain skills, and even with multiple IDs and phones, the oue is the same. Turning back, Ma Jiyang asked, "You mentioned Li Yanming wasining to you, how did Li Yanming contact you?" They had checked the mobile phones before, if Li Yanming had contacted Li Zhaoxin before his death, they should be aware of it, which was one of the reasons the case was still puzzling. Li Zhaoxin articted slowly: "Telegraph." This time it was Ma Jiyang who swore, as ordinary people would find it a hassle to deal with, but career criminals, even those with just a primary school education, would have one each, like it or not. "Did you set up the telegraph yourself? Do you contact clients using this?" "Not necessarily, I¡¯ve got several mobile phones, old clients like Li Yanming, they all use Telegraph," Li Zhaoxin paused, then continued, "The app was set up by a former girl who worked for me, she had been a cam girl and stuff, quite good with this stuff." "Li Yanming, has his telegraph been installed on another phone?" "En." "Where¡¯s the phone?" "Thrown into the river." "What about the IV bottle?" "Smashed and thrown into the river as well." "Mark the location on the map." After Ma Jiyang asked about these things, he informed the criminal police outside to search for them. Just in terms of solving the case, this case was already deemed closed, but the investigative phase was not finished. To be precise, the investigativeponent was essentiallyplete; the case handling part was just beginning. Following the approach of first arresting people and then securing evidence, Ma Jiyang methodically separated the individuals involved in the case one by one. Since the special task force was well-staffed, they went directly to the local prostitutes¡¯ doors to arrest them, and for those who had gone out of town or recently flown to work elsewhere, they called them back. Clients involved in the case, as they were needed as evidence, were also each called and instructed to present themselves by a certain date. If anyone was vague or nonmittal in their response, all it took was one threat: "If you don¡¯te, we will send a police car and officers in uniform to arrest you!" Yu Wenshu made the rounds and immediately felt more rxed. Director Liu even went around the room three times, repeatedly watching several people¡¯s interrogation videos before he sighed deeply and summed up: "This case, the caution wasn¡¯t applied where it should have been; caution just dropped through in the ces it wasn¡¯t necessary. If you engage in prostitution, what¡¯s the big deal? Why not just call or use WeChat openly? Instead, they used telegrams. Then, when they should have been careful, they weren¡¯t ¨C catching a cold and still seeking a prostitute, and then cursing her..." "In conclusion, sparing Xu Taining." Yu Wenshu felt incredibly satisfied, happier than if he¡¯d gotten a new A8 for himself. "He used telegraphs because he could also use it to call ¡¯misses¡¯ from other ces." Ma Jiyang helpfully added. Director Liu¡¯s eyes widened: "This guy orders everyday... and he frequently solicits prostitutes?" "All the money he earned went to that. Also, his clinic often took cash payments, so it was both tax-evading and convenient for his use," Ma Jiyang exined in detail. "It¡¯s a closed loop." Director Liu felt a bit regretful; if they had a bit more time with the case, they might still be able to uncover more leads. Had they conducted normal-scale inspections earlier... without having to resort to Xu Taining, even with a normal scale of investigation of a thousand people, the sess rate could probably be around seventy to eighty percent. Sweating all the way without any achievement to his name, Mu Zhiyang could only make a subduedment: "The dead do not die unjustly." "Close to sin, close to killing, that¡¯s the way it is." Saying so, Director Liu couldn¡¯t help but stretchzily and said, "I¡¯ve been busy for several days; I¡¯m going back to sleep. If I don¡¯t get back, the wife will scold me. Is Captain Jianging tomorrow?" "I have a day off tomorrow too. I¡¯ve already reported to Chief Yu," said Jiang Yuan. "Eh, taking a day off to go home?" "My dad booked ne tickets to Su Ind. We¡¯re going to stay at a hotel for a couple of days." Jiang Yuan smiled; sometimes he and his father would go out to have some fun. "I¡¯m asking what I already know." Director Liu waved his hand: "Never mind, I¡¯ll take the bus home." Yu Wenshu quickly offered: "Director Liu, I¡¯ll arrange a car to take you..." Chapter 910 - 848: Espresso Martini

Chapter 910: Chapter 848: Espresso Martini

Su Ind is not considered a traditional tourist ind, its industries are weak, and its pir industries are mainly based on the primary sector. Yet unlike Suzhou, it has an airport. From Jiang Fuzhen, a familiar shippingpany booked a Bombardier 300; an early flight application was made, allowing departure from Qinghe City Airport near Ningtai County. In less than two hours, the ne couldnd on Su Ind. The 9-seater ne carried Jiang Yuan, his son from Jiang Fuzhen, Uncle Qiang, and two half-grown Dobermans, making the whole flight very rxed. After disembarking by the steps of the ne, a Coaster was seen awaiting them, along with a police car parked alongside. "Captain Jiang, right? It really is Captain Jiang!" A police officer, in his early forties, came out of the police car andughed while shaking hands with Jiang Yuan and others. "I¡¯m the station chief here at the airport, Kong Xueping. I saw on the VVIP list there was a ¡¯Jiang Yuan¡¯ from Ningtai County, Shannan Province, and I wondered if it might be you." Uncle Qiang, holding the two dogs, got into the Coaster with Jiang Fuzhen first, whispering, "Is Jiang Yuan really that famous now?" "These kind of detectives who solve cases, they¡¯re like breeding bulls, the most expensive one sells for much more than the others,"ughed Jiang Fuzhen. "The way you put it does make sense. He¡¯s earned quite a few first-ss and second-ss merits, not just from one case. But..." Uncle Qiang frowned, "Is saying ¡¯breeding bulls¡¯ a bit inappropriate?" "Breeding horses doesn¡¯t sound nice either... but with names like the great and little Dumas, it¡¯s hard to say." "Breeding dogs? That sounds like an insult." A few minutester. Jiang Yuan hopped into the Coaster, eximing loudly, "Let¡¯s go! Drive fast for a start." "Do you need to work?" asked Jiang Fuzhen, "If so, go ahead and help them crack the case." Uncle Qiang also said, "It¡¯s really tough on the deceased; it¡¯d be good if the criminal is caught." "We usually refer to them as the deceased or victims," Jiang Yuan coughed twice before adding, "There¡¯s no need to work though, there¡¯s no urgent case locally. Just added a WeChat, I¡¯ll help them look into fingerprints and footprintster when I have time." Jiang Fuzhen said, "Don¡¯t force it, we can just sunbathe with the dogs. You working is also fine." Jiang Yuan sighed, "No forcing, let¡¯s sunbathe together." Lately, his workload had been quite high, especially moving between Dama and Changyang, solving several immediate cases, which was quite exhausting. For the current Jiang Yuan, working on immediate cases is often more tiring than dealing with umted cases. umted cases have lower time demands; working 8 hours daily and weekends off is feasible, as long as the cases are solved, superiors would only feel embarrassed about how little bonus they could issue. In many ces, the police detective reward for solving umted cases is to grant leaves; sometimes, one could even get as long as two months off¡ªa kind of fairy-tale scenario that only a few detectives, who happened to solve significant umted cases and had excellent leaders, could experience. Overall, the challenge with umted cases lies in the difficulty of solving them, though the time arrangement during the investigation is rtively flexible. Immediate cases, on the contrary, are mostly not that difficult to solve, but the timing is tight, and the procedural requirements are numerous, often exhausting the participating officers. Sigh... Jiang Yuany on the beach chair, stretchingzily, soon his eyelids fluttered, and he quickly fell into a deep sleep. When he woke up again, the two Dobermans were already excitedly ying in the water. "Having fun?" Jiang Yuan whistled, and immediately the two Dobermans perked up their ears and rushed towards him. Dobermans are excellent guard dogs and a very intelligent breed, so the two Dobermans not only got acquainted with Uncle Qiang and Jiang Fuzhen, but also had a clear understanding of where the world¡¯s most delicious food came from. Jiang Yuan¡¯s whistle sound, to the ears of the two dogs, was like a call of the times, as if it was a destiny ordained. Thus, by the brightly lit beach, the dogs ran frantically towards the sunlight, along the beach, sprinting, jumping, and advancing regardless of anything... "Dobermans require a lot of exercise and they enjoy ying outside," Uncle Qiangughed as he sipped some juice, "Dogs are happy when they y outside." Jiang Fuzhen said, "My son is the same." Jiang Yuan turned over to tan the other side of his back. "Woof woof." The two Dobermans rushed over and stopped beside Jiang Yuan, starting to pant heavily. "Sit." Jiang Yuanmanded. "Woof woof." Both dogs sat down. "Good boys!" While petting the dogs¡¯ heads, Jiang Yuan looked out towards the boundless ocean and the peaceful and tranquil city nearby, feeling exceptionally pleased. This year, he had sent dozens of death-row inmates to prison, andst year¡¯s arrests of several dozen death-row inmates should mostly have been executed by now. He wondered if in theing period, he could continue his efforts to rid the world of hundreds more human trash, providing sce to many more people. "Butler." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, calling the hotel butler who was not far away, saying, "Please bring over some espresso martinis." As the name implies, an espresso martini is a cocktail made by adding espresso to prepared martini. Martini is already a strong drink, and espresso is very bitter. The sh of the two strong vors ispetitive. That was what Jiang Yuan had in mind, too ¨C let them sh. If the martini wins, I¡¯ll continue to enjoy the sun; if the coffee wins, I¡¯ll look at some cases, and decide a few more fates. Half an hourter. Jiang Yuan stretchedzily, boredly turning on the PAD that the butler had brought over. After consuming four espresso martinis, the concentration of espresso was way above normal, and Jiang Yuan could not sleep even if he wanted to, so he decided to start looking at fingerprints. Previously, police systems were only usable through a dedicatedwork. However, with the advancement of various smart policing efforts, mobile devices now have no problem remotely essing police data. Nowadays, mobile police terminals primarily ess through the APNwork, which is also the user¡¯s secure ess area. After reading the terminal¡¯s secure encryption card and verifying it properly, a link is established to the policework to ess business application servers. After a series of password and biological verifications, Jiang Yuan directly opened up the local fingerprint database on Su Ind. The fingerprints in the database are also managed by different levels and categories. Jiang Yuan¡¯s current authority, provided by the Ministry, allows him to see fingerprints from other provinces and even international ones. Jiang Yuan randomly selected a fingerprint and started silently marking it. As the saying goes, on the other side of the water, burning the wicked charm... Jiang Yuan enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Su Ind, slowly marking fingerprints while sipping on his espresso martini. In just fifteen minutes, he matched a fingerprint. "Serious injury case," Jiang Yuan briefly read through the case summary, which described a robbery that resulted in serious injury. The victim had suffered second degree injuries,pletely losing the use of their right arm, even unable to hold chopsticks. However, because the perpetrator wasn¡¯t caught, the financial burden hadrgely fallen on the victim, truly a double blow. Such cases, if the suspect is caught, are of great value, but what needs attention is that the incident urred three years ago, and Su Ind is a ce from where it¡¯s easy to smuggle out... "Director Kong, there¡¯s something." Jiang Yuan flipped over, bit into a piece of watermelon, and dialed the number of Kong Xueping, whom he had met at the airport. Chapter 911 - 849: He Has a Part-Time Job

Chapter 911: Chapter 849: He Has a Part-Time Job

p p... A plump big sister, came trotting along the beach. A photographer holding a camera, followed closely behind, wildly snapping photos of the big sister¡¯s chest. Two Doberman ying in the water were so stunned, they rushed out of the waves and barked loudly at the big sister. "Ah, that scared me to death!" The big sister sat down on the sand, and the photographer, true to his initial intent, continued to frenziedly snap pictures of her chest and buttocks. Uncle Qiang hurried over to put leashes on the two Dobermans¡¯ cors, then apologized to the other party. The photographer waved his hands, just asking him and the dogs to move a bit farther away. Miss Bear Big Sister was somewhat afraid of the dogs, she involuntarily shrank back, but that only made the photographer more excited. There were very few guests on the beach, including the staff, no one disturbed them, just quietly watching. "Let It Be..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone vibrated while starting to sing. The photographer brother turned his head sharply to look over, feeling that his creation was being disturbed. Jiang Yuan raised his ss to signal, and drank it all in one go, then answered the phone: "Hello..." "Captain Jiang, it¡¯s Old Kong. Thank you so much, we caught the suspect, I just wanted to let you know." The chief of the Pudong Airport police station, Kong Xueping is as happy as a kid. This serious injury case, for him as the chief of Su Ind¡¯s airport police station, means he canfortably spend a year, no matter whether it¡¯s being praised or evaluated for promotions, in terms of pursuing fugitives and unresolved cases, they¡¯d have to give him full marks. And for this case, what effort did Kong Xueping have to put? Recalling it, he could only say: none! Is picking up someone at the airport strenuous? Kong Xueping drove from his office to a distant spot, even shorter than the walking distance for passengers at Pudong Airport. Arresting was not tricky at all, the perpetrator did not run away, he stayed locally and got married, when police came to arrest him, they just took him away, the brutality of the crime was nowhere to be seen. "No problem, it¡¯s best that you caught him." Jiang Yuan smiled, slowly feeling a buzz from the strong coffee he consumed. Kong Xueping still couldn¡¯t resist being polite for a bit longer: "We actually paid quite the attention to this case, didn¡¯t expect the fingerprint that originally didn¡¯t match, you matched it in no time!" "Well, there are some different academic views in this field." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to borate, his fingerprint identification technology was multidimensional and coborative, ovepping multiple Level 4 and even Level 5 techniques,pared to possibly only Level 1 technicians in Su Ind, there was noparison. After all, Su Ind is just an ordinary fishing and industrial ind, the local crime rate is also not high, just one or two murder cases a year, simr to Ningtai County, there¡¯s neither the need nor the resources to sustain a high-level fingerprint expert. When they encounter a case, being able to consult a fingerprint expert is already considered good conditions. Kong Xueping chattered a lot more, and finally said: "Captain Jiang, if you need anything, just call my phone anytime, I¡¯m on standby 24 hours, always waiting for your summons." "Hmm, you are too polite, if Ie across suitable fingerprints, I will send them to you." Jiang Yuan knew what the other person wanted, and wasn¡¯t bothered. His reputation was already well-known, and the number of cases contacted by Huang Qiangmin was endless. On the other hand, helping with fingerprintparisons and such was basic for a forensic expert, even if everyone is busy and can¡¯t respond to everything, when encountered, they would still help, and Jiang Yuan was no exception. Like now, Jiang Yuan still asionally answers questions in groups like "Shan Nan Fingerprint Exchange Group", but his frequency has reduced significantly. Forensic police chiefs who truly run into issues would bring their files to consult with Jiang Yuan, just like they would consult other experts. For a major case, making a special trip is not really a big deal. Jiang Yuan staying on Su Ind now, it¡¯s quite normal for Kong Xueping to take advantage of that. Kong Xueping repeatedly thanked him, cheerfully hung up the phone, thought for a moment, then called two people to get some seasonal fruits and local snacks to send to the hotel. His status in Su Ind is pretty good, but he also knows that for outsiders, he is just the chief of a police station, people like Jiang Yuan typically by-pass him, likely because he offered a business card at the beginning. Two subordinates drove a Fit, and while walking they quickly arranged the various items. Su Ind is a small ce, the so-called local snacks, seasonal fruits are just that few, just a bit of seasonal limitation. The visitors and friends whoe and go generally receive simr things. The most costly local expenses are still seafood feasts, but it¡¯s best eaten at the restaurant itself, or else it¡¯s just some dried fish and eel, which may not necessarily be appreciated by people from other ces. ... On the beach, two more youngdies joined the shooting team. The photographer also got an assistant, who carried a reflector looking particrly energetic. The photographer held the camera with one hand and kept snapping photos, continuously saying something funny. Jiang Yuan dozed off in a beach chair, the coffee¡¯s effect fading, and the alcohol taking over. Uncle Qiang had no choice but to keep the two Dobermans by his side, each on one side, as he and Jiang Fuzhen scrolled through their phones while holding the dogs. While they were scrolling, the photographer¡¯s assistant came running over, smiling broadly: "Guys, we would like to take some shots of the background here, could you please make some space for us?" Uncle Qiang stood up to look around and said, "There are so many open spaces; just shoot there." "Ah, the girls are notfortable with people in front of them. Guys, it¡¯s a bit of trouble but could you move a bit further over there?" the assistant said cheerfully, handing over two bottles of mineral water: "Help us out, please." Jiang Fuzhen coughed twice and said, "Alright, we¡¯ll move over." Uncle Qiang then called out to Jiang Yuan, and they moved some ten meters aside, while the hotel¡¯s butler ran back and forth relocating various items. Jiang Yuan, still in a daze, also moved to the side, turning his heartfelt exposure towards the direction where a few female inte celebrities were striking poses. "Come on, look this way... you don¡¯t need to look at anyone else... everyone is so beautiful, just think, once we post these photos, right, the Three Beauties of Su Ind..." the photographer ttered casually, continuously pressing the shutter without letting go. Jiang Yuan looked sideways at the three female inte celebrities, but gradually, his gaze fell on the photographer. From a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective, the photographer is a profession well-suited for entry-level Forensic Anthropology trainees. Photographers suffer from quite severe upational diseases as they need to carry cameras for long periods, bending forward and backward, straining the whole spine from the neck to the shoulders, to the waist, and down to the tailbone, and their knees from kneeling while taking pictures often have issues, and prolonged standing could also lead to varicose veins. Therefore, for photographers with over ten years of experience, their bones could provide insightful learning for Forensic Anthropologists with less than three years of experience. "Brother... could we look at some scenery instead?" The photographer noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze, immediately interpreting it as lecherous stares towards the female inte celebrities, and came over unhappily saying, "We are rushing with our photography; your staring affects our work. Have some water, cool it down, and if you¡¯re really interested, you can call meter." After speaking, the photographer smiled, set down a bottle of soda water, and ced a business card underneath it. The photographer walked away, and Jiang Yuan per his suggestion picked up the business card, turned around, and casually took out a can of fingerprint powder from his bag. Sprinkled the powder, brushed it off, and then collected the fingerprint... Since Jiang Yuan had been drinking, it wasn¡¯t suitable for him to conduct serious fingerprintparisons. Instead, he felt like the photographer¡¯s way of talking and acting seemed a bit improper, as if he was struck by a hard punch. Especially, taking photos with inte celebrities and then leaving his phone number seemed easily associated with procuring prostitution. Jiang Yuan directly photographed with a PAD, obtaining the fingerprint image of the photographer. He swiped once... No matching fingerprints. Jiang Yuan slightly adjusted the marking points on the fingerprint. He swiped a second time... Still no matching fingerprints. Jiang Yuan touched his chin, turning back to look at the photographer and honestly, it was quite surprising that this guy hadn¡¯t left any records with the police. Thinking it over, Jiang Yuan silently took the two mineral water bottles the assistant had given earlier and lifted all the fingerprints from them. The assistant photographer had handled these two bottles of mineral water, so naturally, his fingerprints were preserved on them. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure which were his, so he entered the multiple lifted fingerprints into the system for a search. Before long, the identity information of the assistant photographer appeared, and upon closer inspection, indeed he had a criminal record, mainly involving harboring and introducing others to prostitution... That¡¯s more like it! Jiang Yuan nodded in satisfaction, then took the photographer¡¯s fingerprints again, studying them thoroughly and marking them carefully. He swiped the third time... No matches in the first two pages of 40 fingerprints. Generally speaking, with fingerprintspared to this extent, Jiang Yuan would no longer continue. After all, if the simrity of the first 40 fingerprints isn¡¯t sufficient, the possibility of a matchter is even lower. But Jiang Yuan thought it over and opted to check only the iplete fingerprints in the software. This time, the swiped fingerprints were all above medium-level damage. Jiang Yuan scanned through, stopping at the seventh fingerprint. It was only one-third of a fingerprint, but the part that was captured was rtively clear, though there weren¡¯t many points to mark. However, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, even though there were few marking points, the probability of a match was very high. He flipped through the rted case again¡ªit was about the sale of new drugs, and the main criminal was practically at the level of facing execution. Jiang Yuan nodded to himself, as this seemed about right. Those who are pimps have surely not escaped being targeted. Those overly cautious pimps should all be assumed to have side jobs! Chapter 912 - 850 Unreasonable

Chapter 912: Chapter 850 Unreasonable

Jiang Yuan checked the fingerprint again, closed the PAD, took out his smartphone, scrolled through the contacts to Director Kong¡¯s number, and paused again. The innate skepticism of a criminal police officer suddenly overshadowed the several martinis Jiang Yuan had just consumed. Behind drug cases often lies an extremely strong organization. Although the other party was only a salesperson involved in a drug case, you see him daring to take three inte celebrities to the beach for a photo shoot... Could he be engaging in sales right now? Jiang Yuan recalled the process of receiving the business card just moments ago. Was the photographer trying to sell him inte celebrities, or drugs? And if he dared to distribute business cards in Su Ind¡¯s finest hotel, did Kong Xueping know? After all, Jiang Yuan had never dealt with Kong Xueping and knew nothing about his character or capabilities. If it were an independent serious injury case as before, or simpler cases like theft, or sudden homicide, Kong Xueping¡¯s position as Director would suffice. But if it involved drugs, Jiang Yuan felt he needed to act out of filial piety and be more cautious. With this in mind, Jiang Yuan switched the call to Director Kong to a text message on WeChat to Huang Qiangmin, also to avoid his voice being too loud after drinking. Just seconds after Jiang Yuan sent his WeChat message, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s reply came swiftly. Huang Qiangmin: [Are you safe?] Jiang Yuan: [Safe.] Huang Qiangmin: [Do not act recklessly, I will find someone to reinforce immediately.] Jiang Yuan: [Okay.] After replying up to here, Jiang Yuan looked again at the photographer and inte celebrities, noticing their poses had be quite enticing. "Let¡¯s go back," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t worried about the other party suspecting anything. At this level of suspicion, it wouldn¡¯t bring about a deadly disaster; at this moment, Jiang Yuan just needed to protect himself. Jiang Fuzhen and Uncle Qiang assumed Jiang Yuan was just feeling shy, and they both began to pack up their belongings. The photographer nearby seemed quite happy. He had no suspicion at all; on the contrary, he liked men like Jiang Yuan, those who couldn¡¯t take their eyes off women are usually freeloading creeps, usually not that they don¡¯t want to spend money but rather that they can¡¯t afford it. And the men who really be his customers wouldn¡¯t keep ogling the women to feed their cravings. Because they could afford to spend, they would easily leave, saving the surprises for enjoymentter in the evening. Moreover, when the three men moved earlier, he discovered they were guests of the presidential suite and had a hotel butler by their side. This economic strength was clearly within spending range. So the photographer let his assistant bring over another fan and three bottles of soda water, with three lipstick marks on the fan. The assistant pointed and smiled, gesturing at a QR code at the bottom right corner of the fan, saying, "Our inte celebrities often have cosy events, and you are wee to join if you¡¯re interested. Scan the QR code to see some pictures of the events and contact information." "Oh, I don¡¯t really understand this," Jiang Yuan took the fan. "No worries, whether you¡¯re into y or coser, you¡¯re wee," said the assistant photographer politely, as they were open for business after all. Jiang Yuan smiled, picked up his tablet, and backpack and went upstairs. Uncle Qiang tightened the dog leash and put a muzzle on the dog. The presidential suite of the hotel was spacious enough. Entering the living room, there were separate bedrooms for everyone, including the two Dobermans. Jiang Fuzhen stretched and went back to his bedroom to sleep. Uncle Qiang settled the dogs as well and also went to sleep. Jiang Yuan washed his face and sat down at the desk first, taking out hisputer, PAD, and smartphone. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s new WeChat message came just in time: [I have reported to the provincial department leaders, Mu Zhiyang and his team have boarded the ne, they will arrive in about an hour and a half, will that be in time?] Jiang Yuan: [It will be in time. I¡¯m already back at the hotel room, shall we talk on the phone?] Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call came immediately: "Are you okay?" Huang Qiangmin was genuinely worried. From the perspective of a criminal investigator, the greatest danger faced by a Sherlock Holmes-style detective is surviving. A world where everyone ys a game of wits doesn¡¯t exist. What they most often see and hear are stories of those who y wits getting brutally killed with an axe. Especially drug dealers, who like ancient salt smugglers, work with their heads hanging at their belts, and while not habitually murderous, would not hesitate to kill when necessary. Jiang Yuan chuckled and exined the situation, then said, "I¡¯m just being cautious by telling you in advance; I haven¡¯t contacted the local police yet." "You¡¯re doing the right thing. Are we just idling around with cases involving police from other jurisdictions?" Huang Qiangmin said just that and added, "Mu Zhiyang took a chartered flight here, once you squad up, then consider making the arrest. Also, Wei has some connections on Su Ind, an old buddy who¡¯s reliable. You can decide how to proceed after meeting up with him." Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "Isn¡¯t this a bit too much..." Even a one-way chartered flight would cost several hundred thousand yuan. Huang Qiangmin knew what he meant, curled his lips, and said, "What¡¯s the big deal, it¡¯s all about necessity. The chartered flight was specially approved by the bureau chief. Moreover, this case is indeed urgent. The case itself is an unresolved drug case and it¡¯s worth making a special trip for." "Thank you for your concern, leader," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dwell on it and thanked him as a courtesy. Huang Qiangmin gave an "Mhm" and said, "Just take good care of yourself." After a few more words, Jiang Yuan hung up the phone and silently opened his notebook. Despite talking about it, chartered flights are still a rarity domestically. Even though the funds for murder or serial cases are in the millions or even tens of millions, if a portion of that money is indeed spent on charter fees, the auditors will ask questions. Even if approved by the department head, the reason must be justified. A chartered flight for rescue, catching only a drug dealer, even with the department head¡¯s special approval, Jiang Yuan felt it was hard to justify. Thinking this way, Jiang Yuan promptly connected to the internalwork, starting first with the fingerprints of this photographer. The photographer¡¯s name was Wang Haoyu. Pursuing this name, he seemed to be a college graduate with a clear background, a former student union cadre who loved photography but apparently hadn¡¯t found the right path, partnering with someone to open a photo studio that likely wasn¡¯t doing well, evidenced by the frequent small loans and credit from Ant Check Later in his credit history. And these debts were gradually paid off around three to four years ago. The appearance of one-third of the drug dealer¡¯s fingerprint also dated back to four years ago; putting that into context, it seemed usible. But if it was just that, Wang Haoyu was likely only at the end of the drug chain, clearly not worth the price of a chartered flight. Therefore, Jiang Yuan pulled up additional information rted to the case. This was a typical drug case with separate transportation for people and goods. The highway patrol police in Dongyuan City discovered a particr odor while processing a traffic ident and then found about 1 kilogram of a new type of drug, "Jumping Candy," in the cargo of the truck. The police extracted several fingerprints from the packaging of these drugs, but the high-temperature burning of the goods caused various degrees of curling and deformation of the "Jumping Candy" packaging, making it difficult to match the fingerprints. These one-third fingerprints, like the ones Jiang Yuan found, were not an exception. Most of the fingerprints were of this caliber. Jiang Yuan sat up a bit straighter. Having fingerprints was sufficient. Despite the significant amount of drugs involved in the case, 1 kilogram was negligible in the field of new drugs, and the number of forensic experts avable to the anti-drug brigade was limited. However, they couldn¡¯t necessarilypare to Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. Jiang Yuan first downloaded all the fingerprints to hisputer, then individually identified them. Based on the relevance of fingerprints and the location of the original photos, Jiang Yuan could almost confirm that there were two people involved, with a total of four fingerprints. There was no need to consider how the fingerprints ended up on the package. When drug dealers transported goods, they often didn¡¯t have the luxury of conditions. Like the drugs on this truck, neither the driver nor the owner knew about it, forcing the drug dealers to use methods to load and unload the goods. Considering there could have been several instances of handling, it was normal for fingerprints to be left behind. What a pity that the fire damaged many of the fingerprints. By this time, Wang Haoyu¡¯s fingerprint was confirmed, and Jiang Yuan immediately initiated an emergency +1 operation and began the confrontational analysis of another individual¡¯s fingerprints. Also one-third strong, less than one-half of the fingerprints, after some maniption by Jiang Yuan, soon revealed 8 characteristic points and yielded a batch of fingerprints avable forparison. Jiang Yuan silently reviewed them one by one. Working with partial fingerprints was like drawing auxiliary lines in geometry problems. If you didn¡¯t know how to draw auxiliary lines or drew them poorly, the problem was as difficult as ascending to heaven. But with well-drawn, ingenious auxiliary lines, the difficulty of the question could be greatly simplified. Ding-dong. The room¡¯s doorbell rang. Uncle Qiang came out and asked, "Who is it?" "Hello, we are sent by Director Kong, bringing something for Captain Jiang," two people said from outside the door. Uncle Qiang nced back at Jiang Yuan and asked, "Should I open the door?" "Ask them if they brought their IDs. If they have IDs, let them in," Jiang Yuan said, still trusting the basic level police officers. In fact, he didn¡¯t doubt Director Kong but was merely being cautious. Uncle Qiang did as told, checked their credentials, and then opened the door. "Captain Jiang, hello, hello," the two police officers greeted repeatedly. "Sit down. Are you guys busy?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s way of greeting was somewhat different. Naturally, they said they weren¡¯t. "If you¡¯re not busy, please sit in the living room for a few hours, just in case somethinges up on my side," Jiang Yuan said. "No problem, no problem," they replied in unison, then asked, "Do we need to report back to the director, do you need more people?" "Two is enough. Wait a moment," Jiang Yuan replied and returned to hisputer to continue his focused fingerprintparison. As the two officers sat bored in the living room, they saw Jiang Yuan start making a phone call: "Tang Jia, are you at the station? Mhm, I¡¯ve matched another one here, I¡¯ll send the information over, get someone to locate him and bring him back." After a few more words, Jiang Yuan hung up and smiled at the two police officers, saying, "Wait a little longer." Then, Jiang Yuan stood up and fetched the fan given to him by the assistant photographer, and started to lightly brush it with fingerprint powder. While he was analyzing the fingerprints earlier, he thought as his gaze swept over the fan - if there was a lip print on the fan, then it was likely to have the fingerprints of the three pretty inte celebrities. Considering how attractive these three inte celebrities were, had they experienced setbacks? Or had the photographer given them to his partners as favors? Chapter 913 - 851: That’s Reasonable

Chapter 913: Chapter 851: That¡¯s Reasonable

Jiang Yuan was operating the mouse,paring the fingerprints scanned by the software one by one, when he looked up at the living room and said politely, "Um... Captain Li and Captain Liu, please have some tea and take a break, it¡¯s okay, you can check your phones. It¡¯s mainly because I¡¯ve run into a bit of an issue here, I think it¡¯s better to have you local police officers here." The two officers immediately straightened their backs on hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s words. Liu Ling said, "Captain Jiang, no worries, you go ahead with your work. Just give us a shout if there¡¯s anything... Eh, do we have a case?" "Yes, just came across a case. I didn¡¯t bring anyone with me, so if you two could help out for a while, that would be great." Jiang Yuan paused and then added, "By the way, did you bring your guns?" The smiles on their faces visibly stiffened. In China, it¡¯s not as exaggerated as in Japan, where a career in the police is honored by not using a gun, but speaking of regr officers, how many have actually drawn a gun since the year 2000? And how many have fired one? In county-level ces like Su Ind, let alone the local police, even the criminal police don¡¯t get a chance to fire their guns all year round. Originally, the duo Li and Liu had juste to deliver a gift and greet Jiang Yuan before leaving, but now... Their eyes franticallymunicated, fearing they themselves were about to be the gift. "If you have things to do, you can y on your phones, but it would be better not tomunicate with the outside world, including Director Kong. Don¡¯t cause him any trouble either." What Jiang Yuan said was half true and half false. If the case were to be concluded smoothly, then naturally everyone would be happy. But if any information were to leak and someone got away, then from this moment on, any calls made or messages sent by the two officers would be subject to scrutiny. The discipline required by the disciplined forces is always very serious. The two officers quickly sat up straight and agreed. Technically, they could choose not to listen to Jiang Yuan, but neither of them even considered that option. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have much else to say and turned his attention back to finding work opportunities for the colleagues who had flown in. There were over thirty fingerprints on the fan. Jiang Yuan scanned them once, ssified them, and then selected some for marking the points of identification, eventually categorizing them into seven individuals. For a novice fingerprint analyst, marking one fingerprint and its features might take fifteen to thirty minutes, and a Level 1 experienced elite might be faster, perhaps taking around ten minutes. The difference is that the markings made by a Level 1 analyst would be more urate and reliable. In other words, just marking the fingerprints on one side of the fan would take a regr fingerprint analyst a day or two of work, and actually, even more, because inevitably some fingerprints would be difficult to identify and mark. That¡¯s also why in regr cases, most of the fingerprints collected are key fingerprints, such as those on the weapon, tools, car handles, window sills, and door handles, etc. Extracting every fingerprint at a crime scene would mean endless work for most forensic teams. But for Jiang Yuan, halving over thirty fingerprints for ssification was straightforward. In fact, many duplicate prints had already been excluded from the count of over thirty. When it came to marking the minutiae, aplete fingerprint for Jiang Yuan was as simple as an elementary school mental arithmetic problem; he worked as fast as his eyes and hands could scan. The entire process of extracting the fingerprints from the fan took Jiang Yuan just half an hour. On average, each print took about two minutes. Even so, this was usually work that Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to do himself. The fingerprint matching phase, however, involved a bit of luck and pseudo-science. However, there was nothing tricky about these fingerprints... Although the owner of the fingerprints was indeed quite a character. As Jiang Yuan had expected, one of the three youngdies had indeed been impacted, and impacted three times at that, averaging one incident perdy. This is what they call the broken windows theory, once a person gets caught once, they get hit once, they are likely... not to fear the strike itself so much anymore¡ªthis is also one of the secondary disasters brought about by the criminalization of DUI. And, looking at it with Jiang Yuan¡¯s way of thinking, the threedies being bossed around by the photographer to make videos, even if their business model is a bit different, can be considered pretty familiar with one another. With this thought, Jiang Yuan picked up his phone again to call the office of the Cold Case Squad. "Captain Jiang?" Tang Jia was currently in charge at the center. "Yeah, I¡¯m sending another person your way, a prostituted woman; see where her main area of work is, contact the local public security police to find out more. Yeah, give her a call, tell her to report to Ningtai County Bureau. Also, I¡¯ve got three more people for you, two of whom are suspected prostitutes and one a pimp; get together with Technical Investigation and Cybersecurity, etc., to check them out, mark down the times and ces where these three appear together." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he sent over the people¡¯s information to Tang Jia. Jiang Yuan often handled cases in a straightforward manner because he consistently exceeded technical indicators in his work. This time, Jiang Yuan yed it straight. In his view, if the photographer Wang Haoyu was dabbling in drug trafficking, and also running this unprofitable photo studio, even if he were a time management master, the time he could dedicate to his pimping business would be limited. Since the time was limited, the number ofdies Wang Haoyu could control was certainly not extensive. And if he intended to use his job to entertain his own supplier well, gathering all thedies under him to offer the guest more choices, it was very likely. The two people sitting in the living room exchanged a silent nce; they had to submit a report in advance whenever they wanted to use Technical Investigation and Cybersecurity while they were stationed at the police station. Shortly after, Tang Jia called back: "There are confirmed to be over a dozen locations, should I send them to your phone?" "A dozen locations? Across several provinces and cities?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. This photographer has quite a close rtionship with the threedies. Looking at it this way, it¡¯s somewhat insulting to keep calling him a pimp¡ªhanging on the edge of organized prostitution, there¡¯s a difference in sentencing from 2 to 7 years. "Three provinces, five cities," said Tang Jia. "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, then continued, "Alright, report this to Commissioner Huang, then go to the Narcotics Squad, and ask them for information on new drugs during this time, especially the type of bulk drugs I sent you, about the frequency and such. Have thempare it with the times these people appeared." Jiang Yuan deliberately avoided mentioning anything like popping candy. The two in the living room were even more bewildered, only knowing that Jiang Yuan seemed to be preparing to mobilize the Narcotics Squad again. At this point, they were getting a bit restless. After all, they truly didn¡¯t bring their guns! Tang Jia quickly jotted down notes on the other end of the call, then asked, "After theparison, should I send you the results?" "I want cases with leads; if there are corresponding cases at the respective times and locations, just send me the case numbers." "Understood." Tang Jia now understood that Jiang Yuan was linking a series of cases together in this way, effectivelybining a series of drug-rted cases with the three prostituted women and the pimp. This method is a highly efficient mode of solving cases, albeit with considerable difficulty. Of course, if the entire case can bepleted in this manner, it would also be a model of highpletion because the number of cases solved would increase, the amount of drugs and money involved would grow, the facts of the case would be moreprehensive, and the most direct effect would be that the death penalty rate for those involved would greatly increase! Jiang Yuan then put down his phone, smiled at the two police officers, stood up to pour them tea, and bluntly said, "This might be a series of cases, thank you for your hard work protecting me this time; I¡¯ll make sure you aremended for this." Liu Ling replied subconsciously, "No need, no need..." "What are you talking about?" The other officer quickly interjected, then turned to Jiang Yuan, "Thank you, Captain Jiang, we will surely stand our post, as long as we¡¯re here, the position holds!" Chapter 914 - 852: The Poisonous Web

Chapter 914: Chapter 852: The Poisonous Web

"Director Kong, more police from Ningtai have arrived," a subordinate reported while Kong Xueping was smoking by the window. "Ningtai police? People from Jiang Yuan?" Kong Xueping discarded his cigarette, a bit surprised. "Yes. They¡¯re about tond." His subordinate had also just learned the news. Su Ind¡¯s airport was small; chartered flights were infrequent, and suchst-minute notifications were even rarer. Kong Xueping frowned, intending to call Jiang Yuan, but before dialing, he sent a message to Liu Ling, the subordinate he had dispatched to deliver gifts. Come to think of it, how could delivering local specialties take so long? After sending the message, there was no response, as if it had sunk into the sea. Unable to sit still, Kong Xueping stood up and grabbed his phone, saying, "Let¡¯s go have a look." The newly equipped Changan CS75 looked imposing and handsome with its police livery. Kong Xueping himself drove out, stepping hard on the elerator. As the car reached the end of the runway, he looked up at the ARJ21 in the sky, his expression grave. This thing could carry eighty to ny people. Granted, a charter might not be full, but just how affluent was the Ningtai County Bureau to fly such a big ne over? Were they nning to upy Su Ind? Don¡¯t they have work to do at their police station? Sending so many people to Su Ind, what about the public security in Ningtai itself? It can¡¯t be that the local criminals there will just tie themselves up to the precinct. While Kong Xueping was lost in thought, the ARJ slowlynded and stopped on the runway. Click. The cabin door opened. Kong Xueping put on a smile and went to greet them. He saw a gleaming bald head emerging from the ne. Then another slightly shiny bald head... And yet another ultra-gleaming bald head. It was indeed the fully assembled Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade First Squadron from Qinghe City, Shannan Province. Click. Wu Junhao, wearing a green bulletproof vest and carrying a green canvas bag, stepped out of the cabin. Ever since the first squadron had been disbanded and then reassembled by Wu Junhao, it had taken a great deal of effort. Some older members might not want to be part of the Bald Strike Team anymore, finding new ces where they were content, and hence chose to stay. Others, though willing to return, had fallen behind in fitness andbat readiness over the past six months. Wu Junhao didn¡¯t insist on retaining his team members, quickly replenishing with new bald officers. However, training and integration would take several more months. This time, Wu Junhao was determined to make a stand. The members of the first squadron were also in high spirits, even a bit eager for action. Kong Xueping took a half step back, waiting until he saw a few officers in regr attire. "Wee, everyone..." Kong Xueping approached proactively. "Hello, Director Kong," Wang Chuanxing had seen Kong Xueping¡¯s photo beforehand and reached over Wu Junhao to shake his hand. Wu Junhao, however, was all seriousness, holding the green canvas bag in one hand and tucking the other in his coat. "May I know where our Captain Jiang is?" Wang Chuanxing asked, not waiting for any pleasantries from Kong Xueping. Kong Xueping frowned slightly, thinking to himself, you¡¯re asking me where your Captain Jiang is... But having been a seasoned detective involved in many bizarre and intense cases, his mind raced as he thought of his two missing subordinates, his heartbeat quickened, and he said, "Captain Jiang should be at the hotel. Shall I take you there?" "That would be best." Wang Chuanxing immediately followed Kong Xueping, with someone naturally making a call to Jiang Yuan in the background. The person most confused about the situation was, ironically, Kong Xueping himself. However, his mood was slightly tense. Detectives, especially experienced ones, approached situations differently than ordinary people. Just as Philosopher Ind Feng once said, a person¡¯s life experiences shape them. When a detective wakes up each day to a world of homicides, disappearances, robberies, thefts, frauds, and meticulously nned schemes, if they can¡¯t reach someone, their first thought is definitely not a dead cellphone battery. At the very least, it had to be a lost cellphone! A convoy of more than ten vehicles majestically set out towards the hotel. The police station didn¡¯t even have that many cars avable, so Wang Chuanxing had to call for several business vans with his cellphone to transport all the personnel and equipment. At the same time, Kong Xueping remembered to report to the superiors. Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t care about that;wsuits were a matter for those above. For those working below, it was about getting things done first. The tradition of subordinates challenging their superiors was not exclusive to Japan; throughout history, "No matter how pristine the official, they cannot escape the slickness of the clerks"¡ªpower often came from the lower ranks rather than the higher-ups. "Park the cars at the back door of the hotel, don¡¯t disrupt the hotel¡¯s business," Wang Chuanxing, looking at the map on his cellphone and realizing they were almost there,municated through the walkie-talkie. The convoy immediately changed direction, heading towards the back door. Click, click. Jiang Yuan was tapping on the spacebar in the room; after a moment, he picked up the telephone. The two police officers who were steadfastly on guard in the living room instinctually perked up their ears as Jiang Yuan¡¯s somewhat familiar baritone voice cut through the air like a cold wind, causing the tips of their inner ear hairs to tremble slightly. "We¡¯ve got a fingerprint match here. From my view, it¡¯s simr to the number 7 fingerprint involved in the Lu City case. The Lu City number 7 print is too blurry to confirm they¡¯re from the same person, but I think we can tentatively consider them identical. It¡¯s fine to verify after capturing the person since purely image-basedparison is still quite difficult..." Jiang Yuan was now not just speaking with Tang Jia on the other end of the phone but with themand center of the Shan Nan Province Drug Enforcement Corps. China is one of the best countries in drug control, not because there are fewer drug traffickers and users, but because of the massive investment in drug enforcement. If the case Jiang Yuan was trying to merge was a criminal or economic one, not to mention the corps, even the detachment might not care about you. There are many tougher and older cases out there. But since it was a drug-rted case, as soon as Jiang Yuan began attempting to merge cases, the Drug Enforcement Corps had already started coordinating through the provincial office. If measured by the financial scale or the number of people involved, economic investigation cases worth billions and criminal investigation cases with triple-digit figures wouldn¡¯t receive this level of attention. At this moment, Song Beishou of the Drug Enforcement Corps on the other end of the phone was extremely polite, "Captain Jiang is right, the current evidence is sufficient for an arrest. Once we bring the person in, we can slowlypare the other fingerprints involved in the case..." Jiang Yuan: "Alright, let¡¯s leave the fingerprint as it is. I¡¯ll continue with the otherparisons." Song Beishou spoke softly, "Okay, that¡¯s good. We¡¯ve already ordered the local drug enforcement teams to deploy, and as soon as the person is captured, we¡¯llpare fingerprints immediately. Additionally, I¡¯ve specifically instructed that shooting to kill on spot is authorized, but not to shoot the hands, in order to preserve the fingerprints." "This order is good, the number 7 fingerprint involved in the Lu City case is likely an important node in this drugwork; if we can confirm that the suspect is the same person, then the drugwork on Lu City¡¯s side could be linked up as well." "I considered it in the same way. Any member of this drugwork, regardless of their size, is evidence and clue for us," Song Beishou said cheerfully. Jiang Yuan hung up the phone, nced at the messages in WeChat, and looked up, "Someone¡¯sing, open the door please." Liu Ling, who had been sitting idly in the living room, hurried to his feet and went to check the peephole, only to be surprised to find his own director with a group of people outside. "Captain Jiang." Kong Xueping entered and was even more astonished. Looking at the two subordinates in the living room and Jiang Yuan, as well as the crowd behind himself, he didn¡¯t know where to begin. "Wait a moment. Liu Ling, go with Captain Wu to catch these people." Jiang Yuan took out prepared photographs from the drawer and wrote down the room numbers of the photographers and his team members on a piece of paper, handing it to Wu Junhao. "Do we need guns?" Wu Junhao set down a green canvas bag with a thud, the sound of heavy metal colliding with ceramic tiles gave Kong Xueping a headache. "Possible drug dealers, not sure if they have guns," Jiang Yuan said. "Understood," Wu Junhao bent down to open the canvas bag and pulled out a shotgun. Kong Xueping was truly panicked and hurriedly said, "No, this is..." "Director Kong, let me exin the situation to you." Jiang Yuan stopped Kong Xueping, allowing Wu Junhao and others to get ready. Jiang Yuan first exined his vacation n, and then said, "I didn¡¯t say earlier because some situations weren¡¯t quite clear. Now, I¡¯ve mostly figured out the case. I¡¯ll report to you." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for Kong Xueping to be modest and continued, "First. After identally obtaining the fingerprints of the photographer and his assistant, I determined the photographer as a suspect due to reasonable suspicion and the photographic assistant¡¯s criminal record." Jiang Yuan: "Secondly, the fingerprint of photographer Wang Haoyu matched the one from a drug case that involved humans separated from mefour years ago, thereby proving Wang Haoyu¡¯s involvement with drugs and giving reason to believe that the photographer and his Inte celebrities likely have varying degrees of connection with the drugwork." Jiang Yuan continued his narration about the merging process and the participation of the Drug Enforcement Corps. Upon hearing the name of the Drug Enforcement Corps, Kong Xueping had no more trivial questions to ask and could only widen his eyes, saying, "You mean, through a pimp and three prostitutes, you¡¯ve cracked a drugwork?" "Not yet cracked, it¡¯s in the process of being cracked. It just so happens that our chartered ne is also providing support..." Jiang Yuan highly praised the necessity of the charter ne support and reported respectively with Director Kong to the leadership on both sides. Chapter 915 - 853: Grab, Grab, Grab

Chapter 915: Chapter 853: Grab, Grab, Grab

"Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve caught them." Wu Junhao¡¯s call came through, his voice tinged with the fierce zeal of a fresh steamed bun at 10:29 am, a sense that he had finally made a significant contribution. Before him, the photographers and assistants, as well as three female influencers, shivered in bewildered fear, surrounded by a circle of bald men who had scared them out of their wits. Never mind saying they were wearing police uniforms¡ªif they had the chance, all five of them would want to call the police, the kind that they¡¯d call five times over. "Search the scene thoroughly, take everyone¡¯s fingerprints immediately, and send them to the system," Jiang Yuan ordered while looking at theputer screen. The fingerprints he had obtained previously were so difficult to collect, like those on a fan, some taken from rounded handles¡ªneitherplete nor easy tobel, relying purely on skill. Now that the suspects were caught, things were much simpler. Press and roll a finger, and full fingerprints could be obtained, the kind that could be easilypared. Wu Junhao and his team were all specially trained, and once they heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders, they immediately acknowledged and began their search. The order was given, and even without his direction, several members of the Bald Strike Team began rummaging through belongings. "What are you doing? We haven¡¯t broken anyws!" a certain unscathed female influencer shrieked. Another influencer, who had been busted before, was more sensible and quickly pulled her aside, whispering, "Stop making a fuss, so many cops wouldn¡¯t be here for nothing." "If they¡¯re not here for nothing, that¡¯s great, my body¡¯s quite fair," the influencer said as she twisted her body, the many years of practicing yogaing in handy. As the female officer behind her was caught off guard, the influencer suddenly dashed out, took a deep breath, tore off her bra, and shouted, "Assault! Help..." The female officer escorting her, who was borrowed from the Bald Strike Team and who had arrived in a hurry due to shortage of female officers, was alone watching the suspect and had no one to pass the me to. Now she was embarrassed in front of a group of officers. In a panic, her long-term training kicked in subconsciously, and she whipped out a taser and struck. 50,000 volts¡ªmuscle rxant strike! The female influencer stiffened instantly. The female officer, due to her weight and muscle mass, would find it difficult topete with male officers in terms of resistance. For example, this particr officer, at 120 pounds, was already not light among women, but to suppress male suspects who typically weigh at least 140 to 180 pounds, she had no choice but to use the taser. Of course, under normal circumstances, if the suspect capitted, she wouldn¡¯t need to resort to using it. But now that it had been used, it had to be considered resisting arrest. The influencer who had been busted before looked at her "colleague" convulsing on the ground with an eye that regarded her as an idiot, thinking that she could no longer do business with her, lest she got swept up multiple times, which would be a pity. Wu Junhao continued his phone call, and after finishing, he returned to arranging for fingerprint collection. He then said, "Good use of the taser, decisive action, outstanding effect. The others can learn from this." After speaking, Wu Junhao¡¯s gaze swept across the other suspects and added, "Don¡¯t waste my time, and don¡¯t bother yourselves either. Cooperating fully is the only way out for you, understand?" "Understood, we will absolutely cooperate," said the photographer, who knew how to talk. In a hurry, he whispered, "Officer, what did we do wrong? Please tell us." Wu Junhao nced at him, chuckled, and then signaled someone over, saying, "Take his footprints too." The old baldy nearby responded and came over to take the person away. Next to them, the troublemaker influencer¡¯s feet were still trembling. ... Top floor. In front of Jiang Yuan, the phone had been switched out for a professional teleconference device, the difference being that it had clearer sound reception and wouldn¡¯t overheat and shut down like a mobile phone would. On the other end of the phone, Song Beishou from the Drug Enforcement Headquarters¡¯ voice was already heated: "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve just received feedback. Number 11 has been caught, red-handed. We¡¯ve dug out at least 200 grams of crystal meth from his toilet; he must be in a pretty central part of the distributionwork." Jiang Yuan continued to maneuver the mouse in front of his screen while asking, "Dug out from the toilet? Didn¡¯t he flush it down?" "He intended to, but before we kicked in the door, we turned off the main water valve downstairs, so his toilet couldn¡¯t flush anymore," Song Beishou exined with a chuckle, "That¡¯s why it still has to be our professional drug enforcement team. We¡¯re fast at breaking down doors. This guy¡¯s door had been reinforced and fitted with four locks. We had to send people to rappel down into the ce, which was slightly dangerous." Jiang Yuan paused for a moment upon hearing this, then couldn¡¯t help remarking, "Rappelling two people down? That¡¯s quite dangerous." "Mmm... With submachine guns involved, we couldn¡¯t wait any longer. In that situation, if the other party received just one phone call, they could have flushed all the evidence away. Our biggest concern was that they would alert their superiors, as we believed he was an important node," Song Beishou¡¯s exnation was straightforward, but the sense of looming danger could be palpably felt by Jiang Yuan and the others on the other end of the phone. Rappelling is much more dangerous than a breach entry when the preparations are inadequate. We¡¯re all professional police officers, so naturally, we understand the advantages and disadvantages of rappelling. It sure looks impressive, which is why it¡¯s almost always featured in various training exercises. But in real-world operations, the front door might have been reinforced, making it difficult for multiple officers to break in. Is it not possible that the windows could be reinforced as well? Taking into ount the scenario in which the suspects are armed, the risks of rappelling be significantly higher. Even if a sessful entry is made into the room, it¡¯s extremely hard to assess how many people are inside. Every police officer from any country is extremely cautious about indoor closebat, because it could truly be lethal, the so-called bloody lessons learned¡ªeven if it¡¯s a submachine gun against a kitchen knife, bullets can ricochet off the knife and kill the shooter. "Take all possible safety precautions," Jiang Yuan felt a slight increase in pressure, took a sip of water and then said, "If there¡¯s definitely a problem with number 11, then the likelihood of suspects 1101 and 1102 being involved is high. Look for their fingerprints and footprints in number 11¡¯s home, especially footprints, they might not pay particr attention to those." "Understood, don¡¯t worry about it. I¡¯ve borrowed several forensic technicians specifically for this task. We¡¯re just worried about taking fingerprints and footprints improperly," Song Beishou¡¯s tone lightened up. Ordinary narcotics officers are also capable of collecting fingerprints and footprints, but expertise makes a difference. Ordinary officers takingmon prints is fine, but there¡¯s less margin for error - some prints are difficult to take or the types of prints aren¡¯t suitable, making it easy to damage them. Some less experienced officers might just use adhesive tape to lift prints and leave, in which case they would have to bepared with the full prints on file. If the prints beingpared are also iplete, the probability of a match is much lower. From Song Beishou¡¯s perspective, being able to deploy arge force to make an arrest just by matching fingerprints is all too easy and joyful. Ordinarily, to arrest a drug dealer with 200g of drugs hidden at home, with possibly more stashed elsewhere, narcotics police might have to risk their lives numerous times. As for now, it¡¯s merely a matter of checking some fingerprints... If need be, Song Beishou would dly lick prints with his tongue. Jiang Yuan grunted in acknowledgment and then continued matching fingerprints. At this moment, there is no need for emotional intelligence. The drug traffickingwork has been stirred. It is akin to a spider¡¯s web, naturally transmitting vibrations outward. The goal is to arrest as many people as possible before the other side can decipher the nature of the disturbance. This case series was initiated by him. Previously, it could be considered awork lurking beneath the water. Whether other drug enforcement teams are aware of it or not, Jiang Yuan and his colleagues haven¡¯t received any news¡ªat least the Narcotics Division of Shannan Province isn¡¯t aware of this drugwork. Under such circumstances, it¡¯s all about Jiang Yuan plunging headlong into it, relying solely on the photographer who slipped up early on and a series of incriminating fingerprints and footprints. Number 11, who was just apprehended, is seen by the police as already on the periphery of the core of the drugwork. Because he is no longer just an end-line seller, but holds some managerial authority and maintains a certain part of the regional distributionwork. And such a node, once arrested, would definitively damage thework. Soon, the t hexagonal speaker on the desk buzzed, "Captain Jiang, number 11 has another apartment in theplex, with traces of group drug usage. There are numerous fingerprints, footprints, and DNA evidence. We rmend prioritizing it." "Understood." Jiang Yuan immediately set aside his current work and started to examine the series of fingerprints sent over, indeed they were very clear. Jiang Yuan selected one, quickly tagged it, and threw it into the system. The information of a drug user popped up immediately, without any hesitation. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t rush to discard it and move on to the next one, he continued to tag, match, tag, and match again. With fingerprintparisons like these¡ªif the prints aren¡¯t problematic¡ªites down to the precision and number of tags made. In theory, the more tags made, the higher the probability of a match, and the more precise the target, the higher the matched fingerprint will rank. If the tags are inurate, the matching print might get buried down at fifteenth or twentieth ce, and one might spend half an hour just reviewing fingerprints. For Jiang Yuan¡ªwith his multiple ovepping LV4 fingerprint identification techniques¡ªit¡¯s all rather novel for the fingerprint system. In roughly fifteen minutes, estimating that Song Beishou had probably organized a few teams by now, he sent over info on four individuals, saying, "Matched with four." Song Beishou, who prides himself on his organizational abilities, was inexplicably panicked: "Just four?" "The fingerprints are very clear, more are on the way," Jiang Yuan said. "Okay... okay!" Amidst his surprise, Song Beishou¡¯s emotions heated up again. Song Beishou quickly reviewed the information of the four individuals sent by Jiang Yuan and realized that arresting these four could definitely lead to more arrests. Song Beishou instantly switched into chef mode; he wasn¡¯t about to fear a hungry customer, even though his manpower in the area was indeed running low... "Captain Jiang, you focus on the fingerprints, I¡¯ll call the Bald Strike Team," Song Beishou¡¯s tone began to take on a grim edge. Chapter 916 - 854: Brought a Gun

Chapter 916: Chapter 854: Brought a Gun

"Since you¡¯ve called already, let¡¯s call a bit more." Jiang Yuan, hearing Song Beishou actively mention the Changqiang Soldiers Brigade, checked the amount of evidence sent over first, saying, "The fingerprints you¡¯ve swept from this crowded room, I¡¯m looking at them now, there are more than a dozen people, and there are more fingerprints to follow, I assume. That suggests there are still others." "Understood, I¡¯ll go directly to their brigademander. Now is indeed the time we need support," Song Beishou had already begun to adjust his mental state, quickly moving into the mindset of higher-level management. The manpower of the Changqiang Soldiers Brigade is indeed quite ample, operating under the premise¡ªif you dare to request, they dare toe. But if reinforcements are requested unnecessarily time after time, it would be rather embarrassing. And Song Beishou¡¯s Anti-Drug Task Force is actually of a very high level, not to mention the strength of his team, which can also mobilize subordinates in various local cities and counties at any time. Despite this, the times when a full deployment is truly needed are very rare. Anti-drug work is not simply about drug enforcement; much of the time is spent managing high-risk individuals and businesses, drug prevention publicity, local control, and so on. The intense drug enforcement work that the public understands can only be carried out when there are leads. Of course, someone like Jiang Yuan providing so many leads at once is indeed rare. However, Song Beishou¡¯smand experience is also quite rich. He quickly changed his thought process, paused the phone call, and began to draft orders, saying, "Here¡¯s the n: all anti-drug squads in every region must immediately organize arrest teams. I require each local anti-drug squad to have the capacity to take charge of at least four directions simultaneously, with at least four people per target for the arrest capacity..." He was saying this while his subordinates were already contacting the anti-drug squads everywhere. There was no time left for meetings now, so notification was done individually. Then Song Beishou looked at his watch and added: "Each arrest team must have at least 8 members. Those with fewer than 8 must report back." An 8-member team has the capability to execute small-scale arrests, temporarymand, central coordination, and, paired with a squad of long spear soldiers, won¡¯t be afraid even when facing armed drug dealers. Given the scale of this operation, the likelihood of encountering armed drug dealers is almost one hundred percent. Song Beishou then issued a series ofmands before calling the provincial office, asking leaders for coordination, and then exining the situation in a call to the brigademander of the Changqiang Soldiers Brigade. This series of actions took quite a lot of time. Song Beishou felt a fine sweat on his back and smiled at the few team members in front of him, saying, "I¡¯m worried about catching too few, yet also worried that there are too many suspects. I never thought we¡¯d see the day when we bit off more than we could chew." "We¡¯ve never had to chew on such fine bran," his deputy responded, then added, "I think we should delegatemand authority to the front line. Decision-making should be adapted to the local conditions." "Yes, we can delegatemand authority for this round," Song Beishou quickly made the decision. Asmunication capabilities have increased, the autonomy of front-linemanders has been greatly restricted. However, this particr arrest operation is slightly different. Compared to usual investigations, which might take a month or even a year to round up such a group of people to arrest, the way this operation is valued is almost on par with the so-called importance of passing postgraduate entrance exams. So, for an arrest operation of this level, leaders that rank higher than Song Beishou maymand throughout the whole process, where they "rely on an integrated mechanism of situation response, personnel agility, and practicalbat approach, then solicit the special case team to formte meticulous investigation, arrest, and interrogation ns, to then choose a time for arrest." If an emergency interrogation is needed, various interrogation experts must be in ce, plus, it goes without saying, various contingency ns for interrogation breakthroughs have to be prepared, and so on. But what did Song Beishou prepare for this wave? He didn¡¯t even have time to dispatch the brigade¡¯s men. In the task system of the Anti-Drug Task Force, this level of arrest preparation is almost equivalent to no preparation at all. In fact, it¡¯s almost the same, even with the long spear soldiers participating, Song Beishou still felt the preparations were insufficient. But just like Jiang Yuan fervently working on fingerprints, once the spider web is disturbed, unless they give up the opportunitypletely, Song Beishou would rather vomit blood than not follow through. Without further looking forward or backward, it wouldn¡¯t take long for the drug dealers in thework to scatter to the winds within a day, and then everything would have to start from scratch. "Contact the various teams separately to see if there¡¯s anything they need and have them bring it up as soon as possible." Song Beishou held back from urging directly but ended up doing so indirectly anyway. Calls were constantly being made and received, turning themand room into a hive of activity like a market during the Lunar New Year. "Brigade Commander." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through louder than the others from the desk. "I¡¯m here." Song Beishou immediately hurried over. "Um, I just sent you info on five more people." As soon as Jiang Yuan finished speaking, a suspect¡¯s information shed up on a liquid crystal screen in front of Song Beishou. "Okay, okay." Song Beishou quickly responded. "So far, the more identifiable fingerprints in that rental house have mostly been dealt with, and what¡¯s left are the difficult ones. It may take a longer time," Jiang Yuan was also updating Song Beishou on the progress. "No problem, don¡¯t rush, don¡¯t rush." Song Beishou quickly scanned the information on the five people that Jiang Yuan had just sent over: two drug addicts, two prostitutes, and the remaining one also worked at a nightclub, not at all surprising to him. However, unlike your typical drug addicts and nightclub workers, these five individuals were each from five different cities. It goes without saying that these five were there to pick up their supplies. For them to use drugs in rental house number 11, while it would be said to be for pleasure ¡ª of course, primarily for pleasure ¡ª the high was also a means to quality test the product. This had already formed a certain distributionwork. In other words, Number 11 was already a minor drug disassembler. The 200g of "jumping powder" he had stored was very likely only for personal use, as well as samples for the lower-tier distributors to try. For a small disassembler like Number 11, he was already somewhat appealing to Song Beishou¡¯s Changqiang Soldiers Brigade, but those under him, the petty drug addicts or those who used dealing to fuel their addiction, were only a side note. If Song Beishou could instruct Jiang Yuan, he would definitely pursue Number 11¡¯s supplier, but even though he was the brigademander, the actual direction of the investigation was decided by Jiang Yuan. Song Beishou could only suppress his emotions and wait for the arrest team to bring new updates. As he waited, Jiang Yuan¡¯stest news came even sooner: "I¡¯ve matched a fingerprint, the suspect¡¯s location is on Su Ind!" Song Beishou¡¯s eyes lit up at that news, his first instinct was to say, "Is it that photographer¡¯s supplier?" This answer provided even more reason behind the photographer taking shoots with the inte celebrity. Jiang Yuan had a simr thought and said, "If it¡¯s the photographer¡¯s supplier, it should be a big fish. I¡¯m preparing to go over with a team to check it out, as the remaining fingerprints are quite tricky and can wait a bit." Song Beishou was just about to agree, then suddenly became rmed and said urgently, "You can wait until the person is caught before you go, please don¡¯t rush in on your own..." "Alright." Jiang Yuan knew that Song Beishou was concerned and reassured him, "Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have to be at the very front. I¡¯m also armed." Song Beishou was far from reassured; he was even more worried now: "Call in the long spear soldiers, you¡¯re a forensic doctor, why are you rushing in!" "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ve also had training." Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t even made use of his Level 3 handgun shooting skills, feeling fully confident at the moment. Song Beishou, on the other end of the phone, trembled as he heard this; all he wanted to do now was to call the police. Chapter 917 - 855: Close Combat!

Chapter 917: Chapter 855: Close Combat!

"Commissioner Huang, my Commissioner Huang! How could you agree to his ludicrous request?" Song Beishou¡¯s voice was shrill with me. Huang Qiangmin felt slightly apologetic: "I figured, with Wu Junhao¡¯s assault team following him this time, letting Jiang Yuan experience it could help crack the case! Mu Zhiyang also brought equipment, they can protect him from the front, it should be fine..." "Fine? These are drug dealers! What if they pull out an RPG, what will you do then?" Song Beishou said through gritted teeth: "Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s impossible. Su Ind is only so far from the open sea; the local fishermen go out to sea, conduct their transactions in international waters, and bring back the catch. If he brings some local specialities, what can you do? RPGs may require some skills, but what about grenades?" Huang Qiangmin was at a loss for words to this barrage of questions. To tell the truth, Song Beishou was talking about low-probability events, but Huang Qiangmin firmly believed that for narcotics police, low-probability events could very well be high-probability events. Just as Philosopher Ind Feng said, I could have borne the darkness alone, but after seeing the light once, I would be burned by it... What¡¯smonce elsewhere can be a deadly weapon here. Although our Bald Strike Team is strong, they are trained ording to the standards of the riot and special police teams, focusing on crowd control and precise capturing, without the training and preparation to face RPGs or grenades. As for whether RPGs and grenades could appear, of course, they wouldn¡¯t in a normal ce, but is a drug dealer¡¯s stronghold a normal ce? Huang Qiangmin hesitated as he picked up his phone, "I considered that Jiang Yuan is a police officer after all, he has participated in capturing operations before..." "A Ming Dynasty chicken-cup is also used for drinking tea, would you use it for that purpose? Hurry up and call him back, we have plenty of ces for Jiang Yuan to shine, to charge into battle! Moreover, what can Jiang Yuan, a young technical officer, do at the front? He would need a whole team to protect him, it¡¯s purely a waste of police force!" Song Beishou was incredibly anxious. He had just attended a memorial service not long ago! And Jiang Yuan... Jiang Yuan is the police officer who can keep us all from attending too many memorial services! ... Su Ind. A bed and breakfast named "Seaside B&B" stood by the sea, built on the edge of a cliff. Its industrial-style fa?ade raised two stories high, adhering to the cliff. The floor-to-ceiling windows facing the sea offered all the aesthetic appeal, while a mere wall away, the west side was equipped with prison-style small ss windows, both small and narrow. Beneath the B&B was a rugged reef, which faced the wave upon wave of the vast sea, like a rebellious youngster unwillingly beaten countless times every day. There is no beach here, and theck of green vegetation means that the "Seaside B&B" has always been somewhat disappointed in business. Additionally, the construction costs by the cliff mean there are hardly any amodations, and tourists only slightly increase in number during the peak season. However, in the eyes of Jiang Yuan and Wu Junhao, the "Seaside B&B" looks more like a stronghold by the sea. With drone surveince, it¡¯s easy to discover that the real exterior wall is behind the corridor behind the floor-to-ceiling windows. Just one step back, relying on the western half of the building, could withstand light firearms for a squad. The east and north sides of the B&B are by the sea; the reefs could serve as an escape route. Throwing down a rope, one could reach the seaside in minutes. Then, one could flee along the coastal reef area or seek assistance from the sea. Even in the half-natural, dark caves by the sea, it¡¯s uncertain whether they concealed something like a powerboat. "At ease," Wu Junhao stopped at a spot more than a hundred meters away from the B&B. Here was thest patch of woods; beyond it was the bed and breakfast where the suspects were located. Turning back, he saw Mu Zhiyang with a ballistic shield in hand, wearing a tactical helmet, ceramic tes inserted into his waist, and bulletproof knee pads, his face solemn as he walked just in front of to the right of Jiang Yuan. Wu Junhao wore only the most basic bulletproof vest but carried a Type 09 shotgun in his hands. This weapon has an effective range of 100 meters and what¡¯s more impressive is that it uses tungsten alloy ammunition, which can easily prate bulletproof vests without ceramic tes within its range. To say the least, it is one of the most powerful shotguns in the world. In other words, at the scene, except for Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang, Wu Junhao¡¯s Type 09 could prate anyone he shot at. Clearly, this Type 09 shotgun was not a standard issue in the police force. The police typically use shotguns, secondly the Type 97-2 shotgun ¨C the kind often seen carried by armored vehicle guards ¨C as well as Type 97 and Type 97-1. In short, the Type 97 is theplete opposite of the Type 09; it does not pursue power, and even its firing speed is slow, aiming to intimidate rather than to kill. Naturally, this was different from Wu Junhao¡¯s mindset. Today, Wu Junhao was ready to fire his weapon. If necessary, he was even prepared to shoot through doors and walls to injure the drug dealers. Watching the menacing Wu Junhao, Jiang Yuan felt a bit helpless, sandwiched between the men. Although he had Level 3 skills in handgun shooting, which included highly valuable equal level CQB (Close Quarters Battle) skills, after arriving at the scene, Jiang Yuan¡¯smand authority had been tacitly stripped away. Wu Junhao wouldn¡¯t listen to him, which you couldn¡¯t even call insubordination. "Ready," Wu Junhao said, raising a fist with one hand. The expressions of the Bald Strike Team members also turned serious, as if they were preparing to lift heavy weights. Wu Junhao looked back, nodding satisfactorily. This team was trained by him through thick and thin; many members had endured training to the point of urinating blood and being unable to defecate, and they had performed exceptionally well in all their previous arrests. Of course, the difficulty of this arrest mission was also extraordinary. Wu Junhao took a deep breath and said, "I¡¯ll take the frontal assault. Fan, you take a team to cover the positions of the ropes and stairs by the cliff. Qu, you lead a team to ambush below the cliff, and take extra guns." "Yes," Fan, with a shiny bald scalp, was an old-timer of the first squadron. Qu, with an unkempt beard, was one of those who had experienced blood in their urine during training. Wu Junhao then instructed, "Fan, your side has the most dangerous task. If the other side doesn¡¯t react, that¡¯s fine, but if they do, I estimate they might forcefully try to escape. If ites to it, let them have a rope, let them down to Qu¡¯s position for capture." Fan: "Yes." Wu Junhao: "Qu, you¡¯re thest line of defense. You must secure the bottom of the cliff and call for support at any time. If there are too many enemies, shoot to kill decisively, no need for prior warning." Qu became serious: "Yes." Wu Junhao thought for a moment, then added, "Take a submachine gun with you, and bring extra magazines." Qu: "Yes." After Wu Junhao had assigned the main tasks, he turned to look at Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang and said, "Captain Jiang, you guys guard this side of thepound wall. Same as before, capture anyone who climbs over, shoot if necessary, no need for warnings. You take a submachine gun as well." "I won¡¯t need it," Jiang Yuan immediately responded, knowing there were only two submachine guns in total: "If someonees over, we have enough manpower, and we have so many handguns. No need for a submachine gun." Wu Junhao hesitated for a moment, but still agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. He nodded and said, "Okay then." After issuing themand, Wu Junhao walked around the team, straightening a few of the members¡¯ hats and tightening their backpacks. It wasn¡¯t that he was deliberately mimicking actions from movies, but in this situation, he suddenly had the impulse to do so. The nextmand he would issue would send these fine young men into battle, flesh and blood against the enemy. "Let¡¯s go." Wu Junhao¡¯s voice was much calmer than usual, not like his normal tone. The teams set off somberly with heavy steps. Jiang Yuan also gripped his issued 92 pistol tightly, quickly following the main force with short strides. A hundred meters or so might take only a few dozen seconds to cover, yet this span of time was enough to leave nerves stretched taut. The nearby area was an unobstructed hardened surface. Supposing the other side also had a submachine gun... Wu Junhao waved his hand, and the teams split, each heading to their pre-assigned positions. Buzz... Wang Chuanxing¡¯s earpiece vibrated silently twice. Wang Chuanxing hurriedly patted the shoulder of the detective beside him and took a step back to answer the call. Huang Qiangmin rapidly ryed a massive amount of information. Bang! At the main entrance, Wu Junhao fired a gun without a word. The speaking Huang Qiangmin immediately stopped and asked, "What was that sound?" Wang Chuanxing replied truthfully, "The operation has begun." Huang Qiangmin was stunned for a moment and then said firmly, "Keep Jiang Yuan safe!" It was toote to back out now; Huang Qiangmin wisely ended the call. Wang Chuanxing looked ahead again and saw that Jiang Yuan had already moved to the side of the wall with Mu Zhiyang. "Form a humandder and take a look over the wall to see what¡¯s inside." Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 3 CQB skills started to kick in. At this moment, given a team of well-trained soldiers, he was confident he could even clear out a Nazi headquarters, let alone this ce. The other detectives on his team may not have been Level 3, but they instantly grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea and immediately formed a boost, lifting another detective over the wall. The officer on the wall quickly scanned the inside and then swiftly leaped down, whispering, "I saw one person hiding behind a rockery." "Is it one of ours? Are they armed?" Jiang Yuan asked. "No, it¡¯s not. Uncertain if they are armed," the detective replied. Bang bang bang. The sound of gunfire continued from up front, some shots clearly not from police firearms. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate any longer and immediately ordered, "Form a humandder over the wall and take out the criminal behind the rockery." Mu Zhiyang was startled and hurriedly asked, "Shouldn¡¯t we stay and guard this side?" "Guard it, and make it a fixed point of firepower," Jiang Yuan said as he disengaged the safety on his 92 pistol, ready to climb over. Thump thump thump. A detective, with a movement resembling a three-stepyup in basketball, climbed over the human wall, fluidly aiming and firing before Jiang Yuan could ascend. Bang bang bang! Three quick shots, almost synchronous with the sound of the detectivending on the ground. "Hit the head, he¡¯s dead," Shen Yaowei arrogantly blew on the gun barrel where there was no smoke. Jiang Yuan looked at Shen Yaowei with an expression of utter astonishment. Shen Yaowei was supremely pleased with himself: "Didn¡¯t know, did you? I¡¯m a shooting expert. It¡¯s just that being good at shooting isn¡¯t very useful these days." Jiang Yuan was certain he had a Level 2 pistol shooting skill or above. Considering the frequency and time of the current police shooting training, Shen Yaowei indeed could be called a shooting expert. But still... Buzz... This time the walkie-talkie vibrated. Wang Chuanxing answered. The excited voice of Wu Junhao came through: "The gang leader has been arrested, the B&B has been cleared out. I repeat, the gang leader has been arrested..." Shen Yaoweiughed heartily, boasting loudly, "From now on, please call me ¡¯Prince Sharpshooter!¡¯" Jiang Yuan firmly engaged the safety on his Type 92 pistol. Chapter 918 - 856: Cleanup

Chapter 918: Chapter 856: Cleanup

p, p. The sound of waves hitting the rocks, painfully disrupting the peace of mind. Members of the Bald Strike Team, having justpleted a surprise operation, hadn¡¯t the time to celebrate before they were thrust into the grueling process of searching. As the saying goes, hiding something is no easy task even for a divine being, and when ites to drug dealers who hide their stash, there¡¯s a level of professionalism involved. Searching through such arge guesthouse for drugs concealed by professional drug traffickers is certainly no simple feat. And for the members of the Bald Strike Team, who had just experienced a surge of adrenaline, this task of searching was, frankly, quite annoying. In the past, when faced with simr tasks, they would find ways to outsource it, but who could they turn to for help on Su Ind? They couldn¡¯t trust anyone else to handle it. Everyone had no choice but to keep their heads down and search tirelessly, cursing under their breath as they went. "Where¡¯s the dog? Is the dog here yet?" Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t contain his impatience any longer. Three drug dealers had been killed, two more wounded, and a hefty load of firearms had been seized, including an AK47 with desert camo paint¡ªof unknown origin. Had it not been for Wu Junhao firing first and taking out the shooter hiding behind the wall from dozens of meters away, it would have been a dire situation. But now, without a trace of the drugs in sight, who could stand it? Naturally, when people can¡¯t find what they¡¯re looking for, it¡¯s time to let the dogs sniff it out. Wang Shengnian, the Political Commissioner of the Su Ind police, was frustrated to his limits and couldn¡¯t find a way to vent, responding, "It¡¯s on the way." Wu Junhao said, "Thanks for the support, but please hurry it up. The night is long, and we can¡¯t afford to wait any longer." Police usually interrogate suspects in two phases. The first phase is a sudden interrogation, capitalizing on the suspect¡¯s unrest immediately after arrest, which often leads to more revtions. Having drugs found during this time deals a severe psychological blow to the drug dealers. After all, possessing firearms illegally, even shooting at police, although it¡¯s a crime of attempted murder, the main perpetrator is unlikely to be sentenced to immediate execution¡ªlife imprisonment with a suspended death sentence is possible, and aplices might get ten to eight years. By contrast, if a few hundred grams of drugs are found on the scene... the main perpetrator goes down immediately, and the aplice better start talking if they don¡¯t want to share the same fate. From Wu Junhao¡¯s perspective, this was where the suspects were most valuable¡ªdead but with intelligence to offer. Wang Shengnian of Su Ind Bureau promptly took out his phone, made a call, and after ending it, said, "The K-9 unit will be here in another ten minutes." Wu Junhao knew he was displeased but merelyughed it off, saying, "As long as they get here, that¡¯s enough." Jiang Yuan, listening to their conversation, furrowed his brow, "The K-9 unit, how many dogs do they have?" Wang Shengnian cleared his throat a few times, "Hmm... probably just one, I guess." Jiang Yuan revealed an ¡¯I thought as much¡¯ expression, waved his hand, and went off to gather evidence himself. The K-9 unit of Ningtai County Bureau, for a long time, has always had just one police dog, nothing special¡ªit¡¯s just incredibly expensive. As the saying goes, you¡¯ll never know the cost until you raise a police dog. When the dog doesn¡¯t make a peep, it¡¯s a different story. Everyone initially envisioned a K-9 unit with three prime-aged dogs, two in training, and five handlers, but when the first police dog was bought and the expenses began piling up, the detectives gradually realized that Pam, the dog, was a more economical choice. Su Ind isn¡¯t precisely a ce of wealth, so it¡¯s normal for the K-9 unit there to have only one dog. Soon after, a ck-backed dog and its handler arrived in a vehicle. The dog, with fluffy hair and an especially thick neck, was named Shuiyu. Wu Junhao let the trainer and the police dog rest for a bit before calling his assistant over and whispered, "Judging by the name, it doesn¡¯t sound very reliable. Tell them not to try to cover everything at once. This guesthouse is ratherrge; a single dog can¡¯t sniff through the entire ce. Just do what they can,yer byyer. If we can rule out a section of the building, it¡¯ll make our job a bit easier." "Understood." The assistant received the order and went to convey it. The police dog ckback and his trainer rested for almost half an hour before they got to work. It was not that the trainer was being fussy; it¡¯s that a police dog¡¯s rest time had to be ensured. The working time for a police dog is far shorter than that of humans. For example, an ordinary person might wake up at 6 a.m., prepare breakfast,mute for two hours, work until around 10 p.m. and feel tired, yet they could push through until midnight before leaving work, thenmute for another hour to get home. That would still be rtively manageable, and they could even work overtime asionally. But a police dog can¡¯t do that¡ªthey mustn¡¯t work over eight hours a day. And this is the working time for guard dogs. If they¡¯re involved in sniffing operations, the limit for an average police dog is about three hours of continuous sniffing. Leaders might require human employees to "show spirit" and "keep going," but they have to be careful with police dogs. Because police dogs really can die, and not only does training a new one cost money, but it also consumes time. Not like college students on two feet¡ªthey¡¯re like carps crossing the river, any kind of goldfish they want to be. "Furniture can be taken apart now," said Jiang Yuan, after first collecting fingerprints and other traces. He then stood in the center of the room, watching a group of people dismantle the furniture. Concealing drugs and hiding private money actually share a certain craftiness. Drugs need to be taken out and used, so a permanent or long-term storage space is inconvenient. On the other hand, both drugs and private money are small in size, and aren¡¯t essed very frequently. Typically, it¡¯s satisfactory if people can retrieve them within a minute, and for some, even within three to five minutes. Given these needs, ready-made spots like under the bed, empty suitcases, shoeboxes, or shoes aren¡¯t really suitable. Preferred spots are those that require a bit of effort to ess. For instance, the casing of aputer¡¯s CPU isrge and safe, and even a spouse or... police may not think to look there. Other simr ces include inside a speaker, the vent of an air conditioner, etc., all requiring unscrewing. But actually, disassembling and reassembling isn¡¯t that much of an effort, and it gives a strong sense of security for hiding things. Even better and safer spots would require an extra step of modification. For example, could the regr or non-removable screws of aputer¡¯s CPU casing be reced with special screws? Such as hex screws, U-shaped screws, Schneider external six-point screws, or even more outrageous custom screws¡ªif someone had more than 1000 yuan in private cash, they could custom-order their own standard screws on Taobao and equip them with a unique screwdriver. Afterward, mixing that screwdriver among a bunch of misceneous hardware parts would most likely create a well-protected personal safe. Of course, drug dealers can¡¯t rely solely on special screws. Thus, they often employ more violent methods, such as entering from underneath the couch, cutting out a piece of the foam, and inserting a box of drugs or private cash. Or they might take apart one leg of a table or chair, drilling a hole to create a small space to stash drugs or cash. Anothermon tactic is to carve out a slot in a thick book to hide the required items. In summary, hiding objects is an intricate art and well worth a lifetime of study. Some people have failed at it, resulting in divorce or even execution. Jiang Yuan stood in the room, watching as they disassembled everything into parts. He thought for a moment, then beckoned to Shen Yaowei and said, "You¡¯re agile. Go and check around the ceiling to see if there¡¯s anything there and if you can find any fingerprints." After giving the order, Jiang Yuan led others into the next room to continue the search. Shen Yaowei was a bit surprised, then somewhat proud. At the very least, those three shots had made asting impression on Jiang Yuan. Wearing a gleeful expression under his mask, Shen Yaowei thoroughly scanned the ceiling. Thedder in the guesthouse was shaky and unstable, dangerous and ufortable. Shen Yaowei coughed as he worked and it took him a good while to finish before he could report back to Jiang Yuan. "Good timing, we¡¯ve almost finished this side as well. You go up," Jiang Yuan pointed at the ceiling of another room and said, "If you can get into the ducts, check them out too, in case they¡¯ve hidden drugs in the venttion ducts." This was an indispensable check, depending on who would do the work. Shen Yaowei was called upon and could not refuse, so he simply replied with a "Yes," changed his mask, and made an effort to climb up again. "Yaowei is really skilled, he¡¯ll take care of the ceilings in these rooms," Jiang Yuan organized the tasks clearly before heading out. Shen Yaowei, on the ceiling, felt he should be proud and happy, but thebor of climbing up and down and through the ducts was quite exhausting, even more so than his gun practice. Chapter 919 - 857: Adopt Measures Suited to the Situation

Chapter 919: Chapter 857: Adopt Measures Suited to the Situation

The search for evidence was somewhat protracted, but Jiang Yuan and the others had no choice but to patiently go about their work. Shen Yaowei crawled through several rooms, getting so practiced that it seemed as if, in addition to his specialization in handguns, he had acquired a skill specializing in ceiling crawling. Everyone was busy with an anxious urgency, fully aware that the drugwork had been disturbed. If there was no response previously, the removal of this den meant thework¡¯s contacts had definitely received the message. Otherwise, the frantic resistance earlier with gunfire would have been meaningless. At this moment, the spiders within the drug web were frantically trying to escape, but the trail ended here. Even Jiang Yuan could not break through based solely on the previous leads. Not to mention that the earlier leads were all peripheral, even the leads themselves were challenging. When Jiang Yuan left the office, all theputer had were a mass ofplex fingerprints that he had defined as troublesome because he couldn¡¯t identify them immediately. In other words, theseplex fingerprints were Level 5 difficulty, and even Jiang Yuan himself would need a substantial amount of time to analyze just a portion of them, andpleting all of them was impossible. Therefore, Jiang Yuan also needed newer evidence to continue advancing the case. Room by room, they swept for fingerprints, and room by room, they dismantled tables and chairs. Meanwhile, officers collected the mobile phones belonging to the criminals. Those that could be unlocked were, and for the rest, they were plugged into portable read-only devices to directly extract data based on the hardware from the storage mediums. Most phones, except for a few brands, had all their data, including selfie videos, copied using such machines. "Found something!" It took nearly an hour, but finally, an officer discovered a small white packet of pills hidden in the back of a television set. "Take it for a rapid test." Wu Junhao hurried over and quickly ordered: "Let the dog sniff it." The ck-backed fish dog was brought over, sniffed a few times, and quickly caught the scent. Shortly after, the fish dog started barking at a tree downstairs. Officers rushed to dig and easily unearthed a cer. Three express boxes were brought out and opened under the camera, revealing two boxes of jellied candy and one box of white pills. "All are new types of drugs. The fish dog has never smelled them before," the handler said somewhat frustrated. With such arge amount of drugs not detected directly, it was at least equivalent to forfeiting a third-ss merit! "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve found some interesting data over here," said Wang Chuanxing, bringing over a forensic data analyst with his equipment in tow. Jiang Yuan finally felt a breakthrough and asked, "What¡¯s the content?" "The mobile phone of Suspect No. 2 shows he frequently ordered takeout from Pushao Town, 20 kilometers away, mainlyte-night snacks, once a week or every two weeks," the data analyst emphasized. "The suspect isn¡¯t a local, and so far, there seems to be no connection to Pushao Town. He normally doesn¡¯t make phone calls to there..." Jiang Yuan nodded: "This is indeed suspicious." Wu Junhao, less contemtive, gestured broadly: "Show one packet of the pills to the guy who orders takeout at dawn. If he doesn¡¯t confess, he¡¯s one of the main suspects." Unearthing so many drugs on-site, death by lethal injection might be a bit out of fashion, but death by a suspended sentence would definitely be too lenient. At this point, the police would normally identify a few die-hards to rmend for the death penalty, as part of the regr procedure. At this stage, it often boils down to whether someone confesses or not. Previous toughness didn¡¯t count anymore, but if someone couldn¡¯t "perform" after taking the blue pill, there was definitely a problem. An assault team member received the orders and went on his way. Wu Junhao and the others revealed somewhat relieved expressions. With the drugs discovered, the chances of extracting some information were rtively high. Jiang Yuan checked his watch, saying, "I¡¯ll head to Pushao Town." The guesthouse had limited space, and Jiang Yuan had already reviewed everything visible. Any new discoveries could be dealt withter as they arose. To Jiang Yuan, Pushao Town seemed like a drug dealer¡¯s rendezvous point. A look at the map revealed a small town bordering the sea, with frequent nighttime visits from fishing boats andx inspections. A guesthouse employee taking a regr trip there every week or two couldn¡¯t just be for collecting sea produce ¡ª the best seafood from nearby Su Ind was always delivered directly to the port here. In fact, not just Jiang Yuan, any experienced detective on the scene would recognize that the drug dealer making trips to Pushao Town meant they were out on business. Most criminal cases aren¡¯t as mysterious as one might think. Criminal geniuses and creative criminals are in the minority, and as there is no patent protection or copyright in this industry, once a trick bes known, it spreads far and wide, leading to simrity in criminal methods. To experienced detectives, long-term criminal patterns usually followed a set routine. Whether it¡¯s pickpocketing, burry, exploiting negligence, opportunistic theft, or scams like pyramid schemes, cliff drops, or other frauds, they typically need no more than a mention to understand the case. The so-called rules of the old Jianghu taught exactly these things. But why did they insist on teaching these rules? Was it because paths outside the rules were not to be taken, such that criminals, who relied on breaking the Criminal Law to survive, must follow the rules? More likely, it¡¯s because taking paths outside the rules increases the risk of capture, so such individuals never be seasoned veterans of the Jianghu or get to impart their experiences. The drug dealers from Su Ind heading to Pushao Town to pick up shipments were likely following rules such as, "A rabbit does not eat the grass around its burrow" or "The smart rabbit has three burrows." Jiang Yuan hoped to find more clues there. It was about a half-hour drive for 20 kilometers. When Jiang Yuan¡¯s convoy arrived at Pushao Town, the results of the impromptu interrogation at the guesthouse came through. "They conduct transactions in a warehouse of a fishingpany. Thepany is not run by their people, but it¡¯s basically under their control, probably involving families of drug addicts who are in debt..." Wu Junhao briefly described over the phone and added a bit excitedly, "In the warehouse, there¡¯s another batch of goods buried in a pile of misceneous fish." "How much is there?" Jiang Yuan was surprised; normally, the goods would be taken in one go. "This batch of goods is being transferred overseas. At least one ton. All of them are popping candy," Wu Junhao said, pausing briefly before asking, "I¡¯ve already called for long spear soldiers¡¯ support." "We came in police cars," Jiang Yuan sighed. Logically speaking, waiting for support would be more prudent, but from another perspective, if they received a warning here, there¡¯d be a great chance to escape. Any further dy and they might just set fire to the warehouse. Wu Junhao understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s meaning. Whether the other party was aware of the situation here or not, this was already stirring the grass to scare the snake. At this point, he had nothing else to say, and could only advise, "Be careful, don¡¯t rush in yourself. You can start with surveince. The long spear soldiers may take about two hours to arrive. There¡¯s also a coast guard vessel nearby, but it¡¯ll take an hour, I¡¯ll try to get in touch again." "Got it," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t agree explicitly. With the current environment, at most Jiang Yuan could act as a rankmander, and he didn¡¯t have much room for maneuver originally. Fortunately, he was well-equipped, with two submachine guns and that Type 09, all brought along, plus a half-strength Bald Strike Team, making theirbat power not much less than during the raid on the hostel. "Yao Wei, follow Team 2 and enter from the back," Jiang Yuan separated Shen Yaowei and himself into two teams. In case they encountered resistance, Level 2 pistol skills were very powerful. In times of war, they would all be excellent hands in regiment and battalion-level forces. Mu Zhiyang, as usual, was in a carrier vest with a half shield and pistol, standing in front of Jiang Yuan. On the left and right sides of the team respectively were Fan, with the shiny scalp holding submachine guns, and Qu, with the grizzled beard holding a Type 09. Such a setup might be slightly inferior to long spear soldiers and special police teams domestically, but it was probably overkill in firepower. However, Pushao Town is also a small town bordering the open sea, having one or two desert-camouged AKs may not be too excessive. The team formed up at the street corner, then turned their heads and briskly started walking. Compared to the attack on the hostel, the distance from the street corner to the fisherypany¡¯s warehouse was only thirty or forty meters, with regtion-viting buildings providing cover in between. Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand was on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder, taking small and quick steps to the bottom of the warehouse, immediately someone came forward with hydraulic cutters to snap therge chain. The shutter door was raised halfway with a swish. Qu whispered "Let¡¯s go," and the rest followed in single file. In this situation, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but be reminded of ying the game "CS" back in the day. Jiang Yuan quickly scanned the surroundings and, looking up, was startled to find a gun barrel gently extending from under the window. "Above," Jiang Yuan shouted clearly, drawing his gun and firing immediately. From his position, it was impossible to hit the gunman directly, but shooting bullets into the window at this distance could easily result in ricochets. Anyone inexperienced in battle might get frightened by this. Bang bang bang, bang bang bang... Jiang Yuan emptied his magazine instantly, then reloaded with a fresh one. Amidst his gunfire, the team quickly passed through the danger zone and then rushed straight to the upper floor¡¯s office. Qu, with the Type 09 in hand, was ready to breach the door with this assault weapon. The door opened. A muscr man, as sturdy as Captain America, with bloodshot eyes holding a double-barrel shotgun, confronted everyone. Old Qu, running with a gun, immediately aimed. Bang bang bang... Jiang Yuan¡¯s adrenaline surged, lifting the gun and firing, squarely hitting tworge pectorals of Captain America. With Level 3 pistol shooting skills, at such close range, there was no deviation, it was as if he could hit wherever he pointed. Muscles provided no effective resistance, being prated into two bloody holes, blood oozing out with whimpers. Thump! The muscr man heavily fell to the ground, like a tree beside the road, unappreciated and silent. "Put your hands up." The rear team also arrived and both teams quickly met at the front. This time, Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t get a chance to shoot. There were a total of 3 people in the warehouse, and the only one who fought to the death was the suspected drug-influenced strong man. Jiang Yuan skillfully holstered his Type 92, exhaling, he ordered, "Qu, take some people and search the warehouse again, be careful of anyone hiding." Qu: "Yes." Jiang Yuan: "Fan, take those two captives and interrogate them separately. I¡¯ll go check the dead man." Fan: "Yes." Jiang Yuan: "Yao Wei, you go sift through the pile of miscenea in the warehouse first, see if you can find drugs or the like. Remember to shower after you¡¯re done." Chapter 920 - 858: Dripping Water Wears Through Stone

Chapter 920: Chapter 858: Dripping Water Wears Through Stone

Shen Yaowei looked up at Zayu Mountain, his despair as pungent and meticulous as the fish stench, widespread and deep. "There¡¯s nothing as stinky as these fish." Shen Yaowei was telling the truth, and he articted it very clearly. The apanying police officer, Zheng, chuckled and handed Shen Yaowei a mask: "Prince, please start climbing..." "No, aren¡¯t these protective measures inadequate? No suits provided?" Shen Yaowei was stalling for time. Zheng said, "There was no room for suits when we came, we barely had enough masks, save it and don¡¯t vomit inside it." "No... why stack so many fish here? It makes no sense, shouldn¡¯t they be sold fresh?" A local police officer covering his nose said, "These little fish are sold for feed, to make cat food and such, they umte inrge quantities and then are taken away by trucks." "Can it still be made into canned food even though it stinks?" "Anchovy cans smell even worse. Also, cats supposedly like strong fishy scents, I¡¯ve heard that at the factory, batches of fresher fish result in more negative reviews for the cans, with people saying their cats don¡¯t like it anymore, suspecting that they¡¯re cutting corners." The more Shen Yaowei listened, the more nauseous he felt, he retched a couple of times, and then sighed, "Can we get a high-pressure hose to knock down this fish mountain and pinpoint the drugs?" "Use a high-pressure hose to wash away the traces on the drugs?" Zheng teased Shen Yaowei lightly, with no other intention but to see him climb the stinking mound. All this talking meant the task was unavoidable. Shen Yaowei sighed heavily, "I understand the logic. So, Zheng, I¡¯ll climb the left side, you take the right?" Zheng coughed twice, "My back isn¡¯t great, ah, my poor back..." Theoretically, three or four people would normally be required to overturn such a mountain of fish, but if the goal is finding a ton of drugs, one person could manage. Thus, unless specifically ordered, Zheng was sure to dodge the task. As the saying goes, wise men do not fall in love, detectives don¡¯t climb mountains of poo. After this task, for a week, one would smell like a stray cat¡¯s marker; aside from attracting stray cats, eating arrangements would have to be under an exhaust hood. Shen Yaowei was the one singled out. Seeing he couldn¡¯t get Zheng to move, he had no choice but to pick up a shovel reeking of fish, and step by step climbed the fish mountain. Zheng chuckled below, just watching Shen Yaowei work. He, an old detective, had climbed enough such mountains and now refused to do so. As for whether finding drugs merits an award, it certainly does, but with this case¡¯s profile, the first wave of police officers flown in for support would all receivemendation. Those with some results would at least get a Third-ss Merit. For something higher, like Second-ss Merit... Zheng had little thoughts about that. In today¡¯s police force, Third-ss Merits could be generally obtained, allotted by seniority, but Second-ss Merits still required an effort. In a case resolution, only members of the core decision team, or officers who shed core blood on the field, or those with core blood rtionships seldom had exceptions. Shen Yaowei was somewhat rted, but at this moment, he only wished his nose could break for good. In the stinky fish pile, the stench was rich inyers, the types were diverse, therefore it could assault one¡¯s nostrils wave after wave. The nose of an ordinary person might be desensitized to a constant smell, but not to rotting fish. Strictly speaking, it¡¯s not one kind of smell; it contains a rich array of fermentation scents. Shen Yaowei lifelessly shoveled the fish beneath his feet. This workload was slightly less strenuous than digging up bodies because the ground outside tended to be harder, but considering the smell... Shen Yaowei shoveled and shoveled, for who knows how long, until the shovel in his hands felt an unusual texture. Shen Yaowei perked up, scraping harder, and finally managed to clear some of the fish on the surface. Arge stic wrap, about thirty to forty centimeters in diameter, appeared whiter on the outside, looking increasingly suspicious. "Call the trace inspectors over." Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t touch the object; from now on, everything counted as crucial evidence. Soon, several local trace inspectors, along with support technicians from the Shan Nan Province Drug Enforcement Corps, arrived at the scene. Shen Yaowei regretted Captain Jiang¡¯s absence. At least Captain Jiang should have smelled this scent to understand and sympathize with his hardship. "Why hasn¡¯t Captain Jiange?" Shen Yaowei, still not giving up, asked Wang Zhong. "Captain Jiang is doing an autopsy on the body he killed himself. He doesn¡¯t have the time toe over." Wang Zhong curled his lips. Shen Yaowei pondered for a moment; you know, even if the drugs in this package were numerous, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t necessarily have to be here. He was primarily a forensic doctor, after all. At most, he woulde to collect some trace evidence, but the Drug Enforcement Corps could handle that just as well, and they might even have experience rted to drug testing. stic bags were retrieved one after another, revealing another stic package beneath it, followed by the third and fourth ones. The technical staff from the Drug Enforcement Corps took a stic package from the scene. Upon opening it, all they saw inside were clumps of Pop Rocks. If it were regr goods, being crumpled like this, they couldn¡¯t be sold; however, for drug dealers, the distinction between good and bad isn¡¯t that significant¡ªthe drug addicts don¡¯t have that many options. "Judging by the outer packaging, they should all be from the same batch. However, the analysis of the contents inside won¡¯t be avable until tomorrow morning," said the technician from the Drug Enforcement Corps, knowing that their superiors were eager for answers and thus giving them this assessment. Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. It didn¡¯t matter as long as it was drugs, at least they hadn¡¯t suffered in vain. "I¡¯ll go take a shower." The remaining work didn¡¯t need Shen Yaowei¡¯s involvement. Moreover, either the Drug Enforcement Corps or the local police wore protective suits, which would definitely be morefortable. Shen Yaowei washed up in the warehouse of the fisheriespany, thoroughly cleaning every nook and cranny on his body before going to report to Jiang Yuan. The Su Ind Funeral Home was built on a beautifully scenic small hill. Looking from the hill, one side disyed a continuous stretch of forest, while the other side showed the ceaselessly wave-stricken sea. Such scenery would likely be quite popr if a bed and breakfast of the same area were built there. Of course, it¡¯s possible it wouldn¡¯t earn as much as the funeral home. The local autopsy room was also located in the basement of the funeral home. Cold and damp, droplets of water even dripped down the walls. It couldn¡¯t be helped; the ind environment was just like this, and the autopsy room was essentially the forensic doctor¡¯s personal office. Under conditions where even the chief of the criminal police squad might not have a private restroom in their office, what special treatment could a regr forensic doctor¡¯s workce expect? In fact, it was bad enough that the lights in the corridor connecting to the autopsy room were all broken! The buzzing and flickering dull yellow lights, along with already burnt-out bulbs, constantly reminded people how detestable nned obsolescence was. Shen Yaowei, all by himself, walked through the dripping, dim, and dpidated corridor of the autopsy room. Squeak. Shen Yaowei pushed open therge door of the autopsy room. Under the pale white light, a body had already opened its chest, revealing vivid red muscle tissue. "Here you are." The man in a whiteb coat raised his head and greeted with a smile. "Captain Jiang..." Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t know why his voice trembled. "Come take a look at this body. The ones with low body fat percentages are really different. Look at the color of this muscle; the fat in the abdomen is also less, making the cutting feel much morefortable." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butment. Shen Yaowei forced a smile and instinctively said, "It feels different when you do it yourself, huh?" "You¡¯re right, you really are. This is the freshest body I¡¯ve dissected, and from this body, we can actually see the different damages caused by the drugs and medicines he used..." Jiang Yuan began discussing his specialty quite seriously. Shen Yaowei, full ofints with nowhere to express them, interrupted Jiang Yuan, saying, "We dug up drugs." "Ah, they sent me a message." Jiang Yuan nodded. "Once I finish processing the body here, I¡¯ll handle the remaining fingerprints." "Did you find a lot of fingerprints?" Shen Yaowei was surprised. "With therge packaging of drugs, the other party may not have expected that this part would fall into the hands of the police. Many fingerprints were passed over, though none matched at first try. From the forms of the fingerprints, most probably aren¡¯t from Chinese people." "Drugs from abroad?" "It¡¯s hard to say." pausing, Jiang Yuan continued, "They processed the fingerprints they could handle first; there are many, and I can¡¯t handle them alone. We¡¯ll see about the restter." Speaking, Jiang Yuan patted the body beneath him, "This body can provide a lot of information; it¡¯s worth taking the time to study." Chapter 921 - 859: The Path of Confrontation

Chapter 921: Chapter 859: The Path of Confrontation

Shen Yaowei watched Jiang Yuan gently maneuver the scalpel, with countless things he wanted to say in his heart. He should say that he was the member who did the least and most rxed work in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. From a professional standpoint, due to his family background, Shen Yaowei had a deeper understanding of public security cases, always able to give decent advice rted to the case, and with his prominent social prowess and family heritage, Shen Yaowei¡¯s role in the team was quite prominent. But during this period, Shen Yaowei felt that Jiang Yuan had changed a bit, started to push him to work, and this feeling... Hiss. Jiang Yuan¡¯s scalpel slid across the corpse¡¯s skin, making a soft cracking sound. Beside him was a local forensic doctor, a greasy old man in his forties, with a bristly beard and sparse hair, currently assisting without a word, only his eyes revealing admiration and respect when they swept over Jiang Yuan. Shen Yaowei "cough cough" twice, clearing his throat: "Captain Jiang..." "Don¡¯t talk,e and help." Jiang Yuan guessed Shen Yaowei might be a bit emotional, but he didn¡¯t care, nor had any intention to soothe. These days, Jiang Yuan was extremely busy. It can be said that his work would greatly determine the arrest and execution rate of this drugwork. Therefore, Jiang Yuan had set a strict work schedule and process for himself, allotting corresponding time for autopsy and subsequent tasks like fingerprints and footprints. In other words, Jiang Yuan was in an emotional intelligence offline state. Once he expressed his emotions and felt happy, he would dedicate himself to his work. As for Shen Yaowei¡¯s words... Sometimes, being a subordinate really did mean enduring some grievances. Shen Yaowei was somewhat surprised. As a socially adept person, he was always willing toin to the leaders. If you don¡¯tin, how would they know you¡¯re working at full capacity? If you don¡¯tin, how would they pay attention and notice you? And through theining process, if you overstate your own value and exaggerate your work, even if the leaders find out, it would be considered to have a legitimate purpose, and if not discovered... it¡¯s as if your personal value has been reassessed. But today Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t receptive toints, making Shen Yaowei a bit unustomed. The grievances in his heart grew even heavier. "Support this side." Commands from Jiang Yuan were relentless and demanding. Shen Yaowei could only set aside his thoughts and follow Jiang Yuan to act as a forensic assistant. "The urinary system here is pretty much copsed," Jiang Yuanmented suddenly in the middle of the autopsy. The local forensic doctor chuckled and said, "For a drug addict, copse is normal." "It copsed quite severely, and quickly," Jiang Yuan tapped on the corpse¡¯s muscles and said, "A man so physically robust should have been able to withstand a few more years." "You mean..." "The several bodies we autopsied before were more or less the same, this one is fresher, it¡¯s more obvious. It suggests that the drug they¡¯ve been dealing with must have some significant side effects," Jiang Yuan continued to think out loud, saying, "I guess there must be a degree of damage to the kidneys, ureters, and the like, otherwise..." "New drugs tend to be like that, ones without side effects are the minority." The local forensic doctor chatted with Jiang Yuan. However, his conclusion was correct; unlike traditional drugs that have been around for years with well-known highs and side effects, new drugs couldn¡¯t possibly haveplete and consolidated research. Drug dealers are not like pharmaceuticalpanies that run phase one, two, and three clinical trials. They just have a few test subjects try the drugs and if it doesn¡¯t kill them, they start selling. Of course, neither the drug dealers nor the drug addicts really care about that. In the past, the police didn¡¯t pay much attention either. Shen Yaowei then said, "Ordinary drug addicts, they won¡¯t live long enough to have their kidneys fail." "That may be so..." Jiang Yuan pondered and then said, "But when they have urinary system issues, they still have to see a doctor, right?" "Certainly, but even if they get better, they¡¯ll still use drugs..." Shen Yaowei stopped here as his own mind started to work, and he couldn¡¯t help but say, "You mean, find these drug addicts through hospitals?" "We can give it a try, it won¡¯t cost much, and we can count as many as we can confirm. At the very least, we can find out through this method to which regions their saleswork has expanded." At this point, Jiang Yuan lost interest in the corpse on the dissection table and said to the forensic doctor beside him, "I¡¯ll leave the rest to you." "No problem, I will handle it carefully ording to your requirements," the local forensic doctor replied admiringly, looking at Jiang Yuan. "I will have someone send you the full video afterwards." "Okay. Thank you." Jiang Yuan took off his gloves and went to take a shower. Shen Yaowei hesitated and asked, "Is there... another ce to take a shower?" The local forensic doctor wrinkled his nose and said, "Even if you don¡¯t like it, you won¡¯t be able to smell it; the stench of the corpse can¡¯t overpower the smell of rotten fish." Shen Yaowei was both shocked and angry! ... After returning to the office, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t rush to report but drafted an outline of the n and then connected with the Drug Enforcement Headquarters. Using certain symptoms as criteria to search for drug users is already considered a crackdown. As everyone knows, a crackdown is a very expensive andbour-intensive task. Ordinary investigation ns can be mentioned casually, but once a crackdown is mentioned, the scrutiny standards naturally be higher. Song Beishou had been waiting by the phone. Hearing that Jiang Yuan had returned, he rolled off the sofa, hurried to themand center, rubbed his face, and with a smile said, "Jiang Yuan has returned? I heard you led the charge and took down drug dealers¡¯ strongholds. Are you injured? How are you feeling?" "I am not injured, and I¡¯m feeling quite well. However..." Jiang Yuan paused and then seriously said, "Based on our findings this time, I have an idea. I suggest conducting a crackdown by searching for a particr type of symptom to weed out drug addicts who use the same kind of drugs..." "Fine, no problem, you tell us how to do it, and we will do it!" Song Beishou immediately agreed. Jiang Yuan nced at the n outline in front of him. He had only mentioned an introduction, and Song Beishou had already agreed? Jiang Yuan frowned slightly and said, "Commander, I¡¯m talking about arge-scale crackdown. Although the target of the crackdown is quite clearly defined, the scope of the search may need to be nationwide..." "We can do it, no problem," Song Beishou replied even more readily. Jiang Yuan said, "I mean, a nationwide crackdown!" Song Beishou said, "Your word is final, Captain Jiang!" The Drug Enforcement Headquarters doesn¡¯tck funds. Of course, the main reason is that Song Beishou¡¯s trust in Jiang Yuan has soared. Considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s current ability to solve cases and his technical level, Song Beishou couldn¡¯t think of any reason to refuse Jiang Yuan. Even if there were a reason, he would find a way to reject that reason too. Jiang Yuan "hmm"ed for two seconds, looked at the outline he had prepared in advance, and felt it was wasted. Song Beishou said, "Captain Jiang, please give the order." "Well... I will tell you about my idea, but you will have toe up with the specific screening n and arrangements yourself." "No problem!" Song Beishou agreed once again with the utmost speed. For a moment, Jiang Yuan actually felt a little let down. Drug trafficking cases are supposed to be the most confrontational type of cases, but looking at the development of this case, the photographer had been arrested, the evidence was extremely solid, and with multiple charges he was likely to be sentenced to immediate execution. The progress of rted drug cases was also pleasing, and Shen Yaowei reeked. With such a high-level response from the Drug Enforcement Headquarters, suggesting a crackdown seemed tock all the reservedness and dignity expected. "Captain Jiang?" Song Beishou waited for a while and, seeing no response from Jiang Yuan, couldn¡¯t help but express his concerns, "If you think the intensity is not strong enough, we can find other ways. We could also coordinate with the Ministry. A case this big can¡¯t possibly be handled entirely by us alone..." "That¡¯s enough. Let¡¯s wait and see the results before we decide," Jiang Yuan gestured. Sometimes, when your teammates provide too much support, the fight turns into dominance. Chapter 922 - 860: Facts Speak Louder Than Words

Chapter 922: Chapter 860: Facts Speak Louder Than Words

"Come on, everyone give us a smile." A freence photographer loudly directed a group of people in front of him. Click click click... After a series of shutter clicks, the freence photographer made an OK hand gesture and said with a smile, "Thank you all for your cooperation, that¡¯s a wrap for now." "Thank you, thank you." The leaders of the Su Ind police station smiled politely and then waved their hands, calling out, "Bring out our photographer and take them to their prison van." The photographer, who was looking down at his photos, suddenly felt weak in the knees. Normally so articte, suddenly his mouth could not form words and he began to mumble iprehensibly to himself: It¡¯s not like this, if the shots aren¡¯t satisfying, we could retake them, there¡¯s still post-processing... Click. The doors of two police cars opened, and out came two men with hoods over their heads, dressed in prison uniforms, and shackled at the hands and feet. Each man was escorted by special police on either side, shuffling with tiny, rapid steps. The sound of the chains dragging on the ground was both dull and sharp. The photo studio photographer who had just taken the police¡¯s group photo had never seen anything like it. He dumbfoundedly raised his camera. "Hey hey hey, what are you thinking?" A nearby police officer pressed down the camera and said, "Do you really want to join them?" "No, no..." The photo studio photographer frantically exined, "I heard them calling to bring out the photographer." The police officer beside him just smiled and said nothing. Speeches leaders could make, ordinary police officers were very cautious about, even more so when it came to exining to outsiders. The hooded photographers were only unhooded behind the prison van, their identities confirmed, before being put back onto the prison van. Next, this prison van would head straight to the Qinghe City Detention Center. With a journey of thousands of miles ahead, there would be nofort, but there was no other choice; the case had been assigned to Qinghe City Intermediate Court for trial. As it was a case potentially carrying the death penalty, ording to the rules, the first trial had to start at the intermediate court level, with appeals going to the high court. The photo studio photographer watched from afar, not daring to take another photo, but his sensitivity to portrait photography gave him a vague sense of recognition of the two people. They were actually two photographers. Did they capture the true identity of the leaders? "Brother, we¡¯ll call you if we need you again," a police officer came over and politely escorted the photo studio photographer out. Meanwhile, Director Kong said her heartfelt farewells to Jiang Yuan. The two subordinates Director Kong had sent to the hotel each received a third-ss merit. This was a decision that could be made by the provincial office, but for a local station, it was still pretty rare, with only two to three percent of the quota every year. Since it was distributed across the province with a focus on the core departments, it was quite difficult for a local police station to receive such an award. The most important thing was, these third-ss merits were practically gifted by Jiang Yuan. Of course, officially, they were awarded for protecting Jiang Yuan, and that¡¯s how Director Kong advertised it. As for the actual situation, everyone could clearly see the real deal. After saying goodbye to his colleagues from Su Ind, Jiang Yuan boarded a chartered flight home. Jiang Fuzhen and his two dogs were also going back. In order not to take advantage of public resources because of Jiang Yuan, Jiang Fuzhen firmly refused to use government amenities and, as usual, paid his way. Of course, for him, the cost of a dozen cows was nothing to fret about. Jiang Yuan slept on the ne, chatted with his father, made sure his filial piety was well-gilded, and afternding, went straight to the Drug Enforcement Headquarters located in Changyang City. Song Beishou had already started a nationwide investigation, with his team checking one by one down the list of third-ss hospitals. This form of investigation was a bit different from the usual ones. Typical investigations aim to find a specific person or group of people, often with a requirement not to miss anyone. However, this investigation was slightly different. The request from the Drug Enforcement Headquarters, or Jiang Yuan, was actually to maximize damage¡ªto find as many of these types of people as possible. Leaving a few, or even a group behind, was not really an issue. In fact, it was almost certain that some would be left out. Not everyone who consumed the same batch of new drugs would immediately progress to a disease state, and not all drug addicts who did develop kidney disease from them would take it seriously enough to seek treatment. Moreover, some drug addicts mix different drugs, generally affecting their health but not necessarily leading to kidney disease. However, it wasn¡¯t necessary for the Drug Enforcement Headquarters to filter out every single person. Drug addicts can never bepletely eradicated. In reality, those involved in drug enforcement know that almost no drug addicts truly manage to quit, especially with high-level drugs, where even the temporary cessation rate is very low. Eventually, those who take high-level drugs might need to consume lower-level substitutes to cope, in other words, unless every single one of them is physically eradicated, drug addicts can only be managed, neverpletely eliminated. This time, the Drug Enforcement Headquarters¡¯ investigation was also aimed at determining the spread and path of the drugs. These substances seldom spread spontaneously. Without a stable supplier and daring dealers risking their lives, transporting drugs in and out of cities is extremely perilous. When Jiang Yuan arrived, he saw themand hall¡¯s map already had dozens of small gs inserted, spanning seven provinces. "We¡¯ve already contacted the local drug enforcement departments. Most of these drug-rted individuals have been found by us; a few have died, are in ICU, or are seriously ill. We chose not to pursue those any further." Chapter 923 - 860: Actions Speak Louder Than Words_2

Chapter 923: Chapter 860: Actions Speak Louder Than Words_2

Song Beishou felt a surge of relief when he saw Jiang Yuan arrive, as if he had donned a pair of reassuring underpants before sleeping at night, spreading his legs andughing unconsciously. Song Beishou and Jiang Yuan shook hands tightly. Song Beishou then said emotionally, "This time, we can say we have joined forces. After saying so much on the conference call, I finally meet Captain Jiang in person." Jiang Yuan, shaking Song Beishou¡¯s hand, also gave it a firm shake. Frankly speaking, this time he was truly at the forefront. There had been two shootouts on Su Ind, and not just in one city or province, but across the nation, these two incidents had caught the public¡¯s attention. Now back in Changyang City, Jiang Yuan indeed felt a sense of lightness, as if he had returned from the front lines to the rear. "We should thank the Chief for his support." Jiang Yuan momentarily turned on his EQ for 30 seconds, then after using it, said, "Give me the collection of fingerprints. And footprints as well." "They¡¯re ready." Song Beishou hurriedly handed over a USB drive. "Let¡¯s get a few people to help out, five should do it," said Jiang Yuan. This batch of fingerprints and footprints, which included those sifted from various ces including drug addicts, as well as those from their residences and ces of drug use, was huge in quantity but few were useful. Even if Jiang Yuan were topare them one by one, no matter how fast he worked, the efficiency wouldn¡¯t be high. Song Beishou, of course, was prepared for a regr trace examination. Five trace examiners were quickly in ce and started sorting through the fingerprints and footprints. After making a round, Jiang Yuan said, "Please project the screens of the five trace examiners onto themand screen in front." The Anti-Drug Brigade¡¯smand center conditions were excellent¡ªdirectly ahead was a movie theater-sized splicing screen, which could be used as a whole or split into multiple screens. The entiremand center resembled a spaceunch control center, with each workstation in the back rows having aputer, adding to the tension. For the trace examiners, having the content of their own screens directly projected onto themand screen at the front inevitably added a considerable amount of pressure. Fortunately, all five were handpicked for the job and focused solely on their work, silently resisting the pressure. Neither Jiang Yuan nor Song Beishou had any intention offorting them. The battle against crime is about pressure; a criminal investigator who can¡¯t withstand pressure will copse. Narcotics officers face even greater pressure, but that¡¯s the nature of the job. Wanting a hug? It¡¯s better to copse early. On the 55-inch split screen, Jiang Yuan could not only see the markings of the left-side fingerprints clearly but also the right-side fingerprints used forparison. On a 24-inch small screen, these right-side fingerprints might only be thumbnails, and one would need to zoom in to see them clearly. But on a 55-inch screen, though not crystal clear, the overall pattern and ridges were visible. If these wereplex, problematic fingerprints, even the thumbnails on a 55-inch wouldn¡¯t suffice. Even an expert like Jiang Yuan, when examining difficult prints, would zoom in variously, sometimes disying only one-fifth of a fingerprint on screen. However, the difficulty of this batch of fingerprintparisons was far less. On a 55-inch screen, looking at thumbnails for Jiang Yuan was like perusing a menu. "Alpha, start with fingerprint number 4," Jiang Yuan said to avoid confusion and directly gave the people numbers. Trace Examiner Alpha felt slightly upset¡ªhe was a 30-something elite officer after all, working in a major unit like the headquarters... but also because it was the headquarters, Alpha naturally suppressed his emotions and clicked on fingerprint number 4 as asked. So what if I just follow your instructions? Trace Examiner Alpha opened number 4, and in usual practice,pared it left and right... After a while, Trace Examiner Alpha silently clicked the "Identify as the Same" button. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice echoed in his ears, "Geng, turn the page... yes,pare to number 13." Trace Examiner Alpha frowned, doing a quick tally¡ªweren¡¯t there only five people in total? He turned his head sharply, only to find that a few more colleagues were seated in the back row. "What¡¯s this..." Trace Examiner Alpha was astonished. "You¡¯re working too slowly, Captain Jiang called for another five to join," a colleague in the back row shot a nce, sensing what Alpha was thinking. "This... isn¡¯t that a bit dismissive!" Trace Examiner Alpha couldn¡¯t help but mutter. "I think so too," Trace Examiner E nodded in agreement and said, "Just focus on the work, the facts speak for themselves." Trace Examiner Alpha nodded and immediately opened a new fingerprint chart, swiftly marking points of interest. "Alpha, change this here." Jiang Yuan, standing at themand screen, drew a red circle with an electronic pen, which was reflected back on the operator¡¯sputer. Trace Examiner Alpha frowned and erged the fingerprint on his screen. The spot circled by Jiang Yuan was a hook shape, a standard point of interest, yet considering the pattern of the surrounding prints... Trace Examiner Alpha silently removed the mark of that feature point. After a brief pause, Trace Examiner Alpha resumed marking. This time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came only after he hadpletely finished and beganparing: "Alpha, number 6." Trace Examiner Alpha immediately clicked on the sixth candidate fingerprint... And sure enough, it was a match. Trace Examiner Alpha silently continued his work, just like the rest of his colleagues. As simple and easy fingerprints were continuously matched, various iplete prints began to emerge, slowing down the pace of several examiners. Thus, Trace Examiners A, B, C, D, and E came online. The department¡¯s clerical staff even had time to print nametes for each, cing them behind the monitors to help Jiang Yuan identify the persons. Trace Examiner Alpha started to feel immense pressure. Some fingerprints were beyond his capabilities. From his many years of experience, some prints might take weeks to match andpare. Yet, Jiang Yuan¡¯smanding voice never paused. "Alpha, here, here, here." Jiang Yuan¡¯s speech was terse, his instructions straightforward, almost just a single expression. But as the red circles appeared on the screen, Trace Examiner Alpha couldn¡¯t help but feel invigorated. Forplex fingerprints, three additional points of interest could significantly reduce the difficulty. "E, here, here!" "H, here!" Although the speed of fingerprint identification inevitably slowed, the overall progress was hardly dyed thanks to the increased number of examiners. Moreover, as the difficulty increased, nearly half of the trace examiners were effectively being led by Jiang Yuan. After matching another print, Trace Examiner Alpha, looking at a print that might have taken him weeks to match before, couldn¡¯t help but murmur to himself, "Sometimes, we just think too highly of ourselves." "I think so too," said Trace Examiner E from behind. "The facts speak louder than words." Chapter 924 - 861: Core Layer

Chapter 924: Chapter 861: Core Layer

"Director Song, shall we eat in the cafeteria tonight or go out?" The support staff, seeing the smile on Song Beishou¡¯s face grow wider, seized the opportunity to ask. Song Beishou was just chuckling at the ever-expanding list of suspects when he heard the support staff speak, and his smile abruptly vanished: "Eat? Now is not the time for eating!" He looked at the support staff as if they had no brain and thought, now is the crucial juncture when we should unite and work our brains out. Is there anything more important than identifying suspects? To think about eating¡ªat a time when we should be rushing ahead, even if it meant eating dirt! The support staff, looking at their leader whose mind seemed to be emptied, calmly said: "Of course, we can skip eating, but shouldn¡¯t we at least arrange for Captain Jiang¡¯s dinner? Captain Jiang took a flight here, and it¡¯s nearly 8 PM now." Song Beishou took a sharp look at the time; indeed it was 7:45 PM. In Changyang City, inviting someone for dinner, especially if drinking is involved, setting it around 7 PM is considered reasonable. But if it gets to 8 PM, it feels rather insincere. Song Beishou sighed, got up, and walked over to Jiang Yuan, saying: "Captain Jiang, shall we take a break for a dinner?" "No need for dinner." Jiang Yuan paused, then said: "Just let the cafeteria handle it. Do you have a cafeteria?" "We do have a cafeteria, but the quality of the food there might becking," Song Beishou said modestly. "If the cafeteria doesn¡¯t cut it, we could just borrow a few people from other restaurants," Jiang Yuan said very matter-of-factly, upping the ante. Song Beishou was stunned for a moment; he had encountered many experts, but this was the first time he had seen someone make a request like Jiang Yuan. Under normal circumstances, leaders wouldn¡¯t make such demands. However, Song Beishou merely nced at the big screen and, far from being upset, smiled unconsciously: "No problem, I¡¯ll go find some chefs toe over. Captain Jiang, what kind of cuisine would you prefer?" "With so many people today, let¡¯s have Sichuan cuisine. There¡¯s no need to order specifically, just get a really good Sichuan chef to stir-fry a few dishes and make them into rice te specials. It has to be individual stir-fry, not big-pot rice. If there aren¡¯t enough chefs, call a few more. Just fry their most familiar dishes, like Kung Pao chicken, shredded pork with garlic sauce, Mapo tofu, and the like..." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t new to ordering dishes either, proficient and surprisingly particr. Song Beishou snapped out of his stupor and realized that Jiang Yuan was mainly ordering for his subordinates and promptly agreed. Neither of them asked if anyone couldn¡¯t eat spicy food. Narcotics police have tougher times than criminal investigators, so mainstream tastes like Sichuan cuisine are well within everyone¡¯s capacity. "Also, the suspects within Shannan Province, let¡¯s bring them in today; no more waiting. Anyone who could have gotten the news might have already fled," Jiang Yuan issued another order from his executive level. "Eh, arrest them now? We still can¡¯t determine their hierarchy." Going by experience, Song Beishou was also quite seasoned, but to be frank, he might not have fought a battle with such ample technical resources. Normally, major cases handled by the narcotics squad are the focus, not counting the intelligence battles and life-threatening undercover tactics you see on TV. Even routine cases, from gradually gathering information to strategizing and ultimately making arrests, normally take around a year. Moreover,pared to the final arrest stage, the initial investigation to determine the list of relevant personnel is actually more crucial. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said: "It¡¯s hardly possible now to determine their ranks by surveince tracking or traditional methods, finding the core members. This drugwork has been already destroyed by us; it would be quite difficult for them to resume operations, let alone continue facing our attacks. The core members are likely already on the run." "That¡¯s indeed possible..." Song Beishou hesitated for a moment. "If we could find the money trail, perhaps we could track them down that way." "Starting from the money trail means restarting the case from scratch. Moreover, I can¡¯t be of any help in this aspect," Jiang Yuan said, not suggesting that Song Beishou¡¯s idea was wrong¡ªthis was also the narcotics squad¡¯s working experience. Drug trafficking is all about making money, and once the money is made, they naturally want to keep it. So, even if the drugwork copses, the money trail can still lead to the suspects. It¡¯s just that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly skilled in this investigative approach. In fact, Song Beishou didn¡¯t have the time or energy to rebuild the case from the start. "Alright then. Let¡¯s make the arrests," Song Beishou said, gritting his teeth. "But doing so means the core members might slip away." "It hase to this," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t feeling regretful. If the usual cases handled by the narcotics squad are meticulously prepared major battles, then this case is akin to starting off at thete stage of a battle, a campaign that begins from the end-stage. The enemy was actually in a state of scattered flight, and now it was a matter of how and where to catch them. As for Song Beishou¡¯s position, his interesty solely in the big drug lords. Catching ten thousand drug addicts was not as valuable as capturing one big drug lord. The problem now was that the drugwork was essentially destroyed, and the person in charge of the drugwork was mostly on the run, but the police neither knew who he was nor whether he had fled the country or was hiding somewhere ying a dangerous game. Song Beishou arranged for personnel to capture suspects. In themand center, the voices from two radio frequencies were quickly heard. On one side were technicians like Jiang Yuan, using the main resources for investigations, and on the other side was Song Beishoumunicating with all sides for capturing suspects over numerous phone calls. People like Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta also felt an extra surge of passion. The suspects you just confirmed were soon caught by colleagues, and after a brief interrogation, they were almost certain to face the death penalty, a kind of joy that ordinary police officers could not experience. The person who had dealt with the most death-row prisoners was Forensic Alpha, whose technical level in the anti-narcotics brigade was already first-ss. Combined with being among the first to participate in fingerprintparison, and the initial matching of simple fingerprints being numerous, he had identified the most suspects. Watching the death-row prisoners passing through his fingertips, Forensic Alpha looked up at Jiang Yuan, and in a trance, he seemed to see zing mes burning. Ningtai Jiangyuan, with fierce and overwhelming momentum... "Bro, your double-cooked pork with rice." A young police officer delivered the dinner to him. Forensic Alpha thanked him and got up to eat at the table next to him. Next to him, Forensic Charlie wiped his mouth, greeted him, and went back to work. Jiang Yuan also came over with his food basin and sat down. "Captain Jiang. Director Song." Forensic Alpha moved over a bit. Jiang Yuan and Song Beishou smiled back at him, sat down, and eachmented briefly on the food. Just as Forensic Alpha thought it was a normal food gathering and was prepared to join in, he heard Jiang Yuan say, "I just studied the matched fingerprints and found several peculiar ones." "How so?" Song Beishou immediately put down his chopsticks. "Some fingerprints have appeared in more than two provinces, and several others match the fingerprints excavated from the fish piles on Su Ind, it seems that these fingerprints, if not at the core level, should at least belong to the mid-level of the drug syndicate," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t beat around the bush and shared his thoughts on the spot. Song Beishou¡¯s eyes lit up and he eagerly asked, "Which ones?" "I¡¯ve got them written down here." Jiang Yuan handed a piece of paper to Song Beishou. "I¡¯ll go check it out now." Song Beishou couldn¡¯t care less about his steaming covered rice, got up, and left. If they could catch a few mid-level members, preferably one or two core members, most of the core members of this group would probably be doomed. On the small dinner table, it seemed like the light of righteousness was flowing. Jiang Yuan bowed his head to eat a few bites, then looked up to catch his breath, and using a bit of emotional intelligence, greeted Forensic Alpha sitting next to him, "You were one of the first toe over for support, right? How should I address you?" Forensic Alpha looked up at Jiang Yuan and saw him in front of therge, brightly lit screen, his whole body seeming to emit light. Forensic Alpha¡¯s heart trembled, his emotional intelligence and perceptiveness temporarily engaged, "Myst name is Yi, just call me Xiao Yi." Chapter 925 - 862: Treasure

Chapter 925: Chapter 862: Treasure

a.m. Jiang Yuan rolled out of bed, quickly washed up, and headed to the Command Hall of the Drug Enforcement Corps. He could have gotten up earlier, but overworking reduces efficiency. Fingerprint analysis relies on intellect, not physical strength. This is apparent from the disproportion between the number of technicians and their results. Like the economic principle of the 80/20 rule, the most productive 20% of techniciansplete 80% of the fingerprintparisons. When ites to highlyplicatedparisons, it¡¯s 2% of the peoplepleting 98% of the work. Even for criminal syndicates, what Song Beishou cares most about is the core 20% of the group, or even the main 2%. In fact, over the past couple of days, what Song Beishou has been most concerned about, spending a majority of his efforts on, was to catch the big boss of the "Poison Capture Net." "Poison Capture Net" is the name Jiang Yuan gave to this drug gang, and it was approved by the Commander Song Beishou, who thought it was more fitting than "Crystal Cruise," a name the drug dealers came up with themselves. Of course, because it was named by Jiang Yuan, even if it were slightly worse, Song Beishou would have epted it. Thus, after the drugwork was dismantled, the gang members went from being called "Crystal Cruise" to "Poison Capture Net." No one asked them for their opinion, including the members of "Poison Capture Net" themselves. They neither knew why their group¡¯s name had changed nor cared to find out. Among those arrested, at least a third executed immediately, known colloquially as "immediate execution," these criminals are now more concerned about trying to save their lives than caring about names. The rest of the criminals, whether they received a suspended death sentence or ten to twenty years in prison, all learned to behave in the detention center. A name is the least of their worries. "Captain Jiang, let¡¯s have breakfast first." Song Beishou also stayed in the dormitoryst night and waited in the cafeteria especially for Jiang Yuan and others in the morning. The canteen operates buffet-style, with only a few more cooks temporarily hired, all invited by Song Beishou from Cantonese restaurants. Money was paid, of course, but personal rtionships are paramount. To get professional chefs from ordinary operating hotels... the face of the police is still sufficient. They grabbed food and sat down at a table in the cafeteria, chatting while eating. The direction of today¡¯s work was likely to be established after this breakfast. "The current issue is that we are unsure who the three top members of the gang are¡ªAmethyst, Citrine, and Sapphire," said Song Beishou as he scooped a bowl of Schr¡¯s Congee, drinking and discussing his requirements. "At least we know their nicknames now," Jiang Yuan responded with a smile, feeling no significant pressure. This time acting as the visiting team, it was one of the more rxed operations he had been a part of¡ªSong Beishou handled the pressure, with nationwide arrests implying that peers from all over the country would be watching... Song Beishou said, "We have to catch at least one of them." "Catching one increases the chance of getting the others significantly." "Yes, they must know each other¡¯s identities," Song Beishou paused and added, "Apart from the three of them, any other drug dealer who knows their identities is probably dead." "Dead? Was that found out inst night¡¯s interrogation?" "It seems to be a guess from several middle-tier dealers. Two dealers have helped dispose of bodies for the higher-ups before, and those were their own team members¡¯ bodies. They assume it must¡¯ve been orders from the top," Song Beishou conveyed the details. As the number of fingerprints captured by Jiang Yuan and others increased, some mid-level dealers had been arrested. These people provided lots of information, but it still fell short of Song Beishou¡¯s expectations. "Ah," Jiang Yuan reacted nonchntly¡ªnot surprising since he hadn¡¯t handled many drug cases, but criminal cases generally share simrities. Jiang Yuan asked, "Where did they dispose of the bodies?" "In the sea, or duringnd remation," said Song Beishou, sipping his congee, "Cases by the sea are always troublesome." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly but then said, "Not all could have been disposed of in the sea or buried duringnd remation. There are so many provinces involved; it¡¯s not possible to always be by the sea tomit murder or to bring the bodies over every time." From working on numerous homicide cases, it¡¯s clear that transporting and dumping bodies is a hassle. Not to mentionmitting murder in other ces; even in Hu City, with its coastal advantage, few choose to dump bodies into the sea. Song Beishou, reminded, furrowed his brows immediately: "Do you think there¡¯s something off in their stories?" "Not necessarily, but there¡¯s likely something they¡¯re not disclosing," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "However, solving cases from the angle of homicide is too troublesome." Song Beishou¡¯s eyebrows shot up again, "Troublesome... Since when is a bit of trouble a problem..." "If you have the manpower, then investigating homicide cases isn¡¯t a bad idea. At least it would help with sentencing," Jiang Yuan said, not in a position to really direct Song Beishou. Song Beishou hesitated for a moment, then said, "Then I¡¯ll call for some help." "That¡¯s fine. However, our goal is to take down the ¡¯Poison Capture Net¡¯ in one fell swoop," Jiang Yuan instructed Song Beishou from above, saying, "I suspect that those purple crystals, or rather, these three crystals, are also trying to flee." "Most likely," Song Beishou couldn¡¯t be entirely sure either. But thinking normally, with so many people around them being arrested, no matter how secure the three crystals feel or how much they believe in their ability to silence others, they wouldn¡¯t dare to gamble carelessly. "People undervalue themselves when they are away from home. No matter how well-prepared they were previously or how well-designed their escape routes are, their ability to control things from the outside bes weaker, theirmanding power declines, and their leadership abilities fall several levels," Jiang Yuan concluded. "That¡¯s true," Song Beishou naturally agreed with this. "I think it¡¯s sufficient to eliminate the enemy¡¯s active forces. When the three crystals were at home, they could endure only remotely contacting a few people within the gang. Now that they¡¯ve left their stronghold, can they still guarantee that?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to follow a traditional n of investigation; he intended to arrest people. Such a n was indeed quite untraditional. Of course, a very traditional n wouldn¡¯t have resulted in a battle unfolding in this manner either. At this point, the entire drug enforcement battle had scattered the enemy in a frantic escape; to recapture them, no such traditional n exists. "Overall, the sales end of the ¡¯Poison Capture Net¡¯ is pretty much done for. Next, I think the focus should be on the production end of the ¡¯Poison Capture Net¡¯. We need to figure out where they have been producing so many new types of drugs; once we clear that up, the case will beplete. The three crystals could leave no trace on the business end, but it¡¯s almost impossible to leave no trace on the production end," Song Beishou proposed a new idea. Jiang Yuan asked, "The production end must be highly confidential, how do you n to find it?" "By interrogating the suspects we¡¯ve arrested now, while looking for evidence at the same time. A factory must have materialsing in and out and workers involved," Song Beishou¡¯s response also depended on Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. "That won¡¯t interfere," Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion was that as long as it did not affect his own direction of investigation, Song Beishou could proceed as he wished since the resources were his own anyway. Song Beishou felt a bit disappointed though, as after all the discussion, the investigative n hadn¡¯t significantly changed. The main reason was that Jiang Yuan was the absolute key yer; if Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative direction didn¡¯t change, the task force was powerless to change anything. If that¡¯s the n, then Jiang Yuan¡¯s work today would still beparing fingerprints, no different from the previous days. Could the case be solved by not making progress this way? Song Beishou couldn¡¯t help but waver. "I¡¯ll get busy now," Jiang Yuan let Song Beishou understand his work direction was sufficient. Frankly speaking, even Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯tpletely sure if this direction would truly lead to the production end. But from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, this was the most certain direction. After breakfast, everyone returned to themand hall with heavy hearts. Soon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice sounded loud and clear again. "A, over here." "B, re-tag this one." Listening to the familiar voice, Song Beishou quickly entered his working state. Brother units from different provinces were busy helping catch people at the moment. Song Beishou kept calling them "brother" while continuously dispatching personnel to escort suspects, conduct interrogations, and then feedback information. When encountering branch cases, such as murder cases, Song Beishou would transfer them to the Criminal Police Corps, but it would not yield results in the short term. Jiang Yuan seemed to be back in the state of the fingerprint battle,paring fingerprints after getting up each day and resting early in the evening. In the blink of an eye, a week had passed. The arrest tally of the Shan Nan Province Drug Enforcement Corps had easily broken into the thousands. By this stage, it was not just the Drug Enforcement Corps anymore, as police from many other departments had begun to travel frequently to Changyang City on official business. After all, drug dealers and addicts were criminals throughout their lives. Often, as soon as theplete fingerprints were rolled out and DNA results were obtained, some county¡¯s criminal police brigade would be bustling. It was as if everyone could extract nourishment from this treasure trove. Chapter 926 - 863 - : Liu Zhi

Chapter 926: 863 Chapter: Liu Zhi

"Director Song, we have confirmed that this ¡¯iron lump¡¯ is none other than Tie Wan Shan, the deputy of ¡¯Crystal Yellow¡¯ in Poison Capture Net." Subordinates brought a thick stack of files to Song Beishou. Most of them were photographs, with a few textual charts. Song Beishou looked through them one by one and, upon confirming their uracy, nodded in approval: "Good, with this, the levels below the three crystals are thoroughly understood by us." "Yes! This counts as the fifth big fish," the subordinate said repeatedly. Even for the general team, catching a few big fish of this caliber each year is not guaranteed. In the grand scheme of things, this is the second-tier person in the national drug traffickingwork,parable to a senior sales director of a drug trafficking group, often adorned with titles like VP. Song Beishou¡¯s smile was fleeting; having already caught four simr big fish, the impact of the fifth was somewhat less stirring. Song Beishou handed the files back to his subordinate, saying, "Pin it up." With the permission from Song Beishou, the subordinate wrote Tie Wan Shan¡¯s name on a yellow paper and stuck it in the middle of the whiteboard at the back, marking it as: "In charge of the drug manufacturing workshop." The whiteboard was densely packed with stickers bearing names. Through the massive arrests of personnel from Poison Capture Net, Song Beishou and others had gained a deep understanding of its structure, creating a rtionship chart that they knew better than the members of thework themselves. Currently, it appears that the three bosses of the Poison Capture Net each control a different line. ¡¯Crystal Purple¡¯ oversees sales, ¡¯Crystal Yellow¡¯ handles production, and ¡¯Crystal Blue¡¯ is in charge of financial activities like moneyundering. The lines do not intersect each other, forming essentially three tree diagrams, with ¡¯Crystal Purple¡¯ being thergest, followed by ¡¯Crystal Yellow¡¯, and ¡¯Crystal Blue¡¯ being the smallest. On the entire chart, there are over three hundred named individuals, most of whom are members of the Poison Capture Net, with a few being peripheral members. Moreover, among these people, they are divided into three colors: red for fugitives, yellow for those already arrested, and green for those whose identities are unconfirmed or doubtful. With the work of the past week, the number of greens on the three tree diagrams is bing fewer, with yellow increasingly bing the dominant color. The only issue remaining is that the three main suspects are still marked on green papers. This intuitive stickerposed rtionship chart originally received high praise from many leaders. For Song Beishou and others, it also represented an exceptionally clear career advancement. On this basis, everyone hopes to fully capture the rtionship chart, and one day, to execute all top figures neatly ¡ª what a thrilling and satisfying oue that would be! Song Beishou turned around and saw Jiang Yuan and others still busyparing fingerprints and footprints. As the number of footprints obtained has increased, and because they are more challenging than fingerprints, Jiang Yuan spends most of his time dealing with footprints. The achievements have been exceptionally significant, as reflected on this list of red and yellow names, most of which were matched by Jiang Yuan. Especially after the confirmation of the factory address, the fingerprints and footprints collected on site brought in a tremendous amount of results. Song Beishou was unsure if he should interfere at this point. In the past, at this stage, he would at least hold a small-scale case analysis meeting to decide the next direction of the investigation. But this time is different. The entire case is akin to being pulled forward by Jiang Yuan, the ¡¯lotive¡¯. Should the same ¡¯lotive¡¯ of Jiang Yuan continue to provide the momentum in shifting investigative directions? Of course! Jiang Yuan is still maintaining a pace of identifying over a dozen suspects daily. Whether they can be arrested or not is another¡¯s burden, but Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical expertise is beyond doubt. Song Beishou is anxious, but not senseless ¡ª he wouldn¡¯t switch approaches at such a time. However, if Jiang Yuan continues to serve as the lotive providing momentum, then there are not many ces where the direction of the investigation of this case can shift. Since Jiang Yuan is a technical person, his type of technology defines his direction. Understanding the issue better from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, Song Beishou knows that Jiang Yuan is currently using his best skills in fingerprints and footprints to help drive the case forward, with suspects continuously being identified, confirmed, and arrested... It can be said that no other police officer could have done better. But from another perspective, the full potential of the organization¡¯s power has not been fully utilized... "Director Song, Director Liu Jinghui has arrived," a clerk reports. Song Beishou¡¯s train of thought was abruptly interrupted, and he decided, "Have Director Liue to the conference room, then inform a few squad leaders and the likes of Old Yi and others toe for a meeting." "Yes." The clerk has been with Song Beishou for a long time; without needing specific names, he knew whom to call. In a short while, several squad leaders and numerous police officers gathered. These people are members of the core decision-making team of the Anti-Drug Squad, including not only the heads of main squads but also members whom Song Beishou regards as intelligent or technically skilled. For regr cases, Song Beishou prefers small-scale discussions and often does not even call the leaders of several squads. Chapter 927 - 863: Liu Zhi_2

Chapter 927: Chapter 863: Liu Zhi_2

Liu Jinghui is a well-known figure in the provincial department, and his fame has been increasing over the past two years. He¡¯s the expert that various units may not be particrly fond of, but always think of when they face problems. This time, on the rmendation of Jiang Yuan, Song Beishou officially requested him toe over from the provincial department. "Let me introduce Director Liu first." This wasn¡¯t the first time Song Beishou had met Liu Jinghui. They had some minor coboration before, and now Song took the initiative to make the introductions, with Liu Jinghui in tow. Liu Jinghui nodded with elegant poise, more like a schrly professor than a police officer from the disciplinary forces. Middle-aged Liu Jinghui, neat and upright with a clear jawline, is the kind of man whose prime seems tost particrly long. Like a chrysanthemum that doesn¡¯t look much at first, but after two or three weeks on disy with other flowers, it bes exceptionally beautiful. By contrast, the other middle-aged men in the small conference room seem somewhat greasy. "With Director Liu here, let¡¯s discuss our current issues. The progress of our investigation is actually very satisfying. Core members of Poison Capture Net have been arrested en masse, and arge number of rted personnel have been apprehended as well. But as for the three most important leaders of the case, even insiders of Poison Capture Net don¡¯t know their identities. We need toe up with a way to fish out these three individuals." Song Beishou thumped the documents in his hand, seemingly repeating the problem for the umpteenth time. Click, click... In the small conference room, with the mention of the problem, someone naturally lit a cigarette. Yuxi, Liqun, Huanghelou... The flickers of light added a glow to the room. Liu Jinghui amiably took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes that Jiang Yuan had given him and lit one with a "click". "I think first of all, we need to strengthen our interrogations. We¡¯ve brought in a lot of people now, and many haven¡¯t been thoroughly questioned. We¡¯re also a bit short-staffed; half of our team is out on assignments in other ces, and they¡¯re exhausted when they return." The captain of one team started the discussion with a Yuxi cigarette between his lips, puffing away. "It¡¯s a method, but it might not be able to catch these three leaders," Song Beishou assessed. "Could we strengthen our connection with the detention center and induce a few guys to volunteer for meritorious service?" said another team captain with a ck Lanzhou cigarette, consuming a third of it with each drag. Song Beishou gave an acknowledging "Hmm" and said, "Undermining the bastion from within, this approach has always been something we¡¯re working on... This task will be assigned to you; go to the detention center and pick out some individuals to have a try." "Yes." The person who came up with the idea was also the one who had to take action; this was a known routine for the team. Either way, work had to be done. "Can we locate these people by tracing the money? These three ¡¯crystals¡¯ have cut off all other rtionships. Their oldpanions from their early days have almost all been killed off, but the money must ultimately enter their own pockets, right? Otherwise, what¡¯s the point?" Song Beishou¡¯s eyes brightened slightly: "This approach is feasible, but how can we implement it specifically?" Tracing the money is amon temte used by the Drug Enforcement Brigade, but with the rise of tel fraud, the drug trafficking industry had, as it were, been forcibly upgraded. Money that might have been previously difficult tounder could now easily be cleaned through tel fraud circles, with even lesser costs. And cost was originally the biggest deterrent to moneyundering. The team captain who suggested the idea silently lit up a Liqun: "As for implementation... our team is already working on it, umm..." The smoke in the conference room visibly thickened. "Actually, when ites to the ability to solve cases, Jiang Yuan is truly unmatched. Capturing ten or twenty people in a day is something our team can do, but it¡¯s not every day that we can bring people back. However, since he has been with us for half a month, I feel like I can barely keep up with the paperwork anymore." The captain of one team lit another Yuxi, not because he wanted to smoke, but because the Liqun from next door was too pungent. Liqun chuckled: "I went out to catch people with him, and no sooner had wee back than he would call to say he¡¯s caught someone else, and just after finishing up, another calles in..." "It¡¯s a pity we don¡¯t have that breakthrough point; otherwise, Jiang Yuan would have taken down the three ¡¯crystals¡¯ already." "Now it¡¯s called a ¡¯clutch performer.¡¯" "Well then, you go make the clutch y." Song Beishou waved his hand, "Let¡¯s not discuss this; now we need to focus on how to take down the three ¡¯crystals.¡¯" "They¡¯ve eliminated their own subordinates who knew them, clearly it¡¯s to hide their identities. Without special measures, these people will likely be hard to capture," said Yuxi, shaking his head, "I think perhaps we should just focus on destroying this drugwork as our main objective." His suggestion essentially meant not worrying about the three leaders above. To a certain extent, such leaders who are isted from the lower ranks and lose their organizational ability are pretty much finished off and will find it very difficult to continue causing harm. "And what else?" Song Beishou was nomittal. Giving up is easy, but the purpose of the meeting wasn¡¯t to quit. Song Beishou¡¯s gaze turned to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui, beforeing, had read arge amount of material and had some thoughts of his own. After hearing the others¡¯ analysis, he said: "Actually, I have a thought. How exactly do these three ¡¯crystals¡¯mand their subordinates? They can¡¯t solely rely on emails and texts, can they? What if their subordinates don¡¯t obey? Just kill them? They can¡¯t be that savage." Liu Jinghui pinched out his cigarette butt and continued, "Let me put it another way ¨C our domestic drug dealers can¡¯t replenish their personnel as easily as those abroad, nor can they afford such high turnover. From what I observe,pared to other drug rings, Poison Capture Net¡¯s management style is rtively flexible; they¡¯re not the kind that resorts to killing at the first sign of trouble." Song Beishou nodded, "To organize such arge-scale, secretive operation, they indeed possess certain skills." "Right, their management does have some skills," agreed Liu Jinghui, "But, consider this: for a normalpany, if the boss doesn¡¯te to the office every day, doesn¡¯t hold meetings, doesn¡¯t see the employees and only relies on a few middle managers for remote reports, can thepany still run this well?" The team captains, who were smoking, all looked over. Being themselves managers in the police force, they knew all too well howplicated it is to manage people. It¡¯s hard enough when you¡¯re present every day, let alone when you¡¯re absent. Liqun couldn¡¯t help saying, "Indeed, it¡¯s tough enough managing our police force; no way are drug dealers thatpliant." Song Beishou nodded in agreement as well, "The neers to our brigade now all have bachelor¡¯s or master¡¯s degrees, which makes management a bit easier. As for the drug dealers... even if they fear death, after they are on drugs, they are not that obedient anymore." "So the question is, how exactly do these three ¡¯crystals¡¯ manage their pany¡¯? Is it truly as their created facade suggests, all controlled remotely?" Liu Jinghui posed an open-ended question. Chapter 928 - 864: Dragon Pool

Chapter 928: Chapter 864: Dragon Pool

"The three people, Purple, Yellow, Blue, Blue Crystal¡¯s financial line is the most deeply hidden. He doesn¡¯t need to show up, just asionally sends a few people out to handle money affairs, separate from the other two lines; therefore, Blue Crystal has the lightest management responsibility. It¡¯s also possible that there¡¯s no management at all, and it might be just one person¡¯s solo operation." Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice lowered a bit, guiding everyone to ponder. This was his area of expertise. Liu Jinghui: "Yellow Crystal is in charge of production. His approach relies on middle management. He has several capable subordinates who have the ability to carry the production line around, capable of setting up in a new ce and resuming production within one day then moving on after producing each batch. His segment is also the most strictly managed, with many rules. Though it¡¯s not afraid of casualties, surprisingly, there aren¡¯t many." "Purple Crystal manages thergest scale and carries the heaviest management burden. His drug dealers, as well as the surrounding distributors, are all tough cookies. They¡¯re inherently difficult to control; Purple Crystal is also the one who hasmitted the most murders. Based on the information collected so far, at least 30 people have been ordered to be killed by Purple Crystal?" "I think that kind of management mode, like Purple Crystal¡¯s, is difficult to execute remotely. Especially some of his management feedbackes astonishingly quickly. At the beginning, several of Purple Crystal¡¯s middle managers were under great scrutiny. Now, there are fewer questioning them because many of the dubious ones were those killed in previous years. Many people are simply too scared to speak out." "However, to say that Purple Crystal or Yellow Crystal has some special management model, that¡¯s not really the case either. They do not operate like a board of directors which only provides a general direction for management; there are often specific managerial actions." Having said this, Liu Jinghui stopped, sat down quietly, and lit another cigarette, umting carcinogens while reducing his lifespan, deteriorating cellr vitality, lowering organ function, weakening mental agility, blunting spiritual sharpness... The others were also puffing on cigarettes, emitting heavy breaths. Amidst the billowing smoke, the Deputy Chief of the squad said, "Does this mean that Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal, within the gang, both have hidden identities?" "That¡¯s what I think, otherwise, such arge team would either be unmanageable or poorly managed." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t want to y coy. If someone could keep up with his train of thought, it meant that most people could keep up, and they could continue with the reasoning. The Deputy Chief of the squad let out a hiss: "In the lower ranks or the middle ranks?" "I think it has to be at least in the middle ranks." Liu Jinghui said: "The drug traffickingwork is quite tight-knit. Both the production and sales ends can basically maintain a low-profile while making money. ordingly, their management requirements are also quite high; the lower-level members barely know anything beyond their own tasks. Only middle-tier, especially upper middle-tier members, can ess most of the information on their chain." Song Beishou nodded, "You mean to say that at least Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal, disguised as one of the middle or upper-level members, are involved? What is the purpose? Middle and upper levels are also punishable by death!" "I think it¡¯s mainly to deal with their own people." Liu Jinghui paused before continuing: "I¡¯m just making guesses based on their management model. Maybe they have other ways of managing, like a trusted middle or high-level member, but in the end, it boils down to the same thing. We should find that middle or high-level member who passes down the most orders and has the most information." If the goal is to hide their identity and manage the team, then the characteristics Liu Jinghui mentioned are necessary. Everyone present realized this and couldn¡¯t help but fall into deep thought. "If you think about it, most of the middle and upper levels have been caught by us." Song Beishou directed his officers to disy the hierarchical list of names on the screen at the front of the conference room. Out of eight middle and high-level members, only one is on the run, and the rest have been captured. Liu Jinghui said: "This actually exins a phenomenon quite well. How did an organization that used to be tight suddenly be like a bunch of pigs that can¡¯t all be caught and exhibit almost no resistance or rebellious capabilities?" Song Beishou coughed twice and said: "With overwhelming forces against them, what resistance could they possibly muster?" "At least they could destroy evidence,municate news to escape or break out, hide some weapons, drugs, and funds for aebackter, recruit some people to take the me for others, save who they can... Even in a prisoner-of-war camp, there¡¯s room for resistance. Just look at... look at the British, French, and Belgians in the German camps; there¡¯s something to be learned there." Liu Jinghui spoke lightly, while Song Beishou¡¯s expression grew more serious. Song Beishou pondered for a long time: "So, you¡¯re saying that it¡¯s very likely we already have Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal in our hands?" "I think there is such a possibility." "This..." Song Beishou had encountered simr cases before, and in fact,yering multiple identities was amon mode of operation among middle and high-ranking members of drug trafficking groups. Simply put, a person with several sets of identification documents has a higher chance of escaping than a person with just one, and it¡¯s much more convenient when handling affairs. However, when Song Beishou previously made arrests, the difficulty of capturing middle and high-ranking members was about the same. To be frank, he rarely managed topletely wipe out the middle and high-ranking members of a gang. This requirement was too high, and to entirely bust a normal drug ring, achieving seventy to eighty percent was already quite good. Likewise, when describing using fishing as an analogy, their previous arrests were indeed like using a fishing to catch fish, with each cast capturing plenty of various sizes, but it was impossible to catch an entire school of fish. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, was like a hunter fishing with rapid-fire weaponry, aiming for each fish by name, leaving no chance for escape. "We can try to see if we can sift out these two people," Liu Jinghui said with considerable interest in the case, adding, "Let me point out a few things, and let¡¯s check them against what we know. First, this person must have extensive connections, able tomunicate up and down the chain as well as contact peers, and likely has a group of direct subordinates." Liu Jinghui continued, "Secondly, among those arrested this time, are there any drug dealers of this level who are actively trying to earn merits after being caught? The three crystals are definitely not willing to be shot without making any noise." Snap. The head of Branch One pped his thigh hard: "Eagle Beak Bean!" He was referring to the nickname of a certain drug dealer. "Interrogate separately, pay attention to the content," Song Beishou instructed, to say he fully trusted Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction would be too much, but not trying it out when Liu Jinghui had reasoned thus far was certainly not an option. This was also why "Deduction King" Liu Jinghui was never the most popr expert. His deductions indeed made sense, but they were not easy to verify, and yet, it was necessary to verify them. If the deduction was correct, this process would not beplicated, but if the deduction was wrong, the resulting waste of resources would often be quite displeasing. "Eagle Beak Bean is one, and there is at least one more," Liu Jinghui added. Snap, snap. The people present began lighting up cigarettes again. "If we are counting, then it would be the Feng Shui Master," Song Beishou said with a frown, "His position within the gang fits the profile, but, this person has not been captured yet. He is the only mid to high-ranking member who is still atrge." "Um... I see," Liu Jinghui nodded in understanding, if it was the big boss who was on the run, it was really hard to say whether they could be captured. Bang, bang. A subordinate knocked on the door: "Reporting." "What is it?" Song Beishou looked over. The subordinate stood at attention and said, "Captain Jiang has identified the identity of the small-time leader nicknamed Feng Shui Master based on footprints, should we dispatch someone to arrest him now?" Chapter 929 - 865: Interrogation Day

Chapter 929: Chapter 865: Interrogation Day

Meng Chengbiao was organizing the files one by one, the pile of folders on the right side was already as thick as a roasted whole sheep. During interrogations, many police interrogators m a thick file onto the table with a "Duang" sound, but in reality, most of these files are old actors, and some are even temporary actors. Anyone with a bit of experience, be they criminal suspects or readers, knows very well that in such situations, the other party actually doesn¡¯t have much information. In the end, they rely purely on intimidation and oppression to extract confessions... However, most of the time both sides just mutually cooperate and go through the motions, considering it a sess if a confession is obtained. But this time, the two criminal suspects would definitely not easily admit to being the gang leaders, and Meng Chengbiao truly had umted a considerable amount of information. Eagle Beak Bean and Fengshui Master, or rather their two identities, have no blood on their hands up to now. Their roles were somewhat simr, equivalent to being the organizational secretaries and clerks of their respective branches. Thus, they neither directly participated in the trafficking or production of drugs and had a good opportunity to turn state¡¯s evidence. Therefore, although these two were in the middle and upper echelons of their gang, they were not likely to get the death sentence. But if they were to admit to being Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal, as leaders of the gang, it meant that they would be responsible for members turning state¡¯s evidence, which would most likely result in a death sentence for them. Meng Chengbiao could almost imagine the uing trial scene, which would be a real ughterhouse, a scene of fierce verbal sparring and hidden dangers. Meng Chengbiao gently patted the files on the table with his hand. These were the pieces of evidence he had meticulously prepared. Although there was already a lot, Meng Chengbiao still felt unsatisfied. Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal, eachmanding a line within the drug trafficking gang, havemitted a litany of crimes over several years, including murder. For an ordinary person, even for a single murder, the umted materials could be as thick as a dictionary, let alone dozens of murders and hundreds of various cases. However, the key issue is not in proving the guilt of Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal but to prove that Eagle Beak Bean and Fengshui Master are respectively Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal! Meng Chengbiao frowned and thought deeply, with an even more serious expression than when he was a fervent sports fan. "Old Meng, how¡¯s your preparation going?" a gentle female voice asked,ing from interrogation expert Sun Fangyuan. Sun Fangyuan was about the same age as Meng Chengbiao, but unlike him who hasn¡¯t gotten much recognition in his 20 years as a police officer, Sun Fangyuan was already famous as a female heroine in Shannan Province ten years ago, having received first-ss merits and being a Women¡¯s Day representative. She had long been listed in the province¡¯s pool of experts. The number of drug lords she had interrogated could fill a pit. This time, Director Song Beishou also specially borrowed Sun Fangyuan just to interrogate the two Crystals. After arriving in Changyang City, Sun Fangyuan had been working day and night to familiarize herself with the case files and study the details of the case... But it wasn¡¯t just about the several hundred to a thousand suspects caught in the Poison Capture Net, even just Eagle Beak Bean and Fengshui Master, along with the case materials involving Purple Crystal and Yellow Crystal, were so extensive that it was impossible to get through them all. Therefore, Sun Fangyuan especially relied on Meng Chengbiao, who had been following Team Meng throughout the case. "It¡¯s the same old problem, we have evidence, but we stillck substantive proof that Eagle Beak Bean is Purple Crystal and Fengshui Master is Yellow Crystal," said Meng Chengbiao as he rubbed his face, not wanting to seem too distraught. After all, his partner was a female officer, so it wasn¡¯t good to be too unkempt. Although he still looked the image of overworked exhaustion. "There are always more solutions than difficulties," said Sun Fangyuan, who hade specifically for this case, and encouraged Meng Chengbiao, "There¡¯s actually a simple way, I just don¡¯t want to use it." "Oh? What¡¯s the simple way?" Meng Chengbiao was a bit surprised. Sun Fangyuan calmly said, "Eagle Beak Bean and Fengshui Master are already in the middle and high ranks of the drug trafficking group. Could it be that they only deserve a suspended death sentence? If we find enough evidence andmunicate well with the prosecutor, we just tell both frankly that we¡¯re seeking the death penalty for them, regardless if they are the Crystals or not. I want to see if they can remain calm." Meng Chengbiao let out a "Heh": "That¡¯s quite harsh." Before death, everyone is equal; there¡¯s not much difference between drug lords, drug dealers, and drug addicts. Just like manypany bosses still don¡¯t change their foolish ways, and many leaders of units continue to sit idly by, drug lords are just circumstantially the bosses of a gang¡ªsaying they¡¯re less afraid of death than little drug addicts is probably not the case. If they really weren¡¯t afraid of death, the three Crystals wouldn¡¯t need to go to great lengths and ruthlessly dispose of their old buddies who knew them, just to conceal their identities. Even preferring to be inconvenienced in giving orders, just to leave a way out for themselves. So, Sun Fangyuan¡¯s method is to dig up their way out, which is definitely very practical. Meng Chengbiao put himself in the shoes of Eagle Beak Bean and Fengshui Master, thinking if he were to be sentenced to "immediate execution," he would indeed swear up a storm. "However, this n can only end with executing these two drug dealers. For a sentence carried out in ordance with legal norms, it¡¯s still a bit unsatisfactory. Therefore, I don¡¯t want to use this method," Sun Fangyuan exined further. She hade all this way, not just for the simple goal of sending two souls to the underworld. Meng Chengbiao raised his eyelids; the conversation had circled back. Sun Fangyuan smiled at the sight and said, "If the simple methods don¡¯t work, we¡¯ll just have to use aplicated one." Meng Chengbiao looked up at Sun Fangyuan, took a sip of water from his cup and, seeing that Sun was waiting silently, he sighed softly and yed along, "Whatplicated method?" "To deal with this type of person, I have two moves. One of them, I call ¡¯sincere heart for a sincere heart.¡¯ Just talk to them earnestly, treat them well, tell them the truth. Dripping water wears through stone. There¡¯s a high probability the suspect will confess," said Sun Fangyuan, looking at Meng Chengbiao and gauging his level of understanding. Sun Fangyuan¡¯s strategy sounded a bit far-fetched, things like sincerity ¨C modern people don¡¯t really believe in that, let alone a drug lord. But in reality, experienced criminal police officers all know to use this tactic. It¡¯s quite typical, like during a manhunt; when police officers catch a suspect outside, they tend to be warm and considerate, buying the suspect¡¯s favorite food if he¡¯s hungry, getting him drinks he wouldn¡¯t treat himself to if he¡¯s thirsty, and if a smoking suspect wants a cigarette, they¡¯d even light it for him in person. There¡¯s a simr tale about the pork cutlet rice of Japanese detectives, which supposedly originated from the famous post-war kidnapping and murder case, "the Yoshinobu Kidnapping Incident," where the police bought the criminal a bowl of pork cutlet rice during interrogation, which touched him so much that he confessed his guilt. Hence, even the most ruthless criminals, although they must be sent to hell, also have a sincere heart. For an interrogation expert like Sun Fangyuan, using sincerity to touch the heart of a criminal is not a basic skill, but it¡¯s certainly an essential skill on the path to advancement. If Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t understand, Sun Fangyuan was prepared to use him as a tool. Meng Chengbiao did understand Sun Fangyuan and recognized his method. He said, "This approach could take a lot of time." "That¡¯s why it¡¯s called ¡¯dripping water wears through stone.¡¯ What¡¯s the longest time you¡¯ve held out?" Sun Fangyuan asked. "15 days," exined Meng Chengbiao. "A homicide case." "My longest was 22 days. A theft case," Sun Fangyuan shared part of their credentials as interrogation experts with Meng Chengbiao and suggested, "Since we both have experience, I propose we use this tactic. I¡¯ll take care of the geomancer, how about you handle Eagle Beak Bean?" The geomancer almost managed to escape and seemed a bit more cunning than Eagle Beak Bean, who was captured directly. Additionally, the significance of amethyst was somewhat higher than that of citrine, so Sun Fangyuan¡¯s allocation was somewhat generous. Meng Chengbiao did not object, saying, "Are we going to use such a gentle approach for both? Can Director Song wait that long?" "Before they handled amethyst and citrine, they were also reckless fugitives. Intimidation and pressure might not necessarily be effective." Sun Fangyuan¡¯s feminine aura intensified as she said, "I can withstand the pressure from Director Song; can you?" "Interrogation is mainly led by you, so let¡¯s follow your n," Meng Chengbiao said without showing much fervor, leaving Sun Fangyuan slightly disappointed. "Then, our safety strategy is ¡¯sincere heart for a sincere heart,¡¯" Sun Fangyuan confirmed, and then tapped the file in front of Meng Chengbiao, adding, "For the second move, we¡¯re relying on Captain Jiang." Meng Chengbiao responded with an unsurprised "Oh." Everyone is a farmer, and who wouldn¡¯t feel itchy to borrow a sight of an extrargebine harvester stopping in the vige? Unless the plot ofnd is just too small, making it difficult to speak up, the rest should at least get a refusal out and be content to go back to work. "If Captain Jiang can produce more evidence to prove the connection between amethyst and Eagle Beak Bean, or to prove the association between the geomancer and citrine, our interrogation will have them by the throat," Sun Fangyuan said with a smile, adding, "Of course, they might not even need us then, but we still have to give this approach a try, right?" "Captain Jiang must already be working on it. But these two guys have covered their tracks very thoroughly. If there were solid evidence, they would have been dealt with by now," said Meng Chengbiao, repeating Sun Fangyuan¡¯s prior statement, "Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t be any need for us." "That¡¯s true, so we need to provide Captain Jiang with more evidence through our interrogation," stated Sun Fangyuan as she got up and said, "Let¡¯s start with the safety strategy." While Meng Chengbiao was still in a daze, Sun Fangyuan had already entered the elevator empty-handed. That afternoon. Meng Chengbiao walked out of the interrogation room with a straight back and vigorously knocked on his own battered back. "Team Meng," a passing police officer called out, holding a meal tray. "What¡¯s this?" Meng Chengbiao sniffed a good aroma. "Oil-sshed noodles. Team Sun asked to make it," the officer replied, "She specifically wanted a chef from West Mountain, made and delivered fresh. I have to hurry over, if the noodles get soggy, Team Sun will be unhappy." "Ask one more thing, is it the suspect who wanted the oil-sshed noodles? Is he from West Mountain?" asked Meng Chengbiao urgently. "Seems so. And they asked for garlic with it." "Alright. Go ahead," said Meng Chengbiao with a furrowed brow, realizing that starting with dinner, they had indeed managed to pry something out of him. Chapter 930 - 866: The Feng Shui Master

Chapter 930: Chapter 866: The Feng Shui Master

Merely knowing someone¡¯s ce of origin or hometown isn¡¯t enough to solve a case, but the breakthrough often begins with opening up just a little bit at a time. Sun Fangyuan¡¯s external image is notably non-aggressive. Her appearance isn¡¯t outstanding, but slightly better than average, the type that is pleasant to look at without raising any rms. The way Sun Fangyuan talks and moves is much the same; neither hurried nor slow, leisurely and confident. Sometimes she is like a high-ss service staff, serving tea and water without making it feel like a burden, yet ensuring her presence isn¡¯tpletely overlooked. After joining the pre-investigation division years earlier, her mentor recognized and further strengthened this trait of hers. Over the years, Sun Fangyuan has changed her image based on her own summarized experiences and methods. This included her hairstyle, her makeup, and even her posture and demeanor at the table, all of which Sun Fangyuan revised carefully. As she aged into middle years, her aggressiveness diminished further, making her technique of sincere exchange during interrogation more effective. Therefore, Sun Fangyuan didn¡¯t just propose this n out of simplicity. She was very adept at using it. Despite potentially being time-consuming and energy-draining, Sun Fangyuan was fairly confident in this approach. However, when other measures seemed less effective, three to four days passed in the blink of an eye, and Sun Fangyuan had already established a good "private friendship" with the "Feng Shui Master" Sha Chengzai. In this situation, the criminal suspect is definitely at a disadvantage. Some would opt for a pure defiance strategy, meaning remaining silent and refusing to converse. But for Sha Chengzai, this strategy was nearly impossible to choose. For starters, on the day of his arrest, Sha Chengzai began ratting out his aplices as nned, attempting to earn merit. As an upper-middle member of the drug syndicate, earning merit through confessing crimes was an essential pathway to avoiding a death sentence. Without the sentence reduction of a meritorious act and choosing to stay silent instead, regardless of whether he was "Crystal Yellow" or "Feng Shui Master," the oue would be the same¡ªa death sentence. This result might be different for the police, but not for him personally. Therefore, silence did not align with the "Feng Shui Master¡¯"s past choices and would nullify his previous efforts. Just like in the United States with plea bargaining requiring full disclosure, domestically, to gain sentence reduction or leniency for confession, one must confess truthfully. Partly confessing isn¡¯t allowed. You can choose to only say half, but you won¡¯t get half the sentence reduction. In fact, you might not get any reduction at all, or it could even be increased. So, Sha Chengzai had to engage in conversation with Sun Fangyuan. In fact, rather than talking to a gruff guard or other severe male police officers, Sha Chengzai preferred speaking with Sun Fangyuan. Especially when his minor requests were met, Sun Fangyuan significantly improved his situation. After all, no matter how stringently Sha Chengzai was monitored in the detention center, life was far from ideal for someone who had livedfortably for many years. The sense of downfall was quite substantial. At this point, even a bowl of simple chili oil noodles could make Sha Chengzai¡¯s sense of happiness overflow. Furthermore, Sha Chengzai was an extremely confident man. His nickname "Feng Shui Master" came from his everyday identity in the Jianghu as such, eloquent and observant, often sealing deals with just a few words. So, just in terms of personality, Sha Chengzai would not shy away from a conversation. The conversation between Sun Fangyuan and Sha Chengzai thus continued for four days. Noon. Sun Fangyuan waited again in the interrogation room and nodded when Sha Chengzai arrived: "You¡¯re here." "You¡¯re here." Sha Chengzai knew what Sun Fangyuan¡¯s strategy was, but he could only respond smoothly and calmly. Sun Fangyuan just smiled slightly, then opened the file in front of her, "Today, let¡¯s talk about Eagle Beak Bean." Each chat session, Sun Fangyuan would establish a topic, with no exceptions this time. "Hmm," Sha Chengzai made a sound, his expression unchanged, "I¡¯m not on the same line with Eagle Beak Bean. I don¡¯t know much about him." "Have you met him a few times?" "This... How many times exactly, I also can¡¯t quite remember," Sha Chengzai responded vaguely. "No worries, you can go over your encounters with him one by one. If you¡¯ve had few interactions, it should be easier to describe, right? Also, I must mention in advance that we will cross-verify with Eagle Beak Bean¡¯s statements," Sun Fangyuan said with a smile, "Let¡¯s try to finish within a half-hour, then you can havemb stew with bread for lunch." Sha Chengzai¡¯s saliva secreted unconsciously, and he knew he had no reason to refuse. This was the tacit understanding established between the two over the past few days; without him asking, Sun Fangyuan would provide him with better food and beverages and would also tend to some of the detention center life issues, such as a cleaner cell and toilet paper. In return, Sha Chengzai would rify the topic of the day within a shorter time. This was, in fact, Sha Chengzai¡¯s task to earn merit, simply facilitated and smoothed out by Sun Fangyuan. In theory, the "Feng Shui Master" had no reason to refuse. Hereiny the asymmetry of information. Sha Chengzai didn¡¯t know that the police had begun to suspect him of being "Crystal Yellow." He also didn¡¯t know that Sun Fangyuan was an expert in interrogation, only that she was a good interrogative officer. For an upstanding member of the drug syndicate, receiving meticulous attention from a dedicated police interrogator waspletely normal. But could the "Feng Shui Master" urately and correctly talk about his dealings with "Eagle Beak Bean"? Sha Chengzai swallowed his saliva, then chuckled: "Just the thought ofmb stew with bread makes me drool." "The meal will arrive soon; I¡¯ve arranged the time with the delivery guy. Let¡¯s start with the statement. Let¡¯s talk about the first time, when did you first meet?" Sun Fangyuan asked with a slight smile, continuing her inquiry. Sha Chengzai thought for a moment and said, "I can¡¯t remember the exact time. It must have been during a delivery. At that time, things weren¡¯t so strict. The volume of goods we shipped and the amount they checked matched. I had a few words with Eagle Beak Bean, back then we were both mid-level." "What did you talk about?" Sun Fangyuan asked immediately. "Just about the delivery matters." "What was the first thing you said when you met? Did you greet each other?" "That... no, the first thing I said... I don¡¯t remember it very clearly." "Just vaguely describe it, it¡¯s okay, take your time." Sun Fangyuan naturally wouldn¡¯t overlook any details. Many people think they can dodge police interrogations, which isrgely built on being evasive. They think lying to the police is like lying to parents, rtives, or a girlfriend, teacher¡ªjust say anything, and if it doesn¡¯t work, just lose your temper, throw things, or even m the door to get through it. In reality, the police won¡¯t indulge a suspect¡¯s temper. The suspect¡¯s hands are cuffed to the interrogation table, unable to move, and every bit of the conversation is recorded on video and in the record, avable for review at any time. Most importantly, the police will relentlessly ask for details and ask repeatedly. Without sufficient training, someone who hasn¡¯t juggled three girlfriends at the same time at least thirteen times would hardly escape this level of questioning. Even a feng shui master like Sha Chengzai, when faced with Sun Fangyuan¡¯s questions, had to rack his brains to respond, desperately recalling when he met Eagle Beak Bean as the "feng shui master," what he can disclose, and what he can¡¯t. At this moment, Sha Chengzai didn¡¯t know what kind of interrogation Eagle Beak Bean was facing; he had to think about himself first. He could afford to omit the content of one or two meetings, but omitting too much would definitely be disadvantageous for himself. Half an hour passed in a sh, yet their conversation was not finished. Sun Fangyuan smiled, closed the statement book nonchntly, and said, "Have something to eat first, we can continue after you¡¯re done, no rush." Themb stew came in a paper bowl, and the spoon was a flimsy paper spoon as well. Sha Chengzai didn¡¯t mind; he ate the bowl ofmb stew carefully and cherished it, while also contemting his strategy. After the meal. Sha Chengzai sat back down and said with a smile, "Ask away." "Alright, let¡¯s start with the second project. You think about it and we can talk about it tomorrow." Sun Fangyuan decisively skipped over it and said, "Let¡¯s talk about your interactions with Amethyst." Sha Chengzai¡¯s eyelid twitched. However, he was more prepared for this topic and after thinking, he said, "Amethyst is my direct superior, we have several ways ofmunicating. Generally, in not-so-urgent situations, he would contact me through an independent email..." Sha Chengzai answered Sun Fangyuan¡¯s questions bit by bit, unhurried, and finally seemed to regain some control of the situation. Sun Fangyuan, on the other hand, continued the conversation with him calmly, one question after another until after four in the afternoon. In the meantime, she gave Sha Chengzai two cigarettes and then asked, "You have met Amethyst in person, when was thest meeting?" "I have never seen Amethyst in person," Sha Chengzai answered skillfully. Sun Fangyuan chuckled and said, "Others have said differently, Sha Chengzai. You can¡¯t just eatmb stew and deny everything. Or is it that you¡¯re willing to take the fall for Amethyst?" Her voice was still not very oppressive, but the content was genuinely a bit cruel. Sha Chengzai knew this was a boomerang from the past. In order to enhance his persuasiveness as a feng shui master, he had been forced to fabricate meetings with Amethyst. Now, sighing, he said, "When I mentioned meeting with Amethyst, it was actually just agreeing to be at the same ce. He would talk from above and I would listen from below." "The most recent time, where was it?" Sun Fangyuan did not ask about the first time but went straight to the most recent. Sha Chengzai hesitated then replied, "It was in an empty factory, a ce decided by Amethyst. About a month ago." "What did you talk about?" "Mainly just to report on the situation at the production end..." "Why meet in an empty factory?" Sun Fangyuan clenched her fist discreetly; this was a strategy discussed within the special case team. If there was a ce upied by Sha Chengzai and identified by Amethyst, there was a chance to gather Amethyst¡¯s trace evidence or biological evidence, such as fingerprints or DNA. If only Sha Chengzai¡¯s and other known individuals¡¯ traces and DNA are found there, then Sha Chengzai would need to provide an exnation. "To avoid the surveince cameras in the city," Sha Chengzai exined. He had a limited understanding of police skills, mainly of Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills, and had not yet realized that he had already revealed a w. Analyzing both their identities, a feng shui master should avoid the gaze of others, and Amethyst had to ensure his own safety. A factory premise was a rather reasonable location. Sun Fangyuan immediately inquired about the location and sent information to Jiang Yuan, while continuing to question Sha Chengzai. In less than an hour, Sun Fangyuan obtained information about a second location and continued to send it to Jiang Yuan. Then came the third location. ... Chapter 931 - 867: Fish in the Pond

Chapter 931: Chapter 867: Fish in the Pond

The dpidated factory building. No windows, no doors, no machines, no ceiling, no floor, dirty as a ck plum lying across a small hill. There¡¯s a road up the hill and a slope down the hill, with escape routes in all directions, making it truly seem like a fitting ce for a drug lord¡¯s meeting. Jiang Yuan put on shoe covers, foot covers, and a head cover at the door, first peeked inside the factory, then circled around the building before returning to the main entrance. Without any hesitation, he activated the skill "Temporary +1" and assigned it to Crime Scene Investigation (Level 5). This task was by no means simple; in fact, it could be described as the greatest challenge Jiang Yuan has faced in the area of crime scene investigation. For he wasn¡¯t looking for a specific person¡¯s footprint or fingerprint; his task was to prove that someone¡¯s footprint or fingerprint was not present. In other words, proving an "absence." Proving an "absence" is much harder than proving a "presence." In some other fields, this could even be considered as creating problems out of nothing, to the extent that it would be reasonable to call the police. But in the eyes of the police doing criminal investigations or forensic work, proving an "absence" is not asmon as home-cooked meals, but it is amon urrence. For example, the basic requirement for evidence in criminal cases is to "exclude reasonable doubt," which is fundamentally a demand by criminal procedurew to prove the "absence" of "reasonable doubt." "No" criminal act, "no" criminal motive, "no" illicit gains, etc., there are actually many different requirements for proving an "absence." Therefore, from an investigative standpoint, utilizing the method of proving an absence to demonstrate that the geomancer in question is Yellow Crystal makes sense to the police. It¡¯s just that while the theory is easy to understand, putting it into practice is difficult. Over 5000 square meters of factory space, with an intermediate mezzanine covering an area of approximately three to four hundred square meters, which was used as an office space in the past¡ªording to the geomancer, Yellow Crystal was on the mezzanine on that day, talking to the person inside the factory. However, to prove an absence, merely securing a second-floor mezzanine is absolutely insufficient. For such a big case, there¡¯s no need for a death penalty review; the court will already have strict requirements for evidence. Besides, there must be precautions against the criminal suspect recanting¡ªa single "I remembered wrong," "I got it wrong," or "I was misled" could catch the prosecution off guard, and the police would still have to conduct additional investigations. The key issue is that some investigations cannot be supplemented, and if key evidence is missing to such a severe extent that you can¡¯t even prove that A is person A, it would be very difficult to proceed with the trial. Thus, Jiang Yuan¡¯s task was to confirm all the footprints and fingerprints within this dpidated factory of over 5000 square meters, categorize and identify them, and then prove that there was no third person at the scene, or rather, no thirtieth person. Turning around, Jiang Yuan faced the 17 criminal forensics officers he had specifically requested toe and said, "Everyone is already aware of the content of the mission, and its difficulty and importance do not need to be stressed by me. Here, I want to make one thing clear. The 17 technical police officers present today include both those with numbers and whole persons. Do you know why there are seventeen people?" Wearing white coats and carrying green military bags, the technicians stood shivering in the wind, giving their sparse but exclusive attention. "Each of you has been personally called and requested by me; you are all above-standard in trace detection. Consider it my personal endorsement, Jiang Yuan. Solely in terms of trace detection technology, especially crime scene investigation, I believe everyone¡¯s level here is elite." Jiang Yuan had made his selection ording to those with Level 2 skills and above. When he was working on cases across different regions, what he came into contact with the most was trace detection. Speaking of which, Level 2 trace detection technology is not particrly strong, but in any given unit, a technician of this skill level is already considered a city¡¯s elite, and could even be said to be a city¡¯s top technical talent. Even stronger and more formidable Level 3 technicians either are long-established experts or are rising stars showing their aptitude. This time Jiang Yuan actually brought in 5 crime scene investigation technicians capable of reaching Level 3, but they are those with rather biased skills, and the stronger technicians usually would not do such basic work and are unlikely to be called upon for such fundamental tasks. Nevertheless, the 17 technicians present were sizing each other up. "My personal endorsement," though it sounded like a jest, considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s status today in the field of criminal investigation in Shannan Province, even a fart from him would qualify to be collected for Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analysis. Since ancient times, there has been no first in literature and no second in martial arts; many technicians be arrogant due to reigning supreme in small ces. At this moment, although some recognized acquaintances, it was not guaranteed everyone would agree that they were of equal skill¡ªnot unlike how 90% of people consider themselves to be above average in looks, most technicians also consider their skills to be above average, and those with a bit of skill would think themselves top-notch. "Next, everyone must be extremely careful and cautious when conducting the crime scene investigation. Additionally, if you have the spare capacity, take the opportunity to observe your fellow technicians¡¯ skill levels. You can also assess the level of Jiang Yuan¡¯s endorsement," Jiang Yuan said with a smile, before adding, "Of course, because of the working hours and the nature of work of some forensic technicians, I wasn¡¯t able to invite all of the elite trace detectives. But everyone here represents half of the essence of Shannan¡¯s forensic detectives." "So, it¡¯s like if a bomb were to drop, it would set Shannan¡¯s forensic work back three years?" Li Rui, who often chatted with Jiang Yuan in group chats, asked the question with a casual humor. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "At least ten years back. Some cities¡¯ case clearance rates might even plummet by more than thirty percent." Many of the trace detectives present nodded in agreement. Just like how in Ningtai County, the two trace detectives, Yan and Wang Zhongbined did not match up to Level 2; in many districts and counties, due to luck, obtaining or training a Level 2 trace detective could basically ensure a basic case clearance rate. But this kind of thing, the leaders understand, the police understand, the technicians understand, but understanding the technology is one thing, and it¡¯s useless if the police understand. If the leaders pretend not to understand, everyone just muddles along. Jiang Yuan gestured and took the lead into the factory building. Jiang Yuan was holding yellow and red markers, cing them throughout the factory. The markers are simply ced beside the evidence to indicate the sequence number of the evidence, starting from 001 and counting upwards. Every time Jiang Yuan ced a marker, the photographer following him would take a set of photos. Then, the follow-up technicians would enter the scene to extract the evidence and meticulously inspect it. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ce markers by every footprint or trace; he used red markers for those from the past three months and yellow markers for evidence dating within half a year. Theoretically, if Yellow Crystal left any traces, they should also be from this period. Of course, adding the element of time to the footprints and traces elevates the difficulty by a level, and it is with Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 6 Crime Scene Investigation and Level 5 Footprint Analysis that one can more easily cover them. Actually, without having to temporarily add +1 to skills, dual Level 5 skills could clean to sweep a factory; it would just take more time and effort. However, if it were dual Level 4s, it might require much serious and meticulous sweeping, and it might take several times longer to reach the same level of uracy. A single Level 4 would be somewhat strained and might need to expand the scope a bit to ensure all the necessary footprints are covered. As for dual Level 3 skills, it would probably not be advisable to add the time factor. It would be more appropriate to pull all footprints from the entire factory. Although sweeping the factory would be thorough, the subsequent identification of footprints would turn into an exclusion process, costly and less effective. But no matter what, for this mission, as long as it reached the Level 4 Crime Scene Investigation, there would be no problem, even Level 3 could do it, but it would mean resources would soar to the level of Ya Xuting. As for other footprints and traces, other trace detection technicians take care of the extraction and investigation, which would also not pose any problems. A Level 2 Crime Scene Investigation is surely adequate for specific traces. Unless the traces are very special, their discovery and extraction are considered basic operations. Among the 17 forensic personnel other than Jiang Yuan, as he said, they meticulously inspected while carefully observing the actions of others. Most of the people here were from the same circles or had heard of each other. However, Level 2 trace technicians seldom leave their own city to work elsewhere. Their skills are certainly strong enough; they are undoubtedly the backbone of the city and county levels. But to support other cities and counties, it is mostly coordinated by the province, just like Jiang Yuan¡¯s request this time. However, other coordinated actions rarely bring so many trace technicians to work like an exam in the same area, doing simr work. The technicians who rule their own districts on weekdays, how could they resistparing themselves with others? ordingly, knowing that they are being judged by other technicians, how could they rx easily? Sweeping inch by inch through the 5000 square meter factory, there were no small number of traces found. The mostmon were traces of vagrants, and perhaps some from young people who hade to y. But in Jiang Yuan¡¯s view, these do not have too much impact. Yellow Crystal is a confirmed individual, with a rtively certain height, a more definite age, plus a standard range of weight and health level, which already excludes most vagrants, drug users, or adventure campers. Jiang Yuan ced yellow and red markers one by one, moving much faster than others. In just over an hour, he reached the mezzanine. Only half a flight of stairs without a handrail remained to the mezzanine, and one had to climb up by jumping. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan was already more than halfway assured. After cing all the necessary markers and taking all the requisite photos, Jiang Yuan personally collected a few traces and then climbed onto the mezzanine using his hands and feet. Turning on the light and scanning once over, Jiang Yuan then waved his hand and called out, "Lights." A trace and footprint searchlight was hoisted up, and after searching the ground for a while, Jiang Yuan confidently stated, "There are no recent footprints." Yes, no one had been on this mezzanine recently. In other words, what the geomancer mentioned about meeting and conversing with Yellow Crystal in this factory did not exist. Although this was still some distance from proving that the geomancer was Yellow Crystal, criminal investigation is not purely a science. Jiang Yuan, while on the mezzanine, made a call back and sinctly ryed the situation to Song Beishou. Over the phone, one could hear Song Beishou¡¯s delightedughter. "Good, good, good. Now I can rest easy, I can rest easy," said Song Beishou as he put down the phone, his eyes narrowing in contentment. Chapter 932 - 868: Catching Them All in One Fell Swoop (Happy New Year, asking for monthly pass)

Chapter 932: Chapter 868: Catching Them All in One Fell Swoop (Happy New Year, asking for monthly pass)

In less than two days, Jiang Yuan and his team had matched all the fingerprints and footprints involved in the factory area. They ruled out footprints that clearly did not match Huang Shuijing¡¯s height, age, weight, and health level. The owners of the remaining footprints totaled three people and were soon confirmed; one was a local scavenger, one a resident nearby, and another a worker from a nearby construction site. For the police, this was an expected but also relieving oue. After all, if a daring adventurer had indeed decided to take a dump there, it would have been hard to make sense of it. On the other hand, the remaining footprints and fingerprints were being matched one after another. During the investigative phase, conclusive evidence is often sufficient, but as this case progressed to the litigation stage, Qinghe City¡¯s prosecutors followed, necessitating moreprehensive information. forensic and crime scene investigators, whether arriving with their heads high or low - the thought of over 17 technicians of equal or superior skill was simply uneptable to those who had been at the top of their technical fields for years. Song Beishou, the head of the task force, couldn¡¯t worry about that for the moment; since pinpointing that Fengshui Master was Huang Shuijing, he instructed Sun Fangyuan to intensify the interrogation and coordinated with the detention center. For the next few days, the Fengshui Master¡¯s life, from dawn to dusk, was meticulously arranged. If Sun Fangyuan wanted him to cry, he cried; if she wanted him tough, heughed; when she wanted him to look forward to the interrogation, he did just that... When a person¡¯s eating, sleeping, and yard time are controlled every moment of every day, it takes an extremely high quality and capacity for humans, as flesh and blood creatures, to maintain an independent spiritual world - a quality and capacity drug dealers do not possess. "The Fengshui Master has confessed." Sun Fangyuan approached division head Song Beishou with a report seemingly calm, then couldn¡¯t help but burst intoughter herself. Song Beishou was also startled, then immediately became overjoyed andughed, "He¡¯s confessed? Good, good, good. I was wondering if we¡¯d have a breakthrough these past few days. Did we get any other evidence?" He was asking about evidence beyond the confession. That¡¯s how police are; when there¡¯s no confession, they want one, and when there¡¯s a confession, they seek evidence. Sun Fangyuanughed, "Huang Shuijing has registeredpanies in the Cayman Inds, their ounts and several exchange ounts, as well as his digital wallets, holding both Bitcoin and Ethereum, currently valued at over 1 billion RMB. I¡¯ve handed the specific details over to Team Two." Song Beishou sighed with relief. Drug assets exceeding 1 billion could be considered immense, but for such a big case, it truly wasn¡¯t much. There surely remained a great deal of potential for digging deeper. Song Beishou was more concerned about Huang Shuijing¡¯s identity at the moment. Once Huang Shuijing¡¯s identity was confirmed, he would be within grasp; and with Huang Shuijing caught, could the other two be far behind? Without waiting for Song Beishou to ask directly, Sun Fangyuan continued, "The Amethyst is Eagle Beak Bean, that much we¡¯re certain of now. As for the Sapphire, it should be a freight forwarder of a logisticspany. Team One has already departed, just remember to sign the paperwork on your end." "Let me see." Song Beishou immediately opened the PAD in front of him, approved the processes submitted by Team One and Team Two, then with a smile invited Sun Fangyuan to sit down and inquired in detail. Sun Fangyuan, picking out a few key and interesting points, narrated them aptly to Song Beishou. She was good at interrogation and storytelling was also her forte. If she were ced in a kindergarten as a teacher, or in a haunted house telling stories, she would be quite popr. Head of the task force Song Beishou listened with great delight. With solid evidence, the capture of the three crystals was secured, and the "Poison Capture Net" was cast and closed - such an achievement was immensely satisfying for the Anti-Drug Brigade. Soon, Sun Fangyuan reached the summary, "The Fengshui Master came to an understandingter; death was certain, but dying as the Fengshui Master rather than as Huang Shuijing was different." She had almost shaped the Fengshui Master to her liking over the course of nearly two weeks. Though iming victory was not to be taken lightly, when summing up the experience, it was essential to appear as if everything was effortless. "Alright, alright, alright, I¡¯llmend you all for your good work!" Song Beishou threw out his kind words rapidly, then followed up with, "Does Jiang Yuan know about this? Did he give any instructions?" "Captain Jiang said ¡¯good,¡¯ and then took people out for hot pot," Sun Fangyuan spread his hands. Song Beishou was startled, thenughed: "Then I¡¯ll have to send someone to pay the bill for him." Jinqiao Hot Pot Restaurant. Jiang Yuan booked the entire hot pot restaurant for the asion. The funds were provided by his old man. Hearing that the case was solved and he was nning toe home, he sent Jiang Yuan a very long WeChat message: Delighted to hear the case solved, very gratified. On my behalf, thank those police who protected you, thank the police who worked hard on this case. Remember to send gifts to the leaders, treat your colleagues to a meal. I¡¯ve transferred some money to you, don¡¯t hesitate to spend it. Jiang Yuan also received a bank SMS notification: Your ount 2085 on... has received a transfer of RMB 200000.00 (Payer: Jiang Fuzhen, ount number ending in: 1937). This money was a token of the old man¡¯s affection. In some way, it allowed Jiang Fuzhen to also briefly experience the danger of drug enforcement on the front lines¡ªthough he actually had not encountered a hint of danger, the psychological feeling of facing it was the same. Jiang Yuan could especially understand his father¡¯s feelings. He himself had happened upon drug dealers while trying to show his filial piety. To say he wasn¡¯t the least bit panicked would be unbing of a criminal policeman. At that time, his mind had even raced to the possibility of thugs in bulletproof vests, holding AKs, appearing before him. In fact, his worries were not unfounded. There were AKs on Su Ind, and bulletproof vests, well, you could just buy them on Taobao. The fitness enthusiast he shot dead just didn¡¯t have the chance to put on his armor, not that he wasn¡¯t equipped. "Everyone, don¡¯t be shy, just call the waiters if there¡¯s anything you¡¯d like to eat or drink! Everything in the restaurant is fair game!" Jiang Yuan raised his ss, drained it, and dered the hot pot feast open. Waiters continuously brought up dishes, each served on Michelin-star qualityrge tters, but very un-Michelin in that, the tes were piled high with food. Two kilograms of beef rolls on a single te, two kilograms ofmb rolls on a single te, four lumps of Spam on a single te, a whole intestine... Tomemorate the trip to Su Ind, Jiang Yuan also specifically ordered arge amount of octopus and ck fish for slicing. The task force of over a hundred people felt full release at this moment, digging in and enjoying the meat fervently¡ªthe steam rolling, a lively feast of the human world. Ding... ding-ding... Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone started to ring incessantly, and upon checking, he saw a flurry of targeted transfers to him in the family group chat, along with nonstop mentions of his name. Without a doubt, old man Jiang Fuzhen was boasting in the group chat again. Jiang Yuan silently collected the money. Great uncle 10000, and @Jiang Yuan: Our Jiang family¡¯s capable boy! Third great uncle 10000, and @Jiang Yuan: Impressive! Second uncle 20000, and @Jiang Yuan: Heard you sent a lecherous photographer to jail, well done, some people need to be put in their ce! Fourth uncle 30000, and @Jiang Yuan: Your second uncle is right, those photographers deserve to be shot. Just look at those short videos, they¡¯re either zooming in on chests or shooting up toward the thighs, what kind of people! Fourth auntie 10000, and @Fourth uncle: Hand over your phone to me right now. Chapter 933 - 869: Firecrackers Bursting in Unison

Chapter 933: Chapter 869: Firecrackers Bursting in Unison

"This is the Blue Crystal," said Song Beishou, standing in front of a one-way mirror and showing off the most mysterious finance manager to Jiang Yuan¡ªan over thirty-year-old shipping agent man with still thick hair. Jiang Yuan rarely paid attention to the final fate of these suspects; as a human being, he inevitably harbored some irrational sympathy, subconsciously feeling pity for these devils who were to be shot. He didn¡¯t like this kind of emotion in himself. However, looking at the so-called Blue Crystal¡¯s face now, Jiang Yuan felt not a shred of sympathy, only pure happiness. "He should be executed by firing squad within this year," Jiang Yuan said with a sneer, "What a waste of food." "More than just wasting food," Song Beishou huffed, "When this guy was arrested, his house was full of Hermes. All for those girlfriends of his." "Those?" "A dozen or so, I guess. He changes them every few months, sometimes dating two or three at the same time," Song Beishou paused, then continued, "This number was provided by a Hermes sales associate, who knew his girlfriends better than the man himself." "What does ¡¯distribution¡¯ mean?" asked Mu Zhiyang on the side. Song Beishou looked at Mu Zhiyang with pity and exined, "Nowadays, some luxury brands won¡¯t let you buy their popr items right away. They require you to spend money on some non-best-selling items first, and then they sell you the popr ones. Therefore, Blue Crystal himself wears Hermes clothing and shoes because men¡¯s attire is deemed a non-best-seller." "Spending money on things he doesn¡¯t like? Isn¡¯t that a total loss?" Mu Zhiyang listened and rubbed his ears. Song Beishou shrugged, "Anyway, moneyes easy to him; he even gives his girlfriends houses. Houses worth millions, he gave away several." "This bastard truly deserves to die!" Mu Zhiyang gritted his teeth. "It¡¯s all the same. The Amethyst Crystal and the Yellow Crystal also y with several identities, picking up several girlfriends with each one." "None with just one girlfriend?" "They dare to traffic drugs; do you think they would exercise self-discipline ording to mainstream societal expectations?" Song Beishou gave Mu Zhiyang a look and emphasized, "Drug traffickers are all bad, no exceptions." "I¡¯m definitely aware of that. It¡¯s those girls I feel sorry for, all their illicit gains confiscated," Mu Zhiyang understood this aspect very clearly. "These ten plus girlfriends of his who received Hermes and houses, they¡¯re all just unlucky," said Song Beishou, "We¡¯ll make a few calls when we have time; they will all have to be reimed. Some of them being inte celebrities, they¡¯ve received quite a lot of donations, we can discuss thatter." For the leader of a drug trafficking gang like Blue Crystal, the death sentence was without question, apanied by the inevitable deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of illicit earnings. And these Hermes goods or houses, having been purchased with illicit earnings, will also be reimed. Of course, the police must prove that the money used to buy these items came from illicit earnings¡ªthe Hermes salesperson, for example, would make a great witness. Under this rule, there is no such thing as acquisition by a third person in good faith because the requirements for good faith acquisition must be "in good faith," "with reasonable consideration paid," and that it is "registered or delivered." To Blue Crystal¡¯s girlfriends, there clearly was no "reasonable consideration paid" recognized by the court. Therefore, as long as the police find the evidence, all items they received as gifts will have to be reimed. As for the inte celebrities who received donations during live streams, whether their donated ie would be reimed depends on the understanding of the investigating authorities and the relevant courts. If the amount is substantial, it is likely to be reimed as well. (Note 1) "Let¡¯s head back. That¡¯s just how the living have to deal with it," Jiang Yuan expressed rather bluntly. Song Beishou was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said, "Then let¡¯s go back. I was thinking of showing you the principal offender, considering it a kind of spoils of war... Oh, and by the way, I¡¯ve put in a rmendation for you to receive a First-ss Merit. Leadership at the provincial department will also help lobby the Ministry on your behalf. Additionally, we¡¯re trying to have Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team awarded a First-ss Merit, with people like Mu Zhiyang and Wu Junhao and the rest striving for Second-ss and Third-ss Merits..." Song Beishou spoke very inly and proactively. He was just too fond of Jiang Yuan and his team. Now that all three crystals had been seized, and the exhibition activities had concluded, he could only make an effort to curry favor. Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence surged, and he repeatedly thanked Song Beishou. There aren¡¯t many additional rewards avable to police officers, except for ones like Jiang Yuan, who have a fighting spirit. For ordinary police officers, especially those in operational roles like detectives, who don¡¯t want to break thew themselves, beingmended and awarded is the best motivator. Most members of "Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team" had been temporarily assigned from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Everyone hade to Ningtai County empty-handed; naturally, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t let them return home empty-handed as well. Now, the first batch borrowed, such as Wang Chuanxing and others, had been on secondment for nearly two years. Over two years, some people¡¯s intentions had remained unchanged, whereas others might have encountered different circumstances and developed different ideas. Some even might have started rtionships or had children, leading to different needs in terms of work location and nature. It was only right to realize some bonuses for them. Song Beishou kept talking to Jiang Yuan, making promises from time to time, until Huang Qiangmin arrived. Only then did Song Beishou reluctantly let go of Jiang Yuan and sent him off in the car with lingering farewells. Huang Qiangmin only said one sentence to Song Beishou, using the workday highway traffic as an excuse for the rush, then firmly patted the driver¡¯s seat headrest and quickly drove away from the Narcotics Control Department. "What did you all talk about?" As the car had driven a few hundred meters away, Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t wait to ask. "Director Song said he would rmend us for awards," Jiang Yuan said sinctly. Huang Qiangmin looked at Mu Zhiyang. After pondering for a moment, Mu Zhiyang said, "It¡¯s like the sweet talk of a grassroots boss. Pretty much the same as what I was told in past blind dates." "Oh, don¡¯t listen to them. There are so many rules in narcotics control; following them, you lose your freedom," Huang Qiangmin first patched things up, then went on to entice Jiang Yuan, "When we go back this time, I¡¯ll recruit more people for you. The staffing n for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team has been approved - 12 people, not counting those on loan. This means you can add at least another seven or eight people to your team." "That many?" Jiang Yuan was greatly surprised. Despite therge scale of the police force, the staffing at the level of the squadron or detective brigade is indeed very tight. Huang Qiangmin nodded, continued, "Being able to second people from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment inversely, that¡¯s your skill. If anyone isn¡¯t convinced, let them try to borrow from Yu Wenshu. Your umted Case Team¡¯s spots haven¡¯t been fully utilized anyway; it¡¯s just that the staffing n is being approved now." "Not bad at all," Jiang Yuan nodded repeatedly. Solving cases always requires manpower; although there are methods to cope with fewer people, having more people offers even more options. The A6 with Beijing tes had a smooth ride back to Ningtai County. Firecrackers resounded, and the sound of gongs and drums filled the sky. This car was also renowned in Ningtai County. When people from the detective brigade saw it, they knew that Huang Qiangmin had returned with the ¡¯pandas¡¯ they had sent off on a mission, and many spontaneously came to wee them. Jiang Yuan¡¯s emotional intelligence came online for a moment as he greeted his colleagues. Then Wu Jun pulled him into a dimly lit garage. Note 1: The proceeds from criminal activities, including online tipping, may be confiscated, while others may not be. Tipping is not limited to live-streaming but also applies to online novels. The following papers can be referenced: "Good Faith Acquisition or Confiscation of Ill-gotten Gains: An Empirical Study of the Civil and Criminal Crossover Issues of Confiscated Live-Stream Tipping", published in the Beijing Institute of Technology¡¯s Journal (Social Sciences Edition) 2022, Volume 24 Issue 02, by Meng Qiang and Zhang Jingjing. "Should Online Tipping of Criminal Proceeds Be Included in Criminal Confiscation? - Analysis and Exploration Based on a Dual Perspective of Civil and Criminal Linkage", published in "The People¡¯s Court: Research of the National Judges College" 2019, Issue 8, by Zhou Jie. Chapter 934 - 870: Money Laundering

Chapter 934: Chapter 870: Money Laundering

Click. Wu Jun pulled down the garage door in one smooth motion, instantly plunging the interior into total darkness. "Don¡¯t turn on the light." Wu Jun pressed down on Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand to prevent him from taking out his phone. "Oh." Jiang Yuan obediently responded; having returned to Ningtai County, he was prepared for this. Releasing Jiang Yuan, Wu Jun moved forward two steps, rustling sounds following his movement. With a crisp "ding", a torch-like me sprang to life before them. The me swept forward with a "whoosh", sessively lighting three candles. "That Dupont lighter your dad gave is really useful." Wu Junmented, gesturing with his hand, "Come on, pay your respects." In the small garage, the image of Lord Guan was faintly visible, with a Bagua mirror beneath it. Cushions were ced on the floor, surrounded by multi-colored crystals. Jiang Yuan stepped forward and knelt to worship, skilled in the ritual. Wu Jun casually sprinkled some incense ash on him, tapped him all around with a Peach Wood Sword, and then dotted him up and down with a five-colored feather. Afterpleting these steps, Wu Jun performed a gesture with his hand and said, "Alright, get up. The office probably prepared cake and such for you; go and take care of your business." "That¡¯s it?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. "Good practice is about quality, not length. Before you came back, your dad and I had been preparing for several days. There¡¯s more toe. I¡¯m just about to retire otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have time for all these rituals." "You¡¯re not eating the red eggs?" Jiang Yuan had specifically saved room in his stomach. Now, he felt not only hungry but also as if his deductive reasoning was being challenged. "The five-colored feathers we used are from wild chickens, no need for red eggs, it¡¯s covered. Besides, can you even eat that much? How many cases have you solved this time? Instead of red hen¡¯s eggs, red goose eggs are three times heavier, they could choke you." Wu Jun was busy at the altar while speaking, "Right, I¡¯m retiring soon. The higher-ups don¡¯t feelfortable with just Rui Xiang handling everything alone, they are thinking of bringing in another forensic doctor. They¡¯ll probably want someone experienced, so you¡¯ll have to keep an eye on that." "Why need a mature forensic doctor? Just rehire yourself." Jiang Yuan knew a bit about his master¡¯s thoughts. Wu Jun coughed twice, almost blowing out the candles, and said with slight embarrassment, "It¡¯s quite rare for a forensic doctor to be rehired. Besides, with you in the county, there¡¯s no need for me to exert myself." "I haven¡¯t performed any autopsies in the county recently. I¡¯m in favor of bringing in another forensic doctor. If you¡¯re willing toe back from retirement, I think that would be even better. When you have time, you can supervise, and when you¡¯re busy, you can mentor Rui Xiang and the neer. I see many ces have built forensic centers; if opportunity arises, we could build one too. A forensic center with four forensic doctors doesn¡¯t take up much space," Jiang Yuan said these ambitions easily. He had the capability to make it happen. Wu Jun believed in Jiang Yuan¡¯s words even more and couldn¡¯t help saying, "Having a forensic center would really be great. Currently, our autopsy room is still at the funeral home. Not to mention anything else, it¡¯s inconvenient for you to perform autopsies at night, and it¡¯s also quite unsettling." "You also find the funeral home unsettling?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect his master to have such thoughts. Wu Jun corrected him, "It¡¯s the funeral home at night that¡¯s unsettling. There¡¯s nuances to it..." "I understand, I¡¯ll work to get Commissioner Huang to build the forensic center as soon as possible!" Jiang Yuan quickly excused himself. The funeral home was unsettling enough, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to hear more about just how unsettling the funeral home could be at night. In the office. Wang Zhong and his colleagues from the Criminal Investigation Squad, as well as members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, gathered together and shared a cake bought with the department¡¯s funds to wee him. Jiang Yuan blew out the candles. "Wee back, Captain Jiang, in glory." Captain Lu Jianfeng of the Criminal Investigation Squad led the apuse. Jiang Yuan humbly replied, "I don¡¯t deserve such praise. Thank you all for your hard work in my absence." "It was nothing." "It won¡¯t affect anything." "And there aren¡¯t really any bodies." Thest line was said by Ningtai County¡¯s only full-time forensic doctor, Miao Ruixiang. "Regarding thest point, it really is a problem," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. If a forensic doctor doesn¡¯t have any bodies, what¡¯s the value of this upation, this job? "It¡¯s actually all thanks to you, Jiang Yuan," Lu Jianfeng criticized Jiang Yuan with the demeanor of a middle squad leader, saying: "Now across the whole county, there¡¯s a big push for surveince systems. The number of criminal offenders at the grassroots level and the number of criminal acts have both decreased. With no such criminal basis, the homicide rate keeps hitting record lows. Where would the bodiese from then?" "It¡¯s true, the number of cases now is indeed too few," Yan also nodded. Wang Zhong: "The roots have beenpletely dug up. This year,pared to fingerprint analysis, those from our county are all active in other ces." "The county¡¯s economy is also better than before, employment has increased, people¡¯s time has all been taken by capitalists, naturally leaving no time to do what they want," Lu Jianfeng further summarized: "Our bureau now also has a sufficient workforce. Now we¡¯re adopting a grid-based management and team-service approach. We¡¯re knocking at your door before you even start creating trouble; those inclined to passion killings have lost their passion." Jiang Yuan listened and nodded. For the control of homicide cases, there have long been established methodologies in the country. Simply put, it¡¯s to resolve conflicts at an earlier stage. Posh terms like "modernization construction of municipal social governance" apply; as for more practical police operations, terms like "management and control of key mentally disturbed individuals causing trouble," "investigation and resolution of conflicts and disputes"... Most homicide cases, both the public and the police have some summaries. To say that they can bepletely stopped is too big of an ask, but reducing them by a certain proportion is always possible. "In this regard, there really is a problem," Jiang Yuan summed up as well. The middle squad leader Lu Jianfeng, who had just been happily discussing, was taken aback, looking at Jiang Yuan and thinking, My point was a negation of affirmation; you should have understood, right? At this time, Jiang Yuan said: "Just now, Captain Lu mentioned that the homicide rate is hitting record lows, and it posed the question of where the bodies woulde from. In fact, the bodies don¡¯t necessarily all have toe from homicides, at least not all from local homicides." "Really?" Several people turned their gaze to Jiang Yuan. "I remember we talked about the issue of bodies in the Tai River Basin before. Perhaps, we could collect those bodies here," Jiang Yuan suggested. "Collecting other people¡¯s bodies, what would we be doing with that?" Lu Jianfeng felt Jiang Yuan was being sarcastic. Working on homicide cases is purely expending resources, and definitely a high expenditure at that. Compared to consumerism, homicide investigations are far more costly. What so-called top-tier rich kids spend on dating ten girlfriends doesn¡¯t even match the expense of processing a single body. Thus, the idea of proactively collecting bodies from other cities seemed unreasonable to Lu Jianfeng. At this point, Jiang Yuan quite naturally said: "Let the Provincial Department pay for it, other cities through which the Tai River flows could also contribute. This way, not only would it resolve the difficulties of other cities, but it would also spare the Provincial Department the trouble of allocation every time. All parties should be willing." The issue of body attribution along the river has always been a headache; after all, no police force wants to increase drama to this extent. Especially during holidays, if a body suddenly floated down the river, the thought of policemen ready to go home for the holidays would be? Therefore, some ces would set up river basin management organizations, including policing management departments to allocate these. The Tai River may not be a major river, but because it flows through several major cities¡¯ central districts, the number of bodies drifting each year is substantial, always a cause of controversy within the Provincial Department. Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis, Lu Jianfeng actually found it very reasonable. If someone else proposed such an idea, it would definitely encounter many problems. Buting from Jiang Yuan, it would likely be agreed upon by all parties. "The Provincial Department and the cities should be willing to pay, though there may be issues with the proportions," Lu Jianfeng essentially agreed. "Let¡¯s discuss it and see how it goes; Ningtai County can¡¯t end up without a single body for dissection in the end," Jiang Yuan returned to the essence of the problem and then asked, "Have any responsible persons from other districts and countiese over?" He returned to Ningtai County and the counties and cities in need should being over. Wang Zhong immediately said, "Yes, several counties from our city, Longli County, Liyuan County, and so on havee over, and police stations from Jianjiang City, Qingbai City should also have sent representatives." Jiang Yuan finished a piece of cake and said, "Then I¡¯ll go meet them." After seeing off Jiang Yuan, Lu Jianfeng returned to his office and couldn¡¯t help saying: "You know, Director Huang and the others, when they did cases for other cities and counties before, it was always about tangiblepensation, paired assistance and the like. If we implement a charging mechanism for the Tai River Basin, wouldn¡¯t that be a moneyunder?" Yan passed a piece of cake to Lu Jianfeng, "Captain Lu, let¡¯s talk about something positive..." Chapter 935 - 871: Even Closer

Chapter 935: Chapter 871: Even Closer

Crack crack crack crack. In the meeting room of the Ningtai County Bureau, a group of police officers of all ages were frantically cracking sunflower seeds. A few were chatting softly, but most of the officers,ing from the criminal police background, had minds moreplex than ant nests. Today, they were all here because of Jiang Yuan; they couldn¡¯t really converse with each other and were crazily trying to fish for information. It was like a meeting of people who made a fitness pact, where everyone was eager to drag the one who had lost even a tiny bit of weight to eat hotpot. The rustling sound... Liu Wenkai poured a bag of seeds onto the table. Hou Lejia, the captain of the criminal police brigade of Longli County, often visited Ningtai County and was very familiar with Liu Wenkai. Half-joking, he said, "That looks like you¡¯re feeding pigs." "In the middle of the day, everyone has gone off to sleep, it¡¯s hard to find anyone working. I asked an intern to fetch some tes, they¡¯ve been searching for ages and still can¡¯t find any, who knows if they went off to rest somewhere." Liu Wenkai feignedint and said, "I¡¯ll fetch another bag once the tes are found." "Alright, alright, we know we¡¯re interrupting your work. Captain Jiang just came back for such a short time, everyone is rushing to see him. Next time, I¡¯ll bring my own people and tes for eating seeds," Hou Lejia hinted between the lines. "You might as well bring the seeds over as well," Huang Qiangmin entered, greeted by a chorus of wees. Hou Lejia remained seated. He and Huang Qiangmin were from the same batch of criminal police captains and worked in neighboring counties. Their rtionship wasn¡¯t exactly friendly, it was more of a familiarpetitive one, yet because of their proximity, they often had to work together... So, for Hou Lejia to suck up to Huang Qiangmin, it was not what he liked, though he would still do it. Sometimes being reluctantly sycophantic might even be more thrilling. Apart from county criminal police captains like Hou Lejia, there were also brigade captains from other cities in the room, whose ranks were much higher than Hou Lejia¡¯s. Without any differentiatedpetition, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t pay them any more attention. Huang Qiangmin gestured with both hands as if to signal ¡¯at ease¡¯, then spoke "I was just discussing an issue with Jiang Yuan, and I¡¯d like tomunicate with everyone here about it." "Please, go ahead." "Commissioner Huang, you¡¯re too polite." Everyone courteously put down their seeds. Huang Qiangmin continued folding his arms and said, "At present, it¡¯s mainly an idea. We will report to the leaders after we prepare a n. What I want now is to hear everyone¡¯s thoughts because it may involve several districts..." After the preamble, Huang Qiangmin exined the issue of river basin management proposed by Jiang Yuan, then said, "I¡¯m not sure what everyone thinks. If there are strong objections, we¡¯ll drop it. If there¡¯s a consensus, then we can discuss specific allocations." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words were somewhat vague, but the matter of receiving bodies and criminal cases from the Tai River Basin was clearly stated. Everyone present was astute; if Captain Lu Jianfeng of the criminal investigation squad could think of it, surely the crowd here could too. Almost immediately, someone asked, "If funding is provided, what will be the allocation ratio?" "That hasn¡¯t been decided yet," Huang Qiangmin replied vaguely. "You should at least have a basic mode of distribution to discuss the ratio, right? What are you thinking of basing it on? The area of the river basin, the length of the river flow, or the historical crime rate? Or maybe the historical case clearance rate?" Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t need to say anything, as someone immediately listed several distribution methods. After taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat, Huang Qiangmin added, "Since it¡¯s brought up, I¡¯m mainly thinking of basing it on the number of homicide cases. It¡¯s a bit more flexible this way." "The number of homicide cases? From which year? Last year¡¯s? Or should we take an average? Median?" someone asked. "Based on the current year," Huang Qiangmin said. "How do you determine the current year¡¯s figures? If it¡¯s settled case by case, won¡¯t there be disputes again? Or are you considering setting a baseline?" Waving his hand, Huang Qiangmin responded, "It doesn¡¯t need to be thatplicated. For now, our idea is this: for every case Jiang Yuan works on, the local police bureau will contribute a sum of money to the Taihe Working Group. That¡¯s the working name for now." "Is the area in question the location where the body was found?" "Just like this, wherever Jiang Yuan solves a case, that ce pays the Taihe Working Group. It¡¯s that simple," Huang Qiangmin said, before adding, "Forget the rest, whatever proportions, base values, local issues, don¡¯t worry about them. We¡¯ve got all cases on the Tai River covered." Hou Lejia¡¯s eyebrows twitched upon hearing this: "Does that mean we now pay the Taihe Working Group when we get Jiang Yuan to take a case?" "The Taihe Working Group hasn¡¯t been established yet. Once it¡¯s approved, then we can work it out that way. If everyone agrees, I¡¯ll start working on the n," Huang Qiangmin exined, making his point very clear. Everyone present understood. What¡¯s the connection with the Tai River? Naturally, there was one¡ªJiang Yuan¡¯s handling of Tai River cases meant they were providing benefits not just to the provincial office, but potentially to the various cities and localities as well. On the other hand, Ningtai County could start making money from this. The group exchanged nces, and it started to dawn on them why Huang Qiangmin was now driving an A6 sedan with a Beijing te¡ªhe was gunning for a more substantial quid pro quo. "I think we should bring in the Economic Crimes Division to handle the cases from the Tai River!" Hou Lejia was falling deep into envy. They were all bureaus under Qinghe City, neighbors no less. With this setup, you¡¯re bound to make a fortune¡ªhow would that look to our brothers? "How much is it?" Impatience grew among those already rolling up their sleeves. Everyone¡¯s situation was different; some city districts were wealthy, while some counties were poor. The nature of case management varied as well. Those who couldn¡¯t wait any longer were from Jianjiang City. "Don¡¯t worry about that for now. I¡¯ll report it to the leadership first and we can discuss it after the approval. Before getting the clearance from leadership, let Jiang Yuan first handle cases for the nearby districts and counties. Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s operation to clear the backlog of major pending cases isn¡¯t finished yet; we need to help our brother districts and countiesplete their tasks first," Huang Qiangmin hurriedly said. Hou Lejia heard this and immediately beamed with joy: "That¡¯s our old brotherhood..." "There should be some cases you¡¯ve almost finished, right?" Huang Qiangmin looked around and said, "If there are any recent cases, let¡¯s start with the new ones." "We had a major casest week!" "We have a case from within this week!" "We have one from three days ago!" Huang Qiangmin pped the table, "Litang County has a three-day-old homicide case, is that confirmed?" "Confirmed!" The deputy director from the Litang County Bureau felt as if he had won something. "Are there any more recent cases?" Huang Qiangmin looked around. Silence. The current homicide rate was already low and although so many ces would have had incidents, cases that had urred within three days were truly hard toe by. Huang Qiangmin pped the table again, "Then let¡¯s start with the Litang County case. The rest of you can go back and rest." He repeated himself, but nobody paid him any mind. Huang Qiangmin shook his head and said, "Please prepare the documents from Litang County, I¡¯ll call Jiang Yuan." Under everyone¡¯s watchful eyes, the deputy director from Litang County Bureau hurriedly made a phone call. Soon after, Jiang Yuan arrived. "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ve already printed out a copy," Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang from the Litang County Bureau quickly handed over a document. Jiang Yuan nodded and opened it. Everyone present crowded around, and although they missed out on the first case, it clearly did not diminish everyone¡¯s enthusiasm. Chapter 936 - 872 Conclusion

Chapter 936: Chapter 872 Conclusion

"The body was discovered three days ago. At the time it was found in a suburban grasnd, the body was already in an advanced state of dposition..." Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang was briefing Jiang Yuan on the case details. Before he could finish, Hou Lejia yelled from behind: "What do you mean by a body from three days ago? It¡¯s decayed already!" "But the body was indeed discovered yesterday." Ruan Tianyang widened his eyes, which after 50 years seemed dense like cataracts. "Huang wanted a current case, a freshly killed case from yesterday. How can youpare it with your case which was only discovered yesterday?" Hou Lejia was extremely indignant. The body was highly dposed, and given the current cool weather, it might have been a month, which seemed like a significant advantage for Ruan Tianyang. Ruan Tianyang did not retort but just smiled and continued, "When it was discovered yesterday, there were signs of burning around the body. Additionally, the body was near water, but not all the water nts were burned. Near the body, we found a sharp dagger..." "The upper clothing of the deceased had burn marks, with edges charred. Moreover, there is a significant amount of bloodstain on the right side of the clothing. The belt buckles on the pants are intact. The forehead hair exhibited signs of being singed, with the scalp undamaged and no fractures visible on the skull. The right side of the face suffered extensive burns..." "The lethal wound was a horizontal sharp object trauma on the anterior neck, reaching the esophagus..." Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang¡¯s description was rather sinct and then he proceeded to describe the forensic report. Jiang Yuan listened and reviewed the report at the same time. The forensic report was obviously more detailed, specifying directions such as the incision on the neck from the front left towards the right lower side. Additionally, inmmation burns on the mucous membranes of the trachea and bronchi, and ck-grey deposits inside the trachea... Apart from this, the organ histology presented no doubts, and no toxins were detected in the toxicology examination. "If you came to seek Captain Jiang, you should have preserved the body for him to autopsy; rushing through it was such a waste," Hou Lejia riled things up. Ruan Tianyang chuckled, barely bothered to exin. He hadn¡¯t expected to catch Jiang Yuan today; it was just a shot in the dark. "No rush, let me look through the files first." Jiang Yuan interrupted Hou Lejia, flipping through the freshly printed documents page by page. Ideally, all these files and dossiers should be paperless, but the subordinate staff, worried about the leaders¡¯ preference for paper documents, printed them, and indeed the leaders... found paper more convenient to handle. Jiang Yuan finished reviewing the files and casually ced them on the table. The captains andmanders watching eagerly didn¡¯t hesitate to snatch them and start reading. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eyebrows twitched, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Earlier, it was Huang controlling the situation since everyone was effectively "borrowing" Jiang Yuan, just like vigers borrowing abine harvester, even if they had to fake a smile just for the schedule¡¯s sake. Now that the work had begun, fellow vigers came to the field to see thebine harvester at work, and there wasn¡¯t much to say. "This man had his throat slit, yet it appears he was burned to death?" The first person to review the forensic report had spotted the crux. The next person took over, reading aloud, "The weapon was left at the scene, suggesting a novice killer." The third person, holding freshly printed documents, consulted with a nearby person head to head: "Has the victim¡¯s identity been confirmed yet? With multiple injuries, did someone chase them or what?" As the body was burned and now severely decayed, the condition of the skin was particrlyplex, and wounds, normally the easiest evidence, had be difficult to discern. A few police captains actively participated in the case discussion, some were quiet and pondered by themselves, and of course, there were those toozy to think, idly scrolling through their phones. At this time, Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang found himselfpelled to take up the task of exining, and promptly phoned his forensic doctor, starting to address questions from the police captains online. Everyone¡¯s questions were diverse, but there was still a long way to go before solving the case, making the forensic doctor feel like it was more of a yful endeavor. In fact, it was just like y, simr to how ordinary vigers casually pluck a few wheat ears and strip them while watching abine harvester at work; a normal investigative process requires a significant amount of time just to understand the situation. Those who can read forensic reports and understand photographic evidence can get into the state of mind quicker, while others who cannot directly obtain information need it ryed by someone else, taking even longer. Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang¡¯s forensic doctor had no choice but to answer the phone call from the deputy director, epting it even with reluctance. Fortunately, it was a case from three days ago, and he had just performed the autopsy on the deceased, so he was fully familiar with the details and responding wasn¡¯t difficult. "There¡¯s no case here." Jiang Yuan was used to his own method of reviewing files; setting down the printed document, he presented a somewhat surprising conclusion. Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang had nned to engage in a give-and-take conversation with Jiang Yuan, but hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusion, suddenly felt a bit insecure and asked, "What do you mean by there¡¯s no case?" "The deceasedmitted suicide. It¡¯s not a criminal case." Jiang Yuan pointed at the file with his hand, "The method of suicide may be rtivelyplex, but without a murderer, there is no case." Suicide is one type of abnormal death. For a forensic doctor, it is actually very frequently encountered. Combined with different regions, car idents, suicides, drowning, etc., are the mostmonly encountered unnatural deaths. Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang was clearly stunned for a moment, "Suicide? Slit his neck and then set himself on fire?" Jiang Yuan: "It could be the other way around. Self-immtion is too painful, so he might have tried to end it quickly with a knife. Look at the wound edges, I suspect there might be more than one cut, and corruption is quite severe now, so it¡¯s not easy to confirm. But from the angle and level of blood stter, it¡¯s likely that the deceased had multiple wounds, probably tentative cuts." Tentative cuts are an important indicator of suicide. Normally, peoplemitting suicide are often not decisive, unlike doctors or forensic doctors who know exactly how much force is necessary to inflict a sufficiently deep wound, and their will tomit suicide might not be firm, resulting in tentative cuts. "This..." Ruan Tianyang was at a loss for words for the moment. If it were a murder case, the procedure would be routine. Now, with it being ruled a suicide, wouldn¡¯t the case be closed directly? He felt somewhat uneasy about making that decision. At this time, a forensic doctor from Litang County on the other end of the phone said, "The wound on the deceased¡¯s neck is 15 centimeters long." "But the direction of the wound is consistent with the way ordinary people hold objects, and besides, the deceased has no defensive wounds," Jiang Yuan replied promptly. Such questions, he had already addressed in his mind. The other forensic doctor pressed on, "What about the depth? The wound on the neck reaches the esophagus ¡ª it¡¯s nearly impossible to do that to oneself." "Nor would a murderer typically cut that deep. From the photos, I believe it¡¯s a result of decay, with the proliferation of maggots deepening the wound. Also, the blood distribution is on the right side, looking at the clothing, the deceased was standing when the wound was made..." Jiang Yuan began to borate more as he spoke. Discussing issues is like this: if you want answers, they can be summarized in a sentence or two, maybe a few sentences forming a conclusion, at most adding a bit of evidence. But if you really enter the discussion phase, there are schools of thought, directions, objectives, bases, judgment standards, confidence intervals,parisons... Initially, Jiang Yuan was more reserved speaking to Deputy Director Ruan Tianyang, but as the forensic doctor began to ask questions, he gradually opened up, throwing out more information: "Actually, regarding maggotrvae, if we discuss forensic entomology, there¡¯s still a lot of content worth researching. Why I say the depth of the wound was increased by maggotrvae has to do with the species and habits of the maggots found on the corpse. The depth of the wound maggots can create can actually be studied further..." "The identity of the deceased definitely needs to be confirmed, but looking at the scene, it already reads strongly of suicide attributes. For example, even though the footprints were affected by the burning and passing of time, you can still see the deceased¡¯s footprints at the scene, but no second person¡¯s footprints. In future simr cases, using panel bridges could still be a good practice." "Bloodstain Analysis also supports the conclusion of suicide. Regarding this, the bloodstains at the scene have been mostly destroyed, but the bloodstains on the deceased¡¯s clothing can still be analyzed..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s responses were rapid and forceful, continually impacting the other forensic doctor¡¯sprehension. The forensic doctor on the other end of the phone at first managed some cooperative responses, gradually leaving only pained muffled sounds. It felt like being intellectually challenged by an expert, feeling as though one has grown, yet this growth somehow seemed futile. The captains present at the scene felt like they were watching a y. If it weren¡¯t for knowing it was not their ce, everyone might think Jiang Yuan had self-directed and performed it all. "So, shall we move to our case for this week?" Bai, the captain from Shitin County who had interactions with Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin before, hesitated, "Our jurisdiction in Shitin County doesn¡¯t involve Tai River, can we still participate in the Taihe Working Group?" Chapter 937 - 873: The Skinner

Chapter 937: Chapter 873: The Skinner

Shiting County was once the ce where Jiang Yuan led his team on a campaign to clear out the dens and nests¡ªthis is literally what they did. The biggest case that Jiang Yuan and his team worked on in Shiting County was about someone stuffing bodies into ancient tombs. For that, the special case team dug up arge number of tombs and ultimately cracked the case... and wiped out the group from Qinghe City and the entire family of the Yuan¡¯s, who were the leaders. Despite Jiang Yuan¡¯s recentpletion of the "Poison Capture Net" case, which took down three crystal and Crystal Cruise¡¯s new type of drug kingdoms, in terms of scale, especially in terms of impact, "Poison Capture Net" still couldn¡¯tpare to Jianyuan Group. After all, Jianyuan Pharmaceutical was a pir enterprise in Qinghe City, and the whole economy of Qinghe City worsened after it was taken down. Shiting County became even poorer as well. ordingly, the leader of Shiting County Bureau, Bai Jian, should have be particrly poor too, since they had contributed to the construction of the new integrated building for Ningtai County back then... Huang Qiangmin looked Bai Jian up and down and said, "Old Bai, being generous with money doesn¡¯t seem like your style." "That¡¯s an old mindset of yours, looking down on people, as if units from poor counties are unwilling to spend money," Bai Jian looked at Huang Qiangmin, his stubborn mouth unwavering as he said: "Honestly, I don¡¯t like your attitude. We poor counties are the ones who know to spend money where it¡¯s needed!" Listening to this, Huang Qiangmin shook his head: "You¡¯re not cultured enough to hear that you¡¯re actually praising our Jiang Yuan in various ways." "I¡¯m not praising anyone. I¡¯m talking about our county¡¯s fiscal strategies." Bai Jian¡¯s mouth was always harder than granite. He added, "Just tell us how much funding your Taihe Working Group needs." Huang Qiangmin waved his hand: "This matter isn¡¯t so simple. Your Shiting County really doesn¡¯t have ess to the Tai River, so it¡¯s indeed inappropriate to ask you to fundraiser for the Taihe Working Group." Bai Jian frowned: "You think we in Shiting County have no money, right?" "Old Shi, don¡¯t hang on to the matter of money. It¡¯s not all about that." Huang Qiangmin smiled and nced around at everyone, saying, "Our brother units within Shannan Province should mainly help and support each other; otherwise, we would just go straight to Beijing, where they offer A6 support, which is significantly stronger in every aspect, but we are not about that." "You¡¯ve made yourparison. I don¡¯t care about that; in short, Shiting County must participate in the Taihe Working Group. The Tai River is Shannan Province¡¯s river, and it¡¯s historically Shannan¡¯s river. It¡¯s equivalent to the mother river of Shannan Province, so it¡¯s everyone¡¯s duty to join the Taihe Working Group, and every county should join." Bai Jian¡¯s words were so firm they were hard to resist. Other captains at the scene looked at Bai Jian with admiration; an old detective should have the ability to bluff with open eyes, otherwise, wouldn¡¯t they be easily confused by the riffraff on the streets? Huang Qiangmin looked again at Bai Jian: "Old Shi, you¡¯ve improved. Can you make the decision?" A captain of the detective unit is only a middle-ranking official within the police department, in charge of operational leadership, and can¡¯t decide on major issues. Bai Jian raised his head: "I have indeed improved by bing the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations." "Wow, congrattions." Huang Qiangmin and the other captains all began to speak auspicious words, sensing at least eighty percent of them knew this news. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help but introspect whether he was too insensitive to news within the province. "Director Bai," Huang Qiangmin cupped his hands. "Commissioner Huang, you are too kind," Bai Jianughed heartily, then with a tight-lipped smile, said, "This year, we¡¯ve solved many cold murder cases and a series of major crimes. The leadership appreciated it, so I couldn¡¯t help it... how about it,ing to Shiting County to celebrate?" Huang Qiangmin was amused by Bai Jian¡¯s words; this guy always managed to deliver soft words with a tough tone, a true master of tough talk. "What kind of case was it?" Huang Qiangmin asked. "Our case is quite peculiar," Bai Jian said with a more solemn expression when it came to the case, "I wasn¡¯t in a hurry just now because I know that once I bring this case out, Captain Jiang will definitely be willing to take a look." Jiang Yuan had dealt with Bai Jian many times during his investigations in Shiting County. Hearing him say this, he came over with a smile tinged with emotional intelligence: "Director Bai, please give us an introduction." "In our case, it¡¯s only happened for five days. Let me summarize it in one sentence: A woman died, and her scalp, along with her facial skin, was peeled off." When Bai Jian reached this point, his face lost all traces of amusement, and he said coldly, "The scene was too gruesome to bear; the victim¡¯s face, her scalp, everything had been stripped, leaving no lips or nose, just the eyeballs hanging on the white teeth ridge." With his words, everyone immediately visualized the scene at the site. Hou Le couldn¡¯t help but shudder: "A major case from Shiting County!" Bai Jian ignored him and looked at Jiang Yuan: "Our forensic doctor, Wei Qun, whom Captain Jiang has met, determined that the victim was strangled to death first and then gradually had her scalp and face skin peeled away. Additionally, there were signs of struggle at the scene, and the victim had marks of being hit on the head with a blunt object." "The victim was a 42-year-old woman living alone, her husband worked out of town, and she ran a small shop in the vige with a fairly good reputation." "The body was discovered by a viger who came to shop. The estimated time of death was the previous evening. The vige is near a main road, and the shop is near a county road. At the preliminary stage, we suspect that it was a non-local person whomitted the crime, but if that¡¯s the case, this investigation will be quite difficult." Jiang Yuan was also taken aback. Although he hadn¡¯t seen the specific case files yet, based on Bai Jian¡¯s description, there were already signs of a potential serial killer. Especially the action of removing the scalp and facial skin is typical of a serial killer. Noted examples include the face-cutting demon Ma Yong from Shenzhen-Hong Kong, who killed more than a dozen job-seeking girls by cutting their faces and dismembering their bodies, and the American frontier settlers who scalped Native Americans... Yet in Shannan Province, in Qinghe City, the existence of such a murderer was somewhat unexpected. Further considering, was this the killer¡¯s first crime, or was it a mistake among many crimes? Considering this aspect, the small shop¡¯s location near the main road makes it convenient formitting the crime, but also likely to be discovered. If the murderer was startled and abandoned the body halfway through, fleeing in a panic, that could be possible. But regardless of the reason, if the crime wasmitted by an outsider, especially if it was a serial killer, the difficulty level of this case would be very high. "Have you investigated to see if there are simr cases elsewhere?" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but consider the worst-case scenario. Bai Jian shook his head slightly: "We did research, and there are no simr cases in recent years." "Let¡¯s look at the case files first, and then we¡¯ll go to Shiting County," Jiang Yuan said, standing up, leaving the others to attend to Commissioner Huang. Chapter 938 - 874: Ordinary Investigation Method

Chapter 938: Chapter 874: Ordinary Investigation Method

"Captain Jiang, how many cars of people shall we go with?" Wang Chuanxing came over to ask Jiang Yuan, to facilitate the arrangements. Jiang Yuan naturally looked at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin nced at Bai Jian before saying, "Shitin County isn¡¯t exactly wealthy. Our trip there is basically akin to poverty alleviation. How many cars we take is up to you." The silence of Director Bai echoed sky-high. What he had just said sounded good, but as everyone knows, a woodpecker cannot peck out money, and Director Bai had already used a tongue long enough to wrap around the skull to tter Jiang Yuan. "Let¡¯s start with three cars then. The rest of the people will carry on as usual and we¡¯ll provide reinforcements if necessary." Jiang Yuan has grown ustomed to going out with arge contingent of personnel. It was only now that Bai Jian chuckled and said, "Actually, when ites to ordinary criminal investigators, we do have an adequate number. It¡¯s just that we are somewhatcking in the criminal science department." "Samples can be sent to Ningtai County for testing and, if necessary, further sent to Changyang City." Jiang Yuan no longer needed to ponder over issues of funding. For him, it was all about what was convenient or more precisely, what was efficient and urate. And for the rest, Huang Qiangmin would naturally take care of it. Ever since thepletion of Ningtai County¡¯splex building, the Criminal Science and Technology Squadron of Ningtai County started to expand, and variousboratories also began to get equipped¡ªalthough the county bureau¡¯sb didn¡¯t look grand, just a fewb benches along with some equipment and tools would do to set it up. A slightly better-equippedb would have a few devices and aputer, and that would be considered upscale. However, suchboratories were sufficient formon cases and couldplete most of the testing tasks. Bai Jian was quick to offer his agreement before Huang Qiangmin could speak. Huang Qiangmin just smiled. He wasn¡¯t the type to hold grudges or worry about a prey that wandered into his territory and escaped. He would only take decisive action when necessary, in a deadly roll, solving all problems and recouping the cost of lurking, and securing his family¡¯s food supply. Bai Jian hurriedly printed out the case-rted information, especially the photos for Jiang Yuan. "Have youe to any conclusions from your investigation here?" Jiang Yuan asked while looking at the photos. The investigation in Shitin County had already been underway for nearly 5 days. Such a lengthy investigation¡ªespecially for contemporary criminal cases and particrly homicide cases¡ªmost would have been solved by now, or if not solved, then the wrong investigative directions would constitute useful information. Bai Jian organized his thoughts and said, "Our first consideration was the possibility of a crime of passion, given the skinning of the face, which suggests the tendency of an acquaintance being the perpetrator." "For the part where the crime wasmitted by an acquaintance, we assigned a squadron of criminal police officers to handle it. We visited the surrounding residents and friends and rtives of the deceased. We also employed technical investigation methods to check the deceased¡¯s phone, WeChat, and QQ among othermunication tools, but no clear evidence of infidelity was found." "Of course, we also considered normal acquaintance-based crimes which aim to cover up or destroy the facial area. The action of peeling off the face and even the scalp is too cruel and special; it is difficult for an average person to carry through. Therefore, we filtered through acquaintances and expanded our scope, considering if the killer might be involved in professions that routinely deal with bodies, such as butchery, medicine, funeral services, forensic science, and military or police work, but we came up empty." Reaching this point in the exnation, Bai Jian looked at Jiang Yuan and added, "For crimesmitted by strangers, we are mainly hoping for a breakthrough via technical means. At the crime scene, there were signs the victim was dragged and evidence of a struggle, but the perpetrator also did some cleaning of the scene. The most troublesome aspect is that during the crime scene investigation, many vigers entered to look around, taking photos, videos, even children or others took the opportunity to pick up items from the store, which caused further disturbance when the vige organized an eviction..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched but he didn¡¯t say anything. The senior officers around him found it amusing or were simplypelled to share their thoughts. A fictional crime scene: inside the bright yellow tape, forensic investigators in white coats stepped carefully on acrylic walkways, meticulously collecting fingerprints, keen to record every detail and if possible, to transport the entire crime scene, walls and house included, to ab for examination under microscopes and in test tubes. The reality of a crime scene: within the old, crooked tape, vigers barged in unreservedly, politely offering water to the police while asking what to do about their own, their children¡¯s, and various other troubling matters they¡¯d heard of, and, after receiving legal education, they would innocently apologize while rinsing their mouths with tea, spitting it right onto the floor of the crime scene. Meanwhile, the detectives cursed as they took some photos of the scene inside the house and collected a few more obvious fingerprints and footprints, stuffing any ordinary case-rted items into stic bags all together, putting only the significant evidence into evidence bags forbeling. However, an evidence bag often contained numerous cotton swabs and fragments. There are certain things, like irrelevant vigers going full Martial Arts at the crime scene, which sound quite far-fetched, but not a single police captain raised any doubts. Actually, it is quite far-fetched. Over several years, a police team might only encounter one or two such homicide crime scenes, which makes it all the more credible. "So, even though the victim¡¯s death was so tragic, did the vigers still gather around to take photos?" Wang Chuanxing, still young, felt something was amiss while making the record. Bai Jian replied calmly, "Someone threw up, right at the crime scene, and we collected their DNA. The more people felt nauseated, the more wanted to challenge themselves. After our officers arrived, there were still people climbing over the wall..." "Were the marks on the wall also damaged?" "We collected those too." Bai Jian paused before adding, "Currently, the scene is also protected." The case discussion hade to this point, and people around were already shaking their heads. Although Bai Jian didn¡¯t spell it out, everyone, as police team managers on the same level, could more or less guess at Bai Jian¡¯s thoughts. For example, the reason he first considered crimes of passion or acquaintances murder was because such cases had a higher probability of being solved. If the perpetrator was not an acquaintance, not killing out of passion, and not a crime of passion, but rather if a strangermitted the crime, then there was a significant chance that this was one of a series of serial killings. Bai Jian didn¡¯t even want to entertain this possibility, for validating it would be fruitless since Shiting Countycked the resources and capabilities to deal with such cases. Not to mention anything else, but just the basic pursuit package: prepare half a squadron of twelve or thirteen officers, fly three or four officers wherever there¡¯s a lead, provide lodging and meal allowances ording to the standards, rent cars locally, asionally invite local policerades for a meal ¨C average one suspect brought back each week... the county bureau would run out of funds for sries within three months. If he couldn¡¯t ask for Jiang Yuan¡¯s help, and should thetter situation arise, Bai Jian would have no choice but to call for assistance from Qinghe City Bureau and the provincial department. Bai Jian looked eagerly at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan examined the victim¡¯s photos for a long time, looking at the exposed teeth and roots, as well as the partially exposed skull, and said, "The scalp and facial skin were peeled off haphazardly,cking any technique. From this, we can rule out a professional. Otherwise, if one were to normally peel off the scalp, the cut would begin here..." Jiang Yuan gestured a few times, then retracted his hand before continuing, "The cause of death for the victim was mechanical asphyxiation, and the perpetrator likely used some sort of rope. The rope wasn¡¯t found, right? I see fibers were collected?" "Yes, sent to Changyang City for analysis," said Bai Jian. "From what we see, it matches a type of rope sold at a small shop." "The blunt force trauma to the head... that was probably done with a wooden stick, right? Have you found one that matches?" Jiang Yuan, a Level 6 in Tool Trace Identification, concluded this directly from the photos. Bai Jian was taken aback and asked softly, "What kind of wooden stick?" Identifying the tool that caused an injury or death is rather difficult, at least the forensic doctor in Shiting County hadn¡¯t sessfully made such a determination. Jiang Yuan took one photo and ced it on the table, picked up another from the crime scene, and directly said, "Considering the diameter and the force of the wooden stick, I tend to believe it was the rod used to prop the door. Look at this position on the victim¡¯s front door, they would usually ce a door prop there. If the crime scene doesn¡¯t show the stick, you should ask around and search the area. Such a thick stick shouldn¡¯t be easy to dispose of." "Alright, alright." Bai Jian quickly nodded, feeling much more at ease. Speaking of which, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach to solving cases was simr to Bai Jian¡¯s. Everyone uses their own strengths and advantages, attempting to make a breakthrough in the facts of the case, just that their capabilities differ. "Captain Jiang, the vehicle team is ready. Shall we depart for the scene?" Wang Chuanxing came over to report. "Let¡¯s go. Take two more vehicles with us, it¡¯ll be easier to search for things," said Jiang Yuan. Chapter 939 - 875: The Strongest Combo Move

Chapter 939: Chapter 875: The Strongest Combo Move

Shiting County. The journey is long, the roads are in poor condition, and difficult to travel. Tangui Vige. Few people, mostly elderly, and tragic deaths¡ª at least, that¡¯s how the vigers describe it. Jiang Yuan and his team arrived at the crime scene, first detained a group of vigers for a mandatory chat, took down several statements, and then entered the victim¡¯s home. The vige¡¯s small store, originally the information hub of the vige, became avoided after someone died. However, the stools and chairs weren¡¯t moved far away; they were just ced on a nearby t ground to continue sunbathing. After the chat, Jiang Yuan asked Bai Jian to gather the Shiting County detectives and said, "Today, focus on finding the door support stick. I just discussed with the vigers, the victim Zhao Dong had a door support stick about the width of an iPhone and about 1.5 meters long. Such a long stick is not easy to handle." "One could just burn it in the vige," a police officer immediately suggested. This wasn¡¯t specifically being contrarian; it¡¯s a good time to offer ideas when analyzing the case. Jiang Yuan nodded, "That implies the murderer is either a viger or a rtive of a viger. This case, then, goes back to the pattern of crime by acquaintance." "So, finding the stick leads to the murderer, and not finding it proves the case involves an acquaintance?" another officer quickly inferred. A nearby officer rebutted immediately, "What if the murderer drove, and just threw the stick into the car?" "There weren¡¯t any cars from outside the vige parked here for long. If there were, the vigers would likely know." "It¡¯s hard to say. Moreover, it could be a motorcycle, well-hidden, not necessarily noticed at night." "A car might also go unnoticed, the old men in the vige sleep early, there are no street lights, and temporarily parking a car, even if someone passed by, might not leave an impression." "Or it could be a two-person or group crime, drive the car away,mit the crime on foot, thene back to pick up others." "Serial killings by two or more people? Gang crime makes sense, but to kill a middle-aged woman who runs a small store, there¡¯s not much money, and then to skin her face and scalp, it doesn¡¯t add up to that many perverts." "Indeed, multiple criminals usually indicate revenge or robbery... But from a revenge aspect, could it be she offended someone?" "Current evidence doesn¡¯t show that, she¡¯s just an ordinary rural woman, her husband is amonborer, their child goes to a boarding school in the city, her husband only asionally takes care, it doesn¡¯t seem she offended someone to this extreme degree." Detectives regrly involved in cases inherently possess deductive abilities at Level 1 or above, significantly stronger than untrained ordinary people. If regr people arepared to virgins who¡¯ve never dated, detectives regrly handling cases would at least be dating experts; even if the hardware capabilities of the former are superior, thetter totally dominates when faced with the same target. Experience, after all, is somewhat useful. Hearing the various inferences, Jiang Yuan also felt there was some rationale. But still, reasoning needs to be confirmed, especially in this case where only a part of the reasoning has taken ce, it doesn¡¯t significantly reduce the workload of investigating the case. Jiang Yuan followed the evidence trail, "Regardless of how the murderer handled the door support stick, whether discarded, burned, chopped, or taken away, finding the stick, or not finding it, both oues are meaningful. The key is to meticulously investigate to ascertain its current status." "Yes." the newly appointed chief of detectives led the response. "Bring Dazhuang over as well. Call Shen Yaowei too," Jiang Yuan issued twomands. This task isn¡¯t easy; Tangui Vige covers arge area and the body was only discovered the next day. With the small store as the center, the stick could have been discarded within several kilometers around. Additionally, Tangui Vige has a tradition of burning wood; every household¡¯s front door has thick firewood piles, mostly covered with rainproof or stic covers. The stick used by the victim, Zhao Dong, is likely chosen from these more uniformly shaped pieces. That is to say, even if the murderer reinserted the stick back into someone¡¯s firewood pile, the police would still need a thorough search. But all these aren¡¯t major issues, particrly for such a serious case. Going through garbage dumps to piece together bodies or picking skin out of septic tanks weren¡¯t rare tasks for them. After delegating peripheral tasks, Jiang Yuan then entered the site area to begin the investigation. The scene was chaotic, and the police¡¯s interventionter on protected thetter part of the scene well. The 20-meter wide bungalow features a single story over 100 square meters area as a supermarket, then arge corner connects to a three-story house on the side, enclosing a courtyard in between. At this point, the single-story supermarket was a mess. Simple shelves had fallen to the ground, various condiments and alcoholic beverages scattered everywhere. Only to see soybean oil mixed in the middle of seafood sauce, soy sauce and garlic paste poured on both sides, sesame paste and vinegar drizzled around, plus bits of peanut crumbles and some unidentified chili, making the floor sticky to walk on. The entire room was filled with sticky footprints. "Have all the footprints been collected?" Jiang Yuan turned to ask Bai Jian. Bai Jian looked towards his own criminal science team leader, Shi Liang. Shi Liang spread his hands helplessly and said, "We¡¯ve taken photos, but we haven¡¯t gotten around to collecting the actual footprints." "I¡¯ll allocate four more people to assist you. Start by collecting all other footprints outside the fight scene, including dog paw prints in the yard. Protect the fight scene first, and don¡¯t disturb it," Jiang Yuan instructed without any surprise. Working in criminal science was supposed to be like this; there was no way to collect every print and trace at the scene as it would overload theb. At the very least, forensic technicians wouldn¡¯t choose a method that overwhelmed themselves. However, when a case turns into a major case, all minor protocols be irrelevant. If Jiang Yuan wanted more footprints and fingerprints collected, as long as resources were generous, Shi Liang and the others had no objections. Just do it. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make a fuss, he gestured for people to startying acrylic bridges. Soon, a transparent bridge wasid over the main passageways inside the room, allowing everyone to pass over it without further disturbing the crime scene by their inspections. Forensic experts of Shiting County merely clicked their tongues; they had exhumed graves with Jiang Yuan before, but never used such high-end equipment for an indoor case. In some ways, high-profile cases serve as benchmarks. Notably, nationally renowned cases depend not only on their uniqueness but significantly on the handling by the responsible police officers and their teams. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad moved across multiple provinces not only solving cases but rapidly breaking major ones to high standards. However, this aspect was only vaguely felt by the officers of Shiting County, not quite palpable. The current Director Bai kept a close watch on Jiang Yuan, anxiety written all over his face. Jiang Yuan, walking on the acrylic bridge, entered the corner where the body was found, checked the approximate location against photos, then surveyed the whole area before returning to the chaotic section at the entrance of the small store. This was where the victim and the murderer had fought. Logically, it was also where the victim was hit, strangled, and eventually scalped. Yet, there was not much blood on the ground, footprints ovepped chaotically mixed with various sauces. Jiang Yuan stood watching for half a minute, then waved to call over Mu Zhiyang, saying, "Get more bridges, elevate it a bit higher." "Okay," Mu Zhiyang responded promptly, gathered a few more people, lined them in sequence, passing the bridges along and then set up a tform over a meter high. Jiang Yuan stepped onto the tform as if ascending to a throne, and looked down at the hundreds ofyered footprints, falling into deep thought. Simultaneously, Jiang Yuan¡¯s system interface opened: "Temporary +1" "Crime Scene Reconstruction Temporary +1" Both were activated at once. This was essentially Jiang Yuan¡¯s strongestbo. Crime Scene Reconstruction is a sub-skill under the Crime Scene Investigation (LV5) skill. Using "Crime Scene Reconstruction Temporary +1" equates to LV6, adding another Temporary +1 leads to LV7. At LV7 of Crime Scene Reconstruction, with the LV5 Crime Scene Investigation also enhanced to LV6, the effects were corresponding to a set of LV7+LV6 foundational outfit effects. Not only could the chaotic ovepping footprints at the scene be clearly analyzed, but even if it were a mess of buttocks over knees. Of course, it would still require some time. Chapter 940 - 876 Contours (Three more - s for monthly votes!)

Chapter 940: Chapter 876 Contours (Three more Chapters for monthly votes!)

An hourter. Captain Shi Liang of the Criminal Investigation Squad from Shiting County returned, curiously looking at Jiang Yuan on the tform, and quietly asked, "What¡¯s going on here? Can I get a report?" Mu Zhiyang shook his head: "Wait for King Yan to return." Shi Liang uttered an "oh," then hesitated a bit and said, "I saw the dogsing, and wanted to call the K-9 unit to help search for the club. Should I report to Captain Jiang?" "That you can just tell Wang Chuanxing," said Mu Zhiyang. "Alright." Shi Liang politely agreed, and turned to leave. The officers who came with him stepped out the door, and said quietly, "Captain Shi, you could just shout out; even King Yan isn¡¯t as tough as this little devil." "Are you talking about Mu Team?" Shi Liang asked. "Yeah. You were being a little too polite, weren¡¯t you?" Shi Liang pursed his lips and said, "Didn¡¯t you see Mu Zhiyang speaking with his hands on his hips?" "I did see that. It¡¯s a bit disrespectful, isn¡¯t it?" Shi Liang nced at the officer, "The outline of his 92 pistol is visible on him; what respect do you want from him?" The officer was taken aback and promptly shut up. With the current environment, any police officer willing to risk writing a report to carry a gun is definitely a dangerous character. Shi Liang went out to find Wang Chuanxing, and then led the three K-9s from Ningtai County¡¯s Police Dog Unit to start a scent search. Li Lizhi pulled Dazhuang along proudly at the forefront. Now the Police Dog Unit had three dogs, which, from any angle, could be considered strong and robust. Especially since the newly arrived Er Zhuang and San Zhuang did not get car sick, being ready to work as soon as they arrived support, theirbat effectiveness doubled. "You start first, I¡¯ll let Dazhuang rest a bit," Li Li told her subordinates before casually leading the Rottweiler to the side to take a break. Dazhuang found a spot of clean, hard ground and flop down listlessly; its motion sickness was innate, and it hadn¡¯t shown any signs of it during training at the K-9 base. Now that it had started working, it didn¡¯t have the choice of where to work. Fortunately, the Police Dog Unit had two other dogs, and Dazhuang, being a meritorious dog, cking off a little was not a big deal. In Tangui Vige, back and forth went officers in uniform. The vige residents were quite excited; they usually were a bit bored, and after they had exhausted each other with gossip about families like the Zhangs and the Lis, they finally had something fresh to talk about¡ªthough, the death of a viger from their own was shocking, the dead had passed on, and gossip still had to umte. Some younger ones who knew how to use smartphones¡ªwith a power bank attached below¡ªstarted recording. Posting segments would give them something to talk about for days. Tang Jia, with two auxiliary police officers, had gone back and forth a few times, propagating and merely controlling the crowd but not actually stopping anyone from filming. "Enforcement under the camera" had long been rified by the Ministry, and Tang Jia and the likes kept emphasizing and exining, requesting that residents must not block the road, must not film close to the face of the police officers, must not interfere with the police work, and must not pull the officers for selfies, just as they had just done. Bai Jian went back and forth coordinating. It was actually a small-scale search operation now. The detectives from Shiting County were knocking on doors, one after another, searching for the club, even lifting each family¡¯s firewood stack for the K-9s to sniff, or looking through it themselves. The firewood stacks in Tangui Vige were all about one or two meters tall, with a width of about one meter, and lengths often reaching two to three meters, meaning, households with a lot of stored firewood could have five to six cubic meters of it. To knock over suchrge stacks of firewood and rummage through them, and then restack them afterward, would require a great deal of manpower. Most police teams leave a suspect¡¯s residence a mess after a search; no one bothers to tidy up again. But when ites to searches in viges, and especially when rearranging the woodpiles outside the houses, it really puts the police force¡¯smand and intelligence to the test. Director Bai Jian was busy finding people tomunicate with while also calling in more personnel from the county, and even hiring "volunteers" by paying the local vige officials. Several busy hourster, some good news finally came through. "We found the murder weapon." Director Bai Jian returned to the scene with his team, only to see Jiang Yuan already sitting on the tform, busily writing and drawing on a pad. "Oh, let¡¯s hear it." Jiang Yuan put down the pad and looked at Bai Jian. The expression on Director Bai¡¯s face wasn¡¯t overly excited as he exined inly, "It was found in a ravine more than two kilometers from the crime scene, but still by the roadside, possibly tossed there by someone passing by." Obviously, Director Bai disliked his own deduction. With the murder weapon found abandoned by the side of a major road, there were too many elements suggesting that a stranger hadmitted the crime. Not to mention a serial killer, the sheer notion of a strangermitting a crime in the countryside already posed a significant headache. Nowadays, urban cases are increasingly easier to solve, with the police having ess to more and more technology, particrly the use of new gadgets. These act like ck magic to criminals, particrly traditional ones¡ªwho are mostly less educated and can¡¯t understand these technologies even if you exined it to them. However, rural cases are different. Like other basic infrastructure, rural areasg in updating police facilities, with no significant increase in the beloved CCTV cameras for the police force. Meanwhile, traditional security measures in the countryside are weakening due to poption decline and aging. Thus, crime cases involving strangers in rural areas are, in some ways, even harder to solve. Director Bai could only manage a tight-lipped response, "Even if the worst-case scenario happens, it is still within our expectations. It¡¯s always an advantage to fight on a battlefield we anticipate..." "It wasn¡¯t a stranger who did it." Jiang Yuan could guess what Director Bai was thinking and immediately negated it with a single sentence. Director Bai, taken aback, frowned with uncertainty, grimly said, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯m the only one in the special case team known for being stubborn..." Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but find the irony amusing, apparently Director Bai was aware of his own stubbornness. Jiang Yuan gestured dismissively and said, "My judgement is based on the footprints at the scene. Hmm... Let me give you a brief description of the crime scene, and you¡¯ll understand." "Hmm?" Jiang Yuan signaled Mu Zhiyang to turn on the camera so they wouldn¡¯t have to repeat the exnationter and continued sitting on the tform made of acrylic boards, "Firstly, the murderer was in the process of purchasing goods, which doesn¡¯t identify the murderer, but indicates the absence of a known revenge motive. Secondly, the first scuffle between the two urred before the payment, actually in a corner by the shelves..." "After the scuffle, there was a brief conversation, which can be inferred to a certain extent from their standing positions here... Then, after a brief conversation, they began to fight again, with the murderer significantly increasing force, possibly getting heated. In other words, he was holding back before, which doesn¡¯t really fit the pattern of a strangermitting the crime, but rather the esction of a conflict between acquaintances." "Lastly, the murderer picked up the murder weapon and struck the victim on the head. Then he strangled the victim to death with a rope from the supermarket and fled the scene." Director Bai, surprised by the exnation, uttered, "Fleeing the scene? What about the skinning?" Jiang Yuan picked up the pad and showed Director Bai a series of plum blossom-shaped footprints, saying, "Licked by dogs." "Ah?" "There were at least three dogs involved, including possibly the victim¡¯s own dog. I deduced it from the photos. Initially, the victim¡¯s own dog may have been licking their owner¡¯s face, which turned ferocious after tasting blood. Then two other dogs joined in the licking, leading to what may have evolved into a fight over food," Jiang Yuan flipped through the victim¡¯s photos while continuing, "The lips and nose werepletely gone, tongue as well; these injuries aren¡¯t consistent with skinning. Moreover, the crude nature of them is indicative of tearing..." "Shouldn¡¯t there be bite marks then?" "The skin of the face and scalp were torn off, not devoured, and the dogs weren¡¯t particrly hungry. So after tearing off the scalp and skin, they left..." Jiang Yuan sighed as he concluded, "Hair is not easy to digest, we need to find the dogs as soon as possible to confirm this." Chapter 941 - 877: The Suspect Dog

Chapter 941: Chapter 877: The Suspect Dog

"I¡¯ll summarize, it¡¯s not a serial killer?" Director Bai pped his belly, creating a pping sound. He was now unsure whether to be happy or annoyed. The case had made a significant breakthrough, which naturally should bring joy, but it being not a serial killer¡ªwhen the case was unclear, it was natural to worry about a serial killing, but when there was a breakthrough, should he be annoyed that it wasn¡¯t a serial murder case? As the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation in Qinghe City¡¯s poorest county, Director Bai not only hoped that the case would be solved but also that money would be spent effectively, preferably with some dramatic and doubling opportunities... Jiang Yuan interrupted Bai Jian¡¯s reverie with a statement, "It¡¯s not a serial killer. We should return to the original line of thought. The murderer is most likely an acquaintance, and probably a local viger. The footprints left in the grocery store do not match those of the vigers currently here. Additionally, considering where the door bar was discarded, we should consider people who live and work outside the vige." "Someone came and then returned?" Bai Jian suddenly had a clear direction for work, which was originally the most standard investigative approach, except everyone was terrified by the victim¡¯s scalped head. Even as a criminal police, one might not encounter a serial killer in a lifetime, especially such a psychopath, just like ordinary people who change partners every week in search of a sweet love story from the movies¡ªthey¡¯re always ying, if you¡¯re too real, you¡¯re just too psychopathic. In the entire task force, there must be someone who continuously leads. Jiang Yuan was nomittal about Bai Jian¡¯s investigative approach, saying, "I don¡¯t think we need to be too restricted. If it can be determined that the scalp was indeed skinned by a dog, then the case will move to the next phase. For this case, I think we should invest a bit more, explore multiple investigative directions, and try to be asprehensive as possible." The real difference between practical investigation and detective novels is that investigative actions have costs, and the results of the investigation must be presented in the form of evidence. In the "Hangzhou Wife Murder Case", why did the police have to sift through 38 carts of sewage, filtering for human tissues in the mesh, because without evidence, even if it is known that the husband killed his wife, the case is still rootless and unsolvable. Jiang Yuan urged Bai Jian here. Specting a more likely investigative direction could certainly reduce costs and alleviate burdens, but losing the initiative might also result in losing evidence. After all, if ites down to matching just one footprint, the case¡¯s persuasiveness would be very weak. The saying "single evidencecks support" applies here, as footprints are indirect evidence, only proving that the perpetrator had been at a certain location, without even specifying the exact time. Thus, having only footprints is actually insufficient to prove that the perpetrator was at a specific ce at a specific time, interacting with someone, andmitted murder. A very natural and reasonable suspicion, since the victim¡¯s scalped face might have been skinned by a dog, could the victim have been killed by another person or another animal, while the suspect just appeared at the wrong ce at the wrong time and had an altercation with the victim? Jiang Yuan naturally would not allow such a situation in his case, so he specifically pointed it out. Bai Jian immediately recognized Jiang Yuan¡¯s needs and promptly responded, "The suspect¡¯s investigation should indeed cover a wider range." "Indeed, this case is challenging. The point about the dog tearing the scalp is difficult to prove since the skin was torn off, and there are no bite marks left on the flesh remaining on the scalp. Our current spection is not yet confirmed; we still need to face it with full force." Jiang Yuan tactfully made this point, then added, "For now, let¡¯s start by catching the dog." "Understood. It has already been arranged." Bai Jian paused, then added, "Simultaneously, based on the victim¡¯swork of rtionships, we need to quicklypile a list of names for further screening." "Yes, the murderer should be a male aged between 35 and 40 years, with a height between 1.6 and 1.68 meters, weighing between 140 and 160 pounds at the time of the crime, right-handed, with short steps, and a step width of about 65, primarily using a heel-toe step," Jiang Yuan stated, then added, "I¡¯ll have Wang Chuanxing send you the information, and then I¡¯ll write a report on the footprint analysis." "Good, that¡¯s excellent." Bai Jian¡¯s confidence was greatly bolstered. Given the conditions provided by Jiang Yuan, even if the victim¡¯swork is a bitplex and the list of names is longer, filtering it slightly would make the task much simpler. Soon, the dog-catching team also sent back news. Out of the 22 dogs in the vige, 20 were caught, while two lucky ones, who were ying outside the vige, had people sent after them as well. During the dog-catching operation, the police dog squad, which had exerted the most effort in catching the suspect dogs, seemed uneasy afterward. Li Li specifically came to find Jiang Yuan and asked, "What should we do with these dogs?" "The three dogs involved in the case are definitely doomed," Jiang Yuan bluntly stated, then added, "For the remaining dozen or so dogs, as long as they can prove their innocence, I¡¯ll make them a meal and then let them go." "How can they prove their innocence?" "Check their paws," Jiang Yuan calmly responded to Li Li. Li Li hesitated a bit, "Can you really tell by looking at a dog¡¯s paws? Can¡¯t you be mistaken?" "No," Jiang Yuanmanded, "You will do this job. Call Shen Yaowei to help, take imprints of these dogs¡¯ footprints forparisonter, and also, these may be used as evidence subsequently." Li Li agreed, then asked, "And the... dogs that are not innocent..." "Suspect dogs." "Alright, suspect dogs... couldn¡¯t the suspect dogs just undergo surgery?" Li Li knew it was not reliable, but still harbored some hope. Jiang Yuan spread his hands, "Go ask the prosecutor and see what he says. If he agrees, I won¡¯t object... Anyway, I won¡¯t be doing it; this task will be handled by Miao Ruixiang and Shen Yaowei." The three dogs involved in the case would be executed and then dissected, even if only for preservation of evidence. For forensic doctors, dissecting dogs isn¡¯t much of a psychological barrier; they, like medical students during their studies, acquire practical skills through dog dissections. If it¡¯s for research purposes, simpler and more ordinary tasks also use dogs. It¡¯s not that monkeys aren¡¯t useful, but dogs offer a better cost-performance ratio. In fact, a forensic doctor like Jiang Yuan, who can distinguish suspect dogs, has already brought prosperity to Qinghe City¡¯s dogs; otherwise, without clear distinction, all 22 dogs in the vige would have to be dissected. As the captain of the police dog squad and a veteran criminal police officer, Li Li saw that things hade to this, and so there was nothing more to fuss about and went to make arrangements. Jiang Yuan then turned to the vige head¡¯s house, provided some money, and used his Level 5 dog cooking skills in the chief¡¯s kitchen to prepare a grand feast for all the dogs in the vige. The attendance was still 22 dogs; the two runaway dogs had returned, and plus the three official police dogs sitting at the head of the table, the number of dogs in Tangui Vige remained unchanged, just like that day and that year. Chapter 942 - 878: Bring Back for a Slow Interrogation

Chapter 942: Chapter 878: Bring Back for a Slow Interrogation

Woof! Woof woof! Under the midday sun, Jiang Yuan, leaning on a trekking pole, walked briskly down the small hill next to Tangui Vige and took shelter under the big locust tree at the entrance of the vige. The 19 domestic dogs in the vige, along with 3 dogs from the official police dog team, naturally gathered around Jiang Yuan, seeking his favor. Ever since the vige dogs had tasted Level 5 dog food, Jiang Yuan had ascended to the throne in the dog world of Tangui Vige. No matter which house he passed by, dogs that caught his scent woulde running out to wag their tails. When Dazhuang had some free time, Li Li would also take him out to y, casually showing off near Jiang Yuan to bolster his presence, eliciting even more respect from the other dogs. In terms ofbat power, the Rottweiler in the dog world was like the silverback gori among primates. The vige¡¯s dog organization, made up of local mutts, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and Huskies, took only one day to prove they deserved the description of "base and crude," and unanimously crowned Jiang Yuan as their king. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to go back either. The roads in Shiting County were tough to navigate, with Tangui Vige being located in a remote area of the county, so the trip back and forth was quite arduous. Besides, the conditions in the county were not necessarily better. Conversely, the vige had assistance-built houses for the stationed cadres, with standard modern construction. Rece the four-piece set from home, and it was almost like staying in a vacation rental for one night in 1999. Jiang Yuan rested his feet for a bit under the big locust tree and then, with a wave of his hand, started to stroll around as leisurely as if he were stepping out in a carriage. Under themand of Er Zhuang and with the deterrence from Dazhuang and persuasion from Er Zhuang, 22 dogs formed an impressive procession, following behind Jiang Yuan. Li Li, on the other hand, fell behind. From the back, her silhouette looked chic, just like a supermodel walking the runway. "Come on, let¡¯s pick some wild vegetables." While walking, Jiang Yuan suddenly gestured and called someone over. Someone coordinated and came over, then stared nkly at the green nts by the road. "This one, gray vegetable, it¡¯s for making soup. And there¡¯s mustard greens; quitemon in dumplings, right? This one is wild... Oh, and here are reed catkins; also good for dumplings or drinking as a tea..." Jiang Yuan put his Level 2 wild vegetable recognition skills to use, quickly picking out several types of wild vegetables. Li Li and Dazhuang approached¡ªone examined the wild vegetables while the other helped to dig them up. Jiang Yuan also picked a few easy ones, cleaned them off by the roadside, and said, "Let¡¯s take them back to make dog food." Li Li hesitated for a moment: "Dogs can¡¯t eat these, can they?" "Dogs are omnivores; they can even eat scalps, so what are wild vegetables to them? As long as they are processed properly, it¡¯s fine." As a Level 5 dog food expert, Jiang Yuan spoke with certainty. Li Li obviously disliked the topic and couldn¡¯t help but say: "Scalps, after all, are different from wild vegetables." "They¡¯re the same. Technically, scalps should be processed too, at least cleaned of hairpletely." As he spoke, Jiang Yuanughed at himself and casually added, "This would probably be considered funny in a forensic doctor¡¯s group." Li Li shrugged. Regarding the three ¡¯menaces¡¯ of Tangui Vige, Li Li felt their deaths were deserved. The shocking part for her was the fact that the faces and scalps of the victims had indeed been torn off by the dogs. Although there had been simr reports in the past, this time, Li Li had seen the bodies and the photos of the crime scene. The fear arising from seeing one¡¯s own kind dead and consumed¡ªhonestly, it¡¯s something one would never forget in a lifetime. As species, humans are not much more advanced in their animalistic instincts than other animals; hence, peoplemit rape on impulse, murder out of anger, and cannibalize out of hunger... Simrly, the innate human desire for life, the fear of death, and the dread of corpses are all inevitable. "In any case, just dig up more wild vegetables." Jiang Yuan waved his hand. Being a forensic doctor has its perks as well as its downsides: the distinctck of colleagues and ordingly, scarce interactions with them. asionally thinking up a brilliant joke, he¡¯d find himself with no one to share it with, and telling it to someone outside the forensic field mighte off as cruel or sleazy. Li Li bent over to dig for wild vegetables. Her athletic figure slightly stood out, causing the vige dogs to bark chaotically, not sleazy in the least. After lunch. With their bellies full of dog food, the vige dogsy scattered throughout the courtyard. Each one looked up at the sky with vacant eyes, seemingly in doubt about how they had lived through their past days. Huang Qiangmin also patted his stomach and reclined on a lounge chair, revealing a T-shirt the color of his white belly... area. Upon hearing that Jiang Yuan was cooking for dogs, Huang Qiangmin had hurried over, because, after all, everyone knew that the food Jiang Yuan made for dogs was truly delicious. And Jiang Yuan would always cook extra, just in case the dogs ran out of food to eat. Director Bai arrived a bitter and saw Huang Qiangmin picking his teeth. Disappointed, he asked, "Is it all gone?" "Not at all, everyone was scrambling for it. You¡¯rete, so of course there¡¯s none left." Huang Qiangmin said with a smile. Director Bai sighed, "That¡¯s true, with so many dogs moring for it..." Huang Qiangmin nced up, "Bai?" "We¡¯ve screened out a person; please have Captain Jiang check it out," Bai Jian shifted the subject. This was important, and Huang Qiangmin sat up, signalling someone to call Jiang Yuan while asking, "Who is it?" "The owner of a small private business from the neighboring vige. He deals in wild products and ran away the day after the crime happened. We found his footprints in his housest night. They¡¯ve just been added to the suspect list. We issued an alert, and this morning it triggered a warning. He tried to leave Nanyun Province..." Bai Jian spoke with a hint of lingering fear. If this person had managed to leave the country, even though he could still be caught, it would mean the case was half-ruined for the county bureau. Huang Qiangmin empathized, saying, "That¡¯s timely indeed. If he had left the country two days earlier, that really would have been troublesome." "He must have been hesitant. He called home, realized the situation here wasn¡¯t good, and then decided to leave. He even used someone else¡¯s identification. If he hadn¡¯t tried to leave, or had left earlier, it would have been a bit more difficult to locate him." Bai Jian said, "When he was buying up wild products, he also collected IDs. When this case is over, we should really sort out this situation properly." "What¡¯s his rtion to the victim?" "At present, there doesn¡¯t seem to be any special connection. Zhao Dong, the victim who runs a small grocery, would also asionally buy some wild products ¨C some from our own vigers, and some sold by people from nearby viges. The wild products he bought, he would also sell to the suspect, especially the more valuable ones, which he would sell outside himself. This kind of practice is quitemon in our Shiting County." "They¡¯re notpetitors then." "Just normal business interactions, I¡¯d say. We can¡¯t really call itpetition; here in Shiting County, which is both agricultural and forestry-oriented, when ites to what is produced in the mountains, everyone knows what¡¯s valuable and what¡¯s not ¨C how valuable certain things are. Any vige store, town, or county purchasing station will buy your wild goods if you¡¯re willing to sell them." Huang Qiangmin, however, seemed a bit perplexed and asked, "Then how did you screen him out?" Director Bai muttered, "With Captain Jiang¡¯s clear screening criteria, we added all the age-appropriate men from the neighboring viges, and unexpectedly, we really screened him out." As he spoke, he nodded, just as Jiang Yuan came out. "The footprint evidence has been received, has it? Let me have a look." Jiang Yuan first took the pad from Director Bai, swiping through several photos, then after erging and carefullyparing, he said, "Footprint, gait, all match¡ªit¡¯s undoubtedly the suspect who had the conflict with the victim in the grocery store." Now, whenever Jiang Yuan worked, he was very cautious with his words. Footprint evidence alone wasn¡¯t enough to conclude that this suspect was the murderer. Bai Jian nodded in understanding but affirmed, "It should be this bastard. He made multiple calls to people in the vige, including his own rtives and friends, inquiring about the special investigation team and the case details... I¡¯ve ordered them to bring him back for a thorough interrogation." Chapter 943 - 879: Uncle Eleven

Chapter 943: Chapter 879: Uncle Eleven

The suspect was sent straight to Shiting County, and it was only then that Jiang Yuan and the others came down from the mountain at a leisurely pace. Before leaving, Jiang Yuan made another meal for the dogs, considering that they would spend a small half-day on the road, so he directly used a temporary +1 skills boost on the dog food. A Level 6 dog food skill would probably be glittering with gold even in the canine world. Neen vige dogs plus three police dogs, alongside numerous police officers, all ate until befuddled. Li Li and other canine unit instructors had no choice but to use their hands to pry the bowls from the police dogs¡¯ mouths, feeling as if they were back to the early days of police dog training. "We¡¯re leaving," Jiang Yuan and others got in the car, bidding a reluctant farewell to the pack of dogs. The affectionate vige dogs even followed them for over a mile before, under their owners¡¯ scolding, they reluctantly returned to the vige. The Rottweiler stood in the back of the pickup truck, letting out a long howl: ©»|£àO¡ä|©¿ Woof~~ Shiting County. Meng Chengbiao arrived at the police station early, waiting for the officers to bring back the suspect and had prepared arge amount of documentation in advance. The workload of the officers in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was still significantly less than that of other detective units. Even if working on a case was exhausting, it was limited; with many people in the special case group, ordinary officers could still find ways to ck off without being like some Criminal Police Brigades that treat big borrowed beasts as machines. Additionally, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team held considerable hidden authority, able to garner immediate staff replenishments whenever short-handed. After all, when solving umted or severe cases, human resource costs can be said to be the lowest. Not only a famous expert like Jiang Yuan needs to be involved, but any responsible leader of an ordinary special case team can apply for a significant amount of additional personnel. However, as a student named Han from the year 2200 once said, "More is better," but ites with certain conditions. "Commissioner Huang, Captain Jiang, Director Bai..." While Meng Chengbiao was preparing, he saw Huang Qiangmin and others enter with their bellies protruding, knowing that the interrogation time was approaching, his body started secreting hormones excitedly. "Alright, the suspect has been delivered, the interrogation is now in your hands," said Jiang Yuan, taking over the interrogation work that usually would be left to the local officers. However, that¡¯s the nature of the beast; guests sometimes have the upper hand. The Shi Ting County Criminal Police Brigade was much weakerpared to several district bureaus in Qinghe City or the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, let alonepared to the district bureaus in Beijing. With some emotional intelligence, Jiang Yuan introduced to Bai Jian, "Meng Chengbiao is our interrogation expert from the umted Case Team. The drug trafficking case we worked on beforeing to Shitin County, in coboration with the Anti-Drug Brigade, the main suspect was interrogated by Meng Chengbiao. The difficulty level of that interrogation was extremely high." The Anti-Drug Brigade¡¯s interrogation primarily focused on "Poison Capture Net", with the main interrogation expert supposed to be Sun Fangyuan. Jiang Yuan embellished a bit, instantly highlighting the value of Meng Chengbiao. Hearing this, Bai Jian nodded repeatedly, saying, "Team Meng has coborated with us before, and now he is also rising in reputation..." "You tter me," said Meng Chengbiao, who was older but quite enjoyed this recognition. After a brief exchange between the two parties, Jiang Yuan added, "I still have a few questions on my side, you can ask the suspectter and see how he answers." "Please tell me," Meng Chengbiao quickly switched to work mode. "Firstly, the person who bought the stolen goods had a vehicle with him; why didn¡¯t he choose to dispose of the body?" As someone who had seen many cases, Jiang Yuan had his understanding and feelings about the suspects¡¯ thought processes. To exin from a scientific angle, it was as if the brain had built various models rting to the problems. When confronted with an issue, he would first apply a general model, and the more it fitted the relevant model, the stronger the feeling. And as for some of the insiders Jiang Yuan had encountered, men who frequently traversed the mountains and had a vehicle would not find it difficult to abandon or bury a body. Compared to city residents, they were more familiar with those rarely visited ces in the mountains, and their experience with using hoes and shovels was sufficient... Meng Chengbiao agreed and made a note of it. "The motive for the murder is something that we can still probe," Jiang Yuan continued. "Yes." "The rest I leave to you." Not bboring the point, Jiang Yuan knew that when it came to interrogating criminals, Meng Chengbiao was much more professional than he was himself. Meng Chengbiao took the order and went to work. The group sat in the office for a while, and when the time seemed right, they went into the surveince room together. A county bureau like Shiting didn¡¯t have fancymand center facilities; the monitors in the surveince room were 21-inch LCDs, and the image rity was just passable. The sounding from the speakers was mainly Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice; the suspect¡¯s answers were extremely curt, just a few simple words. Yet Jiang Yuan and the others weren¡¯t worried. As long as the suspect spoke, the interrogation wasn¡¯t considered too difficult, especially with the solid evidence at hand. The value of the confessiony more in its ability to corroborate facts than its actual content. Jiang Yuan and his team were mainly concerned with making the case irond, which would make it easier to push for the death penalty. This was a kind of self-discipline for the detectives, a by-product of their dedication to their work. It actually had little to do with the criminal, even though it was his life that was being lost. But this interrogation was not really about him. Three hours into the interrogation, the suspect began to confess, tears streaming down his face, marring itpletely. Those familiar with interrogations knew this was the killer mourning his own fate and silently ming both the victim and the police. Following the nned line of questioning, Meng Chengbiao continued to press, then asked the question posed by Jiang Yuan: "What were you thinking after you killed her? Why did you leave the body at the scene? Didn¡¯t you think about disposing of it elsewhere?" The suspect, believing the interrogating officer was stringing together charges, hurriedly said, "No, how could that be. I hadn¡¯t thought about further disposing of the body. After the killing, I hadn¡¯te to my senses when a dog rushed in, barking and trying to get at me. I could only fend it off with a stick and retreat, eager to get away. I had no time to deal with the body." "What about after that? Did you go back inside?" "No, after I left I threw away the stick, had to go home to change clothes and shoes, and deal with the blood on me. By the time I was done, I was so exhausted. Then I heard that the body was discovered, and then nothing I said mattered anymore." The suspect¡¯s words still carried a hint of regret. "You didn¡¯t go back to the crime scene?" pressed Meng Chengbiao. "No." "Then describe the scene as you left it..." The suspect didn¡¯t answer right away but cautiously said, "I heard people say that the dog had chewed up the person at the end?" "It wasn¡¯t chewing; it was irrational biting." Meng Chengbiao corrected the suspect and continued, "Tell me, what was your motive?" "No motive... really, none... I just wanted to make a pass at her. But then she insulted me. Honestly, we¡¯ve seen women before, what¡¯s wrong with making a pass at her? What, she thinks she¡¯s some paragon of chastity..." The suspect, speaking more freely now, clearly had numerous grievances. Hisints were his own and did nothing to absolve him of his crimes, but Meng Chengbiao still went along with him, facilitating the suspect to speak as much as possible. This was probably one of thest joys of a man condemned to death. He could endlessly express his own values, and the officers provided as much emotional resonance as possible. Many suspects might never have had such a candid conversation in their lives. Talking and talking, they could start from a suspended death sentence and end up with an immediate execution. Upon hearing this, Bai Jian waspletely reassured, and noticing Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s diverted attentions, he pulled out his phone to check the time and said with a smile, "It¡¯s gettingte, shall we head to Zhengyang Tower?" "Is the chef there?" Jiang Yuan had been craving Zhengyang Tower¡¯s bullfrog dish ever since hest tried it and had asked someone to buy it specially. But it had to be said, even the Jiang family¡¯s usual chef couldn¡¯t match the bullfrog dish made by generations of chefs at Zhengyang Tower, whose livelihood was based on this specialty. To invite the chief chef specially would seem overly formal. "Ha ha," Bai Jianughed. "Just a moment, I¡¯ll make a call to arrange for Chef Shi to prepare in advance." That night, the suspect was handed over to the prosecutor. The bullfrog was tender and resilient. Host and guests were all satisfied. Over the next two days, while dining at Zhengyang Tower, Jiang Yuan managed to close a number of cases. The bureau chiefs in Shiting were so grateful they wished they could skin the bullfrogs and deliver them directly to Jiang Yuan¡¯s bed. The following day. In the afternoon. The county government leaders hosted a banquet for Jiang Yuan and his team. After the fifth course of frog dishes and three rounds of drinks, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. Jiang Yuan excused himself and stood up: "Hello, Uncle Eleven?" Uncle Eleven¡¯s voice was rather hoarse: "Ah Yuan, I think I¡¯m going to die!" Chapter 944 - 880: Mature Pattern

Chapter 944: Chapter 880: Mature Pattern

"Where are you? Are you safe?" Jiang Yuan immediately returned to the private room, and while turning on the speakerphone, he gestured to Wang Chuanxing with his mouth: case. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s heart tightened, and he immediately got up to search his bag, taking out hisptop and pad first, while saying to Bai Jian beside him: "Director Bai, can we request technical investigation resources?" "No problem." Bai Jian was a bit slow to respond, but he quickly took out his phone. Compared to the identity of the Criminal Investigation Division Chief, Bai Jian, who is now a Deputy Director, can mobilize more resources. For example, for the regr detectives who need to formally request technical investigation resources, Bai Jian¡¯s coordination would be a different concept entirely, urring at a different speed. Moreover, emerging investigative departments such as cyber security and image investigation, although closely rted to criminal detectives, have most of their resources separated, which is why the special task forces for significant cases need to have sufficiently high levels. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone call was followed by his uncle¡¯s reply: "I¡¯m at home, nothing¡¯s wrong right now." "Were you joking just now when you said you were going to die?" Jiang Yuan frowned. In his memory, his uncle didn¡¯t possess any sense of humor; he was the kind of person who would earnestly ask others how much they gave when giving out red packets, fearful of giving too little or too much. Such a peculiar joke was definitely not his uncle¡¯s style. Uncle fell silent for a moment, then spoke softly: "I¡¯m feeling quite unwell." "Are you ufortable physically?" Jiang Yuan asked. "A bit, but that¡¯s not why." Uncle replied in a low voice, continuing: "I recently started a rtionship with a new girlfriend, and things have been progressing quickly. We¡¯ve evene to discuss marriage, and she seems rather understanding... So I thought about my previous girlfriends, each of whom almost wanted to have the houses renamed to their names before marriage. A Lin asks for neither houses nor cars, so I had a friend look into her background." "And then?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised. Uncle had been divorced, giving up half his house to his ex-wife, who took custody of their two children. Despite still owning several small properties, Uncle led a drift-like lifestyle, only attracting a few girlfriends with his luxury cars and watches, ultimately ending up breaking up with them all. On the other end of the line, Uncle paused for a moment, then said: "A Lin has had three ex-husbands, two of whommitted suicide. My friend dug deeper and found out that she had several boyfriends before, the exact number unknown, but at least threemitted suicide." Jiang Yuan was stunned for a moment, as were the distinguished police officers sitting at the dining table, who until a moment ago were smiling candidly while internally contemting how to defuse any awkwardnesster¡ªthey all tempered their smiles. This situation didn¡¯t require the professional sensitivity of a police officer; any ordinary person hearing it would find it problematic. Historically, the concepts of husband-starves and wife-starves may seem absurd, but actually make too much sense. In ancient times, criminal investigation methods were limited, and domestic cases were even harder to investigate. But for an outsider, you don¡¯t need to pursue the truth; you simply need to avoid danger. If a man¡¯s first wife dies, it¡¯s considered bad luck; if his second wife dies, it¡¯s an ident; but if his third wife dies too, that¡¯s a pattern. Just like astronomers who observed Halley¡¯s Comet passing by 152 years ago and again 76 years ago¡ªwhen they look up this year and confirm its third passing, they can deduce a simple pattern and then seek further verification: this man starves his wives! Clearly, Uncle, whocks a sense of humor but has money, also possesses a scientist¡¯s spirit. Through private investigations, he has reached a shocking conclusion: My fianc¨¦e is a ck widow. "Are you alone right now?" Jiang Yuan inquired. "No, A Lin is with me... I¡¯ll hang up first..." Uncle said hurriedly before ending the call. Jiang Yuan put away his phone and looked around. Employing some emotional intelligence, he joked: "The way my Uncle ended the call seems to hint at something ominous." "More than that," said Bai Jian gravely. "We can¡¯t take this matter lightly; let¡¯s send someone to protect him immediately. Better warn him not to consume any food or drinks during this period¡ªwomen who kill tend to have a higher likelihood of using poison." "We¡¯ve already asked the nearby police officers to go," Mu Zhiyang exined while also informing Jiang Yuan: "I¡¯ve phoned Director Tan at Zoumadao Police Station and also contacted Zhou Ta, asking him to make a special trip there." Jiangcun Residential Area falls within the jurisdiction of Zoumadao Police Station. Jiang Yuan and others had previously assisted Station Tan in clearing a batch of cases, arresting a houseful of suspects. Zhou Ta is a middle-aged auxiliary police at Zoumadao Police Station. Although an auxiliary officer, after serving there for twenty years, he may not have much authority but knows the various rtionships and situations in the station like the back of his hand, making him the least likely to be deceived or misled. As long as Mu Zhiyang notified Station Tan, and Zhou Ta received authorization while leveraging Jiang Yuan¡¯s influence, the team Zhou Ta assembled would be extremely reliable. Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan understood immediately and added: "Call my dad too, and notify Uncle Qiang to minimize risks. Wang Chuanxing, pull up those suicide cases for examination." It was probably true that a call to his father from a colleague would receive more attention than if Jiang Yuan himself called. Mu Zhiyang and Wang Chuanxing both acknowledged in session. Wang Chuanxing contacted the Cold Case Squad members who stayed back in Ningtai County. He first pulled up Uncle¡¯s records, then filtered out a female named Wang Lin based on his call frequency and duration, and after checking rted records and seeing that both had records of staying in hotels together, naturally marked her as a suspect girlfriend. Subsequent technicians meticulously dissected Wang Lin¡¯s rted information and soon matched up files from her previous three marriages and two ex-husbands¡¯ suicides. This essentially confirmed she was the same person. However, because the case came from Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, the technicians checked with particr thoroughness¡ªsoon, theypiled WeChat and Alipay records, records of daily activities in different ces at different times, as well as vehicle number tes and their movement trajectories... Wang Chuanxing, following Uncle¡¯s information, broadened the search area like spreading out a big pancake, checking whether Uncle had other girlfriends, or whether other women wanted to be his girlfriends. In no time, Wang Chuanxing gathered data from various sources and handed them to Jiang Yuan, saying: "Three ex-husbands with two suicides, and at least three ex-boyfriends whomitted suicide. In fact, we¡¯ve found two additional suspicious non-natural deaths of men who were likely Wang Lin¡¯s ex-boyfriends, also suicides. Here are the photos." As Wang Chuanxing spoke, he ced a stack of photos in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands. "Drowning... Falling from a height, falling from a height... Drowning." Jiang Yuan flipped through casually, and couldn¡¯t helpmenting: "It seems like there¡¯s a bit of a mature pattern emerging." Chapter 945 - 881: Little Sisters (Request for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 945: Chapter 881: Little Sisters (Request for Monthly Tickets)

"Fujian, I¡¯m heading out, meeting up with the girls, it¡¯s Yuxin, the one you¡¯ve met before," Wang Lin quickly put on her makeup in the bathroom, then came out and patted her face while giving a heads-up to her boyfriend. Uncle Eleven Jiang Fujian was still lying in bed, rubbing his waist and grunting, "Alright, have fun, do you want to take the card to spend?" He had a special card prepared for his girlfriend, with a limit of twenty thousand yuan, which was enough for casual shopping, but if she wanted to make big purchases, she would be blocked by the limit. As a straightforward middle-aged man, this credit card solved many of Jiang Fujian¡¯s problems. Wang Lin came over and kissed Jiang Fujian, and considerately said, "No need, you work hard enough to earn money. It¡¯s just shopping with the girls, maybe just a milk tea at the most. I¡¯ll leave now and call you in the evening." "Okay... oh... right, my nephew¡¯sing home tonight, my brother will probably treat everyone to dinner. That nephew of mine who is really good as a policeman," Jiang Fujian carefully reminded his girlfriend. "Hmm," Wang Lin responded, "Your brother really wastes money." "It¡¯s not really wasting, he just likes lively gatherings and treating people." "Wasting all that honest money on eating out every day..." Wang Lin said, then realized she had no authority over these finances and wisely shut her mouth, her face returning to a smile, "Anyway, just wait for me toe home okay..." Feeling desperate, Jiang Fujian watched Wang Lin leave before hurriedly picking up his phone to message Jiang Yuan. A woman, quite beautiful, who doesn¡¯t want his card or his money, and even considers his cousin¡¯s spending, hoping his whole family doesn¡¯t squander money... Jiang Fujian was really anxious. He believed that such virtuous and adorable women existed in the world, but why would such a woman fall for him, Jiang Fujian, a nearly fifty-year-old man who can¡¯t talk well, has no education or job, and lives off collecting rent as a divorced man? Jiang Fujian was now afraid that he might inexplicably die at Wang Lin¡¯s hands, so he specifically mentioned his police officer nephew, Jiang Yuan. Having a police officer in the family might make Wang Lin back off? Jiang Fujian took care to send Wang Lin out the door, then hurried to lock it, bolt it, and secure all the locks. He quietly decided that once this affair was over, he would renovate and install a solid new door that even if she had 20 strong rtives, they couldn¡¯t breach it. Wang Lin met up with her friend at the mall. They each ordered a super sweet drink at Starbucks and walked around sipping them, with Wang Lin¡¯s mood gradually turning irritable, "These past few days I brought up marriage with that deadbeat, and he started giving me excuses, what should I do?" "There are plenty of options, depending on which one you want to use," her friend Fan Yuxin, almost forty like Wang Lin but dressed maturely and oozing confidence, replied. Wang Lin said, "The thing is he¡¯s backing out now. I talked to him about getting the certificatest night, and he said to wait. Also, he mentioned his police officer nephew again today, did you look him up?" "I did, some First-ss Merit, Second-ss Merit stuff," Fan Yuxin scoffed, "He¡¯s just a cop, not any kind of leader." "He¡¯s not a leader but he could still investigate, like a detective." "Investigate my ass, what we do is clean, there¡¯re no cameras or anything, where is he going to investigate?" "Still feels a bit risky." "Lin, not to be blunt, but we deal with wealthy people¡¯s affairs, and there are plenty of such people around the wealthy," her friend Fan Yuxin emphasized, "Without evidence, a cop can¡¯t do anything. If we face someone unscrupulous, just scream in pain and cry, you¡¯ll get through it." "I¡¯m afraid of pain," Wang Lin said softly. "Are you afraid of being poor?" her friend retorted. Wang Lin did not speak again and after a long while sighed faintly, "If it doesn¡¯t work out with Jiang Fujian then, just switch to someone else..." "If you want to rece someone, just do it. It¡¯s all for your own profit anyway," the younger sister said nonchntly. Wang Lin became even more indecisive. After finishing a cup of coffee, the two hadn¡¯t discussed anything constructive, but their emotions gradually stabilized. Wang Lin sighed and said, "Then let¡¯s just stick to the original n. After finishing this job, we really need to take a break ¡ª I mean, for several years." "Take a break for a few years, and by the time youe back, you won¡¯t be able to hook such rich men... Well, maybe not, perhaps you can hook older ones, but it won¡¯t be easy. Old men already have children, unlike these middle-aged men who are easier to handle." Fan Yuxin rolled up her sleeves, revealing the beautiful muscle lines on her arms, and said, "Anyway, when troublees, we will deal with it as always. There were no problems before, and there won¡¯t be any this time." "Yeah, I think so too." "Right? Don¡¯t take what Jiang Fujian brags about his nephew too seriously. His nephew is still so young, could he be more powerful than the police in Beijing? He¡¯s just a big fish in a small pond," Fan Yuxin said, thenughed, thinking of something. Right then, her phone rang. "Hello?" Fan Yuxin answered, but after saying just one sentence, her expression stiffened. "What¡¯s wrong?" Wang Lin asked worriedly. Fan Yuxin took a deep breath and said, "The police have gone to investigate the reservoir. I¡¯ve spoken to the water reservoir¡¯s caretaker before, telling him that if the police evere, they should notify me as there¡¯s a property dispute, and I would handle the rtionships..." Fan Yuxin looked up at Wang Lin and said, "It¡¯s been many years, and the police have never gone to the reservoir before, could it just be a coincidence?" "Do you know which police department?" Wang Lin whispered, "If it¡¯s from Ningtai..." Fan Yuxin waved her hand, covering the phone and asked a question. Soon after, Fan Yuxin had a slight smile and said, "It¡¯s not from Ningtai. It¡¯s the criminal police from Changyang City." "Then it should be okay." Wang Lin breathed a sigh of relief slightly. Fan Yuxin nodded too but was still a bit uneasy and spected, "The reservoir area is only frequented by fishermen. I wonder if someone died again." "With a ce like the reservoir, it¡¯s normal for deaths to ur," they smiled at each other. "Forget it, let¡¯s go shopping. I¡¯ve been eyeing a Dior bag for a long time..." "Let¡¯s check it out together..." Buzz... Fan Yuxin¡¯s phone rang again. With an apologetic smile, Fan Yuxin answered the call, and her expression once again turned grim. Wang Lin stared at Fan Yuxin with wide eyes. Fan Yuxin licked her lips and whispered, "Liu, the security guard at Rio Mansion, said that many police went up today and unraveled the chains on the rooftop." Wang Lin¡¯s body swayed slightly, then she shook her head, "The police have already investigated there, what are they investigating now?" "It seems... it seems they are nning to drop a dummy from there," Fan Yuxin clenched her phone tightly, her arm muscles almost bursting. Chapter 946 - 882 Emotional Stability

Chapter 946: Chapter 882 Emotional Stability

"Throw a dummy... What¡¯s the point of throwing a dummy?" Wang Lin touched her thick chest nds, her voice tinged with anxiety, "I feel so uneasy." "I¡¯m not a man, squeezing me does nothing." Fan Yuxin deliberately said that, thenforted Wang Lin, "I¡¯ll call my uncle and ask, don¡¯t worry for now." Wang Lin nodded repeatedly, "Right, we should ask them, they were the ones looking for the target..." "Enough, don¡¯t talk like that anymore." Fan Yuxin interrupted Wang Lin¡¯sints, then said, "Let¡¯s find a ce to sit down, and you call your cousin¡¯s mother to get some information. If it really doesn¡¯t work out, we¡¯ll pull out." "Oh." Wang Lin quickly took out her bling-bling iPhone and called her cousin¡¯s mother. After clearing her throat, she used a normal tone to rapidly exin the situation. Upon hearing the situation, the aunt on the other end of the phone firstforted Wang Lin, then said she would investigate and repeatedly reminded Wang Lin to be careful before hanging up. After ending the call with her cousin¡¯s mother, Wang Lin felt much relieved and gave Fan Yuxin a smile, "My aunt is actually quite formidable, the kind of person who¡¯s really emotionally stable." "Uh-huh." Fan Yuxin¡¯s voice was heavy, she also put down her phone and said, "They¡¯re throwing the dummy from the building to test whether someone jumped on their own or was pushed." "How could they possibly tell? That¡¯s gotta be a lie; if I took a step forward when jumping off a building, how would that be different from being pushed?" "I don¡¯t know, they¡¯re just doing it this way." Fan Yuxin paused, then asked, "What if they determine that the guy who jumped from the Rio Mansion wasn¡¯t suicide, what then?" "If the police are faking it, what can we do." Wang Lin began to sulk. In the past, with those middle-aged, unattractive men, she could always easily gain the upper hand with this tactic. But today, Fan Yuxin just nced at her and said, "In any case, just deny everything, whether they call ore to us, don¡¯t say anything, not saying anything is the best. The more you say, the worse it gets." "Got it. When the timees, I¡¯ll just hire awyer to sit by my side..." "That¡¯s not allowed in our country." Fan Yuxin knew a little more than her. She had suffered setbacks in her early years andter wanted to marry an honest man. It was through a matchmaking agency that she found a career worth striving for her whole life. "So ordinary people are just meant to be bullied." The more Wang Lin thought about it, the angrier she became, "Once I¡¯ve earned enough money, I¡¯ll... I¡¯ll..." Buzz buzz... Fan Yuxin¡¯s phone started ringing. Fan Yuxin quickly gestured with her hand and whispered, "It¡¯s from my uncle." So Wang Lin started drinking her beverage. Once Fan Yuxin answered the call, she spoke in a sweet voice, "Uncle..." "Did you guys offend Jiang Yuan? Or did you provoke him? You guys didn¡¯t go directly after him, did you?" Her uncle¡¯s voice came through the phone, urgent and anxious. "This..." Fan Yuxin didn¡¯t know where to start but first said, "He is Jiang Fujian¡¯s nephew. Didn¡¯t Jiang Fujian mention that he had a nephew who is a cop? You also said it didn¡¯t matter, iming that there are only a few people with power in the police..." "You didn¡¯t tell me his name was Jiang Yuan at the time? And you didn¡¯t ask me to look into it." The uncle spoke loudly and became increasingly impatient. Fan Yuxin said with a small sense of guilt, "I didn¡¯t know at the time either, but theirst name is Jiang... um... what did you find out?" Fan Yuxin thought that it should¡¯ve been his responsibility to do the background check; what¡¯s the point of sharing the money otherwise? But now, when she needed her uncle the most, she could only keep these thoughts to herself. The uncle exhaled, "There wasn¡¯t much time, but I have roughly found out some information. He seems to be the head of a special institution in Ningtai County, named Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, after his own name." "Does he have some kind of background? Or can one just get to this position with the Jiang Vige background?" "He is the kind that¡¯s quite good at solving cases. Didn¡¯t you tell me he¡¯s been awarded first ss merits? Do you girls understand what first ss merits mean?" "We don¡¯t know." Fan Yuxin shook her head without hesitation, "Why bother knowing that stuff." The uncle sighed, "Anyway, retreat back here. Can you retreat?" "Retracting should be fine, right?" Fan Yuxin spoke simply, yet her heart skipped a beat. Thinking about the Rio Mansion and the reservoir that were under investigation, she was unsure what situation she would be facing soon. "Then do it quickly, no more messing around." The uncle finished speaking and added, "As far as I know, the Jianyuan Group cases were handled by Jiang Yuan, who took down a huge drug trafficking ring and, it¡¯s said, had triple digits executed by firing squad!" "Really?" "The rumors are all over the ce, just steer clear of this guy. He¡¯s one of the Jiang Vige People, with money, power, and influence. We¡¯re just here to make money..." Hearing this, Fan Yuxin couldn¡¯t help but clench her fists, her muscles tensing, and she blurted out the truth, "Uncle, our target now is Jiang Yuan¡¯s eleventh uncle; has he already started suspecting us?" Fan Yuxin mentioned the situation with the reservoir and Rio Mansion. There was a few seconds of silence from her uncle on the other end of the phone, and then he hung up. Fan Yuxin¡¯s face turned solemn as she put away her phone and turned to look at Wang Lin. Wang Lin¡¯s expression was a bit flustered too, and she forced a smile, saying, "I¡¯ve said it before, your uncle¡¯s emotions are unstable. Let¡¯s wait for my distant aunt¡¯s news." "Mhm." Fan Yuxin replied, bowing her head to contact others. Wang Lin also tried to reach out to others, hoping to find someone who could help. Both of them were bent over their phones, frantically tapping away. Until the distant aunt¡¯s call came through. Wang Lin let out a sigh of relief and hurriedly picked up the call, whispering, "Distant aunt!" "I¡¯m not your distant aunt! You¡¯re my great aunt!" The distant aunt¡¯s voice was sharp, like nothing Wang Lin had ever heard before, "Do you have any idea who you¡¯ve messed with? Jiang Yuan, just two months ago, a photographer offended him and was sent straight to the execution ground, given the death penalty! You know what death penalty means, right?" "Ah?" "What are you ah-ing about, you! How long have you been in Ningtai and you haven¡¯t noticed how many cameras there are? Those in shady businesses all fled to Qinghe, do you think who they¡¯re avoiding? My great aunt, what are you doing? Are you trying to send us to our death?" The distant aunt¡¯s voice was filled with both anger and fear. Wang Lin shrank her neck from being shouted at; only when the other side vented their anger did she speak softly, "Actually, we haven¡¯t done anything yet, I haven¡¯t taken any money from Jiang Fujian, and Jiang Fujian¡¯s nephew shouldn¡¯t catch me, right." "What about the previous cases?" "The previous ones... the previous cases were all clean. He won¡¯t be able to find any leverage on us." "You¡¯d better be." "No problem, we¡¯ve encountered police investigations before. I¡¯ll talk to Jiang Fujianter, it¡¯ll be fine." Wang Lin tried to reassure her distant aunt, and only after she had stabilized her emotions did she hang up the phone. The moment she hung up, Wang Lin¡¯s facadepletely copsed. "Should be no problem, right?" Wang Lin looked towards her sister. "You first call Jiang Fujian to see, arrange a meeting with him; it¡¯s safer outside than in theirmunity." Fan Yuxin had no other ideas either. Wang Lin bit her lip, cleared her throat twice, recovered her coquettish voice, and dialed Jiang Fujian¡¯s number again. Unanswered the first time. She tried again for the second time. "Hello?" Jiang Fujian¡¯s voice was quiet. "Fujian,e out for dinner." Wang Lin called out with an extraordinarily coquettish voice. This was a coquettishness that Jiang Fujian had never heard before; as he was at home going over his life, his hand shook, and he hung up the phone. Chapter 947 - 883: Transfer

Chapter 947: Chapter 883: Transfer

Knock, knock, knock. The sound of knocking arose, Jiang Fujian clutched his phone, frantically scrolling through videos, acting as though he hadn¡¯t heard anything. He was now envying the dog at Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s house again, deciding that once this affair was over¡ªif he was still alive¡ªhe would get three dogs. Three ck dogs. That way, even if the dogs couldn¡¯t ovee others, at least they could detect filthy things. Knock, knock, knock. "Jiang Fujian..." The voice from outside came through the door, somewhat indistinct and yet feeling a bit familiar, sounding even more like some filthy thing. Jiang Fujian scrolled through the videos even faster. Knock, knock. "Uncle Eleven!" Jiang Yuan shouted loudly. Jiang Fujian jolted to his feet, hurriedly put down his phone, rushed to the door, peeked through the peephole, and then opened the door excitedly, "Jiang Yuan... I thought I was going to die... Thank goodness you came..." At that moment, tears almost spilled from Jiang Fujian¡¯s eyes. He had never encountered such difficulty in his life. Back in the countryside, as a youngster, he had his parents making decisions for him; as an adult, his wife made decisions for him. After divorcing... apart from the slight reluctance when dividing the house, he had never faced any real difficulties. As for this new girlfriend of his, she wanted neither money nor property, nor did she have an ailing father, nor a brother who was about to get married. She actually fancied him, for who he himself was¡ªa pure, pure horror story! Out of a longing for true love, Jiang Fujian also worried that if there really was such an extraordinary woman in the world, who didn¡¯t love money or property or chase after young attractive men, but liked him for who he was, if that was indeed the case... Fortunately, the private detective found a loophole. Jiang Fujian looked at Jiang Yuan, stuffed back the tears that almost burst forth, and asked, "Did you execute Wang Lin by firing squad?" Jiang Yuan was taken aback by the question, "Uncle Eleven, Wang Lin is your girlfriend..." "She killed so many people, doesn¡¯t she deserve to be executed?" Jiang Fujian pressed Jiang Yuan for an answer. Jiang Yuan hesitated, not able to assert any conclusion without investigation, and simply said, "It is not yet confirmed whether it was a suicide or homicide..." Jiang Fujian: "It should be her doing, right?" "Um..." "If it was her, she should be executed by firing squad, right?" Jiang Fujian pursued the matter progressively. "If it indeed was her... it depends on how many she killed..." Jiang Yuan was struggling to keep up. Mu Zhiyang, who was beside them, said, "It could also be death by injection." "Death by injection works too!" Jiang Fujian pped his thigh, tears suddenly flowing out, "Ah, you don¡¯t know what I¡¯ve been through these past few days. I think, if she killed me at night, what would I do? If she chopped off my pecker first, letting me bleed to death, what would I do? If by chance she got a few people to carry me up to the rooftop and then throw me off, what should I do?" "It¡¯s not that serious, not that serious..." Jiang Yuanforted Jiang Fujian some more, adding, "You don¡¯t have to worry anymore, the investigation is underway. We will take another statement from you, and collect some personal items from Wang Lin..." Because it was his own Uncle Eleven, Jiang Yuan personally came over... watching Meng Chengbiao take a statement from Uncle Eleven. By the standards of the previous Poison Capture Net operation, this setup was already capable of capturing blue crystals. A detailed statement was taken from Uncle Eleven, and at the same time, technicians from the criminal investigation department collected aplete set of Wang Lin¡¯s hair, toothbrush, fingerprints, footprints, and so on. After that, Jiang Yuan bid farewell and left. Uncle Eleven, already properly dressed, picked up a bag and followed behind Jiang Yuan, saying, "Take me to your ce." "Ah?" Jiang Yuan looked at Uncle Eleven in surprise. Uncle Eleven had had his fill of staying alone in a room, and without blushing or skipping a beat said, "I miss my brother; I¡¯ll stay with him for a few days." What could Jiang Yuan say? He just took Uncle Eleven with him home. That is, if Uncle Eleven dared to go out alone, he would have probably run straight to Jiang Yuan¡¯s house already. Sending someone over, officers like Mu Zhiyang naturally had to follow along. Arge group of officers lined up for the elevator, then stood outside the door of Jiang Yuan¡¯s house, staring nkly at the signs "First-ss Meritorious Family", "First-ss Meritorious Family", "Second-ss Meritorious Family", "Second-ss Meritorious Family", "Third-ss Meritorious Family", "Third-ss Meritorious Family." Jiang Fuzhen came out to greet them, "Come in and have some meat." "No thanks, Uncle, we¡¯re still on duty," Mu Zhiyang and the others quickly declined. The savory aroma of meat wafted over. "Brother, I¡¯ll stay at your ce for a couple of days," Uncle Eleven said, stepping in without hesitation, then grinned at the two Dobermans. Jiang Yuan thought about it and said, "Now that you¡¯re here, have something to eat first." With that, Jiang Yuan invited his colleagues into the house and they all ate meat together. When Jiang Fuzhen is home, there is always meat stewing in the pot. Today, it¡¯s beef that¡¯s cooking, fresh from their own farm, ughtered early in the morning and delivered, chosen from the finest cuts. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s invitation, everyone happily gathered around, only Wang Chuanxing and a few others had to flip open theirptops, eating meat while working... Information from various quarters was also rapidly being ryed. "Captain Jiang, the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment has made a discovery," Wang Chuanxing reported in a low voice while gnawing on meat, speaking quietly enough that only Jiang Yuan could hear clearly. "Uh-huh," Jiang Yuan acknowledged. "Dummy tests have proven the victim was pushed from the 22nd floor," Wang Chuanxing spoke softly, his voice barely audible to Jiang Yuan. "As long as there¡¯s a case, that¡¯s good. Make sure you bring her in, don¡¯t let her get away," Jiang Yuan smiled. With the victim having been pushed over, it was at least a case. And Wang Lin, as an important party involved, even if not the murderer, was suspect enough. In fact, since Wang Lin was already a key surveince suspect, evidence provided by her WeChat messages, SMS, and phone calls was more than sufficient. Of course, confirming there had been a homicide, that people had died, was also very important. Jiang Yuan looked up at Uncle Eleven again, who was still clinging to the Dobermans, refusing to let go, as if by being at Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s house he could let loose a little. Wang Chuanxing passed down the orders, continuing to eat beef and gather more news. Beside them, Mu Zhiyang answered a call, then said, "Captain Jiang, Beijing Bureau¡¯s message: they¡¯ve confirmed it was a homicide." "Got it." Jiang Yuan was even more relieved. Two murder cases¡ªif ultimately confirmed¡ªmounting a death penalty case wasn¡¯t impossible. "Captain Jiang. News from Qinghe City..." Wang Chuanxing reported again, and Jiang Yuan just nodded slightly, exhaling a sigh, "This is already a province-wide manhunt." "Do we issue a warrant?" inquired Wang Chuanxing, reading the situation. "Just add her to the system," Jiang Yuan said, deciding not to bother too much and just ramp up the pressure. "Captain Jiang, Jianjiang City has confirmed it as well." "Captain Jiang, Wan Xiang City has confirmed." "Liyuan City..." One by one, the reports werepiled. Wang Lin and her team were graduallying to the forefront. Chapter 948 - 884: The Guide

Chapter 948: Chapter 884: The Guide

"Uncle¡¯s phone is unreachable." Fan Yuxin said, clutching her cell phone with furrowed brows. Wang Lin also put down her phone, whispering, "Aunt¡¯s phone is also unreachable." "These people..." Fan Yuxin suddenly became angry, "Remember how eager they were when it was time to split the money?" "What should we do?" Wang Lin copsed faster than her, tears already welling up. "It¡¯s okay... it¡¯s okay... let¡¯s... let¡¯s run away first." After thinking it over, Fan Yuxin said, "Let¡¯s go find uncle first, get some cash, and also documents; it would be best if we could get two fake IDs, and SIM cards. Right, better yank out our SIM cards." "Wouldn¡¯t turning off the phone be okay?" "I feel unsafe. The SIM card¡¯s useless now anyway, why keep it?" "Alright then." Wang Lin, who was quite indecisive to begin with, was only good at manipting men, and when cooperating with her girlfriends, she mostly yed a submissive role. So, the two of them removed their SIM cards, then left the house, got in the car, and drove to uncle¡¯s marriage agency. The detectives, already prepared to arrest them, quietly followed after reporting to their superiors. Driving was Fan Yuxin, in a beautiful Maserati, neither fast nor slow, with no sign of counter-surveince awareness. Inside the car. Fan Yuxin and Wang Lin were still somewhat panicked. Fan Yuxin cursed and raged against the road, while Wang Lin stared nkly out the window. "Our assets won¡¯t be seized, will they?" Wang Lin suddenly remarked, causing Fan Yuxin to nervously flick the car¡¯s windshield wipers. The flickering wipers only added to their irritability. The surrounding traffic immediately started behaving more properly. "Will they?" Wang Lin asked again, then tears began to flow, "That¡¯s all the money I¡¯ve saved painstakingly..." "Stop it, let¡¯s talk after we see uncle." Fan Yuxin was getting tired of consoling her. Wang Lin cried for a while, finally regaining someposure, managing a wistful smile, "Had I known, I would¡¯ve spent all the money, then I wouldn¡¯t be afraid." Fan Yuxin snorted, "The bags you bought, the carefully chosen clothes you consider your armor, they¡¯ll be seized all the same, and they might end up on auction sites like Alibaba, where people will bid and take them away!" Wang Lin¡¯s eyes were vacant, as hot tears rolled down. The Maserati entered the highway and after driving for over an hour, finally arrived in Changyang City. Entering the city, Fan Yuxin felt much more rxed, heading straight to her uncle¡¯s marriage agency. Bright yellow sealing tape was prominently stuck on the agency¡¯s front door. Fan Yuxin was shocked: "Uncle..." "Has he been arrested?" asked Wang Lin unexpectedly, "What do we do? Will he rat us out?" "Let¡¯s go find your aunt." Fan Yuxin turned the car around, her face set with determination. About half an hourter, the two found themselves in front of a florist¡¯s shop doorway, again greeted by the familiar bright yellow sealing tape. Fan Yuxin and Wang Lin looked at each other and drove away in silence, pressing down on the elerator. "What now?" Wang Lin asked for what felt like the umpteenth time today, but without tears this time, as there were none left. Fan Yuxin thought while driving and eventually said, "Let¡¯s go find Ma." "Drag him down with us?" "We¡¯re all in the same boat anyway. If my uncle and your aunt get caught, they will definitely implicate Ma. We should get him to go south with us. Once we get there, it¡¯s good to have a man up front, whether we find a snakehead to get out of the country or hide out locally, someone¡¯s there to look after us." Fan Yuxin spoke with apparent logic. "Hope Ma hasn¡¯t been caught." said Wang Lin. "It depends on whether they ratted him out or not." As she was speaking, the Maserati pulled up in front of a small supermarket. The supermarket door was open and a man sat behind the cash register, bald, tattooed, sporting a gold ne¡ªclearly someone you wouldn¡¯t want to mess with. "I¡¯m going to call Ma." Fan Yuxin got out of the car, looked around, and entered the small supermarket. "Wee..." Wang Lin could only hear the greeting from the automatic door of the small supermarket. Her gaze followed Ma, watching him tense up from azy posture and his expression turn from bored to anxious. Wang Linughed for no apparent reason. It didn¡¯t take long before Ma, cursing and swearing, followed Fan Yuxin back to the Maserati. "Let¡¯s go," Ma patted the front seat. "Shouldn¡¯t we go back and grab some stuff?" Wang Lin was surprised by Ma¡¯s decisiveness. Ma waved his hand: "Things have escted, no going back home, got it? The cops are waiting at your door." "Ma is experienced," Fan Yuxin said with a smile,plimenting him as she started the car. Stores on both sides flew past, leaving the small supermarket behind. Ma rubbed the gold Rolex on his wrist, not giving a damn about his small supermarket, and chuckled, "I was wondering what trouble Liu has gotten into, must be because of you guys, right?" "Liu?" Fan Yuxin thought for a moment before responding, "He might have been implicated because of the reservoir incident." "Yeah, you guys hit that reservoir two or three times, right? Too careless," Ma shook his head. "That¡¯s right..." Fan Yuxin shivered a little, "Liu wouldn¡¯t rat us out, would he?" Maughed but said nothing, only suggesting, "I¡¯ll point you to a ce, let¡¯s head there first." Fan Yuxin nodded and drove to the neighboring district under Ma¡¯s direction, picking up another person. The man who got in this time had a schrly air. He looked at Fan Yuxin and Wang Lin, then nodded and asked, "Trouble?" "Yes," Wang Lin unconsciously responded. "What about the others?" the schrly man asked. "Don¡¯t know, saw police tape in front of the door," Fan Yuxin replied this time. "They act pretty fast," the schrly manughed, "Okay, no worries, let¡¯s head south for now. We¡¯ll find someone to get you new IDster, maybe even a little stic surgery, and you¡¯ll be good as new!" "Oh," this was the only somewhat positive news they had heard today, and both Wang Lin and Fan Yuxin were somewhat relieved. "Alright, tell me how you were discovered," the schrly man stretchedzily, then with a smile to Ma said, "Old Ma, listen too, let¡¯s review the situation, learn from our mistakes, and be better prepared for next time." "Alright," Ma responded, touching his Rolex. Fan Yuxin drove while Wang Lin detailed recent events. It was a simple story, quickly told, and the schrly man¡¯s brows knitted tighter. "That cop you mentioned, the First-ss Meritorious Person, what¡¯s his name?" the schrly man asked. "Jiang Yuan," Wang Lin answered softly. The schrly man tapped his temples, racking his brain, and then involuntarily blurted out, "Ningtai Jiang Yuan? The one with the fierce reputation?" "What?" "Is he from Ningtai?" the schrly man widened his eyes. Wang Lin and Fan Yuxin looked at each other and slowly nodded. "Stop the car! Let me out!" The schrly man, enraged, kicked the back of the seat. Fan Yuxin instinctively stopped the car, and the schrly man dashed out as soon as he got off. Zi! From behind the flow of cars, two vehicles sped up and came charging over. Then, seven or eight burly menughing fiercely jumped out of the cars. Chapter 949 - 885: Snatching Credit

Chapter 949: Chapter 885: Snatching Credit

"Wang Lin, have you thought it through?" Meng Chengbiao came in holding a stack of documents, took a seat and sipped some water before he started asking with a rxed expression. "I¡¯ve thought it through, I¡¯m willing to confess." Wang Lin quickly sat upright and said, "As long as I confess truthfully and make a meritorious contribution, I can have my sentence reduced, right?" "Right, truthful statements are the basis, and significant meritorious contributions can lead to a reduced sentence. If you want to save your life right now, this is your only chance." Meng Chengbiao had already briefly exined the situation to Wang Lin during a previous interrogation, and now he spoke with a rxed tone, "I suggest you make a decision sooner rather thanter, don¡¯t let everyone else get the credit for contributing, leaving you to suffer in the end." Hearing this, Wang Lin panicked inside: "Has Yuxin confessed?" "I can¡¯t tell you about the interrogation of others. But you should know, you only make a contribution by revealing information that the police do not have." Meng Chengbiao spoke calmly. "I know. I understand." Wang Lin had grown a bit wiser since her arrest and after a moment of thought, she said, "Then I¡¯ll start with one: Ma, as in Ma Jiansheng; he really did kill someone¡ªthe kind where he slit their throat. He personally told me that when they were working on the construction of the new district, he made an enemy with someone and then took that person out at night. He even mentioned the guy¡¯s name, called... called..." "Ma Yuan, right?" Meng Chengbiao waved his hand and said, "This case, someone has already made a meritorious contribution." "Who?" Wang Lin¡¯s eyes widened. Meng Chengbiao replied, "I can¡¯t tell you that. After the victim¡¯s throat was slit, their heart was also stabbed, right?" Meng Chengbiao mentioned the name and the manner of death, which had been reported in the newspapers. To make Wang Lin confess honestly, he deliberately provided more detail, which immediately broke down her defenses. Wang Lin felt deted, then became furious in a sh, feeling like her chest pained with the swelling of her dense ndr tissues, she blurted out indignantly, "Was it Fan Yuxin who told you? That little bitch! She heard it from me. But she doesn¡¯t know the inside story of this matter, I know much more about it..." "Then continue talking," Meng Chengbiao naturally would not stop her; he had all the time in the world, while confessions from suspects did note easily. Wang Lin said all she knew, then asked, "With this, do I count as having made a contribution?" "As I said before, someone has already mentioned this case, which is why I told you toe clean sooner and make a contribution earlier. However, it¡¯s alright, this can be considered as part of your truthful testimony. Just talk about other cases and make a contribution in those," Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t say he was deceiving her, his failure to provide truthful testimony was, after all, permissible in an interrogation. Wang Lin cursed in her heart, knowing that Meng Chengbiao had tricked her, but she didn¡¯t dare to say it out loud. She could only think more, then said, "I know another case, that little bitch Fan Yuxin, she¡¯s stolen things." Betraying her close friend indeed would spoil their friendship. But, considering that her close friend might have already betrayed her, and furthermore, might have eagerly exceeded Wang Lin by contributing information about Ma to gain merit, Wang Lin was quite upset. Meng Chengbiao encouraged her, "Let¡¯s hear it." "If I tell you, will it count as making a contribution?" "It will. But it will only count as an ordinary contribution. For you, that¡¯s not enough." "What do you mean?" "That¡¯s what thew stiptes." Meng Chengbiao seemed like a kind person as he patiently guided her, "Look, you are involved in a coborative crime with several others, and there are cases of causing multiple deaths. However, from your point of view, if the court does notbel you as the mastermind or organizerter on, and then you make a significant meritorious contribution, you still have a chance to survive. But just an ordinary contribution, that doesn¡¯t allow for a sentence reduction, it¡¯s only enough for a reduction of punishment, which for you, is not quite sufficient." Tears immediately streamed down Wang Lin¡¯s face. This was an advanced skill she had mastered since childhood; as the saying goes, women are made of water, and as long as one is adept at crying, one can always gain an extra bit of sympathy... Meng Chengbiao was heartless. He simply stared at Wang Lin with the greasy eyes of a 40-something ED-ridden man, looking at her like a big carp that had just been hooked¡ªa very fine catch. Worthy of posting on his circle of friends to prove that today¡¯s time spent was fruitful, but that was it. "I... I don¡¯t want to die." Wang Lin had never seriously considered this issue before. Most criminals are like this, if they could foresee their capture, understand how miserable it would be, or even that it could lead to death, they wouldn¡¯tmit crimes so readily. Because they don¡¯t foresee it, or don¡¯t have any feeling when they do, criminals treat thew as nothing, and the Criminal Law as a path to wealth. But the environment and life in a detention center, just a day or two is enough time for a person toe into contact with the cold reality. What is out of touch, what life is not ustomed to, in detention centers and prisons, in an instant, teach one to cherish, including life. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s tone turned icy in a timely manner: "If you don¡¯t want to die, you need to find a way to make a significant contribution to merit leniency." This time, the people arrested belong to a group thatmitted crimes together. Usually, they did their own things, and when they needed help, they would find partners, so it¡¯s very likely that they each hold some dirt on the others. With the emotion shown by this inmate, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t believe a single tear. Wang Lin asked, "What counts as a significant contribution to merit leniency?" Meng Chengbiao said, "There are clear stiptions in thew for this. The criminal acts you report or the clues you provide, if they could lead to a life sentence or the death penalty under thew, would count as a significant contribution to merit leniency. So you see, theft will not result in a life sentence or the death penalty, so it doesn¡¯t qualify as a significant contribution." Of course, regardless of whether a significant case is reportedter, the smaller cases mentioned earlier still need to be discussed in detail. Interrogations are recorded, and the content mentioned by these suspects cannot be denied knowledge ofter, otherwise, it is not a "truthful confession," and without the premise of a truthful confession, any merit or significant contribution will be greatly discounted. Wang Lin understood, gritted her teeth, and said, "So basically, it means exchanging someone else¡¯s life for my own?" Meng Chengbiao looked at Wang Lin as if he was looking at bait. "I... Then I really do know such a case." Wang Lin¡¯s voice grew softer. "If I tell you, can I get a lesser sentence or lighter punishment?" "If it really can be recognized as a significant contribution to merit leniency." "I... I know Liu and the others have been involved in drugging and gang rape. If this is sentenced severely, could it be life in prison?" Wang Lin said through clenched teeth. "Was it picking up a corpse on Christmas Evest year?" Meng Chengbiao signaled to the police officer beside him to take notes while saying, "Someone has already reported this case." "She... damn Fan Yuxin!" Wang Lin finally cursed out loud. Meng Chengbiao waved his hand, saying, "Don¡¯t curse. And don¡¯t think that only Fan Yuxin is confessing. Everyone wants to make a significant contribution to merit leniency. So many of you were caught at once, and more are being caught, the rush to merit leniency is so immense, the merits aren¡¯t enough to go around. If you don¡¯t hurry up, I am thinking of moving on to another interrogation room. Do you understand that you¡¯re affecting my KPI?" Wang Lin was stunned and actually felt a bit embarrassed. She¡¯s the type of person who would generously shop to boost sales performance, subconsciously not wanting to let Meng Chengbiao down. Wang Lin racked her brains: "There¡¯s another one, I know someone from Qingshi City, when he was running a KTV, he would find minors to apany the drinking, and those unwilling girls were often intoxicated and sent to clients, that counts as coercion, right?" "That counts. Li Jianjiang from Qingshi City, right?" Meng Chengbiao is in charge of the interrogation, and he has to consolidate the results from all directions, and from him, goes out the directives on which leads need to be verified, and the coordination needed from others. Contrary to Meng Chengbiao¡¯s calm demeanor, Wang Lin started to show panic. These shameless beasts, one by one betraying the people around them, just to merit leniency, wouldn¡¯t I lose out on my chance at a contribution? "Let me think, let me think some more." Wang Lin¡¯s handcuffs made a ttering sound. "No need to rush." Meng Chengbiao sat steady as if fishing. For a criminal like Wang Lin, it¡¯s very difficult to survive, and sometimes even one significant contribution is not enough. However, whether to recognize it as a significant contribution, that¡¯s for the prosecution and the court to decide, Meng Chengbiao just needs to conduct the interrogation. Chapter 950 - 886: Just Take a Look

Chapter 950: Chapter 886: Just Take a Look

Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Amidst the dense tter of keyboards, people were constantly bustling about. The incessant ringing and hanging up of phones made the ce as lively as a financialpany. However, this ce doesn¡¯t trade in money, only prison terms! Meng Chengbiao entered the room with a smug expression, just in time to hear an officer at the door speaking on the phone: "Liu, I called you because we¡¯re close, and the criminal is a rtive of yours, also surnamed Liu, a homicide fugitive. If caught, he¡¯s looking at at least 20 years..." "Right, right, right, murder, not idental death. This guy is a thug who got into a conflict with someone; the next night he waited by the road and stabbed the person, then ran off to Guangyue for over a decade. He¡¯s somewhat established himself now, got himself an ID card and all. If it weren¡¯t for someone here wanting to earn merit, you wouldn¡¯t have had the chance, you know. A criminal starting at 20 years, send me two people, each for nine months!" "Three months won¡¯t do, what¡¯s the use of a temp transfer for three months? We¡¯re notcking hands; three months would just end up as us training people for you. You should be paying us for that, get it? How about this, one person for eight months, another for half a year, but you have to choose officers with more than three years on the force, we don¡¯t want fresh recruits, train them yourself." Meng Chengbiao could tell from the expression of the officer on the phone that the negotiation was going smoothly. And how could it not? Capturing a fugitive linked to a homicide is headline news in small ces. Inparison, lending officers to higher-level units is an all-the-time affair, like in a provincial capital city like Changyang, where the provincial and municipal bureaus constantly have hundreds of officers on loan, having be the norm. And it¡¯s no exception for the lower-level units; everybody is in a state of rampant borrowing. And the better-performing, more assertive lower-level units, in fact, lend fewer officers to higher-ups. After all the ins and outs, they actuallye out ahead. "Team Meng, did it go well?" Tang Jia greeted Meng Chengbiao as he came in. "Smoothly," Meng Chengbiao said with a smile. "Wang Lin just handed over a case involving the theft of cultural relics done by one of her ex-boyfriends. There¡¯s also a gang dealing in cultural relics that seems to have been trading in bronze wares and Buddha heads. In addition, there¡¯s a theft case involving Fan Yuxin with a huge amount of money involved. Other cases involve fraud and assault, adding at least a few more years to the prison terms." "Alright, I¡¯ll make a note of it. Where are the main sites involved in the relic case?" Tang Jia opened herputer and started typing efficiently. "West Shaanxi Region." "Got it..." "Do we have the names and ID numbers of the personnel involved?" "Yes." During the interrogation, Meng Chengbiao had already pulled up all the relevant information about the suspects in the police system using their names or previously used phone numbers. Tang Jia recorded them one by one, and then more officers came in to report. Meng Chengbiao went to report to Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin next. Both of them were in front of two rows of screens, with Jiang Yuan sitting in the back row of what looked like a lecture hall, watching both rows of screens and directing theparison of fingerprints, footprints, and other traces. This setup had been recently revised by Jiang Yuan, basically imitating the work structure of the Anti-Drug Brigade, but without the high-end equipment and facilities of amand center, a lower-cost alternative. "Commissioner Huang, Captain Jiang," Meng Chengbiao hurried to report when he arrived. Huang Qiangmin waved from a distance: "Old Meng¡¯s back, how did it go?" "On average, one and a half major merits per person," Meng Chengbiao said with a chuckle, then added, "and on average, an increase of one life sentence per person." Huang Qiangminughed heartily: "This in-and-out feels a bit like banking." "Not at all, not at all, banks just hand out 30 years like nothing," Meng Chengbiao said,ughing along. Huang Qiangmin tapped him with his hand andughed again: "No rush, dig deeper, see if you can find more." "Yes," Meng Chengbiao replied crisply. This round of interrogation saw Meng Chengbiao and others fully utilizing their capabilities. Wang Lin and her group worked as a team, and because their means ofmitting crimes were very covert, they maintained operations for quite a long time. Therefore, not only did they know a lot about their own group, but they also knew a considerable amount about other coborators. With such a prime opportunity for merit, how could Wang Lin and her group resist! However, earning merits isn¡¯t the same as doing business, even significant merits only allow for one reduction in sentence per life imprisonment. A reduction is like a demotion, where an immediate death penalty could be a death penalty with a reprieve, a reprieve into a life sentence, a life sentence into 20 years, but no matter how many significant merits, to get a double reduction, only the Supreme Court can approve, and under normal circumstances, that¡¯s as far as it goes. As for most of the members of Wang Lin¡¯s gang, after being arrested for their merits, it is foreseeable that they know a lot about Wang Lin and the others. They can probably see and think of all these possibilities, but they just can¡¯t resist. Some will refuse to confess, refuse to earn merit, but that does nothing to the overall situation, just gives themselves aggravating factors, and in this group that starts with a baseline of 20 years, any aggravating factor could be deadly. "Are all registered?" Huang Qiangmin wanted to ensure the case was concluded before considering the benefits. This case was not simple to investigate, to say the least, involving over ten homicide cases, including murders, idental deaths, possibly assisted suicides, and incitements to murder, and each case had to be investigated and proof gathered to bepiled into separate case files for prosecution. If the Ningtai County Bureau were to handle this alone... the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s capability was indeed sufficient, but for the next half year, they would be immersed in these homicide cases. And there was still a string of connected cases. To handle these, they still had to arrest people, gather evidence, and each case required extensive reports... Huang Qiangmin definitely wouldn¡¯t allow Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team to get stuck in these "minor cases," so his role was to hire the workforce. As for the staffing that Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had just acquired, it could also be usedter to attract top temporary personnel. "This case should be almost done," Jiang Yuan said again after checking the workflow on theputer. "The umted Case Team will gradually step back too, we¡¯re moving on to new cases." "No problem." Huang Qiangmin hadn¡¯t yet arranged for manpower, but he wasn¡¯t worried and readily took charge for Jiang Yuan¡¯s assignments. After making a few quick calls, Huang Qiangmin turned back to Jiang Yuan: "If this case wraps up here, the Changyang Traffic Police Brigade actually has a case, do you want to take a look?" "Sure," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t picky. Huang Qiangmin sent a few photos to Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone, saying, "I¡¯ll get the case files from themter. This is the main evidence they have at the moment." The photos showed darkness, upon closer inspection, they appeared to be taken by a nighttime surveince camera. Huang Qiangmin exined, "This is a hit-and-run motorcycle. Currently, the victim is still in critical condition, the family is in poor financial shape, even the Traffic Police Brigade has organized a donation drive. It¡¯s of utmost importance to find the driver responsible." As he said this, Huang Qiangmin seemed somewhat guilty, "Their camera had just aged, producing poor quality photos, it looks like there are just shades of color... will this work?" Jiang Yuan: "I don¡¯t know, let¡¯s start with image enhancement processing and see." Chapter 951 - 887: The Fluttering Red Scarf

Chapter 951: Chapter 887: The Fluttering Red Scarf

In Huang Qiangmin¡¯s view, receiving this set of photos from Changyang City traffic police headquarters was like watching a coarse ck man zooming on a charcoal ck motorcycle across the heavily somber light grey road under an endless cloudless sky. If it weren¡¯t for the headquarters¡¯ trace inspection team repeatedly requesting his coboration, assuring him that these photos were Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise, Huang Qiangmin would not have taken the case back. Picking and choosinges naturally; even a crocodile that has seen wildebeest migration knows which wildebeest is the tastiest. Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression was unreadable, as if he were just handling a normal case, moving the mouse, typing on the keyboard, then waiting for theputer to operate on its own. Theputer purchased by Ningtai County this year was a model developed two years ago and producedst year, but when really put to the test, it would cry out loudly; the whole chassis trembling and howling, much like some officials, silent 360 days a year but noisy enough to drown out a ughtered chicken when finally set to work. Jiang Yuan casually pped the chassis, and the noise seemed to decrease a bit; he continued to operate the mouse for a while before calling someone over to tweak the settings. After Jiang Yuan¡¯s tinkering, the photo sessfully turned into... The ck man riding a grey bike; his grey hair flying, dark grey fumes spitting from the bike; under the deep night, grey and ck, like charcoal, like coal... "Almost there." After bustling for about half an hour, Jiang Yuan produced two very dark photos. "That¡¯s it?" Huang Qiangmin was merely curious. "That is all we can do. It¡¯s the limitation of the camera, it¡¯s like Photoshopping a panda." Jiang Yuan erged the photo, inspecting it slowly from top to bottom. The photo itself wasn¡¯trge, and erging it only made it more distorted, but when ites to image investigation, the focus is on identifying features. Jiang Yuan quickly noted two small points, then dragged the photo to the handle of the motorbike. "Here, there¡¯s an extra piecepared to the handlebar of the motorbike," Jiang Yuan pointed at a spot where ck and grey intersected. The others around him leaned in to look but could not make sense of it. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, fetched a few more photos, andpared them on other screens. Throughparison, it was easy to see that the right handlebar of the motorcycle had significant variations in ck and grey tones. "Is this because of something like a railing by the road, incorporated into the shot?" Huang Qiangmin asked casually. "It¡¯s not a change in roadside scenery as this area is consistently continuous," Jiang Yuan pointed at the blurred handlebar area, continuing, "It¡¯s likely a soft object, maybe something was tied around the motorbike¡¯s handle." "That makes sense." Huang Qiangmin nodded repeatedly in agreement. Wang Zhong, also a trace inspector lending a hand, showed understanding and approval after grasping the exnation, looking extremely earnest. "Then that¡¯s about it. Should we call that person from the traffic police headquarters?" It was then Jiang Yuan remembered; he didn¡¯t know the other party¡¯s surname. "I¡¯ll call Director Wang." As Huang Qiangmin dialed, he exined, "The person in charge is from the trace inspection below the headquarters, who also spoke with me. However, it was mainly because Director Wang personally called that I sought you." The call connected. The genial voice of Wang Bin, the chief of traffic police headquarters,ughed, "Huang, missing your brother?" The chief¡¯s rank was equivalent to the city bureau¡¯s director but wielded slightly less power. As part of the promotion route, it wasmon for leaders from the county bureau or deputy directors from the city bureau to ascend to the position of headquarters chief. In other words, Wang Bin was at least two ranks higher than Huang Qiangmin. Without exceptional circumstances, Huang, a county bureau politicalmissioner, might need to struggle for another 10 years and then be reborn to struggle another round before possibly achieving the position of headquarters chief. However, with Jiang Yuan on his side, Huang Qiangmin was in high spirits now, and after exchanging pleasantries with Wang Bin, he said, "You mentioned earlier that you wanted our Jiang Yuan to examine the photos. He has reviewed them and now has a conclusion. Maybe you want to have your technician listen in too?" "Alright, alright. I¡¯m heading to themand center now, let¡¯s start the video conference." Wang Bin ended the call, picked up another phone on his desk, and said, "Have Lu Ti bring people over to listen to Captain Jiang¡¯s exnation of the case." Huang Qiangmin slowly put down his phone, smiled at Jiang Yuan, and said, "They also have amand center." "They are the headquarters." Jiang Yuan found it quite normal, as each police division in a province has only one headquarters, which at least maintains a very high level. Huang Qiangmin just curled his lips and said, "The Traffic Police Headquarters¡¯mand center was built earlier, their systems and equipment are a bit outdated and different. The Narcotics Control Headquarters¡¯mand center is actually more updated and better..." After a while, themand center of the Traffic Police Headquarters connected to the small conference room of the Ningtai County Bureau Criminal Police Brigade. In the projections on both sides, one could see on the left side the bustling crowd of officers, a spacious and bright hall with variousplex instruments making up themand center of the Traffic Police Headquarters; on the right side, severalptops along with a few desktopputersposed a makeshift trench-like temporary meeting room. "Shall I brief you on the case?" Director Wang Bin greeted, keeping his voice gentle as always. "I¡¯ll get straight to the point. Since the information gathered is limited, whether it can be used for the case depends on other conditions," Jiang Yuan smiled and did not let the other party follow the normal sequence of presenting the case from the start. Because he had only processed one picture, whether the picture could be used, he had no other means. Of course, further scene investigation, reorganizing thoughts, researching the surrounding environment, and even the victim¡¯s identity, would be... apletely different level of difficulty. "You just go ahead, we¡¯ll take notes," Wang Bin said earnestly. Jiang Yuan had to muster a bit of tact, politeness for a moment, then took out the photo, and to the screen filled with expectant trace investigators, he said, "Through image enhancement, I determined that a soft object was strapped to the suspect¡¯s motorcycle, light-weight, fluttering with the wind, most likely something like a streamer." "A streamer?" Lu Ti, standing in the central hall of the operationmand center on the other side of the screen, totally baffled, pen in hand not knowing what to write. On this side of the screen, standing in the makeshift meeting room, Wang Zhong couldn¡¯t help but reveal a knowing smile; he fully grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis. From this angle... ahem... "Because the continuous grey changes here are actually part of the motorcycle¡¯s handle. The streamer is a guess of mine, even if it¡¯s not, it should be something simr..." Jiang Yuan further simplified his exnation. Lu Ti, suddenly enlightened, his years of experience in the traffic police quicklying to bear, smacked his forehead, "We should check earlier surveince footage... Yes, the timing of the incident was in the evening, just advancing the footage by an hour or even just 30-40 minutes would greatly improve the conditions." "Changing to a different camera would improve a lot too," Jiang Yuan curled his lip, poor cameras matched with poor weather created such images, but now, breaking through any of these two limitations would make locating the target much easier. Unless that motorcycle turned from a ce without surveince, if you follow it up the pole, you could always find something. Of course, the manpower involved here would also be significant, inwardly acknowledging that the typical hit-and-run vehicles probably wouldn¡¯t receive such resources. Director Wang Bin, seeing his subordinate Lu Ti and others had already hustled to work, continued, "This is the hard work behind the scenes that makes a minute on stage possible, many thanks..." "We might not necessarily solve the case, though." Jiang Yuan modestly added. "Whether we solve the case or not..." Wang Bin spoke slowly, but always made it sound pleasant. Huang Qiangmin continued the chat. Jiang Yuan turned to work on other matters. Ten minutester. Lu Ti and others returned with the information and reported, "We¡¯ve identified the motorcycle, it¡¯s a 15 Wuyang, with a red cloth for good luck tied to the right handlebar, simr to a red scarf. We¡¯re now dispatching people to search for the person and vehicle." Chapter 952 - 888 Award Ceremony

Chapter 952: Chapter 888 Award Ceremony

For an entire month, Jiang Yuan mainly focused on Qinghe City, striking out in all directions to solve cases. The Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s designated "Year of Assault on umted Homicide Cases" seemed to have turned into "Jiang Yuan¡¯s Year of Assault on umted Cases", but that was essentially the goal of the Qinghe City Bureau. Such a grandbine harvester should not merely work the fields of Ningtai County; that would indeed be unreasonable. As for the costs of working in other districts and counties, including Qinghe City Bureau, obviously none could afford them¡ªthe cost of living index shot up with the needs of big cities. Small cities couldn¡¯t afford the executive cars of Didi, much less afford Jiang Yuan. However, Qinghe City Bureau was able to offer a good deal of administrative perks. For example, the staffing of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, at 12 people, was approved without a hitch. The surrounding districts and counties did not demand an exnation or throw tantrums for benefits, including Comrade Hou Lejia from Longli County. Monday. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team assembled in Qinghe City to attend the meritorious service award ceremony. Hou Lejia and others dressed up spiritedly, enthusiastically pushing the police officers from Ningtai County Bureau to the front. Huang Qiangmin, ustomed to undercover work, was somewhat embarrassed, and with a grin said, "It¡¯s fine for me to sit over here, you guys are the seniors..." "You are the creditor; if you sit back there, we¡¯ll feel even worse," Hou Lejia said warmly, ushering Huang Qiangmin towards the front. Huang Qiangminughed, "What debt? Just pay it back on time." Hou Lejia was notughing, "Old Huang, don¡¯t talk like that. It¡¯s a day of celebration; why can¡¯t we be happy?" Huang Qiangmin patted Hou Lejia¡¯s shoulder, "We policemen, a spittle and a nail; you were happy when you borrowed the money, it¡¯s only right to be unhappy when paying it back." "When I borrowed the money, you were happy, and when I repay it, you¡¯re also happy..." Hou Lejia paused, then turned to Bai Jian and others, "It seems Old Huang is getting carried away. Later, when the city bureau leaders give speeches, let¡¯s apud for half a minute. When Old Huang takes the stage to speak, we will apud for two minutes, to give Old Huang a bit of encouragement." Huang Qiangmin was astonished, staring intently at Hou Lejia, "Old Hou, when did you grow a brain?" "Pretty impressive, huh." Hou Lejiaughed heartily as he pushed Huang Qiangmin to the front row, then added, "Recently, on a case, the suspect did just this,pletely messing with people¡¯s mental states." "It must be a clever person. How did they end upmitting a crime that you managed to solve?" Huang Qiangmin said, frankly feeling puzzled. Hou Lejia hummed twice and said, "The one whomitted the crime is the dumb one. The smart one is at thepany, setting up a sting operation, driving the dumb one to the edge. One night, the dumb one got drunk, felt more and more aggrieved, went over and gave the smart one two hard hits with a stool, breaking an arm and splitting the head, ending uppensating with a car¡¯s worth." "You¡¯re crazy about cars, aren¡¯t you?" Huang Qiangminughed. Hou Lejia did notugh; he now drives a 3.0L naturally-aspirated Toyota Crown, a car that 20 years ago would have cost over 400,000. At that time, if he chose to buy a house, he could have bought one inside the third ring of Beijing with no problem. The thought of his rear end resting on such a once valuable state asset, Hou Lejia couldn¡¯t muster a smile. At 10 o¡¯clock, the city bureau leaders were all present. After greeting Jiang Yuan and the police officers one by one, the leaders on the stage announced the start of the ceremony. "Congrattions to Ningtai County Criminal Police Team¡¯s Jiang Yuan umted Case Team...awarded the Group Second-ss Merit!" "Congrattions to Ningtai County Criminal Police Team¡¯s umted Case Squad Mu Zhiyang...awarded the Individual Second-ss Merit!" "Congrattions to Ningtai County Criminal Police Team¡¯s First Squad Wu Junhao...awarded the Individual Second-ss Merit!" ... "Congrattions to Ningtai County Criminal Police Team¡¯s First Squad...awarded the Group Third-ss Merit!" "Congrattions...Wang Chuanxing...awarded the Individual Third-ss Merit!" "Congrattions...Mu Zhiyang...awarded the Individual Third-ss Merit!" ... "Congrattions...Tang Jia...honored with Individual Commendation!" "Congrattions...Mu Zhiyang...honored with Individual Commendation!" ... Hou Lejia and others, as previously mentioned, pped their hands off throughout the ceremony. Thismendation award ceremony, rather than being for Qinghe City range, might as well be a specialmendation award ceremony dedicated to Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. For the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, it could be said that everyone received an award, and several members who nned to end their secondment ahead of schedule for various reasons were given additional consideration, a rarity in other units. Of course, this was also because the transfer to Ningtai County Bureau was a reverse secondment, meaning once personnel returned to their original unit, they¡¯d be considered leaders if they came back to Ningtai County. However, from the beginning to the end of the ceremony, there was no award for Jiang Yuan. At the end, the Bureau Chief made a special trip over and said, "Xiao Jiang, you applied for a first-ss merit, and the Provincial Department wants to present it to you personally. I¡¯ll take you there tomorrow." Having arrived at the meeting, Jiang Yuan naturally brought his emotional intelligence with him and epted the news with a smile. Beside him, Huang Qiangmin inquired on his behalf: "If it¡¯s a first-ss merit, Jiang Yuan has already received two of them. Why does he need to go to the Provincial Department this time? What are they thinking?" "Maybe they¡¯re thinking of transferring Jiang Yuan to the Provincial Department?" The Bureau Chiefughed for a moment before his expression became serious as he looked at Huang Qiangmin. Startled at first, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression gradually became solemn. "We are vigorously creating a team centered around Jiang Yuan, capable of supporting criminal specialist teams across the country and even the world. What¡¯s the benefit for Jiang Yuan to go to the Provincial Department?" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective, however, differed from what the Bureau Chief had in mind. Of course, the attitude was still what the Bureau Chief wanted to see. The Bureau Chief nodded and said, "That depends on how determined you are." Huang Qiangmin then turned his gaze to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan confidently stated, "I am not going to the Provincial Department." Upon hearing this, Huang Qiangmin became instantly more confident and said, "Jiang Yuan won¡¯t go to the Provincial Department, not even for an emperor!" The Bureau Chief chuckled: "If you insist, we at Qinghe City Bureau also support you. Of course, you still need to go to the Provincial Department to receive the award." Police departments are simultaneously managed by the higher-level police departments and the local administration; the former mainly provides operational guidance, while thetter has the most crucial authority over personnel, finance, and materials. In other words, the real superior authority is local. Therefore, under these circumstances, it¡¯s not easy for a police officer to be transferred from one county or city to another, or from a county to a city, or from a city to a province. It¡¯s not an internal transfer but an external one that requires consent from both the transferring and receiving units. Meaning, not only must the unit epting the transfer agree, but the releasing unit must also consent. Under such circumstances, if the city and the county firmly oppose, even the Provincial Department can¡¯t transfer someone. At least, the Provincial Department needs to do the groundwork in persuasion first. Additionally, the individual¡¯s wish is most crucial, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s desire to stay in Ningtai County is the most important. After returning with the team, they would make a special trip to Changyang City in two days. Compared to Qinghe City Bureau, the standards in Changyang City were much higher. The bright and spacious auditorium, therge scale, and even the presence of leaders from the Ministry attending the event. "Come,e, Jiang Yuan, Director Song hase all the way from Beijing to see you." The leaders from the Provincial Department had a kind of warmly distant familiarity with Jiang Yuan as they cheerfully nudged the familiar Song Tiancheng towards him. Unlike figures such as Cui Xiaohu, Song Tiancheng was a well-known significant figure,st appearing after an incident with Jianyuan Group in Qinghe City. In terms of Journey to the West, he would be akin to the Barefoot Immortal. "Director Song, is there a case?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think he was worthy of Song Tiancheng¡¯s attendance just for receiving a first-ss merit. It might make sense for a group award, as this was the third first-ss merit in his life. Without a rted body, he didn¡¯t warrant Song Tiancheng¡¯s attendance. "I¡¯m waiting for your ceremony to conclude," Song Tiancheng said with a smile. "The ceremony is not as important as the case." With his ever-present emotional intelligence, Jiang Yuan inquired, "When did the case happen?" "Just now, an explosion case, with the death toll exceeding ten," Song Tiancheng checked the watch on his wrist. "It has only been four hours since the incident urred." He was meant to go there to direct or evenmand the situation, but after much thought, Song Tiancheng still preferred to waste a few hours and take Jiang Yuan with him from Changyang City. Inparison, what the Shannan Provincial Department thinks is irrelevant. "I understand. For an explosion case..." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment: "Let¡¯s receive the first-ss merit as quickly as possible." He stillcked expertise rted to explosives and needed to receive the first-ss merit before he could be promoted to utilize it. Chapter 953 - 889: Entering the Arena

Chapter 953: Chapter 889: Entering the Arena

Contented with the first-ss merit medal he had just received, Jiang Yuan casually posted to his social circle before getting into Song Tiancheng¡¯s car and heading straight to the airport to transfer to E-Su Province. Wang Chuanxing and the others naturally didn¡¯t have time to rest either and followed Jiang Yuan after handing over their work. On the ne, Jiang Yuan selected the "Trace Examination¡ªExplosion Trace Examination (Level 6)" skills. It¡¯s different when you¡¯reing out with leadership from the Ministry, especially someone of Song Tiancheng¡¯s rank. When even the Barefoot Immortal descends to earth, it¡¯s dangerous for mortal men to think about tackling everything with existing talents. Moreover, while the application of explosion trace detection is not as widespread as skills such as tool mark examination, for Jiang Yuan¡¯s current technical repertoire, explosion trace detection fills a significant gap. In current society, the application of explosion trace detection is also not umon¡ªapart from typical explosive manufacturing cases, there are sporadic unconventional explosions. Commonly, for instance, explosions may ur on fire sites; kitchen materials, gas cylinders, and natural gas pipelines may explode; industrial and mining enterprises may experience explosions, and there are also illegal homemade explosives and so on. Simr cases still happen from time to time, presenting considerable harm. After selecting the skill, Jiang Yuan felt much more at peace. Level 6 skills could be considered divine, and with a temporary +1, upon arriving at the scene, whether it¡¯s an explosive Sun Monkey or Sun Monkey¡¯s explosive appendages, he could analyze them. Inparison, Song Tiancheng was not so relieved. After arriving at the airport with Jiang Yuan and greeting the leadership from E-Su Province, he spoke for only three minutes before getting into the car and rushing to Han Shui Town where the incident urred¡ªa two-hour drive. By the time they arrived, it was already the afternoon, and it would soon be dark. "How is it? There¡¯s an hour and a half until dark, can we make it?" Song Tiancheng asked with a worried heart. "We can go over it once, and if need be, we can work overnight bymp." Jiang Yuan was here for his EQ, not his IQ, and now was the time to show it. Song Tiancheng¡¯s anxiousness was indeed alleviated, and he once again looked rxed like an immortal: "That¡¯s good to hear. By the way, have you worked on an explosive scene before? Do you have research in this area?" "Yes. Don¡¯t worry." Jiang Yuan had actually worked on an explosive site before, but at that time, it was done using crime scene investigation, aiming to find evidence on the crime scene, rebuilding the interactions of people and objects in time and space. The examination of explosion traces is different, focusing on the explosion itself, emphasizing the center of the explosion, performing explosive quantity analysis, explosion type analysis, explosive nature determination, assessing the original form of the explosive devices, and thereby profiling the characteristics of the perpetrator, providing information and evidence to solve the case. Doing this technology well requires mechanical analysis, deformation and stress analysis, and theories including physics, chemistry, and explosion dynamics. However, the good thing about scientific knowledge is that although it is strenuous to learn, it bes very reliable in use. Of course, if the learning process is also skipped... Song Tiancheng was satisfied with a nce at Jiang Yuan; subordinates who dare to give leaders peace of mind these days are good subordinates. At the scene. Bright yellow caution tape stretched out for hundreds of meters. The most conspicuous sight was the shattered ss debris that started from the caution tape, resembling hail. Jiang Yuan and the others changed into new police boots before continuing into the scene. Barefoot Immortals¡¯ men were definitely wearing new shoes. The closer you get to the central area, the more you can see the chaotic debris from the explosion, shattered ss, stones that were flung out, and rubbish from unknown origins. The epicenter, where the explosion urred, was the building of a car repair shop, which is now half-demolished by the st¡ªevidence of the explosion¡¯s tremendous power. "The explosion happened at an underground gambling den in the town. It is estimated that there were thirty to forty people gambling inside at the time of the incident, plus more than ten people from the owner¡¯s side. The confirmed death toll is 11, and more than 30 people are injured," apanied by Wang Sheng, the captain of the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade. The incident urred in Han Shui Town, a border town of Meiyang City. The local police station would normally handle day-to-day cases, but a major case like this had to be taken over by the higher-level Criminal Police Brigade. "What findings do you have so far?" The question came from Song Tiancheng, and everyone on the scene was under tremendous pressure, including Song Tiancheng himself. Wang Sheng, with his schrly looking pale face, also showed a helpless expression, saying, "Initially, we identified a suspect, a regr loser at the gambling den, a small construction business owner who had ess to explosives. However, following the investigation, neither his timeline nor motive formitting the crime were sufficient. Currently, we do not have a second suspect." Song Tiancheng uttered a "hmm." Wang Sheng continued exining, "There¡¯s another issue. Because of the severity of the explosion on-site, we have not been able to confirm the identities of the victims. As such, we cannot clearly list the suspects..." Song Tiancheng was a major figure, and immediately noticed the problem, saying, "Does that mean neither the number of the deceased nor the number of victims has been confirmed?" "Um... indeed, there are doubts about both," Wang Sheng, clearly not a direct subordinate of Barefoot Immortal, sighed and said, "You¡¯ll understand once you see the site. It¡¯s aplete mess and very difficult to assess." "I¡¯ll go into the site first." Jiang Yuan, fully geared up, called two of his subordinates and headed toward the inside of the building. The repair shop, now sted into shambles, was originally made of prefabricated panels, with half of it now copsed, resembling ruins from war-torn regions often seen on TV news. But the scene inside was something that couldn¡¯t be broadcast on TV, especially after rounding a half-copsed wall, the sight ofrge amounts of bloody objects began to assault the senses. Even for police officers who frequently attend such scenes, it was difficult at first to distinguish which were pieces of flesh and which were stones stained with blood. However, without having to look too closely, Jiang Yuan knew that most of this was building material stained with blood, or stones, or ss, etc. The actual pieces of flesh wouldn¡¯t have been scattered so far. Jiang Yuan swept his gaze over the area, then waited for the photographers following him to take pictures and videos before continuing further inside. The innermost office was the core area of the gambling den, also seemingly the most gruesome spot. Red blood, white fragments of bones, and a multitude of soaked clothing were the primary colors on the ground. The bodies had already been removed; Jiang Yuan was there as an expert to assist, and the local Criminal Police Brigade couldn¡¯t be certain of their timing¡ªnaturally, they couldn¡¯t leave the bodies exposed at the site indefinitely. "All the photographs and videos of the bodies have been organized, and you can ess them anytime if you need to," Wang Sheng said to Jiang Yuan, following behind. "Let¡¯s look at the explosion marks first," said Jiang Yuan. It wasn¡¯t just about using skills. With as many as 11 deaths and numerous injuries on site, examining them all could take more than 24 hours, which would mean missing the golden window for the investigation. By contrast, there is only one explosion, and obtaining explosive materials often has barriers. Understanding what the explosive material was and rifying the circumstances of the explosion can often be decisive in an explosion case. Chapter 954 - 890 Initiative

Chapter 954: Chapter 890 Initiative

The atmosphere of the explosion site was oppressive. First, the smell was terrible; second, the visual impact was overwhelming. Even though Captain Wang had said that the bodies had been moved away, in actuality, while the bodies had been cleared, there was still plenty of flesh paste clinging to the ground. Here¡¯s a morbid tidbit: if someone were within the st zone, what changes would their body undergo? If the explosion was strong enough, such as the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima, there would be many shadows resembling the remnants of bodies vaporized or sublimated. In other words, under an extreme explosion, a body couldpletely disappear. And when the explosion is very strong, but not to that extreme, there¡¯s also a poignant example. There once was a profession in Israel that specialized in cleaning up the remains of suicide attack victims. The use of "cleaning up" is because the attackers wearing bomb vests and the victims closest to them are turned into flesh paste, sticking to the ground. Due to the hot climate, a lot of the flesh thatnded on the tar roads would stick to the asphalt, making it even harder to clean up. However, the power of the bomb vests was sorge that the final remaining weight of those at the epicenter was often only about ten to twenty kilograms, making them somewhat easier to lift. But from a forensic perspective, when a strong enough bomb explodes in a crowd, it¡¯s very difficult to distinguish how many bodies there were. You could say, count two eyes as one person, but many of the bodies don¡¯t have eyes anymore, count a head as one person, but not all heads are intact... Forensic anthropology, useful in fire or mass murder scenes, wouldn¡¯t work well here, at least to say, it¡¯s hard toe up with an urate answer in a short period of time. If Jiang Yuan came to the scene with only his scene investigation skills and forensic skills, he would now be retching from cleaning up bodies. As for now... this task is still being carried out by the technicians and forensic doctors from Meiyang City. Jiang Yuan looked around, silentlybeling everyone and assessing their abilities. His gaze naturally swept over the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Shen Yaowei shivered, as the earnest teachings of his older cousin Shen Yaoguo flooded his mind, indecision showing on his face. This time, he had secured a third-ss merit for himself, and the award ceremony for the merits had not yet been reported because the Poison Capture Net case had not been closed yet. Shen Yaoguo was therefore very grateful to Jiang Yuan and repeatedly told Shen Yaowei to perform well. As a lesser-known member of the family, Shen Yaowei indeed preferred fun and acted as he pleased in his younger years. However, as he grew older, many of the things he enjoyed before no longer seemed interesting; instead, society itself was bing more attractive. Working in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was a rare opportunity that Shen Yaowei knew was valuable. Recently, Jiang Yuan had frequently given Shen Yaowei chances, which Shen Yaowei felt he had earned¡ªIf he had developed any skills in his life, the marksmanship he had honed out of interest as a youth was one of them. Ever since he shot the drug dealer dead with two bullets, Shen Yaowei had been favored by Jiang Yuan, and he deeply understood the rarity of this opportunity. Considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s current status, his older cousin¡¯s influence as the head of the Public Security Brigade was quite limited. Shen Yaowei felt that Jiang Yuan¡¯s sweep around the room was an encouragement for the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team to step forward. After all, the scene before them was indeed too terrifying. The local police had no choice but to take action, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, as visiting forces... In fact, someone should be involved. Otherwise, the local process of handling physical evidence and so on wouldn¡¯t include their participation, which would not be conducive to Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of the situation. Of course, only experts at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level, whoe out following the instructions of the Ministry, would need to understand the situation to this extent... Thinking this, Shen Yaowei finally made up his mind and cleared his throat, stepping forward to say, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll join everyone in dealing with the remains." "Eh?" Jiang Yuan looked at Shen Yaowei in surprise, taken aback by his initiative. Scraping corpse mud from the ground is certainly not a pleasant task, even for forensic doctors, it is an utterly disgusting activity. At this moment, the empathy one feels for their fellow beings would be shattered to pieces by the explosion, plunging one¡¯s spirit into depression. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skepticism was taken by Shen Yaowei as encouragement, just like his expression when he drew his gun. Shen Yaowei affirmed more confidently, "I¡¯d like to go through the process with Captain Wang¡¯s team and understand the work here, to learn a bit." His words were very tactful, but as soon as Song Tiancheng heard them, he felt it was absolutely necessary and immediately encouraged, "Indeed, a young man with ideas." "Shen Yaowei is seconded from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, but he is indeed very outstanding in all aspects, a young man full of ideas," Jiang Yuan, with his emotional intelligence still hung up on his shoulder like a badge, readily provided an assist to Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaoweiughed with his mouth wide open, as happy as if there had been a detonation in his mouth. Jiang Yuan then said, "Yao Wei, you¡¯ll apany Captain Wang¡¯s team in surveying and handling the scene here." "Yes," responded Shen Yaowei, turning to salute Wang Sheng, "Captain Wang, I¡¯ll follow yourmand." "In that case, get changed into your equipment, and I¡¯ll have someone guide you..." Wang Sheng didn¡¯t hesitate. The most important thing is solving the case, especially since Song Tiancheng is here on the orders of the Ministry. Shen Yaowei changed into a full set of equipment and began scraping corpse mud alongside Meiyang City¡¯s technicians and forensic doctors. Jiang Yuan continued his survey. The repair shop was not small, and the core area of the explosion was a conference room on the second floor of the repair shop, covering more than one hundred square meters, with two bathrooms, a pantry, and a finance room sectioned off at the back. The rest was crowded with gambling tables. Nearly forty to fifty people gambled in such arge room ¨C only gambling, an activity that could make peoplepletely ignore their surroundings, but an explosion won¡¯t ignore it. Following the explosion, the original prefabricated floor copsed, and the ceiling and walls also caved in, so that some people who weren¡¯t killed or injured by the explosion were instead killed or injured by the building materials. "What do we know about the explosive device at the moment?" Jiang Yuan asked after a while, turning to Wang Sheng. Wang Sheng immediately called over the trace examiner from the front line, "Sheng Bogong is the deputy head of our brigade¡¯s Trace Inspection Unit. He¡¯s most skilled at examining explosive traces." This was now a matter of professional expertise. Sheng Bogong had a long face and wore sses, with distinct "^^"-shaped eyebrows. He was actually scraping bodies at the moment, and upon being asked, he sighed and said, "What we have found so far includes a suspected case of a storage battery, but we are notpletely certain. The initial assessment of the central point of the explosion is at the entrance of the gambling den¡¯s finance room, right around this area." Sheng Bogong circled an area not far in front of him. Jiang Yuan nodded, "To have this conclusion in a few hours¡¯ time is good. Do we know the method of detonation?" "We¡¯re not sure yet, but the explosive power was great, and the explosive device is likely not homemade, at least at the level of industrial explosives used in civil sting. It¡¯s probably ammonium nitrate-based." Sheng Bogong paused, then continued, "Now there is another concern, as we neither know the cause of the explosion nor whether the perpetrator has perished. And since the explosive used is industrial, our first worry should be whether there will be a second explosion!" Chapter 955 - 891 I Want Xu Taining

Chapter 955: Chapter 891 I Want Xu Taining

"This issue is indeed critical; it¡¯s a great question," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and then said, "We¡¯ll start our investigation based on this direction." "Alright, good..." When Sheng Bogong was about to continue speaking, he saw Jiang Yuan already stepping forward. Stunned for a moment, Sheng Bogong then realized that Jiang Yuan had already begun the investigation. Sheng Bogong hesitated for a while, unsure whether to follow him and continue speaking. An investigation is a meticulous task, especially for such a major case; it¡¯s not something that can be cleared up in a short while. Should heplete what he wanted to say? Sheng Bogong turned his head to look at Wang Sheng, then moved closer to the squad leader and whispered for a consultation, "We haven¡¯t quite settled on a direction for our investigation. Should we discuss this with Captain Jiang, or decide on our own? I think Captain Jiang wants to perform an analysis of the explosion traces. Although this approach is quite direct, it might not yield results. Essentially, Captain Jiang is a forensic doctor, right? Jiang Yuan from Ningtai is well-known, but from what I recall, he has only handled one explosion case before, and it wasn¡¯t an explosion analysis..." Wang Sheng quickly said, "Just follow him and see for now, since you are going to do explosion analysis anyway. Listen to Captain Jiang¡¯s ideas first. If it works out, that¡¯s best; if not, we¡¯ll discuss itter. If you are confident about the critical steps, you can do it yourself, andter, I will discuss it with Director Song." Wang Sheng still trusted his subordinates. The opinions of technicians, although not impactful during promotions or sry raises, usually carry some weight. Understanding Wang Sheng¡¯s intention, Sheng Bogong felt a bit more settled and quickly caught up with Jiang Yuan, thinking about following Jiang Yuan for a couple of hours first. If there is still no clear direction after two hours, it would be a good time to discuss with Jiang Yuan. At that moment, seeing Sheng Bogong catching up, Jiang Yuan beckoned and said, "Look at this central point of the explosion." "This is the center point," Sheng Bogong frowned; it was the point he had indicated to Jiang Yuan. "Look at the photos we took before." Jiang Yuan had Miao Ruixiang, who followed him, show the PAD to Sheng Bogong. Sheng Bogong nced at it and said uncertainly, "This is indeed what we shot previously, but... is there a problem?" "There¡¯s no problem. We¡¯ll discuss the phenomena and then deduce conclusions," Jiang Yuan looked seriously at Sheng Bogong and said, "I justpared these photos on the scene and can determine that the explosive was detonated in the air... also, look at these body fragments..." Jiang Yuan pointed to several blurry body fragments around the st site. Sheng Bogong looked baffled and said, "I don¡¯t really understand forensic stuff..." "These body parts are from the same person," Jiang Yuan now held a Level 6 in explosion trace identification, merged with Level 4 in forensic material evidence,bined with Level 4 in forensic pathology, added to a Level 5 in crime scene investigation and Level 3 in forensic anthropology... Speaking of these on-scene judgments, he felt a surge of confidence. Sheng Bogong couldn¡¯t keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace, but he subconsciously furrowed his brow and said, "These body fragments seem very shattered, and there are no remnants of clothing or essories..." "The explosion must¡¯ve destroyed the clothes and outeryers," Jiang Yuan usually doesn¡¯t mince his words and straightforwardly continued, "The state of this scene is typical for a human bomb explosion. In other words, the perpetrator, or at least one of them, was wearing a bomb vest and died on the spot." "Ah... this..." Sheng Bogong was startled by Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusion. Such inference was too rich in implications. Wang Sheng came over and asked, "What happened?" Sheng Bogong uttered awkwardly, "Human bomb." "Are you sure?" Wang Sheng¡¯s face turned serious. "Anyone knowledgeable or not who hears about this would first think of terrorism. For ind provinces, dealing with such matters, they must be on high alert." "Confirmed. The bomb exploded more than a meter above ground. The explosion¡¯s range and condition are consistent with those of a suicide bomber..." Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "To further confirm, we need to find the remains of the explosive." Wang Sheng nodded solemnly, "I need to report this to the leadership." "Hold on." Jiang Yuan stopped Wang Sheng, "Given the current situation, I think it¡¯s necessary to increase manpower and strengthen the investigation. Please also mention this when you report." "Uh... Do we still need more people?" Wang Sheng nced around at the hundreds of police officers working over the ruins before turning back and saying, "Okay, how many more people do you want? I should be able to borrow some from the city bureau and the police stations." His Criminal Police Brigade had already deployed all the avable hands, but he could still manage to bring in some more on a temporary basis. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "We need more specialized personnel and additional specialized equipment. Also, a more professional organization. I need Xu Taining." "Xu Taining?" Song Tiancheng came over, hearing this somewhat familiar name, and after thinking, he said, "Square-faced, very authoritative? The senior police chief from Shannan Province specifically assigned for inspections? The one who tends to spend a lot?" Reminded by Song, Wang Sheng also recognized who Xu Taining was and quickly said, "Why are we talking about inspections? It¡¯s not the stage for inspections yet." "Given the current site conditions, searching for the explosive is extremely challenging, not unlike an inspection. Director Xu has strong organizational skills and is very meticulous, making him highly suitable for managing personnel and overseeing the site in this environment." Normally, Jiang Yuan would avoid involving Xu Taining unless necessary, but this case urgently required him. Firstly, he didn¡¯t need to save money for E-Su Province, and secondly, there was little time and the task was critical. Wang Sheng couldn¡¯t help but look at Sheng Bogong. Sheng Bogong hesitated and then stepped forward, "Captain Jiang, in terms of professionalism, we should still be reliable..." Jiang Yuan shook his head, "I¡¯m not just referring to professional investigation skills, but also engineering expertise, such as the copsed floor here, whether we need professional machinery to dismantle it. Actually, for safety reasons, considering the condition of this building, it should also be inspected and dismantled simultaneously." Sheng Bogong, "This... indeed, we could hire some manpower..." "Secondly, we need to conduct a grid-style investigation." Jiang Yuan nced at Wang Sheng and Sheng Bogong, seeing their furrowed brows, he continued, "Thirdly, from the current site condition, some of the investigation personnel seem inexperienced with suchrge-scale explosion sites. Evidence collection seems very chaotic, and the scene management is disorganized. In forensic aspects, though many body fragments are secured, the site remains unprocessed." While mentioning the grid-style investigation, Jiang Yuan still gave them face, but he spoke more directly afterward. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯sments and seeing Song Tiancheng¡¯s expression, Wang Sheng knew that Xu Taining was indispensable. Biting the bullet, he said, "Then let¡¯s invite Xu Taining, but if the leadership asks for my reason, how should I exin more clearly?" "Just say that due to the explosion, many objects are in a damaged state with possibly vast changes in size and volume. Ordinary searches are no longer sufficient," Jiang Yuan briefly exined and added, "Moreover, due to the shockwave produced by the explosion, the fragments of explosives could have prated into the soil or even other evidence, like these corpse muds..." Jiang Yuan drew a circle with his hand, "Everything in this room of over 100 square meters needs to be thoroughly searched, every copsed concrete b needs to be lifted and felt under. A radius of 100 meters must also be meticulously searched, and based on the evidence obtained, we can determine the nature of the explosives." "The nature of the explosives?" Wang Sheng frowned. "The focus is on whether the detonators can be remotely controlled or time-dyed," Jiang Yuan looked at Wang Sheng, "If it¡¯s just a simple pull, release, or pressure type, we can assume it¡¯s some kind of suicide attack, assuming that all or some of the participants are dead. Otherwise, we must assume that a murderer is still atrge." This was clear enough. Wang Sheng took a deep breath, "Understood, I will report to the higher-ups now." Chapter 956 - 892 Temporary Camp

Chapter 956: Chapter 892 Temporary Camp

Boom, boom, boom. Dozens of iodinemps were turned on one after the other, making every detail of the crime scene visible. Grr... Several birds sleeping in the trees, dazzled by the bright lights, pped their wings and left. Over twenty members of the trace evidence and criminal police teams, shoulder to shoulder, bent their heads to sift through the flesh and debris, while searching for any suspicious physical evidence. There were as many as ten of these teams, each member with a direction to move in and a specific area to clean up. Each person also held a map, marking off the areas they had finished on paper, so thatter, everyone would take full responsibility for their own assigned section. The map was made by Xu Taining on the ne, based on the reports from the scene. The lights were shipped to the site as soon as Xu Tainingnded. By the time Xu Taining arrived, it had already be dark. Under the lights, he reorganized the personnel, reassigned team leaders and work areas, and even adjusted the maps on the spot, reprinting task sheets for certain teams... At the same time, cranes, bulldozers, and transport vehicles that had been gathered from around the area were all put into operation, operated by an engineering team called in to start lifting and removing bs from the scene. A special area was cleared out at andfill on the city outskirts, where the debris from the explosion site would be piled up, giving priority to the police for a secondary search. Or, it would wait to be cleared with the regr waste and taken away for processing. Within a 100-meter radius from the st center, hundreds of criminal police, trace evidence technicians, scene surveyors, forensic doctors, and workers sifted throughyer byyer, as if it were an archaeological site. A machine repair factory near the sealed area, currently out of operation, was also rented for the asion, and hundreds of workers had started renovating it. They were set to build a preliminary screening area and two temporarybs, mainly for sealing and processing evidence, while more delicate work would still be sent to maturebs. However, for the Criminal Police Brigade and people like Jiang Yuan, traditional evidence that was typically of high value was not so important at this time. The primary task of the scene investigation was to find remnants of explosive material¡ªsimple, practical, but very hard to find. At the same time, in the repair factory, temporary prefab houses and construction-grade kitchens, dining rooms, shower rooms, and other living facilities were being built to cater for the meals and rest of the several hundred people on site. Jiang Yuan¡¯s requirement was to handle the scene with absolute professionalism and a specialized approach. This meant that numbers were not the most important factor, but it was even more challenging to assemble the necessary number of specialists. Once they arrived, there was no need to leave; with eating, sleeping, and living all taking ce on site, it would be easier to manage. Upon seeing this, Wang Sheng, the head of the Meiyang City Criminal Police Brigade, also moved right in, setting up a tent on the spot for his day-to-day office work. By morning, a row of three field tents had been erected. Most of the leadership of the Meiyang City Criminal Police Brigade ended up sleeping and working right at the crime scene. At 8 a.m., the officers who were reced looked lifeless as they walked into the repair shop wearing their blood-soaked uniforms. A line of civil police officers had been waiting at the entrance, smiling as they handed a stic bucket to the criminal police who entered, saying, "Go straight ahead; the bathroom is on the right-hand side, the shower room on the left, with arge space. There¡¯s hot water, new towels and underwear in the bucket, as well as a toothbrush and toothpaste. When youe out of the shower room, there will be new uniforms and work clothes avable, and throw your dirty clothes into the bucket by the door. There¡¯s a marker tied next to it; write your name on it." The criminal officers, groggy from a night¡¯s work, lifted their heads in confusion to look at the civil police in front of them: "What¡¯s that?" "Experts from outside; they¡¯ve arranged everything from defecating, showering, eating, to sleeping in one go," the civil police replied urately. The criminal police, holding the stic buckets, frowned: "So it¡¯s like a bathhouse, isn¡¯t it?" "It¡¯s more rudimentary than the bathhouse, and it doesn¡¯t take as much time," replied the agency policeman, echoing what Xu Taining had said before. Carrying a stic bucket, the detective walked forward in a daze and sure enough, he saw a row of temporary prefab houses. Across from them was a row of temporary toilets brought in, looking fairly clean, but both the prefab houses and the toilets were old. The bucket-carrying detective looked down at his clothes and felt they might pollute the toilets, so he entered the prefab houses first, took off his clothes, showered, brushed his teeth, came out to change clothes, andpleted the whole process in just over ten minutes ¡ª indeed saving timepared to a bath center... Upon exiting, there was another row of temporary toilets, so he spent a few more minutes defecating, then followed the signs to a new prefab housing area, ate a simple box meal, and slept in a bunk bed in a six-person room. The environment for the entire process couldn¡¯t be described as harsh, but it was far fromfortable either. Even the detectives, who were used to tough conditions, found it quite ufortable, but with exhaustion setting in, there wasn¡¯t much choice ¡ª most tossed and turned, only managing to sleep for four or five hours before being called up to re-enter the scene and continue the investigation. Brigade Chief Wang Sheng had pulled an all-nighter on the first day, ande the next morning, he couldn¡¯t keep going no matter what, joining the majority to shower, eat, and sleep. When he woke, he felt his whole body aching. Entering themand tent, he couldn¡¯t help but say, "I did get some rest, but I really feel terrible." "Going home is too rxing," Xu Taining was sitting inside the tent, multitasking as he insisted on voicing his views. He had his own theory and insisted on practicing it with other people¡¯s money. "Is staying up too tense then?" someone teased from the side. The detectives of Meiyang City watched as their team¡¯s funds rapidly depleted, which psychologically created a bit of a gap. Xu Taining replied to every question, loosened the cor of his shirt and said, "Staying up too long decreases concentration, and we can¡¯t guarantee the efficiency and uracy in searching. The residue from the explosives that Jiang Yuan is looking for could be tiny, and someone who has been up for two whole nights can¡¯t handle this." His answer sounded logical, but it was not approved by the public. Sure enough, someonemented, "It¡¯s not to the point where you see evidence and don¡¯t know how to collect it. You¡¯re exaggerating." "Maintaining a good condition is fundamental," Xu Taining did not continue on the topic, after all, as long as there was no issue with the implementation, he didn¡¯t have much to say. Turning around, Xu Taining saw Wang Shenge in, and emphasized, "We are assuming there is a criminal out there with explosives, who knows how to detonate them remotely, and is willing tomit crimes. With this assumption, allowing detectives¡ªespecially those with specialized technical skills¡ªto go home for meals and sleep is too luxurious. But making them work back-to-back all night could lead to mistakes." "Right, we understand your point," Wang Sheng felt that Xu Taining was talking to him and responded. Xu Taining smiled confidently, "Practically speaking, this method has been verified as well. Although setting up temporary prefab houses and the like will cost a bit more money, it¡¯s much more efficient thanmuting or borrowing dormitories from other factories, and it is less difficult to manage." "That¡¯s more than a bit of money," Wang Sheng chuckled. "We are on a tight schedule with heavy tasks, expenditures are bound to be a bit higher than usual," Xu Taining didn¡¯t need to discuss the loss issue. Wang Sheng waved his hand and brought the conversation back to the case itself, "Any new information?" "We¡¯ve recently discovered a button cell battery; from where it was found, it might be from the explosive device. In addition, we extracted a damaged battery casing and circuit board from the outer area, but we can¡¯t yet confirm that it¡¯s rted to remote detonation," Xu Taining quickly responded, continually summarizing new updates here. Wang Sheng nodded slowly, "What does Captain Jiang say?" "Captain Jiang is still busy, but from what I understand... Jiang Yuan seems to be looking for evidence of remote detonation," Xu Taining answered rather diplomatically. Wang Sheng¡¯s eyelid twitched, "That certain?" "To tell the truth, I don¡¯t believe it was a suicide bombing either," said Xu Taining, "We don¡¯t even know who was wearing the bomb vest. Who would silently blow themselves up?" This couldn¡¯t be said to be evidence, nor could it be considered a conclusion of the investigation, but this thought received unanimous approval, as the policemen in themand tent nodded in agreement. Wang Sheng¡¯s expression could only grow more solemn; the longer the dy, the greater the psychological pressure on him. Chapter 957 - 893 Did We Do Our Best?

Chapter 957: Chapter 893 Did We Do Our Best?

Tsss... The heavy truck¡¯s air brakes hissed,ing to a steady stop at the designated parking spot of the repair shop. The driver got off and started calling for help, then pulled out a thick pipe from the back of the truck and thrust it fiercely into the water tank next to the temporary shed... Watching the hot water gurgling and being pressed into the tank, the driver wiped off sweat and thanked the assisting police officers with a smile, saying, "We used to deliver water to bath centers; I never imagined that the police would also use this kind of hot water." "Hot water doesn¡¯t discriminate, you know." The police officer replied without a bad attitude, handed a cigarette to the driver, and said, "Nobody wants to live in these movable sheds, with no AC, poor venttion, windows that barely open, and hard beds... A hot shower is the only realfort." "You guys can¡¯t go home?" The driver looked around and guessed, "Is it because of the explosion case?" Seeing his gossipy expression, the police officer¡¯s face turned stern as he said darkly, "If I told you, you¡¯d have to stay too." The driver was startled and hurriedly said, "No... I was just asking casually. I don¡¯t know anything..." "I know, I was just saying." The police officer smiled. After some experience, police officers tend to dominate social engagements, especially with those who are slick and sly; they are the easiest to handle. Inside the shed. Jiang Yuan also took a refreshing shower. He had been working continuously for 24 hours beforeing back to rest. It wasn¡¯t that he couldn¡¯t keep going, but the current situation clearly wasn¡¯t something that could be resolved by persisting for another 12 or 24 hours. Jiang Yuan nced at his Patek Philippe watch, calcted the time, nned to sleep for four to five hours, and then go through the ruins again before the sun set. After thoroughly drying his hair with a blow dryer, Jiang Yuan was extremely sleepy. Hey down in his own shed and instantly started to snore. Middle and high-ranking police officers still had some privileges, typical ones being a fixed bed spot and cleaningdiesing in to change the bed linens and clean on schedule. Ordinary officers lived a mixed existence, grabbing any avable bed to sleep; nobody shouldin about smelly feet, snoring, grinding teeth or ying music out loud¡ªif anyone had even the slightest difficulty sleeping, it just meant they weren¡¯t tired enough. "Our Captain Jiang is still asleep; let Director Xu exin..." "Director Xu has already seen it. Uh, although it¡¯s quite embarrassing, this time the chief is apanying the city leaders here..." Voices from outside approached, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s snoring gradually subsided. "Captain Jiang, Captain Jiang..." Wang Chuanxing called softly by the door. Jiang Yuan turned over quickly and sat up: "What¡¯s up?" After a few years as a criminal detective, one could almost develop a skill akin to Summoning Technique¡ªanyone called by their full name would immediately enter a state of level three alertness. Commonly known as PDSD. Wang Sheng, hearing the noise, hurried over and said with a smile, "Captain Jiang, our chief is apanying the city leaders to inspect the site, and the leaders would still like to hear your assessment." "I¡¯ming." Jiang Yuan got up from the bed, wiped his face, and asked, "Should I freshen up and change clothes?" "I think the natural look is good." Wang Sheng said with implied meaning. "Alright then." Jiang Yuan checked his watch again, he had slept for just under 4 hours, and while walking he asked Wang Chuanxing beside him, "How far did we get? Any results?" "All the key areas have been searched, especially the area within twenty square meters around the st center. Not only is the upper debris cleared away, but the copsed floors have been uncovered, and the lower levels have been tidied up through seven or eight floors. We¡¯ve found over sixty pieces of evidence... but still no decisive evidence," Wang Chuanxing said, not minding Wang Sheng being nearby, and directly stated, "The leaders were a bit displeased after our report." "Hmm, normal." Jiang Yuan, having seen a lot, replied quite at ease. Wang Sheng, on the other hand, paused, realizing from Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone that he really was under no pressure, even somewhat rxed. He took a moment to size Jiang Yuan up and asked, "Captain Jiang, are you confident in your own judgment or in Director Xu¡¯s investigation?" He didn¡¯t need to ask if Jiang Yuan was under pressure. In this environment, with the intensity of the task, even the grunts felt the strain. Jiang Yuan had been specially invited to lead, bringing along leaders from the Ministry and the big spender Xu Taining. Even the most heartless person would frown under such tripleyered pressure. So, Wang Sheng thought that one could only be as pressure-free as Jiang Yuan when holding the winning card. He also wished to hear such an answer. At that moment, he wanted someone to point at him and say: Heart-strategist Frog, I¡¯ve always got you on the ropes! Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "I already had expectations for the difficulty of the case. That¡¯s why right from the start, I had you invite Xu Taining over. Now doesn¡¯t it speak volumes?" Wang Sheng¡¯s logical thinking was very sharp, and he barely caught up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process: "Are you saying that Xu Taining not finding evidence is proof that inviting him was the right decision?" "How convincing is that?" "Er... The proof is indeed very strong," Wang Sheng sighed, "So, you anticipated that we wouldn¡¯t find evidence for the first three days?" "Finding something is luck; not finding it is the norm," Jiang Yuan answered properly this time. In fact, for him, who had dealt with many significant cases and conductedrge-scale searches, the time and cost spent in the search would ultimately average out. Compared to Jiang Yuan, Wang Sheng¡¯s rank was higher and his police experience deeper, but he had spent years spinning his wheels in the police department of a prefecture-level city and rarely had simr experiences. Therefore, Wang Sheng hoped for a stroke of good luck, always thinking aboutnding in the top 30%, top 10%, or even top 5%, wishing the search team would strike gold within just a few digs. But for the "big case faction" like Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining, it was normal to get results on the first day of the search, and just as normal to get them on the tenth day. Although they also tried their best to shorten the time and reduce errors, they had to ept the absence of good luck or, to say, extremely good luck. In the time it took for a few exchanges, the group had entered themand tent. Wang Sheng shouted "reporting in" and then led Jiang Yuan and the others into the tent, introducing the dozen or so people inside. "I must rify that we are here to support everyone¡¯s work, not to cause trouble," Zhang Dinghui, who was surrounded by the crowd, spoke in a down-to-earth manner, seemingly reasonable. Song Tiancheng from the Ministry smiled and said, "We all have the same goal." "That¡¯s the idea," said Zhang Dinghui, who had already chatted with Song Tiancheng for a while and was somewhat familiar with each other. Knowing that Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining were in charge of themand and the scene, he quickly turned his gaze to them, smiling, "Right now, what I actually want to know first is whether we are still facing the risk of another explosion?" His question was very much to the point¡ªnot asking about the criminal or solving the case, but whether there would be another explosion. From Zhang Dinghui¡¯s perspective, this could be very well understood. Solving the case was important, but another explosion was absolutely uneptable. And this was the reason why top investigative resources were present at the scene¡ªthe barefoot sage Song Tiancheng, detective Jiang Yuan, and search specialist Xu Taining, all here to guard against that risk. Wang Chuanxing and Xu Taining, who initially intended to ease into the conversation, couldn¡¯t help but frown at this. Everyone¡¯s gaze converged on Jiang Yuan. At first nce, this question didn¡¯t seem tricky, but on closer inspection, only Jiang Yuan could answer it. "We have not found conclusive evidence to prove that the bomb was detonated remotely. Nor can we prove that the bomb was detonated by a timer," Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer was somewhat official, but he quickly shifted to another end of linguistic technique: "However, the critical issue now is that we also have not found key evidence to prove the bomb wasn¡¯t detonated remotely or by a timer." Everyone in the tent was adept with words and instantly understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s meaning. "Is this to say the search hasn¡¯t achieved its goal, or what?" Zhang Dinghui wanted a definitive answer. "There is no evidence to suggest a second explosion. But the risk of this explosion absolutely exists," Jiang Yuan paused only slightly before continuing, "Right now, we can only prepare for the worst-case scenario." "Prepare for the worst-case scenario?" Zhang Dinghui repeated Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, then looked at the Chief beside him, "In the face of the worst-case scenario, have we done our best?" The Chief took a deep breath, "We have confronted it with our maximum effort." Wang Chuanxing, a squad leader two ranks below the Chief, had no opportunity to speak up in such a situation, only feeling anxiety throughout his body and sensing the pressure bearing down from his Chief. This was the most frustrating time, and also when the mental pressure on the investigating officers was at its peak. Looking at reports of major cases, many investigators speak of this sort of teau phase with both resentment and sighs. Resenting the process and sighing at making it through. But the ones afforded interviews are those who made it through. What about those who did not? The pressurees not only from the case itself but mainly from the upper echelons. Just like now, Wang Chuanxing could almost guess what would be next for the Chief¡ªeither a "deadline to solve the case" or a "military order," choosing one or perhaps both. This traditional art form is almost an inevitable encounter for every level of police officer. As for eliminating it, it¡¯s actually impossible to do. Both the "deadline to solve the case" and the "military order" essentially reflect the immense pressure faced by higher-level leaders. After Zhang Dinghui gave the "deadline to solve the case" or "military order"mand, the Chief naturally could only make stricter demands downward. And as the squad leader, Wang Chuanxing, naturally had to break down tasks to subordinates, a case of addingyer uponyer of demands. For a moment, the air in the tent seemed to thin. "In the face of the worst-case scenario, we have already done our best," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice was somewhat abrupt, but it pierced through the tense and serious atmosphere. Zhang Dinghui couldn¡¯t help but look at Jiang Yuan in surprise. In his position, he didn¡¯t actually like strategies like "deadline to solve the case" or "military order," but did he have a better strategy to choose from? If he didn¡¯t make demands, if he didn¡¯t delegate responsibility, could he bear the responsibility for another explosion case? "If possible, may I take a few minutes of everyone¡¯s time to exin our work over the past few days? I hope to demonstrate why we have done our best," Jiang Yuan, without much hesitation, stood out. From the perspective of solving cases, he also disliked "deadline to solve the case" and "military order." And to do the best, his team didn¡¯t need a "deadline to solve the case" or a "military order." From this perspective, standing up against them was in itself proof. Just that at this moment, no one else seemed to notice this. Chapter 958 - 894: Calm and Composed

Chapter 958: Chapter 894: Calm and Composed

Jiang Yuan was tall and naturally drew attention. When he said "We have done our best," he captured everyone¡¯s focused attention, drawing all eyes to him. But the skeptical looks were the majority. Some even wanted tough, restraining themselves only with great effort. How can one prove "the best"? How can one person prove they have truly done "their best"? Without needing high political acumen, ordinary people should know that the truly correct choice for a person is to never fall into the trap of self-justification. Because self-justification is arguably the most difficult proof. Moreover, the Chinese expectation of "the best" is often of a historic scale, not just a contemporary one... From the perspective of the leaders present, Jiang Yuan, from head to toe, spelled out "youth." Zhang Dinghui couldn¡¯t help but show a smile on his face, simply chose a seat, and said with augh, "Then let¡¯s listen to Comrade Jiang Yuan¡¯s presentation." He, in fact, also knew the police force was under great pressure and if possible, Zhang Dinghui did not want to put any more stress on them. Jiang Yuan remained calm and collected. His skills were Level 6 in Explosive Trace Detection, Level 5 in Crime Scene Investigation. Over the past three days, Jiang Yuan had used the temporary +1 skill twice, and the Crime Scene Reconstruction temporary +1 skill twice, equivalent to using Level 7 Explosive Trace Examination to sweep the evidence and scene, and then working continuously for twenty to thirty hours with Level 6 Crime Scene Investigation and Level 7 Crime Scene Reconstruction. At the same time, Xu Taining¡¯s leadership abilities were not to be underestimated. The on-site inspection maintained a very good rhythm. Jiang Yuan watched the Level 5 or Level 6 Crime Scene Investigation and felt that everyone did well. Just this condition alone was something that even Beijing¡¯s Zhengguang Bureau could not achieve. Jiang Yuan carefully chose his words and said, "First, in terms of timeliness, for this case, we reacted immediately, arrived at the scene at the fastest speed, and began the investigation." Jiang Yuan nced at everyone¡¯s expressions, chuckled lightly, and said, "I see some people seem unconvinced, or feel that things like reacting immediately and fastest speed cannot be quantified, right?" No one made a sound or spoke; everyone was desperately trying to express their desire to speak through their eyes. Jiang Yuan, addressing his own set target,ughed again and said, "Actually, it can be quantifiedpletely. Everyone can review simr cases in China, and I can assure you that there is not a single special task force that could allocate the same amount of funds for on-site investigation on the day of the incident!" There were many explosive cases with more money spent than the "Meiyang Gambling House Explosion Case," and it was not unusual to see ten times the expenses. However, task forces that decided to spend so much money on the same day of the crime, dared to spend so much, and were able to spend so much money in such a short time were indeed very rare. This was a judgment based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s absolute authority. It was a judgment made on the foundation of his advanced skills. In the normal case process, most people proceed step by step, hoping to solve the case with less funding. Only special task forces like Jiang Yuan¡¯s, which could judge the difficulty of a case immediately, and with sizable resources, could make such a decision. Zhang Dinghui stood up, looked at his colleagues on both sides, turned his head to look at his subordinates behind him, then leaned back in his chair and said with augh, "Proving effort by spending more money has some meaning." "Next, I¡¯ll talk about the investigation itself." Jiang Yuan, unfazed, continued, "First, what about our investigation scope? I can say that our investigation area was scientifically determined, covering all necessary elements to the fullest extent while considering the efficiency ratio of the investigation, and the range was not too broad." Jiang Yuan: "Second, how was our investigation model? Absolutely one of the most meticulous in the world." Jiang Yuan raised a third finger and said, "Third, what about our results? The total amount of physical evidence we have investigated is already very substantial. The main reason why the core evidence is not obtained is due to luck rather than any issue with the investigation direction. On this point, I have several equations that I can write out for everyone to see." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan actually started writing a series of equations on the whiteboard in themand tent and then said, "Everyone can take a picture, I will now substitute our parameters... it can prove that our investigation speed, area, and the total amount of evidence collected, even the quantity of core evidence found, are all top-tier within the industry." To prove a point, the most direct and best method is through mathematics. When the math forms appeared, the crowd¡¯s expression altered from mockery to puzzlement. These people all have extensive connections, naturally finding ways to inquire and verify. Some were not fond of Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone and took advantage of a moment of confusion to say, "You talk a good game, but what about the results? When can the so-called core evidence be found?" "It can definitely be found; it¡¯s just a matter of time." "Can¡¯t we investigate and collect evidence based on what we have now and solve the case?" "There are two teams following up on that. No news at the moment," Jiang Yuan said, quickly raising a finger to emphasize, "Right now, it¡¯s purely a matter of luck, but we¡¯re on the right track. Just have to keep running forward." "Just afraid the killer won¡¯t wait for you." Jiang Yuan nced at the speaker¡¯s blue shirt, stored his EQ for three seconds, and rebutted, "We can¡¯t just make a wrong decision because we can¡¯t withstand the pressure, and have a whole team of officers pay for someone¡¯s mental breakdown. As for the fleeing criminal, we will do our best to capture him and prevent a second explosion as much as possible, but this takes time, a point that won¡¯t be alleviated just because you¡¯re in a hurry." His words left the man in the blue shirt flushed and somewhat unable to hold his ground, wanting to retort. But he was the one in the blue shirt, and faced with the stern looks from the director and Wang Sheng, he decisively lowered his eyes. "So, the approach we¡¯re currently adopting" is the best one at the moment. Of course, we have not yetpleted all the investigative work, which means we haven¡¯t arrived at a full set of conclusions, but this can be corrected in a matter of a few short days. Once the case is solved, we can review and consider if there was a better approach." After storing away his EQ, Jiang Yuan¡¯s speech became a bit more aggressive. Being both impressive and brash, and at a critical position, slightly seasoned older folks didn¡¯t want to argue with him. Zhang Dinghui looked around and smiled, "Then we¡¯ll just wait for the good news." He didn¡¯t need to issuemands like "solve the case within a given time frame" anymore because Jiang Yuan had effectively provided a guarantee. Of course, this guarantee wasn¡¯t enforceable, but it had a soothing effect on both parties¡¯ morale, like a shot of a nerve rxant. "Get something to eat, I¡¯m hungry." After stowing away his EQ, Jiang Yuan rxed. Being an invited expert and not working for Zhang Dinghui or Wang Sheng, he wasn¡¯t bound or restricted by them. Wang Sheng was momentarily stunned, a bit slow on the uptake, and asked, "What shall we eat?" "Call Wang Chuanxing." Jiang Yuan directly summoned someone. "Here!" Wang Chuanxing stood at attention. "Bring over the beef and mutton, the brined stuff my dad sent over, let¡¯s have some afternoon tea," said Jiang Yuan, taking the lead like the host, calling over Zhang Dinghui and others. The gesture left Zhang Dinghui and the others confused for a moment, until they smiled at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Expert Jiang, you just said we did our best, so you¡¯d better not drop the ball and waste any more time." "It¡¯s not yet the time for me to join in; the scene is fully staffed now." Jiang Yuan exined, briefing everyone on Xu Taining¡¯s arrangements and adding, "The density on-site is already high enough. We don¡¯t need to increase manpower, we¡¯re not short-staffed." Then Jiang Yuan had someone turn on therge screen on one side of the tent. Everyone looked down at the police officers sifting through the debris, while eating beef and drinking tea. Jiang Yuan ate quickly, filling his stomach, and after downing half a cup of coffee, greeted Zhang Dinghui and others before leaving the tent. He changed into protective gear and went directly to the site. Zhang Dinghui and the others found it pointless to stay any longer, ate until moderately satisfied, and then got into the cars to return. No further discussion that day. Until... At 3:30 in the morning, the telephone¡¯s ringing woke Zhang Dinghui and others from their sleep: "Uhh... Jiang Yuan has dug up a circuit board, said to be used for remote control of bombs." Chapter 959 - 895 True Love

Chapter 959: Chapter 895 True Love

Zhang Dinghui was stunned for two seconds, then sat up, put on a piece of clothing, and leaned against the head of the bed: "So, the conclusion now is that it is definitely a remote-controlled bomb, and the perpetrator is still atrge, right?" "Yes." The person on the other end of the phone was Chief Deng Jiabin, who had also been awakened from sleep and had just asked a simr question. At this moment, he could only provide the simplest and most direct answer. "Do you have any ns?" After Zhang Dinghui finished, he remembered the day¡¯s experience and changed his question: "What are Jiang Yuan¡¯s ns?" "Jiang Yuan suggests we take it step by step. Now that the circuit board has been found, we should look into the manufacturer of the circuit boards, then trace back through the supply and sales chain, and see if we can find the final purchaser. Also, they have discovered other fragments of remote-controlled bombs and are verifying them." "Now they are being called remote-controlled bombs, huh." Zhang Dinghui said, and wanted to ask more questions, then thought differently: "Let¡¯s have a teleconference, and gather the colleagues at the scene to have a meeting. Does Jiang Yuan have time?" Chief Deng Jiabin understood Zhang Dinghui¡¯s meaning and said: "I¡¯llmunicate with them and try to get Jiang Yuan to join the meeting." "Alright." Zhang Dinghui hung up the phone, got up wearing his jacket, and said to the person beside him: "I¡¯m going to the living room to hold a video conference, you go back to sleep." "Okay, don¡¯t stay up toote though." His wife turned over. "Hopefully." Zhang Dinghui smiled, then sat next to the telephone in the living room, understanding that tonight would be a sleepless one. Soon, the phone rang. Zhang Dinghui pressed the speakerphone button and said with poise: "This is Zhang Dinghui." On the phone, the chief, Jiang Yuan, Song Tiancheng, and others greeted Zhang Dinghui. Zhang Dinghui responded politely, then said: "I know time is pressing, let¡¯s have a quick meeting. Jiang Yuan, are there any remote-controlled bombs outside now?" "There are." Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer was firm and powerful. "How... how did you confirm?" Zhang Dinghui¡¯s sleepiness waspletely dispelled, his voice hoarse. Although Jiang Yuan¡¯s response was within Zhang Dinghui¡¯s expectations, it still rmed him as it was almost the worst answer. Jiang Yuan said: "This is a conjecture. We have now found debris of key parts of the remote-controlled bomb, and by identifying these pieces of evidence, I believe the materials used by the criminal are rtively simple and essible." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice carried slight fatigue: "The hardest materials for the criminal to obtain for remote-controlled bombs are the explosives. However, from our investigations, it appears that mine owners, partners, and some managers in the surrounding mines and factories often gamble here. These gamblers, when they lose, can wager anything as coteral, including their wives and children, as well as explosives and detonators. "No way?" Zhang Dinghui sounded extremely shocked. Regardless of whether Jiang Yuan ever knew about this, he continued: "In the surrounding mines and factories, there are often private transactions of explosives. For some, it¡¯s hard to get official approval for these explosives, but they are essential for production, so some mine owners opt to buy them at high prices." "No way!" This time, Zhang Dinghui sounded even more shocked. "In short, because the raw materials are easily essible. I believe that when the criminal makes the remote-controlled bombs, it¡¯s highly likely they won¡¯t just make one. When buying materials, especially explosives, they probably buy extra, perhaps even making an extra low-yield remote-controlled bomb for testing..." Zhang Dinghui felt scared: "So, does he have more than one remote-controlled bomb, like two or three of them?" "Yes. Very likely." Growing terrified, Zhang Dinghui wasn¡¯t panicked, but he couldn¡¯te up with any solutions on short notice. In the living room, Zhang Dinghui poured himself a cup of tea, somewhat hesitant, wondering whether to delegate authority or re-emphasize discipline and stringent requirements... "We now have several main focuses." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t wait for Zhang Dinghui¡¯s response; he is from the Ningtai County Bureau and didn¡¯t need to be too considerate of Zhang Dinghui¡¯s feelings. Before making the call, Jiang Yuan had already thought long and hard, and now he continued along his train of thoughts: "We are following two leads, one is interpersonal rtionships, and the other is investigating the source based on the evidence. Both are being investigated, but no clues yet." "Brigade Chief Wang Sheng took the initiative: "This is the work of our Criminal Police Brigade, one is to investigate the motive, and the other is to investigate the preparation for the crime, unfortunately, we haven¡¯t made any breakthrough." Zhang Dinghui uttered a sound of acknowledgment: "Understood." Listening to Zhang Dinghui¡¯s voice, Wang Sheng quickly continued: "We are now continuing our investigation based on some newly discovered evidence. Additionally, we¡¯re fully utilizing undercover agents, but so far, there¡¯s no useful news or leads. Lastly, there are also a few detectives following other clues, like potential routes for disposing of stolen goods, escape routes, and we¡¯ve also visited the poption around gambling houses..." Zhang Dinghui naturally spoke kindly to the "grassroots cadres". If he were to scold someone, he would start with the director, not by going down to the Criminal Police Brigade. Jiang Yuan took over the conversation, saying: "Now, we have a new direction for investigation and the investigative forces have been deployed, but how long it will take to get news is still uncertain. We can only calmly wait." This was something only he could say, just as he had stated earlier in the day inside the tent. Zhang Dinghui seemed like someone who had lost an argument and came back at night, carefully reviewing his stance, and then said: "For ordinary cases, capturing the criminal is indeed not so urgent. But now that we know there is a bomb out there, how do we prepare? What could the criminal possibly be thinking? Not catching him really makes it hard to sleep and eat." "The criminal¡¯s intent, we can¡¯t guess for now. But if we talk about being prepared, it¡¯s not entirely impossible." Over the phone, Xu Taining¡¯s voice came through. Wang Sheng quickly gave an introduction, acting as a kind of narrator. Zhang Dinghui instinctively didn¡¯t want to engage with Xu Taining, but still couldn¡¯t help asking: "What measures can we take for preparation?" "Absolute territorial control of key areas," Xu Taining responded, and then exined, "That is to say, for key areas, increase... the vignce level, for instance, municipal government, police headquarters, and other vital departments strengthen security, suspend some external work. For ces like gymnasiums and shopping malls where there is a high volume of people, they can be closed directly. Critical nodes like hospitals and railway stations, which cannot be shut down, should enhance their security measures extensively to eliminate unauthorized ess..." "This is like canceling all government functions." Zhang Dinghui said despairingly, "We might as well stop the public buses altogether." "That¡¯s a good idea, that¡¯s exactly what I mean." Xu Taining¡¯s confirmatory tone was palpable over the phone. Zhang Dinghuiughed bitterly: "We can¡¯t do this." Xu Taining suddenly got serious, continued: "If we seal off the city now and then manage the city in multiple segments, it might separate the criminal from the bomb. With some luck, we might be able to capture the criminal without any damage." "How long would that take?" "At least a few days, at most two weeks." "Two weeks is impossible, even one week is not feasible." Zhang Dinghui immediately rejected it. "There¡¯s another possibility." Xu Taining hadn¡¯t finished, continued with a ng of golden coins, "If the criminal lives in the suburban area or countryside, sealing the city might just be a wasteful spend." "It would cost more, and it might just be a waste of money?" At this moment, Zhang Dinghui fully understood what "Xu Taining who can spend money" meant, and simultaneously, he understood Xu Taining¡¯s point. Thus, Zhang Dinghui asked a few more experts from his own department and then said: "Alright, let¡¯s proceed ording to your thoughts!" After hanging up the phone, Wang Chuanxing who was standing by the telephone desk couldn¡¯t help saying: "The conclusion is the same as yesterday¡¯s, just another pointless meeting." Xu Taining nced at him irritably: "That¡¯s because Captain Jiang has explored all the options; otherwise, you would havee to a conclusion different from yesterday¡¯s, realizing that the meeting wasn¡¯t pointless." Jiang Yuan waved his hand silently, opened aputer, and continued topare the circuit boards. ording to the n, he was topare the circuit boards to find the manufacturer and then the distributor, and see if he could track down the terminal buyer. The n sounded wless, the only issue was that the circuit board was a fragment from an explosion. It was about the size and thickness of two fingers, badly damaged,posed of several fragmented pieces stitched together incoherently. Identifying the manufacturer from this might not be too challenging, a Level 4 explosion trace analysis might suffice, but tracing the distributor and finding the supply channel was more difficult. Nowadays, circuit boards can also be bought online, only tracing manufacturers without distributors would take much more time. Of course, even if only the manufacturer can be confirmed, it would still help the investigation. After all, such circuit boards are often produced and outsourced by small and medium-sized enterprises, and their market is not very wide; perhaps truly only two weeks would be needed to get to a conclusion... If waiting for two weeks isn¡¯t an option, then a Level 5 or higher explosion trace analysis would be required. Today, Jiang Yuan¡¯s temporary +1 skill wasn¡¯t used yet, so now he is Level 6+1, with explosion trace analysis at Level 7 configuration. Thus, in the midst of the puzzled gazes from Meiyang City¡¯s forensic team... Jiang Yuan, he studies the circuit boards, he looks at the circuit diagrams, the damaged boards, scattered diagrams intertwine, the diagrams mess with the boards, but in the end, a circuit board corresponds to one circuit diagram. The true love of the semiconductor world is just like that. Chapter 960 - 896 Suspect

Chapter 960: Chapter 896 Suspect

There are many ways to determine if circuit boards are the same; the simplest is to check the serial number and manufacturer identification. This point, after Huawei released their new CPU, many self-media tforms adopted this approach. However, when manufacturers or assemblers deliberately conceal or etch away the serial numbers and identifiers, or when they are missing due to explosions or fire, this method bes very limited. Compared to checking serial numbers and manufacturer identifiers, scanning the features of a circuit board or simply using image recognition technology is slightly moreplicated. This kind of technology sounds incredibly powerful, but in reality, it¡¯s quite unreliable when put into practice. It¡¯s generally only effective within the manufacturing facility; once outside, especially in the field of criminal investigation, database issues can drive people crazy. In the real world, there are many ways to identify and confirm identical traces, and what truly hinders technological progress is actually database technology. This includes the same identification of footprints, shoeprints, palm prints, firearms, DNA, mitochondrial DNA, tire tracks, and so on, all of which are gued by database issues. Software is easy to develop, but the data in the databases must be manually entered by police officers. Over the years, only the databases for fingerprints and DNA entries have some level of assurance. Other types of databases are mostly maintained independently; they are definitely not user-friendly. Therefore, Jiang Yuan has tried the technology for scanning circuit board features; it¡¯s proven to be either useful or not useful. In the end, Jiang Yuan still resorted to analyzing the arrangement andbination ofponents one by one. To speak more professionally, it involves observing the arrangements of specificponents and connectors. Circuit boards of the same model can have simrponents and connectors, but there are differences in the cement andyout ofponents on circuit boards made by different manufacturers. Additionally, it¡¯s easy to assume that circuit boards produced by different manufacturers will have differentponents. Manyponents also have identifiers that might not necessarily be erasable. The circuit boards recovered by the investigation team were already in a shattered state, so in the end, it was only possible to determine the model of the circuit board through theponents themselves and the arrangement andbination of theponents¡ªfirstly determining the manufacturer of the circuit board. For most of the forensic investigation, this step would generallyplete the work. In most cases, police would go directly to the manufacturer and let the manufacturer¡¯s technical staff determine the model of the wreckage. The method remains the same; it¡¯s just that manufacturers have moreplete blueprints and are more familiar with their own circuit boards. Jiang Yuan did simrly; after confirming the manufacturer, he immediately sent people there, and then on-site, in the manufacturer¡¯sputer, they searched for the same model and checked the sales records. Next, police officers flew to several stores to extract and investigate further sales records. Three dayster. At 3:30 in the morning, the ring of the phone woke Zhang Zhenghui from his sleep. Zhang Zhenghui sat up, still in a daze. The person beside him also turned over and looked at the watch, resignedly saying, "Has there been so much going on recently?" "As long as it¡¯s not bad news," Zhang Zhenghui shook his head and answered the phone, "This is Zhang Zhenghui..." "We have determined the suspect¡¯s location," came the voice from the other end of the phone, the chief of the city bureau, Deng Jiabin. Zhang Zhenghui instantly became alert: "Determined the location directly?" He had gone to conduct further research just yesterday, which essentially meant overseeing the investigation, and at that time there was still no news of the suspect. "Yes." Chief Deng Jiabin affirmed, saying, "The suspect used cash when purchasing circuit boards, but the cash register records the time of transactions. We found a crossroad with facial recognition surveince on the day the suspect walked by, and then confirmed the suspect¡¯s identity with the shop owner." Zhang Zhenghui was actually quite familiar with these investigative techniques and, upon hearing this, he uttered a "hm," his expression growing even more serious as he asked, "What is the suspect¡¯s background? How does he possess the relevant technical knowledge?" "The suspect, Ji Haitao,es from a rural background, 68 years old. He likely learned how to make explosives during militia training in the past. Additionally, he has records of using the external inte, likely having also learned some relevant techniques." Deng Jiabin¡¯s reply was direct, he presented the main points before continuing, "This Ji Haitao has worked as a construction worker and has experience with sting in mines; he has also led his own construction team. The motive for the crime this time is very likely robbery." Zhang Zhenghui exhaled sharply. A suspect robbing for gain meant that their anti-social tendencies were probably not that strong. His biggest fear was a suspect causing explosions arbitrarily, and this had been his greatest concern over the past few days. Deng Jiabin knew the thoughts of his superior and continued, "The deceased wearing the explosive vest, we preliminarily judge to be Ji Haitao¡¯s aplice. ording to eyewitness ounts at the scene, the two had entered the finance office, presumably intending to use the explosive vest for a robbery, but whether they got any money and why the vest exploded is still unknown to us." Zhang Zhenghui responded with another "hm". A 68-year-old suspect, even if in good health, would find it difficult to rob a gambling house alone, and it would not be easy to control another person, so having an aplice was indeed a reasonable guess. "Does he still have explosives in his possession?" Zhang Zhenghui asked. Deng Jiabin: "In this regard, our inferences are simr to before. He likely still does. However, Ji Haitao has not shown a tendency to make explosives himself; he mainly obtains materials through certain channels. From this perspective, the amount of explosives he has shouldn¡¯t be too substantial. Also, Ji Haitao¡¯s financial situation is quite average, so the explosives he used this time might even be leftovers from before." Zhang Zhenghui knew Deng Jiabin was trying to reassure him, but his mood did indeed ease somewhat. Looking at his wife, who was sleeping restlessly beside him, Zhang Zhenghui got up, phone in hand, and while walking out, he asked in a deep voice, "How do you n to capture the suspect? What¡¯s the situation at the scene?" "Ji Haitao¡¯s rented apartment is located in An Yue Bay Community on the outskirts, a 28-floor high-rise with a tower structure, consisting of small units. There are many neighbors all-around, six households on the same floor, all upied. One of them is even shared by several tenants. There should be over twenty people on a single floor." Deng Jiabin only mentioned the residents on the same floor, not those above, but this was enough to give Zhang Zhenghui a strong sense of crisis. "We cannot arrest him inside the residence," Zhang Zhenghui asserted decisively. "Either lure him out with a ruse for capture... or see if you have any other ns." Zhang Zhenghui was quite progressive, not directly dictating a course of action, but the route of arresting inside the residence, he firmly vetoed without a doubt. Deng Jiabin also anticipated this. Although, at this point in time, secretly dispatching personnel to sneak into the suspect¡¯s residence and apprehend him was an option, the risks involved in this approach were undeniable. Even with all kinds of advanced technological equipment, such as thermal imagers and night-vision devices, you can never predict how the suspect might store or handle explosives. If this person had a touch of paranoia¡ªthough now it could hardly be called paranoia¡ªand rigged the explosives with some strange switch or trick, or even set up a booby trap on the door, that would be a serious problem. But luring someone out was also likely not so simple. Deng Jiabin couldn¡¯t guarantee sess, he could only say, "I¡¯ll go to the scene andmand the operation right away, and will clearly convey your instructions!" Chapter 961 - 897 Fraud

Chapter 961: Chapter 897 Fraud

At 4 a.m. in An Yue Bay Community, it was as quiet as any residential area at midnight. Jiang Yuan got out of his car from a distance and walked into themunity in the dark. Just when he caught his breath, he heard a low voice from the shadows beside him: "The target is 100 meters east, building 17. You¡¯ll see three tall buildings side by side; it¡¯s the one in the middle. Stay two meters away from the street lights while walking, don¡¯t turn on any lights or use your phone, you can speak softly, no coughing allowed. If you need to use the bathroom or make a phone call, walk 100 meters south and talk inside the property management booth or security room..." "Wei?" Jiang Yuan recognized the voice immediately. "Ah, is that Jiang Yuan? Haha, wait a second, I¡¯ll take you there. It¡¯s so dark, several people have already tripped over." Wei Zhenguo told his partner and then came out of the small grove. Wei Zhenguo from team six was an oldrade. When Jiang Yuan was starting out, Wei Zhenguo took care of him even more than Wu Jun did. However, as Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was established, Wei participated less. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan¡¯s business trips became more frequent and longer, focusing mostly on unresolved murder cases, none of which were Wei Zhenguo¡¯s forte. He came to work as a detective, not to sell himself to the squad. And being older, he needed to maintain a personal life too. This time, Wei Zhenguo was also here as reinforcement. Huang Qiangmin was not familiar with the Mei Yang City Bureau either; he was purely here because Song Tiancheng specifically requested Jiang Yuan. Thus, in the final stages of the operation, Huang Qiangmin also sent arge number of people here, both to protect Jiang Yuan and to safeguard the fruits of victory. With a p, Wei Zhenguo killed a mosquito and then smiled at Jiang Yuan, saying, "I just said I haven¡¯t been involved in big cases for a while. The moment I step out, it¡¯s this kind of life-threatening case." "Brother Wei, Captain Jiang only deals with life-threatening big cases now." Mu Zhiyang chuckled from the side and winking, he said, "You¡¯re missing at least two second-ss merits. Really." "I might consider it if it were a first-ss merit, but second-ss merits are just a waste on me. My daughter has already started working," Wei Zhenguo nced at fully armed Mu Zhiyang, who had even inserted ceramic tes in front of his chest, and couldn¡¯t help butugh, "It seems like you are prepared to earn yourself a second-ss merit." Mu Zhiyang grimaced, "With the way it looks at the scene, it should be a first-ss merit straight away." Wei Zhenguoughed: "You do have some self-awareness. Then why are you dressed like this? Wear less, so you can run faster." "Being in the front makes no difference; if I¡¯m in the back, I might at least block some shrapnel," Mu Zhiyang paused, sharing his experience, "In these situations, being agile and quick doesn¡¯t help. If you¡¯re at the back, you can¡¯t control what happens in front, and the same goes for being in the front, it¡¯s usually sudden incidents that are deadly." "Being shot does make a difference," Wei Zhenguoplimented Mu Zhiyang, then pointed towards the front, saying, "Building 17 is right ahead." At the front, detectives from Mei Yang City Criminal Investigation Detachment also came over. Wang Sheng greeted Jiang Yuan and exchanged a few quiet words, then said, "An Yue Bay Community is now considered a prime residential area. The apartments here are rtively small, and the distances between high buildings are also quite narrow. If the suspect detonates another explosive device simr to the previous ones, we estimate that the st could not only affect residents on the same floor but potentially muchrger areas." "Hmm... will the building copse?" Jiang Yuan looked up at the dark building 17, in which several windows still had lights on, wondering what these people were doing awake sote. Wang Sheng, as the head of the detachment, could only smirk wryly at Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, "I¡¯m not an expert, but even experts wouldn¡¯t guarantee that the building won¡¯t copse. It mainly depends on how much explosive material there is and whether the suspect has made preparations..." Jiang Yuan nodded and asked, "Should we evacuate?" The situation is unclear, and guessing is meaningless, but some actions are definitely useful. For example, evacuating could alert the suspect and lead to the direct detonation of the bomb... However, this risk is worth taking. If sessful, the biggest risk is actually resolved. Then, with a soft strategy, the police could even recruit the suspect. With a hard strategy, send a single officer inside to shoot directly. Or for a high-tech option, you could release poison smoke inside, and if necessary, use sonic weapons as well. Wang Sheng had thought about this issue for a long time. Now, when Jiang Yuan asked him, Wang Sheng finally made up his mind and said, "We¡¯ll wait until 9 a.m. Thismunity caters to essential housing needs, and most people living here, including the elderly like grandparents, will be going out in the morning to work or school. We¡¯ll set up checkpoints around, temporarily take in anyone whoes out, and keep their mobile phones to prevent them from going back." Wang Sheng said, "Although this might take a bit longer, it should be safer than knocking on each door to evacuate. At 4 a.m., knocking on doors to evacuate might take a long time, and could even lead to arguments. I think it¡¯s better to focus on catching people." Evacuating involves dealing with the public, not criminals. If they cooperate, it¡¯s better; if not, it¡¯s also challenging for police to operate. In cases like this, knocking on doors risks alerting the suspect; not knocking...might also be illegal. Jiang Yuan nced at his watch, and there were still over four hours until 9 a.m. "Should we evacuate at 9 a.m., keep watch, lure the suspect out, or is there another method?" Jiang Yuan came to the scene specifically to discuss ns and make decisions ording to the situation on site. If the upancy rate of the scene is low or if the structure of the building differs, different decisions can be made on site. Even though Zhang Dinghui dered not to handle it indoors, with Song Tiancheng present, if a fairly unanimous opinion forms on-site, changing the strategy isn¡¯t out of the question. But given the current situation, the risk of going indoors is indeed high. If going indoors is feasible, but Zhang Dinghui disallows it, then another approach must be taken. Squad Leader Wang Sheng hesitated at this moment and said, "ording to our understanding, the suspect should be staying at home for long periods, but goes out to buy groceries every two to three days. By the time, he should being down soon." "Tech surveince?" asked Jiang Yuan. "Yes," replied Wang Sheng. "So if we just wait, he might note down to buy groceries today," Jiang Yuan logically inferred, then asked, "At that time, will we choose to evacuate or continue to watch?" Wang Sheng looked at Jiang Yuan and then inadvertently looked at Song Tiancheng, the barefoot immortal next to him, and couldn¡¯t help but sigh, "This possibility does exist... Captain Jiang, your question is making me nervous." Facing explosives, even as the squad leader, Wang Sheng really found it hard to decide. "Let¡¯s trick him intoing out," Jiang Yuan decided, taking responsibility, but he didn¡¯t mind. Wang Sheng asked, "If we trick, what reason do we use? Should the property management make the call?" "Property management might not work, it could raise his alertness," Jiang Yuan shook his head and thought for a moment, "Our deception skills aren¡¯t great, let¡¯s ask our cybersecurity brothers about tel fraud routines. We have a few hours; maybe bring a fake base station over and send him deceptive Chapter 962 - 898: Little Card

Chapter 962: Chapter 898: Little Card

"Government, my name is Fan Binnan, I¡¯m the one who... came in for forced indecency." In the video, the middle-aged man dressed in prison garb was nodding and bowing subserviently, looking extremely tame. Bureau Chief Deng Jiabin sat in the property management office, facing the temporarily set uprge screen, his frown barely noticeable. Wang Sheng, the leader of the detachment, immediately exined: "Fan Binnan is a professional tel fraudster, but the reason for his imprisonment this time was for the forced indecency of a woman. After confirming and arresting him through surveince footage, tel fraud was discovered on his mobile phone, multiple crimes punishable together..." Only then did Deng Jiabin nod and say, "Go on." Wang Sheng continued: "Fan Binnan, repeat the idea you previously mentioned." "Yes," Fan Binnan responded and quickly said, "I¡¯ve looked at the materials the leaders gave me,bining it with some of my own little experience, and that... I think for this situation, just targeting this one person, I believe we could start with ¡¯making a fake ID¡¯ to test it out." "Making fake ID? Sending him text messages via a mobile base station?" Deng Jiabin asked. Fan Binnan hurriedly said, "Also possible to slip in business cards. The business cards are more effective because they are local, and for making fake IDs, those who haven¡¯t done it before all feel it¡¯s best to see the ID-making shop for themselves." This answer was a bit unexpected but gained the approval of the detectives. The effectiveness of business cards was universally acknowledged; otherwise, those small hotels wouldn¡¯t be crazily stuffing business cards in, given how high thebor costs are. Deng Jiabin couldn¡¯t help nodding, "That¡¯s a solution. But, will the suspect fall for it? What¡¯s the n if he doesn¡¯t?" Fan Binnan, clearly nudged by the police officer on the other side of the camera, replied, "This... mainly depends on the design of the business cards being better to increase the sess rate." Deng Jiabin frowned again, "What counts as well-designed?" Fan Binnan hesitated, "This... this isplicated to exin, but I have previously designed good business cards, which can be adjusted for use. It¡¯s like... you need to capture people¡¯s attention at a nce, making them want to get involved with this..." After a few words, Fan Binnanughed and said, "Government, I can do this myself, and it will definitely work. I have the designs saved in my old phone." "That¡¯s fine," Deng Jiabin said without asking further. He believed that an old thief like this still possessed some skills; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t be able to rely on crime for a living. "Leader. Government. I..." Fan Binnan raised his voice urgently, "This should count as meritorious service, right? Should be able to reduce my sentence, right?" "If the person is caught without any casualties, that will count as your merit, and a significant one at that," said Deng Jiabin, the bureau chief, not really concerned about an old thief like Fan Binnan. Now, as long as he could lure the bomber out and arrest him without casualties, letting Fan Binnan serve a few years less in prison was trivial! Fan Binnan himself was now excitedly assured, "Government, rest assured, I will reform myself earnestly and do it well." After Fan Binnan was taken away, Deng Jiabin tapped on the desk and said, "The suspect might not immediately make a call after receiving the business card. What¡¯s the n for next?" "After 8:30 PM, we¡¯ll have someone stuff the business card to the suspect while preparing to call the neighbors upstairs and downstairs one by one, under the guise of property management, thepany, or a child¡¯s school, to get them outside. Meanwhile, we¡¯ll wait for the suspect¡¯s reaction," Wang Sheng exined all at once, then added, "If we can get all the surrounding neighbors to move away, we may also consider forcibly entering to arrest the suspect." "That¡¯s thest resort," Deng Jiabin waved his hand, "Isn¡¯t there a middle option?" "If by 10:30 AM the suspect still hasn¡¯t left his home, we n to have someone call the suspect. Currently, we have two options; one is a rtive from Ji Haitao¡¯s hometown, just say they happened to be in Meiyang City and invite him out for a meal. The other option is that during our investigation into Ji Haitao¡¯s financial activities and social rtions, we found he once loaned 30,000 Yuan to a contractor. We are in contact with this person and can have him call, pretending to repay the loan, to lure Ji Haitao out..." Wang Shengid out the two ns. Deng Jiabin nodded, "Alright. As for the specific actions, you decide." Besides the first method, the other two calling strategies were dependent on the suspect¡¯s mood and alertness. From this perspective, there is no advantage or disadvantage between these calls. A casual call from the property management could suffice, but a meticulously prepared n might not work at all. The crux of the matter was that these calls couldn¡¯t just be made casually. From a safety standpoint, it would be best to make just one call and not a second one. Otherwise, a greater-than-usual number of phone calls might arouse the suspect¡¯s suspicion. Exactly what call to make and which one to choose might still need real-time judgment by the officers on the scene. Especially since it is closely rted to the caller, if the person making the call is not psychologically stable, hesitates or stutters, or even fails to carry out a normal conversation, then it could be a big problem. Wang Sheng exited the property management office and immediately began to arrange the n against the clock. Luring the suspect is just the initial step; the subsequent tasks remain numerous. Especially the final measure of a forced entry¡ªas Zhang Dinghui explicitly instructed against, but as the on-sitemander, Wang Sheng is deeply aware that suspects do not act ording to your n, and the ultimate disy of force must be prepared for. It would be best not to use it, and the odds are it will not be needed, but preparations are imperative. Wang Sheng personally selected three assault team members, made clear the risks to them, and then let them go to prepare. The three young men all silently turned and left, each going back to write their wills and letters of resolve, and each took an assault rifle, a pistol, and a dagger, forgoing stab vests and bulletproof vests. If necessary, the trio would be the ones storming in¡ªbulletproof vests would hinder movement, and wouldn¡¯t be effective against explosives; better to go in light. Beyond the three daredevil team members, Wang Sheng also organized two capture teams, as well as evacuation, riot control, and rescue teams, among others. At the same time, Deng Jiabin and Zhang Dinghui were also busy, having long since started organizing teams for public security and traffic, medical aid, news publicity,munications support,prehensive support, post-event handling, and expert consultants as per emergency contingency ns. In this effort, not only were traffic police and firefighters mobilized, but the two best hospitals of Meiyang City also received orders, promptly mobilizing relevant department doctors and nurses and even preparing ICU beds in advance. No one wants these preparations to be necessary, but nobody knows for sure if they will be. As everyone bustlingly made their preparations, day had already broken, and people from the residential buildings starteding out one after another, headed to work, school, or breakfast. Police officers scattered in groups, hiding in nearby houses and cars, with a few in uniform waiting up front, ready to intercept anyoneing back. Building 17 was already in a lockdown state, no entry allowed. "Time¡¯s up. Chief," Wang Sheng¡¯s cellphone silently vibrated, and he immediately looked towards Deng Jiabin. This was a top-tier case; the chiefmander was Zhang Dinghui, and thus as the director, it had to be Deng Jiabin tomand the scene, with Wang Sheng as the operations director. Without any hesitation, Deng Jiabin issued the order: "Execute ording to the n." Wang Sheng repeated themand: "Execute ording to the n!" This question and answer, might seem somewhatical in a TV drama, but at the scene, no one felt likeughing. A in-looking police officer who had once been on an undercover mission, wearing a worn-out jacket, swiftly walked into Building 17, took the elevator to the top floor, then walked down the stairs, slipping carefully crafted, low-quality, promotional cards into the gaps of every door. In the residentialmunity, there were groups¡ªthough Ji Haitao was only renting, he had joined several of themunity groups for things like swapping,munication, renting, and maintenance, just in fear that he would notice the nuanced detail and ask about the card in the groups, which could be problematic if he was the only one who received the card. It didn¡¯t take long for the card to be slipped into Ji Haitao¡¯s room. The officer distributing the cards purposely made some noise and lingered by the door a little longer, hoping Jeh Haitao woulde out to inquire. Having dyed for nearly two minutes and not being able to stay any longer, the card-distributing officer decisively chose to leave the floor. Inside the temporarymand center, silence reigned. Jiang Yuan could only sit on the side, silently waiting. There are plenty of fast, shy, and forceful solutions, but the optimal solution is to wait. It¡¯s just that no one knows how long the wait will be. Time... ticks by second by second... Wang Sheng repeatedly checked his watch, growing more anxious as the deadline approached. Ding ding ding... The phone number left on the card rang clearly. Chapter 963 - 899 Cooperation

Chapter 963: Chapter 899 Cooperation

Damn. A colorful yet blurry small card was stuffed in through the half-open window from the corridor. The window was meant to ventte the living room, only big enough for two heads, with steel bars welded in the middle, and the residents were ustomed to keeping it open all year round. Although Ji Haitao cared about security, he didn¡¯t close the window. It would be too stuffy if he did that. Considering the many faults of this early-constructed tower block, it wouldn¡¯t make much difference. Ji Haitao frowned and got up, staring at the small card that had fallen on the floor, pondering for half a minute. It was asional for small cards or flyers to be stuffed into this apartment, Ji Haitao didn¡¯t take it seriously since he couldn¡¯t afford a better ce. However, looking at this small card now, Ji Haitao suddenly felt that it was time to move. With the stolen money, Ji Haitao nned to give half to a high-end nursing home and use the rest for business. He had worked at many construction sites over the years, seen many people and things; investing a sum of money should allow him to shine once again... As for now, there was no need to endure anymore. The rented apartment was both old and dpidated, now even received flyers... Ji Haitao bent down to pick up the flyer, prepared to throw it away, but stopped after a nce. "Complete set of ID card, buy tickets, book amodations, go online... real and effective SIM card..." Ji Haitao read the biggest words on the flyer, his aged brain couldn¡¯t help but start turning. He indeed needed an ID card, although the foolish kid among his aplices was tricked and blown up at the scene, likely no one knew that he was the one who robbed the gambling den, but police might track him down through clues. If he could get a new ID card and a SIM card, then Ji Haitao could disappear. As for the source of the small card, Ji Haitao didn¡¯t think much about it. The police he remembered were eithering to check the water meter, cutting off electricity, or calling through the property management to visit; the small card in his hand resembled those from budget hotels near train stations, evidently from simr gangs. Ji Haitao thought this as he dialed the number on the card. The phone rang twice and then was picked up: "Hello, speak directly." Ji Haitao hesitated for two seconds before saying, "I want an ID card. What¡¯s included in aplete set, how much?" "Four-piece set for the ID card: the original ID, a corresponding SIM card, a bank card, and an online banking USB key. As for the price... depends on the age you want, male or female. Post-90s females are the most expensive, 6000 per set." The voice on the other end was casual, simr to the ruffians Ji Haitao had heard in the gambling den, speaking Meiyang City¡¯smon Mandarin. Ji Haitao inexplicably felt much more reassured, so he continued, "Your ID cards are real, right?" Ji Haitao had understood before, nowadays some people collected ID cards, and even matching bank cards and phone numbers to sell. yuan wasn¡¯t much for him who had robbed over a million, even felt rather cheap. "Hmm," the voice on the other end asked, "You want it? If so, add the QQ under the card stamp, pick an ID that looks like you. The IDs are all collected, guaranteed to be usable." "Are there also stolen IDs?" Ji Haitao proved he knew the business. The person on the other end: "There are stolen ones too, and some lost by others. Those aren¡¯tplete sets, without a seller¡¯s cooperation, how can you handle the bank card and USB key, right? Those are cheaper, just hundreds of dors, just the ID card. Can buy tickets, book amodations, go online, and you can be a yboy, no problem." "I got it, I¡¯ll add your QQ. Once I¡¯ve picked, how about you mail it over?" "That works. Then you need to give me the address. You¡¯re not from Meiyang City?" Ji Haitao hesitated, "I¡¯m from Meiyang, never mind, then I¡¯ll go to the electronics market, how to find you?" "Come to the east gate of the electronics market, call again, I¡¯ll tell you. Hurry up, this number will soon be discarded. QQ too." Ji Haitao said "Oh," and did not notice anything unusual. He wasn¡¯t a professional criminal. His entire life before... or rather his entire previous life, was basically on the trajectory of awful citizen. Turning to crime was simply because he was out of money, and coincidentally, there was a young person by his side who desired to live a wealthy life. If he were 20 years younger, Ji Haitao would definitely make different choices, like getting a knife to rob someone. But he was already 68 years old. Let alone robbery, even handling an explosion alone made him nervous, fearing being captured in the gambling den, hence he needed multiple partners. Now, with the partner killed in the explosion, Ji Haitao just needed to change an identity set, maybe then he could start a new life. He tidied up a bit, took two piles of stolen cash from under the bed, and prepared to leave. He was a person of action¡ªnning to buy the ID card then move to a new ce; he didn¡¯t want to leave the province, better to live in some city near Meiyang City, work for another ten or eight years, then retire to a nursing home... ... Property management office. Temporarymand post. Wang Sheng stared piercingly, sitting on the chair like a Wife-Waiting Stone. His role as themanding officer didn¡¯t really require muchmand anymore; all necessary preparations wereplete, now it was just waiting for the suspect toe out¡ªif luck was good, the suspect was willing to go out. If the suspect went out, assuming to pick up the ID card, he probably wouldn¡¯t carry explosives with him. At least, that¡¯s what the police hoped. But as far as Wang Sheng was concerned, as long as Ji Haitao stepped outside, regardless of whether he was carrying explosives or not, they would have to deal with him outdoors. The risk indoors was too great, whereas outdoors, if worse came to worst, a sniper could take him out in a more open location, even if he connected the explosives to his heartbeat; Wang Sheng wasn¡¯t worried. "Jiang Yuan, have some tea." The chief heard the news and rushed over, and then it was just a waiting game. Jiang Yuan sat opposite the chief and reassured him, saying, "From the design of the explosive device, the suspect is likely impulsive, it shouldn¡¯t take too long to wait." As of now, the on-site investigation was essentially over, and naturally, there were numerous remnants of the explosive device collected, enough for Jiang Yuan to make further judgements. The chief took a sip of tea and said with a bitter smile, "I have read your report, but analyzing the character of the suspect from the design of the explosive device always makes people feel uneasy. It¡¯s my nature that does not allow it." "It¡¯s indeed not entirely foolproof," Jiang Yuan smiled. The analysis he had presented was not decisive, and the focus at the moment was not on that. "Everyone tends to believe that the suspect wille out," the chief reassured Jiang Yuan in turn. As they talked, it didn¡¯t take long before the investigative team suddenly reported: "The suspect is about to leave." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but stand up. The temporarymand center was using themunity property¡¯s office, devoid of anyrge screens, so everyone had to crowd around a small screen to watch the thermal imaging provided target¡¯s trajectory. They saw a red mass, squatting at the door for several seconds, suddenly stood up and opened the door. "The target is opening the door, he¡¯s opening the door," an officer on the scene immediately shouted. "Arrest team, get ready." The chief and others¡¯ minds also began to whirl rapidly. The message was just passed on once, and Ji Haitao had already dressed and walked out the door, heading straight to press the elevator. The elevator opened, a inclothes detective, looked up at Ji Haitao briefly, then stepped back a bit as if making space for him. Ji Haitao entered as usual, seeing that the elevator was going to the ground floor, he stood to one side of the elevator. The inclothes detective, hands in pockets, sent out the previously agreed-upon code: no explosives! Once the code was given, squadron leader Wang Sheng briskly loosen two buttons of his shirt and watching the monitor, said, "Catch him." Ding. The elevator stopped on the 6th floor. The doors opened, and there were three men,ughing about something. Ji Haitao naturally shifted a bit further inside. The three men entered, surrounding Ji Haitao in the middle. Before Ji Haitao could react, the four men in the elevator surged forward and pinned him down. "Lock his hands." "Legs, pin down the legs!" "Strip his clothes." "Search his pockets!" The men continued to hold down Ji Haitao while reminding each other. Themand center erupted into cheers. After the person was brought back, everyone involved, including Jiang Yuan, from the frontline to logistics, breathed a sigh of relief. The chief immediately reported to Zhang Dinghui. "Interrogate him quickly, and report to me immediately after the interrogation is over," the mood of Zhang Dinghui was immensely relieved, visibly rxing. "Yes," the chief happilyplied. With such a major case being smoothly handled, everyone was pleased. The interrogation team was also ready; everyone immediately started working together, busy at work. At 3:30 a.m. The telephone by Zhang Dinghui¡¯s bed rang. Chapter 964 - 900: Flying to Dama

Chapter 964: Chapter 900: Flying to Dama

Zhang Dinghui struggled out of his cocoon-like wrap, propped up his upper body from the head of the bed, and with some difficulty, turned over to pick up the handset of thendline: "Hello." "We¡¯ve got a confession." Director Deng Jiabin said excitedly: "The suspect has confessed to the entire crime process, identified the locations, and we¡¯ve also found the motorcycle used in the crime and the remaining explosives. The suspect had over ten kilograms of explosives stored in two locations, and we¡¯ve found all of them..." Within a few sentences, Deng Jiabin ryed the main details of the case, which could be said to be very efficient. Zhang Dinghui nced at his watch, the hands indicating just past 3:30, which pulled his EQ down to rock bottom, and he simply said: "Good work. Report to my office tomorrow morning." "Yes." Deng Jiabin hurriedly responded. Zhang Dinghui hung up the phone immediately, then paused to gather his thoughts before cocooning himself back under the covers. The person next to him asked, "Who was it, calling sote?" "Some idiot. Let¡¯s sleep." Zhang Dinghui patted her and turned over, beginning to snore. ... Jiang Yuan went to bed after 10pm. Interrogation wasn¡¯t his role, staying up until this hour was mainly because he had spent a little extra time on his phone. He slept until noon, then got up to a sunny day with a clear, serene sky and a light breeze, with only three kilometers¡¯ worth of worldly obstructions drifting above. "Is Captain Jiang up yet?" There was a gentle noise outside the door. "I¡¯m up." Jiang Yuan turned to get out of bed, dressed in pajamas, and saw a group of people already sitting in the living room, cracking sunflower seeds in casual clothes. "Captain Jiang, Mei Yang City is nning to throw a celebration for us," Wang Chuanxing stood up to brief Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan suddenly realized: "A celebration already? That was quick." "Yes, they are saying there should be a press conference to reassure the public," Wang Chuanxing said with a smile, adding, "Director Song is preparing to return, so they probably want to hold it before Director Song leaves." "What time?" "In another two hours, just the right time. Take a shower, change clothes, and we¡¯ll set off." Jiang Yuan nodded: "Okay. That¡¯s pretty efficient." Wang Chuanxing: "Indeed. There will be quite a few journalists, and I heard there will be live streaming on the inte as well." Mu Zhiyangmented: "A city that sets off explosions whenever it pleases sure has something in its culture." This joke sessfully amused everyone in the living room, who praised Mei Yang City as a ce of outstanding individuals and remarkable spirit, where actions are decisive and executed with gusto. Jiang Yuan changed into his regr clothes and then took a car to the Mei Yang City Bureau. Leading the motorcade were police vehicles, followed by a Beijing-licensed Audi A6 that exuded warmth andfort. Huang Qiangmin sat in the backseat with Jiang Yuan, chatting casually, when Huang Qiangmin stretched, ced a PAD in the middle, and said: "After the celebration, we can head back. How do you feel about Mei Yang City? Want to continue working on cases here, or switch to another city?" "Are there any more cases in Mei Yang City?" "There aren¡¯t any particrly special cases currently, but there are always quite a few unsolved ones..." "If there aren¡¯t any special cases, then let¡¯s switch cities," Jiang Yuan said. "Mei Yang City¡¯s criminal division is not bad in terms of technique, and the forensic doctors are alsopetent. They might not really need me." For an investigative officer like Jiang Yuan, whoes from a criminal investigation background, if he is to work on current cases, he prefers that the supporting criminal police have as high a level of skill as possible, especially for canvassing, investigating, and making arrests¡ªit¡¯s best to have a team that¡¯s experienced, physically capable, sharp, and proactive. However, if it¡¯s to work on unsolved cases, the local criminal investigators¡¯ skill level can¡¯t be too high. If it¡¯s too high, Jiang Yuan won¡¯t find anything new in a second investigation. The same goes if the skill level is too low. Huang Qiangmin had heard simr sentiments from Jiang Yuan before and naturally nodded, saying: "Then I suggest going to Dama or Beijing. I¡¯ll see what cases havee up in both ces recently." Soon, Huang Qiangmin passed summaries of cases from both areas to Jiang Yuan. The cases from Beijing were all Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s cases, just half a page long with no homicide cases, focusing mostly on older unsolved ones. It wasn¡¯t because the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s jurisdiction had no homicide cases, but ordinary homicides were something they could handle on their own, and thus wouldn¡¯t pile up. Dama had more cases to offer, with even the index taking up half a page, including 17 homicides. Of course, these were cases from the entire capital of Dama, the coborative results of tens of millions of people. "This way, it looks like Dama has a series of serial killings," Huang Qiangmin pointed out the top-case to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nced at the document in his hand and quickly identified the key points: "Four middle-aged female prostitutes were raped and murdered, all killed by blunt force in the wilderness. There were rocks, iron rods..." "It¡¯s not easy to solve this kind of case. It almost certainly was a random killing by a sexually perverse murderer," said Huang Qiangmin, a veteran of the criminal police brigade with twenty years of service and over thirty years as a policeman. He had seen all sorts of criminal cases, especially in Ningtai County during the nies where it wasn¡¯t an exaggeration to say everyone had been robbed. Therefore, when the keywords of the Dama case were mentioned, Huang Qiangmin formed an initial judgment. If it were his own case, sending a few people to investigate would clear things up quickly. Jiang Yuan briefly reviewed the details of the cases and said, "It¡¯s probably a sexually violent killer. The advantage is that we still have the bodies, the fourth case happened just a few days ago, and the killer left DNA behind. To work on this case, it would be best to fly over tonight. Or have Jacob do a second autopsy via live stream." Jiang Yuan liked Dama¡¯s forensic doctor Jacob and found him very easy to work with. Additionally, there was another unfinished task in Dama, but there was no hurry for that. That task required over a hundred of Dama¡¯s colleagues to acknowledge Jiang Yuan as a detective of extraordinary ability, which certainly couldn¡¯t be rushed. Following Jiang Yuan¡¯s train of thought, Huang Qiangmin said, "That¡¯s simple. I¡¯ll contact them first, make sure of their... financial situation, and then ask them to send a government ne to pick us up. When working abroad, there¡¯s no need to be courteous with them. Right, we also need to contact the Ministry and the embassy, which is quite troublesome, but it really needs their full cooperation." "Active cooperation from the other side is essential. Leave it to you," Jiang Yuan agreed with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s idea. When he goes abroad, it¡¯s to work on criminal cases, which are the most intense conflicts next to war. The conflicts of everyday life among families, with colleagues and bosses at thepany, so-called business or financial warfare, or matters of love and affairs, pale inparison to the intensity of criminal cases. Without the support of the national authorities, working on criminal cases is like gambling with one¡¯s life. So, if the Dama side doesn¡¯t need Jiang Yuan to solve the case, he¡¯s not interested in participating. The level of Dama¡¯s need could be inferred from the... financialpensation they were willing to provide. Celebration party. The sound of gongs and drums filled the air. Press conference. gs fluttered in the breeze. Banquet. Firecrackers rang out in unison. After participating in the whole process, Song Tiancheng and Jiang Yuan both declined further invitations and headed to the airport together. Director Deng Jiabin, unwilling to let them go, arranged a Coaster to apany them to the airport. Song Tiancheng politely said, "You really didn¡¯t have to. We could¡¯ve just taken a taxi by ourselves." "It¡¯s fine, I¡¯ll take you directly to the ne," Deng Jiabin replied with a smile. "The leaders have worked hard all day, this is the least I can do." Song Tiancheng then smiled and said, "Well then, trouble you. Xiao Li, jot down the flight number." Xiao Li smiled and responded. Deng Jiabin took the note and then turned to Jiang Yuan, asking, "Captain Jiang, which flight are you taking?" "I¡¯m flying to Dama tonight. The Dama Police Station has sent a government ne to pick me up," Jiang Yuan admitted frankly. Deng Jiabin fell silent for a moment: "A government ne flying directly to Dama? The Dama Police Bureau must be quite wealthy." "It was a condition negotiated by Commissioner Huang before. It¡¯s also to save our time, so we use government nes for the shuttle," Jiang Yuan replied modestly. Feeling somewhat self-conscious, Deng Jiabin then turned to Song Tiancheng and joked, "We¡¯re taking advantage this time." Song Tianchengughed and added, "That¡¯s why it¡¯s so important to value talent. Jiang Yuan¡¯s worth is recognized by the people of Dama. This time, we owe a lot to Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation and judgment, for averting a disaster..." "This really is..." Deng Jiabin eagerly joined in praising Jiang Yuan. The Coaster, ording to schedule, first dropped off Jiang Yuan and the others at the government ne terminal, watching as Jiang Yuan and about a dozen people entered, cleared security, and boarded the ne. Deng Jiabin clicked his tongue and remarked, "Flying just once must cost hundreds of thousands, doesn¡¯t round-trip amount to millions?" "A small government ne is hundreds of thousands, with so many people, one trip for Jiang Yuan would be at least a million. The cost per person is tens of thousands," said Song Tiancheng before turning to Xiao Li beside him, "Write this storyter, at least for internal promotion." "Is it appropriate to publicize this...?" Xiao Li asked tentatively. Song Tiancheng nodded, "We need to show the extent of support we provide when we assist in other ces. Just look at the conditions offered by the Dama Police Bureau, it speaks volumes. Of course, we don¡¯t expect them to provide the exact same conditions, but they should know the benefits they¡¯ve received from us, right?" Chapter 965 - 901: Pervert Plus

Chapter 965: Chapter 901: Pervert Plus

Jacob changed into a three-piece suit to greet Jiang Yuan at the entrance of the police station. After Jiang Yuan requested to see the body, Jacob changed out of the three-piece suit, tossed aside the Oxford shoes, and put on a whiteb coat and a new head cover... Such fussiness seemed a bit much, but that was just the British style. As a British forensic doctor and a sessor in Dama, he, Jacob, naturally wanted to showcase a different elegance when the foreign "God Jiang" arrived. "Is the body thawed?" With the help of the embassy¡¯s police liaison officer Chu Guanliang, Jiang Yuan quickly changed and entered the autopsy room. "After receiving the callst night, we started defrosting. However, the body was already dposed when it was found. Even though we performed an autopsy and ced it in an ice coffin, its condition is probably not good," Jacob exined while gesturing for his apprentice to push the body over. A dposed body is a mess, and refreezing it cannot make its condition any better. In fact, bodies inside ice coffins continue to dpose slowly, just as meat in one¡¯s own freezer goes bad. A body that has started dposing deteriorates even faster, so usually, after a normal forensic examination, such bodies are disposed of quickly. The fact that Jiang Yuan can still see this body after several days is purely down to the local police¡¯s... slow efficiency. Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong changed their clothes not only to help but also to apany Jiang Yuan, to chat and discuss the case. The thawed body was moved onto the autopsy table, aplete and limp mess. Jiang Yuan sighed, "It smells terribly foul." Apprentice Miao Rui Xiang, who had left early morning from Ningtai County and taken the earliest flight, was already dead-tired. The stench of the foreign dposed body made him gag a couple of times. The Dama police quickly made way, saying to give some space, but they were probably also afraid of being thrown up on. With a corpse this dposed, it¡¯s normal to vomit upon smelling it. Miao Rui Xiang¡¯s face turned bright red; he was also a forensic doctor and didn¡¯t expect to be confronted with such an intimidating corpse. "I¡¯m fine, I¡¯m fine..." Miao Rui Xiang took a couple of breaths to steady himself and said, "The smell is a bit overwhelming, worse than durian over rice." Zhong Renlong tranted to those around him in My, "The smell of the body is terrible, but he¡¯d rather eat the body with his meal than have durian with it." The Dama police officers conveyed their respect with their eyes and murmured in low voices in My: "Truly a disciple of God Jiang. Born to be a forensic doctor." "Durian is indeed very smelly." "If it¡¯s a member of Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, even if they licked the corpse and read out the identity while throwing up, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising." "We already know the identity of this body." "If it¡¯s a member of Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, once they get used to licking the corpse, they probably would want to verify the identity in their own way." Jiang Yuan helplessly shook his head. If he didn¡¯t have a Level 2 Indonesiannguage skill, he would have been foolishlyughing along with Miao Rui Xiang right now. "Please reposition the body for me," Jiang Yuan said in Indonesian, reminding the Dama police who were chatting excitedly beside him. Sure enough, the men immediately shut their mouths. Jacob chuckled and stepped forward to help. Bits of the corpse continued to ke off. "Our current preservation conditions are also inadequate; the equipment really needs to be updated," Jacob took the opportunity to say. "We need at least a few more ice coffins, and it¡¯s time to rece the autopsy tables too." Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong, who were nearby, understood what he was saying. Ni Cha calmly said, "That¡¯s for the big shots at the police headquarters to decide. Of course, if my vote is needed, I¡¯ll cast it for you." "Haha, thank you, thank you..." Jacob took the opportunity to shake hands with Ni Cha. Ni Cha nced at the human soil-colored altered adipocere on Jacob¡¯s hands, then at the green putrefied skin on his own, brought his and Jacob¡¯s hands together, blending fat with skin back into its original sticky state. With the cooperation of the others, Jiang Yuan started by briefly examining the corpse. "This isn¡¯t pleasant to look at; let¡¯s watch the video instead." Jiang Yuan washed his hands and then changed his greasy gloves. A second autopsy is difficult enough, and even more so with a body that¡¯s dposed like this. However, having a body is still better than not, and besides, it could bepared with the process of the previous autopsy, which might reveal something. Jacob immediately called an apprentice to find the video, then continued to help Jiang Yuan inspect the corpse. The stitched parts were cut open again, revealing mostly semi-dposed insides, and the head of the corpse hadpletely changed, swollen and distorted as if beaten by someone, to the point that Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong could hardly bear to look directly at it. Unable to help herself, Ni Cha stepped back, turned, and said in Indonesian, "God Jiang, let me tell you about the case." "While I watch the video, you exin?" Jiang Yuan had arrivedst night on an official flight and had brought some emotional intelligence with him. Ni Cha quickly agreed and continued, "The body today was discovered a week ago, and it¡¯s the fourth case in this series... The first two cases weren¡¯t linked together. It was after the third body was found that they suspected a serial killer, and the case has been given high priority ever since. The first body was found half a year ago, the second three months ago, and the third three weeks ago. This one is from a week ago; the frequency is increasing." "All four bodies have been found outdoors, all showing signs of rape, all killed by blunt force trauma to the head. Moreover, all four victims were prostitutes and used to work the streets nearby." Ni Cha added specifically, "The weather in Dama is hot, and a body left outside for a week often dposes badly. Of course, you¡¯re the expert on this..." "Your previous investigations, did you find anything?" Jiang Yuan continued to inspect the body, asionally directing Jacob¡¯s apprentice to rey the video. Ni Cha exchanged nces with Zhong Renlong and sighed before speaking, "Although we¡¯ve also put in some effort and found two murder weapons, and collected DNA from the killer, confirming the victims¡¯ identities, none of these have helped much in identifying the killer." "The killer¡¯s personality is somewhat problematic, bold judging from the crime scene," Jacob added from a forensic doctor¡¯s point of view. "The killer left many traces and didn¡¯t use many anti-surveince tactics." Zhong Renlong agreed, "There¡¯s no effort to hide the bodies. But his fingerprints and DNA aren¡¯t in our database, and we don¡¯t have any suitable suspects..." "The killer must live or work nearby," Jiang Yuan concluded as he pointed at the video being yed over and over. "From what we see here, after raping the victim, the killer proceeded to necrophilia." "Necrophilia? But why does that suggest he lives or works nearby?" Zhong Renlong was puzzled. Jacob focused, adding, "Determining necrophilia after rape could be..." "It isn¡¯t immediate necrophilia post-rape; it¡¯s likely that the killer raped and killed the victim and then, one or two dayster, engaged in necrophilia. You can infer this from the skincerations on the body and the physiological responses..." Jiang Yuan instructed to rey the video, exined to Jacob, and then said, "Of course, I specte the killer is nearby based on the convenience for necrophilia." "Necrophilia one or two days after killing the victim? This psychopath..." Ni Cha now fully believed Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment and said, "Doing so, he¡¯s taking considerable risks; his psychology is definitely disturbed." "Let¡¯s take a look at the autopsy videos of the other three bodies," Jiang Yuan said without further spection, still following the evidence-first approach. Chapter 966 - 902: The Direction of the Clue

Chapter 966: Chapter 902: The Direction of the Clue

All four bodies were exposed outdoors, hence various depths of footprints and traces were left around the crime scenes. Those included footprints from suspects and the killer, and theoretically, traces from the act of rape or even necrophilia. However, due to decay of the bodies, the exceptionally rapid growth of local vegetation, along with frequent heavy rain and sun exposure, these traces were significantly disrupted. By examining just the footprints collected from the four cases, we can roughly determine that only the killer and the victim were present at the crime scenes. But trying to obtain more leads from this positive analysis proves to be quite difficult. Conversely, having some analytical conclusions, using these traces for substantiation is indeed sufficient. After reviewing the autopsy videos of three of the bodies, Jiang Yuan confidently stated, "These two bodies also bear traces of necrophilia." "Was only the first body not raped post-mortem?" Ni Cha pondered, saying, "Was it because the first time he didn¡¯t have such strong urges? Or was he unaware of his own needs? Or perhaps his psychology gradually became more perverse?" Dama, once a British Colony, adopted its police configuration, training, and case-solving tactics from the United Kingdom, localized for home use. Hence, when facing a serial killer, Ni Cha¡¯s first thought was to conduct a criminal psychological analysis. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t contemte in the killer¡¯s mindset but simply looked up and said, "The first body was more severely dposed; it¡¯s hard to confirm whether necrophilia was involved. Additionally, it may have been an unsessful attempt at necrophilia, which wouldn¡¯t be reflected on the body." Ni Cha had a sudden realization: "Right, maybe the first attempt at necrophiliacked proficiency, and perhaps pration was unsessful." "It¡¯s also possible that he was too excited and ejacted prematurely. If he wiped off and left the body outside for a few days, you wouldn¡¯t be able to tell from the external tissues," Jacob suggested another view. Ni Cha and Jiang Yuan looked at Jacob skeptically, Zhong Renlong hesitated twice before continuing his trantion. Followed by that, people from Ningtai who joinedter cast "a nce of doubt" toward Jacob after some dy. Jacob hurriedly said, "Rapists often experience premature ejaction or erectile dysfunction, so ejacting too soon from excitement isn¡¯t unusual, right?" "Finding the first-time necrophilia too exciting is strange in itself," quipped Ni Cha, before nodding, "But indeed, that¡¯s a possibility. Hmm... If so, could the killer¡¯s residence or workce be located at the intersection of the four crime scenes?" Zhong Renlong added, "We¡¯ve already investigated in this direction." What the two discussed was the standard police investigative method: drawing circles from the crime scenes, the intersection of the circles from four cases has a high probability of being the suspect¡¯s residence or workce. This method may seem simplistic, but it¡¯s been validated numerous times. People, often simple creatures by nature, especially instinct-driven serial killers, should fit this pattern even more. After pondering for a moment, Ni Cha looked at Jiang Yuan and then asked Zhong Renlong, "Who was dispatched for the investigation at the time?" The Dama Police Force had indeed deployed a considerable police force for the serial rape-murder case to investigate in multiple directions. Zhong Renlong checked his phone, "It was Team Three that conducted the investigation. They checked thepanies within the area, collected information on residents and tenants of local apartments, and also investigated local hotel amodations and so on." "If that¡¯s all they did, that¡¯s not sufficient. At the very least, they need to make door-to-door inquiries," said Jiang Yuan, recently emerged from Meiyang City¡¯s quagmire, knowing right away that their efforts fell short of thorough scrutiny and only amounted to the level of making visits. But in such cases, sending ten or twenty people to gather information pains the luck aspect too much, hoping to identify the one amidst the public who doesn¡¯t belong. Zhong Renlong gave a wry smile, "Without a search warrant, many people are unwilling to cooperate." Jiang Yuan had experienced simr situations in Dama before and wasn¡¯t surprised. He pondered for a moment and said, "From the current situation, the search intensity is clearly insufficient, however, let¡¯s first examine the other pieces of evidence..." The group then concluded their time and separated to shower and cleans themselves. After a change of clothes, they headed to the upstairs office to review other documents. Footprints, fingerprints, preliminary investigation reports, etc., all organized by the police, were carefully reviewed one by one by Jiang Yuan, who also took the time to identify some of the main fingerprints. The yield was little. Although Jiang Yuan only spent a few hours on the investigation, the probe was nearing an endpoint. After marking several scattered fingerprints anding up empty withparisons, Jiang Yuan decisively said, "Moving forward, I suggest focusing our investigation on the intersection points around the crime scenes." "The surrounding area of An Lai Region? Although the defined range is notrge, if it exceeds a few hundred meters, the scope of the investigation will significantly increase." Zhong Renlong raised a realistic issue. For rtively prosperous neighborhoods, increasing the radius by 100 meters could potentially add tens of thousands of people to the list of individuals to be investigated, which is no small challenge for the police force of any city. So, what if the radius is not increased? Should the area be strictly delineated ording to the results of the map on paper? Thinking normally, there is always some fluctuation when anyone does something. Serial killers, I guess, are probably not that precise. So, what is the appropriate increase in radius? Jiang Yuan had participated in many such cases with Xu Taining and, at this time, did not beat around the bush. He clearly stuck to the method he learned from Xu Taining, stating: "Let¡¯s execute strictly within the designated range, no need to exceed it. If we can¡¯t find anything, then we¡¯ll expand the range. But within the defined range, we must conduct a thorough search. Can this be done?" This is Xu Taining¡¯s approach: any investigation must be thorough. The previous searches by Ni Cha and others were not thorough, which is why there is now consideration for a secondary search. Ni Cha and the others looked at each other, hesitated, and after a quiet discussion, said: "God Jiang, although we would like to go door-to-door for the investigation, it¡¯s really difficult to aplish. Moreover, if the goal of our investigation is to collect fingerprints and DNA, it¡¯s even more challenging." Jiang Yuan was startled when he heard this; this meant that even if Xu Taining were here, he could only buy a return ticket. Zhong Renlong also said in a low voice: "God, the intensity of our previous investigation has already reached its limit. If we are to increase the scope and depth of the investigation, we might need some evidential support, and perhaps the assistance of court subpoenas andwyers." Zhong Renlong first said this in Chinese, then repeated it in My. Miao Ruixiang listened and clicked his tongue: "In Dama, it¡¯s like adding difficulty. Rapists have to fire an extra shot." Zhong Renlong continued to trante, but Miao Ruixiang hurriedly said: "I was just making an offhand remark, no need to trante that." When Jiang Yuan heard this, he waved his hand and said: "If the current intensity of the investigation has reached its limit, then let¡¯s leave it at that for now, and think of other methods." This was actually part of Xu Taining¡¯s investigative approach as well; thoroughly investigating a matter is essentially aparative term, and it¡¯s unclear what counts as fully thorough. Thus, since Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong both believed that the local search had reached its limit, pursuing solely this line of inquiry can be considered exhausted. This is understandable to police officers; in many ces back home, it is impossible to conduct an extensive search, or prior to the widespread application of DNA technology, an investigation might have appeared thorough but still wasn¡¯t enough. Take the Bian Silver case, for example. "Actually, the scope of the necessary search isn¡¯t particrlyrge. I can offer an idea: the suspect¡¯s footprints are very distinct, and it¡¯s possible to infer the gait from the footprints. If you all can gather gait information from video footage of peopleing and going within the investigation area, I can directly make judgments." The solution Jiang Yuan offered was essentially to act as a human gait analysis machine¡ªdomestic airports and train stations already have cameras capable of autonomous analysis and matching. Since Damacks such systems and databases, Jiang Yuan volunteered to step in personally. Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong were greatly surprised; this was different from Jiang Yuan¡¯s previous performance on television. It was an affair of apletely different magnitude. At the television station, Jiang Yuan might only need to view a two-digit number of footprints and tracks, but to analyze gait from video footage for an entire area, that would involve tens of thousands of people. "Can you really do it? Won¡¯t it be too exhausting?" Ni Cha put away his shock, recing it with admiration and a hint of embarrassment. "The clues are stuck here, there¡¯s nothing too tiring about it. In an hour, I can probably watch three to five hundred sets of gait; for footprints, only about one to two hundred. Try to collect the videos aspletely as possible," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t just speaking off the cuff; in China, cases had been solved by simply watching videos, with up to thousands of police officers viewing footage. However, analyzing gait is rtively easierpared to other methods, notwithstanding the higher technical requirements. Having said this, Jiang Yuan looked at the time and said: "Let¡¯s leave it at that for today, I¡¯m going to sleep early. The hard work is up to you guys from now on, I¡¯ll start watching the videos tomorrow afternoon." This time was for Ni Cha and others to collect, analyze, and even edit videos. Ni Cha and others fully understood, expressed their thanks with haste, and respectfully sent Jiang Yuan and others off in their car. The hotel booked by the Dama Police Force as per Huang Qiangmin¡¯s request was also very nice, Jiang Yuan stayed in a suite, took another shower before going to bed. Miao Ruixiang, being Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior, was ced in arge single bed room not far away. Miao Ruixiang also bathed first, changed his clothes, then took out a red cloth-wrapped statue from his suitcase. Miao Ruixiang set up the red cloth-wrapped statue on the table reverently, lit three sticks of incense, then unveiled the red cloth, revealing a wooden carving of Jigong Bodhisattva amid the swirling blue smoke. Miao Ruixiang bowed deeply, then took out his phone right there and dialed a video call to Master Wu Jun. Chapter 967 - 903

Chapter 967: 903

Noon. The scorching sun shone down, making the floor-to-ceiling windows gleam with rity. Miao Ruixiang ordered burgers, pasta, barbecue, curry crab, and mango rice from the hotel, offering them in front of the Jigong Bodhisattva statue, lit three incense sticks, stuffed a burger for himself, and then video-called his master. Wu Jun answered the call instantly: "Ruixiang." "Master, were you waiting by the phone?" Miao Ruixiang chuckled. "Timing it right, why didn¡¯t you call a few minutes earlier? Are the offerings set?" Wu Jun¡¯s video background was deeply ck, creating quite the atmosphere. Miao Ruixiang replied, "All set. Look." Miao Ruixiang showed the offerings he prepared, and continued, "This is what the hotels here in Dama offer, no whole roast chickens or ducks..." "Supplement with some fruits, and get some liquor for the Bodhisattva," Wu Jun, making requests, said, "Among the Bodhisattvas, Jigong is the most easy-going; doesn¡¯t fuss about food, can eat good or bad, when broke a simple bun suffices him, if you have money, offering wine and meat also pleases Jigong Bodhisattva. ¡¯Through the intestines, wine and meat pass; in the heart of the Buddha they remain.¡¯" "Right." Miao Ruixiang hurriedly rummaged through the mini-fridge, adding the remaining wee fruits. Wu Jun appeared somewhat satisfied, and continued, "That¡¯s why I had you bring the Jigong Bodhisattva abroad, knowing the conditions overseas can¡¯t match those at home. Here domestically, evenmon folks can afford proper offerings, but that¡¯s hard to find overseas. The food and drink here don¡¯t even suit the pte ¨C this burger and clump of rice, I don¡¯t like either." "Curry rice," Miao Ruixiang mumbled softly, "might as well be Buddha¡¯s hometown dish." "Jigong Bodhisattva didn¡¯t grow up eating curry rice. Jigong was from Taizhou, born near Mount Tiantai, a holy Buddhist site and the southern sect of the Quanzhen School¡¯s ancestral home. Thus although Jigong took vows at Guoqing Temple and became a living Buddha, he practiced both Buddhism and Taoism," Wu Jun exined, and added, "Dama differs from home. We¡¯re unaware of the situation there; Jigong has a wide acquaintance and likes involving in worldly affairs to help people, you can¡¯t go wrong asking for his help." Miao Ruixiang looked at the burning incense sticks, "So, how do we make our request now?" Wu Jun instructed, "First kneel and bow, introduce your identity to Jigong, and exin you¡¯re requesting on behalf of your senior brother Jiang Yuan..." ... Dama Police Station Forensic Lab. Rows ofputers set up, the monitor¡¯s height perfectly tailored for standing observation. All connected to a unified software system, each operated by one or two staff members, identical to how Jiang Yuan worked back home. This arrangement was overseen by Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia, adjusted to Jiang Yuan¡¯s demands and habits, from equipment use to system tuning, including purchasing new hardware or modifying existing software where drilling was required. Ni Cha and his colleagues were also very cooperative. Just like in domestic police stations, regr cases are assessed for cost-effectiveness, and less promising ones don¡¯t receive much attention. However, for major or crucial cases, resources and police efforts are massively deployed. Even if Jiang Yuan merely requested a familiar studio, let alone recreating his favored workspace from home, Ni Cha would have consented, though reluctantly. All for solving the case. To solve the case, he would arrange a government ne to transport Jiang Yuan; so adjusting a workspace was really no big deal. The selected officers to work in this setup were both excited and nervous. Jiang Yuan had not only demonstrated his technical prowess at the police station but also on Dama¡¯s television, where the Dama Police officers, well aware and mostly viewers of the program, faced him as a renowned foreign expert. Nobody wanted to drop the ball at this moment. Director Zhong Renlong stepped forward and asked, "God, shall we begin now?" "Let¡¯s start. Videoy one PC at a time," Jiang Yuan positioned himself at the firstputer, signaling to start. These videos were intermittent, from various cameras, some official and legally ced on main roads, others pulled from nearby parked vehicles like Tes, and some from stores or even street photographers. Ultimately, Jiang Yuan aimed to track local residents in the footage, focusing on the video spillover. And, while this initial collection of videos was minimal, more would need to be constantly gathered if this strategy were to continue. Normally, if handled by an Image Reconnaissance Brigade, watching the videos wouldn¡¯t be overwhelming with dozens of technicians across several squads. But Jiang Yuan was analyzing walking patterns, a skill that, while avable back home, was unique in Dama. Local police officers eagerly huddled around, hoping to learn something, though Jiang Yuan had no time to teach. "Pause here, enhance the video, this image needs to be clear," Jiang Yuan, after watching for about seven or eight minutes, called a halt. He had encountered unclear areas before, but those did not affect judgment. However, this case was different and required technical handling. Despite Jiang Yuan also possessing image enhancement skills, at this point he didn¡¯t need to handle everything himself; the capital¡¯s Dama Police Station was able to maintain such costly technicians. Or rather, it was precisely such universally costly technicians that the Dama Police Station was never short of. "Continue here." Jiang Yuan moved to the secondputer. The nearby officer immediately started ying the video. This time, after watching for two or three minutes, Jiang Yuan said, "This can be fast-forwarded." The officer then yed it at 1.5 times the speed. Jiang Yuan immediately activated Temporary Skill +1, applying it to Footprint Analysis. Upgrading Footprint Analysis from Level 5 to Level 6, the benefits were more than doubled in terms of ease and efficiency. "Set the speed to 2.5." Jiang Yuan modestly suggested, and with the remainder of his EQ, exined: "We¡¯re looking at the gait, not the footprints, so it¡¯s okay to go a bit faster." "Okay." The officer then elerated it to 2.5 times the speed. After watching one video, Jiang Yuan watched another, took only about ten seconds, and then said, "This is too repetitive, it¡¯s recorded close to the location of the previous video, edit it again." "Okay." The officer quicklyplied. Jiang Yuan naturally strolled over to the thirdputer and began watching, the same officer ying the video for Jiang Yuan, as someone else took care of re-editing the previous video. "This one!" Twenty minutes from the start, Jiang Yuan finally pinpointed a blurry figure. The second row technicians immediately got to work, starting to seek other angles or locations or times when the person¡¯s gait was recorded, for Jiang Yuan to verify again. Half an hourter, the entire traceboratory was operating in an orderly manner. At the same time, Miao Ruixiang lit three sticks of incense again, cing them in front of Jigong Bodhisattva. On the mobile stand in front of him, Wu Jun appeared with a face darkened against a pitch-ck background. "Bow, let¡¯s start folding the joss paper now, you brought joss paper, right? You know how to fold it?" Wu Jun¡¯s voice drifted out. Miao Ruixiang hesitated: "Joss paper is brought, and... I can fold, but I¡¯m slow." "Wang Zhong, you tell him." Wu Jun waved his hand for Wang Zhong to exin, while he nestled behind reading scriptures. Miao Ruixiang was reluctant to learn but had no choice but to follow along, and in a short time, arge amount of joss paper was folded by both sides. "Go outside and burn it. Hurry, only 6 minutes left to the auspicious hour." Wu Jun, seeing it was almost time,manded again. Miao Ruixiang was startled: "Six minutes might not be enough, we can¡¯t light fires in the hotel..." "Whyin about being slow, run, run... quickly..." Wu Jun urged, watching the time. Miao Ruixiang, having no choice, grabbed the joss paper and a copper burner, opened the door, and ran outside. He descended the elevator, exited the hotel, and outside was a wave of heat. Miao Ruixiang randomly picked a deste direction and started sprinting. ... Traceboratory. The number of backup targets Jiang Yuan umted gradually increased to 10. Although it¡¯s not to say these are suspects already, having a target feels very good. Ni Cha and others clearly showed smiles on their faces. "Wait a moment, slow down the speed, y it again." Jiang Yuanmanded, suddenly breaking the routine in the office. Chapter 968 - 904: Don’t Retreat First

Chapter 968: Chapter 904: Don¡¯t Retreat First

"y it at 0.5x speed, and zoom in on the person,"manded Jiang Yuan. The Mysian officers hurried toply. Jiang Yuan just needed to watch with his hands sped; in fact, he didn¡¯t need the officers to adjust the speed. He had basically confirmed the identity of the person on his own. Asking them to slow down and zoom in was to make absolutely sure. A simple confirmation of the suspect from him, and Ni Cha and others would have to rush about hectically for half a day, so it was best to thoroughly verify the identification first. The figure in the video soon began to y in a loop, also at a much slower speed, and it seemed to be leaning forward slightly, swaying from side to side. With the rity of this video, if it were back in China, the gait recognition system would have immediately provided a result. Not just for humans, but for dogs too, the current gait recognition system could identify them, distinguishing between a Golden Retriever and a Labrador, whether they were leashed or muzzled, all could be differentiated. However, the gait recognition used byputer systems is different from human judgment. Computers analyze gait by using deep neuralworks, focusing on meticulousparison. In short, it¡¯s answering the question of "what is China¡¯s AI doing." Compared to that, humans¡¯ recognition patterns are moreplex and yet simple. Even for Jiang Yuan under Level 6 alertness, although he could provide a sound rationale after making judgments on gait or footprints, his initial judgment was actually based on "feeling" toe up with the answer. The same was true now; the first time Jiang Yuan saw the silhouette in the video, he felt "it¡¯s him." The subsequent yback loops were just for confirmation and evidence. After looping four or five times, Ni Cha realized something and came over with anticipation in his eyes. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t pay attention to the others; he took out his notebook and made a few notes. After looking up and scrutinizing the loop again, he said, "Get me more videos and pictures of this person." When Jiang Yuan requested the video rey and loop, the technicians from Dama Police Force behind him were already working on it. By the time Jiang Yuan asked the question, someone had already handed over some of the materials. Videos from other sections, photographs, and a few overhead short clips were disyed one by one. Out of caution, Jiang Yuan watched three more videos, then without further dy, he dered, "It¡¯s confirmed to be him." "Find him!" Ni Cha said with his whole body trembling. It was the body¡¯s natural stress response, the result of a rapid secretion of adrenaline. If this were a battlefield, Ni Cha would be ready to pick up the machine gun and start firing. The second row of technicians started to bustle around quickly. "Thank god Jiang, I didn¡¯t expect to get results so quickly," Ni Cha hastily gave some instructions before thanking Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled and changed his expression, "I thought it would take several days to find out, but I didn¡¯t expect it toe out so quickly... Well, we haven¡¯t caught the suspect yet, so it¡¯s not really a result yet." "It¡¯s all thanks to God Jiang. We¡¯ll take it from here. This guyes and goes from the mall without any concern, we¡¯ll definitely find him, don¡¯t worry," Ni Cha, holding his status and pride, personally witnessed the criminal suspect getting in and out of taxis, entering and exiting various department stores and buildings, and was fully confident in tracking him down. While they were speaking, the technicians in the second row had already started to print out documents with a click-ck. Personal information in Dama was not so easily essible, but once a person starts using a credit card, their personal information bes unidirectionally transparent. In short, in a ce like Dama, it¡¯s rtively easy to hide one¡¯s identity when not spending money, but as soon as you need to spend, the identity can no longer be concealed. And in this area, there are very many ces where you need to spend money. "This person... turns out to be a financial worker..." Ni Cha was unexpectedly surprised when he saw the report handed over by his subordinates. Zhong Renlong leaned over to take a look and chuckled, "He earns more money in a month than I do in ten years." "What¡¯s so strange about that, but for someone who earns so much to go look for streetwalkers..." Ni Cha¡¯s eyes turned cold as he spoke, "Must be tired of the regr routine." "Serial killers, aren¡¯t they all like that." A senior officer added nonchntly, "There are lots of perverts in finance, many of whom never got the chance to be serial killers before being eliminated by the market." "Or it¡¯s that they became perverts after staying in the market for too long." While speaking, Ni Cha operated the procedure on theputer and said, "I¡¯m going to make some phone calls." A case of this level could not bepleted by a senior police officer alone; it definitely required the participation of the police headquarters. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to bother with these things, he just sat down and rested for a while, had some tea, and then noticed the technicians beginning to pack up. Recalling his own task, his mind stirred. He cleared his throat twice and said to Zhong Renlong, "Don¡¯t pack up the equipment yet. Keep it set up." "Ah? Okay. Yes," Zhong Renlong responded quickly without asking what God Jiang intended to do. "Everyone can rest for a bit, we¡¯ll talk when needed," Jiang Yuan added to Zhong Renlong, then took out his cellphone and sent a message to Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin was just strolling nearby. He didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to crack the case so quickly and hurried back. Ni Cha also returned around the same time, the two met at the entrance, one after another¡ªtruly, a shared sorrow makes the meeting more poignant. "God Jiang," Ni Cha called out softly like a kitten, then slipped past Huang Qiangmin while speaking, "I want to report to God Jiang." He was speaking in My, but the words ¡¯God Jiang¡¯ were in Chinese, with a sense of emphatic artiction. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t understand, but he sensed Ni Cha¡¯s emotions and let him in. "The team to arrest the suspect has set out; if all goes well, the person should be apprehended soon. The Director and the legitor are very pleased, they said they¡¯d like to take you out for a meal," Ni Cha said cheerfully, his visible happiness quickly dispelling the emptiness of the massive expense. Jiang Yuan simply smiled: "It¡¯s good if the person can be caught. There¡¯s no need for a meal..." When Jiang Yuan spoke My, the police liaison officer from the embassy, Chu Guanliang, would trante it into Chinese. Hearing this, Huang Qiangmin immediately coughed. Jiang Yuan stopped and looked at Huang Qiangmin. "Since the Director and the legitor are inviting you to a meal, it might be better to attend. Or if you prefer not to go, I and Officer Chu can attend instead. Officer Chu would be interested, right?" Huang Qiangmin brought Chu Guanliang into the conversation. Chu Guanliang quickly nodded, "Very interested indeed. To be frank, as a police liaison officer, I never had the chance to contact the Director before, and it¡¯s only after Captain Jiang came over that I¡¯ve had the opportunity to line up and asionally see him, or make a phone call." "If you¡¯re interested, that¡¯s great. Talk to them, and let¡¯s have a meal together with the Director," Huang Qiangmin smiled. The chief of Dama Capital¡¯s Police Station held power not inferior to that of his homnd¡¯s capital city¡¯s chief; naturally, he couldn¡¯t be expected tomunicate daily with any foreign embassy police liaison officer. This also wouldn¡¯t be in line with principles of diplomatic equality. However, Chu Guanliang indeed had the need tomunicate with the chief of the Dama Police Station, or rather, much of his work would be far easier to aplish if he could reach the Director. Chu Guanliang, extremely excited, repeatedly expressed his gratitude, then remembered to thank Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, demonstrating a high EQ, waved his hand with a smile and indicated there was no need for thanks. Chu Guanliang then proceeded to converse and trante into Chinese simultaneously, quickly agreeing on a time with Ni Cha. Ni Cha naturally agreed to everything andter asked Jiang Yuan, "Will God Jiang really not attend? The Director is actually very keen to chat with you." "I only understand technology; for matters beyond that, it¡¯s up to Director Huang to decide," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t resort to using the term Political Commissioner to avoid causing any tension. Ni Cha, feeling somewhat uneasy, nced at Huang Qiangmin and said with a smile, "It¡¯s great that Director Huang is willing to attend..." "However, I do have an idea. Let Director Huang tell you," Jiang Yuan had already shared his thoughts with Huang Qiangmin via text, and now he left it with Huang Qiangmin to discuss. Ni Cha swallowed and turned around, his smile fading as he said, "Director Huang..." "Jiang Yuan feels that having set up such arge operation, and only using it for half a day seems wasteful. Why not use it to solve a few more of your cases," said Huang Qiangmin as Zhong Renlong eagerly began to trante. Without waiting for Ni Cha to ask, Huang Qiangmin continued, "The model for solving cases is already set up; you can continue ying the collected surveince footage. Just bring over some crime scene footprints from nearby cases, and Jiang Yuan will continue to do the step gait identification for you. It¡¯s the same process, but we can take a look at several cases at once, and whichever matches, that¡¯ll be the unlucky one." Ni Cha understood instantly. He pped Zhong Renlong¡¯s thigh with a ¡¯smack¡¯ andughed, "I actually had a simr thought, but was too shy to mention it. If God Jiang is willing, that would be fantastic." It wasn¡¯t just shyness holding him back; he was also concerned about the intense burning of funds. However, with Huang Qiangmin about to meet with the Director and the legitor, such concerns could be passed upward to vex them instead. Chapter 969 - 905

Chapter 969: Chapter 905

Serial murder cases are of the utmost importance in any country. When it involves rape and murder, the priority level of the case skyrockets, resulting in Ni Cha deploying considerable resources for this investigation. Merely to collect various types of surveince videos from around the crime scene, Ni Cha mobilized hundreds of police officers. In China, this number is naturally not significant. If needed, Ningtai County can also deploy hundreds of police officers. For cases in Changyang City or the Beijing Bureau, multiplying resources by tenfold is not an issue. But in any country outside of China, including the United States, the deployment of hundreds of police officers is indeed a substantial investment. Such a hefty investment, however, cracked the case in just half a day¡ªof course, it can also be said that it was precisely because of the immense resources poured in that the case was solved so quickly in just half a day. However, it was also because Ni Cha invested so heavily in resources that Jiang Yuan felt a bit reluctant to leave. The field was already plowed¡ªit¡¯s just a matter of sowing a few seeds. Even the technical police officers they work with have been well trained. They just need to follow the same task procedures. All Jiang Yuan has to do is memorize a bit more about the gait characteristics of the criminal suspects. For a Level 6 Footprint Identification expert, this isn¡¯t much of a challenge¡ªover 400 minutes of Temporary +1 technical skill enhancement was nearing its end, but with or without the temporary boost, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills were more than adequate. He had no intention of solving all the cases himself. Even a Level 5 would find their firepower spilling over in such favorable conditions. Jiang Yuan reviewed the gait characteristics of suspects in 30 cases in one go, then stood in front of the first row ofputers. "Shall we start?" The officer operating theputer was ready for another round. "Just a moment," Jiang Yuan tapped his head, trying to recall, and said, "Do you remember when we were looking at the middle part earlier, there was a man and a woman who walked hand in hand into the mall?" The officer whispered, "God Jiang, many of the people who enter the mall are men and women walking in hand in hand." "But they left the mall one after the other; the woman left first, and the man followed. Both their strides were lengthened; they probably had an argument or something, which was quite memorable," Jiang Yuan borated. The officer slowly shook his head, "If they left the mall one after the other, I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell who is who." "That¡¯s true, you can¡¯t recognize gait..." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, then said, "The man has a significant outward step, almost 15 degrees... it means he walks with his feet pointing outward." Jiang Yuan exined directly in the Indonesiannguage. The officer had a sudden realization: "I don¡¯t remember." "Scroll back and see if you can find it," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, diving straight into work mode. The previously yed videos were also in sequence; with a bit of calction, a time interval of nearby videos could be drawn up. A dozen or so officers searched segment by segment, and in less than ten minutes, the possible clips were provided to Jiang Yuan. "This is the one." After watching the video again, Jiang Yuan pointed at the screen and nodded, "This corresponds to the suspect of Case Number 3." "Eh? You found it just like that?" The officer, who had helped search for the video, guessed why Jiang Yuan was looking for people but was still surprised when he confirmed the suspect. This suspect had to be arrested and brought to court; Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t be speaking off the cuff. However, from the video seen a few hours ago to the photos of a few footprints, to immediately identifying the person¡¯s gait, even the officers on site who had grasped the concept of gait characteristics still found it surreal. The officer directly asked, "God Jiang, you can identify the gait, can you also remember it?" "Of course," Jiang Yuan replied. "But... but I understand that a gait is like a fingerprint, right? Can you remember a fingerprint?" The officer asking was somewhat knowledgeable, which is why he could raise such a question. Jiang Yuan just shook his head, "Gait is something that is remembered by people. It¡¯s different from fingerprints in this respect. Fingerprints require marked characteristic points forparison, while gait is like a face." In the past, Elder Ma used gait tracking in a famous case, where he saw someone and immediately recalled a footprint he had seen a long time ago and confirmed it after arresting the suspect. With Level 6 Footprint Analysis still active, gait Jiang Yuan has seen seems to be etched in his mind, not needing deliberate memory, simr to faces he has seen. Some people¡¯s appearances may indeed be blurry, but when you see them again, you can easily recognize them. Of course, it¡¯s normal to forget a few. For Jiang Yuan at this moment, since there are no cases that need to be pursued, it¡¯s still primarily about remembering a few more people. And to remember more people, it¡¯s better if these people have some distinct characteristics. So, the case Jiang Yuan is focusing on this time is mainly based on the uniqueness of the suspect¡¯s gait. The more distinctive a person¡¯s walk is, the more likely it is to be etched in Jiang Yuan¡¯s memory. After the suspect in case number three was identified, suspects for cases number 17 and 25 were subsequently confirmed. All in all, it took just over an hour. Everyone was invigorated by this progress. Jiang Yuan reviewed another round of footprints collected near the crime scenes, looking at about thirteen or fourteen prints, and his mind linked them to a gait pattern he had seen earlier. So he asked the Dama police officers to look back through the footage as they did for case number three, only this time, everyone was more skilled and it took even less time. Find it, check it, match it, and the case was solved. A senior Dama police officer happily printed out two A4 papers, slid them aside, and said, "The suspect is involved in a smuggling case with a transaction amount over a hundred million. Not bad, it¡¯s like an effortless joy... all thanks to God Jiang." "It¡¯s not exactly without effort though." Ni Cha returned just in time to enter the door and casuallymented, not loudly, followed by augh, "God Jiang, the serial rapist and murderer has been arrested. Our officers found the victim¡¯s blood-stained items at his house." "What are blood-stained items?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised by the arrest of the criminal, but he was a bit curious about the pervert¡¯s psychological state. Ni Cha shook his head and said, "There¡¯s a blood-stained feather, a shell filled with blood, a pair of blood-stained stockings, and a blood-stained hair clip." "Quite a variety. All stained with blood, was he afraid that his status as a suspect wasn¡¯t secure enough?" "This pervert likes to sleep with the smell of blood. He confessed quickly, he was disgusted with himself too," continued Ni Cha, pausing before adding, "We also found newly bought ropes and a suitcase in his car. If not for catching this guy, he was likely about tomit another crime soon." Jiang Yuan was stunned: "He confessed so quickly?" "He couldn¡¯t help it. He has some mental issues, a long history of alcohol abuse, and usage of psychotropic drugs," Zhong Renlong shook his head. Ni Cha added, "He worked at a financialpany. Too much pressure, and it led to this." "So, he really didn¡¯t make any counter-surveince efforts?" Jiang Yuan finally connected the strangeness of the guy. Zhong Renlong grunted in acknowledgment, "Drugged up like a beast. One day, he got the urge to rape a woman who couldn¡¯t move, so he found a street prostitute, took her out to the wilderness, and after using a rock, he did it. Later, he suddenly wanted to rape corpses and decided to do that... something like that I guess." Listening, Jiang Yuan took a deep breath. As a forensic doctor, he thought Zhong Renlong¡¯s description was very urate ¨C that¡¯s how shallow serial rapists are. If they had deeper psychological thoughts and desires, they wouldn¡¯t resort to such actions. Nevertheless, the very thought that a part of humanity could be like this soured his mood. Like those addicted to drugs, such individuals barely retain any sense of human strength. Their ability to carry out offences actually relies on the trust within human society, the sense of security established by good public safety. Social animals require a certain level of trust to advance together. But in this environment, those who choose to be wrongdoers often reap the benefits. A beast who gives up on its own life can easily overpower others, and if not caught, will continue tomit crimes incessantly... "Thank you for your hard work, God Jiang." Ni Cha thanked him again. "It¡¯s no hassle, don¡¯t mention it," Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissively, like an ordinary office worker leaving for the day: "But that¡¯s it for today, we¡¯ll continue with the rest tomorrow. The process will be the same as today, please prepare ordingly." "Understood." The police officers in the room uniformly responded, no need for Ni Cha to say anything. "I¡¯ll head back now." Jiang Yuan said to Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong: "I¡¯m a bit tired today, focusing for too long." Besides these reasons, the news he had just heard was also leaving Jiang Yuan feeling fatigued. "What shall we have for dinner?" Zhong Renlong followed out and asked. "Hot pot. A spicy one." Right now, Jiang Yuan just wanted a fiery hot pot. "Uh... okay." Zhong Renlong wasn¡¯t sure where to find a spicy hot pot in the city, but he left those worries to Ni Cha. Chapter 970 - 906: For the Dragon

Chapter 970: Chapter 906: For the Dragon

"Boss, I have guests from China. Can you make authentic Sichuan hotpot?" Zhong Renlong, panting, entered the shop and didn¡¯t hesitate to show his police badge and asked. As he expected, Ni Cha was taking Jiang Yuan¡¯s dinner request very seriously, so it was left to him to handle. In the end, it was still Zhong Renlong who ran around looking for spicy hotpot. Fortunately, in Dama, there are plenty of hotpot restaurants, even if you discount those that have adapted their vors to local tastes, there are still some authentic Chinese hotpots to choose from. In such scenarios, Zhong Renlong became even pickier and used his police badge to press on without hesitation. The owner of the hotpot restaurant felt somewhat innocent, and even slightly reluctant to serve him, quickly saying, "I don¡¯t know where your friend is from; I¡¯m not sure if they prefer the taste of the mountain city or the ins." Upon hearing this, Zhong Renlong pped his thigh, "It¡¯s you! After searching through several ces, only your restaurant knew to ask that. What¡¯s the taste of your ce?" "My ce... my ce is from Nan Lake..." the owner hesitated to take responsibility. "It¡¯s you! Get the pot and ingredients ready now, and send someone with me. Just charge whatever the price is," Zhong Renlong didn¡¯t even ask if they do takeaways. Whether or not they do, he would have them deliver. The owner hesitated for a moment then said, "Please ce your order now." "Order everything on the menu, and double each." Zhong Renlong charged it on the business card, then hurried to the hotel with the pot, ingredients, and waiter. Hotpot is not allowed in the hotel rooms, so they opened a separaterge private room in the hotel¡¯s restaurant. The budget of Dama Police Station was not extensive, but their authority was not small. Jiang Yuan ate heartily and even started a video call. It just so happened to also be the day his father was hosting a banquet in Jiang Vige, so many rtives appeared on camera. The rtives in Jiang Vige were tearing at the beef and sipping wine while curiously saying: "The police in Dama also wear uniforms." "Look, it¡¯s good to be educated, going abroad to work you can even ride private nes and have foreigners join in drinking; this is what brings honor to our ancestors, unlike us... *burp*... Come on, everyone!" "Jiang Yuan, take care of your health. It¡¯s quite hot in Dama, right? I see you are also wearing quite a bit... Ah, with the air conditioning... That needs more attention, going from a cool room to the hot outside can easily give you a cold..." Jiang Yuan responded casually, not finding it bothersome. He had grown up in Jiang Vige and was very familiar with the many rtives, and such long-term rtionships significantly influence a person. Talking about the trivial matters in the vige, once there¡¯s money involved, they be fewer. Most trivial matters are ultimately about money, with everyone¡¯s ies and assets increasing, the small amounts of money represented by small issues be increasingly insignificant. Why viges abroad seem so harmonious is merely because they have money, not because they are descendants of pirates and pioneers who attendedmunity colleges with fewer conflicts of interest. The next day. When Jiang Yuan returned to the forensicb, his work had already be a routine. It was a workflow he was very familiar with, and after two days, the local police had gradually gotten used to it, naturally speeding up the process. Less than 30 minutes from the start and after warming up, Jiang Yuan identified a suspect in another case. Ni Cha, who hade early to apany him, immediately pulled up the relevant information on the nearbyputer, revealing that the investigation was part of a drug case. "This case can be pursued further. I¡¯ll make arrangements now," Ni Cha bid Jiang Yuan a quick farewell and hurriedly left. The case involved was part of a series of cases, akin to picking up a broken thread that Jiang Yuan had reconnected. Such cases naturally have significant potential to be explored. Ni Cha couldn¡¯t easily let it go. Jiang Yuan nodded and continued to watch videos on his own. Technical work is mostly tedious, and exciting times are always brief. Police work is rtively better, especially catching a suspect eligible for execution, which tends to be particrly satisfying, as if the bullet fired was one¡¯s own. "Pull up the mall¡¯s surveince video. It seems that the suspects in these property crimes like to shop on the day of the crime or the day after," Jiang Yuan stretched his back and reached for water. "God Jiang, have some tea," a gentle voice said, from a policewoman wearing a beret adorned with a blue feather. A beret meant she was an auxiliary police or a volunteer police in Dama, while the official police wore t caps. "I¡¯m Ailin, of Chinese descent, you can also call me Lin Ailin. I¡¯ll be your assistant for the next few days." Police officer Ailin¡¯s skin looked very smooth, she blinked her eyshes, looking at Jiang Yuan with admiring eyes. Jiang Yuan subconsciously summoned the system, and saw the task panel had already updated. Task: Out as a Dragon Task Description: In ces with frequent cases, it¡¯s suitable for a forensic doctor to demonstrate their abilities by solving cases, until 100 foreign colleagues view you as a master detective. Task Progress: (63/100) Thest time he had checked, the progress was only at 8, it had increased significantly in just a few days. However, Jiang Yuan also keenly discovered a bottleneck. To be viewed as a master detective, the least requirement would be that people recognize you. Of course, recognizing each other in a void is not entirely impossible, but the difficulty is definitely not on the same level. Especially for colleagues, his colleagues were all police, and getting police to believe something was truly harder than making dogs not eat feces. On the other hand, police are inherently skeptical, like... "Did Ni Cha assign you to be my assistant?" Jiang Yuan turned and asked Ailin. "It was the decision of the Police Department." Ailin smiled. Jiang Yuan nodded, "In that case, tell Ni Cha to rotate the technical staff, to avoid everyone being too fatigued." Jiang Yuan and Ailin were speaking in Indonesiannguage, and all the officers present understood. Everyone was quite touched and repeatedly said, "No need, we can still hold on, no need for rotation." "Everyone has been working hard these days, it would be better to rotate and rest." "No need, we can hold on." "Um... okay, let¡¯s try and see." Jiang Yuan said, checking the time. The temporary +1 skills were almost refreshed and ready to be used, naturally increasing the intensity. Two hourster. Another 8 suspects were arrested. Three hours after. suspects were arrested. In the fourth hour, Jiang Yuan began to speak faster. This pattern of watching videos and catching people was like ying a matching game with a bunch of walnuts. If one is an expert, with the increasing number of matches, the expert bes more familiar with these walnuts. By theter stages, it¡¯s actually no longer a process of picking up a walnut andparing it with all the remaining walnuts but rather picking up a walnut, recalling a specific walnut seen before, and then, the next task is to prove the uracy of the memory. Level 6 Skills, that¡¯s uracy! Five hourster. A total of 23 cases were solved, and 82 suspects were arrested. The progress in the task Out as a Dragon also increased to (81/100). Lin Ailin opened her mouth slightly, looking at Jiang Yuan, almost turning into starry eyes. "Alright, let¡¯s take a break." Jiang Yuan then paused and added: "Everyone take a longer break. Ailin, call Ni Cha to send someone for rotation." This time, there was basically no opposition from the technicians. Everyone was too busy, naturally losing the confidence to continue. Lin Ailin repeatedly agreed, then whispered softly, "God Jiang, you should also take a short rest in the rest room." Chapter 971 - 907 Regrouping

Chapter 971: Chapter 907 Regrouping

Half an hourter. After a brief rest, Jiang Yuan returned, and the technicians in theboratory had already been reconfigured. The identical process continued, but the cases solved were genuinely substantial. On average, three cases per hour, five suspects, outside Ni Cha was swinging handcuffs till they smoked, still unable to keep up with Jiang Yuan¡¯s pace. Whose case-solving rate is like this? For a normal police investigation unit of about 20 people, arresting five or six suspects at once is considered a significant case. If there are ns to arrest more people, arrangements are made in advance. Even for minor theft or public decency cases, handling a dozen in a day can exhaust the officers. But the cases Jiang Yuan is solving right now simply do not discriminate in size. Anyone who has left footprints and lingered in the vicinity could potentially be recognized by their gait. For criminals, this method of case-solving is absolutely terrifying; even Ni Cha and the others find it just as horrifying. The day passed by quickly, and the personnel changed from fresh to experienced, from experienced to shocked, then from shocked to numb. "This one. Number 4," Jiang Yuan called to a halt and lightly tapped with his hand. The police officers, familiar with the process, didn¡¯t need Jiang Yuan to ramble on; they immediately started capturing screenshots, tossing videos, and checking identities. At the same time, a system interface popped up in front of Jiang Yuan. Mission: When Out, A Dragon Mission Content: The surge in cases is the perfect chance for a forensic doctor to exhibit their abilities, solving cases until 100 foreign colleagues regard you as a legendary detective. Mission Progress: (100/100) Mission Reward: Fly Identification (Level 6) Jiang Yuan took a tactical sip of water. The newly acquired skill was clearly a specialized area under Forensic Entomology, like the corpse-loving fly species often used to determine the time of death, which should fall under the category of Fly Identification. This means that if there are corpse-loving flies near a body, it will be even easier and more urate to determine the time of death. However,pared to broad fields such as Forensic Entomology or Forensic Pathology, Fly Identification is considered a minor skill in forensic science. But any skill at Level 6 can be considered advanced. Moreover, Fly Identification can¡¯t be equated simply with death time determination, as corpse-loving flies are just a small fraction of the fly family. In fact, the known fly species number in the thousands, with more than 1,600 species in the country alone. Being able to identify thousands of fly species means this skill is not to be underestimated. In theory, Jiang Yuan could coast through life with just this skill, coupled with a supplemental allowance from his father. After all, the application of Fly Identification is not limited to forensic science. For example, in agriculture, flies are an excellent supplement of protein, easy to breed and raise, and even home "micro-livestock farms" can be developed, allowing families without enough space or location to raise chickens or geese to obtain protein or rted ie through breeding... Suddenly, Jiang Yuan frowned, feeling that some knowledge really seemed to pollute his knowledge system... "God Jiang, you¡¯ve worked hard, have some tea," Lin Ailin¡¯s soft and mellow voice rang again next to him as she handed over a cup of tea. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind was still spinning around "home micro-livestock farms." He took a sip of tea, put it down, and said to Lin Ailin, "You don¡¯t need to help anymore, you can clock off and rest first, I¡¯ll be off after finishing up here too." "Oh... okay." Lin Ailin stared at Jiang Yuan for a while, then left disappointingly. Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention was on his newly acquired skill. Taking advantage of the excitement, he organized his thoughts. "Let¡¯s continue," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling the production line to start again. The officers, who had just had a bit to eat and drink, got up and busied themselves again. Of course, the busiest was still Jiang Yuan. Even if gait recognition by footprints is simple, Jiang Yuan had to concentrate. The most challenging part of criminal investigation is actually the responsibility. Arresting someone is easy, but a wrongful arrest is harmful to anyone. Therefore, even with 90% certainty, one cannot let down their guard. This invisible pressure, for the police, is what easily leads to stress eating and hair loss. After another hour of continuous work, Jiang Yuan exhaled and stopped. More than 400 minutes of temporary +1 Skills were slowly ticking back down to zero. Jiang Yuan was also extremely tired. He coughed twice and said, "Let¡¯s call it a day." "Off work?" "God Jiang has worked hard." "Thank you, God Jiang." The second batch of police officers who came on shift were already exhausted, slumping over their desks. Upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯smand, they suddenly felt reinvigorated and started packing up. "God Jiang, have some tea." A soft and tender voice sounded again, offering a cup of tea. This time, however, the person was a young man with delicate features, no feather stuck to his forehead, and a beret on his head. He was tall, thin, and had long legs. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before epting the tea, and said, "Thanks." "No need to thank me, God Jiang. By the way, my name is Chen Bingchao, I¡¯m recing Lin Ailin as your assistant." The young man gave a hearty smile revealing twelve big white teeth. Jiang Yuan uttered an "Oh" and asked subconsciously, "Why the change?" "Do you want to switch back?" Chen Bingchao countered with a question. "Uh... It doesn¡¯t really matter to me." Jiang Yuan replied casually and handed the cup back to Chen Bingchao. Chen Bingchao happily shed sixty-four white teeth and said, "That¡¯s great then, please take care of me from now on..." "No need." Jiang Yuan said and added, "I¡¯m almost done here and getting ready to go back." "Ah?" Chen Bingchao¡¯s expression froze as his brain began to frantically think and strategize. That evening, the official aircraft carrying Jiang Yuan returned to Qinghe City with a dozen people and several thousand pounds of durians. Dama had plenty of cases, but the urgent major case had already been resolved. The assembly-line style of case-solving left many other cases and suspects for Ni Cha to be busily dealing with. Jiangcun Residential Area. The lights were bright and the feast was in full swing. Jiang Yuan changed his clothes and seamlessly blended into the crowd. Gatherings in the Jiangcun Residential Area were always easygoing, where older folks sat and bragged, while the young scattered around chatting. Jiang Yuan found an empty table, grabbed a bottle of beer for himself, opened it, and drank. The ice-cold beer flowed down his throat, washing away all the irritations from Dama. "Bro." His cousin Jiang Qiansi handed Jiang Yuan two skewers of grilled meat and said, "I¡¯ve been looking for you for days. You¡¯re so hard to wait for." "There haven¡¯t been any deaths at your school, right?" Jiang Yuan said with a concerned look at Jiang Qiansi. Jiang Qiansi was studying at Shannan University in Changyang City. Coming home just in time to see her forensic doctor cousin raised some eyebrows. Jiang Qiansiughed: "Bro, what are you thinking? It¡¯s because our school¡¯s archaeology department got involved in excavating arge tomb, found multiple skeletons, and heard that you are good with Skull Restoration Skills, so they wanted to invite you to help..." "Your school has an archaeology department?" Jiang Yuan was genuinely surprised. Jiang Qiansi nodded enthusiastically: "It¡¯s not very famous, but it¡¯s the number one archaeology department in Shannan Province. And nowadays, cultural creativity is very popr. Our school¡¯s archaeology department¡¯s club produces cultural products very well. The club president takes his job seriously and has already started his own business at a young age." "Is it this club president who asked you for help?" Jiang Yuan asked with a rxed expression. Jiang Qiansi¡¯s face blushed slightly: "Not really... The archaeology professors also reached out to me. I think they want to take advantage of the opportunity to excavate this tomb to learn some rted techniques." Jiang Yuan chuckled: "Skull Restoration Skills and Forensic Anthropology? Those are not skills you can learn in a day or two." Jiang Qiansi became anxious: "Regardless of whether they can learn it or not, that seniorpletely matches my aesthetic preferences!" Chapter 972 - 908: Skeletons

Chapter 972: Chapter 908: Skeletons

Shannan University. At the entrance, members of the Archaeology Club gathered, waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival. The Archaeology Club mainly consists of active members from the Archaeology Department, but a few were from other departments, all fairly professional hobbyists. They had all heard of Jiang Yuan¡¯s name and were quietly chatting and exchanging information in low voices. President Wang Weiqing, who was leading the group,ughed and tried to lighten the mood: "When Jiang Yuan arrives, everyone could ask some juicy gossip. By the way, shall we think about the questions we want to ask once he is here? What does everyone want to know?" The club members present today were all interested and curious folks. A few of them immediately began brainstorming: "Can he talk about their cases? I saw the news, the recent explosion case seems to have been handled by them." "That¡¯s the explosion case in Meiyang City, right? That case wasn¡¯t too interesting. They solved it by searching the floorboards, just using criminal investigation methods. They didn¡¯t even properly conduct an autopsy, not to mention using forensic anthropology techniques, which were barely utilized." "Why wouldn¡¯t they use them? That¡¯s such a waste. Maybe the case could have been cracked if they had just focused on the bodies." "It¡¯s probably because forensic anthropology is tooplex and exhausting to use. The explosion in Meiyang City killed a lot of people, right? The bodies must have been shattered, scattered everywhere. Using forensic anthropology on each one, who knows how much time it would take." "And in the Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, there are even more bodies. Does Jiang Yuan want to spend time on this? He has already solved several cases in just a few months; is he really going to spend time with us excavating arge tomb?" Thisst statement silenced the group from the Archaeology Club. Still, Wang Weiqing coughed twice and said, "Since Jiang Yuan is willing toe, he must be interested, right?" He directed this question at Jiang Qiansi. Jiang Qiansi had been staring at Wang Weiqing all this while, especially admiring his long legs, clean face, and especially his clean fingers, which were fascinating to watch. Yet, Wang Weiqing¡¯s sudden question was something Jiang Qiansi found difficult to answer. After thinking for a while, she replied in a soft voice, "Jiang Yuan is usually very busy. This time he is returning from Dama, and it¡¯s the Dama Police Station that arranged a government jet for him, just to save time. So, I¡¯m not sure if he will have time to examine the Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, but he probably would like to know a bit about it." Then, another girl, also staring at Wang Weiqing, said with a hint of sarcasm, "A government jet won¡¯t arrive any earlier than an economy seat, though." "It¡¯s a government jet, not a business ss," Jiang Qiansi, the child of a disced family, and thus not fond of suchments, replied calmly: "Separate security check, flying on its own, multiple routes to choose from, of course, it can arrive earlier than economy ss." The girl from the Archaeology Club grimaced and said, "The police should just stick to policing; indulging in such luxuries, sooner orter..." "Zhang Jiao." Wang Weiqing interrupted her, "He is from Jiang Vige, and it was the Dama Police Station that provided the government jet, not for his personal enjoyment..." "I know. I¡¯m just saying, it¡¯s because Dama Police Station has money, which makes him seem so precious." Zhang Jiao was even more spirited now. She disliked Jiang Qiansi, who was just a richdy who didn¡¯t know the hardships of life, just dependent on her family¡¯s discementpensation, and she didn¡¯t see a need to pamper her. Wang Weiqing frowned, about to say something, when an MPV pulled up in front. Following the first MPV was another MPV and a sedan; passengers started alighting from the vehicles. "Brother!" Jiang Qiansi shouted, running to a tall young man who appeared from the leading car. "Hey, am Ite?" Jiang Yuan greeted with a smile. "Not at all. We came early," Wang Weiqing said as he rushed forward to greet him traditionally, introducing himself, "Jiang, I am Wang Weiqing, a graduate student from the Archaeology Department of Shannan University, under Professor Tao Yajie. Wee to Shannan University." "Oh, hello," Jiang Yuan shook hands with Wang Weiqing and said, "I brought some colleagues and friends with me. We¡¯ve recently solved some cases involving drug trafficking, organized crime, and nt crimes. Worried about potential retaliation, our leaders instructed us to travel together as much as possible. This is Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, Tang Jia, and Gao Yuyan." Jiang Yuan introduced the police officers apanying him. Students from the Archaeology Department, who were initially just casually listening, suddenly began to show respect as terms like "drug trafficking," "organized crime," and "nt crimes" passed through their minds. Wang Weiqing continuously nodded his head in agreement. Then, Wu Jun, Wang Zhong, and Miao Ruixiang dismounted from another car, followed by detectives from the Changyang City Bureau from thest vehicle. It was no small feat for Jiang Yuan toe to Changyang City, so Yu Wenshu naturally arranged for someone to apany him. Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to introduce, "These here are my master and my brothers, all forensic doctors. They also came to have a look..." Wu Jun and the others nodded and smiled, all wearing the genial faces typical of seasoned detectives. The students present actively responded under the aura of the seasoned detectives: "Wee, wee." Wang Weiqing praised, "Doctor Jiang¡¯s mentors and brothers are indeed a rare immediatebat force, the professors will certainly be delighted to hear this. Oh right, my teacher has booked a private room here, let¡¯s go have a meal together first..." Jiang Yuan and the others did not decline, forming a grand procession, heading directly to the restaurant next door. Wang Weiqing urgently sent a text message to inform his teacher about the number of arrivals and then mentioned @Little Junior Brother in the group chat, asking to add another table in therge private room urgently. Wang Weiqing¡¯s mentor, Tao Yajie from Shannan Province, is known as the top female archaeologist. This year, she just turned 50, elegantly dressed, exuding a chic aura that can be considered both elegant and noble. After some interactions and a few drinks, getting to know each other¡¯s personalities, Tao Yajie smiled and said, "I have brought some photos of skeletal remains from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, is it appropriate to look at them over dinner?" "I can." Jiang Yuan smiled, pushing aside the dishes in front of him. Tao Yajie then passed the photos to Jiang Yuan. There were several photos, not only full-body images but also some close-ups of skulls, sternums, pelvises, and leg bones. Only a few photos were of the excavation process; the rest were of cleaned bones ced on dissecting tables, most of which were apanied by a scale ruler. This was a very academic approach, theoretically, other schrs could also understand most of the information about the skeletal remains from these photos. Jiang Yuan looked at them one by one, slowlyying them out in front of himself, and eventually counted, totaling seventeen. Jiang Yuan picked up arge pork knuckle and ate it, then raised his ss to drink with Tao Yajie, asking, "Professor Tao, which part of the work would you like me to handle?" Tao Yajie spoke seriously, "Jiang Yuan, the Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb we discovered this time is likely the biggest archaeological project in Shannan Province in thest decade. Particrly, there are multiple skeletons inside, including possible sacrificial victims... I think, for anthropology, this is also a rare opportunity. If possible, I hope you could take over some of the skeletal identification work, which may take a few months, but we could likely produce a very good paper..." "Have all the skeletons been excavated?" Jiang Yuan asked. "They have mostly been excavated, we estimate there are about 23 bodies." Jiang Yuan chuckled: "Then it shouldn¡¯t take a few months..." "Eh?" Tao Yajie did not quite understand. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "Alright, then I¡¯ll join." Jiang Yuan is now a Level 3 forensic anthropologist, which is already at a provincial expert level, and not just in a weaker archaeological province like Shannan. If needed, Jiang Yuan can also increase his forensic anthropology skills by +1. Considering the high difficulty of learning and practicing forensic anthropology, Level 4 should already be at a top national expert level. But given Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding of anthropology,bined with the photos in front of him, he didn¡¯t think the work rted to Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb would take several months¡ªdoing so would mean there were significant discoveries! Seeing Jiang Yuan agree so promptly, Tao Yajie was quite pleased. She often coborated with experts within and outside the province, and this time, due to the rare opportunity presented by the Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, she hoped to lead the project to the maximum extent, thereby preferring to look for young schrs or outsiders like Jiang Yuan. Of course, a young and outsider like Jiang Yuan was just perfect. Regarding the technical aspect... Tao Yajie directly asked, "Doctor Jiang, if you were to determine the age-at-death for these skeletons, how long would you need?" Jiang Yuan pondered for a few seconds and replied, "20." "20 days?" "19, 17, 35, 21..." Jiang Yuan continued, gesturing for Mu Zhiyang to record, then told Tao Yajie, "What I mentioned are the ages-at-death of the skeletons, from left to right..." Chapter 973 - 909: Verification

Chapter 973: Chapter 909: Verification

Tao Yajie stared at the photos on the table, her expressionposed for sixty seconds. Just when the others at the table thought she was about to question them, Tao Yajie took out her mobile phone and said with a smile, "Excuse me, I need to check a few corpses in here. The remains found earlier had already undergone partial anthropological identification..." As she spoke, she flipped through the photos in her album. A waitress came over to change the bone tes for everyone, walking from the door to Tao Yajie¡¯s side, and she happened to see the ring photos of corpses on Tao Yajie¡¯s phone. The photos disyed bones in shades of ck, gray, and white, featuring ghastly close-ups of skulls, ovepping leg bones, and a sternum lying quietly on shiny stainless steel. The young girl rubbed her eyes and looked up again, only to see that there were also photos of skeletal remainsid out in front of Jiang Yuan, appearing even cleaner, more uniform, and deeply unsettling... The young girl couldn¡¯t help but gasp, her eyes widening to perfect circles. Tang Jia, sitting nearby and worried she might scream, quickly stood up and said, "Don¡¯t be afraid, we are not bad people..." "I know. You must be from the medical department... It¡¯s not really good for your health to look at these kinds of things while eating," the young girl had calmed down and resumed her work. "We belong to the archaeology department," said Wang Weiqing, president of the student council, with a smile to the waitress. The young girl uttered an "Oh": "That¡¯s better. Medical students and faculty whoe here often bring such horrifying photos." "So in the end, it¡¯s the medical department that¡¯s the most terrifying, right?" Zhang Jiao said, twirling a phnx keychain in her hand. The phnx was stolen from theb, viting rules and discipline, but she did it anyhow, resembling amon person who often breaks rules, disrespects protocols, disregards organizational rules, acts irresponsibly, recklessly, and selfishly. The waitress, as she changed the bone tes, pondered for a moment and said, "The most terrifying has to be the biology department, especially the freshmen. They often bring in frogs, rabbits, and the like; some even skinned, asking the restaurant to cook them." Zhang Jiao frowned slightly and her phnx keychain stopped spinning. Had they just been outdone? Before she could say anything else, Tao Yajie put down her phone and said in a surprised tone, "The age estimation of the first few skeletons is almost identical to your assessment, Doctor Jiang, differing by less than a year." Comparatively, age estimation of skeletal remains from archaeological sites is harder than those from crime scenes because they have been deposited for much longer, and the tomb environment differs from the external environment, leading to very peculiar umted conditions over the decades. Thus, in addition to her surprise, there was a hint of admiration for Jiang Yuan in Tao Yajie¡¯s tone. Jiang Yuan asked naturally, "Which numbered corpses show a difference in age estimation?" In terms of forensic anthropology alone, he currently isn¡¯t using a temporary +1 skill, cing him purely at Level 3, amongst the top in the Shannan Province archaeological circle, though perhaps not nationally noted. However, the skill of estimating the age of remains in rtion to the time of death is closely rted and Jiang Yuan¡¯s time of death estimates are at Level 6, cing him not only at the national but also the international top tier. Jiang Yuan also wanted to gauge the strength of the domestic archaeologicalmunity as he had been mainly working in the police sector over the past few years. Tao Yajie, thinking that Jiang Yuan was not convinced, couldn¡¯t help but say, "It¡¯s already very urate. You only looked at it for a few minutes... no, not even a minute and you estimated the age of the remains..." As she spoke, she saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s dismissive expression, and wisely stopped to say, "Looking at the records on my side, the third and fourth on the left, our expert group¡¯s estimates are one year younger than yours, 34 years and 20 years." Jiang Yuan let out an "Oh," leaned over, and quickly looked again at the photos of number three and number four, and promptly said, "The fourth one is just a question of the exact part of the year. For the third one, your estimate is off; you used the pelvis for age estimation, didn¡¯t you?" "Right," Tao Yajie nodded. Using the pelvis¡ªwhich is the best bone for anthropological identification, whether it¡¯s age, gender, height, or childbearing history, it¡¯s rtively easy to determine these attributes. At least, the pelvis is the easiest bone to discern such information. Jiang Yuan simply stated, "The pelvis of this corpse indeed has some deceptive qualities, but the body is intact. Therefore, considering the rib cartge, the sternum conditions, 35 years is more urate." Tao Yajie also knows a bit about anthropology, just not much. At this moment, she simply nodded as Jiang Yuan exined because recognizing the age of the deceased is crucial. However, whether it¡¯s 35 or 34 years old isn¡¯t that important. On this point, the rigor of archaeology is notparable to criminal investigation. However, a simple exchange also gave Tao Yajie a clearer understanding of Jiang Yuan. Tao Yajie sipped some wine and then said, "When we return to the universityter, I¡¯ll introduce you to the experts from our team. You will definitely have a lot to talk about." "Okay," Jiang Yuan replied sinctly. With everyone preupied, they casually finished their meal and returned to the university. The campus of Shannan University is vast, but the archaeology department under the Social Sciences College is a small department with only a few professors. Tao Yajie led the group into the academic building, and it only took a few greetings before many students and teachers gathered, drawn by the news. The Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb is the biggest recent news in the archaeology department, and Jiang Yuan has also been in the news a few times. These two factorsbined have sparked great interest among the students of the department. "This is Professor Sun." "Professor Li." "Professor Zhang." Tao Yajie introduced several people in the office, then said, "Our expert team currently consists of these individuals. Doctor Jiang, would you like to say a few words?" "Let¡¯s get straight to work," Jiang Yuan, ustomed to working in external units, stood up under the gaze of several professors, walked casually to a spot he liked, and said, "I¡¯m quite skilled at determining the time of death. How about I start with this part?" "That would be great; I was also thinking..." Tao Yajie told everyone about the mealtime discussion andughed, "If Doctor Jiang can maintain his earlier speed, our progress will greatly elerate." Jiang Yuan nodded and then said to Wang Chuanxing, "Set it up." Without a word, Wang Chuanxing followed the procedural workflow of homicide cases, made a phone call, and in less than fifteen minutes, ready police officers brought eightptops from a car parked in front of the building. Wang Chuanxing and others set up theptops right there and connected to the office printer, starting to produce photos with clicking sounds. Several students were also directed by Wang Chuanxing. For example, Wang Weiqing, the president of the Archaeological Society, was called out because he stood too close and then began his career looking after the photos. As for the professors, they werepletely stunned. They do have graduate students, doctoral students, or temporarily enlisted undergraduates, but the discipline of college students is not on the same level as that of police officers, nor is their execution. Therefore, Jiang Yuan¡¯s subordinates looked extremely efficient, setting up theputers in minutes and, under the guidance of a project team member, categorizing the photos of the remains. Jiang Yuan waited briefly until the first batch of categorized remains was ready, then sat in front of theputer, found a pen and paper, and began measuring, marking, and concluding on the spot. Simr to the dinner table, it only took Jiang Yuan about ten to several tens of seconds to deliver a result. The experts present were astounded. Is determining age this easy? Impossible! Several people spontaneously gathered to closely watch Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment process and debate with him. Chapter 974 - 910: It Makes Sense

Chapter 974: Chapter 910: It Makes Sense

Wang Chuanxing made a photocopy of Jiang Yuan¡¯s paper on the estimated age at death and distributed it to several experts for review. Professors Sun, Li, and Zhang drew on the paper, divided it into three sections, and then each set up their own workstations to verify the findings. They were very familiar and ustomed to reviewing the work of others and providing evaluations. Despite this, the three were very cautious and careful. Estimating the age at death is a very difficult and valuable academic problem. Moreover, the estimation of age at death is closely rted to the development and application of science and technology. In other words, it is normal to make mistakes, and even more normal for discrepancies to ur. To reduce errors and avoid mistakes, everyone naturally uses various methods and tries different schemes. A typical approach, for example, is using a more fitting regression equation. Regression equations are not secret martial art techniques; they are more of statistical results, and are generally public¡ªyet, they are somewhat like martial art techniques since schrs might keep effective regression equations to themselves for personal use. Especially today, with the increase in horizontalmercial projects, even if schrs want to publicize newly developed regression equations,mercialpanies might not be pleased. On the other hand, the most important part of regression equations is not the equations themselves, but the prerequisites; that is, under what conditions which regression equations should be used. This aspect is also very much like martial art techniques. The same regression equation might be very suitable for Caucasians, or even more specifically for the Caucasian race, and if you use it for the Mongoloid race, assessing its effectiveness, whether adjustments are needed, or if a coefficient should be added and where, then it bes a matter of greatplexity and simr to secret martial art techniques. Moreover, a regression equation suitable for estimating age based on the nasal bones of Mongoloid individuals might not necessarily be urate for all Mongoloid individuals, as the Mongoloid race includes multiplenguage families like the Sino-Tibetan, Uralic, Mongolic, Tungusic, Eskimo-Aleut (ancient Siberiannguages), South Asian, Indonesian, Native American, and Polynesiannguage families. Even just the facial characteristics of Chinese people alone have seven major ssifications, including the Bohai Bay type, North China type, Northwest type, Zhongyuan type, Miao Yao type, Hundred Yue type, and North Asia type. (Note) Additionally, the temperature and humidity of the area where the body was found, the altitude, whether above ground or underground, and the ssification of local insects or microorganisms all affect the statistical oue. Thus, making a rough estimation is easy, using anymon regression equation, but achieving uracy and meticulous detail in the process is extremely challenging. At the very least, one must first discern various attributes of skeletal remains and then find the appropriate regression equation. If no suitable equation exists, one might need to develop one, and the actual use andputation are the least valuable parts. For Professors Sun, Li, and Zhang, mastering and adeptly using thesemon regression equations is not a problem. Making judgments about the corpse¡¯s ethnicity or environment is basic. But refining these estimations further will inevitably encounter bottlenecks. The three started with several bones they were confident about but began to hesitate as they calcted. Each skeleton had its own unique conditions. After finishing the ones they were familiar with, the rest required... consulting books. Professor Sun took the lead, saying "I¡¯ll check," and asked his student to bring over hisptop. Seeing this, Professors Li and Zhang no longer held back. They all brought out theirptops and tablets, or sent messages to theirb students to send over the necessary regression equations. Anthropological regression equations are usuallyposed of six to seven, or even dozens of equations in a set. Commonly used equations might be memorized, but lessmon ones typically rely on lookups. Especially for professors, who rarely calcte themselves daily, even if they remember some, they¡¯re not confident enough to use them directly for fear of making errors. However, academics don¡¯t really mind not being able to memorize equations; all three still focused their full efforts on verifying the age at death. There are many skeletons in Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, but the situation isplicated. The most important body of Yong King was found in a coffin, the Princess Consort was buriedter, and the conditions inside the tomb had changed. The remaining skeletons, whether in coffins or not, differed. Additionally, the tomb had been robbed, although not extensively, just exposing some skeletons prematurely. For anthropologists, this series of changes is like a problem that keeps getting tougher. Even just verifying, because Jiang Yuan provided a very small age range, made their heads hurt and feel feverish from the calctions. Click click click click. The printer kept making noises. "Professor Li," Wang Chuanxing handed another sheet of paper to the nearest professor, saying, "This is the death age determination that Captain Jiang justpleted." "Ah, another... another ten?" Professor Li nced over and found it unbelievable. But to say Jiang Yuan was doing it carelessly, he lowered his head to look at the several corpses he had examined and obviously could not say that. "How about your side?" Professor Li whispered to the other two. "On my end, the check went fine, just a discrepancy of one or two years at most, and each person¡¯s numbers differ slightly." Professor Zhang said. Professor Sun took out his phone and said, "Let me ask my students... yes, their checks were all correct." Professor Li raised his eyebrows and distributed the ten new numbers to the three of them. He randomly selected a body¡¯s number and age, looked at the photos and the data collected from the scene, and started rechecking. Naturally, the results matched. At this point, Professor Li felt that he had used his brain too much and simplyughed. He pushed the notebook in front of him away, saying, "Professor Tao has found us strong support." "That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t had contact with Jiang Yuan and have little interaction with the criminal investigation circles," Tao Yajieughed heartily and said, "Doctor Jiang specializes in solving major cases using anthropology; I don¡¯t know how many times." "No wonder, those in criminal investigations like to aim for precision, right?" Professor Li found a reason for himself. Jiang Yuan then looked up and smiled, saying, "Not necessarily. uracy is always paramount, and if there¡¯s no urgent need, we generally aim to be error-free as the basic requirement." "That¡¯s right," Professor Li subconsciously echoed Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, but upon reflection, suddenly sensed a taste of irony. You aimed for the most basic requirements, yet you have pinpointed the death age of the corpse to the exact year? From the perspective of anthropology, this could almost be considered bragging. "Just give me a few more minutes." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem in the mood to chat, after saying a few words, he lowered his head and got busy again. In less than 10 minutes, Jiang Yuan handed another A4 sheet to Wang Chuanxing and then smiled, saying, "With this, the determination of death age ispleted. What¡¯s next?" The three distracted professors looked up involuntarily. "All the determinations of death age are finished," the three didn¡¯t know how to express themselves. Actually, if any of the experts had been in any fingerprint, forensic, or trace evidence groups, they would never argue with Jiang Yuan about the determination of death age. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 6 death time determination, while not omniscient nor perfectly matched for death age determination, coupled with Level 3 in forensic anthropology, is still overwhelmingly superior. Compared to typical experts maxing out at Level 3, he is utterly unstoppable. "Next, I will perform the determination of the cause of death," Jiang Yuan assigned himself the task, which was undeniably reasonable. The three professors unconsciously nodded their heads. Chapter 975 - 911: Isn’t This a Coincidence?

Chapter 975: Chapter 911: Isn¡¯t This a Coincidence?

The next day. Early in the morning. Professor Li was fast asleep with his dog when a phone call woke him up. Opening his eyes, he saw the golden retriever looking at him with a face full of grievance. Professor Li pushed the dog¡¯s head aside and picked up the phone. After looking at the caller ID, he pressed the speakerphone button and said, "Xiao Ming, what¡¯s up?" "Professor, you bettere to the office quick. Officer Jiang has brought people over." Xiao Ming was his Ph.D. student, much like an inner-door disciple, and theymunicated quite frequently. Professor Liughed heartily: "He¡¯s probably here to look at the skeletons, not to arrest you." "No, he¡¯s here for a project meeting." Professor Li looked at the time on his phone with a puzzled expression and frowned, "Is there a project meeting today?" "No. I told Officer Jiang, and he said we can hold it now." Professor Liughed out of irritation: "No matter how awesome he is, he can¡¯t just schedule our working hours." Hearing his master¡¯sughter, the golden retriever crawled over from the side of the bed and wagged its tail, seeking attention. Professor Li gently stroked the dog¡¯s head, feeling slightly better, and cheerfully said: "Tell him, we have a schedule for the project progress, and we¡¯ll just follow that." Xiao Ming internally retorted that the schedule was just copied from the inte. Turning back, Xiao Ming continued: "Officer Jiang said they¡¯ve already determined the cause of death for each skeleton from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, and he wants to hold a meeting today to update us." Professor Li was taken aback for a moment and furrowed his brow: "He finished that by today... from yesterday? He¡¯s messing around, right?" Xiao Ming cautiously replied: "It doesn¡¯t seem like it. He¡¯s quite well-known. He wouldn¡¯t make a joke out of this kind of thing. Professor Tao and the others are looking into it too." Professor Li hissed in astonishment. The golden retriever barked once. Professor Li pushed the dog¡¯s head away and got up, saying, "Fine. He thinks he¡¯s so great, then I¡¯ll head back to school now. Well, I said, is he really that impressive? He probably didn¡¯t even take a close look at the skeletons." "He examined a few and said he wanted to refine them. For the rest, the conclusions were made based on photos and provided data." Xiao Ming didn¡¯t need to be too descriptive; insiders understand the critical points with just a few words. "Forensic fairy, indeed." Professor Li had nothing to say, quickly brushed his teeth, and drove back to the school. Upon entering the office, Jiang Yuan was there examining the bones. The neatly arranged skeletons were stored inrge containers simr to Tupperware, clean and odorless. Jiang Yuan simply poured them out to observe and had someone put them back once done. Professor Li looked around and greeted: "Professor Sun, Professor Zhang, Professor Tao, you¡¯ve all arrived." "We had to, or Doctor Jiang would finish all our work," Professor Sun greeted with a smile. When Jiang Yuan saw Professor Li enter, he nodded and said: "Everyone is here, let¡¯s get started." Being respectable figures themselves, the professors naturally didn¡¯t argue with him over who should lead the meeting, which ended up being chaired by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, not caring much about formalities, simply nodded toward Tao Yajie and said: "I¡¯ll start by discussing my findings and the information I can provide, then you can tell me what you need." Overall, Jiang Yuan found the excavation of Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb quite interesting. Having delved deep into anthropology, archaeology was a field he was bound to encounter. This was Jiang Yuan¡¯s first chance to be involved and to participate in such arge project, which was truly in line with his own interests. However, due to his technical advantage, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have to go through the entire set of procedures with Tao Yajie and the others. Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process and what he expressed were consistent. He resolved what he could, and Tao Yajie could bring up any further issues. This approach maximized Jiang Yuan¡¯s efficiency. As for the coordination behind the project, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t concern himself too much with that. While Tao Yajie didn¡¯t guess Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, she was familiar with the thinking patterns of technical people. As soon as she heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, she agreeably said: "Please go ahead." Jiang Yuan then gestured to Wang Chuanxing. Wang Chuanxing immediately opened the PPT he had created from workingte the previous night. Jiang Yuan took the remote control and pressed it as he said: "Firstly, regarding King Yong. Judging from the remains of King Yong, he was 72 years old at the time of death. The cause of death could have been some type of cancer, as we can see that the sternum and the head of the femur have suffered destruction, with cavities and lytic areas. However, it is most likely bone metastasis, with the primary cancer type unclear." "The bone quality of King Yong is porous, and the traces of kneeling and sitting are very obvious, indicating a habit of kneeling... The wear on the teeth is slightly more severe than that of modern people, with tartar, cavities, missing teeth, and overall maintenance not as good..." "There are multiple traces of fractures, and the ankles also show signs of multiple injuries..." "Long-term horse riding, changes in the spine, pelvis, and knees are evident, and indeed, the wear on the teeth is also rted..." In the first half, Professor Tao and the others listened and nodded. They coulde to simr conclusions after detailed observation of the skeleton. Of course, here, the detailed observations and studies are measured in weeks¡ªa normal LV1 level anthropologist, let them examine what caused a trace, and they could talk about it convincingly as if they clearly understand. But if you give them a whole skeleton and ask how the deceased died, then for the next one or two weeks, unless they sleep next to the skeleton, they wouldn¡¯t reach a conclusion. It¡¯s like when a stock rises at 10:30 in the morning during a trade, at the review, everyone can give reasons and causes, from international situations to the chairman¡¯s son¡¯s private life causing insider information. But if you ask whether the stock will rise or fall tomorrow, they would begin to falter. Jiang Yuan was akin to having drawn out tomorrow¡¯s candlestick chart of the stock. Professors Tao, Li, Sun, and Zhang were greatly shocked. The interns and outsiders¡¯ disciples were even more world-shaken and began to exchange whispers. "Any objections?" Jiang Yuan paused and politely looked towards the crowd. The crowd shook their heads in unison. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan was reassured, just like with the external police force, and nodded, saying, "Then I shall continue." Jiang Yuan: "The Princess Consort of King Yong from Pit 2, female, 78 years old. The cause of death is not very clear, she has given birth. Osteoporosis..." "Victim in Pit 3, among whom three were clearly murdered, suspected to be sacrificial victims. J4 and J5 were 24 and 28 years old respectively, and the causes of death are chopping of the as and the third cervical vertebra, with clear chop marks. The likely cause of death for J6 is suicide by cutting his own throat." "Additionally..." "Pit 4, mainly animal bones, let¡¯s not discuss this for now." Jiang Yuan¡¯s presentation took about 10 minutes, with dozens of PPT slides shown. Professors Tao, Li, Sun, and Zhang simultaneously took notes and had their students take multiple photos for preservation. Even though Jiang Yuan said he would provide a copy of the PPT to everyone, they did not fully trust his word. This was like a moment to underline the key points; toozy to take notes themselves, waiting for the teacher to photocopy notes for you, you¡¯re only cheating yourself. After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he quietly took a sip of water. The conference room screen disyed the END sign for several minutes. Only then did Tao Yajie seem to catch her breath and cheerfully said, "Jiang has sorted out the personnel situation in Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, speaking wonderfully. To my understanding, we can proceed directly to the next phase, right?" "In terms of anthropology, Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb should have no issues," Professor Li immediately concurred. "There might be areas that need supplementingter on, we will need Jiang¡¯s continued help, including the writing of theter research papers, we might require Jiang¡¯s effort..." Tao Yajie didn¡¯t say it so bluntly, but she was worried that Jiang Yuan, being an outsider, might not be clear and felt it needed rification. Jiang Yuan replied breezily, "No problem. If you need help again, just send me a message." "Uh... okay." Tao Yajie had invited Jiang Yuan with the hope that he would oversee this side and participate in the project group¡¯s work. While this was indeed the idea, with the anthropology content of the project group already exhausted by Jiang Yuan, Tao Yajie shook her head helplessly, regretfully saying, "The most regrettable aspect of Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb is that Pits 3 and 4 were robbed, not only resulting in the loss of many cultural relics, but more importantly, the destruction of a lot of information, diminishing the archaeological value of the great tomb." Jiang Yuan understood what Tao Yajie meant. In terms of archaeology, the value of the funerary objects in a burial is only a small part of it. Archaeological excavations are doneyer byyer, with great effort, to understand the living conditions of ancient humans and obtain firsthand information from thousands of years ago... And tomb robbing obviously destroys the most valuable part of that. Jiang Yuan thought about it, as it is said, help to the end... On that thought, Jiang Yuan took the initiative and said, "Professor Tao, speaking of which,bating tomb robbing is the responsibility of us criminal police officers, I¡¯ll pay attention to this case for you." Professor Tao quickly said, "That would be great, wouldn¡¯t it be too much trouble?" "Let¡¯s see. I¡¯ll make some calls first, see if there¡¯s anyone willing to turn themselves in voluntarily," said Jiang Yuan. Chapter 976 - 912 - Proactive

Chapter 976: 912 Chapter Proactive

Bang. The interrogation room door was forcefully shut, causing Wang Zhuang, who was handcuffed to the interrogation chair, to shudder involuntarily. "Wang Zhuang, you remember me, don¡¯t you..." Following the assistant¡¯s routine questioning, the interrogator began with a smile on his face. Wang Zhuang said uneasily, "I remember. After Imitted the crime, it was you who interrogated me." "Well, since we go way back, let me share some news with you." The interrogator looked at Wang Zhuang, his hand pressing down on a thick, prop-like file, "I have a document here, take a look." As he spoke, someone from behind the iron bars handed a thin sheet of printed paper to Wang Zhuang. He lowered his head and saw that one-third of the paper was covered in red text and lines. In the middle, underneath the red text and lines, there was a bolded ck line of text¡ª "Special n for In-depth Crackdown on Cultural Relics Crimes." Wang Zhuang felt a mix of pain and relief in his heart, forcing a smile, "The government... I¡¯m already in prison, even if you crack down, it won¡¯t reach me." The interrogator retorted, "It won¡¯t reach you, but what about your uncle? What about your brother, and all your other rtives? Do you want to have a family reunion in prison?" Wang Zhuang, startled, said, "Ah... that... they haven¡¯tmitted crimes..." "Take a good look at the top. Which unit issued this red-headed document?" Wang Zhuang whispered, "Ningtai County..." Interrogator: "Remember anything?" Wang Zhuang could never forget. Although he had never met Jiang Yuan, the name Jiang Yuan resonated in his ears every few days and echoed in his mind. Wang Zhuang inhaled deeply, "Ningtai Jiangyuan, fiercely zing." The interrogator nodded slowly, "Do you understand now?" "I... I really don¡¯t understand. The government..." Wang Zhuang felt he shouldn¡¯t be nervous, but he still was, and whispered, "My family isn¡¯t from Ningtai, their crackdown on cultural relics crimes in Ningtai County shouldn¡¯t involve us..." "Were you caught in Ningtai County?" the interrogator said indifferently. "Read the document, did it state that the crackdown would only be in Ningtai County?" Wang Zhuang shook his head nkly. "No. It¡¯s nationwide." The interrogator said. "Ah... this..." Wang Zhuang was slightly startled, then remembering what he heard and saw in prison, it suddenly made sense. The interrogator felt enough groundwork had beenid, and considering there were still tasks ahead, he threw a hardball, "Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb in Shannan Province was robbed before the archaeological team moved in. Captain Jiang is now in charge of excavating the Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, and finding it like this made him very displeased, hence the decision to crack down on cultural relics crimes." The interrogator stared at Wang Zhuang for a few seconds, then continued, "And don¡¯t say you don¡¯t know what Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb is. You¡¯ve been in this business for a long time. Even in prison, you¡¯re allowed to watch TV, read newspapers, make phone calls. Such a major excavation, outsiders might not know, but you definitely do." Wang Zhuang gave a wry smile, "I only know a little about it, knew that Yong Wang Tomb was a newly discovered tomb, really didn¡¯t know Captain Jiang went there to excavate... I truly didn¡¯t know that, if I did... I wouldn¡¯t dare." "Stop talking nonsense." The interrogator looked at him disdainfully, speaking slowly and pressingly, "In summary, Captain Jiang hasid down the word: if the tomb thieves aren¡¯t caught, the crackdown won¡¯t stop." Wang Zhuang got confused, "What does that mean?" "Just what it says. The items from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, unless they¡¯re retrieved, and unless the people who excavated Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb are caught" the interrogator closed the folder in front of him, dering the interrogation over. Wang Zhuang got anxious instead, "We didn¡¯t even know what Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb was before, the name itself is new. Even if someone looted the tomb there, they wouldn¡¯t have known to unt that name... and really, I haven¡¯t heard of anyone looting a major tomb around here." "The number of stolen artifacts isn¡¯trge, and their economic value isn¡¯t high, but they hold substantial archaeological value, so..." the interrogator stood up, looked at Wang Zhuang, and said, "Captain Jiang is already gathering cases of tomb robbery nationwide, and I heard that your area is also within the scope of collection." Wang Zhuang stared dumbfoundedly at the interrogator, "He can¡¯t... shouldn¡¯t... it¡¯s said the economic value isn¡¯t high. It shouldn¡¯t be necessary..." ... News spread rapidly. In less than half a day, photos of the red-headed document began circting in some private groups. No one knows how many leaders of tomb-robbing gangs put down their temporary 47K girlfriends, held their phones, and plunged into deep thought. ... "Is there anyone willing to turn themselves in?" In a Ritz-Carlton suite, Mr. Ma with a pockmarked facey naked on the bed, a Tencent Meeting software running on his phone, his voice as somber as ifing from a grave. A group of tomb robbers, using alternate ounts, huddled in the software, falling into silence. They were all here for a transaction today, but by the end of the meeting, Mr. Ma read out the "Special n for In-depth Crackdown on Cultural Relics Crimes" issued by Ningtai County, turning a somewhat lively scene utterly quiet. "This isn¡¯t a joke, who wants to turn themselves in?" a middle-aged man¡¯s voice came through, equally heavy. Mr. Ma merely grunted, "Not turning in? Then Jiang Yuan will start sweeping for tomb-robbing cases." "Let him sweep then." Someone chuckled. "Huadouzi didn¡¯t show up." Mr. Ma suddenly made an offhand remark, asking, "Does anyone know where he went?" "He said he wasing." Someone whispered. Mr. Ma scoffed, "Right, he said he was going toe. I heard that too. But the news I got tonight, his situation got involved." "Huh? Huadouzi got involved? Where did you get that news?" Suddenly, several avatars lit up in the meeting software. Mr. Ma smirked, "Hui went to pick up goods from him, nearly didn¡¯t make it back. Ningtai police came knocking directly." "Ah?" "What?" The meeting software lit up. "You really think you a bunch of old farmers can act wlessly? It¡¯s just that they didn¡¯t have the time," Mr. Ma paused, then said, "I heard that Ningtai Jiangyuan¡¯s team, which was recently formed, includes several dozen people, even Huadouzi¡¯s uncle and nephew are going in." "This..." "That¡¯s too fast." "Can¡¯t be..." Mr. Ma sat up and slowly said, "I have a suggestion, since none of us here have robbed Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb... let¡¯s report it, whoever has any relevant clues, let¡¯s report them!" "This..." In the meeting software, suddenly, it fell silent again. "I¡¯ll start, I¡¯ve already made up my mind," Mr. Ma coughed twice, and said, "I remember seeing a porcin piece two years ago, in the same style as the artifacts from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb..." Chapter 977 - 913: Remove Saburo

Chapter 977: Chapter 913: Remove Saburo

"Captain Wang, we¡¯ve received two more emails, I¡¯ve printed them out," said the intern police officer watching theputer, handing over two documents to Wang Chuanxing. "Comint letters? Good stuff." Wang Chuanxingughed heartily, looked through the papers, quickly examined the emails again, and promptly forwarded them to the workgroup, then he went to see Jiang Yuan with the printed documents. The content of bothint letters primarily consisted of textual descriptions, and though not sufficiently conclusive as proof, they both pointed toward a suspect named "Han Sang" and his gang. The same name had appeared in previousint letters, and personnel had already been dispatched to investigate. Therefore, Wang Chuanxing wrote a memo for Jiang Yuan, then called the officers who had gone to investigate. As the call connected, he could hear the howling wind and many people shouting through the headset. "Hello? How¡¯s the situation over there?" Wang Chuanxing was a bit worried. If this was indeed the thief¡¯s den, sending only four people might be too few and likely to be disadvantageous. "We¡¯ve broken into the thief¡¯s nest," replied the officer Weng Fang with a determined tone, followed by a loud gunshot. "Gunshots? Weng Fang, do you need backup? Where are you?" Captain Wang suddenly sat upright. Weng Fang hummed affirmatively, his voice calm, "No worries, someone just fired a warning shot into the air, it¡¯s a bit chaotic here, we can¡¯t let them escape. We¡¯re fine, the local police have sent arge team to assist, and they are very supportive. The one who fired was their officer." Captain Wang finally breathed a sigh of relief. In the context of domesticw enforcement, if police really decided to use firearms, iming one against a hundred might be an exaggeration, but handling ten by one was truly manageable; as long as non-lethal spots were targeted. Unlike the Old American cops who would first fire three shots to the chest in a T-shape to check the situation, then aim three more at the head, even the beanbag shots could send someone to the funeral home. Meanwhile, Weng Fang continued, "This Han Sang¡¯s gang is quiterge, and their crimes are likely significant. Just now if the chief of the criminal police hadn¡¯t made the decisive shot, someone would have escaped. They really dare to resist." "First, ensure safety," advised Wang Chuanxing, echoing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s traditional teaching method, then asked, "Have we caught anyone yet? Or is there a need for a more forceful capture and pursuit?" "We¡¯re watching the main suspect right now, some minions might manage to flee, we don¡¯t have many more people than them." Weng Fang paused, then added, "I have to go now, we¡¯re moving in." "Alright, alright." Captain Wang put down the phone, thought for a moment, briefly exined the situation to Tang Jia and others who were also listening, then hurried to the neighboring conference room to report to Jiang Yuan. The next day. Early morning. Professor Li, deeply asleep cuddling his dog, was awoken by the familiar rm ringing. "Woof!" Professor Li answered the phone, and the dog barked first. The caller was one of Professor Li¡¯s graduate students, a distant disciple unfamiliar with senior members, hearing the voice from the other side prompted images of numerous illegal websites in his mind, suppressing his shock and desire to share, he said, "Professor, I got a notice from Jiang Yuan, there¡¯s a meeting on the project scheduled to convene in one hour." Professor Li was stunned, "He might as well consider us his employees at this rate." "Should I reply with that?" asked the student, unsure of how tomunicate with people in society. Professor Li, clearly ufortable, hard-swallowed his phlegm and pped his dog¡¯s backside, "Of course not. Never mind, I¡¯m up now. Tell them I¡¯ming from outside and might be slightlyte." "Yes." "Also, why does Jiang Yuan want to hold a project discussion? Isn¡¯t his forensic work finished?" Professor Li spoke as he leisurely dressed. The student quickly added, "He mentioned... bringing suspected stolen artifacts from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb to the university to help with authentication..." "Why didn¡¯t you say that earlier?" Professor Li angrily switched to speaker and threw the phone aside, quickly dressing, and said, "Tell them I¡¯ll rush over as quickly as possible, I¡¯ll try to be on time." "Ah... Don¡¯t rush too much, be careful on the road," the student thought he was showing concern for the professor. Professor Li, irritated again, gave another p to the dog¡¯s backside, "Are you trying to get me killed?" Shannan University Archaeology Department. Several long tables were pieced together, each hosting several artifacts, including porcin, pottery, as well as silver and copper ware, and even more unique items like silk-burning furnaces and stone pirs. Professors Tao, Sun, Li, and Zhang each stood in front of a table, some closely inspecting, others stepping back to scrutinize the pieces. The professors in the department, generally, were not well-versed in artifact identification; at most, their knowledge extended only to categorizing and dating the items, and they wouldn¡¯t dare purchase relics not unearthed by themselves, much like their understanding of anthropology. However, assuming that these artifacts came from Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb, the four quickly ssified them. Tao Yajie couldn¡¯t hide her excitement, saying, "The form looks correct, and with this, our final weakness ispensated." "I agree, it wouldn¡¯t be strange for these items to be found in Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb," Professor Li, who had arrived just before the meeting, said softly, "Jiang... Jiang, may I ask where these artifacts are from? I mean no offense, I just want to know about their provenance. You know, we value a well-documented lineage..." His exnation was somewhat awkward, but the other three professors were curious too, so none interjected. Jiang Yuan felt it necessary to rify, "What you see here is mainly stolen by a tomb-robbing gang led by Han Sang. After their sess, they divided the loot in their hotel room. Sang got items numbered 1 to 4, four antiques in total, and the others got between two to four pieces each. In total, 42 artifacts were stolen." With 28 artifactsid out on the table, a clever student calcted, "So, 14 pieces were sold?" "All were sold, just through different channels." Jiang Yuan paused, "Han Sang¡¯s gang has beenpletely arrested, some downstream dealers were caught, and through these few dealers, we apprehended several suspects who bought the stolen goods. These are what were confiscated on the spot. Additionally, some were sold by dealers to other dealers, and some might have passed through four to five hands, which will take more time to recover." "That quick?" Tao Yajie expressed surprise, then chuckled, "From what I know, typical cases involving artifacts take a long time to resolve, sometimes months or even years..." "Yes, typical cases are like that," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t assess other departments, as everyone¡¯s resources were different from the start. Although there¡¯s a special team for inspecting cultural relics within the administrative system, they aren¡¯t part of the criminal investigation system, so there¡¯s a difference in their effectiveness. Moreover, the criminal police system generally invests less in crimes regarding cultural relics. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team has evolved to a point today where Jiang Yuan selects cases himself. If he decides to tackle Han Sang¡¯s case, it means dozens of elite forces will be involved. In fact, it went beyond that. Since Han Sang¡¯s case was reported, Jiang Yuan¡¯s team deployed just four members who coordinated with local police to take down Sang¡¯s gang. Other contacts were almost the same; as soon as someone provided details about locations and persons involved, Jiang Yuan would make a call and local criminal police would immediately act to recover both people and items. It sounds tedious, but these operations werepleted in the past two days. It¡¯s often said that all criminal police share a bond; usually, they amodate criminal police from other regions handling cases locally. Offering assistance for a couple of days is the norm, and only a few ces focus on fees. Correspondingly, everyone hopes for simr support if they¡¯re handling cases in other provinces, expecting breakthroughs on longsting cases. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s situation wasn¡¯t usual. Jiang Yuan has managed cases for police departments across almost ten provinces, answering countless calls and messages; saying his reach is nationwide isn¡¯t an exaggeration, but a statement of fact. Even within the field of criminal investigation, saying "there¡¯s nowhere unknown to him" isn¡¯t an overstatement. Under such circumstances, when Jiang Yuan seeks cooperation, local criminal police will wholeheartedly proceed. It¡¯s considered as returning favors to Jiang Yuan and handling incidents in their jurisdiction; there¡¯s no reason for inefficiency. The only resistancees from the criminals themselves, but that is least important to the police. The professors weren¡¯t oblivious to worldly affairs; after exchanging looks, they began to metaphorically apud Jiang Yuan at the scene: "Well-deserved, Jiang!" "It should be said, it has to be Jiang!" "This way, our progress will be much faster..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, adding, "The interrogation isn¡¯t concluded yet. Once it¡¯s finished, we should have a report detailing which artifacts were taken from the tomb and their approximate cements..." "That would be excellent!" Tao Yajie and Professor Sun exchanged a smile and said, "I just discussed this point with Professor Sun; it¡¯s truly marvelous. The cement of burial goods sometimes speaks more to the identity and status of the tomb¡¯s upant, telling us about ancient human living conditions." Jiang Yuan, who had also brushed up on relevant knowledge, waited until they finished, then casually pulled out his PDA, smiling, "Speaking of which, let me share some research findings from the past few days." "Please, go ahead." The four professors obediently took their seats on both sides of the conference table. Seeing this, other students dared not speak up and obediently sat behind their respective professors, arranged ording to the order of inner and outer disciples. Meanwhile, two undergraduate girls holding hands sat opposite Jiang Yuan, pretending to take a selfie while discreetly flipping their phone camera to snap several photos of Doctor Jiang. They could boastter that not only was the big shot skilled in handling corpses, he was also quite photogenic. Chapter 978 - 914: Guests and Hosts Fully Enjoyed

Chapter 978: Chapter 914: Guests and Hosts Fully Enjoyed

In the conference room, four professors sat up straight, and the students all craned their necks upward. It couldn¡¯t exactly be said they were eager for knowledge, but at least they didn¡¯t oppose the flow of information through their minds. Jiang Yuan was quite satisfied with this. He had wandered through ten provinces, and although many local criminal police were obedient and disciplined, they didn¡¯t really have a passion for knowledge. This didn¡¯t affect daily case-solving, but it somewhat dampened the spirits of those imparting knowledge. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "After I went back and carefully examined these skeletons, the first thing I noticed was the fairlymon morphological changes in the maxiry sinus. Half of the skeletons showed such conditions, suggesting chronic sinusitis of the maxiry sinus." Sinusitis of the maxiry sinus is basically sinusitis. However, in today¡¯s conference, Jiang Yuan naturally used the precise terminology favored by anthropologists rather than tranting it to ¡¯sinusitis.¡¯ The specialized jargon among peers is both natural and necessary, as it tends to be more urate and simpler than generalnguage. It¡¯s like saying "333" in a game rather than typing out "please retreat," or trendy young people forming a ¡¯CP¡¯ at an electronic music festival instead of bluntly proposing a temporary hookup agreement to be dissolved after a few days without further obligations. Furthermore, there are four sinuses, so it is necessary to specify that it is the maxiry sinus. Professor Tao Yajie eximed, "Half of them had this? I didn¡¯t notice." "There are a few that are quite hidden, but the changes in bone morphology are clear." Jiang Yuan signaled Wang Chuanxing to disy the PowerPoint he had stayed up all night to prepare. In the PowerPoint, Jiang Yuan had erged photos of several skulls and thoughtfully circled them in red to clearly indicate changes in bone morphology. Students including Wang Weiqing expressed their sudden understanding with an "Oh" and couldn¡¯t help but whisper among themselves. One student couldn¡¯t restrain his thoughts, saying, "Arge number of individuals have sinusitis. Could this indicate that the climate at the time was rtively cold and dry?" "Could there have been air pollution at that time?" "Is it possible that governmental or noble families used coal or charcoal for heating, could this be the case? It¡¯s said that the high mortality rate of Ming Dynasty princes was rted to the charcoal used as tributes." "It might also be because there was a prevalent disease at that time..." Jiang Yuan and others let the students discuss. These points were summarized in textbooks or previous papers, and it was good to use them as a first-round of basic evidence now. As the students discussed, several professors and other teachers in the group gradually joined in as well. Jiang Yuan himself was more than happy for someone else to finish the follow-up analysis. For anthropology, finding that most people had sinusitis was like drawing an auxiliary line in solving a geometry problem. The problem is for everyone, the diagram is for everyone, but until someone draws the right auxiliary line, the problem cannot be solved. After the auxiliary line is drawn, the steps to solve the problem are rtively simple, or even, the better the auxiliary line is drawn, the simpler the solving steps are. Jiang Yuan effectively finished discussing the sinus problem in just a few sentences, but the rted discussions naturally continued. Tao Yajie hesitated and asked Jiang Yuan, "Is this not too much of a waste of your time?" After all, this man had apprehended a group of tomb robbers in not much time. Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, "I am also interested in understanding everyone¡¯s ideas." His statement was sincere; he came to The Great Learning to participate in this work simply due to his interest. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have gotten involved at all. Tao Yajie smiled and nodded, "Although young people¡¯s discussions are somewhat superficial, their ideas are quite good, and often they have innovative points." "It¡¯s just right for me." Jiang Yuan modestly chimed in, also speaking truthfully. The discussion was not only about anthropological topics but also about archaeological ones, revolving around anthropology, which allowed him to gain some rted knowledge, making it easier to target learning if necessaryter. And of course, if he could find some useful Legacyter on, that would be great too. "Yong King¡¯s Great Tomb is a very rare specimen domestically, with its main tomb mostly intact. Our paper ns to start from the lifestyle and burial ceremonies..." Tao Yajie briefed Jiang Yuan on the paper¡¯s approach and said, "This time, being able to recover the stolen relics from the tomb, especially getting relevant photos, can be said to be in perfect condition..." She was speaking, and Professor Sun agreed, "Indeed, the approach we¡¯re taking this time is quite advanced domestically... Of course, thanks to Jiang¡¯s help in retrieving theplete burial items from the tomb, this is also unique in our country..." "I think it¡¯s very promising to start from the clear indentations of kneeling at the Yong King¡¯s tomb. We generally believe that kneeling wasn¡¯tmon during the Yong King era, but from the condition of these bones, at least Yong King himself and his family still retained the habit of kneeling." Tao Yajie naturally continued the discussion. When Jiang Yuan heard this, he said, "Exactly, I was about to mention this point. The clear indents of kneeling are primarily from the Yong King and his spouse. I personally checked some contemporary literature and saw some photos, and I believe that the choice to kneel is closely tied to religious beliefs." "Buddhist practices?" Tao Yajie unconsciously nodded, "That¡¯s a substantial reason. We indeed found arge number of Buddhist scriptures among the funerary items." "Doesn¡¯t Buddhist practice conflict with sacrificial burial rites?" Professor Sun raised a question. "That might be rted to Yong King¡¯s son." Tao Yajie responded. Soon, a few more people joined the discussion. Then Wu Jun also started participating. His unique insights about the funerary items, forms, and rituals in the tomb were discussed, despite his basic knowledge being somewhatcking, he could still converse with several archaeologists. This made the atmosphere of the discussion meeting exceptionally harmonious. Jiang Yuan quietly waited until the end of work hours, watching Wu Jun exchange contact details with several people, then invited everyone for a meal. The restaurant was already booked, a very fine delicacy shop. As is well known, great tombs are built surrounded by mountains, and therefore, ces where great tombs are unearthed naturally have delicious wild delicacies. Especially ces with newly unearthed tombs, if the mountains remain undeveloped, it means the environment has been good since ancient times, and the regional wild delicacies tend to have an orderly inheritance and stable gics. Thus, if one has the money and leisure, isn¡¯t bogged down by work, and does not have family obligations, and if one wishes to eat wild delicacies, one could entirely follow the address of the newly excavated tomb to find a local farm stay or a professional delicacy restaurant. Jiang Yuan tapped into some social funds from his father and treated everyone to legally hunted wild game such as wild boar. The gathering was merry and enjoyable. Chapter 979 - 915 Taihe Working Group

Chapter 979: Chapter 915 Taihe Working Group

Back in Ningtai County, Wu Jun remained in a state of excitement. For him, this was a very interesting experience, especially during the exchanges with several professors and students, where Wu Jun gained a wealth of firsthand information¡ªtoday¡¯s world is flooded with information, and while obtaining it is no longer an obstacle, the challenge lies in discerning and utilizing it. Face-to-face conversations with the professors and students were quite effective in resolving issues of trust. He believed they wouldn¡¯t speak carelessly to a police officer. Moreover, even with Wu Jun¡¯s Lv0.1 interrogation skills, he could adequately judge whether most students and professors were lying. After returning to Ningtai County, Wu Jun visited Jiang Yuan¡¯s grave with some water-dipped leaves for sweeping, and then hurried back home. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, felt slightly ufortable. Once home, he silently lit three incense sticks in his own ancestral shrine, and also put on a jade Lord Guan pendant around his neck. It wasn¡¯t until his father served him a bowl of beef soup, heavily seasoned with pepper, and he drank it heartily, that Jiang Yuan felt truly back in Ningtai. "Take a few days off if you¡¯re tired." Jiang Fuzhen, his father, seeing his condition, said, "All this running around, I get tired just watching you." "What¡¯s the point of resting? We just had a trip around Su Ind," Jiang Yuan said with augh. Jiang Fuzhen waved his hand: "That wasn¡¯t exactly fun. After I got back, I even hired six more bodyguards for the vige, all from Ningtai County and veterans of fieldbat units. Their whole families have moved into our Jiangcun Residential Area..." Jiang Yuanughed and said, "Didn¡¯t they just build a police kiosk near the residential area? Security is definitely guaranteed." "Yeah, it¡¯s not really about needing it, just don¡¯t want the vigers to overthink," Jiang Fuzhen said before adding, "You should take it easy like a celebrity, maybe go to Paris and feed the pigeons or something." "I¡¯d rather go to Paris to eat some pigeons. Traveling is too exhausting," Jiang Yuan expressed hisck of interest in such leisure activities. Jiang Fuzhen shook his head: "Actually, flying there in a private jet isn¡¯t tiring, but it would be a waste for our family to buy something like that. It¡¯s a pity my ranch didn¡¯t make money, otherwise..." "You wouldn¡¯t need to think about such things even if you made money," Jiang Yuan thought to himself, just hoping the family ranch wouldn¡¯t get demolished. As for making money from the ranch, he did not think it suited his father. However, speaking of the ranch excited Jiang Fuzhen, and as he opened up, he shared some techniques on selecting and breeding stock, talked about fodder issues, and discussed personnel management¡ªso eager, as if he really wanted to teach Jiang Yuan everything. Jiang Yuan simply listened; he was never the obedient type. Or perhaps, Jiang Fuzhen wasn¡¯t a very imposing elder either, otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have pursued a career as a forensic doctor. Woof woof. Two Dobermans, attracted by the smell, stood at the door, shyly greeting their young master. Jiang Fuzhen beckoned for them toe over andughed, "I always feel the ones most eager for you toe home are these two dogs." Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "Dad, don¡¯t say that, people might misunderstand." ... The next day. Jiang Yuan returned to work at the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment. After exchanging greetings, he reached his office to find that Wang Chuanxing and others had already sorted out several case files and other information, waiting for him to review. "Didn¡¯t you rest yesterday?" Jiang Yuan still showed concern for his subordinates. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s eyes had a hint of blue beneath, but his voice was still robust as he said, "There¡¯s no need for any special rest, a good night¡¯s sleep is enough." Jiang Yuan nodded without indulging further in that topic and instead asked, "Have you reviewed these cases? What can you tell me?" "Alright." Wang Chuanxing also immediately switched into work mode and said, "This time, a total of three bodies were brought in. One came from Qu¡¯an County and the other two were retrieved from the Tai River, delivered ording to the Taihe Working Group¡¯s protocol. They haven¡¯t been autopsied yet, so it¡¯s not clear whether they are rted to any cases." "The one from Qu¡¯an County is confirmed to be case-rted, right?" Jiang Yuan understood. "It should be. The forensic doctor from Qu¡¯an County determined that death urred before the body entered the water, but the source of the corpse has not been established yet." Wang Chuanxing paused for a moment, then expressed his concern, "Three bodies, isn¡¯t that too many?" "Let¡¯s see. First, thaw the body sent from Qu¡¯an County, and I¡¯lle over as soon as it¡¯s ready." In theory, he could autopsy all three bodies in one day, but there was no need to rush. It was exhausting and would also affect the efficiency of the special investigation team. Focusing on one task at a time is more time-efficient than juggling three, which is a stark contrast to online gaming; another major difference is the actor Nick Cheung. "Yes," Wang Chuanxing replied, then added with a hint of worry, "With the increasing number of drowning cases, could this be overly challenging?" Jiang Yuan gestured dismissively and said, "I will go look at the bodies first. You guys organize and understand these three cases to see if there are any breakthroughs in other aspects." Drowning cases are indeed veryplex, arguably the mostplicated among all kinds of death investigations. Therefore, even for Jiang Yuan, there¡¯s no guarantee of cracking the case. With drowning cases, or bodies found in water, the first challenge is the outdoor environment. This single factor sets them significantly apart from urban bodies, which are less subject to change and usually not exposed to scavengers. Bodies in the wild and water, on the contrary, undergo various changes and are prone to being scavenged by wild animals or fish, further destroying trace evidence on the corpses, and the perpetrators are not even the killers. The additional difficulty with aquatic corpses lies in their mobility. Some bodies drift for hundreds of meters, others for several kilometers; inevitably, some even cross county lines, cities, or even provincial borders. Such bodies, apart from biological evidence like fingerprints and DNA, are virtually impossible to trace back to their origins, which makes solving the cases even more challenging. This is one of the reasons why there was such enthusiasm from all parties when Jiang Yuan proposed forming the Taihe Working Group. Expecting Jiang Yuan to solve such cases could be down to luck, whereas for individual county bureaus, it¡¯s often all about chance. Jiang Yuan began reviewing the case files where he stood. These three cases had been officially absorbed by the Taihe Working Group, essentially making them Ningtai County¡¯s responsibility. With his own cases, naturally, he would devote 120% focus. As Jiang Yuan waited for the body to thaw, he began with the photographs. After looking for a while, he sighed, grabbed an A4 sheet, and began drawing on the spot. The photo of the body was taken about a week after being submerged, the facial features badly swollen and unrecognizable, but for a Level 6 forensic sketch, this was just right. Different from sketching a face based on a suspect¡¯s description, forensic sketching is meant for victims with distorted facial features. Level 6 proficiency meant roughly tranting the appearance of a zombie back to its human form. Quickly, Jiang Yuan sketched a portrait of the victim based on the facial condition of the corpse in the photo. He took a picture of the sketch with his phone, casually uploaded it to the policework, and a prompt notification appeared immediately. Chapter 980 - 916 Moving Forward

Chapter 980: Chapter 916 Moving Forward

"Check this person, it¡¯s highly probable that he¡¯s the victim." Jiang Yuan forwarded the information on the police service device to Wang Chuanxing. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s pale eyelids kept twitching: "Identifying identity through a sketch? When did you learn to sketch?" Using photos to confirm identity is a basic function of the current policework. However, a photo is just a photo; determining identity through a sketch is challenging, as anyone who has experienced an art exam knows. Even eight years of art practice could still result in a portrait resembling a monkey more than a human. Moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketches were based on observing corpses, not criminal sketches with eyewitness participation, which only heightened the difficulty. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to exin just how powerful Level 6 Skills were. He nced at Wang Chuanxing and said, "I used the time you make PPTs to practice. Call Team Meng and Captain Wu to join us." Wang Chuanxing pped his forehead and stood up straight, replying, "Yes." Having identified a suspect, the first drowning case had made a breakthrough. Jiang Yuan then shifted his focus to the other two cases, which would take up the morning. By the afternoon, more rity emerged on another young woman¡¯s drowning case, which seemed less like a crime and more like an idental drowning, thus treated as an unnatural death. After wrapping this up, Miao Ruixiang called and asked, "Captain Jiang, the body thawed this morning is a bit soft. Should we start the autopsy now, or wait for further thaw? I¡¯m concerned it might be too fragile." Anyone who cooks knows that once meat ispletely thawed in the kitchen, it¡¯s actually harder to cut. When it¡¯s just slightly soft and not too firm, just right for the knife, that¡¯s the best time to proceed. Moreover, the autopsy process is lengthy; aplete autopsy taking two to three hours is quite normal. For a forensic doctor at Jiang Yuan¡¯s level, who might have a bit of a public image to uphold and thus takes more photos and videos, managing the thawing time bes even more critical. You can¡¯t let it thawpletely, which could result in the internal organs turning messy and sticky,plicating the procedure. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment after receiving the call and responded, "You perform the autopsy. Can you handle it independently?" "Ah? Just by myself?" Miao Ruixiang was astonished. He had experience performing autopsies alone, but not all autopsies are the same. His usual autopsies on unnatural death cases were the simplest type, whereas re-autopsying a body that had already been autopsied was much more challenging. If Miao Ruixiang felt overconfident about it, that would be inappropriate. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mention the breakthrough in the case, and simply instructed, "Have someone record and photograph the whole process, take multiple photos, and shoot from different angles. Also, collect more samples. I know samples were taken during the previous autopsy, but taking more now is fine, too." This set of requests from Jiang Yuan sounded like precautions against Miao Ruixiang¡¯s potential mistakes, but in reality, it allocated significant funds to him¡ªan allowance not typically afforded to just any forensic doctor. The expenses, including collecting and storing additional samples beyond the first round, might not be approved by themanding officers. However, experiencees at the cost of funds, and while some spend purely on expenditures, others learn and train simultaneously. Miao Ruixiang soon grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s intent and cheerfully proceeded with the autopsy. Jiang Yuan then tidied up and left work early. Today, only one body was thawed, and another was determined to be an unnatural death, ruling out criminal involvement. The identity of thest female corpse was hard to deduce from photos alone; Jiang Yuan would have to wait for it to thaw the next day. As for working overtime, even if Jiang Yuan wanted to, he couldn¡¯t just add another body for examination. And with other types of cases, Ningtai County¡¯s police force was already overstretched, not requiring his involvement at the moment. In truth, although different criminal cases might appearplicated in execution, the investigative approaches arergely simr. Police officers with a few years of experience are already familiar with most types of cases; it generallyes down to issues of authority, resource allocation, and personnel management. It¡¯s just homicide cases that differ significantly, mainly due to their low urrence rate. Police departments often overexert in this area, making the operations of homicide task forces quite distinct from those of regr cases. The next morning. Jiang Yuan arrived at work on time and found the office bustling with activity. "Captain Jiang, the suspect from yesterday¡¯s first body has been brought in for questioning. He has already confessed on the way here," Wang Chuanxing reported with a tense expression. Jiang Yuan, unsurprised, simply acknowledged with an "Oh," and asked, "Was it a personal connection?" Only through a personal connection could the suspect have been apprehended so quickly. "Yes," said Wang Chuanxing. "The suspect is the victim¡¯s husband, who imed his wife had run away and did not report her missing." Jiang Yuan nodded; with such a lie in the process, it would be difficult for the suspect to rify his innocence. Wang Chuanxing paused before adding, "Miao Ruixiang haspleted the autopsy on the first body. Would you like to have a look?" "Let¡¯s take a look. Have number two and number three been thawed? If they are thawed, let him dissect number three as well," Jiang Yuan straightforwardly assigned the tasks. He then reviewed Miao Ruixiang¡¯s autopsy video and photos, quickly scrolling through the content. It took less than ten minutes to understand the specific condition of the body,rgely because there were noplications and the case was essentially solved. The third body was an unnatural death, falling into the category of potentially not requiring an autopsy, but Jiang Yuan still preferred to proceed. After all, the body was a waterlogged corpse, which could be misleading. By the afternoon, Jiang Yuan calcted the time and went to the funeral home¡¯s autopsy room himself. The second body showed external injuries, so although it, like the third, had entered the water before death, Jiang Yuan believed this body was likely involved in a criminal case. The autopsy¡¯s findings, however, did not support this conclusion. From the standpoint of forensic pathology, the victim had simply drowned, and whether the external injuries were rted could not be determined with the forensic technology avable. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan was in no hurry. He first took a lung sample, part of which was sent to the Physical and Chemical Laboratory for testing, then calmlypleted the autopsy, and methodically wrote reports and filed them. The process was slow, but the deliberate dissection of the body was somewhat therapeutic, bringing a sense of calm and reducing anxiety and restlessness. In the evening. The autopsy of the second body was finished. Jiang Yuan casually sketched a drawing but failed to find a match after scanning it several times with the software. With this, theplexity of the case increased. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment then called Shen Yaowei to him and said, "The location where number two was found has a lot of silt and reeds, almost like a slow zone of Tai River. Take a team and search the area again, see if you can find any items that could confirm number two¡¯s identity." This method was like searching for a needle in a haystack, but such demands are plentiful in homicide investigations. Shen Yaowei, pleased with his important role, sincerely thanked Jiang Yuan and then spiritedly led his team out. Chapter 981 - 917: Visiting

Chapter 981: Chapter 917: Visiting

Shen Yaowei searched along both banks of the Tai River for over a week, not even returning home over the weekend, and took samples upstream along the Tai River for nearly 20 kilometers. This distance was already quite substantial. In the past, within the Ningtai County Bureau, this would essentially be considered the limit; to continue searching along the river would be too burdensome for theboratory. However, after such a lengthy search, still no matching diatoms were found, indicating either poor luck in sampling, or that the victim¡¯s entry point into the water was not within the 20-kilometer range upstream. This conclusion made Shen Yaowei¡¯s mood tense. Monday morning. Shen Yaowei inquired about theb results just in time for work and, confirming that there was still no match, went disheartenedly to report to Jiang Yuan. It had been some time since the Ningtai County Bureau had such aplex case of its own. Of course, this wasn¡¯t traditionally a case for Ningtai County alone, but rather for the entire Tai River Basin, which previously would probably have been coordinated and arranged by Qinghe City Bureau. Alternatively, if the body had drifted to another city, it would be out of Qinghe¡¯s jurisdiction altogether. Well aware of theplexity of floating body cases, Shen Yaowei reported somewhat helplessly: "We started sampling every 300 meters andter changed to sampling every 150 meters, but there were no matches. The body couldn¡¯t have drifted down from Pingzhou, could it?" Once a body crosses the provincial border, the difficulty of investigating the case skyrockets. Not only ismunication troublesome, but the key issue is that the financial expenditure is likely to increase significantly, which for most county bureaus is a fatal drawback. However, this was not an issue for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Ningtai County¡¯s infrastructural development speed and level were maxed out, and even the small benefits that trickled down to the courts and procuratorates made the funding for case solving rtively ample. Jiang Yuan pondered and said, "We can¡¯t rule out this possibility." "Yeah, if it can drift 20 kilometers, it can drift 200 kilometers. This case is troublesome," Shen Yaowei sighed heavily. He too hoped to solve the case decisively, especially since receiving Jiang Yuan¡¯s attentiontely, he harbored some ambition to make significant achievements. Shen Yaowei¡¯s cousin, Shen Yaoguo, is the head of the Changyang City Public Security Detachment, a veryfortable and prestigious position in the police hierarchy. However, when ites to the business side of things, and the internal disdain hierarchy in the police circle, the poor but specialized criminal police are always at the top. Shen Yaowei does not expect to reach the level of a detachment head like his cousin, but if he can achieve something in his role as a criminal officer, it would not be a waste of his career. Shen Yaowei had many thoughts and was full of ideas, and thinking of this, he couldn¡¯t help but look up at Jiang Yuan, tentatively saying, "As far as I know, in some ces, cases of drowning deaths, especially those bodies that float downstream from upstream with unclear circumstances, are often reported as non-criminal deaths." Non-criminal deaths are, by definition, contrary to natural deaths. Murder is certainly a non-criminal death, as are drowning, traffic idents, or various idental deaths. For the police, non-criminal deaths are those where homicide has been ruled out; in other words, they are not criminal cases. If it is not a criminal case, then there is no need to solve it. Just to resolve it, is that considered resolved? Perhaps so. However, Jiang Yuan would not have such thoughts. After running around dealing with difficult cases in various cesst year, it was impossible for him toe back to his own jurisdiction and produce half-baked results. "Call Director Liu," Jiang Yuan said. With his current technology also having limitations, it would be very difficult to even determine the source of the corpse, let alone the exact location where the body entered the water, without DNA, facial recognition, or fingerprint identification technologies being applicable. At this time, Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductive abilities seemed particrly useful. While waiting for Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan casually matched several fingerprints, clearing a few topics in the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group." With an expert like Jiang Yuan willing to actively respond to inquiries, the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" was well-known in forensic evidence circles, inevitably attracting other local forensic experts and even some at the expert level to join. Jiang Yuan treated everyone equally and answered the questions whenever he could. He was unlike many famous experts who, by the time they made their name, were already old, eager to work but not able to do much, hence they treasured their energy and strength. Plus, many were unfamiliar with the inte, often choosing not to answer questions in simr groups. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s current fingerprint identification ability, acimed as top-tier domestically, is wless. Yet, he¡¯s just over 20 years old and works within a small unit like Ningtai County, where his daily life revolves almost exclusively around cracking cases, leaving him brimming with unspent energy. For him, spending a few minutes to match fingerprints in the group chat is practically a pastime. Especially after the members of the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" became familiar with Jiang Yuan, they also learned that he appreciated feedback. asionally, they would report who had been sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or ten years due to fingerprint identification, and Jiang Yuan would feel quite pleased. Meanwhile, some experts who joined the fingerprint groupter were initially looking for Jiang Yuan to conduct fingerprint identifications. After they had their fingerprints identified, it wouldn¡¯t be proper just to leave the group, so out of reciprocal courtesy or the interest of favor, they often ended up taking some fingerprint identification jobs in the group to help out with matching. Through such exchanges, the scale of the "Shannan Fingerprint Exchange Group" grew, and the speed of problem-solving increased, attracting even more people to join. "Jiang Yuan." Liu Jinghui came quickly, driving over as soon as he got the message. Jiang Yuan greeted him with a smile, invited Liu Jinghui to sit down, served tea, and asked, "Has anyone briefed you on the case? What are your thoughts?" "I saw it. A 21-year-old woman who can¡¯t be identified by facial recognition, no DNA records, no fingerprint records, this is rare in itself," Liu Jinghui paused, then asked, "I wonder how the sketch you drew is, what level is it at?" "About the same as my level of footprints identification," Jiang Yuan knew he needed to share such information with his teammates. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyelids twitched: "When did you learn this technique?" "I just happen to pick up things particrly quickly," Jiang Yuan felt this exnation was sufficient. As expected, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t pry further. What was there to ask? In this world, there truly are people who can remember anything at a nce, and those who possess perfect pitch. The levels of many skills that Jiang Yuan has demonstrated so far are already at a national and even international top-tier, attributing it merely to effort and not talent would beughable. "If the sketch is of that level, then it suggests the victim¡¯s face isn¡¯t in the photo database. She never processed a second-generation ID card?" Liu Jinghui inferred and took his reasoning a step further. "It¡¯s almost impossible that she¡¯s an urban resident; it¡¯s very inconvenient for a 21-year-old not to have a second-generation ID card. More likely, she lived in the countryside with poor living conditions and family circumstances." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly: "There are signs ofbor on her hands and feet; this is indeed possible." At the moment, he could only corroborate Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction rather than counter it. Given the current environment, even signs of manualbor or even long-termbor can¡¯t conclusively prove that one has lived in the countryside. Moreover, the very concept of ¡¯living in the countryside¡¯ is bing increasingly blurred. Yet, in contemporary society, a 21-year-old girl, with an agreeable appearance, who has lived in the countryside engaged in long-termbor, is an exceptionally rare case. Liu Jinghui continued, "Poor family and living conditions, a 21-year-old female who has likely been living in the countryside for a long time, it¡¯s very likely she might already be married... Of course, she may not have a marriage certificate. Has she ever given birth or had an abortion?" Both of these can be determined through an autopsy. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "No. No medical traces at all. Her teeth aren¡¯t very neat, no dental work either." "This only further substantiates our previous observations. The key issue now is that it¡¯s tough to determine where she¡¯s from." Liu Jinghui pondered for a moment, sipped his tea, and added, "Should we start visiting upstream from where the body was found?" Inquiry is less costly than screening¡ªin this case, it essentially involves going to nearby viges to ask if there have been any missing persons recently, if they¡¯ve seen a certain person, or if there have been any unusual circumstances. The real challenge lies in the scope. If it¡¯s tracing back a few dozen kilometers, that¡¯s manageable, but if it¡¯s tracing back hundreds of kilometers, the workload bes enormous. It¡¯s not feasible to only visit the nearest vige along the river; often, the ones deeper in the mountains are even poorer. What¡¯s more, there¡¯s no clear definition of ¡¯poor¡¯¡ªhow poor is considered poor? "Let¡¯s start with the inquiries. At the very least, we have a picture. Travel through a few more viges, and we might just get lucky," Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then decisively made a decision. Chapter 982 - 918: The Bell Tolls

Chapter 982: Chapter 918: The Bell Tolls

"Heard there¡¯s a case that¡¯s hit a dead end?" Huang Qiangmin rushed over as soon as he heard Liu Jinghui had arrived. "The second body fromst time, that female corpse, we still haven¡¯t confirmed the source of the body." Jiang Yuan stood up from behind theputer, stretched his back and continued, "This case is rather troublesome. The body¡¯s decay wasn¡¯t too severe, and after creating the sketch, it turns out the facial recognition came up with nothing. In this scenario, even Skull Restoration Skill is useless." When Jiang Yuan dares to form the Taihe Working Group, Skull Restoration Skill is a major trump card. Theoretically, as long as the skull is intact, Jiang Yuan can reconstruct the deceased¡¯s probable face before death through Skull Restoration Skill. With the widespread application of facial recognition technology in the country, the difficulty in determining the origin of a body is perhaps only one percent that of a regr police department. Forensic sketching at LV6 is an additional enhancement to Skull Restoration Skill. The applicability of Skull Restoration Skill is stronger; it¡¯s fine as long as the head remains, regardless of whether the body is decayed or not, and being reduced to a skeleton actually makes it easier. The advantage of forensic sketching is speed; unlike Skull Restoration Skill, which can take weeks of work, a quick few strokes can produce a sketch in ten minutes to an hour. Moreover, the uracy of these sketches is higher than that of Skull Restoration Skill, and they have a higher sess rate when applied to facial recognition." However, right at the start of theTaihe Working Group, there was a body that couldn¡¯t be recognized, which was somewhat unexpected for Jiang Yuan. By contrast, Huang Qiangmin felt it was normal, and chuckled, "It¡¯s verymon for facial recognition to fail; if you use a drawn sketch instead of a photo, of course theputer won¡¯t recognize it." Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic sketching LV6 has been around for a while, but it¡¯s not been used much, which Huang Qiangmin also just barely understood. Jiang Yuan shook his head firmly and said, "My forensic sketching is well-practiced, almost at the level of footprint identification. It shouldn¡¯t be unrecognizable." While speaking, Jiang Yuan casually picked up a digital tablet and with a few swift strokes, sketched Huang Qiangmin¡¯s current appearance. It wasn¡¯t lifelike, akin to the feel of an ID photo, but withplete facial features¡ªnose, eyes, ears¡ªneatly captured. Huang Qiangmin looked on, speechlessly, before then responding with seriousness. Having been a criminal investigator for 30 years, he had seen countless ID photos and knew exactly what features to look for at a nce. Simr in type were criminal photographs, taken by photographers who specialized in capturing criminals and deceased persons. In the era before digital cameras, each photo had to perfectly capture facial features, which required special practice. As for whether the photos looked good or not¡ªbefore beautifying effects were allowed on ID photos, how many truly looked good? The Jiang Yuan-drawn Huang Qiangmin certainly wasn¡¯t handsome, but that was because Huang Qiangmin himself wasn¡¯t handsome either. However, this photo, if used on a wanted poster, would be absolutely problem-free. This is to say, Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketching skills were indeed top-notch. Just like Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin quickly updated his understanding of Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills and gradually frowned, "Even with this level of detail, you couldn¡¯t get a match?" Then, Jiang Yuan reported his analysis and decisions made with Liu Jinghui. Huang Qiangmin was now the Commissioner and while he still held the position of captain of the criminal police, he seldom interfered with criminal cases. Officially, he left the different teams to their autonomous problem-solving, but in reality, he had given maximum authority to Jiang Yuan. Otherwise, if the Ningtai County Bureau were to appoint a new captain of the criminal police, they would have to go through a period of adjustment with Jiang Yuan. The key issue is that Jiang Yuan might not be willing to work in tandem with a neer, and for such a small county bureau, keeping someone as significant as Jiang Yuan was not easy. At least after Chief Chai left, the higher-ups had adopted a moreissez-faire approach. "I basically agree with your judgment. Do you have enough people for home visits? Do you need support from other squads?" This was also the main reason Huang Qiangmin came to understand the situation. "We have Captain Wu¡¯s first squad helping out, so for now, it¡¯s manageable," Jiang Yuan answered. Huang Qiangmin nodded, then said, "I will reorganize the personnel. This kind of visitation can easily expand." In reality, it would expand. If the visitation went well initially, the case might be solved quickly, but if it didn¡¯t go well in the beginning, and if no suspect or evidence was found where it was most likely, the area of visitation would have to be extended. This part can be understood as drawing a circle: as the radius increases, the area of the circle expands exponentially. Jiang Yuan nodded, feeling a bit frustrated. After all, he was still a technician, even his shoulder patch was the grey one used by technical police officers. That was his forte. As for home visitation, that was more a traditional skill of detectives¡ªthe so-called proof of investigative ability through the calluses on their feet. "If there¡¯s no breakthrough in the short term, we might have to deploy two squads," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "I shouldn¡¯t have much to do in the next couple of days. If there¡¯s no progress on this drowning case, I can assist other squads with their cases. Let me know which squad needs help." Apart from the newly established Taihe Working Group, there were no other high-profile cases locally in Ningtai. Saying that the doors weren¡¯t closed at night might be an exaggeration, but apart from spontaneous incidents and crimes of passion, high-quality, premeditated crimes, and professional criminals were very rare. Under these circumstances, several detective teams were chasing after old cases. Jiang Yuan had cleared murder cold cases up to 30 years back, but among the ¡¯big eight¡¯ serious crimes, there were still many old cases for the other seven types. Some of them involved grievous injuries, sexual assault, arson, explosions, and were quite severe, worth tracing. It was just that they were also more difficult to solve. With Jiang Yuan bearing the role of a resource support, he used to work more on significant cases outside of town, and when he asionally returned, he couldn¡¯t just pick cases at will. This time was no different; surely there was a squad out there hot on a case, needing technical help from Jiang Yuan. Sure enough, it didn¡¯t take long before Liu Wenkai showed up. "Heard you¡¯re switching shifts here?" Liu Wenkai arrived with two people, bringing notebooks and case files, and cheerfully approached. "What?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand at all. "Commissioner Huang means, ringing your bell doesn¡¯t cost you now, justpensate for more timeter," Liu Wenkai said seriously, adding, "It¡¯s said that this isn¡¯t illegal." "Did I say that?" Huang Qiangmin walked in. Liu Wenkai hurriedly said, "The not illegal part, that was just my wild guess!" Huang Qiangmin: "Is the key point whether it¡¯s illegal or not?" "If it¡¯s not illegal, how can it not be key?" Liu Wenkai retorted. Huang Qiangmin gave up: "Let¡¯s talk about the case." "Oh, on our side, there¡¯s an unsolved robbery case. The incident took ce 12 years ago when a suspect robbed the owner of a fruit supermarket during closing time, taking more than 7,000 yuan in sales and several packs of expensive cigarettes before fleeing on a bicycle. The owner reported the crime, and the police conducted a quite detailed investigation..." Liu Wenkai rushed over, so as he introduced the case details, heid out photos, quickly covering the table. The police at Ningtai County Bureau were very proficient in how to utilize Jiang Yuan, mainly just that there were no avable time slots. Knowing that he could use Jiang Yuan for two days, Liu Wenkai naturally brought over all the equipment he could. Jiang Yuan just looked at each photo one by one. With the drowning case still in the interview phase, he had no leads for the moment. As for the current unsolved robbery, the previous special investigation team conducted a thorough inquiry, but the criminal also prepared very meticulously. From the few surveince photos, one could see that the criminal used a hat, sunsses, a mask, a scarf, and gloves, not exposing any part of themself. The investigators also guessed that the suspect might have tattoos on their body, and they investigated arge number of ex-convicts. Jiang Yuan pondered, thinking from his perspective, there was nothing wrong with the previous investigators¡¯ approach. The criminal was very professional during the robbery, not only fully equipped but also with a clear escape route. The robbery was also swift and efficient; wielding a baton and a de, he smashed the supermarket¡¯s counter in a couple of swings, threatened the owner to hand over money while helping himself to the cigarettes. The entire process couldn¡¯t be said to be seamless but having experience in crime was certain. This kind of skill is very practical and can¡¯t be practiced in advance to get the right feel. "How about it, any ideas? Do you need our cooperation with anything?" Liu Wenkai was very proactive. Even though it¡¯s their own technician, since Commissioner Huang said time needs to bepensated, Liu Wenkai naturally didn¡¯t want to waste a minute. After thinking for a while, Jiang Yuan said, "We can only try one thing at a time. From the approaches you¡¯ve taken, I think we can start from the traces of tools." He often chose his investigative n from his technical skillset. Of course, that¡¯s how technicians think; facing the same issue, someone good at Java uses Java, one proficient in C uses C, and someone good at passing the buck prepares the buck in advance. It¡¯s all the same principle. Following the tool trace approach, Jiang Yuan used the traces left at the scene to sketch the shape of the baton and knife used by the suspect. With the sketches made, he then searched for them in the tool trace database. With this search, several photos of the tools or tools involved in the case appeared on the screen. Jiang Yuanpared them one by one but had only flipped through a few when he noticed that the front end of the baton in one photo was somewhat distinctive. On a closer look, it turned out to be from a case that had already been closed, a brawl case. During the sh, one party used a baton while the other used a chair, resulting in both parties getting a beating... "Bring these two individuals in for questioning," Jiang Yuan called up the information from the brawl case and looked at the height and age of the individuals involved, feeling even more certain. Liu Wenkai then received two printed sheets and looked at the time, still a bit surprised: "That came out so fast?" "Lucky, the first method I tried gave results," Jiang Yuan said as he waved Wang Chuanxing over, "I remember, the drowning victim had multiple antemortem injuries, likely from a violent beating." "Can that be traced to a specific tool?" Wang Chuanxing was listening nearby and immediately drew a parallel. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "The beating was probably done with hands, but after being hit, she might have bought some anti-inmmatory or pain relief medication. It¡¯s possible she didn¡¯t necessarily go to a major hospital; a nearby clinic could also be a possibility." "A female who had been beaten within a month, the clinic staff should have a deep impression," Liu Jinghui had been brooding in thought, now suddenly sat up straight. Chapter 983 - 919: Three Routes

Chapter 983: Chapter 919: Three Routes

Viges with clinics are already considered big viges, moreover, they have to be ones where poption loss is not severe. Ningtai County has some level of small industry support, with the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries all still alive, managing to retain a poption to some extent. Especially those over the age of fifty, many have returned home for retirement and work, which makes frequent clinic visitors out of them. Such big viges or administrative viges were not originally the focus of the investigators¡¯ inquiry. However, many from the surrounding natural viges oftene to seek medical treatment and buy medicine. Asking from one household to the next, aside from the longer distances, is not too taxing. "Women who¡¯ve been beaten? Why don¡¯t you ask the Women¡¯s Federation?" The person in charge of a certain clinic, who also acts as both physician and nurse, takes a drag from the cigarette offered by the investigator, examines the photo in hand carefully, and then makes a suggestion. The investigator across from him, sipping tea to relieve fatigue, asks with a smile, "Does the Women¡¯s Federation take care of such matters?" "Whether they take care of it or not, whenever there¡¯s a man in our vige who beats his wife, the director of the Women¡¯s Federation will report it. They alwayse byter to talk it out. Now, isn¡¯t there a requirement to keep ledgers? There should be records. And in serious cases, they even ask you police to pay a visit. Wouldn¡¯t there be records of that as well?" The clinic doctor watches TV, so he knows what the police are after. The investigator can¡¯t help but stand up, pondering aloud, "Your suggestion isn¡¯t bad, it seems we can indeed give it a try." The clinic doctor instantly feels ttered,ughing heartily. The co-investigator asks at this time, "How does your Women¡¯s Federation director report? Through paper reports or some other method?" The simpler the reporting method, the moreprehensive it naturally bes, but the more rigorous the process, the more credible it is. Showing considerable initiative, the clinic doctor says, "Let me give the vige head a call, you can ask him." He makes the call in front of the two investigators, and by the time the conversation ends, the booming sound from the handset has already proactively ryed the information. "Reported in a WeChat group? That could be used." The investigators hesitate for a moment, but still decide to report the information up the chain. That¡¯s how investigations and visits go; you utilize new information as ites and report new findings immediately. Otherwise, there¡¯s no point in dispatching someone to inquire and investigate. Following the investigator¡¯s report, Liu Jinghui immediately goes to find Huang Qiangmin, who then coordinates to start looking for rted personnel within the whole county. This time there¡¯s no need to visit the scene again. Instead, the list of women who have recently suffered domestic violence, as collected by the Women¡¯s Federation, is drawn up. Based on the addresses, photos are directly sent through WeChat to the women directors in the local viges to inquire whether the person is a local resident. They don¡¯t bother inquiring in the city for now, as recognition might not be forting, and moreover, the situation of not having a second-generation ID card is lessmon in cities. Inparison, the more remote rural areas not only face situations where people do not acquire second-generation ID cards, but there¡¯s also the possibility of selling their ID cards, as well as the theft and use of another person¡¯s ID card. The possibilities are various, and primarily, problems have to be resolved through human intermediaries. Liu Jinghui¡¯s series of actions are ferocious, seemingly reducing the workload significantly, but he himself is quite exhausted. Especially the interaction with other departments, which is somewhat burdensome for him. In just a few hours, Tang Jia has synthesized the information across the county andes to report, saying, "Director Liu, based on the information we currently have, there¡¯s no match. Additionally, the women directors in some ces aren¡¯t very cooperative; it seems as if they haven¡¯t really collected information on the women who have been domestically abused." "Then we continue to send people to investigate and visit," Liu Jinghui is not surprised at all. In a ce like Ningtai County, it would actually be strange if everyone waspliant and easy to direct. Tang Jia, with some of the romantic idealism typical of youth, huffs and says, "Such a simple task, and they can¡¯t even do it properly. At the very least, they should ensure the protection of women and children¡¯s rights, that¡¯s the bare minimum. People have been domestically abused, yet they don¡¯t even ask!" "You can¡¯t say they are indifferent, every ce has its own different situations, right? Maybe the abused women themselves don¡¯t want to make a big deal out of it. If you were the local women director, what could you do?" "If I came across an abusive man, I¡¯d stomp him t with one foot!" Tang Jia clenches her fists and stamps her foot with force, apparently not just pretending. Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice and said, "Then, you¡¯ll be in charge of the canvassing for this area." Liu Jinghui was basically conscripting strong hands. If there was any technical substance to this task, it involved interacting with different people, entailing a high social cost, which was also a burden for Liu Jinghui. In addition, the investigation along the clinic¡¯s route must also continue. Looking into two lines simultaneously is basic procedure for such a homicide case. Tang Jia was stunned for a moment, but didn¡¯t say anything and just epted the task. She represented Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, yet the main canvas force was notprised of team members. Over the next two days, Tang Jia ran around for over ten hours each day, havingbed through every corner of impoverished Ningtai County, yet failing to find the woman in Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketch. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s gold-lettered signboard, everyone would start doubting the uracy of the information. On her way back, Tang Jia reported to Liu Jinghui again. However, Liu Jinghui had not considered for a moment that there was a problem with the sketch provided by Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan had already imed it was of forensic-level uracy, and Liu Jinghui¡¯s first judgment was, "Then that means she¡¯s not from Ningtai County. Keep searching further up along the Tai River." "The team that started canvassing earlier should have already covered some ground," Tang Jia paused and then said, "It wouldn¡¯t be quite appropriate for me to take charge." "That¡¯s true, I¡¯ll talk to Jiang Yuan," Liu Jinghui responded, then turned to find Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was still quite small in scale, a unit of just over twenty people that was extremely flexible. When Liu Jinghui arrived, he saw Jiang Yuan surrounded by a pile of case files, severalputers set up in front of him, and three or four people attending to him, looking very busy. Liu Jinghui felt a surge of joy and quickly asked, "Any breakthroughs?" "Which case are you referring to?" Jiang Yuan looked up, confused. Liu Jinghui was taken aback: "The drowning case." "Oh, I¡¯m preparing for that," Jiang Yuan mumbled and then counter-asked, "Any breakthroughs?" Only because Liu Jinghui was logical, he immediately realized Jiang Yuan was working on another case, freeing up manpower for the drowning case, and he was asking about the progress of the drowning case. Liu Jinghui then exined the situation and continued, "We need to extend our search a bit further, preferably covering an entire city at once for efficiency, makingmunication more convenient." "That¡¯s feasible," Jiang Yuan agreed. The cost ofmunication was indeed high; even for him, though he could rtively easily contact the local criminal police teams, they were still not as convenient as the local forces. Moreover, it was necessary to consider that the other party also had their own work and couldn¡¯t let their officers waste too much time. Liu Jinghui added, "We can use the experience from this time to divide it into three lines of inquiry. The first line, inquire with official vigemittees, like women¡¯s directors, through reports of domestic violence to understand the situation. This can be done through online channels; the second line, visiting clinics, which requires offline work; and third, we still need to conduct widespread canvassing in themunity, getting a grasp of the situation, focusing on viges closer to the Tai River, and targeting the poorer, more conservative viges." The difficulty of the three lines of inquiry increased progressively, with the first being arguably the most cunning and the third being the most cumbersome. However, police who have been on the job for a long time know that cunning methods are not always clever, and cumbersome methods are not necessarily dumb. At this point, the case had drawn the focus of both Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, using nearly half of the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s police force, turning it into a case that must be resolved with full concentration. Any considerations to save on manpower or expenses would be misguided. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly: "I¡¯ve also called Director Xu... it wasn¡¯t an invitation, just a query, discussing the strategy. He also believes that it¡¯s time to trust the abilities of the grassroots police." "Well said. I¡¯ll spread the word among everyone," Liu Jinghui said with augh, then proceeded to write a WeChat message with a serious expression. Chapter 984 - 920: The Young Wife

Chapter 984: Chapter 920: The Young Wife

The tender yellow Jetta VS5 raced across the vast wilderness, looking from afar like it was here for an outing. When the car reached the vigemittee office, four uniformed police officers got out. "Director Jin." The officer who got outst greeted in the local dialect before giving way to the two officers in the front seat. "Director Jin, hello, we have a case we¡¯d like to ask for your assistance with." The two detectives who exited first were from Ningtai County, and they spoke in Mandarin now, very politely. "Director Jin, have a cigarette." "Director Jin, you¡¯ve been a director for quite some time, haven¡¯t you? Nowadays the grassroots are really held up by experienced folks like you." The two detectives buttered up the vige director with sweet talk, and soon had him all confused. In the vige, the police are quite respected, and here these respected "Uncle Police" were offering him cigarettes in such a nice way that Director Jin¡¯s smile was readily apparent, like a vige cat that had moved to the city, gradually bingzy and good-for-nothing. The two detectives exchanged a look and smoothly began their questioning. If we talk about contrasts, the suspects who saw the detectives were definitely among the most distinctive. Before achieving their goal, the detectives were all charm and smiles, seemingly ready to seduce you with even their overnight stubble. Once they¡¯d achieved their goal, the sternness and anger they showed towards criminals were beyond words. "But to tell you the truth, we don¡¯t have such a person in our vige. If we did, I would definitely remember." Director Jin was cooperative, but he couldn¡¯t help the detectives crack the case right away. "It¡¯s not necessarily someone from the vige, maybe someone who married into the vige?" The detectives didn¡¯te all this way to ask one question and leave; that would defeat the purpose of the visit. Director Jin took another look at the photo, then slowly shook his head: "I really don¡¯t remember, nowadays the young girls all wear makeup; if it was someone who married in and then quickly went out to work, or just came back to the vige to get married and then left, I wouldn¡¯t recognize them." "That¡¯s true, I could hardly recognize my sister when she got married because of the makeup." "Exactly." "Moreover, people aren¡¯t like before, having big banquets in the vige every other day. Many brides now hide at home after getting married and you can¡¯t necessarily even see them..." "Indeed." Under the probing of the two detectives, Director Jin felt a connection and looked at the photo again: "You know, you¡¯re right, we can¡¯t really match the vigeds with girls who look like this... not that it¡¯spletely impossible..." The detectives perked up at this point. The truth be told, they¡¯d visited so many viges, using simr techniques, but the absence of the suspect was the clue. As Director Jin spoke, he seemed to recall something. The detectives immediately became alert, and the lead one asked: "Is there anyone in your vige whose wife looks somewhat like her?" "Somewhat like her, I think, but I don¡¯t remember clearly now, she¡¯s not from our vige but from Yuefeng Vige above." Director Jin began to exin the rtionship between his and Yuefeng Vige. Originally, they were adjacentrge viges, but over time, as more and more people from Yuefeng Vige went out to work, the poption of over a thousand dwindled to just dozens of regr inhabitants. The detectives hesitated slightly: "So, this girl you mentioned, does she live in Yuefeng Vige?" "Well, she was there during the New Year, but I don¡¯t know about now." Director Jin said. "Did the girl not go out to work before? Or has she just been staying in the vige?" From the detective¡¯s viewpoint, if you go out to work, a second-generation ID card is almost a necessity. Director Jin still shook his head and said, "I don¡¯t know," then added, "I¡¯ll ask around for you." "We¡¯ll need another photo." The detectives said cheerfully. Reasons were something that could be fabricated; a photo was more reliable. While Director Jin was making the call, the younger detective took the opportunity to check his phone for updates. The Ningtai County Bureau detectives¡¯ group chat was quite lively. [We¡¯ve just taken down another arsonist over here, from 14 years ago, a juvenile offender.] [We¡¯re after a burr from 10 years ago, can you believe it?] [The statute of limitations must be up soon, right?] [No, there¡¯s a new case. They haven¡¯t be monks over these 10 years.] The young detective stretchedzily and said with a smile, "Looks like our team is expanding. Captain Jiang has been rounding up people these past few days." "If we don¡¯t wrap this up soon, Captain Jiang might have to call Xu Taining." The older detective shook his head knowingly: "But this is our own case." "Captain Jiang and Xu Taining are close; it shouldn¡¯t be too much trouble, right?" "Xu Taining isn¡¯t out for your money; he¡¯s the type who doesn¡¯t spend but can¡¯t close a case." The older detective said earnestly: "If even Captain Jiang can¡¯t solve it, just imagine how much money Xu Taining would have to spend. It¡¯s unthinkable." The young detective was startled: "The way you put it, it sounds a bit like the healer who cannot heal himself." While they were talking, Director Jin hurried down with his phone, calling from a distance, "I¡¯ve got a picture, and it looks somewhat simr to what you guys have." "Let me see!" Not only the two detectives from the Ningtai County Bureau but also the local policemen who came with them stood up in excitement. This case had wide-ranging implications, and it would be more than great if it could be resolved in their hands. Director Jin directly showed the detectives the photo on his phone. The picture was a life snapshot, and although it was taken with a beauty camera, you could still make out some simrities from the facial features. "Are there more?" The detectives flipped through their phones and Director Jin¡¯s as well. "About a dozen, I got the pictures from her mother-inw," Director Jin answered cheerfully. The two detectives browsed quickly, their expressions growing more serious: "Where is her mother-inw?" "Did you mention what the photos are for?" Director Jin waved his hand: "I said that the superiors are working on the most beautiful viges project, and they wanted photos of a few young brides, so she just gave them to me." The two detectives breathed a sigh of relief; at least their cover wasn¡¯t blown immediately. The first suspect when a wife dies is usually the husband, and if the situation here ispromised, there is a chance of startling the snake in the grass. However, this thought was fleeting in their minds. The older detective immediately said, "No good. Our conspicuous approach is bound to have leaked some information. The mother-inw is likely uninformed, but saying that about her son would be a stretch." "Ah? What should we do?" The young detective seemed a bit nervous. "If possible, we should just make arrests." The older detective turned his head and said to Director Jin, "Director Jin, can you please give us a detailed introduction to this family?" "This... there isn¡¯t much to introduce, actually. The girl is from Lisave, her family is quite poor, so she was married off here. A bride price of 288,000 yuan, plus the three golds, name change, and the car fee and such, it totaled up to 500,000 yuan for Jin Bu¡¯s family spent, borrowing all over the vige," exined Director Jin as he shook his head and continued, "But it¡¯s almost the same now everywhere. The bride is pretty, not considered expensive." "She¡¯s 21 this year, got married the year beforest, isn¡¯t she underage?" Director Jin chuckled: "Even with the marriage certificate, it¡¯s useless, they can divorce if they want to." "After that, did she always live in the vige?" "How could that be? The guy went to work not long after they got married, and his dad has always been out working. The new bride stayed with the mother-inw at home for a while, then she went out to work too." At this point, the four detectives had already used the policemunication system to scan the woman¡¯s photo, and indeed, they gained no relevant information. The young detective asked, "What is the girl¡¯s name?" Director Jin looked at his phone and said, "Her name is Chen Nuan. But whether that¡¯s the name on her ID card, I have no idea." The detectives then searched with her name, age, and household registration, and finally found her. True enough, she had not applied for a second-generation ID card; she also had no phone number to her name, likely using that of a family member or someone from the vige. This situation is not umon. Those who buy and sell ID cards and bank cards ultimately collect them from simr sources. The detectives continued to inquire: "Do you know where she went to work?" "I didn¡¯t ask that. Should I ask?" "No need for that. Where is her husband? Is Jin Bu the son¡¯s name or the father¡¯s?" "It¡¯s her dad¡¯s name; the son¡¯s name is... I forgot, we all call each other by nicknames." The detectives waved their hands; this information was already enough. The older policeman went to report the situation, and when he looked back, he saw his partner had already found the relevant information about Jin Bu¡¯s son Jin Quan, including his mobile number andst known location. As expected, Jin Quan had not registered a marriage certificate, and the information about his wife Chen Nuan had not been updated in a long time. "What do we do?" The young detective asked for the next course of action. "We go find Chen Nuan¡¯s mother-inw. She should know a lot of information," said the older policewoman before sinctly adding, "Everyone else is in ce; let¡¯s find the person first." Arge dowry, a missing young wife, and no missing person report ¨C these elements had already given the investigators plenty of room for imagination. Chapter 985 - 921 Difficulty LV6

Chapter 985: Chapter 921 Difficulty LV6

"Chen Nuan is dead? Impossible!" In the interrogation room, the victim¡¯s husband, Jin Quan, shook his head vigorously, causing the interrogation chair to rattle loudly. Meng Chengbiao spoke solemnly: "The body has been found, and a DNAparison has been done with her family, as well as with the DNA we obtained from your home, both matches were confirmed." "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about. I was still in contact with herst month. It¡¯s impossible that she¡¯s already dead." Jin Quan looked somewhat older, one might assume he was in histe thirties if no ID was shown, his hands were calloused, he clenched his fists tightly, restraining his grief. Unmoved, Meng Chengbiao asked, "When was thest time you contacted her?" Jin Quan: "Uh... the 25th ofst month." Meng Chengbiao looked down to confirm the victim¡¯s time of death, identified by Jiang Yuan as the 17th ofst month; considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s margin of error in determining time of death, ording to Jin Quan¡¯s stated timing of contact, the victim would have already been dead. This implies that either Jin Quan is lying, or the murderer was using the victim¡¯s phone to chat. Meng Chengbiao remained calm, whether it was the murderer impersonating the victim, or the murderer pretending to be the victim impersonating someone, he had encountered such scenarios many times before. Meng Chengbiao simply asked coldly, "You said you contacted Chen Nuan on the 25thst month, through what means did you contact her?" Jin Quan answered: "WeChat." Meng Chengbiao: "What was said?" "We argued a bit, she said she wanted to go work overseas with friends, I told her not to go, but she wouldn¡¯t listen, I always told her not to work abroad, but she wouldn¡¯t listen, I told her I earn enough money, she then said we have too many debts, I said that was not the dowry money, she said it shouldn¡¯t be counted that way..." As Jin Quan spoke of this, he went on endlessly, almost forgetting his own predicament. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t interrupt him, allowing him to vent as he took some notes on the notebook in front of him. When Jin Quan finally finished, Meng Chengbiao asked again: "Tell me about the days before the 25th, what were you doing? Did you meet with Chen Nuan?" "I was just working at the construction site, asionally messaging my wife... We didn¡¯t meet, I asked her toe and work here, but she was reluctant..." Jin Quan¡¯s desire to talk evidently grew stronger. In Meng Chengbiao¡¯s view, Jin Quan, in such a state, did not quite resemble a murderer. It could only be said that, though he might not be a good husband by mainstream societal standards, the probability of him being the murderer was also not high. Meanwhile, a police officer assisting nearby lit up Jin Quan¡¯s phone, nced at several passwords stuck on the back of the phone, swiftly entered them, and then opened WeChat to begin checking the chat records between Jin Quan and Chen Nuan. The interrogation yielded results significantly rted to the verification of evidence. As the saying goes, a single lie requires countless other lies to cover it up. And a series of lies is hard to conceal. In Jin Quan¡¯s phone, not only were his chat records, but also records of map locations, shopping records, and cell tower records, etc. If investigated thoroughly enough, almost a person¡¯s entire day could beid out via the phone. With such evidence verification, the lies a normal person can concoct during interrogation are limited; coupled with the intimidating influence of the enforcement agency, ultimately, they mostly confess. The same experience is also applicable to disputes between boyfriends and girlfriends; using conference recording software paired with sound collection devices like phones can trace back every spoken word, thereby determining truth or falsehood, organizing debates, which might end rtionships, but at least the truth would be established. Monitoring room. Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression was even more serious and expressive than Jin Quan¡¯s. From his personal experience, the probability of Jin Quan being the murderer was also not high. Soon, feedback from various sources confirmed Liu Jinghui¡¯s spection. "Around the 17th ofst month, Jin Quan was working at the construction site. He was responsible for stering, part of a team of six, and it¡¯s unlikely to be short-staffed. If short, they couldn¡¯tplete the work." "The people on this construction site are all from the same hometown, quite familiar with each other. Those stering work at night and rest during the day, their afternoon time is mostly spent ying cards, rarely leaving the site, making it almost impossible for them to return home." "Chen Nuan used an identity card that belongs to her aunt, and the phone number was also acquired through that ID. She has an older brother and an older sister, therefore, she has long been unregistered..." "As of now, it seems that Chen Nuan had been working and living in Chang Le City for a while, during which she changed her SIM card," The information gradually gathered formed a chain of evidence. ording to the duck test, when someone buys a ticket to a ce, books a hotel in that ce, has their cell phone signal appear there, orders food delivery and takes taxis there, and even has surveince footage confirming their presence in that city at a specific time on a specific day of a specific month and year, it is highly likely that they were indeed there. Simrly, if someone has various pieces of information proving they were not at a ce, then it is highly likely they were not there. If one wants to think about this issue from a mysterious angle, the possibility of Jin Quan going there and returning secretly tomit murder or Chen Nuan sending someone with a full set of identity-proving materials to Chang Le City is not entirely impossible. However, if such a theory is proposed, stronger evidence would be needed to substantiate it. Even for Liu Jinghui, who has seen and imagined numerous mysterious cases, based on the current evidence, he also had to conclude: "Jin Quan is likely not the murderer." "Jin Quan¡¯s parents also did not have the time tomit murder," Jiang Yuan analyzed following the line of personal rtionships. Liu Jinghui nodded: "We have already asked them to confirm the situation of several of Jin Quan¡¯s close rtives and stakeholders, but as it stands, the likelihood of the male sidemitting the murder is not high. Although the deceased Chen Nuan had conflicts with her inws and did not stay at home as Jin Quan wished, she had not proposed a divorce. At this point, the inws should alsock sufficient motive to kill." The purpose of searching for the source of the body is to hope to find the murderer based on the deceased¡¯s personal rtionships. In the case of Chen Nuan, the most likely murderer would be the family of Jin Quan. With this suspect ruled out, the case suddenly returned to a state of confusion. "What about the Chen Family?" Jiang Yuan flipped through the files. Liu Jinghui slowly shook his head: "It¡¯s the same situation with the Chen Family; theyck a motive for murder. As the case stands now, the most likely factors leading to Chen Nuan¡¯s death could either be economic or emotional. If Chen Nuan chose to divorce and remarry, based on the current environment, the Chen Family could easily obtain more than two or three hundred thousand yuan in dowry money again, even if they had to return part of the previous dowry, at most only half would need to be returned. In this case, the Jin Family would suffer economically and probably emotionally too, but all these are based on the premise that Chen Nuan proposed a divorce." Liu Jinghui gently tapped on the files in front of him, continuing: "Chen Nuan, a weak woman, would definitely need her family¡¯s support to divorce. From what we understand in various aspects, Chen Nuan is not a very strong character. During her time living in Yuefeng Vige, where the Jin Family resides, her character was quite gentle... and from the information fed back by the Chen Family, Chen Nuan did not talk about wanting a divorce, her dissatisfaction primarily stemmed from economic conditions..." "The living conditions in the vige are definitely not good." Jiang Yuan also knew this very well ¡ª before Jiang Vige was demolished, it was considered arge vige and overall, its living conditions were not as good as those in the Jiangcun Residential Area now. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "However, Chen Nuan¡¯s own family conditions were even worse. The dowry collected by her sister when she got married was not even enough for her brother¡¯s wedding, and they were in debt, paid off with the money from Chen Nuan¡¯s marriage. Thus, when Chen Nuan lived at home, her living conditions were even worse than at the Jin Family¡¯s, making her adaptation to Yuefeng Vige rtively suitable." Wang Chuanxing interjected: "From the information we¡¯ve gathered, many people from Yuefeng Vige work outside, so people generally don¡¯t like living in the countryside, which probably also affected Chen Nuan. The young couples in Yuefeng Vige usually work outside together, but the construction site where Jin Quan worked had high wages but poor conditions, not suitable for couples to work together, so they left Chen Nuan at her hometown, causing frequent conflicts between the two." "The youngdy preferred living in the city. At least, she didn¡¯t want to live with her mother-inw," summarized Liu Jinghui, "There were conflicts, but not deadly." "In that case, does this mean the investigation based on personal rtionships hits a dead end?" Wang Chuanxing sighed deeply: "If it¡¯s a random killing, then it¡¯s troublesome." Searching for the source in a drowning case is theoretically simr to disposing of a body; both are built on the premise that the suspect would not undertake unnecessary excessive work. In some senses, a drowning case is actually a case of disposing of a body in water, but the difficulty in tracing the source increases as the body moves with the water currents. If such a case involves a random killing, then solving it bes extremely difficult. Of course, any purposeless random killing is hard to solve, which is one of the reasons why encountering a serial killer requires a high level of alertness. Jiang Yuan slightly shook his head at this moment, saying, "We indeed cannot rule out random killing, but, I think we should not consider the direction of random killing for now. How was Chen Nuan¡¯s situation at her workce, and what about the new rtionships she established?" The main physical evidence in Chen Nuan¡¯s case was a body and the clothes on it, which Jiang Yuan had carefully examined. Based on what is known so far, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t think it possible to identify the murderer through the physical evidence. In other words, if determined to be a random killing, the case would virtually be shelved. To solve itter on would either require the murderer tomit another crime or previous crimes that could be linked to this one, or additional evidence or witnesses to emerge; otherwise, the difficulty in solving the case would be enormous, perhaps as high as level 6. Faced with this situation, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was naturally to exhaust all other possibilities first. If no other possibilities remained, only then would he consider the issue of level 6. Chapter 986 - 922: Nice Car

Chapter 986: Chapter 922: Nice Car

Chang Le City. Highway service area. "Captain Jiang. Jiang." Wang Chuanxing called softly. Jiang Yuan opened his eyes and saw Wang Chuanxing¡¯s bushy eyebrows and big eyes close to his own face, like his own Doberman. Jiang Yuan pushed him away and frowned as he looked around, asking, "Are we there?" "Ten more minutes and we¡¯ll be off the highway. The head of the Changler Criminal Police Brigade is waiting for us at the highway exit," Wang Chuanxing stepped aside and added, "Do you want to freshen up, maybe wash your face?" Jiang Yuan nodded, got out of the GL8, took a few steps, stopped, and asked, "How¡¯s the investigation into Chen Nuan¡¯s WeChat going?" Investigating WeChat is rtivelyplex; in typical cases, police would go through the suspect¡¯s phone directly. Now, without ess to Chen Nuan¡¯s phone, they had to synchronize from the server-end, which is a more troublesome and procedure-heavy step, generally reserved for major cases. Wang Chuanxing was well-prepared and continued as they walked, "Arge amount of content has been synchronized from the server-end and we¡¯re still looking through it. So far it¡¯s known that Chen Nuan frequentlymunicated with a few junior high school ssmates, and she was active in several chat groups, but no obvious clues have emerged. In other aspects, the job she found in Chang Le City was as a restaurant waitress, and she lived in the dormitory provided by the restaurant. There¡¯s a lot of chat every day in the restaurant group, but so far nothing suspicious has been found." "Was the WeChat message about Chen Nuan wanting to work abroad sent by her?" Jiang Yuan emphasized this part of the inquiry. Wang Chuanxing shook his head, "It¡¯s highly unlikely. I contacted a forensic document examiner in Changyang City and asked her to take a look; she said the sentence breaks don¡¯t match Chen Nuan¡¯s previous habits." Forensic document examination isn¡¯t limited to handwriting analysis; it includes examination ofnguage content such as writing style. Chen Nuan¡¯s messages were not short, and there were several of them, which theoretically could be subjected to forensic document examination to draw some conclusions. However,pared to technology such as fingerprinting, the reliability of forensic document examination is much lower. Jiang Yuan himself has a Level 3 skill in forensic document examination, but even he couldn¡¯t analyze anything useful from just a few sentences. The forensic document examination technology in Changyang City is probably not at Level 3, so it would be very difficult toe to a breakthrough conclusion. As they talked, Liu Jinghui also caught up, motioning with his mouth towards the restroom, "Together?" "Then let¡¯s go together." Jiang Yuan followed Liu Jinghui into the restroom, as if they were back in their school days. Liu Jinghui was the first to wash his face at the washbasin by the restroom entrance, sobering up as if bracing himself for a big challenge. Wang Chuanxing hesitated for a moment andgged behind. Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t slept on the road and now shared, "ording to the message from Technical Investigation, the victim, Chen Nuan¡¯s phone has been without a signal for a long time. Thest signal was on the 25th, when she sent a message to her husband; after that, it was likely turned off or the SIM card was removed." Liu Jinghui paused, then said, "It seems to be the work of an old hand. We can¡¯t rule out the possibility of a strangermitting the crime." At this moment, Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t just following his own experience and abilities to suggest the most likely direction; they also needed to collectively cover each other¡¯s oversights, filling in the less likely parts of the puzzle as well. After all, in a high-profile homicide like this, it was impossible to focus only on a single lead. Jiang Yuan, entering a state of brainstorming, asked, "How did they obtain the phone¡¯s ount and password." "Torture?" Liu Jinghui entered the bathroom, found a urinal in a good position, leaned his hand against the wall, tilted his head back, and said contentedly, "The victim had been beaten before drowning. If a strangermitted the crime, it actually makes the origins and reasons for these injuries easier to exin." "Hmm... that¡¯s one reason." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. The victim, Chen Nuan, had many signs of being beaten before entering the water. If these marks were exined as a result of torture, it would indeed make sense and the exnation would be quite sufficient. Liu Jinghui breathed out and swayed his body, speaking leisurely: "Following this line of thought, after Chen Nuan arrived in Chang Le City, she was targeted by someone for some reason. That person stole her mobile phone and other items, tortured her to get the passwords, and then killed and threw her body into the Tai River. The corpse floated downstream and finally ended up in our hands... ah..." As he finished, Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice trailed off: "However, the most likely suspect is still someone familiar. Otherwise, unless the suspect greatly values the time of death, there¡¯s no need to send false messages to Jin Quan. It¡¯s a waste of time and effort." Liu Jinghui: "A familiar person might not even need to use torture to obtain passwords and other information from the mobile phone, so the beating could be due to emotional reasons. If it¡¯s not for money, then it¡¯s for romantic reasons. Nowadays, people mostly die over love, hate, rtionships, and money..." "eptable." Jiang Yuan gave a concise response, pulled up his pants, and left without looking back. Liu Jinghui was stunned: "Leaving just like that?" "Ah, I¡¯m done. I¡¯ll wait for you in the car." Jiang Yuan spoke. With an "Oh," Liu Jinghui bowed his head and his face turned very serious. He muttered softly, "Who would have thought that a battle staked on reputation would silently arrive on such an ordinary day..." "Are you talking about today¡¯s case?" Wang Chuanxing entered and heard Liu Jinghui muttering about "staking reputation," and he casually added a question. Liu Jinghui, with eyes closed as if meditating, gently "shushed" him. After a short rest, the convoy hit the road again. Ten minutester, after getting off the highway, they saw arge open space in front of the toll station, where four to five cars were neatly parked. "Captain Jiang." The director of Changler City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, Lang Heng, excitedly approached, shook hands with Jiang Yuan and the others, and individually introduced his team members from the Criminal Police Brigade. "Director Lang is being too kind. We are just small-town cops from Ningtai County, not worth such a grand reception!" Huang Qiangmin said with a humble and cheerful demeanor. Lang Heng looked at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s Beijing-licensed A6 with an inscrutable smile and said, "In the world of domestic criminal police, speaking of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, who wouldn¡¯t give a thumbs up?" "Hahaha, you¡¯re too kind, too kind." Huang Qiangmin paused and then added, "Our visit this time is for an investigation that led us to Chang Le City, not to handle a case in Chang Le City. You don¡¯t need to be nervous." This was subtly indicating a status issue. Lang Heng became a bit sheepish and chuckled twice, saying, "Since you¡¯re already here... well, Commissioner Huang, how about joining me in my car, and we can have a meal together first..." "That¡¯s kind of you, but our main focus is the case." Huang Qiangmin declined. "Then join me in my car, and we can discuss the details of the case." As Lang Heng took Huang Qiangmin by the arm, he whispered, "Our bureau chief and the secretary who oversees us will alsoe tonight. They mainly want to meet Jiang Yuan ¡ª give your brother some face..." "Since you put it that way..." Huang Qiangmin sighed. When other detectives go out of town to handle a case, being hosted is always the best. Those who are savvy usually offer to treat the local police to a meal or a drink. With Jiang Yuan, there¡¯s no need; instead, it¡¯s the local police who invite them to dine, but that means it won¡¯t be so easy to leave ¨C one might even end up taking something home... "Come on,e on." Lang Heng ushered Huang Qiangmin into his car. Huang Qiangmin nodded and looked around: "Nice car you¡¯ve got." Chapter 987 - 923: Urban Primitive Forest

Chapter 987: Chapter 923: Urban Primitive Forest

The leaders at the Changler City Bureau were warm and pleasant, smiling as they spoke, both charismatic and humorously engaging¡ªmodel leaders bymon standards. Jiang Yuan felt veryfortable. Leaders are like dogs¡ªthose of others always seem more fun to y with. The dinner thatsted over three hours was quite enjoyable, including a guest from a different unit singing a solo, someone performing ventriloquism, and even a spontaneous rendition and exnation of Kunqu opera. So, folk customs have never disappeared; they have simply moved from themon people to ces of fame and fortune¡ªwhere they naturally take root and thrive. During the dinner, no mention was made of cases, funding, vehicles, and the like, but Lang Heng provided Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad with a full team of 22 staffed criminal police officers, aplete support that was maxed out. At the same time, under the care of the city bureau leaders, the big shots of the Technical Investigation rapidly produced a report. Early the next morning, Jiang Yuan followed the people from the Changler Criminal Police Brigade to the restaurant where Chen Nuan worked for the investigation. Su Shanming, who was leading the team, had already investigated the restaurant the day before and was now apanying Jiang Yuan, saying, "This restaurant, ¡¯Xiao Li Popr Fast Food,¡¯ is owned by Ma Qianzao, a man in his thirties. It¡¯s not small in size, employing a dozen or so people daily, with four to five in the kitchen, the rest busy out front. The staff turnover is quite high, with frequent resignations." "Why do they resign?" "Low pay. They only offer about 2000 in sry to the service staff and then deduct housing, utilities, and inte fees. Ma Qianzao originally ran a fast food ce on a construction site and brought over the same practices, constantly posting job ads at train and bus stations, also using agencies, skimping on wages as soon as someone is hired. Most service staff leave as soon as they save a little money," exined Su Shanming thoroughly. From the perspective of a skeptical detective, the restaurant itself was full of contradictions and had the basis for crimes to ur. "So there are many others like Chen Nuan?" Liu Jinghui asked. There was a slight hesitation from Su Shanming before he responded, "All sorts. The most attractive thing about his ce is actually the inclusive meals and amodation. Even though the housing fee is deducted, regardless, living in the restaurant dormitories solves the basic needs of life for an individual. One can shower and have inte ess¡ªit¡¯s a bit better than being a Sanhe God*. Having saved up some money, they can resign. As a first step for someoneing to Chang Le City, it¡¯s passable." "It¡¯s not easy for a woman to be a Sanhe God," Liu Jinghuimented, furrowing his brow. "So about Chen Nuan¡¯s disappearance, has anyone reported it to the police? Are the employees who worked with Chen Nuan still here? Has anyone resigned recently?" "No one reported it. There are employees who knew Chen Nuan. Several have resigned during this period," Su Shanming answered the three questions rapidly. He had already understood this aspect during his investigation yesterday. After getting a general understanding of the situation, Jiang Yuan and the others took a walk around the restaurant and checked the dormitories before talking to the restaurant owner, Ma Qianzao. Ma Qianzao was not a suspect, so Meng Chengbiao conducted an on-the-spot inquiry. The several young criminal police officers present were all listening intently, their gazes sharp as they studied Ma Qianzao. To a normal person¡¯s thinking, not only did Ma Qianzao not seem like a good person, but he also appeared quite suspicious. Ma Qianzao was evidently no stranger to dealing with the police, and within a few sentences, he began distancing himself, saying, "My rtionship with Chen Nuan is nothing more than a simple employer-employee one. Peoplee and go here every month. Some people leave amicably, with a greeting and a farewell meal; others leave without a word. What can I do? I can¡¯t report to the police every time." "Don¡¯t you find it odd for people to leave without saying a word?" Meng Chengbiao understood the situation, but he needed to ask, to have Ma Qianzao exin it himself. The more thetter said, the easier it was to find discrepancies in his words. Ma Qianzao chuckled and said, "I found it strange when I first started the business, but now it¡¯s just the norm. To tell you the truth, there¡¯s just many who can¡¯t make a living anymore ande here looking for a way out. Those who can find a job paying 3000, who can eat and live with their families, who have a few hundred in pocket money, they wouldn¡¯te to work for me." *Sanhe God: ng for a person who lives a marginal life working non-stable, low-paying jobs, often in cities other than their hometown; derived from Sanhe, a ce known for its transient poption of migrant workers. "This has nothing to do with leaving without a word." "What I mean is that no one wants to work for me for a long time, and I don¡¯t need them too either. Once they¡¯ve made some money and found other jobs, I am happy to see them off. Most of the people whoe to work for me arrive with nothing to their names. I don¡¯t sign contracts with them. It¡¯s very normal for them to leave once they get paid. Some people even work a few more days after getting paid, not bothering to settle their wages with me. They have nothing to take with them, so why wouldn¡¯t they just leave directly?" Upon hearing this, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s gaze sharpened: "Did Chen Nuan settle her wages?" "She did, a week before she left." Ma Qianzao had also checked before. Meng Chengbiao frowned. The timing was neither here nor there, insufficient to serve as evidence. Being aware of some methods used by the criminal police, Ma Qianzao seized the moment in front of several leaders and continued, "If someone finds a good job with a higher sry, they might not be willing toe back for their belongings. Honestly, for employees working at my ce, unless it¡¯s something of sentimental value, it¡¯s quitemon for them to note back for their luggage. Especially those who have found a partner, it¡¯s possible they may not want to tell their boyfriends about moving, why demean oneself over some old clothes or such?" This reason did sound usible, but Tang Jia couldn¡¯t help retorting, "By exploiting your employees, forcing them to quit, can your business really do well? The employeesck experience, and I bet they quit just as they learn the ropes." "What experience do you need for a fast-food restaurant? It¡¯s just toughbor. Smart kids can¡¯t even endure the hardship here," Ma Qianzao paused before concluding, "Only those who are used to the hardship can take it. Honestly, I¡¯d feel guilty if employees stayed for half a year; they would be utterly worn out." Tang Jia actually had a lot she wanted to argue, but at that moment, she received a look from Meng Chengbiao and had no choice but to step back reluctantly, giving her ce to Meng Chengbiao. Meng Chengbiao asked in detail, repeating many questions two or three times, before finally nodding to Jiang Yuan and moving on to question others. Meanwhile, detectives from the Changler Criminal Police Brigade, armed with a list of inquiries, were checking on people who had worked with Chen Nuan. Some of these people were still working at the restaurant, some had resigned and worked elsewhere, and some had even gone out of town, so they could only be contacted by phone for questioning. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, led a team to investigate the dormitory. Teams of people were each busy with their tasks, orderly amidst the hustle. Jiang Yuan was quite serious in the dormitory investigation. Considering the time frame, Chen Nuan had died on the second day of her disappearance, and since she didn¡¯t take her belongings with her, there was a high probability that this was herst ce of stay. However, the restaurant¡¯s dormitory conditions were truly appalling. It was an ordinary three-bedroom apartment, with two bunk beds ced in each of the smaller bedrooms, and three in the master bedroom, meaning it could amodate 14 people in total. Because the boss, Ma Qianzao, was always recruiting people, although this apartment was not fully upied, it maintained a constant poption of at least seven or eight people, and sometimes as many as twelve or thirteen, not to mention the dirty and chaotic internal environment with belongings strewn all over the ce. After Chen Nuan disappeared, her leftover belongings were only kept for a little over a week before they started to go missing or were discarded. Through a mixture of cajoling and intimidation, Jiang Yuan and the team were able to recover only four pieces of clothing and some small items like chargers and headphones, while any traces left in the room were beyond discussion. "Urban Primitive Forest." Jiang Yuan stepped out of the dormitory and suddenly remarked, a phrase born of emotion. Indeed, the degree to which this environment destroyed traces wasparable to that of an actual primitive forest. Chapter 988 - 924: Difficult First, Easy Later

Chapter 988: Chapter 924: Difficult First, Easy Later

Despite the three unsessful operations, the mood of the detectives in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team seemed unaffected. After emerging from the "Urban Primitive Forest," Jiang Yuan had already calmed down and took the initiative to invite everyone: "I¡¯ll treat you to dinner tonight, let¡¯s eat first and then wait for feedback from the other departments." Livelier expressions then appeared on everyone¡¯s faces. Su Shanming observed the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team with some curiosity. As the captain of the Chang Le City Criminal Police Brigade, he held a rank simr to the former Huang Qiangmin. Of course, he only had a little over twenty people under hismand, but in terms of seniority and rank, he was much higher than Jiang Yuan. Yet, now he had to follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders. Su Shanming couldn¡¯t say he was unwilling, but he did have some thoughts about it. At least in this case, Su Shanming hadn¡¯t seen any exceptional disy of ability from Jiang Yuan. Unless, this unyielding demeanor counted as part of one¡¯s strength? Thinking this, Su Shanming watched as Jiang Yuan made a right turn ahead and entered the "Xing Yue Building." Su Shanming couldn¡¯t help but stretch out his hand, wanting to call Jiang Yuan back. How could a ce like Xing Yue Building be where detectives can afford to treat others to a meal? Moreover, they shouldn¡¯t let Jiang Yuan treat at such a ce - wouldn¡¯t that be like a ughter? However, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, Jiang Yuan and the others had already entered the Xing Yue Building, chatting andughing. Su Shanming sighed and had no choice but to follow, at the same time sending a message to the brigade chief, thinking if it really came down to it, they could get the brigade to reimburse the meal. Actually, given the current ie level, ordinary eating and drinking hardly counted for anything. Yet, every city always has a hotel trying to carve out a unique path, offering a ce for those willing to bleed a fortune. Entering Xing Yue Building with two quick strides, Su Shanming saw various energetic seafood creatures in the waiting pond at the entrance, fiercely gesturing "eat me, eat me," and he shook his head inwardly. Walking inside for two steps, Su Shanming was thinking what to sayter when he saw Jiang Yuan and the group, still chatting andughing,ing out again. Internally nodding, Su Shanming thought well of Jiang Yuan and the others for realizing their mistake and being flexible. This too was a good psychological quality. So, Su Shanming stepped forward, smiling and said: "Actually, I know a few good restaurants as well, the tastes are excellent, there¡¯s no need to head to ces like this." "It¡¯s all set, let¡¯s go back and eat," Jiang Yuan smiled without letting Su Shanming finish. Su Shanming was taken aback: "All set?" "Yeah, after entering, I realized it¡¯s a high-end restaurant, it¡¯s not appropriate for us in uniforms to eat here. I¡¯ve asked them to prepare and deliver the food, it¡¯s a good opportunity to invite the detectives from the other teams working overtime to join us." Jiang Yuan paused, then added: "I¡¯ll treat this meal, the case has been dragging on for so long, everyone has worked hard." The crowd responded in kind: "Not hard at all, not hard at all." "It¡¯s nothing..." "No need, Captain Jiang..." Jiang Yuan just waved his hand; after all, he was a leader now. When it came to leadership, he naturally didn¡¯t know how to act, but with his limited experience and personal ability, treating everyone to a meal was at least not wrong, and the cost of trial and error was very low. The socializing budget his father gave him was sorge that even bank managers would call him about it. Ordering a meal from Xing Yue Building was just a drop in the bucket. Back at the Criminal Police Brigade, Jiang Yuan and the others set up in the canteen and invited the brigade chief and others. Soon after, the bureau chief and the relevant leaders also made their way to the canteen. Under normal circumstances, this would at least require a thorough cleaning by the entire brigade. Huang Qiangmin had to appear and keeppany, fortunately, everyone¡¯s cases were at a deadlock, and it was not suitable to drink. Without the boost of alcohol, the leaders¡¯ table was extremely oppressive. The meal was quickly finished, and themander of the brigade, Lang Heng, was responsible for adjusting the atmosphere. With the conversation soon running dry, he directly brought up work and said, "Captain Jiang, what are your ns next?" "First, let¡¯s see if your Image Investigation and Technical Investigation can locate the person." Jiang Yuan smiled cheerfully, feigning simplicity and no guile as he looked over at themander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. The bureau chief and others naturally turned their gaze in that direction. "Now this case is our main focus!" Themander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade dered with thumping confidence. "Thank you for your hard work," Jiang Yuan expressed his gratitude, and then added, "In fact, I understand that Image Investigation is limited by the density of equipment and might not necessarily find any clues. However, once Image Investigation does find a clue, they are often decisive and have a conclusive effect, so please make an extra effort." "We understand," Themander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade breathed a sigh of relief. He too was afraid that Jiang Yuan might not be sensible, constantly pressing for time, or even initiate a time-limited case resolution, which would be difficult. Time-limited case resolution is like a time-limited marriage¡ªit¡¯s not a goal you can necessarily achieve by relentlessly trying. Sometimes when you can¡¯t solve it, you just can¡¯t solve it, irrespective of the amount of funds, willingness to spend money, or risking your life. It¡¯s even harder for those who are poor, stingy andck courage, at least when ites to solving cases. Liu Jinghui had previously discussed with Jiang Yuan, so he now added some pressure, "After leaving the restaurant, the victim Chen Nuan should have had no awareness or need for counter-surveince. If we can find Chen Nuan¡¯s whereabouts, this case will then have a new clue. This aspect can also be linked with the location of Chen Nuan¡¯s cell phone." His words sounded somewhat rxed, but they cast a shadow of difficulty on the face of themander of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, who could onlyply. From his professional perspective, most cases were indeed as Liu Jinghui described, but there are always exceptions, and what to do when they ur. When they reached that point, Jiang Yuan put down his chopsticks and said, "From the onset til now, we have mobilized extensively and spent a great deal of time to reach this step. However, starting now, this case is essentially equivalent to being restarted, or even can be treated as a brand new one. Starting from tomorrow, we will continue to organize Chen Nuan¡¯s contacts because she couldn¡¯t just disappear without reason." Everyone nodded in agreement. Jiang Yuan smiled again and looked at Liu Jinghui, "We can say it¡¯s been harder at first and gets easierter. Now the timing of the disappearance is pretty certain, without any unexpected issues, obtaining clues shouldn¡¯t be difficult." The murder of a twenty-something part-time worker after her disappearance was cruel to talk about, but this essentially was a rtivelymon murder case, iparable to the difficulty of drowning cases. Liu Jinghui nodded slightly, "Although there are still other possibilities, considering the killer persistently used the victim¡¯s cell phone to send messages, the probability of this case beingmitted by someone the victim knew is very high." Liu Jinghui continued, "Furthermore, Chen Nuan likely did not have any strong personal connections locally, probably evencking acquaintances, otherwise she wouldn¡¯t have been without a ce to stay, needing to work at that restaurant. Considering that Chen Nuan had little to her name, the possibility of conflict over money is nearly nonexistent. If it¡¯s not over wealth, then it must be due to passion." "What about rape?" Commander Su Shanming, who had been following the case for some time and understood the situation, was just putting forward an idea. Jiang Yuan shook his head first, "Rape is unlikely. The underwear was intact, and there were no signs the victim had been raped. Normally, the extent of the beating would be sufficient to carry out a rape." "Impotence, or premature ejaction?" Su Shanming wasn¡¯t being argumentative; he had simply seen too much. Liu Jinghui shook his head first, "No need to take the phone, and there¡¯s no need to deceive Chen Nuan¡¯s husband." "Indeed, a rapist would not go that far," Su Shanming nodded in agreement. At this point, Liu Jinghui hesitated and then asked, "Here in Chang Le, howmon are abduction cases?" Compared to rape, Liu Jinghui was more concerned about abduction. Specifically, unnned abductions that resulted in idental or intentional homicide, with participants having the motivation to use WeChat to deceive the victim¡¯s husband in order to hide information such as the timing of the crime. Su Shanming nced at themander of the brigade, Lang Heng, and said, "Regarding abductions, in recent years, they indeed show an upward trend." Chapter 989 - 925: Double Route Advancement

Chapter 989: Chapter 925: Double Route Advancement

"As far as I know, there are currently two types of cases involving trafficking women. One involves women with mental health issues, and the other involves job referrals by acquaintances," Liu Jinghui sat up a bit and his expression became slightly more serious. Human trafficking cases are often referred to as trafficking of women and children. In earlier years, these two types of cases were quite simr, but now, the difference between trafficking women and trafficking children has grown significantly. In addition to the rising number of cases involving trafficking foreign women, the main types of domestic trafficking cases summarized by Liu Jinghui are the former, which ismon across all regions, and thetter, which varies in urrence depending on the region. Jiang Yuan and the others were drawn in and began to ponder. Liu Jinghui, with his quick thinking, immediately voiced his thoughts, saying, "The victim, Chen Nuan, came to Chang Le City to work on her own. The fast-food restaurant job was hard and the living conditions were poor; everyone is constantly looking for better opportunities, so it¡¯s natural for Chen Nuan to look for a new job. The only question is, did she find the job online, or through acquaintances from her hometown?" Liu Jinghui continued with a self-directed question and answer, "If she was actively seeking a job, she would probably cast a wide. For example, asking in a group chat with ssmates or quickly asking multiple acquaintances one after the other. Unless there is someone reliable who can secure her a job, it is unlikely that Chen Nuan would keep her job searching activities in Chang Le City a secret." "So, someone actively introduced a job to Chen Nuan?" Su Shanming timely joined the conversation, and quickly added, "It¡¯s also possible that she saw an advert or proactively approached an employment agency." Liu Jinghui nodded, looking slightly hesitant as he turned towards Jiang Yuan, "We could investigate this angle. However, if the contact was via phone and then the phone was discarded, this lead would get us nowhere." Although phone real-name registration is mandatory, for those who premeditate trafficking, obtaining phone cards is too simple. Trying to trace a criminal through phone records might only work for unexpected homicide or crime of passion; premeditated crimes have their advantages here, and are usually punished more severely. "Let¡¯s look into this," Su Shanming took the initiative, "We can ask Technical Investigation for help, first tracking all the calls made by Chen Nuan. It¡¯s best if we can trace them all back to their sources. If there are some we cannot track, then we should check with cyber-security to see if they¡¯re scam calls or something..." "Regarding the fight against trafficking, can we possibly use informants? Assuming what Chen Nuan encountered was a trafficking situation," Jiang Yuan had previously handled a batch of trafficking cases and had experience in investigating this matter. Broadly speaking, trafficking women and children is never an isted incident but rather aplete industry chain, simr to the trafficking of organs. Trafficking an individual woman or child alone is rather difficult. Typically, there are those responsible for luring, those responsible for executing control, those responsible for transportation, and those who specialize in connecting with buyers. Moreover, each level acts as a middleman, implying rapid payment and high efficiency. Even the final buyers are not pure buyers; many will resell the purchased women several times, with cases of more than five or six transactions. The cheapest transaction recorded online involved a scavenger who traded a woman with mental issues he found to another scavenger in exchange for a tool. In such a long transaction chain, there must be those who are aware of the operations. However, these individuals behave like they are in a localwork, sharing resources and deals among themselves while being very cautious towards the outside world. Informants, also known as insiders in Hong Kong movies, can rtively easily break through these barriers. Su Shanming hesitated for a moment, then looked towards the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, Lang Heng. The use of informants, especiallymunication with external units, is tightly controlled. Lang Heng exchanged a nce with Huang Qiangmin and then said, "I can ask around, but I can¡¯t promise any immediate news." "That¡¯s possible," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect them to make any firm guarantees. He also turned to Huang Qiangmin, "I think we should contact the Guqi City Bureau; the human traffickers we previously arrested should have been tried and prosecuted by them, right? I wonder how the cases were settled." "There have been over a dozen executions, and some are still going through the appeal process or death penalty review," Huang Qiangmin has quite a few contacts in affluent regions and is well aware of such important matters. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Shall we contact them then? See if anyone wants to earn a reduction in their sentence?" "That¡¯s doable," Huang Qiangmin readily agreed, thought for a moment, and then called Gao Changjiang, head of the Guqi City Bureau, on the spot. The directors and leaders of the Chang Le City Bureau present hadn¡¯t even realized what was happening before Huang Qiangmin¡¯s phone already carried the sound of a hearty but fakeugh. Huang Qiangmin quickly exined the situation and made the request in just a few words. On the other end, Gao Changjiang promptly agreed and said, "I¡¯ll coordinate with the Judicial Department Prison Administration Bureau to try to find a few prisoners willing to secure a reduction in their sentence." Life in prison is definitely not easy, just the monotonously nutritious health meals from morning till night can break a person¡¯s spirit in a few months, not to mention the daily harsh demands and 8 hours ofbor. Only those who have studied in ces like Hengzhong would think life here is bearable. Whereas ordinary criminals usuallye from humble backgrounds, and they can barely endure such suffering. Some prisoners, when first arrested, still harbored thoughts of brotherhood loyalty; some even took the me themselves to save their aplices. However, after staying in prison for a while, when they find their aplices do not care about them at all, their spouse wants a divorce, or perhaps when their aplices and spouse collude to y Cao Cao, many will undergo a 180-degree change in perspective. ording to Gao Changjiang¡¯s experience, even if those human traffickers had been sifted through once in the past and everything possible had been said, the circumstances outside might have changed over the past couple of years, and it¡¯s possible that the once insignificant individuals have grown up. On the other hand, even if those human traffickers had said all they could, there¡¯s always some information they are unwilling to discuss, and one shouldn¡¯t expect them to reveal such on their own. Developing rtionships with their fellow prisoners and head prisoners could, however, squeeze some of that information out. As the saying goes, if you don¡¯t want others to know, don¡¯t do it. Many prisoners were originally just serving short terms, but ended up with life sentences, and some even reached the point where they wanted to stay in prison but couldn¡¯t. After discussing the details with Gao Changjiang, Huang Qiangmin hung up the phone and smiled at a few people from the Chang Le Bureau, saying, "Jiang Yuan cracked a big human trafficking case for Guqi City Bureau back in the day, and now it¡¯sing in handy." "Guqi City Bureau gained quite a reputation, I remember that," the director of Chang Le Bureau remarked emotionally, his eyes shining brightly when looking at Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangminughed heartily and started discussing adult matters with the director. Jiang Yuan tilted his head and began reviewing some key points with Liu Jinghui, Lang Heng, and Su Shanming. ... The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived early at the Criminal Police Brigade, only to find the hall once again bustling with activity. He was well familiar with this process. Half a minute after walking into the office, the even earlier arrived Wang Chuanxing came to report the situation. "Based on intelligence, we¡¯ve caught several kidnapping suspects active in Chang Le City," Wang Chuanxing reported first. "Criminal police from Chang Le started policing early in the morning, and by the time I came, four people had been arrested. After interrogation throughout the night... there¡¯s still no news about Chen Nuan." Jiang Yuan nodded, not feeling disappointed. After all, if death was involved and if it had been caused by human trafficking, participants would be tight-lipped and not easily confess. Wang Chuanxing nodded and continued reporting, "However, these people have now implicated a few others, and operatives from Chang Le are already on their way to arrest them. We still don¡¯t know what will turn up." Jiang Yuan hummed in acknowledgment and asked, "What about inte security and Image Investigation?" "We¡¯ve drawn up a map of Chen Nuan¡¯sst known path, but there¡¯s nothing after 7 o¡¯clock in the evening. It got dark, and there¡¯s a section of the road where the cameras didn¡¯t work, so we lost track," borated Wang Chuanxing. "How about Technical Investigation? Any mobile phone signals?" "The phone signal was also lost soon after." "Bring me the video to check," Jiang Yuan said, wiping his hands. "It¡¯s ready, loaded on theptop," Wang Chuanxing, well prepared, opened theptop on the desk. Chapter 990 - 926: Gugu

Chapter 990: Chapter 926: Gugu

Coo-coo. A wild pigeon flew in from outside the courtyard wall, perched on the ground, and brazenly pecked at the bugs on thewn, only reluctantly pping away when a group of people passed by. It turned its head, saw it was just a few plump kids walking past, and then settled down again, reassured. The head of the Chang Le Bureau was all smiles as he led the way and briefed the several leaders beside him. For several consecutive days, supervising leaders hade to provide guidance, which was a very good sign for the Chang Le Bureau. Although some leaders actually had quite a bit of spare time, the time allocated for work was still limited. It was very important for the subordinates to vie for time resources. This was simr to entertainment tformspeting for user screen time; you may not know what specific benefits it entails, but you definitely cannot just hand it over to apetitor. "Has Jiang Yuan arrived?" Knowing what the leaders were here to inspect, the director nced at the pigeon and asked Lang Heng, who had hurried over. "He¡¯s here, doing something like image analysis, just sent us to buy a goodputer." Lang Heng said with a chuckle, feeling that the tens of thousands of yuan spent was quite an honorable expense, and briefed on the general situation. "Is the image analysis done by Jiang Yuan something we can do, and can we do it well?" The leader asked. "This..." Lang Heng nced at the director and honestly said, "We don¡¯t have that capability reserved. In the past, if we needed to do it, we would ask for support from the Shannan Provincial Department." "How is the level at the Shannan Provincial Department?" The question quickly got to the point. Lang Heng still looked at the director, then said with certainty, "Jiang Yuan does it better, much better. The Shannan Provincial Department goes back to Jiang Yuan when they encounter difficult cases." Jiang Yuan¡¯s Image Enhancement is of LV3 grade, but this technology is not centered within the police field. Tech moguls work in various top-tier high-tech corporations far and wide, and those upying the secondary tier are professors and researchers in prestigious world-ss universities, followed by various application-orientedpanies. Trickling down level by level, the Shannan Provincial Department can¡¯t retain a Level 3 technician in this field. The superior was not surprised, calmly nodded, and said, "This can¡¯t be helped, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill allows him to walk sideways in Beijing. Thest time I went there for a meeting, when they heard I was from Shannan Province, you wouldn¡¯t believe the enthusiasm from my colleagues in Beijing; it was just like visiting one¡¯s own kin..." As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, just as the wild pigeon took flight, its feathers gleaming with a healthy sheen, the picture of well-fed and regrly exercised. "Shall we invite Jiang Yuan over?" Lang Heng volunteered to ask. "If he¡¯s working, let¡¯s not disturb him. By the way, I saw Jiang Yuan ordered a meal from the Xing Yue Building yesterday. The signature dish at Xing Yue Building is roasted squab, isn¡¯t it? Let¡¯s order some roasted squab to be delivered." The director suggested. "Okay." Lang Heng readily agreed, then added, "Jiang Yuan is treating himself. His family background is extremely good." "The Jiang Vige people," added the director with a chuckle, "the people from Jiang Vige in the Siningshan mountains." Then everyone resumed their cheerful chatting andughing and moved into the conference room to listen to a new PPT by Wang Chuanxing. ... Jiang Yuan directly activated a temporary +1 skill for Image Enhancement. He never expected the Chen Nuan drowning case to be so prolonged. This time, Jiang Yuan was truly experiencing the work feeling of a standard homicide investigation team. The body found downstream of Tai River, starting from the investigation in Ningtai County, consumed a great deal of time and effort to pinpoint the source of the body, then arge contingent traveled from the victim¡¯s hometown to the workce in Chang Le; dozens of personnel involved, and with the entire team numbering over a hundred, they shifted from one region to another and then moved the body to a new region. During this period, the expenses for fuel, vehicle, and travel fees ounted for a six-figure cost daily, even if nothing else was done. And so many people following Jiang Yuan, being unable to return home for ten consecutive days, even if their morale was still high, gave Jiang Yuan, as the person in charge, a significant psychological burden. Speaking of which, up to this point in the case, there had been little room for him to utilize his technical expertise. Thus, when the opportunity for Image Enhancement arose, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even hesitate to lever all the applicable skills. The newly purchasedputer emitted a robust hum, and its untouched fan, which likely never expected that its very first boot would require such an all-out effort, was quickly growing louder. Starting from the area where Chen Nuan was too blurry to see, Jiang Yuan tried enhancing the image section by section. At present, knowing Chen Nuan¡¯sst known location and when her cell phone signal disappeared along with its approximate area, we can deduce... a range. The different angles of the surveince cameras gave too many varying images, and Image Enhancement is not about enhancing the entire picture; when you strengthen one part, you often have to give up another. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t ying with math; he just honestly started from the section where Chen Nuan disappeared and worked on the Image Enhancement, covering a distance of several hundred meters, only to see that the video¡¯s sky had thoroughly darkened. Just when it seemed Image Enhancement was getting futile, he saw Chen Nuan enter a building. Jiang Yuan immediately looked at the top right corner¡ªthe timestamp "19:12" was starkly apparent. Calcting the time, in three more minutes, Chen Nuan¡¯s cell phone signal would disappear. "Sheng Hong Building." Jiang Yuan exhaled; this was where Chen Nuan had vanished. Jiang Yuan took another sip of tea and nced at the time in the bottom right corner, and in a trance, he realized it was already the afternoon. "Chuanxing." Jiang Yuan opened the door and called out, to see the office outside already packed with people. The office he upied, whose department it belonged to he didn¡¯t know, had an inner office that was not veryrge, about 10 square meters, with lots of frosted ss. The main office area with concrete partitions was a good hundred square meters and was now packed full, feeling like it contained one and a half times the number of the Cold Case Squad. "Jiang Yuan." Lang Heng stood up to greet and then smiled, "The leader said not to disturb you, so we¡¯re just checking out cases outside. How¡¯s it going on your side?" With not much EQ left, Jiang Yuan smiled briefly and went straight to the point, "Chen Nuan entered an apartment building, inside the Sheng Hong Building." Lang Heng did not expect there to actually be results and he was quite surprised, saying, "I know that building... it¡¯s quiteplicated inside, withpanies and business operators, some doing private kitchen businesses... I don¡¯t know if they have installed surveince in the elevators..." As Lang Heng spoke, he quickly arranged for staff to investigate. With that, the Special Case Team sprang into action. After being busy for a moment, Lang Heng introduced, "Near the Sheng Hong Building there¡¯s a small business district, and the buildings in front are these twenty-plus-story mixed-usemercial and residential buildings. Owners bought some for personal use, while others have been rented out and modified into coffee shops, private kitchens, kindergartens, and the like, with smallpanies being the most numerous. Almost every week there¡¯s a dispute report; it¡¯s one of the mostplex areas in our city." "I¡¯ll go take a look." Jiang Yuan could no longer sit still upon hearing this. There were many such mixed-use buildings in Ningtai County and Qinghe City; even his father in Jiang Fuzhen had bought quite a few butter began to gradually clear them out, as these mixed-use buildings were easy to lease but had a high tenant turnover rate, plus property management often preferred to create trouble. For yield, it was better to sell them all and buy entiremercial buildings. Upon saying this, Jiang Yuan got up and departed. The chief and others hesitated for just a moment, only to see the back of Jiang Yuan leaving. "Should we start preparing the pigeon milk...?" An attendant from Xing Yue Building stood far off in the hallway, only to see a throng of peopleing out, and hurriedly waited on them. "Let¡¯s wait to make it." The chief, reminded of the tale ¡¯Drinking Warm Wine to y Hua Xiong¡¯, felt a surge of poetic inspiration and casually called the publicity officer over to draft a statement on the spot. The publicity officer was perplexed and quietly asked, "What if the case isn¡¯t solved? What do we write then?" The chief nced at him indifferently: "Then we write it for Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin to read." Chapter 991 - 927: Capturing People, Closing Shop

Chapter 991: Chapter 927: Capturing People, Closing Shop

Sheng Hong Building is located in the middle of a small business circle, with a food streetposed of several alleys at the back and scatteredmercial streets at the front, surrounded by simrmercial and residential buildings, as well as some small neighborhoods or courtyards formed by a few stand-alone staircases. The appearance of the building is as old and outdated as themercial street outside, with the interior decoration being in the same shabby and unrefined state. The elevators are small, broken, few, and yet overcrowded, giving Jiang Yuan a very familiar feeling. Qinghe City and Ningtai County share the same standard, or rather, this is the standard for non-central business districts in fourth- or fifth-tier cities. It¡¯s not that the people dislike high-end ces; it is just that they prioritize affordability and then go for ces with a high cost-performance ratio. Compared to those strictly regted pure office buildings,mercial buildings, or specialty malls, old buildings like Sheng Hong Building often be the kings of their environment because of their penny-pinching and annoying property management, flexible and irritating merchants, high turnover rates and tedious changes, and a dirty, chaotic, and cost-saving environment. Jiang Yuan, following the chaotic crowd holding milk tea and starch sausages, entered the lobby of Shenghong Building and saw a security guard directing the crowd, having dozens of people lining up in front of four elevators, with everyone then looking at the slowly changing red floor numbers on the disys. "We¡¯re going to property management," Jiang Yuan decided upon seeing this and opted not to experience the elevator. It was unlikely that he would find any evidence inside the elevator anyway. However, having reached this stage in the investigation, he still wanted to gather firsthand information, so Jiang Yuan instructed: "Yao Wei, continue to line up for the elevator. Once inside, take some videos, and then mark cameras on each floor in every elevator corridor. Also,bel the stores on each floor. None of these should be overlooked in the lobby." Jiang Yuan was too familiar with such environments. Despite the lobby¡¯s attempt at having an impressive brass namete, such embellishments only lead to higher property management fees. Moreover, they require a production cycle. Many small shops andpanies register and pay, only for their business to close down by the time the property management gets everything set. Then, property management profits once again! Shen Yaowei responded affirmatively, "Then I¡¯ll start from the top floor and work my way down, recording each floor." "Alright. We¡¯ll take the stairs. Stay in contact if anythinges up." Jiang Yuan turned and ascended the stairs through the fire door. Mu Zhiyang quickly led the way and said, "Property management is on the fifth floor. Below the fifth floor, there are shops; a hotpot restaurant on the second floor, a buffet on the third floor, and an inte caf¨¦ on the fourth floor, though these shops have their entrances from the front." Jiang Yuan made a sound of acknowledgment, simultaneously climbing the stairs and pondering. Firstly, Chen Nuan entered this building on her own, most likely having arranged to meet someone. How did they set up the meeting? Secondly, did Chen Nuan leave the building alive, or did she die within the building and get carried out and dumped into the Tai River a few kilometers away? Based on the current evidence, both possibilities exist. There might even have been a scenario where she was moved while seriously injured, which is the trouble with drowned bodies; many pieces of evidence are erased by the water. Of course, the same is true for buried bodies, but burial requires much more physical effort. "Captain Jiang," inside the property management office, the detectives from the Criminal Police Brigade who arrived earlier were examining their surveince videos. "Have you found the person?" Jiang Yuan asked straight away. This wasn¡¯t the time to be considerate of emotional intelligence. The leading officer knew what Jiang Yuan meant and shook his head, "The elevator videos here in property management are only stored for 14 days, so they¡¯re gone. However, somepany or shop cameras in the corridors, we¡¯ve already sent people to request footage floor by floor." "Make another round of inquiries, see if there are any eyewitnesses." It was merely luck if Jiang Yuan¡¯s request could be fulfilled at this point. "Yes." The leading officer immediately arranged for it. "Do you have a list of shops andpanies?" Although Jiang Yuan had Shen Yaowei checking each floor, it didn¡¯t hurt to ask for another list from property management. Although the property management here might have a moreprehensive list, he did not ce much trust in them. The property manager hurriedly pointed to arge chart on the wall, "Thepanies listed here are more or lessplete. This is for the tenants to see. Our boss owns some of the property himself." An unamodating police officer from the local police station said, "Now find a piece of paper, and write down anypanies that aren¡¯t on this big chart, including any that have changed, and then sign it. If there are any issuester, I¡¯lle looking for you." At this moment, all the police officers were unified in their distrust. The property manager, not daring to offend the police,plied and began writing, muttering soft exnations all the while. Jiang Yuan went through the listings one by one, only to see that beyond a few residential andpany units, there were mostly restaurants, followed by all sorts of nail salons, beauty shops, murder mystery games... hmm... Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze paused here, he thought for a moment, and then he saw an escape room venue. So Jiang Yuan asked, "Do some of these escape rooms require cell phones to be handed over?" The police officer from the police station immediately reminded the property manager, who muttered, "I¡¯ve never yed it...", while Tang Jia, who was beside him, coughed and said, "I¡¯ve encountered ces where phones are put inside a metal box." The metal box acts much like a Faraday cage, effectively blocking signals, which is even better than just removing the SIM card. Without needing any prompting from Jiang Yuan, Tang Jia then said, "Shall we look into the escape room venues?" "Pair up and get the surveince videos from each venue," Jiang Yuan ordered, then added, "Send people to the murder mystery game venues as well. Do saunas require phones to be turned in?" "It¡¯s possible there¡¯s no signal," the property manager replied, adding, "I go often." The police presence was substantial. Currently, the case was short on clues, not manpower. Officers promptly started inspections, and even got a murder mystery game venue not yet open to have its owner called over. Jiang Yuan and his colleagues were in no hurry to go back to brainstorm; they preferred to take over the property management office and conference room to watch the videos and search for evidence and clues right on the spot. It was highly likely that Chen Nuan had spent herst moments inside the Sheng Hong Building. Otherwise, considering people¡¯s reliance on cell phones, unless someone is preupied with something, they would almost certainly turn on their phone before doing anything else. Chen Nuan¡¯s phone was switched off minutes after she entered the Sheng Hong Building, and wasn¡¯t turned back on until it was in the killer¡¯s hands. It¡¯s only that too much time has passed by now; otherwise, Jiang Yuan and the team were keen on thoroughly searching the closed Sheng Hong Building. The head of the Criminal Police Brigade, Lang Heng, quickly arrived at the scene as well, and upon discovering promising leads, immediately made a call to bring over personnel from the two nearby police stations. In such amercial district, the utility of police station officers is extremely valuable. The surveince videos owned by the various shops were stored for a fairly long period of time, typically in a recycling mode, with the longest storagesting three to four months. The hard drives of the intermittently operating murder mystery game venues wererger, with storagesting up to half a year. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to do the work himself; a group from Image Investigation, equipped with their own gear, diligently began checking the surveince footage. Soon enough, results came in: "We found the person." "At the escape room. They entered together," the officer who found the footage said excitedly. "Match the faces of the people who went in together,"manded the head of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. With a few snapshots, the information on the malepanion jumped out. "22 years old, male, technical school graduate, unemployed, with a business license, a sole proprietor..." a police officer read out the rted information. "There¡¯s something wrong with this escape room venue," Jiang Yuan asserted, quickly scrolling through the video, then pointing at the screen, he said, "Is this NPC getting Chen Nuan to drink?" "It looks like a bottle of alcohol..." an officer from the police station said from behind, his expression turning serious, he said, "I¡¯ve handled a simr case before. An employee of an escape room venue, under the guise of game requirements, had female yers drink alcohol, and they even had specially provided sweet alcoholic drinks. There was a case of a female yer who wasn¡¯t good at drinking being intoxicated." "Arrest them. Close the venue." Jiang Yuan, having arrived with the task force, didn¡¯t need to understand the intricacies. The evidence at hand was already sufficient for him to bring the suspects in. Chapter 992 - 928 Selling People

Chapter 992: Chapter 928 Selling People

The order was swiftly conveyed and within a few minutes, feedback came: "The manager has been controlled. The clerk involved has already resigned." "Search for them," Jiang Yuanmanded naturally. Searching for people within the police system, in fact, there are established methods, such as fugitive tracking. Some police officers and divisions adept in this regard would even organize specialized fugitive tracking teams dedicated to the task. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad is generally of average expertise in this aspect, but it¡¯s all rtive. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad of over 20 members, only a handful are involved in core decision-making. However, managing numerous cases is not just about decision-making; police are not judges, after all. Therefore, without the need for Jiang Yuan to explicitly delegate tasks, members of the Cold Case Squad naturally coordinate to focus on tasks they excel in and enjoy. Officers like Meng Chengbiao with a background in preliminary interrogation tend to focus on questioning, whereas detectives like Shen Yaowei, long immersed in the field, excel at taking initiative, doing reconnaissance-type of work, enduring hardship, capable of advancing or holding the line, much like a mini project manager. This might also be the role he has carved out for himself. Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t usually delve deeply into adjusting these detectives¡¯ work. Technically speaking, the practical policing skills of members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad are highly likely to surpass Jiang Yuan¡¯s own. Even based on the joint exam scores, these young talents, mostly from the Criminal Police Brigade of Changyang City Bureau, should not be underestimated. Moreover, since they are on loan, there¡¯s no need for Jiang Yuan to chart their career paths. However, Jiang Yuan does indeed provide the team with abundant opportunities to get involved in major cases. With so many cases being tackled day after day, it¡¯s akin to students brushing through exam questions, where ordinary cases can be approached with a mere nce. Moreover, unlike exam questions, criminals in the real world rarely consider repetition. Most criminals do not seriously examine the current level of police work, relying solely on instinct. The clerk involved in the case was evidently one such individual. In just over ten minutes, Miao Liyuan, who excelled in technology andmunication, pped his thigh and said, "Found him, he¡¯s run off to the countryside, using someone else¡¯s identity card." "How did you find him?" a local detective asked with a grin. Miao Liyuan smiled proudly: "Although that clerk bought an ID and a mobile number, what he couldn¡¯t afford was a gaming ount. At least not one that has been yed for seven or eight years with microtransaction skins. I followed this lead and discovered he had logged into his old game ount from an inte cafe. Following up on the ID he used to go online, I traced it to his hotel stay, checked the facial recognition photo, and confirmed it was him." This series of operations, simple to speak of, could indeed be challenging to execute without certain experience and authority. Everyone hence showered him with praise. Jiang Yuan then signed the order and dispatched officers to apprehend the suspect. Meanwhile, Meng Chengbiao, who had just gone upstairs for a sudden interrogation, called in, saying, "Ever since this escape room business started, they¡¯ve engaged in the act of sexual harassment of women. From the owner to the clerks, they¡¯re all ruffians. Having found they couldmand female customers through scripts, they haven¡¯t been short of misdeeds." Wang Chuanxing was shocked: "Is that even possible? I¡¯ve also yed escape rooms." "You probably weren¡¯tmanded to take off your coat and change into a uniform on the spot," Meng Chengbiao retorted, then added, "They also like to improvise certain actions, such as making a woman perform moves that entuate her figure. Plus, drinking ismon too, they force drinks and then grope around; it¡¯s what they¡¯ve been doing a lot over the past year." "What about Chen Nuan?" asked Jiang Yuan. "Still unclear. The owner probably doesn¡¯t know Chen Nuan¡¯s circumstances, otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have kept it till now," said Meng Chengbiao who had just conducted a surprise interrogation, still quite a distance from getting the suspect to spill everything. "If the entire store is problematic, why would they keep the videos?" Jiang Yuan frowned slightly. Meng Chengbiao paused before responding, "They share the videos taken inside among themselves. They have a group." "Sharing... criminal evidence?" "Just like some idiots who boast by sharing videos of picking up drunk women at bars. A bunch of ruffians, all doing the same thing. They share scripts that make it easy to stir up trouble, including the organizers," Meng Chengbiao exined without being asked. "Escape rooms are renovated every so often; their catchphrases and gamey are all pre-designed, with people making money specifically off this." "Indecent assault is a jable offense. Multiple indecent assaults, and with an organized nature... are they out of their minds?" Tang Jia¡¯s anger surged upon hearing this. "They think they¡¯re just taking advantage, having a free grope. It probably started out that way. The ones selling scripts and doing renovations probably didn¡¯t think too much about it in the beginning. If their scripts couldn¡¯t achieve such an effect, they likely wouldn¡¯t sell, at least not for so much money," Meng Chengbiao continued. Though he hadn¡¯t interrogated for long, he had already unearthed the basic framework. Jiang Yuan, upon hearing this, didn¡¯t bother with pleasantries and simply said, "Confirm the identities, then make the arrests." "How many?" Wang Chuanxing started to record. "Arrest the whole group," Jiang Yuan replied, as if he were ordering dishes at the Xing Yue Building. In terms of difficulty orplexity, it was probably about the same. Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t say much else, acknowledging with a sound before instructing the people upstairs to collect mobile phones, take screenshots, gather ount information, and so on. For a case of this level, there was no need for a special taskforce to take action. After confirming the identities of the group members, they would simply ask the local Criminal Police Brigade for assistance in making the arrests. If the local criminal police were too busy, they could even have the local police make a phone call, asking someone to voluntarily report to a specific police station or police bureau at a specific time on a specific day. Except for a very small number of people, most people, even those who frequentlymit crimes, would show a remarkable level ofpliance when faced with real forceful authorities. As for the very few who don¡¯tply, it¡¯s not much of an issue¡ªjust chase and capture them. Most of these very few, even if they manage to escape, often choose to turn themselves in after a few years on the run. Meng Chengbiao led the people back to the police bureau, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s team went upstairs to start the investigation. Early the next morning, the runaway clerk Xia Zhongshu was brought back. The twenty-something year-old blond Xia Zhongshu looked a bit panicked and somewhat arrogant, his whole being radiating a spirit of resistance. It took Meng Chengbiao half an hour to dete his puffed-up demeanor. By the time work hours rolled around, the Director of Changler City Bureau and the head of the Criminal Police Brigade arrived in session. Pointing at the PPT report that Wang Chuanxing had worked on overnight, Meng Chengbiao sinctly said: "Chen Nuan met this room escape clerk Xia Zhongshu through online chat. However, thetter concealed his identity and lured Chen Nuan to this escape room with the purpose of selling her off. But not in the sense of human trafficking." "What do you mean?" Meng Chengbiao exined: "It¡¯s ¡¯room escape apaniment.¡¯ It¡¯s also a way this shop makes money. The owner would post paid apaniment announcements, each for 200 or 300 yuan. However, sometimes they can¡¯t find girls for apaniment, or they happen to encounter a girling to y alone, so they would sell her off to clients as an apanist. Inviting women through online chats is also one of their strategies for acquiring customers." "The buyers, these clients for apaniment, they don¡¯t know about this?" "Sometimes they don¡¯t, sometimes they do. Because the apaniment for two or three hundred yuan typically doesn¡¯t allow touching. Instead, in this kind of arrangement, the shop¡¯s NPCs would cooperate, giving both sides an opportunity for contact... Compared to contact with waitstaff, the contact between customers themselves is less likely to evoke strong disgust from women, especially when there¡¯s a coborating male partner. This shop has its own customer group." Tang Jia said coldly, "They¡¯re selling the right to molest women to their customers?" "That¡¯s about the gist of it," Meng Chengbiao sighed and continued to exin: "This time it was more special. The clerk Xia Zhongshu specifically arranged for Chen Nuan during the store manager¡¯s absence, and sold her to an old customer with the username ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯ with the initial intention of pocketing the 300 yuan himself. Consequently, Xia Zhongshu conspired with his colleague, had ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯ wait in a room without surveince, and after getting Chen Nuan to drink, let a fellow shop employee acting as an NPC take her over." Meng Chengbiao: "¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯ participated as an NPC this time, and his intentions were not pure right from the start. Coupled with Chen Nuan¡¯s inability to hold her liquor, ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯s¡¯ actions were very excessive, provoking Chen Nuan¡¯s resistance and her deration that she would call the police. But due to the nature of room escape, one cannot simply leave at will, and the conflict between them escted further, eventually leading to a fight... Xia Zhongshu ims it was ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯ who identally killed Chen Nuan. He was forced to help ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯ transport the body in a suitcase and then dumped it into the Tai River separately." "No matter who killed her, has ¡¯Braised Fish Tail¡¯s¡¯ identity been confirmed?" Jiang Yuan still thinking with technical precision. "Confirmed, he ran away after the incident. But we have locked onto his identity, he¡¯s currently selling fruit in Shanpu City." "Good," Jiang Yuan felt relieved upon hearing this, and let out a long sigh. The special case team was previously unaware of the existence of this suspect, "Braised Fish Tail," or rather, they spent most of their time on this case on a wild goose chase. Nevertheless, with the massive resources deployed, the case was eventually revealed in a different light. Chapter 993 - 929 Mutual Praise

Chapter 993: Chapter 929 Mutual Praise

"This case was brilliantly solved." In the conference room, Director Guo Peichao and others did not hesitate to offer high praise. From a police officer¡¯s perspective, it can¡¯t be said that this case was unsolvable, but it absolutely shouldn¡¯t have been solved in this manner, step by step. Under normal circumstances, the case should have been received by a criminal police team from some county or district, then get stuck due to issues with the source of the corpse, and not even requiring the expansion of a special case team before it¡¯s over. If one is lucky or skilled enough to break through, then a special team of dozens is formed, traveling across several ces, conducting a three-month business trip and show, consuming a vast amount of resources, and then returning without sess. If one wishes to make further progress, the difficulty would be extremely high. However, there was still a chance this case could be cracked. But it was more likely not by the police¡¯s investigation into the case, but rather as the "Escape Room" or the situation of their group became known to the police, the perpetrator could be unearthed along with the revtion. Beyond that, it depends on the subsequent fate of the two fugitive criminals. Their behavior is also quite typical¡ªaftermitting a murder, they flee and hide out for two or three years, check how things are going, then decide whether to continue hiding in another area, go home for the holidays, or stay put but start using their own ID cards. For cases like Chen Nuan¡¯s drowning, since the case was filed outside of the local area, it doesn¡¯t matter whether the two return home or not. What really determines their fate is whether they will continue tomit crimes, and after doing so, whether they will implicate each other, ormit a major crime for which they cannot help but expose each other in hope of a lighter sentence. Lastly, it depends on whether one of the two bes sessful. If one prospers while the other remains a miscreant, involvement in other cases is not umon. It can even be said that it is the most natural human choice. "I think this case can be rmended for nomination as the case of the year award," Director Guo Peichao generously suggested. Huang Qiangmin was moved: "Can you nominate from your side? Although the case was filed in Ningtai County, Chang Le City Bureau also expended great efforts. It would be perfect to submit it from Chang Le City¡¯s side." "If we evaluate it from Chang Le, we will have to take a slot." Guo Peichao, touching his forehead, didn¡¯t expect his own remark to turn into a win for himself, making him feel somewhat clever. Huang Qiangminughed heartily: "One more nominating entity doesn¡¯t make any difference to us, and it still robs you of a slot." "The slots don¡¯t matter; we can never fill them all anyway..." Guo Peichao said and then, realizing his logical w, frowned and added: "Unless..." "Our slots have been fully filled thesest few years," Huang Qiangmin stated truthfully. "That makes sense. It¡¯s normal for your slots to be fully filled," Guo Peichao said with a self-deprecating smile. "Mainly because there¡¯s an explosive expert like Jiang Yuan, we really can¡¯t help it. Hahaha." Huang Qiangmin let out a horse-crossing-the-river-styleugh. "Indeed, before meeting him, I couldn¡¯t even begin to imagine such a way of solving cases as Jiang Yuan¡¯s." Guo Peichao looked at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s beaming smile and couldn¡¯t help but touch his own forehead again, thinking: I really can tter people. ... Next door. Jiang Yuan was furiously clicking on theputer, going through more than a dozen pages of procedural applications, confirming that the number of people to be arrested easily exceeded a hundred. Chen Nuan¡¯s drowning case is of utmost importance, but it has actually be less difficult to handle. The facts of the case are very clear now. Although the two suspects have consumed a great deal of energy and physical effort from Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squadparable to a drug trafficking case, once their identities were confirmed, neither interrogation nor subsequent investigation and evidence collection proved to be too challenging. Instead, it is the follow-up to this case that seems simple but is actually quite troublesome to handle, mainly involving how to deal with the rted store, its employees, and customers. Firstly, all the members of the Share Group created by the escape room employees must be apprehended. The videos they shared with each other are mainly indecent photos or videos of customers, with only a few involving obscenity. These need to be carefully verified, interrogated one by one, and then sent for prosecution. Next, even though there are legitimate customer groups created by the employees for social gaming, there are more that are not, hence everyone in each employee¡¯s customer group also needs to be screened. Some employees even have special VIP groups, regr customer groups, and senior customer groups, which are the focus of the investigation. Lastly, thepany that produced the involved scripts, the people who wrote them, and those who participated in the renovation - whether they were aware, whether it was intentional, whether there was an inducement or even organizational involvement - pose a challenge to the follow-up investigation and to the prosecutor¡¯s office. If we want to delve into finer details and have the manpower, we could also encourage the involved parties to report on each other and im merits, to see if more stores and individuals could be implicated. Beyond this, all these cases ultimately require evidence and witnesses. Electronic videos as evidence also need proper documentation, and witnesses must be called in to give statements. If the suspects are unwilling to admit guilt and ept punishment, more preparations are needed for trial. However, these are mostly issues that Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t need to worry about, and even the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad need not be too concerned. This is one of the reasons the temporarily assigned personnel from the Cold Case Squad are reluctant to leave - with a focus on solving cases without the need to spend too much effort on case management, it can be considered a blessing for the frontline police officers, providing a high sense of achievement. "Commissioner Huang must have sold you with a smile," said Shen Yaowei, massaging his thigh while relishing the sore muscles after climbing stairs, and boldlymenting on the leader: "From my limited experience, it must have been at a high price." The previous few did not dare to be as bold as Shen Yaowei, but Mu Zhiyang just chuckled twice, saying, "When has Commissioner Huang not sold at a high price..." Shen Yaoweiughed: "Mainly because Captain Jiang is easier to sell, rarity is valuable, just like using live bait when fishing, other fish would definitelye sniffing around, our Commissioner Huang just has to..." While talking, Shen Yaowei suddenly noticed that the expressions of Mu Zhiyang and the others became serious. Shen Yaowei, an old soldier who had been through gunfire battles, was as keen as an antelope. His tone took a subtle turn: "It¡¯s precisely because of Commissioner Huang¡¯s protection that we can calmly carry on with our case work..." "Shen." Huang Qiangmin called out softly. Although Shen Yaowei had guessed it, he was still startled, his face turned pale, and he quickly turned around and smiled, "Commissioner Huang, you¡¯re here, hard work..." "There¡¯s nothing hard about it. The hard work is up to you next," Huang Qiangmin paused, "The case we just mentioned, also a drowning, but the body was in a fishpond. The special task force from Chang Le Bureau has already drained the pond. Join their team and dig through the silt, see if you can find any evidence. The pond is quiterge, make sure to keep warm." Shen Yaowei: "Yes¡ª" Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan: "See if you have anything to add." "Yao Wei is skilled at finding things," Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin exchanged a nce, agreeing with the suggestion. Chapter 994 - 930 Dredging

Chapter 994: Chapter 930 Dredging

Pusui Town. The incident urred at a fish pond not far from the highway exit, covering an area of about one hectare, or 15 mu, approximately 10,000 square meters¡ªroughly the size of a sports field with a 400-meter standard track. A football field, which news reports often like to mention, is about 7140 square meters, roughly 10.7 mu. The water in the pond had been drained, and sunlight shone on the mud¡¯s surface, baking a thin, crispy crust. But with a light touch, the fragile crust broke apart, revealing the thick, sticky mud underneath. Yao Wei, wearing a full set of thick leather clothes, jumped into the mud. Before he could speak, he felt himself slowly sinking down, deeper and deeper, as if there was no bottom. "How deep is the mud?" Yao Wei was not panicking, although his sensation was simr to someone falling into quicksand or getting stuck in a swamp. On the shore stood a police officer from the Chang Le City Bureau, who truthfully said, "The shallow part is about one meter, the deep part might be over two meters." "Two meters? Isn¡¯t that over my head?" Yao Wei started to panic a bit. The police officer on the shore chuckled and said, "It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m holding onto a rope." "How can it be this deep?" Yao Wei continued to murmur as he sank, "I¡¯ve checked the books; aren¡¯t normal fish ponds only a few tens of centimeters deep?" "For a normal fish pond, there¡¯s no need for leather clothes," the police officer alsoughed and pointed out Yao Wei¡¯s logical mistake. Yao Wei looked down at his leather jacket and then at the approaching mud, feeling slightly panicky: "Is this okay now...?" "You should be almost at the bottom; it¡¯s the edge after all. Normally, fish ponds only have twenty to thirty centimeters of mud. So, this pond is problematic¡ªone, it hasn¡¯t been dredged for a long time, and two, it hasn¡¯t been used to raise fish for too long. The mud has umted, making it thick. Initially, we suspect someone familiar with the area did this..." The police officer on the shore began to ponder the case. Gurgle, gurgle. Yao Wei felt bubbles starting to form around him. "Guys, pull a bit, it¡¯s really a bit deep here," the police officer said cheerfully and then instructed Yao Wei, "Stretch out your arms, and wave them about." Yao Wei hurried toply. The police officer on the shore, counting one, two, three, along with three others, pulled Yao Wei out. Plop... A rope flew swiftly out of the pond, and Yao Wei felt a momentary lift before sinking again, his body suddenly tilting. "What now?" Yao Wei was truly panicking now. Images from various moments in his life started flooding back, particrly clear was the scene from Su Ind where he aimed and shot a criminal on his first try. That was a highlight moment for Yao Wei. "Yao, hold onto this," in a moment of urgency, a police officer yelled and threw the slippery muddy rope towards Yao Wei. Yao Wei grabbed the muddy rope, and as the officers counted again, they pulled him up. "Phew..." Yao Wei climbed onto the shore, bringing the smell of the pond¡¯s mud along with him, which mixed with a freshly baked smell, bing even more pungent. "Give Yao... a rinse," the leading officer instructed, and someone grabbed a rubber hose, squeezing it to produce a weak jet of water that sshed onto Yao Wei¡¯s leather clothes, much like washing a pig in the vige. Yao Wei gasped for air, having inhaled enough foul smell, he rolled up and asked someone to spray his back while pondering how on earth they could search the pond the size of a sports field: "How do you expect to turn up anything from inside?" "Exactly, but when I told the leaders, they didn¡¯t really understand," the leading officer seemed aggrieved, all his words condensing into one line, uncertain what else would be appropriate to say. "If we were normally searching for evidence, we usually just dig around the body in the mud and search the surface; we wouldn¡¯t necessarily drain the water," Yao Wei also felt somewhat perplexed. With such a vast pond, not to mention flipping all the mud inside, even just swimming through it seemed like it would exhaust all of one¡¯s life¡¯s energy. Finding evidence was never going to be easy. In fact, searching for objects in muddy waters is already extremely challenging, let alone in the mud. This n itself is a bit hard to realize. The leading criminal police could only sigh, thought for a moment, and then said: "Honestly, we¡¯ve managed to solve all murder cases for three consecutive years..." "Understandable." Shen Yaowei nodded: "It¡¯s about maintaining a good reputation without wanting to spend the money." The people nearby all chuckled in response. "Saving at every corner, and in the end, they still turn to Captain Jiang." Shen Yaowei curled his lips, considering Huang Qiangmin¡¯s stingy nature, he¡¯d definitely not let Chang Le City take on both ends. Shen Yaowei stood up, water cascading out from his leather jacket, asking: "What do you all think? How should we proceed?" "The condition of the corpse in this case is quite special. First, the body was tied up by the murderer with ropes and stones and submerged in the pond. The clothing on the corpse is intact, suggesting it has been soaked in the water for over three months. During this period, Chang Le City experienced several heavy rains, and a lot of water entered the pond. Therefore, we suspect that some objects on the corpse, if they fell off, might have been washed away as well." As the leading officer spoke, he gestured and continued: "The situation with the mud is almost the same; this pond is old and poorly maintained, and many mudslides urred during the rain. If it were a well-maintained pond, there would be measures to block this, but nobody cares about this pond, so the iing silt could have buried the evidence again." Shen Yaowei nodded: "Makes sense, so how do you n to handle it?" "If we can¡¯t trace the origin of the corpse through the body itself, we have to rely on the items found around it." The officer emphasized, continuing: "We suggest using an excavator to dig out all the mud in the pond, at least a few dozen centimeters thick, but this will be quite expensive. Director Lang has always encouraged us to be proactive, but how can we manage such thick mud?" "That¡¯s easy. Hand me my phone," Shen Yaowei stretched out his hand. Someone handed the phone to Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei made a call to Huang Qiangmin, exined the reason, and after a couple of affirmatives, he hung up saying: "It¡¯s settled, an excavator will be here soon, and we need to find another ce to dump the mud, somewhere convenient for washing the evidence." "Director Lang agreed?" The leading officer was surprised. Director Lang always believes in spending wisely, so how could he agree so readily? Shen Yaowei smirked: "Now that the Cold Case Squad is in charge of the case, Commissioner Huang¡¯s decision is enough." Of course, the subsequent expenses are definitely for the Chang Le Bureau to bear. The leading officer realized, "Director Lang is reluctant to spend, so you all spend for him?" ... Shen Yaowei requested 4 excavators at once, along with a truck and several vige tricycles, to start cleaning the evidence. Huang Qiangmin gave the rest of the Cold Case Squad a three-day vacation, and by the time everyone came back from the break, Shen Yaowei¡¯s mud removal work was almostplete. The cleared debris was enough to pile up a room. Now, the challenge they faced was suddenly not ack of evidence, but too many items, not knowing which ones were evidence. Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t bother with that, he spent money to hire vehicles to transport it all back to the Changler City Bureau Criminal Police Brigade. The courtyard of the brigade immediately began to stink. Director Lang, seeing these items dug up at the expense of his own budget, most of which wouldn¡¯t be evidence, began to doubt whether he had wasted too much. Meanwhile, after briefly reviewing the corpse and its photographs, Jiang Yuan decided to abandon the corpse¡¯s flesh. The weather in Chang Le City is hot, the decay of the body in the pond was quick, and with fish in the pond, by the time the body was retrieved, although there were still some organic materials attached to the corpse, making a DNA test was difficult. In the end, the body had to be boiled, with only the bones preserved. At this time, although Jiang Yuan still had Skull Restoration Skill to rely on, it indeed took too much time. In contrast, Forensic Anthropology seemed more noble, only needing to look at the bones one by one to read a wealth of information. Chapter 995 - 931: Time to Splurge

Chapter 995: Chapter 931: Time to Splurge

Miao Ruixiang arrived quickly in Chang Le City, carrying a backpack full of notebooks and driving a Jin A-license ntra. After reporting, Miao Ruixiang was led to a corner building in the Criminal Police Brigade. "Oh, you have a dedicated forensic building too?" Miao Ruixiang envied a little, at least it saves travel if not going to the funeral home, and the takeout would taste better. The leading criminal policeman shook his head, "Director temporarily arranged a room for you, currently, it can only be used to store bones and the like." "Ah, temporarily arranged for storing remains?" Miao Ruixiang was surprised, "Is it always like this here in Chang Le?" "How could that be, it¡¯s just for the convenience of Captain Jiang." "Is that so?" "Can¡¯t possibly make Jiang Yuan go to the funeral home every day," said the leading criminal policeman naturally. While nodding, Miao Ruixiang screamed inwardly, thinking: This treatment is too good, too unfair, when can I have such treatment? The smell of the bodies is quite strong, making it difficult for those unustomed to use the room where the bodies were stored for a long time, including psychological factors. Therefore, even policemen who aren¡¯t squeamish about bodies, prefer not to have autopsy rooms in the same building. Hence, forensic doctors who want a convenient autopsy room need to have a forensic building within the city area at the very least. This is evidently a very high requirement. Miao Ruixiang, who now sometimes goes to crime scenes, albeit under the guidance of Master Wu Jun, still ends up in the basement of the funeral home,boriously working there and afterwards eating the less than satisfactory meals ¡ª if anyone thinks school cafeteria food is bad, they definitelyck a point ofparison! "You can take this elevator directly upstairs," the leading criminal policeman guided Miao Ruixiang to the elevator. Miao Ruixiang: "There¡¯s an elevator?" Criminal Policeman: "Can¡¯t realistically expect Captain Jiang to carry the bodies himself." Miao Ruixiang: "You people in Chang Le really know how to take care of things." Criminal Policeman sighed, "Our Director Lang wishes that every penny not spent could yield the value of a dor." After entering the elevator, Miao Ruixiang then realized, this signified huge expectations for Jiang Yuan and even himself. Just didn¡¯t know, if such expectations weren¡¯t met, what Director Lang would do... Thinking so, Miao Ruixiang couldn¡¯t help but smile. Ding. The elevator doors opened to reveal arge ss window on the side of the elevator corridor, scattering the meticulous sunlight inside. Across therge ss, there was a room with double doors, the temporarily arranged autopsy room. Such a sunlit autopsy room was something Miao Ruixiang had never seen before. Miao Ruixiang, stepping into the sunlight, saw Jiang Yuan studying a femur bone at a long table, not far from a pile of white bones where two technicians inb coats were busy, and across them stood Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s forensic doctor Wang Lan, evidently also reinforced here. "Reporting," Miao Ruixiang called out from the doorway. "Come in." It was Wang Lan who spoke. Seeing it was Miao Ruixiang, she smiled again and said, "Jiang Yuan, your junior has arrived." "Ruixiang," Jiang Yuan looked up with a smile, "Was the journey smooth?" "Pretty good, just a few hours¡¯ drive..." "This corpse¡¯s skull, I¡¯ll leave it to you to perform the Skull Restoration Skill." Jiang Yuan had already examined the skull, but personally, he didn¡¯t want to do the restoration, so he passed it to Miao Ruixiang as a practice opportunity. Miao Ruixiang quickly agreed, cradling the skull in his hands and carefully moved to the side, murmuring, "There¡¯s some damage." "Many bones are damaged, otherwise why would Jiang Yuan call us here." Wang Lan, being a forensic doctor from Qinghe City Bureau and supporting the whole city, usually came when a confirmed case emerged in a county and the local forensic doctor wasn¡¯t strong enough, was too busy, or just as an added precaution. However, having to leave the city was rare, and Wang Lan took it very seriously. We cannot lose face in Chang Le City. Miao Ruixiang looked at his own skull with a grave expression. The Skull Restoration Skill was already difficult enough, and it had to be performed on a damaged skull, which really seemed to exceed his control. Wang Lan noticed his hesitation and said calmly, "Just start working on it. If you can¡¯t do it, just ask Jiang Yuan for help. Having a senior brother of your level and not using him, you¡¯d have to make an appointment in Beijing when he gets older." Miao Ruixiang chuckled twice, feeling truly fortunate to have such a senior brother. "Alright, let¡¯s get to work. Jiang Yuan brought us here to press on the work," Wang Lan waved her hand and turned back topare the bones. Her and the other two forensic doctors¡¯ main task was to categorize the bones washed out from the fish pond¡ªthe corpse was missing some bones, like two ribs, some toe bones and so on. It wouldn¡¯t have been surprising, except there were also some other animal bones in the fish pond, including bones of pigs, sheep, and some chicken and duck bones. Jiang Yuan guessed that these bones might havee from diseased pigs and sheep. A detailed analysis and some tests on these bones could perhaps confirm this, but it was not necessary. Before a breakthrough in a high-cost homicide case, it was impossible for the team to spend energy on such minor details. Primarily, the bones of pigs and sheep could mislead the forensic doctors¡¯ judgement, and Jiang Yuan still preferred to recover all the victim¡¯s body for aprehensive judgement. For this, they had no choice but to bother Wang Lan and others to squat here and slowly sift through theserge bones. Besides, to utilize Forensic Anthropology in investigating cases, it is necessary to prepare samples of the bones, just like ordinary forensic autopsies require samples of internal organs and muscles. These are beneficial to the investigation and necessary for subsequent re-examinations, but they are all quite tedious. Jiang Yuan had to do them himself in the past, but now he could choose to let others do them. Moreover, focusing on Forensic Anthropology can also help progress the case. As the pinnacle of forensic techniques, Forensic Anthropology is quite challenging and burdensome to apply. Generally, those forensic doctors who are considered skilled in Forensic Anthropology are likely only at the beginner or intermediate level of level 2, simr to Image Enhancement techniques, both being technically demanding and resulting in rtively low absolute expertise among specialists. Therefore, only strong police departments are really able to apply Forensic Anthropology in criminal cases. Most smaller local departments, when encountering a skeletonized body, their first reaction is to frown. In cases like Chang Le City, the police department saw the difficulty from the start and decided not to try finding the origin of the corpse through Forensic Anthropology, focusing instead on the deceased¡¯s personal belongings, which is the mostmon approach used by police teams. It must be said that sometimes, this approach really works well. Even Jiang Yuan, if he could ascertain the origin of the corpse through the deceased¡¯s personal items, he wouldn¡¯t bother with therge bones. "How¡¯s it going?" Lang Heng barged in eagerly. "No findings for the time being," Jiang Yuan wrote a few strokes in his notebook and sighed. "Not a single discovery?" Lang Heng immediately showed a disappointed expression with a bit of regret. After all, his own forensic doctors were much cheaper. Jiang Yuan shrugged, "The environment in the fish pond is quiteplex. It¡¯s still difficult to determine the cause of death..." "But all we have now is the body..." Lang Heng couldn¡¯t help but look at his own forensic doctors. The younger forensic doctor Xue Weihua said, "Director Lang, what Captain Jiang said about not having findings is different from our standard." "What do you mean?" Lang Heng was puzzled. "Captain Jiang, tell Director Lang about the current analysis results so he doesn¡¯t worry himself to death," whispered Xue Weihua. "I don¡¯t rmend proceeding with an investigation based on the current results. We still need the traditional route, which requires ample forces; we may as well wait another day until some data reportse out, then we can do more analysis," Jiang Yuan spoke their course of action and unfolded the notebook in front of him again, "The victim, a male, 38 years old, height 173 cm, weight about 80 kg. He had previously suffered a severeteral impact, with rib fractures and ankle bone fractures. He liked to eat sunflower seeds..." Lang Heng¡¯s expression faded from intense to mild, then mild to intense, flushing as he looked at his own forensic doctors: "All this and you don¡¯t report?" "Captain Jiang said he could deduce further..." The two forensic doctors from Chang Le City also felt helpless. Lang Hengughed, "No need, Captain Jiang, with your current conclusions, I could deploy several hundred people and most likely get a result." "Sharpening the axe will not dy the chopping of firewood; let¡¯s wait another day, I¡¯ll refine it a bit more. Later, we may even find some more bones and narrow down the scope further," Jiang Yuan spoke realistically. Deploying a team of hundreds wouldn¡¯t be adequately organized in just one day. Lang Heng, unable to wait, hurriedly said, "It¡¯s alright, you continue refining, I¡¯ll lead the team out to start investigating..." "Deploying hundreds of people, it¡¯s going to cost quite a bit," Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised. Lang Heng hesitated for two seconds, then gritted his teeth, "Save where we should, spend where we must, let¡¯s not wait anymore!" Chapter 996 - 932: Advancement

Chapter 996: Chapter 932: Advancement

Once you have hundreds of people, the expenses are countless. If hundreds of people are doing the same thing, it¡¯s like deploying hundreds of riflemen at once, where the costs are rtively easy to control. But if hundreds of detectives are doing different tasks separately, it¡¯s like the police department is having a wedding ceremony, only without the cost of a banquet. In Chang Le City¡¯s standards, per person per trip, there¡¯s an 80 yuan transportation subsidy and 100 yuan meal subsidy daily. Therefore, if you take a car, you need to sign for a 100 yuan subsidy, and if you don¡¯t take a car, you need to sign for a 180 yuan subsidy per day, and this doesn¡¯t even include lodging or high-speed train costs. Lang Heng signed his signature all morning, signing more and more regretfully, but still firmly continued signing. The staff know what kind of person their brigade leader is, and while watching, they advised: "Jiang Yuan said he can wait a day, right? Let¡¯s just wait a day; maybe the clue will be more specific." "It¡¯s better to rely on oneself than to ask others... um... although we are asking Jiang Yuan to handle the case, we still have to figure it out ourselves. He says tomorrow he could have more specific clues, but honestly, we already have the age, gender, height, and weight, what more specific clues do I need? We dredged up a skeleton, does he still want to give me a photo?" Lang Heng has his own thoughts. He has also been the head of the Criminal Police Brigade for so long and knows the situation with the technicians. The more capable technicians often have more personality which in fact, due to their indispensable skills and standardized sries, makes it hard to achieve mental bnce without being overbearing. And Lang Heng has encountered technicians who thump their chest promising one thing and then fail to deliver. Fundamentally, Lang Heng still prefers detectives who use their "iron shoes" to gain prominence. He came up in the ranks this way, earnest in his work, measuring the city with his feet, with less expenditure and not bad in solving cases. However, facing the pressure of having to solve a homicide, even the best efficiency isn¡¯t enough unless it¡¯s 100%, and any element that is helpful in solving the case, as long as it¡¯s not outrageously expensive, the detectives are willing to try it. Even if it is outrageously expensive, it is worth an attempt. Simrly, Lang Heng doesn¡¯t want to just idly wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s news. After Jiang Yuan updated the rted information about the deceased, Lang Heng felt there was room for the detectives to use their iron shoes. ... The movements within the brigade easily reached the watchtower. Even Lang Heng¡¯s words were almost exactly conveyed. This made the two forensic doctors from Chang Le City themselves couldn¡¯t help but discuss quietly. However, even as professional forensic doctors, they couldn¡¯t say Lang Heng¡¯s judgment was wrong. The forensic judgment given by Jiang Yuan, in their opinion, was indeed sufficient. As Brigadier Lang Heng said, the deceased was reduced to a skeleton, age, gender, height, and weight were all avable, do they still need to provide a photo of the deceased? The two discussed this point, and unnaturally looked towards the direction where Rui Xiang was working. "It¡¯s impossible," Xue Weihua coughed twice, said: "Skull Restoration Skill takes two to three months to yield results, and they are mostly conceptual drawings, even worse than those drawn by a sketch artist." "It depends on who performs the Skull Restoration Skill. Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior isn¡¯t doing so well, but if Jiang Yuan does it, have you seen the Skull Restoration Skill done by him?" "Uh... no, is it good?" "There¡¯s some on the internalwork, you can look it up," the senior forensic suggested with a wink. "You think everyone just allows a detective squad from Ningtai County Bureau to roam around." Xue Weihua then sat down in front of theputer to search. Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases solved using the Skull Restoration Skill were just a few, and he used it rtively more frequently only in the beginning when he acquired the skill, but this is only his own perception. In the police circle, technicians who are able to perform Skull Restoration Skill normally handle just a few cases throughout the year. They would be happy to solve even half of them. It can be said that the Skull Restoration Skill itself is a time-consuming and effort-intensive technique, and it¡¯s also a technique that everyone is eager to use. Thus, technicians proficient in the Skull Restoration Skill spend all year with skulls. Xue Weihua pulled out the images of the Skull Restoration Skill done by Jiang Yuan and went through them,pletely astonished. Both being forensic doctors, he was much older than Jiang Yuan, but when it came to skills... "What are you doing?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s face suddenly appeared on the other side of the screen. Xue Weihua¡¯s buttocks twitched, almost scared to urinate. "I..." Xue Weihua looked up at Jiang Yuan, carefully said, "Following your instructions." "Thene help me move some evidence." Jiang Yuan was here to summon him. Shortly after, Jiang Yuan gathered six people and went downstairs to search through a pile of foul-smelling mud products for evidence. "Pass each piece in front of me, don¡¯t go too fast," Jiang Yuan¡¯s request was slightly strange. If this had been before, Xue Weihua might have asked why, but today, after having just seen those cases on the intr, Xue Weihua felt he wasn¡¯t qualified to question. It was just handling some dirty evidence; if Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel they would dirty his eyes, how could they dirty his hands or clothes. Xue Weihua held arge white pipe and slowly passed in front of Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t shout stop, his gaze was contemtive. Xue Weihua had somewhat guessed what he wanted to do; he wanted to determine which objects belonged to the deceased through the information obtained from forensic anthropology. But there were too many items from the fish pond, at least hundreds of items, how to determine which belonged to the deceased? Xue Weihua couldn¡¯t fathom Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning; he could only join the few young policemen and act as a soulless conveyor belt. "Hold this one a second." Jiang Yuan extended his hand to stop the conveyor belt. The item he stopped was an old leather shoe that Xue Weihua was holding. Xue Weihua naturally examined the leather shoe. Nowadays, young people hardly wear leather shoes, but it¡¯s likely that middle-aged and elderly people in the vige who enjoyed wearing leather shoes, worn and torn, might discard them in the fish pond. Civic virtue is not something that people hold onto for long. Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thought was obviously different; wearing gloves, he took the leather shoe, examined it for a while, and turned to Mu Zhiyang to record, saying, "The shoe size matches, the wear matches the walking habits of the deceased, there¡¯s a high probability this is the deceased¡¯s shoe, get all the shoes found in the pond for a check." Originally, he hadn¡¯t thought about the deceased¡¯s shoes, but seeing them now suddenly reminded him, considering that the deceased was fully clothed when dumped, it was very likely they were also wearing shoes. However, being seen from another angle, multiple items on the deceased¡¯s body hadn¡¯t revealed their identity; having an additional pair of shoes might not solve the issue either. But no matter what, this was still a rtively good start. The crowd was slightly invigorated, Shen Yaowei took the initiative to dig through the pile of evidence trash, these items were all cleaned out by his team, and he vaguely remembered a few pairs of shoes. Before Shen Yaowei could find the other shoe, Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze was locked onto a belt. "The wear on the buckle matches the waist size of the deceased," Jiang Yuan instructed Mu Zhiyang to continue recording. The young forensic doctor Xue Weihua couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Can you even determine the waist size?" "Knowing the height and weight, seeing the condition of the spine, knowing the length of the spine and the long bones, estimating a waist size should be feasible," Jiang Yuan said calmly, simply stating the reasoning points. Theoretically, if Xue Weihua could make the same determination, he would also be able to estimate the waist size of a deceased in the future. Xue Weihua pondered intently, unsure if he had learned a point of forensic anthropology, or a useless piece of knowledge. Chapter 997 - 933: Issue Identity Card Number

Chapter 997: Chapter 933: Issue Identity Card Number

Finding the right direction is more important thanpleting any number of tasks. Before stumbling upon that leather shoe, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t actually sure of the next direction of the investigation¡ªsuch is the nature of forensic anthropology: you don¡¯t know what you might find on the bones; therefore, you can¡¯t presuppose any stance. Of course, information such as age, gender, and height are the basics of forensic anthropology, things that can be determined as long as you find the bones. They don¡¯t really indicate any particr direction. The appearance of the shoe at least proved one thing: the murderer did not meticulously handle the victim¡¯s belongings. At the very least,cking the confidence to take off the shoes likely means they wouldn¡¯t have emptied the pockets either¡ªthe killer was probably panicked, especially if it was their first murder, and the body was dumped at a vige pond. Logically, if they wanted to minimize the body¡¯s personal items, they should have done so beforehand, not at the time of dumping the body. Of course, since the cause of death was not certain, the killer might have killed the victim right by the pond. In this case, it would be practically impossible to meticulously clean the victim¡¯s belongings, which could be a breakthrough in the case. For an investigator, solving a case without the perpetrator making any mistakes indeed demonstrates ability. But if one can seize upon a mistake made by the killer and make a breakthrough, that too can achieve the goal. Reality is nopetition; even for the "master detective" Jiang Yuan, solving the case is the top priority. Expecting a highly intelligent opponent, wanting an equally matched enemy¡ªthat¡¯s just self-indulgence in European and American culture. Chinese people don¡¯t need such things to prove themselves. If one must aspire to greatness, the Chinese way of aspiring to greatness involves conquering the world, reforming society, not defeating an individual. After discovering the shoe, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t rush to trace its origin, waiting until Shen Yaowei had turned out all of the shoes from the "evidence pile" and inspected them all before handing this task over to Shen Yaowei. If it¡¯s possible to connect or discover the identity of the victim through the shoes themselves, or other items like belts, then that would be ideal. Although clothing sales volumes arerge and there are many production and distribution links, which usually do not make them good for tracing, this is still a worthwhile clue. After careful consideration, Shen Yaowei suggested, "Captain Jiang, I want to take this shoe to the manufacturer for testing. As far as I know, each batch of shoes may have variations in the specific materials used on the inside. Especially the adhesive and the type of real leather, the tanning process, and so on, we might be able to match it to a specific batch." "Sure," Jiang Yuan readily agreed. Even if it¡¯s narrowed down to a specific batch, it may still be hard to determine the victim¡¯s identity, but this remains a good lead. Shen Yaowei immediately rolled up two swollen smelly shoes, carefully ced them into an evidence bag, and began to call the manufacturer. Jiang Yuan waved, and the conveyor belt started up again. Under Jiang Yuan¡¯s direction, the conveyor belt moved more slowly. Jiang Yuan felt the need for more time to think. Creak. Liu Jinghui and Lang Heng arrived after hearing the news. The two quickly looked at the photos of the leather shoes and belt. Lang Heng spoke first, a bit surprised: "Identifying the shoes worn by the deceased through the bones, your judgment is quite remarkable." "Actually, it¡¯s not difficult to deduce, but it requires consideration of many points. Mainly because the victim¡¯s shoes were worn for a long enough time that they had be worn," Jiang Yuan paused, then stopped the conveyor belt again and exined, "For instance, a person with t feet, the middle of their shoes tends to wear out faster, which wouldn¡¯t happen for someone with a good arch. Additionally, someone who walks with their feet turned outwards would have more wear on the inner side of their shoe soles." Jiang Yuan ttened his hand as an example: "Or say, a person with an out-turned ankle, the outer side of their shoe sole would be more worn. An out-turned ankle is closely associated with t feet. If the person is old enough and doesn¡¯t correct it, they could easily have both conditions. Simrly, an in-turned ankle is closely associated with a high arch, likely leading to wear on the inside of the shoe sole." Jiang Yuan mimed the ankle movement and added, "The victim had previously suffered an impact on the left side, and there was a fracture in the ankle bone. Because of this, the victim¡¯s shoes would have uneven pressure on one side, making it quite easy to judge. However, it¡¯s easy to confuse this with scoliosis and abnormal pelvic conditions, so I made a point of examining the victim¡¯s spine and pelvis. Furthermore, the markings on the victim¡¯s knees could also serve as supporting evidence..." Lang Heng listened in bewilderment. The two forensic doctors from Chang Le City were present, wearing naive smiles on their faces. Some things sound simple upon hearing, but don¡¯t think you understand just by listening. In some ways, forensic anthropology is simr to antiques studying; it appears to be a skill, yet carries a hint of art. What¡¯s heard is logic, but what¡¯s seen is feeling. And yet, they manage to prove they are right with people¡¯s lives and money. "It¡¯s good that you¡¯ve found something," Lang Heng said, understanding the expressions on the faces of his subordinates, and realizing the discussion was over their heads, he decisively chose to trust them. After pondering for a moment, Liu Jinghui said, "Now that we have found a belt and leather shoes,bined with the shirt the victim was wearing, perhaps we can conjecture about the victim¡¯s image." "Salesman?" Lang Heng had experience in this regard and immediately joined in. "A 38-year-old township salesman? It¡¯s not impossible, just a bit too tragic, tragically to the point of not being worth being murdered," Liu Jinghuimented half-jokingly, but everyone knew he wasn¡¯t really joking. If a person is worthless, then they have no value to be killed for. "Infidelity? A date?" Lang Heng proposed another very usible reason. A man in a suit and shoes, if he came for a date, could exin both the attire and the motive for the murder. Liu Jinghui refuted, "If it¡¯s about an affair, strutting into the vige where his lover lives is too arrogant, plus, if it¡¯s the disappearance of a cheating husband, even if the vige doesn¡¯t report it, the mistress should, right?" "Indeed," Lang Heng agreed, then habitually asked, "Throwing out a brick to attract jade, what do you think?" Liu Jinghui: "I tend to believe that the deceased had no strong ties to the vige. Otherwise, when you were screening for missing people, you should have been able to find him. All things considered, the salesman theory actually fits better, but I think we can still search for his upper garment. Based on the garment, we may be able to make more deductions, like whether he was wearing a suit or a jacket... He couldn¡¯t have juste wearing a shirt, the weather isn¡¯t that warm yet." Liu Jinghui paused here, then continued, "The search for the garment should be thorough. If there really is no upper garment, judging by the weather at the time of the victim¡¯s death, we can assume the killer kept the victim¡¯s garment at home, or the victim drove a car, leaving the garment in the car, or there might even have been apanion. In that case, the nature of the case changes." Jiang Yuan immediately nodded and said, "Let¡¯s dig through the pile of evidence, see if there are any clothes, and be careful not to tear the textiles." That¡¯s the advantage of digging up the entire pond, you can search for anything you want. However, this was also based on Jiang Yuan finding the shoes; otherwise, no one would have even thought in this direction. Several young officers selected by Lang Heng were sent off to dig through the pile of evidence for textiles. Lang Heng had just dispatched his most efficient police force this morning, and seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s discovery, he felt both relieved and regretful. After all, it wasn¡¯t a conclusive finding, but it did make his decision seem very correct. At this moment, Lang Heng also felt a strong sense of participation. Lang Heng simply stood up and went over to the pile of evidence to take a look, even though it was emanating a strong stench, the feeling of getting down to the grassroots was still pretty good. Buzz buzz... Lang Heng¡¯s mobile phone would ring from time to time¡ªthat was the detectives he had sent out reporting their situation to him. Making inquiries is arduous work, often resulting in leg cramps without any results. If your area of inquiry happens not to contain any trace of the target, how can extra hardship help? Therefore, Lang Heng, with his background as a detective, paid a lot of attention tomunicating with his subordinates, fully acknowledging the possibly fruitless efforts they made, which also served as a form of emotional recognition for his team. "Is this a piece of clothing?" a young officer picked up a strip of rag. If the rag has a cor, then it¡¯s not a simple rag anymore. An experienced forensic doctor immediately came over, took photos first, then examined it. As the forensic doctor examined, a hard card slipped out of a zippered pocket. "This looks like... an inte card?" the forensic doctor carefully took it out, nced at it, and his eyes lit up. The inte card had the name and number of the inte cafe on it, and most crucially, like hotels, inte cafes are also key ces managed by the police. Normally, they would link to an identity card number and perform facial recognition. Lang Heng immediately took a few photos and sent them to his subordinates via WeChat. In just a few minutes, a subordinate called: "The inte card is from an inte cafe in the town. Based on the number, the person who registered the card is Cai Tingxun, 38 years old, an individual vendor at the wholesale market... The photo and ID number, I¡¯ve sent to your WeChat." Lang Heng then opened his WeChat and saw the photo of an ordinary middle-aged man with wide, round edges to his face, right below a string of ID numbers. Chapter 998 - 934 Major Suspect in the Crime

Chapter 998: Chapter 934 Major Suspect in the Crime

Cai Tingxun himself worked in Changyang City, was divorced, and his son was awarded to his ex-wife. Thus, obtaining his son¡¯s DNA andparing it with his own, a match would confirm the identity of the deceased. Of course, in the rigorous practice of criminal police work, a non-match wouldn¡¯t mean the deceased wasn¡¯t Cai Tingxun, so the police also entered Cai Tingxun¡¯s room, took his toothbrush and razor back forparison. Fortunately, the DNA samples all matched, confirming that the deceased was indeed Cai Tingxun. As a result, all the previously dispatched police personnel could be fully withdrawn. The hundreds of criminal police sent out by Lang Heng were there to confirm the source of the body, and now that the photos and ID number of the body had surfaced, it would be a pure waste of police resources to continue tracing the previous leads. Shen Yaowei was also recalled. There was still hope in continuing the investigation of the swollen leather shoe, but that¡¯s all it was¡ªhope. The current results are more reassuring. And all the police officers called back were immediately put to work on sifting through the piles of evidence. About 120 police officers,plemented by around 30 young people, a total of 150 individuals, vowed to turn the evidence heap upside down. This was a fish pond that covered 15 acres, with the deepest silt being 2 meters and the average depth over one meter. The volume of soil excavated by digging up all this silt was 15,000 cubic meters. A typical medium torge excavator, like the 200 model, can dig 300 cubic meters of earth per hour if working nonstop. But when used for digging silt, it doesn¡¯t even perform at half the efficiency. Therefore, digging out 10,000 cubic meters of silt requires more than 100 hours of machine time. With 4 excavators on the job, each would need to operate for an average of 25 hours. In reality, each excavator operated for over 30 hours because even though many people indeed didn¡¯t treat others as human, the excavator operators were indeed human. Shen Yaowei also put in a great deal of work in dealing with these 15,000 cubic meters of silt. First, he secured a location for piling up the silt. Besides needing to be spacious and not drawints from nearby vigers, the site also needed convenient ess to water for washing the silt. Second, the site needed to be essible for vehicles to enter and unload, meaning it had to be easily reachable. Furthermore, it required a certain degree of closure, as although the silt no one wanted was being stored there, it contained all the material evidence. The criminal police not only had to prevent theft from the site but also ensure that no one could throw anything into it. After all, if the victim died in the vige pond, could the vigers be entirely meless? If by chance the perpetrator or someone covering for the perpetrator lived in the vige and did something secretly at night, or if they got a few kids to throw something in, the entire chain of evidence would be challenged. Of course, Shen Yaowei¡¯s main job was still washing the silt. He, along with the members of the Criminal Police Brigade, went full throttle to wash the silt and then pile the cleaned evidence in a temporary room to avoid exposure to sunlight and as a means of preserving the evidence. In this process, Shen Yaowei and others, or rather the entire task force, were hoping to find evidence that could definitively prove the identity of the deceased, such as a wallet. Without such evidence... some rare items, obviously not belonging to vige life, for example, things that locals would not buy or carelessly discard, or ornaments that should not appear in a fish pond could be considered associated items of the deceased. But in fact, the case had not even progressed to this stage. Only if Jiang Yuan made no headway in forensic anthropology, or Lang Heng¡¯s team came up empty in their inquiries, would everyone possibly focus on these tens of thousands of items. Once it reached this stage, it would definitely not just be a simple touch and go process. First, the items would be taken out, tagged with yellow or whitebels with scales, photographed and filmed, then ced in evidence bags, a part cut or swabbed off, and sent to theb for all kinds of tests. Once the results were obtained, they would be categorized, and if no results were found, they would be processed further. If there were some definite results, then, just like what Shen Yaowei had done before, grabbing a suspected victim¡¯s shoe, he would take one or two partners and make a beeline for the manufacturer or simr ces to conduct further investigation and interviews. Without the level of confirmation from Jiang Yuan, there could potentially be dozens of such items. If the case were particrly important, it would be quite normal to deploy two to three teams to handle it. All thesebined means that Lang Heng could potentially save a month or two of time, with the amount of saved budget being difficult to estimate. Sitting in the office, looking at photo after photo sent back by his subordinates, Lang Heng¡¯s breathing growsbored. The victim, Cai Tingxun, was not only a wholesaler but also a produce wholesaler, meaning that it was easy for him to have connections with the vigers of Pusui Town. The only thing that needed to be determined was the nature of these connections and who exactly was involved. Lang Heng was examining clues from all sides while making calls to maintainmunication with several squad leaders. At this point in the case, experienced officers already knew what to do and didn¡¯t need him to give instructions on site. "Prepare a copy of these documents, take them ande with me." Lang Heng instructed as he left the office, waited briefly, and then, with his subordinates, headed to the corner tower to meet with Jiang Yuan. Based on Lang Heng¡¯s past experience, he definitely wouldn¡¯t go looking for a forensic doctor or technician now, as it was the exclusive moment for the irond detectives. However, as the case had reached this stage today, Lang Heng had indeed learned some lessons. For instance, a forensic doctor could actually retrieve the victim¡¯s identity card number! With that kind of experience, even if Lang Heng wanted to return to his old ways, he couldn¡¯t anymore. Even if the information in his hands didn¡¯t seem relevant to the forensic doctor, he still wanted to discuss it with Jiang Yuan. The top floor was bathed in sunlight. Across the floor-to-ceiling window, Jiang Yuan was leisurely ying with his phone, facing the cityscape outside the window, drinking tea with Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin. Lang Heng hesitated for a moment before approaching and said with a smile, "Jiang Yuan is resting? Director Liu, Commissioner Huang." "Rui Xiang is still reconstructing the skull, so I¡¯m off duty for now." Jiang Yuan said as he looked towards Lang Heng, asking, "Has there been any development in the case?" "No, we¡¯re still investigating, but so far, it¡¯s going smoothly," Lang Heng paused, nced at Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui who were sitting nearby, and said, "We¡¯ve contacted the victim¡¯s ex-wife and sister, talking about Pusui Town, they both mentioned a debt dispute. There¡¯s someone named Xu De, who was a fruit farmer ten years ago, he racked up some debt from the victim on credit, and promised to pay off the debt with the fruits after harvesting." Lang Heng had someone ce the printed photos on the tea table and continued, "The market fluctuated quite a bit that year, and when it was time for the harvest, the price Cai Tingxun gave was low and not to Xu De¡¯s liking. Later, it seems Xu De secretly sold the fruits, and the debt he owed Cai Tingxun was never repaid." Jiang Yuan and the others immediately understood and asked, "Did Cai Tingxune to collect the debt, or what?" "Quite possibly. Cai Tingxun hasn¡¯t been doing too well these past two years. Meanwhile, Xu De stopped growing fruit trees and started selling fruits in the city using a tricycle, making quite a good profit. Xu De returned to Pusui Town this year and opened a fruit shop... At this stage, we believe Xu De is a major suspect!" Chapter 999 - 935: Making Up Stories

Chapter 999: Chapter 935: Making Up Stories

Jiang Yuan followed the arrest team, squatting in a teahouse on the main street of Pusui Town. Through the wide-open double wooden doors, they tantly observed the fruit store across the street. The suspect Xu Dekai¡¯s fruit store was semi-open. Near the entrance, there was a stall facing the street for customers, while further inside it resembled a small supermarket, with a row of refrigerated cabs against the wall containing some perishable, high-priced fruits. The special forces officer responsible for the arrest whispered, "The fruit store covers an area of twenty or thirty square meters, and there¡¯s another closed back door leading to the stairwell behind, which can take you to the upstairs shops or to the back street. I suggest that during the action, we can post someone specifically to guard this door. With both front and back blocked, the suspect will have no way to escape." "Agreed." Lang Heng was also seated in the teahouse. As the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, he was not supposed to personallye for the arrest. The arrest phase of such cases was predictable; in ten cases, there might not be even one instance of resistance, and those who dared to resist usually tried to run, with almost none seeding¡ªsessful escapes in movies logically require pre-nned escape routes anyway. However, this time Jiang Yuan wanted toe to the scene, and Lang Heng was more about keeping Jiang Yuanpany. As a result, the team arresting Xu De had been upgraded from their own criminal police officers to special forces. That difference in strength was likeparing athletes to ordinary high school boys. "Jiang Yuan, what do you think? Shall we make the arrest?" Lang Heng¡¯s respect for Jiang Yuan had reached a high point; he actually didn¡¯t need to ask Jiang Yuan at all. He should have been the absolutemander on the scene. But Jiang Yuan came today to observe the suspect Xu De, not bringing too much EQ with him, and simply said, "If the arrest is sessfulter, it would be best to conduct an immediate interrogation on the spot and ask about the murderer¡¯s killing method. See if there¡¯s a murder weapon." This was the main reason Jiang Yuan came over. The victim¡¯s body was severely dposed, and many bones had already fallen into the fish pond, leaving only highly dposed skeletal remains. Even Jiang Yuan could not determine the cause of death. And this was after he temporarily upgraded Forensic Anthropology to LV4 with a skill boost. For ancient human archaeological sites, analysis of the cause of death would have ended at this stage. Criminal cases still had one more opportunity, that is, to obtain it from witnesses or the criminal¡¯s confession. Besides, Jiang Yuan also wanted to observe Xu De¡¯s daily state. Killing is a difficult thing to do, and as a murderer, in an adrenaline-fueled state, one would subconsciously use one¡¯s strengths to kill, which is an instinctual judgment. Just like someone who is adept with their left hand, when ites to killing, it is actually quite hard to do it with the right hand, and even if it can be done, the forensic doctor can make certain judgments through analysis like examination of cutting wounds. Simrly, someone good with knives or who often uses one would likely choose to kill with a knife rather than by strangtion, and their knife movements would be rtively clean and decisive. The preference of female murderers to use poison is also a demonstration of less direct lethal ability. Jiang Yuan mainly wanted to observe how Xu De used tools, especially his actions in tying up boxes. Theoretically, killing with a knife is more likely to leave traces on bones. Several direct lethal spots on the human body are attached to and protected by bones: hacking at the head would leave marks, stabbing the heart can be hindered by ribs, and the abdomen is rtively easier, but it¡¯s not so easy to achieve immediate death, which can lead to a struggle and defensive wounds. That is, the neck is less protected, but if you sh at it with a knife, the cervical vertebrae or neck bones can also easily leave traces. Now that the remains of the deceased were mostly recovered, except for the scattered hyoid bone and a few finger bones that were not found, no knife marks were found. Jiang Yuan, from his experience, considers asphyxiation due to mechanical causes, like strangtion or throttling, as a likely possibility. Since Xu De¡¯s hands and wrists bore no wounds, the probability of death by throttling is rtively low. However, what exactly caused the death is still just Jiang Yuan¡¯s spection. Ways of dying are incredibly diverse, and the process of murder does not always go as smoothly as nned. Therefore, Jiang Yuan personally came to the arrest scene, wanting to take another look at thest state of suspect Xu De¡¯s life. There is a high probability that he is the murderer in this case. It¡¯s not just the economic dispute. On the day of the incident, Xu De¡¯s cellphone signal showed that he was lingering near the highway exit, and the town¡¯s surveince footage also showed him leaving the town heading west... All these cluesbined already suffice to take him back for a thorough investigation. "If you¡¯re ready, take the opportunity to make the arrest," Lang Heng said casually, without adopting the posture of issuing orders. The leading special forces captain also nodded, stood a little farther away, and began to give instructions in a low voice. Jiang Yuan and the brigademander Lang Heng straightened up a bit. A female officer, arm in arm with a brawny special forces man who was 1.9 meters tall, squeezed into the fruit store together. "Pick anything you like, you can try them before you buy," Xu De was packing for a customer and looked up to shout. The female officer pretended to select fruits, lingering by the entrance of the fruit store, while the male officer, pretending to be bored, walked into the store and stood by the back door, kneeling to look at the fruit next to him. The male officer was a brawny man from the special forces, his broad build like a double-door fridge blocking the entire back door just by standing there. Once the two of them were in position, the special forces captain in charge of the operation felt quite rxed; taking the walkie-talkie, he called out: "Team two move in, team three stand by." Team two was also a duo, consisting of two men with bulky knuckles. They would be responsible for the main arrest work in the following. The two men from the second team stood directly in front of Xu De, one of them asked, "Boss, how much for a box of apples?" Xu De, seeing businessing, smiled and said, "Depends on what variety you want. For a ten-pound box, I¡¯ll give you a good price. There¡¯s 3.5 yuan, 5 yuan, 6 yuan, and even 9 yuan ones..." The SWAT team leader simply watched the second team getting into position, then eagerly said through the walkie-talkie, "Third team, move in, third team, move in... Get ready, five, four..." The third team,posed of eight SWAT members, with four crossing the street from the opposite side and another fouring from both ends of the street,pletely cut off the suspect¡¯s escape route. In China, the scarcity of police forces is only in rtion to catching petty thieves and conducting investigations; when ites to murdercases, the concentrated police force simply leaves no space for the suspects to escape. Especially in recent years, after very stringent gun control was implemented, this squeeze-like arrest method raised the bar extremely high for fleeing suspects¡ªbasically, those who can barely muster the strength to get up from bed would likewise be powerless to escape. "Three, two, one... Go!" As the SWAT team leader shouted "Go!", two burly men from the second team, one in front and one behind, one grabbing the arms and the other tripping, flipped Xu De to the ground without a word. Seeing this, two members of the third team came forward to help, while the rest stood aside, showing their badges to the onlookers, "Police!" The passersby considered themselves lucky and immediately took out their phones to record, "What¡¯s the charge?" The detectives from the teahouse tidied up and went out to maintain order. The SWAT members, without a word, took Xu De back to their vehicle. The Changler City Bureau brought a specialized prisoner transport vehicle; inside, the interrogation officer who had been waiting for him asked Xu De under the camera, "Do you know why you¡¯re being arrested?" Xu De looked around without responding. The interrogation officer asked a few more questions, each time with an increasingly stern tone, ratcheting up the pressure on the spot. Xu De¡¯s body was shaking, but he remained silent nheless. Seeing this, the interrogation officer had an expectation in mind; if Xu De wasn¡¯t the murderer, he wouldn¡¯t be like this. Normally, someone would either anxiously rify the situation or shout something like "I know XXX." Therefore, the interrogation officer abandoned routine procedures and sternly said, "Xu De, I¡¯m asking you, do you remember what you used to kill Cai Tingxun?" Xu De¡¯s face turned red, and in a very quiet voice, he said, "I didn¡¯t kill him!" "Louder," said the interrogation officer. "I didn¡¯t kill him!" Xu De spoke up a bit more, "He fell into the fishpond himself!" "How could Cai Tingxun, in good condition, fall into a fishpond?" "We were talking by the fishpond, it¡¯s quite slippery there with the grass and all, and he fell in. It was an ident!" Once Xu De started talking, his body stopped trembling. The interrogation officer wasn¡¯t very convinced by Xu De¡¯s answer, but after hesitating a bit and considering that the first thing to establish was the murder weapon, he chose not to delve deeper, instead he asked, "After he fell into the fishpond, did you try to save him? Did you call out for help loudly?" "I... my mind went nk at the time, and besides, he was sinking into the mud, I can¡¯t swim, I couldn¡¯t have saved him..." Xu De¡¯s voice grew louder, which from an interrogation perspective, suggested that he was mentally preparing himself. In other words, Xu De had thought through his lies. However, piercing through his fabrications was easy; a creditor witnessing a debtor identally falling into a fishpond to their death is something not even a policeman who¡¯s been on the job for three days would believe. But the interrogation officer wasn¡¯t rushing to expose him, rather, he continued to press for more details. As long as the suspect is willing to talk, willing to make up a story, the interrogation officer is willing to listen. Later, they not only can ask the suspect to repeat the story but also ask him to borate on it; liars will eventually expose themselves. Chapter 1000 - 936: Grand Fishtail

Chapter 1000: Chapter 936: Grand Fishtail

The interrogationsted all day. The next day, Qiu Ke, an interrogation officer from the Criminal Police Brigade of Changler City Bureau, apanied by Meng Chengbiao, an interrogation expert from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, arrived at the office of the brigade director to report, "There¡¯s something off about this suspect." "Off in what way?" Director Lang Heng, who seemed as carefree as an antelope enjoying the lush grass, raised his ears alertly upon hearing Qiu Ke¡¯s words, as if he had sensed the stench of a lion pack. "Xu De has been consistently iming that the victim fell into the fishpond by ident. After repeated questioning, his story hasn¡¯t changed much," Qiu Ke took a breath, sat down in front of Lang Heng, his expression somber and emotional. "The suspect doesn¡¯t want to identify the scene?" Lang Heng asked. Meng Chengbiao added from the side: "We haven¡¯t reached that step yet. Xu De is admitting guilt, but the exnation of the murder process is too sloppy and doesn¡¯t match the facts at the crime scene. There¡¯s a big problem with this part." Lang Heng sat up straighter, first chuckling: "Don¡¯t be in a hurry. A lying suspect, isn¡¯t that business as usual? It¡¯s not worth fussing over." "The problem is, the lie he¡¯s told is too outrageous," Qiu Ke lightly tapped the desk with his hand: "The victim was tied up, a stone was attached to her, and she was sunk into the fishpond. As for identally falling into the water... it¡¯s a ridiculously weak lie. After interrogating him repeatedly, I feel this guy doesn¡¯t seem to be pretending." Lang Heng¡¯s expression suddenly became serious: "What are you suggesting? Did he voluntarily mention anything about Cai Tingxun¡¯s cause of death or other details?" Qiu Ke now confirmed that Lang Heng understood and slightly shook his head, saying: "No." Lang Heng then rxed a bit: "That¡¯s good, then." Meng Chengbiao praised with understanding of human affairs: "If it were a young rookie, things could have easily gone awry. Qiu Ke handled it on the spot superbly." Qiu Ke: "It was Team Meng who gave the good reminder." In such serious matters, if Qiu Ke had proactively mentioned it, in theory, it could have led to something more serious than entrapment or deceit, akin to feeding the suspect information and getting the suspect to answer based on information provided by the interrogation officer. Of course, since the confession is written by the interrogation officer, there wouldn¡¯t be any serious issues, but in the case of significant ws in the case, this approach to interrogation is also wed. The key issue is whether Xu De is the real murderer or not. Lang Heng "snap" lit a cigarette, casually passed the pack to Qiu Ke and Meng Chengbiao, and the three of them smoked in clouds for a while. It was only after half a cigarette¡¯s time that Lang Heng tapped off the ash and said: "What you mean is, the suspect is taking the fall for someone?" All three had been criminal police officers for 20 years, and after exchanging a few words, they each formed a judgment. Qiu Ke eased up a bit too, saying: "I was present at the time of the arrest. The old boy trembled like a teddy bear; he definitely knew about this matter." "Covering up?" Lang Heng asked. "That¡¯s the only exnation for now," Qiu Ke paused then looked at Meng Chengbiao, continuing: "We had someone check, Xu De¡¯s close rtives only include a daughter, who is married well. Her husband owns a smallpany, dealing withndscaping and greenery projects, and her husband¡¯s parents both are from state-owned enterprises and own four properties. They sold two of these properties in the past month, and the money was transferred to their son who withdrew it all." Lang Heng raised his eyebrows: "You think the son-inw did it? Xu De is taking the fall for his son-inw? If he¡¯s covering for his son-inw, wouldn¡¯t he be clear about the details of the scene?" "I don¡¯t know about that. But doesn¡¯t it exin things rather smoothly?" Qiu Ke chuckled, still quite pleased with himself. From the perspective of experienced criminal police officers, it really wouldn¡¯t rest easy not to investigate a lead that seems so usible. Lang Heng extinguished his cigarette and picked up the phone: "Get Pi to my office." After putting down the phone, Lang Heng asked: "What do you think about this Xu De? Is he really not at the scene, just spouting nonsense, or an aplice?" "There¡¯s no need for a son-inw to sell off properties if his father-inw is a murderer," Meng Chengbiao rejected the aplice theory. Qiu Ke said: "Whether he was at the scene or not, it¡¯s hard to say. It¡¯s possible he¡¯s talking nonsense. He might not know how we take down statements, maybe he¡¯s still thinking about overturning the case." "He knows now, doesn¡¯t he?" Lang Heng smiled. The police record statements in a narrative form, meaning the text recorded is not a verbatim transcript of the questions and answers, but rather a summary and trantion by the police. Therefore, the records are usuallypliant, and Xu De cannot overturn the case through his testimony, at most he can only change his statement. Old Qiu recalled Xu De¡¯s emotions at the time, but couldn¡¯t draw any definitive conclusions. However, the situation concerning the sale of the house by Xu De¡¯s inws, his daughter¡¯s parents, could somewhat indicate certain issues, so Lang Heng called the head of the third team to investigate this matter urgently. Once arrangements were made, Lang Heng also notified Jiang Yuan immediately. Although there was no longer any need for the involvement of forensic doctors or technical evidence at this point, Lang Heng maintained a humility rarely seen among criminal policemen. The one who reacted most strongly was Liu Jinghui. He actively participated in the following two interrogations and reviewed the previous interrogation records before squatting off to the side to start writing. When Jiang Yuan saw Liu Jinghui again, there were three whiteboards filled with mind maps in front of him. "What¡¯s your take on this case?" Liu Jinghui eagerly asked Jiang Yuan upon his arrival. Jiang Yuan nced at the mind maps drawn by Liu Jinghui, quickly averted his eyes as too much of such things could be draining on the spirit. Jiang Yuan casually handed a box of Zhonghua cigarettes to Liu Jinghui, soothing him first before saying, "I think Director Lang has already made a conclusion, confirming it was the son-inw whomitted the murder." "How was that confirmed?" "Technical Investigation determined that he was at the crime scene at the time of the incident, and his wife, Xu De¡¯s daughter, was also present. Additionally, Technical Investigation intercepted some calls of the suspects, securing some crucial clues. Finally, the technicians found video footage on Xu De¡¯s daughter¡¯s phone proving it was the son-inw who killed..." Jiang Yuan answered clearly and to the point, without any fluff. Liu Jinghui lost interest halfway through listening, tossed his pen aside resentfully, and sighed, "You high-tech people... it¡¯s so dull... So, did the son-inwmit manughter idently? Or was it a crime of passion?" "Right. It started as an ident, butter became an intentional act of murder, crime of passion. It was both," Jiang Yuan said to Liu Jinghui with a thumbs up, primarily showing emotional intelligence today and trying to console Liu Jinghui in the process. "That¡¯s the only exnation," Liu Jinghui sighed. "Since they were filming at the scene, it couldn¡¯t have been premeditated. It may have started as a quarrel, but in a fit of anger, ended up killing someone." Although he was specting, his tone was one of certainty. Jiang Yuan nodded: "The victim had originally wanted Xu De to give him money, and the two met by the river. Xu De¡¯s son-inw went there to stand up for his father-inw, and a conflict ensued. The daughter secretly filmed the ordeal, hoping to use it as evidenceter. In the end, Xu De¡¯s son-inw pushed the victim underwater, iming he wanted to sober him up, but the man ended up dead." "Afterwards, Xu De voluntarily took responsibility for the crime with conditions that, should the case be discovered, the family would provide the money for two houses solely to his daughter to cover the case expenses, and if he ended up in jail, to transfer half of thepany to her." Mu Zhiyang spoke up, more interested in the aftermath, "Xu De and his daughter worked together to dispose of the body. Xu De had fished in a pond used for body dumping before, knew it had been empty for years and constantly filled with water, so he led his son-inw to discard the corpse there." "Actually, there was sufficient information avable; all of these could have been inferred without resorting to technical means..." Liu Jinghuiined, feeling helpless. Mu Zhiyang chuckled, "But it was the video that was decisive; it provided immediate confirmation. Xu De¡¯s daughter didn¡¯t even think to delete the video." "Having kept the video, she could overturn her father¡¯s case at any time. Xu De will always be her father, but the husband might not always be her husband," Liu Jinghui said dispassionately, "She has kids, right? First, she secures her father¡¯s release; she and her child are also financially protected, and thenter, she can safeguard her own father without any dy." Mu Zhiyang: "All this for the world where her father is wounded?" "This choice is the best solution for the three of them. They probably discussed it afterwards." Liu Jinghui reasoned calmly, saying, "The trouble was caused by her father, so it¡¯s normal for him to take on the case. Moreover, if the body hadn¡¯t been found, no one would have had to go to jail, and the father-inw rtionship might even have been more harmonious. If the case was exposed... stemming from Xu De¡¯s side, even if he hadn¡¯t taken on the murder charges, he would still have to serve time for the disposal of the body andplicity." Liu Jinghui looked at his whiteboards with regret before adding: "Having control over the crime scene video is critical for the daughter. Since she can overturn the case for her father at any time, Xu De has multiple options. If necessary, he could have the son-inw go abroad, or even go with the daughter, and then return with the video to transform Xu De¡¯s charge from intentional murder toplicity and destruction of evidence. Together, those two charges wouldn¡¯t result in many years; the sentenced time might even be served before they knew it." Suddenly realizing something, Mu Zhiyang said: "So when Xu De described the murder details in his statement, did he deliberately spout nonsense?" Liu Jinghui nodded, "Xu De can certainly im he was fed or led during the interrogation. With the video as evidence, if he wasn¡¯t the murderer, even if he were at the scene and witnessed the murder, he could say that his prior confession was for self-protection. As long as he serves a usible story, the court must judge based on facts." "Old Qiu and Old Meng had a narrow escape. The son-inw¡¯s entire family is ruined," thought Mu Zhiyang, his mind always wandering down unexpected paths. Chapter 1001 - 937: If Only I Had Known Earlier

Chapter 1001: Chapter 937: If Only I Had Known Earlier

"Let¡¯s tidy up, don¡¯t break the bones," Jiang Yuan directed his junior colleague Miao Ruixiang as they put victim Chen Nuan¡¯s skeletal remains back into the Lock&Lock box. The bones of a person, picked up one by one, finally came to the slightly damaged skull. Miao Ruixiang, somewhat reluctant, turned it a few times in his hands, then ncing at Jiang Yuan, said softly, "Give me three more months... two months, I should be able to restore the skull." "Three months is not enough," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t discuss the practicality with him, took the skull, turned it over, and ced it carefully into the Lock&Lock box, adding, "There will need to be modifications in the middle, if it doesn¡¯t go smoothly, it will require repeated adjustments, if you go all the way now, you¡¯ll need five months." Jiang Yuan knew the difficulties of Skull Restoration Skill better than Miao Ruixiang. This technique was not just about superficially recreating a human facial appearance from a skull, the key was to make the reconstruction resemble the original. It doesn¡¯t have to be identical, but at least by the resemnce, ascertain that another is simr; if this cannot be achieved, then it¡¯s not reconstruction, but creation. In the field of Skull Restoration Skill, creation is the least valued skill. Miao Ruixiang also had some understanding of the situation, but he didn¡¯t feel too regretful, only said self-mockingly, "The deceased cannot wait for me that long, either." "They can wait if they have to. If there were no other options, the deceased can wait, and the suspects are not in a hurry," Jiang Yuan now spoke with quite some presence, his tone smooth yet resolute. Miao Ruixiang¡¯s emotions were stirred up in an instant. As Jiang Yuan was about to cover the Lock&Lock box, he noticed a blue bun slowly seeping out from the skull. Chen Nuan¡¯s legacy: Forest Pathfinding (LV2) ¡ª Chen Nuan¡¯s life was a constant n to escape. She wanted to escape from her birth family, from the mountains, from an unwanted marriage, from a life of hardship... Chen Nuan did not know how to escape. She often walked through the dense forests of her hometown, always managing to discern direction in the woods, yet in the dense forest of fate, she never found her way out of life¡¯s entanglements. Jiang Yuan paused for a moment, closed the Lock&Lock lid, then said to Miao Ruixiang, "If you¡¯re free this afternoon, let¡¯s go hiking. Hiking and camping." "Huh, so sudden? What should I bring?" "Just wear proper clothes and shoes, and take a change of clothes with you," Jiang Yuan said as he took out his phone to contact a cousin from Jiang Vige. The Jiang Vige people had little understanding of how to do things, but they certainly understood how to have fun. Today was originally a rest day, Huang Qiangmin was having a meeting at Changler City Bureau, and all Jiang Yuan and the others needed to do was to cooperate with the case. Noon. Jiang Yuan led a group of twenty-something young people up the mountain. Cousin Jiang Hao brought a great deal of gear, including tents, barbecue grills, tea sets, water containers, carpets, various foods, and so on. He could bring so much because he usually had two vehicles filled with these supplies, and when it¡¯s time to camp, he only needed to add some food and charcoal, etc. The advantage of this approach is speedy action; the disadvantage is the need to purchase several vehicles and equipment so that there¡¯s a dedicated vehicle for fishing, camping, and skiing. Of course, if one¡¯s hobbies are single-minded, this method is not an issue. Having followed Jiang Yuan up the mountain for a while, Jiang Hao became increasingly excited and asked Jiang Yuan, "Just between us, did you guyse out here for team building, or for case-solving?" "Consider it team building," Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly. Jiang Hao grew excited, "It¡¯s for a case, isn¡¯t it?" "I told you, it¡¯s team building," Jiang Yuan was somewhat at a loss with his cousin, he sighed and said, "We just solved a murder case, and now it¡¯s time to rest." "I see..." Jiang Hao shook his head, and then, with the mountains as a backdrop, took a selfie with Jiang Yuan, saying, "Alright, I thought I could witness you cops catching criminals in action." As he spoke, Jiang Hao stood still and started to edit the photo, then posted it on social media: Hiking with my detective cousin. He has just cracked another murder case and needs some rxation. Together, we make our humble contribution to world peace. Ding! A few minutes hadn¡¯t passed before Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone began to ring. Jiang Hao casually took out his own phone, too, and started winking and making faces as he replied to the likes andments in his Friends¡¯ Circle. Turning his head, Jiang Hao asked Jiang Yuan, "What did our folks back home have to say?" "Not much, they just transferred me some money." Jiang Yuan answered, saying, "Both your mom and dad gave me a red packet of ten thousand each." Jiang Hao was taken aback, hurriedly looking down at his own phone: "Howe I didn¡¯t get any? Under what pretext?" After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan showed Jiang Hao the text message about the red packets sent by his parents. "Merit money? We¡¯re doing merit money now?" The look in Jiang Hao¡¯s eyes turned red with irritation. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. "That¡¯s way over the line!" Jiang Hao said, exining: "I¡¯m not saying you don¡¯t deserve it, but why do you get merit money for cracking a case, and I don¡¯t when I challenge the mountains, camp for seven days and nights withouting back home?" "Just keep climbing mountains." Jiang Yuan felt he didn¡¯t need to answer this question. "No, I won¡¯t be able to sleep well tonight if I don¡¯t figure this out!" Jiang Hao eximed loudly in frustration. Seeing this, Mu Zhiyangmented from behind in a low voice, "Maybe it¡¯s because you didn¡¯te home for seven days and nights?" ... The small group of about twenty people trekked a long distance through the woods. Eager to test out his newly acquired Forest Pathfinding (LV2) skill, Jiang Yuan intentionally took the more difficult routes, arriving muchter than anticipated at the designated spot, Jiali Vige. This ce was a historically and culturally significant vige in decline, essentially what you would call in the tourism architecture business a ¡¯dpidated old gem¡¯. The history of the vige was smeared all over its dimly gray courtyard walls, with the main structures inside being newly constructed. At first nce, it gave off a bit of a touristy vibe, but it didn¡¯t hold up to close scrutiny. The transportation between Jiali Vige and Chang Le City was also problematic, all built following mountainous terrains, making it dizzying to look at. However, Jiali Vige had its unique features, promoting a concept of a camping site, withrge spaces designated for visitors to pitch tents, providing a nature experience that wasn¡¯t too challenging. Jiang Hao had done his homework and thought that beginners like Jiang Yuan would suit this mode just fine. Upon reaching the camping site, he got busy setting up and simultaneously coached Mu Zhiyang and others in the group. Once they had pitched the tents and got the tea kettle boiling, Jiang Hao went looking for Jiang Yuan, curious: "You came here, it must be because of a case, right? Has someone died? Can you see the body?" "If we were on a case, we would be in uniform." Jiang Yuan poured some tea and waved it off. "Isn¡¯t there inclothes?" "No dead bodies. Drink your tea." Jiang Yuan picked up his teacup. "Excuse me..." A local approached, taking a look at Jiang Yuan and the others before moving closer to ask, "Are you here to solve a case?" This time, it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s turn to be puzzled. Jiang Hao revealed a smile as if he had expected this. Chapter 1002 - 938 Disappearance

Chapter 1002: Chapter 938 Disappearance

"Come on, tell us, what¡¯s the situation?" Mu Zhiyang stepped forward, stood in front of the local man, and took the opportunity to ask some questions. He had worked at the police station and the criminal police team, and he naturally had a very reliable feeling when facing parties involved or the public. The local man who came to inquire was a male in his fifties or sixties, perhaps not that old, but he looked rather aged, with patches of gray in his hair, rough exposed skin. He nced at Mu Zhiyang, then at Jiang Yuan, and asked, "You¡¯re cops, aren¡¯t you? Right? Are you all cops?" "How did you figure that out?" Mu Zhiyang still asked a question. "You¡¯re wearing police pants." The local pointed it out, then continued, "My son is also a policeman, he used to wear these pants a lot when he came home. His name is Fang Guanhua, do you know him?" Several people shook their heads. Mu Zhiyang asked, "What¡¯s your name?" "Fang Mingfeng, you can call me Old Fang," the local man moved closer and said, "Are you from the local police station? Why are there so many of you here?" Mu Zhiyang shook his head, gave Wang Chuanxing a look, and then said, "You first tell us what¡¯s going on." Wang Chuanxing turned and walked a little farther away, making a call to find out more about the situation. Jiang Yuan, Jiang Hao, and the others gathered around the stove brewing tea while listening curiously with their ears perked up. When they are off duty, the curiosity of detectives also gradually returns. It¡¯s like a monkey that hasn¡¯t eaten melon in a long time. "I already reported it when I called the police, we have a missing tourist here. This matter needs to be taken seriously...uh, but why did so many of youe at once?" As Fang Mingfeng spoke, he felt something was not quite right again, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I¡¯ll go get something to show you." He began to have doubts, but seeing so many people like Mu Zhiyang around, he didn¡¯t dare to ask directly and thought about running off first. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t let him just walk away, he grabbed him and said, "Let me show you some identification first." Mu Zhiyang took out his police ID from his pocket and showed it. "You really are cops?" Fang Mingfeng frowned. "We¡¯re cops from out of town, here for a visit," Mu Zhiyang gave an answer this time. Because if there really was a missing person case, it would be necessary to get to know the situation. "From out of town, which ce?" Fang Mingfeng rambled on. "Ningtai County." "What are cops from Ningtai County doing here?" "Team building." "What¡¯s the team building for?" Mu Zhiyangughed and said, "Tell us about your situation." After examining the police ID again, Fang Mingfeng handed it back to Mu Zhiyang, then said, "I¡¯ve called the police several times, and the police here... they juste up, look around, ask some questions, and then go back without any news..." "You mentioned a missing tourist, do you have evidence?" Mu Zhiyang interrupted Fang Mingfeng. Having been a cop for a long time, you learn not everyone has the ability to express themselves clearly; it¡¯s far toomon for people to go off-topic, better to ask a direct question. After being interrupted, Fang Mingfeng huffed a couple of times, then remembered what he wanted to say, "I don¡¯t have the kind of evidence you¡¯re asking for, but I know that someone is missing." "How do you know?" "I just know..." Mu Zhiyang broke the repetitive cycle of conversation, saying, "Which tourist went missing? Do you have a name and a photo?" "This one." Fang Mingfeng took out his smartphone this time, showing Mu Zhiyang the photo. "Liu Yang." Mu Zhiyang read out the name primarily for Jiang Yuan and the others to hear, and after looking at the photo, he furrowed his brows, saying, "This is a male tourist in his twenties, right? Traveling alone?" "Right. He came by himself. Left without even taking his deposit back," Fang Mingfeng stressed. Mu Zhiyang got a hint of his meaning, and then asked, "How much was the deposit?" "200 yuan," Fang Mingfeng replied. Mu Zhiyang chuckled, saying, "A 200 yuan deposit, he might have thought it was not a big deal, just left it there." "Impossible," Fang Mingfeng said. "This kid wasn¡¯t that rich, he was quite frugal with his meals. He only ate steamed buns with pickles each day, maybe some porridge, and whenever I made him some stir-fried vegetables, he knew to say thank you. But he wouldn¡¯t give extra money." "You run a guesthouse?" Meng Chengbiao disliked the inte-famous concept of gathering around a stove to make tea, so he came over with arge titanium tea mug that Jiang Hao had provided for him. Meng Chengbiao judged from personal experience that Fang Mingfeng¡¯s description did indeed have some abnormal elements to it. Many people would not care about 200 yuan, but there were also many who would. There are some who would haggle to showcase or pretend to be frugal, even some rich kids like to y this game. However, young people who are willing to humble themselves to just eat steamed buns with pickles and who are also willing to eat simple carbohydrates are far lessmon. Those kinds¡ªmostly really are poor. Fang Mingfeng nodded: "Yeah. My home is right at the edge of the vige. My daughter-inw said we could make some money doing this, so she taught me, and when the town unified the process for obtaining permits, I got all the documents sorted..." "How much do you charge per day for your guesthouse, this Liu Hao, how many days did he stay, and how much did he pay?" Meng Chengbiao switched ces with Mu Zhiyang and continued his inquiry. "128 yuan a day. This young man bargained with me, stayed for 4 days, 420 yuan. He paid a 200 yuan deposit. But leaving without taking back the deposit, that¡¯s impossible, right?" Fang Mingfeng said these few sentences, beginning to sound a bit more logical in his response. "Indeed a bit," Meng Chengbiao agreed with Fang Mingfeng, and then asked, "So you think Liu Yang has gone missing, how many days has it been?" "Three days now." "Do you have his contact information?" "I called, but the phone didn¡¯t connect." Meng Chengbiao nodded, holding the pure titanium mug as he deliberated. Seeing this, Fang Mingfeng thought he was having difficulties, he sighed and said, "Actually, I also understand it¡¯s not easy for you to check, my daughter-inw also advised me before, saying nowadays young people, especially those who love to travel and are willing to travel despite being broke, perhaps he just went hitchhiking to Qinghai-Tibet, or even going abroad is possible. However, I have interacted with these young people, and as much as they are willing to go out and have fun, it¡¯s true, but leaving without their deposits or even abandoning the room fee, that¡¯s quite unlikely..." "Several young men?" Meng Chengbiao caught the key point, suddenly raising his head: "Are there several missing young men? All of them left without taking their deposits?" "Only this one left without taking the deposit. But there were a few others, I calledter, no news from them, some of them said they woulde back to stay after going into the mountains. Also, there was one who left belongings with me, and also did note to im them. I mean, perfectly fine young people, not wanting their money or possessions, phone calls not going through, that¡¯s not normal, right..." Fang Mingfeng began to ramble on again. Meng Chengbiao then proceeded to ask more detailed questions. At this moment, Jiang Yuan finished his tea, strolling over. Meng Chengbiao approached and whispered, "It sounds like a case, yet not quite. One didn¡¯t take his deposit, one didn¡¯t im his belongings, one went into the mountains and never returned... Most hotel or guesthouse owners wouldn¡¯t report to the police in such scenarios, it¡¯s considered a normal urrence during business, probably because the old man¡¯s son is a cop, he¡¯s being overly cautious." "Gather the phone numbers and names, let¡¯s just check it out," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t feel burdened, treating it as a minor challenge within the team-building event. Chapter 1003 - 939: Tired of It

Chapter 1003: Chapter 939: Tired of It

Sizzle... The mutton, filled with cumin and chili, emanated an alluring aroma. Jiang Hao rotated the skewers and took a deep breath, saying to Jiang Yuan, "Cumin must have a grudge against sheep. Without its distinct vor, we wouldn¡¯t be able to eat so much mutton." "Probably some wild sheep ate its whole family," Mu Zhiyang said as he moved a chair to sit by, alternating between sips of beer and bites of mutton, truly in a festive mood. Jiang Hao really liked Mu Zhiyang¡¯s style. He clinked his beer bottle against Mu¡¯s,ughing: "Wild sheep ate the ancestors of cumin, then after years of relentless mutation, cumin has finally led domestic goats and sheep to prosperous days, tragically beautiful." "Brother Hao is quite poetic. You could consider building a guesthouse here in the mountains. Those who eat in steamed buns with pickles can stay for free and can also be treated to some roast mutton, finally bing the Jiali Vige¡¯s timely hero," Mu Zhiyang joked. "Song Jianghao, huh? Sounds quite nice actually," Jiang Haoughed, "Song Jiang used to be an official in the county, right? Wonder what his rank was?" Serious readers of Water Margin focus on the eight-hundred-thousand strong army¡¯s drillmaster and his beautiful wife, good people don¡¯t dwell on Song Jiang¡¯s rank. After a few seconds of awkward silence, the eldest Meng Chengbiao stepped in, saying, "Song Jiang was a head jailer, a rank below the deputy county chief but higher than the bureau leaders. Somewhat like a big secretary in the office." "At least two ranks higher than Commissioner Huang," Mu Zhiyang summarized. The people present chuckled, clinking their beer bottles together. Talking smack aboutpany bosses in such a pleasant, remote wilderness was the true joy of team building. Song Jianghao roasted another batch of mutton skewers and reclined, savoring them; usually, he brought an assistant for camping, otherwise he couldn¡¯t handle two camping vehicles alone, not to mention the issue of driving after drinking. Grilling meat asionally was joyful, but it¡¯d be miserable if turned into a job. Jiang Yuan also enjoyed two skewers of grilled meat with a ss of chilled light beer, fortunately without any cases today¡ªthe report from old man Fang Mingfeng, as Meng Chengbiao mentioned, was somewhat dubious. Mainly because the suspected victim was a young man passionate about budget traveling, which significantly decreased the urgency of the case. Disappearancese in many forms, including unconscious, voluntary, and involuntary disappearances. Cases of elderly or ill individuals might involve unconscious disappearances and would generally be handled by the police officers from local stations, not qualifying as the "cases" discussed by criminal detectives. Voluntary disappearance scenarios are moreplex, ranging from adolescent runaways to disruptions due to family discord; like unconscious disappearances, these seldom end up with the detectives. The detectives really needed to focus on cases of involuntary disappearances; however, as a backpacker, Liu Yang left the guesthouse and entered the mountains voluntarily, which doesn¡¯t count as "involuntary" disappearance, at most there might have been some enticement. If it were only Liu Yang missing, Jiang Yuan might not even have asked Wang Chuanxing to follow up. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s time is valuable too, not to be wasted carelessly. Investigations are only warranted when multiple people are involved in simr circumstances. Yet that merely establishes a basis. Under normal circumstances, such cases wouldn¡¯t reach Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. With limited funding in Chang Le City, the focus is to use resources wisely, thus retaining Huang Qiangmin and continually negotiating costs. Even if Liu Yang did disappear, bluntly put, the chance of his case receiving top-priority attention is almost zero, unless a body is found. Or more politely, given the doubtful nature of Liu Yang¡¯s disappearance, the low likelihood of him being forcibly disappeared, and even if so, the lower chance of him being dead, his case would unlikely be promptly handled by Jiang Yuan. If Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were to invest thousands of work hours only to find Liu Yang confusedly wandering out of the woods with his backpack, that would truly be baffling. "Try this grilled wing," Shen Yaowei offered, presenting histest creation. "Wow, nicely grilled," Jiang Yuan praised after seeing the crispy skin. Shen Yaowei chuckled, saying, "I was quite the enthusiast too." "That¡¯s not really apliment," Wang Chuanxing approached with a notebook, lowering his voice before Jiang Yuan, "The guesthouse owner provided several names and phone numbers, but all unreachable. We checked¡ªnames match the numbers, but the first two haven¡¯t been used for a while, abandoned soon after they went missing. And no new numbers registered..." This additional check by Wang Chuanxing drew Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. In this era, especiallymon people, it¡¯s impossible not to have a mobile number registered in one¡¯s name. If old numbers are not used, one would at the very least get a new, active SIM. Even if traveling abroad, maintaining a local number is crucial, if only to receive verification codes. It can be said, even if one belongs to the budget traveling group, willing to explore the mysterious corners of the world, leaving behind parents, spouses, or children, one cannot detach from the embrace of their mobilework provider. "Should we look into this case?" Meng Chengbiao strolled over with a beer, musing, "Not necessarily dead, but definitely not in a normal situation. Perhaps it¡¯s a pyramid scheme, or maybe a cult, human trafficking, or drug trafficking; or say, could there be illegal mines in the mountain?" "Organs?" Shen Yaowei intends to stir up a big issue. Meng Chengbiao said based on experience, "It¡¯s easier to obtain organs in big cities. In remote and dense forests, where ess is difficult and it¡¯s hard to hide things when something happens, it makes burying bodies slightly more convenient. But they are looking to make money, not to kill. Often, they just harvest a kidney or something... Moreover, it¡¯s also hard to find doctors willing toe here..." "Old Meng is a straightforward person." Shen Yaowei handed a skewer ofmb to Meng Chengbiao as he watched him seriously analyze. "I¡¯ll first report to Commissioner Huang and Director Lang," said Jiang Yuan without rushing to make a decision. Not to mention that they don¡¯t have the authority to file a case in Chang Le City, even if it¡¯s just a normal case, there¡¯s no need to handle it immediately. All the missing individuals were young males who backpacked into the mountains and traveled to Jiali Vige using public transport. Given this basis, the case still has a lot of room for development. Huang Qiangmin and Lang Heng were sitting together. Jiang Yuan made a call and briefed them on the situation. Lang Hengughed after listening and said, "I¡¯ll let someone check it out, and if it¡¯s a case, I¡¯ll send someone to investigate. Jiang Yuan, you don¡¯t need to handle this case. If you are well-rested, focus on the cases that ordinary police can¡¯t handle." "I¡¯ll rest a few more days before returning to work." Jiang Yuan¡¯s trip this time was undisturbed as he was apanied by his EQ. This case, let alone for Lang Heng, the head of the Chang Le City Criminal Police Brigade, even for the criminal police teams at the county level, may not be ranked high in priority. Normally, it would start with filing the case at the local police station, followed by an investigation to confirm if it¡¯s case-worthy, and then decide what extent it is and whether it needs to be transferred to the criminal police. If there were people trying to establish a new kingdom in the mountains, or using the pretext of time-traveling to recruit destitute followers, deceitfully asking for donations, and iming the day of transitioning into a new world leadership, a few local police officers could dismantle it very easily, without needing specialty interventions from the criminal police, and still, by then, would require the local police to guide them. Further discussing, just as Jiang Yuan was about to end the call, Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice came through from the other end: "These three or four missing individuals, did they all stay in the same inn owned by the host who called the police? Is there anything special about his inn that all the missing persons stayed there?" "Perhaps it¡¯s rtively cheaper?" Jiang Yuan uncertainly responded: "128 per night, and it can even be bargained down to 100." "That¡¯s about the going rate in Jiali Vige," said Lang Heng, who still knew a bit. "In that case... could there be a general pattern?" Jiang Yuan also easily drew this conclusion. Liu Jinghui said, "Consider it a direction for investigation. If there is a general pattern, then look into why and how these people came here. If there isn¡¯t a general pattern, then you have to ask what¡¯s special there." Liu Jinghui, after speaking, added, "Checking where they went is not easy either, we¡¯ve climbed Mount Wulong together, it¡¯s not that level of case, and there¡¯s no need to look into it directly unless other routes have been exhausted." He was worried that Jiang Yuan might venture deeper into the mountains while camping. Not to mention how hard the investigation would be, there might be a criminal organization inside, and with twenty-something people without even a gun, it could likely turn into an easy target. Jiang Yuan agreed, saying, "Then let¡¯s leave the investigation to Director Lang first, and we will discuss further upon encountering any situation. Director Liu, are you with Commissioner Huang? Why don¡¯t you join us for camping?" The implication of Jiang Yuan¡¯stter sentence roughly meant "Blink if you are kidnapped." Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said, "Your Commissioner Huang is handling organization, the provincial headquarters also has no objections, I will just listen in." Jiang Yuanughed heartily, happily ending the call. The rest of the half day was unremarkable, just grilling skewers, drinking, lying down chatting, and browsing phones. As everyone grew tired of ying and started to pack up to leave, the sky was already dimming. Several cars formed a single file, driven shakily out of the mountain by a few sober unfortunate youths. Jiang Yuan sat in the car and just dozed off. "Captain Jiang." Mu Zhiyang softly called from beside. "Hmm... Are we there yet?" Jiang Yuan sat up straight. "Someone is following us," Mu Zhiyang whispered, clutching his empty belt. Chapter 1004 - 940: Tailing

Chapter 1004: Chapter 940: Tailing

"Don¡¯t stop the car, keep driving forward." Mu Zhiyang, having received Jiang Yuan¡¯s nod of approval, spoke into the walkie-talkie: "Cars one through five, the drivers please report in." Being criminal police officers, although they had just been having a good time, as soon as they heard the voice and orders, they knew something was up, and the drivers of the five cars swiftly reported in. Mu Zhiyang then said: "We are now possibly being tailed. All units pay attention. Do not fall behind, report any issues immediately, and do not stop the car." Mu Zhiyang was continuously issuing orders, preparing for the worst. Previously, he had trained with the special police unit and the armed police. Coupled with his daily routine of reading books and tutorials, his defensive skills had reached a certain level of professionalism. Jiang Yuan let him take charge. Being a technical police officer graduated from a forensic science program without any experience inmanding at the scene, he was not certain about the correct response. So, Jiang Yuan called Huang Qiangmin. "Jiang Yuan!" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice carried a smile, clearly in the midst of a pleasant conversation. Jiang Yuandao: "We are on our way back to Jiali Vige and have found ourselves being followed. We have five cars, among which two are civilian vehicles. There are also two civilians." As he spoke the word "followed," Huang Qiangmin¡¯s nasality unmistakably intensified. After a few seconds of silence, Huang Qiangmin said, "Send me your current location, I will arrange for someone to meet you. Are you armed?" "No," Jiang Yuan said. "We have police equipment in the trunk, there should still be one or two bulletproof vests and shields, batons, and the like." "No problem, unless they bring out rifles, ordinary handguns aren¡¯t much of a threat to a moving vehicle. Continue driving without stopping; I¡¯ll check where Director Lang¡¯s people are," Huang Qiangmin simply instructed. Gun control is quite strict domestically, and although there are some slip-throughs, thinking normally, the chances of an ambush attack on Jiang Yuan and others were still not very high. Although the probability was low, Huang Qiangmin could not bear the possibility of Jiang Yuan being attacked, especially since he had spent many years as a criminal police officer. Although he had been safe for the vast majority of thest two or three decades, even going years without hearing a gunshot, as long as he was on the front line, it was never truly safe. Often, lives are fought for with everything one has. Huang Qiangmin quickly gave a few more instructions, hung up the phone, and then immediately called Lang Heng. Communicating swiftly as always, Huang Qiangmin began to dial his own chief¡¯s number. The sky hadpletely darkened. The headlights of the five cars shone brightly, not moving too fast. The tailing car showed no intention of hiding, following at a distance; not getting any closer, nor leaving. "Quite audacious," Mu Zhiyang nced back, then turned around again, keeping silent. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan in the car, Mu Zhiyang would have considered turning around to confront them, but if they did, the opponent might also turn and run, turning it into a mountain chase, which would be riskier for them. And if the pursuers didn¡¯t turn to flee¡ªthat felt even more dangerous. With these thoughts in mind, Mu Zhiyang whispered, "We could set an ambush with a few people and a car at the mountain road¡¯s bend. As soon as they pass by, we could use a car to block their escape, trapping them like dumplings in a basket." Naturally, this was under the assumption that the other party was unarmed. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head, "It¡¯s a bit risky for thoseying the ambush, not necessary. As long as we make it back safely, they cannot escape." There was a few hundred meters¡¯ distance between the convoy and the tantly tailing car. In other words, to set up an ambush car at the bend, it meant that the ambushing vehicle would have to break out a few hundred meters from the convoy. And in the time it would take for the convoy to turn towards the ambush point, the ambushing vehicle and the tailing vehicle would essentially be in a 1v1 situation. Unless there are very few people in the tailing car, just one or two, there would be significant risk to the officers in the ambush car. To talk about leaving an additional car for the ambush, given the conditions of the mountain roads here, it would be easy for the opponent to spot it, nullifying its intended effect. Mu Zhiyang suggested leaving someone behind to eliminate hidden dangers. It would be best to catch the tailing person and interrogate them to find out their identity and who their aplices are. But then he thought, they were unfamiliar with the terrain, and the other party was probably well-acquainted with the local environment, so there was really no need to forcibly apprehend anyone now. Buzz... Huang Qiangmin¡¯s call came through, saying, "The Chang Le City Criminal Police Brigade was already on the road, and they are about thirty minutes away from your location now. It¡¯s dark, and driving fast isn¡¯t possible. I¡¯ll have our people bring equipment and head up there; the first batch will take about an hour or more." Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a sound, then added, "I have five cars here, and we have increased the distance from the other party, so safety shouldn¡¯t be an issue. There¡¯s no need for additional reinforcements at thest minute. The main issue is that the enemy situation is unclear. But with the dark and narrow road, tell the reinforcements not to hurry." "Will do." Jiang Yuan also said, "The tailing car behind us doesn¡¯t seem to be taking much cover anymore, I reckon they are not clear about our identities, they might have misunderstood something. There should be no major problems." "It¡¯s possible. But still, you must be careful," Huang Qiangmin emphasized again and again. Boom. A thunderp echoed from the distant mountains. Both men on the phone were momentarily stunned. Soon, the pattering sounds came from the roof of the car. Mu Zhiyang, who was sitting by the window, reached his hand out and then turned to say, "It¡¯s started to rain, moderate rainfall." "How far are you from Jiali Vige? What¡¯s the road condition like there?" Huang Qiangmin immediately asked on the phone. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a few seconds and said, "Not far, we just passed Jiali Vige not long ago." While speaking, he saw the taillights of the car behind twisting and turning onto the road to Jiali Vige. Mu Zhiyang observed for a moment and said, "The surveince car may have gone to Jiali Vige, probably because they think the road down the mountain is bad." The roads here are narrow and there are many sections on the descent from Jiali Vige where it¡¯s impossible to turn around. There¡¯s a particrly narrow stretch of road where even passing is unfeasible. Instead, one car has to pull over to a widened area and wait for the oing vehicle to pass before continuing. Conducting surveince on such roads is naturally dangerous - if it turns into a reverse escape, those with poor driving skills are very likely to crash down the mountain. "Let¡¯s have a look," Jiang Yuan¡¯s convoy stopped, found a curve on the highway, and looked into the distance. The taillights of the surveince vehicle shone brightly, it drove for a few minutes into Jiali Vige, then turned off the lights. Jiang Yuan raised his cellphone again and said, "Commissioner Huang." After a few seconds of waiting, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice came through, "I¡¯m here." "The surveince car has entered Jiali Vige, we¡¯re heading back now." "Alright. Is there any chance they would end up on the same route as you?" Huang Qiangmin still wanted to confirm. "No," Jiang Yuan affirmed, "We changed speeds midway and they kept their distance; it¡¯s not the normal driving pattern." "Understood. I¡¯ll make another call." Chapter 1005 - 941: Inspect the Guns

Chapter 1005: Chapter 941: Inspect the Guns

The team marched in the rain for over an hour before entering Chang Le City and then, following Huang Qiangmin¡¯s suggestion, headed straight for Changqiang Military Barracks. At the same time, Changqiang Military Barracks was also assembling and boarding vehicles, with the sound of roll calls echoing through the camp. "Which one is Jiang Yuan?" An officer of the Changqiang Military Barracks came looking for someone. "I am." Jiang Yuan got out of the vehicle. The officer checked him against a photo, then said, "You take a few people off the vehicle, the rest will return to Jiali Vige with us." "Am I not going?" Jiang Yuan hesitated, then added, "Since I¡¯m following you all, I might as well go along." "The orders I received are as such. If you have other thoughts,municate with your superiors," the officer stated firmly, then turned away to attend to other duties. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bbor the point. He found shelter under the eaves and called Huang Qiangmin, saying, "Commissar, I request to go to Jiali Vige as well. I can recognize the vehicle that was following mine, and if necessary, I can also track them in reverse." Huang Qiangmin chuckled and said, "I was worried about you getting hurt, which was why I had you all pulled out. If you¡¯re going back now, why would I have had you withdraw in the first ce? The twenty-odd people in your five vehicles could just head straight to Jiali Vige and capture them." "With the enemy situation unclear and us without any equipment, not even in uniform, it indeed involved risks going to Jiali Vige at that time. Having developed for only a few years, Jiali Vige definitely has guns. Now, apanying the armed police with full equipment, the risk is controble, and it¡¯s also conducive to catching the suspect," Jiang Yuan had solid reasons as well. "Hmm," Huang Qiangmin grunted in acknowledgment, "You have a point there, but Jiali Vige has more than just guns. They have a hunting team called the Jiali Protective Farming Hunting Team, with 15 guns and over 20 members. The hunting team¡¯s shotguns are equipped with scopes, night vision, and thermal imaging devices. Currently, there are 4 guns and over 50 bullets out there, including a single-projectile cartridge." In many ces, protective farming hunting teams are established, initially intended for hunting wild boars with very strict management. The approved firearms had to be centrally managed, stored in designated gun cabs, and limited bullets were issued mainlyprised of birdshot and buckshot, with very few single-projectile cartridges. Birdshot contains dozens of small pellets upon firing, while buckshot has 8 pellets. As the name suggests, a single-projectile cartridge contains one pellet; shotguns are issued with these mainly for dealing with animals on the level of bears or tigers. In Chang Le City, each gun is issued about 10 bullets, and single-projectile cartridges are generally not issued; used cartridges could be exchanged for new ones. Strict protocols notwithstanding, the time involved in hunting trips, which can take a whole day and night or even two days and nights, especially when deep in the mountains, means that getting lost is not a rare urrence. Consequently, the daily return of firearms to the cabs can¡¯t be guaranteed, and asionally, guns remain outside. The bullets, simrly, once issued, are difficult to check. It¡¯s also known that some people take their issued bullets home. Of course, this doesn¡¯t mean the hunting teams are problematic. Normally, those who can join the hunting team are politically vetted, with family histories checked up to three generations, and the vetting is simr to that of police officers. While this is the principle, the reality is that there are 4 guns outside in Jiali Vige. Moreover, today¡¯s hunting teams arebat-ready, usually apanied by dogs and armed with thermal imagers while hunting. Their firing range can vary from a few dozen meters to three or four hundred meters, and if there are any issues, their lethal capability is extremely rming. Even if we take a step back, if there are people with issues in Jiali Vige, the possibility of gun theft exists. People who aren¡¯t good won¡¯t adhere to proper standards. Jiang Yuan had likely considered these risks but still insisted on his point, saying, "I am a technician in the first ce, and I don¡¯t go to the frontline. I¡¯m worried the suspect might flee. If they decide to escape into the mountains beforehand, I believe I could be of help." "The suspect might have a gun," emphasized Huang Qiangmin. "With 4 guns, we should be able to identify the owners," Jiang Yuan, aware of some aspects of gun management, stated. Not to mention, taking and returning guns from a fixed location¡¯s gun cab was recorded, and even by calling one by one, they should be traceable¡ªunder the management of the police. Of course, at this stage, calling would definitely not be secure. Huang Qiangmin thought for a moment, then said, "Alright. But you must first verify the guns before you follow them into the mountains. If there indeed are missing guns, you are not allowed to go in." Jiang Yuan agreed without hesitation. Shortly after the phone call ended, the same officer came over and said to Jiang Yuan, "You¡¯lle with us. There are two civilians in the vehicle, right? Have the civilians unload here; there are separate rooms for amodations. They can leave after we return." "We¡¯ll drive ourselves and follow you," Jiang Yuan, having obtained Huang Qiangmin¡¯s permission, was unwilling to listen to the military officer¡¯smands any longer. Although the armed hunters provided support for the criminal investigation, the main force was indeed the hunters, the detectives themselves determined the targets of the mission and alike, and Jiang Yuan naturally did not want to be merely a protected individual. The convoy was organized and set off back along the same route they hade by. Jiang Yuan wore a bulletproof vest, with a ceramic te inserted, sitting in the back seat of a Humvee. He felt it was unnecessary for him to be protected to such an extent but on this matter, everyone else disagreed, and Jiang Yuan could only pretend to doze off while holding the ceramic te. By the time they returned to Jiali Vige, it was already veryte. Some streemps in the vige were still lit, as were a few guesthouses and bars. Since they were in the tourism business, they pretended to work even on this rainy day¡ªafter all, even the tourists who hade had little choice but to pretend to be enjoying themselves as they spent their money. The noise of the convoy¡¯s engines broke the quiet of the vige, attracting the attention of some tourists. Some people truly had nothing better to do, venturing out under their umbres to enjoy the spectacle, seemingly unworried about the purpose of so many police vehicles arriving. Jiang Yuan stayed in the vehicle and did not get out, listening to themandsing through the walkie-talkie: "Wang Qiang, your team is to block the vige; firing is authorized if someone or a vehicle attempts to break through. Teams one, two, three, and four, report when in position. Report when in position!" These four groups were pre-arranged to head to the homes of the six armed hunters. Some of the hunting rifles were held by two or three people. Even though it was said that the person who signs for it when withdrawing the rifle is held responsible, precautions were still necessary to prevent someone else from retrieving the gun on behalf of another. At the same time, the armed hunters¡¯ snipers, with their guns ready, took aim at the hunters¡¯ homes, assisted by spotters and thermal imagers. It was only at this point that the head of the Jiali Protective Farming Hunting Team began to make phone calls, asking, "Do you have your gun with you? Where are you?" Soon, the locations of two rifles were confirmed, right in their respective owners¡¯ homes. But the calls to the owners of the other two guns went unanswered, no matter how many times they tried to call. The head of the hunting team helplessly put down the phone, saying, "Sometimes it¡¯s like this, the signal is bad in the mountains; if you go deeper, there are no signal towers, and you can¡¯t get through. However, these two people are locals, honest and straightforward; otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have been able to apply for guns." "Go to their homes first," the officer quickly decided. The two teams were well-prepared and, under the watch of the snipers, entered the two households after a brief exchange. The search turned up nothing. No guns and no people¡ªa slightly better oue than the worst-case scenario. If there had been people but no guns, that would have been truly worrisome. Only then did the officer hand backmand, approaching the Humvee to ask Jiang Yuandao, "Captain Jiang, what shall we do next?" "Next, we search for vehicles. The one following us was a Toyota Land Cruiser; first, let¡¯s see how many Land Cruisers are in the vige," Jiang Yuan hade to the mountain not to search for guns. Searching for guns was to guard against danger, but the primary objective was to track the vehicle and individuals following them. The officer agreed, saying, "Then we¡¯ll search from west to east. The terrain is higher in the west, and we have the high ground there." "Sounds good. Also, make sure to block the roads to prevent armed hunters from returning; we¡¯ll assume they went out hunting. And internally, we need to prevent anyone from escaping by car through the barriers," Jiang Yuan added a reminder. "Understood," the officer agreed, then added, "Captain Jiang, you should stay and direct from themand vehicle. I can lead the team." "I¡¯lle with you. If I stay here, you¡¯d have to leave men behind. Besides, we have control of the high ground, and the aim of the other party is not to assassinate me. It¡¯s safer for me to follow you," Jiang Yuan was not acting recklessly. The officer hesitated, then said, "If you areing, then you must wear your bulletproof vest and helmet, and keep the ceramic te with you." "Alright," Jiang Yuan agreed as he put on his helmet, stepped out of the vehicle, and rechecked the safety on his Type 92 pistol that he was carrying. Chapter 1006 - 942 Ruts

Chapter 1006: Chapter 942 Ruts

Under the dim streetlights, people in uniforms scurried back and forth, far outnumbering the tourists who stopped to watch. In the uneven buildings, windows were flung open, some people poking their heads out despite the drizzle. The vigers of Jiali Vige, never having experienced such a scene, looked on with grave expressions and nk stares, while their WeChat groups were animatedly expressive: [So many police have arrived, wonder who died.] [If only this many police hade during the demolition, we¡¯d all be left in the cold.] [Is your family wealthy now? Lend me some money if you are.] [Police don¡¯t show up for no reason, what are they here for? Everyone better stay alert.] Vige chief Chen Jifeng led Jiang Yuan and others, walking along the base of the wall, and said: "There are only 3 powerful vehicles in our vige, the first ce I¡¯m taking you to also runs a guesthouse; actually, our vige is full of guesthouses now, haha, even my house has spared a few rooms for it, at least there are guests during May Day and National Day holidays." Themanding officer nodded, murmured a few instructions, then began directing his team with hand gestures. He set up several snipers, observers, and sentinels in the distance; the main roads of the vige were under control. The team was also equipped with thermal imaging scopes, military-grade, easily revealing the distribution of people within the courtyards. Under hismand, a long-range marksman alsounched a drone that flew directly over the courtyard walls to scout inside. At this moment, he was not expecting any surprises, his focus was purely on stability. Mu Zhiyang, watching the officer operate, felt much more reassured. In society, there¡¯s a significant gap between ordinary people and the police in terms of firepower. Even if the police were to use melee weapons, they would overwhelm with numbers and stun guns. With the introduction of firearms, the gap is even wider. For ordinary civilians with the weapons they have ess to, facing fully armed officers with bulletproof helmets, ceramic tes, and shields is almost like facing armored knights with just a firewood knife. Truthfully, if everyone engaged in an open and directbat, even if there were gun-toting hunters, managing to fire once would be fortunate. To urately hit a low-protected area of a fully-armed soldier and to prate it would also be a matter of probability. Mu Zhiyang nced at Jiang Yuan from the corner of his eye and whispered, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re too tall, lower your head a bit." "Oh." Jiang Yuan pressed down on his helmet and crouched a bit lower. He was the one being protected and naturally had to cooperate obediently. Mu Zhiyang held a shield in one hand, but didn¡¯t raise it; their current position was rtively safe, there was no need to raise the shield. But speaking of feeling assured... Mu Zhiyang looked around and said, "People keep popping up around here, is it hard to control the roads?" "This vige has many alleys, and many people can pass through others¡¯ homes, it¡¯s impossible to fully control," the officer¡¯s deputy quietly answered the question. Mu Zhiyang frowned: "Directly through people¡¯s back doors, across their living rooms, and out the front door? Their doors are all left unlocked?" He asked the question while looking at the vige chief. Vige chief Chen Jifeng shrugged, saying: "On the first floor, we all have ancestral halls that everyone can ess. It¡¯s the second floor that¡¯s for living quarters, which are locked." "So, these people didn¡¯t lock their doors either?" The officer quickly caught on. Chen Jifeng murmured affirmatively, adding: "Rooms upstairs might be locked." "Then let¡¯s just go in and then knock on the doors." The officer didn¡¯t linger on such details; from his perspective, taking risks was part of the job. The leading police carefully pushed open the main gate. The yard might be harmless, but with sharpshooters deployed, caution was necessary to avoid difort. "No one in the yard." The entering officer confirmed the same conclusion as the thermal imaging scope and drone. The officer waved his hand again, leading a team inside. "Prepare to go upstairs... and knock on the doors." The officer would not feel at ease until he saw someone himself. A few fully armed sharpshooters began to move into positions. Jiang Yuan, now in the courtyard, held a ceramic te in one hand and supported his gun holster with the other, approaching the parked Toyota Prado, then squatting down to examine the tires. On his way here, he had already obtained traces of the vehicle tracking him¡ªthe rain made it tricky to collect traces, but the narrow mountain cliff road preserved some essential physical evidence. Jiang Yuan has LV3 vehicle trace identification skills, dealing with rut traces is the most basic application. Vige chief Chen Jifeng knocks on the door "thump thump thump". Several sniper rifles aimed from a distance. The military officer just leaned against the wall, quietly waiting for the response inside. Deep down, he somewhat longed for the bravery of the opponent. In this day and age, serving as a soldier, having a realbat experience once was worth three years of training. Creak. The second-floor door opens, the resident was about to speak but was pushed inside along with the shield. "Police!" "How many people are in the house?" "Any guns?" Several questions asked, clear and urgent. Jiang Yuan slowly approached behind the long-armed military officer, and said, "The tire tracks don¡¯t match, it¡¯s definitely not the vehicle that was tracking us." "Are you sure?" The officer was a bit surprised, giving such a conclusion at this time meant taking responsibility. Jiang Yuan nodded: "Sure, the tires of the vehicle that tracked us are smoother, the right front tire is more worn." "Understood." The officer nodded. Before doing anything, he heard the resident already arguing with the police. Soon, a soldier rushed over to report: "The suspect cannot produce a driving license or vehicle registration, and a dispute has broken out." The vige chief also followed over, chuckling awkwardly, and said: "Well... actually we don¡¯t really insist on having the vehicle¡¯s green book here..." The detectives present immediately understood what was going on. Wang Chuanxing frowned and said: "Stolen vehicle?" "A Prado worth four to five hundred thousand, without the green book, it¡¯s worth less than a hundred thousand. We just use it ourselves; we don¡¯t sell it, we consider it scrapped when it¡¯s worn out," the vige chief exined with a smile: "The roads here, as you have all driven up, are even harder to navigate inside, only off-road vehicles can manage, even SUVs are not suitable. Actually, we can hardly afford to buy something as expensive as Toyota domineering, we usually just get a pickup or the like." "This is illegal!" Meng Chengbiao, with experience and gravitas, called out first, then said: "Let¡¯s focus on the main issue for now, the green book and such have nothing to do with our case." Meng Chengbiao¡¯s thinking was simple, these stolen cars were right here, capturing them could be managed by two police officers, there was really no need for such an elite team to fuss over this. Jiang Yuan quickly grasped Meng Chengbiao¡¯s rationale, a purely rational train of thought that did not even require emotional intelligence to understand. Jiang Yuan without hesitation said: "The suspect isn¡¯t here, let¡¯s move to the next house." The police upstairs gave a few warnings, left two people to take notes and handle other administrative tasks, and then therge team withdrew, quickly heading towards the third house¡ªthe second guesthouse had already been raided by another team. The same process at the third house. A team directly stormed the second floor, while Jiang Yuan went to inspect the vehicle. This time, however, Jiang Yuan spent a noticeably longer time studying. Just as the officer was preparing to inquire, Jiang Yuan turned around, speaking in a low voice: "It¡¯s the same vehicle." The officer¡¯s eyes noticeably brightened, his desire for battle utterly uncontainable. "Understood." The officer firmly held down Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand resting on the gun holster, and said sternly: "I¡¯ll do it." With that, the officer drew his pistol then and there, went up to the second floor, and personally knocked on the door. Chapter 1007 - 943: Pursuit

Chapter 1007: Chapter 943: Pursuit

In the moment of battle, taking the lead in a charge is definitely risky. In ancient siege warfare, being the first to ascend the walls was considered the highest of military honors. Of course, now, breaching a house cannot be equated with capturing a city, but for soldiers in peacetime, this is the very objective they strenuously train for, even to the point of enduring blood in their urine. "Open up. Police!" Officer He Daxuan shouted with a strong voice. The second floor of the guesthouse was silent. "Shotgun!" Officer He Daxuan waved his hand, almost without hesitation. The scenes in TV shows where doors are kicked in single-footedly alwayse with a prerequisite. To put it simply, if you can see inside the door from outside, even make out the brand of the lock, then kicking it might work. Otherwise, it is better to resort to a locksmith. In reality, because of the prevalence of security doors in China, kicking doors open is nearly impossible, as security doors open outward. To break one open, you would essentially have to kick out the door along with its frame, and that requires more power than a mere leg can provide. The shotgun is the most direct approach. With a solid slug, one shot canpletely obliterate the entire lock mechanism, which is more effective than a specialized door breaching hammer. In other words, a door breaching hammer held in both hands is essentially a substitute for a shotgun, a safer solution. But for today¡¯s situation, both the human breach and the locksmith approach are impractical. Waiting would take too long, with no guarantee of sess. While He Daxuan certainly could employ other nking tactics, they would be too time-consuming. The purpose of this mission is to find missing persons and track suspects like Jiang Yuan; for these two charges alone, they cannot afford to take lightly. The crucial factor is that there are firearms in Jiali Vige, which gets a soldier like He Daxuan quite charged up. "Attention!" The solider holding the shotgun was tall and sturdy. He lowered the barrel forward and shouted something in an unclear dialect, then without further ado, pulled the trigger! Bang! With a sound akin to a loud firework, the lock of the second floor¡¯s security door was sted into the door. A police officer next to him, wearing gloves, yanked the security door open. He Daxuan, with his pistol and a small round shield in hand, didn¡¯t hesitate to rush in. "Police, hands up!" As he shouted, He Daxuan surveyed his surroundings. The interior of the guesthouse resembled many others in Jiali Vige, with in rural self-built house style as its base. The ground floor served the spiritual needs of the vigers and tourists alike. From the second floor up, it followed theyout typical of amon living room and house. The rooms He Daxuan breached into on the second floor consisted of a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen. It was a transparentyout from north to south, with sofas, a dining table, a television, and was adorned with many green nts and decorative paintings, essentially the usual appearance of a burgeoning guesthouse. "Police!" He Daxuan faced the empty living room and shouted again. Inside, all was eerily quiet. "Move to the third floor." He Daxuan tapped his helmet with his shield, continuing forward. The tall and sturdy soldier with the shotgun followed close behind him, with a few more armed with pistols and submachine guns. Ironically, those carrying the more powerful rifles fell to the rear. In buildings like those in Jiali Vige, some walls were made of just twoyers of red bricks. Whether using a Type 81 or Type 95 rifle, the bullets had enough power to prate those walls. Comparatively, the shotgun loaded with buckshot, and the submachine gun using pistol rounds, were somewhat safer, preventing excessive power. They could ensure instantaneous neutralization of unarmored targets without the risk of over-pration causing coteral damage and were more than capable against weapons of shotgun caliber. Jiang Yuan followed behind the armed police soldiers under Mu Zhiyang¡¯s protection. He actually possessed Level 3 CQB (Close Quarters Battle) skills, which equate to Level 3 urban warfare proficiency. Given the current state of actualbat in China, he could indeed be called an urban warfare expert. Yet, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to takemand. Precisely because of his Level 3 CQB skills, he knew that such techniques demand practice and teamwork. Using them alone was not ineffective, but it was limited. After all, in a real-world scenario, even if an urban warfare expert is capable of taking on ten by himself¡ªassuming he has such ability¡ªa captain of any criminal police unit could immediately deploy hundreds of officers to reinforce. If the opposition still possessed the ability to fight off hundreds, the armed police have even heavier equipment. Take, for example, the Ruan Qiang Gang, which was armed with Type 56 submachine guns and Type 54 pistols, and had multiple hand grenades. The provincial officeter dispatched two Type 82 recoilless guns and two Type 40 rocketunchers, whichpletely obliterated the building where they made their final stand. In the 2007 case of Zhang Hongbin, who had only a Type 56 submachine gun and four magazines, he was proficient because he worked in an armory and was skilled in weaponry with some tactical literacy. The police called in a Type 92 infantry fighting vehicle, using its 25mm cannon to st the robust bluestone house to ruins, killing the man within. Jiang Yuan thought, if necessary in the future, he could indeed train a team. A small one, seven or eight, maybe eleven or twelve people, would suffice to handle most criminals, not only domestically, but potentially abroad as well. "We¡¯ve found something!" The shout upstairs immediately heightened everyone¡¯s attention. Jiang Yuan followed Mu Zhiyang to the third floor. In the three bedrooms, two had people squatting, and one had someone sleeping. "Are they dead?" Mu Zhiyang asked. "No. We¡¯ve brought the people from upstairs down as well," Officer He Daxuan listlessly waved his gun, engaged the safety, and said, "Didn¡¯t find any firearms, nor any other contraband." "Who¡¯s the boss?" Meng Chengbiao stepped forward and began to inquire. Without further evidence, it is not yet clear whether these people can be called suspects. "I am. My name is Xie Wenyi." The honest-looking man in his fifties or sixties squatting in the inner room said, "We just run a guest house in a self-built home, that¡¯s not against thew, right..." "No one said you broke thew." Meng Chengbiao replied, and asked, "Have you had dealings with the police before?" "No... no..." Xie Wenyi quickly said. At this time, Jiang Yuan holstered his 92 pistol and went to the room with the sleeping person first, checking the pulse on their neck, and said, "So many people, and they are actually asleep. What did he take?" "Didn¡¯t eat... anything..." Xie Wenyi once again revealed an honest smile. "Then it¡¯s an injection?" Jiang Yuan asked. "No, wouldn¡¯t dare, drug trafficking is lethal." Xie Wenyi shook his head hurriedly. "If it¡¯s not an injection, it¡¯s something eaten. What was used?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic doctor background allowed him to make judgments without needing to dissect a body. He bent over to smell the person¡¯s breath, turned their eyelids, and asked, "A new type of drug? What kind?" The expressions of everyone present lit up. Meng Chengbiao assisted, "We can send him for testing at any time, find out what you fed him." Xie Wenyi shook his head repeatedly: "It¡¯s not drugs, really not drugs, just... just ate some mushrooms, might be poisoned." Jiang Yuan raised his eyebrows and asked, "Mushrooms?" Xie Wenyi hesitated, then whispered, "In the bag under the bed." Wang Chuanxing, carrying a camera, took photos first, then took out a bag from under the bed. Inside twoyers of ck stic bags, there was a small Lock&Lock container which contained a chunk of mushrooms the size of a quarter of a Chinese cabbage, with knife marks on them. "You ate them raw?" Jiang Yuan asked. Xie Wenyi carefully hummed in affirmation. "Hallucinogenic mushrooms, right?" Jiang Yuan sniffed it, not very knowledgeable about mushrooms, but it was just basic knowledge after all. Xie Wenyi chuckled twice again: "I don¡¯t know about that, it¡¯s just mushrooms from the mountains, we¡¯ve been eating them since we were kids." "Chinese don¡¯t eat mushrooms raw," Jiang Yuan paused, then said, "Eating raw mushrooms is aimed at seeking hallucinogenic effects, it¡¯s the same as doing drugs." Xie Wenyi nced at the vige chief and his face changed slightly, then said, "But eating mushrooms, that¡¯s not illegal, right?" This statement did indeed stump the detectives present. The effects of hallucinogenic mushrooms are like those of drugs, but they are not highly addictive. In many European and American countries, consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms is illegal, simr to drug use. Of course, in some countries like the Nethends, it is regted in the same way as cannabis. In China, which boasts the strongest drug enforcement, hallucinogenic mushrooms can be freely consumed and sold, not only legally, but also unregted. The most famous indigenous hallucinogenic mushroom is the Blue Bruiser. The so-called Blue Bruiser poisoning is, to put it bluntly, the achievement of hallucinogenic effects or getting high. Its mainponents are Psilocybin and lysergic acid diethmide, the former being the main ingredient in American hallucinogenic mushrooms, and thetter being the main ingredient in the new drug LSD (stamps). When the United States Secretary of the Treasury, [Firstname] Yellen, visited China, she ordered four dishes of Blue Bruiser in one go, obviously not because she was fond of Chinese cuisine. Someone who likes Chinese food wouldn¡¯t order the same dish four times. Andpared to consuming it cooked, eating raw hallucinogenic mushrooms is clearly a more economical and direct method of inducing hallucinations. Jiang Yuan picked up the mushrooms to take a look, then looked at the knife used to cut the mushrooms, and said slowly, "Cut very carefully, not arge amount, but as far as I know, consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms doesn¡¯t usually lead to people passing out. What else did he eat?" Xie Wenyi remained silent. Jiang Yuan bent over to put down the mushrooms and said, "If you¡¯re not going to talk, let¡¯s take a look at your overbearing green car registration downstairs. If it¡¯s stolen, we¡¯ll confiscate it." "That won¡¯t do!" Xie Wenyi suddenly jumped up, then was easily subdued. "Besides mushrooms, what else was eaten?" Jiang Yuan asked again. "Gave him some tranquilizers, those that the vige doctor prescribed to my mother before. I saw the policeing, and he wasughing and crying..." Xie Wenyi said, then exined, "I fed him two pills at first with no effect, so I gave him a few more, might have taken too much." "Send two people to the hospital for a stomach wash, keep a close watch on him and perform a physicochemical test," Jiang Yuan turned his head and instructed Wang Chuanxing, then looked at Xie Wenyi and asked, "What¡¯s your rtionship with him?" "Him? He¡¯s just a guest, no real rtion." At this point, Xie Wenyi became honest and straightforward again. Jiang Yuan had someone check the ID documents and did facial recognition, and indeed, the person was a tourist from another province. Now that the identity was confirmed, the expressions of the detectives present became more solemn. A visitor from afar staying in a guest house that charged around a hundred yuan a day, consuming hallucinogenic mushrooms provided by the owner ¨C the whole story sounded a bit hallucinatory. Chapter 1008 - 944: Successful Experience

Chapter 1008: Chapter 944: Sessful Experience

Jiang Yuan left Xie Wenyi and the others to Meng Chengbiao for on-site interrogation and took a few people to conduct a rough search of the second, third, and fourth floors themselves. The many people going up and down likelypromised the scene somewhat, but at this moment, the most important thing isn¡¯t the scene inside the guesthouse. No firearms were found as expected, but in the second-floor kitchen, Jiang Yuan found more mushrooms and small knives used for chopping mushrooms, among other items. Beyond that, some ground mushroom powder was clearly meant for steeping in tea and coffee, perhaps even for soups. Also, there were small chunks of pancake and grayish powder mixed in with the fruit jam and Lao Gan Ma chili sauce, which also appeared to be crushed mushrooms. If it weren¡¯t already confirmed that the mushrooms were psychedelic, even on Jiang Yuan¡¯s first search, one might assume they were just local specialties. It was like ces known for fish having full-fish feasts, wild vegetable regions hosting wild vegetable banquets, or areas that produce nothing having full-duck feasts. For Jiali Vige, which has characteristic mushrooms, consuming mushrooms as a specialty from start to finish seemed like a normal choice. However, the side effect of being hallucinogenic was far too significant. Following that, Jiang Yuan found a basket of crude ounting books made by Xie Wenyi himself in an enclosed space on the fourth floor. The ounting books clearly contained various records of mushroom sales. With this, the basic evidence was essentially in hand. As Jiang Yuan descended with the ounting book, he saw the vige chief being held separately in a room. Jiang Yuan nced at him, then went to find Xie Wenyi next door, showing him the ounting book and said, "Your mushrooms are quite expensive, and the price has even gone up. It used to be a few yuan for a tael, but now I see... 80 grams costs 20 yuan. Mushrooms that cost 100 yuan per pound?" Xie Wenyi had already been thoroughly interrogated by Meng Chengbiao and had be much more sensible. He obediently replied, "Jianshouqing can also sell for over 100 yuan per pound." "So, your mushrooms have better effects than Jianshouqing, right?" "We haven¡¯tpared them, but our mushrooms are quite distinctive and worth the price," Xie Wenyi said. Jiang Yuan curled his lips, "People buy Jianshouqing to eat it." "Who knows." Xie Wenyi looked up, "Our mushrooms can be eaten too." Jiang Yuan looked at Xie Wenyi unexpectedly. From the conversation so far, it was noticeable that Xie Wenyi¡¯s education level was not high, but these few sentences seemed to reflect a certain degree of cultured thought. In other words, the few sentences Xie Wenyi just said were above his actual level of education. Following the logic of a level 3 cultural investigation, these sentences must have either been overheard by Xie Wenyi from someone else, or Xie Wenyi himself had a high level of understanding on this matter and had thought deeply about it. Alternatively, he might have had simr conversations before, even multiple times. More likely, it¡¯s abination of all three. Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingers tapped lightly on the ounting book, then flipped to a page marked withbels and continued questioning, "Here you wrote: ¡¯Seeing Dwarfs,¡¯ 80g, 5, 100. Exin this." Xie Wenyi hesitated, not knowing whether he should speak or not. Meng Chengbiao, impatiently on the side, said, "I¡¯ve already exined the logic to you. If you cooperate with our leader¡¯s investigation, we can just talk about mushrooms. But if you refuse to take responsibility, then we¡¯ll treat it as drug trafficking. The Ministry of Health¡¯s ¡¯List of Psychotropic Drugs¡¯ lists Psilocybin and Spain as ss I psychotropic drugs. ording to the Anti-Drug Law, the misuse of controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances by the state is considered drug abuse..." "Seeing Dwarfs means you can see dwarfs after eating these mushrooms. 80 grams, 5 servings, 100 yuan," Xie Wenyi couldn¡¯t resist and spilled it out, adding, "Isn¡¯t Jianshouqing also used for seeing dwarfs, it¡¯s the same." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dwell on it; his first question was an obvious one. Once talking about psychedelic mushrooms, the term "Seeing Dwarfs" couldn¡¯t really be hidden. "Ocean, 80g, 2, 50 what about that?" Jiang Yuan asked next. "It means after eating it, it¡¯s easy to see oceans, like swimming in the sea and seeing corals and big fish. 80 grams per serving, the person took 2 servings for 50 yuan," Xie Wenyi exined, feeling like there was no need for pretense anymore. Jiang Yuan nodded, "This type is 25 yuan for 80 grams? 5 yuan more expensive? Are the mushrooms different?" "Yes. There is a slight difference, the rim of the mushroom cap of this kind has a bit of yellow in it, and the stem is cream white," Xie Wenyi described the mushrooms quite clearly. Jiang Yuan: "Starry Night, 40g, 4, 160. This kind is even more expensive?" "Yeah, this kind has gray stems, and the caps are also somewhat gray, hard to distinguish. One serving is 40 grams, sold four servings for 160 yuan." "What does Starry Night mean?" "It¡¯s like that painting, Van Gogh¡¯s ¡¯Starry Night.¡¯ It¡¯s said to be painted by Van Gogh after sniffing that thing, then if you eat these mushrooms and look at the stars, it¡¯s possible to see a ¡¯Starry Night¡¯ like in the painting." "Who told you this?" Jiang Yuan suddenly came up with this question. Given Xie Wenyi¡¯s level of education, even if he were aware of Van Gogh and Starry Night, he typically wouldn¡¯t name a type of mushroom "Starry Night." Xie Wenyi was startled by the question and unconsciously looked towards the vige chief, Chen Jifeng. Jiang Yuan and Meng Chengbiao exchanged knowing smiles, stood up, and stepped out, heading towards the vige chief. Vige chief Chen Jifeng chuckled awkwardly, "We just wanted to sell some local specialties, nothing more." Before Jiang Yuan and the rest could speak, a string of information Meng Chengbiao had just seen shed through his mind, and then he spoke up: "Your son studied arts and started a business in the vige after graduation? He¡¯s so young, what can he do for entrepreneurship by returning to Jiali Vige?" "It has nothing to do with him..." Chen Jifeng was really panicking, speaking with great difficulty. "We don¡¯t want to blow this out of proportion either." Meng Chengbiao lied effortlessly, deceiving Chen Jifeng, "You just tell us what we want to know nicely, then we don¡¯t need to go ask your son, right?" Chen Jifeng had no choice, even if he didn¡¯t quite trust Meng Chengbiao, but in such a situation, he could only nod repeatedly. At this moment, he was like a shrewd man cornered by a debt dodger, even if the dodger¡¯s words were unbelievable, he couldn¡¯t make a decision to cut his losses. Because the losses were too great. "So, you have been systematically providing mushrooms for customers? And you¡¯ve evaluated and assessed their psychedelic properties, even pricing them differently?" Meng Chengbiao posed a difficult question for Chen Jifeng. The vige chief remained cowardly silent. "Chen..." Meng Chengbiao pressed directly, "Wasting my time is one thing, but wasting Captain Jiang¡¯s time won¡¯t do you any good. Take advantage of Captain Jiang being here and behave yourself, thenter, I can put in a good word for you." Ultimately, Chen Jifeng could not bear it and after swallowing his saliva, he sighed and said, "Lijiang has cannabis, we have mushrooms. We also want to get rich!" "Lijiang?" "Lijiang is famous precisely because there are wild cannabis nts growing there. Our mushrooms are no worse than their cannabis, that¡¯s what I mean." Chen Jifeng said in one breath, unconsciously straightening his back. He didn¡¯t think he¡¯d done anything wrong. Lijiang rose to fame as the "City of Romantic Encounters" in China, with the official exnation being the local ethnic minorities have the custom of marriage by capture, etc. In truth, not only Lijiang has this custom in China, so why specifically Lijiang. It¡¯s because there are wild cannabis nts everywhere around Lijiang. The nearby ethnic minorities do indeed have unique customs, but it wasn¡¯t marriage by capture that brought them fame, it has been generations of cannabis cultivation. Nowadays in marriages, they have already abandoned the old custom of capture, but not wearing hemp clothes for a wedding is uneptable. In addition, hemp seeds, which are also called fire hemp nuts, aremonly used edible oils in the area. However, the locals in Lijiang do not traditionally consume cannabis, until the hippies arrived, finding $25 joints of cannabis just growing by the roadside as if for free... It was really for free. Tens of thousands of hippies then settled in the area, inviting friends during each year¡¯s cannabis harvest season, and with their uninhibited lifestyle, they created the "City of Romantic Encounters." Most people seeking romantic encounters are looking for handsome men and beautiful women, but most are not that good-looking themselves, which makes the system of romantic encounters unsustainable. Only the hippies, only the hippies high on the leaves who epted every man and woman seeking romantic encounters, did the status of the "City of Romantic Encounters" really take hold. "So, you¡¯re thinking of using mushrooms to boost tourism?" Meng Chengbiao looked at the vige chief in surprise. The vige chief did not respond but objected, "We haven¡¯t set up anything, it¡¯s just that if guests like to eat mushrooms, we provide them with mushrooms. We haven¡¯t done any promotion or organizing, just selling some local specialties from the mountains." Meng Chengbiao had plenty to refute the vige chief¡¯s words, but as an interrogator and not a debater, considering the danger behind this topic, he quickly changed the subject, "Was it you who asked Xie Wenyi to follow Jiang Yuan?" "No. That idiot Xie!" When Chen Jifeng got to this point, he became quite annoyed, "They were some of the first in the vige to start this, they have a screw loose, so self-righteous, saying they just wanted to see what you were here for..." "Xie Wenyi decided to track the police? Who was driving their car? Who else was in the car with them?" "Xie Wenyi decided. The three of them, maybe, I¡¯m not too sure, maybe Xie Wenhua from the back vige as well." With a nce from Meng Chengbiao, Wang Chuanxing immediately began to arrange for personnel to capture them. Meng Chengbiao then smiled, made a note in his notebook, and nned to ask Xie Wenyiter to verify the information. After rifying the tracking issue in a few words, Meng Chengbiao sized up Chen Jifeng again and asked, "Where have all the missing people gone?" "They went into the mountains." Chen Jifeng exhaled and said, "They are growing mushrooms in the Qi Mountain Stronghold in the mountains. Qi Mountain Stronghold is an old vige site, everyone has moved out, mushrooms grow easily when nted there, it¡¯s just the roads are difficult to navigate." "How are they supplied with other necessities if they¡¯re growing mushrooms?" "They buy them from our vige, some people specifically do this business, and there are those dedicated to delivery, they earn quite a bit." Meng Chengbiao frowned, "Sounds good. But if they went to live in the old vige site, why is there no news at all? Not having phone contact is one thing, but there isn¡¯t even inte?" "Neers probably aren¡¯t that free." Chen Jifeng lifted his head slightly, his voice dropping a bit, "As far as I know, those who¡¯ve just gone there might need to grow mushrooms for some time." Chapter 1009 - 945: Qi Mountain Stronghold

Chapter 1009: Chapter 945: Qi Mountain Stronghold

Qi Mountain Stronghold. It straddles the ridgeline of arge mountain,posed of a mix of wooden buildings spanning hundreds of meters... and brick-and-stone hybrid structures. From a distance, it¡¯s evident that the construction here takes advantage of the old wooden structures, haphazardlybined with modern building materials. Sending a drone to circle the area reveals a multitude of temporary buildings scattered within, some even crafted from stic tarps, bamboo, and dirt into low, makeshift tents. Just by looking at this scene, it¡¯s clear that people live here. However, it doesn¡¯t resemble normal housing, but rather makeshiftmunities built by homeless people, or shanties of scavengers. The criminal police arriving at the foot of the mountain instinctively frown upon seeing the shantytown overhead. This type of shantytown, akin to slums in Europe and America, is a natural breeding ground for crime. It differs from the so-called urban shanty areas, which are at least somewhat managed and regted. Shantytowns are built carelessly, with no consideration for fire safety, featuring dead-end streets, and residents who, in order to protect themselves, tend to implicitly form gangs. In other words, the formation of a shantytown inevitably leads to the emergence of numerous gangs. The mostmon shantytown gangs in our country are scavengers, with drug abuse and theft being the prevalent forms of crime, asionally including human trafficking and robbery. Picking up one-yuan bottles doesn¡¯t stop them from snatching kids worth thirty thousand. The stories of shantytowns abroad are even more numerous, with the famous favs of Rio de Janeiro being soplicated in both poption andyout that even elite officers tread with caution. Cities like New York in the United States implement strategies like territorial control tobat crime, involving assaults building by building. "We¡¯re understaffed; call for reinforcements," suggested Wu Junhao, who specifically came from Ningtai to assist, looking up at the Qi Mountain Stronghold and making the immediate request. Apanying him, Su Shanming, Captain of the Third Brigade of the Chang Le City Criminal Police Detachment, hesitated and said, "We already have over a hundred people here. How about we go up first and take a look?" For this operation, the police forces from Chang Le City and Ningtai County were split evenly, and it took several minibuses to transport everyone, along with all types of equipment, which was already a significant strain. Wu Junhao simply shook his head and said, "What if they all run into the mountains the moment we start ascending, or, as we make our way up, they gather together and cause trouble? This ce is muchrger than we anticipated, with the poption likely much higher as well. Looking at the size, there are at least three to four hundred people, at least twice our number." Su Mingshan hesitated, then suggested, "If the enemy is numerous and we are few, shouldn¡¯t we strike quickly before they can react? Otherwise, if they barricade the paths, how can we attack them from below?" Wu Junhaoughed, "We¡¯re constables, not soldiers, who¡¯s going to attack them head-on? Now that we know there are criminal suspects above, our task is to somehow block the paths and encircle them, that¡¯s the most crucial thing. As for the rest, let them blockade the routes if they want to; I won¡¯t assault them head-on. If our pistols can¡¯t reach them, we use sniper rifles, and if that¡¯s not enough, we call in artillery. We¡¯re not in the age of cold weapons anymore; no one¡¯s trading lives with them." Wu Junhao¡¯s words were harsh, and Su Mingshan didn¡¯t like to hear them, but they were effective, and he couldn¡¯t ignore them. Honestly speaking, the sight of the stronghold perched on the mountain ridge was also daunting to Su Mingshan. He had never fought in the field and had no idea how to assault such a stronghold. But he knew that with just his handful of men, if the enemy resisted and they charged up with pistols, the number of casualties would ultimately depend on the enemy¡¯s cunning. The greatest fear wasn¡¯t even an all-out resistance; if they opted for passive resistance, the mission would be very difficult toplete. The vehicles stopped on site, allowing everyone to get off for a rest, relieve themselves, and drink water. Wu Junhao quickly conferred with Jiang Yuan and others, then decided to implement n C. n A involved encircling and capturing people, n B was to enter the stronghold and capture, and n C was now to encircle without capture. The primary difference between them actuallyy in the numbers. The geography of Qi Mountain Stronghold was clear: they not only had maps but satellite topographic images, and could fly drones once at the scene. However, the exact number of people inside the Qi Mountain Stronghold was not previously certain to Jiang Yuan and his team. Based solely on satellite imagery, many shanties remained concealed among the dpidated wooden buildings. Only upon arrival at the base of the mountain, observing from the side, and employing drones for confirmation, could they glean an approximate headcount. The logistic trucks began unloading copious amounts of equipment, which the officers picked up themselves. Bulletproof vests, anti-stab suits, shields, or ceramic tes were freely avable, with an overstock transported in. Handcuffs, batons, and stun guns were personnel-specific and only issued upon request. However, firearms and ammunition required registration, noting both quantity and serial number. He Daxuan from the Armed Police led a team, bringing more shotguns and submachine guns this time, with only a few rifles and sniper rifles in tow. Additionally, the Changler City Bureau dispatched two squads from their special police team. Contrary to popr belief, the special police force of a prefecture-level city is mostly akin to a robust squad, equipped with shy gear and impressive postures, but in practical terms, they primarily serve as explosive ordnance disposal and patrol police, rarely engaging in gunfire. This operation actually provided an opportunity for the special police, but their main role was still to take positions. Over a hundred officers suited up and then boarded the vehicles again, heading to their respective task destinations. Essentially, the exit paths from Qi Mountain Stronghold. Jiang Yuan followed the majority, driving all the way to the base of the mountain along the main road until Qi Mountain Stronghold was out of sight, then disembarking to start the ascent. Apanying him were two biologists, Sulei from the Agricultural University and her Ph.D. student Qiao Shengli. Both were dressed in outdoor gear to protect themselves from sun and abrasions, and they had covered their faces. Together they climbed the mountain, each carrying their own backpack and walking stick, withoutint. "Here, we already have hallucinogenic mushrooms." Qiao Shengli, while walking, suddenly pointed to the side of the path, then with her walking stick dug out a red-capped mushroom from the base of a tree. "There are mushrooms just by the side of the road; no wonder they wanted to rely on them to get rich." Wang Chuanxing immediately stepped forward to take photos. "Climatic conditions are the most important," said Sulei. "Just like on the way to XX Mountain from Lijiang, there are forests of wild cannabis everywhere. The local government has tried to eradicate them several times, to no avail. The growing conditions are just too good. The cannabis sheds that Americans spend a lot of money to grow hydroponically, here they¡¯re growing in the open air, like fine bamboo, thick and dense." "It must be different from the cannabis in the United States, right?" Wang Chuanxing was also somewhat curious. Sulei smiled mysteriously and added, "Some are indeed different from those in the United States." As an experienced detective, Wang Chuanxing caught on: "Are some the same?" Qiao Shengli, who was more lively,ughed: "Some of our varieties are quite popr abroad." Sulei cleared her throat and continued: "First of all, although cannabis is divided into two subspecies, the original subspecies and the Indian hemp subspecies, the varieties that have been cultivated in our country for a long time are the original ones. But from a biological perspective, it¡¯s easy for the original and Indian hemp subspecies to crossbreed. Moreover, the content of THC within both subspecies is also unstable, so..." "Could foreigners bring seeds from their countries over here?" Wang Chuanxing blurted out. Sulei was taken aback for a moment and replied, "I hadn¡¯t thought about that, but it is true that our domestic cannabis subspecies have already been contaminated. The Agricultural University has done research in this area; I just saw it on the way here... Xiao Qiao?" Her student Qiao Shengli immediately took out her phone, scrolled through it, and said, "Are you talking about the article by Chen Xuan, ¡¯A Study of Cannabinoid Chemotypes and Genotypes in Cannabis Varieties from Southern Yunnan Farmers¡¯ published in the ¡¯Journal of Southwest Botany¡¯? The core of the study was a group of cannabis varieties from a farmer in Southern Yunnan, which measured THC and CBD in 21 individual nts. It turned out all 21 contained THC, ranging from 0.07% to 1.35%. Three of them had more than 1%." Wang Chuanxing frowned: "I crammed a bit the other day; cannabis with less than 0.3% THC is considered industrial hemp, right? Those with more than 1% are already on the level of narcotics that can be sold in Europe and America?" "About industrial hemp..." Sulei shook her head and added, "1% is definitely not eptable." Wang Chuanxing had another thought: "If the foreigners just tried a few more times, they could easily find individuals with more than 1% THC." "Yeah, and they can share with each other too," Qiao Shengli chimed in from the side. "During the flowering season, they even go into the hills with sickles and backpacks to harvest, because the female flowers have higher THC content. Moreover, they care about this abroad because cultivation costs are high, all money spent on purchasing. But if the cannabis is free, what¡¯s the harm in smoking a few more?" "Does this also work on the principle of ¡¯strength can produce wonders¡¯?" Wang Chuanxing was beginning to understand. Qiao Shengli exined: "So the concept of industrial hemp was created. The figure of 0.3%, or even 0.2%, is meaningless; for the people who smoke it, you just roll a thicker joint." "But didn¡¯t you say earlier that there were concentrations as low as 0.07%? Those would have to be rolled as thick as cigars," said Wang Chuanxing. At this point, Sulei followed up: "Because the concept of industrial hemp was created for the purpose of extracting CBD, while THC is psychoactive, CBD can be used medically and is more valuable abroad. However, the reality is that THC and CBD bothe from the same precursor, cannabigerol, catalyzed by different enzymes, so the two are positively corrted. Cannabis with a THC content as low as 0.07% or even lower would also have a nearly zero CBD content, making the cultivation of industrial hemp unprofitable." "So we need to find cannabis with low THC but high CBD content?" "That¡¯s the principle of industrial hemp. But the rtionship between the two is expressed by the regression equation Y=0.648X-0.025. The standards of 0.03% or 0.02% have been squeezed as low as possible," Sulei paused before concluding, "That¡¯s why domestic policies on industrial hemp are tightening up across the board now." "The mushroom situation should be tightened up too," said Wang Chuanxing with a wistful look towards the path ahead. The mountains here were tall, a ssic case of ¡¯easy to navigate by sight, but grueling to traverse.¡¯ Chirp chirp... The walkie-talkie on Jiang Yuan¡¯s waist rang out. "Captain Jiang, it seems like they¡¯ve realized something¡¯s wrong up on the mountain and are starting to mobilize," reported the drone operation team from below. Jiang Yuan checked the time: "Half an hour already, and only now they begin to mobilize?" "That¡¯s what we see from above. They must have sent word as soon as they saw our drone, but the response has been sluggish, and many seem not to care much." "Understood." Jiang Yuan ended the call and switched the walkie-talkie to channel 1, saying, "All units, be aware that the gang from Qi Mountain Stronghold might attempt to escape. Be prepared for resistance." "Received." "Received!" The teams responded in session, their spirits high. A mission that captures hundreds of people at once is a rarity indeed. Don¡¯t ask how big the case is or how deep it goes. If asked, it¡¯s organized crime involving both drug use and trafficking, one of the top in terms of scale and numbers nationwide. Chapter 1010 - 946: Just Say It’s for Team Building, Alright?

Chapter 1010: Chapter 946: Just Say It¡¯s for Team Building, Alright?

"Hey, one by one,e on down." The drone that apanied the team also flew in the sky. Although it was an older model, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡¯s drones were either borrowed from the Beijing Bureau or solicited from surrounding counties with specific model requirements. The camera quality and noise levels were far superior to those of ordinary civilian models. Previously, there were few opportunities to use it, but this time it captured every detail of the escapees as they fled along the route from Qi Mountain Stronghold. The rapidly descending man, wearing a ck pullover and carrying a pointed long stick, asionally used it to prop himself or sweep through the underbrush. "Suspect with a spear located, 100 meters away," the drone team reported softly. Jiang Yuan looked around and asked, "Whose turn is it?" "It¡¯s our turn, our turn..." Shen Yaowei immediately raised his hand. "Be careful," Jiang Yuan said after taking a couple of sips of water, waving his hand to continue climbing the mountain. Having received approval, Shen Yaowei immediately took three people and moved stealthily upwards. There were inclothes police officers watching ahead, and with a gun in Shen¡¯s hand, there were no concerns about safety. The absolute altitude of Qi Mountain Stronghold was not high, but the climb from the base of the mountain on the winding path was not easy. Supplies were transported to Qi Mountain Stronghold by powerful motorcycles, but driving these in the mountains required skill, and the police force could not find over a hundred motorcycle enthusiasts who were capable and wouldn¡¯t end up tumbling down the mountain with their guns. In such a case, it¡¯s better to climb the mountain on foot. It takes roughly thirty to forty minutes to walk from the base to Qi Mountain Stronghold, assuming one walks continuously and is physically strong. Like now, however, with frequent stops to apprehend people, the main force inevitably got dyed. "Yo ho." In a short time, Shen Yaowei returned clutching a suspect. The four of them seemed like hunters returning from a hunt, took pictures with a photographer, assigned a number to the suspect, and then two detectives took the suspect down the mountain. Behind Jiang Yuan¡¯s team was arge force of over 100 people who were the first batch of reinforcements from Chang Le City¡¯s police. The next wave of reinforcements would arrive in about an hour, mainly consisting of hundreds of armed police, who would serve as the principal force at the rear. Beyond that, the Changler City Bureau had organized more personnel on standby, which meant all officers had their leave canceled and were gathered to be ready. If necessary, they would be sent up; otherwise, the two hundred or so people in front could already effectively blockade Qi Mountain Stronghold. They could also help with some logistics afterward; there shouldn¡¯t be big issues. And if we really encounter a situation where we can¡¯t handle a sniper rifle and must resort to recoilless guns, rocketunchers, or armored fighting vehicles like our predecessors, there¡¯s no need to rush. Sometimes, a polite request from the officers at the front, a tentative attack by the tactical team, and fighting rotationally for a day or two, most of the battle shoulde to an end. If the fight doesn¡¯t end with that, then we would need to use our predecessors¡¯ experience and st it open. "Herees another one, hey, this time there are two!" The drone team reported again: "They are carrying bags, quite bulky and low-hanging, suspected of carrying drugs." "Send one of the squads to take care of it," Jiang Yuan told someone off to the side. Wang Chuanxing checked the chart in his notebook, made a mark, and said, "Then it¡¯s the turn for the second team of Captain Liu¡¯s Squad." "Ha, our turn finally!" Liu Wenkai, who had just reinforced the team,ughed and added, "Sorry for saying we came to help, we¡¯re just reaping the benefits." "Team building, you know, is all about making everyone happy," Jiang Yuan was quite rxed at the moment, carrying a gun up the mountain without feeling tired. If there were to be an assault, it would be considered at the top of the mountain near the stronghold, and it would likely be the armed police¡¯s responsibility then. Liu Wenkaiughed in a very KTV-like manner. As he passed by Jiang Yuan, he patted his shoulder and said, "Happy, genuinely happy, Captain Jiang, you really are the treasure of Ning County! I¡¯d call your team-building exercise the best in China." As far as we know, there are several hundred drug addicts in Qi Mountain Stronghold, all of them hooked on mushrooms, including the backpackers who had gone missing previously, reportedly climbing up the mountain themselves attracted by free mushrooms. And these several hundred people are not only consumers but also producers. The leaders of Qi Mountain Stronghold advocate a policy where everyone works, everyone eats, so they require anyoneing to the stronghold to either farm mushrooms, handle transportation, or deal with sales. In short, there can be no idlers. To prevent the wealthy from seizing power, the gang at Qi Mountain Stronghold creatively invented the "Look Little Man" currency, with the widely sold and most circted "Look Little Man" mushroom as the unit of trade. The use of other types of currency is forbidden within the stronghold¡ªthough there is a foreign exchange where money can be exchanged for mushroom currency to a limited extent. In order toplement the above strategy, the gang of Qi Mountain Stronghold naturally has to enforce a series ofpulsory actions on its members, such as forcedbor, forced imprisonment, and more, with violent beatings being a daily urrence. Only through these measures can the freedom-loving drug users be kept in line with the rules. The oppressed, of course, are not innocent either, with daily urrences such as fighting over shacks and stalls andpeting for cultivation areas within Qi Mountain Stronghold, and it¡¯s not umon for underlings to emte their superiors in forming small cliques. Moreover, those who like to indulge in mushrooms in this stronghold of unleashed nature aren¡¯t likely to limit their interests to just mushrooms... In summary, capturing these several hundred people on the mountain, there might be a few who won¡¯t face heavy charges, but every single arrest made is considered effective. And for the various departments and police officers attending the team-building, there¡¯s always a delightful surprise to be had in the captures. Mushrooms in kilograms, domestically produced marijuana in liang, a variety of old and new drugs can all be found in everyone¡¯s packages. Some may not necessarily consume or sell a certain drug, but they carry it around, using it as currency. asionally scanning the faces of those arrested with a police device can also reveal the presence of fugitives and wanted criminals. In such an environment, tell me if this isn¡¯t team-building. Tell me if this isn¡¯t a team-building that brings joy. "Captain Jiang, Captain Wu and his team have caught a big one," Wang Chuanxing reported while climbing the mountain, keeping in touch with the other teams. "How big?" Jiang Yuan asked, out of breath. "A homicide fugitive, wanted by Pingzhou. He was also carrying a homemade handgun," Wang Chuanxing said with a bit of envy, "The old guy even fired a shot, but missed." "No one got hurt, right?" Jiang Yuan asked. "No. We handled it ording to the standard protocol for an armed suspect." "That¡¯s good then, but all teams still need to be cautious." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t too worried¡ªunder such outdoor conditions, anyone who appears is under full surveince by drones; he¡¯s not afraid of those with guns. Those who reveal their guns too early get greeted by sniper rifles, and anyone who tries to pull one out at thest moment is likely to end up riddled like a honeb. "Captain Wu and his team have reached behind the stronghold," Wang Chuanxing continued to ry information. "Have them shout out, see how the stronghold reacts." Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions were ording to the n set before the operation, nothing highlyplicated, just to force the adversaries to surrender or flee, and the hardliners end up being the easiest to deal with in the end. Chapter 1011 - 947: Progress

Chapter 1011: Chapter 947: Progress

"The stronghold is gathering, haha!" "All units, get ready! First group, prepare tear gas grenades!" "There¡¯s arge number, rece shotguns with bean bag rounds for groups two, three, and four!" Wu Junhao moved to the front gate, directing thebined forces of the two locations. Qi Mountain Stronghold is built on a mountain ridge, with limited ess roads. If counted from the base of the mountain, the stronghold still has some strategic space. However, the gang itselfcks strategic vision; they just happened to gather here by coincidence. By the time these mushroom dealers and venomous thugs realize,municate, mobilize, gather, and act, one or two hours is simply not enough. And after the troops arrive at the stronghold, they face over two hundred police officers. The head of the stronghold¡¯s gang still wanted to use their numbers to rush an attack. He organized over a hundred young mushroom cultivators, forcefully drove them down the mountain, and then followed behind with some close associates, nning to escape in the chaos. Seeing this, Wu Junhao just snorted with derision. This time, he had brought the entire reformed first squad, and what is the nickname of the first squad? Not the Bald Strike Team, but the Level Push Squad! Watching the disorganized ranks of over a hundred Mushroom Army members, Wu Junhao let the Chang Le City Bureau¡¯s negotiation expert speak through a megaphone, while he emphasized to his own Bald Strike Team members: "Make your shots rhythmic." "First group load the shotguns with tear gas, after firing, immediately switch to rubber bullets, don¡¯t rush to shoot, wait for mymand." "Second, third, and fourth groups, fire bean bag rounds, pause after two rounds of fire, load rubber bullets, and wait for mymand." "Fifth and sixth groups, hold up your shields, and nobody lower their hands without mymand or I¡¯ll chop off your hands." Wu Junhao paced back and forth, emphasizing themands, somewhat reminiscent of a 19th-century line infantry officer. However,pared to Wu Junhao, his opponents seemed more like those faced by 19th-century line infantry. Over a hundred Mushroom people, under the urging of a gang, opened the gate and charged out. Wu Junhao waved his hand and without hesitation, said: "Tear gas." Bang bang! A burst of blue smoke erupted amidst the Mushroom people. The Mushroom people ran even faster and more directly. Wu Junhao then shouted, "Prepare bean bag rounds," as three groups of Bald Strike Team members stood up with six shotguns. "Don¡¯t be nervous, just wait a bit longer!" Wu Junhao waited until the Mushroom people were within 30 meters before clenching his fist tightly and swinging it down: "Fire!" This was the most effective distance for bean bag rounds. This type of non-lethal explosive weapon, which packs No. 9 lead shot into a fabric bag, hurts terribly upon hitting the human body, but the pellets don¡¯t prate, hence no one dies. Bang... Several shotguns fired a round, followed by another round. After two rounds, although only a dozen people were downed, the advancing Mushroom Army members were already staggering and at a loss. Regarding their fighting spirit, they were even worse than a mob. When the first few who ran in front were toppled by beanbag rounds, and groaned in pain, the others were terrified. They didn¡¯t know the difference between beanbag rounds and real bullets, seeing people lying on the ground, they assumed they were dead. "Shit," someone shouted aloud and turned a corner, trying to flee. At that moment, even being next to a steep slope felt safer than facing the gunfire. A few detectives moved up silently, their cooperation seamless, flipping people over with just one encounter, then quickly cuffing them, easier than catching a sheep. Soon, urged by their gang leaders from behind, more Mushroom Army members continued to charge. This time, Wu Junhao directly ordered the first group to open fire. As the name suggests, pain rounds brought intense pain instantly, yet they were non-lethal, leaving people writhing in pain on the ground, waiting for the police to free their hands and cuff them. Also a non-lethal ammunition, pain rounds, made from hard rubber, packed a much greater punch than beanbag rounds, causing higher levels of pain. A direct hit ensured that a normal person couldn¡¯t get up shortly. Meanwhile, the responsible officers, though standing neatly in line like musketeers from an era of firing squads and adopting simr shooting postures as if facing musketeers, were now equipped with modern shotguns, mostly the Type 97-2. Unlike the Type 09 shotguns Wu Junhao had previously used which could fire tungsten rounds, the official name for the Type 97 was "Riot Gun". Although it operates on a pump-action mechanism, it could discharge all 5 rounds in the magazine in just seconds from about 35 meters away. On Wu Junhao¡¯s side, having a dozen shotguns with well-controlled rhythm, the Mushroom Army couldn¡¯t break through, and this was still with non-lethal ammunition. On the ground, more and more peopley down wailing. Some were genuinely in pain, possibly with broken bones, but others just took the opportunity to lie t,pletely giving up. These people originally came to the stronghold for mushrooms and to indulge in illusions about life; few had the determination tounch a selfless attack. The Qi Mountain Stronghold gang couldn¡¯t even match the standards of warlord armies from the Republic era, who¡¯d let them get high on mushrooms before entering the battle. Opium calms, while mushrooms cause hallucinations. People forcibly calmed could ignore much briefly, but those hallucinating had no contingent grasp of what was happening in the world. A few core gang members took advantage of the chaos to sneak back into the stronghold, fetching an old shotgun and firing it into the air. Bang! The hot gunshot drew a bit of attention from the police. "Catch people first," Wu Junhao personally led the team, cuffing the Mushroom Army members on the ground and those surrendering as if catching pigs. In a short while, they caught over eighty people. "What next?" Wu Junhao asked, "Attack forcefully?" "Let¡¯s call out to them first, wait and see what strategies the armed policerades have, and keep sending the arrested suspects back," Jiang Yuan said, just as the gates of Qi Mountain Stronghold swung open and everyone inside came out with their hands up. "Surrendering counts as turning themselves in, makes it too easy for them," Mu Zhiyang felt a strong disgust now. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, waiting for all the suspects to be cuffed, and then slowly entered the stronghold to observe. A wooden fortress abandoned twenty years ago had no structural updates; instead, many buildings were demolished just to reim construction materials. Beyond that, every corner of the stronghold was filled with cost-saving measures and a variety of smells that hit straight to the top of one¡¯s head. Jiang Yuan took a couple of sniffs; the stench within the fortress had its unique character¡ªsmells of an era¡¯s decay, the decay of the woods, modern poor-quality building materials, and... other familiar odors. Jiang Yuan frowned, and after careful discernment, turned to Wang Chuanxing, saying, "Let Meng Chengbiao conduct a sudden interrogation; I think I smell the stench of a Chapter 1012 - 948 Garbage Sorting

Chapter 1012: Chapter 948 Garbage Sorting

There are no secrets in the shantytown, especially for the oppressed mushroom people. In just a quarter of an hour, Meng Chengbiao concluded the interrogation and reported: "There are three known bodies. One died in a fight, and two were strangled to death. The smell you sensed likelyes from the one who died three days ago. No one took care of it then, so the body was dumped next to the rubbish pile. Only today when we arrived did the gang members dig a hole and bury it." "Then let¡¯s dig it up and have a look," Jiang Yuan sighed. His hands were clean and ready for dinner, which made him somewhat reluctant to handle the corpses. "People have been sent to dig it already. The other two bodies, probably died two and four months ago, were also buried after digging holes. Whether there were bodies from even earlier is unknown to those who arrivedter; we would need to ask the more core members of the gang." "Sure, no rush, take your time to interrogate. I want to check the scene first and then think about an inspection n. Except for the necessary personnel, everyone else should withdraw outside the stronghold." Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was purely technical¡ªthe entire stronghold could be considered evidence, so the impact should be minimized as much as possible. After all, three people died, including one who was clearly murdered. In local terms, scanning an area a few hundred meters wide is not a big project. However, theplexity of the shantytown, or rather, its information density, is much greater than that of a small district. Moreover, these people have lived in Qi Mountain Stronghold for several months or even over a year. As they embrace their nature, crimes weren¡¯t umon among them. Jiang Yuan pondered that they couldn¡¯t merely cover everything under one or two charges; it would be best to keep an open mind and include all mushroom people. The crimes among the mushroom people are indeed crimes, this is clear. "Do we have markers of different colors?" Jiang Yuan asked Wang Chuanxing after walking around the stronghold. "We only brought yellow markers, and not many of them," Wang Chuanxing quickly checked on his PAD. They had brought a lot of equipment, but the investigation equipment was a second priority in the initial supply. After thinking for a moment, Jiang Yuan said, "Then use the caution tape. At the locations I point out, circle them, and they will be the focus of the inspectionter." To Jiang Yuan, the chaotic, dirty stronghold with its odd smells did not repulse him; in fact, he felt a challenging excitement. Nowadays, most crime scene investigations happen indoors. With so many cameras and surveince outside, ordinary murderers feel more securemitting crimes indoors, where it¡¯s easier to manage things like dismemberment. If you consider a scene where ordinary people die in their own ordinary homes, the area that scene investigators need to inspect is around a hundred square meters. It might berger in small towns and counties, while in big cities, ordinary people might die in areas ranging from thirty to one hundred and eighty square meters. In terms of area alone, the difficulty of investigating Qi Mountain Stronghold is iparable. Furthermore, with several hundred people in Qi Mountain Stronghold living, eating, and conducting both legal and illegal activities all year round, the difficulty in unraveling as many crimes as possible is quite high. But Jiang Yuan was quite confident. He not only had Level 4 crime scene investigation skills, but when investigating the case of the scavenging elderly, he had also achieved Level 4 in waste ssification. This was indeed particrly suitable for this garbage-filled scene. Jiang Yuan marked various areas seriously, nning to conduct a detailed inspectionter. For criminal investigators, digging out evidence from trash piles is basically a fundamental operation. For example, starting with Qi Mountain Stronghold, you can first dig out various drug paraphernalia, because although the stronghold¡¯s residents like mushrooms, many are not exclusively into mushrooms. Thus, from the trash piles, one can find items including but not limited to various syringes, aluminum foil, water pipe, drug pipes, stic bags of various sizes, cooking pots, bottles, etc. It can be assumed that these objects have not been thoroughly cleaned, disinfected, or stripped of traces. So, what can you get from a simple stic bag? First, by performing physicochemical analysis on the bag, you can determine what was inside it¡ªin this case, what kind of drugs. Secondly, it is easy to obtain fingerprints from the bag, which can then be matched to all the mushroom people who handled this bag. If there are fingerprints of five Mushroom Men on the bag, conducting urine or hair tests on them, or directly arranging for the toxicologyb to test, can reveal which drugs they have taken. If the drugs match those found in the bag, then it can be concluded that this bag was used by them. As for the rest, they are naturally suspected of dealing. Otherwise, why would your fingerprints be on the bag? At this point, the burden of proof is reversed, and others have to prove through what means they came into contact with this bag, thus leaving their fingerprints. Being part of a drug party is a lesser evil exnation. As for other exnations, like iming to have used the drugs as currency¡ªcurrentws do not recognize such a mode of transaction. In fact, using drugs as currency equates to drug trafficking, and using drugs to buy a bottle of water, getting sentenced to 7 years makes sense. If one bag could possibly wrongfully use someone, then additional corroborating evidence easily seals the fate of a participant in exotic drug activities, such as syringes, foil papers, or cooking pots among others. If you neither use nor deal, how could your fingerprints be on these items? Of course, actual field investigations aren¡¯t thisplicated. With interrogation, if the suspect confesses, there won¡¯t be the need to dissect every little detail. For the lower-level drug dealers and users who admit guilt and ept punishment above 10 years, prosecutors are generally satisfied. As for other charges, particrly ones thate out of mutual snitching and earning merits, they just add upter on. However, these are meticulous tasks and not something Jiang Yuan can finish in just a day or two by himself. After making his rounds and identifying key areas, Jiang Yuan just waited for more technical staff to assist. At this time, three bodies were also dug up. The two older corpses were severely dposed, but the body that died only three days ago, even being buried in a rtively damp ce, was still in a passable condition. Wang Chuanxing asked, "Should we perform an external examination, or transport it back straight away?" "Transport the other two back for processing. For this more recent body, I¡¯ll perform the autopsy right here," Jiang Yuan said, and had someone bring over the forensic doctor¡¯s investigation kit. There¡¯s no need to look for a special ce. Inside arge courtyard with no walls and no roof overhead, Jiang Yuan positioned the body and began the autopsy with the help of Mu Zhiyang and Shen Yaowei. The Y-incision, removing of the organs, all were part of a very normal procedure. Forensic doctors in the past often performed autopsies outdoors. In fact, forensic doctors in Ningtai County were still conducting autopsies in rural courtyards more than ten years ago because it was troublesome to transport the bodies back; it was beneficial to have the criminal police on site and provide forensic opinions immediately. By the time Jiang Yuan graduated, the working environment for forensic doctors had already improved significantly. This experience felt like a throwback. Especially when all the organs were processed and it was time to saw open the skull, and they realized they didn¡¯t bring an electric saw, the sense of deja vu from old times intensified. "Use a hand saw then." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t wait several hours for an electric saw to be delivered, so he had someone get a hand saw and handed it to Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei solemnly took the hand saw and earnestly said, "Captain Jiang, you rest; I¡¯ll call you when I¡¯m done." Using a hand saw to cut open the skull would take about an hour. Shen Yaowei rolled up his sleeves and began working. Squeak, squeak... When one saw de broke, another was reced. Sweat dripped off Shen Yaowei. He declined the help from other officers. After all, this was a task specially assigned by Captain Jiang, and Shen Yaowei naturally wouldn¡¯t allow others to do it! Chapter 1013 - 949: Confirming the Murderer

Chapter 1013: Chapter 949: Confirming the Murderer

"Captain Jiang, it¡¯s been cut open." Shen Yaowei sawed through three saw des before finally opening the inner and outer tables of the victim¡¯s skull. Jiang Yuan put down his teacup, sighed, and began to put on his coat, gloves, and head cover, then picked up a T-shaped chisel and wedged it into the cut skull with a "crack," prying it open. Only then did Shen Yaowei stand up, sought someone to help wipe off his sweat, and said, "It¡¯s like sawing open two boxes of coconuts; my arms are sore." This job is indeed quite simr to opening coconuts: first, cut open the skin on the outside, then saw through the hard shell, and then you can see the soft contents inside. Jiang Yuan first carefully observed the dura mater beneath the skull. The dura mater is a thinyer of membrane simr to the white coconut flesh exposed after prying open a coconut. The mostmon and basic operation in neurosurgery is the evacuation of a subdural hematoma, which involves cutting open the patient¡¯s dura mater with the purpose of clearing clots or relieving pressure. It is a procedure that sounds sophisticated but actually has a moderate technical content, and many lower-level hospitals have voluntarily or out of necessity started performing this type of surgery. Because the evacuation of a subdural hematoma is often an emergency procedure, inyman¡¯s terms, it is needed when one hits their head, the head is smashed, kicked by a donkey, etc. Many local healthmissions require that within a XX-kilometer radius of a city, there must be a hospital capable of performing it, to prevent patient deaths due to transfer. For a forensic doctor, subdural bleeding is also a great indicator. In most cases, the presence of subdural bleeding can be used to exin the cause of death. Even if the deceased had other conditions leading to death, arge clot inside the brain is still a factor to consider. That¡¯s the situation that Jiang Yuan currently observes. "Blunt force trauma to the head, resulting in death," Jiang Yuan stated as he cut along the center line of the dura mater, using forceps to pull the dura mater away from the arachnoid, revealing the cerebral hemisphere. He concluded on the spot and instructed Wang Chuanxing to record the findings and called for the photographer to take pictures. Click, click-click, click... The photographer¡¯s DSLR captured a rapid session of shutters. The light before dusk, at its softest and most beautiful, cast on the yellow, white, red, and ck flesh, created a distorted, perverted stimulus ¡ª like the "Sour Toe Cocktail," where a legally obtained human toe is soaked in whiskey, the taste of the cocktail already transcends the actual requirements of vor! "Bag the body, ice it, transport it back, and then have Wang Lan perform the material examination," Jiang Yuan said after checking several critical areas, almost certain there were no other causes of death, and then had the body moved. The conditions on-site were rudimentary, but performing an autopsy there could yield conclusions several hours earlier than if the body was transported back, which is very beneficial for advancing the case. The case itself was actually quite straightforward: the victim died while participating in a group fight and fighting back under the watch of a group of people. Therefore, as long as witness testimonies are collected and the participants in the fight are identified, the minimum threshold for the case is essentially secured. The slightly challenging part is identifying the murderer. In ordinary people¡¯s thinking, all participants in the brawl are, in effect, murderers, but legally, it is necessary to identify who dealt the fatal blow¡ªthe specific executor of the act that caused death. For a forensic doctor, the task is to find the main cause of the victim¡¯s death. Suppose the victim, in hisst fight, was strangled by Huang Zhong with a bowstring; had his abdomen pierced by Zhang Fei¡¯s pike; had a gash dragged across his left thigh by Guan Yu¡¯s Qinglong Yan Yue Dao; was stabbed in the chest by Ma Chao¡¯s Tiger Head Golden Spear; took a blow on the head from Li Yuanba¡¯s Purple Gold Hammer; had both wrists slit open by Liu Bei¡¯s twin swords; was force-fed alcohol by Cao Cao; had Diao Chan writhing desperately underneath him... Even if bystanders understand that the person was killed through a team effort, they still want to identify one most representative individual as the murderer. That¡¯s where the forensic doctores in. If a subdural hematoma can also be found, then Li Yuanba would be the prime suspect. ... Su Shanming of the Chang Le City Bureau is the person in charge of searching for Li Yuanba. Qi Mountain Stronghold is still within the jurisdiction of the Chang Le City Bureau, and Su Shanming, who followed Jiang Yuan here, has long been mired in an overwhelming number of cases. However, as this is a murder case, it naturally needs to be given ample resources immediately. Su Shanming carefully selected a few officers, hurrying over while instructing, "From now on, you will be fully responsible for this homicide case. Let me rify; a homicide is a homicide, and it takes precedence, no matter how chaotic things get here, who the deceased is, or whether the murderer is already facing the death penalty, those are not your concerns. Your sole focus is to solve this case!" "Yes," the officers responded withposed affirmation. The Criminal Police Brigade is actually considered a higher-level investigation unit, with the municipal-level brigade even regarded as the top-tier frontline investigating authority, effectively an elite major case squad. They generally handle cases that district and county-level units can¡¯t tackle. Homicide cases are not only familiar to them but can even be called a specialty. Upon arriving at the scene, each of their expressions was solemn. At this point, Jiang Yuan had already changed his clothes, washed his hands, and drafted a preliminary informal report. Seeing Su Mingshan arrive, Jiang Yuan greeted him with a cheerful smile, then asked Wang Chuanxing to bring something over and said, "The cause of the victim¡¯s death was a blunt force trauma to the head, likely from a beer bottle or a cylindrical club. The assant must have been taller than the victim by at least 10 centimeters, based on the standing height, and also rtively heavier..." The officers were initially prepared to read the preliminary autopsy report filled out by Jiang Yuan, but as they listened to his words, they gradually stopped and turned their attention to Su Mingshan. Su Mingshan¡¯s brow furrowed; to those unaware, it might seem like he was angry. In reality, Su Mingshan¡¯s forehead was indeed buzzing. Mu Zhiyang had seen many police captains like this; he interjected, "Captain Su, our Captain Jiang is very efficient, you¡¯ll get used to it in time." "Is that so?" Su Mingshan recalled previous cases, which, after all, were not led by him. His impression wasn¡¯t as strong... Mu Zhiyang chuckled and asked, "What¡¯s the next step?" "Next?... There¡¯s not much left to do," Su Mingshan sighed, and offhandedly added, "We¡¯ve recorded most people involved in the brawl. Now it¡¯s about identifying the person with a club or a beer bottle. We¡¯ll need to ask in detail about the assault. If someone saw him hit the victim¡¯s head, then we¡¯re pretty much set." "There¡¯s also the murder weapon," one of the subordinates reminded. "Oh, right, the murder weapon. It will be a bit difficult to find a beer bottle, but a wooden stick is easier. Could it be a stick? Or something like a steel pipe?" Su Mingshan came to his senses, starting to verify further; with the discovery of the murder weapon, the case¡¯s evidence chain would be moreplete, essentially resolving the investigation. Compared to a beer bottle, items like wooden sticks or steel pipes are obviously easier to retain. Jiang Yuan slowly shook his head, saying, "It¡¯s most likely a beer bottle, deduced from the form of thecerated wound..." Having said only this much, Jiang Yuan looked up at Su Mingshan, his desire to exin waned significantly, and after a pause he added, "This isn¡¯t any advanced technique. Mentioning wooden sticks and steel pipes only means there¡¯s a very slim chance. You should primarily consider a beer bottle for now." Injuring or even killing someone with a beer bottle is not a rare urrence in our country. People who drink to excess, already prone to fighting and injuring others, might grab a recently consumedrge green bottle or a full one to strike someone, which could be said to be amon pattern in nightlife. Therefore, among the forensicmunity, those with some experience tend to closely observe and record characteristics of somemon injurious items. A beer bottle, for instance, is something that many forensic doctors could recognize at a nce. Jiang Yuan had previously dealt with a homicide caused by a beer bottle; encountering another felt like he was well-trodden in solving such cases. However, as Su Mingshan¡¯s relief subsided, he began to feel a strong sense of anxiety and couldn¡¯t help saying, "This beer bottle used as a murder weapon will probably be hard to find as well. It might have been smashed to pieces..." "ording to the witnesses, the murderer drank local beer that day, didn¡¯t suspiciously smash the bottle, but threw it into a trash heap," Jiang Yuan stated, pausing for a moment, then continued, "Luckily, the trash here isn¡¯t really processed. If we search carefully, there¡¯s a good chance we can still find that beer bottle." Su Mingshan frowned, nced at the several officers he had brought along, then turned to look at the vast mountains of garbage. The officers were taken aback and incredulous, "Captain Su, you didn¡¯t say it would be like this when you came..." "If you don¡¯t have enough hands, I can lend some people to you," Jiang Yuan coughed twice and suggested, "But since we¡¯re dealing with garbage, how about we do some trash sorting while we are at it?" Chapter 1014 - 950 Survivors

Chapter 1014: Chapter 950 Survivors

p! Bright little mes stretched upward, licking ardently from the center of the stone mill, overflowing with a thick heat that warmed the circle of police officers sitting around it. An old police officer thrust a long iron skewerden with thick cuts of beef into the gaps atop the stone mill, causing the beef to tremble weakly before being obediently licked by the mes. A few dozen meters away by the railing, a dozen or so criminal suspects were shackled together, sniffing the enticing aroma below, their stomachs growling. Someone boldly said, "Murder isn¡¯t worth more than one¡¯s head. If you¡¯re going to execute us by shooting, at least let us have a full meal first." "Didn¡¯t we just give you covered rice bowls?" The guards, who were not armed with guns but instead with stun sticks, sharply watched these suspects. The police¡¯s transportation capabilities were limited; every single person in the hundreds-strong stronghold needed to be cuffed and sent back. Regr police cars, which required too many escort officers, and even armed forces vehicles ormand vehicles like the Warrior wouldn¡¯t be bestowed upon these ¡¯mushroom people.¡¯ Therefore, specialized prisoner transport buses and the like had to be arranged. Moreover, the roads here were difficult to navigate, which caused many suspects to be held back. However, the police investigations themselves required the interrogation of some suspects. Aside from the slightly heavier guarding duties, it wasn¡¯t too troublesome. Of course, the suspects were bound to feel aggrieved. Once someone spoke up, the handcuffed suspects started moring, "The covered rice was too little, it had no meat. We want to eat BBQ too!" "BBQ?" The watching officer really wanted to say that this might be thest BBQ meal of your life, but since they were still in the wilderness, provoking the suspects was usually forbidden. There was no need to infuriate these desperate people or cause them to feel deeper despair. Thinking it over, the guard gently tapped his stun stick and said, "Don¡¯t shout, just stay quiet for a bit. I¡¯ll ask for you, alright?" The boisterous suspects, already prepared to be beaten, were momentarily stunned by the officer¡¯s humane words. The watching officer pressed the talk button on his radio and switched the channel: "Captain, captain, this is Li Gu. The prisoners want to eat BBQ, should we arrange a bit for them? Over." "Even I don¡¯t have BBQ to eat! That¡¯s for Captain Jiang and his crew; the one roasting is a superintendent. Over!" "This is Li Gu, well... how about we get a couple of third-ss inspectors to grill some meat for them? The rest are just young people who will be eating prison meals when they get back, who knows how long it¡¯ll be before they get to eat BBQ again. Over." "Got it. You¡¯re really pushing it, kid. Over." The radio of the watching officer was amplified, and the supervised ¡¯mushroom people¡¯ heard the entire conversation, their spirits subsequently dampening. The suspect who had started the uproar also lost interest, saying, "The BBQ isn¡¯t all that great, don¡¯t bother making it for us." "If there is some, great; if not, never mind." The watching officer didn¡¯t say much more; he couldn¡¯t say he sympathized with the suspects, only that he treated them equally. And for people today, wanting a bit of meat wasn¡¯t really an excessive demand. For a moment, none of the ¡¯mushroom people¡¯ had any desire to speak. "Damn!" Someone shouted loudly, as if trying to vent his feelings. But the others nearby were too listless to agree with him. "Wish I could have one more smoke. Then I wouldn¡¯t think about all this," murmured a person at the back of the queue. Suddenly. Meng Chengbiao came over smiling, holding BBQ, and distributed some to everyone. Some took and ate it; others didn¡¯t want to and declined. Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t mind; some people genuinely disliked food. Additionally, drug use can also reduce appetite. For many addicts, not only does appetite fade, but all desires vanish, leaving only the craving for drugs. Many religions have a history of using drugs for various purposes; the development history of cannabis, for example, can be seen as the history of a religion¡¯s soul-binding medicine. "Thank you," said someone who took the BBQ, as if they were momentarily reawakening a bit of morality and nature within them. "You¡¯re wee. If you like it, I will have more sent over." Meng Chengbiao quietly noted the other party¡¯s number. The interrogation work this time was extremely arduous and important; having more breakthroughs would certainly be better. Jiang Yuan ate several skewers of grilled meat and then followed the evening convoy back to Chang Le City. There was still much work to be done at Qi Mountain Stronghold, solely the search, excavation, and organization of evidence would require one or two months of time and the involvement of dozens of people toplete. However, these were not tasks that required Jiang Yuan¡¯s continuous involvement. Or rather, the Changler City Bureau was reluctant tomit Jiang Yuan, a valuable asset, to such mundane tasks. They also could not afford such a luxury. Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t need to worry about these matters; upon returning to the guest house at Changler City Bureau, he went straight to sleep. It wasn¡¯t until he woke up the next day that he realized he was still in a suite. After checking WeChat upon waking up and tidying up a bit, he quickly went downstairs. Lang Heng, the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, and others were in the restaurant, drinking tea, chatting, and waiting for Jiang Yuan. "Commissar, Director Lang..." Jiang Yuan, not very emotionally savvy early in the morning, said: "Is there another case? There seem to be quite a few cases in Chang Le City." Lang Hengughed heartily: "Captain Jiang does have a sense of humor. However, the issues at Qi Mountain Stronghold were indeed unexpected; we thank Captain Jiang for uncovering this for us. Going forward, both the city and county levels will take substantial actions." "What substantial actions?" Jiang Yuan was genuinely curious; the problems revealed by Qi Mountain Stronghold were not something a few police visits could solve. Once the reputation of these mushrooms gets out, there will always be people wanting to try, and to talk about eradication¡ªit¡¯s not so simple tob through every inch of the forest without missing anything. Lang Heng chuckled twice and said, "In this regard, we actually have experience, including lessons from our predecessors." "Oh? Can you talk about it?" "Talking about it is no problem. Frankly, it¡¯s not worth much." Lang Heng paused for a moment, capturing Jiang Yuan¡¯s full attention before continuing, "The n is to build roads; this year we want to pave the roads in these remote towns and viges, especially for some natural viges far from administrative viges¡ªwe¡¯re going to build asphalt roads there." Jiang Yuan was surprised: "What¡¯s the reasoning behind this?" "Those who cultivate these hallucinogenic mushrooms have an average monthly ie of about three to four thousand yuan," Lang Heng looked at Huang Qiangmin and then continued, "By improving the roads and solving the transportation problems in the mountains, the variety of cultivable products increases, and mushrooms aren¡¯t the only valuable things in the mountains." Jiang Yuan nodded, seemingly understanding. Lang Heng coughed twice: "We can¡¯t just arrest everyone." This is part of social governance. Huang Qiangmin, quite interested, asked, "The expenses for road construction, does your police department have to cover them?" "No, before the roads are repaired, our task bes even more important," Lang Heng said as he grabbed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand earnestly, "That¡¯s why we need more help from our brother units." Huang Qiangmin forcefully pulled his hand out of Lang Heng¡¯s grasp, saying, "Let¡¯s talk about the cases, otherwise, we might have to start charging a consultation fee." "We already have that," Lang Heng said calmly. "Oh, there¡¯s already a consultation fee?" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s tone changed: "I¡¯ll checkter and see if we need to change the name." Lang Heng couldn¡¯t help butugh, knowing although Huang Qiangmin was quite blunt, he was still reasonable. Otherwise, he would have taken Jiang Yuan to Beijing a long time ago; there was no need to keep him in Shannan Province for so long. As the thought passed, Lang Heng turned and handed a tablet to Jiang Yuan, then said: "Case 430, we actually reopened it once before, it¡¯s a 10-year-old cold case. The victims were a mother and daughter, found dead at home, the forensic doctor determined the cause of death was strangtion. There were no signs of rape. Valuable items were stolen from the home, and there were signs of damage to the door lock. Uniquely, there was another victim at the scene, an 8-year-old boy, the youngest child at home, who was hidden by his mother in the wardrobe and survived the ordeal." As Jiang Yuan listened, he browsed the scene photos on the tablet, furrowing his brows: "So, the survivor is 18 now?" "Yes, the child of that year has nowe of age. He came to us, and I feel a sense of guilt," Lang Heng said as he took a sip of tea, shook his head, and continued: "The initial suspect was actually the victims¡¯ husband, who had a history of domestic violence. His alibi for the day of the incident was not very solid, however, the trace evidence at the scene does not support this judgment. Moreover, the surviving child stated that there were two perpetrators on the day of the incident. Various signs indicate that there is another person involved..." Chapter 1015 - 951: Starting from the Time of Death

Chapter 1015: Chapter 951: Starting from the Time of Death

"The initial suspect, Mai Zuqing, went to karaoke and drinking on that day, and at around 11 p.m., he arrived home to find the bodies of his wife and daughter, then reported it to the police. The police arrived at the scene around 11:40 p.m." "Mai Zuqing worked as a cost analyst in the cost department of a real estatepany, which was a rtively high-paying job at the time. He had a busy schedule, often working overtime and going out for business entertainment, and he personally liked to drink. Therefore, there were many quarrels between Mai Zuqing and his wife. Mai Zuqing also had a history of physical violence, having once broken the corner of his wife Sui Yingxue¡¯s mouth." "However, Mai Zuqing was very good to his pair of children, and through our conversations with his colleagues, we felt that he didn¡¯t seem like the type of criminal who would kill his own daughter. Moreover, if it were Mai Zuqinging home, then there would have been no reason for the mother, Sui Yingxue, to hide their son. Simrly, if Mai Zuqing had the intention to kill his wife and erase his children, he wouldn¡¯t have left his son alive." "We¡¯ve collected some witness testimonies rted to the case, and they mostly support the alibi that Mai Zuqing provided. Adding to that the testimony from the survivor..." Lang Heng briefly exined the case and then looked at Jiang Yuan to ask, "Do you want to meet with this young survivor?" Lang Heng asked this pivotal question. The child, who was 8 years old back then, is now 18 and able to fully articte what he saw, heard, and thought. On the other side, because one of the suspects is his father, whether this young man can truthfully express his observations and thoughts is another question. But,pared to having no information, even false information can be useful. Besides, there is a very good chance that what the survivor has to say is the truth. "Let Meng Chengbiao talk to him," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly sociable, and a witness who had already undergone multiple rounds of questioning was like a sponge that had been wrung out many times; Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the strength to wring it anymore. Lang Heng responded with a sound and then looked at Jiang Yuan expectantly. As Jiang Yuan was thinking, he looked up to meet Lang Heng¡¯s gaze and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Director Lang, that look on your face... Do you have an idea?" "I have no ideas... I just want to see if there¡¯s a chance that you could take a look at the pictures or something and crack the case right away," Lang Hengughed heartily. He had witnessed the quick efficiency from Jiang Yuan before, so his expectations were naturally different. Jiang Yuan was amused by him and firmly stated, "That¡¯s not possible; this case is somewhatplex." "Alright. I was hoping this case could be wrapped up quickly," Lang Heng felt a bit disappointed but also relieved. If a case that their side had been working on for 8 years could be solved by Jiang Yuan with just a wave of the hand, it would genuinely be too much for some to handle. "However..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through once more. Lang Heng¡¯s eyes widened: "However what?" "However, you¡¯ve been too hasty in ruling out this suspect," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t give Lang Heng much hope but continued, "I¡¯m not saying that the suspect is the murderer. But looking at your reasons for excluding him, such as witness statements, the suspect¡¯s colleagues¡¯ testimonies, cell phone signals, surveince video from the ce of work, and other alibi evidence..." "Is there a problem?" Lang Heng didn¡¯t know whether to be happy or not. Jiang Yuan¡¯s fingers scrolled through the PAD, pondering: "The alibi evidence is rtively objective, so we won¡¯t discuss other testimonies for now. The issue is that the alibi is based on the time of death, and your determination of the death time wasn¡¯t urate enough, which makes the exclusion of the victim¡¯s husband rather hasty." "Is there an issue with the time of death?" Lang Heng sat up. "There¡¯s not too much of a problem, just that it isn¡¯t very urate. I think it could be moved up by two hours, at least by an hour and a half." Jiang Yuan moved the image to the number he had noted earlier, then continued: "Look here, the window ispletely closed, and the air conditioning is also off... By the time the forensic doctor arrived, the earlier crime scene investigators had already opened all the windows and doors,ing in and out, stirring up the airflow, so the indoor temperature must have been lowered by several degrees." Lang Heng realized suddenly, and with some embarrassment, said: "The crime scene investigations from the earlier years were indeed not up to standard." Actually, the current ones are also not up to standard, but that¡¯s just the way humans work and manage things. Jiang Yuan naturally wouldn¡¯t delve into how the crime scene investigation of a case from 10 years ago was conducted, simply saying: "Determining the time of death a bit more urately may or may not be useful regardless, the suspect still needs further investigation. Even if he was really entertaining guests in the evening, he would have had free time at noon." The LV6 time of death determination is his trump card, and he definitely intends to use it. Whether the suspect is the killer or not, many of the subsequent judgments may still rely on this. However, Lang Heng was already getting excited: "If Mai Zuqing doesn¡¯t have an alibi, then his suspicion is still very significant... He could take advantage of the noon time tomit the crime, and during the lunch break, there was no one around Mai Zuqing..." "Then why kill the daughter and leave the son alive?" Jiang Yuan countered. Lang Heng thought for only a moment before responding: "The daughter was older and might notply with Mai Zuqing¡¯s narrative anymore. He had to kill to silence her. The son was only 8 years old that year; he might have been naive or did not witness the full event, or perhaps he was hidden away by the mother who foresaw the danger..." Jiang Yuan felt that Lang Heng¡¯s exnation was somewhat forced. Speaking of maturity, an 8-year-old is already quite sensible, as can be understood from the interrogation records fromter on. The 8-year-old spoke clearly and articted very clearly what he knew. As a father, Mai Zuqing should have had a good understanding of his son¡¯s verbal abilities andprehension. However, this level of reasoning is something that Jiang Yuan usually would not delve into. Humans are irrational creatures, and rational reasoning can only identify trends, but it is difficult to exin whether, in that environment, at that moment, that person wouldmit such an act. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said: "We can follow up on Mai Zuqing... However, you must have interrogated Mai Zuqing thoroughly back then." Lang Heng hesitated for a moment, then sighed: "That is indeed the case." Although in murder cases, the implicated parties all know the gravity of the charges and tend to resist strongly, the police interrogation techniques are not to be underestimated. Given that Mai Zuqing himself was already under heavy suspicion, the police interrogation that day must have been carried out thoroughly. Although there is new evidence now, frankly speaking,pared to the dimensions of the police¡¯s suspicion, it is still too immature. "Are the evidences involved in the case still preserved?" Jiang Yuan asked another question, raising Lang Heng¡¯s expectations again. "Yes, they are," Lang Heng hurriedly said: "The evidence for this case was specifically organized. Ah, back then, it was little Su crying while organizing the special case team¡¯s evidence, and now in a blink of an eye, we have to call him old Su." Su Mingshan ten years ago probably wasn¡¯t yet the squad leader. Jiang Yuan smiled briefly, then continued: "First, bring over the evidence for a look. Some things are better seen in person. Especially this door lock, check to see if it¡¯s still around." Chapter 1016 - 952 Reorganization

Chapter 1016: Chapter 952 Reorganization

While waiting for the collection of physical evidence, Lang Heng apanied Jiang Yuan, reviewing photos of various items of evidence with the onsite criminal police officers. This case involved arge amount of physical evidence, and due to the difficulties faced by the special case team in the investigation, arge amount of evidence had been collected. However, after reviewing all the photos of the evidence, Huang Qiangmin had a realization and said, "The windows were all sealed shut, so the door was the only way in or out. The lock... can be said to be the key evidence." As the long-standing captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, Huang Qiangmin had considerable experience with such homicide cases. He looked at Jiang Yuan with a hint of satisfaction. Huang Qiangmin spected that when Jiang Yuan had asked for the evidence to be collected, he had specifically mentioned the door lock, which was most likely an intuition. At that time, Jiang Yuan had not yet fully reviewed the evidence materials, and did not know that in addition to theck of evidence pointing directly to the killer, the various items of evidence in the room were also insufficient to prove anything¡ªIf it wasn¡¯t intuition, then being able to deduce this without having read theplete evidence materials would be even more impressive. Huang Qiangmin felt that he really deserved some sort of mentorship award! "We also checked the door lock before," Lang Heng knew what Jiang Yuan and others were getting at and said: "In fact, it was because we checked the door lock that we focused on Mai Zuqing. There were no typical lock-picking traces on the victim¡¯s door lock, so the murderer most likely had a key, or else they must have tricked their way in." "Having a key... could it also be a lover?" Huang Qiangmin was not trying to be argumentative, but he was just raising a possibility. Lang Heng slightly shook his head: "We¡¯ve also made some inquiries about this aspect, and the victim Sui Yingxue was very busy taking care of two kids being a full-time housewife, shopping for groceries, cooking, and picking up the children. We¡¯ve talked to some of her close friends, checked her WeChat, reviewed the apps on her phone, and basically, there is very little chance that she had a lover." The evidence before was one thing, but if the phone checks were clean, then it was very likely that things were indeed clean. However, criminal detectives are always skeptics, so Huang Qiangmin asked another question: "Could there be a second phone?" "We did not find a second phone," Lang Heng paused for a moment, then continued: "Unless she didn¡¯t keep the second phone at home. The crime scene was thoroughly searched. She also did not have a workce... of course, we cannot dismiss that possibility." Lang Heng didn¡¯t rule it out; many cases surpass the usual thinking of ordinary people, or to put it more artistically, they rise above the ordinary level, especially in the case of crimes of passion. Think about it, if a killer is willing tomit murder for it, the emotions must be extremely strong, regardless of what outsiders think, the emotions between the involved parties are often extraordinary. Whether Sui Yingxue had emotional entanglements outside her family, Lang Heng could not guarantee. Moreover, 10 years ago social media was not as thriving as it is today; people still met offline, flirted offline, and had affairs offline. "The locks have arrived." Lang Heng didn¡¯t continue along Huang Qiangmin¡¯s line of spection, but still pinned his hopes on Jiang Yuan. The officers sessively brought in several boxes of evidence. Jiang Yuan put on gloves and nced over the evidence bags, ultimately asking everyone to make space to start examining the locks first. The guesthouse of the Criminal Police Brigade usually amodates three special case teams, and even in the restaurant, the servers skillfully used screens to create a separate space. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t dismantle the lock right away and first used tools to probe it. First, the lock had not been treated violently, meaning that nobody had tried to force it open with a crowbar or spray it with a model 97-2 anti-st gun. The remaining lock opening methods are actually limited to two: one is unlocking with a key, and the other is technical lock-picking. Most technical lock-picking involves techniques used by professional lock-smiths, which include picking with a hook, as well as using foil. For the police¡¯s trace examination, there are also professional countermeasures. The so-called "identification of technical lock-picking through typical traces." As technical lock-picking is not a new invention or to put it another way, all sorts of such inventions have been exhausted decades ago; the new generation of lock and thief kings are longer mechanical lock geniuses¡ªFrom this, it follows that existing methods of technical lock-picking will leave behind corresponding traces. That is, the "typical," "consistent" lock-picking traces. The method of lock-picking is of a ssic pattern, which naturally leaves typical traces. The more one practices lock-picking, the more consistent their movements be, and the more stable the traces they leave behind. In earlier years, during the heyday of burry, some adept forensic experts within the police force could not only recognize technical lock-picking traces within the lock mechanisms but could also identify the operational traces of some infamous local thieves based on the differences in the traces. It can be said to be an excellent example of the adage "fame brings trouble as surely as fatness brings on a pig." The technical means avable today are naturally more advanced and moreplete, but as the instances of break-in crimes have decreased, the development of such technology has been somewhat dyed. Jiang Yuan examined the lock carefully and thoughtfully. "What do you think?" Lang Heng became anxious seeing his expression. "At the very least, the lock wasn¡¯t picked using a bump key method," Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer was simr to the forensic judgment of the previous special case team. Lang Heng couldn¡¯t help but sigh, saying, "In that case, this lead doesn¡¯t get us anywhere." As for Jiang Yuan, he did not express agreement or disagreement, instead repeatedly examining the disassembled lock mechanism. Speaking of which, Jiang Yuan possessed a level 6 Tool Trace Identification skill, but using it here wasn¡¯t quite suitable because what was needed first wasn¡¯t to identify to whom the traces belonged, but rather to locate the traces themselves. A level 4 Crime Scene Investigation, or even a level 3 Vehicle Trace Identification, could be of certain use at this moment and might provide some assistance, but they could not solve the problem. The atmosphere in the room became somber for a moment. Huang Qiangmin, who was watching with urgency, said: "It¡¯s a pity there¡¯s no blood trace at the scene, otherwise, Jiang Yuan solving a break-in murder through Bloodstain Analysis wouldn¡¯t be the first or second time." "Indeed, a lot can be seen from blood traces," Lang Heng agreed. Huang Qiangmin curled his lips, thinking to himself that the "a lot" Lang Heng mentioned was different from the "a lot" he was thinking about. However, given there was no blood trace in this case, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Bloodstain Analysis skill could not be utilized, to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s great regret. In his mind, among all the technical methods known to Jiang Yuan, this one was extremely useful. "How about we ask Director Liu to take a look?" Huang Qiangmin knew how to make use of people, and seeing Jiang Yuan deep in thought, the first person he thought of was Liu Jinghui. Jiang Yuan was not against the idea and nodded, adding, "However, if we¡¯re going to ask Director Liu, we need to collect a bit more information, and it needs to be more urate." "We could bring back the original special case team. If it¡¯s a case from 10 years ago, the team members are likely still around," Lang Heng suggested. Jiang Yuan leaned over and rummaged through the evidence box, then said, "This case might indeed require Director Liu to open up our thinking. If possible, bring in more members of the original special case team. Some memories are clearer than the information in the case files." "I¡¯ll see what I can do," Lang Heng nodded. Without the need for any unspoken rules, the information written into case files doesn¡¯tpletely match everyday experiences and memories in any organization. At the very least, the contents of the case files are meant to withstand scrutiny, especially the files from judicial departments, which are methodical, even the investigative files. Nevertheless, these files serve the court or, to be precise, are in service to fairness and justice. However, when ites to solving cases, information that is too tightly bound by protocol often fails to yield answers. "If possible, bring back more former members of the special case team; this case won¡¯t be easily cracked purely from a technical standpoint," although Jiang Yuan had just started on the case, given his technical expertise, if he hadn¡¯t found anything at first nce, the difficulty of the case was certain. Lang Heng seemed to understand and mumbled to himself, "Liu¡¯s reasoning... indeed, that is something. Alright then, I¡¯ll rebuild the special case team ording to the personnel list of the original team 430, from 10 years ago. Although the membership has definitely changed, I¡¯ll try to bring over as many who are still in the Criminal Police Brigade and still in Chang Le City!" Chapter 1017 - 953: For What Reason

Chapter 1017: Chapter 953: For What Reason

"Director Lang is really going all out." Su Shanming and others in front of the temporary office on the third floor of the Criminal Police Brigade hung a sign reading "4303 Special Task Force," symbolizing this is the third restructuring of the 430 Special Task Force. The number is an internal temporary code, but the scale of this restructuring has still astonished Su Shanming and the others. The size of the task force was substantial even ten years ago. Add to that, many of the then Little Karamis have be captains, directors, department heads, and so forth after a decade of progress. Bringing these people back is not only cumbersome but definitely impacts the police bureau¡¯s personnel allocation significantly. Lang Heng¡¯s ability to bear such pressure also illustrates from one perspective how seriously he takes this case. Simrly, even the former Little Karamis knew that Director Lang was serious. Ling Han, also a captain, snapped a cigarette into life with a "pop", took a drag, and then said, "Don¡¯t know how long it will take. We still have cases piling up in our team." "Really? Then ask Captain Jiang to do it." Su Shanming fanned himself with his hand and, reluctantly, also lit a cigarette. He couldn¡¯t just suffer from second-hand smoke. Ling Hanughed heartily, "No need, it¡¯s better we just keep pounding the pavement, we¡¯ll eventually solve the cases. Hey, I¡¯ll arrange for you to speak before meter; after that, I¡¯m in a rush to get back." "Alright." Su Shanming truly was the least hurried one, as his duty was to lead the team following Jiang Yuan. His task wouldn¡¯t be consideredplete until Jiang Yuan¡¯s tasks were finished. Unlike Ling Han and others who were anxious to get back to their own matters. Soon, Liu Jinghui arrived, apologizing repeatedly upon seeing so many people gathered, and distributing a box of Zhonghua cigarettes he had saved earlier, then he began a discussion session with everyone. The case from ten years ago, while fresh in the memory of some, might have been almost forgotten by others. Everybody¡¯s joys and sorrows differ, and the detectives are no exception. Most retained a fairly clear impression of case 430, but to conclude based on that information alone was too much of a stretch. Liu Jinghui could only listen and take notes, not dismissing everyone until the evening. "How did it go?" Huang Qiangmin and Lang Heng asked expectantly. "Too little information, we can¡¯t derive any effective conclusions for now," Liu Jinghui shrugged and said, "The current information has essentially been investigated by the task force already, reopening the investigation now might not make much sense." Liu Jinghui turned to Huang Qiangmin, saying, "This case involves many individuals, if we are to restart the investigation, we need to focus on these involved parties." "Indeed, we have investigated all conceivable angles before... what approach do you have in mind regarding the involved parties?" Lang Heng wasn¡¯t worried about Liu Jinghui making demands, he was more worried about him having no ideas at all. "The top priority naturally concerns the surviving boy. He¡¯s 18 now; has he recalled any additional information?" Liu Jinghui asked. "He definitely has been activelymunicating with us, but his memories of that year have be quite inurate now," Su Shanming, who had stayed behind, joined the discussion actively. Liu Jinghui: "What do you mean?" Su Shanming looked toward Lang Heng. Director Lang waved his hand, "There¡¯s nothing we can¡¯t talk about; we didn¡¯t teach him to do this." Su Shanming then said, "To be honest, there¡¯s nothing novel about it. The surviving boy has been in frequent contact with us over the years, we¡¯ve taken some statements, he himself has done plenty of investigation and even discussed the case on specialized forums... So, it¡¯s evident from his statements that over the years he¡¯s starting to fabricate more and more information." At this point, Jiang Yuan also came over and expressed his surprise, "How can we be sure that it¡¯s fabricated information?" "There are plenty of reasons. His statements in recent years have been contradictory, and there are some that obviously do not match the facts as we understand them. Moreover, from his phone, we saw some chat and browsing records indicating that some of his statements were information processed from forums. The stories were not well crafted." Su Shanming looked at Lang Heng again and continued: "We brought in a psychologist for him, and well, given his circumstances, it is a normal phenomenon." After Su Shanming finished speaking, Lang Heng added, "Although hister testimony was fabricated, we fundamentally ept his statements made after the incident, and the facts of the case have not changed." Liu Jinghui paused, and then smiled, "If that¡¯s the case, then the problem is somewhat simplified." "How so?" Everyone looked over. "The credibility of the survivor¡¯s testimony has greatly decreased, so we¡¯ll temporarily disregard that aspect," Liu Jinghui¡¯s finger randomly traced two lines on the table, then continued: "Let¡¯s focus on the factual aspects." Everyone disyed a serious attitude, listening intently. Liu Jinghui sketched a ¡¯one¡¯ with tea on the table, "First, the two victims were, one an adult female and the other her 14-year-old daughter, both of whom had some ability to resist. The question is, by what means did the murderer manage to kill them together in one room without leaving much trace of resistance." Liu Jinghui: "Typically, such situations involve threats. Using weapons as threats or coercion ismon. Secondly, beating and attacking. Thirdly, organized by a group. Fourthly,cking conditions and routes for escape..." Liu Jinghui outlined it roughly, then said: "Both victims were strangled to death. Although this does not allow us to infer whether the murderer was armed, the murderer must have had a physical advantage. Otherwise, it would be quite challenging to strangle two females separately. Was it done by the same person?" Thest sentence, Liu Jinghui asked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded: "It is highly likely it was the same person." People leave traces when they die; although some traces may not lead straight to the murderer, they can confirm consistency among traces. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "So, from various angles, the murderer at least has a definitive advantage in physical strength." Everyone nodded, finding this conclusion rather persuasive. "Secondly, there¡¯s a point I think we can discuss." Liu Jinghui drew a ¡¯two¡¯ with tea on the table, "The two victims were above average in appearance. Given he had full control and absolute physical advantage, why did the murderer notmit rape? Or even any lecherous behavior?" A few people raised their eyelids. Since the victims were dead, it¡¯s highly probable that if the murderer had engaged in any lecherous behavior, it would have left traces. As for Liu Jinghui¡¯s logic, why having control automatically leads to certain actions... This topic, if discussed on public social media, would definitely meet severe bacsh, but from a criminal investigation perspective, does a burr who breaks into a house limit themselves to just theft? Thew imposes severe penalties on burry precisely because it can easily turn into robbery, rape, or murder. It¡¯s clear, those whomit burries are thieves, certainly not ¡¯honorable¡¯ thieves; fundamentally, they opt for opportunist entry. Seeing that a house is easy to break into, they enter. If it¡¯s possible to steal, they steal; if not, they rob; if desire ignites, they rape; and if resisted strongly, they kill. In prison, at least half of the conversations among various criminals revolve around sexual topics. "If the suspect is considered to be the father, then this point doesn¡¯t need discussion," Liu Jinghui paused briefly, then said: "But if we rule out the father as a suspect, we can¡¯t help but ask, what was the purpose of the murderers breaking into the house? They stole only a few possessions, had control over the mother and daughter, yet did notmit rape or possibly even lecherous acts, then killed them... Why? What was their motive?" This prompted deep contemtion among those present. Lang Heng couldn¡¯t help but nod, "That¡¯s a good question. If they were after money, they didn¡¯t get much, they could have easily fled. And about resistance, the mother hid her son, and there were no signs of fierce resistance at the scene... Could it purely be for murder? But..." He hissed, not continuing further. Su Shanming took over, "If it¡¯s a crime of passion, that brings us back to previous inquiries which we have already thoroughly investigated..." "The daughter was also 14 years old. Have we investigated her surroundings?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s finger traced another line. Chapter 1018 - 954 This is Reasoning

Chapter 1018: Chapter 954 This is Reasoning

Smack! Su Shanming lit a cigarette when there was no second-hand smoke around. He had been a part of the special case team since ten years ago. Although the detectives present might not be able to crack the case, by looking at his colleagues¡¯ demeanor, he knew exactly which side was taking the pressure for the day. Smack. Lang Heng also lit a cigarette, using the Zhonghua brand that Liu Jinghui had saved and left on the table. Smack smack! In conference room 4303, smoke once again dominated the space, forcing the air venttion fan to buzz loudly, and causing the dry grass outside to sway incessantly. Ordinary nts could not withstand the ravages of nicotine and had long since perished. Su Shanming took another sip of tea before saying, "The lead involving the daughter, I was the one who investigated it initially." This was a standard procedure, as ten years ago there was already a mandate that all homicide cases must be solved, with even higher demands than now, and the police resources, especially the human resources, were extremely adequate. With two people dead, someone would definitely follow up on the rtionships of the other person involved. Su Shanming took a couple more puffs before continuing, "The young girl was studying in our city¡¯s No. 3 Middle School, probably in her second year at the time. I first questioned her teachers, then some ssmates, andter our colleagues helped inquire with her father. The specific details, how they were exined back then, I can¡¯t remember clearly now, but in today¡¯s terms, the young girl indeed had some ambiguous rtionships." "It¡¯s normal for an eighth grader to have one or two secret admirers," Huang Qiangmin added to ease the mood. Mu Zhiyang, seeing the politicalmissar join the fray, quickly chimed in, "During my middle school days, I was secretly in love with all the girls in my ss." "Uh... The girl¡¯s ambiguous friend, wasn¡¯t really that romantic, just some private phone calls and mutual fondness, I guess. He was a ssmate from the next ss over, quite tall for a middle schooler, skinny andnky, about 175 cm tall in second year, had learned dancing, and was pretty articte. His parents were high-ranking intellectuals," reported Su Shanming simply. He added, "I investigated this ssmate carefully back then and personally felt that he didn¡¯t have the capability, nor was it necessary for him tomit such a heinous crime. "Did he have the ability to strangle an adult woman like Sui Yingxue?" Jiang Yuan asked this because Sui Yingxue took care of two children, was quite active daily, slightly stout, weighing over 110 pounds. Although she couldn¡¯tpete with male strength, against teenagers, she still had some ability to resist. Su Shanming recalled for a moment, shaking his head and said, "That boy was very thin, even if he could strangle an adult woman, it wouldn¡¯t be through overpowering." "That would require at least two people then," Jiang Yuan turned to look at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Teenagers don¡¯t have enough deterrent power. Even with a knife, to control Sui Yingxue and her daughter, brute force would still be necessary. Simply brandishing a knife and making a few threats wouldn¡¯t make themply." Su Shanming took another drag of his cigarette and said, "I had looked into this ambiguous rtionship of the young girl and made a note in the investigation files back then, and didn¡¯t write anymore after. Being conservative at the time, I thought..." "Since it was a lead that was ruled out, mentioning it briefly was enough," Lang Heng waved his hand grandly, not allowing Su Shanming to further exin. He turned to ask Liu Jinghui, "Should we continue investigating this lead? There¡¯s a problem here; if it involves the young girl¡¯s boyfriend, or secret admirer, or pursuer, would it escte to murder? At least it¡¯s not very likely that it would quietly escte to murder. Furthermore, if it was a problem rted to the girl¡¯s personal connections, the mother would either not hide the boy, or would hide both, right?" "That¡¯s indeed one of the considerations," Liu Jinghui said, furrowing his brow but his lips couldn¡¯t help curving into a slight smile. This case, indeed required real deductive reasoning! Two murderers, multiple investigative directions, each showing promise, yet seeming like dead ends... precisely the type of case that needed to be carefully analyzed with logic. "I think it¡¯s necessary to reconfirm the situation with the young girl here," Liu Jinghui said, restraining his expression, and continued: "Of course, I¡¯m not saying there are major doubts about this direction, but I believe that the investigation in this direction was not sufficient back then. Naturally, this was also limited by the circumstances at the time. The world of adolescents is different from that of adults, and even during police interrogations, some teenagers might not fully disclose information for various reasons..." After emphasizing this, Liu Jinghui added, "Now that 10 years have passed, those who were 14 at that time are 24 this year. I think this is actually a good opportunity. The issues that seemed insurmountably difficult in middle school, even those that were embarrassing or frightening, might no longer pose a problem today. Perhaps by asking them again, we might gain something?" This time, Su Shanming couldn¡¯t help but nod: "Indeed, issues that may have been difficult to speak of at the time can probably be discussed now. I¡¯ll continue to follow up on this." Liu Jinghui looked toward Lang Heng. He was still acting as an expert from the provincial office, and there was no need for him to direct the personnel in Chang Le City. Lang Heng nodded and said, "Okay, Shanming, you continue to follow up." Reasoning must also be based on evidence, and the continued push for progress in investigation direction by Liu Jinghui also requires the assistance of other detectives. After discussing this leads, Liu Jinghui felt slightly invigorated, and organizing his thoughts, he said, "From a human perspective, the victim¡¯s husband, previously the prime suspect, has had hiswork reviewed by you all." "Of course," Lang Heng nodded lightly. "However, you probably had limited trust in this suspect¡¯s statements back then. I think it¡¯s necessary to take out his statements again and investigate them deeply," Liu Jinghui proposed another major direction, implying that about 20 police officers will need to work extensive shifts over about a week. "Sure," Lang Heng immediately agreed. "Captain Jiang, what about you?" Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan. "I don¡¯t have aplete n right now," Jiang Yuan replied, then ncing at Liu Jinghui, he suggested, "If we¡¯re to speak, I rmend focusing on trace evidence. Maybe do more of it, collect more samples." "Do... how many?" Lang Heng gritted his teeth. "Let¡¯s execute the analysis on all the collected evidence, and I¡¯ll mark some additional items to collect samples from more pointster," Jiang Yuan responded. Without a clear strategy, widening the is often the approach, which was actually Jiang Yuan¡¯s tactic. He had handled countless cases,rge and small, from provincial to local levels, and many significant cases had been solved by employing such relentless methods. Jiang Yuan followed this example, quickly shifting from having no strategy to deploying one. Compared to DNA, which targets gic material from human bodies, trace evidence deals with non-human substances, but its effectiveness and sensitivity can match that of DNA. "Do all of them over again? The cost of doing a single trace evidence analysis nowadays is at least 500 yuan. With the number of pieces of evidence left from case 430, wouldn¡¯t that cost tens of thousands?" "Let¡¯s start with the marked ones first, and then gradually expand," Jiang Yuan suggested reasonably. Analyzing trace evidence was inherently slow and needed to be done in batches. "I¡¯ll try to process more," assured Lang Heng, who guessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts and just pretended not to know. Though he was the one footing the bill, he had to admit that the approaches suggested by Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan were both very practical. Whether it was Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning or Jiang Yuan¡¯s trace evidence n, both of these proposals had broken the constraints of the previous two special investigation teams, undeniably pointing towards the most promising investigative directions. Chapter 1019 - 955: Dawn

Chapter 1019: Chapter 955: Dawn

In the following days, they were spent boringly in the investigation of the case. Each team conducted their investigations ording to the established goals, Liu Jinghui redid the timetables for several key individuals, and Jiang Yuan started receiving more and more trace evidence reports, which he found verypelling. Using trace evidence in investigation is a rather luxurious matter, as the general criminal investigation teams only resort to it in major cases on key pieces of evidence. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t afford the 500 yuan, but rather that DNA has a better cost-performance ratio. Unlike DNA evidence, even if conclusions about trace evidence are drawn, they can only indicate that certain substances were present at a certain ce and time; there¡¯s still a considerable distance to go before solving the case. By contrast, if someone¡¯s DNA is found at the crime scene, there must be an exnation. "How¡¯s it going?" Liu Jinghui, having tired from writing and drawing, sat down next to Jiang Yuan and casually grabbed a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes off his desk. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan chuckled, turned around to get a cigar humidor, opened it, handed one to Liu Jinghui, took one himself, and began to cut it as he spoke: "The results from the trace evidence analysis havee out inrge numbers, but specifically speaking, further analysis may still be needed." "Cigars, huh... This will take about an hour to smoke." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t continue the previous topic; instead, he focused on cutting his cigar, contemting. "About that. It¡¯s a good time to rest and refresh our minds," Jiang Yuandao replied. "I don¡¯t even know how to smoke; it¡¯s a waste." "Same here. It was bought by my old man; I just keep it for fun, it¡¯s not a waste. They¡¯re just agricultural products from Cuba, and initially, they were gifted by cattle traders when my dad was purchasing cattle," Jiang Yuan said casually as he lit his cigar. The smoke from a cigar is ten times that of a cigarette, and requires constant puffing. When smoked indoors, even if the venttion fan is working at full capacity, it doesn¡¯t take long to shroud a conference room in a misty, ethereal haze. After smoking for a while, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui created the equivalent of a smoke-filled discussion involving 20 detectives. At this moment, the two men looked at each other in the meeting room and suddenly felt the urge to discuss. Generally speaking, when a meeting goes on for this long, it¡¯s like being slightly tipsy from drinking; you can start talking about business. Otherwise, continuing would be bad for everyone¡¯s health. "Want me to help you analyze it?" Liu Jinghui took a puff of his cigar, let the smoke swirl twice in his mouth, and then exhaled. His im of not knowing how to smoke cigars was obviously just a casual remark; an expert from the provincial department would be expected to know how to smoke in order to help the tobo departmentbat crime. "Let¡¯s look at it together." Jiang Yuan pushed a box of reports in front of himself forward. A single trace analysis report consists of only two thin pieces of paper, but hundreds of such reports stacked up amount to quite a lot, resembling a pile of homework gathered by underachieving students. You know most of it is useless, but you still have to force yourself to read through, spending time to find potentially useful information within a mountain of irrelevant content. "Did you take samples from many points on the windows and door locks?" Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t understand the scientific implications of "reading" an analysis report, but he had his own way of reading, which was reading Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan took a sip of tea and with a grunt, said: "The indoor environment isplicated, and all we have are leftover evidence, mainly involving clothes, bed sheets, and such items, so I didn¡¯t see anything with the samples I took. As for the windows and door locks... The murderer must have had a way to enter, right?" "What if the suspect entered by opening the door, or was tricked into opening it?" Liu Jinghui suggested. "If tricked into opening the door, the son wouldn¡¯t have been hidden." Jiang Yuan had naturally considered this as well. "That¡¯s a good point," Liu Jinghui chuckled, then became serious, "But what if the daughter was the one who opened the door and then had a conflict with the person who entered, leading the mother to hide the son before going out to help her daughter, resulting in both of them being forced into the bedroom and killed? Wouldn¡¯t such a hypothesis better exin why the son was hidden and not the daughter?" The smoke in the meeting room grew thicker. Liu Jinghui had had such suspicions, which is why he asked to re-investigate the daughter¡¯s social connections;cking any conclusions, he had not pulled this investigative thread again. Now that Jiang Yuan mentioned it, Liu Jinghui naturally wanted to add this possibility to the mix. Jiang Yuan listened and slowly nodded, considering the spection viable. "Of course. There are many reasons why the son might have been hidden but not the daughter," Liu Jinghui added, "It might also be because the daughter is too big. There are only two ces in the bedroom where one could hide, in the wardrobe or under the bed. An 8-year-old boy could be concealed in the wardrobe with clothes piled on top, but the daughter, given her height and build, could only hide under the bed, which doesn¡¯t have much cover. Hence, it could be that the daughter was hidden but discovered and pulled out." Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning was clear and directional, causing Jiang Yuan to nod in agreement; it was indeed a possibility. "I get quite excited when discussing these things," Liu Jinghui realized he¡¯d steered off-topic andughed, turning his head, "You mentioned the method of entry earlier, which immediately made me think of the elements of a locked-room murder mystery. Hmm, what did you find on the door lock and windows?" "Nickel, copper, chromium, carbon, iron..." Jiang Yuan presented the conclusions of trace evidence collected from several points on the door lock to Liu Jinghui. "What does that imply?" "How to put it," Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then said, "From the perspective of trace evidence, this conclusion actually cannot provide a decisive result. But from the perspective of investigative analysis... although the presence of these metal elements ismon, the fact that so many were found on the first attempt..." Chapter 1020 - 955 Dawn_2

Chapter 1020: Chapter 955 Dawn_2

Jiang Yuan simply pulled over a whiteboard and drew the shape of a keyhole on it, then marked a few dots and said: "We disassembled the lock because, in my opinion, there were too many scratches inside the keyhole, exceeding the level of a normal lock. Of course, this judgment is based on experience... Next, we took a wide range of samples, and then we could see that the presence of various metal elements inside the lock was beyond the normal range." If a young technician had said this, it would definitely be hard to convince others, but when Jiang Yuan said it, Liu Jinghui immediately followed his line of thought. "Let me get this straight... The metal elements you mentioned, are they brought in by the key, not originally part of the lock?" Liu Jinghui quickly grasped the important point. Jiang Yuan nodded: "Elements like chromium and nickel are at least not part of the lock itself. But, there are also no typical traces of technical lock picking inside this lock. So, it can be understood that they were brought in by the key." "But beyond the normal range? Exceeding what should be the normal range?" "Exceeding the range of the keys for that lock." Jiang Yuan said, then suddenly pped his forehead: "Is it a newly made key? But that¡¯s not right, a newly made key wouldn¡¯t leave so many traces..." "Wait, let me think this through!" Liu Jinghui was very interested in any new clues and thought aloud: "Could it be that the newly made key was actually bigger than the original key, so it probed deeper, and the traces it left were also deeper?" "Hmm... It¡¯s not entirely like that, but there¡¯s another point: a newly made key is also rougher, and even though the person cutting the key would polish it, if there are many fine grooves and ridges, they can¡¯t bepletely smoothed out with careful polishing, so it takes a few tries before it fits better..." "So someone used a newly made key to open this door?" Liu Jinghui smacked his thigh, feeling like he suddenly understood. Jiang Yuan had to dampen his enthusiasm, saying: "It¡¯s not that simple. If it was just to open the door once, it shouldn¡¯t have left so many extensive traces. If it¡¯s a newly made key, it might have to be inserted dozens of times, even up to twenty times, to leave so many fine traces, especially the protruding ones, so it feels like a new kind of lock picking tool..." Jiang Yuan stopped here. Liu Jinghui urged him: "A new lock picking tool? Doesn¡¯t that make the target more clear?" "Yes, I¡¯ve been researching this for the past few days. If there is a new lock picking tool, I think the murderer would not be able to resist using it. It¡¯s unlikely they would use it just once and then abandon it." Jiang Yuan said, looking at Liu Jinghui, decided to speak more precisely: "Of course, we can¡¯t rule out that the murderer is just this cautious, but if that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s going to be difficult to find the murderer through the lock picking tool..." "Have there been any new lock picking tools on the market in recent years?" Liu Jinghui suddenly asked. "Lock technology has been developing slowly... Well, we can follow this line of thought and check. The murderer might not dare to sell or continue using an old lock picking tool, but might rely on this for a living, specializing in this area, or perhaps starting apany?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very certain. This condition sounded simple but was actually very broad. In theory, anyone rted to the lock industry, the lock picking business, safe businesses, and the emerging electronic lock industry, could be included. This list would either be toorge or risk omitting someone and belonged to the kind that even Xu Taining couldn¡¯t narrow down through investigation. Liu Jinghui puffed on his cigar, constantly exhaling thick smoke. He was even more aware of the impracticality of Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach. Perhaps they could work backward, first establish a list of suspects, and then see if they have any work direction rted to locks, or suspicions and reputations rted to theft and breaking and entering... In fact, even without Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning, if a suspect had experience in this area, they would already be specially marked. And to investigate proactively, linking the murderer to the lock and then looking for the murderer, is also difficult. Because making locks, or to say developing a new kind of lock, isn¡¯t really a profitable trade, and being a burr obviously isn¡¯t a lifelong career worth clinging to. In theory, if the murderer really had talent in this area, having made a special new type of lock picking tool that even Jiang Yuan was unsure of 10 years ago, then 10 yearster, they might have already made a name for themselves in machinery or some other field and wouldn¡¯t need to showcase their talent in this area. If the murderer was a contemporary of his daughter from 10 years ago, calcting the time, the murderer would now be just graduating with a bachelor¡¯s degree, perhaps even going to a good school for a master¡¯s degree, and possibly studying an entirely different major thanks to their smart head. This might be the real truth... Thinking this, Liu Jinghui vigorously shook his head, put down the cigar, and said: "We can¡¯t consider this direction." "Huh?" Jiang Yuan was puzzled. Liu Jinghui: "What I mean is, didn¡¯t we just talk about the newly made key? Compared to inventing an entirely new lock picking tool that you don¡¯t even know about, isn¡¯t the act of making a new key more usible? am¡¯s razor: if there is a simple exnation avable, there is no need to resort to aplicated one." "A newly made key cannot exin therge amount of fine scratches." Jiang Yuan had also been considering this idea for several days now. Chapter 1021 - 955: Dawn_3

Chapter 1021: Chapter 955: Dawn_3

"Indeed," Liu Jinghui picked up his cigar again and puffed away for a while: "Actually, no matter which conjecture it is, if the door lock is believed to be opened in an abnormal manner, then it can be interpreted as the work of someone who is not an acquaintance. This could also exin why the surviving little boy said there were two culprits, it¡¯s quitemon for burry or robbery involving a break-in to bemitted by multiple people... umm..." Listening attentively, Jiang Yuan turned to Liu Jinghui: "Did you think of something?" "Thieves working in groups tomit burries or robberies may not necessarily be an organized gang, but they are usually experienced. Especially those with the skill to pick locks technically, it is improbable for them to just do one job and then give it up. Even if they¡¯ve killed someone, could they possibly be using a new invention for the crime for the first time and then just abandon it? Thieves don¡¯t have that kind of self-control," Liu Jinghui shook his head. Being a thief is an addictive upation, once manymit to it, they hardly ever give it up, they are like evergreens in the criminal ecosystem. As Liu Jinghui pondered, he gave an apologetic smile to Jiang Yuan and said, "I think we might put aside the idea of technical lock-picking for now." "Alright," Jiang Yuan agreed readily. "Speaking of which, I¡¯ve got an idea," Liu Jinghui pulled over a whiteboard and said, "If the murderer had duplicates of the key made... I know, you just mentioned that a new key would not have produced so many scratches, but is it possible that the murderer attempted multiple times with different keys... no, he must¡¯ve made multiple attempts, trying once, if it didn¡¯t open, either try again or duplicate another key, then test it?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes lit up: "Let me have a look." With that, Jiang Yuan immediately went to retrieve the disassembled lock and started examining the lock cylinder under a magnifying ss. The magnification of the magnifying ss wasn¡¯t high, which caused Jiang Yuan to frown and shout, "Open the windows, all of them; let¡¯s clear out the smoke." The heavy smoke from the cigar was, at least in Jiang Yuan¡¯s perception, affecting the observation. The windows of the conference room had already been wide open, and the exhaust fans were working as hard as they could. Liu Jinghui had someonee in with a fan or some useless papers to vigorously fan away the smoke and threw the two cigars out the door. After the smoke cleared, Jiang Yuan also looked up: "Very likely, very likely! That¡¯s a good hypothesis." "Can this all be confirmed?" Liu Jinghui had wondered but hadn¡¯t thought it could be technically proven. He usually relied on bringing people in for interrogation. Jiang Yuan nodded energetically: "The scratches inside the lock, they show a pattern of abrasion, polishing; abrasion, polishing, then again abrasion and polishing in a repeated cycle, which is why they look so peculiar. If someone was using a newly duplicated key to open the lock, no matter if they managed to open it or not, it would cause significant abrasions inside, but the continuous process of attempting to unlock it would partly polish these abrasions..." Jiang Yuan: "The sizes of the keys the murderer tried to duplicate were likely inconsistent, some might be a bit longer orrger than the original key, which would create deeper scratches. The traces inside the lock cylinder do not match the traces of a newly duplicated key opening the lock just once, and they aren¡¯t quite consistent with being opened a few times either, but they do fit with someone attempting to open it multiple times, irregrly. This is somewhat simr to a forensic doctor¡¯s probing wounds, indicating the criminal attempted multiple trial runs beforemitting the crime. This probing attempt could havested from one to two months, maybe even three months." Liu Jinghui became excited: "If that¡¯s the case, then the culprit might not be aplete stranger. The victim¡¯s family didn¡¯t have much money and no valuable goods were missing. If the culprit was a stranger, there¡¯d be no need to fixate on their house. This suggests the culprit probably had some way of essing the victim¡¯s keys, then made a duplicate and kept trying?" "Very likely," Jiang Yuan took another look through the magnifying ss, nodding non-stop: "First, a key was made, which failed to open the lock, so he took it back for filing, then came back to try again, and when that didn¡¯t work, returned for more filing, this would also exin the changing size of the key, the file made the key slightly smaller, reducing the roughness, but the length remained essentially the same!" "Someone who knows the family... or maybe not too well-known, but had ess to their keys," Liu Jinghui nodded incessantly: "I¡¯ll make a list!" Chapter 1022 - 956: The List

Chapter 1022: Chapter 956: The List

"There is new information to report regarding the case." When Liu Jinghui reappeared in the conference room, his hair was disheveled, he carried the sour stench of not having bathed for a long time mixed with the fresh scent of instant noodles, and his face was greasy. In short, he looked just like any average detective from a special case unit. Jiang Yuan, Huang Qiangmin, Lang Heng, Su Shanming, and others sat together at the other end of the conference table, waiting to hear what Liu Jinghui had to say. Others were either sitting or standing, with some even straddling chairs to watch, the epitome of a ssic case analysis meeting. Many detectives who had been dispatched for investigation were pulled back to the task force. This could be seen as gathering forces to strike or sacrificing many early investigative results to prepare for a bigger goal. No matter which it was, it represented the task force¡¯s emphasis and a course correction in the investigation. Many members of the task force had something to say about this¡ªmost detectives were more familiar with and ustomed to conventional investigative methods, especially those who joinedter from previous task forces. They had limited familiarity with Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui and were deeply concerned about the 430 case. Managing to restrain their emotions from immediately expressing opposition was a testament to the political savvy developed from years of experience. Liu Jinghui began to slowly describe thetest progress in the case, supplemented by his own ideas and Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical analysis. The extra day allowed Liu Jinghui to thoroughly organize his thoughts, and conducting a case analysis for local police teams was his true expertise. After giving a clear and simple exnation and going over it in detail, the expressions and attitudes of the task force members hadpletely changed. Liu Jinghui was very familiar with such expressions on their faces. Seeing that no one had yet stood up to pick at his findings, Liu Jinghui then revealed his trump card, going into detail about Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis of the locks and lock cylinders. "Is this considered evidence?" Su Shanming, hearing such an analysis for the first time, was just as surprised as Liu Jinghui had been earlier. Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and smiled, saying, "Captain Jiang, would you please exin." Jiang Yuan then gave a brief overview of the trace analysis of the lock cylinder and added, "This is a judgment I¡¯ve made regarding the trace identification. We can prepare a trace identification reportter." Jiang Yuan knew what police officers liked the most. "Good judgment! These traces have been covered and new ones have been added, which we will likely encounter in the future!" Su Shanming praised enthusiastically. Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and said, "This is a trace identification report that only Captain Jiang is adept at producing. If you have simr physical evidence, you need to go to Captain Jiang for the report." A veteran officer listening on the side frowned and asked, "Is this a rather special situation?" The implication was questioning whether Jiang Yuan was fabricating or nting the evidence. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "I will write a paper about it and publish it in a journalter, and I will attach the identification report as well. This time, the identification of the lock cylinder is a bit more challenging, but the rest is nothing special." This addressed the issue of the authenticity of the identification. As for the difficulty, Jiang Yuan thought it unnecessary to borate. But the detectives present could mostly understand. Discerning someone¡¯s hidden thoughts or ideas from what they say, their tone, voice, and stature is a basic skill for a detective. Huang Qiangmin let out a chuckle, slightly curling his lips, thinking to himself: For such tasks requiring high-end reports, there should also be a control line in ce. Constantly allowing others to benefit for free can make it difficult to gauge someone¡¯s value and isn¡¯t conducive to establishing correct values for others, nor is it beneficial for the overall development of society... Huang Qiangmin¡¯s thoughts wandered far off in an instant. At this point, Liu Jinghui had finished exining and began to address the substance: "This is the list I¡¯vepiled. The list is mainlyposed of several sections. The first section lists everyone who has ever had contact with the key, primarily based on the recollections of the victim¡¯s husband, Mai Zuqing, supplemented by the memories of the victim¡¯s rtives and such. The mainponents include the victim¡¯s family, several rtives from both parents¡¯ sides, a few of Mai Zuqing¡¯s colleagues, and their daughter¡¯s close girlfriends." "The second list is an expanded one, which includes those who are not certain to have had contact with the key, but whom we believe had the opportunity to do so. For instance, the daughter¡¯s ssmates might have left the key in the ssroom during physical education or other sses. Given the management style of the ss at the time, it can be assumed that all ssmates could possibly havee into contact with the key, and the same applies to some teachers. However, this would generally not apply to students from other sses. Also included on this list are some of Mai Zuqing¡¯s colleagues, some regrly visiting rtives, the beauty salons and barber shops that the victim Sui Yingxue frequented, and so on." "The third list includes individuals with past criminal records in the vicinity, including juvenile offenders who have been punished." "The fourth list includes those who have previously lived or worked nearby and have experience or training in key fitting. Although the key has been filed several times and does not appear too professional, we take into ount that this may be due to the source of the key copying, and on the other hand, key fitting might also require rtively professional equipment?" Liu Jinghui articted several directions for consideration in one breath, and the list he drew up was a long and dense string. The investigation conducted 10 years ago was fundamentally sound, and had recorded nearly everyone in the vicinity of the victim¡¯s residence. Still, the vast number of individuals on Liu Jinghui¡¯s list was beyond imagination¡ªof course, beyond the imagination of ordinary people. The detectives present were all calm. Being their third time opening case 430, the leadership would feel inadequate if they didn¡¯t review over ten thousand individuals. Although Liu Jinghui¡¯s list was quite long, to everyone present, it seemed within reasonable scope. "How should we investigate?" Lang Heng asked a critical question when Liu Jinghui paused for a drink of water, after speaking himself hoarse. With such a long list of individuals, it wouldn¡¯t be feasible to interrogate everyone. Even interrogation sessions couldn¡¯t be protracted without end; there would need to be some key points for detectives to grasp. Of course, if there really was no alternative, a time-consuming approach could be adopted: go down the list and make inquiries¡ªthat would be door-to-door visits, an effective method from older investigative practices. "In fact, we can make our list smaller," Liu Jinghui paused, then said, "Geographic factors are important. Think about it¡ªif the murderer tried unlocking the door multiple times and leisurely went back to file the key before trying again, this process would certainly be more convenient if they lived closer to the victim¡¯s home, right?" "This person must be a pervert," a detective shouted, "Probably aiming for a home invasion rape or molestation, but he¡¯s impotent or suffers from premature ejaction, messing it up in his pants." Liu Jinghui nodded: "That¡¯s a possibility, but think about it, can¡¯t a pervert find appropriate targets near his own home? Is he that picky?" "Was the victim his unrequited love?" "Then the rtionship between the murderer and the victim would be rtively close, and it is very likely strong ties," Liu Jinghui quietly objected, then said, "A typical pervertmits crimes in ces that are convenient, familiar, and where they feel safe, which is more logical. I rmend an investigation method that uses the victim¡¯s home as the center and expands outwards!" Chapter 1023 - 957: Visit

Chapter 1023: Chapter 957: Visit

"Slow down the car, don¡¯t drive so fast. We are here to handle a case, not to be one." Liu Wenkai sat in the passenger seat, chattering away, while the police officer driving responded with a nonchnt "hmm" twice, but the speed of the car didn¡¯t change at all. He knew that his squad leader was just being verbose and actually didn¡¯t care about the speed at all. If they were to switch seats now, Liu Wenkai would definitely drive faster. As the squad leader of the Ningtai County Second Squadron, Liu Wenkai was sent by Huang Qiangmin to visit Yue Province this time. years had passed, many of Sui Yingxue¡¯s neighbors had changed their residences, jobs, houses, etc. Some families¡¯ children had grown up and gone to study in other ces, or even moved away entirely. For the special investigation team, tracking these people was very costly, but it was precisely these cases that were more necessary to investigate, and only elite forces were dispatched. Squeak... The car stopped in front of a factory, Liu Wenkai got out, and after waiting for the local police to speak with the gatekeeper, he entered the factory area. "As expected of the Pearl River Delta, your factories here are quiterge." Liu Wenkai looked up at the surrounding buildings, all several stories high, and long factories stretching for hundreds of meters were everywhere, with onepound right next to another. The local police officer smiled and said, "This isn¡¯t even one of therger factories, it only employs a few thousand people." "Must be difficult to manage security. It¡¯s all migrant poption, mostly young people in their teens and twenties." Liu Wenkai casually pinpointed the local police officer¡¯s sore spot. In such arge factory area, not only is the management burden heavy, but the responsibilities of the local police are also significant. In some ces, they might be called out for a quarrel, but here they need an actual fight to happen before they can take a look. "Tell me about it, it¡¯s really rough on our side. If there¡¯s welfare, there¡¯s overtime; if there¡¯s supposed to be rest, there¡¯s overtime. Honestly, we open our eyes every day to disputes." The local police officerined sincerely, rarely having a proper vent like this during work, where these words can¡¯t be said to suspects or victims. Liu Wenkai knew all too well what police officers from the police stations thought, adeptly providing some psychologicalfort: "Like someone said, it¡¯s all urgent, difficult, and trivial matters. Your side is even moreplicated than ours, something serious always pops up unexpectedly." "Exactly!" The local police officer strongly agreed with a deep sigh. The group arrived at the factory dormitory and gradually stopped chatting. This factory ran two shifts. There were daytime workers heading to work, night shift workers resting, and some young people talking loudly, walking back and forth, ying music and TikTok out loud, somewhat resembling a college dormitory but more chaotic andplex. "This should be the one." The dormitory manager, a woman in her forties and about the age of the workers¡¯ mothers, had amanding presence, but she showed no fear of the police. The manager knocked forcefully on the door, then pushed it open, shouting, "Xiao Zhou, Da Zhou, someone is looking for you." There were a total of 6 bunk beds in the dormitory, amodating 12 people, but the room was rtively spacious and not fully upied. Overall, the living conditions seemed quite decent, except that the cleanliness was rather poor. "What¡¯s the matter?" A man jumped down. He appeared to be in his twenties or thirties, with short hair, a short-sleeved shirt, and shorts¡ªa typical look of an unkempt young man in the summer. "Zhou Jiantao?" The local police officerpared the man with a photo in his hand and said, "We are police from the development zone station. Some officers from out of town have questions for you... " After saying that, the local police officer stepped aside and let Liu Wenkai take the lead while continuing to survey the surroundings authoritatively. "What is it?" Zhou Jiantao asked calmly, looking at the several policemen who entered. Before Jiang Yuan arrived, Liu Wenkai¡¯s squad had always dealt with major violent crimes. ncing at Zhou Jiantao¡¯s eyes, he instinctively got a feeling and immediately switched to an aggressive tone: "Not afraid of the police? Ever been targeted before?" "No." Zhou Jiantao took a deep breath to calm himself again, saying, "We don¡¯t do wrong, so we naturally aren¡¯t afraid of the police." "There aren¡¯t many people with that realization." Liu Wenkai chuckled, then looked around again and asked, "You have a younger brother, right? Zhou Shetao, is he here?" Their middle names were Jian and She, which didn¡¯t follow traditional naming conventions and sounded a bit old-fashioned for their age. From Liu Wenkai¡¯s point of view, the brothers¡¯ family conditions must be quite poor, and this wasn¡¯t just about economic conditions, but also cultural and family atmosphere. Such family conditions were quite normal in the criminal market, even somewhat preferred. Liu Wenkai looked Zhou Jiantao up and down. Their home was only a hundred meters away from Sui Yingxue¡¯s home, and at the time of the incident, the brothers were 16 and 18 years old respectively... Seeing Zhou Jiantao¡¯s calm expression, Liu Wenkai suddenly had a feeling of anticipation, bing serious in his mind. For a criminal police officer, visiting and questioning are fundamental skills, and the suspect¡¯s reaction is a crucial part of the process. ording to police experience, it isn¡¯t necessarily the calm andposed suspects who are least suspicious; on the contrary, the appropriate reactions are usually less suspicious. As for what kind of reaction is appropriate, it¡¯s not theoretical but determined by the detectives¡¯ experience. There isn¡¯t much logic to exin here; it¡¯s simr to antiques, relying on experiential approaches. Different types of interviewees might have different reactions. Many believe that facing the police without submissiveness or arrogance can clear them of suspicion. If looking from an actor¡¯s perspective, such simplicity wouldn¡¯t suffice; at the very least, you should find several people with simr identities, see how they react, and then learn from them. "Zhou Shetao?" Another police officer called out loudly. "Oh." A young man¡¯s head popped out from the top bunk¡¯s nkets. "Come down." The local police officer motioned sternly with his hand. Zhou Shetao nced at his elder brother, then climbed down from the bed slowly, standing behind his brother. "One person per room." Liu Wenkai¡¯s rm bells rang, and he immediately reacted. Zhou Shetao obviously seemed a bit nervous, looking instinctively at his elder brother. Da Zhou still had a calm gaze, asking, "What do you want to ask?" Liu Wenkai did not reply, instead, he first had the two brothers taken to separate rooms, hesitated for a moment, then chose the room Xiao Zhou went into. He just needed to break through one of them, and from the brothers¡¯ behavior, Zhou Shetao was obviously more nervous. Chapter 1024 - 958 Wilted Seed

Chapter 1024: Chapter 958 Wilted Seed

Xiao Zhou is 26 this year, practically a young middle-aged man. He works in a factory, doesn¡¯t earn much, has little time to spare, and is a true blue-cor worker¡ªalmost what you¡¯d call a poor member of the middle ss. With such a background, Liu Wenkai is all too familiar¡ªpeople who like tomit a certain type of crime almost always share a simr background. It¡¯s not that people of other backgrounds don¡¯tmit such crimes, but proportionally speaking, there¡¯s always a demographic that is in the majority. To describe this phenomenon with a fancy term, you could call it "big data demographic profiling," or even "FBI-style criminal profiling." Like robbers, who are typically strong and in need of money. There are exceptions, of course, but to Wen Kai, a detective like him wouldn¡¯t be surprised by a suspect who fits this profile¡ªit¡¯s all routine. If, on the other hand, a suspect with a physical disability,cking self-confidence in their own strength and not short on cash appears, that would be a topic of conversation for the next five years. After only a few words with Zhou Shetao, Wen Kai was fairly certain that this was a suspect with an introverted personality. Put in trendy terms, you could call him an I-person; in old-fashioned terms, ayabout. Compared to outgoing boys, introverted men like Zhou Shetao are more likely to fall into sexual frustration during their adolescence, especially if they¡¯re not particrly handsome, don¡¯t have much money, don¡¯t excel in studies, aren¡¯t thoroughly bad,ck friends, aren¡¯t good at sports,ck courage, and feel oppressed by their environment. "You should know why we came to find you today, right?" Liu Wenkai began to ramp up the pressure after determining Zhou Shetao¡¯s personality. The heart of an I-person is sensitive and fragile. If it¡¯s a friend, they should be treated with tender care, but if it¡¯s an enemy, you just need to use the sharpest words and bodynguage to break them. There¡¯s no ce for pity or chivalry here; interrogation often involves exerting pressure, and because police have experience and criminals don¡¯t, many break under moderate pressure. Some criminals, after spending several years in prison, might never recover; others tremble at the sight of someone in uniform, and even after release, they still avoid police and any public officials. Liu Wenkai was eager for results. He had to visit hundreds of people throughout Yue Province, and although Xiao Zhou had a strong suspicion about him, to Wen Kai, it was merely a hunch at this point¡ªlike feeling something about an antique porcin before seeing the base and bottom, you can¡¯t go all-in without checking it thoroughly first. Zhou Shetao frowned deeply: "You came to me, how should I know?" Liu Wenkai spoke harshly: "Be serious. You don¡¯t know? What are you pretending for?" Zhou Shetao: "Where would I know that from." Liu Wenkai: "Let me tell you, Zhou Shetao, we didn¡¯t drive for tens of hours just because we have nothing better to do. We won¡¯t just return because you im ignorance. Let¡¯s be clear, whether you confess or not today, you¡¯re going with us back to Shannan Province. If you¡¯re not confessing here, you¡¯ll do it in the interrogation room at the Chang Le City Bureau." Zhou Shetao startled: "Why should I, I won¡¯t go back!" "You don¡¯t have a choice!" Liu Wenkai intended to make Zhou Shetao ufortable. Anyone would instinctively feel bad at the thought of being escorted over a long distance. Zhou Shetao suddenly stood up with a swoosh. The two detectives beside him grabbed him and pushed him back into the chair. Seizing the chance, Liu Wenkai snapped: "Trying to escape? Cuff him to the chair." The detectives immediatelyplied, cuffing Zhou Shetao¡¯s hands behind him onto the chair, making his posture moreplicated and suggesting that the situation had also be moreplex. Introverts, when facing theplex world outside, sometimes just want to hastily surrender just to get it over with. There are times when they would agree to anything as long as it could bring some peace to their immediate world, even knowing they would be at a loss. As the detectives held Zhou Shetao, Liu Wenkai asked, "Remember anything now?" "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. At least tell me why I¡¯m being arrested," Zhou Shetao struggled a bit before giving up, but his expression showed he was enduring. But to Liu Wenkai, his bodynguage and expressions did not match. Zhou Shetao seemed too adept, not only failing to show guilt which is normal, but also fearlessly facing the escting pressure from the detectives which is not characteristic of an ordinary introvert. At this moment, neither Liu Wenkai nor the detectives beside him showed any pleasant expressions. On the contrary, Liu Wenkai was deliberately cultivating the image of a bad, even corrupt, cop. To the average person, the intimidation of such a cop is maxed out. It¡¯s not just ordinary people; even those regrly involved in sex work, upon seeing Liu Wenkai¡¯s current expressions and actions, would start questioning themselves, and most times would prefer to admit to the offense of prostitution and ept the administrative penalty. If Zhou Shetao was normal, he should start talking now, at least show some sign of yielding. Defiant resistance, especially the resolute, unafraid kind, to Liu Wenkai suggests the behavior of someone with a major case in the background. Considering Zhou Shetao¡¯s personality and experiences, Liu Wenkai suspected he might have been trained. Chapter 1025 - 958: Wilted Plant_2

Chapter 1025: Chapter 958: Wilted nt_2

Just like Da Zhou, Zhou Jiantao, his expression must have been honed through training. Liu Wenkai chuckled and sat down boldly opposite Zhou Shetao, smiling and said, "Alright, if you say you haven¡¯t done anything wrong, then just honestly answer a few questions. If we verify there¡¯s no issue, we will let you go. How about it?" This slightly rxed the tension, because Zhou Shetao¡¯s level of stress under pressure was already maxed out. On the other hand, Liu Wenkai¡¯s patience was replenished. The current situation wasn¡¯t just about the appearance of the vase anymore; the bottom and the markings also seemed authentic. Although it was just seemingly authentic and needed meticulous research, Liu Wenkai was already willing to talk things through with Zhou Shetao in detail. Of course, at this time it couldn¡¯t be said that they were the murderers in the 430 case. They might be on the run for some other case, but to say the two men were innocent, Liu Wenkai thought it was almost impossible. In other words, this pair of antique vases had been confirmed to be old, but exactly from which era would still require careful judgment. Liu Wenkai looked at Zhou Shetao and said slowly, "Xiao Zhou, right? How long has it been since youst went home?" Zhou Shetao, who was prepared for all sorts of questions, was taken aback by this unexpected one. After some thought, he hesitated and said, "Quite... quite a few years now." "You don¡¯t even remember how long since you¡¯ve been home? When was thest time you went home, you don¡¯t know?" Liu Wenkai¡¯s gaze sharpened, what was supposed to be a blind shot ended up hitting the bullseye. "No time to go back," Zhou Shetao looked down. "Asking you how long it¡¯s been since you went back, the year you left, don¡¯t you have any idea?" Liu Wenkai pressed: "Like this, how could it not arouse suspicion?" Thinking that buying tickets left records and going home had records too, that he couldn¡¯t hide it, Zhou Shetao could only say, "It¡¯s been about 10 years since we left. Didn¡¯t have the money to go back. If we didn¡¯t earn money, we didn¡¯t want to go back." As he spoke, a few tears fell from Zhou Shetao¡¯s eyes. The tears were real, so were the emotions, but the words might not be. Liu Wenkai scoffed disdainfully, "Your parents are still alive, and you two came out to work, not returning home for 10 years, don¡¯t you miss home? Didn¡¯t your parentse to see you?" "They came, they came to visit," Zhou Shetao said. "Oh, it must be more costly for them to travel to see you, after all, they can¡¯t stay in the factory dorms. Expenses like booking hotels..." "Theirpany can reimburse a bit." This part of the story had been discussed with his older brother Zhou Jiantao, and he said, "We¡¯re outside working, all saving money to buy a house. When they retire, we¡¯re going to sell the old house and move to Yue Province." Zhou Shetao¡¯s emotions gradually stabilized. His defense, which seemed strong to ordinary people, was not merely based on fantasy; they had also sought advice fromwyers in ces like live streams. But to Liu Wenkai, these were just stimuli that started to entice him. In the United States legal sector, there is a long-standing practice of courtroom simtions, with drills for both cross-examination and coaching witnesses for testimony. However, in China,wyers don¡¯t usually engage much in this, not because there¡¯s no money to be made, but because the value of simted dialogues or prepared testimonies is limited. Because the testimony in American courts, especially from witnesses, is intended for they jury. Whereas in Chinese courts, professionals y a decisive role. Common folks, even when well-prepared, are easily seen through by professional legal persons. After all, courtroom clerks have years of experience. Just like now, although Zhou Shetao¡¯s replies were calm and steady, in the eyes of Liu Wenkai, who had nearly two decades of experience as a criminal investigator, he was still a fledgling. Just a trained fledgling at that, even if trained for 10 years, could notpare to a real old hen. Liu Wenkai stared at Zhou Shetao for a good while until Zhou Shetao grew ufortable, then he smiled gently, "So, that means your parents are also in the know." With that, Liu Wenkai took out his cell phone and started pressing numbers. Zhou Shetao nked out, then said, "It has nothing to do with my parents." "We¡¯ll still need to bring them to the station for questioning. If they knew and didn¡¯t report it, then they would be used of harboring criminals. Three years¡¯ imprisonment, losing jobs, losing pensions." Liu Wenkai continued pressing on his cell phone. "It¡¯s unrted to them!" Zhou Shetao¡¯s facadepletely crumbled, his expression twisted. Liu Wenkai smiled without a word, picked up the phone: "Hello, this is Liu speaking..." "Ah..." In an instant, Zhou Shetao went mad, frantically trying to snatch Liu Wenkai¡¯s cell phone. But with both his hands cuffed, he couldn¡¯t move at all. Struggling only resulted in bloody wrists and falling to the ground with the chair. Zhou Shetao let out a deep, crazed roar, twisting his body like a madman, trying to make his opponent submit to him. The criminal police officer standing on his right didn¡¯t hesitate to pull out a stun gun, targeting Zhou Shetao¡¯s thigh for a shock. Zhou Shetao¡¯s body stiffened instantly. All that literary flourish is worthless in the face of criminal cases. In front of Zhou Shetao, Liu Wenkai continued with his phone in hand, "Check the parents of Zhou Jiantao and Zhou Shetao, they should be informants. Bring them in for a thorough interrogation." After putting down the phone, Liu Wenkai approached Zhou Shetao again, fanning the air with his hand and frowning, "Did you just wet yourself? No matter, it¡¯ll dry soon. What¡¯ll it be, you confess now, or wait for your parents to suffer through one round, maybe two, before confessing?" Zhou Shetao, having wet his pants, seemed to run out of tears, ring at Liu Wenkai with nothing but hatred in his eyes. "Whether you talk or not is up to you. I can wait until we get news from your parents¡¯ side to see how long they can endure," said Liu Wenkai calmly, looking at Zhou Shetao, "For this kind of case, we can detain people for at least 37 days. After 37 days, if you¡¯re still holding up, I can apply for an extension of the detention..." Liu Wenkai never mentioned the name of the case from beginning to end. But by now, Zhou Shetao couldn¡¯t care less about that; feeling the sting in his thigh, the chill of his urine, and the shame of lying on the floor, he just didn¡¯t want his parents to suffer like this anymore. "I¡¯ll talk, it was all me." Zhou Shetao now regretted not having the courage to end his life sooner. "What did you do?" Liu Wenkai asked. "I... I killed that mother and daughter." Zhou Shetao felt a sudden relief as he said this, as if he had been holding in his pee during a long bus ride and finally let it go. Liu Wenkai asked, "State their names." "Sui Yingxue and Mai Zuqing." This time, it was Liu Wenkai¡¯s turn to breathe a sigh of relief. He immediately followed up with, "How did you kill them?" Zhou Shetao: "Strangled them." "Describe how you strangled them, step by step." Zhou Shetao exhaled deeply and started to describe the process slowly. Liu Wenkai had suspected that he was with Da Zhou when he murdered them, but Zhou Shetao¡¯s answers were evasive. It¡¯s not possible to strangle someone while simultaneously preventing another person from escaping or fighting back. But at this moment, Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t rush to correct Zhou Shetao. He let him continue his half-truths before asking, "How did you enter the house?" "Her father got drunk once, fell on the roadside, and I helped him inside. After getting in, I spontaneously got the idea to press their house key onto chewed gum, and then... I looked up online guides, bought some supplies, and made a key myself." "When did this happen?" "In May. During the May Day holiday." "So, 11 months before the case?" "Yes." Liu Wenkai looked at Zhou Shetao, hating him to the core, yet admiring such patience in a sly fox. Some sly types might y theckey for three or four years, while others spend half a year learning to make keys from gum impressions, and another half year tweaking until they¡¯ve fashioned a usable key. He could have directly stolen the key from Mai Zuqing¡¯s possession. If the whole key ring was missing, Mai Zuqing would probably think he lost it while drunk and might not even bother to change the locks. But the 16-year-old Zhou Shetao didn¡¯t choose the easy way, stubbornly using a stupid method tomit the worst of crimes. Chapter 1026 - 959: Elder Brother Respectful, Younger Brother Polite

Chapter 1026: Chapter 959: Elder Brother Respectful, Younger Brother Polite

"How is it going?" Liu Wenkai entered the empty dormitory next door with acent smile, but Da Zhou Zhou Jiantao was still stubbornly resisting. His deputy, who had also interrogated many cases, although hadn¡¯t extracted anything substantial yet, still confidently said, "Just tough talking, give me a few more hours..." "No need, Xiao Zhou has already confessed." Liu Wenkai nced at Da Zhou with a smile, saying, "Whether he confesses or not is neither here nor there¡ªit¡¯s mostly done on our part, the rest will be left for the special case team that will handle itter." What he said was half true. In terms of benefits, Liu Wenkai had already reaped the most significant gains from this round-up; Zhou Jiantao¡¯s confession was inconsequential at that point. However, Xiao Zhou had not actually implicated his brother Zhou Jiantao; insistent that he acted alone. Theoretically, with his testimony, the police could nearly close the case. Although there was a little boy¡¯s testimony iming there were two perpetrators, the police had not believed him in the previous round of investigation, deeming it a tactic to protect his father. As for Zhou Jiantao and Zhou Shetao working together, new investigators might not necessarily continue pursuing the matter. Going out to work in pairs is nothing new, many people go out alone and findpanions in other ces. Moreover, the Zhou brothers took care of each other, settling down in an unfamiliar city; there is no crime to be found in this itself. Ultimately, it depends on the diligence of the case investigators. In cases like the Hugjilt case, eyewitnesses were mistakenly treated as perpetrators; now that there¡¯s an actual criminal, pursuing further or not may vary from one special case team to another. Liu Wenkai was clearly one who preferred to pursue deeper. He had seen the photos of the crime scene with the mother and daughter¡¯s corpses; from his perspective, Zhou Jiantao and Zhou Shetao had lived too long already and it was about time they paid for their crimes. Zhou Jiantao also realized the danger he was in. His lips began to grow dry, and stubbornly he said, "You¡¯re coercing a confession." Huang Qiangmin had already broken one; looking at the defense Zhou Jiantao had put up was like looking at cardboard. Liu Wenkai said, "Cut the nonsense. Let me make myself clear; your parents, fully aware that the murderers were you two, not only failed to report but also provided you with money, tickets, hotel bookings, and escape routes. These are all aggravating circumstances of harboring crime." Liu Wenkai, looking at Zhou Jiantao, said, "ording to Criminal Law Article 310, Section 1, the punishment for harboring a criminal is imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, or surveince. In serious circumstances, it¡¯s three to ten years. If you don¡¯t confess, I¡¯ll push for 10 years for your parents. The jail time you won¡¯t do, they¡¯ll do for you." "You¡¯re despicable!" Zhou Jiantao¡¯s eyes widened, staring at Liu Wenkai with a ferocious gaze. Liu Wenkai chuckled: "I¡¯m despicable? You two brothersmit murder, and you think you¡¯re heroes? Your parents are still living in the same ce, right? Being good neighbors with the Mai Zuqing father and son, is it because you like to see the suffering of the victim¡¯s family? I think it¡¯s to gather information for you." Liu Wenkai spat disdainfully and said, "That¡¯s what I said, they¡¯ll be convicted of harboring, and there¡¯s no problem with that. Especially with aggravating circumstances¡ªas I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve also read legal texts let me rify for you. Serious circumstances include harboring criminals engaged in especially serious criminal activities, youmitted robbery and murder; that fits, doesn¡¯t it? There were multiple criminals involved; there were two of you, so half applies, judges will definitely consider it." Liu Wenkai counted off on his fingers, continuing with what he had recited from memory: "The third circumstance, if harboring a criminal leads to them evading thew for a long time, you guys have been on the run for 10 years. That fits, right? The fourth circumstance, repeatedly harboring criminals; your parents have helped you more than once, that fits, right?" Liu Wenkai had used this approach so often that watching Zhou Jiantao¡¯s eyes fill with growing despair no longer gave him any sense of achievement. He said, "If you want to resist to the end, unwilling to cooperate, then we¡¯ll proceed strictly ording to thew. And send your parents in." "You¡¯re talking nonsense." Zhou Jiantao said with difficulty: "I¡¯ve asked around, even if my parents did something, it¡¯s mutual concealment between close rtives and is exempt from punishment." "Ah, willing to discuss the case, that¡¯s a good sign." Liu Wenkai smiled and said, "I won¡¯t even ask who would discuss such matters. Let¡¯s talk about mutual concealment among rtives, I think you¡¯re right." Zhou Jiantao was taken aback. Before he could react, Liu Wenkai looked at Zhou Jiantao and said, "I agree with you, but I¡¯ll also tell you, there¡¯s discretion involved when reducing or exempting punishment for harboring close rtives. If you confess honestly and cooperate, I can apply to the court, considering your parents harboring you¡ªapplying the principle of mutual concealment among rtives. But if you don¡¯t cooperate with me..." Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t finish his sentence; he just smiled. His words weren¡¯t entirely true, but lying during interrogation is somon it could bepared to the frequency of lies told during romantic rtionships, or even divorce proceedings. Zhou Jiantao was not a legal professional and could not seek legal guidance at the moment, pushing him to the brink of copse. Sometimes, the absence of hope does not lead to utter despair. Zhou Jiantao had already braced himself to resist until the end, regardless of whether his brother confessed or not; he was not nning on speaking, ready to face death than live in hiding forever. But he did not expect the police to stoop so low as to drag his parents into the situation. If he kept resisting, his parents would suffer; but if he chose to cooperate? He and his brother were sure to be finished, and it wasn¡¯t certain that his parents would fare any better... "How... can you guarantee?" After a long while, Zhou Jiantao finally spoke, asking, "How can you guarantee you¡¯ll keep your promise?" "That depends on how much you can cooperate." Liu Wenkai savored the fruits of victory contentedly. In the previous interrogation, Xiao Zhou had taken all the me upon himself, which Zhou Jiantao was oblivious to. Zhou Jiantao lowered his head again, pondering for a moment before continuing, "I have a recording, made during a discussion afterward, that can prove it was my brother who singlehandedly nned to pick the locks of the Qin Family¡¯s house. I only went over to help when I noticed something was amiss and ended up getting involved in the incident by ident." "A recording?" Liu Wenkai did not expect toe across such a windfall. The police officer beside him also inconspicuously raised his head slightly. The transition from respectful brothers to sibling rivalry escted so swiftly that it caught people off guard. Fortunately, the detectives were experienced and quickly adapted, donning their disguises with a mere lift of their feet. Zhou Jiantao no longer cared about the expressions of others, and said straightforwardly: "The phone with the recording is hidden by me, you won¡¯t be able to find it. I want a reduced sentence, and for my parents as well. It should be counted as my meritorious deed." "We can consider it, but I¡¯m not the one who decides," Liu Wenkai naturally would not say that this does not meet the criteria for a meritorious deed and so on. He did not even mention Zhou Shetao¡¯s name; there¡¯s no need to make the suspect feel embarrassed when facing the death penalty, as it is the police¡¯s duty to send them smoothly to their demise. Zhou Jiantao stepped back from a resigned eptance of death and suddenly started to treasure his life. Knowing his life hung by a thread, he asked, "Who decides, then?" "Someone will get in touch with you afterward. Come on, let¡¯s talk about the crime process first. You¡¯d better confess honestly; it¡¯s the basis for a reduced sentence," Liu Wenkai coaxed Zhou Jiantao. Zhou Jiantao was hesitant. "If you don¡¯t speak, we¡¯ll take your brother¡¯s ount as the truth, and you¡¯ll get an additional charge for not cooperating," Liu Wenkai had already figured out a strategy and was pressing hard. Unable to restrain himself and guessing that his brother had already incriminated him, Zhou Jiantao took a deep breath and said, "Alright then. The whole thing was started by my younger brother. He... he made a duplicate key, opened the door to Mai Yinshu¡¯s house, and just barged in. I have no idea what he was thinking..." Zhou Jiantao recalled the scene of the day, sighing helplessly, and continued, "I was nearby at the time. When I heard someone scream in the room, I quickly ran over, thinking to call out my brother and apologize, that would be the end of it. I didn¡¯t expect to find him clutching Mai Yinshu and refusing to let go. Afraid she might scream, he used his elbow to strangle her neck." Liu Wenkai interjected with a question, "Did he know Mai Yinshu?" "They were from the same school, our area is all under No. 35 Middle School. My brother probably... had a bit of a crush on her, I guess." Liu Wenkai thought to himself, you call this a crush? Assassination is more like it. Of course, he wouldn¡¯t argue with Zhou Jiantao over this matter and just nodded, listening, "Continue with the scene." Zhou Jiantao: "I walked in and had barely said two words when Mai Yinshu¡¯s mother came running out, demanding my brother release her daughter or she would call the police and whatnot." Liu Wenkai: "And then?" "And then my brother let her go," Zhou Jiantao said, heavily sighing, "You know what happened next?" His rhetorical question stemmed from a topic that had haunted his mind for 10 years. Over these years, he continuously relived that moment. Feeling he had pretty much cracked the entire case, Liu Wenkai wanted to avoid any suspicion of leading the witness and said directly, "Go ahead and tell it." "That idiot was too nervous; he strangled the girl to death," said Zhou Jiantao with a look of disbelief, then clenched his teeth and continued, "It was just a short while, not very long at all, and she just died like that. I didn¡¯t know whether it was fromck of oxygen or fright, but anyway, the person was gone, and his mother copsed on the floor." "And then?" "Then we, worried her wailing might draw others, dragged the body into the bedroom to take care of it." "What do you mean by ¡¯take care of¡¯?" "To strangle her." "Who did it?" Zhou Jiantao hesitated for a moment: "My brother did." Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t believe it, but it didn¡¯t really matter to him. That question could wait forter; he just chuckled and asked, "Then what? What did you do?" "We ran," said Zhou Jiantao. Liu Wenkai hesitated for a moment, then did not continue to press on the issue of viting the corpse. It was clear that everyone has the right to refuse such acts, even criminals. On the other hand, to avoid suspicion of leading the witness, Liu Wenkai was very rxed and followed with routine interrogation. Afterward, he made a phone call to Huang Qiangmin: "Commissar, guess what happened?" Chapter 1027 - 960: Inner Beauty

Chapter 1027: Chapter 960: Inner Beauty

"Wen Kai, Huang has applied for a second-ss merit for you. It¡¯s been reported, so keep up the good work." The director patted Liu Wenkai on the shoulder, as an encouragement. Liu Wenkai¡¯s heart, weathered by time, thumped wildly: "Thank you, Director. Thank you, Commissioner Huang... Is this for second-ss merit?" "It¡¯s still under application, whether you¡¯ll get it depends on the decision. However, Jiang Yuan also voted for you in the meeting and even transferred his own second-ss merit to you. The provincial department will likely consider it, given Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, right?" The directorughed heartily. Liu Wenkai¡¯s emotions instantly peaked, and this man, who had seen thousands of bare butts in brothel raids, couldn¡¯t help but blush: "Although Captain Jiang joined the forcete, he has truly been exceptional to me." "Yes, Jiang Yuan wants to give you a leg up, and Huang can¡¯t hold the position of the head of the criminal police team forever, right, just be aware of this and keep it to yourself when you¡¯re outside," said the director, as if reminding him. At this, Liu Wenkai¡¯s emotions fully overflowed, and the dreams he had were unfolding before his eyes, he couldn¡¯t help but ask: "What about Captain Jiang and Captain Wu?" "Jiang Yuan said he¡¯s not in a hurry, he wants to wait and see whates through for the Taihe Working Group. If it¡¯s not feasible, our county bureau can set up its own Criminal Science squad. I believe the higher-ups are definitely likely to approve it." The director, quitefortable in his position at the Ningtai County Bureau, mentioned with an easy smile: "As for Wu Junhao, the bureau ns to set up a patrol and bomb disposal team, and he along with the first squadron will probably move there. We¡¯ll keep their positions for you guys." For Liu Wenkai, this was simply the best arrangement, Liu Wenkai¡¯s emotions surged a third time, and even the calluses on his feet seemed to redden. The director understood and gave Liu Wenkai another pat before sending him out the door. Liu Wenkai hurried back to his office, lit up a reserved Zhonghua cigarette, and brewed a cup of Tieguanyin that he hade by. As the smoke rose and the warm water flowed in, he felt entirely immersed in the atmosphere created by Jiang Yuan. After a while. Liu Wenkai smoked the cigarette down to the butt, wiped his face with satisfaction, stood up and looked around, then asked someone nearby: "Has Captain Jiang arrived?" "Haven¡¯t heard so. He¡¯s probably off today." The nearby officer hadn¡¯t seen anyone but was always following the group¡¯s messages. "What about Commissioner Huang?" "He¡¯s gone home too." "I see." Liu Wenkai thought for a moment, then stood up and said: "Well, I¡¯m heading back now, call me if anythinges up." Liu Wenkai left the criminal police team, drove home, took out a twenty-year-old stored Pu¡¯er tea cake, and hurried to Jiangcun Residential Area. As someone who has been wandering the jianghu for years, Liu Wenkai felt that even if the Jiang Family had their house relocated three, four, or five times, it was only right for him to bring a gift. Knocking on the door and entering the house, the first thing he smelled was a rich aroma of meat. Liu Wenkai sniffed, feeling quite familiar with the scent. "Captain Liu." Jiang Yuan came out of the kitchen, wearing a greasy old LV monogrammed shirt, holding a greasy te of beef short ribs, and handed it to Liu Wenkai with a smile: "Have a bite first, then we¡¯ll drink tea." "The Jiang family¡¯s tea snack, right." Liu Wenkai was very familiar with the routine, heughed and sat down at the dining table, eating a palm-sized piece of well-done boiled beef short ribs with a little bit of salt and pepper. He hadn¡¯t eaten much since breakfast, and after running errands back and forth, he was actually a bit hungry. Eating a big piece of beef whetted his appetite further, making him want to eat more, but he wisely refrained. Eating too much would lock his IQ, which wouldn¡¯t be good for giving gifts. Liu Wenkai carried some Pu¡¯er tea to the other end of the living room, to the tea room, and, setting it down beside him with a smile, he said, "I found this Pu¡¯er tea at home a few days ago; it¡¯s actually from when I first started working. Considering I hardly ever drink tea, I might as well leave it for you, Captain Jiang." "You don¡¯t have to give me gifts. That Pu¡¯er tea must be quite valuable now. I can¡¯t ept it," Jiang Yuan said as he brewed the tea, declining the offer as casually as if he were making small talk. For the Jiang father and son, refusing someone was actually something they were quite skilled at. Instead of being surprised about the gift-giving, Liu Wenkai felt a bit embarrassed and said, "It¡¯s not really about giving a gift... But, I heard that to apply for a second-ss merit for me, you even scratched off your own second-ss merit..." "There are plenty of cases where I could have gotten second-ss merits, no need to snatch the ones from Ningtai County," Jiang Yuan said as he got up to pour tea for Liu Wenkai, naturally continuing, "I¡¯ve solved so many cases this year, it¡¯s impossible to give me second-ss merits ording to the standard everywhere. Besides, merit awards aren¡¯t solely about solving cases. This second-ss merit should rightfully be yours." Liu Wenkai shook his head: "I can¡¯t ept that if you put it that way..." "If it weren¡¯t for you catching both Small Zhou in the 430 case, and interrogating so much information in advance, there might have been twists and turnster. Anywhere else, that¡¯s worth a second-ss merit." Liu Wenkaiughed: "Even here in Ning County, that¡¯s not how it works. Plus, you and Director Liu were the ones leading this case; I¡¯m just picking up the fruits..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand: "If you want to give me something, help me sort out some cases." "That¡¯s easy. You just say it," Liu Wenkai immediately sat upright. In fact, he also felt there was no need to present Pu¡¯er tea to Jiang Yuan, who was already cooking in LV clothing; perhaps money was truly no big stimulus to him. Jiang Yuan gestured for Liu Wenkai to drink the tea, poured him another cup, and then said, "It¡¯s still about the area around our residential area. Since this is a suburban area close to a provincial road and there¡¯s a highway nearby, the security situation has always been not too good, and there used to be robberies before. Later it got better, mainly thefts, especially burries and electric bicycle thefts are moremon. Before, I went to the nearby police station and cleared a bunch of cold cases, especially caught a lot of electric bicycle and burry criminals." Liu Wenkai nodded seriously: "Burry is indeed a major problem, particrly in your residential area." "Our residential area is actually okay, now that the property management is handled by the vigemittee, and they¡¯ve hired more security guards, and installed cameras and all that. But outside the residential area, especially near the business street and a bit farther in several other neighborhoods, where there are more tenants and some small factories, the security has slid a bit recently. I hope our team can pay more attention to this area if we have spare capacity." "That¡¯s what we should do. The current security situation in Ningtai County is very good, and we should indeed crack down on crime in the suburban areas!" Liu Wenkai emphatically said, sounding very much like he was taking on the role of the criminal police force captain. Jiang Yuan quickly expressed his thanks: "That would be best, I¡¯d have fewer concerns when I go out to work cases." Liu Wenkai felt that what Jiang Yuan was referring to was probably not the Jiang family¡¯s concerns, but those of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. In his view, Jiang Yuan¡¯s request or appeal could be seen as a delineation of work responsibilities for the new criminal police force captain. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad would surely continue working outside the county, but the daily work of Ningtai County must not be neglected. As the criminal police force of Ningtai County, they must not overlook their own area in chase of easy merits, focusing instead on Ningtai County itself, even if the work there is more tedious and less prioritized. Liu Wenkai slowly savored his tea, understanding this point, and felt suddenly clear about his uing work, looking at Jiang Yuan in a new light. Some people may seem very ordinary, and not particrly skilled at talking or socializing, but they are exceptionally popr with thedies at nightclubs. Anyone smart enough to notice these details should guess that such a person must be wealthy or have some special charm, or perhaps both! Lunchtime. More than twenty people were seated around two tables. One table was Mr. Jiang enjoying food and drinks with the people from Jiang Vige, and the other was Jiang Yuan entertaining colleagues and friends. Everyone was eating and chatting happily in their respective groups. When it was time to add more dishes, Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan into the kitchen, and with some curiosity asked, "What did you say to Captain Liu? I saw he joined several workgroups." "I just wanted him to handle some cases around here. Themercial street outside the neighborhood lost several electric bicycles recently. If it continues like this, I¡¯ll have to inspect personally next time," Jiang Yuan shook his head, "Sometimes catching thieves is quite difficult." Chapter 1028 - 961: The Second Scene

Chapter 1028: Chapter 961: The Second Scene

Click click click click. The officers, dressed in brand-new uniforms, walked past the entrance of Jiangcun Residential Area, attracting the nces of passersby, some of whom took out their cell phones to take pictures. Wu Junhao puffed his chest and lifted his head, his gaze fixed straight ahead. His first squadron had yet to be reformed into a riot-control patrol team, but he had been nning on foot patrols for many years. Now with the opportunity at hand, Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t wait to implement them. Foot patrols have a significant deterrent effect onmon criminal offenses and can greatly improve public security. This is something the Hong Kong Police Department already has considerable experience with. The Japan Police Department also has its share of expertise. Countries like the US and UK, due to different lifestyles, tend to use police car patrols more frequently. The downsides of foot patrols, firstly, is that they are exhausting, which leads to the exploitation of young officers by having the newly employed handle the patrols. Those who are unwilling are either dismissed or denied promotions, prompting them to leave on their own¡ªthereby keeping sunk costs as low as possible. Secondly, they involve significant financial expenditure. Foot patrols are purely an expense and can pose certain dangers to officers, meaning rtively higher sries are necessary. Policing doesn¡¯t produce direct financial value¡ªimproved public security doesn¡¯t necessarily reduce the cost of handling criminal cases. In short, having officers patrol within a city is very useful and meaningful. If one asks why Ningtai County or other domestic cities didn¡¯t implement this strategy before, it boils down to one reason: ack of personnel and funds. In a few more years, as some cities pull themselves out of fiscal mires, foot patrols will surely be put into ce, just like in Ningtai County. In fact, for a police department that truly wishes to advance through their work, studying from the Hong Kong police has always been a shortcut. Wu Junhao¡¯s stride was brisk and buoyant, feeling like he was being paid to workout. In reality, he didn¡¯t really enjoy the tediousness of criminal cases, especially in recent years with the increasing demands of case handling, copious paperwork, constant supplementary investigations, and everything ultimately needing to be documented¡ªthis made Wu Junhao feel quite disgruntled. Of course, disgruntlement aside, the majority of work is unpleasant anyway, and speaking of which, Wu Junhao is still ambitious, otherwise why would he put in so much effort training his team? What he hadn¡¯t expected was that his opportunity woulde so suddenly and blissfully. Today Wu Junhao walked with pride, as he had be a substantive deputy department head! Jiang Yuan had stayed at home for two more days, made some minor repairs, and then Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia brought over the cases they had recently screened. Now, with invitationsing from all over the country for Jiang Yuan and Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, it¡¯s a waste of time for Jiang Yuan to review all these cases alone. Especially for some major cases, involving various aspects, they require very meticulous examination. Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia were responsible for the initial screening. Jiang Yuan specifically chose lunchtime to bring a big basket of meat to the criminal police canteen. The Jiang Family¡¯s meat supply was indeed endless, and the pastime of residents in Jiang Fuzhen was barbecuing and stewing meat; he hoped that the family stove would keep simmering constantly. Now that the Jiang Vige People¡¯s living conditions had improved, no familycked meat, so Jiang Fuzhen often had to spend a significant amount of money on banquets or send out cooked meat as gifts to go through the supply. As for opening a store, Jiang Fuzhen never considered it, as he was neither willing to go through the trouble of decorating a storefront nor wanted to worry about the possibility of storefront demolition. Such an incident was not unheard of. The officers of the detective squad were naturally not fussy. Seeing the trembling meat brought in by Jiang Yuan, they too felt a flutter of excitement, busily seasoning and preparing sauces, totally engrossed in the activity. Jiang Yuan also cut arge piece for himself, got a bowl of in noodles, carelessly chopped the meat into the soup, added a spoonful of beef broth he brought, and felt as if he was back at home. "Let¡¯s talk about it." Jiang Yuan took a couple of sips of his soup, chewed on some meat and noodlesfortably, then looked up contentedly. "The first case we¡¯ve selected is a dismemberment case," Wang Chuanxing said, observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression before continuing: "The case urred 20 days ago when the Changyang City Bureau discovered some body parts in the grass at the Tai River Shishan Road Section. It is suspected to be the secondary crime scene." "Oh, it has been moved?" Jiang Yuan indeed showed some interest, took a bite of his meat, and said, "Tell me more." "Yes." Encouraged by Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest in the first case, Wang Chuanxing eagerly said, "The total weight of the body parts was about 40 kilograms; they were found two days ago. There had been heavy rain locally, and the Tai River was at high tide, so initially, it was suspected that some parts of the body had been washed away by the river, but the search turned up nothing." By this time, Tang Jia had already pulled up the internal pages rted to the case on the PAD, showing them to Jiang Yuan, and said, "No head was found among the body parts, nor any key information like fingerprints. The Changyang City Bureau performed DNA extraction, but there were no matches." "So, the source of the body hasn¡¯t been pinpointed?" Jiang Yuan nodded unsurprised; if it had been, they probably wouldn¡¯t have sought him out. "Correct. The state of decay of the body parts was quite advanced, and they were found in the underbrush with virtually no clothing due to the heavy rain..." Tang Jia was speaking when he frowned, "This case must be very difficult, right? Should we take it on?" "We have to believe in the intelligence of the criminal suspect. A suspect who dumps a body in the riverside bushes wouldn¡¯t be too professional," Jiang Yuanmented from a distance, thenughed and said, "Help me flip through the photos." While speaking, Jiang Yuan bent down to take arge bite of noodles, then looked up as Tang Jia flipped through the crime scene photos for him. The scene could be described as a total mess. Of course, most crime scenes are like this¡ªmanhandling over a hundred pounds of one¡¯s own kind single-handedly doesn¡¯t lend itself to elegance, but to disarray. What was distinctive at the scene were body parts the size of a head or two, indicating that the murderer had ample physical strength and had made very meticulous cuts. Connecting briefly with a previous case, it seemed very unlikely that there were two perpetrators involved in this case. If there were two, they wouldn¡¯t need to cut the body into such small pieces, as it would be rtively easy for two people to move a body. Conversely, slicing the body into such tiny, greasy, and sticky fragments leaves no ce to get a hold of them. Even with body parts as big as two heads, you would actually need both hands to carry them. Just imagine buying such arge piece of meat at the market; even putting it in a bag would make the hands ache. Jiang Yuan ate his noodles while looking at the photos, and after a few more bites, he finished them. Then, continuing to eat his meat, he asked, "Any murder weapon or packaging materials?" "No murder weapon. Some cloth strips and fiber bags stained with blood were found at the scene and are preliminarily identified as packaging materials," Wang Chuanxing, also holding a PAD, immediately flipped to the relevant photos to show Jiang Yuan. The first photo was a long shot of where the body parts were found. You could see five green and blue fiber bags half submerged in the mud and water. Wang Chuanxing said, "The high tide had washed away some body parts, but the dispersed fiber bags filled with mud and sand had settled around the edges." "The previous team checked it, right? What did they say?" "They are fairlymon woven bags withrge market cirction, no conclusions as of yet." "Do microtrace analysis on the bags, collect more samples. The same goes for the body parts¡ªDNA test each one, ensuring they all belong to the same person," Jiang Yuan slurped his soup. The experience from cases in Chang Le City Bureau taught him to employ as much high-tech as possible. He¡¯s no longer the Little Karami he was when he first came to Ningtai County; neither can Huang Qiangmin¡¯s asking price be covered by a used car anymore. Therefore, the police departments in charge of the cases he faces now don¡¯t really care about the cost of testing anymore, even if it¡¯s a few hundred bucks each time. Of course, on the surface, they still care, but in their hearts, everyone hase to ept this sort of extravagant spending. Compared to solving a case,pared to cases led by Jiang Yuan, such testing expenses really aren¡¯t much. It¡¯s like a patient who, with great difficulty, gets referred by a powerful local figure to a certain expert medical team for treatment in the hospital. While he may hope for lower treatment costs internally, he would never raise objections to, nor should he object to the medical team¡¯s proposed examinations. Consciously, Jiang Yuan would prioritize these tests. Microtrace evidence takes time already, so there¡¯s no need to wait until his arrival to get it done. As for this particr case¡ªwith body parts the size of watermelons scattered around and without a DNA match¡ªit leaves very few avable leads. Microtrace evidence is almost a necessity. Without surprise, Wang Chuanxing agreed, noting it down as he spoke, "I¡¯llmunicate with them to collect more points for microtrace evidence. But doing so, the woven bags will probably be cut to pieces." "Take more photos of any areas with logos, and if they have to be cut open, so be it," Jiang Yuan simply nodded. Evidence undergoes wear and tear; examining it, to some extent, also causes its deterioration, but this is a two-sided affair. Wishing for both preservation and examination is impossible, and even Jiang Yuan can only ept this. Chapter 1029 - 962: Demarcation (Requesting Monthly Pass)

Chapter 1029: Chapter 962: Demarcation (Requesting Monthly Pass)

An Audi A6 with a Jing A license te and a line of minibuses quietly entered the yard of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Huang Qiangmin got out of his A6 first, followed by Jiang Yuan and others from the minibus. Speaking offort on long-distance travels, the A6 doesn¡¯tpare to the modified Coaster Lee. Not just because the seats are lessfortable, but in the Coaster, when you¡¯re tired of sitting, you can stand up and walk around, twist your hips and waist - a feeling no amount of sedan stretching can match. But, the A6 holds a special significance for Huang Qiangmin, especially one with a Jing license te, much like wearing Louis Vuitton - greasy yet still fashionable. Yu Wenshu greeted Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, and the others with a smile, thenughed, "The trace evidence that Jiang Yuan needed has all been finished overtime by our center. We did find something indeed. It¡¯s quite the coincidence, hahaha..." "Can we determine the source of the corpse?" Jiang Yuan got out of the car to stretch his limbs and was pleasantly surprised to hear this. Yu Wenshu smiled and waved his hands, saying, "Not to that extent. Ah, but speaking of coincidences, I remembered something. I¡¯m not sure if you guys still remember, our first case working together, the 326 kidnapping and murder case, the Tan Yong case, where the guy built an underground cer to imprison people. The first breakthrough came from Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestion to use trace evidence method, and we found a body-hiding spot through it." Yu Wenshu pped his hands and put on a reminiscent face, saying, "I remember I said at the time, Jiang Yuan found a location where the body was hidden using trace evidence, which was quite reasonable!" "That really is a coincidence!" Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin were startled andughed in agreement. They generally remembered the case, the logic and evidence of the investigation were imprinted in their minds, but to recall in verbatim the actual conversation during a face-to-face meeting - faced with Yu Wenshu¡¯s recollection, it was somewhat terrifying. "That¡¯s what you call a photographic memory." Huang Qiangmin gave a genuinepliment. Jiang Yuan also sized up Yu Wenshu head to toe. Having to admit, this kind of skill in someone else¡¯s hands felt quite unsettling. "Wan Baoming never loses an argument with his wife." The deputy director of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center, Wan Baoming, had a very technical aura and spoke in a way that left one unsure whether he was making aint or not. And he obviously knew Yu Wenshu¡¯s soft spot. Chief Yu even showed a bit of pride as he waved his hand and said, "That¡¯s nothing to boast about. I just have a good memory for things I¡¯ve seen and conversations I¡¯ve had, but if you ask me about the scene itself, I can¡¯t remember that well. I don¡¯t have a photographic memory." "There¡¯s actually a photographic memory? Like remembering events exactly as if they were photos?" Liu Wenkai joined the conversation, mainly to show his face and get familiar with the others. Yu Wenshu nodded earnestly: "It¡¯s not that rare... When I was studying, some people could nce at a chart in a book and redraw it on their notepads in no time. People like us just couldn¡¯t do that; we had to read each word carefully and understand it to make sense of everything and be able to draw a rtionship diagram." "That¡¯s why, back when we took exams, we had topete with those students," Wan Baoming continued, with a tone of mockint to boost Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshuughed heartily, "Nowadays in exams, we don¡¯t have much of an advantage. At most, our liberal arts scores are a bit higher, but have you seen those science geniuses? They nce at a geometric figure and pop the answer right out. It¡¯s as if... their brains just spit out the answers directly." "These kinds of people don¡¯t have much of an advantage when they argue with their wives," Huang Qiangminughed. "The result is the same. Photographic memory, math geniuses..." Yu Wenshu¡¯s face was full of world-weariness: "All end up sleeping on the couch!" "Even if you win the argument, you still end up on the couch?" Liu Wenkai was somewhat inexperienced in this area. Yu Wenshu nodded seriously: "You¡¯ll understandter on. She doesn¡¯t have to argue, just points her finger, making you figure out where you went wrong. Frankly speaking, a good memory can indeed help remember mistakes!" Yu Wenshu was filled with emotion and then looked at Liu Wenkai, furrowing his brows, "Wenkai, I remember you¡¯re also around 40, right? Still so inexperienced?" Liu Wenkai, who had just been promoted to a deputy head position like Wu Junhao, helplessly touched his forehead and said, "Well, about that... I suppose I¡¯m just rather good at sweet-talking..." "How do you sweet-talk?" All the married men in the room turned their attention to Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai: "Well, you know... I used to often visit brothels... No, I mean, crack down on prostitution, and I picked up some conversational techniques from that. Also, when I worked undercover, contacting informants and such required a bit of charming..." "Right, I remember that. When Changyang City Public Security Detachment organized a cross-regional prostitution raid, they called you over. You were the first to catch a perp, right?" Yu Wenshu¡¯s memory was triggered, and he quickly began tobel Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai quickly modestly replied, "Tied for first. Those dressed in drag don¡¯t count." Yu Wenshu¡¯s memory was triggered a second time, and he said with difort, "Let¡¯s talk about our case... Baoming, you tell the story." As they spoke, they had already entered the office. Yu Wenshu sat down naturally, picked up his tea, and took a couple of gentle sips. Wan Baoming was Changyang¡¯s Criminal Science expert. He had made a name for himself 20 years ago, and though it couldn¡¯t be said that he had fallen behind with the technological advancements over the years, he had not quite kept up either. He could understand the broad strokes and overview the big picture, so he could only serve as a leader within the Criminal Science Department, not as a technician anymore. Wan Baoming cleared his throat, took out a report from his chest pocket, thought for a moment, and then smiled, "Perhaps because we tested many points for trace evidence and found variouspounds, I¡¯ll just tell you the conclusion directly. The fibers sampled from the body pieces and the woven bag found at the scene have the same fibrous structure; they are multiyered bags made of polypropylene and t fment woven with coated polypropylene. Both the warp density and weft density are rtively high, belonging to a better quality of woven bags." Wan Baoming: "What¡¯s particrly special is that we have confirmed the murderer used woven bags from three different manufacturers¡ªone green and two blue..." Wan Baoming: "Additionally, there are some textile fibers which are likely from the victim¡¯s clothes worn while they were alive, including cashmere and cotton products¡ªboth natural fibers, which are rtivelyplex. Whether we can definitively identify the manufacturer remains uncertain." The examination of trace evidence is quiteplex, or rather, it constitutes an entire set ofplex procedures. First, there¡¯s no machine where you can just insert trace evidence and get results¡ªjust like other forms of testing, such as DNA or toxicological analysis. Secondly, when examining a piece of trace evidence, the examiner must first ssify it, deciding whether it is metal, stic, or something else like paint, rubber, ss, etc. This might involve observing it under a microscope, using an X-ray machine, or even dissolving a tiny amount in solvents. In short, precise categorization is required before further testing can be conducted. For instance, having categorized it as a fiber, one can then analyze the characteristics of the fiber. They would examine its color,position, cross-sectional morphology, prized light properties, fluorescence, infrared spectrum, Raman spectrum, etc... Afterpleting these analyses, ssification can proceed¡ªfirst by determining if it¡¯s a natural or synthetic fiber, and then identifying the specific type of natural or synthetic fiber. If it¡¯s a natural fiber, it could be cotton, linen, silk, wool, etc... If it¡¯s a particr type of hemp, it could be ramie, jute, sisal, marijuana, x, etc... If it¡¯s a specific kind of marijuana, well, then we¡¯re back to a course on marijuana to determine which variety it is... For the police, merely identifying the type of fiber doesn¡¯t mark the end of the investigation. They need to infer and confirm what the fiber was used for. If they ultimately want to use it to identify the source of the corpse, they must trace the journey from fiber to material, from material to manufacturer, and from manufacturer to consumer, step by step. After going through this process, people would be running on fumes. It¡¯s only rtively simple if there are woven bags at the scene that can directly be used forparison. But to trace a piece of clothing back to the consumer is a much more challenging task. Jiang Yuan listened to Wan Baoming¡¯s briefing, then asked for several reports to read. After a while, he said, "In short, the fibers suspected to originate from clothing are hard to trace back to their sources... What about the woven bags, do you have any ideas?" Wan Baoming took a sip of tea and said, "The types of fibers from the micro-evidence can all be matched with woven bags found at the scene. Currently, there are six different woven bags at the scene, originating from three different manufacturers. This is not normal. It at least indicates that the murderer didn¡¯t buy these bags recently, but had them in stock." "So you suspect that the murderer¡¯s work or perhaps the primary crime scene involved using woven bags?" Jiang Yuan interpreted Wan Baoming¡¯s words. "It¡¯s a possibility, at the moment..." "But the scope is still quite broad. Have all the body parts been confirmed as belonging to one person?" "Two of the pieces were too dposed for DNA extraction, but the rest have been confirmed to be from the same person." Wan Baoming paused before adding, "I¡¯ll go back and have someone try again." Thetter remark was purely out of respect for Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. When you engage national-level experts, your level of expertise and attention to detail must also be at a national level, otherwise, if the killer is caught in the future and a mistake is found here, it would be highly embarrassing. Jiang Yuan: "We can try again. It would also help to expand the search in the vicinity. If we can find the head, at least we could use skull reconstruction for the case, even though it¡¯s time-consuming..." Yu Wenshu responded: "We¡¯re already expanding the search area, and the K9 unit is also providing support." "In that case, there¡¯s not much more we can do," Jiang Yuan said with a hint of difficulty, yet his tone and expression remained upbeat. He swiftly added, "How about this: I¡¯ll establish a rtively urate time of death, and we proceed in two steps." "Okay." "One, based on the time of death, we¡¯ll look at nearby surveince to see if there¡¯s anything to uncover. It will be great if the suspect transported the body in an open-bed truck or tricycle." Yu Wenshu chuckled: "You wouldn¡¯t believe howmon simr cases are." Jiang Yuan smiled back with the little amount of EQ he had left, and continued, "Collect as much surveince footage as possible. If there are any doubts, I can conduct further optimization here." Yu Wenshu: "Alright!" Jiang Yuan: "Second, based on the time of death, let¡¯s scan for missing persons. I¡¯ve seen the DNA reports; if the victim is female, we can widen the scope a bit, look across the province for missing females a week before death, and see if there¡¯s a match." "No problem." Yu Wenshu appreciated Jiang Yuan¡¯s rare show of EQ and felt warmed by it. Although Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was simple, even typical for criminal investigators, it highlighted a critical point: the importance of determining an urate time of death. In thinking about the extensive investigations to follow, including the costs of personnel and case management, everything would pivot on this detail. Most forensic doctors wouldn¡¯t dare to give a very specific time of death, and if they did, it would be too broad to be meaningful. It was in Jiang Yuan¡¯spany that Yu Wenshu could feel the fervor of his younger days, that intense feeling of being protected and cared for, inexplicably enveloping him. Chapter 1030 - 963 Fly Identification

Chapter 1030: Chapter 963 Fly Identification

"Captain Jiang. All the fly species are here." Multiple technicians from the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center ced ss vials onto the ck leather-coveredboratory table, arranging them even more densely and neatly than a preserved fruit shop. Surveying the scene, one could see vials containing fly eggs,rvae, pupae, and a few containing adult flies. Among these, the number of adult flies was the smallest since they can escape quickly. The remaining mass consisted mainly of variousrvae and pupal stages. "Quite a number," Jiang Yuan nodded satisfactorily. Wan Baoming chuckled and said, "Captain Jiang, as per your request, we collected as many of these insects as possible." "Well done," praised Jiang Yuan, using up his daily quota of emotional intelligence with thatment, then continued, "Our Criminal Science Center doesn¡¯t have a professional entomologist, right?" Upon hearing that, Wan Baoming realized that thepliments had ended and hurriedly replied, "You know, domestically, insect identification and authentication are generally performed by professionals. If we need assistance, we usually ask experts from the Changyang University Department of Biology. Our previous reports were handled by Professor Li from Changyang University Department of Biology. He¡¯s quite renowned and often coborates with us." "Yes, I¡¯ve seen the report. He determined the death urred between 28 to 42 days ago," Jiang Yuan nodded. The body parts were discovered 20 days ago, so considering the state of decay, the estimation of death urring 28 to 42 days ago is rtively urate. "Right," nodded Wan Baoming, then hesitantly asked, "Do you have any doubts?" The personnel at the crime scene, mostlycking entomology knowledge, were quite blunt. In fact, considering the current state of Changyang City Bureau, saying that no one at the crime scene knew entomology wouldn¡¯t be an exaggeration. It¡¯s not disgraceful; entomology is a specialized field requiring substantial time and effort, with moreplexities than botany. In the current academic climate domestically, biology is a highlypetitive field. Traditional areas such as botany and entomology are considered highly specialized and even morepetitive. A doctoral graduate in entomology might still hesitate to im any significant contribution in the field even after three to five years of practice, let alone being adept at identifying insect species. For professionals in entomology, identifying insect species might be simple, but it¡¯s not that straightforward, considering the uracy police demand. Those entomology graduates confident enough to assert, "I can do it," are even rarer. After all, in the world, if problems are ambiguous, countless experts can provide a myriad of answers. However, if there is an urate and unique solution, very few can offer the correct answer. But considering the current pay and demand at the police department, they can¡¯t even attract top-grade experts. Even if a biology doctoral graduate is willing to work in the police system, they would prefer research institutes or sought-after bureaucratic positions rather than frontline duties. If they wanted better employment prospects through public exams, why endure hardships on the front line? The very least for biology doctoral graduates is usually research involving model organisms like mice, not the digging of graves or exhuming corpses, which though requiring high expertise, doesn¡¯t necessitate research capabilities. Jiang Yuan was merely confirming the situation in Changyang City Bureau, being the Criminal Science Center of the provincial capital. However, it¡¯s evident that although doctoral graduates are no longer scarce, they have not bemon to this extent. "You¡¯re not wrong in your judgment, but with such a long period of time, it¡¯s unmanageable on the front lines, right?" Jiang Yuan said, causing his fellow police officers beside him to nod repeatedly. Academics aside, a 14-day interval makes it exceedingly difficult for frontline officers to gather evidence. Not to mention, securing surveince footage for two weeks is challenging, let alone reviewing it. If there was one specific footage, it would be manageable, but during extensive surveince, reviewing dozens or even hundreds of videos can easily lead to missing crucial details. "Then... should we consult another entomologist from somewhere else?" Wan Baoming knew that Jiang Yuan had expertise in Legal Botany and was acquainted with many botanists. He guessed that Jiang Yuan was looking to leverage his personal connections to find others to help examine the insects. Naturally, there would be some costs involved. Not to mention the expenses for transportation and amodations for a few days of work which always need to be reimbursed. If the expert is notable, one might even need to apany them and treat them to a few good meals. Therefore, unless it¡¯s a major case, the police wouldn¡¯t readily invite experts for assistance. Moreover, many experts are actually reluctant to cooperate. At the very least, it requires a police station of a certain level to have the qualifications to invite them, making it difficult to match with frontline police officers in terms of detail. Jiang Yuan was well aware of theplexities involved, waved his hand and said, "As for identifying Dipterans, I can do it myself. I initially meant to find a few people who know a bit about entomology to lend a hand. No need to invite remotely, it takes too much time." Inviting experts also depends on their avability, and the more renowned the expert, the less free time they naturally have. This is especially true for experts who are from other ces, which might require waiting for several days. Jian Yuan doesn¡¯t have several days to waste. If we wait a few more days, the body will have dposed significantly. Moreover, he has a Level 6 proficiency in Dipteran identification which, although not covering all insects, is more than adequate for this case, simr to how a deceased cryptographer with Level 5 in Cryptography could influence the academic field. Wan Baoming hesitated slightly, then said, "Then I¡¯ll ask Professor Li to see if..." "No need, getting a few people to give us a hand will suffice." Jiang Yuan changed into ab coat, rolled up his sleeves, and said, "Let¡¯s start by sorting out the Dipterans in these bottles. Separate the non-Dipterans into different bottles and group simr Dipterans together." This was something fairly experienced technical staff could handle. Jiang Yuan himself sat down and took a bottle mixed withrvae and began sorting. Once Jiang Yuan began, the technicians at the Criminal Science Center naturally did not say much. Wan Baoming set aside his questions, rolled up his sleeves, put on gloves, and stood next to Jiang Yuan, ready to help and watch as Jiang Yuan lined up the maggots. Wan Baoming started to look befuddled again: "Can you recognize different species of maggots?" Jiang Yuan chuckled, "Don¡¯t you recognize them?" Wan Baomingughed, "How can you tell?" "Mostly by counting." As Jiang Yuan worked, he exined, "For instance, this one with 6 peritremal openings and a single basal branch at the eighth abdominal segment is a thirdrval stage of Fannia canicris, and this one with 9 peritremal openings..." Jiang Yuan pointed out a maggot covered in hair, with sharp ends, somewhat resembling an elongated croissant, exining to Wan Baoming. Wan Baoming quietly bowed his head, "I might not be of much help after all..." Chapter 1031: Insect 964 is also acting strange

Chapter 1031: Insect 964 is also acting strange

It¡¯s rtively simple to distinguish the third instarrvae. It¡¯s their final step towards bing an adult fly, and their bodies have grownrge enough to be clearly discerned, soon transitioning into pupae and then flies. So, it¡¯s not always butterflies that emerge from cocoons; moths and even flies can go through this transformation. Under Jiang Yuan¡¯s guidance, Wan Baoming quickly became familiar with severalmon third instarrvae. When ites to biological practice, learning is very fast. Reading books and looking at pictures in school doesn¡¯t make for clear memories, all that talk of eighth and ninth abdominal segments. But if you see it for real, observe it several times andpare it a few times, the mind remembers quickly. Take for instance the maggotmonly found in dry toilets, cylindrical but slightly ttened, with a pointed tail, its surface somewhat transparent with a slight yellowish tint. This maggot belongs to the Giant Golden Fly of the Calliphoridae family, with the scientific name (Chrysomyia megaceph Fabricius). The Giant Golden Fly is also the mostmon corpse-loving fly species, especially in areas with dry toilets. If there¡¯s a corpse, you can be sure Giant Golden Flies will fly over toy eggs, thus bing a great help to forensic doctors. The Giant Golden Fly not only assists forensic doctors; it¡¯s also beneficial to China¡¯s traditional medicine industry. Traditional medicine uses "Wugu Chong" (grain insect) as an ingredient, iming it "strengthens the spleen and disperses stagnation; clears heat and eliminates indigestion." It¡¯s important to note that nowadays, some herbalists might uservae from other fly species in medicines, as ordinary people don¡¯t know the difference and can easily be deceived. Especially with the direct grinding of medicinal materials, once the Wugu Chong is crushed, even if it¡¯s the wrong species, there¡¯s no recourse forint. Therefore, when real "Wugu Chong" is needed, if you can¡¯t catch them yourself and don¡¯t want to be deceived, you might as well start by observing in the dry toilets. In China, only a few provincesck distribution of the Giant Golden Fly, primarily Heilongjiang and Jilin, Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet; otherwise, they¡¯re quite easy to find. For people in these areas, if you really don¡¯t know how to differentiate them, you canpare them to a ballet dancer¡¯s calf. Their form and appearance are nearly identical, which shows that beauty and ugliness in the world indeed have something inmon. With Wan Baoming helping, Jiang Yuan quickly began to screen for eggs and pupae. Flies go throughplete metamorphosis¡ªfrom egg torva, fromrva to pupa, and from pupa to adult, every stage involves a drastic transformation, bing entirely different in appearance. This makes it so each stage of fly development has a distinct look, making identification... let¡¯s just say not difficult for the knowledgeable. Nevertheless, Wan Baoming¡¯s eyes widened when Jiang Yuan started ssifying fly eggs. "Can you really tell whose eggs they are with just one nce?" Wan Baoming has seen and eaten a lot of things... or rather, he has worked alongside entomology experts, yet he has never seen this before. Normally, experts who engage in such detailed ssification also need to consult reference books when it gets to specific species, such as "Fauna of China," "Economic Insects of China," "Key to Common Fly Species in China," and so forth. Just as experts in the field of writing need reference texts like "Shuo Wen Jie Zi" or the "Kangxi Dictionary." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to exin much to Wan Baoming, just smiled and said, "It¡¯s not that I can tell just with a nce. Sometimes I have to take a few more looks..." Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t help but look up at Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, you get kind of humorous when you look at fly eggs." Jiang Yuanughed without raising his head, "Put on another pair of gloves and help me clear out the insects and eggs from these bottles. ce them on the ss te so I can identify themter." With an "Okay," Mu Zhiyang put on gloves, picked up a bottle designated by Jiang Yuan, opened the stopper, and immediately smelled the strong stench. The odor was swiftly sucked away by the overhead venttion system, but not before giving Mu Zhiyang a full whiff. The crime scene personnel are not going to distinguish between the types of insects in detail; in the end, they just scoop them out, poison them, and bring them back in bottles. Inevitably, many bottles will contain a bit of body fluids along with the insects and their eggs. At the scene, the stronger odors masked it, and it was not noticeable, but once back in theboratory, it bes very pungent. In no time, the ck leather examination table was filled with various types of maggot bodies, and eggs¡ªwhich are only millimeters in size¡ªwere neatly arranged in disposable stic petri dishes. Mu Zhiyang continued to apany the process by writingbels and sticking them on one by one. Beyond that, there were many insects that were not of the fly species, as well as theirrvae and eggs. These are all detailed and tedious tasks, but only by meticulously carrying them out can one proceed to the stage of estimating the time of death. In fact, the main work lies in identifying the species of the eggs,rvae, pupae, and adults. The remaining work, theoretically, is not much, as long as one follows procedures... "Something¡¯s off about these insects," Jiang Yuan stopped what he was doing and remarked. "What¡¯s wrong with the insects?" Wan Baoming didn¡¯t realize what the issue was for a moment. Jiang Yuan hummed an affirmation, then continued to contemte while looking over his own records. The technicians in the room, upon hearing the conversation between the two, subconsciously stopped their actions. Many procedures are destructive, and when not urgent, it¡¯s always better to wait. Jiang Yuan sat down on his own, studied his notes with a pen for a while, then looked at Wan Baoming and said, "From what I¡¯ve seen now, the flies I¡¯m looking at don¡¯t seem to be of the same lineage; they¡¯re not from one group, nor from two groups..." Usually, once a body appears, nearby fly species woulde toy eggs at the fastest speed, often measured in seconds. Additionally, the generational lines of flies are rtively clear: every few days hatching, every few days growing. It may not be precise, but there is a general pattern. Forensic entomology is used to estimate the time of death based on the reproduction and growth of insects. For example, if it takes about 20 days for thervae to reach the third stage, then the deceased has been dead for around 20 days. If the death had urred even earlier, one might find the second or third generation of insects, and the time is calcted by adding up these generations. There¡¯s a little-known fact here: adult flies typically start reproducing a few hours after they emerge from their cocoons. They do not dy in their efforts, nor do they dy the calctions of the forensic doctor¡¯s time estimation. However... this batch of insects did not give Jiang Yuan a clear impression. Wan Baoming asked, "The body we found was at the secondary crime scene; did the two scenes interfere with the time estimation?" "There¡¯s definitely interference, but the problem is, looking at the current condition of the flies..." Jiang Yuan said this, pointed to his notebook, and continued: "My judgment is that the scene we found is not a secondary crime scene anymore, but a tertiary one." "What?" Wan Baoming was stunned: "A tertiary crime scene? The body parts were moved twice? Why?" Chapter 1032 - 965: Kitchen Knife

Chapter 1032: Chapter 965: Kitchen Knife

"Yeah, why? This killer must be seriously ill." Sitting in a small meeting room, several members of the special investigation team flipped through the updated information and re-examined the various photos provided by Jiang Yuan, before carelessly tossing aside the files bursting with maggots. "Is the killer and the body disposer two different people? The killermits the murder at the first crime scene, dumps the body at the second, and then someone at the second scene discovers the body. For some reason, perhaps they can¡¯t report it to the police, so they dispose of it again?" The speaker was Captain Ma Jiyang, a star officer of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, who had umted three second-ss merits and investigated numerous significant cases. His experience was naturally vast, and upon seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s report, he immediately made a reasonable conjecture. However, Jiang Yuan slowly shook his head, saying, "The time between the second and third body disposals is rtively short, and the environment is rtively better. Otherwise, if the body had beenid with many eggs during the second disposal, there would be a greater difference in fly species by the third disposal." Ma Jiyang, focusing purely on the facts, pondered and said, "Let¡¯s revise that. The killer acted alone, killing at the first scene and disposing the body at the second. For some reason, it was quickly moved to the third scene. A single person independently disposing of the body twice must have been quite exhausting. This could also exin why they disposed of the body by the riverbank instead of burying it." This spection was an amendment to the issue raised by Jiang Yuan just before. Jiang Yuan neither agreed nor disagreed, indeed there was such a possibility. With Ma Jiyang¡¯s example before them, someone immediately proposed a new idea: "It¡¯s very likely that the environment at the second scene was tooplex, or some incident urred, prompting the immediate move to the third scene. The woven bags, those should have been obtained at the second scene, right? Could the remaining body parts still be at the second scene?" "Relocating a body isn¡¯t easy, especially so many body parts. If it¡¯s a one-man job, it¡¯s as much work as moving houses, plus having to clean up the second scene. Might as well have buried it." "Burying isn¡¯t necessarily more effective than dumping a body. I¡¯m inclined towards functionality. There must have been an urgent reason to move from the first scene, possibly an uncontroble public location or the victim¡¯s ce. The hasty move to the second location suggests it was a space where the killer felt safe, perhaps his own home. Then, he found a suitable ce to dump the body at the same time as performing operations like dismemberment." Hearing this, Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement and said: "Judging by the chop marks on the body, a Chinese kitchen knife likely was used for the dismemberment. Hence, the likelihood that the second scene was the killer dismembering the body at home is quite high." In domestic forensic research, kitchen knives as murder weapons have been thoroughly studied. Firstly, kitchen knives are heavy-ded tools butpared to simr heavy-ded tools, knife wounds tend to be longer and deeper, especially when cutting across the neck, wrists, groin, or genitals, where Chinese kitchen knives often cause open and spindle-shaped injuries. For novice forensic doctors, a more straightforward judgement can be that if the head and neck have shing injuries with straight edges, neat wound margins, and sharp wound angles measuring about 5 to 7 centimeters in length, then it¡¯s assumed to be done with a kitchen knife. Byparison, an axe would leave rectangr wound angles if fully driven in, and triangr if only partially. Othermon sharp tools have their own ssifications and summaries. This level of judgement doesn¡¯t even require Jiang Yuan, as forensic reports had alreadyid out the findings long ago. The team members nodded in agreement, noting that kitchen knives are easy to find, but someone who specifically sets out to dismember a body would not typically choose a kitchen knife. In other words, those who use kitchen knives for dismemberment likely have one readily at hand. Ma Jiyang took another sip of tea and slowly said, "Using whatever is at hand again... This indicates he didn¡¯t have a particrly thorough n, but the job was still done quite well. Was it luck? Or... was there a previous record?" This conjecture was a bit bold, but Jiang Yuan thought it over and tended to agree with Ma Jiyang¡¯s point of view. Although so far, only body parts have been found in this case, it cannot be denied that the killer¡¯s actions were quite smooth. The detectives checking surveince footage haven¡¯t found usable evidence, and the body parts were disposed of rtively cleanly. The chosen spots for body disposal were also quite fitting; if not for the rising water levels in the Tai River, the corpse¡¯s condition would have only worsened and be harder to find after another ten days to half a month. As is well known, murder is like managing a project, where smooth progress is rare, and difficulties aremon, often insurmountable. Therefore, when seeing a project advancing very smoothly, one should not assume that the project is easy but rather that the project manager is capable and experienced, and well-prepared. Otherwise, any minor slip-up could lead toplete failure. "It is indeed possible that it¡¯s someone with a criminal record. Otherwise, transferring the body three times, an average person wouldn¡¯t be able to do that." Jiang Yuan expressed his agreement. A body not only starts to stink, its skin undergoes pigment changes and turns yellow. Livor mortis and rigor mortis can make it even more disgusting to deal with. Anyone who can withstand disposing of a body once is desperate. To continuously dispose of it twice requires a strong mindset. Many murderers are found with bodies hidden in their own homes when caught. It¡¯s not that they cannot dismember bodies or dispose of them, it¡¯s that the modern mind is too far removed from killing and corpses, such that many people can¡¯t bear it, even if they are the killer themselves. Therefore, the possibility of the culprit being an ex-offender is indeed high, given that they can kill, dismember, and dispose of the body twice without being discovered, under unprepared circumstances. "We can start by visiting the ex-offenders in the nearby address, check their home situation. He dismembered the body so thoroughly, it¡¯s likely that he lives alone. Even so, ces like the bathroom are probably a mess, the drain might be clogged, and there could be sshes of bone fragments everywhere..." Ma Jiyang immediately came up with a n. Since they suspect the killer dismembered the body at home, they might as well go have a look. Though the killer must have cleaned up, there might still be something to be found at the scene. As for the workload, Ma Jiyang hasn¡¯t taken it into consideration yet. The case has been at a standstill for so long; they should follow up on any clue they have immediately. Jiang Yuan is not opposed to it, thinking along simr lines¡ªwhat if? What if the person being visited gives themselves away? What if the visiting officer discovers a clue? What if a neighbor of the visited person suddenly steps forward and says, "There¡¯s been something strange happening around here recently..."? "Okay, Captain Ma will follow up on this lead. Will your team be enough?" Unlike before, Jiang Yuan is now the person in charge and themander of the special case group. He can make decisions on personnel assignments with a single word, and only needs to prepare a meeting record for Yu Wenshu afterwards. Ma Jiyang thought for a moment and then agreed: "A small-scale check should be enough." Ma Jiyang¡¯s team has over thirty members. It¡¯s definitely not enough for arge-scale investigation, and somewhat limited for extensive visits. This also indicates that Jiang Yuan is not very optimistic about this lead, hence the slightly smaller investment. Of course, Jiang Yuan used a question, so if Ma Jiyang is willing to take on more responsibility, he can naturally ask for more manpower. Therger the responsibility, the greater the capacity... However, Ma Jiyang did not put forward any request. Visiting ex-offenders has its advantages as well as drawbacks. At the very least, ex-offenders have much stronger counter-surveince capabilities. Whether or not they can uncover anything often depends on the police officer¡¯s skills, so simply increasing manpower doesn¡¯t necessarily improve the chances of sess. "What about us?" Cao Chujun, the captain of the third team, asked. He was one of the earliest captains from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to work with Jiang Yuan, but because he¡¯s older, Yu Wenshu seldom assigned him to Jiang Yuan¡¯s team. Cao Chujun has been involved in the case from early on and has followed it all the way, and he does not want Jiang Yuan to be concerned about his age, so he took the initiative to ask. Jiang Yuan thought for a while, then said, "I personally prefer to wait a bit. From the current evidence, I think we can adjust the time of death, which was previously 28 to 42 days. Taking the date the body was found as a basis, that would be 8 to 22 days before the body was discovered. In my judgment, 10 to 14 days should suffice." Not just Cao Chujun, but all the detectives present were evidently intrigued. If the window for time of death is this narrow, the difficulty of many investigations would decrease exponentially. Of course, if the estimation of the time of death is wrong, then Jiang Yuan would definitely have to take the me, not to mention the embarrassment of being wrong. Everyone became serious. Cao Chujun said: "Actually, we don¡¯t need to be strict to within 4 days. Since the case has been dragged on to this point, being urate to within a week is already quite good." "Many fly samples were found at the scene, and the variation in species actually aids in determining the time of death." Jiang Yuan paused here, then continued, "Continue other directions of the investigation. For the third team, I think we can try to search for a kitchen knife." "A kitchen knife?" Jiang Yuan nodded: "The killer used a kitchen knife to dismember the body, and did it so meticulously that the knife¡¯s edge is likely rolled by now. That¡¯s only because the dposition of the body was significant. Otherwise, it should be evident from the wounds... All in all, the killer¡¯s kitchen knife in the house is likely rolled, there is a certain probability that they¡¯ll need to buy a new one." Cao Chujun hesitated, then said: "Currently, purchasing kitchen knives in our city does not require registration." "Start with online purchases then. We¡¯re not trying to find the person directly, let¡¯s first make a list. If there¡¯s any ovep with other investigative directions, we can visit them." Jiang Yuan said and then added, "Continuously dismembering and disposing of bodies must be exhausting, and given the perpetrator is likely male, they may very well resort to online shopping." Cao Chujun agreed. Ma Jiyang simply chuckled: "I just wonder what it feels like to cook in a kitchen where you¡¯ve just dismembered a body!" Chapter 1033 - 966: Battle Lines

Chapter 1033: Chapter 966: Battle Lines

Inside the office building of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, the lights had not gone out all night. Although Jiang Yuan did not urge them on, the detectives of the detachment were self-motivated. Now that they had invited Jiang Yuan over, if they didn¡¯t work hard, the detachment itself might be the next to be "sold". The next day, Yu Wenshu also arrived very early. Just as he settled into his office and took a sip of tea, several captains knocked on the door and entered with feigned casualness. Yu Wenshu nodded in satisfaction. Although the Special Case Team was under Jiang Yuan¡¯s charge, Yu Wenshu still needed to control the overall situation. His rtionship with Jiang Yuan was like that of a producer and a director: the producer handles the finances, sets up the operations, and integrates resources, but when ites to the specific operational aspects and the use of these resources, the director is the most important. "How¡¯s the situation? You all seem to be in good spirits," Yu Wenshu said as he took his seat on the visitor¡¯s sofa. The captains took their respective seats. The captain of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade couldn¡¯t wait to say, "We have indeed made a discovery!" "Oh? Let¡¯s hear it," Yu Wenshu brightened up with enthusiasm. Image Investigation is gaining more and more attention because it truly can solve cases. The images processed by Image Investigation often can rify the facts of a case, more than the swearing oaths of suspects or dense interrogation transcripts. If you can find surveince videos or any other kind of image evidence for a case, you¡¯re pretty much eight or nine out of ten on the way to cracking it. Abroad, there might bewyers thering about privacy, poisonous tree doctrines, exclusion of evidence, and so on. But that¡¯s not how it works domestically. In China, it¡¯s very rare for courts to exclude evidence, and furthermore, since judges decide the cases and prosecutors decide to initiate litigation, even evidence that needs to be excluded is seen by judges and prosecutors before being excluded. As a result, as long as the images truly contain information that proves the facts of the case, even if the judge excludes the evidence in court, the inclination toward the case is quite obvious. "ording to the revised time of death by Captain Jiang, we timed the vehicles that passed the body disposal site, and currently, four vehicles clearly exceeded the normal time limit. We have already started our investigation," the captain of the Image Investigation Brigade said with a smile, introducing this idea concerning the time limit. It sounds simple; it¡¯s just about setting a normal time between two points before and after the body disposal site, and then checking whether vehicles passing through these two points have significantly exceeded the time limit. Since there are no surveince videos at the body disposal site itself, but disposing of a body takes time¡ªeven if it¡¯s a two-person job, getting out of the car, walking to the riverside, navigating the riverbank, and then carrying body parts the size of watermelons back and forth would take at least a quarter of an hour. If one is slow or working alone, spending twenty minutes is the least one can expect. This provided a starting point for the Image Investigation Brigade¡¯s inquiry. But in reality, it¡¯s not that easy to execute, because it¡¯s not easy to find two appropriate points. The surveince cameras near the disposal site are few, and even fewer provide clear footage. Additionally, there are intersections in between, so in actuality, the calction involves more than just two points. However, by adopting this approach, the Image Investigation Brigade ultimately identified several suspect vehicles. Now all that remained was to pay a visit, ask why they took longer than usual, and inspect for any stains on the vehicles, which might lead them to the murderer. "Well done!" Yu Wenshu did not stint on his praise, apuding the efforts multiple times, soothing the Image Reconnaissance Brigade captain who had been up all night before turning to the others. "We¡¯ve also discovered something on our end," Wan Baoming hastened to say: "After tracing the fibers found on the victim, we identified three types of woven bags. One of them has concentrated sales in our Changyang City, and this particr kind is a coated product. Most of the bags we found had intact coating, so there¡¯s good reason to believe that these bags were used for the first or at most second time." "Can you track down the users?" Yu Wenshu was a bit surprised, as woven bags are verymon. Comparedly, if the murderer was carrying a body in an LV bag, it would be easier to investigate. Wan Baoming said, "Tracking down the users directly is not possible, but we¡¯ve now defined a scope. I think a visitation and inquiry, in conjunction with missing person information, could be worthwhile." "Good," Yu Wenshu nodded. Exactly how to proceed would be for Jiang Yuan¡¯an to arrangeter; Yu Wenshu was just getting an update on the progress. Following this, Ma Jiyang¡¯s Criminal Records Team and Cao Chujun¡¯s Knife Team also reported their findings. Yu Wenshu listened and nodded repeatedly, and when everyone had finished, he remarked with some surprise, "All these leads you¡¯ve got seem quite promising." "Yes, the current trends are all quite positive," the group seemed to realize this as well. "Multiple fronts advancing together... alright, that¡¯s also good. Worthy of a team led by Jiang Yuan. Fine, as long as Jiang Yuan¡¯s Special Case Team can keep moving forward, I support it." Yu Wenshu¡¯s words brought relief to everyone present. After hearing each other, Ma Jiyang smiled and said, "Before, we always worried about ack of clues; now we have so many progressing clues that we¡¯re somewhat at a loss." Ordinarily, for a special case team to solve a case, no matter how many ideas or leads are proposed, if even one or two can be pursued without reaching a dead-end, they would be grateful. Most special case teams follow a lead until they realize they can¡¯t pursue it any further, at which point they have to stop, and without new leads, take a brainstorming approach to figure out new leads and continue the investigation. They¡¯re waiting on leads rather than leads waiting on them. In the end, the key to whether a special case team can keep going is whether they have any leads. As long as there are leads, the current system ensures that homicide special case teams will continue operating persistently, no matter how difficult the pursuit is¡ªunless, of course, it involves politics. However, an abundance of leads is another kind of burden. Investigating every single lead means costs spiral upward rapidly. In more ordinary homicide cases, it¡¯smon to discard some leads and focus on the most promising. This is what Captain Ma and the others were worried about. If they start to downsize, their type of door-to-door inquiries would certainly be the first to be cut. Yu Wenshu did not make such a decision, in part because he didn¡¯t want to interfere with Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, and also because this case involved dismemberment. Usually, dismemberment cases tend to have fewer clues. An abundance of leads is rare and considered a rarity. Moreover, there is still some distance to go before the case is solved; penny-pinching is not a priority, at least not in this kind of case. "Alright, everyone back to work, I¡¯m waiting for your good news," Yu Wenshu said as he stood up and showed the captains out. Once outside, the captains exchanged nces, their expressions turning serious. No matter how many fronts are opened up, at the decisive moment of solving the case, only one front can achieve the breakthrough! Chapter 1034 - 967: A Quick Glance

Chapter 1034: Chapter 967: A Quick nce

9:30 AM. Jiang Yuan arrived at the office of the Criminal Police Brigade. These past two days, he had been busy with insects, which had left him quite exhausted. It was a good opportunity to tidy up his small house in Changyang City and rest a bit. After all, he had alreadypleted his work as a forensic doctor. The uing investigative progress would inevitably take some time. Jiang Yuan had just settled down when several chiefs rushed into the room, each eager to speak first. "Captain Jiang, we are currently tracking six vehicles. Four of them have no issues, and the other two are still under investigation," the Chief of Image Investigation spoke up first. Jiang Yuan smiled and did not respond to him directly, instead asking, "Are you all keeping an eye on me? What do you want?" This line stopped the others who were about to speak. Since the Chief of Image Investigation had already spoken, he immediately replied, "Actually, we do have some images that need enhancement..." "Bring them here; let me have a look," Jiang Yuan prioritized addressing the person who had raised the issue, disregarding the others. The Chief of Image Investigation quickly took out hisptop, opened it, showed several images to Jiang Yuan, and continued, "This vehicle took the most secluded route, and it passed through Yunji Road. Normally, it should have taken L¨¹zhong Road, but then it appeared on Maishan Road, making a triangr route, which raises its suspicion." Jiang Yuan looked down at the images, and saw in the blurry videos only a van, whose specific model was hardly distinguishable ¡ª a ssic performance of an old camera at nighttime. Changyang City was an early adopter of security cameras, starting to install various surveince devices at major intersections about 20 years ago. By now, along with the renewal of the city interface, not only the cameras but also the surveince systems had gone through several generations. However, secluded areas could not enjoy such benefits. Most obscure streets in the city had cameras installed during one overhaul of the surveince system and then were used for a decade without change, reced only if broken. The camera on Maishan Road, which Jiang Yuan was viewing now, was likely installed at least seven or eight years ago. Given the technology level at that time, its video resolution and other specifications were limited, making it normal for the night footage to be unclear. After a brief look, Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Video enhancement can be done; let¡¯s aim for this afternoon. It should be ready by then." "That would be great; with Captain Jiang¡¯s support, we in the Image Investigation Brigade can rest assured!" the Chief of Image Investigation gushed with overflowing emotional intelligence. Ma Jiyang disdainfully nced at him, waited for him to finish, then stepped forward and said, "Captain Jiang, as we interviewed former criminals, we havepiled a list. I was thinking, maybe we could cross-reference it with the lists from other lines of inquiry." "That¡¯s possible," Jiang Yuan immediately agreed. The other chiefs, whether willing or not, began summoning people to update the list. This case, for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, was considered a mid-level difficulty case, but for the Changyang City Bureau, it was already a major case of the year. The detectives in the special case group, too, were fully motivated to solve it. Before Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival, their spirits might not have been so high because the case was very challenging, and effort alone was not enough to solve it. The situation was indeed like that. Before Jiang Yuan readjusted the time of death, and confirmed the two urrences of disposing of the body, the case was practically at an impasse. The situation at that time, was like a patient with severe constipation, a thumb-thick door dted by force to two thumbs-width, but still unable to solve the problem. Only by breaking and removing the hard lumps outside could exerting force mean anything. Cao Chujun and others also made their reports, having their faces recognized, before standing up to begin their work for the day. All the teams perform paperwork and integrate on-site investigations. This is the mostmon investigation model in major cases nowadays: guided by technology, then dig deeper offline. In terms of domestic criminals, they are rtively simple, primarilycking the ability to form teams. In such cases, criminals proficient online often resemble white-cor criminals like Old American, with many possessing excellent technical skills, even surpassing the technicians employed by the police. However, these individuals have much weaker offline response capabilities. Conversely, many are savvy offline, skilled in dealing with police stations through physical confrontations; encountering a slightly more advanced technical police officer, they quickly get nailed with conclusive evidence, and once there¡¯s decisive evidence, an iron fist can easily crush them. Jiang Yuan stood up and paced around the office, then lit an agarwood incense, ced in front of his desk, and casually picked up the Manjushri Bodhisattva pendant he was wearing today, inviting everyone to enjoy the scent and gradually calm their minds. At this time, Wang Chuanxing organized the list of names from several fronts and asked, "Captain Jiang, should I print out the list, or send a digital version?" Jiang Yuan said, "The digital version is fine. Printing it would be too long." "Okay." While sending the file, Wang Chuanxing added, "They all created key suspect lists; those aren¡¯t too long if it¡¯s just focused lists." "Oh, they all made key lists, is this the style of Changyang City Bureau? "They must all be somewhat anxious," Wang Chuanxing understood the eagerness to achievemendable results. For criminal police encountering major cases, spending long nights, the emotional stress is immense, yet on the other hand, each year, the significant cases are few, and they represent rare opportunities. Police officers, unlike criminals, cannot choose when or the scale and severity of the cases they handle. Thus, encountering a major case is also a career opportunity for criminal police, especially one with prospects of being solved; everyone approaches it with the mindset of tackling a crucial examination. For some people at certain times, the urrence of a significant case could be a life-altering event equivalent to an important exam. If marriage is considered a woman¡¯s second rebirth, then a significant case is a criminal police officer¡¯s nth rebirth, akin to the first tadpole marathon race." This is also why so many bureaus are lining up to endure the pressure from Huang Qiangmin. In reality, it¡¯s only superficial suffering; after a brief period of pain, there follows prolonged happiness and joy. Jiang Yuan opened the file sent by Wang Chuanxing, only to see the densely packed names, along with gender, age, educational background, criminal record, and other information, along with lengthy remarks. Different brigades presented slightly different styles of documents, but overall, they all contained a substantial amount of information. Then, Jiang Yuan opened a focused suspect list, noting it contained even more information, many detailed with different colors to signify various levels of verification. Jiang Yuan quickly skimmed it, then opened a few more focused lists. Frankly, he supported this method of creating focused lists. The efforts on several fronts were actually progressing smoothly; it is now a process of nearingpletion. With bad luck, endless investigations might be needed, but with good luck, results coulde soon. But it doesn¡¯t matter, this case isn¡¯t particrly time-sensitive. The murderer has made it this way probably to evade the investigation, indicating a lower likelihood of fleeing. In this situation, a homicide from over a month ago could eptably take another month to investigate. And given the length of these lists, results must emerge within a month anyway. While Jiang Yuan thought this, he pulled out another list, ready to examine it closely, when the phone on his desk rang. Upon answering, he heard Yu Wenshu greet him and say, "Jiang Yuan, I saw the list of names you sent to my email. I just nced at it, but, there¡¯s a name that appears on three lists." Chapter 1035 - 968: Turning the Tables in a Hopeless Situation

Chapter 1035: Chapter 968: Turning the Tables in a Hopeless Situation

"How did I find the guy? Hahaha, literally just took a casual nce, matched it up in my head, and bam, the name just popped up. Xin Shengsi, such an umon surname, anyone who sees it would remember it, hahahahaha..." As soon as Yu Wenshu arrived at the conference room, a subordinate immediately asked him this key question. It tickled exactly where he itched, and he couldn¡¯t help but borate, bursting intoughter with his hands on his hips, taking a few sips of tea to cover up his glee, only tough again uncontrobly. A group of elite detectives, as if just realizing it, made expressions of sudden enlightenment and praised one after another: "Chief Yu always finds solutions in the most unexpected ces!" "A narrow escape from disaster!" "Just looking at the list you wouldn¡¯t notice, but cross-reference it, right!" "Photographic memory, this is truly a photographic memory!" At this moment, people kept reverting to Yu Wenshu¡¯s photographic memory as if they had one but forgot immediately. Yu Wenshu¡¯s expression went from a smile to an open, heartyugh. Everyone continued to express their admiration enthusiastically. Countless attempts had proven that this was the mostforting spot to scratch, so when that guestes again, just keep scratching right there. No need for blind attempts; when another masseuse discovers a new G-spot, everyone can just copy that. It¡¯s not about pressing a good spotte, but rather about not pressing the wrong spot. "The list of ex-convicts, the shopping records of kitchen knives, and the transaction records of woven bags, put them together, and Xin Shengsi, the truck driver, pops out. It took Chief Yu¡¯s precise observation." Huang Qiangmin learned the general process when he came upstairs,menting from the side, but he also made sure to acknowledge Jiang Yuan¡¯s contribution. If we¡¯re not talking about rank, then Yu Wenshu¡¯s role is pretty much equivalent to that of a clerk working on an Excel sheet for fifteen minutes. But he¡¯s the chief, so naturally, the achievement is different. Of course, Yu Wenshu doesn¡¯t hog all the glory. With the case cracked, there¡¯s obviously credit due to hismand, but for specific in-case guidance, there¡¯s little significance for a division chief like him. However, this case just fits Yu Wenshu¡¯s innate talent so perfectly that he couldn¡¯t resist showing off a bit. What? Already unted enough? Which Tsinghua University graduate doesn¡¯t chant ¡¯Tsinghua¡¯ three to five thousand times a year? "Where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" After basking in the joy for a good while, Yu Wenshu returned to reality, looking around. "He¡¯s here. I checked the car registered under Xin Shengsi¡¯s name, turns out it¡¯s a Wuling Hongguang van. Second-hand purchase." Jiang Yuan had only entered a few minutes earlier. He didn¡¯t need to do big image enhancement anymore, just picked a clearer frame from the existing footage, tweaked the image a bit, and though the license te wasn¡¯t clearly visible, the make and model matched. The number of stickers on the windshield and a specific damage mark on the rear door also matched. Ma Jiyang couldn¡¯t help saying, "This way, Mr. Xin Shengsi appears on all four lists." Jiang Yuan nodded, "Let¡¯s go arrest him at his home, and send another team to the clothing market. He regrly takes jobs there, there are plenty of warehouses around, as well as some break rooms and ¡¯firing chambers,¡¯ Xin Shengsi might have dismembered the body over there." "Yes," Ma Jiyang and the others responded with high spirits. Now, the case had made a huge breakthrough, and the remaining steps could be simplified to routine operations. What¡¯s there to hesitate about? Just charge in. Xin Shengsi obviously didn¡¯t anticipate such an ending. Or perhaps, even if he realized this was how things were going to be resolved, it was toote for him to change anything. Xin Shengsi was just an ordinary truck driver, like many who have had a criminal past, he found it extremely difficult to find work, as almost everypany hiring stated "must have no criminal record," even the cake shop he liked was no exception. Having no other choice, Xin Shengsi took the 3,000 yuan he earned in prison throughbor reform, along with the 40,000 yuan he had hidden from hisst crime, to buy a second-hand Wuling Hongguang and started his own transport business. The freight business isn¡¯t great these days, but it¡¯s not too bad either, especially in the clothing market, where there¡¯s often demand for moving goods. The shippers would often throw in a little extra on top of the transport charge, making it a bit more profitable than just the vehicle fee, and not as tough as moving house jobs. The only issue troubling Xin Shengsi was that he had a bit of a temper problem. In prison it was okay, surrounded by tough, strong fellow inmates, Xin Shengsi was considered one of the more even-tempered convicts. But at the clothing market, sometimes when ordered around by delicate young girls and after a few back-and-forths over the money, Xin Shengsi often couldn¡¯t help but lose his temper. But it worked pretty well, typically when he really got angry, the shippers would quiet down. His reputation might not have sounded great, but it was just that. Peoplee and go in the clothing market, there are permanent and big-time tenants with their own dedicated drivers. Those who hire casual drivers are usually small-time shippers. Some don¡¯t even stay in the market for a year before closing up shop and leaving, while the ever-growing army of livestreamers always provides Xin Shengsi with plenty of work. To top it off, those shippers who don¡¯t stay in the market but rent ces elsewhere, those folks have even less connection with the market and know even less about the truck drivers¡¯ affairs. They often don¡¯t mind at all. Xin Shengsi licked his lips. He had recently consciously reigned in his temper and unexpectedly gained two long-term customers, and he was starting to feel like things were picking up. Could it be, one needs to have a blood-rush to experience great fortune? Humming a tune, Xin Shengsi swayed as he parked the van downstairs. Snap. Xin Shengsi didn¡¯t rush out of the car but instead lit up a cigarette, nning to finish it before heading upstairs. Squeak... Xin Shengsi rolled down the car window. The moment the ss vanished, a long and forceful arm, like a monkey stealing peaches, silently stretched up from below and grabbed Xin Shengsi¡¯s neck. Just after taking a drag of his cigarette, unable to exhale, Xin Shengsi suddenly felt unbearably choked and immediately panicked. "Mmm..." Xin Shengsi couldn¡¯t make a sound, managing only to flip his hand and press the burning cigarette butt onto the thick arm strangling his neck. The dark arm trembled, then continued its steady grip like Mount Tai, without tightening further. Both the strangled and the strangler knew that any further tightening could result in immediate death. "Police." The car door on the other side was pulled open, and the first thing the officer did was to pull out the car key. Following that, several officers rushed forward, hands and feet busy as they dragged Xin Shengsi out of the car. Xin Shengsi instinctively felt that something was off. Thest time he was arrested for theft, only three officers came; one held his neck, another cuffed his wrists, and the third officer just held a baton and watched without getting physical. The process of getting into the car was also different. Last time, under themand of the police, he walked to the car by himself. This time, the officers didn¡¯t offer such an option but rather lifted him out of the car. Xin Shengsi¡¯s weight that morning was 75 kilograms, a full 150 pounds. It was quite heavy even for three people to lift, but the officers did so willingly. The arm around Xin Shengsi¡¯s neck released, and he took a deep breath, but felt even weaker. "What¡¯s your name?" A somewhat familiar question came. Xin Shengsi remained silent. He had answeredst time, and ended up getting his head pushed down. "What¡¯s your name?" The arresting officer asked again. Seeing that Xin Shengsi still wasn¡¯t responding, they lifted his head, took a photo, and then took his fingerprints on the spot for aparison check on the police device. "We¡¯ll take your blood for a DNA test back at the station, to ensure we get your name right." The criminal police in charge said, looking up towards the direction of the squadronmander. Ma Jiyang slightly shook his head. Those who wouldn¡¯t even give their name were considered the most obstinate among criminals; an immediate interrogation on site wasn¡¯t necessary now. But no matter what, it was good that they had caught the person. There were many directions the conviction could take, not to mention Jiang Yuan was involved. Whoosh. A Coaster drove into the parking lot, the door opened, and a line of technicians in whiteb coats stepped out briskly. All looking alert and lively, they paraded in front of Xin Shengsi, led by Jiang Yuan, before heading upstairs. The secondary crime scene, initially suspected to be the killer¡¯s home, was a dpidated apartment rented by Ma Jiyang near the clothing market, likely with decoration dating back 30 years; the torn-up cement floor and filthy white walls under the sunlight gave off the sense of a time reversed. Jiang Yuan nced at the floor and said, "The cement floor is rtively new, and all the stains are fresh. Something must have beenid on top before. Ask thendlord." The phone number was ready, and a local detective immediately made the call. Shortly after, they ryed, "It used to have linoleum flooring, like this." He had added thendlord on WeChat and asked for several photos of the inside of the room. Indeed, the whole room had been covered with linoleum flooring before, still unattractive, but now it was all stripped away, clearly for some special reason. Jiang Yuan nodded, then put on a head cover and gloves, and stepped in with shoe covers. "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll go first," Mu Zhiyang pulled Jiang Yuan back, drew his gun with a click, and entered with two other detectives. In such a small one-bedroom apartment, the only ces to hide could be under the bed, in the bathroom, and in the kitchen. However, in such small spaces, if there was a person hiding, resisting could easily result in injuries. Mu Zhiyang preferred to shoot to kill. "All clear." Mu Zhiyang checked around, then tucked the gun back into its holster. Jiang Yuan first entered the bathroom to inspect. The bathroom was unusually new, with white tilesid from bottom to top, and the toilet was stark white, the marks of use faint on the tank. Jiang Yuan sniffed, then turned to ask, "Compare it to the photo of the bathroom." The local detective hurriedly presented his phone, revealing the original bathroom had off-white tiles. "It¡¯s been remodeled." said a detective. "Makes it easier to preserve evidence inside," Jiang Yuan said indifferently. Judging by the level of renovation in this bathroom, it was either done by a novice, or the suspect himself, but it didn¡¯t matter. The greater the amount of work done, the easier it was to slip up. Chapter 1036 - 969: Peaceful Times

Chapter 1036: Chapter 969: Peaceful Times

"Get some Luminal ready." Jiang Yuan turned his head and gave an order, then had people take more and more photos of the bathroom, before three people squeezed into the small space, each marking off an area to start their search. Jiang Yuan only bent down to examine the washbasin and the floor drain, swept through a few nooks and crannies, and then backed out. Following that, someone from the Changyang Bureau¡¯s crime scene investigators entered to supplement the work. When he was a rookie handling cases, he and Wang Zhong would spend hours swabbing a bathroom with cotton buds for a secondary inspection. Now, as he leads a Coaster¡¯s scene investigation, the suspects¡¯ residences aren¡¯t evenrge enough for everyone to have a room to themselves; the idea of one person per bathroom is unheard of, and requirespetition for the role. Compared to the suspects¡¯ spacious bathrooms during Jiang Yuan¡¯s rookie days, now the criminals, all suspects, only have tiny dwellings to rent. If the rooms were any smaller, they wouldn¡¯t even be able toy out a body, let alone dismember one. It could be said that this room was an economical and practical dismemberment space. Any smaller or shared housing would make dismemberment impossible. In today¡¯s cities, densely monitored by CCTV, a person, especially a man, who cannot afford a room with a private bathroom, does not qualify to dismember bodies, or more broadly speaking, has no qualification to premeditate murder! "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve found bags identical to the ones used." A technician searching the bedroom said, pulling out woven bags filled with more bags from under the bed. "Are these the kind with a coated surface?" Jiang Yuan recognized them with just a nce. "Yes, judging by the remaining quantity, it should be around two hundred. It is very likely that these are from the same batch as the bags used to dispose of the body. We can take them back for testing," the technician exined. "Did you find any bags from other manufacturers?" Jiang Yuan asked. The technician shook his head: "No, just this one type." Mu Zhiyangmented from the side: "The suspect drives a truck, and he brought these for transporting goods. Logically speaking, buying so many at once, there¡¯s no need to buy from two or three manufacturers." "Makes sense." Jiang Yuan agreed, a deduction that only required a bare minimum of logic. The other two types of bags were probably obtained from the victims by the suspect. Disposing of the body twice means having to transport it twice, and the bags used for the first disposal cannot simply be discarded. Regardless of whether the body was dismembered during the first disposal ¨C a fact that many who haven¡¯t killed don¡¯t know ¨C besides blood, the human body can ooze various other fluids and semi-fluids once muscle activity ceases. Thus, the phrase "covered in filth" powerfully describes the loss of bodily control upon death. "Has the suspect given any statements?" Jiang Yuan casually asked. Some suspects, after calming down in the police car for a while,e to their senses. Wang Chuanxing came over and said, "I just followed up on it, the suspect is keeping tight-lipped. However, Captain Cao has taken the Technical Investigation to the residential area suspected to be the first crime scene. The suspect¡¯s phone records show he stayed in that area for nearly eight hoursst month. Additionally, a team has also headed to the warehouse district of the clothing wholesale market." "Good." Jiang Yuan nodded, his expression rxed. Although there¡¯s no concrete direct evidence yet, the information collected from various sources is already plentiful. Now it¡¯s a matter of seeing which lead strikes first. Soon, the technician reported again: "Captain Jiang, we are ready to spray Luminal." This stuff is best viewed inplete darkness, so essentially, the technician¡¯s meaning was that he¡¯s going to shut everyone in a pitch-ck room. Jiang Yuan gave his permission. The officers started meticulously spraying Luminal, then quickly drew the curtains. Nowadays, police generally don¡¯t use Luminal; after all, it¡¯s a solution that needs to be freshly prepared with even ready-to-use Luminal "concentrate," which still requires carbonated soda and hydrogen peroxide. And since it involves preparation, care must be taken with measuring cylinders and sks, which often amount to a whole box¡¯s worth of materials. Compared to that, crime scene investigators currently prefer to use multispectral light sources, various examination lights which Huang Qiangmin came to afford only recently, that can be tuned to different wavelengths where different bodily fluids, or fluids, will fluoresce under different light sources. For instance, seminal fluid will emit an orange fluorescence when exposed to visible light with wavelengths between 430 to 470 nanometers. All of these are based on the principle of cold luminescence, just like glow sticks waved at concerts. However, examining crime scenes with multispectral light sources has certain requirements for the target quantity and isparatively time-sensitive. Simply put, substances like semen, if too little is present or too much time has passed, could potentially be missed. Luminal is different, as it can reveal bodily fluids that are several years old, with a single droplet being sufficient. The bathroom was pitch-dark, and not a trace of blue light emerged, indicating that the bathroom fittings indeed yed a role. But surprisingly, yet unsurprisingly, the kitchen emitted a faint gleam. "It looks like blood or something spilled on the floor," the technicians said while taking photographs and conversing. "It¡¯s like a piece of pork belly dropped on the floor," Mu Zhiyangmented, joining them with a daily work-style social smile typical of office workers. "It does look a bit like that." Jiang Yuan came over, sized up the scene, and said, "It¡¯s possible that the murderer, finding it difficult to operate in the bathroom, brought some of the fattier parts here to work on, and dropped them on the floor. Because fat on the de makes it duller." The forensic doctor present also said, "It¡¯s possible. Maybe fatty tissue fell on the floor like this, and since there wasn¡¯t much blood, the murderer might not have cleaned it up well, maybe even forgotten about it?" Mu Zhiyang¡¯s office-worker-style casual work smile had already faded, and he spected with the everyday thinking of a non-forensic worker, "Perhaps he thought that since there¡¯s meat and blood in the kitchen normally, it wouldn¡¯t need special concealment." "Just run a DNA test," said the forensic doctor squatting down to take a sample. Jiang Yuan watched the entire process with his hands tied, so to speak. His crime scene investigation skills were already quite advanced, but to be honest, such high-level expertise wasn¡¯t really needed at this crime scene. A group of people busilypleted the sampling and then returned to the bathroom to check the situation, signaling, "Go ahead and chisel off the renovation." The technicians in the bathroom stepped out, and Shen Yaowei entered with a sledgehammer, followed by three people filming him with a camera. Thud. Crack crack. Thud. Crack crack. Those shooting videos did their filming, those taking photos snapped away, and there were curious onlookers peeking in from outside the door. "Put your back into it!" "Go for it, give it your all!" "Bro, Captain Jiang is waiting for lunch." Everyone, wearing white coats, stic caps, and rubber gloves, enthusiastically cheered on Shen Yaowei as he wielded the sledgehammer. The limited space in the bathroom meant this was the only way they could help their brother out. "Wipe the sweat." Shen Yaowei stretched out his head since he couldn¡¯t allow the sweat to drip onto the floor; they still needed to spray Luminalter on. The detectives chose the ugliest among them to go and wipe Shen Yaowei¡¯s forehead with a piece of paper towel. "Bring on the chisel." After smashing a tile, others came over to assist, starting to carefully remove the underlying cementyer. Summing up his energy, Shen Yaowei continued to work vigorously. Finally, beneath therge spread of tiles and cement, a portion of the old decoration was exposed. It seemed that the suspect had originally intended topletely smash the old decoration before applying the new, but he clearly underestimated the workload of this project. As a result, only part of the old decoration was destroyed, and the final renovation was carried out on top of the damaged decor. Even so, it would have probably kept Xin Shengsi busy for an entire month. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan said without waiting for thepletion, "Spray some Luminal and see." Shen Yaowei quickly stepped out. The technician took a small sprayer and hissed it all over, then turned off the lights and drew the curtains, revealing specks of blue light already appearing. "Ha-ha, just as expected, they¡¯re all underneath." The police officers present started to get excited. The detection rate of Luminal is one in a million. Something like blood stains, no matter how thoroughly wiped off, are futile to conceal, even with many chemical reagents. While the suspect¡¯s decision to go for a new renovation was clever, in this case, it served to preserve evidence instead. Jiang Yuan immediately ordered the sampling. During his break, Shen Yaowei quietly messaged his elder cousin: [Captain Jiang has rewarded me with merits again today, it feels quite awkward.] [What¡¯s the situation?] Shen Yaoguo, the head of Changyang City Public Security Detachment, replied instantly. Shen Yaowei narrated his recent activities and added: [If someone didn¡¯t know better, they¡¯d think I¡¯ve given him a great gift. He¡¯s really looking out for me.] [Don¡¯t be silly, it really is so. Let me think...] Shen Yaoguo¡¯s WeChat message flickered before inputting more content: [Jiang Yuan seems dissatisfied with the public safety environment around Jiangcun Residential Area; there was even a dedicated report on it before.] Shen Yaowei¡¯s eyes lit up: [Right, right, right, Captain Jiang was quite concerned about that... Captain Liu even handled a few cases there to deter crime. Could he be favoring me because of that reason?] Shen Yaoguo: [Don¡¯t overthink it. It must be so! You joined the Changyang Bureau carrying a name that shares the ¡¯Yao¡¯ generational marker, y acting as if you don¡¯t know now.] Shen Yaowei smiled self-consciously: [That¡¯s true, it can¡¯t just be because I¡¯m a good shot.] Shen Yaoguo: [That¡¯s why I said, you should learn some skills, but instead, you went to practice shooting. Anyway, I¡¯d better hurry and prepare. The crime rate in various other counties has decreased recently, highlighting issues with public order instead.] Shen Yaowei: [What are you nning to do?] Shen Yaoguo: [A public safety crackdown. There¡¯s an existing temte specifically for these urban-rural fringe areas. Jiangcun Residential Area has always been a problem area for public safety in Ningtai County. I¡¯ll take a detachment over to help them out, give them a thorough going-over. Ideally, we¡¯ll plow it to the very bottom, dredging up all the muck. Those getting into fights, racing in the wee hours, we¡¯ll make sure they¡¯re caught red-handed!]] Chapter 1037 - 970: The Sparrow’s Message

Chapter 1037: Chapter 970: The Sparrow¡¯s Message

A sparrow, flying over the Tai River, over the shrubbery, past the guardrails of Jiangcun Residential Area, lightlynded on the branch of arge tree. With a curious gaze, it looked down upon a group of humans below. Several peopley on the ground, faces pressed to the earth, firmly pinned down by another group, like pitiful mice under the talons of an eagle, their eyes clear, gasping continuously, both innocent and desperate. The sparrow took flight, deliberately soaring over the heads of these people before flying on. Not long after, it watched as a few humans were squeezed into rabbit-like shapes by their own kind. The sparrow shivered and felt the humans below were nothing but noise. It continued to fly and saw many humans marching in neat steps along the main road, with people constantly gathering around them, then dispersing,ing together again, and dispersing once more. asionally someone would start running, and asionally, someone would be pressed against the ground and rubbed. Hiss... A jeep drove by, emitting a screeching friction sound. Shen Yaoguo stepped on the car door, flipping out of the vehicle with style. This move, he had practiced for an entire afternoon when he first started working, falling seven or eight times before he learned it. And on his first time driving to pick up his girlfriend for a date, he sessfully performed it and thereby achieved their first handhold. Although, the grown-up Shen Yaoguo knew that the jeep was the star that day, he simply fell in love with driving jeeps all the more. "Officer Shen." The policeman by the road saluted Shen Yaoguo. "Keep up the good work." Shen Yaoguo nodded amiably. This round he was at the grassroots in a white shirt, and in Ningtai County, a ce booming with development, he naturally wanted to put on a good performance. Wu Junhao¡¯s standard running motion approached to salute: "Officer Shen, my team is in pursuit of suspects." "Oh, how goes it?" Shen Yaoguo asked casually. Wu Junhao chuckled and said, "9 suspects, fleeing on foot, have captured 6, pursuing the remaining three on foot." Seeing Wu Junhao¡¯s confident demeanor, Shen Yaoguo asked, "Can you catch them?" "No problem." Wu Junhao puffed out his chest, then smiled and said, "Just ran a five-kilometer stretch, I¡¯ll pull them together, consider it a drill." Shen Yaoguo didn¡¯t know Wu Junhao very well, but through his cousin, Shen Yaowei, he was aware of him. Slightly frowning, he said, "You chased for five kilometers?" "Yes." "What case?" "Just a few little rascals, cheating and eating, stealing chickens and dogs." Wu Junhao spoke quite vaguely. Shen Yaoguo understood immediately, "Street thugs? Are they organized?" "No, just a bunch of kids messing around together." "We must also be vignt against this kind of thing¡ªthe formation of juvenile gangs organized on their own, full of vitality..." Shen Yaoguo recalled his early days at work and said, "Back then, the ministry organized a special operation targeting juvenile groups nationwide. Those young people imitating gangsters posed a significant hidden danger to local public security!" "Yes, we¡¯re keeping an eye on that." Wu Junhao quickly responded, then added, "These few probably haven¡¯t reached that extent yet. I¡¯ll give them a good training¡ªchase them for another five kilometers, then haul them back to wake them up." The total amount these young people stole by petty theft is already enough for criminal charges. In fact, these multiple thefts are somewhat worse than a single theft of arge amount, especially considering they weremitted in collusion. If truly calcted, they all warrant some time in prison. However, these types of young people are quite difficult to catch. Not only do theyck a fixed residence, but their actions are also very unfettered. This time, Wu Junhao still had to make a call to lure out these people¡¯s location¡ªthey were all hiding and sleeping in a rental house together, nine of them in one that an extended family member had vacated temporarily. Under normal circumstances, to process the cases of these nine individuals would require the workload of three or four police officers over three or four days, and it still might not be possible to collect all the evidence clearly. Fortunately, with the intervention of the public security brigade, the newly established patrol and explosives disposal squad led by Wu Junhao didn¡¯t need to get deeply involved in handling the case. The follow-up would be handed over to the public security team of Ningtai County, with the guidance of higher-level departments, making things rtively more convenient. With officers in white shirts watching, Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t spend too long training troops. He spoke through the walkie-talkie, and after a while, he saw several exhausted young men being dragged back. "Okay, carry on with your work." Shen Yaoguo turned to jump back into the jeep, looking dashing driving away. Behind him, the photographers who finished taking pictures also packed up their gear and returned. The jeep drove on and then turned into Jiangcun Residential Area. Inside the residential area, flowers and grass were lush, and the scent of cooking meat was in the air. "Brother, you¡¯re back." Shen Yaowei came over to take the car keys when he saw Shen Yaoguo getting out of the car with things, and he hurriedly offered to help. "Stop it, your arm is injured. People who don¡¯t know better might think you¡¯ve been on the front lines." Shen Yaoguo used to often educate his younger cousin, so he was somewhat used to this. "That really was like being on the front lines." Shen Yaowei chuckled: "Mu Zhiyang carries a gun with him. The suspect is a dismemberment maniac." "Right. How was the first crime scene? Was evidence collection smooth? How¡¯s Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood?" Shen Yaowei asked a stream of questions, thest being the most important. "The first crime scene was in the victim¡¯s own home. The victim was a girl who did livestreaming at home, and her room was cluttered with goods, with only some space in the area where she broadcasted and the bathroom." Shen Yaowei gestured with his hand, then continued: "The killer was a vendor from the clothing market, delivering goods to the girl. After arriving, they had a dispute over the handling, which then escted to murder." Shen Yaowei also sighed as he recounted, then said: "The evidence was all ready at hand. The elevator surveince video in the residential area is stored for a long time, so we could find records of the killer entering and leaving on the day of the incident. To make the move easier, he dismembered the victim intorge pieces on the spot where she normally did her livestreams, packed them into woven bags, then intorge corrugated boxes, carried them to his car, took them back to his residence, and cut them up again before disposing of the body." Shen Yaowei: "The victim¡¯s home wasn¡¯t cleaned very thoroughly, just cleared on the surface, but when we collected samples, we were able to get traces of blood, and with the surveince footage, timestamps, records of vehicle entries and exits, we basically cleared up the timeline." Shen Yaowei: "Captain Jiang, of course, was happy. Solving the case is grounds for joy." Shen Yaoguo wanted to hear just that andughed heartily, saying: "That¡¯s good that Captain Jiang is happy. By the way, why did he need to cut the body into such small pieces? Couldn¡¯t he just dispose of it inrge pieces?" Shen Yaowei exined: "Therge pieces are very heavy; they can only be dumped by the roadside or thrown off bridges into the water. The murderer, who runs on the roads every day, knew the bridges were all under surveince, but he still wanted to throw the body into the water, so he cut it into smaller chunks, packed them into woven bags, and dumped them into the water." Shen Yaowei said, shaking his head: "Later when it rained and the water rose, they all washed up to shore." "I see..." Shen Yaoguo mused for a moment: "Captain Jiang drinks, doesn¡¯t he? What are the drinking customs in Jiang Vige?" Chapter 1038 - 971: Love on Both Sides of the Tai River

Chapter 1038: Chapter 971: Love on Both Sides of the Tai River

Shen Yaoguo stayed in Ningtai County for two days, enjoying several meals with Jiang Yuan before packing up and preparing to go home. Shen Yaowei helped with the luggage, sending Shen Yaoguo out the door. As they walked, Shen Yaoguo advised, "The atmosphere in your Cold Case Squad is quite good. Everyone has a bright future with little infighting. It¡¯s good as it is. Try to invite your colleagues for meals or buy cigarettes regrly. Spend your sry and don¡¯t be too stingy. If it¡¯s not enough, just ask your parents for more." "As an adult, it feels a bit awkward to ask my parents for money..." Shen Yaowei said, slightly embarrassed. "If you feel awkward, I can say it for you," Shen Yaoguo nced at him and continued, "If you want to be an official, don¡¯t dream of bing rich. Understand? Only by spending all your money do you qualify to be an official." "Then I¡¯ll say it myself." Shen Yaowei said with augh, "It¡¯s embarrassing, but I often ask for money anyway." "Right, look at Captain Jiang. Doesn¡¯t he eat and drink at home, stay in his family¡¯s house, and serve you all with meat cooked by his father?" Shen Yaowei quickly looked around: "Bro, that¡¯s not something we should talk about." "Mm-hmm..." Shen Yaoguoughed, then changed the topic, "Alright, I¡¯m going to stop by the neighboring city for a stroll. Since the public security rectification campaign has started, we can¡¯t y favorites." With that, Shen Yaoguo climbed into his beloved jeep, put on his sunsses, and drove off personally. Compared to sports convertibles, the convertible jeep looked much more low-key, yet the wind blowing from both sides felt the same. The apanying police cars included Passats and Iveco, all top-of-the-line vehicles from recent years. Shen Yaoguo¡¯s visit was mainly for scrutinizing and enhancing the police force of the Ningtai County Bureau, essentially bolstering Ningtai County¡¯sw enforcement using the forces from Changyang City Bureau and Ningtai County Bureau for a major clean-up at the urban-rural interface. The county leaders specially escorted Shen Yaoguo to the county border. Shen Yaoguo¡¯s convoy headed east and soon arrived at Jianjiang City, where another convoy awaited by the roadside. Shen Yaoguo stopped the car, skillfully jumped out of the door, and was immediately greeted with apuse. "Shen shows great agility!" those from Jianjiang Municipal Bureau cheered in coordination. Shen Yaoguoughed heartily and greeted everyone, exchanging pleasantries before talking about Jiang Yuan. In a setting where not everyone was familiar with each other, mentioning a mutual acquaintance like Jiang Yuan was a great way to engage in conversation. Zheng Ao, head of the public security squad in Jianjiang, had limited interactions with Jiang Yuan, but being in Lin City, he almost heard legends about Jiang Yuan every week at dinner tables, making him well-versed in the topic. These days, in an ordinary prefecture-level city, it might take several years to encounter a premeditated, challenging, and noteworthy murder case, but Jiang Yuan often handled such cases ¡ª which were weirdly resolved quicker than those dealt with by teams dedicated to major significant cases. By now, within Shannan Province, there was a general consensus on Jiang Yuan from the perspective of case-solving. Hence, although Shen Yaoguo and Zheng Ao both worked in public security, they found plenty to discuss about Jiang Yuan. As the conversation continued, they felt increasingly like-minded. As veteran and shrewd... no, deeply worldly police officers, such an interaction was quite rare for them. With a p on his thigh, Zheng Ao eximed, "Shen, you can¡¯t leave tonight..." ... The next day. Bright and early, Zheng Ao excitedly woke Shen Yaoguo with a phone call, saying, "Yaoguo,e see Jiang Yuan." Jiang Yuan seemed like a link between the two, so Shen Yaoguo responded with a smile, asking, "Has Jiang Yuane to Qingyuan City?" "Across the street. Freshen up, and I¡¯lle to pick you up," Zheng Ao said, hanging up the phone. Shortly after, Zheng Ao arrived in his Passat to pick him up. "Where are we going?" Shen Yaoguo asked, buckling his seat belt. "To Taihe," answered Zheng Ao as he started the car. In just a few words, the winding and lovely Tai River came into view. At the same time, several conspicuous cordon tapes, pulled from one side of the road,pletely sealed off a section along the river. "Is there a case? Did Jiang Yuane over?" Shen Yaoguo eximed in surprise. "Jiang Yuan is on the opposite side." Zheng Ao parked the car, then led Shen Yaoguo past the cordon tape, and walked a long distance forward, where they saw an increasing number of police gathering. By the river, there were at least tworge teams of people, staring solemnly at the center of the river. Looking up, there were also many police gathering on the other side of the river. "Jiang Yuan is over there." Zheng Ao pointed. Shen Yaoguo looked over, and indeed, Jiang Yuan was on the opposite side of the river, but the distance of over a hundred meters made it hard to see clearly. Shen Yaoguo followed everyone¡¯s gaze, and saw that their focus was on a floating corpse in the water. The corpse was facing upwards, its face swollen from soaking, bobbing up and down, swaying unsteadily... Shen Yaoguo immediately understood: "Is this the boundary line between your two cities?" "Yes, if the body drifts to the opposite side, it belongs to Qinghe City; if it drifts this side, it belongs to our Jianjiang City." Zheng Ao whispered, "Qinghe City has set up the Taihe Working Group, and our Jianjiang hasn¡¯t joined yet, so if the floating corpse drifts to the opposite bank, Jiang Yuan will handle it." "If it drifts to this side, then the case belongs to Jianjiang City?" Shen Yaoguo interpreted, "Then Jiang Yuan is pretty proactive,ing over and waiting, with a fifty percent chance it could be in vain." The floating corpse drifted downstream, swaying left and right, seemingly indecisive about where to go. People on the bank followed the body, and from a distance, some were moving the cordon lines. Zheng Ao shook his head, saying, "If it drifts to our side, Jiang Yuan will still handle it, but since we haven¡¯t joined the Taihe Working Group, we will have to spend a lot of money." "Ah? You won¡¯t handle it yourselves?" Shen Yaoguo was surprised. Zheng Ao chuckled, "Thebined harvester hase right to our doorstep, we can¡¯t just use a sickle to save money and do it ourselves." Shen Yaoguo realized and nodded repeatedly, "You¡¯ve thought this through well." "No need to think." Zheng Ao mockingly pursed his lips, "Handle a few cases and see the expenses, then you¡¯ll understand naturally, and not be even worse off than country old-timers." "There are more people worse off than country old-timers. Hey... It¡¯s drifting over!" Shen Yaoguo pointed. Indeed, an undercurrent surged in the water, pushing the floating corpse toward the northern bank on Jianjiang City¡¯s side. "Ah..." Zheng Ao couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Shen Yaoguo looked at him curiously, "Aren¡¯t you from the Public Security Brigade?" Zheng Aoughed, "How much funding can the Criminal Police Team have, in the end, it still depends on the bureau to coordinate the funding. I hope Captain Jiang can handle this quickly..." Roar... The police from Qinghe City across the river cheered, many turning around and walking away. The floating corpse had now rushed onto the northern shore¡¯s beach. The detectives from Jianjiang City reluctantly got busy. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan and others also took a rubber dinghy, and drove over with a puttering sound. Chapter 1039 - 972: Featherweight Class

Chapter 1039: Chapter 972: Featherweight ss

"Get some young guys over here." Wu Zhisu, the head of the Jianjiang Municipal Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, waved his hand and stepped down to the shore himself, trying to step on the firm ground as he moved forward. Several young criminal police officers, all in brand-new clothes, hurried to follow. When they reached him, Wu Zhisu turned his head and saw: "Damn, what are you guys just standing there for? Hurry up and get over here." The criminal police officers standing in front exchanged nces, then pointed to their noses: "Didn¡¯t you just call for young guys..." "What¡¯s the matter, you¡¯re not a young guy anymore? Let me tell you, being a young guy isn¡¯t about whether you¡¯ve slept with a woman. Anyone under 35 is a young guy. Got it?" Wu Zhisu gestured with his hand: "Hurry up." Once the head of the brigade spoke, the criminal officers under the age of 35 had no choice but to jump down, run to the riverbank, put on their gloves, and look for equipment, ready to retrieve the body. Amid the chaos, someone said: "Commander Wu, there are still some young guys on the bank who haven¡¯te down." Wu Zhisu turned to look back, smiled, and said: "Deputy heads don¡¯t count as young guys." "You make so much sense!" The young guys were subdued. At that moment, Jiang Yuan, whom they were talking about, arrived at the location. "Hurry and help Captain Jiang." Wu Zhisu once again directed the young men into action. Several young guys around thirty years old stepped forward and helped twenty-five-year-old Jiang Yuan off the rubber dinghy. "Thanks a lot." Jiang Yuan said, as two young men supported him and helped him jump over the muddy ground. Simrly assisted by the young men in their thirties, Jiang Yuan put on his shoe covers. In the office, the skill of serving the leadership is not something you learn; as you age, it naturally bes part of your growth rings. "Shall we retrieve the body?" Out of respect, Wu Zhisu asked Jiang Yuan first. "Let¡¯s retrieve it. That... let¡¯s try our best not to damage the body," Jiang Yuan specifically reminded. It¡¯s not that such reminders are superfluous; messy body retrievals are not umon. In fact, in many ces, it¡¯s not the police who retrieve bodies but seemingly professional body retrieve teams. With these civilian organizations, you can forget about demanding the preservation of evidence or proper care for the body. Drowning cases are particrly difficult to solve, and this is one of the contributing factors. Wu Zhisu waved his hand, pointing to several older criminal police officers: "You older guys go retrieve it." What could the seasoned officers say? They simply cooperated with the Jianjiang City forensic doctor and bowed their heads to retrieve the body. They actually knew the reason for Wu Zhisu¡¯s request; more experienced criminal officers were more likely to protect the body. Otherwise, if a few novices were sent in, who knows what might happen... "Ugh..." A young officer, eyes gleaming and face full of cogen, looked at the body being pulled ashore, its shape somewhat distorted, clearing up and beginning to give off a smell, and suddenly could not hold back, sprinting away while vomit erupted from his mouth. "It¡¯s good it¡¯s not the primary crime scene." The forensic doctor from Jianjiang City shrugged his shoulders and continued to lift the body onto the stretcher. This was only because Jiang Yuan was present; ordinarily, they wouldn¡¯t bother with such trouble and would simply ce the body in a body bag. Jiang Yuan stepped forward to examine the scene. On the Tai River, the rubber dinghy¡¯s engine continued to rumble as it ferried people across. The second group toe ashore included Huang Qiangmin. "Commander Wu." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s teeth were somewhat yellow and crooked, giving him a feral appearance. "Cough... cough cough... cough... cough..." Wu Zhisu cleared his throat several times before he could speak smoothly,ughing, "Huang, aren¡¯t you afraid of making a wasted trip?" "Even if the body is found on the south bank, there still needs to be a leader in charge to direct the scene." Huang Qiangmin smiled, "We are just a small county town; we can¡¯tpare to your prefecture-level cities." "No no no, our Jianjiang City is at the bottom in Shannan Province, and currently, we can¡¯t evenpare to Ningtai County. Cough... damn, my throat is not holding up, we just handled a series of cases, I¡¯ve been running around for days without sleep..." Huang Qiangmin cut off Wu Zhisu¡¯s words, bringing the topic back: "No matter what, Jianjiang City is still better than Qinghe City. Our economic performance was at the bottomst year, and the senior leaders are furious..." Wu Zhisu quickly praised, "But the scale of your investment attraction is among the top in the province..." "That aspect is indeed... haha, because in terms of solving criminal cases, and public security management, we are indeed leading the province... If you, Wu¡¯s team, are willing to support us, that would be perfect." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s teeth danced in the air, flitting like moth wings, causing Wu Zhisu to feel dizzy. "Cough cough... The development of Ningtai County is obvious to all of us..." Wu Zhisu praised, not too smoothly, causing the surrounding criminal police to clench their toes, but Wu Zhisu persisted, no matter how hard, is it as tough as when there¡¯s funding? Is it as tough as staying up all night on surveince for seven days and nights? By this time, Jiang Yuan had alreadypleted the external examination of the body, stood up straightening his back, changed his gloves, washed his hands with river water, and then turned to Huang Qiangmin. He slowly took the two-colored Lord Guan pendant out of his pocket, lightly touched it, and then put his hand down. Huang Qiangmin was stunned, then looked at Jiang Yuan seriously for confirmation. Jiang Yuan nodded his head, touched Lord Guan once more, and then put it back into his pocket. Based on the previously agreed upon secret signal between them, touching Lord Guan meant there was a case, but the case was of the lowest priority. ording to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s interpretation, it was a case that could be resolved by praying to Lord Guan, and only needed to pray once. However, such a judgment was based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion. For any regr Criminal Police team, the difficulty of a case often does not change ording to one¡¯s will. The evidence and materials that Jiang Yuan could use, might not necessarily be usable by others. Especially some of the more forceful techniques that are incredibly powerful and valuable are differentiated among people. Such as DNA technology, although it is a forceful technique, it doesn¡¯t require too many tricks, a match means the end. There is also the Skull Restoration Skill, which has many technical nuances in itself, but oncepleted,bined with facial recognition, it can achieve a very strong breakthrough. Inparison, many traditional criminal police techniques, such as canvassing, investigation, or Sherlock Holmes-style reasoning, usually require the cooperation of others. Without rtively precise cooperation, these techniques will be difficult to apply. Without forceful techniques, one¡¯s words will not hold enough weight. On the contrary, Huang Qiangmin started to speak more fiercely. He nced at Jiang Yuan and asked loudly, "Jiang Yuan, is it a case? Or an unnatural death?" An unnatural death doesn¡¯t necessarily mean it¡¯s a criminal case; falling into the water identally, or drowning while swimming alone ¨C these are all unnatural deaths, but the police don¡¯t need to seek justice for these victims. Jiang Yuan calmly said, "Blunt force trauma to the back of the head, urred before death, it should be a case." "Could it be that he hit his head on a rock in the water, passed out, and then drowned?" A detective nearby asked. This is amon question in case discussions. When the criminal investigation team hasrge meetings, it¡¯s about following orders, but during smaller meetings, most teams are allowed to speak freely. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "The blunt force trauma is ante-mortem and also the cause of death. The victim didn¡¯t drown, this can be confirmed with an autopsy by examining the lungs. Moreover, the victim¡¯s head injury is a typical ante-mortem injury with bruising around the edges of the skin and pronounced bleeding." "So, it¡¯s confirmed to be a case." Huang Qiangmin looked at Wu Zhisu, smiled again, and said, "Wu, Jiang Yuan has finished the external examination, do you want to take over, or should Jiang Yuan continue?" Wu Zhisu quickly said, "Naturally, we hope that Jiang Yuan will continue." "Alright. Then you guys discuss it, we¡¯ll go to the autopsy room and wait." Saying this, Huang Qiangmin prepared to head back to the car. Wu Zhisu grabbed him in a hurry, then took him a bit further away, whispering, "We can just discuss it here. I see that the body¡¯s clothing and everything is present, the case might not be that difficult... Hear me out, my point is, for this case, I hope Jiang Yuan personally takes charge, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad involved, the quicker the better." "What do you mean?" "If you handle it well, it¡¯ll make it easier for me to persuade the leaders to let Jianjiang City join the Taihe Working Group, right." Wu Zhisu earnestly said, "Everyone knows how tough it is to deal with drowning cases, with so many unsolved cases, right? If you can handle it, I am willing to cooperate, but we need more tangible evidence, right?" A vision of the bicolor Guan Yu pendant shed through Huang Qiangmin¡¯s mind as he grinned at Wu Zhisu with a toothy smile, "Let¡¯s meet with your leaders then." Chapter 1040 - 973: Quick Wits

Chapter 1040: Chapter 973: Quick Wits

Corpses, like people, be uglier the more they go through. The body of one who has drowned bloats particrly quickly, just as one is soaked into society. It will swell up, it will dpose, it will be unbearably smelly, and it will no longer look human. Just like the body lying on the stainless steel table. Its small form could scare a peaceful face into insomnia. But under the dazzling knives, signatures, and electric saws, it finally bes tranquil. Jiang Yuan, along with two forensic doctors, two forensic assistants, and two videographers, dissected the entire body thoroughly in just over an hour. If you ask if all these people are necessary? To be thorough, it is actually better to have more hands. The workload of an autopsy is indeed substantial, as can be seen in those high-profile cases where, after being handed over to renowned experts, they often take more than a day to yield results. Because high-profile cases require an extra level of meticulousness, they naturally require extra time. For the bodies encountered in daily work, forensic doctors usually make preliminary assessments before conducting further investigations. A smart forensic doctor would take several additional samples for backup so that further examinations can continue if needed in the future. For those who areckadaisical orcking funds, there is no need for such trouble. In earlier years, many cases were such that forensic doctors would conduct on-spot inspections and autopsies, and then write their reports directly, without the need to take any samples, as there were no facilities for that. Even now, the core model remains the same. The autopsies expected by the general public might involvepleting all avable examinations, yet there are simply too many to perform, such as toxicological tests. There are countless poisons in the world, and it is impossible to test for each one individually. In the case of the poisoning of a gamepany¡¯s chairman, the murderer even established his own poisonb and tested hundreds of substances. Yet after the billionaire victim was dead for 9 days, the poison could not be identified. The level of detail in forensic examinations varies, as there is a physical limit to what three forensic doctors can examine; any more would be beyond their full capacity. With the addition of two forensic assistants, the efficiency is nearly at its peak. As for videographers, that could be considered a legal requirement, offering one main function, simr to a contraceptive; it¡¯s a regrettable necessity. "Alright, we¡¯re done here. Let¡¯s discuss," Jiang Yuan said as he took off his gloves to wash his hands, while the other two forensic doctors started to clean up. "The body is female. As far as we know, the deceased appears to have died before entering the water, which is clear from the examination of the heart and lungs. The cause of death was blunt force trauma caused by a stone, and more specifically, a rock from a mountain. Based on this, does it mean after the victim died, she was thrown into the river?" Wen Youchuan, the forensic doctor from Jianjiang City, summarized the main pathological findings first. Modern forensics research on wounding objects is very thorough. Blunt force injury may soundplicated, with numerous potential instruments like clubs, sticks, bricks, and stones, but it¡¯s like sorting through assorted items in an antique shop; seemingly misceneous, but all we do is categorize them one by one. Striving to distill a final conclusion with just a phrase or two is the most revered form in Chinese culture and simultaneously the pinnacle of scientific research¡ªthe so-called "Unified Field Theory," where the constant deconstruction of physical and mathematical edifices is based upon. However, for a highly practical field like forensics, having a "Unified Field Theory" would be great, but if it¡¯s not there yet, then one makes do with summarizing findings, sticking to descriptive and enumerative methods for the time being. For example, injuries caused by mountain rocks characteristically have irregr ragged wound edges. When the impact is severe, it can even result in irregr linear fractures or depressed fractures. Additionally, the wounds often contain rock fragments, as mountain rocks are usually weathered on the outside. Inparison, injuries inflicted by pebbles typically result in arc-shaped linear fractures, and if there are broken stones in the area of the fracture, they would likely be rtivelyrge fragments. Of course, when ites to the details, especially in writing out the conclusions, it¡¯s quite a test for the forensic doctor. A standard forensic report will only disclose that the injury was caused by blunt force trauma. Judgments like "injuries caused by stones" and "injuries caused by mountain rocks" would at most be included in investigative files. Of course, the next step is to make an effort to locate the "mountain rock," but as to whether it can be found during the investigation, or if it will have to wait until someone is arrested before it is revealed through interrogation, that¡¯s hard to say. Jiang Yuan, having washed his hands, stepped back a bit, removed his mask, smiled, and said, "Wen¡¯s judgment is spot on, I also agree that the body was thrown into the water post-mortem." Wen Youchuan¡¯s face turned inexplicably redder, and his lips curled up uncontrobly. Even though it was just a response to an ordinary question, receiving praise from a big shot makes me feel exceptionally wonderful, what should I do? "The injuries on the corpse¡¯s legs are mostly post-mortem, but the several wounds on the back of the right leg seem like they were inflicted before death," Wen Youchuan couldn¡¯t help but add anotherment. "Hmm, I agree," Jiang Yuan continued nodding. "The time of death must be over 10 days ago," said another forensic doctor from Qinghe City, female forensic doctor Wang Lan. She was originally from the mobile unit of the Qinghe City Bureau and she was also waiting by the riverbank. If the body had drifted over, she would have been in charge of the recovery operation. Jiang Yuan also agreed: "At least 10 days." He naturally had a more urate judgment, but it was still important to listen to his colleagues¡¯ opinions. Autopsying a body and performing surgery are not the same; some secondary areas can be directly handled by other forensic doctors, their observations are firsthand information. Seeing Wang Lan taking on the challenge, Wen Youchuan added: "Considering the condition of the body¡¯s uterus, she seems to have given birth before. In that case, there are likely records at the hospital, right?" "Possible. However, with a body that¡¯s been dead for 10 days, the range upstream is nowrger. Let¡¯s see if DNA can provide a match," Jiang Yuan spoke with uncertain words, but his tone was very confident; this case... at least this body, posed rtively low difficulty for him. The discovery that the deceased had given birth further reduced the difficulty. Having given birth signifies a family, likely with close rtives, which consequently significantly increases the chance of a missing person report being filed. Of course, the best evidence would still be DNA, but that would require waiting for theboratory report. Wang Lan continued: "Judging from the victim¡¯s clothing, she was likely an office worker. Undergarments are all intact, so it¡¯s probably not a rape case." "Hmm," Jiang Yuan responded, this inference was somewhat subjective, but he agreed with it as well. As Wen Youchuan and Wang Lan started to discuss more openly, one point after another was raised¡ªsome were affirmed by Jiang Yuan, while some were set aside without affecting the overall investigation. Wang Chuanxing was quickly taking notes and organizing them at the side, soon gathering two pages full of information. When Huang Qiangmin and Wu Zhisu finished their discussion and came over, they were presented withprehensive information. "Not bad at all," Wu Zhisu nodded repeatedly. "Satisfied?" Huang Qiangmin asked. Wu Zhisu smiled: "Just a few hours in, and we already have such results, I¡¯m quite satisfied." Huang Qiangmin was waiting here for him, having also reviewed the contents, and thus he asked Jiang Yuan, "Any thoughts on your end?" "A few updates can be made," seeing that Huang Qiangmin had finished the discussion, Jiang Yuan said, "The time of death can be narrowed down a bit, probably 12 to 14 days ago. She was wearing high heels. There were calluses from holding a pen on her fingers¡ªalthough they were somewhat swollen and less obvious, she likely used a pen frequently in her daily life..." Wang Lan couldn¡¯t help looking up at Jiang Yuan, smiling with a touch of helplessness. She had watched Jiang Yuan grow up and never expected him to be this robust. Having less contact with Jiang Yuan, Wen Youchuan couldn¡¯t help but say, "In this case, the scope of the search bes quite narrow." "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good!" Wu Zhisu, despite feeling a pang, felt a sense of thrill after the pain and said, "So, we¡¯re likely looking for a female office worker? If she disappeared during working hours, there surely would be a missing person¡¯s report. Following upstream from the Tai River, there aren¡¯t many jobs that require writing by hand nowadays..." "Furthermore..." Jiang Yuan paused again before continuing, "This body likely didn¡¯t drift very far. Some of the leg wounds were probably caused by entanglement with aquatic nts. Analyzing the species, it¡¯s most likely within the Jianjiang City range." Jiang Yuan noticed these details during the external examination of the body, but determining that those marks were from aquatic nts entanglement required a bit of knowledge in Legal Botany. Wu Zhisu, however, was stunned after hearing this, the prospect of limiting the location of death to a single city would make the case far easier to tackle. Chapter 1041 - 974: The Wise Choice

Chapter 1041: Chapter 974: The Wise Choice

Police cars drove out one after another, and returned just as frequently, hastening like homing pigeons and asionally causing small congestions at the entrance of the Criminal Police Brigade. Wu Zhisu stood in the office on the top floor, overlooking the flurry of movement below from the small andrge vehicles, and his anxious mood suddenly eased substantially. A significant breakthrough in the sudden drowning case emerged in just one day¡ªwhat more could he ask for? Especially seeing Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin¡¯s calm and collected demeanor, Wu Zhisu felt an extra sense of reassurance. So even though he was well aware of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s little trick, he indulged him dly. After all, they were all veteran detectives¡ªwho could really fool whom? It¡¯s like two big shots who¡¯ve dominated the nightlife scene for over 20 years, having reeled in hundreds of fish, would they really get hooked by the other¡¯s straightforward bait? It¡¯s simply a matter of willingness. Wu Zhisu was still keen to join the Taihe Working Group. Even though this drowning case seemed to have been effortlessly cracked by Jiang Yuan, from the perspective of a Criminal Police Brigade chief, this actually demonstrated true strength. If it were one of those heaven-sent, incredibly difficult unsolved cases, why should it be so unlucky to fall on Jianjiang City¡¯sp? Isn¡¯t it like this time, where in the end, there¡¯s still a 50% chance it will fall back into Qinghe City¡¯s hands? Besides, when you encounter cases of this caliber, why not ask for assistance from the superiors, otherwise, wouldn¡¯t it be an underestimation of their support? Later on, what¡¯s wrong with calling over to Huang Ya next door and saying, "Brother Min"? For a case of this level, spending money? Budget? Manpower? There¡¯s no need to even consider these factors. If you prepare for this kind of case, it¡¯s like buying a pension payable only after one turns 90 years old. Such a pension is meaningless, regardless of how generous it is, because beyond the age of 90, living well requires much more than just money. On the other hand, for ordinary drowning cases, despite Jiang Yuan handling it with ease, Wu Zhisu understood that if he were purely responsible for such a case, an extensive special task force would have to be immediately established. Drowning cases are the easiest to be unsolved mysteries. If the forensic doctor can provide reliable conclusions, and the investigation goes smoothly, that¡¯s good. But even a slight interruption can suddenly skyrocket the cost. Solving the case is possible, but it has nothing to do with being cheap or cost-effective. Jiang Yuan can handle the case with ease, but it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the forensic doctors of the Jianjiang Municipal Bureau could do the same. "Quite good," Wu Zhisu muttered to himself, then turned and offered a bright smile to Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, who were making tea; his weathered dark skin bloomed like a century-old medicinal herb¡¯s bud¡ªintense and vibrant: "Jiang Yuan has worked hard this time. I reckon the Director can¡¯t wait until the case is over." "Is the Director supportive?" Huang Qiangmin poured a cup of tea for Wu Zhisu. Of course, they were talking about the Taihe Working Group. The establishment of the Taihe Working Group is inevitable, but the support from various cities is important. It also involves the amount of the membership fee and payment methods and other significant factors. "The one who supports you the most is certainly me. The Director is in principle supportive. However, he also needs to consider the opinions of others in the Bureau," Wu Zhisu said with a smile: "Take Director Meng for instance¡ªhe is in charge of economic investigation and is quite against the form of annual payment, advocating the pay-per-case model." "That¡¯s economic investigation for you, understandable," Huang Qiangmin noted discreetly. "As for the politicalmissar, regarding the amount you want, he definitely wouldn¡¯t agree easily," Wu Zhisu paused before continuing, "Of course, if you can guarantee that Jiang Yuan leads the team every time and we have priority, then both the politicalmissar and the Director would surely be willing." Huang Qiangminughed it off, "Priority is such a thing¡ªeven if I agree with you now, if other leaders intercedeter on, it¡¯s still useless. We¡¯re a disciplined force, after all, and we have to obeymands." "It¡¯s different with other matters," Wu Zhisu was not disappointed, pondering, "Ultimately, the decision power still lies above. The Director can only make suggestions, after all, we¡¯re not dealing with a one-time expense. Actually, if it is possible to budget from the regr expenditures, everyone in the Bureau would only approve." Wu Zhisu, having reached this point in the conversation, no longer held back. While sipping tea, he began to borate for Huang Qiangmin in detail. Huang Qiangmin listened attentively, and Jiang Yuan, feeling a bit burdened after hearing bits and pieces, started toying with his phone, asionally replying to WeChat messages. Upon joining the 12 newly established working groups in Jianjiang City, red dots indicating updates shed now and then, showing rapid progress. Here, Jiang Yuan¡¯s definition of the death location greatly reduced the difficulty of the work. To some extent, this was also one of the advantages of bing a well-known expert. Jiang Yuan made bold decisions because he had a high tolerance for errors¡ªeven not being afraid of making mistakes. Of course, Jiang Yuan had a solid basis to make such judgments. But in reality, things often don¡¯t turn out as one wishes, and there¡¯s always a small chance for anomalies. For an ordinary forensic doctor facing simr cases, it¡¯s neither necessary nor possible to take on such a heavy responsibility. But Jiang Yuan could. Firstly, he made a probable determination of the death area, and secondly, if a low-probability event urred and a corpse was found beyond that range, he had the authority to exin. At worst, he could write a paper on it, which would still be regarded as a decent case study. Lastly, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s status, even if he made a mistake, he wouldn¡¯t have to bear any substantial responsibility; to describe his situation as nonchntly walking away might sound flippant, but that¡¯s essentially the case. Some experts treat themselves as imperial physicians, especially those older ones, who are nearing or have reached retirement. They tend to be cautious and value their reputation, ensuring stable outputs, but their reputation within the industry may not necessarily be better. As for their reputation outside the industry... when you¡¯re a detective, the public¡¯s opinion is not to say irrelevant, but it really is. [The first round of patrol on our side isplete, and no discoveries have been made.] The message was sent by Wu Junhao in the "Riverbank Search" group. He was in charge of searching the Ningtai County area on the other side of the Tai River. The captain of the Criminal Police Brigade in Jianjiang immediately replied in the work group: [Commander Wu, thank you for your hard work.] [It¡¯s nothing, we¡¯re withdrawing for now. Let us know if you need anything.] Wu Junhao, newly promoted tomander, was quite happy on the other side of the phone. With a big wave of his hand, he ordered the assembly of all personnel and said, "Everyone is here. At ease. The search mission is over, run back to camp. The squad that arrives first gets a three-day holiday! Thest squad returning will be on duty, and the other squads will have a regr holiday!" The staff at the Ningtai County Bureau had expanded rapidly, with fewer cases to handle, making it an intionary output-oriented police unit. Wu Junhao¡¯s riot control and patrolling brigade was still in training, with even fewer tasks. Upon his order, the team members ran off like excited rabbits. The newly established brigade, having the Bald Strike Team as the backbone from the time when they were a squad, and the rest were fresh blood with stiff short hair, firm jawlines, and looking forward to their career as much as they were to the three-day holiday. Wu Junhao smiled, tightened his utility belt, and began to jog leisurely. His task was to kick the butts of those behind; he didn¡¯t need to run too fast. On the other side of the river, the team from the Jianjiang Municipal Bureau seemed undermanned. They had more tasks and could only allocate one brigade of the brigade, along with the riverbank police station, corresponding auxiliary police, cooperative police, and joint defense personnel. The total force was between a hundred and less than two hundred people. To cover the 60-plus kilometers of the south bank of the Tai River would take more than a day or two. In reality, Lin Xiangji, who was in charge of the search, knew well that if they found clues during their search and visit, the mission would naturally end. Otherwise, they had no choice but to continue searching back and forth and extend the search area towards the bank. After all, based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis, the cause of death for the victim was injury by rocks, which in this case might indicate the use of rocks from the immediate vicinity¡ªeither the perpetrator picked up a rock and smashed the victim to death, or pushed the victim against a rock. It was rare for someone to pick up a rock specifically tomit murder. ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis, thetter was more likely. Therefore, the search team was in the process of looking for the primary crime scene and the weapon. Fortunately, the Qinghe City Bureau¡¯s riverbank station had two boats, carrying twenty to thirty people, which made the search mission a lot easier. Buzz... The hand-held radio began to sound. Lin Xiangji picked up the call and after a short exchange, heard someone shouting from the other side, "Old Jin was bitten by a snake." "A venomous snake?" "Not sure, it seems small and something that shouldn¡¯t be trifled with." Lin Xiangji just frowned. While this was an emergency, it didn¡¯t seem to be an extreme situation for the Criminal Police Brigade. After all, if you¡¯ve been a detective for ten or eight years, who hasn¡¯t been bitten a couple of times? It¡¯s just a matter of what bit you. Lin Xiangji thought for a moment and said, "Send two people to take him to the hospital, head directly to Changyang City, as there might not be any antivenom there. Your squad will temporarily withdraw from the search, and each person should carry a stick, make sure to capture the snake." "Even if we catch the snake, we can¡¯t sentence it. What if it¡¯s a protected species?" "Your brain hasn¡¯t been bitten by a snake! If you take the snake to the doctor, they can treat you right away. If you can¡¯t even describe the snake, how are they going to give you antivenom?" Lin Xiangji¡¯s voice rose in irritation and he added, "Apart from the suspect snake, don¡¯t hit other snakes, every snake is now a protected species, no ¡¯what ifs¡¯ about it." "Ah... Got it." Lin Xiangji ended the call, reported to the Brigademander, and then waved his hand to continue urging the team to advance through the thatch at the foot of the hill. Thirty minutester... The suspect snake was captured. Three hourster... No results. Six hourster... No results... As they were about to walk out of the jurisdiction of the Jianjiang Municipal Bureau, several work groups lit up with red dots. Lin Xiangji instinctively felt a change in the situation and hurriedly clicked to see. He saw the pinned announcement: [The body has been confirmed as Xie Peiqiong, female, 36 years old, a financial specialist at the Minqi Yaji Company, separated from her husband and did not show up for work today. Her colleague reported her missing. By conducting a rapid blood test on the menstrual blood left at her home, her DNA has been matched. Currently, her husband Li Zhijun is missing and is a major suspect in the crime...] Chapter 1042 - 975: Doom

Chapter 1042: Chapter 975: Doom

Turbulent Tai River, with waves sshing, can sweep away corpses and push the ferry. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, surrounded by arge crowd, arrived at a big roadside eatery by the river. "Sorry for theck of hospitality... Things have been managed quite strictly recently. I was thinking, for our Taihe Working Group, it¡¯s best not to give others a handle to grab onto..." Wu Zhisu apologized as he spoke. "No worries." Jiang Yuan¡¯s work was basically done, and his EQ was naturally good. Looking at the familiar Tai River, he felt quite happy andughed: "I grew up by the Tai River. When I was little, I even liked to bring a bowl to the riverbank to eat. Adults wouldn¡¯t allow it, saying the wind would fill my stomach and cause aches." "That¡¯s an old saying, hahaha..." Wu Zhisu said, fully demonstrating his EQ. The fellow detectives also disyed good emotional intelligence. "Captain Jiang, please sit here." Wu Zhisu specially arranged for Jiang Yuan to sit near the river. Once he was seated, Wu Zhisu pointed to the front and smiled: "Can you see that rockery over there?" Jiang Yuan calmed his mind and could indeed see the upper part of a distant rockery, so he nodded. Wu Zhisu smiled triumphantly and said: "That rockery, that¡¯s the park rockery where the murderer Li Zhijun killed Xie Peiqiong." "Oh, this is Lanting Park?" Jiang Yuan recalled the report he had just seen. "Right, this is the Lanting Park you visited. Just viewed from a different direction, a different perspective. I specifically chose the best viewpoint. This ce is usually closed at this hour; it serves night snacks. I called the owner in advance to ask him to start working early," Wu Zhisu was quite pleased with his arrangement. With the current technology in the country, once the source of the body is identified and both the victim¡¯s and the murderer¡¯s identities are confirmed, finding the crime scene bes straightforward. Just need to verify a phone number, find thest location of the victim¡¯s mobile phone signal, and you can basically pinpoint the primary crime scene, which wouldn¡¯t be too far. If the murderer were to run wildly with the victim¡¯s phone, he would just be walking into a trap. The farther he ran, the more likely he would be captured by cameras. If he failed to dispose of the body well, he would already be jailed. Only slightly challenging tasks are matching the tracks of the murderer¡¯s and the victim¡¯s phones to find where their paths crossed. Even scanning all possible locations wouldn¡¯t take much time. It¡¯s much easier than searching without any clue. Lanting Park was identified using this basic method. The investigators found blood traces not fully washed away at the rockery in the middle of the park, collected several fingerprints and fibers, and even found a scarf possibly belonging to the victim, which was eventually confirmed. The identity of the murderer, Li Zhijun, was pretty much confirmed, and his way of killing didn¡¯t seem unusual. The only problem was that he was still on the run and hadn¡¯t been caught for interrogation yet. But for Jiang Yuan, Wu Zhisu, and others, this case was essentially closed. If it werepared to a steak, this would be ny percent done. Jiang Yuan turned to look at the Tai River, then at the rockery, and the path from the rockery to the Tai River, and couldn¡¯t help nodding, saying: "Looking at it this way, the murderer likely carried the body from the back door along the riverside path to dump it here. If there were no tables and chairs here in the morning, the murderer might have even passed by this spot..." "Exactly, it¡¯s just like that." Wu Zhisuughed, saying: "To dine so close to the crime scene is indeed a rare opportunity!" "Indeed it is." Jiang Yuan agreed, and honestly, thinking about it that way felt quite thrilling. Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat and asked: "Do we not need to block off this area?" "Though the murder in the park is close by, we can¡¯t just shut down this whole row of night market stalls, right? There¡¯s no need for that," Wu Zhisu said, pausing for a moment beforeughing: "Of course, if you feel it¡¯s necessary..." Without hesitation, Jiang Yuan said: "No need, the case seems to be rtively straightforward, and so much time has passed. With peopleing and going here, it holds no value for collecting evidence." "Alright then, that¡¯s settled," Wu Zhisu smiled again, waved and called the owner, saying: "Bring out the dishes, start with the fish head tofu soup." Wu Zhisu turned to Jiang Yuan and the others and said: "The bighead carp from theke nearby has nothing to do with Tai River. Just setting the scene!" ... A banquet without alcohol is like an exam without an invigtor, the progress flies and it¡¯s hard to take it seriously. Wu Zhisu had no choice but to keep delivering emotional value before eventually escorting Jiang Yuan and others all the way back to Ningtai County. Huang Qiangmin also left with pretended aloofness. The next day. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even go to work; instead, he called Huang Qiangmin and others to his ce for a meal and drinks. They were on a business trip in Jianjiang working with the special case group. Now that the cases were solved, they automatically shifted to holiday mode. Theoretically, the detective¡¯s job allows for quite flexible vacations. If the superior leaders approve, detectives can easily take a week or two off. This is because they work continuously when there are cases, umtingpensatory leave and annual leave. However, in practice, it¡¯s nearly impossible for detectives to take long vacations because they are constantly overwhelmed with cases. With one less person in the team, others have to pick up the ck. The rare exception urs when a significant case concludes and some unit leaders reward detectives with vacation time as a form of recognition. In this respect, securing a long vacation as a reward from leaders might be even harder than receivingmendations. In Ningtai County, however, there is somewhat of an escape from this manpower shortage. The clearance rate of criminal cases is high, and the urrence rate is continually dropping, meaning detectives, although not entirely idle, are less busy. This includes Jiang Yuan, who has cleared many backlogged cases in Shannan Province, and most current cases actually don¡¯t need his involvement. Taking asional breaks isn¡¯t a bad thing after all. Was this perhaps Huang Qiangmin¡¯s requirement, to set up the Tai River Working Group to finally clear up the backlogged cases through overtime, as a form of celebration? Even when handling cases, it¡¯s uncertain how long it would take toplete each one. Although Jiang Yuan has always maintained a high level of efficiency andpletion, Huang Qiangmin thought, Jiang Yuan must also be tired. Thus, Jiang Yuan continued to rest until Monday, when he returned to check in at the Criminal Police Brigade. By then, Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia had organized severalrge boxes full of case files avable for selection. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry, and slowly went through the files one by one, asionally replying to a message on WeChat, and helping out-of-town technicians with some minor issues. The next day, Jiang Yuan intentionally slept in, nning to go to the brigadeter on, or perhaps even skip the morning shift altogether. Unexpectedly, just as he turned over in bed, his phone began to buzz frantically. Jiang Yuan picked up his phone and nced at it before answering, his brow furrowed, "Chief Cui, is there a case?" The caller was Cui Qishan, the head of the fourth squad of Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad, a mild-mannered man who often stirred the whole police station by discovering bodies. However, it wasn¡¯t up to Cui Qishan to mobilize Jiang Yuan. Cui Qishan merely smiled politely, then said, "Captain Jiang, I have a favor to ask if it¡¯s convenient for you toe over here. May Ie to pick you up?" "Can¡¯t we talk over the phone?" Jiang Yuan already had an idea of what it was about. Cui Qishan gave a sound of acknowledgment before continuing, "It¡¯s quiteplicated, I need to ask if you could pleasee over." "Is it personal?" "Not really, but also yes," Cui Qishan responded ambiguously. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment then said, "I¡¯ll need to bring a few people along." "Sure," Cui Qishan agreed immediately. Five hourster. As soon as Jiang Yuan met Cui Qishan, he was taken to the restroom. As Cui Qishan was putting on shoe covers, he said, "This is the primary crime scene." "Is there a dead body?" Jiang Yuan was not surprised. He was a forensic doctor. But Cui Qishan shook his head: "Unsure." "What do you mean?" "Do you remember my subordinate Xiao Si?" Cui Qishan did not answer Jiang Yuan¡¯s question. Jiang Yuan nodded, "The one with the unpleasant speech, but quite capable of mobilizing resources?" Cui Qishan nodded earnestly, "This guy is in big trouble!" Chapter 1043 - 976: A Detailed Narrative

Chapter 1043: Chapter 976: A Detailed Narrative

Standing in the internal restroom of the Criminal Police Brigade, Jiang Yuan listened to Cui Qishan¡¯s words and had his suspicions, but still asked, "Just tell me directly." "Okay." Cui Qishan sighed deeply and said, "I¡¯ll keep it short. Last night, early in the morning, Xiao Si and another young criminal police Wei Changxue were interrogating a suspect. At about two in the morning, the suspect asked to use the restroom and was taken there by Wei Changxue, handcuffed next to the toilet, and allowed to relieve himself on his own. Next thing, the person was gone. By 6 in the morning, they reported that the person had escaped." In just a few words, Jiang Yuan could detect several irregrities. Jiang Yuan remained nomittal and asked, "What do you want from me?" "Ideally, to catch the person and bring him back." Cui Qishan nced at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, sighed helplessly, and added, "The suspect is involved in a series of housebreaking thefts and has lock-picking skills. Theoretically, he indeed has the capability to escape on his own. As for Xiao Si, although he¡¯s foul-mouthed, I still trust him. At least, I believe he wouldn¡¯t resort to coerced confessions." Everyone¡¯s in criminal police, so they naturally know where the core issue lies. Letting a suspect escape and losing the case file are the most embarrassing things for criminal police, and undoubtedly lead to punishment. But there are differences in punishments too. Losing a suspect due to sheer stupidity is one thing, but it could be mitigated if the suspects is recaptured. If the suspect is not found, the irregrities involved will all turn into serious issues. Was it necessary to continue interrogation at two in the morning? Was the interrogation procedure and location up to standard? Given Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s conditions for handling cases, it¡¯s astonishing the suspect still managed to escape. Moreover, why did the suspect run? Was there any torture or coerced confessions involved? If inspector general chases down this point for investigation, how can it be self-proved? Last, if the thief just escapes and vanishes, that¡¯s one thing, but what if hemits more crimes? What if he, out of desperation,mits robbery or even goes back to housebreaking, leading to a robbery or worse, a home invasion murder? With over 2,000 police stations and nearly fifty thousandmunity police stations across the country, not counting the independent criminal police teams, the probability of a suspect escaping does exist. The potential problems and risks that may follow are well known to all police officers. Jiang Yuan now roughly understood what Cui Qishan wanted, and first asked, "The person escaped at 2 a.m. and it was only reported at 6 a.m., did they conduct their own investigation in those four hours?" "Yes," replied Cui Qishan candidly. "They checked the surveince and tracked the suspect, finding that after climbing out the restroom window, he scaled the side wall by climbing a tree and jumped over the perimeter wall. Then, he stole a shared bicycle and rode several kilometers west before disappearing from surveince." "Completely disappeared?" "When Xiao Si reported to me at 6 a.m., Tao had asked people from Image Investigation to help, and they traced him a few more kilometers but then lost him," sighed Cui Qishan, feeling frustrated. Jiang Yuan then carefully looked at the restroom window and asked, "How big is the case involving this suspect?" "Housebreaking theft, part of a series of cases, a repeated offender; it¡¯s still unclear whether he¡¯s operating solo or in a group. The total amount stolen exceeds one million. If convicted, he could face at least 7 years," sighed Cui Qishan, adding, "The suspect is in his 30s, has no children, no spouse, doesn¡¯t want to go to jail, he¡¯d rather go on the run or escape." Themunication between policemen includes a lot of mutual understanding, as evidenced by Jiang Yuan¡¯s questions and Cui Qishan¡¯s answers. An escapee¡¯s life is difficult, and with the advancement of electronic surveince technology in the country, especially the application of big data, the convenience for fugitives has greatly reduced. Thus, some repeat criminals start discussing whether they should turn themselves in. For this suspect, the prospect of a long-term escape is not realistic. The simplest way, having Zhengguang Bureau post his information online for a manhunt¡ªwith just facial recognition from different regions, he¡¯d find it hard to evade capture. Using any kind of public service would be even harder. So, for some fugitives whose crimes are not too severe, although not caught, their lives be increasingly difficult, and eventually, some of them may even prefer living in prison and choose to surrender voluntarily. When ites to suspects, those who are sentenced to 3 or 4 years in prison shouldn¡¯t really consider escaping as it¡¯s not worth it. Being sentenced to 7 years is indeed quite a long time, but escaping from the police station, one would know that they will be put on the wanted list. When caught again, the sentence will be even heavier, making the escape not so worthwhile. However, for Cui Qishan¡¯s brigade, especially for Xiao Si and Wei Changxue, the two officers on duty, it is quite a disaster. Jiang Yuan slowly shook his head, he had just carefully examined the windowsill and the forced handcuffs, and shook his head again saying, "There indeed are traces of self-picking locks, but these don¡¯t prove much..." "We are now worried that this suspect might flee the country," said Cui Qishan helplessly, "It¡¯s almost the end of the year, and this incident falling into ce now, if it¡¯s not resolved in the next couple of days, Xiao Si will be ruined." The first two days are the most crucial in catching an escapee. The suspect definitely has neither money nor possessions, making eating, fleeing, and lodging problematic. Once they show up, they might be caught right away. But if these couple of days go by, the difficulty of recruiting people will certainly double. "Alright, I¡¯ll join you in searching for the person. Shall I ask Commissioner Huang and Tao to talk?" Jiang Yuan clearly was not just going to take on the case like that. "Good, very good..." Cui Qishan gripped Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand sincerely, saying, "Captain Jiang, on behalf of the whole team, I thank you... Once this case is over, I will find you a few bodies..." "No need to be so polite." Jiang Yuan stopped the eager Cui Qishan and asked, "Where¡¯s Xiao Si?" "I¡¯ll take you there." Cui Qishan led Jiang Yuan out of the room. Outside the door, Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang together with others were staring with the expression of criminal police officers. "Meet the person first." Jiang Yuan did not exin much and called Huang Qiangmin first. They didn¡¯t walk far before they entered a small room, and the door opened to reveal Xiao Si and another young criminal police officer sitting face to face. Upon seeing Cui Qishane in, the young officer¡¯s eyes immediately reddened. Cui Qishan chuckled twice: "Look who I have brought for you. Now that Captain Jiang is here, even if the suspect bes ash, we can still sweep him back!" While speaking, Cui Qishan then said to Jiang Yuan, "Wei Changxue is a newly recruited criminal officer in our brigade, a very honest young man; Xiao Si is his mentor. Xiao Wei, haven¡¯t you always been saying that you¡¯ve never met Captain Jiang? Captain Jiang has flown here especially this time." Wei Changxue looked disheartened: "But it might already be toote." "Who told you it¡¯s toote? The criminal has only run away for 12 hours, we still have plenty of time," Cui Qishan needed to correct Wei Changxue¡¯s attitude. Wei Changxue looked at Xiao Si and murmured, "That¡¯s what my master said." "Old Xiao!" Cui Qishan looked at Xiao Si indignantly. "I didn¡¯t say much." Xiao Si¡¯s mood wasn¡¯t exactly great, and he even frowned a bit. "You didn¡¯t say much, yet you scared Xiao Wei like this!" Cui Qishan spoke sternly: "Just admit what you said." Xiao Si sighed and said, "Xiao Wei asked me if I had ever encountered something simr before. I told him I hadn¡¯t, but we indeed had suspects who ran away before, so I introduced each of these cases and their situations to him from newest to oldest, including the oues of these predecessors." "No good oues." Wei Changxue¡¯s tone was filled with resignation. "You think I¡¯m telling you a love story?" Xiao Si scoffed, "For such matters, to be recorded in the file is already considered a good oue." Chapter 1044 - 977 Startling the Snake in the Grass

Chapter 1044: Chapter 977 Startling the Snake in the Grass

Wei Changxue was slightlyforted and calmed down, beginning to describe the situation of that day to Jiang Yuan. Xiao Si asionally added ament or two. In fact, there wasn¡¯t anything particrly special about it, at least for a police officer¡ªit was just a routine overnight interrogation scenario. The reason for conducting an overnight interrogation was simply that the suspect was apprehended in the afternoon, and they wanted to take advantage of the momentum to conduct the interrogation as soon as possible. It¡¯s the same principle as when an ordinary corporate employee has to work overtime due to a heavy workload. The difference is that detectives¡¯ overtime often requires the cooperation of the suspect. There wasn¡¯t anything particrly problematic about the interrogation venue either. Recently, due to frequent operations at the Zhengguang Bureau, interrogation centers withplete facilities were reserved for various special case teams¡ªwhen an expert like Jiang Yuan came, even if the arrested person was just a petty thief, they would be taken to an interrogation center. Correspondingly, the petty thief involved in a break-in case that Xiao Si and Wei Changxue had apprehended had to be temporarily held at a local police station or ced in an old facility in the old building. Even if there were empty rooms in the interrogation center, they would not be avable for use without special permission in the recent two weeks. When ites to judicial matters, they¡¯re not heavy by measurement, but once on the scale, they can be overwhelmingly heavy. The crux of the problem was that the suspect had escaped. If the person couldn¡¯t be caught again, many things would be unclear. It was only because Cui Qishan was willing to support Xiao Si and Wei Changxue, and Tao Lu agreed for Cui Qishan¡¯s sake, otherwise, they would have to take a serious fall first before they could even discuss the possibility of getting back up. After listening to the narration of the two, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and then asked, "How much time do we have?" Cui Qishan understood his meaning and said, "Tao can give us 24 hours, and if there¡¯s hope, at most 36 hours before we must escte it." "That¡¯s fairly ample. But it¡¯s not guaranteed we¡¯ll find the person," Jiang Yuan said this with empathy. "It¡¯s their own fault if we can¡¯t find them," dered Cui Qishan, bearing the responsibility for both of them without mincing his words, "A recorded demerit for 24 hours, a major demerit after 36 hours, and if they still can¡¯t be found, it¡¯s up to their luck." "What about the funding?" Jiang Yuan was asking very practical questions. Solving a case is a very expensive activity, and the way it¡¯s solved varies with the budget. Take this case, for instance: theoretically, if the case were big enough and sufficiently urgent, the whole city could be mobilized, with added checkpoints at intersections, Technical Investigation getting involved,work Image Investigation and K-9 units working overtime, big data being deployed, and issuing orders to various intepanies... If they¡¯re in a hurry, Xu Taining could also be called in. If there¡¯s no money, it¡¯s simple¡ªjust register an online pursuit and wait for news. With good luck, if detectives from another jurisdiction happened to find the suspect, they¡¯d send a couple of officers over, and for a few thousand in travel expenses, they¡¯d bring the person back. Cui Qishan cleared his throat and said, "Tao¡¯s intention is mainly to amodate your needs. If it¡¯s within a million yuan, just sign the order directly; if that¡¯s not enough, I will apply for more." A budget in the hundreds of thousands of yuan would primarily cover travel expenses and various testing fees. Excluding fixed assets such as staff wages and vehicles, just sending two people on a business trip with amodations and subsidies would cost over a thousand yuan, and examinations like DNA and trace evidence testing would cost hundreds each time. After these meticulous calctions, a budget of several hundred thousand yuan can¡¯t achieve much. However, considering this needs to be resolved within 24 or even 36 hours, such a level of expenditure can be considered quite generous. "Call Director Liu," said Jiang Yuan after looking at Cui Qishan and then Xiao Si and Wei Changxue. "I actually don¡¯t have experience in pursuing fugitives. Although I haven¡¯t done a specific site survey of the restroom, from what I have observed just now, I think the clues we can get will be scarce." "Alright," Cui Qishan actually hoped that Jiang Yuan could use detectives from the Zhengguang Bureau, but since Jiang Yuan had already raised the issue, he didn¡¯t say any more. Cui Qishan and others recognized Liu Jinghui¡¯s capabilities, and given his rapport with Jiang Yuan, the Jiang-Liubination had a higher chance of sess. When ites to the detectives at Zhengguang Bureau themselves, there may be many with superior abilities and backgrounds than Liu Jinghui, but when ites to experience, that¡¯s another story. This is amon divide between the Beijing Bureau and local agencies. The Beijing Bureau is never short of smart and bold talents, but precisely because there are so many outstanding individuals in the Beijing Bureau, they oftenck hands-on case experience, particrly the opportunity and reason for one person to shoulder a case. Many individuals are even reluctant to work on the front lines. Liu Jinghui¡¯s ability to pick and handle cases all over Shannan Province and his many years of experience and pressure have given him his strength today¡ªopportunities that the highly educated and intelligent individuals of the Beijing Bureau rarely get. "I¡¯ll call Director Liu... um... or we could just have a conference call. There¡¯s actually no need for him toe to the scene," Jiang Yuan thought it over, realizing that flying over would take several hours. "If we¡¯re having a phone meeting, I need to report to Director Tao first," Cui Qishan noted, wary of leaks. However, unlike the initial invitation to Jiang Yuan, he now had more confidence in finding the person¡ªor rather, he had faith in Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to bring the person back. As long as the person could be found, the punishment would be lighter. Moreover, the first round of inspection after Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival would be crucial. It must be said, even a criminal investigator like Cui Qishan always harbored a spirit of skepticism. Cui Qishan didn¡¯t make a phone call, opting to report in person swiftly, and then came back to nod at Jiang Yuan for confirmation. During this time, Jiang Yuan had already conducted on-site investigations at the interrogation room, the restroom, and the wall-climbing spots. All were simple traces, consistent with the ordinary behavior of amon thief. Since the identity of the suspect was confirmed and the modus operandi was on record, the main takeaway from the site investigation was that there was no one assisting and it was most likely unnned. Such a conclusion naturally didn¡¯t satisfy Jiang Yuan, but Cui Qishan, upon hearing it, was quite pleased: "It¡¯s good that it was unnned. This way, the inspectorate won¡¯t rush to a conclusion too soon." Cui Qishan then arranged for the phone meeting. Soon, Tao Lu came down, and Cui Qishan redialed Liu Jinghui¡¯s number, whom he had just contacted. "Director Liu, thank you for your hard work, taking time out of your busy schedule to attend to this..." After a round of pleasantries, Cui Qishan continued, "Shall I brief you on the case?" "Okay," Liu Jinghui agreed. Cui Qishan then quickly summarized the case. Liu Jinghui asionally interrupted with questions but otherwise patiently listened. "That¡¯s everything, Director Liu," Cui Qishan concluded, almost out of breath. "Oh..." Liu Jinghui paused for a few seconds before responding, cleared his throat, and slowly said, "I was actually out working on a case today as well, so I¡¯ll cut to the chase. Firstly, from what I¡¯ve heard, finding the suspect within 24 or 36 hours will depend on luck. If we¡¯re unlucky, it would be normal to find them monthster." "We understand," Cui Qishan hastily replied. "You should already be using all the standard manhunt methods, and if there are no results now, you¡¯ll have to continue relying on luck," Liu Jinghui spoke quickly and inly to his colleague. The earliest method of tracking down fugitives was to check with their family and friends, which still works very well today. Humans are social creatures; even during a period of flight, many will still make an effort to contact their family and friends. Many fugitives who are inexperienced and not well-read think they have clever tricks but often fail just like that. Manhunt strategies in the new era have multiplied, such as the application of technical investigations and inte information, along with various facial recognition and big dataparisons. But all these methods are rather passive. If the suspect can endure the loneliness, Xiao Si and the others will face full disciplinary actions. Liu Jinghui was well aware of the situation. He outlined the challenges: "The suspect didn¡¯t carry a mobile phone and has already left the surveince cameras¡¯ coverage area. There are also no alerts from the facial recognition and he has no direct rtives. Most importantly, he may still have several hundred thousand yuan worth of belongings hidden somewhere... Under normal circumstances, you can only try your luck this time." Cui Qishan sighed, "That¡¯s true. The hundreds of thousands in stolen goods are the biggest problem, especially since they include cash." The main targets of manhunts are poor people; if someone has money, their options for escape are plentiful. That¡¯s why in movies, a spy¡¯s escape kit always contains cash, besides identity documents and firearms. Liu Jinghui hummed in acknowledgment, saying, "It¡¯s usually like this, but fortunately... this time you have Jiang Yuan." "I¡¯m out of ideas too," Jiang Yuan sat beside them, startled. His repertoire of techniques was limited, and he couldn¡¯t just conjure enemies out of thin air. Liu Jinghui chuckled and suggested, "My advice is to try startling the snake by hitting the grass with Jiang Yuan." "What do you mean?" "Leak some special intel, stir up some rumors that Jiang Yuan is after this person, and then wait to see the feedback," Liu Jinghuiughed quietly, making sure everyone caught the hint." Chapter 1045 - 978: Xu Jin

Chapter 1045: Chapter 978: Xu Jin

After Cui Qishan agreed with Liu Jinghui¡¯s n, he didn¡¯t report to Tao Lu, and went directly to find the office manager. He then casually visited several Criminal Police Squad offices and called some colleagues from departments like the Public Security Brigade along the way. The police¡¯s undercover agents, informers, and sources are clearly distinguished. Among them, undercover agents are the most prestigious, rarely seen in ordinary cases. Informers and sources can be official or unofficial; the use of the former is quite strict, so they are generally disliked. More often than not, police officers who have been on the job for a while naturally get to know some fringe figures, exchange a few phone numbers, and can ask around if needed. Some officers even skip the step of exchanging phone numbers, selecting some particrly unintelligent targets¡ªthere really are such people, and they¡¯re not hard to find, just keep a close eye on them. For instance, a detective might pick one or a few dimwitted thieves. Since these thieves aren¡¯t very capable, they often prefer to work in teams. Just spend a little time understanding their habits¡ªlike some who post blessings or photos on social media with location tags beforemitting a crime. Once you spot that, capturing them is certain. While capturing, one might intentionally let the dimwitted thief escape, allowing him the "luck" to flee and regroup after calming down. For particrly useful dimwitted thieves who find it increasingly hard to regroup, one could even arrest them once and send them to a detention center to expand theirwork. All in all, different police officers have their own styles. Having worked in the Criminal Police Brigade for so many years, Cui Qishan may not know every detail, but he has a general understanding of his colleagues¡¯ capabilities. He shared what he could, without trying to cover every aspect. He just needed to spread the word, not create a hurricane. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan specifically went to the Image Investigation Brigade, but came up empty-handed. Therger the city and therger the division, the stronger the Image Investigation capabilities, with more up-to-date equipment and morepetent personnel. Jiang Yuan possesses LV6 Image Investigation¡ªtrajectory analysis, which theoretically could track a suspect¡¯s location using the city¡¯s surveince videos. However, precisely because Jiang Yuan possesses this LV6 skill, he was keenly aware that it wasn¡¯t going to be useful this time. At least not in the early stages of the manhunt. The suspect didn¡¯t have exceptional anti-surveince capabilities or conditions. The suspect jumped over the police station wall at two in the morning and escaped on a shared bicycle. Monitoring a suspect riding a shared bicycle on the streets of Beijing at dawn doesn¡¯t require LV2 skills. Even if the suspect moved through streets and alleys, executing tricky maneuvers, it was unlikely to evade the scrutiny of Image Investigation in such conditions. Under these circumstances, perhaps the software¡¯s built-in AI function could locate the fugitive. And the Beijing Bureau is notcking in talent; it also has excellent Image Investigators. Before Cui Qishan and Tao called Jiang Yuan, they surely consulted the best Image Investigation experts avable. But, no matter how skilled the Image Investigation experts were, they couldn¡¯tpensate for a suspect heading straight into the wilderness. With no surveince, a short distance might still be manageable, but longer tracks are hard to determine. It could be possible with a vehicle, but on foot, it would only be more challenging. Jiang Yuan estimated that the suspect likely spent the night in some park. Parks have water and toilets, and fewer surveince cameras, even fewerworked ones. Of course, if the suspect was harsher on himself, then hiding bes easier. Enduring a night like this, the suspect could change tracks during the next day¡¯s morning rush hour to make his escape in various ways. As the saying goes, "There¡¯s a track for mice and a path for snakes," Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure about the situation in Beijing, but in Qinghe City, a local thief familiar with the area could simply head to any bus stop outside a station to leave the city. This is also one reason why many bus stations strictly prohibit off-site soliciting. Circumventing ces like train stations is amon strategy in smaller cities. On returning from the Image Investigation Brigade, Jiang Yuan found Cui Qishan and others already making defensive preparations. Looking at the time, it had been 12 hours since the suspect escaped. "If he keeps running, he might have already left the city," Cui Qishan said with a slight unease. "As long as he hasn¡¯t left the country, it¡¯s all the same," Liu Jinghui waved his hand, emotionally reassuring Cui Qishan, then turned to Jiang Yuan, "Jiang Yuan, have you ever been to the neighboring province?" Jiang Yuan shook his head: "No, I haven¡¯t." "I haven¡¯t been here either," Liu Jinghui looked back at Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan gave a bitter smile: "I knew some people there. But I¡¯ve offended them all." "No problem," Liu Jinghui chuckled and continued, "So, are we still going to wave the g of Jiang Yuan? Or does your unit have someone else who could be of use?" "If it¡¯s Captain Jiang, the effect would be better," Cui Qishan quickly exined to Jiang Yuan, "Captain, our Image Investigation database and such have no connection with those in the neighboring province. If you could give them a heads up, that would be best." "Would my contacting them be useful?" Jiang Yuan understood Cui Qishan¡¯s meaning, but was somewhat hesitant. "Your call would definitely be useful, extremely useful!" Cui Qishan said with augh, "Given your current reputation, if they know it¡¯s your case, everyone would certainly be willing to facilitate." Many of the databases within domestic systems or applications of advanced technology are organized by province. This has historical precedents and also rtes to funding and administration. When everyone started building them, preparations were made at the provincial level or even lower, with few nationally integrated databases. As a result, the data in Province A and Province B are independent of each other. A few years ago, even DNA and fingerprint data were separated by province, with suspects in important cases being handed over to the ministry, which then disseminated information to the provinces. Nowadays, some provinces are interconnected, but many are still not fullyworked. Thus, if someone runs to the neighboring province, and you want to search for data, you can¡¯t do it directly and must contact the relevant department in that province. Although the ministry can help with official inquiries, unless one is a foreign guest or perhaps a person from the European Union or the United States, they would better understand the limitations of state rights. All in all, even for the police, in such circumstances, person-to-personmunication is vastly superior to cold official letters. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind using his personal influence; being an expert, reputation is also a part of strength, thus he said, "I have no problem making the call, but I don¡¯t know anyone, nor do I have any phone numbers." "Don¡¯t worry, I will arrange everything. When the timees, you just need to say a few words on the call. Rest assured, if there¡¯s nothing else, the Beijing Bureau surely knows how to handle such matters," Cui Qishan said, visibly more rxed. Anyone who has been a criminal police officer knows that there are two types of officers adept at operations: one type is the ¡¯iron-footed¡¯ type, who rely on hard and outstanding efforts to bravely ovee all difficulties. The other type is the ¡¯rtionship¡¯ type, mostly older officers with connections in other cities or provinces. In this context, an acquaintance isn¡¯t just someone you know; it has to be someone with mutual recognition, capable of resolving matters with a single phone call. Compared to the former, rtional-type criminal police officers are naturally rarer. Many leaders of criminal police teams fall into this category. Cui Qishan is neither the ¡¯iron-footed¡¯ type nor the ¡¯rtional¡¯ type, mainly because he is fundamentally not a criminal police officer skilled in operations. But as long as Jiang Yuan is by his side, Cui Qishan is sufficient. Chapter 1046 - 979: Fellow Travellers

Chapter 1046: Chapter 979: Fellow Travellers

"Captain Chen, hello, this is Jiang Yuan." Jiang Yuan, bearing a full emotional quotient, holding the handset of thendline phone, greeted with a smile: "Yes, we have a case here and we hope to get your support... Thank you... Alright, we¡¯ll get in touchter." After finishing the call, Jiang Yuan put down the handset. Cui Qishan hurriedly took it over respectfully, handing over a cup of tea with a smile, and said, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯ve worked hard. Please wait a moment, next we have Director Liu from Pushan Municipal Bureau... Director Liu is 45 years old this year, alsoes from a detective background, likes to lead from the front, often is on the front line, and he often mentions you in meetings..." Jiang Yuan nodded, took another sip of tea, and gestured with his eyes for Cui Qishan to begin. Cui Qishan quickly picked up the extension phone to dial, and when the call connected, he said in a hurry: "Director Liu, please hold on, Jiang Yuan will speak with you..." Jiang Yuan picked up the handset, with an emotive expression: "Director Liu, hello, this is Jiang Yuan... Yes, I am the forensic doctor from Ningtai County Bureau... Haha, I am still just a junior forensic doctor... Yes... Captain Cui is from Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad, I have cooperated with him on several cases before, this time we¡¯ve hit a snag with a case... Okay, thank you for your trouble..." After a three- or four-minute conversation, Jiang Yuan ended the call and nodded to Cui Qishan again. Cui Qishan quickly picked up a pen and found Director Liu¡¯s name on the printed list, then marked a check next to it. In the corner of the conference room, Wei Changxue, while typing on theptop in front of him, said in a low voice, "Just with one phone call, and one city is sorted out?" "You are joking about Wang Ningtai Jiangyuan¡¯s calls," Mu Zhiyang was also waiting nearby, with aptop in front of him, browsing the news whilementing, "Captain Jiang usually doesn¡¯t make direct contact; this time it¡¯s to save you two." Wei Changxue nodded vigorously, lowering his voice to say, "I understand." "What do you understand?" Xiao Si nced at Wei Changxue. "I... What should I understand?" Wei Changxue looked towards his mentor Xiao Si. After a brief contemtion, Xiao Si sighed and said, "There¡¯s no way to repay, so you can only pledge yourself, I guess." "Mentor, you are joking again." Wei Changxue couldn¡¯t quite manage tough. Xiao Si turned his face away and asked, "Do you see meughing?" Wei Changxue was stunned for a moment, and after pondering, said softly, "Master, even though I thought my mentor would be like Captain Jiang when I first joined the Criminal Police Brigade, I am now your disciple, and I can¡¯t go to Captain Jiang..." "Nice thinking. That would be rewarding you then?" Xiao Si red at Wei Changxue and then slowly said, "Anyway, from now on, you are a man of Jiang Yuan; even if you don¡¯t want to admit it, thisbel has been attached to you. Be vignt in your actions." He said this in front of Mu Zhiyang. Mu Zhiyang remained expressionless, as if he hadn¡¯t heard a thing. Wei Changxue is somewhat simple-minded but not stupid, and he couldn¡¯t help but say: "What about you?" "I am your junior brother, of course," Xiao Si red emphatically at Wei Changxue. Wei Changxue understood and chuckled twice more, then fell silent. One and a half hourster. Cui Qishan marked off the entire list with checks, exhaling deeply: "Even if this kid is fast on his feet, there¡¯s no way for him to fly the coop now." "If he gets on the high-speed train, he could be out of our encirclement in half a day," Liu Jinghui reminded. Cui Qishan frowned slightly and said, "It¡¯s not that easy to get into the high-speed train." "It depends on how much risk he is willing to take. If he tries to enter the high-speed train station, it¡¯s certainly dangerous," Liu Jinghui paused before adding, "However, those who dare to escape from prison are surely bold." Cui Qishan slowly nodded and asked earnestly, "So how should we prevent it?" "Let¡¯s wait and see; it¡¯s not necessarily a bad thing," Liu Jinghui said, "If he wants to take the high-speed train, he¡¯ll need money, a change of clothes, and someone¡¯s help." "Yes. If so, he might need to contact his rtives and friends. It seems he doesn¡¯t have many living rtives, so it¡¯s likely his unscrupulous friends," Cui Qishan said. "Right, so we need to continue releasing information and apply the pressure where we can," Liu Jinghui said, "This is the best time to utilize privileged information." In fact, privileged information could remain effective for several days, especially in simr cases where the suspect has just escaped and is in a state of panic, possibly dying contact with acquaintances. But for Cui Qishan, these first 24 or 36 hours were the most critical. "Alright. I¡¯ll make a few more calls, and we¡¯ll see who can oust whom," Cui Qishan gritted his teeth. "Now is the time to review the cases involving the suspect," Jiang Yuan was here and certainly ready to take the initiative. Cui Qishan had been waiting for Jiang Yuan to say this and quickly gestured, "Bring the files!" Someone immediately brought overrge boxes of files and began to spread them on the conference table. The influx of people carrying box after box of files seemed endless; they were all prepared in advance or perhaps it was a premeditated n. The files were spread out, upying space for only two cases; the rest of the files were piled in the corner of the room. Soon, the conference room looked like the operation center for a task force. "Over here is thest casemitted by suspect Zhang Weili, a series of breaking and entering thefts, the one with the highest case value; one victim didn¡¯t lock their safe, resulting in the loss of a Longines watch, a sh¨¹tte Original, 12 pieces of gold jewelry totaling less than about 150 grams, other tinum jewelry, jade..." Cui Qishan gave a brief report, a case that he initially did not follow up on. In terms of the case¡¯s severity, such a series of cases was suitable for Xiao Si, an experienced detective. Fundamentally, it was a burry case, albeit with more severe circumstances of breaking and entering, but the investigation approach and process did not require significantly more manpower. Jiang Yuan, however, listened attentively. His task was not merely to crack the case but use the process of solving the case to aid the search for the escapee. After carefully listening to Cui Qishan¡¯s report, Jiang Yuan began to read the files intently. The suspect Zhang Weili worked solo; thus, the goal of the investigation was not just to identify the perpetrator of a certain case, as it would naturally be Zhang Weili without a doubt. On the other hand, Zhang Weili could not possibly be a true lone wolf. Regarding ie and purpose, he needed help to fence his stolen goods; otherwise, it would be difficult to deal with the loot from such a series of crimes in such a short time. As for the execution and preparation of the crime, Zhang Weili needed lockpicking tools and transportation. At the minimum, he couldn¡¯t possibly be stealing things while riding a shared bicycle. With these thoughts, a systematic interface popped up in front of Jiang Yuan: Mission: Eradicate Them! Mission Content: Criminal Zhang Weili has chosen a path of no return and is boldly moving forward. Send him and his ilk to their due destination. Chapter 1047 - 980 Clue

Chapter 1047: Chapter 980 Clue

"Captain Jiang, this is the report from Technical Investigation; please sign here. You can only read it here. Once you finish, I will need to take it back." A stamped document bag is ced in front of Jiang Yuan, the expression of the police officer in uniform is gentle, yet his tone is somewhat brusque. Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to rpose himself, nodded, and immediately opened the Technical Investigation report, then took out several other reports from beside it topare. The theft by suspect Zhang Weili is not without trace; on the contrary, it is quite easy to trace his activities. It only depends on whether it is worth investigating. It¡¯s not just a matter of police force allocation here but also an issue of the application level of various authorizations. For example, the authority of Technical Investigation is usually the highest in criminal cases, but it¡¯s generally not fully utilized. A typical example is phone tapping, which is not activated for general cases. The approval grade is very high, and don¡¯t expect approvals to be quick. Some units even require that after exhausting all other means, and only if the case meets the regtory conditions, can it be used. Simrly, for data from major intepanies, without a certain level of authority, one can only bring an official letter to ask questions, simr to asking ChatGPT, and the efficiency is even lower. The so-called "big data investigation" thriving nowadays doesn¡¯t grant much usable data to the grassroots level. In terms of authority, because Jiang Yuan has handled several cases of subordinates, as well as drug and national security cases, and has handled cases overseas several times, the system has granted him a very high level of authority. Therefore, the intelligence that Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t even get close to is essible to Jiang Yuan. Using these resources in a theft case is not just overkill; it¡¯s practically an assembly line for killing chickens. The first batch that was screened out included 6 individuals involved in receiving stolen goods. Although it¡¯s not quite like a store, those who deal in stolen goods inevitably need to let some people know and understand them to have opportunities to make money. Their firewalls are not like those ofmon criminals who mainly focus on concealing their tracks. Instead, their main strategy is "visible only within their circle". Whether it¡¯s receiving items through WeChat, running a storefront, or dealing with luxury brands, the core is focused on insufficient evidence and difficulties in prosecution. Additionally, professional receivers of stolen goods have been declining; most are now itinerant or part-time. Amonality is that when the police arrive, the pretense of ignorance by the receivers is increasinglymon. For these individuals, the cost of securing evidence and prosecuting is higher, plus their social harm is not particrly severepared to burry or robbery. Thus, their likelihood of being captured is lower. Police mostly catch them when they happen to have spare time,e across them, or during specialized operations. But this time, Jiang Yuan is the lead investigator, and issues of internal consumption will be handled by others. Jiang Yuan only needs to pronounce the magic words: I want! If he wants it, it will be given. This is a script of life quite familiar to Jiang Yuan. However, the arrested receivers of stolen goods were a bit flustered. ... In the interrogation room. Boss Zhao, involved in the maximum amount, looked wronged: "Government, I admit to dealing in stolen goods. But I really was about to contact you, I even picked up my phone, thinking of getting some evidence to make it clear, I was just preparing when your SWAT team rushed in! Look at my call log, there definitely is one of your phone numbers, I just hadn¡¯t got through, it was hung up!" Cui Qishan personally conducted the interrogation, asking, "So you mean, you wanted to report a fellow dealer, but the call didn¡¯t go through and was cut off." "It¡¯s turning myself in, I wanted to turn myself in!" Boss Zhao firmly shouted. He understood thew, so he knew that getting away scot-free with both himself and the stolen goods captured was impossible, so he aimed for a chance to turn himself in. Cui Qishan sneered, naturally disbelieving that he would turn himself in directly. Making a call could be possible, but mostly it would be to report a fellow dealer. Cui Qishan then said, "A call that didn¡¯t go through is equivalent to no call." Boss Zhao, getting anxious, his handcuffs ttering loudly: "No... I really wanted to turn myself in... Really... I¡¯m wronged." "Sit tight, why are you fidgeting?" a criminal police officer snapped. "You did fence the goods; what are you falsely using others for?" Cui Qishan snorted, "Okay, if you want a reduced sentence, report more people. Once they¡¯re caught, I¡¯ll count it in your favor. Don¡¯t even think about mitigating circumstances for turning yourself in. If you keep stalling and someone else reports first, don¡¯t me me for not considering it for you." "I¡¯ll report, I¡¯ll report!" Boss Zhao quickly answered, and after thinking for a bit, he said, "I know An Suozi hase around recently; I know where he lives!" Boss Zhao said, looking at the police officer next to him, "I¡¯m formally reporting him, you¡¯ll count this for me, right?" "It counts. But it¡¯s only valid if the person is caught based on your information. If someone beats you to it, there¡¯s nothing I can do," Cui Qishan said, his tone much gentler, "You should also know who is handling this case." "I do," Boss Zhao quickly nodded, "Ningtai Jiangyuan, fierce and formidable." Cui Qishan nodded slightly, "Start talking." Boss Zhao hastily began reporting his peers. Once he finished one, he reported another. After drinking some water in between, he also named two of his regr customers. He figured he was going to prison anyway. By the time he got out, these regr customers probably wouldn¡¯tst either. It might be better to report them now and maybe even get a lighter sentence. Even if the regr customers survived, they would nourish the peers who remained, so they couldn¡¯t be left either. With this rationalization, Boss Zhao felt justified in naming two more people. In the adjacent interrogation room, Boss Li, who had been arrested around the same time, was also desperately confessing. The police often used the tactic of arresting one and ensnaring a string of others. The mostmon cases involved trafficking controlled substances and prostitution. Once one person was arrested, a series of contacts was subsequently detained. Previously, travel was slow, and the ledgers were easily destroyed; one could barely handle one case in a lifetime. Since criminals started using WeChat groups, police work has switched from solving cases to managing them. Once a case showed a breach, the extent of further proceedings really depended on the resources invested. The current police handling of such serial cases is akin to encirclement hunting; are there fish that slip through the? Definitely, and quite a few at that, but do the police really care? By this stage, the police don¡¯t just look at how many game are in the forest, but at how many resources they have, howrge of an area they can encircle, and how much time they have. More resources and more time mean more ferocity; otherwise, the police can only conduct encirclement hunts batch by batch. It should be said that, with the advancements in technology and society today, some people have be more equal, while some others might as well not be considered human at all. Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s police cars were driving in and out, and the suspects at the interrogation center were entering and leaving as well. Jiang Yuan¡¯s case certainly couldn¡¯t use those old interrogation rooms in old buildings anymore. Even Little Karami could enjoy the interrogation rooms built underground, with at least three heavy doors and two AB doors, all softly padded. They all have no idea how lucky they are! Six o¡¯clock in the afternoon. After interrogating over 40 suspects unknown numbers of times and still not obtaining effective leads, the Criminal Police Brigade indeed received an anonymous tip: "This morning, Zhang Weili exchanged cash at a convenience store!" Within fifteen minutes, that convenience store was surrounded tightly by police cars. Chapter 1048 - 981: The Point of No Return

Chapter 1048: Chapter 981: The Point of No Return

"At about 9:15 this morning, the suspect appeared at Xin Quan Convenience Store, iming that he had lost his mobile phone. He hoped to use the store clerk¡¯s phone to make a call for help. Afterwards, he asked to exchange cash, having his friend transfer money to the clerk¡¯s Alipay ount, then the clerk would give him cash..." The criminal police responsible for encircling the convenience store quicklypleted an on-site interrogation and immediately made a phone call back. Cui Qishan cursed, and then said, "Got it," and began to arrange for people to investigate Zhang Weili¡¯s "friend", and then sent someone to bring him back. Zhang Weili¡¯s "friend" is an old yer from Beijing, quite particr but not very clever. His rtionship with the suspect Zhang Weili wasn¡¯t very close, but owing him a favor, he got himself into trouble by covering for him. As soon as he sat in the interrogation room, almost finishing the transcription, the old yer suddenly realized: "Damn, was it Ningtai Jiangyuan who wants to catch Zhang Weili? Did he steal from the Forbidden City?" "So, look at you, your source of information isn¡¯t reliable anymore, still, mixing around all day, focus on living a good life once you¡¯re out of prison. Mixing around endlessly, what future is that?" The police officer conducting the interrogation, not even in his thirties, disciplined the old yer as if he were chastising his grandson. "No, you have to let me out." Sitting in the interrogation chair all along, the experienced old yer became anxious and began rattling his chains. "Sit still!" The interrogation officer said sternly: "You¡¯re anxious now? What were you doing earlier!" Being of an advanced age, the old yer easily controlled his emotions, took a deep breath, and said, "What I mean is, the way you¡¯re catching Zhang Weili is slow. Let me out, and I can find a way to bring him back to you!" "We don¡¯t need you." The interrogation officer didn¡¯t even look up. They had already apprehended the guy, there was no way to release him again, and if they needed to use him, it would be in another way. The old yer took another deep breath: "People from the underworld have their own ways, just grant me bail and let me out for two days, I guarantee that I¡¯ll bring him back." "We don¡¯t need you. Can¡¯t you understand?" The interrogation officer repeated, then continued: "Just confess everything clearly, and you can just stay in prison, your issue isn¡¯t very severe, confess properly, and you might even get a reduced sentence, don¡¯t make things hard for yourself." "I don¡¯t care how I fare," the old yer said, moved by his own sense of loyalty: "The underworld shouldn¡¯t be ruined because of me." The interrogation officer stared at him for a long time, then stood up and said: "You should reflect on yourself first." After finishing, the interrogation officer left the room and thought about heading to the conference room. Outside the conference room, in the corridor, several old smokers stood by the window smoking. Hearing the elevator ding, they all looked over. "Xiao Qi." Cui Qishan gestured, "Have you interrogated that old yer? How did it go?" The interrogation officer exined the situation, then said, "I just came to ask if we should release him?" Jiang Yuan has already started using special measures and insiders, so it¡¯s actually normal to utilize suspects of this level. Cui Qishan thought for a moment, handed him a cigarette, then said, "No need to inform Jiang Yuan for now. This old yer going out, probably can¡¯t find anyone anyway." "Oh, why do you say that?" "You¡¯ve been at the interrogation center today, right? Today they brought back a hundred suspects, Jiang Yuan has been busy there with cases. The underworld the old yer mentioned, it¡¯s probably non-existent now," Cui Qishan said, sighing twice. The interrogation officer Xiao Qi was stunned, "I didn¡¯t see that many people entering the interrogation center." "It¡¯s packed, we even borrowed space from the city bureau," Cui Qishan exined: "That¡¯s Jiang Yuan¡¯s influence." "Ah... this way... doing it so big, people mighte to know..." Xiao Qi looked at Xiao Si, smoking furiously nearby. Xiao Si, a sharp individual, immediately looked over and offered Xiao Qi a cigarette, took a puff himself, and said, "Don¡¯t worry, Captain Jiang is handling this, except for us, everyone else has probably already forgotten about us." Xiao Qi couldn¡¯t help butugh: "That¡¯s not quite right..." "As long as we don¡¯t stink up the ce, don¡¯t unt it, and get the suspects back, wrap up the case, we should be fine," Xiao Si remarked for both Xiao Qi¡¯s and Cui Qishan¡¯s ears. Cui Qishan expressed agreement: "Alright, I¡¯ll make a few more calls and try to speed it up, taking advantage of the ample staff to finish up quickly and avoid a bigger case popping upter, which couldplicate things..." "Cui Da." Xiao Si interrupted Cui Qishan¡¯s words, saying solemnly: "Keep your divine powers in check." "Ah... it won¡¯t happen." Cui Qishan waved his hand, as if trying to fan away smoke. "Sometimes, people still need to talk a bit about metaphysics." Xiao Si saw Cui Qishan¡¯s look of disbelief and his intent to argue, continued: "It¡¯s like a woman overshadowing her husband..." Xiao Qi coughed twice and said, "Old Xiao, be a bit more politically correct." Xiao Si shifted his words, "Let¡¯s say a man overshadows his wife. He married one and she died, he married a second and she died, even the third wife he married died. Vigers say he overshadows his wives, is this metaphysics or science?" Cui Qishanughed softly, just as he was about to say something, his phone rang. The expressions on Xiao Qi and Xiao Si¡¯s faces suddenly turned serious. Taking advantage of Cui Qishan not answering the phone yet, Xiao Si said first: "Cui Da, there¡¯s still time to change what you say before you answer the call. I don¡¯t mind, but Xiao Wei is still young, a university student, with a whole future ahead of him." "Alright, alright. You didn¡¯t mention it, I definitely thought this call was about catching someone, what are you rambling about." Cui Qishan red at Xiao Si and slid to answer the call: "Hello, I¡¯m Cui Qishan... Uh huh... Uh huh... Okay... I understand." After putting down the phone, Cui Qishan¡¯s brow lightly furrowed, and with the air of an intellectual, he resembled a slightly homely, abstinent seeming uncle that looks like a middle-aged dean who managed his figure well. The policemen smoking nearby all felt an intense pressure, and their smoking gestures became much gentler. "What¡¯s up?" Xiao Si didn¡¯t like this atmosphere and took the initiative to ask. Cui Qishan sighed heavily: "You really called it, kid." "Which one?" "Let¡¯s go." Cui Qishan said as he entered the conference room and approached the busy Jiang Yuan, saying: "Captain Jiang, the suspect Zhang Weili was bound and left at the police station door, even with a cake flower stuck on his head." As Jiang Yuan was busyparing crime tools on theputer, he paused and asked, "Are you sure it¡¯s Zhang Weili?" "Confirmed." Cui Qishan said, "We did the facial recognition, the fingerprints matched too, DNA will take a few hours." "Then alright, bring him back." Jiang Yuan said, while still clicking the mouse on his screen. "Okay." Cui Qishan responded, then stood by and watched Jiang Yuan operate for a while. Within a few short minutes, Jiang Yuan had locked down a suspect and forwarded it to Wang Chuanxing nearby. Wang Chuanxing immediately began preparing the paperwork, and after he finished, he passed it on to the prosecutor nearby. Indeed, to speed up the process, the prosecutor¡¯s office sent someone over to get involved earlier. Cui Qishan watched for a while, then quietly said: "Captain Jiang, do you need a break?" Jiang Yuan looked up at the system interface. Mission: Purge them! Mission content: Criminal Zhang Weili chose a point of no return, send his cohorts in as well." Mission progress: 132 people arrested. Jiang Yuan turned to look at Cui Qishan and said, "No hurry, now that we¡¯re here, let¡¯s catch some more." Chapter 1049 - 982: I Want Your Boss

Chapter 1049: Chapter 982: I Want Your Boss

The wind rises. The dark clouds in the sky move swiftly, like an elerated scene from a movie, heralding the departure of bad weather and the imminent return of a once clear and endless sky. On the streets, vehicles too unconsciously speed up, as if responding to the sky above. Only by lowering one¡¯s gaze, looking towards the lower echelons, can one see the frowns on pedestrians¡¯ faces, their expressions of annoyance, sighs of resignation, and the silhouettes dashing against the wind, who, despite their skirts being lifted, can¡¯t run far. A Ford Transit prison van, sturdily parked in front of the police station. "Get off the bus slowly, no noise, hey, don¡¯t make trouble for me, don¡¯t add to your sentence!" the officer in the passenger seat jumped down from the vehicle, speaking in an unpleasant tone. Several handcuffed criminal suspects were escorted off the bus. Leading them was a man with grizzled whiskers and well-developed muscles, whose expression remained tranquil as he walked forward two steps and stood still, then began to inspect the red banner on the building ahead: "Solidly advance the summer security crackdown and rectification campaign!" The man¡¯s eyelids twitched: "So early this year." "No talking, line up and follow me." The transporting detective ignored him. The grizzled-bearded man chuckled and obediently followed. All the way to the detention area, passing through the iron gate, it was only after entering that the man with grizzled whiskers resumed the conversation, "Thest time I passed by here, that red banner wasn¡¯t there yet, newly hung?" "Yeah." The detective had rxed after delivering the suspects to the interrogation center, rubbing their fingers in the inkpad and casually replying, "Lao Pu, just settle in peace now that you¡¯re here, don¡¯t cause trouble." "Is Jiang Yuan nning to stay too?" Lao Pu, the man with grizzled whiskers, sighed, "Didn¡¯t they arrest everyone already?" "Is Jiang Yuan a name for you to casually call?" a policeman at the side scolded him. A fellow suspect that was caught alongside shouted, "Aren¡¯t names meant to be called by others?" "Xiao Tian!" Lao Pu called out to the youngster, saying, "It is proper to call him God Jiang." "Your little brother is named Roaring? Like Roaring Heavenly Dog? What a dog¡¯s name," another officer preparing for the interrogation had already started to get into character, firing a taunt. Lao Pu once again calmed his youngster with his eyes, smiled gently, and said, "Indeed, it is a dog¡¯s name, but not Roaring Heavenly Dog. It¡¯s because he¡¯s often fooled by bitches, acting like apdog for others, that¡¯s why he¡¯s called Xiao Tian." Xiao Tian, with his prominent pectoral muscles, remained expressionless, as if spit on his face dried by itself. Even the detective ready to be the ¡¯bad cop¡¯ nearly lost hisposure, "With such a name in the underworld, don¡¯t othersugh at you?" Xiao Tian calmly nced at him, "In the vast world of the underworld, I am true to women, loyal to my brothers, who dares tough at me." Lao Pu nodded: "Xiao Tian is indeed a good man, and a good brother of mine, Lao Pu, it¡¯s just that he¡¯s not kind to himself." How could the detective let them reveal their feelings to each other here? He interrupted directly, "Well then, tell me about your brothers, and I¡¯ll have them brought over so you can meet in prison." "They must have alle in already." Lao Pu¡¯s smile remained serene: "I don¡¯t have much else to say." The detective sneered, "Coming in and being inside are not the same." Lao Pu calmly said, "The more that go in, the more it¡¯s all the same." "Really? Then shall I ask Captain Jiang to go through your dossier? To dig up those umted cases from your early years and sort them out?" The detective in charge of the interrogation had nned to apply more pressure once inside the interrogation room, but sometimes interrogation isn¡¯t the goal, getting results is. Right here, right now, this is a good opportunity. Standing before his men, underworld figures, and detectives, Lao Pu¡ªwho was just putting on airs¡ªsuddenly lost his cool out of nowhere. Lao Pu knew, and he knew that the police knew, that when he started out over twenty years ago, his hands weren¡¯t clean. How could someone make a name for himself in the underworld without having done some dirty work? But that was all twenty years ago. Already ten years ago, Lao Pu had started to go legitimate. Now, not only was he running a legitimate business, his boys were doing the same, only preferring industries with a bit more controversy: like car rental, selling dismantled car parts, seafood markets, and acting asndlords for second-hand properties, amongst other things. Their operations were still shady, but on apletely different level. Now, even when Lao Pu looks back on his past, he feels as if his aggressively violent days were just a dream. Byparison, the reason for his recent arrest¡ªbeing reported for involvement in a mass brawl, acquiring and selling stolen goods, contract fraud, and other minor offenses¡ªpales in significance to his experiences from twenty years ago. So, Lao Pu was calm when he got out of the car, but not anymore. Past cases... some are really better left untouched! "Zhang Weili, didn¡¯t I already give everything to you guys? Clinging onto it is a bit much, don¡¯t you think?" The calm facade on Lao Pu¡¯s face disappeared, he looked somewhat angry - after all, he did have a criminal past. The detective in charge of the interrogation asked, "Did you give it to us?" "What a low-level question. Who would admit that they gave it?" The detective sneered, "You¡¯re still trying to bargain. Do you think God Jiang is here to negotiate with you?" "Then what will make you stop?" Lao Pu tried to stay as calm as possible. "You want to negotiate with the police?" The detectiveughed: "Who can you represent? Whom do you want to represent?" Lao Pu was rendered speechless. Cracking down on organized crime isn¡¯t a joke. If he speaks out of turn now, he could be utterly doomed. "Come on." The detective leading the interrogation smiled as he ushered Lao Pu into the interrogation room. Going through all the usual procedures, the interrogating officer leisurely took a sip of water and said, "Lao Pu, do you know why we brought you in this time?" Lao Pu was prepared: "There was a fight at the seafood market, and you think it was my doing. To be honest, I¡¯m already 50 years old, can I still fight? I¡¯ve always advised them to value peace... As the saying goes, ¡¯it takes two to tango.¡¯ Those people ate the seafood, found it expensive, suspected we used dead fish. If you suspect something, say it earlier! After eating everything, all that¡¯s left is fish bones then youin the fish isn¡¯t right, after you finished eating..." The interrogating officer shook his head: "18 years ago, in Tongli Community, a shopkeeper was exercising around the neighborhood in the evening and was stabbed to death with a sharp knife. Do you remember this?" Lao Pu felt a shock at the mention of ¡¯Tongli Community¡¯ and tried to appear indifferent, saying, "What, now you¡¯re starting to frame people and shift the me?" "Captain Jiang has confirmed, byparing the knife wounds on the body, that the wounds from this case match the wounds of another case exactly." The interrogating officer smiled faintly and continued, "In fact, through this clue, we¡¯ve established that at least four cases are rted to you." He was referring to the knife marks that Jiang Yuan had identified using a Level 6 toolkit traceparison. Unlike fingerprints or DNA, tool mark trace evidence is difficult to automatically match systematically, so the process is almost entirely manual. Jiang Yuan needs to first record certain tool marks before considering them in other cases. So, this was a niche forensic technique, but Lao Pu understood. Most importantly, he did indeed take out a shopkeeper in Tongli Community. "I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about," Lao Pu immediately denied. The interrogating officer chuckled, "Back then, your boss made a fortune subleasing shops in Tongli Community... Don¡¯t be too quick to make excuses. As for you, I¡¯ve got you pegged. It¡¯s not you I want. I¡¯m after your boss!" Chapter 1050 - 983: Public Company

Chapter 1050: Chapter 983: Public Company

"Don¡¯t try to scare me, when I was scaring people off, you were still wetting your pants!" Lao Pu, with handcuffed hands, pped the table hard, his whole body straining as if he wanted to pull the chair up by its roots. The interrogating officer chuckled: "Lao Pu, don¡¯t get antsy, you¡¯re breaking your own character this way." "Didn¡¯t you want to see what I look like in the underworld? This is what I look like." Lao Pu was angry, like a pufferfish with his eyes about to burst out. Getting angry, are you? It¡¯s because I hit the nail on the head, isn¡¯t it?" The interrogating officer didn¡¯t expect it to be this simple; he thought it was going to be a tough battle, but recalling the groundworkid by Jiang Yuan, he realized that Lao Pu wasn¡¯t as stable under the threat of the death penalty as he had previously appeared. Lao Pu began to shake the chair, shifting his backside, struggling to break free from his restraints. To no avail. The interrogating officer waited quietly, waiting for him to vent, before saying coldly: "Done with your tantrum, let¡¯s continue with the interrogation." Lao Pu muttered, "All that talk about tool marks and whatnot is just nonsense..." "Do you know why we didn¡¯t catch you back in the day?" the interrogating officer suddenly countered. This question was too crucial, of course, Lao Pu wanted to know, so he was immediately controlled. The interrogating officer exchanged a smile with the officer next to him. Normally, police wouldn¡¯t give too much information to the suspect, perhaps no information at all, they wouldn¡¯t even tell you why they arrested you, they¡¯d just keep asking for confessions, resulting in rounding up a bunch of ducks when trying to snag chickens. However, Lao Pu was different. He¡¯s an old hand in the game, not one who¡¯s always struggling at the bottom like those small-time gangsters. He¡¯s truly been involved in big money, amassed wealth as an old hand. As everyone knows, the hardest thing in the world is to push your own thoughts into someone else¡¯s mind, and to pocket other people¡¯s money into your own. Anyone who¡¯s made money in an industry, especially big money, must have a good understanding of that industry. As Lao Pu himself said, it¡¯s quite hard to fool him. Now is the time for real stuff, for evidence. The interrogating officer wasn¡¯t like Jiang Yuan, who could nab three suspects in an hour; his main task now was interrogating Lao Pu. It didn¡¯t matter if it took days, and thus, he was well-prepared to say: "We didn¡¯t catch you back then because we had the wrong investigation direction. We didn¡¯t expect the victim was stabbed over a rental disagreement, we considered issues like property distribution and inheritance, as well as his former enemies..." The interrogating officer smiled, exining in detail: "Rent is market-driven,ter it was rented out to your boss, so it was at market price. And this victim was quite a tough guy; his thousands of square meters of retail space weren¡¯t exactly clean money. Following the principle ¡¯who benefits most is the most likely culprit¡¯, we went in circles and couldn¡¯t solve the case." The victim¡¯s thousands of square meters of retail space in Beijing, even 18 years ago, was wealth unattainable by most, plus other assets, and the fights over inheritance from his business partners and rtives, shifted the police¡¯s focus. The police at the time didn¡¯t imagine the murderer would be a prospective tenant looking to rent those retail spaces. Wrong investigative direction, naturally, the case remained unsolved. At this point in the interrogation, the officer looked at Lao Pu, smiling, "But now we¡¯ve found you. By focusing on investigating this case with you, what do you think will happen?" Lao Pu pretended to be calm, "I don¡¯t know how you¡¯re trying to frame me, but that¡¯s a very old case. It can¡¯t be whatever you say it is." "That knife of yours is actually quite famous." The interrogating officer began, "You were really fond of it, right? You only gave it up because your boss told you to." Lao Pu kept a straight face and said nothing. The interrogating officer chuckled, "See, you used that knife for three assault cases and one murder. You say you didn¡¯tmit the murder, and the victim can¡¯te out to testify. But the victims of those three assault cases are all alive, and they recognized you from the photo we showed them!" The interrogating officer counted on his fingers, "That famous de of yours, you didn¡¯t lend it to anyone, did you?" Lao Pu remained silent. He was an old criminal; he saw the pit the interrogating officer dug for him right away. Admitting to lending it to someone else would mean taking responsibility for those three assault crimes, including possible grievous bodily harm. The rest, whom you lent it to, must also be rified. Without a pre-arranged deal to take the fall, randomly pointing at someone is useless. For the detectives, if you im someone borrowed the knife, you need to provide the time and ce, the reason for the loan, and if the police catch the person you use, they will ask the same questions. If the details don¡¯t match, then certainly one person is lying. Lovers bicker often with unclear results because no one records their arguments, without using voice recorders or video equipment. Otherwise, following the interrogation model, a clear winner could always be determined. Foreign interrogations are simr, which is whywyers always remind the used "don¡¯t say a word." But domestically, criminal investigators won¡¯t end their interrogations, andwyers won¡¯t get to see their clients. Lao Pu relied solely on his experience to resist interrogation. The policeman sitting across him, smiling through the window barred with iron, tapped the desk and said, "So you won¡¯t shed tears until you see the coffin, huh? How about I tell you a few more things?" "Please do," Lao Pu was already feeling uneasy but still wanted to hear what evidence the police had. The thought he had was that the knife should have been disposed of; back when he was young and naive, he couldn¡¯t bear to throw away the fine Nepalese de he had acquired by chance after using it. Of course, having used it to kill someone, he ultimately disposed of it. As for the question of why he didn¡¯t change knives whenmitting the murder, it was a matter of using the most familiar weapon! years ago, Lao Pu was living each day without thinking of the future, never imagining he could wash away his past and surface clean. p! The interrogating officer pped his hand on the file and said, "Lao Pu, do you still remember the boasting you did back in the day?" Lao Pu shuddered, instantly replying, "Bragging isn¡¯t necessarily the truth." "The boasts in prison can be quite true," the interrogating officer paused, "Especially when someone remembers them too clearly, with details that match the crime scene, which the police haven¡¯t disclosed to the public!" On-scene identification is a very important aspect of criminal cases and ys a key role in preventing wrongful convictions. If someone is forced to confess under torture, they wouldn¡¯t be able to identify the scene or articte the details clearly, making it difficult to pass the death sentence review, and hard for the suspect to even send themselves away. Conversely, if someone¡¯s bragging matches the actual details of the crime scene, it raises suspicion towards them. And bragging in prison is an indispensable phase of prison life. Lao Pu fell silent once again. "Also, do you remember the driver who came to pick you up that day?" the interrogating policeman said, mentioning another key figure. This time, Lao Pu could no longer hold it in, repeating, "Are you bluffing me?" "What¡¯s there to bluff about? Your boss¡¯s driver¡¯s nickname was ¡¯Corpse Runner¡¯, right. He¡¯s been involved in not just a few cases. After being caught by God Jiang, in order to get a reduced sentence, he also ratted you out," said the interrogating officer nonchntly. This piece of evidence wasn¡¯t actually conclusive since ¡¯Corpse Runner¡¯ wasn¡¯t at the murder scene. He was just parked at the agreed location, waiting to drive away as soon as Lao Pu got into the car. However,bined with the previous pieces of evidence, Lao Pu had very little wriggle room left. "What do you guys want?" Lao Pu was starting to feel overwhelmed. The interrogating officer said simply, "Your boss." "You¡¯d better think this through. My boss is a listedpany¡¯s boss," Lao Pu stared at the other party. He wasn¡¯t afraid to rat out his boss, he was afraid that after doing so, his boss would walk scot-free. The interrogating officer confidently said, "That¡¯s exactly what we want, a listedpany!" "Give me a cigarette," Lao Pu uttered the ssic line from interrogations, which in the world of policemen and criminals, "Give me a cigarette" is asmon as "I¡¯m going to take a shower" in the world of adults. Click. The interrogating officer opened the iron door and came in to light a cigarette for Lao Pu. Lao Pu inhaled deeply, took another drag, held it for a long time and then exhaled, saying, "I want to see God Jiang; I will only confess to Jiang Yuan." "Jiang Yuan¡¯s main profession is a forensic doctor, and he isn¡¯t even part of the Zhengguang Bureau police..." the interrogating officer casually tried to persuade. Lao Pu shook his head firmly, saying, "I know Jiang Yuan has taken down a listedpany before and came out without a scratch. I don¡¯t trust you guys!" Chapter 1051 - 984 Leading the Way

Chapter 1051: Chapter 984 Leading the Way

Lao Pu spoke up for the second time asking for Jiang Yuan. Xu Zhaoxiang, the police officer in charge of the interrogation, didn¡¯t try to discourage him. Instead, he immediately called the special investigation team, looking for Jiang Yuan. Disciplinary forces highly value hierarchical rtionships. However, when ites to cases of extraordinary scale, the veteran detectives often be less... rigid. Lao Pu feared for his life, and so did the old detectives about mishaps. Going through the proper channels was certainly safe, but the chances of leaking information were also very high. Lao Pu had the ability to get the boss of the listedpany, Duanda Group, behind bars, provided he knew how to preserve evidence. But frankly, such judgment and decisions were made by people like Xu Zhaoxiang in a very short period of time, and whether they could achieve a breakthrough was uncertain. Xu Zhaoxiang was filled with anticipation, but when he found out that Lao Pu really had something substantial, possibly even major, Xu first panicked for 10 seconds. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan took his call. Xu Zhaoxiang couldn¡¯t talk about the details. He could only say, "God Jiang, I have a suspect here requesting to see you, and I think it¡¯s quite necessary. Would you be able toe over now?" If it weren¡¯t particrly important, he wouldn¡¯t have added thest sentence. But as the saying goes ¡¯the night brings many dreams,¡¯ and not only did Xu Zhaoxiang understand it, he had also experienced it. Especially with CEOs of listedpanies, whose information and rtionshipworks are denser than a spider¡¯s web, and out of respect and fear of power, it¡¯s assumed that suchpanies operate inpliance and are ethical role models. But there are always bad apples, such as a key responsible person at an essential post like a security guard, who might get whimsical and foolishly leak information, potentially causing the case to go awry. Jiang Yuan hurried downstairs with his people. In the past two or three years, he had handled more major and significant cases than most detectives do in their lifetime. He also had a clear understanding of many intricacies within the cases. Xu Zhaoxiang was a detective from the Zhengguang Bureau. An officer of the main force, with over 10 years of experience and involved in many significant cases, he had a good reputation and was seen by the leadership as apetent police officer. Such officers were definitely not the kind to waste Jiang Yuan¡¯s time over nothing. Given the current situation, even Tao would feel embarrassed to make overly excessive demands. Xu Zhaoxiang sat inside the interrogation room and did note out to greet Jiang Yuan. He just stared at Lao Pu, wary of any other issues arising. The shrewd Lao Pu quickly grasped the situation, silently lowering his head, appearing somewhat despondent. Even if he ratted out his boss, it wouldn¡¯t spell a good oue for him¡ªthe best he could hope for was probably a suspended death sentence. The issue was, if he did not rat out his boss, he feared his boss would kill him. In fact, Lao Pu was not very sure if Jiang Yuan could save his life. Click. In the silent interrogation room, the sound of the door opening was very soft, yet it sounded to Lao Pu almost like the gates of hell were opening. For the entering Jiang Yuan and his colleagues, it was just another tired but significant workday. For Lao Pu, however, it was the day that would change his fate. Xu Zhaoxiang heaved aplete sigh of relief. He first leaned over to Jiang Yuan, quietly briefed him on the situation, and then stepped aside. Now, the power of decision had shifted, and naturally, the responsibility also shifted. Contrary to Xu Zhaoxiang¡¯s behavior, Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes brightened after hearing his brief. As the saying goes, each generation has its own mission, and police officers at different levels have their respective duties as well. When Xu Zhaoxiang faced a listedpany, his heart was filled with fear, while Jiang Yuan was full of anticipation. There are only a few thousand listedpanies in the whole country. Without a bit of luck, an ordinary police officer would never have the chance to catch one of them. "I am Jiang Yuan. Pu Li, right?" Jiang Yuan took a seat at the interrogation table. Lao Pu solemnly nodded and observed Jiang Yuan closely. He recognized Jiang Yuan from media reports, but still Lao Pu asked, "God Jiang, may I see your ID, please?" Jiang Yuan showed it to him. Only then did Lao Pu breathe a sigh of relief, looked around, and without further ado, he said, "My boss is L¨¹ Qiang, the chairman of Duanda. If you want to catch him, I can help. But I want a reduced sentence, additional protection, and furthermore, I want to choose my prison." The conditions of prisons in different cities vary greatly. In short,mitting crimes in developed and open cities, one is more likely to enjoy the welfare and concepts of big cities. Living in a prison in a remote and poor region, where even the guards are barely scraping by, one shouldn¡¯t expect inmates to rehabilitate well. It¡¯s precisely someone like Lao Pu, who¡¯s often stayed in prisons, who would know how important choosing a prison is. The false demand for real estate: Working 996 during daylight,ing home to sleep, and the next day too busy to even have breakfast at home before rushing to thepany. Always focusing on property prices, never the rent. The real demand for real estate: Living in the house 24 hours a day, relying on the residentialmunity¡¯s facilities to support three meals a day and time outside, a one-time purchase for long-term holding. No rent, no property management fees. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, saying, "If you can provide information on Duanda¡¯s chairman, all your demands can be met." "I want some assurance," said Lao Pu. "Let¡¯s talk first. If it turns out to be true, I can have a prosecutore over," Jiang Yuan said casually, mainly because he was sure Lao Pu couldn¡¯t escape. The evidence for Pu Li¡¯s conviction was sifted out by Jiang Yuan over the past few days, and Pu Li was one of the big fish caught by Jiang Yuan. With enough objective evidence at hand, it¡¯s very difficult for the judicial system within the country to overturn a case. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t worried that Pu Li might learn anything from him to get a reduced sentence, let alone an acquittal. Pu Li forced a smile and exined, "Duanda started from demolition businesses. The chairman... Chairman L¨¹ Qiang may look genteel, but he has a very strong personality. To use current ng, he employs many tricky maneuvers. For instance, right now, I¡¯m worried that after I confess, the officer in charge might suddenly be transferred..." Jiang Yuan was internally intrigued by what he heard: "Your statement is very interesting. It doesn¡¯t sound like it¡¯s made up. Have there been simr cases before?" "I¡¯ve heard about them, but we¡¯re not allowed to know the specifics of such cases. At least, I¡¯m not qualified to know," Pu Li didn¡¯t dare to fabricate. "If you¡¯re worried about that, I suggest we expedite the interrogation process so as not to dy too long. Honestly, if my superiors really wanted to send me somewhere, I couldn¡¯t refuse," Jiang Yuan nced at his watch and added, "So, I hope you cooperate fully. Let¡¯s trust each other and try to confirm one or two major cases within an hour or two. If so, there will be no problem in directly arresting L¨¹ Qiang." "Are you willing to do that?" Pu Li, in his fifties, couldn¡¯t be persuaded by just a few words. He continued to inquire, "With Ningtai Jiang Yuan taking action, surely you want to take down L¨¹ Qiang¡¯s entire gang in one swoop, right? Will you be satisfied with just catching L¨¹ Qiang?" This touched on the crux of the issue. To catch just L¨¹ Qiang, Pu Li¡¯s testimony might be enough. But what if they wanted to ensnare a whole gang? That could normally take at least a year and a half of nning. Jiang Yuan pondered briefly before saying, "Let me put it this way, I don¡¯t need to try to catch everyone at once from you. Of course, afterwards, I will definitely try to clean them up. However, considering L¨¹ Qiang¡¯s status, I¡¯d prefer to cut the Gordian knot. As long as you can provide information on L¨¹ Qiang and a few of his main henchmen, and in addition, as many others as possible, let me give you a number¡ªif it¡¯s over twenty people and we can¡¯t get them all in one go, it¡¯s on me." "There are more than a few dozen people working for L¨¹ Qiang. And, as I know, most of them are involved in economic crimes, nowadays referred to as white-cor crimes. Such investigations take a lot of time..." Pu Li was no naive rabbit and had an array of queries. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Then let¡¯s first go after those with criminal cases. Once the criminals are caught, we¡¯ll look into their economic cases." "Well... okay." Criminal cases were indeed much simpler than economic ones. "Let¡¯s start with L¨¹ Qiang." "L¨¹ Qiang..." Pu Li gritted his teeth before saying, "He had me kill three people." Everyone sitting in the interrogation room looked solemn. Jiang Yuan said, "Exin one by one. Which three people?" "The case from eighteen years ago. The first one was the owner of that store at the bottom of the building," muttered Pu Li, going on, "You already know the reason. L¨¹ Qiang found out there was going to be an underground station there and wanted to rent all the storefronts. The owner knew L¨¹ Qiang¡¯s background wasn¡¯t clean and refused, even if the rent was raised. Later on, I stabbed him to death, and L¨¹ Qiang finally managed to rent the shop from the owner¡¯s son..." Pu Li also gave some details, particrly about the negotiations, as evidence. After listening, Jiang Yuan stood up before Pu Li finished and said, "I¡¯m going to make a call." Upon his return, an expectant Pu Li asked, "The prosecutor ising?" "The prosecutor? Oh... they¡¯reing," Jiang Yuan replied, then added, "I called the ministry. Soon, someone from the ministry wille to ask you some questions, you just need to be honest. Then, the special task force against Duanda Group will be led and established by the ministry." Chapter 1052 - 985: Take Down

Chapter 1052: Chapter 985: Take Down

Jiang Yuan¡¯s call was made directly to Song Tiancheng. If the police hierarchy were simply divided by rank, people like Wu Junhao at the deputy section level would count as LV1, the former Huang Qiangmin was LV2... Song Tiancheng had at least reached the full LV5, or was half a step into LV6. And when ites to special case teams, the one led by Song Tiancheng was... unlikely, having exceeded the ceiling already. Therefore, after receiving the call, Song Tiancheng brought people over to supervise and at the same time to understand the progress of the case on Jiang Yuan¡¯s end. This was also facilitated by their proximity in Beijing, which made it considerably convenient. Police stations often manage to handle major cases, and this advantage of closeness indeed simplifies reporting andmunication. If Jiang Yuan were to work on a case of a simr level in Changyang City, it would not be easy for him to request the help of a big shot like Song Tiancheng. Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be very useful either. Yet in Beijing, through Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan reported to the leaders of the Zhengguang Bureau and quickly gained support from this end. Tao Lu, the shadowy Tao from the Zhengguang Bureau, wearing a brand-new set of rarely-worn inclothes, appeared in the meeting room, specifically to wee Song Tiancheng. "Duanda Group, huh!" Just by hearing the briefing, Song Tiancheng couldn¡¯t help but reflect on it. The case itself seemed solid. Pu Li, as Duanda Group¡¯s chairman L¨¹ Qiang, was the hitman he used when starting up his business. Not only did he help L¨¹ stab a bottom feeder, but he also dealt with a debtor and ady aspiring to move up in the hierarchy. Out of these three cases, Pu Li didn¡¯t leave any evidence for the first assassination; however, in thetter two, he intentionally left behind some evidence. Especially during the third murder, when dealing with the woman for L¨¹ Qiang, Pu Li collected the Nokia phone he used and deliberately buried it near the body disposal site. With evidence at this level, without Pu Li¡¯s testimony, it might be slightly difficult to sentence him to death, but with Pu Li¡¯s ount, it was a case of both physical evidence and confession beingplete. Besides, Pu Li also gave up arge number of Duanda¡¯s members. Pu Li was also one of the big shots who had gone legitimate; had it not been for his involvement this time, and Jiang Yuan leading the Cold Case Squad to specifically target Duanda with a special case team, starting the operation from petty thieves, it might be possible that by the time the mid-to-high-level members were arrested, Pu Li might not havee into the police view or he would have fled before getting implicated. At his level, backed by Duanda Group, ordinary restrictions were useless. He couldpletely avoid public transportation and secretly take a speedboat out of the harbor, with local bigwigs waiting for him abroad. Thus, Pu Li was someone truly capable of bringing L¨¹ Qiang to his demise, which was precisely why he was so worried and sought out Jiang Yuan. As for why L¨¹ Qiang couldn¡¯t prevent this in advance, it could only be said that even the most powerful bigwigs rely on their middle and upper management to prop them up. Pu Li held his secret of ordering murders, the Chief Financial Officer held his secret of transferring assets, thepany secretary knew his secret of stock market maniption, the driver knew about his illegitimate child, and his wife and his fifth child each held his secrets of privately startingpanies and tax evasion... Everyone is a bacterium within you; no one expects to live in a sterile environment. From Song Tiancheng¡¯s perspective, arresting Duanda Group¡¯s chairman and then arresting such arge number of mid-to-high-level members, even if Duanda Group wouldn¡¯t be destroyed, it would have to be admitted to the ICU. "You always get the job done." Song Tiancheng looked at Jiang Yuan, then nced at the mobile phone twice and said, "Then let¡¯s proceed as you wish." "If it¡¯s as I wish, then it¡¯s about arresting people directly, restricting everyone from leaving the city, and then arresting as many as we can find guilty," Jiang Yuan paused, then said, "Duanda must be paralyzed at least." "Even if it¡¯s paralyzed, it¡¯s not a problem; someone will always be able to operate it." Song Tiancheng, seeing the issue from an even higher perspective, indifferently said, "Let¡¯s dig out the wound first; whether it survives and how well it heals, is something to considerter." "As long as it¡¯s done without regard to life or death, that makes things easy!" Having received his orders, Jiang Yuan immediately turned to Tao Lu and said, "Tao, then let¡¯s start arresting people and locking down thepany." Tao Lu patted his forehead, looking a bit flustered and said, "This is a huge case, are we really going ahead with the arrests? It might end up half-baked." Song Tiancheng chuckled and said, "Whatever you decide, I support it." Jiang Yuan looked at Tao Lu and said, "Anyway, we are criminal police, not economic investigators." "If I were to say that to the director, he¡¯d curse me to death." Though Tao Lu spoke this way, he still nodded and said, "Let¡¯s start with the arrests then, to prevent them from running away." "I¡¯ll lend you personnel from other cases," Jiang Yuan said with a polite smile. Tao Lu sighed, "I might really need them." With that, Tao Lu began to mobilize troops in front of Song Tiancheng and Jiang Yuan. The details of arrests matter a lot, especially here, where arge-scale operation isn¡¯t something that can be exined in a word or two. However, Tao Lu had ample experience. He quickly got things underway while making phone calls and summoning people. For them, making preliminary decisions was the hardest part. Once that was aplished and the execution phase began, it was... even if they weren¡¯t skilled themselves, they could just find someone skilled to handle it. Beijing is never short of strategists and strongmen. Song Tiancheng watched for a while, then started to frequently use his mobile phone, whether for chatting or negotiation was unknown. Jiang Yuan sent the Cold Case Squad members out and temporarily stopped working, reopening hisputer to start checking the evidence. Pu Li¡¯s confession included a lot, as he was still continuously disclosing information. The cases, characters, and evidence he was involved with were even more extensive. Many cases, which might not have been given the right direction or enough attention years ago, or may have been put on hold simply due to insufficient technical capabilities, could now be revisited. With the new information, Jiang Yuan extracted them and began to immediately get to work on some of the more straightforward cases. As everyone was busy with their tasks, the meeting room became rather quiet and peaceful. Until a certain moment, the system interface in front of Jiang Yuan started shing numbers: Task progress: 137 people arrested. Task progress: 144 people arrested. Task progress: 177 people arrested. It was clear that this wave of arrests waspletely different from before; the number of arrests was increasing in double digits. At the same time, Tao Lu began to receive an increasing number of calls. "Captain Jiang, some photos were sent over, can you take a look?" Wang Chuanxing on the other end, having more operational information, saw many potential pieces of evidence begin to surface frequently. Jiang Yuan¡¯s work WeChat group also started to grow at a double-digit rate. Task progress: 205 people arrested. When Jiang Yuan saw this number of arrests, he knew without thinking that Duanda Group was definitely in chaos. During the arrest operation, police might even have encountered some form of resistance. Otherwise, the number of arrests couldn¡¯t have been so high! Chapter 1053 - 986 A Snowflake

Chapter 1053: Chapter 986 A Snowke

Duanda Group. The 36-story self-owned office building¡¯s blue ss curtain walls seemed to hang with halos under the sunlight. There¡¯s also a vast and open mini-square in front of the building, a resource shared by the entire park, but since Duanda was the developer, the best site was reserved for themselves. Noon. The doors of the office building opened simultaneously, and groups of social elites burst out like jubnt sheep from multiyered luxurious pens, surging towards the surrounding welfare area to spend the ie they have yet to receive today. Some big spenders, those who like to treat others to meals, and those domesticated office workers would even take out their earnings, sheared off over several days, to warmly entertain others. Chen Xiangrong was such an average office worker. Simr to many ordinary employees from bigpanies these years, Chen Xiangrong came from an ordinary key high school, achieved an ordinary high score among the top 50 in his grade, graduated from an ordinary 985 university, then pursued a master¡¯s degree under an ordinary supervisor,pleted two ordinary projects during school, rejected the in invitation from his supervisor, and after an ordinary scatter-shot resume submission and a total of five rounds of interviews, finally became an ordinary employee at Duanda Group. After four years of ordinary 996 work schedule, Chen Xiangrong had be an ordinary supervisor in his department, responsible for all the ordinary misceneous tasks, including those urgent ordinary ones. Chen Xiangrong was fairly satisfied with such an ordinary life, even though there were many idiots among thepany¡¯s colleagues, leaders, departmental regtions, and strategic strategies. But they paid their sries like idiots, and Chen Xiangrong could ept this enveloping idiotic life. Chen Xiangrong bought some food at a convenience store, found a bench with a beautiful view, and slowly consumed his food. The sounds of people joking and fooling around came from beside him. Chen Xiangrong looked and saw that it was three idiot male managers from the same floor as him, frolicking with their three busty female subordinates they had recruited. Chen Xiangrong curled his lips and was toozy to look any further. These three male managers had been warned once after being reported twice for sexual harassment, and would be adjusted and sent to a subsidiary if it happened again, just like previous managers. By then, they would naturally have nothing to do with Chen Xiangrong anymore. Of course, the group might send another three simr idiot managers and recruit subordinates again ording to their personal tastes, and at least three more rounds would follow... Chen Xiangrong shook his head. These were none of his business; after all, the next department hardly did any work and usually had little interaction with him. If he ever did encounter them, he would just have to bear the pressure. Yikes! A girl¡¯s exmation came from behind. Chen Xiangrong helplessly shook his head, thinking, do these people have no patience at all? They¡¯re already exploiting their power to suppress the subordinates, must they also force this sort of behavior? Chen Xiangrong, while chewing on his sandwich, reluctantly turned to look. He saw the three managers... stacking themselves like a totem pole? Chen Xiangrong couldn¡¯t help but get up to look closely, not to mention why these perverts had suddenly be so deranged, where did the extra people participating in the totem pole stackinge from? "Police!" A deep voice rose by his ear, saying, "Let me see your ID, please." "Huh?" Chen Xiangrong stood up: "What¡¯s going on?" "ID card. Thank you for your cooperation." The policeman saluted politely, but there was no room for any discount in his demand, even looking at Chen Xiangrong with a skeptical eye. "I also don¡¯t have my ID card on me." Chen Xiangrong paused for a moment, then asked, "What did they do?" "Wait a moment, I¡¯ll perform a facial recognition." The policeman took a picture of Chen Xiangrong and his personal information popped up in the software. After sizing up Chen Xiangrong, the policeman continued, "Alright, you¡¯re free to go. Please leave quickly and do not discuss or publish any photos and videos of what you¡¯ve seen. Our case is still under investigation; any action on your part that affects the investigation will be pursued by the police." "Got it, I didn¡¯t take any photos anyway." Chen Xiangrong murmured and walked away. Soon, three new female colleagues rushed up to him, asking about his situation with lingering fear. Chen Xiangrong himself was clueless and could only shake his head, saying, "You go back and report to your department¡¯s leadership." "Should we look for awyer?" "Leadership can¡¯t handle the police, can they?" "They¡¯re arresting people right at the entrance of Duanda?" The shock was stronger for the three female colleagues who witnessed the managers being arrested from a very close distance. Consequently, their emotional reactions were more intense. Chen Xiangrong didn¡¯t say a word, even feeling a bit gleefully happy inside. Three scumbag managers, wandering around the building like loafers, always passing the buck when it came to work, getting arrested served them right! Returning to the office building of Duanda, it was clear that some people¡¯s expressions were abnormal. Seeing this, Chen Xiangrong felt a bit puzzled, advising the three female colleagues to go upstairs by themselves, while he stood and waited. Soon, he saw a somewhat familiar colleague from another department approaching. "Lao Wang, did you hear someone got arrested?" Chen Xiangrong stepped forward to share his news first. "How could I not know, they were arrested right in front of me." Lao Wang seemed to have a strong desire to offload, looking around before whispering, "That manager of mine, you remember him, right? Calling him a nutcase is putting it lightly. Someone else knocked him straight down, his head hitting the ground with a thud." "Your manager was arrested too?" Chen Xiangrong was astonished. "Too? Your manager was arrested as well?" Lao Wang was astonished. Chen Xiangrong slowly shook his head and described what he had just witnessed. The two exchanged a nce and hurried to the elevator. Today¡¯s events seemed far from trivial. In the elevator, it was filled with Duanda personnel disying various expressions, with many of them frantically texting on WeChat. Chen Xiangrong also raised an eyebrow and quickly checked his work group chats. Normally, during lunch break, he deliberately avoided checking the group messages to not let his rare rest time bemandeered by superiors. But today¡¯s situation was special. As soon as Chen Xiangrong opened WeChat, he saw several privately sent messages. A few photos and screenshots indicated that arrests were not umon. Chen Xiangrong couldn¡¯t help but shiver. How many people were arrested? Looking at the main chat group, someone wrote: "The office building is allowing entrance but not exit, seems like something big is happening." Chen Xiangrong shrank his neck and recalled the scene upon entering. The security guard at the door seemed very unfamiliar. Messages never stopped flooding the group chat: "Director Wang has been taken away." "The Nanping construction site is said to be sealed off." "That head of finance is fierce, swinging a big sword back and forth, several policemen didn¡¯t dare to get close, the sound of documents being shredded inside." "How many documents were shredded?" "Not many I guess, two cops went up with chairs, broke his head." Chen Xiangrong was engrossed in the messages when suddenly his desk phone rang. This was an internalpany line. Chen Xiangrong shuddered and quickly answered with a low voice, "Hello..." "Chen Xiangrong? This is Li Wannian. Come to my office." The manager identified himself and then hung up the phone. Chen Xiangrong entered the manager¡¯s office full of trepidation. As the supervisor at Little Karami¡¯s level, Chen Xiangrong rarely had contact with the manager on normal days. Li Wannian sized up Chen Xiangrong from head to toe then said after a moment: "Starting today, you are in charge of all work in the Marketing Division 3." "Ah? Why?" "Why? The manager and deputy manager of Division 3 have been arrested; you¡¯re the highest-ranking person left. Do well, and if thepany doesn¡¯t go under, you¡¯ll be the manager in the future!" Li Wannian waved his hand in irritation, too tired to even engage in the usual PUA tactics. Chapter 1054 - 987: Bad News is Exhausted

Chapter 1054: Chapter 987: Bad News is Exhausted

Progress of the mission: 245 people arrested. Progress of the mission: 256 people arrested. Jiang Yuan leans back on the couch, watching the numbers of the mission progress rise, and feels pretty good about it. It feels just like earning passive ie. The same sum of money feels more valuable if ites from rental ie rather than earnings from a 996 work schedule. Simrly, if someone else arrests more than 200 people for you, it would feel quite rxing. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but stretch and yawn, as if he was back on that sweltering afternoon, collecting rent for his father, running up and down several buildings, feeling both hot and sleepy. "Captain Jiang has had a long day. Do you want to take a break?" The cadres from the Beijing Bureau always seem to be exceptionally understanding. Jiang Yuanughs and waves his hand, saying, "No hurry, the front lines might still send over a lot of evidence, I¡¯ll rest after reviewing them." Duanda was an enterprise that went legit early on, and before it was exposed, no one knew exactly how much corruption was inside. Even now, it¡¯s not entirely clear to everyone. Even Jiang Yuan and his team can only confirm through Lao Pu that Duanda¡¯s chairman, L¨¹ Qiang, was involved in instigating murder, but the fact that Lao Pu got caught had an element of chance in it. Moreover, if it were just Pu Li alone, taking down L¨¹ Qiang would require a lot of work. So despite being an old gangster, Pu Li knows how things work. It takes someone with criminal investigation abilities like Jiang Yuan, with administrative power and fame as a police officer, along with supportive leadership, to sessfully handle this case; every part is indispensable. Without supportive leadership, it would be difficult to authorize the search and blockade of Duanda, and without a police officer like Jiang Yuan with criminal investigation capabilities, leaders cannot just rush in to solve the case. Without solid evidence and case files, the case would be unsolvable. As for what lies beneath L¨¹ Qiang in the crime depths of Duanda, where even the insiders may notmunicate with each other, it¡¯s hard to say. Some may really stop doing dark deeds after going legit, but others, whether from path dependency or passively, might just return to their old methods. Even in the business wars of 10 years ago, Duanda¡¯s executives probably would not resort to any sophisticated tactics; it may alle down to in and simple maneuvers. For these potential cases, as long as a thread is found, they can still be cracked. For example, those Duanda individuals who have been arrested need to have their DNA and fingerprints collected first, and statistically, someone is bound to slip up in some cases. Besides, reasons like Lao Pu¡¯s arrest, identical weapons used in crimes, or other simr tools involved, could all possibly be linked to some cases. In the midst of our conversation, photos began to be transmitted to the backend. The dozen or so Criminal Science officers prepared by Jiang Yuan immediately went into work mode. Those in Criminal Science know that evidence is like cockroaches; when you spot one, a family of nobility spanning four generations awaits you. When police officers collect evidence, they never take just one piece. In reality, if there¡¯s really little evidence at the scene, requiring only one piece to be collected, they¡¯ll even take the crap-stained rat sticks from the trash and coat them for physical and chemical testing. But if there¡¯s a lot of evidence at the scene, requiring many pieces to be collected, they might miss some, or they might just pack up the entire room and take it back, or even mix multiple pieces of evidence in one evidence bag. Therefore, nowadaysrger police squads, or small squads dealing with big cases, send their own Criminal Science team to collect physical evidence. The main focus is clear responsibility. Jiang Yuan first checks the fingerprints. Fingerprints and DNA are the most direct evidence pointing to a person. It will take a few more hours for DNA results, but fingerprint analysis is faster and also quite particr. Jiang Yuan, in his early days in Changyang City, participated in a fingerprint battle using existing fingerprints to solve old cases. The principle is the same. The newly collected fingerprints areplete fingerprints; all fingers have to roll over the device, revealing all fingerprint information before it¡¯s enough. As is well known, the fingerprints left at a crime scene can only be partial. When facing such fingerprints, trace examiners draw out the distinctive features of the prints and wait for the system to match them, which is the mostmon approach. But marking the characteristic points of newly collected fingerprints correctly is also very important. The so-called fingerprint matching, to those who don¡¯t understand, might seem like a magical imageparison technique, but in the end, it still boils down to numericalparison primarily. In a nutshell, it¡¯s a bteral endeavor. It requires the person in charge of fingerprints on both sides to work enthusiastically and to the best of their ability in order to increase the likelihood of a sessful match. And everyone knows that a single fingerprint has about 100 characteristic points. It¡¯s rare for technicians to mark so many characteristic points on newly collected fingerprints. One reason is the limitation of time, and the other is the limitation of technology. Some characteristic points are just hard to determine andbel, and it¡¯s easy to make mistakes. Full fingerprints are not necessarily easier tobel than the partial ones collected from the scene. After all, the technicians responsible for marking fingerprints are mostly beginners at the LV0.5 to LV1 level. In a society where "you get what you pay for" prevails, one cannot expect rookie police officers with a monthly sry of 5000 to exhibit remarkable creativity and sense of responsibility. But Jiang Yuan is genuinely capable of marking 100 characteristic points. And he doesn¡¯t feel it to be a significant burden. It¡¯s like marking 100 unique points on a map. For those who haven¡¯t been trained, even if they are diligent, the marking can be arduous and prone to errors. But if trained, especially well-trained, then it¡¯s just a matter of craftsmanship. Therefore, when Jiang Yuan marks one person¡¯s fingerprints, it¡¯s equivalent to marking 1000 characteristic points. Using 1000 characteristic point to run a database search, the chances of making a match are rtively higher. In fact, it won¡¯t be much higher, because if there are only 8 characteristic points in the database they will pop up, and if needed, even those with 6 characteristic points will show up. Jiang Yuan just increases this probability. However, in such a context, when the first suspect¡¯s fingerprints are marked, and matches pop up right away, Jiang Yuan can¡¯t help but praise: Bad luck for you! Bad luck for you*2! Bad luck for you*3! Consecutive matches heat up the atmosphere in the conference room. Even Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected so many suspects to be matched. "This Duanda, seems to have quite a few criminals, huh." When Jiang Yuan got the fifth match, he was already a bit tired, but honestly, he had only marked 12 suspects so far. "There¡¯s a higher number of small cases matched, which probably weren¡¯t given much attention before," said Tao Lu, who was sitting close by because of Song Tiancheng, adding: "Years-old minor cases that weren¡¯t solved back then just got dropped. They didn¡¯t get their fingerprints at the time, letting them slip through." "That¡¯s how it goes when they¡¯ve been whitewashed; you no longer have any reason to take their fingerprints," Song Tiancheng nodded, wrapping up the story. Tao Lu smiled and said, "Fortunately, now that these cases have been confirmed, we can use them to draw these people back out." "Yeah, these people have been living a life of luxury for a long time, they wouldn¡¯t want to go to prison," Song Tiancheng said while ncing at his cellphone. "Let¡¯s involve the Economic Investigation Department." "Yes," Tao Lu responded immediately. With this development, the jurisdiction over the cases would also be more favorable. Tao Lu then asked, "Shall we issue a public announcement?" The announcement was prepared in advance. Naturally, it¡¯s necessary to be prepared for listedpanies. Song Tiancheng nodded: "Go ahead and post it. I wonder if the stock price is going to crash." One hourter. The Economic Investigation Department¡¯s officers arrived at the conference room with great fanfare. At the same time, Duanda¡¯s stocks sessfully hit the daily limit. Bearish news exhausted, all is bullish¡ªDuanda¡¯s premium edition. Chapter 1055 - 988 Conclusion

Chapter 1055: Chapter 988 Conclusion

Duanda Group. The blue ss building shimmered, as if it were a treasured artifact from the fairy realm, fallen into the mortal world. The Chen Kunfus locked within the building were like souls trapped inside a treasure, moving about in a daze, appearing busy with tasks yet aplishing nothing. Despite this, uniformed soldiers kept pulling people out from the treasured tower and taking them away. This caused the souls to lean towards moving further inward, preferring the warmth of huddling together. At this time, offices tucked away in corners with 270-degree panoramic views became worthless. Most people would rather stay inrge offices, as if this made them feel a bit safer. "A new guy¡¯s arrived." Chen Kunfu appeared busy with paperwork, but most of his attention was on various chat groups. The office floors of Duanda were packed with people, mostlymon workers, and the detectives couldn¡¯t simply confiscate everyone¡¯s phones. As for warnings against taking photos, that didn¡¯t stop people from sharing pictures in small groups and passing them on torger ones. Chen Kunfu was quite engrossed in looking at them, even forwarding a few pictures himself. He now knew why the bosses had met with disaster, which somewhat eased his fear. What did the old wrongdoings of Duanda have to do with it now? His colleague next to him was also furiously scrolling on his phone and casually asked, "Who¡¯s the new guy?" "A cop, the lot that came this time are economic investigators." Chen Kunfu paused, then added: "After wrapping up the criminal cases, they¡¯ve started on the economic crimes. I think Duanda¡¯s stocks rose too early." "May those who try to snatch chestnuts from the fire perish," his colleague muttered resentfully. He also had money in his stock ount but hadn¡¯t dared to buy stocks of his ownpany. Missing out on this price surge made him fume with frustration. Of course, what was even more infuriating was seeing others make money¡ªtruly more painful than losing one¡¯s own. Chen Kunfu chuckled and said, "It probably won¡¯t happen so quickly." "Let me check," said his colleague, excitedly whipping out his phone to check. "How is it?" Chen Kunfu waited for a while, but hearing no response, he looked over. "There¡¯s even more capital pushing for the price limit now; the stock investors have gone mad, some funds are acting like retail investors," his colleague shook his head: "Just our shabbypany, it¡¯s going to copse with all this fuss." "Well... maybe not necessarily," Chen Kunfu came back with that. His colleague looked surprised: "That¡¯s not what you used to say. Didn¡¯t you always say that with the way thepany was being run, it was bound to fail one day?" "But it¡¯s different now," Chen Kunfu said seriously: "Now, I¡¯ve be a manager, you¡¯re a supervisor, they¡¯ve cut down 3 of the 6 directors above us, all those old VPs are gone ¨C isn¡¯t this exactly thepany we dreamt of?" His colleague went numb: "It does, seem like it, a bit..." "Actually, it¡¯s even better than in our dreams!" Chen Kunfu spread his hands and proimed: "Inside thispany, it used to be a ce where the wicked ruled and ordinary people couldn¡¯t get by¡ªstruggling even to ck off, those with any skills have left, and only we, who diligently and honestly have no other options, remain. Now, the evil ones are all arrested, the business of thepany continues, production remains unaffected ¡ª is there a betterpany than this?" Colleague: "Really..." Chen Kunfu: "Right?" "So, these people buying stocks, they really onto something?" "Maybe they¡¯re just buying blindly," Chen Kunfu swore vulgarly, as he hadn¡¯t dared to buy his ownpany¡¯s stocks either. ... Iveco vans arrived one after another at the police station entrance, disembarking were all immactely dressed white-cor workers. The attitude of the economic crime officers was also very good; though not overly cordial, they were at least not as fierce as the criminal detectives. After all, the people arrested by the economic crime division were the type who wouldn¡¯t leap over a yard wall even if it were just one meter high. Dealing with these criminals was like dealing with golden retrievers: they might look rather big, but those in the know realize they are not that aggressive. Criminal offenders, on the other hand, are a different breed altogether--starting at the least as Akita dogs, not only prone to fighting and biting but also inherently more troublesome with inauspicious backgrounds to boot. The system interface in front of Jiang Yuan continued to sh numbers incessantly. Finally, when the task progress hit 300, the task was directly tallied up. Task: Cleanse Them! Task Content: Criminal Zhang Weili tirelessly chose a point of no return, send his ilk to join him as well. Task Progress: 300 people arrested. Task Reward: Mining ident Site Investigation (LV5) Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but light up a cigarette, a small celebration andmemoration for himself. While the prison terms of these 300 people might not be incredibly long, cumtively, they are enough to grind down 100 people to death. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion, for a "cleanse" level task, 300 people really wasn¡¯t a lot. He had handled several cases involving the arrest of 300 people and no longer found it extraordinary. As for the major detective squads, arresting 300 people was not an everyday affair, but at the very least, it was amon annual task. Speaking of which, there might just not be enough of Zhang Weili¡¯s kind, as it seems all the suspects connected to him have nearly all been arrested, leaving no room for further expansion of the dra. The task reward, however, had only caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s nce before he ceased to pay it much attention. Mining disaster scene investigation is indeed one of the forensic doctor¡¯s job scopes, but Jiang Yuan was not eager to engage in this type of work for the time being, and hoped it would stay that way. Of course, obtaining a skill was a good thing, and technically, investigation of mining disaster sites could reveal many pertinent technical details. A LV5 skill would be a lifetime¡¯s worth of work for anyone, containing an absolutely substantial amount of information. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, then turned to Tao Lu, saying, "Tao, given the circumstances, I feel that my work here is temporarilyplete. Zhang Weili¡¯s case should be considered closed now, right?" "Who?" Tao Lu didn¡¯t react immediately. "The thief who ran away," Jiang Yuandao replied. "Oh? Oh... right, him. Yes, that thief is as good as caught... no, the people from Duanda are all caught; Zhang Weili¡¯s case... alright, Zhang Weili¡¯s case should indeed be considered over," Tao Lu was a bit incoherent. After all, bringing down a publicly-tradedpany like this couldn¡¯t be consideredmon; it was at least a very significant task. From Tao Lu¡¯s perspective, no matter how you look at it, it was impossible to connect it back to Zhang Weili. Jiang Yuan chuckled, not pressing the matter further, and simply said, "Then I¡¯ll mention it to Commissioner Huangter." "Sure, sure, that¡¯s appropriate." "There¡¯s another matter." Jiang Yuan moved on from the previous topic, continuing, "When I was checking fingerprints earlier, I noticed one that drew my attention." "Is it connected to a certain case?" "It is, but it¡¯s just a fingerprint simr to one in a cold case, so it¡¯s not guaranteed that we can find the culprit." Chapter 1056 - 989: Restraint

Chapter 1056: Chapter 989: Restraint

"A murder cold case? Which case is it?" Tao Lu immediately became interested upon hearing the type. Even though he was well aware that investigating cold case homicides cost money, and it would cost even more to engage Jiang Yuan and his team, he was still willing and even eager to spend the money. To any police department, solving a cold case homicide is like fulfilling a mission. Solving one is like adding a piece to the puzzle of their mission. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment and didn¡¯t mention the case right away. Instead, he offered a word of caution first: "I¡¯m not entirely certain at the moment, just that while reviewing fingerprints, one looked familiar. Although there was a matchter, it was also an iplete fingerprint and not a decisive one, so whether this case will be officially reopened is still in question." Jiang Yuan continued to exin, "I might need about a day to confirm a few things and might need to look for the individuals rted to the case, to interrogate the involved parties. I thought I¡¯d give a heads up." Jiang Yuan said all this in one breath, and not just Tao Lu, but even Song Tiancheng¡¯s expression became extremely serious. This was Jiang Yuan speaking. When he decided whether to take the Duanda Group case, he did not say as much. Look at Duanda Group now; their stock has risen by 20%... "Which case is it?" Tao Lu asked, while already starting to build a defensive wall in his mind. "The Jianmen Court murder case," Jiang Yuan said after mentally preparing the two leaders, honestly revealing the name of the case. As criminal investigators, they enjoy keeping secrets, but secrets can¡¯t be too big, as they can be lethal. Tao Lu and Song Tiancheng exchanged nces, their eyes quickly met and then averted, both unwilling to reveal their inner thoughts. "Are you... confident about it?" Tao Lu felt his mind was in disarray today. Earlier, when Jiang Yuan mentioned Zhang Weili, he couldn¡¯t recall who that was, and now, as Jiang Yuan mentioned the Jianmen Court murder case, he had too good a memory of it, causing his ability to form coherent speech to copse again. The Jianmen Court murder case was a homicide from thete 90s. Jianmen Court was just an address, nothing special, but the key was the noble status of the victim. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Regarding the fingerprint, I¡¯m ny percent sure it¡¯s a match. I¡¯ll need to research it a bit moreter. However..." "A fingerprint match doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the case will be solved!" Tao Lu burst the bubble with a statement. Jiang Yuan nodded: "That¡¯s true." Tao Lu¡¯s frown deepened than before. Song Tiancheng also had a grim look on his face. How to solve a cold case that has been stagnant for over 20 years? In fact, the solving of historical cold cases has a fixed pattern or, rather, requires certain preconditions. Firstly, there has to be a new discovery. The mostmon new discoveriese in three types: one is the technological revolution, such as the development of DNA technology, which has solved many historical rape cases and significantly reduced the incidence of such crimes. The second is idental findings,monly those that result from pulling up a radish and bringing out the soil with it, various criminals contributing information about their aplices in order to secure a reduced sentence, and so on. The fingerprint Jiang Yuan discovered this time also falls into this category. The third typees from family members or rted parties¡¯ investigations. The South Medical University rape and murder case that spread online was cracked by patientparison by former ssmates, and the advancements in Tsinghua University¡¯s Zhu Ling case relied on the efforts of fellow university students of the victim. However, among these three preconditions, the most risky is the idental finding. Because idental findings often do not provide conclusive evidence; most of the time, what the police get are leads that they need to find a way to turn into evidence. Especially with cold cases from twenty or thirty years ago, without evidence, relying solely on someone¡¯s word poses too great a risk to the suspect and is a significant threat to the entire society. If someone could be convicted based solely on one¡¯s testimony, then who doesn¡¯t have an arch-enemy they detest all their life, who wouldn¡¯t wait for a dying opportunity. It¡¯s quitemon for unsolved murder cases to be reopened when new leads emerge. But the risks associated with the Jianmen Court homicide are far from ordinary. Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help saying: "Jiang Yuan, if that¡¯s the case, I wouldn¡¯t rmend reopening the special case, at least, we can¡¯t just restart it outright." Jiang Yuan was not surprised, he simply looked up at Song Tiancheng. The expression on Song Tiancheng¡¯s face remained unchanged, as if he hadn¡¯t heard a word. Tao Lu emphasized: "I know you are confident, but this isn¡¯t just about solving a case. Let me tell you a story, then you¡¯ll understand. You might not have thought of it, but from start to finish, there has not been a single major suspect in the Jianmen Court homicide case. The criminal investigation team hasn¡¯t apprehended any suspected individuals." Jiang Yuan could not help but sit up straighter. Honestly, it¡¯s possible for such a case to remain unsolved, but it¡¯s extremely abnormal to not have even a single major suspect. Especially when a case has been at a standstill for a long time, the more typical scenario is to arrest a bunch of people for concentrated interrogations or something simr to gather leads. Jiang Yuan himself has frequently employed simr strategies, capturing some rted criminals and using their connections to gather leads, and whenever he applies this strategy, he does so on a grand scale. "Was there no investigation sweep for the Jianmen Court homicide?" Jiang Yuan was quite surprised. "There was a small-scale investigation, but norge-scale sweep, there weren¡¯t enough leads at the time," Tao Lu said seriously. "At that time, there were a rtively high number of homicide cases overall. The... family of the victim requested to avoid disturbing the public; we couldn¡¯t just conduct arge search across the city because of this." Jiang Yuan: "Ultimately, it depends on what the police think, right? If the police needed to conduct arge sweep, couldn¡¯t they do it?" "Naturally, they could." Tao Lu replied softly. "At that time, truly, there wasn¡¯t a basis for arge-scale sweep, but for a case of this level, gathering leads through an investigation sweep is also a strategy. But at that time, this strategy was vetoed." "What about the opinion of the special case team at the time?" "I¡¯m not clear on the specific details, but under the circumstances back then, arge-scale sweep wouldn¡¯t have been much help. But no matter what, the special case team didn¡¯t exhaust all possible methods!" Seeing that their conversation had reached this point, Song Tiancheng then said, "I agree with Tao¡¯s viewpoint. Back then, the victim¡¯s family was very restrained. Of course, the police also conducted as thorough an investigation as possible and invested a substantial amount of resources, but the emotions of the victim¡¯s family needed to be considered; we cannot rashly reopen the special case. It would be a second injury to the victim¡¯s family and also detrimental to our work." "I understand," Jiang Yuan truly understood. For such a case, it¡¯s understandable if it was solved without much action. If it wasn¡¯t solved and not all methods were exhausted, it could only mean that the victim¡¯s family was indeed very restrained. In such a scenario, if the police hastily initiate a special case and fail to solve it, or if the investigation drags on, it would absolutely be a deeply etched experience for the victim¡¯s family. Taking into ount the identity of the victim, if you hurt him, the chances of him just letting it go with augh are not high. "Then how about we start with a preliminary investigation round?" Jiang Yuan himself was also prepared to start on a small scale; now it was simply a matter of procedure. Tao Lu immediately nodded, saying, "We could start with the interrogation, you¡¯ve found a suspect¡¯s fingerprint, let¡¯s first bring him in separately. You can use anyone from my team as you wish." "Just add them directly to my Cold Case Squad," Jiang Yuan said bluntly. "We need a formal reason. My own team isn¡¯t familiar with Beijing, it¡¯s more convenient to have local detectives lead the way." Tao Lu gave Jiang Yuan a deep look and said, "No problem adding them to your team, just make sure you don¡¯t take them away with you." "No way, who would leave the prestigious Zhengguang Bureau for the countryside?" "Naturally, no one wants to go to the countryside, but Ningtai is different," Tao Lu said, without dwelling on the matter further. "Whoever you fancy, add them to the team; I¡¯ll take my time investigating the Duanda case; let¡¯s each handle our part!" Chapter 1057 - 990: Smooth

Chapter 1057: Chapter 990: Smooth

Jiang Yuan rallied his team, bringing along Cui Qishan and others for a secret inspection of Jianmen Court. The Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s criminal police were notcking in talent, strictly speaking, Cui Qishan could hardly be counted as a talent. He was the weakest link. Mainly, Jiang Yuan was familiar with Cui Qishan, moreover, Cui Qishan had a special skill in exhuming corpses, which in a headless case like this, any abnormality could be a good thing. Cui Qishan took any anomaly very seriously. Joking aside, Jiang Yuan, in order to save his man, brought down an entire listedpany¡ªof course, strictly speaking, it wasn¡¯t necessary in the matter of "helping out"¡ªbut such an intent was something that Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but ept. Everyone was well-prepared, and when it was time to drive, there was unexpectedly a convoy of more than 20 vehicles. Cui Qishan seemed as if he wanted to call over the entire Technical Investigation team. With so many cars driving over together, it couldn¡¯t be called a secret inspection, so they specially divided people to handle this and arranged for most of the vehicles to park in the public parking lot ahead. There were total two cars and eight people around Jiang Yuan, parked outside of Jianmen Court. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Mu Zhiyang and Gao Yuyan, and Cui Qishan with his subordinate Li Jiang, making a total of five people, entered the Jianmen Courtmunity without any obstacles. Jianmen Court is a residentialmunity that dates back fifty years ago; once arge institutionalpound, due to organizational change and the downsizing of enterprises and institutions, it has beenpletely handed over to society, and now, it is just an old buildingplex withx security, a prime location, but old structures. "The incident urred in Building 2, the one to the right upon entering," Cui Qishan had already reviewed the files beforehand. Jiang Yuan nodded in acknowledgment of the location and observed his surroundings. The case of Jianmen Court was difficult precisely because it was especially simple. There are a total of 4 buildings inside Jianmen Court, all five-story tube buildings arranged in a Z shape, thus none block the view of the others. Building 2 is at the lower right-hand corner of the Z, about 10 meters away from the courtyard wall. The victim Zhang Xiaoming lived on the 4th floor of Building 2. The structure of the tube building itself and its upants was very simple. A tube building is like a row of dormitory buildings, each room a straight tube-shaped rectangr room, with one or two small partitions inside, without separate bathrooms and kitchens. The tube buildings of Jianmen Court are second generation, each floor being equipped with two rtivelyrge bathrooms and two kitchens, which are a bit more spacious inparison. The staircases and corridors are like outer appendages to the building, consisting of a long corridor with staircases in the middle. It can be said that the structure of Jianmen Court from inside to outside is all in in view. One can see the corridors and people upstairs from below, and with a better position, even see into the kitchens. The corridors are also straight through; whether looking from the staircase or the end of the corridor, it¡¯s clear to see anyone present along the walkway. Furthermore, Jianmen Court, built by the institution itself in the 90s, although there had been some cases of housing exchanges, inheritance, and buying and selling, overall, the residents of the entirepound were acquaintances, people from the same building were at least fifty percent familiar with each other, and even more so, over seventy percent for residents on the same floor. However, when the victim Zhang Xiaoming was murdered, the judgment of the forensic doctor at the time ced the time of death at around 10 o¡¯clock in the morning, a rtively quiet time in thepound¡ªmost people would have gone to work, but there would inevitably be family members present. Yet, after extensive visits to everyone in thepound, not a single eyewitness was found. This inevitably directed the investigation towards the possibility of an acquaintancemitting the crime. Especially the residents on the third floor, only these residents appearing in the corridor of the third floor would be the least noticeable. If there were strangers unfamiliar to the ce, it would be impossible not to notice them. But obviously, the results did not support the special investigation team¡¯s judgment at the time. Jiang Yuan and Cui Qishan walked back and forth on the 4th floor of Building 2 several times and finally drew the attention of an elderlydy. "Which unit are you from?" The olddy appeared to be in her sixties, rtively young for the building. The current resident structure is different than it was over twenty years ago. The same tube buildings house fewer people now, with more strangersing and going, and due to theck of private kitchen and bathrooms, the original residents have almost all moved out, new tenantse and go frequently, long gone are the days when neighbors on the same floor were closely acquainted. Cui Qishan, noticing the olddy¡¯s age, didn¡¯t answer directly but instead asked, "Are you the owner of an apartment in this building? Have you lived here since before or did you buy the apartmentter?" "Who would buy an apartment here, we¡¯re all waiting for the renovation; they talk about renovating but don¡¯t do it, now we¡¯re just waiting for the demolition." The olddy from Beijing was eager to express her identity as an old Beijinger, she then said, "This apartment was allotted to my father back then, and after my dad passed, my brothers who had better living conditions, they gave me this apartment. Now it¡¯s being used as a school district house for my granddaughter, to cook a meal at noon, take a little rest, and then take her home in the evening." "This house hasn¡¯t been renovated or demolished because of that case, right?" Cui Qishan brought up a rumor from the neighborhood. The olddy¡¯s face changed, "I didn¡¯t think it was likely before, but now it seems possible. Ah, what does it have to do with us? The neighborhood next door has elevators now, just because there was a murder in our building, they said no to installing them. Not to mention demolition, with such a good location, why wouldn¡¯t they demolish... " "So, you mean that case hasn¡¯t been solved yet?" "Who knows, it probably hasn¡¯t been solved." "Were you living here when that case urred?" "I was. I lived with my parents and several brothers. It was after that incident that we were determined to buy a house." "What do you think the murderer is like?" Without thinking, the olddy said, "It¡¯s hard to say, but it might have been a worker from the factory." "Hmm? Why do you think so?" "Because Zhang Xiaoming was advocating for yoffs and re-employment¡¯, think about it. If you were a factory worker, would you want to beid off and re-employed? Many people were so angry they wanted to stab him. And in the end, wasn¡¯t he stabbed?" "I remember that they arrested a few people back then, those who had said such things." Cui Qishan was recalling the case files. The olddy said, "Zhang Xiaoming was stabbed to death during working hours, and the workers were all on the job. They didn¡¯t have the time to stab him." As she spoke, the olddy looked up and asked again, "Which department are you from?" "We are the police!" Cui Qishan said this with a smile yet seriously, waiting to see the olddy¡¯s reaction. "Are you going to work on this case again?" The olddy¡¯s brow furrowed, devoid of the expected wee. Cui Qishan was taken aback, "Has someone worked on this case before?" "Don¡¯t you investigate it every few years? I¡¯ve joined quite a few groups," the olddy said with a suspicious look at Cui Qishan: "Where¡¯s your ID?" When an olddy from Beijing scrutinizes you, you feel some pressure. Cui Qishan chuckled bitterly, showed his ID to the olddy, and continued asking questions. Finally, having asked enough to annoy her, Cui Qishan caught a few passersby to question, and then checked the chat groups the olddy had mentioned. They were all created by members of the previous task force. Cui Qishan chuckled bitterly and said, "I guess they¡¯re just like us, investigating secretly every few years, not daring tounch a full-scale operation, but conducting a preliminary investigation beneath the surface. They probably hope to collect enough evidence before reporting it up the chain. Sadly, they have never managed to gather the evidence." Cui Qishan spoke earnestly, though his words were not pleasant. Jiang Yuan nodded. Cui Qishan then sighed and added, "Most of the task force members who worked on this case back in the day have retired by now. If we¡¯re going to work on this case again, it mostly depends on the results of questioning. We also have to consider the suspect¡¯s behavior." What Cui Qishan described was the standard process of investigating a backlog of homicide cases. For cases over 20 years old, most of the evidence has disappeared, so such cases heavily rely on the suspect¡¯s guilty conscience or a sessful report from those around them. If the interrogating police can get the suspect to confess directly, that would be perfect. If not, they need the suspects¡¯ cooperation to provide some information. Otherwise, resolving a backlog like this bes very difficult. Therefore, Cui Qishan was pinning his hopes more on the person whose fingerprint Jiang Yuan had found. Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly and said, "He might not confess. Once he does, he¡¯ll be a murder suspect. Besides, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s the killer." Regarding the former, Cui Qishan reserved his judgment, only asking about thetter, "How do you know he¡¯s not the killer?" "Wang Futing, the suspect matched by my investigation, his fingerprint was found on the wall of the courtyard, and there was no bloodstain on the wall. Judging by the victim¡¯s wounds and the position of the body, the victim had put up some degree of resistance. If Wang Futing participated in the killing, his clothes and hands would likely be stained with blood, so the courtyard wall couldn¡¯t be that clean." "So, this Wang Futing might bepletely unrted to the case?" Cui Qishan was getting agitated, "I knew it, it couldn¡¯t be this easy!" Chapter 1058 - 991: Wishful Thinking

Chapter 1058: Chapter 991: Wishful Thinking

Jiang Yuan walked back and forth within the Jianmen Court residentialplex for a long time, scrutinizing the fourth floor where the crime happened for quite some time, and meticulously re-examined the room where the incident urred before circling the entireplex repeatedly. He would asionally take out his PAD, pull up photos, andpare them. It is worth noting that the room where the crime urred has been preserved as it was, and since the day of the incident, it has not been lived in by anyone else. Later, when it was possible to sell, the victim¡¯s family bought it. By the time Jiang Yuan was ready to leave, the sky had already turnedpletely dark. "Let¡¯s head back," Jiang Yuan said as he got into the car and closed his eyes to rest. Cui Qishan wanted to ask, he hesitated for a moment, then decided not to and got directly into another car, letting Jiang Yuan rest well. "How did it go?" The co-driver in the car behind turned to ask Li Jiang. "I don¡¯t know. I didn¡¯t ask," Cui Qishan replied, then added, "Actually, I can guess. If there were any straightforward conclusions or useful leads, Jiang Yuan would definitely have shared them." "That¡¯s true. But it¡¯s been over 20 years, and people still live here. If there were any clues left, that would be too incredible," Li Jiang said very realistically. Even the most expert detectives can¡¯t simply look for clues in such an out-of-the-ordinary way. "Indeed, for someone like Jiang Yuan, who is of such high expertise, the smallest lead would likely be leveraged immediately," Cui Qishan thought. To Jiang Yuan,mon political issues would hardly be an obstacle. For instance, if necessary, arranging a massive search involving tens of thousands of people would be just like routine work for him. For an ordinary detective, however, it might take several days of contemtion to write up a feasibility analysis for the leadership, or it might only be applied as ast resort. More often, they might not even apply unless the leadership proactively offers such resources. Therefore, in terms of solving a case in a positive direction, Jiang Yuan is highly reassuring for the investigative agency. At this point, Cui Qishan also came to a conclusion, voicing his slight regret: "It seems that Jiang Yuan probably doesn¡¯t have any substantial leads to present. Next, we¡¯ll have to rely on the interrogation." Looking back at Captain Cui, Li Jiang saw his genuine expression and couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed, saying: "Without any clues, this case looks passive. The suspect they arrested, Wang Futing, is the Vice President of Duanda, not a fool. How could he possibly admit to murder?" This is one of the reasons why many cold cases are hard to push forward. Often, a case bes a cold case due to insufficient evidence and failure to find the murderer. After a long time, if no new evidence emerges and only a suspect is identified, the suspect¡¯s testimony bes very important. If one follows rted news, it¡¯s often seen that suspects are tearful, show guilt, and are tormented by conscience to the point of being unable to eat or sleep. Then, when questioned by the police, some don¡¯t even require questioning; they turn themselves in. In other words, if the suspect has no conscience, feels no shame, and is unwilling to provide testimony to the police, then the case bes exceedingly difficult to handle. Among the threemon patterns of solving cold cases, the one involving idental discoveries is the least stable, for reasons that lie here. If new forensic technologies are used to positively identify the murderer, then there is solid evidence. Or, if the murderer was already identified, and only the final step of apprehension remains, catching the person and confirming their identity is enough. The case details, in those instances, tend to be quite clear. The most challenging aspect of idental cases is still the facts of the case. In this particr case, Wang Futing¡¯s fingerprints on the wall were a very important piece of evidence, but not conclusive enough to prove he was the murderer. The most important question is: Is Wang Futing the murderer? If he does not confess, even Jiang Yuan won¡¯t be able to prove it. The car was full of veteran detectives. After exchanging a few words and straightening their thoughts, Cui Qishan said, "Even the craftiest housewife cannot make soup without rice. Back at the bureau, let¡¯s cut the chatter." "Understood. In fact, we just came out to survey the scene. It¡¯s been so many years, it¡¯s perfectly normal not to find any leads," Li Jiang agreed, voicing what Cui Qishan wanted to say. "That¡¯s the truth. Also, give a reminder in the group chat; don¡¯t let anybody slip up and embarrass Captain Jiang," Cui Qishan further advised, then closed his eyes to rest as well. This case was indeed exhausting; even though he was only observing, he felt emotionally drained. The caravan entered the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯spound, which was already engulfed in silence. It¡¯s toote, even for detectives, it¡¯s time to rest. Cui Qishan staggered out of the car and saw a few figures flickering in the light ahead, seemingly waiting for them. "Tao is still waiting thiste? Captain Jiang sure gets different treatment," Cui Qishan muttered to himself, swaying as he walked forward. Only when he got closer did he sense something amiss; in the light, why was there a shadow of a woman with a stunning figure? Cui Qishan¡¯s first instinct was to reach for the gun at his waist, as he had specifically requested to carry a gun when he went out with Jiang Yuan today. It must be said that although the police force has female officers, even attractive ones, none would wear clothes that disyed their figure so prominently. If there were any, he, Cui, should certainly know of them. As the conclusion of these observations, the group waiting at the door essentially represented danger. "Cui. Make sure the safety on your gun is on!" Tao Lu¡¯s sharp rebuke startled Cui Qishan. Looking up again, he saw that Tao Lu had already moved to the front. Cui Qishan hurriedly secured his gun and stood at attention to salute. "This is the victim¡¯s elder sister," Tao Lu introduced promptly to avoid any further misunderstandings. "Zhang Xiaoya," said the woman in high heels stepping out of the shadow, introducing herself: "I am Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s sister. I heard that you are investigating Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s case and specifically came over to look." "Um... We are just trying to understand the situation; it¡¯s not really an investigation," Cui Qishan lied subconsciously. "I know your concerns, but it¡¯s okay, I just want to understand the situation a bit," Zhang Xiaoya said with a smile, looking towards Jiang Yuan who had already walked up the stairs, "I heard Jiang Yuan went to examine the scene early, so I came over to wait for you, not expecting you to investigate until sote." Jiang Yuan smiled apologetically, "Sorry." "No, no, I mean, I¡¯m grateful that Mr. Jiang Yuan is so serious about investigating the scene," said Zhang Xiaoya with a slight smile, before adding, "It might seem hasty to say this, but I really want to know if Mr. Jiang Yuan has found anything?" Seeing this, Cui Qishan quickly coughed twice and said, "Well... Miss Zhang, as you know the situation with Jianmen Court, after so long, even though Jiang Yuan is very thorough in his examination, we can¡¯t say for sure that there will be findings..." "I understand," Zhang Xiaoya didn¡¯t show too much disappointment, and gently touched her hair, saying, "Actually, I¡¯ve understood this since the previous investigations, but I¡¯ve always held some hope..." "It¡¯s not like there¡¯s absolutely no discovery," Jiang Yuan suddenly spoke, breaking the tacit chatting pattern between them. Zhang Xiaoya brightened up instantly, turning eagerly towards Jiang Yuan, "Did you find any clues?" "A little, but not much, don¡¯t get too excited," Jiang Yuan was willing to update Zhang Xiaoya on the situation. Indeed, in normal criminal cases, especially in homicide cases involving the victim, the responsible police officer will, to a greater or lesser extent, share some of the case progress with the victim¡¯s family. It¡¯s hard not to, as victims¡¯ families would make calls ore knocking on the door. In this regard, Zhang Xiaoya was no different from ordinary families, except that she might also have some information gathered from the family¡¯s own investigation. Furthermore, Zhang Xiaoya herself could also bring considerable resources. Tao Lu was also unexpectedly overjoyed; it wasn¡¯t about solving the case, but just having any breakthrough was exhrating. "Let¡¯s discuss in detail in the meeting room," Tao Lu¡¯s demeanor became more earnest. Li Jiang took the opportunity to direct his attention to team leader Cui Qishan, because sometimes his boss¡¯s judgments could be astonishingly wrong. And yet, Cui Qishan always seemed to end up on the winning side. Chapter 1059 - 992: On Traces

Chapter 1059: Chapter 992: On Traces

Sip... As Jiang Yuan settled into the conference room, someone served him a cup of brewed green tea that didn¡¯t taste very good. Jiang Yuan was thirsty. He began to slurp his drink eagerly. He had to speak in a while; without replenishing his fluids, it wouldn¡¯t be good for his health. Zhang Xiaoya scrutinized Jiang Yuan carefully. She had waited for Jiang Yuan for several hours at the Criminal Police Brigade, originally thinking he would return in the afternoon, then as evening came, andter as it turnedte into the night. If it were rted to her own professional duties, hardly anyone would dare to have Director Zhang wait for such a long time. Zhang Xiaoya would not indulge such behavior either. Yet, in the process of waiting for Jiang Yuan, not only was Zhang Xiaoya not angry, but she was also filled with a sense of gratitude. This gratitude even seemed to grow with the passing time. Her presence at the Criminal Police Brigade awaiting news from Jiang Yuan was strictly confidential, known by very few, and all of the time Jiang Yuan was dyed was spent on-site investigations. In other words, every hour of Jiang Yuan¡¯s dy was spent investigating her brother¡¯s cause of death through a secret investigation. No matter what Jiang Yuan¡¯s motives were, Zhang Xiaoya was willing to extend her gratitude. The Zhang family was united in thought: no matter what you are thinking, as long as you can crack the case of Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s death and find his killer to clear his name, the Zhang family is willing to extend their gratitude. "Judge by the facts, not the intention," it is said. Click. Huang Qiangmin pushed the door open and entered, his neck covered with fine sweat from running. "Sorry I¡¯mte," said Huang Qiangmin, who had rushed over after receiving the message. "Commissioner Huang," Jiang Yuan greeted his superior first and made room for him. Seeing Jiang Yuan stand up, the people apanying Zhang Xiaoya realized and hurriedly made room, pulled out chairs, and poured tea. Once Huang Qiangmin was settled, Jiang Yuan began, "Let me talk about my findings at Jianmen Court." "Please, go ahead," Zhang Xiaoya said immediately, sitting up straight to look at Jiang Yuan. "First. I reviewed the photos from the crime scene on the day of the incident as well as the autopsy photos. One thing is certain, Zhang Xiaoming died very quickly, fatally stabbed by a sharp weapon directly in critical areas, namely the heart and liver, leading to an excessive loss of blood and death," Jiang Yuan paused, "Based on the photos, I conducted a round of Bloodstain Analysis at the crime scene, mainly in the victim¡¯s home." Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s eyes lit up upon hearing this; she knew Jiang Yuan was skilled at Bloodstain Analysis. If it were a cliched movie, Zhang Xiaoya, facing Jiang Yuan, would be the kind of person who could recite: "Jiang Yuan, male, 25 years old, Han ethnicity, forensic doctor from Ningtai County, Shannan Province, skilled in Bloodstain Analysis, fingerprint analysis..." and so on. She had spent the entire day studying and analyzing Jiang Yuan. Thus, even though she wasn¡¯t a professional in Criminal Science, Zhang Xiaoya had a considerable understanding of Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills, specialties, experiences, and achievements. And Bloodstain Analysis happened to be one of Jiang Yuan¡¯s well-known trump cards in the field. How strong Jiang Yuan¡¯s Bloodstain Analysis really is and what level it reached might not be known to the public, but it is widely epted that among active officers, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills in Bloodstain Analysis are absolutely top-notch. It is well known that criminal scientific techniques are not exactly a science; they lie between art and science. The most scientific aspect of it is that it can be falsified. Conducting Bloodstain Analysis at a crime scene, will it lead to catching the culprit? After catching them, does the suspect¡¯s recognition of the crime scene correspond with the Bloodstain Analysis? After repeating such a series of steps several times, this field of study has very few who just go through the motions without truepetence. And there is no need to speak of Jiang Yuan¡¯s proficiency. How could it be called a miracle without being repeatedly proven? Zhang Xiaoya even regretted a bit; there was a lot of blood in her brother¡¯s room. Why didn¡¯t she invite Jiang Yuan earlier? Jiang Yuan did not continue with the Bloodstain Analysis at this point, but instead turned to Tao Lu and asked, "Tao, has Wang Futing confessed?" "No, he only said he couldn¡¯t remember clearly." Tao Lu¡¯s expression didn¡¯t look too good. Wang Futing was the most crucial breakthrough in this case, and to some extent, also the only breakthrough. If he didn¡¯t confess, this case wouldck the value to be reopened. Unless Jiang Yuan had other ideas. Jiang Yuan simply nodded his head and asked, "Did he confess to any other cases, then?" "No, he couldn¡¯t remember anything at all," said Tao Lu. Jiang Yuan fell into a thoughtful silence. Zhang Xiaoya asked anxiously, "Is this good news or bad news?" Tao Lu interjected, "It¡¯s normal for Wang Futing to not want to confess; no one wants to add crimes to their name. It can only be said that it didn¡¯t serve the purpose of elimination. Without Wang Futing¡¯s testimony, it¡¯s not easy to continue pushing the case forward." "What if we threaten him, telling him that he will have to take the me for this case if he doesn¡¯t confess? Would he confess then?" Zhang Xiaoya asked, thinking in the manner of an ordinary person. "Or maybe, Wang Futing is the murderer, knowing that confessing would lead to his death, so he refuses to do so." All the criminal police present looked towards Jiang Yuan. It was easy to refute Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s words, yet not so easy at the same time. Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat twice, prepared to speak for Jiang Yuan. Coming from a remote province as a grassroots cadre, he didn¡¯t concern himself much with high gates. Jiang Yuan gestured to Huang Qiangmin with his hand, as he was in a state of full emotional intelligence, and said, "The investigation has just started, and there are many issues to discuss in the future. Miss Zhang came to see us, probably expecting to hear the most direct and simplest feedback from the grass roots." "Yes, that¡¯s what I meant." Zhang Xiaoya quickly caught on and hastily added, "I just want to understand the situation; I absolutely support Mr. Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation." An hour ago, Zhang Xiaoya may not have been so certain, but now, she was very sure that Jiang Yuan was definitely the most suitable leader for the special case team. He was a criminal police officer with authority, capability, strength, and reputation. What¡¯s rare is that he was also young, impulsive, willing to act, making this investigation seem all the more important. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "There indeed exists the possibility that Wang Futing is the murderer, but just as we previously analyzed, there was arge amount of blood at the scene, and the blood sttered onto the murderer. Since there was no blood on the wall that Wang Futing climbed over, this reduces the likelihood that Wang Futing is the direct murderer." Jiang Yuan allowed Zhang Xiaoya to digest this before continuing, "As for the reasons why Wang Futing refuses to confess, there are many. First, as a gangster whoter became a vice president of a publicly-listedpany, he definitely has a wide range of sources for information. He should know about theplexity of the Jianmen Court case and wouldn¡¯t want to get involved, or in other words, he wouldn¡¯t want to be implicated in any way, which is not hard to understand." Zhang Xiaoya was taken aback for a moment and could only nod in agreement. Jiang Yuan continued, "Furthermore, threatening Wang Futing with a capital crime is likely ineffective. After so many years, even if Wang Futing himself isn¡¯t knowledgeable about thew, he surely would have consulted withwyers about relevant issues. Without conclusive evidence, the probability of being sentenced to immediate execution for the sole act of killing a victim is not high in judicial practice; the probabilities of a suspended death sentence or life imprisonment are greater. In contrast, admitting to being the murderer or an aplice might be an even worse oue for Wang Futing." Zhang Xiaoya rolled her eyes, feeling Jiang Yuan was being somewhat aggressive. Jiang Yuan continued to make his point: "Lastly, even if Wang Futing were an outsider and not truly involved in this case, and knew who the real murderer was, turning in the murderer may not make him feel safer. On one hand, he would worry about being entangled in the case and meeting his doom even faster. On the other hand, the real murderer¡¯s rtionship with Wang Futing is also uncertain." Jiang Yuan hypothesized, "Assuming the murderer was an aplice of Wang Futing on the day of the incident, then why hasn¡¯t Wang Futing turned in the murderer over these years? A simple guess would be that the murderer might hold something over Wang Futing, or perhaps, Wang Futing may have already killed the murderer." Zhang Xiaoya listened and was stunned, "There indeed is such a possibility..." "Wang Futing whitewashed himself in the underworld following Duanda; the cases on his back are definitely more than one or two. Time-wise, the Jianmen Court case was actually one of the earliest he was involved in." "So what do we do?" Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat again and said, "Interrogation is also a slow process, Wang Futing¡¯s current silence doesn¡¯t mean he will remain silentter." That was a cushioned statement to avoid Jiang Yuan making any promises. On his way here, Jiang Yuan had already had some ideas, now he only said to Zhang Xiaoya, "I think there are two directions. First, we¡¯ve arrested so many people connected to Duanda, we can try to find out if any of these suspects know about Wang Futing¡¯s situation or if anyone knows about the Jianmen Court case." Zhang Xiaoya kept nodding, "That¡¯s a good idea, by doing so, we can thoroughly investigate Duanda¡¯s case and try to identify as many involved individuals from back then as possible." "I agree," said Tao Lu, busily jotting down notes in the notebook. "And the second direction?" Zhang Xiaoya asked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan replied, "If you¡¯re willing, you can have a talk with Wang Futing. I think, if we only aim to punish the ringleader without seeking excessive revenge, Wang Futing might be willing to talk. Of course, it¡¯s fine if he doesn¡¯t want to talk, too. If our conversation is effective and he still doesn¡¯t want to talk, that would still indicate something." Chapter 1060 - 993 Pickpocket

Chapter 1060: Chapter 993 Pickpocket

After a brief and rapid discussion of Wang Futing¡¯s situation, Jiang Yuan turned to Zhang Xiaoya and said, "We still need to wait for the result of Wang Futing¡¯s interrogation. If you wish to participate, you can follow us to the case handling center andmunicate with the police officer responsible for the interrogation to see how we can make Wang Futing let down his guard." "What about bloodstain analysis?" Zhang Xiaoya could not be easily deceived by Jiang Yuan¡¯s information; her day-to-day job involved discerning the truth from the words of a group of executives. Jiang Yuan took a nce at Zhang Xiaoya, then said, "Bloodstain analysis involves using bloodstains to deduce and simte in an attempt to figure out exactly what happened at the crime scene. This process will inevitably touch upon the state your brother was in at the time. I think it would be unnecessary for you to listen; it¡¯s going to be very cruel." "I want to hear it," insisted Zhang Xiaoya. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a bit before saying, "You don¡¯t need to listen." "I agree too. Director Zhang, please step aside for a moment," Huang Qiangmin, although not quite understanding Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, was certain to cooperate with Jiang Yuan, and he also couldn¡¯t afford to offend Zhang Xiaoya, so he could only step forward. Zhang Xiaoya was quite surprised by this, but she didn¡¯t want to really conflict with the special case team, so she could only instruct them to keep good records before leaving. After escorting her out, Huang Qiangmin came back, took a breath and said to Jiang Yuan, "That was too dangerous. It was good that she was reasonable. If we met someone who wasn¡¯t, we could have been in trouble." "But the content of the bloodstain analysis really isn¡¯t suitable for her to hear," said Jiang Yuan. With this, Tao Lu and the others all looked towards Jiang Yuan. Tao Lu asked, "Have you discovered something?" "Looking at the crime scene and the previous photos, the murder process was very brief. The distribution of bloodstains suggests that some activity bloodstains were covered by misceneous objects, while othersnded on top of them, so I¡¯ve traced a clear timeline..." Jiang Yuan briefly exined, then went straight to his conclusion, "From the crime scene, the murderer¡¯s motive seems more like theft rather than murder." Tao Lu spoke in a heavy voice, "Burry?" "Possibly," Jiang Yuan sighed, "After entering the victim¡¯s room, the perpetrator seems to have been rummaging for items at first. Then the victim entered the room and was stabbed to death on the spot. After that, the perpetrator did not leave immediately but searched through the items again before leaving." Cui Qishan was astonished: "I wonder if the previous special case team had thoroughly investigated this angle." "The investigation definitely took ce, but I guess it didn¡¯t yield any results," Tao Lu said conjecturally, but her guess was very likely. In thete 1990s, public security was generally bad, many cescked even streetlights, let alone surveince; installing them wouldn¡¯t help either as rity and storage space were issues. "So, there is a possibility of burry followed by idental homicide here," Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "The crime took ce in the morning; those who dare tomit burry at this time are usually quite confident, and probably habitual thieves. If the special case team had considered this possibility andpared the habits of local habitual thieves, then this case bes very difficult¡ªit could have been the work of a master thief from outside the region." The term ¡¯master thief from outside the region¡¯ refers to skilled thieves from out of town. Their techniques are solid, and their behavior patterns are unfamiliar to local police, making them almost impossible to catch in an era without surveince and mobile phones. Itinerant criminals have always been very challenging to manage, which is why a strict hukou (household registration) system was established in the early days. The hukou system acted as a way to control territory; without this system, not only would the police struggle, but many governmental management measures would fail. "No wonder you asked Director Zhang to leave," Cui Qishan suddenly understood. As a family member of the victim, Zhang Xiaoya naturally hoped her brother¡¯s death had significance, even if it was because he offended someone due to factory reforms and was stabbed to death; this she could ept. If it was due to a family reason that he was stabbed to death, it would be even easier toe to terms with. To be senselessly murdered, or just randomly stabbed to death during a theft, was as void as a cockroach being crushed - such an answer might be even harder for the Zhang Family to ept. Just thinking about it felt offensive. Tao Lu coughed twice, "Are you the only one with a mouth, the only one who can talk?" "No, no..." Cui Qishan quickly exined and then changed the subject, "Tao, you think the same, right? You mean not to say it out loud..." Tao Lu made a ¡¯hiss¡¯ sound and stared sharply at Cui Qishan, "You¡¯re clenching tight when analyzing the case but speaking so freely when throwing around remarks." ... With more and more people of high standing being imprisoned, an increasing number of former special case team members are returning. By the end of the 90s, the core members of the special case team, who were once in their prime, are now either in high positions or have retired. As for the youngds who were green at the time, they are still rtively strong and vigorous as seniors and have revisited the special case team several times. When they talk about the cases, they know them inside out. However, understanding the case of the day isn¡¯t difficult; what is extremely challenging is going through the details to find a suitable suspect. In the meeting room of the Criminal Police Brigade of Zhengguang Bureau, more and more people gathered, yet the case seemed to be at a standstill. Tao Lu¡¯s smiles were more of a facade now, even to the point where it seemed like his skin was disassociating from it. Many former members of the special case team had be officers at the Beijing Bureau, holding not insignificant ranks at the sub-bureaus, always expecting a certain amount of respect from Tao Lu. On the other hand, the constantly assembling special case team was a huge pressure for Tao Lu. This case was previously managed by a special case team organized by the Beijing Bureau, its level virtually at its peak. Now that it was handled by the Criminal Police Brigade under Zhengguang Sub-bureau, one might think the case was banished to oblivion. Only those within the bureau knew that Zhengguang Bureau was almost at the point of selling its pants. Duanda had been bloodily cleansed to the bone. The corporate sector of the listedpany had been thoroughly swept clean with a broom, not to mention thosemercially vigorous staff with backgrounds. Even the regr recruits from prestigious universities who, over the years, were involved in dirty money, engaged in unfairpetition, yed by unwritten rules, and ran their own side businesses, etc., had been arrested by the Economic Investigation Department down to thest one. Once it involves criminal cases, the methods employed by the police are on apletely different dimension from those used by corporations. As for the unlucky ones rted to the Jianmen Court case, there were also Duanda¡¯s upstream and downstream enterprises, especially those with Duanda¡¯s shares or in which Duanda had invested; they were the focus of the second round of thorough inspections. The key was that this investigation did turn up some problematic individuals. Speaking of which, how could capital enterprises close to money not have any problems? They didn¡¯t expect to face an investigation of this level. And the true "Duanda people," originally bold and daring, were even less scrupulous in their actions. It was tough for the investigators, capturing a whole string of them, and then conducting further interrogations about Jianmen Court¡ªZhengguang Bureau still hadn¡¯t restarted the special case team for Jianmen Court, but most of a sub-bureau¡¯s manpower had been drawn into this case. The basement interrogation center was even stacked with salty soda, indicating that the leaders were truly investing at any cost. It could be said that on the two directions proposed by Jiang Yuan back in the day, Zhengguang Bureau had already poured a massive amount of resources into the first path. However, the breakthrough happened on the second path. After Zhang Xiaoya sent people to analyze the pros and cons with Wang Futing in-depth, and Wang Futing pondered overnight and made several demands, he finally let out, "At that time, I was responsible for receiving someone at Jianmen Court, but I don¡¯t know who he was." Wang Futing¡¯s words excited thousands of men and hundreds ofdies. The interrogation records and videos were also sent to Jiang Yuan and others at once. In the video, Wang Futing, holding a cigarette and looking somewhat resigned yet rebellious, slouched in his chair, saying: "I was paid 500 yuan to just unlock the door, no need to care about anything else." "While I was unlocking the lock on the drawer, I was a bit out of it when the person came up and stabbed the homeowner to death. Honestly, in that era, I followed and saw several bodies with Boss Pan, who liked to sink bodies in the river... So, I knew at a nce that the man was a goner." "The money man told me to touch the corpse. I was young at the time and still wanted to pickpocket some money. We had an agreement that any found jewelry and cash would be split fifty-fifty, and anything locked would be divided forty-sixty, me with the bigger share. I thought I could get a little more for the stuff I found on the body. Turns out he didn¡¯t want to get his hands bloody. In the end, we found nothing valuable, just a few hundred yuan in cash¡ªI thought the boss made a loss this time." "Afterwards we climbed over the wall to escape; that guy was wearing gloves. He also had a grappling hook, just able to pull himself up the wall. I was young and thought it was some exotic weapon and wanted to learn, but he just brushed me off. Later on, we split up the money and went our separate ways. Thinking that someone had died, I went away to hide for a while." Chapter 1061 - 994: Flying Claw

Chapter 1061: Chapter 994: Flying w

Wang Futing¡¯s interrogation video was very long, reyed many times, and quiteplex, even tiring for viewers. The interrogators also made significant efforts, providing Wang Futing with nearly two packs of cigarettes. Holding a cigarette and talking about death was regarded as thest romance for male prisoners. Latterly, the leaders of the sub-bureau watched with tightly furrowed brows,menting, "Absolutely no remorse!" Tao Lu joined the conversation: "He crawled out of the underworld, started mixing in the society since his teens, and even followed Pan Renwu, the one executed by shooting in thete ¡¯90s. Those who yed with him have been executed twice over." "He hasn¡¯t been executed?" "Those who survived must have been lucky. He even rose to the position of Vice President at Duanda, mingling with many of L¨¹ Qiang¡¯s men. Many were earlier than Wang Futing; in the end, they were just appointed as directors, constantly devising ways to y with women." "Howe he¡¯s so lucky?" Knowing how hard promotion can be, leaders are the least likely to believe those who im to have achieved through sheer hardship. Tao Lu was taken aback by the question, thought for a moment, then attempted to answer: "It might still be because of his adaptable personality. From what I know, when Wang Futing was in the underworld, he was quite good atmunicating. In his youth, he worshipped several masters and followed several bosses. Later, following L¨¹ Qiang, he transitioned from a thief leader to a demolition manager, very skilled at handling demolitions, adept at using both threats and incentives, not just relying on brute force." "He knows how to judge the situation," the leader nodded, epting this logic. "Your summary is particrly apt..." Tao Lu quickly affirmed, colloquially known as brown-nosing. "Well, no wonder then." The leader suddenly understood more about Wang Futing¡¯s vice presidency. Being articte, having a specific area of expertise, and particrly capable of fulfilling the spiritual needs of superiors, this is indeed the model for promotion. The other police officers who watched the video also had their thoughts, quietly discussing among themselves. Wang Futing hadpletely given up, hence he spoke a lot. However, with so much information, all from over twenty years ago, how much could be useful became another challenge. Some officers were skeptical about the truthfulness of Wang Futing¡¯s testimony - this made the task even more difficult; it¡¯s the same reason, the cases from over 20 years ago, many proofs of testimony are very difficult now. "I am nning to look into the ¡¯ws¡¯ mentioned by Wang Futing," Jiang Yuan finished watching the video of Wang Futing, feeling a bit sleepy and simply yawned. At the same time, his emotional intelligence was also running low. Song Tiancheng asked next to him, "What about the direction of the investigation? Should we confirm it first?" "I want to wait for Director Liu to have a look first," Jiang Yuan shook his head. The evidence provided by Wang Futing was too much and too ambiguous to distinguish, which was not Jiang Yuan¡¯s forte and too time-consuming. Song Tiancheng hesitated for a moment; although he knew Liu Jinghui from Shannan Province, by national standards, Liu Jinghui obviously wasn¡¯t as well-known as Jiang Yuan. However, Song Tiancheng could understand the concept of specialization, and knowing Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving history, he refrained frommenting. Tao Lu sensed Song Tiancheng¡¯s unease, openly asking, "Director Liu assisted remotely quite smoothly before, do you want me to call him over? Can he afford to leave his current duties?" "He pushed back the subsequent cases; he will need to repay Director Liu this favor," Jiang Yuan spoke again, adding, "There¡¯s too many case files now, and many are on film rolls; remote assistance might not be practical anymore." By the end of the 90s, crime scene photographs were still taken by professional criminal photographers using film cameras, with a roll of Kodak film costing over twenty yuan. Even if their own unit had a darkroom for printing, the average cost per photo was about one yuan. So, the habit of ¡¯click, click, click¡¯ photographing, fearing not to miss rather than fearing to take too many, did not exist in the police stations of thete 90s. Weaker police stations, such as the Ningtai County Bureau, might not even keep photos for an ordinary theft case. Only major cases could have thousands of photos because there were many murder cases, thus, the allocated budget for handling cases, especially for taking photos, was naturally limited. Some homicides would therefore be treated as ordinary murder cases. The value of a forensic photographer in that era was minimal in merelypleting designated shooting tasks, moderate in providing aprehensive and detailed representation of the crime scene and vital evidence with minimal budget, and high in urately reconstructing the truth. At Jianmen Court, forensic photography experts were also invited to do the shooting. This is one of the benefits of being in Beijing; back then, the Beijing Bureau spared no expense in terms of film and photography skills. However, it has been many years, and it¡¯s normal for some photos to have faded and some negatives to have be unprintable. Liu Jinghui ising over to review them again. After all, Jiang Yuan¡¯s standards for him are different from those he holds for himself. When Jiang Yuan investigates a case, he fundamentally seeks to find evidence, which he then uses to search for suspects; this is his underlying approach. Although Liu Jinghui often identifies the murderer through simple reasoning, the case of Jianmen Court needs meticulous reasoning regardless. Theoretically, even if he could identify the murderer through simple reasoning, the Zhang Family still needs to seeprehensive and rigorous reasoning to confirm that Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s murderer is indeed the person in question. In reality, the case at Jianmen Court has been analyzed over and over, and there¡¯s no possibility that it could be solved through mere simple reasoning. However, this case is indeed attractive to Liu Jinghui. The more it has been studied by many people and the more experts have been involved, the more valuable the case appears. And Liu Jinghui has long given up on promotions; solving cases is his greatest pleasure. Early morning. When Liu Jinghui arrived at thepound of Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad, it was just in time for the regr meeting of the Jianmen Court special investigation team. This was also the first official meeting since the Jianmen Court special investigation team restarted, and there were so many attendees that speakers had to use a microphone. The meeting was predominantly informational, with hardly any dedicated discussions taking ce. As the saying goes, "Small meetings decide big matters; big meetings decide small matters". At such arge meeting, effective discussions are virtually impossible. After the meeting, Liu Jinghui approached Jiang Yuan, and saw two very thin files in front of Jiang Yuan, causing Liu Jinghui to frown subconsciously. "Are these the results of your research on that grappling hook?" Liu Jinghui knows Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities all too well. Tool Trace Identification is a century-old technique, but few can do it well, and even fewer as well as Jiang Yuan. A typical example of Tool Trace Identification is like having a nick in a kitchen knife. You use it to kill the eldest son of a neighbor, and then the second son of another neighbor downstairs. If the police match the nick, it¡¯s very likely the same knife was used. Of course, the knife used to kill the second son might have more nicks, which is also part of Tool Trace Identification. Based on Liu Jinghui¡¯s understanding, with such an obscure weapon as the grappling hook, Jiang Yuan is bound to make significant discoveries. However, Jiang Yuan simply patted the two files in front of him, saying, "I¡¯m also puzzled, but after searching and reviewing, I really only found two cases somewhat rted to this grappling hook." "Only three cases involving a grappling hook nationwide in all these years?" Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t believe it. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "Not all grappling hooks are the same. These are difficult to craft, and as far as I know, those who are proficient in using them wouldn¡¯t easily rece them. So, while the murderer might have been involved in two other cases, as far as we know, there are only these three cases in total." "Impossible," Liu Jinghui immediately shook his head, "unless it¡¯s unused, but who would learn the skills of a wall scaling ninja and not use them? I initially thought that by the grappling hook, there might be a chance to solve the case." "It seems not," Jiang Yuan spread his hands, "Moreover, the other two cases were also thefts, involving even lesser amounts." Chapter 1062 - 995: Bizarre

Chapter 1062: Chapter 995: Bizarre

Late at night. The deep silence of the night. In the quiet corridor, only the faint sounds of men whispering could be heard, discussing matters of sending someone to their death. "The deeper we look into this case, the more bizarre it bes," said Liu Jinghui as he rested a hand on a box of case files, while in front of him, there stilly an entire room full of them, enough to fill two or three medium-sized vans. Wang Chuanxing was also buried among the stacks of boxes, his voice muffled as it emerged: "So the previous special case team, they didn¡¯t even restart the case, they just did a cursory search and then dropped it?" "Perhaps they never stumbled upon the bizarre parts," Huang Qiangmin replied calmly from a corner, "With a case like this, who would dare to easily restart it without full preparation? But when the opportunity ends up in your hands, there¡¯s no way you can ignore it." Police officers actually understand very well the power of opportunity. They have truly witnessed it. For cases like Jianmen Court, it is only natural to pursue an investigation following the discovery of clues. There actually isn¡¯t any problem with this; police will investigate immediately upon finding new leads in a cold case. But this case, indeed, it¡¯s very difficult to investigate. The moment you probe a little deeper, the trail goes cold. Even the two new leads discovered by Jiang Yuan, one drawn from Bloodstain Analysis and the other through Wang Futing¡ªjust a few steps further, and they naturallye to an abrupt halt. "Definitely not normal. The hook w is quite a rare item, especially after the founding of the People¡¯s Republic, it¡¯s practically a lost art. Those who could use it no longer need it. So, the marks on the wall captured in the photos of that day, after being smudged a couple of times, were no longer recognized as hook w marks," said Jiang Yuan, seated at a long table and shaking his head as he viewed images on severalputer screens. Liu Jinghui had also seen the photos Jiang Yuan mentioned and could not help saying, "Without Wang Futing¡¯s confession, no one would have recognized those marks as left by a hook w." In the crime scene photos of Jianmen Court, there were indeed several deeper scratch-like marks on the wall, but someone had scuffed them with their feet. Under normal circumstances, it was difficult to say what caused them. Importantly, without anyone mentioning a hook w, a regr forensic officer wouldn¡¯t think of it. Even Jiang Yuan only sought out marks corresponding to a hook w after hearing the term. A level 6 Tool Trace Identification is like a deity in its own right, but it still can¡¯t make the traces in the photos speak for themselves. This aspect may also have affected Jiang Yuan¡¯s search for simr cases. If onsite detectives hadn¡¯t taken close-up photos, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t be able to link them together. Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan simply gave a brief introduction to the issue of hook w traces, sharing as part of their case briefing, then continued, "Those rogues proficient with the hook w, after the founding of the new China, were mostly dealt with. Those who were lucky enough to be released from prison were strictly monitored. It¡¯s rare for anyone to have survived into the 90s, and even rarer for them to have taught disciples. Such individuals, even during the Republic period, were well-known. Why would they hire Wang Futing to pick locks?" "Someone skilled with hook ws also knows how to pick locks?" "Not necessarily, but picking locks is way too simplepared to using hook ws. The locks at Jianmen Court were not high-end, and anyone could learn to pick them with little effort." "Hence, it¡¯s illogical for a suspect adept with hook ws to hire a lock picker like Wang Futing." Jiang Yuan confirmed, "Illogical." Liu Jinghui nodded in agreement, "I also had Meng Chengbiao ask this afternoon. ording to Wang Futing¡¯stest testimony, after he saw the hook w, he went back and the more he thought about it, the more it didn¡¯t feel right. So, he took the safety package he had prepared in advance and immediately took a train south. More than a yearter when he returned, he found signs his home had been searched, so he moved to another ce to live." Huang Qiangmin gave a click of his tongue, "This guy is quite shrewd, huh?" "Otherwise he might have already been silenced," concluded Cui Qishan, drawing on his own judgment, "This guy, he just might have been the scapegoat for the real murderer." "What you¡¯re saying could indeed be a possibility," Liu Jinghui looked over approvingly, but upon realizing it was Cui Qishan, the shit-stirrer, speaking, he retracted his smile, then continued, "Wang Futing could really just be a firewall the actual murderer hung up for themselves. It¡¯s just that they didn¡¯t expect Wang Futing to have a bit of cunning to him." "Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have survived into the Duanda era," Huang Qiangmin chimed in. As seasoned detectives, they could fully imagine the immense risks embedded within these few lines of text. "It¡¯s a pity Wang Futing didn¡¯t die," sighed Cui Qishan, "If Wang Futing had died, it really would have proven that there was a conspiracy behind all this." "If Wang Futing had died, this case wouldn¡¯t even exist," retorted Tao Lu with a re. Cui Qishan chuckled, then said, "So, if Wang Futing had died, it would have been a case of ¡¯All¡¯s well that ends well¡¯, huh?" "He definitely died cleanly." Liu Jinghui concluded immediately, and then added: "If there really was a conspiracy, silencing Wang Futing would be basic. Only then would the case makeplete sense." "So, this is akin to reverse proof, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s like using the method of proof by contradiction." "That¡¯s assuming the initial conditions haven¡¯t changed." Liu Jinghui was not the type to be led by the nose; he often thought deeply about things. He said lightly, "There¡¯s also a possibility that Wang Futing fled faster than expected, or in other words, he escaped beyond the reach of the conspirators. Later, when Wang Futing returned, the situation might have changed." "Beyond their reach?" Cui Qishan chuckled foolishly: "You mean..." "Let¡¯s not get sidetracked!" Tao Lu curtly cut off the foolish Cui Qishan¡¯s words, forcefully steering the discussion back to the case itself. "Director Liu, previously Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment was that the murderer in the Jianmen Court case was after money, not lives. But listening to you, it seems the suspect was deliberate in their actions, appearing more as if they were out for blood rather than money." Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and smiled: "It¡¯s not unusual to have new leads and conclusions as the investigation progresses." In other words, Liu Jinghui disagreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. Jiang Yuan smiled from across the long table, saying, "Let¡¯s go with Director Liu¡¯s judgment for now. When we were saying the murder was financially motivated, we didn¡¯t have the information from Duanda¡¯s Wang Futing. Now we know his aplice used a grappling hook and even paid 500 yuan to have him unlock a door, this really doesn¡¯t seem like a theft. But whether it was a murder is also hard to say. To kill someone, it wouldn¡¯t be necessary to wait around Jianmen Court or to rummage through so many belongings." "The rummaging could have been a ruse to confuse Wang Futing. Indeed, if the murderer simply wanted to kill Zhang Xiaoming, there would be no need to choose Jianmen Court. There are many more suitable ces along the road from the factory to his home. It would be easier to disguise the act as a robbery homicide. Hmm... The timing also doesn¡¯t add up; Zhang Xiaoming went back unexpectedly, and the time he returned home was not his usual time." When Liu Jinghui started analyzing, it all followed in a sequence. Everyone listened and pondered, feeling their minds bristle with questions. Just as Liu Jinghui had put it, the case was permeated with strangeness at every turn. "If it¡¯s neither for money nor vengeance, it couldn¡¯t possibly be a crime of passion. There hasn¡¯t been any mention of emotional entanglement on Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s end," Wang Chuanxing said, cooperating without actually seeking to solve the problem but merely contributing to the discussion. Liu Jinghui hummed in agreement, saying, "A crime of passion is unlikely. No need to involve Wang Futing in that case, it¡¯s more likely one would turn to friends for help." The room fell silent once again. They had just shifted the discussion from the method of the crime to the motive. Traditional criminal investigative methods or analytical approaches actually follow a certain form. In the end, it boils down to a few key points. For instance, the method of the crime: the murderer having a grappling hook is a very distinctive tool, one that is especially suited for grand thieves of rivers andkes. However, those grand thieves are characterized by their frequent and widespread criminal activities, treating their crimes as a career. But the suspect in this case doesn¡¯t fit this profile. To say that a river andke grand thief, havingmitted a homicide, would no longer dare to use a grappling hook underestimates them and doesn¡¯t align with their greatest self-interest. Those involved in the grand thiefmerce live by the philosophy of seizing the day and epting death as any moment¡¯s possibility. Those who fear death and are full of concerns do not act this way. Most of the grand thieves do not die by official execution but rather hail their end in ck market conflicts. Such people die in nightclubs far more often than in prisons. And after ruling out the grappling hook scenario, the discussion turned to motive, which is a method frequently applied by the police. To summarize, homicides are typically driven by motives of financial gain, personal vendetta, passion, abandonment, superstition, provocation, mental illness, or crimes of passion. However, after verifying each possibility, none seemed to fit. Twenty-odd police officers sat in a room, each holed up in a corner flipping through files andputers, and for a long time, nobody spoke. Liu Jinghui, in fact, was helping everyone to organize their thoughts. His questioning and answers were essentially guiding people¡¯s thinking. At this moment, Liu Jinghui spoke again: "In that case, we must take into consideration the factors of the Zhang Family." Chapter 1063 - 996: More Reasonable

Chapter 1063: Chapter 996: More Reasonable

"Don¡¯t rush into it just yet." Tao Lu had just started listening to Liu Jinghui¡¯s speech and knew what he wanted to say; he had already pondered over this question. He was actually very familiar with police officers like Liu Jinghui, or, to be precise, almost all police officers in blue shirts were simr. Without considering other motives, those willing tomit to their careers and cases are almost always the type to rush into action without considering consequences, let alone politics. Of course, the current system also encourages this kind of behavior. As Old Ma said, the police force is a violent mechanism for maintaining rule; a mechanism naturally shouldn¡¯t require too much thought. But as a detective in a white shirt, Tao Lu couldn¡¯t possibly fight with his muscles alone. He immediately held back Liu Jinghui and said, "It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t look into the Zhang Family, but as we discussed from the start, are we ready to reopen the Jianmen Court case? The prerequisite for reopening it is the ability to crack this case. Are we prepared to do so?" Tao Lu then continued, "We¡¯ve discussed so much and are actually uncertain about cracking it. Therefore, I suggest we better not disturb the Zhang Family for now." "Zhang Xiaoya dide," said Liu Jinghui. "That¡¯s different," Tao Lu paused before exining, "Her seeking an update on the case is one thing, but for us to actively ask about the Zhang Family in pursuit of solving the case... I¡¯m not afraid that she won¡¯t speak; I¡¯m afraid she might be too willing to speak. The volume of information could be more than we can handle." This remark sent chills down some people¡¯s spines, while others dug their toes into the floor. After all, Liu Jinghui was not subordinate to Tao Lu, so he insisted, "The casecks clues, and the Zhang Family likely holds some, maybe even ones they¡¯re unaware of. If we don¡¯t contact the Zhang Family, we can¡¯t solve the case. But if we can¡¯t solve the case, we can¡¯t contact the Zhang Family either. Wouldn¡¯t that lead us into a vicious cycle?" "Prove your mom is your mom," Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help blurting out. He knew it was inappropriate to say this, but he was eager to make a statement, to show he could stack shit straighter than anyone else. Tao Lu red at Cui Qishan fiercely before adding, "At the very least, we should try every other method before turning to the Zhang Family." "The previous task force is down to checking onest thing," sighed Liu Jinghui. Seeing Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t insisting stubbornly, Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but smile and responded, "One of the primary objectives they wanted to investigate that day was to check Wang Futing¡¯s fingerprints. Wang Futing ran away that day, so even if we proceed with the checking, it¡¯s uncertain whether anything wille of it." Having said that, Tao Lu continued: "But now, our clues have advanced further, with Wang Futing himself involved. We also know about the Kite incident. What if we follow these two leads?" So many years have passed; to say they are "checking" is pointless unless it concerns physical evidence like DNA, fingerprints, or bullet marks. What Tao Lu means is essentially that resources could be better allocated. Seeing Tao Lu¡¯s clear stance, Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan, shifted his tone, and said, "The clues on Wang Futing and Kite eventually lead to the suspect who uses the Kite. I remember Wang Futing mentioned that this person is nicknamed Yao Zi and has an unknown background, introduced by a friend." "Which friend?" Tao Lu asked, pleased to see the investigation heading in the right direction. "Fat Head Seven, who died the following year." Without waiting for Liu Jinghui¡¯s response, Wang Chuanxing, looking at the interrogation record, answered. Tao Lu was stunned; it seemed this clue had been severed again. Liu Jinghui waved his hand and said, "It doesn¡¯t matter if he¡¯s dead. Dying the next year means he lived an extra year, spoke for an extra year. Let¡¯s look into Fat Head Seven¡¯s background, find all his friends, rtives, and family from that year, visit and inquire to see if Fat Head Seven mentioned anything. How did this Kite suspect, Yao Zi, get to know Fat Head Seven?" "Yao Zi might have been dealing with stolen goods to Fat Head Seven." It was again Wang Chuanxing who answered. The interrogation records were extensive and detailed, too much for everyone to remember. "What did Fat Head Seven do?" Liu Jinghui had too much to look at; he quickly browsed some details, and now that Wang Chuanxing had read them, he used him to rapidly gather information. No one has the time to read hundreds of case files before making a decision. The task force doesn¡¯t have that kind of time to waste either. Rapid and urate information gathering is an essential skill in this trade. Wang Chuanxing hadn¡¯t finished reading everything, but he had experience with the Cold Case Squad, and had sorted and read through several boxes beforehand, which allowed for more detailed investigation. As Wang Chuanxing quickly flipped through his notes, he replied, "In the 1990s, Fat Head Seven primarily picked pockets on trains and also bought items to resell to genuine fences." Nowadays, long-haul freight is mostly managed by truck drivers who are easy targets, mostly for oil theft, which sustains many professional thieves. But back in the 1990s, although truck drivers were robbed too, they tended to be tough, with rtively high social status, so they weren¡¯t the preferred targets for thieves. Long-term professional thieves mainly operated as pickpockets on public buses and crowded areas or targeted trains. Many of the freight trains back thencked secured carriages; even if they had them, it was no use. Vigers along the railway would often loot trains not guarded by armed police. In an era when industrial products were generally more valuable than agricultural ones, even a stolen basin could be sold. The loot was first for personal use, and if there was excess, they would sell it, and Fat Head Seven was among those in the same business they would sell to. Essentially, it wasn¡¯t much different from the gold farming groups in 21st-century games. One can imagine that a person like Fat Head Seven must have had veryplex social connections. Without further hesitation, Liu Jinghui said, "We need to thoroughly investigate Fat Head Seven¡¯s background, look into his history with Yao Zi, and how many rascals hung around with Fat Head Seven back then?" "There were four people in total. We¡¯ll learn more," Wang Chuanxing took note. Tao Lu also breathed a sigh of relief; this finally gave them a direction. At that moment, Cui Qishan said, "By learning about Yao Zi through Fat Head Seven¡ªwhat if Yao Zi was silenced? Then wouldn¡¯t we lose all leads?" At this, not just Tao Lu, but even Liu Jinghui red at Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan felt slightly embarrassed and whispered, "I was just thinking that Wang Futing has been gone for over a year,es back and there¡¯s no issue. If there¡¯s really a conspiracy, would the mastermind behind it really wait for Wang Futing¡¯s return? Killing Yao Zi directly seems more logical, right?" Chapter 1064 - 997: Advantage

Chapter 1064: Chapter 997: Advantage

"Cui is such a piece of crap... but a character indeed." Tao Lu assigned tasks to Cui and the others, then watched his retreating figure and said, "Jokes aside, Cui does have some intuition. It¡¯s a bit like a sixth sense." "Is it really amazing?" Liu Jinghui asked. "I don¡¯t know about amazing, but we indeed encountered it several times." Tao Lu mainly exined to Song Tiancheng and the leadership of the sub-bureau, and incidentally imparted some strange knowledge. "Actually, it¡¯s not that strange, some cases and people have many coincidences," Song Tiancheng said something highbrow but useless. Liu Jinghui, who is from outside Beijing,ughed and said, "If we¡¯re talking about prodigies, I¡¯ve seen quite a few. Some indeed have something special, including intuition. Some people are just sharper than others." Tao Luughed it off with a "haha" and said, "Us police talking about this mighte across as superstitious." In his heart, Liu Jinghui thought, it¡¯s not like people in Beijing don¡¯t engage in superstitions. Changing the subject, he continued in a mode that Beijingers like, "This stuff can be exined scientifically too. Esoteric exnations like higher-dimensional projections or influences of dark matter, more down-to-earth ones like the influence of maic fields, simr to pigeons, or the simplest version like the experience model, or special physiological structures, like wild boars finding truffles." With this said, Tao Lu indeed nodded his approval, in his view, Cui Qishan belonged to thetter category. "If Cui were to dig up Yao Zi¡¯s body, that would really make things interesting," Tao Lu said meaningfully, but his expression was anything but amused. This case is a huge pain! If another informed person dies, then it really turns into a deadly hassle! Liu Jinghuiforted him, "It¡¯s unlikely, it¡¯s a case from over 20 years ago, where could you even start looking for the body?" A deep sigh sounded from behind: "Don¡¯t worry. Even if Captain Cui digs up Yao Zi¡¯s body, we wouldn¡¯t recognize it." The speaker was Xiao Si, sitting in the corner, flipping through old case files and documents. Not wanting to take Xiao Si with him, Cui Qishan dumped him in Jiang Yuan¡¯s team to work, not minding if Xiao Si was lost. If Jiang Yuan dared to request him, Cui Qishan would dare to send him away. The words made Tao Lu feel as ufortable as if he were constipated. The diforty in the fact that what Xiao Si said was true. Indeed, up to this point, neither the police nor the suspects know what Yao Zi looked like; they didn¡¯t have his fingerprints or DNA either. Wang Futing had seen Yao Zi, but he hadn¡¯t scrutinized him or was good at remembering faces; with the years gone by, what Yao Zi looked like was beyond Wang Futing¡¯s ability to describe. Actually, the appearance doesn¡¯t matter. It¡¯s only because of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Skull Restoration Skill that there¡¯s a basis for discussing appearance, otherwise, whether Yao Zi is dead or alive, it has nothing to do with his looks. This does not even take into ount the increasinglymon cosmetic surgery and makeup techniques that could be used. Considering various possibilities, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but shake his head and silently went back to checking the files. He didn¡¯t oppose Tao Lu¡¯s strategy; with some luck, even an unskilled punch could sometimes kill an expert. In fact, most criminal investigations don¡¯t need precision; just a chaotic punch-throwing approach is usually enough to solve the cases. The technological revolution of the 21st century has been formidable enough to give technologically illiterate people the impression that everything is trivial, even making them see everything as amateurish. But then again, since the stage is already set, a few people going up and performing a song and dance might just make it sessful. Like with many cases nowadays, using the word "solving" seems insufficient¡ªthey just scan with a police PDA, and the resultes out directly. The real test for detectives has increasingly be civilizedw enforcement and issues of evidencepliance. However, the Jianmen Court case is quite the opposite. It is a case with a backlog of murders, and because of the special identity of the deceased, Zhang Xiaoming, the grandson of the Zhang family, the case is on the one hand basically maximized in terms of resources, and on the other hand, its direction of investigation is restricted. Anything rted to politics is a hassle, especially in criminal cases, which are meant to pursue the truth, but what truth is there in politics? In politics, it¡¯s all about choosing sides. If the death of Zhang Xiaoming really involved political reasons, even Jiang Yuan would find it difficult to investigate. To be exact, investigating politically rted cases requires even more precise investigations. Indeed, Jiang Yuan could ask Zhang Xiaoya, the sister of Zhang Xiaoming, to provide a lot of relevant information. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s standing today, Zhang Xiaoya is likely willing to help, but without urate preliminary investigations, what information should Zhang Xiaoya provide? And how can Zhang Xiaoya judge which information is worth revealing and which is not. If it¡¯s amon criminal case, the police¡¯s requirement is actually to reveal everything. In the interrogation or inquiry room, the police ask very meticulously, and this level of detail ispletely different from a casual conversation. Even more so in terms of breadth. As for what things are useful to the case and what are not, Moreover, in situations like the Zhang Family¡¯s and with an identity like Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s¡ªwho knows a lot of information¡ªis it appropriate to reveal everything? Some things, she might be willing to talk about, but others may not want to listen. On the other hand, a lot of politically rted information is subjective by nature, mostlyprised of hearsay or, to put it more euphemistically,es from a synthesis and reanalysis of information from stakeholders. Should subjective information like this be revealed? And if so, how much truth does it hold? But if these subjective messages are not conveyed, what then? Take, for example, the death of Zhang Xiaoming; was it because of enemies of the Zhang Family? And who are these enemies of the Zhang Family? Even this question cannot be answered objectively. Therefore, even if Zhang Xiaoya ultimately needs to answer some questions, Jiang Yuan also needs to know what those questions are. These can only be extracted from case files. Looking through them takes a whole day. Getting up the next day, he continues his examination. Criminal science and technology is essentially a technique. To say that solving a case is like solving a problem might seem a bit frivolous, but the basic process is indeed as such. Jiang Yuan goes through the case files, hoping to obtain more known conditions or, alternatively, to find a breakthrough from the existing conditions. These two tasks are carried out concurrently. From time to time, Jiang Yuan also receives briefings from others, offering a general description of the case files they have reviewed. This allows Jiang Yuan to get a general understanding of the full scope of the case and, if he¡¯s interested, to delve deeper into reading them. At the same time, more information continues to arrive, especially the newly taken photos, which are sent in huge quantities, and asionally, newly restored film rolls are delivered. After two days of reviewing the materials this way, that afternoon¡ªwithout any prior notice and without anyone reminding him¡ªJiang Yuan¡¯s eyesnded on a close-up photo of a grain of printing ink y. The ink y came from under the victim¡¯s fingernails, which wasn¡¯t that strange. The victim Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s workce had its own printing shop responsible for printing some internal promotional documents, and it was a ce Zhang Xiaoming often visited. Moreover, at that time, the print quality of mimeographed materials was unstable, so even without visiting the printing shop, but merely by handling mimeographed products, one could asionally get such ink y stuck under their fingernails. However, situations where the ink y is only found under the nails while the other parts of both hands are clean are very rare. Jiang Yuan then revisited the scene-of-crime photos and followed that up by carefully reading Wang Futing¡¯s testimony. If there¡¯s any advantage to the current investigation over that of 20 years ago, Wang Futing would be the main part. After all, he is an eyewitness to the case, although with limited effectiveness and capability... Concerning the murder process, although the time was extremely short, the police officers responsible for the interrogation performed a very detailed inquiry dutifully and responsibly. Jiang Yuan quickly found the process of physical contact between the murderer and the victim. At the moment Zhang Xiaoming fell to the ground, he should have had a brief contact with the murderer. At least that¡¯s how Wang Futing saw it¡ªthat he had touched the murderer. Thus, if the source of the ink y did indeed transfer from the murderer, then there¡¯s a high probability that the murderer was a colleague. This would also exin a lot of questions, such as why the murderer would kill upon seeing the victim and why the constantly busy Jianmen Court couldn¡¯t screen out the murderer. However, just a hint of ink y is still not enough. Jiang Yuan thought for a while and then called Wang Chuanxing, saying, "Do a statistic for me, check who among the people who worked with Zhang Xiaoming have climbed the ranks... Um, work on this statisticter, first see how many of the people who used to live in Jianmen Court have risen up the ranks!" To say, this method of directly looking for the beneficiaries is also an advantage not avable in the past. Chapter 1065 - 998: Grinding Orders

Chapter 1065: Chapter 998: Grinding Orders

"People from thete 90s who are now rich, sessful, and celebrated are not umon. However, the chart that you had Wang Chuanxingpile is indeed quite interesting." Liu Jinghui was quite interested in the new strategy proposed by Jiang Yuan. Both he and Jiang Yuan had investigated numerous cold cases, so they both understood that the key to investigating cold cases wasn¡¯t to retrace the steps already taken. Even if one has excellent skills and strong reasoning abilities, can retracing the same paths taken by predecessors, after so many years, truly yield better results? Producing a half-baked result is moremon. Especially in criminal cases, many end without a definitive conclusion. If the suspect does not confess, how can one prove that their resolution of the case isn¡¯t mistaken or wrongful? Time erases evidence. It not only eliminates evidence that might suspect a criminal but also obliterates evidence that could prove someone¡¯s innocence. Therefore, often the investigation of cold cases requires finding perspectives that predecessors have not considered. A new angle, a new route, and maybe new evidence represent a better investigative n. Of course, it doesn¡¯t guarantee that the case will be solved, but such an approach is considered quite favorable for a cold murder case. The "Soaring Sess" n proposed by Jiang Yuan is indeed a new angle. Its core principle is quite simple: the one who benefits is the mastermind. This is also one of the mostmon reasoning strategies in administration, and while there are hundreds of papers and specialized books on its internals and detailed analyses, it is not so easy to implement in practice. Liu Jinghui highly appreciated Jiang Yuan¡¯s promise" with the logic of deduction. After carefully reviewing the list provided by Wang Chuanxing, Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue and said, "Really, those Beijingites from thete 90s who are still around now, they¡¯re not doing badly, the worst are just those who didn¡¯t buy a house. As long as they bought property, they at least have assets worth several million. But indeed, some are far better off than others. Much better." "After all, more than 20 years have passed, and some people¡¯s circumstances have surely changed." "Right, that¡¯s another bug in your n. What if someone rose up and then fell down again? How would that be calcted?" Jiang Yuan pondered and then discussed, "We don¡¯t necessarily need to look at their current status. Those who started to thrive a few years after the incident, especially those who made it big five or six yearster, should be given more attention." Liu Jinghui nodded, "That¡¯s a good idea, typical criminals won¡¯t wait ten years for you to fulfill a promise, three to five years is long enough for them. However, let me update your idea a bit more." "Go ahead." "Anyone who has ever risen should count. Anyone who has experienced a sudden increase in ie, whether they became wealthy regardless of the reason¡ªbe it inheritance, stock trading, or stumbling upon a fortune, we don¡¯t care. Given that Jianmen Court is such a small ce, any person who has ever been wealthy should be considered a suspect." "That works." Jiang Yuan expressed his agreement. "Promotions count too." "Right." This point was a bit sensitive, so Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate more. Liu Jinghui then handed the list back to Wang Chuanxing for further modification. By this time, Wang Chuanxing was thoroughly engaged in detailed operations, pulling out the entire resident list of Jianmen Court, assigning different categories to different people, and listing out everyone¡¯s economic status, career development, and life trajectories over the past two or three decades. With a few hundred residents across four buildings, distributing the work among over twenty police officers meant that things would be sorted out quickly. There are many points for vetting here, beyond bank deposits, securities ounts, real estate, and car documents. Everybody¡¯s monthly phone bills, transportation expenses, whether they have traveled in business or first ss, whether they have overseas travel or studying abroad experiences, expenses on children¡¯s education, and medical costs for the elderly, all can serve as a background. From the police¡¯s perspective, ordinary people are pretty much the same; there¡¯s only so much money they can spend and they tend to spend on essentials, with asional expenditures at certain special ces. However, for wealthy individuals in hiding, they often spend extra money at inexplicable ces, or rather, they actually don¡¯t care much about spending, sometimes opting to spend more at unremarkable ces. When entries like these appear, the police naturally pay close attention. Soon, a list of over thirty people was ced back on the desks of Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan reviewed it, both equipped with files andputer backend data. After a short while, Liu Jinghui had crossed out the first ten people, saying, "Businessmen, and a few who have embezzled money, but they don¡¯t seem like the people we¡¯re looking for." "The person we are looking for must know how to use a grappling hook," Jiang Yuan frowned and said, "I don¡¯t know what kind of person would still be able to learn this in the 1990s. Besides, this person is still young, not even 30 years old." "Yes, but we can¡¯t directly filter by age since the money may not necessarily be spent by the person themselves. Moreover, it isn¡¯t necessarily a resident; it could also be a family member or someone else," Liu Jinghui said and then pondered more deeply after giving it some thought. Jiang Yuan thought it over and said, "I believe that this murder case is increasingly unlikely to be a death caused by a burry. From this perspective, if it wasn¡¯t due to burry, then the murderer clearly had a bigger reason and more gains tomit the act." Liu Jinghui gave an acknowledging "Hmm" and said, "I understand what you mean. You want to directly construct a list of people who could benefit from killing Zhang Xiaoming. This direction is indeed viable. We¡¯ll consider this first, and if that doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll look into other investigative directions..." As he spoke, Liu Jinghui began summarizing, "First, the murderer paid 500 yuan to find someone to pick the lock. This shows he has money on hand. Secondly, he took away thousands in money and items from Zhang Xiaoming and even shared it with Wang Futing, which shows he is quite generous. From these two points, the murderer¡¯s economic status is likely quite affluent." As he spoke, Liu Jinghui began searching for suspects from the list. With over thirty people on the list, plus factors like age quickly brought forth two names by Liu Jinghui. "Let¡¯s start investigating them," Liu Jinghui said, not bothering with double checks since resources were abundant and it was feared there were no leads to investigate. However, the youth from over twenty years ago are now quite old, but fortunately, people in Beijing tend to settle less elsewhere. Both individuals were still living locally, making the investigation not difficult. Several police cars lightly headed out, estimating the time, it probably would take a couple of hours to see results. Liu Jinghui patted the files in front of him: "Since we are here, let¡¯sb through Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s workce as well." He thought this method was pretty good, with many limiting conditions. Actually, when thoroughly checked, there wouldn¡¯t be many people on the list, making the investigation less burdensome. Jiang Yuan was not opposed, and members of the Cold Case Squad were thus mobilized again to extract the factory¡¯s list, distribute it among individuals, and investigate one by one. Compared to before, the process was even faster now. Moreover,pared to the residents of Jianmen Court, who were primarily government staff, the mere factory workers often did not fare well, and those who reached levels of ¡¯high-flying sess¡¯ and ¡¯achieved fame¡¯ were few and far between. With over two thousand people on the list, in the end, only a few dozen were pulled out, making the investigation even more convenient. Chapter 1066 - 999: Turning Point

Chapter 1066: Chapter 999: Turning Point

Noon. More police cars began to return, and the previously cleared case handling center busied once again. Most of the people brought back barely qualified as suspects; they were still considered civilians, so they were taken to inquiry rooms rather than interrogation rooms. Compared to interrogation rooms, inquiry rooms are much cozier, generally equipped with a sofa to sit on, water to drink, and even the rare sight of an interrogating officer¡¯s smile. Here, no handcuffs are ced on the wrists, nor is there a safety belt-like chain around one¡¯s chest. In short, the basic dignity of a person is still maintained. Most people entering the inquiry room would just share stories from the past andplete a written record, and that would be it. Those with unresolved questions would continue recording statements, repeatedly asked, and gradually it would lean closer to an interrogation. Bringing people to the police station for inquiry is for the seriousness of the process. When a person is at home, at work, or outdoors, they tend to spout nonsense as if lyinges at no cost. In fact, it hardly does cost anything, but it¡¯s different in a police station. Every sentence spoken inside the police station is recorded, repeatedly questioned, further and more politely probed, before being sternly interrogated. The few who have relocated to other ces were also taken to local police stations for questioning, following the rule of calling for minor cases and visiting for major ones. The Jianmen Court case is a well-known serious case for the Beijing Bureau, and the officers responsible for bringing people in were extremely cautious, even on the phone, for fear of alerting the suspect. The result was... hardly noticeable. "Without any other leads, just the fact that the victim was a coworker, coupled with sudden advancement in status, the list we can narrow down to is just this," Wang Chuanxing handed a thin list to Jiang Yuan. The list had 6 people on it, simply described as colleagues of Zhang Xiaoming with significant unexined wealth. "What about the investigation results?" Jiang Yuan knew these 6 people must have been questioned. "No clear evidence." Wang Chuanxing shook his head slightly, indicating another fruitless screening. Jiang Yuan felt a tinge of disappointment. For his detective career, this was yet another notrge, but not small failure. Liu Jinghui noticed it at a nce and chuckled, "Finding clues and checking them out, it¡¯s quite normal not toe to a conclusion. If this screening doesn¡¯t yield results, we¡¯ll just move on to another clue." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nce at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui was taken aback for a moment but quickly understood: "Right, we¡¯ve already run out of second leads. Haha, it seems rather umon to encounter this situation when I¡¯m working a case with you." "So you¡¯re saying you often encounter simr situations?" Jiang Yuan caught on to the implication. Liu Jinghuiughed: "I should say, about half of the cases I¡¯m involved in are like this. Nowadays, the Criminal Police Brigade onlyes to me when the case hits a dead-end, and the Criminal Science team is out of options." "Is that so?" "Everybody loves the Criminal Science team," Liu Jinghui said, ncing askance at Jiang Yuan. In fact, as far as being favored is concerned, the Criminal Science team certainly isn¡¯t among those well-loved. If detectives always have cases they can¡¯t finish, then the technicians among them always have threads they can¡¯t untangle. In any case, they go wherever they are needed. Of course, technical staff in Criminal Science are slightly more favored than those dealing with reasoning. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really have a chance to experience this kind of preferential treatment, or rather, as a forensic doctor in a county town, from the beginning of his career, apart from his work environment being dirty and disordered, interpersonal rtionships have always been rtively easy to navigate. Leaders value them, and those they work with generally respect forensic doctors. Jiang Yuan asked, "So, how do you usually handle this kind of situation, or how do other Criminal Police Brigades deal with it?" "Well, it¡¯s different for each Criminal Police Brigade. If you¡¯re somewhat stingy like here in Longli County, then you smoke, right? Smoke together good or bad, quantity over quality. Smoke enough, and as your brain starts twitching, you might juste up with some idea," Liu Jinghui described with experience: "Personally, I prefer eating spicy hotpot; the spicier, the better." "Eating spicy to clear your mind?" Wang Chuanxing cautiously learned the secret. Liu Jinghui shook his head: "I just like eating hotpot." Wang Chuanxing rolled his eyes. "But..." Liu Jinghui chuckled, then added: "It¡¯s always good to take a break, refresh your mind or something." "Get something good to eat. Hotpot takes too much time, let¡¯s go for a ¡¯dry pot¡¯ instead, stir-frying various things, and order plenty," Jiang Yuan chose one of the solutions. Compared to solving a case, this was obviously much easier. Soon, the aroma of a simmering hotpot filled the building of the Criminal Police Brigade¡ªas a member of the Jiang Vige People, Jiang Yuan had no qualms about treating others with someone else¡¯s money. Clearly, Tao Lu could not be the viin, so the busy detectives, no longer pretending to have work on their hands, started to enjoy the dry pot boisterously in the restaurant. At this moment, an Audi A6 quietly drove into the courtyard of the Criminal Police Brigade. By the time Tao Lu received the news, the visitor had already entered the building. "Leadership from the bureau is here. Director You." Tao Lu only had time to give Jiang Yuan a quick call. The Criminal Police Brigade had its own office space, and as a unit engaged in operations, it rarely hosted visitors. However, it could be somewhat nerve-wracking when a leader¡¯s asional visit coincided with everyone enjoying avish meal. After exchanging a few words, Tao Lu quickly exined: "Everyone has been busy for several days, on 24-hour standby, and the morale is a bit low. We thought we¡¯d get something good to eat." "You guys have quite the feast here," Director You said with a chuckle, his thoughts unreadable, and simply asked, "How is the Jianmen Court case progressing?" "We¡¯re still investigating," Tao Lu certainly couldn¡¯t admit that they were at a dead end and were actually using good food to restore their energy. Director You gave an "Mm" and asked, "Is there any issue I need to resolve for you?" Tao Lu hesitated for a moment before answering, "Not for the time being." While it was rare for a leader to actively offer help, Tao Lu genuinely had no need for additional resources. The progress on this case wasn¡¯t stalled by ack of resources. Director You frowned upon hearing this. He could sense Tao Lu¡¯s unease; if it were a team advancing triumphantly, they could have asked for better treatment. "Where¡¯s Jiang Yuan?" Director You immediately started to look for a more effective person to inquire from. "He¡¯ll be right here." Tao Lu gestured to his subordinates, who swiftly went to tip off others. Shortly after, Jiang Yuan arrived with a few people, carrying PADs and dossiers with them. Seeing this, Director You waved his hand with a smile and said, "I won¡¯t inquire about the specifics of the case. I¡¯ve been away from the front line for a long time. Just tell me if this case can continue. Whether to push forward, or to put the brakes on." He stared at Jiang Yuan, exerting a strong pressure. After feasting on the dry pot, Jiang Yuan patted his stomach and remained silent for a full minute before saying, "Since you¡¯ve asked, actually, I have a hypothesis. I nned to discuss it after verifying other leads... Now, it seems we¡¯ve already gone through other verifications..." "Captain Jiang," Liu Jinghui, recalling their previous discussion, couldn¡¯t help but want to remind Jiang Yuan about politics... Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly at him and said, "We¡¯ve had a spection that the murderer might already be dead." "Hmm?" Not only Director You, but Liu Jinghui and others were also taken aback; this answer was different from what they had discussed before. Jiang Yuan had clearly thought this through for a while and spread his hands, saying, "The murderer could use a grappling hook, which is a high-level skill. It hasn¡¯t been used since, which seems wasteful. Furthermore, we¡¯ve been very meticulous in our screening, and having not found anyone could be because we have been only looking among the living..." "Is there evidence?" Director You, quite sharp himself, knew well that his subordinates wouldn¡¯t bring up purely spective ideas. Jiang Yuan nodded and had Wang Chuanxing present a photograph to Director You, saying, "While everyone was screening people these past few days, I¡¯ve been looking at photos, specifically asking for many photos of the factory workers, especially those where the hands are visible... Additionally, I¡¯ve been learning about the skills involved in using a grappling hook." Jiang Yuan continued, "The practice of using a grappling hook is tough; certain parts of the hand develop calluses, and these calluses are hard to get rid of. It¡¯s like students who study a lot tend to develop calluses on the first joint of their middle finger, and they don¡¯t go away even after twenty or thirty years. It¡¯s simr with the grappling hook." Pointing to a young man in the photo, Jiang Yuan exined, "This photo isn¡¯t very clear, but we don¡¯t have any others. Chuanxing and his team are investigating this person, but it will take some time." "How long?" Director You asked directly. "About the time it takes to have a hotpot meal," Jiang Yuan did not promise too much. "Serve up a hotpot, I¡¯ll have some too." Director You sat down, suddenly exuding an approachable aura. Chapter 1067 - 1000 Murder

Chapter 1067: Chapter 1000 Murder

"Don¡¯t make too much, I¡¯ll just have a bite," Director You sat down and made a point to remind them again. But when a leader says to keep it simple, subordinates dare not take it literally. So, everything avable today was served to Director You, one after another. From dry pot chicken and dry pot fatty intestines as rich dishes, to dry pot ribs and shrimp, dry pot bullfrog as less rich dishes, all were red and yellow in color, blended with the strong scent of spices, and incredibly tempting to the hungry. Director You was actually hungry himself and, without much politeness, picked up his chopsticks and started eating with Jiang Yuan and the others. For an official of his rank, simply joining in the fun with the people can make everyone very happy, more effective than any speech or casual chat. Its value is like the area-of-effect damage of a beautiful woman, and not even middle-aged men resistant to excitement are immune to it. "The fatty intestines are really delicious, tender and rich but not greasy," Director You praised while putting down his chopsticks: "It¡¯s a pity I can¡¯t eat more, need to control my weight, I¡¯ve already eaten too much today." Director You patted his belly, looking somewhat regretful. "Won¡¯t you eat a few more pieces? Get busy for a while, and it will digest," Jiang Yuan casually replied. Director You enviously looked at Jiang Yuan and shook his head, "That¡¯s you young people who have fast metabolism. When I was young, I could also eat two big bowls of rice in one meal, but not anymore, now eating a few more bites results in weight gain the next day." Jiang Yuan chuckled a bit, feeling that his emotional intelligence today was somewhatcking. Tao Lu quicklyughed along: "Director You really is disciplined, you also keep a good shape, I rememberst time in the five-kilometer run, you finished second." "That¡¯s because the guy who came first took a wrong turn, thinking I couldn¡¯t be running that slow, so he crossed the finish line early, foolishly," Director You said whileughing out loud. At his age, being able to run five kilometers was pretty good, and as for the ranking, it didn¡¯t matter if it was conceded by others. Jiang Yuan hurriedly gobbled down a few bites. He had only eaten a little before, and there was still a lot of work ahead of him. In this world, it¡¯s easy to wrong a person, but proving someone¡¯s innocence is still quite difficult. As Director You said, among several types of dry pot dishes, the fatty intestines were the most delicious, rich and mellow with a vor difficult to find elsewhere, the dish was just perfect, surpassing the likes of cheese lobster in taste. If dishes also had technology trees, fatty intestines would at least be a tech unlocked at LV5 or above in the pork tech tree. Only pig¡¯s trotter could contend with it, but in terms of invention and preparation difficulty, pig¡¯s trotter was far behind fatty intestines, which in ancient society would have required a hundred years or more of study to master. Seeing Jiang Yuan enjoying his meal so much, Director You took up his tea and started drinking with sluuuurps while watching him eat, as if he could also gain a sense of satiety just by watching. Tao Lu was observant, and since the leader was enjoying the ¡¯eating broadcast¡¯, there was no need to force conversation. The message brought back by Wang Chuanxing arrivedte, as the streetlights were already lit. A few photos on theputer screen drew several men together to look. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even bother with the mouse, but directly ordered: "Zoom in on the suspect¡¯s hand, the left hand." The technician, thoughcking Image Enhancement technology, still found this task within easy reach. Jiang Yuan then proceeded to examine each hand in detail. Director You quickly raised his head, shifting his gaze from the screen to Jiang Yuan¡¯s face, trying to gauge sess or failure based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression. Tao Lu turned her gaze to Director You¡¯s face, quickly realizing that this was just another form of ¡¯eating broadcast¡¯. "It¡¯s almost certainly him." Jiang Yuan finished reviewing several photos and still seemed to be interested, asking, "Can¡¯t find any other photos?" "People from the 90s didn¡¯t live to see the widespread use of digital cameras, there are only a few photos of them as adults. His family only kept these few, and others were found from group photos at his workce." The one who replied was Shen Yaowei. Wang Chuanxing had gone out to collect the photos, scanning them first, and was still out wandering. Only then did Jiang Yuan nod, looking at Director You, he said, "Now it seems that this suspect, Li Dianzhong, is the primary person responsible for the Jianmen Court murder case. He must have trained well with the w, or rather, trained exceptionally well; the traces of calluses he left were also heavy. It¡¯s a pity that the previous task force had no such information and could not pursue this lead." "How did he die?" Director You sat without moving, obviously not satisfied with just this. Finding the murderer was important, but the Jianmen Court case now clearly had a mastermind behind it, and if there was one, it must be investigated, whether it could be traced or not was another matter. "Death from a high fall," Jiang Yuan responded briefly, adding, "At that time, the factory wasying off workers, and Li Dianzhong was not a staff member, so he was definitely among the first to be let go. Therefore, people around him all thought he jumped off a building because of this and caused quite amotion using this as a pretext." "They focused on exploiting him, but no one actually cared to determine whether it was suicide or not," Shen Yaowei hit the nail on the head. In front of Director You, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t specte further but simply said, "Wait for the corpse photos ¨C once we have the photos of the corpse and the previous forensic report, we will see where this case goes." "With a high fall, can a forensic examination reveal whether it was a suicide?" Director You was knowledgeable and asked a very crucial question. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and slowly said, "It¡¯s difficult. But there is indeed a possibility of finding out." Turning around, seeing that Director You did not make a sound, Jiang Yuan went on to exin, "There has actually been quite a bit of research on high falls, and there are many points of discussion. If a high fall was caused by homicide, matching each point is also challenging." "Exin in detail," Director You smiled and said, "Back when I was in the field, forensic doctors always found high fall cases quite challenging." "Conditions are different now," Jiang Yuan replied, not sure if Director You was just curious or if he wanted to report backter with content. After organizing his thoughts, he said, "Without considering conditions like surveince, purely from a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective, one might discuss the manner and location of the impact. The head, feet, and buttocks aremon points of impact, and exactly where a person falls would need aprehensive consideration." Director You nodded, "High and low positions differ." "You¡¯re correct," Jiang Yuan said tactfully, and then exined, "Within this, we can evaluate whether all injuries were caused by the fall. If it was homicide, the appearance of defensive wounds, or signs of having been beaten, is quitemon." Jiang Yuan: "Next, I personally prefer to analyze from the physical and mathematical aspects. For instance, the process of a high fall must follow thews of free fall, so some schrs have summarized theories on this aspect and created guidelines for determining the height of a fall and the distance from thending point, which we can directly use." "How did they summarize it?" Director You asked with particr detail. The body had not yet been delivered, and he obviously intended to wait for the results, sparing no effort to stay upte. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan simply took out some paper and a pen and exined, "Themonly used models are those proposed by Shaw and Hsu. Simply put, the maximum velocity of a person standing and jumping is 3.77 meters per second, and while running it¡¯s 9.15 meters per second. This means, as a basic factor, based on the distance of the fall point, we can determine if there was a running start during the fall. If there was, it would likely be a suicide." Jiang Yuan: "Furthermore, there¡¯s the rtionship between wind speed and shift during a high fall, the distance for males and females would differ as well..." Jiang Yuan: "Lastly, rescue or in other words, subsequent corpse handling must also be considered..." Listening to this, Director You finally gave up: "All things considered, how likely is it to determine whether it was suicide or homicide? How long will that take?" The methods for dealing with suicide versus homicide indeed differ significantly. At that moment, Wang Chuanxing sent over arge batch of photos, precisely the scanned copies of the autopsy photos and corresponding autopsy report of the suspect after the high fall. "Please wait." As Jiang Yuan swiftly flipped through the photos, knowing that domestically bodies are mostly cremated and ash is of no use, physical inspection was not necessary. The best evidence are the photos. Director You, a bit taken aback, picked up his cup and resumed his tea. In the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, Jiang Yuan finished looking at the photos and said, "It should be beyond doubt that it was homicide." Chapter 1068 - 1001, Second Question

Chapter 1068: Chapter 1001, Second Question

Confirming Li Dianzhong¡¯s death as a homicide did not ease the tension among the people. On the contrary, when Jiang Yuan announced this conclusion, everyone tensed up despite being prepared. This was tantamount to opening a new case. If it were a suicide, one could argue it was suicide due to fear of punishment, or some other simr exnation. But if it were a homicide, it could almost be certain that there was a mastermind behind it. No need for any professional to judge, ordinary people can see that this was a murder to silence someone. But starting a new case, especially one that¡¯s 20 years old, is incredibly difficult. So difficult that it deters many. "Since it¡¯s confirmed to be a homicide, let¡¯s continue investigating," Director You said while drinking tea. His voice wasn¡¯t loud, but it sounded somewhat resolute to everyone. "Let¡¯s continue then," Tao Lu looked toward Jiang Yuan. At this point in the case, he could only rely on Jiang Yuan. In fact, the case had not yet started and the actual difficulty was still undetermined, but investigating cold cases is like sailing in the desert; if you encounter a simple one, it might just be that you happened to take the right path, not that the case itself is simple. There might be paths in the desert, but there might also really be no paths. Regardless, it¡¯s best to have a caravan of camels and an experienced guide. Jiang Yuan unhesitatingly nodded and said, "First, let¡¯s take Li Dianzhong¡¯s photo to Wang Futing to see, without telling him who it is, hmm, take along a few others as well, let him identify them. If he recognizes anyone, we then inquire about the details. Also, let¡¯s go talk to Li Dianzhong¡¯s acquaintances, friends, colleagues, etc., see if there is any information." "Yes," Shen Yaowei quickly responded and went to distribute tasks. Upon seeing this, Director You nodded and asked, "Wang Futing, is he the informant involved in the homicide case that you caught before?" "Yes, that¡¯s him," Jiang Yuandao. "Hmm, this person is a breakthrough, let¡¯s start by asking him," Director You seemed prepared to wait and then turned to Jiang Yuan, asking, "Have you shown him the photos before?" "We have, but he didn¡¯t recognize anyone." Tao Lu exined, "We showed him arge group photo, along with several workshop, team, and office group photos. Several pictures had the suspect Li Dianzhong in them, but Wang Futing didn¡¯t recognize him. There was probably a single photo of him that he has seen as well, considering the factory had thousands of employees and had beenid off, many of the photos we got back were years or even over a decade old." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t as cautious as Tao Lu, straightforwardly saying, "There were too many people, Wang Futing¡¯s memory isn¡¯t that reliable. He didn¡¯t look carefully enough." Identifying someone from photos is not reliable. Just like recognizing a friend from over 20 years ago, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising to recognize them, and it wouldn¡¯t be strange not to recognize them either. Of course, some people are very good at recognizing faces, but then there are others who are not so skilled at it. In modern society, there are not a few who im to be ¡¯face blind¡¯, unable to recall colleagues with different clothing or makeup, and with the factor of time included, it¡¯s even harder. Expecting Wang Futing to recognize a brief case acquaintance like Li Dianzhong isn¡¯t impossible, but it can¡¯t be demanded. Director You nodded and said, "Let¡¯s ask him now, I¡¯ll wait and see." He clearly needed a definite answer, in a sense, he also needed evidence. Evidence from an eyewitness, even if it is from 20 years ago, is still a form of evidence. Tao Lu was very understanding of Director You¡¯s thoughts, so he urged everyone to get to work. Turning back, Tao Lu added casually, "The factory was already going downhill at that time, they weren¡¯t hiring externally anymore. They needed young people to work, so they hired temporary workers first, then lured the temporary workers with contract positions, and lured contract workers with permanent positions. But when it came to handing out wages and benefits, these people were not on the list. Li Dianzhong, as an outsourced worker, was not very close to thepany¡¯s people. It was probably easier to find his photo back then, but it¡¯s not easy now." "Isn¡¯t it said that the grappling hook he¡¯s learning is quite difficult? Is he still willing to be an external staff member?" Director You suddenly connected this to the previous evidence. "He is still learning the grappling hook, probably hasn¡¯tpletely mastered it yet," Jiang Yuan said. Tao Lu then smiled and said, "Having such a job is almost like doing burry, not standing out even in the 90s." Many thieves start stealing because they can¡¯t find work orck skills. But some thieves might originally have had jobs, then just because of minor thefts or major robberies, end up being fired and thus focus exclusively on stealing. From a more neutral perspective, back in the day, Li Dianzhong might also have had a period of confusion. A group of people began to delve deeper into Li Dianzhong¡¯s identity. Compared to the investigation at the beginning of the case, this investigation was much simpler and more straightforward. The previous investigation was following the tire tracks of the former special case team, barely picking up any usable clues. Whatever there was to investigate had already been checked numerous times by the prior detectives. But the Li Dianzhong case was different; though it was a follow-up to the Jianmen Court case, the case itself was treated as an unnatural death, namely a suicide, therefore it was closed without any thorough investigation. Now, following the trail of Li Dianzhong, the amount of clues obtained was considerably different. When Wang Chuanxing returned, in front of Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan, there were already two tables piled up with materials. Liu Jinghui, as usual, looked through each document. That¡¯s how deductive reasoning works; one needs ample data to make logical deductions. Of course, it¡¯s even more expected to make reasonable deductions with meager data, but that level of difficulty is something even Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t easily challenge. Because reasoning still involves certain probabilities, any reason for failure is still a failure, and the consequences are so severe, that cases withplete data actually take up more of Liu Jinghui¡¯s time. "Let¡¯s start by investigating the personal rtions," Jiang Yuan briefly looked over the materials, offering a direction for the investigation, and looked towards Tao Lu. Tao Lu nodded: "Sounds good." There¡¯s not much to say about this; in times without mobile phones and surveince, visits and personal rtions were already one of the main investigative directions for detectives. If it were a current case, this type of case would also need an investigation into the flow of funds to check if the suspect had any significant financial transactions. Going further, one could also seek detailed information to understand the suspect¡¯s circumstances. With old cases, there¡¯s no such thing. Investigating personal rtions can also reveal the suspect¡¯s background, making it a suitable initial step in the investigation. Several police cars headed out into the dark night, nning to drive all night and hoping to find relevant people by morning to save as much time as possible. The rest, as usual, depended primarily on online investigations. After all instructions were given, Tao Lu looked at the dark sky outside and smiled at Director You, "That¡¯s about it for today; perhaps you should rest a while?" "Find an office, just get me a camp bed," Director You said. Tao Lu opened his mouth, thinking that it would take less time to find a camp bed and make it than it would take you to get home. But, thinking about the case, Tao Lu just stood at attention and responded, "Yes." Chapter 1069 - 1002: Master

Chapter 1069: Chapter 1002: Master

The next morning. During the office hours, Zhang Xiaoya arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade. The officer who led her in walked a bit quickly and brought her straight to Director You, who was tidying up his army cot. Zhang Xiaoya showed a surprised expression: "Director You, why... did you stay here overnight?" "It was toote, and I didn¡¯t want to fuss about going back and forth. Besides, my wife and kids were already asleep; going back and forth would disturb them." Director You smiled genuinely. Zhang Xiaoya became even more embarrassed: "This... this is really... I had no idea that you came here personally and stayed up sote, ah¡ªon behalf of my brother, I thank you." "No need to thank me, this is what we should do." Director You smiled and waved his hand, then continued to tidy up the army cot. He hadn¡¯t slept on an army cot for quite some time, but the skills trained in his early years were still there, and after getting familiar with it again, he managed to set it up quickly. Dressed in her work attire, Zhang Xiaoya couldn¡¯t step forward to help, so she could only take out her cellphone and snap a few photos. Director You no longer felt the pain on his shoulders and waist caused by the hard cot. At this moment, Jiang Yuan entered with a few people, carrying a PAD and other items. "Jiang Yuan!" Zhang Xiaoya directly called out his name. "Director Zhang." Jiang Yuan¡¯s entrance was with a bit of emotional intelligence, as if it was a gift that came with being clear-headed early in the morning. But at this moment, Zhang Xiaoyacked a bit of emotional intelligence. At the sight of Jiang Yuan, it was as if a fog had clouded Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s vision. "Jiang Yuan..." Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s lips trembled slightly, and then she said, "Thank you!" This time, Zhang Xiaoya, facing Jiang Yuan, behaved just like any ordinary family member of a victim, without difference. The Zhang Xiaoya who was just conversing openly with Director You felt as though her throat was stuffed, barely able to utter any extra words. For Zhang Xiaoya, pursuing the murderer who killed her younger brother had been a missionsting over 20 years. She once thought this mission would stretch to the end of her life, even turning into a massive event and ultimately creating a terrifying ck hole. Yet, in less than a week, Jiang Yuan had apprehended the murderer. Although it was the murderer¡¯s remains, to Zhang Xiaoya, what she considered a lifelong regret hadrgely been mitigated. At least at this moment, she felt that even if the mastermind behind the scenes couldn¡¯t be caught, stopping here was still eptable. "Jiang Yuan, tell Director Zhang about our findings." Director You, seeing Zhang Xiaoya regain herposure, stepped forward and said, "I couldn¡¯t stay awake, so I took a nap, but Jiang Yuan and the others were busy all the time." Zhang Xiaoya nodded vigorously. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice and before he could start speaking, his phone rang. "Let me take this call first, it¡¯s from an officer at the scene." Jiang Yuan said as he answered the phone. "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve found Li Dianzhong¡¯s master. His mother revealed it, it¡¯s Li Dianzhong¡¯s own uncle, Shen Peng. He served time for intentional harm, a 3-year sentence, and is missing a thumb on his right hand." The other end of the phone was Miao Liyuan, who was originally quite adept technically as a detective, but this time he wasn¡¯t needed for technical tasks, thus bing more like a regr technical officer, transformed into a basicborer. Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyelids twitched at this; the thumb is the most important finger in the hand, and missing this one meant that half of the hand¡¯s function was essentially destroyed. This level of disability quite suited an old thief¡¯s identity. "What did Shen Peng say?" Jiang Yuan asked, his voice slightly raised, drawing attention from Zhang Xiaoya and others. "He said a lot." Miao Liyuan, unable to see the situation on this end, spoke excitedly, "When he found out we were police, he voluntarily said a lot. First, he confirmed that Li Dianzhong learned the grappling hook and some body techniques from him. But Shen Peng always refused to teach Li Dianzhong lock-picking skills, continually educating him not to engage in petty theft, just passing on the skills because someday they would be useful." Miao Liyuan sighed and then said, "Shen Peng himself was chopped on his thumb for stealing, so he doesn¡¯t want Li Dianzhong to follow his old path." Miao Liyuan: "Also, in front of Shen Peng, Li Dianzhong mentioned Zhang Xiaoming, saying he was going toy off employees, and Li Dianzhong felt he might beid off too, something like that." "I understand," Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, his head bowed in thought. If beingid off is considered as the motive for murder, the case at Jianmen Court is essentially clear. Li Dianzhong had seeded in his "studies", and with the impending wave ofyoffs and a sharp reduction in ie, he had quietly started engaging in part-time activities. Meanwhile, as Zhang Xiaoming began promotingyoffs within the factory, Li Dianzhong, being an external staff member, felt he couldn¡¯t escape, and likely decided to steal from Zhang Xiaoming out of spite and for some money, hiring Wang Futing to help pick the lock... Thinking this, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. The 500 yuan hiring fee for Wang Futing was excessive, and moreover, stealing from one¡¯s own workce just to vent seemed overly bold. Given the dense housing at Jianmen Court, how did Li Dianzhong manage to move around without attracting attention? Back then, people might have greeted each other when they met. Even if Li Dianzhong had grappling hooks, he might not have avoided such eyewitnesses. Ding ding. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone beeped twice, showing a WeChat message from Miao Liyuan. Miao Liyuan: [Before his death, Li Dianzhong mailed a box to Shen Peng, asking him to keep it safe. I¡¯ve taken photos for you to see.] Following that were a series of pictures. Shen Peng received a leather suitcase, neatly filled with arge amount of items. Most of them were daily necessities, including some books and various small items. Miao Liyuan and others hadpleted taking photographs for evidence, sending only the main ones to Jiang Yuan. "Got any updates?" Director You asked after Jiang Yuan ended the call and had waited a moment. Jiang Yuan nodded: "We¡¯ve found Li Dianzhong¡¯s master, and some items that Li Dianzhong had sent... Just a moment." Hearing the familiar phrase "just a moment," Director You inexplicably stood still,pletely silent, as if afraid to disturb Jiang Yuan at work. Jiang Yuan made a call back to Miao Liyuan, asking, "Do you have the items with you?" "In the car," Miao Liyuan replied. "Take a few people with you, keep an eye on the evidence, and then take out the notebook from the seventh picture. Show me a live video," Jiang Yuandao instructed. "Understood." Without any extra words, Miao Liyuan immediately set into action. Soon, they started a video call, and Miao Liyuan disyed the notebook Jiang Yuan asked for. Jiang Yuan had him flip through a few pages, and after watching, said, "Protect the evidence well, and rest right there. I¡¯ll send someone to pick you up." After a few more instructions, Jiang Yuan finally hung up. The few people present couldn¡¯t help but look towards Jiang Yuan. Tao Lu asked, "Did you find anything?" Jiang Yuan hesitated for a few seconds and then slowly said, "I suspect it¡¯s a codebook." Chapter 1070 - 1003 Question 3

Chapter 1070: Chapter 1003 Question 3

Qi Changye greeted Jiang Yuan with a smile and a handshake, seriously saying, "Captain Jiang, we meet again." "It¡¯s hardly a good thing," Jiang Yuan also shook hands with Qi Changye, then did the same with the colleagues who came with Qi Changye: "I¡¯ve brought trouble to everyone." "Trouble like this, I wish there was more of it," Qi Changye exchanged pleasantries up to this point, then whispered, "I heard you found a codebook?" "Still need you guys to check it out," Jiang Yuan said modestly but also to clear himself. He did receive the legacy of LV5 cryptography, but this technology is sensitive after all, and those in espionage are even more so, it¡¯s better not to worry them. Qi Changye naturally had to check it out. The codebook should not be sent through publicworks, none of them had seen what it looked like before their arrival, so now they found a room and took out the codebook to inspect it. The codebook Miao Liyuan brought back was a notebook, with some phrases written inside with a fountain pen that seemed to be excerpts of songs. In reality, they were corresponding to certain vocabry, especially numbers and English letters. The handwriting inside the notebook looked a little sloppy, and the notebook itself was just an ordinary hardcover one, amon item back in the day. However, the people Qi Changye brought took a very serious look at it. They first flipped through it, then began taking pictures. Soon after, they started making phone calls tomunicate. After a lot of hustle, Qi Changye finally invited Jiang Yuan, Tao Lu, and Director You into the room, nced at the three of them and said, "You are more familiar with the confidentiality discipline than I am, so I will not borate. Let me directly state the conclusion: it is indeed a codebook, but it¡¯s aption." "A codebook can bepiled?" Jiang Yuan knew that if Qi Changye was saying this now, he would need to use it; he had worked with them on cases before and didn¡¯t hesitate to ask. Qi Changye nodded, "The suspect¡¯s role should be akin to a courier, on the fringe yet central, hence the need to know some codes. From our assessment, this codebook was mainly used for cing advertisements." "To ce advertisements in newspapers andmunicate with secretnguages?" asked Jiang Yuan. Qi Changye nodded, "Yes, mainly to coordinate the time and ce for intelligence pick-ups, as well as some issues concerning money..." "That..." Director You suddenly interrupted their conversation, saying, "I won¡¯t get involved in this case, you guys continue talking." After speaking, Director You nodded to Jiang Yuan and left the room. Qi Changye didn¡¯t stop him, only smiling at Jiang Yuan and saying, "Captain Jiang, you can¡¯t just walk away. We still hope that you will lead this case." Jiang Yuan slightly hesitated, "It¡¯s not appropriate for me to organize it. Besides, this case is obviously involving espionageworks..." "The case will bemanded by your side for the investigation, just request any information from us when needed," Qi Changye quickly said, "You¡¯ve been following the case all along, you wouldn¡¯t be at ease handing it over to us, would you?" Thesest words truly struck a chord with Jiang Yuan. It wasn¡¯t that the investigative capabilities of Qi Changye¡¯s team weren¡¯t strong, but a case from 20 years ago was significantly challenging, even for strong criminal detectives. "Let¡¯s take a look at the case. What can I understand from this angle?" Jiang Yuan simply sat down and took out his phone to send a message to Huang Qiangmin. Qi Changye pretended not to have seen this and continued, "Based on the information in the codebook, we can re-examine the records from that time to see if it belongs to a spywork that has already been cracked. If not, it will depend on the specific circumstances. But frankly, if there are no records, then we can consider the codebook clue essentially lost." "You said the suspect is like a courier, who would often need to ce advertisements in the newspaper, right? Can we find any information on these clients who ced ads?" Jiang Yuan asked. Qi Changye shook his head, "Basically impossible, it¡¯s been too long, but we can try and look for it." "Then it stilles down to working on it from the perspective of the murder case," Jiang Yuan now slightly understood why Qi Changye was insistent on holding onto him. After all, it would be more appropriate to handle this case from a criminal investigation angle. Thinking about it, espionage cases are handled by professionals, and current cases are already difficult to crack, let alone a spy case from 20 years ago. Just thinking about it gives one a headache. "Call Director Liu in to join us in reviewing the case," Jiang Yuan unhesitatingly drags Liu Jinghui into the case. Qi Changye agreed. Soon, Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin entered the room together. Liu Jinghui had a wry smile on his face and said, "I was nning to go home in a week or two." "It may not even take that long," Jiang Yuan smiled. "What, do you have new findings?" Liu Jinghui was slightly surprised. "No, but if we can¡¯t crack the case in one or two weeks, there probably isn¡¯t much hope left," Jiang Yuan said with a smile. "You...," Liu Jinghui felt helpless. If it had been a young criminal detective, he would have reprimanded him for talking nonsense, but since it was Jiang Yuan, it was alright. The information provided by Qi Changye and others was scant, but crucial. Liu Jinghui read through it quickly and then began to ponder. Jiang Yuan took the codebook back and started flipping through it on his own. "Now, we¡¯re back to the line of thought of murder. It¡¯s good to get back on track," Liu Jinghui sighed, then continued, "If it¡¯s murder, what benefits could the murderer gain from killing Zhang Xiaoming?" Liu Jinghui looked at Qi Changye. "Are you asking me?" Qi Changye pointed to his own nose. "Yes. From your perspective. What¡¯s the use of killing Zhang Xiaoming?" Liu Jinghui paused briefly, then exined, "In terms of the normal murder motive, previous special investigation teams have discussed it, including his unemployment, Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s personality, crimes of passion, or past grudges, which is to say the factor of the Zhang Family hasn¡¯t been fully discussed." "Killing him doesn¡¯t really affect the Zhang Family. At least as far as I know, there shouldn¡¯t be any impact," said Qi Changye, finding it not easy to give such an answer with his first statement, which was due to his great trust in Jiang Yuan. Qi Changye also knew that this response would directly influence the investigation direction of the special task force. He wouldn¡¯t have to say this if he didn¡¯t want to take responsibility. However, eliminating this false option was highly efficient from the standpoint of efficiency. Huang Qiangmin quickly understood and whispered a couple of sentences in Jiang Yuan¡¯s ear. Liu Jinghui continued, "Now, setting aside these reasons, do we have reason to believe that Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s death is rted to espionage?" "What do you think?" Qi Changye asked in return. "I think it¡¯s rted," Liu Jinghui, appreciating Qi Changye¡¯s efficiency, replied efficiently, "There are two reasons. First, the killer Li Dianzhong has no other reason to kill Zhang Xiaoming, no other motive for murder. Second, judging by his actions, it seems he was trying to find something from Zhang Xiaoming. What could Zhang Xiaoming have that would warrant a spy going through the trouble to search for?" "Intelligence? Zhang Xiaoming doesn¡¯t have ess to any intelligence," Qi Changye shook his head slightly. "If it¡¯s not for intelligence..." Liu Jinghui paused only briefly, with hardly any additional thought, and said, "Could it be for self-protection?" "What do you mean?" "Maybe Zhang Xiaoming discovered something, or got hold of something that forced them to take it back," Liu Jinghui suggested, spreading his hands, "I don¡¯t understand much about spy matters, but we¡¯ve actually discussed this topic before, there was no need to kill Zhang Xiaoming directly in his home, at such a time and in such a way. So, there must be something in Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s house that the other party wanted to take." Qi Changye didn¡¯t disagree with Liu Jinghui¡¯s words, merely saying, "You just mentioned, it¡¯s a murder case." "To kill a person, to take something away. Now it seems, I find this more reasonable," Liu Jinghui continued with the details of Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s injuries, then said, "Li Dianzhong is a professional. If he didn¡¯t want to kill, he should have other ways to deal with Zhang Xiaoming. Including covering his face and such, to avoid direct conflict. This sort of thing, ordinary thieves might not think of, but a professional should have some coping strategies, right?" "You make a good point... Then, what is it that they wanted?" Qi Changye paused, then mused to himself, "Did they manage to get it?" Chapter 1071 - 1004: AF Lacks Freshwater

Chapter 1071: Chapter 1004: AF Lacks Freshwater

"Got it. They must have collected it. Otherwise, they would have interrogated Zhang Xiaoming instead of killing him outright." Liu Jinghui used straightforward reasoning to resolve aplex issue upfront. Qi Changye nodded in agreement: "Makes sense. If they couldn¡¯t find it, they might as well have set fire to the room to destroy it." At this moment, Qi Changye could fully appreciate the value of deductive reasoning. Cases spanning 20 years are unbelievably hard to disprove with evidence alone, but a single effective inference can directly address the problem. Liu Jinghui¡¯s face showed no trace of pride; such reasoning came too easily to him. Aftermenting briefly on the case, Liu Jinghui adjusted his expression slightly, appearing more serious as he said, "The key question now is whether you¡¯ve made any progress dismantling this espionagework, or if there are relevant discoveries." Qi Changye hesitated for a moment before replying, "I¡¯ve already assigned people to investigate, but so far, there haven¡¯t been any findings. By logic... hmm, it seems thework hasn¡¯t been dismantled. Otherwise, given the Zhang Family and the Jianmen Court case connections, there would have been some feedback." "So the spywork is still operational?" "Well, that... that might not necessarily be the case." Qi Changye paused before continuing, "We shouldn¡¯t assume suchworks are too mysterious. Spyworks unnoticed for 20 years are exceedingly rare, of course. What we hear about are the ones that get caught. Under normal circumstances, if an intelligence cell survives for 20 years, it¡¯s most likely because it remains in its dormant phase, not yet activated." "So you¡¯re saying Zhang Xiaoming uncovered a dormant intelligence cell?" "That possibility is pretty slim too. If they¡¯re dormant... but who knows? Maybe there was some kind of coincidental trigger." Qi Changye shrugged. "Isn¡¯t itmonly said these days that reality is stranger than fiction? Espionage certainly follows those rules. Plenty of high-profile operatives have been captured simply due to bad luck." Qi Changye wasn¡¯t ordinarily this talkative, but since he was asked to share information, he took a moment and added: "There¡¯s another possibility to consider. Perhaps Zhang Xiaoming discovered awork that was actively operational or had just begun its dormant phase. Once their intelligence officer noticed this, they might have worked to address the situation by transitioning the intelligence cell back into dormancy¡ªor withdrawingpletely." "If they¡¯ve withdrawn, doesn¡¯t that mean the case hits a dead end?" Huang Qiangmin interjected. Qi Changye sighed helplessly, "There are plenty of unresolved cases. But if we¡¯re looking on the bright side, most spyworks are made up of locally recruited personnel. So full withdrawal scenarios remain rtively rare. Reactivation of dormancy, however, is much moremon." "20 years... and still no withdrawal?" "It¡¯s possible, but unnecessary. Local recruits are valuable assets. If they withdraw, they¡¯re reduced to liabilities¡ªthey end up being a purely maintained resource, turning into ¡¯negative assets.¡¯" "I see..." Liu Jinghui pondered this thoughtfully. Qi Changye continued, "Most ordinary spyworks, even sophisticated ones, might only have one or two intelligence officers embedded from their own side¡ªin many cases, not even that. These intelligence officers primarily handlemunication and coordination, and sometimes they even operate under diplomatic cover. As for this case, there¡¯s currently no sign of any high-value intelligence potential." Sending overseas intelligence officers to execute covert operations in foreign countries belongs to elite levels of espionage¡ªsimr tow enforcement nting undercover cops inside criminal organizations. Such enormous risk demands proportional rewards. And in the case of a regr criminal organization, does it really warrant risking an officer? And even if an officer goes undercover, will the gains outweigh the risks? Simrly, when an organization invests heavily in training and dispatching highly skilled intelligence officers, is it guaranteed to yield substantial intelligence gains? Furthermore, if one of these officers were captured, could the informationpromised outweigh what they had gathered? So even in Qi Changye¡¯s experience, most spyworks he encountered were predominantlyposed of locally recruited members. "Given this, we¡¯ve got to revisit Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s tasks leading up to his death. I recall someone had conducted such work before." Liu Jinghui mentioned as he picked up the phone to request data. Soon after, Wang Chuanxing entered with some materials. The previous task force had already mapped out Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s activities during the three days leading up to his death, corroborated via testimonies and interviews in the surrounding area. The heavily annotated timeline in the notebook demonstrated meticulous work. But it had proven useless. That¡¯s the plight of criminal investigation: if you can¡¯t solve the case, all effort is in vain. The painstakingbor of criminal investigation stands in stark contrast to the ease of bureaucratic work. Jiang Yuan took the timeline and flipped through it carefully. Liu Jinghui and Qi Changye were still discussing the case, beginning to move evidence back and forth relentlessly. "Have they retrieved the newspapers yet?" Jiang Yuan finished reviewing Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s activities without gaining new insights; instead, he focused on requesting further records. Qi Changye paused his conversation with Liu Jinghui and took a sip of water before replying, "They¡¯re digging through archives in several newspaper offices, mainly to verify the names used in the advertisements. Back then, cing an ad didn¡¯t require much¡ªjust paying cash was enough. No ID or verification was needed, and we have no idea how many aliases the suspect might have used." "Even if it wasn¡¯t at the specified date, it should have followed the prescribed newspaper and designated section, with distinct markers to serve its cryptographic purpose." Jiang Yuan casually reminded. "Jiang Yuan knows his stuff." Qi Changye straightened, nced at Jiang Yuan, and chuckled, "That¡¯s essentially how we¡¯re investigating it. So far, we¡¯ve located two newspapers, but haven¡¯t fully examined them yet. Additionally, while trantions are underway, theck of aplete cipher key means the decoded content remains partial." "Send over what you¡¯ve got so far. I can take a look." Jiang Yuan exined matter-of-factly, "Ever since working on that case with the cryptography expert, I¡¯ve been studying some cryptographic material on my own." Qi Changye raised a skeptical eyebrow at Jiang Yuan, "You¡¯ve studied cryptography?" "I¡¯m decent at it." "Hmm... fine. Should I have someone send over photos?" Qi Changye privately doubted Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise¡ªcould his knowledge surpass that of the agency¡¯s encryption specialists? Still, given the circumstances, this wasn¡¯t a case where evidence could afford to be withheld. Soon after, Qi Changye brought over a ruggedptop and disyed the images to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Here¡¯s what we¡¯ve uncovered so far. The suspect frequently published ads in two newspapers¡ª¡¯China TV Weekly¡¯ and ¡¯Democracy and Rule of Law.¡¯ Ad cements were within the middle columns, limited to 30 words, and with no specific timetable. The names used for cement consistently revolved around the surnames of ¡¯Liu, Guan, Zhang.¡¯" "Like the Three Kingdoms." Jiang Yuanmented while examining the ads on the tablet. The first middle-column ad read: "Currently avable: two bulls, three years old, blue coat, shiny fur, healthy physique. Due to production changes, seeking to sell. Interested parties, please call BP number: 126***." Jiang Yuan pointed to the BP number and asked Qi Changye, "Is this number fake?" "It¡¯s likely fake. Each ad lists different contact numbers. We haven¡¯t had time to thoroughly investigate them yet." Qi Changye, who had only recently joined the case, replied. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and continued flipping through the ads, asionally jotting down notes. As he worked on this, Qi Changye gradually diverted attention, resuming his discussions with Liu Jinghui. Before long, phone calls began pouring in from various parties, and Qi Changye grew increasingly busy, needing to set up an impromptu office to handle everything onsite. The workload certainly wasn¡¯t light. Soon, Qi Changye began showing signs of strain and resorted to shouting as his stress escted. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui kept their discussion muted, lowering their voices further with each exchange. Finally, as Qi Changye¡¯s volume peaked, Jiang Yuan gestured for him toe over. "I¡¯ve found something," Jiang Yuan said. "From what? The cipher?" Qi Changye asked, surprised. He hadn¡¯t seen Jiang Yuan leave the room, and the only new evidence was the cipher key fragment. "Yes," Jiang Yuan answered without hesitation. Qi Changye found it hard to believe, "You¡¯ve deciphered it? But the cipher key we confiscated is iplete." He wasn¡¯t skeptical out of mistrust but rather because it defied logic. An iplete cipher key should inherently limit urate trantions. If Jiang Yuan could pull this off, wouldn¡¯t their cryptography experts have already done so sooner? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care to borate. He simply waved his hand dismissively and said, "The suspect¡¯s fragmentary cipher notes are indeed insufficient. But what we should consider is *why* they were noted." "Why?" Jiang Yuan unfolded his notebook and exined, "I think the suspect didn¡¯t have the capacity to remember all the codes. Li Dianzhong¡¯s educational level is likely low, and he probably wasn¡¯t interested in memorizingplicated ciphers. Hence, he chose to jot down parts of the code. From the fragments, we can see his focus was on phrases lessmonly used, as well as numerical and alphabetical substitutions. Likely, this was for convenience in retrieval." Jiang Yuan emphasized, "In other words, some of the codes Li Dianzhong already understood wouldn¡¯t be noted. I¡¯ve analyzed these omissions and identified recurring patterns that enable reasonable spection." "Midway Ind?" Qi Changye immediately connected to the infamous WWII cipher event. "Exactly." Jiang Yuan traced a line in front and said, "Three symbolizes the oil printing factory." Chapter 1072 - 1005: Both Spontaneous and Premeditated

Chapter 1072: Chapter 1005: Both Spontaneous and Premeditated

The reference to Midway Ind is a well-known story, and decadester, if China¡¯s territory were to extend there, "AFcks fresh water" might just be an idiom. The cipher-rted story it embodies is also straightforward, so Qi Changye and the others quickly grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis. "So, the oil printing facility is the ce Li Dianzhong often references in his ciphers?" Qi Changye pondered, then spoke: "Is that because he works there? No, a courier shouldn¡¯t expose his workce to other members of the spy group. Repeated exposure is even more unnecessary. In that case, the oil printing facility must be the operational target of this spy group?" After speaking, Qi Changye nced at Jiang Yuan and then at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui replied, "You¡¯re the espionage expert; you decide." "What use is it if I decide? What matters is the actual evidence." Qi Changye deflected responsibility, then added, "I¡¯ll share your idea with the experts. Now, can you exin your analysis in detail?" "I¡¯ll write it down for you." Jiang Yuan, whose expertise in cryptography had yet to be fully recognized, was in no rush to showcase his abilities. He calmly wrote down several pages and handed them over to Qi Changye to pass on to the cryptography experts for verification. Qi Changye hurriedly contacted headquarters to update the information. He couldn¡¯t possibly know all the relevant intelligence, so he simply asked about whatever he encountered. After a few rounds of back-and-forthmunication and document exchanges, Qi Changye cast a deep look at Jiang Yuan before heading into a private office. Half an hourter, Qi Changye came out and said, "It¡¯s confirmed. ¡¯Three¡¯ indeed represents the oil printing facility." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask how it was confirmed and instead inquired, "What next?" Jiang Yuan had provided more than just one word. Moreover, with this simplest monoalphabetic cipher substitution, the more known words there are, the easier it bes to deduce the meanings of other words. Based on the sheer volume of ssified advertisements Li Dianzhong posted in middle columns, the experts in Qi Changye¡¯s unit should be able to extract quite a bit of intelligence. Qi Changye¡¯s tense expression softened with a smile, and he shook his head, saying, "I don¡¯t know how you learned this, but in such a short time, you¡¯ve turned into a cipher-breaking expert... Our people took a closer look; the oil printing facility where Li Dianzhong worked truly handles ssified operations." "What kind of operations?" "Printing materials for certain entities, including ssified research institutions¡¯ subsidiary units. This includes promotional materials as well as documentation for meetings." Qi Changye paused before continuing, "These subsidiary units themselves aren¡¯t ssified, but many attendees at their meetings are researchers or cadre members from the institutes, working part-time. The materials prepared for their meetings may not only pertain to these subsidiaries but also to the meetings of the research institutes themselves." The subsidiarypanies Qi Changye referred to essentially functioned as satellitepanies for various entities. In China during the 90s, the prevailing mindset was that securing a position in a state-owned entity, so-called "formal employment," was desirable. Due to limited staffing allocations, some units sought to solve unemployment issues for their workers¡¯ children by establishing satellitepanies. What they did wasn¡¯t significant; whether they turned a profit wasn¡¯t important either¡ªit was purely about addressing employment burdens. Under such circumstances, the operations of these satellitepanies were often a mess. If there was one thing they took most seriously, it was organizing meetings. Not only the satellitepanies but also research institutes, academies, and corporate units all needed to organize meetings¡ªand they approached them with great earnestness. The closer a leader was to the core operations, the more documentation they needed to prepare¡ªeven if it might not be used, it still had to be ready. With widespread funding shortages, some leaders opted to save money by assigning the task of printing or oil-printing conference materials to their own or associated satellitepanies¡ªa form of repurposing waste. Who would have thought that someone like Li Dianzhong would set their sights on this waste? Afraid that Jiang Yuan might not grasp this, Qi Changye specially exined, "The factory Zhang Xiaoming worked at is a ministry-affiliated facility, and because of itsrge scale, it handles many operations within Beijing. Oil printing facilities like these satellitepanies are often bundled within." "What kind of meetings would be ssified?" Liu Jinghui asked, "If they¡¯re just scavenging treasures from garbage, wouldn¡¯t the spy group pose only a limited threat?" "It¡¯s hard to say for now, given that the spy organization hasn¡¯t been dismantled, so no damage assessment has been conducted." Qi Changye grew more serious as he spoke, then slowly added, "Let me give you an example. It¡¯s now known that many achievement-recognition conferences at the time were organized at that factory. In theory, the oil printing facility would print numerous documents and materials used in those recognition meetings. They might not be highly ssified, but..." "They¡¯ve already reached a ssified level?" "Correct. It also depends on the awareness of the people involved. For example, based on my inquiries, back then, participants from certain local units were reluctant to write down sensitive data, fearful it might get lost during transit. However, once they arrived here, they would have the oil printing facility type out some data in documents because it was more visually presentable for the higher-ups." Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression darkened: "That poses significant risks." "Indeed. So, Zhang Xiaoming probably wasn¡¯t killed for advocatingyoffs but rather because he pushed for dismantling these satellitepanies altogether. Fortunately, Li Dianzhong was silenced by his own people." Qi Changye sighed, "For now, the loophole seems to have been patched up." Chapter 1073 - 1005 Both Spontaneous and Premeditated_2

Chapter 1073: Chapter 1005 Both Spontaneous and Premeditated_2

"This doesn¡¯t seem right." Liu Jinghui frowned: "If Li Dianzhong was such an important source of intelligence, even if he was in danger, they wouldn¡¯t have disposed of him so easily. Was the mimeograph factory still operational at that time?" Qi Changye¡¯s eyebrows knitted as well: "Yes, it was. The mimeograph factory struggled to survive for over two years after Li Dianzhong¡¯s death, with its scale shrinking more and more. Eventually, it was shut down along with the third-partypany." "Exactly. With this in mind, it doesn¡¯t make sense. If the intent was to order Li Dianzhong to kill Zhang Xiaoming to preserve the mimeograph factory, that would be to protect the intelligence source. But what¡¯s the point of keeping the mimeograph factory after Li Dianzhong¡¯s death? Isn¡¯t that putting the cart before the horse? Unless..." "The factory has another source of intelligence?" Qi Changye immediately caught up with Liu Jinghui¡¯s logic, hitting the point sharply. His brows furrowed instinctively, and after a long pause, he said: "Courier agents are exposed individuals, and normally, they operate in conjunction with the core intelligence source." Courier agents actually take on greater risks, and their existence serves to mitigate the risks to the core intelligence source. Otherwise, adding a courier agent merely increases the core source¡¯s risk, which would be pointless. In fact, the entire spywork exists to minimize the risks to the core intelligence source. By ensuring the core source engages in the least amount of espionage activity and transferring the risk of intelligence delivery and message transmission to the couriers and field operatives, the spywork fulfills its purpose. From this perspective, Li Dianzhong¡¯s fatal fall was essentially an act of risk elimination¡ªa textbook disy of the spywork¡¯s operational logic. The opposition could simply rece the courier with another trained individual and keep thework functioning. "If the intelligence source is within the mimeograph factory..." Qi Changye frowned, "It¡¯s been twenty years. If the intelligence source from back then was older, they might¡¯ve already retired. Plenty of these individuals have even emigrated..." "There¡¯s one problem that has never been solved." Jiang Yuan abruptly interrupted Qi Changye¡¯s train of thought. Qi Changye naturally turned his gaze toward him. Jiang Yuan said: "Li Dianzhong was looking for something. From the on-site investigation, it doesn¡¯t appear to be staged; he was genuinely searching for something. Moreover, this aligns with their behavioral patterns." "This isn¡¯t just a debate about targeting people versus objects..." "Both targeting objects and targeting people." Having worked on the case for quite some time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning had reached maturity. His voice was firm: "I believe the perpetrator absolutely intended to kill Zhang Xiaoming. So, the search for the object was real, and so was the murder. That exins Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s abrupt return and the perpetrator¡¯s extraordinarily decisive methods!" "Makes sense." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t participate in the site investigation, but seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence, he quickly updated his logic and incorporated this premise into his deductions. He nodded in agreement: "If you kill first, the item could end up in the hands of the police. So, you need to find the item first and then deal with Zhang Xiaoming." Qi Changye followed their line of reasoning: "So, the murderer encountered Zhang Xiaoming unexpectedly upon his return home, leading to a decision for a spontaneous yet premeditated murder." "Exactly. This also better exins their confrontation." Jiang Yuan assumed a posture and said: "Zhang Xiaoming clearly thought this was a typical burry. He tried to intimidate or drive the intruder out, possibly threatening them to drop the stolen items, or else he¡¯d call for help..." Jiang Yuan continued: "If Zhang Xiaoming knew the intruder, his positioning should¡¯ve changed; he¡¯d be more careful. As I recall, Zhang Xiaoming had received military training." Workers at factories and mines in the 1990s often underwent extended quasi-military training. It wasn¡¯t umon for young men to be enrolled in militia units or battalions, participate in both factory-level security and joint defense, and even have their sports events modeled after militarypetitions with prior training. As Jiang Yuan spoke, he reflected further and said: "This suggests that although Li Dianzhong was something akin to an external worker at the factory, Zhang Xiaoming didn¡¯t recognize him. Yet, Li Dianzhong decisively killed Zhang Xiaoming. I mentioned before, the stab wounds primarily targeted the chest. Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s height wasn¡¯t an issue; he was half a head taller than Li Dianzhong. This wasn¡¯t a rushed or idental strike." At this point, Jiang Yuan nced at Qi Changye again and brought the discussion back: "So what was Li Dianzhong searching for? This item might even be more critical than Li Dianzhong¡¯s identity itself." Qi Changye¡¯s eyes lit up: "Why?" Jiang Yuan replied: "Because Li Dianzhong was taking an enormous risk bymitting murder. Based on bloodstain analysis, Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s fatal stabbing caused blood to spray onto the perpetrator¡¯s body. Additionally, the murderer¡¯s right arm¡ªwhich held the knife¡ªshould also have been sttered with blood, leading to drips. This indicates there was a substantial amount of blood." Organizing his thoughts, Jiang Yuan continued: "Even if Li Dianzhong used rope ws, tried wiping off the blood, or wore multipleyers of clothing to conceal the stains, could he clean uppletely? There¡¯s always a lingering smell. Essentially, by acting this way, he undoubtedly exposed himself to considerable risk and couldn¡¯t have left the scene entirely safely." Jiang Yuan paused briefly and resumed: "What I mean is, while Li Dianzhong might¡¯ve managed to leave the scene safely, the risk of doing so was disproportionately high." Liu Jinghui instantly grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning: "If the bloodstain analysis leads to this conclusion, then Li Dianzhong must¡¯ve made a critical decision in that moment: he had no choice but to kill Zhang Xiaoming." Chapter 1074 - 1005: Both Spontaneous and Premeditated_3

Chapter 1074: Chapter 1005: Both Spontaneous and Premeditated_3

Jiang Yuan nodded: "Yes." Liu Jinghui slowly nodded: "Regardless of whether Li Dianzhong had obtained what he wanted at the time, not killing Zhang Xiaoming then, even if he resorted to threatening Zhang Xiaoming with a knife, would not have eliminated the risk. Actually, there were two thieves in the room at the time; directly making Zhang Xiaoming move aside and leave was also possible. Zhang Xiaoming, being of delicate constitution, might not have taken a significant risk for two petty thieves." Jiang Yuan agreed: "He could have stabbed Zhang Xiaoming, but not fatally. Li Dianzhong was trained and had a knife in hand; he should have been confident, at least enough not to need to stab in the chest so extremely. At that point, Li Dianzhong could have fled far away directly. He probably had made a lot of money by that time. It was much safer than being a wanted murderer." "If we follow this line of thought, Li Dianzhong killed to protect a more valuable target, which would only be his intelligence source." Liu Jinghui looked at Qi Changye: "This means Zhang Xiaoming had something, possibly unknown to him, that threatened the intelligence source." Qi Changye understood their reasoning, but considering the importance of the impending orders, Qi Changye confirmed again: "Li Dianzhong being silenced for this, he sacrificed too much." "He must have been ready for Wang Futing to take the fall for him. Didn¡¯t he even have Wang Futing pickpocketed? Initially, silencing Wang Futing would have ended it." Liu Jinghui found this issue too straightforward, and bluntly said: "Wang Futing was clever; he ran off that same day, taking Li Dianzhong by surprise; ultimately, he ended up being silenced." Qi Changye slowly nodded: "Wang Futing attaining vice president, it makes sense that Li Dianzhong couldn¡¯t remember the password book." "When Li Dianzhong died, he was just in his early twenties. It¡¯s normal for young people tock experience; even though he learned flying ws and some street tricks from his uncle, that was his limit. In the end, he sent off the password book but was still silenced." "He might have been threatened. In espionage, they can sacrifice him, but wouldn¡¯t allow him to run off on his own." Qi Changye brushed past this topic, asking: "So, what did Li Dianzhong take from Zhang Xiaoming?" "I think it was probably a document, report, or letter." Jiang Yuan then took out a timetable of Zhang Xiaoming summarized by the task force earlier, saying: "In the past few days, Zhang Xiaoming had been sorting out people, matters, and business at the factory, writing several letters to some of his elders and friends. These letters were retrieved, and it seems they were mainly for consultation purposes, but..." "Did Zhang Xiaoming possibly expose the spy?" Qi Changye¡¯s face flushed with the suspense of the prelude. Jiang Yuan said: "It¡¯s possible. Or did he cause the spy to lose their intelligence source?" Liu Jinghui then took over Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, speaking for him: "Assuming this spy or the spy¡¯s source of information was part of the management of the factory or duplicating nt back then, is that feasible?" Actually, saying all this was just for this sentence. And the factory where Zhang Xiaoming worked back then was of no low level. Twenty years have passed, and among its management, there must have been those who progressed greatly¡ªthis again returned to the path of ascending to high positions. However, the scope was no longer limited to the Jianmen Court dormitory area anymore. "It can be checked." Qi Changye knew what they were worried about and made a point of taking a nce at Huang Qiangmin beside him, then said: "So many years have passed, it¡¯s hard to say what exactly the situation is now." Chapter 1075 - 1006: Laying Off Employees Cuts the Main Artery

Chapter 1075: Chapter 1006: Laying Off Employees Cuts the Main Artery

""" Evening. Hotpot gathering. This time, it was a proper hotpot meal. Five or six people around one pot, set up right on the dining hall table. Steam wafted up, instantly transforming therge canteen into a lively Cantonese-style street food joint. The meat for the hotpot was primarily beef. The slicing staff at the hotpot ce stood in a row, going "ka-ka" as they cut. The kitchen workers piled the tes up with a "bang-bang," while the officers devoured the food with a "chomp-chomp." "Being on Captain Jiang¡¯s team is just sofortable." Xiao Si loosened his jaw andunched into a crazed bout of gorging. He hadn¡¯t been busy these past two days and had plenty of stored energy... just perfect for eating. Opposite him, Cui Qishan stared at him with an intense gaze, as if tying him down, and said, "Don¡¯t rx too much. This is only halftime." "Oh, I get Captain Jiang¡¯s halftime," Xiao Si said whileughing, pouring an entire basin of beef into the pot. The red broth boiled, turning the bright red beef a pale gray, which was then dipped into a bowl of crimson dipping sauce... Bzzzz¡ª Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone buzzed twice. He picked it up and answered, "Hello." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice grew fainter as he walked away. The group, busy eating beef, froze momentarily, their movements bing noticeably gentler. Only Xiao Si jumped to his feet, ditching his chopsticks entirely. He used a slotted spoon to scoop meat, loading three to four bowls in one go, and began wolfing it down with haste. The detectives eating in the canteen only needed a second to figure out Xiao Si¡¯s reasoning: Jiang Yuan just got a call. The chances of a new assignment had surged drastically. Soon, they might not even finish their meal, and they¡¯d probably end up starvingter. Whatever was in their mouths right now might be the best food they¡¯d eat all week... Everyone stood up and started eating! Cui Qishan let out a long sigh, then resignedly stood up to scoop meat for himself. ncing at Xiao Si, he said irritably, "You¡¯re like the wrench in a works, stirring up chaos wherever you go. Perfectly good dinner, now look at what it¡¯s turned into." "What did I do?" Xiao Si looked innocent, poking at the pot with his chopsticks as if to emphasize his point. "You stirred..." Cui Qishan stopped mid-sentence, staring at Xiao Si¡¯s chaotic poking. At once, he lost his appetite. "Tao handed out that nickname to all of us back then," Xiao Si protested. He could ept having a nickname, but didn¡¯t want to bear the title alone. Cui Qishan felt as if the chopsticks he¡¯d left in the pot had somehow heated up, as if something unsanitary had spilled onto his hand. The others at the table looked even more disgusted. Li Jiang, frantically scooping beef from the pot, muttered with his mouth full, "Can you guys talk about something more appropriate for mealtime? Every day it¡¯s stirring this, stirring that. I dip my beef in garlic sauce, and even that can¡¯t mask the taste of your words..." "Captain Li, your choice of words isn¡¯t much better either." "That¡¯s just how our unit talks. Someday, when we win a collective first-ss honor, we¡¯ll rename the squad after something rted to ¡¯stirring,¡¯ and call ourselves the ¡¯Zhengguang Stirrers.¡¯" "If we really get that award, I¡¯ll personally educate the rookies to burn incense on your ques every day." As the banter progressed, the group gleefully finished all the meat in the pot. Jiang Yuan walked back in with his phone in hand. A room full of hotpot-fed police officers turned to look at him simultaneously. Facing their stares, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t just sit down casually. He adjusted his somewhat limited emotional intelligence and said, "Latest update: we¡¯ve got a lead on the case. Next, we¡¯ll work on the periphery and monitor progress from there." He didn¡¯t say much and wasn¡¯t very specific, but still, everyone obligingly responded with a collective "Oh." Tao Lu stepped up and said, "Eat for five more minutes, then take a ten-minute break before assembling." At this moment, the team¡¯s disciplined nature shone through. With a synchronized shout of "Yes," they dove headfirst into the chaotic sound of ttering bowls and the quick slurping of food. Fifteen minutester, Tao Lu began distributing tasks team by team based on pre-printed task sheets. As the squad leader, he personally handled assignments for the middle-ranking teams, showing significant dedication. Once the teams were dispatched, Tao Lu breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Now we wait." Whether it was the Jianmen Court case or the espionage group investigation, all the leads were from years ago. Tracking them down not only consumed time but also required enormous manpower. The people who had knowledge back then were scattered all over. Just getting a few words out of them could take an incredible effort. Qi Changye¡¯s approach had always been a finely-tuned one: needing the police force to dig deep into the details. Although time-consuming andbor-intensive, the entire process moved quite quickly. Domestic transportation had improved significantly. Even the furthest cities could be reached within a few hours bybining flights and car rides. Of course, regr officers had a harder time getting there, as some units only reimbursed for green trains, better ones for second-ss high-speed rail tickets, and rarely for economy-ss flights, which naturally affected speed. For Qi Changye¡¯s team, however, there was no budget limit on transportation costs. Within one day and one night, they had already gathered a considerable amount of information. By midday the following day, Qi Changye approached Jiang Yuan, pulled him into a small office, shut the door, and said, "We¡¯ve uncovered something." "Actually, you don¡¯t need to update me on the case progress anymore," Jiang Yuan said, already busy with loose ends from the Jianmen Court case. Qi Changye chuckled and said, "We¡¯vee across some encryption-rted information. The cryptography experts suggested you could join in. After all, you¡¯re familiar with the case and have both investigative and forensic backgrounds. Your perspective might be unique..." "Just decoding passwords? Fine." Jiang Yuan was a little intrigued. His Level 5 cryptography skills rarely saw use. If he really wanted to leverage them properly, proving his ability could open doors to Inte tech giants, research institutes, or academia. Much like with image enhancement, encryption and decryption usingputers was the hallmark of modern technology. Beyond that, the espionage front was probably the closest real-world application for cryptography. Normally, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have any practical exposure in this area. When Qi Changye saw that Jiang Yuan agreed, he immediately stepped out and returned with a ruggedizedptop, opening it to show Jiang Yuan. The so-called encryption consisted of little more than a few sheets of paper covered in random strings of numbers and letters. Jiang Yuan reviewed it carefully but was ultimately disappointed. Shaking his head, he said, "It¡¯s just some mnemonics. To crack it, you¡¯d need the right context..." "You actually recognize it?" Qi Changye¡¯s response was surprising. He knew Jiang Yuan was sharp, but quickly added, "It¡¯s not that I doubt you, but the higher-ups think we need more solid evidence." "Are they testing me?" Jiang Yuan smirked. "They are." Qi Changye nodded, spreading his hands out. "I trust you fully, but there¡¯s nothing I can do about the higher-ups¡¯ mindset. On the bright side, we¡¯ve already captured someone." "Captured someone?" Qi Changye nodded. "He¡¯s in custody now. The suspect used to be an administrative officer at the factory Zhang Xiaoming worked at. Later, he was transferred to the printing workshop as a mid-level manager. Secretly, he took on the task of handling waste paper. By throwing ssified prints into the scrap bin, he collected arge amount of intelligence." Qi Changye continued, "Some workers noticed his behavior but assumed he was just after extra money, deliberately increasing the scrap rate. At most, they¡¯d gossip in private, never suspecting espionage." Qi Changye went on, "When Zhang Xiaoming was conducting inspections at the printing workshop, he noticed thex management. That time, Zhang Xiaoming became serious, documenting duty logs and scrap records. The suspect noticed that his actions didn¡¯t align across various records, which could easily expose him." "Too diligent in a cker¡¯s factory?" Jiang Yuan asked with a nod of understanding. "Around then, the workshop¡¯s scrap rate surged too, coinciding with a ssified meeting," Qi Changye deliberated before adding, "The suspect figured even if he wasn¡¯t caught, he might be reprimanded, or worse, be an example to be axed during restructuring. And if none of those risks materialized, the workshop could still face closure or privatization, hampering his intelligence-gathering." Jiang Yuan could easily picture the decision-making process, so he asked, "Did he get promotedter?" "After killing Li Dianzhong, he went underground. Later, he resurfaced and regained prominence. With money, including U.S. dors, advancing through the ranks wasn¡¯t hard," Qi Changye exined, closing the ruggedizedptop. "That wraps up the Jianmen Court case. I¡¯ve already updated Director Zhang Xiaoya on the situation." """ Chapter 1076 - 1007: Yes, Yes, Yes

Chapter 1076: Chapter 1007: Yes, Yes, Yes

"Dad, let me introduce you. This is Jiang Yuan, the forensic doctor who led the investigation into Xiaoming¡¯s case. His main profession is forensic analysis, but he also specializes in fingerprints, bloodstains, and footprints. He can determine the identity, age, height, and weight of a person just by examining their footprints. His bloodstain analysis was... it was the crucial technique that found the murderer who killed my brother." Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s introduction to her father, Zhang Zaiyang, was slightly exaggerated, primarily because she herself didn¡¯t know much about Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. However, the way she introduced him was the mostprehensible forypeople. But Zhang Zaiyang didn¡¯t actually listen closely to Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s introduction¡ªhe had already learned everything he needed to know long ago. Father Zhang Zaiyang stood up and shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand firmly, covering it with his left hand and gently patting it. He said softly yet weightily, "Thank you. Thank you." Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s eyes immediately turned red. Though she was nearing the end of middle age herself, she had rarely seen her father reveal emotion in this way. As she was caught up in this thought, she heard Jiang Yuan softly reply, "My condolences." "Thank you. Thank you." Father Zhang, who had honed years of skill in impromptu speeches, seemed to lose all ability in that moment, leaving only pure emotional responses. Then, Zhang Xiaoya saw her father¡¯s tears surge out inrge drops, streaming down his face like beads of sweat. Father Zhang loosened his left hand from Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and wiped his tears with his palm, but it was futile¡ªmore tears flowed relentlessly. He simply stopped bothering, letting the tears fall freely, while his face still held a bright, gleaming smile. Beside him, Mother Zhang, who had been suppressing her emotions all along, finally broke down in sobs. Zhang Xiaoya froze. In her memory, even during the days right after her brother¡¯s death, her parents had maintained the most basic emotional stability, outwardly calm as they handled various matters. Looking back now, how could there have been so much peace and stability? Emotional breakdowns are not exclusive to modern people; it¡¯s just that the older generation was used to breaking down in the dark. Zhang Xiaoya, who had always adhered to the image of a strong, independent woman in her career, now looked at her parents, who had deliberately done their makeup before leaving the house but now had their faces streaked with smudged makeup from crying. Unable to control her emotions, she found herself overwhelmed as heat surged within her and tears poured forth uncontrobly, ruining her own makeup. "Don¡¯t cry anymore. This is a good thing¡ªXiaoming¡¯s unjust death has been vindicated. It¡¯s a good thing!" Zhang Xiaoya said tearfully to console them. To her surprise, her words caused Mother Zhang to copsepletely into crying. "Xiaoming, my son... my son! Xiaoming! Xiaoming!!" Her entire body trembled, unable to stand any longer. Zhang Xiaoya caught her in one swift motion, holding her close as she brought her to a chair. Even then, her mother continued shaking and crying uncontrobly. At this moment, Father Zhang Zaiyang¡¯s emotions, in contrast, seemed to stabilize. He held Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, sat down by the tea table, and with a smile said to Jiang Yuan, "Forgive me for this scene." "It¡¯s nothing," Jiang Yuan replied, scratching his head. "As a forensic doctor, do you often interact with grieving families?" Zhang Zaiyang asked casually. "Are they like us?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Actually, I rarely interact with families directly. Typically, after solving a case, the subsequent procedures are handled by my colleagues. My involvement is limited in those instances. Unless it¡¯s necessary for the investigation, I seldom engage directly with the families." Whether as a forensic doctor or a detective, interacting with emotionally distraught families is part of the job. However, experienced professionals who don¡¯t want to deal with such emotionalbor can often delegate this type of work to junior colleagues. Jiang Yuan¡¯s stint as a newbie was too brief, which is why he hadn¡¯t encountered many such families. Zhang Zaiyang hadn¡¯t expected such an answer. He paused before epting a towel his granddaughter brought over. He vigorously wiped his face, scrubbing away his makeup and tear streaks, exposing a slightly aged visage. He smiled again and said, "I didn¡¯t think we¡¯d end up needing to use special privileges in the end." Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "For this case, I brought over twenty members of the Cold Case Squad from HQ specifically for it. We also had Liu Jinghui, a Level Four Senior Police Superintendent from the Shannan Provincial Department, with us. He¡¯s known as the ¡¯Master of Deduction¡¯ in our province¡ªonce, he apprehended four criminals using just a single piece of stationery." Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "The Zhengguang Bureau mobilized its entire team to support our investigation, ensuring that thousands of officers forfeited their vacations, while patrol cars logged hundreds of kilometers per day. The previous task forces, alongside officers who hadpiled clues over thest twenty years, re-investigated the case countless times, recording Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s movements in the days before his death down to the minute. Additionally, there are thousands of film negatives, various videotapes, and other evidentiary materials that, after more than twenty years, remain as pristine as ever." "To gather evidence, our officers endured arduous conditions, traveling across the country. The National Security Unit provided special amodations, allowing ordinary officers to take flights for distances within 2,000 kilometers. The expenses incurred by the Zhengguang Bureau for this were enough to sustain an ordinary person through ten lifetimes. But..." "But..." Jiang Yuan nced at Zhang Zaiyang as he continued, "We did all this not solely because the Zhang Family had privileges. We genuinely wanted to solve this case. Especially when we discovered that Zhang Xiaoming¡¯s cause of death was linked to spies operating covertly in Beijing. Everyone was truly invested¡ªno amount of privilege could conjure up that kind of dedication." Zhang Zaiyang sat there dumbfounded. At over seventy years old, he had heard enough ttering words in his lifetime to fill an entire library, neatly cataloged and categorized. Yet, on this emotionally charged afternoon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s words managed to fill Zhang Zaiyang¡¯s heartpletely, leaving him unable to calm down for a long time. Zhang Xiaoya¡¯s daughter, Tang Youyou, came over and obediently sat down at the tea table, beginning to brew tea for her grandfather and Jiang Yuan. She was a girl of about twenty, her face brimming with youthful cogen. Though she appeared calm on the surface, her gaze couldn¡¯t help but repeatedly shift to Jiang Yuan. Tang Youyou had never seen her seemingly god-like grandfather exhibit such a unique side. And the details of the Jianmen Court case were no secret within this room. Those in the Zhang Family aware of the case¡¯s twists and turns could all discern just how utterly challenging it had been to resolve. Precisely because they understood its difficulty and the arduousness of attaining justice, the Zhang Family¡¯s emotions were so hard to contain. Before today, Tang Youyou¡¯s impression of Jiang Yuan had been that of an incredibly intelligent, supremely skilled,manding, and resolute police officer. She never imagined that upon meeting him, Jiang Yuan could deliver such utterly remarkable, superb, powerful, and unwavering ttery. Grandfather Zhang Zaiyang finally regained hisposure, his face still red, as he nodded to Jiang Yuan and then turned to Tang Youyou, saying, "Youyou, you should learn from Jiang Yuan. This is what sincerity truly looks like." Tang Youyou¡¯s remaining bit of baby fat trembled slightly. "Ah, yes, yes, yes." Chapter 1077 - 1008: Courtesies

Chapter 1077: Chapter 1008: Courtesies

"Jiang Yuan, this is as far as I can take you." Zhang Xiaoya stood up, shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, and then escorted him out of the gray Coaster. In front of them was a massive Airbus A350. Boarding was just about to close, and the long boarding staircase extended down. Flight attendants were waiting at both ends. "Thank you for organizing the celebration ceremony," Jiang Yuan expressed his gratitude to Zhang Xiaoya before leaving. Just yesterday, he, the Cold Case Squad members, and all the operatives involved had attended a grandmendation ceremony hosted by the Zhengguang Bureau. Jiang Yuan was awarded a First-ss Merit, and the Cold Case Squad under his leadership was honored with a collective First-ss Merit as well. As the highest form of recognition within the system, the First-ss Merit and the collective First-ss Merit were honors Jiang Yuan and his team undoubtedly deserved. However, the swift and efficient approval of these awards was thanks to the support of Zhang Xiaoya and others. Zhang Xiaoya smiled and said, "You¡¯ve earned it." "Although I hate to admit it, nothing in life is truly deserved," Jiang Yuan paused and added, "We had to work incredibly hard to ensure that some individuals got the reckoning they deserved." Zhang Xiaoya froze for a moment. "The way you talk reminds me of my grandfather. No wonder my dad likes you." Tang Youyou, standing nearby, burst intoughter. "Then what should Grandpa call Jiang Yuan?" "He should call him ¡¯knock some sense into you.¡¯" Zhang Xiaoya, who had a good rtionship with her daughter, yfully poked her forehead with her finger as a light punishment. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, along with other apanying officers, began boarding the ne in an orderly manner. Everyone was dressed in in clothes, each pulling a carry-on suitcase. They cheerfully boarded the aircraft. Although it couldn¡¯t match the luxury of a private jet, the journey from the vehicle to the ne, apanied by the hospitality of the lovely flight attendants, was delightful nheless. "I should board now," Jiang Yuan nodded to Zhang Xiaoya. Turning to Tang Youyou, he added, "Well, as a forensic doctor, I¡¯ll skip the parting words. If you evere to Qinghe, feel free to reach out and visit us." Tang Youyou smiled. "You¡¯re more likely to visit Beijing again, aren¡¯t you?" Jiang Yuan responded with a smile and nod, without adding much else. For a criminal investigator or a forensic doctor, saying "goodbye" never seemed quite appropriate. Jiang Yuan boarded the ne and, guided by a stunning flight attendant, found his seat in the business ss cabin. Normally, based on their rank, neither Jiang Yuan nor hispanions Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui would be eligible for business ss seating. This, too, had been arranged by Zhang Xiaoya. Seasoned traveler Liu Jinghui stretched outfortably and nced around with satisfaction. "Ah, these reverse herringbone seats really are the best. Perfect for official trips." Huang Qiangmin cast him a side nce. "Don¡¯t get too used to it; we can¡¯t afford seats like these." "Come on, with Jiang Yuan leading the way, we can name our price anywhere," Liu Jinghui teased, clicking his tongue in admiration. "Still, let¡¯s not overdo it. We¡¯ve got less privilegedrades," Huang Qiangmin said, then paused and looked at Liu Jinghui. "Jiang Yuan can sit in luxury; we don¡¯t need to chase after this indulgence ourselves." Liu Jinghui straightened up immediately. "Wait, now you¡¯re endorsing preferential treatment?" Huang Qiangmin rified, "What I mean is... we¡¯re older, more ustomed to hardships, and should bear more of them. Jiang Yuan¡¯s a young guy, fresh out of university, went straight to work, and became a national expert. He hasn¡¯t faced much hard times; it¡¯s harder for him to adapt." Liu Jinghui stared at Huang Qiangmin helplessly. "Do you even hear yourself? You should record this and give it a listen." Huang Qiangmin chuckled, letting the topic slide. Commuting standards, after all, were an expense he had no intention of justifying. The ne taxied onto the runway and smoothly took off. After the safety demonstration, a stunning purser picked up the microphone and began an in-flight announcement: "Ladies and gentlemen, I¡¯m your purser, Wang Qian, for today¡¯s flight. We have some special guests on board. I¡¯d like to introduce them to you. These are individuals who have recently been awarded First-ss Honors¡ªForensic Expert Jiang Yuan and the Cold Case Squad under his leadership, which was also collectively awarded First-ss Honors. Jiang Yuan and his team recently solved a 20-year-old murder case and apprehended a spy who had been undercover in our country for 30 years. Details of their case will be featured on tonight¡¯s evening news." "On behalf of the flight crew, I¡¯d like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to Jiang Yuan and his Cold Case Squad colleagues. Thank you for your tireless efforts, your intellect, courage, determination, and unwavering pursuit of justice. Thank you." Purser Wang Qian finished her announcement, smiled in Jiang Yuan¡¯s direction, then walked over and crouched down, handing him an envelope while looking upward. "Mr. Jiang Yuan, this is a letter from our entire crew to our hero. Thank you for all that you¡¯ve done." "Ah... thank you." Jiang Yuan epted the letter, a bit unsure how to react. The purser adjusted her skirt and stood with a smile. She nced warmly at Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui, then returned to her duties. Hesitating, Jiang Yuan pulled out a soft sheet of stationery from the envelope he had just received. The contents of the letter mirrored the purser¡¯s announcement. The flowing handwriting showed subtle connections between the strokes, typical of cursive script, indicative of at least a Level 2 proficiency in penmanship. Examining the strokes¡¯ transitions and consistent width variations, Jiang Yuan deduced that it had been written in a stable environment and that the writer was rtively calm, not rushed. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. It dawned on him that his upational habits had red up¡ªusing his Level 3 document examination skills to analyze a thank-you letter... Opposite him, two flight attendants noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s head shake and turned to discuss quietly: "Did we make a mistake in our letter?" "Could something we wrote be incorrect?" "I don¡¯t think so; we double-checked it. Do you think he dislikes such high-profile attention?" "At his age, could he really stay low profile?" "But to be this aplished so young... I looked him up online. His Cold Case Squad is often in the news for cracking major cases." "He¡¯s also quite tall." "And his looks aren¡¯t bad." "But it¡¯s his height¡ªhe¡¯s really tall. If he were in uniform, he¡¯d look even more dashing." "Oh, right, he¡¯s a forensic doctor." "Wouldn¡¯t that make him even more appealing?" ... The nended at Changyang City Airport. Two Toyota Coasters picked them up as soon as they disembarked and drove them directly back to Ningtai County. An hour and a halfter, Jiang Yuan stepped onto the ground of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team. p p p p! The detectives on duty gathered as a group, apuding warmly with big smiles. Then, someone draped a red cloth over Jiang Yuan¡¯s neck, resembling a ceremonial khata scarf. "No need for all this... it¡¯s just a First-ss Merit," Jiang Yuan said modestly. The seasoned detectives around him simply chuckled, watching him with amused smiles. In the police force, Third-ss Merits weren¡¯t umon, but a Second-ss Merit would leave people salivating with envy. As for a First-ss Merit? Anyone who could return to work as usual afterward was instantly the object of everyone¡¯s admiration. "The evening news is starting!" someone yelled from within the crowd. Soon after, a prearranged projector lit up. The detectives, many of whom hadn¡¯t touched a TV in ages, waited through ten minutes of broadcast before Jiang Yuan¡¯s name and image finally appeared on the evening news. p p p p! The joyful apuse erupted once again, as the feelings of pride and shared honor swirled heavily in the air at the Criminal Police Team. Chapter 1078 - 1009: No Creativity

Chapter 1078: Chapter 1009: No Creativity

"Assemble!" The whistle blew, calling all the armed police from the dormitory and various corners of the training ground. In no time, the soldiers had tidied up and begun to form ranks downstairs. Themander, d in camouge and wearing a hat, shouted hoarsely, "Attention, everyone! We¡¯ve received orders from higher-ups¡ªrun to the auditorium and collectively watch tonight¡¯s ¡¯News Broadcast¡¯¡ª¡¯Ningtai Jiangyuan, Ambitions Beyond the Horizon!¡¯" After giving themand, themander swung his arm forward, and the troops set off. Squads of soldiers jogged into the auditorium in formations based on toon,pany, or battalion. Soon, the music for the news program began ying, and the politicalmissar sitting in the front row timed it precisely. As soon as Jiang Yuan¡¯s video appeared on the screen, he rose abruptly and said, "Attention, everyone, focus on learning!" "Yes!" A cacophony of rough voices echoed through the auditorium, shaking the white ster on the walls. At the front of the auditorium, the projector disyed the host recounting the story of Jiang Yuan, the Jianmen Court case, and the espionage investigation. The case progressed swiftly¡ªnot only were the suspects sessfully arrested and confessed, but the entire spywork, consisting of more than a dozen spies, was taken down in one fell swoop. Although there was room for maneuvering¡ªcasting a long line to catch big fish¡ªit was undeniably the best-case scenario to eliminate such a stable spywork in one go. No one with half a brain would dare to say to the Zhang Family People under these circumstances and at this moment: Don¡¯t rush, let¡¯s catch a few petty criminals first. Even so, this espionage case was one of the rare major cases in recent years. A 30-year-long infiltration, although limited by rank from essing highly ssified information, still managed to pass along a significant amount of intelligence while maintaining stability in that position. The auditorium periodically erupted in cheers and curses. Young men, brimming with vitality and enthusiasm, were always adept at using their physicality to express opinions. ... Jiangcun Residential Area. Firecrackers cracked and drums boomed. Children acted as if it were the New Year, gathering around firecrackers, folk performances, and stilt-walking clowns, busily reveling in the festivities. The "First-ss Hero" que was held aloft by two burly men, lifted high and moved left and right constantly, showcasing it to everyone in the vicinity. They had paraded it back from the ancestral shrine¡ªa que as long as a man¡ªhoisted and carried through Jiang Vige, past Li Vige, and then detoured through Wang Family Vige and up Hu Family Ridge. Modern life was faster-paced now; otherwise, in earlier years, this que could have circted for half a month. "The fourth First-ss Hero que!" When the excitement subsided and dusk approached, the vigers hung the newest First-ss Hero que in the first-floor hall of the Jiang Family home. Political Division officers who had been waiting promptly smiled and continued taking photos and filming. "Jiang Yuan, Captain Jiang, smile a little more¡ªpreferably a big heartyugh," the photographer from the agency spoke while guiding Jiang Yuan and snapping pictures simultaneously. Jiang Yuan attempted toply but still found it challenging tough openly. The photographer raised his head, clicking his shutter again with a chuckle, "Just think of this¡ªis today potentially your happiest day ever? Right?" "Well... not necessarily," Jiang Yuan replied honestly. The photographer was rendered speechless, awkwardly rubbed his forehead, and said, "You¡¯ve won a First-ss Hero award... Think about what made you happiest before." Beside him, Jiang Fuzhen smacked Jiang Yuan heavily on the back. He said, "Think about the good stuff. Now that you¡¯ve earned another merit, take some good pictures¡ªand going forward, let¡¯s avoid any more situations requiring merits, alright?" "Huh?" Jiang Yuan gave Jiang Fuzhen a surprised look. "Four First-ss Heroes already; that¡¯s enough for you to unt for a lifetime. Don¡¯t risk your neck next time. With so many properties nowadays in themunity, who¡¯s even going to inherit themter?" Jiang Fuzhen wrapped an arm tightly around Jiang Yuan, smiling warmly. He was rich¡ªnotcking intelligence¡ªand naturally understood how hard it was for a police officer to earn a First-ss Hero award. Even though Jiang Yuan returned safe and sound this time, and the merit seemed to have some noteworthy context, there was no denying the inherent risks. Even Jiang Fuzhen, despite his meager knowledge of cinema, knew that once ordinary people got entangled in espionage and politics, they often became second-ss citizens¡ªwhether in dignity or physicality. Jiang Yuan hugged his father back equally tightly, adding, "I never aimed for merits. I¡¯m just doing my job¡ªhelping other fathers find out the truth about their sons¡¯ deaths. I¡¯m a forensic doctor; that¡¯s exactly what I do." "Hmm..." Jiang Fuzhen sighed, "Don¡¯t strain yourself too much." "Got it." "Our family has money." "I know." "Still got pocket money?" "Plenty." "I¡¯ll have someone transfer all the rent from Jiaxiang Community properties to your name. Spend the money freely, alright?" "Oh... sure." Jiang Yuan chatted casually with his father while ncing over his skill chart. This newly acquired First-ss Hero merit meant he could choose another skill. However, Jiang Yuan decided to wait and see. His current skill set was already very robust, but reserving a merit reward coulde in handy should a future case require enhancement in a specific area. The primary factor was that there weren¡¯t any pressing needs¡ªa reflection of Ningtai County¡¯s tranquility, with no cases urgently demanding Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement. Two dayster. A drifting suitcase floated downstream until it reached Qingbai City¡ªand summoned Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin personally led the team, ensuring the Qingbai City Bureau delivered its next two years¡¯ membership fees in advance before they arrived. When they met, the leaders from the Qingbai City Bureau greeted them with radiant smiles. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t avoid the interaction and spent a few minutes exchanging pleasantries with them. Afterward, he returned and dressed neatly, overhearing Mu Zhiyang¡¯sints. Mu Zhiyang: "Another suitcase? Zero creativity." His colleague Wang Chuanxing added, "Nowadays, people disposing of bodies prefer suitcases¡ªjust like travelers favor rolling luggage. You can¡¯t exactly run promotions saying don¡¯t use suitcases for body disposal." Mu Zhiyang retorted, "Well, I could promote the idea that suitcases are easier for police to find. Using a suitcase conveniently aids us while simplifying the disposal." Wang Chuanxing threw him a nce: "If you want to start such campaigns, you should probably advocate that people don¡¯tmit murder¡ªor that turning oneself in might lead to reduced sentences!" "Uh. It¡¯s a valid angle. But judging by the suitcase specs here, a 24-inch suitcase can¡¯t fit an entire body." Mu Zhiyang continued, only to hearmotion at the scene. Anotherrge, bundle-wrapped object floated downstream, its appearance suspiciously amiss. A rubber dinghy sputtered into action, speeding toward the object. Jiang Yuan stepped forward and said, "Note the time, and make sure to update the timestamp for this morning¡¯s suitcase discovery. Also, verify and log the hydrological data." "Yes," Wang Chuanxing replied promptly, "You suspect these are rted?" "Mu Zhiyang made a good point¡ªthe suitcase didn¡¯t contain the entire body," Jiang Yuan squatted down, examined the morning¡¯s suitcase discovery location, cross-checked the photos, and flipped to the interior snapshots. The 24-inch suitcase at the scene contained only a torso and two arms¡ªboth dismembered¡ªa ssic defense-driven dismemberment carved into six distinct pieces. This style of dismemberment adds significant workload with marginal efficiency, typically intended for easier transport and disposal. Perpetrators adopting this method are often impulsive murderers rather than premeditated ones. In cases of nned homicide, at the very least, they would have devised a method for corpse handling¡ªeven surrendering to the authorities qualifies. But splitting a body into six pieces¡ªabor-intensive and inefficient approach¡ªsuggests theycked preparation. Any cursory research would have directed them toward more effective techniques. Including, but not limited to, purchasing arger suitcase. After all, such dismemberment makes transporting the body more exhausting and provides no concealment of information whatsoever¡ªexposing thergest clue in the process. Chapter 1079 - 1010: Minor Flaws

Chapter 1079: Chapter 1010: Minor ws

Huang Qiangmin used his superior technique to temporarily evade the blockade of several Criminal Police Brigade officers from Qingshi Municipal Bureau and approached Jiang Yuan, asking, "What¡¯s the situation?" "Hmm... From the looks of it now, it¡¯s a straightforward dismemberment case," Jiang Yuan replied as he quickly scrolled through photos of the body on his PAD. "There should be quite a lot of clues." "How difficult is it?" "A weak LV3, maybe." After all, it was a dismemberment case. While the degree of "dismemberment" wasn¡¯t extensive, it still qualified. Giving it an LV3 rating was a gesture of respect toward this type of case. "That¡¯s not too bad then," Huang Qiangmin heaved a sigh of relief. He asionally heard Jiang Yuan use terms like LV1 or LV3 and hade to grasp their meanings. He even found this ssification system quite handy¡ªit made understanding the situation clear and provided direct guidance for discussions. Otherwise, simply saying "difficult," "very difficult," or "tricky" meant little¡ªwho could tell which version was truly difficult? Jiang Yuan nodded faintly. "It¡¯s not exactly hard. If we follow standard procedures, we¡¯ll probably be able toplete the case, though there¡¯s a chance we might not. If we fail, then the difficulty level increases." A task that can bepleted step by step isn¡¯t considered particrly challenging. From another perspective, individuals and teams capable of executing tasks through rote procedures are scarce. For example, among the 150 points on the math section of the college entrance exam, roughly 90 points can be attributed to rote memorization. Yet, historically, less than 60% of exam-takers achieve this level. Therefore, a majority of people in this worldck even basic proceduralpetence¡ªwhether it¡¯s the ipetent workers at the office, reckless drivers on the road, or nonsensicalments online, they are all evidence of a society sliding toward the lower end of capability. "Commissioner Huang whispering secrets with Captain Jiang?" The Criminal Police Brigade chief of Qingshi City Bureau, Fang Gang, approached with a jovial smile. "Your case is tooplex. Jiang Yuan was just discussing with me how best to exin matters to you. We absolutely need guaranteed support from your side; otherwise, even setting aside whether the case can be solved, it¡¯s bound to drag on indefinitely," Huang Qiangmin said. Of course, nearly every word he uttered was false, but police work allows for a little bluffing, and that much is true. Fang Gang¡¯s face grew solemn. Mentally, he chided himself: You¡¯ve already been collecting membership fees for two years¡ªnow you start talking difficulty? Fang Gang responded, "We¡¯ll certainly ensure the necessary support is provided. However, our budget is limited; it¡¯s not as though funds are infinite¡ª" "Old Fang, no one¡¯s asking you to increase funding," Huang Qiangmin interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. "We¡¯re simply asking that you guarantee investigative resources. Did you watch the news broadcast a few days ago?" "I did, I did. When Jiang Yuan¡¯s face appeared, I even pointed it out to my family." "Exactly. Our Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation isn¡¯t just for show." At this, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s expression shifted. "It¡¯s also a form of assurance. Tell me, where else can you find someone like Jiang Yuan¡ªa true criminal investigation expert?" In the past, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t have phrased it this way. He might have mentioned fingerprint experts or forensic doctors. Now, he confidently dered "criminal investigation expert" without hesitation. And everyone present, especially the Criminal Police Brigade officers from Qingshi City Bureau, naturally epted this characterization. Fang Gang¡¯s expression turned into one of admiration and approval as he nodded. "If Jiang Yuan, as an expert, deems it necessary, we¡¯ll cooperate fully, no questions asked." If one were to consider a criminal investigation expert as a weapon, then Jiang Yuan would undoubtedly rank as the Qinglong Yan Yue Dao¡ªa legendary tool. If you have ess to it, why be stingy? "Take water samples upstream. Every 50 meters for 20 kilometers. Send the collected samples to theb for diatom analysis. Also..." Jiang Yuan turned to Wang Chuanxing and instructed, "Invite Professor Su Lei and her team over and let them know I have a project here. It¡¯s akin to constructing a 20-kilometer diatom profile of the Taihe River¡¯s upstream area." The Taihe Working Group had only been recognized by a handful of cities so far,rgely because membership fees had only been collected from these few. Nevertheless, the foundation was established. In cases involving drowning victims, using diatoms to determine the entry point of the body into the water proved effective. Not every case yielded results, but roughly 30% did. This number was rtively conservative. Often, when high-cost methods like diatom analysis weren¡¯t deemed essential, police wouldn¡¯t readily employ them. The primary reason diatom testing wasn¡¯t widely used in determining forensic diagnoses of drowning deathsy in the necessity of having diatom databases forparison. This aspect was akin to DNA testing, although dissimr in that diatoms aren¡¯t persistent, makingprehensive DNA profiling of national water bodies prohibitively expensive. However, the Taihe Working Group was now operational. Given the dense poption along the banks of the Taihe River, systematically conducting diatom tests on this river and archiving the results would greatly aid simr cases of drowning deaths in the future. Although the initial expenditure was high, once the diatom database was constructed, the overall cost would decrease. Previously, this was impossible for an individual city or county. If a corpse washed ashore locally, it was likely not from that locality, thereby making diatom testing locally an altruistic act benefiting downstream cities¡ªbut not the originating location. Even provincial authorities weren¡¯t inclined toward such measures. Beyond concerns of cost-effectiveness, higher-priority tasks often overshadowed database construction. Database resources were perpetually scarce and offered limited immediate utility. Except for frontline personnel. Fang Gang hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan¡¯s first directive to involve such high expenses, but since he¡¯d alreadymitted, he could only steel himself and replied, "We¡¯ll mobilize personnel to carry out sampling and testing promptly. That said, should we explore other methods first?" Taking samples every 50 meters meant 20 samples per kilometer, doubled for both banks¡ª40 samples. Over 20 kilometers, that totaled 800 samples, costing about the equivalent of a Mercedes-Benz sedan. Huang Qiangmin interjected, "Diatom analysis is a long-term initiative. Regardless of whether this specific case benefits from it, there will unquestionably be utility down the road. Since Qingshi City has joined the Taihe Working Group, it shouldmit to projects like this." "Hmm... Alright," Fang Gang nodded again. His determination to solve the case trumped all other concerns. Jiang Yuan, satisfied with Fang Gang¡¯s agreement, said, "Judging from the photos of the corpse, the victim likely died within the past three days. We¡¯ll confirm the precise time after examining the body. So overall, this is still an active case. We can analyze based on hydrological conditions. The victim¡¯s severed legs are missing, which might actually be a good sign. If we locate the legs, they might provide clues for further judgment..." Just as Jiang Yuan finished speaking, an intable boat that had been dispatched earlier returned. The officers onboard shouted: "Legs!" Several people rushed over, working together to haul down a package wrapped tightly like a rice dumpling. After cutting open a portion of the wrapping, human tissue inside was immediately visible. Dposed, but not excessively. The familiar smell of forensic work permeated the air. "I¡¯ll take it back for examination," Jiang Yuan decided not to open it at the scene and instructed the officers to transport the legs while hepleted a thorough survey of the crime scene before heading to the morgue. ... Qingshi City¡¯s morgue. The smell was almost universally recognizable nationwide, though slightly milder here. Sixrge sections of bodily tissue wereid out one by one, all exhibiting abnormal swelling but not yet resembling the Hulk. Fang Gang, apanied by several leaders from the Criminal Police Brigade, arrived¡ªthis level of attention was a rarity¡ªas they observed Jiang Yuan dissecting the corpse. The body had been waiting for nearly half a day to avoid requiring a second dissection, giving Jiang Yuan adequate time. Half a day wasn¡¯t considered lengthy, as forensic doctors transporting the body back, preparing for the examination, and other processes usually took about that much time. Once Jiang Yuan arrived, all preparatory work waspleted. Dressed in appropriate attire, he went straight to work. After performing a few routine incisions, Jiang Yuan focused his attention on the severed edges of the body parts. "The perpetrator wasn¡¯t very skilled. They made numerous cuts and switched tools halfway through¡ªlikely several times. Let¡¯s count them," Jiang Yuan said as he began tallying. The assistant forensic doctor next to him hastily recorded the details. Soon, Jiang Yuan announced the total count: 87. "At least 87 cuts," he exhaled, adding, "More than five different tools were used: sharp knives, traditional Chinese cleavers, scissors, serrated knives, and Japanese chef knives... All kitchen utensils." The findings Jiang Yuan reported didn¡¯t surprise the group. While chilling to hear, the officers considered it a typical and straightforward dismemberment case. "Some of the tools show signs of breakage. Conduct tests for trace evidence; we might be able to identify the manufacturers," Jiang Yuan suggested to the forensic team from Qingshi City before turning the corpse¡¯s head upright. After pondering briefly, he added, "Let me sketch an image of the victim." The corpse exhibited visible swelling, making the head look bloated and discolored. Additionally, the skull bore evidence of blunt force trauma¡ªbroken nasal bone, missing teeth, lips and ears absent, fractured brow ridge, sunken eye sockets and forehead¡ªall likely inflicted by a blunt object such as a knife handle. For a living person, this would undoubtedly be a ruined face. But a corpse wouldn¡¯tin. A forensic sketch artist at LV6 skill level wouldn¡¯t mind minor imperfections like these. Chapter 1080 - 1011: Sleepless Tonight

Chapter 1080: Chapter 1011: Sleepless Tonight

"The victim is male. 38 years old. Height 170 cm, weight approximately between 180 to 220 pounds..." "No fingerprint or DNA records, no imnted medical devices in the body..." Jiang Yuan stood in the autopsy room, his tone rtively rxed. In this room, forensic doctors held a certain degree of authority. First, he reported some known information to the leaders present, giving them a topic for quiet discussion, and then Jiang Yuan began his routine work. After examining the head of the corpse, Jiang Yuan had someone fetch a stand, carefully ced the head on it, and then set it directly at the front of the autopsy table. On the autopsy tabley the corpse¡¯s two arms, two legs, and torso. The head was elevated about a foot and a half, rotting and bloated, its ruptured, swollen eyes gazing nkly, with an unsettling calm. Jiang Yuan dissected the corpse for a while, then looked up at the head. He examined the head, then continued to work on the body. With a Level 6 forensic sketching skill, given sufficient time, he could roughly sketch the victim¡¯s appearance within a matter of minutes. However, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a rush. This head was not easy to sketch¡ªit carried threeyers of DEBUFFs. The firstyer was deliberate disfigurement: the smashed nose bridge and brow bone, caved-in cheekbones, missing lips and teeth, all of which added difficulty. The secondyer was dposition over time, and the thirdyer was swelling and dissolution caused by drowning. To Jiang Yuan, these threeyers of DEBUFFs each had solutions. For instance, the smashed nose bridge could be measured for height and width. Restoring the brow and cheekbones on paper wasparatively easier. As for the teeth and lips, forensic methods were simpler than dental reconstruction techniques. As for dposition and drowning¡ªthose were traditional problems frequently encountered by forensic doctors, with endless solutions avable depending on preference and expertise. Still,bining all three DEBUFFs resulted in significant challenges. It was akin to encountering simultaneous physical traits like 36D bust, A4 waist, and supermodel legs¡ªhardly trivial. Jiang Yuan dissected while pondering how to proceed with the forensic sketchter on. Additionally, with so many leaders from Qingshi City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade watching him draw, it felt a bit unbing. While the sketching might aid the investigation, the autopsy held its importance as well. Of course, it was also possible that neither would. "The cause of death appears to be a throat shing," he said. "After the victim¡¯s throat was cut, he suffered massive blood loss, his trachea was severed, and thus couldn¡¯t cry for help. He bled out quickly and died." "There are no defensive wounds on the hands or feet. A sweep through the fingernails revealed traces of blood, likely the murderer¡¯s own¡ªit seems the perpetrator might have pressed their neck against their own during the act." The autopsy was nearlyplete. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t use overly technical forensic terminology but instead presented the cause of death as though in a case discussion. He had performed most of the forensic examination the night before and had revisited the corpse, drawing conclusions based on wounds on the torso and those beneath the head. The initially sleepy Fang Gang and others immediately perked up: "Throat shing? Like this?" Fang Gang grabbed an officer and demonstrated a professional posture¡ªa rear choke followed by a single-handed throat sh¡ªand asked, "Military background? Why wasn¡¯t the corpse dismembered?" "Based on the wounds, it was likely a frontal throat sh. The cut was deep, but the slide distance was very short," Jiang Yuan ced the head back on the autopsy table alongside the torso, and used a knife to gesture, "Assuming the assant was right-handed, they would have held a sharp, heavy de, applied significant downward pressure, deeply shing the victim¡¯s throat, but the movement only extended less than ten centimeters before stopping." "Could it have been an ident during a fight?" Mu Zhiyang considered the possibility and immediately voiced it. In an analysis-oriented setting, anyone¡¯s ideas were wee, which wasmon practice in most criminal investigation units. Strict adherence to procedure was reserved for seated meetings at long tables orrge conference room discussions¡ªthe kind of scenes frequently depicted in television dramas. Jiang Yuan refuted the idea: "No, idental cuts would result in longer sh wounds due to quick movements. There wouldn¡¯t be heavy downward pressure involved." Jiang Yuan emphasized the point about heavy pressure. Another Criminal Police Brigade captain from Qingshi City furrowed his brows, "Was it shed from top to bottom?" Jiang Yuan nodded, "While it¡¯s technically possible to inflict such a wound face-to-face, the near-vertical orientation of the injury suggests it was made from above downward." "So, the victim was lying down with their neck exposed and got shed? And there are no defensive injuries on the body," Fang Gang said, a vivid image forming in his mind. His voice involuntarily dropped slightly, "Was their throat slit while they were asleep?" Jiang Yuan nodded solemnly, "Quite likely." "Whoa... That¡¯s brutal. The dismemberment was carried out with kitchen knives¡ªcould it have been someone close to them?" "Perhaps." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dwell on spective thinking. To him, such conjecture was meaningless at this point¡ªsolving the victim¡¯s identification would likely provide a breakthrough. The others realized this too and instantly became more alert. After all, the forensic doctor conducting the analysis was none other than Ningtai Jiang Yuan. "It¡¯s over to you now." Jiang Yuan then abruptly set down his instruments, removed his gloves, and... amidst the bewildered faces of those present... Picked up a drawing pencil. Forensic sketching Level 6... The strokes began effortlessly. The image of a middle-aged man with an intact nose, unbroken brow bone, and a full set of lips and teeth emerged gradually. The man had a round face, a preserved hairline, a t nose, and small eyes, giving off a somewhat dispirited appearance. Of course, a sketch based on a corpse¡¯s face would naturallyck vitality. "This can serve as a reference." Jiang Yuan used his police system app to search for the portrait but found no matches. Simrly, not finding a match wasn¡¯t unusual¡ªit could indicate the victim¡¯s real appearance differed slightly from the sketch, given it was derived from a corpse that had been disfigured and dposed. Another possibility was that the victim¡¯s facial data in the system hadn¡¯t been updated. Even so, having an image was better than none, especially after narrowing down the search area, as it could speed up visitation and screening efforts. "Send the gathered knife fragments and de shards for testing quickly¡ªsee if we can trace their origin." "Once the diatom reportes out, see if we can pinpoint the entry water location." "Search for the origin of the suitcase and clothes again." "Continue filtering the missing persons¡¯ data." Jiang Yuan¡¯s suggestions all fell withinmon investigative protocols. Of course, what¡¯smon depends onparison. For most task forces, even achieving these preconditions of normalcy would be difficult¡ªtheir urrence was about as rare as so-called ¡¯ordinary men.¡¯ Fang Gang responded enthusiastically. Seeing signs of progress raised hopes that the case might move forward at a faster pace. A special task force is like a film crew, where every additional day adds expense. Especially under the current work mode, it functioned like a production having moved into active shooting¡ªburning budget every second. Needless to say, tonight, many people wouldn¡¯t be getting any sleep. Chapter 1081 - 1012: Visiting

Chapter 1081: Chapter 1012: Visiting

Nighttime. Xu Juan couldn¡¯t sleep either. She turned on all the lights in the house, got down on the floor, and kept scrubbing the bedroom floor, trying to clean out the blood stains from between the floor tiles. Ssh... The bucket used for rinsing was already filled with crimson-colored water, foaming with white suds. Xu Juan carelessly threw the rag into the bucket, swished it around, wrung it out, then rinsed it in another pink bucket next to her, wrung it out again, took it out, added detergent, and resumed scrubbing the floor. She worked tirelessly, not knowing howte she worked, until she was utterly exhausted and naturally fell asleep. She didn¡¯t even bother to sleep on the bed¡ªthe mattress was soaked with blood too, and she hadn¡¯t figured out how to deal with it. Bzzz... Bzzz bzzz... The phone vibrated twice, instantly startling Xu Juan awake. Xu Juan broke into a cold sweat, curled up in the corner for a long while, then finally took a deep breath, grabbed her phone, nced at the caller ID, hesitated for a few seconds, and called back: "Hello..." "Xu Juan, are you noting to work today? The boss is going to be pissed." The call was from her fake friend at work, a colleague she didn¡¯t have particrly good rtions with but maintained mutual contact for lunchpanionship and sharing gossip. Xu Juan dully nced at the date on her phone and replied, "I¡¯m feeling a bit unwell and don¡¯t want to go." "Do you need to see a doctor? If not, maybe I can check on you during lunch?" the fake friend immediately offered, sounding concerned. "No need." Xu Juanzily replied, "It¡¯s my own problem. Nothing serious. I just need a couple of days to rest." "Alright, recover well. Remember to call the boss and officially ask for leave. He¡¯s such a stickler about respect. ims everything will miraculously work out if people treat him with respect..." Xu Juan muttered a few "Uh-huh" responses, put down her phone, curled back up in the corner, smelling the thick stench of blood, her eyes fixed on the bedroom¡ªredder now than it was at her wedding. Fear and irritation gripped her heart. She was afraid of being caught and executed, but annoyed by the grueling chores. She hadn¡¯t anticipated the murder would leave so much blood, nor imagined dissecting a person would make the room so filthy that not even two or three days of cleaning could restore order. Xu Juan found herself suddenly missing her cowardly husband. If this mess were handed to him, he might have tidied itpletely over the weekend. "Lucky I killed him first." Xu Juan shuddered, thinking that had he found out about this, he might have killed her instead. It¡¯s still better to be alive. That thought gave Xu Juan renewed energy. She resumed scrubbing with determination. Knock knock knock. When the knocking on the door came, Xu Juan assumed it was just the food delivery. As she walked to open the door, she remembered to nce through the peephole¡ªand that single nce drenched her in sweat. "Police!" The officers outside weren¡¯t amateurs. They saw the light in the peephole flicker and immediately showed their badges: "Please open the door. We have a few questions we¡¯d like to ask." Xu Juan¡¯s legs trembled with fear. She couldn¡¯t fathom what prison life was like for female criminals, nor whether she might face the death penalty. She worried opening the door would release the bloody smell. Conversely, she fretted that even without opening, the officers might still catch a whiff. Most critical of all, why were the police knocking on her door? What did they know? Xu Juan had lived in this unit for three or four years and had never encountered police at her door. Now, her husband¡¯s death had brought them here¡ªwhat else could be the reason? Xu Juan pressed herself against the door, shaking her head vehemently, refusing to open it. "Hello. We¡¯re the police. We know there¡¯s someone inside¡ªwe saw you check the peephole. Please open the door. We just want to ask a few questions, and we¡¯ll leave afterward," the officers called out loudly again. Xu Juan shook her head once more, her wit gradually returning as she replied, "Ask whatever questions you have directly. I¡¯m not opening the door." "We¡¯re the police!" "Being police doesn¡¯t mean you can force me to open the door!" The officers outside hesitated. Legally, they had the authority topel a suspect in a major case to open the door, but in routine interactions¡ªnot involving criminal suspects¡ªthey generally avoided breaking in. As such, police often came across locked doors during house visits, just like court bailiffs who sometimes knocked for hours during enforcement actions. Xu Juan was adamantly against opening her door. The smell inside had be unbearable. Despite running venttion and air conditioning, she could still sense it. That sturdy security door was herst line of defense. Xu Juan gauged the officers¡¯ demeanor. "Ask your questions directly. I won¡¯t open the door. I¡¯m scared." "We¡¯re the police. What are you afraid of?" "What if you¡¯re fake police?" "Here¡¯s our badge." "I don¡¯t know how to verify badges. If they¡¯re fake, how would I tell?" Xu Juan¡¯s sarcasm flowed more smoothly, and her tone grew defiant. The officers were no strangers to such situations. One suggested, "Call 110. They¡¯ll confirm our identities." "I won¡¯t call. Nowadays tel interception and AI impersonations are rampant." "You¡¯re exaggerating!" "Are you going to ask or not? If not, I¡¯m going back to sleep!" Xu Juan turned the tables. The officers hesitated briefly. "Is there anyone else in your home?" Xu Juan hesitated, then replied, "I¡¯m alone at home right now." "What¡¯s your name?" "I¡¯m not telling you." Xu Juan was fullymitted now. One of the officers frowned and jotted notes in his booklet. Xu Juan couldn¡¯t care less about that now¡ªher only thought was surviving the moment. The back-and-forth questioningsted five or six minutes. The officers finally pulled out a sketch and asked, "Do you recognize this person?" One nce and Xu Juan knew¡ªit was her husband. Her heart felt wed by a vice. She gasped sharply twice before replying venomously, "I don¡¯t recognize him." "Have you ever seen him?" "Never!" Xu Juan refused to respond further. The officers shouted a few more times but eventually gave up. Strange encounters like this weren¡¯t umon during such visits, nor peculiar enough to warrant breaking in. The reason for canvassing the neighborhood was that QingShi Bureau had identified the ce where the body was found¡ªa riverside spot about 200 meters away¡ªand was interviewing all residents within a 1,000-meter radius. This task was immense, demanding significant effort and strategy from field officers. The main objective wasn¡¯t to catch the killer¡ªan unrealistic expectation¡ªbut to ascertain the identity of the deceased. Hence, this sort of canvassing required neither carelessness nor excessive meticulousness; it fell squarely into the realm of experienced legwork. Given the diversity within any neighborhood¡ªranging from those with medical mental illness to those with neurotic tendencies; from paranoid seniors to socially anxious youth; to disgruntled partners in midlife crises, genuine criminals, traditional antisocial individuals, chronic nitpickers, sudden obsessives, and cynics whose adult breakdowns happen in the blink of an eye¡ªofficers faced significant challenges identifying anomalies among the popce. Xu Juan bore immense psychological pressure as she watched the officers leave her doorway and start chatting with the neighbor opposite, who had opened their door to observe themotion. Xu Juan anxiously eyed the sketch in the officer¡¯s hands. To her relief, the neighbor remained clueless and shook their head. At that moment, Xu Juan exhaled deeply in relief. Thank goodness her husband was always out working long hours, even on weekends. If not, her situation would¡¯ve been perilous. Chapter 1082 - 1013: Journey of the Heart

Chapter 1082: Chapter 1013: Journey of the Heart

Ding. The elevator chimed as Xu Juan stepped inside carrying a box, surprised to find three people already in the elevator. "Heading out so early?" A female neighbor inside greeted Xu Juan in a friendly tone. Everyone living upstairs or downstairs asionally bumped into each other. "Yes." Xu Juan replied briefly, then felt it seemed out of character and forced a smile, adding, "Are you heading to work?" "That¡¯s right. We have to start two hours earlier than you guys. You¡¯re still quitefortable." The female neighbor smiled. "How could us private sector workers possibly be morefortable than you government employees?" Xu Juan responded with a simr line she¡¯d likely repeated numerous times before. As neighbors, their conversations rarely went deeper than exchanging workce details, something the female neighbor initiated. Xu Juan didn¡¯t like this female neighbor. She often deliberately or subtly bragged about her cushy government job¡ªshort hours, plenty of vacation time, things like that. Before, Xu Juan would just go along and say a few perfunctory words. After all, at work, she had to tter people too. But today, clutching the spring dismantled from the mattress, Xu Juan suddenly felt she didn¡¯t need to hold back anymore. Having said her piece, Xu Juan lifted her chin, ready to strike back properly. Ding. The elevator doors opened. More people got in. Xu Juan froze for a moment before having to step back to make some room. The elevator descended. It stopped again, and more people entered. Before she realized it, Xu Juan was standing next to the female government-worker neighbor. "Haven¡¯t seen your husband around these past few days." The chatty female neighbor naturally struck up another topic upon noticing Xu Juan at her side. Xu Juan¡¯s heart skipped a beat. She instinctively tightened her grip on the box in her arms and replied, "He¡¯s been busy these past few days." "Hispany sure works long hours." The female neighbor smiled, then added, "You two make a good pair¡ªone working hard outside, the other keeping things together at home." Xu Juan immediately refuted thement on instinct: "Working hard at what? He barely earns anything,es home every day acting all high and mighty..." The female neighbor raised an eyebrow, her lips curling into a knowing smile, and wisely changed the subject: "Lots of people heading out earlytely. The buses seem so crowded." "You don¡¯t drive to work?" Xu Juan asked. "No need. The bus is quite convenient, just a few stops." The female neighbor smiled again. "Still, driving would be easier. I assumed all you government folks drove to work." Xu Juan felt a slight psychological upper hand. The female neighbor casually replied, "It varies. I personally don¡¯t like driving. If my husband¡¯s free to drop me off, I¡¯ll take the car." As they chatted, the elevator arrived at the ground floor. Everyone exited in turn, seeing several police officers outside the building posting notices on the neighborhood road. "Police have beening around a lottely," the female neighbor muttered, then bid Xu Juan goodbye before sauntering off to work. Normally, Xu Juan would¡¯ve pulled out her phone toin, but today her hands were trembling slightly. In her arms was the mattress spring she had torn out earlier. Her n was to dispose of the blood-soaked mattress in pieces. The mattress was heavy and difficult to cut apart, so Xu Juan had purchased a hydraulic cutter and a box of tools online. If not for worrying about disturbing the neighbors and drawing a noiseint, Xu Juan had even considered buying a cutting saw or simr equipment. She didn¡¯t know how to use one, but she could learn. Though she was never skilled at housework, let alone repair tasks, Xu Juan knew very well the difference between doing household chores for free and saving her own life. Xu Juan was confident that as long as she cleaned up thoroughly, she could move to another city and start anew. She believed she could escape. In the first two or three days after killing her husband, she had been extremely anxious. But now, her only concern was whether her cleanup was meticulous enough. Reflecting on ways she could have done better: if on that night she had forced her husband to sleep on the sofa, cleanup would¡¯ve been simpler, orying down a floormat¡ªdisposing of bedding was far easier than a whole mattress. As she mentally noted improvements, Xu Juan raised her head and walked briskly outside, dumping the box into the trash bin. On her way back, she deliberately nced at the notice the police had just posted. It was still the same sketch, sort of resembling him and yet not urate enough. Compared to her initial fear when she had first seen the sketch, Xu Juan now felt a strange sense of pride, having just sessfully discarded another box of junk. She credited her thorough bashing of her husband¡¯s head during the incident¡ªnot just out of rage from seeing his familiar, loathsome face but as a fortunate side effect. The police were left with nothing but an inadequate sketch, which was useless. Xu Juan hurried back, avoiding the patrolling officers who might question her. Face-to-face lying still made her a little anxious. The rushed residents didn¡¯t offer the officers any helpful intel. Most merely took a cursory nce and said they hadn¡¯t seen him; those who showed hints of recognition were either groggy from sleep or preupied with catching their bus. At the lobby, Xu Juan picked up the delivery she¡¯d ordered yesterday and returned upstairs. The elevator was empty this time. At the apartment door, she looked around cautiously before swiftly unlocking it and entering in one fluid motion. Bang. The door shut, and Xu Juan instantly rxed, slumping onto the ground to catch her breath. Aftermitting murder, Xu Juan¡¯s worldview shifted uncontrobly. She used to fret over staining her pants, but now, none of that mattered anymore. Clenching her fist, Xu Juan muttered to herself, "I¡¯m terrifyingly strong now!" Bzzzz... Her phone began to vibrate. Xu Juan took it out, nced at the screen, furrowed her brows, hesitated for a moment, and finally answered: "Hello...?" "Little Juan, is You Qiang there with you?" The caller was her mother-inw, sounding slightly anxious. "No, he went out." Xu Juan said. "Where did he go? Why can¡¯t I get through to him on the phone?" "He went out with his friends hiking or something; I can¡¯t reach him either." Xu Juan paused, then added, "He said he¡¯d be out for half a month. I told him if he insisted on going, I¡¯d divorce him, but he ignored me. When he gets back, I won¡¯t let him off so easily..." The mother-inw immediately tried to console her: "You Qiang is being irresponsible. I¡¯ll talk to him when he¡¯s back. Don¡¯t be angry..." "Can¡¯t make much money,es home every day demanding emotional support. I don¡¯t have to work, huh? Why should I provide him with emotional value? What right does he have for me to cater to him emotionally?" Xu Juan exploded with a mix of truth and exaggeration. "Oh dear, this is... He must¡¯ve been brainwashed by something he saw online..." "Also, he¡¯s been abusing me!" Xu Juan couldn¡¯t help but add, "He and his buddies in their group chatsugh at their wives. I overheard a few things, and when I confronted him, he pped me across the face!" The mother-inw panicked and quickly switched toforting Xu Juan instead of asking about her son¡¯s whereabouts. Truthfully, Xu Juan hadn¡¯t nned to bring up this topic¡ªher husband was dead, after all, and saying too much risked exposure. But hearing her mother-inw¡¯s voice made her lose some restraint. "I put up with it for the sake of this family. If I¡¯d reported him, he¡¯d have been branded as an abuser!" "You did the right thing! Oh, I feel so sorry for you. That little brat You Qiang¡ªhe ran off, didn¡¯t he? When hees back, I¡¯ll give him a good talking-to. Please don¡¯t be too upset. You need to take care of yourself..." The mother-inw kept trying to appease her. "Always busy, busy, busy. When he¡¯s home, he just chats with his drinking buddies, ys games, and drinks. If they can¡¯t meet, they video chat while drinking. Say a word to him, and he gets angry. Money, money¡ªhe doesn¡¯t earn enough. People, people¡ªI barely see him. I might as well be on my own..." Xu Juan vented freely. Her mother-inw kept offering herforting words. After several minutes, Xu Juan finally ended the call, letting out a soft snort through her nose. Three or four years of marriage, nearly five years together¡ªthe time was enough for Xu Juan to not only learn how to control her husband but also how to handle her mother-inw. "Once I finish cleaning up your son¡¯s blood, I¡¯m going on vacation!" Xu Juan put down her phone and made a secret vow. By now, most of the smell in the apartment had dissipated. Soon, as long as there were no obvious traces, even if her inws came for a visit, she might already be abroad by then. Her job didn¡¯t matter anymore; her family was gone. What was the point in caring about anything? Ding-dong! The doorbell suddenly rang. Xu Juan instinctively nced at the clock in the living room¡ª9:01 in the morning, an entirely unexpected time for anyone to ring the doorbell. Chapter 1083 - 1014: Coming to the Door

Chapter 1083: Chapter 1014: Coming to the Door

Knock, knock, knock. "Hello? Is anyone there? We¡¯re police, from the criminal investigation unit." The officers outside the door heard no response. After the doorbell rang, they began knocking on the door. Xu Juan took off her shoes and walked barefoot to the door. Thinking about yesterday¡¯s experience, she decided not to bother looking through the peephole. Instead, she leaned against the wall by the door and slowly sat down. She now had a bit more experience dealing with the police and wasn¡¯t as panicked as she had been yesterday. Knock, knock. "Sun Youqiang. This is the police. Please open the door." "Is Sun Youqiang here? Is this Sun Youqiang¡¯s residence?" "Hello, police!" The officers remained courteous as they persistently kept knocking. Xu Juan¡¯s eyelid twitched. These officers were specifically calling out her husband¡¯s name. She couldn¡¯t think of any reason they would want to find her husband, but she continued to ignore them. Worst-case scenario, she¡¯d just wait them out. Without evidence, the police couldn¡¯t forcibly break in. If they had evidence, they would¡¯ve stormed in already. Instead, Xu Juan sat on the floor and began reflecting on her actions over the past few days. As for the matter of killing her husband, she had absolutely no regrets. In fact, she had previously imagined doing it, but those thoughts always remained fantasies. She never believed she¡¯d actually go through with it¡ªuntil her husband pped her across the face. Under Sun Youqiang¡¯s violent force, Xu Juan felt her dignity slip awaypletely. Even though he apologized afterward, Xu Juan no longer believed him. People online often said that domestic violence happens only once or an infinite number of times. Xu Juan knew this well enough from her husband¡¯s drinking habits. There¡¯s no such thing as reform for someone like him. Moreover, Sun Youqiang refused to leave the marriage with nothing, and after all their shouting and fighting, he would still go straight to sleep like nothing ever happened. Xu Juan found the idea of sharing a bed with him increasingly repulsive. Killing him was much more satisfying. The only thing she hadn¡¯t expected was just how much work killing someone would involve. Fortunately, she was clever. She had dismembered her husband¡¯s corpse immediately, or else the smell would¡¯ve been unbearable and easily noticed by the officers outside. Killing someone at home had its perks¡ªshe could easily order whatever cleaning supplies she needed online. Paying a bit extra even got her next-day or same-day delivery. If necessary, she could arrange for delivery drivers to help her purchase items as well. Additionally, Xu Juan thought her disposal n was quite ingenious. She had some old suitcases that hadn¡¯t been used in ages. Once cleaned thoroughly, they left no trace¡ªand there were no purchase records to worry about. The only issue was that the suitcase was too small to fit Sun Youqiang¡¯s entire body. This worthless man couldn¡¯t earn money during the day but still managed to drink himself into a round belly at night... Luckily, they had a camping trailer at home. Hauling his legs to the riverside wasn¡¯t too much trouble. The trailer was something they¡¯d bought in the first year of their marriage. Back then, Sun Youqiang was still willing to spend some time with her, and their rtionship wasn¡¯t as terrible yet. Thinking about this, Xu Juan suddenly felt a bit emotional. No wonder many women had aplices when killing their husbands¡ªtypically lovers. This really was heavy physicalbor. Next time, she thought, she should cheat first; that way, she¡¯d have someone to help. "What are you doing here?" From outside the door, a woman¡¯s voice suddenly rang out. Xu Juan rolled over in curiosity, pressed herself against the door, and listened quietly. The officers outside deliberately lowered their voices, but because of the quiet surroundings, Xu Juan could still hear bits and pieces: "We filtered through the men in the nearby residentialplexes by age. The man in this household hasn¡¯t answered his phone, and his mobile signal hasn¡¯t been detected in the past few days. That raised a g for us. What about you all?" "Our police dog followed a scent trail here," replied the female officer at the door. After a pause, she asked, "The man who hasn¡¯t answered his phone¡ªwhat¡¯s he look like?" "Uh... Let me double-check the records." "You didn¡¯t check beforehand?" The female officer expressed surprise. The officer who had been knocking felt a bit embarrassed. "There were too many calls yesterday... Well... Might be him? He looks kind of simr¡ªjust thinner in the file photo..." Ding! The elevator chimed again. Multiple officers stepped out quickly but were momentarily held back by colleagues and the police dog. "What led you to suspect this ce?" The female officer, Li Li, who was holding the police dog, immediately interrogated them. The officers who had just exited the elevator hesitated for a moment before one of them said, "A breakfast stall owner thought the sketch resembles one of his regr customers. We tracked him down through payment records." The three teams exchanged looks, realizing that the suspicion surrounding this apartment had reached its peak. Li Li stroked Dazhuang¡¯s head and took a few steps back with him, quietly suggesting, "Call for backup." Themon anti-theft doors in domestic apartments weren¡¯t easy to break through. Ideally, they¡¯d need either specialized equipment or trained personnel. Li Li¡¯s suggestion was immediately approved by the earlier-arriving investigators. At that moment, the anti-theft door in front of them creaked open. Xu Juan stood barefoot, staring at the group of officers outside with a copsed expression and said, "Come in." Contrary to her expectations, the officers rushed in without hesitation, with Li Li leading the charge. Since Li Li was the only female officer present, it was up to her to handcuff Xu Juan. Xu Juanplied as the handcuffs were fastened on her, watching the officers pour into her kitchen and bedroom. The officers who entered the bedroom were all shocked by the disassembled mattress. At that moment, Xu Juan suddenly thought that dismantling the entire mattress may have been a bit excessive. Still, the result was worth it¡ªat least all the fabric had been repeatedly cleaned. If the officers hadn¡¯t arrived so quickly, she would¡¯ve discarded it allter in the afternoon. "Why did you dismantle the bed?" one officer asked. While there weren¡¯t any obvious bloodstains in the bedroom, the bizarre act of dismantling the bed warranted further questioning. Xu Juan snorted but didn¡¯t respond. Just then, Dazhuang began whining. Li Li gently consoled the dog before following him to the window. With Dazhuang¡¯s guidance, Li Li spotted bloodstains soaking into the heavy hem of the curtains. "Blood," Li Li announced, snapping a photo for evidence. Xu Juan¡¯sposure faltered slightly¡ªshe knew she hadn¡¯t finished tidying up the room, but she hadn¡¯t expected to overlook the curtain hem. The room had reeked of blood for the past few days, making it difficult for her to notice such fine details. Besides, Xu Juan had no ns to clean the curtains¡ªthey were toorge and heavy. Most crucially, removing them now would leave the bedroom exposed. "Xu Juan, where¡¯s your husband Sun Youqiang?" the leading officer asked, hoping to take advantage of Xu Juan¡¯s growing unease. This time, Xu Juan hesitated briefly before slowly responding, "He hit me. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, told him if he dared hit me again, I¡¯d fight him to the death. He didn¡¯t believe me and struck me again. So, I swung the knife with my eyes shut and just happened to sh his neck. There was so much blood..." Her statement contained a mix of truth and lies¡ªthis was Xu Juan¡¯s pre-prepared n B. Over the past few days, she¡¯d assumed she wouldn¡¯t need to use it. She hadn¡¯t expected it toe to this. If she couldn¡¯t avoid the trouble, framing the act as legitimate self-defense was her best shot. Xu Juan didn¡¯t know much about thew, but she understood that this version of events would benefit her. The questioning officer didn¡¯t fixate on her confession and continued, "What did you do after killing him?" "I... disposed of him." "What do you mean by ¡¯disposed¡¯?" "I chopped him up." "Dismembered him?" "Yes." "Did anyone help you dismember him?" "No one helped." "You dismembered him alone?" "Yes." "How did you transport the remains?" "I put half of him in a suitcase, wrapped the rest, and used the camping trailer to move him." "Where¡¯s the trailer?" Xu Juan answered each question, hoping the case would proceed ording to her n. With the answers captured on video, once mention of the camping trailer came up, the officers were mostly satisfied. From aw enforcement perspective, the evidence chain was nearlyplete. As for what Xu Juan said, the police couldn¡¯t care less. Chapter 1084 - 1015: All Night Long

Chapter 1084: Chapter 1015: All Night Long

When Xu Juan returned to Qingshi Municipal Bureau, she drew a lot of attention from the bureau¡¯s leadership. Fang Gang, the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, was equally astonished and remarked, "Among all the cases we¡¯ve spent a fortune on solving, this one has the fewest suspects and the lightest total weight. So, if we calcte by poundage, this case has the highest cost per pound of suspect! Incredible, just incredible!" The officers present chuckled silently, mentally updating their view on Fang Gang¡¯s math skills. Huang Qiangminughed along and said, "This case is pretty straightforward and in. Good thing you don¡¯t feel it¡¯s a waste." "The sooner we solve a case, the better. We¡¯re not the type to pretend everything¡¯s fine just to make work harder for ourselves," Fang Gang replied smoothly. Now that the membership fee was already paid, it wasn¡¯t like Huang Qiangmin could demand a refund. Besides, as Fang Gang had pointed out, solving cases quickly and efficiently is the priority. Qingshi City covers a long stretch of the Tai River, and bodies floating up are inevitable. Most of these cases are likely to be straightforward too. Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to resolve such cases quickly and urately was exactly what Fang Gang needed. Even the simplest film has high costs after shooting starts. Prolonged filming would bankrupt any productionpany. Task forces work simrly¡ªonce they¡¯re fully operational and in case-solving mode, while the subsidies for everyone remain pathetically low, the funding flows out terrifyingly fast. Seeing that Fang Gang understood, Huang Qiangmin visibly rxed and joked, "Captain Fang, you really know your stuff. This case seems easy to solve, but pinpointing the victim¡¯s drowning point, exact age, and sketch¡ªall of these individually are tough tasks for an ordinary task force." "You¡¯ve got a good point there," Fang Gang agreed readily. This was actually a conclusion they had reached in private discussions. The location where the victim fell into the water was determined using silicon detection techniques. The time of death was pinpointed through forensic pathology, and as for the sketch¡ªwell, it was entirelypleted by Jiang Yuan himself using forensic sketching skills. If these three tasks were handled by an ordinary task force from Qingshi City, conclusions would surely be reached, but how urate could they be? How narrow would the scope be? Take the victim¡¯s drowning location, for example. Jiang Yuan confidently narrowed it down to a 200-meter radius, whereas Fang Gang¡¯s habitual range was often measured in kilometers. The area around the victim¡¯s residentialplex would be drastically different in scope with a kilometer-wide radius¡ªhow many more people would get pulled into the investigation? The police might have to conduct checks at the neighborhood level instead of door-to-door. This would massively increase the time spent on each household, necessitate more personnel, and lower the ratio of experienced detectives working the case... The same principle applied for age. Jiang Yuan pegged it precisely at 38¡ªno more, no less. This generated a shortlist of several hundred individuals for the task force. But if the age range were to fluctuate by one or two years, the workload for sorting through the list would increase significantly. As for the sketch, Fang Gang hadn¡¯t even considered it. Their Criminal Police Brigade had never been known to splurge on something like that. "Who¡¯d have thought that all three lines of investigation could yield results?" Now that the case was discussed openly, Fang Gang switched to a high EQ mode, showering Jiang Yuan and the Cold Case Squad with praise. Huang Qiangmin nodded with a smile, while Jiang Yuan refrained from excessive humility. All three approaches led to identifying the suspect, showing that the suspect¡¯s methods, though in and ordinary, did not make the breakthrough in solving the case any less significant. Murder cases always boil down to results¡ªand if all three approaches produce strong leads¡ªthey are exemry indeed. The Criminal Police Brigade at Qingshi Municipal Bureau couldn¡¯t even take notes fast enough. Afterpleting the requisite social interactions, Jiang Yuan took advantage of the suspect¡¯s interrogation period to return to the autopsy room. There, he signed various forms, checked and tidied the victim¡¯s remains, and finally... ...from the victim¡¯s head, extracted a faintly glowing blue orb. Sun Youqiang¡¯s Legacy: All-Nighter (LV2) ¡ª Sun Youqiang lived a painfully ordinary life. Born into a rural family, he went through twists and turns, taking extra years to retake his exams and get into a vocational college. During his time in school, he made some friends but failed to win female attention. After graduation, he returned to his hometown, got a mediocre job, and eked out a living. He neither had the charm to attract women nor dared to visit prostitutes. He scrimped and saved over the years until, in his early thirties, he managed to marry through an arranged match. Post-marriage, his life remained dull; he was an unexciting middle-aged man with no knack for enjoyment and mediocre work skills, now simply marked as "married." As he aged, his skills declined, forcing him to work longer hours and exhibit a stronger work ethic to keep his job. In the process, he reluctantly acquired a skill exceeding the average level: All-Nighter (LV2)¡ªthe ability to endure two more hours of sleep deprivationpared to others under identical physical and health conditions! Jiang Yuan quietly epted Sun Youqiang¡¯s legacy. At the moment the glowing orb vanished, Jiang Yuan could even sense a trace of Sun Youqiang¡¯s emotions. It was calm and relieved, akin to how an average student feels afterpleting a midterm exam. Sun Youqiang was neither bitter nor at peace but had no anticipation for whaty ahead. Hecked any clear goals and didn¡¯t know what he could achieve¡ªonly pushed forward by his environment. His sources of joy were all things society disapproved of. He loved drinking, hanging out with shady buddies, bragging online, singing karaoke on his phone, sneaking small games onto his workceputer, taking extended bathroom breaks at work, and ogling pretty girls. None of his pleasures produced any value. Pleasures that bring joy only to oneself but yield no contribution to others¡ªperhaps that¡¯s what one might call bad habits. Jiang Yuan lightly patted Sun Youqiang¡¯s body bag and turned to the forensic assistant beside him. "Have the victim¡¯s familye by? Who came?" "His sister, I think. Their mother stayed in their hometown to care for his father," the assistant recalled. "How¡¯s she holding up?" "His sister? She cried for a bit and then left. She¡¯s in her forties and has a high school-aged son to look after, so she had to go back. The person staying around here is the victim¡¯s brother-inw." "Got it." Jiang Yuan nodded, a fleeting thought to offer some gesture offort fading away. Walking out, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t get far before spotting a girl with long straight hair hesitating at the mortuary entrance. She looked unsure whether to go in, but upon seeing Jiang Yuan, she jumped up excitedly. "If you hadn¡¯te out, I would¡¯ve bolted," said the girl, none other than Qiao Shengli, a doctoral student of botany professor Sulei. "What¡¯s up?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Of course something¡¯s up¡ªthis is my first time at a mortuary..." Qiao Shengli shrank her neck and added in a small voice, "I heard the case in Qingshi City solved, right?" "Yes." "But we haven¡¯t fully analyzed the silicon samples from the 20-kilometer range yet." Silicon readings trickle in bit by bit, and truthfully, cases don¡¯t require such an extensive range. Jiang Yuan understood Qiao Shengli¡¯s unease and nodded. "You can continue the analysis. The project is the project, and the case is the case¡ªthey don¡¯t interfere with each other." "Apletely independent project? Then we can keep working on it?" Qiao Shengli looped her arm around Jiang Yuan¡¯s and leaned in, saying softly, "You¡¯re nning to build a database for the Tai River, aren¡¯t you? Twenty kilometers surely isn¡¯t enough, right?" "Exactly." Realizing she had asked too many questions at once, Qiao Shengli repeated one of them, "You want to build an entire Tai River database? Can we handle it for you? Our project¡¯s startup took a lot of time¡ªestablishing reference systems, software calibration, etc.¡ªso letting us continue would cut costs significantly." "Letting you handle it is fine, but we have one particr limitation," Jiang Yuan replied. "Go ahead," Qiao Shengli said, clinging tighter to Jiang Yuan. "We can¡¯t survey the Tai River sequentially. There¡¯s no telling where our next funding source wille from or if we¡¯ll get uniform approvals. So we can only work in segments." "That¡¯s fine," Qiao Shengli quickly agreed, visibly relieved, and immediately followed up, "Who¡¯s the next funder?" Chapter 1085 - 1016: Joint Cooperation

Chapter 1085: Chapter 1016: Joint Cooperation

"Next up..." Jiang Yuan chuckled at Qiao Shengli¡¯s question, lowered his head, and said, "The next one is probably still Qingshi City. Since we¡¯re already here, there must be some cold cases that need clearing." "Aren¡¯t you only supposed to tackle the most difficult cases?" Qiao Shengli asked out of curiosity, tilting her head. Jiang Yuan smiled and replied, "It¡¯s not like cases canpete with each other on their own. No one knows which one is the hardest. Some cases get solved because investigators choose the right direction, while others be harder and harder because they don¡¯t." "So choosing the right direction is the most important?" "Maybe. But not necessarily." Jiang Yuan nced at Qiao Shengli and said, "It¡¯s kind of simr to your research work, isn¡¯t it? Between the direction and practical execution, which one carries more weight?" Qiao Shengli seemed to realize something and eximed, "Ah, so you¡¯re the type of person who can turn any rubbish topic given by a professor into a top-tier publication?" "Not exactly." At that moment, Jiang Yuan felt no need to be modest or worry about being politically correct. He casually said, "Some directions are so bad that they waste time. You still need to course-correct." Qiao Shengli understood and looked up at Jiang Yuan admiringly, "If only I had your skills. Sometimes I wish I could help my professor adjust the research direction." "Professor Su?" "Don¡¯t you dare tell him." Qiao Shengli shook Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm. "The Tai River project¡ªdid Professor Su assign it to you?" Jiang Yuan, after several years as a detective, developed a heavily ingrained habit of suspicion. Among the people of this world, detectives undoubtedly have the strongest skepticism. Blushing, Qiao Shengli held onto Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm and exined, "The professor barely conducts experiments himself, whether it¡¯s general projects or coborative ones. As for me, if the Tai River project gets confirmed, I¡¯ll shift the entire direction of my research to focus on it." In the biology department, project options aren¡¯t abundant. Honestly, it wouldn¡¯t even have to be the Tai River project; expanding the scope by another fifty kilometers would give Qiao Shengli enough material to write up a decent paper. However, for her doctoral dissertation, merely scratching the surface wouldn¡¯t suffice. The more data, the better. Jiang Yuan decided not to meddle in the internal dynamics of Sulei¡¯s project team. He simply said, "The Tai River project is confirmed, but you¡¯ll need to coordinate with us, not the other way around." "Of course." Qiao Shengli looked up at Jiang Yuan, her excitement gradually amplified. Jiang Yuan¡¯s condition posed no difficulty¡ªessentially, he hadn¡¯t set any barriers. Byparison, the funding and scale of the project seemed far more restrictive. ... Later in the evening. The suspect, Xu Juan, ultimately gave up resisting and confessed entirely. It was her first time killing someone, and shecked any prior experience. She wasn¡¯t professionally trained. The strategies she fantasized about in her mind sounded one way, but whenid out, they wereughable at best. Whether it was the manner of murder, the motives, or the reasons for abandoning the body¡ªXu Juan always had something to say, but her statements were neitherwful nor credible. During police interrogations¡ªwhich can sometimes be quite harsh¡ªshe broke down multiple times. After shedding a few bouts of tears, Xu Juan tidied her hair under the gaze of prosecutors and started recounting her story again. She tried her best to maintain an air of dignity, but when faced with the gruesome details of dismemberment and questions like "What did you use for the first blow? Where did you strike?" or "After you picked up the scissors, where did you use them?", any semnce of dignity instantly evaporated. By this stage of the interrogation, the task force members were finally reassured. Veteran detectives with steely nerves often called it a night at this point and went home. Younger detectives didn¡¯t necessarilyck resilience but were left behind to handle the final cleanup¡ªa task they could only keep working through. Jiang Yuan was summoned to the bureau chief¡¯s office. Compared to Criminal Police Brigade Captain Fang Gang, the chief¡¯s rank was significantly higher, which demonstrated how much Jiang Yuan was valued. After hearing a torrent ofpliments and sipping an extensive amount of good tea, the chief still didn¡¯t let him go. Checking his watch, he smiled and said, "Everyone must be hungry by now. I¡¯ve prepared hotpot for us. Jiang Yuan, I hear you enjoy hotpot, right?" "Indeed, I quite like it." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know how his fondness for hotpot had spread around, but for some reason, cops never bothered verifying trivial details like these. The chief gestured to one side, prompting Fang Gang to step out and arrange things. Before long, a hotpot was brought into the office. Several people gathered around the coffee table in the chief¡¯s office and began cooking hotpot. Huang Qiangmin looked around uneasily and said, "The smell of hotpot is strong¡ªwon¡¯t it damage the calligraphy and paintings in this room?" "They¡¯re all my own works. If they get ruined, it¡¯s fine¡ªI still have plenty left to hang up." The chief, seemingly tickled by this topic, burst intoughter. Huang Qiangmin quickly chimed in with supportive remarks. The chief sobered up, waving his hand, and said, "Honestly, my calligraphy and paintings are just amateur stuff. When I was young and didn¡¯t know what else to do, I dabbled in these arts. These days, I fully regret it. If only I had studied fingerprint analysis or some other forensic techniques back then¡ªit would¡¯ve been far more useful." Huang Qiangmin thought to himself, You¡¯ve finally touched upon this key point, and hurriedly said, "Actually, if Qingshi Municipal Bureau still needs our assistance with anything, you only need to give the word." "Try this beef slice¡ªit came from cattle ughtered this afternoon. The meat was immediately cut and delivered straight here," the chief first introduced the beef on the table, then said to Huang Qiangmin, "We¡¯re out of budget." "Huh?" Huang Qiangmin froze, his jaw dropping at this unexpected response. "Have some beef." The chief sighed and continued with a smile, "You should¡¯ve anticipated this. Our Shan Nan Province isn¡¯t wealthy, and funding has always been tight. Plus, it¡¯s the end of the year, and we¡¯re busy clearing cold cases, running the Taihe Working Group, and maintaining a high clearance rate for current cases. Funding neversts." Huang Qiangmin hesitated, poked a chopstick into the hotpot, picked up a piece of vegetable, ced it on his te, and said, "I figured this might happen¡ªI just didn¡¯t think it¡¯de so soon." "Exactly." The chief chuckled and added, "Social stability requires cracking down on criminal activities. Economic development, in turn, depends on social stability as its foundation. But increasing the criminal clearance rate from 90% to 95%, or solving 100% of homicide cases versus 99%, well¡ªit might not be that significant." Huang Qiangmin was unwilling to concede this point and immediately retorted, "You can¡¯t look at it this way. The damages caused by criminal offenses are undeniable. Compared to the cost of solving a case, the protection it provides to the public is absolutely worthwhile. Moreover, sessfully solving major cases means capturing highly dangerous or high-tech criminals, or professional perpetrators, thereby significantly improving the safety of everyday environments. It also promotes fair trade and is tremendously beneficial for the rule ofw in society..." "Commissioner Huang¡ªnow that¡¯s a point of quality!" the chiefughed heartily. Beside them, Fang Gang quickly chimed in, "We should learn from Commissioner Huang." After theughter subsided, the chief said, "Let¡¯s just talk about ourselves here. This year, Shan Nan Province¡¯s criminal investigation system has truly achieved outstanding results,rgely thanks to Jiang Yuan and the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s support. But this year¡¯s budget allocation was decidedst year..." With that, he left the statement hanging. Qingshi Municipal Bureau¡¯s rank is equivalent to Qinghe City Bureau. Ningtai County Bureau is ranked significantly lower than Qinghe City Bureau, and Huang Qiangmin isn¡¯t even its top-ranking official. Throughout the conversation, he had been following the rhythm set by the chief. But at this point, Huang Qiangmin felt he couldn¡¯t continue amodating blindly. Especially after eating a bite of vegetables, his appetite kicked in, prompting him to grin and say, "Even borrowing against the future can be reasonable." The cheerful chief almost choked on a piece of beef upon hearing this remark: "Your words... hey, don¡¯t be so aggressive." Huang Qiangmin gave a faint smile. "What about taking on some interprovincial cases?" The chief suggested. "Qingshi City borders Liang Zhou¡ªthey must have some leftover funds this year." "These days, evenndlords don¡¯t have surplus grain," Huang Qiangmin countered. The chief replied, "Sometimes borrowing forward is feasible." Looking at the chief¡¯s earnest expression, Huang Qiangmin asked, "What kind of case? Is it difficult?" "Yes, very." The chief put down his chopsticks and became more serious, saying, "Child abduction. We¡¯ve just linked a series of cases¡ªthere are already five across the two provinces, plus one attempt. All targeted children under five, and the incidents urred in rural towns." These types of cases unquestionably warrant attention at the municipal bureau level. They¡¯re the kind that demand priority resolution. Huang Qiangmin studied the chief: "No leads on these cases?" With sufficient leads and resources dedicated, perhaps the cases could have decent odds of being solved. But since Jiang Yuan was being called in, it likely meant severe obstacles had arisen. The chief picked up a slice of meat with his chopsticks and ate, saying, "In any case, let me know what you need, and I¡¯ll reach out to Liang Zhou on your behalf. We¡¯ll work together to get these five children back." "Capturing the perpetrators won¡¯t necessarily be hard; locating the kids¡ªthat¡¯s far more challenging." Huang Qiangmin remarked, ncing over at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, with several pieces of beef cooling in his sauce bowl, looked up at the chief and Huang Qiangmin and said, "Now that it¡¯se up, let¡¯s take it on." As for Qiao Shengli and her matters, they would have to wait. Chapter 1086 - 1017: Project 712

Chapter 1086: Chapter 1017: Project 712

You Lixiang, clutching a file-filled briefcase, hurried into the conference room upied by "Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team." This conference room, located on the top floor, was only used during the formation of major task forces within the Criminal Police Brigade. You Lixiang had participated in several such task forces before, memories that remained vivid. Inside the conference room, some were on phone calls, others deep in small meetings, typing furiously on keyboards, sipping milk tea, or twirling pens and tapping on desks¡ªa somewhat chaotic atmosphere. The officer at the door nced at You Lixiang¡¯s uniform and asked, "Who are you looking for?" You Lixiang quickly answered, "I¡¯m You Lixiang, from the 712 Task Force, here to find Captain Jiang Yuan." "All the way inside," the officer gestured before sitting back down at his spot. The Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s entrance system was already strictly controlled; internally, there weren¡¯t overlyplex procedures like verification of credentials. A swipe card was sufficient to grant ess. You Lixiang took a deep breath, stepped forward, and found Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk. "Captain Jiang!" You Lixiang recognized Jiang Yuan immediately. The man¡¯s reputation was currently at its peak¡ªrecent days had seen an explosion of chatter about his ability to tie three investigation threads together simultaneously. Though Jiang Yuan saw it as simply adhering to standard investigative procedures, methodically advancing the cases, his in and unembellished style had made him revered among his colleagues. In reality, it was far moremon for investigators to start with multiple threads only for various reasons to fail to fully pursue any of them¡ªthat fragmented pattern was the usual investigative mode. Investigators frequently pulled loose threads, only for them to snap repeatedly¡ªthat was the day-to-day reality. And yet, Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative methods were so straightforward that they¡¯d be exceptionally easy for others toprehend. Take You Lixiang, for example. He could instantly recall Jiang Yuan¡¯s sketches as well as his orchestration of extensive police efforts to identify the location a body entered the water using diatom analysis. Such operations might technically be achievable if you sought out experts, but the real challenge was performing them so meticulously. Even if you spend heavily on experts, failing to follow through makes the effort hard to justify. You Lixiang, a rtively young criminal investigator, had just over 10 years of experience since joining the force. In an elite unit like the Criminal Police Brigade, this level of seniority¡ªeven with a title of captain¡ªrarely afforded the opportunity to lead a major case. His leadership of the 712 Task Force stemmed from the team¡¯s original mandate: investigating a single missing child case. During the investigation, You Lixiang uncovered that beyond Cuigang County in Qingshi City, neighboring cities and counties also reported missing children, thereby consolidating multiple cases into the current major task force. Still, You Lixiang distinctly felt overwhelmed. Not only were there mounting obstacles in the investigation process, but the extensive personnel management tasks were something he wasn¡¯t skilled at. Beyond that, pressure from the families of the missing children increased his anxiety the most. For this very reason, You Lixiang began requesting Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement in the investigation over a week ago. Now the request had been granted, and You Lixiang couldn¡¯t wait. "Captain You, have a seat. Let me finish reviewing this fingerprint first¡ªI¡¯ve already agreed to help someone with the analysis. Once we start working on our case, I might not have time, so I¡¯ll settle this first," Jiang Yuan said while tapping away at hisputer screen. "No problem, take your time," You Lixiang replied, ncing over to see Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone lit up, showing an ongoing chat with "Director Wan Baoming." It struck him immediately that Director Wan Baoming was likely the head of the Criminal Science and Technology Center at the Changyang City Bureau. For criminal investigators in level-based city units like theirs, having dealings with a provincial-level Criminal Science and Technology Center wasmon¡ªsamples they couldn¡¯t handle or examinations they couldn¡¯tplete were often sent there. You Lixiang didn¡¯t even need to see Jiang Yuan¡¯s conversation to guess that Director Wan Baoming must have hit a roadblock on his end. In his mind, You Lixiang began imagining the scenario of solving a case that provincial experts couldn¡¯t crack¡ªhe wondered what that feeling of sess might be like. "So, where are we at with this case?" Jiang Yuan, after matching fingerprints, sent the results back to Wan Baoming and wrote a few replies on WeChat before directing his focus on You Lixiang. You Lixiang quickly stood and responded formally, "Currently, we¡¯re mainly investigating the suspect¡¯s transportation methods and vehicles." Jiang Yuan nodded, "Any progress?" "Not a shred of progress," You Lixiang answered resolutely. "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t expected such a forceful denial. "All five cases urred in rural areas without surveince cameras," You Lixiang exined, standing straight. "The perpetrators targeted children under five years old. Among the five victims, four were left-behind children, and the fifth was usually taken care of by her mother. Unfortunately, when the mother returned to her hometown briefly and left the child in her grandmother¡¯s care, the child was abducted." "So the suspects specifically screened caretakers? Prioritizing left-behind children or children cared for by elderly rtives?" Jiang Yuan began to immerse himself in profiling. "Yes, that¡¯s what we believe," You Lixiang agreed. "Given the nature of the viges in question, where caretakers are predominantly elderly, finding eyewitness ounts has proven difficult¡ªthe witnesses are elders with impaired vision and slower cognitive processing..." "What about checkpoints? Any relevant images captured?" "None," You Lixiang replied after a pause. "From interviews with parents and children in attempted abduction cases, we suspect the perpetrator uses a gray minivan. Likely, the vehicle has two upants: one driving and another executing the abduction, operating swiftly." "How did the attempted abduction fail?" You Lixiang disyed the files he brought to Jiang Yuan and exined, "In that instance, the suspect got out of the vehicle and approached a child ying outside, saying they had chocte to give away before attempting to hold the child¡¯s hand. Just then, the child¡¯s grandmother emerged and shouted, scaring the suspect off." "Did the grandmother catch sight of the suspect or their vehicle?" "She saw them. But with poor eyesight, she only identified it as a gray minivan and didn¡¯t see the suspect¡¯s face clearly," You Lixiang replied, observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s approachable demeanor. He then added, "I believe this failed attempt likely rmed the suspects. Before the failed event, the frequency of abduction attempts was one or two weeks per incident. They¡¯ve gone silent for over a month since then." Having reviewed the case files in the system, Jiang Yuan recalled and asked, "The suspects hit-and-run with each incident, targeting one county for one crime?" "Five cases plus one attempted incident, making six in total. They span six counties, four cities, and two provinces. Additionally, all crime scenes are in highly remote areas," You Lixiang continued, lifting his chin slightly in an assertive gesture. "I uncovered a lead through unrted investigations: there were rumors of children being sold, prices unusually low, primarily children around three or four years old. Suspicions led to further investigation, revealing parallels between these cases." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded but then asked, "In your opinion, what kind of support would crack this case?" "Me?" You Lixiang pointed at himself in surprise. "Yes." "I..." While he had pondered this before, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, he conceded in frustration, "I think it¡¯s very difficult for me to solve this case¡ªthere are no leads and barely any evidence." "I see," Jiang Yuan responded, immediately grasping the case¡¯splexity on a deeper level. A criminal investigator with 10 years of experience, capable of earning recognition as captain of a major team in a significant city like Qinghe¡ªhis investigative skills likely surpassed Jiang Yuan¡¯s. If they were to be analogized as military units, You Lixiang would be akin to elite, battle-tested soldiers from a strong dynasty, such as the Tang Dynasty¡¯s famed Mo Dao Corps, with inherently superior traits. Jiang Yuan, byparison, wouldn¡¯t stand equal in physical prowess or training but had ess to more advanced technical resources¡ªakin to an armored battalion. Regardless of military type, challenges such as marching, enemy scouting, or adapting to environments posed simr problems. "If there¡¯s no objection, I¡¯d like to invite criminal investigators from other counties to discuss this case together," Jiang Yuan proposed a slightly ambitious idea. You Lixiang responded quickly, "No objection whatsoever!" Given that he simply had no means to achieve this himself previously, rejection was thest thing on his mind. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and added, "Since this involves two provinces, it might not be appropriate for me to mediate directly. Let¡¯s request coordination from the provincial department." With that said, Jiang Yuan started navigating his phone. Watching this unfold, You Lixiang felt an unexpected pang of self-pity¡ªit was crystal clear that the resources avable to them were leagues apart! Chapter 1087 - 1018: Loose Ends

Chapter 1087: Chapter 1018: Loose Ends

"Send the location details to Captain You. Captain You, are youing here to coordinate, or will you assign a few people as liaisons?" Once Jiang Yuan got into work mode, he immediately called Wang Chuanxing over to make arrangements. You Lixiang thought for a moment. It was evident that the 712 Task Force couldn¡¯t relocate entirely, so he said, "In that case, I¡¯ll send two people to act as liaisons?" "Good." Jiang Yuan agreed and added, "You go ahead and call your people. I¡¯ll call mine as well." "Alright." You Lixiang responded with a smile. Fifteen minutester. You Lixiang brought over two young officers from the task force to act as runners, while Jiang Yuan summoned two team captains to begin assigning tasks. "I think we should utilize undercover informants. Since there¡¯s chatter circting on the streets, it means the suspect is likely involved in rted circles. Someone might know his identity, or there could be some useful leads," Jiang Yuan suggested. The two team captains, one from the Cybersecurity Brigade and the other from the Public Security Brigade, asked You Lixiang a few questions before heading off to their respective duties. Buoyed with confidence, You Lixiang remarked, "It¡¯s starting to feel a bit like a multi-dimensional operation now. The most frustrating part of requesting resources has always been the long waiting time for feedback." Wang Chuanxing, standing nearby, chuckled. "The longer the dy, the higher the cost. Now that Captain Jiang is on the scene, efficiency is bound to improve." You Lixiang nodded, half-understanding. But he soon witnessed firsthand the efficiency Wang Chuanxing had alluded to. By dinner time, detectives from four other jurisdictions and officials from two provinces had arrived together at the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s guesthouse in Qingshi City. Considering the travel duration, it was impressive they had managed to get here in such a rush. "Let¡¯s have hot pot. Start with a round of all the different meats on the menu." Sitting in the private dining room of the guesthouse, Director Li nced at the menu, handed it back to the server, and smiled. "I heard Jiang Yuan enjoys hot pot, so I thought we might as well amodate." "We¡¯ll make sure to amodate perfectly," chimed in others, subtly alluding to topics hidden within their words as they warmed up the conversation. Jiang Yuan smiled wryly. Though it wasn¡¯t an outright rumor that he loved hot pot, the reputation did seem blown out of proportion. In this situation, however, his social instincts left him no choice but to graciously ept. Liu Jinghui, who was familiar with Jiang Yuan, also found it amusing. This was simr to how, when he had disappeared for a time in the past, there had been plenty of spection he could never clearly dispel. Liu Jinghui had arrived with the provincial officials, effectively taking advantage of unused resources. After some light chatting, Liu Jinghui shifted the topic to the case. "Let¡¯s invite Captain You to give us an overview of the case. The 712 Task Force was the first to take this on, and also the first to consolidate these rted cases into one major investigation..." He provided a brief preamble, mainly to establish the task force¡¯s leading role. Otherwise, with five jurisdictions involved,munication costs could spiral out of control if each insisted on prioritizing their own objectives. You Lixiang was straightforward and said, "Alright, let me share what I know. This case has a few distinct characteristics. First, the locations where the incidents urred: Lanhua Township in Cuigang County is the most remote township in Qingshi City. The local average ie is low, and most young people opt to work outside the area. On the other hand, the birth rate remains rtively high, resulting in many left-behind children." He continued, "Second, the perpetrators are familiar with the cement of our surveince systems. Cuigang County¡¯s Skwork has been slow to develop, so most township roadsck functional cameras. That said, main roads do have active surveince, which should have allowed us to track the suspect¡¯s vehicle. However, even after repeated reviews, we failed to achieve this." Looking at Jiang Yuan and the others, he added, "Initially, I thought the suspect was likely a local or someone from a nearby area, and that this might have been a coincidental crime, but..." He nced at the other team captains before concluding, "Given that this extends across two jurisdictions and each location bears a striking simrity, it feels clear the crimes were premeditated." As they ate hot pot, the group of officers nodded in agreement, as though appreciating the vor of the meat. Liu Jinghui, after chewing on a piece,mented, "If the crimes were so well-prepared, then the sales channels for their human trafficking operation must also be considered. Spreading word on the streets to find buyers sounds rather amateurish." The group nodded again, affirming Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning. You Lixiang, who had evidently given this considerable thought, responded promptly, "Perhaps they¡¯vemitted many such crimes, or they discovered this flow of operations is particrly lucrative, and their original channels couldn¡¯t handle the volume. That might be why they¡¯re expanding their buyer base. Also, I realized they started spreading word on the streets only by chance. Their usual methods for sending messages are quite niche." "How did you discover this?" one of the team captains from another jurisdiction asked. They had joined the investigation precisely because You Lixiang had identified connections among these cases, rather than discovering this independently in their respective locales. You Lixiang responded without hesitation, "I found it on the dark web. The scope of theirmunication primarily targets individuals with prior convictions for human trafficking. If not for a tip from an informant, it probably would¡¯ve taken us much longer to uncover this." "In that case, you must¡¯ve already screened the prior offenders, right?" "Of course. We immediately did a search of all prior offenders. But across so many counties and cities, the number of individuals with records was quiterge. Moreover, the messages might not have been sent directly by the perpetrators; it¡¯s possible they were ryed by middlemen." This caught Liu Jinghui¡¯s attention, and he grew more serious. "That¡¯s a very valuable observation. It¡¯s indeed possible. Human trafficking chains are long andplex, and not all the information woulde directly from the perpetrators. Thoughts from those on the front line are truly unique." Unlike typical crimes, human trafficking is inherently a business¡ªa business not aimed at end consumers. Child abductors or trafficking gangs often choose to sell children to intermediaries or other participants in the trade, rather than directly targeting end-users as seen in drug distribution. Due to varying levels of regional development across the country, this business still has a considerable market. Coupled with instances of willingly selling children, human trafficking markets remain resilient despite efforts to suppress them. A trafficker with the right connections might not even personally engage in abductions; merely acting as a middleman could earn them tens of thousands of yuan. For many people, under various circumstances, that kind of money is highly tempting. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but develop a newfound respect for You Lixiang. For someone to hold their own in an exchange of insights after Liu Jinghui had entered full investigative mode was no easy feat. Of course, You Lixiang¡¯s deductions weren¡¯t purely spective; they were grounded in his deep familiarity with his jurisdiction and his analysis of past cases. While plenty of detectives operate on the front lines, You Lixiang¡¯s ability to stand out reflected exceptional professionalpetence. As the proverbial de in the field, he could likely cut through waves of ordinary offenders until exhaustion set in. The group ate their hot pot in contemtive silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts. Cases involving child abduction and trafficking are notoriously difficult to solve. Their resolution rates are far lower than those of homicide cases. It wasn¡¯t forck of effort; often, it came down to ack of leads. In a coldly rational sense, homicide cases have the advantage of a body serving as both evidence and a source of clues. For child abduction cases, the most critical evidence and clues are inherently tied to the abducted children themselves. "Can we trace the dark webmunication channel back to its source? Alternatively, could we lure someone out? Even if it¡¯s a middleman, we could follow the chain upward," the Criminal Police Brigade captain from Yuwan City suggested. "We tried, but it didn¡¯t work. Cybersecurity, can you handle it?" You Lixiang turned and asked. Jiang Yuan nodded, then turned to Wang Chuanxing beside him. "Ask Cybersecurity if they can make it happen." You Lixiang raised an eyebrow. That phrasing¡ª"can it be done?"¡ªwas much more definitive than other, more tentative approaches he had encountered before. The various Criminal Police Brigade captains from different counties and cities exchanged nces, each sensing the assertiveness Jiang Yuan brought to the table. With that, they began organizing their thoughts and offered their own suggestions: "We still need to track the vehicle involved. The fact that we haven¡¯t yet might just mean we¡¯re approaching it the wrong way. This vehicle appeared across six locations in two provinces. Was it always using out-of-town tes? None of the eyewitnesses seemed to notice the tes, which suggests the car might have been using fake tes¡ªor perhaps it¡¯s not even the same car." "Committing crimes in unfamiliar townships carries significant risks. I suspect this involves multiple perpetrators. Perhaps each one operates in a location they¡¯re familiar with." "If that¡¯s the case, how was this group formed? Were they ex-convicts?" "Another key point: the group hasn¡¯t struck again for over a month. Have they decided to quit? Or are they nning more crimes? Perhaps they have already moved to new locations?" As the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth¡ªor, in this case, drain the appetite from the diners. The discussion had reached the point where several officers found their appetite waning. "The leads are indeed limited," Jiang Yuan remarked. He turned to Liu Jinghui and asked, "Should we ask Director Xu to weigh in?" Chapter 1088 - 1019 Director Xu

Chapter 1088: Chapter 1019 Director Xu

"With so many threads tangled together, asking Director Xu may not be appropriate." The captain of the Criminal Police Brigade in Yuwan City knew that his side was supposed to shoulder the majority of the funding, so he was sensitive when he heard Xu Taining¡¯s name. He also had to consider the uing cases for the next decade. Jiang Yuandao said, "Director Xu is also skilled at unraveling leads. Before he does a thorough check, he usually organizes things first. Let¡¯s ask him. Director Liu, can youmunicate?" "Sure, I¡¯ll align with old Xu." Liu Jinghui agreed with a smile. Jiang Yuan nodded, feeling slightly rxed, took two more pieces of meat, then invited others: "Come, let¡¯s eat first. Once we¡¯re full, we¡¯ll handle the case." Jiang Yuan asked the waiter to mix two more servings of sauce, alternating them with the meat, and ate cheerfully. Seated at the same table were fellow carnivores, but they didn¡¯t share Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui¡¯s mindset. One by one, they began ying with their phones as they ate. Before long, Qingshi City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s captain, Fang Gang, barged in, evidently having received information from the mobile phones being used. "Why are we suddenly talking about Director Xu again?" Fang Gang had no room for pleasantries, relying entirely on assertiveness. Liu Jinghui, having just finished a call with Xu Taining, came over and smiled, "This case involves too many ces; it¡¯s a tangled mess. Asking Director Xu to analyze and find some leads is a good idea." "I thought this isn¡¯t your forte?" Fang Gang unabashedly ttered Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui smiled again and said, "These require thorough investigations. As for the conclusions of the investigation, I can¡¯t make wild guesses. But old Xu, he sometimes can really deduce it." Fang Gang was astonished, "That exaggerated?" Thinking about the predetermined investigation results seemed inappropriate, but such thoughts were idealized, akin to the rational actor model in economics. Fortunately, criminal detection doesn¡¯t adhere to rational actors, probably because there are no rational actors in criminal detection. For every case manager, there is often an expectation when giving directions for an investigation. Some investigation scopes are like shooting arrows whether there¡¯s a target or not; some are highly anticipated, but typically these thoughts remain just expectations. Somemanders deliberately suppress such expectations, striving to return to rationality. In Liu Jinghui¡¯s statement, Xu Taining¡¯s abilities clearly surpassed mere expectations. This piqued Fang Gang¡¯s curiosity, even making him eager to learn the secret. Liu Jinghui simply smiled and said, "After conducting numerous field investigations, it¡¯s something developed through practice." "Ah... just that simple?" You Lixiang also had his ears perked up, listening. Fang Gang, however, scoffed, "That¡¯s the hardest part." Liu Jinghui also nodded, "That¡¯s why when we don¡¯t have the chance to practice ourselves, we let old Xu take a look and filter out a direction first." "Is there anything we can do now?" You Lixiang had already put down his chopsticks, feeling somewhat impatient. As the brigade captain, Fang Gang nced at You Lixiang, "So eager to join the fight?" "I didn¡¯t mean to rush... it¡¯s just that..." You Lixiang hurriedly exined, "As far as I know, Director Xu pays great attention to covering all bases in his work, so on our end... I¡¯m mainly worried that even if no case happens within this month, are they nning any sales?" "Can¡¯t eat anymore." Liu Jinghui also set down his chopsticks. If you were to talk about such spections, how could Liu Jinghui not have thought about it? But thinking about it and speaking it out are different things. Saying those child traffickers are making sales, it would undoubtedly mean selling children. Yet, Liu Jinghui had to rify, "Sales can¡¯t happen; once they get the children, they quickly send them out because keeping them is too dangerous, especially those on the first level. They try to minimize contact with the victims as much as possible." Having started, Liu Jinghui continued, "That¡¯s why they need to contact the buyers in advance, which also means letting the buyers take on certain risks, making it easier to transfer." "We now know the child traffickers are driving a gray van, but we don¡¯t know what kind of car the buyer drives, what transportation they use, and with the next one, it¡¯s even harder to determine." "However, if we can¡¯t find the children, it¡¯s hard to convict the suspects. Those who pass the children along intend just that." You Lixiang listened intently. He invested a lot of time and emotion into the 712 special case and said earnestly, "The more people involved, the more information should surface, right?" "Participants are amunity of interests; why would they leak information easily? Moreover, many people involved in the intermediary stages rely solely on such models for survival. From one ce, they bring a child over, then quickly sell to another person. The price increase in between depends on their asking price, and how many people they can connect with also depends on their skill." Liu Jinghui was familiar with the demeanor of the traffickers as well. "Even if their information circtes internally, it should leak out..." "But speaking of evidence, can we still find the children by then?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s question wasn¡¯t sharp; it was a thought everyone present could have, even knew the answer to, but no one wanted to think it through. This is one of the most nauseating aspects of human trafficking cases. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to discuss it further, stood up, and said, "This brainstorming ends here. Everyone go back and conduct personnel arrangements. Once we get feedback from Director Xu, we¡¯ll decide on specific investigation directions and allocate staff." The criminal police officers didn¡¯t dawdle, promptly taking their leave. A moment ago, the room was bustling with heat, and soon only the hot pot was left steaming alone. Jiang Yuan quietly walked back with Liu Jinghui. This situation, there wasn¡¯t much need for his expertise. However,manding arge-scale team-level task force, in such a setting, Jiang Yuan was the only one capable of doing it. Even Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t do it. Because the head of a task force has to be ountable both upwards and downwards. Police work is very different from regr private sector jobs. No matter how much external temptation and internal conflict this job has, the fact of "being able to solve a case" is always very important. The police officers, working tirelessly all night, huddled in their cars, toiling away day after day in the office, risking their lives in pursuit, are driven by some internal motivation. If they don¡¯t trust the head of the task force and believe he can lead it to victory, the direction of the case often bes highly distorted. Unknowingly, Jiang Yuan had already amassed enough prestige, even bing ustomed to leading suchrge task forces. However, when his technical advantages couldn¡¯t be showcased, Jiang Yuan became slightly anxious. ... Xu Taining¡¯s response was quick. After exchanging a few words with Liu Jinghui, he activated the speakerphone and began speaking with Jiang Yuan. "I¡¯ve reviewed the relevant leads. If it were up to me, I would attempt to conduct a full search of hotels and hostels in several cities." Xu Taining knew what Jiang Yuan needed was merely his expertise, so he spoke inly. Jiang Yuan asked, "Why hotels and hostels?" "Becausemitting crimes across so many ces, it¡¯s almost certain they need to stay somewhere. It¡¯s rare for anyone to travel hundreds of kilometers every day then head back. From a safety perspective, it¡¯s also unsuitable. To return quickly, you¡¯d have to take the highway, which poses some risk for them." Xu Taining exined earnestly. "How do we go about such a wide search?" "You can only rely on meticulous work. I believe starting with this gray van is feasible since more than one person reported seeing it. Actually, I think even targeting this vehicle might work. Investigating it through the transportation system is difficult, but through hotels and hostels, it might turn out to be easier!" "Understood, I¡¯ll incorporate that into our n." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t risk cing all bets on this, but Xu Taining¡¯s perspective was highly convincing. No wonder he¡¯s known for easily persuading leaders to release funding with just a few words. Chapter 1089 - 1020: Elements

Chapter 1089: Chapter 1020: Elements

Conducting an investigation across six cities and multiple counties, including hotels, inns, and homestays, can be considered an extremely extensive operation, but for Xu Taining, it¡¯s more like a trivial task. Xu Taining himself had other work to handle and couldn¡¯t possiblye over just for this minor investigation. If he were to show up, it would be to oversee the entire operation. Simply narrowing down the suspect¡¯s lodging locations wouldn¡¯t necessitate his involvement. So Jiang Yuan broke down the tasks and assigned them to the criminal investigation teams of the six cities and counties. Since it involved multiple cities across two provinces, coordinating a united operation was no small feat. Even if the provincial department stepped in, it could only assist withmunication, as centralizing leadership would require intervention from a higher-ranking authority. At this stage, the capabilities of the respective criminal teams came into y. Honestly speaking, relying on all six criminal investigation teams to perform wlessly is quite unrealistic. An organization, by its nature, is even moreplex than an individual. From a simple perspective, just as individuals might deal with headaches or other minor ailments, organizations also go through their phases of inconsistency. On a moreplex level, such transient states can directly affect work efficiency. This is precisely why Xu Taining¡¯s proposed ns often manage to secure substantial funding from even the stingiest leaders. Upon hearing any of his proposals, it¡¯s hard for them not to get tempted. For instance, in this "Six County n," it didn¡¯t matter if all six criminal investigation teams weren¡¯t entirely reliable. Under Xu Taining¡¯s method, the investigations could fail for several reasons: the direction might be wrong¡ªmaybe the perpetrator didn¡¯t even park their vehicle in the nearby cities or counties. Perhaps they routinely returned to a hiddenir or drove directly to the crime site without stopping, struck quickly, and vanished, or maybe they just slept in the vehicle itself. Any of these situations could lead to dead ends in the investigation. Alternatively, in a more likely scenario, the traffickers weren¡¯t operating in such a frugal capacity. Instead, they might have stayed ahead of time in various spots, scouted the surroundings, executed their ns to snatch children, and then left immediately afterward. Thetter scenario, clearly, is more probable. Moreover, if this was indeed the model they used, even if one or two criminal teams were unreliable, the rest would still yield answers. From an error tolerance standpoint, Xu Taining¡¯s n was almost maxed out. The individual costs per operation also weren¡¯t exceptionally high. For investigations of this scale, the primary expense was transportation. Since police officers aren¡¯t paid overtime, stations with limited budgets meant criminal officers had to pay out of pocket for meals during overtime shifts. At wealthier units, providing one free meal and a bottle of salty soda water was considered extravagant. Overall, Xu Taining¡¯s quickly devised investigation n turned out to be the most reliable approach among all current directions in this case¡ªthough it was undeniably the costliest among them. Still, Jiang Yuan believed that if Director Xu personally took charge, he¡¯d surelye up with an even costlier and more refined solution. ... Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t participate in the hotel inspections. This kind of work, whether handled by criminal investigators, the public security unit, or local police stations offering assistance, was painstakingly tedious. It didn¡¯t require advanced forensic expertise and could be safely left to officers equipped with strong stamina and persistence¡ªan old-school policing method. The other investigative directions were simr. Whether involving undercover informants, cyber security analysis, or tracking known offenders, none required Jiang Yuan¡¯s unique set of skills. Instead, Jiang Yuan opted to visit the nearest crime scene in Qingshi City. Although it was already an old crime scene, without bloodstains, DNA, or other traces, primary crime scenes are always critical. Moreover, to put it inly, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise in crime scene investigation was undoubtedly among the best in the country. Another point of interest for Jiang Yuan was his skepticism about how the surveince had failed to capture anything useful. Today¡¯s monitoring system, colloquially referred to as "Sk," could be considered highly developed. While it wasn¡¯t without its ws¡ªthe system had countless loopholes, typical of any government-funded infrastructure¡ªit still posed significant challenges for any perpetrator. Generally speaking, for all their cunning, criminals¡¯ best efforts rarely outmatch the deliberate negligence of ipetent officials. This asymmetric dynamic, drawing from the governance experience dating back to the Tang Dynasty in China, still defined modern societal operations. Completely evading surveince¡ªeven after scouting locations and routes in advance¡ªis undeniably difficult. The key issue here was that for a human trafficking ring reliant on child abduction for profit to sessfully bypass surveince six consecutive times, their operational capabilities seemed almost overly formidable. Jiang Yuan spent over two hours driving before he finally arrived at Lanhua Township in Cuigang County, Qingshi City. Leaving central Qingshi City took just 20 minutes. Entering Cuigang County was another 40 to 50 minutes. However, covering the 30 to 40 kilometers from Cuigang County to Lanhua Township took an entire hour. The crime scene was located in Jide Vige, south of Lanhua Township. By local standards, it was a rtivelyrge vige, featuring an elementary school, a small grocery store, a yground, and a mix of over 200 elderly people and children as residents. Smaller surrounding viges would even send people here for schooling and shopping. However, Jide Vige itself had no surveince, not even in the small grocery store, where cameras were deliberately omitted. The incident urred on the stretch of road between the elementary school and the grocery store. This road was partly a county road and partly a vige road. The vige road was a little over three meters wide and had only been constructed in the past decade. The county road, wide enough for two cars to run parallel, showed minor signs of wear and tear. Furtherplicating matters, there was also no surveince within a two-kilometer radius of Jide Vige. Yet, based on the map, for the suspect¡¯s gray van to reach Jide Vige, it surely had to pass through the county road and nearby vehicle checkpoints several kilometers away. The fact that it hadn¡¯t been captured there directly implied that Jiang Yuan, utilizing Level 3 technical surveince technology and Level 6 "Image Investigation¡ªTrajectory Analysis," determined on-site that they likely took alternative routes to bypass the checkpoints entirely. This opened up a wealth of possibilities. One possibility was that the suspect was particrly clever, having identified the checkpoints¡¯ locations and deliberately avoided them without leaving behind evidence. Another possibility was sheer luck: for some coincidental reason, they missed being gged at a checkpoint. Yet another possibility was assistance from locals or coboration with gang members familiar with the area¡ªor perhaps a night entry. Due to outdated monitoring equipment in the area, nighttime video resolution was abysmal, offering little meaningful detail. "Zhiyang, Yaowei, you two each take a car and try bypassing the two surveince points from here. Take separate routes¡ªone towards the west and one towards the south," Jiang Yuan instructed Mu Zhiyang and Shen Yaowei. He also assigned additional officers to both vehicles to record the difficulty of circumnavigating the checkpoints. The "Sk" surveince system bes increasingly sparse the further one moves from city centers towards rural areas. As a fixed-point monitoring system, expecting it to form an imprable web is unrealistic. It primarily deters individuals unfamiliar with this system. In essence, Sk operates on an information gap. An individual aiming to evade its detection has several options avable. However, intentional evasion tends to distort behavior, which serves as the system¡¯s primary psychological deterrent against professional criminals. That said, criminals¡ªespecially those in well-organized gangs¡ªwill inevitably find methods to exploit the system. However, monitoring isn¡¯t the sole tool in the police arsenal. Shen Yaowei and Mu Zhiyang both returned in less than half an hour. "There¡¯s a small road¡ªeasy to bypass," Shen Yaowei reported after getting out of the car and began sketching the route on paper. "There are at least two or three narrownes suitable for vehicles. The checkpoint is at a crossroads, and the neighboring vige is popted by many residents¡ªsome run trucking businesses and others operate farm-stay operations. The road conditions are good and provide effortless workaround routes." Mu Zhiyang waited for him to finish before stepping forward to add, "I went west¡ªalso manageable for detouring. However, I found only one old path. It¡¯s rough and not in great condition, so you¡¯d need to drive slowly." "So, avoiding the checkpoint doesn¡¯t necessarily require local assistance. As long as someone knows where the surveince is, it¡¯s pretty straightforward to bypass," Shen Yaowei concluded efficiently, well aware of what Jiang Yuan was after. Jiang Yuan gave a slight nod and asked, "How would they know the locations of the surveince?" "Purchased resources from the dark web?" Shen Yaowei spected, keeping up with modern trends. Jiang Yuan neither confirmed nor denied. "It¡¯s possible." Mu Zhiyang added, "Traversing entirely over rough roads would be safer. That old path I took seems quite long¡ªno possibility of surveince there, that¡¯s for sure." "But if the road is too rough, that wouldn¡¯t work either," Shen Yaowei remarked. Mu Zhiyang replied, "Even the county road we took to get here had many worn-out sections." "No matter whether it¡¯s full rough roads or partial, evading monitoring will require at least some detours onto poor-quality roads," Jiang Yuan said before turning to Wang Chuanxing. "Coordinate with the team leads in the group chat and suggest including this as a consideration in investigative questioning." Chapter 1090 - 1021: Chance Encounter

Chapter 1090: Chapter 1021: Chance Encounter

Several criminal investigation team captains, including Jiang Yuan and the provincial department officials, were constantlymunicating in the group chat. Six different county and city criminal investigation teams searched for traces of the gray van within their respective jurisdictions. If you say it¡¯s simple, it¡¯s incredibly simple¡ªit¡¯s merely a routine task for criminal investigators. But if you say it¡¯splicated, everyone was essentially doing simr work. Whether someone finds it or doesn¡¯t, finds it first orter... it really makes no difference, aside from the fact that whoever finds it first feels like they¡¯ve won. In a male-dominated criminal investigation team, this sense ofpetition bes the greatest motivation. Who can ept losing to a neighboring city¡¯s criminal investigation team? Huang Qiangmin, for example, wouldn¡¯t let Hou Lejia from Longli County overshadow him. Even the police dog squad¡¯s Dazhuang, whose primary benchmark was Longli County¡¯s decorated dog Heizi, felt pressured to surpass Heizi¡ªeven post-retirement. That¡¯s why Huang Qiangmin specifically selected personnel from all sides to form this group. He hadn¡¯t said a single word in the group chat. Because as long as the right individuals were chosen, thepetition would naturally emerge. Even if the group appeared harmonious on the surface. You Lixiang: [We¡¯ve swept through the main street and found no clues. What about you?] Zhang Zhicheng: [We¡¯re also sweeping the main street. Found something, checked it out, then realized it wasn¡¯t a real clue.] Gaosong Qi: [Pretty much the same. We uncovered a brothel and arrested seven or eight sex workers.] Liu Wenkai: [Were they good-looking?] Gaosong Qi: [Decent. But why does that matter?] Liu Wenkai: [If the women are too attractive, they wouldn¡¯t match the profile of criminals driving a rundown van. So hotels with beautiful women shouldn¡¯t attract van-driving traffickers.] Gaosong Qi: [Makes sense. But aftermitting their crimes and making money, wouldn¡¯t they still seek out women?] Liu Wenkai: [This group seems very cautious. If they look for women, I doubt they¡¯d do it in the crime location. They¡¯re more likely to choose ces like Changyang City¡ªconvenient and safe.] Gaosong Qi: [You¡¯re right. By the way, are you the leader of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team?] This time, Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t respond. After a long silence, suddenly another message popped up: Gaosong Qi: [Why did Liu leave the chat just now? I was going to add him.] Huang Qiangmin: [His work arrangements have changed; he¡¯s been reassigned.] Gaosong Qi: [That¡¯s unfortunate. Was he a criminal investigator from Ningtai County too?] Huang Qiangmin: [He used to be.] Several hundred miles away, Liu Wenkai stared at the notification reading "You have been removed from the group chat," consumed by a lingering sense of confusion. ... Jiang Yuan peered through a dusty window at the gray-toned world outside, his mood tinged with gloom. He had already scouted four crime scenes but hadn¡¯t found anything worthwhile. Mu Zhiyang noticed his somber mood and turned to look back from the passenger seat. "These traffickers are kind of like gray mice, always skirting along the edges. But they can¡¯t possibly remain hidden forever¡ªwe¡¯ll grab them by the tail eventually. I feel like it¡¯s close." Wang Chuanxing chimed in supportively, "Six crime scenes¡ªyou usually see results by the fifth in TV dramas. It feels logical." "You¡¯re right. There should be findings at the next crime scene," Mu Zhiyang said to encourage Jiang Yuan. "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was only slightly downcast. Talking with them had already lifted his spirits. He even smiled and asked, "What if we don¡¯t find anything?" "If there¡¯s nothing..." Mu Zhiyang gritted his teeth. "Then we¡¯ll have to call on Director Xu Taining." Wang Chuanxing couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. "That¡¯d be like a ¡¯beacon fire to summon feudal lords.¡¯" Mu Zhiyang wasn¡¯t as quick to catch the reference. "What does summoning feudal lords have to do with this? Is Captain Jiang supposed to be King Zhou?" "Logically speaking, Captain Jiang ought to be Baosi," Wang Chuanxing joked, shrinking his neck back immediately and exining himself to Jiang Yuan. "Captain Jiang, I¡¯m just kidding around¡ªit¡¯s nonsense." "Don¡¯t worry. Rxing a bit is good. Okay, after this round of site investigations, let¡¯s stay back at the station and patiently wait for results from other directions. There¡¯s still a lot of work ahead, and running around like this isn¡¯t sustainable." Jiang Yuan rubbed his aching waist, feeling an intense weariness. Though he was young, fatigue had set in deeply¡ªand the older team members were surely enduring even worse. Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang had long been ready to stop running around. They caught each other¡¯s eye and quickly agreed. Compared to Jiang Yuan, their physical endurance was worse, and their workload heavier¡ªthey had more physical tasks and had been running continuously for days on end, utterly exhausted. Jiang Yuan nodded at their reaction. "If you don¡¯t object, let¡¯s finish thesest two investigations and then take a break." "Hand the next steps over to other teams?" Mu Zhiyang twisted his body, feeling unustomed to the idea. "We haven¡¯t been this passive before." "Let the mice face their pursuers. Once we¡¯ve rested up, we¡¯ll catch the heads of the operation," Jiang Yuan rified, reassuring himself as well. After all, the chain of human traffickers was incredibly long. It wasn¡¯t necessary to fixate on capturing its top leaders. Of course, the leaders were undoubtedly the most valuable targets, but in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, the priority was recovering the five kidnapped children. Achieving that might only require capturing the mid-level criminals¡ªnot necessarily the heads. "I¡¯m going to sleep for a bit." Jiang Yuan rxedpletely. Previously, he had been ustomed to tackling cases solo¡ªeven when teaming up with other units, he insisted on being the primary force. But this time, the traffickers¡¯ rudimentary counter-detection methods proved startlingly effective. The crime scenes were already sparse in evidence, and the group maintained an ongoing pattern of sticking to back routes. Inspecting the sites made it obvious¡ªthey were a hardened group, used to hardship. Substitute them with pampered white-cor criminals, and there¡¯s no way they could sustain a few dozen kilometers per day, let alone weeks of intense work¡ªit wouldn¡¯t be worth the money. Conventional forensic methods had failed, and even technical investigation yielded no useful clues. It wasn¡¯t that they didn¡¯t use mobile phones, but their dependency on them appeared low. Frequent changes of phones and numbers¡ªor even refraining from carrying phones during crimes¡ªwere all usible scenarios. People like this were either exceptionally trained criminals or marginalized tough-as-nails individuals. Thetter, if decent people, might bebeled as the lower strata of society. If they were criminals, though, they¡¯d just be called social outcasts¡ªprecisely fitting the profile of traffickers. However, in this day and age, such resilient outcasts were rare; those with both grit and execution capability, even rarer. From people who endure hardship to those who exploit others¡¯ hardships, sometimes, it¡¯s just a fine line. The fifth crime scene yielded no results either. The sixth scene was also fruitless. The police officers apanying Jiang Yuan grew somewhat anxious, though Wang Chuanxing and Mu Zhiyang reassured them. Wang Chuanxing: "Captain Jiang anticipated this would be the pattern with the case¡ªit¡¯s just an additional check to cover all bases. So, it¡¯s no big deal if there are no leads." Mu Zhiyang: "Think of Captain Jiang as Baosi¡ªhe¡¯ll wake up from his sleep looking radiant." The team naturally epted Wang Chuanxing¡¯s exnation. By the time Jiang Yuan announced the break and woke up rejuvenated, many couldn¡¯t help wondering if Mu Zhiyang was indeed the Emperor¡¯s closest confidant. ... Yuwan City. Two police officers shuffled into a Quanji Hotel with a tired demeanor, asking questions for some time before checking the surveince footage. Leaving the hotel, their heads hung low once more. Investigating a gray van from over a month ago was nearly impossible for a bustling hotel. Only after thorough questioning could definitive eliminations be made. This created significant pressure for the officers conducting the knock-and-check routine. "Call the boss," the older officer said, stretchingzily. "If today doesn¡¯t pan out, let¡¯s stop here. We¡¯re worn out." "Alright." The younger counterpart, simrly exhausted, picked up his phone and dialed. After making the call, he habitually lit a cigarette to smoke. Halfway through, he remembered his partner but turned to find no sign of him. He walked around for a hundred meters but still couldn¡¯t see him anywhere. Now slightly anxious, his pace quickened into a jog. That¡¯s when his partner¡¯s voice reached his ears: "Over here!" Looking in the direction of the shout, he saw his partner squatting behind a metal fence, tangled in overgrown weeds. Beyond the weedsy a dirty-gray van. Chapter 1091 - 1022: A World Turned Upside Down

Chapter 1091: Chapter 1022: A World Turned Upside Down

"Captain Gu, we found a gray van. It looks like it just came off a rough road. It has a local license te, but the registration doesn¡¯t quite match. The car¡¯s side profile doesn¡¯t align; it shouldn¡¯t be the same model. It seems to be a cloned te vehicle," two officers hiding behind the grass reported via phone. A gray van, dirty, with a cloned te¡ªthese three features perfectly fit the profile of a suspected vehicle used in crimes. Within Yuwan City, encountering a vehicle that matches all three criteria is statistically highly unlikely. It could almost certainly be treated as the suspected vehicle in this case. On the other end of the call, Captain Gu immediately reacted and asked, "Where is it located? Are there any suspects nearby?" "Haven¡¯t seen any suspects yet. Xiao Zhang has sent you the location. It¡¯s very close to the Quanji Hotel in this area, but it¡¯s likely a private homestay, the type you find in residential neighborhoods. The vehicle is parked in a ground-level parking lot in the housing area, separate from Quanji. We almost missed it." The older officer answered. "We¡¯ll have to deal with these unlicensed homestayster," Captain Gu noted before adding, "Stay safe, and keepmunication open." "Understood." "Reinforcements will arrive in five minutes at the earliest; SWAT is already on its way. They¡¯ll need about fifteen minutes," Captain Gu replied as he swiftly deployed personnel. To maximize the search effort, he had assigned personnel in pairs, distributed across various zones. The advantage of such an arrangement was a thorough and detailed search of each area, meeting the requirements for door-to-door checks. The downside was the dispersion of officers, which could pose risks in encounters with highly dangerous criminals. However, the level of cruelty among criminals today was significantly lower than it was twenty years ago. Generally speaking, most offenders avoided targeting police unless absolutely necessary. Taking out two officers was a tall order, as doing so and exposing themselves essentially amounted to suicide. Still, while such broad analyses provided helpful context, the two officers on-site couldn¡¯t entirely shake off their nervous tension. The exact number of suspects this time remained uncertain. Normally, there would be at least two, possibly armed. Given the level of threat, it was fair to say the situation was highly dangerous. After hanging up, the two officers began inspecting their equipment. To be honest, they didn¡¯t carry much gear. They were there for door-to-door visits, hoping to track the gray van¡¯s trail, not stumble directly upon it. In fact, since they had to walk over eight hours daily, officers conducting these visits often traveled as light as possible. Between the two of them, they carried only a pair of handcuffs, an extendable baton, a high-powered shlight, a water bottle each, and enforcement recorder devices¡ªhardly battle-ready equipment. "Maintain distance and focus on surveince," the older detective instructed as he scanned the surroundings before retreating to a corner wall with his partner. He added, "If they try to run, let them. Let¡¯s see how far this crappy van can make it out of the city." "And if they try to escape on foot?" The younger officer asked, still in a learning mindset. The senior detective nced at him. "You¡¯ve got a knack for quizzes, huh? If they escape on foot, it might get tricky. If worstes to worst, we¡¯ll have to follow them. Advance when they retreat; retreat when they advance. Understood?" "Kiting, right? I¡¯m solo top in games," the younger officer replied smugly. "I don¡¯t understand what you¡¯re talking about. But if you¡¯re advancing while they retreat, stay alert lest they¡¯re armed. Human traffickers like these often carry makeshift weapons out of fear of being surrounded," the senior detective warned. "Got it. Short range to counter long range. Keep distance under control to avoid unnecessary losses," the younger officer confidently paralleled his gaming experience with the job. "Even a homemade weapon can be lethal if you get hit," the older officer remarked, refraining from deting his partner¡¯s burgeoning confidence. Though not much older¡ªaround seven or eight years¡ªthe senior detective often felt worlds apart. Back in his school days, video games were demonized, and he hadn¡¯t had the chance to y any after joining the force. Watching younger colleagues engrossed in games now felt like stepping into a strange, distant era. Bzzz... The phone¡¯s vibration was immediately answered by the older officer. "Hello?" "Old Cat and I have arrived," his colleague reported from the other end. The older detective exhaled in relief. "Good. It¡¯s just you two? Have you spotted the suspect vehicle? Try circling around to the back of this residential building. Don¡¯t let anyone escape." "Will do. You¡¯re safe on your end, correct?" "No danger here," the older officer assured decisively, concealing any earlier tension. After all, the arrival of reinforcements transformed the dynamic entirely. In situations where the number of suspects was unknown, two officers alone faced significant risk. But with wave after wave of backup arriving, the danger diminished drastically. It¡¯s like digging graves in the dead of night¡ªterrifying enough to double your heart rate if it¡¯s just two people. But with 200 digging together, it¡¯s just overtime work; too little pay would annoy them more than the dead ever could. Police officers weren¡¯t inherently fearless, nor was such courage a requirement for joining the police academy. But with reinforcements pouring in, the older detective¡¯s confidence swelled. By the time the first team arrived, his focus had shifted to preventing suspects from escaping on foot. When another vehicle of officers arrived, the broader perimeter was secured¡ªpreventing any desperate attempts to vault property walls. Within fifteen minutes, as the first SWAT vehicle came to a halt, the older detective adjusted his uniform and prepared to enter the residential area to locate the suspects¡¯ homestay. One by one, calls were made to the property management andndlord. After obtaining the passcode to the property¡¯s smart lock, the officers rushed inside in full gear...only to find the ce deserted. By this time, Captain Gu Jiaxiong of the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Third Squad had taken the lead at the scene. Regretting the result, he gave clear instructions, "Search the area thoroughly. Be mindful of evidence; do not destroy any traces. Jiang Yuan will definitelye to inspectter." "A three-bedroom unit suggests a significant number of suspects, and it¡¯s usible they used this location to detain abducted children..." "Expand the search radius for surveince footage. Check nearby streets, shops, and any monitored parking areas." After issuing standardmands, Captain Gu picked up his phone to file a report but added, "Ensure the scene is well-preserved. Don¡¯t disturb anything until Jiang Yuan arrives." ... Jiang Yuan awoke from a nap to a phone call and discovered the case had undergone a seismic shift. Where they once had no evidence, now there was a van and a house. Where they had no descriptions of suspects, there were now hard drives full of imagery. Where they had no trace of the suspects¡¯ movements, there was now a clear trail mapped out. Summoning the Cold Case Squad team, Jiang Yuan waved them over and said, "We said we¡¯d rest for a few days, and suddenly leads are flooding in. Pack your stuff; we leave in ten minutes." The team, who had been ready for some well-earned downtime, let out unidentifiable groans but scrambled to their rooms. Even the men, though low-maintenance, would need to take care of certain essentials first. Video conferencing all the way, Jiang Yuan headed straight to the traffic police division¡¯s vehicle dismantling lot upon arriving in Yuwan City. The house might also provide evidence, but vehicles tend to retain more clues. Hair and other biological material are rtively easier to clean from rooms. Right now, the suspects remained atrge, and more critically, several abducted children were still missing. Naturally, the most conclusive evidence had to be prioritized for analysis. "Appreciate your hard work," Jiang Yuan greeted upon arrival, noticing Captain Gu Jiaxiong already waiting. Captain Gu, the sole winner of the six-city joint investigationpetition, could barely suppress the grin tugging at the corner of his lips. "It¡¯s a pity we couldn¡¯t locate the suspect vehicle earlier and let them slip away," Gu feigned regret. Considering the other cities hadn¡¯t even caught a glimpse of the vehicle¡ªliterally not even its shadow¡ªhis finding of it was no small feat. Jiang Yuan, tactful as ever, humored him. "Finding the vehicle itself is already a major breakthrough. Now that we have imagery of the suspects, the case is mostly solved. Have you confirmed their identities?" "We¡¯ve identified three suspects so far. Two of them were involved in organized crime and were previously targeted in operations a few years ago. The leader, however, always wears a mask and hat, often adding sunsses when outside. His identity remains unconfirmed," Captain Gu replied briskly. "That¡¯s already impressive. Once this case is solved, the Criminal Police Brigade of Yuwan City deserves top honors," Jiang Yuan dered forcefully. This was exactly what Captain Gu wanted to hear. His eyes lit up, and he could only wish someone had recorded the moment. The officers from the Yuwan City Bureau present also felt a sense of pride, unable to suppress smiles. This round of checks had required more than just the efforts of the Third Squad¡¯s detectives. The Criminal Police Brigade was perpetually short-staffed, so support from the bureau¡¯s patrol units, SWAT teams, and other departments had to be coordinated to gather enough manpower. Even with over 200 officers participating daily, everyone still had to put in two to three hours of overtime toplete the scheduled tasks. On average, each officer walked over 10 km per day¡ªa collective effort over so many days producing staggering numbers. In truth, officers in the other five cities didn¡¯t walk any less, but without results to show for it, confidence waned even among the heads of their detective squads. After exchanging a few more remarks, Jiang Yuan slipped on gloves and climbed into the van to begin his forensic examination. The gray-cloned-te van had been the suspects¡¯ crime vehicle, cycling through six cities in over a month. Its interior bore a massive amount of evidence. Jiang Yuan first collected hair samples in bulk. Feeling he had enough for a round of testing, he directed them to be sent to theb. Then, he shifted to focusing on fingerprint collection. DNA analysis in theb often requires batch processing and takes at least half a day to produce results, especially for non-blood samples. In contrast, fingerprints are far quicker, and Jiang Yuan could analyze them immediately on-site. In no time, Jiang Yuan¡¯s PAD disyed ten distinct sets of fingerprints. "Among them, three sets belong to the victims. Out of the remaining seven, two match the ex-convicts seen on surveince, and the other five... well, they¡¯re all ex-convicts with organized crime backgrounds," Jiang Yuan noted, pausing briefly as he wrapped up scanning the vehicle¡¯s key areas. Captain Gu¡¯s grin faded. "If these all belong to our suspects, that means this group has at least seven members?" Jiang Yuan nodded, retrieving his phone. "For them to leave the vehicle abandoned here for over a month raises questions. We have to track them down." Chapter 1092 - 1023: Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows

Chapter 1092: Chapter 1023: Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows

Police arrests also require preparation. To put it in terms more understandable to the average person¡ªit requires an appointment. The kind of "onemand, everyone assembles" scenario applies to the military or SWAT teams, but not to criminal police. Everyday criminal police are either traveling,pleting assignments, buried in officeputers writing reports, filling out forms, and adding supplementary materials, or attending meetings, listening to directions from superiors¡ªapart from that, it¡¯s evident that, as humans, they also need rest. If you call people without scheduling... of course, given Jiang Yuan¡¯s current status, issuing an order to assemble hundreds of people is not a problem. However, being in such a position of responsibility, if he has the authority to issue orders, he must also consider that onemand increases the workload for everyone involved. For this case, although urgent, arrests were not something that could be immediately carried out. First, identities and locations needed confirmation. Jiang Yuan estimated it would take a day to finalize this. By tomorrow, whatever number of suspects had been confirmed would be arrested. Considering these individuals might be scattered across different cities, today wasrgely dedicated to coordinating with the local police departments. Jiang Yuan was using his time efficiently inspecting the van. The fingerprints on the surface were thoroughly scanned, revealing six individuals¡¯ prints, including one from a victim, three from ex-convicts, and two from previously clean individuals. Still, at this stage, even those with no criminal record needed to be brought to the police station for scrutiny. Following a sequence of Level 3 + Level 4 fingerprint analysis, the investigation escted to a Level 5 crime scene inspection. Hair, skin kes, and other DNA samples inside the van were meticulously collected. Jiang Yuan subsequently sorted out the trash inside, using Level 4 garbage ssification. He swiftly categorized it by type and time, identifying further fingerprints and DNA within. Finally, Jiang Yuan instructed the dismantling center to elevate the vehicle and conducted a Level 3 vehicle trace analysis,pleting the entire vehicle inspection process. If Jiang Yuan initiallycked opportunities to apply his skills, with this gray van he truly utilized every ability to its fullest, exposing every single secret. "That¡¯s about it," Jiang Yuan remarked, signing thest report before checking the time. It was already 3 a.m. The apanying officers swayed, clearly exhausted beyond measure. Jiang Yuan felt rtively fine. Although tired, he didn¡¯t experience the usual deathly fatigue. Thinking it through, he suspected this was due to the overnight (Level 2) energy boost effect. "Sleep, sleep. We¡¯ll sweep the house tomorrow." Jiang Yuan had no intention of pulling an all-nighter. Everyone was overwhelmingly fatigued, and collecting evidence required clear-headed intelligence. Forcing the issue could easily lead to mistakes. The team burst into apuse at the suggestion, quickly finding a nearby budget hotel to crash for the night. The next morning. Jiang Yuan woke naturally at 9 a.m., suspecting that the less-than-six-hour sleep was still linked to the overnight (Level 2) side effect. Most of the detectives hadn¡¯t slept until thatte, having been called back to their respective teams by their captains. Jiang Yuan had scheduled today¡¯s arrest operations, but since fewer personnel were needed, the remaining officers naturally returned to standby mode. The topic of insufficient police manpower, though discussed endlessly, was a real and persistent issue. Jiang Yuan assembled a teamprising two forensic technicians from Yuwan City, along with Mu Zhiyang and Shen Yaowei, to investigate the previously-identified rental property. Wang Chuanxing was heading to Qingshi City¡¯smand center to managemunications. Jiang Yuan also instinctively transferredmand authority to the provincial headquarters¡¯ leadership. This case spanned two provinces, with the arrest radius covering their capitals. Over more than a month, seven suspects had been identified, currently dispersed across four different cities. Given their connections to organized crime, the police anticipated their "coteral damage capacity" to be exceptionally high. Compared to this, despite Jiang Yuan¡¯s ster reputation¡ªeven capable of leading a national task force on cases¡ªit remained focused on investigative areas. While he was qualified to direct physical operations, Jiang Yuan intentionally refrained. This wasn¡¯t a power Jiang Yuan relished. Without allocating sufficient skill points, he still preferred technical work. The group, traveling in two vehicles, quickly arrived at the rental property¡¯s neighborhood. Situated near the city center, it was an older residential area made up of sub-fifteen-story aging buildings. Despite its prime location and cheap property fees, management was rtivelyx. The outdoor parking lot had long opened itself to public vehicles, serving as the main profit source for the property staff. Themunity¡¯s demographic mix wasplex, with privately-operated guesthouses, nail salons, beauty stores, and even apartment spas scattered throughout. For the locals, this type of setup offered rtively low living costs¡ªproperty fees recently raised to two cents per square meter¡ªbut living quality tended to be lower. Still, for those without high standards, such apartments were quite convenient. One forensic policeman from Yuwan City remarked, "The guesthouse we¡¯re investigating today operates on a short-term rental model, with a minimum rental period of one week and fairly low rates averaging 189 yuan per day. The suspect rented it for two months straight, so thendlord stopped leasing it to others afterward. The traces inside should stille directly from the suspects." "Renting a guesthouse for two months? Even at 189 a day, that adds up, doesn¡¯t it?" Shen Yaowei asked. The forensic officer replied, "Thendlord gave them a deal, charging 150 a day, the equivalent of 3,000 yuan monthly, 6,000 for two months. Normally, renting simr properties long-term would cost 1,300 or 1,400 a month. But yearly leases require a two-month deposit. It¡¯s standard practice for Yuwan City." Shen Yaowei scoffed, "For ex-cons driving a broken-down van, 6,000 yuan is significant. Renting this kind of ce definitely has a purpose, perhaps like a rabbit¡¯s burrow?" "Probably for their next crime," Mu Zhiyang said. "They might be gauging our reaction before deciding whether to continue." "Nice deduction, Old Mu," Shen Yaowei remarked, yfully feigning admiration. Truth be told, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s spection matched the gang¡¯s current operational pattern. Typically, crime syndicates rarely face concentrated police raids. Synchronized and prepared arrests were virtually unheard of, requiring thorough investigation, coordinated manpower, and immediate action across departments. To warrant such treatment, the crime level¡ªor their sheer bad luck¡ªneeded to reach at least Level 3. In most cases,w enforcement first apprehends one or two members of a gang. Using these detainees, they build the case and pursue subsequent arrests. It¡¯s not unusual for gang-rted cases to span one or two years; by then, the suspects arrested earlier often await bail hearings while the investigations are still iplete. As a result, some criminals keenly aware of severe legal consequences opt to flee. While escaping carries steep costs for ordinary folks, advancements in tracking technology have reduced police expenses, leaving fugitives at higher risk for additional charges. For experienced offenders¡ªfrequent jail visitors or former active gang members¡ªthe mental burden of fleeing is much lighter. They often treat theirpanions as probing tools. Correspondingly, preparing safe houses, money, identification, and vehicles bes crucial when evadingw enforcement. Modern escape technology boils down to a handful of areas. Proper preparation for hiding spots significantly boosts the odds of sess. Cars, cash, IDs, spare SIM cards¡ªincreasingyers trantes to higher probabilities. At this, Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes gleamed: "Alright, let¡¯s search thoroughly and see if we can uncover anything left behind by the suspects." Buoyed by this idea, everyone¡¯s enthusiasm soared, speeding up their preparations upon entering the guesthouse. If they could locate evidence of suspects¡¯ contingency ns, it would surely make headlines in the forensicmunity. Jiang Yuan donned his hood and mask, systematically collecting samples and carefully searching in sequence. Beep. Beep. Beep... The room¡¯s keypad lock chirped three times, followed by steady beeps¡ªbeep... beep... beep¡ªas someone keyed in the code. In the first half-second, no one inside reacted, continuing their tasks as usual. A momentter, they all furrowed their brows and cautiously scanned their surroundings. "Who else knows the passcode? Has it been changed?" Jiang Yuan quickly and quietly asked. "No one. Our officers have left, and even if they¡¯de here, they¡¯d be toozy to enter the code themselves," remarked one Yuwan City forensic policeman swiftly. This guesthouse featured a twelve-digit password, longer than a phone number, requiring more time to input¡ªbarely enough space for exchanging two sentences. Mu Zhiyang decisively stepped out of the bedroom, bent down, and retrieved police gear from a single-officer equipment bag on the floor. Jiang Yuan also came to quick realization, sprinting out of the bedroom while calling out in a low voice, "Prepare for tactical action. It could be the rabbit returning." Beep. The person outside pressed the final # key, triggering a click that unlocked the door. Chapter 1093 - 1024: Seeing the Gun

Chapter 1093: Chapter 1024: Seeing the Gun

Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan out to survey the scene, so he carried very little equipment. In his single police backpack, there were only standard tools like a baton, handcuffs, a stun stick, and pepper spray. Fortunately, he habitually carried a Type 92 pistol, and this time, he picked it up without hesitation. Seeing the gun in Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hand, the two technical officers immediately felt somewhat relieved, though their tension quickly ramped up again. The person entering might very well be linked to organized crime, possibly a suspect forced back to this den due to a police sweep. In such a situation, holding a gun seemed entirely reasonable, didn¡¯t it? And then... Shootout in a confined space? Everyone here had some training in ballistics, and even if their scores were lousy, they should understand¡ªthis is absolutely a gamble with life. In such an environment, low-power bullets can ricochet, while high-power bullets could prate bodies, furniture, even walls. Even if not directly hit, fragments of objects shattered by the bullet could spray onto anyone, possibly causing death or injury. Shen Yaowei followed closely behind and also pulled out a Type 92. Carrying a gun is a hassle. In China, it¡¯s moremon for police officers not to carry firearms. Only detectives from major-case squads or anti-narcotics officers typically carry firearms daily. However, since Shen Yaowei shot and killed a drug lord with three bulletsst time, earning Jiang Yuan¡¯s favor, he had developed the habit of carrying a gun. If the boss likes it, what¡¯s a little extra trouble? Moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was attached to the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, so their work went smoothly, almost like having certain privileges. On the flip side, getting a Type 92 pistol wasn¡¯t easy; it even required Huang Qiangmin pulling some strings. Two pistols, one in the lead and one behind, aimed left and right at the room¡¯s entrance. Jiang Yuan was pushed by Mu Zhiyang behind the left-hand wall, the safest spot. Even if a shootout urred, Jiang Yuan could be protected to the greatest extent. The two technical officers didn¡¯t have such good fortune. In the hierarchy of the criminal police, tasks like scene surveying and trace inspection fell to technical officers. However, if the detectives were swamped with work, pulling a technical officer for assistance was entirely normal. So, when facing criminals or capturing them, detectives believe it¡¯s indeed their responsibility but also the technical officers¡¯ duty. Since they¡¯re all police officers, naturally they shouldn¡¯t leave the detectives alone at the frontlines. With no time to grab more equipment, the two technical officers each picked up a round stool, holding it to their chests, ready to block bullets or bash someone if necessary. Squeak... A middle-aged man wearing a mask pushed open the door. His left hand rested on the doorknob, while his right hand carried a stic bag, a pair of sunsses dangling from his fingers. Slightly lowering his head, he looked defensively into the room. In front of him, staring him down were two guns, ck and straight, pointed directly at him. On either side of the guns stood two men wielding round stools. Most striking of all, all four of them were dressed in police uniforms! The middle-aged man¡¯s expression shifted from calm to strange. Countless thoughts shed through his mind like lightning until amanding voice snapped him out of it. "Don¡¯t move! Police!" Mu Zhiyang barked the ssic phrase. "Police." Shen Yaowei jerked his gun slightly, appearing genuinely ready to shoot. Had this been ten years ago, the middle-aged man might have slowly knelt down, surrendered, andmented the unfairness of fate. But he was no longer the man he was a decade ago. Having been to prison twice, the man knew very well that Chinese police hesitated to fire recklessly. Firing a gun carried significant consequences. Without an emergency situation, most officers wouldn¡¯t dare take on that responsibility. And criminals escaping, especially those below the level of drug traffickers, couldn¡¯t usually justify an emergency. So, with a few meters between him and the officers, the middle-aged man immediately made what he considered the "smartest decision." He forcefully mmed the door shut with his left hand while letting go of the sunsses and household items in the stic bag with his right hand, turning to run. He was betting the police wouldn¡¯t dare shoot. Shen Yaowei hesitated for a moment, and sure enough, didn¡¯t fire. Mu Zhiyang also refrained from firing and instead exhaled in relief. His biggest worry had been that the suspect might also be armed, and his second concern was the suspect recklessly charging forward, endangering Jiang Yuan. One of the technical officers, however, reflexively charged forward two steps and kicked open the almost-closed door. The middle-aged man kept running without looking back. The old building was shaped like a horseshoe. This particr rental unit, being a corner room, still offered a view of the man¡¯s retreating figure. But if he managed to dash through the hallway, turn a corner, or escape into the safety staircase on the opposite side, he could temporarily evade capture. What came next would depend on what happened next. The middle-aged man, Wu Yang, who had been on the run all day and was preparing to flee, still had other safehouses. He was confident: as long as he escaped from here, he would have another chance. "Give me the gun," Jiang Yuan said, cing his hand on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s wrist and smoothly pulling the gun away. Mu Zhiyang hesitated briefly but obediently let go. Jiang Yuan took a moment to aim and fired a shot at Wu Yang about ten meters ahead. He aimed for the man¡¯s right ankle. Losing his support, Wu Yang copsed silently to the floor. BANG¡ªthe echo resonated heavily throughout the old building. "Apprehend him," Jiang Yuan said, gripping the gun with both hands as he moved out the door. Shen Yaowei froze for a second before chasing after him, with the two technical officers hot on his heels. Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan and nervously asked, "You just fired directly?" If the wrong person were shot¡ªdespite the heavy suspicion on the man, despite knowing the room¡¯s lock code, despite matching the features of the suspect seen in surveince footage, despite attempting to flee¡ªthere was still a chance of mistaken identity. What if it was just a look-alikendlord, who, in a moment of rashness, came over to check the ce and panicked when trying to escape? Jiang Yuan lowered his aim while jogging and replied, "His footprints matched." If the man hadn¡¯t fled, Jiang Yuan might not have been able to confirm anything. But the moment he ran, several characteristic footprint markers aligned perfectly. After gathering ample evidence over the past two days, Jiang Yuan had memorized the footprints of this man¡ªsuspected of being the gang¡¯s mastermind¡ªdown to the finest details. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill in footprint analysis, this was essentially a confirmed match. Once identified as the suspect, by the standards of this case, firing at him wasn¡¯t merely appropriate but rather necessary. They couldn¡¯t just let him escape. Beyond the gang¡¯s demonstrated strong counter-surveince capabilities, considering this room they used as a safehouse and the fact that the suspect evaded today¡¯srge-scale sweep, it was uncertain whether he could be caughtter if allowed to flee now. "Hands up!" Shen Yaowei shouted, pointing his gun at the limping suspect who had been cornered against the wall. The two technical officers dashed forward, swiftly pinning the man down and cuffing him. Jiang Yuan stood a few meters away, holding his gun vigntly until the suspect was securely restrained. Then, he handed the firearm back to Mu Zhiyang. Shen Yaowei, a bit surprised, nced at Jiang Yuan and said, "Your marksmanship isn¡¯t bad at all." Jiang Yuan merely smiled. Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t shake a peculiar feeling. Chapter 1094 - 1025: The One Who Has Been Drenched in the Rain

Chapter 1094: Chapter 1025: The One Who Has Been Drenched in the Rain

BANG. BANG BANG BANG. Shen Yaowei raised his gun with one hand, turned sideways toward the target, and calmly pulled the trigger. In Yuwan City Bureau¡¯s outdoor shooting range, the sound of gunfire echoed far and wide. Shen Yaowei could be said to have squeezed out time from his busy schedule to practice shooting¡ªa rarity among police officers. Moste here out of necessity, firing a few dozen bullets to meet their quota. But Shen Yaowei was different. He increasingly felt that marksmanship was the bond connecting him and Jiang Yuan¡ªa cord tying the two together. It was through marksmanship that his connection with Jiang Yuan grew stronger. So, Shen Yaowei decided to practice his shooting seriously. This was something he was originally very interested in and skilled at. Although it hadn¡¯t been much needed in prior police operations, since joining Jiang Yuan, the frequency of use had skyrocketed. Especially because Jiang Yuan ced great value on his marksmanship, which made Shen Yaowei even more obsessed with honing his skills. Even though Yuwan City¡¯s shooting range was subpar and ammunition applications were a hassle, Shen Yaowei overcame the obstacles with determination and broke through the barriers. BANG BANG... After reloading, Shen Yaowei swiftly emptied another magazine. He promptly moved to the fourth table and began loading again. Yuwan City Bureau¡¯s outdoor range used manual target recement. Multiple chest targets were set up at once, shot one by one, and then all reced simultaneously. Another officer, who arrived slightlyter, was shooting faster and had already reached the fifth target on the other side. He nced at Shen Yaowei and asked, "Care for apetition?" Shen Yaowei tilted his head to look at him and asked, "What¡¯s the wager?" "How about the loser has to shoot one more target?" "Deal!" Shen Yaowei agreed without hesitation and fired his weapon. The officer who had initiated the challenge was surprised by Shen Yaowei¡¯s decisiveness. He originally nned to aim carefully with both hands, but instead mimicked Shen Yaowei¡¯s method¡ªholstering his pistol with one hand before drawing and firing in a quickbat mode. Within a few seconds, both men emptied their magazines and exchanged a nce with a smile. The challenger didn¡¯t even check the target results, extending his hand instead. "I¡¯m Yang Yinglin, from Narcotics. Have you been in live-actionbat before?" "Yeah. I¡¯m from Shan Nan Province, Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team," Shen Yaowei introduced himself. Yang Yinglin couldn¡¯t help but feel a jolt of excitement. "Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡ªyou¡¯re one of God Jiang¡¯s men?" "Uh... yeah." Shen Yaowei wasn¡¯t expecting such a strong reaction from Yang Yinglin and asked, "Have you been following Captain Jiang?" Yang Yinglin clicked his tongue twice. "God Jiang apprehends more drug dealers in one year than my entire division does¡ªhow could I not pay attention? In Jiang¡¯s team, are you specialized in...bat?" Shen Yaowei had rarely seen such pure enthusiasm, fervent admiration, and curiosity on a peer¡¯s face, especially a colleague. Considering his identity while away on duty, he admitted, "Sort of. Partly responsible forbat support, protecting Captain Jiang, and assisting in solving cases. After all, I¡¯ve been following Captain Jiang closely..." "Impressive..." Yang Yinglin, gun in hand, looked at Shen Yaowei with full approval. "No wonder you¡¯re part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s elite team. I¡¯ve heard legends about you all..." Yang Yinglin was robustly built, with a square-shaped face and an authoritative presence¡ªnot the type of person who easily dispensedpliments. His praise buoyed Shen Yaowei¡¯s mood considerably. Buzz buzz... Shen Yaowei¡¯s phone vibrated. "I¡¯ll take this call," Shen Yaowei said to Yang Yinglin with a smile, pulling out his phone. "Hello...?" Wang Chuanxing¡¯s voice came through: "Old Shen, new task allocation." "What¡¯s the situation?" Shen Yaowei¡¯s face lit up with joy. "Yep. Seven suspects have mostly confessed," Wang Chuanxing briefly summarized the capture operation and added, "Our tasks have been assigned. You¡¯ve been given a new mission." "Tell me," Shen Yaowei said, ncing toward Yang Yinglin while nodding with a faint smile. The shooting range was quiet except for the wind when people weren¡¯t firing; Yang Yinglin might catch a word or two, giving Shen Yaowei a subtle sense of pride. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s voice turned more serious. "Captain Jiang has ordered you to proceed immediately to Daqiu Mountain Garbage Dump, rendezvous with Yuwan City¡¯s Criminal Science Unit, and inspect the scene. Confirm the suspects¡¯ statements." "Huh?" Shen Yaowei froze and blurted out, "Another garbage dump?" Yang Yinglin nced over sympathetically. Among police officers, the phrase "garbage dump" inevitably signaled a grim assignment was imminent. What could Wang Chuanxing say? He replied matter-of-factly, "Yes!" Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t argue with Wang Chuanxing, letting out a sigh that felt almost palpable, as if the stench of garbage wafted into his mouth. To his surprise, he even felt a hint of familiarity with the idea of garbage dumps... Though he didn¡¯t need to ask, Shen Yaowei still wanted to know: "Why a garbage dump?" Wang Chuanxing sighed. "Because some of the suspects previously scavenged there¡ªor, rather, robbed scavengers at the site." "What?" Shen Yaowei envisioned a dreadful scenario but hadn¡¯t expected this. Wang Chuanxing gave an affirmative noise. "I was surprised when I first heard it too. These individuals, while different in some ways, are basically former offenders whose lives havepletely copsed. They started hanging around Daqiu Mountain after failing to reintegrate after release, facing retaliation, and being unable to find jobs. They initially joined forces to deal with scavengers." Scavengers upy an extremely marginalized social role, yet police often interact with them. Factoring in their poption ratio and likelihood of reporting incidents, their survival environment is all too clear. Scavengers constantly guard against each other but also band together. A few lone ex-convicts among them might not even fare well. Thinking as he spoke, Shen Yaowei asked, "How did they escte to child trafficking?" "The gang needed money. They spent so long at the garbage mountain without making much, eventually growing restless. They didn¡¯t dare resume their old street crimes when returning to the city." "No wonder they spread rumors about selling kids. But opting for that path? That¡¯s beyond reprehensible." "Agreed." Wang Chuanxing paused briefly before adding, "They chose this path because the ringleader, Qian Tongqing¡ªthe one Captain Jiang wounded¡ªused to have a daughter. Three years ago, while he was in prison, she was kidnapped. After his release, he spent over a year searching for her. Realizing how lucrative child trafficking could be, he proposed the idea to his cohorts when they had run out of options and were desperate to make quick money at Daqiu Mountain." Chapter 1095 - 1026: Prada

Chapter 1095: Chapter 1026: Prada

Daqiu Mountain. Massive piles of garbage, forming hills, resembling mountains¡ªa ce so toxic it could make you deaf. Shen Yaowei trudged forward unsteadily. The path beneath his feet was entirely made of trash, part of the decades-old garbage mountain. Wu Yang and other former gang members used to live deep within this mountain of waste. This was a paradise for scavengers. Plenty of garbage to pick through without needing to venture far, and since the area was filthy and reeked, thendfill workers avoideding near. Conveniently, this spot had decent transportation ess, enablingrge quantities of waste to be hauled away. This setup allowed scavengers to ascend the hierarchy and be prominent figures¡ªscrap merchants. Wu Yang and his crew initially banded together to seize control of this turf. Given their background, territorial fights were their only strategy forpetition. And for them, it worked out. A few ex-convicts managed to establish themselves, eat well, drink enough, and afford cigarettes. But restoring their previous lives was still a far cry from reality. So, pooling their money, they bought a van with high hopes of embarking on a journey to strike it rich. "Seven or eight grown men, wandering around this garbage mountain,ing up with the idea of trafficking children¡ªthey totally deserved to suffer until their dying breath." Shen Yaowei¡¯s sense of smell was practically annihted by the stench, leaving his face scrunched up like tightlypacted trash. "They¡¯ve been out of society for too long. They don¡¯t even know how to use smartphones properly. What else could they do?" The Criminal Science officers apanying him weren¡¯t as sentimental. It wasn¡¯t their first time visiting this garbage mountain, and while they wouldn¡¯t say they were thrilled, they had resigned themselves to the reality. "Is this the spot?" Shen Yaowei and the team had entered through the main gate by car, but walking through the area was proving more exhausting. Sweaty and suffocated, they couldn¡¯t afford to remove their protective suits or masks, leaving everyone ufortable. "Almost there. Colleagues who arrived earlier have already started the investigation." "Good. The sooner we finish, the less likely we¡¯ll die of heatstroke." The Criminal Science officer apanying Shen Yaowei nced at him, smiling as he maintained his disciplined appearance in full protective gear, then teased, "You¡¯re surprisingly tough. I¡¯ve seen detectivese to Daqiu Mountain before, feel hot, strip off their suits, and return covered in itchy red welts! Hahaha..." The remark served as a subtle reminder to Shen Yaowei. Unfazed, Shen Yaowei responded, "I¡¯ve been through that myself." "Makes sense. Not your first time digging through garbage mountains?" The officer examined him up and down. Shen Yaowei instinctively raised his chin but quickly lowered it again. Though he certainly had aplishments in ces like garbage dumps that most people couldn¡¯t imagine, they were hardly worth bragging about. Shen Yaowei quickened his pace, taking two sharp turns to arrive at the suspects¡¯ scrapyard¡ªapound of makeshift shacks filled with trash. "I¡¯m Shen Yaowei from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, here to assist with the investigation." Shen Yaowei introduced himself at the courtyard gate, where he was stopped. "A tough gig you¡¯ve got here." Blocking the entrance was a detective from the Yuwan City Bureau, who sympathized before asking, "Lost a bet, or sold yourself?" "Uh... let¡¯s go with sold myself." Shen Yaowei sighed. "Tsk tsk, not an easy road. Are you gunning for a deputy position back at the county bureau?" The Yuwan City detective gave him a pitiful look. Shen Yaowei smiled faintly, avoiding further exnation, and nced around. "Did you bring oxygen meters and hydrogen sulfide detectors?" "What now?" The detective was momentarily confused. Just then, another Criminal Science officer from the Yuwan City team approached, also surprised by Shen Yaowei¡¯s words. "You seem to know your stuff." "What do you mean?" The detective,cking patience for cryptic remarks, pressed for an exnation. "Oxygen meters and hydrogen sulfide detectors are devices used at ces likendfills to protect workers from passing out. Hydrogen sulfide detectors gauge stench levels, mainly from ammonia and hydrogen sulfide. The oxygen meters detect gases like methane and carbon dioxide, which garbage sites generate in abundance..." The Criminal Science technician exined expertly. "Makes sense..." The detective nodded, then asked, "So where are our oxygen meters and hydrogen sulfide detectors?" "We¡¯re borrowing them, but there¡¯s no guarantee we¡¯ll get hold of any. Thendfill¡¯s own equipment is insufficient due to breakdowns that haven¡¯t been reced." The tech shrugged. "So we not only endure the stench but also risk our lives?" The detective frowned. From a distance, another Criminal Science officer investigating the site called out, "Don¡¯t overthink. Look at these suspects¡ªthey¡¯ve been living here for months, enduring worse conditions." "Their brains must have been poisoned¡ªthat¡¯s the only reason why seven grown men would band together to steal kids," another officer scoffed. "Drink some salt soda¡ªit can help," Shen Yaowei casually suggested. "Help with what?" The detective asked. Shen Yaowei exined, "It¡¯ll make you feel a bit better, physically improve your condition, and lower the chance of fainting." "That effective?" "Just the best solution we¡¯ve got." "You seem pretty seasoned," the detective remarked in a halfpliment. Shen Yaowei responded with a low "Mm," then borated, "I guess I¡¯m detail-oriented. Plus, I excel at marksmanship, capable of independent operations while protecting myself. I¡¯m also sociable and skilled in interactions across various police departments. Overall, I might be the best candidate in the Cold Case Squad for field tasks like this paired investigation." With that, Shen Yaowei exhaled heavily, as if unloading the reasons for his presence, visibly rxing afterward. Among a group of detectives, his words and demeanor earned distinct looks from everyone present. "Take a seat and rest for a bit." One detective voluntarily gave up his spot for Shen Yaowei, muttering bitterly about the lengths county investigators would go. Meanwhile, the apanying Criminal Science technicians continued their search efforts. Nowadays, smartphones were often detectives¡¯ most scrutinized tools. Regr criminals kept so much incriminating information on their phones it often tripled their sentences. Regardless of whether the site was andfill or anywhere else, searching through physical evidence still remained grueling. If suspects didn¡¯t hide anything in their phones, how much could they leave behind at the scene? This case was slightly different. These suspects had been convicted years ago. Before their imprisonment, smartphones weren¡¯t as ubiquitous, and their dependency on phones diminished further during incarceration. Thus, Wu Yang¡¯s crew had clean phones, contrary to the usual expectation. The painstaking field investigation became indispensable. Shen Yaowei waited quietly for a while before finally restlessly checking his gear and entering the courtyard to help with digging. Excavating hidden evidence within shacks built from garbage on a rubbish heap¡ªthe task was genuinely daunting. But Shen Yaowei was determined to crack it. This was a mission handed down directly to him by Jiang Yuan, who had specifically instructed Wang Chuanxing to call and assign this task to him. Failing, even indirectly, wasn¡¯t an option for Shen Yaowei. "Kid¡¯s shoes. Adidas." After some time digging, a Criminal Science officer found a pair while relieving himself nearby. Given the resource-scarce circumstances of Wu Yang¡¯s gang, if the shoes hade from trash, they¡¯d surely have been cleaned and resold. "The size matches a three-year-old boy. The style suits, too." The Criminal Investigation unit leader swiftly verified the clues, grinning bitterly as tears stung his eyes from the pervasive stench. "These guys had some smarts, hiding critical evidence outside the courtyard. Makes sense, though¡ªit¡¯s all part of their turf, and garbage is garbage, inside or outside the fence, with them overseeing it." With this thought, the team leader instructed everyone to expand the search just outside the courtyard. More items¡ªchildren¡¯s clothes, shoes, socks¡ªwere unearthed one by one. Matching them piece by piece, the team quickly recovered evidence linked to five missing children. Meanwhile, Shen Yaowei returned holding a woman¡¯s coat. "I found this in the same pit," he reported. "Women¡¯s clothes get discarded fairly often. Some aren¡¯t worth selling..." one officer remarked. Shen Yaowei shook his head. "This coat is Prada¡ªa notoriously delicate brand. Put it through a washing machine twice, and it¡¯d fall apart. There¡¯s no way this coat survived intact simply to be scavenged from andfill. Dumping it here likely marks its original disposal site." "Devil-wears-Prada-level luxury?" "Mm." Shen Yaowei nodded, then added, "Makes no sense to traffic children but ignore other victims. Why stop at kids when they could exploit women too?" Chapter 1096 - 1027: Persistently Stupid

Chapter 1096: Chapter 1027: Persistently Stupid

"Wee, wee. You¡¯ve worked hard." Shen Yaowei wore his cleanest police uniform, a fresh smile on his face, and extended his clean, pale hand to greet the colleagues stepping off the bus. "Old Shen, you really stink!" Miao Liyuan, the colleague in the Cold Case Squad who knew Shen Yaowei best, pped away his paw and then gave his shoulder a hard smack. He said earnestly, "Thanks to you, we can stink together for the next few days." "It¡¯s my fault for discovering the clue." Shen Yaowei maintained his fresh smile. Due to his discovery, half the members of the Cold Case Squad had been sent to the garbage dump. Taking a beating wasn¡¯t entirely unreasonable in this situation. "You dug for two days without finding anything, that¡¯s the reason we had toe over." Miao Liyuan sighed and said, "I used to be good at watching footage and locating surveince." Shen Yaowei chuckled, threw him a mocking look, and said, "If I were you, in the future, I would say this: I joined Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team to learn surveince analysis and data interpretation from God Jiang." "Saying it like that... " "That¡¯s the secret to keeping your spot; I don¡¯t tell this to just anyone." Shen Yaowei smiled smugly and, still smelling foul despite being scrubbed clean, patted Miao Liyuan¡¯s shoulder. Miao Liyuan eyed Shen Yaowei skeptically. He wasn¡¯t entirely sure whether Shen Yaowei was right, but disproving it was just as hard. The key point was that Shen Yaowei was undeniably the rising star of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. Everyone had been reverse-loaned from Changyang City to work on the team. Over time, Shen Yaowei had made the most progress. Although his background was already the strongest among them, his aplishments were evident to everyone. In summary, Shen Yaowei¡¯s promotion didn¡¯t arouse jealousy in Miao Liyuan! If this were a strategy, Shen Yaowei might really be onto something. "Sigh..." Meng Chengbiao stepped off the bus just in time to overhear thetter part of their conversation, and he couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. Shen Yaowei felt a bit awkward and coughed twice before saying, "Team Meng, do you feel the morals of society are declining? There¡¯s no choice; everything nowadays is just endlesspetition." Meng Chengbiao waved his hand in front of his nose and said, "I wouldn¡¯t say society¡¯s morals are declining. Honestly, your generation is much more sincere than ours used to be." "Not really, not really," Shen Yaoweiughed heartily, "It¡¯s just that nowadays, sincerity is considered the ultimate weapon." "A weapon for self-destruction?" Meng Chengbiao seemed to mishear, then nodded slowly, "That actually makes some sense." ... Wave after wave of police officers were transported over. After briefly limating to the foul stench, they began their long-term work in the garbage-ridden environment. Jiang Yuan and his team still acknowledged Shen Yaowei¡¯s judgment. That Prada women¡¯s blouse was not only delicate¡ªit couldn¡¯t have withstood the transfer and degradation within the garbage pile¡ªit was also a new seasonal release. Even if the original owner had embraced a minimalist lifestyle, it seemed inconceivable they¡¯d discard such a garment. Moreover, the blouse had been dumped alongside multiple missing children¡¯s clothes in the same pit¡ªa vertical garbage hole bearing clear signs of excavation. In short, it was highly probable the garment had been discarded by a suspect. However, regarding this Prada blouse, all suspects were keeping silent. For Jiang Yuan and his team, this silence was both understandable and frustrating. While the abduction and theft of five children as part of a gang operation was serious, the Wu Yang gang members faced rtively low chances of receiving death penalties. Add a murder case to this? The risk of capital punishment would skyrocket. Thus, refusing to confess served their best interests. Jiang Yuan could only deploy more personnel for further searching. This also highlighted the extent of his authority. Had it been anyone else, even if new clues were found, they would merely have instructed the original team to continue digging through the garbage. Only if something substantial was unearthed could they proceed with the case. Without immediate findings, technically, a single piece of clothing wouldn¡¯t justify filing a case. But with Jiang Yuan¡¯s status today and the specialized task force at his disposal, he had the resources and necessity to expand the search team directly. Elsewhere, such arge-scale operation in andfill would ce immense pressure on leaders. Criticism against bosses exists in every profession, each with its own style. A criminal investigation team leader from Yuwan City took over onsitemand, assigning areas for everyone before silently getting back to work. With officers from other regions joining the search, local officials could hardly avoid showing up. After over a day of additional searching... Finally, a human femur was unearthed from beneath the garbage. From then on, more bones started appearing on Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk. "Female. Twenty-one years old, 172 centimeters tall. Judging from the skull, she seemed reasonably good-looking. Evidence of cosmetic surgery¡ªchin enhancement, a major procedure. Given her age and height, she should be traceable." Jiang Yuan had initially nned to use other bones for forensic anthropology but felt reassured upon seeing the skull. While not exceedingly rare, it¡¯s umon for someone at the age of twenty-one to have undergone multiple cosmetic surgeries. Coupled with her rtively unusual height, finding her identity locally wouldn¡¯t be difficult. His junior, Miao Ruixiang, had been sent in as reinforcements from Ningtai County. As he registered the details, hemented, "If this woman was good-looking, wouldn¡¯t it have been more profitable to sell her than kill her?" "Controlling criminals is a skill in itself," Liu Jinghui, standing nearby, chimed in casually. "By the time Wu Yang¡¯s gang started abducting children, they had just barely formed as a cohesive operation. Before that, among the seven members, it wasn¡¯t even clear who listened to whom. This woman might not be a pure victim¡ªshe could have been someone¡¯s mistress in the gang or even a shared mistress among multiple members." Miao Ruixiang, a fresh recruit this year, was deeply shocked. "A mistress can be shared by multiple people?" Liu Jinghui eyed Miao Ruixiang teasingly. "When you¡¯ve ended up in a garbage dump, you have to save where you should, and spend recklessly where you want." "Would the woman agree to it?" "If there were no physical or psychological consequences, of course she¡¯d agree. It¡¯s just like how a man might date multiple women," Liu Jinghui remarked, before smirking and rifying to Miao Ruixiang, "You¡¯re still young and don¡¯t understand. Once you¡¯re my age, you¡¯ll realize¡ªwhen a woman dates multiple men, it¡¯s pragmatic; when a man dates multiple women, it¡¯s purely for flexing." Miao Ruixiang nodded thoughtfully. "So, this woman¡ª" "A female victim!" Liu Jinghui corrected him. "A female victim," Miao Ruixiang echoed. "So this female victim could be a member of the gang?" "Impossible!" Liu Jinghui¡¯s abrupt retort left Miao Ruixiang baffled. Miao Ruixiang hesitated, "But earlier, you said¡ª" "Earlier I mentioned a possibility. You¡¯re just too curious about the topic." Liu Jinghui shook his head and exined, "Women wearing luxury clothing and boasting attractive appearances wouldn¡¯t willingly associate themselves with garbage-dwelling thugs. These suspects don¡¯t have any significant wealth, so it¡¯s highly likely the woman was coerced, or possibly even relocated post-mortem." Liu Jinghui nced toward Jiang Yuan. "However, I believe the main question now is whether we reveal the details of this body to the Wu Yang gang members. At least until we locate those five abducted children, we might need to give them some level of hope, even if only partially." "Is obtaining a confession really that difficult?" Jiang Yuan knew locating the children hinged on extracting a verbal confession. The seven gang members had stubbornly refused to reveal the children¡¯s whereabouts,plicating the investigation. Liu Jinghui simply smiled. "It¡¯s a matter of endurance. You¡¯ve grown ustomed to breakthroughs via technology. In cases like this, the suspects often resist subconsciously and refuse to confront their capture and sentencing. Give them a few more days, and they¡¯ll confess faster than anyone." "It¡¯s been several days already." "True, but this group may be less intelligent, yet they¡¯re remarkably resilient." Chapter 1097 - 1028: Increase Strength

Chapter 1097: Chapter 1028: Increase Strength

In fact, it wasn¡¯t just Jiang Yuan who was anxious; the officers working on the garbage mountain were even more so. The stench¡ªit could drive anyone mad. Forget any nonsense about "getting used to smells over time." That only applies to ces like a seafood shop, where you¡¯re dealing with a single, uniform odor that your nose can learn to tolerate. One thing you quickly learn after setting foot on a garbage mountain is that stench intensity actually has national standards, divided into six levels. Among these, only areas that have been covered with soil are slightly better. Operational sites tend to reach level six, andndfill zones are undoubtedly the king of stench: peak level six. Or to use a more vulgar expression¡ªit¡¯s not thatndfill zones are merely at level six; it¡¯s that their stench is limited to no less than level six. To prevent excessive stench intensity from being outright lethal, garbage sites are equipped with regtion pools, venting systems, and facilities to burn off gases like methane. In short, modernndfill management is bing increasingly professional, but the officers don¡¯t want to know the details. All they want is to finish the job and get out. So, by the second day, the Criminal Investigation Division chief from Yuwan City Bureau approached Meng Chengbiao and said, "Team Meng, I heard you¡¯re Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡¯s interrogation expert?" "I wouldn¡¯t call myself an expert," Meng Chengbiao replied humbly. "I¡¯m just a little better at interrogating than most." "Wouldn¡¯t it be more fitting for you to return to the interrogation center and oversee things there?" the chief asked tentatively. Meng Chengbiao chuckled. "Wu Yang¡¯s group isn¡¯t like your average criminals. They used to be members of a gang, and after getting out of prison, they reconvened and spent one or two years fighting over turf, causing chaos. If you want to talk about it, they¡¯re the old-school gang types who value loyalty. I can¡¯t just barge in, throw a few simple words at them, and expect cooperation." "But with the victim¡¯s body found, we can charge them with murder. Surely someone will talk eventually?" "Maybe. But Captain Jiang and Director Liu have definitely thought of that as well. Besides, even with the victim¡¯s body, if we directly use Wu Yang¡¯s gang of being the culprits, we stillck sufficient evidence." When ites to criminal cases¡ªespecially homicide¡ªthe evidentiary requirements for prosecution are the highest. Without direct evidence, relying solely on circumstantial evidence demands an even moreprehensive andplete chain. Take this case, for instance. While the victim¡¯s body appeared near Wu Yang¡¯s hangout, and her clothing was mixed with material evidence discarded by the gang, these are purely circumstantial clues, insufficient to prove that she was killed by Wu Yang¡¯s crew. To make the case stick, at minimum, testimony from gang members is needed. But that brings everything back to the interrogation problem. "There¡¯s been no news so far. We can¡¯t just sit around waiting," the chief said, his gaze piercing through the thick protective goggles. His masked mouth betrayed an air of bitterness. "They¡¯re being interrogatedfortably while we¡¯re being choked out by the smell here on the garbage mountain." "Even if they confess, we¡¯ll still need to dig out evidence." "But we wouldn¡¯t need so many people working at such intensity, would we? Evenndfill workers only stay on site for six hours tops, and here we are, ving away without sleep." The chief¡¯s eyes were dull as he continued, "Team Meng, you¡¯re the only one who can save us now." Meng Chengbiao let out a helplessugh. "Captain Jiang and Director Liu are here¡ªthey¡¯ll make the arrangements. When the time¡¯s right, Wu Yang¡¯s people will talk." "Team Meng," the chief implored, clearly overwhelmed by the unbearable smell, "I¡¯ll be blunt with you. ¡¯Meat-eaters are unrefined.¡¯ They¡¯re in their air-conditioned offices, but they don¡¯t know that our air conditioners are blowing nothing but stink." "Hey, I feel awful too. But I wouldn¡¯t be much use going there either." "With the stink clinging to you, you wouldn¡¯t even need to say much in the interrogation room to get them to spill!" The chief snapped, unable to hold back his frustration. Meng Chengbiao, slightly stunned by the outburst, imagined the scenario for a moment and chuckled. "To be fair, that¡¯s not entirely unreasonable." "See? I¡¯m begging you, Team Meng." Meng Chengbiao hesitated. "I¡¯ve also been assigned a specific zone to handle..." "We¡¯ll split it up and cover it for you. It won¡¯t add that much more work!" The chief promised fervently. Two hourster. A group of people stood atop a small mound of garbage, waving their arms enthusiastically to bid farewell to Meng Chengbiao as if sending hope itself out the door. "Now that Team Meng¡¯s gone, we¡¯ll finally catch a break." "Safe travels, Team Meng!" "Drink some water, organize the evidence¡ªwe should be good to go soon." Shen Yaowei watched the smiles that couldn¡¯t be concealed by the masks or goggles. He gave a slight smile himself. The first time he scaled a garbage mountain, he¡¯d shared such unrealistic fantasies. Later...he learned you always get used to it. ... Meng Chengbiao returned to the police bureau carrying the fresh aroma of the garbage mountain. Reporting to Jiang Yuan, he ryed the eager expectations of the other officers. Sniffing the genuine stench emanating from Meng Chengbiao, Liu Jinghui exchanged a knowing smile with Jiang Yuan. "See? I told you they¡¯d send Old Meng back." Meng Chengbiao gave a bitter smile. "What¡¯s the n for me now?" "With the smell you¡¯re carrying, as soon as the suspects catch a whiff, they¡¯ll be subconsciously convinced we¡¯ve already recovered all the evidence they buried on the garbage mountain. At that point, their camaraderie will crumble¡ªthey¡¯ll stop being loyal brothers and start acting likepetitors eager to save themselves," Liu Jinghui exined. His proposal aligned with the chief¡¯s idea earlier but carried a higher level of finesse and artiction. Meng Chengbiao smiled with admiration and agreed readily. In his heart, he thought, Liu might look like a simpleton, but he¡¯s a seasoned fox after all. "As for the suspect, I¡¯d rmend focusing on the one named Li Biao," Liu Jinghui advised. "Li Biao is slightly older than Wu Yang, and his former status in the underworld was rtively high. After the gang was formed, his rtionship with Wu Yang became strained. He¡¯s more of a peripheral figure within the group and should be easier to crack." "Using the female victim¡¯s case as an entry point makes sense. Li Biao likely isn¡¯t the primary culprit in this case, right?" Meng Chengbiao pointed out a key concern. Liu Jinghui smiled knowingly. "That¡¯s another reason I rmend him. ording to feedback from the detention center, Li Biao appears to suffer from impotence." "Some impotent men are even more twisted," Meng Chengbiao countered, not to argue but to seriously analyze the case. Liu Jinghui¡¯s tone grew serious: "What you¡¯re describing applies mostly to rape cases. For this case, though, illegal detention, rape, and human trafficking seem more likely. Oh, and Captain Jiang has already confirmed the victim¡¯s identity. Zhu Huixian, high school education. Her primary job was as a singer-dancer at a local nightclub. She was a frequent client of beauty and cosmetic surgery clinics. Her photos have been corroborated by multiple sources." "Thugs killing a prostitute? A pretty mundane case," Meng Chengbiaomented. This is how most cases in the world are¡ªbanal. "Certainlycks elegance," Liu Jinghui sighed. Jiang Yuan, standing to the side, scoffed. "Solve the case first. Then we¡¯ll have the right to discuss elegance." Meng Chengbiao immediately reversed his stance: "True. Spending enormous time and effort on a dull case, only to fail to solve it¡ªthat¡¯s what¡¯s truly frustrating." "This case isn¡¯t solved yet anyway. I¡¯m still waiting on more evidence from all of you." Jiang Yuan spread his hands helplessly. Liu Jinghui put on a resigned expression and said to Jiang Yuan, "Now that Wu Yang¡¯s gang isn¡¯t cooperating, you¡¯re back to poring over old cases again. Always trying to overwhelm the problem with quantity." "Quantity inevitably leads to quality," Jiang Yuan replied. "This gang isn¡¯t solely responsible for child trafficking. If we catch more people from other groups, they¡¯ll start reporting one another. Who knows? The case might just crack open. We have to try, right?" It was evident the two had differing ideas about how to proceed with case rmendations. As the veteran interrogator, Meng Chengbiao instinctively sided with Jiang Yuan and said, "That does sound like a n. The question is whether Yuwan City Bureau will cooperate." "Commissioner Huang has already negotiated with them," Jiang Yuan said confidently. He clearly believed that once the case showed promise of being cracked, even the most reluctant party would be willing to coborate. Chapter 1098 - 1029: Strengthening

Chapter 1098: Chapter 1029: Strengthening

Noon. Scorching sun. Looking up at the sun, it seemed to glow with an extra halo. The temperature of thirty-seven degrees felt like seventy-three degrees on the garbage mountain, almost as if it were a scorching one hundred and seventy-three degrees. The garbage dump workers were all hiding in air-conditioned rooms, drinking saline soda, chatting andughing, watching a group of amateurs struggle to move across the mountain of trash. Suddenly, one of the police officers leaped up. One of the site team leaders at the garbage dump, who had been watching them, jumped up as well, muttering, "Damn, someone must¡¯ve passed out." An excavator operator nced over curiously and remarked, "Bound to happen sooner orter. It¡¯s so hot, hanging around thendfill zone¡ªwho knows what¡¯s going on in their heads? Even with my excavator¡¯s AC cranked to full st, I can¡¯t stay out there." "They¡¯re looking for kidnapped kids," another worker said, putting his saline soda down with a thud. "If you can¡¯t help, fine, but how can you have the nerve to make snidements? Imagine if your own child was abducted, and the officers just lounged in an air-conditioned room sipping cold drinks, unwilling to sift through the garbage for evidence. Could you stomach that?" "I don¡¯t have kids," the excavator operator replied coldly. The worker blinked for a second, awkwardly responding, "Well, someday you¡¯ll have kids..." "No way. I don¡¯t even have a partner, and I don¡¯t n on having kids. Garbage folk not finding partners¡ªwhat¡¯s strange about that?" The operator cut him off and added, "So, can I make snidements now or what?" "Go help, save someone." The team leader, sensing the stiff atmosphere in the break room, simply stood up and began putting on a mask. Some followed suit and started putting on their masks, while others remained sprawled on their chairs, pretending not to hear. The stench of the garbage mountain intensified in the sweltering heat, so pungent that even those ustomed to the smell found it unbearable. Years of smelling filth might mean a lifetime of smelling filth¡ªjust like enduring hardship often means unending hardship. But even those resigned to a life surrounded by garbage and toil did not necessarily like it. The team leader grabbed a stretcher and led the group toward thendfill zone, hundreds of meters away. As they approached, the overpowering stench wasn¡¯t the only thing that hit them; faint cheers could be heard as well. "Have they lost it?" one of the dump workers murmured in doubt. The team leader shook his head, quickened his pace, and soon saw a group of police officers jubntly escorting one of their own out. "Heading home." "See ya." "Let¡¯s wrap it up." The officers waved and said their goodbyes, cheerful as they addressed the garbage dump staff. Meng Chengbiao, sandwiched in the middle, could only smile sheepishly. "You¡¯re leaving already?" The team leader approached a familiar-looking officer and asked. "They¡¯re free to go now." The officer, who turned out to be Shen Yaowei, responded calmly. "A few of us will stay behind to wrap things up." "Wait¡ªalready? Have you solved the case?" The team leader felt a twinge of disappointment for no apparent reason. Shen Yaowei nodded. "The need here isn¡¯t as urgent anymore. But we still have unfinished business and will need your continued cooperation." Back at the station, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s interrogation went exceptionally well, and the suspects had begun confessing, one after another. This indicated that at least one member of Wu Yang¡¯s gang faced certain execution, and the entire group was looking at severe penalties. Under such pressure, the suspects started revealing details about their connections and disclosed the whereabouts of five abducted children¡ªno longer a challenge. As a result, just as the Criminal Police Team captain at Yuwan City Bureau had hoped, most officers could withdraw and no longer endure the stench. However, the captain himself, along with Shen Yaowei, still needed to stay at the garbage mountain to continue the unfinished work. Instead of heading straight back to Yuwan City Bureau, Meng Chengbiao and Miao Liyuan took their team to a bathhouse, soaked for two hours, and then returned with a faint trace of the garbage dump¡¯s odor still lingering. "Meeting in therge conference room," Wang Chuanxing waited at the door. "Who¡¯s chairing?" Being a seasoned criminal investigator, Meng Chengbiao knew that meetings held in therge conference room typically involved assigning tasks rather than discussing issues¡ªimplying that decisions had already been made. Now it was just a question of who the authority figure was. "Captain Jiang," Wang Chuanxing replied. Instantly, Meng Chengbiao rxed and let his tension melt away. Thepounded scent of bath soap and garbage somehow pacified his restless mind. Yuwan City Bureau¡¯srge conference room. Once everyone had gathered, the department leader made brief introductory remarks, and Jiang Yuan took over. "The female corpse found at the garbage dump, Zhu Huixian, has been confirmed as a victim of Wu Yang¡¯s gang, who abducted, raped, and killed her. For now, we have not found additional corpses, nor does the gang¡¯s testimony point to more murder cases. On the other hand, we have confirmed two more cases of women being trafficked." Many officers were hearing this for the first time, and their expressions turned serious. Including the five abducted children, there were now seven trafficking cases in total. "Currently, it is known that the two women were sold to a human trafficker nicknamed ¡¯Gori.¡¯ The five children were sold to two separate female traffickers¡ªone using the name Li Juan and the other called Xiao Mei." Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "We have precisely identified the real identities of the three traffickers. Specific arrests will be coordinated by Director Zhou." Director Zhou, head of criminal investigations at Yuwan City Bureau, enthusiastically took the floor. "I officiallymand Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Unit 1 to arrest Suspect No. 1, Wang Mian, nicknamed ¡¯Gori¡¯... Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Unit 2 to apprehend Suspect No. 2..." Themanding officer of each unit stood at attention and respectfully saluted. Below, the police officers whispered among themselves: "They¡¯ve already identified suspects?" "Did they already have intel ahead of time?" "I heard God Jiang spent the past two days profiling traffickers¡ªhe probably pinpointed all the active ones nearby." "How do they even confirm it?" "Using other cases? Informants? Well, that¡¯s why he¡¯s ¡¯God.¡¯" Veteran officers often approached crime-solving with a healthy dose of skepticism, even when it came to Sherlock Holmes-like tales. Yet genuinely challenging cases and extraordinary criminal investigators still held their admiration¡ªleading to an internal mythology exclusive to the profession. Alternatively, perhaps some experts were so absurdly skilled that they practically lived up to the mystique of Sherlock Holmes. After all, figures like "God-eye Ma Yulin," who invented innovative step-tracking techniques, or Xu Limin of the Eight Tigers, who memorized thirty thousand fingerprints, were very real. For Jiang Yuan specifically, wielding an arsenal of skills paired with ample time to meticulously dissect human-trafficking cases in Yuwan City, ster results were only inevitable. In fact, for Jiang Yuan, the integrated application of his abilities represented both learning and progress. After Director Zhou¡¯s gleeful announcement of the arrest warrants, Jiang Yuan spoke again: "Each unit must deploy officers skilled in blitz interrogations. Afterpleting arrests, conduct immediate interrogations to extract information about downstream connections as quickly as possible. Besides that, all units must remain on standby starting now." Director Zhou nodded and asserted, "Everyone must enhance their sense of responsibility and faithfully carry out their duties..." The criminal investigators at Yuwan City Bureau listened half-heartedly. It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t understand¡ªthey simply found Jiang Yuan¡¯s words increasingly hard to believe. Four hourster. Once again, Director Zhou convened the relevant officers in therge conference room. After the typical photo session and brief remarks, Jiang Yuan picked up his microphone. "Latest update: Suspects Nos. 1, 2, and 3 have all been apprehended. Of these, Nos. 1 and 2 have confessed to their downstream connections. Suspect No. 3 remains under interrogation. Gori¡¯s connection has been traced to two individuals¡ªnicknamed Ghost Li (male) and Qiao Bing (female). Suspect No. 2 provided one connection, nicknamed Kou Zi. These three suspects are nowbeled Nos. 4, 5, and 6." Jiang Yuan nced at his notebook before continuing, "We¡¯ve now identified the real identities of Suspects Nos. 4, 5, and 6. The specific arrests will be managed by Director Zhou." The room erupted in murmurs. Director Zhou coughed twice, then picked up the microphone: "Quiet down. Let¡¯s first organize the arrest operations. Imand Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Unit 4 to arrest Suspect No. 4, Zhang Bing, nicknamed Ghost Li... Luting County Criminal Police Team will handle arrests of Nos. 5 and 6..." The unitmanders all stood and acknowledged their assignments. Director Zhou sipped his water, then sternly reiterated, "Everyone must strengthen their sense of duty and faithfully perform their tasks..." Chapter 1099 - 1030: Retrieval

Chapter 1099: Chapter 1030: Retrieval

"Zhang Bing, nicknamed Ghost Li... do you know what you¡¯ve done wrong?" Meng Chengbiao blew on his tea leaves, pretending to be indifferent. His mission was to interrogate Zhang Bing as quickly as possible, both to provide Jiang Yuan with more clues and to expedite the submission of evidence, freeing up space for the next suspect. Zhang Bing sat upright, the interrogation chair creaking loudly, and shed a forced smile, "Sir, ever since I finished myst sentence, I¡¯ve truly turned over a new leaf. My wife says I¡¯ve been diligent about contributing to society, I stay out of trouble now, my health has improved too, and my eyes radiate positive energy." "Your tone is decent, but your attitude about confessing is problematic," Meng Chengbiao looked up at Zhang Bing. "Do you want to reconsider?" "Sir, I swear I¡¯ve mended my ways," Zhang Bing shook his head, adding, "I have a courier shop now, like those Rookie Stations, and I¡¯m earning a good ie every month. I¡¯m entirely self-reliant." "Zhang Bing." Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice turned heavy. Zhang Bing straightened up again with a smile, "Sir..." "Our informant, the Ape, has already talked. What nonsense are you trying to spin here?" Meng Chengbiao set his cup down with a soft "bang." Zhang Bing jolted, visibly shaken, and tried to feign ignorance, "Who¡¯s the Ape?" "Are you seriously trying to y cat-and-mouse with our task force?" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s faint smile shattered Zhang Bing¡¯s defenses instantly. If Zhang Bing had truly been innocent, perhaps he could¡¯ve held onto a sliver of hope. But he wasn¡¯t. The Ape was his superior, someone who had already confessed to Zhang Bing¡¯s involvement. Zhang Bing could try denying it to the bitter end, but police methods are beyond negotiation: phone conversations, mary transactions, surveince footage before and after the deals. In truth, just based on the Ape¡¯s statements, Zhang Bing would find it hard to escape culpability. "How did you find me? How do you know who I work for?" Zhang Bing made onest attempt at resistance. His connection with the Ape was barely direct. The Ape knew Ghost Li was a yer in the underground scene, had a record for human trafficking, but that¡¯s about it. Zhang Bing had never revealed his true identity to anyone who knew Ghost Li, least of all the Ape, who shouldn¡¯t and needn¡¯t have known. He was merely a middleman in the human trafficking business, earning a small cut¡ªa few thousand dors at most. Meng Chengbiao chuckled and said, "That¡¯s not for you to know." He couldn¡¯t exactly disclose that Jiang Yuan had stumbled across Zhang Bing while investigating prior cases and had pulled him out for further scrutiny. Zhang Bing¡¯s gaze wavered; he truly couldn¡¯t figure out how his identity had been leaked. The police had stormed in outright that day. Still, one thing was certain: the Ape couldn¡¯t have known his real identity. In other words, it was highly likely that someone he trusted the most had betrayed him. "Sir, I want to cooperate!" Zhang Bing tried to stand up, but the chains dragged, rattling noisily again. Meng Chengbiao picked up his teacup again, savoring the bittersweet taste. Working with Jiang Yuan was sometimes deeply satisfying, but at other times strangely unrewarding¡ªa contradictory feeling. "Go on." Meng Chengbiao exhaled, ready to mine Zhang Bing for information. Sequential arrests had be the mainstream method inw enforcement now. Previously, the pretrial system operated around this concept, and though the pretrial divisions had been dissolved, the methodology they aspired to had now gained traction. Zhang Bing¡¯s role was essentially that of a broker in the human traffickingwork, which is the survival strategy for many human traffickers¡ªor rather a pathway deliberately constructed by certain trafficking syndicates. These pathways were far from stable; criminal organizations didn¡¯t care about that. The sole driver was money, transferring trafficked individuals from one spot to another through a series of trades. Because of this, Zhang Bing had interacted with numerous superiors and clients. Yet, simr to his confusion, most of these people were only known to him by their aliases. Some he had met face-to-face; others he had never even seen, conducting transactions remotely. Meng Chengbiao meticulously pieced together all of Zhang Bing¡¯s ounts, extracting every shred of usable information before watching him sign and stamp each page of the interrogation record. Zhang Bingplied with everything, and by thest page, he didn¡¯t even need prompting to write: "I have reviewed the above ount and confirm it matches what I stated." He signed again, added his fingerprint, and noted the date. "Once you¡¯re in the detention center, reflect carefully on the details of your involvement. Notify the warden if there¡¯s more you want to confess." Meng Chengbiao murmured, ending the interrogation and heading off immediately to report to Jiang Yuan. Knock, knock. Meng Chengbiao knocked on Jiang Yuan¡¯s office door and found two other detectives already inside, delivering updates to Jiang Yuan. "Team Meng, any progress?" Jiang Yuan looked up. "Interrogation went smoothly. Suspect Zhang Bing confessed and identified two additional superiors and four buyers. Among the buyers is a woman nicknamed Lingdang, said to be about 30 years old, moderately attractive, heavily made-up, with wavy hair. Zhang Bing always meets her at the wholesale market to conduct transactions." Meng Chengbiao shared the key details. Jiang Yuan began flipping through his notebook. He had a significant advantage in his investigations, particrly with fingerprint and footprint analysis, which often acted as trump cards in ordinary cases. However, many criminals were molded gradually through experience, meaning earlier cases were rtively easier to solve. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t solely focused on catching perpetrators. Investigation required tracing evidence, establishing robust chains of proof. But when it came to clues, his approach was far more flexible, especially with smaller cases where sentences maxed out at three years. Prosecutors could push for plea bargains, and judges could issue lenient rulings, potentially resulting in probation. "Got it." Jiang Yuan quickly flipped to a page he¡¯d written earlier. "Nicknamed Lingdang, real name Xu Min, ID number 310103... a minor aplice in a counterfeit goods case, sentenced to two years and three months. Now involved in the antique and artifact trade." "Selling antiques and trafficking kids?" Nearby, one of the detectives muttered, breathing heavily in anger. "Perhaps her antique business helped her connect with buyers." Meng Chengbiao recalled the interrogation, adding, "This Lingdang is particrly eager when ites to receiving trafficked children. Zhang Bing always prioritizes selling to her because she¡¯s quick with payments and offers more, though she has some specifications for the children." "If the chain ends at Lingdang, recovering the children remains hopeful," Jiang Yuan said with a slight burst of enthusiasm. The task force¡¯s main priority was to find the five abducted children. If they were sold to ordinary individuals, this would count as rtively fortunate. In modern society, the grotesque practices of older eras are rarer, but the types of perversions have expanded. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t botherparing this case to others; he simply picked up the phone to call Director Zhou, requesting manpower to apprehend Lingdang. Director Zhou, upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice, became immediately energized, eximing, "I¡¯ll convene the officers right away!" "Uh... okay. I¡¯ll send over a list shortly," Jiang Yuan replied, realizing he couldn¡¯t stop Zhou from holding a meeting. He hurriedly matched the names Meng Chengbiao had just provided against his notebook and selected a few individuals for further inspection. That day, Yuwan City Bureau¡¯s police cars hardly took a break. Reporters familiar with the station were already calling to ask, "Is this part of a crack-down operation?" At dawn. A Coaster van pulled up in front of the Yuwan City Bureau office building. Five children stepped out one by one, overwhelmed by the sheer number of people waiting for them, their faces clouded in confusion. Chapter 1100 - 1031: Breakthrough in a Single Skill

Chapter 1100: Chapter 1031: Breakthrough in a Single Skill

The scene of the five children¡¯s parents arriving at the Yuwan City Bureau to im their children was deeply moving. However, many of the detectives present naturally noticed that one child¡¯s parents hadn¡¯te. "Her parents are just too busy, they really can¡¯t make it. Their workce won¡¯t even let them take leave," the child¡¯s grandmother exined asionally to those around her, as though afraid of being misunderstood. The grandfather held his granddaughter¡¯s hand tightly, his grip unyielding. His expression was heavy and solemn, but he said nothing. "What kind of work do her parents do that they can¡¯t even ask for leave to do something as important as finding their child?" Tang Jia couldn¡¯t hold back anymore. Walking with purposeful strides, she approached the grandparents, facing them directly. The grandmother, who had been exining nonstop, suddenly couldn¡¯t find her words. After her lips quivered twice, she said, "They¡¯re just working for their boss. The boss said if no one could cover their shift, they couldn¡¯t leave. They tried to ask for leave, but in the end, it wasn¡¯t granted." "If they can¡¯t take leave, they can just quit. Are they being held under house arrest or something?" Tang Jia was clearly frustrated. "It¡¯s not that bad," the grandmother replied hurriedly. "But now that the child has been found, there¡¯s no need for them to return. They can earn more money where they are and help outter." Tang Jia was disgusted and said, "What is more important, work or your child? How much money can possibly rece finding your child? Isn¡¯t the lesson from this incident enough?" "Losing the child this time was mostly our fault," the grandfather said stiffly. "You can¡¯t take all the me on yourself. The child is their responsibility. If they gave birth to the child, they should raise her. Now that she¡¯s been found with great difficulty, they won¡¯t even show up? What kind of job could be that important?" "Their jobs aren¡¯t that important, but they truly can¡¯t leave," the grandfather exined, noticing the people around them listening intently and even reporters beginning to gather. He lightly patted his granddaughter and added, "Her mother is working as a housekeeper in another province, taking care of an elderly woman in her eighties. The olddy is prone to falls and has some dementia. She¡¯s often irritable, and nobody else wants to take on this kind of work. If her mother leaves, there¡¯s no one else to take care of the olddy." Tang Jia paused. "What about the olddy¡¯s children?" "As far as I know, the olddy has only one daughter, who¡¯s a teacher for ninth graders. If she leaves, it will affect her students¡¯ high school entrance exams." "Then... what about the girl¡¯s father?" Tang Jia pressed. "The father is operating a crane in Africa. For him to take leave, someone from the domestic side has to be sent over first to rece him. Then he¡¯d need to get to the nearest city with transportation to transfer back home. Altogether, it would take a week. Otherwise, the construction site would have to shut down," the grandfather said, lowering his head slightly. "The family is in debt, and if they don¡¯t earn money, they can¡¯t even support the child." The journalists, who had initially nned to capture a big scoop, heard the grandfather¡¯s words and quietly stepped back, shaking their heads. People living hard lives are all toomon¡ªnobody enjoys being reminded of their own struggles. Tang Jia lowered her head to look at the rescued little girl. She softly stroked the child¡¯s hair, at a loss for words. Bang! Bang, bang! A few celebration cannons were twisted open, scattering fragments of confetti from above. A few piecesnded on the uniforms of the leaders, but those standing in the center stage all disyed standard smiles. "Kids, smile!" A clumsy photographer, using a camera he¡¯d previously used to photograph fashion models, instinctively called out his request. The children offered confused yet sincere smiles. Despite being haunted by the past and wary of the future, at this moment, they smiled. The photographer also smiled and praised them, but it was impossible for him to truly capture this exact moment. At least, not the shared moment of these five children. "Director Zhou, we¡¯ll head back now," Huang Qiangmin said his goodbyes to the leaders of the Yuwan City Bureau. Director Zhou was reluctant to let them go. "Stay a couple more days, take a look around Yuwan City. Don¡¯t just work all the time¡ªit¡¯s too exhausting." "There¡¯s no way around it," Huang Qiangmin said with a wry smile. "Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t really like traveling either. He¡¯s at a crucial stage in his career and prioritizes getting things done." "I understand, I understand," Director Zhou nodded, then probed further, "How about we host a farewell banquetter?" "That won¡¯t be necessary, really, no need," Huang Qiangmin refused repeatedly. "Such a shame," Director Zhou said, coughing lightly. "In that case, let me just say a few words... Everyone must enhance their sense of responsibility, faithfully fulfill your missions..." ... The convoy from the Ningtai County Bureau returned to their loyal Ningtai. Dozens of police cars lined up and parked neatly in the newly constructed parking building from earlier that year. The four-story building, with two additional underground levels, had a reinforced concrete structure. It was more imposing than the building belonging to the County Finance Bureau. With slight modifications, it could even be used for war defense¡ªadd a few cannons, and it would be a veritable fortress. However, this parking building wasn¡¯t exclusively reserved for the Ningtai County Bureau. It didn¡¯t need to be. Even if Huang Qiangmin could secure this many cars, there wouldn¡¯t be enough personnel to drive them all. Thus, apart from the two underground levels reserved for the police station, adjacent government agencies were also allowed to park there. The office manager of the police bureau began to admire Huang Qiangmin for this reason. Nowadays, the significance of a parking spot rivaled that of a child¡¯s seating arrangement in ss. Jiang Yuan quickly washed his face and, under Huang Qiangmin¡¯s guidance, went to report to the Director. The Director, with an excellent attitude, listened carefully to Jiang Yuan¡¯s report and smiled, saying, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s work is truly reliable. With Commissioner Huang overseeing things, I feel much more at ease as the Director. Hahaha..." "It¡¯s thanks to the Director steering the ship and anchoring themand center that we feel secure enough to go out and fight," Huang Qiangmin responded earnestly, having experienced working under a certain Director Chai. He understood how rare it was to have a Director who didn¡¯t hinder progress. The two exchangedpliments, their words growing increasingly ttering, leaving both in high spirits. Jiang Yuan sat quietly on the side, drinking tea¡ªfinishing one brew and then another¡ªwhile his system screen was disyed before him as he carefully examined his skillboard. At the moment, he still had two Level 1 merit skills he hadn¡¯t redeemed. Compared to legacy rewards, the direct redeeming of merit points provided the flexibility of choice, which was its greatest advantage. A powerful skill couldpletely overturn a case, no exaggeration. This was one of the reasons Jiang Yuan had been holding onto them, without rushing to redeem them. After all, you never know what kind of skill the next case might require. However, as his repertoire expanded, Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods for solving cases had also diversified. Thebination of various skills, alongside the detectives¡¯ tireless fieldwork, had be his most frequently employed mode of operation. This seemingly reduced his dependence on any single skill... Yet, upon deeper reflection¡ªlinking the demand for skills with case-solving and reasoning¡ªit actually demonstrated that the rtive strength of Jiang Yuan¡¯s individual skills was diminishing. Because, if a single skill could solve the case, why would there be a need forbined skills or the detectives¡¯ exhaustive efforts? When Jiang Yuan first joined the police force, he handled cases from Ningtai County. Eventually, he worked on its backlog cases, then those from Qinghe City, Changyang City, and finally expanded to the wider Shannan Province. At the beginner stage, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills were undeniably surplus for the cases he faced. It must be said that the ways in which ordinary people die, or even suffer harm, are all remarkably mundane. But as Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation grew and his reach expanded nationwide, his many solo skills were no longer sufficient for cracking certain cases directly. The reasoning was simple¡ªwhile Jiang Yuan¡¯s individual skills were among the best in Shannan Province, on a national level, although there weren¡¯t many equals in his domain, there were at least a handful, or perhaps dozens. Of course, everyone was busy, and each expert¡¯s desk was piled high with cases. Experts who solved cases more slowly, or those who were older or leaned toward family or political life, could only handle a limited number of cases in a year. Ultimately, overflow cases would find their way to Jiang Yuan. No matter the channel, the cases Jiang Yuan now took on were inevitably more difficult. Some might not seem too challenging initially, but after being handed off two or three times, theirplexity invariably increased. Wherever investigations tread, they leave behind traces; investigative behaviors are no exception. Takemon practices like collecting DNA samples¡ªit might leave crime scene clothing shredded, let alone the crime scene itself. After two or three rounds of investigators, subsequent inspections would have to ount for factors disrupted by the earlier examinations. Jiang Yuan picked up his tea, took a light sip, and decided to stop waiting for a specific case to dictate his skill requirements. Instead, he nned to build his own investigative framework. One highly specialized but skillfully advanced singr ability was something he currently needed most. Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze swept across his skill list and finally settled on fingerprint analysis. His current fingerprint skills consisted of the Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV4) and the Chongqing Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method (LV3). Yet, even these techniques proved insufficient for processing waterlogged corpses after prolonged submersion. Having thought it through, Jiang Yuan no longer hesitated. He used one of the two remaining Level 1 merit rewards umted from resolving cold cases to upgrade his fingerprint analysis skill to LV6. ording to the system¡¯s rules, the more specialized the skill branch selected, the higher the skill level achieved. If Jiang Yuan chose a broader field like Trace Inspection Technology (LV5), it woulde with a range of rted trace analysis techniques. However, by choosing a more specific subset, such as Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method, he could attain an extraordinary LV7 level. In terms of application, however, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have as strong a need for the broader LV5 trace techniques or the ultra-specific LV7 fingerprinting skill. For now, an LV6 fingerprint analysis, augmented with a temporary skill bonus, should suffice to break open tough cases. As Jiang Yuan pondered, he lifted his cup. Sluuurp... The tea inside the cup was drained dry. Seeing this, the Director naturally picked up the kettle in front of him and refilled Jiang Yuan¡¯s cup. Chapter 1101 - 1033: Building 9

Chapter 1101: Chapter 1033: Building 9

Click. As the photographer pressed the shutter, beneath the white-and-ck signboard reading "Taihe Working Group," leaders at all levels showed sincere smiles. "I hereby announce, the Taihe Working Group is officially established!" The voice came through the microphone, and the apuse was solemn yet enthusiastic. On the nearby training field, Dazhuang barked a timely "woof." Li Li lightly smacked him, curled her lips, and said, "Barking again? If you keep barking, I¡¯ll take away the other half of your training field." The Taihe Working Group¡¯s office building was newly constructed, taking up half of the police canine unit¡¯s training field. Of course, this plot ofnd had originally been set aside for future development and was only being temporarily used by the canine unit. The canine unit, which once consisted of only one dog, couldn¡¯t even manage the cleanup of such arge training field. "Looks like we¡¯ll have to relocate to the suburbs soon," another trainer said, ncing at the smiling leaders. "Actually, moving to the suburbs isn¡¯t so bad¡ªan extra five-minute drive and it¡¯s quieter. You don¡¯t have so many leaders staring at you all day long." "You¡¯re not wrong about thatst part," Li Li nodded, stretchingzily, showing off her elegant curves. The bulky police uniform, the monotone colors, and the unsuitable surroundings couldn¡¯t hinder her charm. Except for her face. Her teammate silently took a big step back. As the saying goes, one step back is paradise, one step forward is hell¡ªLu Xun didn¡¯t lie to us. "Let¡¯s go. They¡¯re heading upstairs." Huang Qiangmin stood at the foot of the buildingbeled "Block 9" where the Taihe Working Group was located, feeling a little emotional. The one who had worked tirelessly to secure thend back then was Huang Qiangmin himself. However, he had prepared it for his sessor, never expecting such rapid development¡ªand that it would be used for a newly established parallel agency. "Huang, why don¡¯t you go in together with Jiang Yuan," the Bureau Chief said, stepping aside to show some courtesy. The Taihe Working Group could be said to be built entirely around Jiang Yuan. Naturally, this moment was meant to highlight both Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. After a few polite words, Huang Qiangmin linked arms with Jiang Yuan and entered the hall of Block 9 together. The hall was about 100¨C200 square meters in area and two stories high. It felt a little cramped¡ªwhen dozens of people entered simultaneously, it even seemed a bit crowded. The provincial bureau leader frowned and said, "You build a building for Jiang Yuan, yet it¡¯s so stingy. If funding¡¯s an issue, the bureau can always provide support. Huang, you¡¯re such a resourceful person..." "It was our design request," Jiang Yuan intervened to shield Huang Qiangmin from criticism. The tone softened immediately: "In that case, I have to criticize Xiao Jiang. Buildings are supposed tost a century¡ªwhy not design something more elegant for future use?" "Its design concept is actually based on a kill box," Jiang Yuan exined, pointing to the second floor. "The tiled walls over there¡ªif you tap twice, you¡¯ll find shooting apertures. From any two adjacent sides, you can target everyone inside the kill box." "Oh, that¡¯s rather interesting," said the provincial bureau leader, ncing at Jiang Yuan. "How did youe up with this?" Everyone raised their heads to nce at the second floor, then looked down at themselves, and finally turned their eyes to Jiang Yuan. "Mu Zhiyang, you exin," Jiang Yuan directly called him out. In front of the provincial leadership, Huang Qiangmin could easily be the target of criticism, but Mu Zhiyang was in a safer position. Mu Zhiyang squeezed through the crowd and wiped his forehead. "It was based on some of our past experiences and inspired by several old cases I¡¯ve studied. Many of the cases we handle involve significant danger. In case of an ambush by desperate criminals... I shared my concerns with the designer, and after some discussions, the architect proposed incorporating defensive elements into the structure¡ªit was the most cost-effective approach." "How did you convince the designer?" The leader caught onto the key point. Mu Zhiyang replied, "Initially, the designer thought, ¡¯Society is stable and peaceful, so this isn¡¯t necessary.¡¯ So, I exined to him¡ªit¡¯s precisely because the city is stable that we have city walls in history. Later on... I showed him my scars." Many of the leaders present were intrigued. "Show us your scars," Huang Qiangmin chimed in, giving him an assist since the conversation had reached this point. Mu Zhiyang decisively took off his shirt, revealing his left shoulder. The bullet-ripped wound had healed long ago, but the ckish scar, resembling pine tree branches, stood out uniquely. Huang Qiangmin introduced, "This was during the final operation of the Mount Wulong Wildman Case. Mu Zhiyang, Jiang Yuan, and others confronted armed criminals at close range. Mu Zhiyang stepped forward and shielded Jiang Yuan." "Scars are medals of honor," the provincial bureau leadermented after carefully examining it, nodding slightly. "And what happened next?" "Afterwards," Mu Zhiyang said, "I showed the scars to the designer, and he changed the design." The crowd erupted inughter. The leaders nodded, "Mu Zhiyang, is it?" "Yes," Mu Zhiyang replied, standing at attention and saluting. "Keep up the good work. Protect Jiang Yuan well," the provincial bureau leader said before turning to the Qinghe City Bureau leader. "This young man is impressive¡ªQinghe produces talent." "Indeed," the Qinghe City Bureau leader smiled, his expression full of ambition. Huang Qiangmin led the group on a tour, introducing the Taihe Working Group along the way. The group listened intently¡ªafter all, they had invested real money here. Compared to the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, the Taihe Working Group had a slightly smaller staff allocation, currently at 40 positions. This was considered a suitable setup for Jiang Yuan. After all, management itself is a skill¡ªprogressing from managing fewer people to managing more is a more appropriate path for promotion. In a sense, it¡¯s also a form of protection for cadres. It wasn¡¯t that people like Huang Qiangmin were afraid to allocate staff to Jiang Yuan¡ªthey worried that giving him hundreds or even two or three hundred positions all at once would not only affect his performance but might also drag him into management conflicts. Thankfully, Jiang Yuan himself didn¡¯t have a strong desire for power. As long as his rank allowed him to leverage his technical expertise, he wasrgely satisfied. Next to the Taihe Working Group building, a small annex was specially constructed. With a total area of just over 1,000 square meters, it easily outssed Changyang City¡¯s facilities, let alone Qinghe City¡¯s, whenpared to the funeral home autopsy rooms they used. Even the conditions in just this annex were far superior. Qinghe City, being a prefectural-level city, still had its autopsy room set up in the basement of a funeral home, relying on the funeral home¡¯s ice coffins and morgue. Conditions in Changyang City were slightly better, with a dedicated Criminal Science and Technology Center. Thoughrger than the Taihe Working Group¡¯s annex, it served multiple units such as trace analysis, toxicology, DNAbs, and forensic doctors¡ªall sharing the facility. Forensic doctors still ended up with barely any space allocated to them. As for Ningtai County, it was worse off. The Criminal Science and Technology Squadron had only about a dozen staff members, and the few offices on the fourth floor had to make room for basicb setups. Thesebs were far from state-of-the-art and didn¡¯t even meet standard requirements¡ªmoreplex tests and equipment-based examinations were often sent to Qinghe City Bureau or even Changyang City. Forensic doctors faced simr constraints. The Qinghe City Bureau often had to dispatch forensic experts like Wang Lan to aid in cases arising under such conditions. The Taihe Working Group essentially aimed to fill this gap. It served as a forensic support institution for the Taihe region and could even be considered a Criminal Science and Technology support center. At this point, curiosity was piqued among the crowd, and someone couldn¡¯t help but ask, "How are cases assigned here?" "It mainly depends on Jiang Yuan¡¯s discretion," Huang Qiangmin replied briefly, adding, "Coincidentally, Jiang Yuan has prepared some new techniques to demonstrate for everyone." With that, Huang Qiangmin led the group into the autopsy room, where a thawing corpse was alreadyid out. Chapter 1102 - 1033: Epidermal Gloves

Chapter 1102: Chapter 1033: Epidermal Gloves

Today, many people came to observe, including leaders from directly administered agencies of Ningtai County, representatives from various funding sources, as well as some media and individuals outside the police system. Someone with a sharp mind stepped forward, smiling before speaking: "Director Jiang ns to perform a live autopsy? Well... some of the people here today might not be quite used to such activities..." The leader of the Taihe Working Group was referred to as "Director," so Jiang Yuan could now also be addressed as Director. Jiang Yuan walked over to the corpse at this moment, shook his head, and said, "I won¡¯t be performing a live autopsy. Recently, I¡¯ve been conducting research and professional studies on fingerprint identification from drowning victims. I wanted to share this with everyone." He then added, "Being part of the Taihe Working Group, most of the cases we encounter involve drowning victims." "That¡¯s a great idea. However, non-police personnel who are ufortable with corpses may wish to excuse themselves," a leader from the provincial department said kindly. Taking advantage of the moment, Jiang Yuan slowly donnedtex gloves and began inspecting the objects around the dissection table. No one left the room. Even the apanying media reporters, though somewhat uneasy about the corpse, managed to hold their ground. After everything was ready, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, "This corpse was discovered on the south side of the Tai River four days ago and was sent here today. It¡¯s a male victim, with severe dposition... We¡¯re now attempting to extract fingerprints from it." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he activated a temporary skill +1. With this addition, the LV6 fingerprint analysis skill he had just acquired immediately leveled up to LV7. At this level, it was already approaching unreasonable proficiency. The LV6 fingerprint analysis skill could practically make a trained police dog reconsider its vocation. LV7 could even conjure vivid impressions of fingerprints Jiang Yuan had studied in the past. This level of expertise was reminiscent of Xu Limin, one of the legendary "Eight Tigers" in criminal investigation, who had memorized over 30,000 fingerprints during his youth, attributing it to natural talent. However, this was distinct from photographic memory, as Xu Limin clearly did not have those abilities with text. For Jiang Yuan, he had already tested the LV6 fingerprint analysis skill yesterday, extracting fingerprints from a corpse without unfamiliarity regarding today¡¯s work. Of course, it wasn¡¯t without challenges. The corpse discovered four days ago in Changyang had stumped the forensic center at the provincial capital, prompting them to send it here. Even so, the degree of dposition was advanced enough that, previously, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t have been capable of extracting fingerprints. "Typically, for corpses with severe dposition, we try to extract epidermal gloves. The forensic doctor who examined it at the discovery site has already attempted this method without sess," Jiang Yuan exined while preparing. "Epidermal gloves involve peeling off the corpse¡¯s epidermis and using it to press fingerprints by wearing it like a glove?" Wu Zhisu, captain of the Criminal Police Brigade at the Jianjiang Municipal Bureau, asked with piqued interest. Many with police experience had heard of epidermal gloves, but few had seen them, especially police officers below the provincial level where forensic expertise was often limited. Jianjiang City, with its dense waterways, including rivers,kes, swamps, and mountains, had historically been a haven for bandits. Although professional criminals had long disappeared, the homicide rate remained high, and Jiang Yuan had solved multiple cases here, including serial murders. Wu Zhisu, known for his fascination with new technologies, was acutely aware of the difficulty involved in creating epidermal gloves. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "After a corpse dposes, the epidermis separates from the dermis. Using this characteristic, we can strip the epidermis off the fingers like a glove, forming an ¡¯epidermal glove.¡¯ Once cleaned with water and soaked in glycerin, if the fingerprints are intact, they can be ced on a living person¡¯s hand, inked, and pressed for identification." Such an exnation, if given in a casual setting, might elicit responses like "Ew, gross." But here, in the forensic building of the police bureau, men and women alike craned their necks for a closer look. Jiang Yuan then added, "However, due to severe dposition of the hands, this corpse is no longer suitable for making epidermal gloves, so other methods must be employed." "What method?" a journalist, already permitted to take photos, asked onsite. "Although the epidermis is heavily dposed, it hasn¡¯t entirely rotted away, only fragmented. We can attempt to piece it back together, although this methodcks a mature technical framework," Jiang Yuan exined while working. The reporters, slightly puzzled, began whispering questions to familiar police officers. Wan Baoming, from the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center, stepped forward to rify: "Director Jiang is trying a highly advanced fingerprint extraction method. Let me briefly exin." His position made him the ideal spokesperson, as the leader from the provincial department smiled warmly and said, "I¡¯d like to hear this as well." Wan Baoming stepped forward, modestly prefaced his exnation, and then continued, "Fingerprint extraction from corpses depends on the degree of dposition, typically categorized into four levels. Level one involves fresh corpses, where fingerprints are easiest to obtain. Level two involves rigor mortis cases, where finger stiffness is the primary challenge." Wan Baoming borated, "For rigid fingers, various methods can be used, such as soaking them in warm water or manually warming them up to alleviate stiffness. Fingerprint extraction at level two is rtively straightforward and something we routinely handle." Wan Baoming added, "Level three is desated corpses, which are primarily dehydrated. This requires injecting corpse wax or glycerin to restore the fingerlines. Such cases have greater difficulty, but our team at Changyang City Bureau frequently handles them and often undertakes tasks from other units." With this exnation, those familiar and unfamiliar with the subject understood that level three fingerprint extraction was already the pinnacle of expertise in Shannan Province. "Level four involves epidermal gloves. While the concept seems simple, execution is incredibly challenging, with high failure rates, often relying on luck. Sessful cases are rare for our forensic team in Changyang City Bureau," Wan Baoming paused before continuing, "The conditions of this corpse exceed the capabilities of traditional forensic methods." After considering a moment, Wan Baoming added, "As far as I know, performing fingerprint extraction beyond level four is unprecedented in the country. What Director Jiang is attempting now might be a first." "There were rare instances of sess, but they¡¯re few and far between," Jiang Yuan interjected while continuing his work. "I¡¯ve located several remaining fragments of epidermalyers, preliminarily identifying them as from the index finger. Since the epidermis is exceptionally thin now, conventional solutions like saline or formalin would cause further shrinkage. I¡¯m opting to wash them carefully with clear water instead." Jiang Yuan bent over and performed delicate operations, though his actions remained obscured from view. "Alright, I will now mount this epidermal fragment onto a ss slide and photograph it as preserved evidence." Saying this, Jiang Yuan picked up a camera, took photos himself, and began analyzing the images. Though Jiang Yuan¡¯s words sounded matter-of-fact, this was more than a mere technical presentation. For the police officers present, it was a practical demonstration of an innovative method that every member of the Taihe Working Group could potentially benefit from. As this realization set in, many attendees instinctively took out their phones to quietly contact professionals they knew and trusted. Chapter 1103 - 1034: Piecing Together

Chapter 1103: Chapter 1034: Piecing Together

[Holy crap, you stitched together an epidermal glove yourself? That skin was shattered, it must¡¯ve been incredibly thin. How did you even piece it together?] [Just right¡ªit¡¯s not possible to make an epidermal glove, yet the epidermis is still intact? No wonder Jiang Yuan wanted to perform this demonstration for you all. I¡¯d love to see this demonstration too.] [It should be possible to extract seven or eight characteristic points, but whether or not there¡¯s a match depends on the fingerprint database.] [Holy shit, holy crap, oh my god, take a closer photo!] The experts consulted were varied depending on the individual, but the responses they received were somewhat simr. Especially the representatives from various cities and counties¡ªstarting at the level of brigade chiefs or deputy directors¡ªwho consulted highlypetent experts. Everyone here was a seasoned fox, yet encountering a Nine-Tailed Fox still left them speechless, even the word "holy" written four times felt insufficient. "So what you¡¯re saying is, this is the most difficult method of fingerprint extraction, right?" Wu Zhisu asked for rification, while giving Jiang Yuan a bit of praise. "To be precise, the fourth-level epidermal glove method is already the most difficult. The method Director Jiang employed is even harder and more advanced; it¡¯s experimental in nature," Wan Baoming added, providing a more professional and purposeful endorsement. A few non-professionals picked up the topic of fingerprint extraction and started chatting about it¡ªnot particrly professionally, mostly to heap praise on Jiang Yuan. The journalists eagerly took notes. Jiang Yuan disyed the reconstructed fingerprint image on the screen and began marking it. Extracting fingerprints is the first step; marking them is the second. Matching and verifying them is the third. For a police officer, these three steps can be rtively simple, but they can also be extremely challenging. Every year, the fingerprint battles focus primarily on thetter two steps, though there are also experts who excel at the first step ande forward for challenges. Recovering evidence previously retrieved, extracting fingerprints anew, marking them afresh, matching them again, and hoping the fingerprint database contains records... This whole process was something Jiang Yuan was extraordinarily skilled at, though it had been a while since he had tried it. Jiang Yuan marked the fingerprints directly on theputer and conductedparisons using the software. The operation itself was quite ordinary; those familiar with criminal investigation had witnessed it numerous times. The onlookers spoke casually around him. Someone like Wan Baoming, who "knew his stuff," specifically pointed out that the sess of theparison relied heavily on the records in the database. The fact that Jiang Yuan could extract fingerprints from this corpse was already an impressive achievement, irrespective of whether the match was sessful. The reporters at the scene were even more attuned to the implications. A female journalist withrge eyes and gray contact lenses stepped forward and asked, "Can we consider the Taihe Working Group¡¯s fingerprint extraction capability to be at a nationally first-rate level?" "It¡¯s at the national top level. Actually, it¡¯s at the world-ss level," Wan Baoming confidently replied. The gray-eyed female journalist eximed in awe, "That¡¯s incredible!" Tang Jia, who was assisting nearby, nced at the female journalist out of the corner of her eye, pursed her lips, and threw her a disdainful look. "I have a question," a policeman in a white shirt said aloud. "Did you prepare the corpse and fingerprint extraction beforehand?" The question split those present into two groups¡ªone looking at Jiang Yuan, the other at Huang Qiangmin. The demonstration had been executed so wlessly that it felt orchestrated, raising suspicions it might even be pre-scripted, which wasn¡¯t unheard of. Huang Qiangmin frowned. "There¡¯s no way we prepared it in advance." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. The policeman in the white shirt chuckled twice and said, "Good to know it wasn¡¯t prepared in advance¡ªthere are many considerations we need to ount for." For inherently suspicious detectives, it wasn¡¯t just about questioning whether it was scripted; it was also about the choices they¡¯d need to make in future investigations. When dealing with a corpse where fingerprint extraction is particrly critical, should it be sent to Ningtai, consulted with experts from Changyang City, or specialists from Beijing? These options conflicted with one another. Considering how corpses decay quickly and experts are busy, booked, and expensive, most detective teams typically only opt for one of the three. Though Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation was already considerable, his sudden disy of top-tier skills made the detective in the white shirt even more guarded. Jiang Yuan, however, was indifferent to all of this; after answering the question, he focused solely on matching fingerprints. Seeing this, Huang Qiangmin quickly adjusted his own thoughts as well. With the Taihe Working Group established, there was no need to tread so carefully anymore. "Make a call to this person," Jiang Yuan spoke again and stood up. The murmurs in the room halted abruptly as everyone turned to look. "Was there a match?" Wan Baoming asked. "Yes, a match with a 43-year-old male, a self-employed individual... Look into his phone¡¯s call records," Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing as he spoke. Wang Chuanxing quickly nodded and replied soon, "The phone is switched off. For the past 21 days, there have been no call records or messages¡ªit¡¯s been in an off-state." "21 days without using a phone? That¡¯s worse than being dead," a nearby officermented with a click of his tongue. "Then he¡¯s probably dead," someone concluded carelessly, earning widespread agreement. In modern-day case handling, investigators often don¡¯t bother formting rigorous hypotheses, instead just going with the evidence and unraveling the case along those lines. Over time, such habits eroded deductive, puzzle-solving approaches. For instance, at present, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even attempt to refute this conclusion. He simply stated, "Send someone to verify. The victim¡¯s registered address is in Changyang City..." Jiang Yuan turned to look at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin gave a slight nod and went to call Yu Wenshu. Small cases warranted calls, bigger cases merited in-person visits¡ªthis was an informal but widely-followed rule. If discoveries could be made during the visit, that was ideal¡ªat the very least, avoid letting a phone call tip someone off prematurely. With that, the demonstration process reached its end. Huang Qiangmin invited everyone to head out for a meal, signaling the conclusion of the visit. At this point, the atmosphere rxed considerably. As the group walked out together, a few individuals deliberately stayed behind to wait for Jiang Yuan, hoping to chat with him privately. Therge-eyed female journalist even squeezed closer, waiting for Jiang Yuan to approach. Then, Jiang Yuan looked up briefly at the departing crowd, before picking up a scalpel from the brightly-lit tray. sh... With a single cut, Jiang Yuan split the torso of the corpse into two parts, exposing the yellowish-orange fat beneath. "Ugh..." Therge-eyed female journalist quickly covered her mouth, staring at the scene in shock. She turned away, waited about ten seconds until her breathing steadied, and asked, "Director Jiang, aren¡¯t you going to join us for dinner?" "Oh, I won¡¯t go. I¡¯ll finish the autopsy and eat something casually afterward," Jiang Yuan replied in an entirely matter-of-fact tone. "Ugh..." The female journalist sprinted out of the room. Chapter 1104 - 1035: Investigation

Chapter 1104: Chapter 1035: Investigation

"Victim: Yu Mingguo. Divorced. His ex-wife lives alone with a 12-year-old child and has minimal contact with the suspect." "Yu Mingguo lived alone, had no steady girlfriend. After searching his residence and office, no blood residue or viable biological evidence was found, preliminarily ruling out these locations as the primary crime scene." "Yu Mingguo¡¯sst few calls were all to business associates. The signal of his final call disappeared within his own shop. The shop¡¯s surveince camera only covers the main entrance and did not capture anything useful." "Additionally, Yu Mingguo managed a bakery and a Hunan cuisine restaurant near a school, also selling alcohol on the side. Both businesses were struggling. He had conflicts with many people and had previously been administratively punished for fighting while intoxicated." Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy was still underway when Wang Chuanxing brought over the preliminary investigation report. Feeling better after vomiting, the female reporter Ye Xin shrank into a corner, copying answers from other reporters. Upon hearing Wang Chuanxing¡¯s report, she immediately stood up. Ye Xin was a seasoned reporter who often covered police activities. Not only did she hold various certifications, but she had also worked with production crews filming documentaries for police units, making her familiar with normal police operational procedures. Ordinary police officers investigate cases in a multitasking manner, handling several cases simultaneously and advancing whichever one has an opening. The task force, as the name implies, abandons this multitasking approach to focus entirely on one case. However, just because a task force focuses on one case doesn¡¯t mean other departments are obligated to cooperate. In fact, other units often have their hands full with their own caseloads. When you request assistance, you naturally be part of their multitasking lineup, unlikely to receive exclusive attention simply because you¡¯re a task force. Consequently, tasks requiring cooperation often drag on for ages, wasting time and even jeopardizing critical moments in the investigation. This is why task forces frequently send their own personnel to investigate matters outside their jurisdiction. If you don¡¯t travel to another location, the local criminal police team won¡¯t prioritize your request. Offering their assistance is already considered courteous. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s task force was treated differently. The victim Yu Mingguo¡¯s residence was in Changyang City. If investigators were dispatched from Ningtai County, locating the site within four to five hours would already be considered efficient given the coordination time. Instead, Jiang Yuan directly requested coboration from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. One phone callter, not only did they investigate the residence and office, but they also dispatched field personnel for an initial scene assessment, which contributed to their conclusion that "this is not the primary crime scene." In Ye Xin¡¯s understanding, even cases under provincial-level oversight rarely achieve such efficiency inpleting tasks of this scale. Unable to contain herself, Ye Xin took out her phone and snapped several half-body shots of Jiang Yuan. She avoided photographing the autopsy table, as the visceral images were too overwhelming for her. Ye Xin hadn¡¯t trained for such scenes before and had no ns to do so in the future. Jiang Yuan continued performing the autopsy with unwaveringposure. Havingpleted his report, Wang Chuanxing stood by quietly, showing no urgency. Members of the Cold Case Squad gathered around and engaged in hushed discussions. To be clear, this case had yet to be formally ssified as a task force investigation, making it naturally a routine case handled by the Cold Case Squad. Shen Yaowei spoke first, saying, "The primary conflict in the victim¡¯s environment seems to be business-rted. Hisst few calls were with business associates; we should profile and investigate these individuals." Meng Chengbiao chimed in, "The man¡¯s dead now. Getting the money back just got even harder." "Maybe it was a sudden burst of anger," Shen Yaowei spected. "Possibly," Meng Chengbiao paused thoughtfully, "but we should also consider the possibility of a crime of passion. Although he didn¡¯t have a steady girlfriend, owning two or three stores¡ªhowever unsessful¡ªdoesn¡¯t make it difficult to find a partner. We should investigate his romantic connections." "Either an affair with a married woman, or solicitation. Both could potentially lead to crimes of passion," Liu Wenkai interjected, joining the conversation with enthusiasm after overhearing the discussion. Liu Wenkai, now the captain of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team, theoretically held equal standing with the Taihe Working Group. However, he made a deliberate effort to foster coboration rather than division between their teams. Upon noticing Liu Wenkai, Jiang Yuan greeted him proactively and added, "If it¡¯s a crime of passion, Captain Liu, do you have any suggestions?" Liu Wenkai perked up and replied earnestly, "Passion-based killings tied to solicitation are easiest to investigate. Whether it stems from a rtionship formed over time leading to discord, or disputes over payment, the money trail is key. Transactions will either involve bank transfers or cash withdrawals. Here in Shannan Province, we¡¯re not at the stage of using Bitcoin yet." After a pause, Liu Wenkai continued, "Affairs with married women are also straightforward: once you identify her, it¡¯ll either be her husband who did it, or the wife herself, or the couple working together. Finding them is easy¡ªjust investigatemunication details tied to phone numbers. People still make calls, but nowadays, conversations mostly happen on chatting apps. They might deliberately avoid using WeChat, requiring investigation across multiple tforms." "Why assume the victim¡¯s partner is necessarily affiliated with a married person?" Wang Chuanxing asked, echoing the sentiment of many present, prompting everyone to look over. Liu Wenkai smirked and shrugged, "If the partner were single, even if the intention wasn¡¯t marriage, there¡¯d be observable traces of their rtionship. At the very least, the victim wouldn¡¯t leave no evidence on his side. A 43-year-old man whose business is failing can¡¯t be expected to charm someone just through looks...right?" "Maybe he¡¯s good at PUA or something," Shen Yaowei spected. "PUA still requires interactions, though. Furthermore, considering the victim¡¯s circumstances, unless the woman insisted, there¡¯d be no need to hide the rtionship. This would mean Yu Mingguo was in a subordinate position in the rtionship, which is inconsistent with the dynamics of a PUA maniptor," Liu Wenkai borated confidently, "Still, in my observation, the chances of solicitation seem higher. He doesn¡¯t strike me as someone capable of attracting a married woman." "Captain Liu, your insight is remarkable," Shen Yaowei conceded. Detecting the shift in perspective, Jiang Yuan offered, "Then, Captain Liu, could you tackle the investigation into crimes of passion?" "Not a problem!" Liu Wenkai readily promised. With only 40 members on the roster of the Taihe Working Group¡ªstill not fully staffed¡ªhandling murder inquiries fully in-house was impossible. Cooperation from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team was essential. Mere changes in leadership, like Huang Qiangmin¡¯s departure from dual roles, weren¡¯t grounds for estrangement. Liu Wenkai¡¯s visit this time aimed at recalibrating the teams¡¯ working dynamic. "On the business-rted conflict front, I can narrow some parameters," Jiang Yuan said while removing his gloves. Turning to Wang Chuanxing, he added, "Preliminary estimates ce the time of death between 15 to 18 days ago. Make calctions to determine the best strategy for investigation." "We could analyze mobile phone spatial oveps. Additionally, business partners who contacted the victim prior to his death but stopped initiating calls or messages afterward should be gged for scrutiny," Wang Chuanxing suggested, demonstrating his growing expertise in formting investigative ns. Jiang Yuan nodded in approval as the team promptly initiated their tasks. The female reporter¡¯s wide eyes, entuated by her enhanced pupils, took note of the scene unfolding. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad¡¯s approach had evidently exceeded her expectations. In her mind, the narrative for her report was already taking form, along with its potential impact post-publication. Chapter 1105 - 1036: A Breakthrough in a Day

Chapter 1105: Chapter 1036: A Breakthrough in a Day

Ma Jiyang climbed into his beloved Great Wall Cannon, leading the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade, splitting into three teams. He personally chose Caojiadu, the location where victim Yu Mingguo¡¯s phone signal had disappeared. Ma Jiyang got into the car and then called Yu Wenshu to report. Yu Wenshu had already reviewed the information and, after a brief recall, said, "Thepany in Caojiadu is called Xinji Seasoning Products Co., Ltd., right? Thepany¡¯s actual controller is Zhong Zongqiang? He is definitely the most suspicious individual." "Yes. Zhong Zongqiang previously supplied goods to Yu Mingguo¡¯s Xiang Cuisine Restaurant and bakery. Later, due to Yu Mingguo¡¯s financial difficulties, he repeatedly defaulted on payments and rued credit. In the end, when Yu Mingguo tried to use alcohol to settle the debt, the two had a huge argument," Ma Jiyang exined, knowing Chief Yu enjoyed this type of detailed confirmation, even though both were already aware of the situation. Yu Wenshu, indeed satisfied, responded with an "Hmm" and continued, "If Zhong Zongqiang is the killer, then this case bes straightforward." "Yes. All suspects in this case are ordinary businessmen. Based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis of the cause of death, there¡¯s a high probability of a crime of passion. Identifying the temporal and spatial intersection points should be significant," Ma Jiyang, a top performer in the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade, felt confident, having handled many simr cases before. "The key is to obtain the evidence, which is also what Jiang Yuan and the Taihe Working Group need most," Yu Wenshu reminded him and added, "With leaders from the provincial department and multiple municipal bureaus here in Ningtai County, the case must be handled impably; the evidence and procedures need to be rigorous." "Understood," Ma Jiyang responded immediately. "Jiang Yuan determined the victim¡¯s time of death to be 15 to 18 days ago, yet his phone has been off for 21 days. You need to investigate thoroughly what happened during that time," Yu Wenshu paused and then continued, "Verify if the identified time of death aligns. If there seems to be any discrepancy, call me immediately." While Yu Wenshu¡¯s words were somewhat cryptic, to Ma Jiyang, they felt excessively direct. Yu Wenshu wanted him to secure evidence while also showing concern over the possibility that Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment on the time of death might be incorrect or that the evidence at the crime scene might contradict Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis. Such scenarios were normal, of course. Ma Jiyang had dealt with more forensic doctors than women, and instances where forensic evaluations were inurate were not umon. However, Ma Jiyang fully understood why Yu Wenshu was so cautious¡ªbecause provincial department leaders were present in Ningtai County. If Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis had errors under these circumstances, it would be akin to pping him in the face right in front of the provincial leaders. Such a situation should be avoided if possible. Muttering internally about Jiang Yuan¡¯s considerable influence, Ma Jiyang wrapped up the call under Chief Yu¡¯s repeated instructions. "So, there¡¯s truth to the saying ¡¯Ascending to greatness attracts support¡¯," Ma Jiyang reflected on Yu Wenshu¡¯s attitude and couldn¡¯t help but remark wistfully. Yu Wenshu¡¯s intentions would never be disclosed to Jiang Yuan in advance, as they also represented a faintck of trust in Jiang Yuan. At the same time, though, Yu Wenshu genuinely cared about Jiang Yuan. Ma Jiyang felt a pang of envy for a few seconds but reconsidered, realizing he had received simr treatment. It just felt more natural and warranted, as the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s own member. The convoy drove for about forty to fifty minutes before arriving at a parking lot in Caojiadu. The surrounding area featured courtyards, rather low-rise three- to four-story office buildings, as well as somewhat taller seven- to eight-story residential buildings, all reflecting older architectural styles and nning. Local small businesses favored this location for its proximity to the city and rtively lower rental costs, leading to a modest clustering of enterprises. Already having assigned tasks en route, Ma Jiyang disembarked to meet officers from the local police station. He gathered bulletproof vests and firearms and began gearing up. The local police officers were stunned, asking, "Isn¡¯t this supposed to be an investigation?" "If it¡¯s a normal case, the culprit is highly likely to be here. If they aren¡¯t, this case will be a mess," Ma Jiyang exined, his tone quite different from when addressing his superior. When calling a captain, he avoided sounding overly optimistic, but his reasoning remained firm. Having worked on numerous major criminal cases, Ma Jiyang didn¡¯t find this particr one too challenging¡ªat least not from the perspective of a criminal investigator. Nheless, such rare moments to showcase capabilities were ones Ma Jiyang wouldn¡¯t squander. Indeed, following standard criminal procedures, sending two officers to conduct preliminary investigations would have been more sensible. But with provincial leaders leaving tonight, resultsing only tomorrow or the day after would lose their impact, like cold dung with its stench dispersed. Bulletproof vests and firearms may not end up being necessary, but they made the team appear professional and even stylish, so they were donned anyway. Shouting, "Team One, follow me," and with guidance from local officers and help from Baidu Maps, Ma Jiyang headed to Xinji Seasoning Products Co., Ltd. "Front shop, rear workshopyout. Four people at the back door, two on each side of the courtyard walls. Open fire if necessary, but give warning first..." Ma Jiyang instructed one by one. Technically, officers were now allowed to open fire directly. However, the situation wasn¡¯t too dangerous, and Ma Jiyang preferred minimizing any subsequent issues. "Go in," hemanded, his posture exuding confidence to his subordinates. A team of over ten officers strode briskly into Xinji Seasoning Products Co., Ltd. The living room behind the main entrance showcased various honor certificates, medals, and patent documents, likely disyed for impressing visiting officials. Company owner Zhong Zongqiang was forced to the forefront and asked, "What are you doing here?" "Search," Ma Jiyang waved his hand, and officers swiftly moved ahead. His response was not only to avoid wasting words with Zhong Zongqiang but also to prevent office staff from tampering with evidence. Zhong Zongqiang was restrained by two officers while being questioned on the spot by Ma Jiyang. Several field investigators entered and began meticulously searching. After a long while, one officer returned to report quietly, "Captain Ma, no obvious traces, and no bloodstains found." "Hmm." Unperturbed, Ma Jiyang pondered for a moment and instructed, "Wait until they finish recording statements with everyone, then see if we uncover any clues. Additionally, check for independent spaces, basements, attics, or locked storage areas... By the way, does thispany have dormitories? Where does Zhong Zongqiang usually stay?" These questions were not random guesses but arose from years of investigative experience rather than pure deduction. People often believed their own suffering was unique, driving them tomit crimes due to their special anguish. For seasoned detectives, however, those afflicted by everyday hardships often led ordinary lives, and their criminal behaviors were typically solved usingmon investigative techniques. For now, Ma Jiyang focused on locating the primary crime scene. Whether Zhong Zongqiang confessed or not mattered less; evidence from the primary scene would suffice. His team grasped the intention immediately, issuing instructions and adjusting their angles of inquiry. They dispersed anew for investigation. Meanwhile, the officers stationed outside returned to join the probe, requiring little oversight from Ma Jiyang, as everyone inherently honed in on key areas. In contrast, Zhong Zongqiang transitioned from vigorous resistance to growing agitation and ultimately settled into silence. "Captain Ma." An officer returned holding significant findings. "We discovered arge amount of blood at Zhong Zongqiang¡¯s temporary residence." ... Ningtai County. Huang Qiangmin apanied the leaders dining at a riverside food stall. Food stalls were synonymous with affordability and quality, catering even tomon civil servants. Dining here imposed no pressure on anyone. Plus, Tai River¡ªas a scenic spot in Ningtai County¡ªmade eating at a food stall there feel like a must-do activity. The mood at the table was convivial, with casual chatter flowing. Huang Qiangmin asionally nced at his phone, growing impatient until a message finally arrived. After briefly confirming its contents, Huang Qiangmin smiled and stood up. "Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to share some great news. Regarding the drowned corpse we examined earlier today¡ªrted to Yu Mingguo¡¯s murder¡ªthe case has been sessfully resolved. The perpetrator has confessed fully." The leaders, in the midst of their meal, froze before erupting into apuse. "A murder solved within a day¡ªimpressive, impressive!" "Was the task force just formed?" "The task force wasn¡¯t even formally established, yet the case got solved." "Extracting fingerprints from a dposed body¡ªcases like this are rare both domestically and abroad." The group exchanged praise, the atmosphere gradually infused with a palpable sense of aplishment. Chapter 1106 - 1037: Deep-Fried

Chapter 1106: Chapter 1037: Deep-Fried

"So, the victim was imprisoned at the killer¡¯s temporary residence for several days before finally being killed? No demands for money?" "That¡¯s just the killer¡¯s statement. However, judging by the oue, the killer didn¡¯t demand money from the victim¡¯s family nor did he take money from the victim¡¯s bank cards. Later events might indeed point to idental manughter." "Killing can be idental, but captivity... was that idental too?" "The captivity was for extorting money. The financial dispute between the two parties was quite intense." At the roadside diner, the police used the victim and killer¡¯s tale as a conversational appetizer, and it worked wonders. "Come,e, everyone, try this dish - mixed fish stew. It¡¯s a local specialty, and the fish were caught fresh on-site. Prepared by our top chef, it¡¯s all about preserving the original vors..." Huang Qiangmin enthusiastically rmended the diner¡¯s signature dish. Ningtai County is a small town. Besides Siningshan, there¡¯s hardly anything else that leaves asting impression on people. Pig trotters or mixed fish stew are considered Ningtai¡¯s famed delicacies. Huang Qiangmin had rmended these to his superiors more than once. Those present smiled and nodded, some picking food, some eating, others chatting casually. Soon, the rounds of toasting and small talk began. While chatting, Huang Qiangmin sneakily responded to messages on WeChat. It wasn¡¯t considered rude since the people texting him were all seated at the table, though not the same person. The whole situation felt akin to secretly flirting with his wife¡¯s friends. Everyone sat at the same table, yet someone kept stretching their feet under the table¡ªsome in sheer ck stockings, some in thick white ones, others in cotton socks. Each offered a unique tactile experience¡ªimpossible to mix up, yet leaving one worry they might conflict, while also perversely hoping for such a sh. The friends maintained polite smiles while subtly hooking at Huang Qiangmin beneath the surface: From Fang Gang of Qingshi Municipal Bureau, with his authoritative tone: "Our bureau is going all in this time. As long as you¡¯re willing toe, apart from solving the case, you won¡¯t have to worry about anything. I¡¯ll ensure everything is perfectly arranged." From Wu Zhisu of Jianjiang Municipal Bureau, a lively old gent: "Old Huang, our camaraderie speaks for itself. You just need to get Jiang Yuan toe over, then feel free to do whatever you want on my end!" From Zheng Tianxin of Luyang City Bureau, with his intellectual ir: "Commissioner Huang, it¡¯s been too long since west met¡ªI truly miss those days. By the way, our annual funding has just been approved. If you¡¯d like toe for a visit, I guarantee you¡¯d enjoy it." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t particrly favor any of these suitors. Truth be told, anyone who messaged him was already in his good graces. The core issue was¡ªhe could only pick one. If choosing multiple were possible, wouldn¡¯t the problem solve itself? Huang Qiangmin raised his head, his gaze sweeping from Fang Gang¡¯s face to Zheng Tianxin¡¯s. Every "brother" had a kindly smile on their face. The next day. Reluctantly, Huang Qiangmin bid farewell to his guests as he sent them off. Having unresolved bodies piling up at the Taihe Working Group, they were temporarily unable to ept external missions. The contrast could have been described as the difference between constant feasting or barely scraping by. Apanying him to see the guests off were not only Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s director but also the county¡¯s main officials. For the small Ningtai County, the official attention Jiang Yuan had brought was already overtaking that of Siningshan. The Secretary inquired with concern: "What¡¯s Jiang Yuan¡¯s uing work about? Are there areas needing county support?" "My job next is still in forensics. Thetest discovery within Qinghe City¡¯s jurisdiction involves a headless corpse. The severing shows cut marks¡ªclearly a homicide." Pausing briefly, Jiang Yuan added, "Additionally, there¡¯s indeed one task requiring the county¡¯s assistance." The Secretary spoke magnanimously: "Speak." "The Taihe Working Group focuses on the Tai River. If we could construct a small dock and acquire two boats, efficiency would likely improve significantly," Jiang Yuan raised a valid request. Presently, they were using rubber dinghies, which worked, but dragging corpses back to the shore to retrieve them was far less effective than pulling them directly onboard. Not to mention patrolling. However, such requests were optional¡ªbetter with, fine without. Plus, boats sounded expensive. Requests like this, if made by other departments, would likely face rejection. But Jiang Yuan was the one making the request. The Secretary pondered briefly before smiling: "No problem! The Taihe Working Group should naturally have its dock on the Tai River." Huang Qiangmin was visibly delighted. Though boat funding was not promised, having established a dock marked considerable progress. Once the farewell concluded, Huang Qiangmin gave Jiang Yuan a hearty p on the shoulder, praising: "Well done¡ªyou¡¯ve earned your ce by my side." "Make sure to getrger boats," Jiang Yuan advised. "Big enough to fit two bodies at least." After a moment¡¯s hesitation, Huang Qiangmin asked: "Can¡¯t we stack them?" "Then build a rack or get two containers." "Alright, that¡¯s easy. Which option is better?" "A rack would be better. When not used for bodies, it could serve as a bed¡ªmore versatile," Jiang Yuan suggested, feeling mentally drained after exerting all his week¡¯s worth of strategic socializing. He was eager to find a quiet spot and spend time with taciturn colleagues. Ninth Building. A brand-new dissection table weed a freshly decayed corpse. The corpse was covered in water nts, fishing lines, and ropes¡ªa filthy sight with an unbearable stench. Its dposition level was slightly better than the previous one, but not by much. "We searched 10 kilometers along the river and couldn¡¯t find the head," Wu Junhao informed as he stood by the corpse. Now serving as the Directorate Head of Ningtai County Police¡¯s Explosive Ordinance Unit, his daily tasks tended to involve patrolling. Jiang Yuan examined the corpse while enjoying the cool breeze of the autopsy room and asked: "Was the police canine unit deployed?" "Just recently. Chances seem slim. Could the killer have disposed of the head differently?" Despite his preference for direct action, Wu Junhao was knowledgeable in criminal investigation methods. The smooth severing at the neck clearly indicated a knife had been used. In such cases, it was unlikely the head and torso would have been discarded together. Otherwise, why cut it off? Without objection, Jiang Yuan continued inspecting before saying, "If DNA analysis yields no results, we¡¯ll attempt fingerprint extraction." "How¡¯s that done? Making epidermal gloves?" Wu Junhao seemed intrigued. Despite over ten years as a police officer, he hadn¡¯t once witnessed epidermal glove extraction from a corpse. Wu Jun didn¡¯t know how to do it. And Wu Jun had served as a forensic doctor in Ningtai longer than Wu Junhao had been inw enforcement. Carefully turning the corpse¡¯s palm, Jiang Yuan shook his head: "Can¡¯t make epidermal gloves anymore¡ªthe outeryer is almost entirely gone." "Can it be patched together?" "The epidermis is gone¡ªthere¡¯s nothing left to assemble." Wu Junhao was dumbfounded. "Then what do we do?" "We fry it." "Fry it?" Wu Junhao muttered softly, "We usually joke about sd instead." "What?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t catch the meaning. "¡¯Do nothing¡ªsd,¡¯ it¡¯s just a phrase," Wu Junhao rified with furrowed brows. "Aah..." Jiang Yuan chuckled lightly. "But I mean literal frying." With that, Jiang Yuan directed the forensic team to fetch a pot, an induction cooker, and some oil... He also carefully snipped off the corpse¡¯s right middle finger, cleaning it thoroughly. Differing levels of dposition had affected the corpse, especially the fingers. Fingerprints from other fingers had deteriorated down to the dermalyer. Their patterns were lost entirely. The right middle finger, however, althoughcking the epidermis for glove extraction, retained its dermalyer for frying. Once the oil reached six to seven tenths of its optimal temperature, Jiang Yuan carefully ced the middle finger into the pot, stirring it delicately with a pair of long chopsticks as if cooking a fritter. He adjusted the induction cooker¡¯s temperature for precision, focusing on crisping the dermalyer without burning, thus enhancing the ridges and grooves that constitute fingerprints. Fingerprints consist of papiry ridges and furrows. Dposition levels in the dermalyer often result in ack of distinction, producing smudged prints. Only by frying would the ridges and furrows gain enough height differentiation for usable prints. Skillfully monitoring the frying process, Jiang Yuan flipped the finger, ensuring optimal frying results. With Level 6 fingerprint analysis expertise and a temporary +1 skill buff, Jiang Yuan¡¯s craftsmanship rivaled that of a professional chef in the world of frying. Soon enough, the corpse¡¯s right middle finger emerged perfectly crisped and aromatic. Jiang Yuan carefully retrieved, cooled slightly, then coated the finger in ink before meticulously rolling it on the table for fingerprint impressions. Chapter 1107 - 1038: 5 Fingers

Chapter 1107: Chapter 1038: 5 Fingers

Jiang Yuan took the fingerprints, began marking, and then moved on toparison. Meanwhile, Miao Ruixiang, acting as the assistant, stared at a pot of used cooking oil and the remaining half-barrel of Golden Dragon Fish oil, lost in thought. Oil that had been used to deep-fry just one finger actually still looked pretty clean. Other than a bit of white froth at the edge of the pot, which could be skimmed off... frying another hundred or so fingers wouldn¡¯t really be a problem. "Senior, should we pour out the leftover oil?" Miao Ruixiang asked hesitantly. Jiang Yuan, engrossed in fingerprintparison, paused in confusion: "What else? You nning to take it home?" "No, no, it¡¯s not like it¡¯s rabbit meat." Miao Ruixiang quickly shook his head: "I just thought, in caseter you want to fry more fingers¡ªor maybe toes..." "Pour it out. There aren¡¯t nearly that many fingers to fry. Toes won¡¯t be necessary either." Jiang Yuan waved dismissively. Finger deep-frying isn¡¯t an obscure fingerprint extraction method. In fact, it can be performed routinely if one has solid Level 2 technical skills. If there are any limitations, it¡¯s mainly that the fingers need to meet specific conditions. Only fingers with the dermisyer intact and the epidermisyer severely damaged warrant the frying process. Among the ten fingers on the corpseid out on the autopsy table, only one met the required conditions. However, forensic doctors over different eras have developed various methods to handle different states of fingers. For instance, slightly less dposed fingerprints can be extracted using skin gloves, and in cases of even lower dposition, injections can be employed. In short, forensic science has dedicated tremendous effort over the past century to unravel the mysteries posed by human corpses. Miao Ruixiang dutifully poured out the oil from the pot, grabbed a cloth and some detergent, and resigned himself to scrubbing the pot clean. Technically speaking, a pot used to fry just one finger doesn¡¯t really need cleaning, but Miao Ruixiang couldn¡¯t stand the suspicious smell emanating from it. Jiang Yuan sat at theputer for quite some time. Fingerprintparison yielded no results. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s current expertise in fingerprint identification, this effectively meant that the fingerprints weren¡¯t in the database. "Keep the finger intact and preserve the entire thing," Jiang Yuan specifically instructed Miao Ruixiang, before moving on to further autopsy examinations. The corpse was significantly decayed, missing its head, rendering surface examinations essentially pointless. The focus was now on collecting material evidence or biological samples¡ªlike the water nts, fishing lines, hooks, floats, or hemp ropes tangled around the body, as well as any remaining parasites or metabolic matter. These were tedious tasks, requiring not just Jiang Yuan, Miao Ruixiang, and Wu Jun, but also the help of criminal police officers who came to check out the situation, all of whom were roped in to speed up the process. Nearly an hour into their work, Jiang Yuan spoke again: "Ruixiang, get the pot going and boil water." "Huh? Oh, right!" Miao Ruixiang snapped out of it, turning to realize it was time for bone extraction. The best method for extracting bones from a corpse is boiling them. The bonese out pristine and clean, far better than cutting them out manually with tools. The Criminal Police Brigade of Ningtai County had long since purchased specialized equipment like pressure cookers and water bath pots. The pressure cooker was better for smaller, disassembled parts, saving time. The water bath pot, resembling a stainless steel tub used for soaking baths, came with built-in electric heating and could process an entire corpse at once¡ªbut required heating an entire barrel of water, making itbor-intensive but time-efficient. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry, instructing Miao Ruixiang to prepare the water bath pot for the corpse. He turned to Wu Jun and said, "Master, shall we take a break while waiting?" Boiling water and bone extraction takes significant time. For reference, a typical hot pot kicks off with about 10 liters, and to boil a human being would take at least a dozen pots¡¯ worth. Meanwhile, the electric heating capability of the water bath pot wasn¡¯t substantially stronger than that of a hot pot. Wu Jun grunted in agreement and, before leaving, nced at the remaining Golden Dragon Fish oil and told Miao Ruixiang, "When you¡¯re boiling, you can add a bit of oil to the pot¡ªit prevents overflow when ites to a boil." "Oh." Miao Ruixiang felt like he learned something new, even if it wasn¡¯t particrly useful knowledge. Wu Jun lit a stick of incense in the office. Jiang Yuan continued researching fingerprints for a while longer but to no avail, then switched to analyzing the crime scene footage of the corpse. Neither of them were in a rush. For cases like this, identifying the corpse was key. If this couldn¡¯t be achieved, solving the case often required a stroke of luck. "Wang Lan¡¯s here." Wu Jun answered a call, thenid aside the Guan Gong idol he was holding. "Doctor Wang? Is she here to assist?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat surprised. The forensic team at the Ningtai County Bureau was highly capable, and external support shouldn¡¯t be necessary. Besides, Wang Lan and her colleagues at the Qinghe City Bureau were always busy¡ªthe city¡¯s numerous districts kept them traveling almost every month. "Doesn¡¯t sound like it from her tone." Wu Jun replied, rising to go downstairs to meet her. Wang Lan entered dressed in uniform, her frail frame seeming almost weightless, as if her head alone was carrying the uniform while floating in the air. Upon stepping into Building 9, Wang Lan nced around enviously but wasted no time on small talk. She addressed Jiang Yuan and Wu Jun directly: "We¡¯ve found several fingers over there." "Fingerprints?" Wu Jun rified. Wang Lan shook her head and took out arge lunchbox from her bag. She opened the lunchbox, removed the ice packs inside, and revealed a bag of fingers. "Five fingers, no signs of vitality," Wang Lan exined, handing the fingers to Jiang Yuan. "They were found on the roadside in Qianjin District, spotted by someone walking their dog." Lack of vitality refers to the absence of reactions that indicate life, such as bleeding, congestion, swelling, or thrombosis. Without vitality, it can be concluded that these fingers were severed postmortem. Therefore, five fingers with no signs of vitality pointed to the existence of a corpse¡ªor at least an arm that had been severed postmortem. "The fingers are rtively fresh." Jiang Yuan examined them briefly and stood up. "Let¡¯s head to the autopsy room and try to extract fingerprints." The three of them headed back to the autopsy room together. Ding. The elevator doors opened, releasing a strong smell of boiling meat. The three kept straight faces and said nothing. It¡¯s best not to let thoughts of hunger creep in when you¡¯re in a forensicb. Opening the autopsy room door, they saw Miao Ruixiang wearing a white mask and cap, standing on a stool and vigorously stirring the water bath pot with arge irondle. Steam billowed out toward his face, reddening it from the heat. "Is it done?" Wu Jun asked as he entered. "Almost. Nearly there," Miao Ruixiang replied quickly. "Should I pull one out to check?" "Stop messing around. Scraping meat off bones is a pain¡ªwait until it¡¯s fully de-boned," Jiang Yuan said, not in a rush. He set up another table and began inspecting the five fingers Wang Lan had brought over in the lunchbox. Chapter 1108 - 1039: The Headless Case

Chapter 1108: Chapter 1039: The Headless Case

"You say there¡¯s no case, and suddenly there are two at once. Are they both confirmed to be murder cases?" Upon hearing that both mutted bodies were discovered in Qinghe City, Huang Qiangmin immediately came over to check. Inside the autopsy room of Building 9, one autopsy table held a headless skeletal corpse stripped of flesh, while the other table only held five severed fingers. Jiang Yuan was injecting the five fingers and nodded in response: "The headless corpse is definitely a murder case. As for the five fingers, further research is needed." These fingers were in a wrinkled state. Due to dehydration, the surfaces of the fingers were shriveled, which meant directly taking fingerprints would result in too many creases, making them unusable. The solution was simple: injecting glycerin or air into them. That¡¯s precisely what Jiang Yuan was doing¡ªholding the severed fingers, inserting the needle diagonally from the side of the finger aimed toward the paper. It felt oddly simr to injecting marinade into chicken wings. Huang Qiangmin frowned while observing and asked, "What¡¯s our n now?" "I think we should prioritize the headless case. We can do some preliminary investigation on the five fingers for now." "Oh?" Jiang Yuan responded, "I had Wang Chuanxing look into cases from the past two weeks¡ªno reports of malicious crimes involving severed hands. These five fingers were cut from the left hand of a corpse without any signs of life, which means there could be an arm or corpse missing, but it¡¯s not necessarily a murder case. It might just be a simple case of body abandonment." "Did you check with hospitals and schools?" Huang Qiangmin immediately followed up. "We did. They said there¡¯s no missing bodies or anything like that." Wang Chuanxing replied. Incidents like these aren¡¯t rare for the police to encounter. While notmon, they aren¡¯t entirely unexpected either. Some situations don¡¯t ssify as formal murder cases but stem from negligence when disposing of bodies or body parts for various reasons. Thetter is rtively frequent, especially with body parts like fingers, arms, or legs. While not happening all the time, cases of this nature appear now and then. Those who dispose of bodies can range from doctors and medical students to university staff or janitors, and often even bereaved family members. In areas rife with superstitious practices, some people steal corpses for ritual purposes, while others discard fingers afterpleting such rituals in a careless manner. Huang Qiangmin nodded slowly: "Indeed, if it were a murder, it wouldn¡¯t make sense to dump five fingers on the roadside. That area is a residential zone¡ªdefinitely not an ideal spot for body disposal." "Almost got eaten by a stray dog," Wang Lan chimed in, recalling how she transported the fingers in a lunchbox. "So if anyone wanted to destroy evidence, getting a dog would¡¯ve been a better choice." Huang Qiangmin shook his head. "Dumping fingers in a residential area¡ªit¡¯s just not logical. Tossing them in the wilderness would¡¯ve been a better option for concealment." "Digging a hole and burying them works too," Mu Zhiyang suggested. "But the key lies in locating other parts of the corpse. If it¡¯s only fingers, it¡¯s more likely abandonment than a murder case." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s thought process quickly fell into ce. He chuckled, thinking: "It reminds me of a case I encountered years ago¡ªthe hand of a factory worker got severed. The guy suffered badly but went for surgeryter and insisted on keeping the severed hand. Back then, regtions weren¡¯t tight, so the doctor handed it over." Huang Qiangmin borated like a veteran detective sharing an old anecdote: "The guy brought the hand home but didn¡¯t know what to do with it. Ultimately, he soaked it in sorghum liquor. Later, he moved houses, couldn¡¯t take it along, poured out the liquor, and dumped the hand into the trash pile. A cat dug it outter..." Filled with nostalgia, Huang recalled: "We couldn¡¯t find the guy at first because he had moved away. Back then, rapid response units weren¡¯t a thing¡ªofficers just walked to the scene. By the time we arrived, the trash pile was swarmed with people. Rumors spread about soaking a human hand in liquor to cure rheumatism..." Wang Lan wanted tough but held back: "Must¡¯ve been stressful for you." "Of course." Huang Qiangmin grimaced. "Without surveince cameras then, we couldn¡¯t even determine who dumped the severed hand. Plus, the hand had been severed for ages, and the hospital kept no records. Misleading leads wasted a lot of manpower back then." "How was the case solved?" "The guy who dumped the hand surrendered after hearing themotion." Huang spread his palms. "We wasted four or five days for nothing. That¡¯s why I agree with prioritizing the headless corpse case." Jiang Yuan nodded. "However, fingerprints from crispy, shriveled fingers are still tricky to extract. I might need more time to match them. Let me finish fingerprinting these five fingers first." Even though the finger case wasn¡¯t urgent, Jiang still took advantage of their rtive freshness to extract fingerprints. Once the fingerprints were retrieved, a match would be ideal. If not, they could just be stored in the database for future identification. Five fingers alone provided very limited information. Soon, Jiang Yuan injected each of the five fingers, took their fingerprints,beled them, and uploaded them into the database for processing. Twenty candidate fingerprints quickly appeared in the right column. Jiang Yuan sat upright and examined each one. By the fourth fingerprint, Jiang Yuan instinctively grabbed the mouse, zoomed in, and began a closeparison. Because the fingerprints came from dehydrated shriveled fingers, they exhibited slight distortionspared to prints from intact fingers¡ªthis introduced some inuracies. But this wasn¡¯t much of an issue. Less reliable fingerprints with fewer identifiable points tended to amplify such distortions. Efforts were made to avoid misidentification. The fingerprints from the shriveled fingers wereplete, and the database match was alsoplete. This ensured dozens of identifiable points, so minimalparison confirmed the match. Not to mention, the other four fingers served as additional verification. However, when Jiang Yuan opened information pertaining to the finger¡¯s owner, he was slightly surprised. "No death record," Jiang Yuan frowned and clicked on the individual¡¯s profile: "Twenty days ago, there¡¯s a record of booking a hotel room." This didn¡¯t seem like a case of routine body disposal. The lighthearted mood Huang Qiangmin briefly felt vanished almost immediately. "Who is the victim?" "Unemployed," Jiang Yuan replied while gesturing for Wang Chuanxing to dig deeper. With the current police systems, searching for a specific person was a fairly straightforward process. Emerce tforms were long ago tied to real-name verification, often containing multiple residential addresses for individuals. Delivery apps, ride-hailing apps, ticket booking systems, and payment tforms meticulously recorded user information. Byparison, social media tforms required a bit more effort due torger data volumes and expansive conversation histories. Reading every chat log was unrealistic¡ªkey terms were typically used to filter relevant data. Such data mining tasks could be exceptionally technical, but for Jiang Yuan¡¯s current needs, a Level 0.8 helper like Wang Chuanxing sufficed. Soon, Wang Chuanxing raised his gaze from theptop: "Kou Yu. Male. 32 years old. Unemployed. Owns two apartments and a car, all registered in Changyang City. His primary iees from rental properties¡ªboth units are currently rented out, providing him about 15,000 yuan monthly. He himself rents a small apartment near Changyang City¡¯s airport for 3,000 yuan a month. The profit margin is around 12,000 yuan." Scanning the screen further, Wang continued: "No steady girlfriend. He has two active WeChat ounts, chatting simultaneously with dozens of people. Frequently makes long WeChat calls. Also appears to have a passion for cycling¡ªregr outdoor trips and Chapter 1109 - 1040: The Three No’s

Chapter 1109: Chapter 1040: The Three No¡¯s

After confirming the identity and residential address of the victim, Kou Yu, Jiang Yuan immediately contacted Yu Wenshu and asked him to send someone to investigate. Wang Chuanxing continued working on data mining, and as he mined away, he began to sigh heavily. "What¡¯s wrong?" Huang Qiangmin nced at him. Wang Chuanxing shook his head: "Looking at other people¡¯s lives, I suddenly feel my life is miserably pathetic." "Is this person living it up?" Mu Zhiyang grew curious. Wang Chuanxing replied with a simple "Mmhmm." "How good can it be? How extravagant are we talking?" Mu Zhiyang pressed further. "Let me think how to put it..." Wang Chuanxing clicked his mouse a few times and said, "Last month, he bought two boxes of condoms, 100 pieces each. The month beforest, it was onerge box, along with four smaller boxes of 25 pieces each. The month before that, mmhmm, tworge boxes, two small boxes, and two tubs of lubricant..." "Wait... Are we really talking about this topic?" Mu Zhiyang was dumbfounded. Wang Chuanxing tilted the screen toward them and pointed at the product names disyed: "All of them are extrarge size." "Could he even use that many?" Mu Zhiyang tried but couldn¡¯t figure it out. "Depends on the gamey," Liu Wenkai¡¯s voice hummed from behind. "Whoa... Captain Liu, when did you get here?" Wang Chuanxing asked in surprise. Liu Wenkai responded, "I came in right when you were debating how much fun he could be having." "What kind of gamey?" Mu Zhiyang instinctively felt the scars from past bullet wounds ache faintly. Liu Wenkai shook his head and offered: "Setting aside the ones who purely use 200 pieces for show, just hypothetically¡ªhypothetically¡ªyou might have a guy hooking up with two women at once. If the two women happen to have high demands, maybe a little obsessivepulsive disorder or germophobia, then during each switch, he¡¯d need to change a condom. Do the math, how many would he go through in one session?" "Ten? Even then, 200 condoms would take twenty sessions to burn through." Mu Zhiyang was lost in the math. Liu Wenkai shot him a sidelong nce: "Well, in that case, I¡¯d say life really is miserable." Wang Chuanxing¡¯s eyes widened: "Wait, germophobes doing a threesome? Isn¡¯t that contradictory?" "Germophobia, like OCD or depression, is a mental illness; it¡¯s not something they chose willingly. But someone wanting a threesome¡ªwhat contradiction is there in that?" Liu Wenkai countered. For a moment, Wang Chuanxing had no answer, and the room fell into a silence as lifeless as a corpse. *ck.* Jiang Yuan picked up the decapitated body¡¯s spinous process and toyed with it, studying it. The spinous process is the seventh cervical vertebra, thest segment of the cervical spine, and it moves along with the neck¡¯s rotation. On the dissection table, only this seventh cervical vertebra remained; the preceding C1 to C6 had likely been severed along with the head. Judging from the scratches on the surface of the spinous process, the killer¡¯s knife skills appeared quite refined. The cuts avoided hard bones, suggesting precision in execution. "Focus on the corpse," Wang Chuanxing hurriedly redirected, fearing he¡¯d descend deeper into existential musings. Liu Wenkai let out a snort: "We could call Shen Yaowei over. He¡¯s well-versed in public order. A man who goes through 200 condoms in a month is likely a menace to social stability." Wang Chuanxing turned to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded and resumed examining the bones. The others didn¡¯t give it much thought. With two murder cases, the most valuable evidence at this point was the skeletal remains. A short whileter, Shen Yaowei arrived, a hint of excitement coloring his entry to discuss matters with Liu Wenkai. Wang Chuanxing quickly joined in: "We¡¯ve gathered surveince footage and other information from the crime scenes, but given that the cases happened over ten days ago, even if the video team were to work overtime, we haven¡¯t got anything concrete yet." Liu Wenkai paused his conversation with Shen Yaowei and said, "Kou Yu¡¯s fingers were cut off, and yet his body is nowhere to be found. The spot where the fingers were discarded also raises questions. The killer¡¯s crime pattern is puzzling." Liu Wenkai, who was previously the squad leader of Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade Second Squadron, specialized in major cases and had solved numerous homicides; his observations were sharp and clear. "Indeed. Regardless of how the body was disposed of, you¡¯d assume the fingers would¡¯ve been dealt with along with the rest." "Perhaps the killer intentionally severed the fingers and discarded them separately. That way, if the body was discovered, identifying the victim would be more challenging," Liu Wenkai spected. "Or maybe the body was dealt with in a simple manner and, due to certain reasons, we just haven¡¯t found it yet. For example... the killer might¡¯ve left the corpse at the crime scene but discarded the fingers randomly in a residential greenbelt." Though Liu Wenkai¡¯s theory wasn¡¯t wed, it seemed too far-fetched. The younger officers hesitated to voice their opinions. Huang Qiangmin broke the silence: "You just flipped the killer¡¯s profile from clever to dimwitted." "More killers tend to be dull-witted," Liu Wenkai summarized. "If the killer¡¯s a dimwit, how do you investigate?" "If we assume the killer¡¯s a dimwit, I¡¯d hypothesize that the crime scene is near the finger discard location. Chances are, the killermitted the act there, cut off the fingers, and threw them away casually." Liu Wenkai considered for a moment and added, "We could start by having police dogs sniff around the residential area where the fingers were discarded to see if they lead us to the body." Huang Qiangmin nodded slowly: "It¡¯s worth a shot." Regardless of how thoughtful the n sounds, its practicality is undeniable. This was the essence of small-town criminal work¡ªwhether it worked or not was secondary; the approach was just to act and resolve it. In many cases, crimes weren¡¯t so much solved as they were stumbled upon. In this small county, with a poption in the tens of thousands, enough detectives pounding the pavement would always lead to someone lucking into a revtion. At that moment, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat and said, "I support the idea of using police dogs to search the residential area where the fingers were discarded. However, I don¡¯t think the killer is as dimwitted as that." "You¡¯ve found something?" Liu Wenkai might not solve cases at a nce, but he was quick to spot his colleagues¡¯ insights. Jiang Yuan nodded and replied, "The headless corpse and the Five Finger Corpse are very likely the work of the same person. The way the bones were cut, the force used, and the tools employed show considerable simrity, suggesting the same individual used the same kind of de." Liu Wenkai inhaled sharply: "The bone you¡¯re holding is from the headless corpse, yet we¡¯re discussing the case of the Five Finger Corpse... Are you sure? Based solely on this faint trace on the bone?" "It¡¯s almost certain. The de the killer used was thin. During the cuts, the killer would start by testing on one side, gradually exerting pressure as they dragged the knife. The second slice would be when they applied force. So, on the severed bones, you¡¯ll clearly see traces of two cutting attempts," Jiang Yuan exined concisely. Call it Level 6 Tool Trace Identification. Once again, the dissection room fell into silence as heavy as a corpse. "Two consecutive murders. Decapitation makes sense, perhaps, but what¡¯s the psychology behind cutting off the fingers and tossing them into a residential area?" Liu Wenkai broke the silence, circling back to basics. *Buzz buzz...* Having stood nearby the entire time, Wang Lan excused herself, hurriedly answering her phone. A momentter, Wang Lan hung up and turned to the group, her expression grave: "Another body has been found by the riverside in the Qianjin District¡ªheadless, fingerless, and with no toes either." Chapter 1110 - 1041: Three Corpses

Chapter 1110: Chapter 1041: Three Corpses

Qianjin District. Tai Riverbank. Grass swayed gently, rising and falling with the ripples. The wind bent the grass, revealing the corpse¡¯s pale, dposed flesh shimmering under the sunlight¡ªasionally quivering. A closer look unveiled maggots squirming within the decayed body. "Time of death exceeds 10 days," Jiang Yuan remarked as he examined the corpse, immediately reaching a conclusion. "The time of death isn¡¯t far apart from the previous two corpses," Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment¡¯s Brigade Commander Shen Feihong said as he waited on-site for Jiang Yuan. Technically speaking, Shen Feihong was half a superior to Jiang Yuan, but with Huang Qiangmin acting as a go-between, Shen Feihong always maintained a polite demeanor. Still, given the Criminal Police Brigade is the frontline unit, the connection between three consecutive murder cases with obvious simrities didn¡¯t need any prompting¡ªit was evident. "Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. He crouched at the scene and turned the corpse over, examining several severed sections. The flesh-covered severed woundscked the rity of revealed bones and required longer observation. Jiang Yuan squatted beside the body, soon feeling his legs go numb. The soft mud by the riverside made it not only prone to recording traces but harder on the officers performing their duties. The victim¡¯s head was severed, along with all ten fingers and toes. Jiang Yuan meticulously examined them one by one, spending considerable time before turning around to shout, "Bring two people here to lift me¡ªI¡¯ve got pins and needles in my legs." Mu Zhiyang, who had deliberately stayed farther away to avoid contaminating the crime scene, quickly ran over with a forensic officer. Together, they helped Jiang Yuan away from the body and over toward Shen Feihong. Jiang Yuan¡¯s tall stature was quite striking as the two officers carried him, provoking an involuntary chuckle from Shen Feihong. However, realizing they were at a crime scene, Shen Feihong promptly bowed his head and put on his mask. "What¡¯s your assessment?" Shen Feihong looked at Jiang Yuan expectantly. Jiang Yuan stretched his legs and flexed his hands before responding, "It¡¯s definitely done by the same individual, using the same knife." "Damn... a triple homicide?" Shen Feihong¡¯s mind raced. "Roughly one victim every three days," Jiang Yuan answered. Shen Feihong froze: "What do you mean?" "Taking today¡¯s date as reference, the three corpses respectively died 12 days, 15 days, and 18 days ago. They died exactly three days apart," Jiang Yuan exined as thoroughly as possible. This revtion stunned Shen Feihong deeply. As an experienced detective, the uracy of Jiang Yuan¡¯s timeline struck him harder than the sight of the corpses. For a brief moment, Shen Feihong almost questioned whether Jiang Yuan might be the perpetrator himself. Such precise deductions seemed uncanny! Fortunately, Jiang Yuan was always apanied by colleagues. Shen Feihong¡¯s thoughts shifted quickly; recalling Jiang Yuan¡¯s mention of the knife, he asked, "The same perpetrator didn¡¯t change knives at all?" Killing dulls a de¡ªsomething not everyone understands nowadays. It¡¯s akin to old tales and martial arts novels that gift protagonists a mythical weapon, enabling them to ughter enemies from one end of the street to the other. Jiang Yuan also found this point significant and nodded. "The knife seems to be akin to a chef¡¯s knife, kept sharp. There are test cuts near the victims¡¯ wounds, suggesting they were restrained before being urately dissected." "A chef, perhaps? But chefs using chef knives are rare in Qinghe," Shen Feihong muttered aloud as he thought, his mind moving quickly, his words even faster: "That said, why here in Qinghe? Our city rarely sees major criminal cases¡ªlet alone a spree killermitting three murders in one go. This is a clear case of a serial killer..." Jiang Yuan had handled many cases for Qinghe City, but his encounters with Shen Feihong were usually under an official hierarchical rtionship. Listening to Shen¡¯s rapid analysis now, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butment: "Jianyuan Pharmaceutical." Shen Feihong was momentarily speechless. Jianyuan Pharmaceutical¡ªa colossal drug cartel responsible for enough crimes to merit thousands of death sentences¡ªhad once been the pir enterprise of Qinghe City. Of course, Qinghe¡¯s past reputation for safety wasn¡¯t unwarranted. It was akin to a house with a nest of snakes¡ªno rats dare enter. "Commander Shen, shall I transport the corpse back to Ningtai County and merge the cases?" Jiang Yuan inquired. Shen Feihong nodded without hesitation: "Take it back. Should the site be preserved?" "After securing the body, I¡¯ll conduct a full site investigation," Jiang Yuan replied, already swapping out gloves and other gear. Technically speaking, since Ningtai County falls under Qinghe City¡¯s jurisdiction and both locations discovered homicide cases, it would be standard procedure for Qinghe City Bureau to take charge of managing and cracking the cases. However, this wasn¡¯t set in stone; some cities primarily offered guidance, leaving district and county officers to handle frontline investigations with minimal jurisdictional disputes. In Qinghe City¡¯s case, while the Criminal Police Detachment carried out operations, seizing Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases wasn¡¯t practical¡ªtheir fingerprint analyses still frequently relied on Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise. Wang Lan, Miao Ruixiang, Jiang Yuan, and two officers worked together to ce the corpse into the body bag. With the head missing, the corpse¡¯s weight was noticeably lighter. Factoring in dposition, Jiang Yuan estimated the female victim might have weighed under 100 pounds while alive. Of course, the estimate wasn¡¯t precise; the weight of a human head varies andcks scientific consensus. Even forensic doctors seldom measure heads en masse orpare averages. Such data is irrelevant given most cadavers they encounter have severely dehydrated tissues. Medicine often cites a head weight of seven and a half pounds¡ªbut its origin is a mystery. Jiang Yuan watched the team load the body into the transport vehicle, then began surveying the surrounding site in detail. He hadn¡¯t personally visited the sites of the prior two corpses. The first site was handled by local police; the second merely involved five severed fingers, hardly warranting a full crime scene analysis. As for this case... Walking in his rubber boots, Jiang Yuan took ap around the scene, ultimately sighing: "The body washed ashore." If it washed ashore, then this must be at least the second or third crime scene. The information contained here was considerably less than what could¡¯ve been gleaned from the primary site. Jiang Yuan analyzed the surroundings as he went; within twenty minutes, he emerged from the police cordon. "What¡¯s your conclusion?" Shen Feihong asked eagerly. "Call Director Liu over¡ªhe¡¯ll definitely relish this case," Jiang Yuan replied. Then he added, "For the third corpse, I intend to try legal botany to pinpoint the exact location where it entered the water." Shen Feihong¡¯s eyes lit up, eximing, "Legal botany can urately determine the site where the suspect entered the water, right? If we already have an approximate time of death, searching surveince footage or applying technical investigation afterward... The perpetrator would never anticipate we could pinpoint the entry location so precisely..." In contrast to case two¡¯s severed fingers, legal botany had minimal utility there. The perpetrator had taken great care in concealing evidence. Using legal botany to identify a water entry point, however, was a vulnerability the perpetrator likely hadn¡¯t considered. From this perspective, legal botany was akin to deploying a new weapon in battle¡ªan innovation adversaries would pay a price to learn and counter. Shen Feihong felt a spark of possibility. His mind raced as he spoke rapidly: "Given that the perpetrator killed three individuals using exceedingly professional methods in a short span, adopting advanced techniques and approaches for this case is definitely warranted..." "Forparison, samples must be taken every 50 meters upstream from where the bodies were discovered," Jiang Yuan reiterated instructions he had given to leaders in Qingshi City before. Creating a database of nt species within Tai River was part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s long-term n¡ªit was only a matter of timing. Shen Feihong couldn¡¯t mask his apprehension. With Jianyuan Pharmaceutical gone, Qinghe City Bureau was already facing leaner times... "Call Qiao Shengli," Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing, seeming to assume Shen Feihong¡¯s approval. Of course, such a project would require not only Shen Feihong¡¯s consent but also higher-ups and possibly even a dedicatedmittee meeting. But how could Shen Feihong say no? "Wasn¡¯t one of the victims identified via fingerprint analysis earlier? Could following leads on their identity offer breakthroughs?" Shen Feihong pivoted his approach. Jiang Yuan replied thoughtfully, "We¡¯re already investigating that victim¡¯s rtionships and movements on the day in question but haven¡¯t found anything concrete yet. So far, out of the three victims, we¡¯ve only identified one. If we can uncover the identity of another, we could cross-reference their backgrounds and find ovepping connections..." "Generally speaking, that tends to work..." Shen Feihong acknowledged. At this point, Huang Qiangmin joined them, cutting straight to the heart of the matter with hisment: "Commander Shen, the Tai River database is inevitable. The sooner it¡¯s built, the sooner it can be utilized." "Dying wouldn¡¯t lower the cost?" Shen Feihong replied wryly. "Only if there were no more murders," Huang Qiangmin joked with a shrug. Chapter 1111 - 1042: Challenge

Chapter 1111: Chapter 1042: Challenge

Qiao Shengli arrived even faster than Liu Jinghui. The phone call was made at night, yet Qiao Shengli arrived in the morning. When she entered Building No. 9, her face was fully made up,plemented by a T-shirt and jeans¡ªa youthful, irresistible vibe that left many middle-aged men momentarily stunned. Miao Ruixiang couldn¡¯t help but whisper, "Even without makeup, she¡¯s so impably delicate. Rare, indeed." Shen Yaowei, who was initially focused and indifferent, couldn¡¯t resist chiming in when he heard this, "Who told you she¡¯s without makeup?" "Isn¡¯t she?" Miao Ruixiang froze for a moment, then carefully examined her again and murmured, "Did she put on mascara? But, she didn¡¯t put on lipstick." Shen Yaowei almost choked fromughing, "Kid... You¡¯ve only seen makeup on corpses, haven¡¯t you?" "The corpses I¡¯ve seen were beyond recognition." Miao Ruixiang paused, looked carefully at Qiao Shengli again, and murmured, "She really put on makeup?" "Of course. What, you¡¯ve never heard of ¡¯no-makeup makeup¡¯?" Shen Yaowei shot him the look of someone scolding a rookie. "I¡¯ve heard of it," Miao Ruixiang replied softly. "Never seen it at school?" Miao Ruixiang hesitated for a moment, "Maybe?" "Eh?" "Not every naturally wless-looking girl is wearing no-makeup makeup, is she?" Miao Ruixiang¡¯s expression carried a hint of apprehension. Shen Yaowei let out a heavy sigh upon hearing this. On the other side, Qiao Shengli couldn¡¯t help butugh in front of Jiang Yuan. These days, even schools are fiercelypetitive. PhD grads who couldn¡¯t secure post-doctoral positions are plummeting from top-tier universities to second-rate colleges that enforce publish-or-perish policies¡ªand some institutions are even implementing such policies at the associate professor level. Research itself is an endless money pit. Back in the day, finance procedures were less rigid, making grant usage more flexible. Nowadays, aside from tedious reimbursement processes, many young schrs have to dig into their own pockets to subsidize research expenses, essentially financially backing their own projects. Take, for example, creating phylogenies and databases for the Taihe Basin¡¯s key nt species. Even at her mentor Sulei¡¯s level as a doctoral advisor, securing such projects is challenging. Of course, the project was technically Sulei¡¯s. Qiao Shengli wasn¡¯t qualified to take on such a major project alone, but being able to participate was valuable training. After graduation, this project would pave the way for finding a teaching position rtively easily. Jiang Yuan, having worked with Sulei and Qiao Shengli in the past, gave her a few brief instructions before letting her begin her work. The Taihe Basin database was one thing, but the case also needed to be solved as soon as possible. Jiang Yuan took a moment to rest, scrolled through WeChat, and replied to a few questions from forensic doctors and trace evidence analysts elsewhere before Liu Jinghui finally arrived. "Still three corpses?" Liu Jinghui asked as he hurriedly entered the office, carrying a hint of excitement. "Yes," Jiang Yuan replied sinctly, gesturing to Miao Ruixiang to pour tea for Liu Jinghui. "Still three, huh." Liu Jinghui took a deep breath and said, "Any simr reports from nearby cities? What about upstream of the Tai River, hundreds of kilometers further? Bodies can theoretically drift downstream, from Pingzhou all the way to Shan Nan, for instance." Jiang Yuan directly instructed Wang Chuanxing, "You should check on the reports and make some calls, especially to the Pingzhou area. Ask the provincial office for some coordination assistance." Many people assume that police operate as a cohesive unit, as though a single piece of information reaches one officer and suddenly the entire force knows about it. But in a world not centered around "me," police from other provinces probably don¡¯t have time to concern themselves with cases outside their jurisdiction. Even officers from Lin City have their high-priority cases of the day. Those cases might not involve three bodies, but perhaps, on some level, three influential officials could be equally engrossing. Even with digital documentation on the rise, phone calls remain the most effective means ofmunication. Once Wang Chuanxing began his work, Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui, "Do you think there¡¯ll be more bodies?" "Hard to say, but since you¡¯ve got corpses washing down here from upstream, we can¡¯t rule out the possibility that the killer discarded multiple bodies. There might even be some that haven¡¯t managed to float down yet," Liu Jinghui suggested modestly. "Three bodies aren¡¯t enough?" "Do you think killing three people would satisfy the murderer?" Liu Jinghui countered. "That would depend on the killer¡¯s motive." Jiang Yuan had been pondering this for days. Liu Jinghui pped his forehead and nodded, "Right, that¡¯s the right angle to approach. What does the killer want from killing three people?" Jiang Yuan spread his hands. While he had his suspicions, he left the conjecturing to Liu Jinghui now that he had arrived. Seating himself, Liu Jinghui sipped his tea noisily before casting a nce at Mu Zhiyang and casually asking, "Is Xiao Mu armed?" Mu Zhiyang was taken aback, "In the office, I¡¯m not carrying." "You might want to start carrying. Stay alert now." After finishing his tea, Liu Jinghui continued, "Let¡¯s talk about the killer¡¯s motive again. To answer that, I think we need to concentrate on the points of contention surrounding the three corpses." "Director Liu, what are your thoughts?" Mu Zhiyang looked much more serious now. Having reviewed some documents on the way, Liu Jinghui examined the evidence further and then addressed Jiang Yuan, "First, let¡¯s say if it weren¡¯t for your determination that these three corpses were all the work of the same killer, there wouldn¡¯t even be any contention points to discuss. Instead, we¡¯d be looking for simrities¡ªlike why these three were all discarded. But setting that aside, if we stick to the contention points, the first is: why did the killer dismember the bodies¡ªremoving heads, fingers, and toes¡ªso meticulously yet discard them so casually?" Liu Jinghui added, "Especially with the second body, which can¡¯t even be called a body. It¡¯s just five fingers. Honestly, aren¡¯t fingers one of the easiest parts to dispose of? The question is, where did the rest of the second body go? If the killer had the means to fully dispose of it, why leave the fingers behind?" Tang Jia, taking notes nearby, nodded along, "We¡¯ve considered this point as well." Liu Jinghui continued, "Furthermore, the first body had fingers left intact. Yet with the second body, the fingers were removed¡ªthat¡¯s inconsistent. A person¡¯s mindset doesn¡¯t shift so abruptly. If the killer was concerned about fingerprints, they should¡¯ve removed the fingers from the first body too, rather than only deciding to do so with the second body." Afterying out several points, Liu Jinghui concluded, "Based on all this, I don¡¯t believe the motive behind dismemberment and body disposal was merely to evade investigation." Dismemberment can stem from various motivations¡ªanger, fear of punishment, convenience for transport. But for these three bodies, the most apparent reasoning seems to be avoiding detection or punishment. Yet Liu Jinghui immediately dismissed that theory. "What do you think, Director Liu?" Jiang Yuan asked. "To put it bluntly: the killer¡¯s motive is bragging. It¡¯s a show of defiance toward the police!" Liu Jinghui nced at Jiang Yuan and added, "The bodies appearing in Ningtai County¡ªI wouldn¡¯t rule out the possibility that they¡¯re directly challenging you." Mu Zhiyang silently got up and went downstairs to fetch his equipment. Chapter 1112 - 1043: Professional

Chapter 1112: Chapter 1043: Professional

Huang Qiangmin returned after the meeting and immediately came to Building 9. Greeting Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin asked, "Is someone really provoking the police? That¡¯s quite foolish." "It¡¯s nothing new, right? Several major cases in our country have been about provoking the police. Just like that one case, it even escted to killing police officers..." Liu Jinghui paused briefly and continued, "The psychological issues of the killer in this case are indeed worth discussing. Many serial killers might really need to be analyzed from a psychological perspective to deduce clues." "Isn¡¯t it all about deduction?" Huang Qiangmin joked halfway. Liu Jinghui replied expressionlessly, "I¡¯m deducing right now, and I¡¯ve deduced a need for clues." "Criminal psychology? Hardly anyone uses that stuff anymore." As a former frontline police officer, Huang Qiangmin only saw criminal psychology, criminal profiling, and lie detection as things to "look at," without much trust in them. Liu Jinghui smiled and mentioned a name: "Li Haochen." "He¡¯s someone from the ministry." Huang Qiangmin considered upward management but hadn¡¯t thought it would reach that high. "Criminal profiling, it¡¯s something he¡¯d rarely encounter even at the Criminal Investigation Bureau. It¡¯s quite rare." "Shall we reach out?" Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan shrugged, "I¡¯m fine with that." Having to enlist external help for their own case just shows that the sense of responsibility is a good thing. As for Li Haochen¡¯s criminal profiling, whether it¡¯s useful or not, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t very sure. As the saying goes, with ten profiles, there are eighty angles; in the end, profiling can look like peaks from the side. If it¡¯s like treating a dead horse as a living one, it¡¯s not impossible. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t make a call immediately but instead asked Liu Jinghui, "So now, do you have any thoughts or directions?" Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment and said, "Honestly, I don¡¯t have a direction at the moment. If my deduction is correct and the killer¡¯s purpose is indeed to provoke the police, then his behavior patterns and methods are different from ordinary killers." "And more difficult to investigate." Huang Qiangmin sighed, fully understanding Liu Jinghui¡¯s meaning. It actually involves some deeper issues, such as the investigation of murder cases, which for a long time has relied on rtionships and interests. This is evident in early British detective novels, where the so-called detective deduction is based on normal human rtionships and interests. Assuming someone has no rtionship with you, you wouldn¡¯t kill them. Killing without reason is hard for detective novels or deduction itself to ept. Under normal circumstances, that¡¯s true, considering the high risks and severe penalties associated with murder ¨C who would kill without a motive? Psycho! A psycho doesn¡¯t followmon sense, making it hard to deduce and judge. Of course, the modern society¡¯s technological means are very advanced; fingerprints, DNA, surveince footage, and mobile phones all bypass these deductive methods. But facing a well-prepared psycho, the difficulty in solving the case bes extremely high. "We need tomunicate with both the provincial office and the ministry for this case." Liu Jinghui raised his eyebrows and said, "Regardless of whether we can solve it, having a murderer provoke the police with such brutal means is itself uneptable." Huang Qiangmin immediately understood. Indeed, with such aplex case, there¡¯s no need for their own team to hold onto it alone. Fundamentally, this case isn¡¯t a Ningtai County case, nor a Taihe Working Group case, but a secondary growth from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted reputation over many days. In more specific terms, the funding for this case shouldn¡¯t be entirely borne by Ningtai County; otherwise, it wouldn¡¯t be reasonable. A hero shouldn¡¯t have to bleed and shed tears. Regarding whether the case, as Liu Jinghui said, would involve the provincial office and ministry sending staff to check it out, they could ascertain it when the timees. In fact, Liu Jinghui was from the provincial office, and Li Haochen was from the ministry, but that wasn¡¯t enough. Huang Qiangmin, being very familiar with this aspect,municated briefly with Jiang Yuan and then went to make a call. Liu Jinghui turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "So, the killer really has some professionalism?" "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan had actually been considering this issue in recent days, and with Liu Jinghui around for discussion, he said, "His method can¡¯t be confirmed yet, but I think he has definitely carefully selected his victims, at least made an in-depth study." If the crime method in a serial killer case can be decoded, the probability of solving the case bes very high, and the required information is also considerable. Generally speaking, when encountering a serial killer case, the first attempt is to analyze the method. What Jiang Yuan mentioned about selecting victims, on the other hand, falls into a somewhat obscure category. Liu Jinghui became interested: "Why do you say that? How does he select his victims?" Jiang Yuan organized hisnguage and said, "Because the information exposed by the three bodies... How to put it ¨C Body Two, we¡¯ve discussed before, has only five fingers; there¡¯s absolutely no need to throw it away. Although the hands of Body One were severely decayed, after obtaining fingerprints, there was no match found. This is quite special because the time the body drifted in the water is uncertain, and the killer couldn¡¯t be sure whether we could obtain fingerprints; so why didn¡¯t he cut off the fingers of Body One?" "Maybe for the first victim, he hadn¡¯t noticed this yet?" "But the death times of Body One and Body Two differ by only three days; the killer must have thought it through before starting the killing, right?" "You¡¯re right. His handling of the first body shouldn¡¯t essentially differ too much. So, do you think the killer intentionally left the fingers on Body One because he knew the fingerprints wouldn¡¯t yield any information?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "He might have his reasons for leaving the fingers, but I think he left the fingers on Body One precisely because he confirmed the fingerprints wouldn¡¯t leak any information." Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression became serious: "That¡¯s an interesting theory... If this is a kind of ritual, the killer might have decided to leave Body One¡¯s fingers first, and then confirmed the fingerprints wouldn¡¯t reveal anything..." "But Body Two only had fingers, and the fingerprints were matched..." Tang Jia, who was very interested in the case, was both making records and thinking simultaneously. Liu Jinghui nodded, "The entire information from Body Two is just the fingerprints. From a serial killer¡¯s mindset, doesn¡¯t it seem more... deliberate?" Tang Jia couldn¡¯t help but frown, "If the killer was sure Body One wouldn¡¯t reveal fingerprints, while Body Two¡¯s fingerprints would definitely be matched...what kind of conditions would that require? Could it be... a fellow profession?" Liu Jinghui remained silent for a few seconds, looked at Jiang Yuan again, and said in a low voice, "It¡¯s not ruled out. But this idea, for now, is just an idea. Without concrete evidence, I suggest we don¡¯t discuss this topic yet." "The identity of the killer will directly determine the investigation route, right?" Tang Jia, of course, understood the field. "Let¡¯s investigate ourselves. Don¡¯t make it public; just inform within a small range. Moreover, anyone with ess to the intr can possibly find relevant information." Liu Jinghui paused, then added, "Also, we must consider from the victims¡¯ perspective. If the victims themselves haven¡¯t been administratively or criminally processed, leaving no traces in the police system..." "Then the killer must have known the victims?" Tang Jia¡¯s eyes lit up. Liu Jinghui coughed twice, "Not necessarily known. After choosing the target, just secretively investigate. Buying information on the dark web is not that difficult." Tang Jia was undeterred and pressed further, "But if the killer could have offline contact with the victims, having some understanding before secretly confirming, wouldn¡¯t it be simpler? Lower intensity than surreptitious investigation, that should be advantageous." "Your viewpoint has some merit." Liu Jinghui did not refute again but instead said, "But to investigate through the victims, we first need to know who the victims are." Both of them looked at Jiang Yuan together. Chapter 1113 - 1044 Fine Bran

Chapter 1113: Chapter 1044 Fine Bran

Ka. Ka ka. Ka ka. The rhythmic sound of metal shing echoed through the corridor of Building No. 9 for quite a while. When the series of sounds finally stopped, Miao Ruixiang emerged carrying a steaming pot filled to the brim with fried rice. Jiang Yuan followed behind him, wiping his hands with a towel. The others quickly made space, pulling out the bowls and chopsticks they had prepared in advance, and started dividing up the fried rice. Tiny cubes of beef, golden yellow rice, soft but not soggy carrots, and various vegetables that were colorful but unidentifiable¡ªall contributed to aplex and sophisticated aroma emanating from the fried rice. "Ah, it smells amazing... Just for a bowl of fried rice like this, the trip out to Ningtai County was worth it." Li Haochen, who had traveled from Beijing by ne followed by a car ride, eagerly stepped forward to help. Jiang Yuan¡¯s creation today was an upgraded version of Uncle Seventeen¡¯s egg-fried rice (Level 3), infused with Level 5 cooking techniques (dubbed ¡¯dog-level¡¯). The ingredients were generous and separately stir-fried, a refined fusion of vors. The reactions of the group confirmed its excellence, including the two men in white shirts who hade from the state ministry and provincial department. Though their demeanor was reserved, their expressions while eating betrayed clear enjoyment. Jiang Yuan himself devoured an entire bowl ravenously before slowing down to savor his second serving. Performing aprehensive autopsy on corpse number one wasn¡¯t just time-consuming and mentally exhausting¡ªit was also physically draining, making him feel famished. The group ate while chatting, continuing until the sound of the spat against the pot signaled that all the food had been finished. The deputy director from the state ministry, Zheng Chu, remarked with satisfaction, "I find that forensic doctors are often very talented. But to cook this well¡ªthis is a first for me. I didn¡¯t expect that God Jiang would have this skill up his sleeve." "Just call me Jiang Yuan," Jiang Yuan, now full, responded with social grace. Considering that the man was older than Uncle Seventeen, he couldn¡¯t let him address him as ¡¯God Jiang.¡¯ Zheng Chu chuckled and made a few more pleasantries. Once the table had been cleared, he said, "In my impression, typical cases in Ningtai are solved within a few days. But now, it¡¯s been a week since this case began... Strictly speaking, for ordinary homicide cases, a week isn¡¯t considered long yet. Should it really warrant an upgrade to a state-supervised case (²¿¶½)?" "It¡¯s still necessary," Huang Qiangmin quickly replied. State-supervised casese with funding, and if you set aside the ountability involved, the funding is the main motivator. As for ountability... Jiang Yuan himself was handling the case. If it couldn¡¯t be solved, it would never be forck of effort. Indeed, Huang Qiangmin hadn¡¯t seriously considered the possibility of the case being unsolvable. In the past two years, he had entertained such thoughts many times. At those times, the circumstances had seemingly supported his reasoning. But in the end, as long as a case was handed to Jiang Yuan, he always managed to crack it one way or another. By now, Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t bother worrying about such issues anymore¡ªthere was no point. In a sense, he had grown indifferent to the sess or failure of cases. Huang Qiangmin preferred to ce his trust in Jiang Yuan. Take something like forensic biology¡ªa method which, to an old-school cop like him, borders on the absurd. Yet Jiang Yuan had sessfully replicated its application within China. Huang Qiangmin felt his grasp of information was utterly insufficient to predict how cases would turn out anymore. Still, regardless of the method used to solve a case, resources were indispensable. Zheng Chu¡¯s question had merely been exploratory. Once he confirmed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s stance, he remarked, "Seeing as even Jiang Yuan finds this case challenging, and given its heinous nature, there should be little issue in submitting a request for state supervision. However, state-supervised cases are subject to tight deadlines for resolution..." "Understood." Naturally, Huang Qiangmin was aware that these cases essentially involved deadlines set by the state ministry. That said, localw enforcement still actively sought out this designation. On one hand, while failing to meet the resolution deadline could indeed lead to adverse consequences, it wasn¡¯t catastrophic enough to ruin careers. On the other hand, many people shared Huang Qiangmin¡¯s perspective: for cases this atrocious, the urgency for resolution was imperative irrespective of the designation. Moreover, for cases that couldn¡¯t be solved quickly during the initial stages, the probability of sesster often diminished drastically. Thus, it¡¯s vital to secure as many resources as possible from the outset. "State supervision" represents the pinnacle of resources essible to police in smaller cities. Beyond the support from national experts,boratories, and specialized forces, it alsoes with a bonus budget. If the case is solved, this bonus is distributed legally and fairly among the officers involved at all levels. This bonus is quite rare; police departments seldom receive mary rewards for solving cases anymore. The funds typically stem from cases like state-supervised ones, where rewards are issued top-down as incentives or prizes. Such instances are few and far between¡ªmaybe once every several years. On the flip side, though, once a case earns the "state-supervised"bel, it garners heightened attention and cooperation from grassroots officers, various units, and leadership alike. This synergy forms a collective effort. The concept of "pulling together as one" requires significant managerial finesse, but with the state-supervised designation, the process bes much smoother. Even with only moderate leadership, a unified direction naturally emerges. Clearly, Zheng Chu valued Jiang Yuan¡¯s opinion more. Despite confirming things with Huang Qiangmin, he still turned to Jiang Yuan, asking, "And you, Jiang Yuan? What¡¯s your take?" "Uh..." Jiang Yuan hesitated briefly but pursued the technical angle. "Over the past few days, I¡¯ve been studying the three corpses. As of now, there aren¡¯t any particrly direct clues. I¡¯m currently attempting identification through forensic anthropology, but it remains highly challenging with no breakthrough progress." "What about forensic botany? I¡¯ve heard you excel in that¡ªit¡¯s even internationally recognized," Zheng Chu said with keen interest. Jiang Yuan replied, "The first step is extracting diatoms from the Tai River area to create a database. Only then will we have a baseline forparison. But whether I¡¯ll manage a match remains uncertain." Diatoms in water are region-specific; those within a given segment of a river would inhabit that same area for extended periods, much like in human viges. The diatoms in one ¡¯vige¡¯ often share simrities or identical genes. This unique trait makes diatoms the most widely applied forensic botany method in criminal investigations¡ªjust as insect-based analysis dominates forensic entomology. Zheng Chu, having some knowledge on this subject, grew more enthusiastic. "So, in essence, you already have a direction." "Not enough to pinpoint anything," Jiang Yuan admitted. "Analyzing the bones themselves provides insufficient stability." Throughout the prior days, Jiang Yuan had focused on the bones, hoping to identify the victims through forensic anthropology. More professionally phrased, he aimed to pursue individual identification via this method. Yet it had to be said: such an endeavor was incredibly difficult. If it weren¡¯t, forensic experts wouldn¡¯t have needed to invent skull restoration technology, forensic biology, and other methods. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 3 proficiency in forensic anthropology worked perfectly fine¡ªmore than adequate in the field. Using rare expertise and expert rankings as benchmarks, his Level 3 skill in forensic anthropology might even rival Level 5 fingerprint specialists. Still, forensic anthropology is inherently unstable. Determining age, gender, and height is straightforward, but identifying specific individuals often hinges on an element of luck. With three corpses¡ªor rather, two and some remnants¡ªJiang Yuan had studied them relentlessly, yet hadn¡¯t reached any conclusions. Zheng Chu seemed to understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s struggles. He nced at Huang Qiangmin, then at Jiang Yuan, and said, "The designation of state-supervised cases is akin to a starting gun: once fired, you can¡¯t help but run. I think we should start moving while continuing both the research and investigation." Huang Qiangmin agreed. "The taskforce has already been established¡ªWang Chuanxing and the others are on standby." "The issue is, there¡¯s not even a defined investigation range yet," Jiang Yuan rified. The Tai River¡¯s length was immense; even with a list of skeletal traits, there wasn¡¯t any real scope for narrowing down the area. Huang Qiangmin merely waved it off. "Let¡¯s start by examining Qinghe City. You¡¯ve already taken fingerprints from corpse number one, haven¡¯t you? Draw up a range within Qinghe City, then investigate further¡ªwhether it¡¯s missing persons or temporarily departed individuals, the pool of suspects shouldn¡¯t be toorge." Zheng Chu concurred. "Even narrowing it down to just an approximate age would drastically reduce the investigation scope. Can the age be determined?" Jiang Yuan nodded. "The victim is male, aged approximately 25, with a safe range of 24 to 26." "Great. Can height be confirmed?" "Between 172 and 174 centimeters." Jiang Yuan paused briefly before adding, "The shoe size should be around 42 to 43." "Uh..." Zheng Chu faltered slightly. "Isn¡¯t that already quite specific?" Jiang Yuan shook his head. "upation and lifestyle habits, among other factors, remain to be considered." "Well... haha..." Zheng Chu¡¯sugh betrayed a touch of difort. The expressions of the other officials from the state ministry and provincial department mirrored his sentiment. Meanwhile, the officers from Ningtai County Bureau and Qinghe City Bureau quickly lowered their heads, masking their expressions of resigned resolve. Chapter 1114 - 1045: Not Quite the Same

Chapter 1114: Chapter 1045: Not Quite the Same

"This is the case Jiang Yuan is currently working on. The suspect appears to be a serial killer, provoking the police." "Provoking the police in Ningtai? Wouldn¡¯t that be provoking Jiang Yuan directly?" "The specifics aren¡¯t entirely clear yet..." "Forget about who the killer is for now, just focus on the case. Jiang Yuan is leading the investigation, right? Has he solved it yet?" "No, not yet. It¡¯s been over a week now, and they¡¯ve only managed to confirm the identity of one victim. The sources for the other two bodies remain unidentified." "Hmm, let¡¯s take a look." Over at the ministerial lodging, a group of forensic doctors gathered for a conference had shifted their discussion towards Jiang Yuan and the case he was investigating. There are over 2,800 districts and counties nationwide, epassing more than 20,000 towns, 7,000 viges, and 8,000 streets. Within such a vast scope, an ordinary person truly is just average¡ªif you can¡¯t rank first among those around you, then there¡¯s no point in talking about a national ranking. But regardless of rankings, phrases like "one case, three corpses," "serial killer," and "provoking the police"bined still pack a punch. This is the kind of case that an ordinary forensic doctor might never encounter in their lifetime. A diligent, hard-working forensic doctor wouldn¡¯t even be noticed by criminals, let alone provoke them into murder. Even if targeted, a case of such importance probably wouldn¡¯t fall to an entry-level forensic doctor to investigate¡ªthey might not even qualify to assist. Standing on the sidelines, handling evidence, perhaps that¡¯s as far as they might go, and even then, it¡¯s likely to involve handling the corpses directly. Even the forensic doctors qualified to attend the ministerial conference furrowed their brows in envy when discussing Jiang Yuan¡¯s case. "This case is truly a tough one. The killer seems to be knowledgeable; they¡¯ve cleaned the bodies, tossed them into the river, and with all the dposition¡ªusable clues are extremely limited." "Now that¡¯s someone who clearly knows what they¡¯re doing." "Do you have any documents on the case? Let¡¯s take a look." A forensic doctor did indeed pull out a notebook, saying, "I got some photos from the scene, along with images of the corpses and bones, from someone on Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. They wanted me to take a look¡ªhow about we all analyze them together?" The eldest forensic doctor pushed the te in front of him forward, signaling to ce the notebook there. The group gathered close without pretension, crowding around the screen, eyes fixed as they jostled to make space for each other. The senior forensic doctor clicked the mouse at his own pace. Everyone present was a nationally recognized expert, their technical prowess beyond question. Individually, they were far younger; if anything, they¡¯d review the photos faster than he would. There were only a few dozen photos in total. The elder forensic doctor pressed diligently through them all, then fell into deep thought. The others adopted simr expressions. After a while, someone squeezed to the front and started flipping through the photos themselves. Some photos included scales for reference, which allowed for concrete measurements to be derived. Different forensic doctors have different needs for data. Several forensic doctors took out notebooks and began making notes. Meanwhile, some others quietly returned to their seats. No forensic doctor is entirely unfamiliar with forensic anthropology. Even the most junior forensic practitioners know how to determine gender based on the pelvis or pubic bone. However, few understand forensic anthropology deeply. Among the nationally ranked forensic doctors present, their skills in forensic pathology were all above Level 3, with some renowned enough to start at Level 3 Great Perfection. However, forensic anthropologycks a certain rational standard¡ªit¡¯s akin to skull restoration techniques, blending half science with half mysticism, cloaked further in a hazy veil of artistry. Those specializing in forensic anthropology are predominantly anthropologists, including physical anthropologists, who graduate with degrees inw. Forensic doctors, on the other hand, hold medical degrees. Though not entirely unrted, the two fields are distinct. Forensic doctors who understand and master forensic anthropology mostly acquired these skillster in their careers. What schools can teach¡ªand might be willing to teach¡ªends at the pelvis. Among the forensic doctors present, those confident in their forensic anthropology expertise were only about four individuals, capable of reaching Level 2 upper-tier proficiency. The four analyzed and calcted for a while before someone finally spoke: "Judging by the state of this skeleton, it should be a male, between 21 and 28 years old?" The senior forensic doctor murmured in agreement: "22 to 27 should work as well. Height should be somewhere between 170 to 175 centimeters." "The long bones show signs of trauma, likely caused by impacts in the river. I think, considering the vertebrae, the height could be narrowed further to 171 to 174," said a confident expert local to Beijing. The three who had given their opinions turned to the fourth, the notebook owner. The fourth shrugged: "I agree." Everyone chuckled at this, lightening the mood considerably. "How¡¯s Jiang Yuan handling things over there?" the senior forensic doctor inquired. "From what I¡¯ve heard, not very smoothly," someone replied. "Let¡¯s ask for an update on his progress," the senior forensic doctor paused before adding, "The condition of this corpse is indeed quite poor." Someone went to make the call. Soon enough, a note was brought back and handed to the senior forensic doctor. "Captain Ding, this is the update from Ningtai County Bureau¡ªthese are the assessments Jiang Yuan has made so far." The group leaned in with curiosity. "The victim is male, aged 24 to 26, height between 172 and 174, shoe size 42 to 43... medium-build, showing signs of carrying weight over long periods but not engaged in heavy physicalbor..." The slow reading gradually chilled the room¡¯s atmosphere. "Another young victim." The eldest expert exhaled sharply, remarking, "Bold and meticulous¡ªthe talent for forensic anthropology truly runs deep in Jiang Yuan." "No doubt about it. The cases he worked on for the Beijing Bureau¡ªhis assessments proved highly urate in hindsight." "That¡¯s just how he operates, leaving no margin for error. Narrowing age estimation down to within three years?" "Limiting it to a three-year range is probably Jiang Yuan¡¯s version of ¡¯leaving room for error.¡¯" "His conclusion about carrying weight but without doing heavybor¡ªhow did he figure that out?" "Perhaps based on boneposition?" Once more, the group delved into analysis, though the tone of the discussion began to shift. Meanwhile, the work of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad also started to evolve. With Qiao Shengli¡¯s sampling processpleted, Sulei brought her entire team of students. They filed straight into the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment¡¯sboratory, where brand-new equipment¡ªsome just recently installed¡ªwas quickly set into motion by the students¡¯ skilled hands. What was originally a lengthy process elerated under Huang Qiangmin¡¯s considerate urging, the professor¡¯s direct oversight, and the tireless effort of the students. Luck, it seemed, was on their side. Less than a quarter of the samples were processed before one matched the diatoms found on Victim 1. "The location where Victim 1 entered the water is right in Qianjin District¡ªQinghe City¡¯s bustling downtown area!" Liu Jinghui was both surprised and delighted by this revtion. "The audacity!" Wu Junhao, who had already prepared for searches, remarked in aposed tone. "Shuidong¡¯s poption is considerable, especially with its influx of outsiders. Even door-to-door inquiries might yield limited results." Liu Jinghui mulled over it before suggesting, "Investigatepanies¡ªespecially small businesses or temporary workers at medium-torgepanies. Go through them one by one to see if there are any recently missing individuals. Also, check delivery personnel and couriers. A 25-year-old man with long-term weight-bearing experience has a higher likelihood of being employed." "Could he have just been working out at a gym?" Wu Junhao threw out this potentialplication casually. Liu Jinghui shook his head, "Gym memberships aren¡¯t records we can investigate. If members stop going for extended periods, no one pays attention to them." "Then what if he lived in Qianjin District but worked somewhere else?" "Investigatingpanies would be quicker. If it¡¯s about residency, it would be harder to conduct inquiries. If he had housemates, he would likely already be gged as a missing person." Liu Jinghui reasoned it out clearly: "In any case, we¡¯ll start with the area most conducive to progress. If door-to-door inquiries fail, we¡¯ll consider alternative, more costly approaches." Chapter 1115 - 1046: Visiting

Chapter 1115: Chapter 1046: Visiting

Wu Junhao walked with a swift stride, leading the fully equipped patrol and riot squad, knocking on the doors of cubicle spaces in the office building one by one. Qinghe City¡¯s economic industrial level was average. Ever since the copse of the former pir industry, Jianyuan Group, rtedpanies have been struggling to survive, and smaller businesses in the city have had it even worse. One by one, they were downsizing to boost efficiency, the result being that office cubicle spaces were getting increasingly cramped. This office building was no exception. Room next to room, some of the small businesses might only upy a few dozen square meters, relying on the 5.7-meter ceiling height to build a two-storyyout. But with this setup, the space inside felt particrly oppressive. Wu Junhao and his squad followed the registration records frommerce and taxation departments, visiting eachpany one by one. The workload wasn¡¯t heavy¡ªif not for the gravity of the case, they could have even conducted inquiries by phone. However, seasoned officers knew well that whilepanies might be officially registered, entrepreneurs were always daring, and with all sorts of business secrets at y, lying wasmonce. Even if no one lied intentionally, it wasn¡¯t unusual for the person answering the phone to be unaware of the situation, and many cared little about police inquiries over the phone. Therefore, investigations and interviews had to be conducted in person. Overall, this task was trivial andplicated, but not particrly difficult, so Wu Junhao felt rtively at ease. During the breaks between interviews, he was already considering how to convert the steps taken into aerobic workout time, and what resistance training exercises he could modify or addter. Just as he was calcting, a subordinate came to report: "Big Wu, we¡¯ve finished asking everywhere!" "Eh? We¡¯re down to the first floor already?" Wu Junhao only then realized. They had taken the elevator to the top floor and swept downward floor by floor. The subordinate nodded. "There are still a few stores left on the first floor. We¡¯ve finished asking the rest upstairs." "Alright, take a break, grab some water for everyone, use the restroom if needed, and then we¡¯ll head to the next building." Wu Junhao sighed. These office buildings were at least fifteen stories tall; sweeping through one was indeed exhausting. The subordinates quickly went off to handle it. Wu Junhao followed them into a supermarket, grabbed a bottle of Pulse, and then said to the deputy squad leader behind him, "For the next building, let¡¯s split into two teams. I¡¯ll start from the bottom and sweep upward." The deputy squad leader chuckled. "Got it. Afraid going downstairs will hurt your knees, huh?" "Let¡¯s just call it exercise," Wu Junhao shook his head. Their workload was considerable; for buildings like these, sweeping three to five in a day definitely wouldn¡¯t cut it. In the first few days, they might even have to sweep eight to ten buildings. That adds up to over a hundred stories¡¯ worth of height¡ªWu Junhao figured it was best not to waste the effort. The deputy squad leader agreed. After paying the supermarket owner, he then asked: "Have any employees quit recently, especially those who left without notice and can¡¯t be reached?" "Our store staffes and goes all the time. Recently..." "Within thest 20 days or a month, any employees who left?" the deputy squad leader added. "Within the past month, we did rece two stock clerks," the supermarket owner answered quite earnestly. Confronted by so many police officers, he definitely didn¡¯t want trouble. Upon hearing this, the term "intermittent heavy lifting" immediately sprang to Wu Junhao¡¯s mind. Frequent gym-goers knew this well¡ªany sort ofbor job was the lifelong nemesis of bodybuilders with big muscles. Stock clerks at supermarkets asionally had to exert serious effort. "What¡¯s their name? Age? Approximately how tall are they?" Wu Junhao started verifying the information. In the beginning, they hadn¡¯t explicitly mentioned conditions like age and height because staffing at small supermarkets was often unregted; falsifying ages or wearing height-boosting shoes was routine. Laying out these conditions right at the start could easily lead to mistakenly excluding potential suspects. The proper approach was to ask about possibly suspicious candidates first, then cross-check with these details for security. "Little Xu. His name is Xu Li, I think. In his twenties, a little over 170 centimeters tall. I¡¯ll check the information I recorded at the time. I kept a copy of his ID card." The supermarket owner huffed and puffed, crouching in front of theputer to search. "Is he from Shannan Province?" the deputy squad leader asked simultaneously. "Yes, from Qinghe City." "Is this the person?" The deputy squad leader had already pulled up a matched profile of Xu Li on his phone. A young man with a square face and short hair, appearing quite spirited. The supermarket owner nodded upon seeing this and said, "He worked here as a stock clerk for two months. Just after receiving his wages, he said he didn¡¯t want to continue and left." The deputy squad leader furrowed his brows. "He didn¡¯te to work the day after he got paid?" "No, he worked two more days, I think." "So, he didn¡¯t ask for those two days¡¯ wages? Does your store withhold money?" The deputy squad leader, having worked in a police station before, cornered the owner with just a few questions. The owner coughed twice, nced at his other staff first, then exined: "He messaged me asking me to transfer those few days¡¯ earnings via WeChat. I called him out on it, but he didn¡¯t respond. I figured that was the end of it." "So, you didn¡¯t transfer that money to Xu Li, and he never brought it up again?" Wu Junhao, following the train of thought, rified. The owner grunted and said, "He¡¯s shy. I couldn¡¯t exactly chase him down to pay him." "You didn¡¯t find it odd that he left so suddenly?" the deputy squad leader pressed. "Stock clerks quitting all the time is normal," the owner initially replied, but seeing that Wu Junhao and the others were itching to speak up, he quickly continued: "Our supermarket has tons of sales and a lot of work. The workload for stock clerks is heavy, with long hours. It¡¯s normal for them to quit within a month or two." The deputy squad leader: "Low pay, heavy workload, long hours?" The ownerpletely gave in: "If you insist on putting it that way, there¡¯s not much I can say." "Since Xu Li quit, have you contacted him by phone or any other means, like voice messages?" the deputy squad leader asked onest time. The owner responded firmly: "No. Situations like this, I wouldn¡¯t call him first. If he chooses to message me, I¡¯ll reply ordingly." The deputy squad leader and Wu Junhao exchanged a nce. From their perspective, not only was Xu Li highly likely to be a victim, but the person who had sent a message to the owner post-resignation also had a strong chance of being the perpetrator. It was essentially killing two birds with one stone. Finding the victim was primarily about uncovering information or cross-referencing details with another case. Meanwhile, the usage of a phone or WeChat to directly point to the suspect was even better. "I¡¯ll make the call," Wu Junhao saw that everything had been rified and immediately searched for Jiang Yuan¡¯s number on his phone. Investigations don¡¯t always yield conclusions quickly, so getting results this fast left Wu Junhao quite enthusiastic. Even though the golden investigative window had already passed, casework is always easier to crack the faster it¡¯s carried out. Only when everyone strives their hardest can investigations proceed at lightning speed. Chapter 1116 - 1047: Winning Amidst Competition

Chapter 1116: Chapter 1047: Winning Amidst Competition

"This area is likely a region Xu Li might havee into contact with. Zone Two." Deputy Captian Qi Yongmiao pointed out the designated area to Jiang Yuan, his tone slightly tense. Earlier, Jiang Yuan had already extracted a fingerprint from the corpse¡¯s middle finger using the oil lifting technique from Body Number One. Now, if they¡¯re able to find a matching fingerprint from anywhere in the supermarket, it would conclusively prove that Xu Li is the deceased. A more definitive approach would be to obtain identical DNA. Despite Body Number One being highly decayed, DNA had still been sessfully extracted. But since Xu Li was an orphan and the room he rented had been handed over to other tenants, investigators attempted to collect potential DNA samples but found suchparisons to be more challenging. On the other hand, as a supermarket shelf stocker, Xu Li would have easily left fingerprints behind within the store. While waiting for Jiang Yuan, Wu Junhao and his team had already narrowed down areas within the store that Xu Li might have interacted with using surveince footage. However, no matching fingerprints had been found in Zone One. Qi Yongmiao had held his breath then. Had it not been Jiang Yuan personally conducting the fingerprint lifting, Qi Yongmiao might have called for someone to redo the process. Jiang Yuan remained calm as ever. He was taking the matter seriously, so he hade personally to lift the fingerprints. Meanwhile, Liu Jinghui and the others, apanying him, analyzed the supermarket, considering Xu Li as the victim as they began pondering their next moves. Zone Two consisted of a shelf at the back of the storage room. Surveince footage showed that while others had interacted with this spot after Xu Li, the frequency was low, the instances were few, and¡ªmore importantly¡ªthere was no evidence of wiping, making it conducive to preserving fingerprints. Jiang Yuan picked up a gray squirrel hair brush, selected silver powder, and meticulously began brushing it onto the dark background of the shelf. A smattering of fingerprints quickly emerged. Jiang Yuan examined the fingerprints closely and chose only to extract the middle finger prints. Extracting others would be pointless since only a right middle finger fingerprint had been found on the first corpse. The recently collected prints from Zone Two had yet to reveal a suitable match. Jiang Yuan surmised that Xu Li may not have left prints of his right middle finger there, or if he did, they may have been identally wiped off. Therefore, despite not achieving a match, he wasn¡¯t overly agitated. Anyone in fingerprint analysis knows that such oues aremon¡ªthe confidently expected fingerprint that fails to match. Every forensic technician has faced this, and a few years into such work often leads to steadier¡ªor more broken¡ªattitudes. From another perspective, even when a criminal investigator confidently identifies a suspect or victim, it¡¯s possible they may not truly be one. Techniques such as fingerprinting and DNA analysis not only catch many perpetrators but have also exonerated many innocent individuals. Sometimes, coincidences ur. Situations arise that defy logical reasoning. Such scenarios are umon, but when they happen, only the most clear-cut technology can pull the case out of the mire. Jiang Yuan now aimed to use technology to confirm Xu Li as Victim Number One. While everyone¡ªthemselves included¡ªwas practically certain that Xu Li was the victim, there remained an undeniable chasm between belief and evidence. And that chasm ought to exist. Jiang Yuan carried out on-site fingerprint lifting,paring each extracted fingerprint as he went. This type ofparison didn¡¯t involveputer software, leaning instead toward early fingerprint matching techniques¡ªa one-to-oneparison of differences between two fingerprints¡ªas if software had provided shortlisted candidates, and manual confirmation was the final step. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even need to mark minutiae points. He had memorized the prints from the original body long ago. Now, all he needed to do was confirm whether the newly lifted prints aligned. This sped up theparison process. After extracting six or seven fingerprints, one fingerprint prompted Jiang Yuan to single it out. At first nce, this fingerprint appeared slightly different from the original fingerprint on the deceased. But those knowledgeable about fingerprints know that prints left on objects are not always uniform. The pressure exerted during contact causes fingerprints¡ªthe ridges and grooves on fingers¡ªto either spread out under greater pressure or concentrate under lighter pressure. Additionally, a skewed angle during contact can leave partial fingerprints rather thanplete impressions. If a living person were present, they could roll out aplete fingerprint, simplifyingparisons substantially. But with the victim deceased,paring two partial prints without omissions would likely demand at least Level 2 fingerprint expertise. Jiang Yuan naturally employed full-spectrum analysis. Using Level 6 fingerprinting methods under such circumstances was akin to the joy of a lighthouse keeper returning home to his delicate young wife after a year of istion on the ind. Jiang Yuan spent slightly more time analyzing the fingerprint before him, though only to confirm. Momentster, Jiang Yuan straightened up, stopped lifting further prints, and nodded, stating, "The match is confirmed. It¡¯s indeed Xu Li¡¯s fingerprint." Every officer present grew excited. Not only did this resolve the question of Victim Number One¡¯s identity, but it also represented a major breakthrough in the case. Immediately, Liu Jinghui said, "I¡¯ll contact Technical Investigation to see if we can trace anything from Xu Li¡¯s phone number." If the perpetrator used Xu Li¡¯s phone to send messages after his death, it indicated the criminal exposed themselves during that moment. Many of the techniques employed by Technical Investigation are incredibly difficult to evade in day-to-day scenarios. Even if the perpetrator knows how to avoid detection, they would need to make certain concessions¡ªorpromises¡ªto do so. Such changes in behavior might lead to crucial clues. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t concern himself with probabilities. He figured it best to begin investigations anyway. Jiang Yuan naturally approved. The perpetrator using the deceased Xu Li¡¯s phone to send messages was a major lead in itself. Liu Jinghui then directed his team to collect surveince footage from surrounding shops and the property management office. Pulling Jiang Yuan aside, he spoke quietly, "The perpetrator schemed carefully; this murder was certainly meticulously nned. Xu Li disappeared the day after receiving his paycheck. It¡¯s difficult to argue this is an isted event. However, this also exposed the perpetrator." "What are you suggesting?" "The perpetrator is likely someone familiar with Xu Li¡ªor at least someone who has ess to information about him. Therefore, murdering Xu Li was not a random act." Liu Jinghui exhaled slowly, his eyes lighting up. "They believe such familiarity lowers their chances of being discovered, but it also deepened their connection to the victim." "Xu Li is an orphan," Jiang Yuan said, reiterating known details, before adding thoughtfully, "He was a supermarket stocker. His daily interpersonalwork should not be extensive." "From the perpetrator¡¯s perspective, this aspect of Xu Li might have been necessary," Liu Jinghui¡¯s train of thought became increasingly clear. "The perpetrator seems to have in three victims in session, but their n may have been in progress for a long time. To kill serially, their aim is often for the first or second victim to remain undiscovered for as long as possible. Based on their nning, if the victim had family, the odds of detection vastly increase when the family files a missing person report. Xu Li appearing in the missing persons database would have heightened our chances of locating him." Jiang Yuan nodded nomittally. Continuing, Liu Jinghui said, "Also, from the perpetrator¡¯s perspective, knowing that much about Xu Li would make them less likely to be someone too familiar to Xu Li. Otherwise, they¡¯d be too easily investigated. Thus, it¡¯s likely the perpetrator isn¡¯t among Xu Li¡¯s close connections." Jiang Yuan inclined his head, "A casual acquaintance¡ªsomeone who knows just enough." "Particrly someone aware of his payday," Liu Jinghui licked his lips and whispered, "This indicates the perpetrator likely interacted with Xu Li, either online or offline, within the past two months." "Mm." "I¡¯ve got an idea." "Oh?" "Xu Li, as a supermarket stocker, had limited interaction with people. To truly understand him would require time. I think we can run a filter: consider all phones in the same location as Xu Li¡¯s for ovepping durations exceeding three minutes. Let¡¯s see how many suspects we can narrow down." Chapter 1117 - 1048: Dog Head Gold

Chapter 1117: Chapter 1048: Dog Head Gold

During the time when Liu Jinghui began applying for technical investigation intervention, Jiang Yuan started studying Corpse No. 3. The muttion level of Corpse No. 3 was even higher¡ªmissing the head, fingers, and toes. Although the remaining parts could be used to determine basics like age, height, and gender, obtaining more precise answers was far more challenging than it had been for Corpse No. 1. And Jiang Yuan had already spent several days studying Corpse No. 1. At his level of expertise in forensic anthropology, it was no longer as simple as using the pelvis to determine gender or the long bones to estimate height. The sternum, vertebrae, and even vicles could all be used to deduce information about age, height, and gender. Initially, these studies were aimed at solving dismemberment cases. But on a more advanced level, it was akin to solving one problem with six different methods. Although all six methods pointed to the same result, the level of detail naturally varied. If the problem was big enough, akin to a question with three sub-parts, then it actually represented three distinct stages toward the same goal. Employing multiple types of bones for analysis not only improved uracy but also made it easier to uncover information about the deceased¡¯s life. In short, the deeper the understanding of a single bone, the more inferences could be drawn. But on all fronts, Corpse No. 3 was less favorable. From a police perspective, it was an exceptionally difficult corpse to analyze. The same was true for Jiang Yuan. However, Jiang Yuan was only stuck for a single day... Liu Jinghui then brought out a chart. Time-space intersection was already well-established technology for technical investigations. Especially after the pandemic, the speed of its advancement and widespread use in tracing close contacts elerated significantly. Calling it both effective and efficient wasn¡¯t an exaggeration. Rted technologies, such as electronic fences, could even, in some cases, surpass mobile phone barriers to pinpoint when a person passed a certain location. Combined with surveince, facial recognition, and gait recognition, it became remarkably easy to identify an individual with no counter-surveince experience. After reporting Jiang Yuan¡¯s name, the technical investigation team took just half a day to provide Liu Jinghui with a list of 178 eligible people. After further filtering by Liu Jinghui, only 67 names remained when the list was handed to Jiang Yuan. "Xu Li doesn¡¯t interact with many people during his regr work hours, but he asionallyes out to stock goods. That¡¯s when he has more interactions," Liu Jinghui exined to Jiang Yuan, his demeanor not the least bit uneasy. In fact, he looked quite excited. Narrowing down the real culprit from a pile of suspects¡ªthis was exactly the sort of thing Sherlock Holmes would do! Especially when you had a glittering, dazzling Watson by your side, the process became even more invigorating. Gently stroking the list with one hand, Liu Jinghui said, "I have a short-term n and a long-term n for filtering this list." Jiang Yuan waved over Wang Chuanxing, who was in the corner of the office, asking him to take notes, and then nodded at Liu Jinghui to proceed. Liu Jinghui exined, "The long-term n is simple. We follow up the movements of everyone on this list at the time of the homicides, which should allow us to exclude most of them. Those remaining would be the primary targets for investigation. If necessary, we could refine the analysis of the crime times or investigate from the angle of the murder weapons and crime scenes." With confidence, Liu Jinghui added, "The short-term n is even simpler. These days, few people are separated from their phones for long. However, the perpetrator, daring enough to provoke the police, must be familiar with some investigative methods. I believe that during the times of the murders of Victims No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3, the culprit might deliberately part ways with their phone. By cross-referencing the list for such records, we could possibly find something significant." At this point, Wang Chuanxing chimed in, "This list is derived from time-space intersections. If the culprit left their phone behind... oh, you mean that this list represents those moments when the perpetrator observed and interacted with Xu Li? But during the actual murders, they might have refrained from carrying their phone?" "That¡¯s roughly the idea," Liu Jinghui slightly nodded. "The suspect might even have a second phone or deliberately avoided carrying a phone when interacting with Xu Li. But all of these behaviors are risky, and mistakes are likely to ur, making this line of investigation valuable." "Agreed." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t require a n with absolute certainty. If the investigation were being led by Xu Taining, achieving near-perfect certainty would indeed be necessary. After all, the financial costs of Xu Taining¡¯s operations were exorbitant. Even in a provincial capital city like Changyang City, the prospect of expending such resources on a case and failing to solve it would be uneptable. As for feasibility, it could be understood inparison to a top-tiermercial filmmaker. High-risk investments would grant significant autonomy, but only if backed by a solid track record of sess. Returning to the current situation, Liu Jinghui¡¯s approach didn¡¯t require such rigorous justifications. Screening dozens of people was notplicated enough to warrant the term "screening"; it was more aptly described as straightforward investigation. Even if Liu Jinghui wanted to be more meticulous, the quantity andplexity involved were typical tasks for a criminal investigation team. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s approval, Liu Jinghui immediately mobilized the officers. This case belonged to Ningtai County itself, meaning they didn¡¯t need the permission and cooperation of externalw enforcement teams like when working out of town. Wu Junhao¡¯s riot police unit and Liu Wenkai¡¯s criminal investigation unit had long been eager to act. Once Liu Jinghui assigned tasks, they sprang into action immediately. Wu Junhao¡¯s riot police unit truly mobilized to implement the long-term n, interviewing everyone on the list and recording their activities on the day in question in written statements. Liu Wenkai¡¯s criminal investigation unit pursued the short-term n, first obtaining results from the technical investigators and directly probing the "key" suspects identified from the filtering process. This investigation was much more detailed, employing technical methods alongside sending detectives to conduct home visits. For those whose suspicious status couldn¡¯t be ruled out, surveince teams were deployed. The two approaches slightly ovepped, but Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mind. Ovepped suspects inherently had a higher level of suspicion. Repeating investigations or changing the investigators was, in itself, a valid investigation model. In the following days, the meeting room on the ninth floor remained brightly lit and abuzz with activity. The list of 67 rapidly narrowed down to 23, then 17, 12, 6, 3... until it hit zero. "All suspects have been ruled out." While the oue didn¡¯t entirely take Liu Jinghui by surprise, he was still a little caught off guard upon receiving confirmation of it. "Should we reopen investigations on key suspects?" Huang Qiangmin, having received the news and arrived, neitherined nor offered constion. Instead, he directly expressed his support for Liu Jinghui. Although slightly tempted, Liu Jinghui slowly shook his head, replying, "The investigations have already been extremely thorough. Doing them again wouldn¡¯t make much difference¡ªthe suspects eliminated are all excluded unless our lines of inquiry were wed. Otherwise, this means the culprit isn¡¯t within the scope we¡¯ve defined." This was one of the most frustrating scenarios in investigations. After meticulously investigating arge group of suspects, all turn out to be cleared. Starting over would be akin to starting from scratch. After a moment of contemtion, Liu Jinghui turned to Jiang Yuan and asked, "Should we take a fresh approach from Corpse No. 3 to confirm the victim¡¯s identity and then search formonalities?" "Corpse No. 3 is tougher to handle. To confirm their identity, we might end up needing a wide-scale screening," Jiang Yuan replied after having studied Corpse No. 3 for several days, adding, "Corpse No. 2¡¯s identity has already been confirmed but remains out of contact for now. Corpse No. 3 could very well end with the same result." Jiang Yuan was currently investigating a local case and wouldn¡¯t resort to initiating a city-wide screening unless they¡¯d reached a dead end. Even Liu Jinghui had to admit his glittering, dazzling Watson made a good point. Of the three corpses discovered so far, Corpse No. 1 remained the most valuable, providing the most leads. Compared to thetter two, Corpse No. 1 seemed tock the same level of randomness¡ªat least, that was Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning at this stage. Frowning slightly, Liu Jinghui thought to himself, without new leads, the deductions would need to be even more refined. Just then, Jiang Yuan remarked, "Perhaps we can focus on the murderer¡¯s techniques." "You mean their knife skills?" Liu Jinghui immediately understood¡ªthis was not umon in criminal cases¡ªand quickly followed up, "Do you think the murderer has a medical background or something simr?" "Yes, their knife skills are extremely proficient. Either they have a medical or forensic background, or they¡¯ve worked as a butcher or chef," Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "Without three to five years of consistent practice, it wouldn¡¯t be possible to dissect the bodies with such precision." Dismemberment is a typical hands-on skill; it¡¯s not something one can learn from merely reading books. Only through repeated practice could someone achieve the precise incisions and smooth cuts observed on the three bodies. Lightly nodding, Liu Jinghui said, "We previously assumed the suspect had time-space intersections with the victims. If we abandon this assumption, I think we can expand the suspect pool to include people within both Xu Li¡¯s professional and personal environments. This would significantly widen the scope." This essentially amounted to a vocational background check. Even if the defined pool of people wasrge, the cost in terms of time and manpower wouldn¡¯t be exorbitant. Liu Jinghui promptly turned back to his work. However, once individuals with relevant backgrounds were identified, they would necessitate further, in-depth investigation by the detectives. It was then that a man named Bian Yizhang came into the task force¡¯s view. "Bian Yizhang. Tobo and liquor store owner. Regrly employs two staff members. His store is located just 50 meters from the supermarket where Xu Li worked. He has previously engaged in private butchering, served as amunity watch officer, volunteered for charity work, and regrly participates in social welfare activities. ording to technical analysis, he often carries two phones, both of which are frequently powered off or left unattended." Based on earlier stages of the investigation, and solely from the information read out by Wang Chuanxing, it would appear that Bian Yizhang was entirely above suspicion. Wu Junhao had even spoken with him face-to-face. However, at this stage of the investigation, Bian Yizhang¡¯s seemingly ordinary identities and behaviors now gleamed like gold to the task force members. Chapter 1118 - 1049: Observing

Chapter 1118: Chapter 1049: Observing

Duang! Duang Duang! Wu Junhao led his team, using a battering ram to smash the warehouse door of Bian Yizhang¡¯s tobo and liquor store after several attempts. Amid the dusty air, Wu Junhao, shielded by anti-riot officers with ballistic shields, turned on his tactical shlight and led the group inside. Jiang Yuan was held back by Huang Qiangmin on the opposite side of the street, unable to do anything. Though Jiang Yuan had LV3 skills in firearms handling, Huang Qiangmin had witnessed explosives with a 30-meter st radius. There was no way Huang Qiangmin would let Jiang Yuan enter a serial killer¡¯s warehouse first. Shen Feihong, themander of Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment, was also present at the scene, enviously watching the interaction between Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. He wished for a subordinate who would protect him like a princess in the same manner. "Safe." "Safe!" Only after hearing echoes announcing safety from inside did Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin enter the premises guarded by Mu Zhiyang. The warehouse was converted from an office building from twenty or thirty years ago, spanning an area of about a hundred square meters. There were a few partition walls dividing the space. The walls were thick, the ceiling height was decent, and the windows had all been bricked up. Illumination relied entirely on artificial lighting. "Over here!" Wu Junhao¡¯s voice came from the room on the eastern side. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin moved towards it. With each step, the ground beneath their feet emitted a crunching sound. "stic sheeting," Huang Qiangmin nced down and felt a sense of unease, informing Jiang Yuan. "Hmm." Jiang Yuan nodded as he continued observing and advancing deeper inside. The entire room was wrapped in stic sheeting, and four human severed heads were clearly disyed on a stainless-steel tabletop covered in stic. The heads had been treated with lime, an old-fashioned method of preserving corpses. The stark whiteness of the heads made the scene even more chilling. "Four heads?" Huang Qiangmin almost doubted his ability to count. The case thus far had only revolved around three victims. "Four heads. No other body parts have been found so far," Wu Junhao solemnly replied, keeping additional personnel from entering the room. In cases of such brutal acts of violence, the necessity and urgency of solving them intensified. Whether for individual officers or society as a whole, such cruelty must unequivocally be eradicated. Jiang Yuan lowered his gaze to the stic sheeting on the floor¡ªtransparent, intact, and free of bloodstains. The few smudges present were likely brought in by the police themselves. "Commander Wu, don¡¯t move," Jiang Yuan instructed, refraining from inspecting the heads and instead examining the footprints on the stic sheeting. Compared to soil or muddy surfaces, footprints on stic sheeting were challenging to capture. However, the warehouse was filthy, covered in dust, andcked proper sealing or cleaning, thereby leaving some traces. Simr residuals could be found on metal or tiled surfaces. "Bring a few people to lift Commander Wu out and get the electrostatic dust lifter here," Jiang Yuan ordered before addressing Wu Junhao, "Stay still for now, andter leave a sample of your shoe sole. I¡¯ll check other areas first." "Alright," Wu Junhao responded reluctantly, saying, "I¡¯ll just pretend I stepped on andmine, waiting for you to defuse it." Nearby officers chuckled briefly before realizing the grim atmosphere. They quickly turned away. Shortly afterward, someone brought over two bamboo poles, handing Wu Junhao one for each side to prop under his arms. A team gathered around and effortlessly hoisted Wu Junhao out. Wu Junhao exhaled deeply but felt nauseated as he inhaled again. "These heads were preserved with lime, but the technique is average," Jiang Yuan said as hepleted a circuit of the warehouse, conducted a cursory examination of the scene, and collected some fingerprints and footprints. He then returned to the stic-sheeted room. Liu Wenkai entered from the rear, remarking, "Maybe the method was learned online." "It¡¯s possible." Jiang Yuan considered this exnation, finding Liu Wenkai¡¯s analysis usible. As a former head of the major crimes unit, Liu certainly had solid expertise. Wu Junhao red, tempted to move closer for a better look but afraid he¡¯d be hoisted out again. Displeased, he muttered, "The stic sheetingyout here might¡¯ve been copied from TV dramas. I recall seeing something simr in American TV shows." "That¡¯s possible. Still, the sheeting is neatlyid¡ªthere¡¯s some skill involved," Jiang Yuan acknowledged. "Ordinarily, wouldn¡¯t he have wrapped the heads in the stic sheeting, discarded them elsewhere, and covered his tracks? Leaving them here, disyed so neatly¡ªit¡¯s like provoking the police," Liu Wenkai suggested. "This isn¡¯t his first time provoking us," Wu Junhao scoffed. Liu Wenkai: "What¡¯s his motive then?" Wu Junhao: "Didn¡¯t you just say? To provoke the authorities!" "So he¡¯s just purely deranged? With all this time, could he not have gone to sing karaoke or something?" Liu Wenkai mused aloud. Cases involving deranged individuals tend to be overly borate, their convoluted actions draining police resources. As they conversed, the electrostatic dust lifter Jiang Yuan requested had been grounded and delivered. The electrostatic dust lifter was amonly used tool among forensic specialists for collecting footprints. However, it required extensive grounding, particrly when used on stic sheeting. The device operated simply: the footprint was covered uniformly with the electrostatic dust film of an appropriate size, then subjected to repetitive cycles of energizing and de-energizing. Dust from the footprint adhered to the film, which could then be photographed for evidence collection. Jiang Yuan observed rather than operated the device himself, instead focusing his attention on gait patterns. "Captain Jiang, the footprint collection isplete," reported a technician from the forensic unit. Jiang Yuan nodded, turning to Huang Qiangmin and the others nearby. "Based on the footprints, this should still be Bian Yizhang¡¯s doing." "Just one person?" Huang Qiangmin asked, his concern evident. "Just one." Jiang Yuan confirmed, signaling for the stic sheeting to be carefully removed. Due to the need for evidence preservation, these tasks took a couple of hours. Only now did Jiang Yuan approach the four severed heads for closer examination. "These are the heads of victims number one, two, and three," Jiang Yuan paused before picking up the bottommost head. "The fourth is female. Judging by the dental structure, she appears to be about 28 years old. Her teeth were once corrected, which likely leaves a record. Her nose underwent cosmetic surgery too, though it¡¯s somewhat decayed now. Based on her bone structure, she should have been quite attractive." "Then I suggestbeling her as a beauty," Liu Wenkaimented, adding, "With nose work, other cosmetic procedures are also usible. Even a regr-looking person could look stunning with makeup and corrections. If you say she already looked good initially, just a few tweaks and some makeup could make her easily pass as a conventional beauty." The soundness of this logic prompted most present to nod in tacit agreement¡ªit seemed convincing. "Has the warrant for Bian Yizhang been disseminated? Any leads?" Huang Qiangmin asked, his emotions slightly steadied. Though another victim had been added, since the perpetrator had been identified and no additional culprits seemed involved, the case was progressing towards resolution. In this modern era, fugitive tracking was rtively easier. As evening set in, Jiang Yuan and his team finished processing the scene and drove back to Ningtai County. The crime urred in Qinghe City, but jurisdiction fell under the Taihe Working Group due toplications with the Tai River. Vehicles from the Qinghe City Bureau escorted them partway before returning to their posts. Once back in Ningtai County, the officers from Wu Junhao¡¯s anti-riot squad and Liu Wenkai¡¯s criminal police brigade also returned to their stations. Jiang Yuan and his team drove into the underground garage of Building 9, taking the elevator upstairs to immediately begin analyzing the four new severed heads. This investigationsted until the early hours of morning. The courtyard of the Ningtai County Bureau Criminal Police Brigade was nearly pitch-dark. Bian Yizhang tightened the raincloth around himself, raised his binocrs again, and stared at the courtyard of the Criminal Police Brigade, silently observing. Chapter 1119 - 1050: Warm Red

Chapter 1119: Chapter 1050: Warm Red

Here is the English trantion of the provided text: In the dead of night, Bian Yizhang stood on the rooftop. The light in the east wing on the first floor turned on and off again. Bian Yizhang rubbed his eyes and sat up, knowing Jiang Yuan was about toe out. He had observed this several times before and knew that the annex building of the Criminal Science Building of the 9th block in the Criminal Police Detachment was exclusively used by Jiang Yuan. Among them, the forensic doctor¡¯s most frequently used autopsy room was located on the first floor. Not only was it convenient, but the smell also dissipated easily. Within the police system, this detail alone had already surpassed most forensic doctors¡¯ living conditions. Bian Yizhang slowly stood up, stretched and rubbed his wrists and ankles, then put on a windbreaker. He carefully folded the rainproof tarp that concealed his position, stored it in his tactical backpack, and descended via the fire escape on the other side of the building. He was in no rush. Jiang Yuan was there, like the crown jewel, simply awaiting him to pluck it. Yet every moment before the actual act of plucking felt like savoring the anticipation to Bian Yizhang. "Command the underworld! Haha..." Bian Yizhang remembered a story he had heard while drinking, about how Jiang Yuan spread a rumor and prominent figures from the underworld enthusiastically assisted in finding someone. It made him scoff outwardly yet envy inwardly. Of course, he himself had no qualification to have the underworld bosses serve him, especially in such a tacit and effortless way ¡ª merely a gesture was enough to mobilize action. Bian Yizhang knew he would never have such power in his lifetime. But from another perspective, if he could kill Jiang Yuan ¡ª particrly by killing him meticulously, brutally humiliating him in the process ¡ª then afterward, the legends of the underworld would inevitably include the name of Bian Yizhang. Bian Yizhang tightly shouldered his backpack, conserving his energy, and arrived at a small alley about two kilometers away from the Criminal Police Detachment. This alley opened onto a road that was the necessary route from the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment to Jiangcun Residential Area. The alley entrance was monitored by surveince cameras, but there was no surveince inside the alley. Of course, if one were determined to search, footage from outside the alley could still capture Bian Yizhang¡¯s silhouette. After all, there were too many cameras in Ningtai County. But these concerns were forter. As long as Bian Yizhang wasn¡¯t noticed by the cameras while waiting, he didn¡¯t care about surveince once he had captured Jiang Yuan. He had prepared three safe houses nearby, and in any one of them, he was confident he could dissect Jiang Yuan in detail within two hours. Just as he had practiced before. Vroom... The sound of a car engine rose from far away. Bian Yizhang nced at his watch; if Jiang Yuan had left when the lights were turned off, the timing of the vehicle approaching would be just right. He pulled up his hood, advanced slightly out of the alley, and raised his binocrs to observe the oing vehicle. It was a Honda ord, obviously not Jiang Yuan¡¯s car or a police vehicle. Disappointed, Bian Yizhang sighed and retreated back into the alley. He felt that tonight presented a good opportunity ¡ª Jiang Yuan was leaving workter than usual; thete-night county roads had sparse traffic; coupled with the favorable weather and visibility, capturing Jiang Yuan might leave the police unresponsive for several hours. By then, he could vanish with his prepared fake documents and SIM cards, potentially bing a legendary figure in the underworld. Vroom, vroom... The sound of another car engine approached. Instinctively, Bian Yizhang stepped forward again, raised his binocrs, and squinted at the scene. It was the Alphard that Jiang Yuan often used. Bian Yizhang wasn¡¯t sure if Jiang Yuan was inside the car. After all, many Jiang Vige residents owned Alphards too. But at this time of night, it was highly likely Jiang Yuan was the passenger. Bian Yizhang wasn¡¯t one to overthink repeatedly. On the contrary, once he decided on a course of action, he stuck to it single-mindedly. So, within seconds of spotting the Alphard, Bian Yizhang tossed a handful of caltrops across the road. Purchased cheaply online, the caltrops were durable and plentiful ¡ª four-legged metal devices that always left one end pointing upward when they hit the ground. While ancient soldiers feared them injuring their feet, modern car tires couldn¡¯t handle them either. Screeeech... The rapidly approaching Alphard began to skid, followed by a sharp screech of grinding metal. In the brief moment Bian Yizhang had hoped the Alphard would flip over, the vehicle instead slowed to a halt. Bian Yizhang quickly retrieved the Hualong shotgun from his backpack. It was a short double-barreled hunting gun with rough edges that he had personally polished to avoid cutting his hand when gripping it. The gun wasn¡¯t of high quality, but it was still a gun. If aimed right, two shots were enough to kill two people ¡ª which Bian Yizhang felt would suffice. If not, he had additional ammunition. Plus, a long knife was strapped to his back. In modern times, people had little concept of cold weapons. However, even watching a few anti-Japanese war dramas would reveal the clear advantages of long weapons in realbat. In hand-to-handbat, long weapons were almost unbeatable unless facing rarebat elites. Bian Yizhang wore a stab-proof vest purchased online for 500 yuan ¡ª capable of withstanding police-grade daggers for closebat. Bian Yizhang tightened his backpack straps once again, adjusted his gloves, cradled the shotgun in his arms, and started inconspicuously walking toward the Alphard. The distance from the alley to where the Alphard had stopped was about 20 meters. At this distance, surveince cameras would likely catch his image. But Bian Yizhang no longer cared. At this moment, in this situation, Bian Yizhang felt nearly invincible. ck. It seemed the passengers of the Alphard, recovering from their initial fright, opened the door and stepped out. "Watch out for sharp objects on the ground." "Hey brother, don¡¯te over. We¡¯re fine. There are nails on the ground." The first person who exited stepped onto the caltrops. Thankfully, his boots were thick enough not to puncture his soles, so he quickly warned the others. The man spoke the local dialect, his tone friendly, and didn¡¯t give much thought to Bian Yizhang¡¯s identity. Bian Yizhang remained silent and kept walking. The second person, then the third person, followed suit and alighted from the vehicle, and finally, the driver stepped out. At this moment, using the car¡¯s interior lights, Bian Yizhang confirmed no one was left inside. His gaze quickly swept over the four individuals; none of them were tall. This wasn¡¯t right. Bian Yizhang had observed Jiang Yuan many times before, and his most prominent impression had always been Jiang Yuan¡¯s height. Most of the time, Jiang Yuan stood taller than the people around him ¡ª the kind of person whose head would be unmistakable in a sniper¡¯s scope unless he suddenly shifted his position. Yet among these passengers, none matched that height. In a split second, Bian Yizhang swiftly shoved the shotgun back into his tactical backpack and adjusted his trousers so the long knife hugged his pants leg seamlessly. "Anyone hurt?" Bian Yizhang deliberately lowered his voice, pretending to be a well-meaning passerby. "No injuries, we¡¯re all good. Everything¡¯s fine, really." "Good to hear." "Yeah, we¡¯re fine." The passengers exchanged reassurances among themselves. Bian Yizhang shuffled his feet twice to clear away any caltrops that might puncture his own shoes, nced at them again, and sighed, "If you¡¯re all okay, just call your insurancepany. I¡¯ll take my leave now." "Sure thing." The driver responded, then asked casually, "What are you doing out sote? Taking a walk?" "Couldn¡¯t sleep, insomnia." Bian Yizhang came up with an excuse, backed away two steps to move out of the streetlight¡¯s re, then turned around and left. Vroom... Another Alphard approached with its headlights on, stopping dozens of meters away from the ident scene. Mu Zhiyang stepped out, hand near his waist like an American cop, and shouted from afar, "What happened here?" "There are nails on the ground; the tires got punctured." Someone from the first Alphard shielded his eyes from the light and replied, "Is that Old Twelve?" "It¡¯s us." The driver from the second Alphard answered. The two vehicles recognized each other, and only then did Jiang Yuan step out. Bian Yizhang, now back at the alley entrance, stealthily raised his binocrs for observation. At this point, he felt regret ¡ª what if he had let the first Alphard pass? Yet Jiang Yuan¡¯s bodyguards were always troublesome, requiring a clean headshot to eliminate. Bian Yizhang was still contemting his next move when Jiang Yuan stopped before a cluster of caltrops, lowered his head, and appeared to study the ground. Within seconds, Bian Yizhang suddenly realized something ¡ª Jiang Yuan was examining footprints. Thump, thump, thump, thump! At this moment, under these circumstances, Bian Yizhang¡¯s heart raced vigorously, and adrenaline surged through his body, making him feel feverish. Run! That was his first thought. Go for it! That was his second thought. Chapter 1120 - 1051: Kill

Chapter 1120: Chapter 1051: Kill

Ningtai County¡¯s nights remained fairly humid. Though the streets and alleys were kept reasonably clean, it was hard to achieve the spotless perfection of a major metropolitan area. Especially in ces seldom walked by people, like rooftops or the corners of alleyways, there was more dust or grime left behind. Under a car¡¯s headlights, an ordinary person could spot faint traces of footprints. But in Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, footprints conveyed a wealth of information. For example, footprints with a faint bluish-green tinge indicated either prolonged walking on grass or contact with moss-like surfaces. Moreover, it had to be nearby; if the person had gone far, the green traces would have long disappeared. The way someone walked was equally intriguing. Stridesden with force differed distinctly from rxed ones in their gait. For instance, forceful steps often involved the body¡¯s center of gravity shifting forward, whereas casual strides typically had the heel touch the ground first, and so forth. Internationally, even in Great America, footprint analysis often focused solely on the prints themselves. However, thanks to figures like Ma Yulin, Chinese footprint analysis had incorporated gait studies several decades earlier. This wasn¡¯t merely about identifying matches; in certain respects, it was akin to profiling a person. As Jiang Yuan approached, the bluish-green, firm and resolute steps in front of the scattered iron caltrops instinctively caught his attention. Under the car¡¯s headlights, the footprint was clearly visible. Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow and called over some people. "Bring a few more tactical shlights over." Mu Zhiyang immediately pulled a tactical shlight from his belt, while Wang Chuanxing and Wen Ming turned back to the car to retrieve shlights from their backpacks. Mu Zhiyang activated the tactical shlight first and shone it onto the footprint as per Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions. Jiang Yuan immediately immersed himself in thought. Soon, Jiang Yuan waved to a passenger in the front car. "Brother, what did the person who just came through here say to you?" In the front car were indeed his cousins¡ªJiang Vige People liked renting Jiang Yongxin¡¯s Alphard these days. After all, Jiang Vige¡¯s budding entrepreneurial genius was willing to support them. The first one to step out was Jiang Yuan¡¯s Fifth Brother. Nearly forty years old and rather steady in demeanor, he recalled for a moment and said, "He asked us if anyone was injured. After we said no, he told us to just report to insurance, like that." "What else? Did he say anything more?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s professional instincts kicked in. It waste at night, encountering someone amid an incident¡ªif he came up, he couldn¡¯t have only said two sentences, right? Fifth Brother thought for a while longer and, still without any particr ideas, said, "Old Twelve also asked him once, said he was just out for a walk because it¡¯s sote... He probably replied that he couldn¡¯t sleep, something about insomnia..." Jiang Yuan frowned and then slowly shook his head. "His weight doesn¡¯t match." "Huh?" Upon hearing something was off, Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hand instinctively shifted to his gun. "Judging from his gait, it¡¯s the stride of someone carrying weight. He¡¯s not only carrying something... Is he carrying a backpack?" Jiang Yuan turned back to ask Fifth Brother again. Fifth Brother nodded. "He was lugging a backpack, not toorge. Ah, actually quite simr to the tactical backpacks you guys use." He pointed toward Wang Chuanxing, who was pulling a tactical backpack from the car to retrieve a shlight. At that, Jiang Yuan basically pieced it together. He called Wang Chuanxing over again, "Pull up Bian Yizhang¡¯s footprints." Saying this, Jiang Yuan took the tactical shlight from Wang Chuanxing¡¯s hands and bent over for a closer inspection. In reality, Jiang Yuan was almost certain the footprints on the pavement belonged to Bian Yizhang. But this thought carried a mix of surprise. On the other hand, once Jiang Yuan uttered "Bian Yizhang," the Ningtai County police wouldn¡¯t be sleeping tonight. Chances were,w enforcement from surrounding districts would be pulled together in the hundreds to secure key areas. Thus, Jiang Yuan only grew more cautious when making this critical judgment. If the perpetrator fled for a few minutes, it wouldn¡¯t matter. Having helped design Ningtai County¡¯s surveince system, Jiang Yuan was confident he could track where they escaped. Wang Chuanxing retrieved a PAD as fast as he could and pulled up Bian Yizhang¡¯s footprint records. Jiang Yuan nced briefly and immediately confirmed with certainty, stating firmly, "These are indeed Bian Yizhang¡¯s footprints." "It¡¯s really Bian Yizhang?" Wang Chuanxing was losing his cool. "What¡¯s he doing here? Old Mu, Old Mu!" As he spoke, a dark figure suddenly stepped out silently from behind the vehicle, moving swiftly in small, deliberate steps. Bian Yizhang was a graduate of the University of Life. Even before adulthood, he had been in countless fights, amassing extensivebat experience and teaching himself some tactical techniques. He kept at it until his former bosses were incarcerated, at which point he rallied a crew to start illegal cattle ughtering, specializing in selling water-injected beef. Making money was secondary to the thrill of injecting water into cattle. After authorities cracked down on this business, forcing him to abandon it, Bian Yizhang opened a smoke and liquor store. Though profitable, it failed to spark his enthusiasm. Unlike now, as Bian Yizhang decided to take onest gamble, he felt his blood coursing through his veins; at this very moment, he was truly alive, his life seemingly elevated to another ne. What truly pushed Bian Yizhang into action was seeing Mu Zhiyang pull out a tactical shlight, exposing a gun holster at his back. It was then Bian Yizhang realized that if he didn¡¯t act now, the next time Jiang Yuan¡¯s entourage would likely outnumber him with armed personnel. Though it was already midnight, and Jiang Yuan was still nked by armed guards, the moment a stalker was confirmed in the vicinity, security measures would surely escte to 24/7 vignce. Bian Yizhang was on his own. He didn¡¯t want anyone else to share the glory. From his experience, Bian Yizhang knew that charging head-on from the alley would most likely result in Jiang Yuan¡¯s gunmen riddling him with bullets. His double-barrel shotgun was designed for close-rangebat, excelling in alley skirmishes but ill-suited for long-distance exchanges. With only two rounds and poor trajectory, he was best positioned within five meters of his target, no further than ten meters, with an optimal range of three meters¡ªjust out of reach of melee weapons. In short, the closer he was, the better. As for its impact, there was no need to worry; even if the opponent wore a bulletproof vest, he was confident in incapacitating them. Thus, Bian Yizhang ditched his backpack and strapped on a stab-proof vest. He took a roundabout path through a side alley, crossing the road and circling behind the greenbelt near the rear of the vehicle, briskly making his way forward. The group, distracted by footprints and tactical shlights in front of the car,pletely missed Bian Yizhang behind the vehicle. It wasn¡¯t until he crossed ten meters that Bian Yizhang stepped beyond the greenbelt, entering the roadway. Clutching his short-barreled shotgun, he picked up speed, sprinting toward them. His minimum objective was killing Jiang Yuan, but ideally, he would eliminate everyone before abducting Jiang Yuan. Bian Yizhang knew just shooting wouldn¡¯t achieve all this. To use his machete, he needed to conserve energy. Even though his heart was pounding furiously, he controlled his movements, avoiding reckless charging. By the time Wang Chuanxing shouted "Old Mu," Bian Yizhang had closed to within about ten meters. The car¡¯s headlights began illuminating him. Bian Yizhang finally abandoned subtlety, fully sprinting as his shotgun barrel aligned. Thud, thud... Under the dim streetlights, amid the eerie quiet, although Jiang Yuan and the others were engrossed in studying footprints, their bodies remained sluggish. These were people worn down after a long day; if not for the incident, they would¡¯ve gone home to rest. In this scenario, under these circumstances... Every heart at the scene began pounding furiously. Wang Chuanxing yelled once, spotted the shadow; when he tried to yell again, his voice failed him. Thud, thud, thud... For a moment, the only sounds were the low growl of idling engines and the seemingly louder heartbeat. Mu Zhiyang instinctively reached to draw his gun as his body positioned itself in front of Jiang Yuan. This was his automatic response, honed by countless training sessions, making him the fastest among them. Bian Yizhang, without hesitation, raised his gun, briefly aiming toward Mu Zhiyang before preparing to pull the trigger. He had nned to kill the armed guard first. But at that moment, a shadow suddenly darted toward Bian Yizhang. Holding a shotgun in one hand and gripping the trigger with the other, Bian Yizhang was already on edge. Reflexively, he fired at the shadow. Bang... In the muffled echo, the airborne shadow shattered into pieces¡ªit was the PAD Wang Chuanxing had been holding. Bian Yizhang winced, recognizing his nerves had gotten the better of him. Still, it didn¡¯t matter; his shotgun had one round left. Without a second thought, Bian Yizhang pivoted the barrel toward Mu Zhiyang. Bian Yizhang saw the armed guard as the biggest threat on site. If he could eliminate Mu Zhiyang, he would even have the option to retreat, reload his shotgun for another shot. Even if someone rushed him, he could discard the gun and engage with his knife. His approach left him with both offensive and defensive options. In Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyes, the barrel of Bian Yizhang¡¯s shotgun visibly turned and aimed at him. Mu Zhiyang, despite his extensive experience, had instinctively focused on shielding Jiang Yuan initially. His hand hadn¡¯t yet reached his firearm. A seasoned Mu Zhiyang realized he was about to take a bullet. Unlike previous encounters, however, he wasn¡¯t wearing a bulletproof vest tonight. Whether his seasoned ribcage would survive was uncertain. Jiang Yuan ced one hand on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s right shoulder. Feeling Jiang Yuan¡¯s firm presence, the motion of Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hand slowed even further. Bian Yizhang¡¯s lips curled into a sneering grin, his chin lifting slightly in an open challenge. Bang! A gunshot rang out, seemingly right beside Mu Zhiyang¡¯s ear. At the moment Mu Zhiyang thought, "This is where it ends," his senses slowed and sharpened. Suddenly, he could see clearly¡ªthe red pooling at Bian Yizhang¡¯s brow. Bian Yizhang¡¯s lifted chin wasn¡¯t a taunt but the impact of a bullet prating his brow, forcing it upward. And the sound ringing near Mu Zhiyang¡¯s ear was unmistakably the gunfire. Simultaneously, Mu Zhiyang felt a lightness around his waist¡ªhis gun had been snatched. The taker and shooter were none other than Jiang Yuan. Level 3 handgun marksmanship: at ten meters, one-handed shooting, never missing! Bian Yizhang, Chapter 1121 - 1052: No Issues

Chapter 1121: Chapter 1052: No Issues

Beep. Beep beep... As the phone rang for the second time, Huang Qiangmin, who was in deep sleep, suddenly opened his eyes. He turned over and grabbed his phone, his heart pounding furiously. Over the years as the head of the criminal investigation unit, the most unfortunate thing about the job was the midnight phone calls. The worst part was that most of the time, the calls meant something truly bad had happened or involved someone important, leaving no room for evasion. Huang Qiangmin had recently stepped down as head of the criminal investigation unit and now served exclusively as Commissioner of the Ningtai County Bureau. His workload had lightened considerably, andte-night calls had be far less frequent. But tonight¡¯s call brought with it a wave of unease. "This is Huang Qiangmin," he said after unlocking his phone, his hand trembling slightly¡ªeffects of adrenaline. "Comrade Huang, shots were fired," Wang Chuanxing immediately reported the situation. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand shook: "Was anyone killed?" "The perpetrator is dead. Pai De took a bullet," Wang Chuanxing exined as concisely as possible. To Huang Qiangmin, this was a sudden jolt. His heart skipped a beat. He asked, "Who is Pai De?" "Uh, just the tabletputer," Wang Chuanxing answered in a quieter voice. "You little punk!" Huang Qiangmin cursed, finally climbing out of bed. He asked, "Is Jiang Yuan okay?" "He¡¯s fine." Huang Qiangmin fully rxed: "What was the perpetrator¡¯s intention? Give me the full rundown." ... Ten minutester, half the police force of the Ningtai County Bureau had been woken up. Over twenty vehicles arrived at the scene, including, to everyone¡¯s shock, two hearses. By the time Huang Qiangmin reached the scene, Jiang Yuan was already surrounded byyers of officers. "You okay?" Even though Huang Qiangmin already knew what had happened, he still needed to confirm with Jiang Yuan before he could settle down. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "I¡¯m fine, just lost a tablet." "Yeah, I know. A tabletputer, huh? That thing broke, so be it!" Huang Qiangmin was furious¡ªat a time like this, who cared about trivial gadgets? Jiang Yuan exined, "Wang Chuanxing used the tablet to bait the perpetrator into firing a shot; otherwise, someone could¡¯ve died." Only then did Huang Qiangmin realize Jiang Yuan was trying to give credit to Wang Chuanxing. "Good job, Chuanxing," Huang Qiangmin said, patting Wang Chuanxing¡¯s shoulder hard¡ªreally hard. Wang Chuanxing grinned through the pain. "What was this guy trying to achieve?" This was the question that had puzzled Huang Qiangmin all the way here. Everyone on their side was unscathed, the perpetrator died at the scene¡ªsurely this wasn¡¯t some suicidal mission. Mu Zhiyang stood nearby, visibly shaken, and said, "If Chuanxing hadn¡¯t reacted quickly and thrown the tablet to lure the perpetrator into firing the first shot, I¡¯d probably be dead. Plus, the perpetrator was holding something like a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun with two shells¡ªwhoever tried to grab a gun from my corpse would¡¯ve been hit by the second shot." Huang Qiangmin froze, finally understanding why everyone kept mentioning "Pai De." Once again, he patted Wang Chuanxing on the shoulder twice: "Nicely done." Wang Chuanxing grinned: "It was just the situation. I was close enough that if no one had grabbed the gun, I¡¯d have taken the second shot myself¡ªstill dead either way." Standing on the scene, Huang Qiangmin looked at the position of the corpse and then at where Jiang Yuan and the others had been, mentally reconstructing the moment the events unfolded. As a veteran police officer who started his career when gun restrictions were not as rigid, he was deeply aware of what it meant to face high-caliber firearms unarmed. Before the 2000s in the country, sawed-off shotguns and double-barrel shotguns were almost standard equipment for organized groups, and powerful mining bosses liked to purchase such weapons forpeting over mines and tenants. Huang Qiangmin had seen many people killed by gunshots, most of them muscr, tough individuals with abs. If Jiang Yuan¡¯s shot hadn¡¯t struck Bian Yizhang in the brow but instead hit a limb, abdomen, or even certain chest areas, there could have been further casualties at the scene. At this moment, a deep sense of dread overtook Huang Qiangmin. "Knives and guns show no mercy"¡ªthe phrase sounded light, but when it became a real threat to one¡¯s own life, it weighed unbearably heavy. "You can¡¯t keep traveling alone like this anymore," Huang Qiangmin said, gripping Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm as if afraid he might vanish. Nearby, Mu Zhiyang, Wang Chuanxing, and Wen Ming exchanged confused nces: Huh? Jiang Yuan replied helplessly, "Mu Zhiyang had a gun this time. There were four of us in one car¡ªalready pretty safe." "Safe? You guys nearly got wiped out this time! Security measures must be strengthened," Huang Qiangmin snapped, still fuming. He had seen the long de the perpetrator carried on his back. With a de over a meter long and a handle exceeding thirty centimeters, a capable wielder could kill four people like it was nothing. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "Such psychopaths aren¡¯tmon." Having seen the weapons Bian Yizhang carried, Jiang Yuan could guess his intentions. Truthfully, even a kitchen knife could often cause injuries in routine police work at the station. Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t argue further with Jiang Yuan and simply said, "Maybe others don¡¯t encounter many psychos, but you always end up targeting them." For a moment, Jiang Yuan had no rebuttal. After saying his piece, Huang Qiangmin pulled out his phone and began deploying arrangements. Tonight would undoubtedly be a sleepless night for most officers involved, but Jiang Yuan had to rest, which required proper security measures. Soon, two police cars and two police motorcycles arrived together. "That¡¯s it for tonight. Later we¡¯ll hold a meeting to study specifics ande up with a long-term strategy." Understanding some of Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts, Huang Qiangmin added directly, "Minimum personnel, maximum precautions¡ªthat¡¯s the ideal way." "Or maybe I¡¯ll carry a gun myself?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dare reject security outright. This time, if Mu Zhiyang hadn¡¯t brought a gun, he might really have died. All things considered, Jiang Yuan felt carrying a handgun was morefortable than being apanied by a convoy. Huang Qiangmin shook his head: "Carrying a gun is fine, but relying solely on the gun isn¡¯t." "Alright then," Jiang Yuan said, noting thete hour. Without further fuss, he got into the car and headed home for some rest. He was utterly exhausted¡ªphysically and mentally drained after the earlier tension¡ªand desperately needed sleep. Handling the bodies of individuals like Bian Yizhang could wait until tomorrow; it was no longer an urgent matter. Besides, pursuits like autopsy or trace evidence analysis required clear minds and full energy. Two motorcycles led the way with Jiang Yuan and the others following, lights shing but sirens silent, heading toward Jiangcun Residential Area. Some night owl residents of Jiang Vige were downstairs drinking, eating skewers, and chatting. When they saw Jiang Yuan disembark from the convoy of police cars, they merely waved and invited him over for drinks. "Another day¡ªjust handled dead bodies," Jiang Yuan exined in a down-to-earth manner. After greeting the rtives trailing behind the convoy, he left first. The apanying officers were also settled into guest rooms. In ces Jiang Yuan frequented, such as Changyang City and Beijing, he had properties, and arranging amodations for colleagues was amon practice. It wasn¡¯t the Jiang Family¡¯s first visit, so everyone was quite familiar with the process. But for folks like Old Twelve, who had never experienced a gunfight scene before¡ªeven though only two shots were fired¡ªthe fact that someone had died was very real. Even now, several of them remained shaken and were in no mood to go home, joining the drinking table instead. "You know, Jiang Yuan¡¯s first-ss and second-ssmendations¡ªthose aren¡¯t things a regr person could get," Old Twelve said, pouring himself a full cup of baijiu, downing it with a gulp, and then marveling with shining eyes. Chapter 1122 - 1053: Organizing Level 1

Chapter 1122: Chapter 1053: Organizing Level 1

[At that time, when that notorious bandit charged at me, I was only a few meters away, at most no more than ten meters. He was running unbelievably fast¡ªif he had fired at me first, I probably wouldn¡¯t be here chatting with you today.] [That guy was holding a shotgun, about as long as half an arm, thick and solid. Honestly, I feel like he could¡¯ve used it to bash my head and still leave a big lump.] [When he fired, I waspletely stunned. Have you ever seen someone shooting skeet? That guy shot at the pad like he was skeet shooting; pieces were flying everywhere in the air!] [There wasn¡¯t any blood in the air. Pai De isn¡¯t a person; it¡¯s a tablet!] Late into the night, Old Twelve was drinking at home and still didn¡¯t dare sleep. So, he started chatting in the family group chat. One thing led to another, and his chatter kept going until dawn. By this point, Old Twelve wasn¡¯t even tired anymore. He suddenly realized that although yesterday had been dangerous, nothing had actually happened to him. Not only that, butst night¡¯s experience could fuel bragging rights for decades. Unless firearm restrictions are lifted in the country, the chances of ordinary people encountering something like this are extremely low. The probability of surviving such an encounter is even lower. The vige was equally excited. Hearing such an adrenaline-pumping story at this close range was rare indeed. Although everyone seemed to be well-off¡ªand truly was¡ªlife in Ningtai County still retained the atmosphere of small-town living. Life within Jiangcun Residential Area felt even more rooted in vige-like simplicity. It was all pretty monotonous, especially since everyone¡¯s living conditions had vastly improved; fewer challenges and hardships meant fewer interesting topics for conversation. As a result,st night, Old Twelve didn¡¯t sleep at all, and over a hundred people from Jiang Vige stayed awake with him for half the night. Some joined in for the first half of the night, while others woke up after a nap, found 99+ unread messages in the group chat, started reading from there, and stayed up until morning. Of course, the Jiang Vige group chat was filled with all kinds of red envelopes. Exclusive red envelopes for Old Twelve, lucky red envelopes for catching good vibes, fun wordy red envelopes¡ªthe messages just kepting. Old Twelve chatted while scrambling to grab red envelopes. By midnight, with the contributions from older rtives in the family group, the money he snagged was more than what Jiang Yongxin paid him in a year¡¯s sry. Of course, this wasn¡¯t unusual; after all, nobody opened the car rental shop to make money¡ªit was for the sake of their ambitions! Thunk. Early in the morning, Jiang Yuan was kicked awake by his father. He opened his eyes and nced at the clock: 8:01. Not that his old man was particrly precise, but there was a certain intentionality to it. "Word is, you were shot at yesterday?" Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s expression was grim. Back in the day, when he approved of his son studying to be a forensic doctor, his reasoning was that the work environment would be rtively straightforward, with simpler interpersonal dynamics. If Jiang Yuan ever wanted to quit, he coulde home and butcher cattle or sheep¡ªpractical skills that would still find purpose. But he had never imagined that Jiang Yuan¡¯s life would be filled with frequent bouts of danger. Jiang Yuan sat up, still a little dazed. He thought for a moment and didn¡¯t respond immediately. First, he grabbed the water cup on his nightstand and took a sip, poured some water, sshed his face vigorously, and finally woke up. He spoke frankly, "That guy acted with clear premeditation. He must¡¯ve scouted out the area beforehand, deliberately picking a road intersection without surveince. He calcted the timing for us to pass, threw something onto the road to puncture the tires, then ambushed us with a gun after we stepped out of the car. He also carried a one-meter-long de¡ªit was a well-nned attack with a high sess rate." If Jiang Yuan had brushed off the topic, Jiang Fuzhen might have worried for a while. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s detailed exnation immediately put Fuzhen into contemtion mode. While money wasn¡¯t hard toe by, Jiang Fuzhen asionally needed to engage his brain to sort out problems. After a long pause, Fuzhen asked, "So, what measures are you taking next?" "Tighten security, obviously." Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment before adding, "Some foreign leaders, like the Japanese Prime Minister, might only have two or three bodyguards around them. I already have plenty more than that." "So how do you n to bolster security?" "Basic safety awareness is still the most crucial factor. Beyond that, we can increase equipment, moderately add personnel, or adjust travel routines. If necessary, we could temporarily allocate extra manpower and gear too." Jiang Yuan casually rattled off a list of ideas, then remarked, "I¡¯m a coppared to those in other professions, I¡¯m naturally better equipped to keep myself protected." Jiang Fuzhen mulled this over and slightly nodded, "Makes sense. Even if you weren¡¯t a cop, you should still have a few bodyguards around you for good measure." "Exactly." Jiang Yuan wiped his face messily with the nket, got out of bed, and added, "After all, someone trying to kill or capture me is hardly anything new." Fuzhen agreed and proposed a new idea: "If we hire some private bodyguards just to follow you to work, would that be appropriate?" ... As his father started veering into increasingly oundish thoughts, Jiang Yuan decisively left home for work. He was apanied, as usual, by an Alphard, two local-license-te Geely cars, and two lead motorcycles. Rtive to TV dramatics, this didn¡¯t seem like much. But in Ningtai County¡¯s context, if there wasn¡¯t something major happening, even the county¡¯s big boss wouldn¡¯t roll out this level of mboyant transportation. Last night, when they came backte, this motorcade quietly entered the garage. Today, as they pulled out just before noon, elderly folks basking in the sun hadn¡¯t yet dispersed, while younger people who had stayed upte were starting to hunt for food. Jiangcun Residential Area was packed with residents amidst the lively atmosphere. When this convoy, lights shing, gradually rolled out, it genuinely startled quite a few people. "Jiang Yuan¡¯s pomp is getting a bit much, huh?" Outside the small convenience store, the old-timers pointed fingers in discussion. "Wasn¡¯t he almost assassinated? That makes sense." Someone quicker to follow the conversation immediately brought back up the morning¡¯s hot topic. One elder still appeared puzzled: "Assassinate a forensic doctor...to steal a corpse or something?" "Our neighborhood should really hire more safeguards." "We already have decent security. Don¡¯t forget the police kiosk out front¡ªwho¡¯sing after us for an assassination?" "Your ex-wife?" "Hmm... you know what, maybe we really do need more security." As the chatter continued, Jiang Yuan¡¯s convoy passed by. He lowered the car window to greet the intelligence group of uncles and aunts by the convenience store. "Good kid, stay safe out there." "Don¡¯t push yourself too hard. If you run into danger again, just think of your family¡ªand the many buildings waiting for you to inherit." "Don¡¯t forget to collect the red envelopes!" Everyone chimed in with friendly remarks, clearly fond of Jiang Yuan. After all, he brought pride to the Jiang Family. Even incidents like an assassination attempt¡ªwhen shared aloud¡ªcarried an inexplicable sense of prestige! ... Jiang Yuan arrived at the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯spound, where the convoy finally dispersed. Mu Zhiyang stuck close to Jiang Yuan as they changed clothes and headed directly to the autopsy room. Bian Yizhang¡¯s corpsey on the autopsy table. Jiang Yuan nced at it briefly before turning away to fetch the boxbeled "Corpse No. 1" from the rack. Inside the box was a crystal-clear, glowing blue orb: Xu Li¡¯s Legacy: Organization (Level 1)¡ªThe life of a stock worker is lonely. From the warehouse to the shelves, whether looking up or down, customers always treat him like a hindrance rather than a living person. Xu Li organized his entire life and sensed he was always an obstacle to those around him. He was an orphan¡ªa confirmed societal burden, and perhaps also a burden in his parents¡¯ lives. Xu Li never thought of searching for his parents, but he did aspire to shed his "obstacle" identity. He learned to smoke¡ªnot out of anxiety or sorrow, but simply because the tobo shop owner was interesting and seemed capable of guiding him through life... Chapter 1123 - 1054: Integration

Chapter 1123: Chapter 1054: Integration

The small meeting room was filled with cadres from the Ministry and the Provincial Department. Officially, they were all here to attend the award ceremony next door. An attack on an active-duty police officer that is premeditated is a significant matter. It doesn¡¯t matter if it¡¯s a county-level officer or a station patrolman¡ªsuch provocation is intolerable forw enforcement. In principle, it would require mobilizing substantial resources to solve the case. The subsequent penalties would also adhere to the maximum limits. Correspondingly, the resolution of such cases would receive immediate feedback; it wouldn¡¯t be treated like regr cases where a batch is umted and a chosen date is decided for conferring awards. Wang Chuanxing thus received a second-ssmendation. Mu Zhiyang and Jiang Yuan both earned first-ssmendations, while Wen Ming, who had contributed through shouts and deterrence, was granted a third-ssmendation. The approval and execution speed for thismendation ceremony far exceeded prior norms, demonstrating the heightened attention from all levels of leadership toward the matter. It could be said that even the most detached bureaucrats, unfamiliar with grassroots matters, would not have seen any dys in the approval flow for this case. However, for Huang Qiangmin and the other leaders, while the case was resolved and themendations were awarded, the issue was far from over. The few of them huddled in the cramped meeting room, pondering Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety concerns. If there were too many personnel, the costs would be high, implementation difficult, and the drawn-off officer allocation duringter needs might inadvertently remove those stationed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. If there were too few, it might be insufficient. Jiang Yuan typically only had Mu Zhiyang apanying him, and this time, due to workingte, he had two additional colleagues in the car. "No way¡ªassign him a submachine gun. We used to carry Type 79s, with folding stocks. Good power, fast firing rate, high uracy. In automatic mode, easily suppressing several handguns is no problem; at close range, it¡¯s even more practical than an assault rifle. It was originally designed for jungle warfare. It¡¯s even better when used single-shot." A provincial official was the first to propose the idea. A Ministry official nodded: "The Type 79 has even been used as a close-range sniper weapon, with cases of on-site elimination of robbers and hostage rescues. A good gun in hand can equal two or three men." "A submachine gun alone won¡¯t suffice," Huang Qiangmin rejected the proposal outright, shaking his head: "Even with a folding stock, it¡¯s still arge firearm that can¡¯t enter many ces. In emergencies, just like this time, it¡¯s still not as practical as a handgun." "Why not carry both¡ªa handgun and a submachine gun?" "Tooplicated. Magazine quantity is another issue. Ultimately, it would just sit in the trunk." Huang Qiangmin paused before adding, "However, carrying two submachine guns in the trunk is reasonable. We should at least put two in there." "And there¡¯s the matter of bulletproof vests." The provincial official chimed in again: "Let¡¯s be frank, many security ns we devise are really extensive. Defending ordinary thieves is one thing, but against armed bandits, if someone takes a good position and hits you with a full magazine, you¡¯re done for¡ªnowadays, you won¡¯t have any recourse. A sniper rifle is even out of the question. To secure safety at this level, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t be able to do his work effectively." Huang Qiangmin silently nodded¡ªthis was exactly why the discussion felt so arduous, given everyone present had professional knowledge. Nheless, despite the difficulty, the group continued deliberating while sipping tasteless tea. The meeting room was small, with the door tightly shut, giving the impression of furtive secrecy. Passing officers noticed the gathering of Ministry and Provincial leaders along with Huang Qiangmin inside and couldn¡¯t help but specte that some major operation was being nned. By evening, Huang Qiangmin and the others emerged from the meeting room with faint smiles. "Jiang Yuan,e here." After escorting the officials back, Huang Qiangmin called Jiang Yuan over and said, "We¡¯ve discussed it. For the next period, we¡¯ll try to integrate your protection into your work. Let¡¯s call it ¡¯protection by way of work.¡¯" "How will that integrate?" Jiang Yuan raised his eyebrows in confusion. "We mainly considered personnel arrangements. Then we thought¡ªwell, you spend most of your week working cases anyway. Given that, we¡¯ll take you as the centralmand point and ensure a certain level of personnel presence. That way, your safety can rtively be ensured." Huang Qiangmin borated: "Not just during work hours¡ªyou can regroup during rest hours and head out collectively." "So, I¡¯ll constantly have a team with me?" Jiang Yuan naturally grasped the idea. "Exactly, and with clear roles differentiated. Some of these individuals will focus primarily on case work, some on protection. Others, like Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, regardless of how intense the case bes, cannot leave your side. The tighter things get, the better prepared they must be. Of course, the weaponry and equipment must be ensured too. Later, we¡¯ll allocate new gear we just acquired for you, all freshly delivered top-grade items. Vehicles will also be upgraded!" "Alright, no objections from me." Jiang Yuan refrained from any grandstanding against safety measures¡ªafter all, Bian Yizhang¡¯s bones weren¡¯t even cold yet. He couldn¡¯t help but wonder what Bian Yizhang might have been thinking at the time. Indeed, while antisocial personalities or psychopathic killers were statistically rare across society, in a populous country like China, any rarity inherently scales to significant numbers. One percent of 1.4 billion equals 14 million. Even one in ten thousand amounts to 140,000¡ªenough to form an entire subculture of deviants. Thistent threat had previously been underestimated, and now, Bian Yizhang was like a hailstone¡ªor perhaps a meteorite. Havingnded first, it¡¯s vital to guard against subsequent hailstorms or meteor showers. With a n in ce, Huang Qiangmin promptly selected personnel and assembled a team of 16 additional members to bolster Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. Including officers returning after borrowed service to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad now had over 30 members¡ªmore than enough to independently form a task force. Beyond personnel reinforcements, Huang Qiangmin made every effort to provideplete equipment upgrades. High-discement vehicles, trunkpartments loaded with firearms¡ªeverything meticulously procured under special request. Other units couldn¡¯t even secure routine gear requests without mountains of paperwork. The department officers naturally digested this news. Privilege exists inevitably¡ªlike senior officers who keep sniper rifles in their trunks year-round, or those who favor Type 79 submachine guns, waving their arms from open vehicles... Huang Qiangmin even assigned Jiang Yuan a motorcycle. With a lead motorbike escorting him, chances of being intercepted again would diminish. Once all arrangements were finalized, Huang Qiangmin called upon Jiang Yuan for inspection before remarking, "The squad¡¯s newly formed¡ªstanding out conspicuously in the county. Why not take it to Changyang City for a few cases, as a gesture of thanks?" "Alright." Jiang Yuan epted without hesitation, ready to depart. On the same day, under the escort of a lead motorcycle and seven police vehicles with a total of over 30 personnel, Jiang Yuan set off to the Changyang City he hadn¡¯t seen in a long time. Chapter 1124 - 1055: After the Rainy Night

Chapter 1124: Chapter 1055: After the Rainy Night

Yu Wenshu brought a group of people to the gate of Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to wee Jiang Yuan and his team... more than thirty people. Throughout the time the convoy was unloading, Yu Wenshu kept his eyes wide open. He truly hadn¡¯t expected the reinforcements to be so substantial. Tang Jia specifically stepped forward to exin, "Our Captain Jiang recently encountered a terrorist attack. To avoid bing a target again, Commissioner Huang specially arranged for Jiang to travel with such a team." She wanted to rify that Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t unting his status. After all, this level of travel standard was even more extravagant than Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu¡¯s. Yu Wenshu quickly waved his hand and asked with concern, "Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t frightened, right? How¡¯s his mental state? Honestly, if you feel unsettled, it¡¯s okay to talk about it. You see those soldiers¡ªaftering back from the battlefield, so many suffer from mental illnesses. We, as police officers, don¡¯t need to always emphasize being tough." "I¡¯m fine." Jiang Yuan stepped forward, shook hands with Yu Wenshu, and smiled. "Commissioner Huang worried about me and asked me to bring more people for safety when I go out. There shouldn¡¯t be any issues now. The suspects have all been killed, and the case has been closed." "That¡¯s good to hear." Yu Wenshu nodded, "But still, Huang¡¯s concern makes sense. Your fame is growing rapidly now. Let alone encountering another maniac¡ªif organized crime targets you, who knows what could happen." Yu Wenshu naturally understood the context. As the Chief of the Criminal Police Brigade, he felt that if he could recruit Jiang Yuan under hismand, the arrangements would only be even more extravagant. Ningtai County, after all, was just a small county town, iparable to Changyang City in terms of capabilities. After exchanging some pleasantries, Yu Wenshu nced around and said, "Since you¡¯re already prepared to handle maniacs, I might as well give you a maniac case to work on." Jiang Yuan: Hmm? Yu Wenshu chuckled and led Jiang Yuan inside, as though transitioning from the pleasantries of a hostess to the routine formalities of official business. Mu Zhiyang followed closely behind Jiang Yuan. From his perspective, the additional personnel primarily provided a safer space and time buffer. True danger was unlikely to ur in such circumstances. It could even be said that no matter how tight the security, there always remained an unintentional breach¡ªthe very ce Mu Zhiyang needed to safeguard. A group of over thirty people walking through the modern building was impressive and eye-catching. Especially considering many members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were reverse transfers from the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade; when colleagues met colleagues¡¯ colleagues, it elicited mixed emotions. Yu Wenshu quickly led Jiang Yuan into a small conference room. A city asrge as Changyang had too many cases. Yu Wenshu had long been looking forward to Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival. If it weren¡¯t for this urgent demand, he wouldn¡¯t have considered annual exchanges and specialized training programs¡ªeven going as far as reversing the transfer of his young officers to Jiang Yuan. Changyang City¡¯s forensic doctor Tang Feng had already been waiting in the conference room. Once Jiang Yuan entered, he began presenting the PPT. Yu Wenshu and the lead investigator for the case, Captain Cao Chujun, sat in the back, appearing serious and attentive. Only a few members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad managed to fit in the room; the rest crowded into the adjacentrge conference room. The team silently opened their notebooks and equipment, settling down like they were preparing camp. "Captain Jiang, Chief Yu, Captain Cao... I will now introduce the situation regarding the case numbered 815." Tang Feng spoke slowly. He wasn¡¯t particrly skilled at presenting, but over thest two years, with Jiang Yuan being a forensic doctor, various units increasingly preferred having forensic doctors handle case briefings since it was easier to sync with Jiang Yuan, and questions could be answered directly rather than through intermediaries. Tang Feng: "The victim in this case, Sun Xiuwen, is a minor female, aged 15, and a third-year student. On August 15 this year, a passing viger discovered Sun Xiuwen¡¯s body approximately 5 meters from the roadside and reported it." Jiang Yuan nced at his left wrist adorned with a Patek Philippe watch and remarked, "So that was 15 days ago." "Yes." Tang Feng nodded. "Carry on." Jiang Yuan gestured, internally assessing the situation. A homicide unresolved for 15 days wasn¡¯t exactly a cold case, but it signaled considerable difficulty. Tang Feng: "The incident urred in Hualing Township, which has no nearby surveince. The crime scene was about 200 meters from Sun Xiuwen¡¯s home. Based on our field investigations, the soles of her shoes were clean, the area of vegetation pressed down at the scene was approximately 1.2 meters by 1.2 meters. The body showed clear signs of struggling¡ªher wrists bore restraint marks, her shirt was rolled above her chest, and her pants had been pulled down to her knees. We determined that the crime scene was not the primary crime location." Jiang Yuan nodded as he studied the crime scene photos on the PPT. It was unmistakably a disposal site. Tang Feng received the encouragement and spoke a bit faster: "At the scene, we also found traces from a motorcycle, but due to heavy rains the evening before the incident, much of the evidence was destroyed and couldn¡¯t be directly used forparison. Furthermore, no usable footprints were recovered." Captain Cao Chujun interjected, "Local police officers did not arrive at the scene promptly, and arge number of vigers gathered, causing some damage to the site." "Did you collect any footprints from the vigers?" Jiang Yuan asked casually. Cao Chujun coughed twice and replied, "There was no way to collect them. Vigers came and went continuously. Because of the long travel time and dys inmunication, by the time we detectives arrived around 11 o¡¯clock, many vigers had already left. With the sheer volume of people, controlling the scene was impossible." "No one tampered with the body, right?" "That didn¡¯t happen. People do have some awareness nowadays." "Good." Jiang Yuan nodded again. Tang Feng continued: "At the scene, we measured the body temperature and conducted a preliminary external examination. Once back at the autopsy room, we performed a forensic dissection. The body¡¯s eyelids disyed petechial hemorrhaging, the neck borepression marks, and the wrists showed restraint injuries. The hyoid bone was intact... Additionally, there was no evidence of sexual assault. Our initial conclusion is that the victim died due to mechanical asphyxiation¡ªlikely from neckpression, followed by another method to induce asphyxiation, such as a pillow." At this final point, Tang Feng couldn¡¯t help but nce up at Jiang Yuan. This was a rtively bold assumption; it was Jiang Yuan¡¯s presence that emboldened him to attempt it. To his surprise, Jiang Yuan responded immediately: "Although the lips show petechial hemorrhaging without obvious bruising, this indicates evenly distributed pressure. It¡¯s indeed usible that something like a pillow was used to induce mechanical asphyxiation." Tang Feng nodded repeatedly, "I was thinking the same. Uh... I¡¯ll continue. Regarding the time of death, our preliminary estimation is that the victim died between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. on August 15." "When was this photo taken?" Jiang Yuan pointed to an image on the PPT. Tang Feng turned to nce at it and replied, "This photo was taken after we arrived at the site, at 11:42 a.m." "Roughly four hours?" "Yes." Tang Feng hesitated slightly, "Do you think there¡¯s an issue?" "Based purely on the livor mortis, there doesn¡¯t seem to be an issue. It should be assessed in conjunction with rigor mortis. Were you on site? What was the rigor state like?" "At the time, rigor mortis had already set inprehensively. Manipting the body was fairly difficult." Tang Feng answered promptly. Typically, a body is still pliable within an hour of death. After an hour, rigor mortis begins in the smaller muscle groups. At around three hours, it starts spreading throughout the body. Rigor mortis besplete after twelve hours, after which the body, if upright, would resemble a stiff zombie. Tang Feng¡¯s assessment aligned with the fundamentals. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make further physical observations but simply nodded and continued asking, "Are there any confirmed suspects currently?" Tang Feng slowly shook his head. Captain Cao Chujun said, "Initially, we considered the possibility of a family conflict. Sun Xiuwen¡¯s father is her stepfather and has a drinking habit. However, after preliminary investigations, we ruled out the stepfather as a suspect. If this were a random crime, things be far moreplex..." Chapter 1125 - 1056: Investigation

Chapter 1125: Chapter 1056: Investigation

"How was the victim Sun Xiuwen¡¯s stepfather ruled out as a suspect?" Jiang Yuan gestured for the forensic doctor Tang Feng to sit down. The case was still in its initial stages of understanding, even after half a month had passed. Jiang Yuan, appearing unhurried, casually inquired. Cao Chujun shifted his posture and directly faced Jiang Yuan, saying, "The main issue is the timeline for the crime. The victim¡¯s mother testified that between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m., her husband was with her." "Mutual spousal testimony?" Wang Chuanxing saw that Jiang Yuan remained silent and immediately raised the question. In such small-scale discussions, even junior officers could chime in asionally, and a slightly far-fetched remark would not typically attract criticism. Cao Chujun chuckled and said, "Although they¡¯re a couple, the testimony came from the victim¡¯s mother, and there is some evidence." "What evidence?" Wang Chuanxing asked. "Condoms," Cao Chujun replied sinctly, then borated further, "Around 6 a.m. that day, the two had intercourse, and the condom was discarded in the trash bin. The evidence has been collected." Wang Chuanxing was astonished, "They stayed at it for two hours?" Cao Chujun nced at Wang Chuanxing strangely and responded helplessly, "Both were awake afterward and even had a conversationter. Considering the victim¡¯s death window, the stepfather likely didn¡¯t have the time tomit the crime." "The time of death requires reconsideration," Jiang Yuan suddenly interjected, cutting off themunication between the two. Cao Chujun froze momentarily, then adjusted his seating posture. Jiang Yuan¡¯s uracy in determining the time of death had long be legendary in domestic investigative fields. Years ago, he discerned an oversight by Beijing experts in a missing firearm case from a single photograph, which led to solving a years-old cold case. Since then, very few dared to challenge Jiang Yuan on the subject of time of death. Tang Feng, the Changyang City¡¯s forensic doctor, hastily began flipping through his notes and dared not voice any objections. "Before the incident, it was raining in the area, which indicates a drop in temperature," Jiang Yuan began to exin. "A lower temperature affects the rtionship between body temperature and the time of death. That¡¯s one factor." Jiang Yuan nced at Tang Feng and continued, "The issue of rigor mortis is simr. I won¡¯t go into detail here, but based on the external features of the corpse, the victim¡¯s time of death is likelyter than initially estimated. The most crucial evidence is..." Jiang Yuan picked up a remote control and scrolled through the PPT images, stopping at a few specific slides. "The state of these insects more clearly illustrates the local temperature conditions, especially these juvenile insects. I judge the victim¡¯s time of death to be around 3 to 4 a.m. that day." This adjustment pushed the time of death forward by three hours, potentially overturning prior investigations. Tang Feng quickly reacted, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯m not doubting you, but measuring liver temperature seems less prone to error." "You¡¯ve measured liver temperature far too few times, and your measurements were somewhat dyed. Additionally, the corpse¡¯s location is at the base of a cliff, where the temperature is significantly lower than the normal ground temperature," Jiang Yuan exined the reasons for potential errors. Tang Feng soon understood, "The methods we used were a bit inappropriate... In your opinion, what would be the best way to determine the time of death?" He was eager to learn. "Currently, insects seem most reliable," Jiang Yuan replied. "Although the primary crime scene isn¡¯t here, the victim¡¯s prolonged disposal in the wild has attracted numerous necrophagous insects. Employing forensic entomology yields more urate assessments." Tang Feng gave a bitter smile. Although forensic entomology is slightly simpler than forensic botany and less demanding than forensic anthropology, it¡¯s still a niche subject. Most forensic doctors learn only the basics and rarely delve deep into it. In Shannan Province, most forensic doctors in smaller cities and countiesck even Level 1 proficiency in forensic entomology. Changyang City is no exception; however, in a few out-of-the-way towns, some forensic personnel might teach themselves the subject out of boredom or special circumstances. Cao Chujun didn¡¯t have time for Tang Feng¡¯s feelings and immediately said, "In that case, we¡¯ll revise the time of death to between 3 and 4 a.m. With this modification, the victim¡¯s stepfather is back on the list of suspects." Holding a new tablet, Jiang Yuan reviewed some photographs and nodded. "That amendment works." If this were a current case, he could reexamine the corpse for deeper analysis. However, for a case that happened half a month ago, he no longer had that option and could only rely on photographs for judgments¡ªmaking it significantly more challenging. Tang Feng said nothing. Even though he was a forensic doctor for the Changyang City Bureau and asionally assisted forensic teams in surrounding counties and towns, he carried the attitude of a humble novicepared to someone like Jiang Yuan, a national-level expert. Cao Chujun stood up, "I¡¯ll immediately deploy officers to bring in the victim¡¯s stepfather for questioning. Additionally, I¡¯ll organize a team to reexamine the victim¡¯s house. If the stepfathermitted the murder, then the primary crime scene is likely at his residence. However, during the first investigation, we didn¡¯t find obvious traces." As he spoke, he nced at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan smiled and took the initiative, "I¡¯ll go to the victim¡¯s house myself. I¡¯ll also inspect the corpse disposal site." "Excellent! That¡¯s fantastic!" Cao Chujun replied promptly. Crime scene investigations are simr to forensic evaluations¡ªthe chances of finding new evidence on a second attempt are lower, especially after ten-plus days. If the suspect had further cleaned their premises, discovering anything incriminating would be even tougher, leaving Cao Chujun somewhat pessimistic. Without further ado, Jiang Yuan led his team to board the vehicles, setting off for Hualing Township. The Changyang City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Science Center dispatched two additional vehicles, and with two more from the Criminal Police Brigade, the convoy totaled ten cars. Watching the formidable procession leave the courtyard of the Criminal Police Brigade, Yu Wenshu stood by his office window, a thought suddenly surfacing in his mind: He had never fought such a well-resourced battle. Looking at this disy, Yu Wenshu contemted whether they¡¯d even need the brigade¡¯s officers for future arrests. As the convoy disappeared into the distance, Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t resist reciting poetry: "Three years a wanderer by the rivers, a hundred battles across heaven and earth. Who resists the intoxication of wine andys content in the clear stream of the Zhang River..." It was his favorite poem by Li Shangyin, titled "Night Drinking." His fondness for Li Shangyin stemmed not only from the poet¡¯splex verse, which others struggled to memorize, but also his ability to recall them effortlessly at first nce. Reflecting on Jiang Yuan¡¯s performance in the meeting room earlier, Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t help but muse: "This kid is just like me!" ... Hualing Township. Sun Xiuwen¡¯s home was a two-story self-built house. Itsrge courtyard gate faced directly onto the vige road; opening the gate led straight to the pavement. Although there were few pedestrians and vehicles, the surroundings still felt peaceful. The vige itself was sparsely constructed, forming essentially a long strip. Some homes clustered closer together¡ªusually belonging to families of brothers or previous generations of siblings. Though the vige had ess to water, electricity, and inte and was only a 20-minute motorcycle ride from the nearest town and 10 minutes from the nearest market, it still felt somewhat remote and deste. Especially with many farnds abandoned, areas slightly away from the vige were overgrown with waist-high grass. The site where Sun Xiuwen¡¯s corpse was dumpedy just off the roadside. In some ways, it seemed rather careless. If the killer had walked another ten-plus meters inward, the body would likely have been discovered only by smell and chance. From another perspective, however, this approach disyed cunning. By dumping the body just a few meters from the road, the disposal left minimal traces. After a rainstorm washed over the scene, forensic teams failed to gather any useful information. At Sun Xiuwen¡¯s house, however, Jiang Yuan focused on locating the primary crime scene but still found nothing. The two-story house featured a room on the east side where Sun Xiuwen lived. The interior was simple¡ªa bed, a desk, a bookshelf, a wardrobe, and a few other furnishings. The only notable items were the young girl¡¯s collection of dolls. Even these dolls were taken out one by one to check for smothering marks that might have killed the victim. "Have the bedding and pillows in this room been cleaned or reced?" Jiang Yuan called over the victim¡¯s mother for questioning. The victim¡¯s mother, who was only in her early thirties, sobbed heartbreakingly as she shook her head vigorously. "No. Since Wenwen passed, I haven¡¯t touched anything in her room. These past few days, the room has been locked." "What about your husband? Has he reced or thrown away anything?" "No, I wouldn¡¯t let him touch anything." With no other leads from the victim¡¯s mother, Jiang Yuan allowed her to leave and resumed pacing inside the room. He had already inspected the other rooms in the house and likewise found no evidence of the crime. If the stepfather were the suspect, the odds of the first crime scene being inside the house were high, as instances of sexual assault between acquaintances often ur in a ce familiar to one or both parties. A homicide urring around 3 a.m. would likely coincide with sleeping hours, even if the crime began earlier. Unconvinced, Jiang Yuan re-scanned the room meticulously. This time, he noticed several crumpled jeans stuffed into the wardrobe. Taking them out, Jiang Yuan frowned. Sun Xiuwen¡¯s room was fairly tidy, yet these jeans weren¡¯t folded or hung properly. Some even bore unwashed stains. A thought crossed Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind. He turned and pushed open the window, leaning out for a look. The stains on the wall outside were indeed simr. "Lettuce Girl!" Jiang Yuan called for two officers and directed them to take photographs. Chapter 1126 - 1057: Ever-Changing

Chapter 1126: Chapter 1057: Ever-Changing

Thump. A longdder was ced against the wall. Mu Zhiyang climbed up first to test its stability, then came down and handed it to Jiang Yuan. He also secured a safety harness for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan climbed up without hesitation, taking a hoof mirror with him. The traces on the wall mainly fell into several categories: some formed naturally, such as moss, peeling paint, discoloration caused by varnish, erosion from rain, and other reasons. Others were caused by clothing, leaving smudges and contact marks. Lastly, there were marks resembling footprints. Jiang Yuan needed to set aside the first two categories and focus on examining thetter two. He scrutinized them attentively, at one point tilting his body to a 90-degree angle with thedder. Shen Yaowei ordered another safety rope to be lowered from mid-air so that Jiang Yuan could use it to steady himself. On the opposite side of Jiang Yuan, another detective held a camera and continually snapped photos. Meanwhile, someone below used a video camera to record the evidence-gathering process. A single wall saw nearly 10 people working busily. Some vigers who noticed their actions from afar silently came closer to watch. Life in the vige was monotonous. Events like a missing sheep were major news that shook the entire vige,parable to the disappearance of a shepherd. The presence of so many police officers readily attracted the attention of the entire vige. Wang Chuanxing and his team had cordoned off the area in advance, but the ground outside the barriers had already been trampled into a muddy mess. Some brave souls even slipped into the cordoned-off area. Although they were swiftly apprehended, the atmosphere on-site became tense as a result. If these had been regr crime scene investigators, they probably would have been thoroughly annoyed by now. Jiang Yuan, however, didn¡¯t even nce back. He wasn¡¯t leading a team for nothing. Jiang Yuan himself concentrated on studying the footprints. The marks left by clothing were harder to determine in terms of type or form¡ªlikely associated with denim jeans crumpled up in a wardrobe. Later, it might be possible to match the smudged stains rubbed off against simr materials. In contrast, footprints were easier to assess directly at the scene. Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus was on two aspects: first, identifying whose footprints these were, and second, determining whether the footprints indicated someone climbing up or climbing down. Before long, Jiang Yuan reached a judgment¡ª The footprints indicated both climbing up and climbing down. In other words, not only did someone climb up into the victim¡¯s room on the second floor using a rope fashioned from denim jeans, but they did so more than once. Typically, a trace examination stops at this level of investigation. Jiang Yuan, however, instructed the team to make prints of the footprints and carefully analyze them. Soon, they found that the footprintsrgely belonged to two individuals: one male and one female. The male appeared to be a minor, while the female¡¯s footprints matched those of the victim, Sun Xiuwen. Furthermore, judging by the weight distribution, these footprints clearly indicated movement both upward and downward. In the fairy tale "Lettuce Girl," Lettuce Girl let down her long hair so the Prince could climb up the tower and meet her secretly. From the traces on the wall of the Sun Family residence, what Jiang Yuan saw most likely represented evidence of secret rendezvous after rendezvous. In other words, although Sun Xiuwen was still young and a virgin, she likely had a boyfriend she was secretly meeting through such means. In a murder case, this clue had to be thoroughly investigated. However, out of consideration for the deceased¡¯s reputation, Jiang Yuan climbed down thedder without causing a stir. Instead, he first asked the vigemittee to step in and persuade the vigers to leave. Then, in the living room of the Sun Family residence, he instructed Meng Chengbiao to further question the victim¡¯s mother. ... "Did Sun Xiuwen have a boyfriend?" Meng Chengbiao noted that the victim¡¯s mother seemed emotionally unstable. Since time was pressing, he dispensed with pleasantries and got straight to the point. The victim¡¯s mother was startled, then shocked: "How is that possible? Wenwen is only 15 years old." "Do you know or not?" With no one else nearby, Meng Chengbiao asked coldly and bluntly. The victim¡¯s mother froze for a moment and then spoke in a small voice: "She might have a crush on a boy, but I don¡¯t think she had a boyfriend." "What¡¯s the name of the boy she liked?" Meng Chengbiao pressed further. "I¡¯m not sure. I only noticed it when I secretly went through her desk," the victim¡¯s mother hesitantly replied. With a stern tone, Meng Chengbiao demanded, "A name!" "Li Haojie. He¡¯s a ssmate from the neighboring ss," the victim¡¯s mother said with a muted voice. Meng Chengbiao instructed the victim¡¯s mother to write down the name, then forwarded it to the group chat and Jiang Yuan¡¯s private inbox. He continued with his questioning: "What did you find while going through her belongings toe across this name? Take us there." Now he was gathering evidence. What the victim¡¯s mother said could not be taken at face value. For one, her husband was still a suspect. Her own degree of suspicion might be weaker byparison, but she was not entirely cleared either. While cases often suggested that having a stepmother might lead to having issues with a stepfather, asionally the reverse pattern appeared¡ªhaving a stepfather led to challenges with the stepmother. Children in blended families faced greater risks, even life-threatening dangers, which were not too hard toprehend. The Sun Family residence contained no evidence of being the primary crime scene; thus, while the stepfather¡¯s suspicion weakened, it hadn¡¯t been ruled out. The victim¡¯s mother had no choice but to lead Meng Chengbiao and another officer upstairs, where they searched her daughter¡¯s desk under the watchful eye of a video camera. Soon, in a notebook painted with a butterfly, the victim¡¯s mother found several pages containing Li Haojie¡¯s name. Meng Chengbiao nodded, ordered some photos to be taken and sent them to Jiang Yuan. At the same time, Wang Chuanxing had located Li Haojie. "A week ago, Li Haojie¡¯s entire family moved to the city. They rented an apartment and he transferred to City No. 32 Middle School," Wang Chuanxing reported to Jiang Yuan. "What was the reason for the move?" Jiang Yuan asked. "They imed it was to work in Changyang City and earn more money." "What do his parents do?" "His father works as a carpenter, and his mother found a cleaning job," Wang Chuanxing described objectively, careful not to implicate Li Haojie as the culprit prematurely. "Does his family own property in Changyang City?" "They¡¯re renting." "Does renting for work make sense financially?" "It doesn¡¯t make sense at all," Wang Chuanxing replied without needing to check the data. "The rent for their city apartment would be at least 1,200 yuan per month. His mother¡¯s cleaning job pays barely over 1,000 yuan monthly. They were better off staying in the vige, where they could farm, look after the elderly and children, and raise some chickens and ducks." Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Bring Li Haojie¡¯s entire family in for questioning." "Understood." Wang Chuanxing eagerly went to deliver the orders. The case was starting to take shape, and the detectives involved felt a deep sense of aplishment¡ªhigher even than the reward of making money. "Where does Li Haojie¡¯s family live? Investigate their home," Jiang Yuan instructed, wasting no time. For murder cases, it was best to locate the primary crime scene. Li Haojie¡¯s home was situated on a small hill in the middle of the vige. The family lived in a three-story house built ten years ago. It appeared somewhat worn yet not entirely old, with a rtivelyrge yard. Jiang Yuan first walked around the house, then inspected each room one by one. A long time passed. Wang Chuanxing reported, "We¡¯ve brought in Li Haojie, along with his parents and brother." Jiang Yuan exhaled deeply. He had already walked twops around Li Haojie¡¯s house but found no trace or evidence suggesting it was the primary crime scene. Chapter 1127 - 1058: Twists and Turns

Chapter 1127: Chapter 1058: Twists and Turns

"Have the resultse out yet?" Jiang Yuan finished the investigation and returned to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, asking Meng Chengbiao this question first. Meng Chengbiao shook his head, "It¡¯s not going very smoothly. Li Haochen is still a minor, so there are quite a few restrictions during interrogation. It might take one more day at least." "No rush," Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was quite steady. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was essentially working on a case out of their usual jurisdiction. Coupled with Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation, countless pairs of eyes were watching, eager to scrutinize every step under a magnifying ss. Inevitably, this procedural scrutiny reduced the efficiency of the interrogation process¡ªa fact Jiang Yuan had already anticipated. Meng Chengbiao let out a sigh of relief and said, "I¡¯ll go back and think of a way to break through. The prosecutor from the local inspection office has been following the whole process, so I need to write up something for him." After offering Meng Chengbiao some words offort, Jiang Yuan headed to the Changyang City Criminal Science Center to read the reports produced by theb there. Many people read reports just for the conclusions, but this is clearly the least effective way of gathering information. The conclusions in a report can be revised; oftentimes, specific information in the report must be studied in detail. What¡¯s more, the specific details in the report can provide additional guidance. The director of the Criminal Science and Technology Center, Wan Baoming, apanied Jiang Yuan for a brief walk and brought over a cartful of materials, allprising various forensic samples collected in the past two days¡ªincluding a significant number of trace evidence samples. A few people sat in the office examining the materials for half a day, before Jiang Yuan finally set down the report in his hands and said, "Most of it is useless." "Exactly," Wan Baoming sighed heavily. "No rush," Jiang Yuan, now very experienced in handling cases, had reached a point where even without extraordinary skills, he was still a qualified leader of special investigation teams. Regarding this case, although it remained severe, Jiang Yuan was nheless very confident. Jiang Yuan said, "The Criminal Science team should continue gathering evidence to see if we can directly implicate Li Haochen. Since Li Haochen is a minor, his family might still hope for leniency. If we can find solid evidence against him, the Li family should bepelled to give up." Wan Baoming nodded emphatically, "Li Haochen is already 16 years old¡ªhe can be tried and sentenced as an adult. Even if he can¡¯t be sentenced to death, he could still spend a lifetime in prison." Jiang Yuan nodded. Just as they were speaking, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. Jiang Yuan picked up the call, immediately hearing a somber voice from Meng Chengbiao. Meng Chengbiao: "Captain Jiang, there¡¯s been an unexpected development." Jiang Yuan frowned, with his forensic instincts kicking in: "Did you interrogate him to death?" "Not at all, not at all," Meng Chengbiao inexplicably felt a hint of relief. If, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, ¡¯interrogating to death¡¯ counted as just an unexpected development, then what he was about to report might indeed pale inparison. Jiang Yuan: "What happened?" Meng Chengbiao cleared his throat loudly and adopted a more serious tone: "Li Haochen confessed. He admitted to having a teenage romance with the victim, Sun Xiuwen. He even climbed up to the Li family window several times and asionally called Sun Xiuwen out to y. However... on the day of the incident, Li Haochen ims to have an alibi and insists he didn¡¯t arrange to meet Sun Xiuwen." "What¡¯s the alibi?" "He shot several videos at home and also had a video call with rtives in another city. A preliminary investigation seems to confirm this as true." "So Li Haochen is once again excluded as a suspect?" Jiang Yuan raised his voice slightly as he spoke into the phone, sounding a bit annoyed. "Yes," Meng Chengbiao answered helplessly. "What about Li Haochen¡¯s older brother? He should be an adult, right? Did you interrogate him?" Jiang Yuan remained slightly displeased. "He¡¯s an adult. The interrogation went smoothly, but on the day of the incident, he was also at home participating in that same video call with their rtives. Moreover, we searched through his phone thoroughly¡ªno evidence was found." At this point, the suspicions surrounding the Li family had essentially been ruled out. Jiang Yuan furrowed his brow slightly. Meng Chengbiao waited for several seconds; seeing no response on the line, he cautiously asked, "Captain Jiang, in this situation, should we start considering a crime of passionmitted on impulse?" "Highly unlikely," Jiang Yuan replied decisively. "Earlier, the Criminal Police Brigade considered the possibility of a random killing based on the estimated time of death being between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. This time frame corresponds to when the victim would normally be on her way to school, making it usible for someone passing by to target her." Jiang Yuan continued over the phone, "Right now, however, the time of death is confirmed to be 3 a.m. At that hour, the victim. Sun Xiuwen, wouldn¡¯t have been able to exit through the front door. Her mother and stepfather live on the first floor, and any movement by the front door would have been clearly heard. Besides, Sun Xiuwen already has a well-established method for climbing over walls, so she wouldn¡¯t need to risk going through the front door." At this point, Meng Chengbiao began to grasp Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning and added, "The jeans Sun Xiuwen used for climbing were rolled up and stored in the wardrobe. If Sun Xiuwen climbed down alone, who went back to roll up and store those jeans?" Jiang Yuan: "Exactly." Meng Chengbiao was nowpletely drawn in, remarking, "This creates an unsolvable paradox: Sun Xiuwen didn¡¯t climb down of her own ord, yet she ended up dead at her house at 3 a.m. If the perpetrator had climbed into her house to kill her, her house isn¡¯t the primary crime scene. Furthermore, if the perpetrator fled afterward, who would have been the one to roll up her jeans and put them away?" Jiang Yuan pondered without immediately answering. Suddenly, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s excitement grew, with his detective instincts fully activated, as he spected, "Could it have been Sun Xiuwen¡¯s mother? Perhaps she was worried about the public perception and secretly rolled up the jeans herself..." Jiang Yuan, recollecting details about the crime scene, interrupted him, "The footprints on the wall remain fairly fresh." "What do you mean?" "While it¡¯s impossible to precisely determine when the footprints were left, what we can tell is that Sun Xiuwen climbed the wall fairly frequently." Meng Chengbiao abandoned his Sherlock Holmes-like reasoning and reverted to being Watson, asking, "What does that indicate?" "Do today¡¯s teenagers climb walls solely to meet their boyfriends? Seems a bit monotonous," Jiang Yuan remarked. "Follow up with Li Haochen and find out if Sun Xiuwen used to climb walls to meet other people. Who else knew about her wall-climbing activities? In short, aside from her meetings with Li Haochen, who else might she have been meeting?" "Understood," Meng Chengbiao caught the gist and immediately took action. Half an hourter. Meng Chengbiao called again, opening with, "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re incredibly perceptive." "There are others involved?" Jiang Yuan had been waiting for this call. Meng Chengbiao responded with a firm "Yes," saying, "Sun Xiuwen also had two close female friends. asionally, she¡¯d climb out to spend time with them." Killing another best friend isn¡¯t easy, and doing so with a pillow adds even more difficulty. As Jiang Yuan thought this over, he asked aloud, "What did they do together?" "They¡¯d watch movies, drink, dance... They have a secret hangout spot: a rtive¡¯s house belonging to one of the girlfriends¡¯ boyfriends. The rtives don¡¯t live there, but the ce is fully equipped with water, electricity, and appliances." Jiang Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief, "So at least one male knew about Sun Xiuwen¡¯s regr wall-climbing activities." "Actually, two," Meng Chengbiao corrected. "Both of the friends have boyfriends." "Bring them all in," Jiang Yuan instructed. After a pause, he added, "I¡¯ll head back to the scene myself." Chapter 1128 - 1060: Secret Base

Chapter 1128: Chapter 1060: Secret Base

Sun Xiuwen¡¯s two close friends, after being brought to the police station, still behaved with an air of indifference. Their boyfriends, on the other hand, resembled stereotypical delinquent youths who appeared to have no regard for the situation, likely not their first encounter with the police station. Their parents were rtively more self-aware, offering some conciliatory words before hastily making phone calls to contact so-called influential people, albeit with limited results. Meng Chengbiao observed the group coldly, taking only a short amount of time to notice that among the seemingly carefree young women, one of them had a trace of unease in her eyes. "Take all four of them to the interrogation room," Meng Chengbiao confirmed his target and then added, "I¡¯ll interrogate Liu Mingxue first." "Yes." The police officers at the station had no choice but to cooperate in such cases, freeing up their interrogation rooms. At the same time, Jiang Yuan ordered someone to open the gate of an abandoned courtyard halfway up the hill. This house belonged to Sun Jianyu¡¯s uncle, who worked out of town and hardly returned, entrusting the house to Sun Jianyu¡¯s parents for upkeep. Sun Jianyu secretly made a copy of the key and asionally sneaked in to watch TV. Once a few of his friends found out, they started gathering there frequently, turning it into an unofficial secret base. The vige didn¡¯t have many residents left, and the house was tucked away in a remote spot. The group pulled the heavy curtains shut and used clips to secure them, making the housepletely opaque from the outside. This house provided Sun Jianyu and his group happiness for quite a long time. From the entrance onward, traces of their carefree life could be seen. Garbage strewn in the courtyard included some unspoiled food, while the flower nts in the yard were almost all withered. At the doorway, Jiang Yuan suited up fully before entering the courtyard and proceeding with the site examination. For Jiang Yuan that day, this meant two security personnel clearing the way, followed by four crime scene investigation technicians, one criminal photographer responsible forbeling and photographing evidence, and one videographer dedicated to documenting the site to build an evidentiary chain, strategically vital for death penalty reviews. A total of nine people entered the premises, which imposed a certain strain on this particr house. Jiang Yuan quickly surveyed the space and began assigning personnel to different floors for examination to distribute tasks and expedite the process. After arranging the inspection of the ground floor, Jiang Yuan moved to the bedroom upstairs. This was the true secret base and most likely the primary crime scene. Jiang Yuan initially nned a meticulous,yer-byyer examination but upon entering, a Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation methodology drew his focus to a pillow on the bed¡¯s headboard. The bed in this bedroom didn¡¯t have any nkets, the bed sheet was disorderly and filthy, and the nearby pillows showed signs of long-term use, yellowing due to wear. Only the pillow closest to the door was strikingly white, clearly indicating it had been recently washed. Jiang Yuan sighed inwardly, picked up a magnifying ss and approached the pillow, studying it silently. When a person is suffocated, fluids often emerge from the mouth¡ªnot usually blood¡ªso spraying luminal wasn¡¯t helpful in this case. After washing, any remnants on the pillow would be significantly reduced. Still, the pillow¡¯s core is notoriously difficult to clean thoroughly, especially for inexperienced youths relying solely on detergent orundry liquid to soak and rub. Some residual evidence might remain embedded in the pillow¡¯s filling. Jiang Yuan signaled for someone to take photographs, then donned gloves, picked up the pillow, and inspected it closely. Finding no visible stains, he ced it into an evidence bag and handed it to the team, saying, "Send this with the other collected evidence to the Criminal Science Center for testing first." Such an expedited process would be unimaginable for most police teams. Not only is evidence rarely sent solo, but transportation arrangements are often cramped. Immediate testing at the Criminal Science Center was even more umon, given its perpetual overload; without pressing need, leadership seldom allocates the vast investments required. Evidence is typically queued. Only specialized homicide task forces or directormanded special groups enjoy slight privileges. Jiang Yuan¡¯s authority was broader; evidence he submitted¡ªeven to Beijing¡¯s Criminal Science Center¡ªwould never be dyed. After handing off the pillow, Jiang Yuan examined the bed sheet, mattress pad, and bed frame, quickly discovering a suspicious secretion on the sheet. As always, Jiang Yuan instructed someone to take photographs before using scissors to cut out the portion of the sheet containing the secretion. Although this seemed like evidence destruction, it was, in reality, the proper procedure. Some young orzy criminal investigators, unfamiliar with protocols, might bundle the entire sheet for transport, but repeated scoldings soon correct such habits. This isn¡¯t solely due to the inefficiency of transporting bulky evidence¡ªit¡¯s alsorgely unproductive for testing purposes. Arge bundled sheet presented to the Criminal Science Center technicians often left them unsure of the critical testing area, potentially leading to misjudgments even after reexamining. Additionally, forensic equipment doesn¡¯t simply produce "beep" sound results. Whether liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, or other instruments are employed, extracting a sample piece¡ªsuch as a segment of bed sheet¡ªis standard practice for analysis. Thus, when a criminal investigator revealed a full sheet or towel, they either tested only a small fiber segment or brought the wrong evidence altogether. The leftover sheet parts were also collected by Jiang Yuan, considered secondary evidence unlikely needing immediate analysis. They could be usedter if deemed necessary. Jiang Yuan then cut a segment from the fabric of the bedframe¡¯s upper surface¡ªno need to haul the entire mattress, which would overcrowd the police evidence room. Once these tasks werepleted, Jiang Yuan felt slightly more at ease and began examining the room further. The bedroom acting as a secret base for several youths was unsurprisingly filthy and chaotic, with various clutter scattered around. The mess was unhygienic to the point of troubling the crime scene technicians, effectively serving as an indirect method of obscuring evidence. Bzzzz... The phone in his pocket vibrated. Jiang Yuan frowned, removed his gloves, and pulled out his phone: "Hello, Old Meng." "Captain Jiang, the victim Sun Xiuwen¡¯s close friend Liu Mingxue and Liu Mingxue¡¯s boyfriend Sun Jianyu have confessed," Meng Chengbiao began, then continued, "Liu Mingxue said she invited Sun Xiuwen out to hang out that day. Sun Xiuwen¡¯s boyfriend stayed home because he had arranged to video-call rtives abroad. The three of them gathered at Sun Jianyu¡¯s uncle¡¯s house to drink. During the conversation, an argument broke out over cleaning the house for visiting rtives, pushing Sun Jianyu over the edge in his drunken state¡ªhe suffocated Sun Xiuwen." Jiang Yuan nodded slightly: "What does Sun Jianyu say?" "Sun Jianyu ims Liu Mingxue first grabbed Sun Xiuwen¡¯s neck. He then stepped in by using a pillow to smother her," Meng Chengbiao replied. Jiang Yuan exhaled deeply. This narrowed the suspect pool to the two individuals¡ªeither Sun Jianyumitted the murder alone, or both yed a primary and secondary role, or the lines between roles blurred entirely. Having finished, Meng Chengbiao also felt relieved: "No third party was present at the scene. This means we¡¯ll need to carefully scrutinize their testimonies, but it¡¯s almost certain the murderer is either Liu Mingxue, Sun Jianyu, or both." "What about the jeans?" Sun Xiuwen had climbed down from the second floor using tied-together jeans. Since she didn¡¯t return afterward, how did the jeans get back into ce? Meng Chengbiao coughed twice, then sighed: "Sun Jianyu ims he snuck back in at night, wearing gloves, retrieved the jeans, and jumped from the second floor with them." "Jumped?" Jiang Yuan recalled the traces downstairs and shook his head. That night had seen rain; like the soil tracks left by motorbike tires in the field, much of the evidence had been washed out. Some footprints on the wall had also been damaged¡ªnot surprising. Meng Chengbiao assumed Jiang Yuan doubted the jumping part and added: "Sun Jianyu¡¯s physical fitness is excellent¡ªhe¡¯s slim but well-built. He has even filmed parkour clips for social media. His agility surpasses that of most people; jumping from a second floor uninjured seems usible." "Slim? Slim to what extent?" Jiang Yuan paused and asked, "Was he strong enough to independently suffocate Sun Xiuwen?" Chapter 1129 - 1060: A Bit of Scale

Chapter 1129: Chapter 1060: A Bit of Scale

Jiang Yuan took Sun Jianyu¡¯s profile in hand, meticulously reviewed it multiple times, and then had his hand and foot prints reproduced forparison against the strangtion marks on the deceased¡¯s body. Sun Jianyu was less than 170 cm tall and weighed just over 40 kg, with a slim waist, thin legs, and narrow arms¡ªa pure skinny figure. The victim, Sun Xiuwen, weighed about the same as Sun Jianyu. Despite being female and slightly weaker in terms of physical strength, it would be rtively difficult for Sun Jianyu to smother her to death on his own. It wasn¡¯t surprising that there were strangtion marks on Sun Xiuwen¡¯s neck; presumably, Sun Jianyu or Liu Mingxue had assisted in the act. However, the victim¡¯s hyoid bone was not fractured, which also indicated insufficient force in the strangtion. Certainly, analyzing merely from the perspective of insufficient strength, Sun Jianyu¡¯s girlfriend, Liu Mingxue¡ªwho was also Sun Xiuwen¡¯s close friend¡ªwould be even less capable. By conventional reasoning, for Liu Mingxue, a young woman, to actively resort to a violent method such as smothering to kill Sun Xiuwen, the likelihood seemed quite low. "From what we know so far, the two of them likely conspired, with Sun Jianyu taking the lead and Liu Mingxue assisting, jointly killing Sun Xiuwen," Jiang Yuan stated at the crime scene after briefly perusing his PAD, delivering a conclusion that wasn¡¯t particrly surprising. One of the most critical tasks for a forensic doctor is discerning the actual perpetrator in coborative murder cases. An example would be a group of teenagers engaging in mutual assault, resulting in a death; in such instances, the one primarily responsible is not necessarily the person who strikes the most blows, but rather the individual who executes the fatal action. Suppose the victim¡¯s iput was hit by a bottle, the heart suddenly stopped, and the thigh was punctured... The forensic doctor must determine the exact cause of death¡ªwhether it was the bottle, the thigh wound, or... in the case of cardiac arrest, it might result in collective liability and shared punishment. Jiang Yuan identified Sun Jianyu and Liu Mingxue as co-perpetrators, and once submitted for trial, the verdict would very likely not differentiate between a primary and secondary offender. On the other end of the phone, Meng Chengbiao listened and immediately responded, "I agree, Sun Jianyu must have been involved, and Liu Mingxue can¡¯t escape either. Both of them are minors with immature minds. During interrogation, we¡¯ll get results; I¡¯m confident of that." "Alright, I¡¯ll leave this to you," Jiang Yuan confirmed the perpetrators, then thoroughly inspected the group¡¯s secret hideout one more time. Afterward, he took Sun Jianyu¡¯s motorcycle and headed back to Changyang City. The tread marks at the secondary scene couldn¡¯t be used for identification, but they were enough for elimination purposes. In this case, the means of transport had to be considered. Even if they couldn¡¯t confirm the exact motorcycle used, they needed to demonstrate that Sun Jianyu had ess to a simr type at the very least. By the time Jiang Yuan returned to the Changyang City Bureau, Wang Chuanxing and others had nearly finished preparing the case files. The case itself was indeed challenging, but the difficultyy mainly in the circumstances; the heavy rains that night had washed away much evidence, including the footprints of Sun Jianyu climbing over walls, rendering them impossible to prove. Fresh tracks disintegrated under rainfall, while older ones remained. Furthermore, as the perpetrators were minors, their behavioral patterns were exceedingly unpredictable¡ªincluding the motives for killing and the methods of concealing the crime, which were distinctly immature. Had it been an adult offender, not to mention whether they¡¯d kill someone over something like cleaning and tidying a room, the post-murder handling wouldn¡¯t have been so amateurish. They wouldn¡¯t refrain from discarding a pillow due to fear of rtives noticing,pulsively washing and scrubbing it instead. Nor would they hurriedly abandon the body by the roadside, leaving such conspicuous tire tracks from a motorcycle. And yet, to use the two ofcking intelligence wouldn¡¯t be entirely fair; they not only discarded the body but also stripped off the victim¡¯s clothing, staging it to look like a sexual assault. Despite such nuances, Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus on these details had already diminished significantly. For Sun Jianyu and Liu Mingxue, their capacity to resist interrogation was weak. Given the existing evidence, it was sufficient to make them recount the details over and over dozens of times. Yu Wenshu and his colleagues were particrly satisfied. Upon meeting Jiang Yuan, they kept saying, "Who¡¯d have thought it was two minors behind this case? Our Changyang City cases just don¡¯t seem deranged enough..." "It¡¯s plenty deranged already," Shen Yaowei, who had apanied the entire process without contributing much, remarked. He was thoroughly familiar with the case and continued, "Two minors, falling out over a trivial matter, with the girlfriend and boyfriend teaming up to kill the victim. They even went on to discard the body. If this case had gone unsolved, in another ten years who knows how many more victims might have fallen prey." Yu Wenshu nodded, "Not entirely deranged." "We owe it to Captain Jiang; our special task force had been unable to advance the case," Cao Chujun said with some emotion. As an elder nearing retirement as a team leader, he no longer attached much importance to things like face. As his tenure drew to a close, he increasingly valued cracking major cases, as a way to honor his forty years inw enforcement. Jiang Yuan smiled modestly and deflected the praise. Although he personally assessed the case¡¯s difficulty as rtively low, he refrained from stating so in front of the former task force leader Cao Chujun. Cao Chujun, however, saw through it. Old detectives possess a kind of insight into human behavior, even if they aren¡¯t always able to solve the case. Feeling a spark of enthusiasm, Cao Chujun quickly chipped in before Yu Wenshu could speak, striking while the iron was hot: "Captain Jiang, there are plenty of deranged cases, particrly old unresolved ones. Some case files are too old, making them difficult to investigate..." This was akin toying bait outright. Cao Chujun gazed at Jiang Yuan warmly. Jiang Yuan smirked, nced at Yu Wenshu, and then replied, "We don¡¯t necessarily have to pursue deranged cases; solving regr murder cases delivers a strong sense of aplishment as well." Yu Wenshu interjected at this point, "You usually bring along over 30 people; handling average cases might be inefficient for your team, right?" Jiang Yuan froze for a moment¡ªhe hadn¡¯t considered that. Cao Chujun chuckled slyly, eyeing Yu Wenshu while his tone shifted to a more formal note: "Speaking of deranged cases, the 303 Special Case, in my opinion, certainly qualifies." "The 303 Special Case..." Yu Wenshu quickly delved into recollection: "The victims were 31-year-old female Zhao Qian, 28-year-old male Qin Jijian, and 35-year-old male Gu Daxu... The three were killed at Zhao Qian¡¯s home while engaging in a m¨¦nage ¨¤ trois?" "Yes, that¡¯s the case. You even remember the victims¡¯ names¡ªremarkable..." Cao Chujunplimented with the overly traditional and ttering tone pervasive in the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, elicitingughter from Yu Wenshu. "The 303 Special Case is indeed rather deranged. The perpetrator was skilled, ruthless, and the case has remained unsolved for seven to eight years¡ªit would benefit from a fresh assessment," Yu Wenshu remarked, casting a nce toward Jiang Yuan. "I assure you, the level of this case far surpasses the previous one in terms of intensity." "There¡¯s no necessity to pursue cases for their deranged nature or extremes," Jiang Yuan sighed. "This case is quite extraordinary," Cao Chujun steered the conversation, stating, "The perpetrator broke into the home through the balcony security bars, which he bent open by hand. Upon entry, he killed three people in session, cleaned the scene, and left swiftly with remarkable efficiency and skill. No blood footprints or traces of the perpetrator¡¯s DNA were found at the scene." "Were all three people single?" "No, they were married," Yu Wenshu preemptively answered Jiang Yuan¡¯s probable question, adding, "The spouses of all three victims were investigated; they had alibis. Moreover, the victims had multiple sexual partners, some of whom were discreet. The case has remained difficult to pin down a suspect." Chapter 1130 - 1061: The Skilled Assassin

Chapter 1130: Chapter 1061: The Skilled Assassin

"There are still quite a few clues avable for investigation in the 303 case." Jiang Yuan, upon taking over the 303 case, immediately called Liu Jinghui over. Liu Jinghui originally had his home in the provincial capital. Although he seldom went back, being transferred over was still quite convenient. As for the cases Jiang Yuan took on, Liu Jinghui had always been rather interested in them. Simr to Jiang Yuan¡¯s current approach, Liu Jinghui was more inclined to tackle challenging cases. However, for cases like the 303, once restarted, they require massive efforts, and Liu Jinghui himself did not have the confidence to restart it. Moreover, the higher-ups were unwilling to shoulder such a huge cost. But Jiang Yuan was different. The cases Jiang Yuan undertook were reassuring in both the sess rate of solving them and the conviction rate. To use an imperfect metaphor, Jiang Yuan was like an expensivebine harvester: as long as you paid the steep rental and operating fees, he could reliably harvest crime. Liu Jinghui, byparison, was more like a strong but stubborn mule¡ªcapable when the conditions were right, but if his mood was off or the environment unsuitable, there might be no progress at all. For a brigade chief like Yu Wenshu, unless Liu Jinghui presented extremely strong evidence to persuade him, he wouldn¡¯t agree to restart the 303 case. Or to put it another way, even if someone like Cao Chujun took the initiative to propose restarting, and his methods relied on Liu Jinghui¡¯s abilities, Yu Wenshu still wouldn¡¯t approve. However, with Jiang Yuan backing him up, Liu Jinghui could then stand at the forefront, making him far more adaptable than abine harvester. Only to hear Liu Jinghui speaking eloquently: "In the 303 case, the social rtionships of the three victims wereplex. From the perspective of motives, we believe the interpersonal rtionships of the three victims are very likely to be closely rted to this case. Unfortunately, although the task force deployed extensive manpower to trace leads through their rtionships, they failed to identify any suspects." "From the perspective of the perpetrator, the killer is also highly unusual. For example, the ability to pry open anti-theft windows barehanded is beyond most petty thieves. I saw records where the 303 task force specifically tested this model of anti-theft window. At the time, among about 60 members of a SWAT team, only four managed to pull it open, and only two could do so rtively easily. Both of those officers weighed over 90 kilograms." Liu Jinghui exhaled a breath and continued, "On another note, the victim resided on the third floor. For the perpetrator to climb up, they would need certain skills, and their body type couldn¡¯t be too heavy or cumbersome. In summary, the killer must be experienced, trained, and highly skilled." Liu Jinghui added, "Unfortunately, the task force focused purely on investigating the killer¡¯s physical capabilities, and ultimately, their efforts yielded no results." In the conference room of the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade, apart from the 30-plus officers Jiang Yuan had brought along, there were over a dozen others who joined, forming a team nearly equivalent to a full task force despite the case not being officially reopened. Some members had their heads buried in documents, others were looking up at Jiang Yuan, while still others were whispering in hushed discussions. Before long, Liu Wenkai, who had specificallye over from Ningtai County upon hearing about the 303 case, spoke up: "While it¡¯s true that the social lives of the three victims might have been quite messy, under criminal investigation, it¡¯s hard to believe their rtionships couldn¡¯t be rified. They must have made calls or sent messages to arrange meetups, right? Just tracing theirmunications should reveal most of the story." Liu Jinghui responded with a simple "Hmm," and borated, "This has to be divided into two aspects. First, it¡¯s not that the rtionships of the three victims couldn¡¯t be rified at all, but that their connections are so intricate that further investigation consumes significant resources. Second, there are indeed rtionships that can¡¯t be traced¡ªfor instance, all three victims had instances of one-night stands, some meeting people in bars or simr settings. In those cases, they might not even have exchanged WeChat contacts or any other contact details, and the encounter could end with them bidding farewell or perhaps lingering thoughts the next day." Liu Wenkai clicked his tongue in amazement, "ssic 303, truly Changyang¡¯s masterpiece." "What kind of ridiculous nickname is that!" Cao Chujun, being older, couldn¡¯t stomach such jokes. Liu Wenkai shrugged, opting not to continue the banter about the nickname, shifting the conversation instead: "Cases of one-night stands¡ªwouldn¡¯t it be unlikely for them to lead to killings of this scale? Who wouldmit triple homicide because of it?" "Suppose two male victims had one-night stands with a woman, and that woman¡¯s husband found out¡ªwould he be angry enough to grab a knife and start hunting them down?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s logic was sharp. Liu Wenkai furrowed his brow as he listened and then slowly nodded, adding to Liu Jinghui¡¯s point: "Even if the male victims had a one-night stand with another man, if that man¡¯s husband found out, he¡¯d have his own reasons to grab a knife and go after them." "Um..." Liu Jinghui¡¯s meticulous train of thought resembled a bicycle chain that had suddenly been derailed by a dirty yellow stone lying by the roadside. Liu Wenkai continued, "At the crime scene, the three victims were two men and one woman. People indulging in such behavior are obviously living fast and loose, but they wouldn¡¯t likely stick to a fixed team, would they? Especially the two men. If they were equally promiscuous with other women, especially decent ones, it wouldn¡¯t be shocking for them to end up killed." "This angle was definitely explored," Captain Cao Chujun stepped in. Liu Wenkai looked at Cao Chujun and, this time, spoke rather bluntly: "Captain Cao, I mean no offense, but given your age, you might not fully understand how young people today ¡¯y around.¡¯" "y how?" Cao Chujun asked. "Three-person or four-person group activities, even five-person group scenarios. It¡¯smon for someone to bring others out to party, and temporary group setups are just as frequent..." Liu Wenkai paused mid-speech and added, "This female victim wouldn¡¯t only be messing around, right? Did she have a serious partner?" "The female victim was married," Cao Chujun shook his head. Liu Wenkai shook his head too, "Captain Cao, nowadays, some people¡ªregardless of gender¡ªnot only have a spouse but also a serious romantic interest, someone who emotionally moves them yet leads nowhere, and someone exceptionally attractive they see from time to time for thrills. Beyond that, they may still have temporary flings or group activity partners." Captain Cao wasn¡¯t shocked¡ªafter all, he swam through society¡¯s dark undercurrents daily as a detective¡ªbut he was deeply puzzled: "Is there really a need for all this? I mean, I know it happens asionally, but I don¡¯t see how it rtes significantly to our case." "I think it¡¯s quite relevant," Liu Wenkai replied. "The victims, and their contacts, may very well fit this profile. Only by considering this angle can the investigation be thorough." "The proportion of such cases can¡¯t be that high," Cao Chujun remained firm in defending his previous judgment. Liu Wenkai gave a faint smile, saying, "They¡¯re already ying like this. It¡¯s less about the proportion being high and more about us stumbling into a nest of it." Cao Chujun muttered to himself, "Unlikely, unlikely." Clearing his throat, Liu Jinghui interjected, "Captain Cao, based on your reflection on the 303 case over the years, if you had to rethink your approach, what entry point would you suggest for a breakthrough?" Cao Chujun, who had first brought up the 303 case and invited Jiang Yuan onboard, naturally had his own considerations. As soon as Liu Jinghui posed the question, Cao Chujun immediately withdrew from his earlier banter, adopting a serious tone as he turned to Jiang Yuan and Yu Wenshu: "After thorough thought, I believe we should consider the drug angle. Blood tests for all three victims revealed traces of a new synthetic drug. If this lead can be pursued further, it may offer exnations for the capabilities of this skilled assassin." Chapter 1131 - 1062: Yellow · Death · Poison

Chapter 1131: Chapter 1062: Yellow ¡¤ Death ¡¤ Poison

In China, whenever the issue of drugs is mentioned, everyone bes solemn, and this is no exception even in the Criminal Police Brigade. There were about 50 people present, and their expressions started to change. "Regarding the drug angle, I believe it should not be a primary target of investigation for the initial phase," Liu Jinghui suddenly interrupted the atmosphere that Cao Chujun was building. The fact that all three victims were involved with drugs was, of course, something Liu Jinghui had noticed and considered seriously. It¡¯smon practice to conduct "saturation-style investigations" in homicide cases. Even back in Ningtai County, when Huang Qiangmin encountered homicide cases with multiple leads to follow, investigations were conducted. The difference lies only in the number of personnel and resources deployed. Frequently, two-person teams would follow up on leads and see them through to the end. However, drug cases are an exception. To investigate along the drug trail, or even to pursue ideas like eliminating hitmen working for drug-trafficking syndicates, these aren¡¯t tasks suited to the Criminal Police Brigade. Such cases would require the Drug Enforcement Division operating at full capacity. Following the drug line of inquiry could require resources equivalent to an entire division, maybe even more. Thus, whether or not to consider the drug angle required careful deliberation on Liu Jinghui¡¯s part. After seeing Cao Chujun bring it up, Liu Jinghui said: "The toxicology analysis of the three victims mainly shows methamphetamine, along with arge amount of caffeine. After discussing with colleagues in the drug enforcement division, they agree with the previous task force¡¯s assessment: the drugs found in the suspects¡¯ systems are most likely yaba." Looking at everyone in the room, Liu Jinghui added, "For those familiar with public safety, yaba is a derivative of ecstasy. The reasons for using both are generally simr, typically for excitement and to enhance their ¡¯high.¡¯ The presence of drugs in these three victims merely confirms that they were users; it doesn¡¯t provide a reason why this would lead to their deaths." Everyone collectively turned their gaze towards Cao Chujun, as if deliberating or scrutinizing. Cao Chujun shook his head: "We must consider their professional ties. Of the three victims, the female, Zhao Qian, appears to be the central figure within their group. Her day job as a postal employee frequently brought her to logistics centers and other rted units for inspections, a position involving a certain degree of authority. From a transportation perspective, Zhao Qian held a role that would be significant to a drug cartel." Cao Chujun wasn¡¯t making baseless ims. Over the years, he had also reflected on Case 303, continuing: "Back when we conducted investigations on Case 303, Qinghe City¡¯s Jianyuan Group was still operational. At the time, we were unaware of Jianyuan Group¡¯s role. However, itter became evident that yaba was one of their primary products." ncing at Liu Jinghui, he added, "As for the two male victims: 28-year-old Qin Jijian was a logistics center porter before being promoted to team leader after befriending Zhao Qian. He remained with the logisticspany, where he continued to have easy ess to packages. Meanwhile, 35-year-old Gu Daxu worked in government, which offered him certain conveniences as well. The three of them had substantial ie beyond their official sries." Maintaining hisposure, Liu Jinghui said, "I also noticed those extra earnings. Their supplemental ies ranged from several thousand yuan to twenty or thirty thousand yuan a month. This amount doesn¡¯t align with profits from drug trafficking; it resembles more an operational budget for organized activities. This is also reflected in their interpersonal rtionships." "Organized activities that charge fees?" Liu Wenkai, who had just joined and hadn¡¯t reviewed the case files, was visibly astonished. "Such organizations couldnd them five-year prison sentences." "If they have the audacity to get married, have affairs, and engage in multiple-group activities, why would charging a fee faze them?" Liu Jinghui interjected sarcastically. Refusing to back down, Cao Chujun argued further: "An ie of several thousand or a couple of tens of thousands of yuan could also be consistent with earnings from transporting small quantities of drugs." "If they were using their positions for drug transportation, could it really have been limited to small quantities? Once the logistics system is breached, wouldn¡¯t the transported volumes steadily increase? Even if they didn¡¯t wish for esction, it would likely be inevitable. How could the revenue remain stable within such modest amounts?" Liu Jinghui questions progressively, reinforcing his reasoning. Although anti-drug efforts are very stringent domestically, aparison of news stories illustrates a clear trend. In earlier years, drug traffickers caught tended to have contraband measured in grams, with kilogram-scale seizures being rare and indicative of major cases. But in recent years,rge-scale drug seizures have be increasinglymon. To make it onto the front page now, cases often involve tons of drugs. Ultimately, when the economy is bad and there¡¯s little trade, drug cartels are hesitant to invest. Conversely, when profits are high in a thriving economy, there¡¯s no shortage of people willing to risk their lives for it. Given the sheer scale of drug trafficking, if the three victims were merely drug users, they¡¯d be just another category of consumers. They wouldn¡¯t have been explicitly targeted for murder by dealers. And if the trio indeed leveraged their jobs to participate in drug trafficking, it wouldn¡¯t have been limited to small quantities. While an additional ie of thousands or tens of thousands of yuan may not have been insignificant for these three, it was far from substantial enough topensate for the emotional and safety trade-offs. Simrly, for drug traffickers, such figures wouldn¡¯t be significant enough to justify initiating a killing. At this point, Liu Wenkai chimed in, saying, "Based on my limited experience, people engaged in such indulgent lifestyles shouldn¡¯t have the bandwidth for anything else. What I mean is, covert operations demand an extreme level of care¡ªjuggling secrecy from spouses while evadingw enforcement andpetitors simultaneously. That¡¯s too much to handle. We¡¯re dealing with ordinary people here, not elite operatives. It¡¯s a stretch to think they could manage suchplexity." "Ordinary people?" scoffed Cao Chujun. "Especially in drug deals, things can easily go awry. If they made multiple purchases, it¡¯s entirely possible they were under surveince." He sighed as though making one final attempt at persuasion. Shaking his head, Liu Jinghui replied, "When drug deals go wrong, typical oues don¡¯t lead to murder scenes like this. Disposing of the bodies through methods like dismemberment or submergence in a river would make more sense." "So you¡¯re suggesting investigating the affair angle again? If that¡¯s the approach, it¡¯s very simr to the one the previous task force took. While I don¡¯t doubt the capabilities of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, it¡¯s been five years. Investigating in the present will undoubtedly be twice as difficult for half the results." "That¡¯s why I¡¯ve decided to sort through the victims¡¯... romantic history." Liu Jinghui smiled faintly, quickly wrapping up the prior discussion before borating: "As we¡¯ve already discussed, Zhao Qian, the female victim, was the central figure among the three deceased. In all her romantic and sexual encounters, Zhao Qian maintained absolute dominance. We discovered she had over 12 direct sexual partners. Among them, four were exclusive rtionships, while the other eight involved group activities." After pausing briefly, Liu Jinghui continued, "Further analysis reveals that Zhao Qian¡¯s direct partners averaged six partners themselves, with not all partners being of the same gender. Delving deeper, we found that the thirdyer¡ªpartners of her partners¡¯ partners¡ªaveraged only three partners, suggesting that beyond these group activities, the behavior became primarily one-on-one rtionships. The sexual behavior itself, though, was notably liberal." On the projector, Liu Jinghui presented aplex rtionship diagram, its myriad small, color-coded circles forming a dizzyingwork. Using the diagram as a reference, he exined, "From this diagram, we can see that Zhao Qian and the other two deceased are at the core of thiswork, upying primary positions at the first level." "Though the number of connections is extensive, upon careful study, I¡¯ve arrived at a conclusion¡ªnot entirely urate but broadly representative: the three individuals¡¯ choice of romantic partners isrgely confined to work-rted rtionships. Other connections likely stem from these work-rted romances." Slightly pleased, Liu Jinghui nced at the room. Uncovering such conclusions was no small feat. It hinged on the fact that many of the individuals had been previously apprehended, and their detailed statements were essible¡ªstatements which exposed illegal group activities. In domestic contexts, groups of three or more engaging in this behavior could face five-year sentences, viting both legal and societal norms. Combining meticulous case file reviews with a critical eye for these testimonies, knowing full well that people often lie about such matters, allowed him to reach this difficult conclusion. Yu Wenshu and most others evidently didn¡¯t fully grasp its implications, offering a polite cough: "Not bad, Director Liu. You¡¯ve put in a lot of effort." Sighing inwardly, Liu Jinghui skipped further attempts at intellectual disy, simplifying, "The direct rtionships of the three victims being work-rted means we can trace more information from this angle. Potentially, we might uncover hidden connections." "Oh? borate," Yu Wenshu finally expressed some interest. "Those already identified..." Liu Jinghui gestured at the smaller circles surrounding the three central ones, "have been thoroughly investigated. The likelihood of them being culprits¡ªor their partners¡ªis now significantly reduced. However, can we confidently say we¡¯ve identified all their connections? I remain doubtful. This is the direction I want us to continue investigating." "This could serve as an investigative direction," Yu Wenshu responded tactfully. Liu Jinghui¡¯s approach, which emphasized cost-effective and resource-efficient methodologies, earned him the apt yet tongue-in-cheek moniker of "Deduction¡¤Economy¡¤King¡¤Alternative Direction¡¤Liu Jinghui." "What¡¯s your n?" Jiang Yuan, who¡¯d grown steadily more trusting of Liu Jinghui, immediately followed through. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team currently had over 30 individuals. Flexible enough to scale up operations to 50 or 60 members as needed, the team had sufficient personnel to cover conventional investigative angles. That said, getting in-depth for specific targets would require reallocating resources for more focused efforts. As for "saturation-style investigation," it had its pros and cons, especially when dealing with cold cases. After five years, pursuing many investigative paths would likely prove infeasible or resource-draining without exponentially increasing manpower, materials, and effort. From a practical standpoint, given the passage of time, prioritizing one path first¡ªand considering saturation-style follow-ups only if needed¡ªseemed more rational. Smiling faintly, Liu Jinghui exuded confidence in Jiang Yuan¡¯s rare vote of trust ced upon him during such critical moments. With sincerity, Liu Jinghui announced, "I want topile a list of all coworkers and workce affiliates of the three victims. If we can locate hidden romantic partners within this group, we¡¯ll subject them to thorough investigation. That will be the first tier." He continued, "Second, expand the scope to includeprehensive investigations into the romantic partners of all coworkers and work-rted contacts of the three victims. Given the unique capabilities and characteristics of the perpetrator, I believe there remains a significant chance." "Approved!" Jiang Yuan decisively endorsed Liu Jinghui¡¯s proposal, bypassing further consent from Yu Wenshu. "Additionally, based on bloodstain analysis at the crime scenes, I¡¯ve drawn some conclusions as well. These insights could help focus our efforts and raise awareness during the uing investigations." Chapter 1132 - 1063: Fierce Knife in Blood

Chapter 1132: Chapter 1063: Fierce Knife in Blood

Jiang Yuan stood up and picked up the remote pen while Wang Chuanxing opened up the PPT he had worked on overnight. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s PPT was far from the simplistic presentation Liu Jinghui had made himself; it was meticulously crafted with circling visual elements. The fonts in Wang Chuanxing¡¯s PPT varied depending on specific needs, and even the brightness and colors of some images and text were slightly different, striking a bnce of detail and rity that made everything immediately discernible. Jiang Yuan pressed the remote pen, and a photo of the crime scene immediately appeared on the projection screen behind him. "The crime scene orchestrated by the killer left behind arge amount of bloodstains; however, due to the three victims being concentrated in a small space, much of the blood has been absorbed and obscured. This was also partially why the Bloodstain Analysis method wasn¡¯t particrly feasible in the early stages of the task force¡¯s investigation," Jiang Yuan began with an exnation to cover for the earlier work done by the task force. Now that he was a nationally renowned expert, he was careful to avoid casually making remarks that might lead to someone being reprimanded. The officers from the Criminal Police Brigade quickly jotted down Jiang Yuan¡¯s words in their notebooks. After pausing briefly, Jiang Yuan continued, "Let¡¯s now examine the usable parts. First, you can see this narrow bloodstain here, indicating it was caused by a sharp weapon. If we magnify the blood droplets within the stain, you¡¯ll notice the extremely long tails of the drops¡ªthis is a typical sign of rapid movement. This implies that the killer either swung the weapon very quickly or that the weapon had a longer handle." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he pressed the remote pen again, revealing several photos in session. After the photos were shown, Jiang Yuan went on, "Beyond the photos just disyed, some bloodstains are actually concealed within pools of blood, making it difficult to see them in their entirety. However, based on uncovered areas and slight variations in the pools themselves, we can extract additional traces of weapon movement." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate further but disyed even more photos. These willter be verified by the fingerprint and trace evidence team of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. During the stages of submission and trial, the prosecution and the courts will also conduct their own forensic analysis, and ultimately, if ites to the death penalty, the Supreme Court and the death penalty review stage will examine the evidence yet again. Today¡¯s increased emphasis on evidence in police work stems from such procedures. Relying on evidence for case-building is rtively straightforward for everyone involved, while other approaches require moreplicatedmunication. Yu Wenshu and others looked nkly at the PPT in front of them. Even Yu Wenshu, who had an eidetic memory, couldn¡¯t remember images like this, let alone truly process or understand them. At this moment, an animated graphic began appearing on the screen. The figure in the animation was a stick figure¡ªawkward in movement and entric in posture¡ªbut its actions and weapon-swinging trajectory were precise and methodical. "This is an animation made overnight by Wang Chuanxing to demonstrate the killer¡¯s sequence of murders after entering the premises," Jiang Yuan exined, pointing out, "The killer pried open the burr-proof window and entered the bedroom to begin the killings. Their first move was ateral sh aimed at the second victim, Qin Jijian." Jiang Yuan held the remote pen, raised his arm slightly, and traced a slow motion in the air as he continued, "The target was likely Qin Jijian¡¯s neck. The killer was very precise in judging distance¡ªthe weapon just managed to slice through Qin Jijian¡¯s neck, instantly neutralizing his ability to fight back. This speaks to an extremely professional technique, which could only be achieved through years of practice." "What weapon was used?" Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t know Bloodstain Analysis but didn¡¯t hesitate to ask the direct question. "It was a weapon simr to a katana," Jiang Yuan replied, "Long-handled, sharp, quick to swing, and rtively lightweight." "That¡¯s consistent with our previous assessment," Yu Wenshu nodded. Jiang Yuan continued, "After killing the second victim, Qin Jijian, the killer sidestepped to the bedside and struck the third victim, Gu Daxu, at least twice without immediately killing him. The killer then retreated, maintained controlled distance, and when Gu Daxu lunged forward, the killer not only struck him down with a single sh but did so without even a trace of blood spatter. Based on the speed of the weapon, it¡¯s clear that the situation was entirely under the killer¡¯s control." Jiang Yuan added, "In the final phase, the killer avoided the bloodstains on the ground and pursued the panicked and fleeing female victim, Zhao Qian. Zhao Qian likely showed signs of begging for mercy, but she was still decisively killed with a single stab. Whether there was hesitation can be inferred from the push-and-pull motion of the knife. The killer undoubtedly had a premeditated n, was certain of their actions, and carried them out firmly." "A professional killer?" someone quietly asked. "A professional killer carrying a katana instead of a gun? Aren¡¯t they afraid of being caught?" remarked an experienced officer, dismissing the idea. "Nowadays, stricter regtions apply more to des than firearms. When patrol officers or SWAT units encounter someone, they typically consider de possession first, rarely firearm possession. And weapons like katanas, which are clearly highly regted, draw attention everywhere. For a professional assassin, such a choice is overly conspicuous and not necessarily more effective than a dagger." In the case of Incident 303, the killer¡¯s toughest challenge came from climbing walls and prying open the protective barrier. Once inside the room and actively killing, considering the killer¡¯s physical build, even a kitchen knife could have sufficed. Of course, using a katana or simrly sharp weapon produced undeniably better results¡ªnot only efficiently killing three people but also quashing potential resistance while keeping their clothes and footwear perfectly clean. From the crime scene standpoint, the killer had hidden their tracks as much as possible, achieving unexpectedly effective results. Jiang Yuan concluded, "The killer is undoubtedly a master of ded weapons, with real-worldbat experience. Their choice of victims also indicates their level of nning: they first eliminated the second victim, the strongest and youngest among the three¡ªa 28-year-old whose current upation involves significant physicalbor and poses the greatest potential threat to the killer. The next targets were the third victim, Gu Daxu, a 31-year-old male, and finally the first victim, female Zhao Qian." "Is the killer apetitor trained for de skills or specifically trained for assassination?" another officer asked, finally voicing his long-held curiosity. Jiang Yuan responded with a question of his own, "What level do you think a professionally trained assassin would be at?" "Like the characters from *Kill Bill*?" someone murmured with a faint chuckle. The atmosphere in the conference room grew a bit more rxed. Jiang Yuan chuckled softly as well. Spending a few months on a major case together wasmon; maintaining constant tension and seriousness was impossible. "I don¡¯t know much about de techniques either. But based on the bloodstains at the scene, it¡¯s clear the killer had exceptional physical coordination, was capable of extensive movements, and had significant strength. Additionally, the killer¡¯s height is approximately 180 cm, with broad shoulders, strong core muscles, and a long reach," Jiang Yuan exined, deducing these traits from the blood patterns scattered in the bedroom. Compared to footprint analysis, this method provided slightly less information but offered a different type of insight. Even basic traits like height, shoulder width, and reach¡ªsuch as 180 cm in height¡ªwould significantly reduce the officers¡¯ workload. With Liu Jinghui¡¯s deductionsbined with Jiang Yuan¡¯s findings, the ovepping pool of suspects would shrink considerably. After a few more remarks, Yu Wenshu decisively stated, "Follow this lead for the investigation n. Let¡¯s begin by narrowing down the pool of suspects ordingly." "Um..." Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t help but stand up and propose, "Should we start with a confidential investigation? Given the involvement of personal matters in this case, it could potentially lead to some individuals needing to divorce." "If ites to that, divorces will happen as they should," someone called out from across the room. "I know some friends who¡¯ve told me there are things they¡¯d rather not know," Liu Wenkai said meaningfully. "As long as they don¡¯t learn about certain things themselves, and as long as the public remains unaware and there¡¯s no widespread exposure, they can still live their lives." "Then let¡¯s proceed with a private investigation," Yu Wenshu agreed, not wanting to breach sensitive subjects unnecessarily. "This killer is particrly fierce, armed with a weapon and proficient in hand-to-handbat. Each team must consist of at least four members. During interviews, try to keep groups concentrated. Everyone should carry tasers, and if we¡¯re short on numbers, request additional equipment." Chapter 1133 - 1064: Punishment

Chapter 1133: Chapter 1064: Punishment

"This is Lu Tongda, an officer from the Traffic Police Brigade of the Changyang City Bureau. I¡¯ve asked him toe over today because, in my impression, Xiao Lu¡¯s physique closely matches the suspect¡¯s build." Jiang Yuan stood at the center of the meeting room, introducing Lu Tongda to everyone. Back when he was handling the Jianyuan Group case and got hit by a dump truck, the first motorbike officer to arrive at the scene was Lu Tongda. After the Jianyuan case, Lu Tongda returned to the Traffic Police Brigade and earned a promotion. He continued working as a motorbike officer, so he kept himself in great physical shape. His physical attributes were already excellent ¡ª broad shoulders, long legs, a slim waist, young and fit. Based on his body alone, he could easily be snatched up as a male model. But when it came to his face ¡ª that weathered, sun-beaten traffic officerplexion ¡ª he might even get rejected as a female model. "When the killermitted the murder, they gripped the knife handle with both hands. This allows us to deduce their approximate shoulder width. At the very least, it¡¯s on par with Captain Lu¡¯s," Jiang Yuan gestured for Lu Tongda to stand in position before continuing, "The height is also about the same, roughly 180 cm. Considering the killer scaled a wall with likely thin shoe soles, their actual height won¡¯t be shorter than this." A group of officers, who were about to head out, gathered around Lu Tongda to examine him. As they looked, some even started touching him. Feeling uneasy from being stared at and startled by being touched, Lu Tongda muttered quietly, "Captain Jiang,e on, out of our entire police force, you had to drag me here for this demonstration?" "Chief Yu¡¯s team only brought about a dozen officers, and none of them fit the physique. That made me think of you." Jiang Yuan chuckled, patting Lu Tongda on the shoulder. "I remember when you were riding your motorbike, your movements were very agile. Can you do a full split? Show everyone." Although it sounded like a bit of a joke, with Yu Wenshu standing right in front of him, Lu Tongda could only reluctantly perform a full split. The crowd was amazed. "Strong build, broad shoulders, slim waist, and incredible flexibility!" Liu Wenkai tousled Lu Tongda¡¯s hair, clicking his tongue in admiration. "It¡¯s a real shame you¡¯re working in the Traffic Police Brigade." Lu Tongda sighed and joked at his own expense, "I never thought, even as a traffic officer, there woulde a day when I¡¯d have to perform a full split onmand from my superiors." Liu Wenkai was the first to burst outughing. "The key point is, you actually can, you know? Must be from all those motorcycle maneuvers." Lu Tongda gave a shy smile and didn¡¯t argue. "Alright, get up. Everyone, take onest good look at this physique, and then let¡¯s get going." Jiang Yuan urged them. With so much time passing since the case, investigations were fraught with issues. Common ones included suspects moving out of town, achieving drastic weight loss, disappearing altogether, or even dying. Eachyer of difficulty required significant time and manpower, leaving no room for leisurely joking or touching Lu Tongda. Even now, the touching was meant to help with sharper observations in the next phase. Standing at the door, Yu Wenshu repeated Jiang Yuan¡¯s earlier instructions systematically: "Four officers to a group. Each group must carry at least one firearm and four stun batons. No solo actions. Whenever splitting up into pairs, ensure there¡¯s nearby backup within short-range." Yu Wenshu could not bear any injuries or deaths among the officers. Granted, police officers were indeed on the front lines of the fight, but such dangers were not the point or purpose of their work. This time, however, the case involved a suspect who was a reckless fugitive with exceptional physical strength. To be honest, even with his experience in the Criminal Police Brigade, Yu Wenshu rarely encountered someone with such extraordinary physical prowess, explosive force, and sheer determination to act decisively. Had it been a more conventional shooter, Yu Wenshu might actually feel less concerned. Knowing the suspect carried a firearm, the detectives conducting interviews would naturally heighten their vignce. Especially face-to-face, dealing with a suspect holding a gun versus unarmed would result in different responses. But this was a master of close-quarter killing. Maybe the conversation would seem normal at first, then one wrong word, and the suspect would suddenly turn violent! Swirling with endless thoughts, Yu Wenshu kept drinking tea to suppress his anxiety, which soon sent him to the restroom. By the time he came back out, the meeting room was already empty. Yu Wenshu let out a sigh and didn¡¯t say much else. He picked up a book, immersing himself as if he were a calm andposed stallion. "Chief Yu, I¡¯m heading out too." Jiang Yuan, having nearly finished organizing everyone, got up to inform Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu suddenly felt uneasy. "Why are you going too? Leave the interviews to others." "If I don¡¯t go, these ten-plus people will just sit around in the meeting room with me. Besides, with this many people, as long as the other side doesn¡¯t have heavy firepower, I¡¯m not in much danger." Jiang Yuan smiled. His primary protectors were still Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, along with Wang Chuanxing, who carried a tablet. The others returned to their regr duties. And as Jiang Yuan mentioned, with over ten well-trained armed officers apanying him, his participation in normal police activities posed little safety risk. As a forensic doctor, he often needed to visit crime scenes. In such major cold cases, seeing the scenes and interacting with suspects had its advantages. Liu Jinghui, more ustomed to this type of investigative approach, followed Jiang Yuan and asked, "Where do you want to go?" "What¡¯s Director Liu¡¯s suggestion?" Jiang Yuan currently had no specific n in mind. "What about the logistics center?" Liu Jinghui proposed. Jiang Yuan was momentarily taken aback. "The logistics center¡ªjust a hub for all kinds of parcels and deliveries, right? People rarely work there for more than five years." "But from Zhao Qian¡¯s interest, this type of worker is exactly her preference ¡ª strong, physically fit, and aggressive..." Liu Jinghui exined briefly before adding, "Even if this person is no longer at the logisticspany, there should still be old records. Besides, there might still be people from back then who¡¯ve heard various rumors." "I¡¯ll go with you." Liu Wenkai immediately volunteered upon hearing this, exining, "I want to catch those rumors too." He didn¡¯t really need to exin ¡ª everyone understood. Jiang Yuan waved him along, and the group ushered him out the door, looking more important than Chief Yu. Inside the car, Liu Wenkai specifically asked Liu Jinghui, "You seem pretty confident there¡¯ll be rumors." "There definitely will be," Liu Jinghui replied with a smile. "To put it inly, Zhao Qian had a liking for physically strong blue-cor workers. Being a client representative, and even a junior leader on the client¡¯s side, whenever she visited ces like logistics centers, mere interactions with the blue-cor workers would spark rampant rumors, even if there was nothing real behind them. And if she actually wanted something..." Liu Wenkai caught on and added, "There might even be cases where people had rtions with her and went out bragging about it." "It¡¯s possible." Liu Jinghui smiled again and noted, "Now that Zhao Qian is dead, the rumors might grow even wilder, but..." At this point, Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression grew more serious. "Some rumors, while exaggerated, might not be entirely false." Chapter 1134 - 1065: The Black Mythology

Chapter 1134: Chapter 1065: The ck Mythology

The logistics industrial park in Changyang City is located in the distant suburbs. Compared to the software parks, chip parks, and pharmaceutical industrial parks favored by job seekers, the logistics industrial park is muchrger in size, the buildings are colossal and rugged, and the vehicle routes are meticulously nned¡ªit¡¯s just missing the human touch. The sidewalks in the park are barren, devoid of roadside trees. The sun scorches the paved paths, reflecting light, making it seem hot just to look at. Entering the sorting center of a logisticspany, the first thing you see is the massive bup bags unloaded from big trucks¡ªbigger than a person, bulging with corners as they are stuffed full of parcels from various ces. Workers unload them one by one and drag them onto conveyor belts. The tedious parcel sorting process begins here. Burly men in work uniforms, muscles exposed, sweat their youth and hormones along the production line. Though their appearance is somewhat unkempt, if you reced them with a bunch of scantily d flirtatious young women on the line instead, this would resemble the Dongguan of yesteryears. "Looking at it this way, it¡¯s not entirely Zhao Qian¡¯s fault." Gao Yuyan walked alongside Jiang Yuan. Not only was she physically capable, with keen perception, but also a muscle aficionado. While most people might just focus on taut muscles, she could envision the sweat rolling off those muscles. Liu Wenkai was a bit surprised, "Captain Gao, got your eye on someone? Should I y wingman for you?" "No need for you." Gao Yuyan smirked, pulling out her phone, "I¡¯ll take a few pictures for my boyfriend, use them to motivate himter, get him to train harder." Liu Wenkai was even more surprised, "You have a boyfriend?" In his impression, Gao Yuyan seemed like someone on the level of a champion fighter¡ªtruly close to that reality. It gave him the sense that a girl like her would be hard-pressed to find a partner. Gao Yuyan frowned, the muscles in her arm holding the phone slightly bulging, "Why do you say it like that? Is it strange for me to have a boyfriend?" "Not strange, not strange," Liu Wenkai hurriedly replied, eyeing her solid fist, "It¡¯s just that you¡¯re constantly chasing leads with the Cold Case Squad. Where do you even find the time to get a boyfriend? What¡¯s he like? Let¡¯s have a look." "Handsome, 6¡¯1", and pretty well-behaved." Gao Yuyan found a couple¡¯s photo to show. From the picture alone, he indeed looked like a tall and good-looking guy. "How did you pull it off?" Liu Wenkai was shocked. "There are tons of good-looking single guys in gyms and sports centers¡ªjust pick one." Gao Yuyan said nonchntly, "You just have to go often." The single men nearby who were eavesdropping sighed in disappointment. This approach obviously wouldn¡¯t work for most of them. After Liu Wenkai finished marveling, he couldn¡¯t help but say, "Looking at it this way, Zhao Qianing to the logistics park is like hitting a buffet." Gao Yuyan agreed, "Depends only on appetite¡ªthere¡¯s no chance of going hungry." Liu Wenkai nodded slowly, "Walk in leaning on the walls, walk out leaning on the walls." "Still, even if Zhao Qian came here to forage, it shouldn¡¯t have led to her death, right?" Gao Yuyan wondered aloud, "There are so many single men here. If Zhao Qian wanted them, unwilling single men should be rare." Liu Wenkai chuckled lightly, "Unwilling attached men would likely be rare, too." "So how do we proceed?" Gao Yuyan voiced the team¡¯s collective question. Liu Wenkai also turned to Liu Jinghui, "Director Liu, what¡¯s the n? Divide up into teams to investigate at various logisticspanies and centers?" Liu Wenkai had handled many major cases before. As a former core member of the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s criminal investigation team, his suggestions were always practical. Liu Jinghui nodded promptly, "That works. Let¡¯s spread out first and see whether there are any leads rted to Zhao Qian in this logistics industrial park." "If we just ask outright, people might not want to talk," Liu Wenkai, well-acquainted with such fieldwork, suggested directly, "Should we sweeten the deal with a bounty?" "Could work." Jiang Yuan responded instantly, "How much do we add?" "What about $500? Too much isn¡¯t necessary¡ªjust offering enough to coax some rumors. Any rumor rting to key figures should do." Liu Wenkai exined the specific operation for those who did not understand, "We can write Zhao Qian¡¯s name in advance on slips of paper and tell the informants that any rumor about the person on the slip earns them $500." "Sure." Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui both felt Liu Wenkai¡¯s suggestion was feasible. Mu Zhiyang, standing nearby, softly proposed, "We should keep groups of at least four here. Captain Jiang, at least leave behind two teams." "One team¡¯s enough," Jiang Yuan quickly interjected, "One team¡¯s sufficient, plus us; that¡¯s almost ten people. Let¡¯s not waste manpower." "Then... let me take an Type-79 submachine gun, just in case," Mu Zhiyang seemed topromise reluctantly. The local police station¡¯s chief, who had been silently tagging along, was now visibly stunned. Was I unconscious for a whole day and night? Since when did we start needing submachine guns? Mu Zhiyang paid little mind, making a call. Soon enough, an officer arrived carrying a tactical backpack. Unpacking it revealed two Type-79 submachine guns and multiple magazines. Mu Zhiyang skillfully checked the firearms, loaded them, slung one onto his back, and covered it with his clothes. "This should ensure there¡¯s no issue, even if there¡¯s another Jianyuan situation¡ªat least we won¡¯t get overwhelmed." "Let¡¯s not overthink things," Wen Ming reluctantly inspected his service pistol and stun baton, whispering, "Brother Mu, don¡¯t scare me like this; it¡¯s unnerving." "Don¡¯t worry. If something happens and you don¡¯t know what to do, just jump onto Captain Jiang. You can handle blocking bullets, right?" Mu Zhiyang reassured Wen Ming, exining a practical approach like a kind older brother. Liu Wenkai quickly led his team away. Liu Jinghui stayed back and started coordinating with detectives from other units. Based on his reasoning, the police needed to investigate all colleagues, professional contacts, and sexual partners of the three victims. For ordinary cases, this kind of investigation was cumbersome. Fortunately, this case involved group activities, and many were already dealt with during the criminal investigation earlier, so relevant testimonies, phone records, addresses, and other information were still intact. That said, it remained a cold case from years ago, which posed inevitable obstacles¡ªespecially for people involved in the Jianyuan case, some of whom had already been executed, leaving no one to question. Liu Jinghui was feeling a sense of urgency. He even prepared specific question temtes for officers to use, aiming for higher efficiency. Jiang Yuan, however, was moreposed. He casually found an office at the logistics park and began reviewing the various documents sent in. As he reviewed, Jiang Yuan started sketching diagrams. He hadn¡¯t disclosed this to anyone: theoretically, he had a fairly urate idea of the perpetrator¡¯s physical profile. While the killer had concealed DNA and fingerprint evidence expertly, he was exceedingly reckless whilemitting the murder. Especially his knife-wielding movements, which he made no effort to hide. The consequence was blood spatter. Though much of it was masked by subsequent blood deposits, those were only obstacles for Level 2 forensic specialists¡ªnot for Level 3 and above. Jiang Yuan¡¯s bloodstain analysis skill was Level 5, and he had one temporary +1 boost, effectively elevating his capability to Level 6. At this level, in a blood-covered crime scene, except for recreating the suspect¡¯s face, their physical figure was virtually inescapable. Even at Level 4, simplifying the suspect¡¯s body into arm length (X) and height (Y)¡ªa thin, collision-free cross-like object¡ªbased on velocity and direction of blood spatter on the surrounding walls, X and Y could be calcted. Such values¡ªheight, reach¡ªremain consistent over 5 or 10 years unless there¡¯s serious physical illness. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level-6 expertise, he could further deduce shoulder width, hip width, and other nuanced measurements. Comparing this to fingerprinting, it¡¯s as if Jiang Yuan already had the suspect¡¯s fingerprint. Now, it was up to the teams to provide substantial data for matching. Afternoon. Reports began trickling onto Jiang Yuan¡¯s desk. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui silently read and pondered, exchanging few words. While Liu Jinghui focused intently on managing practicalities and aftermath, Jiang Yuan simplypared the suspect¡¯s physical traits. Both were busy and unable tomunicate effectively, operating independently. Both radiated confidence butcked total certainty. To some extent, they both resembled gamblers waiting for the winning tile¡ªhoping for that final self-drawn match. They waited like this until nightfall. Chapter 1135 - 1066: Enlightenment

Chapter 1135: Chapter 1066: Enlightenment

"Director Liu, we¡¯ve got some news over here that¡¯s rather interesting." Liu Wenkai had returned and immediately sought out Liu Jinghui to discuss. Liu Jinghui greatly appreciated Liu Wenkai¡¯s sharp instincts. Rising from a pile of documents, he said, "Let¡¯s hear it." "A few years ago, there was a myth going around a logisticspany here. There was a woman with a good figure, probably quite attractive, who liked to wear a mask while meeting people and used apps like WeChat Shake or Momo to arrange meetups. But she had a peculiar selection process for partners¡ªoften asking men to send various photos and only meeting them if they met her standards. Sometimes, she¡¯d even arrange for two men at the same time and would teach them what to do." Liu Wenkai paused and let out a "hiss" sound, continuing, "I¡¯ve gathered information from some people who were indeed involved and confirmed specific dates. Guess what?" "It lines up with the timeline of Victim #1, Zhao Qian, visiting the logistics center?" Liu Jinghui guessed easily. Liu Wenkai gave him a thumbs-up. "You¡¯re a reasoning master. That¡¯s exactly right. I¡¯ve checked Zhao Qian¡¯s travel records, and whenever she had a business trip here, that masked woman appeared around the same time. If we look at it this way, she likely had a second or even third phone, right?" Liu Jinghui nodded slightly. "I also spotted this issue while reviewing the information. Back then, Zhao Qian might have gotten multiple phone numbers or even identity details, changing cards and numbers after short usage periods. Since she worked at the postal service, she would likely have some knowledge in this area. I suppose she was also cautious about being discovered by her colleagues." "All her skills focused on this area." "Not just that¡ªshe was also a master of time management," said Liu Jinghui. "To be honest, I found it odd at first. She was open and daring, capable of ying around anywhere, so why did she specifically choose people tied to her work for rtionships? Later, I realized it was to save time." Liu Wenkai was surprised. "Ah... really?" "She was very busy," Liu Jinghui exined, counting on his fingers. "I¡¯ve reviewed several interrogation records. Most of the time, Zhao Qian would have one or two encounters and frequently organize group events. On high-frequency days, she could have several sessions a day. Her standards were also high. In single encounters, she might finish within an hour, including showering, but not necessarily; sometimes she demanded two or three consecutive rounds. In such cases, considering recovery time in between, a single session could take two to three hours." Liu Jinghui paused, lowering his voice. "Group sessions took even longer, usuallysting two to three hours, and some stretched to five or six hours, asionally involving ry-like arrangements. Spending so much time on this, her daily work would inevitably be affected. Naturally, she wouldn¡¯t want to waste more time searching for people either." Liu Wenkai, having spent the whole day running around without reviewing these details, was left dizzy. "You know, with this pace, she has no choice but to change partners. Also, being so busy, couldn¡¯t she resign?" "How would she exin that to her family? There¡¯s still the matter of ie, not to mention finding targets might be less convenient without her job. I think she genuinely saw it as a hobby and didn¡¯t expect to make money from it." Liu Jinghui made a few remarks but didn¡¯t delve deeper. Judging by the case, the economic factor seemed minimal¡ªthe tragedy was more driven by personal interest. Nevertheless, the old saying "Passion breeds danger" had long been proven true. Zhao Qian¡¯s ultimate fate wasn¡¯t surprising. On the other hand, the existence of the murderer was far more frightening. Regardless of the reasons behind their decision to kill, someone capable ofmitting such a severe crime is like a tiger that has tasted human flesh. Expecting them to remain forever harmless going forward would be unrealistic. "Once we wrap up the investigation here, if there are no new leads, we can reexamine Zhao Qian¡¯s travel destinations," Liu Jinghui said, shaking his head. "Initially, I thought Victim #1¡¯s lovers were limited, but now it seems like tracking all of them would be an almost impossible task." "Let¡¯s uncover as many as we can," Jiang Yuan, who had been silently listening on the side, chimed in upon seeing Liu Jinghui¡¯s slight frustration. "No matter how many people Zhao Qian got involved with, it must have been something especially excessive that triggered such violent retaliation. Perhaps Zhao Qian herself didn¡¯t consider it significant, but it likely exceeded the typical limits of understanding or tolerance. The more people we track down, the better our odds of finding the culprit." "It might not necessarily have crossed limits. What if the killer was mentally unstable? Or possibly someone with weak psychological tolerance?" Liu Wenkai interjected, adding a caveat. By this point, Liu Jinghui had adjusted his mood and said, "Let¡¯s just gamble on probabilities without overthinking; the priority is finding the people." "Right, no rush. We can already filter things quite meticulously now, and the budget won¡¯t increase significantly," Jiang Yuan added. Privately, he had been forming an outline of the suspect¡¯s physique and build, but he refrained from disclosing it to avoid neglecting any details or introducing errors. Particrly, factors like shoe height¡ªincluding inner lifts or external raises¡ªhad to be considered. Otherwise, relying solely on the "around 180cm tall" condition would eliminate most suspects. However, in the final verification stages, the process remained the same. Once suspects were brought into the station, having them stand barefoot for height measurements was routine, supplemented by arm-span and other metrics, increasing the likelihood of identifying the perpetrator. At the very least, the probability of wrongful usations would be low, and deeper investigative costs would also be reduced. As Jiang Yuan pondered this, Cao Chujun entered with a stack of documents in hand. "Captain Jiang, Director Liu, check out the findings I gathered." Cao Chujun set the documents down before gulping down arge bowl of tea. Only after finishing did he feel significantly refreshed. As an experienced detective, Cao Chujun excelled at conducting interviews, both public and covert. The details in the documents he organized were far more thorough, showcasing his superior questioning techniques and timing. "Excellent work¡ªwe¡¯ll keep these," Liu Jinghui said, smiling at the meticulously prepared materials. Jiang Yuan flipped through the papers as usual and stopped Cao Chujun just as he was about to leave after his tea. "Hold on, is this person still around? I think we should bring them in for questioning." Cao Chujun looked over and said, "I remember this guy¡ªa small business owner with a decent physique. He¡¯s divorced. Hmm... the divorce likely happened right before the incident." The group exchanged serious looks. Intent on further investigation, Liu Jinghui picked up the man¡¯s file for close examination and logged into the internalwork for more research. Given the significant elements of a crime of passion in this case, divorce-rted emotions were undoubtedly strong. Whether they reached the level of prompting murder depended on the suspect¡¯s own capacity for tolerance. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan studied the suspect¡¯s photo, silently estimating his height, arm-span, shoulder width, and hip width. However, as photographs could be misleading, the specifics would need to be confirmed in person. Chapter 1136 - 1067: Empty

Chapter 1136: Chapter 1067: Empty

"Jiang Yuan, I¡¯ve organized the travel records of Victim No. 1. She went to quite a few ces and traveled frequently. Each tripsted at least three days, with seven-day trips being moremon." Walking through the corridor, Liu Jinghui exined the situation to Jiang Yuan. Cao Chujun took a team to track down the divorced suspect, but the task force wouldn¡¯t halt its operations because of that. Unless the perpetrator is confirmed and apprehended, the team cannot pause every time valuable clues emerge. Liu Jinghui, after all, is renowned for his deductive skills, especially for deducing until the veryst moment. In fact, there was once a case where the criminal investigation team arrested a suspect and announced the cessation of the task force¡¯s work, but Liu Jinghui kept reasoning and eventually proved the suspect was not the perpetrator. Since such stories are sensitive, they are rarely boasted about in the industry. Regardless, Liu Jinghui has his own rhythm and working style as a detective, and the Jiang Yuan Cold Case Squad is no exception. Jiang Yuan had long grown ustomed to cooperating with Liu Jinghui in this manner. He took the records organized by Liu Jinghui casually, flipping through them as he walked, and asked, "Tripssting more than three days¡ªwhat¡¯s significant about them?" "Their unit allows employees to take an extra day off after tripssting over three days since traveling equates to overtime." Liu Jinghui exined, striving to help Jiang Yuan understand the suspect¡¯s environment at the time of the crime and spected further, "I think it¡¯s still about that one thing. An extra day off means one more day for leisure. Plus, her trips were far from lonely; her schedule was likely packed." "Did you manage to find her schedule?" Jiang Yuan suddenly thought aloud, "If her schedule is that packed, she must have some way to keep track." "Found it long ago. She used some personal encryption without names or identifiers. I had someone look at it; we suspect it¡¯s mainly time-rted." Jiang Yuan raised an eyebrow. "Encryption? I¡¯m familiar with that too." "Oh... right, you do understand encryption. Then I¡¯ll hand it over to youter." Liu Jinghui, who had seen Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill before, acknowledged this fact, though admitting he¡¯d forgotten. After all, he wasn¡¯t Yu Wenshu, who delighted in meticulously keeping records daily. Jiang Yuan possessed too many skills already¡ªbeing almost a ¡¯Criminal Science prodigy.¡¯ Jiang Yuan responded nonchntly, without showing much enthusiasm. The biggest secret of Victim No. 1, Zhao Qian, was likely her unique proclivities. Her job had no ssified content, and her family background was mundane. Whatever the encryption protected was likely tied to her nowpletely exposed personal life. If the records were just time and date entries, they wouldn¡¯t offer much assistance in the investigation. Interrogation Center. Cao Chujun sat outside the bars, smoking a clearly sourced Zhonghua cigarette while watching the suspect inside press his fingerprints. A police officer was seen holding the suspect¡¯s hand, rolling it over the fingerprint scanner repeatedly. "How¡¯s it looking?" Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui entered together, closely followed by Mu Zhiyang, whose rounded waistline was noticeable. Cao Chujun¡¯s tired eyes twitched. There were those who kept a 79 model firearm in their car trunks for legend-status reasons, driven primarily by personal interest or a penchant for showing off. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s genuine need for the 79 model was something Cao Chujun had simply never anticipated. Cao Chujun shifted his gaze back to address their inquiry. "The suspect is calm andposed. He hasn¡¯t said a word¡ªeven during questioning, he remained silent. That¡¯s not very typical." "Does the suspect have other cases on record?" Liu Jinghui quickly thought and asked, "Did you tell him which case this is about?" "Of course not. That¡¯s a basic rule..." Cao Chujun paused momentarily before continuing, "But when we called to arrest him, he neither resisted nor fled. His record shows no specialized training and no military background. Considering how he could have aplished the triple homicide, it remains something to evaluate." "Are you suggesting he might be tied to a case, but not this one?" Liu Jinghui caught on to the implication. Cao Chujun nodded and said, "From my experience, someone whomits such a major crime is typically jittery. When faced with police, their instinct is either to run or do something drastic. Calmpliance followed by resisting interrogation¡ªit¡¯s rare, though not unheard of. This suspect¡¯s behavior... I¡¯d advise lowering expectations." Though Cao Chujun knew Jiang Yuan had analyzed the suspect¡¯s physique based on bloodstain patterns, he wasn¡¯t aware of the precision level Jiang Yuan had achieved. In terms of other evidence, the case requires not only superior physical fitness and technique but also specialized knife-handling skills and a certain capacity for murder. Such requirements are akin to alibi evidence¡ªeither present or absent¡ªwith no assumptions possible. Liu Jinghui understood Cao Chujun¡¯s reasoning, nodded slightly, and said, "He¡¯s just one of the suspects. Earlier, I also considered that if the investigation into Zhao Qian doesn¡¯t progress smoothly, we could pivot to thoroughly investigating victims No. 2 and No. 3." Jiang Yuan agreed, "That¡¯s another option. Police should already be pursuing leads rted to those two individuals as well." "They are. But those two have incredibly convoluted connections¡ªpreliminary estimates suggest they directly link to several dozen people, and investigating everyone thoroughly with only a few officers won¡¯t cut it..." "Let¡¯s not delve too far into that right now. I still think the suspect Cao brought back seems quite suspicious." Jiang Yuan gestured with his mouth. "Let¡¯s hope so." "His height matches, arm length matches too¡ªespecially the arm length, with a margin of error of less than two centimeters, which is quite rare." Jiang Yuan¡¯s response blended technicalnguage with some casualness. Cao Chujun was stunned. "Two-centimeter margin¡ªare you serious? Is it that precise?" "Arm length calctions are exceedingly urate. Unless the perpetrator has a unique knife-holding technique, at present, his measurements correspond perfectly. Height of 180 cm and an arm span of 183 cm¡ªboth align well. If deliberately minimized, it wouldn¡¯t just decrease by a few centimeters; it would probably drop by several tens of centimeters..." "Wait¡ªwhat I mean is, can¡¯t we just measure the suspect¡¯s arm span directly?" "Not necessary," Liu Jinghui remarked, reiming perspective and added, "Single factors are inherently prone to inuracies. It¡¯s good as is. By the way... does Lu Jianchun¡¯s arm span alignpletely?" "Fully matches. His height matches too. His shoulder width also conforms. Let¡¯s get someone to measure his hip circumference and shoulder thickness next." Jiang Yuan spoke softly across the bars. At this, the restrained Lu Jianchun, under two detectives¡¯ supervision, abruptly turned his head as though he had heard something, his pupils narrowing as he stared at Jiang Yuan. Mu Zhiyang instinctively stepped forward. Lu Jianchun reverted his gaze quickly. Soon, measurements for hip circumference and shoulder thickness were reported. Not only were they within the specified range, but they matched Jiang Yuan¡¯s precise criteria. "Does this amount to confirming him as the perpetrator?" Cao Chujun was somewhat bewildered. He looked up at the retreating silhouette of Lu Jianchun being ushered into the interrogation room and asked again, "Does he seem capable ofmitting this crime?" "That would require deeper investigation by your team." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t giveplete certainty. Identifications based on physical measurements aren¡¯t equivalent to DNA matches¡ªthey inevitably involve some likelihood of coincidence, albeit with a low probability. Chapter 1137 - 1068: Internal Investigation and External Coordination

Chapter 1137: Chapter 1068: Internal Investigation and External Coordination

If it were someone else insisting on this, Cao Chujun would have argued back a couple of lines. But since it¡¯s Jiang Yuan, Cao Chujun couldn¡¯t help but take it more seriously. "I¡¯ve checked all domestic archives I could ess¡ªthere¡¯s no such person. Additionally, I asked several connections to inquire about it, but there¡¯s been no reply so far. It seems like there really isn¡¯t anyone by that name." Yu Wenshu, having been pulled along by Cao Chujun to run some circles, returned and met with Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan rubbed the Guan Gong emblem on his chest, nodded slightly, and said, "No rush. Keep investigating for now. Since we don¡¯t have a second suspect yet, this Lu Jianchun is still highly suspicious." "This suspect, Lu Jianchun, indeed has some issues. A regr person wouldn¡¯t behave like this during interrogation. Even if he isn¡¯t the murderer in this case, he¡¯s probably carrying baggage from another crime." Cao Chujun, a veteran detective, knew this very well. Back in his younger days, solving major cases depended heavily on interrogation. Unlike now, when detectives can immediately retrieve deleted messages from suspects¡¯ phones. Everyone nodded in agreement. After two days of questioning, their morale remained rtively stablergely because of this. If they¡¯d encountered someone innocent, terrified, or overly cooperative¡ªdivulging everything with no resistance¡ªthe case might¡¯ve been even more troublesome. Although Lu Jianchun had been involved with the first victim, Zhao Qian, such rtionships aren¡¯t illegal. Furthermore, Zhao Qian had many targets, and Lu Jianchun ranked favorably amongst them in terms of appearance. Falling within her radar and getting entangled was quite ordinary. "We could enhance our visits to Lu Jianchun¡¯s ex-wife, rtives, as well as his friends. If necessary, bring them in for questioning." Liu Jinghui suggested a straightforward method. Yu Wenshu immediately replied, "Sure, that works." If a suspect is difficult to crack, then focus on breaking through the people around them. There¡¯s no such thing as a truly solitary individual; humans are the sum of all rtionships. Establishing interpersonal connections is a basic human need, and it¡¯s hard for someone entirely isted to survive in society. Even if Lu Jianchun keeps tight-lipped, his life cannot possibly be entirely confidential. If it truly is, then there¡¯s an even bigger issue at y. The group left the conference room and got busy with their respective tasks. After informing Yu Wenshu, Jiang Yuan returned to the small house he had purchased behind the Criminal Police Brigade. This 220-square-meter, warmly arranged home was suddenly crammed with more than a dozen people, instantly giving it a more cramped feel. Luckily, they were all detectives ustomed to varying conditions¡ªhaving experienced luxurious nights and 80-yuan hostel stays. They weren¡¯t particrly picky. Some of the married detectives even took on household duties voluntarily, boiling hot water for everyone. Jiang Yuan ordered several pots of Haido hotpot, waited for the delivery, and then invited everyone to eat together. Since the case was at a critical juncture, no one was calling for alcohol or other distractions; instead, they focused on tossing meat into the boiling pots. The warmth of hotpot, the camaraderie of battle-hardened colleagues, and the shared relief of surviving dangers¡ªeven bullets¡ªcreated a spirited atmosphere at the table. Liu Wenkai raised his c and took a hearty swig: "Working cases with Captain Jiang is realfort. Chauffeured rides everywhere, the support from the provincial city¡¯s squad leaders, breaking cases while eating hotpot and singing songs¡ªit¡¯s the dream." Jiang Yuan modestly replied, "We haven¡¯t cracked this one yet." "It¡¯s just a matter of time. Besides, I bet there¡¯s something deeper to this case. Lu Jianchun¡¯s identity, for instance¡ªit definitely has some issues." Liu Wenkai, whileughing, still possessed sharp observational skills. "Hopefully it¡¯s not another spy." Mu Zhiyang, having traveled extensively with Jiang Yuan, had sharp judgment himself. Spies? He¡¯d faced them. Spy bullets? He¡¯d seen them too. The younger detectives nced at each other, suppressing their excitement. Witnessing a spy case is rare not just for ordinary citizens but even for detectives. Curiosity bridged the gap between them. Jiang Yuan thought about the case for a moment, then smiled and said, "The chances of him being a spy are low. At the very least, Lu Jianchun doesn¡¯t fit the profile. He¡¯s in good physical condition butcks education; his personality strikes me as stubborn." "Without a stubborn personality, he wouldn¡¯t be able to train himself to this level," Meng Chengbiao remarked, silently cooking two more tes of beef tripe in the pot while his mind wrestled with the swirling uncertainties. "From the interrogation records I¡¯ve reviewed, Lu Jianchun seems to have a bit of streetwise ir. Even if recruited into a spywork, he¡¯d likely just be a fringe operative." The team dove into a high-level discussion around the topic. Jiang Yuan dipped his meat into garlic-infused sesame oil, polished off a hefty te, then wiped his mouth and turned to Liu Jinghui. "This Lu Jianchun, honestly, he feels like a fairly traditional man¡ªsomeone a bit unsophisticated, right?" Tang Jia interjected, "He¡¯s a serial womanizer." Liu Wenkai countered, "Womanizing makes him a traditional man." Tang Jia¡¯s mental processes overloaded momentarily, while Liu Jinghui nodded and asked, "What¡¯s on your mind?" "From the timelineid out in the interrogation records, it looks like after graduation, Lu Jianchun worked locally, rarely leaving Shannan Province. So if hemitted other crimes, wouldn¡¯t they likely also be local?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s remark immediately struck a chord with Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui nodded again. "Check the knife-rted cases from recent years around the area. If there are crime scene photos, you might be able to link them up. If the height and arm reach match, it¡¯s probably the same guy." This wasn¡¯t an unfamiliar strategy for Jiang Yuan. It was merely a matter of adjusting the scope. Detectives prefer tried-and-true methods. Whether in criminology or medicine, mature approaches are prized¡ªexperts¡¯ consensus, standard protocols, treatment guidelines. Professionals care less about novelty and more about utility. Jiang Yuan turned his head and said, "Chuanxing, this is your task. By tomorrow, gather all simr cases from Shannan Province. Focus on cases with photos of blood traces at the crime scenes¡ªthe moreprehensive, the better." "Roger that." Wang Chuanxing replied, immediately pouring two tes of meat into the pot. With an all-nighter ahead, he knew he needed to eat more to keep his energy up. Liu Jinghui cast a sympathetic nce at Wang Chuanxing. Justpiling PPT slides had cost him countless sleepless nights already. But there was no choicepetition within Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was intense, and standing out was even harder. Not to mention impressing colleagues back at their original stations¡ªeveryone was putting their all into making an impact before the Criminal Police Brigade. "If Chuanxing does the research alone, the workload might be too much," Liu Jinghui voiced his concern. Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, looked around, and said, "Yao Wei, assist Chuanxing." "Ah... Yes!" Shen Yaowei reluctantly put down his chopsticks. After the hotpot meal. There were joyfulughs, hearty belly rubs, and plenty of work assignments. Jiang Yuan returned to the master bedroom, scrolled through his phone for a while, then dozed off. The next morning, members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad rallied to assist the sleep-deprived Wang Chuanxing and Shen Yaowei with their search. By noon, Yu Wenshu¡¯s call came in: "Lu Jianchun¡¯s childhood friend provided some critical information." Chapter 1138 - 1069 Tiger Vanguard

Chapter 1138: Chapter 1069 Tiger Vanguard

"Pan Tianlei, repeat what you said earlier to Captain Jiang." The interrogation officer from the Changyang City Bureau spoke firmly, adopting a high-pressure approach. Pan Tianlei was a chubby man in his thirties, with rolls of flesh on his neck trembling as he sweated profusely despite the air conditioning. He said in a low voice, "I honestly don¡¯t know much. It¡¯s just that... Lu Jianchun was quite infamous in our area when we were growing up. Many people from outside factories came asking, ¡¯Where¡¯s Lu Jianchun?¡¯ just to challenge him one-on-one. After he won a few times, we started calling him ¡¯Head Soldier¡¯." "Leader, as in the one in charge?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes, he also led us to fight back. His nickname outside became ¡¯Tiger Head Soldier, Tiger Vanguard!¡¯ Pan Tianlei spoke with a touch of nostalgia. "A minor gangster who made a name for himself more than a decade ago," Meng Chengbiao, sitting beside Jiang Yuan,mented. Though skilled at interrogations, he rarely had opportunities to conduct them in Changyang. This was part of the reason he proactively transferred from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment to work under Jiang Yuan, seeking opportunities. And indeed, Meng Chengbiao had found his chance. During interrogations, Jiang Yuan showed a clear preference for Meng Chengbiao, keeping him by his side at all times. Pan Tianlei, seated within the interrogation chair, swallowed nervously and said, "By the time he got to high school, he was famous for fighting. Later, street thugs started reaching out to him, and he even injured someone. But since he was underage, he was let off and faced no repercussions. After that, he fought less often." "Yet there¡¯s no record," Liu Jinghui straightened up abruptly. Even if he was underage, injuring someone should have left some form of documentation or file. "I heard someone smoothed it over for him," Pan Tianlei muttered softly. "The key point is why he stopped fighting after that," the interrogation officer from the Changyang City Bureau reminded everyone of the focus. After interrogating Pan Tianlei for two days, most details had been extracted. The officer¡¯s main aim now was to showcase the results to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded. "Go ahead." Pan Tianlei swallowed again before continuing, "At first, I thought he was scared or something. But once, when I invited him to hang out, I noticed he had a lot of money. Back then, ¡¯a lot¡¯ meant thousands. Lu Jianchun¡¯s family wasn¡¯t well-off¡ªhis parents worked outside while he lived with his grandparents. Before, the most he¡¯d ever have was a few dozen bucks, and that came from hustling." "I asked him where the money came from. He said he was working as a security guard and that his boss rewarded him. After that, he rarely showed up on the streets, often heading out of town. I asked once; he said it was for training. Later, he stopped telling us anything. After that, we barely saw him. He started running small businesses, though the businesses didn¡¯t make much money. Yet somehow, he was never short on cash." "Where did he go for training? Who trained him?" Liu Jinghui pressed, seizing on the keywords. "Qinghe City, I think. I didn¡¯t ask for details," Pan Tianlei replied. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan exchanged nces, while the interrogation officer smiled knowingly. Thebination of Qinghe City and terms like "security guard" instinctively brought to mind the Jianyuan Group. This wasn¡¯t just apparent to Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, or the other case handlers¡ªmost officers within Shannan Province would have made the same connection. The Jianyuan case was too significant¡ªsuch a massive corporation with such high sales volume, its reach unparalleled. After its downfall, rted personnel were arrested in almost every major city in Shannan Province. Details of the case were widely circted. After asking more questions and thoroughly probing Pan Tianlei, Liu Jinghui handed him back to the custody officers. Once the interrogation officers were out of sight, they summarized their findings. "By all indications, Lu Jianchun was likely trained by the Jianyuan Group." "I agree," Jiang Yuan nodded, adding, "Well done on the interrogation." "Thank you, Captain Jiang." The interrogation officer was all smiles after receiving the praise. "Let¡¯s move on to interrogating Lu Jianchun," Jiang Yuan said as he stood up. "I¡¯ll leave it to you." The interrogation officer couldn¡¯t help ncing at Meng Chengbiao before replying excitedly, "Understood." Meng Chengbiao remainedposed. At forty-something, he was past the age ofpeting for tasks or glory. Even as he sought progress, he preferred to quietly work alongside Jiang Yuan. As for interrogating Lu Jianchun, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t find it particrly thrilling. Silent suspects were quitemon, most harboring thoughts of getting away scot-free. If their crimes were minor and conditions favorable, some might even manage to quietly return home. But with major cases involving substantial evidence, mere silence was far from enough. In such situations... "Let¡¯s go eat hot pot," Jiang Yuan suggested calmly. After utilizing Level 6 bloodstain analysis, Jiang Yuan was almost certain that Lu Jianchun¡¯s physique matched the perpetrator seen at the crime scene. Physique, like gait, epasses quantifiable data; whereas physical posture refers to rtive bodily states or dynamic motions. It¡¯s akin to identifying someone by their silhouette¡ªyou can roughly discern their height, build, and other attributes, but exact data remains elusive. However, observing their gait can reveal familiarity. Here, physical posture and gait seemingly merged. At the crime scene, where footprints were absent, investigators had to rely on bloodstains to infer posture indirectly. Meanwhile, gait analysis had recently undergone years of professional refinement, enabling its gradual advancement toward scientific validity. What the shepherd elder Ma Yulin once passed down orally to his pupils was now partially understood byputers¡ªa true feat of international progress. Standalone posture analysis, unassisted by gait data, remains in development. Its inability to provide quantifiable evidence still limits its eptance in court. However, in investigative stages, posture analysis has already proven sufficient for Jiang Yuan and other detectives¡¯ judgments. Ny percent certain that Lu Jianchun was the culprit, Jiang Yuan felt confident, especially with the addition of testimony from his childhood friend. Most questions had been resolved; what remained was waiting for the final piece to fall into ce. A mere Tiger Vanguard. Push hard enough, and even tigers tumble. 220-square-meter apartment. Hot pot steam billowed. A slicing machine worked tirelessly, shaving frozen beef into thin slices. The beef, of course, came from the Jiang Family Ranch, and the freezing process was handled at their newly built cold storage. While fresh beef has its charm, frozen beef can also be delightful. Many consumer-friendly narratives exist mostly to add superficial value. For Jiang Fuzhen and Jiang Yuan, however, the right cooking method mattered more. Jiang Yuan half-filled his stomach beforedling rice into a bowl to pair with the hot pot. Seeing Jiang Yuan eating with evident relish, Liu Wenkai and Wang Chuanxing appeared a bit distracted. "Wonder how the interrogation¡¯s going. Even the hot pot doesn¡¯t taste as good anymore." "Surely the interrogation went fine¡ªthe evidence is there." "It¡¯s mostly circumstantial." "What were you expecting? If there were direct evidence, we wouldn¡¯t still be investigating at this stage." The group mixed their tension with meat-eating, clearing the table faster than usual. Thirty-something detectives eat voraciously¡ªsometimes, their capacity rivals that of pigs at eight months old, with little sense of being full. Watching the tter of meat rapidly vanish while the slicing machine struggled to keep pace, Jiang Yuan got up to fetch some frozen beef meatballs and other goods from the fridge, then said, "We already have new lines of inquiry. If Lu Jianchun remains tight-lipped, we¡¯ll start probing for the surviving remnants of the Jianyuan Group, especially those who were security guards during the same period¡ªthey¡¯re bound to know him." "Most of Jianyuan¡¯s security guards have probably been executed by now," Wang Chuanxing remarked, having asionally followed developments of past cases. He knew executions from the Jianyuan case were well underway in batches. Liu Wenkai sighed unexpectedly, "Being a security guard was dangerous enough, but only at Jianyuan, of course." "Moments like these call for a song," Shen Yaowei suddenly dered, preparing to perform one of his favorites, when a phone rang. Jiang Yuan picked up the call. The group instinctively silenced themselves. "Captain Jiang!" The interrogation officer spoke seriously on the other end. "Lu Jianchun confessed. He received training from the Jianyuan Group. Initially tasked with deliveries and assaults, he tapered off involvement and narrowly avoided trouble as Jianyuan fell. But he does have the capacity tomit the crime, and he admitted to being the culprit behind the 303 case." "What was the motive?" This remained the key unresolvedponent and one of the trickiest to ascertain through direct evidence. The officer exhaled before responding, "After hooking up with Zhao Qian, she secretly pulled his wife into a group sex setup. They yed together for several days. Later, Zhao Qian suggested including Lu Jianchun, but he turned out to be a one-sided romantic type, exploded with anger on the spot. His wife proposed divorce, which sent him spiraling into a depression. Eventually, he decided to enact revenge." Chapter 1139 - 1070: Stars Can Also Die

Chapter 1139: Chapter 1070: Stars Can Also Die

Jiang Yuan finished the call and, while enjoying hotpot, shared the situation about Lu Jianchun with everyone. Wang Chuanxing and the others weren¡¯t exactly speechless, but they couldn¡¯t help expressing endless amazement. Shen Yaowei clicked his tongue in wonder, "This is what it means ¡ª brave people get to enjoy the world first." Liu Wenkai chuckled dryly, "Some people are brave enough, but all they get are bullets." "Cough, cough..." Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t hold back and interjected, "Captain Liu..." "I¡¯m talking about Lu Jianchun. He¡¯s the proactive and brave type, which means he also proactively catches bullets," Liu Wenkai rified. Mu Zhiyang put down his chopsticks: "Sometimes I¡¯m proactive, sometimes I¡¯m passive." "You¡¯re quite a character," Liu Wenkaiughed, "Unlike Lu Jianchun, who¡¯s just too traditional." Mu Zhiyang was momentarily at a loss for aeback. Tang Jia burst outughing but quickly tried to make amends, "Brother Mu is loyal and courageous, brave without a hint of retreat." "Zhiyang¡¯s bravery means he¡¯s ready to take bullets when needed, but even when he retreats, he can still take the bullets." Liu Wenkai continued teasing, patting Mu Zhiyang on the shoulder with a grin, "Zhiyang isn¡¯t having an easy time either. Comparing him with Lu Jianchun shows us the true definition of courage. Captain Jiang, it¡¯s about time we promoted Mu Team." "Promote him. When we¡¯re back, officially assign Zhiyang as a deputy section chief with a team under him," Jiang Yuan said casually as he enjoyed his hotpot. Liu Wenkai was stunned, "Just like that, the deputy section chief issue is resolved." Jiang Yuan nced at him, "The Taihe Working Group has several avable slots, plus enough officer positions. I¡¯ve already discussed it with Director Huang. Once we¡¯re back, it should be settled." Liu Wenkai let out a sharp "tsss" sound, suddenly unsure whether he should feel envious or not. The deputy section chief title, while seemingly insignificant in big cities and major organizations, was a coveted prize in smaller towns ¡ª often requiring connections and resources to achieve. Liu Wenkai himself had only recently taken over Huang Qiangmin¡¯s position as the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, which earned him the title. Wu Junhao got his promotion around the same time, while Wu Jun could only secure treatment-level perks for the same position, aiming for a better post-retirement pension instead. Mu Zhiyang, so young ¡ª how did he... "Deputy Section Chief Mu is the bravest; he deserves to enjoy the world first!" Liu Wenkai had convinced himself. "Let¡¯s dip some meat!" Mu Zhiyangughed cheekily, sweeping an entire tter straight into the hotpot. It¡¯s undeniable ¡ª hotpot tastes best when shared among police officers, with extra meat cooked to make the broth rich and vorful. After the meal, Jiang Yuan directly granted the group some time off. The 303 case, after all, belonged to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had essentially taken over much of the investigation work. The subsequent handling stages didn¡¯t require their involvement, nor did the local team expect any outside help ¡ª much like the interrogation phase, where even someone like Meng Chengbiao, whose official assignment was technically still with the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, operated differently after being transferred out. By the afternoon, Yu Wenshu called Jiang Yuan again. At this point, most aspects of the investigation had essentially been confirmed. Yu Wenshu spoke in a rxed manner, "What do you think? Is this case freaky enough for you? Didn¡¯t I say, in a city as big as Changyang, there¡¯s bound to be some twisted cases?" "Chief Yu, I¡¯m not particrly fond of twisted cases," Jiang Yuan said helplessly, "I still don¡¯t know how we even ended up on this topic..." "I know, I know. Should I recount our entire conversation for you?" Yu Wenshu perked up, seemingly energized. "No need, no need," Jiang Yuan quickly replied, though he sounded slightly frustrated, adding, "Whatever you say ¡ª I don¡¯t remember anyway, and I have no way to refute it..." "Huh? You¡¯re resorting to that tactic now?" The moment Yu Wenshu heard this, his mind automatically recalled the countless days and nights dominated by his wife. "Chief Yu, if there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll just..." "No, no, no. Plenty of twisted cases. I¡¯ve got another one to introduce to you," Yu Wenshu cut him off swiftly. Jiang Yuan sighed, "Chief Yu, I just said I wasn¡¯t..." "I get you, I get you. You don¡¯t have to say it twice. I¡¯ve already understood," Yu Wenshu reassured, pausing briefly before continuing, "I have a friend..." Ending the call, Jiang Yuan immediately dialed Huang Qiangmin. Some time passed. Huang Qiangmin returned the call, saying, "This is no small matter. Still, Old Dai over in Lanyue City has a good reputation. This time, they¡¯ve even requested support from the Ministry, which likely includes mentioning you in the process." Huang Qiangmin started with a bit of a heads-up before continuing, "At Old Dai¡¯s local film base, a celebrity was found dead. They didn¡¯t say who, but apparently, it¡¯s someone we¡¯d definitely know. Right now, they¡¯ve locked down the entire production crew. If you¡¯re taking the case, we¡¯ll need to act fast; otherwise, the pressure from all sides will only escte." "Does Lanyue City want our involvement? Are they willing to cooperate?" Jiang Yuan asked, "To solve a case quickly, the demands from all parties will inevitably increase." "They¡¯re definitely willing. Besides, the Ministry is backing us strongly and has even arranged a special ne for you. Bring as many people as you want ¡ª the more, the merrier. This is effectively an offsite operation, and it saves the trouble of coordinating through the Ministry," Huang Qiangmin exined. "Got it. We¡¯ll depart immediately." Jiang Yuan hung up, stepped out of his bedroom, crossed through the living room, and found Wang Chuanxing rummaging through the kitchen. "Inform everyone ¡ª emergency assembly. Be at the airport within an hour and a half. Special flight mission." "Understood." Wang Chuanxing quickly grabbed a few packs of cured beef ¡ª leftovers he had initially deemed unappealing ¡ª and began making phone calls. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t disclose the destination; it might as well be some remote wilderness. Stocking up on resources couldn¡¯t hurt. An hour and a halfter. Arge group of dozens boarded a temporarily dispatched medium-sized jet, cutting ahead on the runway and taking off within minutes, speeding toward Lanyue City. Several flight attendants, their smiles radiant, provided abundant food and beverages for the team. Sitting at the front, Jiang Yuan received extra attention. One petite flight attendant, her youthful face glowing, came up frequently with subtle warmth, serving tea and drinks. Even when securing his seatbelt, she smiled sweetly at him. Normally,mercial airlines would take nearly three hours for the journey, but with the private jet, it took just over an hour. However, thending speed was noticeably aggressive, and the tires¡¯ contact with the runway sounded a bit concerning. Under the pitch-ck night sky, the runway was nked by not only marker lights but also nearly a dozen police cars with their hazard lights blinking. As Jiang Yuan and his team descended the aircraft stairs, arge group of burly, uniformed police officers hurried to wee them. "Captain Jiang. Wee, wee..." Having studied Jiang Yuan¡¯s photograph beforehand, Dai Mingsheng easily identified him, firmly gripping his hand and shaking it twice. "Thank you for making time toe to Lanyue. Shall we head to the scene first or examine the body?" His tone was filled with modesty and caution, clearly showing the immense pressure he was under. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, "Was the body discovered today? Let¡¯s examine the body first. Photos and videos of the crime scene can be shown to me beforehand, and please arrange someone to exin the details." "I¡¯ll personally brief you," Dai Mingsheng assured, leading Jiang Yuan onto a GL8 vehicle, and once the door closed, he revealed, "The deceased is the famous actress Li Aiyuan!" This was indisputably a major celebrity ¡ª just over 30 years old, flourishing in both TV dramas and films, an award-winning actress whose poprity was soaring in the entertainment industry. Watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression closely, Dai Mingsheng added, "I know what you¡¯re thinking. At the time, they were filming, and the site was entirely sealed off. Both entrances and exits were monitored by surveince cameras. The crew consisted of over 60 people, all production staff, and no outsiders were present." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly. Dai Mingsheng continued, "The victim wrapped up her scenes around 1 a.m. and went to the dressing room to change. Within those 10-odd minutes, she disappeared. Her two assistants initially searched for her quietly and tried contacting her but couldn¡¯t reach Li Aiyuan. Only then did they notify the director. One hourter, the director, assuming she had snuck off somewhere, conducted a small-scale search with the assistants. By 8 a.m., on-site cleaners discovered Li Aiyuan¡¯s body beneath a prop bed." Jiang Yuan kept nodding. Sitting in the same vehicle, Liu Jinghui listened intently, visibly intrigued, "A sealed location with numerous witnesses and surveince footage means the window for the killer to act is remarkably short. It also implies everyone essentially has an alibi, but someone must be lying!" Stressed enough to feel like pulling his hair out, Dai Mingsheng stared at Liu Jinghui for a moment before suddenly realizing, "You must be Shannan¡¯s Deductive King." Liu Jinghui smiled, "You tter me." "It¡¯s an honor." Dai Mingsheng nodded, then dropped his voice slightly, adding, "Still, once this case gets publicized, it¡¯ll certainly grab nationwide attention. We must rely on solid evidence." Liu Jinghui: ??¨B?????¨B?? Chapter 1140 - 1071: Stars Also Have Livor Mortis

Chapter 1140: Chapter 1071: Stars Also Have Livor Mortis

The autopsy room of the Lanyue City Bureau is also located in the funeral home. Jiang Yuan performed the autopsyte at night, and the deceased¡¯s family rushed over immediately. The deceased, Li Aiyuan¡¯s younger sister, Li Airu, even proactively requested to enter the autopsy room. This is allowed domestically, and in many ces, police will specifically notify the family to observe. However, most of those willing to enter the autopsy room are distant rtives. Li Airu, in her early twenties and still in graduate school, likely arrived in a hurry. She merely wore a jacket over her T-shirt and stood beside her sister¡¯s icy corpse, letting out a cry at first nce. Jiang Yuan was pressed for time. He nced at her briefly, then nodded at Mu Zhiyang beside him and said, "Let¡¯s get started." "Wait!" Li Airu hastily stopped Jiang Yuan and nced around before saying, "Could the room be cleared? I mean, minimize the number of people present. Also, could the camera not record my sister¡¯s naked body?" "The camera has to be there; we need to document the process of the autopsy, as many things change after the initial examination. Moreover, organs that are removed can deteriorate quickly." Jiang Yuan nced at Li Airu and exined briefly, adding, "Fewer people can stay; anyone who doesn¡¯t need to be here, please leave." Several criminal police officers, including Dai Mingsheng, and an extra assistant were ushered out of the autopsy room. Li Airu still seemed dissatisfied and added, "Then at least don¡¯t record the beginning stages. You can start filming after the actual autopsy begins." "No." Jiang Yuan¡¯s patience was limited. When ites to criminal police interacting with victims¡¯ families, they are typically much more amodating. However, forensic doctors usually deal with the silent, nonmunicative type¡ªthe deceased¡ªmaking such interactions rare. Li Airu hadn¡¯t expected Jiang Yuan to refuse so directly. She wanted to say more but stopped herself, noticing Jiang Yuan nodding as he lifted the white cloth covering the corpse. Despite being a famous star, the corpse had settled into a blotchy state from livor mortis, resembling something out of a TV show about zombies. Jiang Yuan donned gloves and began the external examination. When he reached the genital area, Jiang Yuan carried out a particrly meticulous inspection. Li Airu, who had been wiping away her tears nearby, momentarily forgot herself. Afterpleting the requisite tests and gathering additional samples, Jiang Yuan picked up a scalpel and made a heavy incision, cutting a long straight line from top to bottom across the body before him. Dai Mingsheng, the experienced captain from the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, realized theplexity of the case immediately upon receiving it. He had sought external assistance and ensured the body was preserved for forensic examination. The Lanyue City film base had been operational for over a decade, and Dai Mingsheng, a veteran criminal detective, frequently dealt with rted cases. He was well aware of media and public influence. In his view, cases involving public figures that are instantly solvable tend to remain simple, but those that require more time always prove unexpectedly intricate. Most critically, the public demands straightforward answers; they are uninterested inplex reasoning, resistant to coincidences, and dismissive of authority. For cases like these, even if Dai Mingsheng were able to handle them alone, he preferred involving officers from other regions. Especially when Lanyue City had abundant funding and sufficient budget allocations tied to its film base, adopting a more transparent investigative process helped ensure smoother press conferences. Thanks to Dai Mingsheng¡¯s hospitality toward external forces and his generous funding, he had earned widespread acim. Being dubbed "The King of External Reinforcements" was not an exaggeration. If it hadn¡¯t been for the recent lull at the film base, Jiang Yuan might have already been called to Lanyue City. "Forceps," Jiang Yuan requested, and promptly used them to snap apart the corpse¡¯s ribcage with a series of sharp clunks. With that, the victim¡¯s heart, liver, spleen, and lungs were fully exposed. At this sight, Li Airu¡¯splexion instantly turned ghostly pale. As Jiang Yuan extracted the victim¡¯s heart and began collecting pericardial blood, Li Airu couldn¡¯t endure the scene any longer. Her face underwent a drastic shift, and she mped a hand over her mouth. "Throw up into the garbage can in the corner." Jiang Yuan was ustomed to such situations. Even young criminal police officers assisting with cases often needed to vomit. In a sense, the forensic autopsy room served as a training ground for neers in the criminal police force. Eventually, after purging most of what was in her stomach, Li Airu cleaned her mouth, straightened up, and summoned the courage to return to the autopsy table. At this moment, Jiang Yuan was examining the stomach contents. From the perspective of the autopsy procedure, dealing with stomach contents was not the most visually disturbing task. Imagine flipping over a butchered stomach from a marketce and filling it with the vomit of a drunk who had just emerged from a bar¡ªit¡¯s a scene most people can tolerate. However, this process added another variety to the foul air permeating the autopsy room. The instant Li Airu saw and smelled this, she took tworge steps toward the corner and began retching uncontrobly. It must be said that her movements had an elegance to them, revealing a high level of professional dance training that she was unconsciously applying at this moment. Her vomiting was quite refined, especially with her pale, long neck¡ªshe even seemed to take an extra second to expel her contentspared to the average person. For the remainder of the autopsy, Li Airu mostly stayed in the corner of the room. Jiang Yuan spent more time dissecting the corpse than usual, not intentionally, but rather because the victim¡¯s cause of death involved certainplexities. Firstly, it was evident that the deceased had engaged in sexual activity shortly before death. This was easy to ascertain from the detailed examination of the genital area. Furthermore, the condition of the skin and minor abrasions suggested the sexual activity had been intense but not violent to the point of rape. Of course, rape does not always mean extremely violent sexual activity, and vice versa¡ªthe two are not mutually inclusive. However, considering the victim had been suffocated to death... Jiang Yuan was uncertain. In cases of mechanical asphyxiation during or after sexual assault,mon scenarios involve strangtion or smothering with objects such as pillows. But in this case, Jiang Yuan believed the killer¡¯s position was unusual. If the murder urred during or following sexual assault, the perpetrator facing the victim¡ªhips aligned and faces close¡ªwas typical. Often, the victim ends up lying down. However, the scene here suggested the perpetrator had been positioned behind the victim. Notably, the victim¡¯s clothing remained clean until death. While this posture isn¡¯t impossible, carrying out murder this way during a sexual assault would require the perpetrator to meet specific physical and technical demands. Additionally, no visible defensive injuries were found on the victim. The genital area showed no tearing, her fingers, wrists, and arms were intact, and even her fingernails were clean¡ªnone of which matched the usual profile of mechanical asphyxiation victims. Jiang Yuan suspected the victim may have ingested some drugs or toxins which rendered her incapacitated and vulnerable, at least in the moments shortly before her death. Confirming this would require the Toxicology Laboratory to analyze the stomach contents, pericardial blood, or other samples for evidence. Lost in thought, Jiang Yuan concluded the autopsy. Out of respect for the victim¡¯s status as a famous star, he waited as Lanyue¡¯s forensic team performed the stitching and slid the body back into the frozen chamber. Li Airu, having vomited enough, asked Jiang Yuan through reddened eyes, "How did my sister die?" "We can¡¯t determine that fully just yet." Jiang Yuan naturally wouldn¡¯t reveal anything at this stage and turned to leave. Li Airu followed him out and saw a cluster of uniformed police gathering around. "Captain Jiang." "Jiang." "Doctor Jiang, thank you for your hard work." The crowd greeted Jiang Yuan warmly, and Dai Mingsheng was among them, leading a group waiting outside. "Captain Jiang, where to next?" Dai Mingsheng noticed Li Airu following behind and nodded kindly at her, saying, "Miss Li, ept our condolences. Doctor Jiang is a forensic and criminal investigation expert we specially invited. He is one of the best in the country. Once we have updates, we¡¯llmunicate with you." After saying this, Dai Mingsheng gestured for a female officer tofort Li Airu and escort her away. At this point, Li Airu noticed the respect the police showed Jiang Yuan and, considering Dai Mingsheng¡¯s remarks, realized Jiang Yuan might truly be exceptional. She quickly pulled out her phone and said, "Doctor Jiang, let¡¯s exchange WeChat contacts." The female officer, prepared to escort her, hesitated slightly¡ªeven Dai Mingsheng did not step in to stop her. Ordinarily, Dai Mingsheng would have promptly had the victim¡¯s rtives taken away, but given Li Airu¡¯s beauty and Jiang Yuan¡¯s status as an eligible bachelor, he found it hard to object to this unusual encounter. Li Airu gazed intently at Jiang Yuan with herrge eyes. Jiang Yuan waved dismissively, "No need. If you need anything, contact the investigating officers." Chapter 1141 - 1072: Focus on Examination

Chapter 1141: Chapter 1072: Focus on Examination

Seated in the brand-new GL8, Dai Mingsheng eagerly asked, "Captain Jiang, has the cause of death been confirmed?" "Mechanical asphyxiation. It seems someone covered her mouth and nose from behind, suffocating her to death," Jiang Yuan paused and borated more clearly, "Before death, there was sexual activity, but it¡¯s uncertain whether it involved assault. Additionally, the victim showed weak resistance; it¡¯s possible she was drugged. We¡¯ll need to wait for toxicology results." "Time of death?" "Around 4:00 AM that morning." "So, Li Aiyuan had just finished filming her scenes that day and then died?" "Pretty much." "Makes sense. Given her level of attention, if she had appeared on setter, someone would surely remember. The fact that her body was discovered only the next morning means she was killed shortly after disappearing." "She maintained her appearance before death. Her clothes and shoes were mostly clean. Whether it was voluntary or forced activity, there wasn¡¯t much violence during the process..." Jiang Yuan detailed the autopsy findings to Dai Mingsheng for several minutes. Information exchange within the investigative team is crucial in criminal investigations. Withholding information could lead to serious consequences, especially when decisive evidence is found. Reporting it promptly is more critical than rushing to solve the case on-site. Independent action is unpredictable¡ªif only one or two people head to a scene and something goes wrong, the discoveries could be lost entirely. On the other hand, dys caused by reporting are rarely problematic¡ªsuspects can be apprehendedter. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s status as someone brought in for support, hismunication with Dai Mingsheng needed to be frequent and clear. Otherwise, trust issues could be troublesometer. Dai Mingsheng attentively listened while taking notes. As an "external specialist king," he often coborated with experts from different regions and handled cross-jurisdictional cases. asionally, he¡¯d encounter personnel sent directly by higher authorities. Consequently, Dai Mingsheng excelled at working with various formidable partners. It must be said, skilled experts each have their distinct personalities. Especially those senior specialists with decades of experience¡ªthey often aren¡¯t overly cautious. Rather, they¡¯re meticulous only about key points and are casual about other matters. In such cases, it¡¯s up to someone like Dai Mingsheng to demonstrate adaptability andpetence. Byparison, Jiang Yuan, who had frequently acted as external support over the past two years, had be familiar with team coboration despite his initial reluctance. When both individuals apply their interpersonal skills, theirmunication bes exceptionally smooth. By the time it was time to disembark, Dai Mingsheng was practically prepared to "adopt" Jiang Yuan for the long term. The film city. Although it was already 4:00 AM, faint lights were scattered across the film city. Some production crews were rushing to shoot night or indoor scenes, while others were preparing makeup rooms for early-morning shoots. The filming site where Li Aiyuan died was a standalone replica of a Ming-style courtyard. It was spacious and equipped with numerous props. Perhaps due to the crew¡¯s hurried departure, the ground was cluttered with various items. A long line of police cars parked outside the courtyard, immediately attracting film city staff. Soon, the relevant film city leaders also arrived, yawning as they reported in. Dai Mingsheng ignored them entirely and asked Jiang Yuan, "Should we ask them anything?" "Is the site well-preserved?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t seem interested in questioning the film city personnel. Dai Mingsheng nodded and said, "After the incident, I immediately had the site sealed off. What you¡¯re seeing now is essentially its original state." "No need to ask them then. Let¡¯s go in ourselves." Jiang Yuan checked the time and said, "Let¡¯s aim to finish the investigation by daybreak." "That quickly?" Dai Mingsheng seemed surprised. The area was quiterge, capable of amodating over 60 crew members, not to mention ample space for sets and filming. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother exining technical details, only nodded and said, "It¡¯s enough. We¡¯ll check under sunlightter to spot anything missed. By the way, call in a few unrted lighting technicians to make the most of the existing lighting inside." "No problem. I¡¯ll handle it right away." Dai Mingsheng promptly agreed. His attitude toward Jiang Yuan had already be exceedingly respectful, his emotional admiration nearly maxed out. If nothing else, Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic insights alone had left him astonished. While he had encountered detailed forensic reports before, many such conclusions were drawn in conjunction with scene investigations. Few forensic experts could deliver guiding insights solely from their findings. Jiang Yuan was an exception. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t need further proof. The mere fact that Jiang Yuan could produce and dare to present such conclusions indicated to him that he was dealing with a formidable talent. As Jiang Yuan entered the crime scene, Dai Mingsheng followed closely, donning a mask, head covering, and shoe covers as he entered. The Criminal Science technicians from Lanyue City apanying them rarely encountered such situations. With their superior following close behind, they were somewhat tense. "Photograph andbel everything first. ce bridge boards wherever someone¡¯s passed through¡ªpreferably transparent ones. Preserve all footprints, and no one is allowed to extract them without my permission..." Jiang Yuan exined his requirements to the unfamiliar Criminal Science personnel. Having worked with forensic technicians from various regions¡ªsome rough, some meticulous¡ªthe basics were usually reliable. As long as requests were made clearly, creating explicit restrictions, the results wouldn¡¯t differ much from having his own team of forensic technicians. After all, Ningtai County wasn¡¯t exactly high-end, and bringing in Wang Zhong Level investigators would just waste fuel. Once Liu Jinghui had made all necessary arrangements, he entered, holding a PAD and marking notes on it as he walked. Jiang Yuan noticed his technical expertise and said with slight surprise, "Director Liu, what are you doing?" "I¡¯m cross-checking the movement lines of the crew at the time." Liu Jinghui kept his eyes on the PAD, exining verbally, "The production crew involved in the case totals 64 people. Excluding the victim, that leaves 63. These individuals have been interrogated for hours. Their activities within the set, along with their conversations, have been repeatedly questioned. I¡¯m also verifying their statements against timelines and locations to identify contradictions." Liu Jinghui seemed quite enthusiastic. For him, this was a ssic mystery drama. Although calling it a "feast" wouldn¡¯t be appropriate given the victim¡¯s involvement, subconsciously, this type of case was Liu Jinghui¡¯s favorite. With 63 individuals involved, they were both suspects and witnesses. The most traditional and direct method was to examine their alibis. The killer needed time tomit the murder, implying ack or fabrication of an alibi. Exposing their lies and confirming their guilt¡ªthis, to Liu Jinghui, was the most thrilling part! Liu Jinghui quickly navigated the software on his PAD and showed Jiang Yuan, "I prioritized certain key crew members. For example, the first person I investigated was the director. He was essentially in public view the entire time. For instance, the script supervisor apanied him most of the time. The longest period he was out of sight was during a restroom break, whichsted about 15 minutes." "Fifteen minutes seems a bit long?" Jiang Yuan expressed doubt. Liu Jinghui smirked slightly and said, "Constipation, hemorrhoids, dry stools. Around 10 PM that day, he used the restroom once, and several hourster went again. It¡¯s consistent with normal patterns." "Alright, we can tentatively exclude the director." "The male lead, cinematographer, and assistant cinematographer, as well as the lighting crew, were mostly working in public view and can likely be ruled out as well..." Jiang Yuan reflected, "If that¡¯s the case, the main cast and crew have rtively low suspicion." Liu Jinghui added, "True, but what we should really focus on..." "Our scheduled time is up!" Suddenly, someone shouted from outside. Wang Chuanxing promptly reported, "It seems another production crew has booked this location. They might beining about the time we¡¯re taking." Chapter 1142 - 1073: Farce

Chapter 1142: Chapter 1073: Farce

"Go outside and take a look. Are film crews here always this bold?" Liu Jinghui closed his pad and nced at Dai Mingsheng as they walked. Dai Mingsheng said apologetically, "I¡¯m really sorry. They¡¯re likely worried about dys. Every day a film crew is dyed, they could lose hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions. We haven¡¯t released any information, so outsiders don¡¯t know it¡¯s a murder case here. We¡¯re upying the location, and the crew is likely trying to test the waters." What he said was quite frank. The film and television industry is the backbone of Lanyue City¡¯s economy, with a massive workforce and numerous rtedpanies. Everyone here depends on it for their livelihood, and it¡¯s natural that frontline crews wouldn¡¯t want to bear such unexpected losses. Mu Zhiyang, standing nearby, seemed surprised: "Can it really be hundreds of thousands a day? If this location is unusable, can¡¯t they use another one? They should be able to find something simr." "A single crew involves directors, assistant directors, script supervisors, several photographers and their assistants, lighting technicians, makeup artists, prop handlers, and of course, the actors. Even at the bare minimum, you¡¯re looking at over 20 people. That crew had more than 60 people on site at the time. Now, the external crews¡ªdiscounting extras¡ªstill likely have half of their people waiting outside. Whether they change locations or stick around, it¡¯s going to cost a lot of money." The speaker this time was Dai Mingsheng¡¯s deputy, stepping in with a somewhat conciliatory tone. "Feels like they¡¯re constantly under investigation every day," Jiang Yuan suddenly recalled the days impacted by massive personnel budgets and expenses. Liu Jinghui chuckled and remarked, "Faced with something like this, their fears are useless. Don¡¯t they need to seek help from insurance or their investors?" Dai Mingsheng paused, then said, "You¡¯re not wrong, but some will still want to handle things on their own." "Well, let¡¯s hope they¡¯re genuinely afraid of losing money." Liu Jinghui smirked and spoke more bluntly, "Every single producer I know is extremely savvy, and their words are sugary sweet. I wonder if the crews in Lanyue Film and Television City have something unique about them." His statement was clear and posed an irrefutable question¡ªdo film crews truly fear losing money? Some might indeed feel apprehensive, especially those investing their own money to make films. They¡¯re known to stretch every penny. But the majority, the overwhelming majority of filmmakers, are spending someone else¡¯s money to shoot films. How genuinely afraid could they be of financial losses? This, Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan understood all too well. "If you have to pay, you pay. That¡¯s it." "Let¡¯s go meet this crew." Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest was piqued. Mu Zhiyang immediately reached for his walkie-talkie to call for backup. You never know¡ªthere might be stunt professionals among the crew. What if someone fights as skillfully as Jackie Chan like in the movies? Better to gather more reinforcements. A short whileter, Jiang Yuan and the others exited through the gates of the replica Ming dynasty courtyard. Outside, the ground was paved with blue bricks and spacious enough to resemble a small square. Originally, it served as a filming location. At this moment, the police had upied about one-third of the entrance area, cordoned off with yellow police tape. Several fully equipped officers stood outside the perimeter. Beyond the tape gathered a group of more than a dozen people, nearly 20, some dressed casually, others in costumes, shouting towards the inside. "What¡¯s the n?" On the way out, Dai Mingsheng decided to follow orders and directly asked Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan. Liu Jinghui turned to Jiang Yuan and asked, "Do we escte this or keep it low-key?" "Round them all up first," Jiang Yuan replied and then asked, "Would you consider this escting or staying small?" "Can¡¯t escte much more than this," Liu Jinghui joked, clearly appreciating Jiang Yuan¡¯s decisive attitude. A hands-on detective, truly fearless in making decisions. Seeing this, Dai Mingsheng nodded as well and said, "I¡¯ll call the Bureau Chief." The group finalized the n and approached the police line upfront. Dai Mingsheng proactively introduced himself, "I¡¯m the officer in charge here. What¡¯s your issue?" Officers from the Lanyue City Bureau saw the Criminal Police Detachment Leader himself step in and immediately moved in closer. Some sharp-minded officers even picked up their walkie-talkies. Under normal circumstances, even with a murder case, the Criminal Police Detachment Leader wouldn¡¯t personally handle it. In fact, most murder cases don¡¯t reach the Criminal Police Detachment level. They¡¯re typically handled by district or county police departments. For example, cases in Ningtai would first be managed by the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team rather than escting to the Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment. Simrly, cases in Qinghe City¡¯s Qianjin District would be handled by its district police team. Only significant orplex cases go to the city-level Criminal Police Detachment, which often serves a supervisory or supportive role in most cities. In this instance, however, Dai Mingsheng invited Jiang Yuan over specifically and made an appearance for apaniment. For the on-site Lanyue City Bureau officers, even though they were still bound by confidentiality requirements, it quickly became apparent that this case was undoubtedly high-profile. The crowd gathered outside the police line suddenly felt immense pressure under the collective gaze of the officers. Compared to actors who need specialized training in wieldingmanding expressions, criminal investigators hone theirs through daily work. When applied here, the effect was unparalleled. Those who had been loudly shouting moments earlier now felt a bit uneasy. "What are your demands?" Dai Mingsheng inquired again, purely fishing for information. "We... We¡¯re from the ¡¯Wangsheng Pharmacy¡¯ crew. Based on schedule, we should already be using this location today, but you¡¯ve blocked it off. Who¡¯s responsible forpensating our losses?" The leading man braved the pressure and spoke up. His voice was loud and carried an air of training. Inwardly, Liu Jinghui thought, "He¡¯s probably showing off techniques learned for his role." Dai Mingsheng maintained aposed smile and asked, "Did no one negotiate this with you?" The leading man hesitated and replied, "I wouldn¡¯t know. But I do know that halting production costs us tens of thousands of yuan daily. Personnel are paid per day, cameras, lighting, and props all have daily rental fees. Actors¡¯ schedules are the hardest to adjust..." "What¡¯s your name?" Dai Mingsheng interrupted. The man straightened up under further pressure and replied, "I¡¯m not afraid to tell you¡ªmy name is Liu Xueyi. Officer, I¡¯m just trying to fight for my rights. We paid for this location, and now we¡¯re being told we can¡¯t use it. Should we just helplessly absorb this loss? What does your investigation have to do with us?" "Who¡¯s the producer of your crew? Actually, never mind." Dai Mingsheng turned to his assistant and said, "Look into this crew¡¯s details. Find out who¡¯s in charge and who¡¯s funding it. Call them and let me talk to them." Liu Xueyi had braced himself for conflict but hadn¡¯t anticipated the police would simply call his boss. Liu Xueyi froze for a moment and said, "Even if the producer agrees, we¡¯re still out of work, aren¡¯t we?" "As long as you¡¯re paid, that¡¯s all that matters." Dai Mingsheng looked at him and said, "If the crew dares to withhold your wages, you can call the mayor¡¯s hotline or report it to me directly. I¡¯m Dai Mingsheng, the Criminal Police Detachment Leader of Lanyue City. But if the producer pays you and yourpanions fully, then stirring up trouble like this is unnecessary. Honestly, I find it strange¡ªwhy are you defending the interests of capital so vigorously?" Liu Xueyi hesitated for a long time before replying, "When the drama ispleted, isn¡¯t it beneficial for everyone?" He turned and looked at his peers for support. Those who had yelled loudly earlier exchanged nces and muttered agreement in much quieter voices. During the standoff, the assistant returned with a phone, handed it to Dai Mingsheng, and reported softly, "The producer of this project is named Li Jike, a small-time producer under Lisong Culture. It¡¯s already been rified." Dai Mingsheng took the phone, switched to speaker mode, and said, "Producer Li, this is Dai Mingsheng. I¡¯ve put you on speaker. What do you have to say?" "I fully support you!" Producer Li¡¯s voice rang out loudly through the phone, followed by a furious roar, "Liu Xueyi, are you out of your mind? Get back here immediately!" "No need for him to rush back." Dai Mingsheng hung up the phone, looked at Liu Xueyi, and asked, "If the producer didn¡¯t send you, why are you causing trouble here?" Chapter 1143 - 1074: Being a Tool

Chapter 1143: Chapter 1074: Being a Tool

"I... I wasn¡¯t causing trouble." Liu Xueyi looked around, hoping thepanions who came with him would continue to back him up. But after hearing the voice of the producer just now, many people realized they had been deceived and instead distanced themselves, shouting, "Liu Xueyi, are you out of your mind? How dare you make false ims of authority!" "What authority did I fake? I just said we shoulde here and fight for our crew¡¯s interests. What¡¯s wrong with that? No matter what the police say, shouldn¡¯t we speak up for ourselves? Otherwise, the production will just remain suspended, burning tens of thousands of dors by the day, and when it eventually copses, we¡¯ll just take our wages and leave? If the show never airs, wouldn¡¯t we be the ones losing out?" Liu Xueyi argued confidently. However, under the gaze of a group of policemen, hispanions lost their will to resist and quietly said, "You¡¯d better stop talking. How many productions fail to make it to the screen? Of all the ones we¡¯ve worked on, how many have actually aired?" Hearing this, Dai Mingsheng chuckled and waved his hand, saying, "Alright, stop wasting your breath. Let¡¯s head to the police station and talk things through." When he mentioned the police station, it was merely to lower their alertness. Among this group, it was entirely possible there was a murderer or aplice involved, so they couldn¡¯t be let off easily. To ordinary people, however, the police station was already a ce that instilled great fear. As soon as Dai Mingsheng spoke, the crowd at the edge of the police cordon became restless. At that moment, several police officers decisively stepped forward, restraining Liu Xueyi at the center and cuffing him. "You¡¯re all witnesses or persons with knowledge of the situation. No big issues. Just exin clearly, and that¡¯ll be enough. But if you don¡¯t cooperate, we¡¯ll treat you as suspects," said a criminal investigator at the scene half-jokingly. Even those who made a living off "acting" unconsciously paused and obediently followed orders as they were shepherded into police cars. It wasn¡¯t that they couldn¡¯t suspect they might be "tricked," but the cost of refusal was too immediate and too severe¡ªfar too much for their delicate physiques to handle. At this moment, the number of police officers surrounding them was more than double their own, and anyone who had seen gang fights in movies would know that when riot-gear-d policemen armed with batons and stun rods outnumbered them like this, there was practically no chance for resistance. Before departing, Jiang Yuan deliberately checked the soles of their shoes, took Liu Xueyi¡¯s fingerprints specifically, and reminded the officers escorting them to also collect fingerprints once they arrived. Liu Jinghui had been quietly observing from the side the entire time. After Jiang Yuan finished, he finally asked, "Any matches yet?" "No. At the moment, it seems Liu Xueyi didn¡¯t leave any footprints at the scene," Jiang Yuan responded, shaking his head. He added, "But we haven¡¯t started collecting many of the footprints or fingerprints yet." Liu Jinghui stood beside Jiang Yuan and lowered his voice, saying, "With the footprints and fingerprints collected here, their evidentiary value may be somewhat weak. Extras or other crew members might simply im they entered to film, to watch a shoot, or to visit the set. It would be hard to disprove their ims." Mu Zhiyang added from the side, "If they say they¡¯ve been here, they¡¯ll need to specify the year, month, day, and who they came with." "And if they say they don¡¯t remember? What can you do then?" Liu Jinghui softened his tone and continued, "I¡¯m not saying it¡¯s useless. But as far as I know, these people working in film and television are masters of verbal maniption. Think about it¡ªpeople who can scam money out of investors don¡¯t have any trouble lying through their teeth." For lies from a long time ago, iming to not remember may hold some weight with the police. That, of course, depends on the matter at hand. If an ordinary person once entered a publicly essible building and says they don¡¯t remember, that could be viewed as a reasonable exnation. But if the same person had a rtionship with another man, woman, or even an animal, and then imed not to remember, they¡¯d first have to prove why they considered the matter so trivial. Turning around, Liu Jinghui shifted the topic, adding, "Of course, if Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint analysis can rify the sequence of events leading to the crime, then arge part of this case would be solved." Mu Zhiyang gave Liu Jinghui a sidelong nce and said, "Director Liu, you¡¯re the true master of verbal maniption." "That¡¯s why peers oftenpete." Liu Jinghui replied nonchntly before turning to leave, saying, "Let¡¯s head back. The real action is inside." To him, this case was utterly addictive. A celebrity, a locked room, multiple testimonies, and a mountain of dubious alibis. If Lanyue Film and Television City could make such cases a recurring thing, Liu Jinghui was willing to move there permanently. Jiang Yuan could vaguely guess Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts but couldn¡¯t help butugh, saying, "Someone just stood out earlier. It¡¯s possible the real action will happen in the interrogation room." Liu Jinghui also chuckled, saying, "If the murderer is dumb enough to make it obvious, I wouldn¡¯t mind. But judging by the scale of this setup, so many people involved, killing the most prominent individual among them... I don¡¯t think they¡¯d leave any evidence in the hands of a bumbling fool like Liu Xueyi." "True. Otherwise, even if their objective here seeds, once news spreads and Liu Xueyi learns the shutdown was because Li Aiyuan died, he might try to ckmail themter," Jiang Yuan said, agreeing that Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning made sense. Liu Jinghui chuckled again, adding, "What¡¯s even more interesting is that we¡¯ve kept the entire crew locked away in interrogation rooms¡ªno phones, nomunication¡ªand yet people outside can still mobilize so quickly..." Mu Zhiyang¡¯s hand instinctively moved toward his back. "No need for that," Liu Jinghui noticed and quickly remarked, "Dai Mingsheng¡¯s reputation seems solid, at least from what I¡¯ve heard. Interrogating dozens of people and encountering issues is normal. In my opinion, it¡¯s more likely they nned this all in advance. This case has been heavily premeditated from start to finish. It¡¯s perfectly reasonable for the perpetrator to have aplices and n multiple contingency strategies ahead of time." As he spoke, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but lick his lips. Mu Zhiyang couldn¡¯t resist saying, "Director Liu, no need to rush..." "I¡¯m not rushing..." Liu Jinghui said, grinning broadly. Jiang Yuan found it amusing to watch and began once more to put on his hood, mask, gloves, and boot covers, saying, "So you¡¯re saying this case deserves serious effort." "Weren¡¯t you just working seriously?" Liu Jinghui asked, puzzled. "I was trying to find some points of difference earlier¡ªseeing if there were any unusual footprints or fingerprints. Since you think this case leans towardplexity, I can iste footprints from certain individuals and track their movements," Jiang Yuan said as he turned to Liu Jinghui and asked, "Care to provide a list?" "Yes, I do. Absolutely." Liu Jinghui grew even more excited. It had been a long time since he wanted so purely to treat Jiang Yuan as a tool. Chapter 1144 - 1075: Accomplice

Chapter 1144: Chapter 1075: Aplice

"Not bad, not bad. In that case, Li Wenjie on the 27th is ruled out. Let¡¯s take a look at this one, Number 41, Yu Fang..." Liu Jinghui tapped on the pad in front of him, his emotions reaching a high point. Following orders, Jiang Yuan stood still and verified Yu Fang¡¯s Number 41 footprint on the PAD. Under the aid of the inspection light, he began to find Yu Fang¡¯s footprint among the myriad of tracks and started to describe Yu Fang¡¯s movement route step by step. "The main activity range is in this area. Here, he seems to be in a good working state, probably holding something heavy, stamina is still fair... over here he stood for a while..." Jiang Yuan stood on the transparent bridge, performing actions as he walked. He could make certain analyses of the owner¡¯s state by identifying the differences in the footprints. At this moment, footprint identification seemed to return to its invented time, where the shepherd Ma Yulin used it to find lost sheep and horses, discerning when they ran, rested, grazed, encounteredpanions or danger. In the eyes of Jiang Yuan at this time, the crew members in this courtyard were no different. Of course, the difficulty of this task also soared to the extreme. In the crew, everyone¡¯s daily activity level is very high, and it is natural for footprints to ovep. Typically, in such scenarios, ordinary inspections can only choose unusual footprints or other traces for collection, which was Jiang Yuan¡¯s first choice upon entry. To distinguish each person¡¯s traces at the crime scene as much as possible, Jiang Yuan directly activated a temporary +1 skill and turned on the crime scene reconstruction temporary +1 skill. This elevated the Level 5 crime scene investigation to Level 6, with the included small skill, crime scene reconstruction, upgraded to Level 7. A skill reaching Level 7 is truly terrifying. Even Jiang Yuan had to adapt for a while to ensure he could smoothly handle the skill. Liu Jinghui felt goosebumps all over his body from excitement and took a while to ensure he could manage Jiang Yuan smoothly. "Number 53, Wang Bin Yu." "Number 59, Zhou Le." "Come back a bit to Number 38, Wang Yuxian; this is a prop master, right? Look at him, his testimony is somewhat unclear." Liu Jinghui picked out the suspicious suspects for Jiang Yuan to check again. Those without issues are set aside, while those with problems undergo focused scrutiny. At this point, Liu Jinghui would observe even more carefully. Jiang Yuan¡¯s examination would be more meticulous, considering more content, down to hispanions, guessing what he is doing and nning to do next. For Jiang Yuan, thetter mainly involved tirelessly analyzing a footprint. The interference was the repeated trampling of different footprints on the ground, but with crime scene reconstruction at Level 7, such interferences were insignificant. Jiang Yuan continued working and felt quite driven, with the Level 7 skill turned on, it really felt like holding the sky with one hand. It¡¯s not arrogance, but freedom indeed. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need to say more; he was genuinely arrogant, relying only on age to prevent actual arrogance. "Number 38 has been to the changing room. From the footprint coverage, his footprint was covered by the victim¡¯s. Combining the movement line, it should be that he went to the changing room earlier than the victim." Jiang Yuan spotted the issue and immediately brought it up without waiting for a moreplete conclusion. Liu Jinghui was invigorated and immediately drew a pentagram in his notebook, saying, "Increase the suspect level of Number 38 by one star. Continue, continue. I¡¯ll make a call to interrogation." "Okay." Jiang Yuan responded. Liu Jinghui first called Dai Mingsheng, exined briefly, then phoned the head of the Lanyue City interrogation center. After finishing, Liu Jinghui approached Wang Chuanxing, handed him Wang Yuxian¡¯s information, and said, "Check his details, especially financially. See if there are any issues with his fund flows or special spending patterns. Also, online purchase records, WeChat records. Right, bring his phone over to check for strange software, any drug purchases, and search keywords..." "Understood." Wang Chuanxing replied, smiling, "We¡¯re handling a case across two locations now." Checking so many details surely couldn¡¯t be done by Wang Chuanxing alone. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Teamcked no talents in this aspect. After all, they were all pulled from Changyang City and trained for over two years, paperbat was undoubtedly manageable. "What¡¯s wrong with offering some service to brothers from other provinces? Your boss is Huang Qiangmin; he can reimburse every penny you spend." "Commissioner Huang appearing is already an overwhelming experience to brothers from other provinces." Wang Chuanxingughed. "I see your Jiang Team really likes that GL8, the car is new, and the interior is good. I¡¯ll talk to Huang about it." Liu Jinghui said with augh, then clutching his phone returned to the courtyard. While Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t sent new evidence yet, he called Dai Mingsheng again to request Technical and Image Investigation personnel to check on Wang Yuxian. Premeditated murder and crimes of passion are entirely different thoughts. Nowadays, most homicides encountered by police are crimes of passion. This mode of murder rarely has a preparation process, at most, it¡¯s a short prelude. But premeditated murder involves much more preparation. Since you premeditated, you must prepare various items. In this case, there¡¯s a high probability that drugs were prepared, possibly a weapon too, just not encountered. Additionally, how is the murder time determined? Is it by tracking and seizing an opportunity to kill, lurking in a location awaiting the victim, or pre-obtaining the opponent¡¯s schedule to design a murder? Liu Jinghui mused over this, and a smile uncontrobly crept up the corners of his mouth. "Director Liu, perhaps you should restrain a bit." Wang Chuanxing looked up seeing this scene and shivered unconsciously: "Everyone is watching you." "It¡¯s also good for them to see the power of deduction." Liu Jinghui said then urged: "Have you found information on this Wang Yuxian?" "If you mean evidence proving he¡¯s the murderer, not yet. However, he indeed seems to have some financial pressure, heavily in debt. With his ie, he owes at least ten to twenty thousand yuan a month, unless he starves, he definitely can¡¯t repay." Wang Chuanxing read the document and concurrently used his portable printer to print a copy for Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui took it, nced a few times, and said, "It¡¯s all spent on women. Just the room fees cost ten to twenty thousand. All booked at good hotels. With his ie, that¡¯s a bit extravagant." "If it¡¯s with a big star, booking a five-star hotel is warranted, probably." Wang Chuanxing added. "A prop master and a big star? Any photos? Is he handsome?" Wang Chuanxing took a look and slowly shook his head: "Ordinary person, not bad looking. Love?" "Love doesn¡¯t hold up to scrutiny." Liu Jinghui squinted. At this time, Jiang Yuan returned from the front holding a camera, "If Wang Yuxian is the murderer, he¡¯s not acting alone; there¡¯s someone with him." Jiang Yuan showed the photos he took to a few people, pointing at a footprint next to a footprint, "Wang Yuxian should have apanion or a stalker." Chapter 1145 - 1076: Trust and Challenge

Chapter 1145: Chapter 1076: Trust and Challenge

"Double perpetration? Male and female?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind spun, considering various possibilities. Jiang Yuan answered solely based on the footprints, saying: "Both are males." "Then we have to consider the possibility that they¡¯re not aplices. Of course, they might be, but not necessarily." Liu Jinghui¡¯s response seemed a bit diplomatic, but his inclination was quite evident. Under normal circumstances, when encountering two people at a crime scene, it¡¯s usually assumed they are aplices. After all, in the early hours, having two people follow a victim requires justification if they¡¯re not aplices. Wang Chuanxing asked, "If they¡¯re not aplices, what is their rtionship?" "We don¡¯t have the conditions to determine that for now. However, think about it, the victim is a big star, it¡¯s Li Aiyuan! If they were aplices and went so far as to drug and kill, why did only one have rtions with her?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s question was very humanistic. Wang Chuanxing hesitantly answered, "The other held back?" "How could that possibly be held back!" Liu Jinghui looked at Wang Chuanxing with an ¡¯ED¡¯ expression, saying: "They nned a murder, how much self-control do you think they have? I don¡¯t believe it. In this kind of situation, it¡¯s either both or none; there¡¯s no sense in one doing it while the other watches." "Right. Even if one didn¡¯t want to, seeing the other do it would be irresistible. Plus, whether due to being caught, one leaving clues and both being caught is the same; such aplices won¡¯t allow one to be caught without implicating the other." Liu Wenkai, unknown when he had emerged from the search team, joined Liu Jinghui¡¯s brainstorming session. Liu Jinghui found Liu Wenkai¡¯s participation timely, nodding, saying: "Wenkai is right. With little evidence left during the murder, it shows that the murder was also clean and swift. In this case, we must consider that the murderer has a certain level of experience, unless there is a huge identity gap between them, which actually also indicates that they are not merelypanions." "Maybe one of them had ED." Liu Wenkai chuckled, saying: "There¡¯s also the case of temporary ED." Liu Jinghuiughed as well, then remarked, "That possibility indeed exists, but in my experience, people with ED don¡¯tmit sex crimes like this. They¡¯re either particrly excessive in their violent rapes or typically don¡¯t murder for sexual reasons. Of course, there¡¯s still limited data in this area; I¡¯m nning to write a paper on it." "Utilizing even EDs, that¡¯s Director Liu for you." Liu Wenkai had offered all the information he could and swiftly turned to ttering. Listening to their conversation, Jiang Yuan recalled the situation of the corpse andpared it to the footprints at the scene, saying: "When the murderer killed, the victim didn¡¯t put up much resistance. From this point, it seems unnecessary to have two people for the murder?" Liu Jinghui responded, "Indeed, if the murder doesn¡¯t need two people, then two people aren¡¯t required. Murder is thest thing needing education; the killer often ponders how to kill and escape both day and night. Whether two people are needed, they would think it through unless it¡¯s particrly necessary... But maybe two weren¡¯t needed for the murder, though disposal of the body is another matter." Liu Jinghui paused, then, slightly more animated, continued, "The prop master is small in stature, though Li Aiyuan is quite slender, she weighs about 100 pounds. He could carry her, but transporting her lightly or without traces is nearly impossible. Two people are more convenient for such tasks. Two people... can also more easily corroborate with each other, lie for each other." Liu Jinghui flicked his medium-length hair in a dashing manner, looked at Jiang Yuan, and asked, "Can we determine the identity of the aplice?" "I¡¯ve seen the footprints of everyone in the crew, none of which match. The footprint passed through the middle of the courtyard and essentially disappeared." Jiang Yuan needed a foundation for footprint identification; asionally a few steps wouldn¡¯t cover it up, but after being trampled by hundreds of steps, only the edges could provide clues. If even those are too worn, then even a Level 7 expert couldn¡¯t help. Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t surprised; if Jiang Yuan could directly name someone earlier, he should have. Liu Jinghui nodded, saying: "What about the body type and height?" "The weight is rtively light, at most 130 pounds, maybe only 120 pounds. The height is around 180 cm, with high muscle density and probably a good physique, judging from his gait; his center of gravity is more focused than a heavier person. Additionally, the age is young, between 23 to 25 years. Shoe size 43." Jiang Yuan¡¯s range was slightly broad to avoid unintentionally filtering out any involved individuals. After all, there are currently only over 60 suspects;bining several conditions, a slightly broader range wouldn¡¯t affect filtering. At most, a few suspects could be requested to leave footprints on the spot for identification. As Jiang Yuan spoke, Wang Chuanxing had already opened the PAD to start filtering. The brand-new PAD, with a stainless steel exterior, was lightweight and sturdy; its screen disyed vivid colors, clearly presenting suspect information. Once various conditions were applied, there was nothing left. The officers on scene remained unchanged in expression. This result was expected; with Jiang Yuan¡¯s capability, it was certain he remembered the footprints of over 60 suspects clearly. If he couldn¡¯t name anyone, then it was likely something was amiss. Jiang Yuan had naturally anticipated this; in fact, he initially determined that this person wasn¡¯t among the 60 plus individuals, but arriving at this conclusion was easy; making subsequent judgments was moreplex. "Looks like an outsider has entered the scene." Liu Jinghui looked dispirited; this was quite boring. A good enclosed murder case, a 60-person level game of Werewolf, suddenly, an outsider wolfes in¡ªhow does that count? "Let¡¯s interrogate the prop master first." Liu Wenkai suggested, "Moreover, we can particrly inspect his genitals; even if protected during the act, if he didn¡¯t bathe afterward, other residues would remain. Furthermore, being with a big star, too much excitement could cause redness or swelling." "Captain Liu speaks from experience." Liu Jinghui agreed. Wang Chuanxing stifled augh, saying: "Shall I inform Dai Zhi then?" "Yes, go ahead. Let Meng Chengbiao join in, listen to their interrogation process, and learn about the investigation methods here." Liu Jinghui ced emphasis in his speech. Understanding immediately, Wang Chuanxing¡¯s expression grew stern, "Are you concerned about issues arising?" "Dai Zhi should be alright. Otherwise, why would he have brought Jiang Yuan here? There are plenty of experts domestically, not many like Jiang Yuan whoe with their own team. Did he spend so many personal favors and funds to make things difficult for himself? Impossible." After Liu Jinghui spoke, he continued: "But they were the ones who cordoned off the courtyard; the initial arrests and interrogations were all done by them. This unexined extra person, someone has to be ountable." Liu Jinghui sounded increasingly unhappy as he spoke; how could even criminals not trust deduction anymore? Such a good chance for an enclosed murder case, and they don¡¯t dare to challenge it! Chapter 1146 - 1077: Time Difference

Chapter 1146: Chapter 1077: Time Difference

Dawn. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, along with others, walked out of the crime scene in the mock Ming Dynasty building, stepping on a transparent acrylic bridge. A few people saw them and immediately came over to greet them. Soon, a white-shirted man hurriedly got off a bus painted with the words "SWAT" nearby and walked briskly toward them. Wang Chuanxing, worried that Jiang Yuan might not recognize him, quickly whispered in his ear, "That¡¯s Dai Zhi¡¯s deputy, Lin Xunlei, the deputy captain." As they spoke, Lin Xunlei had already arrived in front of the police cordon and smiled, "Captain Dai had to attend a meeting and just left not long ago. He asked me to watch over things. Director Jiang, Director Liu, you¡¯ve been working hard." "You¡¯re too kind." Liu Jinghui, now smiling cheerfully, stepped forward to shake hands with Lin Xunlei and said, "You really didn¡¯t need to worry about us; just have someone guide the way, and that would¡¯ve been enough." "That won¡¯t do. Having the nation¡¯s top criminal investigators visit Lanyue City is a rare learning opportunity for all of us..." Lin Xunlei exchanged pleasantries and then said, "It¡¯s just about time for breakfast. Let¡¯s go try some of Lanyue City¡¯s signature morning dishes, and I¡¯ll escort you back to the hotel afterward. What do you think?" "We can just eat at the hotel," Liu Jinghui declined. Lin Xunlei waved his hand. "Hotel food is standard fare. We can¡¯t say it¡¯s bad, but it doesn¡¯t represent the essence of Lanyue City¡¯s breakfast cuisine. If I let you leave like this, people might say we don¡¯t have any good food here in Lanyue City!" After exchanging more pleasantries, Lin Xunlei grabbed hold of Liu Jinghui with one hand and Jiang Yuan with the other, and they all boarded a standard minibus. The people who had been waiting outside quickly followed suit. Seeing that Lin Xunlei and the others had no objections, Wang Chuanxing and his team didn¡¯t intervene, instead instructing Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming to keep a close eye on Jiang Yuan. Once aboard, Lin Xunlei waited for everyone to settle in before introducing a few casually dressed individuals who had just joined them. "Let me make some introductions. This is Vice President Dong Xifeng of the Film City, who is most familiar with the situation here. Any resource allocations or personnel requirements you have moving forward can be coordinated through Vice President Dong." Dong Xifeng, around 50 years old, exuded the air of a professional manager: refined and courteous. Dressed in a suit, he stepped forward to shake hands with Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui individually, saying, "Thank you to Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad foring to Lanyue Film City to help both our enterprise and the victims resolve this troubling case and uncover the truth. During your stay at Lanyue Film City, please don¡¯t hesitate to reach out if you have any requests¡ªwe will fully cooperate." As he spoke, he handed each of them a business card,plete with a QR code. Jiang Yuan and the others had no choice but to ept the cards. Lin Xunlei then introduced a few more people, who turned out to be the representatives of the involved production team under Baoh River Film and Television Company, the much-despised Lisong Culture Entertainment Co., Ltd. from the previous night, and the small-time producer Li Jike who was implicated in the case. Each of them spoke in turn, either trying to clear themselves of suspicion or pledging their cooperation, all putting on airs ofplete sincerity. Jiang Yuan was more ustomed to dealing with people who were genuinely forthright. Faced with this sort of ambiguous posturing, he could only observe their hands, their feet, and the exposed patches of their skin, his mind involuntarily pondering something. Before long, the group began to feel uneasy under his scrutiny. Yet Jiang Yuan, as the central figure among them, left these men in their 40s unable to vent their frustration. Instead, recalling Jiang Yuan¡¯s role and expertise, they gradually developed a sense of apprehension. The bus came to a stop. The group quickly excused themselves and left. Watching this, Lin Xunlei found it amusing. Leading the others into a nearby restaurant, he exined as he walked, "Their main concern isn¡¯t just the risk of criminal liability; they¡¯re more worried about how this might impact their films¡¯ releases. After all, the Film City is a pir industry of Lanyue City, and maintaining transparency is an essential part of fostering a favorable business environment..." As he exined, Jiang Yuan and the others listened quietly. Soon enough, the breakfast was served, and Lin Xunlei, with startling enthusiasm, shifted the conversation to focus on the food. "Lanyue City¡¯s most famous breakfast has to be the buns. Locals know the best bun shops won¡¯t cut corners. The meat filling is always premium, and the dough is kneaded the day before so it can properly ferment overnight. The next day, they shape and steam them fresh..." "Themb soup might look simple, but it¡¯s quite unique. If you take a closer look, you¡¯ll notice it¡¯s a thick broth, somewhat simr to the kind you find in Japanese ramen. But ours tastes even fresher because it¡¯s made with a mix of fish andmb. The art of ¡¯fish andmb together¡¯¡ªour ancestors weren¡¯t wrong about its vor." "And as for this pickled vegetable, give it a try. I¡¯d even go as far as to say our pickled cabbage is the originator of Korean kimchi. We prepare this in a variety of ways¡ªsome are spicy, and others are even ready to eat on the same day they¡¯re made. Try our spicy pickled cabbage..." Lin Xunlei enthusiastically hosted the breakfast before escorting the group back to the hotel. On the way, he finally asked, "Captain Jiang, how¡¯s the case progressing?" "We¡¯ve made some new discoveries, but we¡¯re still a ways from solving it," Liu Jinghui replied vaguely, even though the person asking was the deputy captain of the Criminal Police Brigade. Lin Xunlei didn¡¯t take it to heart and responded with a smile, "If there¡¯s anything I can help with, just let me know... Everyone must be exhausted. Once we get to the hotel, have a good rest." "The leads we have so far have hit a bit of a dead end. We¡¯ll still need to wait for the interrogation results," Liu Jinghui exined further. In significant cases like this, pulling all-nighters for the first two or three days was routine. Having arrived in the early hours and going straight to breakfast before rest might seem too rxed to some. However, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad achieving such high efficiency in solving cases, Liu Jinghui, who had been working alongside Jiang Yuan, had long adapted to this approach, no longer cing emphasis on working long hours. Lin Xunlei, not in a position to lecture Jiang Yuan¡¯s team on how to conduct their investigation or what dedication looked like, simply smiled again and said, "Waiting around isn¡¯t ideal, that¡¯s true. I¡¯ll gather some more personnel on my end and try to have all the surveince footage from the scene reviewed as quickly as possible. If any leads turn up, I¡¯ll let you know right away." The case had just been active for less than a day, andbing through such arge amount of footage required extensive manpower. Jiang Yuan, recalling the locations of the surveince cameras, instantly switched to analyzing the LV3 security monitoring technology and the LV6 Image Investigation trajectory-tracing techniques. He asked, "Were the cameras in the various pathways operating continuously, or were there periods when they were turned off?" "They were turned off during filming," Lin Xunlei answered, understanding the implication of Jiang Yuan¡¯s question. "Some of the cameras¡¯ positions could interfere with the filming, like showing a red-light indicator or something simr that could cause a continuity error. The director would shut them off during those times. But after the victim¡¯s death, filming had already wrapped up, and the cameras weren¡¯t switched off anymore." Hearing this, Liu Jinghui immediately froze. "So, you¡¯re saying the cameras were off prior to the victim¡¯s death?" "It¡¯s possible. I¡¯d need to confirm to be sure," Lin Xunlei replied. "Then it¡¯s possible someone entered the production site before the victim¡¯s death?" Liu Jinghui paused, then added, "And they might not have left afterward." Lin Xunlei looked at Liu Jinghui in confusion. Liu Jinghui turned to Jiang Yuan. "I think we need to return to the crime scene and conduct another thorough search!" Chapter 1147 - 1078: Hide and Seek

Chapter 1147: Chapter 1078: Hide and Seek

"The murderer is still hiding at the crime scene?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s words were clear to everyone, but most found them hard to believe. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t answer directly. He merely said, "We have now discovered that there¡¯s a high probability of two murderers. One of them is likely the props master; he¡¯s already in the interrogation room, still refusing to confess. As for the second murderer, their footprints don¡¯t match those of the crew members, meaning there¡¯s an extra person at the scene. Aftermitting the crime, if this person didn¡¯t have the chance to leave, where could they be hiding?" "The crime scene¡ªthe replica Ming-style courtyard¡ªis quiterge and architecturallyplex. It¡¯s definitely capable of hiding someone," Wang Chuanxing said. Jiang Yuan also agreed with Liu Jinghui¡¯s statement. He wasn¡¯t encountering a case of "murderer returning to the scene" for the first time, so he nodded and said, "It¡¯s quite likely. The suspect, Wang Yuxian, is a props master, so he probably knows how to hide his aplice well." "If we look at it this way,st night¡ªor rather, in the early hours of this morning¡ªthe disturbance makes sense, doesn¡¯t it? If they had managed to cause enough chaos or if a new film crew moved in, the hidden murderer at the scene could easily take advantage of the situation to escape," Wang Chuanxing reasoned as his thoughts began to align. Liu Jinghui smirked slightly and said, "The n is even more intricate than what you described. If the new crew moves in, the director would be eager to start filming. If surveince cameras interfere with that, the director would likely order the cameras to be shut down. At that time, the murderer could stealthily slip away, leaving outsiderspletely unaware of what had transpired. It would be like vanishing into thin air." Mu Zhiyang said, "Looking at the surveince footage, there might be gaps in the timeline, no?" "That depends on the person reviewing the surveince footage. If there are few personnel or those doing the review aren¡¯t meticulous¡ªif they don¡¯t examine the footage at a steady pace from start to finish¡ªthey may not notice. Alternatively, if such gaps ur frequently, noticing won¡¯t make much difference. Short-term camera outages are not unusual, and without evidence, the officers in Image Investigation won¡¯t be able to say much. This type of negligence doesn¡¯t surprise me¡ªI¡¯ve seen countless mishandlings." Liu Jinghui spoke with the expertise of someone who knew every detail of procedural investigation, including itsmon pitfalls. Some case investigators have disyed such carelessness or ineptitude that their actions could even be deemedughable. Some of these cases wereter reviewed, summarized, and published in academic papers. To paraphrase amon saying: "How big a mess have you made at work?" Police officers are human, too. To be brutally honest, it¡¯s not just private-sector employees who ck off; civil servants can be guilty of the same. Rather than trusting a group, Liu Jinghui trusted his own reasoning more. The convoy reversed direction and headed toward the film studio. When Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and the others arrived back at the replica Ming-style courtyard inside the studio, the officers dispatched by Dai Mingsheng had already cordoned off the area entirely. This time, the perimeter was truly secure, unlike before when they had ced undue trust in tall walls and wire fences. Even so, Liu Jinghui¡¯s first order upon arriving at the scene was to have Liu Wenkai personally go to the surveince room to retrieve all thetest footage. ording to Deputy Squad Leader Lin Xunlei, the surveince system should have been functioning normally after the crew left, with no one able to exit the courtyard unnoticed. Liu Wenkai collected the footage and started reviewing it with a team, working backward. If the murderer was an agile individual and had managed to jump out of the courtyard during that time, it would pose a real headache. Soon, Dai Mingsheng arrived and asked, "What¡¯s the n? A full-fledged search or something else? Too many people entering mightpromise the crime scene." He was already familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative style. With over sixty suspects in the mix, whether recording videos or collecting footprints, there was no way to fully document all the ovepping prints in such arge area. Existing methods could only capture impressions, and extracting meaningful prints afterward would prove futile. Because of this, too many personnel entering the crime scene would make Jiang Yuan¡¯s preferred investigative approach more difficult. Additionally, the scene had been meticulously preserved thus far, with transparent acrylic footbridges reflecting the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s ample budget. However, a search wouldn¡¯t allow everyone to work while bncing on narrow bridges. Of course, apprehending the second suspect would qualify as solving the case, making scene preservation unnecessary. But this required Jiang Yuan¡¯s determination. After all, the theory that the second suspect remained at the crime scene was based on Liu Jinghui¡¯s deduction,cking conclusive evidence. If Jiang Yuan made an all-or-nothing bet by disturbing the scene and failed to apprehend or convict anyone, the risk would be substantial. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged a nce before Jiang Yuan said to Dai Mingsheng, "Even if the scene gets disturbed, it shouldn¡¯t be a major issue. We¡¯ve already collected most of the necessary evidence. Moving forward, we¡¯ll likely need to find separate clues. However, we don¡¯t need a full-fledged search yet¡ªsummon the police dogs." "Police dogs? Alright. I¡¯m just worried their movements might cause more damage to the scene," Dai Mingsheng responded. Jiang Yuan waved dismissively. "Dog paws and human footprints are easy to distinguish¡ªno need to worry." "Okay, I¡¯ll call the K-9 Unit right now." Dai Mingsheng strode out to make a series of calls. A little whileter, three police dogs arrived at the scene via a modified minibus. The vehicle was retrofitted, identical at its core to the minibus Jiang Yuan¡¯s team had used. Upon arrival, the number of people and dogs disembarking were roughly the same. The three dogs included two German Shepherds and one Labrador Retriever, each paired with a trainer, apanied by the K-9 Unit¡¯s captain and political officer. After a brief pep talk, the dogs were led into the replica Ming-style courtyard, their sharp barks marking the start of their day¡¯s work. Mu Zhiyang, d in a bulletproof vest and helmet, his Type 79 rifle slung across his chest, followed closely behind Jiang Yuan. Observing the dogs from a distance, he remarked, "These police dogs have it tough¡ªthis hot weather has made the ground blistering, yet they still have to run around tirelessly." Wen Ming, dressed identically to Mu Zhiyang save for his weaponry¡ªhe had a Type 92 pistol holstered at his waist and an electric baton strapped on¡ªchuckled at Mu Zhiyang¡¯sment. "Sure, it¡¯s tough for the dogs, but they get a break every hour with dedicated care for drinking and eating. No one cks off where they¡¯re concerned." "How about you grab yourself a bottle of saline soda?" Mu Zhiyang suggested, scanning his surroundings as he spoke. "Not thirsty yet. Still, we need to maintain peak alertness," Wen Ming said seriously. "If the murderer leaps out, it¡¯ll be a matter of seconds. You¡¯d better not let your guard down." Mu Zhiyang paused, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Now you¡¯re stealing my lines." Wen Mingughed. "I¡¯ve heard you say that too many times¡ªjust thought I¡¯d help you out." "Point taken," Mu Zhiyang replied, nodding. He gestured ahead. "Why don¡¯t you take the lead¡ªshould we grab a shield?" "No need. If the murdereres at us, a small shield won¡¯t help. I¡¯ll be the shield myself," Wen Ming said firmly, drawing his baton. "Your job¡¯s to watch my back." "You¡¯ve got it," Mu Zhiyang replied resolutely, gripping the stock of his Type 79 rifle. The two bantered while appropriately delegating responsibilities. Wen Ming, being less experienced with firearms and almost untouched by danger in his career, was perfect to lead the way since cing him in the rear might result in misjudgments under pressure. Conversely, Wen Ming¡¯s instincts to protect himself when directly facing danger were reliable enough. As the murderer was unlikely to have a firearm, even if they wielded a knife, the danger remained manageable. Aside from Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, other detectives fanned out to secure the nks of Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. Despite the spaciousness of the replica Ming-style building for living or filming, it was still inadequate for such arge group to maneuver freely. The only people standing directly beside Jiang Yuan were Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming. Jiang Yuan began systematically entering each room. Most of the rooms in the replica courtyard were mere fa?ades, often consisting of just windows and doors or a short entry space. Nevertheless, the few square meters inside¡ªalong with the furniture¡ªwere enough to hide a person. Previously, Jiang Yuan¡¯s team hadn¡¯t focused much on these small rooms. Aside from a few designated as changing rooms, most were irrelevant to the crew¡¯s work and the victim¡¯s case. At this stage of "hide-and-seek," however, the perspective shifted entirely. "Any findings?" Dai Mingsheng returned after coordinating with various units, approaching Jiang Yuan. "Nothing so far," Jiang Yuan responded. Then he asked, "What about the police dogs?" "They haven¡¯t found anything yet," Dai Mingsheng answered. Mu Zhiyang chuckled. "Our progress matches the dogs¡¯." The nearby officers couldn¡¯t help butugh. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t see the humor inparing humans to dogs. He simply said, "The three dogs have sniffed through the entire courtyard and found nothing so far." "So the dogs are ahead of us?" Mu Zhiyang quipped. Dai Mingsheng sighed, "It¡¯s normal. In a space this size, these three dogs should have no problem finding someone. Among them is a German Shepherd specialized in tracking people." Jiang Yuan nodded thoughtfully, then asked, "Have all areas been sniffed?" "Yes, everywhere," Dai Mingsheng confirmed. "Focus the search on the western wing," Jiang Yuan suddenly decided. Before Dai Mingsheng could question him, Jiang Yuan exined, "Room 3 in the western annex clearly shows signs of recent renovation. The floor appears to have been pried open. While other rooms show simr changes, the timeframes indicate Room 3 was altered most recently¡ªwithin the past week or two." Dai Mingsheng quickly caught on: "Creating an enclosed underground space would be the most effective way to evade the dogs¡¯ scent." "It¡¯s simply the easiest solution," Jiang Yuan added, as he began moving westward. Mu Zhiyang immediately contacted additional personnel through his radio, and Dai Mingsheng did the same. Soon, Room 3 in the western wing was encircled by officers, and equipment was brought in. "Any footprints?" Liu Jinghui whispered to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly. "Swept clean." "Perhaps they were tidying up the floor, incidentally wiping away footprints," Liu Jinghui quickly deduced, adding, "This location is definitely suspicious. Stay vignt, Mu Team." "If he dares to charge out, I¡¯ll give him a full burst," Mu Zhiyang said, keeping his hand near his submachine gun. "One, two, three..." Two workers shouted their count, uprooting arge patch of faux blue bricks to reveal a manhole cover below. Chapter 1148 - 1079: Meeting Someone (Seeking Monthly Votes)

Chapter 1148: Chapter 1079: Meeting Someone (Seeking Monthly Votes)

"Should we open it?" A group of police officers at the crime scene uncovered a hidden object, revealing a manhole cover. What else could they think of? The only question was how to open it. Before Jiang Yuan could say a word, Mu Zhiyang shouted, "Hold on," and then turned around to remove his tactical backpack. From it, he pulled out a shotgun and began assembling it. As thumb-thick bullets were loaded into the chamber one by one, the police present were all dumbstruck. The police in Lanyue City were mostly from the Criminal Police Brigade. If you had to say it, the brigade was the top of the investigative food chain. Good guns, good armor, good cars¡ªeveryone had seen and used them. But when performing a task, carrying a Type 79 submachine gun on your chest and a shotgun on your back¡ªwas this really a proper police operation? After all, Lanyue isn¡¯t Detroit! "Ready." Mu Zhiyang skillfully raised the shotgun, aiming at the manhole. His intent was clear: if anything went wrong, he¡¯d fire those massive bullets directly down. Compared to submachine guns, the defining feature of shotguns is their stopping power. If a submachine gun hits a person, it¡¯s like a sword piercing through them. But if a shotgun hits a person, it¡¯s like an axe smashing down. Someone hit by a submachine gun might, under the rush of adrenaline, still manage to pull a trigger. But someone struck by a shotgun might fly through the air,nding butt-first in a poetic "falling crane pose." This was exactly the effect Mu Zhiyang wanted. Two workers nced nervously at the shotgun and refused to approach. Two Lanyue City Criminal Police walked forward volunteering, grabbing a crowbar and prying open the manhole cover. Woo woo... A gust of wind blew up from the manhole. Beneath it, a long vertical shaft appeared, pitch ck and so deep it was impossible to see the bottom. "Go find the engineering ns," Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment, then added, "Try shouting. It¡¯s best if the suspectes out on their own." Shen Yaowei stepped forward decisively and began shouting into the shaft, "Listen up down there! We¡¯re the police. Coming up now is in your best interest..." He shouted hoarsely several times, then turned back to Liu Jinghui and asked, "What if this guy managed to escape to the outside through this? Just ran off like that?" "Can the sewers here even allow someone to pass through? Normally, for this residential area, it shouldn¡¯t be possible." Liu Jinghui, who had done his research on domestic sewer systems¡ªjust as Sherlock Holmes had studied London¡¯s¡ªknew this was a necessary skill for a detective. One of the Criminal Police Brigade members standing nearby chimed in confidently, "Sewers in Lanyue City rarely allow people through. This area shouldn¡¯t be passable either. You couldn¡¯t even crawl out." "Try shouting a bit more," Liu Jinghui said. Shen Yaowei grabbed another colleague and the two began shouting alternately, hollering back and forth for two minutes straight. "Could there be no one down there?" Shen Yaowei questioned tentatively, then added, "How about I go down to take a look?" "Too risky." Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t let an officer go down like that. After deliberating briefly, he said, "Find two tear gas or smoke grenades and toss them down to see." Shen Yaowei naturally turned to look at the Criminal Police Brigade officers next to him. The city cops from Lanyue Bureau were dumbfounded. Dai Mingsheng, feeling overwhelmed with a million disjointed thoughts, sighed and said, "I¡¯ll call someone to send two tear gas grenades over." Someone nearby suggested, "Why not start a fire down there? Once smoke rises, the suspect should be unable to bear it." Liu Jinghui immediately shook his head, "Setting a fire isn¡¯t good. First, it could cause burns. Second, it might destroy evidence. Also, if the suspect withstands the smoke, the officers going down might be attacked. Tear gas is still more reliable. For elimination, you need something powerful." The effects of tear gas or smoke grenades are something no normal person can withstand. At this point, Dai Mingsheng stopped hesitating, picked up his phone, and issued the order. Not long after, two tear gas grenades were delivered. Dai Mingsheng inspected them briefly, then pulled the pin on one and tossed it straight down. Thick smoke began rising within the shaft. Cough cough... Achoo... As noises echoed up from the shaft, the officers waiting in the small room visibly changed their expressions. "There¡¯s really someone down there?" Though everyone followed Liu Jinghui¡¯s orders willingly, deep down, not all believed there was a suspect hiding here. If even police dogs couldn¡¯t scent anyone in this area, how could an individual be hiding in a deep shaft? The situation seemed bizarre. And yet, this was an aplice in a major case. Still, regardless of denial or probability-based spection, definitive evidence renders all doubt powerless. Right now, that definitive evidence was the suspect himself. "Listen up down there! Climb up properly, or I¡¯ll toss a mustard-vored tear gas grenade next!" Shen Yaowei bluffed casually, but the tone carried heavy intimidation. The coughing voice below quickly responded, "I¡¯ll climb up right now, don¡¯t throw anything else!" Tear gas releases gradually, and the confined space of the sewer meant the person below was soon overwhelmed. He coughed repeatedly and hastily climbed up. Two criminal police officers immediately pounced on him, locking him up tightly. Handcuffed with his arms behind his back, the suspect resembled a crab with its ws bound, his ability to resist greatly reduced. The suspect didn¡¯t resist at all, his face covered in snot and tears. "What¡¯s your name?" one criminal police officer demanded grimly. "Wang Xiang," the handcuffed suspect answered cooperatively. The surrounding officers silently observed him. He was a young man, barely in his twenties, tall¡ªat least six feet¡ªand very fit, with abs and chest muscles. Overall, he was slender¡ªwhat might be described as a ssic "skinny guy." Recalling Jiang Yuan¡¯s description of the suspect, the age and physique lined up perfectly. Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind stirred¡ªwhile the mastermind was still desperately holding out and refusing to confess, this Wang Xiang¡¯s interrogation at the center might lead to unknown oues. Liu Jinghui signaled Wang Chuanxing with his eyes, then addressed the suspect, "Do you know why we apprehended you?" "N-no... I don¡¯t... Cough cough... Give me some water." Wang Xiang looked pained. "If you don¡¯t know, how did we manage to find you?" Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t skilled at interrogation, but when dealing with novices, he could easily bluff them. Wang Xiang was predictably stumped. The ce he¡¯d been hiding, as far as he knew, was only known to the mastermind Wang Yuxian. It should have been the safest hideout imaginable. But now, in this hidden spot, someone had suddenly tossed in a tear gas grenade. Wang Xiang¡¯s head couldn¡¯t wrap around it. Instinctively, he responded, "What did you say? I don¡¯t understand." Liu Jinghui sternly replied, "Think carefully. If you don¡¯t confess, your aplice will. If that happens, this entire case will rest on your shoulders alone." Chapter 1149 - 1080: Sudden Interrogation

Chapter 1149: Chapter 1080: Sudden Interrogation

"I... I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about." Wang Xiang repeated his earlier words. This was a verymon reaction for suspects under interrogation. Still in shock, he hadn¡¯t yet entered a state of rational thought where he could weigh pros and cons. But instinctively driven by fear and a desire to escape, he could only spout useless nonsense. Liu Jinghui remained calm, crouched down, lifted Wang Xiang¡¯s chin, and spoke in an extremely slow tone, "You can¡¯t get away from this. Think about it¡ªthis is the crime scene, and you were hiding under the floor, in such a secluded sewer for several days. Can you exin that? If you can¡¯t, we have witness testimonies." He was bluffing. If a professional or even awyer were present, they¡¯d quickly brush this line of reasoning aside. But Wang Xiang didn¡¯t have that option now and wouldn¡¯tter either. The most crucial aspect was that Liu Jinghui was merely pushing open a door¡ªa foundationid out. From here, Wang Xiang could start associating himself with the crime in various ways. Of course, his thoughts wouldn¡¯t align with those of the police, but the conclusions often ended up being the same. "I... I want awyer. I want to see awyer," Wang Xiang finally raised his head, his intelligence beginning to return. Liu Jinghui shook his head and replied, "This isn¡¯t a TV drama. Let me be clear: because this involves a murder case, and there is solid evidence, you¡¯ll only be allowed to see awyer after you cooperate andplete the police interrogation." A criminal investigator standing nearby coldly added, "Even if you see one, it won¡¯t help. Just tell us whether you killed her or not." "I didn¡¯t kill anyone!" Wang Xiang seemed bolstered by the challenge and answered firmly. Liu Jinghui, who had studied psychology as well, immediately spotted the issue and pressed further, "Who did kill her?" "It¡¯s... it¡¯s..." Wang Xiang¡¯s expression wavered for a moment, but he said nothing. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui suddenly stood up and ordered, "Interrogate Wang Yuxian and tell him this is hisst chance." While speaking, Liu Jinghui kept his eyes locked on Wang Xiang. Wang Xiang understood instantly. As the exchange went on, while Wang Xiang¡¯s fear hadn¡¯t significantly diminished, his intelligence had slowlye back online. Even with the faint trace of intellect he had regained, Wang Xiang realized that clinging to silence or resisting would likely only benefit Wang Yuxian. All premeditated murderers, when they carry out their crimes, experience an inexplicable confidence that they can evade police investigation¡ªno matter how irrational or foolish this confidence might be. It¡¯s simply a part of their mindset. Without it, they likely wouldn¡¯t resort to murder. On the other hand, if they weren¡¯t confident in avoiding suspicion, they either wouldn¡¯t carry out the murder ns or more often would end upmitting crimes of passion. Nowadays, people¡¯s preventive awareness is rtively weak. Many major corporate owners don¡¯t even have bodyguards around them. If no precautions are taken, it¡¯s inevitable that the enemies and disgruntled individuals they¡¯ve offended will not be few. Wang Xiang clearly didn¡¯t want to die. If he had the courage to face death calmly, why would he hide in this foul-smelling sewer for several days? He was only 23 years old, tall at 180cm, athletic with abs, and good-looking enough to attract women at bars without spending a dime. If asked whether he regretted it now, Wang Xiang would surely say yes. But even with his limited intelligence, he knew he didn¡¯t have time for regrets. "I¡¯m the victim. Wang Yuxian killed her¡ªI didn¡¯t know about it." Wang Xiang figured he had to say something. Otherwise, there¡¯d be no way to exin why he was there, why he was hiding in the sewer, or to prevent Wang Yuxian from pinning everything on him. For Liu Jinghui and his team, as long as Wang Xiang started talking, that was enough. On the surface, Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Why do you im you¡¯re the victim?" "I... I really am the victim. But I saw Wang Yuxian kill her¡ªI can testify as a witness, act as a whistleblower!" Wang Xiang hurriedly replied. Liu Jinghui smirked. Unlike foreign systems with whistleblower protections offering immunity or reduced sentences, the domestic legal framework had no such provisions. Here, it was more about earning merit by confessing crimes¡ªa distinction akin to an 80% discount rather than full immunity. So Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t bother correcting Wang Xiang¡¯s misunderstanding. Instead, he coolly asked, "Alright then, tell us how Wang Yuxian killed her." An ordinary person at this point might inquire why Wang Xiang had witnessed Wang Yuxianmitting the crime or why he was present at the crime scene. But for a police officer, details of the murder were the priority. Asking the former questions would increase suspicion toward Wang Xiang as a non-direct perpetrator of the crime. But asking for murder details served multiple purposes¡ªit confirmed the authenticity of Wang Xiang¡¯s testimony, identified Wang Yuxian as the direct perpetrator, and lowered Wang Xiang¡¯s guard. As for Wang Xiang¡¯s actual involvement, Liu Jinghui reasoned that if he didn¡¯t confess now, they could always confront Wang Yuxianter to get the full story. Meanwhile, a police officer with a camera had quietly switched it on to record everything. Now, Wang Xiang had decided to throw others under the bus to save his own skin. After brief hesitation, he said, "Wang Yuxian, being a prop master, knows how to mix substances. That day, he used some Knockout Drug to knock Li Aiyuan unconscious. He said he wanted to do something, so I went to the next room. When I came back, he had strangled her. He imed Li Aiyuan woke up midway, and he panicked, identally killing her. By then, she was already dead¡ªI had no other choice but to hide." This exnation elicited slight amusement from the police listening in. It was overly polished yet riddled with ws. Liu Jinghui remained calm and asked, "What kind of Knockout Drug was it? How did it knock her out?" "Like in the movies¡ªyou spray some onto a mask or cloth, cover their mouth, and they pass out." Wang Xiang spoke quickly. Jiang Yuan interjected, "You said Wang Yuxian wanted to ¡¯do something.¡¯ Did he actually get to that?" "I don¡¯t think... I don¡¯t think he got the chance. Maybe the dose wasn¡¯t enough. When he called me over, his pants were still on." Wang Xiang¡¯s response was noticeably slower this time. Jiang Yuan shook his head and intentionally bluffed, "So you¡¯re the one who had intercourse with Li Aiyuan? Was it rape?" "No, it wasn¡¯t rape." Wang Xiang hesitated, then lowered his head and said, "We were dating." "Dating her, yet you let Wang Yuxian mess around with her?" Liu Jinghui responded with an incredulous expression deliberately designed to provoke. Wang Xiang slowed his speech even more and said, "He¡¯s helped me a lot in the past, and when he asked, I felt I couldn¡¯t refuse. We were just casually dating anyway¡ªit wasn¡¯t anything serious. He said we¡¯d start, and after we were done, he¡¯d use the Knockout Drug on her and follow up. Since she¡¯d already been with me, she wouldn¡¯t be able to tell afterward. He said if she¡¯s unconscious, it wouldn¡¯t matter." "If her mouth is covered, wouldn¡¯t she know?" "He said the drug makes thempletely lose memory, like roofies." Wang Xiang was speaking more freely now. At this point, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged nces. Jiang Yuan said, "But the murder didn¡¯t happen as you described¡ªwith her being strangled. Wang Yuxian stood behind Li Aiyuan and covered her mouth, suffocating her. At the time, were you standing in front of Li Aiyuan?" Wang Xiang froze, and a wave of immense fear overwhelmed him. He had hoped to dodge punishment¡ªnot entirely, but at least partially. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s words made him realize, even with his limited understanding of thew, that he was now being implicated as an aplice to murder. Most chilling was the fact that the tall officer somehow knew the positions of everyone involved during the killing. With his level of understanding, Wang Xiang couldn¡¯t grasp the capabilities of forensic technology. Wang Xiang couldn¡¯t stop himself from thinking about Wang Yuxian. "Did Wang Yuxian tell you this?" Wang Xiang asked. "Confess your own actions." Liu Jinghui raised his voice slightly and said, "Think carefully¡ªif you lie, don¡¯t count on being treated as a whistleblower." Wang Chuanxing nced over¡ªwas this level of bluffing even allowed? Wang Xiang believed it. Furrowing his brow, he said, "Yes, I was standing in front of Li Aiyuan at the time, but I didn¡¯t do anything. I had my thing in her¡ªit was feeling good¡ªand Wang Yuxian suddenly covered her. I didn¡¯t want it, but he acted before I could stop him!" Even for seasoned criminal investigators, Wang Xiang¡¯s words were a shock to the senses. Liu Jinghui followed up, "This wasn¡¯t the first time you two coborated like this, was it?" Wang Xiang remained silent for a while before saying, "Let¡¯s not talk about the past." "What¡¯s your rtionship with Wang Yuxian?" Liu Jinghui shifted to a different question. "He¡¯s a hometown friend. He helped me out in the beginning, introducing me to some people and connections." "And then you started coborating to get women?" Liu Jinghui looped back to his original line of inquiry. "Just... in the past, we¡¯d mess around at bars or something. I¡¯m good at attracting women; Wang Yuxian isn¡¯t, so he¡¯d pick up my leftovers." Wang Xiang didn¡¯t bring up any transactional details. Liu Jinghui hesitated. More specific questioning could tie Wang Yuxian to multiple rape charges, which would undoubtedly aid their case against himter. But as this was a field interrogation, the evidentiary strength and situational context didn¡¯t allow for a detailed inquiry. Building a rape case required extensive details¡ªspecific acts, durations, frequency¡ªresulting in thick documentation for criminal filings. No regrets at this point. Liu Jinghui quickly decided to follow his earlier track: "What about Li Aiyuan? Such a beautiful star, and yet you were willing to share her with Wang Yuxian. What did he offer you in return?" Wang Xiang wavered for a while, realizing his exnation didn¡¯t make sense, before admitting, "He promised to get me a lead role in a film. Plus, Li Aiyuan was introduced to me by him." "Couldn¡¯t Li Aiyuan introduce herself?" "Li Aiyuan was just... just ying around with me." Wang Xiang said with a sneer, "She was giving me money." Liu Jinghui figured it out¡ªWang Xiang essentially acted as a male model or gigolo for her. Turning back, Liu Jinghui pressed further, "How could a prop master promise you a lead role?" Wang Xiang: "He had connections with sponsors and bigwigs." "So he set up these bigwigs to drug female celebrities?" Liu Jinghui immediately deduced an implicit profit-drivenwork. Wang Xiang dropped his head and said, "I don¡¯t know much about what he does¡ªI didn¡¯t really participate. This was the first time." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t buy it, but he didn¡¯t press further. Instead, he delivered a prepared "big move": "You were having sex with Li Aiyuan while standing, as Wang Yuxian stood behind her, covering her mouth and suffocating her. You just stood there and watched?" "I... I didn¡¯t react in time." "It takes a considerable amount of time to suffocate someone." Wang Xiang¡¯s replies became smoother: "I was busy... I was really tired. Wang Yuxian said the longer you cover her, the better the effect¡ªshe won¡¯t have any memory if she wakes up. I didn¡¯t think much about it. How could I have known Wang Yuxian would end up killing her? I was scared stiff at that moment!" "So you¡¯re iming it was an idental killing?" "I don¡¯t know about Wang Yuxian¡ªI truly didn¡¯t mean to kill anyone. I¡¯m a victim too..." Liu Jinghui interrupted Wang Xiang¡¯s pleas, pointing at a nearby vertical shaft, "If it was idental, why did you prepare a hiding spot in advance?" Chapter 1150 - 1081: The Sponsor

Chapter 1150: Chapter 1081: The Sponsor

Murder warrants a death sentence, but idental killing might only lead to a few years in prison. Wang Xiang wasn¡¯t familiar with most things, but he had heard others exin the intricacies of this matter. So when Liu Jinghui mentioned murder, Wang Xiang¡¯s face instantly changed. He hurriedly said, "It really was an ident. After the person died, we didn¡¯t know what to do. Wang Yuxian said that the police would definitely check the surveince footage once they arrived. Then he said he knew there was a well down there and told me to hide it inside." Wang Xiang¡¯s bottom line had been broken down step by step. Initially, he had been thinking about how to evade punishment. Later, he was prepared to admit to some minor crime. By now, he was even starting to think that being an aplice in idental manughter might be eptable. Even so, Liu Jinghui continued to press him relentlessly. Liu Jinghui questioned, "If you weren¡¯t nning to kill, then why did you deliberately choose routes where surveince cameras were disabled when you entered? Why did you specifically avoid the cameras?" "I was meeting Li Aiyuan for an affair. Having an affair isn¡¯t illegal, but you can¡¯t let people know, right?" Compared to his earlier statements, Wang Xiang¡¯s reply this time sounded slightly more cautious. But to Liu Jinghui, it still had ring holes. Liu Jinghui simply chuckled and said, "If it¡¯s just for an affair, wouldn¡¯t it be easier to go to a hotel? You wouldn¡¯t even need to avoid surveince then." "Surveince... doesn¡¯t it add excitement?" Wang Xiang, when it came to rationalizing these things, did have a strange kind of talent. Liu Jinghui was amused, shaking his head as he replied, "What about the stench of a sewer? You spent an entire day down in a sewer just for excitement? And besides, if it truly was about having an affair and not about evading the police, given Wang Yuxian¡¯s skills as a props master, couldn¡¯t he have found you a morefortable hiding spot?" For a moment, Wang Xiang was truly speechless. In truth, choosing the sewer was specifically to avoid police dogs. Though he and Wang Yuxian were somewhat ignorant of thew, they at least knew how formidable police dogs could be. Otherwise, as the officers across from him suggested, they could¡¯ve hidden in a cab, under a bed, or even in a small room, waiting for the film crew to leave beforeing out. "Who was the mastermind? Who suggested killing her?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice carried an almost demonic temptation. Wang Xiang couldn¡¯t withstand the temptation. He was aware that he shouldn¡¯t speak up¡ªthe so-called prisoner¡¯s dilemma always favored mutual silence. But if one person spoke first, it would benefit them individually. Wang Xiang had little trust in Wang Yuxian and was entirely self-serving. Liu Jinghui waited silently for a minute before repeating the question. With a long sigh, Wang Xiang admitted, "It was Wang Yuxian who proposed it." "Why did he want to kill Li Aiyuan?" Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t surprised. By this point, Wang Xiang didn¡¯t have many choices left. In fact, the moment he started thinking seriously about the situation, he had already fallen into Liu Jinghui¡¯s trap. Hesitating for a few seconds, Wang Xiang exined, "She took benefits from the sponsor without delivering results. She even threatened the sponsor with some private items she had hidden away. Wang Yuxian wanted to climb up the ranks and took on the task himself." "Killed to curry favor with the sponsor?" Liu Jinghui frowned and probed. "At first, he wanted me to take care of Li Aiyuan." Wang Xiang continued,ughing at himself as he said, "He even wanted to record some video footage to ckmail her, but it didn¡¯t work. Plus, time was running out. Li Aiyuan pressured the sponsor, who then pressured Wang Yuxian. Eventually, the sponsor told Wang Yuxian that if he couldn¡¯t handle it, they¡¯d send him abroad. That¡¯s what pushed him to start nning the murder." Based on Liu Jinghui¡¯s experience, he knew the stakes behind this chain of interests were far moreplex. However, for a rapid interrogation, the environment wasn¡¯t conducive to a deeper probe. There were pros and cons to everything¡ªwithout this sudden interrogation, God knows how long it would¡¯ve taken for Wang Xiang to start confessing after being taken back. Skipping over the dense details, Liu Jinghui stared hard at Wang Xiang and asked, "Who is the sponsor you¡¯re talking about?" "I don¡¯t know. Wang Yuxian wouldn¡¯t tell me." Wang Xiang answered smoothly, almost enthusiastically. Liu Jinghui pressed him for a couple more answers, but Wang Xiang¡¯s replies remained the same. At this point, Liu Jinghui stopped. It made logical sense that Wang Yuxian didn¡¯t disclose the sponsor¡¯s identity to Wang Xiang. He likely worried that Wang Xiang might bypass him and deal directly with the sponsor. What¡¯s more,pared to Wang Xiang and Wang Yuxian, the sponsor had to be someone much more powerful and wealthy. Even if Wang Xiang knew who they were, he¡¯d likely keep quiet, perhaps even viewing them as his lifeline. "Send him to the Criminal Police Brigade," Liu Jinghui said, having concluded his questioning. He didn¡¯t want to see Wang Xiang¡¯s face anymore. Two officers grabbed Wang Xiang and escorted him out. Wang Xiang wailed miserably, looking back three times with every step, but no one paid him any attention. "Let¡¯s take another look below." Jiang Yuan noted that the tear gas at the bottom of the vertical shaft had mostly dispersed and began preparing for another round of inspection. Mu Zhiyang unsurprisingly pulled him back, while Shen Yaowei proactively volunteered to go down into the shaft. Jiang Yuan scrutinized Shen Yaowei for several seconds before saying, "Let¡¯s send a police dog down first." Theoretically, the bottom of the shaft should be empty, save for the garbage and excrement left behind by Wang Xiang during his time there. But nothing is ever guaranteed. The cases Jiang Yuan and his team handled were all low-probability events. If someone was still down there, the officer descending would be risking their life. In situations like this, sending a police dog down to bark a few times might be more effective. Although lowering the dog might be a hassle, the police dog squad had ready-made solutions for this. While the team bustled about, Liu Jinghui pulled Jiang Yuan aside and whispered, "Give Huang a call. This case still has plenty left to unravel." "You mean the sponsor behind this?" Jiang Yuan pulled out his phone. "That props master couldn¡¯t have just one sponsor," Liu Jinghui paused before continuing, "Li Aiyuan¡¯s sponsor probably has more clout than the ones the props master usually deals with. But whatever the case, drug-assisted assault and rape are serious crimes. These people will try to wriggle out of this, no matter what." Jiang Yuan nodded. Liu Jinghui¡¯s expression became more animated, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as he remarked, "This time, we might end up shutting down quite a fewpanies. Yet, Lanyue City¡¯s economy isn¡¯t something for us to worry about." "Just a few bad apples," Jiang Yuan said with zero hesitation. Economic fluctuations inevitably leave some people struggling and others benefiting. Avoiding the scrutiny of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team was an easier standard to meet than abiding strictly byws and regtions. Soon, a German Shepherd sat inside a basket, being slowly lowered into the vertical shaft. The dog looked alert, its sleek ck fur gleaming under the light. During this interim, Jiang Yuan made the call to Huang Qiangmin. On the other end, Huang Qiangmin remained silent for three seconds before asking, "Can you find solid evidence to bring these people to justice? I¡¯m not talking about Liu¡¯s deductions¡ªI mean evidence that can be tested in court." "I can." Jiang Yuan swiftly visualized the array of skills he had at his disposal and responded with absolute certainty. Chapter 1151 - 1082: Magnanimously

Chapter 1151: Chapter 1082: Magnanimously

Before dinner, Huang Qiangmin had already arrived in Lanyue City. Judging by the time, Huang Qiangmin must have headed straight to the airport as soon as he received the call. Dai Mingsheng was the first toe and greet Huang Qiangmin. The group found a small restaurant outside, booked a private room on the second floor, and sat down to talk. Huang Qiangmin observed Dai Mingsheng¡¯s expression, took a few sips of tea, exchanged a few pleasantries, then decisively asked, "Your opinion¡ªshould we act now, or what?" Dai Mingsheng nced at Huang Qiangmin, smiled faintly, and replied, "If you were in this situation, what would you choose, old brother?" "Jianyuan Group is thergest enterprise in Qinghe City, a soon-to-be-listed majorpany. It employs tens of thousands of people and drives who knows how many service industry jobs in the surrounding areas. But in the end, it was brought down all at once. The CEO¡¯s entire family¡ªeither dead or executed¡ªnone left standing." Huang Qiangmin recounted this story like it was second nature. If not for Jiang Yuan working under him, he could tell this story for a lifetime. Dai Mingshengughed heartily, "I figured you¡¯d bring up Jianyuan. But the circumstances are different¡ªJianyuan was into drug trafficking and manufacturing, a sure death sentence." Huang Qiangmin smiled without responding. "We have the same zero-tolerance attitude toward the eight major crimes." Dai Mingsheng took a deep breath, lit a cigarette, and slowly continued, "But there¡¯s a problem now. If the evidence only consists of the suspect¡¯s confession, that won¡¯t hold. Of course, the victim¡¯s statement is also crucial evidence, but I suspect this case involves some public figures, so will the victims be willing to testify?" Dai Mingsheng posed the question to himself and answered, "I think some people would rather break their teeth and swallow them than admit they were raped. If we insist on pursuing this case, some victims might even turn into witnesses for the defense." "This kind of situation is something we¡¯ve encountered before. There are always ways to mitigate it ande up with solutions," Huang Qiangmin said indifferently. Such matters were par for the course in rape cases. Dai Mingsheng nodded, "That¡¯s true. But it can¡¯t be that every angle is opposed. There are some individuals here... you see, the evidence needs to be solid." As he spoke, his gaze naturally shifted to Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. Liu Jinghui sighed inwardly, feeling it was a bit unfair, yet deeply impressed. Even with his reasoning abilities, this time he was entirely reliant on Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint analysis and crime scene investigation. Without them, forget about drawing conclusions¡ªthe final result would be a baseless guess. Liu Jinghui felt somewhat like a Dragon Knight. As the knight, he was indeed powerful, but the dragon was critical too. In terms of rarity and versatility, the dragon¡¯s role was clearly immense. This was exactly why Dai Mingsheng had made the request. Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin. Today¡¯s discussion was crucial; he needed Huang Qiangmin to oversee it. At this point, Huang Qiangmin chuckled heartily three times and said, "Old Dai, the question you¡¯re asking is identical to the one I posed to Jiang Yuan earlier." "Oh? How did Jiang Yuan answer?" Upon hearing this, Dai Mingsheng felt slightly more at ease. As long as there was evidence, especially objective evidence, his pressure would be greatly reduced. Huang Qiangmin patted Jiang Yuan and said to Dai Mingsheng, "As long as you can provide the necessary resources, Jiang Yuan will be able to produce the evidence." "What resources do you need?" This time, Dai Mingsheng looked directly at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan replied, "The basics¡ªtechnical investigationbined with surveince will suffice. Technical investigation can pinpoint the timeframes in which the victim and perpetrator¡¯s phones were in the same room, while surveince confirms their location and state. Later, this can be supplemented by the victim¡¯s testimony, forming a nearlyplete chain of evidence. If that¡¯s still insufficient, there are other options." Although it was the first time Huang Qiangmin heard Jiang Yuan¡¯s n, he immediately added, "If the suspect ims they don¡¯t know the victim, haven¡¯t met them, or weren¡¯t together during a particr time, we can use evidence to disprove them. As long as we prove the suspect is lying, the credibility of the testimony increases significantly. And if surveince reveals further details, all the better." "This method works." Dai Mingsheng, not one to rigidly adhere to rules, nodded promptly. "People with problems tend to speak untruthfully on topics like this." Liu Jinghui interjected, "If they do speak truthfully, what they admit might be enough to convict them." "That¡¯s exactly correct. If we can confirm their movements on the day, as well as the rtionships between individuals... the opposition doesn¡¯t stand a chance," Dai Mingsheng said, then naturally added, "But..." Huang Qiangmin sipped his tea, "But what?" "Finding people via technical investigation isn¡¯t hard, but when ites to surveince footage, you might not be aware¡ªour Lanyue City¡¯s surveince system is generally quite outdated. The older systems installed nearly 20 years ago were decent at the time, butpared to today¡¯s new equipment, they fall short. Of course, the newer instations are fine, but for this particr case, I suspect locating suitable footage will be difficult." Dai Mingsheng spoke very specifically. There are plenty of surveince cameras nowadays, but when ites to practical application, opinions among different departments vary. Take identity verification as an example¡ªcameras capable of capturing facial features are rtively few, with most focusing on body shape and clothing. This is why, in movies and TV shows, spies evading pursuers often change clothes¡ªan effective counter-surveince tactic. It doesn¡¯t guarantee evasion but does increase the pursuers¡¯ workload, both online and offline. As for this case, encountering 20-year-old surveince equipment means blurred faces that prevent specific identity determination, and actions between the parties would be even harder to discern. While it¡¯s not unusable, its effectiveness would undoubtedly be much lower. At this point, Jiang Yuan spoke up, "Surveince from 20 years ago doesn¡¯t matter¡ªHoneywell, Samsung, Sony, or Axis systems, I¡¯m familiar with them all. Domestic systems are even less of an issue." He wasn¡¯t exaggerating, but rather giving Dai Mingsheng some confidence. And also boosting Huang Qiangmin¡¯s morale. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s smile revealed bright, gleaming teeth. "If Captain Jiang thinks it¡¯s feasible, then we¡¯ll proceed with this n!" Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t hesitate and further asked, "How much time will it take? A few days?" "For this case, the sooner the better," Jiang Yuan nced at Dai Mingsheng. "I¡¯ll start working immediately. Vice Captain Dai can secretly assemble the team. Once we¡¯ve confirmed the suspects, we¡¯ll act under the cover of night. By tomorrow morning, I hope we¡¯ll have all the targets apprehended." This n left Dai Mingsheng deeply impressed. It was undoubtedly the best option but ced all the difficulty squarely on Jiang Yuan. "Understood. Since Captain Jiang is giving it his all, we can¡¯t be left behind. I¡¯ll make the call now to request reinforcements for the task force!" Dai Mingsheng was inspired by Jiang Yuan¡¯s determination. Jiang Yuan responded with a smile. A Level 6 Image Investigation¡ªtrajectory analysisbined with Level 3 technical surveince technology, Level 5 Image Enhancement methods, Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation, and Level 4 forensic material evidence work didn¡¯t even count as "giving it his all." It was just business as usual. Of course, he could still amodate Dai Mingsheng¡¯s enthusiasm. Chapter 1152 - 1083: Capture One Person

Chapter 1152: Chapter 1083: Capture One Person

Command center of the Graphic Investigation Brigade at the Lanyue City Bureau. Being wealthier than the Changyang City Bureau, the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s Graphic Investigation Brigade boasts a morevish and impressivemand center. Silver walls, red-and-ck color scheme, resembling a satelliteunch basemand center¡ªwith rows ofputer screens lined up in an orderly fashion. The content on the screens can be mirrored onto therge central screen or disyed in split view on therge screen. The presentation effect is top-notch, often the highlight when leaderse to visit and inspect. Wang Chuanxing quickly got familiar with the setup and was having a st, taking a break to circle around Huang Qiangmin: "This kind ofmand center really suits Captain Jiang... They just use it to show off, while we actually need it... We should have this reasonably reallocated to us... If we had a system like this, wouldn¡¯t our operational efficiency improve by 20%?" Initially, Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t react much, but as Wang Chuanxing kept talking, he started to look swayed. Finally, he licked his lips and said, "This system is too expensive. We can¡¯t just take it. Let¡¯s wait... until their city bureau or the film studio needs something a few more times." Wang Chuanxing was tempted and said, "If we had amand system like this, taking down every suspect in their film studio would be worth it." "Cutting off the source!" Huang Qiangmin criticized Wang Chuanxing, saying, "Comments that affect unity shouldn¡¯t be made in the future. The purpose is not merely capturing suspects; it¡¯s about maintaining social stability, serving the public, punishing crime, and pursuing fairness and justice... That¡¯s our direction for development. Command centers like this are also meant to serve the police force and should not be prioritized above everything else." "Understood." Wang Chuanxing obediently responded. "You all focus on your work and show the Lanyue City Bureau what we¡¯re capable of first," Huang Qiangmin carefully arranged. Wang Chuanxing got the message, replied affirmatively, and turned to get busy in themand center. When ites to multitasking, Wang Chuanxing has quite a knack for it. This time, using multipleputers was not just for speeding up the process but to amodate surveince videos in different formats. Compared to Changyang City, Lanyue City¡¯s better economic condition meant their surveince infrastructure was established earlier, resulting in more legacy issues. Various surveince systems from differentpanies inadvertently employed diverse independent formats. Trying to make oneputerpatible with all of them was too difficult. Jiang Yuan still refrained from operating theputers, standing at the front of themand center while watching the videos imported by Wang Chuanxing. The time-consuming part wasn¡¯t just viewing the videos, but also navigating the process of locating surveince footage¡ªdifferent surveince systems had varied methods for storing and managing their videos. Some had dedicated data centers, while others used advanced cloud storage connected directly to the Graphic Investigationmand center. In such cases, they could only view footage from those areas where the images were avable. Wang Chuanxing coordinated between image data and technical investigation. Liu Jinghui stood to the side and began analyzing the evidence chain. Positioning himself in the role of a "Dragon Knight," Liu Jinghui imagined every image decoded by Jiang Yuan as potential evidence to prove rtionships between suspects and victims, their behaviors, or their whereabouts in time and space, among other things... "Suspect No. 11 and victim No. 18." Liu Jinghui confirmed the targets, "11-18. Scene one. Act one. Begin." Wang Chuanxing pulled up the video. The video was disyed on the central screen. When slightly erged, it revealed numerous patches and noise. The timestamp in the video suggested it was evening. However, the screen kept flickering with white specks. The video quality itself wasckluster; even a human head the size of a fist appearedposed of merely a dozen polygons. While discernible within the overall environment, isting it to identify a face seemed almost impossible. "The very first video is already quite challenging¡ªnighttime footage." Dai Mingshengmented, observing from the sidelines¡ªnot as a supervisor, but more like a spectator assessing the situation. "Most of this batch of videos are nighttime footage. Nighttime incidents are more frequent." Themand center lead from the Graphic Investigation Brigade apanied him beside the monitors. "It¡¯s the nighttime escapades that are frequent." Liu Wenkai, intrigued by the case and having studied it for a while, remarked, "Some suspects in the videos seem deliberate in avoiding the cameras¡ªthey¡¯re definitely experienced." "Surveince isn¡¯t omnipotent. If we really can¡¯t crack it, we¡¯ll find another way." Dai Mingsheng spoke half-heartedly. Without surveince footage, making further progress would be nearly impossible for him. In fact, if today went smoothly, Dai Mingsheng intended to stick around in themand center without leaving¡ªnot even for bathroom breaks unless apanied by Huang Qiangmin or Liu Jinghui. However, looking at this crude, unrefined video during analysis, Dai Mingsheng began to worry. If Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t deliver results, or couldn¡¯t produce them within the promised timeframe of one night, there¡¯d be plenty ofplications ahead. Gathering so many "long-arm troops" alone would draw criticism from others. Dai Mingsheng was aware of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation in handling scenes, traces, and bodies. As for Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise with surveince footage, Dai Mingsheng wasn¡¯t entirely convinced. Frequent traveling to the film studio had made Dai Mingsheng well aware of theplexities in video analysis technology. Those experts earning millions in annual sries were at that level because of their highly specialized skill sets. The few he had encountered were exceptional¡ªtechnical geniuses entirely dedicated to their craft. When considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s age, background, and current breadth of skills, Dai Mingsheng felt it was unlikely Jiang Yuan could surpass those top-tier specialists. Of course, those experts were also often challenging to utilize for police purposes. The invitation process was cumbersome and their results not always reliable... "Pause." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice called out. Wang Chuanxing immediately pressed the pause button. Jiang Yuan stepped to the right and began operating at the control panel. The paused frame from the video was disyed on the central screen and started bing clearer. The Level 5 image enhancement was now demonstrating its amazing rity. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s pupils focused instantly, like a cat staring at the screen. He was someone who recognized valuable things¡ªthough he didn¡¯t know much, he understood what technology was rare and precious. "Run the license te number search." Jiang Yuan¡¯s image enhancement targeted the vehicle¡¯s license te in the footage. Once the number was retrieved, it would lead to a series of clues. Wang Chuanxing promptly recorded the information and began sharing it in the group chat. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling the operator to keep ying the video. "It stops here. There¡¯s no additional footage beyond this." The operator yed for two more minutes, watching the suspect move off-screen. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t respond and said, "Pull up the surveince map." Soon, a high-resolution map of Lanyue City appeared on the central screen, dotted with countless camera locations. Jiang Yuan motioned to zoom in on the map and trace the street where the incident urred. Within the next 2 kilometers, there truly wasn¡¯t any surveince footage avable. Nheless, having the vehicle¡¯s license te made a difference now. After scanning the map briefly, Jiang Yuan identified several vehicle checkpoints farther ahead and said, "Track down this vehicle." The team below immediately began working diligently. Not long after, somebody stood up and reported: "The car belongs to Deer Park Entertainment Co., Ltd. Its actual controller, Wang Xiangjun, is a shareholder of suspect No. 11 Zhang Yingkui in Litoya Film Industry. Wang Xiangjun likely lent the car to Zhang Yingkui." "We¡¯ve located Zhang Yingkui." Another person swiftly reported. "The car is parked at a party house." "Victim No. 18¡¯s car appeared outside the neighborhood where the party house is located and entered the premises." Updates rolled in swiftly, with no need for Jiang Yuan to give extra direction. As the information was nearly consolidated, Liu Jinghui looked toward Dai Mingsheng and said, "Dai Zhi, we can proceed to apprehend suspect No. 11, Zhang Yingkui. Simultaneously, we can deploy personnel to the neighborhood where the party house is located. If we can collect surveince footage within the neighborhood, that would be ideal." "Are we really apprehending him now?" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s eyelids twitched¡ªnot due to hesitation about the arrest itself, but simply because everything was moving so quickly. "Let¡¯s proceed." Huang Qiangmin chuckled from the side and said, "The night is long¡ªbetter to act early and free up the police force sooner." Chapter 1153 - 1084: I Know

Chapter 1153: Chapter 1084: I Know

Beep... Woo... Beep... Woo... Every now and then, a police officer would head out with a sound or return with a sound. How loud or how varied the sounds outside were, Jiang Yuan and the others couldn¡¯t hear them. Regardless, whenever the sounds came or went, they were always quite loud. Each returning convoy brought back at least one suspect. In cases of drug-facilitated assault or outright rape, the victim¡¯s testimony is paramount, followed by a chain of evidence. The already arrested Wang Xiang and the props master Wang Yuxian served as third-party witnesses. Just based on testimonies alone, these two were already sufficient to ensure credibility. What remained was finding concrete evidence¡ªsuch as the exact location and timing of the assault, how both parties arrived there, whether it was arranged or one was brought unconsciously. When did the incident ur, and when did it end? By the time of submission for examination, most intermediary details would also need to be filled in. If one party was unconscious, the other party¡¯s ount typically bes essential. Though these aspects may sound simple, handling them is painstaking. To the police, anything entering the case files must be treated with utmost caution. As for Dai Mingsheng, nothing gave him more peace of mind than video surveince evidence. Especially in theter hours of the night, as everyone grew more proficient, their efficiency soared. Jiang Yuan found evidence significantly faster, and the frequency of deployment teams increased notably. Despite the strong fatigue, Dai Mingsheng couldn¡¯t help but feel invigorated. What he didn¡¯t know was that by thete hours, Jiang Yuan had activated his temporary +1 skill. Those Level 6 abilities, once boosted to "temporary +1," really felt as though divine assistance was at y¡ªakin to duplicating a bank bnce in the tech world. By morning, even the long-spearmen teams were stretched thin. Phones began ringing incessantly from all directions. Whenever Dai Mingsheng picked up a call, he offered a vague, muffled reply, only to burst into heartyughter upon hanging up. "Feeling stressed?" Huang Qiangmin, perhaps the one who knew Dai Mingsheng best on-site, asked honestly. Dai Mingsheng chuckled and shook his head. "The suspects are in our hands now, what stress could there be? Any pressure, I¡¯ll just push it onto the interrogation room." "True enough. It¡¯s just a few bosses from smallpanies anyway," Huang Qiangminughed heartily. But this time, Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯tugh. He sighed and said, "Several filming crews had to halt production." "Serves them right," Huang Qiangmin retorted. "But the production teams suffer. Especially those nearingpletion¡ªit¡¯s not just the actors pouring in their efforts; the crew members essentially meet misfortune too. Somepanies will close down, and people will lose money." "Fair point," Huang Qiangmin chuckled. Dai Mingsheng kept a straight face for a few seconds before bursting into augh himself. "Feels good, doesn¡¯t it?" Huang Qiangmin roared withughter again. "Good! Feels fantastic!" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s phone rang again, but he nced at it and didn¡¯t pick up. Huang Qiangmin said with amusement, "That¡¯s what happens when Jiang Yuan handles a case. It¡¯s normal to feel excitement from head to toe. When I was the captain of the Criminal Police Unit, any case handed to Jiang Yuan turned out the same." "Brother, you¡¯re truly fortunate," Dai Mingsheng remarked sincerely. Huang Qiangmin smiled, "Just ate some rough grain along the way. But now that we¡¯re acquainted, if anythinges up in Lanyue City in the future, just reach out to Jiang Yuan." "I genuinely want to," Dai Mingsheng replied earnestly, escorting Huang Qiangmin, Jiang Yuan, and the others downstairs with a friendly smile. Wen Ming took the keys to the GL8 from Huang Qiangmin and unlocked it. The brand-new, luxuriously renovated GL8 opened its electric door slowly, weing Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin aboard. Wen Ming jogged a few steps and hopped into the driver¡¯s seat. Just as Jiang Yuan predicted, within one night, this criminalwork case wasrgely solved, leaving just some loose ends to be cleaned upter. However, the real mastermind behind Li Aiyuan¡¯s case had yet to be identified. But given this particr case, neither Dai Mingsheng nor Jiang Yuan seemed overly pressed. Whether through interrogation or other means, spending a bit more time would inevitably lead to uncovering the culprit¡¯s identity. After all, haste makes waste. The props master Wang Yuxian, for example, was a clear informant, but also evidently a death row convict. Extracting valuable information from him would undoubtedly require much effort and time. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan and the others, having pulled an all-nighter, were utterly exhausted. Their spirits, however, remained strong¡ªespecially Huang Qiangmin, whose bulging briefcase carried part of the legacy he¡¯d built for Jiang Yuan. "Let¡¯s grab some breakfast first," Wen Ming suggested as he parked the car in front of "Yn Residence." Yn Residence was a renowned breakfast spot in Lanyue City. For the past few days, Jiang Yuan and his team had either dined here or ordered takeout from the establishment. The second floor of Yn Residence had private rooms; the group headed upstairs familiarly, their eyesnding on a beautiful woman waiting there. "Captain Jiang." Standing upstairs was Li Airu, the younger sister of the victimized celebrity Li Aiyuan. Compared to their previous encounter, Li Airu¡¯s demeanor had significantly improved. She shed a radiant smile that, to the rough men present, seemed as dazzling as a blooming flower. Clearly, Li Airu had applied full makeup¡ªfor her to have managed this, she must have started preparing as early as 4 a.m. "The officer in charge ofmunicating case updates must have reached out to you, correct?" Jiang Yuan, well-versed in dealing with victims¡¯ families, could guess Li Airu¡¯s reason for appearing here. Hisment struck an emotional chord, as Li Airu immediately teared up. Her voice turned hoarse as she softly asked, "Yes, they informed me. That¡¯s why I came here¡ªto ask whether the mastermind behind my sister¡¯s case will really be arrested." "Certainly. As soon as their identity is confirmed, we¡¯ll make the arrest," Jiang Yuan replied as he climbed the stairs and stood opposite Li Airu. At that moment, due to her makeup, Li Airu struck a striking resemnce to a younger version of her sister Li Aiyuan. She had an excellent appearance and figure¡ªdelicate and alluring. Crucially, she had every reason to gaze at you with tearful eyes. The rough men on-site suddenly couldn¡¯t handle it, blurting out in unison: "This is a major case. We¡¯re giving it our all." "Don¡¯t cry, okay? The case is going quite smoothly." "When there¡¯s news, we¡¯ll definitely inform you. Just hold on for now." Li Airu fanned her eyes with both hands, trying to dry her tears as she said, "I¡¯m just worried the culprit is too powerful and you might stop pursuing them." "That won¡¯t happen. We¡¯ll definitely see it through," Huang Qiangmin reassured her. Li Airu seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before gritting her teeth and dering, "I know who the mastermind is!" Chapter 1154 - 1085: Conclusion

Chapter 1154: Chapter 1085: Conclusion

"Let¡¯s talk inside the private room." Jiang Yuan noticed that Li Airu was emotionally charged, but instead of rushing, he calmly led her into the room and gave a subtle signal behind him. Immediately, someone picked up a video camera. Evidence chain, evidence chain¡ªevidence must form a chain. It¡¯s like writing a book: every character must have origins and resolutions, and every event must begin with the time and ce. Using this method, you can filter out the majority of rumors circting out there. It¡¯s a very simple principle: what is someone¡¯s background, where did theye from, what did they do, where did they do it, when did it happen, and how did it turn out... Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t worried that Li Aiyuan would withhold the name of the financial backer. The fact that she was waiting here meant someone had tipped her off. Otherwise, how would a young girl know the squad¡¯s movements, let alone figure out which restaurant members of the task force liked to frequent? If there was a leak, this was a potential source. For a student like Li Airu to obtain such information, she must have gone through considerable effort. And to go through all that trouble, then wake up early ande to this breakfast spot in full makeup, clearly, she had already made up her mind. Therefore, the key issue was still the evidence chain. Evidence collection must have a source and verification. Especially for witness testimony, if it wasn¡¯t recorded in a controlled environment like the interrogation center, provisions had to be made to guard against witnesses recanting. The apanying officers immediately caught on, some following into the room and others staying outside on guard. "Go ahead." Jiang Yuan stood calmly under the camera, his voice steady. This interrogation could only be conducted by him. Everyone understood this. Li Airu rushing over to provide information could only mean she came specifically for Jiang Yuan. "If the killer has a mastermind behind them, I believe... I believe it¡¯s Chen Zuoye." Li Airu took a deep breath and continued, "Chen Zuoye is the chairman of You Dashi Group, in histe forties, almost fifty. He¡¯s overweight. He harassed my sister several times. Later he even funded a film and had the director invite her to star as the female lead..." Li Airu didn¡¯t bother with measured pacing. Truthfully, she was more anxious than the police. Jiang Yuan and the others listened quietly, meanwhile discreetly pulling out their phones to search for You Dashi Group. As expected, it was an old-typepany spanning machinery manufacturing and chemical textiles, employing thousands of people. Naturally, it was a major taxpayer and a key enterprise locally. But in terms of stature and capability, it was still far inferior to the Jianyuan Group of earlier years. Seeing the phrase "publicly tradedpany" in news reports or stock trading apps was one thing; encountering it in real life was another. There were only about 5,000 publicly tradedpanies in the entire country. In slightly remote areas, it wasn¡¯t even guaranteed a prefecture-level city would have one. A conglomerate like You Dashi, directly providing thousands of jobs, meant sustaining thousands of households. Add in the surrounding service industries and the taxes it paid, and its presence could very well influence a small local economy. That said, Lanyue City was somewhat wealthier. The position of chairman at You Dashi Group was still far from wielding unchecked power. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin remained unfazed. If it were apany in Qinghe City, maybe there¡¯d have been a couple of sighs and some crocodile tears shed. But for a firm in Lanyue City? There was no hesitation whatsoever. Young as she was, Li Airu couldn¡¯t read the expressions of the officers. After her long monologue, she thought they didn¡¯t believe her and quickly added, "I have proof. My sister recorded an audio clip of Chen Zuoye forcing her to drink..." "Where is it?" Wang Chuanxing asked immediately. Li Airu quickly responded, "I saved a copy in a cloud drive. I¡¯ll send it to you..." "Cloud drive copies are uneptable. It must be the original storage medium. That means if you used a recorder, you need the recorder itself. If it¡¯s a phone, then you must hand over the phone," Wang Chuanxing said, setting a strict standard. For a death penalty case, the requirements for evidence collection would inevitably be stringent. Li Airu mumbled, "Oh, okay, I¡¯ll bring itter." The recording was clearly stashed away somewhere. Everyone expected as much and didn¡¯t make a big deal out of it. At that moment, Liu Jinghui interjected, "Just trying to get someone to drink, or harassment, doesn¡¯t lead to the conclusion that Chen Zuoye is guilty. Do you have any other evidence?" "Evidence... I have some." Li Airu¡¯s voice grew smaller, her hesitation palpable. "Everyone else, step out for now," Liu Jinghui waved his hand. Even Huang Qiangmin was ushered out, leaving only Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui in the room with her. Li Airu visibly rxed. "If you have clues, share them; it will help us move the case forward," Liu Jinghui encouraged, his demeanor unbothered. He had already deduced the full story of the case but still needed to gather solid evidence. If Li Airu could provide more, all the better. After a few seconds of hesitation, Li Airu confessed, "Chen Zuoye drugged and raped my sister!" Having said it, Li Airu looked up at Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, ready to exin the shock she thought she¡¯d caused them. But both men wore expressions of utter certainty. Li Airu froze. "You... already knew?" "We¡¯re further along in this investigation than you might think," Liu Jinghui said, casually feigning sophistication in front of the young woman. "Just share what you know. It might corroborate other leads and help us." It wasn¡¯t entirely untrue. Information provided earlier by prop master Wang Yuxian and others had already hinted at this, and everything now wasing together in corroboration. A young girl like Li Airu, being emotionally involved and anxious, spilled everything when faced with Liu Jinghui¡¯s calcted probing. When she was done, Liu Jinghui called for two officers to escort her home to retrieve the recording device and other evidence. After all this, Liu Jinghui turned to Huang Qiangmin, chuckling, "Call for Dai Zhi to arrest Chen Zuoye." "Hmm... We¡¯ll have to wait for the recording to be authenticated before we can proceed. Old Dai will probably still have to brief the upper management," Huang Qiangmin said, clicking his tongue in disappointment. "If only we could pre-sell stocks in thesepanies, we might have enough to buy a police helicopter." Liu Jinghui startled. "No need to upgrade so extravagantly. Who would the helicopter be for?" "To improve themuting efficiency of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad and senior leadership," Huang Qiangmin quipped, before shifting his tone. "The case is clear, right? Someone like Chen Zuoye¡ªonce we arrest him, it has to be an airtight case." "The case is clear." Liu Jinghui was diligent on this topic, carefully phrasing his words. "This case splits into two threads. One is that Chen Zuoye drugged and raped the actress Li Aiyuan, who had some audio evidence and kept items like her underwear from that day. But the evidentiary value isn¡¯t strong enough, so she soughtpensation from him." "And he was willing topensate?" "Yes, but his initial offers involved demands likepanionship or a kept rtionship. Li Aiyuan rejected them but didn¡¯t dare set a specific mary amount." "Afraid of being trapped." "Exactly. Chen Zuoye saw an opportunity to use her of extortion, which he probably couldn¡¯t pull off." "Seems fair enough." Liu Jinghui continued, "Over time, they couldn¡¯t reach an agreement. Chen Zuoye tried to resolve the issue through intermediaries. He approached awyer, someone from the industry, and then there was prop master Wang Yuxian, who offered himself up opportunistically." "Wang Yuxian took the job to leverage Wang Xiang¡¯s influence, but Li Aiyuan wasn¡¯t having it. Meanwhile, Wang Yuxian, having spent the money to pay off gambling debts, couldn¡¯t deliver and couldn¡¯t return the funds. That¡¯s when he came up with murder." "Did Chen Zuoye know? If he was unaware, convicting him bes tricky," Huang Qiangmin spected, already thinking about subsequent prosecution issues. "Given that Wang Yuxian resorted to murder so swiftly, I believe he had external support," Liu Jinghui reasoned. "It¡¯s very likely Chen Zuoye funded him. From another angle, consider how long Wang Yuxian resisted interrogation. He might have money or promises left for his family, which is why he¡¯s still holding out." "We can look into it." Jiang Yuan readily agreed with Liu Jinghui¡¯s reasoning. For him, the case was as good as closed. If Chen Zuoye was convicted, this case would conclude sessfully. As for whether Wang Yuxian left money for his family or if any benefits were fully recovered, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really care. Liu Jinghui, however, was quite pleased with his final deductions, basking in Jiang Yuan¡¯s recognition. A knight¡¯s actions affirmed by the dragon¡ªwas this not the ultimate value of a Dragon Knight? Chapter 1155 - 1086: A Big Bowl of Wide Noodles

Chapter 1155: Chapter 1086: A Big Bowl of Wide Noodles

Breakfast: meat buns with beef soup, potstickers dipped in vinegar, pancakes smeared with chili sauce¡ªa carb-loaded feast, immensely satisfying. The detectives, who are usually capable of wolfing down three bowls of rice a meal, were all rushing towards double-digit portions of buns and potstickers, turning their private dining room into the scene of a bustling small restaurant. Jiang Yuan was also enjoying himself thoroughly. Eating piles of carbs after pulling an all-nighter is unbelievably unhealthy. But it¡¯s unbelievably gratifying. Step outside, get in the car, head back to the hotel¡ªa bunch of people copsing into sleep,pletely ignoring the world. Even though Jiang Yuan had Level 2 endurance for staying up, he was still exhausted. If it hadn¡¯t been for the fact they were out of town and their targets happened to be corporate bosses, he wouldn¡¯t have had to push himself this hard. The arrests made, everything naturally became easier. By the time Jiang Yuan woke up, it was still dark outside. Picking up his phone, he found that Dai Mingsheng had already set up a group chat. The group was buzzing with messages and images. Jiang Yuan scrolled through quickly¡ªmost of it was information rted to the suspects. Seeing replies from Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin in the group, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother looking too closely. For crimes like these, sentences typically range from a few years. If repeat offenses and particrly egregious circumstances are involved, they could get up to 10 years. With some victim forgiveness letters in hand, along with factors like aiding authorities, whistleblowing on a few shady acquaintances, a sentence of 3 years isn¡¯t too far-fetched. Of course, what really cripples these pirs of society is having their "pir" legs broken. If unlucky, their entirepany might fall apart. With better luck, family or loyal staff might prop thepany up, but it wouldn¡¯t quite reach the former glory¡ªlook at Huang Guangyu, who struggled his way out of the kiln but lost much of his former shine. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly interested in these matters. Being from Jiang Vige, and choosing to work as a forensic doctor, he preferred his certainties when it came to human beings. If it¡¯s a death penalty case, then ept it; if not, there¡¯ll be time to talkter. Scrolling through the group chat, Jiang Yuan noticed a dinner invitation initiated by Dai Mingsheng. The restaurant was conveniently located downstairs in the hotel, and the timing worked perfectly. Jiang Yuan threw on some casual clothes and headed downstairs. Walking into the restaurant, the manager immediately led Jiang Yuan into a private dining room. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment that he¡¯d walked into the wrong ce. The room was filled with a mix of elegant women, some of whom bore unmistakably familiar celebrity faces. "Captain Jiang! Captain Jiang is here. We were just talking about you." A man near the door noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s uncertainty and hastened to wee him¡ªit was Dong Xifeng, deputy general manager of the film and television city. "Mr. Dong." Jiang Yuan nodded politely and then looked more closely. Sure enough, there were still a few men in the room, though some¡ªincluding Dai Mingsheng¡ªwere tucked away in the shadows. "Captain Jiang, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Yue Hongxu, our film and television city¡¯s chairman!" Dong Xifeng pulled Jiang Yuan into the adjacent tea room and began introducing the people present one by one. Dai Mingsheng also stood up, grinning, and approached Jiang Yuan, saying softly, "Everyone¡¯s pretty shaken up and just wanted to meet you, scope things out, and calm their nerves¡ªit¡¯s nothing more than that." "If they¡¯re not involved, then there¡¯s no problem," Jiang Yuan replied matter-of-factly. Dai Mingsheng chuckled, "Before getting caught, everyone¡¯s aw-abiding citizen." After a brief exchange, Yue Hongxu also came over, smiling warmly to shake hands. Yue Hongxu was a middle-aged man around 40, yet he looked younger. His round face and slightly chubby frame gave him the air of a good-natured homebody, but his sharp eyes exuded a charismatic vitality, easily winning people¡¯s favor. "Captain Jiang, thank you for safeguarding the safety of our film and television city. This afternoon, during our meeting, I told my colleagues that with officers like you around, our cast and crew, especially the actors and actresses, all feel very secure." Yue Hongxu¡¯s voice was gentle but carried a strong sense of sincerity¡ªwords that sounded more genuineing from him. Jiang Yuan saw this and shook his hand lightly, saying, "With the support of the film and television city, it¡¯s a lot easier for us to do our work." Yue Hongxu immediately added, "Absolutely, I emphasized that today. Going forward, we¡¯ll be using themes like ¡¯Safe Lanyue¡¯ to promote our Lanyue City Film and Television City. If Captain Jiang has free time..." "If there¡¯s a death, you can call me. For regr cases, let¡¯s skip it," Jiang Yuan responded with blunt sincerity. "A death..." Yue Hongxu faltered, unsure how to respond. To him, discussing billions of investments over dinner was routine, but death? That was rare and unfamiliar territory. "Is your specialty solving homicides? That¡¯s so cool!" A big-eyed young woman took advantage of her well-trained gaze, clinging directly onto Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm. Jiang Yuan gently brushed her hand off, saying, "My specialty is dissecting corpses¡ªI¡¯m a forensic doctor." "Oh, I know what a forensic doctor does! I love forensic dramas!" The young woman refused to give up andtched onto Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm again, asking, "Is it the kind where you gut people?" "Dissection naturally involves gutting people." When it came to professional topics, Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest picked up a little. "What does a heart look like once it¡¯s removed? Something like this?" The woman gestured with her hands to form a heart shape. "Kind of. The heart is essentially two ovepping heart shapes joined together by a strip of cardiac muscle¡ªlike a wide noodle wrapped into shape..." Jiang Yuan grew more animated as he exined, and the room gradually quieted down. Dong Xifeng suddenly broke into loudughter, "Captain Jiang is truly something. But tonight, let¡¯s not talk about wide noodles." "You¡¯re absolutely right." "I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be eating wide noodles at all this year," another chimed in. "Can I order a bowl of wide noodles? I want to give it a try," the young woman next to him clung to Jiang Yuan again. Yue Hongxu and a few others quietly nodded; indeed, talented actresses never shy away from performance opportunities. Fuelled by their enthusiasm, Yue Hongxuughed warmly and said, "We should film a show like that¡ªopening with a wide noodle forming into a heart shape." A nearby director immediately joined in, "The protagonist could be a noodle shop owner, mediocre at his craft but secretly a master forensic expert, adept at recreating crime scenes. Whenever the city faces an unsolvable murder, the police chief visits the noodle shop and orders a bowl of wide noodles..." "That actually sounds pretty good. Dai Zhi, what¡¯s your take?" Yue Hongxu grinned at Dai Mingsheng. "Surprisingly realistic." Dai Mingsheng chuckled, "Only problem is, a bowl of wide noodles wouldn¡¯t be enough to invite a top criminal investigator. Like us, we couldn¡¯t even convince Captain Jiang to stay in Lanyue City longer." "Ah... that¡¯s..." Yue Hongxu thought of saying something supportive but suddenly held back. "Actually, we should be staying a few more days in Lanyue City," Jiang Yuan replied casually to Dai Mingsheng. "That¡¯s great!" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s initial excitement quickly turned into apprehension, "What¡¯s Captain Jiang working on?" "You can check with Commissioner Huangter." Jiang Yuan, of course, wasn¡¯t about to reveal in front of everyone how much evidence or how many suspects they¡¯d caught in the past few days. The more arrests made and evidence secured, the harsher the sentences, prompting detained suspects to cooperate and confess. Though many such "achievements" are practically freebies, delving deeper into seemingly iplete clues often leads to unexpected discoveries. Yue Hongxu and the others werergely ignorant of criminal investigation matters, but they were nevertheless awed¡ªeven if they didn¡¯t understand the particrs, most realized the chilling truth: Someone might indeed lose their life, all because of tonight¡¯s dinner! Chapter 1156 - 1087: Giant Dragon Breath

Chapter 1156: Chapter 1087: Giant Dragon Breath

Conference room. The thirty or so people Jiang Yuan brought along were sitting together, buzzing with discussion. Through the wide ss panes, one could see the lively scene inside. Some criminal investigators from the Lanyue City Bureau purposely passed by, ncing in, their emotions tense as well. Dai Mingsheng and other leaders of the Criminal Police Brigade intermittently listened to reports from below, sitting in their offices, unable to steady their emotions entirely. Jiang Yuan¡¯s impact is simply too powerful. If used correctly, it could be delightful, but if he and his team pick some peculiar case, it could indeed be quite troublesome. Dai Mingsheng wasn¡¯t afraid, but he still hoped things could be kept simple and effective. There are plenty of cold cases in Lanyue City, and he truly needs Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad. "I wonder what case Jiang Yuan will choose to tackle," said his deputy Lin Xunlei, as curious as he was, though less burdened. "In recent years, there haven¡¯t been many homicide cases left. I guess he might pick the Li Yaoji murder case. That case is famous enough. Li Yaoji¡¯s Changxi Group is a big corporation, and the details involved in the case areprehensive..." "Just stop talking already. The Li Yaoji case, if investigated, meansbing through a bunch of corporations. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t be investigated; their tangled interests are too much trouble, requiring significant manpower. A lot of these matters are internal to their small circles, which makes them exceedingly difficult to break into." "Could be a crime of passion. Li Yaoji had more than a dozen mistresses, who had children and sometimes even lovers of their own. Being murdered by any one of them wouldn¡¯t be surprising." "And that¡¯s precisely why investigating this case is so tricky¡ªthrow in the issue of inheritance rights..." Listening to this heated discussion gave Dai Mingsheng a headache. He hastily waved his hand and said, "Enough, stop specting. Whatever Jiang Yuan chooses, let¡¯s hand it to him and let him work on it. When the timees, Old Lin can lead a team to coborate. Let¡¯s elevate the support specs a little; inviting him again in the future will be easier." "I¡¯m just worried Jiang Yuan might end up arresting a group of famous figures, turning the detention center into a media circus." "Which is why I told you to go¡ªscreen them beforehand. If any celebrities are among them, quietly arrest them. Don¡¯t make it a public spectacle. It¡¯s better for them not to have such things publicized. Cooperation all around: we discreetly arrest them, they quietlyply. Isn¡¯t this the best way forward?" "Nowadays, some self-media leaks information at the drop of a hat. A family member posts one message and the whole n goes to waste." "If the family doesn¡¯t care about reputation, then broadcast their story wide and far." Dai Mingsheng sneered. "The people Jiang Yuan arrests always have solid evidence against them. The ones who should be worried and scared are their lot. Why bother ourselves with their feelings? The key now is pushing forward the pending cases quickly, closing what we can. You first pull back your fist before you throw a stronger punch." "I wonder how hard Jiang Yuan¡¯s punch is going tond." "I¡¯m actually quite looking forward to it. Maybe tackle the 1120 case¡ªhomicide, robbery, and drug traffickingbined. If the specialized task force gets started, the provincial department might send people over instantly." "Could even attract central oversight. But without leads, what¡¯s the point of forming a task force? Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t meant to be wasted like that." "That¡¯s because you haven¡¯t seen the kind of cases Jiang Yuan solves. I¡¯m telling you, Jiang Yuan works exactly like this. You give him a dead-end case, and bam! He cracks it open..." ... Meanwhile, the conference room was filled with lighthearted chatter. "¡¯Breaking News: Famous actor Liu Yueyang arrested for alleged rape.¡¯ ¡¯Liu Yueyang, Ma Qinghe among those arrested for rape and group debauchery.¡¯ ¡¯Duoyuan Film and Television Company announces recement of cast members for its new series.¡¯" Wang Chuanxing read the news updates on his tablet, his excitement palpable. He remarked, "No wonder this ce has a film city; crack one case, and it¡¯s straight into the headlines." "Isn¡¯t that because the people arrested were famous?" Liu Jinghui chimed in, while scrolling through the news, still not spotting his name anywhere. Wang Chuanxing, young and easily pleased, grinned and said, "As long as we¡¯re famous, it¡¯s a win. From now on, not only do we enjoy reputations on the street; when we introduce ourselves as members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, our pedigree will speak for itself, won¡¯t it?" "That¡¯s true," Liu Jinghui muttered, rolling his eyes. Then, as he thought further, he mused. The Dragon Knight, despite wielding extraordinary control, was ultimately bound to stand out amidst the ignorance of humanity. Achieving greater renown seemed inevitable, not something worth fretting over. Turning his head, he noticed Jiang Yuan at theputer, typing away furiously. Liu Jinghui perked up immediately, like a knight hearing his steed snort in anticipation of battle. Unable to resist, he urged, "Jiang Yuan, do you have a target yet? Honestly, don¡¯t pick anything tooplicated. We¡¯re not that familiar with Lanyue City yet. We could start with a few simpler cases to warm up, work on team coordination across the board. Like Dai Zhi and the others¡ªthey¡¯re probably already feeling nervous. Let¡¯s not scare them too much." "Hmm... Let¡¯s take a closer look at the suspects for this case first," Jiang Yuan replied, sending a file over to Wang Chuanxing and instructing him to project it. Then he rose and said, "We¡¯ll need to collect fingerprints and footprints from some suspects anew. Let me first present the situation." As the projection screen rolled down, everyone caught sight of the bold headline on top¡ª410 "Li Yaoji Murder Case." The officers in the room immediately sat up straighter in their chairs. The term "murder case" alone carried a significant weight. In an era dominated by crimes of passion, a murder case wasn¡¯t necessarily rare¡ªbut it required visiting multiple ces to encounter one within a fresh and unique mold. Murder is like ripe fruit on a tree; passion killings are the artificially ripened kind. Everyone ims their fruit to be naturally grown, but those in the know understand that most of it is processed. Turning murder cases into passion killings happens more often than one might think, with many ns for homicide derailing into crimes of fury instead. Given that the 410 Special Task Force formallybeled this a "murder case," it should hold true to that designation. Standing below the projection screen, Jiang Yuan began, "Let me briefly introduce the 410 Li Yaoji Murder Case. The previous task force explored four main lines of investigation. First, a possibility of an attempted home burry escting into murder. The crime scene showed that significant quantities of cash, jewelry, and other valuables were missing. However, the task force determined the burr was not professional, having left many items untouched and only targeting Li Yaoji¡¯s bedroom, which deviates from typical burry patterns. Additionally, despite continued follow-ups in recent years, these stolen items have not surfaced on the market, invalidating the first hypothesis." "Another avenue was business disputes. As the founder and major shareholder of Changxi Group, a notable enterprise, Li Yaoji held significant say in boardroom decisions, leading to conflicts with minor shareholders. There had already been severalwsuits resolved or in progress at the time, not to mention friction with his businesspetitors." "The third theory revolved around a crime of passion. At the time of his death, Li Yaoji was 68 years old, rtively healthy, and had maintained rtionships with 16 mistresses, all of whom received sries from Changxi Group. Some of their lovers were also on the payroll, which was one factor certain minor shareholders were dissatisfied with. Then there were mistresses he had broken up with for various reasons¡ªsome still harbored resentment, others had begun rekindling rtions. These details can be found in the case files." "The fourth approach investigated inheritance disputes. Li Yaoji had one son and one daughter from his legitimate wife. Additionally, he had fathered 13 illegitimate children with 8 different women. Among them, 9 were under the age of 16, while the remaining 4prised three sons and a daughter." Given the time constraints, Liu Jinghui, who hadn¡¯t reviewed the files, began analyzing Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation. He chimed in, "From the way you¡¯re articting this, you seem inclined toward the fourth hypothesis¡ªone of his sons might be responsible?" "Correct," Jiang Yuan nodded. Liu Jinghui furrowed his brow. "You¡¯re probably not making this deduction purely through logical analysis, right? Are there traces at the scene that directly support this conclusion?" As the dialogue continued, Wang Chuanxing switched through slides on the projection screen. Images of the crime scene began shing onto the screen behind them. After waiting a few seconds, Jiang Yuan called out, "Pause," then switched back a slide. Pointing at the screen, he said, "This is a panoramic photo of the bedroom. On the night of his murder, Li Yaoji was sleeping alone. The perpetrator entered the room, directly slit his throat in bed, and left behind a knife bearing fingerprints. However, the fingerprints couldn¡¯t be matched." "You got a match?" Liu Jinghui asked in surprise. This seemed almost like wiping out an enemy nation in one fell swoop. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "No." Liu Jinghui exhaled, then remarked, "shing someone in bed wouldn¡¯t align with typical burry behavior." Jiang Yuan nodded, "And judging by the footprints and fingerprints collected from the room, while the footprints were chaotic, there were rtively few fingerprints left behind." "Were they all fingerprints belonging to his household?" "Not entirely. There were some prints from outsiders, but most of them could be exined," Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "However, I found a notable pattern: one individual¡¯s footprints were scattered throughout the room. They lingered at multiple spots¡ªnear the headboard, the sofa and coffee table, the small dressing area, and the bathroom in the bedroom. Yet, at those ces, no fingerprints from this individual were found." At this, Liu Jinghui burst intoughter, which indeed felt akin to annihting an opposing army with one superhuman gesture. Chapter 1157 - 1088: Standards for Downgrading

Chapter 1157: Chapter 1088: Standards for Downgrading

Click, click, click... Raindrops fell one by one, hitting the window frames, panes, and sills, sttering into eight fragments, looking a bit like a monkey¡¯s red behind. In the slightly cooled-down office of Dai Mingsheng, the atmosphere was beginning to rx. It was all about routine bureau affairs. While meetings were necessary to coordinate certain matters, Dai Mingsheng had spent nearly a decade in the Criminal Police Brigade, andmunication across departments had long since be smooth. Coordination at this point was effortless. The deputies were in stable spirits. The biggest issuetely was the case in the film studio. Though it still posed some trouble, the root of the problem had already been resolved. For the police, the remaining tasks were nothing serious¡ªjust aligning with the messaging of the publicity team. Dai Mingsheng casually flipped through the documents in front of him, his thoughts drifting away with the rain¡ªhe wondered how Jiang Yuan was faring with his choices of cases. There were still several unresolved cases left behind in Lanyue City, and no matter which case Jiang Yuanpleted, Dai Mingsheng felt it would bemendable. It could add a little shine to his own police career. But Dai Mingsheng guessed that Jiang Yuan would likely avoid choosing those major cases. Dai Mingsheng had heard of Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements in Changyang City and Beijing, and while he had confidence in Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative skills, everyone understood one thing: being capable and being willing were two different matters. Those major cases¡ªthose headline-grabbing nightmares for all parties during their active stages¡ªwho, after several years, would have the confidence to dig them up and tackle them again? Frankly, getting results would be great, but what if you fail? Secretly forming small teams to investigate cold cases was something local police bureaus did every year. But in the end, what were the results of those cold case teams? Most often, they dissolved silently without making any waves. If a cold case were easy to crack, it wouldn¡¯t still be a cold case. In any city or county bureau, a regr officer who managed to solve a murder cold case would instantly be a star¡ªa hero of that year. Leaving aside awards and honors, they¡¯d be guaranteed the next couple of years as an advanced individual and part of an advanced collective. While that might not guarantee promotion to an elite position, their path to regr career advancement wouldn¡¯t encounter significant resistance for many years. But going out of town was different, especially for someone like Jiang Yuan¡ªa rising star detective with a growing reputation. He¡¯d surely be unwilling to let a cold case assigned to him remain unresolved. From this perspective, Dai Mingsheng reasoned that Jiang Yuan would probably pick more manageable cases. And if Jiang Yuan opted for such cases, Dai Mingsheng wouldpletely understand. If Dai Mingsheng himself had to take cases in Changyang City or Ningtai County, even out of responsibility for his team members, he¡¯d firmly make the same tough choices. Assembling a good team isn¡¯t easy, and a team depends not only on resources but also on consuming vast amounts of pride to build cohesion. This was precisely why Dai Mingsheng wasn¡¯t pressuring Jiang Yuan. It was better to let him pick feasible cases that still had good public credit. Once Jiang Yuan tackled a few rtively simple cold cases, Dai Mingsheng could quietly slip in a major cold case under the radar, squeezing Jiang Yuan for all he was worth. If they managed to crack it, it would truly be a win. Even if they didn¡¯t, it wouldn¡¯t matter much¡ªit could be quietly shelved again, or after some time, he could invite Jiang Yuan back for another round. Dai Mingsheng was acutely aware of the temperament of experts, especially someone like Jiang Yuan¡ªyoung, ambitious, and full of pride. If a case in Lanyue City defeated him, he¡¯d absolutelye back with a vengeance like digging three feet into the ground. Many hardened old criminals had met their end this way. "Director Dai, here¡¯s our recent expenditure summary," a subordinateid a fresh document on Dai Mingsheng¡¯s desk. Dai Mingsheng flipped it open indifferently, habitually scanning a few pages before turning to thest. Suddenly, he stiffened: "Why didn¡¯t I see this earlier?" "This was newly sent over by Commissioner Huang Qiangmin from the Ningtai County Bureau. It¡¯s not about past expenses; it¡¯s for a new case." The subordinate answered cautiously. "Not about past expenses? Good... Not..." Dai Mingsheng subconsciously muttered before abruptly looking up: "New case expenditures aren¡¯t alright either. This figure is outrageous!" "Because they agreed to factor in asset depreciation. In cases like this, the budget has to be higher; otherwise, for some second-hand items, their actual market value might not match up. Ningtai Huang would feel it¡¯s unfair..." "He doesn¡¯t want them? I don¡¯t even want to give them! What¡¯s this nonsense about second-hand items? My newly purchased GL8¡ªrefurbished and newly outfitted, with ns I reviewed three times personally¡ªI barely got a chance to sit in it, and now they call it second-hand property? Shouldn¡¯t the price be raised instead?" Dai Mingsheng raised his voice, genuinely upset this time. His subordinate tread lightly: "But in terms of your car, it¡¯s only a small portion, and Commissioner Huang did allow us to list our own inventory like this..." "Are you from Lanyue or Ningtai?" Dai Mingsheng demanded sternly, "One case with expenses this high¡ªwe don¡¯t just spend money like water even if we have it. Go renegotiate." "Of course... I¡¯ll follow up with Ningtai Huang on it," the subordinate answered promptly. With the conversation finished, silence once again filled the office. Dai Mingsheng fumed quietly for a while. No one else dared to speak. Finally, Dai Mingsheng said, "Get me a different tea." As teacups clinked about, Dai Mingsheng lit up a cigarette. With him leading the way, a haze of smoke soon billowed through the office. Having finished a cigarette, Dai Mingsheng turned to the earlier subordinate: "I¡¯m not stingy. You can even hand over my newly swapped-out Passat, and I wouldn¡¯t feel any reluctance. But we should be forthright¡ªa number of cold cases are things we can do ourselves; they just require time, manpower, and tons of resources. Cases like that aren¡¯t really worth assigning to Jiang Yuan. Of course, if he¡¯s willing to take them on, I¡¯m fine with it for the sake of long-term nning, but the expenses shouldn¡¯t exceed our own costs. At least not by too much, right?" "Jiang Yuan¡¯s team brought over thirty-some people," his deputy Lin Xunlei added neutrally. "Simple cases don¡¯t deserve much allocation. It¡¯s about directing him towards cases that are burdens for us. Honestly, I only expect one thing: once the Li Aiyuan case wraps up smoothly, if Jiang Yuan¡¯s team is inclined to ¡¯pick low-hanging fruit,¡¯ cracking one or two¡ªor even three¡ªis fair enough. But when ites to those, the expenditures can¡¯t be exorbitant. Ultimately, the big cases still need him." "What kind of case counts as ¡¯big¡¯?" Lin Xunlei asked. "Didn¡¯t we discuss this earlier? We should at least have some clear standards," Dai Mingsheng responded hesitantly. Lin Xunlei joked lightly, "Like the Li Yaoji murder case?" Dai Mingsheng paused, indulging in a brief fantasy, then burst intoughter. "Hahahahaha..." The office captain andmissioners burst out in heartyughter. Knock, knock. The sound of knocking interrupted their moment. "Come in," Dai Mingsheng frowned slightly. A big head peeked in: "Director Dai, Ningtai¡¯s Commissioner Huang... Commissioner Huang Qiangmin is here." "Must be ready to finalize decisions then," Dai Mingsheng stated solemnly. "Invite Commissioner Huang in." He nced at the group and instructed, "As for what we just discussed¡ªeveryone adjust your expressions." A room full of older men straightened gravely, adopting the stern postures expected of criminal investigators. Their imposing, earnest, and resolute demeanor filled the office¡ªa mood that could silence a crying child. Chapter 1158 - 1089: A Drizzly Afternoon

Chapter 1158: Chapter 1089: A Drizzly Afternoon

Huang Qiangmin pushed open the door and saw a room full of people in the office. He wasn¡¯t surprised and slightly bent forward, saying humbly, "Quite a crowd. Everyone¡¯s here." "Just a short meeting." Dai Mingsheng stood up with a smile. "Commissioner Huang, please take a seat¡ªtry the sofa. Our setup here is a bit basic, apologies for theck of hospitality. I hope you¡¯ll forgive us." "Not at all. Your setup isn¡¯t basic at all. This sofa is excellent." Huang Qiangmin rubbed the leather sofa¡¯s seat, genuinely appreciating its quality¡ªthe leather was soft yet durable, and its texture felt satisfying to the touch. Dai Mingsheng chuckled heartily. "We have plenty of furniture factories around here. During centralized procurement, we couldn¡¯t even get through all the factories just from within the province. Later, I¡¯ll introduce you to a few of them..." "That would be fantastic. Our office building is newly constructed, and we haven¡¯t had time to sort out much of the furnishings..." After exchanging pleasantries, Huang Qiangmin said, "By the way, as for the case, Jiang Yuan¡¯s team has just wrapped one up, but there¡¯s still a loose end. We need Dai Zhi to send over a team to assist." "Manpower isn¡¯t an issue. Which case did Jiang Yuan pick?" Dai Mingsheng replied casually. Others in the office all looked over. A subordinate quietly opened aptop they had brought along, ready to search for case details at any moment. Most cases¡ªeven cold ones¡ªfade from memory over time. Those that linger and remain unforgettable, given the criminal police brigade¡¯s status in a provincial capital, are certainly the most heinous or significant. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin straightened his back, addressed Dai Mingsheng, and said, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s team justpleted the Li Yaoji murder case." "Hmm?" Dai Mingsheng froze for a moment. Everyone frowned deeply. Some instinctively nced around as though questioning whether there might be someone overhearing the conversation through the walls. A young officer with a notebook resting on hisp strained his ears to catch Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words while typing "Li Yaoji murder case" into hisptop. After hitting Enter, he froze for a moment. This case didn¡¯t actually require much investigation; criminal detectives from Lanyue City were all intimately familiar with it. Fortunately, Dai Mingsheng was seasoned from years of experience. He took a deep breath andughed, saying, "If Jiang Yuan is willing to take on the Li Yaoji murder case, we certainly wee it. Absolutely thrilled. I¡¯ll gather the relevant personnel from the original task force from back then¡ªanyone who can break away from existing duties will be handed to your team to assist Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad in working on the investigation..." Such robust support was noteworthy. It effectively meant pulling numerous officers currently engaged in active cases¡ªsome who might even be on business trips¡ªand allocating them to Jiang Yuan¡¯s team. Standing nearby, Lin Xunlei, who had earlier advised Dai Mingsheng to be magnanimous, suggested again, "Dai Zhi, you don¡¯t need to mobilize everyone all at once. Let Jiang Yuan¡¯s team familiarize themselves with the case first. Of course, I fully support Captain Jiang and Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad investigating the Li Yaoji case. The fact that Jiang Yuan chose this case shows tremendous confidence. But the members of the original task force, scattered across various ces now, may take some time to reassemble, so perhaps some buffer is necessary." The other deputy captains and squad leaders in the room also chimed in. While they expressed absolute support for Jiang Yuan¡¯s choice of the Li Yaoji murder case, they simrly advised against deploying too many resources immediately. After all, they were all experienced veteran detectives. Though they were taken aback by Jiang Yuan¡¯s boldness and skill, they understood just howplex and time-consuming solving a case like this could be. Mobilizing arge workforce at once was bound to lead to inefficiencies. Dai Mingsheng hesitated for a moment and said, "The core decision-makers from the previous task force were primarily Wang Yu and his team. Let¡¯s bring them over first to ensure Jiang Yuan¡¯s progress moves forward. Since Jiang Yuan chose the Li Yaoji murder case, our criminal police brigade has no room for excuses¡ªwe¡¯re fullymitted to cooperating." Speaking with resolute firmness, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s tone prompted many, consciously or unconsciously, to nod along. Every criminal detective squad carried cases that hung over them like a shadow¡ªthe Li Yaoji murder case was Lanyue City Criminal Police Team¡¯s version of that looming weight. At this point, Huang Qiangmin coughed lightly and said, "Dai Zhi, there¡¯s no need to go to such lengths. Jiang Yuan investigating the Li Yaoji murder case..." "When I say support, I mean full support!" Dai Mingsheng gestured firmly, interrupting Huang Qiangmin. "Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad choosing the Li Yaoji murder case as their starting point is something I never anticipated. For our Lanyue City Criminal Police Team, it¡¯s incredibly beneficial. To be honest, Jiang Yuan is thinking of us in this regard. If you all go to these lengths, and I, Old Dai, still find ways to shirk or push back, word will spread, and I¡¯d lose all credibility. Who would ever daree help us Lanyue folks again?" "Absolutely right." Lin Xunlei immediately supported Dai Mingsheng, decisively stating, "Captain Jiang operates transparently. Supporting Captain Jiang is supporting ourselves. Mobilizing manpower to the greatest extent¡ªI¡¯m in favor." "Support!" "Support!" The others voiced their approval in unison, and amidst the mutual influence, some even expressed a sense of admiration. They had been specting that Jiang Yuan might opt for downgrading and selecting easier cases¡ªmaybe tackling two or three lower-level cold cases before transitioning to higher-profile ones, thus achieving both prestige and results. To their surprise, Jiang Yuan had gone straight for the biggest and most significant unresolved case in the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s recent years. This wasn¡¯t mere bravery; it was, as Lin Xunlei described it, "transparency!" The team hadn¡¯t schemed to exploit the department¡¯s costs in any way, and reflecting on this, some even felt a twinge of guilt. Encircled by the chorus of support, Huang Qiangmin briefly felt a sense of disorientation. Over the years, the sheer effort it would take for him to inspire such fervent unity among a group of people was almost unimaginable. Chapter 1159 - 1089: A Drizzly Afternoon_2

Chapter 1159: Chapter 1089: A Drizzly Afternoon_2

Now it¡¯s better, Jiang Yuan spent just one morning and achieved this goal. Thinking further, Jiang Yuan specifically chose the Li Yaoji murder case, baiting the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team like a big catch. This technique¡ªHuang Qiangmin thought about it again¡ªchoosing the Li Yaoji murder case isn¡¯t really about technique. Couldn¡¯t anyone choose the Li Yaoji murder case? If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan, even if Huang Qiangmin knew it could bait Dai Mingsheng, he wouldn¡¯t have dared to choose it. Look at Dai Mingsheng¡¯s stance: he¡¯s willing to pause multiple ongoing cases just to support Jiang Yuan. What a resolute will! Falling on the hook¡ªit¡¯s like reeling in an orca! Small boats, weak rods, poor technique¡ªany fishing setup without adequate gear, once exposed, will be swallowed whole by the raging orca. Only someone like Jiang Yuan, capable of handling the Li Yaoji murder case, dares toe here to bait Dai Mingsheng. Any lesser technical skill simply wouldn¡¯t work. For such a massive case, if everything wereid out, it might not just be four leads¡ªit could potentially branch out into fourteen leads. By then, the cost of investigating information from years ago would be unbearable for the orcas, and for those with no yachts, only small fishing boats, it would be even harder to endure. "Director Dai, thank you on behalf of Jiang Yuan!" Huang Qiangmin had figured things out and stepped forward to shake Dai Mingsheng¡¯s hand firmly. "It¡¯s only proper." Dai Mingshengughed heartily: "Jiang Yuan has the nerve to pick the Li Yaoji murder case, how could I not support him? Let¡¯s just say¡ªmy criminal investigation techniques might not be on par with Jiang Yuan¡¯s, but when ites to courage, I absolutely cannot lose!" "Director Dai truly lives up to the title!" Huang Qiangmin gave a thumbs-up: "Jiang Yuan and I have traveled far and wide, but the support of Director Dai and everyone here is the pinnacle. My utmost gratitude, truly..." "No need, no need." Dai Mingsheng replied cheerfully. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin already knew that Dai Mingsheng hadpletely misunderstood. Of course, part of the misunderstanding was deliberately instigated by Huang Qiangmin, though even he hadn¡¯t expected Dai Mingsheng¡¯s attitude toward the Li Yaoji murder case would be so firm. After all, Huang Qiangmin was from another province and hadn¡¯t thoroughly studied the cases of the Lanyue City Bureau, especially the mindset within the Lanyue police system. Logically, Huang Qiangmin should now unveil the truth and give Dai Mingsheng a small but memorable shock. But as a grown man, Huang Qiangmin knew that unless a shock could make money or evoke gasps from beauties, then a small shock was really just... small. Quickly adjusting his mindset, Huang Qiangmin said: "Director Dai, I¡¯ve understood your support, but I¡¯d still like to confirm something inly: aside from full manpower backing, to what extent can you support us materially?" "Full support¡ªwhatever you need, we¡¯ll provide it!" By this point, Dai Mingsheng had fullymitted: "As long as it¡¯s for solving the case, Lanyue City Criminal Police Team will open its coffers. If that¡¯s still not enough, I¡¯ll go to the City Bureau for more!" "What if it requires extensive background checks?" "Then we¡¯ll do background checks!" Huang Qiangmin licked his teeth with his tongue: "Jiang Yuan relies heavily on Xu Taining when ites to background checks. You may not know, but Xu Taining is renowned in our Shannan Province..." "I do know." Dai Mingsheng inhaled sharply: "Someone once discussed several of Xu Taining¡¯s check-heavy cases with me. Very effective, but also very resource-intensive." Huang Qiangmin said: "Unless it¡¯s absolutely necessary, Jiang Yuan won¡¯t rely on background checks either. But if ites to that point, effectiveness is still the priority, isn¡¯t it?" Dai Mingsheng nodded firmly: "Do it! I mean, if Xu Taining is truly needed, I can ept it. As long as it cracks the case!" But in the end, Dai Mingsheng couldn¡¯t help but add onest point. He could ept exhausting resources, but he hoped to see the results. Huang Qiangmin gave a steady nod: "Since we¡¯re being candid here, and everyone¡¯s present, let me say a bit more. Ningtai County Bureau isn¡¯t particrly wealthy either. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad has over 30 members, most of whom are borrowed from other departments. So traveling, enduring hardships, and basic expenses¡ªsure, it¡¯s manageable, we¡¯re just supporting a brotherly unit. But if the case is solved¡ªif, let¡¯s say, we fight through sleepless nights and solve the Li Yaoji murder case¡ªDirector Dai, what then?" "If the Li Yaoji murder case is cracked¡ªespecially if the murderer is caught¡ªthen I¡¯ll give you whatever you ask for." Dai Mingsheng said grandiosely. Huang Qiangmin smiled and shook his head: "I don¡¯t intend to extort¡ªjust asking your thoughts." "Whatever¡ªfine by me." Dai Mingsheng emphasized his tone: "I¡¯d even give you my new Passat without batting an eye." "A Passat? Sounds good." Huang Qiangmin nodded, then gestured for Dai Mingsheng to continue. Dai Mingshengughed heartily and rattled off a few other car license tes. Huang Qiangmin kept nodding. After thinking further, Dai Mingsheng waved over a young police officer nearby and said: "Didn¡¯t you prepare that proposal earlier¡ªthe one with the budget? Bring that over." "Yes, sir." The young officer hurried over with a freshly printed document. Dai Mingsheng flipped straight to the back, nced at the figures, and shook his head: "The previous version." "Didn¡¯t you say... Sir, are you referring to the Ningtai People¡¯s version?" The young officer hesitated, fearing he might make a mistake, and even used codenguage as rification. Previously, Dai Mingsheng hadined the budget figures were too steep, asking him, "Are you from Lanyue or Ningtai?" Now, without hesitation, Dai Mingsheng nodded: "Since Commissioner Huang chose the Li Yaoji murder case, today we¡¯re all Ningtai People." The young officer promptly fetched the earlier version of the document. Once again, Dai Mingsheng flipped to the end, pondered, and directly added a "2" to the figure, then said: "And take the other list, the one with the marked secondhand items¡ªgive it to Commissioner Huang. Huang, pick whichever ones you like!" Thisst remark was directed firmly at Huang Qiangmin. Huang took the two files, nced at them, and his eyelid twitched involuntarily. Thinking for a moment, he decided to share the contents with everyone in the room, asking: "Do you all agree?" "Agree." "Agree." "Thirty-plus people working, eating, enduring¡ªworking overtime¡ªif it cracks the Li Yaoji murder case, of course our Lanyue Criminal Investigation Team should bear the costs." "Absolutely!" The office quickly reached unanimous agreement. Some even worried that Huang Qiangmin might shy away and tried to up the stakes. With grace, Huang declined their additional offers, merely marking a few items on the list before saying: "Family matters should be clear-cut. If everyone agrees, let¡¯s put it into writing and sign. And I¡¯d appreciate it if Director Dai could assign a task force from your unit. Then we can officiallyunch the investigation into the Li Yaoji murder case." "Write whatever you like. I¡¯ll sign it!" Dai Mingsheng responded decisively, urging others to follow suit. On this drizzling afternoon, Dai Mingsheng truly believed¡ªwhatever it took to crack the Li Yaoji murder case, he would do it. Chapter 1160 - 1090: Did It Skip a Frame?

Chapter 1160: Chapter 1090: Did It Skip a Frame?

"Captain Hao, hello, hello." Jiang Yuan nced at the reinforcements lined up and stepped forward to shake hands. "Captain Jiang, just call me Old Hao or Zhichao." Captain Hao appeared to be about 40 years old. At this age within the Criminal Police Brigade, he was in his prime, often regarded as Dai Mingsheng¡¯s most capable subordinate. Whenever reinforcements were needed in districts and counties, Captain Hao¡¯s Second Brigade was invariably dispatched to tackle the toughest challenges. Jiang Yuan, havingpleted the case-solving work by this point, raised his emotional intelligence and cheerfully called him "Hao Da." Captain Hao waved helplessly and ordered his team members to gather for a lineup and salute. Such formalities were rtively rare. Whilew enforcement was considered a disciplined force, outside of strictly formal asions, itcked the rigid seriousness of military units. As for what ssified as formal asions, the simplest distinction was the presence of individuals in white shirts. Captain Hao now granted Jiang Yuan the equivalent of a "white shirt" treatment, saluting after the team did and announcing, "Captain Jiang, the Second Brigade of Lanyue City¡¯s Criminal Police Team should have 21 personnel present; all 21 are currently ounted for. Awaiting your instructions!" Jiang Yuan could only return the salute, then led Captain Hao to an isted corner after another round of pleasantries. Once they were away from the crowd, Jiang Yuan said, "Hao Da, I currently have a suspect that we need to bring in." "No problem." Captain Hao knew his assignment before arriving. Jiang Yuan gestured, and Wang Chuanxing immediately handed over a printed document to Captain Hao. Captain Hao nced at the document and his pupils constricted. It contained the background information of one individual: Li Yujing. Familiar with the Li Yaoji case, Captain Hao instantly recognized him as one of Li Yaoji¡¯s illegitimate sons. "Are we proceeding directly to arrest?" Captain Hao hesitated slightly. It wasn¡¯t that he doubted Jiang Yuan but was concerned about procedural legality. In cases like this, the subsequent investigation would surely be meticulous, especially considering that the Li Yaoji family had substantial wealth and resources. They would inevitably hirewyers to challenge the process. While this might not have a significant impact, minimizing potential issues was always preferable. Jiang Yuan nodded firmly and said, "Li Yujing is highly likely the murderer in the Li Yaoji case." "Hmm... Wait, how did we jump straight to... No, how did it directly progress to capturing the murderer?" Captain Hao¡¯s ability to manage his emotionspletely faltered. What was he here to do? He was supposed to assist Jiang Yuan in the preliminary investigations for the Li Yaoji murder case. Huang Qiangmin specifically requested that excessive personnel deployment be avoided for now and initial prep work be done instead. Only then did Brigade Chief Dai Mingsheng reluctantly hold back on a full mobilization, though he still issued repeated reminders, sending Captain Hao¡¯s elite Third Brigade. Based on Captain Hao¡¯s experience, with this early involvement in the investigation, he anticipated spending several months working on the Li Yaoji case. Of course, as long as the case could be solved, he was willing tomit. Even if it took longer, he had no issue. In the initial stages, bringing in some individuals involved for questioning or interviews was standard investigative procedure. What wasn¡¯t standard was Jiang Yuan directly identifying Li Yujing as the murderer! Captain Hao stared nkly at Jiang Yuan,pletely clueless about the current situation. "I¡¯ve reconstructed the crime scene and analyzed the case details to reach this conclusion," Jiang Yuan exined briefly to Captain Hao. Captain Hao still stood there, frozen. Under normal protocol, he should simply follow the order, but with Jiang Yuan¡¯s assertion that Li Yujing was the murderer, Captain Hao couldn¡¯t just turn around and proceed. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan said, "I imagine you have quite a few questions. Shall we review them together first?" Captain Hao hesitated and asked, "Wouldn¡¯t that affect the case?" "No, Li Yujing likely doesn¡¯t realize he¡¯s been identified yet." Jiang Yuan had already conducted investigations and monitoring. In actuality, they had pinpointed Li Yujing¡¯s location, but having the Cold Case Squad directly handle the arrest as an external force wasn¡¯t ideal. Captain Hao, unable to contain his curiosity, asked, "So should I understand that you¡¯ve essentially solved the Li Yaoji murder case?" "Basically, yes," Jiang Yuan paused and then added, "But we still need you to apprehend the murderer for verification. Additionally, we require more evidence." "Did someone tip you off?" Captain Hao could only imagine such a possibility. It wasn¡¯t umon for established criminals to provide information to receive leniency. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "I haven¡¯t received any leaks regarding the Li Yaoji case. This case was primarily solved through technical analysis, as I mentioned earlier, starting with crime scene reconstruction..." Captain Hao stared at Jiang Yuan with an increasingly bewildered expression. "Should I exin the specifics to you?" Jiang Yuan asked. "If you could, that¡¯d be best," Captain Hao hesitated for a couple of seconds and said, "Of course, strictly speaking, I should follow your orders, but this revtion is just too astonishing..." "Understood." Jiang Yuan smiled briefly, then began outlining his technical approach. Although Captain Hao, Hao Zhichao, didn¡¯t fullyprehend everything, he was deeply impressed. Taking the opportunity, Jiang Yuan organized his thoughts and then added, "On that note, certain individuals connected to Li Yujing should also be monitored. It¡¯s difficult to determine whether Li Yujing acted alone or had aplices in this case." Typically, most murder cases involved a single perpetrator, especially crimes of passion or personal vendettas. However, murders motivated by significant interests, particrly given the magnitude of potential gains, could potentially involve collective interests or aplices. Li Yaoji was the actual controller of arge corporate group. His every action had the ability to influence the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people. Naturally, his death would also cause seismic changes in many lives. Correspondingly, it was possible the killer, driven by their own interest or seeking to maximize benefits, might actively recruit assistance. Captain Hao nodded in agreement and said, "If there¡¯s no urgency, we could first draft a list and detain them all." "Drafting a list is fine. Secretly forbidding them from leaving the country would be sufficient. I suggest prioritizing Li Yujing¡¯s capture discreetly. After verifying his movements and other information, we can proceed with further actions." Jiang Yuan still relied heavily on photographic analysis to crack cases, which required cross-verification. Otherwise, if any errors urred during the initial scene examination, and dozens or even hundreds of individuals were apprehended en masse, the resulting chaos could be problematic. "Understood and willply," Captain Hao quickly grasped the strategy. He paused briefly before asking, "If that¡¯s the case, shouldn¡¯t we notify the brigade chief about the Li Yaoji case being resolved?" Huang Qiangmin walked over slowly then, his teeth gleaming as he spoke, "No rush. Confirm Li Yujing as the murderer first. If something goes wrong, it could hinder the follow-up process for the case." Chapter 1161 - 1091: Entering the House for Capture

Chapter 1161: Chapter 1091: Entering the House for Capture

"Captain Jiang, there¡¯s a step ahead. Be careful." Captain Hao cautiously guided Jiang Yuan, even when they were near Li Yujing¡¯s residence, he still apanied Jiang Yuan and gavemands simultaneously. There was no choice; the Li Yaoji murder case was too important. Whoever caught the killer could easily earn a second-ss merit. Captain Hao had also earned a second-ss merit. The Criminal Police Brigade ranks high in the criminal police world, unlike the lower-ranked County-level City Criminal Police Teams below them, elite members can achieve a second-ss merit. But even so, having been a high-ranking officer for half his life, Captain Hao had only received one second-ss merit. That too from supporting operations in lower districts, working himself to illness to gain the honor. Jiang Yuan was to be granted this directly. Now that they had actually driven out to make an arrest, Captain Hao¡¯s mindset waspletely prized. On one hand, such immense grace and virtue, why has he singled me out? On the other hand, such a tempting opportunity, what have I done to deserve taking such a big bite? If he sold me out, that¡¯s fine, but will it implicate my brothers? With such anxious thoughts, Captain Hao directed his subordinate detectives to silently surround Li Yujing¡¯s detached mansion. To enhance privacy, the mansion was surrounded by vine nts, winding around columns and iron fences, along with internal trees, weaving a dense, impermeable outeryer. Although the top surveince was active, the apanying technician¡¯s jammer instantly disabled it. This was a major distinction between the provincial capital¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade handling cases and ordinary district or county police. Regr County Criminal Police Teams or City-level Criminal Police Brigades typically wouldn¡¯t purchase such equipment, or if they did, wouldn¡¯t bother using it, or only had specialists who knew how to operate it. The provincial capital¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade was different; those who joined either had high education, prestigious backgrounds, or both, and rted technicians preferred using advanced tech gear. "Go in." Captain Hao gave a straightforward hand signal, prompting officers equipped with a battering ram and hydraulic shears to advance and push open the mansion¡¯s gate with a simple push. The door wasn¡¯t even locked. In the courtyard, two employees were chatting. Seeing the influx of police momentarily stunned them, but they quickly shouted, "Who are you?" "Police on duty." A frontline officer stepped forward and shed his badge for a glimpse. The employee didn¡¯t even get a clear look, shouting boldly, "Even if you¡¯re police, you can¡¯t just..." The frontline officer unhesitatingly pulled out a taser and zapped his chest, bringing the employee down without hesitation. "Move." Captain Hao urged. Their current issue was theck of strong evidence to convict Li Yujing. The existing evidence was sufficient at the investigation level, but sending it for a trial, first and second instances, and finally death penalty review, each process increased the demands on evidence. So gathering more evidence was Captain Hao¡¯s top priority. Captain Hao, Hao Zhichao, felt this was the only area where he could demonstrate his value, so he prepared and arranged meticulously. Although this was a routine arrest for the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team, Captain Hao made rigorous ns andmunicated them to everyone in the team. The tasered employee was suspected of signaling a warning, and hence the frontline officer took him down without hesitation. The main door of the standalone mansion was locked, and it was a full copper double door, one of the selling points of this viplex. A regr battering ram had no effect. The first officer to arrive tugged and failed to open it, immediately signaling for a locksmith colleague, who crouched to try picking the lock. Meanwhile, other investigators started running around the vi, trying to enter through the side or back doors. Hao Zhichao then signaled and called for a dder," whereupon four officers carried adder borrowed from the property management, heading straight for the vi¡¯s second-floor balcony. Once set up, two officers held the bottom while two climbed up. At this moment, through the upstairs window, a panic-stricken face appeared, but clearly, no one dared rush forward to push down the policedder. Two detectives climbed up, followed by two more, each with a gun at their waist. Captain Hao breathed a sigh of relief and approached Jiang Yuan with a smile, "It seems we¡¯ve got it." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need intelligence now, just emotional intelligence as he replied, "Your unit is well-trained." "Our team often handles tough cases, encountering drug or gun-rted issues frequently, so we never ck on this kind of training," Captain Hao boasted a little. "Very good. That¡¯s the best. If you need our help, feel free to instruct." Jiang Yuan presented himself as a modest young man. "No need, no need, we¡¯ll handle the dirty and tiring work," Captain Hao dared not give real orders, worried the case might have issues, he didn¡¯t even want Jiang Yuan on-site. Alongside Criminal Police Brigade officers kept their eyes fixed, silently nurturing thoughts. Any detective reaching the "brigade" level was generally regarded as a leader in the field, so typically, brigades have little to do with dirty work. However, encountering someone like Jiang Yuan, who could handle exhausting tasks, they were more than willing. The Lanyue City Criminal Police Team from Team Three also understood their Captain, acknowledging the prominence of Jiang Yuan¡¯s support evidenced by his configuration. At this moment, those left beside Jiang Yuan responsible for protection included Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming in full bulletproof armor, and Shen Yaowei, unarmored but carrying a Type 92 pistol. Mu Zhiyang also carried a briefcase modified with a Type 79 submachine gun, its appearance suggesting it could be raised as a shield or the 79 be used as strike force at any time. Detectives of the Criminal Police Brigade were worldly; sometimes senior officials visit, and being equipped at this level was quite eptable. But one couldn¡¯t im Jiang Yuan¡¯s configuration unnecessary; he faced more assassination attempts than the President of the United States. Having three people and two guns wasn¡¯t much. More importantly, someone genuinely attempted to assassinate Jiang Yuan! Given the domestic environment, few had the stature to be targeted for assassination. Thunk. Inside the vi, the sound of a battering ram echoed. It was opening an interior door. Captain Hao couldn¡¯t resist, saying, "Captain Jiang, should I enter tomand?" "Let¡¯s go together," Jiang Yuan suggested proactively, "The people with me can lend a hand." "The situation inside is still unclear..." Captain Hao hesitated a bit. "Let¡¯s go. Already as police, there¡¯s no turning back," Jiang Yuan was keen to confirm the evidence up close. Given the field situation, Hao Zhichao nodded resolutely and said to Mu Zhiyang, "Mu Team, you can take out the gun now." Mu Zhiyang nodded, taking the modified Type 79 from the briefcase, slinging it over his back, while carrying the briefcase with steel tes mped inside. If the Type 59 tank is China¡¯s king of heavy equipment modification, then the Type 79 is the king of light equipment modifications. This enduring appeal of the Type 79 submachine gun is due to its excellent foundation. Numerous units and individuals have favored it, or rather, over the years, the Type 79 has seen widespread equipment, and with no recement products visible, those in genuine need used various methods to modify the gun. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s weapon had been fitted with tactical rails and an adjustable stock; the entire gun¡¯s bnce had been redesigned to suit his usual single-handed shooting needs. Currently, Mu Zhiyang had no major tasks and frequently trained with tactical experts. His training in firearms and rted defensive techniques far exceeded that of a typical SWAT member. Forming a shield-like formation, the group silently entered Li Yujing¡¯s property. The lobby was an atrium over ten meters high, covering an area of about two hundred square meters, exuding grandeur. "For an illegitimate child, Li Yujing¡¯s standard of living was quite high," Hao Zhichao remarked emotionlessly, mentally scoring another point against Li Yujing¡¯s suspicion. Amidst the conversation, sounds of a disturbance arose from upstairs, followed by the sight of a long-haired man being escorted in handcuffs by two detectives. "Li Yujing has been captured," reported an officer from above. "Did you find a safe? Have him open it," Hao Zhichao hoped to recover the jewelry and other items lost on that day. The Li Yaoji case initially reported as a burry, but the stolen jewels and items never emerged on the market, which was quite peculiar. Those risking burry with various dangers, if their motive was profit, would still sell the stolen goods despite the high risk due to the greater crisis of being cash-strapped. Furthermore, the missing jewels from Li Yaoji were invaluable, including a Patek Philippe superplication model, a famous designer-crafted emerald T-square diamond bracelet, pure imperial green pendant, and wild sinking incense prayer beads. It¡¯s improbable that an imprudent spendthrift, even one with strong resolve, would discard such items. "I want awyer. I won¡¯t open the safe without awyer present," Li Yujing lifted his head defiantly, without much nervousness, seizing the opportunity to make a demand. Chapter 1162 - 1092 New Technology

Chapter 1162: Chapter 1092 New Technology

"Li Yujing, this is our criminal videographer, and he will be recording the whole process. You don¡¯t have to worry about losing anything from the safe. Besides, as long as you¡¯re innocent, it¡¯s best to exin the situation early, so you can rest earlier. It¡¯s good for everyone, isn¡¯t it?" Qi Zhichao lied to Li Yujing without blinking an eye. Of course, mainly about the second part. Given the current clues, it¡¯s extremely difficult for Li Yujing to exin himself clearly. Even if he could, the police would at least detain him for 37 days. During this time, it¡¯s highly unlikely hiswyer would be able to see him. Simrly, those suspects trying to use clever tricks to deceive the police, prosecution, or court to escape are also in a lot of pain in this mode. Ultimately, the weight of the facts is the heaviest, and the more you seek to bnce the weight of the facts, the more you need on the other side of the scale. Li Yujing gritted his teeth and said, "I¡¯m innocent. But I don¡¯t trust you. I want to see mywyer. Jiang Lid is mywyer. Get him here, and I¡¯ll open the safe immediately." Qi Zhichao tried persuading him a bit more, kindly and softly, like a genial neighborhoodmittee uncle. Li Yujing was dismissive of this, persistently asking to see hiswyer and make a phone call. This is almost impossible in murder investigations. Seeing the situation, Qi Zhichao¡¯s expression changed instantly, recing his streetmittee look with a stern face, and said to his subordinates, "In that case, just force it open." Soon, an old man with a bag on his back walked in. "Please take a look at this safe first. If you can open it directly, that would be best," Qi Zhichao said unceremoniously, in amanding tone. "Got it," the old man replied obediently. He was the lock king of Lanyue City, once famously known for opening any lock in the city with a single wire, but after being caught, that was no longer the case. For a while, in any simr lock-opening case, or any unsolved mysterycking suspects, the police would seek him out. In such an environment, forget livingfortably, even surviving became difficult for the so-called lock king and thief king. Ultimately, being recruited to open locks for the police was the best oue. The old man sat in front of the safe, gentlyid out his tools, and when he looked at the safe, his eyes were already focused. Li Yujing was still nearby, realizing what the man was about to do, and started shouting loudly. Qi Zhichao merely nced at him and chuckled, saying, "Hold him to the side." Qi Zhichao had his own ideas on how to interrogate Li Yujing, supported by Jiang Yuan and others. The old lock king squatted in front of the safe for a while, listening with stethoscope-like equipment at the lock for a long time, and then stood up, saying, "Two hours needed." The police nearby were unsatisfied, saying, "In movies, it¡¯s all done in half an hour, 20 minutes or so." The old man stubbornly replied, "Then go find someone from the movies." Li Yujing wiggled his body and scoffed, "My safe can¡¯t be opened in two hours. Besides, I¡¯m telling you, there¡¯s nothing in it. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re fussing about." Qi Zhichao ignored him, turned around, and gave a few more instructions to his subordinates. Twenty minutester, while the old man was still working, two more people arrived with equipment. "Let¡¯s use the acetylene torch," Captain Qi, seeing that all the equipment had arrived, decided not to waste any more time and got straight to business. The old man was displeased, saying, "Give me another hour, I can open it." "Can you guarantee it?" Captain Qi asked. The old man hesitated for a moment, then said, "Opening a safe is different from ordinary locks. Ordinary locks can be opened when you hit the spot. A safe is¡ª" "Just say whether you can guarantee it or not." "Well... if you want me to guarantee it, I can¡¯t say for sure." "Then use the acetylene torch," said Captain Qi, looking at Jiang Yuan, "What do you think, Captain Jiang?" "Torch it," Jiang Yuan responded simrly. He himself could open locks, so he knew the difficulty level of unlocking this kind of safe. Being able to open it in two hours was already impressive, but unnecessary. What they needed was to see the contents inside the safe. The two torch operators were also from a reformed background. Police preferred these people, different from ordinary business owners, and truly liked them. With Captain Qi¡¯s order, the two gas cutting experts stepped forward, sparks flying with lightning speed. Li Yujing had a heavy expression, but remained silent. Jiang Yuan frowned watching, and quickly pulled Tang Jia aside to give some quiet instructions. It took quite some time to cut through the safe with the gas torch. Meanwhile, the videographer continued recording the whole process. A whileter, a notary from the notary office came over, signed a temporary document. This was also someone Captain Qi called on Jiang Yuan¡¯s rmendation; otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t usually have suchprehensive resources. After a busy half hour, the sound of gas cutting finally stopped. "It can be opened now," the two torch operators said, giving way directly to the policemen, not touching the door handle at all. Two police officers stepped up, wearing heat-insting gloves, and amidst everyone¡¯s gaze, opened the safe door. Inside, a dazzling array of jewels. The jewelry Li Yujing and his girlfriend had bought was evidently substantial, but as Captain Qi and others rifled through it all, they couldn¡¯t find anything rted to the crime. "Do you have any evidence?" Li Yujing suddenly became arrogant andughed, as if he had been toying with everyone all along. Captain Qi¡¯s face changed slightly, stiffening his neck, and said, "Log all this evidence away." The safe was already open, no time to seal it, couldn¡¯t just leave it there. Li Yujingughed heartily, then shouted, "Aren¡¯t you going to release me? You arrested me without evidence; when I get back, we¡¯ll argue this out." "We have enough evidence to detain you. If you don¡¯t confess, you can stay well in the detention center," Captain Qi, though not having achieved his goal, showed no signs of backing down. However, the current situation slightly exceeded his expectations. He had left Li Yujing at the scene instead of immediately taking him back, intending to break his defenses on-site. At this point, Tang Jia returned and nodded to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan immediately said, "Captain Qi, should I have someone bring the ground-prating radar and sweep around?" "Ground-prating radar?" Captain Qi didn¡¯t react at first. Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, "If things aren¡¯t in the safe, they might be in a secret room. Let¡¯s see if this vi has a secret room." Nowadays,rger vis tend to have secret rooms, and the principle is simple: create an entrance where there isn¡¯t one, so in case of danger or other need, one can hide inside ande out when the situation improves. In normal danger, like when someone ising to catch you. The ground-prating radar Jiang Yuan referred to is a tool designed specifically to find such ancient treasures as secret rooms. It was also a good find recently acquired by Huang Qiangmin. The ground-prating radar was deployed, and in just a dozen minutes, a technician pointed right behind Li Yujing. Li Yujing was stunned, and then his face changed dramatically. Chapter 1163 - 1093: Crime Scene Investigation

Chapter 1163: Chapter 1093: Crime Scene Investigation

The ground-prating radar brought back by Tang Jia is just a handcart, with the radar main unit ced underneath, aptop on top, connected by a hard tube in the middle. In terms of appearance, it actually looks less impressive than the movie version of a military mine detector. But it is already the equipment of the new era. Inside the sturdy box are integrated the transmitting and receiving units, both of which transmit and receive electromaic waves. Although theptop on top is just an ordinaryptop, once the matching software is installed, it can basically synthesize and disy the underground situation. The technician from Ningtai County pushed it around the vi, and all the hidden things underground and within the walls became clearly visible. For ground-prating radar, the outdoor environment poses a slight challenge, while these artificially manufactured homogeneous materials are too easy. In fact, ground-prating radar is used in engineering for road defect detection, meaning that no underground concealment is necessary, even a small fissure can be detected. However, this slightly new equipment is somewhat unfamiliar to ordinary people. So, when the ground-prating radar stopped behind Li Yujing, his mind was filled with all sorts of suspicions. As for technology, he didn¡¯t understand it. Human nature, he believed he understood it. Li Yujing strained to turn his head, trying to figure out who was betraying him. Captain Hao chuckled, leaving Li Yujing here was intended to provoke his emotional fluctuation. Otherwise, this noble son who has inherited arge family business and harbors many unrealistic expectations would be difficult to directly interrogate for results. Liu Jinghui came up from behind, noticed the situation, nced twice at Captain Hao without speaking, and silently marked him as "scheming". Jiang Yuan turned back to look at theptop on the handcart, thenmanded, "Camera, photography, inspection light, after taking traces, smash the wall." With his orders issued, a team of technicians filed in, began collecting fingerprints and other traces on the wall under the full recording of the camera. Li Yujing¡¯s luxurious mansion was decorated extravagantly, the walls were covered with wall panels, a material easy for leaving traces. Several technicians joyfully turned on the inspection lights, switching light sources to take photos. After taking photos, they used various static electricity absorbers and footprint extractors to collect any traceable evidence. This step was carried out only because of Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, because it involved destructive operations, otherwise general trace extraction wouldn¡¯t be so thorough. The workload is toorge, and ordinary cases would not afford personnel to this extent, moving equipment alone would tire out the few people involved. Once all preparatory work was finished, the ground was covered with oilcloth, and a police officer arrived with a sledgehammer and a newly purchased impact drill. Powe powe powe... 80, 80... Once everything calmed down, the vi wall had already been smashed into pieces. Captain Hao and others craned their necks to look over, frowning. After a while, Captain Hao approached Jiang Yuan and asked, "Can¡¯t find it?" "Under the wall." Jiang Yuan pointed with his mouth. The technicians digging the wall didn¡¯t even ask a question, they just lifted the impact drill and continued working. The positioning of the ground-prating radar is extremely urate, for technicians who know what to look for, there¡¯s essentially no secrets. You just perform standard operations. It¡¯s purely physicalbor. Compared to smashing the wall, digging into the ground takes less time, until a "ding" sounded from below, then two technicians stopped. As seen by the ground-prating radar, below the ground was an iron box embedded entirely in the concrete of the floor, presumably inserted during the decoration. Everyone looked towards Li Yujing with interest. Though Li Yujing was already 40 years old, hisplexion had deteriorated to the point of looking aged. At this moment, you couldn¡¯t even tell if his emotions were getting worse, very bad, terribly bad, extremely bad, or outrageously bad... Yet Li Yujing still had some intellect. Whether he had it before is unknown, maybe he acquired some over these years. He snorted twice and said, "I know what you¡¯re trying to do, you¡¯re trying to frame me. You were hired by my brother, weren¡¯t you? That fool is ipetent in doing things, but when ites to harming others, he¡¯s skilled." "This is your property, you did the renovations yourself." Captain Haoughed at Li Yujing, saying, "If you want to talk about being framed, you better find some suitable evidence." "You don¡¯t have any evidence to prove that I buried it!" Li Yujing was naturally unwilling to admit. "You really should talk to yourwyer about the burden of proof." Captain Hao paused, then spoke sternly, "This iron box buried underground won¡¯t contain what we suspect it to have, correct?" He wouldn¡¯t mention specific illegal goods. Li Yujing was about to answer but stopped, saying, "How would I know what you want? You¡¯re just trying to frame me." "The mouth of a stubborn duck, indeed." Captain Hao intended to overpower him with momentum. At this point, Jiang Yuan instructed the technicians, "Camera. I¡¯ll take the fingerprints." Captain Hao immediately looked at Li Yujing beside him, unsurprised to see his expression change drastically. Captain Hao felt particrly pleased, Jiang Yuanpletely understood the purpose of leaving Li Yujing, and such cooperation was excellent. Liu Jinghui watched this unfold with pride yet helplessness. For ordinary people, dragons are powerful and mysterious beings, and a dragon¡¯s every move naturally would cause exmations among ordinary people or knights. Captain Hao turned and smiled at Li Yujing, saying, "Let me introduce you, Captain is one of our country¡¯s top forensic trace experts. Did you wear gloves the entire time when burying the box? When buying the box? When transporting the box?" Li Yujing waspletely speechless. He wasn¡¯t inherently cautious, remembering to wear gloves at critical moments was an achievement in itself, he hadn¡¯t considered the option of wearing gloves the entire time. On the other hand, wearing gloves all the time itself would be too strange. Jiang Yuan bent over the iron box and began extracting fingerprints. This box embedded in concrete will certainly have significant fingerprint loss. Even for Jiang Yuan, it required extra care and attention. "Take him back." Captain Hao thought the demonstration for Li Yujing was enough, and as for what would be found in the box, Li Yujing probably knew better than any of them. Two criminal police officers escorted Li Yujing away. Li Yujing, with long hair, shook his head, as if trying to resist, but before he could muster any strength, he was firmly restrained. The cases handled by the Criminal Police Brigade don¡¯t tend to be many, but dealing with a second-generation individual like Li is quite simple. Jiang Yuan extracted fingerprints and other traces, then took the iron box to the side, spread out a stic sheet, and opened it in front of the camera. In sight, a blue-faced Patek Philippe watchy quietly inside. ... Lanyue City Criminal Police Team. A young team member was "tap tap tap" typing on the keyboard, continuously adjusting the font size until satisfied, and then he disyed it on therge screen behind him. "Dai Zhi, does this font and color look okay to you?" The young man asked Dai Mingsheng humbly. "Make it a sizerger, move it towards the center." Dai Mingsheng nodded. The young man smiled slightly and ced the pre-prepared final format onto it¡ªtherge characters "Li Yaoji Murder Case Breakthrough Meeting" appeared in bold font on the conference room¡¯s projection screen. Dai Mingsheng nodded with satisfaction, then turned to his subordinates and said, "The importance of the Li Yaoji murder case doesn¡¯t need my exnation. Next, after Jiang Yuan and his team havepleted the preliminary preparations, we will first hold a site meeting to jointly discuss the resources required, personnel arrangements needed, each team should be notified, and everyone will attend the breakthrough meeting. One is to participate in the case investigation, to brainstorm. Another is for everyone to make a statement!" Chapter 1164 - 1094: Waiting for a Surprise

Chapter 1164: Chapter 1094: Waiting for a Surprise

"Check the serial number." Captain Hao was also extremely familiar with the Li Yaoji case. Patek Philippe¡¯splex function models are very rare watches. Anyone slightly familiar can recognize it at a nce. The Patek Philippeplex function model lost in the Li Yaoji case not only had a unique serial number, but that specific number was also confidential, with very limited ess to it. So, under normal circumstances, once the serial number is confirmed, it can basically be determined as the watch lost from the crime scene. For the police team, this is an absolute major breakthrough. "The serial numbers match." The nearby criminal police officer quickly flipped through the files on theputer. "Looking at it this way, we can basically confirm Li Yujing is the murderer!" Captain Hao was greatly excited. "In the end, it was greed that harmed him. No matter how valuable these things are, they are not worth more than simply discarding them," said one of the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s criminal police with a sigh. Liu Jinghui chuckled now, saying, "Greed is right, but leaving these things behind wasn¡¯t all for money." "How so?" Captain Hao had some guesses but still asked Liu Jinghui for an exnation, after all, he is a detective genius from out of town. Liu Jinghui understood Captain Hao¡¯s thoughts and tagged him with "schemer X2," then continued, "Leaving those things was a decision made immediately after the murder. At that time, the murderer probably couldn¡¯t be sure if he could really escape. If he was a bit smarter, instead of exhausting efforts to destroy these jewels and watches, it might have been better to leave them behind. Who knows, it might have framed someone else instead." With this exnation, the criminal police present immediately understood. Captain Hao¡¯s expression became even more serious. To be fair, under the pressure of cracking a murder case, if someone were framed, the real culprit might truly have some chance of escaping. Of course, the framing has to be done skillfully. In fact, when Li Yujingmitted the murder, he should have already tried framing. The fingerprints left on the dagger at the scene were probably intended to confuse the police. The effect was quite good; it wasted a lot of police resources. And this fingerprint never matched anyone; otherwise, who knows what chaos might have ensued. Captain Hao couldn¡¯t help but lower his head to scrutinize the iron box in front of him. If it was used to frame Li Yujing, then it could indeed be sessful. Jiang Yuan noticed his thoughts and said, "The iron box has Li Yujing¡¯s fingerprints on it." Captain Hao breathed a sigh of relief, "Exactly. Since he¡¯se into contact with this iron box..." "In theory, someone framing him, such as fellow family members from the Li family, might have first let hime into contact with this iron box through other channels before putting something inside." Liu Jinghui, as a reasoning expert, acknowledged this possibility from a reasoning perspective. Captain Hao inexplicably hesitated. Liu Jinghui then remarked, "But considering other evidence, the reason to frame Li Yujing is weak. Firstly, the iron box was hidden too secretly; framing isn¡¯t done this way. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s outing, no one would have even linked it to Li Yujing, let alone find this box. Furthermore, Jiang Yuan has already demonstrated Li Yujing¡¯s potential guilt from other angles." "Indeed. I overthought it." Captain Hao immediately broke away from his fixed mindset and smiled, "Li Yujing benefited significantly from Li Yaoji¡¯s death, though he might not be the biggest beneficiary, but if the killer wanted to frame him, they wouldn¡¯t have waited until now." Liu Jinghui nodded, "However, Li Yujing likely had the intent to harm. At the very least, he kept that option open. And, another reason is when he killed his father, Li Yaoji, he actually didn¡¯t have much money, nor was he sure how much he would ultimately inherit. Hence, the jewels and jewelry he took from Li Yaoji¡¯s bedroom still held substantial allure for Li Yujing." "Not to mention the Patek Philippe, these emperor green jade pieces and gemstones for rings¡ªif you¡¯re willing to waste a bit, they can be sold as new after slight refinishing. Together, these items are worth tens of millions." Liu Jinghui agreed, "Li Yujing used to be just one of Li Yaoji¡¯s 13 illegitimate sons. Li Yaoji also had two children within his marriage. From the bank¡¯s asset records, Li Yujing previously didn¡¯t have much wealth, just receiving a small sry from the Changxi Group of less than a hundred thousand yuan annually, owning one house and two cars, often needing help from his mother... Tens of millions¡¯ worth would certainly be tempting for him." "It should be very enticing. If he hadn¡¯t inherited so quickly, he probably would have disposed of some goods." Captain Hao sighed with a bit of regret. They checked many routes for fencing back then but without sess. However, apany asrge as the Changxi Group wouldn¡¯t handle inheritance issues ording to the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s wishes, so that lead was a dead end. Perhaps if they had detected Li Yujing at the time or startled him, those stolen goods might have surfaced in the market. "I have to make a call to the squad leader to report this." From receiving the order to heading out, Captain Hao only spent an afternoon, shorter than their usual missions, but there was now a suspect identified in the case and much evidence gathered, so he couldn¡¯t dy anymore. Jiang Yuan acknowledged briefly and added, "There are other fingerprints on the iron box. I need topare them again. Anyway, when you tell Dai Zhi, don¡¯t say there¡¯s only one suspect." "Huh... there¡¯re more suspects?" Captain Hao was baffled again. "Yes. But marking the box dug out from concrete is a bit challenging. I¡¯ll need to tidy up andpare againter. It might not match after all." Jiang Yuan exined. Liu Jinghui interjected, "In theory, it¡¯s possible irrelevant persons might havee into contact with the box as well." "I understand." Having epted this information, Captain Hao dared not dy further, promptly calling Dai Mingsheng. At this moment, Dai Mingsheng was already inspecting the setup for the "Li Yaoji Murder Case Resolution Meeting." Unaware, Captain Hao ryed the final investigation results to Dai Mingsheng in detail. "So the case is solved?" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s voice was heavy. By rights, he should be thrilled, overjoyed even. Captain Hao was unsure where the issuey, lowering his voice a tad, saying, "As it stands now, the highly likely perpetrator is Li Yujing, one of Li Yaoji¡¯s illegitimate sons." "What about the motive?" "This might be inheritance rights dispute? Currently, it¡¯s not very clear." "What about the confession? Isn¡¯t it supposed to clearly ount for everything in Li Yujing¡¯s confession?" "Li Yujing has just been sent to the interrogation center, so results might not be out so soon." "It¡¯s too soon to dere the case solved in such urgency!" Dai Mingsheng concluded somewhat coldly. Captain Hao, puzzled over how the squad leader¡¯s mood altered so quickly just after a few hours apart, hesitated and said, "If you mean cracking the case, Li Yujing likely has aplices, though specifically who they are is not yet fully investigated. So, one can¡¯t say the case ispletely solved." "The case isn¡¯tpletely solved?" Dai Mingsheng emphasized. Captain Hao didn¡¯t understand but instinctively gave a repetitive affirmation, "Yes, the case isn¡¯tpletely solved." "Alright then. Finish up the on-site investigation quickly and return to the team, we¡¯ll have a meeting," Dai Mingsheng hung up the phone, then nced at the words "Li Yaoji Murder Case Resolution Meeting," hesitating slightly. At this point, his deputy, Lin Xunlei, havingpleted all the preparatory tasks, came over, saying, "Dai Zhi, everything¡¯s ready. I¡¯ve informed all the teams; during the meeting discussing the Li Yaoji murder case, each team has to propose at least two viewpoints, without repetition. At the very least, it can provide Jiang Yuan with some insight. It expresses our proactive stance." This was also Dai Mingsheng had instructed previously. "Alright then. Let¡¯s stick to that n." Dai Mingsheng hesitated no more. He suddenly felt there was no need to expose this matter. Most importantly, it¡¯s a good thing the case is solved; not knowing it¡¯s solved when it is, that¡¯s a surprise. He thought to himself, why ruin this surprise? Might as well be in the know and just watch others enjoy this surprise? The thought quickly passed through veteran detective Dai Mingsheng¡¯s mind, quickly turning to skepticism: Could it be that Hao Zhichao is thinking the same way? Chapter 1165 - 1095: There are several difficulties in this case

Chapter 1165: Chapter 1095: There are several difficulties in this case

"Director Dai, you¡¯re here early." The captain of Team One, Jian Louyuan, is a sharp little man. When he was young, he was a bit of a ruffian; as he got older, he became ugly and turned into a sly adult. Of course, he still remained small in stature. Dai Mingsheng responded with a grunt and sighed involuntarily, "If I don¡¯te early, I¡¯ll be useless." Jian Louyuan couldn¡¯t understand why his director suddenly became so despondent, but he knew how to provide emotional value, so he immediately said, "Director Dai, are you feeling down because the case hasn¡¯t progressed smoothly?" "That¡¯s not how I¡¯d describe it," Dai Mingsheng shook his head and asked Jian Louyuan, "How are you preparing? Do you have any thoughts on the Li Yaoji case?" "Well... there are certainly thoughts, but we were all part of the task force on the Li Yaoji murder case back then. Evidence wascking then, and it¡¯s stillcking now. I¡¯m not very optimistic about Captain Jiang and his team. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad is quite famous and has indeed handled impressive cases, but the Li Yaoji murder, we¡¯re too familiar with it. It¡¯s an over-investigated case, and there are still no new leads..." Dai Mingsheng interrupted Jian Louyuan, saying, "Jiang Yuan specializes in technology. If his skills are good enough, he might find new leads through his expertise." "That¡¯s still difficult," Jian Louyuan continued, "Even finding new leads doesn¡¯t guarantee they can be followed, nor does following them mean the case will be solved. Take the Li Yaoji murder; does itck leads? There were plenty of leads initially, and the investigation team split into four groups to follow them..." Jian Louyuan spoke eloquently, offering very reasonable analysis. But Dai Mingsheng knew that his analysis was wrong. This was one of the reasons why Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t particrly like reasoning. Without evidence, anyone can talk, but some people¡¯s words are useful, some aren¡¯t, and some arepletely off-track. "Organize your thoughts and send them to Xiao Zhengter." Dai Mingsheng no longer wanted to listen but wasn¡¯t about to let Jian Louyuan off the hook either. Lanyue City can¡¯t always rely on Jiang Yuan and his Cold Case Squad; it¡¯s too expensive. Therefore, someone like Jian Louyuan, a criminal police captain, should ideally draw lessons from each case... Dai Mingsheng concluded with this thought and immediately felt satisfied. Reflecting on his conversation with Huang Qiangmin, Dai Mingsheng suddenly realized the problem. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s initial remarks seemingly hinted at some results or even breakthroughs in the Li Yaoji murder case. Unfortunately, Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t think along those lines back then, missing the opportunity, leading to the signing of a painful agreement. Although solving the Li Yaoji murder is the most important thing, as the saying goes, save when you can, spend when you must... Dai Mingsheng looked at Jian Louyuan again and said, "Your most important task today is to learn from Jiang Yuan." "Yes." Jian Louyuan thought the director was being diplomatic and cooperatively responded. Dai Mingsheng said no more. Today¡¯s on-site meeting might have initially resulted from information asymmetry, but now, Dai Mingsheng was prepared to turn it into a learning session. The captains of Teams Three and Four arrived together, each bringing people and a PowerPoint presentation, wearing expressions that were worldly yet inexperienced. Dai Mingsheng secretly assessed his subordinate¡¯s potential psychological impact, then calmly allowed them to sit down. A few subordinates took the opportunity to plug in USB drives and check the PPT¡¯s fonts and formats. If it were a county-level criminal police team, this step could be skipped, but in the provincial capital, it requires more grandeur. Soon, the conference room, the size of a long ssroom, was filled with officers from Lanyue City¡¯s Criminal Police Team. Many young officers also volunteered to enter the room under various pretenses. Lanyue City¡¯s Criminal Police Team has never banned such actions and even slightly encouraged them. After all, officers willing to actively participate in a case are more beneficial than detrimental, and the team¡¯s daily workload isn¡¯t substantial, actually weing active participation. The conference room quickly became lively, without the need for anyone to host, as everyone formed small circles to discuss in private. For senior officers of Lanyue City¡¯s Criminal Police Team, the Li Yaoji murder case is an unforgettable case, while for middle and lower officers, it¡¯s a familiar and frequently discussed case. For any officer employed less than ten years, the first three major cases they hear about will definitely include the Li Yaoji murder case. The case has plenty of leads but is highly challenging, with many suspects, yet none have been conclusively identified. Additionally, the scene had a weapon and fingerprints, thetter having been part of a provincial fingerprint battle with no results. The victim had significant social influence,plex rtionships, and numerous interest conflicts... For detectives with a strong sense of skepticism, the Li Yaoji murder case is filled with every possible element. Many young officers join after secretly reading the case or openly consulting and engaging with former task force members, attempting to use their school-trained logic to solve the case and shock the province, begin a legendary career, and reach the pinnacle of the world... None have seeded. Currently, as everyone sits here, they may not be seeking to directly solve the Li Yaoji murder case, but they¡¯re very willing to share their thoughts on it. Dai Mingsheng felt slightly relieved yet anxious seeing everyone¡¯s enthusiasm. "Captain Jiang is back," Lin Xunlei came to report personally. "Please bring Captain Jiang over," Dai Mingsheng stood up and said to everyone, "Let¡¯s wee him." The captains were a bit puzzled, was this necessary? Lin Xunlei also asked, "Isn¡¯t it enough for just a few of us to greet him?" "Everyone above the rank of captain shoulde out to greet him," Dai Mingshengughed to himself, thinking, so you all won¡¯t be unsettledter. Soon, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui were warmly weed into the conference room. The crowd gave an enthusiastic round of apuse. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui only thought it was because the case had been solved; given their past experience, this was a reasonable level of apuse. Dai Mingsheng pulled Jiang Yuan to sit beside him. He didn¡¯t deliver the usual lengthy official speech, only saying a few polite words before stating, "¡¯Li Yaoji Murder Case On-Site Meeting¡¯ is now starting. Captain Jiang, first, let¡¯s hear the thoughts of our young officers, andter, we¡¯ll make corrections and additions. Um, let¡¯s start with Team One." The captain of Team One, Jian Louyuan, immediately stood up. By rights, Jiang Yuan should sit upright and listen attentively. But he couldn¡¯t help leaning closer to Dai Mingsheng and quietly saying, "Director Dai, Captain Hao should have reported to you; this case is basically solved." "I heard they are interrogating now," Dai Mingsheng turned his head. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded, saying, "The objective evidence is very sufficient." For a murder cold case, Jiang Yuan¡¯s collected evidence was enough, and next was forming the evidence chain. Dai Mingsheng said, "Since we don¡¯t have a confession yet, hmm... we¡¯ve already started the on-site meeting, should we proceed as nned?" Jiang Yuan looked puzzled; meetings after solving a case are possible, but they should be a Li Yaoji Murder Case Summary Meeting, not an On-Site Meeting... An On-Site Meeting is an official case analysis session where everyone discusses and analyzes clues, ultimately determining team personnel allocation based on this. Some on-site meetings are held superficially, but most police teams either don¡¯t hold them or make them very intense. Because they genuinely act on these analysis results. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply, gesturing to Jian Louyuan, "Old Jian, start speaking." "Yes." Jian Louyuan steadied himself and said, "From my perspective, the difficulty of the Li Yaoji murder case remains very high. Thus, I greatly admire Captain Jiang¡¯s choice of this case. Firstly, I think there are several difficulties in this case..." Chapter 1166 - 1096: I Will Speak 3 Sentences

Chapter 1166: Chapter 1096: I Will Speak 3 Sentences

"In summary, given the numerous challenges presented by this case, I propose that we try some fresh approaches. For instance, we can conduct aprehensive audit and investigation of the Changxi Group, nt personnel for undercover operations within it, and afterying this groundwork, make further ns." Jian Louyuan, the Captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, was the first to speak, receiving enthusiastic apuse from everyone. Jian Louyuan saluted, then sat down. Dai Mingsheng picked up the microphone andmented, "Although Lou Yuan didn¡¯t speak for long, he made aplete outline of the Li Yaoji murder case. Nicely done; he has conducted in-depth research on the Li Yaoji murder case. You were with the task force back then, correct?" "Yes," Jian Louyuan replied formally in the formal setting and added, "At that time, I was responsible for investigating the four mistresses and five children of the Li Yaoji family, andter I investigated several of Li Yaoji¡¯s business partners. Li Yaoji¡¯s private life was decadent, making a crime of passion possible, but there is ack of evidence." "Hmm. It shows that Lou Yuan hasn¡¯t been idle these years." Dai Mingsheng turned his head, nced at Captain Hao of the second squad, and said, "Zhichao is following Jiang Yuan for the investigation this time, so let¡¯s not speak yet, Third Squad, Liu, you may proceed." "Yes!" The captain of the Third Squad rose, saluted, nced around, then began to read his script. He offered a simr analysis of the case and presented his thoughts and opinions during the final phase. A case-solving conference is almost the most advanced form of case analysis, extremely formal. In terms of appearance, it is simr to the case analysis conferences found in Korean and Japanese films. It often requires all personnel to be present, with leaders at all levels presenting their thoughts and opinions to ensure they aremunicated directly to all attendees. While the efficiency of such case-solving conferences tends to be low, their main function is in execution. The investigation n approved by the conference means anyone who tries to ck off could likely face penalties. In Korean and Japanese films, such settings are also the best asions for a young detective to shine. Victory brings glory, and failure entailsplete demise. A regr case analysis meeting is typically the point where decisions are made after several small private meetings. Some leaders may present new ideas or proposals at these conferences, but they are usually not fundamental. At minimum, the basic investigation model and methods need to be decided before the meeting. Things requiringrge mobilizations, cross-region police deployments, or requiring special agents or undercover work are usually discussed ahead of formal meetings. Because of this, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s meeting today seemed somewhat rushed. The squad leaders spoke very conservatively. However, everyone understood this, as handing the case over to Jiang Yuan and his Cold Case Squad was essentially the biggest decision. Everyone spected that Dai Mingsheng intended to use this conference to unify thoughts, urging each unit to cooperate actively. Several squad leaders had thoughts but didn¡¯t have any strong dissent. Jiang Yuan¡¯spetence is obvious; since he is willing to work on the Li Yaoji case, everyone is naturally willing to cooperate. The captain of the Third Squad finished speaking, and the captain of the Fourth Squad immediately stood up, saying, "I don¡¯t know much about the Li Yaoji murder case, but I agree with some of the ideas proposed by the previous three captains. Specifically, I believe that on one hand, we should continue to reinforce the investigation and organization of involved individuals, while on the other hand, we need to consider some new perspectives." The captain of the Fourth Squad paused, then said, "I know the previous task force has ruled out the possibility of a random killing. But I believe the situation of a crime of passion could still exist. What I mean is, the perpetrator may not have had a direct conflict with the victim, but because Li Yaoji had substantial power, some of his decisions could have significantly impacted the perpetrator." The captain of the Fourth Squad continued, "This impact may have led the perpetrator to make a hasty decision. He might have decided to murder and then acted on it. This also exins why the massive financial sums disappeared. When the perpetrator took these sums, he might not have thought it through, motivated by a greedy psychology at the time. Later, he may have gradually returned to reason." Captain Four: "Considering this, I think we need to look into some minor stakeholders. Their losses might not be substantial in absolute terms, but rtive to their capabilities or emotions, they are significant..." The speech from the captain of the Fourth Squad received sincere apuse from everyone present. Dai Mingsheng also nodded slightly. Although he disagreed with the perspective, it was indeed rtively novel; had it been a regr case-solving conference, the captain¡¯s speech might waste a considerable amount of funds. Dai Mingsheng gestured for the next to stand up. Captain Hao nced at Dai Mingsheng with subtle apprehension; he was the only captain present who knew the full situation, allowing him to fully understand Dai Mingsheng¡¯s intentions, at least, he had ample reason to believe their intentions aligned. If you¡¯ve spent a fortune on a highly expensive piece of equipment, then you¡¯d best prove its usefulness. Alternatively, when you¡¯ve paid heavily for a locksmith, and the locksmith manages to open the lock in an instant, how do you prove you haven¡¯t squandered money? You can invite several more locksmiths; if they take significantly longer to open the lock, then the first was truly worth the cost. Further, if none of the other locksmiths can open the lock, this all the more proves the first locksmith¡¯s value. Of course, this also proves that the expense of hiring the first locksmith was not wasted. Captain Hao thought to himself: Didn¡¯t expect Old Dai to be so shrewd. The speech from the captain of the Fifth Squad was simrly confident, ordinary, and redundant¡ªshould it have been oriented towards direct investigation, it might have felt useful. But now, looking at the answer directly, his approach and the answer don¡¯t align, the investigation targets and routes diverge, thus the oue is clear. After the speeches from several squad leaders concluded, Dai Mingsheng called upon the political instructors and several deputy brigade leaders to speak, followed by standout team members. The detectives of the brigade gradually loosened up, with some young detectives even raising their hands, doing things simr to protagonists in Japanese and Korean dramas, but not as intensely. Naturally, they also weren¡¯t as urate. Finally, after everyone¡¯s speeches ended, Dai Mingsheng turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "Captain Jiang, could you say a few words?" Everyone¡¯s gaze immediately converged on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. Jiang Yuan sighed, "Deputy Dai, what should I say?" "Say whatever you want," Dai Mingsheng reflected relief, as if saying, "I¡¯ve invited the best locksmith." Jiang Yuan looked around at the hundreds of eyes, his emotional intelligence fully engaged, cleared his throat twice, and said, "Then I¡¯ll say three things." Jiang Yuan said, "First: The Li Yaoji murder case has been solved. Just as the meeting started, suspect Li Yujing was taken for interrogation, and I¡¯ve just received news that Li Yujing has confessed. Imagine?" "Second: The cracking of the Li Yaoji case was entirely through footprints and fingerprints, as well as crime scene analysis. The analysis was incredibly challenging. I¡¯ll detail it in a paperter." "Third: Deputy Dai asked everyone to conduct case analysis. In my opinion, some investigation approaches are indeed valuable. If executed, they could serve as a good strategy. However, my expertise lies in technology alone, so I usually proceed from a technical standpoint for investigations." The room was so quiet it felt as though the locksmith had killed everyone. Chapter 1167 - 1097: Summary Meeting

Chapter 1167: Chapter 1097: Summary Meeting

"Has the Li Yaoji murder case been solved?" Captain Jian Louyuan of the First Unit asked with difficulty. When the truth is revealed, no matter how ugly it is, and no matter how much the detectives don¡¯t want to ept it, they ultimately have to. It¡¯s the fate of being a detective, both painful and a source of pride. This is the moment of truth being revealed. The other captains also stood up, and many of the detectives who had spoken earlier couldn¡¯t resist standing up too. On the contrary, a few deputy brigade leaders, slightly older in age, thought for a moment and all looked relieved. Dai Mingsheng knocked on the table and said, "That¡¯s right. The Li Yaoji murder case, which troubled Lanyue City for over a decade, was solved in less than three days under Jiang Yuan¡¯s leadership. And those three days included apprehending the suspect, gathering evidence, and conducting interrogations." As soon as he spoke, it was like uncovering an even uglier scar next to the ugly truth. The stirred captains nced at each other. It was like modern people traveling back to Wu Dng¡¯s time, waking up to look in the mirror, then at Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian, knowing what they did was wrong but seemingly seeing nothing out of ce. A detective solving a decade-old murder cold case, especially one that had been reopened multiple times before, could even make jokes afterward, or take a few captains back to y for a few days, and it would be eptable. "Ha ha, ha ha ha ha... Captain Jiang is not only awesome but also particrly humorous," Jian Louyuanughed out loud. The captain of the Fourth Unit was startled awake by Jian Louyuan¡¯sughter and suddenly realized,ughing out loud too. Everyone¡¯s profession is adept at chasing the truth, so everyone knew very well that mostly, this time Dai Zhi yed a little trick to prove his own correctness... So, knowing this truth, how could everyone not know what to do? Everyone just assumed that they had been yed by Jiang Yuan! Being yed is being yed; the captains of Lanyue City Criminal Police Team willingly let the expert¡¯s humor spread, which would only increase the reputation of Lanyue City Criminal Police Team and attract more experts toe. As for detectives, their tempers aren¡¯t very good. The bigger the expert, the more this is the case. Generally speaking, when everyone first meets, a basic level of decency can be maintained, but as the case progresses and the task force doesn¡¯t go smoothly, conflicts be more numerous and prominent. At the most restless, anxious, and angry time, it¡¯s not just the visiting experts but also the young members in the task force whose tempers won¡¯t be too good. Older detectives with abilities but no positions will have even worse tempers, and there are those who curse the captains directly and harshly. In such situations, captains ormissars with positions can only bear it, answering with respect for elders or saying, ¡¯It¡¯s my mentor who taught me back then.¡¯ As for the young ones, as long as they have genuinely hot tempers, even at the tensest time of a special case, they can only be given some leeway. Otherwise, why are some people older, capable, but without positions? As for the misunderstandings caused by some of Dai Mingsheng¡¯s thoughts and actions, the captains pretend nothing happened. Otherwise, why do some people not very old with average abilities still have positions? Everyone needs to see through the appearance to the essence and understand the reasons why Dai Zhi does this. Dai Mingsheng has been a team leader for more than ten years, longer than some people¡¯s policing careers, so naturally, Dai Zhi does no wrong. Amid silentughter, everyone graduallypleted a self-reconciliation, and the whole meeting room echoed with heartyughter. "Ha, the Li Yaoji murder case has been solved, great." "Haha, I really want to know the specific process of investigation." "Hahaha, Dai Zhi is decisive! Ningtai Jiangyuan, fierce and well-renowned, indeed well-renowned..." Listening to everyone¡¯s statements, Dai Mingsheng nodded in satisfaction, thinking that the atmosphere of the team was now correct. Dai Mingsheng also stood up amidst everyone¡¯s praise, pressed his hands gently, and said, "Everyone¡¯s analysis has just been mentioned. Next, let¡¯s have Captain Jiang talk about the actual process of solving the case, discuss his real thoughts, and real methods in the investigation process, hoping some can learn from it." Dai Mingsheng handed the microphone to Jiang Yuan, then loudlymanded, "Change the words on this resolution meeting site, to ¡¯Li Yaoji Murder Case Resolution Summary Meeting,¡¯ let¡¯s hold one meeting as two!" "Yes." The promotional police officer immediately got busy, feeling even a bit excited inside, already starting to draft the uing promotional statement¡ªLanyue City Criminal Police Team solves an old major case, transforming resolution site meeting into resolution summary meeting! Jiang Yuan took the microphone, pondered for a moment with just a little emotional intelligence, and said, "I¡¯ll just talk about our investigation process." Thus, Jiang Yuan spoke without any emotion, without any embellishment, recounting his investigation process once. At first, Jiang Yuan talked about how he selected cases based on "whether the technology could be realized." Below, some detectives couldn¡¯t help but show a slight dismissive expression. Turning the results of hard work into what used to be a casual decision is the favorite persona of sessful people. As if nothing special is needed, they can turn ordinary opportunities encountered by ordinary people daily into astounding achievements. What kind of people haven¡¯t detectives seen? They just assumed Jiang Yuan was bragging. Of course, they let him brag. As far as criminal investigation goes, Jiang Yuan could indeed be considered sessful. Afterying the groundwork simply, Jiang Yuan began to describe his "technical realization route." Hearing it sounds quite simple; it was nothing more than recognizing all footprints and fingerprints in the room, then using the location and direction of these prints¡ªespecially the weight of the footprints¡ªto recreate the crime scene... To put it more inly, it was just determining who entered the door by looking at footprints and fingerprints, how they walked in, where they ced their hands, then also deducing the order of entry, and even who interacted with whom. Hearing this, the detectives of Lanyue City Criminal Police Team were a bit speechless. If it were a different setting, such as a simple Li Yaoji murder case resolution site meeting, the detectives would directly ask¡ªare you rehearsing boasting here? Most people wouldn¡¯t dare to brag that much; bragging too much, nobody believes it. However, look at the projection screen at the front; it¡¯s no longer a "Li Yaoji Murder Case Resolution Site Meeting," but a "Li Yaoji Murder Case Resolution Summary Meeting." The case was solved just like that, what of it? "p p p..." People spontaneously began apuding, as if without it, they couldn¡¯tfort their young hearts. Jiang Yuan naturally felt the strong, familiar, supportive atmosphere. In other provinces and cities, especially those with more cases, he received simr responses. So, Jiang Yuan felt veryfortable. Feelingfortable, he spoke more, gradually really starting to summarize. "This type of case involving footprints, since suspects generallyck knowledge about footprints, can often provide a lot of information, which has been a key focus of my worktely..." Jiang Yuan easily described. At this moment, the emotions below suddenly became more intense and genuine. Chapter 1168 - 1098: Burning a Corpse by the Lake

Chapter 1168: Chapter 1098: Burning a Corpse by the Lake

"Captain Jiang. Speaking of footprints, on our side..." "Captain Jiang!" "Jiang... there are just too many cases with footprints." The Criminal Police Brigade is fundamentally different from grassroots frontline police units. Officers in the Criminal Police Brigade typically embody a blend of three traits: high-level education, superior human capability, and obstinate determination. The only thing that can unite them is technology. Dai Mingsheng was momentarily in a daze. Even though today¡¯s "onsite meeting" cum "review meeting" was organized by him, he had not anticipated it turning out like this. Especially witnessing a few highly capable and obstinate members, who usually held him in disdain, now moring for "Captain Jiang" or even "Jiang." For a moment, Dai Mingsheng felt a bit sentimental. He could only console himself that this was due to him hosting two meetings together, elevating the atmosphere. Although he thought that, Jiang Yuan¡¯s weed presence truly resembled the stars in Lanyue City Film and Television City. And these elite personnel, each offering up old cases, trying to captivate Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention... Dai Mingsheng picked up his tea cup, wiped the rim with the lid, sighed silently, and thought, this time, I can¡¯t give Huang Qiangmin too much leeway. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was also good; this was the detective team he was familiar with. Or rather, whenever he arrived at a brand new detective team, the team inevitably transformed into the way he was familiar with. "Jiang, take a look at this case." A young detective walked directly to the front, plugged a USB into theputer, quicklyunched a PPT, and said, "This is a case we¡¯re currently working on, but we¡¯re stuck. There are many footprints at the scene; could you take a look?" This was highly inappropriate behavior, but since the meeting room was already in chaos and considering the young detective was Wei Shikan, Dai Mingsheng graciously smiled. Some young people are really driven by passion, like Wei Shikan. If he were chasing power, there¡¯d be no reason for him to join the police force; the young might not understand it, but their families certainly do. Those who dive headlong into solving cases, wanting to be like Sherlock Holmes, usually maintain a basic level of respect towards Dai Mingsheng. Dai Mingsheng saw no issue with it. When he visited the Wei Family, Wei Shikan knew to help by fetching slippers, showing he understood the bigger picture. When a youngsteres over to present a PPT after a meeting, there¡¯s really no fault; he¡¯s just passionate about his work. Compared to the chaotic shouting below, the PPT on the screen was obviously more captivating. Jiang Yuan naturally looked over. "This case was discovered a month ago. The location was in the reeds by East Creek Lake. The discoverers were a team of 18 people on an outing. It was a Saturday; they drove six SUVs along a trail and then drove to theke. After the vehicles couldn¡¯t drive further, they camped by theke. Someone then discovered burn marks by theke, followed by a scorched skull, prompting them to call the police." Wei Shikan¡¯s PPT seemed prepared for an internal briefing, though appearing quite new, the text was very detailed inside. Especially when the crime scene photos were shown, Jiang Yuan was also a bit drawn in. "It¡¯s burned very thoroughly; the skull is partly burned away. Were the remaining parts preserved?" Jiang Yuan signaled Wei Shikan to pause, asking while observing the photos. Wei Shikan, with his thick eyebrows and bright eyes, not yet 25, responded brightly, "About a third was preserved. These are the photos from the scene; once brought back, some of the bones crumbled and broke." Dai Mingsheng coughed twice. Issues like these are typically discussed in a small circle, as airing them in public can be embarrassing. Jiang Yuan observed carefully for a while, nodded, and said, "In this case, skull reconstruction is extremely difficult." "But there are indeed a great many footprints left around the area." Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest, Wei Shikan quickly showed him more photos, all of the footprints surrounding the fire site, with some footprints even stepping in the middle of it. Dai Mingsheng had to remind Jiang Yuan, "Most of the footprints have been proven to belong to the members of the outing team that called in the report. Additionally, some footprints belong to our investigation personnel." "Because it was so thoroughly burned, at first, they only thought someone had set fire to the reeds, and walked around the area ying. Later, when they found a human skull, they hurriedly called their colleagues over, and some even walked in to take a closer look, with others taking photos and videos..." Wei Shikan rified. "Considering the thoroughness of the burn, it¡¯s very likely that an elerant was used. Has it been confirmed what it was?" "Gasoline," Wei Shikan answered with a straightforward response. The human body naturally contains fat in high amounts; men without visible abs generally have over 20% body fat, those with a belly go over 30%. Women with abs also have a fat content of about 20%, those slightly curvier go up to 30%. In contrast, a pig¡¯s fat content is less than 30%, and a sheep¡¯s just over 20%. Thus, with the help of an elerant, a human body can be burned very thoroughly. Conversely, without an elerant, cremating a human thigh bone or skull until it turns to ashes is quite challenging. This is why crematoriums often use diesel or natural gas to aidbustion. "Show some more photos," Jiang Yuan expressed some interest in the case. A case unsolved for a month had a high potential to turn into a cold case, so it was no wonder the young detective was anxious. Wei Shikan responded excitedly, taking the remote to hand it over for Jiang Yuan to operate, then himself took over theputer, opened a folder, and showed more photos to Jiang Yuan on the spot. While looking at Jiang Yuan viewing the images, Wei Shikanmented, "The crime scene is very close to East Creek Lake, and the water level hasn¡¯t changed much recently. A lot of footprints were left near the reeds. I think if we can analyze all these footprints, like in the Li Yaoji case, and find someone who wasn¡¯t supposed to be there but left footprints, maybe the case could be solved." Hearing this, Dai Mingsheng rubbed his forehead and hurriedly said, "Wei Shikan, are you teaching Captain Jiang how to do his job?" "No, I¡¯m just discussing it with Jiang." "Old Jian," Dai Mingsheng directly called out to Jian Louyuan, the captain of Unit 1. He couldn¡¯t discipline the young detective Wei Shikan of Unit 1, but he could certainly handle the captain, couldn¡¯t he? Jian Louyuan took over with a yful senior smile, then, to Wei Shikan, said, "Xiao Wei, your approach isn¡¯t incorrect, but there¡¯s a small problem." "Go ahead," Wei Shikan was more polite to his unit captain, given how often he backed him up; one had to have some conscience. Jian Louyuan awkwardly smiled at Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, then continued, "It¡¯s a good idea topare footprints. We do have many from the crime scene, but who are weparing these footprints with? At the very least, shouldn¡¯t we define a range of suspects first?" "This..." Wei Shikan, although passionate, seemed at a loss when trying to solve it. Jian Louyuan sighed and, slightly embarrassed, said to Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, I am ashamed to admit that this case has yet to identify the victim. Of course, if you can deduce some clues from the footprints, it would greatly aid our investigation." "Victims," Jiang Yuan corrected. "Victims?" Jian Louyuan was puzzled. "It¡¯s ¡¯victims,¡¯" Jiang Yuan tapped on the screen of Wei Shikan¡¯sptop and said, "Based on the bone fragments recovered, there are both male and female remains, so at least two victims." "But there¡¯s only one skull," Wei Shikan eximed in surprise. "We just discussed that only a third of the skull remains," Jiang Yuan replied indifferently. "The rest of the skull may have been incinerated or taken away by the killer early on. Hmm... I¡¯ll take on this case." After speaking, Jiang Yuan looked toward Dai Mingsheng and said, "Dai Zhi, if you¡¯re not opposed, I¡¯ll call Commissioner Huang over to coordinate with you." "Go ahead," Dai Mingsheng¡¯s resolve stiffened. Chapter 1169 - 1099: Reorganizing the Task Force

Chapter 1169: Chapter 1099: Reorganizing the Task Force

The Audi A6 with a Beijing license te slowly drove into the yard of the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team. Huang Qiangmin swung his leg over and got out of the car. After straightening his cor, he walked briskly into the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team¡¯s building. This scene waspletely observed by Dai Mingsheng and others. Dai Mingsheng stood by the window, staring at the license te of the Audi A6 for a while, then said, "Did Huang Qiangmin specifically transport this car from Ningtai County?" "I heard it was driven all the way from Changyang City, with two people taking turns, driving through the night. Just like Emperor Tang transporting lychees, the two young men came and copsed into sleep,pletely exhausted," said deputy Lin Xunlei, knowing what Dai Mingsheng wanted to ask, and directly continued, "This car was always parked in Changyang Cityter. He doesn¡¯t even drive it when he goes back to Ningtai County, only uses it when he¡¯s in Changyang City." "Didn¡¯t the Changyang City Bureau provide him a car?" Dai Mingsheng asked. With a knowing expression, Lin Xunlei replied, "How could they not? The head of the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment is Yu Wenshu, and he travels everywhere in an old Passat now." "Old Passat?" Dai Mingsheng, who was currently driving a Passat himself, felt slightly sensitive. Lin Xunlei chuckled, "The new ones must have been given away. The old ones are more reliably driven." Dai Mingsheng did notugh. Huang Qiangmin knocked on the door and entered, smiling like a chrome-ted grille. ... Autopsy Room. On the autopsy bed, which could amodate two people, were several dozen burnt bone fragments arranged in four trays. Jiang Yuan was picking bones from a metal tray and sorting them into three smaller trays. The four trays respectively represented unsorted, female bone fragments, male bone fragments, and unssifiable bone fragments. The remaining one-third of the skull belonged to a female and was ced separately in another tray. The forensic doctors from the Lanyue City Bureau were also assisting Jiang Yuan in sorting the bones, though they could offer little help. Distinguishing whether a corpse belonged to a male or female is basic in forensic anthropology. Determining whether a bone belongs to a male or female ismon but difficult in forensic anthropology. As for distinguishing whether a bone fragment belonged to a man or woman, it is already considered an advanced or excessive problem in forensic anthropology. Determining whether burnt bone fragments are male or female is purely a personal endeavor for the forensic doctor. The differences between these tasks are akin to driving, driving a good car, driving a racecar, and winning an F1 championship. The value differences are even greater than those between Qianqing, Douqing, Piao Hua, and Full Green. It¡¯s roughly equivalent to the extreme differences between chubby, strong man, little wolfdog, and handsome wolfdog CEO. Bring over anyplete corpse, and an ordinary forensic intern can detail it thoroughly, but if a leader were to bring a bone fragment to ask an ordinary forensic doctor whether it was male or female, the first thoughts crossing the ordinary forensic¡¯s mind would be: Is this even a human bone? And, is the leader even human? From this perspective, the forensic doctors of the Lanyue City Bureau being unable to determine these bone fragments came from two people is perfectly normal. Of course, from another perspective, Jiang Yuan picking up bone fragments, examining them, pondering for a moment, and then ssifying them as male or female is also perfectly normal. The only abnormality on site was the forensic doctors from Lanyue City. Both of them. One tray containing 43 burnt bone fragments took Jiang Yuan over an hour to ssifypletely, with 11 identified as female, 7 as male, and 24 unssified. Though 24 burnt bone fragments remained unssified, the two forensic doctors from the Lanyue City could not bear it anymore. The senior one, Yang Zhao Lin, waited for Jiang Yuan to finish the ssification and, stretchingzily, asked, "Captain Jiang, did you ssify them based on the information on the bone fragments?" "Certainly ssified based on the information on the bone fragments," Jiang Yuan smiled briefly, then quickly realized this wasn¡¯t good. With the first round of intellectual disypleted, Jiang Yuan switched to a more emotional approach and warmly said, "Specifically speaking, male and female bones have distinct characteristics, such as roughness; male bones are usually rougher, while female bones feel smoother." Yang Zhao Lin responded with an "Hmm," understanding the basic reasoning, but is that how it¡¯s applied? If one were to use an analogy, mixing the fish bones of a carp and a grass carp together, how can one discern which is which solely by the smoothness and hardness of the fish bones? This is still a much wider species determination. Jiang Yuan promptly realized Yang Zhao Lin¡¯s query and said, "This case is different from normal burnt bone fragment cases. Because there¡¯s a female skull left at the site." "Hmm?" Yang Zhao Lin didn¡¯t hear anything particrly special about that. Jiang Yuan patiently exined, "With this female¡¯s skull, we could actually establish a basic coordinate system to determine the general characteristics of this female¡¯s bones in that environment. For instance, the smoothness we mentioned earlier, smoothness closely rtes to bone density; furthermore, the thickness of the bones can also be observed from this female¡¯s skull." Jiang Yuan: "We set up a coordinate system for this female¡¯s bones, and the burnt bone fragments that fit this in all aspects can be identified as belonging to this female. Those that don¡¯t match this female¡¯s bones are further ssified, and those with consistent characteristics that can identify bone texture features belong to another person. You can see, in terms of bone texture, it distinctly leans towards male characteristics..." Jiang Yuan: "Additionally, cross-sections are always the treasure for a forensic doctor. From the cross-sections of these bone fragments, we can clearly observe some characteristics of male bones. For these specific bone fragments, they can be directly identified as male. Moreover, if necessary, we can establish a simr basic coordinate system for male bones, which woulde into y if a third person had been burnt at the scene." Yang Zhao Lin was shocked: "Is there a third person?" Jiang Yuan shook his head: "It seems there isn¡¯t one. Actually, there was no need to establish a second coordinate system. It¡¯s all based on environmental conditions, such as the me temperature at the scene, and surrounding conditions. There are exactly two bodies, male and female, so separating them is enough, no need to refine the coordinate system." Yang Zhao Lin felt he understood a bit, let out an "oh", and asked: "How is this coordinate system established? I didn¡¯t see you do it..." "It¡¯s built in the mind." Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "Forensic anthropology is something you have to learn through experience." "Huh?" Yang Zhao Lin was honestly a bit overwhelmed. The experientialponent in forensic anthropology is indeed substantial. It¡¯s like the technical skills of a technician in a factory, where the scientific parts are all written in the technician¡¯s manual, but merely reading the manual leads to endless problems in the production process. As for learning, the content in the technician¡¯s manual is rtively easy to learn, like college textbooks; read them often, and you¡¯ll eventually understand. Experience, however, is not that easy to learn. It might be difficult, it might not be, but without a mentor, many people might need a lifetime to conclude. On the side, a younger forensic doctor seemed to understand and pulled Yang Zhao Lin aside, saying, "Master, haven¡¯t you seen Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic anthropology cases before?" "Seen... I¡¯ve seen them." Yang Zhao Lin is the kind who goes home after work; his overtime hours are short, so naturally, he has little time to read journals and bulletins. The younger forensic doctor whispered, "I¡¯ll find them for you to seeter, and you¡¯ll understand." Yang Zhao Lin took two steps back, distancing himself a bit from Jiang Yuan, and asked his apprentice, "Understand what, just tell me directly." "Just understand..." The young forensic doctor hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Just understand, some people don¡¯t test for Beijing University not because they don¡¯t like it." Yang Zhao Lin was stunned for a while, then raised his foot and gave his apprentice a kick. The apprenticeined, "Master, it¡¯s dirty!" Yang Zhao Lin: "Alright, you wait until I wash it clean..." ... Screech... In the quiet autopsy room, the sound of a door opening suddenly came. Mu Zhiyang, standing behind Jiang Yuan, was so startled he put his hand on his gun. The three forensic doctors present were all unmoved. The autopsy room is a forensic doctor¡¯s office, so peopleing to the office is nothing unusual, nobody normally grabs a gun just because the office door opens. Dai Mingsheng and Huang Mingsheng entered side by side, followed by Jian Louyuan and Wei Shikan and other officers, all with somewhat fake smiles on their faces. "Jiang Yuan, how¡¯s this case going? Can you continue?" Dai Mingsheng asked Jiang Yuan with concern. "The ssification of bone fragments isplete, next we still need to find ways to determine the identity of the deceased." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t directly answer but instead mentioned the current progress. Dai Mingsheng frowned slightly: "Can the identity be determined?" There are many nameless corpses with undetermined identities, and the criminal police team faces even more troubles in this aspect. Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eye expression and then said, "It¡¯s hard to say now, but I think there is a basis to continue." Huang Qiangmin quickly added, "Our Jiang Yuan¡¯s Taihe Working Group in Ningtai specializes in drowning cases. Determining the deceased¡¯s identity is within professional scope." "That¡¯s good, that¡¯s good." Dai Mingsheng, of course, hoped for a breakthrough, nodded repeatedly, and looked at Jian Louyuan, saying, "In that case, I suggest reforming the special task force. Let¡¯s call it the East Creek Lake Cremation Case, straightforward and clear." "Yes!" Jian Louyuan responded, then hesitantly said, "Dai Zhi, shall we wait for more specific clues before reforming the special task force?" The most important KPI for criminal police is the clearance rate. Therefore, many small or economic cases are difficult to file. The special task force isn¡¯t something you reform just because you say so. In Jian Louyuan¡¯s opinion, we should first run ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s leadership mode of the task force, making full use of the preliminary preparation time, while formal listing and reformation can wait until there are clues and directions. Dai Mingsheng gave Jian Louyuan a deep re and said, "Just do what you¡¯re told!" "Yes." Jian Louyuan stood at attention quickly, and then he was pulled out of the autopsy room by his subordinate, Wei Shikan. Jian Louyuan felt a little embarrassed andined in front of his subordinate (allegedly) Wei Shikan, "Dai Zhi is too anxious. If we reform the special task force and the case doesn¡¯t break through for a long time, we¡¯ll beughed at. Isn¡¯t it stupid?" Wei Shikanforted the captain: "The fool is you. Dai Zhi is worried that before we can even reform the special task force, Jiang Yuan might have already cracked the case!" Chapter 1170 - 1100: Connect Them

Chapter 1170: Chapter 1100: Connect Them

Early morning. Yn Residence. Yue Hongxu, the president of Lanyue City Film and Television City, was waiting downstairs with a few people in the courtyard. A girl, dressed lightly and shivering with cold and sleepiness, yawned and thenined a little shyly, "Who hosts a breakfast meeting anyway? It¡¯s really strange." "The big boss said to have breakfast, so we came early, there aren¡¯t many choices." Vice President Dong Xifeng stood up and pretended to be empathetic as he said, "Are you a bit cold? Ask your agent to bring you a shawl." "Forget it. I applied some foundation cream, and a shawl would mess it up and not look good." Although the girl wasn¡¯t satisfied, she was still very image-conscious. Yue Hongxu chuckled and nodded, "You can stay in the lobby for now, ande out to greet the guestster. Chairman Li, is that alright?" He was asking Li Yukuan, who was standing next to him. Li Yukuan, in his forties, was the son of Li Yaoji¡¯s wife. Back in the day, he lost a lot of resources due to his father¡¯s sudden death. This year, he had resurfaced triumphantly after the likes of Li Yujing got involved in a murder case. However, Li Yukuan wasn¡¯t one for pampering. He nced at the girl with bare shoulders and said, "If you need to rest, go ahead, but the others will stay with me to greet the guests." "Chairman Li, I¡¯m here for you." As soon as the girl heard the boss wasn¡¯t pleased, she flung herself into Li Yukuan¡¯s arms, saying, "I¡¯ll warm up by staying close to you then." Li Yukuanughed heartily, patting her bare shoulder, "Alright, alright, hang in there for a bit. Jiang Yuan is a young man, different from us middle-aged folks. We¡¯re used to being sidelined, young people might not handle neglect well. If someone isn¡¯t absolutely valued, they¡¯re absolutely neglected." "We¡¯re the ones often sidelined, not you," the girl replied with a honeyed voice. Laughing again, Li Yukuan pushed the girl away resolutely, "Today¡¯s guest of honor is Jiang Yuan. I heard he¡¯s now a high-ranking guest at Lanyue City Bureau. The bureau chief mentioned him yesterday." Yue Hongxu nodded, "He solved a case at our film city and the old man¡¯s case in one go. Not only in Lanyue City but nationwide, he¡¯s be a police star. Because of the cases here, I made sure to learn a bit about him. Jiang Yuan as a forensic doctor is really quite the Sherlock, he can solve any case, dig into any mystery." Li Yukuan¡¯s expression turned serious, "I¡¯m just afraid he¡¯s too eager." "Not necessarily so. His main focus is still on murder cases." Yue Hongxu could empathize with Li Yukuan, as he was also worried about Jiang Yuan¡¯s eagerness. Before Li Yujing was caught, he¡¯d been thriving in the Changxi Group but ended up blowing the whistle on several people. Faced with the threat of a death sentence, he wanted to make contributions even with dim chances. Yue Hongxu and others weren¡¯t entirely sure if their business had any hidden merits either. "Here theye." A subordinate guarding the entrance came to report, and everyone immediately tidied their clothes and stepped forward to wee their guests. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Mu Zhiyang, followed by Dai Mingsheng and Huang Qiangmin, entered the courtyard together. "Deputy Dai, Captain Jiang... Doctor Jiang..." Everyone addressed them with various titles. "Let¡¯s start with breakfast," Dai Mingsheng replied somewhat stiffly, adding to both them and Jiang Yuan, "If we didn¡¯te, you¡¯d overthink. If we did, you¡¯d try to corrupt us. It¡¯s tough. Alright, let¡¯s just sit and chat over breakfast; there¡¯s still a lot to do today." He wasn¡¯t as polite to Li Yukuan and others. Li Yukuan and the others justughed along, talking to Dai Mingsheng while praising Jiang Yuan as China¡¯s detective, guarding peace... Jiang Yuan had a good impression of Yn Residence. During his time in Lanyue City, he¡¯d visited Yn Residence the most, and if Lanyue City weren¡¯t so far, he would¡¯ve considered buying a small apartment nearby. "Brother, sit next to me." A girl swayed her "Chu King waist" and came to Jiang Yuan, trying to squeeze Mu Zhiyang out of his spot. Mu Zhiyang blushed a little and pulled a stick out of his pocket. He wasn¡¯t sure how to respond, so he simply expressed himself with his bodynguage. The girl with the "Chu King waist" widened her eyes, probably seeing this type of situation for the first time. Seeing the tension, Yue Hongxu quickly intervened, "Captain Jiang, let me toast you with tea instead of liquor, to thank you for solving Li Aiyuan¡¯s murder case. It gave us at the film city a sigh of relief. Moreover, the police recently apprehended many thieves, which astonished everyone. Ourpany discussed if we could invite you to do a special interview for the TV station..." "No special interviews." Jiang Yuan shook his head without hesitation, offering no exnations. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice, saying, "A discussion about the case is fine. You can mention Jiang Yuan¡¯s name." "Alright, alright, no problem." Yue Hongxu¡¯s mood lifted instantly. Li Yukuan also breathed a sigh of relief, sidling up to Dai Mingsheng to discuss things in a low voice. Changxi Group was a bigpany. If Qinghe City¡¯s Jianyuan Group hadn¡¯t fallen back then, it would¡¯ve been a prominent guest in the city now. Although matters at the film city were simpler yet moreplicated, Dai Mingsheng and Li Yukuan chatted pleasantly. Aside from solving cases with average skill, Dai Mingsheng was quite adept in other conversational aspects. Yue Hongxu and Li Yukuan gradually felt relieved. In any case, they managed to bring Dai Mingsheng and Jiang Yuan out, even if having breakfast felt a bit odd. Noon. The meeting room provided by the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team is spacious and bright, withrge ss windows facing the artificialke, creating a refreshing view. However, to prevent re on theputers, the windows arepletely covered with curtains. Jiang Yuan spent the entire morning examining footprints and photos of burnt bone fragments, repeatedlyparing them in the meeting room. Other members of the Cold Case Squad were eitherpiling information or continuing to provide materials for the previous two cases. In ordinary cases, the time spent handling a case often exceeds the investigation time, with a greater workload. Huang Qiangmin now prefers to provideprehensive solutions, and the work of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and the Ningtai Task Force continuously extends in all directions. In fact, the public security situation in Qinghe City is visibly improving. The economic downturn caused by the disappearance of the Jianyuan Group, along with the ensuing deterioration in public safety, did notst long, as it was effectively suppressed by the Ningtai County Bureau, which in turn led to increased investments, providing Commissioner Huang with significant political capital. After handling some administrative affairs from the Ningtai side, Huang Qiangmin began directing personnel to assist criminal police teams in other cities. Some of the previously solved cases are in the final stages of processing, while others have already gone through first and second trials or even death penalty reviews. However, regardless of the stage, there is rarely smooth sailing, and someone will invariably request certain materials or evidence. Most of these matters are manageable by the local police departments, but there are also cases where local handling is difficult, and they are passed onto Huang Qiangmin for resolution. Some even directly consult Jiang Yuan. In these matters, Huang Qiangmin always tries to cooperate as much as possible. Solving a case can be challenging, and so can the court trial. If a killer ends up surviving due to insufficient evidence, it would be a great pity. In fact, when the police prosecute a suspect, they may not always cover all charges, especially those with multiple crimes. Despitemitting numerous offenses, the prosecution will often only press charges for those with concrete evidence. Jiang Yuan, often the forensic technician capable of uncovering more evidence, can ensure certain criminals remain off the streets longer. This is also a skill many local criminal police teams need. Huang Qiangmin usually organizes a batch and then sends it to Jiang Yuan when he is free. asionally, when Jiang Yuan needs a change of pace, he will actively request a batch as well. Today was clearly not the right time. Seeing Jiang Yuan busy with his work, Huang Qiangmin specially arranged for someone to brew him coffee, calcting the time and considering whether to call a masseur to give Jiang Yuan a proper rest. As he pondered this, Jian Louyuan entered with Wei Shikan. "No results for now," Huang Qiangmin was stopped at the door. "Commissioner Huang, have a cigarette." Wei Shikan extended a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes. Huang Qiangmin hesitated for a moment, but out of powerful habit, he epted the pack of Zhonghua. "Brothers, have a cigarette." Wei Shikan took out Zhonghua from his jacket and pants pockets, distributing them to everyone. The officers of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad exchanged looks, experiencing an inexplicable sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Taking them by surprise, Wei Shikan quickly moved to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side and asked, "Captain Jiang, is there anything we can assist with?" "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan nced at theputers in front of him, deep in thought. After a moment, Wei Shikan quietly asked, "Are the footprints useless?" "There are a few footprints that don¡¯t correspond to any individual, but they¡¯re not useful at the moment." Jiang Yuan, noticing the officer was from Lanyue City Bureau, exined. Jian Louyuan also entered at this moment and said, "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve investigated the missing persons cases involving multiple individuals from the past year. Cases of simultaneous disappearances involving both men and women are rare, but we¡¯ve only checked within the province. Do you think it¡¯s necessary to expand the search?" Jiang Yuan shook his head. Liu Jinghuimented from the side, "This method of searching is ineffective. Cases where the man and woman were reported separately will be missed." To conduct a nationwide search, they would need to visit two to three dozen provincial capitals, some of which might support an online investigation or assistance from local police departments, while others might require flying in, incurring significant travel expenses. Jian Louyuan sighed with relief yet felt a sense of regret, saying, "We¡¯ve identified bone fragments from two individuals in the burnt remains, but no leads have materialized, which is a bit disappointing." "It¡¯s not entirely without leads," Jiang Yuan took a breath and said, "Just not very urate. You may have to do more legwork." "Tell us, please," Jian Louyuan became spirited immediately. "From what I¡¯ve currently observed, the female¡¯s age is approximately between 28 and 32 years, as some cranial bones were present. As for the male, the age range is broader, from 30 to 44 years. You can start by summarizing missing persons within this age range, and if there¡¯s any rtionship between them, like a romantic connection, that would be best." Jiang Yuan continued to sketch on his notebook and exined, "I initially wanted to narrow the age range further, but that would take an additional day or two, so this will have to suffice for now." His expertise in forensic anthropology is Level 3, but it requires a temporary boost to +1 to make it sufficiently strong, though it¡¯s still not to an unreasonable degree. He would need to conduct further analysis and wait for the temporary +1 skill to cool down. Liu Jinghuimented, "There are fewer remaining bone fragments from the male, and the skull and teeth are entirely missing. This aspect is worth noting. Normally, if the burning conditions are simr, there would be more male bone fragments remaining. Therefore, it can be inferred that the perpetrator did something special with the male victim¡¯s body and used burning as a means to destroy evidence, suggesting that the two victims are likely not social outliers." Not being social outliers implies that they may have family or at least acquaintances, increasing the chances of a report being filed. Understanding this, Jian Louyuan immediately said, "I¡¯ll get someone to start the investigation right away." "The basic investigation is doable," Liu Jinghui pursed his lips and then suggested, "I rmend applying for technical investigation and cyber security involvement. If the two victims knew each other, they might have called each other or been friends on WeChat. We can perform a connection check among the missing persons that meet the conditions and see if any resultse up." Chapter 1171 - 1101 Piling Up Information

Chapter 1171: Chapter 1101 Piling Up Information

"Report. The first batch of data sent over by Cybersecurity." A young detective entered the room and saluted Jian Louyuan. Jian Louyuan handed it over to Liu Jinghui and said, "Director Liu, you take a look first." "Alright." Liu Jinghui took the documents, turned his head, and shouted, "Jiang Yuan, you want to take a look?" "You look at it... it¡¯s enough... for me. I don¡¯t... understand this kind of stuff either." Jiang Yuan was being treated by a doctor in the massage department at Lanyue City Central Hospital, feeling toofortable to move, and speaking in a rxed manner. Liu Jinghui had tried it before, and at this moment, he found Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice rather pleasing, and said cheerfully, "Then I¡¯ll have a look first." Beside them, Huang Qiangmin was also being handled by another massage doctor and grunted twice,menting, "Old Dai sure is quick." "That¡¯s why he is the squad leader." Liu Jinghuiughed and went to review the documents. Interdepartmental coordination always takes quite some time. Many cases are elevated for investigation, partly to reduce personnel entanglements and partly because it is easier to mobilize internal resources for coordinated efforts. If it were a criminal case handled by a police station, when they wanted assistance from Cybersecurity or Technical Investigation, they would mostly have to wait quietly. What they usually receive is a final report, not like the current situation, where they¡¯ve received a mid-term report indicating it¡¯s the first batch of data. Jiang Yuany there enjoying the massage, not in a hurry to get up. Lately, he¡¯s been working overnight shifts (Level 2) frequently, and he was feeling a bit tired. On another note, the technical processing of thetest East Creek Lake burned body case was nearlypleted. Jiang Yuan had already used his temporary +1 skill for 406 minutes today, and the remaining Level 3 Forensic Anthropology skill, although still among the top nationwide, was no longer sufficient to make decisive contributions to the analysis of the fractured burned bone remains. Now it was up to Liu Jinghui to utilize the limited information provided by Jiang Yuan. In the afternoon, Cybersecurity sent over the second batch of data, and Technical Investigation also provided a report through internal channels, delivering another report by dinner time. Liu Jinghui nibbled on coffee, tucked in a corner, reading book by book. asionally pausing to ponder, he had a somewhat British ir in his appearance while thinking. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team police officers were busy with their respective tasks, asionally ncing at Liu Jinghui. Tang Jia organized arge pile of evidence and wrote a few thousand-word exnation, then looked at Liu Jinghui and wished she were the one lying on the single-seat sofa. She couldn¡¯t help but say, "If reading alone could solve the case, Director Liu¡¯s look really has the detective vibe." "Director Liu¡¯s age, appearance, and this aura are all heading towards being a detective." Shen Yaowei sipped tea andmented, "If he cracks the case, it would be quite impressive, wouldn¡¯t it?" Tang Jia red at Shen Yaowei, "Director Liu often solves cases. The kind where he cracks them independently." "When he solves cases independently, it¡¯s neither rxed nor carries this vibe." Shen Yaoweiughed, "You didn¡¯t see Director Liu wearing the same clothes from a week ago, looking scruffy and smelling bad. If there were anything detective-like, it would be the rustic type." Tang Jia couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at the thought, then quicklyposed herself realizing it was not serious. Shen Yaowei said, "Why don¡¯t you talk to Captain Jian again, have himmunicate with the neighboring province. Yes, he is better atmunicating at the city level than the provincial level. Collect all the missing persons¡¯ data and have Cybersecurity and Technical Investigation scan them again. They shouldn¡¯t be idling." Tang Jia paused, "Should I ask Captain Jiang?" "Captain Jiang is getting a massage. Besides, for such small matters, there¡¯s no need for Captain Jiang. Even if we weren¡¯t involved, if Jian Louyuan handled this case himself, he would undoubtedly reach this stage. Couldn¡¯t identify the missing persons within the province, so would inevitably look outside the province subsequently." Shen Yaowei said confidently. Tang Jia hesitated for two seconds, "But previously, Captain Jian asked Captain Jiang if they should expand the search nationwide, and Captain Jiang refused." "So let¡¯s first check the Lin City area. Expanding nationwide is a big move, but for them, coordinating with neighboring provinces often goes through departmental coordination, and when involving departments, it¡¯s often better to gather more data¡ªwhether one or thirty sheep¡ªotherwise, failing to find results in one batch would exhaust people with further coordination requests and annoy them." "Isn¡¯t the few city range too small?" "Jian Louyuan has this capability. As a team leader within the provincial Criminal Police Brigade, when investigating cases that need looking outside the province, he certainly starts with nearby cities. He can¡¯t start by reaching out to the provincial department, that¡¯s what Dai Mingsheng is entitled to do." "Shouldn¡¯t we directly look for Dai Zhi?" "Do we have the authority to seek Dai Zhi? That still requires Captain Jiang to ask." Shen Yaowei sighed, "Don¡¯t overthink it, I¡¯m just noticing Captain Jian¡¯s team idle, and we¡¯re giving them some work. It wouldn¡¯t be wasted since the province couldn¡¯t match anyone; ultimately, we will check the neighboring provinces. Whether it¡¯s expanding to the nationwide scale or checking the neighboring provinces, beginning with the nearby cities is logical, giving Captain Jiang more convincing arguments when he makes the call." Tang Jia wasn¡¯t sure if it would be more convincing, but she genuinely was persuaded. Just as she stood up heading to Jian Louyuan, she looked back at Shen Yaowei puzzled, "Why don¡¯t you go directly to Captain Jian?" "You¡¯re more influential in discussions than I am. Even pulling rank, you do it better than I do, so hurry up and go." Shen Yaowei urged. "Which cities should be checked in the Lin City area?" "No need for us to say, Captain Jian knows the area better than we do," Shen Yaowei smiled, "They routinely investigate so many cases, for instance, which cities they check for homicide, for theft, for abductions, they know better." Tang Jia saw Shen Yaowei genuinely held an idea, thus turned to find Jian Louyuan. Indeed, as Shen Yaowei said, after hearing Tang Jia¡¯s request, Jian Louyuan wasted no time in arranging things, knowing it wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s order. At roughly the same time, Liu Jinghui finished reviewing the final batch of data sent by Cybersecurity and Technical Investigation. Liu Jinghui approached Jiang Yuan, saying, "ording to our current thought process, it is very likely that neither of the two victims is from this province. At least one of them isn¡¯t." "Should we expand the search area?" Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui pondered, "Expanding the search area would create a bigmotion. Additionally, if someone isn¡¯t from the province, it¡¯s hard to determine which city or province they¡¯re from. They could be tourists from another province or someone who decided toe here temporarily for work or business. If there¡¯s any oversight when registering the missing persons case, our results here would be inurate." "Then let¡¯s expand the search nationwide." Jiang Yuan anticipated this. Nowadays, people move around frequently, hoping they are both from the province is pretty much taking a chance. Liu Jinghui slowly nodded, "This equates to a nationwide investigation through Technical Investigation, but rather than expanding step by step, doing it all at once is also a good choice." "Alright, I¡¯ll call Cui Xiaohu." Jiang Yuan had done enough work for the Ministry, even going abroad for cases. Requesting coordination for a nationwide investigation was indeed a reasonable request. Chapter 1172 - 1102: Locked

Chapter 1172: Chapter 1102: Locked

"If Mr. Cui agrees, I¡¯ll have Lanyue City submit a formal application... Yes... I¡¯ll tell them..." Jiang Yuan called Cui Xiaohu¡¯s private cellphone and finalized the matter in a few words. Cui Xiaohu¡¯s role was external liaison; he needed expert support like Jiang Yuan in case handling, and his job was essentially to serve the experts. For police officers doing business, solving cases is always the ultimate goal. Without solving cases, no matter how well a PPT is prepared, it¡¯s useless. Especially with the current murder case mechanism, the officers capable of solving cases are always the rarest resources, the most splendid horses, the plumpest cows, the fairest faces, the top-notch physiques, the most unforgettable souls. Cui Xiaohu gently exined the call to Jiang Yuan, neither rushing nor feeling it¡¯s a waste of time, even going out of his way to exin details to note during the application process. Dai Mingsheng arrived after hearing, stood in front, and said to Huang Qiangmin enviously, "You guys really have it easy. The ministry leaders specifically tell Jiang Yuan these detailed things. The things we break legs and teeth over, you guys settle with just one call." "Our service is up to standard, right?" Huang Qiangmin went straight to the point. Dai Mingsheng nodded repeatedly, "It¡¯s up to standard, really up to standard. It feels a bit like a one-stop service." "Of course, our fundamental goal is to deter crime, improve public safety levels, and reduce management costs. For example, our Taihe Working Group established on the Tai River frontline is very convenient for handling surface cases..." Huang Qiangmin exined in a timely manner. He didn¡¯t expect Dai Mingsheng to make any decisions now, but it was still necessary to nt an idea. Dai Mingsheng nodded repeatedly, behaving obediently like a big water buffalo. Thud, thud, thud. Jian Louyuan came quickly, her standard leather shoes creating the sound of high heels. Dai Mingsheng looked over and saw his team captain entering, so he asked, "What¡¯s the matter?" "We found two people ording to Director Liu¡¯s n!" Jian Louyuan¡¯s voice raised, and the excitement could be heard from her tone. Named Liu Jinghui immediately walked over, picked up the report and began reading. At this time, Jiang Yuan also finished the call, came over, and asked, "Have you found them? From our province?" "The female is from our province. The male is from out of province." Liu Jinghui replied with a frown. "What¡¯s wrong?" Huang Qiangmin noticed his expression and asked. Liu Jinghui sighed, "The reporter for female victim Li Miaoyan is her younger sister, in her second year of junior high, should be about 14, right? Their parents are dead, she only had a sister, now she¡¯spletely an orphan." Huang Qiangmin sighed, "Handling murder cases is about human tragedies. Was Li Miaoyan married? Was it in-marriage or out-of-marriage status?" "She was married, but her ex-husband died. Cancer, so the family is in debt, Li Miaoyan personally doesn¡¯t own any house or car, and her bank savings is only three digits... Additionally, she still owes credit card debt, over ten thousand yuan. On Ant Credit Pay and Borrowing,bined, there is another more than 30,000 yuan owed." This time it was Jian Louyuan reporting, as he had called in advance to verify. "So, her financial situation is very poor." "Yes." "The reporter, Li Miaoyan¡¯s sister, has no other close rtives. In this case, I think we should not verify with the reporter now." Liu Jinghui sighed twice, his English-style brows furrowed, "The situation is too harsh, and on the other hand, with the bones burnt like this, DNA cannot be done. In this case, it¡¯s actually difficult for us to verify through the reporter. Contacting her now will only add to the disturbance." Huang Qiangmin looked toward Dai Mingsheng. After all, the final decision-making power was in Dai Mingsheng¡¯s hands. Dai Mingsheng looked at Jiang Yuan, smiled, and said, "I¡¯ll listen to Captain Jiang today." Jiang Yuan had handled so many cases; he was very mature in basic management and judgment. First, he reached out for the documents, saying, "The male is from another province. How did you identify them?" Liu Jinghui also looked over; it was the question he wanted to ask. Jian Louyuan naturally looked at Tang Jia. Tang Jia felt slightly nervous, and her voice tightened naturally, "Shen Yaowei and I discussed checking first from the missing persons in Lin City, as provincial coordination is rtivelyplex." Shen Yaowei also stood up and actively said, "I thought, whether Captain Jiangter ns to organize national coordination or individual provincial coordination, we matched the couple of nearby cities first, and it was useful. It happened we were not busy then..." "Well done." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. This case was a natural action within the Special Task Force; the purpose of organizing the whole Task Force was to facilitate activating most people¡¯s abilities, and Shen Yaowei proactively extended the investigation scope through Jian Louyuan, and it should be encouraged. Liu Jinghui also looked at Shen Yaowei with newfound respect, "Your thinking of this solution is quite mature." The key was understanding both coborative teams and the police force¡¯s work mechanisms. Shen Yaowei essentially used the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team¡¯s First Squad¡¯s spare time to gather a small-scale technical investigation. Tang Jia was familiar with the external work model but not the police work model. Jian Louyuan understood the police work mechanism but was not familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, and he had to stay here on Dai Mingsheng¡¯smand, always ready to set out, so he couldn¡¯t leave. Only Shen Yaowei knew they temporarily couldn¡¯t use Jian Louyuan¡¯s First Squad. Of course, he also didn¡¯t need to use the whole First Squad, just directed Jian Louyuan to do what he was familiar with daily. Checking nearby cities was familiar territory for Jian Louyuan. Liu Jinghui waited for Jiang Yuan to finish reading the document, retrieved one of the copies, and said, "The male victim Wang Youming was a carpenter. However, his usual workce was in Tongxi City. Female victim Li Miaoyan worked as a supermarket cashier. Li Miaoyan is 31 years old this year, Wang Youming is 39, eight years apart, now there are frequent calls between them?" "The online security team is retrieving their chat records; we can look at it on theputerter; it should be quite long." After reporting, Jian Louyuan took the initiative to say, "I can investigate Li Miaoyan¡¯s social rtions on my end." No need for anyone to say it; any detective could guess this was a crime of passion. In case of destroying the corpse, the perpetrator is highly likely to have a strong vested interest. Someone killing randomly on a rainy night wouldn¡¯t bother to destroy the corpse. Only in cases where seeing the corpse immediately suggests the perpetrator, would the offender bother trying to destroy the body. The atmosphere in the Special Task Force thus gradually rxed. Jiang Yuan looked around once more and decisively arranged for Shen Yaowei to take a few people to Tongxi City to investigate victim Wang Youming¡¯s socialwork. Shen Yaowei readily agreed. In that moment, past memories streamed in his mind like a revolvingntern, real and illusive. It seemed he could still smell the intoxicating scent of the garbage mountain. In a person¡¯s life, no moment¡¯s effort is wasted; it always returns to oneself at a certain point¡ªShen Yaowei stood tall, feeling his police badge on the chest sparkling. Chapter 1173 - 1103: Capture

Chapter 1173: Chapter 1103: Capture

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, along with others, followed the team from Jian Louyuan, first heading to the house rented by the female victim Li Miaoyan. Perhaps because Li Miaoyan had a minor sister, the two rented a two-bedroom apartment. The rent was 2600 yuan, which had already taken up most of Li Miaoyan¡¯s sry. Just looking at this apartment, Liu Jinghui furrowed his brows. Living beyond one¡¯s means is actually more challenging than ordinary debt. Psychologically, if a person¡¯s daily expenses can be covered by daily ie, they are at the very least just a debtor, and life can still carry on, making it easier for a person to survive. But if a person¡¯s daily ie cannot cover daily expenses, those with assets will feel as if they are "depleting their resources," and those without assets will find it even harder. Relying on borrowing money to sustain life is more difficult; long-term borrowing is much tougher than long-term debt. By this inference, Li Miaoyan¡¯s financial situation is likely moreplicated than her bank transactions indicate. Not to mention, the expense of her rent did not show up in her bank transactions, implying it was most likely paid in cash. "Let¡¯s start from the doorway. Take a few footprints first and have a look." Jiang Yuan stood in the living room and issued orders, not in a hurry to go inside. Mu Zhiyang stood with his hands in his gun holster beside Jiang Yuan, while Wen Ming, apanied by two local detectives, searched the corners of the room. Meanwhile, two technicians also turned on the investigation lights, seeking several footprints on the floor to fix them. Jiang Yuan went over for a nce and confirmed: "The footprints are basically consistent with those seen at the crime spot in East Creek Lake. Alright, start the investigation." Footprints don¡¯t have as strong a distinctiveness as fingerprints. Theoretically, the likelihood of two people having the same fingerprint is extremely low, but the likelihood of two people of the same age, weight, height, walking style, etc., is rtively higher. Most importantly, not all distinctive features are shown in footprints. If only some features are present, the simrity is higher. Of course, for the task force, this is more than enough. Reconfirming the suspect¡¯s status as a suspect, Jian Louyuan is overjoyed and imitates Mu Zhiyang by standing beside Jiang Yuan with hands on his hips, also stuffing a gun in the holster. Units like the Criminal Police Brigade are the highest-level criminal investigation units in the province or city, dealing with many major cases, and differing significantly from grassroots police units. A captain like Jian Louyuan asionally has opportunities to use firearms. When encountering cases, there¡¯s no qualm about using guns. Jiang Yuan personally stepped forward to inspect the footprints. By switching light sources with the investigationmp, he could see the various traces left on the ground and walls. Jiang Yuan chose the clearer ones and, after pointing them out, someone took photos and collected evidence. Jiang Yuan circled around, and after surveying the entire house, returned and said: "No traces of the crime were seen, but it cannot be ruled out as the primary crime scene. Additionally, this house has footprints of multiple males, with the female footprints belonging to the victim and her sister." Jian Louyuan responded: "After inquiries at the supermarket, our people confirmed that the victim Li Miaoyan had a boyfriend, an excavator operator, but no report records were found afterwards; someone has been sent to bring him over." Liu Jinghui immediately asked: "Is he not in Lanyue City? Where is his workce?" "He used to work in Lanyue City before leaving a few days ago, returning home to a town in Lin City," Jian Louyuan replied. "What about his excavator?" "The excavator belongs to thepany; he¡¯s just the operator. When leaving, he mentioned attending a rtive¡¯s wedding back home to coworkers and supervisors, and the supervisor settled his wages." Liu Jinghui¡¯s questions continued, "What¡¯s his financial situation like? Did the supervisor pay the full wages? Was there any deduction?" "He received over 3000 yuan, with a 200 deduction. ording to the supervisor, his financial situation is quite average, slightly better than Li Miaoyan¡¯s, but he also has elderly family members, seemingly without savings." Liu Jinghui snorted, "This person is highly suspicious." "Indeed. I also think that he didn¡¯t leave earlier orter but right after Li Miaoyan was burned to death, he fled home." Jian Louyuan seemed to have thought of this too, his breathing a bit excited. "And, doesn¡¯t he care for Li Miaoyan¡¯s younger sister?" Liu Jinghui asked, "How long have they been together?" "About three years," Jian Louyuan replied while checking his phone, then continued, "Liu Chengming, currently 36 years old, with a five-year age difference from the victim. The victim¡¯s sister doesn¡¯t have a good impression of him, mentioning frequent arguments between her sister and him during the report. Local police also questioned Liu Chengming..." "In that case... should we wait?" Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan. From Liu Jinghui¡¯s perspective, this case has started to be straightforward. Currently, all clues point to Liu Chengming; just wait until he¡¯s brought in, then continue the investigation. There¡¯s no need to hastily examine other clues now, which feels more like grasping at straws. Jiang Yuan naturally agreed and simply said, "You guys go rest first; I¡¯ll handle this scene. It was meant to be cleaned over anyway." Having only nced briefly earlier, he couldn¡¯t confirm if this was the primary crime scene. And making a judgment requires considering many more factors. From a logical perspective, the male and female victims are highly unlikely to have willingly gone to East Creek Lake, whether through threats, murder, or some other means, the victims¡¯ homes are key suspects¡¯ locations. In fact, most of the heinous homicides nowadays ur indoors. Liu Jinghui hesitated for two seconds, then decisively said, "Well, I¡¯m also going to take a nap. I might need my brainter." Liu Jinghui went straight to the hotel, took a quick shower, and went to sleep. He wasn¡¯t actually that sleepy, but the things Jiang Yuan could do, he couldn¡¯t. Furthermore, with the case at this stage, Liu Jinghui thought the main need for him as a Dragon Knight would be after capturing Liu Chengming. If Liu Chengming stubbornly refuses to confess, gathering enough evidence for this case will be extremely difficult. For one, just proving that those two corpses belong to Li Miaoyan and Wang Youming will require a lot of effort¡ª the evidentiary requirements at the investigation stage versus those in court are unequal. Police must at least find evidence that the two arrived at East Creek Lake during the right timeframe, along with a corresponding evidence chain. This could be through surveince video or photos from the road, or perhaps mobile signal positioning, etc. Just proving they were at East Creek Lake, even if the footprints match, doesn¡¯t guarantee they went there. However, footprints could have been left long ago. This might sound far-fetched, but court evidence demands just that. Thus, police must strive to obtain confessions, as evidential efficiency would greatly improve. From Liu Jinghui¡¯s perspective, Liu Chengming is merely a prime suspect. The likelihood of him being the murderer is high, but not absolute. If Liu Chengming isn¡¯t the murderer, then Liu Jinghui¡¯s task bes much heavier. At that time, he would need to direct Jiang Yuan on the way forward. As for now, Jiang Yuan can choose to scorch the earth with Dragon me or engage in hand-to-handbat, as he pleases. ... PM. Liu Jinghui was awakened by his phone vibrating, startled, feeling a bit dizzy. Looking at the time again, Liu Jinghui was speechless. He thought he wasn¡¯t really that sleepy, but hadn¡¯t expected he might sleep and not wake. "Hello." Liu Jinghui swiped to answer the call. "Director Liu. Liu Chengming has been brought in and has confessed." Jian Louyuan tightly strained his voice, like a broken mp. Liu Jinghui was stunned, "Solved? Did Liu Chengming act alone?" "Yes." "Alright." Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t quite determine his feelings. As a policeman, he was naturally happy to have solved a murder case, but as a Dragon Knight, just awakened, his emotions were hard to express. "Director Liu. Should I send a car to pick you up?" "Yes. By the way, what¡¯s the motive for the murders?" After a long pause, Jian Louyuan said, "ording to Liu Chengming, on the night of the 9th, Li Miaoyan suggested enrolling her sister in a tutoring ss, short of 800 yuan, and wanted Liu Chengming to cover it. Liu Chengming said the ss was too expensive and reasoned with Li Miaoyan quite a lot, but ultimately didn¡¯t hand over the money, leading to insults from her calling him a useless waste and a dog-like man. Jian Louyuan: "Liu Chengming recounted that he indeed couldn¡¯t afford 800 yuan. To get the money, he would need to ask his foreman for payment. It was alreadyte at night requiring him to ask the next day, possibly receiving payment the day after. Li Miaoyan cursed fiercely, stirring Liu Chengming¡¯s anger, but not to the point of murder." Jian Louyuan: "Subsequently, Liu Chengming was driven out of the house. Helpless, he borrowed 800 from someone and returned to plead with Li Miaoyan to let him back inside. It¡¯s said he pleaded for a long time, and upon entering, discovered Wang Youming lying on Li Miaoyan¡¯s bed." "Directly on the bed?" Liu Jinghui was horrified, "Begging someone to hand over money yet still pleading while handing over money, is there any need?" Jian Louyuan replied, "ording to Liu Chengming, the construction site was far, if Li Miaoyan didn¡¯t open the door, he¡¯d have to stay in a hotel, wasting nearly a hundred yuan. "Ended up trapping the paramour in the house?" "Mm, but Liu Chengming knew of Wang Youming¡¯s existence. However, Li Miaoyan and he had agreed that Wang Youming wouldn¡¯te home. The three argued, leading Wang Youming to mimic Liu Chengming¡¯s pleas outside the door. Infuriated, Liu Chengming pulled out a knife he carried with him and bound the two victims." As Liu Jinghui listened, he felt his brain was about to burst: "Then did Wang Youming know Liu Chengming? Was he agreeable?" "Wang Youming joinedter and certainly knew Liu Chengming. As a carpenter, he was busy with work and didn¡¯t have time to find Li Miaoyan, usually inviting her over for a few days afterpleting an order. Naturally, they found each other disagreeable." Chapter 1174 - 1104: To See a Thousand Miles

Chapter 1174: Chapter 1104: To See a Thousand Miles

Liu Jinghui arrived at the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team, and Wang Chuanxing delivered thetest progress of the case. Liu Jinghui held it in his hand, it was a thick stack, and he couldn¡¯t help but say, "In just one day, so much has been organized?" "All the units are working, no one expected we would catch the murderer so quickly. Captain Jiang turned Li Miaoyan¡¯s house upside down, and collected hundreds of fingerprints and evidence samples." Wang Chuanxing paused and said, "Li Miaoyan¡¯s younger sister even filed aint against Captain Jiang." "Aint? Isn¡¯t Li Miaoyan¡¯s sister just a teenager?" Liu Jinghui was momentarily stunned. "Nowadays, teenagers are really something. They know how to search online on how to file aint against the police, know what numbers to call, and key point, they have perseverance, dialing repeatedly, going from unit to unit,ining from the inspector to the procuratorate, and don¡¯t even get tired. Moreover, they will also enlist friends to help, supporting each other..." "What was the reason for theint?" "For the extended closure of the house, rummaging through everything, the room was messed up, suspected of intending to steal, and so on." Liu Jinghui, surprised and somewhat amused, remarked, "What valuable things are there in Li Miaoyan¡¯s home? It¡¯s practically bare. Besides, Jiang Yuan, a Jiang Vige person... well, never mind, what did Dai Zhi say?" "Dai Zhi sent officers from the police station to provide reassurance, and photographs were taken for evidence. Then he also apologized to Captain Jiang." Wang Chuanxing said. "Theinant apologized to Captain Jiang?" "How could that be possible?" Wang Chuanxingughed, "It was Dai Zhi who apologized to Captain Jiang, probably mainly because he didn¡¯t want Captain Jiang to be unhappy." "Dai Zhi... alright." Liu Jinghui suddenly found it a bit absurd but somehow reasonable. The position of Deputy Chief in the Criminal Police Brigade can be considered the highest position a police officer or civil servant can climb based on their professional abilities. Lanyue City is a provincial capital, and its Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s level is even higher than the head of the Ningtai County Bureau. Dai Mingsheng certainly doesn¡¯t have to bother with ainant, let alone apologize to Jiang Yuandao. But he did all this, maybe that¡¯s why he could ascend to the position of Chief of the Criminal Police Brigade. Even with average business ability, he can, day in and day out, find people willing to support him. His reputation is decent in the national criminal police circle as well. "Alright then. After all, the case is solved. Let¡¯s just do our jobs." Liu Jinghui shook his head, feeling a bit at a loss, and said, "How is Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood, must be pretty upset?" "He seems okay... ordering food now." Wang Chuanxing whispered. Liu Jinghui chuckled, "Alright then. This case..." He turned his attention to the files in front of him. Wang Chuanxing waited for a while, seeing Liu Jinghui had nothing to say, quietly left. Early morning. The meeting room of the Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade was filled with the rich aroma of chicken soup. The officers from the Cold Case Squad who came from afar from Ningtai were gathered with the Criminal Police Brigade officers, having a pleasant conversation. Speaking of which, the temperament of officers from a county town like Ningtai should differ from those in the Criminal Police Brigade. However, most members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were seconded from Changyang City, their temperaments matched well. After a period of work and coboration, both police sides not only became familiar but also, some even grew to admire each other mutually. They are all officers who have solved major crimes, and whenmunicating with each other, there¡¯s a distinct feeling. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t rush to rest, he specifically brought back a hotpot set for Jiang Yuan, even found someone in the frozen goods market to borrow an imported meat slicer, slicing all kinds of excellent A9, M9 beef, and also added scored squid and abalone into the pot. The kitchen delivered arge basin of mashed garlic, specifically saying, "The prisonbor ends after 5 o¡¯clock, the delivered garlic mash didn¡¯t look good, and this was freshly mashed by the kitchen staff." Jiang Yuan tasted it, and it indeed had a strong spicy vor. "Those without wives should eat some garlic mash with it, eating meat without garlic loses eighty percent of its vor!" Dai Mingsheng used his approachable manner, smilingly inviting everyone. "Those with wives have already gone home." His deputy, Lin Xunlei, came and made a few jokes in coordination. Dai Mingsheng nced around,ughed, "I see there aren¡¯t many people missing." "It¡¯s past curfew, better not go back." Jian Louyuan came up, aggressively scooping adle of garlic mash, then mixing soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, with chili, peanut crumbs, scallion, andtro. "Pretty good, waking up the wife and kids at home will earn a pointless scolding and fill oneself with anger, might as well sleep at the office." Captain Hao, experienced, said. Hearing this topic, Liu Jinghui also actively participated, "When working outside, focus on work; when at home, make amends properly. Running home with half-done work, notpleting it well, leads to undue sulking. It¡¯s unnecessary." "Elder brother¡¯s way is good. Have a piece of beef." Jian Louyuan offered Liu Jinghui a piece of A9. "Together, together." Liu Jinghui returned with a piece of M9. The hotpot scene was lively, quickly dispelling any lingering animosities. Liu Jinghui deliberately sat beside Jiang Yuan,forting, "It¡¯smon for victims¡¯ families to be ungrateful. The victim¡¯s sister is only 14, in her rebellious phase, with what happened to her sister, she probably finds everyone unpleasant, just seeking to vent." "I¡¯m fine, it doesn¡¯t affect me. But... the mood is a bit low." Jiang Yuan shook his head with a wry smile. This case was not easy for him. An LV3 in forensic anthropology, with an additional temporary +1, even internationally this is at an expert level. Many small countries may not have experts of this caliber. But for the East Creek Lake corpse burning case itself, even an LV4 in forensic anthropology is very strained. Moreover, the temporary +1 has time limits every time, Jiang Yuan pieced together the time day by day, gradually perfecting the judgment of the remains. Furthermore, the Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade deployed cyber police and technical investigations; technically speaking, it can be said the capacity was maxed out. In domestic criminal cases, unless it gains national attention, this is usually how far it can go. Under such circumstances, solving the case quickly had a bit of luck involved. And Jiang Yuan rummaging through Li Miaoyan¡¯s house was also to collect more evidence and clues. After all, before the murderer fully confessed, Jiang Yuan and others could not be certain that the case¡¯s evidence and clues wereplete. Liu Jinghui coughed twice. He¡¯s not good at providing emotional value either, so he straightforwardly opened a new topic, "Speaking of the case itself, I actually have an idea that might be worth trying." "What idea?" Jiang Yuan asked while eating. "Have you noticed, the murderer in this case is surprisingly strong." Liu Jinghui said, "He went from being desperately in love to a murderer in an emotional state. Typically, such a situation would lead to a crime of passion, but Liu Chengming didn¡¯t; under the scenario of being outnumbered, he subdued two people and even got them to follow him." Jiang Yuan nodded, "Indeed very strong. The male victim Wang Youming was a carpenter and probably had some strength, not someone who would surrender easily. And Liu Chengming¡¯s emotional control was quite good. Instead of killing on the spot, he chose the method of burning the corpse, which indeed helped in evading capture." "No blood was found at the scene?" Liu Jinghui asked Jiang Yuan. "No." Jiang Yuan confirmed, "The scene was thoroughly searched." "In such a situation, Wang Youming being willing toply is still a bit strange, right?" "Liu Chengming was armed; if Wang Youming didn¡¯tply, blood might have spilled. Weighing the pros and cons, not resisting can be understood, right?" "No matter how it¡¯s calcted, Liu Chengming¡¯s performance exceeds the requirements of an excavator operator¡¯s profession. Looking at his background, he shouldn¡¯t possess such confrontation abilities. Additionally, the choice of location and method for burning the corpse was exceptionally well-executed; without encountering you, there was a good chance of him getting away." Liu Jinghui continued to say, "I suggest intensifying Liu Chengming¡¯s interrogation and further investigating him more thoroughly." "Agreed." Jiang Yuan immediately concurred, adding, "I¡¯ll also go to his residence to have another look." "Great! He doesn¡¯t have a sister, so we¡¯re not afraid ofints." Liu Jinghui made a poor joke. Chapter 1175 - 1105: Teaching People Without Success

Chapter 1175: Chapter 1105: Teaching People Without Sess

The next day. Early morning. Liu Jinghui followed Jiang Yuan to Liu Chengming¡¯s residence, a container house at a construction site. Compared to ordinary houses, these container-modified homes are cold in winter and hot in summer, with limited space. They serve mainly the function of sleeping, without much room for enjoyment. Nevertheless, Liu Chengming¡¯s living quarters at the construction site were considered decent, since he worked in a technical position, allowing him to reside in a single room. However, even this container house, when Jiang Yuan inspected it, yielded nothing of interest. Despite a thorough search, no useful clues could be found. The apanying technician packed up the tools, saying, "Captain Jiang, should we move the contents back for further inspection?" This was purely a gesture for Jiang Yuan¡¯s sake; even if reced by a less notable expert, such a thorough investigation wouldn¡¯t even be considered. There¡¯s always more work for the Criminal Science team, and every unit is pressing for results. When resources and time are wasted here, alternatives must be sought elsewhere. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have such strong desires, shaking his head, "This is just the suspect¡¯s temporary residence. If we can¡¯t find evidence here, let¡¯s consider other locations." "The suspect imed he threw the knife into East Creek Lake. Dai Zhi has already organized a team to search for it, but East Creek Lake is quite deep and has underwater currents. It won¡¯t be easy to find," said the technician, viewing the search for the murder weapon as currently the most critical task. Once the knife is found, together with the murder¡¯s vehicle and corresponding photographs, the case¡¯s evidence chain would be rtivelyplete. At this moment, after a night¡¯s reflection, Liu Jinghui felt even more convinced, saying, "Liu Chengming¡¯s confession is questionable, and many statements cannot be disproven at present. At the very least, we must find some objective evidence. Let them find the knife." Unlike ordinary homicide cases, Liu Chengming burned two victims into ashes, preventing the police from extracting any evidence directly from the victims¡ªwhat weapon was used, how they were killed, all could only be inferred from Liu Chengming¡¯s confession. Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t fond of this approach; he naturally wanted to avoid trusting the confession and paying a significant price for that trust. Listening to Liu Jinghui¡¯s tone, Jiang Yuan asked, "So what do you want to investigate?" "Can I investigate anything I want?" Liu Jinghui suddenly asked. "Of course." Jiang Yuan affirmed. "All I have is what¡¯s in my mind; I don¡¯t have any evidence," Liu Jinghui said. "You haven¡¯t always been like this," Jiang Yuan said, curiously ncing at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui suddenly felt touched. This is the significance of being a Dragon Knight; the Dragon Knight requires no exnation. Wherever the dragonnce points, the dragon breathes fire and dives down¡ªa true romantic notion. The Dragon Knight maneuvers the dragon as easily as an extension of his own body, just like Watson under Sherlock Holmes. "I feel something¡¯s off with Liu Chengming. I have one key question: was the male victim¡¯s skull burnedpletely, or was the head cut off beforehand?" Liu Jinghui asked. Jiang Yuan had clearly considered this issue, responding, "I believe it¡¯s highly likely that the head was cut off beforehand. Although one cannotpletely rule out burning it to ashes, it¡¯s very challenging¡ªrequiring arge amount of elerant and someone standing on-site to oversee the burning. Just burning it openly in the wild, it¡¯s unlikely to achieveplete incineration. Judging by the final state of other bones, there must be remnants of the male victim¡¯s skull." Liu Jinghui nodded, "If the murderer stayed until they could take away the burned fragments of the male victim¡¯s skull, logically, they¡¯d also take away other fragments of burned bones. In that case, there might not have been a case at all." "That would require a significant amount of elerant and several hours on-site. Handling burned bone fragments would be another issue. Was it buried?" "It¡¯s quite possible that the cut-off head was buried," Liu Jinghui borated on his thoughts, "I think finding the head should be a priority. If we find the victim¡¯s head, it would prove Liu Chengming lied, leading to an immediate death sentence. The specifics of the case would likely be clear." At the crematorium, bodies are burned with diesel sprayed from all sides to aidbustion, and the body¡¯s fats help ensure thorough burning. Even then, a significant amount ofrge bone fragments remains. These bone fragments are often crushed by crematorium staff before some are ced into the client¡¯s urns. Putting all fragments into the urn is unlikely¡ªthere¡¯s too much left over, and typical urns don¡¯t have that much space. Burning bones in the wild, even with diesel as an elerant, likely won¡¯t achieve such results. Most notably, the skull should be the most resistant to burning. Topletely burn it to ash in such an environment would require someone standing nearby, repeatedly pouring diesel and using a hammer, only then might it be possible. Clearly, if the murderer was willing to go to such lengths, they could have taken away or processed all the fragments of burned bones. From this perspective, Liu Chengming¡¯s testimony contains falsehoods. This is one reason for Liu Jinghui¡¯s suspicion. As an already arrested murder suspect, having chosen to confess, providing aplete and urate statement is actually beneficial¡ªit serves as a basis for reduced punishment and a possible escape from immediate execution. Liu Chengming admitted to the killing but failed to give a truthful andplete confession, which is somewhat unusual, indicating he¡¯s definitely hiding something from the police. He doesn¡¯t have much to his name and isn¡¯t an official, which naturally piqued Liu Jinghui¡¯s curiosity. "Actually, there¡¯s another issue." Liu Jinghui stood inside the container house, sweat slightly forming on his face, and said, "The suspect Liu Chengming is an excavator operator. He actually has the means to bury the corpse deeply without much effort. Choosing to burn the corpse wasn¡¯t really necessary." "Maybe it¡¯s because the excavator is hard to move around," the technician standing next to him said, "from what I know, many excavators nowadays, especially those owned bypanies, have detailed data monitoring systems. Some require a password to start, and the location and time where the excavator was used are recorded clearly. The movements of the bucket are also recorded. If he secretly digs a pit to bury the body, the excavator data could implicate him." Liu Jinghui nodded slowly: "That¡¯s indeed a possible factor. However, Liu Chengming has operated excavators for so long that it shouldn¡¯t be difficult for him to find another one; borrowing or even renting one is possible..." "But he still chose to burn the body." "There are many benefits to burning a body. If done properly, it leaves fewer traces, can be less obvious than burying with an excavator, and if it¡¯s not your case, it¡¯s hard to confirm the victim¡¯s identity. Additionally, an excavator is quite noticeable. Such amotion can easily alert people around. It¡¯s not easy to go to remote areas, and carrying a body at the same time is inconvenient." The others listened to Liu Jinghui¡¯s exnation and nodded in agreement. Liu Jinghui then said, "Let¡¯s investigate it anyway. Have someone ask people around Liu Chengming to see if he has borrowed or rented an excavator. Also, check his contact list and WeChat records. If he rented one, it would probably happen through these channels." "Yes." Wang Chuanxing immediately made arrangements after Liu Jinghui confirmed it. This type of inquiry is somewhat simr to screening, but much simpler and cheaper, more like a police station or the criminal investigation team procedure. "With this case, we might be nitpicking a bit. However, I think Liu Chengming has other cases on him, and a deeper investigation might prove fruitful." Liu Jinghui said this mostly to Jiang Yuan; if Dai Mingsheng were present, he would have hesitated. The technician beside him felt a bit helpless and silently took out his phone to start messaging the team leader. Liu Jinghui watched him message and said to Wang Chuanxing, "Check the old body-burning cases too, see if there are any simr ones, and try connecting them. Liu Chengming might be relying on a familiar pattern." Connecting and consolidating cases is a fundamental skill of criminal investigators. When one case doesn¡¯t have enough clues, merging two cases together might suddenly provide enough leads. Criminals rarelymit just one crime without doing another. Even homicide suspects are not an exception. It¡¯s like gambling; if guessing right once can yield a year¡¯s worth of ie, who wouldn¡¯t abandon patience in work? If killing someone can resolve issues that decades of ie cannot, who would maintain rtionships patiently? A few calls were made, and the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team immediately started moving. Jiang Yuan put on his mask again and collected evidence inside the container house thoroughly. No matter how much is happening outside, the basic technical work must be done. After finishing the investigation of Liu Chengming¡¯s temporary residence, Jiang Yuan took a walk around the construction site and found no other discoveries before returning to the Criminal Police Team with Liu Jinghui to set up hot pot and wait for reports from various aspects. In the evening, new reports were gradually delivered. "No new clues. However, the car Liu Chengming used was found. He rented a vehicle through Xianyu..." Wang Chuanxing briefly exined to Jiang Yuan and the others. Jian Louyuan also came over and said, "No leads were found for the excavator or body-burning yet." Liu Jinghui nodded slowly. Wei Shikan squeezed out from behind his team leader like toothpaste and said, "Could it be... that Liu Chengming actually doesn¡¯t have any old cases?" When leaders hesitate to speak, the least concerned person might voice it. Liu Jinghui merely gave him a smile and asked, "Has Liu Chengming given aplete confession?" "No." This time, it was Jian Louyuan who answered. It¡¯s incredibly difficult to coherently exin a case, especially when ites to the details. Telling one lie and trying to make it all fit is a tough task. And the suspect does not have the right to omit details. Not answering truthfully equates to not giving a true ount, "Then continue the interrogation." Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t rushed at this moment and said to Jian Louyuan, "If we can¡¯t find evidence for the body-burning, establish another project to see if there are any unsolved murder cases involving disposing or burying bodies on construction sites. Directly check the sites Liu Chengming worked on and nearby murder cases to see if there are any matches." Jian Louyuan was somewhat baffled: "Rabbits don¡¯t eat the grass near their burrow. Moreover, Liu Chengming burned bodies far away. Would he really kill at the construction site?" "Maybe he failed when trying to kill on-site. People can¡¯t be taught, but a single incident teaches them." Liu Jinghui¡¯s brain was rapidly processing as he stated, "A carpenter like Liu Chengming has worked half his life on construction sites, yet the entire process from coercion to murder and body disposal went too smoothly. Start checking." Chapter 1176 - 1106: Simple Pursuit

Chapter 1176: Chapter 1106: Simple Pursuit

Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade meeting room. About 30 officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team lined up in a row, each with aputer or dossier in front of them, all with serious expressions as they read. Wei Shikan, who came over to deliver food, couldn¡¯t help but secretly take a photo of the scene and show it to his squad leader Jian Louyuan when he got back, saying, "Look at how they work. Damn, over 30 people reading a single case file, a case that should be closed and currently has no further evidence. No wonder they can crack big cases..." "If I gave you full funding, bonuses galore, and you do nothing but focus on one major case with all living necessities taken care of, you could also calmly focus on one case." Jian Louyuan said with a face as if he¡¯d seen it all. Wei Shikan got excited: "Then let¡¯s give it a try. If we seed, won¡¯t it be the Jian Louyuan Cold Case Team?" "Who says you¡¯re oblivious." Jian Louyuan looked at Wei Shikan and said with a smile, "At least you didn¡¯t name it the Wei Shikan Cold Case Team." "I can¡¯t handle the pressure. Liu Jinghui is basically guessing there¡¯s a case within the case. If there isn¡¯t, I can¡¯t imagine how awkward it would be." Wei Shikan was indeed thoughtful, and at this thought, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder. "If you can¡¯t handle it, how could I?" Jian Louyuan also felt uneasy. Wei Shikanughed heartily: "Being a workhorse is tiring; being a responsible workhorse is even more exhausting." Jian Louyuan couldn¡¯t imagine under what circumstances he would dare to make a conclusion like Liu Jinghui¡¯s. This, in his view, seemed somewhat unnecessary. An originally smoothly resolved case was now going to be reopened, and Jian Louyuan found it a pity. The key was the uncertain future, putting in so many resources just to dig deeper into the same case and the same suspect was not a decision Jian Louyuan could make. The East Creek Lake cremation case might notpare to the previous Li Yaoji murder case, but solving a multi-person cremation case is quite an achievement. If Jian Louyuan could solve this case and make decisions about it, he would be extremely careful and respectful. "But, Jiang Yuan and his team just follow Liu Jinghui¡¯s wild guesses, they¡¯re truly willing," Wei Shikan remarked again with emotion. He joined the Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade with the dream of bing a detective, and it¡¯s pretty much the top-tier criminal police organization in the province, with daily work simr to what you see in many TV dramas. Butpared to Jiang Yuan¡¯s work, he suddenly felt it wasn¡¯t as impressive. Jian Louyuan understood what Wei Shikan meant, calmly saying, "You don¡¯t have to envy that. Jiang Yuan and his team can do it leisurely because they¡¯re gambling with their reputation. If Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t solved so many cases, we wouldn¡¯t be here awaiting orders. Liu Jinghui gives themand, with no evidence, and an entire team follows his lead. Shan Nan¡¯s Deductive King isn¡¯t just a title. But that kind of fame will be gone after just two failures." Wei Shikan wasn¡¯t as cautious as Jian Louyuan expected. Instead, he became more excited, saying, "All or nothing, right? Cool!" "Do you have some misunderstanding about what ¡¯cool¡¯ means?" Jian Louyuan couldn¡¯t understand Wei Shikan. A nearby detective whispered, "Jian, Mr. Wei joined the Criminal Police Brigade because he thinks they look cool, so do you think he might have a misunderstanding about what ¡¯cool¡¯ means?" Jian Louyuan suddenly realized, "Forget it, even his family can¡¯t manage him, let¡¯s not try. Well... Wei Shikan, just stay here and help out Captain Jiang and the team, report to me if anythinges up." Jian Louyuan couldn¡¯t stand the atmosphere here and turned to hide in a small office. ... Liu Jinghui indeed didn¡¯t seem as rxed as he appeared, but he wasn¡¯t particrly tense either. The act of reasoning without evidence might be risky for other officers, and if things go wrong, they might have to bear the responsibility. But for Liu Jinghui, this is exactly what he pursues. Of course, the pressure can¡¯t be avoided. So many people are conducting the investigation out of trust in him, and if the direction turns out to be wrong, Liu Jinghui would feel a bit self-reproachful, but not much. Experiencing investigative setbacks ismon for a high-ranking provincial police officer like him. Apart from unsolved cold cases, it¡¯s usual even to try three or five times on current murder cases and fail. Without this level of determination, Liu Jinghui wouldn¡¯t have gained such a big reputation. Remember, before Jiang Yuan became famous, Shannan¡¯s true investigative ace was King of Deduction Liu Jinghui. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were equally calm and unshakeable. Having handled so many cold cases, they¡¯ve long epted the concept of dyed gratification. Or rather, even if they ultimately can¡¯t be satisfied, what does it matter? The only one seemingly idle was Jiang Yuan. When it came to flipping through case files, Jiang Yuan¡¯s abilities weren¡¯t necessarily better than Wang Chuanxing¡¯s. To say this is a bit boastful; when ites to handling texts, Wang Chuanxing, who has been through the workce ringer, is four workhorses stronger than Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical abilities were stronger, and hisprehensive abilities while reviewing files were better. But as for the current progress, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t needed to look at these files in detail yet. If they can¡¯t sift out the cases that Liu Chengming might have been involved in, Liu Jinghui¡¯s spection cannot be confirmed, and if his spection cannot be confirmed, then perhaps no previous cases exist at all... Jiang Yuan brewed a pot of tea and drank leisurely. After a while, seeing a WeChat message from Jiang Fuzhen, Jiang Yuan simply put on his headphones and called, "Dad?" "Hey, how¡¯s it going on your end? I¡¯m having tea with your master, and we mentioned you. Your master found a monk to give you a reading." Jiang Fuzhen seemed quite happy, and the camera shifted to a mahjong table. Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, "Since when did you start ying mahjong?" Jiang Fuzhen chuckled, "You know those groups that scam demolition residents? A group recently targeted me, ying mahjong and poker with me every day, and I got a bit hooked." "Hmm... which scam group?" Jiang Yuan still focused on the main point. "Captured them." Jiang Fuzhen thought for a moment, then turned to ask Uncle Qiang, "When were they captured?" "Last Friday, the chief of Zoumadao Police Station personally led the team to capture them." Uncle Qiang¡¯srge face appeared in the video, "They slipped up." "What kind of slip-up?" "They wanted to open a mahjong parlor and even tried bribing someone. Thendlord here, upon hearing this, immediately informed the police station. The lease was signed and money handed over by noon, and they were caught by afternoon." Uncle Qiang added, "They didn¡¯t refund the rent either, losing both the deposit and rent." "And the transfer fee." Jiang Fuzhen ttered the mahjong tiles and said, "Just a few little punks, thinking this is our first demolition. Oh, and Jiang Yuan, I sent a chef with seafood over to you. It should be arriving soon, make sure to eat it. Share some with your colleagues, be generous, and if it¡¯s not enough, let me know." "I got it." After a few more fatherly ramblings, Jiang Yuan put down his phone and patted his forehead. Mu Zhiyang, standing nearby, immediately asked, "Got any ideas?" At these words, half of the people at the table looked over. "No." Jiang Yuan put down his hand, "I just made a regr phone call, why would that give me ideas?" "Oh..." Everyone couldn¡¯t help but quietly express their disappointment. "By the way." Jiang Yuan patted his forehead again, "My dad sent seafood over, save some room." Everyone¡¯s spirits involuntarily lifted again. Chapter 1177 - 1107 Understanding

Chapter 1177: Chapter 1107 Understanding

Jiang Fuzhen sent over fresh swimming crabs, all carefully selected to be over one pound full of roe, each seemingly aware of its worth, arrogantly ring and lively. "First, cook one for each person. Once cooked, then cook half a crab per person. If it¡¯s not enough, cook more to avoid waste," Wang Chuanxing arranged, then turned and said, "Those who don¡¯t eat crab can wait for beef brisket noodles, the crab can be divided among others." Wen Ming silently took out a box of loratadine, saying, "I¡¯m slightly allergic to seafood, but I want to challenge myself today. Other colleagues shouldn¡¯t follow my lead; if you¡¯re severely allergic to seafood, doing this could be life-threatening." "Understood. Give me one," said someone. "I¡¯ll take one too," said another. "I¡¯m big. I need three," said Lu Tongda, reaching out to grab three pills, then shouted to Wang Chuanxing, "I¡¯m reserving three crabs." Wang Chuanxingughed and cursed, "How can you eat so much?" "I¡¯m three times your size, so eating three times more is only fair," Lu Tongda twisted his hips and added, "I want beef brisket noodles too, two bowls to start." His words caused chaos in the conference room as everyone reported numbers, each being abnormal for a regr human. The detectives are exceedingly good eaters, especially during times like this when they¡¯re workingte reviewing materials, bitter and tired, surrounded by colleagues like monkeys and oxen, smelling worse than cats¡¯ poop, shedding more than dogs, speaking like goris, snoring like adorable piggies, wearing slippers like fluffy yellow weasels... gourmet food is their only salvation. Jiang Yuan also hadn¡¯t bathed all day, smelling himself, feeling like a fresh corpse, he contentedly went to the bathroom to wash his hands while waiting to eat. Therge swimming crabs that had been tightly bound since being by the seaside, now blushingly disyed impressive splits at the dinner table, giving diners extraordinary enjoyment. Lu Tongda ate until the end, satisfied, taking a deep breath as if he expelled all his fatigue. "It¡¯s still interesting working with Captain Jiang," Lu Tongda couldn¡¯t help butment. Having recently been seconded from the traffic police team, he often followed Jiang Yuan before, but wasn¡¯t considered professional. This arrangement by Huang Qiangmin was due to concerns about theck of protective strength around Jiang Yuan, seeing Lu Tongda¡¯srge build and height. Even if Lu Tongda doesn¡¯t understand tactics or security, he stands there like a tall container door, allowing Jiang Yuan to duck his head and safely hide behind him, giving Mu Zhiyang some relief. Hundreds of carefully selected, strongest swimming crabs perished on the spot, greatly boosting everyone¡¯s spirits, they wiped their mouths, tidied up, and continued working. Jiang Yuan also settled in, opened hisptop, and with a novel, began thoughtfully munching on mantis shrimp. This delicacy has a threshold for eating; some detectives find it troublesome, some fear the spikes, others can¡¯t peel it, some have gout, leaving some shrimp behind. Jiang Yuan treated them as casual snacks, eating while reading the novel, feeling quite happy. "Captain Jiang," the call by his ear pulled Jiang Yuan out of his happiness. Jiang Yuan looked up to see Wang Chuanxing and Liu Jinghuiing over, he straightened up and asked, "Did we find a match?" "A cold case from four years ago," Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "It¡¯s a case from Lin City, a fishpond restructuring project, where a body was found halfway through. Liu Chengming worked on this project six years ago." "Was Liu Chengming not included as a key investigative subject at that time?" "The fishponds in rural areas don¡¯t haveplete records. The detectives back then didn¡¯t investigate from the angle of the excavator operator¡¯s involvement, just thinking the murderer used the construction site¡¯s existing pit to bury the body," Liu Jinghui slowly shook his head and added, "I reviewed their files; the victim was a vige woman, so the investigation considered interpersonal rtionships." Jiang Yuan, now half an old detective, somewhat understood, asking, "What do you think?" "Actually, the detectives¡¯ considerations at that time weren¡¯t wrong. Most likely, Liu Chengming got involved with someone, but the two covered it up well. After two years, the body was discovered. Besides, the victim was already dead, such matters between the two, if the parties don¡¯t admit it, outsiders can¡¯t understand..." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t say much else; failed cases have thousands of reasons for failure. Turning to Liu Jinghui said, "We need to gather more evidence for this case to break Liu Chengming. It¡¯s not easy for him to confess directly." Two cases together add up to a guaranteed death penalty without reprieve, but without enough evidence, expecting the suspect to confess is extremely difficult. Jiang Yuan pondered and said, "I can first look at the evidence of the case, including the autopsy report and photos." "Okay," Liu Jinghui replied, then with some confidence said, "In my experience, this case doesn¡¯t actually require much physical evidence; we canpletely break through with confessions." "You just said..." Jiang Yuan stopped mid-sentence and immediately realized, "You want to take confessions from surrounding people?" "Yes, when the event just happened, and it involved an affair, many might not dare to make conclusions lightly. But now, some of the parties involved have died, some are in jail, the victim¡¯s husband has remarried, everyone should be able to speak freely." Liu Jinghui naturally added, "There are still some people in this vige, who¡¯ve been chatting about this gossip for a long time, I feel we should be able to get some information." Wang Chuanxing said, "What if Liu Chengming doesn¡¯t admit such confessions?" "He surely doesn¡¯t want to admit it, but the key question is whether he actuallymitted the crime," Liu Jinghui asserted. "If he truly did the crime, such as having an affair with that woman, there can¡¯t be absolutely no traces. You gather confessions and trace them. Did they contact each other, make phone calls, send text messages or WeChat, meet up somewhere, go out together...?" "These two people can¡¯t have had a purely tonic rtionship," Liu Wenkai stepped forward smoothly exining, "tonic affairs don¡¯t move this fast. Liu Chengming is an excavator operator, he¡¯s pretty busy all day, probably only free at night. They probably just hit it off, had several quick rounds, no need for calls or records of hotel stays, just a nce when they met, then headed to the cornfield for a pure impulse session, you understand?" The young detectives in the room looked nkly at Liu Wenkai. "That¡¯s why the more educated are more boring. Why do spirited girls seek out spirited boys? It¡¯s solely about physical impulse, with no need for extra conversation. They aren¡¯t exchanging literature or philosophy, it¡¯s all about the look, and then just going for it, understand?" Liu Wenkai was eager to roll up his sleeves to teach. Given the high bar set by the city-level Criminal Police Brigade, whether it¡¯s Lanyue City¡¯s team, or those seconded from Changyang City¡¯s team, these young officers have been uniformly trained ording to societal standards and are now nearing brain fog. Mu Zhiyang softly raised a corner of his mouth. "Haha, Old Mu gets it, Old Mu gets it!" Liu Wenkai felt a sense of joy from recognition, pointing at Mu Zhiyang and couldn¡¯t help but shout, "I guess you came from the police station. Younger folks really need to be tempered at a police station for a few years, no need for a lot, just two or three years and you learn everything." Mu Zhiyang lightly coughed twice, "Don¡¯t drag me into this." Liu Wenkai pointed at him with his hand, then didn¡¯t continue talking, just smiled and said, "Director Liu also knows the ropes; his method is feasible." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement, thus the matter was settled. Liu Jinghui busily started dispatching personnel to investigate in the relevant vige; meanwhile, some were sent to find informed individuals outside. Soon, Dai Mingsheng arrived upon hearing the news, along with several leaders from the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team. The group asked Wang Chuanxing a load of questions, then looked at the files, shared nces, and their consensus was basically confirmed. For them, there are many criteria to determine whether a case can be established, but the standards provided by Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were excessive. "Unexpectedly, a previous case was dug out," Dai Mingsheng praised, "No wonder Liu Chengming chose to burn the body. Was he afraid it would beter unearthed?" "That¡¯s definitely a reason. Liu Chengming is quite a thoughtful person; you can tell by his history," Liu Jinghui came over to exin his reasoning process to Dai Mingsheng and others in detail. Dai Mingsheng and the others weren¡¯t too interested in listening, but Liu Jinghui loved this process, so even seeing their disinterest, he didn¡¯t stop. Ten minutester, Jian Louyuan tiptoed into the conference room. Dai Mingsheng spotted him right away and promptly pulled him over, scolding, "Where did you run off to? Didn¡¯t I tell you to stand by here?" Jian Louyuan grimaced, "No... I just happened to..." "Stand straight!" Dai Mingsheng huffed heavily. Chapter 1178 - 1108: Move Over

Chapter 1178: Chapter 1108: Move Over

Liu Jinghui was deeply invested in Liu Chengming¡¯s case. He was somewhat different from Jiang Yuan. Compared to Jiang Yuan¡¯s "utilitarian mindset," Liu Jinghui was more pure in his approach to the detective profession. To some extent, Jiang Yuan just wanted criminals to die, while Liu Jinghui contemted how to y with criminals artistically. Therefore, although Liu Chengming was already very likely to receive the death penalty due to the East Creek Lake body burning case, Liu Jinghui did not relent and stubbornly dug up a previous case. Of course, this was of great significance to the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team. It was equivalent to solving another cold murder case, and it could even be considered a timely resolution. Otherwise, if they waited for the death penalty review and executed Liu Chengming, it would be difficult to solve the previous cold murder case. This is also one of the reasons why cold murder cases are hard to solve. People die, and murderers are no exception. Furthermore, speaking from another perspective, murderers upy a profession with a high mortality rate. Hence, the current case is easier to solve in time, but after a few years, the murderer always runs the risk of dying outside. Even if some physical evidence is found by then, it is still unfortunate without the suspect¡¯s confession. Jiang Yuan confirmed thepletion of Liu Chengming¡¯s case at noon. At that time, he was re-examining the corpse at the funeral home when suddenly a blue shimmering object appeared from a box of burnt bone fragments. Jiang Yuan picked it up and saw Li Miaoyan¡¯s legacy: Youth Emotional Guidance (LV1) ¡ª Li Miaoyan never felt love and happiness, at least not before adulthood. Her sister was the first person to love her unconditionally. Li Miaoyan tried her best to meet all of her sister¡¯s needs, hoping to make her sister feel love and happiness. Only after making this decision did Li Miaoyan realize how difficult it was. Nevertheless, she believed she could persist until her sister entered puberty and suddenly turned into a stranger... Jiang Yuan nced at the system interface in silence. The two victims in the East Creek Lake case, including the murderer Liu Chengming, had not experienced a happy life. As for whether they had felt love, outsiders had no way to explore that. If these three were from famous and distinguished families, their tangled stories might have been eagerly adapted into a movie. Or to say, if these three were from prestigious backgrounds, they might not have had such tangled stories. Li Miaoyan herself didn¡¯t necessarily want to find two men; it was more because a single man, Liu Chengming, could not afford to support her and a younger sister who was studying in a better school with a higher quality of living. Liu Chengming was likely a charming man, as evidenced by the first female victim of his murder case who found him attractive. However, Liu Chengming was obviously not good at making money, or rather, his earnings as an excavator driver were neither enough for romantic expenditures nor for high-quality family support. From an emotional trigger perspective alone, what stirred Liu Chengming¡¯s murderous intent was merely 800 yuan. Beep... Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. Jiang Yuan picked it up and asked, "Has Liu Chengming confessed?" Liu Jinghuiughed heartily on the other end, "You understand reasoning as well now." "Considering the timing, he should have confessed," Jiang Yuan sighed and asked again, "Did he confess to the head?" He was referring to the decapitated male victim¡¯s head. "He confessed. If he hadn¡¯t confessed to this, I wouldn¡¯t have called you. This guy cut off the head, put it in a red paint bucket, filled it with stones and sand, and threw it into East Creek Lake. The visibility in East Creek Lake is quite okay; the red paint bucket we sent divers to search for has been found." Liu Jinghui chuckled, clearly more satisfied with what he gained from the case itself rather than solving it. Finding the head also indirectly confirmed Liu Chengming to be the murderer. This deadly secret would not belong to anyone other than the murderer or an aplice. Unless Liu Chengming¡¯swyer could produce strong evidence, the court would generally ept this as truth. In other words, Liu Chengming was doomed. So, Jiang Yuan also felt satisfied. "In that case, I won¡¯t return today, and the officers with nothing to do should take a holiday." Jiang Yuan hurriedly made arrangements. The officers in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, like ordinary criminal police, have no days off during case handling. Although civil servants and police don¡¯t followborws, the bosses should follow human principles. When there¡¯s no time for holidays usually due to ongoing cases, now that the case is resolved, a holiday is naturally in order. Otherwise, when the next casees, the holiday might be postponed indefinitely. Dragging it day by day, some holidays are bound to be dragged away. Liu Jinghui agreed with a happy smile. He was in a leisurely state, not anxious to jump into another case. Dai Mingsheng and others, simrly sensible, made calls to say a few words and went off to do their own things. The case being solved supposedly warranted a celebration, but for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, no one ced much importance on distant celebrations because they had solved many cases. The next day, however, a group of officers surprisingly gathered on their own initiative. Jiang Yuan was also called over by Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui looked serious, and for a moment, said nothing upon seeing Jiang Yuan. "Is there a major case?" Jiang Yuan immediately sensed something. Liu Jinghui slowly and firmly shook his head, but said, "Dai Mingsheng, that old fox, bought tickets for the special case team¡¯s families and invited them to travel to Lanyue City." "So generous?" Jiang Yuan was taken aback. "Is itpliant?" "Right! Who does things like this? It¡¯s like the Farmer and the Snake story!" Liu Jinghui criticized sharply, "He even sent official letters to request leave for family members who needed it, utterly driven by selfish desire!" Jiang Yuan was dumbfounded, "He¡¯s inviting families and has to reimburse travel expenses, right? How do you ount for amodation and meals, they surely can¡¯t expect families to pay that, right?" "Their Lanyue City Bureau has plenty of money; what¡¯s reimbursementpared to that?" Liu Jinghui snorted, "But they can¡¯t just do whatever they want because they¡¯re rich!" Just then, Wang Chuanxing ran over, "Director Liu, your wife¡¯s car has arrived." "Coming." Liu Jinghui quickly wiped his face and hurried off to meet her. ... Dinner. Just in time, a Wuding broiler chicken sent by Jiang Fuzhen, along with a cook, was arranged by Jiang Yuan for steam pot chicken. The Wuding broiler chicken is a superb variety of chicken native to China, though the taste isn¡¯t purely attributed to the breed but rather because local people are adept at cooking it. Compared to themonly seen capon in Hainan, the top-quality Wuding broiler is a rare capon hen in China. It¡¯s well-known that in today¡¯s big cities, spaying a male cat costs a few hundred yuan, while spaying a female cat costs over a thousand. Yet for the more difficult task of spaying a hen, it only costs a few dozen yuan per kilogram. Eating just the cost of this surgery makes it highly cost-effective. Moreover, the Wuding broiler is castrated at a young age, which causes it to secrete a small amount of male hormones, making it more rooster-like as it matures. Better plumage, crowing, making it an LGBT chicken variety ¡ª a global trendy product worthy of a ce on any dining table. In terms of taste, the capon hen has its unique qualities. It¡¯s fattier than a capon, yet not as tough as regr hen meat. Imagine someone with high female body fat andrge male muscles, naturally tender and juicy when you eat it. Over 30 criminal police officers, along with more than a dozen family members, enjoyed it and were all full of praise. Dai Mingsheng also found a moment, holding a wine ss, came to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side and said cheerfully, "They say people in the south know how to eat chicken, but the Wuding broiler chicken tastes even more special. Captain Jiang introduced us to another good thing; thank you, thank you..." Jiang Yuan replied with a smile, "Castration is the best way to improve the breed." "Makes sense. Europeans don¡¯t castrate pigs, which results in pork being inedible," Dai Mingsheng immediately picked up the pace. With such a notable squad leader apanying the chat, even Jiang Yuan felt a bit pressured. He nced at Huang Qiangmin, who was busy socializing with others, and said with a smile, "Director Dai, you¡¯ve been considerate this time. Do you have any thoughts?" "I just want you to spend a few more days here. No other intentions." Dai Mingsheng, like a yboy, first lowered expectations before adding, "Speaking of which, our City Bureau has a few apartments empty in the city center. Staying in hotels every day isn¡¯t ideal; why not move in?" Chapter 1179 - 1109 Fresh Corpse

Chapter 1179: Chapter 1109 Fresh Corpse

Dai Mingsheng was sincere. Due to the Lanyue Film and Television City, he often dealt with people in the film industry, so he quickly understood a principle: when ying mind games, you can never be as cunning as them. It¡¯s not just that criminal police are less skillful; even the street con artists are no match. It¡¯s better to be sincere. Of course, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s sincerity depended on the person. For someone like Jiang Yuan, a revered figure, vetted and tested, carrying the aura of a Bodhisattva Arhat, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s sincerity index skyrocketed. After mentioning the houses, he immediately took out his phone to show Jiang Yuan pictures of these houses. While showing Jiang Yuan, Dai Mingsheng seriously said, "These apartments were reserved by our City Bureau specifically for the experts whoe to support us. The furniture and appliances inside are fully equipped, the parking spaces downstairs, and themunity greenery are all excellent. Household cleaning services can also be arranged. Captain Jiang, you can move in and stay as long as you like. Other tasks like cleaning can be left to others." "Looks pretty good," Jiang Yuan said, giving his evaluation from a seasonedndlord¡¯s perspective. "They were all carefully selected..." Dai Mingsheng was also satisfied. Shen Yaowei nced over andmented, "Confiscated, right?" "What nonsense!" Dai Mingsheng red, then chuckled at Jiang Yuan and said, "These are our City Bureau¡¯s own properties, akin to guesthouses. We often invite experts from all over to Lanyue City. Some experts might prefer cooking at home; some might bring their families; for long-term stays, our apartments are morefortable than hotels..." "I¡¯ll just buy one myself. No need for your ces," Jiang Yuan said, sending a WeChat message to his dad as he spoke. Dai Mingsheng red again, wanting to shout "What nonsense" once more, but he held back when he saw the "Dad" on Jiang Yuan¡¯s WeChat. With someone to call "Dad," how many people are willing to strive alone! In Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, those with partners were given holidays and took a break for four days. Those without partners assisted in the investigation, helping the Lanyue City Bureau solidify the case evidence. Take the East Creek Lake corpse-burning case for example: the murder weapon Liu Chengming used, the car he drove, the ropes used to tie the victims, the channels for purchasing diesel, and the head thrown into theke ¡ª all needed to be verified one by one, a very tedious process. Liu Jinghui also burst out with great enthusiasm, deeply involved in theption of evidence, and once again exposed some of Liu Chengming¡¯s lies, confirming Liu Chengming¡¯s shopping trips, eliminating the possibility of a crime of passion, and turning it into premeditated murder, punishable by immediate execution. If not for Mrs. Liu forcibly dragging Liu Jinghui away, he probably would have persisted until the submission waspleted. Monday. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team resumed work. Most partners were sent back. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui conscientiously sat in front of theirputers, starting to review the files. Dai Mingsheng spent a lot of the budget on a big team-building event for the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, and his intentions were clear. Even Huang Qiangmin approved of his methods. Even the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team members were happy to have Dai Mingsheng entertain Jiang Yuan and the others. The budget is from the state, originally intended for solving cases; savings can¡¯t be distributed personally. Yet everyone¡¯s bonuses increased substantially, and rest time was genuinely implemented. Importantly, the high-profile cases that the top were concerned about were also solved without dy, making it a win-win situation. Even if it were West Lake vinegar fish, it¡¯s only bound to get praise. Dai Mingsheng ced a case of a dposed corpse at the top of the file stack. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui read through it together. After a while, they looked up and exchanged nces, then turned their gaze toward Huang Qiangmin. "This is a current case, just discovered?" Liu Jinghui pointed out, his eyes still on Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face. Huang Qiangmin came over, cleared his throat, and said, "I talked with Dai Zhi about it. Dai Zhi is indeed under quite a bit of pressure." Dai Mingsheng sighed and said, "People are restrained by their circumstances. Here in Lanyue City, the number of cases is rtively high in the country. The locals have fiery tempers and are shrewd; the economy has been good in recent years, resulting in a high rate of homicides that ranks nationally." "There¡¯s also arge poption," Liu Jinghui added. "That¡¯s right," Dai Mingsheng smiled and said, "While unsolved cases are challenging, if current cases pile up, they eventually be unsolved cases. It¡¯s better to solve a few more current cases while you¡¯re here, so we can have a bit of a breather. Moreover, although this recent discovery of a dposition case is fresh, the condition at the scene shows it¡¯s quite challenging. If Captain Jiang could take it on, that would be best." Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice, "No wonder Lanyue folks have deep pockets..." Exactly how Huang Qiangmin and Dai Mingsheng negotiated, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t know, but he believed with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s appetite, it was impossible to only chew on one dimension; the frequency or number of cases was likely an important consideration. However, Lanyue City¡¯s fiscal situation was not on the same level as Ningtai County or even Changyang City. Dai Mingsheng had always operated in a mode of seeking external help. His Lanyue City Criminal Police Team was neverrge, but Lanyue City¡¯s homicide rate remained high, due to various factors. In small towns like Ningtai County, there are just over a dozen unnatural deaths per year, with possibly one or two homicides. In Lanyue, a district might have double-digit homicides, with over 200 unnatural deaths in the central city annually, and more than 20 or 30 homicides wouldn¡¯t be surprising. Although most are still crimes of passion that don¡¯t require investigation, various murders or unexined corpse abandonments are still inevitable. And each murder and corpse abandonment is not easy to crack. Especially drowning cases, cases involving dposed corpses in the wild, all belong to very difficult cases. When luck is good, you might blow the case wide open; when not, it could consume a lot of manpower and materials. And precisely because Dai Mingsheng¡¯s business capability is not strong, his understanding of the difficulty of such cases is very clear. The type of cases that might incur huge costs, and in the end require external assistance, perhaps even top-notch external assistance¡ªsuch judgments, on the contrary, Dai Mingsheng is quite adept at. Sometimes a current homicide case might be solved by inviting some good external assistance; when they didn¡¯t want to spend, the case dragged on, revealing difficulties in breaking it; if then they try to invite even generally good external assistance, they might not be able to. Even if they have the ability to solve it, if the difficulty is too high, external assistance may still back out. In the end, the savings at the start do not manifest, but the wasteter on is unavoidable. Dai Mingsheng actually quite likes Huang Qiangmin; both are captains with average skill, just one has money, and onecks funding, really a match made in heaven. Dai Mingsheng saw Jiang Yuan did not oppose taking on the current dposed corpse case, and immediately struck while the iron was hot: "Then let¡¯s go to the scene, I have already had someone protect the ce." "Let¡¯s go then." Jiang Yuan quite liked his forensic doctor identity, immediately started to gather his equipment and arranged for the kitchen to stew beef brisket. The dposed corpse is highly likely to be examined at the scene because they usually belong to the copsed building type, and once brought back, their appearance certainly changes, some surface inspections are also difficult to perform. Thus this morgue visit will likely be more arduous, lunch must be adequately arranged. Jiang Yuan led a team of technicians, taking an hour to arrive at Lanyue City¡¯s... Film and Television City. Film City¡¯s chairman Yue Hongxu, vice president Dong Xifeng, and others stood by the roadside early, wearing bitter expressions as they watched Jiang Yuan and others who had not long temporarily parted. Colorful gs fluttered, slender girls tugged at the heart of middle-aged men. "Captain Jiang, you¡¯re here." Yue Hongxu stepped forward to greet. Jiang Yuan roughly knew their thoughts but didn¡¯t care, only asked, "Do you know the identity of the deceased?" "Us? We don¡¯t know." Yue Hongxu shook his head. Vice President Dong Xifeng hurried forward, saying, "Captain Jiang, I have let people self-check once over, at least special guest actors and above are basically here. However, now some stars¡¯ agents see everyone as crazed fans, could be some who don¡¯t tell the truth." His words were as if he hadn¡¯t spoken at all. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t expect to get any information from him, leaving Shen Yaowei behind to chat, then took people to view the corpse. The corpse was only a few hundred meters from the far edge of the Film City, but since the Film City itself was very remote, edge buildings were sparsely used, this few hundred meters of wilnd had already blocked most people. "How was it discovered?" Jiang Yuan walked in dirt with deep and shallow steps. "A couple having outdoor sex discovered it." Wei Shikan reported enthusiastically, bypassing team leader Jian Louyuan, actively reporting: "The woman is a minor actress, yed many supporting roles of that kind. The man is a club male model." "Nowadays people don¡¯t hide?" Liu Jinghui wiped sweat, feeling his age couldn¡¯t keep up. "Hid indeed." Wei Shikanughed heartily, "The man imed to be a model, but couldn¡¯t name any works, attended what activities, ended up being a crowd actor. Then by checking hotel records and stuff, the truth was uncovered." "This wilnd is hard to traverse, average folks would pick somewhere with good transportation for outdoor activities, right?" Jiang Yuan recalled Ningtai County¡¯s car shock hotspot Siningshan, beautiful scenery, sparsely popted, convenient parking, easy for exploration and adventure. "I asked them." Wei Shikan seriously replied, "They said they are public figures, outdoor activities can only be in more remote spots." Liu Jinghui least appreciated such illogicalnguage, couldn¡¯t help but criticize: "Remoter ces don¡¯t necessarily mean bad transport areas. The grass here is so long, isn¡¯t that actress afraid of her legs getting scratched?" "The two wore hiking outfits." Wei Shikan answered. "Search the surroundingster, the murderer might not be dressed that appropriately." Liu Jinghui reminded. Jiang Yuan nodded. While talking, a few people reached the fresh dposed corpse at the foot of the mountain. The not so strong smell wafted with the breeze, intermittently. Compared to the moremon dposed corpses Jiang Yuan saw, this belongs to current fresh dposed ones. Not to mention the teeming masses of wriggling whitervae flipping on the corpse, evoking a sense of long-lost reunion. Jiang Yuan stared at the dposed corpse for quite a while, then turned to Wang Chuanxing. Wang Chuanxing stood solemnly. Jiang Yuan thought and said, "Let¡¯s add a fish head tofu soup for lunch, and fry some ms, haven¡¯t had them for a long time." Chapter 1180 - 1110: Maggot Master

Chapter 1180: Chapter 1110: Maggot Master

ck, ck, ck. The technician picked up the camera, pointing it at the corpse and the surrounding scene, capturing the murder on film, as the shutter clicked away furiously. Miao Ruixiang, who hade with the family from Ningtai County, was muttering as he put on his protective gear. He was considered a junior disciple of Jiang Yuan and thest disciple of Wu Jun. During his time in Ningtai, he had followed Wu Jun and seen many cases of unnatural death, but he never had the qualification or opportunity to independently dissect a corpse in a murder case. Only by following Jiang Yuan could he have the chance to learn. Miao Ruixiang gestured a few times, then put on his gear, and walked up to serve Jiang Yuan in the same way he would serve Master Wu Jun, asking, "Senior brother, what should I do now?" "First, prepare the bottles. What are we using here?" Jiang Yuan referred to the poison bottles used in forensic entomology. "Ethanol." Miao Ruixiang started pulling out his equipment. The maggots on the corpse, including their eggs and adult forms, need to be captured and killed. Bringing them alive serves no purpose and since the insects continue to grow, they can interfere with determining the time of death. So, quickly killing the insects is the first step in forensic entomology. The poison bottles described in textbooks often have a two-level structure, like a duplex gas chamber for insects, where insecticide is ced on the lower level and insects are put on the upper level. This method stabilizes and is effective, albeit a bit troublesome and slightly costly. Ethanol is considered a simpler solution. Although it¡¯s a bit wetter than using gas, the alcohol evaporates quickly and doesn¡¯t significantly affect the operation. Of course, many districts and counties use even cheaper solutions, like boiling water. Small maggots are particrly tender since they¡¯re typically only a few days old, smaller than veal, so boiling them is quite convenient and keeps their appearance intact. Miao Ruixiang picked therger maggots, dropping them into an ethanol bottle. Catching maggots is primarily for determining the time of death. Common fliese toy eggs within an hour of human death, with the egg stagesting one to two days, hatching into maggots. Maggots have three instar stages, each looking different. Finally, they pupate and eventually emerge as adults. If there¡¯s more nutrients on the corpse at this point, this process can repeat. Using a more memorable analogy, the egg stage of flies is simr to the Qi Refinement Realm. Once in a resource-rich environment, they quickly break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage as maggots. Maggots have some ability to move, drilling through the corpse, experiencing three major changes simr to Foundation Establishment to Golden Core and then to Nascent Soul. A maggot in the Nascent Soul Stage metamorphoses again, entering the pupal stage. The pupal stagests much longer, often over a week. However, once the pupal stage is surpassed, it is the time of emergence, likened to Divinity Transformation; with no earthly obstacles left, it enters the Immortal Realm. Adults in the Divinity Transformation state are naturally difficult to catch, whereas pupae and eggs are stationary and do not need to be captured. However, the maggots in the Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul stages look simr and tend to burrow around, making observation difficult. It¡¯s best to kill a batch of therger ones for closer inspection. The main goal is to find their senior leader. The precise birth time of the smaller maggots isn¡¯t important. To establish the time of death, identifying when the first batch of eggs wasid is crucial, specifically finding the first-born maggot. A rtively simple method is byparing size. Among the same batch of maggots, the strongest in skill... no, thergest in size can be considered the earliest born, thereby allowing backtracking to when the eggs wereid to ascertain the time of death. These are essential forensic skills, which require forensic entomology knowledge at about Level 0.1. Even Miao Ruixiang could do it easily. He picked therger maggots from the clusters, putting some in the bottle, and then moved towards the lower part of the corpse. This was not because of Liu Wenkai¡¯s influence, but because flies preferying eggs in warm, moist ces with crevices. The saying "flies don¡¯tnd on seamless eggs" implies in forensic entomology that flies seek seams for eggying. As such, the maggots in the lower part of the corpse are generallyrger and stronger, akin to the central area of a Maind, while others are likely to have migrated from the center. Miao Ruixiang skillfully extracted handfuls of maggots from the lower body, cing them into arge ethanol bottle. As he continued and the maggots¡¯ filling capacity diminished, bits of decaying flesh fluttered down. The stench of decay in the air grew more intense. Jiang Yuan put on a 3M gas mask. A corpse swarming with maggots is about the foulest state, only second to when a giant is dissected. Thetter¡¯s stench can¡¯t be blocked even with a gas mask, especially indoors; wearing one makes little difference. The current situation was just manageable, being outside, and the corpse hadn¡¯t reached peak stench. However, Miao Ruixiang didn¡¯t wear a gas mask because he needed to catch maggots, and the resin mask of the gas mask slightly impaired detailed vision. Slower catching meant squatting by the corpse for longer, closer to the body, defeating the purpose of the mask. "That should be enough." Miao Ruixiang stopped only when the ethanol in the catching bottle overflowed. Jiang Yuan nced over, nodded, and said, "Sort out therger ones nearby, and discard the smaller ones." "Okay." Miao Ruixiang obediently moved a bit further, brought over an examination box toy t, then poured the maggots from the poison bottle onto it, straightening them with his hands and lining them up by size. Perhaps because he caught too many and poured too fast, some maggots hadn¡¯t died and continued writhing on the examination box. Maggots move differently than snakes, which rely on abdominal and core muscles; maggots use expansion and contraction. Hence, as maggots writhe, their length varies, affecting measurement uracy. Miao Ruixiang had to return any writhing maggots to the poison bottle and focused on sorting the well-behaved ones. On the examination box, the right side held piled-up maggots, while the left had neatly lined ones. As more were sorted, Miao Ruixiang¡¯s uracy improved, allowing for bulk elimination of smaller ones. Meanwhile, afterpleting the initial observation, Jiang Yuan donned threeyers of gloves. The outermost twoyers weretex gloves, simr to those worn by surgeons during operations, while the innermostyer was a PVC glove used for blocking acids, bases, and oils, much like gloves used in some restaurants for eating crayfish orrge bones. After donning full protective gear and confirming the photos were taken, Jiang Yuan began slowly turning over the corpse under the camera¡¯s full video recording. Jiang Yuan¡¯s first touch felt greasy. This was due to the liquefaction of the body¡¯s fat after death. The corpse was slippery, requiring him to grip firmly to hold it. This caused the already mushy flesh to get squashed, causing decaying flesh and maggots to fall again. Squawk. Several crows circled with red eyes overhead, wishing to topple everyone at the scene. "It should be a case." Jiang Yuan pointed to arge cluster of maggots below after tearing several chunks of flesh, saying, "Take some clear photos here; it should be a wound." Flies likeying eggs in crevices and on wounds of corpses. The location Jiang Yuan pointed to no longer showed the distinct form of a wound, but with his reminder, a vague shape could still be discerned. This shape was enough to confirm filing a case. A decaying body wasn¡¯t necessarily a murder case; it might be someone who identally died here. However, from the corpse¡¯s location, experienced detectives could easily deduce the low probability of that. Regardless, a forensic confirmation was reassuring. Jiang Yuan continued examining the corpse, his milkytex gloves quickly turning pale yellow, and the surface bing pitted, corroded by the decay liquids. The PVC gloves weren¡¯t affected for now; when the outermost gloves became ufortable, Jiang Yuan silently stood up, removed the outer gloves, put on a new pair oftex gloves, and continued inspecting the body. Chapter 1181 - 1111: Soft Corpse

Chapter 1181: Chapter 1111: Soft Corpse

Jiang Yuan changed his gloves once and then turned the victim¡¯s body over right on the scene. Physically turned it upside down. And when the victim¡¯s face faced upwards, the young criminal police present really gasped with shock, then were overwhelmed by the stench. The corpse hadn¡¯t reached the stage of giant view, but the head was already swollen; specifically, the lips had thickened, the face was swollen like a 300-pound fatty, the eyeballs were bulging because they erged, and the tongue also seemed to have grown but it didn¡¯t protrude, instead filling the mouth entirely. The key was, maggots weren¡¯t picky. Not only weren¡¯t they picky, they equally liked the seams formed by eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. Seeing the white maggots crawling out from the exposed swollen eyeballs really made people think of Guangxi delicacy roasted pig eyes. "Just take a note." Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze didn¡¯t linger on the victim¡¯s face too long; he just brushed aside the dry grass leaves on the corpse to observe carefully. After observing enough, Jiang Yuan asked for a ruler to measure, saying: "There are two wounds on the chest, the fatal wound being an 8*3 wound. Rough estimate. There are suspicious defensive wounds on the limbs, very badly dposed, can¡¯t be sure." Jiang Yuan: "The body is male, strong build, high muscle content. Clothing intact, no phone seen around the corpse..." Wang Chuanxing picked up the pad, enduring the increasingly intense smell blowing in the wind, and began to make records. The stench wasn¡¯t so severe before Jiang Yuan and the others arrived. Their intense movement led to the gas trapped in the corpse¡¯s belly escaping significantly. After being brewed in the abdominal cavity, mixed with a bit of the odor from the swollen intestines, this basically created the top-level corpse stench. Many nearby police couldn¡¯t take it and ran away. Even with a gas mask on, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t bear it much, but he couldn¡¯t run away, only enduring it. Miao Ruixiang didn¡¯t need to be mentioned; he was the least experienced officer present, and even if he ran away, he¡¯d be dragged back. Miao Ruixiang could only silently chant in his mind: Brother didn¡¯t run, Brother is so strong and didn¡¯t run, Brother is so rich and didn¡¯t run, Brother is the leader and didn¡¯t run... Jiang Yuan stood up and said: "I¡¯ve finished checking the body. Rui Xiang, you¡¯re in charge of wrapping up, bag the corpse and transport it back." "Huh?" Miao Ruixiang was stunned. By the time he wanted to call "Brother" again, Jiang Yuan had already quickly departed from the corpse, starting to inspect along the arrival route, and gradually went farther. "Brother..." Knowing it wouldn¡¯t reach him, Miao Ruixiang still pitifully called out once, feeling like the heaven lost its luster, the earth lost its color, only the stench enveloped the world... "From now on, you¡¯ll call him ¡¯Brother!¡¯" Wei Shikan brought over a gloomy-looking forensic doctor and introduced him to Miao Ruixiang. Miao Ruixiang didn¡¯t have time to wipe his tears, silently turned to nce at the opposite party, and very emotionally intelligent said: "You can call me Miao Forensic Doctor. I¡¯m also a newbie. Captain Wei, is this forensic doctor from your Criminal Police Brigade?" "Yes. His name is Li Chang. A graduate student who just arrived this year." Wei Shikan, without any rank or title, spoke like a deputy team leader. Li Chang shyly greeted Miao Ruixiang: yue Just wearing a white coat, Forensic Doctor Li¡¯s resistance to the stench was apparently not strong either. Miao Ruixiang unexpectedly felt his mood improve significantly and smiled: "Sorry, today coincidentally dealing with dposing corpses. So, you¡¯re a graduate, passed the Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade exam? Which university?" "Zhejiang University." Li Chang whispered. Miao Ruixiang was startled: "Good school." Wei Shikan added from the side: "Li Forensic Doctor¡¯s undergraduate was Shanghai Jiao Tong University, both good schools." Miao Ruixiang suddenly felt shy and said: "I actually just graduated recently too. Oh, I¡¯m an undergraduate, you should be older than me, I¡¯ll call you Brother Li, you can call me Xiao Miao..." "No way!" Wei Shikan interrupted before Li Chang could answer, saying: "You are Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior, thest disciple of Doctor Wu. The seniority is there. Li Chang is purely a newbie, if Dai Zhi heard you call him Brother Li, Dai Zhi would chew him out!" Miao Ruixiang was a bit awkward and said: "I am just a just-graduated graduate from a second-tier university..." "No one looks at your education background." Wei Shikan waved his hand and said: "With our Lanyue City Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s recruitment standards, which isn¡¯t highly educated talent, butparison matters. Which university did Captain Jiang graduate from, is not important, what matters is you are Captain Jiang¡¯s junior brother, and Captain Jiang acknowledges it, otherwise why specially bring you from Ningtai County to dissect bodies? Li Chang, what do you say?" Li Chang calmly said: "As long as I can learn from Captain Jiang, I would even call Miao Grandpa." "Don¡¯t... don¡¯t, not deserving..." Miao Ruixiang hurriedly said: "Just call me Captain Miao. Actually, Xiao Miao sounds quite nice too..." "Captain Miao." Li Chang called once: "So what should we do now?" "Uh... this... my task now is to move the corpse, you should dress up first. Don¡¯t let your clothes be exposed outside, once they get the smell, it won¡¯t wash off." Miao Ruixiang was ced in position, knowingly or unknowingly started to guide Li Chang. Li Chang actually worked in the Criminal Police Brigade longer than Miao Ruixiang, naturally having no trouble with basic operations, he even early reached the state of independently dissecting corpses, qualifications and level higher than Miao Ruixiang, but standing behind Miao Ruixiang to help, Li Chang had noints. If not for Zhejiang University¡¯s master¡¯s diploma, he wouldn¡¯t get this opportunity. Li Chang apanied Miao Ruixiang, first turning the main body of the corpse into a body bag, then carefully lifting the soft and detached unidentified tissues and cing them in together. And after the corpse was moved away, various frantically escaping insects, insect eggs, maggots, and pupae were indiscriminately ced into several other bags. As Li Chang worked, he quietly asked Miao Ruixiang, "I heard Captain Jiang¡¯s forensic entomology skills are top-notch? Can he understand all these insects?" "Probably. He knows them all anyway. But, since Captain Jiang has mastered legal botany, recognizing insects shouldn¡¯t be too hard," Miao Ruixiang replied. "Depends on to what extent he recognizes them." Li Chang had seen impressive experts while at school. In fact, those who truly study forensic entomology academically often have a very high specialization level within a particr taxonomy. But these experts mostly specialize in studying one insect type, sometimes even just one form of that insect. However, in field scenes, insects obviously don¡¯t provide forensic doctors such an opportunity, so field forensics demand a wide array of knowledge, whereas academic forensic scientists are asked to deeply cultivate single domains. These are originally two distinct worlds, with thetter providing information to the former, having mutual ties but not ovepping. Yet from Li Chang¡¯s perspective, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill has clearly already crossed over. This inevitably leads to all kinds of curiosity and associations... ... Once the site survey concluded, Jiang Yuan first took a shower, changed clothes, and then sat down at his desk to organize the collected evidence and photos. Miao Ruixiang and Li Chang also tidied up briefly, starting to pull the soft, melted-like corpse out from the body bag. A corpse, simr to melting, after entering the body bag and being transported all the way here, became mostly soft and rotten, which is why Jiang Yuan first carefully examined the body at the site. Miao Ruixiang sorted through quickly, soon piling up flesh pieces on the dissection table. The spread-out corpse expands in volume, especially when not controlled by sinews and bones, it can¡¯t be wrapped and fixed like a fresh corpse, so when the meat pile on the dissection table grows too much, a piece of flesh suddenly starts sliding off the table. With this rotten piece of flesh leading, more flesh begins to slinkingly rush off. If they fall to the ground... actually no big deal, just that cleaning the surface bes an overtime task. Seeing this, Miao Ruixiang swiftly dashed forward, using his warm chest, strong arms, and sizeable chin to block the soft flesh from the bedside. Li Chang promptly stepped forward to help, first yanking the maggot attempting to crawl into Miao Ruixiang¡¯s nose. "I¡¯ll help you boil them to death!" Li Chang punitively dealt with the unruly white maggot, like soothing a child. Miao Ruixiang remained expressionless, deste, feeling that even as a forensic doctor, today was a bit too much. "Those that don¡¯t fit, move to the side." Jiang Yuan found it somewhat disgusting too,ing over to help move some onto the adjacent dissection table. The thoroughly distributed body emitted an even more prating odor. Jiang Yuan thenmenced formal dissection. After everything waspleted, he instructed Miao Ruixiang and others to put the body into a pot to boil, facilitating bone extraction. When Jian Louyuan brought Wei Shikan in, the bizarre smell of boiling flesh mixed with the corpse¡¯s odor, they immediately covered their noses. Of course, it had little effect. "Captain Jiang, how¡¯s it?" Jian Louyuan looked at Jiang Yuan with great anticipation. "The perpetrator is male. About 45 years old, over 175 cm tall, short-haired. His weight before death should be around 180 pounds, with higher muscle content, likely due to exercising," Jiang Yuan replied while holding a notebook, then instructed Miao Ruixiang to bring the remaining clothing over for inspection. "T-shirt, trousers, boots... ced elsewhere, might narrow the scope, ced near the studio city, slightly ordinary." Jian Louyuan sighed, "Even at 45 years old, exercising... If wanting to fit in here, still needs to work out persistently at 55." Jiang Yuan continued flipping through his notebook, continuing, "Time of death is about two days ago. Almost 40 to 50 hours. I need further study on the insects I brought back,ter I¡¯ll provide more precise timing." "Already very detailed," Jian Louyuan praised and added, "So, died during the day the day before yesterday?" Jiang Yuan nodded. "Murdering in broad daylight, perhaps a crime of passion?" Jian Louyuan rxed a bit upon this thought. Jiang Yuan allowed him relief for only two seconds before stating, "Not necessarily in broad daylight. The scene here is not the primary crime scene." "Was the body dumped here?" Jian Louyuan eximed, "Dragged it far, just dumped it in a wastnd? Murdered in the studio city, then brought here?" Jiang Yuan shook his head, "Farther than this. Certain maggots found on the body are not local species." Jian Louyuan suddenly realized. Li Chang raised his head swiftly, eyes rounded and wide. Chapter 1182 - 1112: On Species

Chapter 1182: Chapter 1112: On Species

"These maggots aren¡¯t a local species. Specifically, how can you tell?" Li Chang asked, trembling slightly. His graduate research wasn¡¯t in forensic entomology, but if there were such promising directions and practical projects, retaking his exams to pursue a PhD in this area wouldn¡¯t be out of the question. Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, seemed tock academic sensitivity and wasn¡¯t particrly interested in the academic aspect. He casually said, "Maggots from different ces look quite different. You should be able to see that." "I know flies have different distribution regions, but this is a beauty fly, right? There are so many species of beauty flies, and their distribution oveps. How did you discern it... what I mean is, shouldn¡¯t we consult some books forparison or do a DNA test? Just to ensure uracy..." Li Chang¡¯s voice trailed off as he mentioned basics from textbooks, feeling a bit ashamed as a Zhejiang University graduate. Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "If we need to send it for inspection, doing a DNA test is fine, as it makes for a good report. But there¡¯s no need to check books; you can identify a beauty fly species at a nce. As for regional distribution, many books and papers just say the same thing." Li Chang had countless retorts but couldn¡¯t voice any. After hesitating, he decided to ask the hardest question: "If we don¡¯t consult books, how can we judge the distribution areas of different beauty fly species?" "It¡¯s not that we don¡¯t rely on books and papers, but they¡¯re just references. The main focus is on the state of the corpse itself." Jiang Yuan brought the topic back to front-line work, saying, "Looking at this corpse¡¯s beauty flies, you actually see several types. Redheaded beauty flies are ubiquitous, found almost everywhere. The bright green fly is the same, but here we have the ck beauty fly and the scarlet-faced gold fly. Though a few of them are here locally, you must consider the timeframe." "Hmm?" Thervae of the scarlet-faced gold fly are smaller and fewer. Thervae inter stages are obviously weaker, indicating that they don¡¯t have the upper hand in thepetition for development on this corpse. The reason could be they arrived toote, or they couldn¡¯t adapt to the early or midte stages of the corpse¡¯s environment, or both," Jiang Yuan concluded. Li Chang couldn¡¯t resist ncing at the piles of maggot corpses, but distinguishing between the scarlet-faced gold fly and other maggots, he couldn¡¯t even tell which were the weaker ones. Take humans, for instance. Three-year-old children are small, but determining which one is smaller due to age, gics, or nutrition can be tricky with fewer variables. Even Miao Ruixiang might struggle with more variables. This is a question one usually asks the parents about in human contexts. With beauty flies, you ask their parents. Different beauty fly species have slightly varying developmental speeds, and the difference is even greater among different flies. Li Chang, thinking like a student, understood that identifying fly types and recalling or looking up their developmental speeds was normal for a schr. But deducing their types and environments backward from their development speeds was quite abnormal! "How do you determine this?" Li Chang eagerly sought the enlightenment he had been urging for. Jiang Yuan cruelly interrupted his fantasy and said, "This topic is tooplex to discuss. Let¡¯s use it as a direction for our investigation." When it came time forb testing or courtroom presentation, Jiang Yuan naturally needed to exin this issue, but that would require forming written materials. If necessary, he could find a ghostwriter; there was no need to think about it now. Jiang Yuan based his final judgment on Level 6 fly identification, a theoretical foundation that someone like Li Chang couldn¡¯tprehend. Jian Louyuan, unable to get a word in edgewise, seized the moment, "Captain Jiang, where do you think the primary crime scene is?" "Baijiang Province," Jiang Yuan flipped over the maggot corpses on the autopsy table, answering decisively. Jian Louyuan was stunned, replying, "Okay." He hadn¡¯t expected it to be so straightforward. It was a case involving a dposed body, after all. How could it be this simple? Jian Louyuan was on the phone while exiting the room, running a dozen meters away, breathing deeply as if he¡¯de back to life. Wei Shikan stayed behind. Before he could react, Jiang Yuan beckoned him and said, "Xiao Wei,e over and wash these clothes." "These are all in bits and pieces." Wei Shikan fretfully examined the textiles stripped from the corpse. "If you don¡¯t know how to wash them..." Jiang Yuan looked around and said, "Call Shen Yaowei over to teach you." Miao Ruixiang was preparing the body on the other side, and Shen Yaowei was more familiar with and skilled at doingundry. Soon, Shen Yaowei entered with his nose covered. "Come on, Captain Jiang said to sort out these clothes and identify the brand or type..." Wei Shikan roughly recounted. Shen Yaowei sighed, gazing at the clothes soaked in body fluids, looking utterly dejected. Wei Shikan muttered, "This really should be the forensic doctor¡¯s work." "Captain Jiang did pass his work onto us, but he¡¯s mainly trying to train us," Shen Yaowei replied. "You think it¡¯s training?" Wei Shikan looked up, saying, "Captain Jiang¡¯s skill is undeniably impressive, but isn¡¯t examining a corpse¡¯s personal effects usually a forensic doctor¡¯s responsibility?" "It¡¯s still being handled by the forensic doctor; we¡¯re just assisting," Shen Yaowei exined, adding, "Credit won¡¯t fall from the sky for no reason; opportunities onlye to those who are prepared." Wei Shikan chuckled, "The only thing that falls unexpectedly is work, not credit." Shen Yaowei smirked dismissively. Wei Shikan quickly interpreted Shen Yaowei¡¯s expression and got a bit serious, "Did you recently receive something? A third-ss merit." "Not me, a second-ss merit," Shen Yaowei replied with understatement, enunciating each word clearly. What started as casual chatter became progressively serious, prompting both to look up halfway through the conversation. Shen Yaowei red into Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes, and Wei Shikan stared back solemnly. "Do you really deserve a second-ss merit?" Wei Shikan scrutinized Shen Yaowei, "A second-generation cop, aren¡¯t you?" "Jiang Yuan thinks I deserve it," Shen Yaowei smiled, "Are you a Brahmin from Lanyue City?" Wei Shikan pointed slightly upward, "Kshatriya. What did you trade in for a second-ss merit?" "Loyalty and hard work," Shen Yaowei answered devoutly. Wei Shikanughed. Shen Yaowei calmly looked at Wei Shikan. Afterughing for a while, Wei Shikan suddenly asked, "Really?" "That¡¯s enough. It doesn¡¯t seem that smelly anymore; let¡¯s wash." Shen Yaowei said, taking a brush and began trying to scrub the decayed flesh off the clothes. Wei Shikan silently stood by, observing for a few seconds, before starting to clean the belt. Chapter 1183 - 1113: Multi-Person Project

Chapter 1183: Chapter 1113: Multi-Person Project

"The victim is wearing a knit polo shirt with a cor, but the brand cannot be discerned. The belt is Gi¡¯s, with a double G buckle, and the leather has Gi patterns. The dress pants don¡¯t show any brand either, but the fabric is good, pure wool, coarse weave. The socks are also wool." Wei Shikan, in front of leaders like Dai Mingsheng and Jian Louyuan, as well as Jiang Yuan and others, delivered the results of the clothing inspection in one breath, surprisingly feeling a bit triumphant. Then, Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t help adding his own judgment: "A man who treats himself this well should be someone who has tasted fine grains. At the very least, his economic condition is not bad." "Maybe he¡¯s just a pretty boy?" Jian Louyuan didn¡¯t give his Kshatriya much face; this was a legitimate case analysis. If he didn¡¯t say it, Wei Shikan would still be embarrassedter. Wei Shikan felt slightly discontented: "A 45-year-old pretty boy? That¡¯s too old." "As long as the wealthy woman is old enough, the pretty boy has enough growth space. Some women just like considerate older men..." Over at Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, Liu Wenkai¡¯s voice was leisurely, sounding like heartfelt words from someone with experience. Wei Shikan, who had been working at the Criminal Police Brigade since graduating from The Great Learning, originally prided himself on being well-informed and knowledgeable, but at this moment, he suddenly felt a bit unsure of himself. He often sees young wealthy women. Although older wealthy women are alsomon, their deep needs are beyond Wei Shikan¡¯s understanding. Thinking of the various achievements of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, Wei Shikan was momentarily speechless with no words to refute. During the brief silence, Liu Jinghui took over the scene and said, "Regardless of the victim¡¯s identity, his economic condition should be quite good. Wool socks are for personal use; those with lesser means wouldn¡¯t likely buy them." "Theye as a gift with dress pants purchases." Wei Shikan jumped in slightly. Liu Jinghui, experienced with such young generations, smiled lightly and said, "The body has started to decay; wool pants and wool socks are usually difficult to preserve. It¡¯s impressive you can still identify them. Have you studied it?" "I asked a professor from The Great Learning to help." Wei Shikan didn¡¯t hide it. "That¡¯s fine." Liu Jinghui nodded with a smile and said, "It¡¯s like asking for help in a quiz show, calling for outside assistance." Wei Shikan¡¯s brain turned, and the rationality seemed to instantly increase, thinking that Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team truly lived up to its reputation. Liu Jinghui addressed the young generation Wei and, in a more authoritative voice, said, "Currently known, the victim is in good physical condition; at a height of 175 cm and a 45-year-old age, he is considered tall among his peers. High muscle content indicates exercise. With such willing spending on clothing, he should also have quite a taste. Just from these external conditions, the victim actually fits the tone of a film city quite well." Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "If it weren¡¯t for Captain Jiang¡¯s analysis here, we would surely prioritize considering local people. Captain Jiang, I¡¯m not skilled in technical matters, but from a reasoning standpoint, is it possible, for example, that the killer or victim brought foreign insect eggs, and as a result, the person died, leaving foreign insect eggs benefiting unexpectedly?" This paragraph was intended as non-technical speaking but was technically a way to relieve pressure for Jiang Yuan. Because Liu Jinghui also worried about Jiang Yuan speaking too definitively, and in case any unexpected situation arose, it would seem unworthy. Jiang Yuan simply thought for a moment, gently shook his head, and said: "While exceptions can exist, the probability is too low. Fly species don¡¯t randomlyy eggs; they ensure the survival of their offspring by cing them in gaps in the corpse, the fresher the body, the more nutritious it is..." "I understand now." Liu Jinghui nodded. Dai Mingsheng then smiled, saying, "There are so many types of flies, I can¡¯t name them all. I saw in the report that there are dozens of kinds of these blowflies. How do you distinguish them?" He represented several leaders present who had this question, which also was one of the core issues in the initial phase of the case. First scene here in an unknown corner locally doesn¡¯t represent the same concept as the first case scene in Baijiang Province. Jiang Yuan seemed a bit stumped by Dai Mingsheng¡¯s question, pondered for a moment, then said: "This is actually easy to distinguish. Just like cattle have different breeds, most people can name them at a nce." "Hmm... hmm?" Dai Mingsheng was confused: "What do you mean?" "Just like the yellow cattle and water buffalo, you can tell them apart at a nce, or the ones with a hump are zebu cattle, and yak with long hair and horns are also easily recognizable... Further subdividing, many seen frequently can be recognized at a nce as well, just like Angus cattle, they look like ck-coated yellow cattle, then the ck-and-white dairy cows, most people can name them, right." Dai Mingsheng hesitated but nodded. Jiang Yuan showed a knowledgeable smile and said, "Flies seen often are the same, like green bottle flies, which are the silky green flies of the Calliphoridae family, or the Giant Golden Fly, just like the Luoxi yellow cattle and Qin Chuan cattle..." Dai Mingsheng turned to look at his colleagues from the police bureau, saw their eyes revealed the usual due bewilderment, then praised: "I understand, we¡¯ll follow Captain Jiang¡¯s analysis." "Yes." Even though Jian Louyuan felt a bit sorry for the cattle, he still responded sharply. "Old Hao, head down to Baijiang Province. I¡¯ll find some contacts there to see if we can confirm this victim¡¯s identity." As Dai Mingsheng spoke, he listed names in his mind. Though he frequently invited experts from various ces to Lanyue City, he himself rarely left the province. Thus, Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t maintain tight connections with criminal police teams from other ces, potentially offending people unknowingly. However, the case needs alwayse first, and given Dai Mingsheng¡¯s position, there are always criminal police acquaintances... "I¡¯ll send Shen Yaowei along with Captain Hao." Jiang Yuan, having done many cases, knew many leaders from the criminal police teams, and although appearing shy, his interpersonal rtionships were actually quite withdrawn. Dai Mingsheng was slightly surprised, asking: "Captain Shen knows people from Bai River?" "Everyone knows each other. Director Xu and Captain Wang from the Luojin City Bureau have met Shen Yaowei. We handled several cases in Luojin City before, so we¡¯re quite familiar. Yaowei also gets along well with them." Jiang Yuan briefly exined the situation. Dai Mingsheng instantly understood and hurriedly said: "We¡¯ll have to trouble Captain Shen next." "No problem. It¡¯s considered one of our service items." Shen Yaoweiughed, making a small joke. Everyoneughed especially hard. Liu Jinghui quietly drank some water, and when everyone had nearly finishedughing, he spoke up: "The priority consideration moving forward, in my view, can focus on transportation. Bringing a body from Baijiang Province here shouldn¡¯t normally involve public transportation, right?" "Certainly." Jian Louyuan immediately responded: "Normally, it should be a private vehicle, which is also convenient for transporting." "I agree." Liu Jinghui nodded. Encouraged greatly, Jian Louyuan proceeded vigorously: "Then I¡¯ll begin investigating the surveince." Liu Jinghui nodded, saying only: "It might not be just one car, there could be more people involved." "There¡¯s more than one person?" Jian Louyuan quickly grasped the implication. Liu Jinghui: "Dumping a body this far away and with so few traces at the scene, it¡¯s very likely." Chapter 1184 - 1114: Reverse Business Trip

Chapter 1184: Chapter 1114: Reverse Business Trip

Morning. A light wind blows, gentle breeze and scattered clouds. Dai Mingsheng held a thorough brigade meeting, the theme was about the newly urred film city corpse dumping case, but the main content was still about politics, emphasizing work discipline and other issues. After the meeting, everyone fell into deep thought, while Dai Mingsheng, who led the conversation throughout, felt rxed and happy. As long as I delegate the pressure, I have no pressure; as long as I focus externally, I have no internal conflict. "Alright. Everyone, get busy. I¡¯ve already mentioned the precautions. Old Hao, when you go to Bai River Province, pay attention to the points I¡¯ve mentioned. Being away from home requires caution. It¡¯s easy back home, but difficult when out. Although Jiang Yuan has established connections for us, we cannot be sure how willing the other side is to help or to what extent they can assist, and we shouldn¡¯t expect too much. So, you still need to think of ways and use your brain..." Dai Mingsheng stood up and began advising Captain Hao. Captain Hao didn¡¯t find the brigade leader¡¯s advice annoying at all, earnestly replied, "I understand. Jiang has already helped us contact the director of Luojin City Bureau, such connection is invaluable. I will certainly work diligently, and not embarrass you or our brigade." "Listen more, speak less, do more. Consider yourself a rookie." Dai Mingsheng paused, then added, "Furthermore, appearance is the face value, solving the case is the real value. You can¡¯t lose face, but for the real value, it¡¯s okay topromise a little." "I¡¯ll make sure to bring back both the face and the real value." Captain Hao, a captain earned by himself, spoke wlessly. "First, ensure your own safety. Return in one piece. Of course, solving the case would be best; my reputation is the least important." As departure time approached, Dai Mingsheng toned down his previous bold statements significantly. Captain Hao smiled silently. The politicalmissioner and several deputy brigade leaders also kindly encouraged Captain Hao. There are different difficulties with business trips; a typical policeman going out to coordinate and letting other provinces¡¯ criminal police assist in apprehending someone, or just getting some information, are rtively easy and considered routine. But the case this time could be happening in Bai River Province, and the person involved might also be from Bai River Province. Captain Hao¡¯s mission might not be simplymunication, collecting data, or apprehending someone. When the timees, if additional resources from the other side are needed, it¡¯s manageable, as Dai Mingsheng is not stingy. The worry is about cross-caseplications, or the involvement of other cases or individuals from Bai River Province... Theplexity of criminal cases often doesn¡¯t lie in the case itself, but often because of the people involved. The Criminal Police Brigade has always handled major and serious cases, well aware of this. Historically, criminal cases have often led to political upheavals. The Ming Dynasty¡¯s four major cases, the Qing Dynasty¡¯s Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage, were far-reaching cases. Some cases may not be major ones, but often it¡¯s the issue of the handlers themselves. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t think to such extremes, but Captain Hao, a criminal police from Lanyue City, essentially goes to Bai River Province for a murder investigation, risking his life. Any degree of fierce resistance from the murderers is no surprise. If it were local, the system could protect the criminal police¡¯s safety, but outside... honestly, Dai Mingsheng is not very familiar with Bai River Province... "Communicate frequently with the criminal police in Luojin City. Jiang Yuan¡¯s connections are still quite useful; use them as needed, I¡¯ll find ways topensate him for it." Dai Mingsheng advised quietly, with sincerity in his words. His good reputation in the circle is well-earned. Captain Hao assured again, "Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m an experienced criminal police officer, I know how to protect myself." "Yes, take more people with you, and weapons too." Holding Captain Hao¡¯s shoulder, Dai Mingsheng led him out, only expressing his concerns after leaving the crowd, "The victim wore luxury items, wool socks, and was 45 years old, at least a strong figure in society. The murderer dumped him so far away in Lanyue City, this act is suspicious." "I understand." Captain Hao continued to nod, "Multiple perpetrators suggest possible shared interests." Dai Mingsheng saw he truly understood, said, "I¡¯ll see you downstairs." The two then headed down. Wei Shikan hurriedly ran upstairs, stopping them. "Dai, Captain Hao, luckily you haven¡¯t left yet. Your pick-up has arrived." Wei Shikan wheezed. Captain Hao was puzzled, "My pick-up, who¡¯s my pick-up?" "Jiang¡¯s people." Wei Shikan boldly teased in front of the brigade leader, "You¡¯ll see when you look." Dai Mingsheng and Captain Hao, both middle-aged men, didn¡¯t mind sparring with the young Kshatriya Wei Shikan, so they followed him quickly downstairs. The reception room downstairs was packed with more than a dozen people at this time. Dai Mingsheng entered and saw his Criminal Police Brigade team members, each with a mysterious smile on their faces. Looking again, there was an older criminal policeman with two bars and three stars on his uniform, unfamiliar-faced, talking to Jiang Yuan. Two bars and three stars signify a first-level police supervisor, equivalent to a third-level senior police captain,monly known as Deputy Director, which belongs to the middle to senior police officer category. Dai Mingsheng ought to have met detectives of this rank and age before. "Dai Zhi is here, let me introduce you." Jiang Yuan, not having to handle any case at the moment, was full of emotional intelligence, saying: "This is Captain Pang Jidong from Luo Jin City Criminal Police Brigade, who specifically came over upon hearing we¡¯re heading to Baijiang Province to escort us." "Ah? Oh... wee, wee." Dai Mingsheng understood every word Jiang Yuan said, but evidently not a single sentence made sense. Pang Jidong walked over and smartly saluted, saying, "Captain Pang Jidong of Baijiang Province Luo Jin City Criminal Police Brigade Fourth Squadron, saluting you." Dai Mingsheng returned the salute, still somewhat puzzled: "Captain Pang, did our cases collide?" It happens from time to time that two different ces work on the same case. For the Criminal Police Brigade, such situations often lead to disputes, regardless of territorial or personnel principles; some teams are willing to take responsibility, while others are skeptical about everything. Pang Jidong quickly said, "No collision. I¡¯m Jiangmen¡¯s main disciple. My mentor mentioned that your case involves Baijiang Province, requiring coborative effort from both sides, so I thought I¡¯de ahead to take orders." Dai Mingsheng once again questioned his understanding skills, pondering aloud: "You¡¯re Jiang Yuan¡¯s disciple?" "Main disciple." Pang Jidong corrected, "I study forensic botany with my mentor." "Oh... oh!" Dai Mingsheng, looking at Pang Jidong who was older than himself, didn¡¯t know what to say, entering a phase of doubt again: "You came over here because..." "Haven¡¯t seen my mentor for a while, so using this as an excuse for a work-funded trip." Pang Jidong bantered, continuing, "Mentor¡¯s case is my case. I reported to both the brigade captain and the bureau chief, and they supported mying here to coordinate with your arrangements. Who is preparing to go over?" "That¡¯s me." Captain Hao, also not young anymore, would have been grandpa material 300 years ago, but now he raised his hand like a schoolboy. Those around him didn¡¯t judge; for detectives, traveling to other ces is routine, but to have detectives from the destinatione to pick you up, what kind of fantasy story is that? Under normal circumstances, local detectives would barely apany them for a couple of days even if they weren¡¯t aloof, which would already be considered enthusiastic. Our side would want to cover travel expenses to host them. Pang Jidong is indeed the official captain from the local Criminal Police Brigade, and he¡¯s not young either. Those present were police officers from the Criminal Police Brigade; insiders knew their own affairs, and for out-of-town detectivesing to Lanyue City, few could find the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s entrance. Even if there were some connections, sending a young officer along would already signify ample attention, making iing detectives deeply grateful. Pang Jidong had a smiling face, seemingly pleading rather thaning to assist, proactively shaking hands with Captain Hao, saying, "Mentor¡¯s case is my case. If you¡¯re not in a hurry, we can chat a bit, then take ater flight to Luo Jin City. Our Criminal Police Brigade Fourth Squadron has over twenty people; currently, a few cases can¡¯t break free, initially dispatching eight people. If more are needed, I¡¯ll apply to the brigade captain!" "This... Captain Pang, thank you so much!" Captain Hao genuinely didn¡¯t know what to say; past over forty years of experience didn¡¯t help now, so he tightly gripped Pang Jidong¡¯s hand. Dai Mingsheng stepped up to shake Pang Jidong¡¯s other hand. "Mentor¡¯s case¡ªit¡¯s my duty." Pang Jidong reiterated, his smile sincere. Since following Jiang Yuan to study forensic botany, although he hasn¡¯t achieved any academic sess, he¡¯s resolved over ten murder cases, half of which were cold cases. This number can¡¯tpare with Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements, but it¡¯s top-notch locally, an outstanding performance. Knowing clearly, Pang Jidong understood Jiang Yuan spent time teaching him and asionally helped him review evidence purely because, if any selfish motive existed, Jiang Yuan should have picked a forty-something detective squad leader as a disciple instead of someone nearing retirement. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s achievements and abilities, many middle-aged and young people seek progress and would dly follow him. Yet Jiang Yuan never disyed impatience towards Pang Jidong. Thus, faced with such a not-exactly opportunity, Pang Jidong didn¡¯t find flying to Lanyue City arduous. If time wasn¡¯t tight, Pang Jidong was willing to walk humbly from Luo Jin City to Lanyue City. The room full of detectives couldn¡¯t decipher Pang Jidong¡¯s thoughts but remained deeply shocked. "Alright, let¡¯s find a ce to eat first. Talk while we eat." Dai Mingsheng, who wasn¡¯t proficient in his line of work but had years of receiving and dispatching people, struggled to keep up with the pace, reverting to Chinese tradition. Pang Jidong agreed without pretension, smiling, "Let¡¯s have a casual bite; the main focus is discussing the case." Chapter 1185 - 1115: The Money Generation

Chapter 1185: Chapter 1115: The Money Generation

Evening. The nted moon casts itsst rays, the copper candle has wept itsst tears, the cool dew lightly wets the clothes... The white bones of this worldly life are finely textured and clearly grained. The dissection table in this world is clean, tidy, and brightly colored. The freshly boiled white bones still seem to emit steam, lying on the cold dissection bed, like ady who hasn¡¯t awoken from her spring dream, tender and charming. Jiang Yuan sat on a high stool, rubbing a piece of white bone with one hand while pondering. Miao Ruixiang carefully wrote the report beside him, clearly not finding it easy. After a while, he quietly got up and discreetly added a stick of incense to the Xuande censer by the wall facing the door. The thin incense stick burned slowly, and its smoke instantly calmed Miao Ruixiang¡¯s mood. Jiang Yuan also smelled the aroma and turned his head. Miao Ruixiang immediately offered a smile and whispered, "This is incense powder handmade by the master,pressed into incense sticks, which helps with thinking." "Agarwood? The master is quite generous." "He specifically asked me to bring it to you." Miao Ruixiang paused, then added, "Uncle Fuzhen gave the agarwood to the master, arge piece of it, and the master shaves off a little with a knife each time he uses it..." "It¡¯s quite a good scent." Jiang Yuan nodded. Miao Ruixiang smiled at the corners of his mouth and immediately said, "This batch of incense was specially selected by the master. The main scent is sweet, particrly suitable for beginners... Of course, I don¡¯t mean that you are a beginner..." "Sometimes corpses can also emit sweet scents," Jiang Yuan suddenly interjected, interrupting Miao Ruixiang. Miao Ruixiang was stunned, "Isn¡¯t it a stench?" "Esters released during dposition are at least five of the samepounds released when fruit rots. So people who like the smell of ripe fruit might also recognize a familiar sweet aroma from a corpse." Miao Ruixiang, being a neer forensic doctor, recalled for a moment and his face slightly changed, "So some corpses are both smelly and fragrant. It¡¯s not something on the body, but its dposition smell?" "You also like fruit, don¡¯t you?" Jiang Yuan chuckled and then turned his head, "Then let¡¯s buy a durian, that¡¯s tonight¡¯s supper." "Oh... okay." Miao Ruixiang silently squatted beside the Xuande censer and opened the delivery app on his phone. Local forensic doctor Li Chang, unable to resist, grabbed Miao Ruixiang¡¯s hand and said, "It¡¯s already dark. Let¡¯s not order takeout. We¡¯re still in the funeral parlor." Miao Ruixiang paused and nodded, "So you all go buy it yourselves? Must be tiring." "Does takeout even get delivered in Ningtai?" Li Chang retorted. "It didn¡¯t before, but Captain Jiang often gives tips to the delivery guys, so they¡¯re willing toe." Miao Ruixiang paused, "Sometimes he even gives them a pack of cigarettes. Later, we set up the new forensic center right in the detective squad¡¯s courtyard, and delivery to the gatehouse became normal." Li Chang gave an envious hiss, "Give me a pack of cigarettes, and I would deliver too." "So you all don¡¯t eat supper anymore?" Miao Ruixiang asked, showing slight sympathy. "If we¡¯re in the dissection room, we don¡¯t eat unless we bring it ourselves. Or we might trick a detective toe up, iming a discovery and have him bring something along." Li Changughed slightly before shaking his head, "Usually not. Our squad doesn¡¯t have that many cases, typically no overtime." When Li Chang spoke the first half, Miao Ruixiang chuckled carefree. As thetter half came, Miao Ruixiang began to feel pity for himself, his chest also felt constricted. Jiang Yuan could hear their conversation and thought seriously for a moment before saying, "Let¡¯s go with the second option." "Second option?" Li Chang didn¡¯t understand. "Trick a detective toe eat." Jiang Yuan pulled out his phone and dialed Jian Louyuan¡¯s number, "Captain Jian, I have a discovery here. You coulde have a look... also, bring a durian along..." "Oh, oh, okay, I¡¯m on my way!" Jian Louyuan sounded very happy. Jiang Yuan smiled at Li Chang, "This trick works too." Li Chang opened his mouth, thinking "That¡¯s not what I meant," then turned his head and asked, "When Captain Jian gets here, how do we exin? If it turns out we don¡¯t have discoveries, wouldn¡¯t Captain Jian figure it out? He¡¯s a seasoned detective." Miao Ruixiang curiously asked, "Isn¡¯t it your idea to trick a detective toe up? How did you trick them before?" "That was a figure of speech. We only say things after discovering something." Li Chang became anxious. Jiang Yuan waved his hand, "Let¡¯s just talk about our current findings, which will help Captain Jian n tomorrow¡¯s work." Li Chang was puzzled, "Our... current findings are?" "The basic image of the victim has emerged. Performing a full skull restoration would be a bit of a waste of time. I can sketch a preliminary facial drawing for him to investigate. This person actually has some distinct features." Jiang Yuan said while having Mu Zhiyang bring over a drawing board, and began drawing on the spot. Level 3 skull restoration skill to fully restore a victim¡¯s appearance requires a lot of time and a significant workload. However, if it¡¯s just extracting some facial features andbining it with Level 6 forensic sketching, Jiang Yuan can easily sketch some characteristics of the person. Quickly, Li Chang saw Jiang Yuan focusing on drawing the lower half of the face on the board, sketching a slightly protruding mouth as if something were inside, tense lip lines, and a jutting chin... "The victim¡¯s dental lusion is problematic, with slight anterior open bite, and it seems untreated." Jiang Yuan exined that an anterior open bite is when the front teeth don¡¯te together at rest, leaving a gap in between. Other than congenital reasons, mild anterior open bite often rtes to dental hygiene or constantly biting on things. Like Churchill, who always had a big cigar in his mouth every day, making open bite more likely. Dental lusion not only decides mouth shape but also chin and face shape, which is why many undergo orthognathic surgery for cosmetic reasons ¡ª it¡¯s a high-risk, high-reward procedure. With his Level 4 forensic odontology,bined with sketching skills, Jiang Yuan effortlessly drew the lower half of the victim¡¯s face. Toypeople, this scene might seem astonishing, but to Li Chang, it was nerve-racking. He had seen simr forensic techniques in school, but those were professor-level teachings, and the other party used them simply as academic study parts. Everyone knows that mistakes in academic research bear no responsibility, whereas material used in frontline police cases theoretically bes part of the file. Even if it is just a direction for investigation, it demands frontline officers¡¯ efforts. Especially someone with Jiang Yuan¡¯s rank and position ¡ª rather, particrly someone with Jiang Yuan¡¯s rank and position won¡¯t easily produce an ungrounded sketch. Jian Louyuan evidently shared the same thought. He arrived quickly, enough that Wei Shikan, who was running while holding the durian,ined, "Captain Jian, we¡¯re heading to the funeral parlor by car, not delivering ourselves there. Take it easy." "Keep chirping, and I¡¯ll send you to the crematorium." Jian Louyuan, contemting how to handle Jiang Yuan, was irritated by Wei Shikan¡¯s babbling and shot him a re. Wei Shikan, rarely on the receiving end of such treatment, suddenly became much more obedient. Before entering, Jian Louyuan¡¯s voice arrived first, "Captain Jiang, finally summoned by you." "It¡¯s not me summoning, it¡¯s the corpse," Jiang Yuan said, handing over a sketch of a chin and mouth to Jian Louyuan, "The victim¡¯s lower half of the face looks roughly like this." "You can figure that out?" Jian Louyuan asked the same question as Li Chang but with apletely different sense, "Can we investigate based on this?" Even Jiang Yuan was startled, "Why would we suddenly start investigating?" "We only have a half-face photo, so investigation seems the option." "And the wool socks," Jiang Yuan corrected, "We only need to investigate rich people." "And a gigolo." Wei Shikan, holding the durian, added from the rear. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "Gigolos are almost ruled out, he¡¯s ugly." Jian Louyuan also showed the printed sketch to Wei Shikan. Even with just the lower half, if someone¡¯s ugly, half a face can confirm it. "This way, the search scope is greatly reduced. The victim is likely a rich and powerful person." Though speaking, Jian Louyuan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t show much relief. Jiang Yuan shook his head again, "The person might be well-off, but not necessarily powerful. Teeth with an anterior open bite are typically corrected. The victim is around 45, and if from a wealthy family, they belong to the first generation." Chapter 1186 - 1116: Luxury Goods

Chapter 1186: Chapter 1116: Luxury Goods

"Your deduction is quite impressive." Liu Jinghui arrived at the office at 9:00, and by 9:10, he noticed that his own giant dragon had nted its feet firmly on the ground! (This is from a book review by reader "Bo Po Mo Fu") Jiang Yuan smiled humbly and said, "It¡¯s just a judgment based on the conditions at the time... a rather basic deduction, right?" As he spoke, he kept twirling a pen in his hand, and only after he finished speaking did the pen fall from his fingers onto the desk. Liu Jinghui thought, you¡¯re trying to say the deduction is quite basic, right. On second thought, Liu Jinghui felt Jiang Yuan seemed just like a freshly graduated young dragon, so skilled at pen twirling that he probably wasn¡¯t that good at yin and yang. Liu Jinghui sat opposite Jiang Yuan, skillfully picked up a pack of cigarettes from his desk, and lit one up, saying, "I agree with your judgment; teeth best reflect a person¡¯s family condition. If it¡¯s the second generation, any dental problems would have been dealt with in adolescence, and it would never develop to the point of an open bite. Even ordinary people with a bit of spare money would find ways to fix their dental problems over time." Jiang Yuan nodded, "With an open bite, it¡¯s not just about looks; it¡¯s physically ufortable too, especially if not congenital. The lips be very tense, and when rxed, they don¡¯t close properly, which is ufortable. Moreover, it leads to a series ofplex problems over time. If possible, a normal person wouldn¡¯t ignore it." An open bite isn¡¯t like an underbite, gaps, or crowded teeth; its direct difort is more apparent, as rxing often shows the teeth, which neither conforms to mainstream aesthetics nor feelsfortable for the person. Moreover, as Jiang Yuan mentioned, once a bite problem bes severe, the subsequent issues are hard to endure ¡ª tooth pain, periodontitis are inevitable, and severe cases can even lead to jaw disorders, making it difficult to open the mouth. Ordinary people would probably deal with a cavity, so for the second generation, ignoring it is unlikely. After two rounds of puffing smoke, Liu Jinghui asked, "How much would it cost to treat an open bite?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "Money is a minor issue. A hundred or two hundred thousand yuan can get you the best regr treatment at the best hospital. The key is that it takes a long time; depending on the situation, orthognathic or orthodontic treatment can take years, with multiple treatments in between, which is quite grueling..." Liu Jinghui blew a smoke ring a meter far and said, "Speak properly; money is not a minor issue. Ten thousand or twenty thousand is a big deal for an average household." Jiang Yuan made an "oh" sound and said, "But I see my sry card, and my savings have surpassed two hundred thousand." "That¡¯s because you never spend your sry!" Liu Jinghui sighed heavily, "Why am I talking to you about this? About the case, for the first-generation rich, we should greatly narrow the scope. I rmend quickly screening, and if we can¡¯t find anything in Baijiang Province, we should prioritize screening nationwide." "What do you mean?" This was about investigation strategy, so Jiang Yuan naturally paid close attention. "Because if a first-generation rich person goes missing or dies, someone will definitely report it. Not to mention, if their business partners can¡¯t find them, they might contact the police, and their heirs will have to dere them missing to inherit any estate. We just need to screen the missing persons cases." Liu Jinghui tapped the table as he emphasized, "That¡¯s why your deduction about the first-generation rich is so on point. Captain Hao is probably still thinking about deepening and broadening the investigation; it¡¯s not necessary..." "Captain Hao¡¯s main task is to find the primary crime scene." "Once we¡¯ve identified the victim, he can slowly find it." A sense of urgency broke into Liu Jinghui¡¯s voice, "I think speeding up the screening is most critical now; this case is quite peculiar, and the murderer might be destroying evidence. Our progress can¡¯t be slow either." The gravity of the situation registered on Jiang Yuan¡¯s face. From dumping the body from Baijiang Province to Lanyue City ¡ª the journey itself, over a thousand kilometers, implied a daring and meticulous criminal. Moreover, disposing of the body so far away also demonstrated the killer¡¯s prudence. "I¡¯ll call Dai Zhi over." Jiang Yuan picked up his phone. Liu Jinghui raised a hand to intercept, but as he saw the call going out, he pulled back. They were in the Criminal Police Brigade building, so technically, they should report to Dai Mingsheng¡¯s office. But since neither Jiang Yuan nor Liu Jinghui were from the Lanyue City Bureau, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t dwell on it. Soon, Dai Mingsheng trotted over, looking like a tailless corgi, with a constant smile on his face. Despite holding the rank of Senior Superintendent, his demeanor and expressions were indistinguishable from those of a young officer. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exined theirtest deductions to Dai Mingsheng. This was considered an extra courtesy; if Jian Louyuan came, he¡¯d be lucky to have Wang Chuanxing summarize for him. Dai Mingsheng listened intently and, having fully absorbed their insights, said, "Let¡¯s go with your n. Let me use the phone briefly." He began making a call as he spoke. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui huddled in a corner to continue sharing thetest information. After hearing a bit, Liu Jinghui suddenly said, "In this case, couldn¡¯t you use Legal Botany? That way, we could find the primary crime scene." "Legal Botany can only prove consistency. Finding the location across the whole province is still challenging." Jiang Yuan had naturally considered this issue. "So, once we find the primary scene, we can use Legal Botany to confirm it?" "Of course, that¡¯s what Legal Botany is fundamentally about." "That¡¯s good. Even if the scene is cleaned, we should still confirm it." "If the nts aren¡¯t cleaned away, we should be able to confirm." "So now the main thing is just to find the primary crime scene." Liu Jinghui chuckled self-deprecatingly, "This brings us back to square one." "Cross-provinceparisons make Legal Botany quite challenging; if a secondary investigation route is necessary, I think it could be about wool socks." Jiang Yuan conveyed his experience, "The victim was wearing pure wool socks. Although these socks can be bought online, considering the victim¡¯s age, the chance of offline purchase is higher, and in each city, the shops selling this type of socks are actually quite limited." A secondary route is just another investigation pathway, which is quite normal for a task force; the opportunity cost of a homicide is extremely high, and trying a few avenues is better than having everyone wait aimlessly. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up briefly, and he said, "There aren¡¯t many storefronts selling wool socks in Baijiang Province, but the victim might not have bought them there. As I know, many people prefer shopping in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, or even buying clothes abroad. After purchasing goods, sending them back is also possible..." "People who frequently buy luxury goods usually have fixed ces where they shop." Jiang Yuan pointed out, "The victim¡¯s clothing no longer shows any brands, but the materials are quite good. If he lived in Baijiang Province, he¡¯d likely shop there more frequently." "Buying luxury goods... I hear you." Recalibrating his thought process, Liu Jinghui began following Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning: "The victim has noticeable features, and Baijiang Province, not being particrly affluent, likely has limited Gi-like luxury stores, even in the provincial capital. From this perspective, even if the killer doesn¡¯t shop often, or doesn¡¯t usually purchase, if he favors such items, he¡¯s bound to visit such stores from time to time, and a shop assistant might recognize him." Jiang Yuan agreed, "Luxury stores tend to operate on a membership basis, often collecting personal info during purchases. Consequently, malls hosting those stores usually haveprehensive surveince, which could help identify individuals." "Exactly, with these two lines of investigation, we should have no issues if they¡¯re from Baijiang Province." Liu Jinghui paused, then added, "Plus, we have the Skull Restoration Skill and Legal Botany as backup¡ªwe should certainly seed." Dai Mingsheng, who overheard part of the conversation, couldn¡¯t stop his eyelids from twitching. As the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, hearing about such guaranteed techniques for identifying individuals made him extremely envious, much like how younger people admire luxury items¡ªit was impressive in every aspect except for the cost. Chapter 1187 - 1117 Thorough Investigation

Chapter 1187: Chapter 1117 Thorough Investigation

Luo Jin City Criminal Police Detachment. Captain Hao paced back and forth in the office, smoking one cigarette down to the butt, then lighting another. "Have some tea, calm down, don¡¯t be so anxious," Pang Jidong said as he handed over a cup of chrysanthemum tea. "Old Pang, thank you," Captain Hao took the tea, feeling a bit inexplicably moved. For the past two days, Pang Jidong had been by his side. Not just Pang Jidong, but more than a dozen people, including the head of the brigade and the director, both deputies, had been visiting Captain Hao daily. To be honest, Captain Hao felt that these past two days had been the time he was treated the best in his life. In the past, not at work, not even at home, would anyone care for him so thoroughly? What kind of experience was it to have Pang Jidong treat him better than his wife? "I can¡¯t help but be anxious," Captain Hao turned his head, sighed with a troubled conscience, and said, "I¡¯m here to investigate the identity of the victim and the primary scene. The investigation yielded nothing, and Jiang¡¯s team started producing sketches of half the victim¡¯s face. Fortunately, it¡¯s the lower half of the face; if it was the upper half, they might have added a mask, and maybe would have found the person. My trip was in vain." "Impossible. The master¡¯s new ideas also require everyone¡¯s united effort to realize," Pang Jidong consoled Captain Hao, then continued, "If we can verify the victim¡¯s identity, it will be easier for us to locate the primary scene." "That¡¯s easier said than done..." Captain Hao shook his head. At that moment, a detective stood up. "Report. Captain Hao, Captain Pang, I¡¯ve found a missing person whose identity matches the victim!" The detective loudly reported. Pang Jidong and Captain Hao immediately walked over to see. "Missing person Zhang Lei, currently 45 years old, height 1.75 meters..." The detective read words from the report loudly. Captain Hao and Pang Jidong¡¯s eyes grew brighter and they involuntarily approached. The detective continued, "Zhang Lei has a history of multiple imprisonments, is a member of a vibrant gang, known for his brutal methods, nicknamed ¡¯Bucktooth Zhang¡¯..." Captain Hao and Pang Jidong¡¯s eyes turned flickering. It¡¯s not unusual for members of vibrant gangs to get killed, but investigating isn¡¯t easy. In Hong Kong and Taiwanese movies, why don¡¯t the police like to investigate these people¡¯s homicides? Different conditions are one reason, saying it¡¯s just a dog-eat-dog y, one dog dead, capture another and execute, isn¡¯t that double the happiness? It¡¯s still somewhat difficult to investigate. Crimesmitted by vibrant gangs, though not strictly professional hitmen, can be semi-professional and involve paid assassinations, separating interests from the perpetrator¡¯s identity. This way, investigating purely through interests or interpersonal connections often makes it difficult to reach a conclusion backed by evidence. If the perpetrator is cleverer, or the person behind the scenes has greater power, they might directly dispose of the person or even silence the perpetrator, effectively building a firewall that makes investigation harder, often without direct evidence for conviction. "That¡¯s odd, if it¡¯s a murder by a vibrant gang, why not handle it locally? Taking it thousands of kilometers away poses high risks," Captain Hao, often handling cases independently, quickly grabbed the main point. Pang Jidong nodded slightly and said, "I don¡¯t know how you handle such cases. Our usual approach is to first inquire with special agents, then mainly through interviews." "Interview members of the gang?" Captain Hao blinked. "There¡¯ll always be whispers circting. No one is killed without reason," Pang Jidong continued, "First go to Zhang Lei¡¯s house, collect DNA, and confirm the victim¡¯s identity uracy before proceeding." This is typical practice, although usually, it¡¯s done by criminal science technicians. At this point, the two captains didn¡¯t care about anything else; while making calls for help, they drove directly to Zhang Lei¡¯s house. Zhang Lei lived alone, rented in the city center, in an apartment over a hundred square meters, excellently located, with easy ess in all directions, though there¡¯s frequent andplex traffic. Despite personnel control within, the property management was extremelyx. Confirming his address wasn¡¯t difficult. Although Zhang Lei never shared his home¡¯s specific door number, he frequently brought women back, and finding women who knew him posed no challenge for local police. The group of officers entering the building naturally attracted curious nces, and some people took their phones out to record. Pang Jidong and Captain Hao didn¡¯t bother about it, took the elevator to the 12th floor, after breaking open the door, wore shoe covers, took a quick sweep of the ce, and let the technicians begin their analysis. Meanwhile, Pang Jidong made a video call to Jiang Yuan, allowing him to view the scene. Soon, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui¡¯s faces simultaneously appeared on the screen. "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll show you around the room, the phone is on speaker," Captain Hao actively carried the phone, starting to wander around the room. Jiang Yuan watched through the camera for a while and quickly said, "This room has been cleaned, tidied up, can we find any bloodstains?" The on-site forensic technicians immediately sprayed Luminal, and bloodstains appeared on the wall by the living room. "Found it," Captain Hao suddenly became excited. Then he carried the phone over to see, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice quickly calmed everyone down, "This blood has dripped down, likely from a previous injury to the victim... the blood flow isn¡¯trge, just a normal wound..." The forensic technicians present could tell, though they initially hoped Jiang Yuan might have new ideas. "So, there aren¡¯t traces of a homicide?" Pang Jidong felt slightly disappointed and quickly added, "Was it cleaned intentionally? We can check the surveince." "You might want to ask if there¡¯s been any cleaning services used," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came through the phone, sounding a bit fatigued, "If it¡¯s professional cleaning, they wouldn¡¯t miss such obvious bloodstains." Pang Jidong quickly responded, "Victim Zhang Lei is a big hustler, if he has money, he probably wouldn¡¯t want to do household chores. I¡¯ll ask the property managementter." It¡¯s apparent that Zhang Lei¡¯s residence wasn¡¯t the primary crime scene, which isn¡¯t surprising, just a bit disappointing. Other forensic technicians resumed dull analysis; Jiang Yuan ended the call and thought for a while, then ordered the victim¡¯s clothing to be retrieved. If needed, they would resort to legal botany. Jiang Yuan had handled organized crime cases several times before, knowing that conventional police strategies for questioning, key persons, or interest parties aren¡¯t guaranteed to work for such cases. Compared to ordinary people, those in this circle are more prone to exaggeration, making it difficult to discern truth, and their rtionships areplex even for insiders to fully understand. While many cases do arise from interests, the perpetrator doesn¡¯t necessarily act out of interest. On the other hand, mainstream societal values differ from street values. Reasons for killing on the street can include face, disputes, sex, past grievances, or impulsive passion. Even motivesprehensible tomon folk, like ambition or mary struggles, are often distorted. Thus, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding, the most practical solution to this case remains relying on evidence, preferably physical evidence. Although Jiang Yuan could initiate arge-scale street crackdown, who¡¯s going to face the death penalty then? They can¡¯t just gather a pile of statements and let Liu Jinghui find ws. Jiang Yuan nced over at Liu Jinghui, who was sniffing agarwood nearby. Even Liu Jinghui would prefer an Eastern Train murder case over extracting clean water from an Eastern septic tank. With that thought, Jiang Yuan approached the microscope to start pre-usage adjustments. The microscope at the Lanyue City Bureau, though not purchased with forensic botany needs in mind, was of a sufficiently good model due to funds, though not the type Jiang Yuan was familiar with. Jiang Yuan leisurely read the manual, learning as forensic botany work is quite slow, not requiring immediate haste. As Jiang Yuan was thinking, a blue light curtain unfolded before him: Task: Thoroughly investigate Zhang Lei¡¯s murder case Task content: Use your skills to thoroughly investigate Zhang Lei¡¯s murder case and bring thesewless criminals to justice. Chapter 1188 - 1118 Wool Socks

Chapter 1188: Chapter 1118 Wool Socks

Liu Jinghui was ying with his phone, asionally observing Jiang Yuan. He was a cerebral person, naturally not needing to hunch over a microscope like a techie, studying back and forth. This also let Liu Jinghui notice something strange. Originally, Jiang Yuan was looking at the manual and microscope, but now he seemed to be staring off into space, like a student zoning out halfway through ss. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but chuckle; this state of Jiang Yuan was quite a sight for neers. If the police and criminals could choose each other, this look of Jiang Yuan would probably be chosen by many. In Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind, images of a dragon ughtering an array appeared... Those sharp dragon ws, one grab, one throw, ended the lives of several criminals; the burst of dragon fire, one spray, one sweep, ended the lives of a bunch of criminals; the hefty dragon tail, one m, one turn, ended the lives of a camp of criminals... "I¡¯m nning to invite Professor Su Lei and her team over." Jiang Yuan, at some point, retracted his gaze and began speaking seriously. Liu Jinghui often analyzed the people around him, and he could tell that Jiang Yuan¡¯s state was unusual, prompting him to ask, "Did you notice something?" Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t exactly say he noticed a system task, so he spun his eyes around and med the microscope, saying, "The set of equipment bought by the Lanyue City Bureau is a bit troublesome; I can¡¯t be bothered. Let Professor Su Lei and her team study it." "Is it really thatplex? I saw you use microscopes and stuff at other police stations, handling everything with ease." Liu Jinghui just remarked offhandedly and then said, "So, make the call. While we wait for them, what will we do?" "Let¡¯s have hot pot. My dad sent a lot of sliced beef frozen in the fridge." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he pulled out his phone to call Professor Su Lei. The diatom database of the Taihe Basin project was done by Professor Su Lei¡¯s team, and Jiang Yuan was considered a client to them. Coupled with the advantage of legal botany expertise, one call was enough for Su Lei to agree immediately. After hanging up, Jiang Yuan said to Liu Jinghui, "That¡¯s it for today, the DNA of Zhang Lei was just collected, and it¡¯ll probably be tomorrow when we have aparison result, let¡¯s head back." The time required for DNAparison varies with different specimens; the quickest and simplest is blood, while in a dposing body, blood is the first to spoil. The criminal scienceb of Lanyue City is quite strong, so Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have to worry about the normal procedures. On the contrary, Liu Jinghui, following Jiang Yuan and skipping work in broad daylight, felt a bit uneasy. That night, Su Leinded in Lanyue City with her doctoral student Qiao Shengli. She¡¯s been rather busy these days. Ever since her research direction included legal botany and she published two major papers, Su Lei not only had a continuous stream of academic conferences, but her coboration with Jiang Yuan also brought attention from various police departments nationwide, frequently receiving invitations. For a schr from the Agricultural Research Institute, this was a very interesting and revolutionary life change. Su Lei was enjoying it a lot. Qiao Shengli was even more excited. They checked into a hotel that night, and the next morning, Qiao Shengli got up two hours early and put on full makeup to meet Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan, as usual, treated them to breakfast at Yn Residence. The dumplings, with a crispy yet not hard shell and rich broth, received unanimous praise. Qiao Shengli couldn¡¯t resist eating two and then started staring at Jiang Yuan. Even sitting down, Jiang Yuan¡¯s height was noticeable, towering above those beside him. As Qiao Shengli was contemting what to say next while watching, the door to the private room opened. "Captain Jiang, I happened to be having breakfast here too. I heard you came, what a coincidence." The deputy director of the film town, Dong Xifeng, had sweat on the back of his neck. Behind him, two sleepy-eyed young beauties emerged, exchanged nces with Jiang Yuan, and together they sweetly called out, "Brother Jiang..." Feeling inexplicably annoyed, Qiao Shengli ate two more dumplings! ... Su Lei and Qiao Shengli had experience working outside; they brought all their portable equipment and notified the Lanyue City Bureau in advance to borrowrger items like ultra-clean benches. The equipment not avable at the Lanyue City Bureau was avable at Lanyue University. With Dai Mingsheng handling it, scheduling was easily confirmed. Su Lei, Qiao Shengli, and others immediately delved into busy work. The remaining clothing fragments were not many, with most washed away. However, the investigation discipline of Jiang Yuan¡¯s task force had always been strict, and the specially preserved clothing fragments, as well as some soil from the crime scene, were all usable for forensic botanical analysis. Especially the remaining wool socks, with the cuffs well preserved and covered with a lot of nt spores, their value increased. For the deceased Zhang Lei, these socks should have been the most useful item he bought. The spores needed for forensic botany can be as small as the nanometer scale; therefore, even a small pair of sock cuffs can provide a lot of information. However, picking out each spore, mounting them on slides for identification is merely the first step; ssifying and analyzing the spores is the most difficult task. In this, there can be several levels for identifying spores. Legal botany Level 1 could probably recognize the genera of most spores, but that¡¯s about it. In the mammalian context, genus is like reaching the level of felis and canis. Taking canis as an example, there are eight species under this genus, including the gray wolf, coyote, African wolf, and Ethiopian wolf. To the average person, these different wolf species are generally indistinguishable. And the familiar domestic dog is actually a subspecies under "gray wolf species." This subspecies has 39 kinds, including the domestic dog, Arabian wolf, Arctic wolf, Mexican wolf, Siberian wolf, Florida wolf, Japanese wolf, Austro-Hungarian wolf, China wolf, and Mongolian wolf, etc. From the names, one can see that mastering this step makes ssification tasks much easier. Since the distribution range of some nts is limited, if one can identify the key nts, the range can be significantly narrowed. Of course, ultimately, it relies on pollen diagrams. The pollen diagramposed of multiple pollen spores is akin to DNA, precise to the meter level, and essentially irreplicable. Su Lei has roughly a Level 2 proficiency in legal botany, while Qiao Shengli is about full Level 1, so Su Lei can barely handle forensic botany work, but it¡¯s very slow, requiring constant reference checking forparison. Qiao Shengli cannot independently perform forensic botany identification work; her experience is still shallow, and her umtion in taxonomy sparse. She has hit her limit at recognizing the "gray wolf" species, needing to consult materials for further botanical ssification, and requires serious cross-referencing even with the documents. For a murder case, this timing cost is uneptable. When Jiang Yuan handles cases with Legal Botany Level 3, it¡¯s just barely adequate. However, if he activates temporary +1, he can easily identify down to subspecies, even if he needs to check less familiar genera and species asionally. For case purposes, identifying to this level already brings direct methodological changes. In canis terms, Jiang Yuan is now like recognizing the difference between a husky and a golden retriever. This means Jiang Yuan is very rxed in the first phase. Simrly, botanists with this level, in categorizing and analyzing spores, can¡¯t possibly fall short. And witnessing this, Qiao Shengli couldn¡¯t help but find it a little unbelievable. She waited until Jiang Yuan took a break, quickly grabbed a thermos and refilled Jiang Yuan¡¯s cup, and asked, "In this case, differentiating the primary and secondary scenes in the categorization phase should be very difficult, right? Which spores were contaminated at the primary scene, and which at the secondary? It¡¯s easy to get confused, right." "If it¡¯s just distinguishing the first from the second scene, there are many methods." Jiang Yuan drank his tea and said, unburdened, "The most basic method is to reanalyze the spores from the secondary scene. By excluding the secondary scene spores, what¡¯s left..." "What¡¯s leftes from the first scene!" Qiao Shengli eagerly interjected. Jiang Yuanughed a little, "It could also be spores brought by the killer." The victim was moved post-mortem, likely contaminating with spores along the way, and contact with the murderer also inevitably involved spore exchange. "Right, I didn¡¯t think that far." Qiao Shengli, fully made up and acting cute, exuded a strong youthful vibe. Jiang Yuan let out a small "gulp," swallowing before saying, "The ces the victim went before dying could also have spore contamination." "Yes, considering so many factors." Qiao Shengli frowned slightly. "Sounds difficult, but analyzing one by one, it¡¯s just so. The spores stuck from the ces a victim went while alive would be more evenly distributed, with a lower spore quantity per unit area, primarily wind-borne nts. Meanwhile, post-death, the spores theye into contact with skyrocket exponentially when reaching the ground." Qiao Shengli listened seriously, still frowning and nodding. For her, this level of judgment was too challenging. Jiang Yuan chuckled, "In this case, there¡¯s also a trick." "What trick?" "Wool socks." Jiang Yuan continued to elevate the value of the wool socks, saying, "The victim would definitely have been wearing shoes while alive, so areas below the sock cuffs would not normally contact spores before death. Wool socks particrly retain spores well... In fact, just analyzing these wool socks is sufficient for forensic botanical judgment." Chapter 1189 - 1119 Sincerity

Chapter 1189: Chapter 1119 Sincerity

The pair of woolen socks is covered with who knows how much pollen and spores. In terms of reproduction, nts are truly "a tree a world." There¡¯s an old saying in China, if nts get wild, there¡¯s nothing mammals can do. Faced with the traces left by nts, even Jiang Yuan can only selectively take a portion. This is another checkpoint that tests botanological expertise. Thosecking in skills might not even know which spores to pick up when facing such battle-hardened woolen socks, easily leaving something exposed. Without sufficient experience, students like Qiao Shengli can only pinch spores well under the slide, observing repeatedly to reference the appropriate books. Of course, the reality is, although there are plenty of spores, the overall varieties won¡¯t be many. A bit of basics can make it easy to handle one pair of woolen socks. Professor Su Lei brought several students over, giving them a bit of training, getting familiar with some spores encountered this time, then everyone got busy. Qiao Shengli flicked her long, straight ck hair, gazed at Jiang Yuan for a while, her sapiosexual mind stiffened, then came over to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, saying softly: "Jiang, I will assist you." She wanted to shout "Brother Jiang" like those two actresses, but she was still a bit tight-lipped, stopping at "Jiang." "Alright." Jiang Yuan had no objection. Then Qiao Shengli pulled a chair over, gently sat beside Jiang Yuan, but due to her bust leaning too forward had to move the chair back a bit. Jiang Yuan could smell the scent of Qiao Shengli¡¯s hair, very refreshing, much better than the corpse. Speaking of, Jiang Yuan really is ustomed to working in environments with aromas. The rancid smell of fats in the dissection room, the beef tallow scent in the hotpot restaurant, and the rich fragrance in the office, all could fuel Jiang Yuan¡¯s work enthusiasm. Jiang Yuan¡¯s movements were noticeably more agile, bing smoother and freer. "Jiang Yuan. Your apprentice is calling." Liu Jinghui called out upon entering the door. "Called your phone?" Jiang Yuan felt a bit odd. "He has a few cases without evidence, asking me for a way." Liu Jinghui replied, then added, "These cases once cleared, he¡¯s pretty much done over there." "Is it rted to Zhang Lei¡¯s case?" Jiang Yuan has been busy with legal botany these days, delegating case follow-ups to Liu Jinghui. "Yes, should be almostpleted capturing," Liu Jinghui said, handing the phone over to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan took over, "This is Jiang Yuan, speaking on speakerphone." "Master." Pang Jidong¡¯s voice had a hint of surprise,ughably said, "I¡¯d like to report, Zhang Lei¡¯s entire organization has been apprehended." Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind spun a bit beforeprehending, "Zhang Lei is the victim... Are you suspecting internal conflict caused the case?" Pang Jidong, in his 50s,ughed, "Master, you¡¯re being too short-sighted. This organization is called Binren Gang. They have characteristics of a lively organization. If earlier we didn¡¯t know or weren¡¯t certain, let it be, but now we¡¯re aware, and it¡¯s rted to a homicide, they must be eradicated entirely." His logic may seem unreasonable if taken purely fromnguage, but when viewed from a higher dimension, it bes very reasonable. China¡¯sws emphasize facts. Did you do it? Is it true? That¡¯s the key. Things beyond the core content are peripheral. Within Zhang Lei¡¯s organization, even if based solely on homicide, Zhang Lei and the gang are victims. But at a higher level, the Criminal Police Brigade represented by Pang Jidong doesn¡¯t care whether you¡¯re a victim or perpetrator, as long as there are criminal issues, they will capture regardless. "If that¡¯s the case, how many were captured? Any leads?" Jiang Yuan asked. Pang Jidongughed exuberantly, "Captured 85 people, leads... none!" Jiang Yuan involuntarily lifted his head to see Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui helplessly spread his hands, "I¡¯ve been coordinating with Pang Jidong these days. Their interrogation is detailed. As of now, Zhang Lei suddenly went missing. Although he had conflicts with some people, no useful clues have been found yet." "Have you reviewed their statements?" "Yes, skimmed through relevant ones about Zhang Lei, even though many are rambling nonsensically, finding a clear loophole is still difficult." "Zhang Lei was a mid-level leader of the organization, right? When outside, he didn¡¯t have followers with him?" Jiang Yuan instinctively started to think. Liu Jinghui nodded, then continued, "Zhang Lei often likes to fly solo. These vibrant organizations mainly survive by relying on entertainment venues, the organizational structure isn¡¯t that tight." Jiang Yuan raised his head, "Entertainment venues, relying on prostitution?" "ces still allowing such organizations to profit now are merely those types. Initially, Binren Gang ran borderline spa stores, then turned straight into adult-themed venues,ter opened bars, etc." Pang Jidong briefly exined, then added, "They are rtively low-end venues, avoiding high-end venues." "Wouldn¡¯t high-end venues profit more?" Jiang Yuan felt a bit puzzled. "Not necessarily, high-end venues have significant design and investment, these people aren¡¯t willing to spend money here. Moreover, high-end consumption is high, and their clientele doesn¡¯t ovep well with their business. People like Zhang Lei fought their way up from humble beginnings. The previous crackdown didn¡¯t defeat them, they don¡¯t dare to show themselves anymore either." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded, "That means their business inherently has many conflicts, huh? If there¡¯s no finding on this aspect..." "One¡¯s life is merely about work and living," Liu Jinghui took over, "Old Pang¡¯s interrogations indeed make progress, but to exclude work factors now, I believe it¡¯s too early." Jiang Yuan nodded. On the other end of the phone, Pang Jidong readilyughed, "I¡¯m only providing support, Master, you decide the investigative direction; I assure quality and quantitypletion!" Liu Jinghui smiled briefly, "I have some ideas. Jiang Yuan¡¯s legal botany work is almost done, right? Can it be used topare the initial scene?" "Almost done," Jiang Yuan hasn¡¯t fullypleted, but a significant portion is done. As soon as seeing Jiang Yuan nod, Liu Jinghui continued, "Then my idea is, one¡¯s environment is nothing but lifestyle and work context. Zhang Lei¡¯s work context is clear, shouldn¡¯t we follow Zhang Lei¡¯s work context? If nothinges up, then we follow his lifestyle context, though it may be trickier." "Fine," Pang Jidong replied promptly, then added, "Zhang Lei is very cautious about using mobile phones, often changing phones and numbers, he suffered losses in this regard, spent over three years in jail." That exined one reason why it¡¯s hard to locate topics of doubt. Mostly exining it to Jiang Yuan. Liu Jinghui already knew, shifted tone, "No matter how he uses phones or whether he carries one, these two paths should both be traceable." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ramble further, took a notebook, "The ce you need to find has por trees... Many are nted in Luo Jin City... Well, let¡¯s talk about some niche flowers, might require your independent identification." "No problem," Pang Jidong said, his tone suddenly changed, "Master... we¡¯re now equivalent to working for the Lanyue City, leadership means, the Lanyue City Bureau ought to bring some thoughtfulpensations." Chapter 1190 - 1120: Only... But... (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 1190: Chapter 1120: Only... But... (Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"Pour another ss of water." Huang Qiangmin entered the office and gulped down Jiang Yuan¡¯s tea. Jiang Yuan got up to refill his water, then smiled and said, "Drink slowly, or you¡¯ll feel ufortableter." Huang Qiangmin looked weary and didn¡¯t speak initially; he unbuttoned his cor before taking a few deep breaths and said, "I left early at four-thirty in the morning to catch a flight. They only served a ss of water and the meal was so salty..." Jiang Yuan listened to hisints with a chuckle and got up to light a stick of incense. Miao Ruixiang instinctively made a gesture of respect, then turned silently to brew a separate cup of tea for Huang Qiangmin. "Is this Tieguanyin? It¡¯s quite tasty. Isn¡¯t there a lot of pesticide residue in Tieguanyin?" Huang Qiangmin began to recover a bit, swirling the cup as he started to nitpick. "This is grown by an old man in the vige. His daughter got married on the other side and set up a special hillside there. Each time she picks tea, she brings some back to the vige..." Jiang Yuan also signaled Miao Ruixiang to brew him a new cup. In the eyes of tea drinkers,rge tea brewing isn¡¯t high-end but it¡¯s convenient. Moreover, police offices aren¡¯t suitable for having tea tables or simr setups. Historically, people have always criticized civil servants who leisurely brew tea regardless of the reason when seen by the public. Huang Qiangmin drank another half cup of tea before saying, "It¡¯s settled; we¡¯ll handle the expenses over in Luo Jin City, and Dai Mingsheng will deal with us directly." Jiang Yuan cast a doubtful nce at Huang Qiangmin. Feeling uneasy, Huang Qiangmin quickly put down the cup and said, "Don¡¯t think ill of people; I¡¯m not pocketing any extra. Dai Mingsheng and Xu are both smart and have each other¡¯s numbers; I can¡¯t swindle them." "Old Dai can¡¯t provide what Director Xu wants, and Director Xu isn¡¯t interested in Old Dai¡¯s offer." Liu Jinghui, who had been sitting nearby reviewing interrogation records, couldn¡¯t help but interject with his analysis. Huang Qiangmin nced at him, "That¡¯s more or less the point. Mainly... building trust is quite difficult." "It¡¯s not like theyck money." Liu Jinghui pointed out the crucial factor. "Ah... fate is different for everyone." Huang Qiangmin sighed deeply. He used to be a captain in the county¡¯s criminal police squad and is currently the politicalmissar of the county bureau, which doesn¡¯tpare to a brigade captain in the provincial capital¡¯s criminal police. Funding is simr; it¡¯s always more at higher levels. From Beijing to the provincial capital to the provincial cities, each step down sees a significant decrease. A district bureau in Beijing can have a budget of two to three billion, higher than the total expenditures of Ningtai County, of course, the administrative level is higher as well. In provincial capitals like Lanyue City or Luo Jin City, the routine budget is ample, unlike smaller county bureaus like Ningtai County, where they either have to request money or resort to cracking down on gambling and prostitution. Neither Dai Mingsheng from Lanyue City nor Director Xu from Luo Jin City genuinelyck money, but what they miss arerge sums. Of course, neither has much liquefiable funds at their disposal. In a way, government units are like sried individuals; it¡¯s typical for money to be spent before it¡¯s even received, but if you casually mention a number, expecting me to entertain you, that number has to be veryrge. Liu Jinghui perceptively said, "You¡¯re using Jiang Yuan to fill the gap, aren¡¯t you." Huang Qiangmin chuckled, "We¡¯ll have to go to Luo Jin sooner orter. Pang Jidong is really a great person; he calls me ¡¯senior master,¡¯ and it gets me dizzy. By the way, how¡¯s the case?" "How do you think their interrogation is going?" Liu Jinghui asked in return. "Just above standard. Compared to the few bureaus we¡¯ve interacted with, the level is decent; they¡¯ve also recruited a few capable ones." Huang Qiangmin understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s point and said, "Just considering the interrogation time, intensity, along with the number and scope of suspects caught, if we still can¡¯t find clues, Zhang Lei¡¯s death might truly have nothing to do with them." Huang Qiangmin is truly an experienced detective; his seniority exceeds that of both Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuanbined. His judgment is well-considered because he knows that expressing this opinion means dismissing a line of investigation, and given his status and abilities, Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan are bound to carefully consider his suggestion. Liu Jinghui indeed fell into contemtion. Jiang Yuan also gently picked up the teacup, sipping the tea noisily. The office that the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team provided for Jiang Yuan was not veryrge, but because Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had arge number of people, including Wang Chuanxing, Shen Yaowei, and Liu Wenkai, all working inside at this time, the atmosphere was palpable, and the sounds of typing gradually softened until it became silent. "Given the current security environment, it¡¯s actually not that easy for an ordinary person to die. Especially someone like Zhang Lei," Liu Jinghui exined his reasoning. "Moreover, Zhang Lei¡¯s body was disposed of over a thousand kilometers away. This distance is not something an average person would go to for body disposal. I¡¯ve studied some papers on geographical profiling, and typically, disposal covers about 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers at most. Even 20 kilometers is quite rare." Huang Qiangmin and others nodded lightly. What Liu Jinghui referred to as "geographical profiling" is used more frequently abroad. Generally, it involves marking the crime scenes of a series of cases on a map and then analyzing the spatial distribution of the crime locations to determine the methods of suspect movement and tracking. Liu Jinghui spoke as he resolutely closed hisptop, focusing intently, "Of course, the 5-kilometer data mainly pertains to dismemberment followed by disposal. Theoretically, the more pieces a body is dismembered into, the shorter the disposal distance. Our case involves an intact body; thus, disposing of it further away can be expected. However, transporting it across provinces definitely has a rationale; it wouldn¡¯t be done merely for body disposal." Liu Jinghui continued, "Moreover, with normal body disposal, the perpetrator is ustomed to disposing of the body in familiar locations. There are many psychological factors involved, which you all understand, so I don¡¯t need to borate. But generally speaking, cross-provincial transportation requires significant confidence. Without extensive cross-provincial experience or familiarity with the Lanyue City Film and Television City¡¯s circumstances, it wouldn¡¯t make sense to do so." Liu Jinghui counted on his fingers, "ssic criminal psychology theory: One must be familiar with the crime scene, avoid acquaintances, and not stray too far from the residence. From this perspective, the suspect is likely involved in transportation or trade, frequentlymuting between Lanyue City and Loujin City, or at the very least, has done so multiple times." At this moment, Wang Chuanxing stood up, "The Lanyue City and Loujin City bureaus have also invested considerable resources in this area, screening through checkpoints and video surveince to filter the vehicle tes traveling between the two provinces recently." "And one more thing," Liu Jinghui added, "The dumping site is 300 meters from the nearest road. This distance is too far for one person to transport the body. So, it¡¯s either done by one exceptionally strong man or by two or more people coborating. No matter how you look at it, I¡¯m inclined to believe the perpetrator demonstrates a certain level of professional crime expertise." Liu Jinghui borated his thought process quiteprehensively. Huang Qiangmin also sipped tea, lit a cigarette, and started contemting in silence. Jiang Yuan then pulled out a pack of He Tian Xia from the drawer, ced it on the table, and continued, "Regarding Zhang Lei¡¯s life and work, he not only encountered professional criminals during work but also had many interactions with them in his personal life." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eyes lit up, "That¡¯s exactly the point." Turning his head, Huang Qiangmin offered a ¡¯He Tian Xia¡¯ to Liu Jinghui, lighting it for him, "Director Liu, no offense, but from what I saw during my visit, the Binren Gang members were all caught. Their internal conflicts were not severe enough to warrant murder. You¡¯ve also seen the interrogation records, what do you think?" Liu Jinghui chuckled, took a drag of the cigarette, filling the room with smoke, "I¡¯m not denying that these street gangsters wouldn¡¯t uphold loyalty at this point. If there were any rted news or rumors, they¡¯d definitely expose the culprit. But based on their current statements, the possibility of an internal murder is indeed low. However... work-rted rtionships are not necessarily tied to organizational rtions." "In these active organizations, the rtionships between each other aren¡¯t asplicated as before," said Huang Qiangmin, who spent several days in Luo Jin City. More time was utilized to understand the case rather than internal affairs, so he wasn¡¯t too optimistic about Liu Jinghui¡¯s judgment. As a provincial expert, Liu Jinghui frequently supported county-level criminal police teams, and hearing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s opinions brought a sense of familiarity to him. The opinion of local detectives like Huang Qiangmin is typically a double-edged sword. On one hand, they have their limitations, like how farmers in arid regions have never seen plum rain weather and wouldn¡¯t consider carrying an umbre. On the other hand, it¡¯s pointless for outside experts to worry about plum rain in a dry region; their logic would becking something. Further borating, whether girls in arid regions would carry umbres when going out ¡ª in practice, many do, not for rain protection but to block ultraviolet rays and prevent sunburn or tanning. For a homicide case, careful deliberation and reconsideration are indispensable. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t rush. He waited until he finished an entire cigarette before lighting a new one, leaving it burning without taking a puff, then said, "Since his teens, Zhang Lei mingled on the streets. The leaders he followed back then have been executed twice over. From this perspective, Zhang Lei¡¯s life is essentially street life, life within the ck Society." Liu Jinghui flicked imaginary ash, "Zhang Lei¡¯s murder with no leaks actually confirms that it isn¡¯t due to personal matters. For someone like him, what life problems couldn¡¯t he share with his street brothers? He could vividly describe even the positions usedst night. It¡¯s only work matters or issues in the underworld that could..." "Having an affair with the boss¡¯s wife." Liu Wenkai had been quietly listening, rubbing his eyes, and interjected with a single sentence that disrupted Liu Jinghui¡¯s logic. Liu Jinghui was stunned for a while, finished another cigarette powerlessly, and admitted, "You have a point too..." Chapter 1191 - 1121: Clover

Chapter 1191: Chapter 1121: Clover

"Damn his mother, damn his ancestors for eighteen generations..." The leader of the Binren Gang fiercely shook the interrogation chair, making the steel chair sound like a music box with nging noises. The police officers in the interrogation room waited for him to vent before softly saying, "Don¡¯t rush, would you like a cigarette?" "Yes!" The gang leader immediately stopped. The interrogation officer got up, stuffed a cigarette in his mouth, and lit it. The gang leader smoked greedily, taking half of the first puff. Several people quietly waited until he smoked to the butt without making a sound. The gang leader himself finally spoke slowly, "When did they start hooking up?" "We¡¯re not yet clear on the exact time." The interrogation officer¡¯s expression was serious. The photos shown to the gang leader were found after Jiang Yuan and the Image Reconnaissance Brigade had worked together for a long time, borrowing information passed over by Technical Investigation. One must admit, the awareness of these cheating individuals is rtively high, but it cannot bepared to murderers. There is a certain gap between amateurs and professionals. This time, both Image Investigation and Technical Investigation first located the phone positions indicating the time the two were together. Then they confirmed the hotel they stayed at, retrieved a series of surveince videos, including the hotel lobby footage. If Zhang Lei was somewhat careful outside, once inside the hotel, he was almostpletely unguarded. She was even less professional, with footage of her personally buying condoms at a convenience store. Seeing this, the gang leaderpletely lost his mind. Liu Jinghui calmly watched the scene, guessing which parts were genuine or fake. After a few seconds, the interrogation officer asked, "Zhang Lie, when did you find out they were together?" "If I knew, I would have already..." The leader of the Binren Gang, Zhang Lie, paused and said, "You suspect I killed Zhang Lei?" The interrogation officer replied, "You¡¯ve said yourself you can¡¯t stand this sort of thing, right?" "Of course not. If he messed around with some woman outside, or we just had a spat, it¡¯d be one thing. But a wife is different, isn¡¯t it?" Zhang Lie said with bulging eyes, but his tone calmed down. "I didn¡¯t kill Zhang Lei. Zhang Lei deserved to die, but I didn¡¯t kill him." The interrogation officer frowned slightly, saying, "You had the motive and capability to kill... Since we reached you, we already have evidence... Don¡¯t expect anyone to bail you out; this case involves two provinces, you can¡¯t escape." "Zhang Lei died outside the province?" As the gang leader, Zhang Lie was held in solitary confinement after being captured, entirely cut off from information, only aware of Zhang Lei¡¯s death. The interrogation officer nced at Liu Jinghui, nodding slightly. Zhang Lie spat on the ground, cursed someone, pondered for a moment, and said, "You almost said it involved two provinces. Why would Imit murder outside the province? I¡¯d do it in Luo Jin City, get a few guys to handle it, and you¡¯d never find the body. What¡¯s the point of a murder case then!" The interrogation officer stared at him for a long while without speaking. One must admit, Zhang Lie¡¯s logic was quitepelling. Liu Jinghui also pondered deeply. This Zhang Lie is a ssic ¡¯rough yet meticulous¡¯ type, looking like a thug but actually very clear-headed. For someone like him, there are many ways to kill Zhang Lei; he wouldn¡¯t need to do it himself, and even if he did, it wouldn¡¯t involve transporting the body out of the province. It would only increase risk, waste time, and hold little significance. Someone like Zhang Lie, it¡¯s not surprising if he¡¯s killed someone before ¡ª dumping bodies and such, whether he¡¯s done it or not, he¡¯s certainly heard of it. In the society of earlier years, whether someone¡¯s handled such things or not, they¡¯ve usually experienced it in some way. From any angle, Zhang Lie should have his own approach, certainly not like this. The interrogation officer couldn¡¯t conclude there, so he explored another angle to continue questioning Zhang Lie. Liu Jinghui apanied until the end, then ambled back to the office. "How did it go?" Liu Wenkai dropped by asionally with some support, hoping they could crack a murder case together; that would be fantastic. Liu Jinghui looked at Liu Wenkai for a few seconds, shook his head: "He did indeed have an affair with the wife..." "Yeah!" Liu Wenkai pumped his fist as if scoring a three-pointer. Liu Jinghui sighed: "Not rted to the murder case; the gang leader is probably not the killer." "Why not? He¡¯s not taking action? Is he even a man?" Liu Wenkai protested. "As it stands, the evidence doesn¡¯t support it." Liu Jinghui paused, then seriously said, "Doesn¡¯t look like it." Interrogation tends to reveal many things, especially in a question-and-answer session. This can be tried when one¡¯s partner strays; often their behavior can reveal much. Many police officers have plenty of irrational judgments about whether a suspectmitted the crime or not. Liu Jinghui himself is a deduction expert, and he¡¯s been through countless cases, frankly speaking, he¡¯s seen more murderers than Neptune¡¯s partners. Most of the time, a nce is enough to know if they did it. Of course, the evidence is necessary for the prosecution, but during investigations, especially for someone like Liu Jinghui, most of the time it relies on intuition. Liu Wenkai quickly realized, his face turned serious, asking, "Really isn¡¯t the gang leader?" Liu Jinghui changed his approach: "This gang leader of Binren Gang is certainly dirty under the surface, worth digging deeper, but for Zhang Lei¡¯s murder case, we need to consider other directions..." "Then look for pollen." Jiang Yuan stepped in, holding a thick stack of printed sheets: "Oak, hazelnut,tle, ntain aremon wind-pollinated nts. Just roughly check them... I think we should focus our efforts on clover. I found lots of clover pollen along with several other grass family nts. I think we can prioritize the park." "Zhang Lei, at the park?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind instantly conjured several scenes: "Did this kid seduce another married woman? The gang leader didn¡¯t kill him, but another man did?" "Does someone like Zhang Lei date and go to parks? That¡¯s too inefficient." Liu Wenkai shook his head: "For someone like him, going from a bar to a hotel is standard; having a meal beforehand would be considered serious. He probably doesn¡¯t have much time. I heard he¡¯s too busy testing all the new girls to get through them." "Maybe he¡¯s truly in love?" Liu Jinghui wants to believe in love, but deducing immediately overturned his own belief: "Dating and not bringing a phone? Impossible, there¡¯d be no GPS to find anyone in a park." Liu Wenkai chuckled: "More likely he¡¯d get chopped up in a park." The few of them exchanged nces, sensing there was something interesting. The Luo Jin City Criminal Police Detachment quickly mobilized two brigades and coordinated with multiple precincts. Finding a location citywide is extremely difficult. Modern cities are huge, especially the expanded suburbs, where one area isrger than another. Bustling areas might be limited, but whomits murder in bustling areas? Truthfully, those fenced-off open spaces are where vegetation flourishes, ideal spots for murder. Fortunately, clovers require precise care, only parks and a few other ces can grow them extensively. This might pose some challenge to police elsewhere, but for Luo Jin City police, it¡¯s straightforward. Ever since Pang Jidong became Jiang Yuan¡¯s main disciple, he¡¯s mainly worked on Legal Botany. Moreover, he deliberately invited botanists from various ces to refine and create a Luo Jin City nt distribution map. Now, simply following the map, they can locaterge areas of clover. Equipped with Jiang Yuan¡¯s spore diagrams, Pang Jidong didn¡¯t even need expert assistance, he himself pinpointed amunity park. "It¡¯s at Songxiang Park." Pang Jidong found the ce, pulled out the park¡¯s entrance and exit surveince footage, and sure enough, saw footage of Zhang Lei entering. Chapter 1192 - 1122: Songxiang Park

Chapter 1192: Chapter 1122: Songxiang Park

That night, Jiang Yuan arrived in Luo Jin City on a business flight. After resting for a few hours, at five o¡¯clock the next morning, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was loaded into several cars and rushed to Songxiang Park. Thismunity park is not veryrge, and the ess control is certainly not strict, with four gates open in the east, west, north, and south. The walls are just symbolic brick fences slightly taller than a person. The ground parking lot is not small, everything is prioritized to serve the surrounding residents. The parking lot guard is the only park management personnel visitors can contact; the rest are nestled in a small building hidden by trees, working or not, no one knows. Liu Wenkai looked at this small office building and the nearly deserted environment and couldn¡¯t help but sigh, "Working inndscaping is really sweet, isn¡¯t it like getting paid for nothing?" "Everyone sells their time andbor, naturally there¡¯s no difference!" retorted the sharp-tongued guide, Qiu Li, unabashedly countering Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai smiled at her words, not feeling hurt in front of his colleagues but apologizing instead, "It¡¯s my mistake. Kids of leaders do know how to talk." He certainly wouldn¡¯t say the same in Shannan Province because there people could easily hold you to ount. But in Luo Jin City, it wasn¡¯t much of an issue. In such aid-back department, the kids doing the work are likely only mid-level¡ªLiu Wenkai understood some officialdom reasoning. The nose of the guiding girl, Qiu Li, wrinkled in annoyance, "Who said I¡¯m a leader¡¯s kid?" "Are you not?" Liu Wenkai asked, feeling assured, and just smiled. Qiu Li, wearing jeans, with long hair draped over her shoulders, her brows curved, gave him a nice re, didn¡¯t speak, and after a while said, "I got in by passing the civil service exam." This time, Liu Wenkai just smiled and didn¡¯t respond. Upon pushing open the office door, the director of the park management office and several deputy directors were waiting inside. Liu Wenkai skillfully made demands, noted phone numbers, confirmed contacts, retrieved surveince videos, etc., all the work done. Then he headed with Qiu Li to the park site. Qiu Li didn¡¯t speak all the way. When they were almost there, she suddenly slowed her steps and asked, "Did someone really die in our park?" "It¡¯s unclear for now." Liu Wenkai wouldn¡¯t leak information to her. Qiu Li didn¡¯t believe it, "You¡¯ve brought dozens of people. If it¡¯s unclear, why are so many people here, and you¡¯re from another province. Is it someone from Shannan Province who died?" She had only seen Liu Wenkai¡¯s ID and didn¡¯t know the background of the others. Liu Wenkai just smiled gently, saying, "This park is so remote, surely a lot of people have died here. Did you ever see ghosts when you left work in the morning or evening?" The girl¡¯s eyes were clear and straightforward, asking innocently, "Why do you ask that?" Liu Wenkai: "Have you ever heard of the Dragon Team?" ... Jiang Yuan, wearing shoe covers, a mask, a hood, and gloves, walked around awn filled with dog poop, feeling that the dogs around seemed to be hostile towards him. The police cordon was drawn veryrge, enclosing the entire cloverwn within it, something not typical for ordinary murder scenes. But with Jiang Yuan involved in the case, the Luo Jin City Criminal Police Detachment dared not be negligent at all. In contrast, the dogs waiting outside thewn were puzzled and angry; those particr ones were trembling at the legs now. An area meant for a good poop shouldn¡¯t be off-limits. "The scene is probably around here." Jiang Yuan came to a dense bush and drew a small circle in front of him. "Arge area of clover, a small amount of anemophilous nts, and dense shrubs on the right side can significantly iste the pollen from flowers like roses nearby. Going further forward, the amount of rose pollen increases..." Qiao Shengli was also dressed up, watching in front. As she listened to Jiang Yuan, she checked both the park map and the scene, admiringly saying, "I didn¡¯t consider this patch of shrubs..." "Because the spore-pollen spectrum is definite, you just need to find a match." Jiang Yuan said as he exined several specific ns to Qiao Shengli. Qiao Shengli¡¯s dissertation was almost done, and she had published two papers in top journals. Listening to case details was futile, but hearing forensic botany¡¯s specialized content filled her with enthusiasm. At this moment, the youngdy from the park management office also came over, seeing a man and a woman on thewn from afar. The intellectual beauty with long, straight ck hair instantly caught young girl Qiu Li¡¯s attention. She first looked at her own feet, then couldn¡¯t help but look at thewn, saying, "Who are those two? That woman¡¯s eyes are practically dripping with admiration." "The woman is a female Ph.D. student, the man is Doctor Jiang." Liu Wenkai said, gesturing with his lips, "Put on shoe covers first; we¡¯ll go over to say hello to Captain Jiang and see if there are any park issues to ask you." "Okay." Qiu Li nodded without hesitation, dressing properly, then bravely walked towards the two people on thewn. Liu Wenkai sensed something was wrong, gave Qiu Li a curious look, and said, "At times like this, shouldn¡¯t you be backing out?" ``` The newly appointed civil servant Qiu Li nced at Liu Wenkai with the corner of his eye and said, "I prefer tall ones." The middle-aged official Liu Wenkai looked at Qiu Li in surprise, "But... shouldn¡¯t you ask if Captain Jiang is seeing anyone?" "I¡¯ve already spotted apetitor. What¡¯s one more?" said Qiu Li, swiftly dressing and stepping onto thewn. The approaching figure immediately caught Qiao Shengli¡¯s attention. Qiao Shengli and Qiu Li locked eyes, both bing serious. At this moment, Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice came, "Everyone step off thewn. We need to conduct a thorough investigation here to see if we can find any clues rted to the victim." "Aren¡¯t there any bloodstains or anything?" asked Liu Wenkai, oblivious to Qiu Li, his expression bing serious. Having worked on many cases, he was somewhat familiar with legal botany now and knew that pollen maps could prove the victim oncey on thiswn but did not necessarily mean they were killed here. Of course, with the victim¡¯s time of death considered, the likelihood of being killed in the park was high, but it was also possible that they fell here or were simply engaged in a wild battle, only to be murdered elsewhere shortly afterward. Thinking of wild battles, Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t help but scan the surroundings, his brow furrowing in thought. Jiang Yuan was simrly deep in thought and said, "The victim¡¯s body is quite dposed, but from the current analysis, when the victim was killed, there may not have been a lot of blood. Additionally, due to the passage of time, even if there were small amounts of blood stain, they might have dposed." The almost invincible Luminal and other reagents depicted in TV shows work best inside man-made structures. Because artificial buildingsck natural dposers, bloodstains and such can persist for long periods¡ªeven decades¡ªdespite using high concentrations of cleaning agents, they might not be entirely cleaned. The real nature hardly needs cleaning agents. For thousands, tens of thousands, millions of years, countless bodies have perished in nature, many withrger body sizes and bone densities than humans, yet none of their flesh remains. Even in agricultural fields, bones will gradually dpose if left unattended, and those burial mounds at the edge of fields will bergely vanished after three generations unless maintained. While the park isn¡¯t quite as strong, the grass rich with dog feces has nurtured many dposers. If the victim¡¯s bleeding wasn¡¯t significant, a few days would suffice. Moreover, the grasnd with abundant organic matter has very chaotic DNA, and finding even a trace amid suchrge areas is incredibly challenging without solid evidence. "Doesn¡¯t that mean it was a futile trip?" Liu Wenkai thought about the private jet they took together, feeling somewhat uneasy. Jiang Yuan operated Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation, calmly stating, "Let¡¯s take samples first and then examine the surroundings." A crime scene isn¡¯t just a murder site; the suspect¡¯s entry routes, and any changes in the surrounding environment, are part of the crime scene. Police daily investigations inevitably involve these aspects. Liu Wenkai was somewhat worried due to emotional attachment, mainly because it¡¯s not his specialty. Jiang Yuan said nothing, and together with his younger trainee and another forensic technician from Luo Jin City began walking around the park. Near thewn, besides Luo Jin City¡¯s Pang Jidong and Director Xu, Ningtai¡¯s Huang Qiangmin and Lanyue¡¯s Jian Louyuan were also present. Everyone¡¯s expression was particrly solemn. This case has essentially be a coborative effort among three provinces, and for a disciplined force like the police, honor is always paramount. A force driven by money will never surpass one fueled by honor¡ªbecause human needs are infinite while material resources are limited, only spiritual honor can perfectly match human spiritual needs. No matter how much money is given, there will always be times when it¡¯s insufficient; even with a lot of money, when lives are at stake, anyone would hesitate. Only honor can drive people to sacrifice fearlessly. Thus, disciplined forces constantly prioritize honor. This case, moreover, has tightened the strings for the three provinces¡¯ teams. Qiu Li sensed the atmosphere, and his body, ustomed to the leisurely department, suddenly became excited, instinctively following behind Jiang Yuan. "There aren¡¯t many cameras in the park, and their positioning is quite average. Yet, the perpetrator avoiding all cameras shows certain professionalism," said Jiang Yuan¡ªLevel 3 Technical Surveince & Level 6 Image Investigation Trajectory Analysis. "There¡¯s no personnel guarding the park entrances, and the camera at the east gate is crooked, but they likely didn¡¯t use the east gate. The surrounding walls are quite low, with fences built on brick structures¡ªthe bricks can be stepped on, and the fence is damaged... Considering the perpetrator could transport the body over 300 meters, climbing over this fence shouldn¡¯t be difficult." Jiang Yuan¡ªLevel 4 Brick Laying & Level 4 Forensic Material Evidence & Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation. "The routes within the park are rather concealed, and there aren¡¯t many people around. If dealing with a body, there should be many ces in the park to consider¡ªtransporting it out isn¡¯t hard, but it also indicates a strong motive from the perpetrator." Jiang Yuan¡ªLevel 2 Pathfinding in the Woods. As Jiang Yuan spoke, Wang Chuanxing took notes beside him. Qiao Shengli and Qiu Li stood to the left and right, listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s assured tone, their eyes shining brightly as they followed him, while each also observed the other with suspicion. Chapter 1193 - 1123 Hard Work

Chapter 1193: Chapter 1123 Hard Work

Jiang Yuan made a full round inside the park, and then walked along a few roads outside the park again. Qiu Li insisted on following, and when her legs turned to jelly from walking straight, she instinctively wanted to give up. Then she saw the ck-haired, long-striding female Ph.D. student briskly walking, which renewed her strength. As they walked further, Qiu Li began to feel happy. Since she seeded in passing the civil service exam, she rarely felt the joy of working hard and breaking through her limits. Sometimes, when you have been idle for too long, andck neither money nor burdens, you eat what you want, y as you wish, go where you please... after that, even just finding a direction to strive for feels precious. "That¡¯s about it," Jiang Yuan said while looking around, instructing the Luojin City Bureau¡¯s criminal police to assist in collecting surveince footage. There are quite a few surveince cameras around, those built by public institutions just need coordination, but private cameras are actually more numerous. Cameras in shops, malls, parking lots, and various public and private units have footing, but those on trams or private residences are much more troublesome to locate, though they are all surveince cameras and should be equal. The most important thing is, of course, the task force is well-staffed and can afford this surplus of manpower. Watching other police officers search shop by shop along the street, Jiang Yuan turned to Pang Jidong and said, "Let¡¯s head to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade first. Bring along the collected footage for synchronization, see if we can find the murderer¡¯s vehicle used to transport the body." At the film city, moving a body a few hundred meters is already very exaggerated, moving it out of this park would be too exhausting. It¡¯s an impossible task with mere human power, so a vehicle must be involved. A criminal policeman apanying Pang Jidong, having followed all the way, couldn¡¯t help but interject, "It might not be transporting a body. If the victim was threatened, they could have walked out with the killer. In that case, they would have more route choices..." "Impossible," Jiang Yuan immediately denied it, realizing his tone was a bit stiff, he continued, "The pollen on the victim isyered, such as arge amount of clover pollen and corresponding pollen maps, indicating he encountered trouble in this park. If he could normally contact the outside world, he should have more varieties of pollen on him..." To rify, Jiang Yuan reorganized his words, saying, "The pollen analysis on the victim basically confirms he was murdered in the park and the body was carried out." "Then we can look for regr park-goers, see if anyone saw someone carrying a body or carrying a person." Pang Jidong picked up the topic, offering a suggestion that wasn¡¯t quite a suggestion. Jiang Yuan nodded, "We can ask around, let¡¯s go, head to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade first." Interview-based investigations, despite their uncertainty, have solved many cases. This skill pertains to the police craft, and continuing it is definitely feasible. However, even if a suspect emerges through interviews, it requires the follow-up cooperation of Criminal Science technicians. For instance, identifying the killer through park surveince cameras, if the killer avoided all the park cameras, it might require sketch artists to draw the killer¡¯s likeness. Or, use interviews to reduce the workload for criminal police, like pinpointing the killer¡¯s direction of travel, knowing which way they went might aid the investigation. But given the current abundant resources, the task force¡¯s demand in this area isn¡¯t strong. Even if interviewing park walkers, seniors, or dog owners might reveal some information, the task force still leans towards moreprehensive investigations. For Jiang Yuan specifically, although the park cameras are inadequate, vehicle checkpoints outside the park areplete. This means any vehicle leaving the park is likely captured by cameras. This configuration ismon in provincial capital cities now. People might not take usual routes, but vehiclenes are few. With an Image Investigation team, sorting city cameras slightly doesn¡¯t add much cost. Nextes the photo-taking. With today¡¯s technology, storage cost is no longer a concern for the police force. Jiang Yuan issued orders, Mu Zhiyang made a couple of sounds on the walkie-talkie, and soon a Coaster stopped by. One by one, Jiang Yuan and others boarded, with Qiu Li hurrying to join. Mu Zhiyang hesitated, reaching out to block the door, "You¡¯re from the park management, no need to follow us." Qiao Shengli nced and smiled slightly, flicking her long, straight hair. Qiu Li felt her chest was about to explode, fervent with adrenaline, and said intelligently, "Aren¡¯t you going to check surveince around the park? I¡¯m familiar with the park surroundings, I¡¯ve walked these roads often and been involved in the city¡¯s management department transformation..." Thisst qualification caused Jiang Yuan to raise an eyebrow, "Let here up then." Jiang Yuan agreed, so naturally, others had nothing more to say. Luojin City Image Reconnaissance Brigade. On the screens,rge and small up front, dozens of surveince videos yed simultaneously, Jiang Yuan... Jiang Yuan naturally couldn¡¯t keep up. But the police¡¯s greatest difference from criminals is their numbers. Even a police officer like Jiang Yuan with extraordinary individual skills wouldn¡¯t go solo. In fact, Jiang Yuan¡¯s basic setup for solving a case now is a cold case squad of over 30 specialized police academy graduates with more than five years of experience, a team of several old veteran Ningtai County criminal police, and a local criminal police squad of around 20, alongside both local Criminal Science and Technology Centers. And this is just standby force. When needed, Jiang Yuan frequently mobilizes official police forces counted in the hundreds, equipped with armed long-gunmen, and logistics including vehicles and even private aircraft, incurring incalcble costs. Even the most strategically adept Liu Jinghui, considers bringing a criminal police squad foundational. Jiang Yuan now wouldn¡¯t be courteous with criminal suspects. All officers in the Image Reconnaissance Brigade who were home, were assigned one or several screens, working hard to review them. Admittedly, watching surveince videos entails numerous viewing techniques, especially wide-angle surveince, where distortion varies with positions, requiring time to get ustomed to for better identification. Jiang Yuan continuously participated in video synchronization. This is where Image Investigation bes tricky: one camera¡¯s view is limited, but another might not connect seamlessly, or even if it does, urately transferring between cameras requires some mental effort. Here, without a film editor¡¯s help, many image changes appear like montage. The criminal police from the Image Investigation Brigade hope to see the murderers carrying or concealing Zhang Lei¡¯s body, but after watching hours of surveince following Zhang Lei¡¯s appearance, they found no such footage. Everyone¡¯s gaze inevitably turned to Jiang Yuan. "Time-wise, the killer killed Zhang Lei and should be driving straight to Lanyue City. They should take about a day on the road. However, the investigation in Lanyue City found that only a few cars from Baijiang Province arrived there," Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui, "Thus, the killer likely switched vehicles?" "They may also have switched license tes," Liu Jinghui said, "A swapped te car is more convenient, no need for moving bodies. Swapping cars requires some preparation, a bit bothersome." "If the te was well cloned, even cloning their own car¡¯s te, it bes nearly untraceable," said the Image Investigation Brigade Chief. The brigade often handles such cases and is experienced. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Then do some hard work, only look at car models and colors, not tes, see how many cars ovep between Lanyue City Film and Television City and the park in Luo Jin City. We can even ignore color, just look at model..." "Then there will be many oveps," the Brigade Chief counted on his fingers, "Road trip staples like Japanese-made ord, Camry, Teana, plus the Jetta, Bora, Passat... oh, and Wuling Hongguang... these models dominate, and distinguishing generations of models given these lookalike cars, it adds too much workload... otherwise, scan with software first, see if anything pops up directly." "Software scanning is fine too," Liu Jinghui didn¡¯tpletely dismiss it. The Image Investigation software suite is vast, but all built on image reading, therefore uracy is never high. It suffices for general security enforcement but uneasy for solving homicide cases. Jiang Yuan, watching the constantly changing surveince video, slowly said, "Speaking of hard work, how about this, pull out all vehicles appearing within 12 hours after Zhang Lei¡¯s appearance and see if any exited the city. Having killed someone, the killer with a mode of transport shouldn¡¯t certainly switch vehicles." "Not necessarily," Liu Jinghui opposed earnestly, "Maybe the murder wasmitted with an electric car, switching to a fuel car for highway driving is possible." Qiu Li, listening with wide eyes nearby, couldn¡¯t help but speak up seeing Liu Jinghui refute Jiang Yuan, "If neither works, you have so many people, try all methods then." "Do you know trying them all costs money, and requires people?" Liu Jinghui chuckled. Qiu Li pouted, "I don¡¯t care about all that; all I want are results." Liu Jinghui paused, then said, "This youngdy, your thinking is exactly like our leader¡¯s." Chapter 1194 - 1124 Rigorous

Chapter 1194: Chapter 1124 Rigorous

Vehicle inspection sounds simple, but it¡¯s actually a very troublesome process. On one hand, it¡¯s difficult to recognize vehicles in surveince footage; not all cars are perfectly centered in the frame, clearly showing their emblems and grilles. Some vehicles are at the edges of the frame, which makes severe distortion easier to manage, but the biggest fear is missing or misidentifying something. It¡¯s like searching for something at home. Ransacking through drawers and cabs isn¡¯t hard; the real trouble is fearing that you¡¯ve missed something. If it¡¯s just a casual search, that¡¯s one thing, but if you¡¯re required to find it and are unsure whether the item is in the house, that¡¯s the most exasperating task. Checking vehicles is simr for the Image Reconnaissance Brigade. The difficulty isn¡¯t high, but doing it is a hassle. If it¡¯s a minor case, a casual check is fine, but facing major cases can be nerve-wracking. Fortunately, there are still many young police officers avable, and mature officers seconded from municipalities are even more useful. Images of vehicles are sorted out and sent to the second tier in batches, and those with some doubt are forwarded to the third tier for on-site handling. This kind of case makes even making phone calls difficult; personnel are dispatched in groups of four, which is quitebor-intensive. Commercially speaking, if manpower and resources were converted to money, each major case would cost thousands of times more than the value of the case itself. Jiang Yuan stayed in themand room of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, pulling an all-nighter with everyone. The difficulty of image investigation remains quite high. Jiang Yuan, armed with several relevant skills, could help from time to time. Going back to sleep wasn¡¯t an option, and even mentioning collective rest, someone as reliable as Pang Jidong wouldn¡¯t consent either. Pursue the enemy to the bitter end with courage... If you don¡¯t act on clues promptly, theter you chase, the more sleepless nights you¡¯ll endure. Of course, the greatest likelihood is failing to solve the case. Just like many cases in Europe and America, where officers work at a leisurely pace, nine to five, taking breaks when needed, leaving lots of murder cases unsolved is unavoidable. People all speak ofborws, while police, doctors, and online writers are considered inhuman. "I had someone make some sushi and slightly seared beef, feel free to eat a little," Jiang Yuan said. Despite not having holidays and a modest sry, his father was wealthy, providing an outlet for his hardships. The sushi was made by a chef invited from Changning District, reputed to be more authentic than Tokyo¡¯s. Considering the number of people and their taste preferences, only grilled Wagyu sushi, salmon sushi, and foie gras sushi were served. The in boiled beef was even simpler: slices were cooked in arge pot and served in batches for everyone to dip in sauces as they liked. Besides, Jiang Yuan had someone cook arge batch of hand-pulled noodles. Those who preferred it as soup could scoop beef broth and add beef slices, while those who liked dry noodles could opt for the grilled beef or even mix in foie gras, making it equally delicious and oily. The morale of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade was greatly boosted. In one day and night, after multiple suspect vehicles were screened and eliminated, an Audi A6 was ranked as the number one suspect. "By timing, two and a half hours after Zhang Lei appeared, this vehicle left Luo Jin City all the way." The chief of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade had mapped out the routes of this car, showing considerable effort. "Have you found the owner?" Jiang Yuan could tell it wouldn¡¯t be that simple at a nce. The chief shook his head slightly, "It¡¯s a shadow vehicle, having changed hands several times, still under investigation." Shadow vehicles are among the cheapest of defect vehicles; it¡¯s not hard to buy a shadow Mercedes for twenty to thirty thousand yuan. The problem is shadow cars can¡¯t be transferred. Simple ones may be held by someone on behalf of the owner due to registration issues; in more severe cases, owners involved in incidents abroad couldn¡¯t process it on time, leaving them no choice but to sell rather than transfer. The worst and mostmon shadow cars are those pledged as coteral, often rented out and then sold without notifying the rentalpany. These shadow cars are essentially vehicles tied to property disputes, which rentalpanies can reim anytime. It¡¯s verymon for people to buy a shadow car, only for it to go missing suddenly, and police rarely intervene, treating it as an economic dispute, leaving victims to pursuewsuits themselves. Moreover, such shadow cars can also suffer water damage, idents, fire, or odometer rollback. Thus, while some might spend 700,000 to buy an imported Mercedes coupe, others might get one for a few thousand. For the police, these vehicles greatly increase the difficulty of the investigation. The system that could originally trace the owner through the vehicle is practically useless here. Fortunately, the video surveince at checkpoints was clear enough that once the vehicle was identified, the driver¡¯s and passenger¡¯s faces were distinctly visible, including their interaction. Through other surveince along the way, it was found that there were a total of three people in the car. "It¡¯s not just a simple conspiracy," Liu Jinghui immediately judged after seeing the photos. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, then assigned tasks, saying: "You determine the identities, I¡¯ll trace their route first. It¡¯s best if we can find all the surveince from various ces." Listening to this, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but twitch his eyelids, "You¡¯ve set up big task for yourself." The chief of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade added, "Actually, it¡¯s not necessary; finding where they switched cars is sufficient." Tracing a car¡¯s route isn¡¯t just about checking surveince now. Even for units like Image Reconnaissance, few ces have province-wide resources avable, most provinces¡¯ units act independently on a municipal basis. In other words, if Jiang Yuan wanted to identify all surveince of the vehicle, he¡¯d not only have to contact reconnaissance units across multiple provinces, potentially liaising with a dozen or so municipalities. Ordinarily, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t do this. But with a mandate for thorough investigation,promising wasn¡¯t an option. Jiang Yuan picked up his phone, saying decisively, "Let Cui Xiaohu assist." Saying that, Jiang Yuan went to make the call. He¡¯s used to liaising withw enforcement in multiple locations from his work outside. The police from Luo Jin City Bureau and Lanyue City Bureau were not ustomed to this, looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s back with inexplicable amazement. After a long time, Jian Louyuan said, "Captain Jiang is not only outstanding in skills but truly conscientious and rigorous." "Master is a nemesis of evil." The oldest in the group, Pang Jidong, showed admiration in his eyes. Miao Ruixiang, who came to learn, listened to everyone¡¯s words and quietly took notes. Pang Jidong noticed and couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, saying, "Little Master Shu, you can capture a back view of the Master, and it can be used for award ceremoniester; it¡¯s handsome." Chapter 1195 - 1125: The Difficult Sutra

Chapter 1195: Chapter 1125: The Difficult Sutra

"These three people haven¡¯t left any facial recognition information to confirm their identities." Cui Xiaohu¡¯s call came back, with a serious tone. Thew enforcement agencies have be very proficient in using face recognition systems. Common ces, such as high-speed rail stations and airports, require face recognition not only to pass but with cameras above constantly operating. Those with experiences being checked by traffic police also know that with just a scan, their handheld device can obtain personal IDs, driving licenses, and even hotel records. Simrly, facial information faces both database and permission issues, but regardless of calctions, when Cui Xiaohu finds no relevant information, it means these three people are essentially outside the mainstream system. If those kind of people are extremely poor, it¡¯s rtively normal. Some have never ridden a high-speed rail or airne in their lives, nor have they entered strange venues, so leaving a nk is understandable. But these three driving an Audi, even if just a second-hand car, or rather, because they are driving a second-hand car with nk faces, makes them appear suspicious. "Are they professionals?" Jiang Yuan held the phone, immediately recalling various cases he handled. "Very likely." Cui Xiaohu sounded excited. "Looks like you¡¯ve uncovered a major case again. I¡¯ll report to the bureauter and register it for you." "Uh, alright. Thank you, Mr. Cui." It¡¯s something that grassroots police officers dream of, so Jiang Yuan responded without pretension. Cui Xiaohuughed heartily, "It¡¯s not about me... the key is that you can solve the case. Otherwise, if I register the case for you and it remains unsolved, or solved halfway, it won¡¯t look good for anyone. Well, back to the case, if they are professional criminals, what type do you think they are?" "Zhang Lei himself is a professional criminal, it¡¯s hard to say, maybe he offended someone or there¡¯s a conflict of interest..." Jiang Yuan said casually, recalling Liu Wenkai¡¯s spection, an idea struck him, "Maybe he had an affair with some big shot¡¯s woman, leading them to send people over, or hire someone." "Messed with someone¡¯s woman? Is Zhang Lei that daring? Isn¡¯t their Binren Gang already into vice operations,cking women?" Cui Xiaohu, being in the department, clearly didn¡¯t have the detailed imagination of grassroots police officers. Jiang Yuan recalled Liu Wenkai¡¯s previous words and exined, "Maybe Zhang Lei is particrly skilled at seducing women, so he attracted a big shot¡¯s woman?" "She threw herself at him? That¡¯s impressive!" Cui Xiaohu was astonished again, then wiped his mouth, "What you say makes sense, if it¡¯s not that big shot¡¯s woman taking the initiative, he wouldn¡¯t dare." "Not quite to that extent..." "You mean..." "In any case, we should consider the factors of hired assassins." Jiang Yuan mentioned so much to emphasize the term hired assassins. Though it¡¯s amon trope in movies, for police, "hired assassin" is rather unfamiliar terminology. Actually, for someone willing to murder, it basically means they¡¯re ready to take on the highest risk, and at this point, it¡¯s just about finding the project yielding the greatest benefit. Guidance from books or predecessors is unnecessary; it¡¯s a choice instinctive to humans, where smarter individuals are more likely to find high return projects. For someone resorting to killing for hire, it¡¯s almost the lowest ss of choices. Normally, this should not be an option. A very reasonable scenario description: wouldn¡¯t a hired assassin require a deposit? So, what¡¯s the correct choice for the assassin upon receiving this deposit? Could it be to adhere to contractual spirit and start killing in vition of societal contracts? Killing leads to a life sentence, while fraud results in only a few years imprisonment. Intelligent hired assassins should run away once they get the deposit. If purely for money, wouldn¡¯t scamming a few bad, dumb, cowardly financiers be a better option? However, to say hired assassins don¡¯t exist at all is exaggerating. The world is vast, with countless people, and all kinds of bizarre urrences are present. If a person uses reason, understands analysis, loves detective novels, and knows how to weigh pros and cons in real life, typically, they don¡¯t need to agonize over bing a hired killer. But as a police officer, to utter "hired assassin," Jiang Yuan still needs some pretext. Cui Xiaohu couldpletely understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s reservations, and said thoughtfully, "The dark web?" "It might also be some big shot hiring them," Jiang Yuan added. He didn¡¯t think Binren Gang¡¯s leader hired them, although they could, but as mentioned in interrogations, there¡¯s no need. Cui Xiaohu became serious, "This situation must be taken seriously. We absolutely cannot let them form a pattern." "Indeed, we¡¯ll expedite the investigation. Additionally, Director Liu is considering whether it¡¯s a new drug route, given these three raced over 1000 kilometers, and is seeking rted intelligence." Jiang Yuan mentioned the second purpose for his call. "Understood, I¡¯ll immediately call for inquiries." Cui Xiaohu promised promptly. The transportation of drugs both domestically and internationally actually follows predetermined routes, most of which are known by the police. It¡¯s just that due to certain limitations, they cannot bepletely blocked. Or rather, it is because they are difficult to block that they be drug routes. If any drug syndicate or group can establish a new drug route, they will immediately possess the resource of a king. For instance, the traditional drug route to Japan involvesnding at Fukuoka, then transporting by road to Tokyo. This is a route known to all police, with high risk factors. But due to therge traffic volume andck of specific drug transport information, the police can at most conduct random checks, hence the route remains in use to this day. The emerging route to Japan goes from Hui Province to Hu City, then directly by human carriers flying to Narita Airport, using grease tobat sniffer dogs. They win in Kabukicho, but lose in Fuchu Qingjian Town. Larger-scale drug cartels handle even more extensive drugworks. Not to mention the traditional "Golden Triangle" and "Golden Crescent," the slightly newer "Silver Triangle" routes from Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil¡¯s Andes and Amazon areas, exporting via ocean freight containers or ship structures directly to China. Not to mention, there are numerous 100,000-ton freightersing from Brazil alone. The newer ck Triangle follows the "Antic-Guinea" corridor,posed of the borders of Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, and South Africa, as well as Guinea Bay. These transport corridors are also tested by drug dealers through their lives, and the police¡¯s task, at least for now, is only to increase the costs of drug cartels, making them pay with more human lives. Organizations like Interpol are primarily there to deal with such transnational crime organizations. For Cui Xiaohu and other department police officers, this is also the type of case they focus on the most. Speaking of the request to call upon surveince video along the route, Cui Xiaohu readily agreed. Jiang Yuan put down the phone, smiled at Liu Jinghui and others nearby, and said, "Mr. Cui is quite proactive." "You¡¯ve already raised the request, how could they not be proactive?" Liu Jinghui said with a hint of resentment. In simr situations, if he were the one to propose it, even the provincial department would have to think twice. Though Jiang Yuan always manages to provide a substantial amount of objective evidence, in this case, Jiang Yuan hasn¡¯t actually offered any evidence. "It¡¯s also the case type that¡¯s gaining more attention," Jiang Yuan replied. "That¡¯s also true... Whether it¡¯s a contract killing or a drug-rted case, they tend to be moreplex. The follow-up investigation will probably not be easy," Liu Jinghui refrained from using terms like professional hitman. Temporary killers are moremon than lifelong ones. "Looking at the surveince videos along the route? The workload is indeed heavy, but the difficulty should be manageable," Jiang Yuan smiled. Liu Jinghui shook his head with augh and said, "You find watching surveince difficult not too high, but getting the police bureaus along the way to cooperate... Even if Cui Xiaohu steps in, people at most would give the department a face, and when ites to actually calling the data, not to mention anything else, they¡¯d need time, and someone willing to help you, right?" "This... is true," Jiang Yuan, not being a neer, naturally understood this truth. In fact, if other units demanded the Ningtai County Bureau to cooperate with investigating certain data, the Ningtai County Bureau would definitely prioritize Jiang Yuan and then respond to other demands. "We can first find some acquaintances; with a little smoothing over, the actions of the relevant provincial or city bureaus should be faster." "Alright, then let¡¯s first prepare a list." "Sure. If we can¡¯t find connections in certain provinces or citiester, just have acquaintances seek out acquaintances. With your current reputation, finding people should be no problem," Liu Jinghui felt gratified to see the Dragon nodding, as the value of a Dragon Knight is to point the way for the Dragon. "Swallow the storm, kiss the rain, bury the sunset without ever hesitating, deceive the mountains, chase the sea, tread the snowy paths without despair..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone ringtone sounded. "Unknown number," Jiang Yuan said as he answered, "Hello, yes... Oh, oh, thank you, alright... Much appreciated..." Jiang Yuan quickly ended the call, then looked up, saying, "It¡¯s the Image Reconnaissance Brigade of the Ping Meng City Bureau, saying they heard we wanted to retrieve the video database and are sending people over to cooperate with us now." "Cooperate with us?" Liu Jinghui was puzzled, thinking at first, did some bureau go broke, or is there some odd local policy again... "That¡¯s what they said," Jiang Yuan said, as his phone rang again. Jiang Yuan answered and exchanged greetings before putting it down. Before he could speak, the phone vibrated again: Swallow the storm, kiss the... Jiang Yuan switched to speaker mode this time. Soon, a police-like bass came through the call: "Director Jiang? I¡¯m Wang Jian from the Zhanqiu Investigation Team¡¯s Political Committee. I heard you need our support in providing some surveince data. How about this, I will arrange for our professional policemen to bring theputer and key over first, he¡¯s already on his way, should take about an hour by high-speed rail, including travel time, he should arrive in about two hours..." Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but look at Pang Jidong. Are the brains on this side borrowing each other? Chapter 1196 - 1126: With Charisma

Chapter 1196: Chapter 1126: With Charisma

"Captain Jiang, these are the data from our Zhanqiu City." "Director Jiang, I¡¯ve already connected to our Ping Meng City data center." "Director Jiang..." All the cities surrounding the expressway from Luo Jin City to Lanyue City have basically sent people over. The Luojin City Bureau is providing excellent hospitality, and Director Xu even personally came to visit. Even if it¡¯s a meeting, Luo Jin City would not normally be able to gather criminal police from several neighboring provinces together. The key is that usually, the ones attending meetings are often young members from various Criminal Police Teams, but this time, those who took the initiative toe over are key figures from each team, those whose words carry weight. But most of the words Director Xu hears are still starting with "Jiang." Director Xu smiles appropriately, maintains a stable disposition, and eventually personally approaches Jiang Yuan to greet him, saying, "Director Jiang, how¡¯s the progress? Is there anything we can help with?" "You can just call me Jiang Yuan." Jiang Yuan quickly replied, "So far, the progress is smooth. The officers from Image Investigation are currently organizing video files from all sides. We¡¯ve basically been able to track the car. Currently, the car has been seen exiting the expressway at Ping Meng City, but from our judgment, the suspect might have changed cars or tes at the service area before exiting the expressway. We¡¯re waiting for the service area¡¯s surveince footage." This is one of the reasons why we must use local image investigation; footage from the expressway is easy to obtain, and the police surveince footage in the service area is essible too, but the suspects usually hide in blind spots of the surveince. At this time, we need local police to visit in person and find other vehicles or building videos. Jiang Yuan is currently reviewing video from a convenience store. This video only captures a few seconds of the vehicle passing by slowly, but just these few seconds allowed Jiang Yuan to use image enhancement and at least confirm the presence of three suspects. Furthermore, considering the position of the convenience store and surrounding surveince, the location of the monitor¡¯s blind spot where the suspect¡¯s Audi was parked is almost certain. A group of image investigation officers, without needing a reminder, immediately and skillfully began identifying surrounding vehicles, then started calling the owners one by one. "Hello, is this Mr... Li? I¡¯m a criminal police officer from the Ping Meng City Bureau. Do you have a Cadic with a dashcam under your name?" "Hello..." Vehicles came and went in the service area, with some just stopping for three minutes due to the shallow boredom and leaving, so not only cars parked at the right angle could capture video, but vehicles in motion, perhaps with a single turn, could also capture footage of the so-called blind spots. With the cooperation of local police, once the desired video was identified, it could immediately contact the local police station or Criminal Police Team to find witnesses nearby. Watching everyone making calls and receiving video, a few leaders present had a sense of stepping back thoughtfully. Coordination was so easy, it really was beyond many people¡¯s imagination, or rather, it was like the ideal scenario in many leaders¡¯ dreams¡ªyes, leaders are people too, with dreams. Luojin City Bureau¡¯s own chief, Director Xu, watched the entire process, reluctant to leave. After all, Jiang Yuan and others were busy in the Luo Jin City Image Reconnaissance Brigade, using resources from Luo Jin City. And Director Xu himself hadmanded and viewedmands onsite many times, but in recalling prior scenes, he felt that the current scenes werepletely different in style. "Jiang Yuan really has a bit of the essence of a national detective," Director Xu pondered, feeling quite emotional. The head of the Criminal Police Brigade beside him apanied with a smile, "He¡¯s quite capable of everything. Forensic doctors who understand trace inspection aremon, but it¡¯s rare to find someone who also understands image investigation..." "I wasn¡¯t talking about that..." Director Xu shook his head, "What¡¯s difficult is that everyone is willing to cooperate with him." "He can solve cases." "There are many who can solve cases, of course. The cases Jiang Yuan solves are indeed impressive, but the core is his level ofpletion. In the cases Jiang Yuan handles, there is rarely need for supplementary investigations at least until the testing stage. He can catch the real culprit..." Director Xu paused, looked again at the busy people, then said, "Go buy some oranges for everyone, get the good ones, the ugly oranges." "Yes, sir." The brigade leader immediately instructed it down. Director Xu¡¯s tradition, the more satisfied he is, the more he likes to give food, especially fruit, like a grandmother from the countryside. "Captain Jiang, look at this video!" An image investigation officer shouted. Jiang Yuan immediately walked over. "This is just received from Xiao Peng¡¯s car owner¡¯s dashcam," the image investigation officer said as he yed the video. The car owner was probably parking, and in the few seconds of turning the car around, the scene of the suspect getting out of the Audi was captured. This time there was no need for image enhancement; it was clear that two people were moving a ck bag and then taking down tworge boxes. "So tant? This bag is a body bag, right?" The image investigation officers were shocked. Liu Jinghui replied with an "um," saying, "They were probably busy dealing with these two boxes, so they didn¡¯t even have time to dispose of the body and came right over. In this situation, their open manner wouldn¡¯t really matter even if they were seen by others." "That mental quality is really something." "It¡¯s probably also due to constraints, otherwise, getting a box... a box wouldn¡¯t work either; you can¡¯t fit a body in a small box, and Zhang Lei¡¯s build isrge. You definitely can¡¯t fit into a 28-inch suitcase, even a 34-inch one..." Jiang Yuan estimated roughly. Liu Jinghui said, "It¡¯s unnecessary, their other two boxes aren¡¯t small either, there should be important items inside, otherwise, they would have split them. Looking at it this way, it doesn¡¯t seem like drugs..." As he said this, the brows of several people present furrowed. For some people, it¡¯s like having a bowl of garlic oil sauce already mixed, only to find out it¡¯s neither for hot pot nor even dumplings! "Drugs indeed aren¡¯t transported like this. Where did they move the stuff to?" A police officer from the Anti-Drug Brigade asked directly. "They got into a truck. Two of them got in the truck, and another person drove a BMW and followed." The image investigation team adjusted several monitors to capture this scene. "So, they even switched two cars simultaneously, with a truck driver cooperating?" The anti-drug police looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, "This resource allocation ability is really strong, but it indeed isn¡¯t the typical method of drug traffickers. Nowadays, drug traffickers at least don¡¯t go this deep, nor do they transport drugs this way." "Then what are they transporting?" Director Xu pressed. The anti-drug policeman looked at the boxes for a long time and hesitated before saying, "Judging by the form, could it be arms?" "Firearms?" "Not necessarily. Short guns wouldn¡¯t require this. It¡¯s at least long guns or explosives that would need special boxes; long guns generally need oiling for proper storage." The anti-drug officer gestured briefly, saying, "In dealing with international cases, sometimes we encounter arms dealers; it feels somewhat simr in style." Chapter 1197 - 1127: Gun

Chapter 1197: Chapter 1127: Gun

"With guns, the problem bes serious." In theory, Director Xu could tolerate the appearance of drugs; a bit more wouldn¡¯t be an issue. Although domestic anti-drug efforts are very serious, there are still 5 million existing addicts in the country, and drugs for them are essential. If supply is scarce, it only increases their purchasing cost, slightly reduces their consumption, but overall, the country consumes about 5 million levels of drugs yearly. So, for a city bureau chief in a provincial capital, catching drug dealers or seizing drugs is a part of daily work. As for firearms...ordinary firearms are also part of daily work, but if the big box in the video is filled with firearms and ammunition, Director Xu would be a bit nervous. These guys are taking the boxes on the highway; in other words, these firearms are essentially in cirction,pletely different from those buried in collectors¡¯ basements. The number of cases a long gun canmit is quite a lot. No need to think about things like bank robbery; nobody does that nowadays, but turf wars are a necessity. Not only active organizations fight for territory, but also many in mining, underground factories, even in power nts excavating coins, are highly interested in firearms. Director Xu suddenly jolted, saying, "Is Zhang Lei with that Binren Gang? Is he trying to buy guns?" "It¡¯s possible." Liu Jinghui had been pondering the question, but he thought deeper, unlike leaders like Director Xu who can speak without restraint¡ªalthough he engages in reasoning, it¡¯s based on dragon...no, it¡¯s based on evidence to judge. Liu Jinghui had long noticed Jiang Yuan muttering to himself nearby. Now, hearing the question, Liu Jinghui turned his head and asked, "Jiang Yuan, what do you think?" Jiang Yuan had been watching the screen, and when he heard the query, he straightened up and said, "I need to find more videos; I want to observe their gait..." When Jiang Yuan spoke, the room fell silent. Director Xu¡¯s eyebrows furrowed; in this aspect, his feelings are the deepest because he frequently enjoys this kind of treatment. Today, they are in the bureau¡¯s Image Investigationmand room, yet not everyone present is from Luojin City Bureau, which makes it seem as if Director Xu¡¯s speech is not receiving enough attention. Jiang Yuan talked about specific details relevant to solving the case, and everyone on the scene viewed it as the most valuable content¡ªsomething that evoked curiosity, naturally leading to silence as everyone listened intently. Director Xu¡¯s eyebrows rxed slightly; respect purely derived from technology or reputation is what every leader seeks, but most often seek in vain. Director Xu silently took out his phone, opened WeChat, and sent a message: Buy more big cherries, the imported ones, and have them delivered. He didn¡¯t understand the technology, but he certainly understood how to spend the budget! At this point, Jiang Yuan turned to look at the screen twice and said, "It seems they are definitely transporting heavy objects, with the center of gravity basically in the middle of the box. Judging by the state of these two people carrying the corpse, the weight of the box should be over forty kilograms." "Forty kilograms? With this size of a box, it definitely can¡¯t be drugs," Liu Jinghui said, looking at the narcotics squad police. The narcotics squad officer was very stern, saying, "Two boxes equal 80 kilograms; if it were drugs, it¡¯d merit a first ss distinction." He seemed to crack a joke, but he didn¡¯t smile, nor did anyone else find it amusing. "Two boxes of ammunition are more troublesome...where has it been transported? Where is it now?" Director Xu asked more gravely. "Most likely sent to Lanyue City," Liu Jinghui responded just as seriously. "If it¡¯s ammunition, a usible exnation might be Zhang Lei tried to buy goods, but due to various issues, he was killed. The opponent likely took him and the ammunition directly to Lanyue City¡¯s film studio. With so many firearm props in the film studio, blending in would be convenient." Jian Louyuan instantly tensed up. The pressure shifted to Lanyue City Bureau. Jian Louyuan pondered deeply, saying, "It¡¯s also possible they¡¯re prop firearms. The film studio is full of scammers; those dealing with props¡ªdidn¡¯t we catch a prop masterst time? They might have intended to deceive Zhang Lei, but Zhang Lei, being an expert and having a gangster background, could have been provoked into conflict." The narcotics squad officer nodded, saying, "This conjecture has a certain rationality. If they were professional traffickers, they should have a professional or rtively mature method for handling corpses. Discarding a corpse right outside its home base seems rather foolish." "This possibility can¡¯t be excluded," Liu Jinghui replied, still reasoning based on the detective model, while the world the narcotics police interacted with is evidently more brutal than the detectives¡¯. As they spoke, several people looked at Jiang Yuan. Director Xu felt slightly envious but also looked at Jiang Yuan. "As for the final destination, just keep tracking the car; colleagues from Image Investigation, please continue following the two vehicles they switched to. On my end..." Jiang Yuan nced down at his notebook, "I¡¯ve traced the switched-out Audi; it¡¯s likely entered a repair shop. We can apprehend these who provided cover for them first, which should give more leads." "These should be local thugs, right? Can you identify the people?" Director Xu felt a glimmer of hope. Jiang Yuan nodded, "I¡¯ve already identified several people; identifying them isn¡¯t hard. Hold on, I¡¯ll print the information here." Soon, the printer started whirring. Simultaneously, the electronic version of the information was sent to the Ping Meng City Bureau. The criminal police sent by the Ping Meng City Bureau immediately grabbed his phone to report to his superiors, his face turning red. Whether or not they could catch the big boss was a topic forter. For now, catching the small fry could earn a collective third-ss distinction as the base price; if the case wererge enough¡ªtruly involving two boxes of ammunition¡ªwinning a second-ss distinction in the first battle wouldn¡¯t be excessive, right...at least, thinking this way, it wouldn¡¯t be excessive! The Ping Meng City Bureau detective was delighted, and the director likewise acted quickly upon receiving the call. After a round of calls, Jiang Yuan¡¯s side began requesting new surveince video materials. Then it was about finding witnesses and the witnesses¡¯ vehicles... Jiang Yuan and the others were immersed in the tedious process of evidence collection and excavation. For technicians, tedium isn¡¯t necessarily a bad thing. Tedium means mature methods and stable output. The more creativity, innovation, and lightbulb moments a job required, the more it could endure tedium. Because innovating is exhausting, where there is tedium, water filler, and mature modeling, it offers a sense of security. Those engaged in creating novelty find, after a lengthy period, that when tedium sets in, happiness follows. ... Two hourster. In Luojin City¡¯s Image Investigationmand room, the face of Ping Meng City Bureau Director Wang Zhancheng shed on screen. "Director Xu. Hello." Ping Meng is a prefecture-level city, with the director just past the level for white shirts. Director Xu cheerfully greeted, "Lao Wang, you¡¯re personally taking action? Watch for safety, huh. This case may involve ammunition, differing in level of danger..." "Rest assured, we¡¯ve already prepared over here. Take a look..." Wang Zhancheng said while shifting the camera, revealing a squad currently inspecting equipment. Behind the squad, an armored wheeled infantry fighting vehicle stood steady, its barrel aimed upward and rotating leisurely. Jiang Yuan watching the screen nearly spat out water. Although domestically there are indeed 92-type wheeled IFVs modified into armored anti-riot vehicles, modified versus unmodified, they¡¯re two different concepts. Modified ones, certainly, don¡¯t have suchrge barrels. It is widely known that for unprotected targets, barrels of this size 25 are extremely terrifying. It has sufficient pration power and considerable explosive impact. The key is an extremely high firing rate with agile movements, capable of causing tremendous damage even in urban settings. It just feels like excessive firepower. Director Xu was also shocked, saying, "If you¡¯re contemting an assault, thermal imaging plus high-caliber sniper rifles can be effective." Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged a nce; Director Xu¡¯s experience was another level of rm. Wang Zhanchengughed twice, saying, "We considered that n, however, the repair shop we¡¯re nning to breakthrough into is concrete structure; general anti-material rifles may not prate it. The long-gun squad down there mentioned the situation, saying applying for anti-material was equally frustrating... Additionally, I¡¯m considering we aim to capture them alive as much as possible." "Grasping live targets with a rapid-fire cannon?" Director Xu smiled. Wang Zhancheng also grinned, further saying, "My n included, if their firepower is normal, I could let the IFV approach, take some shots, and see if it¡¯s unable to prate, they¡¯llply." Director Xu¡¯s emotions surged, sincerely stating, "Lao Wang is considerate." "It¡¯s only right; it¡¯s also our case. By the way, is Captain Jiang satisfied with our arrangements?" Wang Zhancheng slightly smiled. Chapter 1198 - 1128 Cannon

Chapter 1198: Chapter 1128 Cannon

The afternoon in Ping Meng City was a tranquil one. In the area near the highway on the outskirts, although there were several factories, not many were operational, making it look rather empty. If you took a walk, you¡¯d feel quite rxed. Unless a few hundred armed men showed up. A team of detectives moved swiftly through the alley entrance, equipped with Type 95 and Type 92 magazine pouches, work bags, and radio pouches, timing their movements as they began to evacuate the workers from the surrounding factories. The checkpoint at the alley was manned by an officer wearing a helmet, with a face mask, ceramic tes in his tactical vest, and both a submachine gun and a pistol in full view. The workers being led out were puzzled for a few seconds but soon became excited. Some whispered inquiries, while others disregarded warnings and took pictures with their phones. The leading detective snatched the phone away and handed it to the police officer receiving the people. Thetter cheerfully pulled them out of the line and escorted them to a nearby room for istion review. "Director Wang, my unit is all set. Please instruct." The deputy director in charge of criminal investigation came over and saluted properly. Wang Zhancheng took a deep breath and, without a word of nonsense, said, "Start." The wait of over two hours was not only for the arrival of the infantry fighting vehicle but also for nning. Eighty kilograms of military weapons sounds daunting no matter how they¡¯re packed. Especially in urbanbat, a fully automatic AK firing from the correct position can take out a squad in one sweep. No matter if the military police are wearing bulletproof vests or ceramic tes, at close range, a body hit by a high-power bullet will shatter without even considering if it¡¯s an armor-piercing round. Of course, without rifles or better equipment, there¡¯s no need to be this cautious. Even if it¡¯s a submachine gun, as long as it¡¯s using pistol rounds, police protection still makes a difference. But relying on the backwardness of the enemy¡¯s weapons for their lives is obviously unreliable. Wang Zhancheng and his team clearly couldn¡¯t bear the potential loss. They didn¡¯t even consider any form of assault operations. Rappelling assaults or sudden strikes, to professionals, are extremely dangerous maneuvers. It¡¯s not that they can¡¯t be used, but it¡¯s best to be well-trained. Many famous cases involved rebuilding the target area and training intensively for a month or two, simting various scenarios before actually going into action. So, it¡¯s not just exams that require practice. Special operations assaults or simple killings get stronger with more practice. Three SWAT officers started moving with shields. Behind them, another two groups of SWAT officers followed the same pattern. Simultaneously, the detectives started announcing: "Listen up inside, you are surrounded..." Wang Zhancheng watched the familiar siege scene, suddenly feeling a surge of adrenaline. "Someone is moving to the window. Should we shoot?" The observer next to the sniper, equipped with a thermal imaging device, immediately asked for instructions. "Warn them first." Wang Zhancheng hesitated for just a second. The officer on the PA immediately changed his tone: "Listen up inside, any action on your part might incur a shot, if you wish to surrender, raise your hands..." "Advance the infantry fighting vehicle." Wang Zhancheng felt like a general, even with just an iron lump. With such a treasure ahead, what can you do to me? The Type 92 infantry fighting vehicle rotated its turret and started moving slowly at the speed of a driving test. Inside the repair shop, there were exmations and screams, but listening closely, they all seemed like nonsensical words. The observer tensely reported: "Multiple people on the move... multiple people on the move!" At the same time, Jiang Yuan and others were watching the live scene in Ping Meng City through the cameras. Liu Jinghui, while chewing a big cherry, unceremoniouslymented: "The people of Ping Meng are too nervous. Since they¡¯ve decided to use an infantry vehicle, they should just ram it in. Moving slowly like this is giving the opponent time." "What can giving them time do." The anti-narcotics officer peeled an ugly tangerine and said: "Don¡¯t overestimate them. At this point, snipers are the most useful. As long as the sniper is skilled, even if they bring out an RPG, they¡¯re dead." A rocketuncher also needs aiming, and it¡¯s a surprise attack route when used against armored targets. Now that they¡¯re trapped in the repair shop, every move is under police surveince, and their resistance is greatly weakened. Director Xu nced at the nearly finished bowl of big cherries and signaled his subordinates before saying: "Ping Meng is also trying to capture the target as much as possible. Without the infantry fighting vehicle, who knows how long it would take to get them to surrender." A direct assault is possible, but if the opponent has weapons, the risk of a direct assault increases, and it might result in the target being killed. Normal police operation should starve out the target and focus on psychological tactics, preparing to outwait them until surrender. At this time, the police feel tired, and the target also feels very weary, unable to sleep alone is enough to make an ordinary criminal give up. But the Ping Meng City Bureau can¡¯t go this route. They¡¯re capturing suspects for interrogation to gain clues. It¡¯s feasible to drag it out for 24 or even 48 hours during peacetime, possibly exhausting the criminals. Now dragging for 8 hours, Wang Zhancheng would feel sorry for Jiang Yuan. Moreover, Wang Zhancheng has to prevent the criminals from destroying evidence. Whether it¡¯s military weapons or drugs, aplete seizure is very different from just a pile of residue. Compared to wage earners like Liu Jinghui, Director Xu particrly understands Wang Zhancheng. If he were to choose, he would also call in an armored vehicle. It doesn¡¯t have to be a Type 92; a riot vehicle would suffice. In the country, the mostmon ce to see riot vehicles is in front of high-speed rail stations or various central squares, and most are converted from Type 92 infantry vehicles, with simr armor thickness, only recing the autocannon with searchlights, tear gasunch tubes, and such. In the video, the infantry fighting vehicle dispatched by the Ping Meng City Bureau indeed made a rumbling sound, gradually approaching the entrance of the repair shop. Boom! The explosion sounded, shocking everyone inside and outside the screen. This was indeed abrupt. Jiang Yuan and others, who were eating big cherries, all stopped and listened. On the Ping Meng City Bureau¡¯s side, Wang Zhancheng was even more shocked, repeatedly asking, "What is it? Are there any casualties?" "It¡¯s a hand grenade." The police officer from the narcotics squad exhaled heavily and said, "Looking at it this way, these people are definitely not just scammers!" "80 kilograms of munitions?" Director Xu widened his eyes, muttering to himself. Outside the repair shop, the infantry fighting vehicle paused for only a few seconds, then continued forward. This time, its speed clearly increased, but the turret¡¯s rotation slowed significantly. Bang... Bang bang... As it approached the repair shop¡¯s gate, the infantry fighting vehicle opened fire! Orange mes sted the repair shop¡¯s wall, instantly breaking open a hole, revealing the equipment and vehicles inside. "People inside, listen up, you have one minute toe out with your hands on your head. The attack will resume after one minute...don¡¯t have any hopes of luck..." The loudspeaker of the Ping Meng City Bureau became even louder, and the tone much more solemn. This lone hand grenade exined many things. Boom! The second hand grenade was thrown out. Although it couldn¡¯t destroy the infantry fighting vehicle, it sessfully stopped it. It also had to protect the follow-up troops, not allowing the long-gun soldiers moving with the armored vehicle to be blown away by shrapnel. Wang Zhancheng, unable to bear the pressure, grabbed the radio and intended to shout "Attack." Once this order was given, the snipers would start shooting freely, and there would likely be nothing left of the criminals inside. Before he could speak, Wang Zhancheng¡¯s hand was grabbed by the politicalmissar. "Director Wang, how about letting the infantry fighting vehicle fire one more volley, then persuading them to surrender again?" The politicalmissar didn¡¯t ask what he was nning to do but offered a new option. Wang Zhancheng hesitated for two seconds, then nodded. The politicalmissar took the radio and started giving orders. In no time, the infantry fighting vehicle started up again, but only turned to a slight angle before the gun barrel began puffing shots again. Single shots were fired at the repair shop¡¯s wall, each shot creating a hole. Boom. The third hand grenade was thrown out, but this time the infantry fighting vehicle didn¡¯t even move, continuing with precise shooting. Ratatat... The sound of the infantry fighting vehicle¡¯s rapid-fire cannon was still crisp, like the voice of a young girl, light and delicate...but the damage it caused was something even an ordinary older man could hardly endure. "Cease fire! Cease fire!" Themanding officer gave the order amidst the smoke, and several secondster, the barrel of the rapid-fire gun finally lowered its head. Thud. A gun was thrown down from the building. Thud, thud. Two more guns hit the ground, making dull sounds. "We surrender!" A ripped shout came from inside the repair shop, immediately followed by a burst of coughing. Wang Zhancheng let out a long sigh of relief. If the other side could withstand this wave of pressure, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to. "People inside, throw out all your guns and walk out with your hands up..." The on-sitemander¡¯s tone in the loudspeaker was still tense. Fortunately, everything went smoothly afterward. A total of 7 criminal suspects walked out of the repair shop gate one by one, their faces full of PTSD. "If possible, detain the individuals separately and conduct intensive questioning." Liu Jinghui, on the other side of the screen, was also anxious to the point of trauma. "I¡¯ve got people specifically assigned to that." Wang Zhancheng¡¯s face was a mix of emotions, then added, "I¡¯ve got people searching for the munitions. So far, I¡¯ve seen over a dozen long and short guns, confirming a weapons trade! I¡¯m nning to have teams of two conduct continuous searches..." At this moment, Jiang Yuan poked his head out and said, "Continue searching for munitions, but please leave most officers here as I have another address and phone number..." Chapter 1199 - 1129 Wealth

Chapter 1199: Chapter 1129 Wealth

When Wang Zhancheng was directing the deployment of the armored vehicles, Jiang Yuan was also busy orchestrating his own team. The 80 kilograms of arms didn¡¯t just fall from the sky. Observing the surveince footage of Xiao Peng¡¯s vehicle at that time, the individuals appeared to be in the middle of transport, suggesting that Ping Meng City was likely a transit hub. Furthermore, what was the purpose for delivering the arms? Were they waiting for another transfer, or had they been distributed locally? Unlike Liu Jinghui, who has a tendency for divergent thinking, Jiang Yuan focuses on finding evidence once he identifies a potential issue. With the readily avable Image Reconnaissance Brigade by his side, already well-trained, two hours were sufficient for Jiang Yuan to search up to very peripheral locations. Through the screen, Jiang Yuan briefly gave an exnation, while emails, faxes, and photos with addresses and phone numbers were sent to Wang Zhancheng. Wang Zhancheng was stunned for two seconds and thenughed, saying, "Never fought such a well-supplied battle." "During our pursuit, we saw them transporting simr arms cases. Ensure safety." Jiang Yuan specially reminded. "Understood. I get it." Being a lifelong policeman, Wang Zhancheng¡¯s boiling blood was starting to distill into his brain, and while thinking, he added with a bit of determination, "I¡¯llmunicate properly with this side and strive to get a few more armored vehicles!" The recent battle wasn¡¯t lengthy, but it was highly intense¡ªto the standard of the police, it could rank nationwide. Not to mention, the few grenades thrown by the perpetrators¡ªwere those just grenades? Those were the second-ss merits for the armored vehicle operators and apanying infantry! Moreover, the long guns thrown by the criminals during their surrender could easily cause tension. For a police team leader like Wang Zhancheng, not only did he have to consider capturing the criminals, but he also had to prevent them from running out with guns. In the domestic environment, no one could ept an armed criminal wreaking havoc in a bustlingmercial district. At this moment, Wang Zhancheng¡¯s mind had already started to cool down, even feeling a bit cold. This group must be caught entirely! Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised at Wang Zhancheng¡¯s resolve; it¡¯s one thing to ask for help, but mobilizing armored vehicles isn¡¯t that easy. "That¡¯s the best. I¡¯ll send two people over as liaisons, contact them whenever needed." Jiang Yuan added some assurance for Wang Zhancheng. Wang Zhancheng immediately understood and thanked profusely. Jiang Yuan turned and called Shen Yaowei over, saying, "Take someone and quickly head to Ping Meng City. It¡¯s best if the progress there is smooth. If there¡¯s anyone on the run or anything that needs tracking, actively get involved." "Yes." Shen Yaowei looked quite pleased, feeling recognized that he could manage things independently. Liu Jinghui coughed twice, pulling Shen Yaowei aside, "Do you know why you¡¯re being sent to Ping Meng?" Shen Yaowei: "To facilitatemunication?" "If it¡¯s just formunication, aren¡¯t phones more useful than you?" Liu Jinghui scoffed. "Then?" Shen Yaowei vaguely had an idea but didn¡¯t want to say it outright. Liu Jinghui, being fond of teaching, straightforwardly said, "We¡¯re not familiar with Ping Meng and haven¡¯t dealt with them before; this case just happened tond here. Whatever happens, when you arrive, do a good selection job. You have to be ountable for what you say, only then will Jiang Yuan dare to trust you." Shen Yaowei¡¯s nerves instantly returned to the Shen Family¡¯s average level. "Yes." Shen Yaowei answered more seriously this time. Liu Jinghui nodded, seeing Shen Yaowei and the others off. Returning, he found Jiang Yuan writing another small note. In the absence of clues, any clue is precious. And once a case has progressed, clues start bing less scarce. The key now is execution and expanding results. On this aspect, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to remind anyone; Director Xu and others initiated contacts on their own. On the same day. Several streets in Ping Meng City were blocked off. And the blockade ns were supported by the provincial department. Not particrly practical, butforting for Wang Zhancheng. Jiang Yuan also kept watching the images with the Image Investigation team, while waiting for the results from the Ping Meng City Bureau. Under multiple pressures, Wang Zhancheng developed mouth ulcers in just one afternoon. No one felt sorry for him. At this time, with superiors worried about incidents, locals worrying about the matters, and subordinates worried about bing issues themselves, what happened to Wang Zhancheng didn¡¯t really matter. Two hourster. Wang Zhancheng directly closed down videomunications, elegantly calling it "focusing onmand." Including Director Xu, Jiang Yuan, and others, no one said much; if it were them, they wouldn¡¯t have done a live broadcast under these circumstances. The risk was too high, and it had no significance. All social protocol holds no meaning before a group of armed criminals and Type 92 IFVs. Jiang Yuan and others could only look at the textual updates being sent asionally. "Starting the attack on point 2." "Point 3 has been surrounded." "Point 2 has surrendered." "Only a small amount of ammunition and one pistol found at point 2." "Currently negotiating with points 3 and 4." Without witnessing the scene, Director Xu and others also visibly rxed a bit. "No idea if they used the armored vehicles again." "Surely they were used; they were all deployed over ... judging by their updates, they probably didn¡¯t fire any more shells." "They¡¯ve mobilized quite a few troops. These rats have nested in the city, not sure if they can be thoroughly surrounded." Several people chatted in themand room, there was no need to avoid others, the situation was just what it was... Director Xu personally brought a peeled pomelo to Jiang Yuan, smiling, "Jiang Yuan, the case on this side seems about done. Once Ping Meng takes down a few bases, this line should bepletely dismantled... You know, the Zhang Lei murder case, without your involvement, would indeed be a cold case." Director Xu felt relieved and immediately began nning for the aftermath. While homicide cases have decreased, the total number of cases remains substantial. For a unit like the police bureau, resolving any significant case immediately frees up a lot of manpower. It¡¯s akin to how Li Mei bombed Honshu, where missions are theoretically unlimited. Therefore, if any city can be burned away, other cities can immediately get more air time and incendiaries. For past cases, Jiang Yuan might also be willing to hand thetter stages to local police for handling, assuming the local police couldplete the entire investigation in a smooth scenario. In less favorable cases, dual-front operations or remote assistance would roughly suffice. The investigation time for a homicide case is extremely long; with all the evidence fixed, interrogationspleted, plus document preparation¡ªit can be likened to bidding for a major project. However, this case involves eradicating all rted individuals. Jiang Yuan gently shook his head, saying, "In principle, the Zhang Lei case should be nearingpletion, but now involving the arms case, I worry about the subsequent clues breaking off." "In such cases... tracing back three levels is already quite good." Director Xu spoke truthfully in front of a bunch of professionals. Crime syndicates are often self-contained systems. Criminal gangs that can survive for a long time must have some counter-investigation methods. At the very least, preventing chain reactions must be achieved. Otherwise, revealing any member could lead to total dissolution, which means their error tolerance is too low. For the current case, with suchrge movements in Ping Meng, gang members along the line will shrink back; it¡¯s challenging to even trace back a level to capture them. What Director Xu mentioned about tracing three levels back assumes effective secrecy methods. Jiang Yuan understood this logic but still lightly shook his head, saying, "Proactively involving ourselves is definitely better than losing the trail and then getting involvedter." Director Xu perked up at that, "What exactly constitutes active involvement?" "Mm..." Jiang Yuan pondered for a few seconds, feeling it was tough to articte, when new information came through. "Among the arms dealers captured in Ping Meng, someone has confessed to their trade routes." Pang Jidong came to report, "The buyers are mostly mine owners and active organization members, with some purchasing for private hunting... Additionally, some mountain viges nting certain crops, routing products, also ount for part of their clientele... The source should be overseas smuggling." Jiang Yuan and others¡¯ expressions didn¡¯t change. The strict gun ban in China mostly manifests in the civilian society. But from a police perspective, the national gun ownership still isn¡¯t small, merely a matter of usage or not. No extensive data needed, just from watching anti-drug documentaries, drug dealers are frequently armed and violently resistw enforcement. Moreover, China¡¯s drug trade isn¡¯t only satisfying the demands of 5 million addicts but also involving cross-border transportation. Smuggling operations follow a simr temte. There¡¯re three known ¡¯ck gun¡¯ counties in the country: Hualong, Songtao, and Beihai. Nationwide, most "Lanzhou noodle" shops are run by people from Hualong. Keeping such local support, even offering actual financial aid indicates it¡¯s not merely a poverty alleviation effort. However, the quality of handmade guns can¡¯t match that of factory-produced arms. The danger of smuggled weapons isn¡¯t even in the same league. "Do you have a list of buyers?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Currently there¡¯re 8 names, with 3 identified." Pang Jidong replied. "Let me see it." Jiang Yuan reached out for the list, eyes slightly squinting. Chapter 1200 - 1130: Arrest According to the List

Chapter 1200: Chapter 1130: Arrest ording to the List

"Are we supposed to arrest people ording to the list?" Director Xu personally ced a te of peeled persimmons in front of Jiang Yuan and asked him eagerly. The buyers of the guns are spread throughout the province and possibly across the entire country. The Provincial Department doesn¡¯t have the manpower to make arrests on site, so the most suitable option is the Luo Jin City Bureau. Director Xu was in a favorable position to get the first opportunity. Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "The confirmed gun buyers can be arrested. There might be some danger involved. Also, what are their sales channels like?" "Just like drug trafficking, it¡¯s either by mail or direct delivery. They mainly import guns via direct delivery." Liu Jinghui had obviously paid attention to this issue, having reviewed the interrogation records early and sent over the questioning outline. He now said, "They are easier to deal with than drug traffickers. Once the guns are disassembled into parts, they can be stored separately without being discovered. Only transporting gun barrels carries some risk, but they have special tool certificates, and some are tantly transported." "Is it the same as this time?" "More or less the same, but the parts they transported this time wereplete. They were initially intended to be sold to Zhang Lei, so the guns were assembled. After killing Zhang Lei, they disassembled the guns again but still packed them all in the car," Liu Jinghui summarized the main findings from the interrogation records in a few words. Jiang Yuan was beginning to ponder it over and nodded, saying, "So they killed Zhang Lei because of a conflict, quickly drove back, disassembled the guns on the way, switched cars, and then drove all the way back to Lanyue City to dump the body? Why didn¡¯t they find a ce to bury the body?" "This will probably only be known after we catch the murderer." Liu Jinghui naturally had considered this question, but he didn¡¯t dwell on it, asking, "What¡¯s your thought?" "The big bosses need to be caught, but the small fry shouldn¡¯t be let go. Those who transport and mail parts, the mules, must also be caught quickly to prevent them from escaping." Jiang Yuan¡¯s task was to conduct a thorough investigation, and he was not worried about the syndicate¡¯s key members escaping. Currently, the syndicate¡¯s top structure is unclear, but the core members are definitely on the run. With the current domestic investigation methods, middle-level members are likely also unable to escape. Criminal people are like people getting married; if you want to run, you have to run early. You can¡¯t suddenly realize you want to run away after the ceremony has begun¡ªat that point, it¡¯s not called a runaway wedding; it¡¯s called a life escape. The big bosses need to wait for more clues to be gathered, while the small fry are only dependent on the amount of force applied. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s clear attitude, Director Xu immediately said, "I¡¯ll transfer two more teams over. So...Xiao Liu, call the East City Branch and the South City Branch and have them each dispatch a criminal police squad and a SWAT team over here. The two criminal police squads will report to Captain Jiang, and the SWAT teams will check their equipment and remain on standby." Director Xu paused and then discussed with the politicalmissar, saying, "I think we also need to prepare in advance for traffic control issues. One is to set up checkpoints on all highways, and the other is to manage key areas in the city just in case the worst happens and we need to prevent it from spreading to other areas." The politicalmissar said worriedly, "Traffic control is not a problem. The Police Aviation Unit and Traffic Unit can handle that. Regarding city area control, we¡¯ve just pulled people from East and South City... Given the current situation, their mobile police force is probably only so much now. The workload of grassroots units like police stations is already very heavy. If we only use them for a day or two, that¡¯s fine, but if it takes too long, it will affect their daily work, which is not good. Maybe we could pull some people from Public Security or Economic Investigation instead?" "That won¡¯t work." Director Xu resolutely denied it, saying, "They¡¯re more useful on their own posts." "Then maybe we could borrow some people from below?" The politicalmissar tried to guess what the Director was thinking. Police shortages are amon issue domestically, and borrowing officers is one of the mostmon methods. Using Walker¡¯s theory from "American Police," in a society like the United States, the police density should reach a level of 25 officers per 10,000 people to effectively manage society. Many Western European countries and Japan also have this police density. Hong Kong and Macau have 40 officers per 10,000. Maind China has about 13 per 10,000. From this perspective, overtime for police in China ismonce and obvious, as the total number is insufficient, and the demand for public security is high. As a result, there is always arge number of non-staff hires. In the past, it was auxiliary police,ter contract police, and an ongoing practice of borrowing, akin to perpetual borrowing. Director Xu was also aware of the personnel shortage below. After thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "Borrowing staff now would at least require issuing a red-head document, and if people dy below, two days will quickly pass, which is toote. My idea is to ask for help from the students at the Luo Jin Police Academy. They could provide a few hundred people, and we could assign some agency officers over there. This way, we would have a foundation for managing key areas in the city." The politicalmissar then understood, smiled grimly, and said, "It¡¯s a good idea. You want me to make the call, right?" "You¡¯re familiar with the Police Academy," Director Xuughed heartily. The politicalmissar sighed and went to make the call. Police academy students managing areas is a bit more reliable than auxiliary police. Moreover, having a few hundred students is rtively impressive. Two to three hundred people are equivalent to ten teams¡¯ worth of personnel. As for the long-gunmen, they¡¯ll clearly have more important scenarios to be deployed in next. Jiang Yuan listened with one ear to the discussion among Director Xu and the others, while he stood in front of a row ofputers, searching for traces of the small fry. The task wasn¡¯t too challenging but was quiteplex¡ªaplicated case is like aplex math problem with many steps. It¡¯s not necessarily hard; it isn¡¯t likely a difficult problem, but there are many steps. Each step needs to be followed correctly to reach the final answer. For this particr problem or case, no matter how many interim steps arepleted, they don¡¯t earn points; only the final result does. Although they¡¯re just small fry, even the small fry hope to evade punishment and live longer. So whether or not they¡¯ve been taught, the small fry always try various counter-surveince techniques whenmitting crimes. However, given their status and skills, the counter-surveince techniques they can use are rtively cheap and often need to beplemented by abination of time, ce, and people to be effective. Of course, more realistically, it depends on luck. Most of the time, small fry rely on luck to survive. They gamble their lives not only against the police but also against the big boss. Contrary to popr belief, small fry in crime syndicates, even in drug trafficking groups, don¡¯t earn much. Getting a sryparable to an ordinary white-cor worker is considered high ie for them. As for their asional excess spending, it¡¯s mainly because they don¡¯t save money or buy houses, cars, or stocks. When they get the money, they spend it all at once, and when it¡¯s gone, they shrink their spending, or immediately look to make the next big score. Living like this for a long time is desperate, but luckily, there¡¯s always a force that can break this cycle¡ªthe big boss getting caught. As a follower in a crime syndicate, the real hope is for the boss to be caught so they can rise in rank. It¡¯s akin to working in apany, hoping for your superior to be promoted or leave. Doing it solely by yourself, rising through the ranks despite the difficulty, sounds impressive, but in reality, it¡¯s too difficult. And those willing to undertake such challenging tasks with such a spirit of challenge actually don¡¯t need to beckeys in a drug cartel; it is indeed very dangerous. From the perspective of the police or society, the result of not eliminating the roots of the problem is that drug trafficking gangs always resurrect from the ashes, even bing highly resilient. 35-year-old underlings don¡¯t need optimization; naturally, someone higher up the food chain takes care of them. In a market where demand is strong, merely striking the supply side is always significantly less effective. But to say to catch them all in one go, the difficulty is naturally extremely high. When doing exercises normally, if a math fill-in-the-nk question can¡¯t be scored perfectly, leaving out a few when capturing suspects probably isn¡¯t intentional. It can be said that when Jiang Yuan stepped onto the scene, it was already a sign that this batch of small fry was out of luck. Afterpleting a round of basic investigations, the captain of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade eagerly asked, "Should we apply for technical investigation?" If Image Investigation is the armored force of the police, then Technical Investigation is the airborne assault team, truly high and powerful, striking from the air. Jiang Yuan did not oppose it, signed the documents, and then handed them over to Director Xu for signing. Tasks that take others three to five days, or even three to five weeks to process, Jiang Yuan could get initial feedback within an hour. But Jiang Yuan was clearly not satisfied with this; afterpleting the technical investigation application, he turned around and approached the officers from the Narcotics Division, saying, "Guns and drugs are inseparable, can you share your intelligence?" Within the police department, highly confidential units have their own operating logic. If someone else were to bring up this issue, they would get a prompt rejection. But this time, the Narcotics Division specifically sent someone over to cooperate with Jiang Yuan. So, despite Jiang Yuan¡¯s request being vague and seemingly excessive, the officer merely frowned out of habit and said, "No problem, but how much intelligence we can gather is uncertain... I¡¯ll contact themander now." He turned around to make a call, and the nearby criminal police kept rubbing their ears while listening. "Jiang Yuan really has good rtions." The politicalmissar of the Luojin City Bureau couldn¡¯t help but remark in front of Director Xu. Director Xu smiled and, feeling touched, said, "If you can save a person¡¯s life, naturally they would be grateful to you." The morale of the different levels of police officers in the task force greatly increased. With the same project, different budgets, the results are naturally different. Wang Chuanxing made an Excel sheet on the spot, collecting data with his left hand, filling in the form with his right, and took time to improve the summary meeting¡¯s PPT. Before long, the first screen of the Excel sheet was filled up. Wang Chuanxing printed it out with a crackling sound and presented it to Jiang Yuan for review. After Jiang Yuan nodded, Pang Jidong immediately began dispatching personnel, and Jiang Yuan once again took out his phone bravely. One dayter. When Wang Zhancheng reconnected to the video call, he looked as withered as herbal residue. Seeing Jiang Yuan, Wang Zhancheng struggled to stand up and said, "Mission aplished. All five bases of the Heavy Load Gang in Ping Meng City have been dismantled." The Heavy Load Gang, that is the name of this arms trafficking syndicate. Jiang Yuan already knew and smiled, praising Wang Zhancheng a few times. Under Jiang Yuan¡¯s praise, Wang Zhancheng¡¯s cheeks visibly became rosier. After they finished talking, Director Xu took over the conversation and asked, "Lao Wang, what is the final count of arrests?" "37 people! All the main responsible individuals of the Heavy Load Gang in Ping Meng have been apprehended." Wang Zhancheng stood tall and proud. "Not bad, not bad." Director Xu nodded repeatedly. "How¡¯s the task force doing?" Wang Zhancheng, who had been focusing on live textual updates for the past few days, was also putting in his full efforts and didn¡¯t have the capacity to ept more information. Now that the mission wasplete, he finally had time to inquire. Director Xu nced at Jiang Yuan, coughed twice, and said, "Currently, under Jiang Yuan¡¯s leadership, the task force has captured 267 people." "267 people?" On the screen, Wang Zhancheng raised his head in doubt, as if he turned into a 42-inch question mark. "Jiang Yuan has dismantled several bases of the Heavy Load Gang in Luojin City and surrounding areas, confiscating arge amount of buyer information. At the same time, the Heavy Load Gang¡¯s mules have also been pretty much wiped out." Director Xu particrly understood Wang Zhancheng¡¯s confusion and exined, "The direct sales model adopted by the Heavy Load Gang is very effective and quite popr among factory owners and smuggling syndicates. When we arrested people, we also incidentally captured many other involved individuals." "I didn¡¯t quite understand. But I roughly got the idea." On the screen, Wang Zhanchengughed, like a 42-inch exmation mark. Chapter 1201 - 1131: Asking for People and Giving People...

Chapter 1201: Chapter 1131: Asking for People and Giving People...

Lanyue City. Armed guards with long rifles, arranged in neat formation, quietly waiting at the junction of the highway. Dai Mingsheng also didn¡¯t feelfortable waiting in the car, dressing neatly, wearing a hat, standing in the shade. Behind them is a long line of prison vehicles. Captain Hao, Hao Zhichao, circled around the convoy and then jogged over, taking a breath and saying, "All the vehicles are fine, and the fuel is topped up." "How¡¯s the drivers? Did they get enough sleep? Especially thoseing from lower districts, driving early in the morning, and who knows if they sleptst night." Dai Mingsheng paused and said, "Tell them, if they feel ufortable, to speak up and switch directly; this won¡¯t affect attendance." "I told them. They¡¯re all experienced drivers, no problem." Captain Hao knew this was a critical question and answered quickly. Dai Mingsheng nodded, about to say more when a nearby person¡¯s walkie-talkie buzzed. "Shanyue, Shanyue, this is Yuan Squad, we will arrive in one minute." The voice on the walkie-talkie was very clear. "Shanyue received!" The subordinate next to him immediately replied. Dai Mingsheng waved his hand and then said to the long rifle soldiers¡¯ captain in front of him, "Let¡¯s get ready to board." "Yes!" The long rifle soldiers¡¯ captain saluted, jogged to the front of the troops, and began issuing loud orders. At the same time, the prison vehicles also opened up, ready to wee the guests. The convoy led by Jiang Yuan arrived in the blink of an eye. With motorcycles shing lights to lead the way, a long line of police cars followed by a lengthy string of prison vehicles. Jiang Yuan¡¯s vehicle stopped not far in front of Dai Mingsheng, then he got out to greet him. Dai Mingsheng tightly grasped his hand, excitedly saying, "Finally, we¡¯ve reunited." Jiang Yuanughed, "This time I went to Luo Jin City, but it was about dealing with our Zhang Lei abandonment case in Lanyue City." "Ha ha ha, but who could imagine that a case involving a corpse would lead to over a hundred suspects..." Dai Mingsheng¡¯s gaze fell on the prison vehicles ahead. The ones responsible for escorting were reinforcements sent by Ningtai, led by Wu Junhao and his riot police squad, a group of tanned, bald men, gripping weapons, exuding fierceness, making it hard to tell who should be locked up first. Wu Junhao loudly gave orders, having people in their prison vehicles get out and go into the police cars escorted by the Lanyue City Bureau. Because Jiang Yuan requested thorough interrogation, many suspects arrested by Ping Meng City Bureau and Luo Jin City Bureau were also transported to Lanyue City. Here, Jiang Yuan would continue the investigation, allowing the interrogating officers to seamlessly continue their interrogations, not to mention that the Zhang Lei case was registered in Lanyue City, theoretically making the Luo Jin City Bureau officers assist the Lanyue City Bureau. The same applies to the mobilebat vehicles dispatched by Ping Meng City Bureau. Of course, in actual operations, a bit of the benefits must be shared; domestic courts don¡¯t strictly follow procedural justice, let alone inter-unitmunication. However, regardless of who the suspects belong to, the ownership of the prison vehicles was clear. The Luo Jin City Bureau officers managed to bring people over a thousand kilometers, showing extreme effort out of respect for Jiang Yuan, but upon reaching the borders of Lanyue City, the Luo Jin City Bureau¡¯s prison vehicles had to return. After a clear handover, the leading officer from Luo Jin City Bureau came over for a few words with Jiang Yuan, greeted Dai Mingsheng, and swiftly headed back. Wu Junhao and the other police officers from Ningtai County continued with Jiang Yuan, changing vehicles to head to Luo Jin City Bureau. Dai Mingsheng pulled Jiang Yuan into his sedan and asked, "What do we do next?" "The identities of the suspects in the Zhang Lei case are roughly confirmed; they¡¯re part of a direct sales team of arms dealers, all three with names and backgrounds, but we still can¡¯t ascertain where they are now." Jiang Yuan paused, habitually taking out a list from his pocket and handing it to Dai Mingsheng, "We can first clean out the Heavy Load Gang. Lanyue is one of their major bases, utilizing props industries from the film town, they¡¯ve obtained quite a few essories and covers." Dai Mingsheng took the list given by Jiang Yuan, rubbed it with his hand, and was shocked internally. "Burning paper for ancestors, throwing this much at once can¡¯t be fully burnt!" "How many people is this?" Dai Mingsheng asked. "The list has more than 100 people, mainly from Lanyue City, and most of the ones we found earlier are mostly dealt with. Some people here have multiple identities, ying different roles at once, and they also have several nicknames. The list is mainly based on selling prices and suppliers; the buyers are just a few pages, rtively simple, and easier to catch." Jiang Yuan pointed at the list and exined. Dai Mingsheng nodded in admiration without full understanding. Jiang Yuan continued to introduce: "The organizational structure of the Heavy Load Gang is quite unique. They mainly rely on an independently operated forum once known as ¡¯Heavy Load¡¯. The Heavy Load Gang itself doesn¡¯t have a top-down management structure nor a unified factory or sales team. Inside the gang, there are people ying multiple versatile roles, dedicated technicians, members focused on sales, or those specializing in offline sales." Jiang Yuan: "For example, recently we captured a suspect named Gu Ci. He only works in selling seamless steel pipes because he has the channels for them. The source of the pipes is actually surplus material from the factory where Gu Ci works. Some people inside the factory suspect him, but everyone pretends not to know. Even Gu Ci himself doesn¡¯t know where the pipes eventually go or what¡¯s done with them; he doesn¡¯t ask, he just makes money." Dai Mingsheng frowned and said, "The facts are clear, he can¡¯t deny them even if he wants to. How did they hook up, military enthusiasts?" Jiang Yuan shook his head: "Someone specifically targets people with critical resources. Those involved in this should be counted as core members of the Heavy Load Gang. They disguise themselves as procurement officers for legitimatepanies, indulging these people on eating, drinking, and gambling... The Gu Ci I mentioned earlier earns tens of thousands in a single transaction; monthly ie from selling scraps ranges from several tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands, adding up over several years." "Annual ie in the millions, not easy." Dai Mingsheng, having seen much, remained unfazed and said, "Their organizational level is much higher than those pure hobbyist groups." "Yes. However, they¡¯re not picky; they also deal with air rifles, but it¡¯s mostly different distribution teams. The team involved in the Zhang Lei case also belongs to the new generation within the Heavy Load Gang, more radical, deeper in organized crime, fond of standard equipment, likes ying mine bosses, smuggling gang, engaging in vibrant organizational business." Air rifles, or air guns, are generally considered toys in countries or periods without strict gun bans. In the 2000s, stalls for shooting balloons utilized air guns. Moreover, air guns are often used to shoot birds and rabbits, being rtively lightweight and cheap hunting rifles. However, if used on people, they do have the potential to be lethal. In fact, since the power of air rifles mainly depends on pneumaticponents, modifying a rtively high-power air rifle isn¡¯t very difficult. At the very least, they can easily surpass the police¡¯s self-use 05 style small cracker strength. Even now, the sales and possession of air rifles remain considerable, as evidenced by their pricing; ¡¯home-built¡¯ air rifles typically sell for a few thousand, and to sell at a price of several thousand or more, they need to be very high fidelity replicas. For the police, air rifles and standard equipment are two different concepts. Dai Mingsheng hissed: "They use air rifles for cover, right?" Jiang Yuan replied, "Probably both. Internally, they have various ideas, as they¡¯re not a unified organization. However, the profits from standard equipment are high, and many involved in direct sales in the Heavy Load Gang touch on this area." "Since they¡¯re selling anyway, why not sell the profitable ones?" "Mine bosses and others like Zhang Lei are unlikely to only buy an air rifle." "Definitely. They use guns mainly to intimidate people; having just an air rifle isughable." Having worked as a detective for so many years, Dai Mingsheng had interacted with too many mine bosses and vibrant organizational members, deeply agreeing with this. Not to mention vibrant organizational members who rely on violence for survival, many mine bosses, whether operating in ck or gray areas, need force to protect themselves and coerce others. Those who dig illegal coal mines or exploit gold mines deep in the mountains, holding a gun is very different from wielding a knife in managing the difficulty level of workers. When it¡¯s time to run, they can throw their guns into the mine shaft; the police can¡¯t convict based on a mere photograph. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s expression darkened slightly, grasping the list Jiang Yuan just handed him, he said coldly, "This Heavy Load Gang must be prioritized for a crackdown." "The department also holds this view," Jiang Yuan replied. "That¡¯s good, hey, it¡¯s fortunate you¡¯re involved, or else having such a big danger right next to us would be deadly... We hadn¡¯t discovered it earlier." "Their core distribution team is very cautious. This time, because of the Zhang Lei case, we directly identified several core members of the Heavy Load Gang, and theirwork within Baijiang Province has beenpletely exposed, making subsequent actions much easier." Dai Mingsheng chuckled: "Speaking so lightly, I heard they even used Legal Botany in the end?" "Yes. The ces they chose for murder were handled very well, and we couldn¡¯t find the first crime scene in the end." Jiang Yuan said with slight regret but didn¡¯t insist. Dai Mingsheng immediatelyforted him: "This is beyond expectation. Being able to achieve this is already remarkable." Jiang Yuan smiled slightly and slowly opened up: "I also think it¡¯s quite challenging because on one hand, we need to capture the sellers who are mutually independent, and on the other hand, we need to catch all the buyers; a significant number of personnel will be needed in the immediate future..." Dai Mingsheng immediately patted his chest and assured: "Rest assured, I represent the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯s stance; whatever resources you need, whether manpower or materials, you¡¯ll have them..." "I want Xu Taining," Jiang Yuan said. Dai Mingsheng: "Ah... Haha, hahaha, hah..." Chapter 1202 - 1132 Xu Taining Universe

Chapter 1202: Chapter 1132 Xu Taining Universe

Xu Taining arrived. Wearing a white shirt, he brought over 20 subordinates and together they arrived in Lanyue City. Dai Mingsheng, apanied by city government leaders, met with Xu Taining. Both parties engaged in serious and swift negotiations. The seriousness was in their expressions, the swiftness in their words, which made everyone break a sweat. Until Jiang Yuan led the Jiangning Gang into the hall. "Jiang Yuan!" Xu Taining¡¯s voice suddenly became cheerful. He also enjoys working on cases with Jiang Yuan. There¡¯s a sense of security and it fully allows him to utilize his talents. Additionally, Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases alsoe with abundant resources. Although Xu Taining usually manages to secure plenty of resources for his own cases, with Jiang Yuan¡¯s participation, higher-ups are often more willing to rx their grip and even provide more resources than usual. "Director Xu, thank you for your efforts. I hope it hasn¡¯t disrupted your own cases." Jiang Yuan shook hands with Xu Taining. Xu Tainingughed and said, "I¡¯m just doing some consulting work for them; your case is the real deal." Jiang Yuan also smiled. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s expression darkened. "Right, you should be familiar with my oldrades here. Wan Wang is my chief advisor, responsible for the specific implementation working up. Wan Wang is also my first disciple; you might have met him when looking for Liu." Xu Taining introduced the subordinates he brought with him to Jiang Yuan. He emphasized attention to detail, with execution being the most critical factor, so he always brought his own people with him. Liu Jinghui¡¯s face darkened. Wan Wang looked about ten years younger than Xu Taining, just over thirty, still very energetic. He greeted Jiang Yuan with a proper salute, then pulled over a younger person behind him and said, "This is my disciple, Xie Xiangdao, also Director Xu¡¯s grand-disciple. This case isplex, and the search is extensive, so Xiao Xie will be handling the errands." Xie Xiangdao was a young man with a defined jawline, and he smartly called out, "Master grandpa." Xu Taining chuckled and then said, "During working hours, use official titles." "Yes," Xie Xiangdao turned around and said, "Director Jiang. Who would be the best person for me to coordinate with here?" Jiang Yuan called over Miao Ruixiang and introduced, "Miao Ruixiang is my junior." Xie Xiangdao looked at Miao Ruixiang, whose eyes still carried a clear hint of naivety, thought for a moment, and said, "Uncle-Master grandpa!" Miao Ruixiangughed as if he were overjoyed. "Let¡¯s get familiar with each other. There¡¯s going to be a lot to do next," Xu Taining remarked andughed, "As expected of Ningtai Jiangyuan, haven¡¯t seen him for a while, and it¡¯s immediately a citywide manhunt upon meeting!" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s face darkened again. The faces of the leaders from the city government grew even darker as they turned to Dai Mingsheng and asked, "Citywide! Manhunt! What does that mean?" "It¡¯s just a metaphor," Xu Taining coughed twice and said, "When ites to implementation, it¡¯s still as we just discussed..." "What you just said, I haven¡¯t agreed yet!" The leader frowned a bit anxiously and said, "Exin your metaphor properly, just say it in front of Jiang Yuan." Then he looked at Jiang Yuan and, in a much softer tone, said, "Director Jiang, it¡¯s not that we¡¯re stingy. If you truly find it necessary, we¡¯re willing to invest. Our ultimate goal is to solve the case; we don¡¯t want it to end up being all show with no sess. If we invest too much all at once, it would be troubling if it goes to waste." He spoke very inly, basicallyying all his cards on the table. Of course, even if he didn¡¯t say it, everyone understood: the bottom line is solving the case. A significant investment for a sessful case is understandable, but even a small expense for a failed case is hard to swallow. Although Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t dered a "must solve" motto, to others, it seemed almost the case. Xu Taining gave Jiang Yuan a slightly sympathetic look; he particrly understood this kind of pressure. Even at twice the age, he dared not promise with absolute certainty to solve the case. Though he tried his best to do so. However, at this moment, Jiang Yuan, with a face seemingly untouched by setbacks, confidently said, "I trust Director Xu¡¯s judgment. I believe the city¡¯s investment will not be wasted." Xu Taining hesitated for a moment and quickly added, "Our n is designed to minimize loopholes, and the city¡¯s investment will definitely show results." "We¡¯re certainly confident in you..." At this point, the city leaders began to adopt an encouragement policy, only pulling Dai Mingsheng over for a thorough discussion before they left. After Dai Mingsheng returned, his emotions were quite stable, like an indifferent person, he said, "Everything is ready, next, let¡¯s watch Director Xu¡¯s performance." Xu Taining had seen this kind of situation many times, only felt he was getting into rhythm,ughed and said, "Can¡¯t call it a performance. I¡¯m usually quite clumsy in my work. I don¡¯t understand those meticulously crafted ns, those are things of the Axis powers. My idea is very simple, Lanyue City has six districts and one nearby county, we directly grid them." On site, Xu Taining had someone unfold a map of Lanyue City, on it were drawn thirty to forty grids, clearly well prepared. Xu Taining said, "I did this in advance; without local friends¡¯ involvement, there must be many omissions. Our goal today is to perfect this grid, then deploy defenses ording to it. The benefit of doing this is to prevent existing crime gangs from colluding. Because as far as I know, the gang members, besides the prepared firearms, also stock arge number of parts andponents, preventing certain individuals from merging once the operation starts." Dai Mingsheng¡¯s expression finally became a bit more dynamic: "This idea is good, indeed, many members of the Heavy Load Gang possess arge number of weapon parts and explosives, we must prevent them from uniting." Xu Taining nodded: "Secondly, Jiang Yuan and the detectives continue investigation, continue interrogation. Once we have results, specialized arrest teams will coordinate with riflemen and riot police squads to conduct raids. Infantry vehicles are too heavy... my point is too conspicuous, in a provincial capital city, try to refrain from using them." Dai Mingsheng continually nodded, finally finding Xu Taining more agreeable, hastily said, "If we can avoid using heavy weaponry, that¡¯s definitely a better option, but... how to control the casualty rate?" "Use anti-material rifles with thermal imaging devices. Use stun grenades for assault. Traditional methods are sufficient. Now we¡¯re at the closing phase, if criminals resist, just eliminate them." Xu Taining said. Dai Mingsheng couldn¡¯t help but p his forehead hard: "Got sidetracked by Ping Meng City Bureau. This is good, this is good..." Xu Taining nodded, saying, "If you¡¯re worried, you can authorize more explosives, st your way through, most of the scenarios should be manageable." Dai Mingsheng: "No problem." Xu Taining: "Additionally, I personally like to prepare a few excavators, slightly modified, transported on small tbed trucks. If the opponent¡¯s firepower is too strong, raise the excavator bucket as armored cars, it should be sufficient. This way, it¡¯s rtively low profile." Dai Mingsheng¡¯s eyebrows furrowed: "That works." Xu Taining: "As for personnel, we use district police stations as nodes to mobilize key forces from each district..." Dai Mingsheng felt Xu Taining¡¯s vigor rising again, hurriedly said, "Arresting should mainly rely on riflemen." "For interrogation." Xu Taining emphasized, "Our goal isn¡¯t arge-scale arrest? In this case, interrogation must be intensified, ording to a one-to-three ratio standard, if we bring back 100 people, we should prepare 300 people. Also, I suggest concentrating on arresting buyers, but this can be der, at least dispatchmunication groups to each province..." "This... Sure." Hearing words like ¡¯each province,¡¯ Dai Mingsheng looked at Xu Taining, now just simply the appearance of Xu Taining. Jiang Yuan interjected at this time: "I suggest sweeping up all the small fries too, to make it perfect." "No problem." Xu Taining¡¯s smile widened: "Just add more people." "Add... how many?" Dai Mingsheng felt like a man preparing for a wedding, he knew weddings were expensive, but he didn¡¯t know it was so costly, most importantly, he already felt on the verge of being overwhelmed, yet the budget continued to rise. Xu Taining looked at Jiang Yuan and then at Dai Mingsheng, said, "Normal thinking, we don¡¯t need that many people, take slightly more time, perhaps achieve the same result. But in my experience, time is money." In the eyes of Lanyue police, Xu Taining¡¯s smile appeared somewhat cruel: "With our current case-focused team size, there are almost 200 detectives, right? One branch office can cobble up to 200 people, not counting the riflemen, just these people alone, for eating, drinking, toileting, using vehicles, 200 yuan a day won¡¯t cut it... these are small expenses. No other cases will be worked on? Each branch office affected long term is asking for big trouble!" When Xu Taining said thest sentence, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s hanging heart finally died. Dai Mingsheng thought carefully, Xu Taining¡¯s words were legitimate, he sighed, "Let¡¯s not talk about these, discuss the specifics of execution." "Right. Once the scope is opened up, there are no issues!" Xu Taining said as if giving praise, then continued, "Talking about specific nning is a bit tedious, if you don¡¯t find it tedious, I¡¯ll start with a few points." Xu Taining: "First, equipment distribution, the quantity of anti-material rifles must be sufficient, I emphasize anti-material rifles, can¡¯t simply userge-caliber sniper rifles as recements, ammunition types must fit, also, snipers should match, quantity should be vast. Thermal imaging devices are the same, observers have to know how to use them well, these two points unmet, I suggest inviting external aid!" Without asking if Dai Mingsheng could provide the conditions, Xu Taining continued: "Assault squad must also be well-prepared, frontline members¡¯ protection measures must be in ce, shields, helmets, bulletproof vests, ceramic tes, etc., should be prepared to level four standards. But not everyone should wear heavy bulletproof vests, if afraid of dying, don¡¯t be a police officer!" "Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re fine." Dai Mingsheng nodded. Xu Taining became verbose: "Stun grenades and the like must also be checked, pick ones from recent years, best to pick manufacturers as well, I¡¯ve encountered ones thrown but didn¡¯t explode, that¡¯s considered good, what if they¡¯re slow to detonate, at that point rushing in, everybody¡¯s dizzy, shooting randomly back and forth, it¡¯s a mess..." Xu Taining: "...Besides equipment, logistics can¡¯t be underestimated, food, shelter,mutes are fundamental,ter I¡¯ll have subordinates discuss based on your conditions. Let me mention one point, amodation issue. With such a big case, so many people gathered, equipment in ce, surely can¡¯t return home, I suggest each district not only rent two hotels, but at least have the level of budget hotels..." Jiang Yuan only cares about the case itself, finds it somewhat boring, looking around, sees the white shirts of Lanyue City Bureau as nervous as one can be. Towards the end, Dai Mingsheng clearly had both fists clenched, starting to tremble slightly. Jiang Yuan¡¯s detective mind quickly switched on, made analytical judgment: Lanyue may be wealthy, Dai Mingsheng might be opulent, yet unable to deal with Xu Taining¡¯s cosmos. Chapter 1203 - 1133 Clearing

Chapter 1203: Chapter 1133 Clearing

"It has begun." Dai Mingsheng stood in themand center of the Lanyue City Bureau, his heart surging, like a groom at a ceremony, yet also like a general... with his adjutant beside him. The general was the director of the Lanyue City Bureau, the man who truly signed off on the budget and was responsible for Xu Taining. At this moment, Dai Mingsheng had no qualification to speak, standing silently beside the director, whispering quietly, ready to respond to any inquiries from the leadership. Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining sat on either side of the director, unnecessarily but necessarily watching the screens in themand center. In the main central image, a carefully selected angle by the frontline assault team was disyed, with extremely high rity, not simply captured by aw enforcement recorder, butpleted by a professional photographer with broadcasting from the technical investigation vehicle behind. The Technical Investigation had now fully taken over the on-site phone and mobile signals, a group of people squeezed into an MPV that did not allow others inside, making the atmosphere at the scene heavy and formal. Wu Junhao was also crouching at the scene, holding his Type 09 shotgun. The tungsten carbide shot bullet shotgun could kill through walls, even more powerful than a sniper rifle. The shotgun Wu Junhao was holding was also brought from Ningtai County. This was rtively rare in normal police exchanges, but due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s influence, the Lanyue City Bureau agreed to it. After all, they had agreed to let Wu Junhao participate in the capture operation in Lanyue City, so what else could they not agree to? Wu Junhao was eager and ambitious, as a middle-aged deputy section chief, he was keen on progress, even though he had only been making progress for just half a year. "It has begun." The assistant, touching his bald head, murmured softly. "Mm." Wu Junhao nodded. He was uncertain whether he would get a chance to perform, subconsciously turning his head to look at the tall building on the right. This criminal gang, named Heavy Load, had no counter-sniper experience. Thergest stronghold was set in an office building at the city center, convenient for transportation and surrounded byrge ss windows, covering the interior when drawn but offering no bullet resistance. Unlike old-fashioned tower buildings, at least the load-bearing walls could act as cover for a while. Of course, urban buildings in the country were almost defenseless against sniper rifles. If members of this criminal gang were to emerge, they might notice the sniper points in the future, or even pay attention to assault points, technical investigations, and thermal imaging... if they learned well enough, they might get into The Great Learning. "Assault team ready!" A man in a white shirt came to deliver orders, pressing Wu Junhao¡¯s shoulder, saying, "You are the second wave, ready to receivemands at any moment." He didn¡¯t leave after speaking, staying beside Wu Junhao. Wu Junhao chuckled, nced at him, and said, "As the backup team, huh?" "No offense intended, for the first wave of attack, we hope to coordinate with a more skilled team first." The man in a white shirt patted Wu Junhao, and smiled: "Honestly, with Captain Jiang¡¯s assignments, how could we dare to change them easily." Wu Junhao gave him a bald man¡¯s smile and replied, "We will definitely fully cooperate." "That¡¯s good then." The man in the white shirt squatted beside, smiling: "Next, let¡¯s watch the performance of our Special Police Team One." The n proposed by Xu Taining, after being analyzed and absorbed by the Lanyue City Bureau, formed into three sets of ns. Snipersbined with assault teams were the most basicbination, followed by a dedicated breaching team. At this time, apanying the entry of Special Police Team One, they had the engineering unit they borrowed. ording to earlier nning, if the first wave of attack was unsessful, the engineering unit would immediately enter from next door and below, blowing open the adjacent wall for a direct assault. Upon encountering firm resistance, they would decisively blow up the resisting floor from below, sweeping all personnel away. The atmosphere on-site was solemn yet lively. Although the Heavy Load gang were arms dealers, theirbat capabilities were not particrly strong; at least, from a military standpoint, they posed no formal threat. For the police, the gang did not have hostages, nor were there any particrly important figures, so the assault itself wasn¡¯t considered very challenging. However, casualties were still possible. Bang! A sudden sound echoed within the buildings with no warning. Wu Junhao turned his head at once, seeing the roadblock set up at the entrance, with the crowd blocked outside the cordon still curiously peering in. Their expressions clearly indicated they did not realize the sound was a gunshot. Bang! Another muffled sound, in Wu Junhao¡¯s mind, he could already imagine the scene of two criminals falling. At this moment, the first wave of the assault team should be bursting through the door, possibly already firing shots. Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help but lick his dry lips. Assaults protected by snipers, even with just a handgun in hand, must be quite intense. He inclined his ear to listen but couldn¡¯t hear any noise from inside, perhaps because the attack was going smoothly, or perhaps the gunfire inside couldn¡¯t travel far. Surrounding was a bustlingmercial center. Just walking a little farther, no one was concerned about the happenings here; everyone lived their lives, minding their own business. Even if an arms dealer lived next to them, they only cared about whether he was noisy. Bang! In the Lanyue City Bureau¡¯smand center, the excellent sound system made the video sent back by the cameraman feel immersive. Of course, no one on-site could say this aloud. Even the director had to watch the live feed and emphasize: "Safety first." "Old Jiang ismanding the field, he is experienced," Dai Mingsheng whispered to the director. As an experienced captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, he knew the police team better than the director. The director could only nod. What he saw were the backs of the people in front, unclear of the on-site situation, only witnessing the shoulders in the front row twitching and hearing the dyed gunshots. Thud thud thud... The 79 assault rifle started firing inside the room, the sound slightly muffled. Everyone at themand center was inevitably tense at this moment. No matter how well nned, once on site, there will always be unexpected situations. To score 100 points, you need to have 120 points worth of capability. "Keep moving forward, second team, control the left wing!" The voice of the on-sitemander came through, a very steadymand. In themand center, tens of miles away, everyone¡¯s emotions were instantly calmed. On the screen, the police officers in bulletproof vests were moving even faster. Instead, the photographer¡¯s gentle breathing sounded a bit abrupt in the suddenly quiet room. Bang, bang, bang... Clearly not the sound of the 79 assault rifle, it suddenly rang out, but before others could get tense, the gunshots stopped, followed by the sound of a body falling. "Sniper No. 3 hit! No need for a follow-up shot." In themand center, a voice came through, unsure if it was the sniper or the observer. The police team immediately sprang into action. Passing by a house, the camera turned slightly, revealing a body split in half, lying behind a low wall, with all the blood drained. "We surrender!" Someone inside the room shouted loudly. Old Jiang¡¯s voice didn¡¯t change at all, he just said, "Throw out the guns." Thud. Thud, thud. Three rifles were thrown out in session, one of them being an American M4, desert camo, slightly worn. "Handguns. Explosives, throw them all out. Don¡¯t make me repeat myself." Old Jiang didn¡¯t rx at all. Thud, thud... Inside, several items were thrown out in one go, only one was a handgun, the rest were magazines and grenades. Several people in themand center couldn¡¯t help but shrink their necks. "Nothing else!" Someone inside shouted. "Put your hands up, walk out slowly, don¡¯t make any sudden moves, or you¡¯ll be sniped to death. Don¡¯t me me." Old Jiang spoke a bit slow and verbose, but still emphasized, "Walk slowly, take small steps, if you don¡¯t follow orders, I¡¯ll shoot immediately!" The entire raid process, the arrest phase, was actually the most nerve-wracking for Old Jiang. Three men and one woman, hands raised high, slowly walked out. Old Jiang kept directing them until they were outside the corridor, then cuffed all four. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. There was no one else visible through the thermal imaging. But Old Jiang still led a team to sweep again, then allowed the Criminal Science team to enter and collect evidence. In the subsequent submissions for prosecution, these items were indispensable. Old Jiang personally escorted the vehicle, sending each of them onto the prison transport. A hearse carrying the bodies apanied them, long prepared. The expressions of thest survivors didn¡¯t look good. Old Jiang was used to this. After all, for these few individuals, beginning today, their lives took a dramatic turn, or to put it bluntly, their familiar lives were essentially over. "How did you find us?" One of the prisoners was the first to speak in the car. Old Jiang looked over, seeing it was the oldest among the captured, he replied, "What, you think what you¡¯ve done was hidden from everyone?" The other stared at Old Jiang, then after a while said, "You weren¡¯t led here by our business deals, we are isted from the sales end." Old Jiang chuckled, as if there¡¯s any real istion nowadays. The other fell silent too, but only for a few seconds before speaking again, "I want to name some people." "Hmm?" Old Jiang looked up again, "You want to report others to earn merits?" "Is that not possible?" "Of course it is. But it has to be crime details and criminals we haven¡¯t caught yet," Old Jiang said, then inwardlyughed, thinking, still asking how we found you! Chapter 1204 - 1134: General Team?

Chapter 1204: Chapter 1134: General Team?

As the first convict transport vehicle returned, themand center and the Criminal Police Brigade became lively. Not only leaders from different levels of the police department but also leaders from the city government, provincial department, and even the provincial government came to see. Having spent so much funding, with more than three or five units bearing responsibility, naturally, everyone wanted to see the results of the first phase. Dai Mingsheng also understood particrly well, and after consulting with the chief, directly ordered people to dismantle the magazines and firing pins from the seized firearms and pile them up in the hall, as if they were trophies of victory. They were originally meant to be seized anyway. For the non-expert leaders entering, there was no need to say more; just seeing these cold sniper rifles, rifles, pistols, along with piles of magazines and boxes of explosives with detonators removed, the first sensation was the tingling from head to toe. The visual impact of the weapons is applicable to most people. The expert leaders entering, although they might scrutinize with a critical eye, and some might mutter "regr goods," but the standard Desert M4, the standard Romanian-made AK47, the standard 7.62mm bullets still made them have to tense up. "Did you gather them all?" asked the finance department leader upon entering, approaching the city bureau chief with noticeably lessened momentum. "Just started." The chiefughed and then said, "You¡¯re the fifth person to ask me this today. Seems like great minds think alike." "At this point, it¡¯s clear who the true heroes are. The weapons you¡¯ve confiscated are also shocking to me; tackling this gang, although it cost a lot, is certainly worthwhile." The chief rejoiced, "With your support, we¡¯re relieved and can go all out in our work!" "No, no, no... don¡¯t go all out... by the way, they also sold quite a few guns prior to this, so many guns left in society are very dangerous..." "We¡¯re trying our best to seize them." The chief said, starting to y the victim. The finance leader no longer showed superficial perfunctoriness from previous days and seriously began to discuss with him. Dai Mingsheng quietly retreated to the corner, hiding his merits and fame. The chief, amidst his joy, exined to the group, "Besides being practical, many people buy these guns for collection. Actually, killing someone can be done with a Hualong-made gun; use it and throw it away afterward, the simplest and most economical. We¡¯ve encountered this kind of case quite often, too. Standard guns are more expensive and harder to hide, unnecessary." Pausing as he spoke, the chief continued, "Of course, if pushed to the limit, one might also use a gun to shoot someone." The group of leaders listened carefully, someone asked, "Just for collection? You¡¯re talking about collecting stamps or something simr, isn¡¯t stashing guns asking for trouble? Plus, in such quantities, can¡¯t they all be unused?" "Let me tell you a story." The chief became slightly interested, speaking before a crowd of non-experts, "Years ago, during a special operation to crack down on gun trafficking and explosives, there was a major case in Hu City, famous for being jointly resolved by China and the United States. Not talking about the specific case, but 93 guns were seized, 66 of which were regr firearms smuggled from the United States. Some models even had scopes." "So fierce? What then?" "Nothing much afterward, most were collected, because American goods are rtively rare, so many came at once, reversed tracked, and eventually coborated with the American police in investigation, with the Americanster tracing it to a captain of the National Guard." "Old Americans directly selling military supplies? Quite bold." "Different national conditions, selling military supplies there doesn¡¯t warrant a long sentence. Calcting the time, they should¡¯ve been released a long time ago." The chief said with a sigh, furthermenting, "In our current operation, let¡¯s strive to secure more evidence and build solid cases!" Everyone apuded. All being leaders of simr level and age, the chief was as happy as a student praised by the whole ss. "Chief!" Dai Mingsheng stepped forward timely. "Old Dai, what¡¯s the matter?" The chief withdrew his smile. "The second point of the Heavy Load Gang waspletely wiped out, with suspects and seized ammunition delivered over." Dai Mingsheng said with a full smile. The chief¡¯s smile instantly shone brightly like the sun. The chief said, "Bring them over, let everyone take a look. By the way, let me introduce everyone, Old Dai, Dai Mingsheng, is the team leader of our Criminal Police Brigade, a nationally recognized criminal police expert..." Leaders nearby nodded amicably towards Dai Mingsheng. Some, out of curiosity, asked, "Were the arms dealers captured on site? That¡¯s rare!" "If you¡¯re curious, take a look. It¡¯s considered a specialty of our bureau." The chiefughed heartily, like a model student. "I¡¯ll make the arrangements immediately." Dai Mingsheng, guessing such developments, responded with a smile, and went down to start organizing the troops. In a while, six prisoners with ck hoods over their heads, handcuffs on their hands, and shackles on their feet were led to the door. Two small carts were also brought in simultaneously, with eight soldiers overseeing them, disying more than a dozen firearms with some parts removed. "None of the guns are loaded. I¡¯ve ordered some parts to be dismantled to prevent any idents. There are a total of 14 guns here, six of which are standard issue, and the other eight haveplicated origins but are pretty high-quality homemade guns..." Dai Mingsheng exined and continued, "We also discovered thousands of bullets, 12 grenades, and hundreds of kilograms of unassembled gun parts." Pointing at the six prisoners by the door, Dai Mingsheng added, "These arms dealers are vicious people. I think it¡¯s better not to let them see everyone¡¯s faces. If someone were to toss a couple of grenades into ourmand center, Lanyue City¡¯s development would be affected..." The person who was initially thinking about removing the hoods, upon hearing Dai Mingsheng¡¯s half-joking, half-serious words of bizarre ttery, immediately changed his mind, standing quietly by without a word. Dai Mingsheng joking about flying grenades was likely a jest, but what if these guys want revenge after being released from prison? What if they attempt kidnappings? Even if their release is many years in the future, such risks are not ones people are willing to take. Moreover, what if there was an escape, or someone described what we look like to outsiders... "Old Dai is thorough." The directorughed heartily, feeling both honored and justified, and simply brought Dai Mingsheng over, saying, "Regarding this case, Old Dai understands it quite well." Dai Mingshengughed generously and began to chat and joke with everyone. Themand center¡¯srge screen showed a photographer¡¯s continuously switching scenes, showcasing one stronghold after another, from the city center to the suburbs, and from the suburbs to the outlying counties. ording to Xu Taining¡¯s n, although this operation also emphasizes a thunderous strike, it is not like what you see on TV where arge force is assembled, executing simultaneous actions, but rather removing two or three locations in sequence. The primary reason for this is to leave the police some room for flexibility. Although, in the domestic environment, there are snipers avable, when the police actually need to deploy them, it is never so convenient, and they can never have too many snipers. The SWAT team, which is well-trained, is most effectively used in Lanyue City. While there are plenty of long-gun men, they¡¯re not specialists in such precision strike operations. They are mainly involved in perimeter security and the preparation of contingency ns for this operation. Xu Taining also wasn¡¯t sure what kind of resistance the Heavy Load Gang would put up, and he needed to keep a reserve force, so naturally, he wasn¡¯t willing to spread too thin. Even if someone received the news and fled because of it... "The scenery of life is like the waves of the sea, sometimes fierce, sometimes calm..." Xu Taining¡¯s phone rang, overpowering the excited discussions in themand center. Many people looked over. Xu Taining answered without any sign of guilt, responding with a couple of acknowledgments, and then, after saying, "I understand," hung up, smiling, "About the operation, there¡¯s some advice from below. Dai Zhi? Jiang Yuan?" "Oh...ing right away." Dai Mingsheng nodded to everyone and then followed Xu Taining to the corner. Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and others also naturally moved over. "What¡¯s the matter?" Dai Mingsheng was in a fairly high-spirited mood; the earlier conversation had been quite pleasant. "The search team ran into a bit of an issue, they should notify you shortly," Xu Taining first said, and then added, "Two prisoners, armed with at least two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and multiple grenades, have escaped into Liangming Mountain." "This... how is that possible!" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s mood plummeted, and his facial expression changed. "The two weren¡¯t originally on the list. They operated an auto repair shop in the suburban counties, and by the time we confirmed their identities, they must have gotten word and fled in a pickup truck. They ditched the truck and ran when they encountered police at a national highway roadblock. By the time the responding officers chased after them, they had already entered the mountain. I¡¯ve moved the checkpoints forward to prevent simr incidents in the future." "Future..." Dai Mingsheng¡¯s eyes reddened, and he said softly, "Two violent criminals, two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammo, it¡¯s a life threat..." Xu Taining, maintaining a calm demeanor, let Dai Mingsheng vent his emotions before continuing, "This is a scenario anticipated in our contingency ns. When capturing such arge number of people, and sequentially at that, it is normal for some to get word and flee. In the past, some did escape, but none have been as lucky as these two. They ran into the mountains, which makes it challenging for us to capture them." "Challenging or not, capture them we must." "I share that view," Xu Taining nodded in agreement and added, "Then please contact the armed department, Dai Zhi." Dai Mingsheng let out a hissing sound, "Howrge are you thinking?" "Two violent criminals, two guns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and over a dozen grenades." Xu Taining repeated Dai Mingsheng¡¯s words and said, "I suggest calling in the overall task force." "The... the overall task force?" Dai Mingsheng¡¯s imagination only extended to a brigade. Xu Taining shrugged, "A brigade of over 1,000 people is definitely not enough. I¡¯m not very familiar with Liangming Mountain, but looking at its scale, two to three brigades working with the police is barely enough unless we mobilize the popce. But given the current situation, I suggest prioritizing a military-police operation." Inside Dai Mingsheng¡¯s head, eight little people were arguing until they finally coalesced into one idea: "You¡¯re right." Chapter 1205 - 1135 Image Recognition and Analysis

Chapter 1205: Chapter 1135 Image Recognition and Analysis

Buzz... A squadron of drones lined up, returning from the mountain ravine, continuously taking in returning drones along the way until they reached the open space before the mountain pass, where they hovered mid-air and then descended one by one. At the same time, the drones that were fully chargedunched and flew into the sky as nned. Themander responsible for these small drone operations checked the returning drones with his subordinates. Once confirming there were no issues, he ran to themand vehicle in front, shouted "Report," and said, "The target area has been fully searched, nothing found." "Continue searching," the captain inside themand vehicle responded, then turned to Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining, saying, "In that case, the search of D3 is alsopleted." "Then please advance the troops and continue searching forward," Xu Taining replied calmly. "Yes." After confirming with his superior, the captain began giving orders. Nearby, the Lieutenant Colonel coughed twice and said, "Director Xu, have you really decided not to search the mountain pass first? Based on our experience, once inside the mountains, the paths that people can take are actually limited. I¡¯ve been to Liangming Mountain three times, and the mountain trails mostly run along the mountain pass. Only when reaching the main peak do you climb the ridge, and climbing the ridge is the easiest way to be spotted by drones..." Xu Taining smiled and said, "Searching the mountain pass first is indeed a n; it should be said it is a rtively efficient n. But out of caution, I believe taking a step-by-step approach is better. I¡¯m mainly worried about two issues. The first is that following the mountain pass makes it easy for us to thin out the line of troops, allowing the fugitive to slip through. The second is to guard against the fugitive hiding in caves or deep mountains and forests." The Lieutenant Colonel furrowed his brow and said, "Aren¡¯t you overthinking it? With this level of infiltration and wilderness survival capability, let alone these criminals, even the special forces in the army may not manage it¡ªit would take some kind of top-tier soldier. Don¡¯t be fooled by how many heroes in war history seem to aplish these feats easily; those were all achieved over piles of dead bodies." Xu Taining also became a bit more serious: "The problem is, if these two escape, or even if only one gets out, they could kill a lot of people. By then, what use is saving our efforts now?" The Lieutenant Colonel was momentarily stunned. Xu Taining smiled, softened his tone, and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang, we consider the problems from different angles. You might be thinking about how to aplish the task faster, better, and more economically, considering cost-effectiveness most of the time. For us... at least for me, that¡¯s not how we calcte. Actually, just think about it, the number of drones youmand, plus therge drones flying overhead¡ªwhat¡¯s the cost-effectiveness in catching just two people here?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang¡¯smand vehicle also controlled severalrge drones, which were now flying over Liangming Mountain. These big machines, with wingspans over 10 meters, required specific take-off andnding sites, so they didn¡¯tnd here, but the amount of information they gathered was immense, and their effectiveness was iparable to small drones. Lieutenant Colonel Zhang chuckled bitterly, "It seems I¡¯ve overthought it. I initially thought that catching them faster would at least give you an easier time exining." "Of course, faster is better. But speaking privately, what¡¯s it to me if the leaders are anxious?" Xu Tainingughed and said, "Leaders are supposed to bear the pressure. If they can¡¯t, why are they leaders, right? It¡¯s easier for me to work faster, but fast work only makes the leaders a little happier¡ªso what if they¡¯re happy? Whether they¡¯re happy early orte, perhaps being happy two dayster might make them even happier. But at what cost?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang was at a loss for words. What could he say when others could handle the leaders? Xu Taining, enjoying the discussion, continued talking to himself, "I haven¡¯t seen much of fast and good. When the higher-ups want to speed at 120 on the roads, the middle level has to increase to 144, and at the execution level, you have to drive 180. Why? Because you will always encounter congested sections, times when you need to slow down and give way. To guarantee an average speed of 120 that the bosses want, one must reach 180. Isn¡¯t that asking for trouble?" "You criminal investigators are always so shrewd." Lieutenant Colonel Zhangmented ambiguously. Xu Taining also chuckled. Over the years, not many flowers were thrown his way;ints were plenty, yet people still sought him for cases. He didn¡¯t n to change. For someone in his line of work, being amiable was not only useless but harmful. Actually, most criminal investigators were simr, especially veteran ones. After handling serious cases, they often looked at their own families with a probing gaze, not generally wee. "Let¡¯s eat." Xu Tainingughed and said, "We¡¯ll advance after lunch; as long as they¡¯re in the mountains, there¡¯s nothing to fear." "The wild game in the mountains is in for a tough time." Lieutenant Colonel Zhang alsoughed heartily. "You say they¡¯re game. Besides, they¡¯ve only hunted a few." Xu Taining winked. Lunch was prepared using the army¡¯s Type 97A field kitchen vehicle. Four cooks could prepare meals for 150 people in an hour. The surrounding troops, organized bypany (toon), ate in shifts, one every hour, and one kitchen vehicle could supply a battalion¡¯s logistics. Circumscribing Liangming Mountain¡ªeven without physically enclosing it¡ªisn¡¯t something a brigade of over 1,000 men can manage alone. Considering rotation needs, you¡¯d need a dozen kitchen vehicles just for meal preparations. On missions, the ration standards were naturally raised as high as possible, especially with generous meat portions. Less wouldn¡¯t cut it either. They were all twenty-something youngsters, having trekked all day. Whether running back for meals or delivering them uphill, everyone¡¯s appetite was massive, and the 97A could only steam 25 kilograms of rice at a time. Even with added buns and dumplings, it still requiredrge protein supplements. Xu Taining, Liu Jinghui, and other middle-aged men¡¯s appetites noticeably decreased, three liang (150 grams) of rice were more than enough per person, and they dared to pick only one type between braised pork and steamed pork with rice flour, lest their belts wouldn¡¯t buckle. Jiang Yuan had a lunchbox full of rice, smothered with potato-braised beef. Mixing in a bit of crispy pork, he devoured it clean, then grabbed another box of rice, poured over the sauce from the braised pork, then tomato scrambled eggs, covering half with steamed pork with rice flour and half with streaky pork. Finally, he added a bit of green vegetables¡ªwhat they were called wasn¡¯t important; just garlic stir-fried ones. "Whew..." Finishing his second box of rice, Jiang Yuan exhaled a long breath, popped open a can of c with a p, took a big gulp, and felt invigorated all over. "I envy you young people." Xu Taining also let out a long sigh. He mainly ate green vegetables, which tasted quite average, and the young men in the cooking ss obviouslycked enthusiasm for this type of food. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t quite empathize with Xu Taining, just like ordinary Jiang Vige People couldn¡¯t quite empathize with ordinary Ningtai People. Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth and said, "The young people have eaten their fill, time to get to work." "You work hard. Ah, I also envy your brain." Xu Taining was drooling over the many technologies mastered by Jiang Yuan. Forensic doctors who know trace inspection are everywhere, but those who understand satellite remote sensing and can read and create images are rare. Being the Jiang Vige People that he was, growing up surrounded by envy was a norm for Jiang Yuan, who naturally smiled, waved his hand, and went to look at the images. Lieutenant Colonel Zhang eagerly followed and handed over a specially prepared three-proofptop to Jiang Yuan, then connected the data cable to update the data brought back by the UAV. Jiang Yuan first opened Pix4d for a rough scan. The data brought back by the UAV was too enormous, turning data processing into a real bottleneck. To address this, after weighing pros and cons, Jiang Yuan exchanged one of his umted two first-ss merits for Image Recognition and Analysis (Level 5). It was because of the umted two first-ss merits that Jiang Yuan could make such a decisive decision. He was prepared to use the remaining first-ss merit in case he encountered an unsolvable case. Moreover, "Image Recognition and Analysis" could be used not only in the images brought by the UAV, but also in satellite remote sensing or photographically captured images. In modern society, which is equipped with countless cameras, the application scope of this skill is broad enough topensate for Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill shortfall. The technicians of the Image Reconnaissance Brigade are certainly handy, avable as needed, but experts at Level 3 are incredibly rare. The price outside was too high, one needed either a strong heart or a thick family background to resist such temptation. Jiang Yuan processed the scanned images, selected a batch, and then meticulously treated them using Level 5 Image Enhancement Technology. Lieutenant Colonel Zhang, being a professional himself, naturally understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations, waiting nearby, serving tea and stealing techniques. Mainly the former. Compared to Xu Taining, Lieutenant Colonel Zhang admired Jiang Yuan a little more. Essentially, they were doing the same thing, both attempting to find a needle in the sea. However, while Xu Taining at least knew that the needle was in the sea, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know--like these batches of images before him, which most likely contained no useful information, yet he still had to process them carefully, even more meticulously. Not finding it doesn¡¯t prove it doesn¡¯t exist; even after thoroughly searching and still not finding it doesn¡¯t prove it absent, only means continuing the search and maintaining hope, with more earnest dedication... Lieutenant Colonel Zhang knew hecked Jiang Yuan¡¯s technology, but he was even less sure whether he would continue earnestly searching for hope if he had Jiang Yuan¡¯s technology. "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang?" Jiang Yuan took a sip of coffee. "Yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang instinctively responded, as if called by a superior, standing at attention. Jiang Yuan paused, then smiled and said, "There are a few routes here, could you arrange for the UAV to fly them again? It can fly lower and capture clearer images." Jiang Yuan picked up a paper map, without using rulers, circled arge sausage-like circle with a pencil. "Yes. Do you need to deploy a squad for an armed reconnaissance?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang worried Jiang Yuan might hesitate to use the unit. "Not now." Jiang Yuan slowly shook his head, saying, "Because this area is a broadleaf mixed forest, it is rtively difficult to recognize images captured by the UAV." Lieutenant Colonel Zhang hesitated for a moment, saying, "If it flies low, wouldn¡¯t the suspects hide from the UAV... Or should I deploy a high-resolutionrge UAV over here..." "No need. I¡¯m not trying to locate the suspects, but to see if they left any traces." "Can traces be seen?" Jiang Yuan looked at him curiously and said, "As long as the resolution is high enough, recognizing any image is merely a matter of feature extraction... Of course, recognizing traces left by living suspects is harder than identifying obvious targets left by deceased ones, but these two escapees aren¡¯t very professional, leaving behind evident living traces, still bearing hope." Chapter 1206 - 1136: A Red Line

Chapter 1206: Chapter 1136: A Red Line

Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming walked one behind the other in the dim forest, each bowing their heads as they watched the road,cking any spirit for conversation. It was noon at this time, but deep within Liangming Mountain,yers uponyers of nts did all they could to block the sunlight outside. The light that could prate was minimal, making visibility in the forest even lower than that of a city at dusk. The ground beneath their feet was no longer the hard and familiar surface to humans but was soft, capable of reaching over their ankles with humus. This was also the main reason they dared not venture deeper into the forest. On another note, it was because Wang Chengxue had some hiking experience and had traversed Liangming Mountain routes, so they were able toe this far. Despite this, Cao Yangming regretted immensely and muttered again, "Should we just go out, Liangming Mountain has a road that passes through the middle, we have taken this road before. We find a more secluded stretch of road, quietly hitch a ride, and we¡¯d be out." "It¡¯s not that easy; we escaped with guns. These kinds of road sections definitely have checkpoints," Wang Chengxue walked forward with his head down. Cao Yangming didn¡¯t have any hiking experience; he had already reached the point of copse and said, "A road is so long, can they block all of it?" "They block the head and the tail of the road, and you¡¯ve got no way out." "We get off the car a bit earlier, and then walk into the mountain; won¡¯t they find it harder to track us?" "The driver? Let him go, and he¡¯ll definitely report us; kill him, and there¡¯s a corpse in the car, how do you handle that? We¡¯ll definitely be discovered. At that point, we might have just a few hours lead on the police, we won¡¯t be able to escape, not better than now." Cao Yangming shouted, "What¡¯s good about now, I¡¯m exhausted." After saying that, he plopped onto the ground, stters of mud everywhere, and who knows how many bugs crawled out as he looked up at the sky. "There are snakes on the ground, and bugs that enter ces they shouldn¡¯t," Wang Chengxue scared him a bit, also taking the opportunity to rest, and then persuaded him, "Listen to me, let¡¯s find a bigger cave to stay in, live like wild men for a month, no police can endure that. How many people would it take to search the mountain? Can they afford it? Once they withdraw, we can go down, and you can go wherever you like." "Ah..." Cao Yangming sighed deeply, "I¡¯d rather be poisoned by a snake. I really can¡¯t walk anymore... what we¡¯re walking can¡¯t even be called a road; my hands are scraped raw." The deep forest of Liangming Mountain also rises and falls with the mountain¡¯s slope, the gradient follows a random pattern. Many times it¡¯s a difficult climb up steep slopes, only able to w onto trees to climb upwards or step on trees to prevent rolling down. "Just hold on a bit longer, I know there¡¯s a cave up ahead we passed before, there¡¯s wood stored inside; we can live, smoke dissipates quickly from inside. We can sleep by the fire then get up in the morning and n again. A month¡¯s time is easy; just think of it as camping," Wang Chengxue said confidently. If not for such experience, he wouldn¡¯t dare enter such deep woods. Although he was somewhat lost himself, he fortunately carried apass; finding the cave would be difficult but not enough to trap them inside. Regarding this cave hiding n, Wang Chengxue had previously conceived it. This is simr to how some people have imagined a perfect murder, or a perfect wedding, or a perfect encounter, some have imagined being the perfect sycophant, some have imagined being a time management master with a perfect harem, while others have imagined being the perfect stock god. Wang Chengxue imagined a perfect escape in deep mountains. This was also the most frequently discussed topic, besides sex, during their campfire talks on hiking trips. Mountain roads are difficult; paths in deep mountains are especially hard to traverse. If not following established mountain paths, getting lost, injuries, idents, diseases and more could be said to follow one after another. Wang Chengxue and others had previously explored the forest¡¯s edge, and bringing enough supplies was difficult even for a few people, while among various supplies, firearms were the most useful. With a gun, there is protection, encountering bigger beasts would not be a panic. Most importantly, a gun allows for hunting; catching prey is in itself a form of supply. Therefore, despite knowing that bringing a gun would attract more pursuit, Wang Chengxue decided to carry one. Anyway, as long as they stayed in the cave for a period, it was like going out to have fun for a while, the police surrounding the mountain would naturally leave. At least, there would be loopholes to exploit at that time. Wang Chengxue used this detailed n to convince an anxious Cao Yangming. Entering the deep mountains alone was too dangerous; even though Cao Yangming had little experience in the mountains, his shooting was urate, and his stamina was good. If needed, helping each other climb slopes would be extremely useful. "We came lightly equipped; the sleeping bags we brought are thin types. If we can¡¯t find a cave and have to sleep in the wild, we¡¯ll have to climb trees; the forest is not safe at night," Wang Chengxue slightly frightened Cao Yangming. Cao Yangming sighed again, a bit curious, and asked, "Are there wolves in the mountains? Leopards?" "I heard there are leopards, but I haven¡¯t seen one. Haven¡¯t heard of wolves, but there are lynxes; I¡¯ve seen quite a few. They¡¯re fierce, feline, fast, sharp-wed, can climb trees, and aren¡¯t small¡ªabout the size of a medium-sized dog," Wang Chengxue exined, then chuckled, "A gun can take care of it with just one bullet." Cao Yangming stroked the Remington slung across his back, feeling somewhatforted. He was the main force behind gun making; initially, he used the repair shop¡¯s machinery to process someponents, using the money earned to support the shop. Later, as the shop lost more money, he sank deeper into the business. At first, he would check information to see how long he could be sentenced for his actions, deliberately avoiding making entire firearms. In thest two years, he stopped checking, not able to ept life imprisonment or the death penalty. But to stop entirely, the remaining value of the shop wouldn¡¯t be enough for his retirement. "Once we reach the cave, rest for a night, and tomorrow morning we¡¯ll take air guns to hunt. There are a few types of wild chickens that taste particrly good; I can¡¯t name them, but I remember what they look like," Wang Chengxue tried to say something cheerful to motivate Cao Yangming. Cao Yangming perked up a bit, "We won¡¯t be found by the police, right?" "No way, the mountains are vast. We can hunt some game and hide out; there¡¯s no need to worry. Their speed in searching through the mountains will definitely be slow, and they won¡¯t find us here." Wang Chengxue pointed south, saying, "Liangming Mountain is a mountain range, with one mountain connected to another behind it. If theye this deep, they¡¯d need a lot of people..." Just as he was speaking, a buzzing sound came from the sky. This sound,pletely different from the mountain¡¯s, instantly heightened Wang Chengxue¡¯s alertness. He pulled Cao Yangming andy down under a tree, peering through the gaps in the branches with all his might. He couldn¡¯t see anything, but the buzzing was unmistakable. Cao Yangming caught his breath against the tree, then listened closely. After a while, he said, "It should be a drone, right?" "Probably. It¡¯s nothing unexpected." Wang Chengxue remained calm for a few seconds before adding, "This forest is dense. We can¡¯t see above, and the drone flying over the trees can¡¯t see us either." "Makes sense." Cao Yangming visibly rxed. Wang Chengxue chuckled, adding, "It¡¯s better than waiting by the roadside. If a drone flies along the road, there¡¯d be nowhere for us to hide." "If we started earlier, it might have been possible." Cao Yangming remarked, but his tone was much more rxed, "Walking in the mountains has its perks too." The twoughed lightly together. Buzz... Buzz... The sound of the drone continued for a while and then disappeared. Having rested enough, Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming got up and continued walking, hand in hand. ... At the base of Liangming Mountain. Jiang Yuan ate the hot pot cooked by the mess team while looking at the charts on theputer. The images sent back by the drone have no meaning when viewed alone. There are too many images with ultra-high resolution, which is a burden and perhaps an impossible task for both humans and Level 3 notebooks. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan knew what he was looking for, so he searched purely through the data. Even before drones were invented, the image data captured by satellites was already mind-boggling. Relevant satellite remote sensing professions have invested massive resources in this. Now, not only has satellite remote sensing technology been synchronously transferred to drones, but thetest AI technology is also massively developed in the drone field. And for Jiang Yuan, Level 5¡¯s Image Recognition and Analysis is enough to design and develop rted domain algorithms, outperforming a thousand eyes in practical applications. Additionally, with the temporary +1 skill, in these 400-plus minutes, Jiang Yuan is the "Sky Eye Hunter" (borrowed from the review of reader "Heart Can Open the Sky"). Before dinner time, the newly returned data began to be frequently highlighted in red by Jiang Yuan. Lieutenant Colonel Zhang initially watched in confusion, but gradually gained some understanding. "Are you using image segmentation to improve uracy?" Lieutenant Colonel Zhang tentatively asked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded, smiling, "Lieutenant Colonel Zhang¡¯s skills aren¡¯t bad. Have you studied this?" "No, no. I am not qualified to do this... I just heard about it. It¡¯s about using spatial and spectral characteristics for image segmentation, achieving internal consistency and heterogeneity or something... I learned a bit during school, but returned it to the teacher. Actually, I never really borrowed it in the first ce. This should be used by those specializing in algorithm research, right? We usually just use the software..." Lieutenant Colonel Zhang just secretly checked some literature to avoid saying anything wrong. Jiang Yuan nodded, "Software can¡¯t break it down thoroughly, usually handling data above 300. For this, we don¡¯t pursue generality; instead, it¡¯s simpler." "Impressive." Lieutenant Colonel Zhangughed twice. Having been in the army for a long time, he could instantly pick up a hint of ¡¯humblebrag¡¯. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue the conversation and kept fiddling with theputer. Soon, Jiang Yuan extracted an image. Lieutenant Colonel Zhang recognized it at a nce. It was part of the satellite image of Liangming Mountain. In the past two days, he¡¯d almost memorized it. At this moment, a curved red line appeared on the map. "Confirm along the line to see if it¡¯s the trail left by the two fugitives. If it is, intercept them further ahead." Jiang Yuan made a final check and called over Xu Taining. Xu Taining nced at it, nodded, and said, "Confirm traces and carry out interception simultaneously. I¡¯ll call Old Dai." With that, Xu Taining picked up the handset of themand vehicle and, after dialing, said, "Dai Zhi, the helicopter team you¡¯ve prepared can depart now." Chapter 1207 - 1137: Scraping Therapy for Bone Injuries

Chapter 1207: Chapter 1137: Scraping Therapy for Bone Injuries

"Lao Wang, are we almost there? I can¡¯t go on anymore." Cao Yangming dragged his legs, carrying only his bag on his shoulder; both guns were stashed in a tree hollow. Wang Chengxue also found it incredibly difficult; going out with a newbie is clearly different from going hiking with a few veterans, especially on unfamiliar paths. Checking the watch andpass, Wang Chengxue smiled to encourage Cao Yangming: "We¡¯re close, just hang on for another hour or so. There are prepared wood and supplies in the cave, pluspressed biscuits and the like. Also, there¡¯s a dripping water spot in the cave that can give us a few bowls of water each day. We still have food; once we get there, you can rest, sleep a bit, then get up and eat something¡ªyour fatigue will be gone." He was drawing a picture to Cao Yangming, and Cao Yangming knew it was just words offort, but they both sweetly smiled. As he smiled, Cao Yangming added: "I think I¡¯m hearing things, like really loud rotor sounds, louder than drones..." "You¡¯re not hearing wrong. It¡¯s a helicopter. Hide." Wang Chengxue pulled Cao Yangming, pressing against arge tree again. Therge trees deep in the mountains were covered in vines, unknown slimy fungi, and various kinds of ugly insects¡ªnot necessarily alive, some were long dead, but because of their indigestible chitin, they lingered for a long time. Cao Yangming gasped, his whole being exuding a deathly aura. He was somewhat not wanting to die now, but felt it was almost impossible to reach the cave alive. Wang Chengxue looked at him worriedly; he needed help to survive in such an environment, otherwise, there would be nobody to take turns at night, which was extremely dangerous. What¡¯s more, Cao Yangming carried quite a bit, and if he fell now, Wang Chengxue wouldn¡¯t be able to carry supplies for two people. "Let¡¯s take this chance to rest. Once they can¡¯t find us, we¡¯ll move." Wang Chengxue¡¯s mind wasn¡¯t functioning much anymore; he was focused entirely on reaching the cave. Woo-woo-woo... The helicopter indeed flew a bit farther away; just three helicopters flew in three different directions. Wang Chengxue thought they were dispersing to search, but didn¡¯t wonder why they dispersed right above. "It¡¯s okay now, let¡¯s keep going." After waiting a minute, Wang Chengxue pulled Cao Yangming up, walking slowly forward. Cao Yangming stumbled in stride, frowning again: "Why am I hearing helicopter sounds again?" As Wang Chengxue pulled him along, he looked around, frowning: "When will this end." Woo-woo-woo... The further they walked, the louder the helicopter sounds got, forcing Wang Chengxue to stop: "Wait for these helicopters, don¡¯t get spotted." Cao Yangming dazedly followed Wang Chengxue, blurting out: "If only we could ride a helicopter." Understanding what he meant, Wang Chengxue said: "Hang in there and it¡¯ll be fine..." Just as he spoke, the helicopter swerved, its nose pointing at them, a loudspeaker announcing: "People below, you are surrounded..." Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming were startled. "Surrounded?" "Discovered?" Their words were simultaneous, and emotions surged, ridding them of fatigue. Wang Chengxue decisively took the gun off his shoulder, attempting to aim at the helicopter. "An armed helicopter, can you really shoot it down with a rifle?" A voice shouted from the dense forest ahead. "Who is it, stop pretending!" Wang Chengxue shouted. "We are the police." The voice from the forest grew louder. A red dot silently settled on Wang Chengxue¡¯s chest, followed by several more red dots. Wang Chengxue didn¡¯t see the red dots on his chest, but he saw them on Cao Yangming¡¯s. He naturally lowered his head to look, and froze. "Stand still, if you move once more, I¡¯ll shoot you immediately." The voice came closer, appearing before Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming. "Drop the gun on the ground. Raise your hands, palms open, let me see your hands." The man, holding a rifle, slowly revealed himself, wearing camouge, with ceramic tes on his chest. Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming had no choice but toply. Cao Yangming, fully awake now, softly asked: "Brother Wang, what do we do?" "It¡¯s over." Wang Chengxue sighed deeply, no longer bothering about Cao Yangming. Two veterans stepped forward, grabbed Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming¡¯s hands, cuffed them from behind, and rxed. While frisking the two men to remove weapons, they said, "You guys are really bold, using light weapons to target an armed helicopter, huh? You¡¯re lucky you weren¡¯t shot into a sieve..." "How did you find us?" Wang Chengxue couldn¡¯t help but ask. The veteran chuckled, "You¡¯re quite the inquisitive one." Of course, he wouldn¡¯t tell Wang Chengxue it was due to thermal imaging. Sitting inside the helicopter, having thermal imaging was just basic equipment. But to ordinary people, it was already a very difficult means to outsmart. The drone images earlier had been too many; countless drones searched repeatedly, gathering an enormous amount of information, which could not be parsed bit by bit by humans. Only after Jiang Yuan processed the relevant information could it be better utilized to find people. The armed helicopter wasn¡¯t as troublesome; they just flew over to the designated target, circled a bit aimlessly, used the information from Jiang Yuan, and activated various devices to quickly capture Wang Chengxue and his group¡¯s traces. "Did we catch them?" A few more people arrived on foot. "We got them." The veteran holding Wang Chengxueughed heartily, "You¡¯rete." "We were blocking folks from escaping for you!" The approaching soldiers took a few seconds to scan the surroundings, then holstered their guns, spat, and said, "The helicopter dropped us off a bit far away." They had rappelled down. Since there was a concern that armed criminals might shoot them during the descent, both helicopters that carried personnel flew further away. After a brief moment of regret, the arriving soldiers took out photos topare with Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming, nodded, and said, "It¡¯s these two guys, no mistake. Should we head back now?" "Let¡¯s go back. Call the helicopter to pick us up. Wait... why are there only two rifles..." ... When Jiang Yuan and the others received the news, Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming were already on the helicopter, flying back with the highest priority. Three armed Special Police were left at the scene to return and search for those two guns. Xu Taining specifically requested the site footage,pared it with the map for a long time, and only after confirming that no one else was likely nearby, said, "This looks like it shouldn¡¯t be a big problem, but let¡¯s not lift the blockade for now. Send an additional helicopter over to pick up the Special Police searching for the guns, and provide fire support if necessary." Dai Mingsheng found it quite distressing, "We¡¯ve caught them already, and the blockade isn¡¯t lifted?" "Better safe than sorry. If things go smoothly, we can retrieve the guns in a few hours. Maintaining the blockade for a few more hours won¡¯t cost much." Xu Taining suggested quite half-heartedly, since no matter whether Dai Mingsheng agreed or not, it had to be done. Dai Mingsheng also understood this reasoning and resignedly said, "Does the helicopter have to make another trip?" "Safety first, efficiency first." Xu Taining paused and said, "If the helicopter doesn¡¯t fly, the Special Police will have to bring the guns out. If they don¡¯te out, the blockade can¡¯t be lifted." "Alright then." Dai Mingsheng sighed, took out his phone, and said, "I¡¯ll give them a call." "No need, Lieutenant Colonel Zhang has already made the call, the military leaders talked easily, and the helicopter should be on its way." Jiang Yuan walked over at this moment. Dai Mingsheng was surprised, "So proactive? Are they treating it as training or what?" "They¡¯re trying to curry favor with Jiang Yuan." Xu Tainingmented without lifting his head. "Why... why is that?" Dai Mingsheng felt inexplicably a bit annoyed, as if he were back in his youthful days, visions of a fair maiden in white danced in his mind... Xu Taining nced at Dai Mingsheng but didn¡¯t answer the question. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s expression already spoke volumes. Pushing theptop towards him, Xu Taining said, "Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming were just unexpected captures. Their positions in the Heavy Load Gang were merely peripheral. There are likely many small fry like them. For the captures toe, we must be as cautious as possible." Dai Mingsheng shivered slightly and quickly said, "Indeed, we can¡¯t keep doing mountain searches; it¡¯s too nerve-wracking." "I understand. But there¡¯s no guarantee." Xu Taining had encountered many simr scenarios, but like he said, there are always unexpected incidents during captures, many of which are difficult to anticipate. For example, with Wang Chengxue and Cao Yangming, Wang Chengxue¡¯s previous criminal deeds were even less severe, but because he had experience with hiking, knew Liangming Mountain, and frequently ventured into the hills, he opted for the mountain escape route. If anotherbination tried it, they might have other strange ideas. "These past few days, the director keeps calling me to report on work." Knowing he couldn¡¯t restrict Xu Taining, Dai Mingsheng switched tactics, feigning misery, "It¡¯s not easy for the director either, having to report work every day. Additionally, the province needs daily updates. On our side, the pressure is really immense." "It¡¯s like healing by scrubbing bones; it naturally hurts. If you stop now, you wouldn¡¯t be able to ept it." Xu Taining chuckled, "Speaking of reporting, I suggest you inform the leadership that I intend to capture someone at the film city." Dai Mingsheng was startled, "Capture... capture who?" ncing at Jiang Yuan beside him, Xu Taining said, "Intel shows there¡¯s a professional team at the film city making props and weapons while also crafting various imitation weapons, not just replicas but likely genuine imported ones. The specifics are unclear. My n is to first surround and capture, then interrogate on the spot, and follow the clues ordingly. Judging by the scale, I believe there¡¯s already a corresponding ck and gray industry chain inside the film city." Chapter 1208 - 1138: Starting from Frame Zero

Chapter 1208: Chapter 1138: Starting from Frame Zero

Film studio. When teams of police officers appeared on the streets, everyone thought they were extras heading to the set. Someone watched for a while and noticed that these extras lined up exceptionally neatly, with excellent spirits, and couldn¡¯t help but approach, "Who¡¯s your casting head? I¡¯m a casting director, and the crew all call me Brother Hui. I think there¡¯s often a need for people here, so give me a contact, okay?" The stopped team didn¡¯t pause, skirted around him, and continued walking. Only one person stepped out from the ranks, nced at his business card, and then shed his police badge, saying, "Police, I¡¯m now checking your identity ording to thew. Do you have your ID card?" Brother Huiughed, "Mate, you¡¯re acting quite convincingly. Alright, alright, your acting is good enough. I¡¯ve already got my eyes on a few of you. I have other matters today; let¡¯s add each other on WeChat first, and I¡¯ll call you when there¡¯s a role..." "I¡¯m from the Lanyue City Criminal Police Team. Not an extra," the officer exined seriously. Brother Hui waved his hand, "Got it, your acting is good. Don¡¯t overy it; it won¡¯t be fun anymore." "Look closely at my police badge!" the officer¡¯s voice turned stern. "It¡¯s made quite realistically. Okay, I¡¯ll introduce it to the props departmentter. I need amission, just so you know in advance." Brother Hui shook his head, took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, put one in his mouth, and offered one to the officer opposite. The officer naturally refused. Brother Hui nodded, thinking, they still know the rules. Before the two could continue bickering, another team of police officers came over, also neatly dressed with uniforms buttoned up to the neck, walking proudly with good posture, their arms swinging back and forth. The only thing that slightly broke the scene was that these officers had fierce-looking faces, appearing rather hard to deal with. Brother Hui nced at them and decided not to approach with his business card. Not to mention that he didn¡¯t know where these extras came from, just their appearance also didn¡¯t fit ying righteous characters, and for viins, being so orderly was useless. Viins are more suited to swarming chaotically... "What¡¯s going on?" The team that Brother Hui didn¡¯t fancy stopped directly. The one speaking was Wu Junhao, who casually took off his hat and squinted at Brother Hui, sizing him up from head to toe. Brother Hui felt icy all over, as if being targeted by a big shot in the industry, making him feel jittery, and whispered, "Well... I¡¯m working for Director Zhang Guangfa doing field work, also helping to contact extras and such. If you guys are interested, you can contact meter..." "We¡¯re police! Can¡¯t you recognize the uniform?" Wu Junhao red at Brother Hui. Brother Hui cautiously said, "Bro, your acting is not very convincing." The Bald Strike Team burst intoughter. Wu Junhao rubbed his shiny bald head, ring, "Are you ying me now?" "No... Bro, you definitely have an advantage with this look. In our film studio, ying a viin like an evilndlord, your range is wide open. You don¡¯t necessarily have to y a cop, right?" Brother Hui hastily defended. Wu Junhao ced one hand on Brother Hui¡¯s shoulder, "Are you saying we don¡¯t look like police?" He waved his other hand side to side, as if indicating his group, but more like making a throat-slitting gesture. Brother Hui was scared to death, but recalling how the actors he knew behaved, he decided to adopt the most appropriatenguage for the film studio, and said, "Bro, your bandit role is so convincing that I¡¯m about to wet myself." The members of the Bald Strike Team chuckled snortingly. Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t be bothered to argue any further, pulled out a police device, scanned Brother Hui¡¯s face, reported his ID number, and then scanned below, saying, "You also have a DUI record and served time in a brothel. You¡¯re still this bold?" Wu Junhao¡¯s words brought unbearable memories flooding into Brother Hui¡¯s mind, and he quickly shook his head. "Perfect timing, show us the way." Wu Junhao had a map but still preferred having a guide. He took Brother Hui along and left. Around the same time, another team of police officers, marching neatly, passed by. Wu Junhao nodded at them and, tugging Brother Hui along, quickly headed to the predetermined location. Film studio office building. Many employees poked their heads from the windows, curious about the teams of police entering. Vice President Dong Xifeng hurried to report to Chairman Yue Hongxu, knocked on the door, only to find Yue Hongxu standing in front of a shredder, feeding document after document into it. Dong Xifeng was taken aback, then his face changed as he rushed forward to help, whispering, "Mr. Yue, is there a problem?" He was already mentally calcting the situation. In a ce asplex as a film studio, really getting involved could cause untold trouble. Yue Hongxu¡¯s voice remained calm, "Better safe than sorry. Some records are best known only to our people. If the police see them, it¡¯s easy to misinterpret." Dong Xifeng couldn¡¯t help but nod. "The police have arrived upstairs?" Yue Hongxu finished shredding the papers in his hand, stood up and asked again. Dong Xifeng responded affirmatively, adding, "Dai Mingsheng is leading them. When I came over, they should have been waiting for the elevator." "Alright then." Yue Hongxu pped his hands, turned off the shredder, and sat back behind his desk. Creak... Soon after, the office door was pushed open. "Mr. Yue." Dai Mingsheng entered with a smile, nced around, and joked, "Destroying evidence?" "Just some celebrity privacy information. Not illegal, but I don¡¯t want it seen either." Yue Hongxu exined, then stood up and asked, "How can I cooperate with you, Captain Dai? I will fully cooperate." "No need, I¡¯m just giving you a heads-up. After all, it¡¯s yourpany. We will conduct a series of searches in the film studio, and we hope you understand and that yourpany¡¯s staff will cooperate." Dai Mingsheng spoke in a formal manner. Yue Hongxu readily agreed, "We¡¯ll do whatever you say." "Rx, we¡¯ll be as gentle as possible, and if all goes well, it will be over soon." Dai Mingsheng reassured him, then sat down to send a message in the WeChat group: [Yue Hongxu is in his office, destroyed a lot of documents.] Someone immediately responded in the WeChat group: [The Third Team has arrived at Film Street, three prop shops have been secured.] [Team Six has secured Target Four; surprise interrogation confirmed 4 firearms and a set of bullet reloading equipment.] [The Patrol Team found a vehicle involved in the case.] Information continued to flood in, updating the progress of each team. Dai Mingsheng felt gratified, realizing that even without his presence, everyone could adjust andplete the work... Without him... Dai Mingsheng suddenly frowned... "Captain Jiang!" The police officer at the door shouted. Dai Mingsheng instinctively looked over, and it was Jiang Yuan who walked in. "Doctor Jiang!" Yue Hongxu saw Jiang Yuan and actually felt a sense of familiarity. They had shared at least two meals, a rtionship that in the business world was almost as close as brothers. "Mr. Yue." Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded at Yue Hongxu, then gestured, "You have a secret room in this room, right?" "What?" "What?" Both Yue Hongxu and Dai Mingsheng were astonished. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Crime Scene Investigation (Level 5) alongside his Masonry (Level 4) skills made him certain, "The secret room¡¯s area exceeds 10 square centimeters, and it should be at this angle." Chapter 1209 - 1139 Black

Chapter 1209: Chapter 1139 ck

Jiang Yuan pointed at the location next to the bookshelf and then called over the Criminal Science team, saying, "Take photos and videos, and find the switch for the secret room." Miao Ruixiang immediately led his team over, took photos first, and then under the camera, removed all the books from the bookshelf, finally discovering a button flush with the wall on the third level. The button was parallel to the wall and matched the wood grain color, making it quite concealed. When pressed, a churning sound was heard, and the bookshelf moved as a whole, revealing an embedded safe inside. Dong Xifeng was shocked as he watched this scene. Of all the people present, none were more surprised than Dong Xifeng. The police, needless to say, had to ept whatever they encountered. The imagination of criminals is unimaginable to normal people, but encountering a deranged criminal wouldn¡¯t surprise anyone. But Dong Xifeng was different; he thought he understood Yue Hongxu. At times, Dong Xifeng even felt he had mastered Yue Hongxu; he could easily hide things from Yue Hongxu and easily iste himself, gaining benefits more than once or twice. Dong Xifeng never imagined that Yue Hongxu would create such a mess in his office. "Open it," Miao Ruixiang took a picture of the safe and made room for Yue Hongxu. "Sorry, these are all ourpany¡¯s confidential documents. You will need to provide the necessary documents, and only after thepanywyer confirms can I open it." Yue Hongxu stiffened, mentioning nothing but thepany. Personal strength,pared to public authority, was too insignificant. Jiang Yuan shook his head and said, "We came here following clues, and I suggest you cooperate with the investigation. Otherwise, we will have to forcefully unlock it." Saying so, Jiang Yuan looked at Dai Mingsheng. Dai Mingsheng immediately responded, "I¡¯ll arrange for a locksmith toe over right away and also find someone with acetylene cutting equipment." The high-end behavior understood by ordinary people, listening to the sound of a safe to unlock it, was more something espionage agencies did to avoid detection. Typically, the French back in the day, when they stole across Paris¡¯s embassies, wanted to take a peek at everyone¡¯s safes. Why are such stories rarely heard of now? Because of the Prism program, because the advancement of the inte has rendered pure paper data nearly meaningless. And for the police, opening a safe undamaged isn¡¯t so crucial; cutting it open is quite alright, too. Yue Hongxu¡¯s face turned red and white alternately, but he still stubbornly remained silent. Not until the locksmith entered with the acetylene cylinder did Yue Hongxu finally break his silence. "You were prepared for this?" Yue Hongxu felt a chill all over; this was too much. As the dignified general manager of Lanyue City Film and Television City, who had contributed to the city for many years, was he not to gain a bit of trust? Dai Mingsheng felt that perhaps they wouldn¡¯t be able to execute Yue Hongxu, so he didn¡¯t want things to get too tense. Seeing Yue Hongxu¡¯s difficult expression, he chuckled and said, "It¡¯s not specifically against you. Since we¡¯vee to this office area, we surely need to prepare to open the safe. So Jiang Yuan said for you to cooperate with the investigation, right." "What¡¯s the difference whether I cooperate or not?" Yue Hongxu scoffed. "The difference is significant," Dai Mingsheng knew exactly how to deal with people like Yue Hongxu. "Oh?" "For instance, if you cooperate, your sentence could be reduced. One to three years could go down to one year, and sentences from a few months to a year might get suspended parole, meaning you wouldn¡¯t have to serve a day in jail. You are a smart person, and if you can make contributions by reporting, the sentence could be further reduced, which isn¡¯t impossible," Dai Mingsheng¡¯s smile was now gone. "We don¡¯t even know the situation yet, and you¡¯ve started sentencing me," Yue Hongxu said with a slight color change, unmoved. Dai Mingsheng nodded towards the safe with his lips, saying, "In my experience, the probability of these safes being harmless isn¡¯t high." "This safe was set up during the renovations, only for the sake of keeping documents safe," Yue Hongxu argued forcefully. Dai Mingsheng chuckled, "Do you think I believe that or not?" The team leader, Jian Louyuan, who had reviewed the information, said, "When the office building in the film and television city was built, Yue Hongxu was already the general manager." In the end, Yue Hongxu was just an ordinary person, and his resistance against the police was less than that of a yellow dog. He tried to argue logically, "That doesn¡¯t prove anything also..." Jiang Yuan grew a bit impatient and said, "If you unlock it now, you can save us half an hour to an hour. If you insist on wasting this time, when we submit for examination, I will specifically request the examiner to consider harsh penalties." Today, Xu Taining led the search, and everyone¡¯s tasks were significant. Jiang Yuan himself also felt he should be tense. At the very least, the Lanyue City Bureau couldn¡¯t end up spending all the money withoutpleting the arrests. Dai Mingsheng nodded secretly and added pressure, "Old Yue, you¡¯re sensible. Captain Jiang isn¡¯t one of us Lanyue people, but if he makes a request, the examiner will certainly consider it seriously. There¡¯s no need to make things ufortable for yourself. Open the safe, let¡¯s all save some trouble." Yue Hongxu hesitated for a few seconds, got up, and went to the safe, starting to turn the dial. The man-high safe gently opened. Inside, the first thing that caught the eye was money stacked from the bottom up, in red, green, and blue, all in bundles. The police present all had expressions of indifference. What¡¯s unusual about a general manager of a film city having ten million in cash in a safe? Only the youngest, Miao Ruixiang, took a deep breath, staring at the best-looking euros inside without blinking. Jiang Yuan stepped forward and immediately retrieved a gun from the middleyer of the safe. A full-loaded revolver. "It¡¯s a good choice. It doesn¡¯t require frequent maintenance and won¡¯t jam. For a gun in the office, reliability is everything," Jiang Yuan was highly familiar with handguns, possessing Level 3 shooting skills. Yue Hongxu¡¯s lips quivered a bit; he didn¡¯t know what to say. He is usually very careful, and there is another safe in his office. The safe hidden behind the bookshelf is used for secret dealings, ording to his original thought, even if things go wrong, this safe should be unknown to anyone. Several teams operated separately during construction, and with so many years passing, it should be very safe. Even when handing a script to Yue Hongxu, he never expected that Jiang Yuan would immediately see through the secret room the moment he entered. Yue Hongxu looked at Jiang Yuan with resentment, we are friends who¡¯ve had two meals together, I even brought beauties over to apany us with drinks... "These boxes are all contracts or something." Jian Louyuan pulled out a few cardboard boxes from the safe, flipped through them, and recognized them very proficiently: "These are drawer agreements. There¡¯re actor contracts, equity holding contracts, and some financial ones... Oh, and racy photos..." Speaking of racy photos, Miao Ruixiang subconsciously turned his head away. Dai Mingsheng turned to look at Yue Hongxu¡¯s expression, seeing he was still tense, he said, "There should be more stuff." So, the group began to search even more fervently. Jiang Yuan meanwhile put on gloves and started examining. "This ledger is interesting." Jiang Yuan picked out a ck leather notebook, flipping through it almost made himugh. "Recording gossip?" Miao Ruixiang was curious. "It¡¯s a ledger." "Huh, no numbers?" "He¡¯s using punctuation as numbers. The text itself isn¡¯t very important." Jiang Yuan held LV3 file inspection and LV5 cryptography, and saw through Yue Hongxu¡¯s little tricks at a nce. Yue Hongxu listened beside but was unable to control his facial expression. Unable to bear it any longer, Yue Hongxu jumped up and said, "Someone leaked this to you, right? Who¡¯s the mole?" "Old Jian, send someone to escort Mr. Dong back to the police station to record a statement." Dai Mingsheng first instructed Jian Louyuan to send Dong Xifeng away. Dong Xifeng suddenly panicked, quickly saying, "Mr. Yue, I was unaware, I¡¯m not the mole." Dai Mingsheng waved his hand, waited for Dong Xifeng to be pulled awaypletely, then turned to Yue Hongxu and said, "Old Yue, let¡¯s talk, you should want to make a merit too, right?" This was also Xu Taining¡¯s strategy and requirement. If there¡¯s something different about Lanyue City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s usual work, it¡¯s that on-site surprise interrogations are greatly strengthened. Xu Taining and Dai Mingsheng dared not drag on for a long time, especially with interrogations, casually wasting a day is something the special task force cannot afford. However, surprise interrogations are not simple,pared to regr interrogations, they require more skill. Yue Hongxu copsed in his chair: "The matter hase to this point. What can I say, it¡¯s unnecessary now. Also, don¡¯t keep bringing up increased sentencing to threaten, selling your favors twice only diminishes the weight of your promise." Jian Louyuan listened with a tut-tut sound: "A cultured person indeed knows how to speak." Dai Mingsheng sat opposite Yue Hongxu, took a sip of water, and said slowly: "It¡¯s still necessary. If you honestly confess, I can let you choose which prison to serve your sentence." "What?" Yue Hongxu was puzzled. Dai Mingsheng smiled and said, "My personal rmendation is for you to go to Yuehu Prison. Yuehu Prison is a provincial jail, formerly the province¡¯s number one prison, built by Yuehu Lake, surrounded by mountains and water, and with a very good environment. Moreover, because it¡¯s a provincial prison, its hardware conditions are also very good, ordinary prisoners can live in rooms for six to eight people, with individual bathrooms, have TVs, and shower facilities. With your status, you can strive to live in a four-person room." Dai Mingsheng: "Our Lanyue City¡¯s municipal prisons are also good, generally 12-person rooms, but there are 8-person rooms, 10-person rooms, but those require connections. However, no showers, and sports fields cannot be used freely. Additionally, meals and such, the provincial ones are better. Yuehu Prison¡¯s handmade noodles are especially good, made by a chef from Beijing, said to have worked in the prison for over ten years after serving his sentence." Yue Hongxu listened dumbfounded. Dai Mingsheng looked at him with a smile. 40-something Yue Hongxu hadn¡¯t just started being a general manager today, his 20-year prior lifestyle could be described asfortable, belonging to those who have fought without starving, but never tasted the hardships of life. Therefore, when faced with the imposition of criminalw, any hardships of life are unbearable to people like Yue Hongxu. Dai Mingsheng casually said: "Those who frequently stay in prison know that it¡¯s better to serve in bigger cities, if you can serve your sentence in a first-tier city, don¡¯t choose second-tier, if in second-tier, don¡¯t go to third or fourth-tier small cities..." "Do you know what the Ministry of Justice¡¯s regtions for modern civilized prisons are? It¡¯s no more than 20 people per cell. Small cities have weak finances, even building their own residential blocks is difficult, so the prison will definitely operate at maximum capacity. A room with 20 people, can you imagine what that¡¯s like?" "Moreover, the quality of the personnel in the cells is different. Yuehu Prison is a provincial prison, with a higher level, treatment is rtively better, frontline officers are generally university graduates. Our Lanyue prison can guarantee above junior college. In the smaller cities below, there are few new hires, many of whom are connections, let¡¯s speak frankly, would you prefer your officer to be a university graduate who passed the exams or a prison scion inheriting the family business?" Yue Hongxu¡¯s lips couldn¡¯t help but tremble: "You are so ruthless." "Look at what you¡¯re saying, Yuehu Prison can only hold 800 plus inmates, like schools and hospitals, good schools have only so many ces, good hospitals only so many beds, everyone wants the best, ultimately can only satisfy some people¡¯s requirements." Dai Mingsheng summarized: "It¡¯s a structural contradiction." Yue Hongxu only felt dry mouth and tongue. Dai Mingsheng continued to up the intensity, saying: "You shouldn¡¯t think you can secure a prison slot yourself, let me tell you clearly, if you don¡¯t fully confess, don¡¯t even think about getting into Lanyue Prison." Yue Hongxu¡¯s lips twitched. "Can¡¯t hear you." Dai Mingsheng frowned. Yue Hongxu said: "Zhang Jianxin, Yang Weidong, Ma Jinpeng, Cao Xue, Xue Hu, Wang Xinyue." Yue Hongxu spat out six names at once, then asked Dai Mingsheng: "Is that enough?" "Specify," Dai Mingsheng replied, inwardly thinking: You all are so ruthless. Chapter 1210 - 1140: Never Forget the Original Aspiration

Chapter 1210: Chapter 1140: Never Forget the Original Aspiration

In Yue Hongxu¡¯s office, Yue Hongxu¡¯s secret safe was wide open, allowing anyone to search, as Yue Hongxu sat in his carefully chosen office chair, thoughtfully reporting on his friends. Money and power deals, money and sex deals, power and sex deals, and various vice incidents... Yue Hongxu didn¡¯t want to disclose so much, but as he exined, elsewhere, the team that caught people would start urgent interrogations right away. As the general manager of the film city, Yue Hongxu didn¡¯t want to endure hard times, willing to help his brothers for a four-person cell in prison, his brothers were more or less the same kind of people. They were all ustomed to pleasure, all had hearts turned ck, they were all smart people, everyone knew Pandora¡¯s box was opened, and they could even foresee the result, but so what. People can only decide when the war starts, not when it ends. "Mr. Yue, have you written it?" Wei Shikanughed heartily, came over and sat beside Yue Hongxu, even taking the opportunity to put his arm around Yue Hongxu. Yue Hongxu gave a wry smile and said, "Wei Ke, even a juicer isn¡¯t this harsh. I¡¯ve already given you three lists; I really can¡¯t squeeze out any more." Wei Shikanughed heartlessly: "Look at you, still have the strength to say so much. You people in the film industry are really bold, even at your age, you still know what a Juice Extractor is." Yue Hongxu nced at Wei Shikan and said softly, "Wei Ke, could you avoid touching my waist while talking, so we can discuss properly." "Write a few more names, and I¡¯ll let go of your waist." Wei Shikan, as if in a bar, said as he yfully touched Yue Hongxu¡¯s waist a couple more times. Yue Hongxu, with a calm expression, said, "Otherwise, I¡¯ll change into a midriff-baring outfit, feel free to touch as you wish; I really can¡¯t write out another list." Wei Shikan tapped Yue Hongxu with his finger: "You¡¯ve got a serious defiant attitude." Yue Hongxu, with bags under his eyes, stared at Wei Shikan: "I have a defiant attitude? Young man, you¡¯ve gone too far. If you keep pushing me, I¡¯ll have to make stuff up." "You¡¯rete to start making things up now." Wei Shikan, though young and with a background, was not obedient, but he earnestly wanted to be a criminal police officer, and his professional skills were above standard. To the prisoner Yue Hongxu, he said disdainfully, "You ratted out so many people to earn merit; by resisting interrogation, you¡¯ll be narrowing your own path." Yue Hongxu frowned deeply. Being a traitor is a one-time or countless-times job. Now he wouldn¡¯t do it, and he wouldn¡¯t gain anything good either. But Yue Hongxu wasn¡¯t willing to be manipted by the young Wei Shikan, pretending to be calm and said, "I¡¯m just hoping to create some good karma, handing over the list to you guys, and you wouldn¡¯t even thank me." Wei Shikan burst outughing: "Good karma? You¡¯re so corrupt, is there anyone among those you¡¯ve associated with who has a better heart than you? I¡¯ve seen many of your kind; there are few who don¡¯t fly alone when disaster strikes. Aren¡¯t you the same? Eager to catch other birds in your." Yue Hongxu was stunned by what was said. "Write." Wei Shikan pushed the notebook forward, signaling Yue Hongxu to continue cooperating. With no choice, Yue Hongxu steeled his heart, wrote down three more names on the paper, and then solemnly wrote a fourth. "This should be enough for you to ount for." Yue Hongxu handed the list back to Wei Shikan. "Thanks." Wei Shikan said this half-jokingly, then called over the deputy team leader of his squad, casually saying, "Senior, keep an eye on him for me, I¡¯m going to im credit." The deputy team leader said grumpily: "You should be calling me uncle, and why is it you iming credit? Can¡¯t I take it?" Wei Shikan, half smiling, said, "Calling you uncle is fine, but uncle, with just this list of four names, at most you¡¯ll get a ¡¯good job¡¯, why not let me take it, and I¡¯ll owe you one?" The deputy team leader looked at Wei Shikan, helplessly waved his hand: "Go on, go on." Wei Shikan,ughing heartily, grabbed the list and ran out like a monkey... ... Command Center. Xu Taining sat at theputer, busy like an esports yer in a real-time strategy game. As the number of detained individuals increased, the once boastful human resources of the Lanyue City Bureau faced significant challenges. Not to mention, just to detain suspects, the city¡¯s detention center was already insufficient. They could only dig into internal potentials, speed up interrogations, and transfer detainees. This situation, in turn, resulted in various other problems. For instance, previously believed cleared suspects, already detained elsewhere, would suddenly require re-interrogation due to unexpected situations, forcing officers to make trips and further stretching already thin police resources. Additionally, more cases meant more crime scenes, more documents and paperwork, more reporting andmunication... Not to mention, officers were reaching their limits, with many police high-ups starting to experience truly busy feelings long forgotten, not merely theplexity of time management. If it weren¡¯t for the case being so high-profile, Dai Mingsheng would have personally called for a halt by now. However, with leaders from the ministry overseeing, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s pressure was overall manageable. Jiang Yuan was even busier, almost going mad. For the Criminal Science people, the number of cases equaled the number of scenes. Not to mention, dealing with arms-dealing gangs, even without strong organization, their level of violence wouldn¡¯t rival more developed countries, but fundamentally, having guns in hand sparks killing intent. Jiang Yuan, just from flipping through case files, uncovered two homicides. On the interrogation side, valuable intelligence kept being passed out. When Wei Shikan came over, he saw excited and tense faces everywhere. "Time for wholesale third-ss merits." Wei Shikan, nearing Jiang Yuan, quipped in passing. Ordinary homicide cases wouldn¡¯t earn second-ss merits, but third-ss merits were quite hopeful, at least amendation was almost assured. Jiang Yuan, supporting his chin in thought, no one dared to disturb him, only Wei Shikan, fearless due to parental backing, appeared with a look ofing to discuss work, making Mu Zhiyang find it hard to intervene. Jiang Yuan lifted his head slightly, absentmindedly rubbed his neck, asked: "Any breakthrough with Yue Hongxu?" "He gave up a few more names; I sent them to Dai Zhi. But, Yue Hongxu is basically tapped out." Wei Shikan said somewhat regretfully, asking Jiang Yuan, "What are you working on?" "Confirming the evidence for Zhang Lei¡¯s murderer." Jiang Yuan said. "Who?" Over thest few days, Wei Shikan encountered too many names and couldn¡¯t register it immediately. Liu Jinghui approached with a cup of hot water, coughed twice, and said, "A member of the Luo Jin City vibrancy organization, had heavy-duty delivery sent to him, talks broke down, so he dragged the guy to desertednd outside the Lanyue City film city. That led to this wave, right?" "Oh, oh... oh... that Zhang Lei!" Wei Shikan suddenly recalled, then in surprise asked, "Who¡¯s the killer?" "The three delivery underlings." Jiang Yuan shrugged and said, "Within Heavy Duty, it¡¯s like multiple gangs; this one deals with standard equipment for mine owners and lively organizations... high-worth criminals, strictly managed. Dys in delivery incur deductions, beatings, even death. The three talked with Zhang Lei for so long, nearly missing their return time, unfamiliar with Luo Jin City, so they fled back to Lanyue City with the body." "Came back to dump it near the film city?" Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t help but say: "That¡¯s even less reliable than me." Liu Jinghui shook his head and said, "They dumped the body near the film city, prepared to get an engineer shovel or something from the studio, to dig a pit. But two of them still had to pick up more goods, couldn¡¯t dy, and the other one partied with his nightlife girlfriend for three days and nights, too weak-legged to crawl over. By the time the other two came back, ready to dig the pit together, the jig was up." Being young, Wei Shikan was extremely curious: "Number three was a rooster, what¡¯d he do in three days and nights?" "The focus now is to solidify the suspicion on the three." Liu Jinghui pulled Wei Shikan¡¯s attention back. Jiang Yuan nodded. Wei Shikan paid no heed, pondered for two seconds, pped his thigh: "Time to pop some champagne!" "Half-time champagne, huh!" Liu Jinghui gestured: "Moreover, Old Dai of yours is nearly going crazy, how could he possibly spend on champagne for you." "Then red wine will do; I have plenty at home, can bring over a few cases." Wei Shikan was saying this as he pulled out his phone. Liu Jinghui hurriedly stopped him: "Drinking isn¡¯t appropriate either!" "Then... sushi it is, I have a little brother with a sushi chain, let him send over a batch of sushi!" Wei Shikan said this time as he began making a call. Liu Jinghui nced at Wei Shikan, then at Jiang Yuan, sensing an odd sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Chapter 1211 - 1141: Anything Goes

Chapter 1211: Chapter 1141: Anything Goes

"Whoa, foie gras sushi?" "What¡¯s this white fish? Sea bream? That¡¯s impressive!" "I still prefer eel rice, beef rice is not bad either..." In themand room, the officers were eating andmenting, as happy as if they had caught a trainload of thieves, which is equivalent to double happiness. More than half of the people here hardly sleptst night. Those who were lucky had a nap in the morning but were unlikely to find much food when they got up. The unlucky ones persevered till now, ate some canteen food or delivery, but had mostly spent their energy. At this moment, the leaders were eating, and naturally, the regr officers had no qualms. Wei Shikan was like hosting a party, watching everyone enjoy themselves and happily nodding his head. Dai Mingsheng ate a few sushi pieces and unexpectedly found them quite tasty. He nced at the wooden box containing the sushi, clicked his tongue, walked up to Wei Shikan, coughed twice, and said, "Shi Kan, it¡¯s nice that you¡¯re willing to treat everyone to some food, but don¡¯t buy such expensive stuff. Also, you don¡¯t have to treat so many people at once..." "No worries, my buddy¡¯s sushi store has average sales, so I just thought to help him out." Wei Shikan casually waved his hand, saying, "Participating with everyone in such a big case makes me happy, so I just wanted to celebrate a bit." Dai Mingsheng sighed, "Your celebration is costing me one or two months of sry." Wei Shikan nced at Dai Mingsheng without speaking. Though Dai Mingsheng¡¯s professional ability is average, it depends on whom he¡¯spared to. No matter what, he¡¯s a senior detective with above-median skills. His eagle-eyed perception is far better than regr detectives. He immediately noticed Wei Shikan¡¯s expression, furrowed his brows and said, "Two months of my sry aren¡¯t enough?" Wei Shikan chuckled, "I guess your performance bonus might not be that much either..." Dai Mingsheng waved his hand, "Anyway, mind your influence." "I, Kshatriya, haveid it all out, so why pretend anymore." Wei Shikan said indifferently. Dai Mingsheng thought carefully for a moment and indeed, for someone like Wei Shikan, pretending to be poor or feigning equality and friendship is not only meaningless but perhaps alsoplicates rtionships. When ites to concealing identity, it depends on the organization. In a department like the Criminal Police Brigade, it¡¯s really hard for Wei Shikan to hide. In the end, it¡¯s more likely everyone is putting on an act for him, not that he is sessfully concealing anything. Seeing Dai Mingsheng run out of words, Wei Shikanzily avoided his lecture and strolled over to Jiang Yuan. What he likes most is watching Jiang Yuan solve cases, or rather, he has always wanted to be someone like Jiang Yuan as a detective. Byparison, Dai Mingsheng¡¯s working style is something he instinctively rejects because bing the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade is not hard for him, but being in Dai Mingsheng¡¯s position allows him to recruit easily, making life predictable and unexciting. "What kind of sushi does Captain Jiang like?" Wei Shikan spoke to Jiang Yuan without any burden, feeling no difort in interrupting others¡¯ work. Jiang Yuan was focused on work and straightforwardly said, "I prefer rice bowls. The one I hadst time was good, tomato scramble over rice with braised pork sauce, paired with a bit of spicy stir-fried meat, and a bit more braised pork or pork belly..." Wei Shikan was taken aback, "Didn¡¯t expect Captain Jiang¡¯s tastes to be so... simple. By the way, I heard you like hotpot, Captain Jiang. I know a buddy who runs a seafood hotpot ce, they can serve lobster and such. We can try it together sometime." "Seafood hotpot?" Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, "I prefer to dip beef." Turning to Miao Ruixiang, Jiang Yuan said, "Arrange hotpot for tonight. Later, check how many people will join for thete-night snack, make arrangements, using the frozen meat delivered by the ranch, shaved with the machine." Hand-sliced fresh beef is also very delicious, but this assembly method is rtively more cumbersome, especially when serving many people. You need a team of chefs to slice the meat, and slicing too thick won¡¯t taste good, neither would using inferior meat parts. By contrast, frozen meat slices have a lower ceiling but a guaranteed minimum quality. If the meat is good, shaved meat slices are also very tasty, requiring less from guests¡ªthe meat can be briefly boiled until its color changes, perfect for rough men. Miao Ruixiang promptly agreed and noted down in his work log¡ªLate-night snacks arebat power, dispute it if you dare! Wei Shikan wanted to cozy up to Jiang Yuan, thought about it, and offered, "How about using my buddy¡¯s beef? I have a friend who specializes in importing beef, I can bring some Wagyu over..." "Lean ones are tasty for hotpot. Too fatty is no fun." Jiang Yuan expressed his candid thoughts. Miao Ruixiang helped ease the atmosphere, saying, "The captain is more ustomed to his own ranch¡¯s beef." "Captain Jiang¡¯s own ranch?" Wei Shikan finally remembered and pped his forehead. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan checked his watch, calcted for a while, and said, "Just right, I¡¯m heading out to the scene, will be back for the meal." Wei Shikan hurriedly said, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯ll go with you, whatever you need." Jiang Yuan hesitated, "Anything?" Wei Shikan hesitated for a moment, the desire to improve outweighing everything, he said, "Anything is fine!" "Then let¡¯s go," Jiang Yuan replied and casually handed his notebook to Miao Ruixiang. Wei Shikan cheered and snatched theptop, saying, "Let me do it, Brother Miao can take a rest." "No need. I can handle it," Miao Ruixiang¡¯s enthusiasm for work had only increased since bing a senior uncle. Jiang Yuan spoke again to Dai Mingsheng, saying, "The pollen retrieved from the three suspects has been fully identified, and the pollen spectrum confirms they were in the same location as the victim, Zhang Lei, at least once. Combined with the weapon identification, it should be enough for submission." Jiang Yuan obtained the matching pollen spectrum from the clothes used by the third suspect. The third suspect was the one who had spent three days and nights with a nightclub girlfriend, leaving him too fatigued to dig a grave. His clothes hadn¡¯t been processed in time and were hidden with the weapon in the props room, initially intended to be incinerated, but his exhaustion dyed the process. Dai Mingsheng wasn¡¯t as concerned about the fate of these three suspects anymore, but the solid evidence still brought pleasure, he smiled and said, "Good. All three have given consistent ounts, so this case is considered closed, uh... I mean Zhang Lei¡¯s murder case." In criminal cases, the effectiveness of a single testimony is always questionable, especially in certain cases. In contrast, multiple testimonies hold more value, and testimony from multiple people against one person is particrlypelling. "I¡¯m going to the scene again. The one at the newly built film city. Wei Shikan wants toe along," Jiang Yuan said to Dai Mingsheng. Dai Mingsheng nodded first and then quickly said, "Xiao Wei isn¡¯t very sensible, if you don¡¯t want to bring him along, I¡¯ll talk to him." Jiang Yuan said indifferently, "It¡¯s okay. I happen to need a helper." Half an hourter. Jiang Yuan led a group back into the film city¡¯s office building. Although after several days of investigation, Lanying Group was in disarray, the office workers hadn¡¯t been informed of any leave, so regardless of the presence or absence of meaningful work, those scheduled to work still showed up. However, everyone had developed some degree of immunity, and now seeing the police no longer sparked much interest in gathering around. Jiang Yuan led the group straight to the top floor. Wei Shikan was a little surprised, asking, "Are you looking for Yue Hongxu? At the scene you left... Yue Hongxu isn¡¯t dead, right?" "Not him. Confirmed already." Jiang Yuan stepped out of the elevator and gestured with his mouth, saying, "The rooftop." The group proceeded through the emergency exit, up to the rooftop, and as they walked a few steps toward the western corner, they began to catch a faint whiff of decay. Simultaneously, police officers who arrived earlier came to report. "A corpse was discovered an hour ago. After calling 110, themand center redirected it to us," the officer reported: "The person who found it is an ountant from Lanyue Company, seemingly nning tomit suicide, as they had already written a will. But during contemtion before jumping, caught the scent of the decaying body and found it." Jiang Yuan nodded: "Talk while walking." The officer quickly followed up, saying, "The body is already decaying, but from the ID card and mobile phone on it, the deceased is identified as a financial director of Lanying Group, named Song Zhao. The body was clutching a handgun, for safety, after taking photos, we took the gun away." "The ountant wanted tomit suicide, but upon seeing the financial director dead, decided against it?" Liu Jinghui, who hade along, had already conjured up an entire crime drama upon hearing this. The officer hesitated, saying, "The caller, thisdy intending tomit suicide, imed that the financial director¡¯s death was too gruesome to ept at the moment, andbined with the impulse to report it, she decided against suicide." As he spoke, they reached the corpse. The body was dressed in a suit, wearing an ID tag, leaning against the exterior wall of the rooftop¡¯s central water tank, sitting. The eyes of the corpse were swollen and decaying, protruding outward, but most striking was the wide-open mouth. It doesn¡¯t require much forensic experience to imagine that the deceased likely adopted the method often seen in films, cing a handgun in their mouth and pulling the trigger as a means of suicide. However, unlike the typical portrayal in films, when one widely opens their mouth and fires a bullet, the rapidly gushing blood, brain fluid, lymph, mixed with other bodily fluids, quickly fills and saturates this cavity, soaking the torn flesh around the cavity, turning it into a haven for insect breeding. At this moment, the mouth of the corpse showed not a trace of red, only an abundance of writhing white maggots. They clustered densely in the corpse¡¯s mouth, resembling a white chrysanthemum stuffed within, except each petal and stamen of the little chrysanthemums kept surging endlessly. "Shi Kan." After inspecting the body once more, Jiang Yuan donned gloves and slightly shifted it, summoning Wei Shikan, he said, "Remove all the maggots from the oral cavity of the corpse, don¡¯t disturb the maggots in other areas." Wei Shikan wore a "ck hat monkey" expression. Chapter 1212 - 1142 Suicide

Chapter 1212: Chapter 1142 Suicide

Wei Shikan is no longer a rookie; he¡¯s seen plenty of corpses. Yet, tasks such as moving and gutting bodies are things he has rarely done. In fact, it¡¯s not just Wei Shikan who does little of this kind of work; the police in the Criminal Police Brigade seldom do either. The brigade itself belongs to the upper echelon of detectives, and most criminal cases are handled by lower-level officers, including but not limited to various local police stations, county police teams, district police teams, etc. Even when a case reaches the brigade, Wei Shikan rarely goes to the crime scene. When he does, at the very least, he won¡¯t be tasked with gutting such dposing bodies. In the past, at such times, all Wei Shikan did was nce over things, thenter grab a set of milk tea and sip slowly with his senior colleague, marking the end of forensic examinations. But Jiang Yuan gave the order, and despite Wei Shikan¡¯s square face, he bent over. Wei Shikan grabbed a poison bottle in his left hand, preparing to scoop out the maggots from the corpse¡¯s mouth. At this point, Miao Ruixiang, who was picking up maggots and insect eggs from the floor, looked up and softly advised, "You¡¯d better put the bottle aside, don¡¯t hold it." Wei Shikan was puzzled: "Why?" "You¡¯ll understand once you do it." Miao Ruixiang didn¡¯t exin; he was quite busy himself. The corpse had been dead for a long time, and various insects were all over the ce, especially when the body was moved. It was like lifting a big rock in a damp forest, causing the insects to scurry away¡ªnot that they would seemfortable if they were as big as rats. Wei Shikan looked around and saw everyone was busy, so he didn¡¯t have time to think deeply. He ced the bottle by his foot, frowned, and cautiously inserted his gloved fingers into the corpse¡¯s mouth. The deceased had used a gun tomit suicide, so before dying, their mouth had been as wide open as possible, with their head tilted back. At this moment, the mouth was densely packed with clusters of maggots. They are said to cluster because maggots prefer to gather in fresher flesh. Thus, inside the remaining flesh pit of the deceased, maggots nestled at one end, slowly swaying the other, forming a white daisy bloom. Simply observing their writhing ends is akin to witnessing a satisfied buffet guest cheerfully swaying their body; with music added, they¡¯d resemble a head-bobbing diner. The deceased¡¯s mouth had at least a dozen such white daisies. When Wei Shikan¡¯s hand touched them, startled daisies would instantly tremble nervously. The panicked maggots either burrowed desperately inward or frantically crawled outward, some even dared to climb out along Wei Shikan¡¯s fingers. Wei Shikan steeled his heart, thrusting in his index and middle fingers to catch some maggots. With the two fingers going deeper, so did the maggots¡¯ panic. The frenzied maggots transformed in appearance, resembling petals dropping from white daisies. Inside the wide-open mouth of the deceased, a white storm was brewing, with masses of maggots inside, akin to chewing chunks of white noodles at once, chewing them into segments for disy. Wei Shikan felt so ufortable that his entire face wrinkled, but he had to do what needed doing. Wei Shikan hardened his heart, forcefully driving his fingers further in, reaching the hilt in, then pulling back with effort. The maggot storm within the entire mouth thus went into a frenzy, scrambling out in rows, dropping with thuds. Wei Shikan panicked for a moment, hurriedly using his hands to catch. Upon cradling a full heap of maggots with both hands, Wei Shikan suddenly understood why Miao Ruixiang had advised putting the bottle down. Just now, if he held the bottle in one hand, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to catch so many maggots. In reality, even as he caught most of them, maggots kept falling, creeping downward, crawling upward. Moreover, swift-moving maggots already began climbing over the maggot hill, over Wei Shikan¡¯s palm base, passing the wrist, scaling the outermost glove, starting the journey against Wei Shikan¡¯s arm, racing towards the forearm, heading for the elbow. Wei Shikan¡¯s hands were slippery, his arm slightly itchy, his face scrunched up like a "white-faced monk." "Let me help you." Miao Ruixiang cheerfully offered assistance, picked up the poison bottle Wei Shikan ced on the floor, and helped stuff the maggots in. Miao Ruixiang moved swiftly and efficiently, quickly packing all the maggots Wei Shikan held into the poison bottle. Wei Shikan was about to catch the maggots on his arm, only to be stopped by Miao Ruixiang with "Hurry, clear the maggots from the deceased¡¯s mouth first." Grabbing maggots individually was slow, Wei Shikan had to fling away his arms, enduring the slight itching on his arm, reaching back into the corpse¡¯s mouth, pulling out the now chaotic maggot daisies. One heap after another... The poison bottle quickly became full. Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes had lost their light. "The remaining ones can be poisoned directly; no need to take them back." Miao Ruixiang instructed Wei Shikan. He was essentially the forensic doctor on-site; Jiang Yuan naturally didn¡¯t need to gut bodies. Thus, someone had to work with Miao Ruixiang. Wei Shikan responded deeply with "Alright," simply following instructions. Miao Ruixiang chuckled,forting Wei Shikan, "What¡¯s up, too many maggots?" "I feel..." Wei Shikan¡¯s voice carried exploration. Miao Ruixiang naturally continued, "You feel unclean? Rx, I¡¯ve had simr experiences..." Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes dimly shook his head, "I feel something¡¯s gotten inside..." Miao Ruixiang immediately understood, sympathetically nced at Wei Shikan, "Tighten up." Wei Shikan: "I want to change clothes." "Not so fast; finish the job first." Miao Ruixiang said, handing Wei Shikan another poison bottle. ... Jiang Yuan conducted on-site investigations for about half an hour. He first examined the corpse, then surveyed the surrounding environment, especially the footprints left on the rooftop. Finally, lifting his head, he dered, "No need to continue, it¡¯s confirmed suicide." The police on-site let out a sigh of relief, while the technicians from Criminal Science felt a rxed reminiscence as they packed away the evidence they had just gathered. Though suicide remains a tragic matter, for the police, it is ssified as a non-natural death, parallel to causes like traffic idents and idental deaths, requiring less investigation and hence less evidence. At least,pared to homicides, the workload is entirely different. Miao Ruixiang also breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing, straightening up and smiling, "Suicide is still better." "Then the rest is up to you to clean up." Jiang Yuan smiled slightly. "No problem." Miao Ruixiang promptly took the task, then turned to Wei Shikan, saying "Let¡¯s do it together. Keep one poison bottle, the rest can be discarded." Wei Shikan without hesitation tossed away the poison bottle, outer protective suit, coat, and his dignity, and without looking back, left the rooftop. Chapter 1213 - 1143: Taste

Chapter 1213: Chapter 1143: Taste

Wei Shikan stayed in the restroom on the top floor for a long time, and when he came out, his clothes were disheveled. Wei Shikan inadvertently avoided eye contact, feeling more embarrassed than when he brought a girl into the bathroom. "Did you clean up?" Miao Ruixiang was also washing his hands at the basin outside. "I think it¡¯s clean." Wei Shikan looked left and right absentmindedly and asked, "Shall we go back?" "It¡¯s this time already; under normal circumstances, Captain Jiang would take everyone to eat." Miao Ruixiang said. Hearing the mention of being treated to a meal, Wei Shikan perked up a bit and immediately said, "I have a buddy who owns a French restaurant; I¡¯ll treat everyone." Miao Ruixiang couldn¡¯t help butugh, "Eat French snails?" The little spirit Wei Shikan had just gathered instantly crumbled. Miao Ruixiang, having had his fun, felt exhrated. He had graduated only a year ago and somehow became Jiang Yuan¡¯s prot¨¦g¨¦, naturally bing a senior figure to an experienced detective, easily ying around with things even the brigade chief couldn¡¯t touch, feeling life couldn¡¯t be smoother. He patted Wei Shikan on the shoulder with his wet hand, then wiped it, and said, "Don¡¯t overthink it; Captain Jiang is operating at the scene downstairs, whether we can eat today is yet uncertain." "No need to eat then." Wei Shikan followed Miao Ruixiang like a walking dead, not even thinking to ask more, just following him into the elevator down, then hung up their temporary tags and walked into an area blocked off by transparent ss ess control. Finance Department. Only when Wei Shikan saw this sign did he suddenlye to his senses and ask Miao Ruixiang next to him, "Are we still going to audit the ounts?" "Captain Jiang brought the economic investigation team over and also hired an audit firm." Miao Ruixiang replied. "Econ-investigation? Can theye just like that?" Wei Shikan understood this too well. Criminal police and economic investigation belong to two different police departments. Although they encounter each other often, in practice, they don¡¯t have much interaction, much like two subsidiaries or departments within arge corporation; cooperation is one thing, but they aren¡¯t readily avable. Miao Ruixiang raised his chin and said, "In past cases involving fake currency, Captain Jiang has helped economic investigation a lot, and besides, this case is actually theirs to handle..." "Incitement to suicide?" "Not necessarily. However... the victim, with an annual sry of two to three million, plus various bonuses and reimbursements, living among beautiful people in the film city, with a life like a deity, would have no reason tomit suicide. Would hemit suicide?" Miao Ruixiang said enviously, "Anyway, if it were me, I definitely wouldn¡¯t easilymit suicide." Wei Shikan nodded understandingly, "Suicide to preserve money, surrender to preserve life, this finance director must have been involved in a lot, several million definitely wouldn¡¯t be enough to make himmit suicide. Also, that junior ountant who found the body, she was about to jump off a building, right? She must be involved too." "She signed quite a few documents, and there are several ounts that can¡¯t be bnced. However, she now ims it was financial director Song Zhao who deceived and coerced her into doing it. She didn¡¯t know and was also a victim. At that moment, she had a breakdown, but after seeing Song Zhao¡¯s tragic end, she realized she hadn¡¯t done too wrong, so she didn¡¯t jump." Miao Ruixiang said,ughing at his own words. Wei Shikan alsoughed, shifting the me to the deceased¡ªthinking about it, this might be why Song Zhao needed tomit suicide. In the finance room, a group of besuited office workers were nervously crammed into several small meeting rooms, their cellphones confiscated. With police watching them, they were each given pen and paper to write down their whereabouts on the day Song Zhao died. Several members of the economic investigation team who arrived first had already set up camp, adopting an office-like stance in another meeting room. Jiang Yuan was also in attendance, constantly answering several questions from the economic investigation team. To Wei Shikan¡¯s ears, these questions seemed more like fan-based inquiries than case-rted issues. After listening for a while, Wei Shikan calmed his restless mood. After watching for a while, Wei Shikan muttered, "I thought the economic investigation team woulde and take all theputer hosts or something." "Then how would the film city conduct its business? Creditors would eat them alive." Miao Ruixiang shook his head, "Dai Zhi meant to maintain the normal business operations of the film city as much as possible. Arresting people is one thing, but you can¡¯t destroy the setup." Wei Shikan thought it through, "True, the film city is such arge venture involving so many people, stopping it would be catastrophic; the impact would be enormous." "Exactly. Just having so many extras out of work would take half the life out of the local police, um... I mean like you guys, local security would definitely deteriorate rapidly." Miao Ruixiang spoke earnestly. Wei Shikan was a bit surprised, "Captain Jiang is quite politically savvy." "This is called the Ningtai experience. The goal of fighting crime is to prevent it, using high-intensity criminal crackdowns to deter crime." Miao Ruixiang said proudly, "Currently, within Ningtai County, the security level is almost at the point where people don¡¯t lock their doors at night. At Zoumadao Police Station, there are often safety weeks¡ªwhere no criminal cases ur the whole week. And the standards are quite rxed. Qinghe City is also seeing an increase in government investment invitations." "Then you¡¯re all able to go out." Wei Shikanmented. "Safe surroundings also benefit local safety. Crime can be exported, sobating crime naturally means exporting it," Miao Ruixiang exined using experiences summarized by Huang Qiangmin. As a member of the Criminal Police Brigade, for a moment, Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t tell who was local. The economic investigation team moved quickly, and more people kepting. The provincial city¡¯s economic investigation team generally only handles big cases, so they operate on arge-scale mode¡ªarriving in groups and starting work with just a brief discussion with Jiang Yuan. It didn¡¯t take long for the finances in the meeting rooms to be called out one by one. The finances that were called out hadn¡¯t returned yet, causing those not called yet to be increasingly restless. Later, each finance person called out would let out a startled exmation, some voices were shrill, some were low, and others made a ¡¯pop¡¯ sound like a maggot being squished. Wei Shikan watched for a while, feeling gradually liberated from the dread of maggots, then moved closer to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, smiling, "Captain Jiang, is there anything I can help with?" "I¡¯m looking at the images Director Xu sent over, can you order takeout for everyone? Use the special task force¡¯s budget, don¡¯t foot the bill yourself." Jiang Yuan looked at theputer and gave instructions. Wei Shikan felt pleased, although ordering takeout was something for the team¡¯s newest member, it showed he was one of them. Wei Shikan took out his phone and smiled, "I have a knack for ordering takeout; I know many brothers in the dining industry, does Captain Jiang prefer Western food or Japanese? How about Italian? Pizza, pasta, meatballs... I know a ce that set up a pizza oven, with bricks imported from Italy..." "Chinese food." Jiang Yuan said. Wei Shikan hesitated for two seconds, recalling urban legends, and asked, "Then how about hot pot?" "No need. In someone else¡¯s office building, keep it simple." "Oh oh. Let me see..." Wei Shikan thought and said, "How about Min cuisine? Min cuisine¡¯s soup can be brought inrge cans, and it won¡¯t lose its taste in takeout. Just order the most traditional chicken soup with m shavings. My brother¡¯s shop sells several cans daily, cutting live ms into thin slices, the chicken soup cooked with a bit of beef and tenderloin, scald the m slices, delicious and satisfying, and then a few pots of Eight Min delicacies..." Jiang Yuan raised his head and said, "For Min cuisine... a dish of Tongan sealed pork, lychee pork, sa cha lion head will be good. Plus a tomato scrambled egg, stir-fried beef, stir-fried pork with peppers, with severalrge pots of rice." Wei Shikan listened and became instantly hopeless, wasn¡¯t this just still over rice? "Captain Jiang, you can eat better, Dai Zhi certainly wouldn¡¯t mind." Wei Shikanmented. Jiang Yuan gave him a surprised look, "I think it¡¯s pretty good..." "Alright." Wei Shikan sighed, slightly doubting Jiang Yuan¡¯s taste... "By the way." Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered and turned back to Wei Shikan, "After wrapping up this case, it will be essentially over. Dai Zhi said your interrogation of Yue Hongxu was meritorious and wants to award you with a second-ss merit. As for your internal affairs at Lanyue City Bureau, I can¡¯tment, but Dai Zhi took the initiative to suggest shipping you over... sending you over for a while, said you¡¯re good atmunicating with various departments and familiar with the province¡¯s internal and external situations, what¡¯s your opinion?" Wei Shikan was thrilled, mouth agape like ready to swallow a gun, he patted his chest and said, "Captain Jiang, I enthusiastically request to join Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team. You have great taste!" Chapter 1214 - 1144 Making Familiar

Chapter 1214: Chapter 1144 Making Familiar

"Captain Jiang, have a cup of coffee." Wei Shikan ran errands from home to get coffee beans and a full set of hand-brewing equipment, and now, in the finance department of the film city, he washed the hand grinder with two beans, grounded them, brewed them, and finally carefully offered it to Jiang Yuan. As for whether anyone else wanted coffee, Wei Shikan didn¡¯t even bother to pretend. Mu Zhiyang, having eaten tworge bowls of Tong An sealed meat mixed with rice, felt good about Wei Shikan and asked, "Your coffee must have some story, right? Kopi Luwak?" "Yes," Wei Shikan replied. "Is it really Kopi Luwak?" Mu Zhiyang was curious: "I heard there are lots of fakes, you can¡¯t possibly be watching the civets make coffee beans, can you?" Wei Shikan was a bit surprised by Mu Zhiyang¡¯s guessing ability and said, "My younger brother watches the civets excrete them." Jiang Yuan, who had just picked up the coffee, paused and gently pushed the coffee towards Miao Ruixiang, saying, "You drink it. Make me a cup of tea." "I¡¯ll do it, I¡¯ll do it..." Wei Shikan, unable to despair, quickly said, "I brought some Fenghuang Dancong, help clean a set of tea utensils, I saw they have some in the office." "It¡¯s not good to use other people¡¯s things," Miao Ruixiang educated Wei Shikan. Wei Shikan snorted, "If they¡¯re not satisfied, they canin about me. It¡¯s just a set of tea utensils; I¡¯ll leave them some Duck Shit aromater." "What is that?" Miao Ruixiang didn¡¯t understand. "Fenghuang Dancong, Duck Shit aroma, the taste is particrly strong, and the aftertastests long..." Wei Shikan quickly exined. Miao Ruixiang looked at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Even though we¡¯re forensic doctors, it¡¯s only smelly on the outside..." "I¡¯ll go have a look around." Jiang Yuan stood up, and before leaving, he told Miao Ruixiang, "From now on, Wei Shikan follows you." Miao Ruixiang was stunned. As a pure neer forensic doctor who had just graduated and entered the workforce, Miao Ruixiang had certainly fantasized about leading people to crime scenes. He had carefully considered how to mercilessly exploit a new male forensic doctor and how to maintain social distance while mercilessly exploiting a new female forensic doctor. At least when moving bodies, let her carry the legs unless she¡¯s extremely beautiful, then she can only carry one leg. Miao Ruixiang really didn¡¯t expect that the days of having an errand boy woulde so quickly, much less that the first errand boy would be a high-ranking official¡¯s child, and one who likes drinking Kopi Luwak and Duck Shit aroma. Considering even Dai Mingsheng couldn¡¯t move Wei Shikan, Miao Ruixiang¡¯s mouth felt a little numb. How manyyers are there between him and Dai Mingsheng? Above Miao Ruixiang is the non-position deputy section chief Wu Jun, further up is the middle team leader of the criminal science squad, above that could be a deputy team leader of the County Criminal Police Team. Although still a big detective, it¡¯s basically the peak a regr police officer can reach. The team leader of the County Criminal Police Team is already hard to reach. Further up to deputy director or politicalmissar, then there¡¯s a chance to reach the city bureau¡¯s brigademander. Every step is extremely difficult; most people will be stuck at one step for their entire lives, unable to cross over. The police team system can be said to be the hardest series to get promoted in the entire public system, without exception. Even a Dai Mingsheng struggles with Wei Shikan, leaving Miao Ruixiang unsure how to deal with Wei Shikan in the same pot. Miao Ruixiang stared nkly at Wei Shikan, who was also anxiously looking at Miao Ruixiang. As the saying goes, the tough fear the stunned, you never know what a freshly graduated youngster is thinking. Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t quite grasp Miao Ruixiang¡¯s nerve either. After all, he became Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior right after graduation, Wei Shikan didn¡¯t know how Miao Ruixiang got his position... maybe with no connections, but so what, as Jiang Yuan¡¯s junior, it¡¯s enough for Miao Ruixiang to stay mixed in the police team system for a lifetime. If he lives long enough until he¡¯s seventy-eight andes out, maybe he¡¯ll be respected as Elder Miao. "Shi Kan..." Miao Ruixiang felt he should speak first. Wei Shikan instantly responded, "Master! You can just call me Xiao Wei." Miao Ruixiang: ?c(?.?*)Ummm... Wei Shikan: (£ª?_?£ª)©g .... In the conference room, two toons from the economic investigation came, along with ountants from the firm, finally sorted out part of the ounts of the film city. The brigademander of the economic investigation, Lu Yaohua, immediately approached Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, we¡¯ve mostly finished the investigation." Jiang Yuan gave an encouraging smile, "Very fast indeed." Lu Yaohua, emboldened, said, "We don¡¯t need to bnce their books, just find the issues in their ounts. Of course, if they stubbornly deny, then we have to continue the ounting, but as you know, white-cor crimes." Homicides often see stubborn suspects. Zhao Zhihong from the Huhge case was a typical murderer; after admitting to nine rape-murder cases, he felt tremendous "pressure" to admit to the 4.9 wool-spinning courtyard rape-murder case. In contrast, white-cor criminals tend to be softer and their personalities reflect that, especially when evidence is clear. White-cor criminals often prefer to negotiate or, in other words, truthfully confess and make achievements. "Did anyone instigate suicide?" Jiang Yuan was more concerned with homicide. "Yes, it¡¯s a shareholder of the film city, the owner of Grand Melody Film Company, Xu Pao. They conspired internally and externally, engaged in empty projects, inted expenses, made quite a bit of money, and alsomitted moneyundering, subsidy fraud, loan fraud, etc... The suicide of Song Zhao involved at least 30 million, what we¡¯ve found so far, he signed quite a few papers, he can¡¯t escape." Lu Yaohuamented as he exined, "A bit foolish." "Well, that¡¯s because he encountered us." Wei Shikan wandered over, fearlessly interjecting, "Without Captain Jiang pursuing all the way, this guy would¡¯ve transferred the money overseas before retiring, took the chance to attend a conference or something, and just left. He probably got his green card ready." "His daughter is overseas," Lu Yaohua added. Wei Shikan clicked his tongue, "Look at their dad." For a moment, Lu Yaohua dared not look at Wei Shikan. .... Evening. Jiang Yuan brought the leftover Tong An sealed meat to see Dai Mingsheng. In appearance, Tong An sealed meat and Dongpo meat are somewhat simr. However, Tong An is cutrger, stewed softer, with more ingredients, adding mushrooms, lotus seeds, chestnuts, shrimp, among other Fujian province specialties. But Tong An sealed meat has a selling point very suitable for the new era ¡ª uncovered only when served. A portion of Tong An sealed meat usually needs simmering for three to four hours, and the traditional method needs eight hours. Hence, the delivered Tong An sealed meat tastes almost indistinguishable from dining in the restaurant. Dai Mingsheng had also been busy all day. A mushy, wobbly sealed meat mixed with a big bowl of rice ¡ª no other dishes were needed ¡ª he slurped it down. Jiang Yuan handed a bottle of water to Dai Mingsheng. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s detective instincts kicked in, immediately interrupting his reminiscence of the meat, "You¡¯re leaving?" "I don¡¯t really have any more business here." Jiang Yuan signaled Dai Mingsheng to drink water, his expression as gentle as a scumbag breaking up numerous times. Dai Mingsheng found it hard to swallow, "We have plenty of cases in Lanyue City, and... and there¡¯s also the Heavy Load Gang, such an organization. We can root out these tumors hidden in society..." Jiang Yuan softly said, "Xu Taining will still remain for a while, helping wrap up the Heavy Load case. He¡¯s been here for quite a while, Lanyue should stay peaceful for a while." "You don¡¯t have to worry about funding," Dai Mingsheng¡¯s detective brain whirled, he clearly knew Jiang Yuan¡¯s mindset, he said, "Funding is my issue. As long as you stay, I¡¯ll secure funding. We¡¯ve cracked such a big case like the Heavy Load Gang, now when I talk to higher-ups, my back is straighter than anyone..." Jiang Yuan hesitated. Dai Mingsheng¡¯stter words somewhat persuaded him. With Xu Taininging over, even if it¡¯s exhausting, if they can supplement a bit of fund for Lanyue City Criminal Police Team, staying a while longer isn¡¯t impossible. Dai Mingsheng saw this and immediately suggested, "How about a drug case, doing drug cases? We¡¯re now full of vigor, and just happened to handle such organizational cases, doing familiar work..." "You¡¯re the Criminal Police Team, not the Anti-Drug Team," Jiang Yuanughed. Dai Mingsheng didn¡¯t blink as he spoke, "Just get the Anti-Drug Team to support at the preliminary stage. The new drugs are very troublesome now, with a big social impact, many cases are rted to these things, whether it¡¯s processing the front end or the back end, we can do it!" Having said this, Jiang Yuan could only lightly say four real words: "You talk to Director Huang." Chapter 1215 - 1145: Turning

Chapter 1215: Chapter 1145: Turning

The breeze blew across the concrete ground... The dust that was stirred covered the tops of the shoes... Just like Huang Qiangmin¡¯s face, dusty on the outside yet longing to ride the wind away within. "Director Huang, you¡¯ve worked hard. Was the journey smooth... this way please." Dai Mingsheng greeted Huang Qiangmin and led him to the car. Huang Qiangmin responded cheerfully, "It¡¯s just a trip, nothing hard or not hard about it. Wow, you even drove the car onto the tform, it¡¯s really grand." "The Lanyue Railway Bureau offers VIP services, even celebrities can enjoy it by paying. I applied for it for the director; the director said if you aren¡¯t considered a VIP, then who is? He approved it right away." Dai Mingsheng picked up Huang Qiangmin in his newly acquired second-hand GL8. Getting into the car, Huang Qiangmin touched the fabric of the seat, and rubbed the original flooring with his foot, slightly expressing a bit of disdain. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s previous car was very nice, not only was it a high-end new model, but its interior was also quite good. Huang Qiangmin only reminisced for a moment before pulling himself back to the present, showing his white teeth to Dai Mingsheng: "Old Dai, we¡¯re good buddies but..." Even the driver understood from Huang Qiangmin¡¯s opening remark that their rtionship wasn¡¯t as good as it used to be. ... When Jiang Yuan saw Huang Qiangmin and Dai Mingsheng, the two were arm in arm, looking like a single entity. Jiang Yuan intentionally sniffed to confirm there was no smell of alcohol before greeting them with curiosity. Huang Qiangmin winked at Jiang Yuan and said, "Dai Zhi really is sincere, and fortunately, the security situation in Ning County is quite good. You might as well stay a while longer." "Brother, generous as always." Dai Mingsheng grabbed Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand with his other hand, smiling at Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin also gripped Dai Mingsheng¡¯s hand tightly, his face full of affection. Jiang Yuan put on a smile brimming with emotional intelligence. Wei Shikan stood in the distance with his novice mentor, Miao Ruixiang, toozy even to force a smile, whispering jokingly, "These two are like divorced parents performing for their son." Miao Ruixiang, genuinely new at this, had not only a novice mentor but also a neer forensic doctor and a rookie in the workce. Startled, he quickly said, "Let¡¯s not say things like that in the future." "Ah... I understand, master." Wei Shikan, understanding the situation, replied. Miao Ruixiang nodded slowly, sensing that this apprentice wasn¡¯t too bad. Wei Shikan, keener on being precise, added, "Master, I know you like to avoid trouble, so whenever I¡¯m up to something, I¡¯ll stay far away from you." Miao Ruixiang instantly retracted his earlier assessment, saying, "Shi Kan, thatment of yours sounds a bit sarcastic to me." "Because you¡¯re my master, I can only put it that way," Wei Shikan continued, "Your current status is on par with my father." Miao Ruixiang furrowed his brow, unsure whether Wei Shikan¡¯s words were praise or critique. As everyone¡¯s gaze concentrated, Huang Qiangmin and Dai Mingsheng chattedpanionably for quite some time before Huang Qiangmin pushed Dai Mingsheng to the center of the crowd. After some humble exchanges, Dai Mingsheng breathed a sigh of relief and turned to say, "Alright, let¡¯s start our new phase of work. Hmm... Currently, the task force¡¯s primary focus is cooperating with Director Xu handling the gun case. Jiang Yuan, you¡¯re in charge of the new case; the colleagues from the Narcotics Brigade are already downstairs, let¡¯s go down directly." "Okay." Jiang Yuan called upon Huang Qiangmin, Liu Jinghui, and others, then followed Dai Mingsheng downstairs. Basement. Two individuals from the Narcotics Brigade were already waiting there, appearing to be in their 30s, with the ashtray in front of them almost filled with cigarette butts. "Sorry, I just wanted to smoke while waiting. I¡¯m Yuan Bomian, the captain of the Narcotics Brigade, responsible for this liaison. Hello, Captain Jiang." The Narcotics Brigade and the Criminal Police Brigade are of equal rank. Yuan Bomian had an average build and slightly thin, his face both dark and rough. Jiang Yuan shook hands with Yuan Bomian and then said, "I hope we didn¡¯t disrupt your normal work. This time, considering the exhaustive investigation by the Criminal Police Brigade recently, we¡¯ve umted a lot of data, which we can leverage. Combining new clues obtained from interrogations, we can attempt a decisive strike..." "Captain Jiang, if I may interrupt slightly." Yuan Bomian unconsciously picked up a cigarette, then put it down, saying, "I¡¯m not against your idea. In fact, I think it¡¯s very good. When our brigade captain received Dai Zhi¡¯s call, he was very supportive of your idea. However, I personally have a thought because it¡¯s quite pressing, and after applying with our brigade captain..." "Please go ahead." Jiang Yuan gestured to Yuan Bomian to sit down. "Dai Zhi, I¡¯m sorry." Yuan Bomian nodded toward Dai Mingsheng and continued, "Actually, there¡¯s a case we¡¯ve been following for a while, but we haven¡¯t had any leads. Therefore, some time ago, we arranged for an undercover operative to infiltrate a suspect¡¯s circle..." Upon hearing this, Jiang Yuan and the others nced at each other, roughly guessing what Yuan Bomian wanted to say. Yuan Bomian noticed their expressions, sighed, and said, "ording to the original n, the undercover should have contacted us two days ago." "Went missing?" Huang Qiangmin stepped forward to confirm, both with Yuan Bomian and Dai Mingsheng. Yuan Bomian nodded, "The situation is quite dangerous, although there are indeed other possibilities, but as of now... I want to ask Captain Jiang to prioritize this case..." "Of course." Jiang Yuan readily agreed, while Huang Qiangmin and Dai Mingsheng each held their phones, making contacts. Soon, everyone had organized themselves in the basement. Yuan Bomian brought out the sparse files and said, "Additional intelligence is being retrieved by someone. Shall I first describe part of it?" "Alright." Jiang Yuan responded, and Wang Chuanxing immediately opened hisptop to start recording. Yuan Bomian said, "This case was discovered during routine arrests of drug users. It¡¯s about a drug dealer nicknamed ¡¯Longsword,¡¯ who¡¯s been quite activetely. Through informants and on-site controls, we captured Longsword and confiscated over 10 grams of drugs on the spot. Then, Longsword revealed another drug dealer we hadn¡¯t known previously, nicknamed ¡¯Red Face.¡¯ Yuan Bomian: "Later, we captured Red Face using tracking methods, and found over 1000 grams of drugs at his hideout. However, we ran into difficulties when trying to trace Red Face¡¯s higher-ups." Dai Mingsheng said, "Being able to trace up three levels is already quite impressive." "Indeed, typical drug dealers at this level start severing contacts, but we found that Red Face¡¯s supplier is likely a newly established factory still seeking distributors. Taking advantage of this opportunity, we sessfully infiltrated an undercover through other channels..." Yuan Bomian didn¡¯t borate further and paused here, saying, "Initially, it was going smoothly, but the situation turned bad suddenly in recent days..." "What clues do we have?" Jiang Yuan asked. Yuan Bomian hesitated for a moment, slowly shaking his head: "We tried to find the clues previously left, but have yet to see results. Honestly, there are very few clues left, and the phone number used for contact was one-way only." Huang Qiangmin heard him say this and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "So, where do you want Jiang Yuan to focus?" Yuan Bomian instinctively took a cigarette but didn¡¯t light it, held it between his fingers for a long while, saying, "Truth is, I¡¯m really out of ideas. If I knew what to do next, I wouldn¡¯t be here today." Chapter 1216 - 1146: The Clumsy Method

Chapter 1216: Chapter 1146: The Clumsy Method

Yuan Bomian furrowed his brows, wanting to say something, but then stopped, saying, "The clues we currently have are pretty much exhausted when it gets to Redface. Catching Redface was already a bit of a stroke of luck..." Yuan Bomian exined as best he could: "Redface distributes goods by car. Moreover, before distributing, he should always privately confirm the situation with these small vendors. Then he¡¯d drive to the side of a vendor, use a disposable phone to call the vendor below, connect the call, agree on a ce, say how long it takes to get there, and he must arrive within that time." Liu Jinghui immediately realized the difficulty involved, saying, "Then as long as he monitors the vendor in advance to ensure there¡¯s no problem and only then makes the call, arranging for a ce without cameras, he¡¯s basically not going to be exposed. So, how did you catch the person?" "We had just caught Longsword at the time and were still interrogating him when Redface called. It basically hit a sweet spot when we already had someone at the agreed location. We went over and discovered Redface, then tracked him all the way. We initially hoped to catch a few more, but Redface didn¡¯t meet Longsword, didn¡¯t even return to his own base, and was heading straight out of town. We blocked him at the highway entrance. If we hesitated slightly at that moment and let him out of the city, it would have been very hard to find him." Yuan Bomian recounted with a lingering sense of trepidation. Liu Jinghui could vividly picture the scene in his mind and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Drug dealers have money, and they¡¯re heartless; that¡¯s the hardest part about catching them." "Indeed, you are absolutely right!" Yuan Bomian deeply resonated, his emotions showing signs of spilling over. Wealthy criminals are extremely difficult to catch because money paves the way, providing a lot of convenience. Just speaking of transportation, when high-speed trains and flights are strictly monitored, poor criminals can only take buses or crawl onto slow, cramped trains. Better ones might carpool or rent a car, but it¡¯s still not very safe. However, if they have money, buying a shadow car minimizes exposure risk significantly. But, shadow cars with unclear origins typicallye with GPS, and every ce has professional car-finding teams searching for these vehicles. So, if it¡¯s an escape, buying such a shadow car is a one-time thing, costing anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands, making it a high-end business ss in the field of criminal offenses. As for staying in hotels, eating, delivering goods, and even addressing sexual needs, wealthy criminals and poor criminals live in two separate worlds. You could say poor criminals are the wealth of wealthy criminals, a realistic reflection in the real world. Yuan Bomian appeared somewhat anxious, saying, "Otherwise... otherwise..." He wanted to propose a second solution, but matters of life and death for the undercover agent stopped Yuan Bomian from saying anything more. Jiang Yuan picked up the conversation at this point, saying, "Then let¡¯s start from scratch." "Start from scratch... how?" Yuan Bomian was a bit rushed. Jiang Yuan said: "I¡¯m not very familiar with drug enforcement, but they mainly follow a hierarchical structure, right? Junkies buy from small dealers, above the small dealers are small distributors like Longsword, thenrger distributors like Redface, and even above that are bigger ones? Your undercover agent is effectively among the superiors of Redface now?" "That¡¯s about right, but individuals like Longsword and Redface aren¡¯t considered distributors. Redface¡¯s superior Brother Li is considered a small distributor. As they¡¯re known in Hong Kong and Taiwan, small distributors are called ¡¯disassemblies¡¯; they can receive packages of high-purity drugs and then add substances in their drug kitchens to increase profit. There might be big distributors above small distributors, depending on who¡¯s above them. But at the distributor level, it¡¯s tough to catch them because transactions are often non-contact." Yuan Bomian exined the intricacies of the drug trade with enthusiasm. Though it wasn¡¯t considered a clue, Yuan Bomian still hoped Jiang Yuan would understand more to avoid talking impractically, so he continued, "Above distributors, there are typically drug manufacturingbs. Abroad, theye through smuggling channels; sometimes, there are several levels of distributors in between. Domestic drug manufacturingbs frequently change locations, since getting enough industrial products is easy, and with favorable chemical machinery, a few individuals can set up a small workshop. With proficiency, they can produce a few thousand kilograms of products in a few weeks." Liu Jinghui said, "In Breaking Bad, Heisenberg could produce a batch in a week, assembling in different vis each time and leaving promptly after production." Yuan Bomian: "Almost the same, it depends on what they¡¯re producing. In Breaking Bad, it was meth; domestically... there are too many chemicals that can be used as drugs now, and many precursor chemicals aren¡¯t hard to acquire, mainly relying on registration and filing systems. But this system... traffickers always find loopholes..." "Understood, so our goal is to find the manufacturingb and the undercover agent, right?" Jiang Yuan began to organize his thoughts. "No... the manufacturingb can¡¯t be found... I mean, using this bottom-up investigation, it¡¯s generally very hard to pinpoint the manufacturingb." Yuan Bomian hurriedly said a few words, then calmed down a bit, saying, "To find manufacturingbs, we usually adopt other methods, such as quantitative analysis of chemicals... In any case, our primary goal is to find the undercover agent first!" Chapter 1217 - 1146 The Clumsy Way_2

Chapter 1217: Chapter 1146 The Clumsy Way_2

Liu Jinghui half-exined, "Even if we find the drug manufacturing nt, we might not necessarily find the undercover agent; the two are separate." "Very likely. The people at the drug manufacturing sites, especially domestically, aren¡¯t necessarily very high-level. Often, just a few people can set up a makeshift operation. Drug users aren¡¯t very picky either; they don¡¯t care much about low purity or impurities¡ªthat¡¯s why they die quickly." Yuan Bomian said this, and surprisingly smiled, "The Jianyuan Group you took down was a rare genuine drug manufacturing factory in the country. When Jianyuan copsed, the price of rted products skyrocketed from a few hundred yuan per gram to a maximum of 60,000 yuan." "60,000 yuan per gram?" Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t paid attention to this aspect. Yuan Bomian solemnly nodded, "Addicts will always need to use, especially when such arge manufacturing nt like Jianyuan copses suddenly, creating a massive shortage. The price over ten thousand yuan was actually an enticement to get drug hoarders to release some stock; it was an act of desperation." When talking about the Jianyuan Group, Yuan Bomian¡¯s gaze toward Jiang Yuan changed. Anyone who has ever captured a drug dealer knows how thick the firewall around these drug lords can be¡ªhow wide the firebreaks are built. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s takedown of the Jianyuan Group was not without its challenges. Not only did he tussle with them numerous times, but he also narrowly avoided being run over by a dump truck. If it weren¡¯t for Jiang Yuan¡¯s already established reputation and the strong support from the police force, it¡¯s hard to say how things would have turned out. Moreover, it wasn¡¯t Jiang Yuan¡¯s first time taking down a drug syndicate. The "Crystal Cruiser," which often appeared in anti-drug intelligence, was also taken down under the guise of "Poison Capture Net" due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation on Su Ind. Thinking of this, Yuan Bomian felt slightly embarrassed. Whether it was Jianyuan or the "Crystal Cruiser," both were formidable drug organizations. The drug syndicates he usually investigated, while extremely vicious and harmful, were much smaller in scale and less challenging to investigate. Nowadays, about 10,000 drug gangs are dismantled nationally each year, but those truly deserving of the title "drug syndicate" are very rare. While Yuan Bomian was pondering, Jiang Yuan had also finished reviewing the files he brought with him. After handing the remaining documents to Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan said, "Captain Yuan, what I meant by starting over is that since the clues from the anti-drug squad are insufficient, we should start fresh and re-investigate, without being confined to Longsword and Red Face." "Could you borate? I didn¡¯t quite understand." Yuan Bomian handed Jiang Yuan a cigarette and lit it with a flick. Pop pop pop pop. With this opening, the detectives around lit their cigarettes en masse. After being a detective for a while, one realizes that just being alive isn¡¯t easy. Jiang Yuan fiddled with the cigarette, saying, "Let¡¯s discuss among ourselves. I¡¯m not sure if I understand correctly. Longsword, Red Face, and the superior of Red Face we¡¯re looking for are actually operating in fixed areas." "That¡¯s basically it. At their level, it¡¯s difficult to operate across regions. The more grassroots level drug dealers are, the more they need to be familiar with the local area." Yuan Bomian flicked the ash off his cigarette, "Without local advantages, a stranger would be exposed in a few days." "Then I think finding a drug manufacturing nt is easier than finding Brother Li alone?" Jiang Yuan asked a soul-searching question that sounded foolish to Yuan Bomian. Yuan Bomian grew a bit anxious, "Drug manufacturing nts don¡¯t need to appear; they just need to produce. There are very few ws, so how do we find them directly? I know what you mean: you want to use chemical analysis to find them, right? But this method assumes that the factory doesn¡¯t relocate or that it discharges waste at a fixed location. The first batch of unlucky drug syndicates have just been caught, and the others have be cautious." Yuan Bomian specifically remarked, "Nowadays, the factories move after each hit. They gather all the chemicals needed, quietly transport them to a location, a few people lock themselves in there to work, finish a batch entirely, and might even switch locations midway through production, finishing at a different ce. Therefore, even if we want to find a nt now, we probably can¡¯t because the nt might already have ceased production." "But you previously mentioned that Longsword and Red Face are expanding their market, which means the nt is new, or they have arge stockpile, or they are expanding production, right?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s words stumped Yuan Bomian. Yuan Bomian had to nod and added, "Even so, if the nt has finished production, it doesn¡¯t exist anymore..." "What I mean is, discovering the local drugwork is easier than finding an individual within it." Jiang Yuan rified. Yuan Bomian opened his mouth; he wanted to say he didn¡¯t agree with that, but looking at Jiang Yuan in front of him, he couldn¡¯t bring himself to argue. The man had indeed dismantled drugworks before. Jiang Yuan continued, "Since this drug syndicate has already started distributing, they won¡¯t just stop, right?" "Of course, drug dealing is like dancing on a knife¡¯s edge. When they see an undercover agent, they¡¯ll kill them directly, but sales don¡¯t stop." Yuan Bomian said as he began puffing on his cigarette furiously. Huang Qiangmin quicklyforted him from the side and handed him a bottle of water. Yuan Bomian chugged the water down noisily. Dai Mingsheng nced at Huang Qiangmin and thought, indeed, the most viinous know well how to win favor with small kindnesses. Chapter 1218 - 1146: A Foolish Method_3

Chapter 1218: Chapter 1146: A Foolish Method_3

Jiang Yuan was silent for a few seconds, as he reviewed his skill set and thought for a while, said to Yuan Bomian: "I know you¡¯re anxious, but as far as my abilities are concerned, just wanting to find Brother Li doesn¡¯t necessarily mean there will be immediate results... or, what you need from me should be capabilities beyond those of the Narcotics Squad, right?" Yuan Bomian nodded slowly: "Yes, we¡¯ve tried various methods to find him as best as we can." "Do you have any photos or videos of Brother Li or people around him?" "How could we have that? If we did, facial recognition would¡¯ve caught him." "Fingerprints or footprints, these kinds of things, probably don¡¯t exist either?" "No." Yuan Bomian answered decisively. "Can you lure him out now? Have you tried?" "We¡¯ve tried. Brother Li haspletely disappeared in thest few days." "Given that, let me propose a rather unsophisticated, yet slow method." Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin, then at Yuan Bomian, and those apanying Yuan Bomian. Yuan Bomian felt involuntarily tense: "Please go ahead." Thinking, Jiang Yuan said: "I suggest deploying a surveincework in parts of Lanyue City, focusing on Brother Li¡¯s sales area. We can add new cameras, and I¡¯m skilled in technical surveince systems, also adept at trajectory analysis within image investigation. We can deploy a surveince operation in the fastest possible time, with round-the-clock construction, up to three days should be enough." Yuan Bomian, puzzled, looked at Jiang Yuan: "This isn¡¯t just about surveince. Not to mention that traffickers will avoid surveince, during our ostentatious setup, they definitely won¡¯te around." "That¡¯s because normal surveince strategy is territorial control, aiming for widespread monitoring. I can set up surveince specifically for monitoring traffickers, cing it at key points. The crucial part is, we can choose the long lenses we need, and we can even temporarily set up cameras in mid-air..." Jiang Yuan said, starting to draw on paper. Several streets, several points, as Yuan Bomian looked, felt dizzy, but hope surged within him, he subconsciously asked: "Will this work?" Jiang Yuan waved his hand: "While we¡¯re setting up cameras anew, the Narcotics Squad should confirm as many of these small-time traffickers as possible,ter, we can attempt to find portions in the video. Through their connections, see if we can identify some Level 3 small traffickers, then link to a red-faced level trafficker, the progress will parallel yours." Yuan Bomian hesitated: "Domestic traffickers rarely trade on streets; if they¡¯re hiding indoors or in the wild... even then, during transactions, they often wear masks or sunsses..." "It¡¯s not about those." Jiang Yuan shook his head: "I identify people differently than you; I generally use gait recognition." A glimmer appeared in Yuan Bomian¡¯s eyes. Jiang Yuan then turned to Dai Mingsheng beside him, saying: "Dai Zhi, has the application for ourmendatione through? I mean, I won¡¯t attend themendation ceremony this time; could you simply bring the medal over to me?" Dai Mingsheng, assuming Jiang Yuan wanted to save time for case work, said emotionally: "Sure. Actually, themendation ceremony can be postponed, once you¡¯re done here, or pick a time, we can hold it then. The officers of Lanyue City Bureau all want to meet you." "Too busy. There¡¯s still tomorrow¡¯s tasks tomorrow, just hand the medal directly to me." Jiang Yuan considered Level 3 technical monitoring as precarious, and he had an outstanding first-ss merit reward that he could use first, but subsequent supplements should be swift, to avoid encountering new demandster. Dai Mingsheng readily agreed. Jiang Yuan then turned to Yuan Bomian, saying: "Mr. Yuan, let¡¯s proceed with this n. Director Xu Taining is also here; once we¡¯ve confirmed part of the traffickers, hand them to Director Xu for theting operation, maximizing sess rate." "No problem!" Yuan Bomian readily agreed. Dai Mingsheng looked at the somewhat immature figure of Yuan Bomian, unsure whether he should remind him. Chapter 1219 - 1147: Halfway

Chapter 1219: Chapter 1147: Halfway

"Dinner time,e and eat." The foreman was banging a beat-up pot, making a nging noise. The master worker, filled with disdain, said, "In my hometown, people who bang pots like this end up begging for food sooner orter." "I¡¯m giving you a midnight snack, and you¡¯re stillining?" The foreman, annoyed, knocked the pot a few more times. The master worker said indifferently, "I¡¯m not eating now; I¡¯ll work for another half an hour. Just give me a bowl of dishes and five steamed buns; I¡¯ll eat after I¡¯m done working." "Working so hard?" "You promised to settle the ounts every four hours. Are you trying to dy it?" The master worker looked up. "Why would I? We settle based on the amount of work done; the more you do, the more I earn. Why would I try to cheat you?" The foreman hurriedly exined, and then added, "Whether you eat the midnight snack is up to you, but make sure the work is done well, or it¡¯s time wasted for you if it needs redoing." "Got it. The project you took on sure has a tight deadline." "Short deadlinese with better pay." The master worker continued working without lifting his head, asking, "Who did you contact this time? You¡¯re working day and night without fearingints from residents?" "It¡¯s a government project. Let themin if they want; it doesn¡¯t affect me. If the sky falls, there¡¯s someone taller to hold it up." The foreman spoke indifferently but couldn¡¯t hide his smugness. The master worker, motivated by the money, praised, "This project is good. We benefit from doing it; you benefit immensely. Wait, you benefit enormously, don¡¯t you?" "I can earn some money, but you never know with government projects when they¡¯ll settle ounts and pay. But you, with twice the wages and payment every four hours, isn¡¯t that great?" "It was great in the beginning. Now, it¡¯s just okay. I¡¯m getting worn out." The master worker, truly exhausted, had been working non-stop since yesterday with hardly any rest. The foreman said, "You hang in there for another half hour, and I¡¯ll pay you, then you can sleep for eight hours before I wake you up for more work." The master worker looked at him suspiciously, "You¡¯re not nning to rece me, are you?" "I can¡¯t find anyone. If I had someone, I¡¯d bring them in directly, wouldn¡¯t need to deceive you. You can keep working if you want, but we calcte pay by workload, settling every four hours. I suggest you sleep a bit and work more efficiently after waking up." "Then leave the work for me, and I¡¯ll do it when I wake up." The master worker was reluctant to give up the double wage. The foreman chuckled, "What are you thinking? The clients aren¡¯t fools; they pay based on time to seize moments. To be honest, if the project is dyed, they deduct half the money right away. See them installing cameras on the electrical poles over there? It¡¯s an eight-hour shift rotation, can¡¯t overwork even if you want to; they¡¯re afraid you might fall and die." "With safety ropes and shoes, all that talk about falling to death is nonsense." The master worker spat, "We¡¯re installing fences; they¡¯re repairing roads while installing cameras there. Is this some kind of new city development? Are house prices going up?" "Going up or not, I can¡¯t afford it anyway." The foreman sighed, "What¡¯s it got to do with us." ... On the Five-star Pavilion Overpass. At the edge where people aren¡¯t supposed to stand, two repair vehicles with lights were blocking front and back. A group of people stood in the center, observing around. A few workers were installing cameras on the bridge¡¯s side. Jiang Yuan, dressed casually, stretched out his head, carefully directing positions. After quite a while, Jiang Yuan was pulled back up; his clothes and pants were all dirty. Huang Qiangmin sympathetically patted him a couple of times and handed Jiang Yuan a bottle of water, saying, "Is it necessary to be so meticulous?" "Key points need to be adjusted properly; only then can I confirm the parameters when I return." Jiang Yuan exined to Huang Qiangmin, "This is monitoring cement control based on GIS technology. I¡¯ll also make some adjustments for our Ningtai County when we get back. GIS is the Geographic Information System, used for analysis with great results." "Good, good, we¡¯ll implement it as soon as we return." Huang Qiangmin nodded repeatedly. Once this project is smoothly done, it¡¯ll bring everything with it. "I¡¯ll go check the cameras on the east side." Jiang Yuan drank two sips of water and proceeded with the inspection. Just yesterday, Jiang Yuan had used thest reserve first-ss meritorious medal and upgraded the tech-based surveince (Level 3) to Level 6. With this foundation, even without the temporary skill +1, Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical surveince skills are also the best in the country. With the temporary +1, the skills temporarily boosted to LV7 in technical surveince are world-ss. As for GIS and the like, just from the name, one can tell it¡¯s a very advanced technology. In fact, it is, because it involves massive amounts of data, pertaining to geography, spatial, model analysis, etc., and major cities in the country are just attempting to update simr surveince systems. The academic level overseas is higher, butrge-scale practice is almost nonexistent. When ites to the application level, there¡¯s not necessarily anyone who can reach Jiang Yuan¡¯s level. However, three days is indeed too tight, and in fact, because time has to be left for debugging, and some time given for the new surveince system to record information, the time avable for installing technical defense facilities such as cameras is even shorter. Fortunately, Jiang Yuan only wants to catch a drug trafficking gang and does not intend to establish a set of wless technical defense systems. Therefore, his solution is to try to buy the best avable equipment, focus on debugging some cameras, and achieve asprehensive coverage as possible at key nodes. As for ces not covered, what to do? Easy, just organize municipal works, block roads where technical defense equipment couldn¡¯t be installed in time, and at the same time, install some cameras rtively freely around the construction site. Local residents¡¯mutes for work and rest in the evening will inevitably be affected, but under the coordination of the anti-drug squad, these are not too big problems. Moreover, with the entry of numerous construction teams, rumors of demolition, urban subcenter, and traffic hubs began to circte around the Five-point Pavilion area. Aside from increasing some curious onlookers, the overall construction wasn¡¯t much affected. Except for Jiang Yuan, no one understood what these projects were actually for. Everyone seemed like viewers watching an artist sketch, only seeing strokes here and smudges there with lines drawn at times and shades erased at others - a totally chaotic state... Of course, everyone believes that Jiang Yuan would eventually make these tasks meaningful, just like a painting suddenly taking form in its ordinary sense at a certain stage. But believe as they might, bewilderment persisted, adding multipleyers of anxiety for the police officers of the anti-drug squad. Jiang Yuan wandered on the overpass for a while, took advantage of the high vantage point to observe the surroundings, and then returned to those waiting, including Yuan Bomian, saying, "Almost done, this overpass is very well positioned, it¡¯s well-connected, and everything around is within range. You should hurry with construction; I¡¯ll start the debugging after dinner, get this side running independently first, don¡¯t dy, it must bepleted before midnight." The person in charge of the technical defense facility instation habituallyined, "Director Jiang, the time is really too tight, give us a bit of leeway, and we can install it better." "There are no poorly installed options," Jiang Yuan shook his head immediately and said sternly, "The best scenario is if we can finish before nightfall, so we can take more footage using the night mode of the cameras... As for your President Li, he gave me a military order and was generous with the money, too." The construction site manager, used to either quarreling or being scolded all day, didn¡¯t find Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone harsh and said with a thick skin, "We¡¯ll try our best to install as well as possible, the bonus you give is indeed quite a lot, but the workload is really big..." Yuan Bomian couldn¡¯t listen anymore, came over, handed a cigarette to Mr. Zhang, the site manager, and said softly, "I was too busy before, just hurriedly chatted with your President Li, didn¡¯t take care of this side, Mr. Zhang, right? Is there a problem on your side?" Mr. Zhang hastily replied, "Time is too tight..." Yuan Bomian wasn¡¯t really interested in listening and interrupted him immediately, "Mr. Zhang, you were directly appointed by President Li, he told me, as long as it¡¯s the site you¡¯re in charge of, there¡¯s no overdue, is that right?" "Time is really tight." Mr. Zhang truly had difficulties. Yuan Bomian gave a chuckle, then slowly said, "We¡¯re doing this in such a hurry, it¡¯s really a bit hard on you guys. As for why it¡¯s so urgent, I can¡¯t tell you, I can only say, if youplete on time or even ahead of schedule, you might save a life. If you exceed the time limit, this could be your only time exceeding deadlines in this life, and it might cause a good person to die." "You¡¯re making it sound so serious, my small shoulders can¡¯t bear this," the site manager, ustomed to his work mode, still wanted to argue for more time. "It¡¯s okay, your President Li can¡¯t bear it either, you¡¯ll die together," said Yuan Bomian, as he dialed a number in front of him and said, "President Li, where are you? Nearby, huh? Well, youe to the overpass site and keep watch. If it¡¯s not done by 10 o¡¯clock tonight, you¡¯re finished." Turning his head, Yuan Bomian said to Mr. Zhang, "Don¡¯t bear any psychological burden, just do your work well and show your skills. If it¡¯s not done by midnight, President Li will take the fall for you, after all, he gave the military order, he is surely responsible." "I¡¯ll get working," Mr. Zhang checked his watch and had no other choice. Yuan Bomian turned and walked to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, then whispered, "The list of drug addicts and dealers around the Five-point Pavilion that the squad has gathered, it¡¯s allpiled, I can apply for it at any time if you want to see it. However, if you want to catch people, you need to notify me in advance because there may be informants and undercover agents from other cases in there." "I understand," Jiang Yuan nodded. "Like this, can we find them?" Yuan Bomian was now idle after providing everything he could, so he was more nervous. "Yes," Jiang Yuan gave a definite answer, adding only one thing, "As long as this drug trafficking gang doesn¡¯t change locations, and the drug dealers weren¡¯t scared off by our construction, we will certainly find them." "They won¡¯t move. Drug manufacturing workshops can be moved randomly, but drug trafficking cannot easily cross regions. They buy arms mainly for gang fights," Yuan Bomian assured, also reassuring himself, and continued, "Drug dealers rely on drug addicts to survive, now the scrutiny is strict, drug-addicted junkies dare not keep much stock on hand, and they mainly can¡¯t store it. If they run out, they must buy more, if they don¡¯t sell, others will, and once the market is lost, it¡¯s hard to regain." Yuan Bomian paused, his tone bing more certain, "Drug dealers live like there¡¯s no tomorrow, surviving is good luck, not because of urate judgment. We¡¯ve set up all these construction sites, just making them feel at ease. Installing cameras isn¡¯t new either. However, they certainly won¡¯t hang around near the cameras." "A fleeting trace leaves a mark, they can¡¯t escape," Jiang Yuan slightlyforted Yuan Bomian, then said, "We are fighting a positional war; now that the position is established, the battle is halfway won." Chapter 1220 - 1148 Tree Diagram

Chapter 1220: Chapter 1148 Tree Diagram

Early morning hours. Jiang Yuan held a cup of green tea, sitting upright in front of theputer, watching the surveince footage on the screen. To Jiang Yuan¡¯s left were Wang Chuanxing and three technicians from the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, all of them busy converting his direct orders into executable ones, often overwhelmed. Many times, a simplemand from Jiang Yuan would take one of them a while toplete the search. On Jiang Yuan¡¯s right were Yuan Bomian from the Narcotics Squad and two other anti-drug officers. Yuan Bomian was the direct leader of this case, and the two other officers were familiar with the environment around the Five-point Pavilion and the drug dealers. Behind them were several leaders, including Huang Qiangmin and Dai Mingsheng, all with serious looks and furrowed brows. Frontline officers only need to solve cases, but the leaders have to consider much more. Wei Shikan was like a breath of fresh air in themand room, holding a cup of iced Americano, sitting in front of theputer, casually ying a mini-game while asionally ncing at a novel. He had no active role in the operations here, and no one expected him to contribute, but Wei Shikan himself was so interested in the investigation that he naturally didn¡¯t want to miss Jiang Yuan¡¯s special surveince operation. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t move very quickly. Although he had several monitors before him, he mainly stared at the main screen, using the other screens intermittently, often requiring them to be switched back and forth. Neither Wang Chuanxing nor Yuan Bomian couldprehend Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations, and only the three technicians from the Image Reconnaissance Brigade understood somewhat what Jiang Yuan was doing, although they were too busy rushing around to bother looking up. This way, they worked until past 2 AM. Jiang Yuan felt that the tea leaves had lost their vor, so he waved his hand, saying, "Let¡¯s take a break, 10 minutes." Yuan Bomian, smoking one cigarette after another, became anxious upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯smand. But upon seeing the three technicians from Image Reconnaissance copse in their chairs like a great burden was lifted, Yuan Bomian suppressed his urgency and sat sullenly on the ground. By now, Huang Qiangmin was quite familiar with him, and handed over a bottle of water, saying, "Trying to find someone without clues is like finding a needle in a haystack. Don¡¯t get too worked up." "I know," Yuan Bomian said with a bitter smile, "We haven¡¯t been idle these past three days either, but we haven¡¯t found any new clues... I¡¯m just worried because in three days, anything could happen. I really shouldn¡¯t have sent Lao Hong undercover on the spot just because I saw an opportunity. I was too greedy." "Don¡¯t dwell on such things..." Huang Qiangminforted him a bit further. "Why not have a chat with Jiang Yuan? From what I know of him, if he hadn¡¯t made some progress or found some leads, he wouldn¡¯t be taking a break so soon." Yuan Bomian, worried about disturbing Jiang Yuan, couldn¡¯t sit still after hearing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s suggestion. He thought that if there truly were some leads, his side could assist offline as well. Yuan Bomian quickly approached Jiang Yuan and asked, "Captain Jiang, can I ask about the progress, if it¡¯s convenient?" "Oh, let¡¯s talk standing. I¡¯ve been sitting too long; might as well brew some tea," Jiang Yuan said as he poured tea leaves into his cup next to themand desk. Yuan Bomian politely offered, "Let me do it." "No need, I treat it as a break, a chance to clear my mind," Jiang Yuan declined and then waved Wang Chuanxing over, saying, "Print out the tree diagram I just filled in." "Yes," Wang Chuanxing replied immediately. In two minutes, he brought over a sheet of paper. Jiang Yuan spread it out in front of him and said, "Mr. Yuan, take a look. This tree diagram I filled out casually. It¡¯s a bit messy right now, and it only shows the branches without the trunk. So, let¡¯s just take a look for now..." Yuan Bomian nodded repeatedly as he nced at it, noticing names and codes of over a dozen people on the first page. Some were familiar, others were not. They were either interconnected with lines or stood independently aside. Additionally, in front of each code name, there were numbers 1, 2, 3, 4. "What are these?" Yuan Bomian could guess but dared not presume. Jiang Yuan poured hot water, saying, "These are the drug dealers just confirmed. The bottom row on the left, marked with a 2, are small-time dealers at the Longsword level, and those marked with a 1 are junkies. The 3 are Redface-level dealers, and 4 are Brother Li-level dealers." "Is the dealer behind the number 4 called ¡¯Fat Muscle¡¯?" "That¡¯s the name I gave him because his weight and muscle mass are clearlyrger than normal, and he looks quite stout. He probably used steroids or something simr..." "Does marking someone with a 4 mean he¡¯s a Brother Li-level dealer or Brother Li himself?" Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, "I think they¡¯re about the same level but probably not the same person. ording to the information I just saw, they operate in different sales regions. Currently, we have confirmed two of his subordinates, which are shown at the bottom of the tree diagram." "How... how did you find them?" Yuan Bomian was incredulous. Capturing Longsword-level small-time dealers, marked as level 2, was routine for them, but capturing level 3 dealers like Redface wasn¡¯t always guaranteed. It often required careful investigation over a long period, investing significant time and energy. Of course, capturing someone like Brother Li would be even more challenging. Though they¡¯d hastily made a major misstep this time. For anti-drug squads, following leads like a trail often exhausts itself after three tiers; climbing higher is nearly impossible. Of course, this applies mostly to non-guerri outfits, where drug operations have a certain organization and size. Drug traffickers each have survival strategies. Capturing a small fry or two at the lower level is normal, but once a level 3 dealer is caught, those on the fourth and fifth tiers of thework surely enact self-protection measures. Additionally, unlike small-time dealers below, therger dealers have lower transaction frequencies and the financial means to prepare all around. They minimize exposure not just in quantity but also in vignce. This is something the level 2 dealers can¡¯tpete with. Those level 2 dealers are basically the workhorses of the drug trade,rgely working hand-to-mouth. Many are selling to fund their usage, and if they don¡¯t work for a few days, not only their suppliers and buyers get anxious, but they also run out of money. That¡¯s why Yuan Bomian couldn¡¯t understand how Jiang Yuan confirmed the individuals. Jiang Yuan understood Yuan Bomian. He¡¯d been working with an extra level of skill tonight, using his lv7 skill set, particrly in image reconnaissance, so it was normal that Yuan Bomian couldn¡¯tprehend it. Jiang Yuan thought briefly and exined, "I actually traced it step by step upwards. It sounds simple: first identify the confirmed drug addicts you have, then validate their dealers by tracking their transactions." "Even with new cameras, I doubt they¡¯d transact directly under surveince." "You don¡¯t need to see the transaction outright. Just observe the state of these people. Say a junkie wobbles out, passes a certain intersection, and returns brightly spirited fifteen minutester. His eyes filled with expectancy¡ªwhat¡¯s that imply?" Yuan Bomian paused: "Got high, or at least bought drugs?" "Reasonable inference, right?" Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui ahead, continuing, "That¡¯s basically the principle. I then watch the area around this junkie¡¯s transaction spot. If more addicts show up there to buy drugs or if transactions ur elsewhere, then I canpile and consider when the dealer arrived and what route they must have taken..." Jiang Yuan gestured for emphasis, "When checking vehicle records now, it¡¯s basically the same strategy. Vehicles have license tes with distinct features, and there¡¯re fewer of them than people, so the software can tackle it directly. As for people, even though we have gait recognition systems now, the sess rate is still not high enough, easily missing targets." "But... that must be quite slow, right?" "Was I slow tonight?" Jiang Yuan chuckled. "No, not slow at all." Yuan Bomian shook his head repeatedly but hesitated, "I¡¯m still having trouble understanding..." "Image investigation to find people or vehicles doesn¡¯t track every camera sequentially. If you see a vehicle heading east, you don¡¯t actually need to trace it continuously to know where it goes. Simply look for this vehicle at critical points on the eastbound path. In fact, most of this work is now aided byputer software." Jiang Yuan briefly borated on his grasp of gait analysis, instantly bringing life to Yuan Bomian¡¯s face. "I¡¯ll organize the team to apprehend them!" Yuan Bomian said with augh, "Had you stated this directly, we would¡¯ve had the people back by now." "I suggest holding off on the arrests, or perhaps targeting one or two just to confirm this Fat Muscle¡¯s identity," Jiang Yuan stopped him, adding, "For most of them, don¡¯t touch them for now; just keep track." Yuan Bomian hesitated, "If this Fat Muscle you mentioned isn¡¯t Brother Li, perhaps he still knows where to find him?" Jiang Yuan replied, "Finding out horizontally is tough, but give it a bit more time. Once I¡¯ve confirmed Fat Muscle¡¯s superiors, he might reveal Brother Li¡¯s whereabouts!" Chapter 1221 - 1149: Nightclub Thin

Chapter 1221: Chapter 1149: Nightclub Thin

Jiang Yuan finished making tea, ate a boiled egg, and then a piece of chocte brought by Wei Shikan, before returning to his seat, waving his big hand: "Continue." Yuan Bomian couldn¡¯t help but squeeze to the front, wide-eyed watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions, ears pricked to listen to Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders. In his eyes, in various distant scenes, small figures were swaying. In his ears, Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders were all "A8", "G12", "D8"... Yuan Bomian knew that Jiang Yuan was referring to the temporary coordinates he had drawn, but Jiang Yuan did not exin a word throughout, and the technicians of Image Investigation did not ask for exnations either, which slightly surprised Yuan Bomian. He also often needed to call on Image Investigation resources, knowing that these technicians usually weren¡¯t so easy to deal with. The Anti-Drug Squad needed intelligence, so Image Investigation naturally wouldn¡¯t ck off, but casually boasting a bit, showing off to other squad officers was also normal. Yuan Bomian had previously thought they were just like that, but now it seemed that the technicians obviously had a contrasting side. "Let¡¯s stop here." Jiang Yuan suddenly called out. Yuan Bomian immediately craned his neck to look. He saw Jiang Yuan write down the video number and time position he was watching on his notebook in front of him, then marked a "Frequent Urination," and wrote a "3" in front of it. Yuan Bomian swallowed, this was a level of a red-faced drug dealer. Honestly, this level of drug dealer wasn¡¯t rare, even higher-level ones like Brother Li, for the Anti-Drug Squad¡¯s level, they had to catch several each year. But not rare doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s not difficult. To break it down, the Anti-Drug Squad has several teams, not to mention how much the annual case expenses are, just the personnel expenses alone aren¡¯t small; on average, a team catches one drug dealer like Brother Li, two or three red-faced ones like this 3-level drug dealer, often risking their lives. And Jiang Yuan sitting here, of course, his funds were no less, just setting these checkpoints and installing surveince videos in the past few days required the cooperation of municipal engineering,parable to the Anti-Drug Squad¡¯s quarterly expenses, but his results here were still astonishing to Yuan Bomian. Although video, mobile, DNA are now considered the three treasures of detective work, Jiang Yuan clearly demonstrated an extraordinary effect using video. "Mr. Yuan." Jiang Yuan suddenly turned around, nced at Yuan Bomian, and said: "This frequent urination is likely not Brother Li¡¯s subordinate either. The people on his side probably caught some wind and went into hiding." Yuan Bomian¡¯s thoughts were immediately pulled back to reality, his expression serious with a hint of hope, he said: "It¡¯s our weed-stalking that scared them. But since they haven¡¯tpletely stopped activities, I think they might not be fully exposed." "I¡¯m not very familiar with their usual patterns, but as for Zhivei Muscle¡¯s side, it¡¯s basically prated." Jiang Yuan stood up, stretching his body, said: "Mr. Yuan, I have an idea I¡¯d like to discuss with you." Yuan Bomian quickly said: "Please, go ahead." "No need to be so formal." Jiang Yuan waved his hand and continued: "The frequent urination figure I just marked, I suspect his superior, is neither Brother Li nor Zhivei Muscle. Above him, there should be another 4-level superior." Yuan Bomian nodded while listening: "That¡¯s normal. Among these drug dealers, there¡¯s no such etiquette. Bigger dealers have their way of doing things, smaller dealers are pervasive. Moreover, the control the superiors have over the subordinates is not strong, especially in new gangs like this. They recruit people temporarily, just sell loose goods, like a wholesale market, at most carrying a gun." "But Brother Li¡¯s people shouldn¡¯t go to Zhivei Muscle for supplies, right?" "No, they definitely wouldn¡¯t." "Hmm... Then Brother Li and his subordinates should have suspended their activities, we need to find a way to provoke him into action." "Ah... okay, I have no objection. But we only have a little over a day¡¯s worth of video footage, could it be that Brother Li is just resting or doing something else..." "I¡¯ve already startedparing with the previous surveince." Jiang Yuan shook his head and said: "Through the newly installed surveince videos, we have already confirmed the identities of some people. For example, Zhivei Muscle, we have confirmed the general range of his activities and residence, as well as his legitimate means of transport, allowing us to locate them in previous surveinces. These people¡¯s disguised identities are virtually untraceable." Jiang Yuan requested Wang Chuanxing¡¯s notebook, flipped it over, and said: "Look, this is Zhivei Muscle¡¯s real name and ID number." Yuan Bomian looked at the notebook Jiang Yuan handed over, scribbled with a line: "Chen Shiqi, 520200198907194010". Yuan Bomian knew this line represented at least a peanut. "This..." Yuan Bomian didn¡¯t know what to say for a moment. Jiang Yuan continued: "In the past two days, not only Brother Li hasn¡¯t been active, but his people haven¡¯t been active much either, this can¡¯t go on, we can¡¯t wait for them." Yuan Bomian actually wanted to say that for a case of this level, they could definitely wait, but he could only nod along with Jiang Yuan¡¯s words. Jiang Yuan said: "I have an idea, can we pick a few 2-level small-scale dealers, let them sell goods on Brother Li¡¯s turf, provoke Brother Li¡¯s people toe out, can we stimte them?" Yuan Bomian immediately pondered, saying: "If you ask, I think it¡¯s possible. I can pick two easily controlled ones, not telling them why, just let them sell goods on Brother Li¡¯s turf." "Okay, execute it as soon as possible, at least get Brother Li to make a move." Jiang Yuan nced at the time and said: "Our new equipment has excellent night vision, as long as there¡¯s dim light, it should work. If it¡¯s tonight, try setting the trading location near the overpass." "No problem." Finally having some room to act, Yuan Bomian was excited, asked for a form from Wang Chuanxing, and seriously checked it. After a pause, Yuan Bomian said: "In this case, I think we can choose this ¡¯Nightclub Thin,¡¯ isn¡¯t he fond of going to nightclubs?" "He should be in a nightclub right now." Jiang Yuan recalled and said: "From previous surveince, his main activity area is within the nightclub range." "Then it¡¯s him. These small drug users, skinny as they are, from what I know, mostly sell to support their habit, as long as you grasp them, they can do anything. Plus, nightclubs are easy to handle. I¡¯ll just call the security brothers, block his ce for a routine check, and when we catch this small drug user, interrogate him a bit, and release him quietly." Yuan Bomian offered a mature solution, with no ws besides needing to mobilize a few more people. Jiang Yuan had no objections, only reminding: "Act quickly, when morninges, the drug users will be asleep, and any tip-offs will take till tomorrow." No beggar asks for breakfast, and drug users are no exception. "Don¡¯t worry, I know this job well." Yuan Bomian waved his phone, as he made the call, he said: "Captain Zhuang, help me wrap up a nightclub..." Chapter 1222 - 1150 Spread Throughout the Entire City

Chapter 1222: Chapter 1150 Spread Throughout the Entire City

Fujin Building. The building has more than twenty floors, with only a few rooms illuminated by lights. The elevator area downstairs is bathed in dim yellow light. The security guard at the door is engrossed in his phone, unaware of what he¡¯s reading, with a disdainful smirk on his lips as if looking down upon the masses. Creek... A car stops at the entrance, the sound of the brakes deafening. The security guard¡¯s attention remains fixed on his phone screen, not even lifting his eyelids, silent and cold. "What¡¯s your name?" Someone stood opposite the security guard and rudely asked. The security guard furrowed his brows and reluctantly raised his chin. "Police?" He was initially stunned, then hurriedly stood up, clutching his phone, slightly flustered. "Police inspection, are you from Lixin International?" The officer asked while taking the security guard¡¯s phone. "No, I¡¯m not... I¡¯m employed by Fujin¡¯s property management." "Did Lixin International pay you? Don¡¯t move, don¡¯t associate yourself with Lixin International." "I wouldn¡¯t dare, I wouldn¡¯t dare." The guard, unsure of the police¡¯s division, quietly replied, "I¡¯m just a security guard, it¡¯s got nothing to do with me." "How many doors are there? Are there any hidden doors?" "There are 6 doors that I know of, with one back door leading directly to the adjacent mall through the fire escape. Passing through two fire escape doors leads to the mall, and there are doors in the mall that allow you to exit..." The guard eagerly exined, almost drawing a map, he genuinely earns 4000 yuan a month, not worth risking life for anyone. The policeman just nodded slightly, casually verifying with a floor n. The doors the guard mentioned matched the information they had, but they still had to be cautious, guarding against the nightclub secretly opening new exits. Those in the entertainment industry seem obedient on the surface but harbor dubious actions beneath. Yuan Bomian, wearing a police uniform, his waist equipped with a gun, exuded a murderous aura, built a temporarymand post on the first floor, watched as each door was arranged, then ordered his men to raid inside. Not a single person escaped. Whether nightclub management, employees, frencers, or patrons inside, all obedientlyplied with the inspection. Those who wished to flee naturally existed, but upon seeing the policemen at the door, they wisely halted. "Found them." Yuan Bomian¡¯s walkie-talkie just sounded as he immediately picked it up. "Bring them all out together without separating, to prevent discovery. Later, put hoods on them and separate ¡¯Nightclub Thin.¡¯" Yuan Bomian repeated the n several times, fearing any slip-up from his men would lead to exposure and alerting the suspects. Though such a scenario was unlikely, Yuan Bomian still minimized risks. Those in this line of work long knew that no matter how good the n was, wed execution would inevitably lead to issues. Ultimately, the sess of a mission depends on making fewer errors rather than showing excellence. "Yes. We brought them out under the pretext of drug use, currently leading them out." Subordinates rapidly reported via walkie-talkie. Yuan Bomian became excited: "Found any drugs?" "No drugs were found at the scene." Yuan Bomian was taken aback: "Did he dispose of the drugs?" "It shouldn¡¯t be. We¡¯ve been watching him for quite a while; today he seemed to be here just for fun, without carrying drugs." "Hees to a nightclub for fun without drugs? What nonsense!" Yuan Bomian said angrily but quickly suppressed his temper and continued, "Never mind, do a rapid drug test on him, see what he¡¯s usually on..." Yuan Bomian quickly exined a few things before ending themunication, then turned and asked, "Has the team searching for Nightclub Thin arrived? Tell them Nightclub Thin didn¡¯t carry drugs, so the drugs are likely in his residence." "Nightclub Thin" is a level 2 drug dealer, the most peripheral in the entire drug syndicate system, a typical dealer supporting an addiction model. Small-time drug dealers like him must deduct the costs of their drug consumption from their earnings, and it¡¯s rare for them to rent multiple apartments to create a hideout. Of course, this is Yuan Bomian¡¯s expectation, hoping Nightclub Thin is just an ordinary dealer supporting his addiction, content when he gets a bit of substance daily. His subordinates understood Yuan Bomian¡¯s thoughts and responded quickly. At such times, it¡¯s not simply about how well each person performs. Whether it¡¯s the arrest team or evidence-gathering team, catching people and finding evidence depends not only on their effort butrgely on whether the target is present, much like fishing ¡ª skill is fundamental, but no fish in the pond leaves one helpless. For the team leader, quickly receiving feedback is more crucial. Yuan Bomian fears a single event beyond control, but more so an uncontrolled scenario where hecks control. A few minutester, "Nightclub Thin" was first brought into the detention van, followed closely by the drug squad¡¯s interrogation expert. Yuan Bomian hesitated for a moment but didn¡¯t enter. Interrogation has its professional technique, especially such surprise on-site interrogations ¡ª exploiting surprise, employing high-caliber psychological strategies, or relying on luck. Yuan Bomian sometimes participates in interrogations but knew today¡¯s asion, his intervention would disrupt the interrogation¡¯s progress. "Call Captain Jiang, Nightclub Thin is captured and being interrogated." Yuan Bomian exhaled and reported to Jiang Yuan immediately. ... AM. The nightclub not involved in the raid also began closing. "Nightclub Thin" hunched his shoulders, loitering under the Five-star Pavilion Overpass, casually starting to head north. The Five-star Pavilion Overpass is a great spot, with numerous and chaotes leading to city highways and main roads internally, and highways and elevated roads externally, hence convenient for fugitives. Its underside, due to the bridge¡¯s coverage, is dim and chaotic, considered an excellent location for local drug users¡¯test transaction spot. However, because the overpass¡¯s location is too good, drug dealers and users around the Five-point Pavilion are fond of gathering there, considering it their shared territory. And heading north from the overpass enters Brother Li¡¯s domain. "Nightclub Thin" walked cautiously. He¡¯s not afraid of Brother Li because there are policemen tailing him ¡ª thinking of his fate, "Nightclub Thin" was forced to brainstorm: what opportunity could let him escape, avoiding police pursuit and grudges of drug dealers. Or, as long as escaping was possible, he didn¡¯t mind the pursuit or grudging opinions. "Nightclub Thin" pondered as he surveyed his surroundings. He didn¡¯t have confidence in escaping purely through physical means; his long tenure in nightclubsbined with drug use had rendered his body weak, meaning he¡¯d need transportation to run... "Hey." Someone spotted "Nightclub Thin,"ing up to greet him. Nightclub Thin exchanged nces with the other, after a few seconds, confirmed each other¡¯s identity. "Want some?" Nightclub Thin asked him. The other nodded lightly. "Got money?" Nightclub Thin didn¡¯t ask randomly, at this time, purchasers are anxious users, uncertain to have money but definitely armed. The other kept raising and lowering his feet, revealing some red bills as he opened his clothes. Nightclub Thin nodded, leading the other to a location beneath a bridge pir before conducting the transaction. ording to Yuan Bomian¡¯s instructions, Nightclub Thin charged 30% less. The user inspected the goods on-site, showed delight, then turned and fled. "Nightclub Thin" remained expressionless, continued heading north. The speed at which users share information is remarkably swift; if cheaper stuff is avable, it¡¯ll spread citywide in one night without needing promotion. Chapter 1223 - 1151 Red Light

Chapter 1223: Chapter 1151 Red Light

"Lao Kang, just give me a word. Can you get your people to leave my turf?" Brother Li was holding his phone, almost ready to curse. It¡¯s not easy for the two of them to talk once, and they¡¯ve both sent their subordinates tomunicate in advance. Even though Lao Kang on the other end had already sent people to capture Nightclub Thin, he still stubbornly said, "Don¡¯t give me this talk, this isn¡¯t a Hong Kong or Taiwanese movie, who stipted that it¡¯s your turf?" Brother Li himself doesn¡¯t do drugs, he let out a breath, trying to lower his voice as he said, "Lao Kang, I¡¯m talking nicely to you. Our mutually agreed-upon territories benefit both of us. You sell yours, I sell mine; we each sell in our own ces, it¡¯s good for everyone, don¡¯t you agree?" "That¡¯s right." "Then when will your people leave?" "This matter has nothing to do with me, I¡¯ve already sent people to find that kid." "Fine, as long as..." Brother Li paused at this point: "You sent people onto my turf to look for someone? Does it mean you are going to send more people in?" "Why don¡¯t you send your own people to find him." Lao Kang¡¯s mood was somewhat unstable, agitatedly saying, "Send your own people to find him, once found you don¡¯t need to send him over, just deal with him yourselves!" Brother Li hesitated for two seconds, saying, "No, I¡¯m under police surveince, gottay low for the next few days." "Not this, not that; am I your subordinate? Are you teaching me how to do things?" Lao Kang, pumped up with drug-induced muscles, was holding back before but now couldn¡¯t control his temper. Brother Li cursed silently "useless junkie", outwardly advising, "Lao Kang, just one phone call, don¡¯t mess it up, okay?" Lao Kang got angrier: "Screw you! I told you it has nothing to do with me." "If you¡¯re going to speak like that, I¡¯ll find someone to simply take out that little dealer." Brother Li actually didn¡¯t want to choose this tactic. Dealing drugs in the country isn¡¯t easy; getting caught ismon. One survival strategy is to minimize police attention. Brother Li discovered that the channel for transporting goods was ambushed by the police, and this channel should have been known only to his few subordinates. But to say he¡¯ll kill off his subordinates, he can¡¯t bring himself to do it, fearing it would affect business. Most importantly, if his loyal subordinates die, he might die too. On the other hand, Brother Li now isn¡¯t sure where the problem is. Identifying a mole is something even real intelligence agencies can¡¯t often manage, so how could Brother Li, a fallen family member turned drug dealer, handle it? Nevertheless, Brother Li has his own methods and patience. He learned from the movie "The Message", interrogating his subordinates, although it seemed like a game of Werewolf, but Brother Li¡¯s aim wasn¡¯t just that. He¡¯s aiming to use this time to promote a couple more from the bottom ranks, then let them learn from the veterans for a few days, finally if the truth gets revealed by the interrogation it¡¯s fine, otherwise let the neers rece the old ones, perfect renewal. Doing this takes longer, but being a drug dealer in this country is inherently a work-one-rest-six mode. The bigger the dealer, the shorter their activity periods, some maybe only work half a month in a year. Unfortunately, Brother Li¡¯s level isn¡¯t high enough, after resting only a few days, he¡¯s forced to start making calls. Even so, Brother Li didn¡¯t want to surface, getting outsiders to kidnap the errant dealer was already his limit. Lao Kang snorted twice, saying, "Do what you want, between us, let¡¯s not interfere with each other. If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll hang up." "Wait." Brother Li quickly stopped him, saying, "You need to send someone to connect with my people, trick this little dealer out. I can¡¯t just let people chop him up on the street, that would cause too much noise!" Lao Kang chuckled twice: "What difference does it make from me directly handing him to you? Like I told you, he doesn¡¯t listen to me anymore. Besides, can I manage them? If they really want to sell there, what can I do?" Brother Li was stunned, their ranks as drug dealers hadn¡¯t yet reached a tight organizational level, or rather, they were the very bottom of the tight drug-dealerwork, meant to obey orders, while the ones below them, nicely called are working horses, unpleasantly, they¡¯re consumables, dealing with junkies outside daily, at any time might get caught. For these people who don¡¯t care for their own lives, besides control through interests, there¡¯s no real control method for Brother Li and the others. Of course, for most of the time, consumables obey orders, but when they decide not to, Brother Li can only do so much, like cutting off their supply... Thinking of this, Brother Li instantly got furious, veins popping on his hand holding the phone: "You punk, still saying you¡¯re not the one directing him? Without your supply to him, how could such a nobody sell so much? And he¡¯s selling at thirty percent below market price!" "I didn¡¯t supply him!" Lao Kang didn¡¯t bother exining, or rather, had no exnation, only saying, "I want to ask whom he got the goods from. Isn¡¯t it you trying to frame me?" Brother Li, having exhausted his good words, started threatening, saying, "I¡¯m putting it out here, if your people dare enter my turf again, I¡¯ll end you!" "Afraid you¡¯re not a real man." Lao Kang, long unable to hold his temper. Brother Li snapped the phone apart, threw it out the window, thenmanded the driver to drive. He had held back, closing the window, before cursing: "He¡¯s calling himself a man with no balls? He¡¯s doped up to the point of not finding his balls, yet talking manly to me?" "Shows he¡¯s afraid of you." The subordinate driving was speaking carefully. He was one of the few "loyal" subordinates left by Brother Li¡¯s side. Brother Li snorted, thinking, then said, "Get a couple of guys, go catch that errant punk." "Me?" The subordinate didn¡¯t even know how to turn the steering wheel. ... Five-star Pavilion Overpass, wind and clouds gathered. Everyone loves cheap things, junkies love cheap drugs. Even at noon, many junkies, clearly unable to face sunlight due to their addiction, stubbornly put on hoodies, walked through back alleys, and arrived under the bridge. Nightclub Thin, as arrogant as an emperor, only slightly nodded when receiving those longing gazes. Right now, he¡¯s not avoiding people too much, anyway the police are tracking, whoever transacts with him gets recorded, so Nightclub Thin is toozy to keep sneaking through alleys. Mainly, the current workload far surpasses what he can handle; in the past, he¡¯d sell to a few and go back to rest, not having so much to sell. If he were willing to work overtime, he wouldn¡¯t be dealing drugs. Nightclub Thin yawned broadly, turned to return to the parking lot, nning to take back the recently collected money, then change ces, delve deeper into Brother Li¡¯s turf. Two people suddenly rushed out, thrusting Nightclub Thin directly into the van beside. Click. The van¡¯s door closed, and it sped off. The police following Nightclub Thin were stunned, afraid to chase lest they rm the snake, hurriedly took out their phones. Before he could dial, a call already came through. "Stay on-site, keep an eye out, try not to expose your identity, someone¡¯s following." The steady voice of his captain was on the line. The tracking officer¡¯s heart was eased immediately, then frowned, someone else tracking Nightclub Thin? That¡¯d require driving to keep up, didn¡¯t see any cars along the way... He instinctively looked up at the sky, and quickly looked down. At the same time, Jiang Yuan stood before the main screen. The officers from Image Investigation watched the screen with increasing excitement, reporting to Jiang Yuan: "Our drone has taken off, it¡¯ll reach the van that kidnapped Nightclub Thin in two minutes." "Hurry, don¡¯t let them escape the surveince range." Jiang Yuan nodded. The Image Investigation officerughed heartily, saying, "Rest assured, they¡¯ve got a 120-second red light at the intersection ahead." Chapter 1224 - 1152 Tracking

Chapter 1224: Chapter 1152 Tracking

"Damn, there are so many red lights today, must be this damn kid¡¯s bad luck..." the driver cursed under his breath. He knew how dangerous it was to deal with these small-time drug dealers. Rumor had it that all the low-level drug dealers openly trading had a mark on them at the police station. The police weren¡¯t arresting them yet, just casting a long line to catch the bigger fish. Of course, the police didn¡¯t have eyes everywhere and couldn¡¯t see the dealers¡¯ trades from above, so the small-time dealers usually had a survival period when they first entered the business. Many of them just aimed to make a quick buck and then disappear. Whether they could actually get away in the end was another matter. The driver felt slightly safer working under Brother Li, so he particrly didn¡¯t want to deal with these small-time dealers, fearing he¡¯d be targeted as a result. But Brother Li¡¯s orders were something he dared not disobey. Brother Li was a real drug lord, not just armed with guns and men but also with bundles of drugs. Even without using the former, thetter alone could rally countless addicts to do his bidding. And in the driver¡¯s mind, Brother Li could probably get more support from the gang behind him. Not to mention, the guns Brother Li had were not something an ordinary dealer could even buy. So to the driver, Brother Li was someone with money, men, and weapons, and he had connections and was as ruthless and cunning as the drug lords on TV. "Why are you guys catching me?" Nightclub Thin asked, knowing the answer but still flustered. He knew he was being followed by the police, so he was already careless about hiding while doing things. But now, it¡¯s clear he¡¯s not caught by the police. Have they kept up with him? At this moment, Nightclub Thin actually started to miss the interrogation room, where at least there were chairs, and no stinky feet stepping on his face. "Didn¡¯t I tell you guys to shut his mouth? Can¡¯t stuff a sock?" The driver waszy to answer, unwilling even. His only job was to turn this kid over to Brother Li, and any more chatter would just be wrong. The two in the backseat were high on meth, eyes bright with excitement,ughing: "Don¡¯t wanna take off my shoes, hold on, let me find a rag." Saying so, he rummaged through the car. Nightclub Thin cried in disgust, "Bro, I won¡¯t talk, I won¡¯t..." The junkie in the back paid no attention, found a rag soaked with oil and vomit, maybe even other things, and brutally stuffed it into Nightclub Thin¡¯s mouth. Nightclub Thin couldn¡¯t even spit it out, his eyes immediately turning red. The junkie who stuffed the rag found joy in it, suddenly bursting intoughter, "In movies, the stuff they use is always clean, you can tell they¡¯ve got no real-world experience." "Maybe the actors don¡¯t wanna?" The driver, like Brother Li, didn¡¯t use drugs, making his mind a bit clearer. The junkie in the back chuckled twice, "Actors don¡¯t wanna stuff anything in, I¡¯ll send you a linkter..." Nightclub Thin struggled desperately. The junkie looked at his small and slender back, twisting with some allure, suddenly bing interested, pinning him down with arge hand, licked his lips, "Kid, make me happy, and I¡¯ll take that rag out of your mouth." As he spoke, he started to undo Nightclub Thin¡¯s pants. Nightclub Thin froze for two seconds, then suddenly struggled like mad. Unable to restrain him, the eager junkie turned and said, "Give me a hand, when I¡¯m done, it¡¯s just nice for you to use." The other junkie raised his eyebrows, "What¡¯s the point? There¡¯s no lube, how do you get in." Finding interest, the eager one looked around, smeared his hand on the floor, pinched it, "Oil works the same." "You¡¯ll wear him out." The other junkie said yet stepped forward to help. Nightclub Thin struggled wildly. The driver in front was displeased, "There¡¯re surveince cameras everywhere on the roads, endless traffic jams. Are you crazy? What if someone sees and calls the cops? Plus, Brother Li wants him for questioning,ter you can do whatever when he talks obediently." The eager junkie was not happy either, "I wanna do it now." "Then you gonna reek when you see Brother Li? Are you out of your mind? If you¡¯re gonna die, don¡¯t drag me with you. Besides, can¡¯t you get something like this to y with yourselfter?" The driver cursed loudly. The junkie hummed twice, stopping the action, muttering discontentedly, "Like he¡¯s some emperor needing a bath and new clothes." "Damn you..." The driver frowned, "You read books?" "He used to be a teacher." The other junkie proudly shared, "Was even a college graduate." "Oh." The driver was unfazed, not a big deal. With the domestic situation, drug addicts as dealers found it even harder to rise, this kind using for years yet not joining trafficking organizations was practically wasted. ... Command room. Jiang Yuan looked at the screen before him, feeling rtively rxed. "Nightclub Thin" was originally a decoy. The biggest risk of his being capturedy in potentially exposing the n, which in turn would make Brother Li hide even deeper. But from the drone footage, "Nightclub Thin" was tied up like a Japanese pornstar and thrown on the floor, and the three traffickers showed no sign of making phone calls. With the arrival of additional drones, it was even clearer that the traffickers were calm, almost bantering. By logic, if they knew they caught a bait from the cops, they¡¯d probably be scared to death. Druggies, though ruthless, also feared death. "The car is stolen, the owner doesn¡¯t even know it¡¯s missing yet." Wang Chuanxing reported, unsurprisingly. "Just keep following." Jiang Yuan rubbed his eyes, sat down with a teacup in hand. Yuan Bomian stared, standing just slightly ahead of Jiang Yuan, though he could only watch. The drones used for tracking flew at a height of over a hundred meters, much higher than the 33rd floor of a regr residential building, with no good eyesight from below, they couldn¡¯t be spotted. Liu Jinghui, standing by, sighed, "Technology now is phasing out the good old skills, in a couple more decades, people might forget how to track others." "Inside a building, you still need people to track." Yuan Bomian promptly replied, "I once tracked a drug dealer in a mall, the guy changed clothes twice, just watching the surveince was not enough... right?" He realized only at the end Jiang Yuan was the monitoring expert, quickly asking. Jiang Yuan smiled, shook his head, not speaking. For him, simply changing clothes was child¡¯s y. However, it did increase workload. Most anti-surveince techniques, for the police, were issues of workload rather than whether the case could be cracked. "Give them as many green lights as possible, let them get back sooner." Yuan Bomian, seeing everyone was more or less ready, issued a new order. The image investigation officers responded readily. Thus, the van that kidnapped "Nightclub Thin" entered the green wave, speeding through the web-like city roads like on a highway. The driver inexplicably felt a thrill, arriving at the tenement where Brother Li was hiding, still somewhat not satisfied. "Put him in the suitcase." No need for him to say, the other two were already busy. Nightclub Thin was just the right size to fit into arge suitcase, making it unobtrusive to take out, and convenient for disposing of a body. Nightclub Thin struggled anew, to no avail. Screech... As the zipper went up, the light in front of Nightclub Thin waspletely extinguished. The three dragged the suitcase together into the tenement building. At the same time, several drones overhead began various scans. "At least two rifles and several handguns." Someone specifically handling data from the drones gave a feedback on the threat immediately. Yuan Bomian was not surprised, just said to Jiang Yuan: "I¡¯ll personally lead the team over, Captain Jiang, you just need to sit in themand room." "The other side has rifles." Jiang Yuan reminded Yuan Bomian. "We¡¯ve got heavy weapons too, pushes to shove, we¡¯ll toss grenades right at them." Yuan Bomian replied. For the police, semi-automatic rifles counted as heavy arms. "Let me find you some real heavy weapons." Jiang Yuan pulled Yuan Bomian with one hand, lest he get too anxious and make a mistake. He took out his phone with the other hand, dialing Xu Taining: "Director Xu, could you lend me some of those personnel and equipment we usedst time?" It was all part of the Lanyue City case; the AKs in Brother Li¡¯s hands might even have been bought from the Heavy Load Gang. Though an ordinary case could be dragged out with little tricks, for this case, rescuing people made a strong assault nearly the best choice. Chapter 1225 - 1153: Into the Formation

Chapter 1225: Chapter 1153: Into the Formation

Fubei Vige. This is an urban vige that has prospered along with the development around the Five-point Pavilion. The vigers rely on working at construction sites, renting out their homes to outsiders, saving money to build houses, and then renting those houses to outsiders, therebypleting the original umtion asndlords by adding additional structures to sell small property rights houses. Nowadays, Fubei Vige is a vast jungle of reinforced concrete, with tower-like houses of varying heights standing among them, home not only to strangers from various ces but also to various small restaurants, stalls, and even smallpanies. Departments like tel, mobile, power grid, and police station that were forced to enter had no choice but to pick the best among the avable options and rent a fewrge rooms for office space among a slew of illegal buildings. The police are the units that dislike the urban vige the most; excessive personnel and excessive migratory poption,bined with unnned buildings, pose trouble for the police station, a nightmare for the criminal investigation team, and potentially danger for the narcotics team. Yuan Bomian temporarily couldn¡¯t care about these; he was only filled with excitement and apprehension. The excitement came from the impending arrest. Before each arrest, Yuan Bomian would feel a shiver all over, a real trembling as a result of excessive adrenaline secretion. The apprehension stemmed from fear of the unknown and doubt about the fate of undercover missions. For the city bureau¡¯s narcotics team, truly long-term undercover missions are rare, as most undercover jobs are prepared for the final moments. Some undercover jobs mightst only a few hours, or one or two days, before ending. Often, they involve sting operations. But whether for long-term or short-term undercover missions, losing contact is always the greatest terror. Yuan Bomian had heard many simr stories and had witnessed many simr tragedies, so he dared not think too deeply prior to this moment, only now beginning to ponder and worry. "Captain Yuan, Captain Jiang. The snipers are in position. All teams are ready." A subordinate came to report. "Where have they been arranged?" Yuan Bomian snapped out of his thoughts. In the urban vige environment, snipers are extremely difficult to arrange. Too far away, there are too many obstructions; too close, they are easily discovered. The subordinate said, "They are arranged in the southeast, northwest directions, using a few vian blinds as curtains, hanging directly on the windows. The guns are disguised as well, the snipers are lying on tables aimed, and in the short term, they shouldn¡¯t be discovered." Yuan Bomian looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "It¡¯s hard to hide people here too, so should we get started?" "Alright." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. The drones had already confirmed Brother Li in person, and his job was basically done. For drug dealers like Brother Li, the level is not high enough to hide like Latin American drug lords, concealingpletely from sight when hiding. In fact, Brother Li himself had only temporarily suspended trafficking while changing residence, with his life hardly affected. Yuan Bomian nodded, looked down once more to check his equipment, then opened the door and ran towards the street corner while ordering, "All units prepare to move in 10 seconds!" Counting mentally for 10 seconds, Yuan Bomian gave themand: "Move!" Following that, countless police officers emerged from the cars around, inside the buildings, and shops, silently pushing through the blocking pedestrians, directly heading towards the target building. This poses another trouble within the urban vige¡ªwhile the roads are narrow, there is simply no space around for police to hide. Fortunately, the narcotics team is experienced, usually timing their entrance, while those who blocked the roads early were all from the van fleet. Jiang Yuan followed Yuan Bomian¡¯s steps, preparing to head out, only to be decisively stopped by Mu Zhiyang. "Captain Jiang, let¡¯s just wait here." Mu Zhiyang was in bulletproof gear, with ceramic tes inserted and wearing a level 3 helmet, fully armed, appearingrger than regr burly men. Jiang Yuan shook his head helplessly, saying, "So many people have gone up, going over there is no big deal." "Not much use." Mu Zhiyang blocked Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan coughed twice, "Us hiding here while Captain Yuan and the others charge ahead doesn¡¯t feel right." "It¡¯s not bad. You¡¯re a forensic doctor, wait until there are bodies inside to go." Mu Zhiyang just finished speaking when a "bang" came from outside. The sound wasn¡¯t too loud; from a distance, it might not exceed the firecracker sound of "woodpecker" at New Year¡¯s. But all the police present knew it was a sniper who fired. Everyone in the room looked towards the walkie-talkie. Several seconds passed before a voice came through: "Number four shot a suspect believed to be armed... shot through the wall." A few secondster, Yuan Bomian¡¯s voice arrived, "Good shot. It was Brother Li¡¯s bodyguard, carrying a 54 at the waist. Caught Brother Li!" More reports followed rapidly. Jiang Yuan exhaled, even though separated by hundreds of meters, he could feel the tense and heavy atmosphere of the scene. He refrained from asking Yuan Bomian for more details; those on-site knew best how to handle things. If unable to, it would be because it wasn¡¯t doable, not for ack of effort. "Let¡¯s go to the scene." Jiang Yuan looked down to check his equipment, donned his helmet, and quickly went outside. This time Mu Zhiyang stopped blocking, merely took the lead, hand poised at his waist, watching the surroundings. Shen Yaowei, Wen Ming, and Lu Tongda each took positions, the four of them surrounding Jiang Yuan in the center front and back. Zigzagging through the alleys, close to the building, outside the police line, gathered at least twoyers of onlookers. Local police could only maintain order; driving them away wasn¡¯t possible. And inside the police line, asionally there were one or two onlookers who also rushed out. The police arrived quickly, unable to clear all the residents in the surrounding buildings, so anyoneing downstairs would enter the range of the police line, and several smart ones instantly raised their phones to start filming for today¡¯s WeChat moments and Douyin. "Captain Jiang." The team members guarding downstairs recognized Jiang Yuan, hurriedly stepped forward to guide him, saying, "Brother Li is upstairs; Captain Yuan went to the basement." "This building has a basement?" Jiang Yuan raised his head in surprise; a single stairwell of seven and a half floors seemed high-risk enough, the idea of a civilian version basement was simply unimaginable. Jiang Yuan continued to ask, "Has the undercover been found?" The officers downstairs nodded, "Reportedly confined downstairs along with Brother Li¡¯s other subordinates." Jiang Yuan quickly headed in, just as Yuan Bomian emerged with several men wearing headcovers. The individuals appeared slightly disheveled, with exposed limbs and other parts showing signs of sores; it wasn¡¯t clear who was the undercover. Yuan Bomian gave Jiang Yuan a look. Jiang Yuan wisely remained silent, watching Yuan Bomian have the men ced into different vehicles. Yuan Bomian himself got into one of the vehicles and left directly. Jiang Yuan then led people to inspect the body, while checking the scene. The body had been shot in the chest, the arm severed, the scene was chaotic, but a substantial quantity of drugs had been seized along with a great deal of cash, gold, jewelry, and watches¡ªall high-value items. Jiang Yuan took a round, as Yuan Bomian¡¯s call finally arrived. "Captain Jiang, apologies, just took the undercover to the hospital first." Yuan Bomian¡¯s voice was heavy. "How¡¯s the undercover¡¯s health?" Jiang Yuan asked. "The physical health is fine. They were drugged. For questioning." Yuan Bomian said with a heavy sigh. For a moment, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know what to say. This oue might be better than ending up with a body, but such words still seemed impossible to express. "Good thing only used twice. Using blotter, assumed LSD was a truth serum; should manage to recover." Yuan Bomian was now providingfort to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Better than losing a life!" After a pause, Yuan Bomian continued, "Luckily, this kid withstood it!" Chapter 1226 - 1154: Biao Hu

Chapter 1226: Chapter 1154: Biao Hu

Jiang Yuan returned to themand room, and Yuan Bomian and the others began to close in and arrest people. Among them, most of the level 3 drug dealers, Jiang Yuan had marked their usual residences and even their ID numbers. Arresting level 1 addicts or level 2 small-time dealers, however, is a bit more troublesome. Most of these people don¡¯t have a fixed residence. Unless someone is particrly wealthy, their lives are mostly miserable. This is starkly different from abroad. A fortune worth millions domestically already belongs to a high ss in the financial pyramid, but when ites to addiction, it¡¯s only two or three years if the addiction progresses slowly, without having Ice Sister as apanion. Those who have been addicted for a while are often in a wandering state without a fixed abode. Some might still have jobs but often end up selling their houses to support their habit. So, for Yuan Bomian and the others, finding level 1 and 2 "Little Karami" involves spending quite a bit of time. Of course, this is just an outsider¡¯s viewpoint; for the anti-drug squad¡¯s officers, this level of trouble is no harder than fishing at a fish farm. As for arresting the remaining level 3 and 4 dealers, it¡¯s more like a supermarket shopping event; more people need to go, the workload is slightlyrger, but it¡¯s actually easier. The lives of level 3 and 4 dealers arepletely different from the small-time dealers below. They¡¯ve started earning money from drugs and naturally don¡¯t worry about the high prices of drugs. Especially level 4 dealers, who always have stock on hand, the higher the drug prices rise, the happier they are. Therefore, theserger distributors often choose to live farther away, in bigger houses with better living conditions, making them easier for the police to catch. However, it¡¯s usually quite difficult for the police to locate their residences. Identifying their transaction dens is already challenging enough, and considering evidence issues, arrests are more often made at the transaction site. But doing it this way, aplete sweep isn¡¯t easy to achieve. If aplete sweep can¡¯t be achieved, small-time dealers below quickly rece the higher-ups¡¯ ecological niche, bing level 3 and 4 distributors. This is why the world of drugs is always dirty and untidy. Jiang Yuan pressed on, continuing to track down drug dealers through previous videos. Police work isn¡¯t about ensuring peace for all eternity, as long as they drive the criminals away from this peaceful world in this life, it¡¯s enough. Yuan Bomian, after a brief moment of frustration, stormed out with his team. Seeing this, Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t help but remark, "Mr. Yuan swept through Five-point Pavilion. In Hong Kong and Taiwan dramas, this would be equivalent to sweeping through Tongluo Bay." "Yuan Lang," Shen Yaowei expressed interest in the topic too, fingering his gun, "Mr. Yuan roars like waves crashing on the shore, howling like wind passing through the forest..." Wei Shikan pondered for a moment, took a sip of coffee, and asked, "Mad dog?" Shen Yaowei deliberated, "Biao Hu." "Cultured," Wei Shikan used an old adjective, then said to Wang Chuanxing nearby, "Your Cold Case Squad is full of hidden talents." "It¡¯s our Cold Case Squad," Wang Chuanxing corrected, then looked up and sighed, "We¡¯re all very busy; if you two want to joke around, go do it elsewhere." "Okay, okay. No problem," Wei Shikanughed and turned to Shen Yaowei, "Shall we go have coffee next door? I just brought some hand-grinding equipment, let¡¯s try a hand brew." Though Shen Yaowei was also well-connected, he couldn¡¯tpare to Wei Shikan, the second-generation officer, and couldn¡¯t help but show awkwardness, "I have to wait for Captain Jiang¡¯s call, ready to set off at any time." "So serious," Wei Shikan remarked in surprise. Shen Yaowei nodded helplessly, "I¡¯m not like you." Wei Shikanughed, pointing at him, "Everyone is different, but we¡¯re the same kind." "No," Shen Yaowei shook his head resolutely. "Then tell me the difference," Wei Shikan sneered. Shen Yaowei stared at Wei Shikan¡¯s face for a while, seeing he was serious, he pointed at his coffee cup and revealed his gun at his waist, "I¡¯ve killed people." Wei Shikan was taken aback, "Really?" Even in the Criminal Police Brigade, opportunities to work on the front lines aren¡¯t frequent, especially in a ce like Lanyue City. Compared to provincial capitals like Luo Jin City or Changyang City, they have less depth, and most of the time, the criminal police are more like being in the administrative part of the criminal police force, unlike Wei Shikan, who has never been to a crime scene where people have died. Of course, if he continues working as a criminal police officer, he might eventually encounter emergencies, but for now, he¡¯s mostly grinding coffee. Shen Yaowei, being proud, spoke seriously, sounding more spirited, chin slightly raised, "It¡¯s true. I was right beside Captain Jiang, drew my gun and shot without hesitation. Second-ss merit." "Impressive!" Wei Shikan generously gave a thumbs-up and continued asking Shen Yaowei for details. Wei Shikan is genuinely interested in criminal police work and guns, practicing shooting skills often. But when ites to realbat, hitting a human target, he has no opportunity whatsoever. Dai Mingsheng indulges his whims most times, but not in situations like this. Shen Yaowei was equally proud, and upon receiving appreciation from High Kshatriya, he was more enthusiastic, pretending to be humble, "Actually, it was quite simple. The hardest part is making the decision; once you decide to shoot, everything else relies on instinct. Hitting the target, and such, depend on usual training..." "Do you often practice shooting?" "Whenever I have time, otherwise, when the opportunityes, you can¡¯t grasp it," Shen Yaowei¡¯s mouth corners raised harder than an AK, "The chances to shoot are incredibly rare in a team, once you have experience, the leadership will select you in the future, reducing others¡¯ opportunities even further..." Jiang Yuan turned around at this point, nced at Shen Yaowei, and said, "Little Shen, run to the interchange under Five-point Pavilion and collect evidence, make sure to protect the integrity of the evidence chain." "Yes," Shen Yaowei immediately responded, winked at Wei Shikan, "I¡¯m often out at the scene in the team." "Impressive!" Wei Shikan sincerely expressed. In the team, he does everything but rarely goes to the scene. Shen Yaowei chuckled, then asked Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, which case¡¯s evidence am I collecting?" Although it¡¯s a major case, during the evidence collection phase, different defendants often form different cases. For the case currently handled by Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, the drug trafficking gang will certainly be prosecuted collectively, but drug users purchasing from them might not be, and other dealers or users not part of the gang must be processed separately. Given the current status of the case, rtively few people are involved in the investigation, but many more people are needed for case processing, or it might require someone to spend half a year, even a year or two, preparing materials before prosecution and conviction can ur. Jiang Yuan simply looked at Shen Yaowei, coughed twice, and said, "On the west side of the interchange, there are many shacks where addicts live, a lot of trash and drug paraphernalia are piled there, start by clearing the west side,ter depending on which cases need the evidence, match it to them. You don¡¯t need to follow a specific case." "Uh... okay. If I don¡¯t need to follow a specific case... then I just have to clear the shacks?" Shen Yaowei confirmed. "And the entire trash heap in the area," Jiang Yuan confirmed Shen Yaowei¡¯s confirmation and added. Chapter 1227 - 1155: Major Demolition

Chapter 1227: Chapter 1155: Major Demolition

Noon. Yuan Bomian appeared in themand room with red eyes resembling a halo. "Mr. Yuan, thank you for your hard work. How did the arrests go? No team members got injured, right?" Huang Qiangmin said courteously as he got up to make tea, but naturally, a subordinate took over the task. "Two got scratched, and one got bitten by a dog. They should be fine. We were too exhaustedter, our vignce dropped, and in half an hour, three incidents urred, so I quickly called off the team," Yuan Bomian expressed gratitude and sat tiredly on the chair. "Good that no one was seriously hurt. Being too exhausted is indeed not good. Your decision to pull back was decisive," Huang Qiangmin consoled and then asked, "How was the yield?" "In terms of yield, we came back fully loaded. The prison van couldn¡¯t even fit everything. As Director Jiang would say, we aimed to annihte them all. Over 40 drug traffickers and over 300 drug users were caught." "As long as they were all caught." "Not entirely," said Yuan Bomian seriously, ncing in Jiang Yuan¡¯s direction, "One major reason I pulled back the team is that we couldn¡¯t spot anyone anymore. Based on Captain Jiang¡¯s criteria, we caught quite a few at Levels 1 and 2, but the Level 3 were grabbed immediately, and we couldn¡¯t link anyone else afterward." Huang Qiangmin nodded slowly, "Still, not easy." "Sigh..." Yuan Bomian sighed, "If it weren¡¯t for the undercover being stuck in there, we could have pushed a bit further. If we could link to the drug factories behind, the case would be perfect." Dai Mingsheng walked over at this moment and, upon hearing it, unreservedly said, "You spend all year barely catching one drug factory. Now that Captain Jiang is here and the set targets are achieved, you¡¯re being greedy." "Who said that? We uncover several drug factories each year." "Most of them probably deal with precursor chemicals," said Dai Mingsheng, who, although a criminal detective, had some understanding of Lanyue City¡¯s annual police work. The so-called precursor chemicals are essentially raw materials that can be used to produce drugs. The current list only has 47 types, among which the first category with the strictest control includes only 19 types. Well-known ones, like pseudoephedrine, which was once the main ingredient in cold medicine, have forced all series of cold medicines to change their forms because they were too easy to obtain¡ªdrug traffickers bought them by the ton and extracted the pseudoephedrine directly. Theoretically, once you obtain precursor chemicals, you¡¯re just a step away from sessfully making drugs. At this stage, there are virtually no scientific obstacles remaining; even an ordinary drug trafficker can derive drugs from them¡ªit doesn¡¯t require mastering any advanced technology, as any middle school chemistry teacher could do the job. Without a suitable partner, it wouldn¡¯t be hard for drug traffickers to either catch one or lure someone with a honey trap or an immortals¡¯ trick. Furthermore, for those in the know with precursor chemicals in hand, if there¡¯s no market demand, they don¡¯t even need to make drugs; just selling them could earn significant profits. And the risk of such factories is much lower than drug-making, they¡¯re easy to establish, the targets aren¡¯t so prominent, making them a choice for many new-age young drug traffickers. For the police, taking down such factories is naturally also very important, although it doesn¡¯t sound as morous. Dai Mingsheng intentionally poked at Yuan Bomian, then said, "You want to continue using Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods. Our interests align, it¡¯s a win-win cooperation." Anyone who has used Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods never found them unsatisfactory. Although the expenses with Jiang Yuan were indeed substantial, he really cracked major cases, and such cases, as long as they were solved, with no regard to cost or expenses. All in all, it equaled zero expenditure! So, Dai Mingsheng fully understood the thoughts of Yuan Bomian and his squad leader. Yuan Bomian grunted twice and then said, "I think we shouldn¡¯t stop at this case. Take Brother Li and Kang Youwei, whose nickname is ¡¯Liposuction¡¯, these two, if you go one level up, there¡¯s a high possibility to connect with the drug factories. Reaching this point was extremely tough, and giving up would be too wasteful." "Why is Liposuction called Kang Youwei?" Dai Mingsheng asked curiously. Yuan Bomian nced at him, "Liposuction was a name given by Jiang Yuan. It¡¯s said he used to be a fitness coach and liked to tell people that only with good health can one achieve, and so people started calling him Kang Youwei. This guy wasn¡¯t on our radar before. He went the gym route, had a lot of high-end clients, and could provide home delivery services, which made him very popr." After exining, Yuan Bomian continued, "Both Brother Li and Kang Youwei haverge stocks in hand. They¡¯re new rising drug traffickers, with ample supply but insufficient clients, so they¡¯re in the client expansion phase. Their suppliers issue themrge quantities, at least 3kg at a time, sometimes up to 10kg of goods. They even handed over their suppliers¡¯ contact information and such; the problem is, with us making such a big fuss of arrests, their suppliers have already gotten wind of it and have cut all contact." Yuan Bomian spread his hands and said, "At this stage, using our traditional investigation methods, it¡¯s hard to find anything." He finished speaking and looked at Jiang Yuan, as did Dai Mingsheng. Jiang Yuan smiled, stood up, and handed Yuan Bomian a pack of cigarettes, "I¡¯ve been looking into this the past few days, and regarding Liposuction and Brother Li¡¯s supplier, I have some insights. Firstly, both their suppliers are still distributors, not drug factories." "These major resellers always take a lot of goods, and catching such people brings the drug factories within reach." "But after this round of arrests, we¡¯ve probably startled the snake." "I suspect so too," Yuan Bomian sighed understandingly, yet his expression still held regret. "However, there are still ways to continue catching him," Jiang Yuan¡¯s words pulled Yuan Bomian¡¯s spirits back. Yuan Bomian¡¯s eyes widened, like a faded teenage girl, full of admiration for Jiang Yuan. "This major reseller is still a Lanyue City native, but they supply Liposuction and Brother Li using separate methods for people and goods." Jiang Yuan paused and said, "Currently, I have a bit of a grasp on his supply methods. The issue is, he avoids surveince as much as possible. Now, it¡¯s just whether we can find a way to pinpoint him or his couriers." "Good, good, good." Yuan Bomian nodded repeatedly and then asked, "What way?" Dai Mingsheng coughed twice, "Old Yuan, you really don¡¯t want to think yourself, huh?" "My methods are special agents and informants. Now that they¡¯ve all been caught, keeping them isn¡¯t of any use as they can¡¯t reach them. How about interrogating Brother Li and Liposuction?" Yuan Bomian mentioned, shaking his head, "Highly likely it won¡¯t help much. These drug traffickers are the least loyal, they don¡¯t trust each other, so there¡¯s rarely anyone left untied." "Field investigation then." Jiang Yuan directly stood up, "You were all busy arresting people before, so now, I¡¯ll go check a few ces first." Chapter 1228 - 1156 Field Investigation

Chapter 1228: Chapter 1156 Field Investigation

"After conducting a field investigation, what we need most now is technical support in this area," Yuan Bomian nodded repeatedly. Dai Mingsheng clicked his tongue twice, "The annual technical support first benefits you guys." "But it¡¯s still not enough. Moreover, in terms of technology application, there¡¯s indeed a lot we need to learn from Captain Jiang." "I¡¯ll give your team leader a call." Seeing the situation, Dai Mingsheng knew that the coboration between both parties had to continue. To some extent, he was also happy to see it happen. "Thank you for the trouble." Yuan Bomian wasn¡¯t concerned about anything else at the moment, just focused on his case. He earnestly said, "We prefer to trace clues through people. The problem is that drug traffickers¡¯ turnover is too fast. Sometimes, it¡¯s not even us catching them; they kill each other, which often breaks our leads. Captain Jiang¡¯s use of video and such methods is different." "Seeing it on video means it¡¯s been seen," Liu Jinghui summed up in one sentence and added, "But what is hidden out of sight is often the truth." Yuan Bomian adopted a non-offensive stance, smiling, "You are right." Liu Jinghui squinted and smiled slightly, then continued, "The big-time operator Jiang Yuan is looking for should be around level 5 given the scale he operates; there should be more than just this one level 5 operator above the drugbs." Yuan Bomian replied, "Not necessarily, it depends on the preference of the drugb. Generally, ording to our normal experience, oneb would certainly supply several operators, but this isn¡¯t always the case. Some factories may have started with several operators, but as some died or got caughtter, maybe only one remains. Sometimes, for confidentiality, they might choose just one. The mostmon scenario is the factory ramping up production, making arge batch, then stopping to sell, essentially making themselves the big operator." "At the very least, the factory and the operator know each other?" "At this stage, some degree of trust is required due to therge transaction volumes. This is also how they guard against our undercover agents. Without some fame within the industry or for particr reasons knowing each other, it¡¯s hard to get these factories to work with them as operators." "The lower levels are a mix of fish and dragons, while the upper levels engage in acquaintances trading? Sounds like it." Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice and said, "But how did this level 5 big-time operator find Brother Li and these level 4 small operators?" Yuan Bomian replied, "Cultivated them himself. Small operators aren¡¯t valuable. The one with the goods is the emperor, and the one with money is the king. Such a big operator can casually spare a little product, give it on credit to a few level 1 or 2 small users and in a few months, cultivate a line. If they¡¯re audacious and trade frequently, a level 3 small dealer can be nurtured in one or two months." Yuan Bomian said, "From a small dealer to a small operator, it¡¯s somewhat difficult because they need to cultivate some underlings. But truth be told, it still depends on how much money and goods there are. For instance, Brother Li and Liparace haven¡¯t been at it for long, but because their upstream gave them pure goods directly, their profit margins wererge enough to easily find people to help sell." Drugs don¡¯t have quality standards, and a trafficker¡¯s main profit isn¡¯t the price differential between upstream and downstream but rather the profit from adulterating pure goods. Some might say that even with half adulterated, the gross profit still falls short of doing engineering projects... Compared to selling drugs, those in the construction business are more conscientious. If drug traffickers only adulterated half, they¡¯d have to specify it to prevent customers from overdosing and dying from a single use. In reality, adulterating up to seventy-five percent ismon. When traffickers are caught, police tests often show drug content of just 0.004%, meaning only 4 parts per hundred thousand of actual drugs. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, then asked, "What do you estimate the output and production capacity of the big operator behind Brother Li and their drugb are?" "It definitely reaches several hundred kilograms, maybe more, but not by much, otherwise they wouldn¡¯t use this model," Yuan Bomian mused for a moment, then voiced his reasoning, "This drugb is eager to expand the market, indicating significant production capacity, wanting to do long-term business. Nowadays, with new drugs, producing over a hundred kilograms at once isn¡¯t hard, but doing much more would be too risky domestically." "Perhaps the goods are imported?" Liu Jinghui proposed a possibility. Yuan Bomian¡¯s eyelid twitched, turned his head, and shook slowly, "Imported goods arriving here wouldn¡¯t be pure. For someone like Brother Li, if they took smuggled goods, the supplier would only provide a barrel or a few barrels of smuggled goods at a time, then adulterate it before giving Brother Li and the others one or two hundred ¡¯meat¡¯ each time." Smuggled icees in white sealed stic bags, like monosodium glutamate, with a barrel being 1000 grams. After dividing, one gram bes one ¡¯meat,¡¯ with 200 ¡¯meat¡¯ being 200 grams. The operators at this level don¡¯t adulterate too excessively. With 200 grams, there will be at least 100 grams of pure material. Using a seventy-five percent ratio, they can get 400-500 grams of ¡¯good goods.¡¯ If they want to earn more or when the supply is tight, turning 500 grams into one kilogram or two kilograms is quite reasonable. On the lower level, taking the same 50 ¡¯meat,¡¯ having 10 grams of pure goods is considered good. They sell it in ¡¯one goods¡¯ or even ¡¯one fly¡¯ units in small sections of straws. At that point, ¡¯one goods¡¯ is only 1 gram, and ¡¯one fly¡¯ is just 0.05 grams, i.e., one goods can be split into 20 flies. Liu Jinghui silently calcted. Having been in the anti-drug field for many years, Yuan Bomian¡¯s judgments were undoubtedly valuable. "Most likely still domestically produced. Judging by quality, it leans towards small workshops," Yuan Bomian exined further, "Such production isn¡¯t high. The domestic industrial products are soprehensive that it¡¯s easy to purchase suitable equipment." Such things, naturally, can¡¯t be bought asplete sets, so the drugbs have to assemble their equipment. "Even if the output isn¡¯t high, shipping a few kilograms a month still amounts to a significant sum. If shipping tens of kilograms, where does the profit go?" Liu Jinghui began to trace the money trail. "Hard to say, the total sum isn¡¯t exorbitant, but such drugb operators work intermittently, having plenty of free time to spend money. The more extravagant ones can easily spend tens of millions a year," Yuan Bomian said. Following the narcotics funds was already a primary investigation direction, something they naturally have pursued. At this point, Jiang Yuan arrived with the video, saying, "I¡¯m ready." "Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go!" Yuan Bomian finally got excited, "Where are we heading?" "Southeast of the Five-point Pavilion. First to Ying¡¯er Road and Zhongxin Road." Jiang Yuan directly stated the locations disyed on the surveince. The police surveince shows specific addresses and times at the bottom when viewed, convenient for the image investigation team to read. Yuan Bomian, being very familiar with the locality, immediately led Jiang Yuan to the destination. Upon arrival, he said, "This is considered the city¡¯s edge. Not only is there no surveince, but the city¡¯s interface is also quite chaotic." Lanyue City is a sprawling urban city with arge area butcks the vibrancy outside the central district. During its expansion, it swallowed a lot of suburban counties, continuously constructing and sprawling further. Both Ying¡¯er Road and Zhongxin Road are considered remote ces rtive to the Five-point Pavilion, but there still are many urban viges and self-built houses amodating the most struggling group of people living in the city. Correspondingly, the surveince density here is not nearly as significant as in the urban area, and once off the main roads, it¡¯s practically nonexistent. Jiang Yuan got out of the vehicle and walked along Zhongxin Road. Zhongxin Road is the regr location where Brother Li and Liparace often pick up goods. The exact spot varies but usually falls within a few kilometers in the area. Though it doesn¡¯t sound much, in terms of surveince and mapping, a few kilometers is quite a substantial area. Bynd size, it might even exceed thend area of Macau Windows. "Check with nearby businesses to see if there¡¯s usable surveince," Jiang Yuan issued a routine order. The apanying officers followed suit. Official surveince wasn¡¯t cooperative, let alone private businesses; they had to request it individually. Even as police, uncooperative responses aremon, and for minor cases, they¡¯s often reluctant to take such actions. While waiting, Jiang Yuan walked along Zhongxin Road, street by street. Field investigations also don¡¯t always yield definitive targets; only when seen can one determine if it¡¯s the target. Chapter 1229 - 1157: Drawing Circles

Chapter 1229: Chapter 1157: Drawing Circles

Liu Jinghui followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s steps, mapping out the routes in the vicinity. Yuan Bomian, on the other hand, was busy collecting the nearby surveince footage, which was a meticulous task. Comparatively, the cameras from policemunity cooperation were easy to ess, but the monitors installed by some small stores were troublesome. Some of them used home surveince like Xiaomi, perhaps just to watch over the cash register or their goods. The management wasn¡¯t strict, and the stored videos were a mess, so they might need to be brought back and organized before they could be useful. In fact, Yuan Bomian himself wasn¡¯t sure what use these videos would have once collected. However, since Jiang Yuan wanted them, he had no hesitation. If the videos proved useless, that was normal. It wouldn¡¯t be ideal for Jiang Yuan to be at a loss for surveince footage when needed. Yuan Bomian spected that Jiang Yuan might want to check the suspect¡¯s mode of transport, specifically instructing, "Even if the traffickers separate people from goods, there ultimately needs to be someone to ce the drugs at the transaction site. This person will most likely use a vehicle, so collect the surveince around the roads thoroughly..." "Yes." The subordinates responded somewhat perfunctory. Yuan Bomian continued with a few more instructions, emphasizing, "Some surveince cameras have been in ce for so long that the owners might have forgotten them, so remember to collect those too. Like the security cameras in parking huts, those integrated with our police system, and others meant for viewing on security roomputers should be collected as well. Also, nearby spots like elevator cameras, which aren¡¯t visible when going up but can be seen when the doors open on the way down..." "Got it, Captain Yuan." The team members were beginning to find the captain¡¯s verbosity grating, their tone quite stiff. Yuan Bomian helplessly said, "Don¡¯t get annoyed by my nagging. The more peculiar the camera positions are, the less likely the suspects are to think of them, and they might just get caught on tape, right?" "Got it, Captain Yuan!" The subordinates¡¯ tone became even stiffer. Nearby, Wei Shikan was idly and yfully tranting remarks, "They probably genuinely find you verbose." Yuan Bomian nced at Wei Shikan, "Don¡¯t I know that?" The team members also red at Wei Shikan, "Mind your business, kid. Even if Captain Yuan is long-winded, we wouldn¡¯t actually say that out loud." "Okay, okay, I¡¯m the one who¡¯s chatty," Wei Shikan scuttled away, blending back with the Criminal Police Brigade,menting, "Drug enforcement is really hard to get along with. I thought we¡¯d bounce some ideas off each other, but there¡¯s no spirit of fun. Have you ever felt the same?" "Sometimes, Shi Kan." The criminal policemen¡¯s tone gave Wei Shikan a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. Liu Jinghui, having followed Jiang Yuan through several streets, also began to feel a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu, and couldn¡¯t help but say, "The roads around these new developments all look simr. Are we just checking one street after another to find a suspect¡¯s inevitable route?" "If there¡¯s such a path, that would be great," Jiang Yuan shrugged. Liu Jinghuiughed, "These roads here are interconnected, and they¡¯re all new, with barely any heavily trafficked routes or dead ends." "I¡¯m considering that issue too," Jiang Yuan said while observing the surroundings, "If you were the trafficker, would you choose a route with few or many people whening in and out of this area?" This was a reasoning problem, which perked up Liu Jinghui¡¯s spirits. After some thought, he said, "The advantage of choosing a crowded route is that it¡¯s easy to blend in with the crowd. There are fewer cameras here, and it¡¯s a suburb area absorbed by the city, with a mixed and mobile poption. Choosing a busy route makes it less likely to be noticed and allows for higher error tolerance. The downside is, if discovered, escaping is difficult since crowded routes are typically narrow remodelled roads, often clogged with electric bicycles and street vendors. If you get unlucky and get blocked, escape is nearly impossible." Zhongxin Road is a major thoroughfare and a main route connecting the city to the Five-point Pavilion. However, conditions on either side of Zhongxin Road are moreplicated, with newly opened, wide, and straight roads that are less traveled, as well as renovated roads based on county or rural roads where traffic conditions deteriorate drastically. Jiang Yuan chuckled, "High tolerance for mistakes, but hard to run if you slip up, thus reducing the actual error tolerance." "It depends on how you see it. For less popted routes, the pros and cons are the opposite: low error tolerance with times where there might only be one vehicle on the road, making it easy for surveince to spot them. But escape is easy... Though in our domestic environment, once identified, it¡¯s tough." "Not necessarily. For traffickers, with prepped safe houses or escape routes, there¡¯s a certain chance of evading capture," Jiang Yuan, familiar with manhunts, summed up. In short, unnned escapes are extremely difficult, but prepared ones, including leaving province or national borders, or hiding in a well-stocked safe house for a long time, do have a chance of sess. However, regardless of the n, ample money is needed for preparations. Fleeing abroad requires significant costs for travel and human smugglers. Safe houses are even more challenging; while renting overseas properties for that purpose is feasible, domestically it¡¯s difficult withndlords and neighbours potentially causing trouble. Ideally, owning a property and preparing lots of supplies to regrly swap out would demand considerable space and significant expenses. Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts were more straightforward; shaking his head, he said, "If considering low-popted areas for easy escape, there¡¯s no need to meet here. Plenty of remote countryside spots are avable for trades. Choosing a mountainous area with fewer trees allows for watching out for followers from a hilltop, conducting trades on the peaks, making it clean and easy." "So, you lean towards suspects taking crowded routes," Jiang Yuan asked. "Yeah. I think the right choice is crowded routes to avoid detection primarily. Another reason suspects might choose this area could be familiarity or residing or working nearby," Liu Jinghui spected, "As previously mentioned, traffickers making such big money can¡¯t keep it all in the banks. They won¡¯t just bury their millions in cash. They¡¯d need to spend. Lanyue City has a lot going on for that." Jiang Yuan slowly nodded. Liu Jinghui, worried Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t get it, whispered again, "The Film City." "Moneyundering?" Jiang Yuan started to grasp. Liu Jinghui sighed, "Liu Wenkai." "Oh..." Jiang Yuan understood instantly. "Of course, it could be gambling or other things," Liu Jinghui shifted the conversation, "Does this help capture them?" "No," Jiang Yuan shrugged, "From that angle, Captain Yuan should have pursued it before." "They probably ran, but we can ask again. Drugs and vices often intermingle; traffickers need lives too," Liu Jinghui paused, suggesting, "Or make a list of times Brother Li and Fatty traded and see if anyone repeatedly appears nearby. It¡¯s a dumb approach, but could it work?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, "It¡¯s a bit too foolish." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t mind his idea being rejected, adapting to such experiences over the years, curiously asking, "How foolish?" Jiang Yuan exined, "Firstly, considering they separate people from goods means the delivery might not even be the suspect themselves, could be a courier, possibly a different one each time. If so, this method fails." Jiang Yuan continued, "Secondly, even if the delivery personnel is unchanged, their timing isn¡¯t fixed. They could deliver 30 minutes or even a day earlier, resulting in a huge investigation range." Jiang Yuan borated, "Thirdly, the geographical aspect also involves a vast scope. If their trading spots vary, gathering tons of footage from different times and locations is required..." Contemting the workload, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but shake his head. "Okay. So you¡¯re saying, even tons of manpower won¡¯t sort it out?" Liu Jinghui asked. "At least not in that way." "What about Xu Taining?" Jiang Yuanughed, "You¡¯re too hard on him..." After a brief pause, Jiang Yuan thought again, uncertain, and shook his head once more, "The current information is too scant; the natural w remains ineffective." "So what¡¯s your n?" "By geographical profiling principles, we draw circles around transaction sites, with their intersection as the suspect¡¯s residence or workce," Jiang Yuan shared a theoretical approach, suggesting, "How about we implement this theory?" Chapter 1230 - 1158: They Are Different

Chapter 1230: Chapter 1158: They Are Different

"Geographical profiling? Crime geography and environmental criminology? I won¡¯t feel sleepy if you talk about this." Liu Jinghui suddenly became excited: "Crime analysis from the Chicago School interests me as well. By the way, I have worked on simr cases using theory for rted practice." Jiang Yuan talked while walking: "Oh, you¡¯ve worked on simr cases?" "Of course. In the past, without you, cases without leads could only be approached by drawing circles for visits and such. At that time, I was always making judgments based on crime pattern theory..." "Is it useful?" Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly interested in discussing pure theoretical topics but was indeed a bit curious. "It is useful. For example, crime pattern theory suggests that the time-space interaction of crime factors makes crime most likely to ur in areas where the activity spaces of potential criminals and potential victims ovep. I once caught a serial rapist using this method by marking all the victims¡¯ activity areas and then checking if the suspect had intersecting activity areas with them..." Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui¡¯s endless talk: "Is it easy to do?" Liu Jinghui was taken aback for a moment, then entered a reminiscing state. After a while, he said: "Once the area is determined, it¡¯s all about screening and visits, eventually catching the criminal... Definitely not easy. Back when I was doing the screening, I didn¡¯t have the support you provide now." Crime geography and environmental criminology, among others, are theoretical studies based on geographical factors to study crime. Further developments include crime pattern theory, routine activity theory, rational choice theory, and crime space theory. These theoretical things don¡¯t reallye in handy when faced with minor cases on a daily basis. Because minor cases can be left unsolved; if no leads are found, just let it go. Most police officers only resort to using these theories, which are detached from intuition, when they encounter major cases that must be solved. And for outside experts like Liu Jinghui, even when they go into action under the title of higher-level units, using these crime theories for case-solving, they are still regarded as schrs. Cooperation from various units might be somewhat sluggish, and if tasks are overly burdensome, mockery face-to-face is possible, and encountering missteps is alsomonce. Jiang Yuan nodded with partial understanding. Liu Jinghui looked at his family¡¯s dragon with a bewildered expression and sighed: "People cannot imagine things they¡¯ve never seen!" "Geography indeed greatly restricts people; people are prisoners of geography." Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Northern people who¡¯ve never seen the sea find it difficult to imagine the crashing waves during a typhoon, while southern people who¡¯ve never seen snow can hardly imagine the cold where water freezes instantly. Liu Jinghui shook his head: "I¡¯m talking about case-solving. Sometimes when we¡¯re handling cases outside, the things we encounter are beyond your imagination... Just like, you, with your family¡¯s ranch, can¡¯t imagine the strange things people might do to eat a smoked chicken." Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui with sympathy and curiosity. "I¡¯m fine." Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t bear it, waved his hand, and said: "It¡¯s all in the past. The grievances suffered while handling cases are nothing; as long as the case is solved, all efforts will be repaid manifold..." Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui¡¯s words, saying: "What I mean is, smoked beef can be made really delicious, something smoked chicken can never match. My dad makes Texas-style smoked beef at home, which is very vorful, using arge American smoker, starting in the afternoon and smoked overnight with firewood, and is eaten by noon the next day. The beef fibers have dissolved, with fully cooked beef still containing a lot of juices..." "Wang Chuanxing, bring the map." Liu Jinghui turned his head to call someone. Wang Chuanxing eagerly brought over arge map, which had been kept in the trunk since they set out. Liu Jinghui pulled Jiang Yuan aside to a less crowded restaurant, pushed several tables together, and began drawing maps on the spot. "Let¡¯s start with the first map, centering around the transaction location, initially setting a radius of six kilometers. How about it? Actually, three kilometers might be enough." Liu Jinghui spoke while drawing the map. For detectives specializing in reasoning, crime theories like geographical profiling are fundamental skills that must be mastered. Corresponding statistical conclusions are undoubtedly the cornerstone of reasoning-based detectives. Just like Liu Jinghui mentioned, the crime radius refers to the distance traveled by offenders. A simple understanding is that offenders tend tomit crimes in familiar areas because crimes in unfamiliar locations not only increase the risk of exposure but also waste the offender¡¯s time and energy. Yes, offenders also have time, energy, and financial expenditures. What is the distance traveled? ording to statistics, in most areas, the average criminal distance is within three kilometers. Specifically, the travel distance for violent assaults is generally shorter. In Sheffield, United Kingdom, statistics show 2.4 kilometers, while in Lexington, United States, it¡¯s only 1.13 kilometers. Comparatively, pickpockets in Sheffield go as far as 4 kilometers to pickpocket, while those in Das, United States, travel up to 9.66 kilometers. Simrly, the average travel distance for rapists in Washington is 1.85 kilometers, whereas in Das, it¡¯s 6.28 kilometers; in Saint John, Canada, the average travel distance for robbers is only 0.69 kilometers, while Washington robbers are willing to travel 3.38 kilometers. Regarding residential burry, offenders in Ottawa, Canada, are willing to travel only 0.56 kilometers, while in Das, United States, they go 4.02 kilometers. In Sheffield and Harrow Town, London, the distances are 2.95 and 2.98 kilometers, respectively. In summary, Canadians are quite homebound, preferring tomit crimes within walking distance. The British, even in crime, maintain a moderate and rigid attitude, sticking to the global average, while Americans are the most uninhibited, willing to travel far tomit crimes, but they can be in a hurry when ites to rape. Liu Jinghui kept measuring the map with a ruler, then started drawing circles with apass. Wang Chuanxing was assisting beside him, watching for a while, and then asked, "I thought you could just draw a few 3-kilometer circles. Why are the sizes of each circle different?" Liu Jinghui continued drawing and exined, "Because travel distance isn¡¯t a straight line. The 3-kilometer circles you mentioned are like the shortest distance between two points on the map, which is the Euclidean distance and is not urate enough. I am measuring the Manhattan distance, also known as taxi distance. It¡¯s like if you want to go from one ce to another, you can¡¯t travel the shortest distance through the air; it¡¯s the shortest distance by road, which is called Manhattan distance..." Wang Chuanxing, who also scored highly to join the Criminal Police Brigade, recalled, "The hypotenuse of a right triangle is equivalent to the Euclidean distance, and the sum of the two legs is equivalent to the Manhattan distance." "That¡¯s what it means. So now you understand why the Euclidean distance doesn¡¯t work?" "Because a criminal suspect can¡¯t travel the shortest distance, at the very least, they¡¯d have to travel the Manhattan distance." Liu Jinghui shook his head and said, "Because Euclidean distance is abbreviated as ED, and ED won¡¯t work." Wang Chuanxing shivered from the cold. Soon, Liu Jinghui¡¯s circles filled the map. Brother Li and others had quite frequent transactions, at least dozens of them, and whether it was Brother Li or Zhipaoji, they kept records with times noted. Not keeping records was impossible¡ªyou couldn¡¯t even figure out the stock and remaining amount. Discussing prices, delivery, etc., would all be problematic, and it would be easier to get fooled by subordinates. Yuan Bomian and the others, after finishing their work, joined the crowd in the restaurant to watch. The geographical profiling of circle upon circle was quite straightforward, and everyone could see that most of the circles intersected on three or four streets. "Does the criminal live nearby?" Yuan Bomian was a bit uncertain, thinking this looked rather trivial. Liu Jinghui also shook his head and said, "The criminal is definitely familiar with this area. But they might not necessarily live here. Serial offenders generally have two modes: one is the nearby plunder mode, which is those living close by; the other is the travel crime mode, targeting far from home. This theory..." "Regardless of the mode, the criminal is likelying and going from this ce frequently," Jiang Yuan interrupted Liu Jinghui¡¯s excitement, saying, "Even if the goods and people are separated, and the mastermind doesn¡¯t deliver personally, considering the size of this case, the mastermind themselves or a close associate has to n out each transaction location and route, which requires prior reconnaissance to familiarize themselves with the area." "That¡¯s certain. I believe they need to inspect the ce beforehand each time; otherwise, the construction status around the Five-point Pavilion might change over time," Liu Jinghui agreed and furthered, "Here¡¯s a bold guess: I think the criminal or their close associate, the person responsible for transportation, needs a legitimate reason to be around here¡ªwork, study, or at the very least, keeping a kept lover here." "This can be a direction for further screening," Jiang Yuan agreed for now. "And then?" Yuan Bomian, losing his patience, asked. Jiang Yuan had been staring at the map for a while, and now he pointed to a street slightly to the east, saying, "In that case, I think we can focus on collecting surveince footage from this street. Let¡¯s find the footage from three days before and after each transaction date and review it." "This street is a mainmercial street," Yuan Bomian, recognizing the location, felt a bit anxious and said, "There aremunity malls, restaurants, snack bars, and small shops along this street; it¡¯s just too crowded." "It¡¯s not that hard. It¡¯s definitely smallerpared to the few kilometers around the Five-point Pavilion," Jiang Yuan chuckled. "Even if you say so..." "The criminal will definitely have some distinctive traits," Jiang Yuan reassured Yuan Bomian, saying, "Think about it, someone who transacts a few kilograms or even over ten kilograms of drugs at each deal, even if they don¡¯t deliver personally, they will certainly possess some characteristics." "Definitely," Yuan Bomian agreed first, then asked, "Where do you intend to start? I mean, what kinds of traits?" "For example... being wealthy?" Jiang Yuan smiled and said, "We can initially exclude everyone on that street who¡¯s earning less than ten thousand a month. We can generally rule out the working ss too." Yuan Bomian hesitated for two seconds and said, "I¡¯m not doubting it; I just wonder, can wealth be so apparent?" "The lifestyle of a working person and someone wealthy enough to be a drug dealer is noticeably different," Jiang Yuan said, gesturing at Wang Chuanxing and then pointing at Wei Shikan, who was casually wandering near the wall, "The life state of a workhorse and a panda is naturally different." Chapter 1231 - 1159: Identifying Wealth

Chapter 1231: Chapter 1159: Identifying Wealth

Jiang Yuan finalized the n and strolled around themercial street on Jinzhong Road several times, finally selecting the high point on the east side and having the videos from over ten of the street¡¯s surveince cameras taken back. The other cameras on the same street were also needed, but with these dozens of cameras, the peopleing and going on this street could basically all be seen. As for if the criminal seldomes to this street or for some reason simply doesn¡¯te here, it would mean... it would mean Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis was a big failure, and the Dragon Knight team would have to start all over again. "Let¡¯s begin." In the Image Investigation analysis room at the Lanyue City Bureau, Jiang Yuan found a chair, sat downfortably, holding in his left hand some Jade Manor sun-dried coffee freshly brewed by Wei Shikan, and in his right hand a Texas smoked beef sandwich from his own ranch. Half work, half life, with the expectations of leaders behind him, carrying the dreams of a detective. The analysis room in the Image Investigation department was much smaller than themand center, but itspactness made navigating in and out morefortable. Wang Chuanxing stepped forward, gently pushing the back of Jiang Yuan¡¯s chair to adjust his line of sight just right, then nodded to the Image Investigation officers beside him. screens lit up simultaneously, synchronously disying the crowd on the Jinzhong Roadmercial street. Jiang Yuan rarely watched so many screens at once, but this time... the 12 screens actually disyed the footage from one surveince camera. One camera, spread across 12 screens, not merely erged, but focused on highlighting certain features of the crowd, with half of the screens showcasing the feet of those under surveince. The first set of surveince images released by Image Investigation captured between thirty to forty people each time. The feet of these people were magnified on 6 screens, with several feet allocated to each screen. Besides that, wrists, faces, and other features were moderately erged. The images on the screens yed at a steady pace. Jiang Yuan took a bite of his sandwich, a sip of coffee, leisurely watching. This work seemed to be a long affair, so there was no hurry. Liu Jinghui also sat beside him watching, and when it came to viewing the images without involving specifics like camera positions, he had some judgment ability as well. Wei Shikan also held a coffee, squatting behind Jiang Yuan, waiting until Jiang Yuan finished a cup before quickly refilling it and asking the question he¡¯d been holding onto for a long time: "Captain Jiang, I want to learn from you, how do you do it?" This question made the ears of the Image Investigation officers nearby perk up. Jiang Yuan¡¯s technical reputation was widespread, and getting to learn even a bit from him would be enough for most to build a career. Jiang Yuan never hesitated to teach others his techniques and even intentionally disseminated knowledge. Although currently in work mode, he was not too busy, so he said, "This is a long story, but first look at the clothes. Clothes make the man like the saddle makes the horse. Of course, some might have money but dress very casually, this we won¡¯t consider for now, but if someone is wearing expensive clothes, then it¡¯s within the scope of consideration." "LV, Herm¨¨s and such, a T-shirt costing thousands, an outerwear twenty to thirty thousand... However, nowadays many wealthy people prefer clothes without big logos, haute couture is hard to identify." Wei Shikan genuinely understood this topic a bit and immediately became more interested. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly and said, "Looking for expensive clothes is not a process of exclusion, but one of screening. If you find that someone is wearing clothes far beyond the normal consumption level, then first assume they are a drug dealer." "Understood." Wei Shikan said, a bit curious as he looked at Jiang Yuan¡¯s clothes, "However, I see many men don¡¯t really get fashion and essories, you seem quite familiar? Did you spend money to learn this?" Liu Jinghui beside him coughed loudly twice, giving Wei Shikan a helpless look, and said, "Jiang Yuan is a forensic doctor." "Forensic doctors understand clothes? Right, they need to describe the clothing of corpses." Wei Shikan felt a bit embarrassed but resisted it with Kshatriya¡¯s innate resistance. In a forensic doctor¡¯s report, there¡¯s an inclusion of clothing descriptions. For example, the deceased wears an "Old Dog" brand T-shirt, with a dog¡¯s head on the chest and the phrase "Old Dog,e at me" written on it... Additionally, during the investigation phase, forensic analysis of clothing can often y a role. For instance, the degree of wear canrgely exin the deceased¡¯s habits and economic status before death, whether the clothing is fashionable, or if there are essories from the opposite sex, such as a marriage ring on the finger, a couple pendant on the neck, or a girlfriend¡¯s hair tie on the wrist. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s expertise mainly came from Yize. He has Level 2 in trendy clothing appraisal, Level 2 in cosy, Level 2 in tailoring, Level 2 in Japanese Makeup Art, and Level 2 in worn-out clothing identification. Actually, the most useful part here is thest item. Used clothing appraisal does not discuss fashion, trends, or individuality and self-expression; it is simply a skill to judge the price of a piece of clothing, with a bit of ability to determine authenticity. With this skill set, Jiang Yuan catches a glimpse of the person in the video and assesses that if the outfit costs less than ten thousand bucks, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean the personcks money; however, if it exceeds ten thousand bucks, then it warrants more attention. Turning his head, Jiang Yuan added, "Additionally, if the clothing material on someone is too cheap or obviously ill-fitting, it can be judged that the person isn¡¯t the target subject." "I get that. Drug dealers, once they have money, might not necessarily buy overly expensive brand clothing but would at least seekfort," Wei Shikan hesitated for a moment before adding, "But if they are addicted to drugs, wouldn¡¯t they be less sensitive to clothing and such?" "If the drug addiction reaches that level, it should be apparent; this can be listed separately anyway," Jiang Yuan replied. Liu Jinghui interjected at this point, saying, "A Level 5 drug dealer handles at least a few kilograms, or up to dozens of kilograms of drugs every month, earning at least several millions to tens of millions. With so much money, if it¡¯s all cash, he¡¯d have a hard time moving it alone. Plus, he has to pay the suppliers or drug factories; living like small-time dealers in urban viges isn¡¯t practical. Even someone like Brother Li wouldn¡¯t live alone and certainly wouldn¡¯t go shopping every day and specifically buy inexpensive clothes." Liu Jinghui summarized by saying, "Either the person tries on clothes himself, has particr preferences, or there¡¯s someone catering to those preferences. Being wealthy yet enduring difort is rare." "Not necessarily worthless, but potentially harmful to health or clearly ufortable. More focus can be given to shoes. Even if they¡¯re wearing slippers, some rubber shoes are genuinely hard to wear, let alone ill-fitting ones," Jiang Yuan remarked, his expertise in shoes surpassing that in clothing, given the importance of shoe knowledge for footprint identification. In fact, a database concerning shoe prints or tread patterns is continually being constructed and supplemented domestically, considering the type of shoe impression different materials leave on various terrains and how different shoe soles might wear. These are aspects footprint experts need to consider. There are some ssic cases solved through footprint identification, utilizing the type and wear of shoe soles. Some proficient footprint identification experts deeply familiarize themselves with all shoes currently sold locally, so they can immediately identify the shoe brand when seeing footprints at a scene. Even in the age of the inte, some continue to uphold such habits, often yielding amazing results. Perhaps it¡¯s because those who enjoy touch-based crimes also prefer tactile shopping, while young people who favor online shopping gravitate towards cybercrime... "Besides clothing, skin, teeth, and hairstyle can also be considered," Jiang Yuan casually pointed at someone in the frame and said, "Everyone is familiar with the appearance features of drug users, like meth sores. But if they¡¯re not in the drug-using demographic, someone earning hundreds of thousands to millions monthly would not have poor skin, teeth, and hairstyle simply because they can spend money to improve them." Liu Jinghui added, "Especially if he wishes to enjoy extravagances, managing his appearance is necessary. Given the nearby film city, there are surely many corresponding amenities, and whether the drug dealer is male or female, there are institutions to assist them in spending money. "If one earns over ten million a month, surely someone would assist with such matters. They mightck a partner but will inevitably have several unable-to-shake-offpanions," Wei Shikan nodded understandingly. "Then there are elements like gaze and stride that can serve as references," Jiang Yuan continued, "This is the first-run consideration." Wei Shikan asked, "Are there second-run and third-run considerations?" Jiang Yuan nodded, "We hypothesize that this drug dealer appears frequently nearby, so if someone can¡¯t appear multiple times, then they aren¡¯t the target subject. Additionally, over multiple appearances, their clothing, shoes, even hairstyle and essories should differ..." Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes lit up as he listened, "With this judgment method, there are indeed very few individuals who fit." "However, remember to keep track of so many people in the video!" Yuan Bomian, a seasoned anti-narcotics officer, dared not im such observant skills and naturally wasn¡¯t as optimistic as younger Wei Shikan. Jiang Yuan smiled, "Some techniques are required." Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes brightened again, "What techniques?" "This is not easy for you to learn," Jiang Yuan mentioned during Wei Shikan¡¯s eager expectancy, shattering Wei Shikan¡¯s anticipation: "I record through forensic sketching skills. Some difficult-to-remember details, I simply sketch casually." Wei Shikan instinctively nced at Jiang Yuan¡¯s right hand, which previously held a meat bun but now had several bizarre symbols and letters drawn in a notebook. iming those weren¡¯t visuals, or even symbols, seemed agreeable, but Wei Shikan knew the odder the record, the more information it held. "What does 268 mean?" Wei Shikan asked, picking a number he recognized. "GB18267-2003 is the national standard for cashmere; this person wore a cashmere T-shirt, implying he¡¯s rtively wealthy." Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic sketching skill is Level 6, an advanced state of being able to sketch the appearance of a decayed corpse when it was 20 years old; along with clothing-rted skills, his memory points differ from ordinary people. Suddenly, Wei Shikanprehended a lot; for the first time in his life, he felt aplishing something was extremely challenging. Chapter 1232 - 1160: Over the Top

Chapter 1232: Chapter 1160: Over the Top

Jiang Yuan watched video footage all day, his notebook filled with odd marks. Liu Jinghui followed along, busy all day, and by evening, he sighed and slumped into his chair, tilting his head to look at the ceiling, saying, "I can¡¯t go on." "You actually didn¡¯t need to watch it with me." Jiang Yuan showed no sympathy. Liu Jinghui was in pure free mode, and when working on cases with Jiang Yuan, he often only focused on the parts he was interested in, having a st. So, watching surveince footage all day today was purely voluntary for Liu Jinghui. However, Liu Jinghui¡¯s thoughts were different, shaking his head, he said, "I need to help you steer the direction. ording to your n, it really will pass through the area multiple times where drug dealers are located, likely they won¡¯t escape. There aren¡¯t many high-end residential areas or industrial parks near Jinzhong Road, not many rich people. But if our initial judgment is wrong, and drug dealers don¡¯t pass through the Jinzhong Road area, what then?" "Then we¡¯ll regroup and reassess the situation." Jiang Yuan stood up, stretchedzily, everyone having been through many cases already, epting long ago that things don¡¯t always go smoothly. Liu Jinghui was a bit surprised, saying, "I thought you were absolutely certain?" "I¡¯m absolutely certain, but just in case, you know?" Jiang Yuan raised his coffee cup and smiled. Liu Jinghui snorted, his gaze locked onto Wei Shikan, thinking, even dragons hanging around unreliable lizards for long can easily pick up bad habits. "Has Shen Yaowei returned?" Liu Jinghui turned to Wang Chuanxing and asked. "Not yet, there¡¯s a massive workload over there, Shen Yaowei is crying for assistance." Wang Chuanxing, skilled inmunication,pleted two tasks with one sentence. Liu Jinghui nodded and said to Wei Shikan, "Xiao Wei, you know Shen Yaowei well, take a team to support." Wei Shikan was momentarily stunned, hesitantly looking at Jiang Yuan, saying, "I¡¯m not very skilled at on-site investigation." Liu Jinghui¡¯s decisions were usually not challenged by Jiang Yuan. At this moment, Liu Jinghui strongly felt the urge to dispatch Wei Shikan. He thought for a moment, and simply said, "Shi Kan, you¡¯re learning from Miao Ruixiang, right? Then go with Miao Ruixiang and bring a few technicians from Criminal Science to support Shen Yaowei. They¡¯re likely to work overnight there, otherwise, if interrupted in between, the scene might getpromised." Miao Ruixiang wasn¡¯t even in the room, just inexplicably caught up with a big task. Wei Shikan rarely went to scenes, not knowing what Shen Yaowei¡¯s situation was, without strong resistance, was thus sent off by Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui exhaled, loosened the tie around his neck, thinking, these guys are really hard to deal with, even assigning tasks needs discussion. "Let¡¯s go back to rest." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand why Liu Jinghui sent Wei Shikan out, but he didn¡¯t care, watching video all day made his brain mush, even toozy to think. This, many friends actually have experience with. "It¡¯s time to rest, you¡¯ve been working overtime recently!" Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang for Jiang Yuan. Ancient people raised horses, don¡¯t mention any kind of warrior horse, even ordinary nags weren¡¯t driven hard. Push a horse too hard, it will soon lose weight, even if fed well. Generally, after using a horse for a few days, it needs to rest for a few days, if working continuously for 8 hours a day, then the next three or four days should be rest, or it might copse. Cattle are about the same. Cattle could work more than horse, but cattle are slow, inefficient, eating more too. Liu Jinghui dragged Jiang Yuan, saying, "Tomorrow,e inter in the morning, you can sleep in, rejuvenate. The case has reached this point, even though we¡¯re catching big drug dealers, but they¡¯re just waiting there, whether we catch them a day earlier orter, they¡¯re surely not in a rush." "Tomorrow, we¡¯ll watch the second round, shouldn¡¯t take as long either." Watching the first round, Jiang Yuan actually eliminated most people. When watching the second round, unless there are special conditions or changes, those eliminated can be passed over without much effort. By the third and fourth round, focus can be ced on repeatedly appearing individuals. Despite many peopleing and going along Jinzhong Road, there aren¡¯t many who frequent this road. Jiang Yuan watched two more days of footage, identifying 4 suspects. Given the consumption level of Lanyue City¡¯s, this number isn¡¯t considered small. Yuan Bomian immediately dispatched personnel for further investigation, not daring to make even a phone call in the process, fearing to alert suspects. Jiang Yuan stayed back continuing on screening, apanied by Liu Jinghui, Wang Chuanxing, and others, their eyes were red from tiredness. Officers from Image Investigation worked alongside him, though their eyes suffered, their hearts did not tire. Image Investigation cases have just two modes, one is solving instantaneously, perhaps within ten minutes. The other is grinding out for 200 hours or more, with minor cases sometimes not assigned personnel, an officer might watch over thousands of hours alone. Working 10 hours a day, 1000 hours will span 100 days, during which various other matters and cases naturally ur, so such minor cases might take years to resolve. Some might find this timeframe unreasonable, feeling such extensive effort solving minor cases irrational, when viewed retrospectively. The reality is, when starting, one doesn¡¯t know it will consume one percent of your life, then one hour passes, ten hours pass, a hundred hours pass... Giving up? Giving up wastes a hundred hours, not giving up might shine light at the 101st hour or maybe at the 1001st. Inparison, Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of setting a boundary then screening, for Image Investigation¡¯s officers, felt rxed. Singing songs, eating American De Zhou Ningtai ranch smoked beef sandwiches, everyone was quite happy. Wei Shikan went to support Shen Yaowei, naturally couldn¡¯t enjoy Jade Manor sunbrew, but the rough men in the police force didn¡¯t mind. If possible, they¡¯d willingly continue working under Jiang Yuan¡¯s method. Used to finding needles in the ocean, seeing trawler operations makes them exim "Fantastic!" Inparison, Yuan Bomian felt slightly anxious, but anxiousness was futile, only burying himself in his sandwich. "Your freedom is bing too excessive..." Yuan Bomian¡¯s phone rang. Holding the sandwich with one hand, Yuan Bomian opened his phone, "Hello..." Bang bang bang bang... In the phone, gunfire like frying beans first came through. Next came the officer¡¯s frantic screams, "We¡¯ve found the drugb, seven or more members of the drug gang, all armed, multiple rifles, escaping on foot. Six of us, only handguns, can¡¯t keep up. Wang Liang has been shot in the thigh and needs urgent treatment!" Chapter 1233 - 1161 Wang Guanshui

Chapter 1233: Chapter 1161 Wang Guanshui

Wangquan River Town. Wang Guanshui squatted in the pigsty of the pig farm, using the cement wall of the pig house to shield himself from bullets, firing blindly while cursing incessantly. Da da da da... The crisp sound of the AK74 gave him courage, but Wang Guanshui was filled with despair. With the domestic situation being what it is, his factory was raided, and the script that followed, he had heard it countless times and could recite it with his eyes closed. "Boss, what do we do?" His subordinates were panicking too, one emptied a magazine, and his voice trembled as if he had taken too much. "Fight and retreat at the same time, I have a backup n prepared. As long as we escape into the mountains, there¡¯s a way out." Wang Guanshui indeed had a backup n, but it didn¡¯t involve taking everyone with him. In fact, even if he were alone, using this n wouldn¡¯t necessarily guarantee his escape. But encouraging his men was crucial; had it not been for their numbers, the police would have ambushed them just now. Bang bang... The police on the other side retaliated with gunfire, only to be forced back by another burst of bullets. Wang Guanshui¡¯s factory made so much money that naturally, he could afford arms, but Wang Guanshui himself was not skilled in marksmanship orbat. The purchased guns and bullets gave him immense courage, but in this environment, he solely relied on the strength of their firepower. "Boss, they only have pistols, there shouldn¡¯t be many of them." A slightly knowledgeable subordinate noticed something, saying, "Let¡¯s split into three groups and cover each other as we go. These cops probably just want to keep us here and wait for backup." "Alright, let¡¯s do as you say." Wang Guanshui¡¯s mind was somewhat chaotic too. He sighed, looking up at the shabby roof of the pig farm. When it was first rented, it waspletely rundown, and it was him who led a few people to personally set up the felt cover. Speaking of which, every piece of equipment and every screw in this factory was transported, installed, and debugged by Wang Guanshui alongside others. If one day he could send out a statement, Wang Guanshui wanted to say: The world says making drugs is profitable, yet who knows the hardship of it! Such a smelly andrge pig farm, impossible to clean thoroughly, scrubbing doesn¡¯t do much either. Any work couldn¡¯t be outsourced, no matter how much money he had, he had to honestly do thebor himself. The work was not easy; the bigger the building, the more maintenance it required, and drug manufacturing involves equipment and a series of requirements. Simr work in chemical nts follows strict regtions to ensure safety. Wang Guanshui and his teamcked such conditions; he even considered hiring people and killing them after using them once, but he did attempt such a thing once, and dealing with the bodies afterward was too troublesome. It was better to do the work himself. Moreover, ordinary workers and addicts are different; many have families and jobs, meaning if they disappear, someone will report it, and regardless of how he finds people, it would always leave traces. The core of a drug factory lies in its secrecy. Compared to maintaining factory equipment, Wang Guanshui cared more about secrecy; if pushes to shove, he could flee with equipment and people or even flee alone without equipment. As long as he was alive, there was always a chance. "Just take one box of money and one box of goods, and let¡¯s go." Wang Guanshui and his team left the factory area. There was only one road behind them, and the police had a bit of trouble catching up, the gunfire gradually subsided, and Wang Guanshui¡¯s judgment started to recover. Some subordinates were reluctant, whispered, "Boss, let¡¯s take them, we can carry them." "It¡¯s a long distance, no need to risk our lives for money. Once we¡¯re outside, we can start over." Wang Guanshui persuaded, "I had many ideas when this factory was built that haven¡¯t been realized. Building the next one will only be better." Listening to Wang Guanshui, several subordinates reluctantly put down four suitcases, took only two briefcases, and began climbing the mountain. Pig farms are generally built in remote areas because pigs are actually delicate animals, especially when raised on arge scale, they can easily fall ill and die. Therefore, pig farms are usually off-limits to outsiders, which suits the construction of drug factories well. Additionally, the stench and drainage mode of pig farms are suitable for masking the odors and wastewater produced by drug factories. When he began building this factory, Wang Guanshui originally intended to keep moving like before, shooting and changing locations, but the conditions were so fitting that he rooted down. Compared to foreign drug factories, domestic ones are generally smaller, primarily operating in a workshop mode. After all, domestically, both raw materials and sales are difficult, and the production phase is easily discovered. However, if rooted down, enabling continuous production and sales, the profits of domestic drug factories be exceedingly lucrative, many times more than foreign ones - the cost of smuggling drugs into the country is like this. Wang Guanshui¡¯s ambition rapidly expanded as a result. Even now, though he was afraid, he still held some hope. Wang Guanshui led his team to climb the mountain. Wang Guanshui was from Wangquan River Town but only lived there until junior high. After his parents divorced, he went with his mother to another ce. After his mother remarried, he couldn¡¯t stay at home anymore, so he ran away and went to the South to work. In a 20-person dormitory, Wang Guanshui heard many drug dealer stories from older workers around twenty-seven or twenty-eight, who told them to show off and appear worldly. He thought it was a good way to make money and began searching for opportunities. At that time, Wang Guanshui was young and handsome, dated many girlfriends, some worked in nightlife venues, some didn¡¯t butter did, until heaven finally favored the persistent, and through a former girlfriend, he was introduced to the mysterious world of drugs. Since then, Wang Guanshui became a regr at nightlife spots, living in indulgence and able to date multiple girlfriends at once. "After going up the mountain, we¡¯ll split into three groups. My cousin and I will be together, and you four bring money and goods, and we¡¯ll meet at the Wangquan River dock, 2 kilometers downstream. I¡¯ve hidden a speedboat there; along the river, we¡¯ll be out of the province in two hours, and by then we can buy a car or something, the police won¡¯t catch up." Wang Guanshui panted, gun in hand. Several subordinates were uneasy, saying, "Boss, let¡¯s go together." "With so many people, we¡¯re too big a target, forming a long line through the forest. We need to beware of their drones or whatever..." Half-truth, half-lie, Wang Guanshui did have a speedboat hidden downstream at the dock, but that was mainly to guard againstpetitors. Against the police, Wang Guanshui knew they had numerous methods; no matter how fast the speedboat, it wouldn¡¯t outrun a phone call, and two hours to cross provincial borders was usible, but crossing the province wasn¡¯t the same as crossing a country. At that point, if the police set up guns along the river, they¡¯d be shot to pieces if they didn¡¯t disembark. Wang Guanshui¡¯s backup n against the police was a cavern in the gorge. It was a cave he visited with friends during childhood, very hidden entrance, deep and spacious inside, where he¡¯d stored many supplies, capable of hiding for months. No matter how mobilized the police were, if they couldn¡¯t locate him, it would be futile. However, hiding six people in one cave was tough and unmanageable; Wang Guanshui could only painfully send away four subordinates. Chapter 1234 - 1162: Splitting Up

Chapter 1234: Chapter 1162: Splitting Up

The pain of parting is insignificant. Wang Guanshui waved goodbye to his four subordinates, instructing them to lead away the pursuing police, wiping away nonexistent tears, and then said to his cousin, "Let¡¯s go as well." The cousin carried a gun, silently following Wang Guanshui¡¯s lead. Wang Guanshui first led him along mountain paths, and after discerning the direction, they started taking the smaller trails. Lanyue City¡¯s surroundings are mountainous. The hills around the towns seem wild but have seen considerable development, and the paths are well-trodden and not difficult to navigate. For these two, ustomed to mountain trails since childhood, it wasn¡¯t exactly smooth sailing but rather akin to an effortless climb. "Aren¡¯t we going to the riverside?" The cousin was astute, although he had guessed earlier, he only voiced it now. Wang Guanshui replied with a "Hmm," saying, "Everyone has their fate. For those who reach the riverside, there¡¯s also a chance to escape. If you and I burrow into the caves, we might get caught too. Are you scared?" With this short sentence, Wang Guanshui had already shifted the concept. The cousin calmly epted Wang Guanshui¡¯s spin, saying, "I¡¯m not afraid. I just feel it¡¯s a shame to abandon them after they¡¯ve done quite well." "There¡¯s no choice. If I could take them, I would. But the supplies in the cave are limited, and for just the two of us, we could hide out for months without issues. For six people, they¡¯d probably go mad after a month, especially Old Qiu, snoring when he sleeps. Even if he doesn¡¯t defecate, his smell is unbearable. I don¡¯t want to live with him," Wang Guanshui exined the reason for sending his subordinates to certain death, beginning to feign a mask of pain. "Old Qiu¡¯s odor is indeed strong," the cousin concurred, but what else could he say? Call the others back? Impossible. If it were his decision, he would have made the same choice. However, this did not prevent the cousin from finding Wang Guanshui cruel. Working for a big drug dealer is dangerous, easier to meet one¡¯s end. The cousin instinctively touched his gun. Unfortunately, Wang Guanshui hadn¡¯t kept any money on him, or else he¡¯d have a reason to kill him. As for now... It¡¯s unreasonable to kill Wang Guanshui just to reduce the number of defecators. "From here, we start burrowing inward," Wang Guanshui guided his cousin along a small path to arge stone, stopping to sigh, and said, "Back when we were young, with nothing better to do, we¡¯d roam aimlessly in the forest. In this ce, the caves are definitely impossible for ordinary people to find." "So how did you get the supplies inside?" The cousin watched as Wang Guanshui lifted a cluster of vines beside the stone, revealing a crack beneath it. The crack looked quite smooth, where it extended was unknown, but the tunnel, only big enough for one person to crawl through, made him apprehensive about being trapped inside. Wang Guanshui seemed quite upright in demeanor, smiling, "There are concealed wonders inside. From my observations, in the middle of these trees is an exceptionallyrge rock, grass or small trees grow on it but norge trees, so I can fly a drone over and drop the supplies from above. Thepressed biscuits, canned goods, purified water I bought earlier were all thrown down from there, umting quite a bit, I can send more into the cave." The cousinprehended, "No wonder you often y with modified drones alone. I thought you were just bored." "Actually, it was pure boredom, never imagining I¡¯d rely on this trick to survive in the end. Yet, such idle tactics prove useful," Wang Guanshui felt somewhat proud. He began to recover from failure now. As for a drug manufacturing nt, though it took him over half a year to build, he had made all the intended profits, and even if nothing happened here, within another half year, he¡¯d relocate. Of course, if relocation went smoothly, his earnings could multiply several times over. Most importantly, by then he¡¯d be able to take his subordinates along, the existing factory here wouldn¡¯t be abandoned, it could be entrusted to a subordinate for operation, who would still need to remit significant profits. "Follow me, deal with the outside traces, so the police don¡¯t find them," Wang Guanshui believed the pursuers had been led away by his other four subordinates, and wasn¡¯t too concerned about subsequent police search efforts. Searching within mountains isn¡¯t easy, regardless of using police dogs, locating someone in terrain like this isn¡¯t assured. The public may often see news about sessful police mountain searches, while individuals like Wang Guanshui tend to view stories of industry insiders who sessfully elude capture, learning from one another, each honing superior skills. Wang Guanshui tightened his gun strap, once again lifted the vine covering the entrance, crouched down, and started crawling. The cousin nced at the dirt path behind him, though erasing all traces was impossible, the signs weren¡¯t heavy. He simply continued along the path a while longer, then reversed, shouting once, and began burrowing. The stone cave could be over a dozen meters long, crawling inward was easy, outward challenging, until reaching the back where the cousin had to undo the gun, dragging it behind him. Such caves, even in childhood, he wouldn¡¯t have ventured into, who knows if the inside would be obstructed, or if a centipede might appear. Thinking this, the cousin thought, once inside, find arge stone to block the other end, wouldn¡¯t it be a safe secret haven? Then, not only could they hide in the cave, after the heat dissipates, they cane out, move a bit, take a breather or defecate, making a month or two bearable. There¡¯s absolutely no way police can search for such an extended time. If traces of them were found it would be different, unless undeniable evidence connected him and his cousin, long-term searches wouldn¡¯t happen, realizing this, no need to wait two months, once the heat is off, go out and easily take some money, buy some equipment, setting up another factory poses no difficulty. No matter what endeavor, starting is the hardest, once in the game, improving might be tough, but isn¡¯t repeating oneself straightforward? This could be said to be the advantage of setting up a drug processing nt. While other industries strive tirelessly, struggling with baldness researching new categories, they survive by reducing costs, drug manufacturing requires merely repeating oneself, aspetitors die off, profits steadily rise. One could say, except for the challenging business environment in this field, everything else is quite advantageous. But in these times, which industry enjoys a favorable business climate? "Grab my hand, I¡¯ll pull you out," Wang Guanshui¡¯s voice came from ahead, extending his hand to pull the cousin out of the cave. Crawling out from the pitch-ck tunnel, the dim light outside seemed ring enough. The cousin squinted, looked up at the sky, and eximed, "It really is a hidden world." "When you deal with a lot of college students, you¡¯ll gain culture," Wang Guanshui chuckled and pointed behind him, "The cave is over there. It¡¯s a bit bigger, but it¡¯s deep inside, like a doubleyer of protection." "Let¡¯s block the cave we came through," the cousin said, following the idea he had inside, with a smile, "Once it¡¯s blocked, no one else can get in." "You thought the same as me," Wang Guanshui burst intoughter, looking up, "With this level of secrecy, we can stay here for months without any problem!" The cousin nodded in agreement, "If it weren¡¯t for the tense situation, we could even set up a factory here." "It¡¯s not convenient foring and going," Wang Guanshui shook his head regretfully, "What is honey to thepelled bes arsenic when licked. It¡¯s well hidden here, but we can¡¯t get the equipment in. Not many people can stay, food and drink are a hassle, anding into the mountains too often will make us easier to find." "You¡¯ve thought this through?" "Of course," Wang Guanshui replied with a smile, "With the current speed of technological development, in another seven or eight years when drones can carry hundreds of kilograms of stuff, we cane back and do something big then!" "Good idea." Wang Guanshuiughed heartily, pointing to the sky, "Like flying in like this... What¡¯s flying over? A drone! Quick, hide." As soon as he finished speaking, a drone was already hovering overhead. Wang Guanshui and his cousin hurried into the cave, sweat on their brows. "It¡¯s not certain they¡¯ve found us," the cousin reassured himself, then looked at the pile of supplies in the cave, frowning. "There are still a lot of supplies outside the cave that I didn¡¯t have time to bring in," Wang Guanshuimented. "How did they find us?" the cousin found it unbelievable. "It¡¯s fate!" Wang Guanshui suddenly sighed, "The police around here, probably just a few drones, came by at the right time..." As he spoke, the buzzing outside the cave grew louder, and a drone flew low to the entrance, trying to observe inside. The cousin instinctively grabbed his rifle, flicking off the safety. The drone seemed to notice and immediately flew up. The cousin breathed a sigh of relief, "We¡¯ve got guns, they can¡¯te in, and the local police don¡¯t have helicopters..." Before he finished speaking, the loud sound of a rotor came from afar. A manned helicopter swiftly flew over and finally hovered right above the cave. Wang Guanshui and his cousin looked at each other, bewildered. "Listen up inside, you¡¯re surrounded..." The loudspeaker on the helicopter repeatedly announced. Wang Guanshui clenched the grip of his gun, encouraging himself, "It¡¯s fine, they can¡¯te in, we still have a chance." The cousin nodded, "They know we¡¯ve got rifles, anyonees in, they¡¯re dead!" Several kilometers away, themand vehicle, which was already packed to be shipped out of town, was put back into use. Dai Mingsheng, Huang Qiangmin, Yuan Bomian, and others began an intense pre-battle discussion: "We have Old Meng from our brigade, you¡¯ve met him, he¡¯s worked hard all his life, if he gets a second-ss merit, he¡¯ll have all the benefits..." "Young people need this more, you¡¯ve solved so many cases, it won¡¯t hurt to miss this one..." "We¡¯ve spent so much, and the opportunity to capture a big boss is given away, that¡¯s not right, is it?" "I have a suggestion, throw tear gas on one side, use the sniper rifle on the other, wait for a surrender, and see what the criminals choose in the end..." "Nonsense!" ... Chapter 1235 - 1163 Handover

Chapter 1235: Chapter 1163 Handover

Wang Guanshui and his cousin ultimately chose to surrender. In terms of safety, the helicopter nevernded, with snipers aboard ready to earn second-ss merit for their actions. What appeared to Wang Guanshui as an insurmountable rock face was easily scaled by a soldier who enjoyed climbing after winning a game of rock-paper-scissors. Equipped with rock spikes, hammers, nuts, and ropes, he climbed with the full camera crew filming, surrounded by admiration from all, before throwing down a rope to pull up a whole team of criminal policemen for the final arrest maneuver. This maneuver was formally discussed by the temporary on-sitemand center, and designated personnelpleted it ording to the specified procedures. Wang Guanshui and his cousin were ced separately, strippedpletely of their clothes, with firearms confiscated by assigned personnel. Jiang Yuan drank tea the whole time, assigning only the task of conducting a body search of the prisoners to his junior disciple, Miao Ruixiang. In Ningtai, forensic doctor work was mostly done by Miao Ruixiang, while Jiang Yuan asionally assessed him and incidentally taught him some techniques. Otherwise, if Wu Jun really took Miao Ruixiang all the way out, Jiang Yuan would inevitably have to go back and clean up the mess for him. Miao Ruixiang was as happy as a young graduate who had found a great master, thus bing a disciple of a top national forensic doctor. He carefully examined Wang Guanshui and his cousin, finally having them spread their buttocks and open their mouths to ensure there was nothing hidden in their rectum or under their tongue, then cheerfully reported: "Report, the examination isplete, no issues." Jiang Yuan nodded, having watched Miao Ruixiang operate, though there was room for discussion in the sequence, the conclusion was appropriate. Liu Jinghui also observed the two naked men seriously, then whispered, "I want to conduct an on-site interrogation of these two people." "At this level of drug kingpins, they might not speak," Huang Qiangmin said, but turned to Yuan Bomian, adding, "Liu has no other intentions; he¡¯s a famous deduction master in our provincial office, mainly interested in the case itself." "No problem, Captain Jiang¡¯s men, take whatever you want," Yuan Bomian turned to Dai Mingsheng, openly stating: "Criminal Police Brigade won¡¯t do." The case at the investigation stage was basically over. Dai Mingsheng¡¯s use of drug squad funds and Jiang Yuan¡¯s clock¡¯s malicious intent were well-known. Yuan Bomian had no good feelings for Dai Mingsheng, nor did he need them anymore; he¡¯s now acquainted with Jiang Yuan, deciding he could add to the clock himself, without needing to go through Dai Mingsheng or coordinate with the Criminal Police Brigade with such hassle. Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t concerned with the opinions of others; he was now focused on the case¡¯s review. This case,pared to Jiang Yuan¡¯s usual cases, had more emphasis on reasoning, and the investigation process was full of twists and turns, piquing Liu Jinghui¡¯s interest. Of course, having been in the provincial office for so long, Liu Jinghui still paid attention to the leaders¡¯ perspectives, specifically exining: "I think the younger one, Wang Guanshui¡¯s cousin, might be a breakthrough. He should have been recruited by Wang Guanshui, so his psychological defenses haven¡¯t formed as strongly." The growth of a drug lord is full of selection. In most cases, it¡¯s not because someone did something right to be a drug lord; they survived the polishing by police, society, and the underworld, bing drug lords. Of course, drug manufacturing factories have some thresholds: those involved have some knowledge reserves, someone to lead them into the business, and have gone through rounds of selection while being careful not to kill themselves. Many addicts who transition to manufacturing drugs easily encounter problems like overdosing. Especially lower-level addicts, they¡¯ve never encountered such pure goods even in dreams; testing them a little here and there, one wrong step, and they¡¯re done. Even if they survive, absorbing drugs while making them daily, they may be muddled and even if not caught by police, still meet their end. Using connections makes it less difficult; like Wang Guanshui¡¯s cousin, he was involved fairly early on, yet that was after Wang Guanshui¡¯s initial stages were over and his drug lord career was on track. This period was indeed tough and dangerous, but the initial selection process was the hardest part. Without experiencing storms, how can one realize the value of a rainbow? Liu Jinghui casually walked to Wang Guanshui¡¯s cousin, first gazing at him with highly aggressive eyes. The cousin immediately came down with allergies, shifting uneasily. "Stop shaking, it¡¯s not big, easy to chafe the skin," Liu Jinghui alerted him, breaking the ice for this conversation. The cousin tightened his arms, his wrists bleeding, then defiantly dered: "You are coercing a confession, insulting a suspect." "You¡¯re fully armed, carrying rifles, pistols, and grenades; if we don¡¯t strip you naked, who knows if there¡¯s a grenade hidden in your crotch." Liu Jinghui reasoned, adding: "Besides, you undressed yourselves. It wasn¡¯t the police doing it." "You told us to undress, if not, you¡¯d shoot," the cousin sharply argued. "I¡¯ll admit that, and stated the reasons," Liu Jinghui looked down at the cousin, then smiled, saying: "Want pants?" The cousin was prepared for resistance, but Liu Jinghui¡¯s question took him aback. For other things, the cousin, with a life of no regrets, didn¡¯t care, but having a pair of pants might make death more dignified? "Yes," the cousin replied. "Give him a pair of underpants," Liu Jinghui ordered. "I want a policewoman to dress me," the cousin specified. Liu Jinghuiughed, turning to say: "Old Wu, get two strong people to help." Wu Junhao, longing for an opportunity to show off, responded loudly with "Okay," personally bringing over two burly men with elbows bigger than their heads and shinier skulls than their faces. Wu Junhao asked for a pair of disposable diapers, then gently smiled at the cousin,manding: "Come, hold your legs." The two sturdy men smiled wickedly; regardless of the cousin¡¯s protests, each reached a hand to hold his back and another to grasp his calves, pulling them just enough to split into an almost shoulder-width position. They trained at the gym every day; their distance judgment was impable. Unfortunately, no one appreciated it. The cousin was terrified, trembling with his calves stretched straight. Wu Junhao gently slipped the diaper over his ankles, then said: "Close a bit." The two men adjusted the cousin¡¯s thighs until they were about a quarter of shoulder-width apart and assured by visual measurement. Wu Junhao pulled the diaper up along his legs to the roots, then said: "Close." The legs closed together. Wu Junhao fastened the diaper¡¯s ties carefully, then conscientiously said: "Move around a bit." "One, two, three, four," the two men naturally counted, opening and closing the cousin¡¯s hairy legs four times. Wu Junhao nodded, looking at Liu Jinghui, saying: "Done." "Thank you," Liu Jinghui smiled at the cousin, stating: "Mr. Tang, your underpants are on; I¡¯ll ask you a few questions, just answer them truthfully. What¡¯s the route for your drug deliveries?" The cousin¡¯s eyes were filled with hatred, gritting his teeth and staying silent. "People should have some contract spirit," Liu Jinghui said: "You asked for pants, I gave you pants; now when I ask questions, you refuse to answer. If you behave like this, you can return the pants to me, Old Wu..." "Here!" Wu Junhao knew what was needed and his response was exceedingly authoritative. "Wait!" The cousin, hearing the powerful voice, quickly said: "You can¡¯t do this..." "Drug route!" Liu Jinghui continued, pointing forward: "Wang Guanshui has already been taken away; if you don¡¯t speak now, once he¡¯s in the interrogation room, he¡¯ll definitely talk. This is his only possible way to survive, and the same applies to you." The cousin retorted, knowing he was being deceived: "We¡¯ve sold so much dope, there¡¯s no way we¡¯ll live." "How do you know without trying?" Liu Jinghui smiled. diators would fight each other fiercely for a non-existent slim chance; human survival instincts are endless. The cousin tightened his diaper for a while, then said: "Whenever we shipped drugs, we hired mules. When the mule delivered it to the designated location, we gave them a lump sum." "How was the designated location determined," Liu Jinghui asked. The cousin: "Two people specifically checked locations; once decided, they reported to Wang Guanshui. If he approved, then no one else knew the location." Liu Jinghui shot Jiang Yuan a nce; two people responsible for choosing a location was something they hadn¡¯t anticipated previously. Generally, drug factories simplify personnel as much as possible, since more members sharing knowledge means less profit. However, the basic principle remained unchanged. Liu Jinghui breathed a silent sigh of relief, thinking: From now on, I still need more involvement, otherwise if more mistakes happen, the case will be harder to solve. Chapter 1236 - 1164 Murder

Chapter 1236: Chapter 1164 Murder

The moon is dark. The wind is high. A lonemp casts a nted shadow. A pot of hotpot. Wei Shikan busily greeted Jiang Yuan and others to take their seats, smiling broadly: "Dai Zhi said Captain Jiang likes hotpot, so I arranged for the best hotpot restaurant in Lanyue City. I said, how good can the best hotpot restaurant in our city be? Dai Zhi said the chef came from Sichuan and has many years of experience. I said, that¡¯s still not good enough. A chef who leaves the strongest frontline will lose his touch; we need the top chef who is actively working on the frontline!" Everyone at the table was a member of the Cold Case Squad. Wu Junhao couldn¡¯t help but look up at Wei Shikan: "Xiao Wei is impressive, fast-forwarding to ttery in just a few sentences." "I learned it from hearing people speak from a young age." Wei Shikan showed a modest expression. Wu Junhao could only give a thumbs-up. Wei Shikan was a very low-key second-generation. He never bragged about his family background. Besides not liking work, refusing to ept unspoken rules, and being immune to bullying, his attitude was generally casual, leaving a good impression. However, through his words, people who knew his "secret" could easily discover it. He never really tried hard to hide this secret. If Wei Shikan were an undercover agent, he would be out dining at the pit on the second day after entering. But in reality, Shen Yaowei was still digging for evidence while Wei Shikan had already flown out of town. Jiang Yuan smiled widely as he looked at the hotpot. At home, he ate meat stewed by his father; when out and about, he didn¡¯t have such conditions, so hotpot with Jiang Fuzhen-selected beef was best. Wang Chuanxing helped Jiang Yuan prepare the dipping sauce and continued, "Xiao Wei hasn¡¯t finished ttering yet, proceed. Did you go to Sichuan to find the chef?" "He¡¯s the chef from my favorite hotpot restaurant in Chengdu, Chef Ma. I was supposed to bring him for you to meet, but I let it go. Chef Ma isn¡¯t fit for a restaurant meet since he doesn¡¯t look appealing." Wei Shikan added a little story to every sentence, making everyone feel amused. Mu Zhiyang curiously asked, "How unappealing?" "He¡¯s from a poor family, grew up amidst grease fumes, and is small and skinny, with pocked skin, but his hotpot ingredients are really delicious. You¡¯ll taste it shortly and know it¡¯s incredibly tasty, perfectly showcasing the hotpot¡¯s vors." Wei Shikan exined earnestly. Wu Junhao chuckled, "When people talk hotpot, they all mention Chongqing¡¯s; yours is from Chengdu." "What do Chongqing people know about hotpot!" Wei Shikan mocked disdainfully. ... Changyang City. Lixin Industrial Park. It is more than 50 kilometers from the city center; from afar, it seems deste, close looking still shows destion; it¡¯s truly a deste ce. But, construction vehiclesing and going are not few. Industrial park construction differs greatly from city construction; it¡¯s spread wide, though vehicles frequently pass by, one rarely sees people gathered in groups, making the park¡¯s industrial nature even more industrial. Outside the east gate of the park, a dirt truck is parked far away, with flickering light inside, like a driver taking a leisure break. The security guard at the park entrance could see the dirt truck but paid no attention at all. It¡¯s alreadyte, everyone was working overtime, no one wanted to take on extra work. One in the morning. A car rushed over from afar, with bright headlights illuminating the spirits of the guards at the park entrance. Meanwhile, the phone of Ren Kuangshan, sitting in the dirt truck afar, rang. "That¡¯s the car." A dull voice said only one sentence before hanging up. Ren Kuangshan flicked away the cigarette butt silently, closed the window, pulled down the ck ski mask, wore sunsses, and started the engine. After keeping watch for several hours, he was getting tired; even though it was a deadly job, Ren Kuangshan had an impulse to finish quickly. Of course, the task this time required just a moment of resolve. Ren Kuangshan lightly pressed the elerator, preventing the dirt truck from making peculiar roars. The speed gradually increased, his hands tightly gripped the steering wheel, starting to sweat slowly. This wasn¡¯t his first time driving into someone, but in the previous two urrences, it was genuinely idental. At least, when he drove freight trucks, hauling steel coils to save his own life, he decisively crashed into them. But this time... purely for money! No, partly for social revenge! Why must I get cancer! Ren Kuangshan¡¯s eyes fixed firmly on the Audi ahead, his foot pressing the elerator harder. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer for nearly a year, the doctor said early stage, family said the same, cut it out and it¡¯d be fine. But, Ren Kuangshan consulted another doctor, at least it was mid-stage. Mid-stage stomach cancer, some survive longer but not much longer. Many truck drivers get stomach cancer; Ren Kuangshan had seen patients living seven or eight years, five or six years, some might only live two to three years. Ren Kuangshan felt so scared, so resentful, so angry... While lying on the hospital bed after surgery, regret filled him. He had too many things he wanted to do but didn¡¯t do, mostly due tock of money, somecked opportunities, and some were undoable, morally unjustifiable. But, when I¡¯m about to die, what morals bind me? Crashed another person and take the money to leave, there¡¯s still time to indulge, to do things he couldn¡¯t do when poor, things morally restrained him before, all his hard-earned money could be left for family. He consulted awyer online, even if he broke thew, his earnedbor ie remained his; he even wrote a divorce agreement for his wife to be prepared. As for the future, as long as living well for more years by any means possible. When Ren Kuangshan heavily stepped on the elerator, the well-maintained dirt truck roared loudly, speeding fast towards the industrial park gate. His hand steadily controlled the car¡¯s direction. Driving arge truck needs strength; in a few years, he might lose control of the steering, can¡¯t maintain this stability. That¡¯s why now is the perfect time to crash into someone. Until the dirt truck headlights swept over, the guards became surprised. They watched dirt truckse and go daily, never feeling anything wrong, but now the truck¡¯s speed was incredible, even showing no intention of braking. The Audi that just arrived in front of the industrial park had slowed and braked, waiting for the guard to lift the gate barrier, unaware of the impending danger hastening towards it, even with the dirt truck¡¯s lights approaching, merely feeling puzzled and annoyed. The driver and passenger of the Audi never expected to be victims of a premeditated murder. Bang! The dirt truck mmed into the Audi¡¯s side front, flipping the top; while the small car tumbled, before hitting the ground, parts had scattered everywhere. At that moment, experienced Ren Kuangshan didn¡¯t hit the brakes at all; he even stepped on the elerator a bit more. After two times driving giant trucks into small cars, Ren Kuangshan understood well, as long as the truck body was tough enough, those weighing about 2 tons wouldn¡¯t pose any threat to trucks weighing 20 or even 40 tons; flipping a truck mainly happens from trucks itself. Thus, holding the steering wheel steady without touching and hitting the emergency brake, trucks crashing smaller cars would be just like cars colliding with motorcycles, sending them flying away, the truck wouldn¡¯t be affected. Pressing the gas helped bnce the resistance from the small car. Once the resistance was gone, the truck could drive normally, just like Ren Kuangshan was doing. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s dirt truck stunned the guards as it drove another kilometer, took a swift turn, then abruptly halted. Ren Kuangshan opened the door and jumped off, crossing through the greenery, found his mountain bike left here and hopped on. Riding mountain bikes had be his hobby in recent years, the most costly hobby in his life; initially for fishing and saving money on paid fishing ponds. Who¡¯d have thought he¡¯d use it in a murder plot eventually? Ren Kuangshan pushed his mountain bike upright, recognized the road slightly before driving down the dirt track. It was over ten minutester when police cars arrived and discovered the dirt truck, very surprised at first, then cordoning the area and making a phone call. By the time the police figured out the driver¡¯s escape route, it had been nearly half an hour since Ren Kuangshan picked up his motorbike. A considerable number of police cars, sirens ring, began gathering at the dirt truck and Lixin Industrial Park entrance. ... Morning. Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t woken up yet when the phone rang. "Jiang Yuan. Awake?" Yu Wenshu¡¯s voice came through. "Awake." Jiang Yuan could only say, hurriedly getting up. "Can you return to Changyang?" Yu Wenshu said, "Academician Lou from Changyang University has been murdered; the case is significant." ... Chapter 1237 - 1165 Angle

Chapter 1237: Chapter 1165 Angle

Jiang Yuan hurried back to Changyang City, and many units had already gathered at the city bureau, engaging in discussions. Thergest conference room of Changyang City Bureau was equipped with seven or eight whiteboards all at once, each written with different directions by different people. Before each disy board, there was generally a person in a white shirt holding the fort, apanied by police officers who appeared sharp and capable, mostly middle-aged criminal investigators in their thirties and forties. It was clear that this case was given utmost importance. The most significant show of importance was the director¡¯s personal presence, sitting in the conference room. Changyang City is the provincial capital, and the director has a high profile, not suitable to be featured in texts and usually doesn¡¯t appear in ces like a crime scene meeting. Even the deputy director, who is two levels lower, usually wouldn¡¯t appear. Furthermore, for a standard major case, even someone like Yu Wenshu, the criminal police brigade leader, wouldn¡¯t show up. Today, however, everyone was present, and several brigade leaders at Yu Wenshu¡¯s level were also there, along with leaders from ministries encircled in the middle. In this environment, each unit sought a corner to understand the situation and analyze the case. Huang Qiangmin quickly exchanged a few words with Yu Wenshu and returned softly saying, "We can discuss the case first, as the leaders need to understand the situation. Subsequently, they¡¯re likely to form a task force." "Aren¡¯t we investigating it separately?" Wang Chuanxing spoke on behalf of Jiang Yuan. Huang Qiangmin made a sound of agreement and said, "Looking at this, it seems they want to gather forces and form arge task force." Solving the case is one thing, preparing for solving the case is another. For the Changyang City Bureau, immediately solving the case isn¡¯t feasible; assembling the forces is the first step, somewhat resembling Xu Taining¡¯s model, though very different in practice. Xu Taining often mobilizes grassroots forces, specific personnel, funds, and equipment, whereas the Changyang City Bureau this time is mobilizing all top-tier forces, like people such as Jiang Yuan or Yu Wenshu, and if arge group photo were taken at this moment, it would basically cover the first-rate criminal investigation forces of Shannan Province. It¡¯s like the difference between deploying troops; Xu Taining needs soldiers and provisions, belonging to the troop deployment domain. Changyang City Bureau gathers generals, assigning them tasks, while corresponding soldiers and provisions are merely a concern in principle, primarily relying on self-sufficiency from all sides. For this case, it¡¯s highly likely that different investigation units will be assigned ording to various clues, investigating in different directions. Huang Qiangmin was afraid Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand, so he first shared his thoughts, then quietly said, "Look at all these boards and discussions; don¡¯t underestimate them. Later, when leaders ask, these will be the critical information. When the tasks are officially assigned, your direction might be decided now." Having been away for half... a year or so, Jiang Yuan still seemed youthful upon return, but he was seasoned in experiences and immediately understood Huang Qiangmin¡¯s concerns. Solving a case is like trading stocks; if you pursue the wrong direction, all efforts are futile. With so many people now, if tasks are divided thinly, one team investigating family rtions, another team probing school matters, if the perpetrator isn¡¯t a rtive or school insider, these two teams¡¯ investigations would be futile. Of course, from an overall strategic perspective, the work of these two teams is still meaningful; how can one eliminate possibilities without investigation? Yet, for teams themselves, they naturally hope to choose paths yielding results. Teams and individuals are vastly different; leading a team means more people and thus, greater responsibility. In the end, others collectively achieve second-ss merit and receive multiple personal honors, happily returning home, whereas the team equally exerts efforts, ending up with nothing... If there¡¯s no choice, one can onlyment "the police routine," but if there is a choice, naturally, one would choose the better option. Jiang Yuan immediately grabbed Liu Jinghui and started reviewing the materials. As detectives, they mostly dealt with multiple-choice questions, and this time, the options were merely more detailed. Liu Jinghui now also understood the situation, showing a more serious expression than Jiang Yuan. Choosing directions is precisely where Dragon Knight excels! "Being an academician, his social rtions are certainlyplex; investigating this, even in detail, won¡¯t easily produce results." Liu Jinghui quickly filtered, pondering while he spoke, "Using a dump truck to hit someone, intending to take a life and indeed taking his life, such brutal action surely involves strong interests or emotional motives." "Yes." Jiang Yuan nodded, simrly lost in thought. Liu Jinghui ignored him, continued saying, "For academicians, interest rtionships are also quiteplex; academically, some academicpetition rivals parental feud in intensity; financially, some businesses and academicians frequently collude, with schools and government needing academicians¡¯ endorsements and help. Moreover, for someone like Academician Lou, whose industrial contacts are quite tight, he might impact an entire industry negatively or make it disappear." Jiang Yuan: "Yes." Liu Jinghui: "Even investigating merely this aspect is beyond a single team¡¯s capability; not to mention leaders gathered so many people at once, investigating academic rtionships isn¡¯t doable with just one brigade; it would take flying across the country for a month. Investigatingpanies is even moreplicated; Academician Lou deals in materials, engaging numerous industries, requiring thorough investigation, with two brigades being inadequate." "Investigating like this won¡¯t achieve rity." Jiang Yuan also understood. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "If not considering the overall situation, merely our own, this interest rtionship line might be unsuitable for us to investigate. Emotional aspects... 50-year-old academicians, any issues there?" "Uh..." Jiang Yuan spread his hands. Having witnessed simr things, guessing this possibility is no longer entertaining. Liu Jinghui scratched his head, "You say 50-something men¡¯s emotional life might be simple, mainly consisting of few ex-wives and children, wealthy ones tagging along with gold diggers, others with senior dancing partners. Yet, even if academicians y around, it shouldn¡¯t involve such a fatal collision." "Hm?" Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui, sensing he hadn¡¯t said everything. Liu Jinghui made a sound of agreement, "However, frankly, if he¡¯s done something excessive, a dump truck encountering him bes possible. Should we investigate this line?" Without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer, Liu Jinghui shook his head, "If nothing excessive happens, investigating this line is tedious and unappealing." "Yes." Jiang Yuan agreed. Everyone has emotional issues; but fatal emotional problems aren¡¯t certain. "Which route do you prefer to investigate?" Liu Jinghui turned, asking the dragon¡¯s opinions. Dragon Knight has demonstrated foresight, so respecting the dragon¡¯s instincts is appropriate. Jiang Yuan, without much thought, said, "If deciding personally, I¡¯d certainly focus on tracing the driver." Liu Jinghui chuckled, "Pursuing fugitives doesn¡¯t seem like our forte. Besides, many might vie for the driver¡¯s line; I see Ge Zhibing here, and he¡¯s an expert in pursuing fugitives; he and a partner once caught over fifty fugitives in two months, climbing from a foot soldier to a brigade leader. Tracing the driver is likely his task." Achieving brigade leadership purely through expertise denotes a formidable individual. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, "Considering personal abilities, the driver¡¯s line left numerous clues, tracking is challenging yet manageable. Other directions aren¡¯t my strong suit." Liu Jinghui was taken aback, but upon reflection, it¡¯s true. Dragons excel at charging through, deploying major assaults; amodating them in caves mining isn¡¯t impossible, but unnecessary. Having a dragon guard a washing nt would be onerous. "The driver¡¯s line will definitely be the most prioritized; hence,petition with Ge Zhibing and others is inevitable." Liu Jinghui said. "Yes." Jiang Yuan nodded again, continuing flipping through the materials unperturbed. Liu Jinghui raised his eyebrows, "Ge Zhibing is very strong, and the leadership holds him in high regard. He¡¯s a well-known criminal investigation expert, so we might not secure this direction." Jiang Yuan smiled indifferently, "We¡¯re not from Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment; if suitable cases arise for cooperative action, we do so. If cases truly don¡¯t align with our strengths, there¡¯s no need to insist." Liu Jinghui consumed by surprise, realized the logic though typically not considering such matters due to his role, wherein assigned cases dictate his work, unlike Jiang Yuan, who holds more autonomous choice. "No need to ponder far; let¡¯s examine the clues first." Unlike Liu Jinghui, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t overthink; he simply followed the clues¡¯ lead. Currently unable to visit the scene is trivial; Jiang Yuan solved many cases relying on photos, so feigning otherwise is unnecessary;b through photos first. Indeed, due to the case¡¯s significance, there¡¯s a staggering number of scene photos. Every piece of evidence has been photographed from all angles; the dump truck used for the collision alone has over a thousand pictures taken. Even at Jiang Yuan¡¯s speed, reviewing these photos consumes significant time. Moreover, new photos and data continuously get added to the image and data library, sourced from early investigations conducted by external detectives. After a while, Jiang Yuan¡¯s board remained empty. Only Wang Chuanxing, through sheer skill, produced a presentation. The director, apanied by others, began reviewing each board one by one, while each team became active, showcasing their abilities and expressing their opinions. Chapter 1238 - 1166: Is There Evidence?

Chapter 1238: Chapter 1166: Is There Evidence?

Jiang Yuan and his team arrivedte, belonging to the seventh teaming to aid, with three more still queuing behind. Among them, at the forefront was Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, Shuidong District Bureau, and other major criminal investigation units from Changyang itself, followed by the provincial criminal investigation team, as well as renowned experts like Ge Zhibing and Jiang Yuan leading their detective teams. In a normal major case, these heavy units might not necessarily take charge directly, often opting for guidance or providing support. But in this particr case, facing a murder directly targeting an academician, even units like the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment could only participate as one among many. The direct leader of the task force was already themission¡¯s criminal investigation bureau. At this moment, several principals from the criminal investigation bureau were following closely behind the director of the Changyang City Bureau, pondering while listening to the reports from everyone. Walking rtively quickly in front of several exhibition boards, the director gradually slowed down, evidently, more time brought more contemtion, which is true for both sides. In some sense, this was also a brain-storming session typical of Chinese officialdom, serious, meticulous, requiring a massive amount of brain cells. Huang Qiangmin waited until the leading team arrived in front, noticing the whiteboard on their side was still nk, he then asked Jiang Yuan: "Do you want to fill in something?" "About what? Oh... the whiteboard, right? Just a moment..." Jiang Yuan was actually quite tense, swiftly browsing through the images. For a homicide case, there were indeed too many photos taken on the scene, imagine, several criminal photographers probably kept their fingers on the shutter the whole way through. If given ample time, these photos could be screenedter on. Alternatively, quickly browsing through them wouldn¡¯t be impossible. But, if rushing for time as now, the above ns are naturally not feasible. Jiang Yuan was flipping pages desperately but couldn¡¯t finish the photos, naturallycking the capacity to analyze anything on the whiteboard. His method of solving cases differed somewhat from ordinary criminal investigation methods. Normal detectives typically start with case analysis; in a typical case of homicide, the first step should be to analyze the criminal¡¯s activities at the crime scene, how they entered the scene, how the murder was carried out, whether there was an interaction or struggle between the parties, whether the victim resisted, if the criminal was injured, finally, how the criminal handled the body and left the scene, etc... In this academician murder case, the killer¡¯s actions at the crime scene were clear, so the investigation could directly move to the step of confirming the killer¡¯s identity. This naturally derived two directions, whether to investigate through the killer¡¯s entry into the scene or through the killer¡¯s departure from the scene. ording to this thinking, investigating the entry into the scene direction, one could opt to investigate vehicles, tracing backwards continuously through the vehicle¡¯s ownership and origin, observing if the killer exposed themselves at a certain section, like revealing their face when passing a vehicle checkpoint, or simply, the car belonged to the killer themselves or was acquired recently... Of course, regarding the route of vehicle origin or ownership, everyone wasn¡¯t too optimistic. If the killer could be traced directly through the vehicle, there¡¯d be no need for such deliberate disguise with a ski mask, they wouldn¡¯t even need to flee, surrendering would actually make survival easier instead rtively. And the way the killer left the scene also disyed some counter-recon awareness. They used a mountain motorcycle to leave, making it hard to trace the motorcycle¡¯s origins or the path they took. However, the fact they ced the motorcycle here in advance indicates prior scoping and preparation by the killer. Investigating based on this might be a breakthrough point. Analyzing along this thought line, the killer should have scoped the area more than once, possibly even in other ces frequently visited by Academician Lou, interviewing around this point might also yield breakthroughs. Thinking deeper, why could the killer await timely near the intersection, where did they get the information from, or just persevering like this all day, presents another train of thought. If it¡¯s the former, catching the mole might solve the case outright. If it¡¯s thetter, interviewing passing drivers or construction workers nearby, or perhaps even delivery personnel or restaurants, might directly identify the person. Jiang Yuan focuses more on searching for physical evidence, then conducting investigations and analysis based on the evidence. From the perspective of criminal forensic thinking, this approach seems rather outdated and rigid; after all, adopting other sleuth angles might break through more readily. Yet Jiang Yuan is particrly skilled in this aspect, currently exerting significant effort in physical evidence analysis. Until the director was about to approach, Huang Qiangmin hastily urged once more, Jiang Yuan hesitated a bit then rose to write a line on the whiteboard: Vehicle Origin, Cigarette Butt. Without waiting for others to inquire, the director had already walked over. "Jiang Yuan¡¯s here too, I heard you just cracked a major drug trafficking case..." The director mentioned some news seen on the internalwork, and looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s whiteboard, couldn¡¯t help but chuckle: "Concise and sinct,e, tell us your thoughts?" Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui, first said: "I looked at the scenes and some rted photos of vehicle checkpoints. The management of dumper trucks is rtively strict, I think investigating from vehicle origin should yield results." "Okay." The director nodded, this was no extraordinary idea, previous teams had mentioned it too. Jiang Yuan continued: "Currently, the killer should have waited at the scene for a long period, and the killer is a smoker; you can tell from the ashtray in the driver¡¯s cab, there¡¯s ash but no cigarette butts, indicating where they waited likely has butts discarded." The director nodded as he listened. Nearby, Yu Wenshu then exined: "Butts have already been collected at the scene, however, with strong wind condition that night, around the spot where the vehicle was parked, vehicles continued to pull in; thus, determining the personnel associated with those butts¡¯ DNA will take some time." The DNA from cigarette butts is very easy to extract, being one of the police¡¯s favored DNA carriers. However, DNA matching doesn¡¯t guarantee a direct match, especially considering the abundance of butts at the scene, possibly requiring meticulous examination to ascertain the killer¡¯s DNA, this step is necessary, albeit far from swift surely. The director took the good guy role, smiled: "Jiang Yuan¡¯s consideration of two directions here, both are very promising..." "Lastly, is the matter of the killer¡¯s whereabouts." Jiang Yuan saved leadership¡¯s time, added: "I incline to think the killer headed northeast." "Ha?" Having gone through six exhibition boards, the director and others didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan to provide such a direct answer, they were momentarily frozen as they prepared to move. The director promptly inquired: "Is there evidence?" At this moment, he indeed needed proof. Chapter 1239 - 1167 Reasonable

Chapter 1239: Chapter 1167 Reasonable

In various investigation directions, since Jiang Yuan chose to track the driver himself, investigating his escape direction and identity is the most critical. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged a nce, lightly coughed, and said, "Firstly, we judge that the perpetrator is most likely nning to escape across the border." Liu Jinghui supplemented next to him: "The perpetrator clearly knew his target and prepared adequately. Since he decided to flee rather than surrender, basically his only option is to escape out of the country." "And it needs to be fast," Jiang Yuan added, then continued, "We investigated some checkpoints and surveince post-event, where you can see the perpetrator rode his motorcycle onto the highway and soon left the surveince area; the chosen route was very targeted and likely pre-prepared. When discussing the escape route, there are only a few paths for crossing the national border. The direction the perpetrator rode aligns with the Northeast. That¡¯s one point." The director nodded. Even though the direction of escape is subject to scrutiny, it can be discussedter. He didn¡¯t prepare to delve into specific criminal investigation issues. Jiang Yuan continued, "Secondly, observing the perpetrator¡¯s attire..." Jiang Yuan took out a photo, showing the perpetrator riding a mountain motorcycle along a highway. Numerous detectives standing behind the director immediately moved forward, curious to see the photograph. There were so many photos provided on-site, and time was tight; most people hadn¡¯t seen them all, or they nced too quickly, unable to process them mentally. The director, who used to be a police officer, carefully watched the photo Jiang Yuan presented, examining it closely, his eyes brightening as he asked, "Is it because of the boots? These are winter boots, right?" Liu Jinghui quickly said, "The director has keen eyesight; the boots he wore are indeed unsuitable for the current climate in Changyang City." The director glowed with self-satisfaction, humbly remarking, "Could he be considering a thickyer for riding at dawn?" "Way too thick, these are the same as found on Taobao, lined with fleece, specifically made for severe weather below minus 30 degrees, while Changyang City¡¯s nights only drop to a few degrees below zero." Jiang Yuan pulled out another photo and added, "We can also add the customers of sellers providing such boots to the investigation list." The director nodded in satisfaction, "This certainly can be considered." "Moreover, you can see on his motorcycle that he carries a backpack with outdoor tents and sleeping bags visible outside. This photo shows the tent and sleeping bag as special cold-resistant versions. Given the same cross-border route, if heading southwest or southeast, you wouldn¡¯t need these items as it¡¯s too hot and heavy, and the motorcycle has limited carrying capacity, rendering such preparations unnecessary." The director reacted swiftly, drawing inferences: "So, wearing the boots beforehand was also to lighten the load. Cold-resistant boots are too bulky." "Exactly," Jiang Yuan nodded, "He needs to carry money, possibly weapons; already it¡¯s quite heavy with outdoor gear and clothes on the motorcycle. If too much is loaded, the off-road capability of the mountain motorcycle will greatly decrease." "Even so, if truly heading to the Northeast, his motorcycle would be useless. Snow sleds would be more suitable for snowy terrains," a detective from the back spoke up, unable to hold back upon hearing this. This involves deciding the criminal investigation direction, a matter of utmost caution. Liu Jinghui continued, "There are two possibilities here. One is the perpetrator also being unaware of Northeast¡¯s conditions, simply preparing these things as a matter of course. Another possibility is that he prepares to switch vehicles after entering Northeast territory. It aligns realistically, as if riding a mountain motorcycle into Northeast, it would take at least two to three days, possibly four or five days. By then, local search intensity should have dropped significantly. If he¡¯s prepared with other identification, he might even use public transport." "Makes sense," the director synchronized with Liu Jinghui¡¯s thought process, nodding involuntarily. Jiang Yuan continued, "The third point..." "There¡¯s a third point?" The director was amused amidst his surprise. "The third point is judged based on footprints, mainly as a reference." Jiang Yuan said this, then routinely disyed several footprints photos that seemed simr to the audience before saying, "Through footprint identification, I estimate the perpetrator belongs most likely to the Northeast Asian ethnic group, northeast. Domestically, this group primarily consists of Northeast Han genes, Shandong Penins Han, and some North China ind and Northwest Han." Jiang Yuan rified: "Simply put, the perpetrator¡¯s ancestry likely belongs to Northeast, Shandong, or with lesser probability North China or Northwest. Thus, he may be familiar with Northeast¡¯s environment or may originally hail from there. If aiming to cross borders, regardless if his footprints fall in Northeast, Shandong, or Northwest North China, exiting Russia via Northeast is the safer route." Though attending numerous reports, the director remained deeply shocked this time: "Rarely have I heard such English and academic vocabry during a case analysis meeting." "I am a forensic doctor," Jiang Yuan chuckled slightly. The directorughed too, "You call this a reference?" "After all, the perpetrator¡¯s ancestry cannot directly determine his escape route. For now, the priority is gathering forces and retrieving surveince based on his movement direction." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate further on techniques. His Level 5 footprint analysis, despite calling in numerous strong criminal investigation teams on-site, was unmatched. Moreover, even the few domestic footprint experts capable of reaching Level 5 aren¡¯t necessarily skilled at analyzing ethnicity through footprints. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 5 isprehensive. Thus, from an unconventional angle, he could directly provide an answer without needing discussion. The director didn¡¯t just encourage a few words as before but decided, "So, Jiang Yuan, I want you to take charge of investigations heading Northeast. If I recall, you¡¯re skilled at image investigation?" "In image investigation, I¡¯m proficient at trajectory analysis and image enhancement, plus I understand some technical surveince and monitoring technology," Jiang Yuan openly stated his expertise. His image investigation trajectory analysis was Level 6, though limited to trajectory analysis, unlike theprehensive footprint analysis. Jiang Yuan presumed, the director likely desires him to coborate with other detective teams offering technical support. He had no objections, as he regrly resolved issues for external specialists. Especially from police stations of often "exchanged" regions, uncertain queries were sent over for convenient answers, receiving responses consistently. Criminal investigation technology and ordinary technology share simrities, both being straightforward for knowledgeable ones, challenging for those without proficiency. Like a math problem, a slightly skilled one might struggle for hours or days, whereas learning from scratch with research might take weeks or months, yet for thosepleting preliminary learning, it may just take minutes; if facing several hours or longer, the problem¡¯s difficulty soars. Jiang Yuan¡¯s casual remarks sounded somewhat intimidating to other detective teams. If a youngster casually deres their expertise in various areas, they would likely face subtle mockery or straightforward ridicule. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s case-solving reputation, variety of stories, had already spread wide. He handled multiple cases in Lanyue City recently, utilizing numerous image investigation techniques, due to Lanyue having movie studios and being part of a major case series. These cases were highly watched both within and outside the industry; everyone present was aware. Concerning Jiang Yuan¡¯s footprint identification abilities, detailed exnations weren¡¯t required. Many cases already validated them significantly, a good third of the police teams present had applied them. This made Jiang Yuan¡¯s response not appear boastful at all but entirely straightforward self-assertion. "Good, good, good." The director, using a tone of appreciation, said, "In image investigation, you must participate actively, especially when they face difficulties, help resolve them positively. No matter which team catches the perpetrator, you¡¯ll earn credit." It was a clear promise. Jiang Yuan stood at attention, responding in a respectful manner with full emotional intelligence. At this moment, the director suddenly turned his head, saying, "Old Ge, what do you say?" Chapter 1240 - 1168: Set Off As Soon As Possible

Chapter 1240: Chapter 1168: Set Off As Soon As Possible

Unsurprisingly, Ge Zhibing, who has been renowned for over twenty years in fugitive pursuit, is highly trusted. Ge Zhibing is about the same age as the director, but he looks much darker, with heavy bags under his eyes, deep wrinkles, yellow teeth, and an appearance of an old cop who often workste into the night. He was originally standing in front of his own disy board, quietlymunicating with his team members, but upon being named, he stepped forward in a standard running motion, saluted, and said, "Report to the Director, I believe we cannot rule out the possibility of the perpetrator heading to the Northeast. Captain Jiang¡¯s analysis has some validity. However, I¡¯m not well-versed in technical matters. I prefer to first investigate the identity of the perpetrator and then decide on the next step based on the investigational results, though this might be a slower approach." As Ge Zhibing spoke, he gave Jiang Yuan a friendly smile to avoid unintentionally offending this rising young talent. Whether as a person or a detective, Ge Zhibing is known for his amiable nature, differing from ordinary detectives who often like to offend others. Ge Zhibing is now the head of the Criminal Police Brigade in Fengshou City, Huangyue Province. He has been working in the field for years, pursuing fugitives both within the province and in other provinces. In this process, he has established a good rapport with major detective teams across the country, making his work more convenient wherever he goes, further facilitating fugitive pursuits. Catching many fugitives isn¡¯t difficult; it¡¯s just a meticulous task. However, resources are limited. An academician¡¯s murder case requires multiple detective teams,rge meetings need police guards, celebrity concerts require police to maintain order, and naturally, fugitive pursuit cases led by Ge Zhibing or his team receive resource allocations more easily. Of course, Ge Zhibing¡¯s efficiency and interpersonal skills are the foundation. If he wasted resources and failed to capture someone, word would get around, and detectives elsewhere wouldn¡¯t give him preferential treatment. Simrly, if he offended people recklessly, his fugitive pursuit efforts would be futile. At that moment, Ge Zhibing also tried not to offend the Ningtai people with his words. Doing what needs to be done and having opinions are separate matters. Jiang Yuan had definite ideas, supported by ample evidence, and since Ge Zhibing wasn¡¯t an expert, he naturally wouldn¡¯t oppose for the sake of opposing. The director listened with a smile, saying, "Old Ge¡¯s ideas are mature and steady, Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment is sharp and full of zeal. Our task force is truly full of hidden talents." Everyone then shared a fewughs. The director then shifted the topic, saying, "Jiang Yuan, are you willing to pursue the suspect in the Northeast, or stay in Changyang to support everyone?" Ge Zhibing¡¯s eyebrows twitched; to be honest, he had never received such treatment. The police are also a disciplined force; once part of a task force, it¡¯s natural to follow orders andmand, having a choice is rare. Even though there are limited choices. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate and said, "I am willing to chase the fugitive towards the Northeast direction." This task force is toorge, staying in Changyang City would mean dealing with various experts every day, discussing all sorts of evidence, and verifying conclusions with each other, which would be more exhausting thaning to conclusions and taking responsibility alone. Jiang Yuan would rather pursue the fugitive. Additionally, pursuing the fugitive doesn¡¯t mean he can¡¯t participate in evidence discussions. At that time, it might be easier to express his opinions. Moreover, Jiang Yuan also needs to consider the needs of his colleagues. After all, he¡¯s in criminal science. He can stay in Changyang City as a lone expert, while detectives like Wu Junhao might be reassigned to support other teams. And Jiang Yuan himself hopes to have a familiar team to cooperate with, as do Wu Junhao and other detectives. Therefore, choosing the pursuit route aligns best with the team¡¯s interests. The director was not surprised by Jiang Yuan¡¯s choice; if he were to choose, it would indeed be this choice. Thus, the options given were merely a costless goodwill gesture. "Then, the pursuit in the Northeast direction will be handed over to Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, it¡¯s called Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, right?" the director made the decision. In calction, this was the first investigative direction decided today. "Yes. We will prepare to set off immediately," Jiang Yuan responded without hesitation. He had seen enough materials; just in terms of judging the direction of the perpetrator¡¯s escape, it was above average. Under normal circumstances, even less than these conditions would trigger an investigation departure. This is also one of the reasons why Ge Zhibing is wee everywhere; his investigations are more reliable than regr pursuit teams, typically arriving with more information. Unlike many pursuit teams, which only have a general direction or location, relying on local detectives to find someone ¡ª such an approach is naturally not weed by local police bureaus. The director encouraged a few more words, then moved on to the next disy board. Ge Zhibing remained behind, smiled at Jiang Yuan again, then returned to his own team. Huang Qiangmin kept watching him leave, then turned back: "Since we¡¯ve decided on this direction, let¡¯s go for it first. If there¡¯s new information, I¡¯ll sync it with you guys anytime." "Okay." Jiang Yuan replied, his gaze sweeping towards Wang Chuanxing, "You arrange the itinerary and set off as soon as possible." "Yes!" Wang Chuanxing stood upright and gave a wry smile. Arge group of dozens of people departing from Changyang City to the Northeast, with no idea where they might stop next for further investigation. The vehicles, equipment, expenses, and even reimbursements needed during this time all had to be nned by him. It was as if he were strategizing for a small-scale military operation, although he never received any training as a strategist. Jiang Yuan ignored these tasks, sitting back down in front of the whiteboard to start discussing with Liu Jinghui while looking over photos. Liu Jinghui liked this mode of discussion very much. Pre-warmands and all should naturally be discussions between the strongest brain and the strongest force. Liu Jinghui ordered a cup of coffee and, invigorated, began to discuss thoroughly with Jiang Yuan. The assumption that the killer would head to the Northeast was based on the spection that they would leave the country. The details of their ns in between this journey required separate discussions. The worst-case scenario would be guessing wrong about the direction entirely; the killer may not be nning to flee abroad at all. If Jiang Yuan were independently in charge of the taskforce, such considerations would have to be included. However, that¡¯s not necessary now, as there are several teams responsible for different directions. Only considering the killer fleeing to the Northeast for the moment, it¡¯s primarily about the means of transport they would use to get there, and from that, further considering their stopping points. The fastest option would be by ne, followed by high-speed rail. Without knowing the identity of the killer, this n is feasible. The killer could even purchase a short-range international flight ticket and directly leave the country. But these two options carry considerable risks. A rtively sensible fugitive would generally choose to travel by car. Those with money and preparation might drive themselves, while others might take buses or hitch rides if budget-conscious or thrifty, which is a bit moremon. The most likely n is that the killer is riding a mountain bike all the way to the Northeast, rather than changing transportation midway. Liu Jinghui thought deeply about this and said, "As of now, I think it can be divided into two parts. The first part is the simple model, assuming the killer doesn¡¯t change transportation and just rides all the way to the Northeast. His mountain motorcycle has a 25 engine, presumably fully fueled and loaded. Judging by the highway surveince, there¡¯s nowhere to carry spare fuel, so how far can his bike run under these conditions?" Wu Junhao¡¯s team has plenty of motorcycle enthusiasts who have researched this topic early on. He immediately said, "It¡¯s a 12-liter Honda, running on the highway, it can go up to 400 kilometers." Liu Jinghui nodded, "If he¡¯s taking mountain roads, he won¡¯t even get 400 kilometers before needing to refuel." "It won¡¯t even reach 300 kilometers, and he wouldn¡¯t wait until he¡¯s out of fuel to refuel, right?" "Within this range, find suitable refueling spots. The killer would likely choose a more secluded gas station. Additionally, many gas stations don¡¯t allow motorcycles to refuel, and they¡¯re all under surveince." Liu Jinghui paused and said, "If the killer did some nning, he should have at least considered the gas stations and camping sites for the first few days ¡ª where to refuel, where to camp... Also, if he knows a bit about counter-reconnaissance, he¡¯d likely try to cross provincial borders on the first day." "That¡¯s a good thought!" Wu Junhao pped his thigh and immediately started checking the map with several criminal police officers. "What about theplex model?" Jiang Yuan remembered Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t finished and pressed on. "Theplex model involves changing transportation in the middle of the journey," Liu Jinghui exined. Shen Yaowei quietly added, "The killer¡¯s motorcycle carries a tent and sleeping bag, so he¡¯s probably prepared for camping in the wild." Liu Jinghui said, "This can be divided into two scenarios: one is nned ¨C if he has counter-reconnaissance awareness, he¡¯ll ride his mountain bike out of the province and camp in the wild for a day or two, then switch to another means of transportation. The other is unnned ¨C wild camping can be quite tough, and if he¡¯s inexperienced, after a day or two of it, he¡¯s likely to think of other ways." After a pause, Liu Jinghui added, "Northeastern weather isn¡¯tparable to Shannan Province¡¯s winter. Even though he has thick, warm tents and sleeping bags with him, camping in the Northeast would require considerable expertise for both him and his equipment. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, there are restrictions on motorcycle refueling, so driving all the way would be more troublesome than switching to another mode of transport midway. So, the first day is crucial and highly likely to involve motorcycle riding and wild camping!" Jiang Yuan listened up to this point, checked his watch, and said, "Then let¡¯s head out now and continue discussing on the way. Wang Chuanxing, find arger vehicle where we can hold discussions while on the road." Liu Jinghui added, "Also find another vehicle to carry a load of motorcycles. If necessary, we can also go into the mountains." Wang Chuanxing swallowed, "For arge vehicle, we could use a Coaster, there¡¯s one avable. As for motorcycles... I don¡¯t think the Changyang City Bureau has any mountain bikes." "Find a store that sells mountain bikes, and directly load up a bunch of them. Issue an invoice to Changyang City Bureau for reimbursement," Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t even bother asking Yu Wenshu. For Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, this was just anothermonce item among various case-handling expenses. Chapter 1241 - 1169: Roaring Past

Chapter 1241: Chapter 1169: Roaring Past

"Brother, Shipozi is straight ahead, right?" Ren Kuangshan was leisurely riding a mountain motorcycle and greeted two fellow riders he encountered on the road with enthusiasm. He felt as if he was almost emerging from the gloom of cancer. Of course, the cancer was still there, and his days were numbered, but he felt a bit more at peace. Meeting a fellow rider in the remote mountain areas made the two approaching him quite happy as well. They stopped their bikes to seriously point the way, then looked at the gear on the back of Ren Kuangshan¡¯s motorcycle, and said in admiration, "Are you nning to sleep outside? That¡¯s impressive, are you fishing?" "Fishing, but I didn¡¯t bring the gear this time, no space on the motorcycle." In fact, Ren Kuangshan had brought a fishing line and float but no rod. His n was, if things got too tense outside, he¡¯d hide in the mountains for a while beforeing out, maybe even relying on fishing for some food. He didn¡¯t have many years left to live, so prison was not an option he could ept. Moreover, nowadays people say many foods on the market have various problems and could cause cancer. So he might as well spend some time living in the wild, using natural therapy as a treatment. Of course, this was thest resort among the bad options, a fallback strategy for Ren Kuangshan just in case. His first choice in the n was still to go to Russia and have fun with tall beauties. He now had both time and money, calcting that even if he simply yed for three years, it would amount to 1000 days. While those working like cattle and horses, even with weekends off, only get 104 days off a year plus 11 legal holidays, totaling 115 days. Even with annual leave, it¡¯s less than 130 days. As for the poor souls with only one day off per week, they only get 52 days a year, assuming no extra work on legal holidays. They still need to be good enough not to sleep through their precious weekends, bing tools maintained for capital production. Meaning, even if Ren Kuangshan¡¯s life only had three or four years left, it would still surpass ten years of joyful time for those with weekends off, theoretically matching twenty years for those with only one day off, practically probably thirty or forty years. Of course, if those cattle and horses lose their jobs, the rest time and happy days would be uncertain whether to increase or decrease. Ren Kuangshan hummed a tune softly, skillfully riding his motorcycle and reached Shipozi Gas Station. This gas station along the county road had average business, but many local residents used motorcycles, so there was no discriminatory policy against refueling motorcycles. Ren Kuangshan had been here twice before while running mountain routes, and still remembered the roads nearby. Wearing his motorcycle helmet, Ren Kuangshan didn¡¯t need to take it off. He parked the bike, turned off the engine, watched as the staff filled it with gas, then went inside the convenience store to pay, using WeChat scan code, which was a pre-bought ount bundled with ID and bank card, the whole set. The truth is, the idle ones, the great masters of Sanhe, were not repressed for no reason. Everything went smoothly. Before leaving, Ren Kuangshan took a pack of Liqun cigarettes, a lighter, and three bottles of water as replenishments. Back on the motorcycle, Ren Kuangshan traveled along the county road for a while, passing severalrge trucks, then checked his bearings at arge agritainment billboard before turning to re-enter the mountains. In less than twenty minutes, there was no sign of human life around him. Ren Kuangshan stopped by a deep valley, took out his phone, turned it off first, then found a big stone and smashed the phone until the battery fell out. He gathered the scattered pieces, put them in a stic bag, and tossed it all into the depths of the valley. Ren Kuangshan still had other phones and IDs with him, couldn¡¯t waste them the same way, but being overly cautious on the first day wasn¡¯t too much. The warning from his contact was clearly remembered; phones going through base stations required logging and recording, and the fewer people in the mountains, the slower this data refreshed, which actually helped the police track you. Ren Kuangshan had prepared so diligently to avoid prison; no phone was worth hesitating over. Vroom... Ren Kuangshan restarted the motorcycle and continued along the dirt road beneath him. This road was one he ran through an amateur riding group event before, considered a beginner off-road route, not very challenging. The scenery around was average, but many teams liked to organize along this route simply because it was easy and hard to get lost. Additionally, it was because this mountain was a border mountain between two cities, and the traffic police from both sides didn¡¯t bother much, giving motorcycle riders, off-roaders, and campers a bit more freedom. Ren Kuangshan, having driven trucks before, was very good at remembering roads, so having disposed of his phone, he wasn¡¯t afraid of getting lost. He rode for more than an hour and, upon reaching a t area backed by mountains and water, felt it was about right and parked there, did a quick check, and began collecting firewood, setting up a tent, just like a camper out for fun. All set, with daylight still present, Ren Kuangshan gathered more firewood, smoking while warming by the fire, not bothering to take out the food he¡¯d prepared. He wasn¡¯t not hungry, but simply had no appetite, oddly so. He didn¡¯t sleep well at night. Without a phone, once it got dark, there was nothing to do but sleep. Ren Kuangshan tossed and turned in dreams all night, waking himself up early the next morning. Hey at first, staring at the stars, gazing for more than half an hour until the sun lightly rose. Ren Kuangshan felt as if hearing somemand, leaped up, started packing all his gear, loaded everything back on the bike, and without dy, set off again. An hourter, a small city at the foot of the mountain came into Ren Kuangshan¡¯s view. Ren Kuangshan verified his direction to ensure he wasn¡¯t lost, then rode another twenty minutes before truly reaching the city outskirts. After parking on the roadside, the first thing Ren Kuangshan did was turn on a new phone, checking social news and hot events. "Academician Murdered!" Upon seeing these four words, Ren Kuangshan¡¯s pupils dted suddenly. "Was it an academician I killed?" Ren Kuangshan was a bit dazed. This was quite different from what the patron had said. Back then, the other party only mentioned it was the boss of anotherpany, with deep hatred between them... Ren Kuangshan wasn¡¯t entirely disbelieving but neither fully believing. While he didn¡¯t fully understand the prestige of an academician, he knew academicians were very eminent scientists. Such people dying meant the police would surely be more focused than if it were apany boss. Ren Kuangshan quickly skimmed a few news articles, daring not to linger too long, then nced at the time and hit the road again. This time, he traveled a long way through city streets until he saw the railway tracks and parked the motorcycle by the roadside, picked up his backpack and cigarettes, and began walking north along the railway line. A green train roared past. Ren Kuangshan kept his head down and moved forward, soon crawling onto the tform of this small station against the traffic, with help from two local ticket-dodgers. Security checks, ticket purchasing, and all such front-end steps were thus skipped. All around, noise abounded, with dozens chatting while waiting for the train. Ren Kuangshan patted the dust off his clothes, silently merging into the crowd. Chapter 1242 - 1170 Meiyang

Chapter 1242: Chapter 1170 Meiyang

Evening. Meiyang Municipal Committee Reception House. After personally helping Jiang Yuan and the others with their check-in, the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment leader Wang Sheng said, "Captain Jiang, I¡¯m sorry, the conditions in Meiyang City are like this, please bear with us." "It¡¯s already very good, much better than the hotels we found ourselves." Huang Qiangmin was following along the whole time, afraid that Jiang Yuan might encounter something unexpected while away. "It¡¯s what we should do. Captain Jiang, you previously helped us a lot. Honestly, if it weren¡¯t for youing over, with the stance from the Ministry and the secretaries at that time, they were asking three times a day..." Wang Sheng shook his head and continued, "I just wanted to say, our Secretary is still in a meeting, he wants to invite Director Jiang and Commissioner Huang for dinner tonight." "We might have to have a meeting first." Huang Qiangmin, worried that Jiang Yuan might not respond well, quickly said, "I¡¯ll call Secretary Zhang to apologize." "Secretary Zhang knows how busy the task force is, and specifically said that once Captain Jiang is free, he wille to visit. If there¡¯s no time for dinner, a supper or tea would be fine." A young staff member responsible for liaising with the reception house spoke up. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t refuse anymore, said with a little embarrassment, "It¡¯s truly unreasonable to let the Secretary wait for us, mainly because the task force¡¯s mission is too urgent..." "The Secretary particrly understands and has instructed us to prioritize your work, Captain Jiang. His main purpose is to express his gratitude, and he doesn¡¯t want to interfere with your case work." The young staff member, already speaking with the maturity of someone from Shandong. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had previously helped Meiyang City with the gambling den explosion case. That was indeed a major case, causing dozens of casualties with one loud bang, rming the Ministry, resulting in Song Tiancheng bringing Jiang Yuan directly to the scene. In retrospect, it was fortunate that he brought Jiang Yuan with him, enabling Jiang Yuan to be involved from the investigation stage of the case. Jiang Yuan even upgraded his "Trace Evidence Analysis - Explosion Trace Analysis" to Level 6 specifically for this case, and after this case, Jiang Yuan hardly encountered explosion cases again, essentially upgrading a skill specifically for this case. Even so, solving Meiyang City¡¯s gambling den explosion case was not easy, and once even got stuck, forcing Jiang Yuan to use various solutions and techniques. Wang Sheng, who had participated throughout, witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s various methods and was amazed, and now, as time has passed, every time Wang Sheng recalls it, Jiang Yuan bes even more towering in his mind. It¡¯s just like those at Tengwang Pavilion that day, when they witnessed Wang Bo write "The treasures of heaven and earth, the Dragon¡¯s Light shines on the ruins; the figures of legend and geography, Xu Ruyu¡¯s mat by Chen Fan¡¯s bed," in their hearts, they might have just thought "Wow, amazing!" But as time goes by, they will realize that the "Wow" then underestimated it, and "amazing" has grown bigger and bigger, so that one day when people speak of this ce again, it bes "The treasures of heaven and earth, the literary star shines by Teng Pavillion; the figures of legend and geography, Wang Bo¡¯s work on Yan Gong¡¯s seat." Secretary Zhang Dinghui of Meiyang City has a simr feeling. So, when he heard that Jiang Yuan was here, he immediately ordered to make arrangements, fearing that Jiang Yuan and others would leave by tomorrow. Wang Sheng naturally coordinated actively, handed the room card to Jiang Yuan, and then asked, "We¡¯ve also prepared the meeting room. Do you want to rest first or..." "Let¡¯s go directly." Jiang Yuan handed his luggage to Wei Shikan, instructed briefly, and left. The atmosphere of the video conference was extremely oppressive. With each team¡¯s report, everyone¡¯s expectations were continuously lowered, and the spread of gloom was inevitable. Three days have passed, and the clues remain ambiguous. Those knowledgeable know this case is slipping away. Over a dozen teams, dispatched to multiple locations, including over a thousand logistic personnel, the costs here no longer matter, as the political and social significance has far surpassed money. And this political and social significance is an extraordinary pressure on the cadres at all levels responsible for the task force. Dense smoke quickly filled the projected screen, Wang Chuanxing adjusted the parameters to no avail, and turned to speak but noticed that the meeting room in the hotel was also filled with smoke. The pressure was so great that it blurred vision. "Let¡¯s discuss some concrete information. Old Yu, could you talk about the suspect¡¯s identity investigation?" The director, mainly responsible for the meeting and showing importance, with decision-making on rewards and punishments, left the specific liaison work to Criminal Police Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu, sitting three seats away from the director, was called, coughed, and said, "The investigation into the suspect¡¯s identity is fairly smooth. Currently, DNA evidence, surveince data, and police visits all point to our previously identified suspect, Ren Kuangshan, the truck driver from Changyang City." Yu Wenshu didn¡¯t need to look at the documents, saying, "About Ren Kuangshan¡¯s basic information, I believe everyone seated here is familiar with it. Over the past day, our investigation was assisted by the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment and the Graphic Investigation Brigade, as well as by the Technical Investigation and National Security units, to primarily summarize Ren Kuangshan¡¯s motives, vehicle sources, financial transactions, and possible inside man issues." Yu Wenshu: "First, the issue of inside man, it indeed exists." This statement further silenced the already quiet video conference. Yu Wenshu proceeded, "The inside man is a student of Academician Lou, named Li Xu. Recently, he was traveling with Academician Lou for projects. He leaked Academician Lou¡¯s information because a female student from the same school, Cai Yujia, whom he liked, took a part-time job for an industry survey and often asked him about Academician Lou¡¯s news via WeChat. The girl imed that providing information or writing articles could earn her news fees and manuscript fees, ranging from several hundred yuan each time. Tracing back, thepany posting the part-time job doesn¡¯t exist, and the ount wiring the money was bought, this lead is pretty much broken." The expressions of those listening became solemn. A policeman unknown to others stated what everyone was thinking, "The lead is thoroughly broken. Cybersecurity and Technical Investigation colleagues have been busy for a long time with little gain. Additionally, someone called the direct perpetrator Ren Kuangshan that day, this call was not made by the student of Academician Lou we just mentioned, but this lead cannot be pursued any further." "Considering this, could this case be regarded as a spy case?" Someone promptly inquired. "The nature of the case isn¡¯t important. What¡¯s important is solving it, and solving it as quickly as possible." The urgency in the speaker¡¯s voice was something the participants could clearly perceive. Designing such aplex murder cannot be without reason. There must be a demand from behind the scene, but what is that demand? Is killing Academician Lou a lucrative goal alone, or is it part of a broader goal achieved by his death? An academician isn¡¯t purely a scientist; their involvement with national and public welfare is extensive. Academically, the academician and his team hold considerable academic discourse authority, inherently of an exclusive nature, famously seen in how the Soviet Union¡¯s Lisenko rejected Mendel and Morgan¡¯s gics, significantly impacting Soviet gics, biology, agriculture, and medicine. Simrly, half a centuryter, the U.S.¡¯s trend of refusing to acknowledge evolution is intensifying. Combining academia with public opinion, a notable example is Academician Ding Zhongli¡¯s interview with Chai Jing, showing even in so-called major policies, when it touches professional areas, an academician can exert immense influence on topics like environmental protection, development rights, and carbon emissions. ordingly, the fields in which an academician can participate politically, economically, or more specifically industry-wise are numerous. Yu Wenshu paused, seeing no further questions, continued, "Considering from the perspective of the academician, the motive is difficult to specte. Comparatively, suspect Ren Kuangshan¡¯s motive is simpler. He likely had cancer detected during a medical check-up and was subsequently targeted. For this reason, we investigated the hospital and theirputer systems, and also visited Ren Kuangshan¡¯s fellow patients during hospitalization, with no leads." Yu Wenshu: "In terms of financial transactions, Ren Kuangshan left all his money and property to his wife and daughter. He had a separate bank card used for receiving freight transactions, the ounts were clear, all usable money was transferred out, and debts were paid. As for owners who owed him, our inquiry found that Ren Kuangshan had only recently demanded payment once and didn¡¯t follow up further." "Does this mean he¡¯s taken care of things before fleeing?" Ge Zhibing softlymented, "Thus, Ren Kuangshan must be far gone." Yu Wenshu nodded, "A rtively good piece of news is that during our investigation of the origin of the incident vehicle, we identified a car thief through the Graphic Investigation. The car thief is a repeat offender from Qinghe City, with four prison records, and the Qinghe City Criminal Police Detachment has beenmissioned to handle the investigation and inquiry." "This lead isn¡¯t bad. A thief who¡¯s been in prison four times, even if hired, must have some understanding of his employer to take the job." Liu Jinghui whispered to Jiang Yuan. They didn¡¯t have their mic on, so their conversation didn¡¯t affect the meeting. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, "Ren Kuangshan is also an old hand." "Exactly, Ren Kuangshan has been driving trucks for twenty years, interacting daily with various shady characters, he would have learned just from observation." Liu Jinghui paused, "So, where is Ren Kuangshan?" Chapter 1243 - 1171: Don’t Believe They Can Find It

Chapter 1243: Chapter 1171: Don¡¯t Believe They Can Find It

Ren Kuangshan sat on a green train for a day and a night, and changed stations within the Northeast, arriving at Yanquan County. The first half of the journey was nned, thetter half was unnned. The nned part was because Ren Kuangshan had already traveled this route once. Yes, Ren Kuangshan tried this route once before to make his escape easier after the murder. This was absolutely the right approach, and it was one of the experiences Ren Kuangshan umted after years of drivingrge trucks. No matter how much material you read or how many cautions you hear from veterans, if you haven¡¯t been to a ce, you haven¡¯t been. You¡¯ll encounter countless issues along the way. When drivingrge trucks, Ren Kuangshan easily avoided taking jobs in new ces. He would only take one if necessary or if jobs in a particr area increased. Even then, he would be extremely cautious on his first trip there. Despite this, encountering some mishaps was quite normal the first few times going to a ce. Ironically, some people risk their necks tomit murder yet are unwilling to invest the time and effort to personally run through their escape route. As a result, when the timees to flee, their ns are full of holes, which is trulyughable. Those preparing documents at theirputers, preparing for murder, even if they spend a year or two preparing, are not as good as a special forces soldier taking the trip once. Even when special forces travel once or twice, they will still encounter various issues when it¡¯s time to flee. Ren Kuangshan was prepared for this, just like when he droverge trucks, especially in the 2000s. Different provinces and towns had different customs and conditions, or rather, they had different highway robbers. Any small unexpected event during the journey could turn into a major incident or a frustrating conflict. Ren Kuangshan unexpectedly yet understandably encountered a train dy. He hadn¡¯t originally nned toe to Yanquan, so this was an unnned development. In this day and age, the punctuality rate of high-speed trains is extremely high. Green trains and their passengers are like the dust left behind by the times, always consideredst, thinking they generously surrendered all rights to those advanced trains. Tonight, the green train Ren Kuangshan was on was dyed. This greatly dyed his arrival at the scheduled station, not only missing the next green train but also due to potentially arriving two or three hourster than nned. The inspection when leaving the station would undoubtedly be stricter, making it more likely to be discovered if he tried to sneak off the tform. Ren Kuangshan made a quick decision to get off two stations early, still at 5 a.m., and walked out of the train station. The air at four or five in the morning was piercing and free. Ren Kuangshan with his hands in his pockets, carrying only a backpack, followed the crowd, lining up at the manual exit channel. This kind of green train that stops at small counties, many people getting off won¡¯t use the automatic gate. Some who could use it are toozy, forcing the train station to open two manual channels, yet they were still crowded. Ren Kuangshan feigned the appearance of an older migrant worker, silently moving forward. "Take out your ID and ticket." A station staff member approached, their voice stern. The slightly loud sound was like a thunderp in Ren Kuangshan¡¯s ear. Ren Kuangshan couldn¡¯t help but shiver, then pretending to be cold, wrapped his clothes tighter and slowly took out his ID card and the ticket he supplemented on the train. The station staff gave Ren Kuangshan a strange look and said, "Take off your mask." Ren Kuangshan was someone who had been around; he knew he was being suspected. Heined while taking off the mask: "So chilly..." Despite his words, he took off the mask. Most importantly, the ID he handed over was one he had carefully chosen from several, bearing some resemnce to him. After all, the train station staff were not police. They nced at the ID, then frowned at Ren Kuangshan but still let him pass. Then, the same staff member continued to call to the people behind: "Take out your ID and ticket." Only then did Ren Kuangshan realize that this person just wanted him to take out his ID and ticket earlier to pass smoothly through the manual channel. With this realization, Ren Kuangshan¡¯s previously slightly weak legs regained their strength. He believed that if he encountered a simr situation again, he wouldn¡¯t feel guilty. Experiencees from situations like this. "Ticket, ID..." The checkpoint staff chanted as if reciting a mantra. At five in the morning, whether staying upte or getting up early, none felt too well. The slightly older ones were even more resentful, having to check hundreds of people at once, they could only skim through. Most importantly, Ren Kuangshan knew that the ticket inspectors were mainly checking tickets, not people. After he supplemented his ticket on the train, there was no issue. He was even particr about the green trains he bought tickets for, all being trains that didn¡¯t originate in Shannan Province but passed through, not under the jurisdiction of Shannan Province¡¯s railway bureau, so even if there were train police, they wouldn¡¯t receive the information in time. Ren Kuangshan followed the crowd out of the train station, then looked at the ck cars by the roadside, a smile appearing on his lips. "Where to, sir? There¡¯s one more seat to share a ride, want to join?" a ck car driver called out proactively. Ren Kuangshan shook his head; he certainly wouldn¡¯t choose a shared ride. The time on the car is too long, and with close proximity, it¡¯s most prone to issues. "Where are you heading, sir? I¡¯m off for the night, I¡¯ll give you a discount," another ck car driver greeted him. Ren Kuangshan finally stopped and asked, "Are you going to Heshan?" "Heshan is far, two or three hundred kilometers." "It¡¯s just under 200 kilometers. How much to go?" Ren Kuangshan had checked the map. He was talking about Heshan City, originally a small city he nned to reach by train. In recent years, it had gained a bit of inte fame. Ren Kuangshan had been there before when he transported coal and had scouted it earlier, feeling that it was a ce with a considerable flow of outsiders, making it rtively easier to stay hidden. Fugitives always go to familiar ces, not because they are unaware of the danger but because not doing so could very well lead to exposure on the way. Arriving in any city, finding a ce to stay is the most perilous moment. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s original n was to get a vehicle upon reaching Heshan, pretend to be on a road trip to the border, and then leave the country directly without stopping, taking advantage of a time difference. ording to his n, wearing a mask and riding a motorcycle, it would take the authorities some days to identify him. By that time, he nned to be long gone, enjoying himself abroad. However, after learning he had hit an academician, Ren Kuangshan thought it over on the green train and decided not to rush leaving the country. In principle, he was somewhat familiar with the country, but abroad, he would truly be in the dark. As for the person who hired him, Ren Kuangshan now realized he could no longer trust them at all. Who would want someone to hit an academician? Just thinking about it chilled Ren Kuangshan to the bone. So, he decided on a whim not to transfer at Heshan, opting to stay in Heshan, find an apartment to rent, live there, cook for himself, and not believe the police could find him. Chapter 1244 - 1172: Distortion

Chapter 1244: Chapter 1172: Distortion

"Director Liu, time is tight, I¡¯ve already dispatched two brigades from here, along with more than twenty officers from our city¡¯s police stations and nearby areas for you to use. By the afternoon, I should be able to dispatch a few more teams." Themander of the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade, Wang Sheng, exined softly to Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui quickly replied, "That¡¯s more than enough, it far exceeds my requirements." Liu Jinghui understood the situation and knew that Wang Sheng¡¯s mention of dispatching more teams was purely out of politeness. Of course, if Liu Jinghui insisted on having more people, Wang Sheng would definitely find a way, considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s connections. But Liu Jinghui prided himself on being honorable and certainly wouldn¡¯t exploit this. In the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade, a full brigade could have over fifty people, but obviously, this is impossible, as the Criminal Police Brigade itself enjoys no such privilege. Therefore, Liu Jinghui estimated that getting more than twenty people was already quite good. After all, everyone had their own cases to handle and couldn¡¯t just drop everything to assist Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Team in pursuing fugitives. The police force today is always short-staffed, whether in criminal investigation or the police stations. It¡¯s not like one case ispleted before starting another; everyone is working on multiple cases simultaneously, progressing in parallel, or in other words, "multi-thread case handling." Thus, the "special" in "Special Task Force" carries significant weight because it means multiple officers are focused solely on solving a single case. This is just like specific funds for specific purposes, theoretically so. Manpower in the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade is also insufficient. Jiang Yuan and his team arrived unexpectedly, and the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade received no prior notice. Naturally, local criminals in Mei Yang City continuemitting crimes without any understanding. Jiang Yuan also expressed gratitude on the side, then added, "Ren Kuangshan lived and worked in Mei Yang City for a long time, so there are manyworks to leverage here. With more hands, we can investigate faster. We¡¯ll dly ept it." Jiang Yuan¡¯s reason for bringing the Cold Case Squad to Mei Yang City wasn¡¯t just Ren Kuangshan¡¯s familiarity with the city, but also because, based on riding a motorcycle 300 to 400 kilometers daily, Mei Yang City, located 1200 kilometers northeast of Changyang City, is a very reasonable supply point for Ren Kuangshan. Riding a motorcycle continuously for three days is extremely exhausting, even for an ADV. Riding on highways is slightly better, but on unpaved roads, possibly mountainous and even off-road, coupled with camping with tents, dining issues, outdoor restroom breaks, and stress, ording to Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis, Ren Kuangshan would reach his limit after three or four days. Assuming Ren Kuangshan understands anti-investigation techniques¡ªcurrently, it seems likely he does¡ªafter 72 hours of escape, Ren Kuangshan should be starting to rx a bit. By that time, even if he doesn¡¯t actively choose a ce to rest or recuperate, his body will send many signals, forcing him to choose to rest. For instance, catching a cold or getting sick, suffering from diarrhea or constipation, backaches and pains, and considering Ren Kuangshan also suffers from cancer and is a long-time sedentary middle-aged man, enduring outdoor challenges over long periods is difficult. By calctions, Ren Kuangshan mighte to Mei Yang City today or tomorrow. Of course, if his willpower is extraordinary or his physical endurance outstanding and he persists for two more days, he might note to Mei Yang City, too. Pursuing fugitives is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and Liu Jinghui doesn¡¯t expect 100% uracy. But nheless, thoroughly checking Ren Kuangshan¡¯s old rtionships in Mei Yang City and his routes in and out of the city remains highly necessary. For Liu Jinghui to lead the investigation, he naturally needs apaniment by Mei Yang City¡¯s police. Such operations like external police covertly making arrests locally, neither notifying in advance nor informing afterward, vite the mutual understanding among criminal investigators and can easily be misconstrued as kidnapping, tantamount to far-sea fishing. However, such a high degree of support from someone at Wang Sheng¡¯s level is only because of Jiang Yuan. Other criminal investigators within the same task force, including those like Ge Zhibing investigating southwest, would be thrilled to receive the support of three to five local policemen. As long as Jiang Yuan is happy, Wang Sheng is happy too. Hearing Jiang Yuan say "thank you," he cheerfully said, "Captain Jiang, if you have any needs, just let us know. The secretary said yesterday that any person in Mei Yang City is at your disposal." "That¡¯s more than enough." Jiang Yuan said, then got up and added, "Director Liu will oversee the visitations here, I¡¯ve scheduled to meet Jin from the Graphic Investigation Brigade." "Old Jin has got something." Wang Sheng hummed twice. He¡¯s from the Criminal Police Brigade, whereas the Graphic Investigation Group belongs to a different unit. They cooperate during major cases, but otherwise, operate independently. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged a nce and set out separately. After three fruitless days of pursuit, many were on the verge of cracking. Jiang Yuan and his team couldn¡¯t afford dy and were keen on getting things done promptly. Jiang Yuan was in the Image Reconnaissance Brigade to check surveince footage. On the second day after the incident, the task force confirmed Ren Kuangshan¡¯s identity. Therefore, on the day of the incident, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t conduct surveinceparison; at that time, everyone was searching for the car and motorcycle. It wasn¡¯t until acquiring relevant information about Ren Kuangshan, specifically his recent videos under other surveince, that Jiang Yuan had images avable forparison. From yesterday to today, Jiang Yuan was reviewing Ren Kuangshan¡¯s dossier, then viewing surveince footage sent from various sources. Chapter 1245 - 1172: Aberration_2

Chapter 1245: Chapter 1172: Aberration_2

Here, he not only has to look in his own direction, but video materials that are given more importance by special task forces in other directions will also be sent to Jiang Yuan for review, which Jiang Yuan naturally also needs to see. So far, this "Academician Murder Case" has two main objectives: first, to investigate and capture the mastermind behind the scenes, and second, to pursue the fleeing direct perpetrator, Ren Kuangshan. Even though Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui believe the suspect most likely fled to the Northeast, there are too many variables in solving a case, and it¡¯s possible that with a sudden impulse, police officers in other directions might make a discovery. Jiang Yuan mainly covets the equipment of the Image Investigation. He only carries aptop when he goes out, which is quite inefficient for watching video surveince. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Huang Qiangmin, took the Beijing A-license Passat and quickly entered the yard of the Graphic Investigation Brigade. The captain of the second brigade of Meiyang City¡¯s Graphic Investigation Brigade, Jin Sijun, immediately called his brigade captain, who then gathered a group of people toe down and greet them. Jiang Yuan quickly handed over Huang Qiangmin and said, "I¡¯m going to watch the surveince directly; can you assign someone technically skilled to help me with the equipment?" "No problem!" Jin Sijun also left his own brigade captain behind, taking Jiang Yuan up the elevator, and said, "Our equipment is a bit old, Captain Jiang, please don¡¯t mind..." "Not at all..." Jiang Yuan politely replied for two minutes. Upon entering themand room of the Image Investigation, Jiang Yuan immediately received a wall of screens. "Captain Jiang, where should we look?" Wang Chuanxing was responsible for coordinating. Jiang Yuan had already thought about it on the way and said, "Gas stations! Keep watching the gas stations; he has to refuel at some point. How many gas stations haven¡¯t been checked yet?" "There are too many." Wang Chuanxing slightly shook his head. "Get a few people to roughly categorize them, see which gas stations have a higher probability of Ren Kuangshan showing up based on the distance, time, location choices, and whether a motorcycle can be refueled, etc. Use these standards to sort them first, then I¡¯ll check each one gas station by gas station." Jiang Yuan nced to both sides, noticing that Jin Sijun had prepared over twenty people, likely his entire brigade. There was no need to be polite; Jiang Yuan immediately organized their work assignments. When ites to watching video surveince, no number of people is ever enough, as one can view it in great detail or over an extensive range¡ªit¡¯s all up to the organizer¡¯s arrangements. Just as now, the special task force far away in Changyang City had already started organizing local image investigations to find relevant videos of Ren Kuangshan after he knew he had cancer in an attempt to figure out who he was in contact with. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t manage such distant matters and focused solely on pursuing Ren Kuangshan. Theoretically, if they could capture Ren Kuangshan alive, his contacts with his handlers and so forth would at least have a more specific range. Such a matter is very difficult in a purely remote mode, as there is too much trust to be established between both parties. Wang Chuanxing responded affirmatively and began assigning tasks to the personnel. Soon enough, the second brigade of the Meiyang City Graphic Investigation Brigade was in action. Jiang Yuan continuously issued tasks, Wang Chuanxing dposed them, and the police officers of the second brigade of the Image Investigation constantlypleted them. From time to time, other Image Investigation officers woulde over to see Jiang Yuan or wander nearby ncing around. The police from the other brigades in the Graphic Investigation Brigade had their jobs and tasks, but their curiosity about Jiang Yuan was overwhelming. Considering confidentiality issues, no one dared toe and look at Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen, nor did they feelfortable greeting him. Just watching was enough to satisfy many. Jiang Yuan also watched for two hours straight, then stood up to leisurely stroll, have some tea, think for a bit, and stretch his muscles. "Captain Jiang!" "Captain Jiang, would you like to look at this?" "Director Jiang, let me show you something interesting." The police officers in themand room all greeted Jiang Yuan. Being police officers, they all belong to the type that gets excited whether there¡¯s a story behind it or not, and elevates they must when needed. At the same time, being police officers, who doesn¡¯t have a tricky unsolved case in their hands? So when they saw Jiang Yuaning, each acted like they¡¯d seen a rare treasure. They were afraid Jiang Yuan would avoid them, so they all had to take the initiative to invite him. Due to policy constraints, their invitations were limited between the Queen of the Women Land and the White Bone Demon. "Later,ter..." Jiang Yuan greeted them with a smile, not even ncing at their screens. The Image Investigation was moving too slowly, and at this point, he had no time for other people¡¯s cases. After wandering and thinking for more than ten minutes, Jiang Yuan returned to his original position, gestured for Wang Chuanxing toe over, and said, "The ones we watched just now were surveince videos from gas stations starting yesterday?" "Yes." "Haven¡¯t seen Ren Kuangshan or his motorcycle." Wang Chuanxing took it for granted and smiled, "It¡¯s been three days, very difficult to determine the exact refueling time." "From the first day¡¯s video surveince, there should have been some traces." Jiang Yuan referred to the road surveince checkpoints. Given the current density of surveince in the country, it¡¯s nearly impossible to leave the city or province entirely free from vehicle checkpoints, even if riding a motorcycle. In fact, as the investigation during the past two days deepened, traces of Ren Kuangshan on the first and second days¡¯ video had gradually been found multiple times, but given the time psed, it¡¯s of little use. Wang Chuanxing somewhat understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s reasoning and asked, "Do you suspect that the suspect didn¡¯t ride a motorcycle?" "Completely not finding his traces is indeed a bit surprising." Jiang Yuan paused, "Of course, he might have chosen a strange time and route; once we find him once, the remaining traces are easier to confirm. Hmm... ask the special task force if there were any reported discoveries today or yesterday?" "Understood." Wang Chuanxing immediately responded, then asked, "Do we continue watching the surveince?" Jiang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "Still not sure where Ren Kuangshan refueled on the first day?" "No," Wang Chuanxing shook his head, "The special task force exined that maybe he brought petrol in advance or buried it somewhere early on for self-service refuelingter." "That¡¯s also a possibility." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t deny it, only said, "Whether he rode or not, if he wants to leave Changyang City, the easiest time to find him would still be the first day; by the second day, the range would be too vast." Jiang Yuan paused and said, "The investigation on the day was too rushed, still requires revisiting." The stage with the most information and most valuable evidence is also the first day, the so-called golden 24 hours. It¡¯s not just about the investigation within those 24 hours; it also refers to the value of the evidence at that time. There are too many gas stations around a city, and coupled with various vehicle checkpoints or other surveince videos, it¡¯s impossible to finish reviewing all the day¡¯s surveince on the day of the incident; time simply doesn¡¯t allow it. Even confined to gas stations in a single direction, it¡¯s impossible for Jiang Yuan to finish watching a full day¡¯s surveince. Amonly understood fact that doesn¡¯t need exnation¡ªif a single person watches surveince video on a single screen at normal speed, one person can only watch one surveince feed a day. Increasing screens or speed surely raises the possibility of oversight. Hence, for most image investigation-rted cases, the more precise the time and location, the better. With urate time and location, solving an image investigation-rted case might take just a dozen minutes, while a challenging image investigation case often requires 2,000 hours ofbor. Jiang Yuan directly opened an additional temporary +1, then began doing trajectory analysis on theputer map. The three days of investigation weren¡¯t without results; subsequently, some road checkpoints found surveince footage of Ren Kuangshan; however, nearby gas stations failed to capture him, which was indeed surprising. Some hence spected that Ren Kuangshan prepared petrol in advance, and there was some rationale for that. But from the suspect¡¯s perspective, doing so offers very poor flexibility, essentially needing to reach a predetermined location and dig up. Petrol also has some vtility, can¡¯t be stored too long in advance, and purchasing ites with limitations... Jiang Yuan thought while watching videos. At this moment, in a wide-angle video, Jiang Yuan spotted a figure briskly passing by from the edge. "There, rey it." Jiang Yuan immediately called out. The nearby Image Investigation officer quickly turned the dial counterclockwise, causing the figure on the screen to retreat in response. The figure on the screen had no visible face, not even a head, merely passing the edge of the wide-angle lens, with the figure slightly distorted. Jiang Yuan, however, firmly said, "That¡¯s him, retrieve all other videos from this gas station!" He watched the video for gait, needing not to see faces at all. Chapter 1246 - 1173: Reorganization

Chapter 1246: Chapter 1173: Reorganization

"Is this Ren Kuangshan?" The officer from the Graphic Investigation Brigade knew he shouldn¡¯t be doubting, but he still asked. Though he had only a little contact with the case materials, this officer also knew that, 12 hours after the crime, no one had found Ren Kuangshan again. Finding Ren Kuangshan within 12 hours of the crime was crucial for determining his escape route. Even if this guy had exceptional counter-surveince skills¡ªwhich most fugitives don¡¯t¡ªeven a mildly rational person wouldn¡¯t make a turn 12 hourster. Jiang Yuan also watched several times and confirmed with a nod, "It¡¯s definitely Ren Kuangshan. He deliberately avoided the gas station¡¯s surveince. This guy likely scouted the location beforehand." He had already watched several major surveince videos from the gas station, but focused mostly on those monitoring the fuel pumps and entrances, not the convenience store or supermarket areas. There were too many surveince videos to review unless Jiang Yuan prepared a massive team of thousands, but this would not allow for using gait analysis to identify the culprit. Jiang Yuan returned to find the same gas station and reviewed the surveince footage from a short time ago. As expected, he saw that a gas station employee, holding a fuel pump, moved beyond the surveince coverage. "Bring the employees of this gas station in for questioning, including the manager. Also, retrieve all the surveince footage from the gas station, and look for vehicles entering or leaving the station during the same timeframe. Request video footage from those with dash cams," Jiang Yuan quickly made the arrangements. Wang Chuanxing came over, nodding as he wrote "D21" in his notebook, followed by the gas station¡¯s name. This was his self-created code, as most of themands from superiors were repetitive, including how toprehensively and systematically retrieve relevant surveince and evidence after identifying a suspect, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had mature procedures for this. Most of Jiang Yuan¡¯s requirements were actually simr. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother with these details. Once he found Ren Kuangshan¡¯s traces, he immediately searched for more surveince videos based on time and location, whether official or private, unless there were special counter-surveince measures. With specific times and locations, even individuals with mobile phones could be found. The officers borrowed from Mei Yang City Bureau¡¯s Graphic Investigation Brigade all sprang into action. The team leader who had been liaising with Jiang Yuan, Jin Sijun, was the first toe over and applied to the squad leader, bringing a few more people to help. Aimless searching versus finding a target and expanding the oue are obviously two different concepts. Wang Chuanxing wore headphones, made phone calls, sent WeChat messages, and had to text those elder dignified individuals who cared about the experience, busy like a staff officer. Soon, a call came from Changyang City¡¯s side. They couldn¡¯t reach Jiang Yuan for a moment, so they naturally went to Wang Chuanxing. Then, Huang Qiangmin hurried over because he couldn¡¯t get through to Wang Chuanxing, and his phone rang instead. "Did you find Ren Kuangshan?" Huang Qiangmin asked right after meeting him. "The surveince 16 hours after the crime. The location found should be where Ren Kuangshan refueled on the first day," Jiang Yuan pointed at the map on the table and said, "Shipozi Gas Station." "Good, good, good. This clue is very important." Huang Qiangmin, having served as the captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade for many years, his smile appeared immediately. Watching Jiang Yuan solve cases was much easier than hosting cases himself. "Commissioner Huang, Chief Yu also called." Wang Chuanxing reported bitterly. With him taking these calls, he wouldn¡¯t be able to do anything else. Huang Qiangmin understood Wang Chuanxing¡¯s meaning, thought for a moment, and said, "I¡¯ll let the task force hold a conference call." Upon hearing this, Wang Chuanxing immediately felt the burden on his shoulders lighten and hurried to assist with the setup. Soon, Yu Wenshu, Ge Zhibing, and others came online. The direct external aid team called by Changyang City Bureau this timeprised eight teams, plus their own Criminal Investigation Brigade, Graphic Investigation Brigade, National Defense Squad, and leaders from the provincial and ministerial departments. The scale of the conference call quickly broke 20 participants. After the number stably increased, Huang Qiangmin spoke a few formal words and then handed it over to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan briefly described the results but did not mention a single word about the process. Yu Wenshu¡¯s icon lit up immediately: "Shipozi? I remember here, Ren Kuangshan previously participated in activities with the mountain running team around here." Skills like having a photographic memory sometimes defy reason. Parents who constantly urge their children to study and pressure them to excel likely have never seen such individuals. Ge Zhibing¡¯s voice was somewhat heavy, "That makes sense. So, it seems Ren Kuangshan might indeed have fled to the Northeast... I was heading in thepletely wrong direction." The task force members¡¯ opinions on Ren Kuangshan¡¯s escape method were rtively unified. Most believed he would flee abroad, though the team tracking him through video surveince, like Jiang Yuan¡¯s, was the only one. Other teams had headed directly for the border areas. The task force was well-staffed and could arrange teams in all directions. After Jiang Yuan and others chose the Northeast direction, Ge Zhibing naturally chose the Southwest direction. The strictest domestic management was in the Northwest, though there were mature border crossing strategies in the Southeast and South, but both usually involved ship travel. Considering Ren Kuangshan¡¯s background as a truck driver, Ge Zhibing guessed that he would be more likely to head Southwest. Unfortunately, Ren Kuangshan was singr, now appearing in the Northeast direction. Investigating the Southwest direction, Ge Zhibing effectively ran into a dead end. At this time, the director of the task force from Changyang City Bureau spoke: "Trial and error is a sacrifice made for the bigger picture... Hmm, next, I suggest reorganizing the tasks for each team." "Agreed." Everyone nodded in agreement. This was also part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s confirmation of Ren Kuangshan¡¯s track¡¯s important value. Since it was determined he¡¯s fleeing towards the Northeast, other teams in different directions can naturally be recalled. "Jiang Yuan, what do you think?" The director specifically asked Jiang Yuan, something that hadn¡¯t happened in prior meetings. "I¡¯m still reviewing the surveince," Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin opposite him, "I¡¯m nning to start from Shipozi and continue tracking forward to see if I can locate Ren Kuangshan." "Good! Jiang Yuan is doing great like this, showing strong subjective initiative..." The director praised for a few phrases and then asked, "What about everyone else, any thoughts?" "I can go to the China-Russia border to deploy defenses." Ge Zhibing still focused on sealing the national boundary, although it seemed a bit like waiting for rabbits. But he was very experienced in this area and always had ways for preliminary investigations. Those attempting to cross national boundaries inevitably had to make extensive preparations, and watching them closely had a high probability of catching them. Ge Zhibing¡¯s tone was solemn, evidently dissatisfied with this failure. The director naturally agreed. The task force¡¯s internal task distribution was quickly reorganized, but it took some time for everyone to deploy defenses. Chapter 1247 - 1174 Liu Wenkai’s Train of Thought

Chapter 1247: Chapter 1174 Liu Wenkai¡¯s Train of Thought

Crack! In the gloomy weather, a sh of lightning struck, illuminating nothing but emptiness. In this kind of weather, if you¡¯re alone in a room, you¡¯ll feel a little scared. But if you¡¯re with a bunch of guys in one room, all you get is the stench brought by the humid heat. Jiang Yuan looked at the screen, his brow furrowed unconsciously, and he fanned his face with his hand. Seeing this, Wang Chuanxing immediately instructed, "Are all the windows open? Also, turn on the air conditioning and start dehumidifying." "All open." There are temporary workers sent by the Mei Yang City Bureau to do these chores, mostly sent over due to some family connections, simr to ancient local servants who had guarantees. "Then buy two more dehumidifiers. This hall is sorge, two air conditioners aren¡¯t enough. Get the locally delivered kind, and speed it up a bit," Wang Chuanxing arranged, adding, "Have the invoice billed to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment." They were there to help the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, and it was only natural for the other party to provide suitable working conditions for human survival. After Wang Chuanxing arranged everything, he looked at Jiang Yuan again and saw Jiang Yuan still focusing on the screen, which put him at ease. As long as he didn¡¯t interrupt Jiang Yuan¡¯s work, his task was eighty percent done. "Want a meat bun?" Wu Junhao returned at some point, carrying arge box, and began distributing meat buns to everyone. A box full of meat buns must have cost quite a bit. Wang Chuanxing felt it was a pity just looking at them. He first took a meat bun and then said, "Big Wu, why do you keep spending your own money? All these expenses can go on Changyang¡¯s tab." Wu Junhao pped his forehead, "I¡¯m just used to it. Forgot we can expense things now that we¡¯re out." "Let me handle the expenses for you. You¡¯re really generous," Wang Chuanxing requested Wu Junhao for WeChat screenshots and takeaway orders from when he paid and skillfully prepared to expense them. "Anyway, I can¡¯t use up my allowance," Wu Junhao chuckled, rubbed his bald head, and continued handing out meat buns, looking very happy. Since Jiang Yuan arrived, the police system in Ningtai County had been upgraded overall, with the addition of units like the Taihe Working Group, Image Reconnaissance Brigade, and the Patrol and Bomb Squad. Many officers had been promoted, and Wu Junhao finally got the deputy section-head treatment he¡¯d always wished for. The travel subsidies increased, and after family harmony, personal expenses turned into spiritual needs. Wang Chuanxing smacked his lips twice, "Having a house without a loan is really different, huh." "We¡¯ve just got a ce in the county town. If you want to buy in the county, it¡¯s not a problem," Wu Junhao smiled at Wang Chuanxing and said, "You keep wanting to buy in Changyang City, so of course, it¡¯s expensive." "It¡¯s not necessarily about buying in Changyang City," Wang Chuanxing shook his head, "I¡¯m afraid to take out a loan now, and though I can¡¯t save much, look at Ren Kuangshan. He¡¯s just got good luck; he paid off his car loan early and now does as he pleases." Wu Junhao,cking subtlety, said, "What¡¯s lucky about him? He¡¯s got cancer." "Some say cancer is a good thing, letting you foresee when your life ends so you can say goodbye to your family properly, leaving no regrets," Wang Chuanxing sighed. Liu Wenkai strolled over and approached Liu Jinghui, saying, "Director Liu, I saw an update from themand center suggesting Ren Kuangshan might escape to Mongolia. What do you think?" "You¡¯re talking about the word the detective brought back, right?" Liu Jinghui clearly was aware of the information but shook his head, saying, "It¡¯s too one-sided. Ren Kuangshan was just bragging while having a barbeque and drinking with friends. No need to take it seriously." "What did he say?" Wu Junhao was baffled. Liu Wenkai said, "About two months ago, he was chatting with friends and mentioned Outer Mongolia, saying it¡¯s like the backyard for South Koreans, with Koreans running around everywhere. Then he said, if they can y there, why can¡¯t we?" Wu Junhao hissed and said, "If you put it that way, it really is just a matter of getting a car to run off to Mongolia." "If he really ran over there, buying a car isn¡¯t very expensive. A stolen and smuggled Land Cruiser can be had for around 100,000 to 200,000 yuan. Some herders don¡¯t maintain their cars, just drive them until they break," Liu Wenkai noted. Wu Junhao hesitated for a moment and said, "On the grasnds, roads are needed, right?" Liu Wenkai shrugged, "Then just continue with a motorcycle, or have a motorcycle on the car, get close to the border, ditch the car, and ride the motorcycle out." Borders aren¡¯t as secure as people imagine. Not only can the Americans not keep the Mexicans out with their walls, but China¡¯s border is also long andplex. If you really look into the stories of those border guards, you¡¯ll find that most of them patrol the borders day by day, meaning that for most of the day, when the patrols are yet to arrive or have left, most of the border is unmanned and it¡¯s not feasible to encircle the entire national border with barbed wire. So, whatnd borders block are nothing more than roads and railways, maybe a little more fortresses and key locations. As for the rest, the Sino-Russian border is snowy virgin forest, the Tibetan-Indian border is like the journey of monk Tang Sanzang, the China-Mongolia border is where people live following water and grass, and in the southwestern border, there are even viges split between two countries. If one is really experienced and tough, crossing on foot or with a mountain motorcycle is no problem. If willing to take a little risk, driving directly across the border isn¡¯t impossible. People traveling in the southwest often have to be cautious, as they can easily and inadvertently drive out of the country. Liu Jinghui listened to their discussion and asked, "Has themand center arranged personnel to go over?" "A team has been arranged to go, but it probably won¡¯t help much. The border area is toorge to manage. If someone wants to cross the border, it will only take a few days, and by the time they find evidence, the person would have already left the country." Liu Wenkai shook his head. "Without stronger evidence, it should be like this." Having been in many special task forces, Liu Jinghui naturally gave his judgment, saying, "The task of this team is to find more evidence to help themand center make the right decision." Liu Wenkai nced at Liu Jinghui, "Hearing you talk about finding evidence, it always feels a bit odding from you." "I¡¯m just good at reasoning, it doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t value evidence!" Liu Jinghui emphasized. Liu Wenkai chuckled, skipped the topic, and said, "A team of people, going to a strange and remote border area, needs to investigate and find evidence. Even if they do find something, it would be toote by then." "Hmm..." Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment and slowly shook his head, "With just this one lead, we can¡¯t possibly send several teams up there. Even if we did send several teams, it still wouldn¡¯t be enough for such a vast area..." "I have an idea!" Liu Wenkai interrupted Liu Jinghui. "What serious...," Liu Jinghui blurted out, then coughed and asked, "What do you have in mind?" "Ren Kuangshan can say those things, which shows he really has some ideas. A serious person... a serious person wouldn¡¯t know about those things concerning South Koreans in Outer Mongolia, would they?" Liu Wenkai asked. Liu Jinghui stared at Liu Wenkai. Liu Wenkai shrugged nonchntly and said, "I don¡¯t care about useless titles like being a serious person." "Then you¡¯re right." Liu Jinghui said, "Go on." "Well, I just think, Ren Kuangshan doesn¡¯t actually know much about Outer Mongolia, and his knowledge of the China-Mongolia border is probably something he found online. In that case, if he really went to the China-Mongolia border, whether crossing or whatever, it would be normal for him to casually explore the local nightlife while experiencing the area, wouldn¡¯t it?" Liu Jinghui listened and nodded slowly, "You know, you might be onto something..." "Right. So, I suggest we go over there now and don¡¯t worry about the border. The grasnds are so vast, even an entire army wouldn¡¯t cover them. We should contact the local police, crack down on the local illicit industries, and then spread the word. You never know, someone aspiring to work with us mighte forward." Liu Wenkai, being a practical criminal detective, suggested a simple yet highly feasible strategy. In fact, using illicit industries to solve major cases is a very realistic approach. In the earlier days, without so much surveince and smartphones, the police often relied on these industries to find people. After a big heist or a murder, once criminals get their hands on money, few return to their wives and a warm home. Or rather, most who dare such dangerous ventures are usually those without wives and children. When the thrill wears off, and they have money, they inevitably seek out women. Ren Kuangshan has now left his wife and child behind, fleeing alone, and psychologically, he¡¯s be akin to a notorious ouw, though maybe with less foundation. Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and asked Liu Wenkai, "Are you thinking of going to Mongolia?" Liu Wenkai nodded and nced at Wu Junhao, "Everyone needs something to strive for. It can¡¯t just be about working out and eating roujiamo every day, right?" "If you¡¯ve thought it through, I won¡¯t oppose. However, based on the video Jiang Yuan found, Ren Kuangshan most likely headed northeast..." Liu Jinghui confirmed once more with Liu Wenkai. "Let¡¯s just take a gamble. No need for any investment, and if we win, it¡¯s a big one." Liu Wenkai said frankly. The northeast direction is being pursued by Jiang Yuan, and the southwest direction is being blocked by Ge Zhibing, both tasks at a higher level. Given Ge Zhibing¡¯s brigade leader title, at least it¡¯s one level above Huang Qiangmin¡¯s. Nevertheless, they are actually gambling, because only one of them can win. If Liu Wenkai gets a chance to independently block one path, sessful efforts could mean at least a second-ss merit, and with higher independence, even a first-ss merit. Using the Eight Banners¡¯ calction, it¡¯s half a future at the start. Liu Jinghui said no more, taking Liu Wenkai to talk to Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. After getting their consent, Jiang Yuan called themand center to apply. Others might need to exin a lot, but Jiang Yuan handled it in a few words. With the authorization, Liu Wenkai was overjoyed, "I¡¯m going to book a flight now." "I¡¯ll arrange a business jet for you." Jiang Yuan was in favor of Liu Wenkai¡¯s new idea. Although people had been sent to the China-Mongolia border, in terms of actual impact, there were indeed gaps. It was already the fourth day since the incident, and if Liu Wenkai transferred through multiple connections, there was indeed a risk of dy. Liu Wenkai felt a bit bashful, "A business jet... that¡¯s too extravagant. This isn¡¯t quite right; I¡¯m just a deputy section head..." "You also need to coordinate and arrange once you get there, and time is tight. I¡¯ll contact a few forensic experts who know the local criminal police and security well... I¡¯ll also give Chief Yu a heads up." Jiang Yuan said as he once again picked up the phone. Liu Wenkai chuckled bashfully, "It¡¯s all for work. I heard Ge Zhibing also booked a charter flight over, though his status is a bit different..." Chapter 1248 - 1175: Do Not Trouble Two Masters with One Matter

Chapter 1248: Chapter 1175: Do Not Trouble Two Masters with One Matter

After seeing off Liu Wenkai and finishing Wu Junhao¡¯s pancake, Jiang Yuan continued to watch the surveince footage, feeling as monotonous as a high school student repeating their senior year. Everything in front of him seemed familiar, like questions with clear answers, but when it came time to move forward, he often worried that what had been done previously was insufficient, and the answers given might not be urate. As he watched, Jiang Yuan picked up his cup and started drinking tea. The surveince video continued ying in front of him, but his gaze had already begun to drift. Seeing this, Liu Jinghui realized that the ¡¯dragon¡¯ had some thoughts. He picked up a pack of Soft Chinese cigarettes, opened it, handed one to Jiang Yuan, put one in his own mouth, and lit both, puffing away. When the cigarette burned halfway down, Jiang Yuan pressed the whole cigarette into the ashtray, saying, "From Shipozi Gas Station heading northeast, within a 400-kilometer range, there are no traces of Ren Kuangshan at any gas station." "Is he being more cautious?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Maybe, can¡¯t rule it out, but it¡¯s unlikely." Seeing Jiang Yuan use several vague terms in one breath, Liu Jinghui immediately bolstered his confidence, saying, "Speak ording to your judgment; with so many cases solved, Ren Kuangshan isn¡¯t anything special either." It¡¯s just that the crimes hemits are unusual, and he¡¯s well-prepared. However, in modern times, the criminals who manage to evade capture for a while are considered somewhat filtered out. Such criminals, in a way, have a bit of talent. Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "There are surveince cameras at the gas pumps, and I paid special attention this time to see if anyone was refueling outside of the surveince area. In fact, the pumps at Shipozi Gas Station are already quite nonpliant." "Particrly small private gas stations?" "I¡¯ll check the surveince on the nearby roads leading in and out." Jiang Yuan had a high level of authority and strong support, allowing him to ess surveince footage across departments. Liu Jinghui suggested another possibility to help Jiang Yuan judge, saying, "There are many instances of private fuel sales everywhere. Ren Kuangshan drives arge vehicle, so he should have simr channels. If he secretly contacted a private fuel seller and bought private fuel, or even stole fuel himself?" Driving arge vehicle generally means dealing with fuel thieves, so much so that many vehicles have special anti-theft fuel tanks installed. Even so, fuel thievese up with various innovative and reckless ways to steal fuel. Having driven arge vehicle for so long, whether or not he had simr experiences, Ren Kuangshan certainly possesses the relevant knowledge. Most importantly, he definitely has channels to ess such information, whether stealing or buying. "What do you think?" Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui in return. "If it were me..." Liu Jinghui pondered for a long time, saying, "I would choose a gas station. Because private fuel sellers are unstable and unreliable. By refueling at a station, Ren Kuangshan could wear a motorcycle helmet, could wear a facekini for sun protection, but would the private seller allow him to buy fuel like that?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s words were down-to-earth, pointing out that although privacy isn¡¯t heavily emphasized domestically, neither is anyone bothered about one¡¯s attire, whether wearing a mask or sunsses or even a facekini. But in ck market transactions, it won¡¯t work; they ask you to remove it, and you have toply. Likewise, ck-market dealers, engaging in illegal trades, wouldn¡¯t mind getting an extra bounty from a warrant. "For now, this lead on fueling has run its course." Jiang Yuan shook his head helplessly. Instead, Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t in a hurry, sitting across from Jiang Yuan, saying, "Leaving aside the broken lead, what have you discovered so far?" "No discoveries." Jiang Yuan spread his hands. "No discoveries might be a sort of discovery too." Liu Jinghui paused, saying, "Although it¡¯s said that proof of existence doesn¡¯t prove non-existence, if you¡¯ve been searching all day and found nothing, can we say that Ren Kuangshan hasn¡¯t refueled again?" "Hasn¡¯t refueled at a gas station." Jiang Yuan corrected. "Private fuel sellers... although I think choosing private sellers isn¡¯t suitable, proving it is simple enough ¡ª just catch a batch for questioning." Liu Jinghui said, calling Wang Chuanxing over and phoning themand center and the head of the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade, Wang Sheng. For a city¡¯s head of the Criminal Police Brigade, private fuel selling is a minor gray industry that¡¯s too small to usually attract attention, but when it¡¯s given proper attention, to private sellers, it feels like a heavy p. After making the call, Liu Jinghui turned back, saying, "Assuming there¡¯s no news from the private sellers, if so, we must consider that Ren Kuangshan has stopped refueling." Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "If he¡¯s stopped refueling, he likely abandoned the vehicle." Liu Jinghui decisively judged, with an expression of certainty. The major difference between police investigations and detective games is that police can continuously increase known factors through investigation. Detective games and solving problems are quite alike; both start with a series of known conditions, then proceed to deduce the oue, seeking answers. In police work, however, the deduction part is often rather rigid. For most detectives, ites down to using a few mature tactics, repetitively applying them. The difference is, during police investigations, known conditions can always be increased. In this aspect, police investigations are entirely opposite to detective games. It¡¯s the old unsolved cases that resemble detective games. This is also one reason why regr criminal cases seem less sophisticated. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but look at Liu Jinghui, saying, "If we decide he abandoned the vehicle, did he switch to public transport?" "Probably. Driving on his own also requires refueling, and switching electric cars... renting an electric car is less convenient than refueling a motorcycle." Liu Jinghui shook his head, "You could follow this line of refueling; it¡¯s something Ren Kuangshan wouldn¡¯t have considered. Don¡¯t overthink his actions." "I¡¯ve also checked the charging stations, but now many parking lots can charge too..." Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "He couldn¡¯t possibly have entered the city. There are too many checkpoints for vehicles entering and leaving the city. It¡¯s possible to slip through on a motorcycle, but driving a car would be difficult." "Then I think there are two directions: one, he settled around the Shipozi Gas Station, or he switched to other transportation. But I lean towards thetter because settling nearby, staying in a city, still faces city entry-exit issues. It¡¯s not difficult but does carry considerable risk. Moreover, he¡¯s most familiar with Meiyang City; it¡¯s still too close to the crime scene." Liu Jinghui¡¯s judgment carried a bit of a gamble. But in terms of time efficiency,prehensive reasoning is hardly feasible andcks practical significance. Jiang Yuan immediately agreed with Liu Jinghui¡¯s judgment, saying, "Then it¡¯s two steps: first, increase the sweep in Meiyang City since we¡¯re here; let¡¯s ask for more cooperation from the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade." Liu Jinghui smirked, "Only you could say that." Jiang Yuan: "Second, we search for public transport heading to the Northeast." Liu Jinghui nodded, "That includes several options: airports, high-speed rail stations, train stations, bus stations, car rental outlets, carpooling. As a truck driver, he might look for a freight truck ride-share, or hitch a ride on a truck, small probability, but we can¡¯t rule it out." "Flying would be tough, and so would the high-speed rail station. For the others..." Jiang Yuan mused, saying, "Renting a car still requires refueling; hitching a ride on a truck is simr; when passing vehicle checkpoints, he¡¯s still likely to be captured in photos. However, sending wanted notices to these ces and checking through all can¡¯t hurt." "That¡¯ll bother the Mei Yang City Bureau again." Liu Jinghuiughed. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat, took out his phone, "Well, it¡¯s like not bothering the same person twice for the same thing." Chapter 1249 - 1176: Not a Bit Off

Chapter 1249: Chapter 1176: Not a Bit Off

The security checks at airports and high-speed rail stations are thorough, with rtively independent precincts or police stations, and sufficient manpower avable. Jiang Yuan first called Wang Sheng, the captain of the Mei Yang City Criminal Police Brigade, and then contacted themand center to coordinate police forces and resources from both sides. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui also didn¡¯t think Ren Kuangshan would choose these two ces. The risk was too high. Someone who knew to prepare a motorcycle in advance to escape, why challenge such a high-risk move? What¡¯s left are ordinary train stations, bus stations, or car rental agencies and ride-sharing services; even buying a new car or stealing a car is much easier than using nes and high-speed rail. However, investigating these ces requires resources on apletely different scale. On themand center side, the contact person for Jiang Yuan was Wang Chuanxing of the Changyang Detention Division. Hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, he was stunned. Anyone who coordinated rted work for a few days knew how much workload and political resources Jiang Yuan¡¯s request would require. However, the good thing about just working and not being in charge is that you don¡¯t need to be responsible for making requests everywhere, you just have to ask for it. Moreover, because Jiang Yuan¡¯s request was extremely reasonable, themand center had no choice but to dig deep to get him the money, even if it meant taking substantial financial risks. Then, Yu Wenshu called back and asked, "You¡¯ve already checked all the gas stations around, do you still need to check the cars? He needs fuel to drive, right?" Jiang Yuan chuckled and said, "I also had that thought before, but... the area we investigated earlier is only within a three to four hundred kilometer range to the northeast based on the motorcycle¡¯s fuel tank that he was riding. If he switches cars, that tank might cover more than three or four hundred kilometers, and there are many that run up to seven or eight hundred, even a thousand kilometers... Of course, if there¡¯s no reaction at vehicle checkpoints, it¡¯s hard for him to rent a car, but you never know, it¡¯s better to check to be sure..." "You¡¯re right, you¡¯re absolutely right." Yu Wenshu knocked on his head repeatedly and added, "Then I¡¯ll ask around again the people Ren Kuangshan knows, like his family and friends, to avoid him borrowing or buying a car." "That¡¯s right, that¡¯s very thorough of you." Jiang Yuan agreed. These are all investigative techniques that veteran detectives have used for decades, no need for him to teach them bit by bit. In fact, just using these old tactics to catch people would outperform him easily. Seeing that Jiang Yuan was agreeable to following these suggestions, Yu Wenshu rxed a bit and continued, "The vehicle situation is quiteplicated, and although the probability is low... I think we could do this, themand center can organize a team specifically for investigation, especially the underground car market, used car dealers, including repair shops, and also ride-sharing services, cargo services, and nearby rest areas and truck parks. Ren Kuangshan seems to know a bit about cars, so considering that, he might buy a smuggled car, a scrapped car, or a car with false tes. One team might not be enough, but with the involvement of the Mei Yang City Bureau, we can start working and increase efforts as needed..." A smuggled car is an illegally imported car, and a scrapped car is just past its expiration date, but not unusable. Using a fake license te is even better to hide. These belong to illegal vehicles, which won¡¯t go through formal channels, and the sellers and buyers would avoid public eyes, making it easier for escapees. For an average personmitting a crime, buying such a car temporarily is also very difficult. But if you prepare in advance, especially for someone like Ren Kuangshan, who¡¯s an experienced driver, he won¡¯t easily get scammed when buying a car. Even if there¡¯s a problem with the car on the road, he can fix it temporarily without much worry. This is exactly what ancient people meant by the saying "skills will never be a burden," especially practical skills. Even if not used, this is an advantage during a getaway. The police have to spend resources to guard against it. Jiang Yuan repeatedly agreed, as these were the parts he hadn¡¯t considered carefully and wasn¡¯t good at. If he had to manage everything himself, perhaps at this point Xu Taining would have a big role to y. However, the Changyang City Bureau has cast a wider this time. Without a clear target, it¡¯s impossible to conduct a nationwide search. After all, during the hunt for the two Wangs back then, more than 30,000 military and police, over 100,000 militiamen and locals, and even a helicopter was deployed. That was 1983, only three years after the Sino-Vietnamese War. Converted to today¡¯s terms, it was equivalent to deploying a province¡¯s mobile police force, an additional armored brigade, and a J-20 fighter jet. "What¡¯s your n to check the bus and train stations, given theirplexity?" Yu Wenshu asked Jiang Yuan again. Jiang Yuan, however, smiled and said, "Our Cold Case Squad is just a few people... I n to focus on a few stations." "Do you really have a lead?" Yu Wenshu suddenly got excited. At this moment, any clue, no matter how small, could save a lot of manpower and funding. Under these circumstances, funding can be calctedter, but saving any bit of police force is immediately useful. "When I was reviewing the surveince, Ren Kuangshan left the Shipozi Gas Station and disappeared after passing just a few surveince checkpoints. At the time, I thought the subsequent surveince might have missed him, or he chose some remote route. Now considering if he abandoned the vehicle, connecting the lines reveals the nearest three counties, two train stations, and six bus stations." It was easy for Jiang Yuan to say, buting to this conclusion was not easy at all. As Liu Jinghui said, it was the conclusion derived from evidence, based on extensive surveince review leading to the conclusion that the subsequent surveince didn¡¯t miss him, but rather he abandoned the vehicle, and then delineated the range based on hisst known location. Eachyer of judgment within this was also probabilistic. With each addedyer, the probability decreased significantly. "Good, good, you have an idea." Connecting two points into a line, using it as a basis to search nearby train stations is indeed a method. Although Yu Wenshu agreed with Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea, his excitement quickly cooled because it was based on a series ofyered assumptions. Yu Wenshu secretly sighed, thinking, even for Jiang Yuan, reaching this point was very challenging. Yu Wenshu looked up at the time again. More than 100 hours had passed since the case¡¯s onset, and under suchrge-scale mobilization, in another two days, if no results were avable, the task force¡¯s resources would sharply decrease, while the pressure would only increase. Jiang Yuan ended the call, but his excitement was slowly increasing. "Chief Yu took over the part about the cars." Jiang Yuan turned to Liu Jinghui and said, "We¡¯ll focus on checking the train and bus stations in these three counties." "I¡¯ll go find the surveince!" It was Wang Chuanxing who responded. "Wait a minute." Liu Jinghui stopped him, saying, "For the train and bus stations, we can¡¯t only check inside. Ren Kuangshan has some counter-surveince abilities and likely has knowledge of the inner workings of train and bus stations, so he might have found a way to get around inside. These small county train stations tend tock strict management, especially bus stations with frequent boarding outside, which needs our attention." The train attendants on the green trains spend all day selling tickets to passengers, showing just how many people sneak their way onto the train. These are just ordinary people looking to save money; slightly experienced criminals are even more aware of the loopholes in this area. In fact, the police on trains have always been strong contenders for capturing escapees, with some catching over a hundred people in a year, earning them second-ss heroic models. Wang Chuanxing waited for a moment and seeing Jiang Yuan had no other orders, immediately went to make phone calls. He needed to first coordinate with themand center, then contact the criminal police teams of the three counties. He might even need to liaise with the local railway police or the station police station. As before, besides official surveince, the local criminal police would have to collect surveince videos from around the stations. All the officers from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were dispatched. With two train stations and six bus stations, four people at each means 32 people. Four people aren¡¯t really enough, just the gates at each station have several entrances. There¡¯s arge area with many nooks and crannies, and at least the dispatched officers need to walk through them, otherwise, a grocery store leading directly inside the station or a break in the fence could render everyone¡¯s effort pointless. Jiang Yuan stayed at the Graphic Investigation Brigade, reviewing the surveince footage to confirm his judgment. After locating Ren Kuangshan at the Shipozi Gas Station, they could track him leaving the gas station and crossing two intersections on the video. However, after beingst seen at an intersection a few kilometers away, Ren Kuangshan disappeared. Clearly, he must have gone into the mountains after passing through this intersection. Given the surrounding environment, there are many paths for a dirt bike, and he could have descended and switched to regr routes at any time, making it difficult for surveince to capture him. But if we start from here and assume he was nning to abandon the bike and switch to another mode of transportation, the possible routes be more limited. Theoretically, we could gather and investigate surveince from these directions, but that¡¯s just in theory. The volume is toorge, with some routes crossing cities and provinces, and even if departments stepped in to coordinate, the myriad procedures would still consume a significant amount of time. During the time spent reviewing, some surveince footage from the nearest Zhu Yuan County has already been sent back. Jiang Yuan opened his notebook, jotted down a few notes, then opened the software to watch the footage. The work of video format conversion, sorting, etc., was handled by others. Before he knew it, it was alreadyte at night. When Jiang Yuan felt his stomach growling, he looked up to find theputers in the room still half-lit. "If you have nothing more to do, go get some rest." Jiang Yuan stood up and said, "We won¡¯t finish it today anyway." After a while, someone said, "I won¡¯t go back; my wife is already asleep. Going back now would just mean getting scolded." "No wife." "No house." Everyone gave their straightforward answers. Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui beside him: "You¡¯re not going back either?" "I¡¯m thinking too." Liu Jinghui tapped the table with his pen. Jiang Yuan rubbed his stomach, suddenly missing Wu Junhao. He went on a mission, and now there¡¯s not even a meat bun to eat. "Let¡¯s get some hotpot." Jiang Yuan said to Wang Chuanxing before sitting down to continue watching the video. "It¡¯s ready, we can eat anytime." Wang Chuanxing, familiar with Jiang Yuan, touched him like he was petting a police dog. "Then let¡¯s eat." Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then decided to have the hotpot brought in, setting it up in the hall of the Graphic Investigation Brigade, eating hotpot while watching the big screen. Steam billowed from the hotpot, filling the thoughtfully maintained information analysis center of the Meiyang City Graphic Investigation Brigade, expressing the homesickness of all police officers. Opposite the hotpot on the wall, several screens yed videos at normal speed. Jiang Yuan watched the screen while Wang Chuanxing handled the vegetables. He first scalded some lettuce produced at the Jiang Family Ranch, then the beef from the same ranch, focusing on health. Jiang Yuan ate and watched, his mind constantly working. Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help butment, "Why not take a break, finish eating first." "After eating, it¡¯s time to sleep." Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui: "You¡¯re a bit ruthless." Mu Zhiyang also advised, "We¡¯re not in such a rush, how about we..." "Pause for a moment." Jiang Yuan raised a hand and called out. Wang Chuanxing paused his movements with the meat and asked, "No more beef tter?" "I was talking about the video, the spot just now." Jiang Yuan got up and pointed at the big screen. The officers eating hotpot froze momentarily, then sprang into chaos. "This is the spot." Jiang Yuan pointed at a group of people crossing the street, watched it three times, and then tapped the screen with his finger: "The one in ck clothes, ck pants, sneakers, and a mask, that¡¯s Ren Kuangshan. He took a train, check the train schedule." Amidst everyone¡¯s surprise, Mu Zhiyang was dumbfounded. Was it really that close? Have I missed many opportunities? Chapter 1250 - 1177 Waiting

Chapter 1250: Chapter 1177 Waiting

3:30 AM. The phone rang. Zhang Dinghui immediately opened his eyes, his heart pounding fiercely, and felt his temples throbbing as if trying to break through something innate. As the director of the Mei Yang City Bureau, Zhang Dinghui received countless calls every day, but midnight calls were rare, especially at 3 AM, a time when normal people were already asleep. Such calls came only during the time Jiang Yuan was here to investigate the explosion case, and news would often arrive at 3 AM... Zhang Dinghui¡¯s eyes widened, like a martial arts master contemting before death: Jiang Yuan is indeed in Mei Yang City. Skillfully reaching for a pill box on the bedside table, Zhang Dinghui opened it and swallowed the medication. Then he pressed his temple with his hand, took a couple of deep breaths, and pushed back the nausea from his chest and abdomen before answering the call, saying, "It¡¯s Zhang Dinghui." Wang Sheng knew it waste at night, so he exined quickly, "Director. Jiang Yuan has confirmed that the suspect, Ren Kuangshan, abandoned his car the day after the crime in Zhu Yuan County and walked along the railway to Zhu Yuan County Train Station, where he took a slow train to leave the area." "Left the Mei Yang City area?" Zhang Dinghui breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, but the investigation in Zhu Yuan County still needs our cooperation. Jiang Yuan has already begun his journey to Zhu Yuan County. Additionally, leaders from the department have departed from Changyang City on a helicopter, expected to arrive at Zhu Yuan County Train Station in about two hours," Wang Sheng stated, getting to the main point of the call. Zhang Dinghui steadied himself and repeated, "On a helicopter? Thatmitted?" "Five days have passed since the crime, and the leaders must be quite anxious," Wang Sheng, as the head of the Criminal Police Brigade, understood the excitement of a sudden breakthrough in such a major case, a feeling even more exhrating than a wife giving birth, stronger than a mistress getting pregnant, akin to the child of the mistress not being his. Zhang Dinghui nced at the clock, understood Wang Sheng¡¯s intention, and sighed, "Alright, let¡¯s go to Zhu Yuan County as well." "Yes." Wang Sheng paused for a moment before saying, "I¡¯ve sent a police car to pick you up, it will arrive at your building in about 10 minutes." "Alright. Thank you for your hard work." Zhang Dinghui had nothing more to say, so he got out of bed, washed up, and began to dress. "Is there a case?" his wife, stirred by the noise, asked from the next room. They had been sleeping separately for a long time, otherwise the sound of Zhang Dinghui¡¯s phone would have caused two heart attack patients. "Yes. You go back to sleep." Zhang Dinghui didn¡¯t borate on the case, dressed carefully and went out the door. Outside, his secretary was already waiting. The car drove steadily, with a police car leading the way, and at 3 AM, there was no need for traffic control. He slept all the way to Zhu Yuan County, and when Zhang Dinghui opened his eyes again, it was already dawn outside. "The leader¡¯s helicopter willnd in 10 minutes, have a drink of water, and we¡¯ll head over," the secretary handed him a thermos cup considerately. Zhang Dinghui drank most of it in one go, not worried at all about the water in the thermos cup burning his mouth. Power is a cage that narrows the fluctuation of water temperature within a thermos cup, the greater the power, the narrower the fluctuation. "Let¡¯s go." Zhang Dinghui put on his shoes, adjusted his cor slightly, and stepped out of the car. Outside, his subordinate colleagues were already waiting. "Thank you all for your hard work, waking in the night must have been shocking. How¡¯s your heart?" Zhang Dinghui acknowledged them as he chatted while walking. "12 quick heart pills." "16 pills." "I used nitroglycerin." They joked casually, and didn¡¯t walk far before reaching the meeting ce. No need for direction, everyone automatically stood at where they should be. Whirr... Whirr... The sound of helicopter des was irritating, stirring up dust from the ground, as well as smiles from the people standing on it. The helicopternded. Song Tiancheng opened his eyes, nced out the window, took a sip of water, put on his shoes, and got out of the helicopter. Outside, the local colleagues were already waiting. ... Zhu Yuan County Railway Station Police Station. The police station cleared out the meeting room and the chief¡¯s office, but still couldn¡¯t amodate such arge group of people. When leaders brought people out, they were there to work; leaders could hold a teacup and talk with a smile, but subordinates had to find ces to write speech materials, etc. Huang Qiangmin greeted the leaders and then said, "Jiang Yuan is on the tform reviewing the site, I¡¯ll give him a call..." "No rush, let him finish before we talk. We are all here to understand the situation, not to cause trouble," Song Tiancheng said as he nced around, and continued, "The most reliable clue now is provided by Jiang Yuan. When eating, don¡¯t me the chef for being slow." Turning to Zhang Dinghui, Song Tiancheng addressed him, "Director Zhang, we owe you gratitude for your help this time..." This case is not the responsibility of the Mei Yang City Bureau; they just need to cooperate with the work. Song Tiancheng mentioned his subordinates specifically to prevent Zhang Dinghui from misunderstanding. This time, Zhang Dinghui has been more proactive than usual, also to give face to Song Tiancheng and Jiang Yuan. Last time, during the gambling house explosion case in Mei Yang City, it was Song Tiancheng who brought Jiang Yuan to handle it, so this is returning the favor. At the same time, Zhang Dinghui and Song Tiancheng have known each other for a long time. Zhang Dinghui smiled broadly and said, "We¡¯re here to assist." "Hahaha." Song Tiancheng feigned amusement, his expression less serious now. After saying a couple more sentences, he turned to Huang Qiangmin and asked, "Why did Jiang Yuan purposelye to inspect the tform? Is the surveince video unclear?" If the surveince is unclear, the reliability of the clues will also bepromised. Huang Qiangmin shook his head: "The surveince is appropriate. However, the train suspect Ren Kuangshan boarded is a slow train, with a long stop time of about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, a train also stops on a neighboring track, which Jiang Yuan fears might allow the suspect to secretly cross the tform and board another train." Song Tiancheng¡¯s eyelids twitched, this answer was like a horror story for him as the person responsible for the case, prompting him to say, "Isn¡¯t it said that the suspect¡¯s destination is the Northeast? He has been heading Northeast." "That¡¯s the normal inference, Jiang Yuan is just preparing for contingencies." Huang Qiangmin understood what Song Tiancheng was worried about; he also felt Jiang Yuan¡¯s spections were like horror stories. The train beside is heading eastward; if the suspect did secretly board it, and their team mobilized to the Northeast, thinking about that scenario is chilling. Huang Qiangmin felt if he were the task force leader and encountered such a situation, it would cast a lifelong shadow. Although Ren Kuangshan would ultimately be captured, even if he escaped now, this level of criminal is bound to be on the Interpol red notice list in the future. Unless he quietly dies in a foreign country; otherwise, in the future when Ren Kuangshan is caught and confesses such a contradictory story, no matter how much time has passed, the investigators from that year will never have peace at heart. Song Tiancheng also became serious: "Jiang Yuan¡¯s thinking is rigorous. This guy is born to be a policeman." "Now they call him a natural detective body." Zhang Dinghui said, using a newly learned term. Song Tianchengughed heartily again. Not longter, Jiang Yuan returned with a group of technicians. "How is it?" Song Tiancheng wasn¡¯t afraid to show his urgency. He even took a helicopter; indeed, he was anxious. "Based on the situation, he did board this train. He boardedpartment 6." Jiang Yuan ryed the information seen in the video, not unexpected. Song Tiancheng breathed a sigh of relief: "It¡¯s good that it¡¯s confirmed; good that it¡¯s confirmed. This way, it seems the suspect indeed headed Northeast." "Considering the time, he should have already alighted." Liu Jinghui checked his watch: "I am two dayste." Song Tiancheng¡¯s expression shifted slightly: "Ge Zhibing has already set up defenses at the border; I¡¯m not sure whether he can block the suspect." His gaze turned to Jiang Yuan: "In pursuit and interception, Jiang Yuan, what do you need?" "The train¡¯s stop time and location are clear, and each train station¡¯s surveince isplete. Now, it¡¯s about collecting surveince from each station to see where the suspect disembarked. I¡¯ve sent cooperation requests to themand center. I can review the video in a short time; it¡¯s just a matter of how quickly each ce can send it over." Jiang Yuan answered quickly, clearly having thought it through. Slow trains typically stop at every station; it¡¯s normal to stop at twenty stations along the way. Even so, even if each station has a 10-minute stop, altogether, it¡¯s only 200 minutes of stop time, doubling the time would mean 400 minutes of stop time. During this period, the surveince at a train¡¯s entrances and exits and on the tform, whether ten, eight, or more, has a limited total video length. With the target person clearly identified, Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t have to watch all the videos himself; a team can be organized to watch the videos together. Forpetent image investigators, watching such videos is routine. Moreover, domestic AI systems have been used for gait analysis since ten years ago. Additionally, facial recognition can be employed. Train station or airport systems are tuned strictly; a high simrity prompts alerts. Now with determined time and location, the simrity requirements can be slightly rxed. Regarding why it can¡¯t be used at gas stations, it¡¯s due to differences in surveince settings and rity, while train stations have professional facial recognition setups. For example, facial recognition surveince isn¡¯t simply capturing images for faceparison. Firstly, it requires high resolution; secondly, it needs supplemental lighting; thirdly, the capture angle must face the subject directly, with slightteral and vertical rotation eptable, but top-down orteral captures aren¡¯t eptable. Therefore, positioning of facial and vehicle recognition setups is often meticulous and requires coordination,cking in gas station surveince. Lastly, extensive surveince entails significant storage or transmission needs. If the footfall is ten thousand people, capturing over 100 thousand photos ismon. ces with necessity can handle these photos without issue, but non-essential spots don¡¯t need it. Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s light-hearted answers, Song Tiancheng felt relieved too: "Great, what¡¯s the name, make a call and urge them, let each ce report the required time,pile a list for me, I¡¯ll contact them personally." "Understood." The person swiftly took action. Liu Jinghui then said softly beside them: "Anticipate suspects jumping off the train early when slow trains approach the station." Listening to this, Song Tiancheng¡¯s brow furrowed again. Liu Jinghui added: "Usually they can¡¯t jump off; train attendants are stationed at the doors. However, if something goes wrong, the attendants might not report; they must be asked individually." "That¡¯s good!" Song Tiancheng breathed a sigh of relief, a solution is all it takes. A train doesn¡¯t have many attendants. "It¡¯s best to find some passengers, for instance, those who bought seated tickets inpartment 6 can be asked if they remember Ren Kuangshan. Train ridesst several hours, even ten-plus hours, and passengers get acquainted with those around them." Liu Jinghui paused, then continued, "Ordinary people might just sleep or aren¡¯t sensitive to those around them, special attention can be given to passengers¡¯ upations like veterans, those who worked in the military or police systems, including some self-employed individuals, small merchants, and former prisoners, who tend to notice those around them more, not limited topartment 6..." Liu Jinghui referred to traditional detective skills, not particrly novel tactics, but when actually employed, clearly demands significant human and material resources. Song Tiancheng effortlessly made arrangements; for ordinary detective teams this is a burden, but for task forces, it¡¯s as if parents teach children, nothing out of the ordinary. Chapter 1251 - 1178: Hurried Footsteps

Chapter 1251: Chapter 1178: Hurried Footsteps

Heshan City. At 4:30 in the afternoon, the sun had already set. Ren Kuangshan arrived at his trusty BBQ stand. If there was any good toe from the early sunset, it was that the BBQ stand opened earlier, and it could be counted as dinner. Ren Kuangshan greeted the owner and ordered, "Three grilled fat, a handful of mustardmb tripe, and five skewers ofmb meat." "Alright," the owner replied promptly, and soon brought the order, adding a bowl of soup, "Freshly cookedmb soup made frommb bones simmered all day, to warm you up." "Thank you, thank you," Ren Kuangshan felt genuinely warmed inside. He had spent years driving trucks away from home. As the saying goes, when one leaves their hometown, they be lowly. Truck drivers endure more grievances than hardships, with no outlet to express them. For a while, Ren Kuangshan envied couples who drove trucks together. Two people living in one truck, taking turns driving, cooking meals, and even having a marital life at night. Later, Ren Kuangshan didn¡¯t envy them much. Kids need schooling, it¡¯s crucial to have the mother around, both parents leaving would turn the child into a left-behind child. As for himself... Before getting cancer, Ren Kuangshan felt that one must fulfill one¡¯s responsibilities. After getting it... Ren Kuangshan took a big gulp ofmb soup, grimacing at the heat, thinking, people are not much different frommbs, destined to be consumed by shepherds, one can¡¯t control much. All he can do is leave some money behind. If he stayed home, the hard-earned money over the years would likely end up at the hospital. In the end, he¡¯d merely watch his wife mourn by the bedside, not knowing if she¡¯s crying for him or for the empty household, for the life ahead. Now, it¡¯s better. Ren Kuangshan left the hard-earned money over the years to his wife. Before leaving, she cried all she needed to in those ten minutes. Ren Kuangshan felt she was truly crying for him. In today¡¯s society, for a man to have a woman genuinely cry for him for ten minutes is quite enough. Ren Kuangshan shook his head, took another big gulp ofmb soup, grimacing again from the heat, nearly spitting it out. But he had the determination to keep it in his mouth and gulped it down reluctantly. "There¡¯s oil on themb soup, it cools slowly, you can¡¯t drink it like that." The owner quickly came over to say after noticing him. Ren Kuangshan nodded with a smile, saying "I know," then picked up a skewer, seemingly casuallymenting, "Owner, where around here do more outsiders gather? Where is lively at night?" "This side can be considered lively enough. If you want more excitement, it¡¯s the big crossroad, Construction Square." The owner replied. Ren Kuangshan asked, "Is it chaotic?" "A bit. However, there are fewer people now, especially young people, so it won¡¯t get too chaotic, can¡¯tpare to the 90s." The owner said with a nostalgic face. Ren Kuangshan politely smiled. After eating the BBQ, Ren Kuangshan hailed a taxi to Construction Square. With money in hand and deciding to stay in Heshan for a while, he nned to set up a safe house. With the local rent being cheap, the lease needed to be paid annually with at least two months deposit, which altogether was just a few thousand. Ren Kuangshan first explored the area personally, then found a rtivelyrge house online. It was a two-bedroom one-living room with no shared space, furnished with some old furniture and appliances, barely bringing along luggage. It was part of the street-side family building built by the former production construction corps, just crossing an alley to reach a crossroad, not a residentialmunity but convenient in transport, with a few neighbors. Like many small cities in Northeast, Heshan City¡¯s elderly have gradually moved away with their children, especially those with better conditions. Around the house Ren Kuangshan chose, there were many rental apartments. Mainly because they can still be rented out. Further ces had more vacant houses with too few tenants, making owners toozy to list them for rent. To Ren Kuangshan¡¯s capability, this was a rather suitable hideout he could think of. Ren Kuangshan nned to stay for half a year, and then go abroad. By then, any ideas from the sponsor behind him should have subsided. Ren Kuangshan thought about the person the other party wanted him to kill was an academician, internally being extremely vignt. Their audacity to kill an academician obviously implied his own end would be inevitable if they wanted, making Ren Kuangshan dare not follow the original n to go abroad. Leaving the square, Ren Kuangshan, like a moth, headed wherever the lights glowed, both to pass time and scout. Passing a brightly lit building, he saw the sign "International Trade Starlight KTV," hesitated a bit, but resisted going inside. Staying in a small city enhanced his sense of security, but the expected enjoyable experience was greatly diminished. In bigger cities, the more dazzling ces are the more hidden; many cesck even signs or facades, requiring friend introductions to enter. Ren Kuangshan had only heard of such ces before, never witnessed them. Small cities were good, opening right besidemercial circles, but after much thought, Ren Kuangshan still dared not. His face was already on wanted posters, though not widely spread, uncertain who might see them. Ren Kuangshan wandered outside, could wear a big hat, mask, and earmuffs, people would just think he¡¯s a cold-sensitive outsider, But inside certain ces, masks can¡¯t be worn. However, renting or even buying property due to Heshan¡¯s influencer city status, its agents could handle the entire process, Ren Kuangshan only needed to provide a copy of a bought ID card. "Don¡¯t follow me!" Suddenly a man and woman quarreled in the front parking lot. Ren Kuangshan couldn¡¯t help but stop. The man and woman just out of the store, both wore a coat. The woman wore ck stockings, tall and slender. The man following her was less impressive, his voice drunkenly saying, "What do you mean follow you, we agreed you¡¯de with me, what¡¯s the meaning now? Reneging right?" "I¡¯ve told you, I don¡¯t do this, at moste out for tea and relieve your hangover." The woman¡¯s arm was grabbed by the man, struggling hard to break free. The manughed angrily, "Came out for tea just for tea? You think I¡¯m a fool?" "I really meant to drink tea... besides, I didn¡¯t take your money..." Ren Kuangshan touched the retractable baton he carried behind, considering ying hero to save the beauty, not for anything else, but to add her on WeChat, getting to know a few of her friends might be nice. Just as he thought, two men suddenly rushed out from the dark. "Stop fighting, move aside." One man spoke in amanding Mandarin. The slightly drunk man stood straight, asking, "Who are you? Let me tell you, don¡¯t meddle in others¡¯ business!" "Police." The man frowned, "I don¡¯t know you, just saying you¡¯re police makes you police? Show your credentials!" The man showed his credentials to him. "Out-of-town police right?" The drunken man chuckled, then released the woman beside him, saying, "Okay, out-of-town or not, me, amoner, I¡¯ll listen to you." With that, he cupped his hands and turned to leave. Ren Kuangshan stood in the darkness, watching the entire scene, not help lowering his head and quickly walked away. Chapter 1252 - 1179: It’s Him

Chapter 1252: Chapter 1179: It¡¯s Him

"Hello. Director Li, hello, I¡¯m Song Tiancheng from the Ministry." "Oh, oh, hello, hello, the information you requested is beingpiled overtime. It will be delivered soon. You know, we¡¯re a small ce, vastnd with sparse poption, limited personnel avable, and many surveince cameras at the train station..." "Well, of the 26 cities, 17 have already delivered the materials. The remaining 9, including your bureau, rank lower. I have notified each one, hoping you can expedite the process. Later, I¡¯ll send you the timeline for each city¡¯spletion. Thank you." With that, Song Tiancheng hung up the phone. He didn¡¯t have direct authority tomand local police bureaus; he wasn¡¯t very familiar with the situation of these grassroots police stations, let alone the temperament of local leaders. But within the development of police bureaus over the years, the sense of honor is deeply ingrained in everyone. Song Tiancheng¡¯s remark "Your bureau ranks lower" had an effect better than ten meetings. The seasoned veterans in the bureau reacted like they had been struck with alum, quickly warming up and expanding. Putting down the phone, Song Tiancheng took another sip of tea. Soon, the secretary handed over another phone receiver, whispering, "This is Director Zhao Zhongfa..." Song Tiancheng first listened to the secretary¡¯s report in his ear, then picked up the phone, "Hello, Director Zhao..." Huang Qiangmin acted busy as he listened from the corner, nodding frequently, as if gaining some insights. After making a round of calls, Song Tiancheng¡¯s teacup was still precisely eight-tenths full. He took a leisurely sip and asked, "Is there anything else delivered?" "Yes, surveince video from Weili County has been delivered, but it¡¯s iplete. They mentioned they¡¯ll supplement itter," the subordinate reported promptly. Song Tiancheng nodded, "They¡¯re all quite clever. It¡¯s okay. Bring out the supplemental list I asked you to prepare before. Rank them ording to the time and number of supplements needed, using golf scoring rules. It will be called... standard supplement counts, the fewer the supplements, the higher the ranking, and the longer the dy, the lower the ranking." "Yes," the subordinate understood immediately. The Ministry mightck other things, but there¡¯s no shortage of math experts, programming geniuses, and material masters. If someone is none of these, they are surely well-connected, still capable of getting things done. In the corner, Huang Qiangmin watched with bright eyes. Learning and contemting. Next door, in the meeting room. image investigation officers, divided into 8 groups, were reviewing surveince videos sent from various locations. When there¡¯s no target or direction, having a thousand people watch surveince videos is useless. But now there¡¯s a confirmed target, and the situation is entirely different. Although Jiang Yuan felt it was somewhat wasteful, themand center immediately allocated personnel to support Jiang Yuan. Currently, resources were piled high, and the army was unsure of the enemy¡¯s location. Anywhere that could break through, reinforcements were eagerly sought without worrying too much about cost-effectiveness. Moreover, speaking objectively, with at least dozens of hours of surveince video to be delivered from more than twenty stations, having Jiang Yuan review it all alone, even at triple speed, would require considerable time. Everyone would share the work, with each team having one or two Level 2 image investigators. Under normal circumstances, suspects shouldn¡¯t be able to escape. Level 2 image investigators are considered technical experts in a county, having viewed at least tens of thousands of hours of video and being eager to learn and skilled at it. A wild-level suspect would find it difficult to escape in a train station environment. A train station is simr to a ring with few strategic options for either side; masters inside can only scrape by without high-level LV3 skills, making it impractical. Even Ren Kuangshan might not have LV3 driving skills, let alone escape skills. In fact, the first one to point out Ren Kuangshan was Wei Shikan, who was serving tea nearby. Wei Shikan didn¡¯t understand image investigation, but while sipping Kopi Luwak, he nced at the screen and saw someone wearing a mask and windproof leather jacket,ughing, "Watched for so long and someone wearing a mask so carefully, it¡¯s a top-ranked suspect, right? Does it look like a suspect?" Several image investigators sitting below were indeed scrutinizing this person, but how could they shout without confirmation? Those with a bit of workce experience know that reporting to leaders should be minimal, and definitive answers must be confirmed and reconfirmed. In such a major case, if they cried wolf, even if they caught a fugitiveter, if it¡¯s not Ren Kuangshan, it won¡¯t work! But Wei Shikan was different. Standing in a hall of nearly 200 people, he wasn¡¯t intimidated; instead, he exhibited his social charisma, wandering through groups and speaking out whenever he saw something interesting, never caring about others¡¯ opinions. What he did wasn¡¯t wrong. How others view him was determined for Wei Shikan long ago. Whether it¡¯s a gilded second-generation, diligent second-generation, serious second-generation, or a yful second-generation, the core is second-generation, not the preceding article. But regardless, the first to call out Ren Kuangshan was indeed Wei Shikan. Sitting below were several image investigators, who were now serious after being preempted, staring intensely at the screen. As police officers, they were each more cunning than crooks. If the image investigators here spoke recklessly, no one would pay them any mind. But Wei Shikan had already called it out, yet the image investigators below were watching the video like facing a great enemy; this clearly didn¡¯t fit the usual scenario. Several people gathered around. "It does... kind of resemble him." One image investigator with slightly better skills took one look and felt it was spot on, though speaking cautiously. Original group policemen sat like needles in a cushion, staring at the screen, watching again and again. It was indeed very simr to Ren Kuangshan¡¯s image, but they resented Wei Shikan for stealing the thunder. Second-generation, genuinely detestable! "Quickly report to Captain Jiang." Several having seen it dared not dy any longer. Jiang Yuan came upon hearing the news. Wei Shikan, full of anticipation, "Did I capture Ren Kuangshan?" "Um..." Jiang Yuan took a careful look, affirming, "It is indeed Ren Kuangshan." "Found?" "Just like that?" "Second-generation intercepted it?" People around stood up. Liu Jinghui quickly came over, emphasizing, "The case solution is a collective achievement!" Wei Shikan, well-versed in family teachings on this,ughed and patted a nearby image investigator¡¯s shoulder, saying, "Brother, credit where it¡¯s due, I¡¯ll just hang a name, reasonable?" The nearby image investigator quickly replied politely, "Reasonable." Wei Shikan chuckled heartily, "I said, among passengersing out with him, none wore masks. He stood out. Even if the train was smelly, a mask would have been soaked with the odor..." "Makes sense!" "Awesome!" No matter what, Wei Shikan genuinely pointed out the person, what else could they say but cooperate? Jiang Yuan promptly reported to Song Tiancheng. Song Tiancheng came over, maintainingposure, and expressed approval to Wei Shikan. Thereafter, Song Tiancheng immediately ordered, "Record this, I make the following deployment." "Continue to collect surveince videos inside and outside the station to try and locate Ren Kuangshan¡¯s whereabouts. Pay special attention to transfer points, parking lots, etc." "Comprehensively review Ren Kuangshan¡¯s rtionships locally to see if he has any rtives or friends he might seek refuge with." "Surrounding the train station, continue screening vehicle checkpoints and facial recognition checkpoints to confirm Ren Kuangshan¡¯s whereabouts." "Request local technical investigation to confirm and locate Ren Kuangshan¡¯s phone; he should have a new phone and number now, see if you can identify which one." Despite a simr set of deployments, the manpower and resources required this time were significantly less than at the start. Including Jiang Yuan and others, a brief sense of relief was felt. Especially with Song Tiancheng¡¯s arrangement for technical investigation, once Ren Kuangshan¡¯s current phone number is confirmed, if it hasn¡¯t been changed, his location can directly be marked on the map. Chapter 1253 - 1180: Quick!

Chapter 1253: Chapter 1180: Quick!

Nighttime. Ren Kuangshan found it impossible to sleep. His ultimate goal after this hit-and-run was to indulge in women, to his heart¡¯s content, until he died. Ren Kuangshan even once considered that he needn¡¯t bother with protection anymore, since he was a dying man anyway, and illnesses wouldn¡¯t have time to im his life. Yet, now that things had calmed down, Ren Kuangshan was already unbearably anxious. But tonight¡¯s scene, with those two sudden appearances of out-of-town cops, had really frightened Ren Kuangshan. Being caught and sent to jail was the oue Ren Kuangshan couldn¡¯t ept. At the very least, he didn¡¯t want to go to jail before the cancer in his body became visibly apparent. And in a small ce like Heshan, what reason was there for two out-of-town policemen to appear? Most likely they were here on a case, or perhaps for a meeting, but no matter how much Ren Kuangshan thought about it, it just didn¡¯t seem right. Heshan is a prefecture-level city. If they were here for a meeting, odds are they¡¯d be county policemen. County cops wouldn¡¯t stand so confidently at the biggest business entrance in the city, and more importantly, the attitude of the kid causing trouble at the business entrance would be different. Ren Kuangshan had seen plenty of these arrogant guys, many of whom were locals with deep roots but unwilling to settle while doing business. When they mentioned "out-of-town cops," they likely weren¡¯t talking about county cops; otherwise, they might have specifically mentioned "so-and-so county." Ren Kuangshan turned over, continuing to think. It¡¯s possible that even police from other cities in the province might be identified by mentioning the city names. Saying they¡¯re out-of-town most likely means they¡¯re from outside the province. Ren Kuangshan tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He didn¡¯t know if his guesses were correct or if he was overthinking. He wasn¡¯t familiar enough with Heshan and had no idea how people talked and chatted around here, which made him feel like he was unnecessarily anxious. Thinking and thinking, Ren Kuangshan didn¡¯t know when he fell asleep. When he woke up again, it was already daylight. Downstairs, the sound of a vehicle driving in woke Ren Kuangshan. A thought suddenly urred to him: I need to buy a car first. Ren Kuangshan had driven big cars all his life, traveling far and wide, and he believed that with a car, he could go anywhere. Now, he didn¡¯t dare to exit through the Northeast port. The n handed to him by his financial backer, he didn¡¯t dare use anymore, but the decision to leave the country was even more definite. Two out-of-town cops had already scared him so much he couldn¡¯t sleep all night; staying in the country would eventually lead to being scared to death. As for how to leave, Ren Kuangshan had a clear idea: he would just repeat the n from the day he killed someone in the ident. After such a long time, the police still hadn¡¯te knocking, suggesting that the n was effective. Given this, Ren Kuangshan felt that replicating it once more would only be safer! As he thought about it, Ren Kuangshan sprang into action. He was the kind who acted faster than he thought, but previously, the decisions were minor, at most about whether to buy a big car or go somewhere new. This time it was still about buying a car, but for Ren Kuangshan, it truly rted to life and death. Ren Kuangshan expertly searched online and found that car dealers in Heshan seemed like government employees moonlighting as shopkeepers, speaking as if they already knew everything, and when asking directly about purchasing a car, question after question arose. Buying a new car was rtively easy, but ces like 4S shops had cameras everywhere, lots of paperwork, some models couldn¡¯t be collected straight away, and even more problematic, they enforced loan requirements, involving face recognition and so on, easily exposing him. Ren Kuangshan thought it over and decided to catch a ride-share, taking along a suitcase, heading straight to the provincial capital, and near the Automobile Repair City, he disposed of his mobile phone and bank cards and activated his final set of identification documents. This set, initially prepared for when he got out of the country, would be useful for money and document requirements, not to mention all the online apps needing ID, SIM cards, and bank information for registration and login. After switching to a new set of identification, Ren Kuangshan memorized his new name, "Li Yongxiang," repeating it several times, then he approached a young man flipping a sign at the Automobile Repair City, using some jargon to buy a reasonably maintained Toyota Prado, under someone else¡¯s registration, for nearly a hundred thousand cash. After parting with this money and taking his small bag filled with cash and gold, Ren Kuangshan felt even his bag had lightened. Ren Kuangshan originally thought he was thoroughly prepared, but unexpectedly, he had reached a point of near exhaustion, prompting him to recall words he¡¯d often heard while driving long-hauls in the past: spend for the road, not at home. Escaping really costs money. Ren Kuangshan even felt that, if he procrastinated any longer, the money he earned with his life would all be consumed on the journey. Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Ren Kuangshan did a final check of the vehicle, then sat in the driver¡¯s seat, filled up at a nearby gas station, and drove out of the city, not staying in the provincial capital for even a day. After driving silently for two hours, he found a roadside automobile repair shop, bought two spare fuel cans, siphoned out the fuel from his tank, then found another petrol station to fill up. He took out his phone, opened the map app, and somewhat awkwardly typed in: Manzhouli... ... "We¡¯ve determined Ren Kuangshan¡¯s location!" At 3:30 in the morning, the phone beside Zhang Dinghui¡¯s bed rang crazily. Upon answering, the first thing he heard was this sentence. Zhang Dinghui stared nkly for a while, then clutched his chest and swallowed the quick-acting heart pills from the medicine box, saying, "What does this case have to do with us in Meiyang City?" The excited captain of the Graphic Investigation Brigade on the other end of the phone hesitated for a few seconds before whispering, "Weren¡¯t you the one who instructed us to report to you as soon as there was any progress on the case?" "Hmm... I did say that..." Zhang Dinghui nced at his watch, "I said that when Jiang Yuan was still in Meiyang City, right." "Yes, but at that time... we hadn¡¯t made any significant progress yet..." "Well... tell me about it." Zhang Dinghui simply sat up; there was no chance of him going back to sleep now. "Alright, we followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s directive, coordinated with Director Song¡¯s instructions, reexamined and analyzed the videos rted to Ren Kuangshan. We can basically determine that he took a train from Zhu Yuan County, arrived at Yanquan County in the northeast border, then took a ck cab outside the train station to Heshan City. His location in Heshan City is also confirmed..." "Well done!" Zhang Dinghui suddenly became pleased, "Have you reported this to Director Song and them?" "They¡¯ve synchronized the information on their side, but Director Song probably hasn¡¯t received the news yet." "Then..." Zhang Dinghui nced at the clock on his bedside table, his eyes reflecting the light of a heart attack, "You should report to Director Song." The captain of the Graphic Investigation Brigade agreed immediately. Zhang Dinghui hung up the phone, crossed his arms, and drifted back to sleep with peace of mind. ... Morning. Jiang Yuan felt a slight vibration and opened his eyes to find a bowl of tofu pudding and fried dough sticks ced in front of him. Without asking, Jiang Yuan started to eat, while someone beside him naturally began to exin. Wang Chuanxing, who had also stayed up all night, didn¡¯t have the chance to catch up on sleep. His small eyes wide open, said, "Ren Kuangshan¡¯s residence in Heshan has been confirmed. Our men, along with the local criminal police, raided the ce; it¡¯s already empty." "What about the phone?" Jiang Yuan slurped several spoonfuls of tofu pudding, recovered a bit, and asked, "Is the position locked?" The three treasures of criminal police aren¡¯t just talk; ever since humans have mobile phones, criminal police have locators. Wang Chuanxing¡¯s expression was grave, "We¡¯ve locked onto the phone number, confirmed Ren Kuangshan went to the provincial capital early yesterday morning, then appeared near the Automobile Repair City, and finally disappeared from the signal, suspected to have shut off or destroyed it." "He probably repeated his old trick." Liu Jinghui approached with a bowl of porridge, sat down in front of Jiang Yuan, and said, "Same tactics as when he fled Changyang City." Jiang Yuan let out a breath, saying, "Then let¡¯s continue to find the surveince video. In the provincial capital, the monitoring should be quiteprehensive." "Director Song has already arranged for people to do this overnight." Liu Jinghui paused, "I suggest we capture that phone dealer, themand center also dispatched people." Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes lit up, "That¡¯s a good n." Now, it¡¯s known that Ren Kuangshan used at least 3 different phone numbers. Regarding current tel management, these numbers under different names are clearly illegally obtained. Normally, a person wouldn¡¯t go through three dealers to buy three phone numbers. So if you capture the dealer of these numbers, you can naturally find out about other phone numbers Ren Kuangshan purchased through his transaction records. With the current level of technical investigation, knowing a phone number is akin to knowing the exact location. Liu Jinghui smiled and added, "You¡¯d better call themand center and tell them to prioritize this lead." Even a small-time dealer can be troublesome to catch. The worst are those small-time tech-savvy wild dealers, especially various fly-by-night undergraduates, who haven¡¯tmitted any other offense but suddenly get this wild urge, inexplicably getting into some gray industries... It¡¯s not difficult to catch these kinds of people, just a matter of oveing a few obstacles along the way, but even spending a few extra hours drags down the task force¡¯s time significantly. Liu Jinghui, experienced and knowledgeable, understands that at any time, such a big task force will have many leads aggregating, particrly in these multi-territory team-coordinated operations. Everyone feels the lead they are investigating is important, and resource allocation always needs prioritizing... Ultimately, ites down to which team receives attention, who has higher skill levels, greater clout, and rank, bing the weight on the scales. Jiang Yuan put down the spoon, picked up the phone, saying, "I¡¯ll call Director Song first, then themand center." No skill points are needed, simply based on many case experiences, it¡¯s enough for Jiang Yuan to judge which is faster between watching surveince videos and catching people. Liu Jinghui gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs up, capturing the minions and the King Yan in one go, my Monkey King, my White Dragon Horse indeed. Chapter 1254 - 1181: Isn’t This a Coincidence?

Chapter 1254: Chapter 1181: Isn¡¯t This a Coincidence?

Zhang Bin¡¯s high school grades were not great, but they still allowed him to get into a private vocational college near Jingbei. Before school started, he considered thatmuting daily might be too exhausting, so he rented a student room near the school. He rented a floor specifically divided for students, which was an illegal construction on the old apartment¡¯s sixth-floor roof. It had six rooms that shared a bathroom and a small kitchen, and outside, the rooftop had a small balcony to dry clothes. The tenants in the room downstairs would return every now and then, and when they did, there would be chaos and noise, so loud that Zhang Bin needed to watch over a dozen short videos to fall asleep. Having lived there for a while, Zhang Bin even became somewhat desensitized. In the evenings, he just put on headphones and got to work ... those inte side jobs. He mainly focused on selling various ounts. Initially, it was all kinds of QQ ounts, then it evolved into various game ounts and phone numbers. asionally, he would also take on some boosting services, but he would contract these out to downstream studios he knew well. Zhang Bin felt prettyfortable, responding to messages and finding resources all day, making tens of thousands of yuan, a lot better than what they taught at school. The only thing that made Zhang Bin feel insecure was the judgment from the real world. But Zhang Bin wasn¡¯t anxious; once he earned a little more money, he¡¯d buy a car or something. By then, people would naturally look at him with more respect. Fueled by this mindset, Zhang Bin became increasingly active in ount creation. He was willing to earn small amounts that others would not bother with, and brave enough to deal with grey markets others dared not touch. His reputation grew each day, and his resources umted more and more. That day, Zhang Bin stayed up all night again, went downstairs to get breakfast, and then nned to go back and sleep. When he reached downstairs, he happened to encounter a youngdy wearing high heels who was leaving. The youngdy had bright eyes and a radiant smile, wearing a tracksuit. Sheughed at Zhang Bin, then put her hand on her lips, signaling with a "shhh", and smiled at Zhang Bin again. Zhang Bin¡¯s heart pounded. The two walked together for a distance, and the youngdy softly said, "Sorry about yesterday. I hope it didn¡¯t bother you?" "I... had my headphones on at night," Zhang Bin replied. The youngdy seemed to think of something and lowered her head slightly. Zhang Bin quickly reacted and hurriedly said, "I work from home." "Aren¡¯t you a student?" She had asked thendlord before renting. Zhang Bin nodded proudly and said, "I¡¯m still in university, but I¡¯ve already started my own business." "A one-person business?" The youngdy chuckled. "Many jobs nowadays can bepleted independently online," Zhang Bin said, feeling very pleased with his work. "Don¡¯t think I¡¯m just alone; what I do probably can¡¯t be aplished even with dozens of people..." "No rush, I believe you." The youngdy hurriedlyforted him. She understood a man¡¯s pride. Zhang Bin noticed and said indignantly, "I¡¯m in a growth phase now. Give me a few more months, and then I¡¯ll show you my capabilities..." "What kind of capabilities?" The youngdy was curious. Zhang Bin was about to continue when a voice with a hint of smoker¡¯s tone came from the gloomy alley corner, "Zhang Bin?" "That¡¯s me." Zhang Bin naturally looked over. Behind him, a dark figure jumped over a short wall, leaping three meters, andnded on Zhang Bin¡¯s back. Thin and small, Zhang Bin seemed to weigh only 100 pounds at best. At that moment, like a sturdy golden retriever, he let out a whimper and was knocked to the ground. "Police!" "Police, don¡¯t move!" More dark figures rushed out of the shadowy alley, some barehanded, some with shields and batons, and others with guns at their sides. The youngdy downstairs was pulled to the side. A policewoman looked at her, saying, "Don¡¯t move." The youngdy nodded dumbly, watching as arge number of policemen cuffed Zhang Bin and escorted him into a car parked at the alley entrance. Her heart was pounding inside her tracksuit, and she couldn¡¯t help but wonder: was he telling the truth? He must really have some skills! ... Half an hourter. All the items likeputers and books in Zhang Bin¡¯s room were packed away, leaving the garbage behind, and a new lock with a seal was installed. Liu Jinghui and the others immediately examined Zhang Bin¡¯s ledger and rted records. Without any need for his arrangement, the Technical Investigation contact had already monitored the phone numbers Ren Kuangshan purchased simultaneously and synchronized the data to themand center. "Ren Kuangshan is in Manzhouli!" When Song Tiancheng in themand center saw this result, he became flustered and angry. "Did he get out of the encirclement?" Song Tiancheng could no longer maintain the poise of an agency leader. He mmed the phone on the table, smoked two cigarettes in quick session before calming down to think. The huge task force organized a dozen teams, with various supporting units not mentioned here. When chased by Jiang Yuan¡¯s group from behind, and then blocked by Ge Zhibing¡¯s group in the Northeast, both renowned criminal investigation teams. If they still lost him like this, he¡¯d truly find it hard to return to Jiangdong. The secretary understood the leader¡¯s thoughts well and softly said, "Ren Kuangshan hasn¡¯t left yet. We have located him now. We can preliminarily inform the Manzhouli side and tighten the borders..." "Yes." Song Tiancheng nodded immediately. "Should we arrest immediately or wait until sending someone over to do it?" The secretary¡¯s question was tactful. Generally, for small cases involving suspects outside the area, the local police are notified to assist with the arrest. For those of slightly more significance, people are sent to the location, and then local police are asked to help with the arrest. The significance of the academician murder case is undisputed. Technically, it calls for sending a ne full of people over, taking charge while asking local authorities for cooperation. The risk involved here is whether Ren Kuangshan, based on his phone signal location, will lose his phone once more in the time ahead? It shouldn¡¯t be necessary, but who can say for sure? Even if he turns off his phone, the location will be lost. While finding someone in a city bes much easier, a risk is a risk. Especially in these border areas, it¡¯s uncertain how he ns to cross over. If caught within these critical hours, even Song Chengdu will feel devastated. "I¡¯ll make two phone calls. You guys check if we have anyone nearby." Song Tiancheng said as he picked up the phone. Then a person in charge of scheduling at themand center wearing a white shirt coughed several times and said, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s group dispatched a team to Inner Mongolia, currently in Manzhouli." "Jiang Yuan¡¯s group? Why were they sent there?" "I¡¯m not sure; maybe because of the Mongolian-Russian border?" Song Tiancheng interrupted the discussion in themand center. He didn¡¯t care about the reasons anymore and immediately said, "Contact Jiang Yuan and the lead officers by phone. I¡¯ll talk to them personally!" Chapter 1255 - 1182: Success Is the Only Option

Chapter 1255: Chapter 1182: Sess Is the Only Option

"Brother, have a cigarette." Liu Wenkai stood in the lobby of the bathhouse and offered a cigarette to the leading captain. The captain epted the cigarette, took a look, and clicked his tongue, "Zhonghua, huh, the conditions in Ningtai County aren¡¯t bad." "I snagged it from Jiang Yuan¡¯s table." Liu Wenkai chuckled and pointed at the cigarette box, "He¡¯s from the second generation of demolishers, all his Zhonghua are from the ¡¯3¡¯ range." "A cigarette from Ningtai Jiangyuan? Well, I must enjoy it." The captain¡¯s expression softened slightly. Liu Wenkai casually gave the entire pack to him,ughing, "Save one for when you have a case; it helps your mind be more active." The captain was taken aback for a moment but didn¡¯t refuse. Liu Wenkai "p" lit a cigarette for the captain, and while blowing smoke, chatted about Jiang Yuan. Liu Wenkai was already the captain of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade, but when out and about, you had to either be soft-spoken or firm. "Once we¡¯re done checking this ce and take the apprehended back for questioning, we can rest. If needed, we can continue the investigation tonight," the captain said, checking his watch, "None of us have had breakfast yet." "Alright." Liu Wenkai naturally wanted to continue the investigation; he was betting that if Ren Kuangshan came, he might sleep directly at a bathhouse or a foot massage parlor. Compared to hotels, such ces almost never check ID, which suits Ren Kuangshan¡¯s needs. Nevertheless, taking those involved in these entertainment industries back for screening was also Liu Wenkai¡¯s established strategy. The security team wanted a break, and Liu Wenkai could only agree. They¡¯d been working overtime for two days, and he couldn¡¯t ask for more. Ultimately, this was their case, not a local police case. Once Liu Wenkai and his team went back, it would be a local case again, and no one would handle it for them. The captain noticed Liu Wenkai wasn¡¯t exerting pressure on him, and his expression rxed, "No need to rush. Cases like this depend on chance. Moreover, such industries are entirely mobile. Customers are mobile, technicians are mobile, even the bosses and employees inside are mobile. It¡¯s not about sweeping wide, sometimes it¡¯s just about luck." Liu Wenkai nodded with a smile, though he didn¡¯t quite agree. It is indeed about luck, but if the number you encounter isn¡¯trge enough, luck wouldn¡¯t just stumble onto you. But he couldn¡¯t rush things, so he silently took a few puffs, sighing inwardly: People far from home are worthless. Buzz buzz... Liu Wenkai¡¯s phone rang. "I¡¯ll take a call," Liu Wenkai apologized to the captain and walked to the door. The captain responded with a grunt, leisurely smoking, and asionally chatted with the instructor next to him. They were purely there for cooperation, without much pressure themselves. At this moment, they saw Liu Wenkai stand at attention, respectfully saying, "Mr. Song!" The captain and instructor¡¯s ears immediately perked up. The rank of "Director" isn¡¯t usually something they could hear about. At this time, Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t care about those around him, gripping the phone so tightly his fingers were turning white. On the other end, Song Tiancheng patiently exined the current situation, then said, "Captain Liu, the next few hours will be your time to shine. Whether the task force¡¯s efforts these days wille to fruition depends on you..." Liu Wenkai¡¯s expression was grave. This responsibility, even for him, a veteran policeman of fifteen years, seemed slightly too heavy. Song Tiancheng not only understood criminal psychology but also his subordinates¡¯ psychology. He first outlined the difficulties, then encouraged Liu Wenkai, "Wenkai, a person¡¯s life has many critical moments, and this is one. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s location has already been determined, and if you capture him, I will personallymend you." Liu Wenkai¡¯s body trembled slightly as he released the pressure, asking, "What if we can¡¯t catch him?" Song Tiancheng seemed not to hear him, only calmly saying, "Wenkai, a first-ss merit awaits you. If you have any requests, you can make them now. Quickly, and they must be feasible!" The eighteenrge characters of "first-ss merit" booming out of Song Tiancheng¡¯s mouth were deafening, and his unspoken words were even colder and piercing. Any slightly experienced detective knew this meant "Sess is mandatory, failure is not an option." However, "failure is not an option" for some leaders just meant you¡¯d get a mark against you. For Song Tiancheng, it felt more like a causality weapon. Liu Wenkai took a deep breath, "One moment, let me look at the information you sent." He tried to calm down, although his body still trembled, a result of a surge of adrenaline. Using technical investigation positioning methods, themand center had urately marked Ren Kuangshan¡¯s location on the map. Liu Wenkai nced at it, and the corresponding address immediately formed in his mind. These past two days, he led teams to check almost every entertainment venue in the city. The "Tangyun Spa" Ren Kuangshan went to was one of thergest in the city, a bit more expensive, with technicians younger and more attractive, especially numbers 18 and 88, considered top tier even in Changyang City, truly remarkable. Liu Wenkai picked up the phone again, exhaled, "I know this ce, I¡¯ll organize manpower right now, and I need you to contact the local police to confirm jurisdiction. Moreover, mobilize as many forces as possible to set at least twoyers of barricades." "No problem!" Song Tiancheng, hearing his request, felt much reassured, knowing Liu Wenkai had seen a lot. If it were someone inexperienced, they might directly demandmand, which wasn¡¯t a problem, but Liu Wenkai mentioning "confirm jurisdiction" proved he had seen idents, and with his other two requests, further demonstrated his understanding of the situation he faced. Twoyers of barricades aren¡¯t necessary for ordinary arrests. Regr detectives arrest with just a few people, calling a name and putting on handcuffs, with fighting scenes rarely seen. No detective¡¯s father, going home, returns covered in injuries; they¡¯re just policemen, not mercenaries. But for a major case suspect like Ren Kuangshan, already fled to the border, expecting him to surrender willingly is unreliable. While they¡¯ll certainly go all out in the arrest, they must also guard against unexpected situations. In real arrest scenarios, unexpected incidents are moremon than fights. Twoyers of barricades are for preventing such incidents. The manpower needed for these barricades far exceeds those used for the arrest, something Liu Wenkai couldn¡¯t secure without Song Tiancheng¡¯s coordination. But the fact he thought of it, Song Tiancheng appreciated it greatly. Song Tiancheng wanted stability. If he were willing to gamble, he wouldn¡¯t even have needed to call Liu Wenkai. After several more reminders, Song Tiancheng ended the call. On the other end, Liu Wenkai grimly put away his phone. "Big deal?" the captain stepped forward, offering one of his own cigarettes to Liu Wenkai. "We¡¯ve found him," Liu Wenkai paused, "I can¡¯t exin in detail, but you should receive the information soon enough." As Liu Wenkai spoke, he called his team to gather and check their equipment. Sure enough, the captain¡¯s phone rang a few minutester. After another few minutes, the captain came back smiling at Liu Wenkai, "Captain Liu, our director¡¯s orders are that we follow yourmandpletely. Please instruct us." "Don¡¯t worry, once it¡¯s all done...right," Liu Wenkai offered the captain another cigarette, "Let¡¯s talk while we move." "Alright," the captain lit cigarettes for both of them. Liu Wenkai said, "Bring some equipment over. Bulletproof vests, stab-proof clothing, helmets, goggles, batons, the more the better, and bring a few shields over, please." "What about guns?" "No need. We have enough. It¡¯s better if you don¡¯t carry guns either," Liu Wenkai said, looking at him, "Unless absolutely necessary, we need to capture him alive." "What if he has a gun?" "He doesn¡¯t." "For such a big case, surely you can¡¯t guarantee that." Liu Wenkai grittingly replied, "You can bring two as backup, but don¡¯t use them without my order." "Alright. How do you n to arrest him?" Liu Wenkai, with clenched jaws protruding, said, "Send me a policewoman; we¡¯ll go in undercover to make the arrest." Chapter 1256 - 1183: Liu Wenkai’s White Shirt

Chapter 1256: Chapter 1183: Liu Wenkai¡¯s White Shirt

Liu Wenkai fastened the top button of his white shirt, adjusted his bow tie, and looked in the mirror. As a criminal investigator, the long-dreamed-of white shirt was so easily obtained. Liu Wenkai was truly... speechless about this "Tangyun Spa." The uniform was one thing, but wearing a white shirt with a bow tie felt targeted. Opposite him, the female officer, Shi Xiaoman, was also in a full professional JK uniform, with gold-rimmed sses and ck stockings, looking even better than someone from No. 88. "Ahem..." Liu Wenkai adjusted his posture, saying, "Once this operation is done, we have to get rid of this white shirt from their ce. Is this how white shirts are supposed to be used?" Female officer Shi Xiaoman, sitting and applying makeup, smiled and said, "After this case is closed, you should tell the squad captain that the owner of this ce ought to wear a white shirt to apologize to you." "I¡¯m just saying." Liu Wenkai, unsure of where the other party stood, dared not say more and sat down on the farthest chair, adding, "Make me look younger, like someone who just graduated, but not like a school kid. More like a high school graduate who stayed home for a few years before starting work." The makeup artist responded with a "hm" and started working. Liu Wenkai stared intently in the mirror, asking, "Did you get that?" "Not difficult," the makeup artist confidently replied. Shi Xiaoman smiled beside them and said, "Mr. Li used to be a makeup artist at Changying Factory, still works with film crews and fashion shows, and has done makeup for many stars. This time, because of a concert, our chief called in Mr. Li." The makeup artist¡¯s expression shifted slightly, saying, "I told them once I¡¯m done with your makeup, I¡¯ll head back. Even your chief can¡¯t change that." Shi Xiaoman disyed a charming smile, offeringfort without resolution, "Don¡¯t worry, once our task ispleted, I¡¯ll find a car to send you back." "Who knows how long your mission willst..." "Once you¡¯ve finished my makeup, the timing will be just about right," Liu Wenkai said, his gaze shifting to the side as he asked, "Is everyone in ce? What¡¯s Ren Kuangshan¡¯s status?" "Everyone¡¯s in position. Ren Kuangshan is having a foot bath, likely chatting with the masseur. He has a bag with him. We didn¡¯t go in, afraid to alert him," the subordinate reported earnestly. Liu Wenkai acknowledged with a "hm," suppressing his emotions and patiently waiting for the makeup to bepleted. A final look in the mirror made Liu Wenkai feel like he had shed ten years, resembling a twenty-something unsure of his career, like a male attendant. "Let¡¯s go." Liu Wenkai called Shi Xiaoman over and said softly, "Check your equipment." "Okay." Shi Xiaoman followed Liu Wenkai for a couple of steps, nced at him, and whispered, "Is he carrying a gun?" "Your question is just like your team captain¡¯s," Liu Wenkai paused and replied, "I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s possible." "Shouldn¡¯t we wear bulletproof vests?" Liu Wenkai chuckled, "I¡¯m wearing an extra jacket, while you¡¯re wearing... If we wore bulletproof vests, others would notice." "If he fires..." "Even with bulletproof vests, if he shoots at our heads, the result is the same," Liu Wenkai said, looking sideways at Shi Xiaoman. "The key is to get close. As long as we¡¯re close enough, pouncing to hold his hand in about ten seconds, backup will be here." "I understand," Shi Xiaoman replied with a smile, looking at Liu Wenkai. "So, are you not nervous anymore?" Liu Wenkai was startled and said, "Since you put it that way... well, thanks for the reassurance." "You¡¯re wee," Shi Xiaoman paused before adding, "Let me go firstter." "This..." Liu Wenkai didn¡¯t agree immediately. Shi Xiaoman extended her leg forward, saying, "If I don¡¯t go first, won¡¯t these appealing ck stockings go to waste?" Sending the female officer ahead to divert Ren Kuangshan¡¯s attention, with Liu Wenkai following to assist, was the safest approach. Liu Wenkai quickly decided, nodding vigorously, "Then I won¡¯t be polite. You go ahead, and I¡¯ll follow with a tray." After making their decision, theymunicated via radio to their team, then approached the door of therge private room Ren Kuangshan had reserved. Liu Wenkai and Shi Xiaoman exchanged confirming nces. Shi Xiaoman stepped forward and knocked on the door, "Hello VIP, enhancing service." There was no sound from Ren Kuangshan inside the private room. Liu Wenkai signaled with his eyes again. Knock, knock. Shi Xiaoman said seductively, "Hello VIP, I¡¯m here to enhance your service." With that, she didn¡¯t wait for a reply from inside and directly pushed the door open. Ren Kuangshan, who was negotiating prices with the masseur, did not suspect danger. Half lying on the lounge chair, he frowned and looked over, displeased, "Stop with the enhancements; I don¡¯t like membership cards." "No problem, no card, no card. I¡¯ll give you a massage, two people, double thefort," Shi Xiaoman said, dragging a small suitcase and walking in with a sway of her hips. Liu Wenkai, in his white shirt, ck shoes, ck bow tie, and holding a thick stainless steel tray, followed closely behind Shi Xiaoman, eyes downcast and polite. As he entered, he lowered his voice and said, "Hello VIP, the club is offering you a fruit tter." Ren Kuangshan replied with a "hm," and, with an informed tone, lectured, "Don¡¯t deliver things in the middle of a service..." As he spoke, Shi Xiaoman reached Ren Kuangshan. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s right hand was ying with his phone, while his left hand rested casually at his waist, raising questions about whether he had a weapon there. There was no time to think. Shi Xiaoman slightly elerated, lightly taking two steps to the right. Liu Wenkai pounced like a fierce cat, abandoning the stainless-steel tray initially meant as a shield. His right hand pulled out a stun baton and went for Ren Kuangshan¡¯s side. In an instant, Ren Kuangshan jolted upright, surprised. After several days on the run, he¡¯d been on edge. Realizing the situation, his heart pounded. Kicking away the masseur at his feet, he sprang off the lounge chair, throwing his phone and reaching for his waist. Shi Xiaoman, closer to Ren Kuangshan, had been on high alert. Knowing her strength was weaker, she quickly dipped her waist, pivoted slightly, and kicked. Bang. Shi Xiaoman¡¯s high heel jabbed Ren Kuangshan¡¯s arm, weakening his grip. Sizzle... Liu Wenkai¡¯s stun baton hit Ren Kuangshan. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s eyes widened, he shuddered once, then went still. Boom! Several detectives burst into the room, flooding in. Armed with guns, shields, helmets, and batons, they crowded therge room within seconds. The masseur, just kicked to the ground, squatted, looking up only to see ck guns pointed down. Chapter 1257 - 1184: Details

Chapter 1257: Chapter 1184: Details

"Ren Kuangshan, we finally meet." Meng Chengbiao held a thick stack of documents and sat opposite Ren Kuangshan. At first nce, there wasn¡¯t any oppressive feel, like he was just a local government office worker in uniform. The extremely tense Ren Kuangshan looked up at him, then at the tall young police officer beside Meng Chengbiao, who appeared somewhat simple-minded, and said with a taut face, "I have nothing to say, I want awyer." "No rush for thewyer, you¡¯ll have the chance to see er." Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t dwell on this topic and quickly moved on, "Let¡¯s start with the process, state your name..." Meng Chengbiao came along with Jiang Yuan, taking a government ne. They arrived quickly, with the ne flying at maximum cruising speed rather than economic speed. Liu Wenkai had caught the person and sent him in just as the nended. However, after knowing that Ren Kuangshan was already in custody, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t rush to interrogate him. Instead, he collected another round of information and prepared before bringing Jiang Yuan along to the interrogation room. The number of interrogation experts who wanted to host and participate in this case was unknown, but at Jiang Yuan¡¯s request, Meng Chengbiao, who was not well-known outside the province, stood out. Naturally, Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t dare to ck off and was fully alert. First, by using the traditional procedural process like "name and age" to stabilize Ren Kuangshan¡¯s state, slightly increasing hispliance, Meng Chengbiao then asked in a conversational tone, "Ren Kuangshan, how many years have you been driving big trucks?" "Over twenty years, I guess." Ren Kuangshan answered indifferently. He didn¡¯t choose to remain silent because he knew he couldn¡¯t get away. No need for legal expertise, any ordinary Chinese person knows how serious the crime of murdering an academician is. Ren Kuangshan just wanted to end it all quickly, including mentioning hiring awyer, which was for this purpose. Meng Chengbiao also understood Ren Kuangshan¡¯s mindset. He had encountered far too many suspects like this. In fact, most criminal suspects consider themselves a minority¡ªwhich is indeed true¡ªbut as everyone knows, in China, minorities are essentially the majority. Crazed killers are extremely rare among Chinese people, but most crazed killers are pretty simr. It¡¯s like a school¡¯s fast and slow sses, with the top honor students and the bottom struggling students; the states of the top and bottom differ vastly, but once inside their respective sses, you¡¯ll see the students are uniformly mixed. Although Meng Chengbiao was well-prepared, he didn¡¯t deviate from the norm and simply said, "23 years, right? Starting from when you were 19." "More or less." Ren Kuangshan realized that the police officer opposite must have thoroughly investigated his background. Considering the severity of the crime hemitted, it¡¯s not surprising the police tracked him to the border and knew his work history. Meng Chengbiao appeared confident. This was how he constructed his persona for Ren Kuangshan: an omniscient and omnipotent police representative, bolstered by a familial attack tactic. Ifbined with a good cop, bad cop routine, it would cover almost all aspects of police interrogation. Even frequent offenders, without some special skills and luck, usually wouldn¡¯t encounter higher-level interrogation techniques. Here, the assumed "memory recovery method" is considered a lower-level technique. In reality, omniscient and omnipotent police don¡¯t exist. Even with Meng Chengbiao¡¯s preparation, he couldn¡¯t possibly investigate all of Ren Kuangshan¡¯s details in just those few days. However, in the interrogation room, Meng Chengbiao would consistently reinforce this suggestion. Furthermore, he had a specific support brought along. Meng Chengbiao turned to nce at Jiang Yuan, who had apanied him. In front of Jiang Yuan was aputer, but unlike the officer beside him taking notes, Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer had the backend open, ready to verify any details Ren Kuangshan confessed at any time. If Ren Kuangshan confesses... Meng Chengbiao picked up his teacup, took a light sip, pretending to be rxed, and said, "You¡¯ve really run far this time. Did you evere here when driving before?" "No." Ren Kuangshan frowned, bing very wary. Although he did a lot of preparation for his escape, he clearly hadn¡¯t given much thought to being interrogated. "When you used to drive trucks, how many kilometers could you run in a month?" Meng Chengbiao continued. "Who remembers that." "What about approximately?" "Varies." "The distances used to be shorter, and now the distances are longer, right?" "More or less." "Why?" "Why what?" "Why did you drive fewer kilometers in your youth, but more now that you¡¯re older?" "I never really calcted." Meng Chengbiao smiled, "We can tell from your ie. Is it because freight rates have gone down?" Declining freight rates have always been a topic among truck drivers. When two drivers meet and light a cigarette, by the time it¡¯s halfway done, they¡¯d beining about freight rates. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s lips moved, as if triggered like a switch, and almost started talking extensively. "That¡¯s part of it, I guess." Ren Kuangshan restrained himself and continued to maintain a cold demeanor. "It¡¯s probably because you got married, right? When you¡¯re young, you only have to feed yourself, but once you have a wife and kids, it¡¯s different." Meng Chengbiao smiled. Ren Kuangshan¡¯s face changed: "What do you mean?" Meng Chengbiao said, "I know you left money for your wife and kids..." "That¡¯s clean money I earned driving!" Ren Kuangshan said sternly. Meng Chengbiao: "I know, you specially put it on two separate cards, not mixed, you asked awyer, didn¡¯t you?" Ren Kuangshan remained silent. Meng Chengbiao stared at Ren Kuangshan for a while, waiting until the atmosphere hit freezing point, until Ren Kuangshan¡¯s emotions had calmed down and he began to regain his confidence, then said, "And about the car ident, do you n to paypensation?" Ren Kuangshan looked up sharply. "Whether it¡¯s murder or an ident, if someone is killed,pensation is a given, right?" Meng Chengbiao said, "You¡¯ve been driving for so many years, you should understand this principle." Ren Kuangshan gritted his teeth, unable to speak. "In thenguage of our judicial system, this is called criminal concurrent civil liability. When the victim suffers physical injury or property loss, the victim and their family can file an attached civilwsuit to im civil rights. Moreover, the court can also order confiscation of property." Meng Chengbiao treated the interrogation like a negotiation. He did not believe that earnest persuasion and sincerity could make the suspect honestly confess their issues. Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is a biological instinct, only by applying pressure can you squeeze out the desired information. Of course, while applying pressure, you must also give the suspect a way out. Meng Chengbiao looked at Ren Kuangshan and said: "We talked with the victim¡¯s family, if you are willing to confess honestly and give up the mastermind behind the scenes, the victim¡¯s family is willing to forgo the civilwsuit. On our side, we can also overlook that bit of property you left behind, giving your daughter a basic living guarantee. The premise is that you must cooperate with our investigation." Having just borne heavy pressure, the clouds of worry over Ren Kuangshan dispersed, and he spread his hands, saying, "Alright, what do you want to ask?" In China, there is a standard for deathpensation, which is usually based on the per capita disposable ie of urban residents in the previous year, calcted over twenty years. Depending on the region, the highest is in Hu City, where the per capita disposable ie of urban residents is 84,000 yuan, while the lowest province is only 25,000 yuan. As a result, for the same death, deathpensation in some ces is 1.68 million yuan, while in others it¡¯s 500,000 yuan. For victims who are elderly above 60 years, with each additional year of age,pensation is calcted as a reduction by one year, up to a maximum of age 75, which is calcted based on five years of the per capita disposable ie of urban residents. Academician Lou actually qualifies under this. Therefore, what Academician Lou¡¯s family is forgoing is approximately 420,000 yuan in deathpensation, 70,000 yuan in funeral expenses, totaling around 500,000 yuan. This amount of money is not much for the adult children of an academician. What they are seeking is to bring the real culprit to justice, and definitely to pursue the death penalty for Ren Kuangshan. This is a matter for after the case is submitted to the court, and Meng Chengbiao did not need to borate to Ren Kuangshan. As for what can be confiscated, under normal circumstances, only half of the joint property with the spouse can be seized, or to be more detailed, the court must first partition the property between Ren Kuangshan and his spouse before seizing the property owned by Ren Kuangshan. Furthermore, the court must also ensure that Ren Kuangshan¡¯s wife, especially his minor children, have the most basic living essentials and educational funds. However, for Ren Kuangshan, who has already been arrested, leaving some money for his wife and daughter is almost the only thing he can do, or perhaps thest transaction of his miserable life. Ren Kuangshan stared at Meng Chengbiao: "Don¡¯t go too far..." Meng Chengbiao waved his hand and said, "Let¡¯s talk about the person who ordered you. Do you know him?" "I don¡¯t know." Ren Kuangshan shook his head slightly. "How did youmunicate?" Meng Chengbiao pressed on, as the space left for them to capture the mastermind was shrinking with the news of Ren Kuangshan¡¯s capture being leaked. For this target, Meng Chengbiao was not optimistic. The other party is likely a professional who would not easily leave traces, and by now, might have already left the country. However, Meng Chengbiao still intended to try his best without letting Ren Kuangshan notice. Ren Kuangshan slightly shook his head and said, "At first it was phone calls, then it was through Little Blue Bird." "You know how to use Little Blue Bird?" "They taught me." "They?" "It should be two people, using a voice changer, but you could tell." The quick question-and-answer session took ce rapidly, but since there was no direct contact between the two sides, it made the investigation challenging. Meng Chengbiao nced at his outline, quickly adjusted his thinking, and asked: "Did you receive cash? How did you get the money?" "They told me a ce and a time, I went there, and got it," Ren Kuangshan said simply. Jiang Yuan, who had been sitting in front of theputer all this time, raised an eyebrow and said, "Detail the time and ce." Chapter 1258 - 1185: Please investigate this person (asking for monthly votes!)

Chapter 1258: Chapter 1185: Please investigate this person (asking for monthly votes!)

"It¡¯s been a long time. You won¡¯t find it." Ren Kuangshan nced at Jiang Yuan, feeling a slight satisfaction inside. Jiang Yuan calmly looked back at Ren Kuangshan, feeling as if he were a tenant who borrowed money to rent a shop to open a caf¨¦, losing all his capital in his first venture. Meng Chengbiao¡¯s voice was a bit harsher, "Ren Kuangshan, honesty leads to leniency, resistance leads to severity, it¡¯s no joke." "I know. Let me think." Ren Kuangshan sighed, "I picked up the money at Songguo Park. On the 12th, at noon on the 12th. There weren¡¯t many people there, the other party told me to follow the gravel path, walk to a red house, there¡¯s a trash can, and next to it was a bag, I just took it and left. I checked it after I left, and that¡¯s the money they gave." Jiang Yuan nodded while listening and then opened a pad that already had the records made by Wang Chuanxing in the next room. Comparing the records, Jiang Yuan started operating on hisptop, simultaneously typing to contact the image investigation police outside. Soon, surveince video numbers near Songguo Park started appearing one after another. Jiang Yuan put on his headphones and watched silently. Meng Chengbiao couldn¡¯t disturb Jiang Yuan, and Ren Kuangshan, sitting opposite, exchanged nces with him, unable to bear it, asked, "Are we just going to wait like this?" From an interrogation perspective, Meng Chengbiao was d to hear Ren Kuangshan say "we", but from an investigative standpoint, the time for coaxing Ren Kuangshan had ended. Therefore, Meng Chengbiao just looked at Ren Kuangshan seriously, ced a finger to his lips, and silently "shushed". Jiang Yuan saw it but nonchntly said, "Soon." "They must have ced the bag there early. When I went there, the bag was hot from the sun," Ren Kuangshan said,ughing a little, "Isn¡¯t this important information? Look, you didn¡¯t even have to ask, and I told you." Meng Chengbiao raised an eyebrow at Ren Kuangshan, half-truthfully, "Speaking of psychological quality alone, you really are a bit special." "Indeed, I used to specialize in hauling steel coils. We big truck drivers have a saying, ¡¯Better to starve than haul pipes, better to die than haul coils,¡¯ and I hauled coils for five years." Ren Kuangshan said, inexplicablyughing at himself, "I¡¯ve often heard of drivers hauling coils who, with a sudden stop, had the whole cab crushed t by the coils, with the person turned to a bloody pulp. Not me, though; several times when there was danger, I braked in bits, and it was the car in front that got unlucky." Meng Chengbiao looked at thepulsive talker Ren Kuangshan and thought: I wasn¡¯tplimenting you! At this time, Ren Kuangshan focused his attention on Jiang Yuan, "This big guy of yours, he¡¯s your programmer, right? You found the surveince from my escape, too?" The interrogation officers always disclosed as little information as possible to the suspects. Information asymmetry is the biggest advantage in interrogation. Even now, Meng Chengbiao was cautious, only saying, "It¡¯s not your turn to ask questions yet." Jiang Yuan then looked up and asked, "After you took the bag, which gate did you leave from?" "I returned the same way," Ren Kuangshan said. "East gate?" Jiang Yuan confirmed. "More or less. It should be the east gate." Ren Kuangshan recalled with little focus. Jiang Yuan quickly typed on the keyboard and asked, "The bag you took, was it a backpack?" "Yes." "A million?" Ren Kuangshan hesitated, muttering, "About that. Can you tell?" "By the size, it looks like about a million, any gold inside?" "No." "So this was the first payment you received? They paid you againter, right?" At that, Ren Kuangshan ufortably shifted, replying, "They paid againter, but had it delivered directly to my home by courier." "How much?" "Also a million." Ren Kuangshan added, "I spent quite a lot of the first million, bought some things, and spent some on women." "Time and ce," Jiang Yuan asked again. "Just my home address..." Ren Kuangshan replied annoyingly, unable to resistining, "You won¡¯t find it, just asking me is pointless, they¡¯re delivering things remotely, your surveince isn¡¯t useful." Jiang Yuan shook his head, trying to boost Ren Kuangshan¡¯s motivation, responded for once, "That¡¯s amunity park, they wouldn¡¯t dare just throw a brand new backpack on the ground." Ren Kuangshan thought Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t believe him and immediately argued, "They really did throw it on the ground, right next to the trash can, there¡¯s no surveince over there..." Jiang Yuan waved him off, "There are many old folks walking around there. If no one¡¯s watching, a bag left in front of a trash can could easily be taken by someone." "Then why did they choose that spot?" Ren Kuangshan was puzzled. "They can¡¯t choose a ce they frequent themselves, so they might not be very familiar with thismunity park," Jiang Yuan said while watching the surveince. Ren Kuangshan was stunned. In his view, the person contacting him, always sounded meticulous, and could really produce millions, even dared to plot to murder an academician; they must be very smart and capable people. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation made sense to him, too. On the day of picking up the bag, he actually noticed some elderly people walking nearby, but didn¡¯t think much of it... Jiang Yuan then picked up his phone and said, "Check the regrs walking at Songguo Park, look for eyewitnesses. Also check the delivery records, find the courier who delivered money to Ren Kuangshan, see if they remember anything." Ren Kuangshan said, "Couriers deliver every day, they can¡¯t remember everyone. I often forget what the sender looks like..." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t answer him. The search for these people was mainly toplete the evidence chain, indirectly supplementing the investigation. Surveince video alone had already provided him with quite a bit of information. Just by looking at the peopleing and going in the park, one might not know who¡¯s behind Ren Kuangshan; everyone appeared to have an innocent face. And the real suspect might be avoiding surveince. However, truly evading all surveince is nearly impossible. Especially in a domestic context, in brief limited spaces, avoiding surveince might work, but the farther the distance, the wider the range, the harder it bes to avoid surveince. In most cases, suspects often use disguises, follow others, conceal themselves, or even psychological strategies to dodge surveince. Unless there¡¯s targeted long-term training, avoiding all surveince on-site would require at least Level 5 above. Moreover, transportation is always a key focus in criminal investigations. Whether it involves disposing of a body or theft, criminal police must consider how someone came and went. Based on Jiang Yuan¡¯s experience, even if criminals avoid official cameras as much as possible, there are various private cameras as supplements, simr investigations Jiang Yuan has conducted several times. And this time, the suspect clearly didn¡¯t reach that level of anti-surveince capability. Soon, Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen showed multiple photos appearing in session. Jiang Yuan directly used facial recognition, and these people¡¯s identities popped out one by one. Jiang Yuan recorded all this information, then selected one person, and messaged Song Tiancheng: Director Song, please investigate this person. Name: Liu Bangshun. ID number: 444111... Chapter 1259 - 1186 Surveillance

Chapter 1259: Chapter 1186 Surveince

Manli City Bureau Conference Room. Liu Wenkai and Zhao Xiong, the captain of the Security Unit, each with a cigarette in their mouth, walked into the bright conference room. The lights in the conference room were dazzling, and the officers¡¯ ranks shone so brightly it was overwhelming. Zhao Xiong scanned the room and felt it was full of olive branches and white shirts, just like a car exhibition where everywhere he looked was blindingly white, making it hard to look closely, leaving his heart yearning and astounded... Zhao Xiong unconsciously took the cigarette out of his mouth. Liu Wenkai smiled slightly, kept his cigarette in his mouth, quietly pulled Zhao Xiong to the corner of the room, and whispered, "Let¡¯s just listen. It probably has nothing to do with us now." "Alright, alright." Zhao Xiong nodded quickly, and added, "You¡¯ve really made a big contribution this time." "Just a coincidence." Liu Wenkai gave a sly smile.gif The conference room door was open, and people kepting in. Most wore white shirts, with a few in blue shirts, either having the look of seasoned smokers with wrinkled faces, or overly young bookish types. From Zhao Xiong¡¯s experience, they were all difficult people to offend. Liu Wenkai whispered, "It should start soon. Many people flew in from all over, so it should start around the scheduled time." "I¡¯m not in a hurry," Zhao Xiong said. "Have a smoke." Liu Wenkai handed another cigarette to Zhao Xiong. Zhao Xiong hurriedly epted it with both hands. Click. Zhao Xiong first lit Liu Wenkai¡¯s cigarette, then lit his own, took a deep inhtion to calm his nerves. At this moment, someone at the front picked up the microphone, tapped it lightly twice, and said, "We¡¯re ready to start the meeting. Put out your cigarettes. No smoking during the meeting." The windows on both sides were opened, and cold wind rushed in. Zhao Xiong hastily put out the Zhonghua cigarette he had just taken two puffs of. "We have a tight schedule for this meeting, let¡¯s get straight to the case. Wang Chuanxing!" Song Tiancheng said, handing the microphone to a fair-skinned, upright young officer with dark circles. Wang Chuanxing stepped forward, saluted, then took out a PAD, and said, "Liu Bangshun, male, 28 years old, pharmaceutical representative, has long worked at the Shan Nan Province Tumor Hospital. Liu Bangshun encountered his superior, Li Hong, three years ago after graduating with a master¡¯s degree when he was looking for a job. Thetter arranged a job for him, and Liu Bangshun did several tasks for her, including delivering goods, providing information on the tumor hospital and rted pharmaceutical organizations, obtaining bid documents, budgets, and so on..." "Additionally, in the middle ofst year, under the pretext of a trip abroad, Liu Bangshun underwent training with foreign organizations for five days, focusing on lock-picking, operations, and stealingputer data. Liu Bangshun is Li Hong¡¯s subordinate." "Liu Bangshun ims that contacting and persuading Ren Kuangshan, assigning tasks, arranging ns, and other work were all instructed by Li Hong. Furthermore, Li Hong personally conducted some contacts and took Liu Bangshun to reconnoiter in Songguo Park, arranging the specific routes for entering and leaving." "Li Hong. Female. 29 years old. Owns severalpanies primarily engaged in foreign trade. She studied in the United Kingdom for more than a year. We have already locked down Li Hong¡¯s phone and location, but have not arrested her yet." Wang Chuanxing briefly introduced the situation, piquing the interest of the white shirts present, but the main investigators were still watching Jiang Yuan next to them. The task force, although consisting of multiple teams, now seemed to rely most heavily on Jiang Yuan. At this point, themand of the task force has practically fallen into Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, and the other teams are mainly serving one direction of work. Although Song Tiancheng has the overall view, in practice, they still listen to Jiang Yuan. Solving a case needs to be result-oriented, and it¡¯s natural for the capable to rise. The other teams were selected this way, but they just got filtered out this time. Anyway, it¡¯s a temporary institution focused on doing business, with no talk of power struggle. Especially as the case has reached this stage, the main actions were done by Jiang Yuan, and the follow-up naturally depends on Jiang Yuan as well. Jiang Yuan looked calmly at hisputer, and after Wang Chuanxing finished speaking, he took the microphone and said, "Li Hong is also not the mastermind. She doesn¡¯t have a motive for murder and seems more like an executor rather than a nner." Jiang Yuan nced at Song Tiancheng, then continued, "We are already reconstructing her daily interactions based on Li Hong¡¯s movements. For the time being, I suggest focusing on surveince." Song Tiancheng nodded and said, "I agree with this n. At the current stage, the immediate perpetrator has been arrested, and since the mastermind behind the scenes is linked to foreign forces, it¡¯s hard to pinpoint a specific person. I think there is no need to make it the main direction of investigation." Everyone nodded in agreement, as by this point, the case was nearly beyond the scope of a criminal investigation, and many detectives were reluctant to get involved. "Does Li Hong know she¡¯s been exposed?" asked an unfamiliar man in a white shirt. Song Tiancheng said, "Li Hong might know. She booked a ticket to Hong Kong for tomorrow, probably to test the waters." This is amon trick among high-level fugitives. Traveling to Hong Kong and Macau itself isn¡¯t very sensitive, but it can test whether they¡¯re on a border control list. If they¡¯re not, they can quickly travel around the world from Hong Kong, very convenient, and returning to the Maind wouldn¡¯t be affected. If they are on the list, there are still ways to exin it, or they could just pray to Mazu right there as an alternative. "Is it possible she reported her situation to her handler?" continued the unfamiliar white shirt. Song Tiancheng said, "We secretly arrested Liu Bangshun, so the only thing Li Hong can confirm is that she can¡¯t contact Liu Bangshun anymore, which might also be why she decided to leave the country. We continue to monitor Li Hong to see if she will contact anyone else before she leaves." "What about online contact?" "If she¡¯s contacting anyone online, it¡¯s already toote." At this point, Song Tiancheng looked at Liu Jinghui in the corner and said, "We believe that Li Hong¡¯s personality is quite confident, even arrogant. She¡¯s also very greedy when ites to material things and wouldn¡¯t easily give up such arge business in the country. Since she bought a ticket for tomorrow rather than leaving immediately, it shows she still wants to struggle a bit; at least, she thinks she has the capital for reconnaissance." "Can we keep an eye on her? If she anticipates knowing she¡¯s being watched... This Li Hong must have received counter-surveince training, right?" The question raised here is very practical. Surveilling ordinary people is apletely different concept from surveilling professionals. If it were the old tracking surveince system, it would be fine. Fixed surveince cameras and other technological equipment have too many loopholes for professionals familiar with their performance. Moreover, real-time monitoring and subsequent investigation are two different concepts. Domestic image investigation teams, when conducting investigations, often involve dozens of people, and if necessary, even hundreds or thousands can be mobilized. But for real-time monitoring, having more people is useless, as there are too many variables involved, and a sudden move could cause you to lose sight of the target. In fact, the mostprehensive and stable surveince is tant tracking. This tactic was used by Japan before World War II and by post-modern North Korea. In those days, the moment a foreigner entered Japan, they would be openly followed by Japanese counter-espionage agency personnel who would simply follow and record, without speaking or interfering, leaving peoplepletely helpless. Song Tiancheng naturally understood the difficulty of real-time monitoring and looked at Jiang Yuan again. If Li Hong were caught, this case would almost be wrapped up, but the clues behind Li Hong would basically be cut off. Choosing to monitor is a gamble to see if Li Hong might still lead to more clues. From a cost-benefit perspective, since Li Hong can¡¯t escape anyway, monitoring might as well be tried. Song Tiancheng was only worried that if Li Hong managed to escape, having tounch another manhuntter would make the task force¡¯s final operation look terrible. Jiang Yuan nced at his notebook screen, pondering for a few seconds, then said, "Li Hong has indeed received counter-surveince training, but she¡¯s essentially a beginner, which can be seen from her current behavior. I think it¡¯s okay to monitor a little longer, and if you¡¯re worried, just prepare two more teams nearby for an immediate arrest." As the holder of Image Investigation - Trajectory Analysis (Level 6), Jiang Yuan judged that Li Hong was only at Level 2 at most, perhaps half a step to Level 2 mastery, unless shepletely left monitoring zones; otherwise, she couldn¡¯t pull off any tricks in the city center. The domestic situation is also different from abroad, where a search warrant is required at every turn. For the detectives, as long as it¡¯s confirmed there¡¯s something or someone in a specific building or even within a block, they would dig three feet to find it. "Let¡¯s proceed ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s proposal." For someone else, Song Tiancheng wouldn¡¯t make a decision so easily, but since it was Jiang Yuan speaking, Song Tiancheng quickly said, "I know everyone¡¯s worked hard, but let¡¯s push through one more day and wrap up neatly." "Understood," everyone responded in unison, most of them looking rxed. With the case proceeding to this point, most people were merely spectators. ... Li Hong carried her Herm¨¨s Kelly bag, weaving through the mall, and every store¡¯s sales personnel greeted her with kind smiles. Li Hong held her head high, confident and proud. She knew the situation was urgent and suspected she might already be exposed, but surrendering was never her choice. A series of predecessors shed through Li Hong¡¯s mind, Yu Zecheng, Cui Ping, Wanqiu... No, it was James Bond, M, and Bo En... Although it was just short training, in today¡¯s recruitment-driven era, having undergone such training can be considered professional. Especially since Li Hong excelled in her short training and was praised by her instructor as the best in recent years. After calm deliberation, Li Hong felt she had a chance to rise above this dire situation; before that, she had to protect herpanions! Her mind was racing, yet her steps remained steady, as she casually walked into a clothing store, picked two garments, and entered the fitting room to try them on. No matter how capable you are, there are no cameras in the fitting room, right! Chapter 1260 - 1187: Calm and Confident

Chapter 1260: Chapter 1187: Calm and Confident

As Li Hong walked out of the mall, she remained calm and confident. She estimated that it wouldn¡¯t be long before the shops she had entered would be thoroughly searched. Truly sorry for those high-end boutiques (^v^) Lost in thought, Li Hong slipped into a food court. This ce didn¡¯t match her spending habits but she woulde here asionally because of its high foot traffic,plex routes, and numerous hidden exits. The saying goes, "One minute on stage, ten years of practice offstage," and Li Hong¡¯s confidence didn¡¯te freely. She leisurely passed a stall selling braised dishes, then three lemon chicken rice stalls, turned into a dimly lit corridor where the signs on both sides offered hamburgers, barbecue, rice bowls, and stir fry, all targeting takeout. Following a few delivery personnel, Li Hong slipped into a shop, walked straight through, and reached another stall inside the food court. Only then did she quickly pull out her phone and nce through it. A junk message came into view. It was a pre-arranged signal, indicating extreme urgency. Tears welled up in Li Hong¡¯s eyes, herpanions were using theirst moments to warn her. Li Hong took a deep breath, not changing her ns because of it. With herpanions warning her, she was even morepelled to dy her opponents as much as possible to give herpanions more time to escape. Besides, she wasn¡¯t necessarily exposed yet. Li Hong believed she was, at most, only suspected. The worst-case scenario was getting caught by the police, which meant the incident hadn¡¯t escted to the level of an espionage case, and that timeg was her opportunity. Entering a milk tea shop again, Li Hong casually ordered a smoothie, then walked out, pretending to sip it. Before leaving the food court, Li Hong entered a snack shop she had scoped out in advance, took a casual loop, and picked up only a pack of gum. But while at the cashier, she squatted down and secretly stuffed a sock into her shoe. Standing up again, Li Hong popped three or four pieces of gum into her mouth, chewed them, and bit them into the area of her mrs. Then, she draped a scarf over her shoulders, put on a hat, and left the food court with ease. Putting a sock in her shoe could change her gait, something she had practiced during training, as the current domestic gait recognition systems were generally ineffective. Chewing gum interfered with facial recognition systems, and Li Hong further used the smoothie to cool her skin before tossing it into a trash can. Havingpleted the entire process, Li Hong could already envision the chaos her pursuers must be experiencing. This would buy her and herpanions a precious few hours, maybe even more. ... Command Center. Jiang Yuan sipped the green tea brewed by Wei Shikan, routinely watching the big screen of the Image Investigation, asionally offering some guidance when the image was lost. "East side." "Entrance." "Move forward a bit, this one..." In the vicinity of the mall in downtown Changyang City, there are numerous cameras. The city only recently developed its image investigation technology. Although the technology is average, the conditions for image investigation are excellent. A few image technicians deployed listened to Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders, operating with ease and elegance. Primarily because Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders were clear and required little adjustment from them. In the eyes of the several outside leaders present, the image investigation seemed to be steadily tracking the suspect, Li Hong. Whenever she disappeared from one screen, she would reappear on the big screen after a few brief switches, just like in the movies, following Jiang Yuan¡¯smand. "Image investigation is really useful." "Clear and precise tracking, beneficial for writing reports, and the evidence is ample." "After returning, there¡¯s really a need to vigorously develop image investigation." Several out-of-town white-cor workers quietly murmured on-site. The Chief of Image Investigation, standing beside them, hesitated to speak. He wanted to say they were witnessing an exceptional case, only possible when Jiang Yuan was at the core of the image investigation. But hearing them talk about vigorously developing image investigation, the chief found himself at a loss for words. "Captain Jiang, would you like some chocte? You¡¯ve been watching for a long time, it can strain your brain, and you haven¡¯t had much breakfast." Wei Shikan opportunistically offered a cup of rich dark chocte, looking expectantly at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan cooperatively took a sip and said, "Not bad." "Right, right, it¡¯s from Belgium, a famous brand." Wei Shikan, in front of so many people on-site, didn¡¯t say much, just boasting, "I learned to mix this myself, practiced with several tubs of chocte back then." Jiang Yuan took another sip and said, "We used to marinate beef in chocte, rarely drank it directly..." Just then, Li Hong disappeared from the big screen. The image technicians beside him immediately sought her out, several smaller screens frantically switching. Jiang Yuan put down the hot chocte and said, "Screen 3 just now; she backtracked, wearing her clothes inside out." Jiang Yuan directly pointed out the person with aser pen, and the image technician immediately re-locked the target. The series of frantic keyboard clicking and mouse clicking noises gradually calmed and reverted to an unruffled state of "tap," "tapping," as if the operators had suddenly transformed from young men into middle-aged ones. "Hiss..." Yu Wenshu took a sip of tea, only to scald his mouth, grimacing as he couldn¡¯t find anyone to me. With many leaders present, the helpful subordinates became scarce. But Yu Wenshu couldn¡¯t afford to worry about such minor issues now. For a moment, he thought Li Hong might escape. Although he trusted Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, the density of the surveince was gradually decreasing, and there would ultimately be times when they couldn¡¯t follow. After hesitating, Yu Wenshu approached Jiang Yuan and said, "Let the monitoring team get a bit closer. Even if we lose sight, we can quickly find her again." "Getting a little closer is fine, but it¡¯s hardly necessary," Jiang Yuan responded easily, adding a touch of emotional intelligence because there were leaders around, and simply exined, "If Li Hong wants to run, she would need some form of transport. She can¡¯t get far on foot. Even if we temporarily lose sight, it won¡¯t matter much." "A private car might not work, but she may use public transportation. Alright, let¡¯s keep watching for a while." Yu Wenshu¡¯s concerns were from a decision-maker¡¯s perspective. For instance, how long would losing sight be considered lost? Ten seconds was clearly a short loss, thirty seconds probably as well, but what about three minutes? In routine image surveince, it¡¯smon to lose track for several minutes, only when ites to Jiang Yuan does surveince resemble a movie in Changyang. However, for Yu Wenshu, several minutes would be enough time for the suspect to take a taxi or catch a bus that happened to arrive, moving several kilometers away from the center point. Moreover, if it were more movie-like, the suspect could take the opportunity to use multiple transport methods inbination, potentially getting a few kilometers out of the encirclement. The most crucial point is that Li Hong had already adopted various measures to evade gait and face scans, meaning even if she appeared at a facial recognition checkpoint, the system wouldn¡¯t trigger an alert. The more Yu Wenshu thought about it, the more anxious he felt, mentally chanting: It¡¯s so difficult, it¡¯s really difficult for me. Only Jiang Yuan, and Wei Shikan, who stayed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, found everything exceptionally easy. Watching Jiang Yuan givemands, Wei Shikan even felt a bit moved. While DNA and such technology might indeed be impressive, for style and instant feedback, only image investigation prevailed. Internally, Wei Shikan enthusiastically rmended to himself: I¡¯ll learn this, I¡¯ll definitely learn this! Chapter 1261 - 1188: Capture and Transfer

Chapter 1261: Chapter 1188: Capture and Transfer

Li Hong weaved through several streets, taking advantage of the time while crossing the road to nce around before heading towards the alley of her destination. At the corner, she tucked a note into a milk crate and bent up a corner of the metal namete on the crate. This was their agreed-upon dead drop, used only once and only at the most critical moments. As their instructor had put it, the messages received here were essentially farewell letters. Li Hong had listened with a smile that day and had even fantasized about writing a poetic farewell letter, so that when everyone reunited, they could read it aloud dramatically amidughter and tears. When the moment actually came, Li Hong realized that reality left no room for poetry. Though reality exists in pursuit of eventual poetry, all poetry is birthed from the overflow of reality. When Li Hong left the office, she only had time to write three words with a pen: Leave, n 2. This referred to Evacuation n 2. Each person had a different route to escape, but it didn¡¯t mean destroying all information or fleeing recklessly. It was more about proper transition and only pausing work. If there was a leak, this route wouldn¡¯t normally be chosen. Li Hong was aware that Ren Kuangshan and Liu Bangshun had been captured, suspecting that a single line had led to them, hence choosing n 2. The most important aspect was that choosing n 2 did not signify abandoning everything in a total retreat. She was not prepared to discard thework she had established over the years, which was her lifeline. Li Hong was even confident that if she were captured, her superiors would find a way to rescue her, or at least exchange her back. Years ago, a Vietnamese-born Chinese had managed such an efficient andrge spywork that after her capture, even Obama intervened to negotiate her release. Li Hong knew her value was not as significant, so she needed to protect thework she had meticulously woven. She looked onest time at the milk crate, hoping herrades would strictly adhere to the protocol and collect their milk on time. Li Hong closed her eyes briefly before turning and swiftly leaving. When she reappeared under surveince, it was as if she were casually shopping, frequently entering and exiting small stores along the street. In one of the shops, Li Hong discreetly swapped SIM cards, sent her final message, and then broke the card and disposed of it. Taking advantage of the time while changing clothes, she removed the socks hidden in her shoe soles and spat out the chewing gum in her mouth. As long as she passed another checkpoint, Li Hong would be gged by gait monitoring or facial recognition, and those ordinary image investigation officers would btedly check surveince and trace her deliberately undisguised trail to reconfirm her location. At that moment, Li Hong even had the time to look up and assess the number and status of the surrounding surveince, feeling utterly rxed. She had done everything she could, and these foolish policemen probably still had no idea what was happening. The thought amused Li Hong. Her true opponents should have been those unspeakable mysterious departments. Unfortunately, the government here was too inefficient. Such an important matter hadn¡¯t been escted up, allowing her to benefit from the oversight. Even so, what could those so-called mysterious departments do about her? She had executed her n so perfectly that, even if they mobilized elite forces, they might still remain clueless about what had transpired. ... Changyang City Image Detection Command Center. Wei Shikan was shaking coffee beans with his Commander C40 grinder while watching Li Hong insert a note in the alley on the screen, eximing in bewilderment, "Why is she so brazen?" Liu Wenkai, with nothing much to do, was imitating Wei Shikan in making coffee, and said, "She probably hasn¡¯t encountered someone like Captain Jiang." Wei Shikan was slightly perplexed, "Can¡¯t the cameras in front pick her up?" "There are more cameras in one district of Changyang than there are policemen, and the coverage is extensive. Knowing which camera to watch is the key." Liu Wenkai, a seasoned detective, had long attended multiple courses on image investigation. Wei Shikan understood a little but not much. Unlike others who dare not ask if they don¡¯t understand, he asked purely out of curiosity and indifference: "The milk crate just now, that wasn¡¯t an ordinary camera, right?" "A drone flew over temporarily. We had to circle quickly to avoid getting detected." "Right. Couldn¡¯t we just have the drone follow her all the time?" Wei Shikan asked. This question left Liu Wenkai speechless, and he subconsciously looked towards Jiang Yuan. The Image Investigation Captain coughed a couple of times and said, "There are mainly three reasons. First, there are airspace restrictions. There are ces in the city center where drones are not suitable to fly and are prohibited. The second point is theplex city sky background. Normally when looking up, drones might not be visible against the sky, but with a building as the background, or when pollution is heavy or light shines on it, one can spot it. We often just fly the drones during reconnaissance, but at Captain Jiang¡¯s level, it¡¯s disdainful to do it so crudely." "There shouldn¡¯t be airspace restrictions on such a major case," Wei Shikan¡¯s thinking was first to consider breaking the rules. The Image Investigation Captain shook his head helplessly and said, "If today a case needs airspace restrictions to be broken, tomorrow someone might use it as a pretext to cause trouble. Of course, we don¡¯t need to consider such things." "What¡¯s the third point?" "The third point is condition constraints. For example, when she enters this alley, we have to position the camera a bit precisely from high above. If the angle is too steep, we wouldn¡¯t see the situation over here. If the drone is always hovering, experienced people could spot it against the different city backgrounds. Captain Jiang directs us to fly over only when necessary and leave immediately, much like a satellite." The Image Investigation Captain added apliment, "Indeed more challenging than maneuvering satellites." "Is it challenging?" Wei Shikan looked at the Image Investigation Captain and then at Jiang Yuan, asionally issuingmands, wondering whether he should consider "seeing is believing." The Image Investigation Captain didn¡¯t understand the point, only assuming Wei Shikan wasplimenting Jiang Yuan, so he said, "Everything is like that. For those who know, it¡¯s not difficult; for those who don¡¯t, it¡¯s impossible." "Right." Wei Shikan nodded, then continued to shake the hand grinder while attentively observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation. At the same time, Yu Wenshu was even busier. Several vehicles disguised as streetcars, which were actually streetcar cameras, were positioned at the mouth and end of the alley, with one car directly parked beside the milk box, disguised in a sentinel mode, indeed operating in a sentinel mode, monitoring the milk box. Although it seemed a bit obvious, in reality it was indeed a bit obvious, but in this era, domestic streetcars were already ubiquitous. Spiesing for the exchange, no matter how unwilling, could only face the streetcar cameras to open the milk box. And this scene didn¡¯t wait too long. Just after noon, a man in an administrative jacket passed by the alley with a bag under his arm. He casually nced at the milk box, obviously paused, then pretended to reach for a cigarette, and entered the convenience store next door. Once out, the man eagerly lit a cigarette, walking and inhaling, and as he passed the milk box, he casually took out a key and unlocked the milk box. He opened it twice. The man took out the bottled milk inside and let a slip of paper slide into his wrist. Thunk. Before he could turn around, the man was pinned against the wall by two sturdy action team members. Then, they covered his mouth and pushed him into the car beside them. With no surveince in the alley and entry and exit personnel already recorded, this capture was essentially a semi-secret arrest, giving the task force at least a few hours to interrogate him. "Zhang Wutian, deputy researcher at the Photonics Research Institute..." "The content on the slip, go, number 2." In themand post, the information on the man who had just been captured was quickly retrieved. "Arrest him! Interrogate him." Song Tiancheng had no more hesitation. "I think we can hand it over now." A white-shirted man standing in front of Song Tiancheng spoke up, "Leave the rest to us to investigate." "Fine, it¡¯s not convenient for us to continue the investigation anyway." Song Tiancheng agreed without any hindrance, as he was originally here to oversee the academician murder case. Reaching this step was sufficient. The white-shirted man in front of him thanked him, then turned to Jiang Yuan, saying, "Let Jiang Yuan follow us for a while, we just happen to need..." "That¡¯s not possible." Song Tiancheng resolutely refused: "We have plenty of cases, and if you need to transfer people, go through the proper channels." Wei Shikan watched with his face turning red, unable to imagine that if one day he were contested by mysterious big shots and military policemen, his old man would be so amused, probably enough tough his butt off. "I want to learn this." Wei Shikan ced the rich, oily coffee in front of Jiang Yuan. "Coffee?" Jiang Yuan looked at Wei Shikan. "Image Investigation..." Wei Shikan pointed at the screen and asked Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, teach me, please. I will do whatever you say!" Liu Wenkai, standing nearby, couldn¡¯t help but nce over: "Don¡¯t say such things, you don¡¯t know..." "Captain Jiang!" Wei Shikan interrupted Liu Wenkai, only looking at Jiang Yuan, "I am very obedient, you can teach me anything, and I will learn it seriously." Before Jiang Yuan could speak, a system option popped up in front of him: Task: The Second Generation Also Has Woes. Task Content: Guide Wei Shikan in learning image investigation technology, allowing him to gain recognition beyond his background¡ªsecond-generation individuals not only need their own lives but also need to prove their choices to their elders. They have acquired a lot, but what they have to bear... is only this much. Fulfill Wei Shikan¡¯s wish, preventing him from falling into endless joy... and pain. After the prompt on the screen disappeared, Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but scrutinize Wei Shikan up and down. One has to admit, the second generation is indeed a bit fortunate, not only enjoying afortable and affluent life but also having external support when they want to advance. Jiang Yuan could only nod, taking a sip of the coffee Wei Shikan offered, and said, "Alright. You can learn, but you must follow orders and observe the rules, understand?" "Understood!" Wei Shikan eximed, shouting, "Master!" Everyone in themand room turned their heads, except for Wei Shikan, who grinned like a "Yu Wu Leaf Monkey." Chapter 1262 - 1189: The Student Surpasses the Teacher

Chapter 1262: Chapter 1189: The Student Surpasses the Teacher

"Master!" As Jiang Yuan enters, he hears someone inside shout "Ahh!" Following the sound, he sees Wei Shikan standing proudly in the middle of the office with his neatly pressed uniform, looking like he¡¯s ready to face anyone or anything. "Here so early?" Jiang Yuan is a bit surprised. When Wei Shikan was in Lanyue City, he had a reputation for straightening up the workce. After joining Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, while he rarely arrivedte or left early, he still tended to do so and often refused to work overtime. Wei Shikan, with his head held high like a rooster, voiced his opinion in a tone reminiscent of an irritated hen: "Master, you all usually work overnight, so why isn¡¯t there a single person here today? Are they targeting me?" Wei Shikan nced sideways at Wang Chuanxing and others. Wang Chuanxing, whose dark circles had just faded to brown, looked like a discolored giant panda. Gazing at Wei Shikan, he sighed: "Brother Wei, we stayed upte these past few days to solve a case. Didn¡¯t we solve it yesterday? The case has been handed over, and there¡¯s no follow-up needed. So we can take a break and rest this morning, right? Afterpleting such a big case, none of us should be here." "But you all still came?" "We came with Captain Jiang." "Are you plotting with Master against me?" "Brother Wei..." Wang Chuanxing looked at Wei Shikan with helplessness and said, "No one¡¯s paying attention to you, really." "You¡¯re getting more and more assertive," Wei Shikan frowned, still a bit skeptical, "I want to learn the secret techniques from Master, you guys aren¡¯t too jealous, are you?" Wang Chuanxing almost burst intoughter, merely waved his hand: "Go ahead, learn quietly." Jiang Yuan¡¯s group also wore smiles. Shen Yaowei kindly said: "Shi Kan, the skills you want to learn, Captain Jiang never hides them. If we haven¡¯t learned them, it¡¯s not because we can¡¯t ¡ª it¡¯s mainly because we couldn¡¯t." "I don¡¯t believe it, where in the world is there a skill that can¡¯t be learned?" Wei Shikan retorted, shrugging his shoulders. "Even missile developers wouldn¡¯t be left without sessors. If Sherlock Holmes offered specialized courses and published a couple of journals on basic deduction, it would¡¯ve been figured out long ago." "Go ahead and learn," Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t argue with Wei Shikan and went back to his desk to make tea, waiting to see Wei Shikan¡¯s antics. Wei Shikan ignored the others and eagerly looked at Jiang Yuan. "Just a moment, I need to sign some paperwork." That¡¯s the main reason Jiang Yuan was here. Though the case was solved, there was still a lot of work left, like transferring dossiers and evidence, which required his signature. Of course, most of the work belonged to Huang Qiangmin and Wang Chuanxing. Wei Shikan waited beside him understandingly, like finding his dad in the office and first waiting for him to finish reviewing today¡¯s files and sign off before talking. Meanwhile, Wei Shikan brewed a pot of hand-brewed coffee. "Alright," Jiang Yuan said, taking a sip of coffee, and turned to ask, "How much do you know about Image Investigation?" "I don¡¯t know about it," Wei Shikan shook his head. "Hmm..." Jiang Yuan thought, if he knew, he wouldn¡¯t call "Master" so casually. Then he said: "What level do you want to reach?" "Like your level?" Wei Shikan tentatively asked, then added, "I¡¯m not interested in fingerprint forensic stuff, just this, focusing on it. If I can surpass the master, that would be great." "Well... let¡¯s start with an exam paper." Jiang Yuan finished, whispering to Wang Chuanxing. Having heard, Wang Chuanxing smiled knowingly like a little panda. Soon, Wang Chuanxing utilized his advanced PPT skills online to find an appropriate exam paper, picked one with a poor rating, printed it out, and handed it to Wei Shikan saying, "Your Linear Algebra." "Linear what?" Wei Shikan was too surprised to believe he heard correctly. Suppressing a smile, Wang Chuanxing said: "Linear Algebra." "What kangaroo?" "Linear Algebra." Wei Shikan received the paper with a puzzled face, opened it, and his expression gradually turned humble. He asked Jiang Yuan, "Master, I just want to learn skills, not be a study genius." "You want to surpass the master, naturally you start from theory," Jiang Yuan reassured him. "Master!" Wei Shikan, sounding like a beaten Tibetan Macaque from Mount Emei, hurriedly said: "I was just thinking out loud. Actually, if I could achieve your level or eighty percent of it, I¡¯d be content." "Same, still need to start from the basics." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t lying. Regarding Jiang Yuan¡¯s current Image Investigation skills, it¡¯s a blend of the highest Level 6, alongside several Level 3 to Level 5 techniques. For Wei Shikan to aim for eighty percent of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Image Investigation, he needs at least to reach Level 5. If it were other skills, well... but for Image Investigation, reaching Level 5 means inevitably learning mathematics. Wei Shikan gritted his teeth: "Even fifty percent will do." "The same!" Jiang Yuan replied. "How about thirty percent? Thirty percent should be enough, right?" Jiang Yuan waved his hand: "No need to bargain, if you want to learn Image Investigation, start from mathematics." Wei Shikan¡¯s expression hardened yet remained fragile. Yu Wenshu heard Jiang Yuan arrived, immediately ended his meeting, and hurried over. Huang Qiangmin was the first to greet him. "Chief Yu," Huang Qiangmin bowed. "Huang," Yu Wenshu firmly grasped Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand: "I¡¯m d you haven¡¯t left; I just have a case..." "It¡¯s not necessary to involve Jiang Yuan in ordinary cases. Save the resources for big cases, then approach Jiang Yuan," Huang Qiangmin strongly advised Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshu shook his head and said: "Not a small case." Saying this, Yu Wenshu directly approached Jiang Yuan and said, "Apany warehouse was robbed, losing arge batch of copper bars. Also missing were threerge barrels of gram-fluorine, a highly toxic chemical also known as rat gram-fluorine. This stuff needs to be found quickly, as it could be used for poisoning, which would be disastrous." Following closely, Huang Qiangmin heard Yu Wenshu¡¯s words, remaining silent as he quietly pulled out his phone to understand the situation. The loss of highly toxic chemicals is a troubling matter; a seemingly theft but can quickly turn into an undesirable serious event. Of course, in most cases, stolen chemicals are sold for profit, but what the buyers do with it is uncertain. With Huang Qiangmin¡¯s experience, such cases are often required to be solved swiftly, presenting immense pressure for any Criminal Police team. Even for a theft case, solving within one or two or even three days isn¡¯t easy. Moreover,pared to murder cases, thieves generally possess higher professional skills, making investigations without tracing habitual offenders not easy. Yu Wenshu took advantage of Jiang Yuan being avable, wasting no time and directly looking at him. Wang Chuanxing had been seconded from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, and Yu Wenshu desperately needed to recoup costs. Chapter 1263 - 1190: Small Factory

Chapter 1263: Chapter 1190: Small Factory

Huang Qiangmin and Yu Wenshu muttered to each other for a while. During this time, their expressions changed multiple times, but eventually, they firmly sped their hands in cooperation. The detectives, usually adept at gathering information from the minutiae of suspects, seemed collectively blind at this moment, each one bewilderedly going about their own business, or someone else¡¯s, or simply putting on a show, disying their natural acting skills. It wasn¡¯t until Huang Qiangmin followed Yu Wenshu back to Jiang Yuan that the band of detectives appeared utterly clueless. "Jiang Yuan, this case is now yours," Yu Wenshu said, releasing Huang Qiangmin and tightly holding Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. "Rest assured," Jiang Yuan replied with confidence. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad was at its strongest, while the suspects involved in the theft of hazardous chemicals might have limited resources to dedicate to this case. Criminal investigation is confrontational. For cases that must be solved, challenges can ultimately be traced back to the overall strategy. Resources count; the side with more resources naturally has a higher sess rate. Of course, this sess rate is akin to Pinduoduo¡¯s approach, where even with stacks of resources, it can infinitely approach 100% but never actually reach it. "I¡¯m naturally at ease leaving it to you," Yu Wenshu said with a wink. "This is a new case, and I haven¡¯t let anyone handle it. I won¡¯t impose any deadlines for solving it, but since hazardous chemicals are involved, everyone is surely concerned. We need to solve it as soon as possible." "Alright." Jiang Yuan agreed and added, "We¡¯ll head to the scene now." "Good! I won¡¯t be joining you. I wish you sess," Yu Wenshu encouraged a few others before hurriedly returning to resume the meeting. Jiang Yuan did not dawdle and took a team to the crime scene by car. Wei Shikan stayed behind in themand room, sitting alone in a corner, staring at a recently acquired test paper, his mind boiling over, repeatedly murmuring: "What¡¯s going on?" "What happened?" "Why am I doing math problems?" "This symbol is so ugly." ... The factory implicated is located near the Changdong Connection Line. Along the line are various small machinery processing nts and small-scale chemical factories, along with a cement nt, producing a considerable amount of smoke and dust. With the constant passage ofrge trucks, it boasts quite the charm of a bygone industrial era. "Even in Changyang, some ces are like the Ten Li Foreign Field, while others are overwhelmed by PM10," Liu Wenkai remarked as he disembarked from the car and donned a mask. "Captain Jiang is here," remarked Zhu Huanguang, the fingerprint expert from the Changyang City Bureau, stepping out of the factory wearing gloves. Huang Qiangmin hissed, "I knew Old Yu wouldn¡¯t be so straightforward. He said he didn¡¯t send anyone over and handed the case directly to us, yet here you are, Lao Zhu. This is really too much!" Zhu Huanguang chuckled, "As police officers, when do we ever speak the truth?" Huang Qiangminughed, "You just included yourself in the insult." "Not speaking the truth doesn¡¯t really count as an insult." Zhu Huanguang turned back to Jiang Yuan and said, "I reported to Chief Yu, the scene wasn¡¯t well-preserved, making the investigation difficult. I think he was anxious." Zhu Huanguang had met Jiang Yuan during the fingerprint battle; he himself was one of the top fingerprint and trace inspection experts in Changyang City, if not all of Shannan Province. Previously, Zhu Huanguang was the pinnacle of fingerprints in Shannan Province. Clearly, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s deration of difficulty was a primary reason Yu Wenshu came seeking Jiang Yuan. "What¡¯s the situation at the scene?" Jiang Yuan observed the surroundings as he slowly moved in. "Mainly, the employees at this burrized factorycked awareness of preserving the scene. The stolen materials were originally stored in the factory, and when the warehouse manager noticed the shortage, they initially thought it had been shipped out, making several phone calls, resulting in several partiesing to check the situation. They subsequently called in more people to inquire, and then more came just to see for themselves..." Zhu Huanguang shook his head as he spoke, "We found dozens of footprints on the scene. There were footprints all around the entrance and exit of the warehouse, especially near the shattered ss." Since Jiang Yuan¡¯s double-digit achievements in the fingerprint battle, Zhu Huanguang had gained a thorough understanding of him. Over the past two years, Jiang Yuan and Zhu Huanguang had often ovepped in trace inspection circles, knowing each other¡¯s capabilities well. As a veteran of trace inspection, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s fingerprint skills had reached the pinnacle of LV3, in excellent form, asionally capable of breaking through to LV4 in a few of the longest projects. Inparison, his other trace inspection techniques weren¡¯t as noteworthy; some reached LV2, while others hovered around a high-level LV1. Hence, Zhu Huanguang seldom appeared at crime scenes, usually staying in the trace inspection office handling finished products. This time, upon seeing Jiang Yuane for reinforcement, Zhu Huanguang showed no hesitation, firstying out the situation he had investigated before saying, "Chief Yu called me. Since Jiang Yuan is taking over, I¡¯m at ease with the handover..." After Jiang Yuan was dressed and had inspected the scene, Zhu Huanguang did not hesitate to withdraw after the handover. As one of Shannan Province¡¯s top tier fingerprint experts, Zhu Huanguang was usually very busy. Even if the case involved highly toxic chemicals and fell under the jurisdiction of the Changyang City Criminal Police Brigade, he wouldn¡¯t usually attend in person. Jiang Yuan conventionally inspected both inside and outside the warehouse where the crime urred. "From the traces at the scene, it seems the culprit entered by breaking the first-floor window of the warehouse. Once inside, they opened the main entrance of the warehouse from within, using the warehouse¡¯s cart for transport. The outermost lock of the warehouse is missing; it¡¯s likely it was damaged and taken by the culprit." After a sweep, Jiang Yuan shared his findings, then turned to Liu Jinghui and said, "Judging by the actions, it¡¯s quite clean and efficient, but as far as a thief¡¯s level is concerned, itcks technical skill, they couldn¡¯t even pick a lock." The factory¡¯s main lock posed little challenge to anypetent habitual thief. For a skilled thief, picking a lock was simpler and more convenient than smashing a window. "Not a habitual thief. A habitual thief would just take the copper strips. There¡¯s no point stealing a warehouse full of materials, especially hazardous chemicals. He wouldn¡¯t have a market for it," Liu Jinghui cautiously added, "Unless someone specifically ordered them, but that¡¯s unnecessary." "An inside job?" Jiang Yuan sought confirmation from Liu Jinghui. "Probably an inside job," Liu Jinghui said. "Regr thieves wouldn¡¯t know about this factory, and the payoff is too low. They¡¯d need a vehicle to transport several hundred kilograms of copper strips and a few barrels of chemicals. What¡¯s more, they¡¯d have to know in advance that the factory was unguarded. Does this factory not have any security?" Prompted by Liu Jinghui¡¯s questions, someone quickly fetched the factory manager who was waiting nearby. The manager shook his head, "No. We just finish for the day and that¡¯s it. It¡¯s the off-season at our site; keeping workers employed is hard enough. We had an elderly guard before, but he quit due to age, and it¡¯s been tough finding a recement, so we¡¯ve been dragging this on for two years now." "Do you have a list of current employees and those who have left?" Liu Jinghui asked. "We gave you a copy earlier," the manager said but had another one prepared just in case. With the list in hand, Liu Jinghui immediately felt some pressure, understanding why Yu Wenshu was so decisive. Not just the current employees, which number over a hundred, but the list of those who left in thest two years exceeds 300 people. "Why is your turnover rate so high?" Liu Jinghui frowned. Even limiting it to those who left within a year, it still numbered over a hundred. Screening so many people isn¡¯t too hard, but it will definitely exceed the time target, especially since many former employees might have returned to their hometowns or moved to other cities for work, making them not easy to track down. The factory managermented, "It¡¯s so hard to recruit these days, especially since we¡¯re a small chemical nt. Many people work a few days, find it unsatisfactory, and leave immediately. Plus, various agencies charge us to introduce people, and then during busy times, they poach them back..." Liu Jinghui focused and asked, "So are there people not on this resignation list? Like those who came and went immediately, working just a few days?" "If they settled their pay, they¡¯d be on the list. Some only worked a day or two, or left the same day with their payments. If they didn¡¯t settle their sry, we didn¡¯t list them." "Are the agency people listed? All of them?" "Basically, they¡¯re all listed. If they were sent, there¡¯s a record because we have to pay the agency." "So they¡¯re probably not on the list?" "They shouldn¡¯t be." Liu Jinghui was speechless for a moment. "Your management is really chaotic." The factory managermented, resorting to an attitude of indifference, "We¡¯re just a small factory; we really don¡¯t have that kind of capability." Liu Jinghui thought for a while and said, "Those people aren¡¯t on the resignation list, but they should at least be on the employment list, right?" "If they were paid, they¡¯re on the list. Some only worked a day or two; if they didn¡¯t receive any pay, then we haven¡¯t listed them." "And the people from the agency? Are they all listed?" "Mostly, yes. We keep a record of those sent over, as we need to settle payments with the agency." "So all of them are listed?" "Yes, they should be." Liu Jinghui was at a loss for words. "Your management is really too chaotic." Faced with the criticism, the factory manager was helpless and said despondently, "It¡¯s just a small factory, and our capability is indeed limited." After a while, Liu Jinghui called two people to help search for the records, then turned to Jiang Yuan and said, "We need another approach." Chapter 1264 - 1191 Difficulty

Chapter 1264: Chapter 1191 Difficulty

"I¡¯ll go around one more time." Jiang Yuan said as he returned to the crime scene and began to inspect it again. Soon, Jiang Yuan stood in front of the broken ss, scrutinizing it bit by bit. To confirm whether the materials in the warehouse were really missing, the warehouse manager called many people over, which resulted in the scene being filled with footprints, to the extent that they were unusable. The only thing rtively well-preserved was this area of broken ss. Even though the people at this factory hadn¡¯t thought about preserving the crime scene, due to the broken ss, this area was the least damaged¡ªthough still quitepromised. Based on footprint analysis, Jiang Yuan quickly concluded that someone wasn¡¯t afraid of getting cut and actually stood on the ss! Some even managed to crush it! Thus, the positioning of the broken ss had been altered. Therefore, estimating the actions and force involved in shattering the ss, or even the intent of the tool used, became exceedingly difficult. Liu Jinghui, watching Jiang Yuan standing there for a long time, felt like their dragon was getting ready to spew fire, so he approached and asked, "How is it? Can you determine the suspect¡¯s height and weight? What tool was used?" "Can¡¯t tell." Jiang Yuan answered quite seriously. He really wanted to find out, but all he saw was the enthusiasm of the onlookers and the force underfoot. "What a pity," Liu Jinghui smacked his lips, "If we could use height and weight to screen the list of suspects, the workload would be much smaller. Even a rough range would be helpful." "It¡¯s pointless. The offender hit the ss several times; look at the shards by the window. The people who came afterward kicked the ss around too, but the offender definitely climbed in through the window. There are marks on the window sill." The offender climbing through the window ruled out the possibility of having a key and pretending it was a break-in, which was somewhat of a clue. "It seems we can¡¯t sweep in with a direct attack," Liu Jinghuimented. "Let¡¯s go out and take a look." Jiang Yuan had circled the warehouse twice already and went outside to wander through the factory area. The factory had already ceased operations for the day, but the workers weren¡¯t off; they strolled in groups or stayed to do odd jobs. It was clear that the factory manager was reluctant to halt operations, but the toxic chemicals were regted, and a report was mandatory if they were missing; otherwise, he might not have reported it. The factory was small, with an even smaller area than traditionalrge state-owned factories. The production equipment didn¡¯t seem modernized at all, and there were indications of makeshift solutions everywhere. Although the factory¡¯s products included toxicpounds, considering the investment, profit, and management capacity, what was visible to everyone now was the best they could sustainably maintain. The factory manager, in his fifties, was an old-school entrepreneur forced intomerce, with limited management skills, just barely keeping the factory afloat. The money he earned from early opportunities gradually went into the factory over two decades, amassing a factory valued at several tens of millions and loans over one million, fairly decent for a small factory owner. His middle management included both contemporaries who had built the business together and a few junior college graduates recruitedter. At that time, private factories couldn¡¯t hire legitimate bachelor¡¯s degree holders, unlike now when even some of the workers were junior college graduates, though no management positions were avable for them. Jiang Yuan circled the factory area twice and finally stopped by the main gate, before heading out of the factory area and walking along the road. "Looking for surveince?" Liu Jinghui immediately knew what Jiang Yuan was thinking. Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, "The surveince within the factory is useless, the warehouse¡¯s cameras are broken, and the factory¡¯s cameras are old and worn; everything is invisible at night, and their cement isn¡¯t right. We¡¯re broadening the search." "It¡¯s a decent approach. However, this area is a link between the national highway and the expressway; there are too many vehicles to determine the suspect¡¯s vehicle easily..." Liu Jinghui paused, raised his hand, and said, "The suspect vehicle probably wouldn¡¯t get on the highway; too much trouble, plus entering and exiting the highway means getting photographed." Liu Jinghui shed his hand through the road in front of them, saying, "The offender likely drove here, stopped to load, then turned around to go back?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up, his Dragon Knight conviction making him seem to glow with confidence, "That must be it. We can find a ce up ahead suitable for turning around, see if there¡¯s surveince, and check vehicles turning on the day of the crime. I think we¡¯ll find a clue." "Makes sense," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. "Reasoning at this level is no big deal," Liu Jinghui recalled arranging tasks for technical staff, inexplicably feeling a resurgence of vigor. Jiang Yuan just smiled and continued walking forward along the road. There were many surveince cameras along the road, but also could be very few capturing the right footage. Jiang Yuan walked for a little over a kilometer and said, "That¡¯s about it. Let¡¯s see how much we can gather." Along the way, there were quite a few ces to turn and reverse, but not every ce had a camera. But for now, they couldn¡¯t worry about that. Gather the video footage first, and then there¡¯d be room for further discussion. They were still using the Changyang City Bureau¡¯s own image investigation unit. The image investigators, who were under Jiang Yuan¡¯smand checking on the academician case just minutes ago, were now reassigned to investigate dangerous chemicals, leaving them somewhat bewildered. A small group of image investigators was dispatched to collect surveince footage, while the rest began reviewing the footage already gathered. Changyang City Bureau¡¯s own case,pounded by the time-sensitive demand, caused Jiang Yuan to immediately allocate two brigades, over forty people, to review the videos. Wei Shikan, who had been stuck in themand room dumbfounded by the data, quickly joined in, pretending to be part of the research, and began watching the videos too. The slightly surprising thing was that the task Jiang Yuan assigned didn¡¯t take too long, and in fact, before many image investigators got thoroughly into the task, a suspicious vehicle showed up on the surveince footage 300 meters away from the crime scene, in front of a repair shop. "The surveince at the repair shop mainly focuses on their garage doors, but a vehicle can be seen circling and turning in front of the garage." "The vehicle passed thepany¡¯s perimeter wall at 4:10 AM but didn¡¯t turn until 4:50 AM, which aligns with the suspect¡¯s crime time frame." "The problem is theck of lighting; not only the license te couldn¡¯t be captured, but even the vehicle¡¯s features are indiscernible." "Next, we¡¯ll shift our primary focus to determining the vehicle¡¯s information..." The Chief of Image Investigation quickly reported this information and began assigning tasks to himself. In a short period of time, collecting so many clues easily bred confidence! Liu Jinghui was simrly filled with anticipation. Then... Time seemed toe to a standstill, with no new leads emerging. This link connects the national road and the highway, with most vehiclesing from other cities and provinces. Each vehicle had to be checked slowly, and the link itself had no vehicle checkpoints, leaving not even a trace of a suspicious vehicle. Chapter 1265 - 1192: Not Easy

Chapter 1265: Chapter 1192: Not Easy

"Are we going to investigate?" As it got dark, the Chief of Image Investigation came over to seek instructions from Jiang Yuan. Their progress was swift in the early stages. Within half a day, they had retrieved the surveince video of the suspect vehicle. If it weren¡¯t for the poor night shooting capability of several cameras, this case should have been a textbook example of a quick solve. For the same reason, given that the current surveince videos were unusable, the only thing the Image Reconnaissance Brigade could do was to conduct arge-scale investigation of vehicles during the time of the crime. Theoretically, the suspect vehicle passed by the wall of the robbedpany at 4:10 AM, and turned around 300 meters ahead at 4:50 AM. The crime time was basically determined. If the time was slightly extended and they checked the checkpoints for vehicles on the national and highway roads, especially the national road checkpoints, the suspect vehicle could most likely be caught. However, this task was definitely not easy. The traffic around Changyang City was busy, even at 4 AM, there were still quite a few vehiclesing and going, especially freight vehicles, some of which specifically operated at night. In the absence of other vehicle information, investigating vehicles passing through the national road for an hour, or even a bit longer, especially with so many vehicles from other provinces, would be work of Xu Taining¡¯s level. Jiang Yuan had also done simr investigations quite a few times. To quickly obtain vehicle information, one had to send people to other provinces, or even different cities. Some ces were hard to deal with, or local work might be busy and would require someone to assist and coordinate, utilizing forces including but not limited to Yu Wenshu, Jiang Yuan, the provincial department, and even the ministry... Once the investigation reached this point, by Xu Taining¡¯s investigation theory, it was best to investigate all vehicles passing through the highway once. Although the probability was low, having reached this stage, increasing the quantity by several times was actually a minor issue... "Although it¡¯s a method, the efficiency is too low." Jiang Yuan was constantly pondering and didn¡¯t entirely dismiss the Chief of Image Investigation¡¯s suggestion but instead looked at Liu Jinghui and asked, "What does Director Liu think?" "If we are to investigate this way, the clues we currently have are insufficient." Liu Jinghui calmly analyzed, "We preliminarily identified it as an inside job. After investigating the rted vehicles, we also need topare them with the employee and ex-employee lists of the chemical factory. Normally, this investigation strategy would have no problem, but for an ultrarge investigation, the evidence we¡¯ve gathered so far is too inadequate." Standing beside them, Wang Chuanxing, who had been taking notes, calmly said, "Determining that the perpetrator was an inside job was your inference, Director Liu." Liu Jinghui shot a sharp nce at Wang Chuanxing, "Inference! Not talking about evidence!" The Chief of Image Investigation also realized the enormous workload, investigation costs, and the responsibility he had to bear from his suggestion of investigation, and was hesitant too, "Since even Director Liu is talking about evidence, we really should find more evidence." Liu Jinghui felt his waistline expanding due to anger, repeating, "Inference is a judgment made when evidence from all sides is integrated... How about conducting footprint analysis?" Liu Jinghui was very familiar with the skills Jiang Yuan had mastered. For theft cases, the mostmonly used evidence is of two types: fingerprints and footprints. For regr detectives, the former is mostmonly used, but for more advanced theft cases, footprints are the killer weapon. Thieves can avoid fingerprints by wearing gloves, but they can¡¯t enter and exit houses floating in mid-air. Although the footprints at the crime scene were messy and oftentimes damaged, ultimately, they were only the footprints of dozens of people. If Jiang Yuan could identify them one by one and then investigate these dozens of people separately, it would be a viable approach. Jiang Yuan tilted his head and looked askance at Liu Jinghui, saying, "The factory workers have little range in height, weight, and age. Since they perform the same job and wear the same acid and alkali resistant work shoes issued by the factory, coupled with repeated trampling, it¡¯s very difficult to match footprints to individuals." "Does ¡¯very difficult¡¯ mean it can be done but isborious?" Liu Jinghui attempted to trante. "Not only that." Jiang Yuan said, "Topare them one by one, we need samples." Liu Jinghui tranted again, "So theoretically, we could collect the footprints of all current employees for analysis andparison. If there are footprints at the scene from non-current employees, we could consider them suspects. However, to confirm the suspect¡¯s identity, we¡¯d still need footprints forparison, meaning detectives would need to be sent to find former employees and collect their footprints..." Without Jiang Yuan saying more, Liu Jinghui already realized the difficulty: "The number of former employees isrge and they may not all still be in the province. Moreover, the criminal might deliberately avoid our investigation... And if it was a conspiracy, the footprints left at the scene might belong topletely uninvolved aplices." Thest point was the most lethal, reducing the feasibility of footprint investigation by two notches. Of course, it¡¯s not that such an approach can¡¯t be used, if there are no other clues at all, this n can be reluctantly tried. Investigation paths that guarantee a 100% answer are even more difficult than catching a de barehanded at a hundred percent. "Let me think again..." Liu Jinghui entered a state of self-innovation. Jiang Yuan had already thought for a long time and, seeing this, said, "In that case, I think we might as well analyze the vehicle." "How do we analyze it?" The Chief of Image Investigation immediately asked. He had also watched the video for so long and still had no idea. "We can¡¯t see the condition of the suspicious vehicle from the surveince video, but look here..." Jiang Yuan pulled up the surveince from when the vehicle turned around, saying, "Although the car itself is not visible, the image of the headlights projected onto the ground is very clear." "This..." The Chief of Image Investigation looked at Jiang Yuan, not knowing what to say or ask. Jiang Yuan inly stated, "I think we can analyze the headlight arrangement characteristics of the vehicle. The headlight arrangements of different vehicles are still different. Although there are copycat cars, determining a brand can still reduce a lot of workload." "Can this be done?" Liu Jinghui suddenly got interested, halting his ongoing thought process. Jiang Yuan nodded, "We can give it a try." Jiang Yuan still had LV3 vehicle trace identification skills, and with the appropriate image investigation techniques, narrowing down a certain range should not be a problem. Wei Shikan, who had been listening in with his ears perked, came over at this moment, looking at the two blurry beams on the screen ahead, hesitantly asking, "How do you analyze this? Using math?" "Do you have any ideas?" Jiang Yuan asked Wei Shikan in return. Wei Shikan really thought for a moment, then shivered slightly, cautiously suggesting, "Using linear algebra?" Although he hadn¡¯t seriously studied it, he really had been buried under linear algebra for two days. Jiang Yuan looked at Wei Shikan curiously and asked, "How would you use it?" "Calcte based on the projection area?" Wei Shikan tried to say, "Maybe we can estimate the vehicle¡¯s height..." Jiang Yuan listened seriously, then nodded and said, "You can try it; just consider it your homework." "Oh... huh, I do it myself? Then what about you?" Wei Shikan hurriedly asked. "We¡¯ll just go to the scene and experiment." Jiang Yuan pointed to the screen with two gestures, saying, "At the scene, directly measure the distance between these two points, and you¡¯ll know the distance between the headlights. Then find a car, drive it to the same position, and see the headlight positions; you can then determine the vehicle height..." Jiang Yuan roughly exined, and the few people around all understood. Wei Shikan also understood, but didn¡¯t understand enough to ask, "So, what is linear algebra used for?" Raising his head, Jiang Yuan and the others had already walked away. Chapter 1266 - 1193: Image Investigation Case

Chapter 1266: Chapter 1193: Image Investigation Case

Boss Qin, whose real name is Qin Yiming, is forty-two years old and the person in charge of Minghao Repair Factory. Since his wife has divorced him and the child was awarded to the mother, he lives alone in the factory, managing the daily operations of the repair shop. Tonight, Mr. Qin nned to start watching videos after washing his hands. Just as hey down in bed, he heard violent knocking at the door. "Police!" As he opened the door, there was a fierce-faced policeman in uniform showing his badge. Before Boss Qin could take a good look, a group of officers crowded in. Someone asked as they walked inside, "How many people live here? Is there anyone else?" "No, just me." Boss Qin quickly replied. "It¡¯s fine, we have a case and need to borrow your front for a while." The local police station¡¯s instructor approached, speaking kindly to Boss Qin, and continued, "By the way, you have a lot of cars here, can we rent one for the night? We¡¯ll pay." "Feel free to use them, feel free to use them." Boss Qin responded swiftly. The luxury cars in the repair shop were often taken out for joyrides by the repair workers, so lending them to the police wouldn¡¯t matter much. The instructor, in front of the city police officers, naturally couldn¡¯t use them withoutpensation, patted Boss Qin on the shoulder, and said, "You¡¯ve been considerate; we still need to pay what we owe. Later, write us an invoice addressed to the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment..." Working for the Criminal Police Detachment, expenses naturally fall under them. The instructor didn¡¯t need Huang Qiangmin¡¯s guidance; he had some theoretical knowledge. Outside the repair factory, Jiang Yuan and others began measuring distances based on the positions in the video. Both the factory¡¯s and repair shop¡¯s surveince cameras were of average quality,cking night vision capabilities, much less full-color or ck-light-level features. They didn¡¯t even have basic infrared capabilities, making it impossible to gather any vehicle information. In contrast, the vehicle¡¯s headlights were rtively prominent, but to detail the characteristics of the headlight arrangement still required a certain level of video rity. Ideally, this should be when the vehicle is moving slowly ¡ª specifically, when turning in front of the repair shop in this case. Several forensic inspectors used ground cracks, roadside stones, and nts as reference points to measure distances as urately as possible. Fortunately, the video could be measured multiple times for uracy corrections. Once everything measurable on the ground was rified, a police car arrived, trying to begin the on-site analysis. At this point, it became standard forensic work. Ordinary forensic reconstruction of a scene isrgely experimental ¡ª for instance, testing if a suitcase can fit a body is as simple as finding a person of simr size to try it. Watching surveince footage follows a simr principle. Forensic inspectors would first find a few marked locations in the footage, roughly determining the vehicle¡¯s position. Then, trial vehicles would be ced in those spots, headlights turned on, and assessed whether they matched in type, height, or even brand byparing the width and position of the headlights. By driving a few cars over for testing, the responsible forensic inspectors quickly got a sense of things and reported to Jiang Yuan, "It appears to be a mid-sized or small vehicle, eliminating the likelihood of arge truck." "Thank you for your hard work," Jiang Yuan said encouragingly. He understood vehicle trace identification but didn¡¯t know the specific light patterns cast by every vehicle. Without a database for reference, they had no choice but to test one vehicle after another, letting other forensic inspectors conduct individual tests. However, he himself had no excuse to rest. In a way, his reputation burdened him. Had this been a little over a year ago, when he was purely a guest forensic doctor or expert inspector, he would¡¯ve only needed to focus on his part. But now, even a minor case like the theft of hazardous materials required his leadership if an expert team was to be formed; naturally, Jiang Yuan would be the team leader. As a person in charge, he couldn¡¯t be too irresponsible. They spent half the night in front of the repair factory. Cars borrowed for testing lined up in orderly fashion. As for where the cars were borrowed from, it was no big deal for the police team. The forensic inspectors conducting the tests grew more proficient and quicker by the task. Despite this, several inspectors retained a very serious demeanor. The tests had to be done at night; once daylight came, inspecting headlight traces became troublesome. Waiting another day to perform the tests would cause uneptable dys. Beside him, Wang Chuanxing recognized the same issue. While yawning, he began silently checking rental prices for photography tents and warehouse leasing requirements. If they were to erect a photography tent outside the repair factory, it might be costly; theoretically, conducting tests in a pitch-ck warehouse should also be feasible, as headlight arrangements and distances are referenceable through measurable data... "Captain Jiang." The head of the forensic group, after repeated nighttime tests, finally drew a conclusion: "It should be a Wuling..." He said while taking out headlight photos from the surveince video,paring them with the test photos, presenting over a dozen side by side. Due to caution, he conducted numerous tests with several vehicles before reaching a judgment. Jiang Yuan barely nced at them before expressingmendation, then instructed Wang Chuanxing to ry the findings to the Image Reconnaissance Brigade, prompting them to trace the vehicle model at checkpoints near key areas. There was no need for an absolute certainty here. Within an hour at night, numerous vehicles passed through the national and express highways, making an exhaustive search difficult. However, targeting a specific vehicle brand significantly narrowed the scope; they could cross-check if the vehicles were rted to the victimizedpany, helping identify suspects. Of course, if a full sweep failed to identify the suspect, a reevaluation of the entire process would be necessary. They cordoned off the area outside the repair factory, leaving local police to brief Boss Qin with a few words, before Jiang Yuan and his team headed back by car. Before reaching their destination, a call came in from Image Recon: "We found a suitable Wuling at a checkpoint 4 kilometers from the crime scene; investigation shows the owner is Wang Jiansheng, who is on the resignation list!" Jiang Yuan sat up and, without hesitation, dered, "Arrest him. Call Chief Yu." "Yes." On the other end, Image Recon was even more enthused; this case had entirely stemmed from their department¡¯s efforts, an ideal candidate for an annual report. Jiang Yuan put his phone down, left some instructions to those beside him, then fell asleep. Soon after, the Coaster on the return journey was filled with ovepping snores. Wang Chuanxing, eyes dark-ringed, quietly sipped on an iced Americano. Chapter 1267 - 1194 Homework

Chapter 1267: Chapter 1194 Homework

When the suspect Wang Jiansheng was arrested, he was already out of the province. The Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment dispatched three vehicles with 10 people, drove for over five hours, and with the cooperation of the local police, they captured him. By noon, just as Jiang Yuan and the others woke up and started eating hot pot, the news had alreadye through. Yu Wenshu listened to the call, then gave instructions, and with a joyful expression, said to Jiang Yuan: "Wang Jiansheng confessed the location where the highly toxic dangerous goods are stored. The threerge barrels of brodifacoum have all been confiscated. The copper bars stolen at the same time have already been sold, but that doesn¡¯t affect the bigger picture." "Why did he steal brodifacoum?" Liu Jinghui was intrigued. The human mind is not moreplex than logic, but it is less rational and harder to understand. "He originally nned to steal copper, but there was less copper in the warehouse than he expected. During their previous work, there was always over a ton of copper bars in the factory warehouse. Wang Jiansheng felt a bit at a loss, so he also took threerge barrels of chemicals. He knew that someone would buy these things, and some of them are quite valuable..." Yu Wenshu briefly summarized. Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice: "This is the result of notmitting crimes ording to n." Friends who often steal things know that the n beforemitting a crime is the most reasonable and rational. Once at the scene, ideas like "since we¡¯re here anyway," "might as well take more" often are irrational and can easily entice one to do things beyond their capabilities. Just like this Wang Jiansheng, if he hadn¡¯t stolen the brodifacoum, this case might not have even reached Jiang Yuan, and the odds of solving it could have been much lower. Yu Wenshu also knew this principle and shook his head: "The investigation also found that in the past two days, Wang Jiansheng was asking around for prices, probably intending to sell the brodifacoum. He likely didn¡¯t know at first that toxic chemicals are regted and that ordinary people wouldn¡¯t dare to buy them." "Ordinary people wouldn¡¯t dare to buy them, but someone wants to buy them?" Liu Jinghui immediately caught the implication. "Yes." Yu Wenshu nodded, saying: "We still don¡¯t know their background. Fortunately, we investigated early; otherwise, if Wang Jiansheng had sold the threerge barrels of brodifacoum, this case would have be troublesome." "Luck, or maybe not just luck." "That¡¯s right. But also, it was your decisive decision to immediately assign the case to Jiang Yuan; otherwise, dragging on for a few days, the consequences would have been unimaginable." Liu Jinghui praised Yu Wenshu a bit casually. After all, the chief of police of the provincial capital came in person to join everyone in eating hot pot, so some emotional reward was due. Yu Wenshu indeedughed heartily, feeling a bit proud as he described his mental journey: "To be honest, I hesitated for a moment, but toxic chemicals, when they cause harm, are really too dangerous. Plus, there¡¯s been a bit of trouble with recent cases, with the academician murder case just passing, followed by another public safety case, the public opinion is bound to stir up." "True. By the way, has the motive for the original murder case been determined?" Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t hold back his curiosity. Yu Wenshu coughed twice and said: "As it should be, you need to be informed of thetest situation. Currently, it appears to indeed involve foreign forces. As for the motive, the higher-ups believe it is likely rted tomercialpetition." "Commercialpetition?" "Many new materials are developed with great expense by foreignbs andpanies. Naturally, they want to keep forms confidential, recoup costs with high prices, and ideally, make arge profit. Here, the push for import substitution is partly due to political and military reasons and partly due to economic factors. Academician Lou¡¯s project team made rapid progress, which is likely affecting the interests of some foreignrgepanies." Yu Wenshu spoke in as low a voice as possible. Liu Jinghui frowned, confused: "But aren¡¯t there many advanced materials that they themselves are unwilling to sell to us?" "If you offer a high price, you can always buy it. To them, the goal is to profit; selling at extremely high profit margins is also good. They don¡¯t necessarily seek volume. At least from what I understand, the masterminds behind this think along these lines." Yu Wenshu said dismissively: "It¡¯s all selfish interests, purely utilitarian." Liu Jinghui, having seen many kinds of cases, understood after hearing Yu Wenshu¡¯s exnation. He took public chopsticks, picked two pieces of beef for Yu Wenshu, and said: "In the end, these organized cases are more challenging, with high requirements on all aspects." "These are still rather rudimentary." At this point, Yu Wenshu quickly changed the topic and invited Jiang Yuan to eat. He was unwilling to discuss what organized crime looks like when fully developed. Notably, Chinese-style organized crime differs from the Sicilian Mafia, and historically, once these criminal organizations expanded, they first eroded the judicial system, a typical example being... the Green Gang. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly interested in the topic Liu Jinghui brought up, so after wolfing down two bowls of meat, he opened a non-sugar-free ice c and drank half of it in one go, then burped and turned to say: "Chief Yu, has Academician Lou¡¯s body been imed by the family? I¡¯d like to see it." "No. The case hasn¡¯t beenpletely closed yet." Yu Wenshu immediately said: "You can look whenever you want, but... do you feel there¡¯s a doubt somewhere?" As he said this, everyone at the table lost their appetite. Jiang Yuan hurriedly waved his hand, saying: "I just want to take a look; I¡¯m a forensic doctor, after all. The case was too intense at the time, and I didn¡¯t perform the autopsy, just looked at the images." "Traffic ident bodies aren¡¯t pleasant, just in bits and pieces." Yu Wenshu reminded Jiang Yuan, grabbing another piece of duck blood, and as he remembered, added: "Some of the flesh was scraped off the ground, and those should have been incinerated, so you can only look at the bones." "Okay, that doesn¡¯t matter; I¡¯ll say more after seeing." Jiang Yuan said after grabbing another piece of duck blood and crunching it. The next day. Changyang City Funeral Home. The body of Academician Lou appeared before Jiang Yuan, partially thawed and in skeletal form. As expected, when Jiang Yuan stood at the dissection table, he immediately saw a blue blob: Lou Guansheng¡¯s Legacy ¡ª Physical and Chemical Analysis (Level 5): Physics is what Lou Guansheng loved, chemistry is what Lou Guansheng enjoyed, math is what Lou Guansheng sought... Lou Guansheng creatively expanded on mechanics, especially in fluid dynamics, greatly extending the limits of rted research. Leaving this world was not uneptable for the more than eighty-year-old Lou Guansheng; the hardest part was leaving behind the unfulfilled aspirations to carry forward the ancient sages¡¯ teachings, ultimately failing to nurture a sessor who surpassed himself... Jiang Yuan, looking at the description of the "Legacy," felt a bit dazed for a moment. After a few seconds, he lowered his head and began the autopsy on the body before him. Every time the corpse in the ice casket is thawed, much information is lost. Therefore, since it¡¯s thawed, a formal autopsy should be conducted to record the information in autopsy report format, which can be archived for longer periods. Jiang Yuan spent over an hour fullypleting the autopsy of Academician Lou. While removing his gloves, Jiang Yuan looked at the "Legacy" description again and suddenly turned to Miao Ruixiang, who was assisting beside him, and said: "Contact Wang Chuanxing and have him get several more sets of papers for Wei Shikan." Miao Ruixiang, as the senior disciple, naturally knew what was going on and suppressed augh to confirm: "Math papers?" "Yes." Jiang Yuan paused, then said: "And have him get some science papers for you." "Me?" Miao Ruixiang was stunned. "I¡¯m assigning you some homework on behalf of Master." Jiang Yuan discarded the gloves and went to shower. Chapter 1268 - 1195: Practical Assignment

Chapter 1268: Chapter 1195: Practical Assignment

The hot water spout, through a clean non-bent straight flexible pipe, sprayed slightly hot clean water, turning Jiang Yuan¡¯s skin bright red. Being too tall poses such issues in a fixed-temperature shower room: either adapt or sit down. But considering that the stool might have been stepped on by short-statured people afraid of the cold, the only option was to bend over. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s mind, images reyed like a revolvingntern of the just acquired physical and chemical analysis (Level 5). Simr techniques are usually presented as criminal physical and chemical identification at the police academy. Academician Lou clearly wasn¡¯t particrly proficient in this field, providing the most general andprehensive physical and chemical analysis. The real value of this thing somewhat exceeded expectations, enough to support Jiang Yuan in independently establishing a relevant testing center. Of course, regarding the mization of knowledge, physical and chemical analysis might not be as lucrative as cryptography, asputer-rted fields have overwhelmingly outpaced other disciplines. However, in terms of applications rted to criminal fields, the value of physical and chemical analysis is extremely high, and it could nicelypensate for Jiang Yuan¡¯s shorings in the field of criminal science. Especially since modern people have be increasingly elusive. Forget womenmitting violent murders¡ªsuch cases have be fewer¡ªmen have be more reluctant to resort to tantly aggressive acts, preferring the use of thallium or pufferfish toxins instead. In these subtle types of cases, having the support of physical and chemical analysis would undoubtedly make the cases easier to crack. Jiang Yuan took quite a long shower, came out, used a bit of cologne, and changed into a new set of clothes. "Senior brother, you look really handsome." Miao Ruixiang, already clean, regainedposure from the initial shock of the "mentorship under substitute" situation, followed closely behind Jiang Yuan, throwing in a couple ofpliments, then whispered, "Senior brother, don¡¯t you think it makes sense for me to study a bit of biology? Surely, there¡¯s no need to tackle those physical chemistry papers." "Give it a try, do as much as you can." Jiang Yuan lightly reassured his junior brother, and added, "Bring the test papers over when you have them, and we¡¯ll work on them together." Miao Ruixiang hesitated: "You¡¯re going to do them too?" "Yeah. It¡¯s been a while, time to get familiar again." After saying this, Jiang Yuan added, "Help me get in touch with Director Wan, book two hours at the physical and chemicalboratory, I need it." Director Wan, Wan Baoming, is the director of the Changyang City Criminal Science and Technology Center. The physical and chemicalboratory in Changyang City is of top-tier caliber¡ªmore than sufficient practice. Miao Ruixiang was puzzled, scratching his head as he agreed. He thought after graduation there would be apletely different world awaiting, but he hadn¡¯t expected to find the difference to be this extreme after joining the Ningtai County Criminal Police Team. ... Physical and Chemical Laboratory. Upon hearing that it was Jiang Yuan who needed it, Wan Baoming actively coordinated and quickly found a slot for him. Yu Wenshu also concernedly called over, asking, "Jiang Yuan, if you encounter any problems, feel free toe to me. I am entirely on your side." He was worried there might be issues with the previous case. To Yu Wenshu, this was expected. After handling so many cases, how could Jiang Yuan not make a single mistake? As the saying goes, "the more you do, the more mistakes you make"; in the detective line of work, even more so. For someone at Yu Wenshu¡¯s level, making mistakes is not frightening; the key is how to handle the aftermath. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand these things, nor did he catch the underlying meaning of Yu Wenshu¡¯s words, casually responding, "No issues for now. I need to work with Wei Shikan on some questions." Yu Wenshu¡¯s expression turned a bit more serious: was it time to use Wei Shikan¡¯s background? Despite this, Yu Wenshu still maintained a stern facade and said, "Jiang Yuan, just remember, for anything at all, you cane to me. I¡¯ll help wherever I can, and even if it¡¯s difficult, I¡¯ll find a way to assist. Don¡¯t shoulder everything alone." Jiang Yuan sensed something amiss, hesitating slightly as he said, "There¡¯s really no major issue; I mainly want to train Wei Shikan a bit." "Huh, is that so?" Yu Wenshu said a couple more unsure words, and after ending the call with Jiang Yuan, indulged in thought, eventually dialing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s phone. At times, even the sly and fierce crocodile is useful. Jiang Yuan had no idea of the intricacies the old detectives were contemting. In the physical and chemicalboratory, after getting acquainted with various instruments, he was soon joined by Miao Ruixiang and Wei Shikan. "Let¡¯s start with the papers." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even give them time for small talk, instructing Wang Chuanxing to hand out test papers to the two. "You can look at books but no checking phones. Chuanxing, you¡¯ll be in charge of invigtion and grading." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he also sat down, picked up a test paper identical to Miao Ruixiang¡¯s, and started reading. Miao Ruixiang and Wei Shikan exchanged nces, both feeling a bit hopeless. Wei Shikan, always direct, slumped and said, "Master, why can¡¯t we just directly learn the technology? What¡¯s the use of all these theoretical things, especially after having graduated? Who¡¯s still doing papers? Master Shishu might be okay since he just graduated, but I graduated a while ago, and I never really did much paperwork back in school..." Jiang Yuan ignored him, putting down the paper to pick up a pen and start writing without pause. He had his advantages and wasn¡¯t in a position to reprimand Wei Shikan. Now doing the papers, it was to confirm his own capability. However, if Wei Shikan wanted to learn the technology, he¡¯d have to follow his n. Simply training a bit and nurturing a Level 2 image investigation specialist was a breeze for Jiang Yuan, but it held no meaning. Anyone willing to work hard, strive, and persist, along with a bit of opportunity¡ªpreferably a smidge of talent¡ªand under time and practice, could possibly reach Level 2. Currently, Jiang Yuan possessed several Level 5 and Level 6 image investigation techniques. To pass on this skill set, fundamental mathematical skills were indispensable. Wei Shikan was poised to be an excellent technical expert. He was interested in solving cases, could handle the frontline work, and his family background was decent, freeing him from worries. All that remained was mastering mathematics, rtively simplerpared to other challenges. This was certainly more promising than those who studied for a few years only to aim for management roles or job transfers. Of course, the probability of Wei Shikan failing to grasp it all was also steep. However, Jiang Yuan would only raise his lower limit, without interest in securing it. Wei Shikan felt somewhat aggrieved. Watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s nimble penmanship on the test, he couldn¡¯t help but feel discouraged. Throughout his life, though he had endured more bitter experiences than an icy Americano, Jiang Yuan¡¯s demeanor was rare to encounter. He had to admit, he¡¯d rather... "Check the answers." Jiang Yuan finished the physical chemistry paper, handing it over to Wang Chuanxing. Aroused from his doze, Wang Chuanxing looked at the time, surprised, "Already done?" "Just trying out the paper." Jiang Yuan provided a reason, then picked up a set of math papers and began working. Wei Shikan tilted slightly, observing Wang Chuanxing marking Jiang Yuan¡¯s test paper with a red pen, checking each correct answer. When Wei Shikan saw Wang Chuanxingparing it with the answer sheet, he realized everything corresponded perfectly, all correct. Suddenly feeling impressed, Wei Shikan found the previous Jiang Yuan quite admirable, urgently imagining how if he did this, or that, or like this, his father wouldn¡¯t shout, "Dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and mice spawn tunnel-diggers!" every day, as he used to. "This one." Jiang Yuan,pleting the math paper, casually handed it to Wang Chuanxing. A single set of papers, done in less than ten minutes¡ªsomething not even a regr math whiz could achieve. Just like Shing-Tung Yau remarked, many math problems are more akin to mathematical games, not discussions of mathematical issues. However, the skills Jiang Yuan acquired from the system were different. Though it might not possess such creative power, nor particrly suitable for academic research, it included everything from mainstream ideas of the discipline to random academic games, omitting nothing. "Full marks!" Wang Chuanxing, having graded Jiang Yuan¡¯s papers, immediately gave a thumbs up. "Good. Keep on invigting." Jiang Yuan was satisfied too, for as the saying goes, "Master math, physics, and chemistry, and fear nothing in the world." Now, with proficiency in all three, he could easily calcte the shadow area of a criminal on paper. Wei Shikan watched Jiang Yuan tinkering with theb equipment again, decisively set his mind, and delved into tackling math problems. Despite having faced more bitter challenges than enduring an iced Americano, Wei Shikan had rarely encountered an attitude like Jiang Yuan¡¯s, and he couldn¡¯t help but feel a slight desire to back out. Turning to his side, Miao Ruixiang, who had recently graduated and had studied diligently, managed to write a couple of answers. Noticing Wei Shikan¡¯s nk paper, he chuckled, saying, "Shishu, it¡¯s okay, your master allows you to look at the books; you can learn and apply it now. Try solving a few, don¡¯t force it. Math is something you either know or don¡¯t." Feeling suddenly enlightened, Wei Shikan stood up and said, "Shishu, you¡¯re right!" With that, he turned to Jiang Yuan, saying decisively, "Master, I¡¯d like to study independently for a few days to brush up on my basics. After that, I¡¯ll return to continue learning!" With those words, Wei Shikan left the room. Miao Ruixiang was momentarily stunned, then nced at Wang Chuanxing, whispering, "Cannot handle it?" Meanwhile, Wei Shikan grabbed his phone, a determined look on his face, and said, "Mom, I need a tutor for math, someone good at linear algebra." Chapter 1269 - 1196: Everything Flourishes

Chapter 1269: Chapter 1196: Everything Flourishes

Morning. Everything is awakening. Wei Shikan felt a bit bewildered after being woken up by the rm clock. He hadn¡¯t used such a thing in a while. Ever since the college entrance exam ended, he felt there wasn¡¯t really anywhere he needed an rm clock for. The teachers at the university were all cultured and friendly, even if you werete or missed a ss, they often wouldn¡¯t say anything. After joining the Criminal Police Brigade, his position didn¡¯t even require regr hours. The leadership was even moreid back, although slightly less cultured, it still wasn¡¯t at the level where an rm clock was needed. Wei Shikan pondered carefully for a long time before suddenly realizing that he was supposed to start a mathematics ss today. "Why are you up so early?" A soft, long leg wrapped around Wei Shikan¡¯s waist, followed by a crispughter, "You didn¡¯t set an rm just to get an early start, did you?" "I must have been kicked in the head by a donkey." Wei Shikany in the warm bed, his hand caressing the smooth, slender leg, immediately feeling regret. The girl beside himughed "ha," teasingly saying, "I thought you wanted to kick me." "Ah..." Wei Shikan sighed deeply, pushing her away, "I have to go study mathematics." "Why?" "Because I need to learn image investigation, I guess." Wei Shikan sighed again. "Image investigation?" "Image investigation. It¡¯s stuff the Criminal Science unit uses." Wei Shikan rose and dressed, revealing a fine chest and lean waist. One doesn¡¯t necessarily gain a fit body just by being in the criminal police. Usually, only fresh police academy graduates, and someone like Wei Shikan¡ªwho¡¯s under no major stress, doesn¡¯t have night duties, doesn¡¯t have irregr meals due to surveince, doesn¡¯tpete in dder endurance contests with suspects in the interrogation room, doesn¡¯t have marathon tasks with special investigation teams forcing him to eat junk food, and doesn¡¯t sit at the desk writing reports for five straight hours followed by three hours ofpiling records¡ªcan maintain a good physique. The girl lying in bed gazed adoringly at Wei Shikan¡¯s abs, then watching him put on his full Zegna suit piece by piece, suddenly felt a bit reluctant, "Aren¡¯t you supposed to study graph theory?" "What?" Now it was Wei Shikan¡¯s turn to be dumbfounded. He then asked in surprise, "You know math?" "I graduated from the finance department." The girl leaned against the headboard, allowing the nket to slide down gently, "When we were in school, the teachers emphasized the application of mathematics in finance, so we studied a lot, linear algebra, Lace matrices, geometric group theory. Thoughter I couldn¡¯t find a financial direction job, I should be able to be your studypanion." Wei Shikan felt a bit hesitant instinctively, worried about being tied down, so he said, "Let me meet the teacher first; if my math teacher is a long-legged beauty in ck stockings, she might not be happy to see you." "Why wouldn¡¯t she be happy?" "You¡¯re a sexy long-leg, more captivating than those in uniform, they¡¯d surely be unhappy." Wei Shikan smoothly soothed the girl with words and quickly got dressed and left. At the ssroom of the scheduled Changyang University, Wei Shikan only waited a few minutes before hearing the sound of the door opening. Looking up, he saw a short chubby bald man stand at the podium. "Are you Wei Shikan? My name is Li Erdun..." The math teacher on the podium looked over fifty years old, observing Wei Shikan with a serious expression. "Hello, Mr. Li." Wei Shikan greeted him, eyes zed, thinking to himself: What was I expecting anyway! Li Erdun seemed satisfied with Wei Shikan¡¯s attitude, nodded slightly, "I was a ssmate of your mother¡¯s, and I¡¯m quite familiar with your father too. I didn¡¯t expect a descendant would want to return to studying mathematics, reallymendable. Hmm, here¡¯s a set of test papers,plete them first, let¡¯s see your level..." ... Ningtai County. Jiangcun Residential Area. Early in the morning, the neighborhood was filled with the sounds of neighing and barking. The neighing was real, someone actually riding a pony in the neighborhood and the barking came from a pack of dogs excitedly feasting. Jiang Yuan also tried riding a pony, with his legs dangling down, his feet would touch the ground, if you didn¡¯t look at the horse¡¯s head, it was like riding on a dog. Of course, it was meant for kids to ride, usually strolling with the dog-walkers in the area, except it made bigger piles while pooping, much like arger golden retriever. "Recently, young folks love to keep these. Some kids are only a few months old, and they say it¡¯s for the kids to ride, meanwhile the two adults have a great time." Jiang Fuzhen apanied his son to feed the dogs. He liked feeding meat to friends and rtives regrly, while his son liked feeding the dogs rice, feeling a sense of continuity and seeing no issue with it. Jiang Yuan¡¯s cousin, Jiang Qiansi, conveniently took a video nearby. The stray dogs attracted to the neighborhood by Jiang Yuan were basically all taken care of by Jiang Qiansi now. She converted a less rentable fourth-floor shop in their house into a doghouse, used a rtively small number of cats to attract customers, and with Jiang Vige People¡¯s personal shopping habits, barely managed to cover the rent. Thebor costs were covered by making videos and selling pet items online. In view of his cousin taking care of things, Jiang Yuan specially prepared an extra meal box and, after feeding all the dogs, gave it to Jiang Qiansi. Jiang Qiansi eximed in surprise, "I have one too!" Jiang Yuan patted her head with a smile, "Even the stray dogs got it, of course, you should have one." "Great!" Jiang Qiansi immediately opened the meal box, scooped a big piece with a spoon, munching it as she held up her phone to capture this moment. The dog meals Jiang Yuan made were already famous in Jiang Vige, praised by those like Jiang Qiansi who had tasted it. Having tried it before, and watching the dogs eat, had already made her mouth water. After several bites, Jiang Qiansi slowed down, watching Jiang Yuan with suspicion, "Bro, did you just say I¡¯m like the dogs?" "All eating from the same pot, don¡¯t be so particr about it." Jiang Yuan handed her another meal box, "Heat it upter in an air fryer and it¡¯ll taste eighty percent as good." "No need, I can finish it myself." Jiang Qiansi lifted her chin proudly, thinking to herself, this dog meal was earned with my charm, I deserve to eat more. Jiang Yuan casually asked about recent happenings in Jiang Vige. Being young and fond of short videos, Jiang Qiansi¡¯s ways of observing and understanding things were different from the older folks. Jiang Qiansi "uhh-huh-ed" with her mouth, swallowed, then said, "Security¡¯s been goodtely, no thefts reported from the rentals." "No deaths?" Jiang Yuan casually inquired. "The vige sees two or three deaths a year, I guess. Recently, none." Jiang Qiansi shivered slightly, whispered, "Could something be wrong with the ones who died before?" "What nonsense." Jiang Yuan got up to y with the dogs. Seeing she couldn¡¯t help, Jiang Qiansi¡¯s mind raced, quickly saying, "Our university had a death recently, does that help?" She was studying at Shannan University and had previously introduced Jiang Yuan to an archaeology professor, getting him involved in identifying skeletal remains from an ancient tomb. A death at Shannan University was clearly worth noting. Jiang Yuan turned and asked, "Did you report it? What did the police say?" "It¡¯s probably considered a natural death." Jiang Qiansi sheepishly whispered, "It was a literature department¡¯s old professor,te-stage cancer." Jiang Yuan¡¯s anxiety dispelled: "Literature department, never mind. Old professors are generally safe." He currently wasn¡¯tcking cases, mainly focused on the security of Ningtai County. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team worked long-term outside; if their hometown got robbed, it wouldn¡¯t just be funny but also tragic. Chapter 1270 - 1197 Jiang Yuan Study Group

Chapter 1270: Chapter 1197 Jiang Yuan Study Group

"Good morning." "Morning!" Tang Jia greeted everyone, her voice young and charming. After greeting the passing officers, Tang Jia purposely took out her phone and snapped a photo of Building 9 in front of her. The newborn yellow sun illuminated the top of the building, making the ordinary small building appear as if it were wearing a crown. Right next to it was the police dog training center of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Brigade. A few handsome dogs were still lying down to rest, while the trainers and a group of officers hurried in to start their workday. The Taihe Working Group in Building 9 was also fully staffed and operational. The bodies that had recently drifted in were all sent to the morgue, where the chief forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan, conducted autopsy analyses. These bodies were previously ssified as non-homicidal deaths. However, since the Taihe Working Group was established, even though the cause of death had been determined, Jiang Yuan still needed to take a look at them. Especially two of the bodies, which still hadn¡¯t been identified, required Jiang Yuan to see if he could provide any clues. If not, they would be ssified as unidentified bodies. After photographic documentation and the waiting period, they would be handed over to the funeral home for cremation ording to regtions. Tang Jia stretched her long legs and briskly went upstairs. Along the way were familiar colleagues, all sitting in unfamiliar workstations, greeting each other. "Here, here..." Mu Zhiyang gestured to Tang Jia and said with a smile, "You haven¡¯t been here in a while. You might have forgotten where to sit, right?" "You¡¯re a local, so it¡¯s different for you." Tang Jiaughed as she sat down and asked, "Do we have any cases?" "We sure have cases, but no major ones. Commissioner Huang is discussing something with Captain Jiang inside." Mu Zhiyang shrugged and added, "The recent floating bodies are not cases, and it seems there are fewer bodies in the Tai River." "As long as a floating body case is solved, it will be widely reported in the media. Recently, Captain Jiang has been cracking cases on the Tai River one after another. Those interested in this, whether it¡¯s dumping bodies or murder, probably wouldn¡¯t choose the Tai River as their first option anymore," Tang Jia spected. Mu Zhiyang shook his head, "Who would be concerned with this kind of thing all day?" "Weirdos, those who want tomit murder, and detective novel enthusiasts, there are plenty of them." Tang Jia, who often liaised with the cyber division, spoke of these topics knowledgeably and added, "Some murders happen just on a whim. With our detection rate increasing, the urrence of murders has actually decreased." "Of course, they want tomit murder, notmit suicide..." Just then, the office door in front opened. Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan emerged together, evidently having finished their discussion. Huang Qiangmin pped his hands to draw everyone¡¯s attention and said, "First of all, wee back the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and the Taihe Working Group to Ningtai County." The crowd apuded in cooperation. Huang Qiangmin nodded with a smile and said, "I have to say, many officers in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were seconded from other city bureaus, so saying ¡¯back to Ningtai County¡¯ might not be entirely urate. But in my heart, I consider everyone like family. Actually, I estimate many team members feel the same way..." Before anyone could react, Huang Qiangmin continued, "I must admit, with the qualifications of our County Criminal Police Team, I never expected to attract so many young talents. Well, Old Meng here also counts as a youthful middle-aged..." After making a leadership-sanctioned joke, which everyone found amusing, Huang Qiangmin continued, "I believe we have gathered here for one spirit, striving for the same ideal, the same belief... After spending some time together, I¡¯ve noticed many officers have an urgent desire to learn and to improve themselves..." With thisst sentence, Huang Qiangmin introduced the main event of the day. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "Given this,bined with the recent low pressure for solving cases, after discussing with Jiang Yuan, we¡¯ve decided to hold a training session. The training session will focus mainly on the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, but members from brother units are also wee to enroll. The training will be led by Jiang Yuan personally, teaching some of ourmon case-solving techniques and introducing some umon case-solving methods, among other things... Additionally, the training will be conducted alongside real cases, so participants need to be active-duty officers..." As Huang Qiangmin exined the details, the officers below began to discuss quietly. Learning and training are very familiar modes for the police, with no shortage in any unit. Especially for city-level brigades and police units, various training sessions each year tend to fill the schedule. The front-line teams mainly participate in rotations. This includes essential political education, as well as variousw enforcement training, physical fitness training, and various position skills. Then there are all kinds of technical demonstrations and training sessions. For example, forensic detection in earlier years, to be effective, first required introducing fingerprint and footprint extraction and rules to police officers at all levels, and the same went for bloodstains and DNA. Nowadays, it¡¯s about teaching how to extract video surveince, especially basic IT operations. At the very least, they need to know how to move the hostputer, search USB sh drives and other storage devices, and those a bit more skilled can followwork cables and routers to find allwork devices under the same router, like a phone hidden in a couch crease, or a different brand surprisingly connected to the samepany next door. Lastly, care should be taken not to let the suspect delete or format the data right in front of them. Besides this, various intepanies are also developing various police equipment. Common ones, like devices from the 360 series, can directly extract data from phones, analyze keywords in various chat apps, and check various map and booking apps. At such times, the trainers oftene from the softwarepanies that developed these devices. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, who have been around him for years, not only see his operations but often participate in them, though few have received systematic training. Most of the police officers willing to join the Cold Case Squad are extremely interested in solving cases. When Huang Qiangmin finished exining the details, the officers couldn¡¯t wait to start signing up. Huang Qiangmin weed everyone, saying, "So from now on, we¡¯ll focus on the training session, specifically hosted by Jiang Yuan. I think people from other cities and counties might also be interested, so I¡¯ll make a few calls. If anyone wants to join, we¡¯ll learn together." The group of detectives present looked at Huang Qiangmin with knowing smiles; most of them were freebor, already aware of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s intentions. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to worry about these matters. Seeing that Huang Qiangmin had finished speaking, he said, "We¡¯ll take it step by step. Today, since no members from other units are here yet, I¡¯d like to introduce some content about forensic botany. This way, we can better protect and collect rted evidence in the cases toe." Pausing for a moment, Jiang Yuan continued, "As for the basic applications of forensic botany, everyone should be familiar with them. We¡¯ll start from practical considerations, examining how to correctly operate on cases, so we can use forensic botany in the future." Finishing his speech, Jiang Yuan turned his head to Wang Chuanxing and said, "Call the Criminal Police Team and the county¡¯s police stations. For any new cases that haven¡¯t undergone scene investigation yet, report them here. Also, gather details of unsolved cases from the past few days. I¡¯ll pick some, and we can try applying forensic botany to them." Wang Chuanxing hesitated for a moment and said, "The recent cases are probably all minor ones, like theft. Some might only involve a few hundred or a thousand yuan¡¯s worth..." "There are no small orrge cases; they¡¯re all practice. Solving a minor case worth a few hundred yuan is still a good achievement." Jiang Yuan finished speaking and pulled over a whiteboard, ready to start the training immediately. Tang Jia quickly stepped forward to help. Wang Chuanxing turned on hisputer, pen in one hand and typing with the other, and began making calls. After a while, the list in front of Wang Chuanxing began to grow longer. "10.7 Burry Case." "Wangji Town Theft Case." "Laptop Theft at the First People¡¯s Hospital." "Convenience Store Smoking and Alcohol Theft Case." Seeing these low-key names, Wang Chuanxing felt as if he were watching a napalm bomb turning a roast duck into a sizzling, oily mess. Chapter 1271 - 1198: Sunshine Supermarket Theft Case

Chapter 1271: Chapter 1198: Sunshine Supermarket Theft Case

The sunset was yellow and red, hanging on the horizon like a star that seemed like it could fall at any moment. Pang Jidong arrived at the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment just before getting off work, running quickly. "Captain Pang? You came so quickly." Wu Junhao was smoking in the lobby and immediately walked out when he saw an older man. In Building 9, the oldest police officer was Meng Chengbiao. Seeing someone older, he instinctively thought an external leader hade for an inspection. Pang Jidong frequently directed various strike missions in Luo Jin City and could chat at length with Wu Junhao. Seeing a familiar face, he naturally rxed a bit and said, "I was afraid I wouldn¡¯t make it in time. Has the master¡¯s ss officially started? Has today¡¯s lesson finished?" "No, today we just standardized the extraction of various forensic botanical evidence." Wu Junhao seemed a bit annoyed, pouted, and said, "I can¡¯t handle this; let the young people learn it." Pang Jidong, who studied forensic botany under Jiang Yuan, reluctantly said, "Forensic botany isn¡¯t just something for young people to learn; it¡¯s the direction for future development. Think about it, our city construction is getting better and better, with all kinds of garden nts all over the city. It¡¯s such a great method for trace tracking. Besides, our equipment is also getting better, and the police station can afford all kinds of microscopes. If everyone can learn forensic botany, wouldn¡¯t it make solving cases easier?" "If everyone learned forensic botany, you would at least be a deputymissioner, if not a fullmissioner. By then, I¡¯de to you, no need for much; a deputy position would suffice." Wu Junhao joked with a smile. Pang Jidong waved his hand, like a kindly middle-aged man, and said, "What promotion do I need? I just want to solve cases now, see bad guys brought to justice, watch them regret to no avail, and in the end have no choice but to meet their end... Ah, satisfying!" "Ah..." Wu Junhao also took a sharp breath. If Pang Jidong weren¡¯t wearing a police uniform, this could very well be the lines of a major viin in a European and American drama. "No more talking, I¡¯m going up to study. By the way, there¡¯s another botanist flying inter; you should arrange for them." Pang Jidong habitually handed Wu Junhao a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes as he spoke. Wu Junhao nced at it and said, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s Zhonghua?" Pang Jidong coughed twice, "Zhonghua doesn¡¯t have a brand, they¡¯re all the same." "You haven¡¯t seen Jiang Yuan in a while, right? How could there be so much left?" Wu Junhao was surprised. "Shh..." Pang Jidong gestured, then whispered, "It¡¯s from my master and their father." "What?" Wu Junhao didn¡¯t quite understand the term Pang Jidong used. "It¡¯s from my master¡¯s father. That¡¯s why it¡¯s called master-father." Pang Jidong exined, "The master-father is a very nice person. When he heard I became an apprentice, he sent me a gift for that, and during festivals he would send cash gifts. I said I couldn¡¯t ept it, so he sent a lot of beef, cigarettes, and alcohol, forcing me to send something back. What¡¯s left, I just gave to others." Although he was exining, Pang Jidong seemed to be enjoying himself. Wu Junhao clicked his tongue twice, internally mulling over it, and was somewhat envious that Pang Jidong had a master-father. Upstairs. Jiang Yuan was by the whiteboard, exining. Under the whiteboard were more than thirty members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team of detectives, all listening attentively. Wu Junhao was older and not one for studying in his early years. His biological knowledge was limited to reproduction and DNA; he didn¡¯t even know what adenine and guanine were, so learning from Jiang Yuan was very tough. The detectives seconded to the umted Case Team were different, especially those from various Criminal Police Brigades. Whether it was Wang Chuanxing and Tang Jia from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment or Gao Yuyan and Dong Bing from the Guqi City Bureau, they were all from good schools, had built a solid foundation, and had strongprehension and learning abilities. Naturally, they picked up new things quickly. Most importantly, they voluntarily seconded to the Ningtai County Bureau specifically to learn things. In the past, they didn¡¯t learn systematically, but now that Jiang Yuan had time to hold sses, they all studiously attended. Pang Jidong quickly sat at the back, ready to listen intently. Jiang Yuan nodded at him and said, "Jidong is here." "Master." Pang Jidong quickly stood up. Jiang Yuan nodded again, then turned to Wang Chuanxing and said, "Chuanxing, introduce the case to Jidong so he can catch up." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he picked up a teacup, just in time to take a break. "Yes." Wang Chuanxing stood up, saluted, and opened his notebook: "Currently, as an example, we have the unsolved Sunshine Supermarket theft case. The suspect used an electric tricycle at night to steal 22 boxes of milk, 7 boxes of citrus fruits, 12 boxes of beverages, and several boxes of snacks from the Sunshine Supermarket, 20 meters north of the east gate of the Xuefu Road Sunshine Green Garden Community. Items such as theputers and cash registers in the supermarket were intact..." "No cigarettes or alcohol?" Pang Jidong was astonished. "It¡¯s a newly openedmunity supermarket, hasn¡¯t received its tobo license yet, and hasn¡¯t started selling alcohol," Wang Chuanxing said. "So they only stole food?" "From what we see, the perpetrator seemed to have only stolen boxed items." Pang Jidong listened, slightly bewildered. He looked at Jiang Yuan, then at the thirty-some young and vigorous detectives with numerous major cases under their belts, and was filled with retorts, not knowing where to start. "Captain Jiang is now focused mainly on teaching, not pursuing major cases orpelling case types," Tang Jia knew what Pang Jidong was thinking and said it first in a soft tone. Pang Jidong exhaled and hurriedly said, "That¡¯s great, that¡¯s great, I¡¯ll catch up quickly." Wang Chuanxing nced at Jiang Yuan and continued: "This case also has someplexity. The crime urred at 3 AM. The streetlights in front of the supermarket, managed by themunity, were turned off at the time. The surveince quality was poor¡ªthe images only showed blurry silhouettes of a person and the electric tricycle, making it impossible to identify specific models or suspect appearances." "The U-lock used by the supermarket was cut with hydraulic pliers by the perpetrator, and the transfer took about a quarter of an hour. From the speed and number of items moved, the suspect¡¯s body seems to be alright, but not very strong, as two boxes of milk and fruits were carried each time..." "As of today, it¡¯s been 40 days since the incident, and themunity police¡¯s investigation has led nowhere." Pang Jidong¡¯s lips curled up, "The value isn¡¯t even 5,000 yuan, hasn¡¯t reached the Criminal Police Team?" For property-rted crimes, the filing threshold is generally 3,000 yuan, or 2,000 yuan for poorer areas, but even if filed, cases involving three to five thousand yuan are typically handled by the local police station itself. Wang Chuanxing chuckled and continued, "The primary investigation direction by the local police was fence work, visiting some local businesses for clues." At this moment, Jiang Yuan stood up and said, "Even small cases are not necessarily easy to crack. This case also deserves our serious attention." "Yes, Master," Pang Jidong quickly sat upright. "Chuanxing, show the case-rted photos," Jiang Yuan nodded. "Yes," Wang Chuanxing immediately stood up and disyed the PPT he had just prepared. Pictures from the crime scene appeared before everyone. "Lots of footprints," Pang Jidong first looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan coughed twice and said, "As for the footprint analysis, I will write a reportter and put it in the safe. We¡¯ll try not to use it now; once we¡¯ve caught the person, we can make aparison. For now, our focus remains on forensic botany, precisely because it is a more challenging field. When others from different unitse tomorrow, we can form groups so that those who want to learn footprint analysis can analyze footprints, and those who want to do Image Investigation can work on that..." Pang Jidong felt a sense of urgency rising within him. It seemed that hurrying to get here was the right decision today. He focused his gaze on that towel, guessing that must be the reason Jiang Yuan chose this case. The towel was originally an item sold in the supermarket, used by the perpetrator to wipe an unknown substance and then discarded at the scene. This was not a typical criminal investigation. Chapter 1272 - 1199 They Just Found It Funny

Chapter 1272: Chapter 1199 They Just Found It Funny

"Hello, which unit are you from? Do you have identification? Please show it." Wang Chuanxing got up early, with dark circles under his eyes, standing at the entrance of Building 10, starting to register and index the visitors. The sign at the entrance of Building 9 reads "Taihe Working Group" and "Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team," while Building 10 is the newly constructed grand hall this year. ording to Huang Qiangmin, it¡¯s at a level where heroic model meetings can be held in the county. After Building 10 waspleted, it was basically used for meetings and training sessions. This time, Jiang Yuan decided to host a ss, and Huang Qiangmin arranged it here immediately. Besides Building 10, the scale of the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s guesthouse has also been expanded and renovated. Conveniently, it arranged amodations for the police officersing to study. With all the hardware conditionsplete, Wang Chuanxing and others do not need Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions, as they automatically and conscientiously arranged the learning ss process. In terms of organizing activities, Xu Taining¡¯s style of inspection is the most challenging for people. Ordinary meetings and training with a few mishaps can beughed off if participants don¡¯t mind, but inspections do not allow for this. Once a problem urs, participants themselves don¡¯t know how topensate. This is simr to flood relief and water control constructions. The individualism shown in American movies cannotprehend the collectivism of Chinese style due to theirck of simr experience, failing to understand that some mistakes cannot be the responsibility of a single person, hence the need for ountability. For officers who have participated multiple times in Xu Taining-style inspections, organizing an event is quite easy. Even if the number and scope of guests exceed expectations greatly, Wang Chuanxing and others still manage things systematically. Only in their free time, they vent in a phone call to Huang Qiangmin: "A group from Pingzhou came, seemingly organized by their provincial department, with one or two peopleing from each prefecture-level city. They said they¡¯d solve amodation issues themselves, so I gave them buffet tickets." "Got it." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice is calm and steady, seemingly echoed from underwater. Wang Chuanxing, with a strong sense of ownership, said: "There are about twenty people, arranging positions and everything might be a bit cumbersometer." "Don¡¯t fear the big-bellied ones when opening shop." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice was muffled as he said, "Earlier, guests from Chiyong City Bureau were settled. Whatever requirements they haveter, just arrange directly, rify the matters, and have them sign off." "Understood, can sign off now." Wang Chuanxing replied. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, "Don¡¯t be too blunt, give them a good experience without much hassle." "Got it." After finishing the call with Huang Qiangmin, Wang Chuanxing continued his post, processing various procedures for the guests. Though they came to Ningtai County for learning, those who could afford travel expenses and were dispatched by their units were at least the "backbone police" from various ces, people you might not be able to find on official business outside. Since they were attracted here, arrangements must be adequately made. The global police are one family. You cannot only be a family when visiting others¡¯ ces ¡ª Little Joseph. Inside Building 10, all arrangements were set at meeting standards, with a group of interns preparing tea and snacks for the big shots, standing in the corners of the hall, eager to listen as they looked up expectantly at the stage. Jiang Yuan was still chatting with the guests at this time. On the makeshift podium, there¡¯s a stack of case files, all of which were small recent cases that urred in Ningtai County, brought over by Jiang Yuan as teaching tools. Police officers attending the ss know the field, flipping casually, they understood these cases were brought over based on time order. So many cases, and none resolved, without saying they were entirely unfiltered, but basically that¡¯s what it equated to. It¡¯s well known that minor cases may not necessarily be solved; some are quite challenging. Because there are too few traces left. Jiang Yuan dared to stack so many cases here, which in itself unmistakably indicates issues. However, criminal police have a skeptical tenacity. Even if evidence isid before them, they examine its source and authenticity. Jiang Yuan brought a bunch of cases out, sparking some probing naturally. Jiang Yuan answered casually in return, thus gaining an appropriate understanding of the attendees¡¯ levels. Since a learning ss was initiated, there definitely has to be effective learning. Otherwise, it would just be wasting his own time. Different people have varied views on cases, investigation perspectives are often bizarre and unconventional. Generally speaking, ordinary criminal police use one or two, at most two or three methods to solve cases. ssics like the cowboy policemen in some American movies often just take a cursory look at the scene and then hunt down motives and modus operandi, more brutal ones may even employ physical interrogation to gather information. Whereas, in provinces and cities domestically, the techniques and approaches employed vary with local emphasis. This is rted to both the local police handling habits and conditions for case handling. For instance, police officers in Shannan Province and Luo Jin City can try applying forensic botany, while elsewhere, even with such an idea, it¡¯s mostly unfeasible, and won¡¯t be used until thest desperate step. This regional difference is often one of the reasons roaming offenders are caught. Like a lock, drifting amid numerous keys, eventually, there¡¯s one that opens it. Jiang Yuan continued chatting with the visiting officers while waiting on time. When his watch¡¯s time reached 9 o¡¯clock, Jiang Yuan stood up and said: "Let¡¯s begin. Previously, I posted some information in the group, everyone should have seen it. We exin using practical cases, what¡¯s currently going on is the Sunshine Supermarket theft case. The case itself is small, with stolen goods causing losses not exceeding 5000 yuan, actually about 3000 plus yuan. But an intriguing aspect of this case is the offender taking a towel from the scene, providing an opportunity for our forensic botany to be utilized." As Jiang Yuan waved his hand, Wang Chuanxing, having returned to his post, immediately yed the PPT preparedst night. The first few slides detailed the case, which Jiang Yuan mercilessly skipped with the remote, directly showcasing photos under an electron microscope. Microscopic pollen and spores appeared straightforwardly before everyone. After a couple of coughs, Jiang Yuan said: "Let me talk a bit about some basic principles of our forensic botany. Using this as an example, identifying types of pollen and spores, followed by counting, is the very fundamental first step... Judging these nts¡¯ living environments based on spores is the second step... The third step, which is the most challenging, involves determining the positions of these nts based on spore maps." Seeing everyone listening attentively, Jiang Yuan nodded slightly before continuing: "These steps are quite simr to DNA and footprint identifications; sometimes it requires technique, asionally a bit of luck, and sometimes a lot of groundwork... Of course, controlling the ground is crucial, just like Ningtai County and Qinghe City, where we¡¯ve done extensive preparatory work in forensic botany..." "Oh, right, Ningtai County already has a nt map, doesn¡¯t it?" someone responded. "Yes." Jiang Yuan nodded, an expenditureparable to a building¡¯s budget could be showcased as a benchmark. "So..." One criminal police changed the topic: "What does the towel wipe over? Can¡¯t we get DNA from it?" "The offender likely wiped clothes and shoes with it,cking sweat stains." Jiang Yuan exined. "There¡¯s still..." Jiang Yuan gestured: "Let¡¯s start with the initial solution first, avoiding too many routes now. First, I¡¯ll teach everyone how to preserve and protect evidence on forensic botany..." He didn¡¯t n to spend a lot of time on forensic botany. This part would be around 10 o¡¯clock, as hepleted the matches on the maps himself. This is professional stuff; can¡¯t expect people to learn it in just a few days. Once everything was set, Jiang Yuan took out a Ningtai County map, erged it, and drew a circle with aser pointer on-site, saying: "The offender should be lingering around here for a long time. Next, we need field investigations. Well, our police officers have already gone; now we use another method..." "Change method?" "Change what method?" "Investigate the same case twice?" The criminal police on-site were a bit confused, starting to discuss heatedly. Jiang Yuan coughed twice: "Since it¡¯s the first case today, coincidentally we have rted evidence sent over, we¡¯ll solve it twice, just for aparison,ter on, we won¡¯t be this wasteful, aiming for one method per solution. Well, for our second round, we borrow tool traces..." "Isn¡¯t it footprints?" Familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigation style, one couldn¡¯t help but shout out. "For footprints, everyone is rtively familiar, do we need to do it again?" Jiang Yuan hesitated. "Let¡¯spare once." The spectacle-watchers simply found it amusing at this moment. Chapter 1273 - 1200 I Didn’t Do It

Chapter 1273: Chapter 1200 I Didn¡¯t Do It

Chen Yueran leisurely arrived at the parking shed, just about to get on his tricycle, when he saw two policemen looking straight at him. The two policemen were wearing dark blue tactical uniforms and t-topped hats, which looked more action-ready than standard uniforms. Chen Yueran¡¯s body involuntarily trembled, and he messed up inserting the key into the lock twice. Fortunately, on the third try, it went in. Chen Yueran immediately jumped on his bike and left as fast as he could. The two policemen, hands on their waists, watched Chen Yueran until he turned the corner up ahead, all in silence. Only when Chen Yueran turned the corner did he realize the two policemen weren¡¯t following or calling out to him, and he let out a huge sigh of relief, his whole waist going ck. He cursed silently: I thought they wereing to arrest me. These idiots, staring at people for no reason! Cursing the policemen, Chen Yueran slowed down his bike, rode to an intersection, and came face-to-face with a van painted in police colors. Chen Yueran immediately hit the brakes, not daring to run the red light, and kept his head down, staring hard at the ground. The police in the van rolled down the window, revealing several bald heads, repeatedly examining Chen Yueran. Feeling their gaze, Chen Yueran dared not lift his head and endured until the vehicles around him started moving, only then quickly driving forward. The police van gradually fell behind him. "These idiots." Chen Yueran, tense but then rxed, felt like cursing after a scare. Muttering curses, he rode to his supermarket¡¯s entrance, swinging his keys, ready to open the door, when he caught sight of another policeman out of the corner of his eye. With the previous experiences, Chen Yueran was less nervous, guessing there might be some operation happening in the county, causing police to run all over the streets. "What a waste. Wasting taxpayers¡¯ money." Chen Yueran huffed internally, his hand continuing to jingle the keys. "Chen Yueran!" someone called loudly from behind. Chen Yueran instinctively turned around, realizing the speaker was a policeman, and immediately panicked again. "Are you Chen Yueran?" The policeman asked while approaching, and at the same time, several other policemen came to encircle him from both sides. Seeing this setup, Chen Yueran knew it wasn¡¯t good. As a middle-aged man long past his prime, breaking through the encirclement of several policemen was wishful thinking. All he could do was quickly find the keys, try to open the supermarket door, then lock it and find a way to escape through the back door, or buy some time to make a few calls for help¡ªChen Yueran couldn¡¯t think of much else at the moment, treating the keys like a lifeline, as if back to the state when he first saw the policemen earlier that day. In a sh, Chen Yueran sensed something amiss, but before he could think clearly, his face was pressed against the cold ss door. Thump. The policemen behind him moved together, pushing him without courtesy against the supermarket door. The cold on his face had not yet faded when his wrist felt an even colder touch. Handcuffs? Just as Chen Yueran¡¯s expression changed drastically, the policemen behind him flipped him over. "What¡¯s your name?" The opposing policeman looked fierce, his voice equally aggressive. Chen Yueran suspected it was the same one who had just pressed his head against the door. "What do you want?" Chen Yueran asked. "Police, you¡¯re guilty," Wu Junhao, standing opposite Chen Yueran, couldn¡¯t be bothered to waste words with him. After confirming the photo again, he gestured for others. Jiang Yuan approached under the protection of Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming. Soon after, arge group of policemen appeared from nowhere, wearing a mix of tactical and regr uniforms. They formed a semicircle in front of the supermarket entrance with neat but varied steps. Chen Yueran¡¯s hands were cuffed behind him, held up by two of the Bald Strike Team¡¯s burly men, leaving him with no room for resistance. Seeing so many officers in front of him at once, his mind went nk, swaying like a drunk man. "Once we track down a suspect through Legal Botany, the first thing we do is secure the evidence, especially the suspect¡¯s clothes, shoes, and personal items. Collecting these at the scene aids futureparison," Jiang Yuan exined, conducting a live demonstration. At his signal, Wu Junhao, wearing gloves, stripped Chen Yueran of his jacket and tossed it into an evidence bag. Jiang Yuan took the evidence bag, examined it with a magnifying ss, and said, "It doesn¡¯t match the pollen profile of the crime scene. Check the shoes." Many men, in particr, often wear the same pair of shoes for long periods, which clearly increases criminal risk. Wu Junhao immediately removed the suspect¡¯s shoes. Chen Yueran tried to resist, but his hefty legs were no match for powerful arms. In a few swift moves, his shoes were removed, leaving him shivering as he stepped on the cold ground. Tang Jia pushed a cardboard box in front of the supermarket to Chen Yueran. Chen Yueran quickly stepped onto it. After seriously inspecting the shoes, Jiang Yuan handed them off to Pang Jidong, saying, "These should be the same shoes from the crime scene, everyone can take a look." Someone on site couldn¡¯t help butment, "It¡¯s simr to investigating via footprints." "Well, has the footprint team found the person?" Jiang Yuan turned to ask. "Yes, the footprints, technical investigation, and surveince all tracked down the person," Wang Chuanxing said, showing some photos and a simple PPT on a pad. Even though it¡¯s just a theft case, Jiang Yuan divided it into several teams for separate investigations, the same as the approach with the academician murder case. Unfortunately, Chen Yueran¡¯s anti-detection abilities couldn¡¯t bepared to the murder case culprit; all three teams on three tracks took less than a night to identify the suspect. Had it not been for waiting for Jiang Yuan, Chen Yueran would¡¯ve been captured right from leaving home. "Alright, secure the evidence, see if there¡¯s anything else," Jiang Yuan instructed, letting others with cameras and Criminal Science personnel begin sweeping Chen Yueran¡¯s supermarket. In fact, it was excessive. In a normal theft case, if it reached this point, apprehending the suspect usually resulted in suspects interviewed on the spot, maybe entrants taking a few photos, unless there was obvious evidence, or a suspect revealed its location. Detailed searches, fingerprinting, and such, like in murder cases, wouldn¡¯t happen. Even if police conducted the investigation, don¡¯t expect Criminal Science personnel to deliver results in a few days; it could take weeks. As a criminal suspect, Chen Yueran¡¯s vision blurred. He¡¯d always been a thug. It was only because his family had some money and left him a house and shop after they passed that he stabilized, having dealt with police numerous times, he knew a normal theft case wouldn¡¯t receive such thorough treatment. Seeing therge number of officers now, Chen Yueran¡¯s legs suddenly gave way. "Officer, could you have the wrong person?" Chen Yueran said with a forced smile to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan seriously shook his head, "No, with so many people and several teams investigating, they all point to you, we wouldn¡¯t make a mistake." Chen Yueran¡¯s legs were so weak he couldn¡¯t stand, his voice teary, "Officer, you really have the wrong person, I didn¡¯tmit any major crime!" Chapter 1274 - 1201 Teaching

Chapter 1274: Chapter 1201 Teaching

In the interrogation room, Chen Yueran poured out his multiple crimes like beans spilling from a bamboo tube. While he was in the police car, he could hardly resist the urge to confess, but the Bald Strike Team member escorting him pressed him down. So, in the interrogation room, Chen Yueran confessed even more quickly and thoroughly... He was truly afraid of being charged with some strange crime. His natural vignce led Chen Yueran to extend his sentence from probation to three years¡ªhe habitually took advantage of situations, and stealing from the Sunshine Supermarket wasn¡¯t his first time. He wasn¡¯t scheming, just observant in his daily life, and during an idle night with a woman, he acted on a whim. Chen Yueran didn¡¯t even seriously select items; he just moved a whole box of goods because his supermarket could easily sell the stolen items. Since he could sell them for a price, he treated it as stocking inventory. Throughout the interrogation, Chen Yueran used words like "casually," "couldn¡¯t help it," and "didn¡¯t realize" to exin himself a lot. But the police officer in charge of the interrogation wasn¡¯t very concerned about these. The teaching tool¡¯s educational task waspleted. Whatever it said or did afterwards didn¡¯t mean much anymore. At the auditorium. Jiang Yuan presented the data retrieved from the current case to everyone, then reviewed the investigative process step by step. This was a very detailed process and something that, after leaving the police academy, very few people would get to experience. The reality is that police are so busy they can¡¯t solve every case, let alone all cases. Being able to solve all the cases assigned by leaders and various major cases is already a sign of excellence. In past times when murder cases had to be solved, many unsolved murder cases were simply left alone. As for now, a corpse without obvious signs of murder often can¡¯t be a case. The Taihe Working Group was formed, and the reason for the multi-party response was not just because of Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation¡ªriver corpses are truly the type of cases the police dislike most. The auditorium was packed with two to three hundred people, like arge lecture hall. Many came to listen, some from rted units, some who came because they had heard of it, and some looking towork. And on the side of Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin, they weed everyone with open arms. The Qinghe City Bureau usually conductsrger-scale training sessions than this. It¡¯s just that in the county bureau, as the frontline, training is less frequent. Most of the time, they are being trained, but with Jiang Yuan¡¯s added value, the reason is more than sufficient. Not to mention anything else, even Jiang Yuan¡¯s first-ss honors are enough to serve as a reason for setting up a course. On the other hand, Huang Qiangmin is also very sociable. The more people whoe, the more he wees them. Sitting in the front row of the auditorium, Huang Qiangmin opened a notebook, not to take notes, but to prepare his work report. "Year of Practical Training!" This is the name Huang Qiangmin gave for this event. The event itself didn¡¯t change, nor did anyone need to make any changes because of it. But giving it a reasonable name makes it seem more meaningful. Jiang Yuan was speaking very smoothly, as if dissecting a small case. Every bone and muscle was cleanly separated, and the police below listened intently. The case was a theft case they were very familiar with, and the methods used were also familiar. What Jiang Yuan taught was more procedural. Most people naturally prefer procedural methods. Engaging the brain is fun asionally, but having to do it every day, month in, month out, is something many people are unwilling to do, and it doesn¡¯t align with human nature. Moreover, when ites to work attitude and carefulness, it¡¯s essential to be strict during thought work but more lenient during practical work. For small cases, procedural methods solve simr problems more easily. Jiang Yuan¡¯s teaching aim wasn¡¯t to filter out potential troublemakers, but to increase efficiency. Simrly, in small cases, the quality of evidence collection at the scene directly impacts the progress and extent of the case investigation. It should be said that especially in small cases, the procedural ability of police handling the scene is the most important. It¡¯s like traffic police: if they handle the scene well, there are few issuester. If not, it requires too much time and energy afterwards. However, as detailed as Jiang Yuan¡¯s lecture was, one Chen Yueran wasn¡¯t enough to dissect. Soon, Jiang Yuan reached the conclusion. Below, there was visible restlessness among the police. In terms of seizing opportunities, police are definitely leaders across all professions. As Jiang Yuan concluded with "That¡¯s all...", a police officer sitting in the front row immediately raised his hand, saying, "Director Jiang, could you discuss a few more cases? I have cases that I can provide to everyone." Such an offer belongs to the type of idea that ends with the sound of fireworks, and immediately someone said leisurely, "Are wecking in cases..." The small auditorium rippled with lightughter, forming a small wave of yful ridicule. "If we¡¯re doing something, it should be a Qinghe case!" a police officer from the Qinghe City Bureau shouted. Although Jiang Yuan is indeed a Ningtai County police officer, the Ningtai County Bureau is also affiliated with the Qinghe City Bureau, so Jiang Yuan is naturally also part of the Qinghe City Bureau. "Then let¡¯s find a case from Qinghe City Bureau." Having handled many field cases, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t take this seriously. Without waiting for a debate to arise, he nodded at Wang Chuanxing. The Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team has been screening cases for a long time. Among them, the cases from Ningtai County itself, the Qinghe City Bureau cases, and the Taihe Working Group cases were the top priorities. Following that were cases from the Shannan Provincial Department, the Beijing Bureau, and familiar local police bureaus. When Wang Chuanxing pulled an all-nighter to make a PPT a few days ago, he also casually created a small list of about a dozen cases for Jiang Yuan to filter through, ensuring they wouldn¡¯t hit any obstacles, at least in terms of difficulty. After a quick nce, Jiang Yuan selected the first case, saying, "Let¡¯s look at this case. Oh... a drug-assisted sexual assault case. Well, everyone, how should we approach it?" As expected, once Jiang Yuan made a decision, those ready to argue fell silent and returned to learning mode. As soon as he posed the question, a young police officer quickly answered, "For sexual assault cases, biological evidence is the first choice, followed by considering other evidence, such as from the scene or clothing, etc. Biological evidence is best with semen, followed by blood, saliva, and feces, then various tissues..." Freshly graduated young police officers are generally familiar with procedural thoughts formon case handling. Jiang Yuan nodded naturally and said, "Then let¡¯s go over the evidence." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan signaled Wang Chuanxing to bring out the relevant photos. This was almost Jiang Yuan¡¯s procedural approach to ordinary cases. Wang Chuanxing adeptly pulled up the photos, and hundreds of people in the auditorium watched together. "Ningtai Jiang Yuan¡¯s field case solving?" A few people below whispered. Though Jiang Yuan had performed onsite case-solving several times, for any police officer, this wasn¡¯t standard procedure, or rather, it was extraordinarily exceptional. Established experts generally avoid the risk of being brilliant in front of others and then realizing they look foolish. But Jiang Yuan was too young and had no burden of maintaining an image. From his perspective, even if he came across an unsolvable case, being embarrassed would be no big deal. "Everyone can write down their thoughts and submit them on paper." In such arge group, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t ask anyone to speak up. Using paper allowed people to better adjust theirnguage and logic. Interested police officers began to jot down their notes. At this moment, Jiang Yuan turned off the microphone and asked Wang Chuanxing, "Where¡¯s Wei Shikan?" "Still in Changyang City catching up on sses. Catching up on math." Wang Chuanxing didn¡¯t know whether to be envious or amused. "Give him a call, and have him join the case remotely to give it a try." Jiang Yuan still had the task of teaching the younger generation image investigation skills. Chapter 1275 - 1202: All Good

Chapter 1275: Chapter 1202: All Good

Changyang City. Wei Shikan pushed aside the studypanion beside him, wiped off the lipstick on his face, pulled up his pants, buttoned his shirt, nced over the math paper he wrote in the morning, sped his hands and bowed a couple of times before turning on the webcam of hisptop in front of him. "Captain Jiang." Wei Shikan knew there was a meeting on the other side, so he addressed by title. Jiang Yuan nodded: "We¡¯re looking at a drugging and assault case, participate from an image investigation perspective, write down any ideas, and hand it over to... Mu Zhiyang will pass it to you." Wang Chuanxing is a bit busy, so the handover might not be timely. Wei Shikan immediately agreed and smiled, "Then I¡¯ll have to bother Brother Mu..." "No need to switch screens, just do it live." Whether it was the need toplete the task, or the necessity as a mentor, Jiang Yuan was ready to put some pressure on Wei Shikan. Wei Shikan said "Yes" in a bewildered way. Mu Zhiyang was watching from the side, knowing that Wei Shikan still didn¡¯t realize the seriousness of the situation, he quickly said, "Shi Kan, there are about 300 police officers watching you live." Wei Shikan was taken aback, "What do you mean?" Mu Zhiyang nced at Jiang Yuan, seeing no objection, he continued, "Your mentor has put your face erged at the bottom right of the big screen." Wei Shikan¡¯s eye twitched, he suddenly understood a bit. At this time, those who knew Wei Shikan took photos on the spot and sent them to his WeChat¡ªwhether they had worked on cases together, or had meetings and trainings together, anyone who had seen Wei Shikan certainly had a deep impression of him. Wei Shikan took a moment to open WeChat, and indeed was startled. The photo showed a lecture-hall-like auditorium, with the photographer sitting in front of a dozen or so rows, each row sparsely seated with around ten people. From the angle of the photo, the podium at the front was already looking quite small, Jiang Yuan sitting there was not noticeable, instead, the chaotic on-site photos on therge projection screen, and the one-square-meterrge Wei Shikan in the lower right corner, stood out remarkably. The Wei Shikan in the photo was still the way he was a minute ago. Wei Shikan unconsciously tidied his hair, wanting to speak but not knowing what to say. The really awkward part was, the girl studying finance, who had just been pushed away, was curiously leaning over. Wei Shikan quickly reached out to block her bun. The girl giggled and stuck out her tongue... "That¡¯s all the evidence on the scene. Well, Tang Jia, could you help collect everyone¡¯s notes?" Jiang Yuan turned off the slideshow after the on-site photos were yed. Wang Chuanxing reminded again, "Everyone can log in to the intr, through the website written on the ckboard, to see all the rted information of this case." Tang Jia made a round, quickly collecting a thick stack of notes. This wasn¡¯t an ordinary student ss, those willing toe for the training somewhat hoped to learn something real. The work of solving cases is a bit different from other industries, in the hands of different people, the input-output ratio can indeed be hugely different. Cases that ordinary criminal police couldn¡¯t figure out for two months, in the hands of expert geniuses, are often solved in no time. Apart from shes of genius, there are also many skillful techniques involved, which is precisely the focus of Jiang Yuan¡¯s training, and also the focus of everyone¡¯s learning. "Wei Shikan, you go first." Jiang Yuan, while looking at the notes Tang Jia collected, first gave Wei Shikan the opportunity to speak. Wei Shikan, somewhat prepared, coughed twice, sat up straight and said, "The crime scene of this case is a bar¡¯s restroom, there are no cameras in the bar, much less in the restroom, plus the victim went alone, no one saw the specific situation that day, which has resulted in significant obstacles to solving the case..." After briefly describing the case¡¯s situation, Wei Shikan continued, "The time the victim pointed out as being assaulted was around 2 a.m., and the time of discovery was 3:15 a.m., which gives a gap of an hour and a half. The bar¡¯s entrances and exits are fully camera-covered, hence, we can list all the men entering and exiting the bar during that time..." Wei Shikan inadvertently nced at the camera, but he could not see the interior of the auditorium, nor Jiang Yuan inside, only exposing his expression to the police officers in the auditorium, making him seem a bit anxious. "This line of thinking is good, how to screen the people?" Jiang Yuan, having handled many major cases, was long ustomed to situations of hundreds of people, and asked directly as if in a special investigation team. Wei Shikan, on the other hand, was inexperienced, hesitated for a second, then softly said, "We can first conduct inquiries to see if there are alibis?" Getting suspects to provide evidence of their non-suspicion is also a practical way of handling cases. If someone insists on the presumption of innocence, wanting to change society with their own power, just put them on the key suspect list. "That works too." Jiang Yuan nodded, then said, "Can you identify all the males leaving within that hour and a half through the bar¡¯s entrance cameras?" "This..." Wei Shikan was a bit stupefied, softly said, "I can try." "Alright, that¡¯s your homework for today." Jiang Yuan finished and lowered his head, picking up the notes just collected, saying, "Most suggest looking for biological evidence. Well, theb is also working on this, with limited sess... There¡¯s too much stuff in the restroom, and the report was already the next day, with a cleanup having been done, basically no useful biological evidence was extracted from the scene." As Jiang Yuan said this, some police officers listening couldn¡¯t help but shout, "How do you carry out a drug-induced assault in a restroom? The woman can¡¯t even stand, lying on the ground?" There was a lightughter in the auditorium, Liu Wenkai beside him said, "You didn¡¯t look carefully, the crime scene is a mother-and-baby room. There¡¯s a hard surface used for changing diapers." "A mother-and-baby room in a bar?" Liu Wenkai smirked, "There are two mother-and-baby rooms, quite popr." "The person in charge of this bar should be arrested." "This can be consideredter by the prosecutor." Huang Qiangmin inserted, steering the topic back to the investigation. Jiang Yuan continued flipping through the notes, sifting through over a dozen, evaluating as he went: "Legal Botany is feasible. Consider thister, it¡¯s time-consuming. You just need to grasp the basic methods." "The idea of case connections is feasible. Yes, those whomit drugging often tend to do it multiple times, this n can be used." "Mm, here¡¯s a suggestion about finding fibers. This is a good idea, we can focus on discussing thister..." The police officers in the auditorium gradually felt excited. Those attending the training were all socially experienced, unembarrassed, so many were willing to write notes to send up. Some even co-wrote a thought with others to submit. And as Jiang Yuan read them one by one, many people had simr thoughts, and Jiang Yuan¡¯s round of reading had mostly affirmations, which instantly brought many a sense of participation. Of course, some sharp individuals quickly noticed and shouted, "It seems like any n could solve the case at this rate." "Wasn¡¯t it always supposed to be like this?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, on the contrary, sounded a bit surprised. Chapter 1276 - 1203: Because Already...

Chapter 1276: Chapter 1203: Because Already...

Jiang Yuan¡¯s matter-of-fact approach ushered in a wave of silence. The auditorium with two to three hundred people fell into a tacit silence, which itself was a kind of cry. Everyone present had already started working; some, like Pang Jidong, had been doing it for years and were about to retire. Even those with shorter experiences had at least two or three years, and no neers were sent here for training. Actually, anyone with just a bit of detective experience, having worked on a few cases, would know how absurd Jiang Yuan¡¯s words were. No matter which route you choose, cases can be solved. It sounds like all roads lead to Rome, but when ites down to it, finding a route is hard, building a road is exhausting, and trying to walk it entails encountering countless obstacles. Those special task forces for big cases, managing several investigation lines simultaneously, do so because there¡¯s no clear direction. Moreover, those lines often converge into just one. The rest are marked with "no ess" along the central route. As for small cases, they aren¡¯t necessarily easier to solve than big cases. When police find small cases rtively easier to crack, most of the time it¡¯s because of the perpetrator. Either the perpetratorcks discipline, or they¡¯re an insider in the crime world, easily tipped off, or the perpetrator repeatedlymits crimes, creating connections that offer more information to investigators. Ultimately, many small cases resolve because the perpetrators¡¯ resistance is weaker. Although domestically speaking, unlike the USA where plea bargaining can be done, whether in the interrogation room or after being sent for inspection, those behind the bars use all possible means to coerce. Suspects in major cases often have strong resistance, knowing that confessing might mean death. On the other hand, those involved in minor cases, especially facing choices where confession leads to reduced punishment ormutation, find it hard to persist. Take the "Sunshine Supermarket" case; the small-time boss involved has some connection with everything, but even so, without a significant investment, solving such a case isn¡¯t guaranteed. As for rape cases, they¡¯re consideredrger cases, and the difficulty is naturally a lot higher than the theft case at "Sunshine Supermarket." Comparatively, solving cases in the "all roads lead to Rome" manner is naturally even more challenging. Yet among the two to three hundred people present, is there anyone who doesn¡¯t believe Jiang Yuan? Is there anyone who dares not to believe? Anyone willing not to believe? But to say they believe, anyone with some sense would first think of words like "lifting someone up only to let them fall." Silence is the best answer. Jiang Yuan seemed unaware. He¡¯s ying at a different level,cking a proper understanding of the difficulty of certain cases; on the other hand, he¡¯s also disinclined to engage in mundane matters. For Jiang Yuan, those are unnecessary. His dad has more rental properties than livestock, and Jiang Yuan spends the allowance given by his dad, having no reason to participate in everyday struggles. Thus, Jiang Yuan turned a blind eye to the silence below. If you have opinions, voice them. Without any feedback, Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t adjust his approach based on their reactions. Jiang Yuanposed himself slightly and said, "I¡¯ll break down this case ording to the proposals on the slips submitted by everyone. Hmm, any officers with subsequent ideas can continue to pass notes." Jiang Yuan said this and noted it down in his notebook, continuing, "The ¡¯Forensic Botany¡¯ approach is quitebor-intensive. It sounds simple; both parties involved in physical contact could have exchanged spores. Keep in mind, some spores are difficult to transfer through simple contact, while others are rtively easy. This can be the basic thinking to differentiate native spores from those transmitted... Jidong, you¡¯re in charge of this route." "Yes," Pang Jidong stood at attention as a show of force. Though he was an outsider in the team, Pang Jidong always respected his mentor Jiang Yuan, just like when he first joined the unit 20 years ago and began under his tutge. Jiang Yuan nodded reassuringly. Pang Jidong¡¯s skill tree in forensic botany was somewhat skewed; he himself did not have a botanical base, not even knowing the different types of sycamore trees, but his understanding of forensic botany had risen. He knew how to utilize forensic botany specialists, understanding which cases warranted finding people, which could be solved using forensic botany, and knew which methods were efficient, quick, and urate. "About the idea of linked cases... Wei Shikan, what do you think?" Jiang Yuan continued to call on his disciple¡¯s names, causing admiration below. Wei Shikan came back online. This time, Wei Shikan was in a neat environment, his background deliberately tidied. On the big screen in the auditorium, Wei Shikan¡¯s square-meter face disyed a twisted expression. Wei Shikan waited for quite a while before saying, "For solving a case through surveince footage, we currently face three main challenges; first, it¡¯s difficult to identify which person in a given timeframe is the suspect; second, even if there¡¯s a suspected target, the lighting at the bar entrance makes faces unclear; third, even if faces are rtively visible, facial recognition fails to find them." Jiang Yuan calling him certainly meant solving through video surveince, and even with little detective experience, Wei Shikan managed through this understanding. After discussing this, Wei Shikan was slightly more rxed, and continued, "Considering linked cases could effectively address these three challenges. First, repeated appearance increases suspicion levels; second, even if faces aren¡¯t clear, other physical characteristics can confirm identity; third, more camera feeds provide better data for facial recognition." "Alright, it¡¯s up to you. Hmm, Shen Yaowei, you assist Wei Shikan." Jiang Yuan assigned the local second group to Wei Shikan, hoping the two would work better together. Wei Shikan felt inexplicably nervous, "Am I investigating independently?" "Come to me if you have any problems. Also, produce an enhanced version of the image first." Jiang Yuan motioned Wang Chuanxing to close themunication, then turned and said, "Captain Liu, this n might expand the case, please assign a team to focus on it. Don¡¯t worry about Wei Shikan and the others, just interlink and check the cases first." "No problem." Liu Wenkai responded immediately, "This person seems quite skilled in drugging and raping, it¡¯s likely not their first time. However, locally, we only have this one report, so we¡¯ll need to touch base with our counterparts in other areas." Jiang Yuan pursed his lips, "Handle it as you see fit." Liu Wenkaiughed, as most of the hall was filled with colleagues from outside areas, which was far more efficient than making phone calls or sending official documents. "Yes, moving on to the third direction, the fiber analysis. I¡¯ll handle this route." Jiang Yuan said as his gaze naturally drifted to hisptop. The hall inexplicably went cold for about half a minute. Huang Qiangmin looked up, coughed twice, and asked, "Jiang Yuan?" "Oh, I¡¯m done." Jiang Yuan sat up straight. "For fiber analysis, would you mind exining it in detail?" Huang Qiangmin asked. "Um..." Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, "The main thing is, I¡¯ve already finished it." The detectives, who had been whispering among themselves, suddenly felt a quietness around them. Huang Qiangmin coughed heavily a few times, "Well then, isn¡¯t it a good time to exin it?" "I was thinking, if I exin it here, it might make it harder to investigate the other two directions." Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression was serious, as if he genuinely considered it for others. Liu Wenkai: "Shall we leave then?" "That works too." Jiang Yuan replied just as readily. It was indeed a solution. "Alright." Liu Wenkai chuckled, feeling it was a bit odd, but indeed got up and left. Even though solving the case was crucial, the focus here was on training, which seemed correct. Shen Yaowei and Pang Jidong and others also left, leaving the remaining detectives wide-eyed, as if they were expecting a magician¡¯s revtion. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan took out a pen, scribbled a bit on his notepad, and outlined a simple agenda, then said, "Actually, solving cases through fiber analysis is something we all have experience with. As for this case, the evidence at the crime scene is of rtively low value. The most valuable and important evidence is actually the victim¡¯s clothing, especially the front of the clothing." Jiang Yuan had Wang Chuanxing disy the evidence images again, finding the desired P31 image, and said, "This is the victim¡¯s coat. After a meticulous examination by theb colleagues, they found that the lining of this coat contains multiple fiber structures. Some of the fibers are from the victim¡¯s own clothing, but there are also some unidentified fiber sources. Notably, there are tear marks on the edges of three fibers..." Jiang Yuan circled areas on the magnified image, "Here, here, and here, all have simr fibers. After examination, it¡¯s confirmed that the fiber is natural cashmere and has been dyed burgundy. Thus,bined with the surveince footage at that time, we can actually confirm the suspect is this person..." Wang Chuanxing quickly disyed image P219, showing a middle-aged man in a burgundy sweater. "Can we perform facial recognition?" someone asked softly below. "No, the face is not clearly captured, and the angle is not good either." Jiang Yuan replied, then added, "But we can find the vehicle he used to leave..." This time, Wang Chuanxing had no image prepared, so Jiang Yuan operated quickly and captured a picture of the vehicle. "Did he leave by taxi?" Someone noticed the operational information on the image and immediately said, "If we can find the information of the taxi rider through the vehicle, we can basically confirm the suspect¡¯s identity!" "That¡¯s right. We¡¯ll end the session here today." Jiang Yuan silently began packing up. The detectives in the grand hall watched Jiang Yuan leave. The moment the door to the grand hall closed, it erupted with noise and excitement: "Damn!" "Damn!" "Damn!" Chapter 1277 - 1204: Cow Farm

Chapter 1277: Chapter 1204: Cow Farm

Jiang Yuan got off work and chose to walk home slowly. After being away for so long, even if staying in a five-star hotel or a self-purchased small house, it still felt like a business trip, and unknowingly umted some mental stress. At this time, walking home was like a pressure relief valve; the closer to home, the less the pressure. Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming followed Jiang Yuan, each carrying a Type 92 pistol. Although the safety in Ningtai County was reasonably assured, Mu Zhiyang only wore a standard bulletproof vest without a ceramic te, focusing more on the surroundings and vehicles. The road was lined with greenery, and the gentle breeze blew. Many others chose to walk too. asionally, someone would take out their phone to aim at the two in police uniforms, probably preparing to post on social media. Whenever this happened, Mu Zhiyang would turn around, facing the person, so that thew enforcement recorder on his chest captured the person¡¯s face. Jiang Yuan took out his phone and called his father: "I¡¯ll be home for dinner." "Good, good, good." Jiang Fuzhen was very happy,ughed loudly and said: "Home is always best, running outside all the time, can¡¯t even eat properly." "Didn¡¯t you send a chef over?" Jiang Yuan also felt good returning home. "A chef¡¯s cooking is never as good as your dad¡¯s." Jiang Fuzhen boasted for two seconds and then said: "I¡¯ve learned two new ways to cook meat, hurry back to try it. Don¡¯t bother going upstairs, juste downstairs." "Alright." Jiang Yuan agreed with a smile and quickened his pace. Mu Zhiyang kept one hand on his belt, closely following. Jiangcun Residential Area was as lively as ever, with the small supermarket entrance upied by a dozen uncles and aunts as usual. Jiang Yuan greeted them as he walked in, and someone shouted: "Your dad is at the smokiest spot." Jiang Yuan looked up and saw the wisps of smoke rising from the center of theplex and asked: "What¡¯s he doing?" "Brazilian barbecue. Your dad had someone build a furnace, like the kang we use, it¡¯s pretty interesting." An old man said a few words, and out of respect for Jiang Yuan and the vige¡¯s richest man, added only a slight sarcastic hint. Jiang Yuan nodded with a smile, recalling his dad¡¯s earlier phone call mentioning buying a new breed of cattle. Now it seemed the new breed probably needed a new way of cooking, and the new cooking method required new stoves and utensils, which made sense. He passed a flower bed made of green trees and flowers, and circled into themunity¡¯s public dining hall. As he entered, he saw a long iron chain hanging from the three-story-high ceiling, with half a cow hanging from the hook below. Next to the cow was a newly built furnace. The furnace appeared to be more than two meters tall, about as thick as five or six people embracing it, and seemed to be made of fire bricks and cement. The strange thing was, this rough-looking furnace was set inside the newly renovated dining hall. Although the public dining hall itself was modest, abination of vige aesthetics and pragmatism, the furnace appeared to be even sillier, bigger, and cruder. But looking around, a group of children yed around the cow and the furnace. Further back, young mothers holding their children, and grandparents pushing strollers were watching. Some people even held skewers in their hands, as if freshly grilled. "Son." Jiang Fuzhen had been watching the entrance, knowing Jiang Yuan wasing home, and when he saw the taller Jiang Yuan appear, he instantly waved the tongs joyfully. "Be careful not to burn anyone." Jiang Yuan jogged over. Jiang Fuzhen patted Jiang Yuan¡¯s back heavily, then pointed to the burning red furnace: "Started preparing early in the morning, now is the best time for grilling, want a piece of tri-tip?" "Sure." Jiang Yuan imitated others, grabbed a te, and went over. A cousin jokingly said: "Uncle always saves the best meat for Jiang Yuan." "If you like the rump steak, I¡¯ll ughter another one for you." Jiang Fuzhen said, taking out an arm-length iron skewer and cing it on Jiang Yuan¡¯s te: "Be careful, it¡¯s hot, let it cool before eating." The cousin circled around Jiang Yuan, tutting: "I can¡¯t afford to like it, ughtering a whole cow is too extravagant." "I just bought another batch of cattle at the ranch, you can pick one to ughter if you like." Jiang Fuzhen pulled out his phone, handing it to someone nearby: "Choose one from the pictures, can be delivered in two hours." "No, no," the cousin shook her head repeatedly: "I¡¯ll just grab a few skewers. Uncle, why buy so many cows?" "It¡¯s better to have more cattle for breeding improvements. I want to create a taste I like, it¡¯s something to do in my spare time." Jiang Fuzhen said with some excitement, starting to exin the knowledge he just learned about cattle breeding improvements. Jiang Yuan gently blew on the meat on the iron skewer. Once it cooled a bit, he took a bite, chewing hard as the juicy meat flooded his mouth. He wasn¡¯t worried about his dad. With Jiang Fuzhen¡¯s luck, having been in business for so many years and hardly losing money, even if there were slight fluctuations, things like demolition came along to even out the losses. If the Jiang Family Ranch could hold out until the new breed of cows was ready for market, it would already be a victory. Lunchtime revolved around the barbecue. After Jiang Fuzhen grilled half a cow and fed over a hundredmunity residents, Jiang Yuan followed his dad home. Like many men, Jiang Fuzhen had a lot to say when he hadn¡¯t seen his son. But once they met, it was like he had already said everything and was satisfied. By contrast, the two dogs at home were more enthusiastic, circling around Jiang Yuan and sniffing excitedly, their tails wagging like they were about to fly. Of course, Jiang Yuan gave them some beef as well. Jiang Fuzhen turned on the TV, which was showing a football match from somewhere, and he and Uncle Qiang each had a bottle of beer, immediately livening up the house. "How long can you stay?" Jiang Fuzhen drank a bottle of beer and handed another to Jiang Yuan. "Just a few days, I guess. I¡¯ll pick a couple of suitable cases and then set off." Jiang Yuan clinked sses with his dad and took a big gulp of beer. The cold beer was perfect for cutting the grease. "So it¡¯s because there aren¡¯t enough cases in Ningtai, that¡¯s why you have to travel all the time?" Jiang Fuzhen asked. "Yes, but Ningtai County hasn¡¯t had a major case in a while." Jiang Yuan looked at his dad: "Do you want me to stay home?" "Not at all." Jiang Fuzhen immediately waved his hand: "A man¡¯s aspirations should be widespread. When you first wanted toe back to Ningtai, I thought you wanted to take it easy. I didn¡¯t expect..." Jiang Fuzhen paused here and said: "I was thinking, you¡¯re frequently traveling, eating poorly and living ufortably. Instead, why not choose a few locations where I can buy a few more houses, making it easier for you toe and go." "Haven¡¯t we already bought a house in Changyang City, and there¡¯s one in Beijing too..." "But you don¡¯t seem to stay in them very often..." "No need, I can¡¯t say where I¡¯ll have to go next for a case." Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment but realized the more ces he had to travel to, the less convenience owning more houses would bring, possibly even more trouble. Jiang Fuzhen pulled out his phone, expertly opened the ICBC app, and said: "I¡¯ll wire you some money, buy a ce when you need to, and let me know if you run short..." "Alright." Jiang Yuan epted without hesitation. Uncle Qiang watched as the father and son both put away their phones, then said to Jiang Fuzhen: "Didn¡¯t you mention before that the guy who owns the breed you wanted lost something at his house? Maybe Jiang Yuan can help them find it." "Just a few paintings, most valuable probably only worth a few million." Jiang Fuzhen shook his head. "A few million is not a small sum, what paintings?" Jiang Yuan asked proactively. Jiang Fuzhen had opened ranches three times already. Although the first two were halted due to demolition, from another perspective, running a ranch and raising cattle were genuinely his passions, as a son, he should naturally support them. "Let me think, there¡¯s a small piece by Zhang Daqian, said to be an original, that¡¯s probably the most valuable. The rest are Late Qing Dynasty and Republic-era ones, I don¡¯t remember the names." Jiang Fuzhen shifted the topic: "The ranch owner is also a squanderer, his dad specially bought Limousin cattle from France, and he made quite a sess with crossbreeding on his own. But the son couldn¡¯t get into The Great Learning, studied art instead, spends money buying paintings, getting tricked left and right..." "Which ranch and what¡¯s its name?" Jiang Yuan asked one by one, then sent the information to Wang Chuanxing, saying: "I¡¯ll ask around about the situation, if necessary, I can look into it for them." Chapter 1278 - 1205: Establishing Yuan People

Chapter 1278: Chapter 1205: Establishing Yuan People

Morning. Jiang Yuan got up to eat the beef soup his father made, then tidied up and went out. In the parking lot downstairs, Mu Zhiyang and others were already waiting. After Jiang Yuan got in the car, Mu Zhiyang said, "There are several police officers waiting at the gate of themunity. They are from Liyuan City." "Looking for me?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes." Jiang Yuan said as he started the vehicle. When the car came out of themunity, Mu Zhiyang naturally slowed down, and sure enough, at the right side of the gate, there were several well-dressed police officers standing upright in their uniforms. "Li, what brings you here?" Seeing that one of them was Li Zeming, Jiang Yuan immediately got out of the car. During the previous fingerprint battle, Li Zeming and Jiang Yuan got quite close, and afterwards they stayed in the same group, often interacting, but it had been a long time since theyst met. Li Zeming smiled and shook hands with Jiang Yuan, then pulled a colleague over and said, "This is our Liyuan City Nangang Branch Criminal Police Team¡¯s Captain Wang Zhihao. Captain Wang heard someone was reviewing Mu Jian Cow Farm¡¯s records, found it was you, and decided toe over immediately." Wang Zhihao, about 30 years old, looked much younger than Li Zeming. After shaking hands firmly with Jiang Yuan, he said enthusiastically, "Captain Jiang, don¡¯t mind me. I originally intended to attend your lecture, but work has been too busy for me to get away. However, upon hearing that you are interested in Mu Jian Cow Farm, I decided to drive over immediately and check out the situation." Jiang Yuan was slightly taken aback and hesitantly said, "I¡¯m interested in the Mu Jian Cow Farm case you mentioned, but I haven¡¯t decided whether to work on it here." "Shall I introduce the case to you?" Wang Zhihao, with no hint of shyness, was good at seizing opportunities. Jiang Yuan sighed, "Then let¡¯s take my car. Let¡¯s switch to an Alphard and chat while we drive." As he spoke, a vehicle from his cousin¡¯spany, an Alphard, was driven out of the garage by a driver. Wen Ming moved over to drive, and Mu Zhiyang sat in the passenger seat, first scanning Li Zeming and the others through the rearview mirror. Jiang Yuan brought Wang Zhihao and Li Zeming to sit in the back. In respect of Li Zeming, he proactively said to Wang Zhihao, "Is the farm case very important?" "It¡¯s mainly to get to know Captain Jiang." Wang Zhihaoughed, speaking tteringly. Among the three professions of physician, teacher, and artisan, the social status is arranged in order, as is power. Once someone has secured a foothold in a county or district¡¯s criminal police team, they can extend their influence into every corner of the district or county, often achieving a high degree of socialization. Jiang Yuan just smiled, and while his mind was clear, with full emotional intelligence, he said, "Knowing Captain Li means you know me; let¡¯s add each other on WeChat?" Wang Zhihao immediately feltfortable, waking up and exchanging WeChat details while saying, "Captain Li is Captain Li, and you¡¯re you... By the way, why did you be interested in the Mu Jian Cow Farm case?" Buzz... Before Jiang Yuan could answer, his phone rang. Answering it, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice came through: "Are the people from Liyuan City here? Let me talk to them." Jiang Yuan skillfully handed the phone to Wang Zhihao. Wang Zhihao took the phone with a big smile, responding with "okay" throughout the conversation. Without needing to observe particrly, Jiang Yuan could tell that Wang Zhihao¡¯s facial expressions were mostly genuine. After a while, Wang Zhihao hung up the phone, handed it back to Jiang Yuan, and said with a smile, "Commissioner Huang is genuinely responsible. But if our bureau had a Jiang Yuan, I would be even more verbose than him." Jiang Yuan smiled, "Commissioner Huang is the kind of person who tends to worry." "As he should be, as he should be." Wang Zhihao said with augh, "Actually, we don¡¯t have any other thoughts; we are just overwhelmed. In our Shan Nan Province, the detection rate has be increasingly abnormal over the past two years... forcing us to continuously improve our detection rates. In thebat power ranking, our Liyuan City has fallen quite a bit." Wang Zhihao spoke seriously, looking at Jiang Yuan, whose rough, sun-tanned face was full of expressive eyes blinking, making it easy to understand what he meant. Most cases are ordinary; while many cases seem significant in the eyes of the perpetrators and victims, to detectives, they¡¯re often just so-so. However, some cases, though they might start off ordinary with amon nature, for some reasons be twisted into another dimension. Arge portion of a detective¡¯s time, mental energy, and entanglement is consumed by these types of cases. Each city has at least one or two, even up to three, task force groups that end up unsessful every year. What does this mean? At the very least, it¡¯s over a dozen detectives spending two to three months or more entirely dedicated to this. If this amount of time could be released for other cases, rates of case-solving would increase significantly. Meanwhile, the cases that task force handles are themselves a huge negative factor. That¡¯s how thew enforcement intensity in Ningtai County improved, and that¡¯s also how Liyuan City¡¯s ranking fell in thebat power ranking of Shan Nan Province. Especially after the establishment of the Taihe Working Group, the case-solving rates in other cities rose rapidly, and security levels increased, making Liyuan City seem like a slow performer. Thus, Liyuan City Bureau had already started contacting Huang Qiangmin and had provided several cases, but Jiang Yuan had not found the time to oblige. This time, Jiang Yuan took the initiative to review the Mu Jian Cow Farm¡¯s records, so even if Liyuan City hadn¡¯t treated it as a major case before, now they did. Wang Zhihao almost spent the night gathering information, then drove over. As one of the top fingerprint experts of Liyuan City, Li Zeming was entrusted by leadership due to his familiarity with Jiang Yuan, delivering the car at night. "The Mu Jian Cow Farm case is ssified as a theft case by us." Once Wang Zhihao started to talk, he described the case: "The Mu Jian Cow Farm is in a suburban area. If you go another forty to fifty kilometers west, you¡¯ll reach the boundary of Ping Zhou Province. The area has a tradition of cattle farming for over a hundred years. The family owning the cattle farm has specialized in cattle farming for several generations. About 20 years ago, during the previous generation, they prospered, expanded the farm, bought breeding bulls from overseas, and engaged in cattle cross-breeding themselves. They also raised cattle, fattened them, and made quite a profit." Wang Zhihao described a bit of the background before continuing, "Several paintings were stolen from the farm. Initially, we suspected it was an inside job for three main reasons. First, the farm is located in a remote ce only familiar people would know. Secondly, the stolen items were artworks, and only artworks were stolen, which doesn¡¯t align with random theft behavior. Thirdly, although the farm¡¯s surveince system isn¡¯t extensive, it¡¯s their own setup,prising several cameras, all of which the culprit managed to avoid, which is quite difficult." "What are the results of the investigation?" Jiang Yuan specifically asked to avoid Wang Zhihao glossing over it. Wang Zhihao shook his head and said, "We didn¡¯t obtain usable fingerprints at the scene, though we took some footprints, it¡¯s still uncertain which ones are the culprit¡¯s. As for acquaintances, we¡¯ve primarily investigated the victim, the cow farm owner¡¯s rtionships, but found nothing." "How many people work at the farm?" "There are 25 permanent staff, considered a medium-torge cattle farm. They have their own veterinarians, everyone was checked, but previously we were a bit short on manpower." Investigating one person¡¯s rtionships can be done with just two to three detectives. For 25 people, the difficulty is quite significant. Jiang Yuan examined the files on the spot and then closed them before arriving at the Criminal Police Team station, saying, "Please wait a moment. I will handle this current case first, then I¡¯ll work on the one in hand." "No problem." Wang Zhihao and the others immediately nodded. Routine detective work is often multi-threaded, and while the farm case barely qualifies for a task force, it¡¯s certainly not something warranted for Jiang Yuan to personally take on. Wang Zhihao and Li Zeming closely followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s lead and stepped into the grand auditorium. The moment they entered, the noisy sound within the auditorium dropped to zero instantly. Those who were talking or shouting fell silent, all eyes on Jiang Yuan, Wang Zhihao, and the rest. Wang Zhihao and Li Zeming felt a "boom" in their heads. So many people, mostly middle-aged and young police officers; they had heard of such training sessions many times, but following up to the podium was a first. Chapter 1279 - 1206: Naturally Enter

Chapter 1279: Chapter 1206: Naturally Enter

The front rows of the auditorium today are filled because passing notes is convenient. Wang Zhihao and Li Zeming tried to find a ce to hide but couldn¡¯t, so they had to stand on the podium with Jiang Yuan, and as they looked up at the hundreds of people in the auditorium, they felt somewhat ufortable. More people came today, visibly young and middle-aged criminal police officers, each with sharp eyes, unsure whether they were pondering the lecture or preparing to make a name for themselves. At this time, Jiang Yuan nodded to Wang Chuanxing beside him and said, "Let¡¯s talk about thetest progress." "Yes!" Wang Chuanxing stood up and said, "The suspect Li Zongwei, from Wei City, 29 years old. It is currently confirmed that he is involved in 4 cases of drugging and sexual assault... Based on the drugs found during the search of the suspect¡¯s home, the suspect primarily used GHB,monly known as Gamma Hydroxybutyrate..." Wang Zhihao and Li Zeming looked perplexed. Directly discussing the suspect? Does Jiang Yuan need to be involved in this? After Wang Chuanxing finished his report and sat down, Wei Shikan naturally stood up, having arrivedst night. Lack of sleep left Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes a bit red, but his expression was quite excited. After all, working independently on a case, even when the suspect is identified, is very rare for a junior criminal police officer like Wei Shikan. Moreover, his task was to link cases, which is an extension of the case, even if the suspect is identified, it is still extremely valuable work. Wei Shikan picked up the notebook in his hand and instinctively nced at it, saying, "We first checked various cases based on the reported information, then synthesized Li Zongwei¡¯s whereabouts and timeline. We have currently discovered 4 cases. However, considering that some people may not have reported, or are uncertain of their condition, I have listed a table and n to visit several cities..." "Okay, I¡¯ll leave it to you then." Jiang Yuan simply did not listen to the follow-up, and did not worry about Brahmin¡¯s reputation. Wei Shikanughed twice, his emotions stable. "On Legal Botany, wepared the suspect¡¯s clothing..." Pang Jidong then took the stage. Jiang Yuan gave him a bit more time. As a training activity, criminal police officers were already familiar with things like Gamma Hydroxybutyrate, but Legal Botany still required continued training. Especially for ordinary officers from other districts, they might not be very attentive even if they attended simr training sessions. On this point, the trainers should be aware of their role. Pang Jidong spoke, while Jiang Yuan supplemented a few words from the side, incidentally reinforcing a round of teaching on Legal Botany. Standing on the tform, Li Zeming and Wang Zhihao listened sullenly, feeling somewhat unclear, yet inexplicably sharp. For them, Legal Botany was something they had only heard of; who would have thought Jiang Yuan had already started suchrge-scale training. After Pang Jidong finished, a few more people reported the situation, Jiang Yuan stood up again and said, "That¡¯s all for the drugging cases, continue with the linking process, and we¡¯ll open a new case." Jiang Yuan spoke casually, turning his head with equal ease to Li Zeming and Wang Zhihao, saying, "Shall we talk about the cow farm case?" "Oh... okay." Wang Zhihao breathed a sigh of relief and began to introduce the situation at Mu Jian Cow Farm. As he introduced here, Li Zeming somewhat realized something, took a step back, found Mu Zhiyang beside him, and whispered, "Are we solving cases on the spot?" "Yes. Everyone was curious about this when they arrived." Mu Zhiyang answered all of Li Zeming¡¯s questions at once. The people on stage spoke, while those below were discussing in low voices. Wang Zhihao quickly introduced the case, nodded, and stood aside. "Wasn¡¯t itmitted by someone familiar?" someone directly shouted. "We only investigated the Cow Farm Owner¡¯s interpersonal rtionships. Other people within the farm are still being investigated." Wang Zhihao replied. Back-and-forth questioning was quite simr to when Jiang Yuan first asked. "The probability of familiar perpetrator is still high," someone said, looking up. "Indeed it is." "What does the trace examination say?" Speaking of trace examination, Li Zeming stood out and said, "The location of Mu Jian Cow Farm is rtively remote, with a dedicated ess road, an asphalt-paved stretch of about 100 meters. There is an independent courtyard, notrge. The cattle farm has tworge barns, basically closed spaces. After inspecting the front and back doors of the farm, no traces of forced entry were found, nor were there traces of lock-picking with duplicate keys." Original and duplicated keys can be differentiated in trace examination mainly by their smoothness. Particrly, new duplicate keys often leave scratches on locks. "The walls of the farm also show no signs of climbing, and the windows bear no signs of forced entry. It can basically be considered natural entry." Li Zeming said with considerable certainty. Although he did not conduct the site inspection himself, the inspectors were his subordinates, and the relevant photos and videos were suitable. "If it¡¯s natural entry, the likelihood of a familiar perpetrator is high." People weren¡¯t naive anymore, when looking at this case, "criminal instinct" tends to lean towards familiar perpetrator. As forpleting a natural entry without traces, there are indeed methods, but burrs rarely use them. The mostmon method is entering when doors are unlocked, which does not match the cow farm management system; alternatively, one could secretly stay inside the farm with a vehicle and wait to steal at night. Though this method can¡¯t be ruled out, the difficulty and requirements are evidently a notch higher. In the situation of this cow farm, observers can easily see there¡¯s no need for suchplications. Even thieves opt for strategies with better cost-benefit ratios. Who would want to spend a sleepless night when the theft can be done easily? "With 25 people¡¯s interpersonal rtionships, we are so many, we can quickly check that," a considerate person offered. Jiang Yuan had already gone through the case file on the way, only nodded, saying, "For this case, there¡¯s no need to consider all routes..." "Are we not considering the familiar perpetrator situation first?" Li Zeming seemed surprised. "Consideration still needs to be given..." Jiang Yuan did not finish. "It¡¯s also good to look at other schemes," the understanding criminal police chimed in. Criminal cases have a peculiarity that, while statistically obeying probabilities, in individual cases, oddities abound, and surprises are frequent. In fact, precisely because some people are oddities and surprises, they end upmitting these crimes. At this moment, Liu Jinghui said from the side, "How could a cow farm have valuable paintings worth millions, besides ones by Zhang Daqian?" Li Zeming hurriedly responded, "Because the Cow Farm Owner himself studied art..." "Why keep them at the cow farm?" Liu Jinghui rephrased the question, saying, "Doesn¡¯t he have a home? Paintings by Zhang Daqian are also very valuable for someone of this level, right?" The audience made sounds of taking a deep breath. Pure logical thinking sometimes really helps clear the mind. Chapter 1280 - 1207 Suspect

Chapter 1280: Chapter 1207 Suspect

The question posed by Liu Jinghui rendered Jiang Yuan silent. Honestly, the presence of art pieces in the cow farm didn¡¯t seem like an issue to Jiang Yuan. To be blunt, if Jiang Fuzhen suddenly had a whim and impulsively bought some art pieces to ce in the cow farm, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising at all. But from another perspective, even if Jiang Fuzhen would put art pieces in the cow farm, it would be because he enjoys spending time there, not because he has a cow farm where art pieces are ced. How could a cow farm owner who genuinely appreciates art possibly ce Zhang Daqian¡¯s paintings in such an unsuitable environment like a cow farm? Not to mention the difficulty of controlling both temperature and humidity, the environment of a cow farm is simply not suitable for appreciating paintings and calligraphy. However, Jiang Yuan hadn¡¯t considered these issues before. His approach to solving cases is technical and, in a certain sense, rather reckless. Fingerprints are handled as fingerprints, footprints as footprints, and other tool marks, bloodstains, bones, whether whole or partial corpses, can all serve as breakthroughs for Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigations. Additionally, Jiang Yuan¡¯s image investigation skills have rapidly developed in the past year, or to put it another way, he has acquired them. With such abination of techniques, ordinary criminals truly cannot withstand it. The fight between police and criminals in the country is quite unfair, especially in recent years. Let alone gangs and the Daoist Sect, even the ck Society has been nearly eradicated. Without an organization backing them, ordinary criminals hardly have any opportunity to refine techniques and develop personal abilities. Jiang Yuan turned to Liu Jinghui and said, "Director Liu, could you talk about the case?" Liu Jinghui waved his hand, "Information is too scarce. I¡¯m just providing a reminder. My question earlier suggests that we might want to ask the people at the cow farm when they bought the painting and when they ced it in the cow farm." Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "Let¡¯s use Director Liu¡¯s method. Wang Dadi?" "I¡¯ll make a call to the team," Wang Zhihao immediately took out his phone and made a call on the spot. The police officers in the hall began discussing out loud. Whether it¡¯s insurance fraud or internal conspiracy, they both imply an intriguing point, which is premeditated crime. Nowadays, ordinary police encounter fewer premeditated crimes, with impulsive crimes bing more frequent. And as this case seems to be growing moreplex, everyone spectes fervently. Wang Zhihao, holding his phone, initially sought privacy, but seeing the atmosphere in the scene, he simply dialed back to his team and ordered, "Zhou, take three people to Mu Jian Cow Farm, and make a detailed report. If necessary, bring the people back..." Wang Zhihao gave a few detailed instructions without hiding anything, and the group of detectives listening found it quite engaging ¡ª realizing that leaders in other teams are just like this, there¡¯s a sense of relief ¡ª possibly that kind of feeling. When he finished speaking, Jiang Yuan took over the conversation and said, "Looking at this case now, there¡¯s something to it. Since that¡¯s the case, let¡¯s deal with it step by step. Firstly, let¡¯s investigate the possibility of a familiar facemitting the crime. Wang Dadi, do you have the list of interpersonal rtionships of the 25 employees at the cow farm?" "I have it; I¡¯ll send you an email," Wang Zhihao had psychologically prepared before meeting Jiang Yuan and now followed the standards used for higher officials. "Chuanxing." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to look at the email himself, turning to say, "Assign these 25 people to everyone. We have around 200 people here, right? Each group has 10 people, each group analyzes the interpersonal rtionship list, and each group submits a report. Well...those who are too busy or have work at night can opt out; otherwise, form teams yourselves." Given the current police distribution, forming a task force of over 200 people is easy, but forming a team of 200 people to study the interpersonal rtionships of 25 individuals ¡ª even families with one or two children ¡ª can¡¯tpare to the tragedy of annihtion. Wang Zhihao listened to Jiang Yuan¡¯s instructions without uttering a word. Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrangement clearly was not confined to just the provided list. Ten or so people studying one person at the cow farm...as a leader, Wang Zhihao had a mere dozen people under him. Thus, from a broader perspective, it¡¯s only logical for them to expand the investigation list, revealing circumstances that he hadn¡¯t uncovered. As for the constraining aspect¡ªthere¡¯s not much Wang Zhihao can do about it. As previously mentioned, policemen are the most socially integrated members of the public officials, thus they are the most open-minded group. In this world, teachers often fail to see therger picture; they are the members most disconnected from society. Unburdened byplex environments, surrounded by healthy and sunny students, they are entitled to their discontent and disillusionment. Police officers have witnessed death and can distinctly see how a person dies, even seeing the fate of those who can¡¯t see the bigger picture. The more tragedies seen, the more mundane issues and minor conflicts are viewed openly; the more fortunate incidents experienced, the harder it is to overlook minor grievances... The detectives in the hall were quite proactive. On one hand, just listening to lectures can be tedious, even though everyone came willingly for training. Just like people who buy courses online, it¡¯s easy to purchase but hard to self-study. Now having something to do, it actually feels rxing. On the other hand, the officers attending the training are often sharp-witted. Being organized into groups by Jiang Yuan incited an urge to excel, and when any group has someone with such apetitive drive, the desire to win emerges. Discipline forces encouragepetitiveness; any contest, no matter how meaningless, as long as it¡¯s apetition, members of discipline forces will naturally strive to win. If defecating faster meant getting noticed, there wouldn¡¯t be a single cigarette butt on the bathroom floor. Soon, the hall was buzzing with chatter. The 25 teams varied in numbers, each adopting their own investigation tactics. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind and continued to sit and review the documents¡¯ pictures and videos. Nowadays, people¡¯s interpersonal rtionships are usually hard to conceal, unless it¡¯s a false identity or long-term secluded life. Otherwise, call records are never deleted, and the same goes for WeChat logs. If willing to put some effort in, even deleted WeChat chat logs can be retrieved ¡ª they remain on the server side. As for hotel records, they are easy to check. Any officer can query them on the police system, and for moreplex data, it¡¯s akin to tracking "spatial ovep" or "spatial association" during a pandemic, allowing an individual¡¯s behavior trajectory during a specific period to be exhaustively traced¡ªit just depends on how meticulously you wish to investigate. Due to therge number of investigators involved this time, the checks would undoubtedly be exceedingly thorough. Soon, suspect lists started getting handed over. Without Jiang Yuan having to specify, Wang Chuanxing had already sent notifications previously used by the special task force into the group chat with all the trainees, including regtions for querying involved personnel. With so many teams, naturally no one could call involved personnel directly as they pleased ¡ª should they alert the suspect, everything would be in vain. Plus, phone inquiries can only rify minor details; concerning interests, even if you state your identity, the other party won¡¯t divulge if reluctant, wasting the first interrogation opportunity. Thus, the officers assembled in groups handed their organized suspect lists to Wang Chuanxing, who then passed them to Wang Zhihao, thetter naturally would coordinate with avable personnel to conduct investigations. By dinner time, the dozen suspects on the list had all been investigated. "Currently, among those listed, none show clear signs of criminal activity, including two individuals released from jail recently; they have fairly solid alibis." Wang Chuanxingpiled the report for Jiang Yuan, specifically mentioning, "Li Yuan City Bureau, hearing you took over the case, had Technical Investigation involved but found nothing." "This is getting interesting." Liu Jinghui approached at this point and said, "A crimemitted by a familiar face should correspond naturally to being an insider. If it¡¯s not a familiar face, then either internal personnel coborated with external ones tomit the crime, or it had to be the work of highly skilled thieves. Art valued at hundreds of thousands or millions certainly warrants that." "But it doesn¡¯t exin the cement of Zhang Daqian¡¯s painting in the cow farm," Wang Zhihao countered at this point, "Considering this, isn¡¯t the cow farm owner the prime suspect?" Chapter 1281 - 1208: Source of the News

Chapter 1281: Chapter 1208: Source of the News

"We¡¯ve already taken a deposition from the cow farm owner. Should we use it as a pretext to interrogate him again?" Wang Zhihao was still following the usual case procedure. In typical cases, if the police are a bit stern and use some trickery during interrogation, ordinary suspects often confess easily. Like the cow farm owner at Mu Jian Cow Farm, such individualse from wealthy backgrounds, haven¡¯t endured much hardship, have minimal interaction with society, and dabble in the arts, making them the easiest targets for interrogation. Without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s response, Liu Jinghui promptly refused, "Since we¡¯re taking this case seriously, we should handle it ording to major case standards. Even if it is a minor case, we¡¯ll treat it as training. Otherwise, the first interrogation should be well-prepared before proceeding." Liu Jinghui¡¯s words weren¡¯t particrly polite but were logical. If this case is a minor one, it should be handled ording to standard procedures, considered as training. Otherwise, naturally, it needs to be conducted with strict standards, or else it would merely be exploiting Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation. Wang Zhihao understood and quickly replied, "We definitely need to follow the standards, and I¡¯ve told the team here that everything must follow the standard procedures." "Alright. Then let¡¯s aim for the first interrogation and start with the investigation," Liu Jinghui made the decision in just a few words, then looked at Jiang Yuan, "Shall we determine a direction?" "I n to check the footprints and surveince footage, you handle the rest," Jiang Yuan said casually. Indeed, it¡¯s a minor case, no need for overlyplex procedures. Liu Jinghui nodded, no longer ying the game of modesty with Jiang Yuan, and simply said, "If this case wasn¡¯t a coincidental, random act, there must have been some thought put into it. By the way... have the channels for selling the stolen goods been checked?" "Not yet," Wang Zhihao shook his head. "Then let¡¯s first check the channels for selling the stolen goods. Although the probability of a random act is low, we can¡¯t rule out the possibility of the perpetrator needing money urgently," Liu Jinghui paused and added, "The fact that the perpetrator can recognize the value of the paintings is noteworthy." Wang Zhihao nodded cooperatively, "Reaching a ce like the cow farm, most people would see paintings as fake, unlikely to regard them as expensive masterworks, especially since there were two paintings not locked in cabs. The cow farm owner hung them on the walls, many would just see them as art pieces." Wang Zhihao¡¯s reasoning wasn¡¯t very rigorous towards the end. In fact, with valuable paintings in cabs, it wouldn¡¯t be surprising for a thief to casually take the paintings hanging on the walls. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t dwell on this, instead seekingmon ground. "Then, let¡¯s make investigating the stolen goods selling channels our first focus." "Alright." Wang Zhihao initially agreed, then hesitantly added, "If we¡¯re looking to investigate selling channels within Liyuan City, we can manage... but extending beyond that might be beyond our capability." He wasn¡¯t embarrassed about it, being just a captain in the Liyuan City Criminal Police Brigade. Even ranking officers above him, such as the division chief or deputy chief, could only cover the Liyuan City area; even the precinct chief wouldn¡¯t im to have aplete grasp of provincial affairs. Liu Jinghui replied, "I haven¡¯t thoroughly considered this, I¡¯ll discuss the stolen goods selling channels with colleagues at the provincial department." Being with the provincial department, Liu Jinghui indeed had ess to such intelligence. Wang Zhihao then expressed, "Sorry to trouble Director Liu." For a thief, selling the stolen goods is a step where mistakes easily happen, yet if they don¡¯t sell, the theft often bes meaningless. A historically notable "Case No. 100 Theft" involved the perpetrator stealing 80 kilograms of gold in 1961 from a mint code-named 615, a case that went all the way to the top, with a special task force established at the highest level. Despite this, the case remained unsolved, highlighting the genuine difficulty of solving theft cases. Interestingly, this case was eventually solved 20 yearster, in 1980, when the perpetrator exposed himself trying to cash in some of the gold at a bank. A simrparison applies to the "Sunshine Supermarket Case" investigated the other day. The supermarket owner, owning his supermarket forundering, made it hard to spot when he stole from other supermarkets. Concerning selling stolen artwork, there are indeed particrities. Some premeditated art thefts, especially in galleries or museums, usually ur because there¡¯s a buyer before the theft. In other words, thieves often follow a customized path, operating on a contract basis, which is prevalent in Europe. Some European nobility are genuinely willing to payrge sums to possess stolen artwork, then hide them away in their "castles" for decades or even a century. However, reaching this level in the domestic art market might not be easy. Even a non-masterpiece by Zhang Daqian might not entice this level of art thief. Liu Jinghui waved his hand and continued, "Second, concerning an inside job, just follow the normal procedures. However, based on the current investigation progress, if it¡¯s not an inside job, this case bes interesting." Wang Zhihao¡¯s eyelids kept twitching. As a criminal police officer, who wishes their case to be intriguing! Anyone with some hope for their career finds it like hearing a horror story when told by someone like Liu Jinghui that something is interesting. Liu Jinghui simply chuckled, "Actually, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s like a random act or an inside job. This Mu Jian Cow Farm has been running for some years, and the farm owner has been collecting artwork for over ten years. He has paintings at home too, but the perpetrator didn¡¯t go there and instead came to the cow farm... Also, why is the theft happening now? What changes have urred?" Wang Zhihao looked up at Liu Jinghui. The officers in the hall began responding chaotically. "Could it be that information was obtained through some channel?" "Not necessarily information from a farm employee? The farm owner or traders might also know about this." "Is there any need for the farm owner to steal from himself? Paintings like these don¡¯t qualify for insurance, and self-theft wouldn¡¯t be profitable either." "Then maybe it got noticed during the selling or price inquiry process." "Selling or price inquiry is just a guess. Actually, no need to sell, can¡¯t he show them off? Are there groups or forums where he might have shown them off, catching someone¡¯s attention?" Various spections were thrown out without cost, leaving everyone momentarily unable to analyze. Liu Jinghui listened earnestly; even for him, gaining new insights was necessary. Soon, Liu Jinghui summarized, "I think starting from the information perspective is very necessary. How the thief gathered information, why they targeted the cow farm instead of the owner¡¯s house, from this point on, we might be able to delineate the suspects..." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t continue the reasoning further. Instead, he turned to Jiang Yuan and asked, "Is there any new evidence?" "I n to first analyze the footprints in the cow farm and check the surveince, which might take a day," Jiang Yuan provided a timeline. Liu Jinghui considered it and said, "That works well; I¡¯ll analyze the issue of the information source in the meantime." Chapter 1282 - 1209: Yesterday Once More

Chapter 1282: Chapter 1209: Yesterday Once More

The next day. In the grand hall, the police officers who came for training arrived very early. Each sat in their seats, puffing on cigarettes and chatting loudly about the current case or previous ones, filling the hall with thick smoke, as if it was on fire. When Huang Qiangmin entered the room, he was taken aback, ncing up at the smoke detector on the ceiling. There was a small disc about ten meters high, with its wires unplugged by someone. He looked to both sides and saw a familiar-looking extensiondder propped against the wall near the window. Grassroots police officers are versatile talents, and not smoking is almost like death to them. Huang Qiangmin could only silently take out a cigarette, lonely lighting one for himself. The atmosphere in the hall became even better. Soon, Jiang Yuan entered with Wang Chuanxing, Mu Zhiyang, Wei Shikan, Wen Ming, and Tang Jia, creating quite a grand and imposing scene. No reminder was needed; the police officers below all sat up straight. "Let¡¯s continue talking about yesterday¡¯s case," Jiang Yuan said without much of an introduction, simply lighting a cigarette, and those like Wang Chuanxing beside him did the same. Tang Jia, as a female officer, didn¡¯t smoke, but she was helpless in the police environment. She turned and dragged Gao Yuyan, and the two of them opened the windows on both sides. Amidst the clouds of smoke, Liu Jinghui also entered dressed in his uniform, carrying a briefcase. He sat in the front row, spreading out the documents from his briefcase, like a good student who has finished their homework. Jiang Yuan, experienced by now, seeing Liu Jinghui like that, chuckled and said, "Director Liu, would you like to start?" "You go ahead," Liu Jinghui opened his notepad and prepared to take notes. If the dragon had any new discoveries, he could adjust promptly. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind, sorted his notebook a little, flipped it over, and said, "I looked at the footprints at the cattle farm yesterday. The photos weren¡¯t veryprehensive. After summarizing, there were 33 footprints total. Three footprints were somewhat old, so possibly there are 30 footprints rted to the case, including 25 of the cattle farm workers. The remaining five footprints could be from suspects or suppliers visiting the farm. I suggested to the Wang Dadi to check the footprints of people who visited the farm recently and see if a few individuals can be ruled out." "Couldn¡¯t find any footprints in the office at the farm?" Liu Jinghui asked. "It was cleaned up already, and no footprints were found at the time," Jiang Yuan said calmly. If it were a case in Ningtai County, they would dig three feet into the ground to photograph all footprints, which has be a mandatory requirement. Variousser footprint scanners are all equipped at the squad level. But in Liyuan City, there aren¡¯t such conditions or requirements. They normally find footprints only when obvious ones appear or extract footprints at key locations, like on windows, where there are clear signs of entry. Liu Jinghui instantly understood and, in front of a hall full of people, didn¡¯t say much more, nodded, and said, "Those five extra footprints can indeed be screened. Hmm, I¡¯ve done some homework on my end as well..." "The artists have been checked that quickly?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised. Liu Jinghui smiled, "The fencing situation will still need some time; I mainly reviewed the case files again. Considering the cattle farm owner¡¯s situation, I checked recent theft cases of artworks in the country, and discovered a characteristic about the cattle farm case." Upon hearing this, everyone¡¯s attention in the hall focused. Liu Jinghui felt a bit inted inside, holding an analysis meeting with two to three hundred people in attendance is rare even in provincial cases. Liu Jinghui cleared his throat, steadied himself, and continued, "The calligraphy and paintings of the cow farm owner were once sent for consignment in a gallery. I checked the consignment records of that gallery and found that in thest half year, five victims in artwork theft cases had their paintings consigned at that gallery..." As he spoke, there was a buzz of discussion among the audience; even ordinary people could detect the trickiness within. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice at that moment and remarked, "There are many stolen artworks over half a year; connecting five cases isn¡¯t easy." Having served as Chief in the criminal police brigade, he pointed out the crux right away. Linking cases nationwide is not simple. Given the number of criminal cases across the country, no matter the ssification, you¡¯d never finish reviewing them one by one. Thus, linking cases is always preceded by having clues to link. And this clue, or themon factor linking these cases, is exceedingly difficult to find. Especially for what Liu Jinghui mentioned about artworks stolen once consigned in a gallery, the consignment records might not even appear in all case files. Ordinarily, you¡¯d have to first think of or identify the gallery consignment clue to establish a linking basis. Liu Jinghui nodded at Huang Qiangmin, and added, "I primarily considered why the thief targeted the cattle farm rather than a residence,ter finding the cattle farm owner had stored the farm¡¯s address at the gallery. Hmm...the gallery was also burrized, so now it seems the thief likely acted based on address information obtained from the gallery." "Specialized in stealing paintings? Such people are pretty rare." Huang Qiangmin put in another sentence. "Yes, or perhaps they have special channels or objectives." Liu Jinghui nced at his notebook and continued, "The stolen paintings are mostly in the million-level range. Even if sold at a fraction, they could fetch a considerable amount. With good fencing channels, they could profit even more." Turning the topic, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and proposed, "Can these cases be investigated together to check formon evidence?" "Yes. Let¡¯s start with footprints." Jiang Yuan said, sitting up straight and adopting a ready-to-work posture, telling Wang Chuanxing, "Sort the footprint-rted photos and send them to me." It¡¯s quite cumbersome to individually search through photos rted to multiple scattered cases. Wang Chuanxing agreed and immediately began working. After all, seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s posture indicated he was set to work now. Liu Jinghui also felt relieved, but noting Jiang Yuan¡¯s state, he asked, "Director Jiang, should we start the ss?" "No need; you can continue the discussion, I¡¯ll swiftly go through this on my end first." Jiang Yuan replied as he already began tapping on the keyboard. The projector behind Jiang Yuan was still connected to hisputer, visibly showing the footprint photos changing rapidly. A multitude of images raced through Liu Jinghui¡¯s mind, memories of previous coborations with Jiang Yuan. Turning back to face the expectant eyes of over two hundred people, Liu Jinghui chuckled bitterly, "Well, let¡¯s continue discussing, though I must mention, Jiang Yuan is famously quick at analyzing footprints and fingerprints. It¡¯s quite possible his results wille before we¡¯ve reached our conclusions. Of course, discussions are generally beneficial for training purposes." The smoke in the grand hall thickened once again. Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m Chapter 1283 - 1210: 2 Cases

Chapter 1283: Chapter 1210: 2 Cases

"The gallery clue is considered a breakthrough discovery. Since the victim¡¯s paintings are consigned at the gallery, they must leave a series of rted information. The key point is, the gallery should authenticate the consigned paintings, which saves the thief a lot of trouble." "Not all consigned paintings are authentic; it depends on what gallery it is. Domestic galleries perform authentication, but they won¡¯t guarantee authenticity. Some paintings can¡¯t be guaranteed." "Then what¡¯s the point of stealing? Taking a fake painting back doesn¡¯t make sense." "A fake painting that confuses a gallery is still worth quite a bit. The key is, what can thieves steal nowadays? Most people don¡¯t keep much money at home, and household appliances rarely have high value. Only mobile phones are easier to sell, and everyone keeps them at the bedside..." "People over there like to steal gold jewelry." "A painting by Zhang Daqian, even sold at a discount, can fetch hundreds of thousands. It¡¯s more cost-effective than stealing jewelry. Gold is okay, but jadeite, Hetian jade, and such don¡¯t sell for much." "It depends on the grade. Some bracelets are quite marketable. Last time, we caught someone by tracing a bracelet..." In the hall, the discussions covered everything imaginable, except logic and reasoning. Honestly, very few people engage in reasoning and Sherlock Holmes-esque investigations nowadays. If someone insists on it, it¡¯s usually because other methods have failed, and they give the puzzle-solving a nice name. As for now, just look at how quickly Jiang Yuan slides through the photos to see that these ¡¯other methods¡¯ are working remarkably well. Liu Jinghui, seeing this, simply said, "Let¡¯s go over this case then. If we analyze it straightforwardly, it¡¯s fairly simple. The criminal firstly stole from the gallery, then took some paintings and the gallery¡¯s client list, using the client list to select suitable targets." Liu Jinghui: "During this process, the criminal¡¯s target selection should be quite special. So far, it appears the criminal has lockpicking skills, but probablycks the ability to open safes, so the final theft targets were paintings, or at least victims whose paintings were not in safes." Liu Jinghui: "How the criminal determines theft targets can actually be considered a direction for investigation..." At this point, Jiang Yuan stopped flipping through the footprint photos and turned his head, saying, "The criminal first goes in once, decides they can steal, and thenes back the second time for the theft." "Can you tell from the footprints?" Liu Jinghui was surprised. "In two cases, the footprints are rtively clear; you can see the footprints ovepping, with the suspect¡¯s footprints covered by the victim¡¯s footprints, and then covering the victim¡¯s footprints again." After Jiang Yuan finished, he specifically added: "The criminal enters and exits through the window each time. They¡¯re very skilled at opening windows." "Huh, the suspect enters and exits through the window?" This time, Li Zeming was surprised, promptly opening his phone to look for photos of the window. Although he hadn¡¯t personally participated in this case, after Jiang Yuan highlighted it, he quickly reviewed the files and hadn¡¯t noticed any obvious signs of entering or leaving the room. "In these two cases, yes." Jiang Yuan turned and whispered a sentence to Wang Chuanxing, then saw the pictures being pulled up, showing photos of the window lock from a previous case. Jiang Yuan used the mouse to draw a red circle under the window lock on-site, saying, "It¡¯s not very obvious; they opened the lock with an old-style hook meticulously, slowly and carefully, so the marks are small, and I suspect they left a gap on the first day for easier entry on the second day." "Going through it twice each time, what a hassle." A detective sitting below frowned, clearly unfamiliar with such methods. "There¡¯s the kind of old-school thieves who like casing ces as a rehearsal," another detective nearby said. "The first time, they look at the roomyout, estimate the value of the items, and observe the security and patrol routes, if any. The second time, they can use the information from the first, sneak in at a suitable time, and swiftly take things, making it easy to leave carrying bags." "Soplicated?" "In the past, people stole more and did it more precisely, especially in gang operations. They¡¯d send someone to scout in advance, then decide how many people to use the next day, whether to bring bicycles or tricycles. Back then, people liked stealing appliances; TVs were bulky, heavy enough that one person couldn¡¯t move them... The benefits of scouting are numerous..." Li Zeming, having viewed the relevant images, nced unexpectedly at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Does this mean the criminal didn¡¯t enter naturally? Our initial judgment..." "The criminal entered the cattle farm naturally." Jiang Yuan interrupted Li Zeming¡¯s spection directly, saying, "Considering other theft incidents, the criminal probably entered the cattle farm during the day and left a gap in the window setting up for the theft the next night specifically. The details can be confirmed after we catch them and interrogate." Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, reviewing the previous files, "There are viable lockpicking marks on few homes and clubs, but the cattle farm is open to business, offering a chance for prior entry." "That¡¯s possible." "In that case, our previous investigation of people entering the cattle farm before the theft doesn¡¯t seem to match the scene footprints." "It could be multiple perpetrators. We canpare with suspects from other cases." Listening to their discussions, Liu Jinghui offered a small inference but helplessly nced at Jiang Yuan, saying, "Can you confirm the suspect¡¯s identity?" Jiang Yuan coughed a couple of times, saying, "We have identified two suspects." "Two people?" "Yes, using the footprints, we can confirm the suspect¡¯s age, height, etc., and in conjunction with the database, we identified one male suspect, Li Zai Cheng, 50 years old, an artifact dealer, sentenced for two years for forgery ten years ago." Liu Jinghui smiled knowingly. Now that one suspect¡¯s identity was confirmed, the other¡¯s wouldn¡¯t be difficult to investigate, whether through call records, chat apps, ticket purchases, amodation info, etc. Numerous ways exist to vouch someone¡¯s associate among suspects. Police officers in the hall were equally enlightened, readily epting Jiang Yuan¡¯s conclusions. Knowing Jiang Yuan probably found the results, still seeing them materialize vividly diminished everyone¡¯s enthusiasm considerably. Just then, Jiang Yuan said, "The second suspect has a peculiar lockpicking method; I checked the database and identified a 52-year-old male suspect, Yang Huai Zhen, released from prison three years ago, skilled in hook lockpicking, with consistent techniques." Liu Jinghui turned, "Wait... Did you use two separate clues to investigate this too?" "It¡¯s just a coincidence." Jiang Yuan and Wei Shikan sat up straight, then called, "Wei Shikan, you talk about your surveince analysis." "Oh... alright!" Wei Shikan quickly responded, picking up his notebook to start speaking. Though not particrly effective, it provided excellent practice. Chapter 1284 - 1211: Just Right...

Chapter 1284: Chapter 1211: Just Right...

In the next two days, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui coborated, and used two cases to train the attending police officers. The purpose of the training was not so much about solving cases but more about teaching frontline officers how to work with units like the Criminal Science, Image Investigation, and others, how to preserve evidence, and how to expand investigations to the maximum extent. If frontline officers are likened to infantry, then units like Criminal Science, Image Investigation, and Technical Investigation are equivalent to artillery, armored troops, and air bombardment forces... Infantry is the foundation ofbat, capable of upation and offense, can operate independently or coordinate offensives with other branches. But as the scale of warfare rises, coordination between infantry and artillery, infantry and tanks, and ground and air bes the most efficient. For the current Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, or rather for the current Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and the Taihe Working Group, mastering various coordination techniques is essential even for basic criminal police officers. Simply monitoring DNA with phones won¡¯t cut it; at the very least,plete trace collection is necessary, especially for fingerprints, tools, and footprints. Moreover, even if unable to collect nt spores¡¯ level of evidence, knowing which evidence to preserve and keeping thorough records to maintain the option of legal botany is crucial. Additionally, surveince video collection, especially civilian surveince, is also of the utmost importance. Thetter often requires the cooperation of the tireless footwork of frontline officers; only by visiting more ces, asking more questions, and thinking more can enough surveince videos be collected. This training is partly skill-training and partly practical demonstration. Only when everyone sees the efficiency of practical application will they be willing to exert effort to collect the corresponding evidence. Otherwise, evidence like nt spores¡ªif no one in the unit can interpret it, and Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t assist¡ªcollecting it might be a mere waste. After all, not every unit has a criminal police officer like Pang Jidong who is interested and able to invite the corresponding professionals. On the other hand, in the information Huang Qiangmin disseminated, this also became a precondition in their all-inclusive model. Faced with a tricky case, don¡¯t rush. If Jiang Yuan is not immediately avable, you can preserve the evidence first, organize a task force and try traditional methods or strategies like infantry-artillery coordination. If neither infantry-artillery nor infantry-tank can break through, then call Jiang Yuan for a round of ground-air coordination, turning the umted evidence into markers, making it easier for Jiang Yuan to conduct targeted strikes. After a few days of such publicity by Huang Qiangmin, criminal police across various regions felt they could ept this. These days, preserving more types and quantities of evidence is already mainstream. Evidence like nt spores sounds high-end but essentially requires storing rted personnel¡¯s clothing, bed sheets, etc. The most troublesome steps are photographing andbeling them to prove the origin of the items and ensure the chain of evidence¡¯s integrity. The challenging part is taking up space in one or two evidence cabs, with the overall expense being the workload of perhaps two or three hours for a Criminal Science personnel¡ªa justified initial investment for sufficientlyplex cases. Inparison, surveince and various scene trace collection are more time and energy-consuming tasks, but this is now the mainstream requirement for handling cases. Only primary cases at the precinct level can be slightly simplified. Cases with a bit more intensity, like burries, require several Criminal Science personnel to collect traces, fingerprints, and DNA. This also varies by location. Some big cities, like Beijing and Shanghai, have ample grassroots police allocations and rtively low crime rates. Some districts are even at the level where residents lose two chickens, and police retrieve them overnight. In other cities, they genuinely have no time for cases that don¡¯t meet the filing standards. The principle behind this may not matter to ordinary people, but habitual offenders truly care; hence, criminal flows in the other direction further stimte the crime market¡¯s vitality... In a ce like Ningtai County now, the county bureau doesn¡¯t even have a significant enough case to host the visiting officers for training, somewhat reflecting ack of hospitality. Consequently, on thest evening of the training, Huang Qiangmin specially arranged for the canteen to prepare hotpot, mingling around the area and talking with everyone. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan sat together, already detached from the hosting sequence, ying a deduction game on their phones out of sheer boredom. As long as Wei Shikan doesn¡¯t have to solve math problems, he finds life enjoyable. But sitting beside Liu Jinghui, watching him ponder, he couldn¡¯t help but feel exasperated, saying, "Director Liu, you already think so much daily, can¡¯t you take a break?" "I haven¡¯t been home recently, so that little brainwork is nothing," Liu Jinghui smiled and shook his head. As he finished speaking, he noticed a few people casting deductive nces his way. Without much thought, Liu Jinghui could instantly map out their thought process. "I was talking about brainwork, not what you guys are thinking," Liu Jinghui corrected them. Mu Zhiyang, sitting across from Jiang Yuan,ughed aloud: "Director Liu stands apart¡ªgoing home is a brain exercise." Wu Junhao put down his chopsticks, muffling augh: "Director Liu engages in technical work, so using technology requires brainwork, as it should..." "No, no!" Liu Jinghui quickly put down his phone game and said, "Let me rify, I¡¯m perfectly normal, okay? I mean, going home and guessing what¡¯s on the wife¡¯s mind is the best ce to practice deduction, got it?" The people around sported amused expressions, pretending they didn¡¯t understand. Wei Shikan, the most unabashed, teased the senior as if he were a close buddy: "No wonder Director Liu¡¯s deduction ability is top-notch. Behind such sess is an impressive woman!" Such teasing was something Liu Jinghui could ept. Catching his breath, he admitted, "Every bit of my sess has contributions from my wife, without a doubt..." "If only you could lend your wife to all of us," Wei Shikan interrupted before Liu Jinghui could finish catching his breath, "If you lent your wife, within just a few years, deduction would be growing all over Shan Nan Province!" "Jiang Yuan," Liu Jinghui turned his head and called out, "Sort out your disciple!" Jiang Yuan looked up and nced at Wei Shikan. Wei Shikan, with a yful smile, gingerly patted his own cheek and half-jokingly said, "Master, I was wrong, I was impudent, don¡¯t punish me with math problems, I¡¯ll go dumb." Liu Jinghui could only smile helplessly. Jiang Yuan, who was also on his phone, tapped it a few times and sent two screenshots to Wei Shikan, saying, "Just in time, go to Beijing, and bring back that gallery owner. Chuanxing, you arrange for two people to apany Wei Shikan." "Got it," Wang Chuanxing agreed. Wei Shikan asked, "Is the gallery owner embezzling art?" "Not quite. It¡¯s unrted to this case," Jiang Yuan paused before continuing, "I noticed in their evidence photos, at least three paintings have signature or seal issues corresponding with this gallery owner¡¯s handwriting, indicating he faked the price, so we might as well arrest him." "Understood," Wei Shikan understood immediately, acknowledging it was just bad luck for the owner. "You should head off now," Jiang Yuan gestured with his chin, "You should still make it for thete flight. Once there, arrest him at night, and if all goes well, bring him back by tomorrow. Get it done quickly, so we won¡¯t be out again when another casees up." "Uh... got it!" Wei Shikan realized this was indeed the punishment. Jiang Yuan then took out his phone, saying, "I¡¯ll give Cui Qishan a call. He¡¯s the captain of the fourth squad of the Criminal Police Team at Zhengguang District Branch Bureau. Have him send two people to help you detain the person. I¡¯ll text Tao Luter about this." "Yes." Wei Shikan discreetly clicked his tongue twice. As Jiang Yuan spoke, he firstly texted Tao Lu and then began searching his contacts for Cui Qishan. Before he could dial out, a call came in from Tao Lu. "Jiang Yuan,ing to Beijing?" Tao Lu¡¯s words were filled with delight. Jiang Yuan coughed twice, ncing at Huang Qiangmin scurrying around the venue, responding, "I¡¯m nning to send someone over, just to nab a suspect and return..." "A ne from our local flight school just crashed. Could you help take a look?" Tao Lu said, then emphasized, "Even the forensic doctor stated it¡¯s highly challenging!" Chapter 1285 - 1212: Plane Crash

Chapter 1285: Chapter 1212: ne Crash

Jiang Yuan put down the phone and said to Wei Shikan, "Alright, wait a moment. I¡¯ll go to Beijing with you. Chuanxing, call Commissioner Huang." Wei Shikan chuckled twice, saying, "Then I¡¯ll buy thetest tickets for us. How many people are going?" "Eight people are going. No need to buy tickets. A Zhi-9 helicopter wille to take us to the airport, and then we¡¯ll take a business jet to Beijing." Jiang Yuan began selecting people to prepare for going to Beijing. Wei Shikan clicked his tongue, thinking that such treatment for the police was rather extravagant. The criminal police around the tables quickly learned the news and began to discuss it endlessly. The criminal police captains who originally wanted to invite Jiang Yuan over were silently cursing in their hearts. If inviting Jiang Yuan costs this much, how could they happily y together in the future? After making a few phone calls, Huang Qiangmin quickly understood the situation. Before the helicopter arrived, he gave Jiang Yuan some advice, saying pointedly, "The aircraft that crashed was a new training aircraft developed by Avi General Aviation Company from Yibenli to open up the Chinese market. Therefore, the forensic identification here involves many parties. Foreigners might send forensic doctors over¡ªnot necessarily to participate in the identification, but at least to scrutinize your forensic report." Jiang Yuan nodded, "I¡¯ll be careful." "You haven¡¯t understood." Huang Qiangmin emphasized again, "There are quite a few implications here, maybe involving something significant. If you don¡¯t want to participate, I can decline for you. Tao should understand as well." "If it¡¯s not possible to participate, you¡¯d help me decline directly." Jiang Yuan reasoned backward with Huang Qiangmin¡¯s words. If it really couldn¡¯t be done, Huang Qiangmin would certainly say why it was declined instead of asking Jiang Yuan if he wanted to participate. Huang Qiangmin was taken aback by Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, chuckling before pulling him aside and whispering, "The director of Zhengguang Bureau also called about this matter. So, if you have confidence that you can handle it, and the autopsy report won¡¯t be picked apart, doing an identification won¡¯t hurt." "Then let¡¯s do it." Jiang Yuan¡¯s skills in forensics are already quiteprehensive. Forensic pathology, forensic material evidence, and forensic odontology are all at LV4, and forensic anthropology is at LV3. Although slightly lowerpared to skills like determining the time of death, these skills cover a wide range. Aplete suite at LV4 is so rare that one might find only a few people worldwide. Even if some forensic doctors have specialties in certain skills, given Jiang Yuan¡¯s current level of expertise, it¡¯s impossible for him to make mistakes. At most, the extent to which he shines may be limited, perhaps not dazzling, but still radiant, like a ritual offering. The sound of the helicopter¡¯s rotor approached from afar, eventually stopping at the center of the police dog training ground. Many criminal police officers had never seen a live helicopter up close and curiously examined it. Huang Qiangmin decided secretly that next time he would save money to build arge building with at least a helicopter pad. As for buying a helicopter soon, it wasn¡¯t necessary; firstly, Ningtai County didn¡¯t have a clear need for one, secondly, Changyang City didn¡¯t have a police helicopter, thirdly, Zhengguang Bureau didn¡¯t have its own police helicopter, fourthly, Luo Jin City didn¡¯t either, and fifthly... Helicopter to business jet transition didn¡¯t waste any time. Jiang Yuan had a nap of over an hour on the ne, and then this fourteen-seaternded at Beijing Airport. As Bill Gates once said, first ss isn¡¯t faster than economy ss; it takes a private ne. At the end of the airport runway, Tao and the police from the airport branch were already waiting there. "Jiang Yuan!" Tao Lu gripped Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, excited like a child, unwilling to let go. "Shall we talk while we walk?" Jiang Yuan gently freed himself. Tao Lu seized Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm again, saying grudgingly, "If there weren¡¯t a case in Beijing, would you have thought of our whole family?" "Tao, Tao..." Jiang Yuan was a bit overwhelmed by Tao Lu¡¯s attentiveness. Liu Jinghui hurried forward and gently separated Tao Lu¡¯s hand, "Tao, let¡¯s discuss the case." "It¡¯s not necessarily a case." Tao Lu sighed softly, then collected himself and said, "The aircraft from the flight school crashed. It¡¯s indeed a tragedy. However, since it was a training aircraft, there was only one person aboard. The current issue isrgely focused on the cause of the ident." Tao Lu pulled Jiang Yuan a bit further away and then said to Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, "You¡¯ve probably heard, the crashed ne was a new model from Avi General Aviation Company in Yibenli. If the cause was a mechanical fault, Avi¡¯s n to enter the Chinese market would be severely defeated. However, if human error was the cause, thepensation for personal injury to the deceased would be vastly different." Liu Jinghui hadn¡¯t expected Tao Lu to be so straightforward, and he looked at Jiang Yuan with concern. Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change; he simply wasn¡¯t interested in those profit-rted affairs, not that he didn¡¯t understand them. Tao Lu cleared his throat twice and continued, "Avi Airlines, therefore, applied for forensic participation from their country, which we naturally refused. However, we did permit their forensic doctor to observe and review our forensic report." "Is it necessary?" Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t resist interjecting, "Just give them a conclusion afterward. If they¡¯re not satisfied, they shouldn¡¯t enter China." "What you say isn¡¯t entirely up to a single foreignpany to decide, right? Their domestic distributors are also running everywhere." Tao Lu said and then added, "We ourselves are inclined to invite forensic experts from outside, and you needn¡¯t worry about any inappropriate actions from their dealers. As long as the autopsy report is impartial, they have nothing to say. Of course, Jiang Yuan, if you really don¡¯t want to do it, I don¡¯t have any opinion either..." "A forensic report is fundamentally objective and withstands scrutiny." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care much about the profit-rted issues involved here. As a detective, it¡¯s inevitable to encounter various interest entanglements. If he feels pressured and avoids a case, the number of cases a detective can handle is limited. Especially for county police, most of the people they encounter are locals, forming intricate rtionships, and criminal cases¡¯ consequences are usually severe. Not to mention how responsible officers internalize considerations, real bncing or strategic maneuvering often exceeds most people¡¯s capabilities. Detectives constantly exposed to various pressures wouldn¡¯t typically dream of entirely pressure-free work environments. If Jiang Yuan wanted to decline, he wouldn¡¯t wait until Beijing to do so. The situation here was made very clear by Huang Qiangmin. And the urgency Tao Lu and others express is clearly not reflected in the light tone he presents. Tao Lu carefully examined Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, then nodded firmly, "Okay. Since this is the case, we¡¯ll leave the autopsy to you. No matter what, I¡¯ll support you; you can write the report at ease." "Then let¡¯s go to the forensic building. Let¡¯s do the autopsy first and discuss other things afterward." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t talk about resting, nor did Tao Lu dare to be courteous. Things likepleting an autopsy should be done as quickly as possible. Tao Lu mobilized a helicopter and business jet to save time, and Jiang Yuan rushed over at night to save time; checking a few hours earlier will certainly reveal more clues. Beijing Forensic Identification Center. Beijing¡¯s chief forensic doctor, Zeng Lianrong, was already waiting in the dissection room. Theoretically, he is fully qualified to perform the autopsy on this body, but since Jiang Yuan, an out-of-town forensic doctor, is willing to perform it, Zeng Lianrong is happy to assist. Only during the external inspection did Zeng Lianrong quietly remind, "The skull cavity is empty, and the internal organs are all thrown out, typical of a crash." Chapter 1286 - 1213 Talent

Chapter 1286: Chapter 1213 Talent

In front of Jiang Yuan is an intact male corpse. But his abdominal cavity is empty, appearing limp, and his cranial cavity is also vacant, with the brain matter having already been flung out during the crash. The corpse itself is also limp, spread out on the autopsy table, flowing outward, while the severely burned lower body remains stiffly rigid, like a half-thick human skin rug. His bones had already broken during the crash, shattering into pieces, together with the muscles that also lost their support, softly encased within remaining skin tissues and fused fats, forming a true skin sack. Thus, before the moment of the crash, this pilot was actually already dead. The pre-crash death spiral or uncontrolled dive, was not merely a nightmare difficult to recover from; the centrifugal force generated by the aircraft¡¯s body exceeded human body endurance, and the pilot¡¯s body was no exception. And this deceased today, his physical condition when alive, possibly didn¡¯t meet the standards for a pilot. The requirements for a pilot¡¯s license for small aircraft aren¡¯t high; passing a normal medical examination and flying for dozens of hours can allow one to fly solo. The requirements for carrying passengers are only slightly higher, but they focus on flight time rather than physical fitness. "Have you performed an autopsy on crash victims before?" Zeng Lianrong stepped closer and asked quietly. Actually, he knew the answer; crash cases are rare domestically, and there are only a handful of forensic doctors involved in rted autopsies. Zeng Lianrong, a forensic doctor from the Beijing Bureau, has coborated with Jiang Yuan many times and highly recognizes his forensic skills, yet some experiences are simplycking, and Zeng Lianrong also worried about Jiang Yuan making a mistake. In this kind of case, involving foreign parties yet needing to be conducted independently, if Jiang Yuan made an error, no one would cover for him. Jiang Yuan smiled slightly; his LV4 forensic pathology was also at an LV4 level when facing crash victims; this level of experience, in today¡¯s domestic field... it should be said, in today¡¯s international field, is probably unparalleled. Looking back in history, for a forensic doctor to reach this technical level, it would be tracing back to the World War II era. At the very least, it would involve participating in more than three Middle Eastern wars or something simr. "I haven¡¯t, but that¡¯s not a problem." Jiang Yuan gave a definite answer, with no hint of ambiguity. At this moment, humility would only create more problems. Zeng Lianrong could only smack his lips: "That confidence of yours... plus your talent, alright then. By the way, if we¡¯re to start, should we call in the Yibenli forensic doctor?" "Call them in." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to move the body, turning instead to ask: "We¡¯ve taken photos before, right? I reviewed the scene records and photos of personal items on the way here, is there anything updated?" The internally opened information from the crash victim doesn¡¯t necessarily offer more than what the external scene can provide. Zeng Lianrong looked towards the junior forensic doctor Zhan Kan next to him. Zhan Kan, a forensic doctor from the Jing Bureau Zhengguang Branch, was the first to arrive on the scene after the ident rm. He hurriedly said: "The scene is still under survey, mainly engineering investigation, most of the wreckage has been collected, the ck box has been found, there is no voice data; the pilot should have panicked or fainted at the time. Other flight data is still unknown." "Don¡¯t make reckless analyses." Zeng Lianrong red at Zhan Kan: "How do you know the pilot passed out? Can you make such a judgment without voice data?" Zhan Kan opened his mouth and quickly shook his head. "When the foreign forensic doctorse in, be alert." After Zeng Lianrong¡¯s reminder, he had someone make a phone call. Jiang Yuan coughed twice, saying: "Run the updated photos on the wall." "Yes." Zhan Kan hurried to theputer and operated it, projecting the newly updated scene survey photos onto the screen on the wall. "y it quickly." Jiang Yuan looked up. In just a few minutes, all thetest photos had been viewed. Without saying a word, Jiang Yuan turned to check his gloves and the tools beside him. Soon, Cui Qishan brought in a blonde middle-aged foreigner and a Chinese man in his twenties. "This is Mr. Alessio, a Yibenli forensic doctor. This is Li Jianfeng, responsible for tranting for Mr. Alessio," Cui Qishan gave a brief introduction and turned to the foreigner: "You can only observe, you are not allowed to record, interfere with the autopsy, or touch our personnel, talk to our personnel, touch the corpse, or anything in the room. If you vite any of the above, I will escort you out of the room." Cui Qishan, looking gentle, but with a stern tone like a teacher, continued: "The trantor will trante what our personnel say for you, and you can only whisper to your trantor, keeping your voice very low and frequency very low." The apanying trantor, wearing a mask, looked at the body with furrowed brows before quickly turning away, evidently not a forensic professional. "Did you really fly from Yibenli to Beijing that fast?" Zeng Lianrong suspiciously nced at the two. "It¡¯s also a private jet. They should have flown over right after the crash." Cui Qishan shrugged. Jiang Yuan then said: "Let¡¯s officially begin. Everyone else, step aside. Yes... There are burn marks on the pilot¡¯s upper body clothing, only a few strips are left, stuck on the body... The legs show signs of high-temperature melting, and the soles... are partially carbonized." Jiang Yuan spoke while beginning to help Zeng Lianrong undress the pilot. Then, Jiang Yuan briefly looked at the body, and returned to the head for an examination from top to bottom: "No obvious burns on the mouth and nose, but the mucous membranes are congested." "No burns on the auricle, no soot deposition in the ear canal." "No strangtion marks or sharp weapon injuries." Jiang Yuan continued down his examination: "Slight burns on the inside of the forearm, no burns on the palm. Comminuted fracture of the upper limb." "Burns on the chest, with safety belt marks. Chest clothing is charred." "Thigh is carbonized, dry, with no fluid seepage." "Lower leg skin is carbonized, muscle partially exposed." "Shoe solepletely carbonized, dorsal foot skin dry burn." "No electric shock marks or injuries on the body. No metal fragment residues. No fuel burn residues." Zeng Lianrong couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yuan; he had done a crash autopsy once, but that was when he was younger, assisting an elder expert. However, despite crash having certain characteristics, essentially, it¡¯s simr to autopsies of other types of transport bodies, or rather, presents significantmonality. Forensic doctors are always focused on matters concerning the body, and as a seasoned forensic doctor, Zeng Lianrong only needed to listen to the key points reported by Jiang Yuan to know what he was analyzing. Especially the parts he reported as absent, which inherently implied working through elimination. Electric shock marks and injuries suggest electrical short circuit, metal fragments suggest explosion and firewall failure, fuel burn residues imply, indicating likely no electrical short circuit, fuel burn residues suggest fuel system leak or arson... Although absence of these evidences doesn¡¯t prove these reasons don¡¯t exist, in Zeng Lianrong¡¯s view, it showed Jiang Yuan clearly knew what he was doing. An autopsy is essentially solving a puzzle, forensic doctors continuously prove the cause of death through discovering evidence and finding "no evidence". No forensic doctor truly lists all the have and have not on a body first to then make inferences. It¡¯s like solving math problems, you are not really deducing the answer from knowns, you need to have a preconceived judgement internally, knowing roughly which forms and methods apply, then deduce and eliminate, and subsequently apply the appropriate forms to solve. Autopsy is simr, you first look at the body, through known information, guess the probable cause of death, then prove the cause based on discovered evidence, or eliminate causes. For example, absence of strangtion marks and sharp weapon injuries canrgely rule out having a 007 sit in the coach seat in the back of the ne, killing the pilot and then parachuting to flee. Careful observation for electric shock marks and injuries is due to electrical circuit issues being verymon faults on light aircraft, also causing crashes. Simrly, Alessio from Yibenli was also listening attentively to Jiang Yuan. His position didn¡¯t allow him to clearly see every spot on the examination table, but from Jiang Yuan¡¯s methods and examination conclusions, he could judge Jiang Yuan¡¯s basic level, and within a few minutes, Alessio becamepliant. Zeng Lianrong silently acted as Jiang Yuan¡¯s assistant. As long as Jiang Yuan knew what he was doing, Zeng Lianrong didn¡¯t need to worry about his inherent capability. Jiang Yuan¡¯s external examination flipped back and forth for quite a while before he requested a knife to begin the dissection. Zhan Kan also stepped forward to assist, another forensic doctor recorded on the side, which was quite a luxurious setup. The three cavities of the body were already empty, clean after being opened, as if they were entirely removed. Thus, apex blood, gastric fluid and such were gone, the prepared organ containers were empty, no need for brain slices, even the blood within the body was scarce. Jiang Yuan therefore took a small amount of remaining blood, then took extra muscle, fat, and skin, then took nail and bone, and said to Zhan Kan beside: "Try to do aprehensive toxicology test, prepare several samples." After speaking, Jiang Yuan looked around. Everyone was quietly silent, including Alessio. Chapter 1287 - 1214: What Did You See

Chapter 1287: Chapter 1214: What Did You See

"Let¡¯s stop here. Take a few more pictures, collect more samples, and freeze the body for the time being." Jiang Yuan organized the follow-up tasks and specifically instructed Zhan Kan. Zhan Kan quickly replied, "Don¡¯t worry, Director Jiang. I¡¯ll handle it personally." Zhan Kan addressed him by his title in the workce. After learning Skull Restoration Skill from Jiang Yuan, his status at both the Zhengguang Bureau and the Beijing Bureau significantly rose. Given his position, he was well-suited to handle the follow-up of this body, capable of avoiding potential disruptions. In autopsies involving foreignpanies, it¡¯s highly likely that the body might be examined again or the autopsy report might be scrutinized. Therefore, preserving the photos and samples is crucial. Additionally, keeping the body preserved for a longer period is necessary. If all else fails, the body can be boiled and examined again using Forensic Anthropology, allowing us to understand the impact as the entire skeleton has shattered into fragments. Seeing that Zeng Lianrong had no objections, Jiang Yuan removed his gloves and said, "Let¡¯s go." The clean-up of the dissection room and the task of moving the body were naturally left to Zhan Kan and others. The foreigner Alessio also obediently followed them out of the dissection room. As soon as they exited, Alessio couldn¡¯t wait to ask, "What do you think the cause of death was?" He spoke in Italian, which was slowly tranted by the interpreter standing beside him. Cui Qishan rolled his eyes first, "This foreigner is quite direct." "What do you mean?" The trantor had just ryed the foreigner¡¯s words to Jiang Yuan and turned his head slightly confused by Cui Qishan¡¯sment. "I mean he¡¯s a pure foreigner. He was told not to speak in the room, but he started talking as soon as he stepped out, doesn¡¯t understand etiquette," Cui Qishan said with a smirk. The young trantor, suspecting something, looked at Cui Qishan, "You shouldn¡¯t curse or make statements that can be misunderstood. Be mindful of diplomatic etiquette." "Are you serious?" Cui Qishan nced at the trantor, chuckled, and said, "Judging by what you said, you¡¯re definitely not from Beijing!" The trantor blushed immediately, eyes ring at Cui Qishan like a sh of lightning and thunder. "What are you guys talking about?" Alessio was getting anxious; he was asking Jiang Yuan for a conclusion, yet they were chattering away in anguage he couldn¡¯t understand. Jiang Yuan then drew on his level 4 French and asked, "Do you speak French?" "Yes, of course," Alessio¡¯s expression immediately rxed upon hearing the familiarnguage. French and Italian are both Romancenguages, almost mutually intelligible, with a simrity of about 90%. It¡¯s much easier to learnpared to a northerner learning Cantonese. "What do you think the cause of death was?" Alessio asked again in French. "Burn injuries leading to acute respiratory failure," Jiang Yuan quickly responded, using forensic terminology, also in French. An LV4 proficiency in French suggests a very fluent level,pletely able to handle professional vocabry. Alessio understood and his mind immediately started strategizing, asking tactically, "So it was the pilot¡¯s incapacitation that caused the crash?" Jiang Yuan, being a forensic doctor in a police family, was extremely alert: "I remind you not to attempt to interfere with my forensic judgment." "Sorry, my mistake," Alessio didn¡¯t resist, promptly apologizing before adding, "After the acute respiratory failure led to the pilot¡¯s death, the crash was naturally unavoidable. I was merely putting forward a simple hypothesis." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t confirm or deny it. How he answered now would only provide the other party with information. By this time, the Italian trantor, who had been idle, had caught up. He first nced at Jiang Yuan with surprise before telling Alessio, "Mr. Alessio, if you have any questions, you can report to his superiors, preferably before the formation of written documents." "I will," Alessio promptly replied. "That¡¯s it then," Jiang Yuan waved and then instructed Cui Qishan, "Escort them out. And check into this stool pigeon too." Cui Qishan immediately understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s intentions, nodding in agreement, "Got it, I¡¯ll call National Securityter." The trantor was shocked, "Why would you investigate me? This could lead to international repercussions." "No harm in checking. If you¡¯re just doing your tranting job, be at ease," Cui Qishan said, nodding once before signaling the foreigner to move on, also giving his subordinates a look. The situation where foreignpanies use Chinese employees to illegally obtain information is quitemon. Ordinarypanies in contact with them may find it difficult to detect or counteract, but it¡¯s different for the police. Especially detectives, who often have very serious attitudes, can switch faces instantly. The trantor quickly spoke to Alessio in Italian. Jiang Yuan understood but didn¡¯t trante each sentence. He simply told Cui Qishan, "He¡¯s making aint." "No worries, he¡¯s also considered an outsider in Rome," Cui Qishan said deliberately in a disdainful tone. The trantor¡¯s speaking speed increased. Alessio couldn¡¯t be bothered with the trantion; he had his own task. He knew this might be hisst chance to speak with Jiang Yuan, so he stopped the trantor¡¯s prattle, using French: "Mr. Jiang, could you exin your judgment? What do you think caused the ne crash?" "The cause of the ne crash needs to be determined by integrating information from engineering, aviation medicine, and the ck box," Jiang Yuan said. "In your capacity as a forensic doctor, what judgment would you give?" "Mechanical fault," Jiang Yuan responded quickly. Just when Alessio thought Jiang Yuan would offer a grandiose official statement, he got a straightforward answer. At this point, Alessio suddenly realized his foolishness. This ran counter to his tasks. He hadn¡¯t needed to ask this question. By doing so, he inadvertently reduced his own leverage. Having the responsible forensic doctor give a "mechanical fault" conclusion was much worse. The trantor beside him was also stunned for a few seconds. The exchange between Jiang Yuan and Alessio was rapid, making it difficult for him toprehend, and the content waspletely unexpected. Ignoring Cui Qishan¡¯s watchful gaze nearby, the trantor quickly pulled out his phone and began dialing, using the ring time to say, "My job includes informing them of thetest information. What I¡¯m saying is public knowledge, not illegal." Cui Qishan just chuckled twice without making a sound. He knew public information wasn¡¯t illegal, butughing wasn¡¯t illegal either. "You¡¯ve already determined it was mechanical fault?" Alessio found it hard to believe, his expression also tainted with suspicion: "What¡¯s the reason?" "You¡¯ll see it in the autopsy report," Jiang Yuan certainly couldn¡¯t say more right now. Physical and chemical tests had just been sent, and the relevant sample slices hadn¡¯t been fully processed. At least by tomorrow, he would have most of the results, and then produce the autopsy report based on them. Alessio was getting anxious. Avi Airlines was eager to enter the Chinese market and had given him much-needed promises. On the other hand, this Italian-based aircraft manufacturer was already a domestic giant in political, economic, and academic circles. Tasks assigned by thepany¡¯s leaders couldn¡¯t just be dropped with a few simple words. Alessio kept pace with Jiang Yuan, and after a few seconds, asked, "What did you see on the body that led you to judge the crash was due to mechanical fault? There were no signs of fuel leak, no evidence of electrical failure, right?" Jiang Yuan had said there were no signs of fuel leak or electrical failure on the body, but he hadn¡¯t confirmed there were no fuel leaks or electrical faults on the ne itself. If Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand French, he might have considered whether a trantion mistake caused the misunderstanding. But Jiang Yuan understood French, so he suspected that Alessio had understood perfectly and was deliberately trying to lead him into speaking. Therefore, Jiang Yuan simply nced at Alessio again and said, "Wait for the autopsy report." Saying this, Jiang Yuan led the team away, and Mu Zhiyang, who was well-prepared, separated Alessio from following further. "What¡¯s the big deal. Arrogant!" The trantor apanied Alessio, looking indignant. Alessio shook his head slowly, "He must have seen something. What did he see that I didn¡¯t?" "Could he be bluffing?" Alessio still shook his head, pulled out his phone to check for signals, saw there were none, and said, "It¡¯s not that simple. Call Mr. Stefano with your phone. I need professionals, including an aviation expert, engineer, and pilot, to discuss this issue." Chapter 1288 - 1215: Ants

Chapter 1288: Chapter 1215: Ants

From the high-rises of Financial Street, the masses below look like ants. Stefano, a director of Avi Airlines, is already 69 years old. He serves as a director for 36panies, and his wealth requires professional ountants several days to manage. Yet, on the day the light aircraft crashed, he still flew over at once. At crucial moments, aplishing critical tasks is the key to rising above the life of ants. Therefore, Stefano pays exceptional attention to Alessio¡¯s work and gives his utmost support after Alessio shares his ideas. But, even with Stefano¡¯s green eyes bloodshot with exhaustion, he did not get the key answers he was looking for. Looking down at his watch, Stefano urged, "The Chinese forensic doctor discovered critical evidence just through the autopsy. We must at least understand what he found. Present here are the world¡¯s best forensic doctors, the best engineers, the best doctors, the finest aviation experts... Use your minds, and think, what factor could lead him to judge it a mechanical failure?" "Bribed by apetitorpany?" The doctor replied quickly. "The Chinese forensic doctor is from a wealthy family, the kind who can afford a private jet." Stefano stated. The doctor couldn¡¯t help but be envious: "Then why would he be a forensic doctor?" "How should I know! I just want to know what he discovered!" Stefano shrugged. "What about using beauty?" The doctor proposed, pondering, "Even if he¡¯s wealthy, he might still like different styles of women, or maybe even men." "Toote." Stefano shook his head. "Give me some reliable suggestions!" The aviation expert pressed the microphone, and his video jumped from the edge to the center. "Ricardo, go ahead." Stefano said with anticipation. Ricardo asked, "Why is everyone else referred to as ¡¯the best,¡¯ the best forensic doctor, the best engineer, the best doctor, but I¡¯m referred to as the ¡¯finest¡¯?" Stefano, at 69, couldn¡¯t help butugh, much like when he came home at 68 to see his 28-year-old girlfriend cosying Tom the cat at home for a concert. "Because we are an aerospacepany, we truly know what kind of aviation expert is the best." Stefano¡¯s profile shed, and without muting his microphone, he told his secretary next to him, "Get me a few more aviation experts, plus forensic experts, engineers, doctors, and rocket experts¡ªwhatever kind of expert. We have two more hours to solve the problem!" Alessio softly reminded, "There are still 4 hours until the Chinese forensic doctor releases the autopsy report." "The remaining 2 hours are for me to solve the problem." Stefano shot back, then continued, "Provided I know where the issue lies. Or rather, can you all prove that human error caused the crash?" Everyone naturally looked at the "finest" aviation expert Ricardo on a screen corner. After being pressured, Ricardo¡¯s demeanor steadied, and he said, "You can¡¯t prove it. I¡¯ve been involved in several crash incidents. To prove a crash was due to human error, the best method should be for a forensic doctor to prove it. If the pilot was using drugs or drinking heavily, you¡¯d expect to find traces in his body, right? Otherwise, track the pilot¡¯s life: any divorce? Fighting for child custody with his wife? Visiting bars the night before the crash..." "Stick to your expertise. What can you determine on your end?" Stefano redirected the discussion. Ricardo chuckled a bit, drank some water, and then said, "Based on the damage to the deceased¡¯s G-force resistance, theoretically, I can perform damage analysis and site reconstruction. I could provide insights into changes during the ne¡¯s descent... But now, without the forensic report, I can¡¯t see the damage analysis of the body. Solely from the fact that the deceased¡¯s organs were ejected, and bones shattered, the ne¡¯s tailspin was severe, possibly apanied by a rapid nosedive. The aircraft¡¯s structure was strong enough, hence no mid-air disintegration, but the pilot couldn¡¯t withstand it. This aligns with our previous... ahem, in summary, I can exin human error, but I can¡¯t rule out other factors." Stefano sighed, turning to the forensic doctor: "Alessio, what do you need to deduce what the Chinese forensic doctor found?" "Looking at it now, it doesn¡¯t seem likely." Alessio listened to the other experts and reyed the autopsy process in his mind, finallying to a realization. Stefano pressured, "The Chinese forensic doctor saw it; how can you not see it?" "I could only observe. I couldn¡¯t touch or look over the findings; the information obtained wasn¡¯tprehensive..." Alessio found an excuse to gloss over it. Stefano looked at Alessio skeptically: "At least give us some information to make a judgment." Alessio rolled his eyes: "Mr. Director, it is I who require you to provide more information for me to make a judgment." "The other side is just a forensic doctor in his 20s. Even if he could touch and look over things, you were right by his side and still didn¡¯t know what he was doing?" Stefano owns so manypanies, with many girlfriends at home, and never needs professional skills, only the ability to analyze professionals. After all, Alessio is a technical personnel; asking him to deviantly describe thingspletely against the facts would at least... require being paid extra. So, simple face value, even his own, is actually not that significant. Alessio pressed the microphone gently and spoke again: "This forensic doctor in his 20s is very capable. I have read a few of his previous autopsy reports. They¡¯re wless, exceptionallypetent, profoundly seasoned, veryprehensive..." He used several adjectives just to exin how brilliant Jiang Yuan is. Only with a worthy opponent, could he exin that his own capability is not weak. Such a subtle thought, everyone in the video meeting could perceive. However, while they perceived this, everyone also understood that Alessio using this tactic meant the Chinese forensic doctor had indeed no ws. "What do you need?" Stefano now needed information. Even if notprehensive, any amount would be something. Moreover, Alessio was the one to call them, so Stefano naturally assumed he would have a way. Alessio didn¡¯t have much information left either, so he said, "Mr. Ricardo just mentioned G-force damage, which I can perform. If Mr. Ricardo can analyze the damage, perhaps site reconstruction can be done, which could infer the cause and process of the ident, providing crucial evidence for the investigation. Engineering and medical experts should also be able to help..." "Then we¡¯ll center our efforts around you." Stefano arranged without any reservations. "I¡¯ll try my best..." Alessio sighed with relief. As he mentioned, with the help of engineering experts and aviation experts, at least some site reconstruction could be aplished, and perhaps some answers could be garnered from the process of the ne¡¯s descent. After discussing for about fifteen minutes, Stefano ended the call, exited the video meeting, and promptly brought in more people to join this team, while Alessio immediately organized the others to begin discussions. Chapter 1289 - 1216: Peaceful

Chapter 1289: Chapter 1216: Peaceful

Beep beep beep beep. When the rm on the phone rang, the group of people discussing through the video meeting paused. "It¡¯s 3 o¡¯clock." Stefano pressed his phone with his short, thick fingers, opened his eyes, and looked at everyone. "Well? Any conclusions?" "No new conclusions," Alessio replied with a bit of frustration. Looking back at his notebook, filled with scribbles after hours of brainstorming, he still couldn¡¯t determine whether the ne malfunction was due to human error or mechanical failure, nor could he confirm what Jiang Yuan had discerned. Stefano, as a board member, had gathered experts from various fields as Alessio requested. Avi Airlines wasn¡¯t short on cash; their annual consultation expenses frequently exceeded hundreds of millions of US Dors, and they were more than willing to pay when hiring experts, just like they did for Alessio. Avi Airlines didn¡¯t even need to contact the experts personally; once Alessio made his request, they hired a professional business information agency to find the people. With a consultation fee of thousands of euros per hour, Alessio could have any expert he needed, a professional solution to any problem, yet still failed to get the answers he sought. The content in his notebook wasplex and intricate, yet no conclusions were reached. "Sorry," Alessio could only respond to Stefano. "It¡¯s okay." 69-year-old Stefano, surprisingly, took it quite calmly, saying, "Your efforts at least prove it¡¯s extremely difficult to be proven. An unprovable malfunction serves us just as well." "This..." Alessio recalled Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and demeanor at the time and could only shrug, "Sorry..." "Is the autopsy report out?" Stefano looked up and turned to ask. "Not yet." The answer came from a liaison officer from Avi Airlines, stationed from Yibenli, originally responsible for sales but now involved in crisis management to continue sales. Alessio flipped through his notebook rapidly, "Didn¡¯t they say the autopsy report will be out in 24 hours?" "They said approximately 24 hours, not precisely 24 hours." The Avi liaison officer,cking any charm with Alessio, stated bluntly, "Maybe one or two dayster for the report is possible." Alessio, pressed against time for so long, finding himself questioning, "Will it take that long?" "The Chinese forensic doctors are bureaucrats first and foremost; it¡¯s not unusual for them to dy by a few days." The Avi liaison officer said coolly, "You¡¯d understand after spending some time in China, some officials have tremendously low work efficiency. Every project we apply for gets dyed a long time, both slow and troublesome." His remarks focused on exining to Stefano the board member. "Ah..." Alessio, not understanding much of this, could only nod nkly. "Just right, Alessio, maybe you should take a break. After waking up, you might get an answer," board member Stefano, also not pressuring Alessio further given the elongated deliberation time, saw no meaning in adding one or two more hours. Alessio, already exhausted, wrapped up the video meeting after hearing Stefano¡¯s suggestion and went back to rest. Just as he got to his room and began undressing, his phone rang again. "The autopsy report is out." It was the Avi liaison officer calling, "They actually delivered on time this time. Maybe our Chinese agent did some work. They¡¯ll join you soon for strategy discussions." "I¡¯ll be right there." Alessio pped his face to wake up and, realizing that there wasn¡¯t time for a shower, used wet wipes on the table to wipe his underarms, changed into a fresh shirt, and headed to the elevator, back to the rooftop meeting room within minutes. Looking up, 69-year-old Stefano also returned, having changed his clothes, including his pants, as did his secretary. The Avi Airlines liaison handed Alessio a folder. Alessio nodded, sat down, and before opening the document, he took a deep breath unconsciously. The trantor sitting beside him gave Alessio a strange look, whispering, "You don¡¯t need to worry. Now that we have the autopsy report, it should count as the moment of unraveling the mystery." "Only if the solution conforms to our expectations." Alessio paused, then said, "I also don¡¯t know how he unravels the mystery." "You¡¯ll know once you look." The trantor, being from a liberal arts background, couldn¡¯tprehend the mountain on Alessio¡¯s mind. Alessio carefully started unsealing the file,yer byyer. Board member Stefano beside him wasn¡¯t urging, meanwhile, experts from Avi Airlines were gradually joining the video conference, soon the left side of the screen disyed a dozen avatars. Alessio, unable to mind them now, took out the autopsy report and opened the trantion app on his phone, preparing to read. Autopsy reports have a set format. The format differs between the two countries but mainly focuses on exining the contents. Alessio quickly scanned through the introductory part using the trantion app, then stopped at the detailed section, beginning to read slowly and painstakingly, with the trantor assisting by his side. Before long, Alessio¡¯s attention was captured by the photos apanying the report. This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om Chapter 1290 - 1216 Peace_2

Chapter 1290: Chapter 1216 Peace_2

Meanwhile, on the other end of the video conference, there were professionals hired by Avi who began manually tranting the autopsy report. The progress on both sides was roughly the same. By the time Alessio had reluctantly finished reading the autopsy report with the trantor, a more professional version of the report had also been sent over. Alessio read through thetter again without a word. Stefano waited patiently. On the curtain on the wall, small avatars of some experts could be seen also looking down and reading the tranted documents, but very few people needed to read the pure autopsy report. Most, such as aviation experts, were just waiting for the conclusions. After a long time, Alessio looked up. "How is it?" Stefano asked. "From a forensic doctor¡¯s perspective..." Alessio¡¯s voice was a bit dry, "The Chinese forensic doctor indeed proved it was a mechanical failure rather than human error." The small avatars in the video conference suddenly became chaotic. In the on-site meeting room, several personnel from Avi Airlines looked at Alessio with uncertain expressions. The president of Avi Airlines¡¯ China Division sharply said, "There are various reasons why nes crash. How can he rule out human error?" He knew the official report wouldn¡¯t write recklessly, so he had already lowered his bottom line to include non-exclusion. Alessio swallowed and said, "From the autopsy report, first, the pilot was not under the influence of alcohol or known drugs..." "There are many kinds of drugs; we can raise an objection," thepany¡¯swyer immediately presented his corresponding viewpoint. Alessio, as a forensic doctor, was disdainful of this and said, "They have left blood samples; you can try raising a re-examination request to a third-party institution." Thewyer immediately fell silent. Alessio continued, "Second, the trauma pattern is consistent, mainly burn injuries." This time, no one raised objections. Alessio sighed and added, "The third point, also the most important one, the Chinese forensic doctor confirmed the victim¡¯s respiratory tract burns, and confirmed it was a pre-mortem burn." "What do you mean?" The president sensed something was wrong. Alessio said, "Pre-mortem burns indicate that before the pilot¡¯s death, there were alreadyrge amounts of high-temperature gases inside the cabin. Considering the burns on the pilot¡¯s lower limbs and feet, with the feet being charred and thighs burned, one can deduce that the high-temperature gas rose from below. It¡¯s highly probable that the high-temperature gas leaked from the floor. Is there a possibility that this ne¡¯s engine or exhaust pipe ruptured, causing a leak at the pilot¡¯s feet?" The faces of Avi Company¡¯s employees present turned grim. Thewyer immediately said, "You don¡¯t need to answer that question. Mr. Alessio, you only need to exin the autopsy report, not ask questions." Alessio was not surprised. Avi Company did not have its own forensic doctor and could only hire externally; otherwise, thewyer might have asked him to leave by now. "You say pre-mortem burns, are you sure? Can you differentiate between burns that urred before death and after death? Or perhaps, can a recently deceased person still bear signs of pre-mortem burns?" Thewyer¡¯s questions followed one after another. "It is possible to differentiate. But if you must say that, indeed, a person who just died can still exhibit signs of life¡¯s response..." "Then that¡¯s it! Doesn¡¯t this prove that you still can¡¯t determine if it¡¯s a pre-mortem burn or a post-mortem one?" At this point, Alessio wouldn¡¯t listen to thewyer and said, "It¡¯s not that simple..." "Mr. Alessio, I¡¯m sure it¡¯s veryplicated; otherwise, you should have found out the cause earlier, right?" Thewyer chuckled twice. Alessio paused for a moment, then noticed thewyer¡¯s smug smile, shook his head, and said, "I can only observe from the side, and due to centrifugal force, the trachea¡¯s mucosa of the corpse was torn. Meanwhile, the organs inside the thoracic cavity followed the esophagus and respiratory tract, then exited through a neck opening. These organs flew out wrapped with torn trachea mucosa, leaving little mucosa remaining, making it difficult to confirm; the Chinese forensic doctor found it." Thewyer listened to these rare terms and was stunned, probably still simting the route in his mind, unable to speak for a moment. Alessio continued, "The Chinese forensic doctor probably had suspicions, which is why they deliberately found a piece of remaining trachea mucosa and took samples. The edema and congestion of the respiratory tract mucosa are distinguishable between pre-mortem and life response, especially with high-temperature gases. If a person has died, there would be no breathing response posthumously. Thus, with no severe burns outside the neck but congestion and edema within the respiratory tract, it¡¯s apparent evidence of pre-mortem burns." The president then slowly spoke, "Does confirming the pilot¡¯s respiratory tract burns urred pre-mortem prove the airne had mechanical failure? Perhaps pilot error urred first, followed by the high-temperature gas leak?" "I don¡¯t understand these matters, you could ask your aviation experts. But high-temperature gases must have a source, right?" Alessio wasn¡¯t concerned, or rather, after seeing the autopsy report, he gradually calmed down. As a forensic doctor, after seeing the autopsy report, he could easily understand what Jiang Yuan had done, but recalling the autopsy process, Alessio couldn¡¯t confirm that if he had conducted the autopsy himself, he would have deliberately sought the torn trachea fragments and also found them. Most importantly, Alessio knew this wasn¡¯t luck. This corpse had lost many internal organs. More precisely, all the internal organs in this corpse were thrown out. In terms of importance, such an autopsy would naturally prioritize the heart, as it provides the apex blood for toxicological testing. Next would be stomach contents, which help determine what the deceased consumed before death. Beyond that, the brain and dder are also rtively important, followed by the liver and lungs... No matter how you prioritize, the trachea would rank very low, especially when there are no burn marks outside the neck. One wouldn¡¯t think to seek trachea fragments. Maybe with other indications, one mightter think it necessary to check, but under such circumstances, if the neck wasn¡¯t carefully checked at the time, it would be impossible to find anything in ater secondary dissection. Even if one turned back to search after the abdominal cavity dissection started, it might still be difficult to locate any remaining trachea fragments, as they might have been torn to shreds and just a tiny bit left inside. Even the choice made with the first incision during the start of the autopsy could influence this oue. By the time Alessio thought of this, he had already made his peace. At this moment, yesterday¡¯s aviation expert, an insider from Avi Airlines, and the top aviation expert Ricardo pressed the speaking key and said, "Maybe pilot error caused the ne crash, but the pilot surprisingly survived, only to be killed by high-temperature gases." "If that were the case, the pilot¡¯s face would have burn injuries. It wouldn¡¯t be like now where the high-temperature gas rose from the feet up, with no burns above the abdomen, but the pilot had swollen trachea. Hence, at that time, it must have been within a narrow confined space, meaning the cockpit canopy wasn¡¯t shattered yet." After getting the answers, Alessio found it much easier to respond. Ricardo focused on thinking, hesitated for two seconds, then said, "Perhaps the pilot, during the flight, suddenly wanted to light a cigar which identally dropped, causing a fire and leading to the ultimate tragedy. Trust me, I¡¯ve read about such incidents inpany reports; these pilots do all sorts of things while flying!" Alessio was taken aback by Ricardo¡¯s wild imagination. The president and directors of Avi Airlines were momentarily invigorated. Stefano couldn¡¯t help but nce at Alessio and asked, "Does this exnation hold water?" Alessio curled his lips, "I¡¯m not an aviation expert, but I guess the aircraft wreckage should prove something, such as finding a cracked exhaust pipe. And from a forensic perspective, I think based on the severity of the burn areas on the body, the Chinese forensic doctor could precisely pinpoint the origin or rupture location. If that spot happens to coincide with the exhaust piping, how would you exin that?" Ricardo: "The cigar just happened to fall there?" "And rapidly generated high temperatures?" Alessioughed. Director Stefano coughed twice, "The exhaust pipe is only a few inches. You say establishing the ignition source location based on the burn severity would seem difficult to assert with such precision, right?" "It¡¯s somewhat difficult, but I believe Jiang Yuan... this Chinese forensic doctor can definitely manage it." Alessio raised the autopsy report in his hand. The meeting room returned to silence, and the small avatars representing video conference participants also fell into unanimous quiet. Chapter 1291 - 1217 Reunion

Chapter 1291: Chapter 1217 Reunion

"Mr. Alessio, the board members havee out." The secretary from Yibenli¡¯s own country, wearing high heels, spoke softly into Alessio¡¯s ear. Alessio took off his earphones, calmed himself, and smiled, "Okay, thank you." "You¡¯re wee," the secretary said as she seemed to shake hands with Alessio, slipping a small piece of paper into his hand. It took Alessio only 0.01 seconds to react, skillfully pocketing the note, then giving the secretary a charming smile. Their eyes met briefly before a few senior board members walked out of the meeting room. Alessio waited quietly. The remuneration offered by Avi Airlines was exceptionally generous, so as long as they needed, he didn¡¯t mind continuing to provide services. As for which of his services they¡¯d utilize and how they chose to apply them, it didn¡¯t matter much to Alessio. Board member Stefano walked up to Alessio, nodding to him, "You¡¯ll have to trouble yourself to meet with the Chinese personnel with Matina." "Alright." Alessio didn¡¯t even ask what for. Stefano offered no exnations, wearily saying a few more words to those behind him. Soon, a voluptuous beauty, perfectly fitting male visual preferences, emerged from the group, greeted Alessio, and said, "I¡¯m Matina from the PR department. Let¡¯s go meet the Chinese personnel now." Alessio felt he had guessed Avi Airline¡¯s intentions, nodded, and said as they walked, "I have no issue, but if you intend to alter the autopsy report or anything, it might be quite challenging." "If it can be modified, it would naturally be best," Matina¡¯s voice was gentle, yet she asked, "But why do you think it¡¯s difficult, even after observing Avi Airline¡¯s attitude?" When mentioning the attitude, Matina pointed to herself. Alessio understood and agreed that if it were him, having someone send such a beautiful woman, he might indeed betray the body. Recalling seeing Jiang Yuan that day, Alessio added, "You must have met Jiang Yuan, right, the forensic expert who wrote the autopsy report? He didn¡¯t agree beforehand; now trying to amend it will naturally be even more difficult." "That simple? If that¡¯s all there is to it, the forensic doctor seems a bit dull." Matina¡¯s sultry voice ignited a tumult in Alessio¡¯s heart. Alessio¡¯s emotions red, "A forensic autopsy report is logical; conclusions are derived from preceding findings. To modify conclusions means you need a holistic revision, so it should have been dealt with before checking the report. Now, aiming to alter the autopsy report presents considerable challenges." Matina smiled without arguing, feeling that resolving issues didn¡¯t have to happen only through modifications or that changes couldn¡¯t be made. The two took a car to the Zhengguang Sub-bureau and were guided into a meeting room where they waited for a while before several Chinese personnel arrived. Matina immediately noticed a very tall man trailing behind and turned to Alessio for confirmation, seeing him looking at the man with a gleam in his eyes. Matina frowned slightly, leaned towards Alessio¡¯s ear, and asked, "Are you bisexual?" "No," Alessio was a bit surprised. "Then you¡¯re homosexual?" "No," Alessio shook his head as he spoke, his ear brushing against Matina¡¯s lips, his heart fluttering. Matina hummed nasally, stood up close to Alessio, but her coquettish eyes turned to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan sat opposite them, nced at Alessio he had seen before, and directly spoke in French, "You wanted to see me?" "Yes, Forensic Expert Jiang Yuan, we represent Avi Airlines and would like to discuss the autopsy report with you again," Matina quickly responded, her French pronunciation and wording tending towards an arousing tone. Jiang Yuan, however, with his post-level 4 French, merely listened briefly and said casually, "Sure, what questions do you have?" Noticing Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, Matina realized her efforts had not worked, frowning as she thought to herself, This doesn¡¯t match the intelligence; could this guy also not like women¡ªwhat¡¯s wrong with this terrible world...? "Alessio, forensic doctor, you exin," Matina looked at Alessio in disappointment. This man was a bit older, but he still had a ir of that Italian bad-boy attractiveness, and if he caught the eye, he should be able to seduce the Chinese on the other side. Alessio sat upright and said, "It¡¯s not a problem; I just have some things I don¡¯t understand which I¡¯d like to ask..." French, being one of the most rigorousnguages globally, was spoken by Alessio very clearly. Upon hearing this, Matina¡¯s eyes brightened, thinking to herself, Men truly understand the hearts of men; such words of admiration spoken, how could anyone not take the bait? Sure enough, a hint of confrontational demeanor faded from Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, and his tone softened, "Speak." "Was it upon seeing the burns on the body that you suspected high-temperature gas?" Alessio, indeed having many queries, asked right away. "It was confirmed upon dissection," Jiang Yuan slightly shook his head. Alessio was astonished, this differed entirely from what he had thought, "If it wasn¡¯t initially determined, then why even check the damaged trachea?" "I followed through the sequence and upon seeing the damaged trachea, took samples and found signs of swelling and burns, and continued dissecting from there," Jiang Yuan spoke straightforwardly. Alessio immediately understood; he had oveplicated things, thinking Jiang Yuan had some preconceptions and then meticulously searched for the trachea. Soon after, Alessio furrowed his brow in realization. Given how straightforward it was to find the trachea, it¡¯s actually quite outrageous. His initial imagination was akin to warfare, assuming Jiang Yuan had performed extensive nning and reconnaissance, mobilizing various resources, ultimately orchestrating a decisive strike at a particr location, achieving victory due to urate pre-assessment and brilliant nning. Yet listening to Jiang Yuan now, it felt as if Jiang Yuan made no prior intricate analyses, simply leading his troops on a straightforward push, engaging the enemy¡¯s elite in the first battle, iming victory, and then following through to a grand triumph. Matina didn¡¯t know why Alessio suddenly fell into contemtion, but she knew her task wasn¡¯t to genuinely let the two discuss academic issues. Seizing the lull, Matina whispered, "Mr. Jiang Yuan, could we invite you to dinner tonight? We have prepared some small gifts as well." "No need, I¡¯m already busy today," Jiang Yuan stated honestly. The crashed body¡¯s been over 24 hours, and conducting an autopsy only takes a few minutes, while breaking a case with Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team isn¡¯t something that necessarily takes 24 hours. Being at Zhengguang Bureau, Tao Lu wouldn¡¯t possibly leave him idle. It¡¯s like a genteel person in a brothel; you im to only perform and not sell, a client ims to be decent, but once seated together and having drinks, how could a paying patron change to a gentler taste? Matina was slightly anxious, pulling on Alessio, saying, "Alessio and I can bothe, together if needed." Alessio was stunned, quickly taking a sip of water, opting not to refute. Jiang Yuan chuckled, stood up, and said, "If there¡¯s nothing else, I¡¯ll head back now." "Mr. Jiang Yuan, should you refuse, the board will find others..." Matina grabbed Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, speaking while gently squeezing. Jiang Yuan resolutely pulled his hand away and left the room. The next morning. Jiang Yuan met Matina again. This time, on the stainless steel autopsy bed in the dissection room. Chapter 1292 - 1218 Analyzing Matina

Chapter 1292: Chapter 1218 Analyzing Matina

Jiang Yuan stood at one end of the autopsy table, with Zeng Lianrong and Zhan Kan beside him. Opposite him was Cui Qishan, separated by Alessio and his trantor. Except for the body on the autopsy table being Matina, the setup was exactly the same as when they autopsied the pilot the day before yesterday. It¡¯s just that everyone¡¯s state of mind waspletely different. Alessio, needless to say, was already caught in a storm of his own thoughts, unable to help but specte on the motive of the killer while worrying about his own life. The trantor, a young man, was originally full of admiration for Rome, but now he was equally uncertain and anxious. Jiang Yuan had just seen Matina, and soon after saw her body, naturally frowning. Moreover, because he had just seen Matina and was seduced by her, it was inappropriate for him to perform the autopsy himself. However, in this case, he would not step aside and wait in the shadows. He had ample alibi to prove himself; as long as he did not participate in the autopsy itself, he wouldn¡¯t be part of the evidence. Therefore, at this moment, Jiang Yuan was just a bystander, much like Alessio. Zeng Lianrong and Zhan Kan, who were in charge of conducting the autopsy, also had to mentally prepare themselves, not because of Matina, but because of Jiang Yuan. Conducting an autopsy in front of Jiang Yuan put some pressure on the forensic doctors, especially those who were famous. Only Matinay there quietly, her long, flowing golden hair spread out, standing tall and confident. Her lips were a bit bluish-purple, as if she had applied gothic-style lipstick; her neck had a deep V-shaped mark, as if she wore a tight metal ne... "The deceased was 175 cm tall, weighing about 55 kg, with normal development and good nutritional status... Lividity was distributed on the back of the body, dark red, non-nchable, consistent with postmortem urrence within 12 hours. Rigor mortis had set in, with stiffness throughout the body¡¯s joints..." Zeng Lianrong donned gloves and began examining the body, performing a surface inspection. Without using Jiang Yuan as a standard, Zeng Lianrong himself was not only a forensic expert at the Beijing Bureau, but also at the Zhengguang Bureau. asionally, he was invited to surrounding provinces as well. In terms of forensic pathology overall, he was at least at a beginner level of LV3, with a few specialties likely reaching LV3pletion level. Of course, there were stronger forensic doctors in Beijing, but for this particr case, it hadn¡¯t reached the point of needing to invite someone from all over the world. With Jiang Yuan standing in front, Cui Qishan and other criminal investigation personnel felt sufficiently reassured. Zeng Lianrong, with Jiang Yuan standing before him, also conducted the autopsy with enough care. Hepleted the surface inspection of the limbs and trunk, then returned to the neck, detailing meticulously: "There is a distinct groove on the neck, in a ¡¯V¡¯ shape. The upper edge of the groove is above the thyroid cartge, extending to the back of the ear. The groove is approximately 1.2cm wide, with uneven depth, apanied by subcutaneous hemorrhage locally." "The edges of the groove show epidermal abrasions and contusions, with some areas disying vital reactions." "The direction of the groove does not match themon suicide characteristic of ¡¯crossing the eight characters¡¯, nor is there any obvious ¡¯emptying¡¯ phenomenon below the groove." "The deep neck muscles (including the sternocleidomastoid) show hemorrhage, with fracture and bleeding at the fracture ends of the thyroid cartge and hyoid bone." Zeng Lianrong¡¯s pace of speech gradually quickened. Anyone who¡¯s done forensic work knows he¡¯s essentially determining if the deceased died from suicide by hanging or strangtion by another¡¯s hand. This is also one of the mostmon determinations for forensic doctors. Among the various ways people die, asphyxiation is rtivelymon. Drowning, strangtion, suffocation, hanging¡ªall fall under mechanical asphyxiation. Since hanging is amon suicide method, many so-called "brilliant minds" might create the illusion of suicide by hanging after causing someone¡¯s death for various reasons. Given there are many such "brilliant minds", ancient forensic doctors, even without modern techniques, had enough understanding of this, such as the "Book of Exonerations" summary: "Suicide by hanging, strangled or falsely hung by others, are easily distinguishable. True hangings are characterized by a dark purple mark with ropes or textiles tied, crossing behind the ears; eyes closed, lips open, hands clenched, teeth exposed. When hung above the throat, the tongue presses against the teeth; below the throat, the tongue protrudes more; saliva froth on the chest; fecal discharge from the rear..." There was no fecal discharge from Matina¡¯s rear, thus deducing her cause of death was straightforward. The autopsy hadn¡¯t even begun at this point. With evidence so apparent, even involving foreigners, Zeng Lianrong didn¡¯t dy. In front of Alessio, he turned to Cui Qishan and said, "Mechanical asphyxia, this is a case." He hadn¡¯t specified the exact cause of death, although it was almost apparent; he remained cautious. Confirming it as a case allowed the Criminal Police¡¯s resources to be readily deployed. Cui Qishan wasn¡¯t surprised. Experienced criminal police can often judge from the scene itself. Cui Qishan merely sighed, saying "A troublesome season," before taking out his phone and turning to call Tao Lu. At the level of a Criminal Police Brigade chief, there¡¯s little concern for specific cases, but a murder case is different. "Begin the autopsy," Zeng Lianrong nced at Jiang Yuan and Alessio before starting the procedure. He first made an incision along the neck, skillfully cutting through the skin and inspecting the subcutaneous tissues and muscleyers. "Widespread hemorrhage," Zeng Lianrong narrated as he operated, while a forensic assistant took notes. Although Zhan Kan was a junior forensic doctor, he also helped with some auxiliary tasks. "No obvious foreign object in the trachea, but the mucosa has congestion and petechiae..." "Thyroid cartge fracture..." The easier it became for Zeng Lianrong. The body was fresh and showed no odd signs, although the death method was a bit atypical, the state of death was fundamentally typical. To put it simply, though the manner of death was strange, there was nothing strange about the appearance of death. Soon, Cui Qishan returned and asked, "Any conclusions yet?" By this time, Zeng Lianrong had moved to the abdominal cavity, holding the victim¡¯s stomach, he said, "There are slight abrasions on the wrists, indicating resistance. The stomach is empty; the time of death should be after midnight..." Cui Qishan nodded lightly, making notes in his notebook. Jiang Yuan then stated, "The probable time of death is around 2 AM." Although he hadn¡¯t conducted the autopsy himself, the information he gathered along the way was sufficient. "Got it." Cui Qishan immediately added this to his notebook and said, "Alright then, I¡¯ll check the surveince before and after the time of death, to see if anyone entered or exited the deceased¡¯s apartment during that time." Zeng Lianrong¡¯s lips twitched twice, suppressing the urge to ask Jiang Yuan; with a foreign forensic doctor present, questioning him would have to wait. Alessio was instructed not to speak, but after hearing the trantion, he furrowed his brows, frequently ncing at Jiang Yuan. The rtively stress-free Zhan Kan, noticing Alessio¡¯s expression, couldn¡¯t help but smile. Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation for determining times of death was well-known in Beijing; clearly, the foreigner had never witnessed this before. "The victim was strangled with a rope?" Cui Qishan asked once again. Zeng Lianrong nodded, "Yes, but it probably wasn¡¯t the rope your team brought. The rope you brought was for recreational use, with edge protection against strangtion. The murderer¡¯s rope was thicker and sturdier." "If they specifically brought a rope and there are defensive wounds, it rules out an ident," Cui Qishan remarked, frowning, "Recreational choking is one thing, but if it¡¯s murder..." Zhan Kan was curious, "Recreational?" "The scene looked like sexual asphyxiation," Cui Qishan briefly exined before looking at Alessio, "Hey,e with me, you¡¯ve seen enough of the autopsy by now, right?" The trantor quickly ryed this to Alessio. Alessio hurriedly replied, "Not yet, it would be more reasonable to reach a conclusion after the autopsy isplete." Cui Qishan¡¯s face tightened, "I already told you, no talking during the autopsy. Since you¡¯ve spoken now, I¡¯ll have to escort you out." Chapter 1293 - 1219: Secret Chamber Reasoning

Chapter 1293: Chapter 1219: Secret Chamber Reasoning

The autopsy waspleted, Jiang Yuan cleaned himself up, and after being stuck in traffic the whole way, he returned to the office building of the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad three hourster. The criminal police of the Zhengguang Bureau and all members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were sitting in the conference room, having already pondered over the case once. Hearing that Jiang Yuan had arrived, Tao Lu, having calcted the time, also came to the conference room to sit and listen to the case. Tao Lu asked first, "What¡¯s Avi Airlines¡¯ attitude like? Have the victim¡¯s family contacted you?" Regardless of the era, cases with or without the victim¡¯s family¡¯s involvement are different. Not to mention the cases that have been smoothlypleted, take a look at those wrong cases that can be overturned; behind them are either the victim¡¯s family members who wouldn¡¯t give up or police officers or others involved in the case who wouldn¡¯t budge, only then could the case be reversed. The pressure in handling cases involving foreigners, such as Myanmar nationals or Yibenli nationals, is obviously different. The case was handled by the Fourth Team. Xiao Si immediately stood up, saluted, and said, "Avi Airlines¡¯wyer contacted us to inquire about the situation. We replied, but then we heard nothing more. The victim¡¯s family has not contacted us either." "I see..." Tao Lu was a bit surprised. Cui Qishan knew what Tao Lu wanted to ask, coughed twice, and said, "Avi Airlines is probably a bit worried too." Tao Lu looked over. Cui Qishan quickly continued, "The crime scene, which is the victim¡¯s apartment, is provided by Avi Airlines for its employees. From the surveince video, the victim returned to the apartment around 9 PM that night and didn¡¯t leave afterward. There is no surveince inside the apartment, but there are cameras at the apartment¡¯s entrance and outer walls, so the perpetrator is likely living inside the apartment." Tao Lu couldn¡¯t help but lift his head, "How many people live in the apartment?" "28 households, 46 people," Cui Qishan answered in detail, "All are current employees of Avi Airlines and their families, mostly foreigners. 38 are foreign nationals. There are also a few children." Tao Lu immediately understood, "The perpetrator is one of their own, no wonder..." "That¡¯s more or less what it means." Cui Qishan said with a chuckle, ncing at Jiang Yuan, "I collected footprints at the scene, Captain Jiang, take a look." "Alright." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t overly modest, as the cooperation with Zhengguang Bureau was supposed to be long-term, plus he was already there... Cui Qishan was familiar with Jiang Yuan¡¯s habits and had already prepared. With a wave of his hand, his subordinates promptly disyed the footprint photos from the scene. In indoor environments with tiled floors, identifying footprints is rtively difficult without dust or dirty shoe soles. Many traditional footprint extraction methods aren¡¯t very useful in such cases. Footprint extraction is fundamentally simr to fingerprint extraction. The simplest approach is to sprinkle powder and use tape to extract it, but since most people wear shoes while walking, footprints rarely have the aid of sweat or liquid elements, making it harder to leave a trace. Fortunately, the Zhengguang Bureau could afford a ser footprint detector," so although extraction was difficult, they still managed to extract many footprints, most of which were barefoot. "Roughly speaking, more than five people were present in this room." Jiang Yuan looked through over a hundred footprint photos and said, "One person was wearing shoes, Matina herself, and at least three other males." "Good thing there wasn¡¯t any party," Cui Qishan wasn¡¯t surprised and continued, "Matina flew in from Yibenli. I¡¯ve already collected the footprints of people present in the room that day. Shall I show you the male footprints first? We haven¡¯t yet collected all the footprints of people who entered and exited the apartment in the past two days, as several are foreigners, and we have no rted data." There was no need for Jiang Yuan to instruct further; Cui Qishan moved on his own. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t budge, just nodded, and the photos in front of him changed. As Jiang Yuan stretched out his hand, Wei Shikan handed him a cup of tea. Mu Zhiyang and others watched with twitching eyelids. Some second-generation individuals seem harmless, yet you don¡¯t know what schemes they are pushing behind the scenes. Comparing footprints is equally challenging, especially when the shoes differ; often, one can only first broadlypare and then refine the details. Jiang Yuan let everyone continue the discussion while he examined the footprints for a long time and finally wrote two names on a paper. "The person wearing shoes was also male, but not a resident of the apartment. Another barefoot male¡¯s identity is also uncertain," Jiang Yuan said as he handed the paper with simple parameters like height, weight, and age to Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan quickly put it away, breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "In this case, the suspect should be among these two identified individuals. A one-out-of-two choice isn¡¯t that hard." Judging by the time of death, Matina died when only residents were in the apartment, and since all the residents¡¯ footprints were collected, the suspect should be among those two residents... As for the two non-resident individuals¡¯ footprints, they are likely from those who previously entered Matina¡¯s apartment. If the suspect can be identified directly, there might not be a need to delve deeply into their identities. Xiao Si coldly added at this point, "If luck is bad enough, it¡¯s also possible that the suspect didn¡¯t leave any footprints." Xiao Si, abandoned by the Seventh Team and finally taken in by the Fourth Team, is one of those cold-faced, rude, and bratty criminal police officers. Cui Qishan,te in ascending to the position of team leader with a rare spot in the capital, still had to keep him on the team due to Xiao Si¡¯s undeniable capability. After a long time, having been criticized numerous times, Cui Qishan didn¡¯t mind and just said, "It¡¯s not easy to kill a person, especially by strangling, leaving no trace is difficult... Do the footprints around the body indicate who the perpetrator is?" Cui Qishan still asked, as the situation Xiao Si mentioned was indeed possible. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "The deceased died on the bed, and the bedsheet was pulled under the bed; the footprints can¡¯t be seen anymore... We can try using trace evidence to find clues or check for skin kes or simr residues." Cui Qishan responded, then looked at Tao Lu and asked, "Should we bring the two people whose footprints match over for questioning?" These analyses aremonce in investigations, nothing special. If anything stands out, it¡¯s that the victim and suspects are foreigners. Yet, for today¡¯s police officers, this isn¡¯t too unusual; one just has to follow the rules. With evidence showing the two had ess to the victim¡¯s apartment, bringing them in for questioning is naturally justified. Tao Lu thought for a moment and agreed, only reminding, "Collect more rted information and witness testimonies. Are they both living alone or with others?" This already touches on potential alibis. Before Cui Qishan could delve into it, Xiao Si, on the side, said first, "Both are married men, one lives with his wife, the other with a wife and two children." "Two married men sneaking into a single woman¡¯s apartment..." Tao Lu shook his head, "I¡¯m getting old, can¡¯t keep up with the times. Interview their wives separately, make sure their statements are detailed to avoid perjury." "Yes." Cui Qishan stood up. "Involved personnel are not to leave the country. Make it clear during the interrogation, don¡¯t let them think they can just leave after making false testimonies and be free by noting back," Tao Lu clearly reminded. At this time, Liu Jinghui, having finished reviewing the relevant materials, raised his head and said, "We still need to focus on the motive. These two individuals, the two men who left footprints in the victim¡¯s room, are both in their 30s, and their work doesn¡¯t ovep much with Matina. One is an engineer, and the other deals with logistics-rted tasks, both have families; what could be their murder motive?" "Infidelity resulting in threats, or fear of being caught, fear of losing their assets and a lifetime of alimony?" Cui Qishan casually suggested. "Strangling someone to death isn¡¯t easy," Liu Jinghui borrowed Cui Qishan¡¯s earlier words and turned them around, "Such a decisive act, most people find hard to achieve." Cui Qishan didn¡¯t object, just smiled, "What you say makes sense, but if neither of these two did it, then pinpointing the suspect in the apartmentplex will be difficult, like the Eastern Train murder case." Liu Jinghui chuckled lightly. Chapter 1294 - 1220: The Liu Clan’s Excitement Case

Chapter 1294: Chapter 1220: The Liu n¡¯s Excitement Case

Two hourster, Cui Qishan returned. By then, the tea in front of Jiang Yuan had already been reced with coffee. Wei Shikan beside him was still shaking the hand grinder saying "Purple Dog Purple Dog." Cui Qishan didn¡¯t look well and immediately said, "It¡¯s really be the Eastern Train." Liu Jinghui¡¯s lips curled into a knowing smile, as if he wasn¡¯t surprised at all, and said, "Tell me more." Cui Qishan sighed, "The wives of two married men provided alibis for their husbands. For those with children, we specifically asked, and they were all at home on the day of the incident." Although the alibi provided by close rtives has weak validity, in the case of detailed questioning, the detective team needs to consider this possibility. Cui Qishan continued, "Also, regarding the motive issue raised by Director Liu. Both men admitted that they were invited by Matina to drink on the day she arrived and had a rtionship with her." The two corroborate each other¡¯s statements, making the likelihood of false testimony rtively low. Most importantly, both of them admitted to the affair promptly upon hearing about the murder case, which undermines the theory of killing to cover up the affair. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui understood the nuances instantly and nodded gently. From what Cui Qishan¡¯s investigation indicates, the suspicion level of the two men is very low now. Cui Qishan concluded, "As it is, the footprints of four people found in Matina¡¯s apartment, two of whom have confirmed identities and are male residents, are very likely not suspects. As for the other two, we are seeking insights from Avi Airlines personnel through surveince videos. These foreigners aren¡¯t too cooperative, so it could take some time." "The customs people should have their facial recognition data, right?" Liu Jinghui asked. "The rity isn¡¯t enough. Since they were all taken at night, none of them are frontal shots." Cui Qishan said, looking at Jiang Yuan. "Image Enhancement is slow too, and for non-frontal shots, it¡¯s hard to make matches." Jiang Yuan said as he stood up, adding, "I n to go to the scene first. You can first try asking Avi Airlines¡¯ director; from my contact with him, he should be sensible. If it doesn¡¯t work out, I¡¯ll help with the image enhancement." "Is it appropriate to directly approach Avi¡¯s higher-ups?" Cui Qishan slightly reminded. In terms of social experience, Cui Qishan was a few levels above Jiang Yuan. Yet, due to limited resources, he couldn¡¯t maneuver freely. Just listening to Jiang Yuan, Cui Qishan knew Jiang Yuan wanted to use thebined case of Avi Airlines¡¯ crash and Matina¡¯s murder to pressure the director of Avi Airlines for cooperation from Avi¡¯s employees. The merging of investigations during a probe phase can seem easy, but Avi Airlines¡¯ director clearly isn¡¯t naive; the old man has his own background and supporters. Speaking to people like him, someone like Cui Qishan, a detective of his rank, usually hopes for smooth proceedings. If abined case were to arise, naturally it¡¯s a matter of speaking of the case merger, whereas mere threats are unnecessary. Jiang Yuan then looked at Wei Shikan. Though he wasn¡¯t particrly studied in this field, he believed Wei Shikan might have relevant insight. Indeed, Wei Shikan shook the hand grinder and said, "Captain Jiang¡¯s n to make a phone call should be fine. Whether or not it offends someone, it¡¯s all just like that." Jiang Yuan immediately dialed Stefano. The 69-year-old director of Avi Airlines promptly picked up Jiang Yuan¡¯s call and readily agreed, eventually calling people back to the apartment for questioning convenience. Naturally, he also didn¡¯t want his employees to be called to the police station one by one. Thus, Jiang Yuan and Cui Qishan, along with others, headed to Avi¡¯s Apartment. Liu Jinghui seemed very excited, getting into the car with an unstoppable smile on his face, "Changing the Eastern Train to Avi¡¯s Apartment is eptable, quite good!" "It has already been proven not to be personnel inside Avi¡¯s Apartment." Wei Shikan apanied him with coffee andmented. "Just because there are no footprints in the victim¡¯s apartment doesn¡¯t mean there was no involvement," Liu Jinghui retorted, "Might be lucky with not leaving any traces; maybe they intentionally wiped them away. Or... if someone was hidden in the apartment earlier, only let outter, that¡¯s also a possibility." Liu Jinghui paused briefly, then added, "Passion is hard to gauge; if it¡¯s a crime of passion, it could even be without assistance, sneaking in two days prior, hiding in ces like an equipment room, and then slipping out through the fire escape..." Liu Jinghui continued, "If there¡¯s no sign of tampering with the door lock, it shows familiarity... Or maybe, tricking someone into opening it..." No one else in the car spoke, letting Liu Jinghui continue with his spective thoughts. He was talking about possibilities; one couldn¡¯t deny them but could say they belonged to a world of their own in detective stories. Given the current situation, the police indeed hadn¡¯t reviewed the surveince videos from two or three days ago. Actually, it was already very challenging to review the videos from the night of the incident; Jiang Yuan still had to call Avi¡¯s director to expand the scope. With so many foreignersing in and out, facial recognition posed difficulties, especially with nighttime surveince. Objectively speaking and without racial discrimination, many ck faces were indeed hard to make out. Unless the severity of this case rose, reaching a level where the special team regarded video surveince as a primary focus, then they could utilize a massive workforce to view all the footage from the past few days and analyze each one forparison. That¡¯s why foreigners don¡¯t particrly like installing surveince; considering their modest investment in policing levels, asking them to dedicate hundreds to an investigation, watching surveince tirelessly overnight... Even if they could really rally so many people, doing so tirelessly overnight is something they find difficult. Not to mention facial recognition, gait recognition, and simr techniques that require collecting corresponding physiological characteristics. Most countries don¡¯t have such technology and technical reserves, nor do they have the corresponding judicial and legal reserves. Countries like Myanmar or Yibenli would find it overwhelmingly difficult to invest billions in monitoring equipment and facilities, billions in relevant databases and surveince systems, training and increasing a detective force to thousands, then during specific cases, they must dedicate hundreds to thousands of hours of surveince review. One could say, the development of global detective technology, especially Chinese detective techniques, is a temte that most countries cannot simply copy. But the evolution of worldwide criminal tactics doesn¡¯t bow to the will of small countries. Things such as submarine and drone trafficking, 3D-printed metal-free firearms, the endless emergence of new explosives and drugs, the established scale of dark web systems, and virtual currency transactions... There are few countries capable ofprehensively addressing these. Thus, globally, the decline in security levels is universal. Europe¡¯s notorious thefts and robberies are merely superficial; what couldn¡¯t be maintained goes beyond security. Rather, the United States can maintain its security levels without regression, which itself represents a degree of progress. For the detectives of Zhengguang Bureau and Ningtai County Bureau presently, trying simple modes first, presuming the case is an ordinary one, is the most reasonable choice. Until... In the afternoon, Cui Qishan brought back disheartening news that excited Liu Jinghui: "Through inquiry with Avi¡¯s Apartment residents, the identities of everyone entering and exiting the apartment within two days have been confirmed. After sequencing the phone calls, the other two identities were confirmed. One is Avi¡¯s partner, a 34-year-old Austrian; the other is purely a friend and a researcher from a Beijing institute, a Belgian, whom Matina once brought to Avi¡¯s party." Cui Qishan paused momentarily and continued, "Both have alibis, and surveince near their residence confirms that they returned home the night of the incident and didn¡¯t leave until the next morning. Technical Investigation¡¯s cell phone location evidence also matches." Jiang Yuan listened and began to ponder. Liu Jinghui promptly spoke with keen insight, "All suspects have cleared their suspicions; hence, everyone is suspect now!" Chapter 1295 - 1221: Hijacking the Train

Chapter 1295: Chapter 1221: Hijacking the Train

After Liu Jinghui stated that everyone was a suspect, he excitedly paced back and forth in the room. Everyone in Changsha knows that high intelligence crimes are not advisable. For a murder case to seed in exonerating the guilty party, the key is not to let the case be ssified as a murder. In this case, to begin with, the perpetrator might have intended for it to deviate from being categorized as a murder. However, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t be sure of this determination since the method of strangling to fake a suicide is somewhat amateur. Anyone with a bit of knowledge should know that forensic doctors have a considerable umtion of expertise in this area. Even when encountering a low-level forensic doctor, it might not seed. Yet, even after seeing through the amateur tricks of the murderer, there still remained much mystery, which made Liu Jinghui feel particrly intrigued. This was equivalent to a double-insurance structure. It¡¯s widely known that a series of interlinked safeguards is more likely to result in a situation where one breakage leads to a chain reaction, especially in the case of a murder apanied by violent actions. Mistakes are the norm. Achieving perfect invisibility is very hard. Liu Jinghui took a few strong strides forward and, turning sharply, said, "The role that video surveince can y is limited. Going forward to solve the case, I think we can start with motives. I think we can thoroughly question everyone in the apartment and ask each of them to write down at least three names of people who might have murdered Matina..." Hearing this, Cui Qishan knew exactly why Liu Jinghui was excited and smirked, "Are you ying games?" Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said, "Our understanding of them is limited, and the apartment is mostly upied by foreigners, making it hard to investigate their backgrounds. Thus, our clues can onlye from testimony. Having them each write down three murder suspects forces them to inform on each other, but you can¡¯t explicitly say it¡¯s informing, right? After all, they are employees of the samepany..." "Alright." Cui Qishan acknowledged that what he said made sense, and besides, the scene fit the persona of Shannan¡¯s Deductive King, even if he was a bit yful. Cui Qishan immediately called his subordinates, instructing them to follow Liu Jinghui¡¯s proposed method. Liu Jinghui, seeing that the point was made, turned abruptly and fixed his gaze on Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was very familiar with Liu Jinghui¡¯s demeanor, gently lifted his coffee cup, and asked, "What do you want?" Liu Jinghui said, "We don¡¯t have any suspects now. We need some updated information. Can you recreate the crime scene?" Jiang Yuan chuckled silently, "Can¡¯t find footprints, and there¡¯s no blood, so I can¡¯t recreate it." Liu Jinghui was a bit disappointed, "I saw random things left all over the scene, like pillow towels and such. Can¡¯t you make judgments based on them?" "They are exactly why there are no footprints," Jiang Yuan shrugged. Liu Jinghui sighed, "There are no condoms or other such things; there¡¯s no sweat or semen. It¡¯s unclear what they were doing in the room. Simting sexual asphyxia implies the killer was somewhat familiar with Matina, knowing she had this interest. Did they actually have intercourse?" While speaking, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan again. "There is no evidence to show they did, but it doesn¡¯t prove they didn¡¯t," Jiang Yuan exined clearly enough. Liu Jinghui nodded thoughtfully, lost in his own contemtion. Seeing his struggle, Jiang Yuan said, "If you want more information about the room, you¡¯ll have to wait for the trace evidence report. By then, if semen is found on the room¡¯s fabrics, it will be the gold standard. If a lot of sweat is found, it could be tentatively inferred." Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up, "That¡¯s a good idea. When will their report be out?" "It should be soon. I¡¯ll put a rush on it." Having tackled many cases at Zhengguang Bureau, Jiang Yuan, having led local Criminal Science personnel, was adept at expediting reports. In his continuing contemtion, Liu Jinghui asked, "What are your thoughts now?" "Hot pot?" Jiang Yuan looked up. Having done everything that could be done, for him, it¡¯s now just a matter of waiting for the report. Liu Jinghui thought about it deeply and couldn¡¯t find a reason to object at the moment. "Hey, Xiao Gu, I¡¯m over at Zhengguang Bureau..." Before he regained his senses, Wei Shikan was already on the phone. Putting down the phone, Wei Shikan exined with a smile, "I have a little brother who specializes in copper potmb. I asked him to bring the chef and the pot over." "Alright then." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t refuse and said, "Have him bring a few more pots and more ingredients. Let¡¯s see if Tao and the others want to eat." "Understood. I¡¯ll have them put it on Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s tab." Wei Shikan, naturally adept or having had some family tutoring, didn¡¯t need any instructions. Before long, the cafeteria at the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad was filled with copper hot pots. This scene was very familiar to both the county bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade and Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad officers. Despite the significant rank difference, it¡¯s fundamentally a matter of the city¡¯s scale. The nature of their work was simr, mainly field-based yet not fully frontline like precincts with countless minor cases and trivial tasks, and somewhat more professional than township-level roles. Whenever it esctes to a criminal case, the work falls to the criminal police squad. And if there are cases to be handled, there are endless cases to handle. Although there are fewer homicides now, even various contact crimes have decreased. But with the number of police officers in the country, even a several percentage point reduction in cases remains in a backlog state. Once a major case arises, or worse, one that gets the leadership¡¯s attention, the officers assigned to it have to start their days early and end themte. That¡¯s why the detective squad¡¯s cafeteria is rtively well managed, especially in police stations where funding is more adequate, they are still willing to spend money on food. Although the cafeteria at the Zhengguang Bureau is notrge, it ispact and well-organized, with all necessary arrangements in ce. A few copper hot pots were brought in, and after a little preparation, it was ready to eat. Initially nning to go home, Tao Lu simply stayed behind to eat with Jiang Yuan. Some regr officers took the opportunity to leave. Jiang Yuan naturally didn¡¯t care about these things. With Huang Qiangmin and Wei Shikan entertaining, he sat steadily in front of the hot pot, watching the clear soup simmer with slices of ginger and sections of green onion, while thinking through the two cases he hade for this time. For genius-level individuals, Chinese people have always been very tolerant. Huang Qiangmin and Tao Lu exchanged a nce. Without needing Huang Qiangmin¡¯s exnation, thetter waved his hand andughed, saying, "With our rtionship, rx, rx, there¡¯s no alcohol today¡ªeat your fill and then get to work!" The people around hummed and ttered, starting to crazily dunk meat into the hot pot. Wei Shikan sat conscientiously in thest seat, using public chopsticks to put in about three or four slices of meat in one go, thenughed, "Themb from this shop is all hand-cut, adhering to the old standard methods. Today, eight masters were called over. They should be able to manage the cooking. However, the most delicious and famous thing from this shop is not themb, but the frozen tofu." "Oh, there¡¯s a particr way to do frozen tofu?" Huang Qiangmin yed along with a question. "We make our own old tofu, and it has to have a low water content. After freezing, it must be naturally defrosted, not quickly in hot water." Wei Shikan said with a smile, "Actually, it¡¯s nothing special, it¡¯s just made ording to the traditional master craftsman¡¯s technique, not sacrificing vor to improve efficiency. It is made just as before, so it tastes better than the products avable in the market." "Rare, rare indeed..." Tao Lu nodded admiringly but didn¡¯t continue the topic. Wei Shikan paused. He originally thought the leader would give some high-level remarks at this point, but unexpectedly the stage was set, and Tao Lu didn¡¯t proceed. Wei Shikan then pondered, Tao Lu probably didn¡¯t want to assume the leader¡¯s stance at this moment. Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t help but look at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan was at this time dippingmb in sesame sauce, eating in big bites, not touching a single piece of frozen tofu. Jiang Yuan ate quickly, and Tao Lu and the others followed, eating briskly. As many ate, they disappeared... Liu Jinghui, being older, couldn¡¯t eat much. Apanying for a while, he also prepared to excuse himself. At this time, his phone first pinged him with a document. "The onsite physico-chemical report is out." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t care about others, immediately handing it to Jiang Yuan. "Let me see." Jiang Yuan reluctantly put down his chopsticks, and as soon as he turned, Wang Chuanxing handed over a pad. The content on a pad that hadn¡¯t been hit by bullets was exceptionally clear. Jiang Yuan flipped through the pages one by one, flipping them extremely fast. Performing measurements on trace evidence sounds impressive, but in practice, it doesn¡¯t necessarily work well, especially when you don¡¯t know what you¡¯re looking for. Trace means even a small amount can be detected, and as a result, when testing a piece of clothingprehensively, fibers, hair, soil, dust, and metallic particles might be found. There might also be paint, pollen, and spores, along with various chemical substances like cosmetics and skincare products... At this time, themon modern dilemma emerges: with so much information obtained, oftentimes no conclusion can be reached. Therefore, in most cases, frontline detectives need to find specific objects, specific locations, and indicate the substances they want to find. Like in a kidnapping case, looking for rope marks on clothes or searching for the presence of drugs in a drug case, or in fields like legal botany, trace evidence assistance is also required. Jiang Yuan was somewhat familiar with this segment, but this time, the direction he was looking for was not things like spores. What he wanted to see was what wasn¡¯t in the apartment room, preferably not in the entire apartment. At this moment, a string of chemicalpounds like CaCO?, CaMg(CO?)?, SiO?, appeared before Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes. Jiang Yuan immediately flipped back, indeed seeing chemicals like H?C?O? and C?H??O?Si. "What¡¯s this?" Liu Jinghui, holding his stomach, noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, saw him bing serious, and started asking. "The source of calcium carbonate (CaCO?) is many, with calcium magnesium carbonate [CaMg(CO?)?] looking at these together... and then there¡¯s oxalic acid (H?C?O?), salt acid, and methyltrimethoxysne (C?H??O?Si), these..." Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment: "One can specte oxalic acid, salt acid are cleaning agents, methyltrimethoxysne is a surface protective agent..." "Protecting what?" Jiang Yuan said: "dding stone. The outer wall of the apartment building uses dding stone, right? In this way, silicon dioxide is likely sourced from quartz, not necessarily quartzite; granite, sandstone, and te all contain quartz, and calcium magnesium carbonate is generally dolomite, likely sourced from marble, so..." "The perpetrator climbed in from the outer wall into the apartment?" Liu Jinghui swiftly deduced, and promptly continued: "How did they enter? ss breaking leaves traces, Matina¡¯s room¡¯s window is confirmed to not be pried, so was it Matina who let them in? Why? Or, they may not need to enter from Matina¡¯s room, first entering some hallway or other rooms..." Even though Liu Jinghui pointed out various possibilities, he was not in a hurry, taking out a notebook to keep records, "Check whether there are any signs of prying from the outside on all rooms¡¯ windows, ask all residents whether they closed their windows properly, or if they heard any strange noises past midnight. Particrly inquire whether anyone had a simr experience, especially pay attention to families with teenagers, foreigners like to y this kind of game... Besides, for someone capable of climbing walls to get in, especially foreigners, look to find such a person." "Should we consider the possibility of burry?" Cui Qishan asked softly. "We actually already considered it before, this case isn¡¯t for profit." Liu Jinghui decisively shook his head, saying, "It¡¯s no longer just an Eastern Train murder case, it¡¯s about someone sneaking onto the train. Once we determine the path they took into the apartment, this case is essentially solved!" Chapter 1296 - 1222 Climbing Point

Chapter 1296: Chapter 1222 Climbing Point

After finishing the hotpot meal, everyone returned to the office and started working overtime as a matter of course. The officers who missed the hotpot because they couldn¡¯t make it were slightly annoyed, but no one left at that moment. They could only bring out their assignments and begin investigating the route of climbing the exterior wall. With the change in direction, the evidence to be collected and the content to be investigated would change significantly. Take climbing the exterior wall, for instance. A regr person might think that the surrounding surveince should have been checked long ago. In reality, the word "surrounding" can lead to despair if not limited. The surveince that could capture the exterior wall of Avi¡¯s Apartment may not be plentiful, and may not necessarily be official monitoring. It could be private instations by businesses or individuals. Of course, the more likely scenario is that no surveince captures the exterior wall of Avi¡¯s Apartment, and even if portions are captured, they may not show any people. If we were to draw a line for the flow of people around Avi¡¯s vicinity, just using the nearest four intersections as a standard, the involved surveince cameras would number in the dozens. Going through each one, even with Jiang Yuan involved and tight time constraints, would require thousands of police hours. If the determination of the time of death is rxed a bit, such as changing it to "nighttime death," the manpower cost for checking the surrounding surveince would skyrocket. Of course, as the difficulty of this case gradually increases, so does the input of resources. The manpower brought in just by Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team can adequately supplement the personnel shortage at the Zhengguang Bureau. Besides gathering surveince videos and reviewing footage, conducting more detailed and pressing interviews with the personnel inside Avi¡¯s Apartment is also a heavy task. Dealing with foreign affairs always requires caution, in other words, it¡¯s inevitably slower. The next morning, Jiang Yuan returned to Avi¡¯s Apartment to begin a survey of the whole building and parts of the courtyard wall. Avi¡¯s Apartment is designed as a single building surrounded by arge courtyard. The courtyard wall is not high, around two meters, meaning an ordinary person couldn¡¯t climb it, but an expert could easily vault over with a running start. The apartment building itself isn¡¯trge, totaling six floors, with five to eight rooms per floor of varying sizes. Compared to Beijing¡¯s scale, apartment buildings orplexes like this are considered quite small. However, checking each door and window for signs of tampering is a heavy task. Tao Lu pulled Huang Qiangmin aside, catching Jiang Yuan before he started arranging the survey direction, and said, "Jiang Yuan, if we can avoid entering premises, let¡¯s do so and find the room the murderer visited before searching inside. That would be better." Jiang Yuan looked towards Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin, having served as the chief officer of a criminal police team himself, understood Tao Lu and simply shrugged at Jiang Yuan: "It also avoids the hassle of foreigners asking you for a search warrant." "Then let¡¯s have everyone vacate the apartment. We don¡¯t need to tell them what we¡¯re doing," Jiang Yuan, experienced in handling many cases, had his ways. Tao Lu suddenly felt like he was being set up by Jiang Yuan, quickly saying, "If we let people out and search inside, there¡¯ll be many follow-up issues, especially with such arge-scale search. We should avoid it if possible." "Let them out; we¡¯ll not search inside at first." Jiang Yuan paused, then continued, "We¡¯ll survey the exterior first. However, once I start checking the courtyard wall and building, I¡¯m worried the suspect will wise up and wipe away any traces from the windows." Tao Lu frowned, "The residents have been cleared as suspects, haven¡¯t they?" "Even victims can have all sorts of thoughts. Foreigners¡¯ thoughts are unpredictable," Liu Jinghui, originally there waiting for evidence, said at this moment: "Residents might be unaware of the situation, and upon seeing our extensive search, might turn to some resident for help or something..." Tao Lu looked sharply at Liu Jinghui, "You think the residents are still involved?" "We¡¯re discussing a possibility," Liu Jinghui smiled. "This case involves so many people. Frankly, anything can happen. Since the victim is a foreigner, we find it hard to investigate her rtionships and don¡¯t know if there were any deadly economic dealings, which means we don¡¯t know why she died. But..." Liu Jinghui paused out of habit after saying "but," then continued after two seconds, "Actually, the way the murderer posed the victim in a state of sexual asphyxiation suggests the murderer was likely familiar with Matina, and those familiar with Matina might somehow be linked to the residents here. Hence, even if a resident has been excluded as a suspect, we should treat all residents as suspects." "You¡¯re not entirely wrong..." Tao Lu pointed at Liu Jinghui with his hand. No one delved further into the topic, but Tao Lu arranged things ording to Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui¡¯s requests. For the police, the suspect or witness or involved groups representplex dynamics. Tao Lu felt Liu Jinghui was still trapped in an "Eastern Train" murder case mindset, presuming there¡¯s a possibility of everyone in the apartment being guilty, or many being involved. If such a scenario were to actually ur, it would be too terrifying. But Tao Lu must admit Liu Jinghui¡¯s conjecture held some weight. Many times, individuals like Matina, with wide fame and many friends, also increase enemies in corners. Lust leading to murder isn¡¯t unusual. Moreover, it is already known that two residents in the apartmentplex had affairs with Matina. It implies she was a popr yet envied member within the entire apartment. In such an environment, the killer entering the apartment could have an aplice or could capitalize on some resident¡¯s psychology, or even get unexpected help from a resident¡ª"Helping the righteous while the unrighteous is isted" might not be entirely suitable, but to police, many murder cases do happen this way: surrounding people intentionally or unintentionally aiding and indulging, surrounding people¡¯s intentional or unintentional coldness and leniency... Due to recent events, there weren¡¯t many residents in Avi¡¯s Apartment to begin with. Though there were some arguments during clearance, with assistance from Avi Airlines and embassy staff, the clearance was quicklypleted. At this point, Jiang Yuan began inspecting the surroundings outside the apartment. When he did this, not only the residents but even some journalists waiting outside noticed the change. The journalists stationed outside Avi¡¯s Apartment included several Chinese reporters, but mostly foreign reporters. A journalist from Yibenli quickly charged over, holding a microphone and asking, "Does the police believe the murderer entered Avi¡¯s Apartment from outside?" For them, a murdermitted by one of their own and onemitted by an outsider are evidently two different concepts. The officers present naturally did not answer the reporter¡¯s question, simply pushing them further away. Jiang Yuan had previously circled the courtyard wall but found no obvious traces. This time, circling around again, he found several dubious signs, but could not be sure. The wall is too short, and its material doesn¡¯t easily hold marks. Over a few days, Beijing¡¯s dust has begun to obscure the evidence. Jiang Yuan had to exert a lot of effort to carefully discern these points and only stood up after looking for quite a while. "How is it?" Cui Qishan asked impatiently. "It¡¯s indeed a climbing point," Jiang Yuan nodded, then slowly said, "There¡¯s evidence someone entered through climbing... Bring the lift in." To examine the exterior wall traces, it was naturally necessary to observe closely against the wall. At this point, tools like lifts and cranes were needed. Previously, this wasn¡¯t done because the operation was too conspicuous. However, for an already established task force, as long as there is a definite direction, using some equipment bes a minor matter. Chapter 1297 - 1223: No Motive

Chapter 1297: Chapter 1223: No Motive

Beep beep... The lift, modified from a pickup truck, buzzed as it raised Jiang Yuan to the height of the sixth floor, allowing him to inspect the exterior wall. In a county or prefecture city, the police would typically borrow a fire truck from the fire department. But in a well-off bureau like the Beijing Bureau, they have professional lifts. The characteristic is that the vehicle can be custom-painted. Jiang Yuan was hoisted by the lift, descending slowly from the top floor, apanied by Cui Qishan and Xiao Si, who were there to assist. As the lift tirelessly hummed, Xiao Si couldn¡¯t help but say, "Why did we always rappel down before?" "Because borrowing a truck from the municipal bureau is too much trouble," Cui Qishan replied matter-of-factly, then looked at Xiao Si¡¯s annoyed expression and added, "If you¡¯re not happy, you could borrow it next time." "They hang up on me," Xiao Si pouted, "If I had the title of a senior officer or something, I would¡¯ve borrowed the truck long ago." Cui Qishan stared at Xiao Si with a high-and-mighty gaze, "Are you saying my position as a senior officer is useless?" Xiao Si said, "It¡¯s not the first time I¡¯ve said this, of course, maybe my wording isn¡¯t as sophisticated as yours." "Oh, now you know how to use respectfulnguage?" Cui Qishan raised his hand only to lower it again, saying, "I won¡¯t p you, we¡¯re up so high, we¡¯d be aughing stock down there." "Doesn¡¯t matter," Xiao Si¡¯s tone carried a hint of insouciance, "We¡¯ve been the subject of ridicule for a long time." "On to the next," Jiang Yuan interrupted their bickering. It was only then that Cui Qishan realized the lift had already returned to the truck, and as the vehicle moved to a new position, they were lifted again. Jiang Yuan looked at the wall, asionally ncing around, especially at the greenery and the street outside. "Rappelling would be faster," Jiang Yuan remarked as he studied the slowly changing wall, feeling a bit bored. A wall with no traces is like a fake antique; a quick nce tells you it¡¯s of no interest, but the lift¡¯s speed meant most time was spent waiting. However, it was also necessary to observe the greenery and the road beyond. Investigating a crime scene is partly about analyzing the criminal¡¯s psychology, guessing their path to better focus on key areas during the investigation. This method develops to the highest point, which is crime scene reenactment, directly simting the perpetrator¡¯s activities in a given space. Of course, this mode demands high standards of evidence, which is considered an advanced skill of Bloodstain Analysis because only arge amount of blood can provide so many footprints, fingerprints, handprints, tool marks, and other scene clues. Cui Qishan didn¡¯t understand Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts but respected him: "Rappelling is strenuous, and doing it for long is tough for most people." Xiao Si sneered beside him, muttering to himself in a voice only Cui Qishan could hear, "So we¡¯re not considered people." Cui Qishan actually had a high tolerance for Xiao Si; as long as he didn¡¯t affect others, he usually let him talk. As a detective, if you canmunicate with informants whose minds are muddled by drugs, mouthy colleagues are tolerable, especially since Xiao Si is useful. Cui Qishan turned his head and said, "Here, you take a camera with you, and don¡¯t just wait for Captain Jiang to find a trace. Take photos of all the walls we pass ording to the lift¡¯s descending speed. We¡¯ll sort and mark themter to aid Captain Jiang¡¯s follow-up search andparisons." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod. Although it wasn¡¯t very necessary, this meticulous attitude towards evidence was essential. Xiao Si, who initially only needed to stand by, suddenly had arge task. His face fell, but he obediently picked up the camera, muttering, "I didn¡¯t take pictures of the one and a half we passed earlier." "Then you rappel downter to take them," Cui Qishan offered a reasonable solution. Xiao Si turned green, "Even with a lift, you¡¯re not letting me use it? I¡¯ll wait for Captain Jiang to finish and then fill in." "Director Jiang¡¯s habits, you haven¡¯t memorized at all. After he finishes the investigation, he begins analyzing andparing immediately. By then, if you haven¡¯t got photos, will you use the lift to take them? Waste of time! I¡¯m getting someone ready with a rope. You¡¯ll rappel down to take the overlooked ones soon, and speed up the rappe; that way, you¡¯ll catch up with us." Cui Qishan arranged Xiao Si neatly and clearly. Jiang Yuan silently nodded in approval, and oddly enough, thought of Shen Yaowei, though Shen Yaowei was far more pleasant to listen to, albeit needing more practice in his work. The lift came down again and moved up, scanning the walls of Avi¡¯s Apartment. Journalists below craned their necks to watch, snapping photos asionally, but quickly sumbed to boredom too. Watching a crime scene investigation is quite dull. Some experienced people might have seen detectives working a scene, but to the untrained eye, it looks like they¡¯re preparing a room, touching around cluelessly. But to those in the know, who understand where the sensitive spots are, it often brings a knowing smile. "Stop." As the lift reached between the second and third floors, Cui Qishan finally heard what he wanted to hear. Jiang Yuan raised his hand to halt, which pretty much signified the case was cracked. Cui Qishan¡¯s stance shifted from attention to at ease. Unaware of Cui Qishan¡¯s thoughts, Jiang Yuan focused on the marks on the wall and began dusting powder. The marks on the walls were harder to preservepared to indoor traces, not very visible, especially on dry-hung stone. They were even harder to detect. Moreover, Jiang Yuan¡¯s currently favored multi-wavelength light source wasn¡¯t suitable for daytime use on a small lift. In the end, the traditional powder worked best. As the powder was sprinkled, faint scratches and wear became visible. As Xiaosi rushed to take photos, Jiang Yuan paid more attention to position, direction, and depth. This spot was above the second floor but below the third. Jiang Yuan only saw traces of hand and foot marks, no tool marks. Upon closer inspection, the traces before him were all downward, with no upward traces. This implies that the perpetrator either used another method to ascend or took two separate paths to go up and down. "Judging by the traces, the perpetrator descended from the top floor¡¯s terrace without using other windows," Jiang Yuan exined while taking notes. "No inside aplice in the apartment?" Cui Qishan asked. "This is the exit route, indicating that when he left, he exited the victim¡¯s home, reached the rooftop terrace, and climbed down, but how he got in remains to be seen," Jiang Yuan slightly shook his head. Cui Qishan frowned, "Why not just leave directly from Matina¡¯s ce? Climbing all the way to the terrace seems redundant." "Leaving from Matina¡¯s window would pass by other residents¡¯ windows, besides, this climbing route likely isn¡¯t easy. It¡¯s rather better to descend from the top along a wall with eaves... For someone skilled in rock climbing, descending six floors from a route like this should be quite straightforward." Jiang Yuan had pondered this question before, responding promptly. Cui Qishan raised his eyebrows, "The perpetrator is an expert at rock climbing?" "Most likely is. He did it freehand," Jiang Yuan finished examining the wall, then intentionally jumped off the lift to inspect the ground. "The ground is cleaned daily," Cui Qishan reminded quietly, "After the incident, outdoor cleaning in the apartment hasn¡¯t stopped. They have subcontracted it to a cleaningpany, and we only stopped them yesterday." "There¡¯s no trace on the ground, but there¡¯s an indentation on the nearbywn... The perpetrator climbed down from the second floor or more and jumped directly," Jiang Yuan stated his observation results without specting further. Xiao Si clicked his tongue, "Jumping from four or five meters high? Isn¡¯t that painful?" Jiang Yuan wiped his hands and continued, "As it stands, our suspect is a rock climbing expert, freehand climbing. From the distances chosen for each climbing point, he has an arm span of over 1.9 meters, a tall stature. Moreover, the suspect has some anti-investigation skills, not only cleaning some traces in Matina¡¯s room but also on the terrace." After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he gestured for the lift to move forward. The apartment building¡¯s exterior hadn¡¯t been fully inspected, and the ascend route wasn¡¯t yet found. However, there weren¡¯t many areas left, so Jiang Yuan let Cui Qishan go and took Xiao Si and Wang Chuanxing around, not feeling rushed this time. Within three more ups and downs, Jiang Yuan found another ascending route, this time at the northwest corner of the building, still in the mode of freehand climbing. Upon seeing it, Jiang Yuan instantly understood the reasoning for two routes, as the needs for ascending and descending were different. The suspect clearly chose the easiest paths. Simr to the previous route, this one also led the suspect to climb to the terrace. With this conclusion, Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t wait to say, "The suspect lured someone to open the door? I have a suspect! Matina has an ex-boyfriend who works at a privatepany in Hu City, loves rock climbing, and frequently participates in various freehand climbing events!" "Prohibit entry, bring him back!" Tao Lu didn¡¯t even ask for motive; at this point, motive wasn¡¯t important! Chapter 1298 - 1224: Closing the Case

Chapter 1298: Chapter 1224: Closing the Case

When Matina¡¯s ex-boyfriend Marco was brought to the Criminal Police Brigade, he was only a little flustered. He had been in China for several years, knew what China¡¯s policies were like, and besides, this wasn¡¯t his first visit to a police station¡ªeven years weren¡¯t enough for him to understand the difference between a police station and the Criminal Police Brigade. Meng Chengbiao was in charge of interrogating Marco, apanied by a grassroots police officer who scored 110 on the TOEFL. As expected, despite understanding Chinese, Marco soon began exining how as a "pure American," he didn¡¯t understand the specialized Chinese terminology. At this point, the young grassroots officer beside him started tranting fluently in an American ent. Standing outside the interrogation room, looking through the one-way ss, Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help rolling his eyes: "The talent at the Beijing Bureau is truly exceptional, speaking English so fluently and as a second-level superintendent." "Graduating with a master¡¯s degree and directly bing a second-level superintendent isn¡¯t something we can control," Cui Qishan watched and turned to say, "However, generally, such talent can go to popr units, and even the First and Second Brigades are eager to have them at the Criminal Police Brigade." "Still quite useful," Liu Jinghui pouted. "Useful ones are few," Cui Qishan, the least experienced captain of the Fourth Brigade, mentioned, which is why the less desirable talents like Xiao Si were sent to him. It¡¯s normal toin when you can¡¯t have what you want. After a brief chat, something began to emerge from the interrogation room. Despite foreigners habitually iming the right to silence, few suspects truly manage it; if they could,wyers wouldn¡¯t have to warn their clients every time: "Don¡¯t say anything until I arrive." Although Marco had been in the navy and knew a bit about counter-reconnaissance, overall, he was still a young man with American arrogance and naivety. Without these traits, he wouldn¡¯t have chosen such an extreme and technically challenging way to express his emotions. Meng Chengbiao, a skilled interrogation expert, merely threatened him a bit and then lied that there would be a way out if he confessed, citing differences in nationality. Marco, though skeptical, gradually began to confess. When Marco, tears streaming, started describing his love and depicted Matina¡¯s death as an ident during intimacy, Cui Qishan burst intoughter. Meng Chengbiao waited until Marco finished exining how he rode his bike to Avi¡¯s Apartment overnight, chose a climbing route, knocked to enter Matina¡¯s room, and then left, before making him sign. Only then did he suddenly shout: "Matina was strangled to death, not from erotic asphyxiation!" Marco was, of course, unwilling to admit and repeatedly denied it. Even if he was somewhat naive, he knew that in China, murder could potentially lead to a death penalty. At this point, Meng Chengbiao wouldn¡¯t y along anymore; one piece of evidence after another was presented, the pressure was immense. He actually had time constraints, but Meng Chengbiao showed no sign of it, leaving Marco unaware of how much longer he needed to persist or how much time had actually passed. This is also a small technique in interrogation, akin to not putting a clock in a casino; the excitement of gambling makes it easy for one to lose track of time, feeling as if only a short period has passed when actually a long time has gone by. In contrast, suspects in interrogation feel threatened and tortured, making them exaggerate the passage of time. The only thing Marco could hope for was his foreign identity, but it was clear that as a mere small fry, he wouldn¡¯t receive immediate "rescue." "That¡¯s basically it," Liu Jinghui lost interest and turned to Jiang Yuandao, "The motive and method are clear, and we know his travel means and route. If we checkter, the surveince should reveal the time of the crime. What¡¯s left is finding the murder weapon and the clothes and shoes worn at the time... what¡¯s your take?" Jiang Yuan touched the one-way ss with his hand, saying, "This thing is quite good. Often saw it on television before." Liu Jinghui also touched it, "It certainly is good. They can¡¯t see us in the interrogation room, nor hear us speaking, but we can see them clearly, even if a leader wants to listen to the interrogation content, it¡¯s easy to show off." "Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreement. Beside them, Xiao Si quietly nudged Cui Qishan. Cui Qishan turned his head, gave Xiao Si a re, and mouthed quietly, "What does it have to do with us!" Xiao Si rolled his eyes at Cui Qishan and directly said, "Captain Jiang, could you help us with another case?" Cui Qishan was initially taken aback, then immediately realized it actually did concern him. From what he knew about Jiang Yuan, whenever Jiang Yuan came, he would solve a few more cases before leaving, albeit mostly Zhengguang Bureau cases, not necessarily all from the Fourth Brigade. Cui Qishan hurriedly added, "Captain Jiang, we do have a few interesting casestely." "Let¡¯s hear them," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate, asking directly. Cui Qishan blinked, a string of cases shing in his mind, momentarily hesitating on which one to discuss. Xiao Si chimed in, "I¡¯ve been working on a case recently with not much progress, a university girl went missing, and we still don¡¯t know where she went..." "How long has she been missing?" Jiang Yuan asked. "When the report was filed, it was two days; if we count now, it¡¯s almost been a week," Xiao Si said, adding, "We checked the surveince, and I even got an expert I¡¯m familiar with to look at it and only found her going to Jingshan on thest day. But at Jingshan¡¯s ticket office and entrance, no trace was found of her. However, we only went through the video once." With a single sentence, Xiao Si inadvertently exposed the various disadvantages of image investigation. Though surveince is excellent and AI can assist in viewing, it can still miss things when there are a lot of people. Plus, time is a factor; ces like ticket offices and tourist entrances withrge crowds need repeated viewing to confidently state someone hasn¡¯t passed through, which requires considerable time and manpower. As for ces like airports and train stations using gait and facial recognition systems for monitoring, it follows a "hit or miss" approach, not aiming to recognize everyone but to find suspects or potential criminals within recognizable individuals. There¡¯s no pressure to provide a definite "yes" or "no" answer, so the pressure is naturally much less. Jiang Yuan pondered, looking at Cui Qishan and Liu Jinghui. Missing persons cases are hard to define as the victim returning after a few days is not unheard of. However, seven days missing is quite long indeed... Cui Qishan naturally knew of this case and, seeing Xiao Si would already bring it up, continued, "This girl¡¯s disappearance does seem like a case. We checked at the school, and her study and life there were pretty normal, average grades, good rtions with roommates, and a cheerful and outgoing personality. She liked participating in various activities. Simr weekend hiking trips had happened several times before..." Cui Qishan: "The girl¡¯s parents are ordinary people, her father is a state-owned enterprise employee in Shanyuan Province, a technical position, earning around a hundred thousand a year. Her mother sells insurance and doesn¡¯t always make money, sometimes even incurring debts. Their previous generation exists in simr conditions. From what we simply know, there are no particrly acute conflicts." Indeed, cases specifically brought to attention by officers are often noteworthy. Especially detectives like Xiao Si, despite his foul mouth, his capabilities are undeniable. Working in the Criminal Police Brigade of the Beijing Division, he¡¯s among the higher-level detectives. Ordinary cases, not saying he can break them easily, he usually has an idea of whether he can solve them after going through them once. For a missing person case only seven days old to be brought to Jiang Yuan does suggest it has unexpected aspects. Jiang Yuan then looked at Liu Jinghui, saying, "Director Liu, could you follow up first? I¡¯ll talk to Commissioner Huangter." There are procedures for taking cases, especially in Beijing; rules must be strictly observed. Given Liu Jinghui¡¯s background from the provincial department and expertise in reasoning, he¡¯s an advanced inspector not responsible for leading teams, making him suitable for initial probing. Chapter 1299 - 1225: The Vanished Signal

Chapter 1299: Chapter 1225: The Vanished Signal

"We have many construction teams in Ningtai County, I¡¯ve never heard of having to add costs for installing equipment in Ningtai. Yourbor costs in Beijing are very high, but here in Ningtai County, one-third of the wage is enough... If technicians are needed, just send a few. Honestly, you¡¯re here to install one-way ss, not to produce it in Ningtai. If you want to add charges, we might as well hire someone else." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice carried a tone of righteousness and the reprimand typical of a client. The man on the other side, wearing a suit and carrying a Japanese-style leather bag, nodded and bowed, offering a cigarette: "Yes, yes... Well, if we could find suitable construction workers in Ningtai County, it would indeed mean no extra charges..." "Whether you find them or not, no extra charge. Spare me this talk, if you¡¯re unwilling, I will find someone willing to do it..." Huang Qiangmin straightforwardly interrupted the other party. "No... what I mean is..." The man hissed, lowered his voice further, and said, "Someone¡¯s paying the bill here. Since someone is footing the bill, why don¡¯t I do a better job for you at no extra cost? Isn¡¯t that the best?" "You¡¯ve heard something, but not much." Huang Qiangmin nced at the man with the Japanese leather bag: "We are the supporting units for Zhengguang Bureau. There is a total package amount over there with Zhengguang Bureau. Although you settle ounts with them, the settlement is still within this total budget, understand?" Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice lowered; once the price was agreed upon, he wasn¡¯t too concerned about the attitude. Knock, knock. Liu Jinghui knocked on the door and walked in at that moment. "Alright, if you can sign the contract, hurry to Ningtai County. If not today, I will find someone else." With a word, Huang Qiangmin dismissed the man with the Japanese leather bag, then turned to ask Liu Jinghui, "So? Do you need Jiang Yuan?" "It might not be a homicide, but if we really want to solve it, using Jiang Yuan might be better." Liu Jinghui spoke thoughtfully. Huang Qiangmin scoffed: "What¡¯s ¡¯better,¡¯ either you handle this case alone, and I¡¯ll discuss with Tao about another case when I¡¯m back." "That¡¯s not going to work." Liu Jinghui decisively declined, "It¡¯s not that I can¡¯t handle this case independently, but if I¡¯m working on one case and Jiang Yuan¡¯s handling another, it wouldn¡¯t be synchronized well; the one who finishes first can¡¯t just wait around, right?" Huang Qiangmin looked Liu Jinghui up and down: "Don¡¯t you often wait around?" Liu Jinghui flushed: "That¡¯s called taking a break." "Alright then, do you want to work on this case with Jiang Yuan? Or switch to a different case?" Huang Qiangmin pressed. Liu Jinghui hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Let¡¯s stick with this. If it turns out to be a missing person case, bringing someone back is a good thing, even more valuable than solving a murder." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s eyes flickered, then he just nodded: "I¡¯ll talk to Jiang Yuan." With 30 years as a criminal investigator and 20 years as a detective squad leader, having seen many tragic events, Huang Qiangmin quickly picked up the phone, called Tao Lu, and changed his expression, saying: "Tao, about the missing college student on your end, we¡¯ll take over. I¡¯ve also finalized the interrogation room renovation with the contractor, just wanted to say thank you..." ... In the meeting room. When Xiao Si came over with a thin stack of files, the members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were nearly all present, with the table full of milk tea, and several familiar detectives were earnestly munching on duck necks. "Captain Jiang." Xiao Si found the main party, put down the files, and said, "The information collected so far isn¡¯t much. We paused a couple of days ago, and now there are no strong leads." The pause was naturally because of the previous case at Avi¡¯s Apartment. This was also a drawback of the special task force; Jiang Yuan and others initially nned to solve this on a smaller scale, but unable to solve it, they had to expand the task force. Involvement in special cases naturally meant postponing other cases piling up on the officers¡¯ hands. Tang Jia stepped forward to take the documents and spoke on behalf: "What was your previous thought process? Is it feasible to continue?" "Initially, I checked the surveince but found nothing. Then I tried contacting the victim¡¯s phone, investigated with the school and students, talked to the victim¡¯s family, andstly checked the victim¡¯s WeChat andmonly used apps¡ªall not logged in¡ªthis is basically as far as it got." Xiao Si described what was done, neither adding nor omitting anything. This case was handed over, and Xiao Si was the officer responsible for proving it a genuine case before more resources could follow up. To some extent, Jiang Yuan was reckoned as an additional resource that Xiao Si secured for himself. "Thest confirmed location by surveince was near Jin Mountain?" Jiang Yuan flipped through the file, which only had a few sheets and finished them quickly. Xiao Si responded: "The victim first took the subway, then rode a shared bike to the foot of the mountain. There are few cameras around there, and we¡¯ve lost track of her since." "When did the phone signal disappear?" Liu Jinghui sat next to Jiang Yuan. "Four hours after the victim left the subway station," Xiao Si said. "That¡¯s quite a while." Liu Jinghui exhaled a breath and said: "It suggests the case might have developed gradually and not in a highly violent manner. This is good, indicating a higher survival probability for the victim¡ªnot an immediate fatal incident. Or could it be a traffic ident? Have you investigated from that angle?" "I asked the traffic police. No dispatch records for that area on that day; they couldn¡¯t offer more." Xiao Si replied swiftly, with a hint of recall. Liu Jinghui hesitated, then continued: "The phone is a crucial clue. Have you searched the location where the phone signal disappeared?" "I went there once. It¡¯s by the roadside at the foot of the mountain, still a distance from Jin Mountain¡¯s entrance. There¡¯s a mountain path nearby, not easy to walk; we went up a bit, but found nothing significant." "You¡¯ve investigated very thoroughly." Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help butpliment. This was also part of his field experience; a few kind words always help. Sure enough, Xiao Si smiled and sat down. After pondering for a moment, Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan, saying: "As it stands, surveince remains the most crucial part, from the point the victim left the subway to the phone signal disappearance, as close as possible." "I¡¯ll give it a try. See how far we can investigate." Jiang Yuan had already seen the local surveinceyout; the area leaving the subway station had the most coverage, but it dwindled on the way to Jin Mountain, with more cameras before Jin Mountain¡¯s gate. Such distribution is decidedly unfriendly for Image Investigation. Moreover, for this case handled by Xiao Si, evidently, not many resources were dedicated to Image Investigation. Forget about examining all four hours of footage; the surveince collection step was likely iplete. Learning from the previous case experience, handling smaller cases doesn¡¯t necessarily mean less difficulty thanrger ones; Jiang Yuan resolutely said, "I¡¯ll first take people to the scene to check, then gather surveince footage and review it?" "Okay." Liu Jinghui originally intended for Jiang Yuan to deliver a ¡¯giant dragon breath¡¯ as ground-clearing measure. Only with scorched earth can one detect where the issues lie. Having made a decision, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t dy further, gathered three cars of people, and headed to Jin Mountain. Xiao Si, Cui Qishan, and others followed in another car. The convoy sped down the road, lights shing quickly. Once at the location, without needing Jiang Yuan¡¯s instruction, Wang Chuanxing and others directed each team to line things up and take photos as per protocol, then went searching the surroundings to record all kinds of cameras. Jiang Yuan, referring to the previously organized information, rented a shared bike at the subway entrance, following the missing girl¡¯s route on a ride. Thest image left by the missing girl was at a crossroad two kilometers out of the subway station, moving further east. At this time, under the scorching sun, there were only a few small shops around. Along the way were Jin Mountain Electromechanical Parts Company, Changxing Pipe Industry Co., Ltd., Zhengke Cab Company, and Miaomiao Decoration Co., Ltd... Someone had already gone into thepanies along the route to gather surveince footage. Should the missing girl be captured, perhaps new clues could emerge. As Jiang Yuan rode and observed, he reached the main entrance of Jin Mountain at a slower speed, checking the time; it had only taken 20 minutes. Xiao Si, responsible for driving, kept marveling: "It has to be Ningtai Jiangyuan¡¯s touch. Three cars just to survey the scene¡ªit truly looks like they can crack the case. When will we..." "Four cars." Cui Qishan, aware of Xiao Si¡¯s offbeat mouth, ignored his words. Xiao Si, interrupted in mid-output, furrowed his eyebrows: "Right, counting our four cars, you said we are..." "Including us, that¡¯s five." Cui Qishan continued interrupting: "There¡¯s also a survey vehicle from the technical center." "Cui Da..." Xiao Si¡¯s voice turned warmer: "Your math is excellent. If we were to talk numbers, after this case is resolved, I have..." Chapter 1300 - 1226: Traces

Chapter 1300: Chapter 1226: Traces

"Officer Xiao, Officer Xiao..." A group returned to the Criminal Police Brigade, and a couple rose in the lobby, loudly calling out for Xiao Si. Cui Qishan¡¯s face darkened, whispering, "Are they the victim¡¯s family? Why aren¡¯t they taken to the interview room?" "Let me talk to them." Xiao Si was ustomed to scolding, stepped forward and stopped the couple, saying, "You can call me if you have something, let¡¯s go inside, there are too many people here, it affects others." However, the couple did not move, the woman grasped Xiao Si¡¯s hand and said, "Officer Xiao, we heard that a very capable detective took my daughter¡¯s case, is that true?" Xiao Si hesitated for a moment and asked back, "Where do you get such news day after day?" The man opposite stepped forward, grabbed Xiao Si¡¯s other hand, and said, "A friend took pity on me and sent any information and clues I have... Officer Xiao, I worked my entire life, don¡¯t have much skill, but I am the backbone of the factory¡¯s business, participated and organized many technical challenges, maybe not as good as many colleagues, but I used to work ny-nine-six, even slept on an army cot, pulling all-nighters at the factory, I responded to the state¡¯s call and had a child... my daughter just grew up, said she went missing and is missing... Officer Xiao, Officer Xiao..." He apparently had a lot to say, but as he spoke, he choked up and couldn¡¯t say anything further. Xiao Si sighed softly, "I understand, we are also trying to find her." "Officer Xiao, I want to see that very capable Officer Jiang." The woman tightened Xiao Si¡¯s hand, saying, "We mean no harm, we just want to tell him about our daughter, our daughter is very lively, she absolutely couldn¡¯t have run away secretly, nor possiblymitted suicide secretly... and couldn¡¯t have eloped with someone, I often talk with my daughter, often tell her if she has a boyfriend just tell me, any kind doesn¡¯t matter, she called me the day before she disappeared, she must have been taken by someone, that¡¯s why she¡¯s missing..." Upon hearing this, Xiao Si knew someone must have pointed them in the right direction. In cases of this kind of disappearance, the police¡¯s biggest fear is that after mobilizing forces, they find out the victim was just ying games. Outsiders might think it doesn¡¯t matter as long as the person is fine, but the police leadership wouldn¡¯t think so, at the very least they would determine the detective¡¯s professional skills are subpar if they can¡¯t distinguish between real and fake cases. The victim¡¯s mother expressed that the case was real. Of course, Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement was actually confirming that the case was real, from another aspect, it showed that the couple¡¯s information sources weren¡¯t within the task force. Without being in the task force, Xiao Si didn¡¯t care; since ancient times, Beijing¡¯s matters cannot be examined deeply. "Come on, I¡¯ll take you to the interview room and tell you in detail." Xiao Si surely couldn¡¯t talk to them in the lobby. But the two looked behind Xiao Si. When the group entered, Xiao Si was at the tail with the status of Little Karami, while the person at the front was most likely the leader. The victim¡¯s mother watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s height carefully, suddenly released Xiao Si¡¯s hand, and ran towards Jiang Yuan. Xiao Si tried to stop them but was pulled by the victim¡¯s father, and then saw the victim¡¯s mother kneeling before Jiang Yuan without hesitation. "Officer Jiang. My daughter is really missing!" The victim¡¯s mother grabbed Jiang Yuan¡¯s pants and started crying, the first couple of cries were forced, but soon, tears were uncontroble and poured out. A single daughter missing for over a week, life and death unknown, the police¡¯s feedback is ambiguous, and surrounding rtives and friends only provide vague information, this feeling of powerlessness, sorrow, and fear had long crushed this woman. Grabbing Jiang Yuan¡¯s pants now was like clutching at a lifeline, all emotions released, crying uncontrobly. At this time, the passing officers in the lobby unconsciously looked over. Cui Qishan worriedly stepped forward and said, "Director..." He didn¡¯t call Jiang Yuan by hisst name, thinking to first lead the victim¡¯s family away. Being detectives for a long time often leads to reluctance in interacting with victims¡¯ families, emotionally speaking, the victim¡¯s negative emotions are too strong, easily overwhelming the detectives¡¯ defenses. From a practical viewpoint, the expected results for the victims may not be achievable, possibly implicating the detectives themselves. Jiang Yuan was well protected by Huang Qiangmin and others, seldom encountering such situations. At the moment, he sighed deeply, helped the victim¡¯s mother up, and said, "We have already set up a task force and formally investigated Yan Meixuan¡¯s disappearance." Yan Meixuan¡¯s mother¡¯s crying immediately stopped, hesitated a bit, and said, "Found... any clues?" "We are still investigating. The currently discovered content can¡¯t be disclosed to you..." Jiang Yuan patted the victim¡¯s mother¡¯s hand, then turned to Tang Jia and said, "Take the two to the interview room to rest, make a transcript, ask about Yan Meixuan¡¯s situation, and record any clues and evidence they have." The victim¡¯s father hurried over at this point, saying, "Jiang... Director Jiang, we want to personally tell you." "Well... okay." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t oppose. He grew up receiving meals from various families, seeing the victim¡¯s mother crying like this, his heart could not help but feel. The Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s interview room consisted of a coffee table, a sofa set, and two armchairs, much like theyout of many people¡¯s living rooms. This was the implicit aspect of the interview room to make the interviewee¡¯s mood more rxed, allowing the interview to proceed. This was entirely different from the strict atmosphere of an interrogation room. Jiang Yuan poured water for the victim¡¯s parents and then spoke a few words about the current situation, picking what could be said. There was actually little that could be told, but upon confirming Jiang Yuan had officially started investigating the case, the victim¡¯s parents became excited. Jiang Yuan quickly shifted the conversation, starting to ask about their knowledge of the situation. Yan Meixuan¡¯s parents naturally held nothing back. Wang Chuanxing had to frequently check his watch to remind the two to save time. After a long time, Yan Meixuan¡¯s parents reluctantly left. Jiang Yuan rubbed his face, standing up and said, "Let¡¯s go back to watch the surveince." Watching it led to nighttime. When Jiang Yuan¡¯s gaze finally left the screen, there were few people left in the conference room. Liu Jinghui and Cui Qishan were still there. Liu Jinghui first said, "I let Wei Shikan and the others go rest first, call them back over when there¡¯s work to be done." Without clues, there is no direction for investigation, most of the Cold Case Squad officers have no tasks. Jiang Yuan nodded, saying, "Wake up Shen Yaowei, call a few more people, and have them collect some surveince videos tonight. I want to visit the scene again." Jiang Yuan said this while drawing a few areas on the map. Liu Jinghui looked and saw Jiang Yuan¡¯s drawn circles perfectly epassed the location where the victim disappeared and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Are you worried about overlooking something? Currently, it seems the probability of the victim leaving on her own is very low... Hey, you¡¯re not thinking of checking all passing vehicles, are you? That workload is too huge, the traffic flow in Beijing..." "You said if the victim didn¡¯t leave on her own, was she held captive, or is she dead?" Jiang Yuan suddenly asked. Liu Jinghui frowned slightly, "If speaking about motive, the victim¡¯s family is ordinary, and didn¡¯t offend anyone, so the possibility of being murdered is low. On the contrary, idental or encountering robbery and rape is more likely." "After robbery or rape, people wouldn¡¯t go missing unless they died identally..." Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui¡¯s three options all ultimately pointed in the same direction. Jiang Yuan then asked, "Do you think the victim is dead?" "Dying isn¡¯t necessarily worse than living." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t give a direct answer, turned his head, and asked again, "Did you not see the person after looking so long?" "No." "Then it¡¯s likely she¡¯s dead." Liu Jinghui shook his head. "I n to check the scene once more, and tomorrow morning use dogs to sniff it over." Jiang Yuan had already considered. Liu Jinghui was slightly surprised, reminded, "If she¡¯s dead, the body might have been transported away. There¡¯s also the possibility of being taken away alive..." "I just checked within the area, the locations where surveince is installed conducive for violent crimes are actually small. On both sides of the road, to prevent tourists from climbing the mountain, there are barriers, straight roads see substantial traffic, many ces can be seen from afar, whether it¡¯s robbery, rape, or kidnapping, there are just those few ces that can hide." Jiang Yuan said here, already starting to circle spots on the map in another color, and said, "Ambush leaves traces, crimes of passion easily reveal the first crime scene. I will walk through the scene again to see if I can find any clues." Chapter 1301 - 1227: Stay

Chapter 1301: Chapter 1227: Stay

The night at Jin Mountain was like a steamed bun wed by a ck hand, with shes of light like the bruises on the bun, somewhat bright but not enough, resembling a matte finish. The road at the foot of Jin Mountain had been renovated several times. Upon close inspection, remnants of the old road could still be seen, especially at a few spots where the road was straightened, looking like ideal ces for an ambush. Jiang Yuan had someone bring an electric bike over. He would ride for a while and then get off to take a look, asionally instructing Wang Chuanxing to take notes. Liu Jinghui rode another electric bike behind, yawning incessantly, forcing Cui Qishan beside him to keep ncing at him to prevent him from falling asleep. At another major bend, Jiang Yuan parked and dismounted, shining a shlight to see something resembling garments stuffed in the drainage ditch beside the road. A Criminal Science technician hurriedly stepped forward, using a hook to pull the trash out, only to find several dirty stic bags. "Probably not it," Jiang Yuan waved his hand dismissing the find. It¡¯s a situation detectives often encounter at the crime scene. In ordinary people¡¯s imagination, a crime scene is a ce where every detail of evidence is collected. However, in reality, only the most probable evidence is gathered. Therefore, a suspect who hasn¡¯t been caught in ordinary cases has not necessarily avoided mistakes a hundred times; he might have made thirty or forty mistakes, but the detective¡¯s b" just missed them for various reasons. Some suspects get arrogant, thinking they¡¯ve mastered some extraordinary criminal skills, leading them to repeat their crimes, escte their offense, and challenge the police. At this stage, the police¡¯s b" bes more meticulous, and unless extremely lucky, the suspect usually gets caught. Hence, when some cold cases revisit the original crime scene and evidence is found, it¡¯s not solely the initial detective¡¯s fault; the stakes increased, the task force¡¯s level was raised, and thus theb became finer. However, even Jiang Yuan¡¯s current task force can¡¯t just throw every piece of garbage into theb. Evidence refinement is boundless. Trash bags can be dissolved for liquid chromatography, shredded for 100 sets of liquid chromatography tests, or swabbed for trace analysis. Still, useless items remain useless. Jiang Yuan crossed the drainage ditch, walking into the bend. Arger buffer zone had been set up here, meaning whether one was driving or cycling, only the turn was visible, while the depth of the buffer zone was not. If one were to hide someone, this would be a decent waiting spot. Two Criminal Science technicians lifted argemp at the scene, illuminating the buffer zone brightly. Jiang Yuan carefully examined the ground. The ground was leveled, but soft and dusty. Without intentional sweeping, footprints would be discernible. Even if intentionally cleaned a week ago, Jiang Yuan¡¯s keen senses could still detect footprints. "Is there anything?" Liu Jinghui got off and walked a few steps, feeling more awake now, speaking only half sentences, knowing Jiang Yuan would understand him. Jiang Yuan straightened up and said, "There are footprints, but they don¡¯t match the timeline; they¡¯re old tracks. Collect them anyway." Jiang Yuan signaled, calling others over to collect several footprints almost buried by dust. "Not here?" Liu Jinghui asked. "Probably not," Jiang Yuan shook his head. Liu Jinghui pondered for a few seconds, "You¡¯re inspecting the scene based on a theory: the victim came from the subway station, rode a shared bike here, encountered something or someone, and then vanished. If the case didn¡¯t follow your theory, you wouldn¡¯t find traces here. Actually, even if it did, you might still not locate the scene, right?" "Yeah," Jiang Yuan agreed. Assuming only a minor collision, or even no collision, if someone parked roadside, stopped the victim, then tricked or abducted them into the car, a weekter, it would be hard to find clues this way. Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s acknowledgment, Liu Jinghui got even more enthusiastic and continued analyzing, "Maybe searching for the means of transport is more effective than investigating this uncertain scene. If the victim disappeared, unless she ran away herself, the suspect had to have a vehicle to take her away, right?" Xiao Si, listening at the back, suddenly had an idea, "Disguise?" "Possibly," Liu Jinghui sighed, "but that¡¯s too far-fetched." "As for vehicles, there are too many," Jiang Yuan had, of course, thought of this approach too. In fact, in previous cases, they asionally solved them by tracing vehicles. However, tracing vehicles often requires a vehicle checkpoint to cooperate, meaning a car passes, and the surveince snaps a photo. Specifically designed roads for surveince maintain adequate lighting to capture the whole car, especially a clear shot of the license te and the driver and passenger¡¯s faces. Without vehicle checkpoints, the workload of tracing vehicles multiplies significantly, and it¡¯s easier to miss details or get unclear shots. Capturing clear images of the driver and passenger¡¯s face is even harder; surveince rity can¡¯t surpass that of checkpoint photos due to storage limitations. Being located in Beijing, finding vehicle checkpoints should be doable for Jin Mountain. But the further away, the more iing traffic, most of which might not have passed the scene, thus resulting in a lot of wasted effort. Yet, even so, using distant vehicle checkpoints to trace is still less work than using several high-resolution cameras to do the same. In the end, regardless of the method, the workload is overwhelming. Vehicle checkpoints are on main roads, and Beijing¡¯s traffic is enormous. If you¡¯re just checking a single license te, that¡¯s quick. But aimless searching? That¡¯s an endless task. Liu Jinghui, however, wasn¡¯t speaking carelessly; he pondered, "Here¡¯s what I think, regardless of the suspect¡¯s n or motive, the time he lingered in this area might be unusually long." When Liu Jinghui starts using his brain, there¡¯s a light in his eyes¡ªthe light from the explorationmps nearby. He counted on his fingers, "The victim rode from the subway to here, passing nearby streets, that business district, entering the mountain, and finally reaching Jin Mountain¡¯s gate, totaling about four kilometers. Normally, we could bike it in twenty to thirty minutes. How long for a vehicle?" Giving his judgment, Liu Jinghui said, "Normally, I would think a car would cover this segment in about 5 minutes. Of course, to pinpoint vehicle checkpoints, we¡¯re unsure of their stops; however, if we time the passing duration, can¡¯t the background software calcte? List the overtime vehicles as suspects, how about it?" "There¡¯s no checkpoint at the subway station or Jin Mountain; we can only check before and after. Cars just passing through can be filtered out fastest. However, some cars visit Jin Mountain for leisure; others belong to employees between enterprises. There are many local residents, variousmunities, and self-built houses nearby, where cars might enter and park..." "Filter through the parking lot data near Jin Mountain. For local residents, well, actually, these residents could be suspects..." Liu Jinghui paused as he spoke. Theft cases are often conducted farther away, but not necessarily homicide cases. From the subway to Jin Mountain, several turn-off entrances lead into rows of buildings. Though the residential rate here isn¡¯t high, with many houses possibly vacant, plenty of dwellers remain. Given the subway¡¯s avability and the suburb¡¯s affordability, some residential buildings even have group leasing. Thus, many people reside within this few kilometers range. If the suspect lives in this area,mitted the crime here, and drove home from a side road, previous investigations could be entirely in vain. "Wait for the dogs and see," Jiang Yuan shook his head, then said, "Continue inspecting the scene." Predictions and probability mean nothing in real cases. Some searches may return fruitless, but these failed investigations help narrow the search scope step by step. Chapter 1302 - 1228: Searching for the Corpse

Chapter 1302: Chapter 1228: Searching for the Corpse

Investigating until midnight, Jiang Yuan had only finished examining the scene he suspected, but there was still a long way to go before he could sweep the entire road section. At this time, everyone in the four cars was exhausted. The people like Mu Zhiyang responsible for security were a bit better off, while the forensics technicians who came with the investigation car had to constantly carry variousmps and instruments back and forth, utterly fatigued. Cui Qishan and Xiao Si, who were thinking things over, Liu Jinghui also exhausted his brain to the limit. "Alright. Let¡¯s take a break." Jiang Yuan waved his big hand, announcing the dismissal. "Okay. Let¡¯s rest first and then think it through again." Liu Jinghui breathed a sigh of relief. He was in his forties, a time when he could have been contributing to society for ten years if in a privatepany. Staying upte like this, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore. Everyone cheered, "Long live," and began packing up. Xiao Si popped out and said, "Aren¡¯t we waiting for the dogs?" The group of detectives who were packing up all froze. Cui Qishan pulled Xiao Si with a frustration for hisck of thoughtfulness: "Can¡¯t you give it a rest? Director Jiang has already given the orders, what are you suggesting here? With so many people, do you have to stand out?" He was also worried that Xiao Si would draw everyone¡¯s ire. But Xiao Si wasn¡¯t afraid. Being used to being in the minority, he calmly said, "The scene has been like this for so many days. The time window for using the dogs is getting shorter. In two more hours, it¡¯s going to be daylight, and then the police dogs shoulde over. Once it¡¯s rush hour, cars will pass by, and with the exhaust fumes, no dog will be able to track anything." Normal police dogs have no problem sniffing out scents within a few days, and if it¡¯s indoors, they can even detect scents from a few weeks ago. The conditions in the mountains can¡¯t bepared to indoors, whether or not the dogs can detect the victim¡¯s scent depends on various factors, including the dog¡¯s abilities and the temperature and humidity in recent days. The time is definitely less than indoors, but how much less is uncertain. In short, since they¡¯ve decided to use the police dogs, they need to act as quickly as possible. All the detectives on the scene understood what Xiao Si meant, so even though they all looked dead tired, a few of them reluctantly slowed down their steps. Working continuously for 24 hours is a routine in the detective squad. "Alright, everyone else can rest first. I¡¯ll wait here," Jiang Yuan waved his hand and then called out: "Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming stay with me, we¡¯ll handle the night here." "Okay." Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming stayed close by Jiang Yuan, wearing bulletproof vests, making sure not to leave Jiang Yuan alone in the wilderness. "I¡¯ll stay too," Xiao Si, knowing the principle of the minority getting beaten up, offered. Cui Qishan cursed in his heart but spoke as a middle-aged man: "This is our Fourth Squad¡¯s case, I¡¯ll stay too." "There¡¯s no need for you guys to stay, it¡¯s not necessary, we can just stay at a hotel in Jin Mountain," Jiang Yuan answered unexpectedly. Cui Qishan: "Just two hours..." Xiao Si: "A five-star hotel?" If detectives are out on assignment, they share a room, and the stipend wouldn¡¯t cover a five-star hotel in Beijing, let alone now when it¡¯s not really a trip. As for staying in a hotel just for two hours of rest, it¡¯s even less reasonable; the normal practice would be to get by in the car overnight. Keeping surveince for more than ten hours ismon; what can¡¯t be endured for two hours? But looking at Jiang Yuan across from them, Cui Qishan and Xiao Si were speechless again. "Then... should we leave then?" Cui Qishan felt like he wouldn¡¯t be of much use staying, but leaving didn¡¯t seem right either, so he gave Xiao Si a stern look. "Yes," Jiang Yuan noticed Cui Qishan¡¯s look and then said, "Shen Yaowei, you handle themunication with the local police dog squad, call me when they arrive." "Yes, sir!" Shen Yaowei stood at attention and saluted. Cui Qishan began to feel embarrassed again, quickly saying, "How about I stay, I¡¯m more familiar with the police dog team too." "Captain Cui, you should rest. I can easily contact members of the Cold Case Squad when necessary," Shen Yaowei, standing tall, earnestly persuaded Cui Qishan. Lately, many of his achievements had been overshadowed by the newly arrived Wei Shikan, so he didn¡¯t feel tired at all when given this opportunity to stand on his own. Cui Qishan carefully observed Shen Yaowei¡¯s expression, felt moved, then turned and said, "Alright, Xiao Si, you stay and apany Shen Yaowei, just in case the perpetrator returns to the crime scene, so you can have each other¡¯s back." "Yes." It was a direct order, and Xiao Si had no choice but toply. ... As dawn broke, the police dogpetition began, handlers raising their hands... Five police dogs sniffed the old clothes used by the victim, Yan Meixuan, for a long time, then began sniffing along the road apanied by their handlers. Jiang Yuan, having slept for less than two hours, forced himself to stay alert and said a word to the handlers from the police dog squad before following behind the dogs. The police dogs hadn¡¯t picked up a scent yet, and it was uncertain when they would, so they could only wait around. Jiang Yuan asionally looked around, hoping to catch something visible in the daylight that he had missed in the dark, but to no avail. In truth, nothing was picked up. Two hourster, the five police dogs returned with no results, and the team leader of the police dog squad could only helplesslye over, saying: "We need to rest first, there¡¯s no suspect scent in the area we¡¯ve searched so far." "Then take a break, let¡¯s find a ce by the road for breakfast," Jiang Yuan knew there was no rushing things, so he found a rest area he¡¯d seen earlier, where the group sat down to eat the pancakes Cui Qishan had bought. The pancakes were quite tasty, with crispy pastries inside, even paired with the somewhat nd soy milk, it was still eptable. Jiang Yuan, starving from the whole night, wolfed down one pancake, took another, and drank the remaining half cup of soy milk, then rose to look around, seeing that the police dogs hadn¡¯t finished eating yet. The traffic on the road, however, was increasing. Before noon, all the police dogs became listless. The effort of sniffing was a huge drain on the dogs, especially inplex areas. However, the resources of the Beijing Bureau were remarkable, and with Jiang Yuan leading the special task force, the team leader of the police dog squad redeployed five more police dogs and sent the previous ones back to rest. Jiang Yuan and the team didn¡¯t get the chance to rotate out, following the newly assigned police dogs to Jinshan Park, yet still found nothing. There were surveince cameras here already, having found nothing on the cameras, allowing the dogs to sniff again was unnecessary. "Director Jiang, we¡¯ve done all we can from the police dog squad; we couldn¡¯t be of help, my apologies," the team leader of the police dog squad sighed softly, not exactly relieved, but with a quiet exhale. "It¡¯s alright." Jiang Yuan waved it off. "Then we¡¯ll head back first." The team leader felt noticeably at ease, sensing that Ningtai Jiangyuan seemed easy to talk to. But Jiang Yuan shook his head, saying, "There¡¯s no need to rush." "Hmm?" "Help us eliminate one more possibility," Jiang Yuan looked at the recently arrived Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui, upon hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, understood what he was thinking, so he asked, "Howrge is the area you want to search?" "Assuming the perpetrator lives or works within the metro station to Jinshan Park range, sniff a radius of several kilometers," Jiang Yuan replied. The police dog squad leader¡¯s face turned green at the thought and quickly said, "A radius of several kilometers, it¡¯s toorge; it¡¯s not feasible to sniff it all." "We¡¯re not trying to track traces," Jiang Yuan paused and then said, "Search for a body." A professional cadaver dog has arge operational range, with well-trained dogs scanning over one square kilometer per hour on open terrain; difficult terrains might cut this in half, but the efficiency remains high, and the uracy is quite good. The police dog squad leader, understanding, said, "All the avable cadaver dogs, I¡¯ll have them dispatched here." After seeing Jiang Yuan nod. An hourter, two specialized police dog transport vehicles arrived. The squad leader, a Level 3 Police Supervisor, approached Jiang Yuan and others. "I¡¯ve brought every avable tracker dog that can be put into action immediately." Two more hourster, a report spread throughout the task force: a female body has been discovered. Chapter 1303 - 1229: Garbage Dump

Chapter 1303: Chapter 1229: Garbage Dump

"I¡¯ll take a nap." Jiang Yuan fastened his seatbelt as soon as he got into the car, and after speaking, he closed his eyes to rest. He didn¡¯t get much sleepst night, and crime scene investigation is a very mentally exhausting task. What¡¯s most important is that the sharpness of his mind directly determines the effectiveness of the investigation. A journey of a few kilometers, Jiang Yuan forced himself to sleep for a few minutes, and when he opened his eyes, he was faced with a chaotic garbage site. As he opened the door, a smell as rich as Japanese ramen and as foul as Swedish herring rushed into Jiang Yuan¡¯s nostrils. Jiang Yuan sighed lightly, got out of the car for a look, and immediately frowned deeply. This was a garbage transfer station the size of three or four basketball courts. It was surrounded by blue iron sheet barriers, with a t, hardened surface in the middle. A dirt road ran through the center, with piles of garbage on both sides stretching several meters, roughly six to seven meters wide and over one meter high. It was obvious that the outer waste piles were looser, indicating they were newly dumped and cleaned often, primarily consisting of household waste like fruits and vegetables, urban green waste like branches and leaves. Moving inward, the piles became harder, containing stic and various unidentified solid materials, as well as hollow bricks and cement blocks, which are construction waste... Green mesh cloth covered thetter half of the garbage, most likely for fly prevention or simr reasons, making it appear even filthier. At this moment, across the uneven garbage over a meter high, an area near the green mesh cloth was cordoned off with yellow tape, evidently marking where the body was, although it couldn¡¯t be seen from the road. A bulldozer and two garbage trucks were parked by the garbage piles, all ceasing operation; several sanitation workers were sitting at the entrance, smoking and taking notes. Shen Yaowei jogged over, wearing a mask and shoe covers, all dirty, and came up to Jiang Yuan, exuding a stench, and said, "Captain Jiang, the body is in here. It¡¯s already unrecognizable, hard to tell if it¡¯s male or female." From the victim¡¯s disappearance to now, it might have been eight or nine days, and in an environment like the garbage site, it¡¯s normal for the features to be unrecognizable. Jiang Yuan had anticipated this and sighed again, saying, "Were there any personal items? Have the clothes been checked?" "The lower body had jeans, the brand is unidentifiable. The top clothing is rotted, there¡¯s a bit of fiber visible from the back, but I didn¡¯t dare move it. No shoes. The victim, Yan Meixuan, was supposedly wearing Crocs, jeans, and a T-shirt outerwear that day, which basically matches upon calction." Shen Yaowei briefly described. "Didn¡¯t survive, huh." Liu Jinghui said from the back, then murmured, "Death brings peace." Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t seem to hear or pretended not to, continuing, "This garbage transfer station was builtst year, originally said to be temporary, but it hasn¡¯t been dismantled, with many surrounding residentsining. Currently, during the day, a sanitationpany leisurely hauls trash here, and at dawn, there are 11 garbage trucks from the district¡¯s sanitation departmenting to haul it away. "Send someone to the sanitationpany, make sure the personnel list is well-understood, every person verified and present, and no one is to leave." Jiang Yuan skillfully ordered. Since it¡¯s a temporary garbage transfer station, and with iron sheet barriers, it operates in a rtively independent state, which means the sanitationpany hauling the garbage and the unit transferring it have significant suspicion. He directed the order to Wang Chuanxing beside him, who answered immediately and started making phone calls. "Let¡¯s go in." Jiang Yuan called Liu Jinghui once more, and the two of them moved to the back of the car to change their gear. Huang Qiangmin specifically purchased aplete set of personal protective equipment for forensic doctors, which Jiang Yuan now always carries a few sets of, with varying degrees of protection. For a simple household theft investigation, it can be the basic set of headcap, gloves, shoe covers, and a mask: three sets, one shield. But for a mid-stage dposed body in a garbage pile, where the contamination level is at its peak, Jiang Yuan also took out the top-level personal protective equipment. The mask was reced with a 3M6800 full-face respirator, ck rubber sealing ring all around, with two round filter boxes attached below, and a transparent silicone face shield that covers the entire face, capable of filtering toxic gases, dust, and biological aerosols. As soon as you put it on, it instantly conjures up words like biological warrior. The gloves were Ansell¡¯s cut-resistant, nitrile material, but a gray high-density polyethyleneyer was added over the palms and fingertips, preventing sharp objects from cutting while maintaining tactile sensitivity, generally used during autopsy though Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t that meticulous with them. Furthermore, DuPont¡¯s protective suit and Honeywell¡¯s shoe covers are disposable, but these two items are actually the most visually distinct. The protective suit looks simr to a hazmat suit, something many are already very familiar with, while Honeywell¡¯s shoe covers appear more luxurious. Regr shoe covers are usually just stic bags, which many people are reluctant to discard after a single-use. Jiang Yuan used the liquid-resistant kind, to prevent seepage from the garbage from infiltrating the shoe, though many organizations might see this more suited for a pair of worn-out shoes and an extra frayed shoe cover. Liu Jinghui was equipped fully, while others nearby weren¡¯t as fortunate, most had only the basic three sets, one shield. Jiang Yuan climbed over the meter-high garbage, walked a few meters in, and saw the corpseid t facing upward. The body was directly exposed to air and sunlight, with the remaining skin having dried and hardened to a dark brown-ck color, stretched tight, resembling a hide turned into leather¡ªssic characteristics of mummification. If the leather-like appearance evokes a sense of pity, the other parts of the corpse hardly resemble a human at all. The ears were already missing, perhaps gnawed by rats or pecked by crows or simr birds. The eye sockets, too, had been hollowed by other animals or maggots, resulting in the so-called tissue cavitation; the mouth and nose were not spared either. The remaining skin on the face was preserved thanks to the leather-like appearance, though it was far from attractive. The skin was dehydrated, shrunken, with the bone structure clearly outlined, as if catering to some medical aesthetic demands. However, any cosmetic clinic daring enough to showcase such an image should expect to scare away ny-eight percent of its clients. Looking further down, the leather-like skin on the neck, pressed against the side of the garbage, revealed fine cracks, showing a dark greenwork of putrid veins underneath. Anotheryer had been gnawed by rats, exposing dposed neck bones resembling half-eaten duck necks. The clothing on the chest had rotted into tatters, making it impossible to determine its original appearance; the chest¡¯s state was simr to the head, sunken in the middle. The remaining parts were either gnawed or dried and hardened to a deep brown color, with a single nipple shrunk into a ck hard knot, resembling a ckcurrant raisin. However, the leather-like appearance on the abdomen was less severe, presenting a localized state of decay. Beneath the remaining skin, there was dark green, with putrid blisters on the surface seeping yellow-brown liquid; the exposed jagged muscle on the side of the waist was due to gnawing. In summary, the hideous appearance of mummification was almost unbearable, yetpared to the horror of giants, it felt somewhat less overwhelming. Jiang Yuan quickly nced from top to bottom, then looked at Liu Jinghui and said, "Female, age matches, death time matches... The exact time of death needs to be determined based on insects. Uh... Shen Yaowei, Miao Ruixiang, Wei Shikan, you threee over and help catch insects." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan activated the "Temporary +1" skill for "Crime Scene Investigation (Level 5)." For a forensic doctor, the most crucial tasks now were twofold: crime scene investigation and determination of the time of death. In situations where one must choose between the two, Jiang Yuan decided to postpone the determination of death time. A corpse over a week old poses a considerable difficulty for direct determination; using insects as an aid is most suitable. It¡¯s best to first conduct a crime scene investigation, and once the skill¡¯s cooldown is ready, it can be applied to determine the time of death. Jiang Yuan had already made up his mind; after calling a few experienced hands to catch insects, he began a basic surface examination of the corpse himself, to avoid losing any potential evidence once it is moved. Wei Shikan also arrived wearing a simr full-body protective suit as Jiang Yuan. Miao Ruixiang and Shen Yaowei didn¡¯t dare to use the "forensic doctor exclusive" gear prepared by Huang Qiangmin, only adding moreyers of gloves and foot covers beforeing. Although Miao Ruixiang was a forensic doctor himself, he knew that Huang Qiangmin had simply forgotten about his presence when he mentioned "forensic doctor exclusive" that day. If he dared to use it, Huang might remember him until retirement. Buzz... As the three started their actions, various buzzing sounds began to hum around. They were the sounds made by necrophagous insects originally enjoying their peaceful life, now disturbed. Apart from the flies Jiang Yuan was extremely familiar with thanks to his Level 6 expertise in fly identification, there were burying beetles, which typically appear in the mid tote stages of decay, predatory beetles that feast on maggots, and carpet beetles often seen only in the dry stage of corpses. These are amon household pest, fond of burrowing into wardrobes and bookshelves, especially those with fur, leather, or hair. Jiang Yuan nced twice and, seeing Miao Ruixiang and others performing standard operations, turned back to begin instructing Mu Zhiyang to help gently flip the corpse for a thorough check. Soon, Tao Lu also arrived at the scene in a police car. "What¡¯s the situation?" Tao Lu asked for a conclusion upon arriving. Jiang Yuan replied, "Stabbed in the chest, cause of death not yet clear." "Any major blood loss? Any sexual assault?" Tao Lu hit the key points with a single question. The location was only a few kilometers from where the victim disappeared; if there was significant blood loss, searching for traces could be a breakthrough in solving the case. On the other hand, whether sexual assault urred could be used to deduce the killer¡¯s motive and greatly influence the case¡¯s direction. Jiang Yuan was unable to provide a decisive answer, replying, "I just examined the surface; further checks can only be performed in the autopsy roomter." Chapter 1304 - 1230: I Can Too

Chapter 1304: Chapter 1230: I Can Too

Jiang Yuan was at the scene, first checking the lower body of the corpse, then taking swabs from the vagina and rectum of the body, before returning with the corpse to the forensic center of the Beijing Bureau. Although it had been more than a week since the incident urred, the body was rtively dry and had developed a leathery appearance, which actually slows down DNA degradation. If luck was on their side, someplete DNA might still be retained, and a round of amplification in the machine might yield results. Alternatively, if the perpetrator was a pervert and did something like necrophilia, traces might be left behind. Of course, the likelihood of not finding anything was high, and it was more likely the perpetrator wore protection or something simr. Everyone, evenymen, understood these things, and naturally, the forensic doctor did too, but they bet on the chance of the perpetrator making a mistake. The worst thing would be if the perpetrator made a mistake and the police missed the chance! One hourter. The body bag was ced onto the autopsy table. "Just cut the bag open," Jiang Yuan said, having already changed out of the disposable protective clothing and shoe covers he wore at thendfill. He changed into a new set; in short, personal protection expenses alone today were several hundred yuan. Miao Ruixiang put ontex gloves, nitrile gloves, and cotton gloves all at once, then picked up scissors and started working vigorously. The body looked like a whole in thendfill, but when it was being transported out, the decayed muscles and skin could no longer provide support. Whether it was the gnawed, half-eaten neck vertebra resembling a duck neck, the already bitten-off limbs, or the abdomen decayed into something resembling fried liver, they each had to be ced into separate bags. "Liver, stomach, and pancreas are all gone, leaving mostly intestines," Miao Ruixiang carefully poured the remaining organs into a bucket. Xiao Si had been helping all along, and at this point was filthy. Watching Miao Ruixiang colleague straighten and pull at the remaining intestines, Xiao Si couldn¡¯t help butugh, "A battle of intestines, huh." "Go help," Cui Qishan said, following Xiao Si, knowing he had a sharp tongue and didn¡¯t expect him to speak recklessly. Xiao Si snorted and went to help Miao Ruixiang with the intestines. Jiang Yuan shifted his position and began prioritizing the examination of the thoracic cavity. The knife wound on the deceased had decayed into a cavity, but due to the surrounding decay, slight traces could still be seen. Jiang Yuan gently felt around for a while and found a cut on the rib where the knife had gone through. The evidential value here was greater than at the decayed muscle parts, proving it was a knife wound. Jiang Yuan simted the knife¡¯s entry path with a sidestep, then said, "It went directly into the heart. The uracy is okay, but the technique seems not very skilled." "Because it hit the rib?" Liu Jinghui stood a few steps away, wearing a mask and observing. Jiang Yuan acknowledged with a "hmm," and added, "The knife edge got notched, it¡¯s a bit risky. If they were professional, they wouldn¡¯t insert the knife like this. But for an amateur, it¡¯s not bad; they¡¯ve at least used a knife before." Liu Jinghui hummed in thought. Wei Shikan asked with some curiosity, "How would a professional insert a knife?" "Oh, they insert parallel to the rib, reducing the chance of touching it," Jiang Yuan exined with gestures, then continued, "Amateurs naturally grip the knife, whether stabbing from the front or from behind, they¡¯re usually inclined to keep the de vertical. The same was done by the perpetrator, but it managed to cut through, as evidenced by the state of the rib break. "I see... If stabbing parallel to the ribs, it might be hard to apply force with a regr grip. That¡¯s also the advantage of a reverse grip," Wei Shikan pondered, "Even professionals wouldn¡¯t always use a regr grip, right?" "No need to apply force," Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice was muffled, "The victim was likely controlled, in which case, if unsure, you could just feel along the rib with your hand and slowly deliver the knife, ensuring not to hit the rib. With better technique, it might even avoid causing excessive bleeding." "Did the victim not bleed much?" Liu Jinghui paid close attention to this. "Uncertain, based on the wound¡¯s position, if the heart is punctured, causing cardiac tamponade, ventricr fibrition, or a rapid shock from the aortic rupture, death could ur, with little external bleeding," Jiang Yuan did not borate on the many possibilities of massive bleeding. Massive bleeding itself could have been fatal, and thus was not provable anymore. The issue with a decayed corpse lies in such difficulties, yet it can provide substantial information. Jiang Yuan started from the head, dissecting downwards while extracting as many biological samples as possible. "Brain tissue liquefied, skull without fracture." "Deep area of the neck, hyoid bone intact, muscles without bleeding." "Lung tissue decayed, dark red color." Having enabled "Temporary +1" at the crime scene, forensic pathology couldn¡¯t be activated at this moment, but for the current corpse, Level 4 or Level 5 skills were more than sufficient, not needed at all. The autopsy progressed quickly, with few contentious issues. Jiang Yuan spent more time in the chest area to provide as urate a form of the murder weapon as possible: single-edged, over 12 centimeters. With this conclusion, as a forensic doctor, he had perfectly fulfilled his duty. But as a team leader, Jiang Yuan¡¯s work had just begun. "Has the garbage been brought back?" Jiang Yuan left the remaining work to Miao Ruixiang, moving over to the adjacent autopsy table. "The trash around the body has been brought back," Cui Qishan responded, "It¡¯s only because of you, under normal circumstances the forensic center wouldn¡¯t allow so much trash to be brought in." "It¡¯s all the same kind of smelly," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t even take his mask off, only slowly changed a pair of gloves. "What are we looking for?" Cui Qishan showed some anticipation. "I don¡¯t know," Jiang Yuan answered straightforwardly, "What would be the difference between things thrown in andfill by the perpetrator versus by residents?" "Uh..." Cui Qishan was a bit stumped by the question, muttering, "After the victim died, whether it was dumped together with some stuff... after exposure to wind, sun, insects and rodents, differentiating does be tricky." Jiang Yuan nodded, probing through a newly dumped bag of garbage on the dissection table. In front of himy various vegetable leaves, fruit peels, bones, paper, mineral water bottles, broken ss, cans, shredded woolen fabric, plush toys, along with batteries and expired medicines, bricks and wood scraps... While rummaging through, Jiang Yuan sorted the garbage into different categories. Level 4 waste ssification was quietly put into use. Cui Qishan tilted his head to watch, initially thinking Jiang Yuan was randomly cing different types of garbage, but quickly realized something else was at y. "What¡¯s the method behind your sorting?" Cui Qishan watched for a while before asking. "Based on the condition of the items," Jiang Yuan¡¯s reply partially coincided with what Cui Qishan had in mind, though he wasn¡¯t sure. Xiao Si gave a "hiss," "That¡¯s right, the items residents discard are mostly unwanted, categorized as waste. But for the perpetrator and the victim, the reasons for discarding aren¡¯t because something is broken or undesired. So among the items found near the body, those more intact and usable are the most likely ones discarded by the perpetrator." "That¡¯s what I mean." Jiang Yuan nodded. Cui Qishan pped Xiao Si on the back, "Show-off!" Jiang Yuan turned his head, "I didn¡¯t think it through earlier, the trash collected is from around the corpse. Scanning through now, intact items are quite few. I reckon thendfill isn¡¯t too big, let¡¯s go through the entire area using this principle." "Uh... alright," Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t refuse, turning to Xiao Si, "You take the lead." "Shen Yaowei is still at thendfill, I¡¯ll let him coordinate with you," Jiang Yuan turned to Wang Chuanxing for this task. At this point, Wei Shikan couldn¡¯t help saying, "Master, you¡¯ve recently been assigning tasks to Shen Yaowei a lottely, I can handle this too!" Chapter 1305 - 1231: A 1000-Mile Fate

Chapter 1305: Chapter 1231: A 1000-Mile Fate

Jin Mountain. Garbage dump. Inside the blue barricades. The police scattered like erged gray mice, burrowing in and out of the trash. Jiang Yuan needed rtively intact and seemingly valuable items that didn¡¯t appear to be discarded residential waste. Moreover, both the forensic center and elsewhere had limited space for storing garbage, so moving the entire trash pile over wasn¡¯t feasible. So, while on the surface it seemed like a garbage-picking process, it was actually a process of evidence hunting, ultimately still resembling garbage picking. A gust of wind blew by, lifting a hood mask off someone¡¯s head and carrying it away... The owner of the hood mask was a young detective wearing sses, with a gentle, bookish face that looked easy to bully. It was clear he was a recent graduate from an ordinary university. He hopelessly reached out with his hand, ultimately watching the mask drift a few meters away and sweep the trash, giving up on retrieving it back to his head. Witnessing the entire scene, Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but smile, walking over to say, "Go and wash your hands for a break, and put the mask back afterwards." The young detective, holding his breath, decided to be candid, "Forget it, it doesn¡¯t matter whether I wear the mask or not, it all stinks." "Wearing the mask, you¡¯ll smell for three days; without it, you¡¯ll smell for a week. When you¡¯re nning a weekend date with your girlfriend, you¡¯ll thank the mask," Shen Yaowei imparted with his rich experience to the young detective. The young detective smiled shyly, "I don¡¯t have a girlfriend yet." "Well... don¡¯t go home smelling either. Once we solve the case, the task force will have a break, and you don¡¯t want to go home smelling like garbage. Your old man might think the life of a police officer is sifting through trash every day." The young detective paused, then said softly, "My parents are gone." Shen Yaowei was taken aback, "I¡¯m sorry..." "It¡¯s okay, I got used to it. They went out to work years ago and never came back, and we¡¯ve lost contact." The young detective smiled brightly, as if he¡¯d practiced in front of a mirror, "I got used to it. My grandfather was really good to me... but he also passed away." "Take a break," Shen Yaowei quickly reassured, reluctant to ask further. The young detective hung his head, went down the garbage hill, and sat in the shaded gate, casually washed his hands, and drank a saline soda silently. Not many people were willing to talk in the whole garbage transfer station. Although it was just over ten meters long, six to seven meters wide, and more than a meter high, flipping through it wasn¡¯t necessarily easier than arge garbage dump. Most of the trash in the garbage dump was actually already clumped together, and the garbage transfer station here was about the same. There were 11 garbage trucks fixedlying to deliver trash every day; initially, they might finish unloading, but that didn¡¯t mean the workers would shovel it cleanly. As the "temporary" transfer station¡¯s "temporary" period grew longer, more and more trash umted, and about half of it gradually became old garbage. There was no need to pull out all this garbage for inspection, but the surfaced lumps that weren¡¯t too consolidated still needed some checking. All this work and these details brought about a sense of despair. Except for Wei Shikan. Wei Shikan had also been a neer, but his neer period wasn¡¯t like others¡¯ neer period. He had participated in task forces, but his participation in the task force wasn¡¯t the same as others¡¯ participation. Wei Shikan was the only one who didn¡¯t do any hardbor. Not even after entering work, and not even during school, had he done it. So, when flipping through the garbage dump, with the prefix "case-solving" and the tag "homicide," Wei Shikan didn¡¯t feel it was hard or tiring at all. Because he had a choice, still wearing the same personal protective equipment as Jiang Yuan. "Drinking water is just not convenient," Wei Shikan, feeling tired after a while, automatically returned to the gate to rest. Shen Yaowei saw it but said nothing, silently making more effort to flip through the garbage. He wanted to be worthy of Jiang Yuan¡¯s understanding! "Want some water?" Wei Shikan, holding a bottle of saline soda, walked to the garbage heap, reaching out with a dirty hand to hand it to Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei nced at it and sighed, "No, I don¡¯t want any." "I have a mask on, so it¡¯s inconvenient. You only have a mask, drinking water would be easy," Wei Shikan was a bit puzzled. Shen Yaowei looked around and reluctantly said, "Drinking water on a garbage heap? Not that thirsty." "Actually, after staying a while, it doesn¡¯t smell as bad," Wei Shikan chuckled twice. Shen Yaowei: "How about you take off your mask before you say that?" Wei Shikan immediately reached to remove his mask, but then stopped, "Forget it, putting it back on is troublesome, you don¡¯t want any, I¡¯ll go rest." Saying that, Wei Shikan didn¡¯t wait for any response beforefortably sitting down. Shen Yaowei¡¯s face turned bitter with jealousy, and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Some people really do have it differently." The detectives who knew Shen Yaowei¡¯s identity gave sidelong nces. ... Entire items, or seemingly intact objects, were dug out from the garbage heap and transported to the forensic center where Jiang Yuan was. Shen Yaowei and others at the garbage dump were just selecting, not filtering. Items that seemed about right were sent over. Jiang Yuan then changed into his third set of personal protective gear for the day and reviewed these items one by one. Behind him, Cui Qishan, Liu Jinghui, and others were also equipped, examining the items Jiang Yuan had looked over. Items were neither ranked nor prioritized; no one knew if they were rted to the victim or the suspect, so the selection process relied purely on intuition. This process, albeit mystical and marvelous, went unquestioned by the detectives present or those not in the task force. Because the detectives often solved cases based on this. Many things, verbally indescribable as evidence, provided clues that couldn¡¯t be ignored. Conversely, some cases couldn¡¯t precisely describe the evidential items. But, a single look might affirm that it was one of the evidential items. Just like two stic ropes. Blue stic ropes, both quite long, one over a meter and the other about two meters. One end of both ropes was tied, viewed separately they seemed ordinary, but together, one could tell they were actually one rope, cut in the middle. Despite being so long, even when cut, it could still be used; for ordinary purposes, discarding it would be a waste. Of course, such stic rope might be used by merchants for packagingrge parcels or deliveries, which homeowners might discard after unpacking, but found here, tied in such a peculiar way... When Jiang Yuan picked it up, a single nce from Liu Jinghui brought him over immediately. Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui, allowing the reasoning professional to speak first. "Could it have been used to bind the victim?" Liu Jinghui gestured, "Tie the hands, wrap around twice, then knot, wrap a few more times, and knot again? For regr tying, such a long rope wouldn¡¯t be necessary." Jiang Yuan pieced together the knotted parts of the rope, forming an irregr, fist-sized circle. Everyone present brightened. "Let¡¯s test it." Jiang Yuan called Miao Ruixiang over, the one with the slenderest wrists. Miao Ruixiang sped his hands together, and Jiang Yuan looped the rope around them. It was slightly thin, but considering the victim was female and that the stic rope could be tightened, the size of the loop seemed more fitting. "I¡¯ll see if I can extract DNA." Jiang Yuan said, sitting aside with the rope, and then said to Liu Jinghui, "Director Liu, could you handle the arrangement?" "Alright." Liu Jinghui naturally understood the implication, mulling over his response, "Now, if we assume these stic ropes were used by the suspect to bind the victim, analyzing the residual substances on the rope is Jiang Yuan¡¯s work. Later, if we manage to find unique contaminants on the rope, we can investigate further, but given they were transferred from a garbage truck, the primary concern is the stic rope itself." Liu Jinghui paused, "I think what we can do immediately is to track the supplier. This will be done by Jiang Yuanter, but first, if we can identify unique contaminants from the rope, further investigation is viable. Remember, the rope was transferred from a garbage truck, so our primary thought should be the stic rope itself." Liu Jinghui continued after a pause, "What I suggest we do right away is trace the supplier. If we can find the exact products shipped to the vicinity of Jin Mountain, consider the ones shipped to Beijing¡ªwhich should be fewer in number." With that, Liu Jinghui began assigning tasks, and Wang Chuanxing took notes. At that moment, Jiang Yuan said, "The way the perpetrator tied the victim¡¯s hands wasn¡¯t very professional, just simply wrapped and then tightened with a dead knot. The victim¡¯s wrists were already beyond recognition. Often in prison, where inmates have nothing to do, they exchange techniques with each other. Those interested in robbery and kidnapping might learn things like the ¡¯pig hoof knot,¡¯ ¡¯eight-character tie,¡¯ or ¡¯reverse hand tie¡¯ with no effort at all." Even those who hadn¡¯t been to prison could naturally learn some tying techniques from videos if they nned tomit abduction. But now, Jiang Yuan had suggested calling the task force. He said, "You handle the briefing; I¡¯m going to theb to analyze these two ropes." Chapter 1306 - 1232: Hanging by a Thread

Chapter 1306: Chapter 1232: Hanging by a Thread

Within the forensic building of the Beijing Bureau, there¡¯s its own Physical and Chemical Laboratory, considered a rather luxurious setup, because even Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s building number 9 doesn¡¯t have one. Jiang Yuan found a cleanb bench and had Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming help him carefully clean it with alcohol before pulling out the two stic ropes and observing them meticulously. These were currently the most valuable clues found, apart from the body. Although they found these two stic ropes early in the garbage-sifting process, an experienced police officer must realize that clues aren¡¯t linearly distributed. Making full use of every clue you know about is the most basic respect for criminal investigation. Whether you receive a lot of clues and evidence at once or find a tiny bit by sheer luck, utilizing them as best as you can is the only thing a police officer can do and should do. "Length 131 centimeters. Width 3 centimeters." "Length 246 centimeters, Width 3 centimeters." Jiang Yuan patted the two stic ropes repeatedly to ensure no further details were avable in terms of shape and then carefully untied the ropes, measuring the length and width first and then observing along the stic rope bit by bit. The so-called stic rope is actually a wide and t stic band. Its thickness is extremely thin, making the rope semi-transparent. The width is 3 centimeters, roughly equivalent to slightly more than two male fingers, but less than three, not counting those withrger hands. In practice, people habitually twist the stic rope to use it in its rolled-up form. In other words, the stic rope is used by scrunching it along its width. This way, the creases created in the folded stic rope could trap minute evidence. Thus, Jiang Yuan took special care to clean the experiment table again while keeping a camera filming the tabletop continuously. He then carefully unfolded the stic rope and sampled it segment by segment. The stic rope had been buried in the garbage pile for an unknown number of days, with some areas clearly soaked by the leachate from the pile. This high-concentration organic wastewater is devastating to organic evidence; whether it¡¯s DNA or anything else, once in contact with this leachate, it goes to waste. However, since both ropes were folded andpressed under other garbage, some creases formed rtively sealed environments. Theoretically, if there is evidence, it might exist in these spots. Jiang Yuan examined from the untied end all the way to the knotted section, meticulously inspecting each segment with a magnifying ss before sampling. This spot is where evidence is most likely to be found. Previously, Jiang Yuan, upon reaching this stage, would leave the rest to the technicians in the Physical and Chemical Laboratory. Nowadays, equipped with Level 5 physical and chemical analysis skills, Jiang Yuan naturally took the task upon himself. However, any level of technician is faced with multiple-choice questions at this point. It¡¯s said that modern technology has advanced significantly, capable of testing and analyzing even minute quantities of substances. Yet, when sampling, there¡¯s always an amount involved, and critically, no machine can precisely and urately process the sampled evidence. Some treatments are damaging or even minimally damaging, meaning that after one type of test, conducting others bes impossible. Given this, the practice usually involves conducting non-destructive tests first, followed by minimally destructive and destructive tests in theboratory. To avoid garbage leachate contaminating the sample, Jiang Yuan first collected the sample. Reaching this step, he also had Mu Zhiyang pull the curtains and begin with non-destructive projects. He first used a multi-band light source to scan, switching between 365nm ultraviolet, 450nm blue light, 535nm green light, and 850nm infrared, to check for fluorescence reactions. Of these, ultraviolet can detect blood, various bodily fluids, and residues of certain narcotic nts like hashish. Blue light can find fingerprints, glue, and some synthetic fibers. For example, 502 adhesive glows with white fluorescence, while polyester shines blue. Green light can detect drug residues, with cocaine producing yellow-green fluorescence, while chemical burns may show bright spots. Infrared could reveal certain inks and paints and might also detect charred substances. In summary, if someone bought a handheld multi-band light source, every time their partner returned home, drawing the curtains and scanning might expose whether they were smoking marijuana, engaging in SM activities, or using cocaine while being fully painted. The two stic strips before him were clean. Of course, this doesn¡¯t prove their innocence, merely that the first wave of macroscopic inspection yielded no results. Jiang Yuan then opened the curtains, had people photograph the entire length with a high-resolution camera, and then, under a stereomicroscope, picked visible particles from within the folds using micromaniptors, storing them separately in sample tubes. This step qualified as minimally destructive. The final steps were PCR and elemental analysis, namely the well-known DNA testing andponent analysis. Havingpleted the entire process, night had already fallen outside. Wen Ming emitted a light snoring sound. Mu Zhiyang, curled up in a corner, yed on his phone, bored. The technician in the Physical and Chemical Laboratory had no choice but to apany Jiang Yuan, lest he damage the expensive SEM and GC-MS equipment. "Let¡¯s wait for the results." Jiang Yuan stood up, patted Wen Ming, and said, "Let¡¯s go back." "Ah, did we solve the case?" Wen Ming jumped up abruptly, still a bit dazed. Jiang Yuan shook his head and then turned to Mu Zhiyang, asking, "How¡¯s it going on Director Liu¡¯s side?" "They¡¯re still investigating. We¡¯ve found a few simr stic strips in the market, but there seem to be no major differences between them. We need to identify the manufacturers before we can trace the distributors and buyers." Mu Zhiyang paused, then added his own conclusion, "It doesn¡¯t seem easy to track down." "Okay, let¡¯s get some rest and discuss it tomorrow," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much more. Various physical and chemical tests needed time to run. Only once in the car did he review the day¡¯s technical analyses but wasn¡¯t in a hurry to draw a conclusion. The next day. Jiang Yuan arrived at the forensic building early. The Cold Case Squad and Cui Qishan¡¯s Fourth Group had also moved headquarters there, setting up a meeting in the forensic building¡¯s conference room to hold a discussion. Various reports from the Physical and Chemical Laboratory had also been delivered. After a night of overtime, theboratory technicians eventually managed to prepare most of the reports Jiang Yuan needed. Jiang Yuan examined them one by one, and others passed them around to review as well. At this point, one sample¡¯s conclusion caught Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. "Acrmide and benzoic acid." Jiang Yuan lightly shook the report and asked, "What contains these substances?" "The mostmon ces to find benzoic acid are in food, medicine, paints, sticizers, and other industrial fields," recited Wang Chuanxing, being well-read. "How about acrmide?" Liu Jinghui inquired further. "In cosmetics and chemical raw materials as well as in certain foods, if I recall correctly, it¡¯s carcinogenic," Wang Chuanxing began checking his pad. Jiang Yuan said, "Maird reaction. All high-temperature fried foods contain acrmide, including fried steaks, fried dough sticks, fried chicken, and tempura, among others." "Is the murderer a chef?" Liu Jinghui instantly reacted, adding, "Normal cooking shouldn¡¯t include benzoic acid, right? Benzoic acid is in prepackaged food?" "Various sauces contain it too," Wang Chuanxing replied after checking his information. "In terms of food, it¡¯s found in soy sauce, juices, various vorings, all of which are carcinogenic." "When are we going to arrest such people?" Liu Jinghui took a deep breath, frowning, "So even regr cooking might expose someone?" Jiang Yuan shook his head, "The residue on the stic strip indicates arge amount, not just slight exposure... The victim rode a bicycle to Jin Mountain. List all the nearby businesses ¡ª how many of them sell food?" "Not many," Wang Chuanxing immediately located the list. These had beenpiled days prior. Quickly, he pulled out a list of businesses along the route, then extracted the food vendors from it. "A fried chicken shop, a meat sandwich ce, pancake stalls, fast-food restaurants, convenience stores..." Liu Jinghui counted, finding there were only a few dozen shops, so he stated, "Let¡¯s question each one, ensuring to take statements from both the chefs and the store owners!" Chapter 1307 - 1233: Patrolling the Streets

Chapter 1307: Chapter 1233: Patrolling the Streets

Mu Zhiyang led the way with the imposing manner of six horses, guiding Jiang Yuan and the others along the road. On the other end of the road, several Criminal Police Brigade officers were staring at the street vendors, hoping that the suspect couldn¡¯t withstand the pressure and would turn and run. In fact, this kind of roadblock work is often handed over to the police officers of the police station, or arranged for two teams of non-special case police officers to handle it. But this was thest step, and it was time to capture, so who would want to give up the achievement now just to save a bit of effort? On the contrary, the police officers of the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad were more eager than ever. Solved murder cases were no longer surprising to Jiang Yuan and Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, but for the regr Criminal Police Brigade officers, capturing murder suspects was always a rare opportunity. In fact, even Mu Zhiyang found it quite interesting. He led the charge, chest out and head held high, arriving at the meat sandwich stall on the street, staring at the knife in the vendor¡¯s hand while saying, "Boss, we are from the Criminal Police Squad. We need to ask you a few questions." "Did someone die?" The boss, a short and thin man, mmed the knife into the chopping board, instead questioning Mu Zhiyang. "Where did you hear that?" Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t answer, his sharp eyes fixed on the boss and his knife. Wen Yong stepped forward, grabbed the handle of the knife, and took it into his own hand. The short and thin meat sandwich vendorughed, "You guys are nervous... we have a group chat, heard you were doing inspections or something, was going to run, but then heard you¡¯re not the urban management. By the way, do you want a sandwich? Eight bucks each, I¡¯ll add extra meat for you." "Not now." Mu Zhiyang lifted the tent fabric under the stall, asking, "Do you have any other knives?" "No, we conquer the world with just one knife..." "No boning knives or anything like that?" "I use the finest pork belly, see..." The short and thin meat sandwich vendor picked up a spoon and scooped some meat from the pot to show them. Jiang Yuan stepped forward, saying, "Where were youst Tuesday morning?" Lab reports wereing out one after another, and Jiang Yuan reopened the "temporary +1" to judge the time of death. So far, Jiang Yuan could narrow the victim¡¯s time of death to within two hours in the morning, meaning the murder happened shortly after the phone signal disappeared. In other words, the phone was likely disposed of by the murderer, and the time the victim was held hostage was also very short. To put it less pleasantly, the murderer was probably in a state of busy activity throughout the few hours of holding the victim hostage. No matter when the body was dumped, just the acts of murder and body disposal, as well as phone handling, would take a lot of time. So an alibi for Tuesday morning is crucial and is key for the police to screen these food sellers. The meat sandwich vendorughed nonchntly, "Where else would I be, just selling meat sandwiches here." "What specific time from when to when?" Mu Zhiyang turned back, took out a notebook to make notes, as he was also a criminal investigator. "I usually get here by past six in the morning, start if there¡¯s business, if not, tidy things up a bit, then open online sales, then chop meat, and keep busy until the afternoon for a break before continuing in the evening. My wife buys and cooks the meat at home, it¡¯s tiring..." "Was it from 7 AM to 1:30 PM? Or 6:30 AM to 1:30 PM?" "6:30 to around 2:30, sometimes deliveriese reallyte now..." "Who was with you at the time, and which other vendors did you notice were open?" Mu Zhiyang continued to ask. These questions would be asked to every vendor, andter, the records would bepared to detect any inconsistencies or lies easily. Correspondingly, if several people could confirm someone¡¯s alibi, they would likely be crossed off the suspect list. For the police, listing suspects is important, but narrowing down the list of suspects is even more crucial. If the wrong method is used and a suspect is mistakenly filtered out, the whole list might be useless. Such mistakes happened in past high-profile cases. Mu Zhiyang asked a few more questions and marked a star next to the record in his notebook. This basically ruled out suspicion, but it was just Mu Zhiyang¡¯s judgement. Subsequently, Wang Chuanxing and Liu Jinghui would each give their evaluations and decide on exclusions. The current suspect list consisted of over 60 households, roughly under 200 people. If a highly suspicious individual could be identified from the screening, the whole process would conclude perfectly, and someone could even write an article about itter. But if nothing was found, other methods would have to be used. For example, technical investigation of phones, image investigation of surveince, all requiring the suspects to self-report their locations. Nowadays, people rarely part with their phones, and in Beijing, the number of base stations is sufficient to triangte almost all locations. Information like being in a certain area at a specific time is the simplest task for technical investigators. Simrly, finding suspects using surveince without specific times and undetermined locations is hard, but letting each suspect report which intersection they passed, at what time, makes it much easier to verify through investigation. If anyone refuses to say, or their reported times and ces cannot be matched with surveince, then the suspicion level is raised. Ordinary cases might involve two detectives, or a few people from a division and brigade to investigate, but for 60 suspect households, there is some workload. However, in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, the squad already had over 30 members, plus a random allocation of around a score more. Even deploying half, with some stationed to block intersections and do on-site investigations, there¡¯s not much left. So, pairing off in twos or fours, not many suspects remain for each team. Jiang Yuan followed Mu Zhiyang to investigate the meat sandwich vendor, and then another vendor selling fries and fried chicken. Before they could move forward, they realized the whole street had been questioned, and the remaining two or three vendors were surrounded by multiple police officers. "Switch to another street?" Jiang Yuan asked. "No, it¡¯s small, and we all came out at the same time. A small market three kilometers away has almost been fully questioned," Liu Jinghui kept track of the progress from all sides. Jiang Yuan frowned and looked at Liu Jinghui again, asking, "Not food-rted? Rted to pharmaceuticals? Chemical nts?" The benzene acid and acrmide found before were also used in pharmaceuticals, but in low quantities. It¡¯s unlikely that a person consuming drugs would directly contact it, let alone contact it again with the stic bags. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t sure about the chemical nts either, as even small workshops now knew to wear gloves when handling these chemical materials. Liu Jinghui replied, "I checked, there are no chemical nts near Jin Mountain using both these raw materials. Even if used together, not necessarily a single person woulde into contact with both. I also checked industrial supply stores, none nearby. We can broaden the scope if needed, looking into their sellers and suppliers, but no rush for now..." "Why not?" "For vendors who haven¡¯t set up stalls, I¡¯ve sent people to check them out." "Good." Jiang Yuan nodded. Vendors not showing up on time raised their suspicion levels significantly. "Stand aside, is this your box?" In the distance, Xiao Si¡¯s voice rose several notches, carrying across to them. Jiang Yuan and the others couldn¡¯t help but look over. They saw Xiao Si standing in front of a pancake stall, just pulling out a box tied with a pale blue stic bag from under the vendor¡¯s tricycle cover. This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om Chapter 1308 - 1234 Vendor

Chapter 1308: Chapter 1234 Vendor

Mu Zhiyang stood silently a little in front of Jiang Yuan. "It¡¯s my box, used to store pancakes." The pancake vendor wasn¡¯t tall, but appeared quite sturdy. Xiao Si lightly tapped the stic strap on the box with his hand, feeling a simr texture. Then, intentionally waiting until the other two officers were behind the vendor, he said, "I bought pancakes from you before. Do you remember?" "I remember, you bought a lot." The vendor chuckled twice, "Thanks for your business." "Yours are quite tasty," Xiao Si said, looking at the ingredients in front of the vendor, "This crispy thing, it¡¯s deep-fried, right?" "Yes, I make all of it myself," replied the vendor. "You make it yourself?" "Of course. We¡¯re a small business, save where we can." "And the sauce?" "The sauce is my own mix, several ingredients, a secret recipe." "It can¡¯t all be your own mix, right?" "Couldn¡¯t do it all by myself, too many types. Some things are more conveniently bought and taste just as good." "Is that so." Xiao Si nodded slowly. He had done his homework ¡ª something like sauce, if bought, wouldmonly use benzoic acid as a preservative. Jiang Yuan, protected by Mu Zhiyang, also approached the stall. Xiao Si didn¡¯t even nce, but focused on the short, wrinkled, sturdy pancake vendor, showing a photo. "Have you seen this girl?" "I haven¡¯t." The vendor denied it with just a nce. "Take a closer look," Xiao Si insisted. "Maybe she¡¯s one of your regrs." "No. My customers are mainly factory workers, few women around," the vendor stated logically. What Xiao Si really wanted wasn¡¯t a tearful confession from the vendor. Xiao Si simply took out his phone, "Alright then, please leave your number." Though surrounded by a few more police officers, the vendor could only think positively and obediently left his number with Xiao Si. Xiao Si dialed on the spot, and after confirming it rang the vendor¡¯s phone, forwarded the number to the Technical Investigation team. The Technical Investigation team had records of all phone numbers that intersected in time and space with the victim¡¯s phone. However, the victim took the subway then cycled to Jin Mountain, with many phones intersecting for short durations along the way even after leaving the subway station. Just like letting vendors describe their situations, investigating suspects based on phone intersections in this manner is difficult. However, the increase in suspicion for the pancake vendor allowed for a reverse deduction. Jiang Yuan and others stood quietly behind, understanding Xiao Si¡¯s intentions. Quickly, Technical Investigation¡¯s results came back. It wasn¡¯t typical for such speed, but Jiang Yuan¡¯s special case team had them ready. Jiang Yuan took out his phone to see that Technical Investigation had reported two time-length intersections between phones: a total of 18 minutes, in two segments. Details were uncertain, but this result suggested that the pancake vendor¡¯s im of not knowing the victim was mostly nonsense. He sold pancakes in the factory district, not at the subway. The long intersection put them on a suspect list. However, the special case team hadn¡¯t pursued this information before. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t needed; after Jiang Yuan found the blue stic strap, further physical and chemical analysis would take about a day. Any Level 2 technician could easily conclude. "Are you sure you don¡¯t know her?" Xiao Si asked again, emphasizing the suspect¡¯s situation. The vendor firmly shook his head. "Alright,e with us and exin," Xiao Si stepped forward, separating the vendor from his tricycle. Though it was just a breakfast stall, if he resisted, both the hot griddle and cutting knife could be dangerous. No policeman underestimates these small tools. In movies, cops avoid bullets unscathed, but in reality, a cop falling can break two legs. The atmosphere tensed at the scene. Everyone knew this was the most likely time for conflict to ur. Only the pancake vendor held on to a fluke, stepping back under Xiao Si¡¯s tough stance, and asked, "I really don¡¯t know her. I sell so many pancakes daily, how can I remember each customer?" "You interacted with her for more than just a few minutes." Xiao Si said as he moved forward, taking hold of the vendor¡¯s arm. "I... I need to call home," the vendor, unsure who to seek help from, took out his phone to dial. Cui Qishan quickly snatched the phone, saying, "You¡¯ll have time for callster. Come with our guys now." "No... I..." The vendor squirmed, instinctively trying to break free, but Xiao Si held him, and within seconds, Cui Qishan also gripped his arm. "Don¡¯t get yourself hurt, don¡¯t force us to cuff you," Cui Qishan said, though not wanting to waste time arguing on the street. The vendor could only turn, shouting to the stall next door, "Call my wife, call my wife..." The nearby vendor reluctantly nodded. "Thanks, be sure to tell my wife..." the pancake vendor shouted out again. Liu Jinghui, hearing the repeated yells, felt moved internally, saying, "Check his residence, his wife¡¯s location, and any property back home." Jiang Yuan agreed, and Wang Chuanxing promptly arranged it. Half an hourter. An interrogation room with one-way transparent ss. Wang Chuanxing, holding a PAD, returned to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. "How is it?" Liu Jinghui drew his gaze away from the vendor in the interrogation room. "It¡¯s him," Wang Chuanxing nodded emphatically, "He rents a small top-floor apartment nearby in ¡¯Huayang New Garden¡¯, one bedroom, one living room. His wife prepares sauce and dough at home. We found a 14 cm long knife at his ce, suspected to be the murder weapon; it¡¯s been sent over. His wife was also scared senseless, Captain Cui brought her in." "Let Team Meng know," Liu Jinghui smiled then quicklyposed himself. In the interrogation room, Meng Chengbiao adjusted the direction of his questioning after briefly listening with headphones. "Wang Chunge, your wife has been brought in too!" Meng Chengbiao¡¯s tone was calm. The simple statement exerted great pressure. The pancake vendor instantly broke into a cold sweat. "Let me exin some policy to you," Meng Chengbiao began exining what constitutes voluntary surrender, what adds to a crime, and the distinctions between immediate execution, suspended sentence, life imprisonment, and fixed-term imprisonment. Wang Chunge couldn¡¯t utter a word. He didn¡¯t even want to listen to Meng Chengbiao, but his nervous demeanor ensured Meng Chengbiao¡¯s words sank in¡ªfar more intently than he ever studied. "Why did you kill?" Meng Chengbiao, finishing the policy exnation, veered off sequence to directly ask motive. Wang Chunge¡¯s lips trembled, sumbing to pressure, and finally, he lowered his head, "I thought she was rich." "Did you intend to rob her?" Meng Chengbiao asked. "Yeah..." Wang Chunge¡¯s voice was low, but gradually grew higher. Speaking the secret he intended to keep buried, Wang Chunge let go of any reservations, saying, "She held an iPhone and dressed well. I asked if she worked; she said she didn¡¯t need to, preferring hiking. I thought she was a well-offdy and wanted to borrow some money..." "She didn¡¯t carry cash; what was your n to get money?" "I wanted to sell her phone for some gold, then melt it down. Couldn¡¯t stay in Beijing, not safe setting up the stall, and costs were high. I nned to return home with some gold, live a better life..." Wang Chunge¡¯s voice was disoriented. "Why didn¡¯t you buy anything in the end?" "Her phone had no money, couldn¡¯t use Huabei either." Wang Chunge sighed, "Her phone bnce wasn¡¯t even as much as I make in a day, yet she dared to travel around..." Meng Chengbiao asked further, "Why didn¡¯t you release her after failing to rob?" Wang Chunge promptly replied, "To serve 10 years for nothing?" Meng Chengbiao didn¡¯t correct the suspect¡¯s distorted views, only continuing, "How did you kill her?" "I made her wire some money first, then pretended urban management wasing. I led her to an alley to hide. Deep alley, surrounded by factories, couldn¡¯t be seen or heard from outside. When we entered, I threatened her with a knife, bound her with stic rope, gagged her, and took her home by tricycle." Ignoring thew, Wang Chunge spoke without shame, only showing slight regret. Chapter 1309 - 1235: Trust You

Chapter 1309: Chapter 1235: Trust You

Hotpot. Tender pink beef rolls through the bright red broth, then dipped in a blob of yellow garlic paste, wrapped up and stuffed into the mouth, a strong sense of satisfaction rushes to the heart. People need rewards, and police officers are no exception. It¡¯s just that for Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, it has be difficult to receive direct rewards for solving a missing person case or a murder case. Even within the Zhengguang Bureau, there¡¯s this sense of it being rather routine. So Jiang Yuan took the team out in in clothes to eat hotpot. The steaming broth, fresh beef, at least provides everyone with temporary sce. Many present hadn¡¯t slept for over 20 hours. Including Jiang Yuan, who spent most ofst night in the Physical and Chemical Laboratory. Liu Jinghui was among those who had enough sleep, but his mood was not good either, and he showed no interest in talking, just kept stuffing beef into his mouth. In this missing case, Liu Jinghui initially hoped to rescue the victim, but as the investigation deepened, discovering the corpse, Liu Jinghui could ept it. The victim of a missing person case bing the victim of a murder case is a circumstance police officers don¡¯t like but often have to face. However, the suspect¡¯s interrogation broke Liu Jinghui¡¯s resolve. He¡¯s extremely good at reasoning, so in his mind, he could devise various choices for the missing girl and construct various choices for the killer, most of which shouldn¡¯t have led to the missing girl¡¯s death. The killer simply didn¡¯t need to kill! He shouldn¡¯t havemitted robbery, nor decided in haste to rob, and upon entering the alley, he actually had many choices, he could first check the victim¡¯s phone ¡ª Liu Jinghui was very clear that if the killer hadn¡¯t first tied up the victim, upon finding no money on the victim¡¯s phone, he would very likely release her, instead of choosing to take her out, eventually feeling the victim¡¯s ribs, and slowly stabbing the knife into the victim¡¯s heart. "His wife is an idiot too!" Liu Jinghui suddenly couldn¡¯t help cursing, gaining everyone¡¯s agreement. The killer that day was the vendor himself, but his wife was actually present. During the busiest time in the morning, the couple often started their stall together, and that day was no exception. And when the vendor Wang Chunge suddenly decided to rob a female university student, his wife even agreed, they even decided on this matter after only a short exchange. Liu Jinghui could even imagine that the two might have discussed this n many times before. Ultimately, it was Wang Chunge who acted, but it was because his wife was there that the girl didn¡¯t mind following the tricycle into that alley, also because his wife was there that Wang Chunge chose simple murder. "Making more than me with their pancake stall, yet still not satisfied, they came up with robbing a female university student..." Mu Zhiyang sighed. Unlike Wang Chuanxing and others who received sries from Changyang City, he was paid by Ningtai County, so even with more bonuses and performance pay over the past two years, the basic pay was still a bit less. Cui Qishan snorted: "If they want to go home, then they won¡¯t be able to earn this money." "That female student doesn¡¯t owe his family anything either." Xiao Si picked up a piece of beef and retorted to the team leader. Cui Qishan frowned: "I wasn¡¯t defending him..." "There¡¯s nothing good to say about people like this." Liu Jinghui interrupted the two, reformting: "Try to investigate the vendor¡¯s wife¡¯s situation. There¡¯s a difference between a co-conspirator and an essory. Besides, this wasn¡¯t a crime of passion but a premeditated robbery and murder, even without a fixed target; gather the statements and evidence properly." In the country¡¯s Criminal Law, there is actually no distinction between premeditated and non-premeditated murder; murder is simply intentional homicide. But in specific sentencing, a single murder can lead to a death penalty if premeditated, whereas if determined to be a crime of passion, it often results in a sentence of fewer than 10 years. However, judicial "crimes of passion" have strict requirements, one of which demands the victim to have a fault that reaches a "serious" degree. Cui Qishan responded and said, "It¡¯s definitely premeditated. A pancake stall doesn¡¯t need a dagger, carrying that knife on the cart shows it was a premeditated robbery and murder. The woman also helped tie up the victim. When it¡¯s presented, I¡¯ll talk again with the prosecutor." The case is still Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s responsibility. Even though it¡¯s considered solved now, just organizing documents and so on could take a week or two quickly, and subsequent presentation and other work will naturally be handed over by Cui Qishan. Liu Jinghui, recalling the case again, remarked: "This case wasn¡¯t really hard, the main point was finding the body. Without finding it, or finding it a few dayste, clues would have been harder to find. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t much chance to rescue the person, the killer is really cruel, he didn¡¯t intend to let the victim live." "If she lived, he would definitely go to jail, but if dead, there might still be a chance for him to escape." Cui Qishan shaking his head said: "People like this probably don¡¯t think that much. Money-crazed." "Their son is getting married, both of them older, not wanting to work anymore, worried the pension isn¡¯t enough, rural health insurance also unclear if it¡¯ll cover future illnesses..." Liu Jinghui had seen many things, describing it now, but was mostly stating facts, with little sympathy. Whether it¡¯s the son getting married, being older and wanting to retire, or fearing illness expenses, these are personal subjective expectations, and if society, the country, or individuals cannot meet those, it simply cannot meet those. It doesn¡¯t serve as a precondition for murder, nor is it the problem of the victimized female student. That¡¯s basic logic, something even Liu Jinghui doesn¡¯t need to think about. Xiao Si, picking up another piece of beef, said: "The more cases like these done by such people, the harder they are to solve. Once solved, in retrospect, they never seem all that difficult..." The case came from him, Xiao Si seemed aware of making a defense for himself. Liu Jinghuiughed heartily, deliberately poking at Xiao Si¡¯s pride: "Actually, you don¡¯t even need to consider motive; not even talking about finding the body; using dogs at this step is an option anyone can apply for..." "Apply for a police dog unit?" Xiao Si certainly wasn¡¯t qualified to request support of that level, even if Cui Qishan stepped in, necessity had to be proven. "Fetch a few dogs, go a bit slow, and you¡¯ll find it too." "But the victim had to be confirmed within range, and deceased." Xiao Si calmly looked at Liu Jinghui, saying: "Even Director Liu couldn¡¯t make that judgment alone." This statement was full of provocation, causing even those around to nce at Xiao Si. Liu Jinghui coldly smiled: "If it were just me, there¡¯d naturally be another way to solve it." "Great, from thest discussion, there are still two cases, one unsolved homicide..." Xiao Si said, ncing at Liu Jinghui before picking up another piece of meat, chewing with his cheeks puffed out. Liu Jinghuiughed in annoyance: "Your goading is too weak." "Just say whether you¡¯ll take it or not." Xiao Si looked at Liu Jinghui unscrupulously. If it were anyone else, this kind of goading would only offend. But Xiao Si was unconcerned with offense; he would often offend in his daily words. Yet if Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t take his goading... Liu Jinghui understood reasoning, he instantly realized, unafraid of offending people like Xiao Si, not to mention whether he¡¯d bring it up to others in the future, even just meeting him, Xiao Si would jab him with this whenever they met, would he exin every time? ¡ª There¡¯s no doubt that Xiao Si would jab, this bristly dog, capable of exploding for no reason, biting is like a second nature. "Solving cases solo isn¡¯t the matter of this era." At this point, Jiang Yuan spoke up: "Bring the case, let¡¯s take a look." "I¡¯ll set up a group chat on WeChat." Xiao Si put down his chopsticks to act, then smiled at Cui Qishan: "Cui Da, shall I add you too?" "What else?" Cui Qishan red at Xiao Si, then sighed, looking at Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, saying: "It¡¯s not what I taught." "I believe you." Liu Jinghui answered sincerely. Chapter 1310 - 1236 Rainy Night

Chapter 1310: Chapter 1236 Rainy Night

"Captain Jiang is here, want a smoke?" Liu Cheng, the head of the Criminal Police Squad, stood at the entrance of the squad, pretending it was a chance encounter, although there were too many cigarette butts on the ground. "Too early, I¡¯ll pass for now." Jiang Yuan declined. "Smoke mine then. Li Qun, a cigarette suited for young folks." Another squad leader Qian Tongyi came out from inside, quickly pulling out a cigarette. "The case is under Director Liu¡¯s charge, go find him." Jiang Yuan, having worked in multiple locations, knew what was going on and immediately sold out Liu Jinghui. "Director Liu isn¡¯t easy to talk to either." Liu Cheng sighed, lit his cigarette, and continued, "Captain Jiang, I reached out to you first from the Beijing Bureau, we cooperated so well back then." "Indeed, it was nice." Jiang Yuan smiled, conveying hearty emotion to Liu Cheng. Liu Cheng¡¯s spirits lifted, and he hurriedly said, "I meant toe find you after you finished this batch of work, but look, old Cui here doesn¡¯t y by the rules, at least queue up..." "We also had pretty good cooperation." Qian Tongyi quickly chimed in. "True." Jiang Yuan nodded warmly. When not handling cases, his emotional intelligence was adequate. "Actually, our case is even more interesting..." Liu Cheng rushed to speak. After the previous two cases, the various squad leaders of the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad understood that it was impossible to queue up. Cui Qishan probably held some special Jiang Yuan password, thus he could consistently get Jiang Yuan¡¯s support. Even though this current case might notnd with them, it was necessary to vie for the next one. It¡¯s not just about how the cold case squad solves cases, the thirty-plus people in the squad offer freebor, which would tempt any Criminal Police Squad¡ªexpenses covered by the squad, but the work truly benefits themselves. Moreover, solving cases trantes to boosting KPIs. The Ningtai County Bureau previously struggled every year, quarter, and month for the bat effectiveness rankings." Various rankings from county bureau to city bureau then to provincial department are vital projects in any police bureau. Jiang Yuan, such a cheat code, naturally bes the focus of contention. Jiang Yuan, too, adeptly smiled a few times, casually responded twice. Meanwhile, Cui Qishan had already rushed downstairs. "What¡¯s going on...what¡¯s everyone doing..." Cui Qishan spoke while blocking Jiang Yuan, "Stop gossiping, we¡¯re all men here, you guys wouldn¡¯t be good at pce politics..." Xiao Si was also released by Cui Qishan, standing at the front door, ring sharply at the two squad leaders. Fellow squad leader Wang Chao pulled Jiang Yuan aside, whispering: "Let¡¯s head upstairs first, all the dossiers, details, everything is ready." Saying this, Wang Chao, under his colleagues¡¯ cover, sent Jiang Yuan into the elevator. Xiao Si and Cui Qishan each held one squad leader back, mainly using their gaze to calm them. In the conference room. The row of ss on the outer wall was polished to be bright and clear, letting warm sunlight shine on everyone inside the room. Jiang Yuan sat at the head of the table, and without any gesture, coffee and tea were promptly set before him, and two monitors lit up. No keyboard or mouse was set before Jiang Yuan; behind him, Wang Chuanxing operated the screen, saying, "Captain Jiang, shall I brief you on the case situation?" "Alright." Jiang Yuan stepped back two paces, gesturing Liu Jinghui to have a look alongside, and then asked, "Where is Commissioner Huang?" "Gone to check ounts," Liu Jinghui said, "Tao had intended toe and take a look, but was caught by Commissioner Huang." "Where are the biggest disagreements?" "This year, Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s ranking went up three ces, and the Criminal Police Squad also got more attention. Naturally, Tao and Commissioner Huang aim to maintain upward momentum." Liu Jinghui sounded rather provincial department-like as he exined. Jiang Yuan chuckled, clearly understanding and found it quite realistic. Funding is never sufficient¡ªit¡¯s not just insufficient for case funding but also high construction costs for the police squad. Not only does the Criminal Police Squad require development, departments like image investigation and technical investigation also need significant funding, even year-long recurrent investment. It¡¯s not only Ningtai County Bureau needing development, but also Zhengguang Bureau requiring growth. If initially the invitations for Jiang Yuan were to handle urgent cases, by now, some adept police bureaus are considering sustainable development. Just like Zhengguang Bureau, they have numerous tasks with multifacetedpetitive dimensions. And Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to maximize forensic work is like having a 1500 horsepower output power, other departments can capitalize on this and aplish many tasks. Of course, such matters, Huang Qiangmin would contemte more thoroughly. After briefly understanding the situation, Jiang Yuan turned and smiled, saying, "Let¡¯s talk about the case." "Yes, victim is female. Age 38. The body was found 3 years ago on March 26th, by the waterside in Bishui South Road Park. Upon discovery, the body had already decayed, face swollen, eyeballs had fallen out, there were 4 wounds on the body, and the uterus was removed. Through autopsy identification, confirmed as Zhengguang District resident Li Ningxia." As Wang Chuanxing spoke, he began showing crime scene photos on the screen in front of Jiang Yuan. There were many photos, indicating at least two cameras were involved in shooting, showing the considerable attention at the time. After watching for a while, Jiang Yuan asked, "Since the victim¡¯s identity is confirmed, there should be suspects?" "Yes. Li Ningxia has a rtively simple social background. She was native to Beijing, working in logistics at a privatepany. Married at 26, had a son post-marriage, divorced at 35 through agreement, with the house and son¡¯s custody going to her husband, herself received cash and stocks totaling over 1.5 million. Afterwards, rented an apartment, dated two boyfriends..." Wang Chuanxing spoke up to here and nced at Xiao Si. Xiao Si cleared his throat twice, saying, "This case is actually an old case. I took over halfway. The previous special investigation team separately probed the victim¡¯s social rtionships and financial situations without finding clues. The victim¡¯s ex-husband was a district civil servant, ording to those around them, their rtionship was rtively amicable, he hadn¡¯t remarried, weekend visits were allowed." Xiao Si opened his notebook and continued, "The victim¡¯s financial situation was rtively stable, lost about half her stocks, spent half the cash, leaving around 700,000. Technical and image investigations also yielded no significant clues. Additionally, due to the rainy weather, very few clues were left at the scene." "Murder on a rainy night." Liu Jinghui suddenly sighed, not sure how many ssic scenes shed through his mind. Chapter 1311 - 1237 Bone Removal

Chapter 1311: Chapter 1237 Bone Removal

A rainy night is a natural bug of modern criminal science. The often mentioned Locard¡¯s Principle of Exchange¡ªwhenever two objectse into contact, there is an exchange of materials; something is taken and something is left behind¡ªis the foundation of crime investigation science. The vast majority of forensic techniques follow the Locard¡¯s Principle of Exchange. Under this principle, the world is as beautifully logical as elementary mathematics, as if everything is coherent and solvable. Time delivers a heavy blow to the Locard¡¯s Principle of Exchange; as time passes, much evidence gradually disappears and eventually vanishes. Butbating time itself is the part most familiar to and yet most epted by humanity... A rainy night is different. It can wash away evidence and alter the crime scene on the day of the crime. Rainfall falling from the sky onto the body, the ground, or even onto the suspect¡¯s body can potentially wash away evidence. The rainwater that exchanges and transfers back evidently cannot bear criminal responsibility. Many famous major and suspicious cases have urred on rainy nights, not without reason. Of course, rainy nights also have their disadvantages, but regardless of how it is bnced, once a murder case urs on a rainy night, the difficulty level is at least +1.5. Some ordinary, seemingly unremarkable cases that might originally be small cases with a difficulty of around 0.5, with the added challenge of a rainy night, might directly escte to a difficulty of 2.0, enough to leave police below the bone level at a loss. The famous Rainy Night Butcher case involved the killer, a taxi driver, who sessively murdered four women, earning the name because the crimes mostly urred on rainy nights. This case had a huge impact and can be said to be the most famous serial murder case in the Port District, mobilizing countless police forces. Not to mention the various aspects during the case; looking at it from a hindsight perspective, the killer was neither professional nor smart. He was caught because he took photos of the bodies and organs to a photo studio for development. One doesn¡¯t need to be too professional or too smart; if the killer had even read a detective novel, he wouldn¡¯t have done such a stupid thing. Yet, this very foolish person, under the cover of a rainy night, managed to evade the so-called professional investigation by the Port District police team. However, no oneughed at the Hong Kong team for it. Because even the more famous Scond Yard, FBI, or Tokyo Investigation Division have simr embarrassing stories. Clearly, for Liu Jinghui, who prided himself as the Shannan Mo Si, the rainy night murder case was indeed a very stimting point. "Murder, body disposal, removal of the uterus, how were the killer¡¯s techniques?" Liu Jinghui did not carefully examine the photos but instead allowed his thinking to spread, asking whatever came to mind to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan closed his eyes in recollection and said, "The incisions are forceful, the cut marks are neat; the killer is most likely male, robust. As for the operation of extracting the uterus, it was not done following anatomical structure, mostly relying on brute force, and the knife was likely started from the abdomen without a searching process, indicating knowledge of the uterus¡¯s location; this can be considered skilled technique?" "If the technique is skilled, does it indicate this wasn¡¯t the first murder?" Liu Jinghui asked this question and looked at Cui Qishan and the others next to him, saying, "I see that your previous investigations also had such suspicions?" "Yes, we also searched through some prior umted cases, especially those that happened on rainy days or involved uterus extraction, and didn¡¯t find any suitable cases for linking." Cui Qishan responded quickly. Linkage is the secret to solving cases, particrly after forming a special group, where manpower is ample, and searching old cases is amon urrence. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "What about cases outside Beijing?" "None, the act of removing organs is a very heinous action, and with an element like a rainy night, if there were simr cases, there¡¯s no need to search; just ask around, and it will be known." This time Xiao Si answered, pointing outside, "Beijing¡¯s flow of people isplicated; it¡¯s likely that outsidersmitted the crime in transit, but the victim is a local from Beijing, attending school and working there; how were they chosen as a victim?" Liu Jinghui said, "The removal of reproductive organs, this action often holds significant symbolic meaning. The killer chose this victim, perhaps not because of their identity or social connections. Of course, this is also a spection... from previous investigations..." "The victim has an aunt who participated in an illegal church, but not to the extent of murder, at most for cheating money and rtionships... As for other aspects, if the killer chose randomly, this direction has also been investigated, with no results..." "Let¡¯s reorganize the evidence." Jiang Yuan did not let Liu Jinghui continue to ask questions. They themselves did not have a corresponding understanding of this case; just asking questions is too inefficient in obtaining information. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s words, everyone in the room began reading the dossiers in their usual directions. Wang Chuanxing continued to assist Jiang Yuan, showing him various photos of altered and dposed bodies, as well as various traces at the scene. The former were many, while thetter were few, mostly peripheral traces, not necessarily left by the killer or the victim. As Jiang Yuan looked at the trace pictures, Cui Qishan said, "It often rains heavily in Beijing. The night before the body was discovered, the rain was very heavy, with wind, and the area where the body was found flooded; even if there were footprints, they might not have remained." "The clothes on the body, you still have them?" Jiang Yuan pointed at the screen. "We have them, but most are corroded; I remember it should be some kind of cotton fabric," Cui Qishan finished, looked at Jiang Yuan with hope, and asked, "Can legal botany be used?" To the detectives, Jiang Yuan¡¯s legal botany skills are like a special move; even if it cannot defeat in one blow, it can at least cause some damage. Jiang Yuan was amused by Cui Qishan¡¯s tone and said, "We can take some spores for backup; if we really want to find a pollen map, it will require substantial effort. You also don¡¯t have aplete nt map, right?" "You¡¯re right." Cui Qishan immediately admitted. Since Jiang Yuan said "substantial effort," if he dared to continue, he feared he might face substantial consequences from the bureau. "Then let¡¯s stop here for now. I¡¯ll go check the body; Director Liu, could you arrange for the others?" Jiang Yuan directly instructed Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui also readily agreed, and then skillfully began arranging for different personnel to investigate from surveince videos to emergency calls, transcripts, and so on. Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team has done too many simr umted cases; regardless of how much work the previous special team had done, when reopening the special group, the investigations that can be done must still be conducted; otherwise, paranoia might waste time instead. Of course, these are resources only Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team possesses; ordinary non-local units cannot afford to y this game. Jiang Yuan went separately to the forensic building to examine the body. The body from two years ago had remained in an ice coffin because the case was unsolved, remaining frozen until yesterday, in a rock-hard state. This method can preserve the body¡¯s original state to the greatest extent, simr to the often-mentioned zombie meat in the market. Consider how the remains of chicken, duck, and pigs can be preserved for twenty or thirty years; preserving a human body for over two years is not surprising. Unfortunately, by the time the body was discovered, it was already mildly decayed; after refreezing and thawing, the muscles and other tissues gradually rotted with the thaw. Jiang Yuan was well-prepared, fully protected, and started a second autopsy without a word. Zhan Kan then arranged for someone to heat some water. The second autopsy can aplish very little; just sampling from what is still avable is about the extent. Once this step wasplete, Jiang Yuan had the remaining body parts ced into hot water for bone extraction. In the end, what¡¯sid out on the autopsy table turned into fragments of gray-white bones. Jiang Yuan scanned from top to bottom. "The victim is 38 years old?" Jiang Yuan picked up a rib and suddenly asked. "The dossier says 38 years." Wang Chuanxing quickly responded. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "This body is probably only 33 years old." Chapter 1312 - 1238 Lying Down

Chapter 1312: Chapter 1238 Lying Down

"Impossible." Yang Yuhui and Xue Dehong hurriedly rushed to Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy room. In a standard autopsy, at least two people are usually present, and often a forensic assistant is required, typically outsourced or temps. At times like this, the forensic assistant naturally can¡¯t bear the responsibility. Yang Yuhui is the forensic doctor responsible for the autopsy in the Bishui South Road Park abandoned corpse case. He graduated from the official forensic major of a formal medical university and is a certified forensic doctor in the Zhengguang Bureau, 35 years old this year. His age is not very old, but Yang Yuhui¡¯s experience is already quite extensive, and he has executed and participated in the autopsies of several major cases. Mistaking the identity of a corpse is definitely an error. On the way over, Yang Yuhui kept recalling this case, and by the time he arrived, his entire face was wrinkled. "Didn¡¯t you take DNA at the time?" Jiang Yuan first asked Yang Yuhui. DNA is the gold standard. If the DNA matches, there wouldn¡¯t be so many issuester on. Yang Yuhui responded with a "hmm" and said, "I took several samples, but I couldn¡¯t extract any DNA. At that time, I specifically took the auditory ossicle from the inner ear and the proximal fingernail, but both yielded no results. I should have taken the cementum from the teeth, but based on the clothes the corpse was wearing and its height, along with the missing person report and the family¡¯s identification, the victim¡¯s identity was confirmed, so no further examination was done... I should have done it once more; it¡¯s not Li Ningxia?" The auditory ossicle in the inner ear is protected by the temporal bone, so DNA degradation is slower there. DNA can be obtained from positions like these in many slightly dposed bodies, but this is considered an advanced DNA extraction technology. A regrb with a budget of three to five million and a couple of fresh graduates is insufficient, and in less developed regions like Shan Nan, samples need to be sent to the provincial bureau. Of course, the facilities at the Beijing Bureau are much better, not only can they work on the auditory ossicle, but also on the cementum when necessary. However, working on cementum is even moreplicated; precautions against contamination need to be taken during extraction, assistance from a dental microscope is required for separation, and attempts are made inboratories with mini-STR technology. The detection rate is low, meaning several teeth have to be ground down. If it¡¯s an unidentified body with an uncertain identity, since the Beijing Bureau has the facilities, cementum analysis should be conducted. If that doesn¡¯t work out, there¡¯s still the Department¡¯s Physical Evidence Appraisal Center, where single-cell whole-genome amplification can challenge samples with longer periods of decay. But everyone who¡¯s worked in the field knows that no one would spend multiple times the time and resources, especially those of a higher authority, to challenge a result when an answer has already been obtained, to ensure nothing is missed. This would only ur in situations like Xu Taining¡¯s wherein one seeds or dies trying. Establishing a corpse¡¯s identity through clothing and personal items is originally part of a forensic doctor¡¯s duty, which even Jiang Yuan frequently practices. A not-so-funny forensic joke: How do you identify a body quickest? Look at their ID card. Especially in the context of Li Ningxia¡¯s disappearance, Yang Yuhui¡¯s performance was above average. However, in criminal investigation, results speak for themselves. Bumping into the culprit is your skill, but being unlucky enough to brush past them sixteen times is your stupidity. A forensic doctor misidentifying a person is uneptable from a task force¡¯s perspective. Jiang Yuan unburdened Yang Yuhui instead: "Based on the bone age, it¡¯s definitely not 38 years old. But since it was your first autopsy and a dposed body, you couldn¡¯t see bone age as I could, etc." Yang Yuhui smiled wryly, feeling a won¡¯t-know-where-to-start kind of frustration, sighed again, and verified first: "The uterus was removed, and I heard you saw the age discrepancy at a nce. From which bone age was that judged?" "Uh... rib and skull, I suppose," Jiang Yuan hesitated slightly. "If you¡¯re determining bone age with the rib and skull..." "Long bones can also reveal it, and even the spine, plus the vicle here..." Jiang Yuan knew what Yang Yuhui wanted to ask, so he started demonstrating with the bones on the spot. Normal forensic doctors in typical operations would use the pubic symphysis to judge age and would need a higher level of understanding in forensic anthropology to resort to additional bones. Yang Yuhui apparently didn¡¯t count as such. But he instantly understood that although Jiang Yuan appeared young, his research in forensic anthropology was impressively strong. Yang Yuhui was silent for a moment, then asked, "What about the clothes? Were they just coincidentally wearing the same outfit?" "It should be the same outfit." Jiang Yuan responded. "This..." Yang Yuhui perked up with a new thought, asked: "Does that suggest the killer had a premeditated n?" "Possibly." Jiang Yuan paused and then slowly said, "There are also some surprising coincidences, like the victim¡¯s body height being the same as Li Ningxia¡¯s." "Ah? This..." Various plots instantly shed through Yang Yuhui¡¯s mind. "The next task is to find the identity of this nameless body." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want to waste time adjusting his colleague, so he shifted the conversation back on course. Yang Yuhui promptly nodded, "I can help..." "Not appropriate." Jiang Yuan immediately refused, needing no further exnation. "Makes sense." A bit embarrassed, Yang Yuhui said a couple of polite lines and quickly left. "We¡¯ll reassureter." Acknowledging Jiang Yuan as his mentor, Zhan Kan stepped up to exin for him in these trivial matters. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t mind, turning again to say: "The missing persons¡¯ list needs to be prepared, and we can see if we match any missing individuals." "The corpse isn¡¯t Li Ningxia¡¯s, which exins why every investigation seemed to hit a wall." Cui Qishan stated with a touch of exasperation, already puzzled as he nced at the files. Investigations into personal rtionships, seeking criminal motives, even image and technical investigations, were all misguided. Liu Jinghui, who had been contemting, said: "The key now is whether Li Ningxia herself is still alive, if she went missing, or was taken away by someone, or perhaps if she is the perpetrator herself? It can¡¯t be merely aplete coincidence, right?" His words made the autopsy room even colder. The deceased was wearing the same style and color clothes and pants as Li Ningxia, had the same height as Li Ningxia, and on the day of the incident, Li Ningxia disappeared. Suggesting the two are unrted would challenge the intelligence of detectives. And missing persons¡¯ oues are often grim. Look at the previous case, missing female university students don¡¯t oftene back alive. Xiao Si then remarked: "I think it¡¯s a passive disappearance. Because if she had autonomy, she would likely find a way to take her assets. Tens of thousands in cash just left in the ount, lying there?" Chapter 1313 - 1239 People Need Hobbies

Chapter 1313: Chapter 1239 People Need Hobbies

"Judging by this, Li Ningxia is still the victim," Cui Qishan agreed with Xiao Si¡¯s assessment. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "If that¡¯s the case, this killer is not simple. Li Ningxia was forced to change clothes with the deceased, and during the stripping process, she was most likely alive. Desperate to survive, she would naturally reveal the bank deposit, and for the killer to endure not taking it is really not easy." Only those who have killed or seen the dead know how messy it can be when someone is killed. It can bepared to a drunk person, who not only vomits like a spray but also like a bubbling spring and a trickling stream. When a person¡¯s muscles start to rx, the leaking fluids are not only from the stomach and intestines but also tears, mucus, and uncontroble feces and urine, along with everything dirty that can be touched around. So, an experienced killer, if he wants to use the clothes on the victim, he had better strip them off while the victim is still alive. Once the person is dead, not only does the body be stiff and difficult to remove, but it¡¯s also easy to get dirty. If not careful, leaving traces would be unsightly. From this judgment, Liu Jinghui already regards the killer as an experienced murderer. As for not withdrawing the money... there could be many reasons, but a killer who gives up tens of thousands of yuan at hand is actually very rare. The detectives have seen many who try their luck at ATMs for just a few thousand. Don¡¯t they know that the ATM cameras will capture them? Most just wear masks and sunsses, trying to conceal the machine and themselves simultaneously. Ordinary people, when faced with nonexistent tens of thousands, might think, "I would never risk withdrawing it," but if someone earns 3,000 monthly, works from dawn till dusk, gets scolded by the boss, criticized by clients, needs to suppress desires when shopping, gets resentment at home, mocked at gatherings, and can¡¯t approach their crush... Any dissatisfaction among these, when connected with a bank card in their pocket containing tens of thousands that can be withdrawn, would they? Those who don¡¯t withdraw it are either poor but resolute or already wealthy. Either way, they are opponents the detectives do not like. Liu Jinghui stopped at this point, those who understand will naturally be more vignt, and those who don¡¯t won¡¯t affect the investigation. Jiang Yuan continued to examine the skeleton. On the other side, the Cold Case Squad and the Fourth Team began gathering missing person reports from various ces forparison. Whether 38 or 33 years old, they belong to the core age of society. The probability of someone this agepletely disappearing from society is quite low. If they suddenly disappear, people around them will usually report it to the police. The only issue is that the case has be a cold case, making the scope slightlyrger. In the evening, Tao Lu and Huang Qiangmin walked arm in arm into the conference room to check on everyone. Jiang Yuan had alsopleted the autopsy, cleaned up, and was sitting quietly in the corner drinking tea. "How is it?" "Is it difficult?" Seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s appearance, both Tao Lu and Huang Qiangmin were astonished. "I¡¯m tired," Jiang Yuan answered simply, then added, "I¡¯m hungry." Both breathed a sigh of relief before their expressions turned stern: Huang Qiangmin shouted, "Wang Chuanxing!" Tao Lu shouted, "Cui Qishan!" Huang Qiangmin & Tao Lu: "What have you guys been doing?" Wang Chuanxing and Cui Qishan exchanged nces, thinking, we¡¯re all so busy... Neither really wanted an answer, and Huang Qiangmin immediately said, "Jiang Yuan, what would you like to eat? Hotpot?" "I don¡¯t feel like eating today, I¡¯m a bit tired." Jiang Yuan had been working on several cases back to back, especially performing autopsies continuously, which may not consume much physical strength, but a lot of mental energy. This case also faced an autopsy error, adding some pressure on Jiang Yuan. If you say the other side¡¯s autopsy has problems, then your own should definitely not have issues, and the best proof of whether any issues arise is solving the case. Seeing Jiang Yuan so exhausted, Huang Qiangmin immediately med Wang Chuanxing, "Look at how tired Jiang Yuan is, and you don¡¯t care at all. That... Wei Shikan, get something over here and charge it to the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s ount." Tao Lu coughed a couple of times, staring at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin chuckled and turned to correct himself, "Charge it to the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s ount." Tao Lu snorted twice and said no more. Spending superior unit¡¯s funds is better than spending one¡¯s own unit¡¯s. Wei Shikan enthusiastically came forward, smiling, "I previously suggested getting some coffee to perk Jiang Yuan up, but he didn¡¯t want it... How about I bring some tonic food for us to eat? I have a buddy who runs a medicinal cuisine restaurant. Nowadays people say Beijing¡¯s food isn¡¯t tasty, but actually, there are two levels in Beijing: the cheapest, most basic things focus on value for money, then there¡¯s the heritage of rich and sumptuous vors..." "Fish maw," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hold back and said directly, "If it¡¯s against the rules, I¡¯ll pay for it myself..." "What rules?!" Tao Lu immediately said, "Staying up all night for a case isn¡¯t against any rules, what¡¯s wrong with eating something? Food is made for consumption, after all. Someone... get me a pork knuckle, arge bowl of rice, and a bowl of kelp soup." It¡¯s fine for Jiang Yuan to eat fish maw, and as the brigade captain, Tao Lu eating a pork knuckle was the limit, so the rest naturally knew where the ceiling was. "Then I¡¯ll take pig¡¯s feet." "Braised pork!" "Do you have stir-fried yellow beef? The spicy kind..." Everyone began ordering, looking very prudent and orderly. Tao Lu nodded with satisfaction. After a while, the conference room was filled with the aroma of food. Jiang Yuan¡¯s fish maw ginseng chicken soup had a rich aroma, but he showed no signs of being modest. As the son of the richest man in Jiang Vige, Jiang Yuan had long been used to people casting envious nces. If he tried to blend in every time, his father¡¯s money might suffer a tiny fraction of loss. After quietly drinking a bowl of soup and zoning out for a while, Jiang Yuan felt his energy somewhat restored. He took out a lunch box, gently opened it, and took out a cervical vertebra to observe and touch it. "Any thoughts?" Cui Qishan came over while gnawing on a chicken w. The previous investigation had gone off track, immensely increasing his pressure. Jiang Yuan rubbed the bone, "This one is cervical vertebra C5, with bone hypersia and a bit of deformation. For a 33-year-old deceased, it¡¯s rather early. From the perspective of forensic anthropology, such early deformation usually results from long-term prolonged behavior. In a ssic scenario, it should be caused by certain athletic activities or professions." "In general?" Cui Qishan picked up on the key point. "Yes," Jiang Yuan sighed, "It could also be from ying with mobile phones¡ª¡¯phubbing.¡¯ That number is toorge to have screening significance. Wei Shikan, listening with great interest, remarked, "So, by this calction, ying on the phone also counts as a physical activity." "For the cervical spine, the pressure is quite significant," Jiang Yuan regrettably put down the cervical vertebra and aligned it with two other vertebrae from the box, "If there were such severe deformations in other areas, it could be directly characterized, but since it¡¯s on the cervical spine, it¡¯s almost unusable." "As a police officer, my cervical spine isn¡¯t good either," Cui Qishan shook his head, "People with desk jobs often have cervical deformities; many have issues during medical checkups." "Yes... and the lumbar spine is the same." Jiang Yuan reced it with a piece of lumbar vertebra, demonstrated it briefly, "This showspensatory hypersia of the vertebral body, typical for industries with prolonged sitting or standing. So now, same situation¡ªnot reference-worthy anymore." Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t help but give a bitter smile, "So, basically, everyone¡¯s issues are with the same parts, which makes identifying people impossible." "Cervical and lumbar vertebrae, yes. But I also noticed that the deceased¡¯s right shoulder joint glenoidbrum showed wear, suggesting frequent use of the rotator cuff muscles. The wrist joint cartge also showed damage. If it were a sport, I think it aligns with racquet sports like badminton..." Jiang Yuan remarked as several detectives around him stopped eating. "Did the deceased enjoy ying badminton?" Liu Jinghui, no longer concerned with eating, immediately squeezed in and asked, "Were they good at it?" "Were they good?" Jiang Yuan found Liu Jinghui¡¯s question a bit strange but replied, "It seems they were the type who often made smashes." "Then they would need a court! And someone to y with; it couldn¡¯t have been a private hobby," Liu Jinghui pped his thigh and said, "Call the families of those missing and directly ask if any of them liked badminton!" Chapter 1314 - 1240: Simple and Popular

Chapter 1314: Chapter 1240: Simple and Popr

ying badminton is considered a rtively simple and popr sport in modern urban areas. If you¡¯re just casually ying, two rackets and a shuttlecock can suffice, and you can y anywhere there¡¯s open space. But to reach a level where your shoulder joints suffer wear and tear, and your wrist joints also wear out and develop hypersia, a standard badminton court is a must. Moreover, unlike basketball courts, which are often outdoors, badminton courts need to be wind-free, so they¡¯re mostly located indoors. This often means there are reservations and fees involved, requiring one to leave a phone number and name. And, of course, the most important thing is the badminton partner. Someone needs to y with you for you to reach the point of bone hypersia. Such a long-term training partner missing is highly likely to be reported to the police. Jiang Yuan waited for less than half a day before a file of someone suspected to be a victim was sent over. "Ye Qianyi, female, teacher at West Back Street Primary School in East Birch City, teaching art. Hobbies include badminton, participated in school badmintonpetitions, and won third ce. Missing for four years and two months, aged 32 at the time of disappearance." Wang Chuanxing read from the PAD. The detectives present all showed thoughtful expressions. The missing woman¡¯s profession and hobby matched Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment, but her disappearance time was much earlier than the estimated time of death. If judged by a normal case, either Jiang Yuan¡¯s assessment of the time of death is inurate, or Ye Qianyi did not die immediately after going missing. This easily reminds one of Li Ningxia. Since the body found at Bishui South Road Park isn¡¯t hers, where is her body? Or where did Li Ningxia go? Wang Chuanxing continued, "Ye Qianyi disappeared on January 20th, just as school had gone on vacation, and her colleagues at work thought she had gone back to her hometown. Subsequent contact was lost, assumed to be due to poormunication or inte connection in her hometown, until almost New Year¡¯s when her family couldn¡¯t reach her and reported her missing at the local police station. Then on the third day of the New Year, they rushed to Beijing to report it again." "What era is this, where can someone¡¯s hometownmunication andwork be so terrible that they lose contact?" Cui Qishan couldn¡¯t stand it. Wang Chuanxing said, "Mongolia." "Hmm..." Cui Qishan scratched his head. Wang Chuanxing coughed twice, then continued, "In short, the investigation into Ye Qianyi¡¯s case was not smooth. Since she had been missing for a while, there wasn¡¯t much surveince around her rented t in East Birch City, and thest known location of her disappearance isn¡¯t confirmed, making it a cold case... We have also notified the police in East Birch City, and they shoulde over today." "East Birch City is a third- or fourth-tier city; the housing price shouldn¡¯t be high, right? A teacher in her 30s still renting a ce?" Cui Qishan questioned. Wang Chuanxing looked down for a couple of moments, saying, "Ye Qianyi was also divorced, without children. Post-divorce, she didn¡¯t take the house but received 220,000 yuan in cash and rented a ce near the school." "What¡¯s your point?" Liu Jinghui, who usually gets asked this question, unexpectedly threw it back. Jiang Yuan immediately turned his head and smiled, "Do you have any ideas?" Liu Jinghui slowly nodded, "Divorce property settlement is something that can easily lead to extreme emotions." "Indeed." "There¡¯s a connection between the two cases, with some simrities..." Liu Jinghui steadied himself and looked at Jiang Yuan, "There¡¯s a high possibility it¡¯s a serial murder case." As soon as he said this, not only Jiang Yuan but even Xiao Si turned to look, "Director Liu, we usually just say a series of murders. Serial murder... that¡¯s only mentioned in detective novels." "Xiao Si!" Cui Qishan pulled Xiao Si aside and whispered, "If you keep digging your grave, I¡¯ll send you to guard the reservoir! Do you not want reinforcements anymore or what?" "I spoke without thinking." Xiao Si immediately apologized to Liu Jinghui, "Sorry, Director Liu..." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t bother with Xiao Si, waved it off, and spoke only to Jiang Yuan, "In any case, let¡¯s connect the cases." "Agreed. I support it." It was the appropriate thing to do; out of respect, Jiang Yuan confirmed it with Tao Lu. Connecting cases involves not just investigation but also jurisdiction issues. Ordinary people often don¡¯t have much of a concept regarding police jurisdiction; they might even think it¡¯s a waste of travel expenses for local police to travel far to investigate, suggesting it would be better to have local police handle it. In such instances, understanding oceanic fishing might offer some insight. In many cases, jurisdiction is decisive. Of course, jurisdiction over this case shouldn¡¯t have too much controversy, and even if there is, Zhengguang Bureau has overwhelmingpetitiveness. Tao Lu nodded lightly in agreement. Then, Jiang Yuan asked, "Does Ye Qianyi have savings? Did it rain in East Birch City from the day of disappearance? Any rainy nights?" Since it¡¯s a connected case, these might be possiblemon points. Wang Chuanxing immediately checked the PAD, "Ye Qianyi had about 220,000 yuan in savings. On the fourth day after herst contact with someone, there was rain, a rainy night." "Is this the murderer¡¯s modus operandi? But where¡¯s the body?" Xiao Si, a very self-centered individual, wasn¡¯t at all affected by the earlier sh. These two questions remained unanswered at this point. Cui Qishan skipped it, "If neither savings ount was touched, the killer might either be wealthy or extremely cautious. Such a person would have fewer ws." "Wealth or cautiousness can also be a selection criterion," Liu Jinghui offered a better perspective. Cui Qishan smiled wryly, "Think of it positively that way." "Both victims have savings; how is the killer selecting his victims?" Liu Jinghui quickly guided everyone into thought and continued asking, "We also mentioned before that the second victim, Li Ningxia, has simple social connections. How did the killer target her? Was it intentional or a spur-of-the-moment crime?" Jiang Yuan and the others stayed silent for a moment, as assumptions without data are tooplex. "Could it be random?" Wei Shikan, holding a coffee cup, leaned against the window like a princely character from a campus novel, took a light sip of coffee, and said, "The two victims indeed have some connection, but what difference does it make whether someone¡¯s savings are over 200,000 or 700,000? Who doesn¡¯t have tens of thousands nowadays? Divorce is somon; maybe the killer just wanted an easy target and randomly chose these two." Several people spontaneously looked at Liu Jinghui. Liu Jinghui, after careful consideration, said, "Although it might appear disconnected, it¡¯s also not incorrect to think this way. The victims have significant savings, yet the killer did not touch the money, indicating he may not have considered this factor necessary. Currently, the victim information is insufficient. I suggest splitting into two teams for in-depth investigation. Especially to delve into Ye Qianyi¡¯s interpersonal rtionships." "And the rainy night," Jiang Yuan, as a forensic doctor, reiterated, "If the killer doesn¡¯t kill on a rainy night, wouldn¡¯t that be wasteful? Was there any other case in East Birch City on that rainy night?" Wang Chuanxing quickly looked through the data, "Yes, there was a homicide discovered five days after the rainy night, which remains unsolved. However, the victim was male." Chapter 1315 - 1241 Slightly Heavy

Chapter 1315: Chapter 1241 Slightly Heavy

Shen Changfeng, carrying a backpack and dragging a suitcase, walked into the high-speed train station with steady yet slow steps. The passengers around him hurriedly rushed past, moving forward swiftly, then cing their luggage onto the conveyor belt of the X-ray security scanner. The ck conveyor belt hummed forward, people moved quickly forward, the rhythm was stable and smooth. Shen Changfeng stopped, and said to the security officer nearby: "The things I brought might be somewhat special, I¡¯m from..." "Hurry up," a passenger behind him urged: "We¡¯re in a rush, soon it¡¯ll be toote." The rhythm of moving forward was interrupted, and the people behind paused, looking ahead. The security officer then also urged: "Put your things on first,e in for inspection." Seeing this, Shen Changfeng didn¡¯t bother saying anything more, he ced his backpack and suitcase separately on the conveyor, passed through the security gate, then said: "I¡¯m from East Birch City..." "Wait a moment,e over here and open the suitcase for a look." The security officer sitting behind the scanner stood up, staring intently at Shen Changfeng. Shen Changfeng sighed, walked over,id the suitcase t, and opened it. Two transparent boxes with blue covers were disyed in front of several people. "What about over here?" The security officer ced one hand on his hip, gesturing for his colleague nearby toe over as well. The security officers in front and behind saw this, and each with one hand on their hips, gathered around and temporarily sealed off the passage. The passengers behind frowned, standing and watching. Shen Changfeng could only pull open the curtain on the other side of the suitcase while saying, "I¡¯m a forensic doctor from East Birch City Bureau, heading to Beijing for work..." Some of the security officers in front were listening to him speak, some were staring at him or the suitcase. As soon as Shen Changfeng opened the curtain, one person immediately eximed "Ah!" "Ah..." Someone among the passengers behind also saw it and shouted. Shen Changfeng stepped back, remaining calm, and repeated: "I¡¯m a forensic doctor from East Birch City Bureau!" This time, even fewer people were listening to him. Because everyone clearly saw that whaty inside the suitcase was aplete skull and several thick bones. For ordinary people, seeing such things, the brain processes slowly, reacts intensely, and uttering something unconsciously is quite normal. "What is this?" The security officer nearby pointed from a distance at the obvious white human skull. "I am a forensic doctor. From East Birch City." Shen Changfeng calmly, seemingly answering off-topic, but he knew from experience that this was what the security officer wanted. Sure enough, the security officer, with his brain briefly frozen, understood, turned pale, and said: "You¡¯re a forensic doctor, so this is a real human head?" "Yes. Just bones." Shen Changfeng tried to exin lightly, repeating: "I am from East Birch City Bureau, these are to be taken to Beijing for testing." The opposite security officer suddenly shivered all over, fixed his gaze on Shen Changfeng, and loudly said: "Your documents!" Shen Changfeng slowly reached into his pocket and took them out. "ce them, put it on top, I¡¯ll look myself." The officer didn¡¯t even take them but used a baton to poke at them. Shen Changfeng let him be. Now he slightly regretted not finding someone. Although there¡¯s a special police station at the high-speed train station, due to Shen Changfeng being a rtively young neer, he didn¡¯t know many people. Finding an acquaintance at the high-speed train station police station would require asking someone to refer him, which was somewhat troublesome. To be fair, the police station at East Birch City¡¯s high-speed train station is a bit tough; Shen Changfeng as a minor officer wouldn¡¯t feelfortable dealing with them, better to just pass through normally. Anyway, the shock wasn¡¯t on him. "Are the other bones human too?" The security officer finished checking the documents, confirming he was indeed a forensic doctor, looking even more ufortable, realizing the bones in front were genuine. Shen Changfeng nodded: "They all are." "Hmm... What else? Turn over below." The security officer suppressed his difort. "9 brain slices, 7 heart slices, 5 lung slices..." Shen Changfeng took out another box pressed below, disying the pathology slices he was transporting. "Ugh..." The security officer barely nced before quickly waving his hand: "Go through security again..." ... When Shen Changfeng arrived in Beijing, his team leader and others were already there. Shen Changfeng was also among the first to see the famed forensic expert from Ningtai County¡ªJiang Yuan. "Forensic Doctor Shen? Shall we arrange the body?" A young forensic doctor came over and greeted Shen Changfeng. "Oh, sure. You are..." Shen Changfeng cautiously asked. "I¡¯m Miao Ruixiang, also a forensic doctor from Ningtai County." Miao Ruixiang smiled likewise. Shen Changfeng immediately nodded: "I know I know, you¡¯re Director Jiang¡¯s junior, Forensic Doctor Miao, nice to meet you." Miao Ruixiang quickly shook his hand. He knew he had gained a bit of reputation, buting to fame like this made him uneasy. Together they arranged the skeleton piece by piece on an autopsy table, making it vaguely resemble a human form. Once they finished arranging, Jiang Yuan followed Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s team leader Cui Qishan, East Birch City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Team 1 leader Li Guangnian, joining them. The crime scene and first autopsy photos of this male corpse had all been seen by Jiang Yuan before. As for the state of being boiled down to bone fragments, it was due to the second post-mortem examination. Indeed, this corpse had already undergone a second post-mortem examination and a forensic anthropology investigation, conducted by experts from the local provincial department. Yet, there are many cases unsolved even by experts. East Birch City Bureau seemed exceptionally proactive, proactive because of outside help, additional due to the major and difficult case, and specifically because it was Jiang Yuan who was called upon. At this moment, Li Guangnian¡¯s eyes appeared particrly bright, he hoped that the esteemed Jiang Yuan, upon seeing the corpse, would demonstrate extraordinary skills, shining brightly, swiftly solving the case that troubled the entire bureau for several months, freeing everyone¡¯s burden and granting peace to the victim¡¯s family... Jiang Yuan carefully examined the skeleton. Various photos he had just seen, and were fresh in memory, but the difference between the photos and the actual object was rather significant. Not that it¡¯s undoable, but the information that actual objects bring is vastly more. Not to mention the difference between two-dimensional and three-dimensional perspectives, the distinction in real-time operations is also extremelyrge. Especially for a forensic expert like Jiang Yuan, facing tangible objects at the scene, any doubts can be explored or cut on the spot or resorting to X-ray machines and other devices, whereas photos and videos fall short. Moreover, sticity, dposition degree, blood distribution, or other aspects in different states may require forensic touch to ascertain. Different shooting angles, colors, lighting, and resolution can often conceal details, like mild subcutaneous bleeding, or seemingly trivial normal subcutaneous bleeding doesn¡¯t hinder processes, but what about subcutaneous bleeding of the genitalia or eye area. Some hidden needle holes, bleeding spots, or wounds can often entirely disrupt a post-mortem result. On the whole, there¡¯s a vast difference between evaluating via image and performing a physical post-mortem, akin to the difference between evaluating a fetish target via image vs physical touch, appearing equally hairy, yet feeling decidedly different in softness, texture, and moistness. Jiang Yuan examined from top to bottom, varying speed. Shen Changfeng,paring his examination conclusions, secretly assessed. Hyoid bone, vicle, cervical vertebrae, ribs, sternum, lumbar vertebrae... Jiang Yuan did not speak during the first round of inspection, to avoid potential misinformation to the rtively unfamiliar East Birch City criminal police officers. This on the contrary made Li Guangnian and others more tense, as he, being the team leader, was responsible for overseeing the entire case, and couldn¡¯t help walking over to Shen Changfeng, and softly asked: "How do you think it looks?" "There¡¯s no quick conclusion for this." Despite being a young forensic doctor, Shen Changfeng had the basic knowledge, softly exining: "Forensic anthropology is inherently difficult to judge, many key points require meticulous judgment to determine the cause, now merely observing at the scene, directly providing conclusions isn¡¯t feasible..." Li Guangnian nodded in agreement, softly patting Shen Changfeng¡¯s shoulder twice to express acknowledgment. "It¡¯s definitely the same perpetrator." Jiang Yuan raised his head, providing a conclusion. Li Guangnian¡¯s hand, unconsciously, patted once again on Shen Changfeng¡¯s shoulder, slightly heavier. This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om Chapter 1316 - 1242 Blade

Chapter 1316: Chapter 1242 de

"The murderer wielded the knife in his right hand, stabbing the victim¡¯s abdomen and neck consecutively. Judging from the photos and bone fragments, the pration was deep and forceful. The rib injuries are on the right side, front to back, slightly downward, indicating a frontal stab with the knife tip pointing downward. The cervical spine injuries are at the front, with the stab direction from top to bottom, suggesting the murderer was above the victim, or the victim was lying on his back." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he moved his fingers, prompting Miao Ruixiang to quickly jot down notes. Shen Changfeng was momentarily taken aback, realizing only when the captain beside him patted his shoulder again. He took out a notebook and started recording, still somewhat bewildered¡ªhow did a simple situation suddenly turn into a verbal autopsy report? Moreover, it was such a professional analysis. Wasn¡¯t it a bit too straightforward? Shouldn¡¯t there be multiple verifications? Thinking it over, Shen Changfeng wasn¡¯t sure what to record, his eyes inadvertently drifting to the bone fragments in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. These bones emerged from his own care; he had examined many bones several times. To speak truthfully, he could recite Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis from memory, yet connecting the traces on bone fragments with those described in books posed a challenge. Most people¡¯s bones, like people themselves, were far from pristine. "Therefore, the murderer likely first stabbed the victim¡¯s abdomen, thrusting downward... The victim fell, and he continued the attack toward the neck, resulting in such marks," Jiang Yuan concluded, demonstrating the positions on-site. Cui Qishan observed and couldn¡¯t help but say, "So, the murderer is quite tall then? Taller by twenty or thirty centimeters than the victim? How tall was the victim?" "The victim was approximately 1.72 meters tall," Li Guangnian, the captain of the first squad of the East Birch City Criminal Police Brigade, promptly replied. Upon hearing this, Cui Qishan¡¯s eyes lit up like Sherlock Holmes: "Given these calctions, the murderer is likely over 1.9 meters tall, possibly a giant two meters tall? If this were the case, those who encountered him might actually remember him, though it¡¯s been a while. With the right guidance... at the very least, he should stand out in surveince videos." "It¡¯s also possible that the victim was seated when the murderer killed him," Jiang Yuan interrupted Cui Qishan¡¯s optimistic spection, adding, "The oblique scratch on the right eighth rib and the front edge of the lumbar vertebrae indicates an angle of about 20 degrees downward. There¡¯s no damage to the xiphoid process of the sternum, suggesting the murderer was standing while the victim was seated." The spark in Cui Qishan¡¯s eyes, akin to learning a prospective match was unavable, quickly extinguished. "Nor did it imply the murderer was 20 centimeters taller than the victim seated," Xiao Siju extrapted, "The murderer might have been bent over to stab." "Indeed, it¡¯s difficult to determine the murderer¡¯s height," Jiang Yuan nodded. While the others conversed, Shen Changfeng¡¯s eyes kept edging closer to the bone fragments in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, gradually contorting himself into a peculiar shape. "What oddity are you up to?" Li Guangnian pped him with a "pop." Shen Changfeng was nearly shocked into ventricr fibrition, his gluteus muscles contracting involuntarily, "I mean the right eighth rib bone." Jiang Yuan heard him and handed it over to Shen Changfeng. Shen Changfeng took it somewhat shyly, examining it under the light while musing softly, "The mark... doesn¡¯t seem very sharp at the edges." "It¡¯s indeed easy to confuse," Jiang Yuan recognized that ordinary forensic doctors could not reach the Level 1 forensic anthropology technology. This wasn¡¯t a disparagement; forensic anthropology is inherently challenging, and its real-world application isn¡¯t broad for ordinary forensic doctors, more like assembly for programmers¡ªa mastery could be considered impressive, while ignorance is normal. In earlier times, forensic experts might frequently encounter dposing bodies of old cases without systematic training, resulting in low proficiency in forensic anthropology. Nowadays, forensic experts predominantly face injury identification rted to abnormal deaths like suicides and traffic incidents. asionally, passionate murder cases ur, but it¡¯s mainly the forensic experts in big cities who perform dozens of autopsies a year. For forensic experts like Shen Changfeng, ordinary murder cases merely require standard autopsies; forensic anthropology is actually unnecessary. Seeing Shen Changfeng¡¯s interest, Jiang Yuan said, "Typically, it¡¯s indeed helpful to have sharp edges for identifying marks as sharp instrument stab wounds. However, this case has two points: Firstly, the weapon itself might not be particrly sharp; it could be an unsharpened blunt knife or something else. Secondly, you could perform a SEM analysis." Shen Changfengughed awkwardly, "We don¡¯t have a scanning electron microscope." Even inexpensive scanning electron microscopes cost tens of thousands, but government procurement doesn¡¯t operate based on these figures. Different districts allocate budgets differently for police stations andbs, and the majority do not have scanning electron microscopes. At the county bureau level, Jiang Yuan knew this point and nodded kindly, "Then use a stereomicroscope¡ªit mainly examines the bottom trabece. If uniformly severed without signs of erosion, it¡¯s a knife mark; if irregr, it might be animal bite traces. Nheless, this mark is rtively difficult to judge and can bebined with other wounds for assessment." Initially expecting rebuke, Shen Changfeng felt relieved by Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation and regained confidence, "For example, the lumbar vertebrae, with traces on the anterior edge from L1 to L3, but the marks seem oblique." "The murderer stirred the weapon," Jiang Yuan said calmly. Shen Changfeng immediately visualized, "Stabbing in, then swirling it around?" "Yes, swirling facilitates knife retrieval," Jiang Yuan remarked with a colder expression, "The victim was quite fit. Since the murderer wielded a sharp de, after stabbing his abdomen, he likely had the strength to resist. Hence, the murderer might have swirled the knife vigorously during resistance episodes, causing pain to weaken resistance, allowing the murderer to retrieve the knife and stab the neck, rupturing the trachea and causing blood to flood into the lungs, leading to mechanical asphyxia." "In this case, the location where the body was found is merely a disposal site, not the primary scene?" Li Guangnian, simting Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions, remarked somberly. Jiang Yuan nodded, incidentally exining to Li Guangnian, "Forensic anthropology is rtively specialized." If each bone in the body supports a month¡¯s lifespan, examining the 200-odd bones is like investigating a person¡¯s 200-plus months of life, examining them to discern issues or even causes of death. Simr to the right eighth rib, it signifies experiencing a major setback at the fifteenth month of a person¡¯s fifteenth year, leaving a mark. On the bones, it corresponds to a scratch. For forensic experts, finding this scratch is one task; discerning its nature is another; finally, confirming it as a knife wound isn¡¯t as easy as perceived. When exposed externally, a corpse faces various challenges: insects, mice, birds, stray cats and dogs might all harm the body¡ªit isn¡¯t enough to see scratches and conclude it as sharp weapon injuries. Naturally, Li Guangnianprehended Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, smiling, "Regarding this case, we¡¯ve actually consulted other experts, but none analyzed it so clearly. At that time, the experts praised Shen, saying he preserved the scene well, but unfortunately, it urred during a rainy day..." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue discussing the other experts, turning instead, "I think this case can attempt starting with the weapon." Li Guangnian promptly responded, "Please go on." Jiang Yuan said, "Firstly, the case¡¯s nature doesn¡¯t resemble a premeditated murder; it¡¯s messier than the other two rainy night cases. Thus, this case could hint at a less advanced state of the perpetrator, whereas the other two exhibited progression at least from a procedural standpoint. Of course, the difference in victim gender affects resistance intensity..." "Changing gender can also be an upgrade method," Liu Jinghui interjected, "Once you¡¯ve killed, you realize killing women is easier than killing men." Everyone present nodded lightly. Jiang Yuan continued, "From this perspective, the murderer¡¯s weapon could potentially be an unprofessional tool. For this, I¡¯ll need to return and sketch out confirmations. For now, I suggest focusing investigations on the victim¡¯s activities in the days leading up to death, including contact with others..." Chapter 1317 - 1243: Turbulent Storm Clouds

Chapter 1317: Chapter 1243: Turbulent Storm Clouds

"Oh, suddenly I feel all stirred up!" Li Guangnian rubbed Shen Changfeng¡¯s neck, speaking with much emotion, "Rainy night killings, there have been three victims, the killer¡¯s methods are brutal, and they have a strong anti-investigation awareness. The bodies found so far are all in a state of dposition, Director Jiang himself has not participated in the first autopsy, yet... but..." Shen Changfeng, having been trained by his captain for years, immediately called out reflexively, "Yes, yes, stirred up! Emotions have be agitated." "Then stay here and apany Director Jiang, quickly help with whatever needs to be done, and handle any connections needed," Li Guangnian quickly issued a string ofmands. "Yes." Shen Changfeng habitually undertook the tasks without a slightest bargain. "Director Jiang, we¡¯ll go investigate the situation in the days before the victim¡¯s death." Li Guangnian smiled and said his farewell. "Make sure to pay attention to his surrounding people¡¯s upations. Especially those who mighte in contact with various knives, and their hobbies should also be noted." Jiang Yuan reminded. "I understand. Nowadays, some people like to y with knives and guns, just like some otakus who can¡¯t understand Gundam and start buying Frostmourne, what Warcraft peripherals are good to buy..." Li Guangnian said a few words, waved his hand, and left. Cui Qishan and the others also gradually left. Once Shen Changfeng and the others left, the room was left with only Jiang Yuan, Miao Ruixiang, Mu Zhiyang, Wen Ming, and a corpse, Shen spoke quietly, "Our captain really admires Director Jiang, he used to talk about your stories before he had the chance to meet you, and now he met you, he¡¯s especially excited..." "I could tell, he seems to hit you quite hard." Mu Zhiyang closed the door of the dissection room and had the space to make a jibe. Shen Changfeng hurriedly said, "Looks painful, but actually not that painful, and all familiar ces, all got used to it." "This can be considered workce bullying." Mu Zhiyang said. Shen Changfeng quickly shook his head, "No, our captain is a post-80s, an old Otaku, he does things ording to the temte of Akagi Gangai, in fact, he¡¯s quite nice to me." Mu Zhiyang pursed his lips, "You should resist when you need to." Miao Ruixiang next to them asked curiously, "What is Akagi Gangai?" "A character from the manga ¡¯m Dunk.¡¯" Shen Changfeng exined. Miao Ruixiang expressed understanding, "In ¡¯m Dunk,¡¯ what is it about?" ... When Jiang Yuan performed the first autopsy on the male corpse, he took out all photos involving wounds and ced them in front to read them carefully. In murder investigations, the weapon is always of utmost importance, Jiang Yuan, when he was younger, faced such tight funding in Ningtai County, Huang Qiangmin would drain the small river to find the weapon, Shen Yaowei also once searched through heaps of garbage to find it. A murder case is not clear just because police say it is, how can you say it¡¯s clear without finding the weapon! Especially during submission to inspection, during the court phase, the absence of a weapon represents two different circumstances. Not to mention domestically, taking the USA for example, without the weapon, how do you ensure that American police didn¡¯t use the Great Recovery Technique, how do you ensure the suspect wasn¡¯t tortured? How do you ensure the foolish American police wouldn¡¯t make investigation errors, wouldn¡¯t make mistakes substituting one for another? Of course, having a weapon doesn¡¯t necessarily prove everything, it requires a chain of numerous pieces of evidence, including the weapon, to prove the case. In murder investigations, the weapon often acts as a key, especially in such chaotic situations, with many traces on the corpse washed away by rainwater, the night and suburbs also hinder surveince, at this time, finding the weapon would naturally bring a series of clues. Especially with this male corpse, when Jiang Yuan realized the wounds weren¡¯t caused by professional-grade des, he already decided to try finding the weapon. By professional-grade des, Jiang Yuan actually meant ordinary des, more likely ordinary des owned by professionals rather than professional-grade des owned by ordinary people. For Jiang Yuan, who possesses "Trace Examination-Tool Mark Examination (LV6)," this was the easiest clue to investigate further. Although the wounds made by the killer were not easily resembling the shape of the weapon due to interference, it wouldn¡¯t be more than LV3 to LV4 difficulty. If it¡¯s a single autopsy, using methods like injection or scanning, Jiang Yuan estimated it could be a LV3 great aplishment, paired with a max-level LV2 unit with funding, basically an approximate conclusion could be reached. Unfortunately, the first autopsy was handled by Shen Changfeng. This is no surprise, even East Birch City isn¡¯t much better than Qinghe City, when Jiang Yuan is not in Ningtai County, the local forensic doctor was either Miao Ruixiang or Wu Jun, simrly, circumstances aren¡¯t much better there. Pathological autopsies aren¡¯t hard themselves, once nausea and vomiting problems are tackled, ordinary forensic science grads get proficient in about a year and a half of practice, daily post-mortem reports can be written fluently. The key is murder cases are hard to find, serial killers even rarer. Even though Shen Changfeng dreams of encountering a major case in his dreams, dealing with it swiftly and receiving apuse from colleagues and otaku, his daily work involves car ident deaths, suicide deaths, idental deaths, which means his entire career operates like a cog in society, suddenly, a slightly decayed corpse appeared before him... Expecting Shen Changfeng to make judgements was already challenging, expecting him to cover all bases would be unrealistic. Fortunately, Shen Changfeng¡¯s basic operations were standardized, photos were taken where necessary, and post-mortem examinations were video-recorded from start to finish. A benefit of young people who graduate from technical schools, especially from good schools, regardless of how fervent inside, they can always maintain poise and finish basic tasks. However, expecting him to deduce the weapon¡¯s shape from the wound shape shouldn¡¯t be demanded from any forensic doctor. A typical forensic doctor needs 10,000 hours to develop a LV3 skill, but today¡¯s corpse requires deducing the weapon shape, tomorrow¡¯s corpse needs skull restoration, and the day after tomorrow¡¯s corpse calls for forensic anthropology, how could grassroots units have such people. Aside from Jiang Yuan and various Eight Tigers. As for the experts following from East Birch City, there should be one with a tool assessment level above LV3, or they wouldn¡¯t be called experts. However, tool assessment difficulty for this corpse was high to begin with, and the difficulty of second autopsies increased even more,bined with dposition factors, even significantly LV4 could be less effective. Yet, these weren¡¯t difficult for Jiang Yuan. Besides LV6 Trace Examination-Tool Mark Examination, Jiang Yuan also had LV4 Skull Restoration Skill, LV5 Image Enhancement Technology, LV5 Image Recognition and Analysis, thetter three involving modeling, far moreplex than assessing a weapon. He could handle all those tasks, but the steps required shouldn¡¯t be skipped. Jiang Yuan first needed to screen the photos, not only those involving wounds but also considering lens and distortion control¡ªShen Changfeng managed toplete the photo task calmly, which ismendable, but still some way from LV2 Crime Photography. After screening the photos and evaluating them for quality, Jiang Yuan then undertook data calibration for the necessary photos, calcting actual length corresponding to each pixel, and finally choosing a reference point to align multi-angle photos spatially. When performing this step, Jiang Yuan used Agisoft-Metashape. It was during this step a child studying hard and eagerly taking notes beside him quietly sighed. Until Jiang Yuan began two-dimensional feature extraction,menced parameter modeling, then opened ImageJ, analyzing tissue tear direction to reconstruct stirred trajectories, Shen Changfeng broke intoughter. Chapter 1318 - 1244 Electrician’s Knife

Chapter 1318: Chapter 1244 Electrician¡¯s Knife

When Li Guangnian saw Shen Changfeng again, he found Shen Changfeng lying on the sofa ying with his phone, looking just like an old detective with over five years of experience. This image is really something! Li Guangnian frowned slightly and coughed lightly: "What¡¯s going on?" "Boss!" Shen Changfeng tossed his phone aside and lunged forward. Li Guangnian quickly blocked him with his hand and then stared at Shen Changfeng with the eyes of an old detective for a few seconds, seriously asking, "What¡¯s happened? Got into trouble?" "No." Shen Changfeng¡¯s excitement waspletely blocked by the captain¡¯s three-dimensional arms, so his animated nature couldn¡¯t contain his emotions, which ironically made him quite fitting for a detective. "Did Director Jiang... bully you?" Li Guangnian¡¯s mind shed with some scenes that were not suitable to discuss at the moment. Recalling what he had seen and heard recently, Shen Changfeng sighed, "No, I was just helping Director Jiang with the 3D printer, a bit tired." "3D printer, Director Jiang is into that too?" Li Guangnian was surprised. Shen Changfeng: "Boss, is there a possibility that the 3D printer wasn¡¯t designed for printing models?" "Did you use the 3D printer to print models?" The detective captain, born in the ¡¯80s, didn¡¯t follow up, just kept asking questions. "No, we used the 3D printer to print weapons, potential murder weapons." Shen Changfeng said. "Was it printable? Did you figure out what the murder weapon was?" Li Guangnian finally caught the key point. Shen Changfeng: "Director Jiang thinks it¡¯s an electrician¡¯s knife." Li Guangnian¡¯s gaze instantly turned as sharp as Akagi Gangai: "Impressive, he actually found it? An electrician¡¯s knife means the job is rted to electrical work, or there should be someone connected to that industry at home..." Saying that, Li Guangnian took out his phone. Shen Changfeng looked at his actions and said coldly, "Boss, do you know RealityCapture?" "What?" Li Guangnian looked baffled. "I asked the same question when I first heard of it, with the same expression." Shen Changfeng shook his head slightly, "RealityCapture is a 3D reconstruction software, used to generate the morphology of wounds and surrounding tissues, and it uses Poisson surface reconstruction algorithms to create smooth surfaces..." "What?" "Exactly like that!" Shen Changfeng nodded in agreement and continued, "And there¡¯s ANSYS, a finite element analysis software, used to import models and assign material properties, for example, muscle is 0.5 to 1 MPa..." Li Guangnian, however, understood and gently patted Shen Changfeng¡¯s back, saying, "You know, in many anime, the protagonist often encounters an all-powerful boss within just a few Chapters. The boss can easily shatter a tower that the protagonist went to great lengths to build, but not long after, the protagonist will stand tall in front of the boss..." "You¡¯ve said this before, boss." Shen Changfeng was touched when he first heard such stories, but after learning that the captain had a repertoire of such stories, he remained calm. Li Guangnian obviously wasn¡¯t encountering this situation for the first time either, and after clearing his throat twice, said, "Then let me tell you another one..." After finishing, without waiting for Shen Changfeng¡¯s response, Li Guangnian said, "Go see Director Jiang, I¡¯ll inform the family. This evidence about the electrician¡¯s knife is very valuable!" ... With this clue, not only was Li Guangnian¡¯s team mobilized, but the entire Criminal Police Brigade of East Birch City was deployed, with the brigade leader personally leading the search for various pieces of evidence. In East Birch City, this rainy night murder case was already taken very seriously, having gone through the hands of former experts, now that it was in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hands, everyone understood that this was basically thest chance for direct investigation. If Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t solve the case, there was little hope left in expecting any other expert to be brought in. In fact, inviting other experts to participate in the direct investigation might not even be considered a trap by thetter, and they¡¯d be unlikely to get involved unless some crucial evidence surfaced, like the murder weapon appearing spontaneously or a suspect confessing... It¡¯s like a test paper; seeing the top 10 students in the grade attempt it and not pass, there seems no point in trying yourself. It¡¯s not a free trial; failing again is likely to invite ridicule and potentially lead to a loss of substantial interest... Of course, these are all future concerns; for the Criminal Police Brigade of East Birch City, they are currently in the thick of solving the case and naturally giving it their all. The victim¡¯s identity is clear, a sales personnel at a small tradingpany, not much opportunity toe into contact with electrician¡¯s knives in the job, so the police turned their attention to their personal life and friends. At this time, thepany manager Zhang Zhanjun, who had previously been listed as a suspect, was ced under a microscope. "Suspect Zhang Zhanjun, male, 46 years old, with a bachelor¡¯s degree, is the boss of thepany Qin Rui worked for. Graduated in electrical engineering and its automation, has worked as an electrician." When Li Guangnian got this information, he immediately went to find Jiang Yuan, saying, "He was thest person among Qin Rui¡¯s colleagues to see Qin Rui, and we¡¯ve already taken his statement." Needless to say, with the entry of having worked as an electrician, everyone approached this as a serious threat. Jiang Yuan asked, "How was he eliminated as a suspect?" "The time of Qin Rui¡¯s death is uncertain; it may have been a few days after disappearance. Zhang Zhanjun provided an alibi. Furthermore, Qin Rui and Zhang Zhanjun reportedly didn¡¯t have much interaction, at least ording to their colleagues." Li Guangnian paused, then looked at his notebook again and said, "We also asked Technical Investigation and Image Investigation to check phones and surveince; Qin Rui should have returned to the rented apartment that day andter left again." Stopping here, Li Guangnian paused: "However, if you consider Qin Rui and Zhang Zhanjun together, Qin Rui staying overtime that day wasn¡¯t required. On thest day, the only ones working overtime at thepany were boss Zhang Zhanjun and sales Qin Rui, which feels off." Liu Jinghui scanned the rted information at this point and said, "Zhang Zhanjun has moved thepany to Beijing. His focus has been on Beijing over the past two to three years." "Bring him in for questioning first." Jiang Yuan expressed no further doubts. Li Guangnian was surprised: "Shouldn¡¯t we investigate the periphery first? The suspect probably doesn¡¯t know we¡¯ve zeroed in on him. As a boss with apany in Beijing, he might have connections, shouldn¡¯t we arrest him with more evidence?" With his case at stake here, he had to voice his concerns. "The suspect himself is the best evidence." Jiang Yuan dered decisively, "Bring him in to record footprints and fingerprints, collect DNA, and log his gait. Run through the surveince videos around thest two cases to see if he appears nearby." Liu Jinghui nodded in agreement, "He might be thest eyewitness, has relevant electrical experience, and also has the means, appearing in both East Birch City and Beijing. The level of suspicion is already very high. I rmend conducting a surprise inspection of his property andpany assets!" Chapter 1319 - 1245 Surprise Attack

Chapter 1319: Chapter 1245 Surprise Attack

"Check your equipment, tighten up, confirm your weapons... let¡¯s go!" Jiang Yuan was neatly dressed, checked thoroughly by a few people, then came running out of the car. The initially suspected victim, Li Ningxia, was still missing. In this situation, Jiang Yuan preferred to arrive at the scene as quickly as possible. Whether it was a scene investigation or suspect interrogation, or making any coordination decisions, it would be more prompt and urate. Mu Zhiyang wore heavy body armor, with ceramic tes inserted in front and back, neck protected by a cor, shoulder guards added, holding a transparent round shield and a pistol, ready to block a barrage of shots. Wen Ming carried a 09-style shotgun, wore only a bulletproof vest, with a pistol holstered at his waist, also staying close to Jiang Yuan, sharply scanning the surroundings. Cui Qishan, Xiao Si, and a group of Beijing Bureau¡¯s criminal police wore bulletproof vests, while the rest in stab-resistant clothing, nearly half unarmed. On-sitemander Cui Qishan: "Tanglu Xing Trading Co., Ltd. It¡¯s this building, the 6th floor. Suspect¡¯s phone is in the room, check the photos carefully... One group to the elevator, two to the fire passage, three waits downstairs, seal off the entrance. Captain Jiang?" He politely asked. Jiang Yuan nodded. "Let¡¯s go." Cui Qishan led the way into the elevator. People behind either squeezed into the elevator or ascended the stairs, all in silence. Arresting a major offense suspect, the police get nervous, not worrying about losing the fight but the suspect escaping or dying. Some major offenders know their issues, pre-designing strange escape routes at home or work. Some routes obviously unsafe; they consider themselves Jackie Chan; somezy ones don¡¯t even test, and when the cops raid, they mess up. They can¡¯t be Jackie Chan, but it¡¯s troublesome for involved police. The most foolish challenge a troop of armed police; during confrontation, a slip-up, and cops might face scrutiny, making such dangerous actions nerve-wracking for all police involved. The elevator quietly opened, criminal detectives from the fire passage silently positioned first at Tanglu Xing Trading Co., Ltd¡¯s office area. A small-scale tradingpany, about thirty workstations, separating three transparent rooms, only a dozen employees present in roughly 200 square meter space, ten-plus police filled window spots. "What¡¯s happening?" Employees sensed issues, some nervously rose, others quickly deleted browser history, some calmly packed office figurines into bags. "We¡¯re from Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad." Xiao Si showed ID, "Stay seated, hands away from keyboard and mouse..." Not an economic case; they¡¯re less worried about electronic evidence. Attention focused on thepany boss, Zhang Zhanjun. Sitting alone in his office, wearing just a T-shirt, showing workout signs but age lines clear; like an old-generation man in his forties, a weathered, rugged look. Jiang Yuan followed Cui Qishan inside, filling the small office with several police. "What¡¯s your name?" Only when two strong detectives were ready did Cui Qishan holster his gun and ask. Zhang Zhanjun pinned in his chair, unable to stand. He nced at the surrounding police, suddenly chuckled, "Interesting, running into my office, asking my name?" His tone impliesck of government experience. Cui Qishan ignored his feelings, forcibly raised his face, matched with his photo, nodded backward, asked again, "What¡¯s your name? Quickly!" As he questioned, nearby police started handcuffing him. Unprepared ones already panicked. Zhang Zhanjun momentarily flustered, quickly calmed, "Can I make a phone call?" "State your name first." This step is crucial, like nurses constantly confirming patients¡¯ names when injecting, or drivers asking st four digits" when riding, to prevent errors. Mistakes abound¡ªmost correct, but even one ident a year affects the whole team, thus preventive measures are vital. Even Cui Qishan, holding the suspect¡¯s photo, noted dissimrities in Zhang Zhanjun today, needing to confirm through facial features, fearing adrenaline-induced errors. "Zhang Zhanjun." The handcuffed Zhang Zhanjun finally answered, "Why are you arresting me?" No one answered. Police persisted, "Where¡¯s your phone? How many phones in total? Tell the truth!" "Any safes? Keys?" "Phone password?" Zhang Zhanjun began non-violent resistance, silently watching cops busy themselves. Jiang Yuan now released by Mu Zhiyang, said, "Walk a few steps." Zhang Zhanjun puzzled but had no choice, handcuffed, took a few steps. Cui Qishan anticipated, "How¡¯s it look?" Jiang Yuan pondered, "Can¡¯t tell." Cui Qishan sternly, "Remove handcuffs?" "Hmm... no rush." Jiang Yuan rmended, "Collect footprints first, with shoes and then without." On Jiang Yuan¡¯s cue, detectives swarmed, led Zhang Zhanjun across therger room, removed shoes, gathered prints despite dirt and smell. Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s feet wide and high, typical of Northern Chinese traits, suffering thumb valgus from long-term hard-soled shoe wear. Jiang Yuan noted, flipped Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s hand repeatedly. When the killer stabbed male victims, his action range was limited by hand and arm; little academic foundation exists; unlikely topleteparison, yet insights gained. Especially Jiang Yuan reenacted the weapon, gaining clear impressions of the day¡¯s actions, potentially more detailed than the killer¡¯s own memories. "Take him away," Jiang Yuan,cking elimination factors, mentally eased. On cue, Cui Qishan escorted Zhang Zhanjun. Once out of sight, Cui whispered, "Is it the same person?" "Below identification norms. How¡¯s the house search?" "No one found, but several electrician¡¯s knives uncovered, unlike your 3D printed weapon model. Look..." Cui showed his phone. Jiang Yuan zeroed in on an old-style electrician¡¯s knife, "Matching one; 3D print was spection, didn¡¯t cover all visuals. de length and tip curvature match!" "Weapons not disposed of?" Xiao Si suspiciously said. "Serial killers¡¯ minds are twisted," Liu Jinghui contemted, "If weapons remain, missing women might be too." Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m Chapter 1320 - 1246 Wreckage

Chapter 1320: Chapter 1246 Wreckage

The interrogation of Zhang Zhanjun made no progress, basically yielding no information. This is quite rare; it¡¯s not simply a case of resistance but a situation that only arises from specialized training. Under normal circumstances, people in the interrogation room have their guard up. No suspect willingly epts interrogation, but normal people, even in silence, inadvertently reveal a lot of information. Even silence can provide the police with feedback through information delivery and facial observation, leading to many answers. However, Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s silence could truly be expressionless, which is remarkable. Nevertheless, for someone like Liu Jinghui, who belongs to the reasoning ss, high professionalism is also extremely useful information. This not only increases Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s suspicion but also requires intensifying the effort to gather evidence. It can be imagined that someone like Zhang Zhanjun is probably adept at hiding evidence. You cannot judge his level of concealing evidence and hiding the truth by viewing him as an ordinarypany boss. Liu Jinghui briefly shared his thoughts and told Cui Qishan: "I think we need the involvement of technical investigation. Also, we should study Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s car, including graphic investigation. At least map out Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s daily itinerary, preferably for a month, but at least for 7 days." He still harbored the hope that the victim might be alive during his analysis. Cui Qishan agreed without hesitation and said, "I¡¯ll apply to Director Tao, it should be fine." "If possible, it would be best to also study Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s expenses, to see how the money flows. For someone like him, it¡¯s difficult for us to guess his thoughts, but when he does something, he has to spend money. Evenmitting crimes is quite expensive," Liu Jinghui acknowledged that his requests were demanding but still made them. Cui Qishan nced at Jiang Yuan and nodded again: "I¡¯ll let Director Tao know, Director Liu. Your requests will most likely be approved by him." Liu Jinghui felt gratified. In the past, such a request would not have been agreed to so readily by the Criminal Police Brigade of any prefecture-level city in Shannan Province. The Criminal Police Brigade is an independent unit, as are the technical and graphic investigation brigades and squads. Applying for resources is not impossible, but coordination isn¡¯t always straightforward. Many leaders prefer to take things slow rather than readily agreeing. Of course, the most critical factor remains funding expenditures. Having captured the man means the main part of the case is done, and aimless searches and expenses clearly aren¡¯t practical. Even when Liu Jinghui used to operate with the provincial agency¡¯s budget and reputation, the local criminal police teams had their struggles, especially those smaller teams with LV1-level budgets that had to raise funds independently for case work. Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, meanwhile, operates at LV5 funding level. While the entire Beijing Bureau might be at an entry-level LV4, Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s reputation has been growing over the past year, allowing it to secure more funds, with the Criminal Police Brigade receiving significant resources, enabling them to fully fund such cases. Tao Lu¡¯s response came swiftly, and resources were allocatedrgely ording to Liu Jinghui¡¯s requests. Jiang Yuan apanied the team to the Graphic Investigation Brigade. Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s gait data had already been recorded, allowing it to be put into software to search surveince videos. Zhang Zhanjun could remain silent in the interrogation room, but he couldn¡¯t stop walking. The Graphic Investigation gathered surveince videos from different locations and times in ces like Beijing and East Birch City, along with some non-standard videos collected by the special task force at the time, all fed into the software to screen for videos where Zhang Zhanjun appeared. Cross-referencing this video data with the conclusions from the technical investigation can essentially determine Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s whereabouts during a given period. In fact, if it were about ordinary people, the once-brilliant "cross-time interaction" technology could already describe someone¡¯s activities throughout the day. Since ordinary people constantly carry their phones, the phone¡¯s location is essentially their location. But Zhang Zhanjun had counter-investigation experience, often not carrying a phone or using another phone, a habit gradually catching on among many elite professionals in public and business sectors. Due to the missing nk periods, the police paid more attention to this, requiring coboration with graphic investigation to depict it fully. Although the steps sound tedious, they truly were tedious, requiring immense manpower and resources. Resolving one case would take two ssrooms full of officers, butpared to previously being unable to act, it was a happy dilemma. In the evening. While Jiang Yuan was eating hot pot, data from all parties waspiled. A warehouse located in the outskirts, frequently visited by Zhang Zhanjun, appeared before everyone. "The warehouse is under the name of a 38-year-old male named Li Long. The phone with the same name frequently coincides with Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s in terms of phone calls and location. Preliminary judgment suggests that Li Long might have sold his ID," Xiao Sipiled the information and reported to Cui Qishan and Jiang Yuan. "Having a warehouse under a tradingpany¡¯s name is normal, but if it¡¯s under someone else¡¯s name... that¡¯s not too umon either," Cui Qishan summarized before changing direction, saying, "Wang Chao, take three people and investigate it?" "I¡¯ll go along," Liu Jinghui put down his chopsticks and added, "I¡¯ll take a few more people too." Jiang Yuan understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s intention and directly named, "Shen Yaowei, Tang Jia, and Gao Yuyan... you go with Director Liu." He deliberately picked two female officers, making it more convenient in case they found the missing Li Ningxia. Liu Jinghui nodded and stood up to leave. Shen Yaowei was invigorated, full of enthusiasm. Among the 30-something members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad, only Shen Yaowei had Jiang Yuan¡¯s favorable attention! "Let¡¯s hope for a good result," Cui Qishan sighed lightly, turning around to start adding cabbage to the hot pot. The officers at the scene, influenced by his mood, began adding lettuce, spinach, crown daisy, and enoki mushrooms to the hot pot... There¡¯s no certainty that finding the victim or the victim¡¯s body in the warehouse would be a good thing. Conversely, if they can¡¯t find Li Ningxia there, unless Zhang Zhanjun confesses, finding the body would still be challenging. As for whether someone like Zhang Zhanjun would ultimately confess, it remains a mystery. Just one warehouse doesn¡¯t require sending out a dozen cars like on TV. Or perhaps it¡¯s precisely because they often deploy a dozen cars in useless ces that police can¡¯t be where they are most needed. Thus viewed, such is a logically consistent world. Vegetables churned in the hot pot. Meat churned in the hot pot. Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone buzzed. Jiang Yuan looked at the caller ID and answered, "Director Liu, I have you on speakerphone." Liu Jinghui responded with a hum and said, "We found two imprisoned women in an interspersed room in the warehouse, both in their 20s. Their physical condition is okay, but their mental state is poor. Neither is Li Ningxia. Additionally, there is a shredder and some... remains..." Chapter 1321 - 1247: The End of the Rain

Chapter 1321: Chapter 1247: The End of the Rain

A group of criminal police officers, carrying the smell of hot pot, rushed to the warehouse. Upon entering the so-calledpartment, several people at the scene almost vomited. The two female victims had already been taken to the hospital. In a space roughly equivalent to a one-bedroom apartment, the inner room had chains and a bed, while the most conspicuous items in the outer room were arge shredder, a freezer, a big iron basin, and a pipe for washing the ground connected to the basin. Inside the freezer were bags of human body fragments mixed with some packaged food and prepared dishes, which made people feel uneasy just looking at them. The welding marks on the iron basin were heavy; its surface looked clean, butbined with other equipment, it was clear what the iron basin was used for. "On the first day the two arrived, they watched Li Ningxia being dismembered in this iron basin, then frozen, and then shredded," Wang Chao, who came earlier, introduced in a low voice. Jiang Yuan instinctively nced at Liu Jinghui without saying a word. Liu Jinghui understood and said in a low voice, "I haven¡¯t asked yet, but it¡¯s very likely that the two were forced to participate. Even if they weren¡¯t required to kill and dismember bodies, they were likely involved in handling, cleaning, freezing, and shredding in theter stages." "How is their mental state?" Jiang Yuan thought and assumed the conclusion was also like this. "Just barely holding up, notpletely broken down," Wang Chao responded again. It was also he who arranged for the two to be sent away first. "Didn¡¯t these two report missing?" Jiang Yuan asked further. Wang Chao shook his head slightly, "No records. Both female victims worked in nightlife venues and had no immediate family. Their phones were controlled by the suspects. The two originally helped each other and ensured each other¡¯s safety, but ended up being tricked together, likely set up borately. Based on their response, Zhang Zhanjun asked them many questions about familiar people and sent messages to some saying ¡¯I¡¯vee ashore,¡¯ before blocking and deleting them." "This Zhang Zhanjun really knows his stuff. Many women in nightlife genuinely operate like this after leaving the scene," Wei Shikan just recovered from nausea and was drawn to Wang Chao¡¯s exnation. Wang Chao nced up and down at Wei Shikan, "Are you under Captain Liu?" "Just heard about it," Wei Shikan immediately denied. "What you¡¯ve heard is somewhatmon," Wang Chao turned and said, "Women leaving nightlife scenes blocking all friends and such is indeedmon. As long as Zhang Zhanjun identifies his target and handles things carefully, controlling two people simultaneously... without solid evidence, their friends probably wouldn¡¯t report it." "Zhang Zhanjun is continually upgrading," Liu Jinghui suddenly remarked. "How so?" Cui Qishan asked, cooperating. Liu Jinghui said, "Let¡¯s not talk about the motive for murder for now. In the first case, Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s actions were the clumsiest. He killed an employee of his ownpany, a young and strong male, using an electrician¡¯s knife rted to his own identity. However, this also indicates that when hemitted this case, Zhang Zhanjun was either unprepared or insufficiently prepared." Liu Jinghui continued, "He might have already kidnapped Ye Qianyi at that time, so the murder is likely rted to that. Afterward, Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s actions became very deceptive. He took Ye Qianyi to kidnap Li Ningxia and then killed Ye Qianyi in front of Li Ningxia. From his actions in the warehouse, this was also intentional." Cui Qishan slowly remarked, "It¡¯s equivalent to some sort of obedience test." "Very likely. He imprisoned each female for over a year, so obedience was indeed necessary," Liu Jinghui paused and continued, "Compared to the first two victims, the third victim, Li Ningxia, had even her body disposed of cleanly. As for the two surviving female victims, we didn¡¯t even receive a missing person¡¯s report..." "Very strong learning and summarizing ability," Cui Qishan looked at the room¡¯s setup andmented, "Just not humane." Jiang Yuan silently equipped himself and started the crime scene investigation. With the nature of this case being so heinous, the evidence on the scene must not fall short. Cui Qishan, Liu Jinghui, Wei Shikan, and others gradually left, while Mu Zhiyang, Wen Ming, and several other technicians stayed inside to begin the nauseating and lengthy evidence collection process. Theoretically, all the items in the warehousepartment could serve as evidence to some extent, but taking everything back, like beds and mattresses, would be too much. No matter howrge the evidence storage facility, it couldn¡¯t handle things this way. Crime scene investigation personnel need to carefully select areas with potential information for evidence collection. For instance, in bedding items, the upper section of the bed, particrly the pillow area, should carry rtivelyprehensive information. If a strip is torn off, it can theoretically reveal all persons who have slept there this round after washing. However, a few random selections from other areas should also be made to prevent irregr sleeping positions. The chains on the bed, the bathroom, and the big iron basin are all key evidence collection points. The first items taken were the remains in the freezer. The crushed human tissues looked much like minced meat sold in supermarkets, but knowing the origin, it was nauseating even for a forensic doctor like Jiang Yuan. By the time the crime scene investigation was almostplete, it waspletely dark outside. The lights in thepartment were shining brightly. The warehouse was enveloped in pitch-ck silence. Outside the warehouse, on the suburban roads, even the street lights had gone out, leaving only the distant factory with a faint glow. The police officers who had arrived with the wailing sirens were long gone with their noisy police cars. Even with Jiang Yuan at the scene, it wasn¡¯t feasible to have so many people idle there. Of course, Mu Zhiyang and others were still on the scene, albeit drowsily bored. Pitter-patter. Raindrops fell on the warehouse roof, making a sound akin to mouse clicks. "Ding!" The lights in the warehousepartment suddenly went out. Mu Zhiyang jumped up in azy roll, pressing one hand on the walkie-talkie and the other on his gun, whispering into the walkie-talkie, "Old Shen, report the situation!" Outside the warehouse, Shen Yaowei and others were guarding the cars and couldn¡¯t possibly crowd into the small warehousepartment. "I saw the warehouse lights go out. The factory lights outside are still on. We haven¡¯t seen anyone. We¡¯re guarding the warehouse door. I¡¯m sending someone to check the back," Shen Yaowei said while starting to run. "We¡¯re moving out!" Mu Zhiyang said, signaling with a nod, grabbing a shield in one hand and pulling Jiang Yuan with the other. Wen Ming followed closely with a shotgun at one side. Wang Chuanxing picked up a hydraulic cutter and chased after them. The remaining criminal science technicians on site were primarily police officers, though unarmed, they prioritized carrying key evidence and followed suit. In the long warehouse corridor, the sshes of rain sounding particrly dangerous. Jiang Yuan ced his left hand on Mu Zhiyang¡¯s shoulder, holding a handgun in his right, almost anticipating an enemy to appear. It could only be an enemy; if mes were to burst, being in such a tightly enclosed warehouse, even in rainy weather, posed certain risks. Szz... The walkie-talkie crackled. Shen Yaowei¡¯s voice quickly came through, "The warehouse tripped the breaker. Now restoring it." As soon as these words were spoken, the lights in thepartment behind them flicked back on. "Guard the entrance," Mu Zhiyang focused solely on escorting Jiang Yuan out of the warehouse. Shen Yaowei met the group at the warehouse entrance and said, "It might just be the breaker tripping." "Hmm, bring a few more people and get the evidence inside transported out as soon as possible," Jiang Yuan looked up at the sky as raindrops fell densely, yet another rainy night. Chapter 1322 - 1248: Killing Jiang on a Rainy Night

Chapter 1322: Chapter 1248: Killing Jiang on a Rainy Night

The rain in Beijing is as cold as a child drifting north, erasing all traces of the past, and even creating some tear-like ditches. A few forensic technicians, along with Jiang Yuan, circled the electrical box and its surroundings for a long time, but couldn¡¯t identify any suspicious traces. One has to admit, a rainy night fits more with modern architecture and murder; when smooth concrete roads crisscross in all directions, the traces after rain be even harder to investigate. Even Jiang Yuan, faced with the washed-like concrete ground, couldn¡¯t find any footprints. The electrical box was opened, revealing some fingerprint traces, which Jiang Yuan personally collected, but he didn¡¯t hold much hope. If anyone else was involved in this case, at the very least they knew how not to leave fingerprints. "Let¡¯s go back." Mu Zhiyang stood next to Jiang Yuan, watching the rain grow heavier, and couldn¡¯t help but urge. Although Jiang Yuan was wearing protective clothing as a raincoat, in the early morning temperatures, standing in the rain like this could easily cause a cold. "Alright. Take more photos and record a video." Jiang Yuan made arrangements, and without any fuss, got into the car, instructing Mu Zhiyang: "Circle this factory twice more, take photos of the surroundings. Have the powerpany people arrived? Make sure they find out the reason for the ckout." Jiang Yuan understood trace identification, but not electricity. He wasn¡¯t sure if the ckout was normal given the situation at the time. This information would have to wait for specialized electrical engineers and technicians to provide answers. Mu Zhiyang responded, taking a seat next to Jiang Yuan. Wen Ming was driving, and Liu Jinghui was in the front passenger seat. "The ckout might not necessarily be due to something nearby. It¡¯s also possible that something was done at a distance... however, it might have just tripped on its own." Liu Jinghui exined, "I¡¯ve talked to people in the power industry before." "Did Zhang Zhanjun have aplices?" Jiang Yuan took off the protective clothing and began putting on a bulletproof vest. "Not necessarily. There¡¯s no other evidence to prove it now." Liu Jinghui paused for a moment, then said, "I think we can skip this point. Assuming the ckout was intentional, what was the purpose? It couldn¡¯t have been just to scare us and expose himself, could it?" Since it was Liu Jinghui who raised the question, Jiang Yuan and others seriously pondered over it. "Is it a decoy operation?" Jiang Yuan hesitantly asked. "Move us away and then go in himself?" Liu Jinghui nced out the window and said, "There¡¯s only one door to the warehouse, and someone is always guarding it." "What about the roof?" Mu Zhiyang had been considering this aspect and said, "The venttion ducts in the warehouse are veryrge, allowing someone to fit through easily, and there should also be maintenance ess... I¡¯ll inform Old Shen." Mu Zhiyang took out his phone as he spoke. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, "There are only a few people with Shen Yaowei. Splitting them up to go to the roof is a bit dangerous." Although Shen Yaowei had some shorings, he was still worth rescuing. Jiang Yuan thought for a while and said, "Let¡¯s guard the warehouse door and let Shen Yaowei and his team go to the roof." Mu Zhiyang hesitated for a moment and said, "It¡¯s still a bit dangerous. Why not have Captain Cui send some people over to support?" "By the time theye to support, it¡¯ll be toote." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, then pointed at the shotgun at Mu Zhiyang¡¯s feet, "The four of us will guard it, and we¡¯re wearing bulletproof vests, so there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of. We¡¯re police officers, notb assistants." "That¡¯s the only long gun we brought." Mu Zhiyang muttered, but didn¡¯t stop them anymore. In urbanbat, especially inside buildings, a shotgun¡¯s power is the greatest, almost excessively so, but in the open, the environment changes, and Mu Zhiyang suddenly felt a sense of unease. The police car drove back to the warehouse entrance, and Jiang Yuan and the others reced Shen Yaowei and his team, stationed among the barricade of vehicles. Shen Yaowei and his team immediately armed themselves and climbed thedder along the warehouse side, while the forensic technicians continued transporting evidence from the warehouse, and also collected some fire extinguishers along the way. Pop, pop, pop... The sound of the rain was like a man¡¯s metronome, beating down on the warehouse roof inyers, creating waves of silver handkerchief-like sound. "Team 4 has reached the rooftop, searching from west to east." "Team 5 has reached the rooftop, searching from east to west." Shen Yaowei and Miao Liyuan reported from both ends, their voices in the walkie-talkie mixed with the rain. Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, and the others held their guns, silently waiting at the southern warehouse door. The west side of the warehouse was unguarded, but there was a high wall, making it difficult to climb out. Due to insufficient personnel, they could only surround three sides and leave one open. But there was no newsing through the walkie-talkie. No gunshots either. After a long while. Only then did Shen Yaowei¡¯s trembling voice emerge: "No discoveries, I repeat, no discoveries. Teams 4 and 5 have converged, requesting to return." "Are there any other traces of people on the rooftop?" Liu Jinghui picked up the walkie-talkie. "No, the rooftop was also soaked by rain, no other traces are visible." "Return," Jiang Yuan replied through the walkie-talkie. It was a long time before Shen Yaowei and the others returned to the entrance, shivering one by one. "Good work, get in the car and warm up with the heater." Jiang Yuan arranged for them to get into the car, then looked at Liu Jinghui, "Shall we head back?" "Perhaps it was just my imagination," Liu Jinghui rubbed his face, "Then let¡¯s head back, have some hot pot or something to warm up?" He was looking towards Jiang Yuan with thest suggestion. "Yeah, let¡¯s go back, eat something, and sleep. I¡¯ll give Captain Cui a call." Jiang Yuan nodded. He¡¯s an evidence-driven forensic doctor. Without a body, without clues, there might not even be a case. Can¡¯t just shoot in the dark and waste resources. Even though the Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s budget was Level 5, expenses can¡¯t be incautious like this. Of course, having some hot pot and making Captain Cui¡¯s teame out for nothing could still be eptable. Back at Zhengguang Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Squad, Cui Qishan had noints whatsoever and even came over with Xiao Si, specifically saying, "Director Jiang, whenever there¡¯s any situation next time, call me first. Don¡¯t put yourself in danger like this time. I sleep lightly, and even at night, I have to get up several times, so waking up isn¡¯t a big deal. If there¡¯s a special situation and I don¡¯t answer the phone, call Xiao Si. This guy gets up at night more than ten times, and a phone call is all it takes to set out. Not polite, but very reliable." "Okay. We were just guessing. Ultimately, it seems like it was a false rm." Jiang Yuan smiled apologetically. "Better a false rm!" Cui Qishan emphasized again, "Feel free to use us. Even if it¡¯s purely a guess, we can run a dozen times for nothing, and it¡¯s fine. I¡¯m not being sarcastic, but you really need to pay more attention to safety. For people like Xiao Si and me, missing out on some sleep isn¡¯t a big deal. Monitoring around the clock without results is what¡¯s truly torturous... right?" Cui Qishan pointed out Xiao Si. Xiao Si nodded, "Feel free to call me, I get up more frequently than Captain Cui, more reliable because of that." Cui Qishan angrily shoved him out of the room, saying, "Where¡¯s the hot pot you prepared?" "It¡¯s set up in the canteen, Sha Jiang Chicken hot pot, which helps dispel dampness and supports health. Eating it after getting soaked in the rain can prevent colds." Xiao Si exined. "Sha Jiang?" Cui Qishan muttered, turning his head and kicking Xiao Si out. The taste of Sha Jiang Chicken was indeed good, not as spicy as regr ginger, but with a more pronounced aroma, enhancing vor. After being soaked in the rain, everyone instantly brightened up after drinking a pot of ginger soup. Chapter 1323 - 1249 Noon

Chapter 1323: Chapter 1249 Noon

After the rain. The Criminal Police Brigade members, like bamboo shoots after rain, filled the office area. Zhang Zhanjun¡¯s arrest represented another sessful solving of a series murder case by the Zhengguang Bureau. It was a case spanning two cities, separated by five years, involving the deaths of three people and the abduction of two others. It could be considered quite perfect. Tao Lu rushed over early in the morning to celebrate with everyone (hua) (bin), and several other officers from the agency came along, expressing their utmost attention. By afternoon, the Criminal Police Brigade had almost finished organizing the case, mainly ensuring that Tao Lu and others confirmed there were no oversights before submitting it to the Zhengguang Bureau. Therefore, before the end of work, the director of the Zhengguang Bureau rushed over, shaking hands warmly with each participating officer. The next day, the entire team was given a day off. Everyone hugged their pillows and slept deeply, lost in dreams. Even Mu Zhiyang, after checking all the security measures in Jiang Yuan¡¯s small apartment, left behind a borrowed police dog and went to sleep deeply. Regardless of whether it¡¯s called a serial murder case or a series murder case, once such a case forms a special task force, the pressure on the members is intense, almost instantly rising like stress. And even though the suspect is caught and has confessed, anyone with experience in criminal investigation knows that as long as the task force hasn¡¯t concluded, there can be no rxation. The bigger the case, the more this holds true. Because there are always concerns about arresting the wrong suspect, insufficient evidence, suspect backgrounds, errors in investigation, failed case submissions, etc. In the world of 360 professions, both detectives and surgeons highly value the truth. In surgery, poor performance can genuinely be a matter of life and death, while detectives inevitably encounter cases that need solving. Unlike teachers, architects, or officials, who might get away with things at the moment and deal with consequences ten or eight yearster if necessary, in those professions immediate failures can be catastrophic. It¡¯s not like a newly built building will conveniently copse in a big earthquake right away. Woof. By noon, the police dog barked twice in the living room, waking Mu Zhiyang, who was sleeping in the small room by the door. Mu Zhiyang rolled up and grabbed his gun, then, with two hairy legs, circled the living room, specifically checking on Jiang Yuan sleeping in the master bedroom to make sure he was breathing, before turning to ask the police dog¡¯s trainer, "What¡¯s wrong?" The police dog turned back, brought out its stainless steel bowl, and gently ced it in front of its trainer. "You¡¯re a police dog, are you afraid of not getting food?" Mu Zhiyang said in surprise. "It is a police dog, so this is a kind of sry request," the trainerughed and said, rubbing his hands as he muttered to himself, "Let¡¯s see what to make for you today..." The police dog pawed at the trainer¡¯s feet twice before silently lying down in front of Jiang Yuan¡¯s master bedroom door. The trainer frowned, "What are you trying to do?" The police dog gently scratched the master bedroom door with its paw, then looked back at the trainer andy down on the spot. The trainer chuckled in exasperation, "Eat if you want, if not, forget it!" Mu Zhiyang asked, "What does he mean?" The trainer replied, "It has eaten the dog food made by Captain Jiang before, and now that it¡¯s meal time and it smells Captain Jiang, it doesn¡¯t want my food." Mu Zhiyang took a deep breath and nodded slowly, "Captain Jiang¡¯s dog food is indeed delicious!" The trainer looked at Mu Zhiyang skeptically. Mu Zhiyang immediately understood andughed while pointing, "You haven¡¯t tried it, have you?" "How can Ipete with a dog for food!" the trainer said, half amused and half curious. Mu Zhiyang clicked his tongue twice, "You really haven¡¯t tried it. If you had, you wouldn¡¯t say that." The trainer was speechless and went over to drag the police dog back, saying, "Don¡¯t embarrass me,e over here." Mu Zhiyang stopped him, "Don¡¯t bully the dog, we¡¯ve been relying on it for night patrols these days, even an emperor doesn¡¯t starve his soldiers. Wait a bit, Captain Jiang¡¯s father ising over today; Jiang will probably cook dog food for everyone." The trainer hesitated for a moment and corrected Mu Zhiyang, "You mean cook food for everyone?" "Can humans eat dog food?" Mu Zhiyang countered. His counterpart hesitated again, "That depends on the food. Some foods, dogs can¡¯t eat." "But everything a dog eats, humans can eat too!" Mu Zhiyang summarized, "Captain Jiang¡¯s dog food is specialized, and we just snag a bit. Alright, just wait." The trainer looked uncertainly at his police dog. The police dog gazed back at the trainer with eyes as pure as artificial diamonds. The trainer¡¯s heart softened, and he squatted down to say to the police dog, "Stallone, do you want to wait for Captain Jiang¡¯s dog food? Captain Jiang may not make it, and who knows how long we¡¯ll have to wait, why don¡¯t we eat first and try for dog foodter?" The police dog didn¡¯t respond, just stared at the trainer silently. The trainer steeled himself and headed for the kitchen. Training police dogs couldn¡¯t mean letting them do as they please; a dog¡¯s rights weren¡¯t that significant. For example, once dogs are made into police dogs, things like mating are prohibited after they earn their badge. Compared to this, a meal of dog food was trivial. The police dog, Stallone, turned and bit the trainer¡¯s clothing, with a determined expression as if he were heading into battle. "Wait a moment, I¡¯ll cook after washing up," Jiang Yuan said, opening the door of the master bedroom with a singlement. The trainer reflexively stood at attention, then awkwardly said, "Stallone¡¯s being naughty, he might just be hungry, not necessarily wanting only your dog food." The police dog, Stallone, looked sidelong at the trainer, then had its face forcibly turned back. Jiang Yuan just chuckled, "It¡¯s alright. My dad just got off the ne; he¡¯ll be here in about an hour and a half." "Oh... in that case, let¡¯s wait for them toe, then we can all eat together." "No need. They have a family dog, and if it can eat leftovers, it¡¯s good enough without a quota," Jiang Yuan said as he returned to the master bedroom bathroom. After tidying up a bit, Jiang Yuan dried his hands, changed clothes, came out to the kitchen, and started preparing ingredients. The trainer felt slightly embarrassed as he came over to help with the cooking, saying, "Stallone has never been this greedy before; let me help... just direct me." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t shy, pondered, and said, "There¡¯s just one dog today... let¡¯s use fish maw for the base. There¡¯s some fish maw soaked in the fridge; get that. Let¡¯s add water chestnut to the soup, and for the entr¨¦e, use goose and beef meat. Police dogs should eat less fat, and there¡¯s leftover filet and rump meat, we¡¯ll cook those together..." While speaking, Jiang Yuan picked out ingredients and had Mu Zhiyang go downstairs to fetch some stored beef from the small room. Soon, Jiang Yuan had more than 30 pounds of meat in therge pot, with other ingredients being handled in the frying pan, oven, microwave, and steamer nearby. Stallone silently approached the kitchen door, wagging his tail like a contract worker. Even though it was raised in the Beijing Bureau as a police dog, it¡¯s still just a low-level dog eating from amon trough. Where had it ever seen such mountains of beef and goose meat? It didn¡¯t need any special technique from Jiang Yuan; it was already drooling. "Oh my gosh..." Stallone¡¯s trainer hurriedly wiped the dog¡¯s mouth and floor, then led it away. "I¡¯ll help," Wang Chuanxing, who had just woken up, volunteered and started peeling potatoes. Soon, Liu Jinghui and others were awakened by the noise and joined the culinary mission. The small kitchen in the little room couldn¡¯t fit seven or eight people, so the others started cooking in the living room, making dumplings together! Knock knock. There was a knock on the door. Jiang Yuan wiped his hands and said, "Dad is here, stir the pot, don¡¯t let it stick." Miao Ruixiang took over and asked, "How much should I stir?" Jiang Yuan replied, "Like you¡¯re cooking bones in a water bath." "Got it," Miao Ruixiang patted his chest, "I¡¯m familiar with that." Jiang Yuan ran to the front door, ready to shout, "Dad!" A cascade of ck, waist-long hair blocked Jiang Yuan¡¯s view. "Captain Jiang, good afternoon!" Qiao Shengli greeted with a smile, wearing a white shirt and a backpack. Chapter 1324 - 1250: Today’s Young People

Chapter 1324: Chapter 1250: Today¡¯s Young People

"Hello everyone!" Qiao Shengli entered with a lively greeting to the group of detectives. A group of people, either with disheveled clothes, distracted expressions, or unresolved gossip, scrutinized Qiao Shengli with detective-like eyes. Preliminary judgment: this person just washed her hair, changed into new clothes, wore new shoes, and had a full face of makeup. Consequently, everyone¡¯s gaze unconsciously drifted towards Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan cleared his throat twice, "Add one more set of chopsticks, and make more dumplings." After saying this, Jiang Yuan patted the head of the police dog Stallone for reassurance to prevent it from thinking someone was going to steal its food. Qiao Shengli took two quick steps to catch up with Jiang Yuan, ncing around. After everyone else turned their heads shyly, she said to Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang, I seem to havee just at the right time, as there is good food right as I arrive." "It¡¯s still being prepared, you¡¯ll need to wait a bit," Jiang Yuan handed someone a pair of slippers. Qiao Shengli changed into the slippers and entered. Although there were many people in the room, it was spacious and in a great location. Legend had it that Doctor Jiang had a good family background and was a forensic doctor out of interest. Indeed, he owned a house in Beijing. Qiao Shengli studied biology and often dealt with the police. Previously, she felt that one should never date a co-worker, but now she thought that being in the same industry seemed quite good. She boldly entered, and seeing everyone busy, rolled up her sleeves to help out too. With her present, several people in the small kitchen silently retreated. Ding dong. The doorbell rang again. "Did you invite many colleagues today? Is there a gathering?" Qiao Shengli asked curiously while peeling bamboo shoots nearby. "It should be my dad," Jiang Yuan said as he left the kitchen to open the door, finally calling out "Dad" as he wished. Qiao Shengli blinked her eyes, unable to help but look at Miao Ruixiang next to her: "Doctor Jiang¡¯s father is here?" Miao Ruixiang nodded silently, also curiously watching Qiao Shengli. Unexpectedly, Qiao Shengli washed her hands graciously and then went out of the kitchen to greet Jiang Fuzhen and Uncle Qiang, who just entered, "Hello, Uncle. I¡¯m Qiao Shengli." "Oh, hello, hello." Jiang Fuzhen was already ustomed to seeing a roomful of police, just like seeing a herd of cattle when opening the corral on his ranch. However, a ck-haired, straight university girl like Qiao Shengli was notmonly seen. Qiao Shengli smiled again and returned to the kitchen. Jiang Yuan took the beef and other goods his dad brought and handed them to Wen Ming to store downstairs. His dad changed shoes and washed his hands, joining Uncle Qiang in wrapping dumplings! Jiang Yuan went back to the kitchen, took over Miao Ruixiang¡¯s work, and began adding vegetables to the pot. "Is so much prepared to freeze for the dog to eatter?" Qiao Shengli was slightly curious. Even among Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted case team, few had seen the scene of nearly immovable food in arge iron pot from collecting dozens of pounds of meat. Jiang Yuan shook his head, "We eat what¡¯s left from the dog." "Huh?" Qiao Shengli thought she heard wrong. "The meal is actually prepared for the dog; everyone else is here for a free meal," Jiang Yuan exined. Qiao Shengli was incredulous, "Is dog food this rich?" "It just looks rich, but in fact... the police dog needs roughly ten basic ingredients per meal. It¡¯s just one meal a day unless there¡¯s a night patrol or morning training, then we¡¯ll add more. Today, we need to prepare an extra meal for it," Jiang Yuan said while stirring the food in the pot and adding seasoning. Various pre-prepared ingredients also started going into the pot in order. Soon, everything was in the pot. Jiang Yuan checked his watch, pressed the lid onto the pot, and said, "Two minutes, and it will be ready to eat." "Then we¡¯ll start boiling the dumplings." A detective with keen ears in the living room immediately began organizing the order. The room suddenly became lively, with people shuttling between the kitchen and grabbing dishes and vinegar, taking the opportunity to nce at Qiao Shengli. Qiao Shengli moved to the other side and whispered, "Captain Jiang, the silicon database project of 20 kilometers upstream of the Tai River you assigned us is almostpleted. Professor Su has made several trips to Beijing, and an article will likely be published soon." "Oh, that fast?" Jiang Yuan was slightly surprised. "The professor wants to secure more projects, so we¡¯ll have to work hard like cattle and horses," Qiao Shengli said, seeminglyining, before adding, "Our professor suspects you¡¯ll want to create a silicon database for the entire Taihe Basin, right?" Jiang Yuan smiled, without hiding it, and said, "Indeed, we n to do it, but the project is too big to be led by Ningtai County. It might require the provincial government." The main stream of the Tai River is about 400 kilometers, but including tributaries and so on, the total length of the water system is 600 kilometers. The silicon database needed for criminal investigation cannot assume criminals only kill on the main stream, not on tributaries. Besides,kes, reservoirs, marsh wends, and distributaries within the water system should also be sampled. Such a project¡¯s scale is already more than 30 times the 20-kilometer silicon database, and the required funding is beyond Ningtai County¡¯s capability. Given Shannan Province¡¯s situation, it would be logical to have the province lead it. Qiao Shengli silently nced at Jiang Yuan and said, "Whether the province does it or not is up to you, right?" Jiang Yuan was surprised, "Where did you get that idea?" "Isn¡¯t it?" Having been fully involved in the silicon database project, Qiao Shengli naturally knew how effective mentioning Jiang Yuan was. Even for a project issued by the Ningtai County Taihe Working Group, the provincial and municipal levels have ways to influence it. For other county-level projects, the counties can mostly only control personnel and funding. If personnel is fixed and expenditure reasonable, the county¡¯s control is limited. In technical issues, provincial and city-level experts have a say because they are indeed technical experts, capable of spotting and addressing problems. This isparable to renovations; knowledge is needed to manage personnel and funding reasonably. Understanding technology allows one to scrutinize and find problems, controlling renovation processes and details. For silicon database projects, Shannan Province¡¯s provincial and municipal levels were unwilling to interfere with the Taihe Working Group¡¯s project. Seeding would offend people, failing would be embarrassing, and being a criminal investigation system project, the one who could speak most authoritatively became Jiang Yuan. "I will review the database you¡¯ve createdter," Jiang Yuan did not make a firm statement. "There will definitely be no problem," Qiao Shengli hastily said. Jiang Yuan shook his head with a smile, "Whether there¡¯s a problem, your opinion doesn¡¯t count; the case decides." Qiao Shengli was taken aback, "You want to use it directly to solve cases?" "Otherwise, this type of database is too time-consuming to check randomly. I have no time for that. Moreover, our police station¡¯s silicon database is meant for solving cases. A database that solves cases is useful, but if it can¡¯t solve cases, the data is meaningless," Jiang Yuan said,pletely beyond Qiao Shengli¡¯s expectations. Moreover, thinking it over carefully, this verification method is much harder than random checks. She even further considered that Jiang Yuan or Ningtai County obtaining this database was probably not just for solving cases but surely to solve cases. In other words, the database they created was now linked to the drowning case-solving rate in the Taihe River. This determination method seemed unreasonable. What if the police failed to solve the case? However, facing Jiang Yuan, even an outsider like Qiao Shengli knew the reputation of "Ningtai Jiangyuan," so she didn¡¯t know how to voice opposition. Moreover, nowadays, aren¡¯t most projects controlled by the client, who often makes unreasonable demands¡ªnormal for a client. Qiao Shengli could only say, "A bit of pragmatism¡ªI thought you¡¯d be more concerned about authorship in papers or something..." "Authorship is needed, and also to note that Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s Taihe Working Group is a co-builder," Jiang Yuan unwaveringly requested. At this moment, as the party B, Qiao Shengli could only keep nodding. Outside the kitchen. Jiang Fuzhen and Uncle Qiang, who had been paying attention to the kitchen, saw Jiang Yuan talking down to Qiao Shengli. The girl kept nodding, her long sleek hair moving like a waterfall, resembling a submissive party. "Could this easily go wrong?" Jiang Fuzhen hesitantly whispered. Uncle Qiang shook his head nkly, "I don¡¯t understand. Maybe this is how young people are nowadays?" Chapter 1325 - 1251 Test

Chapter 1325: Chapter 1251 Test

The stacks of documents seem endless like a thousand snow-covered cases, yet the armor remains closeted in a solitary autumn. Between fingers, ashes sear old memories; on the screen, flights burst into starlight. Meetings always happen beside perilous buildings; henceforth, each defends the gates of the mountains and seas. Suddenly, distant tracking dogs bark; listen to their woofs tearing through the heavy clouds. ¡ª¡ªFarewell to Beijing: Ningtai Jiang Yuan departs from the capital airport for tours to Shan Nan (deepseek, co-created by Cormorant Vige). Woof! As Jiang Yuan walked into the boarding gate, Stallone, dressed in a police uniform, couldn¡¯t help but bark loudly, drawing waves of attention. Jiang Yuan also waved fervently in farewell. A police dog¡¯s emotions are the most sincere, and their expressions the most pure. Cui Qishan and others also waved with all their might, finally lowering their hands only when Jiang Yuan¡¯s silhouette disappeared. "Ah, that young girl came at such a timely moment, I suspect she was a spy sent by Qinghe City Bureau." Cui Qishan grumbled. He originally thought Jiang Yuan would stay for a while longer, like before, handling several cases before returning, but who would¡¯ve guessed a ck-haired straight-haired female PhD would draw him back to Tai River. Xiao Si couldn¡¯t empathize with Cui Qishan¡¯s sentiments; all the major cases under his name had been resolved, leaving him in a state of rxed happiness. He nced at Cui Qishan and said with a smile, "The ones who miss Captain Jiang the most are Stallone and you, Cui Da." Cui Qishanughed, "At times like this, Stallone is indeed more useful than you, and he speaks better too." Colleagues like Wang Chao, who rarely saw Cui Da¡¯s verbal attacks, couldn¡¯t help but show appreciative smiles. Xiao Si smiled calmly and looked at his teammates beside him, saying, "After all, Stallone was professionally trained, unlike us, we¡¯re more like stray dogs by the roadside." Wang Chao hissed, "You¡¯re even insulting yourself." Woof! Stallone heard his name and turned to bark softly. ... Ningtai County. Members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were transported and immediately dispersed in every direction to attend meetings. Especially folks like Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui, who, with their daily umtion, had to catch up on meetings. Jiang Yuan felt rxed, heading straight to the meeting room, assisted by Wang Chuanxing, reading case files on-site. The newly established Tai River Basin diatom database, though only 20 kilometers long, essentially covered all local drowning cases for Ningtai County and Qinghe City. Even some downstream drowning incidents, where bodies might be found downstream in ces like Jianjiang City, the drowning points could be within Qinghe City¡¯s range. As long as there is a match, it¡¯s equivalent to having a breakthrough in one case. To be honest, there¡¯s a substantial umtion of drowning cases, and year by year, the number bes even more frightening. Take a rural example: which vige hasn¡¯t had someone drown? Which vige¡¯s neighboring vige hasn¡¯t had drownings? In cities, actually it¡¯s the same, urban areas bordering rivers annually issue various warnings during summer, yet idents persist. In these drowning cases, most might be idental deaths, but inevitably some could involve homicide. In many regions, when reliant solely on the deceased¡¯s belongings to identify them, solving a drowning case is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack. Well-funded cities may hire some experts to help search, but there are often instances where nothing is found. Additionally, cases without clear signs of homicide might be ssified as unnatural deaths rather than murder cases. Jiang Yuan had previously cleared a batch of umting cases in Ningtai County; Qinghe City¡¯s cases partially cleared out already stimted the city bureau to initiate the "Cold Case Resolution Year." Of course, the "Cold Case Resolution Year" was over, but if Jiang Yuan wished to continue clearing cases, Qinghe City Bureau would undoubtedly offer robust support. However, this time, neither Jiang Yuan nor Huang Qiangmin dared to boldly proim it. After all, with only a 20 kilometer diatom database, whether it¡¯s usable is debatable, while with the criminal police team¡¯s style across city bureaus, if anyone dares to proim clearing Tai River line¡¯s drowning cases, they might be sent a heap of cases the same day; at that point, who cares about the 20 kilometer designated range? Regarding this, both the police and army are the same; even Huang Qiangmin himself acts up when necessary, sticking rigidly to procedures¡ªcan battles be won that way? Can losses be avoided? Jiang Yuan had already reviewed some case files on the ne, and now he was looking through them one by one on therge table, arranging the order. Due to the involvement of the diatom database, Qiao Shengli apanied Jiang Yuan to assist. Originally wishing to help Jiang Yuan categorize cases, after watching for a while, she didn¡¯t quite understand and couldn¡¯t help asking, "What¡¯s the standard for this categorization?" Having served as a detective for so long, Jiang Yuan simply chuckled but didn¡¯t answer Qiao Shengli. Jiang Yuan had contemted on his way over, the first step is to test the uracy of the database. No one shouldunch a major case only to discover inuracies in the database, potentially trapping the entire team. Meanwhile, umted cases be so due to varied factors. Jiang Yuan wanted to dissect these factors. For instance, the umted cases in the neighboring Longli County could be due to the ineptitude of the criminal police captain; simrly, cases in Shiting County might be due to poverty; cases in Changyang City could be due toplexity of personnel... Besides, unfamiliar ces, ces unvisited, should slightly be reserved for control of variables, also reducing his difficulty. It¡¯s such a natural choice, seemingly rted to emotions, yet fully sensible. That¡¯s why locales actively connect with Jiang Yuan, knowing everyone understands how choices are made. Moreover, testing the diatom database requires diatoms, of course. A 20 kilometer diatom database is upstream in Ningtai, thus eligible are downstream cities and county¡¯s drowning cases. Naturally, none of this needs exining to Qiao Shengli; in fact, she was able to read the case file¡¯s content for a little while before sitting aside obediently. "Selected these cases, but whether they can be worked on, and how many is uncertain." Jiang Yuan saw Huang Qiangmin return and handed over the first pile of sorted cases¡ªtotaling 6. "All belong to Old Wu¡¯s cases? Do we have any of our own?" What Huang Qiangmin was referring to was the Jianjiang City Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s Captain, Wu Zhisu. Previously, he had to call him Wu Zhi deferentially. "Ningtai¡¯s river flows fast, doesn¡¯t keep people. Previously, we¡¯ve mostly cleared them all." Jiang Yuan exined. Huang Qiangmin instantly understood, "Indeed, having new tools made me forget we¡¯ve cleaned up our umted cases." A diatom database functions simrly to corporate enterprise databases with auxiliary purposes. For Jiang Yuan, without a diatom database, he could still use diatoms to solve cases; without diatoms, forensic anthropology or even cranial reconstruction skills could affirm the deceased¡¯s identity. Of course, with a diatom database, at least determination of water entry points is extremely swift. Jiang Yuan further exined, "Jianjiang¡¯s river system is vast, drowning cases also more frequent. Bodies flowing from our county downstream, if not in major river channels, often remain in Jianjiang. I¡¯m consideringparing Jianjiang¡¯s umted cases with our database; if there¡¯s a match, proceed to the next step. However, if all 6 cases have no matches, best not drag on the fight." "Understood, if no matches, switch ces. We¡¯re ying with diatoms this time." Huang Qiangmin, with the criminal police¡¯s acumen, pulled out his phone and smiled, "Hold on, let me have a nice chat with Old Wu." Jiang Yuan stood up to brew himself a cup of tea, taking the opportunity for a break. The tea from home was fresh spring green tea, and boiling water poured mercilessly; the Cold Case Squad¡¯s office immediately filled with tea fragrance. After two tea brews, Huang Qiangmin returned flushed with joy. "Old Wu sent someone to retrieve diatom samples and sent them over; he¡¯ll follow soon after." Huang Qiangmin sat down for a cup of tea, soothing throat dryness before continuing, "This guy is cunning; while haggling with me here, over there he¡¯s already delegating cases to his subordinates, without wasting any time." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help butugh, "With that behavior, easy enough for you to see through him." "I know he¡¯s willing, he knows I know he¡¯s willing, I know he ys hard-to-get, he knows I know he ys hard-to-get, yet he still ys hard-to-get¡ªhumans are just like that." Huang Qiangmin sighed as he spoke. Chapter 1326 - 1252: Worrisome

Chapter 1326: Chapter 1252: Worrisome

Jiang Yuan nced at the documents and sipped his green tea. It was after a cup of tea was brewed and finished that the forensic doctor Wen Youchuan arrived, pushing two suitcases. Wen Youchuan had coborated with Jiang Yuan several times and was fairly familiar with him. Upon arriving at the scene, he greeted Jiang Yuan while opening the suitcases and started sampling one batch after another. Red, brown, brown, yellow, and also green and ck samples were repacked andid out on the table. As Wen Youchuan worked, he said, "Wu Zhi kept emphasizing that I must cooperate well and serve you well. My junior is still sorting out information in the office; if you need anything, just ask, but don¡¯t tell Wu Zhi that I said it..." Jiang Yuan smiled and shook his head, standing up as he spoke, "Actually, I should have gone to Jianjiang City; Wu Zhi was too anxious." Under normal circumstances, Jiang Yuan would be expected to go to inspect the samples, but Wu Zhisu didn¡¯t offer that option. Wen Youchuan smiled indifferently and said, "It¡¯s rare to encounter a case that interests you; naturally, Wu Zhi hopes to keep Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team in Jianjiang. If they let you go, no one knows when they will be able to use them again. Wu Zhi alsoined to usst time, saying that joining the Taihe Working Group has its costs, yet he¡¯s dissatisfied with our performance and also with the group¡¯sck of attention to Jianjiang¡¯s work." Sssss... Huang Qiangmin slurped his green tea, his lips making a sound against the cup. Wen Youchuan nced over, then quickly turned his head, his heart racing as he said, "Where do we start from?" "Do we have bone marrow samples?" Jiang Yuan was referring to those containing diatoms. Ordinary people might think samples containing diatoms would naturally be lung samples. Indeed, if the deceased drowned in water, lung tissue is the first organ where diatoms settle. But when ites to the gold standard for drowning diagnosis, it¡¯s the bone marrow! Because the bone marrow has high specificity, and only the pre-mortem circtory system can reach it. Thus, finding diatoms in the bone marrow confirms drowning, ruling out possibilities such as post-mortem disposal. Of course, it doesn¡¯t mean that drowned bodies will always have diatoms in the bone marrow. But if the forensic doctor has doubts about the cause of death, extracting bone marrow from long bones is a good option, if avable. Simrly, doctors may not extract bone marrow samples if not necessary. Wen Youchuan nodded and said, "Only one case where bone marrow samples were taken and obtained. The case of the floating corpse from 1011, 8 years ago." "You handled it?" Jiang Yuan asked as Wen Youchuan skillfully found the samples and case files. "Yes. I worked on it with another forensic doctor," Wen Youchuan replied. "The body was highly dposed. At discovery, the muscle tissue had already turned muddy, and the organs self-dissolved. During the autopsy, blunt force trauma was found on the corpse¡¯s head, and the hand bones were fractured, leading to the opening of a case." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, estimating that the self-dissolution of the organs was why they performed bone marrow diatom analysis. Extracting bone marrow is rtively cumbersome. Human leg bones are extremely hard, difficult even with electric bone saws, especially for dposed bodies. The bones be slippery and greasy, making fixation a challenge. The entire process is verybor-intensive, and in typical cases, forensic doctors avoid taking these samples unless necessary. The most troublesome part is that extracting bone marrow requires sterile procedures; otherwise, outside diatoms contaminate the marrow, rendering the entire operation useless. "Then let¡¯s do aparison," Jiang Yuan said, as he took the bone marrow samples and began examining them under a microscope. Wen Youchuan, meanwhile, began preparing other samples from the same case and samples from other cases. He was a forensic doctor himself, naturally understanding precisely what Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions meant. The application of the diatom database is part of legal botany, and the analysis identification method is simr. In summary, diatom maps in rivers and other water systems remain stable over long periods. Different locations will have diverse species and forms of diatoms, giving each location a unique diatom map. Jiang Yuan now wasparing diatoms in the samples, and once matched, it likely indicates the point of drowning or the spot where the corpse was discarded. For drowning cases, this marks a significant breakthrough. In these cases, bone marrow samples are 100% the drowning point. Other organ samples can provide simr value, such as the liver, kidneys, spleen, and heart, which can show diatoms due to systemic cirction. Lung samples, however, are weaker. Still, pinpointing the drowning site doesn¡¯t immediately lead to case resolution; there¡¯s a long way to go. Wen Youchuan recalled previous drowning cases he worked on, quietly preparing himself mentally. Certainly, these cases are often time-consuming and exhausting, but for police officers, there¡¯s no choice... Wen Youchuan was thinking as he slurped his tea again. Not long after, Jiang Yuan looked up, signaled for the case file, and started reading. Wen Youchuan¡¯s tea suddenly lost its vor as he leaned in and softly asked, "Did you get a match?" "Got a match," Jiang Yuan nodded. "Oh, did we get a match?" Wen Youchuan, imagining a little cheer or celebration, momentarily found himself unsure of what to say. "This case fits, let¡¯s start with this one. The 1011 floating corpse case." Jiang Yuan pointed to the final conclusion in the forensic report: The right-side long bone bone marrow detectedplete diatom, inconsistent with water sample. "The conditions are quite suitable, no need to pick further." Jiang Yuan exined, "Diatoms detected in the bone marrow indicate drowning. It being inconsistent with the water sample suggests the discovery location wasn¡¯t where the victim drowned. Of course, now we know the specific drowning site..." As Jiang Yuan spoke, Qiao Shengli printed out the address from the database and handed it to him. "The body¡¯s drowning point is located upstream of Ningtai County at Fan Family Vige. Check if there¡¯s a murder or any missing persons around here." Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing and others, then turned to Wen Youchuan, asking, "Is the body still avable?" "Only the bones were preserved. The body dposed too severely to retain." Wen Youchuan hurriedly exined. Unsolved murder cases ideally preserve the involved corpse, even if secondary autopsy results are weak; it¡¯s better than nothing. However, high dposition makes preservation difficult. When organs self-dissolve, it¡¯s not just the heart, liver, spleen, and kidneys; the gastrointestinal tract structure blurs too, causing internal matter to leak - not that it matters anymore; at this stage, the corpse¡¯s smell is already extremelyplex, with little differences having no impact. "Release electronic photos for a look." Jiang Yuan called Wang Chuanxing over specifically to obtain cranial and hand bone photos. "Commissioner Huang, Wu Zhi is here," a subordinate reported. Huang Qiangmin stood up, his eyes on Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan naturally took out a bicolor Lord Guan he carried and gently touched it. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s heart felt assured. ording to their agreed signal, this meant Jiang Yuan was confident about this case, akin to worshiping Lord Guan once. Huang Qiangmin tidied his clothes and went out to meet Wu Zhisu. Wu Zhisu came rushing in, wearing a smile. Before he could greet anyone, Huang Qiangmin loudly eximed, "Wu Zhi, your case is truly vexing!" Chapter 1327 - 1253: A Dignified Person

Chapter 1327: Chapter 1253: A Dignified Person

"Couldn¡¯t find a suitable case?" Wu Zhisu was startled. He had been considering various possibilities on his way over, and this was the worst one. Fortunately, Huang Qiangmin lightly shook his head and said, "Only Jiang Yuan. He managed to resurrect an old high-dposition case for you guys, the 1011 floating corpse case. Do you remember it?" "Yes, how could I forget!" Wu Zhisu suddenly became happy. This was a cold case of drowning, grabbing any progress was worthwhile. Don¡¯t assume that Jiang Yuan¡¯s Taihe Working Group is always investigating various drowning cases. When ordinary police stations encounter such cases, they find them extremely troublesome, otherwise, why would they be willing to pay the Taihe Working Group. Wu Zhisu is the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade in Jianjiang City. Jianjiang is a prefecture-level city, on the same level as Qinghe City, and higher than Ningtai County. Yet, even as a prefecture-level city¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, forming a task force might still take three to five months without solving a single drowning case. With a cold case of drowning, solving it typically starts with receiving a second-ss merit award. However, experts like Jiang Yuan are hard to book, unless Jianjiang City is next to Ningtai County, where they have mutual exchanges, allowing Wu Zhisu to experience Jiang Yuan¡¯s presence a few times. Yet, having experienced it only makes it harder to resist. Solving a case is like solving a problem, and cases are like math problems; most are multiple-choice questions, with the most troublesome being a fill-in-the-nk. Ordinary Criminal Police Brigades, year-round, can maybe solve a short-answer question or a slightly tricky short-answer question at best. Normal problems can be solved in many ways, often focusing on time efficiency, discussing the cost-effectiveness ratio, aiming toplete with the least investment and the quickest speed. Correspondingly, in the police team, ordinary cases should bepleted with minimal personnel and as quickly as possible, with a certain uracy requirement but not too far off. However, the core of difficult questions is not time but the ability toplete them. Forming a task force is like a group discussion. But the real difficult ones are so challenging that group discussions can¡¯t solve them, and for even harder cold homicide cases, they might be unsolvable problems even for teachers in ordinary schools. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan choose the 1011 floating corpse case, Wu Zhisu immediately tapped his head and said, "I remember this case was handled by Team One,ter adding over ten people. The corpse was in terrible condition, but there were some belongings in the pockets, and we wanted to track the buyer through them, but never got any results..." Huang Qiangmin listened casually and asked, "Did you ever restart it?" "No. There were no new clues, so we couldn¡¯t restart." Wu Zhisu said, ncing at Huang Qiangmin, "We agreed on this matter, you can¡¯t suddenly raise the price, be it any case, it¡¯s what it is, we are respectable people!" "High-dposition case!" Huang Qiangmin emphasized. "Rotten is rotten, which floating corpse isn¡¯t? Moreover, regarding this case¡¯s wounds, we had a judgment at the time, the... forensic doctor, you exin it." Wu Zhisu quickly moved the discussion back to the case to avoid more conversations with Huang Qiangmin. Wen Youchuan quickly stepped forward and said, "At the time, we found a crescent-shaped blunt-force trauma on the head of the corpse, preliminarily judging the murder weapon to be a hammer." As he spoke, he hastily searched for photographs in the files. Such significant images are often printed as physical photographs. Taking the chance while Jiang Yuan looked at the pictures, Huang Qiangmin said to Wu Zhisu, "In general, decay matters are fine, but this high-dposition case, even if you determine the point of drowning, it¡¯s still very difficult." "I understand, I understand, but we agreed on this matter, it can¡¯t change! Respectable people." Wu Zhisu stretched out his hand, grasping Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand. "8 years!" Huang Qiangmin emphasized again. This time, Wu Zhisu hesitated, asking, "Can diatoms from 8 years ago still match with those now?" "If they match, they match; if they don¡¯t, they don¡¯t. It¡¯s not like DNA," Huang Qingming said, turning to call Jiang Yuan over, "Can you exin to Wu?" Jiang Yuan let out an "oh" and said, "In aquatic systems, there are generally high-dynamic regions and stable regions. For instance, river mouths and drainage outlets are high-dynamic areas where the diatom structure updates rapidly, and the database usually needs updating every year or so, which we haven¡¯t done. Stable areas like slow-flow areas, deep pools, etc., may not change for ten years unless there is a triggering event. But like Commissioner Huang said, if they match, it indicates no change; if they don¡¯t, it doesn¡¯t rule them out." Wu Zhisu instantly understood and repeatedly said "good," noting, "This technological update is good. In theory, if they match, then even cold cases from over ten years ago could work?" "Assuming they match, it shows that the diatommunities in the region where the body fell haven¡¯t changed over these years. However, generally speaking, 10 years is a threshold, as diatommunity ecosystems have a stability period of about 20 years, plus human activities impact... sedimentary diatoms can be considered, but that¡¯s outside our database scope," Jiang Yuan briefly introduced. "That¡¯s enough, that¡¯s enough." Wu Zhisu wasn¡¯t considering such long-term issues; he was just happy to be able to handle a cold case. Huang Qiangmin looked at Wu Zhisu with a smile, saying, "High-dposition, 8 years, right?" "Respectable people!" Wu Zhisu repeated. "Alright, alright. Agreed matters can¡¯t change! Respectable people!" Huang Qiangmin shook his hand and repeated. Originally thinking he would need topromise again, Wu Zhisu was pleasantly surprised to see Huang Qiangmin genuinely acting as a respectable person, quickly turning to Jiang Yuan, asking, "How about it? That blunt-force trauma?" Jiang Yuan tapped the photo and agreed, "Indeed caused by a hammer. However, diatoms were found in the victim¡¯s bone marrow, so it should mean the victim was hit by the hammer without dying, ultimately drowning. Couldn¡¯t find the hammer, correct?" "No, the shape of the hammer was too ordinary. Our investigation mainly focused on the clothing wrapped around the victim, especially a button; we traced it to a tailor shop but still found no results." Wu Zhisu wasn¡¯t the direct person in charge, yet he spoke with a slight regret, showing he was very concerned about this case. Unfortunately, although giving importance aids in the investigation, it¡¯s not absolute. Jiang Yuan nodded, pushing the photo and file aside, saying, "We¡¯ll first investigate ording to diatoms then. The water entry point was upstream at Fan Family Vige in Ningtai County; do you have any impression of that?" Wu Zhisu thought seriously and slowly shook his head, saying, "I have no impression, hold on, I¡¯ll call Zhang Yan from Team One. He went on fieldwork today; if I¡¯d known it was this case, I¡¯d have called him over." He said as he took out his phone to make a call. When the call connected, Wu Zhisu listened to a conversation between Zhang Yan and Jiang Yuan, suddenly realizing: "Wait, you guys have identified the water entry point for the victim?" Jiang Yuan nodded: "Because it matched in the database, by checking, we know where the same diatommunity is, which also determined the victim¡¯s water entry point." "Good, good, good..." Wu Zhisu maintained a friendly demeanor towards Jiang Yuan, turning to look at Huang Qiangmin, with a murderous look in his eyes, "Isn¡¯t this diatom work done?" "Respectable people!" Huang Qiangmin reminded Wu Zhisu. A furious Wu Zhisu pointed a finger at Huang Qiangmin: "You old..." "Old Wu, can the case be solved with just the water entry point?" Huang Qiangmin pried Wu Zhisu¡¯s hand down. Indeed, knowing where a person entered the water adds a clue, but it does not guarantee solving the case. Huang Qiangmin softly said, "Our Jiang Yuan follows through to the end. Now that we know the water entry point, we search for clues near it. If we identify the victim, great; otherwise, our Jiang Yuan has forensic anthropology and, if necessary, skull restoration skills, to reconstruct the victim¡¯s pre-death appearance. Facial recognition or distributing flyers, all of these aren¡¯t just double or triple insurances. Don¡¯t you want such an insurance?" "Hmm..." Wu Zhisu admitted, being persuaded, mumbling, "Then let¡¯s go straight with the skull restoration skill." "Three months." Huang Qiangmin looked at Wu Zhisu, faintly saying, "Doing all this, the Taihe Working Group might not solve four cases a year." Wu Zhisu coughed a couple of times: "Regardless of what happens next, let¡¯s stick with the original arrangement." "Hmm." Huang Qiangmin nodded, handing a cigarette to Wu Zhisu. Wu Zhisu took it, pulled out a lighter, and first lit Huang Qiangmin¡¯s cigarette. On another side, Wang Chuanxing distributed newly collected information to the Cold Case Squad, and everyone got busy. After finishing a cigarette, Wu Zhisu, thoroughly rxed, took a sip of tea, ready to chat further with Huang Qiangmin. At that moment, Tang Jia picked up some materials and said, "I have a report here from a viger in Fan Family Vige. His wife has been missing for five years and he just reported it, requesting to dissolve their marriage. Calcted by time, his wife went missing eight years ago." "Let me see!" Wu Zhisu got excited immediately. Huang Qiangmin took thest puff of his cigarette, softly saying from behind, "Respectable people!" Chapter 1328 - 1254 Interrogation

Chapter 1328: Chapter 1254 Interrogation

Low Wu, Low Wu... The police car was ring, bringing in two carloads of people. Wu Zhisu watched from upstairs, frowning, unsure if she would like the uing scene. Solving the case was undoubtedly thrilling, but if it were too easy, it would make her seem foolish¡ªnot just for not solving the case, but also because of Huang Qiangmin¡¯s deception! What does it say about the esteemed leader of the Criminal Police Brigade, getting tricked by someone! It would be one thing if it were the director or someone like that, but being deceived by a former squad leader of the Criminal Police Brigade was truly... immensely cunning! Wu Zhisu expected Huang Qiangmin to be cunning, but she didn¡¯t anticipate Huang Crocodile to be this cunning... So, facing such a cunning person, what should she... As Wu Zhisu pondered, her brow furrowed even more... "Wu Zhi, would you like to listen in on the conversation?" Huang Qiangmin approached lightly, his voice quiet as if an old piece of decayed wood was floating across a river. "Sure, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to listen." Wu Zhisu turned her head with a smile, a smile so tense it seemed a bit fake, like a boy in ss seeing a pretty girl. Huang Qiangmin habitually handed over a cigarette, lit one for both of them, and said as they walked, "Jiang Yuan had the victim¡¯s children and a few close rtives brought over, let¡¯s start with questioning them. As for the suspect, let them sit in the interrogation room for a while longer, there¡¯s no rush." "Alright." This was standard procedure, and Wu Zhisu naturally wouldn¡¯t interfere. The two of them went down to the interrogation center and entered a meeting room where a dozen people were sitting facing a one-way transparent ss. On the other side of the ss was a standard conversation room with sofas, a tea table, tea cups, and snacks. Inside sat the victim¡¯s daughter and son, alongside Meng Chengbiao, who was in charge of the conversation. And behind the observers in the room, on the other side of another one-way ss, was a standard interrogation room with iron windows, iron bars, a floor-fixed interrogation table and chair, and most importantly, a padded interior. "Wow," Wu Zhisu was stunned, "You even have things like this in your county?" "Ah, brother police bureau¡¯s generosity," Huang Qiangmin smiled. Wu Zhisu was speechless, chalking it up to favors. "You have both sides? One room observing two rooms?" "One room observing just one room would be a waste. Foreign TV dramas are always extravagant," Huang Qiangminmented, then pointed to both sides, "Look at what we have here, an inquiry room on one side and an interrogation room on the other. Depending on which side we¡¯re using, we focus on that side, and the sound is output from the microphone, it can be turned on or off as needed. When not in use, both sides function as ordinary interrogation rooms. Have a seat and watch." Saying this, Huang Qiangmin led Wu Zhisu to sit in the front row. There were three more rows behind. Indeed, in China, the one-way transparent ss interrogation room isplemented by a room with four rows of seats for observation, which can anytime be turned into a small lecture hall. Huang Qiangmin thought it through; there would definitely be leaders from various levelsing to Ningtai County to inspect work. Especially in major cases, what can leaders see when they visit? What¡¯s more convincing than a suspect confessing during an interrogation? Why does a suspect need to confess? If you absolutely need that sense of security, we can re-interrogate after the suspect confesses. Wu Zhisu¡¯s mind was suddenly filled with numerous effective ways to use the one-way transparent interrogation room. After sitting down, she couldn¡¯t help but look around like a 40-year-old man entering a private suite in a karaoke bar for the first time... "This suite... uh, this room needs to be soundproof, right? Our conversation won¡¯t be heard across? How much sound can it block out? Have you tested it?" a series of questions came from Wu Zhisu. Huang Qiangmin smiled, thought for a moment, and said, "Put it this way, you can curse all you want, and it won¡¯t be heard on the other side." "Great, great," Wu Zhisu nodded repeatedly. After a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Is it expensive?" "Zhengguang Bureau donated it... uh, paired support, there¡¯s probably some fluctuation in the estimate we ended up with..." Huang Qiangmin whispered something in Wu Zhisu¡¯s ear. "Not cheap!" Wu Zhisu gasped as if bitten. "Depends on how you view it, it might not be directly useful for solving cases, but we¡¯re building a police team, it¡¯s not just about solving cases. You could say a conference room is useless too, yet we need so many. By the way, there¡¯s also this..." Huang Qiangmin handed another cigarette to Wu Zhisu and lit it. "Sigh..." Wu Zhisu took a puff and looked at the clean, bright interrogation room, shaking his head slightly, "You don¡¯t say, you really don¡¯t say..." "Everyone, have one," Huang Qiangmin said as he offered cigarettes to the detectives behind them,ughing, "Isn¡¯t this better than huddling in an interrogation room?" Everyone chuckled as they epted the cigarettes, praising the good example set by the politicalmissar. tter, tter... In the neighboring interrogation room, the family of the deceased began to cry. Huang Qiangmin and the others¡¯ expressions dropped, falling into silence naturally. Every detective knew this was where the real drama began. "My dad said mom had run away, much like Liu¡¯s wife from Four Uncle¡¯s family, who thought it was too poor and hard and went to the city to find another man... But I don¡¯t believe it, I said my mom wouldn¡¯t leave like this..." The victim¡¯s daughter, old enough for college, cried her heart out, slipping from the sofa to the floor. Meng Chengbiao, sitting opposite, handed her a clean handkerchief and said, "It¡¯s all in the past, it¡¯s all in the past..." "Is it my mom?" Suddenly the daughter looked up at Meng Chengbiao earnestly, "Are you sure it¡¯s my mom?" "Absolutely. The DNA matched perfectly." Meng Chengbiao nodded gently. "Mom..." The daughter wailed loudly. "Before your mom left, did she ask you anything? Did she say she¡¯d take you with her?" Meng Chengbiao guided steadily. The daughter shook her head vigorously, and the victim¡¯s son beside her couldn¡¯t help but cry too. "Mom made us breakfast that morning, but when we came back in the evening, she was gone." The son cried even harder. He was two years younger than his sister, his face covered in e, tall and thin, crying uncontrobly. Tears filled the interrogation room, but Meng Chengbiao remainedposed. He didn¡¯t rush, even knowing someone was watching from the next room, he waited quietly, and when the siblings¡¯ sobs eased slightly, he immediately asked, "Your dad said your mom ran away, did she take anything with her? Clothes, money?" "Dad said she took a bag of clothes," the sister whispered. "How many pieces? Were they her favorite clothes?" Meng Chengbiao continued asking. The sister didn¡¯t answer. So Meng Chengbiao changed his approach, asking, "When your mom left, did she take any jewelry?" The sister still didn¡¯t respond. This time the brother suddenly looked up and questioned, "What difference does it make if she took them or not?" Meng Chengbiao sighed deliberately, "If she left intentionally, she would usually take some personal clothing. Of course, sometimes people do leave in a frenzy, grabbing random clothes. But if she decided not to return, she would at least take her jewelry. You need money for a lot of things outside; if she didn¡¯t take anything valuable, she couldn¡¯t have left." "We don¡¯t even know how much money we had at home. Besides, we were poor back then, and she didn¡¯t have much valuable jewelry." The brother argued. Meng Chengbiao knew what he was implying and chose not to y coy, directly stating, "If your mom wanted to leave some valuables for the family, assuming she decided to leave but still wanted to do so, she might leave gold jewelry, but at the very least, she would take her less valuable but cherished jewelry, because it¡¯s light and easy to carry. For example, did you ever give your mom any hair ties or simr items?" The sister looked up, somewhat bewildered, "I bought her a ne, a red bird one, she really liked it... She didn¡¯t take it, I thought..." As she spoke, the sister sat back on the ground, hugging her knees and weeping. The brother, too, had tears in his eyes and was lost for words. Meng Chengbiao then pulled out a sheet, "This is a copy of a page from the forensic report. You can see, the victim suffered hammer blows before death, and there were defensive wounds on the hands..." The siblings took the A4 paper, their eyes glossing over as they tried to focus on the words. "Your mother was murdered," Meng Chengbiao said softly, "She did not abandon you, she never intended to leave you... Who do you think the killer is?" Chapter 1329 - 1255 Fan Family Village

Chapter 1329: Chapter 1255 Fan Family Vige

The interrogation didn¡¯tst long. After Meng Chengbiao made the siblings cry, they began to talk about their suspicions from over the years. "Although other women in the vige have run away, most were those without children, at least none who had been married for over ten years and then ran away." "The women who left tried to take as much money as possible with them. Some even borrowed money to run away. They didn¡¯t leave behind any gold jewelry." "When others leave, they more or less say goodbye to their children. There are none who ran away without a word." Meng Chengbiao, based on this, began asking about the hammer, more importantly, inquiring about the days when their mother left. The days surrounding their mother¡¯s departure were unforgettable for the teenage siblings, and under Meng Chengbiao¡¯s guidance, their memories became clear and detailed. No one definitively mentioned "father," but the questions and answers all revolved around him. In the observation room, Huang Qiangmin and others smoked cigarette after cigarette, losing interest in chatting. After being a detective for a long time, there are some cases where you don¡¯t need insiders to speak up; you can guess most of it, like matters of love, marriage, and divorce. It¡¯s true that some odd people can do bizarre things and be famous online, but most of the time, ordinary people¡¯s life experiences are just that ordinary, ordinary to the point where even the neighborhood granny has chewed them over thoroughly. However, even if everyone can predict the direction of these cases and events, confirming them still makes one feel quite sentimental. Of course, more importantly, is how to convict the suspect. The police need evidence to resolve cases. Given the current situation, even if the suspect confessed, the evidence still seems overly thin. Jiang Yuan confirmed the victim¡¯s identity and immediately pointed suspicion towards the victim¡¯s husband¡ªthe wife disappeared for years without a report, clearly struck by a blunt object and thrown into the river, yet he portrayed her as abandoning her husband and child. These contradictions make him as conspicuous as a light bulb. But all this evidence is circumstantial. The crime scene is uncertain¡ªJiang Yuan has already gone to Fan Family Vige to investigate, but rural houses differ from city apartments. In cities, cameras are abundant, and activities mostly ur indoors, with spousal murder cases often concentrated in buildings where, unless there¡¯s been a renovation, using reagents like Luminal, it¡¯s rtively easy to find bloodstains and such evidence indoors. The rural lifestyle is different; people often prefer outdoor activities, with murders urring in courtyards or fields being quitemon. Spraying Luminal indoors and not finding blood means there¡¯s little hope of finding it elsewhere. Besides, eight yearster, the murder weapon is also unlikely to be found. There could be many motives for murder, but none profound enough to justify it, and there might be reasons not to kill. Therefore, Meng Chengbiao¡¯s purpose in questioning is to find a witness or aplice, at least a knowledgeable person¡ªFan Family Vige has many rtives of the same n living together. From Meng Chengbiao¡¯s experience, the suspect might discuss with someone or even seek help, and afterward, they might identally let something slip. The easiest thing to happen here is letting something slip. Such situations are frequent; "keeping lips sealed" is difficult, especially under immense psychological pressure. While Meng Chengbiao questioned in the interrogation room, Jiang Yuan roamed around Fan Family Vige. Fan Family Vige is only over 10 kilometers from Ningtai County, allowing easy ess for vigers. The vige is home to four to five hundred people. Jiang Yuan specifically took a walk along the riverside, a singlene road built during the vige-to-vige road construction period, mainly connecting to nearby towns, with several branch roads leading to adjacent viges. Based on database-assessed corpse disposal points, the nearest road is about 30 to 40 meters away in a straight line, but the path is difficult, featuring a slope of around 10 meters in elevation, filled with assorted shrubs, the tallest reaching two stories high, and others as small as over a meter. Jiang Yuan got out of the car and walked along the path trampled by people. Naturally, the path was winding and rugged, almost like an S-bend with an additional turn, to reach the riverside. The total route exceeded 100 meters, and two spots along the way had drops of over a meter, prompting Mu Zhiyang, the burly middle-aged detective along, to grasp nearby tree trunks before jumping down; otherwise, he¡¯d easily tumble down. "It¡¯s impossible for someone to carry a body down here alone," Mu Zhiyang was sweating by the riverside. "It¡¯s hard to say..." Shen Yaowei, experienced in navigating rough terrain and carrying equipment, opined: "In thisndscape, if you put the body in a sturdy bag and dragged it, sliding down may actually be easier than carrying it on t ground." "That would leave a long trail." "There¡¯s no proof now." "Wasn¡¯t he uncertain whether there were police investigations? Should this be considered? Also, did he have a suitable bag?" "Suitcase?" Mu Zhiyang proposed the ssic body disposal tool. "Ignoring traces could produce a simr effect." Jiang Yuan nodded slowly: "It¡¯s quite difficult, hardly feasible but realistically very challenging." Investigations theorize that 100 meters is the upper limit for dragging a corpse on foot¡ªa number derived from various practices instead of being pulled from thin air. Many people might believe beforemitting crimes that they can strive tirelessly, persist tirelessly, and surpass ordinary limits¡ªhaven¡¯t they considered if they¡¯ve surpassed those limits before? Even if they just crossed over yesterday, a quick test today would reveal they don¡¯t need to try aftermitting a murder. Regarding corpse transport, buying a pig to test might be pricey, but perhaps getting a friend drunk for testing could be an alternative¡ªmoving a living personpared to a corpse differs due to weight distribution, making body transport harder than moving an equivalent weight of ordinary objects. Moreover, factors like time and stress during corpse transport can distort actions and increase difficulty. Especially for first-timers, mere increased heart rate consumes considerable energy. Lastly, corpse transport and murder often ur in sequence; generally, before moving a corpse, one must create one. Unless a poison is used, the process of creating a corpse tends to be intense enough to exhaust a normal person¡¯s stamina. During this period, fierce psychological battles ur, especially when the murder wasn¡¯t premeditated. Whether to dispose or bury the corpse, or hide it first, requires deliberation on the method and approach, consuming physical and mental effort, exhausting middle-aged folks before even starting this step. "The likelihood of the suspect disposing of the body alone is low; considering assistance should be prioritized," Jiang Yuan paused to recall before asking, "Who are his immediate rtives?" "The suspect¡¯s parents are still alive, with one brother and one sister. The sister married out long ago, so she¡¯s not in the vige; the brother still lives there. Moreover, the suspect has a dozen cousins." "Question them separately. Take them back for interrogation." Jiang Yuan immediately decided. "Should we also question the cousins? Wouldn¡¯t that cause too wide a sweep?" Wei Shikan, who had been silent all along, instinctively expressed concern. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "The victim may have only been in shock when she fell into the water, not yet dead. Therefore, those apanying the suspect in disposing of the body are alsomitting murder, in which case, the sweep isn¡¯t too wide. Also, during interrogations, refrain from mentioning this issue." Chapter 1330 - 1256: Expected Value

Chapter 1330: Chapter 1256: Expected Value

Bringing all the dozen or so middle-aged men surnamed Fan from Fan Family Vige into the police station did indeed cause some disturbance in the vige. Fortunately, with Wei Shikan¡¯s reminder, the town had informed the vige chief in advance and dispatched several vige officials to assist and exin. It took the whole day to pacify everyone, mainly to prevent them from collectively going to the police station to wait. Even so, the county leaders were very concerned. Whether criminal cases are solved is actually not too much of a concern for county-level leaders, but the disruption of stability is something higher-level leaders cannot ept. Liu Wenkai also tried to deploy criminal police skilled in interrogation from various teams in the criminal investigation squad to simultaneously take statements from the dozens of people, toplete the task quickly and send them back. In the vige, most matters cannot be hidden. Many people live in the city and may not know how many people live next door after ten or eight years, but in the vige, it¡¯s inexplicably well-known if the neighbor¡¯s aunt has an affair with someone else¡¯s father-inw. The criminal police hoped to gather some information from the rtives of the suspects. If that doesn¡¯t work, then they would have to meticulously take notes and do the reconciliation, a step that is quite troublesome and also one of the pleasures of many detective novels ¡ª distinguishing who is telling the truth and who is lying, or which parts are true and which are false from everyone¡¯s uncertain speech... Even Liu Jinghui, who was attending a meeting in the provincial capital, made a phone call amidst his busy schedule to ask if he needed to help... The suspect and his aplice didn¡¯t give Liu Jinghui that chance. Jiang Yuan received a call and told him in a tone of regret: "The suspect has confessed and has also disclosed that his father helped in transporting the body. Of course, he didn¡¯t know at the time that his wife wasn¡¯t dead. Moreover, the suspect¡¯s father has also been interrogated and admitted to lending the vehicle and following through the entire process of disposing of the body." Liu Jinghui¡¯s interest was instantly piqued: "Did the father help his son transport the body? It makes sense, cousins aren¡¯t as reliable as having a dad. However, eight years ago, the suspect¡¯s father would have been quite old." "About fifty-five years old," Jiang Yuan replied. "If he frequently did farm work, a fifty-five-year-old would still be quite strong." Liu Jinghui sighed and said, "Alright, it seems that this case is nearly finished. There¡¯s enough testimony." "Yes, the two used his father¡¯s tractor to transport the body that day. They encountered vigers along the way, and someone saw the tractor parked along the vige road by the river. This is essentially how it is," Jiang Yuan exined as part of the evidence chain. Purely relying on the suspect¡¯s testimony would still be considered isted evidence, but with the aplice¡¯s testimony forming part of an evidential chain, it¡¯s good enough for submission. Liu Jinghui asked a couple more questions, then said: "So, based on this, the suspect¡¯s dad will be going in too. From fifty-five then to sixty-three now? Might get released before he dies. What a way to harm one¡¯s dad!" Jiang Yuan chuckled slightly and shook his head while holding his phone, saying, "The victim intended to divorce, which precisely was something the suspect couldn¡¯t ept... If it had just ended like that, there wouldn¡¯t be so much trouble. But he could ept his wife running away but couldn¡¯t ept a divorce." "If the wife ran away, it¡¯s like she left with nothing, though there¡¯s not much to divide; overall, it would save a lot of money. Furthermore, perhaps it¡¯s about local customs and face. If the wife insists on running away, there¡¯s no way to stop it, but if it¡¯s a divorce, you wouldn¡¯t know if you need to go through court ¡ª probably afraid of being ridiculed." Liu Jinghui spected and added, "By the way, if it were a divorce, maybe the woman wanted to take the child with her, which her husband probably couldn¡¯t ept?" "There should be considerations in that aspect." Jiang Yuan shook his head, "The main issue with this case was the inability to determine the victim¡¯s identity. The suspect¡¯s side had many ws..." With modern criminal investigation technology, once a homicide has a suspect identified, gathering evidence bes rather quick. This is merely a cold case; back then, if the victim¡¯s identity had been confirmed, and the suspicion had fallen on the victim¡¯s husband, he wouldn¡¯t have escaped either. Jiang Yuan talked with Liu Jinghui a bit more, then ended the call. Looking back, everyone else in the conference room was busy with their heads down. Handling a case, where the case is the foundation, the process primarily involves tedious paperwork. Many police officers do not like this mountain of files, and Jiang Yuan is no exception, but he asks his subordinates toplete this part of the work as thoroughly as possible. Only after handling cold cases do you realize that what seems entirely clear and unnecessary to record today will surely leave you helpless and bewildered eight yearster. Documents and case files might not bring efficiency, but they ensure fairness. Additionally, both scrutiny from higher-ups and public oversight ultimately depend on documents and files to be realized. Jiang Yuan naturally doesn¡¯t like to work under a supervisor during the investigation, so he needs to make up for it with documents afterward. After all, he no longer has to fill out one form after another. "Jiang Yuan." Wu Zhisu waved from the back door, half his body already inside the conference room while the other half stayed in the corridor, looking like a young immature student. The criminal police who made eye contact with him quickly looked away, especially Tang Jia and other female officers, who, upon seeing Wu Zhisu, would instinctively turtle up like pangolins because Wu Zhisu often scolded fiercely whilemanding daily, putting great pressure on those who worked with or cooperated with him. After all, they are all adults, and opportunities to get scolded are fewer, and the tolerance for being scolded is also quite limited. "Wu Zhi." Jiang Yuan approached the back door, politely speaking without Director Huang by his side. "Let me show you something nice." Wu Zhisu pulled Jiang Yuan along. Even Mu Zhiyang, standing nearby, instinctively reached for his back holster but quickly caught up with a few steps. Wu Zhisu took Jiang Yuan downstairs and pointed at arge white vehicle ahead, "Do you like this? I¡¯ll give it to you to drive." "Land Cruiser?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised, "This car is a bit expensive." "It has already been driven for tens of thousands of kilometers; a new one would cost a million or so, which we can¡¯t afford. It just happened to fall into my hands, and after thinking it over, you¡¯re often away on trips, so it¡¯s most suitable for you." Wu Zhisu smiled as he exined. Not only did Jiang Yuan not believe him, but even Mu Zhiyang nearby didn¡¯t believe a word. In some ways, the requirements for cars by the criminal police are simr to those of coal mine bosses and contractors ¡ª they needrge vehicles that can handle rough roads, durable and rugged, and by domestic standards, the top choice fulfilling this requirement is the Land Cruiser. Others may not necessarily be better in terms of durability, and the insurance and repair costs would be too high. Jiang Yuan instinctively took out his mobile phone, saying, "I need to call Commissioner Huang." "Huang is too persistent." Wu Zhisu grabbed Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, "There are many cases in the river we haven¡¯t worked on yet; who cares which one to work on. You¡¯re running all over, too tiring. Why not solve a few more in Jianjiang." Jiang Yuan replied, "It¡¯s not up to me..." "If you are willing to work on Jianjiang¡¯s cases, Director Huang absolutely wouldn¡¯t say a word more." Wu Zhisu, albeit not good at other things, had long seen through the rtionship between Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan pondered for two seconds but didn¡¯t refute Wu Zhisu and instead said, "I also do not oppose solving Jianjiang cases, but I must first solve the drowning cases along the Tai River line, especially those within the database range." "Since there¡¯s a database, let the people below do it," Wu Zhisu did not follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s thought process, instead presenting his idea. Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest was piqued because, indeed, if the database matched, handing those cases over to Liu Wenkai¡¯s group would work, and for more troublesome ones, it could be assigned to Shen Yaowei ¡ª no need for his direct involvement. Having the Cold Case Squad¡¯s criminal police take over has another advantage, as matching the database means they can easily send it back if unmatched. If Jiang Yuan were involved, backing out would be difficult; the statement would bind him, forcing, if necessary, to solve it using the Skull Restoration Skill. Huang Qiangmin previously used this point to press Wu Zhisu forpliance, mainly because Jianjiang City aligns best with the current database range. Going forward, and Jiang Yuan would need topare databases, the cost-effectiveness wouldn¡¯t be as good. "What other cases do you have?" Jiang Yuan indeed showed some anticipation. Jianjiang City is also a ce for major cases. Wu Zhisu indeed met Jiang Yuan¡¯s expectations, "How about a major smuggling case?" "Smuggled cars?" Jiang Yuan eximed, "This should be under the jurisdiction of the anti-smuggling bureau, right?" "Smuggled cars can be theirs, smuggled cars with human blood are ours," Wu Zhisu exined and specifically emphasized, "Arterial blood, with traces of gunshots." Chapter 1331 - 1257: Smuggling Case

Chapter 1331: Chapter 1257: Smuggling Case

"Was this vehicle smuggled over?" Jiang Yuan¡¯s curiosity was piqued by Wu Zhisu, as he walked over to the car. "This one wasn¡¯t smuggled. How could we give you a smuggled car?" Wu Zhisu chuckled and said, "It was previously involved in a case, but it¡¯s been settled now. All the paperwork isplete, and we¡¯ll transfer it to your Ningtai County Bureauter." "Commissioner Huang usually just borrows cars, no need for the transfer," Jiang Yuan reminded casually, "Commissioner Huang believes that borrowed vehicles are easier to handle regarding insurance, fuel costs, and logistics. The annual budget is calcted, and cars are meant to be used. When a car wears out, it gets reced, without affecting the operations of other departments, adding lesser pressure on them." "Huang is quite a character." Wu Zhisuughed, "That¡¯s how regr cars are managed; I understand his intent. But this car is high-end, and considering you don¡¯t have a dedicated car, it might be convenient for you personally. Actually, if it¡¯s transferred, we¡¯ll cover the insurance and other stuff for you, so you wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it." "It¡¯s fine, I don¡¯t spend much time in Ningtai, so I might not drive anything." Jiang Yuan gave the brand-new Land Cruiser a pat and tactfully added, "Our director drives a Passat; it wouldn¡¯t be suitable for me to drive this." Wu Zhisu almost couldn¡¯t hold back augh, though he refrained from mentioning Jiang Yuan¡¯s usualmute in an Alphard, he merely chuckled and said, "Everyone knows Huang usually rides in a Beijing-ted Audi." At this point, Mu Zhiyang chimed in, "Our Commissioner Huang always opts for a Jetta King whenever he meets with the director." Wu Zhisu was taken aback, "Your Ningtai County Bureau has a Jetta King?" "Commissioner Huangter swapped it with another department." "So he rides a Beijing-ted Audi, only to switch to a Jetta King when attending county meetings? Huang really outdoes himself." Wu Zhisu said in a mocking tone. Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang both nodded silently. Wu Zhisu wanted to indulge in this mockery but quicklyposed himself. He took a deep breath, shocked by the cunning nature beneath Huang¡¯s calm exterior. This old croc looked as inert as driftwood, but beneath the surface, it was stealthily maneuvering with four long legs¡ªwho could handle such tactics? "Tell me more about arterial blood and gunshots." Jiang Yuan brought up his preferred topic. When he was attending school, Jiang Yuan might have had many hobbies, but after graduating, he truly developed a penchant for solving cases. In fact, anyone working in a field where they excel and earn admiration from countless people could lead and orchestrate operations benefiting the nation and its citizens¡ªwho wouldn¡¯t enjoy such work? This is akin to many leaders enjoying their jobs simply because the demands are low enough and the tenure long enough that they can easily be adept¡ªleading and directing countless tasks ording to their visions, partially bing or at least genuinely aspiring to be someone who serves the country and its people. Wu Zhisu saw that he sessfully captivated Jiang Yuan, excited like a high schooler delivering their first love letter upon seeing their crush, he eagerly added, "It was also a Land Cruiser; when I saw this vehicle, it reminded me of a case. This car was seized at a checkpoint; it belonged to a local businessman from Jianjiang, meticulously cloned¡ªwithplete documentation¡ªit was nearly untraceable, but coincidentally, a drug investigation was underway, and two police dogs on the scene sniffed out the bloodstains on the car seat." Cloning involves taking illegally smuggled vehicles, altering them to match the details on the "import certificate" for registration. The "import certificate" could be purchased, sourced from various ces, costly yet crucial for imported vehicle documentation. With it, smuggling groups could buy an identical car model and color, bring it in, change the VIN and engine number¡ªthus cloning an imported car. Once this entire meticulous process isplete, the chances of detection are quite low. However, bloodstains found inside the car pose a problem. Jiang Yuan frowned upon hearing this, "They didn¡¯t clean it before sending it over?" "The auto repair shop probably cleaned it, but not thoroughly enough. Coupled with the prolonged confinement, the scent drew the dogs. After on-site officers wiped the seats, traces of explosives were detected, causing quite a stir on-site." Wu Zhisu reminisced with a grin. Mu Zhiyang interjected, "I think I heard about this case; was itst year¡¯s? There¡¯s been no news since." "No results were found, so there¡¯s not much to discuss. Honestly, all we found were blood and gunshot residue, the blood¡¯s source unknown, and the gunshot residue untraceable, without a body, it¡¯s akin to a headless case." Wu Zhisu spoke while keenly observing Jiang Yuan¡¯s reaction. In essence, this case was bait for Jiang Yuan¡ªto capture his interest was paramount. The case itself, Wu Zhisu didn¡¯t hold high hopes for. It wasn¡¯t even filed as a murder case because there was no body, no proof of death. Of course, from the bloodstain positions, spray angles, and gunshot residue distribution, one could easily reconstruct a dynamic scene¡ªan individual sits in the driver¡¯s seat, a gun¡¯s muzzle pressed against their head, the shot fired, head tilts, blood spurts, leaving gunshot residue scattered. To envision such a scene doesn¡¯t even require Level 1 crime scene reconstruction skills; Jiang Yuan analyzed several photos swiftly. "Indeed, the case information is quitecking; to investigate this murder, we might need to start with the smuggling investigation." Jiang Yuan quickly offered a logical deduction. Wu Zhisu immediately nodded, "Sure, I¡¯ll request jurisdiction over the smuggling case, which is under Changyang City¡¯s Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau, as we mentioned then..." At that moment, a shadow quietly swept across. "If you request it, the case¡¯s jurisdiction will fall under you here." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice arrived ahead of him, first ncing at Jiang Yuan, then at the Land Cruiser, and finally at Mu Zhiyang and Wu Zhisu. Wu Zhisu was stunned, "You should take it; I¡¯d save myself the trouble." "Then what¡¯s your motive?" Huang Qiangmin had been pondering throughout the walk, blurting out. "I just wanted tomunicate more with Jiang Yuan." Wu Zhisu chuckled, shaking his head and gently linking arms with Jiang Yuan, "Jianjiang and Qinghe City are neighbors; we¡¯ve been supporting each other for years. Enhancing understanding and mutual aid is key..." "I don¡¯t buy it." Huang Qiangmin replied bluntly. Wu Zhisu grew slightly displeased, hisnguage bing coarse, "What¡¯s there not to believe? Just talking aside, gifting a car to Jiang Yuan, getting a bit closer¡ªwhat¡¯s wrong with that?" "You¡¯re giving away a car for free?" Huang Qiangmin said, pointing at Wu Zhisu,ughing, "You can¡¯t avoid talking about the case; it¡¯s under the Anti-Smuggling Bureau, and I suspect the car is too¡ªare you here to speak on behalf of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau?" "You always think the worst of people." Wu Zhisu waved dismissively, turned and left, opting not to continue the discussion. "I do tend to suspect others." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s tone softened a touch as he asked, "So, am I right?" Wu Zhisu turned back to stare at Huang Qiangmin, expressionless, and said, "This time, you got lucky; we had the same thought." Chapter 1332 - 1258 Stew

Chapter 1332: Chapter 1258 Stew

That night, upon receiving the message, the Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau of Changyang City sent personnel to Ningtai County. The director personally led Huang Qiangmin and others in providing an exceptional reception. For the county bureau level, the entire Ningtai County Bureau rarely interacts with the Anti-Smuggling Bureau. Smuggling is a major crime, which in practical terms is divided into drug smuggling under the narcotics department, counterfeit money smuggling under economic investigation, smuggling of prohibited items under public security, and goods smuggling like automobiles under the Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau¡¯s management. Ningtai County is not coastal, and any smuggling cases that asionally arise are simply transferred to Changyang City¡¯s Anti-Smuggling Bureau, with the two often onlymunicating through paperwork and rarely coborating. Unless the Changyang City Anti-Smuggling Bureau is particrly interested in Jiang Yuan. There is no Customs department in Shannan Province, so the Changyang City Customs is the highest administrative agency within the province, with its subordinate Anti-Smuggling Bureau mainly responsible for all anti-smuggling tasks in the province. It¡¯s a standard department-level unit, although within the police hierarchy, it is rtively independent. The visitor was the Chief of the Investigation Section, Wan Quan, who brought along two cars and eight people, clearly not just a casual visit. Everyone tacitly set up a scene in the canteen of Ningtai County for a hearty pot stew! The police officers from the Anti-Smuggling Bureau¡¯s Investigation Section were stunned when they saw a potrge enough for over a dozen people. Can modern unit canteens be this extravagant? Huang Qiangmin coughed twice, then stepped forward and said, "This iron pot stew has a history. We discovered it when we were on the run in the Northeast, introduced by a local police bureau. Later, Jiang Yuan provided them with several remote services, and since the local police bureau felt indebted, they sponsored us this pot. Considering their genuine gesture, we epted it. Look, there¡¯s even a namete underneath." Wan Quan bent down to look, and the namete was right under his feet: Loyalty and Responsibility, Passionate Protection of the People ¡ª¡ªDedicated to Ningtai Jiangyuan by the entire Criminal Investigation Brigade of Heshan City. The metal namete, in a vibrant orange, looked exceptionally sincere. Wan Quan took a deep breath of steam, this is the status in the world! "Today¡¯s iron pot stew recipe is also provided by the Criminal Police Brigade of Heshan City. It¡¯s a dual beef cut with brisket and shank. Also, special note, the brisket and shank were gifted to the Ningtai County Bureau by Jiang Yuan¡¯s father, who not only didn¡¯t charge a penny but also helped us cut and portion them. Additionally, the mushrooms in the pot were sent by the Guqi City Bureau, the yellow wine by the Mei Yang City Bureau, and the cornmeal for the corn cakes by the Chiyong City Bureau..." "Isn¡¯t this considered... a collective meal?" Wan Quan, also a knowledge-based police officer, but today his knowledge was challenged, made a rather inappropriatement and quickly amended, "I mean, it¡¯s truly an achievement to satisfy everyone across different areas." "Our canteen is always stocked with supplies sent by units from various ces..." The director said, "Let me tell you a story. Once during a meeting, I specifically asked Jiang Yuan to attend, and I saw him ying with his mobile phone. At that time, I said, we¡¯re having a formal meeting, everyone should put their phones away. Guess what happened?" Wan Quan quickly cooperated, "What happened?" "In just the time it took to say two sentences, the leader called me directly, saying Jiang Yuan was solving their problem at that moment, while I was here dealing with all sorts of formalities..." The directorughed heartily. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin exchanged nces without saying a word. The original version of the story was definitely not like that, but the director selectively told the story, which was naturally not a problem. Wan Quan listened in admiration, "Truly impressive!" "Impressive, right? What¡¯s impressive is that he really solved the case for them in the time it took me to make a speech for a few minutes. I was wasting so many people¡¯s time with my speech, while Jiang Yuan¡¯s few minutes saved those people days of work..." The directormented. "Truly impressive." Wan Quan felt his knowledge swell in his chest, oversaturated. "Try this brisket, it¡¯s very tender! Use themunal chopsticks." The director usedmunal chopsticks to pass a piece of beef to Wan Quan. Wan Quan quickly held out his bowl and was soon caught up in theplex table etiquette. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan silently scooped himself a big bowl of beef and slowly began to eat. Today, with the director present, the middle-ranking cadres had no chance to speak, and he certainly didn¡¯t need to speak. However, a banquet without alcohol doesn¡¯tst long. In a blink of an eye, the cups and tes were a mess, then cleaned up, setting up the files Wan Quan brought. Most of the topics had already been discussed while the stew was cooking. Now they officially entered the professional field. Wan Quan switched expressions, seriously saying, "We¡¯ve been tracking the 929 automotive smuggling case for nearly two years!" With just one sentence at the opening, everyone understood the depths involved. Two years¡ªpolice time doesn¡¯t have many two-year periods! Wan Quan continued, "For this case, we¡¯ve sent multiple undercover agents, but the current information mainly covers their smuggling and salesworks. We still know very little about the middle and upper-level organizers." "That car is of great importance, can we trace the source of the import certificate?" Huang Qiangmin raised this sensitive question. For an imported car, the import certificate is like a birth certificate. It allows the car to be registered and thus grants it full road use rights. Needless to say, the management of import certificates is still very strict, but there are loopholes that can be exploited. The simplest and most basic trick is using one¡¯s own car to disguise another. Buy an imported car and a smuggled car of the same model and color, and change the smuggled car¡¯s frame and engine numbers to match. So long as the two cars aren¡¯t on the road simultaneously, the traffic police usually won¡¯t notice. For some, this method is quite cost-effective, like people who frequently travel between two cities, keeping a car in each city and driving the respective car where they go. Since it¡¯s oneself driving, the cars never need to be on the road at the same time. A slightly more difficult method is to buy a scrapped car and use its import certificate for a new imported car. Whether the scrapped car can be repaired or not, it can be withdrawn from cirction. The most challenging is to create an import certificate from scratch, which is the most profitable but also the hardest to trace. However, regardless of the model, there¡¯s always a way to follow the trail. Finding a single defective import certificate can potentially trace more issues. Wan Quan surprisingly shook his head and said, "The other side mainly smuggles vehicles, and the import certificates are handled by their sales agents here. They essentially buy these certificates, ranging from several tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands each. This aspect ends here." Jiang Yuan nodded, taking over the discussion, "This is my first exposure to a smuggling case. Any ideas on why you¡¯vee to me?" Wan Quan had undoubtedly considered this and had no hesitation, saying, "We have seized dozens of vehicles here already. I¡¯m considering whether you could perform a round of fingerprint analysis, checking all the fingerprints in the cars. I believe that these automotive smugglers might not wear gloves when handling the cars, right?" "That¡¯s like finding a needle in a haystack!" Huang Qiangmin immediately objected, "Even with just a few cars, fingerprint analysis takes time, not to mention vast databases need to be scanned. Moreover, don¡¯t people clean their cars?" Wan Quan smiled slightly, "If we happen to find something, the case could be quickly solved, as the organization¡¯s heads have many rtives domestically, ording to what we know." "You have to have their fingerprint records first to match. Do such people have fingerprint records?" "Who knows? Besides, I know the police have been recording fingerprints for fishermen and other personnel over the years. These smuggling bosses weren¡¯t born bosses, maybe they had their fingerprints collected years ago..." "Over-optimistic. These are all spective." Jiang Yuan, seeing Wan Quan so focused on his own n, lightly shook his head, "Expecting a smuggling organization¡¯s top members to leave fingerprints on cars is overly optimistic." "Smuggling organization¡¯s heads can sometimes be quite foolish." Wan Xiang said quietly. "But after killing someone, they were forced to improve their smarts." Jiang Yuan presented his n, "My suggestion is to use familiar forensic methods first and deal with bloodstains and gunshot traces!" Follow current novels on freewe(b)novel.c(o)m Chapter 1333 - 1259 Strategy

Chapter 1333: Chapter 1259 Strategy

Wan Quan looked at Jiang Yuan, feeling a sense of awe. As fellow police officers, Wan Quan found it easy to conclude, with just a pool of blood and some gunshot marks, solving the case would be difficult. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s confident demeanor made Wan Quan doubt his own confidence. This was Jiang Yuan, of the "Ningtai Jiang Yuan, presented by the entire Criminal Investigation Squad of Heshan City", the man whose name was engraved on the iron pot stew. When he said, "my suggestion," what else could Wan Quan say? Say, "I think"? "What do we need to do?" Wan Quan changed his approach. "Let¡¯s narrow down the scope first. Sit." Jiang Yuan gestured for a few people to sit down and began questioning: "Where do you think the crime scene is? When the murder happened, roughly where was the car?" "Hmm... I think either on the road or just after disembarking, because if it hadn¡¯t boarded from abroad, they wouldn¡¯t have sent the car here." Wan Quan said a bit and then stopped, ncing awkwardly at Jiang Yuan: "Of course, my reasoning might not beplete. If they killed someone abroad and then sent the car over, it could also be a solution. Actually, if it¡¯s a stolen car, this possibility is even greater." "Where did it disembark? Where did it board from abroad?" "For this batch of cars, ording to our understanding, it should have disembarked at Tianjin Port, transported over from Hong Kong." Wan Quan prepared a bit and gave an urate response. This kind of information is not difficult for customs to collect. Speaking of which, smuggling routes are open secrets; simr to drug routes;mon car smuggling, in summary, isnd border infiltration + coastal port smuggling + cross-border gray customs clearance. Ovend transport from Myanmar and Laos enters Yun Guang, sea transport is from Vietnam to Fangcheng Port, or full route tours from Hong Kong and Macau, with a small amount entering over ice from Russia. Most smuggling gangs follow established old routes in their cat-and-mouse games with the police. If one were to invent a new route, it could immediately expand into arge smuggling gang. For the police, knowing the route doesn¡¯t mean they can urately find the illegal goods. The crucial problem is that finding the goods doesn¡¯t necessarily mean finding the people, and capturing minorckeys doesn¡¯t necessarily mean capturing the major ones; the more levels there are, the easier it is for links to break. Smuggling groups can treat henchmen as expendable, while they safely stay abroad, organizing waves of personnel to do the work. For this reason, whether it¡¯s drug cases or smuggling cases, there¡¯s a preference for in-depth investigation followed by a sweeping crackdown. "I think we can start with a simple screening." Jiang Yuan was getting more adept at this kind of small screening, partly because the technology he mastered was well-suited to it. Wan Quan quickly nodded and started taking notes: "Go ahead." Jiang Yuan: "First, from the perspective of the location, we can collect records of bodies in Tianjin Port and Hong Kong-Macau areas, checking if there are any bodies that died by gunshot forparison." Jiang Yuan: "Second, if someone died inside the smuggling group, there would always be some information, or it might not be confirmed death, just missing, or disappeared, no longer appearing. If we canpile the information, we can also create a list." Wan Quan took notes but was greatly puzzled, saying: "I¡¯m a bit confused, please don¡¯t be upset, smuggling groups can handle bodies easily, throwing them into the deep sea, making them hard to find. We might have no results looking for bodies. Moreover, even if we do find a body or a missing person case, cracking this case will still be difficult." "Feel free to discuss." Jiang Yuan started with a note and then said, "The two points I raised are actually to confirm the identity of the deceased. We, handling criminal cases, once we¡¯ve confirmed the identity of the deceased, we have a foothold." "A grip." Wan Quan seemed to half-understand. Jiang Yuan smiled and nodded, continuing: "If we can¡¯t find the body, forget it. But if it was a killing in nearshore waters or a port, there¡¯s a chance the body remains. Actually, the most likely scenario was killing during boarding or disembarking because they died in a smuggling car, right?" "That¡¯s right." Wan Quan quickly agreed. "Secondly, if we can¡¯t find the body, searching for information about a person¡¯s disappearance is also to confirm the information and narrow the scope. The smuggling group members are, after all, human. I believe if we have a list of missing persons and we try our best to confirm their identities, couldn¡¯t we then have found a member of the smuggling group, possibly an important one." Wan Quan was stunned at thest sentence: "Why an important one." "If they weren¡¯t important, they wouldn¡¯t be worth shooting." Jiang Yuan half-joked: "In any event, find the person first, solve the homicide, then we¡¯ll address the smuggling case as the investigation progresses." Wan Quan could only nod; he seemed to understand now that Jiang Yuan was focused on solving the homicide and was not very interested in the smuggling case. Nevertheless, Wan Quan remained proper, as he had been investigating this case for a long time without result; he might as well see if Ningtai Jiang Yuan truly lived up to the legend. "The bloodstain itself is our most important evidence." Jiang Yuan adjusted his seating posture and said, "I suggest sending the blood to the ministry for Y-chromosome and family lineage testing." The Y chromosome is only present in males and is inherited unchanged through the paternal line. In other words, the father¡¯s Y chromosome is the same as the son¡¯s, and even the grandfather¡¯s and Great Ancestor¡¯s are the same, shared among brothers and cousins. Therefore, the advantage of Y chromosomeparison is that it doesn¡¯t require the DNA of the suspect himself to be in the database; matching any male family member¡¯s DNA will suffice. Although it can¡¯t pinpoint which family member, it significantly narrows the scope. The famous Baiyin case was investigated from the 1980s to the 2010s, and in the end, it was solved when the criminal was identified by matching the Y chromosome of one of his uncles. Family genealogy testing involves gic lineage technology, using second-generation sequencing technology, and it requires big data, making it moreplex. However, it can trace females and even find third or fourth-degree cousins. In ancient times, something like Zhao¡¯s Orphan couldn¡¯t escape. Wan Quan, who usually dealt with smuggling cases, of course did not need DNA testing much, so he wasn¡¯t very familiar with theboratories associated with the ministry, somewhat embarrassedly said: "Directly send it to the ministry? We might have a slower channel..." Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said, "I¡¯ll make a call in a bit. Y chromosome and family genealogy tests are necessary; I¡¯ve heard many coastal smuggling rings are family-based, and as long as we get a match, further filtering bes easy." "That¡¯s a good approach." Wan Quan naturally fully agreed and continued to listen to Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrangements, vaguely feeling a sense of ease in solving the case. Chapter 1334 - 1260 Intelligence

Chapter 1334: Chapter 1260 Intelligence

Tianjin Port. Jiang Yuan, apanied by Mu Zhiyang and others, strolled along the port, where various towering gantry cranes and other unnamed gigantic port equipment loomed ahead. Wan Quan was apanying them, enthusiastically introducing, "The throughput of Tianjin Port ranks among the top 10 globally, with an annual capacity of 500 million tons. Last year, the container throughput also exceeded 20 million TEUs. The smuggling characteristics here include automobiles, frozen products, electronic goods, and luxury items. The exports are mainly steel, rare metals, and high-value-added industrial goods, making it a highly specialized trade hub." Jiang Yuan, unfamiliar with smuggling cases, pondered for a moment and said, "With such arge throughput, is it basically impossible to search a whole ship thoroughly, right?" "Small ships are easy to inspect. Forrge ships, even if there¡¯s a spot check, at most you can only check what the crew might be sneaking in. Look over there, that ship unloading should be a 200,000-ton ship, probably around 300 meters in length, unloading iron ore. It can unload about 40,000 tons a day, so unloading 200,000 tons takes 5 days. If it¡¯s grain, it unloads even slower, maybe 30,000 tons a day. But with quantities like 30,000 to 40,000 tons, how could you possibly inspect everything?" Wan Quan casually provided an example, which helped Jiang Yuan understand. "So you rely on special intelligence and targeted investigations?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Spot checks are also conducted, mainly to gather leads and act as a deterrent. But actually solving cases requires behind-the-scenes investigation. Sometimes, even when there¡¯s a lead, you can¡¯t find evidence during a spot check. I once handled a frozen goods case where the suspect had modified the refrigerated container. The front third contained normal, legal frozen meat, while the back two-thirds hid smuggled beef, and not just any smuggled beef, but beef from an epidemic area. We spent 24 hours looking with temperature probes, wore ourselves out because you can¡¯t indefinitely hold someone¡¯s goods, especially frozen ones, as there are many deadlines andplications." Once Wan Quan started talking about smuggling cases, he couldn¡¯t stop: "Just on Brazilian imported goods here, some mix rosewood into ordinary timber, and the wood is soaked in a solution that even dogs can¡¯t sniff out. And with Brazilian soybeans, out of 100,000 tons of GMO soybeans, they sneak in 20,000 tons of unapproved GMO soybeans. For those who can¡¯t identify soybeans, it¡¯s almost impossible to check." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but nod, "So, all customs enforcement units need to have personnel and equipment tailored to these situations?" "Indeed. However, the level of attention each customs enforcement unit gives varies. Just as you see, while Tianjin Port does have their customs bureau setup, it¡¯s hard to say how much effort they can dedicate to the 929 case given their 500 million tons of throughput each year. Even now, asking them to cooperate a bit is extremely difficult." Wan Quan, while cautioning, nced vigntly at the left rear. Over there, leaders from Tianjin Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau and Changyang Customs Anti-Smuggling Branch were in conversation. "It¡¯d be great if you could straighten out rtionships among yourselves." The more ces Jiang Yuan visited, the moreplicated he felt the local situations were. Normally, he hoped to outsource this part of the work. Wan Quan, naturally willing to maintain this mode, quickly said, "No problem. Even though our anti-smuggling branch is one level below them, we¡¯ve been following this case for two years. Over these two years, it¡¯s continuously been the focus of our investigation department. Honestly, if they take over now, it would take at least two months for them to catch up with our progress, let alone conduct synchronized investigations." "That¡¯s indeed the case." Jiang Yuan sounded quite satisfied as he looked around at several subordinates brought by Wan Quan with a satisfied look. Although the customs anti-smuggling bureau also operates with a police establishment, the entry difficulty is much higherpared to local police departments, especially in a county-level bureau like Ningtai. In other words, Wan Quan and his team members at the anti-smuggling bureau are all strong in written expression from the start; their enthusiasm, learning ability, and educational qualifications are noteworthy and can rival elites like Wang Chuanxing, who entered the Changyang City Bureau¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade. Especially since the knowledge they possess, although differing greatly from criminal police, is not necessarily a bad thing. "Shall we go check the containers for smuggled cars?" Wan Quan proposed again. "Let¡¯s go." Jiang Yuan turned and followed Wan Quan into a car. Wan Quan made a gesture to his subordinates, who understood immediately and got into the cars, driving all of them away from the scene, leaving only a Ford 150 without keys. By the time the officials from Tianjin Port Customs Bureau realized, the vehicles were out of sight, and they only then came to realize they might have been left behind. ... The next time the Tianjin Port Customs Bureau saw Jiang Yuan was at dinner time. "Today we are having a hotpot, a seafood hotpot." Handling the reception for Tianjin Port Customs Bureau was Hang Haichuan, the head of the investigation department. They coordinated at the same level as Changyang Customs Anti-Smuggling Branch and brought along four people. Hang Haichuan sat Jiang Yuan next to him and began introducing the hotpot, "Everyone has their own pot for dipping various seafood and meats. Many people mention Tianjin by saying pancakes and fried dough sticks, but actually, the seafood here is excellent. Especially the small near-coastal seafood, it¡¯s not very pricey but extremely fresh." Jiang Yuan obediently ced some shellfish and small squid into the pot. Watching the bubbling hotpot, he seemed momentarily absent-minded. "What¡¯s up, did you think of something?" Wan Quan hadn¡¯t touched his hotpot but watched Jiang Yuan with slight excitement, as if, in a detective film, the famous detective was about to have an epiphany. Jiang Yuan shook his head, exhaled, and said, "I was thinking..." "Please go ahead..." Jiang Yuan pointed at the pot, "Wouldn¡¯t it be more appropriate to cook the beef first before the seafood? The beef has more fat..." "You were thinking about that!" Wan Quan let out a sigh that almost sent him diving into the pot. "What else could it be?" Jiang Yuan countered Wan Quan. "Of course... I was thinking, maybe you¡¯ve figured out a way to solve the case." Wan Quan replied softly. "Solving the case isn¡¯t urgent." Jiang Yuan watched the bubbling hot pot, then looked up at the surprised Wan Quan, smiled, and said, "Even if we¡¯ve identified the victim, we¡¯re still far from finding the suspect, and even further from solving the case. It¡¯s not going to be that fast." "I understand, I understand. After all, it¡¯s already been two years." "We need to take it step by step, make preparations, and see what results we can achieve in the next few days." Jiang Yuan was more than ten years younger than Wan Quan but had more experience. A simpleparison could be made; Wan Quan had worked on special cases like 929 for two years straight. Although there were other special cases running concurrently during that time, his eligibility to work on special cases only spanned a few years. When Jiang Yuan was as young as he was, he didn¡¯t even have the chance to join a special case team. Influenced by Jiang Yuan¡¯s demeanor, Wan Quan calmed down quickly and his thoughts aligned rapidly, saying, "The list of unidentified individuals has been organized, but the list of missing persons that you want hasn¡¯t beenpleted yet..." Wan Quan said this while looking at Hang Haichuan. "Oh dear, it¡¯s done cooking." Hang Haichuan said, looking at the mantis shrimp in his pot. He quickly fished it out, then set down his chopsticks and said, "Director Jiang, Wanke, let¡¯s be honest, the range of the missing persons list you want is too broad. If you say it¡¯s limited to a specific smuggling group, we can try to mobilize intelligence toe up with a list of missing persons, no problem. But if you¡¯re talking about various smuggling groups, it¡¯s really too difficult. We can¡¯t mobilize all the intelligence sources, don¡¯t you agree?" Wan Quan had a hard time responding at once. In some respects, he agreed with Hang Haichuan¡¯s statement. Intelligence was rather scarce, and asionally using it for one case was fine, but mobilizing everyone for screening would indeed be too wasteful. Jiang Yuan, however, didn¡¯t share the same concern. His problem-solving approach always started from his own capabilities. Seeing Hang Haichuan¡¯s concern, he didn¡¯t press the matter but instead asked from a different perspective, "How about we don¡¯t use intelligence sources? Do we currently know much about the smuggling groups?" "Well... If you¡¯re talking aboutrge smuggling groups, the Intelligence Division certainly has a grasp on them. As for smaller smuggling groups, it¡¯s really uncertain. Additionally, smuggling groups split and reorganize; it used to be more apparent with boats involved, as wherever the captain and the boat were was clear-cut, albeit often changing. Nowadays, smugglers might not even have boats. These fragmented smuggling crews... we really can¡¯t im to have full knowledge of them." Hang Haichuan mostly exined the current situation. Without the lead role in the case, Hang Haichuan¡¯s enthusiasm noticeably decreased. Jiang Yuan could only nod. His understanding of smuggling groups was indeed limited. With no opposition from Wan Quan, Jiang Yuan could only acknowledge Hang Haichuan¡¯s words. Just then, Wang Chuanxing suddenly got up and said softly, "I¡¯m going to pick someone up." He quickly left the private room and returned a minuteter with Liu Jinghui. "Are your vacations over?" Jiang Yuan smiled as he saw Liu Jinghui. "My wife got tired of me and kicked me out." Liu Jinghui wore a broad smile and smoothly shifted the topic, "I heard you were discussing the list screening?" Wan Quan was startled and quickly said, "It¡¯s screening the list, not a full investigation, more like a small-scale check." Liu Jinghuiughed heartily, "Doing an internal check on the smuggling groups, right? Quite interesting. Are you stuck due to the limited intelligence sources?" "Director Liu." Hang Haichuan greeted and ryed Lei Tong¡¯s words, adding, "Actually, I shouldn¡¯t be the one saying this. I¡¯m into investigations, and the intelligence sources are all managed by the Intelligence Division. This is how things stand." "We actually don¡¯t need urate intelligence." Liu Jinghui interrupted Hang Haichuan. Hang Haichuan was taken aback, "In terms of checking..." Liu Jinghui waved his hand, upying Wang Chuanxing¡¯s hot pot spot, and freshly switched out the pot and utensils, casually picking several pieces of fish and shellfish, saying, "We¡¯re all seasoned police officers here. Let me tell you, when someone gets killed or goes missing within a smuggling group, what urate intelligence could you possibly have? How many people could¡¯ve seen it? It¡¯s all hearsay." Hang Haichuan: "If you put it like that..." "There are marine legends that are both absurdly false and absurdly true. Simply relying on rumors doesn¡¯t work, but we have a two-tiered screening process on our side. Most importantly, we have the victim¡¯s blood in our hands. So, we just need to gather intelligence, true or false, without needing intelligence to guarantee it." Liu Jinghui paused and added, "Not even any intelligence." Wan Quan suddenly realized he had been misled by Hang Haichuan and couldn¡¯t help but say, "Exactly, just the periphery is enough, especially personnel movement information. Fringe members might be even more sensitive." "Well... if it¡¯s just an indefinite list, I¡¯ll have someone gather it now." Hang Haichuan had no more excuses. "Now, please. Strive to have it ready by tomorrow morning." Liu Jinghui set down his chopsticks and turned to Jiang Yuan, saying, "ording to the current progress, the Y-identification report will be ready by night, and the familial identification report will take another two days as it¡¯s reportedly slower. However, we have the list of unidentified individuals, and by tomorrow morning we¡¯ll have the list of rumored missing persons from Hang Ke. I think we can arrest a batch of people to see." "Arrest people directly?" Hang Haichuan couldn¡¯t worry about Liu Jinghui overstepping his authority and quickly said, "Randomly arresting people could create chaos." "If their hearts aren¡¯t racing, we have no chance, right?" Liu Jinghui was keen on screening the list and eagerly ate several slices of fish. Chapter 1335 - 1261 Looking

Chapter 1335: Chapter 1261 Looking

10:00 PM. The Y chromosome identification report is out. A Yu Family, consisting of seven previously convicted individuals, now appears before Jiang Yuan. "The Yu Family is local, primarily residing in Shallow Pond Vige. The local poption of the Yu surname exceeds 2,000 people, not including those who have moved away. We¡¯ve checked records from the past two years, and there have been no reports of missing persons from the Yu Family, and those reported dead are all elderly," Hang Haichuan introduced the situation together with people from the Customs Investigation Bureau and the Criminal Police Brigade of Tianjin City Bureau. Hang Haichuan: "Among the seven previously convicted members of the Yu Family, five were suspected of smuggling, the other two, one for rape, and one for causing minor injuries. I briefly looked at the files, and they all essentially rte to smuggling." Hang Haichuan became excited: "ording to the Y chromosome identification report, can we directly investigate the Yu Family?" Essentially, he was still reluctant to use special agents; even to gather some inside information seemed unnecessary. Jiang Yuan tly denied: "Even if the Y chromosome is confirmed to belong to Yu Family members, simply investigating them does not necessarily provide clues pointing to the killer." "In that case... fine, you are the authority in criminal investigation," Hang Haichuan no longer debated but instead said, "Regarding arrests, we can bring in anyone with a criminal record without issue. As for other male family members, we have identified ten suspects through technical investigation and cyber security, who can also be brought in. As for the rest, who else do you think should be brought in for questioning?" "Just bring these individuals over; leave one or two with broad social connections, and I will take a look," Jiang Yuan then shifted the conversation: "After all, we are investigating a smuggling case. Although the Yu Family members could be victims¡¯ rtives, they could also be part of a smuggling syndicate. This situation might be a bit different from normal, and I appreciate your effort." "Not at all, it is our duty," Hang Haichuan replied repeatedly. The intelligence section chief hesitated and asked, "Isn¡¯t our focus supposed to be a homicide case?" "Smuggling case, homicide case, it¡¯s crucial to differentiate between them," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, intending not to draw a boundary on this matter. At this moment, Qiu Jianye from the Tianjin Police Station Criminal Police Brigade, who hadn¡¯t said much, stepped forward and remarked, "You are correct. A perpetrator doesn¡¯t care whichw they vite whenmitting a crime. In our investigation, we cannot be confined by the crimebel; the suspect might havemitted a homicide during the smuggling. Let¡¯s handle it together. Director Jiang¡¯s strategy is very urate..." Liu Jinghui quickly shook his hand: "Thank you for your support..." "No need to mention," Qiu Jianye turned his hand to shake Liu Jinghui¡¯s again and said, "Director Jiang, if you want to participate in the arrest, I will arrange it. Rest assured, it will be well done." "Interrogation," Liu Jinghui corrected. "Yes, yes, interrogation," Qiu Jianye raised a thumb. Hence, the icebreak between the two ces was consideredpleted. Pause. Jiang Yuan and others boarded the private cars arranged by Hang Haichuan, forming a convoy that swiftly left the port. Once the convoy hit the main road, Liu Jinghui asked Jiang Yuan, "What¡¯s your thought?" "Can¡¯t it be participating in the interrogation, to understand the case with the involved parties?" Jiang Yuan replied lightly. For him, the progress of this case was under control, and to some extent, it was more straightforward than a typical criminal case. Liu Jinghui, sharing the rxed mood,ughed, "Seven cars, over twenty people going out to understand the case? The involved parties aren¡¯t Lin Chong." "You¡¯ve caught on," Jiang Yuan alsoughed. "Everyone caught on, right? Hang Haichuan might be in the car reporting right now. Within half an hour, our apanying army could double. Are you not trusting him?" Liu Jinghui thought, with such a tant cover, it¡¯s like pretending to be injured before his wife or brandishing a sword outside the temple of Guan Gong. "Not exactly about trust," Jiang Yuan adjusted his cor, "However, with so much money flowing around a port like this... I feel if we follow standard procedures and bring these involved parties back for questioning, it¡¯s hard to achieve results. Even if they are willing to provide leads, it¡¯s not necessarily true. As previously mentioned, it¡¯s likely gossip." "Indeed. If the information received is mixed with truth and falsehood, and faced with police, for every ten falsehoods, they would outrun themselves." "Also worried they might mistake false information for the truth." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t particrly skilled in interrogation, so relying on interrogation for case solving wasn¡¯t aligned with his thinking process. It¡¯s useful for direction finding and re-verification but not as a primary approach. Liu Jinghui, also not inclined towards interrogation, agreed, "Deep down, this Yu Family, although there are seven previously convicted members, now iming ten possible involved parties, if they are still staying on the maind and being easily singled out, it indicates they are not qualified to control a smuggling syndicate, more likely the underlings of one or several smuggling groups." "Smuggling riffraff," Mu Zhiyang added on the side. "Kind of like that," Liu Jinghui said as he looked at Jiang Yuan and asked, "Then how do you n to handle it?" "Let¡¯s see in person, these people should be able to provide crime leads actively," Jiang Yuan lounged in the seat and said rxedly, "We may not be adept at handling smuggling case investigation, but dealing with suspects, we have plenty of ways." Liu Jinghui nodded and looked at Jiang Yuan more seriously, "You¡¯re looking more like an expert now." Jiang Yuan merely smiled. With a rich skill set, it¡¯s easier to maintain stable emotions, even in smuggling cases. While things on the sea might be unpredictable, there are always numerous cameras onnd, and unless someone has Level 3 anti-surveince skills, within the area ruled by Image Investigation, it¡¯s a matter of how long it takes Jiang Yuan. Lu Tongda pressed the gas pedal, and the convoy started to elerate. The apanying vehicles from the Tianjin Customs Investigation Bureau quickly sped up to follow, while phoning Hang Haichuan. A row of cars parked in the underground garage. The bar¡¯s sales manager had long awaited at the entrance, then watched as several uniformed police officers changed into in clothes in front of him, without changing expression, and asked, "How do we n to y?" "The people in front should have arrived. Arrange for us to sit down," said Qiu Jianye getting out of the back car, changed into a floral shirt, and with sunsses tucked at his chest, looked like a mobster forgotten by the times. "No problem." The sales manager saw this and dared not say more, thinking about the job-hopping ns after the bar closes, leading the group into the elevator. The elevator doors opened, and in the dim light, the sales manager guided the people into two booths near the central area. Several burly men, also wearing floral shirts, with their chests exposed, sat in two booths, with piles of beer in front, pretending to y games, like a monk¡¯s game. "Captain Jiang, please sit here." Qiu Jianye first settled Jiang Yuan and introduced his subordinates. Jiang Yuan greeted them respectively. One of Qiu Jianye¡¯s subordinates handed a cigarette to Jiang Yuan and added, "Your target, Yu Mingxuan, is sitting at table six, to your right, wearing a yellow Versace with arge logo." Jiang Yuan nced over and saw a skinny young man in his twenties, doing his best to cuddle two long-legged, short-skirted beauties, smiling as if he were a carnivorous nt. The booth where Yu Mingxuan was seated was thergest in the bar, with more than twenty people sitting inside, out of which seven or eight were men, half skinny and half brawny. Qiu Jianye continued the introduction, "From what we understand, Yu Mingxuan primarily engages in two businesses: one is through online and offline channels, selling smuggled rosewood beads, red wine, and such. He has opened a shop in the city, also operating a micro store, private domain and the likes. The second is dealing in frozen products; he recently started it. The sales are already up, making quite a profit." "It¡¯s apparent." Qiu Jianye chuckled: "Sitting across from Yu Mingxuan is his frozen product business partner, named Wang Zhanlong. Lately, he¡¯s been handing out business cards to the owners of the frozen product wholesale markets, a bit foolishly. Even if we don¡¯t approach him, it won¡¯t be long before he gets caught." "Are they both considered distributor roles in the smuggling operation?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Pretty much. Smugglers spare them some profit, and they develop markets on their own, conducting sales themselves. The smarter ones, keeping discreetly, can earn money for two years. Boys like these, eager to brag about smuggling to every girl they meet, will soon be listed. Ideally, if they worked for a few months then backed off, or even half a year, they wouldn¡¯t necessarily be caught. But everyone has the gambler¡¯s mindset; those able to withdraw promptly wouldn¡¯t engage in smuggling." While Qiu Jianye spoke, Jiang Yuan casually observed Yu Mingxuan and others at the booth. Suddenly, Yu Mingxuan turned around, stared at Jiang Yuan, and snarled, "What are you looking at?" Chapter 1336 - 1262 Shan

Chapter 1336: Chapter 1262 Shan

Yu Mingxuan, one hundred eighty centimeters tall with height-increasing insoles, weighed up to 135 pounds at his heaviest, dyed his hair blond when he looked his best. At this moment, he was at his wealthiest. Yu Mingxuan stared at Jiang Yuan with a yful expression, waiting for him to give that ssic response. He could see Jiang Yuan surrounded by a group of people, even more than the men on his side, but what use was that when there were many willing to work for money at the bar. Yu Mingxuan could even imagine the scene: when he took out a handful of cash, motivated a crowd to stand up, and made the tall guy across the room back down, how excited the women around him would be! Maybe they¡¯d be willing to indulge without him spending any money. As Yu Mingxuan pondered, he squeezed the girl¡¯s hand with force, causing her to squeal in pain, and he smiled pleasantly. Jiang Yuan just couldn¡¯t understand Yu Mingxuan¡¯s point. Back in middle school, his family started to relocate, and by high school, they were already quite wealthy. He majored in forensic medicine during university and had a job lined up upon graduation; it was a life setup that was decidedly non-streetwise. When Yu Mingxuan posed his ssic question, Jiang Yuan first wondered if it was a case of mistaken identity. He turned to Qiu Jianye and asked, "Isn¡¯t he from Tianjin?" Qiu Jianye was momentarily stumped, hesitated and said, "Should be..." Qiu Jianye said this and then lowered his head to look for his phone, wanting to confirm. Meanwhile, Yu Mingxuan on the opposite side was growing impatient, stood up, and pointed at Jiang Yuan, "Kid, I¡¯m talking to you! What are you looking at?" Mu Zhiyang slowly stood up, blocking Jiang Yuan. He was concerned that some hothead might throw a bottle or something and, God forbid, hit Jiang Yuan, which would cause a big mess. Influenced by him, Wang Chuanxing, Wen Ming, Lu Tongda, and others also stood up. Simrly, Yu Mingxuan¡¯s side sprang up row after row of people. Yu Mingxuan burst intoughter; this was exactly the version he wanted! Yu Mingxuan quickly withdrew his hand, turned around, and pulled out a wad of money from the people beside him, held it high, and shouted, "Brothers all know me, Yu Mingxuan, right? Today there¡¯s some stinking outsider here..." Mu Zhiyang suddenly leaped forward, grabbed a tuft of hair on Yu Mingxuan¡¯s head, and with a strong pull, dragged him over. The followers of Yu Mingxuan had time only to exim in surprise, or perhaps they didn¡¯t even reach that moment, as they watched Yu Mingxuan fall into the crowd on Jiang Yuan¡¯s side. Mu Zhiyang casually knocked him down, then Wen Ming stepped on him, pinning him to the ground. Mu Zhiyang dusted off his hands lightly, and smiled at the opposite side, "What are you looking at?" "Idiot!" "Release him!" "Do you guys have a death wish?" The opposite side seemed to explode, yelling all at once and gathering together to approach, but after a few shoves, they maintained just the shouting. "Everyone, stay still, or I¡¯ll crush him." Wen Ming shouted again, looking at Jiang Yuan. "Do you know who I am?" Little Jinmao panted heavily, filled with rage. "In your current state, who you are makes no difference. Do you have your phone? I¡¯ll allow you to call someone." Jiang Yuan saw the crowd around and didn¡¯t hide his thoughts. The task force is currentlycking clues, and the smuggling bureau¡¯s operational style and personnel structure don¡¯t favorrge-scale arrests. Their primary task at customs is already heavy, their authority is limited, and most critically, their numbers are too few; don¡¯t be fooled by a considerable size, responsible for arrests are only the investigation division, the rest apart from various office staff, the audit division and the anti-smuggling action team focus mainly on site enforcement like checkpoint inspections. However, Jiang Yuan grew in the detective team and is more familiar and adapted to their style. So, if the detective team is interested in a certain group, and if intelligence isn¡¯t sufficient, what should they do? Not saying arresting, but at least, identify the rted personnel to inquire, right? The people in the bar might not be closely linked to the smuggling gang, but the people Little Jinmao calls over likely have numerous ties to the smuggling syndicate¡ªit¡¯s only in the past two years that Yu Mingxuan earned money, apart from friends and rtives, the only help he could seek was from his "colleagues." This makes it easier to get results than taking Little Jinmao back for interrogation. Yu Mingxuan had no idea what kind of script he had picked up, quite surprised when given his phone. He tried hard to look up to Jiang Yuan, asking, "Do you think I can¡¯t call anyone? You¡¯re from out of town, do you know who I am?" "Call them, and we¡¯ll talk when theye." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t bother with arguing and sat down. Wen Ming then lifted his shirt, pulling out a thumb-wide metal ruler from inside. Yu Mingxuan instead felt relieved, given the current environment, there were not many punks daring to bring metal rulers on the streets anymore. He dialed while muttering, "You¡¯ll regret this in a bit." Soon, a number marked only as DSW was dialed. "Hello?" "Shan, I¡¯m in Fat Gou¡¯s bar and got beaten up. Bring more people to save me." Yu Mingxuan shouted loudly. As he finished speaking, Mu Zhiyang bent down and confiscated his phone. Yu Mingxuan continued to yell indignantly,pletely ignored by Jiang Yuan. Wang Chuanxing circled to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, whispered, "What if this Shan isn¡¯t part of the smuggling syndicate?" "Then have him call for help again." Jiang Yuan answered naturally. "And if he can¡¯t find anyone, or refuses?" "Then force him to find someone, trick them intoing." Jiang Yuan paused and added, "If that doesn¡¯t work, look for any other breakthrough from the rest." Wang Chuanxing thus understood Jiang Yuan¡¯s intention, determined to squeeze out clues no matter what, there was nothing more to say, just sit tight and wait for people toe. Yu Mingxuan and his group¡¯s shouting in the bar at this moment sounded like fledglings calling their partners to walk into a trap. After a while of chaos, Yu Mingxuan only felt his face burning with anger and frustration, a thought inadvertently crossing his mind, "Howe the bar owner hasn¡¯te yet?" Fat Gou was formerly a circle insider, only retired early,ter opened a bar, and when familiar faces came around, often came out to greet them, asionally handled fights very well. Yu Mingxuan originally expected Fat Gou toe out and lend a hand, but so much time had passed without seeing him, raising a furrowed brow¡ªouch, Yu Mingxuan yelped, still under Wen Ming¡¯s foot, his face rubbing against the dirty bar floor really hurt. "Put him on the sofa to sit." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want him pressed down all the time. Wen Ming then bent down, lifted Yu Mingxuan up, and skillfully tied his hands behind him... Wei Shikan quickly stopped him, preventing him from pulling out cuffs, saying, "Let me tie him, let me tie him." Saying so, Wei Shikan pulled a rope from who-knows-where, swiftly tying Yu Mingxuan¡¯s hands behind him, showing skilled proficiency as if specially trained. Wen Ming then used his iron ruler to tap Yu Mingxuan¡¯s head, causing an uproar from the opposite side. After waiting another 10 minutes or so, a man with the nickname Shan finally arrived slowly. "Where are you from, brother?" Shan wore a flower shirt, spoke grandly, and under the following of over a dozen subordinates, appeared quite leader-like. Seeing so many people, any attempts to start a fight would be hard to manage, Jiang Yuan simply stood up and said, "Close the door." Then Mu Zhiyang drew out his gun, and leading people like Lu Tongda in the front row took out batons, showing their police badges. "Police, squat down all of you!" In the midst of everyone¡¯s confusion, Mu Zhiyang lunged forward, grabbed Shan¡¯s flower shirt, and hauled him over. "Are you into smuggling?" Jiang Yuan immediately asked while personally taking his fingerprints. Meanwhile, the portable printer Wang Chuanxing carried was churning away. Shan¡¯s vision blurred, though he knew he was in a bar, for that instant, he felt like he was back at a police station. "So, which smuggling syndicate are you with now?" Jiang Yuan asked in a notably unprofessional manner, surprisingly unnerving Shan. "I¡¯m just an ordinary citizen." Shan cautiously replied, "Out for a drink or something." "Then are you apanying a member of the smuggling gang?" Jiang Yuan queried. Shan hurriedly shook his head, "No, no, we¡¯re just out having fun." "Well, involved with gangs then?" Jiang Yuan eyed Shan and asked, "You wouldn¡¯t happen to be carrying weapons now, would you? If you are, then that¡¯s troublesome." Shan broke out in a cold sweat. Chapter 1337 - 1263: Left Jab Punch

Chapter 1337: Chapter 1263: Left Jab Punch

"Dare not, dare not bring it." Shan pleaded repeatedly, shameless in front of his little brothers. Of course, he knew that saving face now might mean he won¡¯t need itter. ng! Perhaps one of his little brothers behind him hadn¡¯t expected their revered boss to show this kind of face, and his right hand loosened, dropping the steel pipe hidden in his sleeve onto the ground. He hurriedly went to pick it up, but Shen Yaowei was faster. Shen Yaowei stepped on the steel pipe and stared fiercely at him. The little thug tried pulling the steel pipe to no avail, tried again, then looked up at Shen Yaowei and shivered, retreating to one side. Shen Yaowei snorted, bent down to pick up the steel pipe, pondered briefly, and shouted: "Found one Qimei Short Stick!" The little thug froze, quickly shouted: "What Qimei Short Stick, I picked up this steel pipe by the roadside! I¡¯m taking it home to sell for scrap!" "Collect it, tag it." Shen Yaowei ignored him, turned to hand the steel pipe to the policeman behind him. The policeman behind held backughter, put it into evidence bag, intentionally tagged it, and wrote "Qimei Short Stick" on it. The little thug was both surprised and angry: "Are you guys messing with me?" "Stand properly, feet apart, hands on your head." Shen Yaowei pointed at him with a stun baton, ready to use it at any moment. The little thug nced at his boss in grievance, then reluctantly turned his back on Shen Yaowei, spreading his legs. Shen Yaowei searched him from head to toe and found a Finger Tiger. Shen Yaowei weighed it in his hand and said loudly: "One ck Fine Steel Fist de, mark it." He passed the Finger Tiger again to the policeman behind, pushed the dumbfounded little thug aside, pointed at the person behind and said: "You,e here for a pat down." "No... I didn¡¯t bring anything." The people behind started to push one another. "What are you holding?" Shen Yaowei grabbed the guy who kept backing up. "I..." "Legs apart!" Shen Yaowei¡¯s voice was loud, his tone severe. The young man caught out nced at his boss too but got no response. His shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his chilly chest, and he could only slowly spread his legs. Shen Yaowei effortlessly discovered a watermelon knife from behind his waist. "It¡¯s not sharpened," the owner of the knife whispered. "One lightweight unsharpened short knife!" Shen Yaowei turned, handed the knife, skillfully pulled out another person... Shan finally understood, sped his hands and pleaded: "Lead the way, tell me what you want!" "Old Meng?" Jiang Yuan called Meng Chengbiao over from the back. Meng Chengbiao got the hint, stood out with two other detectives, took Yu Mingxuan and Shan to a small corner of the bar. After a mumble of conversation, Meng Chengbiao returned to whisper in Jiang Yuan¡¯s ear: "Captain Jiang, this Shan is nicknamed Da Shanzi once he started in the business. He mainly deals in frozen goods, essentially acting as Yu Mingxuan¡¯s superior. He never goes out to sea, just receives goods here, has a long-term crew of a dozen people responsible for road transportation, stockpiling, making a good profit." "Confessed so quickly?" Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised. "I told him about the history of our Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and showed him documents with our names, he is sensible." Meng Chengbiao chuckled: "Smuggling with around ten people carries a much lighter chargepared to maintaining an active criminal organization with the same number." Jiang Yuan and othersughed. Meng Chengbiao continued: "Yu Mingxuan confessed everything too. Summing up, Yu Mingxuan does have a distant uncle who went missing, and the timeline fits with the victim¡¯s death time, but Yu Mingxuan wasn¡¯t familiar with this uncle, hardly any interactions. Lastly, the situation with this uncle being involved in smuggling, Yu Mingxuan and Da Shanwei aren¡¯t clear about." Meng Chengbiao¡¯s narrative was slightly somber. Judging by the findings, the information confessed by Yu Mingxuan is probably something other members of the Yu Family also know; in other words, the presence of this distant uncle could be easily verified through others for a moreprehensive understanding. As for confirming if the victim is the missing uncle, it¡¯s simple enough to check the uncle¡¯s home; if there¡¯s leftover DNA, aparison can yield a conclusion. Otherwise, gathering DNA from his children and parents also works. Meanwhile, the aspect of limitedmunication regarding smuggling activities among everyone is understandable; who would keep babbling about their criminal deeds all day? "Need to find someone in car smuggling; however, at Da Shanwei¡¯s level of dealer, they typically handle only one operation due to the necessity of pressuring money and goods, it¡¯s hard to operate multiple shops." Meng Chengbiao provided a conclusion. "Have them bring someone over." Jiang Yuan waved his hand, then told Wang Chuanxing beside him: "Collect the victim¡¯s information, sort out his interpersonal rtionships, see if there¡¯s any information." Meng Chengbiao nodded, returned to the corner, and started intimidating Yu Mingxuan and Da Shanwei. Watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s team in action enviously, Qiu Jianye from Tianjin Police Station couldn¡¯t help himself. As a fellow detective, Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad operated in ways an ordinary task force couldn¡¯t replicate. Regarding the current case which just begun, already over ten suspects were brought in; further case expansion could involve over a hundred people, burying numerous detachees in paperwork. Of course, if necessary, the Tianjin Police Station wouldn¡¯tck in manpower. But "if necessary" itself is a liability requiring a cost-benefit analysis. For Qiu Jianye, given his career trajectory, he certainly wouldn¡¯t deploy such resources during the early, unclear stages of the case. Nor did he have the authority to do so. Factually speaking, whether smuggling or homicide, Qiu Jianye hadn¡¯t seen clues directly leading to suspects. Meaning, the subsequent investigation risked hitting a dead end, and under such circumstances, he absolutely couldn¡¯t afford a full-force attack. "Captain Jiang, Yu Mingxuan, and Da Shanwei named several individuals, after discussion, it was unanimously decided that a second-hand car dealer named Li Lijun likely has links with a car smuggling group." Meng Chengbiao, having finished a round of intimidation, reported. Jiang Yuan sinctly said: "Lure over and catch." Meng Chengbiao acknowledged with "yes" and added: "They aren¡¯t very familiar, if unable to lure him..." "Try to catch him with bait first, saving manpower. If unable to lure him, then send people to arrest." Jiang Yuan appeared casual because the lead wasn¡¯t guaranteed to yield results; anyway, those involved with car smuggling groups are quite many, if this one escapes, the next one will be easier, so he wasn¡¯t concerned. Moreover, smuggling is like an abnormalmercial behavior to some extent, inevitably connecting with many people, makingplete concealment difficult. Listening to Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone, watching his actions, Qiu Jianye suddenly understood; Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t delivering a full-force blow, it was more like a casual left jab, but even so, its strength still led to dozens of arrests. minutester, Li Lijun arrived. He was lured over by Da Shanwei. In the smuggling circle, Da Shanwei was already considered a veteran, so when he proposed buying two luxury cars, Li Lijun didn¡¯t think much, then... He saw a bunch of cops in the bar. Mu Zhiyangughed as he brought him over, asking: "What are you looking at?" Chapter 1338 - 1264: Pang Gou and Kuai Lv

Chapter 1338: Chapter 1264: Pang Gou and Kuai Lv

Pang Gou returned to his bar again because "the guests" needed some water. Pang Gou, apanied by his two most sensible employees, moved boxes of water up from the basement under the watch of two detectives. Then, Pang Gou saw the somewhat familiar Li Lijun, who was huddled at the basement door making a phone call, apanied by a middle-aged police officer. As a bar owner, Pang Gou¡¯s social skills were well honed, and he instinctively greeted, "Boss Li is here?" Li Lijun stiffly turned his neck towards Pang Gou, furrowing his brow, "Pang Gou, have you been recruited too?" "No, certainly not. I¡¯m just a shop owner, what does it have to do with me..." Pang Gou vehemently denied. The middle-aged police officer apanying Li Lijun hissed and made a note in his notebook, "Li Lijun, daring to threaten other people involved in the case? I think you¡¯ll be behind bars for a long time." "No, don¡¯t dare..." Li Lijun vehemently denied. "Go write it down." Meng Chengbiao turned his head to Pang Gou and said, "If you speak again, I¡¯ll take you in." "No, no..." Pang Gou shook his head vigorously and walked off with the water. Walking two steps, in the booths usually packed with beauties and spendthrifts, appeared a familiar face from the smuggling circle once again. Pang Gou hurriedly lowered his head. He used to be very fond of the smuggling circle. These big brothers were generous, spendingvishly, and even starting to care about health, which kept the bar¡¯s turnover high. But today, looking at those big brothers who used to talk freely of their high ambitions, now focused on smiling in front of a group of young police officers, Pang Gou, though aware of the world, still found it surreal. "The water is here." Pang Gou put a box of Binglu on the ground. "Come over here to settle the bill." Wang Chuanxing waved, calling Pang Gou over. Pang Gou felt scared when he saw the young officers, and hastily said, "It¡¯s alright, just a few bottles of water..." fre\e(w)ebn ov.e l\. co.m "You can afford Binglu, but if you bring Paris water or the like, I¡¯ll have to ask you to take them back." Wang Chuanxing said amicably, ultimately noting that Pang Gou was out of the circle now. There¡¯s no need to stress what he did 10 years ago, not to mention the difficulty in finding evidence; if he only smuggled ordinary goods back then, the statute of limitations would have expired. Pang Gou noted Wang Chuanxing¡¯s serious expression and carefully said, "Then let¡¯s just bill it, we¡¯ll settle itter together." "One transaction at a time, you keep track of yours, I¡¯ll keep track of mine." Wang Chuanxing was very particr about this aspect, given that payment came from the Changyang Customs Anti-smuggling Branch, he couldn¡¯t afford any discrepancies in ounts. Pang Gou had no choice but to nod and bow, taking out the QR code. At this moment, Jiang Yuan, who was sitting next to him reading the record, waved him over, "Hey...e and take a look at this..." "Coming." Pang Gou knew Jiang Yuan was the boss, so he hurried over. Jiang Yuan disyed a list to Pang Gou, "You¡¯re quite familiar with the smuggling scene, help me see which of these people might smuggle cars, or who is familiar with this circle?" Pang Gou was startled at first and instinctively defended, "I¡¯ve just had some dealings with people from the smuggling scene, not really familiar, they¡¯re all customers, what business they¡¯re into, I really don¡¯t know..." "Just tick a few names." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t listen to him, he just silently handed him a pen. Pang Gou swallowed, with more defense on the tip of his tongue, but staring at the list, he suddenly couldn¡¯t speak. What kind of list is this... Honestly, Pang Gou could recognize only a third of the names, and another third he seemed to guess, leaving a thirdpletely unfamiliar... Yet recognizing that third of the names was enough to make Pang Gou panic inside. In fact, he knew the smuggling circle better than Yu Mingxuan and others. Yu Mingxuan had only been in smuggling for a few years, now as a neer, if it weren¡¯t for his fellow vigers who brought him along, he would still be just a small fry. But Pang Gou had joined the smuggling group early on, though he exited early too, many of the small fries he knew back then had be big fries or bosses. Of course, many exited or disappeared, but that didn¡¯t stop Pang Gou from staying in the circle. Despite saying, he didn¡¯t know exactly who did what, as long as the sessful ones bragged in the bar, he would always hear some news. True or false, Pang Gou had his judgment. And now, Pang Gou saw too many familiar names on this list. "This..." Pang Gou hesitated. "Just tick it." Mu Zhiyang said in a muffled voice from beside him. f r\eew,eb novel.c(o)(m) Pang Gou hesitated again but ticked the list. He knew that by ticking it, he was sure to offend people, but upon deeper thought, would those whose names he ticked appear in the bar again? Old Gua. Kuai Lv. Zhang Bingtian. ... Li Laba. Lost Zhang. ... Pang Gou ticked name after name, and a sudden surge of pleasure swelled inside. This is no different from King Yan ticking names! Pang Gou couldn¡¯t help but lift his head and nce at Jiang Yuan, only to see him smiling at him. His heart trembled, he quickly lowered his head again, ticked a few more names, and thought: Death is death, better them than me! Besides, whose fault is it that you¡¯re making money from smuggling, unwilling to leave the circle? If you quit early like me, wouldn¡¯t you be fine now? Jiang Yuan waited a moment, then took back the list, only to see Pang Gou had ticked 8 names in one go. "You sure know a lot of people." Jiang Yuan clicked his tongue twice, then examined the list for a moment before handing it to Wang Chuanxing. Having the names of smugglers didn¡¯t guarantee catching people, especially those who had gone out to sea, often not returning home for years, asionallying back and using a pseudonym. Moreover, as previously mentioned, organized crime is most terrifying in its organization, its mobilization capabilities can be tilted. Something as simple as identity documents, phone numbers, etc., for ordinary people fleeing a crime for the first time, these are crucial needs. Yet for a smuggler, getting fake ones is too easy. For most smuggling groups, the intelligence department of the anti-smuggling branch already has some understanding, including the names of smuggling group members, which are not very confidential. But for Jiang Yuan, those whom the anti-smuggling branch has difficulty catching, especially those without evidence to arrest, he has some ways. Compared to the anti-smuggling branch good at finding people and things, the detective¡¯s job is to find people. As long as you give him a lead, unless the person is not in the country, there¡¯s always a way to investigate. Of course, different opponents require different resources; fundamentally, it¡¯s not much different from pursuing fugitives. Wang Chuanxingpared the list ticked by Pang Gou with other information he had obtained, quickly organizing a new list based on probability. Ranking first was "Kuai Lv." "Come, tell us about Kuai Lv." Jiang Yuan called Pang Gou over again. Pang Gou¡¯s expression was terrified, but inexplicably, a bit thrilled, he asked quietly, "Which part specifically do you want to know?" "Just tell us what you know, why he¡¯s called Kuai Lv, start with what he¡¯s doing now." "Um... As for the nickname Kuai Lv, firstly it¡¯s because he¡¯s stubborn. Back in the day... to the best of my knowledge, this guy Kuai Lv always had his own ideas, never listening to others, and would stubbornly pursue his own path. One time it¡¯s quite famous, he received news that there were checks somewhere, but he didn¡¯t believe it, insisted on going, and finally... got caught." Pang Gou rambled on. Jiang Yuan interrupted, "He was caught?" "Caught." "Hmm." Jiang Yuan turned and gave a look to Wang Chuanxing, who immediately understood and went to retrieve the records. Turning back, Jiang Yuan said, "You continue." "Yes." Pang Gou knew Kuai Lv was doomed, secretly said "Amitabha," and continued, "Kuai Lv should live in the city because I know he has a mistress there, andter he found mistresses four and five all there too; he likes those who study dance, says it¡¯s energetic." Pang Gou: "Another reason for calling him Kuai Lv is the guy¡¯s pretty big, yet he¡¯s unusually fast. Like once outside ying, he was the first to go out for a smoke, thus called Kuai Lv." Pang Gou: "He¡¯s been to the bar, though rarely, he often drives an Audi Q7, thinking it¡¯s safe and less likely to be checked..." Jiang Yuan asked a few more questions, then had someone take Pang Gou out, and turning to Wang Chuanxing, casually said, "Compare the driver of Q7 at the vehicle checkpoint with Kuai Lv¡¯s photo, see if you can find him." Chapter 1339 - 1265: Guest of Honor

Chapter 1339: Chapter 1265: Guest of Honor

Ding dong. The doorbell of the bar rang, and the police officer responsible for receiving guests immediately perked up. "I just knew you¡¯d invite me to Pang Gou¡¯s ce. Heard from Li Laba earlier, gotta hit Pang Gou¡¯s bar. Saw someone say they¡¯re going on the group chatter, asked them how it was before I came, nobody answered, must¡¯ve had a st! So, what¡¯s new at Pang Gou¡¯s?" The neer spoke while entering, letting out a heartyugh. The person next to him responded, "You¡¯ll know once you¡¯re inside." "What, are you nning a big scoop? Or just a small circle? Hahaha..." As they spoke, the cheerful smile walked through the door. The unusually bright bar lights made the man, who was fully expecting a night of revelry, hesitate. Two strong detectives, one on each side, exerted strength and mmed the door shut. "Come over, face the wall, stand still, legs apart." Wen Ming, holding a shotgun, gestured, reminding that his gun was loaded with beanbag rounds, making him genuinely ready to fire, which gave people a strong sense of security. The expression of the newly-entered smuggler changed from an excited flush to a furious one, and gradually darkened. He red fiercely at the smuggler who led him in, gritting his teeth, "Old Nine, did you actually frame me?" "It¡¯s not exactly framing." Old Nine obediently extended his arms to be cuffed and then said, "After all, it¡¯s your turn, you choose." Upon saying that, under the guidance of the officer, Old Nine sat in a nearby booth, although there was someone guarding it, he still had water, tea, and snacks to eat. At the same time, Meng Chengbiao brought someone over to take the new smuggler to a booth in the corner. The high-backed ck leather booths blocked everyone¡¯s view, and sitting inside gave a strong sense of istion, creating the illusion of being able to do things secretly without being discovered. "Captain Jiang, we¡¯re ready, we can move out." Qiu Jianye approached Jiang Yuan, looking at the booth crowded with guests. "Transfer them." Jiang Yuan appeared indifferent; although this bust caught quite a few people, it was just routine for the cases he had handled. At 4 AM, Pang Gou and his patrons were transferred from Pang Gou¡¯s bar to the interrogation center at the Tianjin Customs Anti-Smuggling Bureau. The interrogation continued. "1288 Bihai Road, Building 4, Unit 503, Yunhai Apartment, male, about 25 years old." Meng Chengbiao returned, handing over a piece of paper. Hang Haichuan, who had stayed nearby in the early hours, nced at it before passing it to Qiu Jianye. After confirming with each other, Qiu Jianye made a call to the police in the area. Catching people within the city, the Anti-Smuggling Bureau is not as convenient as the police station. Generally, the Anti-Smuggling Bureau doesn¡¯t easily request assistance as everyone is overburdened with tasks. Requesting the Ningtai Police Station is another matter. "This one¡¯s really efficient." Qiu Jianye praised after making the call. Jiang Yuan smiled slightly and handed him another dossier. Qiu Jianye opened it to find the first page was simrly filled with address, name, and other basic information. Flipping further, there were various photographs and brief textual descriptions. "Hmm... what is this?" Qiu Jianye was a bit surprised and instinctively asked. "These are suspects we identified through surveince footage. We¡¯re still working on it; we¡¯ll notify you once we have more. Just handle it as with those implicated in the interrogation." Jiang Yuan exined briefly. "Suspects identified through surveince footage? Oh... like the investigation with Kuai Lv?" Qiu Jianye didn¡¯t expect Jiang Yuan would replicate such a thing, but upon second thought, Kuai Lv was identified because he frequently drove an Audi Q7, and it was known he favored certain hangouts. Hence, photos at vehicle checkpoints were used,bined with facial recognition, to track him down. However, there hadn¡¯t been simr cases for the others... Jiang Yuan seemed to know what Qiu Jianye was thinking, or rather, he had encountered many police from out of town and was aware of their thoughts, so he said, "The principle is the same. Kuai Lv was tracked through the car, and Qian Biaozi through the facial recognition at their vige entrance." "Facial recognition at the vige entrance? How did you know when he returned to the vige?" Beside him, Hang Haichuan, although confused, listened intently. As one of the few directors of the Investigation Department at the National Anti-Smuggling Bureau, Hang Haichuan didn¡¯t know how many billions of funds he investigated annually, nor how many smugglingworks he busted and members arrested... Hang Haichuan at least knew one thing: while the number of surveince cameras had indeed increased substantially, the difficulty of extracting useful information from them had also risen. A surveince camera at a vige entrance records continuously, 24/7, all year round. Even if the suspect did pass by it, you would still need an approximate timeframe for investigation, otherwise, it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Jiang Yuan merely smiled and said, "Director Liu deduced from other smugglers¡¯ confessions that after earning money, Qian Biaozi enjoyed returning to the vige for variousmunity activities. So, he found surveince footage from a funeral of an uncle at his vige entrance, and indeed spotted someone. I subsequently tracked him through surveince to find his hideout." Jiang Yuan exined simply, and Hang Haichuan felt somewhat bewildered by the terms like "tracking through surveince." Such niche vocabry! "Is this Image Investigation technology?" Although Hang Haichuan didn¡¯t fully grasp how Jiang Yuan tracked people, he instantly coveted the skill. This thing is excellent; if our side had such technology, catching people would be significantly easier. The Anti-Smuggling Bureau¡¯s police officers aren¡¯t as ustomed to running operations on foot as the detectives are, and theyck grassroots support outside the Port District. So, they don¡¯t enjoy searching for hidden suspects and prefer luring or capturing at crime scenes. Inparison, Image Investigation technology perfectly aligns with the Anti-Smuggling Bureau¡¯s temperament. Of course, they don¡¯t control surveince videos, but whether it¡¯s cooperating with the city¡¯s Image Investigation or investing more, it¡¯s a good direction. Jiang Yuan nodded, "It¡¯s considered a technique in trajectory analysis within Image Investigation." Hang Haichuan asked, "Is it difficult?" "Yes, it¡¯s difficult." Jiang Yuan replied categorically; Image Investigation - Trajectory Analysis is a Level 6 skill, a world-ss top-notch technology. Although Hang Haichuan is a prestigious head of the Investigation Department at the Anti-Smuggling Bureau, he¡¯s not prestigious enough. Qiu Jianye pulled Hang Haichuan aside while arranging tasks, whispering, "Don¡¯t even think about it, it¡¯s at the top level of difficulty." Hang Haichuan was a bit dazed, "This ce is advanced... I mean, it was initially very advanced, but it¡¯s the very top?" Qiu Jianyeughed, "What did you expect? I¡¯m not here idling around; I¡¯m helping you run someone else¡¯s case. I¡¯ll find an Image Investigation expert for you to chat withter." There was an Image Investigation expert on site to assist; Qiu Jianye got one over to chat with Hang Haichuan. Jiang Yuan continued scraping the surveince footage looking for people. Mainly relying on the software from Image Investigation forrge-scale searches, there wasn¡¯t much need for human intervention. However, once human intervention began, like in trajectory analysis or route finding, the demand on technicians quickly reached a breaking point. One name was thrown out, and a living person was brought in. At noon, Jiang Yuan took a nap, and upon waking, he found several dossiers already piled up in front of him. "We found a suspect." Liu Jinghui, who hadn¡¯t slept all night and endured another day, appeared with red eyes and gray skin, as if he had just spent three days on vacation with his wife. Jiang Yuan used Wang Chuanxing¡¯s wrung-out towel and quickly wiped his face, saying, "Tell me." Liu Jinghui: "Cai Dachui, from Yue Province, runs a rtivelyrge smuggling operation, primarily luxury car smuggling and auto parts. Based on information from various suspects, and considering the appearance of that Land Cruiser, there¡¯s a strong suspicion that the deceased Yu Shiquan went missing while working under Cai Dachui." Liu Jinghui: "Cai Dachui has several warrants against him, residing abroad for years, making him difficult to catch." Hang Haichuan then joined them, suggesting, "We have mechanisms for cross-border coordination; we can request foreign police to assist, but the efficiency isn¡¯t great. The best approach is still to trick him intoing." "He¡¯s unwilling toe." Liu Jinghui shook his head, "If it¡¯s confirmed to be Cai Dachui, he must have more than one homicide case. He¡¯s been hiding in Southeast Asia for years. Business partners have been unable to call him back to the home country for the past five or six years." Jiang Yuan contemted for a moment and said, "Then lure him to Dama and have the local police there arrest him. Going to Dama, he shouldn¡¯t have any qualms, right?" "He shouldn¡¯t." Liu Jinghui shook his head again. "Then let¡¯s do that, I¡¯ll call Zhong Renlong and Ni Cha." Jiang Yuan referred to the police officers at the Dama Police Station. He¡¯s solved numerous major cases for Dama, and his rtionship with them can be considered very close. Hearing Jiang Yuan use the Indonesiannguage when saying "Zhong Renlong" and "Ni Cha," Hang Haichuan was momentarily dazed, first looking at Jiang Yuan¡¯s extremely young face and then slowly turning to Qiu Jianye, his gaze seeking exnation. Qiu Jianye whispered, "Director Jiang is a favored guest at the Dama Police Station, having solved many major cases for them. If he requests arrest assistance, they should be very cooperative." Chapter 1340 - 1266: Ningtai One-Stop Service

Chapter 1340: Chapter 1266: Ningtai One-Stop Service

"It¡¯s settled, the Dama Police Force will send an officer to liaise with us. Once we¡¯ve arranged the entrapment n, the Dama Police Force will dispatch personnel to execute it." Jiang Yuan made a phone call and returned to inform Wan Quan, Hang Haichuan, and others. The case still belongs to the Changyang Customs Anti-Smuggling Branch, but on Tianjin Customs¡¯ territory. Hang Haichuan seemed more excited than Wan Quan and quickly asked, "How many people can we use, and for how long?" He truly had experience in multinational cooperation, knowing that many countries¡¯ police forces have high requirements. Ordinary major cases may have limitations on the number of people involved, and some even require arrangements during weekdays¡¯ working hours, which is very unusual. It means that criminals can evade most of the police force just by avoiding the 8 hours of weekdays. Jiang Yuan, however, did not have simr experiences, and looked curiously at Hang Haichuan, saying, "I don¡¯t think there are restrictions on the number of people and time, right? As long as it¡¯s needed, you can request it." Hang Haichuan was stunned for a moment, thenughed, "Then if I want to capture 1,000 people and need 10,000 police officers, they can provide that?" Jiang Yuan thought about it seriously and said, "I don¡¯t think that¡¯s a problem. If necessary." He had cooperated with the Dama Police Station on several cases before, with thousands of officers deployed during investigations. Overall, he felt the police level and officer quality in Dama could meet corresponding demands. As for whether it¡¯s allowed, Jiang Yuan never considered it. Hang Haichuan couldn¡¯t help but swallow lightly. "Let Commissioner Huang know." Jiang Yuan waved and called over Wang Chuanxing, saying, "File an application. Once Director Huang signs it, send it to the department. I¡¯ll discuss it and see if there are any procedures to follow." "Yes." Wang Chuanxing immediately started typing. Jiang Yuan made another call to Cui Xiaohu. He connected and informed him of the situation, as well as the application submitted. On the other end of the call, Cui Xiaohu was very interested. He had been to Dama before and had met Ni Cha and others. He thought, "Well, I happen to have some time. I¡¯lle over to Tianjin and have a look... Oh, Li Haochen is also here, and he¡¯s interested... Hold on... We¡¯ll apply to our leaders, thene over; it¡¯ll take two hours for the high-speed train." "Wee the leaders for inspection. I¡¯ll arrange someone to pick you up at the high-speed train station..." Jiang Yuan said some inappropriate politeness, causing Cui Xiaohu to modestly decline. After hanging up, Jiang Yuan simplified the exnation, "Someone from the department ising over, probably responsible for liaising with the Dama Police Force. The rest is to lure out Cai Dachui; in that aspect, Li Haochen, who is also from the Ministry¡¯s Criminal Investigation Bureau, is quite adept at undercover operations and criminal profiling..." "So... it¡¯s all sorted?" Hang Haichuan calcted that everything from capturing suspects to processing paperwork, from international rtions to departmental matters, seemed to be covered, leaving his side just waiting. Jiang Yuan nodded, thinking this was simpler than dealing with a case in Dama. Qiu Jianye, a criminal police officer on the side, quietly said with a sense of pride, "This is Ningtai streamlining." ... Two hourster. Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen arrived as scheduled. The two greeted Jiang Yuan happily, with a bit of youthful excitement about aplishing big things. Even at the Ministry¡¯s Criminal Investigation Bureau, when ites to the pleasure of solving cases, it¡¯s most satisfying when working with Jiang Yuan. Moreover, the more cases handled, the deeper their understanding. In contrast, the leaders from the Tianjin Bureau came to wee them, adjusting slightly to the young people¡¯s pace. "I drafted a profile in the car regarding Cai Dachui. Due to iplete information, this profile might be a bit inappropriate, so it¡¯s only for reference." Li Haochen promptly handed a report to Jiang Yuan, speaking humbly, yet his eyes were full of a desire for recognition. The leaders present all felt a bit pity and unanimously turned to Jiang Yuan. Such a promising young man, especially one from the Ministry, should be encouraged. Jiang Yuan merely smiled and said, "Let me take a look." "Uh-huh." Li Haochen nodded vigorously. Jiang Yuan opened the file Li Haochen provided, beginning with a very formal format: 1. Basic Archive¡ª 2. Social Rtionship Spectrum¡ª 3. Crime Pattern Technical Breakdown¡ª ... Lastly was Psychological-Behavioral Profiling: 1. Personality Portrait: Machiavellian Tendencies: Pathological Need for Control: High Preference for Risk Decision Models: Jiang Yuan quickly flipped through the pages, finally nodding to Li Haochen and saying, "It¡¯s good, we can send a copy to the Dama Police Forceter." "Really?" Li Haochen felt his efforts were recognized and was very happy. Jiang Yuan nodded again and then said, "The task to lure Cai Dachui is yours." Li Haochen was stunned, jumped up, and a vein pulsed on his temple as he asked incredulously, "Really?" "Really. I¡¯ll give you three hours to research a n... Is that enough time?" "No need for three hours; two hours is more than enough." Li Haochen patted his chest and epted. Then, unsure, he looked at Jiang Yuan, embarrassedly lowered his tone, and said, "Director Jiang can rest assured; I will definitely handle this case." "Thank you for your hard work." Jiang Yuan nodded nomittally. A hint of solemnity appeared on Li Haochen¡¯s face. He nodded seriously and then left, his attitude earnest beyond words. Watching the interaction between Jiang Yuan and Li Haochen, Cui Xiaohu felt a moment¡¯s admiration. Li Haochen¡¯s life goal is to be China¡¯s king of profiling. But this technique, effective in Europe and America, might not work as well in China. Besides, instead of saying criminal profiling seems ipatible in China, it¡¯s better to say there are too manypeting methods. For solving cases, domestic special task forces often require twenty or thirty people. If needed, more can be requisitioned. Internationally, small to medium-scale cases often start with just two or three officers, barely having a group of six or seven, all while adhering to weekends and an 8-hour work schedule. Apart from arge workforce, various technical methods are also avable domestically. While in earlier years, China had a technological gappared to developed countries like Europe and America, now regional DNAbs, trace evidencebs, and other high-endbs have been established below the provincial level, and digital technologies have far surpassed those abroad. Twenty years ago, county-level bureaus like Ningtai hardly received DNA technical support for cases other than major ones. Now, second-generation DNA technology and the spread of third-generation DNA happen much faster. Not to mention the abundance of mobileworks and surveince video information, which can easily elevate an LV0.5 detective to the level of LV1 withplete mastery. In this environment, Li Haochen¡¯s goals are less a matter of improbability and more a matter of impossibility. Moreover, due to his youth andck of experience, even when leading a few cases through the Ministry¡¯s Criminal Investigation Bureau, he failed to demonstrate his full potential and hasn¡¯t received such opportunities since. Cui Xiaohu felt Jiang Yuan might be unaware of this but regardless of knowing it or not, offering such an opportunity to Li Haochen was extraordinarily rare. Cui Xiaohu was worried Jiang Yuan might mismanage things and hesitated before discreetly reminding, "Cai Dachui is the main offender in this case and is overseas. Li Haochen might find it challenging to handle alone." "I don¡¯t have anyone better suited, so I¡¯ll have to burden him." Jiang Yuan¡¯s response surprised Cui Xiaohu. "No one else?" Cui Xiaohu couldn¡¯t fathom this answer and said, "Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team is strong; how could there be a shortage?" "We¡¯ve never used undercover before in our previous cases, and have never enticed suspects like this before. After reviewing, Li Haochen seems the most suitable candidate, right?" Jiang Yuan replied rationally. Cui Xiaohu opened his mouth but didn¡¯t know whether to praise Li Haochen¡¯s luck or Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to recognize talent. Chapter 1341 - 1267: Baiting the Trap

Chapter 1341: Chapter 1267: Baiting the Trap

What can be done in two hours? Two hours of ying could exhaust an average person. Two hours of writing could tire out an average person. Two hours of partying could wear out an average person. Two hours of eating could fill an average person up! Li Haochen used two hours to create a perfect persona for himself. "I think I can use this person¡¯s identity!" Li Haochen brought the written n to Jiang Yuan and the others, and started presenting on the spot. "Anzi?" Jiang Yuan opened it and immediately noticed this somewhat familiar name. "Yes. Anzi, real name Li Zhekai, is a smuggler from Yue Province. He¡¯s not very big-time, and during this investigation, he got caught by ident. This time, his trip to Tianjin was a secret one ¡ª he wasing to make a deal with the local smuggler, Golden Ape. Few people knew about it. Also, the folks in Yue Province don¡¯t know he was caught, which is convenient for us to operate." Li Haochen¡¯s strategy this time mainly revolves around utilizing this person well. This is also the mode Li Haochen is most adept at: finding a suitable criminal, then thinking from his perspective about the case to explore appropriate investigative angles. Choosing Li Zhekai is primarily because of his connections in Yue Province. With Tianjin having been arresting smugglers for a day and a night now, even if nothing else, word must have spread among smugglers. It¡¯s like a new gossip video ¡ª although the daily gossip output has exceeded the norm, resulting in fewer items going viral nationwide, if it¡¯s within an industry, peers often want a taste of it. Li Haochen racked his brains for two hours and only had time toe up with one n, which he exined with extra emphasis: "Li Zhekai is a dealer with little fame, but he¡¯s listed in the industry. If he contacts Cai Dachui to buy a car, Cai Dachui wouldn¡¯t suspect anything." Liu Jinghui asked at this point: "How do you n to meet Cai Dachui?" "Big business! As long as the money to be made is enough, Cai Dachui would take the risk. He himself is a fan of high-risk, high-reward ventures." Li Haochen then began describing his criminal profile analysis. "What business, and how high is the return?" "Two McLarens, either the 765 or the 750." Li Haochen quickly exined: "These second-hand cars cost several million, slightly amodating him, Cai Dachui could easily make a million. It¡¯s enough for breaking the ice. Li Zhekai never dealt with Cai Dachui before, so asking to meet is not unusual at all." fre.eweb novel\.c om "Can Cai Dachui find McLarens?" Jiang Yuan interjected. When Jiang Vige people suddenly came into wealth, some of them wanted to buy sports cars too, but without wanting to be the first buyers, they weren¡¯t easy to obtain. Li Haochenughed: "That¡¯s the best part, Cai Dachui happens to have two second-hand McLarens on hand. It¡¯s heard that their origins aren¡¯t legitimate, and he¡¯s been looking for buyers. By contacting him as Li Haochen, I could say I¡¯ve heard this news." "Isn¡¯t it too much of a coincidence?" "There always has to be a buyer. Li Zhekai wouldn¡¯t associate with the Tianjin dealers either." Li Haochen paused, then said, "However, to reach an agreement, a buyer like Li Zhekai typically needs to pay a deposit." Paying money to criminals, if you catch them, it¡¯s an easier discussion, but if you don¡¯t, it could just turn into a pure loss, which is a headache for manyw enforcement departments. But Jiang Yuan isn¡¯t constrained by this, directly asking, "How much is needed?" "20,000 USDT," Li Haochen answered with some apprehension. The value of 20,000 Tether is 20,000 US Dors, a small 200,000 outgoing just like that, even for ministerial cases, the leaders might not approve. "Fine." Jiang Yuan looked at Li Haochen with eyes that seemed unaware of loss or bureaucratic red tape: "Just go ahead as nned, as long as you follow the rules." "Yes!" Li Haochen replied loudly, tears of excitement nearly slipping down, and he turned around and began working seriously, his posture akin to that of the founder of a startup. Those beside him like Cui Xiaohu, Qiu Jianye, Wan Quan, and Hang Haichuan were greatly inspired. Despite spending millions or tens of millions on cases together, to take out 200,000 US dors as bait, especially converting it to cryptocurrency, many task force leaders truly dared not. Jiang Yuan¡¯s willingness to take responsibility also proved his confidence from another angle. Once Li Haochen sat at theputer and began giving orders and operation, the work evidently became smoother. This case involved anti-smuggling bureaus and criminal police from two ces, as well as liaison officers sent from ministerial departments, and even personnel from abroad, making it not easy to coordinate. Cui Xiaohu and Li Haochen showed expressions of surprise. Both were from the ministry, having experienced many simr scenes and diverse teams, but for one to run so smoothly, there was often strong leadership hosting the work in the past... Soon, Huang Qiangmin rushed over upon receiving the message and authenticated Jiang Yuan¡¯s promise, transferring the bill to the Changyang Customs Anti-smuggling Branch. The operation of the task force was as smooth as mercury flowing. Li Haochen even didn¡¯t have the anticipated wait, contacting Cai Dachui¡¯s people on the dark web and obtaining the real contact method. By the time Zhong Renlong and Ni Cha flew in from Dama, the disguised Li Zhekai had already startedmunicating with Cai Dachui through Little Blue Bird. Zhong Renlong immediately tranted for Ni Cha, ensuring their side could smoothly keep up with the progress. When Li Haochen returned with a note, the two people from Dama had already seriously read through the palm-thick case file, nearly finishing all the avable sections. Li Haochen took a deep breath, handed the note to Jiang Yuan, and continued: "As Li Zhekai, I confirmed the location with Cai Dachui, and we agree to meet at 9 PM tonight. The precondition is to transfer the deposit first." Jiang Yuan nodded, handing the note to Zhong Renlong and Ni Cha. "It¡¯s a bar," Zhong Renlong checked on his phone as well. "Right, Cai Dachui is somewhat suspicious. He said the purpose of the meeting is just to get acquainted, neither talking business nor making deals, just purely meeting. He mentioned that the bar is opened by a friend of his, that he goes there often, and it¡¯s more convenient." Li Haochen exined on the side, adding: "I estimate the surrounding situation will be quiteplicated, worried they have reserved an escape route for themselves, but it¡¯s really inappropriate to change the location now." Jiang Yuan sniffed, perhaps with a statement like what Li Haochen mentioned earlier, it might be possible to find Cai Dachui domestically. Because he frequents the bar, it wouldn¡¯t be just one or two times, likely three or five times or even more, making it easy for technical investigation to pinpoint Cai Dachui by looking for phones that appeared multiple times. While there would be regr bar-goers and employees within, filtering them out is easy, even possibly matching photos to get results directly, tracking phone numbers and surveinces to catch Cai Dachui at home. Apparently, it wasn¡¯t so easy to do in Dama, theck of real-name registration for phone cards being a problem, making technical investigation not very convenient, ultimately still having to rely on a trap method. On the spot, Ni Cha called back to confirm the situation of the bar. Half an hourter, Ni Cha nodded to Jiang Yuan: "The area around the bar is indeedplicated, but we have ways, you can proceed with the transaction." "Proceed with the transaction." Jiang Yuan confirmed. Li Haochen became somewhat nervous: "Is it confirmed just like that?" "Confirmed." Jiang Yuan was no longer verbose: "The nest has already been set up, you just need to draw the rod, whether or not Cai Dachui takes the bait, bites the hook, it¡¯s beyond our control." Chapter 1342 - 1268: 69 Commando

Chapter 1342: Chapter 1268: 69 Commando

Night. Amidst the dazzling lights and nightlife, many people¡¯s lives are just beginning. o¡¯clock. The street where Feichi Bar is located is already bustling with crowds. There are a dozen simr bars nearby, each with its own characteristics, but in terms of foot traffic, Feichi Bar at the center stands out. In fact, this bar street flourished because of Feichi Bar in the first ce. Cai Dachui, who initially invested here, merely intended tounder money and chase women. Unexpectedly, the bar business took off, which gave him the confidence to stay abroad for a long time. Additionally, the people he kept around the bar gradually influenced Cai Dachui¡¯s style to be more mboyant. Under such circumstances, he was not well-suited to the environment back home and thus deliberately shifted his business outward. But whether viewed from the angle of smuggling, bar management, or team leadership, Cai Dachui has been quite sessful. Sitting at the entrance of Feichi Bar, Cai Dachui held a ss of wine, smiling broadly at the guestsing and going, with a rxed demeanor and full of confidence. "He¡¯s here." When Cai Dachui saw a Chinese man in a small suit, he smiled and gave his subordinates a heads-up. The two subordinates understood immediately, approaching the man, exchanging a few words, and proceeded to search him. Li Haochen stood at the street corner, arms outstretched and legs apart, forming arge "X" shape. He looked across the crowd that was in between him and Cai Dachui. Cai Dachui locked eyes with him, neither backing down for more than ten seconds before he raised his ss with a smile to toast Li Haochen. "You have a sharp eye, recognizing him from a distance," one subordinateplimented Cai Dachui smoothly. "In business, no matter what kind, once you seed, you be confident. Understand? This confidence cannot be faked." Cai Dachui nodded in Li Haochen¡¯s direction, continuing slowly, "Don¡¯t be fooled by his young appearance, bringing only one subordinate to Dama shows he¡¯s no ordinary person." "There¡¯s indeed something different about him," the subordinatemented, observing Li Haochen. He thought it was a bit pretentious to wear a suit to a bar street but had to admit that Li¡¯s good physique and "little wolf dog" vibe were well-highlighted by his outfit. He could imagine the young man making a big impact in a bar. But Cai Dachui justughed, "You don¡¯t understand what I mean." Cai Dachui recalled his early days in Dama. At that time, he was a mid-level smuggler like Li Zekai, wanting to climb higher but unsure of how to proceed. When he first came to Dama, he was apprehensive, given it was an unfamiliar ce. Though he had a gun, the locals had not only guns but also manpower. Even so, Cai Dachui had more confidence than the average smuggler in Dama, initially because he had the Chinese market backing him, andter because of his investments in Dama. In a sense, Cai Dachui¡¯s willingness to meet with Li Zekai was partly with an idea to mentor the younger generation. This was mainly because, during their conversations, many of Li Zekai¡¯s words resonated with him. "Brother Chui," Li Haochen greeted pleasantly after passing the bodyguards and weaving through the crowd. They had met, so there was no need to be reserved. As the saying goes, striking a smiling face wins no quarrels. Li Haochen¡¯s mission was merely to confirm Cai Dachui¡¯s presence and keep him upied. Of course, there was considerable risk involved, as the cooperating police were not his own, and pending any insider leaks or dys, Li Haochen could easily find himself in trouble. "Anzi, is it? You look young," Cai Dachui examined Li Haochen beforeughing heartily. "Give my brother a whiskey! Da Bao." The bartender promptly took a chilled ss and a hand-carved ice ball, poured a double whiskey, and handed it to Li Haochen. Li Haochen downed it in one go, wiped his mouth, and handed the ss back to the bartender. The bartender poured another, and Li Haochen downed that one, too. On the third drink, Li Haochen held it in his hand and gestured toward Cai Dachui with the ss. "Refreshing!" Cai Dachuiughed heartily, finding Li Zekai incredibly to his taste, and couldn¡¯t help but down his drink as well. Without speaking, the two mirrored each other¡¯s actions, drink for drink, until a few had passed, then, slightly tipsy, engaged in a deeper conversation. Li Haochen talked about the current situation back home, while Cai Dachui discussed the unique aspects of Dama. For a moment, the two seemed very much in sync. Cai Dachui grew even more pleased and beckoned for the bartender: "Bring me that bottle of vintage 70s wine I stored." "Yes," the bartender nced at Li Haochen momentarily before rushing off. Cai Dachui smiled at Li Haochen: "By chance, I acquired two bottles of vintage 70s wine, verified through multiple appraisals. I¡¯ve been hesitant to drink it myself... Speaking of which, there¡¯s quite a story behind this batch of vintage wine..." He exaggerated slightly, purely to enhance the perceived value of the item, facilitatingmunication. Li Haochen internally breathed a sigh of relief. On his flight over, he only finished reading Cai Dachui¡¯s profile, and his knowledge of smuggling in Yue Province was gleaned throughst-minute calls to local enforcement veterans. If pressed further, he feared exposing himself. Given Cai Dachui¡¯s current state, he naturally yed along, praising Cai Dachui¡¯s stories. Meanwhile, organized silently around Feichi Bar were the elite forces of the Dama Police Force. Cai Dachui had established himself here for a long time, well-acquainted with the terrain, surrounded by both people and arms. Additionally, the bar¡¯s initial construction included a defensive mindset, making it easy to blend in. If not for Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrangements, the Dama Police Force might have opted for a different approach to capture him. But today, aware that Jiang Yuan was observing from thousands of kilometers away, the Dama Police Force couldn¡¯t afford any cowardice. They also wanted to demonstrate to Jiang Yuan. Not only for more mutual cooperation in the future but also for the honor and dignity of the Dama Police Force itself. It¡¯s akin to Sino-foreign coborations; even if you are the one benefiting, you still strive to prove yourself. A victory without dignity isn¡¯t sess! The Dama Special Forces in ckbat gear, armed with Glocks, MP5s, and M4A1s, arrived in civilian vehicles on bar street. Suddenly, they flung open the car doors, broke through the bewildered crowd, and headed straight for Feichi Bar. This elite force, established in 1969, known as the 69 Special Forces, was early on trained by the UK¡¯s Special Air Service regiment. It¡¯s a battalion-level unitposed of four infantry squadrons, fully equipped for police assistance, counter-terrorism, jungle warfare, and more. Although the Dama 69 Special Forces might not stand out among global special units, they¡¯re incredibly effective in capturing a gang of smugglers, as they arrive suddenly, heavily armed. Cai Dachui, slightly tipsy, barely rose to his feet before being struck on the head with a ck gunstock. Li Haochen was forcefully pinned down over the bar, receiving no special treatment whatsoever. But the satisfaction filled Li Haochen¡¯s heart, making him feel no pain at all. "You¡¯ve got the wrong person!" Cai Dachui struggled. Not hearing any gunshots, he assumed there was hope. The one holding him didn¡¯t speak, only found him noisy, and forcefully hit him again with the butt of the gun. Just then, a special officer¡¯s long weapon was lowered to the ground in front of Cai Dachui. The M4A1¡¯s matte end revealed a silencer. The struggling Cai Dachui was suddenly stunned. What is this? Why is a unit with silencers targeting me? Are they police or smugglers disguised as police? "Director Jiang, this is the gang leader Cai Dachui." Suddenly, a Dama officer spoke in Chinese. Cai Dachui involuntarily looked up, only to see a phone screen in his face. "Indeed, it¡¯s Cai Dachui. Good job," Jiang Yuan replied from the other side of the video. He had photos of Cai Dachui from previous years and was able to confirm it with his forensic eye. "It¡¯s our honor to capture the gang leader Cai Dachui for you," the Dama officer said politely, with a hint of pride mixed with courtesy. Only Cai Dachui was bewildered: "What gang leader? How am I a gang leader?" "Make him shut up," the Dama officer said coldly, then eagerly ttered the man on the virtual screen: "Director Jiang, let us know if you have any requests. We can assist with the interrogation or send him over to you ourselves." "We¡¯lle and get him ourselves. Thank you," Jiang Yuan replied with a smile. "Will you being over? Oh, you would? Well, alright. The Special Forces will keep a close watch, making any escape unlikely." "That would be best, thank you," Jiang Yuan expressed his gratitude once more with a smile. "What do you mean ¡¯gang leader¡¯? There¡¯s no gang leader here..." Cai Dachui mumbled, his heavily bleeding head lifting slightly. Chapter 1343 - 1269: Case Closed

Chapter 1343: Chapter 1269: Case Closed

"Sit down, don¡¯t move. We¡¯re going to unlock your handcuffs now, then cuff you to the chair. If you try anything funny, we¡¯ll use electric shocks and other means. Don¡¯t make things difficult for yourself," the Dama police officer said as he shoved Li Haochen into the chair. Li Haochen then felt the restraints on his wrists released, and his hands were pulled to the sides and re-cuffed before the hood on his head was removed. ncing around, Li Haochen saw Cai Dachui and his gang members with their backs to him. Each of them was apanied by a Dama special officer, without guns, but equipped with non-lethal weapons like stun batons and pepper spray. That was already surprising enough, but what truly astonished Li Haochen was that the Dama Police Force had actually provided them with an official aircraft. Although he had anticipated it during the journey, the luxurious arrangement still shocked Li Haochen. Despite being with the ministry, he usually traveled second ss on business trips. He had ridden on official nes before, but only as a hitchhiker. Yet here he was, seeing the Dama Police Force using an official aircraft just to transport a few criminals¡ªthanks to Jiang Yuan¡¯s widespread reputation. After settling Li Haochen, the Dama police focused on handling Cai Dachui. Simr to before, the three officers didn¡¯t remove Cai Dachui¡¯s hood, instead holding an electric shock gun, they said, "Ringleader Cai Dachui, we¡¯re now preparing to unlock your handcuffs..." Cai Dachui, dazed and confused, murmured, "I¡¯m not the ringleader!" The special officers weren¡¯t listening at all. Two linked the handcuffs and shackles to the chair while another two kept their guns trained on him. Watching Cai Dachui¡¯s pitiful state, Li Haochen couldn¡¯t help but think to himself, "If I were Cai Dachui... even if I were Cai Dachui, beyond pleading innocence, there doesn¡¯t seem to be much I can do!" Up front, Cai Dachui likely shared simr thoughts, trying to speak up amidst the crowd, "You¡¯ve got the wrong person. If you used me of minor issues, I¡¯d admit them, but I can¡¯t take the me for being the ringleader. Isn¡¯t this a case of killing the innocent to im glory? ...You guys are foreigners who don¡¯t understand; you can¡¯t falsely use good people..." "Gag him," said the special officer who had just finished putting on the foot chains, standing up and speaking in My. Cai Dachui, having spent several years in Dama, understood what was said, though the wording was a bit unusual and took a moment to grasp. Thankfully, he had purchased and used this item before... so... this was no good at all. Cai Dachui caught on. Cai Dachui began to panic! Cai Dachui was gagged. "Mmh mmh..." Cai Dachui barely managed a couple of pitiful sounds, so harrowing that Li Haochen had to turn his head away in empathy. The rest of the journey was silent. It wasn¡¯t until Cai Dachui was locked into the interrogation chair at the Tianjin Customs Investigation Bureau that he regained the ability to speak. Meng Chengbiao conducted the interrogation. Jiang Yuan and others watched via surveince video. Compared to one-way mirrors, the surveince videocked a bit of grandeur and immersion. Read further on fre However, the swift progress of the interrogation belowpensated for that. As Meng Chengbiao delved into the details of the case, having already forced Cai Dachui to admit several minor issues, Cai Dachui suddenly realized why he had been brought in. "You should know yourself who was with you when the murder happened. We¡¯re asking you now as a chance for you; otherwise, the eyewitness testimony alone is already sufficient evidence," Meng Chengbiao moved cautiously but deployed lethal questions as soon as he touched on key issues. Cai Dachui sighed heavily, "I only killed my own people, is it necessary?... Is it necessary?" His counter-question genuinely stumped Meng Chengbiao. Essentially, he felt that handling this case was somewhat arduous; many others in his position might have chosen not to pursue it. After all, without ainant, and with the victim and perpetrator both likely being smugglers, investigating such internal murders is difficult, and not pursuing it would be the least pressure-inducing option. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach was always straightforward; smugglers or drug dealers made no difference to him. Meng Chengbiao then emted the virtuous characters on TV, slowly shaking his head, "It¡¯s necessary. Murder is a grave crime, and when youmit murder, you naturally have to face the consequences." Cai Dachui was taken aback, then startedughing wildly,ughing so hard he leaned back and forth, causing the interrogation chair to creak. The officer standing to the side made a move forward but was stopped by Meng Chengbiao. In his view, a suspect post-emotional outburst is the most useful, more likely to open up honestlypared to regr people who can¡¯t endure the interrogation and provide excessive redundant information. Theughter subsided. Cai Dachui looked directly at Meng Chengbiao, asking, "Who betrayed me?" Meng Chengbiao smiled without speaking, giving the impression he wouldn¡¯t leak any information. "Old Jin?" Cai Dachui voiced the name he had long suspected. Meng Chengbiao neither confirmed nor denied. Follow on Cai Dachui frowned, "Where did I slip up? If you won¡¯t tell me, then I won¡¯t say anything either; let¡¯s see if your Great Recovery Technique is impressive or if I cause trouble by retracting my confession on the spot." Seeing this, Meng Chengbiao relented a bit, "Alright, how about I tell you the reason, and you narrate the crime process?" "Deal!" Cai Dachui, upon hearing the word "ringleader," had already realized he was doomed. Moreover, flying back on an official aircraft left him with no hope for the future, but he wanted to die understanding. Meng Chengbiao coughed twice, nced at the camera, waited a moment, and then said, "The initial clue was the blood of the victim found in a Land Cruiser..." In just a few words, he had outlined the main points of the situation. Cai Dachui listened, astonished, "If I knew... If I knew, I should have pushed that car into the sea!" Meng Chengbiao chuckled, "So, are you admitting to the murder?" "I admit it, what¡¯s there not to admit," Cai Dachui said, disdainfully adding, "I killed my own, what does it have to do with you? You guys are truly meddlesome, wasting time and effort. Some scum deserved to die. Do you know why I killed him?" "Why did you kill him?" Determining the motive for murder is also a very crucial part of the interrogation. "Because he was cooking the books!" Cai Dachuiughed, "Isn¡¯t it ridiculous? Cooking the books should get you arrested. He was messing around when I asked him for money, so I just shot him. Having already lost so much money, I couldn¡¯t afford to lose a Land Cruiser too." Meng Chengbiao: "Got any evidence?" Cai Dachuiughed at the question, "You¡¯re asking me for evidence? You expect me to give you ounting records?" "If you don¡¯t give me the records, who benefits the most?" Meng Chengbiao countered. Cai Dachui fell silent once again. Soon, Cai Dachui spoke again, "If I turn someone over, does it count as meritorious service?" This time, it was Meng Chengbiao¡¯s turn tough. Achievements are indeed achievements, but if the ones brought in turn around and achieve meritorious service against Meng Chengbiao, it bes a closed loop again. In the control room. Jiang Yuan got up and said to Wan Quan, who was standing beside him, "This case should be about wrapped up. I¡¯ll have Commissioner Huang contact you and Wu Zhiter." Strictly speaking, this case belonged to Wu Zhisu from the Jianjiang Criminal Police Brigade, but Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to worry much about that. Huang Qiangmin had been scribbling and sketching these past couple of days, likely having nned some things out long ago. Chapter 1344 - 1270: Fresh Corpses

Chapter 1344: Chapter 1270: Fresh Corpses

Tianjin Port. Mao Fugui Bun House. The steaming hotpot emitted an enticing aroma. The buns were ced beside the hotpot, taking up a bit of space, but eating one asionally tasted just fine. Jiang Yuan mainly ate hotpot. It¡¯s not that he only liked hotpot, but ever since people heard about his fondness for it, hosts always meticulously prepared various hotpots. Fresh ingredients were basic, and often there would be considerable specialties. As a result, hotpot really became particrly delicious. Today¡¯s hotpot featured seafood, with local fish, shrimp, and crabs cleaned and tossed into the pot, all with an extremely fresh taste. Especially the Tianjin specialty, peach blossom octopus, a small octopus; you could lightly slice it into eight parts and then throw them all into the small hotpot. Just a slight boil and it was ready to eat, chewy and springy, arguably a top-notch seafood delicacy. Around the table were Qiu Jianye from the local municipal bureau, Hang Haichuan from the local customs, Wu Zhisu who flew in from Jianjiang City, Cui Xiaohu from Beijing, and Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong from Dama. They sat in a circle, watching the chef slice the small octopus while chatting about various recent cases. They used, but were not limited to, pads, printed photos, notebooks, and heartfelt discussions with handlers, talking about the ins and outs of the cases, either in minute detail or offering a broad overview or emotional resonance. Jiang Yuan enjoyed the hotpot while listening to the cases, indeed feeling great satisfaction. This feeling reached a climax when Ni Cha brought out a dismembered corpse wrapped in stic. The fresh corpse, withrge dark red chunks of flesh that had a gtinous "quivering" feel, and wax-yellow fat resembling high-quality beeswax kneaded for ages. But looking at the cut chunks of leg meat, it had a bit of the appearance of market pork legs left out slightly too long, while the remaining parts had fat content far exceeding pork, making it look cloying. With just one nce at these body parts, Jiang Yuan knew they had only just ceased life functions, in other words, were freshly dismembered. A freshly dismembered body indicated a fresh case. Jiang Yuan then pointed at the photos in Ni Cha¡¯s hand and asked, "When was this discovered?" "Two weeks ago." Ni Cha immediately gestured for more photos, showing them to Jiang Yuan, "This body was found in a bustling area of the city, with some photos spreading on social media. It¡¯s also one of our investigation¡¯s focus cases recently. However, the progress has been slow." "Have you confirmed the victim¡¯s identity?" Jiang Yuan asked. "No," Ni Cha shrugged. f|re(e)web.n\ovel. (c)o.m Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile a little. This wasn¡¯t slow progress on the case; it hadn¡¯t even started. Dismemberment and various corpse abandonment cases are essentially simr in principle, with the first thing to do being confirming the victim¡¯s identity. ording to the principle of dumping far and burying near, murderers worry about the body being easily linked to them at the original site. So, if even a slight mishandling by the murderer urs, confirming the victim¡¯s identity would almost divulge everything. Of course, there are skilled murderers, and dismemberment case perpetrators tend to be stronger, as most murderers are first-timers and feel ufortable with the body. Those who endure the difort and manage to dismember deserve a steadfast LV1 perfect title. "Let me take a look." Jiang Yuan reached for the file. Meanwhile, Huang Qiangmin sidled up to Ni Cha, raised a ss with a smile, and said, "Brothers from Dama, let¡¯s have a drink. Thank you for your support." At this, the expressions of Wu Zhisu and others at the table rxed somewhat. Truth be told, they had invited the country¡¯s top SWAT team to help Jiang Yuan catch criminals, responded quickly, and factors like business jet expenses added extra points. With the foreigners¡¯ identity, Jiang Yuan¡¯s priority being Ni Cha¡¯s case, there really wasn¡¯t anything improper. The previously lively dining table suddenly fell silent, with only the bubbling sound of the hotpot and the thumping noise of the chef chopping octopus. Hu. Jiang Yuan looked at the file, eating two more octopus tentacles in the process. Wei Shikan quickly came over and took the file from Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, helping him turn the pages. This way, Jiang Yuan could read the file while enjoying the hotpot. The deep-red jelly-like flesh and curling octopus legs in the pot both seemed a bit brutal. In Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, the thick file, like the chopped octopus, showed no signs of progress (leg) or mantle (seal). The body¡¯s hands and feet had been shaved down, making it impossible to retrieve fingerprints or palm prints. The body in stic waspletely naked, with its head smashed in. This meant that even Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t use the Skull Restoration Skill to reconstruct the victim¡¯s face. freew\ebno\vel..(c)om In China, finding surveince video based on the ce where a body was discarded is amon approach, especially when determining an approximate time of death. By locating the transportation used for body dumping, there¡¯s some chance of identifying the perpetrator. But in Dama, the distribution and quality of surveince videos don¡¯t suffice for such investigations. Even the number of investigators is very limited. And the approach often used by members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team initially intervening wasn¡¯t quite suitable for foreign cases. At least not suitable for now. "The body is still here, right?" Jiang Yuan finished reading the file and looked at Ni Cha, speaking in Chinese. The trantor invited by the Tianjin City Bureau tranted this. Ni Cha quickly replied, "It¡¯s still here." "Then let¡¯s go take a look." Jiang Yuan turned to Cui Xiaohu and asked, "Mr. Cui, how do you think we should arrange this?" "Ah, international cooperation, coboration between two ces, something we¡¯ve always advocated. Let me report to the leaders, and you can start preparing." Cui Xiaohu made it very clear. Ni Cha¡¯s mood quickly lifted and said, "It¡¯s good timing. Our business jet is still parked at the airport. Shall we head there now?" "Let¡¯s go now." Jiang Yuan got up and wiped his mouth, "By the way, have your forensic doctor take the body out of the freezer to thaw before I get there." The chef chopping the octopus finally paused his day¡¯sbor, looking at Jiang Yuan and the others with difficulty. Honestly, as a knife skills expert making seafood hotpot for many years, he¡¯d asionally heard all kinds of stories, but he¡¯d never encountered anything like this. Jiang Yuan waved his hand and swiftly left under the entourage of Ni Cha and others. An hourter, the business jet that had brought the smugglers now carried a cabin of police officers, flying back to Dama. On receiving news, the Dama Police Station hastily assembled a new special task force, akin to China¡¯s, just to make it more convenient for God Jiang. Chapter 1345 - 1271: Residual Matter

Chapter 1345: Chapter 1271: Residual Matter

A tweed check suit jacket, beige deep V knitted vest, blue and white striped tie, pure white Oxford shirt. This was Jacob who greeted Jiang Yuan at the entrance of the forensic dissection room. He was small and thin, his skin was dark and rough, but his British style was authentic. Jiang Yuan, surrounded by a group of people, arrived at the rough, chipped door of the dissection room. Looking at the formally dressed Jacob, he suddenly felt like seeing thestrade in a shelter after the Third World War. Jacob was even more excited, tightly gripping Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, and said: "God Jiang, the body is ready, pleasee in." As he spoke, he pulled Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and led him into the dissection room. The bright white light hit the stainless steel dissection table, causing the freshly thawed deep red body parts to emit a tuna-like sheen. Two forensic assistants stood by, looking very young yet strong. "I didn¡¯t call Hardy and the others this time because I felt you are like Zhuge Liang. You need obedient subordinates to execute your orders, so young forensic assistants might be more suitable! Besides, for tedious tasks like slicing, you can delegate them to me," Jacob exined to Jiang Yuan, emphasizing that he put thought into it. Jiang Yuan nodded with satisfaction, this decision indeed suited his preference, and said: "You know about Zhuge Liang?" "I thought that to understand God Jiang and your forensic skills, I should delve into cultural aspects. So, I specially invited a Chinese master to introduce Chinese culture to me. My favorite is Zhuge Liang; I believe you are his embodiment, God Jiang," Jacob bluntly said, sounding a bit awkward, like someone newly learning Chinese culture. Jiang Yuan smiled: "Zhuge Liang is too grand to describe a living person." "Oh? Why?" Jacob was eager to learn, just like during his study abroad in Britain. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then said: "In Chinese history, Zhuge Liang is a nearly perfect figure, perhaps... analogous to a textbook-like anatomical structure." A textbook-like anatomical structure implies optimal proportions of bones, organs, muscles, implies zero pathological variations, implies the most functional solutions... Jacob nodded in realization: "Too perfect?" "Let¡¯s change clothes," the forensic assistant reminded Jacob. "Right, right, I¡¯ll take you to change clothes," Jacob quickly led Jiang Yuan out of the dissection room to the changing room, stepping on glossy ck, carved Oxford shoes. The two young forensic assistants saw off the big wigs, their expressions expectant. Although Jacob¡¯s actions seemed a bit redundant, the British manner added a touch of style. Jiang Yuan quickly changed into a full-body protective suit, wearing a hood, protective goggles, and mask, etc. By domestic standards, this level of protection is excessive, since the body was frozen promptly, preventing decay. The smell was even slightly fresh, but being abroad, where this level of protective equipment is provided; maintaining appearances is important. free\we\bnov(e)(l) Jiang Yuan returned to the dissection table, briefly observed, and started examining the body parts one by one. The body parts had been moved several times, showing some surface changes. However, the size of the body parts was valuable. At the very least, the weight of thergest body part was within the disposal range of the perpetrator. It¡¯s a simple inference; if there were two people involved in transportation, they could avoid dismemberment or simply divide the body into sections. The same logic could imply the murderer was a strongman. Particrly minute dismemberment often points to special reasons, such as concealing the distinctive features of the body or facilitating burial locations. Much like this case, where the body parts were dumped into the sewer, so the chunks were rtively small, including the head, which was chopped multiple times but not split open¡ªperhaps not due to insufficient strength but possibly because the tools were inadequate orcked experience. Jiang Yuan lifted the head to align it with his own height and scrutinized it closely. The deceased was a woman, her mouth, nose, and eyes smashed beyond recognition, exposing much of the white bones, especially the exposed tooth roots, resembling a creature with buckteeth. Compared to the red muscles and white bones, the yellow fat on her face was more psychologically nauseating, especially mixed together, like badly chopped dumpling filling, making one feel increasingly queasy. "Chopped with an axe," Jiang Yuan ced the head back onto the dissection table. "Agreed," Jacob had also given the same answer before. Jiang Yuan: "The wounds are mostly wedge-shaped, with neat edges, indicating a sharp axe de, with few bruising traces; possibly a newly bought or newly sharpened axe." Jacob nodded: "Indicating a likely premeditated dismemberment." Jiang Yuan: "Incision angles are sharp, exit end shows a tapering and branching due to axe de thickness, indicating a thicker axe, possibly 3 to 4 millimeters." Jacob pondered: "Hmm?" Jiang Yuan thought briefly, then said: "This thickness exceeds that of a regr axe de, belonging to a chopping axe, simr to those used for splitting logs. The bevel angle of the de edge isrge, roughly 40 degrees." Jacob looked at Jiang Yuan, then at the body parts, suddenly chuckled. Jiang Yuan was lost in his own thoughts and analyses, saying, "Combining the previous information, with a 40-degree de edge and approximately 4 millimeters of axe de thickness, this axe certainly isn¡¯t in a polished state, because this thickness is quite substantial for a chopping axe. Axes that are frequently sharpened should be thinner, so... the murderer likely bought a new chopping axe,monly seen like an American chopping axe." Jiang Yuan reviewed the marks on the smashed head again, saying, "The back of the axe is about 30 millimeters. In that case, what we¡¯re looking for is an axe with a de edge between 3.5 to 4 millimeters, a de edge slope angle of 40 degrees, and the axe back around 30 millimeters¡ªmost likely an American chopping axe. Probably newly purchased." Two forensic doctor assistants instinctively stretched their necks to look over. Jacob also stretched his neck, unnecessary but needed. The thickness of the axe back is easy to determine, but the thickness of the axe de isn¡¯t so easy. Jacob hadn¡¯t even seen Jiang Yuan measure it with a ruler, but this ability to gauge length by sight alone was quite astonishing, because the axe de was measured to millimeter precision. Needless to say, Jiang Yuan was confident in the millimeter-level uracy of his judgment. free.web(n)ove(l)(.)c(o)m Jacob subconsciously considered several angles: the more he thought, the more questions arose, his mind bing flustered not knowing what to say. At this moment, Jiang Yuan set down the head of the corpse and began examining other body parts. Tool mark examination is his specialty, and Trace Examination-Tool Mark Examination Level 6 was a top skill on Jiang Yuan¡¯s skill list. And the chopping by the axe was just too evident, hardly requiring a Level 6 expertise. Jacob contemted deeply for a long time, finally regaining rity, hastily grabbing his notebook to record, and said, "In that case, we can investigate the recent sales of American chopping axes, thereby looking for the murderer?" "Highly likely it¡¯s an American chopping axe, but not absolutely. If doing a sweep, I suggest being very thorough." Jiang Yuan said, bringing up Xu Taining¡¯s heart study, then continued, "Do you have a way to check all axe sales records? Online and offline purchases... A new axe doesn¡¯t necessarily mean newly bought." Jacob was thrown off by Jiang Yuan earlier, now hearing this, was further confounded, asking, "In that case, the axe information... can¡¯t be directly used?" Jiang Yuan opened his hands, which were messy with blood. He didn¡¯t expect to conduct a sweep in Dama, just continued examining the remaining body parts. Jacob gradually calmed down, and followed Jiang Yuan, re-engaging in an immersive autopsy. Strictly speaking, this could be considered a second autopsy. Moreover, since it was an autopsy conducted by Jacob, it was quiteprehensive, and Jiang Yuan did not find any overlooked areas. After examining all the way through, Jacob inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief, then turned slightly frowning. Under these circumstances, it seems there are no new clues... At this moment, Jiang Yuan picked up several pieces of the body originally belonging to the chest area, put them together, and said, "The cuts here are exceptionally fragmented." Jacob turned his head to look, seeing Jiang Yuan piece together a gruesomely pale and yellowish fruit. "You mean... the murderer is a pervert?" Jacob didn¡¯t know Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thinking, so he could only let his mind wander. "Get a microscope to take a look." Jiang Yuan saw the state of the body parts and immediately knew samples had not been taken before, so he began sampling himself. Jacob hurriedly arranged for that, then stepped forward to assist, watching Jiang Yuan scrape off ayer of flesh and blood, involuntarily asking, "What do you suspect?" "What is the cause of death?" Jiang Yuan asked Jacob in return. Jacob hesitated for two seconds: "Death by chopping trauma? Multiple chop wounds throughout the body leading to hemorrhagic shock death." "Hmm...can¡¯t rule it out," Jiang Yuan responded. After the victim was dismembered, some evidence was lost, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t deny this possibility. Jacob asked, "What do you think?" "I feel the size of the chest area body pieces doesn¡¯t fit the murderer¡¯s dismemberment rhythm, there¡¯s a possibility of concealment. The chest has ribs and the spine, chopping them isn¡¯t easy, there¡¯s no need to cut so many pieces. So, the chest, especially the marks around the heart, might hint at the cause of death. Specifically, I haven¡¯t seen particrly obvious axe chop marks that predate the dismemberment. Let¡¯s check under a microscope." Jiang Yuan said as he handed the sampled material to Jacob. Jacob had no further argument, quickly preparing the high-resolution microscope. Jiang Yuan gently operated it, scanning through to the fourth sample, pausing, and yielded the position saying, "Take a look at this." Jacob hurriedly stepped forward, without need for Jiang Yuan¡¯s help, immediately spotting apparent non-muscle residues within the familiar cellr world. "What¡¯s this..." Jacob strained to see but couldn¡¯t tell clearly. "Bring a centrifuge over, centrifuge the sample, then look using an electron microscope." Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 5 chemical analysis skill started its function. Chapter 1346 - 1272: Point of Contradiction

Chapter 1346: Chapter 1272: Point of Contradiction

The high-speed centrifuge was buzzing, making Jacob feel itchy. What is that non-muscr residue? Could centrifugal separation help with the investigation? Jacob felt it wasn¡¯t reliable. The body was dumped in the sewer, so it could have been contaminated with dirt or something. Of course, it could also be some particle rted to the case, but particle analysis usually ends at the elemental level, and this information rarely leads to any conclusion. Jacob looked at Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression again, only to find him extremely calm, and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "What do you think it is?" Jiang Yuan looked at Jacob strangely: "We¡¯ll know after looking through the electron microscope, right." "Oh, I thought you already had an expectation." Jacob was still impressed by Jiang Yuan¡¯s demeanor during the autopsy. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "Trace evidence is primarily analyzed in real-time. Guessing in advance is meaningless." "That makes sense... but... what if we can¡¯t analyze the results?" Jacob was a bit conflicted. Jiang Yuan said indifferently, "If we can¡¯t analyze the results, we¡¯ll have to look in other directions." For Jiang Yuan, the skill set he currently possesses is veryprehensive. He has a certain space to handle any clues given. Of course, some directions can¡¯t be dealt with perfectly, but he can provide infinite technical solutions. So, from Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, gathering as many clues as possible and then deducing along the way is the main line, whether any cleverness along the way can save time and energy doesn¡¯t necessarily affect the final result. In Jacob¡¯s eyes, Jiang Yuan, who is almost perfect, should originally be a character like Zhuge Liang who ns without fail... This mode of deducing answers based on results clearly doesn¡¯t align with the portrayals in Chinese storytelling... At this moment, Wei Shikan, holding a hand crank coffee grinder, strolled over upon hearing the trantion and said, "Master is confident that any result can turn into a clue." Jacob listened to the tranted words reciting back and suddenly was dazed. The centrifuge gradually quietened down. The technician stepped forward, removed the centrifuge tube, and used sterile tweezers to open the lid, then transferred 30 microliters to a slide with a micropipette. Next, the sample was ced in a vacuum coating machine to apply a 10-nanometer carbonyer. This is to avoid charge umtion affecting imaging for non-conductive samples. After such a hassle, the slide was ced into the vacuum chamber of a multimillion-dor scanning electron microscope. The equipment used by Dama is mostly produced in Europe and America, expensive and overpowered, but indeed effective. The final result was quickly produced. "Barium, antimony, aluminum, a total of three elements." The technician gave the answer on the spot and added, "This is likely bullet residue. Barium nitrate and antimony sulfide aremonly used in bullet primers." At this point, even a random intern would understand why the killer dismembered the victim¡¯s chest. Dama is also a country where guns are forbidden. Previously, the smuggler Cai Dachui had a gun, but it¡¯s still somewhat difficult for ordinary people to get hold of one. In other words, following the gun could also help find the killer, at least narrow down the range of suspects. On another hand, the dismemberment by the killer was likely to retrieve the bullet. Everyone at the scene fell into contemtion. Soon, Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong arrived upon hearing the news. At this moment, the technician also produced a report, which was handed to Ni Cha. Ni Cha read it repeatedly, revealing a rxed expression. God Jiang was still God Jiang; he could now feel relieved. "As expected of God Jiang, this changes the dismemberment logic in this case entirely." Ni Cha praised, while exining the case: "We previously investigated the nearby residents, all iming they didn¡¯t notice anything unusual, not even the sound of gunfire. So, could it be that the killer dumped the body from a distance?" "Very likely." Jiang Yuan agreed. Although modern buildings have good soundproofing, and silencers exist, using an axe to dismember and retrieve the bullet wasn¡¯t very professional. "But, if that¡¯s the case, why dump the body in a bustling area of the city, instead of somewhere more remote, where it might not be discovered so quickly?" Ni Cha questioned again sensibly. NovelFire Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, "That is indeed a contradiction." This contradiction could very likely be the key to solving the case, Ni Cha smiled triumphantly. However, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t continue analyzing but said, "Let¡¯s do trace evidence on that stic sheet as well, and scan it with an electron microscope." "Should we cut it down for that?" The technician hesitated a bit as this would entail a lot of work, given the microscope¡¯s high magnification ratio, it can only scan a limited area each time. Jiang Yuan shook his head: "The body wrapped in the stic sheet has mixed everywhere, so pinpointing where we found the trace evidence is meaningless. Take part of the stic sheet, brush the surface and send it through the centrifuge, into the microscope to see what we find." The technician thought for a moment and immediately understood: "If the killer shot the victim while pressing them onto the stic sheet or made them kneel on it before killing, there might be gunshot residue on the stic sheet. Otherwise, it likely means the body was moved." The police officers present also responded ordingly. Ni Cha immediately said, "Execution-style killings are indeed different. We¡¯ve recently encountered simr cases." In the city, when needing to kill, pressing someone on a stic sheet or making them kneel on it is the cleanest way to kill. Once the blood is washed clean, there¡¯s generally little other human tissue exposed. In the wild, killing need not be as troublesome; blood and small amounts of human tissue are dealt with by nature¡¯s dposers. Execution-style killings also indicate that it¡¯s not idental or self-defense. It¡¯s active murder, which still holds considerable value in Dama¡¯s courts. Additionally, execution-style killings showcase the perpetrator¡¯s certain level ofbat skills, potentially being professional or semi-professional - which again contradicts the body being dumped in a bustling area. While Ni Cha and others were contemting the associations, Jiang Yuan stood up and announced, "Next, I¡¯m going to boil the body parts and perform an anthropological analysis on the bones. It¡¯ll probably take about a day." "Oh... okay." Ni Cha hurriedly replied and added, "We¡¯ve prepared dinner, it¡¯s Dama¡¯s special hot pot, should we eat first and then boil the body?" "Start boiling the corpse and then have dinner, the time to cook until bones detach should be about right." Jiang Yuan finished and asked Jacob: "Do you have arge water bath kettle?" "Notrge enough to boil a whole person, might need to cook them separately, luckily it¡¯s already chopped up..." Even though Jacob is a forensic doctor, he felt a bit in hell saying this and quickly stopped, calling his subordinates, "We have a few pressure cookers and small water bath kettles, enough to cook about three-quarters... roughly eighty pounds, the rest might need a second batch." Cooking twice wastes a bit of time since forensic anthropology only requires the bones, and cookingrge chunks to the degree of bone separation takes a while. As for cutting the already dismembered body parts further... that isn¡¯t something forensic doctors are too fond of doing either. Jiang Yuan then turned to Ni Cha and said: "You said you prepared hot pot, can we use the hot pot¡¯s pot to boil the body first?" Presently, Ni Cha wished Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t speak Indonesian. Unfortunately, he understood. Swallowing his saliva, Ni Cha sincerely responded, "Alright. God Jiang. I¡¯ll have them bring the pot over now." Anyway, he didn¡¯t like hot pot. Chapter 1347 - 1273: Cheating Mode Activated

Chapter 1347: Chapter 1273: Cheating Mode Activated

The white bones stood in the pot, surrounded by bubbling white soup, looking extremely appetizing. "This is our Dama Chuanxiang Hot Pot Restaurant¡¯s most popr hot pot soup base, the bone soup. Anything cooked in it tastes great, especially vegetables, which be very sweet. Additionally, we have a fish maw chicken soup base prepared over here, which is a bit richer. You can choose the type you prefer," the Chinese chef introduced enthusiastically to Jiang Yuan and the others while standing by the hot pot. Ni Cha corrected from the side: "It¡¯s beef bone soup. You need to make that clear." The chef paused for a moment, feeling a bit annoyed but still said, "Yes, it is indeed beef bone soup." "Hmm... I¡¯ll have the fish maw chicken," Ni Cha said, getting up and moving from beside Jiang Yuan to the opposite side. Jiang Yuan calmly picked up the warm towel beside him and wiped his hands before saying, "Everyone wipe your hands. Shall we start with the big bones?" Thest question was directed at the chef. The chef nodded immediately and said, "Sure, I¡¯ll prepare a dipping dish for you. You can add whatever you like." As he spoke, he brought out arge vor dish with nine sections and put some soy sauce on Jiang Yuan¡¯s small dish, leaving the rest for Jiang Yuan to add himself. NovelFire Ni Cha, watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions at the table, also took a warm towel to wipe his hands, only to feel increasingly ufortable. The hot pot they used, naturally, was brand new, hastily transported from the restaurant, but in the forensic autopsy room, the same type of pot was being used to cook big bones. Thinking of this scene, Ni Cha couldn¡¯t help but feel his stomach churn. Of course, he couldn¡¯t vomit, nor could he show disgust, because doing so would mark him as a rookie detective. It¡¯s the young police officers fresh on the job, those who haven¡¯t seen many crime scenes, who fail to control their throat muscles. Ni Cha¡¯s throat muscles were trained! He thought while controlling his throat muscles, and then... Jiang Yuan started dipping the meat. The marbled Dama local beef, sliced thin, cooked in a few seconds and fished out, tasted delicious even with just a bit of soy sauce. The chef ground some fresh wasabi and thoughtfully ted it for Jiang Yuan, letting him dip one side in soy sauce and the other in wasabi, like sushi or sashimi. Even with the cooked beef, it was just as tasty and sweet. Jiang Yuan ate quite seriously. No time passes when working on a case, and now the case hadn¡¯t fully unfolded yet. Once it did, and the resources of Dama Police Station were in full motion, not even a god could afford to waste time easily. This was simr to howmanders behaved after the onset of many battles, where soldiers risked their lives, and themanders couldn¡¯t afford not to eat and sleep. Even if deploying troops like pouring mud, it only allowed for small chances of increased sess rates by piling on manpower but couldn¡¯t carelessly waste the soldiers¡¯ physical strength, energy, or lives. Jiang Yuan estimated that the difficulty of this case wasn¡¯t small. The environment in Dama¡¯s city was unlike in the homnd,cking surveince, and the police¡¯s control over the area was far less adequate. When it came to issues of privacy regarding cell phones and surveince cameras, ordinary people¡¯s willingness to cooperate would greatly decrease. In such circumstances, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have aplete investigative idea; although some micro-evidence had already been extracted through equipment like electron microscopes before, these barely counted as clues, only advancing the investigation process, yet the end line for solving the case¡ªwas still nowhere in sight. Originally rxed, Wei Shikan noticed Jiang Yuan was tucking into the food and subconsciously started to alert himself. Recently, his progress in mathematics was minimal, but his progress in researching alongside his master Jiang Yuan was substantial. So seeing Jiang Yuan stockpiling nutrients, Wei Shikan instinctively got anxious. "Master, try this," Wei Shikan quickly usedmunal chopsticks to give Jiang Yuan a piece of meat, and then grabbed arge piece for himself too. Before anyone else reacted, the master and disciple duo finished eating first. Jiang Yuan wiped his mouth, stood up, and said, "I¡¯ll go down and see how the cooking is going. You all continue eating." The others just started and were momentarily indecisive. Wei Shikan unhesitatingly followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s steps and kindly told the others, "I¡¯ve had enough too; I¡¯ll follow Master. The rest of you can eat a bit more." With that, Jiang Yuan and Wei Shikan headed to the forensic autopsy room. ... The white bones stood in the pot, surrounded by bubbling white soup... A forensic assistant sat with a pained expression in the autopsy room, holding a stick and stirring in thergest water bath pot. Nearby, the pressure cooker and several hot pot boilers all puffed white steam, putting on a busy disy. Jiang Yuan turned back to look at Wei Shikan. Sure enough, Wei Shikan froze on the spot, not moving forward for quite a while. Mainly, the hot pot boilers used in the autopsy room were too familiar, and the strong, unusual scent in the room made the recently full Wei Shikan a bit unable to adjust. However, in the end, he was a legitimate detective with the Criminal Police Brigade for two years. Although he was a bit inexperienced, he was notcking in exposure. After forcibly turning his head and not looking at the hot pot stove, Wei Shikan¡¯s expression gradually returned to normal. Jiang Yuan nodded and turned back to ask the forensic assistant, "How is it? Is there any bone separation?" "Maybe the one in the pressure cooker?" The forensic assistant was not very sure. "Open one and take a look." Jiang Yuan said as he went to the dressing room to change. By the time he came out, Jacob and several other forensic doctors had already arrived. Forensic Anthropology is rare and considered a prominent study in the country, and even more so in Dama. Although Jacob studied at a prestigious traditional British university, he didn¡¯t learn these things. As a modern science with ssical elements, to learn Forensic Anthropology well, one needs not only theory but also a lot of practice, preferably taught hands-on by someone. Of course, some people have inexplicable talents. A pressure cooker was opened. Jacob took the initiative to step forward and lifted a wet bone rod. Strands of meat were still wrapped around the bone, so he swished it around in the pot, and the bone rod became clean. Seeing this, Jiang Yuan stood at the first dissection table and said, "Put it here." For him, it wasn¡¯t necessary to have aplete set of bones to make a judgment. In past cases, he dealt with partially iplete bodies, even just burned bone fragments, and was able toplete the analysis. Now with better conditions, there¡¯s no reason to demand a full set. The first pot of bones mainly contained an arm and part of the chest. Jiang Yuan arranged them on the spot, nced at the arm, and focused his attention on the ribs. The chest had been hacked with an axe many times, causing many ribs to be iplete, and there were numerous marks on the bones. With this observation, even without finding very fresh body parts, simply examining the bones could reveal a lot of information about the axe. Of course,bining both aspects and cross-verifying is definitely better. "Shall I open the cooker with the skull too?" Jacob asked, received a response, and began releasing the air from the second pressure cooker. The pressure cooker made a hissing sound and released a moreplex aroma. Jacob remained silent, only turning the venttion system to its maximum setting. A pile of scattered bones was fished out by Jacob using a strainer simr to those used in Chaoshan hot pots. A skull consists of 23 bones of varying sizes, joined together by connective tissues and cartge, and sutures. The temperature inside the pressure cooker exceeding 100 degrees causes the connective tissues to denature, making it impossible for the skull to maintain its shape. Moreover, due to the murderer¡¯s imprecision in cutting, the fresh skull originally had some cervical bones, whichplicated the onsite puzzle a bit. But it doesn¡¯t matter. Jiang Yuan waited until the heat had dissipated somewhat before wearing gloves to piece them together one by one, which was essentially effortless. The reconstructed skull was not intact. "The facial area of the skull has already fragmented." Jacob sighed, "In that case, reconstructing the skull won¡¯t be feasible." He had heard of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Skull Restoration Skill. For forensic doctors, this technique is like a killer move or a trump card. While it cannot be used casually, it¡¯s much more reassuring if one can grasp it. Jiang Yuan, however, smiled at this moment, "It¡¯s not exactly impossible." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan tapped the sides of the skull and said, "Strictly speaking, the Skull Restoration Skill involves reconstructing the entire skull, since the appearance of a person¡¯s head isn¡¯t determined solely by the front. The four parts of aplete skull anatomy¡ªskull cap, skull base, skull sides, and skull front¡ªmust all coincide for a sessful skull restoration." Jiang Yuan: "Among them, while the front of the skull is the most crucial, it¡¯s also the most time-consuming. To restore the front, it would take at least a hundred hours. Instead, the other three parts can be done rtively quickly..." "But with only these three parts, facial recognition is impossible, right?" Jacob pointed out the main issue. "More informative than the ribs," Jiang Yuan paused, then added, "Combined with information from the other bones, it should be sufficient." Jacob couldn¡¯t help but ask, "What information?" "You¡¯ll know once it¡¯s taken out." Jiang Yuan indicated with his mouth. He hadn¡¯t seen the bones yet but was confident he could extract all the information from them using anthropological techniques. As they spoke, Jiang Yuan activated the "Temporary Skill Level +1" and upgraded Forensic Anthropology to LV3. Over 400 minutes of LV4 Forensic Anthropology was enough to unearth an emperor¡¯s ancestral grave! Chapter 1348 - 1274: Pinpointed to the Individual

Chapter 1348: Chapter 1274: Pinpointed to the Individual

Without the skull¡¯s front, only the side and top of the skull, what use could it possibly have? Naturally, it is extremely useful. For instance, if we restore the side and top of the skull and find that it¡¯s a t head, doesn¡¯t that narrow down the deceased¡¯s ce of birth and origin? Simrly, when analyzing a skull in Mysia, even if the front is severely damaged, the other three sides along with the remaining front bones can first be used to distinguish race. The main ethnic groups in Mysia are Mys, Chinese, and Indians, along with a small number of indigenous people. In terms of skull morphology alone, Mys have the lowest skull cap, followed by Chinese, Indians have the highest, and indigenous people¡¯s are low and t. The orbits are also different; Mys have rounded orbits with blunted rims, Chinese have square-round ones with sharper rims, Indians have round orbits with sharp upper rims... All these factors, including cheekbones, brow ridges, teeth, etc., have statistical differences among different races. These are not easily destroyed in a beating from the perpetrator, though some are useful and some are not. For instance, in terms of teeth, Chinese have a high rate of cavities, while Mys have more wear on the facial side of the teeth due to betel nut chewing... In summary, to a forensic anthropologist, a person¡¯s life is ultimately condensed in their bones. Not everyone keeps a diary, but everyone¡¯s skeleton is their diary. Jiang Yuan examined one bone after another, asionally making some notes, without rushing to any conclusions. If there is only one piece or a small amount of bone, then any conclusion will often include prefixes like "or," "maybe," "possibly." Of course, a full set of bones is also possible. To get precise conclusions, it often requires the owner of the bones to have been very cooperative in life, doing things few do, contracting illnesses few get, suffering injuries few endure... It¡¯s an enormous effort to speak after death, through the voice of a forensic anthropologist, to tell stories only a few can tell. Otherwise, even if a full set of bones is left behind, it¡¯s merely the bones of an ordinary person. Jacob and others quickly fished out all the bones from the pot, cleaned them,id them on the dissection table, and considerately arranged them in anatomical order for Jiang Yuan to examine conveniently. Then Jacob eagerly looked at Jiang Yuan, waiting for any task where he could be of use. To be fair, Jacob was also a highly skilled forensic doctor, with his expertise in forensic pathology at least at a mid-Level 3 or higher. But he hadn¡¯t had the chance to learn forensic anthropology, this golden-level skill, when he was young, and there were even fewer opportunities as he reached middle age. At least, domestic forensic doctors wouldn¡¯t teach him, and he was embarrassed to follow and learn. But Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic anthropology, exceeding the level of ordinary experts, was almost the top tier Jacob could ess. Jacob hoped to follow Jiang Yuan and study his work thoroughly, aiming to achieve something. At that moment, Jiang Yuan set aside the bone in his hand, turned, and asked, "What does the DNA report say, is it a Chinese and My mixed race?" "Yes, huh, you can tell that?" Jacob fantasized that Jiang Yuan would pick up a bone and describe the upational wear or metabolic diseases the deceased suffered, but he was taken aback by the mixed-race judgment right from the start. This is much harder than determining a single race. Determining a single race has foundational research support, whereas a mix like Chinese and My is most likely only found in Mysia, so it shouldn¡¯t be something a Chinese forensic doctor could deduce. It would be more valid if said by a local Mysian forensic expert. Jiang Yuan only uttered a "hmm" and said, "The deceased¡¯s nasion point is medium-low, the width of the pyriform aperture is between Chinese females and Mys. Additionally, the subpubic angle is 95 degrees, the sacral shape leans towards the short, broad My type, but the sciatic notch is closer to Chinese... Initially judged, East Asian Han genes ount for about 60%, and My genes about 40%, so they should be local to Mysia, no longer first-generation mixed race." Jacob turned around, silently took out the DNA identification report, quickly flipped to the racial identification section, then looked up at Jiang Yuan, suddenly feeling a bit sorry for him. If this were 20 years ago, when DNA technology was immature, just this racial judgment from Jiang Yuan would have swept through the multi-racial United States, not just earned him the title "God Jiang." "Biologically speaking. Female, 35 years old, height 162 centimeters, no pelvic deformation, no childbirth history. Right vicle old fracture, healed about 6 years ago." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t look through the other bones again, just started outputting directly. Jacob and the forensic doctor beside him hurriedly switched on their recorders, simultaneously starting to take notes. Jiang Yuan waited for a moment, then continued, "The deceased¡¯s lower limb bones show stress changes, with posterior femoral cortical thickening, and increased bone surface roughness. The articr surface of the talus has asymmetric wear. Additionally, there is severe knee joint damage, meniscus is significantly worn, indicating long-term meniscal damage, secondary osteoarthritis. There¡¯s also lumbar spine L4 transverse process hyperostosis..." Jiang Yuan rattled off a slew of technical terms, making Jacob and the other forensic doctors¡¯ wrists sore from writing. "What conclusions can be drawn from the above?" Jiang Yuan finished speaking and, as if he were back in his homnd, subconsciously asked the question. Jacob didn¡¯t find anything wrong with this, and replied thoughtfully, "A lot of sports injuries, suggesting the victim enjoyed sports?" The forensic doctor nearby added, "And it¡¯s more than just a general interest in sports, it should be long-term training, at least at the level of an experienced enthusiast." "What sport?" Jiang Yuan then continued to ask. Jacob hesitated for a moment and said, "With posterior femoral cortical thickening, and changes in the knee and lumbar spine... Biking? Cycling sports?" "For cycling, reaching this level would generally involve ischial tuberosity bursitis." Jiang Yuan dismissed the idea without thinking. Jacob was taken aback and quickly made a note. By this point, it was already somewhat like an internal medicine diagnosis. You know the symptoms, and you¡¯re trying to infer the cause; there are some matches, but in reality, today¡¯s case isn¡¯t something clearly stated on a test paper. A real-world skeleton will have many manifestations, and considering all these manifestationsprehensively often isn¡¯t a simple matching problem. Some manifestations might even just be distractions. For Jacob and his colleagues, who had been working for many years, the main aspects used in forensic anthropology were usually determining gender, estimating height, and looking for obvious medical traces. Judging upation or hobbies based on skeletal stress changes is akin to aprehensive question in forensic anthropology LV2, with just the question stem already challenging them. For example, when Jiang Yuan said "posterior femoral cortical thickening, increased bone surface roughness," that statement itself is not simple. The reasons for increased bone surface roughness are numerous; anyone boiled down can have some rough bone surfaces found. The question is, how rough is considered rough? Bones in different positions, even bones of people of different races, vary in roughness. Additionally, some internal diseases need to be ruled out. On the other hand, most rough bone surfaces have no meaningful significance, while Jiang Yuan brought it up specifically in conjunction with "posterior femoral cortical thickening," indicating Jiang Yuan already had a direction in mind - Jacob had no such train of thought whatsoever. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t really intend for Jacob to answer; he noticed their interest and conveniently shared his thought process. If they were eager to follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s line of thinking, to reflect and catch upter, they might gain something; if they weren¡¯t interested, then it was merely a self-questioning and answering process. At this moment, Jiang Yuan took out the few bones he had just mentioned, ced them separately, and said, "I believe that the deceased should have engaged in long-term skiing activities and had a period of intense training. Of course, being in Mysia, it¡¯s normal not to be familiar with skiing." A sh of confusion crossed Jacob¡¯s face, and he hurriedly responded, "If it¡¯s long-term training, for an experienced enthusiast, then the local Mysian ski resorts should not meet such needs, indicating that the deceased likely grew up abroad, or frequently traveled between Mysia and skiing regions?" Jiang Yuan said, "From the skeletal condition, she should have been skiing regrly as an adult, at least for several years before death. Oh, and the old fracture on her vicle is likely due to skiing too." Jacob exhaled, "So, she¡¯s a woman who travels abroad frequently, often with her destinations being skiing areas. It indicates a very good family background. Additionally, being a My-Chinese mixed race, 35 years old, height 162 cm, no childbirth history, and having suffered a severe fracture 6 years ago... I think we can pinpoint the individual!" Chapter 1349 - 1275: Support

Chapter 1349: Chapter 1275: Support

Conference Room. Ni Cha and his subordinates stood at the front to give their report. The director and his bureaucrats, legitors concerned about public safety, and fellow officers of equal rank listened as Ni Cha exined how he used arge dra to scoop up big fish from a drained shallow pond. Precisely 35 years old, meaning the target poption was narrowed from over 30 million in Dama to about one million. Then, by examining the number of cross-racial marriages in the previous generation, even considering a small number of illegitimate children, the number of female Chinese and My mixed-race individuals with a 6:4 mixture was greatly reduced. There was also a frequent traveler assessment, which for the police, made airline data incredibly precise¡ªprecisely enough for them to want to start filtering suspects immediately upon obtaining it. In fact, after listening to Ni Cha¡¯s description, several of the officers present began doing their calctions: "If we¡¯re talking about women who¡¯ve traveled abroad frequently over the past ten years and are 35 this year, there shouldn¡¯t be many, right?" "How do you define frequent travel? More than twice a year? If someone was seriously injured six years ago, they probably wouldn¡¯t have traveled." "If we set destination criteria for skiing areas, like Hokkaido in Japan, the number goes down even more." "That¡¯s tricky to filter. Skiing areas aren¡¯t fixed, and we have to consider transit factors." "Add in the injury, and we can basically identify the individual. Right, and there¡¯s also the missing persons records." Hearing their voices rising, Ni Cha simply stopped and let them discuss among themselves. Compared to his reporting, the discussion among his colleagues clearlymanded more attention. A few minutester, the conversation quieted down. Someone asked, "Ni Cha, have you identified the victim?" "Confirmed. DNA analysis also verified it," Ni Cha directly skipped a few PPT slides and continued, "The deceased is named Bai Sijia, 35 years old, a mixed-race Chinese and My, fond of skiing, frequently traveled to Europe and Japan for skiing, injured her right corbone in Switzend 6 years ago..." Ni Cha essentially repeated the situation in more detail, just as everyone was feeling a bit bored, "The victim Bai Sijia¡¯s husband, Yue Xinhong, did not file a report or call the police. From what we¡¯ve gathered, her husband Yue Xinhong ims she went out for fun." "A ssic husband-wife murder," a fellow officer remarked with little interest. "Wives killing their husbands is somewhat intriguing, maybe using drugs or stabbing at night, but for a man to shoot a woman, is it necessary?" "That¡¯s why he dismembered the body. He probably didn¡¯t consider using a gun." "Does Yue Xinhong have ess to firearms?" another officer asked with some interest. Ni Cha looked down at his notes and said, "He might have firearms from his ancestors; they own a farm, which makes hiding things convenient." "Alright. These are small problems now. Originally, they would have been major ones, but now they¡¯re insignificant," the director¡¯sment killed the meeting, making everyone smile knowingly. Even Ni Cha could only smile wryly and shake his head. From the officers¡¯ perspective, this case had many conflicting points, such as why a gun was used, and if it was, why the wound was shed and the bullet removed to disguise it. Moreover, why would the perpetrator shoot in a sparsely popted area but then dump the dismembered body in a bustling city area... Yet, Jiang Yuanpletely ignored this line of thinking. From a police perspective, Jiang Yuan had no strategy at all. He merely conducted a thorough autopsy and provided the most intricate yet straightforward method to identify the victim. As for the perpetrator¡¯s identity, based on the current case details, it was highly likely the victim¡¯s husband. This wasn¡¯t anything novel; most murder cases are motive-driven. A husband killing his wife or vice versa, for some, bes a hard requirement, and altering it incurs great costs, while executing it seems natural. In fact, the perpetrator should have known this himself, hence the dismemberment, hammering the victim¡¯s face, and disposing of the body remotely... It¡¯s safe to say his firewall was the victim¡¯s identity. Most body disposal cases are this straightforward: confirming the victim¡¯s identity usually leads directly to the perpetrator, which is routine for the police, not unusual. After all, within a mere few decades of life, the number of people one can offend is limited, especially for ordinary people. So ordinary that it¡¯s challenging to foster a rtionship of hatred unless marriage provides a slight chance. "Shall we proceed to make the arrest now?" the director asked again. Ni Cha nodded, "A team has already been dispatched. So far, we know the suspect is at home, and capturing him shouldn¡¯t be an issue." "Good." The director beamed, then looked at Jiang Yuan and began pping, "Thanks to God Jiang, we¡¯ve solved another major case." Everyone caught on and immediately began pping in approval. Meanwhile, several young officers quickly brought in numerous files upon hearing the apuse and arranged them in front of Jiang Yuan. The director¡¯s face darkened, "What¡¯s the meaning of this? I haven¡¯t called you in yet!" The leading officer, a Chinese man, was taken aback, then quickly stood at attention, "It was my mistake, sorry..." The director turned to Jiang Yuan, "Sorry, I asked them to prepare some files, didn¡¯t expect them to bring them out now." "No worries, the previous case is pretty much wrapped up," Jiang Yuan responded agreeably. Smuggling cases, although like using a cannon to shoot mosquitoes, were amodated with such high cooperation, private jets formuting, and pleasant conversations. Jiang Yuan wouldn¡¯t leave after just one case. Of course, if this case dragged on for a month or two, he might have left, but having resolved it so swiftly, handling a couple more cases felt reasonable. Huang Qiangmin nudged Cui Xiaohu beside him and thought as he stood up, "The previous case isn¡¯t entirely over, of course. Starting preparations for the next case now is reasonable. Any thoughts?" "Oh, we actually have a few serial cases. Let¡¯s have Officer Zhong introduce them," the director immediately put forward the Chinese officer, Zhong Renlong. Jiang Yuan and the others nodded and began listening to his already prepared PPT presentation. Zhong Renlong was brimming with enthusiasm; it was a rare opportunity to showcase. Usually, his contacts were mostly among the police mid-levels, and it was his first time presenting the case to the director and legitors. Even his introductory salute was rehearsed endlessly in front of a mirror. With Ni Cha¡¯s backing, Zhong Renlong didn¡¯t need to go to the front line for arrest, otherwise, this golden opportunity would have been missed. Jiang Yuan, having wrapped up the dismemberment case, rxedly sipped his cup of tea. Dama provided him with traditional Chinese green tea in a ssic ceramic cup, exuding a strong leadership aura. Jiang Yuan sipped the tea while listening to Zhong Renlong¡¯s PPT. Fifteen minutes in, Zhong Renlong¡¯s fervor was visibly waning, fearing Jiang Yuan might not appreciate the cases he was describing. At that moment, Jiang Yuan cleared his throat, set down his cup, and said, "Let¡¯s go with the case concerning the Chinese in the rubber ntation, where multiple Chinese were found dead?" "Yes, although the causes of death vary, we strongly suspect it¡¯s the work of the same killer," Zhong Renlong secretly breathed a sigh of relief; Jiang Yuan¡¯s interest in the case meant his PPT wasn¡¯t in vain. "Then this case it is, let¡¯s start by examining the bodies," Jiang Yuan said, looking at the director. "Excellent, thank you God Jiang for supporting us," the director immediately stepped forward to shake Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, beaming with satisfaction. Huang Qiangmin also stepped forward, bringing along his newly hired trantor, whispering with the director¡¯s assistant. Buzzz... Ni Cha¡¯s phone vibrated. He answered it swiftly and after two replies, looked up and said, "The suspect has been captured, and we¡¯re searching for the firearm." Chapter 1350 - 1276: The Rubber Plantation Serial Murders

Chapter 1350: Chapter 1276: The Rubber ntation Serial Murders

After the two Chinese families arrived at the police station, they prompted the Dama Police Station to hold a high-intensity press conference. Local media quickly followed up, eager to dig up every detail of the case¡¯s past and present and stir it up again. The young couple from matching backgrounds, broke up in middle age, the husband killed the wife, then dismembered the body and disposed of it... For the media, this case is full of sensationalism. The husband intended to murder, secretly hid firearms, and began searching for burial sites on his own farm. Unexpectedly for the husband, just as he was preparing tomit murder, his wife, Bai Sijia, voluntarily filed for divorce, demanding the family¡¯s most prized farm, or else she would release videos of Yue Hongxu with other women, humiliating him within the family. Unexpectedly for the wife, just as she was preparing to teach her husband a legal lesson, her husband Yue Hongxu drew a gun, forcing her to stand on a stic sheet, then pulled the trigger without hesitation. Ironically, the first crime scene was their most valuable asset, a whole floor office building in the city center. After killing her, Yue Hongxu nonchntly met with a new tenant, signed a lease, stayed alone for two hours, dismembering the body with a hatchet from his car¡¯s trunk, and dumped it in a nearby sewer, then hurried back to attend a family dinner. At the family dinner, Yue Hongxu casually spread the news that "Bai Sijia was in a bad mood and went traveling." In Yue Hongxu¡¯s n, this move allowed him to achieve several goals: First, he bought himself enough time to handle the assets, nning to sell the farm back to the family, convert the rest into US dors, and live freely abroad afterwards. Second, he created an alibi for himself. And with the suspect not in the country and insufficient evidence, the police might shelve the case, leaving him an opportunity to return to Dama decadester. Thirdly, if nothing was uncovered, Yue Hongxu nned to wait six months, then say Bai Sijia "fell into danger on a trip", and finally fabricate a story of disappearance to conclude the matter. Unfortunately, his n was thwarted before it could be fully executed. As interrogations progressed, some information slowly leaked out. Discussions on media and the inte intensified. The general public did not know the details and had no intention to dig deeper. The rabble-rousing discussions could only revolve around emotions. At this time, the Dama Police Station actively spread rumors, mentioning "forensic expert Jiang Yuan from China"... Privately, he was quickly dubbed "God Jiang from China"! Stories of Jiang Yuan participating in television programs and investigating influencer death cases were unearthed, spreading across various TV stations and social media. Huang Qiangmin for this purpose specially met with the assistant director of the Dama Police Station again, sighed upon returning, andforted Jiang Yuan, "They have it hard too." So this matter passed. The police station achieved the effect it wanted, and Jiang Yuan... Jiang Yuan went off to He¡¯s Rubber Garden to handle the case. He¡¯s Rubber Garden. This was a well-managed forestnd. The leveled plots were divided into tworge areas by a dirt road, with rubber trees nted in neat rows, each tree with a head-width¡¯s bark stripped at human height, resembling Native American tree people. The distance between trees was uniformly wide, with underbrush barely grazing one¡¯s feet, undoubtedly the result of daily maintenance by workers. Jiang Yuan and his team arrived very early, the grass still seemingly covered with dew, glistening wet, making one wonder if, given the local climate, it¡¯s perpetually damp all day long. Dama is a ce with an average annual rainfall of 2800 millimeters, ranking first in Southeast Asia, eighth in the world. Byparison, several provinces famed as Jiangnan Water Towns have an average annual rainfall between 1400 and 1600, roughly half of Dama¡¯s. "Did it rain today?" Jiang Yuan wiped a tree trunk and asked the local policeman beside him. "A drizzle, I¡¯d say it¡¯s yesterday¡¯s rain, starting from yesterday until today, stopped a few hours ago," replied the local policeman. "It rained for over ten hours straight." Jiang Yuan spoke in Chinese, then turned to Liu Jinghui, "A criminal¡¯s paradise." "Southeast Asia is indeed a paradise for criminals," Liu Jinghui said, with a stern expression matching his lean mid-aged frame and serious attire, exuding a leader¡¯s aura. "High temperature, high humidity...a variety of dposers, numerous hiding spots in space." Jiang Yuan gazed into the distance, beyond the rubber grovey wild woods, towering trees intertwined with vines thick as an arm or even a thigh, the understory and ground cover nts densely packed, impossible to prate without an axe. Simrly, bodies hidden within are hard to find and dpose quickly, just like the three corpses Jiang Yuan previously saw. ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, the murders in this series of cases within the rubber groves were not very old. The first corpse was about 4 days old, the second about 3 days, and the third possibly only slightly over a day before being discovered ¡ª after the first murder, the rubber garden strengthened its security measures, which, though ineffective at protecting employees, did speed up the finding of bodies. Nevertheless, even the third corpse¡¯s appearance was battered, to say the least. This is rarely encountered in temperate regions. If not for Jiang Yuan¡¯s exceptional abilities unaffected by the area, an average forensic doctor ustomed to temperate cases would be baffled on the spot, needing several cases just to get familiar, and forensic entomology would require starting from scratch, making it nearly impossible. In this sense, forensic work has regional limitations. Simrly, from a cadaver preservation angle,mitting murder outdoors in tropical areas is far moreplex than in cities. Of course, outdoor murders have unique advantages; the tropics have their benefits, and the pr regions have their methods. Overall, a person wouldn¡¯t generally follow strangers to such remote wilds...right? Hence, from a normal perspective, if acquaintances are involved, interpersonal rtions are a primary thread to pull. Liu Jinghui organized his thoughts, turned to Zhong Renlong, and said, "This rubber ntation, it should be a closed operation, right? Any outsidersing and going?" Zhong Renlong first tranted for the local policeman beside him, then regurgitated, "In theory, it¡¯s closed, with the nearest popted area at least ten kilometers away, but the rubber grove itself has no walls, controlling only the dirt road we took to enter, which has barriers and checkpoints. So, if someone doesn¡¯t use this road, the rubber garden can¡¯t control them." "Are there forests surrounding the rubber ntation, can people enter or exit without using the dirt road?" "Some can do it, but most can¡¯t." Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t linger on the matter, slowly nodded, then said to Jiang Yuan, "In that case, I think we can divide it into two parts: the first part, whether outsiders areing and going, leading to external killings. The second part, internal serial murders... here, it is almost apletely closed environment, hmm..." He grimaced, seemingly struggling, but a smile already crept up his eye corners. Chapter 1351 - 1277: He’s Rubber Garden

Chapter 1351: Chapter 1277: He¡¯s Rubber Garden

He¡¯s Rubber Garden has been in existence for a hundred years. After expansions and nurturing through several generations, the rubber garden now spans over 200 hectares, with full equipment, mature technology, and employs 26 full and part-time staff¡ªof course, now there are only 23. The rubber ntation is located in a secluded corner, leading a simple life, maintaining to some extent the lifestyle from a hundred years ago, even the main buildings in the ntation were built a hundred years ago, just internally refurbished with a lot of modern mechanical equipment and household items. Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong, along with 8 officers and another 10 local officers, appeared at the rubber ntation, making apelling impression. On Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, he also brought 8 people, not for show, but out of real necessity. Just like Mu Zhiyang, Wen Ming, and Lu Tongda who are indispensable next to Jiang Yuan. Being abroad, Huang Qiangmin wouldn¡¯t be at ease without these three. Liu Jinghui wanted to handle the case, Wei Shikan wanted to follow and learn, Shen Yaowei was armed and ready for action at any moment, and Wang Chuanxing was always ready to write official documents and PPTs. To some extent, Jiang Yuan¡¯s team waspact and efficient. However, in the eyes of He¡¯s Rubber Garden employees, the arrival of 26 police officers¡ªthe same number as before the garden¡¯s staff¡ªfelt somewhat threatening and provocative. "The garden can¡¯t amodate so many people, you need to have some of your people stay outside," the production manager stepped up. Ni Cha and others immediately looked at him. This was a Chinese man in his 50s, with a face dark and oily from the sun, resembling sticky ck glutinous rice dumplings made for the Dragon Boat Festival. Faced with the police, his expression wasn¡¯t too firm but he had to say it, showing a bit of reluctance. His expressions and appearance somewhat resembled the middle-aged protagonist of some ck AV scenes. Zhong Renlong frowned, in front of Jiang Yuan, he replied kindly, "We are here to collect evidence, if wemute back and forth to the city, it wastes too much time. Can you squeeze in a bit more space for us, we only need it for a few days. If it doesn¡¯t work, we¡¯ll set up tents." The production manager hesitated, seeking help from behind. "A lot in the garden is self-sufficient, if you don¡¯t require separate bedrooms, I can prepare beds for you, but it might need 4 people per room. Also, our canteen can¡¯t cook for so many, nor do we have enough food as you don¡¯t allow us to procure. Moreover, we usually grow vegetables, and while it used to suffice, it¡¯s not enough now." The operational manager, also a tanned Chinese, about 10 years younger, stepped forward. Ni Cha, hearing the rambling, finally got annoyed, patted his waist, and said in My, "Enough with the talk. We¡¯ll discuss living arrangementster, now queue up for the deposition." Depositions, though less strict than interrogations, still presented an unequal power dynamic, during which the two managers should figure out what to do. "We¡¯ve already done depositions." "And what about our production work? We have daily duties to fulfill." Seeing the police approaching, the two managers hurriedly spoke. Ni Cha nonchntly replied, "Cooperate with us, and we¡¯ll give you time for your work." In reality, whether to allow it or not, he couldn¡¯t care less. He¡¯s Rubber Garden is just nearby Kilombo, fully under Ni Cha¡¯s jurisdiction. Were it not for foreign peers watching, he wouldn¡¯t be so amodating. On the other hand, because it¡¯s near the capital, this serial murder case seemed prominent, making Ni Cha and others less inclined to believe the garden staff. The remaining 23 people in this garden are all potential murderers. "God Jiang, where do we begin?" As the officers went about recording depositions, they immediately turned to Jiang Yuan. His intention was clear, relying on Jiang Yuan to solve the case; otherwise, they¡¯ve already investigated, there¡¯s no point in an inexplicable retake. Jiang Yuan coughed twice, said, "I¡¯ll first inspect the three crime scenes, Director Liu can oversee the investigation here, is that alright?" "No problem at all, King of Deduction, Officer Liu, we are quite familiar." Ni Cha tried ttering, then said to Liu Jinghui, "Officer Liu, we¡¯ll trouble you next." "I¡¯ll help organize the records," Liu Jinghui volunteered for the task. He had already organized the case records before arriving and even made a few charts and mind maps. Regarding this case, Liu Jinghui had quite some thoughts. Just going through depositions was not enough, but with everyone inside the garden, he felt he had a good chance. Ni Cha was naturally pleased to have Liu Jinghui assist, consenting and immediately taking him tomunicate with other officers. "In recent times, have any staff members from the garden resigned?" Liu Jinghui asked while walking. "The garden has long-term workers. We¡¯ve requested minimal personnel changes shortly." Ni Cha provided two versions of the answer. Liu Jinghui nodded slowly, "This can¡¯tst long though." "Of course. If there¡¯s no resolution in months, we¡¯ll have to pause this case." Reaching this point, Ni Cha felt a need for more trust among them, adding, "We¡¯re worried about not capturing the criminal and them striking again, abandoning this case would be foolish." "Indeed, starting over would only cause greater loss," Liu Jinghui immediately grasped their concern. It¡¯s no surprise since, with an unclear suspect, such serial killers often don¡¯t cease their actions. Especially those who seek neither financial nor personal gain, just craving crimes, their antisocial tendencies are usually deep, they remain passive unless they¡¯ve started and their resistance is then strong. Liu Jinghui scanned the surroundings, asked, "They also hire temporary workers, right? And people who deliver goods and supplies should be questioned too." "No problem, we¡¯ve kept records and I¡¯ll show you their depositionster." It was basic work that Ni Cha and his team had already done. Liu Jinghui nodded; he had to review the documents himself. Otherwise, in such arge garden, the temporary workers hired for tapping alone are countless, which could be a huge loophole. The case of He¡¯s Rubber Garden is unlike aplete locked-room murder or a snow-covered manor scenario, as the garden is indeed essible, though entry and exit are restricted. Generally speaking, in a garden like this, even if not internal personnel, it must involve internal and external collusion. Otherwise, purely external people would find it hard to know where inside. However, Liu Jinghui thought even deeper. This He¡¯s Rubber Garden, established for a hundred years, and hiring temporary tappers yearly, plus varying personnel for deliveries and transactions each year, implies the existence of a massive group. They might not be on the list of employees and temporary workers from the past two years, nor be suppliers or trading partners but still, they could be familiar with the garden... From this perspective, the case besplicated. As he thought, Liu Jinghui proceeded to visit the room where depositions took ce. The garden workers, ounting already done two or three rounds of depositions, although slightly more professional, still fell into the police¡¯s trap. Taking a deposition is a technical skill, simr matters stated differently could turn into varying scenarios. However, in a serial murder case, a single deposition isn¡¯t capable of resolving it. The case facts remain more crucial. Liu Jinghui remained on the scene, paying special attention to the two managers, even proactively asking a few questions. Chapter 1352 - 1278: Catching Insects

Chapter 1352: Chapter 1278: Catching Insects

Jiang Yuan walked around the rubber ntation. The interior of the rubber ntation is veryfortable; the tall rubber trees provide shade and repel mosquitoes. The ground has been repeatedly cleared by workers using tools like chainsaws, making a stroll in the ntation simr to a walk in the park on dry days. Especially when the wind blows, even the scant heat is dispersed, allowing one to almost empathize with the feelings of the Dutch back in the day. One body was discovered within the ntation itself, while the remaining two were concealed within the tree clusters at the edge of the ntation. If the second body was rtively concealed, the first was essentially in the open¡ªnot only was it discovered in an exposed state, but it can be assumed that the murder also urred in an exposed manner. By serial killer standards, this killer¡¯s level is not considered high, probably just below average. Their methods were too weak; although they hid the second body among the trees at the edge of the ntation, it was not long after the first murder had urred, and all victims were ntation workers. In the tense atmosphere at the time, half a day of the victim being out of contact led to a search and eventual police notification. ordingly, the police intervened quickly, leading to the swift discovery of the second body. Needless to say, resorting to body concealment at such a stage was evidently a bit outdated, making its quick discovery unsurprising. Regarding the third body, only the location of concealment changed, appearing more clever, yet the essential nature remained unchanged¡ªa ntation worker was missing again, prompting rm, police reports, and police station reactions. Regarding the choice of targets and methods of concealment, it¡¯s clear this figure is still some distance from being a serial killer. A true serial killer would not be so adaptive to the environment. They would act more ording to conscience rather than gain¡ªthe choice to target ntation employees seems too pragmatic,cking the freedom of a serial killer and losing the elusive nature that makes investigations difficult. However, after Jiang Yuan walked through the crime scene and surveyed the ntation, he somewhat understood the killer¡¯s choices. The ground of the ntation is rtively hard, with grass and tree roots intertwined below, making digging difficult¡ªthis can be said to be amon burial predicament in tropical areas. Regardless of how soft the ground seems, nt roots grow everywhere, and the deeper one digs, the more obstructive these intertwined roots be. Digging a hole big enough for a human is more exhausting than clearing half an acre in a temperate zone. Simrly, the tundra has frozen soil, posing equal digging difficulties, but snow and leaves in the tundra, along with fewer scavenging animals, make simply cing a body in a snow hole more effective than a tropical burial. Furthermore, He¡¯s Rubber Garden was established long ago; daily cleaning keeps the ntation tidy, yet the woond outside consists entirely of trees over a century old. These nts have lived together for hundreds of years, akin to old neighbors with long-standing grudges. The scene reveals roots gripping branches, trunks mounted on other trees¡¯ necks, branches jabbing into other trees¡¯ armpits... Concealing a body within this woond is not easy; if one can walk a few steps in and find a suitable spot to stuff a body, that¡¯s considered quite good. In fact, the killer did make an effort, as evident by chainsaw marks when the third body was discovered... The Dama Police Force even followed the chainsaw leads for further investigation. However, chainsaws can have interchangeable des, so apart from increasing suspicion of ntation personnel, no further progress was made. "Catch bugs," Jiang Yuanmanded as he stood at the crime scene of the third murder, instructing Shen Yaowei and others. "Yes," Shen Yaowei, ustomed to hardbor, rolled up his sleeves and got to work withoutint. The tropical environment is unlike the temperate zone; two steps in and mosquitoes and beetles surrounded Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei grimaced silently, only swinging the fly in his hand. "Continue," Jiang Yuan waved dismissively, coldly sending his soldiers to deplete the enemy like a medieval knight. Wei Shikan opted for math, in his mind this time. Wei Shikan quietly approached Jiang Yuan, whispering, "We seem to have the crime scene photos, and the earlier forensic doctor captured many insects. Do we still need to catch them? Was the previous collection improper?" The initial forensic doctor indeed captured arge quantity of insects and eggs, especially for the second and third cases, being an expert within the police force and confronting a major case ensuringprehensive evidence collection. Yet Jiang Yuan merely shook his head, stating, "The insects they caught previously were just for routine business. Fresh bodies don¡¯t rely on insects to determine the time of death." "Are you nning to use insects to determine the time of death?" "Auxiliary, mainly to understand the local insect varieties and forms," Jiang Yuan exined briefly. Local insects differ from those in temperate regions, with particrly quick iterations. Comparatively, temperate insects resemble Spanish manufacturing, while tropical insects resemble Yiwu manufacturing. If evaluating daily, the textbook insect guide suffices, but for a more precise analysis, using typical examples isn¡¯t adequate. For instance, when humans reproduce some deliver at 32 weeks, some at 30, others at 28, with habitual miscarriages or overdue Cesarean sections. Surely insects share this variation? Some insectsplete a cycle within days during reproduction in a corpse,cking incubators for premature birth or Cesarean sections for overage. In a continuous premature lineage, time discrepancies be striking. Furthermore, the insect guidebooks are far below medical guide standards. Despite ample human research samples, textbook¡¯s "typical" cases are scarce, and all scenarios aside from textbook typical cases can appear simultaneously. This can be attributed to insufficient updating in textbook knowledge, significant human variations, or the author¡¯s background in a medical doctorate program, but the disconnect between textbook knowledge and reality persists. Books can deviate, and so can insect guides. Thus, in practice, hospital doctors rely on experience, while forensic doctors expand search ranges or conduct their own experiments. Ultimately, while authors can write carelessly, practitioners genuinely require knowledge. Jiang Yuan thought this way, and hencemanded his subordinates to act ordingly. Shen Yaowei and others collected insects over the course of a full day and night. The reason for a day and night collection is due to daytime hosting day insects, while nighttime hosts nocturnal ones. Moreover, when these bodies were discovered, they had essentially been overnight. The next day, Jiang Yuan selected several typical and significant insect species to hatch busily. At this time, Liu Jinghuipleted the first round of transcript reading, nced at Jiang Yuan¡¯s insect-bearing activities, and humorously quipped, "This case is over half a year old; cultivating these insects now is akin to carving a boat for a sword." "More mobile insects exhibitmonality, while those with higher degrees of deviation localize more. Isn¡¯t that logical?" Jiang Yuan nced at Liu Jinghui, presenting a notion of logic. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes lit up with understanding: "There¡¯s some substance here." "Common fly species often found on corpses have clear breeding rates and times due to their movements; we¡¯ve grown familiar. Instead, certainpetitive local species rarely seen in Shan Nan require focused consideration." "Competitive species?" "Ants, like weaver ants, may transport fly eggs or attack and consume maggots. Consequently, the eggying time and transformation frequency of familiar blue bottle fly may alter. Also, ho species, beetles, mantises, dragonflies might prey on corpse flies, especially during their vulnerable maggot phase, demanding differentiation between initial arrivals and subsequent invaders..." Jiang Yuan simultaneously exined while working. Liu Jinghui¡¯s furrow deepened with concern: "You didn¡¯t deal soplexity before; is it due to unfamiliar territories rendering prior techniques less applicable?" "My aim is to refine the timeline, simplifying suspect identification based on transcript timestamps," Jiang Yuan presented a direct solution. Liu Jinghui stared dumbfounded momentarily, then slightly touched, turning to see Shen Yaowei and associates curiously observing. Furrow deepening, she dered: "Jiang Yuan¡¯smand stands, retrieve more insects immediately!" Chapter 1353 - 1279: Pressure

Chapter 1353: Chapter 1279: Pressure

"Employee A, woke up at 6 AM on the 7th, washed up, had breakfast, browsed the phone. The physical coordinates moved from the bedroom in the living area to the dining area, then proceeded to the work area. Started preparatory work at 7 AM, entered the tool storage area around 7:30 AM, and headed for equipment inspection. At 8:30 AM, maintained the diesel generator at the equipment area, reced the fuel filter, refilled the cont, and performed output voltage testing,sting about two hours... returned to the work area at 11 AM, changed clothes and showered, and had lunch at 12 PM..." "Employees B and C... went to repair the fence at the perimeter of the park at 2:30 PM," "Employee D... started working in the nursery area at 10 AM, using an electric sprayer to apply root-promoting agents, with cameras and form records, worked until noon and returned..." Liu Jinghui read aloud while holding the organized notes, as Wang Chuanxing across from him took records. Wang Chuanxing filled in words and adjusted images and frames, feeling like he was possessed by Liu Yong and Tang Bohu. Wei Shikan was desperately rotating the hand-cranked coffee machine, producing cups of coffee busily like a mathematician solving partial differential equations by hand. Jiang Yuan stood in front of theputer screen, using the pitifully few screens to check if anyone¡¯s records were falsified. Rubber ntations are quite profitable in Dama, especially century-old ntations like this one. The majornd investments had long been paid for by ancestors, making rubber ntations with their ownnd akin to and trust from a century ago. The He Family only needed to maintain minimal investment. As family members usually didn¡¯t want toe to the ntation, the He Family started investing in building a monitoring system 20 years ago, but it was built too early, resulting in image rity and other metrics that are far behind current products... Jiang Yuan had to frequently take screenshots and enhance images himself to determine who the figure in a certain image was. Despite the effort, it was highly effective, and easily revealed clues that had previously gone unnoticed by the Dama police. "This operations manager lied. On the day the first body was discovered, he imed he was in the office doing reports at 3 PM, but look here, he obviously went to the living area." The footage Jiang Yuan captured had also been seen by the Dama police, but the camera was too old, and in the harsh sunlight, it only showed a person, without rity on who it was. Jiang Yuan now presented a clear screenshot to Ni Cha and the others, which immediately made them start taking the matter seriously. "The operations manager and the production manager are the main managers of the ntation, and everyone else¡¯s work is arranged by them. The activities of these two people are also the most extensive. This operations manager is indeed suspicious!" Ni Cha confirmed that new clues had emerged and immediately began arranging for personnel to interrogate the operations manager. What good person lies in a murder investigation, especially in a serial murder case? Ni Cha¡¯s leg muscles tensed up. A few minutester, the operations manager, still working in the office, was taken away in full view of everyone. Ni Cha and others set up an interrogation center at the other end of the office area and increased the guard personnel. This setup immediately plunged the rubber ntation employees, who had just recovered a bit of their voice, back into depression. A momentter, the production manager, with a face like soy sauce, came to inquire, "Was the killer Du Han?" "The case is still under investigation, don¡¯t worry..." Ni Cha dismissed him with a couple of sentences and then turned to the person next to him with a stern face, "Keep an eye on him, don¡¯t let him run around. Everyone in the ntation is a suspect." "Yes." The subordinate acknowledged, then turned to request reinforcement from the local police station. After the subordinate left, Ni Cha began pacing with his head down, looking as though he was thinking, but in fact silently anxious. He had been on the front lines for a long time. The initial excitement also came from the fact that the new clue was found by Jiang Yuan, making him subconsciously feel hopeful. But once he came to his senses, Ni Cha immediately realized the problem¡ªthis operations manager named Du Han lied during the first case and had the time tomit the crime, but what about the second and third cases? Ni Cha did not investigate further, as the main axis of the case was handled by Liu Jinghui. There was no need for him to contradict and temporarily pull manpower. Such a simple question was bound to be within Liu Jinghui¡¯s awareness. He just needed to wait silently. However, the anxiety during the process was hard to withstand. Looking around, Ni Cha pulled out a packet of white sugar from his pocket, tore it open, and poured it directly into his mouth. After licking and sipping water, Ni Cha took out another packet of sugar, poured it into his mouth, then finally sat down, feeling a bit calmer. Knock, knock. There was a knock at the door. Ni Cha hurriedly took another sip of water and rinsed his mouth before throwing two wads of wet tissue into the wastebasket. Thinking for a moment, he poured a bit of water over the basket to thoroughly cover the sugar packets before saying, "Come in." Zhong Renlong and Shen Yaowei entered together. "We just interrogated Du Han and confirmed, based on his confession, that he was heading to the living area that day to have an affair." Zhong Renlong got straight to the point, showing the messages from their phones. Ni Cha, having somewhat expected this, sighed, "Understood, continue the investigation." "Okay." Zhong Renlong then looked at Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei said, "We hope to check everyone¡¯s phones for the investigation." "Everyone¡¯s?" Ni Cha hesitated and said, "We¡¯ve collected all the phones, but to check them, we need a warrant. Maybe it¡¯s better to have specific suspects. The judge won¡¯t issue 23 warrants just because bodies are found in the rubber ntation." "There are only 23 people, and Captain Jiang has analyzed the exact death times of the three victims. If we can match their precise movements with the phones..." Ni Cha thought for a while, then slowly shook his head and said, "That¡¯s too broad. If you have evidence, you can apply and investigate person by person, but you can¡¯t collect them all at once; otherwise, it will cause trouble in courtter." Shen Yaowei was about to say more but turned to see the two wet paper balls in the wastebasket, the detective¡¯s brain turned for two seconds and said, "Okay, we¡¯ll think of another way." Outside the door, Zhong Renlong said a little awkwardly, "Ni Cha has his considerations. Serial murder cases naturally draw attention. Now with God Jiang¡¯s involvement, all sides¡¯ eyes will focus here. If the case isn¡¯t solved quickly, usations will begin. Issuing search warrants to everyone at once would make it too easy to attack, and Ni Cha¡¯s under great pressure." "I can see that." Shen Yaowei paused, recalling the wet tissues in the wastebasket, "He must have relieved himself; it¡¯s quite a stress-relief method." "Relieved himself?" Zhong Renlong was momentarily puzzled, his straightforward Dama-level Chinese didn¡¯t quite catch the meaning. Shen Yaowei had already walked into the meeting room first. "How did it go?" Wang Chuanxing turned his head to ask, waiting in the meeting room. "No progress." Shen Yaowei shook his head. "Dama isn¡¯t that strict, right? Didn¡¯t you talk it out well? At least there should be an alternative." "People are so stressed they¡¯re relieving themselves against the wall, what else could I say." Shen Yaowei sighed empathetically, "Everyone finds it hard, we¡¯ll take the phones as you organized by the time." "Alright, but... what do you mean by relieving oneself?" The hard-working coffee-shaking Wei Shikan questioned, stopping in confusion. "Everyone has their stress-relief method, nothing more to say." Shen Yaowei acted knowledgeable, waving it off. Coming from behind, Zhong Renlong just realized what they were discussing and intended to rify on Ni Cha¡¯s behalf but hesitated. Chapter 1354 - 1280: Screening

Chapter 1354: Chapter 1280: Screening

"The coffee is pretty good." Liu Jinghui took another cup of coffee and drank it in one gulp, then returned to verify the timeline. Wei Shikan observed his oblivious demeanor and then looked at Jiang Yuan, who was deep in thought in front of theputer, before shaking his arms to brew another cup of coffee. "Shikan." Jiang Yuan suddenly raised his head and called out. "Ah! Master." Wei Shikan immediately stepped forward. Jiang Yuan scrutinized Wei Shikan for a moment and said, "I¡¯ve seen the practice problems you¡¯ve been working on recently; there¡¯s noticeable improvement." "Ah... That¡¯s because you taught me well." Wei Shikan felt thankful for the countless nights he and his senior sister endured. "Did you understand the steps for image enhancement I just demonstrated?" Jiang Yuan asked again. "Still a bit off," Wei Shikan replied with a couple of awkwardughs, "The steps are quiteplex; I might need to study for a bit longer." "You can give it a try," Jiang Yuan said, gesturing for Wei Shikan to sit beside him. A knowledgeable local technician immediately moved a set ofputer and monitor next to Wei Shikan. Before Wei Shikan could object, theputer screen in front of him lit up. As he looked at Jiang Yuan on his left and then at the screen in front of him, he felt somewhat like he was taking a test next to a teacher. "If you hit a wall, just say so. You can try multiple approaches; there¡¯s no need to get stuck on one path," Jiang Yuan said as he checked the software on theputer and threw a few bundles of video files to him. Wei Shikan hesitated and said, "My math hasn¡¯t really improved..." "As long as you know how to use the software, that¡¯s enough. Whether you can upgrade depends on your talentster," Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling Wei Shikan to get started. Wei Shikan nodded with difficulty, like an agreeable golden snub-nosed monkey, carefully opening an original video, first making a backup and performing a hash value check. After confirming the video format, Wei Shikan started preprocessing the video using Neat-Video for noise reduction, trying to minimize grain noise orpression artifacts. He then performed multi-frame averaging for temporal noise reduction, using Gaussian blur and median filtering for spatial noise reduction. Though it was the software doing the work, merely entering all sorts of values was enough to overload Wei Shikan¡¯s brain. He nced at Jiang Yuan, who seemed to resolve any issues as he scanned through surveince videos by quickly adjusting software settings with a few keystrokes, many values changing rapidly. To the untrained eye, Jiang Yuan might appear to be in a state of practiced ease, but only Wei Shikan knew this was the state of skilled calctions. Just as ordinary people know sin45 degrees equals the square root of two over two, approximately 0.028, the standard deviation for Gaussian noise in low-light surveince ismonly between 1.5 and 2. But when retaining edges, you might choose 1.0, or switch to bteral filtering; however, oftentimes, you¡¯d rely on the GaussianBlur function, calcted based on kernel size... Compared to before, Wei Shikan had already grasped many principles, but Gaussian noise was only a minor step in the preprocessing stage... A few hours slipped by in a sh. During the break, Jiang Yuan remembered Wei Shikan, walking over like a school teacher. He saw twoputer screens in front of Wei Shikan; the screens were lit, the cursors blinking, and Wei Shikan¡¯s eyes open, but that was it. "Hit a bottleneck?" Jiang Yuan inquired gently. Having taken on the second generation¡¯s task, he¡¯d need to see it through. Wei Shikan nced up at Jiang Yuan in a daze and then shuddered violently, saying, "There are many bottlenecks." "Where did you get stuck..." Jiang Yuan remained calm. Being exceptional himself, he was aware of the difficulties in Image Investigation. This stuff is such that any normal person would be atypical upon touching it. Fortunately, Wei Shikan wasn¡¯t entirely normal to begin with. Wei Shikan looked up sheepishly, "I wanted to remove motion blur using Wiener filtering, but it turned into a mess..." "Then use blind deconvolution with focus-magic; I¡¯ll teach you how to adjust it," Jiang Yuan stood behind Wei Shikan, guiding him bit by bit. Several Dama technicians stood in front, eyes wide open, listening intently. Zhong Renlong did his best to trante, but faced with the long string of technical terms and numbers, his voice grew increasingly small. "I¡¯ve finished my side," Liu Jinghui said, his eyes red from too much coffee, walking over. "Can you identify any suspects?" Jiang Yuan shifted his focus from Wei Shikan. "Currently, there are four individuals without alibi evidence. Or rather, their alibi evidence is iplete, though I¡¯ve set quite strict criteria," Liu Jinghui paused and looked at Jiang Yuan, "I¡¯ve based this on the death times of the three victims, narrowing it down to within four hours." "Four hours is fine," Jiang Yuan nodded. Jiang Yuan had made a temporary calction, using a temporary Level 7 death time to determine the timeline. In theory, this time frame could be reduced, but when judging suspects based on this, Jiang Yuan preferred to err on the side of caution. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Although there are three murder cases, the perpetrator¡¯s timeline is during breaks, two during the day and one at night. The nighttime case left very little room for filtering, while the two daytime cases helped eliminate most suspects." Liu Jinghui proceeded to disy his and Wang Chuanxing¡¯s results via a presentation on the projector screen. After a dazzling introductory animation, each name was followed by their respective timeline. In the three cases, especially the first two, the timeline of each person¡¯s day, particrly the four-hour period surrounding the victim¡¯s time of death, was meticulously organized. Liu Jinghui used aser pointer to indicate, "Looking at the timeline, the murderer did improve with each kill. For example, in the third case, the murder¡¯s time and location made surveince futile." Liu Jinghui continued, "The four people I ultimately filtered out actually exceeded my initial expectation. I thought with a broad filtering of 23 people, even if we rxed the criteria, it would only be one or two who fit all three murder timelines. I was even prepared for none. Then, we might have to consider the possibility of an outside perpetrator." Liu Jinghui added, "But as it turns out, nearly half are primarily technicians working independently and not under surveince most of the time. For example, those installing sunshades, doing machinery repairs, pruning, and nting, are mostly working outdoors and don¡¯t even return for lunch, which provides opportunities for the culprit." Liu Jinghui concluded, "All in all, the final four are production manager Li Wanzhong, mechanics Zhang Fan and He Jun, and general worker He Cheng." Following his words, Wang Chuanxing expanded the profiles of the four individuals. Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and said, "Among them, Li Wanzhong is the longest-serving employee in the rubber ntation and is currently the oldest. As one of the managers of the ntation, Li Wanzhong¡¯s workload isn¡¯t light, requiring him to spend most time in the office area. During the two murders, he had no alibi, which itself is a point of suspicion..." "Hold on!" Ni Cha checked his phone and suddenly interrupted Liu Jinghui. Everyone looked over. Ni Cha showed the phone screen, "Li Wanzhongmitted suicide in his room." Chapter 1355 - 1281: Tracking

Chapter 1355: Chapter 1281: Tracking

50-year-old production manager Li Wanzhong has a standalone two-bedroom, one-living room house in the rubber garden. Divorced, with two children who do not recognize him, his daily hobby is reading, which very much fits the Western temte for a serial killer. Ni Cha and others hurriedly arrived at Li Wanzhong¡¯s house, their expressions hard to decipher. Liu Jinghui looked at each person, showing some investigatory interest. From a detective¡¯s perspective, Li Wanzhong¡¯s suicide is certainly not a perfect ending, but with the series of murders solved, the overall strategy has been achieved. So, most detectives are rtively happy, except for Ni Cha and others who have their own targets and cannot be said to be pleased. It seems that Ni Cha is under considerable pressure at Dama Police Station. Liu Jinghui silently made this judgment, then pulled the trantor to Ni Cha¡¯s side and said to the trantor, "Tell him that effort always brings rewards." The trantor did as instructed. "Hmm, naturally because our investigation progress was close to catching him, hemitted suicide," Ni Cha assumed he understood Liu Jinghui¡¯s meaning and nodded in agreement. No matter how the killer was caught, whether alive or dead, just say whether they were captured. Liu Jinghui said, "The culprit is not him." The trantor, who had been present throughout, was startled before tranting, "Not him?" "Not him. Trante it," Liu Jinghui nced over. Trantors need to be part of your own team; these third-party contractors never quite work as well, almost as if they have their own mouths. Ni Cha listened to the trantor and furrowed his brows: "Was he silenced?" "Or used as a scapegoat perhaps," Liu Jinghui finished speaking and warned the officers in front, "Do not move the body, let Jiang Yuan survey the scene. This is now an ongoing case." Ni Cha hurriedly followed with orders, still frowning, clearly missing Liu Jinghui¡¯s mood. A few people together left the room, standing at the doorway as the wind blew in, bringing the unique odor of the rubber garden. Liu Jinghui took a deep breath and looked around. The buildings in the residential area were mostly wooden structures, some sturdy timbers possiblying from decades or centuries ago, giving a somewhat rugged aesthetic, just like this series of murders. The residential area lies close to the edge of the rubber garden. Beyond arge area of low buildings, a dirt road leads to the main road. He¡¯s Rubber Garden is located in the Capital Circle. The advantage is that cities are not far away, but the disadvantage is highnd prices, with generally smaller garden areas. ordingly, the personnel are also moreplex than in remote areas. Ni Cha handed a cigarette to Liu Jinghui and the trantor, and the three smoked a couple of puffs in the Southeast Asian heat, Ni Cha asked, "Is the killer within the remaining three, or is there someone else?" "There are multiple killers," Liu Jinghui smoked carefully, his gaze hazy, "Because Li Wanzhongmitted suicide, whether forced or murdered and disguised as suicide requires two or more people. A single person would be too dangerous and poorly arranged." Ni Cha listened to the trantor and nodded in agreement: "Li Wanzhong was physically strong, and without a family, it is indeed difficult for one person to achieve this." If there is only one killer, purely relying on intimidation is certainly not enough to make the victim surrender or evenmit suicide. It must be two or more people to have this possibility. Of course, the more likely scenario is strangling, then staging it as suicide. "Have the employees of the rubber garden been restricted in their movements?" Liu Jinghui confirmed again. Ni Cha nodded: "But the residential area used to be freely walkable, after all, there are 23 people. I just ordered them to return to their own rooms." "Let the police count the number of people," Liu Jinghui reminded. "Sure," Ni Cha made a phone call. At this moment, Jiang Yuan walked out of the room and continued on his way. "So quickly?" Ni Cha and others hurriedly followed, like family members of a patient seeing the surgeon emerge. "The victim was strangled, first strangled, then disguised as hanging, the time of death is about 30 minutes to one hour," Jiang Yuan did not need to exin to the on-scene police how to discern, quickly finished speaking and continued in Indonesian, "After the murderer killed, they probably escaped directly. Send a few people to follow me, let¡¯s see if we can track any footprints." "Outdoor footprints?" Ni Cha was a bit puzzled. "I see many ces are dirt roads, let¡¯s take a look," Jiang Yuan was in no rush for an autopsy, presumably, the body was not in a hurry either. While speaking, Jiang Yuan went down the wooden steps, first looking around, then decisively moving forward along the direction of the stairs. After walking about twenty to thirty meters, Jiang Yuan found three distinct partial footprints on the ground. The footprints were only one-quarter to one-third the size of normal ones, because when a normal person walks, the contact points are just that,pared to Western-style footprints, these fragmentary marks are useless; seeing them immediately is impossible. Domestically, there has been much inheritance of the master Ma Yulin¡¯s footprint identification, originally from the grasnds, he paid attention to footprints from a young age to find sheep and horses. His footprint identification is based on tracking step patterns, focusing not on individual footprint situations but on the rtionship between two or more footprints. The tracking in the rubber garden is different from grasnd tracking, but the principle is simr. Jiang Yuan added a temporary +1 skill to footprint identification, and with LV4 footprint identification continued tracking without much difficulty. Following Ma Yulin, domestic experts cannot reach a full level in step tracking anymore. Especially in big cities, the more infrastructure bes perfected, the harder and more developed the ground gets, limiting the scope of step tracking, naturally shifting focus and energy to step identification. Even Jiang Yuan, running after a suspect, this was his first time. Jiang Yuan signaled the people next to him to take photos. Then shaking his shoulders, he waved his hand and started chasing. Mu Zhiyang chased while putting a bulletproof vest on Jiang Yuan, Wen Ming and others followed behind, directly cing the vest outside. In this way, the gradually expanding pursuers were bing fully armed, somewhat implying a full gear setup. Ni Cha and others saw this, their hearts tense, not knowing what might happen next. Footprints appeared intermittently. Jiang Yuan always found the right direction. At first, Ni Cha thought Jiang Yuan was following the direction of the foot¡¯s tip, butter realized it wasn¡¯t. He judged whether it was based on the overall direction of the footprints but found that wasn¡¯t the case either... Before Ni Cha could figure it out, Jiang Yuan and others were already standing before a forest. Compared to the forest where bodies were abandoned, this forest was only a secondary forest, previously felled, just living conditions here were so good that the woods grew dense again in a short time. "He went into the woods," Jiang Yuan stated, then began checking the map on the pad brought by Wang Chuanxing. Ni Cha frowned and whispered to Zhong Renlong, "If God Jiang wants to go into the woods, the difficulty is too great, you¡¯d better advise." "Sure," Zhong Renlong agreed readily. They, the locals, knew too well how challenging these woods were. At this moment, Jiang Yuan looked up, said, "The murderer is about 1.7 meters tall, weighs 120 pounds, carrying about 20 pounds of equipment. Looking at the route, there seems no necessity for him to go into the woods here. It¡¯s easier to cut through the wire mesh to the main road with a pair of pliers." "If we hadn¡¯t pursued, this forest would return to its original state in at most two days, even more concealed than wire mesh," Zhong Renlong said. "If it¡¯s just to get to roadways, wouldn¡¯t you have to park roadside and wait for hours?" Jiang Yuan spoke, nced at the ground¡¯s footprints again, then looked at the PAD¡¯s map, pointing with his hand, "What¡¯s this farm?" Chapter 1356 - 1282: Slippery Hands

Chapter 1356: Chapter 1282: Slippery Hands

"Green Pine Farm engages in nting and breeding. It changed hands once 16 years ago and is currently under the Green Crown Group, with 45 full-time employees and frequently hires part-time workers..." Zhong Renlong quickly checked and also looked at the map, saying, "The road distance between the two is over 10 kilometers, but if you go through the woods here, it¡¯s indeed only a few hundred meters... However, even though this isn¡¯t a primary forest, going through these few hundred meters of woods, I¡¯d say you might as well walk 10 kilometers." "But he did enter the woods. In that case..." Jiang Yuan, as a forensic doctor, was ustomed to facing facts rather than opinions. He nced at the jungle, still dark despite the daytime, and said, "Let¡¯s send people in to take a look, can we go in?" At this time, Jiang Yuan had switched to speaking in the Indonesiannguage. "We can... we can." Ni Cha hesitated a little before agreeing, feeling sorry for his subordinates. Jiang Yuan nodded and continued, "Seal off this Green Pine Farm as well. Can we enter?" "We can." Ni Cha didn¡¯t mention anything about applying for a search warrant. "Hurry then. Let¡¯s go in and take a look first." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he started into the woods. Zhong Renlong hurriedly pulled him back, saying, "God Jiang, the woods in Dama are not like those in China, there are quite a few poisonous snakes and insects." "Then... put on a protective suit, and let¡¯s take a few steps to see." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t nning to go in too deep, but he was a bit curious about how step tracking performed in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Elder Ma started on the grasnds back in the day. He would chase after his runaway sheep across ten miles of grasnd, then identify his sheep among others¡¯ flocks by their footprints. In the Southeast Asian jungle, though, the methods of step tracking naturally need innovation. Theoretically, this area might still be a nk space, and the domestic experts likelyck practical experience. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan also had forensic trace examination techniques at his disposal. In the jungle, the trees were intertwined like a, vines formed alliances, and even the herbaceous nts seemed to hold hands. After the suspect entered the jungle, finding an existing path was challenging; one basically had to ze a trail. Jiang Yuan changed into a protective suit on-site, wearing a bulletproof vest underneath, and then headed into the jungle. Now, Ni Cha couldn¡¯t stop Jiang Yuan. Luckily, the equipment was well-prepared, using aplete set of 3M products, each person had a suit, costing around a hundred US dors altogether. A group of more than a dozen people, fully equipped, hacked their way in for tens of meters before stopping. Jiang Yuan squatted down to study the dpositionyer on the ground, then stood up to look at the surrounding vines, pointing at a scar, saying, "The suspect should be quite adept at moving in the jungle, often using vines. Let¡¯s go directly to Green Pine Farm." Ni Cha nodded, saying, "I¡¯ve seen quite a few like Tarzan." After speaking, Ni Cha pointed at three people, saying, "You continue going in, don¡¯t get lost, the three of you mustn¡¯t separate. Retreat if you can¡¯t go further." He didn¡¯t expect the three to catch up with the suspect, but it was necessary to continue tracking. Jiang Yuan nced back at Liu Jinghui. Director Liu nodded, saying, "Follow your lead." Zhong Renlong said, "I¡¯ve called for a car, but we¡¯ll have to walk to the roadside." Twenty minutester. The group, fully armed, entered Green Pine Farm. Aside from the team sent to control the farm employees, Jiang Yuan and others rushed to the western woods immediately. Based on the timing, the suspect shouldn¡¯t have run in yet. A wooden fence was built on this side of Green Pine Farm, but only a little over human height, entangled with wire, looking quite dpidated. Zhong Renlong led a team and asked Jiang Yuan, "Where should we station ourselves?" "Spread out." Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t possibly know where the suspect woulde out from. Zhong Renlongughed and patted his head, then started deploying officers ording to the usual protocol when following orders. As the groups of two walked further and further apart, everyone began to show signs of tension. Mu Zhiyang sensed the change in atmosphere and didn¡¯t hesitate to draw his gun. After all, it was within Dama¡¯s territory, the guns belonged to the Dama Police Station, and the report afterward would naturally be the work of the Dama police, so he had fewer qualms using it. A drone buzzed overhead, flying past, taking up positions alongside another one that had been suspended above. The jungle area below was quiterge, stretching a few kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide, connecting to evenrger areas of forest on both sides, like a giant dumbbell spread on the vast expanse of ground. Without a top-down perspective, the freedom of movement within the forest would be too great. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but think of the Wu Long wild man case, the first case he worked on with Liu Jinghui. The crime scene was also aplex and changing forest environment, and the roads within it were merely troublesome for the investigating officers from other regions. But for suspects familiar with the terrain, it was just a difficult mountain road. This suspect willing to venture through the tropical rainforest clearly regarded it as his survival advantage. Indeed, if there were no step tracking, even if his footprints or other evidence were confirmed, this forest route could provide him with certain evidential advantages, such as an alibi. Crack. From the jungle, came the sound of chopping, just a few sharp cracks, but it stood out amidst the silence maintained by everyone outside. Mu Zhiyang naturally took a step forward, blocking in front of Jiang Yuan, and silently flicked the safety off on his handgun. Thump. A shadow suddenly emerged from the jungle. He grabbed a vine, releasing it at the highest point, swinging perfectly between two treetops, his movements as graceful as a pole vaulter, or like a lion jumping through a hoop of fire. And his movements in mid-air were equally elegant, as if he had no fear of falling; he even performed a 180-degree rotation in the air, turning from a face-down position to a face-up stance, tucking his legs, and forming apact pose, executing a beautiful aerial somersault. His left foot then lightly touched the top of the fence, prepared tond while decelerating. At this moment, the elegant jungle man noticed the startled gazes surrounding him. Under normal circumstances, he would have enjoyed having these "admirers," but at this moment, facing a group of guys in police uniforms, the jungle man couldn¡¯t help but panic a little. Thud! Hended on both feet, slipped, and ended up sitting on the ground, with a look of frustration on his face, like a failed acrobat. Several officers, like overweight and sluggish tigers from a circus, rushed forward and sat directly on the jungle man. One, two, three... As they pinned him down, they hurried to cuff him. Those who often tangled with these muscr men knew that when their muscles were in motion, not only was their explosive power strong, but their bodies were also very adept at wriggling their way out. If careless, he could even worm his way free from under several bodies, and some also tended to sweat easily, bing slippery with just a few movements. The jungle man, who had just been imitating Tarzan, struggled even after being handcuffed and shouted loudly. "Should we take him back for interrogation?" Zhong Renlong saw the situation and knew this guy wouldn¡¯t surrender easily. Jiang Yuan nodded and added, "Measure his height and weight first, then take a footprint impression to confirm it¡¯s the same person." Thetest crime scene indicated it was one person, and footprints could also help deduce the perpetrator¡¯s height and weight. They were guarding against the possibility of a hapless Tarzan enthusiast in the jungle, which wouldplicate things if they released the real culprit. Zhong Renlong immediately ryed Jiang Yuan¡¯s orders. Several police officers attempted to lift the suspect, who resisted with all his muscr might. Ni Cha saw this and said, "Measure him upright." So, the officersid the suspect out on the ground, like measuring the length of a fish, to take his height measurement. The suspect wriggled furiously, and the officers, not indulging him, found a pole to tie him up and hung him upside down, taking measurements for height, weight, and footprints casually, as if capturing a pig in a rural area. After such an operation, the officers were slightly exhausted, and the suspect¡¯s stubborn energy was mostly spent. Suddenly, Ni Cha spoke in My, "You¡¯re seeking revenge for your family, aren¡¯t you? How many are involved from your family?" The suspect, who had just calmed down, immediately became agitated, "It has nothing to do with my family." Ni Cha nodded, "How can you prove that?" Chapter 1357 - 1283: Alignment

Chapter 1357: Chapter 1283: Alignment

The man pinned down by Ni Cha, his body stiff and speaking incoherently, trying to prove that his family was unaware. Mu Zhiyang and the others looked at him without sympathy, clearly indicating that he couldn¡¯t exin clearly; the more he talked, the more mistakes he made. "Proof of existence but not of non-existence" is one of the important principles ofw, as well as a fundamental concept in logic. If you want to prove the existence of dragons in the world, you just need to take a photo of a dragon, or at most find a dragon; but how do you prove that there are no dragons? The suspect rattled off in My, and Zhong Renlong along with another trantor tried to exin to Liu Jinghui and the others as much as possible. Jiang Yuan listened without much interest. From his perspective, the suspect in front of him was almost certainly the murderer. Whether the suspect confessed or denied the issue, it wouldn¡¯t change Jiang Yuan¡¯s view. As for the others, they were more interested in the suspect¡¯s confession. For an outsider, it¡¯s still very important for the murderer to confess to the crime. Unfortunately, the subjects of forensic research don¡¯t usually confess willingly. Jiang Yuan deliberately reminded, "He couldn¡¯t have done this alone, there should be aplices." Upon hearing this, Ni Cha immediately intensified the interrogation. Soon, two police officers walked back into the dense forest on Ni Cha¡¯s orders. "He¡¯s hidden a knife in the woods," Zhong Renlong came over to exin. Jiang Yuan nodded, which exined why there were no signs of struggle in the room of the ck-faced manager, but... Jiang Yuan asked again, "Is he familiar with He¡¯s Rubber Garden?" Zhong Renlong understood tacitly, "Not familiar, so it can¡¯t be ruled out that there are aplices." Several people quickly exchanged ideas, taking advantage of the suspect¡¯s exhausted state after being captured, continually extracting information. Meanwhile, Green Pine Farm, which had already been cordoned off, began isting its personnel. The suspect being interrogated suddenly panicked and started shouting, "You don¡¯t have a search warrant." Ni Cha sneered coldly, "You were caught on the scene, what search warrant do you need?" Even so, he didn¡¯t rush to interrogate the other people on the farm. For the time being, he focused on pressuring Tarzan. Jiang Yuan took a general tour of the living and working areas of Green Pine Farm, then once again looked around the suspect¡¯s residence before returning to the crime scene at He¡¯s Rubber Garden to conduct further autopsies. It¡¯s not that the Green Pine Farm didn¡¯t need investigation, but Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t clone himself, and from any angle, conducting the autopsy first was the most reasonable. Theponent of criminal science in modern investigation is increasing significantly. Especially in the current situation, where there¡¯s already a suspect and the case trajectory is gradually clearing, the work of Criminal Science bes endless. Ni Cha quickly dispatched personnel from the police station to the Green Pine Farm for an investigation. The suspect¡¯s residence, the areas he frequently worked in, and various surveince videos within Green Pine Farm all needed to be collected. By the time Jiang Yuanpleted the basic autopsy and the body was bagged and moved out, the other two suspects from He¡¯s Rubber Garden, mechanic He Jun and He Cheng, were also apprehended. These two were among the four people Jiang Yuan had filtered from the video feeds. "umted resentment and entangled interests, perhaps." Zhong Renlong gathered the information from various parties and exined to Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. "Both suspects from He¡¯s Rubber Garden have the surname He, perhaps there¡¯s unequal distribution of family benefits?" Jiang Yuan casually guessed. "There is a reason for this." Zhong Renlong, a Chinese himself, exined, "The current owner of the rubber garden, He Quan, belongs to the same n as He Jun and He Cheng. Calcting the rtionship, he is approximately their distant paternal cousin, and their ages are simr. The three even attended a Chinese school together before." Zhong Renlong continued, "He Jun and He Cheng didn¡¯t attend university and worked at the rubber garden. He Quan went to study and work outside for many years andter inherited the rubber garden. They had meals together with He Jun and He Cheng, but that was about it." Liu Jinghui clicked his tongue twice, "A rtive betrayal?" "Hmm?" Zhong Renlong found it hard to catch on to this reference. Liu Jinghui waved his hand, "You said they are interest-rted?" Zhong Renlong nodded, "He Jun and He Cheng have been trafficking goods through Green Pine Farm. Green Pine Farm has always had a route for trafficking goods. However, they currently do not admit to the murders, and we n to take them back for further interrogation." "Have they detailed the trafficking situation?" Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t follow Zhong Renlong¡¯s train of thought. "They¡¯ve confessed some, but not very clearly." Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan nodded lightly, "It¡¯s indeed impossible that it¡¯s solely for profit." Committing murders for profit, bing a serial killer, is far too risky. The cost of murder in modern society is quite high. In ancient times, there were ck-market operations that lived off human flesh buns and travelers¡¯ belongings, but nowadays, anyone intent on killing could earn much more than the ie from trafficking goods. The profit chain for serial killings may need drug trafficking-level revenue to sustain it. On the other hand, the mode of operation and target selection for serial killers differ from ordinary profit-driven murders. In fact, if it were solely a case of interest-based decision on who to kill, this case might have already been solved. Zhong Renlong understood these points clearly, yet Jiang Yuan¡¯s "insight" carried a different weight, prompting Zhong Renlong to promptly get serious and ask, "Is there another suspect?" "Judging from the ck-faced manager¡¯s body, it¡¯s unlikely the murderer acted alone," Jiang Yuan offered a bold hypothesis. Zhong Renlong¡¯s eyes widened, "Are you suggesting the manager wasn¡¯t the work of a serial killer?" "I think for now we can treat them separately," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t give a definite answer, but his suggestion provided some leeway for Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong. If he were to directly announce that the targets of different suspects¡¯ homicides were different, Ni Cha and others might have concerns, and factoring in the subsequent court process, the decision would be tough. So, for now, there¡¯s no need for a crucial decision; just continue apprehending individuals. Zhong Renlong looked nervously at Jiang Yuan, "Then who do you think is the serial killer?" "Zhang Fan," Jiang Yuan unexpectedly gave him a big case. For a moment, Zhong Renlong couldn¡¯t align the person. Jiang Yuan said, "Among the four suspects, Li Wanzhong is dead, and from the way he died, he doesn¡¯t seem like a serial killer. Two He¡¯s were just excluded, which leaves us with thisst suspect, Zhang Fan." Zhong Renlong hesitated for two seconds, "I remember now, but this Zhang Fan doesn¡¯t seem to have any other suspicions." "He¡¯s the only one in He¡¯s Rubber Garden with the time tomit the crime. If it¡¯s not him, then we have to consider people outside the garden." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t adamant, as the specifics would still depend on subsequent evidence. Chapter 1358 - 1284: Chinese-Style Nobility

Chapter 1358: Chapter 1284: Chinese-Style Nobility

The mechanic Zhang Fan, with a strong build and a happy family, had one son and one daughter, and his beloved wife raised three dogs and two cats. When he was caught, he was very calm, neither shouting like "Tarzan" nor iming innocence like "Two He." Seeing Zhang Fan, Liu Jinghui and the others, as well as Ni Cha and others from the Dama Police Station, expressed satisfied looks. This is exactly the appearance of Zhang Fan the mechanic, fitting the typical characteristics of a serial killer. When asked why he killed, Zhang Fan¡¯s answer was very much in line with a serial killer¡¯s thought: "Just felt like it." True pinnacle achievements are often driven by heartfelt impulses from the inside out ¡ª crime is no exception. Those whomit crimes for fame or profit are always the easiest to catch, while those who directly head towards their goals often experience the most setbacks. The reason why serial killers are difficult to catch is that initially, they are not in it for fame or profit; it¡¯s simply a child¡¯s ck heart, purely driven by the inner thrill of killing. The usual tricks used by the police are ineffective in such cases. They can only follow objective clues to investigate, which is actually the hardest way to handle cases. Why do so many foreign police officers use torture to handle cases, taking risks for national cases? Isn¡¯t it because theyck the ability to solve cases through clues and have to use fists for clues? In contrast, the cases solved by following objective clues are easier to examine, and to some extent, the suspects also acknowledge such evidence more readily. Especially after finding the murder weapon, a dagger, from Zhang Fan¡¯s work parts warehouse, Zhang Fan showed little resistance when he saw the interrogating officers again. Reporters who heard the news soon rushed into the Dama Police Station. Compared to various entertainment news, crime cases, due to their authenticity, always have a good market. The director grinned widely, and after "reluctantly" epting a few interviews, arranged for several media to interview the participating officers, mainly members of this bureau. Members from China participated in several interviews apanied by Zhong Renlong and a trantor. Jiang Yuan only symbolically participated in one interview but rmended Liu Jinghui and others to actively participate. After all, it¡¯s so-called international cooperation, at least through people like Cui Xiaohu, they can show up in front of the leaders. Jiang Yuan no longer needs these, but Liu Jinghui, Mu Zhiyang, and even someone like Wei Shikan still do. Cui Xiaohu, out of consideration for Jiang Yuan, even proactively taught them how to speak and selectively epted appropriate media and reporter invitations... Two days passed amid busyness unrted to the case. Jiang Yuan took the opportunity to visit the forensic examination room, called Jacob, and casually performed a soul-return examination on several corpses. Jacob did not suspect anything, thinking Jiang Yuan was here to fill in gaps, specifically calling in several subordinate forensic doctors and forensic assistants, teaching them while Jiang Yuan examined bones: "Now, you see how to be top forensic doctors. Whose case ends, and they will review the bodies involved in the case and redo the autopsy? But God Jiang does so!" Jacob: "If you say it¡¯s a meaningless increase in workload, I won¡¯t deny it, because for this job, it¡¯s entirely unnecessary. But if you regard this as a career, following Jiang God¡¯s methods, it might not make you gods, but it will elevate you beyond ordinary people..." Facing Jiang Yuan, who was actually rechecking the corpses, several young forensic doctors and forensic assistants could not help but nod, even if reluctant to admit it. Most people do not hold the idea of bing gods while working, or even when choosing a job. But when faced with Jiang Yuan, who has already be a god, there was nothing to say. Jiang Yuan could not oppose Jacob when he was educating. Others interpreting your writing for readingprehension doesn¡¯t mean you have final say. Jiang Yuan silently picked up a blue round ball from the front of the ck-faced manager Li Wanzhong. Li Wanzhong¡¯s legacy: Money-saving Tips (Level 3) ¡ª Li Wanzhong was the most frugal among his siblings since childhood, managing family finances by age twelve and sessfully reducing expenses by collecting vegetable leaves after dinner. Upon entering the workforce, Li Wanzhong impressed his boss with various self-created money-saving methods, but his discovery of secret dealings between He Jun and He Cheng led to his demise. Li Wanzhong¡¯s only regret was not marrying or having children due to saving money, and dying unexpectedly without arranging his estate; had he known, he would have adopted an older child early to teach the way of saving money and prevent his estate from being wasted. Having been a demolition sessor for over a decade, a part of Jiang Yuan¡¯s brain seemed activated by Li Wanzhong¡¯s legacy. "Set the air-conditioning to 26 degrees." Jiang Yuan subconsciously said, swallowing thetter part, "in power-saving mode." Having a skill doesn¡¯t mean it must be used, but having just acquired it now, Jiang Yuan felt like a hammer fiend, wanting to hit any head he saw with his hammer. Jacob thought Jiang Yuan had some idea, quickly ordered to adjust the air-conditioning temperature. Jiang Yuan merely rechecked Li Wanzhong¡¯s corpse again, concluding the examination. Preparing to leave, Jiang Yuan stood still and asked, "Without offspring, how will Li Wanzhong¡¯s body be handled?" "He should have siblings." Jacob continued, saying: "Post-case, if nobody ims the body, we will arrange a funeral collectively." "I will donate 1000 US Dors. Should anyone arrange his funeral, pass the money to them; if not, use it for his funeral." Jiang Yuan instructed Wang Chuanxing, then left the examination room. Jacob hesitated, unsure how to proceed. After a while, Jacob asked Wang Chuanxing through a trantor: "Does God Jiang have any ideas?" "Who knows what a demolition sessor thinks?" Wang Chuanxing shook his head. The trantor thought for a moment, then told Jacob: "This is the thought of a Chinese noble, an enigmatic mindset." Jacob realized, removing his white coat, putting both hands into pockets of his dark green vest, pondering aloud: "I have much to learn." ... The following morning, hot pot session. After feasting, Ni Cha approached Jiang Yuan, saying: "God Jiang, our director ns to apply for the title of Datuk for you." "Datuk?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t quite respond. "It¡¯s a respected title in Dama, can be prefixed to your name. If you have a wife, she can also receive the title of Datuk... Your vehicle¡¯s license te would differ..." Ni Cha enthusiastically introduced to Jiang Yuan. If the hard-earned gift¡¯s value is unknown to the recipient, it¡¯s bittersweet. Although in Dama¡¯s title hierarchy, Datuk is below "Dun," "Tan Sri," and "Datuk Seri," and consists of "Senior Datuk," "Level 2 Datuk," and "Datuk" levels, it is a sincere appreciation for a foreigner. Among the Chinese, Jackie Chan was conferred Federal Territory Level 2 Datuk title, and badminton stability king Li Zongwei was conferred Penang State Level 2 Datuk title. As Jiang Yuan thanked quickly, he tranted Ni Cha¡¯s words to Huang Qiangmin and Cui Xiaohu. Huang Qiangmin and Cui Xiaohu exchanged nces, disying smiles as soft as pig¡¯s trotter rice. "Little Zhong," Huang Qiangmin called over Zhong Renlong, smiling and said: "Tonight, bring case dossiers you want to handle to the hotel to find us." Chapter 1359 - 1285: Bloody Game (Part 1)

Chapter 1359: Chapter 1285: Bloody Game (Part 1)

Evening. Hotel. A warm breeze gently swept across the man¡¯s skin, while the cold beer quietly slid into his stomach; thebination was like ice and fire prating deep into his muscles, soothing his soul. Liu Jinghui stood on the balcony, enjoying the warm breeze, Huang Qiangmin sat on the sofa in the room sipping beer, Zhong Renlong sat with his legs together, slightly nervous, while Jiang Yuany on the chair scrolling through his phone. "That Ni Cha, after all, is quite on the ball." Huang Qiangmin finished his fourth can of beer today, slightly tipsy, andmented. Liu Jinghui coughed twice, "Let¡¯s notment on people in front of Renlong." "I¡¯m just speaking nicely." Huang Qiangmin took another sip of beer, then ground his teeth and said, "Aren¡¯t we obediently choosing cases here? Ni Cha solved two big cases, who knows how satisfying it is. Sometimes I envy those in criminal investigation, with Jiang Yuan helping them with cases, the cost-effectiveness is too high!" "Old Huang is drunk." Liu Jinghui exined to Zhong Renlong. Zhong Renlong smiled and said, "What Director Huang said makes sense. And as long as Director Huang and God Jiang are willing to take on cases, that¡¯s a good thing." "Sounds good,e on, let¡¯s hear yours first." Huang Qiangmin put down the beer can. "Have you two heard of the Gng Road robbery and murder case?" Zhong Renlong asked tentatively. Huang Qiangmin shook his head. "It¡¯s a case fromst year." Zhong Renlong immediately brought up the case information on hisputer and said, "The victims were a couple, killed on their way home through Gng Road. The husband was shot in the chest, the wife was killed with a stab to the chest and abdomen. The cash they were carrying, as well as gold ornaments, were all stolen." Liu Jinghui listened while looking at the information on theputer. But he couldn¡¯t understand the text, so he just looked at the photos and quickly frowned, "Is Gng Road an out-of-town road? Why did the victims stop here, were they intercepted and robbed?" Zhong Renlong shook his head and said, "The traffic on Gng Road that day was very low. We published information in the newspapers, hoping to find witnesses, but to no avail. Merely this... may not be enough for God Jiang to step in, but we suspect the killermitted another crime. The Steva Vi home invasion robbery case." Zhong Renlong continued to introduce, "Steva Vi is a country vi of Counselor Steva. A few months ago, someone broke into the vi and shot the Steva couple. And simr to the Gng Road case, Counselor Steva was shot in the chest, and his wife was killed with a stab to the chest and abdomen." "What about the bullet and shell casing analysis?" Jiang Yuan put down his phone. Compared to the modus operandi, which is more artsy, the trace evidence on the bullets and shell casings is more physical and precise. "In the Steva Vi home invasion case, the bullet went through Steva¡¯s body and shattered against the tiles. Shell casings weren¡¯t found in either case, so ballisticparisons couldn¡¯t be made. But both cases used 9mm bullets, same model and type, and the gunpowder analysis matches too." Zhong Renlong paused for a moment, then added, "The forensic analysis shows the shape of the dagger matches as well." "So it¡¯s an armed robbery and murder case, as well as an armed home invasion robbery and murder case." Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and said to no one in particr, "If there¡¯s no surveince footage or anything, this kind of case is indeed difficult to solve. It¡¯s normal not to have surveince on the road, but you said Svab Vi is the country vi of a counselor, didn¡¯t they have surveince installed?" "They had it installed, but it wasn¡¯t used much, and it wasn¡¯t repaired when broken. It¡¯s said that Counselor Steva rarely goes there. Normally, the ce is empty. This time he had just moved in for a day when the killer broke in the following night." Liu Jinghui was thoughtful, "What did the killer take?" "Simr to the Gng Road robbery and murder case, cash, jewelry, and so on." Zhong Renlong said while quickly flipping through his pad. "What about electronics? There should be some valuable electronics in the vi, did the killer take them?" "No, the victims¡¯ phones were left behind, and things like the TV were also still there." Liu Jinghui looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "In robbery and murder cases, there¡¯s a lot of randomness. Do you think there is anything to gather from the autopsy?" What he implied was that he didn¡¯t have much hope for this case. Any case with high randomness is challenging to handle. In other words, catching a killer who murders without personal emotional entanglements, not for a group, or without prejudice toward anyone or anything, is exceedingly difficult. A robbery is a criminal act by the criminal to gain financial profits. Therefore, investigating such cases often starts with the stolen goods, finding the resale channels, etc. Many local fences in foreign countries openly sell stolen goods. Why aren¡¯t they caught by foreign police? It¡¯s because foreign detectives often need better knowledge of the local resale channels. Thus, when major robbery, murder, or home burries ur, they can immediately find the fence and get the required information. After all, when the weighty case is pressing down, quickly solving it is credited. Not quickly oveing it truly feels like climbing a mountain. Inparison, arresting a few less fence owners really isn¡¯t a big deal. ordingly, cases like robbery and murder are where traditional local detectives have an advantage. Their tireless footwork, and familiarity with people and territory, are the most important. As for criminal science techniques, you need subjects to investigate. "Let me take a look at the autopsy photos first." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry to make a decision. Considering the attitude on Dama¡¯s side, he should handle two or three more cases before leaving. Not to mention, the Datuk title doesn¡¯tpare to titles like "Dun" and "Tan Sri"; even being promoted to vice section chief at a county bureau takes a lot of effort. Zhong Renlong hurriedly unfolded his PAD for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan looked through a few pages, trying topare the two cases. He felt it was too cumbersome, so he made a phone call and brought Wang Chuanxing over. After thetter learned a little, he began to operate skillfully. Jiang Yuan was responsible for examining the scene photos, Wang Chuanxing was in charge of operating the pad, Zhong Renlong provided permissions, Huang Qiangmin observed Zhong Renlong¡¯s expression, and Liu Jinghui... thought. "The two cases are indeed very simr in method." Jiang Yuan looked for a while and suddenly said. Zhong Renlong¡¯s heart was slightly delighted. He hurriedly said, "Then shall we start with this case?" Having drunk a lot of alcohol, Huang Qiangmin now seemed to be slightly intoxicated and said, "Is this case your current top priority? Because of Counselor Swat?" "Hmm... yes. However, this case wasn¡¯t previously in our hands or our responsibility to investigate. If God Jiang agrees to take it on, Ni Cha will get the investigation rights transferred." "That sounds good." Huang Qiangmin, taking advantage of the alcohol¡¯s effect, smiled and said, "A case that others can¡¯t solve, but you and Ni Cha solve it, and it¡¯s a nationally watched case; that¡¯s very impressive." Zhong Renlong smiled along. Huang Qiangmin looked at Jiang Yuan, "How about it, do you have any ideas? Can you handle it?" "Not sure, any leads on the gun?" Jiang Yuan asked, then shook his head, "These kinds of things probably all hit a dead end, and they¡¯ve probably tried numerous methods... Let¡¯s take it over and have a look first." For Jiang Yuan and the others, most of the cases they¡¯re taking on now are like this. Chapter 1360 - 1286: Bloody Game (2)

Chapter 1360: Chapter 1286: Bloody Game (2)

Police Liaison Officer Chu Guanliang walked briskly into the police station¡¯s reception room, emitting a heartyugh reminiscent of an old statesman. Huang Qiangmin stood up cooperatively, also emitting a bureaucraticugh that felt soaked through. Director Dama and others, including Ni Cha, chimed in with a harmoniousugh that resembled silver bells hanging on a rubber tree. Back in the conference room, Huang Qiangmin arranged a workstation for Chu Guanliang and introduced him to everyone, "Mr. Chu is our ministry¡¯s police liaison officer in Dama, quite familiar with the local political and police circles. While working on cases overseas, if you encounter issues, consult Mr. Chu often. If there¡¯s something you should or shouldn¡¯t ask,e to me... It will be a bit of trouble for Mr. Chu, as he¡¯ll have to guide us through..." "I¡¯ll do my best to serve everyone," Chu Guanliang¡¯sugh felt like a spring breeze. "Since God Jiang gained fame, our police liaison work in Dama often encounters situations where people ask ¡¯Do you know God Jiang?¡¯ I usually say yes, and their attitude changes immediately, hahaha..." Everyone joined in with a cooperativeugh. "Regarding this case," Chu Guanliang turned and said, "The victim of the second case, Counselor Stewa, is a locally active political figure involved in numerous issues. Since the news of his victimization spread, it has impacted various areas such as real estate, construction, environmental protection, teacher treatment, and educational reform... Dama wants Jiang Yuan to take over, partly because we have few entanglements with local political and business circles." Cui Xiaohu coughed twice and said, "It¡¯s not that we can¡¯t handle cases involving political figures, but such cases must be approached with caution. Additionally, Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative style has a certain advantage. We should concentrate on objective facts and evidence and avoid getting involved in local political ecology. We need not care what local politicians think, just focus on solving the case." "Using objective evidence to solve the case?" Wang Chuanxing nced at Liu Jinghui, deliberately asking on his behalf. "Boldly hypothesize, cautiously gather evidence," said Cui Xiaohu fluently, clearly expressing his stance. Liu Jinghui smiled, seemingly unconcerned. He¡¯s worked in various levels of city support for years, only submitting cases for review when evidence and facts are fully transparent. Anyone iming deduction without evidence is a Heizi! After confirming there were no issues, a few made a call to Zhong Renlong, who quickly arrived with his team, pushing carts loaded with discs and USB drives to the office. "Where should we start investigating?" Wang Chuanxing approached Jiang Yuan to ask. "Let me take a look; you prioritize the first case," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make decisions lightly. First, the killer¡¯s proficiency in the first case is certainly lower. Second, the Stewa Vi case itself received significant police attention, with many personnel conducting intensive investigations, involving numerous leads and stages... From Jiang Yuan¡¯s perspective, even reviewing these "secondary-created" leads would require a lot of time and effort. Without referring to the "secondary-created" leads and tracking the original evidence, much evidence has already beenpromised during the investigation. However, the first case also has significant issues; as a roadside murder in the suburbs, evidence is very scarce, with even fewer usable clues. Jiang Yuan spent an afternoon quickly reviewing it, then requested the physical version of the autopsy report for a closer read. Zhong Renlong quickly transported a substantial amount of data inside, sitting in front while waiting. In his free time, Zhong Renlong naturally gravitated toward the simrly bored and pondering Liu Jinghui, inevitably asking, "Where does Mr. Liu think this case is heading?" "Hard to say now, we need to wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s report," Liu Jinghui said knowledgeably, "Jiang Yuan also reviewed your previous investigation report, so he¡¯ll certainly find a breakthrough. We should focus on new breakthroughs to make the investigation easier." "What if we can¡¯t find one?" Zhong Renlong couldn¡¯t help but ask. Liu Jinghui smiled with Dragon Knight¡¯s trust in a dragon, saying, "How could we not find one?" Just as a dragon charges into battle, if a dragon desires a breakthrough, it will surely find one. It¡¯s only a matter of how much effort the dragon is willing to exert. If the enemy¡¯s defenses aren¡¯t strong, naturally less effort and strength are needed, but that¡¯s the dragon¡¯s choice. "Robbery murders are inherently difficult to solve," noted Zhong Renlong, a frontline detective, aware of the robbery case¡¯s challenges. Especially cases with no stolen goods found and no rumors around, making the investigation even more difficult. At this point, Liu Jinghui calmly said, "Actually, there¡¯s a direction; if we politicize this case entirely, as the saying goes, whoever benefits the most is most suspicious..." "Mr. Liu, Mr. Liu..." Zhong Renlong immediately interrupted, putting his hands together in surrender, "We also need to focus on politics." "What are you afraid of, just some spection," Liu Jinghui chuckled. "Your investigative thinking is terrifying; even if we solve the case, with evidence found, it would still put us at risk," Zhong Renlong shook his head vigorously. Liu Jinghui naturally understood, then said, "Trying to take shortcuts entails risks; if you don¡¯t want risks, wait for Jiang Yuan¡¯s report." "Uh... Okay... By the way, the director ordered an excellent Cantonese chef for you; preparations are almost done. When¡¯s dinner good for you? I¡¯ll notify him in advance," Zhong Renlong switched back to hospitality, the recent awkwardness instantly vanishing. Liu Jinghui frowned slightly, "A Cantonese chef? It¡¯s not necessary; we just had hotpot a couple of days ago..." "The director worried that you weren¡¯t used to the food and considered you might want a change after local cuisine and hotpot over recent days?" "Well... All right, thanks." Liu Jinghuicked motivation to refuse. Zhong Renlong revealed a smile, "The chef team prepared for days already. They¡¯re traditional Cantonese chefs, using self-prepared seasonings and stocks, including oyster sauce, soy paste, each requiring tens of pounds of ingredients to produce minimal amounts..." As Zhong Renlong spoke, he grew more confident, sensing Jiang Yuan would definitely enjoy it. Meanwhile, Jiang Yuan also gradually grew more confident. Forensic investigation, when viewed broadly, offers little useful information, like ancient forensic doctors. Yet the more detailed the information, the more it aids investigations. For example, a simple gunshot wound, as referenced by Zhong Renlong and others, would be described as chest trauma, but to a forensic doctor, a gunshot victim¡¯s body surely has an entry point, possibly an exit wound, and might disy features like abrasion cors and wipe rings. With two gunshot victims, the details double, and even more context allows even more details. "We¡¯ll resolve one issue at a time." Jiang Yuan scribbled in his notebook, ced the photos down, and approached Zhong Renlong. Zhong Renlong quickly stood, "Of course, say on..." Jiang Yuan flipped his notebook forward, summarizing: "The first gunshot victim was 1.75 meters tall, with the bullet¡¯s entry point on the chest at about 1.3 meters, near the fourth intercostal space. Using bullet entry-exit locations, I simplified a ballistic angle calction form and determined the shooting distance from ground traces, estimating the suspect¡¯s height to be approximately 1.82 meters, assuming a normal firing position." "The second victim, Counselor Stewa, stood 1.78 meters tall... Ultimately estimating the suspect¡¯s height also at 1.82 meters." "For two female victims stabbed with a short knife, tool mark trace evidence indicated the same weapon." "So far, we can confirm, at the most basic level, these two cases indeed involve the same group of perpetrators, currently presumed to be two individuals." After delivering all this, Jiang Yuan looked at Zhong Renlong, stating, "Two men, one over 1.8 meters tall. Collect more surveince footage, that should help." Chapter 1361 - 1287: Bloody Game (Part 3)

Chapter 1361: Chapter 1287: Bloody Game (Part 3)

"Let¡¯s take a break. I heard there¡¯s a Cantonese chef today, we can go and order some dishes first." After examining a round of evidence, Jiang Yuan invited his Cold Case Squad colleagues to dinner. Investigating a cold case overseas, without the superiors constantly rushing them, was rtivelyfortable. It wasn¡¯t like handling a current case where every second counted, allowing the participating detectives to live a more normal life. A group of people noisily arrived at the restaurant, and saw several chefs behind transparent ss, cooking dishes with bright mes and stoves. The familiar aroma instantly ignited everyone¡¯s taste buds. "You know, it¡¯s only been a few days since we¡¯ve been abroad, and I¡¯m already craving Chinese food." Mu Zhiyang waved his hand in front of his nose a couple of times, the expression and fat on his cheeks seemed to have changed from South American beef to Australian beef, bing more expressive. These days, following Jiang Yuan in and out, his nerves had been quite tense. Sitting in the cafeteria at the police station now, he felt somewhat rxed. Wei Shikan stood in front of the ss, watching the chef inside skillfully flip the pan, nodding as he said, "If the ingredients are all prepared by themselves, the taste should be really nice. I have a little brother whose family owns a Cantonese restaurant, their specialty is homemade superior soup and XO sauce, the taste is really beyond words. Many people drive for hours just to have a meal there." "In that case, it should be convenient for people from Yue Province to dispose of bodies, using the excuse of going out for food they could drive to remote mountains, throw the body along the way, saving even the fuel." As Mu Zhiyang rxed, his thoughts drifted freely. Wei Shikan "tssk"ed, "If you say so,bining it with the topic of eating..." "I see there¡¯s fruit, let¡¯s take some fruit first to eat." Liu Jinghui cut into the bizarre conversation between the two, and continued, "It¡¯s a rare chance to have Chinese food, let¡¯s cherish it. Who knows when we¡¯ll have another meal like this." "Once the case is solved, we can go back and eat." Mu Zhiyang chuckled. "Who knows when we¡¯ll solve the case, might as well fly back in the meantime and have a couple of meals." Wei Shikan, who never relied on sry, said it naturally. Zhong Renlong quickly stepped forward, smiling, "If you like it, let¡¯s ask the Cantonese chef to stay a little longer. We arranged an exchange project, allowing the Cantonese chefs from China and our Dama Chinese chefs to exchange experiences, benefiting everyone..." If Jiang Yuan¡¯s team returned to China because they wanted Chinese food, that would be the worst oue for the Dama Police Station, and a very likely one. As for Jiang Yuan taking a long time to work on a case, Zhong Renlong and the others hadn¡¯t considered it much. Because Jiang Yuan had long proven his prowess one criminal at a time, by now, not only had the Dama Police Station worked with Jiang Yuan, but his stories were spreading to other countries, even if many police stations didn¡¯t know him yet. In fact, even within the Dama Police Station, the biggest pressure for Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong had be how to retain Jiang Yuan, while the chief immediately arranged personnel to gather the surveince Jiang Yuan needed. Jiang Yuan ate more than a dozen dishes before reluctantly putting down his chopsticks. "Truly satisfying." Jiang Yuan patted his belly, looking at Zhong Renlong beside him, "Then let¡¯s keep this chef team with us, maybe for another week or so." "A week is too short, I¡¯ll extend their contract by another month." How could Zhong Renlong bear to let the chefs... and Jiang Yuan¡¯s team leave? Jiang Yuan gave Huang Qiangmin a knowing look. Huang Qiangmin, his mouth still greasy from the food, wiped it with his hand and said, "Let¡¯s start with extending for two weeks, otherwise we might get tired of the dishes." "Tomorrow we could have Buddha Jumps Over the Wall." The head chef came out from the back, wiping his hands and smiling, "The broth I brewed a few days ago is ready, and the sea cucumber and squid are prepared too..." Huang Qiangmin nced around at the team members, shrugged and said, "Then we¡¯ll leave it to you for tomorrow." Zhong Renlong, amused, didn¡¯t dwell on the specific time anymore, just pushed a few more boxes of beer out, saying it¡¯s for "cooling down." Admittedly, as a Chinese, Zhong Renlong deeply understood theints his fellow countrymen had when they came to Dama. Huang Qiangmin only coughed a couple of times, grabbed a can of beer, and left. The others smiled, each taking a can or two of cold beer, popping them open with a "bang." Jiang Yuan straightforwardly announced a break. The case had only just begun, far from requiring arge manpower investment. Many found a ce to sleep, as those who had worked in the Cold Case Squad for a long time knew how important it was to rest whenever they had time. Only Wei Shikan seemed the most energetic, wandering around the station. For him, working on a case was not exhausting, studying math was. In his view, there was no point in reserving energy for it ¨C you couldn¡¯t exhaust your energy studying math. At night, surveince footage from various ces was gradually sent over. The surveince video from Gng Road, where the incident urred, had beenpiled, and the Dama Police had previously handled and investigated it, but archived it after fruitless results. This time, Jiang Yuan had already described the suspect¡¯s appearance so urately that the chief was determined, sending out a few trusted colleagues to collect as much footage as possible from factories and privatends along the road. Besides, some surveince videos that don¡¯t belong to the police or capital police, such as those from municipal, environmental protection, traffic management, fire services, and mobilework operators, were also emphasized and retrieved this time. Like the "Sky Network System" in TV dramas, even if you spend a lot of money to configure it, it will inevitably be iplete and missing a lot of information. Even domestic surveince management cannot cover everything unless it is nned uniformly at great expense like Ningtai, which canst for several more years. Otherwise, the videos installedter are often ipatible with previous videos, especially in terms of storage. The storage requirements of high-definition videos can increase by 100 times, and trying to make thempatible with servers from a few or even more than ten years ago is really asking too much. Moreover,munication between different departments is inherently extremely troublesome and annoying. Given any chance, everyone is unwilling to make themselvespatible with others. Wang Chuanxing cooperated with two technicians from the Dama Police Station, sorting the surveince hard drives from different ces, connecting them to differentputers, and waiting for Jiang Yuan toe over and operate. Soon, Jiang Yuan came in with Wei Shikan. "You handle the videos first." Jiang Yuan stood still and arranged for Wei Shikan first. The so-called disciple obeys his master¡¯sbor. Although he did not spend much effort training his apprentices, as a systemic spillover benefit, Jiang Yuan was not hesitant to use them. Wei Shikan had already been able to proficiently pre-process videos on the He¡¯s Rubber Garden case, and even handled some preliminary processing, was confident and willing to try again, facing theputer, operating swiftly. Dozens of police officers on site had no important work to do, just listened to Wei Shikan¡¯s rapid keyboard and mouse clicks, asionally reporting a parameter, for a moment, Wei Shikan felt a long-lost sense of vanity. Zhong Renlong saw this and quietly took two steps back, snapped a couple of photos, and began sending information. "Okay, you handle the rest of the video pre-processing." Jiang Yuan saw Wei Shikan had finished handling a hard drive¡¯s surveince video, then took over, also asked Wang Chuanxing to connect to hisputer for easier use of the installed software. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation, some videos were intercepted and given to others to review segment by segment. ording to the conclusions drawn from the autopsy, theoretically, the best video should be a person image capture photo, where cameras set at the right ce can urately take full-face and full-body photos of passersby, some even reading the height, equivalent to automatically searching for suspects. Unfortunately, there were no such setups near Gng Road, estimated to exist only in crowded ces like airports or train stations. Comparatively, in the vicinity of Counselor Steva¡¯s vi from the second case, there was rtively better surveince, but currently, it was also to no avail. In criminal investigation cases, Murphy¡¯s Law dictates that as long as surveince is not 100% covered, there will always be suspectsing in and out outside the surveince range. Tap tap tap tap. The sound of heels approaching. A tall, single-eyelid female police officer entered the conference room. "Chen Meiling reporting!" She was an auxiliary police officer, so in addition to the uniform, she wore a beret. Her hair was tied up, her face was small, and she had wheat-colored skin, looking very sharp when saluting. "Follow God Jiang¡¯s orders, just follow what he says." Zhong Renlong saluted, then introduced to Jiang Yuan: "Chen Meiling is the rising star of our Dama Police Station, very skilled at conducting various technical analyses." Chen Meiling saluted Jiang Yuan with a stern expression and said in Chinese, "God Jiang." "Oh, do you understand image investigation?" Jiang Yuan turned to look at her and used Level 6 forensic sketching to estimate her age. years old, very young indeed. "I know a bit." Chen Meiling said. "Go see his work, if you understand ite find me." Jiang Yuan pointed to Wei Shikan. Following his words, Chen Meiling went. Wei Shikan sized up Chen Meiling for two seconds, feeling immensepetitive pressure. "No fair y." Wei Shikan muttered in Zhong Renlong¡¯s direction, resignedly turning back to work, Jiang Yuan had many apprentices already, wouldn¡¯t be surprising if Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong had ideas too. Jiang Yuan soon distributed over 30 videos, and the conference room became much quieter. Videos adjusted by Jiang Yuan had improved rity, making it a bit easier for everyone to watch. Members of the Cold Case Squad often worked with Jiang Yuan to monitor, thus were highly experienced. Time passed second by second. After Jiang Yuan¡¯s third round of video distribution, a surveince video from a bus stop several kilometers away was picked out by Shen Yaowei. "The heights of these two people seem to match." Shen Yaowei, with red eyes, said while putting eye drops. Chapter 1362 - 1288: Bloody Game (Part 4)

Chapter 1362: Chapter 1288: Bloody Game (Part 4)

"Wow, Shen, nicely done." Wei Shikan patted Shen Yaowei on the shoulder, filled with envy and jealousy. Relentless effort finally yielded a breakthrough, uncovering crime clues. This was originally Wei Shikan¡¯s script for himself, but now Shen Yaowei had taken it, with reddened eyes, embodying the script of a sickly genius. Wei Shikan wished he could take his ce. Shen Yaowei, being the capital city¡¯s Kshatriya, understood the power of a high-ranking Kshatriya like Wei Shikan. He suppressed his urge to boast, feigning an overworked demeanor, and said, "It just happened tond in my hands." "Got to show off in front of the beauties!" Wei Shikan clicked his tongue. "Just luck, just luck," Shen Yaowei continued to be modest. At this moment, Jiang Yuan had alreadye over, took over the keyboard and mouse, and began erging the image: "Look up the building codes for the bus station to see the length of this pir. Divide by 1.37, and that¡¯s the height of the tall suspect A." While waiting for the data, Jiang Yuan began processing the image. Enhancing orpleting low-quality images was his specialty. If the facial features of the two suspects could be obtained, even if Dama couldn¡¯t conduct facial recognition, it would still help narrow the scope. Moreover, if static images aren¡¯t clear, dynamic scenes can¡¯t be clear either. Jiang Yuan had expertise in footprint identification, and ensuring rity in dynamic scenes naturally aided the application of footprint identification. Furthermore, when tracking suspects, cameras aren¡¯t endless. Often, a suspect might just be at the far end of a camera¡¯s range, or perhaps they sh past in the camera¡¯s "peripheral vision." At such times, image rity is crucial not just for identifying who is who, but also for determining the suspects¡¯ direction and location. While Zhong Renlong was looking for the bus station¡¯s data, Jiang Yuan typed away swiftly, striving toplete all preliminary preparations in a short time. Neer Chen Meiling watched Jiang Yuan¡¯s actions intently. Her Image Investigation skills were far beyond her imed "a little understanding," and Zhong Renlong¡¯s im of her as a "rising star" was true. Having graduated outstandingly from a prestigious school without a referral system and being beautiful, Chen Meiling had received media attention from the beginning of her police career. However, being in her early twenties and studying Image Investigation technology was somewhat a talent-dependent pursuit. Compared to someone like Wei Shikan, Chen Meiling was undoubtedly a genius. If ordered, she would also be a top Image Investigation talent among Dama officers of her age, and her mastery of Image Investigation major skills likely surpassed Level 1, with some minor skills possibly reaching Level 2¡¯s great achievement, perhaps even breaking through to Level 3. Nevertheless, it still wasn¡¯t enough. Today, Jiang Yuan reserved extra time for Image Recognition and Analysis (Level 5), so currently, he was processing images with Level 6 skills, because [5+1=6]¡ªthis was about the level of information Chen Meiling could glean. "The column¡¯s height is 2.5 meters." Zhong Renlong finally received a call, hurried over to inform Jiang Yuan, and calcted, "2.5 divided by 1.37 equals exactly 1.82. Did we find the murderer?" "We can preliminarily identify them as suspects." Jiang Yuan nodded, then continued to operate, selecting a frame of the image and began image enhancement. Soon, the faces of the two on the screen began to gradually clear up. "It looks like two young people, around their teens or twenties." Jiang Yuan estimated their age, ncing at Chen Meiling, and said, "It¡¯s very likely they¡¯re under 20." "Wow, that was fast." Zhong Renlong quickly approached, making a call to Ni Cha to report progress while praising, "It¡¯s just like in the movies, bam, the once blurry photo turns clear!" Chen Meiling couldn¡¯t help but smile. She witnessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation throughout, though she didn¡¯t understand much, had many doubts, and found much confusing. However, her confusion was entirely different from Zhong Renlong¡¯s. If movie image enhancement was like a one-click beauty filter, real image enhancement required various software and tools and understanding of fundamental mathematics. Like most, Chen Meiling¡¯s stuck at the math part. Yet she believed Zhong Renlong hadn¡¯t reached this step, hence he seemed like a lucky amateur at this moment. "Find the route of this bus and gather surveince videos from along the bus stops," Jiang Yuan ordered Wang Chuanxing to print the photo and handed it to Zhong Renlong. Zhong Renlong nodded excitedly, made another round of calls, and then returned to say, "I¡¯ve sent people to look for surveince, but not every bus stop has it... I¡¯m preparing to send officers with the photos to inquire around." "Are we deploying foot patrols? If so, I think we can first narrow down the scope," Jiang Yuan said as he picked up a freshly printed photo, pointing at the tall figure and added, "There¡¯s a fifty percent chance the two are minors, under 18, so consider asking around schools first." "That¡¯s great, it¡¯s easier to question middle school students, can ask a whole group at once, makes it efficient." Zhong Renlong became excited. Jiang Yuan coughed twice from behind and added, "Fifty percent chance." "I understand, God Jiang¡¯s fifty percent chance!" Zhong Renlong perfectly understood and resolved the issue with his response. Arge number of officers were deployed. Foot patrols, while resource-intensive, just involved showing photos for identification, and being in schools, was rtively efficient ss by ss. In the evening. Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong hurried into the meeting room. "The identities of the two suspects have been confirmed." Ni Cha announced loudly, and in a magician-like voice, added, "You¡¯ll never guess what we found." Zhong Renlong enthusiastically tranted. Shen Yaowei appropriately asked, "What did you find?" Ni Cha said loudly, "Both are high school students, 17 years old. God Jiang guessed extremely urately, but there¡¯s one point even you might not guess. The 1.82-meter-tall suspect is Ismail, and the shorter one is Kadar Stava." During Zhong Renlong¡¯s trantion, Jiang Yuan stood up and asked, "The Stewa from Counselor Stewa?" "Yes, Kadar Stava is Counselor Stewa¡¯s son." Ni Cha snapped his fingers,ughing like an investor, "Kadar is the son of Stewa¡¯s ex-girlfriend, studying in an international boarding school, rarely going home. He¡¯s used a gun before; Counselor Stewa took him shooting several times, and with the Steva Family¡¯s influence, Kadar could easily acquire a gun." Chapter 1363 - 1289: Bloody Game (Part 5)

Chapter 1363: Chapter 1289: Bloody Game (Part 5)

The 1.82-meter-tall Ismail, along with the senator Steva¡¯s son Kadar Stava, covered their heads as they walked along the road. Upon hearing a car behind them, they put their thumbs up. However, after half a day had passed, no one was willing to stop and pick them up. A day and night of walking in the wild had sapped much of their energy, leaving them looking particrly unkempt. The sweat from the sweltering weather had marinated them, and their ill-fitting clothes were both dirty and wrinkled. "We need to find a ce to rest." Kadar Stava finished thest bit of water from his bottle, threw it away, and said. Ismail muttered, "I can still go on." "We can¡¯t wait until we¡¯re too tired to move before resting. We won¡¯t be able to kill anyone then," Kadar said, patting the gun at his waist. He then adjusted Ismail¡¯s backpack before turning his gaze towards the vige on the right. They had brought two guns, but in order to build their courage and hone their skills, Kadar chose not to use a gun himself, opting instead to kill with a knife. As it turned out, this greatly benefited them. After just one roadside murder, they werepletely fearless. So much so that when they returned to their suburban vi to kill his father and that vile woman, Kadar could unleash all his umted resentment like a viin, and without any surprise, he managed to kill them both. Kadar personally killed the stepmother he despised most, and Ismail helped him kill his father. Although Kadar felt a bit regretful, unsure if he should have personally shot his father, at that moment, it was the happiest, freest, most blissful time of Kadar¡¯s life. "Since we can¡¯t hitch a ride, let¡¯s go to that house," Kadar suddenly pointed to a three-story building outside the vige. He continued, "Let¡¯s go see if anyone¡¯s there, preferably one or two people, kill them all, then we¡¯ll sleep inside, eat something, and rest up before moving on." "What if someonees halfway?" "Then we¡¯ll bring them inside before killing them," Kadar replied nonchntly. He had a casual mindset; the two guns and two knives,bined with their experience in killing, would allow them to handle a few more people if necessary. Though Ismail was tall, he always listened to Kadar. He was not naturally assertive and was even more timid. He only asked, "What if people outside hear the gunshots?" "Just check for people around before we kill. If we shoot inside the room, no one will hear from a few dozen meters away." Kadar borated, "If the people inside are easy to kill, then use a knife to save bullets." "Sure." Ismail agreed readily. During their previous murders, he hadn¡¯t used a knife; this time, he really wanted to practice. The two young men finished their brief conversation and stepped off the highway, walking along a field path towards the nearest three-story house. Outside the house were lush trees with broad leaves, flowering nts withrge petals, a fat Old Dog, and a wide-open front door where a chubby little child was running around ying. "Hello, is anyone home? We¡¯d like to get some water," Kadar, who had received a good education, politely called from the doorway. Inside the house, a woman in her twenties stepped out, nced at the smiling Kadar, then at the tall Ismail standing behind him, and asked, "Are you both students? What are you doing here?" "Gap year. We wanted to take a year off before university, nning to backpack all the way to the coastal city." Kadar continued politely, "May I ask your name?" "E." "E, I¡¯m Kadar. Nice to meet you." Kadar appeared very gentlemanly. E gathered her hair and smiled, saying, "Kadar, nice to meet you too. The coastal city is quite far; I remember it takes five or six hours to drive there." "It¡¯s still 320 kilometers away. We aim to walk a portion, hitch a ride when possible, and ideally walk for a week or more to train ourselves. Once we reach the coastal city, we n to board a ship to another country and continue our journey," Kadar spoke the truth. Their n was to reach the coastal city, find a ship, and smuggle themselves to another country. Much like the murder n, Kadar decided to treat their journey in Dama as practice. This was a familiar environment to them, and once they perfected their backpacking skills here, they could continue their journey overseas. The session of nouns piqued E¡¯s interest, and she couldn¡¯t help but express some envy, saying, "Your life sounds wonderful. Aren¡¯t you scared?" "Scared? There¡¯s no need," Kadar smiled and said, "Life is just a game, after all." E paused momentarily, thenughed, "Very profound." She assumed they were merely pretending to be profound, like her husband had in his youth. She waspletely unaware that these two, despite their young age, had alreadymitted random murders and patricide, and were in the most damaging period of their lives. "Your life seems good too." Kadar continued, ncing at the child in the yard, asking, "Is this your child? How many people are in your household?" "Yes, mine. In my house, there¡¯s also the child¡¯s grandmother, who¡¯s napping. Right, you needed water, right? I¡¯ll get you some..." E said as she turned to go inside. Kadar exchanged a nce with Ismail, following the woman into the kitchen. As he walked, he pulled the left sleeve of his jacket down to his wrist, then donned a motorcycle glove on his left hand, and drew out a knife with his right hand. Silently, he stabbed it into E¡¯s waist from behind, while his left hand gripped her neck. After two killings, Kadar had learned some new techniques from videos, and this time he specifically aimed at the woman¡¯s liver. Just as the video instructed, the woman bent over in half in pain, unable to move and losing her strength, she could only w at Kadar¡¯s glove with her hands, looking at him with eyes full of shock. "Kadar, should we maybe just..." Ismail, who stood 1.82 meters tall, closed the courtyard door and followed him in. He was about to finish his sentence when he was startled to see Kadar¡¯s knife already plunged into E¡¯s waist. "Maybe what?" Kadar had already killed two people with a knife, and both times he had done it face-to-face, his psychological endurance was very strong. He looked calmly at Ismail, his right hand twisting the knife a couple of times. E¡¯s eyes were bulging out in pain, her face distorted beyond recognition, blood gushing from her waist. The hand holding onto Kadar¡¯s glove soon turned into a tug, and then she only had enough strength left to grasp his arm. Ismail swallowed and said, "I was going to say, she¡¯s been quite good to us, we didn¡¯t actually need to kill her, just stay one night maybe it would be easier." "Stay the night? In her home, there are only two women, a child, and a dog, why would she let us stay? If she could point us to a hotel or help us call a car, that would already be good. Letting men stay is a very dangerous thing." As Kadar said this, he slowly lowered E, and then pulled out his knife, gesturing on her neck before viciously cutting in. The knife went in deep, severing her trachea and blood vessels, E didn¡¯t even have time for a final scream. "I didn¡¯t save any for you, see if you want to practice on the kid or just go up and kill the old folks directly," Kadar wiped the blood clean on E¡¯s clothes. E might not have heard what he said, her gaze solidified for a second, then her pupils dted. "Dead." Kadar stood up, sheathing his knife, drawing his pistol, he said, "I¡¯ll cover you, try killing with a knife." "Alright." Ismail then drew his own knife. He carried a Mad Dog advanced tactical assault knife, very popr, very expensive, and very hard to get, but because it was so famous, it was somewhat of a clich¨¦ weapon in the knife world. However, no matter how arrogant the collectors, or how experienced they were in calling it a Mad Dog knife or looking down on the mass and unadvanced Mad Dog tactical assault knife, those who had actually killed with it were few. Ismail licked his lips, proudly grabbed his Mad Dog knife, holding it forward in his right hand, and walked up the stairs. ... Wednesday. The atmosphere in the Dama Police Station was still rtively rxed. Jiang Yuan¡¯s arrival not only helped with old cases but also gave everyone a strong psychological hint, a sense of security that someone had their back. Yes, even the police desire a sense of security. Jiang Yuan was still watching surveince footage, this time it was videos from various bus and train stations and airports. Liu Jinghui was standing in front of several maps in deep thought, asionally picking up the pad to check some information. For Jiang Yuan and the others who were familiar with the domestic environment, once the suspects in a case were identified, the case was essentially considered solved, especially since Jiang Yuan could provide a lot of evidence, sending it for examination hardly required additional investigation. In contrast, they often had to go back and forth during the death penalty review. The situation in Dama was slightly different, Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t find it difficult. They had caught fugitives before; as long as theybed through carefully, the fugitive¡¯s escape space would continuously shrink. The only thing they needed to be wary of was not letting the killer escape the country. Thud, thud, thud. Ni Cha¡¯srge shoes made a series of sounds as he pushed the door open and entered. "Someone ims to have seen two teenage backpackers trying to hitch a ride on the road, one of them was tall, about 1.8 meters. The ce they met is here..." Ni Cha marked a circle on the map in front of Liu Jinghui. "Are they walking along the highway?" Liu Jinghui had been looking at the map for most of the day, countless ce names instantly popped into his mind. "That¡¯s what the driver said, and I¡¯ve asked people to find more drivers for questioning." Ni Cha said. "You can ask drivers from transportationpanies, there must be drivers who passed by at the same time and saw the two of them." Liu Jinghui suggested, which was tranted by the interpreter. "Good idea." Ni Cha picked up the phone with a rxed expression, feeling like working with Jiang Yuan and others made solving cases as easy as having a meal with friends. Chapter 1364 - 1290: Bloody Game (6)

Chapter 1364: Chapter 1290: Bloody Game (6)

After a long sleep, Kadar Stava stretched vigorously, feeling refreshed as the weariness from yesterday vanished without a trace. He braced his waist, and with a swift motion akin to a carp flipping in water, he sprang up from the bed. Kadar chuckled twice, then leaned forward and quickly did 50 push-ups, only stopping to rub his slightly swollen arms before picking up his handgun. He checked the magazine with a click and entered the bathroom. Hot water gushed down from head to toe, making Kadar sigh in relief as he recalled his father¡¯s deathbed confession. Such a pity, even if it¡¯s his own father, he could only die once. Kadar let out a somewhat regretfulugh. Turning off the water and drying himself, Kadar made it a point to clean his legs and feet thoroughly, to avoid any bloodstains. After the two of them finished killing someone yesterday, they adjusted the position of the body again, a move stemming from inexperience, which resulted in blood stains sttering on their legs and feet. Next time, Kadar wouldn¡¯t do that again. "Ismail!" Kadar called out towards the opposite bedroom as he stepped outside. The tall and sturdy Ismail looked startled, tumbling out with a gun in hand. Kadarughed heartily: "It¡¯s time to head out. You coward, you killed two people yesterday, and today you still act scared." Ismail came to his senses, exhaled a long breath, and then said, "I dreamt someone discovered us." "If found out, just kill them. What are you afraid of?" Kadar patted the gun at his waist and said, "With our gear, we can take down a few police officers easily." "The police have guns too," Ismail said. "They don¡¯t dare to risk their lives against us. Why would sry-earning police officers dare to draw guns and shoot it out with us? Don¡¯t think police are that formidable. Back home, those who came to see my old man were all fawning," Kadar said disdainfully. Ismail slowly looked for clothes and gave Kadar another nce: "And yet you still killed your dad?" "Police bow to him, doesn¡¯t mean I have to bow to him." Kadar continued to insist, "This proves we¡¯re stronger than the police." "If you say so." Ismail, of course, wouldn¡¯t argue on this topic. "Clean yourself well. We¡¯ll look for a carter. Don¡¯t let anyone see the blood on you," Kadar instructed, then turned on the TV to find a news channel. Ismail quietly went to shower. His emotions were not as excited as Kadar¡¯s; there was more worry and fear, plus a sense of aimless following, yet also a hint of exhration. He had a father simr to Kadar¡¯s, only without Counselor Stewa¡¯s high position, not as wealthy, and didn¡¯t live as long¡ªIsmail¡¯s father passed away years ago, making it impossible for him to personally kill his father. Thanks to Kadar for allowing him to shoot Counselor Stewa, it partly satisfied his fantasy. Ismail came out with wet hair, and Kadar was engrossed in watching TV. "News about us being caught." Kadar nced at Ismail and threw him a towel: "Dry your head. If you catch a cold on the way, I won¡¯t care for you." "Got it. How do they n to catch us?" Ismail asked while drying his head, his emotions already calmed. "Someone imed to have seen us on the road. They¡¯re searching the area now, just as well. I nned to change direction anyway," Kadar said, treating this as a game, getting more excited as he spoke. Ismail asked helplessly, "Which way? Where to find a car?" "Plenty of ways. With guns in our hands, we¡¯re gods!" Kadar pulled out his gun, mimicking shooting motions in the air, and said, "Two ways: once we reach the vige ahead, see who has a car, go in and kill them, lock the door, and drive away. Alternatively, if there¡¯s no suitable family to wipe out in the vige, we¡¯ll take the small road ahead, walk a bit, block the road with a branch or something. When a car stops, crouch over, bang, one shot, and the car is ours." "Your method..." Ismail was thinking of buying or renting a car, not imagining Kadar¡¯s approach was all about killing. But admittedly, given their current experience, murder indeed seemed a very direct solution to problems. As if everything could be solved by killing people. "Then let¡¯s keep killing." Ismail¡¯s mood lifted as well. He turned and drew his Mad Dog Knife, inspected the de in the sunlight, and said, "I don¡¯t even need a gun; just this knife, and I can kill my way to the coastal city." "Yeah, Dama is a small ce, only thirty million people. Once we smuggle ourselves out, then the real shock to the world begins," Kadar fantasized about a wonderful future, his mind full of scenes fromics, novels, and TV shows. All packed up and ready. Kadar and Ismail left the air conditioner on, locked the yard gate, and followed the path into the vige. Here, the residents¡¯ houses were sparsely scattered, with only a cluster of a dozen houses close together in the central area. Kadar and Ismail naturally avoided the vige center, only looking for a small building simr to the one from yesterday on the outskirts. Yesterday¡¯s murder went quite smoothly. Given that, Kadar wanted to replicate it. "Is anyone here?" Kadar set his eyes on an old Toyota parked in the yard, a smile on his face. No response came from inside the house. "Is anyone here?" Ismail shouted louder. Chapter 1365 - 1290: Bloody Game (Part 6)_2

Chapter 1365: Chapter 1290: Bloody Game (Part 6)_2

The courtyard was silent. "Should we climb in?" In front of Ismail was a wall only half as high as a person. Once inside, they could knock on the ss or pry open a door to enter the building. "Forget it, we might not even find the key." Kadar felt it was a bit dangerous. This ce was closer to the vige than the yard they stayed at yesterday and more likely to alert others. They didn¡¯t know how to lockpick, so entry would require breaking and entering. They might get trapped inside by the vigers while searching for the key. Ismail always listened to Kadar and didn¡¯t argue. He followed Kadar back to the path and continued walking forward. Soon, they encountered someone who curiously nced at them. Ismail and Kadar acted as if nothing was amiss, simply nodding and smiling, pretending to be backpackers, and they passed by each other. After walking a hundred meters more, Ismail suddenly chuckled, "I thought you would have killed him." "Leave the body by the roadside? We¡¯re too close to the vige here; people wille by soon. Using a gun would attract attention, and using a knife would leave too much blood that¡¯s hard to handle," Kadar analyzed seriously. Ismail listened just as seriously and enthusiastically discussed with Kadar, "What about the body of the driver we n to stop next?" "Let¡¯s walk two kilometers ahead, find a decaying tree where there are no viges nearby, and drag it onto the road. It won¡¯t be conspicuous that way. We¡¯ll hide by the roadside, like the first time we killed. We can use a knife or a gun. We could have someone stand by the roadside, back towards us, and then stab them." "We could have the driver help move the tree, threaten him with a gun, forcing him to clear the road himself." "Good idea." "If there are many people, we can find a reason to kill one, then have the other two move the body." The 1.8-meter-tall Ismail¡¯s intelligence started to shine. Kadar chuckled and shook his head, "Don¡¯t overthink it, just act. Don¡¯t expect these people to cooperate. Among the people we¡¯ve killed recently, who willingly cooperated? Even yesterday¡¯s dog wouldn¡¯t cooperate." Ismailughed out loud, "That dog was indeed hard to kill; it almost bit me." ... In the evening. A long line of police cars, ring sirens, parked by the roadside. Jiang Yuan, Mu Zhiyang, and others, guided by local officers, walked into the courtyard of a three-story building. "This is where we found the first body," a local officer indicated the location with a heavy expression. Jiang Yuan held an investigationmp, illuminating the ground as he slowly walked into the house. This was the body of a woman in her twenties, stabbed in the back and throat slit. Her exposed skin appeared yellow and white under the light, quite gruesome. There was a significant amount of blood on the ground. Underneath the body was a pool of blood, with blood spatters and drips visible in front, plus bloody footprints near the door. Scanning again with the investigationmp, chaotic footprints formed from dust could be seen. Only standing in the room for a moment, Jiang Yuanpleted the preliminary crime scene reconstruction. He didn¡¯t rush to speak, signaling Dama technicians to take pictures and collect evidence while he searched other rooms. The elderly and child murder scenes were in separate locations. Even though Jiang Yuan had seen many crime scenes, the brutality and straightforwardness of the methods still disturbed him. Jiang Yuan asked for a tape measure to ease himself by measuring the scene. Zhong Renlong followed Jiang Yuan continuously, his eyes growing red as he watched Jiang Yuan measure the sizes of the two rooms. Unable to hold back, he asked, "Can you confirm the killers? Are they those two?" Although there were eyewitnesses, it¡¯s well known that eyewitness testimony is highly unstable. Detectives use eyewitnesses to identify suspects, but they are reluctant to solve cases based solely on their testimony. Jiang Yuan understood Zhong Renlong¡¯s implication and straightforwardly said, "It¡¯s likely these two. There were two killers at the scene. The height of the one who killed the young female victim is about 1.7 meters, and the weapon used is simr to those in the previous two cases. The killer of the elderly female victim is taller, probably around 1.8 meters." "Kadar killed the young woman, and Ismail killed the elderly woman?" Zhong Renlong paused and asked, "What about the child?" "Ismail¡¯s knife." Jiang Yuan¡¯s tool mark identifications were Level 6, so he didn¡¯t need to make a mold to determine it. "Those two bastards!" "These two also slept in the house. They used two bedrooms; there are water stains in the bathroom, and the towel isn¡¯t dry. The killers probably showered this morning, and the murders weremitted yesterday." Jiang Yuan¡¯s tone gradually calmed, "This answers one question and raises another." "What?" "They killed to rest. Why did they need such luxurious rest?" Jiang Yuan presented the motive before questioning. Zhong Renlong gritted his teeth, "Isn¡¯t it because they¡¯re inherently brutal?" "The purpose of fleeing is surely clear," Jiang Yuanmented, "Resting like they did is undoubtedly to prepare for actions that require full energy. What kind of actions require a good rest?" Talking, Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. Zhong Renlong hastened to answer first. "Could it be to do another heist, another murder?" Liu Jinghui slightly shook his head, "To these two, murder is no longer the goal; it¡¯s just the process, like the current bloody case. These two people, resting and regrouping, are likely either for escaping or for matters of love and hatred." "Revenge?" Zhong Renlong¡¯s eyes lit up, "I remember the Steva Family is currently fighting over inheritance. Counselor Stewa has several children, Kadar Stava might not get much of the share, might he seek revenge on rtives or something?" "Possibly," Liu Jinghui nodded, emphasizing, "Even if they don¡¯t resort to revenge tactics, for easier escape, they clearly won¡¯t hesitate to kill. Two underage murderers with no qualms are extremely dangerous." Zhong Renlong was stunned. "I suggest we take a more aggressive approach, rather than trailing them. We¡¯ve already fallen half a day behind; continuing like this might lead to more deaths..." Liu Jinghui looked toward Jiang Yuan while speaking. Zhong Renlong frowned, "What kind of aggressive approach?" Liu Jinghui exchanged nces with Jiang Yuan, then slowly said, "I suggest tightly sealing all nearby airports and ports, setting up checkpoints on every route, putting out a warrant for these two, and widely distributing their wanted notices. At the very least, we can¡¯t let them move so freely." "All nearby airports and ports?" Zhong Renlong was startled, "That¡¯s toorge-scale, and Dama¡¯s coastline is long. Conditions differ across states." "Here¡¯s a cost-effective and straightforward solution," Jiang Yuan said impatiently. Unlike regr cases, if this drags on, the culprits could escape abroad, perhaps never to be found again. So, drastic measures are needed. "Go ahead," Zhong Renlong quietly exhaled relief. As long as Jiang Yuan had a n, he wouldn¡¯t be anxious. Jiang Yuan then turned directly to Liu Jinghui, "Please bring Director Xu over." "Decided?" Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes shifted to Zhong Renlong. "Decided." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate, saying, "Thousands of words boil down to seeking results. Everyone wants results; we will handle the process." Chapter 1366 - 1291: Bloody Game (7)

Chapter 1366: Chapter 1291: Bloody Game (7)

"Director Xu! We meet again!" On therge screen in the conference room, Xu Taining¡¯s face, apanied by several smaller faces, marked the reunion after several days of absence. "Jiang Yuan, Director Jiang, and Director Liu, long time no see. Are you in Dama now? True international cooperation, Interpol?" Xu Taining smiled as he looked at therge group of heads on the other end of the screen. With dozens of people going back and forth in Dama, rumored to be on private nes, Xu Taining was well aware of the expenses involved. From this standpoint, it was clear how much the Dama Police Station valued Jiang Yuan. For someone of his age, going abroad for a case at such a level was quite high-end. Huang Qiangmin stepped out from the crowd, smiled, greeted Xu Taining with a few polite exchanges, and then said, "Director Xu, we¡¯ll be counting on you from here on out." "It¡¯s my duty." Xu Taining politely exchanged a few words before continuing, "But, as for how effective remotemand will be, I haven¡¯t tried it. I¡¯m somewhat uncertain." Jiang Yuan stopped exchanging pleasantries and immediately stated his requirements, "The primary task now is to determine the movements of the two suspects, blocking their exits so they don¡¯t escape. Secondly, we need to apply some pressure but not push them to desperation, aiming to reduce their crime frequency and minimize civilian casualties." Jiang Yuan had pondered this issue for a while, then continued, "Consider these two as the Northeast¡¯s Two Kings; however, Dama can¡¯t afford to send 100,000 people to search the mountains. We are currently about 12 hours behind." "Searching the mountains is the simplest part instead." Xu Tainingughed briefly, his expression turning cold as he said, "There¡¯s no technique involved in catching the Two Kings; ultimately, it was reports that led to their capture. Dama probably can¡¯t engage in a People¡¯s War." The Two Kings of Northeast, under China¡¯s first wanted notice, during February to September 1983, starting with robbing guns and killing more than 20 people, were finally shot dead in a joint operation of tens of thousands of military police and militia, surrounded by grenadeunchers and machine guns. This process was sensational, but the exposure of the Two Kings was still due to the vignt reporting by local vigers. To some extent, this demonstrated the effectiveness of the wanted notice. For Chinese criminal police, the story of the Two Kings is not an essential lesson butmon knowledge. The example given by Jiang Yuan and Xu Taining here was just a matter of a few words. The story of the Two Kings is not easily replicated, and their capture is even harder to repeat. Jiang Yuan said, "Dama¡¯s surveince cameras are not scarce, the wanted notices have been issued, but it¡¯s uncertain how effective they will be." "What about mobile phones? Is the mobile phone surveince in Dama effective?" Xu Taining asked. "It¡¯s not yet certain what phone numbers they¡¯re using, or if they¡¯re even carrying phones." "It¡¯s hard for young people not to use phones, but then again, murder is more thrilling than a phone." Xu Taining self-questioned and answered, then said, "In this case, I think the most important thing is the scope and method of the lockdown. As for the tracking part, you need to step up. On my end, I can coordinate with the local police to perfect the lockdown lines and methods." "Let¡¯s proceed like this." Jiang Yuan called over Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong to assign tasks individually. For Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and Xu Taining, joint investigations were a familiar process, whereas Ni Cha and others might need some time to adapt to Xu Taining¡¯s style. However, at this level, even European and American series police, despite their different uniforms, would have to use human wave tactics. A typical example is a missing child case. Once an Amber Alert is triggered, it bes arge-scale wanted notice with a high chance of obtaining intelligence feedback. Moreover, Dama had also established an Amber Alert, it was just not needed at this moment. Two youth acting wildly, not being recognized would be fine; if spotted, they might start killing. This has been proven by the two multiple times. Jiang Yuan sat back down to scan the surveince for a while, stopping with his mind somewhat unsettled. Dama¡¯s surveince system can¡¯tpare to domestic ones; at the very least, vehicle checkpoints and face recognition checkpoints directly solve 90% of the issues, along with registered mobile phones and hotels¡ªthey can¡¯t guarantee the suspect won¡¯t use substitutes, but they do prevent the so-called ¡¯security¡¯ of switching numbers as seen in American movies with a single phone call. Essentially, domestically,plete positional control is achieved, equivalent to pre-setting artillery and machine guns¡ªonce a suspect enters the circle, they can be wiped out. This has led to Jiang Yuan being able to solve cases just by aggressively scanning surveince domestically, as many major and serious cases are solved this way. There aren¡¯t so many intricate calctions and chain logic in the world, especially when the cost is equally high; leaders responsible for cases would prefer to spend ten times the cost for a solution with a 30% higher sess rate. Moreover, this choice is widespread and rational; in some weapon-making games, almost all yers make simr choices, like a societal experiment. To Jiang Yuan at this moment, solely relying on scanning surveince would yield a lower sess rate. Jiang Yuan thought over it repeatedly for a long duration. "How is it?" Liu Jinghui finished chatting with Xu Taining and walked over, seeing their giant in deep thought, he prepared to offer his assistance. Jiang Yuan slowly said, "Speaking of which, these two are armed, formidable fighters, and ruthless in their methods. In terms ofmunication, they seemingly have no one to contact and might not even carry phones. Regarding amodation, using the extermination method again is also possible..." Liu Jinghui knew Jiang Yuan was speaking to sort out his thoughts, so he added, "So, it¡¯s essential to apprehend them swiftly." Jiang Yuan: "Food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. They aren¡¯tcking in terms of food and clothing either, Steva might even be carrying arge amount of money, in that case... how would they solve transportation?" "Steva knows how to drive, which would be the best solution initially." Liu Jinghui quickly said, "They previously wanted to hitchhike, I think it was likely to kill for a car. They probably wouldn¡¯t consider public transportation, as they could have guessed they are on the wanted list, checking online would confirm it." "Then they would need a car; buying is unlikely, so they¡¯re likely to rob." Jiang Yuan paused, turned towards Zhong Renlong, and said, "Have there been any reports of carjackings?" "I¡¯ll have someone check immediately." Zhong Renlong promptly took out his phone. "Wait." Jiang Yuan raised his hand, "If there¡¯s a carjacker matching their description, the officer receiving the report would definitely escte it. Therefore..." "Therefore?" Zhong Renlong was momentarily at a loss. Liu Jinghui chimed in, "So, given that no officers have reported these two individuals, it suggests that if these youths carjacked, they likely left no witnesses..." "We need to look for reports of missing drivers." Jiang Yuan sighed. Chapter 1367 - 1292: Bloody Game (8)

Chapter 1367: Chapter 1292: Bloody Game (8)

"I think that house up ahead looks pretty good, let¡¯s park in their yard," Kadar pointed to an estate in front. It was considered a mansion, with a separate gate and a driveway leading in, three to four meters wide, practical yet not extravagant, simr to the colonial vis in the back from the Nanyang Colony, an unpretentious three stories, good-looking, practical, notplex; two men with guns could easily kill everyone inside. Ismail, who had just started learning how to drive, turned clumsily and then stared at the house¡¯s gate, "The gate is locked, right? Are there any cameras?" "No cameras, I just checked. Their yard walls are high, and there¡¯s barbed wire. It¡¯s an old house without any surveince cameras." Kadar said as he put on a baseball cap and took a crowbar from the back seat, "I¡¯ll go down and pry the door open." "Wait, what if there are cameras inside, at the front of the house or something?" Kadarughed, "It¡¯s not that advanced. Even if there is, it won¡¯t be connected to the police station, probably just linked to their ownputer. Once we kill them, what difference does having surveince footage on aputer make? Besides, it¡¯s gettingte." Kadar looked up at the sky. The twilight was setting in, and visibility was decreasing quickly. In a little while, people inside would have to rely on lighting instead of natural light to see outside. Ismail, not thinking too much about it, hesitated, "Uh... But how do you know their cameras aren¡¯t connected to the police or a securitypany?" "I don¡¯t think they are. If you¡¯re worried, we can catch someone and ask them. If they say it is, we just leave; if not, we¡¯ll rest here for the night." Kadar said indifferently. Ismail: "Actually, I think maybe we should just find a small motel or something to stay at. Do we really have to kill?" "Staying at a motel is too easy to get caught. You haven¡¯t read books. Many big thieves get caught at small motels. The people who run those ces have sharp eyes, and the two of us are underage; we¡¯ll be spotted too easily." Kadar finished and added, "We won¡¯t lose anything by killing them. This family looks rich; they probably have a safe. We can grab some cash and gold, and once we reach a new country, it will give us a start. Besides, you¡¯ve never had sex, right? Maybe they have a pretty daughter, and you can rape her." Ismail, six feet tall, was flustered and quickly shook his head, "No, no, I like someone else." "She doesn¡¯t like you back," Kadar just said, seeing Ismail driving the car to the gate, then he tucked his gun in his back and stepped out of the car with a crowbar. The more people you kill, the bolder you be. As they say, money is the backbone of a hero, and killing and arson are the gold belt. Although young, Kadar was at his highest mental peak, afraid of nothing and feeling like every path was clear under his feet. As for the house ahead, many of Ismail¡¯s concerns were valid, but Kadar didn¡¯t care. He felt prepared for any situation: if they were spotted on surveince or an rm was triggered, they could run. If there were many people, they would use guns. But if all went smoothly, after they finished the job, not only would they get a good night¡¯s sleep, but they¡¯d also stash some resources, ensuring the true time toy low would be once they reached the coastal city and were ready to find a ship. Click, click... With a few swift moves, Kadar pried open the gates of the estate with the crowbar. "You can keep your money in the bank, but don¡¯t entrust your life to others." Kadar hummed a tune, slung the crowbar over his shoulder, and opened the estate¡¯s gate, his father¡¯s words ringing unexpectedly in his mind. Old Stewa wasn¡¯t about morals, but he understood how to live. While thinking, Kadar swaggered into the yard, humming his little battle tune through his nose. Ismail shouted, "Get in the car," but Kadar ignored him, and Ismail didn¡¯t dare shout again, so he drove after him. The end of the driveway was a circle where vehicles could park or stop to drop off guests before leaving, an excellent choice for a party host. This family¡¯s circle was rtively tight, simr to their narrow road; both were entry-level rich products, meaning they likely wouldn¡¯t spend much on security either. Knock, knock, knock. Kadar knocked on the door with no hesitation. Ismail worked hard to adjust the car¡¯s angle, parking in a position he thought he could easily drive out of, then tucked his gun away, grabbed his 50-centimeter Mad Dog Knife, and got out of the car. The moment his hands left the steering wheel and gripped the knife handle, Ismail¡¯s confidence began to soar. Only those who frequently use knives to kill know that a 50-centimeter solid de is overwhelming against ordinary, unarmed people. Even the term "unarmed" in itself highlights the issue. While there may be some hesitation and timidity with the first kill, after multiple murders, Ismail¡¯s courage had grown. He now relied less on handguns; within a few meters, he charged with a knife. Except for getting sttered with blood, the difficulty of killing wasparable to using a gun. A strike with a 50-centimeter sharp de would sever a hand blocking, break a waist running; ordinary people basically stood no chance. It¡¯s even challenging to cause retaliatory injury. Click. The vi door opened. "Who are you looking for?" The door was opened by a woman in her forties. Naturally, she couldn¡¯t think of words like murderer. She just frowned at the youthful Kadar, assuming he hade to the wrong ce. Chapter 1368 - 1292: Bloody Game (Part 8)_2

Chapter 1368: Chapter 1292: Bloody Game (Part 8)_2

"I¡¯m looking for Mr. Johnson," Kadar casually lied about a name. "There¡¯s no Johnson here." Thedy pointed to the namete on the wall and said, "You¡¯vee to the wrong ce." "How many people are in your house?" Kadar didn¡¯t care and just asked. Whether the other side wanted to talk or not, he didn¡¯t really mind. "Please leave." Thedy, indeed unwilling to say, began to sense the danger and was about to close the door as she spoke. Kadar smiled and, with a swift motion, inserted the crowbar into the door gap. The door, naturally, couldn¡¯t be closed. Thedy widened her eyes in terror, but her daily life was too removed from violence. Before she could react, Kadar had kicked the door open with great force, the doorframe hitting her and knocking her to the ground in pain. Kadar took the opportunity to enter, saying nothing more, and swung the crowbar at her head, causing her to bleed profusely and pass out. Only then did Ismail rush in. "This woman is old, so I didn¡¯t leave her for you. We¡¯ll talk again if there¡¯s a better one." Kadar joked to Ismail casually. "Didn¡¯t want her anyway," Ismail said, turning to close the door before asking, "Are there cameras?" "Didn¡¯t see any. This one didn¡¯t die, you can ask her, then see if there¡¯s anyone else around." Just as Kadar spoke, a scream sounded from the front. A year ago, just this scream alone would¡¯ve scared these two teenagers stiff. As for now, Kadar only found it amusing. He seriously nced at the girl standing in front of the kitchen, focused on screaming, drew his gun, and pointed it at her, "Little girl, do you know a gun?" The screaming girl stopped, panting, her body rigid, staring at the ck muzzle of the gun, the gleaming knife, and her mother bleeding heavily. Ismail strode forward, his long legs quickly reached in front of the girl, pinning her to the wall with such force that her head hit it with a "bang." He had killed young children before, so killing a twelve or thirteen-year-old girl didn¡¯t burden him at all. Kadar still had the presence of mind to joke, "Don¡¯t smash her head; she¡¯s not small and looks decent. Are you interested?" "Not interested. I¡¯m into pure love," Ismail shook his head firmly. Because her head hit, the girl¡¯s vision was filled with stars, and she trembled in fear like a sieve. Kadar casually surveyed the environment of the first floor, holding the crowbar single-handedly. After putting the handgun back at his waist, he approached the little girl, patted her face, and asked, "What¡¯s your name?" The little girl, terrified out of her mind, whispered like a mosquito, "Lisa." "How many people are in the house?" Kadar asked. "No one else." Lisa shook her head. Smack! Kadar pped Lisa across the face, "How many people?" "No one else!" Smack! Kadar pped her again, "How many people?" "No one else!" Smack! Smack! Kadar delivered several consecutive ps, until Lisa couldn¡¯t even cry anymore. "Three people!" Unable to withstand any more, Lisa finally confessed and screamed, "Brother, run now..." Thud. A noise of something toppling over came from upstairs. Kadar, not rushing at all, ced the de on the young girl¡¯s neck and shouted, "Brother, you can¡¯t escape, the courtyard wall¡¯s so high, can you jump over it? You can only run out the front door. If I count to three and you don¡¯te down, I¡¯ll kill your sister and thene up for you! Oh, and this woman, is she your mother? I¡¯ll just kill her too." As he spoke, Kadar gave Ismail a signal with his eyes. Ismail immediately moved towards the stairs. "I¡¯m counting to three," Kadar didn¡¯t want to give the upstairs person too much time, in case they called the police. As for whether the other side already called, he didn¡¯t care; he wasn¡¯t a special forces soldier capable of instantly searching a three-story house. But, as he said before entering, if they had called, just kill everyone and leave. It¡¯s just a home invasion and murder; it shouldn¡¯t be scarce here... right. Thud! Another noise came from above. "I¡¯ming down, don¡¯t harm my family." The brother¡¯s voice had the awkwardness of puberty. Ismail responded with a half-serious, half-joking "Mm": "I don¡¯t want to kill either, but we¡¯re hungry. If you give us some food, we¡¯ll eat and take some money before leaving. If you don¡¯te down, I¡¯ll have to kill." ... Whirring. Helicopters flew east to west, one after another. Police cars with sirens and shing lights were setting up checkpoints in pairs on various roads. The massive police operation attracted countless media eyes, so besides police helicopters, news helicopters also began appearing in the sky. Ni Cha looked up at it all, difficult to read his expression, and said, "If we can¡¯t catch them this time, we¡¯re finished." "Two double homicides, one massacre, and one driver execution; if we can¡¯t catch them, we¡¯re finished anyway," Zhong Renlong didn¡¯tfort Ni Cha directly, just restated the situation. Ni Cha smiled bitterly, "You¡¯re right. Might as well and listen to Xu Taining¡¯s idea, dying a loud and glorious death." Zhong Renlong said nothing. Disaster can mean different things. If they can¡¯t catch the culprits despite deploying all of Dama Police Station¡¯s helicopters, activating every police car, and mobilizing SWAT and special forces as the standby unit, the police highmand might devise a new type of punishment for them. "At least we have Jiang Yuan," Zhong Renlong said quietly. "Hopefully..." Ni Cha was using Chinese, which he had recently learned over the past few days. Thud-thud... Liu Jinghui approached with heavy steps and immediately asked, "Any news at the checkpoints?" "No. Haven¡¯t found anything anywhere, and we don¡¯t know where their car went," Zhong Renlong replied eagerly. "No discovery means they¡¯re within our encirclement," Liu Jinghui said sharply, taking out his phone and repeating the same words to Jiang Yuan. When it came to Jiang Yuan¡¯s work, Ni Cha quickly added, "They might have escaped through some unknown path." "Didn¡¯t Xu Taining set up hidden sentries? Did you guys?" Liu Jinghui countered. "We did, of course," Zhong Renlong responded quickly. "If they¡¯re set up, they can¡¯t escape. At least the car can¡¯t. They stole a sedan, which can only travel on paved roads. Even if there¡¯s a side road, they eventually have to hit the main road. If they evade the open sentries, they can¡¯t evade the hidden ones. Xu Taining is skilled at this," Liu Jinghui said confidently, trusting Xu Taining. Uncertain, Ni Cha said, "But... Xu sir has never been to Dama, only mapped on paper. What if there¡¯s an issue?" "If your map isn¡¯t faulty, Xu Taining won¡¯t be either," Liu Jinghui reassured Ni Cha, adding, "Even in our country, Xu Taining often works in unfamiliar ces, relying on paper maps for investigations. Experts of this level function this way." "What if they hid the car and fled on foot?" "They can¡¯t run fast that way. By time, they¡¯re still within the encirclement," Liu Jinghui said, adding, "Now¡¯s not the time to doubt established strategies; it¡¯s time to execute the n unwaveringly." Liu Jinghui then asked, "Is the search team ready?" "Ready. Are we setting off?" "Let¡¯s move," Liu Jinghui replied. Ni Cha nodded silently, taking out his walkie-talkie tomand, "Search team, move out! Search along the route, investigate along the way..." The search task had long been prepared, but with the mobilization now, Ni Cha¡¯s resources were fullymitted. Looking at the sky, Ni Cha felt the gloom in the darkened sky, his expression even graver. At this time, Liu Jinghuiforted, "As long as one person or piece of evidence verifies the suspect¡¯s route, searches in other directions can be cancelled, reinforcing that direction. Our manpower will snowball, naturally scrutinizing more thoroughly." "I understand," Ni Cha moved his lips, then asked, "What does God Jiang say?" "He¡¯s monitoring surveince¡ªgas stations, convenience stores, repair shops, parking lots, public restrooms, road surveince¡ªif the perpetrators switched vehicles, we can find them," Liu Jinghui exined. "Switch vehicles?" Ni Cha was startled; he forgot this possibility. "It¡¯s okay if they switch; it also wastes time. They¡¯re still within our encirclement," Liu Jinghui emphasized first, then said, "Don¡¯t fear them abandoning cars. Even if they find another at a gas station, repair shop, or a parking lot, we can catch up, never falling too far behind." Initially intending to ask how they¡¯d switch cars, Ni Cha realized they could easily take out a driver, toss the person in the trunk or ditch them roadside, and switch cars silently. This thought, once again, amplified his anxiety. Chapter 1369 - 1293: Bloody Game (9)

Chapter 1369: Chapter 1293: Bloody Game (9)

Jiang Yuan maintained his own pace, reviewing thepiled videos from various sources. Apanying him was a team of over a hundred people. These videos, sourced from police surveince on various routes, gas stations, public restrooms, repair shops, and other ces, wereplex and chaotic, requiring considerable time just to format. It was as if everything overnight had reverted to the time before the monitoring system was reorganized in Ningtai County. Ni Cha was anxiously pacing back and forth. In his eyes, the future world line was full of various directions of failure. What if the officer watching the video missed the suspect? What if the killer changed cars on the road? What if the killer is hiding by the roadside waiting for nightfall? What if the killer goes on a rampage? Ni Cha found almost every kind of failure uneptable, while the sessful world was so narrow and scarce that he could only keep looking at Jiang Yuan, serving as an antidote for his anxiety. Liu Jinghui came back after being busy around and couldn¡¯t help butugh when he saw Ni Cha still drawing sce from Jiang. He had really seen too many leaders in such a state. It must be said that for a provincial police officer like Liu Jinghui, while the statewide support was exhausting, he asionally had to bear some me and take some heat, but in terms of the police system, he could not bear the true responsibility and the big burden. The responsibility of the local jurisdiction is always the greatest. Leaders like Ni Cha, when really encountering big and important cases that are difficult or impossible to solve, feel anxiety like waking up to find oneself taking the mathematics exam of the high school entry test. Liu Jinghui stood next to Ni Cha for a while, watching him stare at Jiang Yuan as if staring at the exam paper in the front row, and then deliberately said with a rxed tone, "The other side wants to live, and that¡¯s our opportunity." "Huh?" Ni Cha looked at Liu Jinghui. The trantor hurriedly exined. Liu Jinghui said, "If they were really insane with the purpose of killing, there are all sorts of ways to make a big deal out of it. Ultimately, the two of them still want to survive. As long as a person wants to live, they are subject to many limitations. For example, they need to quickly move to a ce of refuge, so there¡¯s no time for anything else. For example, they need to cover their tracks, so they can¡¯t make it obvious on the road; otherwise, someone would call the police immediately, and that¡¯s it..." Ni Cha felt a slight reduction in anxiety upon hearing this. The principle wasn¡¯t hard to understand, but given the current pressure, only someone like Liu Jinghui would dare to make such an easy conclusion. Ni Cha¡¯s subordinates stayed silent and nervous. "They have already gone too far." Ni Cha added proactively, seekingfort. Liu Jinghui smoothly responded, "They are recklessly sure they won¡¯t die, not recklessly seeking death." "That¡¯s right." Ni Cha breathed deeply and exhaled slowly, feeling that many future world lines in front of him abruptly diminished. ck ck ck. The sound of typing on keyboards and clicking mice seemed to grow louder in the room. Soon after, without hearing anyone give orders, several people quickly stood up and moved into action. Ni Cha looked over again and saw Jiang Yuan already operating theputer personally, with several technicians beside him cooperating. "Any news?" Ni Cha hurried forward. "We found an image, a video from an automated vending machine by the roadside. The suspect is fully covered..." a local technician said excitedly. "In this hot weather, who buys stuff in a hoodie, with a mask and sunsses... We were worried it might be other fugitives, but God Jiang judged by the figure that there¡¯s a certain probability it¡¯s Steva." Ni Cha shuddered all over, sweating on the back of his neck instantly, and asked, "How likely? Did you see any vehicles?" "We¡¯re looking. The vending machine¡¯s view doesn¡¯t show a car. God Jiang is looking for nearby surveince video." The local technician was equally tense and added, "God Jiang is still doing image enhancement. If we can confirm, we¡¯ll search for the vehicle¡¯s direction." As he spoke, Jiang Yuan had already given orders in Indonesian to the high-ranking officers on standby nearby. Ni Cha had long delegatedmand authority, and besides the officers blocking off main roads, there was arge number of vehicles and officers patrolling. The costs of deploying personnel and overtime pay were no longer within Ni Cha¡¯s consideration. It can be said Ni Cha¡¯s needs had merged smoothly with Xu Taining¡¯s n. Given the current state, Ni Cha did not feel the pain of the budget burning; he had no time for it. The on-site officers responded loudly, and the sound reached Ni Cha¡¯s ears, slightly easing his expression. Jiang Yuan finally had a moment for Ni Cha, first turning around to correct him, "By analyzing the video from the vending machine, through footprint identification, we¡¯ve basically confirmed it¡¯s Steva." "Yes yes, God Jiang¡¯s footprint identification, that¡¯s absolutely reliable." Ni Cha smacked his forehead with a sudden realization. "I¡¯m now letting them continue to check the relevant monitors to determine the suspect¡¯s vehicle information." Jiang Yuan continued exining his earlier orders. Ni Cha instantly understood and nodded. It would be best if the suspect hadn¡¯t switched vehicles; otherwise, there would be no trace. Everyone continued to strive for an angle that could view the vehicle. Ten minutes passed in a sh. Jiang Yuan finally found the stolen car in surveince 5 kilometers ahead. The video image could barely show the two suspects, and after another round of image enhancement¡ªafter Jiang Yuan¡¯s 5 minutes, the faces of Kadar Stava and Ismail reappeared before everyone¡¯s eyes. "We can bring back personnel from the other lines." Jiang Yuan exhaled lightly. To speak frankly, fifteen minutes ago, even though they had found traces of Steva, only now could they confirm 100% that the two people were on this route. Only with sufficient evidence could they withdraw the teams deployed in other directions; otherwise, the risk was too great. Ni Cha, along with several high-ranking officers, rushed forward, giving orders, and checking evidence. "They¡¯re heading towards the coastal city." A few people roughly nced, and someone concluded without needing to check the map. Liu Jinghui nodded beside them. Ni Cha said, "We have a blockade line before the coastal city. Let the blockade line report the situation... By the way, what was the time here, at the vending machine?" "We are about 2 hours behind, but looking at the surveince video foundter, they weren¡¯t driving fast and stopped for breaks. The driver is Ismail, the tall one; he shouldn¡¯t have learned to drive and doesn¡¯t have a license." A local officer reported energetically without needing Jiang Yuan. Ni Cha still looked to Jiang Yuan. "That¡¯s correct." Jiang Yuan nodded and added, "We¡¯re following this road up, they can¡¯t escape." "Send more personnel over." Ni Cha recalled people from other routes, now having an abundance of resources. ... Woooo... The sound of a helicopter came from afar, then rushed away. Buzzing... Another helicopter flew past. Kadar was getting a headache from the helicopter noise and mmed the table, asking, "Do nes usually fly over here?" "Rarely." The twelve or thirteen-year-old girl, helping with cooking at the stove, was filled with fear and anxiety. "asionally." The woman who had been hit in the skull with a crowbar subconsciously muddled the waters; her head hurt badly, but she was still alive, and she didn¡¯t want to die. "Something¡¯s wrong with this situation." Kadar rubbed his head, frustrated and scratching. "What¡¯s wrong?" Ismail didn¡¯t take it seriously, just focused on guzzling fried eggs. They hadn¡¯tcked food recently, but it wasn¡¯t easy to eat well. Kadar, however, couldn¡¯t bother with that right now. Wielding a crowbar and one hand on a gun, he anxiously paced the room. Buzzing... again, the sound of a helicopter flying over. "Something¡¯s not right; how could there be so many helicopters? This isn¡¯t some major transportation route nor a ce needing helicopters, and we didn¡¯t see helicopters earlier along the way, did we..." Kadar said while moving towards the window. Bang! A bullet spiraled into Kadar¡¯s brow. All calctions, all choices, all fortune, all perplexing yet enticing pursuits, all departed from him. Bang bang! The front and back doors of the room were smashed open by door rams. Simultaneously, the sound of helicopter ropes descending came from the roof. "Police!" "Police!" The entering officers shouted hoarsely. Ismail, still alive, raised his hands, confused and helpless, as Karda¡¯s words echoed in his mind: "It¡¯s just a game, what are you afraid of?" Ismail turned his head to find Kadar, only to see pieces of a shattered skull falling to the ground. "Is it over?" Another group entered. The leading reporter was trembling with excitement, incessantly shouting, "Record it, record it, did you record it?" Chapter 1370 - 1294: Confirmed Death

Chapter 1370: Chapter 1294: Confirmed Death

"Kadar Stava is confirmed dead." Mu Zhiyang protected Jiang Yuan as they entered, while Shen Yaowei, who had entered first, turned back to report. "It¡¯s fine if he¡¯s dead." Jiang Yuan responded with a "hmm". Although Stevamitted patricide, murder, robbery, and kidnapping andmitted multiple homicides, he was a minor, which in the modern legal system, could potentially allow him to survive. Jiang Yuan and others, including Ni Cha, unanimously believed there was no need to take such a risk. The lengthy trial process would inevitably be extremely slow due to the death penalty and multiple homicides, as each case would need to be tried one by one, requiring evidence presentation, and so on. For the police and prosecution, regardless of how many homicide cases were handled, not a single one could be rxed, especially in high-profile cases like these, which often have famouswyers or those aspiring to be famous providing free or semi-free legal services, thereby scrutinizing every piece of evidence provided by the police with a magnifying ss. And if any piece of evidence in any case is questioned, the overall progress would halt, resulting in numerous death-row inmates living several decades longer. Additionally, due to Kadar Stava¡¯s surname, it¡¯s possible that Counselor Stewa¡¯s old connections or rivals might interfere. On the other hand, Kadar sitting among three hostages, clutching a handgun, was indeed a real danger. Given these factors, themand post considered the best solution was to shoot the armed kidnapper Kadar dead on the spot. This only slightlyplicated the on-site investigation, but it was still less troublesome than the hassle brought on by journalists. Jiang Yuan frowned as he nced at the nearby group of reporters. This was the request of the Dama Police Station, and he wasn¡¯t in a position toment. In fact, there was initially no need for him to conduct the site investigation because all the culprits were apprehended; without the need for investigation, Dama Police Station had technicians who could rece Jiang Yuan. "You are God Jiang Yuan, right?" The reporters had astonishingly good memories and immediately recalled him upon noticing his gaze. Of course, Jiang Yuan¡¯s features were distinctive enough. Standing next to 1.82-meter-tall Ismail, he was a head taller, unmistakably recognizable. Mu Zhiyang adjusted his step and stood between the reporters and Jiang Yuan. "I¡¯ve interviewed you before, you might remember me, I am..." The reporter hastily introduced himself. Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t remember, just waved his hand and said, "Not now, sorry, I have to inspect the site first." "Then I¡¯ll take a video of you." The reporter gestured for the camera toe closer as he spoke. Jiang Yuan thought for a moment, then looked at Ni Cha and Zhong Renlong. "Just carry on with your regr work." Ni Cha did not exin publicly. Asia has its own customs, of which Jiang Yuan was not surprised and simply nodded. He then proceeded to ask the three victims some questions, ensuring there were no unexpected incidents before turning back to examine the corpse. A small pool of blood had spread on the ground in front of the window. The peeled skull resembled a peeled coconut shell, fragmented but still intact. Viewed from the other side, the hairy skull appeared somewhat terrifying. The brain inside the skull was exposed, with patterns resembling pig brains at a hot pot restaurant, and because of the bullet¡¯s scorching, this brain had a slightly Japanese appearance. Jiang Yuan scrutinized Kadar¡¯s face carefully. This is the most crucial step. Although the sniper confirmed before firing, the forensic doctor still ys a key role in identification¡ªafter all, forensic doctors are most suited for dating identical twins! Kadar¡¯s face no longer showed any signs of innocence. Personal experiences change one¡¯s appearance, especially drastic changes like patricide and murder and fleeing. The hormones crazily secreted during such events would ultimately cause a person to maturepletely, often in a direction contrary to what he might have wished. To Jiang Yuan, Kadar Stava bore a slight resemnce to the photo of Counselor Steva. His dead appearance also resembled. "Prepare the body for transport." After the photos were taken, Jiang Yuan flipped the corpse over and instructed for it to be bagged. A culprit shot by a sniper doesn¡¯t require as meticulous an autopsy as in a murder case. The reporter on the scene held their breath, waiting for Jiang Yuan to send off the corpse before quickly asking, "God Jiang, did you lead the investigation of this case?" "Yes." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have the slightest intention of being humble. He indeed led the investigation, and if Ni Cha had any objections, he should first talk to Huang Qiangmin. The reporter¡¯s eyes brightened as he quickly continued, "God Jiang, you¡ª" Several people carried the body bag out, and Jiang Yuan did another circuit on the ground floor before going upstairs. If this were the case, evidence for kidnapping and injury would need a focus on extraction, including evidence of forced entry with a crowbar, to ensure the subsequent inquiries and trial proceed smoothly. Now, it could also be entrusted to others to handle. Jiang Yuan walked back and forth for half an hour, ensured there were no oversights, then exited to check the vehicle before finally departing by helicopter. The helicopter had already been summoned, so not using it would be a waste. After Jiang Yuan and others left, Zhong Renlong followed suit, and Ni Cha remained at the scene, smiling and gazing up at the helicopter, breathing cold air. In the end, today¡¯s expenses weren¡¯t overly outrageous. After all, the case was solved! With the case solved, reviewing those expenses doesn¡¯t seem uneptable. However, everything is rtive, and Ni Cha thought about the expenses of the cases he had handled before, which invariably made him itchy all over. It was even harder to imagine what consequences they would face if this case had not been solved. The distance of several hundred kilometers was just right for the helicopter¡¯s range. Zhong Renlong received several phone calls along the way, then escorted Jiang Yuan to meet with police higher-ups and various levels of politicians afternding. Local media in Dama had already swarmed in, interviewing a group of leaders until their eyes sparkled with excitement. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, the chief immediately hugged him, smiling as he introduced him to everyone, "Jiang Yuan is the god of criminal investigation from China, and he is one of the Datuks I rmended this year. Although Mr. Jiang Yuan is young, he has continuously solved extraordinary cases in both China and Dama. Several well-known cases, such as the previous serial rape case, were overseen by Officer Jiang Yuan." At this time, the chief didn¡¯t regard Ni Cha as a person. Jiang Yuan apanied them with a smile, meanwhile, Chu Guanliang, the liaison officer for Chinese police affairs in Dama, and people like Cui Xiaohu dispatched by the ministry also began to appear one after another. Putting aside the suffering of the victims, the investigation of a highly-publicized criminal case is like a grand media carnival, especially in election-based countries, where no one can resist such a pool of attention. Soon, Jiang Yuan met with many prominent figures, who all showcased their amiable, approachable side before the cameras, appearing as if they were admiring a pure golden statue when looking at Jiang Yuan. Smiles, shlights, more smiles, and dances, followed by more shlights in the night, where the chief hugged Jiang Yuan and said, with a voice tinted with the smell of alcohol, "Pack up tomorrow ande to be a Datuk." Chapter 1371 - 1295: Non-Invasive Autopsy

Chapter 1371: Chapter 1295: Non-Invasive Autopsy

"Jiang Yuan, diperskan." The ceremonial officer announced the name, watching Jiang Yuan stand up, guided by the staff to the designated conferment position, then signaled him to perform a bowing ceremony. Jiang Yuan in full dress watched as the Sultan personally pinned the medal on his chest. In the Datuk conferment ceremony, this is considered an honor. Most of the time, the Sultan would only hand over the medal and certificate to the honoree, sometimes even dispatching senior officials toplete this task. Jiang Yuan said in My, "Thank you, Your Excellency," and then prepared to bow and retreat like the other honorees. At this moment, the Sultan, facing Jiang Yuan, customarily said, "Syabas (well done)," and then looked into Jiang Yuan¡¯s eyes, saying, "I hope you can make more contributions to Dama." Thest sentence, slightly beyond the temte of the conferment ceremony, made Jiang Yuan have no idea, so he naturally replied, "Of course." "I believe you can find the truth," the Sultan said seriously once more, patting Jiang Yuan¡¯s chest. Jiang Yuan finally understood, feeling the power of the hand on his chest and the weight of the medal, replied in My, "I will." Only then did the Sultan drop his hand, allowing Jiang Yuan to bow and step back, then returned to his own position. The ceremonial officer quickly moved on to the next segment. Meanwhile, witnessing this scene, Huang Qiangmin immediately started signaling crazily with his eyes to Cui Xiaohu and Chu Guanliang beside him. Chu Guanliang lightly blinked his left eye, indicating "it hase to this," then blinked his right eye "stay calm." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t understand, but expressedprehension. Jiang Yuan returned to the queue, holding the conferred documents and, prompted by the system, opened a blue shimmering interface before him. The title of "Datuk," listed alongside the previously obtained first-ss merits, each with a small "+" on the right side that could be clicked, then allowing one to choose a skill from the vast list. Jiang Yuan instantly understood that, in the system¡¯s certification, the title of a Datuk was equivalent to obtaining a "first-ss merit," at the very least, the rewards given were the same. However, a "Datuk" cannot be obtained repeatedly. Previously, Jiang Yuan still had a first-ss merit skill that had not been redeemed, mainly because his usual skills were already rich enough, redeeming a universal skill was less useful than saving it for special situations. For instance, in cases like explosions, shootings, and poisonings, Jiang Yuan encountered these very rarely andcked corresponding skills, but if he really encountered a situation where only these skills could solve the case, the designated skill redemption woulde in handy. And today, with the title of "Datuk" obtained, another skill can be redeemed, so there¡¯s no need to reserve two designated skill redemptions so extravagantly. Jiang Yuan made a choice almost without much thought, selecting "drowning rted nkton detection (Level 6)" from theplex tree skill table. Designated skills are more precise skills; the higher the skill level obtained, the broader the skill, the lower the skill level obtained. On the branch of the "drowning rted nkton detection (Level 6)" skill, if he steps to "nkton detection" it is only Level 5, and a more detailed "diatom examination" has Level 7. Although thetter¡¯s Level 7 is very tempting, to speak the truth, Level 7 skills are overkill most of the time. Level 7 "diatom detection" is like equipping a tank with a 152mm cannon, undeniably deadly when needed, perhaps even with terrifying effects, but in practice, the 128mm rapid-fire gun is equally terrifying and may be more effective on the battlefield. For instance, having the super-strong Level 7 "diatom detection" ability, in the daily work of the "Taihe Working Group," might add a super strong de, and with "temporary +1" skills, something extraordinary might happen. Yet, speaking realistically, Level 7 is already super impressive. Compared to the mere "diatom detection" skill, increasing Level 6 "blue-green algae," "green algae," "euglena," "fungi," and other various drowning markers¡¯ detection capabilities clearly provides broader coverage. Palpitation. The ceremony did notst too long and soon entered the media segment. Especially after the Sultan and the ceremonial officers exited, the following time all belonged to the media. Not only were there reporters from television stations and print media, but many self-media individuals also came running, holding professional equipment or just a phone, focusing on one or a few people inside to shoot. Traditional media still needed to consider the screen time and order of each "Datuk," but self-media people had no such consideration. A group of people almost all aimed for Jiang Yuan. Some would initially take shots of others, but after a few shots, their cameras basically turned to Jiang Yuan. The scene rapidly turned into a Disney spectacle. A long line began to form in front of Jiang Yuan, and those unwilling to queue or stuck in line, would go to shoot others, yet everyone would ultimately want to queue for Jiang Yuan. Some people were satisfied with just taking photos, while others wanted a group photo or a short interview, Jiang Yuan fulfilled them all. Having received the title and acquired a skill, letting people take photos did not matter. The one most worried about mishaps at the scene was originally the police liaison officer Chu Guanliang, who already prepared various statements beforeing on stage, nning how to persuade Jiang Yuan. Yet, seeing Jiang Yuanply, posing as instructed and taking group photos as requested, he was momentarily dumbfounded. Ni Cha then brought Zhong Renlong over, eximing, "Jiang Yuan, the Datuk is really smart." "Of course," Chu Guanliang replied, then realized it was Ni Cha who wanted to chat, prompting more naturally, "In what way?" "In China, media cooperation might not be as needed, where the police powers are still significant. Comparatively, over here, dealing with the media is truly important; with media assistance or even just showing up in media, everything bes more convenient," Ni Cha borately stated, "I know Datuk Jiang doesn¡¯t like being interviewed or taking photos, but his willingness today really shows he¡¯s giving his all for the case." Zhong Renlong quickly tranted and added his understanding at the end, "Having good rtionships with media can be half the battle won. Because politicians need media, they tilt resources towards police with media connections." Chu Guanliang nodded repeatedly, "Jiang Yuan truly cares about the case..." As he spoke, Chu Guanliang saw two councillors walking toward Jiang Yuan together. Both saw each other, and for a fleeting moment, their steps paused, but in the blink of an eye, they resumed their steady steps. Simultaneously, the aides of the two councillors realized something and surged toward their respective councillors, gathering closely behind them to enhance their presence. The certain self-media person talking to Jiang Yuan consciously stepped back a step. "No worries, you all talk first," the first-to-arrive councillor gave a gentlemanly nod, pretending to be humble. Ultimately, he came to ride the poprity wave, so why would he let the stars of the show leave? Theter-arriving councillor was the same, deliberately standing behind Jiang Yuan to ensure he appeared in photos as others took them. The first step in an election is to be familiar with the public, which is usually quite difficult for most councillors. However, the heat Jiang Yuan brought was unmistakably stronger than an ordinary councillor. The case of Counselor Stewa¡¯s son shooting Counselor Stewa and then randomly killing passersby to test his nerves was gripping enough on its own, not to mention the bloody massacre that followed. Different media had different angles, potentially spawning many various stories, and each story brought substantial traffic. After several busy hours, Jiang Yuan finally managed to leave, only to be unsurprisingly blocked at the door. The person blocking the crowd was a man of about 60 years, dressed extravagantly,ing from a Rolls Royce. "Kumar, I want him to be responsible for my son¡¯s postmortem," the person stopping shouted to the name of the Dama Police Station chief. The police chief Kumar joyfully said, "No problem, I will immediately arrange for Datuk Jiang Yuan to perform an autopsy on your son¡¯s body." "No autopsy allowed. No autopsy!" The old man from the Rolls Royce, using his cane to forcefully pound the floor, said, "As I said before, I demand aprehensive investigation, but only a non-invasive autopsy can be conducted." The so-called non-invasive autopsy, also known as non-intrusive body examination, refers to examining the body without surgical dissection but using some medical instruments instead. This is necessary for many religious beliefs. Especially in many cases of unnatural death, because of the uncertainty of a homicide urring, families demanding non-invasive autopsies pose a particr challenge. The police chief Kumar opposed further, "Non-invasive autopsies, we have already done, without appropriate conclusions. We trulyck a conventional autopsy now!" "But Jiang Yuan can do it, right, Datuk?" The old man from the Rolls Royce approached Jiang Yuan, looking up at him, said, "The Sultan stated you have agreed!" Chapter 1372 - 1296: Insufficient Support

Chapter 1372: Chapter 1296: Insufficient Support

The old man from the Rolls-Royce was dressed in luxurious clothing, and his tone was stiff, exactly fitting the stereotype people have of thevish aristocracy. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t know him, let alone follow his lead. As a detective, responding to such questions is a professional skill, so he simply said, "Sudan didn¡¯t tell me the specifics of the case." The old man was taken aback, frowning again, "Of course, Sudan won¡¯t tell you the specifics, but he has expressed concern, do you understand?" "I don¡¯t understand." Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t just pretending to be clueless. If he agreed, the old man could just leverage it to keep making demands. Seeing that his first demand was a non-invasive autopsy, it was clear this old man wasn¡¯t easy to deal with. On the other hand, this is basic interrogation technique. Friends who frequently take records in interrogation rooms know that speaking the truth means repeating exactly what was said, not spection or assumptions. What Sudan told Jiang Yuan was "I hope you can make more contributions to Dama," and "I believe you can find the truth." Jiang Yuan agreed to these two points, so if the old man wanted to leverage this rtionship, he¡¯d need to provide more evidence. At this moment, Huang Qiangmin came up; he was here to get evidence. Kumar, the Dama Police Station¡¯s chief, while aligning with the old man, obviously had a different perspective than Jiang Yuan and the Ningtai County Bureau, and Ni Cha and others were basically unable to help at this time. The police liaison officer Chu Guanliang quickly came forward and acted as Huang Qiangmin¡¯s trantor. Several people were standing at the door, and after two sentences, the conversation became heated. "No autopsy!" During the conversation, the phrase repeated the most was this one. However, aside from the old man himself, neither Huang Qiangmin nor Chu Guanliang or Chief Kumar seemed concerned. A victim¡¯s family with power demanding privilege is nothing new in the world of policing. But whether this privilege can be granted doesn¡¯t depend solely on the victim¡¯s family¡¯s status. Because the premise of the excessive demands from the victim¡¯s family actually implies a requirement for you to solve the case. To be precise, the victim¡¯s family thinks solving the case is a basic requirement, no need to especially mention it. It¡¯s what you should do, and their additional demands are what they want to use their privileges to exchange for. But for the police, solving cases is never foolproof. Especially with various constraints, the difficulty of solving the case has greatly increased. Sometimes, cases involving politics can¡¯t even be solved, just because of politics. In such cases, it¡¯s better to refuse, because if you agree, all you get is the other party¡¯s forced smile at the moment, but if you fail, you¡¯ll suffer their thundering retribution. Being in Dama, Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t have so many concerns, and simply went for an outright disagreement; his attitude seemed increasingly strong. The old man¡¯s momentum from the Rolls-Royce visibly declined, quickly turning into a repeating machine, merely reiterating "No autopsy." After a few more words, Huang Qiangmin paused the conversation, turned back, and came to Jiang Yuan, saying, "High fall. The initial judgment by the Dama Police Force was suicide, but the old man doesn¡¯t ept it. The deceased was the old man¡¯s son, and due to religious reasons, he doesn¡¯t want his son to undergo an autopsy. The local police¡¯s standpoint is, if there¡¯s no autopsy, the current conclusion stands. After it reached an impasse, the old man found you and thought you might be able to help, so he approached Sudan, something like that. You can ept it or not, it¡¯s up to you." Listening nearby, Mu Zhiyang rolled his eyes, "Hasn¡¯t the high fall already shattered?" Huang Qiangmin said, "A fall from 5 stories high, about 20 meters. The body remainsrgely intact, but a leg bone pierced in. The forensic doctor preliminarily estimated that the cause of death might be from a bone fragment puncturing a blood vessel afternding on one foot, leading to massive hemorrhage and death. But now, without an autopsy, the forensic doctor doesn¡¯t dare to issue a formal evaluation." Mu Zhiyang nced at the silent Jiang Yuan beside him and said, "If itnded on the foot, it¡¯s very likely to be suicide." "The old man doesn¡¯t ept this oue." Huang Qiangmin said again, "However, listening to the old man, his son indeed had no reason tomit suicide. The old man has a profound background, thriving in politics, business, and religious circles. His son also frequently changed girlfriends, had no obvious mental issues, and suddenly jumping off a building indeed doesn¡¯t make sense." Having been a chief detective for over a decade, Huang Qiangmin is quite urate when examining a case. People in different countries might have differences, but the predicaments faced by suicidal individuals are generally the same. Conversely, if the old man could drive a Rolls-Royce and get to Jiang Yuan through Sudan, with his son having no psychological issues, how could it be possible for him tomit suicide? "Can¡¯t it be investigated as a murder case directly?" Jiang Yuan asked, ncing in the old man¡¯s direction, "With his abilities, he should have a way to force the police to file a murder investigation under the premise of no autopsy." Huang Qiangmin nodded and said, "Privately, the local police probably did some small investigations, but after finding nothing, they stopped on their own." Jiang Yuan looked a bit more serious and asked, "Nothing was discovered? Not even sure if it was an ident? Wasn¡¯t there anyone with the deceased at that time?" "No." Huang Qiangmin¡¯s voice lowered a bit and continued, "It¡¯s indeed a bit weird, so the old man wants the police to fully intervene, yet the police are worried about not being able to solve the case." This was a private conversation among a few Chinese people, so it was quite candid. If the deceased didn¡¯tmit suicide, then it¡¯s a meticulously orchestrated murder, difficult to solve. Considering the deceased¡¯s identity, the cause of death likely involves political or religious factors, making it extremelyplex. Carefully expressing his thoughts, Huang Qiangmin said, "In my view, this case is a muddle for the Dama Police Force. As for us, it doesn¡¯t matter much. The worst-case scenario is we can¡¯t solve the case, get publicly criticized, and earn a bad reputation. But reputation, it depends on how you view it." No matter how well-known Jiang Yuan is locally in Dama, the substantial benefits are minimal, at times even counterproductive. Of course, it also depends on how Jiang Yuan perceives the matter, which is why Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t insist. When Jiang Yuan heard this, he knew Huang Qiangmin was inclined to take the case, so he said, "Then bring the relevant materials for me to look at?" "Sure, I¡¯ll go have a proper discussion, not to mention, Chu Guanliang wants it." Huang Qiangmin had already thought through the relevant chains. Not long after, a police officer brought over a box of physical evidence. Huang Qiangmin was mingling with the crowd, chatting fervently with the old man, the chief, and others. Jiang Yuan spread out the existing evidence and quickly began examining it. The local police had only done the most basic scene investigation, with main findings being photos of the rooftop and the ground. The forensic doctor only conducted an external examination of the body, offering little in way of conclusions, mostly descriptions. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need conclusions from those before him, instead, he quickly went through the photos. Determining whether the high fall was suicide or homicide is a challenging focus for forensic pathologists, simr to cases of hangings where it¡¯s questioned if it was suicide or homicide, both being timeless challenges. However, just like how the conservation of momentum is a challenging focus in high school physics, and essay writing the same in high schoolnguage, both stump many during exams. Analysing a body of a high fall to determine if it was suicide or homicide isn¡¯t easy for forensic methods. In fact, judging by difficulty, determining a high fall to be suicide or homicide is much moreplex than determining a hanging as suicide or homicide. When a murderer wants to create the illusion of suicidal hanging, they either have to strangle or suffocate the person first and then set up the body to appear hanged, or forcibly hang the person while alive. These processes, if met with resistance, easily leave traces; if drugs are used, they are likely to be detected toxicologically. In summary, suicidal hanging and homicidal hanging are two different processes. For a high fall, whether it¡¯s suicide or homicide, it¡¯s a single process. Simply observing the body, it¡¯s not easy to tell, not to mention the body hasn¡¯t been autopsied yet. As for the rooftop, the footprints were extraordinarily chaotic. The location was frequented by smokers, in addition to infrequent cleaning, leaving afar many footprints. On first nce, besides the victim¡¯s footprints clearly stepping at the edge of the rooftop, there aren¡¯t many clues. At this moment, Jiang Yuan repeatedly examined the local police¡¯s rooftop edge footprints photos, eventually using a temporary measure, and after confirming, he called over Shen Yaowei. "You want me, Captain Jiang?" Shen Yaowei was eager, ready to jump off the rooftop at any moment. "Tell Commissioner Huang not to let anyone else know," Jiang Yuan instructed, waving him over, "The victim¡¯s footprints at the edge of the rooftop suggest they were unsteady, with an uneven force distribution. It seems someone held him to create them," Jiang concluded and walked over to the parking lot. They had stood there long enough, and it was time to act, with several people gathered and enough evidence to begin. Chapter 1373 - 1297: Choices

Chapter 1373: Chapter 1297: Choices

The ck Rolls Royce gracefully glided into a bustling alley and stopped in front of a screen wall. The driver jogged from the front seat, pulling open the rear-hinged door for Huang Qiangmin to step out with a broad smile, gracefully. "This won¡¯t do, this won¡¯t do," Huang Qiangmin patted the old man¡¯s hand who followed him out, repeatedly saying, "This car isn¡¯t suitable for us, it¡¯s not right." "I think it¡¯s quite suitable instead. You all work so hard on the case; the seats in this car need to be softer so you can sleepfortably. And look at Jiang Yuan¡ªhis legs are so long, he¡¯s ufortable in ordinary cars; he needs a stretched Rolls Royce," the old man, Hassan, ttered shamelessly, as if treating mouth ulcers with a health drink, only talking about how beautiful American double tails are. Suppressing his satisfaction, Huang Qiangmin sighed silently by the Rolls Royce door, "Better not, if someone takes a photo and sends it back to China, it could cause a storm. We¡¯d better use domestic cars or just the Dama Police Station¡¯s existing vehicles." "How can that be?" "It¡¯s fine, Chinese people in Chinese cars; that¡¯s also suitable." "Let me think of a way then," the old man saw that Huang Qiangmin was not just being polite and stopped. At this moment, Jiang Yuan got out from the extended Rolls Royce behind and came to Huang Qiangmin¡¯s side. "Let¡¯s go, let¡¯s go, we¡¯ll talk inside," Huang Qiangmin immediately pulled Jiang Yuan along, not giving the old man a chance to speak. This guy¡¯s identity is tooplicated, and Huang Qiangmin doesn¡¯t want Jiang Yuan to have too much contact with him. The old man, Hassan, actually knew what Huang Qiangmin was thinking, or rather, the previous intense conflict had already inly expressed it; now, the old man was still following, merely entwining himself shamelessly with the investigation team. This would naturally not be allowed in China, but in Dama, it¡¯s a local police station¡¯s value system issue. However, Hassan also tried his best to go along with Huang Qiangmin and Jiang Yuan, rarely being verbose or giving opinions, just tagging along for observation, which wasn¡¯t too annoying. As they chatted and slipped into the shadow wall, they saw two rows of waiters standing neatly inside the lobby, with several tables of hot pot already prepared in the middle. "Everyone, let¡¯s chat while eating..." Hassan politely invited Jiang Yuan and the others, saying, "I had these hot pots flown in from Chongqing yesterday, along with the base, ingredients, and condiments. I also borrowed the kitchen staff and waiters from local partners..." As he spoke, a waiter came forward to light the hot pot, making all of them start to simmer. In the luxurious hall with intricate patterns, theplete set of hot pot utensils from a certain mountain city hot pot restaurant was ironically refreshed for a second spring. "Take a seat," Huang Qiangmin said, pulling Jiang Yuan to sit down with a few local high-ranking individuals. The old man, Hassan, quickly came forward, first helping Jiang Yuan and the others with the condiments, then, as the hot pot cooked, he prepared to slowly steer the conversation towards the case. Jiang Yuan listened to the pleasantries between Huang Qiangmin and a few others, first eating a few bites to fuel his Chinese stomach, then, ording to n, said, "The case isn¡¯t actuallyplicated; the cause of death is basically clear, it should be homicide." The people sitting at the other tables sat upright and listened to Jiang Yuan speak, as the hot pot bubbled away. Jiang Yuan had said simr things to different groups before, but exining it collectively now served to form consensus. Regarding case investigation, this was tantamount to an informal case analysis meeting, rifying the rationale and ultimately defining the investigation direction. If there were any dissenting opinions, now was a suitable time to raise them. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team had previously finished small meetings, so the real focus was on the old man Hassan and the few local high-ranking individuals he brought along. A few people quickly exchanged nces, with two even whispering to each other for 10 seconds. Then, the person sitting in the middle asked, "Isn¡¯t an autopsy needed?" "Of course, an autopsy would be better and more urate; it¡¯s the gold standard," Jiang Yuan first expressed his opinion. As he noticed a slight change in their expressions, anticipating a reconsideration, he added, "Looking at the MSCT in scan, 3D reconstruction, and MRI scan donest night, they at least rify the cause of death and provide some clues." MSCT is multi-slice CT, amonly used type in clinical settings today, and MRI scan is the maic resonance used frequently for patients by regr people. Non-autopsy examinations primarily use these imaging instruments for judgment, offering certain advantages not present in autopsies. For instance, parts like the jaw, rarely dissected without reason since it looks unsightly afterward and many families find it hard to ept. But when using imaging, it¡¯s veryprehensive. On the other hand, even in surgical procedures, direct visual inspection after opening up remains the most urate way to examine, known as "surgical exploration." Hassan visibly rxed, then his expression turned serious, and he cautiously said, "Please go ahead." Jiang Yuan put down his chopsticks, took out his notebook, and said, "I won¡¯t go into detail, just the clues I deduced: on the deceased¡¯s left shoulder and right chestteral side, there are abrasions on the skin, and beneath the left scap, there¡¯s a bruise on the skin, about 10 by 4 centimeters, a rtivelyrge area. Exining it as a simple fall from a height isn¡¯t impossible, but it¡¯s somewhat far-fetched." "The scalp injuries and fractures at various positions aside, I noticed a fracture on the thoracic vertebra at T11; since this fracture wasn¡¯t caused by direct violence, added to the undamaged skin on the back, it could easily be considered an indirect injury from impact. But in my view, this damage resembles being restrained and struggling." Saying this, Jiang Yuan stood up directly, grabbed Shen Yaowei, encircled him with one arm, and lifted him by his chest. Jiang Yuan was over a head taller than Shen Yaowei, with an arm span able to wrap from his left chest to the right. Jiang Yuan gestured, "If the strength is applied here and strong enough, considering the deceased¡¯s frailness, it could cause a fracture when airborne. Also, from the fracture direction, the force didn¡¯te from below but from the side, so I lean towards it being man-made rather than caused by a fall from a height." Jiang Yuan then signaled Wang Chuanxing to take out the CT scan, "From this profile, you can directly observe the fracture morphology and distribution inside the vertebral body, which is also quite challenging to do in autopsy." The very professional exnation was something Hassan naturally couldn¡¯t understand, but he had professionals with him, and several local high-level individuals needed these professional exnations for confirmation. "Will you write and sign a post-mortem report then?" someone brought by Hassan inquired. "I can," Jiang Yuan hesitated not at all. Compared to footprint evidence, he also needed this forensic evidence himself. Experts brought by Hassan asked a few more simple questions and then nodded towards Hassan. Jiang Yuan did not wait for Hassan and his team to make a decision, directly saying, "Now let¡¯s talk about how to investigate." After speaking, Jiang Yuan tucked away his notebook, picked up his chopsticks, and started dipping meat again. The beef, soaked with sesame oil, burst with juicy vor. Hassan and his group straightened up again, each picking up chopsticks as if in participation. Jiang Yuan chewed a few pieces of beef as best he could, then swallowed and breathed out, saying, "I looked at the scene photos and also swept the scene with an investigativemp. On the rooftop, particrly around the edge, there were only traces of the deceased¡¯s footprints and those of two people inside. The timing of the footprints inside doesn¡¯t match with that of the deceased, and the footprint positions don¡¯t ovep, likely left from previous smoking." Jiang Yuan continued, "After analyzing other traces on the rooftop carefully, I believe the number of killers is unknown, but they likely wore shoe covers." "Shoe covers?" Hassan and the others seemed a bit puzzled. Wang Chuanxing opened an image for them beside him. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t exin further, instead skipping this topic, "Next, there are several investigation directions, depending on how you prefer to investigate and how lucky you are. First, start with the deceased¡¯s acquaintances; second, follow the deceased¡¯s interest rtionships; third, track the deceased¡¯s behavior... Which one will you choose?" Such words would be impossible for him to say domestically, even as a guest force they would be inappropriate, but abroad and facing influential persons, there are no particr scruples. More importantly, regardless of the investigation direction chosen, cooperation from persons involved is necessary. Ifmunication and coboration are not achieved, the case can only be handed over to the Dama Police Force to handle. Judging by needs alone, Jiang Yuan rifying that the deceased was murdered at leastpleted Hassan¡¯s first little question, deserving his hot pot and Rolls Royce, plus the early representation by Chu Guanliang. Hassan and the others, after listening, felt there was no issue at all andmunicated through nces immediately. "In our country, we always pursue multiple clues simultaneously, sometimes without being able to find the perpetrator..." Jiang Yuan added. """ Chapter 1374 - 1298: Movements and Actions

Chapter 1374: Chapter 1298: Movements and Actions

"If we need to start... the investigation from his behavior and actions, how should we proceed?" The old man Hassan, after discussing with several others for a long time, cautiously presented his idea to Jiang Yuan, which was entirely within Jiang Yuan¡¯s expectations. This was actually the only path Jiang Yuan left for the old man, as it was the predetermined direction of their investigation. Interpersonal and interest rtionships were tooplicated; the old man would definitely avoid them if possible. And for Jiang Yuan and the others, investigating the interpersonal and interest rtionships of a political and religious figure¡¯s child in a foreign country was obviously infeasible. Or rather, if any results could really be obtained through interpersonal and interest rtionships, it wouldn¡¯t have waited until now. The Dama Police Force had many ways to investigate from these two aspects, and moreover, these two directions did not require results from the forensic doctor¡¯s autopsy. That¡¯s the theory, but speaking of how specifically to investigate and whether the investigation could yield results, it became a detailed and difficult task. Even the best strategies need specific people to execute them. The grander the strategy, the more it requires strong individuals to support it. It¡¯s like scientists in research chains, doctors in medical chains, and Conan among agents. The old man Hassan looked at Jiang Yuan with anticipation, hoping to hear a firm response from "God Jiang." "I will give it a try." Jiang Yuan did not meet the old man¡¯s expectations, but instead followed his own thoughts, saying, "The police will first file the case, then based on the victim¡¯s cellphone signal, estimate a rough route of his movements. This step, I estimate the police have privately done before, and it probably didn¡¯t lead anywhere." "Indeed, they did. After reaching a market, the phone was turned off." Zhong Renlong, who had been tranting earlier, now spoke, providing a coordination. "Then what should we do?" Hassan blurted out. "Conduct arge-scale search for surveince cameras along the route, distribute flyers along the streets, and search for eyewitnesses." These were all the mostmon means of searching, whether for perpetrators, eyewitnesses, or victims. However, once this action is carried out and scaled up, social voices will arise as well. Hassan nodded slowly, still hesitating whether to add some limitations. At this time, Jiang Yuan said, "Although it¡¯s quite amotion, I estimate this n¡¯s effectiveness won¡¯t be great unless luck is overwhelming, with a powerful eyewitness emerging. Otherwise, as long as the perpetrator is careful enough, 90% of the attention could be avoided. From the perpetrator using foot covers, I think this is very possible." "Then..." "A 10% chance is not small; when we solve cases, we actually pursue that 10% chance." Hassan was speechless. Jiang Yuan¡¯s answer did not satisfy him, but it was logical. If there were choices, Hassan might choose other paths, but he actually had no choice. "What can I do?" Hassan finally followed the right path. In fact, as a victim¡¯s family member, there wasn¡¯t much he could do anyway. He wasn¡¯t even sure if his son was killed by someone around him. For people like Hassan, it¡¯s not rare for Jiang Yuan and others. Dama Police couldn¡¯t sort it out because they didn¡¯t want to; for them, Hassan¡¯s identity was too sensitive, a troublesome case no one wanted to get involved with. Instead, it¡¯s experts like Jiang Yuan from another country who have no such concerns. But not just any foreign expert will do; only someone like Jiang Yuan, who has proven his capability and can mobilize the Dama Police Force as a foreigner, has the foundation to investigate such cases. Hassan, or perhaps someone could remind him, deeply understood the subtleties in this, which made him act sopliant. Thispliance was something the Dama Police Force, despite wielding great power, couldn¡¯t obtain. Jiang Yuan made his request without hesitation, stating, "There¡¯s not much we need you to do. We need detailed information about your son, ess to his phone andputer, and for those around your son to cooperate in making thorough statements..." What Jiang Yuan was asking for was something Hassan internally was unwilling to ept; however, after a tug-of-war with the local police station, and another round of exnations by Jiang Yuan, Hassan¡¯s reluctance could only give way to the impulse for revenge. "I understand, I will have people cooperate," Hassan answered with difficulty. The person sitting next to him squirmed ufortably, quickly saying, "Hassan, Qikoli¡¯s phone contains the content of your family¡¯s internal chats, he has also participated in some of our internal meetings, and his ounts..." "How about I find a few people to cooperate with your investigation?" Hassan shifted his thinking. Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui. After a quick exchange of nces, Liu Jinghui spoke, "We can try that first." If that doesn¡¯t work, Jiang Yuan could then step in and veto it. Everyone could think of this approach, and everyone agreed it was good. The crux was that both sides wanted to wrap this case up. At this point, it became purely a hotpot gathering. Hassan apanied with some pleasantries, while everyone quickly filled themselves up and then took their leave. At the entrance, a Hongqi and a BYD were already waiting there. "I borrowed them from friends, you can drive them as you wish, and it doesn¡¯t matter if you crash them, any problems will be mine to handle." Hassan introduced in an exining tone. Huang Qiangmin clicked his tongue twice, shook hands with Hassan: "Thoughtful of you, thank you, thank you..." After exchanging a few courtesies, everyone got into their vehicles, and with two police motorbikes clearing the way, they swiftly returned to Dama Police Station. It was the familiar conference room, apart from which, the entire floor was cleared. The Chief arrived upon hearing the news, first expressing some gratitude, then someone talked about confidentiality, and finally he said, "The personnel you need, I¡¯ve assigned them to work here; initially speaking, would a month suffice?" "Is the case required to be investigated within a month?" Liu Jinghui asked. The Chief first looked at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin cleared his throat twice: "Too busy, I haven¡¯t had the time to mention. Well, upon our discussion, this case is as follows: it¡¯s set for a 3-month period; if notpleted within 3 months, we¡¯ll have to put it aside. Ideally,pletion within 2 months would be best, as we cannot afford to drag on. If finished within a month, that would be optimal, Hana¡¯s side, the local police here, would recognize it more." Huang Qiangmin emphasized it, as if making a point. "Alright then." Seeing this, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t linger. If calcted backwards from time, 2 months is already quite long, and if it¡¯s 3 months, regardless of what Dama Police Station thinks, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team should return to the country; they can¡¯t leave domestic cases unattended spending so long here. Chief Kumar paid particr attention to Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression, confirming he had no dissatisfaction, immediately pped his hands, directing his staff to get busy, and said, "I¡¯ll assign people over, initially it will be managed by Ni Cha, in addition to some other supporting units..." Kumar was entirely adopting the mode of domestic special task forces, allocating the preliminary personnel; since Jiang Yuan has been called, naturally the full set of China¡¯s method must be learned. Of course, this also serves as a good project model for showing where the funds are going. After Jiang Yuan saw him out from the conference room, he gathered everyone to sit down, saying, "Director Liu, you go first." "Hmm, this case, actually by our usual thinking, isn¡¯t considered very difficult." Liu Jinghui said while ncing at Jiang Yuan, "Captain Jiang exined the difficulties to the old man, mainly to rify the difficulties themselves. However, we add a condition here: just how much Dama Police Station has done will determine whether the case is truly difficult. Um... Ni Cha, you speak?" Ni Cha received the trantion, then cleared his throat twice and said, "I just did some understanding; actually I should have understood this case earlier. From what I understand, Kumar, in fact, has exerted quite the force in secret." The emotions of all present, like on a roller coaster, were swayed by Liu Jinghui and Ni Cha, all bing serious at this moment. "How much effort?" Liu Jinghui opened his notebook. "The three points Captain Jiang stated earlier. Arge-scale search for cameras along the route, distributing flyers on the streets, finding eyewitnesses, we¡¯ve actually done all these except for distributing flyers, instead we showed photos to nearby residents, even sought employees in the surrounding office buildings, and still didn¡¯t get any effective clues." Ni Cha quickly denied these avenues and added, "The 10% chance God Jiang just told Hassan about, actually, this 10% chance is basically gone." Ni Cha looked at the majority of Chinese people present and continued, "The police force at the crime scene is rtively weak, not a traditional wealthy area, in fact a ce where someone like Qikoli shouldn¡¯t set foot. So, from the police¡¯s perspective, to solve this case, it must start from Qikoli¡¯s interpersonal or interest connections, who wants to kill Qikoli, why kill him, and how he could be killed, these are the more important aspects." "The old man is unwilling, right." Liu Jinghui smiled. "Yes." Ni Cha did not say much; they were not very proactive about this case in the first ce, if Hassan is really unwilling, no one would force it. In fact, before Jiang Yuan got involved, this case might have ended as a suicide. "We need to first look at your previous investigation content." Liu Jinghui said. "There isn¡¯t any." Ni Cha shrugged, specially exined to Jiang Yuan, "It¡¯s not that we are uncooperative, it¡¯s truly that there are no records; the Chief doesn¡¯t want to handle this case, the investigation was conducted merely under the guise of understanding the case, without formal investigative materials." Jiang Yuan adjusted his posture, looking seriously at Ni Cha. Ni Cha sat upright, looking calmly back at Jiang Yuan. "Mutual trust... is very important." Jiang Yuan slowly spoke, then nced around and said, "Since this is the case, let¡¯s start this case investigation assuming corresponding investigations have all beenpleted without results." Jiang Yuan¡¯s team naturally had no issue with it, including Liu Jinghui and Huang Qiangmin, none expressed anything in particr. All roads lead to Rome; when handling cold cases, there¡¯s inherently much missing information, and there¡¯s no need to probe deeply into why it¡¯s missing, this is simply the cost of handling cold cases. Ni Cha was trembling with emotion, he was prepared to dissect himself, but unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan epted it in one go. Seeing the enthusiastic looks around him, Ni Cha suddenly felt a surge of motivation, looked around and asked, "Where do we start?" Chapter 1375 - 1299: Four-Pronged Attack

Chapter 1375: Chapter 1299: Four-Pronged Attack

Garbage dump. Shen Yaowei and Ni Cha took off their dirty, sticky thread gloves, then removed the slick, hottex gloves underneath, grabbing a bottle of ice-cold c and drinking it down. "Ah,fortable!" Shen Yaowei belched loudly and said in English, "C, so-good!" "Haha, refreshing!" Ni Chaughed heartily. Despite being a high-ranking officer,ing to the dump to sift through trash himself was unnecessary and unpleasant, but it was his own choice! Under Ni Cha¡¯s leadership, hundreds of Dama officers also threw themselves into the garbage dump search without hesitation. "Change the team!" Ni Cha wiped his sweat, feeling nauseated by the stench while empathetically calling down the previous batch of officers. Soon, the break room was engulfed by an even stronger odor. Ni Cha¡¯s nose had adapted, and he casually washed his hands and started distributing ice-cold c to everyone. The group cheerfully thanked him, while Ni Cha responded with cheerful banter. Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t understand My, but he could sense their atmosphere and silently learned from Ni Cha¡¯s approach. Sifting through the garbage dump is a task Shen Yaowei often encounters. In his view, he¡¯s assigned these jobs repeatedly because he¡¯s detail-oriented, reliable for Jiang Yuan, and doesn¡¯tin about hardships, earning him these opportunities. However, he frequently notices that colleagues simrly assigned to such projects tend toin, losing the rare chance due to their inability to maintain caution and meticulousness consistently. Watching Ni Cha in action, Shen Yaowei felt he had learned a lot, not only Ni Cha¡¯s frequent team rotations, but especially his proactive approach, setting an example himself. What¡¯s important is Ni Cha¡¯s demeanor and presence, his optimistic yet rigorous vibe that¡¯s truly inspiring for others to work. Shen Yaowei felt that once he grasped this trick, next time Jiang Yuan assigns him to sift through the garbage dump, he might astound everyone amid the foul smell. "Let¡¯s go." Ni Cha drank half a bottle of c, resisting finishing it, and started re-equipping. Shen Yaowei responded, and bent down to pack the trash used earlier into a bag, sealing andbeling it. Their current goal is to locate items like the shoe covers or gloves used by the killer. ording to Liu Jinghui¡¯s analysis, since the killer used shoe covers for the murder, it¡¯s likely they discarded them upon leaving the scene, as wearing shoe covers would attract attention and leave asting impression. However, there were no relevant reports in the search for eyewitnesses, which supports this. The only question is whether the killer was cautious enough not to discard the shoe covers, instead carrying them away. Or perhaps it¡¯s the sheer volume of garbage at the dump that¡¯s preventing the discovery of shoe covers and other items¡ªShen Yaowei is cautiously optimistic about this. Within the vicinity of the crime scene, there¡¯s not just this one dump, and the time taken for garbage disposal is considerable. As long as the items are here, Shen Yaowei is confident he can find them. "Keep it up!" Shen Yaowei encouraged his colleagues and joined the Dama officers, wielding tongs and lining up to work under the excavator. ... Tang Jia and Zhong Renlong walked along the streets around the crime scene, inspecting each building and shop, trying to find an unfamiliar camera. The apanying Dama detectives persistently knocked on doors, inquiring and showing photos of the victim to everyone they met. Local police had privately done some of this work, but not at arge scale, broad range, or with enough depth, so it wasn¡¯t part of the Jiang Yuan-Ni Cha mutual understanding memo, rather it¡¯s in the extended scope. However, Tang Jia and the others can¡¯t be bothered by how the higher-ups think; their workload remains immense, especially with constant contact with "civilians," which truly tests each one¡¯s emotional stability. Even for a detective like Tang Jia, who has undergone policemunity education, dealing with different-minded civilians who haven¡¯t undergone such education is mentally exhausting, let alone for the Dama officers. In just half a day, participating officers were almost driven to the brink of filingints! Particrly when encountering unreasonable or overly prudent residents, or people indifferent tow, it was truly draining. Yet the work kept progressing resolutely. The victorious team has this advantage, unless they encounter overwhelmingly unbearable failure, they inherently possess great self-motivation. After circling the designated interview area by Liu Jinghui several times, Tang Jia consciously looked at some office buildings located a few hundred meters from the crime scene. "If someone was taking photos or filming upstairs, could it be possible to capture the scene of the crime on this side?" Tang Jia pulled Zhong Renlong, pointing to the buildings with ss curtain walls a hundred meters away. Zhong Renlong naturally understood, looking at the tower with at least 40 floors, he frowned, "Not entirely impossible, but for someone to be filming inside just as the crime takes ce, that¡¯s quite a coincidence, isn¡¯t it? How likely? Furthermore, with so many firms in thisrge building, it¡¯s uncertain how many people we¡¯d have to track down." "Captain Jiang said, we¡¯re here to seek opportunities, to try our luck. You understand trying your luck? It¡¯s like scratching a lottery ticket¡ªthe more you scratch, the greater the chance of winning. Lots of people in the building, means more opportunities," Tang Jia said enthusiastically, posing like a cameraman and pointing towards the buildings ahead. Zhong Renlong was slightly silent, then said, "Speaking of probability, taking photos from the building downwards does have a chance to capture below, but truth be told, from this distance, can you see clearly what you capture?" "At least we can see the vehicles," Tang Jia said excitedly, "If the murderer drove here, the vehicle must be parked nearby during the crime, right? If we identify the vehicle, it could help the case, actually, it would be a significant help." "This... does make some sense," Zhong Renlong had to admit that Tang Jia was somewhat correct. The vehicle isrge enough that it could be photographed; even if the license te isn¡¯t visible, the model and color could cross-reference with the surveince they gathered to uncover quite a bit. Additionally, the vehicle is parked for much longer than the time it takes for the murderer to kill. If the culprit drove themselves, it¡¯s really more likely to be parked right downstairs... Zhong Renlong looked at the building in front, rubbed his face hard, and said, "This location here, the office buildings are cramped, at least five or six thousand people, maybe even ten thousand... It¡¯s quite a big lottery ticket. Have you tried dealing with ten thousand people?" "How about offering a reward?" Tang Jia quickly switched thoughts and said, "Domestically, we can¡¯t casually offer high rewards. Even if we offer money, most of the time it¡¯s from the victim¡¯s family. Do you have restrictions here? If there¡¯s no restriction, that old man wouldn¡¯t bother using a Rolls-Royce, even offering a bonus from driving a Toyota, and these people would be willing to hand over their phones." "You¡¯re making... some sense," Zhong Renlong had to admit. The method Tang Jia suggested could really work, and it¡¯s much simpler than his initial n of talking to thousands of people. Offering a reward is much easier and even cost-free, and Hassan would definitely be willing to spend that money. "Hey, let¡¯s call themand center together," Zhong Renlong had nothing more to say. Tang Jia nodded repeatedly and said, "Remember, you have to praise me, and I¡¯ll praise you!" The opportunity to take charge is hard toe by, especially overseas, Tang Jia dreams of achieving results, proving himself, bing a group star like Shen Yaowei. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team¡¯s current attention level, any emerging star here could be a ministry-registered young expert¡ªa rare life opportunity. ... Meng Chengbiao followed several local police officers, gathering friends the victim had contacted in the days before death, then interrogated them thoroughly. This differs from investigating the victim¡¯s social rtions¡ªit¡¯s mainly investigating his interactions in the days before death. But even for this, it requires old man Hassan¡¯s full support to aplish. Otherwise, several heirs who regrly yed with the deceased generally didn¡¯t want to talk to the police, saying "talk to mywyer" not onlyplicates things but makes the investigation likely to hit a dead-end. Even so, when the victim¡¯s friends came for meetings, almost all broughtwyers, discussing privately with eye contact andnguage what they could or couldn¡¯t say. Only a few pretty girls came withoutwyers, saying a bit more. Meng Chengbiao learned their case-handling methods while attempting to use theirnguage to reconstruct the deceased¡¯s final days. Have to say, the deceased¡¯sst days were indeed exciting, transportation involved private nes, yachts, and luxury cars; meals included fresh seafood, abalone milk, and Xiao Ying lips; sports epassed both solo and partner modes, also three or more people modes, not resembling the final days of someone about tomit suicide. Of course, if you called it pre-death madness, that¡¯s not impossible. While listening, awyer suddenly barged into the meeting room. "I amwyer Lei Yang for Ms. Sofia, from now on..." Thewyer was fearless in front of the police in the meeting room. "Is he thewyer you hired?" asked Sofia¡¯s counterpartwyer with furrowed brows. "You don¡¯t need to answer his question." Lei Yang simrly spoke to Sofia, then sat down and said, "I¡¯ll apany you in answering questions from now on. If you¡¯re unsure about anything, discuss with me first, then answer them, or I can respond on your behalf." Sitting in the corner, Meng Chengbiao rose in astonishment, nced at the few helpless Dama police nearby, and considered for a moment, then said to the trantor, "Ask him who hired him?" Lei Yangughed heartily upon hearing the trantor¡¯s question, saying, "Who hired me is not important, and I don¡¯t need to tell you anyway..." "Was it Hassan?" Meng Chengbiao shouted halfway through, saying Hassan¡¯s name loudly. The name Hassan needed no trantion, Lei Yang heard it instantly and said, "It¡¯s not Lord Hassan, he himself is uninformed..." The trantor hurriedly conveyed, but Meng Chengbiao ignored, pulling out his phone to text Jiang Yuan, saying, "Whether Hassan hired you or not isn¡¯t important, I don¡¯t need to rify, he¡¯s responsible..." "But... But..." Seeing Meng Chengbiao disregard thew, Lei Yang was suddenly less confident, watching Meng Chengbiao send messages rapidly, could only grit his teeth and say, "Mr. Meng, I¡¯m just ensuring Sofia doesn¡¯t defame the deceased¡¯s reputation." "Heh... Jiang Yuan obviously doesn¡¯t think so." Meng Chengbiao shed his phone disying Jiang Yuan¡¯s response briefly to Lei Yang, then quickly pocketed it, telling the nearby officers, "Just take a break and await the decisions of the big shots." Chapter 1376 - 1300: Progress

Chapter 1376: Chapter 1300: Progress

After receiving a message from Meng Chengbiao, Jiang Yuan thought for a moment. Instead of immediately having someone call Hassan, he got up, had a grill prepared, ordered various cuts of beef, and personally marinated a fish called "Unforgettable." Then he invited Liu Jinghui, Huang Qiangmin, and other people, and they all gathered around the grill to eat. The team was currently in the preparation phase of their work, divided into three directions for the investigation. The leads they were getting were limited, and a few people could easily handle the tasks in the conference room. However, after Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui took a break, the special task force¡¯s work naturally slowed down. Jiang Yuan was in no hurry. He set up a table and chairs in the courtyard, lit charcoal, and slowly grilled fish over a low me. The core selling point of the "Unforgettable" dish is its oily richness, which requires slow grilling to bring out the vor without burning the edges. Halfway through the barbeque, old man Hassan hurried over. Upon meeting, he used an earnest tone to say, "God Jiang, I¡¯m sorry, my people made the wrong decision. They were worried that my son¡¯s actions would spread and affect my reputation, and even more worried it would affect the sect¡¯s reputation. So, they wanted to control what those girls were saying." "I know." Jiang Yuan flipped the grilled fish, sprinkled the finalyer of seasoning, then served it to everyone. Hassan sat next to Jiang Yuan and said, "They mainly didn¡¯t want any legal documents to form, not for any other reason, and they certainly didn¡¯t mean to interfere with the investigation process. I was unaware of this matter, but now that I know, I guarantee that there won¡¯t be any simr incidents in the future." Jiang Yuan took a big bite of the fish, feeling an intense sense of satisfaction, which is rare with fish meat. Putting down his chopsticks, Jiang Yuan politely said, "Mr. Hassan, do you know why we need to talk to these girls?" "Uh... to determine Qikoli¡¯s itinerary in hisst few days." Hassan was unsure of whether Jiang Yuan was angry and paid close attention to his expression. Young people tend to be impulsive, and detectives have never been known for being easy-going. Jiang Yuan seemed not to be angry, still speaking kindly, "Yes, because Qikoli¡¯s death was a sudden event. If he had foreseen any danger, his lifestyle wouldn¡¯t have been like this. So in our discussion, the first question is why Qikoli went to that five-story building where the incident urred." Hassan was startled, "This... I¡¯m not a detective. Maybe he was kidnapped?" "It¡¯s possible; we can¡¯t rule it out. He might have been lured there, or perhaps he was just passing by. Considering the possibility of kidnapping, there are indeed many aspects to explore. Where was he kidnapped? Qikoli spent most of his time with friends every day, and there were no obvious restraint marks on his body... ording to his schedule, he generally spent his private time with beautiful girls." Jiang Yuan asked again, "But if we don¡¯t question the details of their time together carefully, how would we discern if these beautiful girls were lying?" Hassan sighed deeply, "I understand, my people did make a mistake. I sincerely apologize for this incident." "We must prevent simr situations from happening again," Jiang Yuan said gently. "Of course, I will have a good talk with them," Hassan said seriously. At this point, Jiang Yuan shook his head decisively and said, "That¡¯s not enough." "Then?" Hassan couldn¡¯t help but look at Huang Qiangmin. Huang Qiangmin pretended not to see, keeping his face taut. "Mr. Hassan," Jiang Yuan called back his attention, "I need your people topletely withdraw from the investigation team. I need a few of your liaison officers to sit in the room next door, not allowed to leave the room, nor inquire about the investigation progress. When needed, I expect them to cooperate; otherwise, I hope they can remain quiet." "No, that¡¯s not possible!" Hassan objected immediately, "I assure you that something like this won¡¯t happen again, and I will do my best to cooperate..." "But obviously, you haven¡¯t managed that." Jiang Yuan looked up at him and said, "You had the chance, and it was messed up by you or your people." "Give me another chance," Hassan pleaded. Jiang Yuan lifted his eyes to look at him, "Mr. Hassan, we are not ying games, I am taking the most serious attitude to find the murderer of your son, and I hope you are too." This response left Hassan with no more strength to resist. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say anything threatening about leaving, as such threats didn¡¯t need to be spoken aloud; they were self-evident. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that Jiang Yuan had the authority to leave at any time, Hassan wouldn¡¯t have rushed over here. However,pared to Jiang Yuan¡¯s direct threat, Hassan was even more speechless when Jiang Yuan lectured him from a case-handling perspective, leaving him with no choice but toply. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t surprised at his choice. As to whether Hassan¡¯s im of his subordinates acting on their own was true or whether they would be punishedter, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t care at all. As a genuine detective and forensic doctor, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t understand many investigative strategies, nor did he need to. He only needed to know what the path to sess looked like and what conditions were needed to handle a case sessfully. In this world, the ways to fail are countless, with a quantity advantage that exhaustive methods wouldn¡¯t dare approach, but sess¡ªthe path to sess¡ªis often one of only a few routes, with people not only finding it hard to grasp the whole picture but even finding it difficult to master even one of them. Most people¡¯s sess is practically an enigma, much like most case investigations where the leading officers might just be following the standard procedure. Not every district police station has a few detectives capable of mastering the rhythm of a case and advancing the investigation in a suitable manner. Jiang Yuan had cracked so many cases so far and had somewhat grasped some of the secrets. Even so, he still aimed to minimize the management difficulty of the special task force. The previous inclusion of Hassan was to ease the management burden, and now discarding him served the same purpose. This was a standard case of focusing on the matter rather than the person. Once Hassan understood, he could only leave dejectedly. "Let Meng Chengbiao continue the questioning." Jiang Yuan returned to the conference room, regaining control over the investigation¡¯s rhythm. Wang Chuanxing quickly organized the information and came to report, "Shen Yaowei and Ni Cha¡¯s team, it¡¯s said they¡¯ve gone through over a thousand tons of trash. So far, they¡¯ve found some resident garbage from the building in question, but nothing that serves as a useful lead." Wang Chuanxing continued, "Tang Jia and Zhong Renlong retrieved surveince videos that are currently being analyzed. Six image investigation technicians were assigned, and it will take at least a few months to finish viewing them all. Also, the reward they wanted to publish has been posted, and we¡¯ve already received calls that sound like scammers." "Police rewards" and "scammers" mixed together form apound term unintelligible to ordinary people. But in reality, most reward calls are from scammers, which is not a surprising situation. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, not rushing to receive the surveince videos. The surveince videos or cameras around the crime scene are unsystematic, belonging to individuals orpanies who set them up as needed, and even the police update cameras randomly ording to city interface updates, with no single person or agency capable of unifying them. In this situation, for surveince videos to be effective, it purely depends on whether the perpetrator shows any ws. In fact, the current direction of the entire investigation is to catch any slip-ups from the perpetrator. If the perpetrator were truly wless, showing nopses, then in the current investigative environment, this case might turn into an unsolved one. Wang Chuanxing continued, "Over at Meng Chengbiao¡¯s team, although thewyers have withdrawn, the cooperation from some of the girls is still not high; some of them even requestedwyers themselves, making both sides a bit at an impasse." "No need to rush, if it has nothing to do with them, once the initial reaction passes, they¡¯ll eventually talk," Jiang Yuan had seen this often and wasn¡¯t worried. Normal people react strongly when faced with judicial authorities, initially either crying profusely or resolutely refusing to speak. Once the chemical reward mechanism-forged response fails, they be easier to manage. Lawyers getting involved early can at least stabilize the emotions of ordinary people, but this can also slow down the investigation process, and Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have many options at the moment. At this point, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone suddenly rang. Picking it up, it was a call from Meng Chengbiao. After the huge incident earlier, Meng Chengbiao had only been calmly sending messages, but now he called. Jiang Yuan answered immediately, "Team Meng?" "Qikoli has a backup phone." Meng Chengbiao said quickly. Jiang Yuan: "And then..." "It¡¯s not one we knew about. He has not just one backup phone, but at least two," Meng Chengbiao borated after taking a breath, "Apart from the two phones we know of, he has one phone used specifically for contacting women. We discovered this when cross-checking numbers, but neither at the crime scene nor in Qikoli¡¯s apartment was this phone found." Chapter 1377 - 1301: Lottery Chariot

Chapter 1377: Chapter 1301: Lottery Chariot

"Did you find the phone? The third phone." Jiang Yuan asked the key question. "Not yet. It was turned off on the day Qikoli died." Meng Chengbiao paused, then said, "We have confirmed the phone number and are contacting the service provider, hoping to get hismunication records and texts. Also, Qikoli should have multiple Wechat numbers, and we are confirming those as well." "What about the other two phones?" "The other two phones didn¡¯t contain sensitive information. One was used by Qikoli to contact his parents and religious figures. Themonly used second phone was mostly filled with friends, ssmates, and business partners, but he didn¡¯t use it often and it wasn¡¯t always with him. The third missing phone was actually the one he used the most daily." Jiang Yuan quickly understood: "So, you¡¯re saying what he did most on a daily basis was fool around with women?" "That¡¯s roughly it. Based on what a few of his friends said, apart from putting up with his father¡¯s side, he spent most of his time with various women. His father didn¡¯t allow it but didn¡¯t have time to control him either." Meng Chengbiao broadly described what some of Qikoli¡¯s "friends" had said. "Are there any suspects among the people and friends around Qikoli?" Jiang Yuan asked again. Meng Chengbiao said on the other end of the phone: "No discoveries." "So how do you n to find this phone or the rted information?" Jiang Yuan asked a somewhat critical point. Qikoli¡¯s phone wasn¡¯t registered in his real name, and he had several Wechat numbers. It¡¯s unclear if he used other chatting apps. To obtain further clues, finding the phone itself was essential. Meng Chengbiao hesitated for a moment, then said: "After our discussion, we currently have an idea. Although it might be rtivelyplicated." Jiang Yuan softly said "Hmm," understanding that byplicated, they meant costly, with low sess probability, and somewhat unreliable. However, having an idea is better than having none; aplex path to sess is better than finding no path at all. Meng Chengbiao said: "We think that there¡¯s basically no connection between Qikoli and the building at the crime scene. From this angle, why Qikoli went there and who gave him the address, this information might be found through his third phone." Jiang Yuan continued with a murmured "Hmm," aware that they were still setting things up. Meng Chengbiao continued: "At the crime scene, we found the first and second phones that Qikoli carried with him. Theoretically, the third phone should also have been on him, and thest location where the phone was turned off, ording to the service provider¡¯s report, is about three kilometers from the crime scene. It¡¯s a bit farther but not a route Qikoli would normally pass. Therefore, we think the phone was probably discarded there by the killer." "You want to search the roadside garbage heap?" Jiang Yuan immediately understood what Meng Chengbiao meant and asked, "Howrge an area?" Meng Chengbiao chuckled awkwardly: "ording to the local service provider¡¯s report, they can ultimately determine an area approximately in a 500-meter diameter circr area." "Complicated?" Jiang Yuan had experienced so many investigations that the area size was insignificant. The vertical length and theplexity of the area mattered more. "It¡¯s a roadside area, with some residential houses and green spaces. What we¡¯re worried about now is the frequency of garbage disposal; if the phone was discarded, then we¡¯ll have to rummage through the garbage heap again." Meng Chengbiao seemed uncertain. "Finding a phone is easier than finding stic boot covers." Jiang Yuan sighed. Meng Chengbiao immediately reacted: "You agree?" "Agreed. I¡¯llmunicate with Ni Cha; you guys go to the site to take pictures, then contact Xu Taining and Director Xu for advice." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate at all. Despite the 500-meter diameter area, including residential houses, those who frequently investigate know that rummaging for a phone is rtively simpler. Furthermore, ording to Jiang Yuan¡¯s spection, the phone was likely discarded, which aligns most with the killer¡¯s interests. There are several scenarios here: the first is that the phone remains in the original ce, possibly intact or damaged, but that makes no difference. Send someone to search, and it will be found. The second scenario is that the phone was picked up by someone. The possibility of it being intact is low, as an ordinary person¡¯s first reaction would be to turn it on, causing the service provider¡¯s records to change. If the damaged phone was picked up, it might have been stored away or sold. In this case, only by visiting nearby areas can you inquire if anyone recently found a phone. The third scenario is that the phone was thrown into a trash can and then sent to a garbage dump. This is the worst scenario, and unlike finding the gloves or boot covers used by the killer, which could directly lead to their identification, finding a broken phone might be of no use, making it hard to decide to allocaterge resources. However, the likelihood of the third scenario is also the lowest; nearby is not a high-endmunity, and there may be people who live by sorting through garbage. Even if it¡¯s a damaged phone, they would pick it up. Moreover, you can also alleviate some possibilities by visiting to see if anyone scrounged and obtained a phone. Ultimately, this n is still akin to buying a lottery ticket. But those hoping to win big through a lottery, if they don¡¯t win, can only continue spending money on lottery tickets, full of optimistic aspirations, gambling all the way. Even Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t have a reason to hit the brakes now. Ni Cha and his bureau chief Kumar didn¡¯t either. The lottery-buying chariot sped up as if merely by increasing speed, they could win the jackpot. ... Hotpot. Barbecue! Grilled fish¡ª Tropical fruit feast... Director Kumar and Ni Cha, while resisting, exerted their utmost to entertain Jiang Yuan, as if serving well enough would provide clues to the case. "We¡¯ve found the car." The most exhrating news of the day came from the team of Tang Jia and Zhong Renlong, not from evidence they personally searched, but from a reward that was just released. "Captain Jiang, look, it¡¯s this car." Tang Jia cautiously manipted the phone in her hand. To preserve the integrity of the evidence chain, they directly purchased the bounty worker¡¯s phone. The video was taken by an employee from a nearby office building, focusing on the traffic and environment downstairs, primarily capturing the scenery without footage of the rooftop at the time of the incident or the vehicle¡¯s license te. But this was already the clearest video they had obtained. Other contenders for the reward provided more blurry photos and videos; most of their footage coincidentally captured a few seconds of the scene while shooting other things. Even though direct evidence couldn¡¯t be provided, these videos and photos helped the special task force to rify the timeline. Thus, the suspected killer¡¯s vehicle appeared before Jiang Yuan. "A silver Toyota Crown, an old car, right?" Jiang Yuan asked, "Can we find the owner?" "We confirmed the vehicle information through a surveince video at the previous traffic light." Tang Jia paused slightly, then nced at Zhong Renlong beside her. Zhong Renlong sighed: "Let me exin. We found that the vehicle owner is named Fatuma, a mid-level manager in Hassan¡¯s religious faction, tall and matching the suspect¡¯s characteristics. We¡¯ve already brought him in, but Fatuma denies the murder, iming the car was stolen and hasn¡¯t been used for a long time." Chapter 1378 - 1302: Alibi

Chapter 1378: Chapter 1302: Alibi

Hassan once again arrived at the police station, with hurried steps and a grave expression. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t allow him near the special task force and chose the outside meeting room instead. Hassan didn¡¯t have time to worry about these details and immediately asked, "Is it Faris? How likely is it that he¡¯s the one?" "We don¡¯t know yet. Faris has no alibi, but there isn¡¯t additional evidence to support him being the murderer." Jiang Yuan first exined the case to Hassan and then, looking at his face, said, "You should have considered such a situation from the start of the case." As expected, arge part of Hassan¡¯s anxious expression seemed to fade. "Indeed, you¡¯re quite the detective." Hassan wiped his face, drank a sip of tea, and with a calmer expression, continued, "However, I¡¯m not pretending; I did think beforehand that it could be someone close to us. But Faris is different. Although our two factions have some disagreements, we mostly cooperate. We are closerpared to other factions..." As Hassan spoke, he fell into a state of reminiscence: "I have met Faris twice and had a good impression of him. I also talked to him and recognized him as a diligent and hardworking person, and I support some of his work." In Hassan¡¯s view, his son Qikoli, as a member of society, really didn¡¯t have a reason to be condemned to death. What could truly lead to his demise was precisely being Hassan¡¯s son. Therefore, the possibility that Qikoli might have died at the hands of people from his own family was something Hassan had considered pre-emptively. But as Hassan mentioned, even among his own people, there are different levels, and Faris clearly belonged to the kind who shouldn¡¯t have killed Qikoli. At least, that¡¯s how Hassan saw it. Jiang Yuan considered Hassan¡¯s words and silently took them into ount. Although he previously excluded Hassan and his people from the special task force, now he was using Hassan as someone in the know. Using criminal investigation techniques to interrogate Hassan in a dedicated interview room, or even an interrogation room, waspletely infeasible. And now, he precisely needed Hassan to provide some information. As far as Faris¡¯s situation is concerned, the information provided by Hassan was extremely important. Even if it was his subjective thought, as long as it was true, it would be highly valuable. Because if Faris were the real culprit, then his reason and motive for killing Qikoli must be closely rted to Hassan. It could even be said to be intimately linked to Hassan¡¯s subjective thoughts. This is just like an official, under normal circumstances, shouldn¡¯t assassinate a super high-ranking official who likes them. The subjective views of a ruler, in many ces, transcend material interests. Hassan¡¯s opinion of Faris was at least at a level above friendliness, which, to many religious sect members, is a wealth more valuable than gold. They would be too busy protecting it to destroy it purposely, unless... Unless Qikoli significantly hindered Faris, or even posed a threat to Faris... "Qikoli and Faris have no rtion. Even if they have met, they can¡¯t possibly be familiar," Hassan seemed to have guessed Jiang Yuan¡¯s thoughts and said it before he was even asked. Jiang Yuan nodded slowly, "We¡¯re still investigating. If you also believe that Faris isn¡¯t the real killer, we¡¯ll continue to look into it." Since Jiang Yuan started investigating this case, this was the first time he truly considered Hassan¡¯s opinion. Hassan was suddenly moved, and then he fell into deep thought. After a long while, Hassan said, "From my perspective, Faris had no reason to kill Qikoli, but from my point of view, Qikoli shouldn¡¯t have been in danger either; otherwise, I would have called him back a long time ago. So, the specifics of the situation still depend on your judgment, and I trust your investigation conclusion." Although it seemed a bit like passing the buck, since Qikoli was Hassan¡¯s son, even with the slightest possibility, Hassan would probably be willing to take down Faris. The fact that he¡¯s willing to let Jiang Yuan investigate now is already a sign of great trust. Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression also softened a bit. Regardless of his initial intentions, in this process of working the case, Hassan himself was at least cooperative and quite trusting towards him. This wasn¡¯t easy, as people with Rolls Royces are essentially not too amiable. They seem amiable only because interests haven¡¯t been touched upon. If one thinks that "the wealthy" or "truly wealthy" or "old money" or "aristocrats" be benevolent because of their wealth, resources, and power far beyond ordinary people, looking at the scandals of the British royal family or other nations¡¯ royal stories would greatly refute this. Hassan¡¯s trust naturally had conditions, but from the point of view of case handling, it was very helpful to Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan pondered slightly and said, "I will have someone reconstruct Faris¡¯s timeline. On the day of the crime, although he doesn¡¯t have a confirmed alibi, we were already nning to review the surveince near the crime scene. I¡¯ll have people pay attention to that car. Hmm, if we have enough manpower, I will also check the surveince around Faris." Hassan did not quite understand these tasks and couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Are you nning to identify whether the driver in the surveince is Faris? If the real killer wants to frame Faris, they would likely be aware of this, right? And even if the driver isn¡¯t Faris, it doesn¡¯t prove that he isn¡¯t the killer, correct?" Hassan didn¡¯t understand the criminal investigation, but he understood politics. When he thought from a political perspective, he¡¯d already begun considering the reasons why Faris might be framed and the preparations and methods required to frame such a person. Of course, on the other hand, he always maintained a certain level of suspicion toward Faris, keeping the capability of retaliation ready at any moment. Jiang Yuan responded, "Being able to see the driver would also be helpful. Furthermore, if this car was indeed previously lost by Faris, then its route might not have gone from Faris¡¯s home to the crime scene. If we can find rted evidence, it could serve as indirect evidence for judgment." Seeing Hassan listening earnestly, Jiang Yuan continued, "The suspect seems very meticulous, which suggests that they must have done some preparations for the crime. So, what car did they use during this preparation period? It could very well have been this car." Jiang Yuan: "Lastly, even if the suspect used this car very carefully, by extending the driving route of the vehicle, we can effectively extend the time window of the crime urrence, which helps in matching against Faris¡¯s timeline, increasing the length of the alibi." "Assuming Faris truly isn¡¯t the killer," Hassan listened, understanding some and not others, but he grasped the point toward the end. "If it turns out that Harris did it, we would still need to find more evidence." Jiang Yuan nodded. The surveince conditions in Dama prevented him from focusing on people. It wasn¡¯t ack of sufficient cameras, but ack of evenly distributed, stable, and adequate cameras. Numerous surveince blind spots affected this aspect of the investigation. But they were quite good for locating cars. After all, cars are on the road, they¡¯rerge, and since it¡¯s an older model, the target is quite obvious. In terms of finding the car, the difficulty wasn¡¯t high. When the difficulty is low, it means Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t have to personally review the surveince, which means the extensibility of this task is quite strong. As long as there are enough people, the goal can be achieved through arge number of image investigation personnel. However, even with the aim to fully support Jiang Yuan¡¯s team, the manpower at Dama Police Station was stretched thin. This time, Jiang Yuan truly experienced the work mode of a real special task force. Damacked long-armed officers, and grassroots militia and variousmunity organizations didn¡¯t exist. Despite the presence of auxiliary police, personnel were ultimately limited. And the investigation by the task force had essentially reached a point where the more people there were, the more resources were utilized. Investigating the leads about Faris consumed almost the same as working on another case. Yet, the silver Crown belonging to Faris was the strongest lead they currently had, which could be said to be the only real clue. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to make a decision. After a brief period of thought, Jiang Yuan called Ni Cha and said, "What have you discovered so far?" "The trash stinks much more than the corpse," Ni Cha replied. Jiang Yuan chuckled, "There¡¯s a lot of animal carcasses in a garbage mountain. Also, kitchen waste." "It¡¯s not as intense as a corpse, but it¡¯s worse!" "Hmm, probably because the human corpse¡¯s abdomen can umte an excessive amount of gas. The human bodies we encounter, especially those that are intact, still have feces in the intestines, and once opened during dposition, the smell is particrly strong. Animal carcasses have smaller bodies and dpose quickly, which is like chopping a human up. However, the aromaticpounds in different animal corpses vary, and the more variety there is, the stronger thebined stench." Jiang Yuan gave a serious analysis. Sitting at the heart of the garbage mountain, Ni Cha was silent. "Calling you to pull some of the team back. I want to redeploy," Jiang Yuan mentioned a piece of good news. Ni Cha¡¯s spirits were lifted effortlessly and quickly asked, "No problem, we have almostbed out, about time to pull out. Where do you want us moved?" "Part of the team to help with checking the car." Jiang Yuan exined the situation with the silver Crown and continued in one breath, "Regarding the mobile, if we still don¡¯t find it within the 500-meter designated area, we might have to consider it being taken to andfill. As far as I know, it would be in another garbage dump." Ni Cha¡¯s silence was akin to the growling of intestines. Chapter 1379 - 1303: Cell Phone

Chapter 1379: Chapter 1303: Cell Phone

The Garbage Dump. Ni Cha stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the endless expanse of trash, his expression akin to Genghis Khan at the sight of poop beneath the gentle green grass. His tone carried an unusual unease for someone so knowledgeable: "Mr. Shen, you could actually go check the vehicles. I heard you¡¯re really good at Image Investigation." "I¡¯m not that good." Shen Yaowei chuckled and said, "I¡¯m just average. If you want to talk about something I¡¯m particrly skilled at, rummaging through garbage dumps is truly where I excel. You go check the vehicles; I¡¯ll stay here and scavenge." Ni Cha¡¯s heart skipped a beat at his words. Who could possibly be good at scavenging garbage dumps? He had to cough to cover his reaction before saying, "You go, it¡¯s our Dama case anyway. I can¡¯t bring myself to have you sift through garbage while I sit idly by." Shen Yaowei waved his hand: "It¡¯s Captain Jiang¡¯s order. If I don¡¯t stay with you, and a new orderes through, I wouldn¡¯t know how to respond. Besides, honestly, I have somewhat of a knack for sifting through garbage; this skill alone has helped me crack several major cases!" "I believe you." Ni Cha quickly said, then sighed, "We¡¯ve been rummaging through these garbage piles for so long together, we¡¯re like battlerades on the same mountain. To tell you the truth, this garbage dump isn¡¯t something anyone should sift through. I¡¯m a Dama person, and the ones working here are my people; I can¡¯t just go home and rest while you stay. It won¡¯t affect anything if you go back." "I won¡¯t go back." Shen Yaowei said with determination, looking seriously at Ni Cha, "Sifting through the dump is not a bad thing. This is exactly where we can truly find evidence. Think about it, when those criminals think they¡¯ve discarded evidence and then we find it here in the dump, what do you think their expressions would be like?" Ni Cha looked at Shen Yaowei and said, "Probably simr to my expression now?" "To find the evidence you want in a chaotic dump is truly the most important technology of the new era." Shen Yaowei straightened his back and said, "I wish there were another dump I could experiment with! But you do have a point; if you were to leave, your junior officers might indeed feel ufortable. So, let¡¯s work together." For a moment, Ni Cha didn¡¯t know what to say. As he opened his mouth, he was hit by a wave of fetid air, full of a rich,yered stench, like a five-star foul temple. "As long as the evidence is in the dump, we can find it!" Shen Yaowei began to encourage Ni Cha: "With this mentality, we can truly get what we want and fulfill our wishes..." Two idioms, conveyed in broken My, together with the rising stench of garbage under the sun, assaulted Ni Cha¡¯s senses. "Go ahead." Ni Cha, familiar enough with Shen Yaowei, usually found him to be a lively person but didn¡¯t expect him to be so stubborn at this moment. Ni Cha abandoned the thought of persuading Shen Yaowei, even secretly considering helping him out. Poor young man, how low must one stoop to consider scavenging through garbage a good job? Byparison, Ni Cha had people above him, a solid position, and now the assistance of Jiang Yuan, so he didn¡¯t need the merit of rummaging through a dump. But it¡¯s not just Ni Cha and Shen Yaowei who are toiling; there are also hundreds of local officers. Following the experience of the previous garbage dump, they segmented the dump, nnedyouts, then hired excavators, bulldozers, and vehicles from a third-partypany. They started by digging up the garbage in Area A, checking it, sending it to Segment Z, then moved on from A to B, filling in Segment Y. The reason for not filling in sequentially is that subsequent checks might uncover clues requiring deep excavation and further examination of previous segments. Along with the solid waste rushing forward is Shen Yaowei¡¯s ambition, the viscous garbage leachate, and the PM2.5, PM10, and PM50den air full of garbage partictes. Interestingly, the garbage leachate, which is incrediblyplicated dirty water, is usually brown or tan and rarely reaches ck. When they slowly gather into ponds, it smells like pork braising sauce, and if garbage pops up, it would resemble stewed pork rice or zha jiang mian. Ssh! Shen Yaowei, wearing long boots, stepped into the garbage leachate without ncing down, decisively pulling his foot out and moving on. Having gained experience, he no longer wore disposable protective gear or boots. Even the best disposable protective boots were always ufortable, and changing them daily was costly. Better to buy a good pair of boots and discard them after a mission if necessary. This time, one pair of boots traversed two dumps - a jackpot. "Dig a bit wider. Make sure to dig past the line; at least dig another shovel full." Shen Yaowei spoke in a normal voice, then had a nearby Chinese officer repeat it through the radio. The excavator obeyed, while the officers below worked likeborers, all with heads down, moving like neutered poodles¡ªworking, doing, without aim, without yield. Shen Yaowei exhaled, smiling at Ni Cha: "You can¡¯t trust the delineated boundaries of a dump. They themselves might not remember where they dumped the trash; let alone the workers tossing it haphazardly, so we can only look at the big area, not the small sections." Ni Cha muttered an acknowledgment, "Experienced." "There¡¯s no choice; sifting through garbage is exhausting. If you search the wrong ce or miss arge area, it¡¯s a hassle. For a one-time garbage rummage, you either find it or you don¡¯t. But someone like me, who frequently rummages through dumps, must umte experience to know what methods work next time and which don¡¯t." Shen Yaowei spoke meticulously, clearly intending to impart his experience to Ni Cha. Ni Cha helplessly asked, "Have you ever thought that maybe it¡¯s because you¡¯re too good at scavenging through dumps that you end up here?" "One doesn¡¯t choose their talents." Shen Yaowei also sighed, looking at Ni Cha. "The pressure in the Cold Case Squad is high; if there¡¯s a way to rise, why not rummage through dumps?" Ni Cha was unsure whether to continue persuading when he suddenly heard exmations from below: "Found a phone." "Model matches." "Seems recently discarded." "Camera! Hurry,e take pictures!" Ni Cha and Shen Yaowei¡¯s emotions were immediately stirred. The two rushed to the edge of the garbage dump, craning their necks to look down, seeing several officers at a lower level, forming a circle, each cautious in demeanor. To the officers, it wasn¡¯t just a phone; it was a tool for salvation! Ni Cha immediately took out his phone to start taking pictures, saying to Shen Yaowei, "You take pictures too." Shen Yaowei responded cheerfully. Ni Cha couldn¡¯t help but nce at Shen Yaowei, wondering if he should congratte him. Rummaging through garbage, finding evidence versus not finding it, leads to two different oues. Particrly with suchrge-scale personnel dispatch searching, it itself can be seen as tracking a lead; any find is an excellent oue. Logically, if there are simr leads to pursue in the future, his superiors will certainly prioritize him. ... "This is the phone Shen Yaowei retrieved." "So smelly! Is the sealed bag intact? Why is the smell escaping?" "This is a phone marinated in garbage!" "No hot pot today; this room is ruined." In the meeting room, a group stared at the phone in the sealed bag, expressions mixed with excitement, confusion, and disgust. "Have you extracted the contacts and such?" Jiang Yuan pushed aside his teacup and asked directly. "All gathered; moreover, we found a dozen chat apps inside, discovering he¡¯d recently been chatting with thirty to forty women..." The technician from Dama reported energetically. Liu Jinghui frowned, "Isn¡¯t ying with women all day enough? Still needs chat apps?" The Chinese officers present quickly tranted. Mu Zhiyang seized the moment to quip, "Could it be he¡¯s on chat apps all day, so he has women to y with?" "Not sure who¡¯s ying whom." Liu Jinghui scoffed, "Wait till he¡¯s older... anyway, have we found the suspect?" "We found five women who¡¯ve recently been in contact; four have been located, but one, named Mia278, has not. Theirst conversation was a voice call at 5 AM on the day of the incident." The Dama technician answered in detail and handed over a stack of information. Those in the room nced over the documents, momentarily silent. "Is this Mia278 a new user? Completely untraceable? Phone? Email?" Liu Jinghui, after briefly reviewing their conversation, began to have a bad feeling. The technician bluntly said, "Untraceable. The app itself has inherent anonymity, and Mia278 went out of her way to remain isted..." "Did Qikoli go to the meeting alone?" "It appears so. At 5 AM, they probably drank the previous night. Qikoli only slept a few hours, then drove off by himself..." "Drunk driving... never mind." Liu Jinghui decided not to pursue that line, preparing a different approach. At this moment, Jiang Yuan said, "Knowing the exact time and location of departure, let¡¯s pull up a map and take a look." "Get the map!" Ni Cha promptly ordered. For some reason, hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice gave him an inexplicable sense of calm. Chapter 1380 - 1304: Take Them Alive

Chapter 1380: Chapter 1304: Take Them Alive

With time, and a starting point, tracking a car and depicting its trajectory is, for image investigation, like the travel problems in elementary school math¡ªan essential and challenging topic. It involves "meeting and chasing," but some people are at elementary level, while others are at university level yet forget how to solve elementary problems. As for the real experts... The real experts spend their time reading the question thoroughly. Jiang Yuan watched the footage for a long time, noticing that Ni Cha and others had finished a meal and were discussing whether to start new leads. Then Jiang Yuan¡¯s keyboard began to tter loudly. Instantly, Ni Cha felt an exhrating satisfaction. Theoretically, he saw nothing and knew nothing, but at this moment, Ni Cha had an intuition that the case was about to be cracked. Liu Jinghui nced at Ni Cha discreetly, sensing that his behavior was unusual, thinking to himself that he should inform Huang Qiangminter. To ordinary police officers, Jiang Yuan was almost like a drug. The domestic officers were somewhat restrained, but these foreign officers quickly became addicted. "Found two people." The sound of Jiang Yuan¡¯s keyboard stopped, and the printer began to tter. Unable to wait, Ni Cha rushed to the printer, snatching up the task from the young officers. Two slightly blurred faces appeared on the printouts. Ni Cha gave them a quick nce, then like a retriever, hurriedly brought them back to Jiang Yuan. "The resolution of this surveince is too low. Printing it on photo paper might make it clearer." Jiang Yuan said, sitting back at theputer, "I¡¯ll do two versions of enhancement¡ªone original enhanced, and one enhanced with forensic sketching. Get some of Hassan¡¯s people in here to see if anyone can recognize them." While speaking, Jiang Yuan resumed typing on theputer. Ni Cha turned around and ordered, "Photo paper, hurry up and get some here. Hassan... go get two people from the office next door, and arrange an office where they can call a few people who recognize more." As the police team busied themselves, Jiang Yuan focused on image enhancement, along with forensic sketching. In theory, forensic sketching can reconstruct apletely unrecognizable face based on the bone structure, muscle distribution, remaining skin, and other information of a corpse. Of course, simr to cranial reconstruction, this half-scientific, half-artistic endeavor has a sess rate and uracy of just 50% at best. But overall, any clue with a 50% probability can satisfy the criminal police. The same logic applies to unclear surveince videos. The distortion of imagespared to a decayed corpse doesn¡¯t necessarily mean one is more deformed than the other. In fact,pared to the reckless decay of a corpse, video distortions can be somewhat traceable. However, there are very few people in the world who can master both skills simultaneously. To be able to connect and integrate them is even rarer. Someone like Jiang Yuan, a Level 5 image enhancement and Level 6 forensic sketch technician, might not exist at all. This creates a unique item, but to a certain extent, it also affects the reliability of the evidence¡ªif something is achievable only by you and no one else, the court may not ept it as evidence. However, during the investigation phase, this does not matter. Soon, the sound of Jiang Yuan¡¯s keyboard tapping began to slow down, and the volume reduced. Ni Cha approached cautiously and whispered, "God Jiang, we have the suspect identification personnel ready." "Good, take these photos and let them see if there¡¯s anyone they recognize." Jiang Yuan finished the drawing and printed out several photos. "Got it, I¡¯ll take them over now." Ni Cha happily took the photos and ran off. Passing through a strong perfume scent, Ni Cha noticed Shen Yaowei in the corner. Ni Cha hesitated, then decided to call Shen Yaowei, "Yao Wei,e with me to do the identification." "No need, I have enough points." Shen Yaowei smiled. "There¡¯s no limit for this." Seeing Shen Yaowei shake his head again, Ni Cha had no time to argue, hurrying to show the photos to Hassan¡¯s people in the next office. Since it would be used as evidence, this time, from entering the office, Ni Cha had someone raise the camera, proceeding as per the suspect identification protocol. He had six photos in total; as long as one was recognized, they could investigate the person¡¯s rted information, and they wouldn¡¯t get away easily. The only thing to be cautious about was the subsequent investigation procedures rting to this person. By this point, any police officer from the special case team knew the case was veryplex, so anything rted to evidence had to be handled meticulously. "Is it Niyuman?" Someone softly called out. Ni Cha was startled¡ªalready recognized. He quickly turned around, saying, "No cross-conversation, write down the name you think it is, then give it to me." After a little chaos, among the notes Ni Cha received, four said "Niyuman." Ni Cha immediately ordered a system verification. After a brief confirmation, Ni Cha signaled the camera to leave and called for everyone to prepare a formal transcript. At the same time, Ni Cha first dialed the chief¡¯s phone. Ni Cha: "I¡¯ve found the person. The victim was lured out at 5 AM, then presumably taken into Faris¡¯s silver Crown. There¡¯s no surveince there, but God Jiang deduced it. He found the Crown 2 kilometers away based on surveince, and from the timeline, Faris is mostly ruled out." Ni Cha quickly finished the preamble, then said, "Based on surveince on another road, Jiang Yuan found images of two suspects; one was identified as Niyuman, recognized by Hassan¡¯s people, also an insider. He¡¯s Pikami¡¯s driver." The chief¡¯s breathing grew heavier before he asked, "Any other evidence?" "Niyuman is tall, has military experience, and very strong arms, meeting the conditions for overpowering the victim from a high fall. We¡¯ve confirmed his location¡ªdo we apprehend him?" The chief paused for a good ten seconds before saying, "Arrest him, personally. Secret arrest, secret interrogation." "Niyuman has a gun." Ni Cha added quietly, "How about taking Jiang Yuan¡¯s people?" "Huang Qiangmin is hard to deal with." The chief immediately refused, adding, "Prepare protection; make sure to capture him alive." Chapter 1381 - 1305: Toughness

Chapter 1381: Chapter 1305: Toughness

Ni Cha returned to the office, first gathering his men, then calling a few trusted aides, instructing them to discreetly prepare equipment. Ni Cha took out a backup phone and sent a mass message to those listed under "Young Operatives" in his contacts: [Something¡¯s up today. If you¡¯re willing to join, I¡¯ll be in the office until 10 tonight.] Ni Cha reviewed the message twice before sending it out. The "Young Operatives" category included young people who had actively aligned themselves with him in recent years. Normally, Ni Cha didn¡¯t have much use for them; there were only so many positions and projects, those could be divided, and his direct subordinates had already taken them. Even if he had his eye on a young man, he couldn¡¯t suddenly promote them, otherwise, his subordinates would ostracize them. Of course, that¡¯s the policing style in Dama. However, this time was different. This time, it was a life-and-death struggle. Niyuman had years of military experience. He was tall and strong, capable of overpowering a grown man and making it look like a "suicide," even breaking ribs in the process. He was armed, and whether he had assistance and equipment was uncertain, but it was confirmed he had at least one aplice. Ni Cha¡¯s orders were to capture him alive... That basically meant risking lives to get the job done. Even with bulletproof vests and helmets stored in the warehouse, anyone who¡¯s been inbat knows how dangerous a firefight gets, especially indoors where bullets bounce off concrete and explode unpredictably, deadly yet undetectable. If all Niyuman had was a handgun and regr bullets, that would be manageable. But he was the driver for another faction¡¯s leader, and now also served as an assassin. Therefore, if Niyuman wanted, he could certainly get armor-piercing rounds, .38 or even .45 caliber handguns were within reach, and still more fearsome was a submachine gun, especially one powerful enough to pierce soft armor. Theoretically, whether it¡¯s an MP7 or a Scorpion able to prate IIIA level armor, Niyuman was likely to have them. With such weapons, vests without ceramic tes would be mere toys. This meant even if Ni Cha donned level III or IV vests, areas like shoulders, necks, thighs would still depend on pure luck. Faced with such an enemy, the correct approach should be artillery bombing, at least sniping, at worst, a fuside. Scenes in movies where pistols shoot against assault rifles simply don¡¯t happen in reality; those weapons have a generational gap. But they were strictly ordered to leave Niyuman alive. Thinking about it made Ni Cha terrified. He had risked his life in his youth, but now, he couldn¡¯t afford to, nor was willing. He figured his direct subordinates felt simrly. All Ni Cha could think of was using the young operatives to get things done. As for engaging SWAT or special forces, the Chief didn¡¯t suggest it, naturally because he had reasons. It wasn¡¯t a suitable course. Nobody could tell what kind of connections Pikami had, much like Hassan, people with unusual ties weren¡¯t surprising. It was even unclear if young operatives might draw near to Pikami for grand future prospects, risking everything just to inform him of such a message. Ding. Ni Cha¡¯s phone pinged, he swiftly nced at it; it was a reply from a "Young Operative": [Got it, heading over now, will arrive within an hour.] Ni Cha couldn¡¯t help but smile, contemting that for being the first to respond, he deserved major recognition and reward afterward. At least a post of Sergeant or Senior Sergeant, if the Chief was willing to consent. Ding. Ding... Ni Cha¡¯s phone started ringing frequently. He immediately felt relieved. As long as the young were still willing to trade life for future, all was well. It was frightening if the young started cherishing life too much, then Ni Cha would truly have to go into battle himself! AM. Chief Kumar sat in the conference room with Jiang Yuan and others, door and windows shut, watching footage sent from the frontlines. Most people in the room didn¡¯t know the mission objective. Phones were collected, but as everyone was inw enforcement, spotting Jiang Yuan, they naturally suspected it was rted to Hassan¡¯s case, hence each raised their alertness. For officers, cases rted to politics were the most feared, speaking of them in Dama¡¯s police context. The 100-inch LCD screen soon disyed imagery from the scene. Ni Cha¡¯s face appeared first, then the camera, mounted on the head of a leading officer, began rying imagery. "Commence." After saluting and asking, Ni Cha waved and ordered. Several dozen kilometers away, the Chief put down the receiver, his expression bing solemn and serious. Though frequently tasked with various missions, genuinely dangerous ones with direct police involvement were limited. Most police might not actively engage in such missions even after ten years on the force. Instead, forced dangers or chance incidents were moremon. The screen disyed multiple sub-screens concurrently, cameras mounted on the heads of several group leaders. "Follow Team One. Lock onto Team One." The Chief showed no intention of overseeing action, gathering so many people to watch Ni Cha¡¯s movements only to prepare for his and subsequent promotions. Of course, if the action went extremely awry or strayed significantly, that would be another matter. "No SWAT called?" Someone noted the detectives all armed ahead, naturally understanding it was dangerous action. The Chief slightly shook his head, looking around, stating: "Covert operation. All present are my trusted individuals." All Dama personnel suddenly tensed. Jiang Yuan merely stiffened his face; the rest,cking trantion, looked bewildered. Yet, everyone probably guessed the dialogue¡¯s content. The Chief turned, focusing on the screen. The shaky footage seemed poor in quality, faces barely recognizable beyond a few meters, sound dominated by noise, mostly the rustling of clothing as they walked. No one spoke. Scene silent, spectating from the conference room, the crowd remained mute. The silence weighed down by no sacredws, but pure human lives. Including Jiang Yuan, those somewhat knowledgeable in urbanbat understood that front ranks wielding shields, though armed to the teeth, were still risking lives to ze a trail. Poof... A soft sound, starkly clear in the night. Before anyone reacted, a burst of red light enveloped the screen and surroundings. Boom... A muffled explosion shook and heightened chaos. "What happened? Team One, Team One?" Maintaining quiet earlier, Ni Cha instantly flew into a frenzy. In the conference room, the Chief and others immediately stood up. "It¡¯s a decoy mine," someone whispered, the shock equaled that of the explosion. Even Ni Cha, though long prepared for a tough battle, honestly didn¡¯t anticipate it being this demanding! Chapter 1382 - 1306: Chaotic Battle

Chapter 1382: Chapter 1306: Chaotic Battle

"Get the injured out!" "Snipers, can you see them?" "Rush in? Rush in?" Four members of the front-line squad went down instantly. One of them screamed loudly, seemingly unable to die, while the other three fell without moving, unclear about their conditions. Ni Cha gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes bloodshot, facing the toughest decision. He needed to decide quickly whether to rush in during the chaos or stop for room-to-room clearing. No matter which n he chose, the risks were enormous. Rushing in immediately was most favorable for capturing. Although they nted a decoy mine inside, this device, simr to andmine, is meant for prevention. After a sudden explosion, the police outside would be baffled, and so would the people inside. But it would onlyst for a brief moment. If he hesitated further, he could only advance steadily, but doing so would make it very difficult to capture the suspects alive. Even with a gut feeling, he knew that if the suspect dared to hang a decoy mine on the door, they surely had powerful weapons on their waist. In fact, Ni Cha hadn¡¯t even considered grenadeunchers before, thinking they were much harder to obtain than assault rifles. Which means, if he doesn¡¯t rush in now and proceeds with room-to-room clearing, it would be like fighting in alleyways. Actually, fighting in alleyways is alright, but capturing someone alive in such conditions is highly dangerous. However, the chief¡¯s order was clear, and unless there¡¯s no choice, Ni Cha would not defy the chief¡¯s order. But if he continues like this, it¡¯s uncertain how many more lives would be lost. Although the chief didn¡¯t specify the toll, if casualties were too high to hide, causing public outcry, Ni Cha would still be doomed. Amidst the brief chaos, Ni Cha¡¯s mind became extremely conflicted, with sweat trickling down his anxious face. He still had to make a rapid decision, but such a major decision could mean the loss of several lives and the end of his career. Anxiety surged like a flood, nearly overwhelming Ni Cha. "Ni Cha, the rooms behind the door and to the right were swept by the st wave, the suspect is in the left room." Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice, sounding like a divine tune, reached Ni Cha¡¯s ears. This was a Level 6 trace examination¡ªexplosion trace examination, coupled with Level 3 pistol shooting bringing CQB (Close Quarters Battle) skills, aiding Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment. At the same time, Jiang Yuan also sensed Ni Cha¡¯s hesitation. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to worry about the consequences. Based on his judgment first, he picked up the microphone and provided Ni Cha with an external aid. Thepliance trained over the days instantly covered Ni Cha¡¯s anxiety. Ni Cha didn¡¯t have more time to ponder. He quickly said, "Team One advance to the left, Team Two reinforce!" While speaking, Ni Cha also drew his gun and charged forward. Rationally speaking, entering the room now was still very dangerous, but being at the scene, facing the dust raised by grenades and hearing the wails of subordinates, Ni Cha couldn¡¯t help but get carried away. Three surveince cameras quickly gathered, the shaking lenses converging. Several other cameras quickly repositioned, but none dared to stray from their posts lest the suspect jumps out the window or escapes from somewhere else. Thud! Amidst the dull thudding of a battering ram, a towering detective equipped with full armor and a shield shouted and charged into the left room. The team members behind him all held their guns with one hand and used the other to brace on the person ahead. Everyone silently counted the seconds. If there were more decoy mines, at least half the team couldn¡¯t get trapped again. Even Jiang Yuan was sweating at this moment. The fragments from the decoy mine all swept towards the right and rear, which normally means the suspect shouldn¡¯t be in the rear or rear rooms. Simrly, the only room left on the left side probably wouldn¡¯t have decoy mines installed. This is also a judgment that Criminal Science technicians would easily make during post-incident scene examinations. However, amid the current chaos, it¡¯s not easy to see this based solely on heavily pixted footage and provide a definitive judgment. Though Jiang Yuan made such a judgment, he couldn¡¯t help but consider the abundant possibilities. The chances were slim, but it couldn¡¯t be said to be impossible. In such a short time, the judgments one person can make and the actions a team can take are limited. In this environment, even the worst actions are better than hesitation. Bam! Gunfire rang out from the left room. This was the most feared part of the operation, yet at this moment, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Compared to another decoy mine or a rolling grenade, the gun¡¯s killing power was much smaller. Especially at this moment, the gunfire was all intermittent pistol shots, a far cry from the expected assault rifle. If before the fight started, even before encountering decoy mines, everyone hoped to avoid injuries, now the bottom line was set to at least survive. Bam bam bam. The detective with the shield and full armor who just entered began firing continuously. "Gogogo!" The captain of the first squad quickly ordered, pushing on the officer¡¯s shoulder in front, charging into the left room. Also entering was the shaky, pixted footage. Then, Chief Kumar, Jiang Yuan, and others saw a bed lifted and flipped as cover, and in a corner, a tall and a short suspect each extending a hand to shoot from both sides. Needless to say, the decoy mine had startled the two awake, and time-wise, flipping the bed and grabbing a weapon was already a very quick response. Bam bam bam... More gunfire erupted, some from the suspects, more from the subsequent entering police officers. However, both sides were almost shooting blindly. The police hid behind the shield bearer to shoot, while the two suspects shot through the window, neither able to prate. As the light blue gunpowder smoke rose, both sides¡¯ visions blurred. After a burst of chaotic gunfire, the gunshots abruptly ceased in the main bedroom of at most twenty to thirty square meters. The surge of adrenaline prompted both sides to pull the trigger decisively. Even calm people pulled the trigger much faster than usual. But the gunfire only paused for a second. In this break of fire, a police officer immediately drew his backup gun. Bang bang bang... The sound of clear gunshots filled the brief silence. The two behind the bed shouted twice, then exerted force, pushing the bed towards the door. Crash crash... The two suspects shattered the back window ss, attempting to climb out and escape. "Move!" A police officer at the back of the team shouted, stepped forward to identify, and fired into the bed area. This time, he was using a Remington shotgun. The seemingly thick bed board barely blocked two shots before shattering into arge C-shaped hole. A series of bullets that followed prated, turning the short suspect at the bed into an A shape. The target for capture, Niyuman, was tall, so the short suspect was shot dead directly. "Charge forward." Ni Cha seized the moment, yelling. The armored police officer with the shield was the young man who first reported to Ni Cha. At this point, there was no retreat, and silently, he lowered his head, charged with the shield towards the bedhead. Niyuman, who had just pushed the bedhead and smashed the window with a gun handle, upon seeing hispanion¡¯s tragic state, abandoned any hope, casually tossed out his gun, protected his head with his hands, and attempted to dive through the narrow window. Bang! This time, the officer hiding behind the shield was the first to reach Niyuman, half of his body pressing against Niyuman, causing both their upper bodies to be scratched by ss shards, bleeding. The police squad below the window, looking up, let out a sigh of disappointment. Chapter 1383 - 1307: Aftereffects

Chapter 1383: Chapter 1307: Aftereffects

Ni Cha briefly reassured the attending officers, then got into the prison van and began interrogating Niyuman. The subordinates guarding below the prison van were all directly under Ni Cha¡¯smand. Hearing Niyuman¡¯s shouts from inside, they simply looked expressionless into the distance. The "secret interrogation" that Commissioner Kumar requested would inevitably change form after that decoy mine exploded. ording to Ni Cha¡¯s understanding, it meant quickly obtaining results and handling matters before others had time to react. Ni Cha¡¯s decisiveness allowed Commissioner Kumar to breathe a sigh of relief in the conference room. Though not the only option, the path Ni Cha chose was a rtively good solution. Most importantly, he did not ask themissioner a single question, bearing all the pressure and consequences himself. Looking back at the already turned-off screen, Kumar was unsure if others could guess Ni Cha¡¯s approach. He could not speak a single word on this topic. Therefore, after much consideration, Kumar slowly spoke up, "Let¡¯s have a meeting and see how to proceed with this case!" How to proceed with the case depends on the results of Ni Cha¡¯s interrogation. Even for an officer of Kumar¡¯s level, it¡¯s best to have basic evidence to further the case. Thus, even if there¡¯s a bias, it should be wrapped in a legal guise. Of course, this refers to the police officers in Dama and the capitalist judicial system. Jiang Yuan found a book and read it quietly. The most important thing now was not to contact the outside world to prevent losing Kumar¡¯s control over the situation. So, the key was not to use the phone or leave the conference room. Besides this, the content of the meeting was not important to the Chinese police. The local police had follow-up tasks, prompting Kumar to slightly reorganize the team and allocate some tasks in advance, especially those not rting to investigation, such as interrogation, judicial contact, and public rtions, which were all discussed seriously. If nothing unexpected happened, these arrangements would be implemented. No unexpected means no unexpected. In less than half an hour, Ni Cha¡¯s call came through. Kumar answered, murmured a few "mm-hmms," then decisively said, "The suspect confessed. It¡¯s confirmed that he¡¯s one of the real culprits in Qikoli¡¯s murder case. At the same time, Niyuman confessed that it was a contract killing, and the mastermind behind it was Pikami..." As the police chief, Kumar¡¯s exnation wasn¡¯t very clear, but the basic points were apparent. The detectives in the conference room responded loudly in agreement. Kumar assigned a few more tasks, then released his subordinates, watching them swarm out like worker bees, before changing his expression to a smile and saying some formal pleasantries to Jiang Yuan and the others. Though this case may have follow-ups, it¡¯s clearly impossible to pass it on to Jiang Yuan and the others for investigation. In fact, it¡¯s more about the political game around the case, with little investigation left to be done. In a normal case, a mastermind like Pikami might require various investigations to confirm, but this time Jiang Yuan¡¯s involvement wasn¡¯t necessary. "God Jiang, take a day off, and when we¡¯re less busy here, feel free to choose any case!" Kumar sent the others away, then returned to confirm the next case with Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin. Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin and agreed. Huang Qiangmin said, "If we¡¯re staying here long, we¡¯ll need you to issue an official letter." "That¡¯s no problem," Kumar agreed without hesitation. "If possible, it would be best to have a fewmendations, naming names with government-issued letters of thanks," Huang Qiangmin straightforwardly emphasized. "No problem, anything we can do, we will follow your arrangements," Kumar agreed very readily. As long as he confirmed that Jiang Yuan and the others could stay, Kumar left satisfied. Huang Qiangmin turned back, shrugged, "No choice, we agreed with them, we must handle at least another case before we can leave. I¡¯ll talk to Mr. Chu and Mr. Cuiter, and we¡¯llmunicate." "Datuk¡¯s aftermath is quite significant," Jiang Yuan knew why. After all, it was because he received the title, and the others were staying in Dama with him. Huang Qiangmin chuckled, waved his hand, "Going abroad for tourism is such a good thing, as long as it¡¯s not dangerous, you won¡¯t even get a chance, and now our allowances are all covered by the department, everyone gets full attendance subsidies, and the umted time enough to offset aid to Xinjiang and Tibet, there¡¯s nothing to be dissatisfied with. Mainly, the province can¡¯t stand it, they feel at a loss when you¡¯re not solving cases back in the province." Liu Jinghuiughed again, "The province is just thinking about it, it¡¯s the localities that are really anxious." "With you gone too, they can¡¯t even summon people, right?" "There¡¯s no big case recently, so they don¡¯t need us. We¡¯ve been effective in clearing backlog cases over the past two years. Previously these cases took a lot of manpower, involving the most experienced officers, but now many of them have been freed up, handling current cases is much easier." "That¡¯s true for the level of the Detective Squad, but further down the line, it¡¯s just as exhausting." Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui came from different professional backgrounds. Although their levels might be simr now, Huang Qiangmin climbed up from the grassroots, through hardship. Liu Jinghui was actually a prodigy. Even though the ¡¯King of Deduction¡¯s¡¯ reasoning wasn¡¯t as popr now, a decade ago, especially twenty years ago when Liu Jinghui started, he learned from the most famous masters and made a name for himself young, patrolling various areas with the provincial department¡¯s credentials. In some ways, Liu Jinghui was the predecessor of Jiang Yuan, though without Jiang¡¯s high-solving rate or current strength. But in the ¡¯90s when Liu Jinghui started, he was like a celestial presence wherever he went. It¡¯s well-known that the provincial department is actually an administrative body, primarily staffed with administrative personnel, very few are allotted to criminal investigation. And over a decade ago, carrying the provincial department¡¯s credentials on the streets was not much different from or sometimes even better than carrying your family belongings like Jiang Yuan does now. Huang Qiangmin and Liu Jinghui exchanged a few mutualpliments and soon got tired. Mu Zhiyang handed them a bottle of water, "It¡¯s good to have a rest, as long as we don¡¯t get caught up in their political struggles." "That¡¯s quite true," Huang Qiangmin nodded in agreement. As they spoke, Jiang Yuan¡¯s phone rang. "It¡¯s Ni Cha," Jiang Yuan nced at the phone, directly turned on the speaker. Ni Cha¡¯s voice came through, "God Jiang, we¡¯ve discovered another body. Can youe over now?" "Whose body?" Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin and others, paused slightly, and asked, "Pikami?" "If it were him, it would be simpler," Ni Cha sighed, "It¡¯s a congressman. The home is on the 12th floor; the killer rappelled from the top of the 15th-floor, broke in through the window, slit the congressman¡¯s throat with a knife, and took the congressman¡¯s phone and everything from the safe." Chapter 1384 - 1308: What Questions Do You Have Now

Chapter 1384: Chapter 1308: What Questions Do You Have Now

Yaxing Building. This 15-story building is over 80 meters tall. Apart from the bottom two floors which have a height of over ten meters, the average height of each floor is more than four meters. Given this height in the country, it isparable to residential buildings that are 26 or 28 stories high. Jiang Yuan and others got out of the car and unconsciously looked up at the Yaxing Building. Zhong Renlong waited downstairs, surrounded by police tape, along with a variety of journalists. Seeing Jiang Yuan, Zhong Renlong visibly breathed a sigh of relief and exined, "God Jiang, Ni Cha is upstairs and some people from above havee over; he can¡¯t leave, so let¡¯s go up first. The body is still in the room waiting for you." "Okay. Let¡¯s take a look around first." Jiang Yuan responded but did not follow Zhong Renlong¡¯s suggestion to go upstairs immediately. Jiang Yuan said, leading the way forward. Zhong Renlong hesitated for a moment, cautiously nced at the moving reporters around, feeling a headache and unable to refuse. The group walked around silently. The reporters also followed in silence, except for a few loud questions at the beginning;ter on, they only filmed without speaking. This was mainly because Jiang Yuan did not answer them. The Dama reporters weren¡¯t very interested in what others said. After walking a round, Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Jinghui and asked, "What do you think?" Liu Jinghui looked up at the building again and said, "This building is tough to climb." "Indeed. Especially the design of the 10th floor, climbing from the outside would be very dangerous," Jiang Yuan agreed. "Then it wasn¡¯t climbed from the outside," Liu Jinghui entered the building. Zhong Renlong quickly followed, allowing the officers at the entrance to let them pass. Liu Jinghui looked around as he walked inside and said, "If it was essed from inside, there should be surveince footage." "The surveince has been collected but not reviewed yet," Zhong Renlong quickly said. It had only been over an hour since the incident, so there was certainly no time to review it. "Start reviewing it, maybe you¡¯ll find someone in the footage," Liu Jinghui¡¯s tone was neutral. In cases like these, things can be straightforward when simple, but incrediblyplex whenplex. Finding someone in the footage might solve the case or might never solve it. If no one is found in the footage, it¡¯ll beborious to solve this stage of the case. Yaxing Building is not only tall but its design emphasizes aesthetics, with protruding surfaces. The 10th floor especially features a protruding section made entirely of smooth ss, glistening and reflecting sunlight like a diamond cor used in SM. Experienced climbers or thieves know that a vertical fa?ade is rtively easier to climb. A slight inward incline makes it considerably easy, but if there¡¯s an outward incline, likerge protruding sections, climbing it bes hellishly difficult. Many residential buildings in the country are easy to climb because they are structured with balconies and often have foothold tforms or vertical drainage pipes outside. Additionally, domestic buildings have high conformity, experienced thieves can gauge the structure with a nce. In contrast, buildings like Yaxing require special observation and testing. Under current conditions, maybe a super-skilled climbing pro could challenge it, but a 100% sess rate is out of the question. Ordinary thieves or special forces, unless professionally trained, have low chances of sess. As for the interior of Yaxing Building, not to mention the many cameras and perfect security, just the no-entry policy for outsiders means outsiders can¡¯t know the building¡¯s interior, at least ordinary outsiders can¡¯t. This reasoning already indicates that unless the killer tantly appears in Yaxing Building¡¯s surveince, otherwise this case involves either highly skilled techniques or impressive backgrounds. "Let¡¯s go up." Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui exchanged nces for two seconds and didn¡¯t say much. Apanying them are Cui Hu from the ministry and Chu Guanliang, the police liaison officer. They flew back to the country twice, and upon hearing about a new case, they immediately flew back. No other reason, they had taken too much; noting would leave them feeling empty inside. 12th floor, elevator ess. As the elevator doors open, the first thing visible is a beautiful floor-to-ceiling window and an unbeatable city view. In the middle of the room are several green nts, tall enough to touch the ceiling, with thick leaves, ideal for rolling cigarettes. Jiang Yuan stepped out of the elevator and took a few steps forward to see most of the room¡¯s space, with little furniture but abundant sunlight, and police and various forensic equipment present, just cameras and video cameras adding up to seven or eight. Ni Cha, wearing shoe covers, quickly came to Jiang Yuan¡¯s side, sighed, and said, "The body is in the bedroom, on the other side." The elevator doors closed, steadily descending to pick up others. Jiang Yuan also put on shoe covers, first looked out the floor-to-ceiling window, then followed Ni Cha to the bedroom, asking, "Where is the broken-in ss, the rappelling ss?" "Also in the bedroom," Ni Cha replied. "Bravery matched with skill," Jiang Yuan subconsciously remarked, but used Chinese midday vocabry, so Ni Cha didn¡¯t understand. Liu Jinghui quickly caught up and said, "Rappelling isn¡¯t something ordinary people can do. The ss in such buildings should also be thick, not easy to open, didn¡¯t the victim try to escape or notice?" "The victim was wearing pajamas, possibly asleep at the time," Ni Cha answered, then moved aside: "It¡¯s right here." The bedroom was spacious, with arge bed and two nightstands in the center, leaving the rest empty. The bedroom connects to a dressing room and arge bathroom, with everything rectangr except for the curved bedroom. The bedroom has a row of 8rge windows, with one shattered, ss shards scattered across the floor. The wind also opportunistically blew in, but the speed was not high. The deceasedy half-slumped on the bed, blood soaking the bedding. Near his feet was the hidden safe in the room, wide open and almost empty inside. Jiang Yuan paced around the ss shards, saying, "Someone stepped on this side." "Uh... Probably the officers who came earlier; I¡¯ll deal with themter," Ni Cha hurriedly exined. Jiang Yuan did not dwell on it further, examining the scene before checking the body again. Then, Jiang Yuan said, "Do you have any questions now?" Ni Cha started, wondering if this was how the topic should be approached? "I certainly want to know who the killer is," Ni Cha boldly stated. Jiang Yuan said, "The killer weighs around 160 kilograms, stands 180 cm tall, wears size 43 shoes, has received excellentbat training and most likely has a military background. Left-handed, strong, likely someone who frequently exercises or trains, around 32 years old, focused, holds a knife in reverse-hand, while killing the victim, it was an immediate deadly blow. Before that, there should have been a level of torture involved." Looking at the footprints and such, Jiang Yuan spoke in one breath and then said, "Check if there¡¯s anyone matching the description nearby." Chapter 1385 - 1309: Meticulous

Chapter 1385: Chapter 1309: Meticulous

The conversation between Jiang Yuan and Ni Cha was conducted in the Indonesiannguage. Indonesian and My share 70% of their vocabry, and the remaining 30% can be understood fairly well. Given Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 2 proficiency in Indonesian, the efficiency and uracy of his conversation surpass that of an ordinary interpreter. While he was speaking, the other people in the room were naturally listening intently. However, even the most seasoned Dama police officers had never heard descriptions like those given by Jiang Yuan. Is a suspect something you can just pick off a shelf based on the ingredients list? Ni Cha hadplete confidence in Jiang Yuan¡¯s capabilities, yet he couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Can you really tell just from the bedroom?" "Footprints stepped on ss shards, and the scratches formed between the ss shards and the floor show differences in force and angle," Jiang Yuan exined primarily to the surrounding forensic technicians. The death of a councilman, and in the capital no less, naturally drew the top local forensic experts. While the saying "a monk from outside knows the sutras better" isn¡¯t unique to China, Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation was so prominent, and he had just recently solved several major cases, that inviting him was almost Kumar and Ni Cha¡¯s first choice. ordingly, local technicians were more scrutinizing of Jiang Yuan, but he didn¡¯t mind embracing the challenge. But as his words fell, there were no sparks of challenge. "Footprint analysis" is truly a uniquely Chinese expertise. Outside of the country, it doesn¡¯t exist, making it a very pure skill. So, when facing Jiang Yuan¡¯s opening statement, the Dama technicians and experts felt utterly defenseless. Technical discussions demand technical know-how, and if youck the expertise, what¡¯s the point of discussing? As a criminal investigator, Ni Cha could naturally sense the room¡¯s atmosphere. After a brief calm, realizing no one was contradicting Jiang Yuan, Ni Cha¡¯s adrenaline surged. Ni Cha immediately grabbed his portable radio and tightly said, "Patrol unit, the suspect weighs around 80 kilograms, height is 180... has a military background..." Ni Cha quickly ryed the data Jiang Yuan provided and then went on to inform other units. The uniformed police officers downstairs sprang into action. In this case, the fear was having nothing to do, not how much needed to be done. Although there are many males who weigh 80 kilograms and stand 180 cm tall, in a specific ce and time, like within a designatedmercial zone, thoroughly screening everyone, the number perfectly matching this description definitely wouldn¡¯t fill a team¡¯s roster. Adding military training and frequent fitness routines further eliminates anyone with a big belly or soft arms. In the end, using a shoe size of 43, being left-handed, and 32 years old for final confirmation, you can practically identify a unique individual. If it¡¯s possible to filter like that. The officers responsible for patrolling below were actively questioning and searching. The task was akin to fishing, or more precisely, like angling for a specific tagged fish; catching it meant winning, missing it meant wasted effort. Calcting only the sess rate, catching a tagged fish isn¡¯t high, but it¡¯s achievable with a certain sess probability. Ni Cha assigned the task and simultaneously instructed the Image Investigation unit to conduct their inquiries. The Chinese police treasures ¡ª Dama police loved using them too but weren¡¯t as effective. Phones didn¡¯t necessarily provide theprehensive details that a Technical Investigation could give, surveince wasn¡¯t as thorough as Image Investigation¡¯s offerings, and even DNA was only a slightly equalizing factor. But when the databasecked specific entries, thorough screenings were impossible too. Jiang Yuan moved to the window and took out his phone, snapping a few photos. Then, he went over to the safe to make observations, then stood up and circled the bedroom, saying, "The suspect didn¡¯t even leave the bedroom?" "Uh, didn¡¯t leave?" Ni Cha was unsure. "Indeed, there¡¯s no trace of the suspect leaving the bedroom. The soles should have ss shards attached." This time, the local technical expert spoke. Jiang Yuan exchanged a nce with him, nodded slightly, and said, "One could say it¡¯s very professional, or very confident, or thoroughly knowledgeable about the room¡¯syout." "How so?" Ni Cha immediately asked. "Breaking in tomit murder or theft carries the most risk when the number of people inside is uncertain. If there are many people, getting hurt means leaving traces and it¡¯s dangerous. There¡¯s also the risk of ambush, even if there¡¯s only one person inside; being familiar with the environment allows for potential severe harm...," Jiang Yuan said, looking at the local expert. Thetter smiled and said, "Indeed. So, if it can be confirmed there¡¯s no one inside, or if the target is taken out in the bedroom and the task ispleted, then not leaving the bedroom is a viable option. This runs the risk of leaving a witness, which many well-known cases have hinged upon, leading to convictions against the perpetrator." "The suspect isn¡¯t worried about witnesses or doesn¡¯t care if there are any," Ni Cha summarized based on his understanding. After thinking, he added, "Perhaps it indicates he was fully aware of the interior situation?" "That¡¯s a possibility," the local expert nodded and continued, "To be fully aware, the suspect should have specific, urate information. Bribing the building¡¯s property staff? Or someone could have been monitoringings and goings for him, or someone could help him by checking..." "Property staff, Filipino maids, various workers, and visiting guests, I¡¯ll investigate..." Ni Cha extrapted and quickly proceeded with several examples. During this pause, the local expert turned to Jiang Yuan, pointed to himself, and smiled, saying, "I¡¯m Mahdi. I¡¯ve heard of your reputation for a long time... I¡¯ve studied your articles, especially on trace examination. You should write more articles..." "I¡¯ll write when I have the time," Jiang Yuan smiled and, out of courtesy, asked, "What do you think about the traces by the window?" "The entry method is always a focus of attention," Mahdi stated before turning, positioning himself to face away from the window, and gesturing, "I think the suspect rappelled from an upper level, first used a knife to cut the ss, then kicked it in. During this process, the sound of cutting the ss was very minimal; the victim might not even have heard it." Mahdi continued, "Kicking in the ss, this part should be done quickly by the suspect, and following that, he would swing into the room from outside. The victim wouldn¡¯t even have time to escape the bedroom..." Jiang Yuan nodded continuously, saying, "Very good." "What¡¯s your opinion?" Mahdi asked Jiang Yuan. "I generally agree with your viewpoint," Jiang Yuan slowly said, "I think the reason is very good because you¡¯ve grasped a main line, the main line of investigation. Speaking of the entry alone, the suspect¡¯s actions were exceptionally swift, which is very important. Especially the final action, which waspleted before the suspect escaped the bedroom; this is most beneficial to the suspect¡¯s conduct, minimizing all risks." Mahdi shyly smiled, feeling Jiang Yuan gave an ordinarypliment. Then, Jiang Yuan continued, "Here, I believe particr attention is needed to the fact that the suspect should have used a boot to clear the ss around the edges." Jiang Yuan pointed to some corners where he had just taken photos with his phone. "Hmm... yes," Mahdi noticed after looking closely, "you¡¯re quite meticulous in your observation." "The suspect did this immediately after cutting and kicking the ss, and he did it very meticulously. Look, all ss around the edges has been cleared away, maximizing the prevention of any cuts, which would have left evidence." Mahdi nodded, and Ni Cha, who had snapped back to attention, seemed a bit unsure of Jiang Yuan¡¯s point. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t usually hide his intentions;pleting the preceding part, he went on directly, "I¡¯ve watched some SWAT training. Generally speaking, even an ordinary SWAT officer can perform the ss-kicking move well, of course, ones who have already been trained in rappelling." Jiang Yuan continued, "But adding clearing the edge ss, given the width of this window, rappelling in one move, simultaneously releasing rappelling equipment, and subduing the suspect... I think less practiced SWAT, even if they can barely do it, cannot guarantee they can do it every time. As a part of a meticulous n, this leaves a gap." Jiang Yuan stopped here and looked at Ni Cha, saying, "With this assessment, I believe that even if taught and able to master rappelling, if a military police officer hasn¡¯t trained for a long time, they can¡¯t achieve this." Jiang Yuan continued, "The suspect¡¯s confidence in employing this high-difficulty entry method,mitting murder inside, especially against a prominent figure, implies he wouldn¡¯t rely on luck. Therefore, it¡¯s very likely that the suspect is currently active personnel." Ni Cha and Mahdi, and even the local police around, couldn¡¯t help but swallow. Did the knife edge suddenly turn inward? Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hesitate and continued, "Confirm the suspect¡¯s height and weight, further screening active military and police, especially those who¡¯ve undergone relevant rappelling training, and ask if there¡¯s an alibi. If the conditions are met and there¡¯s any record of leave that day, then a deeper investigation is warranted." Ni Cha left the bedroom without a word, heading to a secluded corner. Chapter 1386 - 1310: Investigation

Chapter 1386: Chapter 1310: Investigation

While Ni Cha went to make a phone call, Jiang Yuan, apanied by Zhong Renlong, thoroughly searched the entire room and then went upstairs to check the rooftop. There were many more footprints left on the rooftop. Outside of the China area, criminals don¡¯t pay much attention to footprints. Mainly because not many people get caught because of them, criminals in the prison "The Great Learning" cannot learn relevant counter-detection techniques. They don¡¯t really study, let alone gather information from abroad. By the time Jiang Yuan reached his level, footprint identification was like DNA analysis more than 20 years ago. As long as blood, semen, and hair were collected in a case, it was straightforward. Jiang Yuan carefully examined the footprints on the rooftop, looked at the ropes and other items left behind, and then turned to Zhong Renlong, saying, "This rope-tying technique should be quite special. Can it be traced?" "It¡¯s the SWAT team¡¯s tying technique," Zhong Renlong responded in a low voice. They had just investigated this information. Don¡¯t look at rappelling as just tying a rope and jumping down, as a tactical subject, it¡¯s actually extremely difficult. From equipment configuration, rope inspection and maintenance, how to choose weight-bearing frames, various rope-tying methods under different circumstances, to rappelling techniques and strategies to deal with special situations, even the average active military or police may not be able toplete it at a high level. For example, in a National Day parade rehearsal, the Indian special forces failed in rappelling, resulting in three people falling. In theory, special forces should be the top-trained units. The National Day parade should be the best of the best. During rehearsal, training should beplete and at its peak. Yet, they still fell because of India, but it also indicates from another perspective that rappelling is indeed difficult, at least more so than 18 people riding one motorcycle. The rappelling rope on the rooftop itself is evidence, where it came from, how it was acquired, etc. All are clues. Likewise, choosing where to tie the rope, what tying technique to use, speaks volumes. Selecting the most sturdy bindable object on-site is an ability. Some are so skilled they even have the ability to temporarily modify a frame. Otherwise, an 80-kilogram man, if careless, with the force generated by gravitational eleration and a strong kick, if tied to a small steel bar, might quickly find his head needing a steel shell. "The killer must have stayed here for a while," Jiang Yuan followed the footprints to a sheltered spot on the rooftop. There was a square protrusion here, about two meters in height, and three meters in length and width, with things like venttors inside. Jiang Yuan had people take pictures of the messy footprints on the ground, then carefully searched the walls and said, "Call someone to brush this wall. See if you can detect any fibers. If you can find sweat stains or the like, all the better. The killer waited here, leaning against it for some time." Zhong Renlong nodded repeatedly and then used the walkie-talkie to call the technician up. In general, for small cases, police from various countries don¡¯t like to use trace evidence. The cost of use can be exorbitant. Brushing a few spots on this wall can cost tens of thousands, with no guarantee of results. But in this case, it doesn¡¯t matter how much the expenses are; no one would bat an eye. If, as Jiang Yuan said, they could find sweat stains, DNA identification would basically nail the suspect. Even if only textile fibers were found, that¡¯s quite good. Matching the perpetrator¡¯s clothing, etc., counts as fairly strong circumstantial evidence. After examining the rooftop, Jiang Yuan walked down again and let Wang Chuanxing add more information: "The killer¡¯s stride on the rooftop is smallerpared to his leg length, which should be deliberately trained. This reinforces the idea that he¡¯s in a trained state..." "You can tell leg length too?" Zhong Renlong just put down the walkie-talkie and felt like he heard something incredible. Jiang Yuan naturally nodded, "The steps inside the bedroom are normal, revealing leg length, while the steps on the rooftop are deliberately trained steps..." "Oh..." What could Zhong Renlong say? Just quietly noted it down. Next time, if there¡¯s a case requiring a detective to figure out leg length, he¡¯ll know to find Jiang Yuan. "The killer lingered on the rooftop for a while, waited for the right moment, and without much hesitation, found the best spot to tie the rope and then rappelled down. From the footprints on the rooftop, the killer did not collect necessary information, indicating an aplice provided him with information, or there was an insider," Jiang Yuan continued his deductions. Zhong Renlong quickly took notes, feeling that the pressure of solving the case had somewhat lessened. Jiang Yuan continuously revealed line after line of clues. Even if half of them led nowhere, the remaining ones were quite useful. Below, Ni Cha also felt hope. In such cases, the biggest fear is drawn-out time, and the second is having no leads and progress early on, leading to wild attacks from media reporters. With someone like Jiang Yuan providing arge amount of lead at once, even if the case couldn¡¯t be immediately solved, it still allowed room to breathe. Sometimes, they might even receive a measure of praise. Jiang Yuan finally finished investigating the scene and then returned to the forensic doctor¡¯s autopsy room with the body. The Brit-styled Jacob was already waiting there. He gracefully took Jiang Yuan¡¯s coat, handed him a whiteb coat, and cheerfully said, "A parliamentarian¡¯s body, quite rare. How shall we dissect it?" "Follow the usual process, but be more thorough with some things, do aprehensive toxin test." Jiang Yuan had already done an external examination and wasn¡¯t too demanding regarding the autopsy itself. Based on the crime scene, the killer was very decisive, and not much interaction urred with the victim. It¡¯s likely it ended with a quick stab to the neck. Under such circumstances, the body might not offer much direct evidence. Comparatively, toxin testing could provide insights into the victim¡¯s state at the time. Whether they took sleeping pills, were addicted to drugs, or poisoned, etc. Jacob quickly agreed and led Jiang Yuan to the body, eyeing the prone parliamentarian with the knife in hand. "Quite chubby, not easy to cut," Jacob lightly patted the parliamentarian¡¯s belly, which was as bouncy and soft as a fresh block of aged tofu. "Cut and see," Jiang Yuan took a scalpel and drew a long ¡¯I¡¯ from the center of the corpse¡¯s body. However, unlike usual, the abdominal fat of the deceased was so thick they couldn¡¯t cut through. So, someone had to stand aside and use their hands to push aside the blubber while making cuts, clear the fat, and cut again... again. The parliamentarian, often showing a big belly, had abdominal fat so thick that Jiang Yuan needed to make three incisions to see the structure beneath. Jacob¡¯s eyes widened, holding the abdomen fat of the parliamentarian, trying to make it as easy as possible for Jiang Yuan to cut. Chapter 1387 - 1311: This Is What God Jiang Is Like

Chapter 1387: Chapter 1311: This Is What God Jiang Is Like

The sensation of cutting fat and muscle is remarkably different. If the knife is sharp, cutting muscle provides a quick, clean feeling, not hard at all. The muscles of a drug-fueled fitness champion have a simr texture. With a swift stroke of a fast knife, it¡¯s just like slicing through A4 paper, only the body reacts after the cut isplete. However, a quick knife does not cut fat the same way. Fat is greasy or sticky; even with a sharp knife, the fat clings to both sides, sticking the de and making it harder to cut through, requiring more force. While the surgical knife is thin and sharp, one cannot use brute force, as it might break, not only causing injury but also disrupting the forensic results. Thus, when dealing with a heavyset politician, a single person¡¯s autopsy would be exhausting. It¡¯s best to have someone hold the cut fat apart, the lead forensic only needing to make a gentle cut, then an assistant pulls it apart, repeating this process. It¡¯s akin to the effort of wiping, with the core of the action emphasizing being light and clean while the peripheral requires effort. This also is a unique pleasure for senior forensic doctors; the more people assisting in the task, the more satisfying it bes. It¡¯s ideal to make one cut and immediately mp it open with two assistants, then make another cut, while one or two more people assist, making the action particrly smooth and satisfying. During such times, even usually reluctant forensic doctors favor making a cut. Of course, no one enjoys theter part of extracting the heart and soul. Due to the thickyer of fat, and since it cannot be fully removed, one must reach in with an arm to pry it out. If the fat is four-fingers thick, you need to stretch your arm four-fingers deep. The taut arm must rub against the taut internal organs, known to be as thick as that of pigs with an 18% body fat limit, but merely the starting point for ordinary humans since men¡¯s abs be visible with body fat below 15%... The recently deceased politician¡¯s body was still warm, resembling the thermal state of beef favored by Twin Ponytails District, and the organs were in good condition, except for a dposed pancreas, the rest were fine. Jiang Yuan let Jacob extract and weigh them all together, sampling the apex blood for analysis. While Jacob was busy, Jiang Yuan¡¯s focus was on the neck of the body. A reverse grip cut is undeniably cool, but in the case of a casual slice, the angle and force reveal the moment of the cut, the positional rtionship between the killer and victim. Often, if it¡¯s determined both were standing, this allows a forensic doctor to deduce the attacker¡¯s height and reach. However, this victim wasn¡¯t standing straight when cut, so Jiang Yuan deduced based on the known attacker height, thus estimating how much their knee bent... It¡¯s just not useful. Most data from criminal identification are indeed useless. But like a barrage, you don¡¯t know which shell ends up effective. Hitting with a sniper¡¯s precision ismendable, but ultimately an act ofst resort. With resources at disposal, who¡¯d willingly use steely resolve to confront cannons and aircraft? The autopsy concluded. Jiang Yuan put down the scalpel, and Jacob immediately stood up, pping his hands enthusiastically. "Well done!" Jacob bowed with everyone, even looking up midway to say, "God Jiang¡¯s guidance has been enlightening." "Uh, it¡¯s not so significant," Jiang Yuan modestly waved with both hands, a bit unused to Jacob¡¯s British demeanor change. Jacob was unfazed, standing straight before leaning in to Jiang Yuan, whispering, "God Jiang, I was online learning about ceremonial practices of Chinese forensic doctors in the dissection room, if there¡¯s any mistake, please instruct." Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression shifted from surprise to contemtion, eventually saying, "Perhaps you should first distinguish between Chinese and Japanese styles?" ... Back at the police station, a gust of cold air blew in as they entered. Looking around, uniformed officers passed quietly, with the usually bustling hall caf¨¦ nearly deserted, devoid of lively conversation. Jiang Yuan exchanged nces with Mu Zhiyang, both sensing the peculiar atmosphere. A simr somber mood urred in Ningtai County Bureau during Huang Qiangmin¡¯s era, particrly when tough-to-solve major cases surfaced or upper-level deadlines pressured unfruitful investigations. It¡¯s akin to dwindling business, dropping ie, or trailing academic performances, where despite indifferent subordinates or students, capable leaders instill aspirations. "Has the case evolved?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t rush up, instead stopped a familiar face. He didn¡¯t recall the person¡¯s name, but the other recognized Jiang Yuan immediately and, after a slight hesitation, said, "The director identified a suspect, but during the arrest, faced resistance, and now the suspect reportedly escaped." "What about Ni Cha?" Jiang Yuan asked. "I¡¯m not sure, off pursuing?" "Alright, thanks." Jiang Yuan let go of the person and ryed the information to Huang Qiangmin in Chinese. Huang Qiangmin responded with a couple of nods and picked up his phone, saying, "I¡¯ll call Cui Xiaohu over and ask Chu Guanliang about the situation. You try calling Ni Cha." Almost as soon as he said it, Ni Cha came rushing down from the second floor. "God Jiang!" Seeing Jiang Yuan, Ni Cha¡¯s excitement was palpable. Huang Qiangmin intercepted, saying, "We¡¯re ready to leave." "Hmm?" Ni Cha was taken aback. "Aren¡¯t you too hasty? The case... isn¡¯t it unresolved?" "Solving the case is one thing, pursuing the fugitive is up to you." After dealing with previous frantic and bloody escapes of younger individuals, Huang Qiangmin was averse to Jiang Yuan handling such cases, especially with evident political entanglements. "No, no." Ni Cha waved dramatically, saying, "It¡¯s not a chase. We¡¯ve pinpointed the suspect, but now when attempting arrest, we fear insufficient evidence." Having said this, Ni Cha turned to Jiang Yuan, "I hope you understand. Though personally, I believe the footprint evidence is impable and conclusively implicates the suspect. Our director and involved officers concur, but for warrant applications, we need further supporting evidence..." Ni Cha looked earnestly at Jiang Yuan, exining while pondering how to borate further. Jiang Yuan gestured dismissively, "Where shall we discuss? With whom?" "Uh... a few individuals, including prosecutors and officials, in the conference room..." "Let¡¯s go." Jiang Yuan nodded, bracing for describing evidence, seeing little difference. Ni Cha eagerly added, "Do you have a n?" "Certainly," Jiang Yuan couldn¡¯t help but smile. By his side, Mu Zhiyang offered a mocking grin. Upstairs. Around the conference table, several individuals engaged in heated debate, but upon seeing Jiang Yuan through the transparent doors, halted. Jiang Yuan entered, prompting someone to rise first, followed by everyone else. "Mr. Jiang Yuan has new evidence." Worrying about misunderstandings, Ni Cha quickly informed, before introducing, "Let me introduce, this is our renowned prosecutor Yahos... And this is Representative Lazi¡¯s proxy... and here..." "Excellent." The eager council representative urgently dered, "We were discussing just now... The suspect¡¯s special identity demands substantial evidence for arrest, otherwise, we must unfortunately just watch for now." Mu Zhiyang interjected, "At least bring them in for questioning..." "No need to trante that," Huang Qiangmin urged, following the trantor¡¯s interpretation before feigning seriousness. Mu Zhiyang shrugged, smiling as he stepped back. Jiang Yuan returned to the spotlight. He wasted no time before addressing everyone, "I¡¯ve justpleted the autopsy, to put it simply, during the investigation phase, the judgment based on footprint analysis is supported by autopsy and trace analysis. I can offer additional non-footprint evidence if this suffices..." This revtion stunned everyone, not only the policemen like Ni Cha but seasoned prosecutors like Yahos as well. Old memories resurfaced for Ni Cha, who seized the moment to tell his peer, "God Jiang is like this." Chapter 1388 - 1312: Steaming Hot

Chapter 1388: Chapter 1312: Steaming Hot

Suspects who can afford goodwyers require stronger evidence for prosecution. For Jiang Yuan to exin his footprint analysis in a Mysian court will require a significant effort. It¡¯s akin to exining DNA in the previous century; you must first make non-specialist judges and jurors understand what DNA is, its uracy, how it¡¯s obtained, how to prove it¡¯s fake... If Jiang Yuan intends to develop in Mysia in the long term and promote footprint analysis, this case presents an excellent opportunity. To use suspects identified through footprint analysis and corroborate it with other established technologies is a form of proof in itself. However, Jiang Yuan has no such intention. Promoting footprint analysis domestically is already challenging, let alone in Mysia. If he were to pursue this, it might take him the next ten years. He might also need to train a batch of Criminal Science talents skilled in footprint analysis. Simply describing the process and results of trace and forensic analysis is significantly easier. Although the few people present were enthusiastic, Jiang Yuan¡¯s method of providing a brief process and mainly results left a good impression on the prosecutor and several representatives from the parliament. They are all pure liberal arts majors who can easily change the world, but understanding it is evidently beyond them. Simply getting results is good enough. Particrly prosecutor Yahos, who watched Jiang Yuan rapidly produce a forensic report on the spot and then orally deliver the final conclusion, developed a great favor for him, saying, "I¡¯ve seen cases you¡¯ve worked on before, but seeing you today, you¡¯re indeed impressive. Our police work should undoubtedly learn from the Chinese police..." As a prosecutor, he could verbally assault criminals, and when sweet-talking, he was very sweet. Jiang Yuan smiled and cooperated with a few words, providing two forensic reports ording to the directions of trace evidence and forensic science. The prosecutor Yahos himself didn¡¯t look much at it; after taking photos and sending them out, he started chatting with Jiang Yuan about all sorts of things. After a while, when his phone rang again, Yahos smiled and said, "Since that¡¯s the case, I think we can formally apply for a search warrant and an arrest warrant now." Jiang Yuan knew that someone had reviewed it for him. After saying a few more words, prosecutor Yahos eagerly stood up to leave, while the other parliamentary representatives were not in a hurry but were all busy operating their phones. "In that case, we should also leave." Jiang Yuan pulled Ni Cha aside. Ni Cha was surprised: "So urgent, I wasn¡¯t referring to solving the case, this case is also a highly watched one. After solving it, there will inevitably be media coverage and such; you can stay to ept a few interviews, which will always be beneficial." "There will be opportunities in the future." Jiang Yuan patted Ni Cha on the shoulder and said, "If there are interviews, you can appear on my behalf. I should return to the country, and we¡¯ll get in touchter if anythinges up." Ni Cha¡¯s eyes sparkled with delight, "Of course. Absolutely. Since you¡¯ve decided on it... well, such a case is indeed easy for you, so I won¡¯t persuade you..." "Well, thank you for actively helping me coordinate the special forcesst time and for the Datuk title." Jiang Yuan grasped Ni Cha¡¯s hand and shook it vigorously. "That¡¯s what you deserved." Ni Cha¡¯s eyes were moist, silently repeating to himself, God Jiang remembers me, God Jiang remembers me... Jiang Yuan indeed had a favorable impression of Ni Cha. He¡¯s a high-ranking officer who understands politics, can allocate resources, and is willing to work on and solve cases. Whether previously coordinating the special forces or dealing with political cases involving parliament members, Ni Cha always appeared hesitant but ultimately got the job done. From an operational perspective, he was undeniably skillful. Inparison, Director Kumar had a stronger political aura, naturally so due to his position, as he didn¡¯t handle case operations and wasn¡¯t as closely connected with Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan also bid farewell to Kumar via Ni Cha, then said goodbye to Huang Qiangmin and others, and the group headed straight to the airport. The private jet, just a call away, was already waiting, and therge group of familiar faces made sitting together feel more rxed. When it was time to take off, Director Kumar¡¯s call came through. Jiang Yuan engaged in the customary formalities with him before ending the call. Listening to it from the side, Cui Xiaohuughed afterward, "If Mr. Chu knew how you chatted with Kumar, he¡¯d be green with envy." He was, of course, referring to police liaison officer Chu Guanliang. Jiang Yuan was a bit curious, "Mr. Chu should have established a foothold by now, right?" "That depends on how you define a foothold." Cui Xiaohu nced at Jiang Yuan, "If you mean being able to mobilize Mysia¡¯s special forces with just one phone call, he¡¯s far from it." These words made everyone present burst intoughter. Huang Qiangmin coughed twice and said, "Police liaison work isn¡¯t just about liaising with the Mysian side; utilizing contacts back home is also viable." "Isn¡¯t he already utilizing them?" Cui Xiaohuughed. "You should also utilize yours." Huang Qiangmin didn¡¯t miss a beat, calling a flight attendant over for wine, and startedpeting with Cui Xiaohu right there. The private jet flew directly to Changyang City. Uponnding, Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team took a local vacation. Many detectives seconded from Changyang City hadn¡¯t been home in some time and were all given a long break. For others whose homes weren¡¯t in Changyang City, it was up to them to choose their mode of transportation and whether to take a vacation. The remaining people gathered into a Coaster and headed straight to Ningtai County. Cui Xiaohu and others weren¡¯t in a hurry to return to Beijing and followed Jiang Yuan along the way. Throughout the case-handling process in Mysia, Cui Xiaohu and the others were watching the entire time. If the case in Beijing had showcased Jiang Yuan¡¯s exceptional crime-solving ability, the case in Mysia demonstrated Jiang Yuan¡¯s ability to handle matters swiftly and efficiently. For police officers like Cui Xiaohu from ministries andmissions, having the ability to handle matters swiftly and efficiently is truly useful at certain times. The cases honed over ten years might be feasible in small cities and typical brutal criminal cases but not necessarily in someplex cases. Sometimes, solving a case before all parties react is the cleanest and most efficient method. Overthinking and bncing are not skills a police officer needs. Now, Cui Xiaohu wanted to stick closely with Jiang Yuan, not for short-term benefits but for long-termpanionship. Therefore, Jiang Yuan arranged for Cui Xiaohu and the others to stay in the guest rooms on the ground floor of his home. Father Jiang Fuzhen enjoyed hosting friends. Even in their poorest times, when someone in the vige made something, they¡¯d bring some over. Despite difficulties, Jiang Yuan was never starved and grew to arge size with a huge appetite. Now, the Jiang Family was affluent; Jiang Fuzhen offered the best meat for visiting friends and kept rooms for guests despite high rental ie offers. Even the rented-out houses were amodated when tenants didn¡¯t meet his needs. Most tenants struggled for three to five months, or half a year; some would then pay up, some would say goodbye, and some would be called by Jiang Fuzhen to help in the kitchen or arrange some work. Ningtai was a county town, predominantly relying on various factories for external economy, followed by tourism brought by scenic spots, creating significant demand forbor, although generally offering low wages, suitable for young people consistently unable to find jobs with shattered dreams. Jiang Yuan stayed at home, indulging his appetite for a few days before settling down. By the third day, Jiang Yuan finally rxed, asking a farm worker to bring a cow into the neighborhood for ughter, then personally wielded the knife to prepare freshly boiled beef. Boiled beef slices in mineral water, aside from having more seasoning varieties, were straightforward. The mineral water was most ordinary, and the beef was differentiated ording to Chinese Chaozhou beef cuts; the tenderloin was sliced by a forensic doctor, and the shank was handled the same way... Aside from the fresh beef and a forensic doctor doing the slicing, the rest was simr to ordinary Chaozhou-style hotpot beef. It was purely delicious. A whole cow was too much for even a group of people to finish. When everyone was full to the point of bursting, Jiang Yuan took out a pad to review recent drowning cases in the Tai River Basin. The drowning-rted zoonkton testing (Level 6) obtained through the "Datuk" title was still fresh off the press. Chapter 1389 - 1313: Thawing

Chapter 1389: Chapter 1313: Thawing

In just a few months, there have already been quite a few bodies appearing in the Tai River Basin. It is exactly summer time, and bodies from idental falls into the water, swimming mishaps, drowning suicides, and those killed and dumped in the water could all converge here. Specifically determining whether a given body is the result of murder is often not immediately identifiable. If there are obvious knife marks, bullet wounds, or signs of blunt force trauma before death, then you might consider the possibility of murder. Otherwise, you look to see if the identity of the body can be confirmed. Once the identity is confirmed, if the body has strong contacts, you begin to consider whether it might be a murder or an ident¨Cfor example, a man or woman who has a happy family and a flourishing career is likely to have suicide ruled out. Analyzing their daily routine and lifestyle could help determine whether it was an ident. Conversely, bodies without strong contacts are like the social outcasts of the past, such as scavengers, homeless people, or even a solitary otaku. In countries like Japan, without clear evidence of murder, they may not open a case. Of course, it¡¯s not only Japanese police who might do this to avoid lowering their case resolution rate; U.S. police might also choose to avoid cases involving gang members¡¯ bodies, drug users¡¯ bodies, or any case without an aggrieved party when possible. So, there¡¯s no end to police cases, especially in just the drowning cases on the Tai River. If resources were dedicated to identifying all unidentified bodies, doubling the manpower of the Ningtai County Bureau would still be insufficient. Jiang Yuan timed it as he dipped beef into the hotpot, lifting it out after only seven or eight seconds, swirling it in the garlic sandy sauce before chewing it vigorously, his eyes staring nkly at the pad. "If you¡¯re having a hard time choosing, pick Changyang City¡¯s," Huang Qiangmin noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s expression and immediately suggested this thoughtfully. The majority of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were temporarily assigned from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment, so in return, it¡¯s natural to give them VIP treatment. Jiang Yuan let out an "Oh", swiped the image on the PAD twice forward, and said: "Then let¡¯s pick Changyang City¡¯s. I just saw a case in Changyang where the nose of the drowning body was fractured while alive, highly likely to be homicide since the autopsy report couldn¡¯t reveal it. I¡¯ll check if the body is still thereter?" "Sure, sure." Huang Qiangmin nodded repeatedly, acknowledging Jiang Yuan¡¯s response, showing resolution to any matter at hand and finding a responsible solution. Jiang Yuan then used the PAD to send the pertinent documents to Wang Chuanxing, asking him to arrange follow-up work while he focused intently on the beef. Wang Chuanxing was resting at home but still had work to do. Ordinary police teams don¡¯t get such prolonged rest time, and needless to say about overtime or business trips, being a detective means overtime and travel are everyday affairs, with even more challenging tasks abundant. For instance, just look at Shen Yaowei to realize this. Jiang Yuan devoured arge te of hanging dragon, then moved onto spoon stem and spoon core. There¡¯s a ssic saying about Chaozhou beef: "Only two poundse from a cow," which is quite correct due to detailed ssification, most cuts of beef only yield around two to three pounds. However, just like how people in the Song dynasty ate sheep face and in the Qing dynasty ate carp whiskers, although these cuts are small in quantity, the rest of the cow, sheep, or fish isn¡¯t wasted. In ancient times discussions might arise about resource integration, but in modernmercial structures, this isn¡¯t even an issue. The yield of pork brains is even smaller, selling them expensively can only fool the pork itself. Jiang Yuan, caught in a culinary fervor, got up and sliced the meat himself, ignoring the established rules. Seeing the meat look tasty, he sliced off a small piece, finely cutting it intorge slices, and tossed it directly into the pot. Being a forensic doctor, he had long developed an intuition¨Cnot to say he understands every change in a body¡¯s various parts thoroughly, but he possesses considerable awareness and expectations of changes in different parts. Overall, Jiang Yuan believed he picked meat that could possibly taste better, breaking the limitations of just two pounds from a cow... In the subsequent tasting segment, everyone gave exceedingly high praises. In thetter half of the grand feast, the old and young gentlemen of Jiang Vige began circling the table to offer toasts. Regarding drinking, Jiang Vige People didn¡¯t hold too many obsessions, perhaps from previously not having money for cheap liquor, but having it now, under the influence of societal trends, they started valuing their lives more. Jiang Yuan took a shallow sip, still on a break today, knowing that by tomorrow, when the frozen body defrosted, he would be busy again. The following day. Jiang Yuan got up very early, sat with his father, drinking some beef soup, and ate a hot cake of unknown origin, then rode the Alphard to Changyang City, where he indeed found the defrosted body, along with the returning Wang Chuanxing and others. Also present were more detectives from the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. Most came to chat with Wang Chuanxing and others, while a few looked to meet Jiang Yuan or seize an opportunity. "Datuk!" Yu Wenshu also hurried over, extending his hand from afar. "Normally, you should call me Datuk Jiang." Jiang Yuan shook hands with Yu Wenshu. Yu Wenshuughed heartily, gripping Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand, then turned to others, saying: "Director Jiang even jokes very seriously." "Perhaps it¡¯s because Director Jiang says it genuinely." Deputy Director Wan Baoming of the Changyang Criminal Science and Technology Center was well acquainted with Jiang Yuan, intentionally came over this time to meet him. Yu Wenshu let out an even heartierugh, saying: "Datuk Jiang has an extraordinary ring to it, bringing glory to the nation, truly remarkable." "I¡¯m still willing to work for Changyang City. Chief Yu¡¯s words are so pleasant to hear." Jiang Yuan, full of equipped emotional intelligence made everyone in Changyang feel a bit uneasy. Yu Wenshu jolted, hurriedly made room, saying: "Let Old Cao exin it to you? This case was reported by the local police and subsequently handed to us, specifically assigned to the Third Squad. You know Old Cao." The captain of the Third Squad, Cao Chujun, was an old acquaintance of Jiang Yuan, nearing retirement age, highly experienced and patient¡ªthetter evaluation depends on whether considering 60s and 70s generation or lying t tendency for 00s. Cao Chujun often coordinated with Jiang Yuan and smiled when named. He slowly pulled out a worn notebook from his pocket and opened it, saying: "This body... the deceased¡¯s name was Zhang Xianyao, 17 years old, a student at Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School, living on campus, leaving school at noon on the 6th for lunch, but never returning. The school notified the parents the next night, and the third day reported it to the police." Cao Chujun: "The body was discovered on the 10th, at a turning spot 16 kilometers downstream of the school. The body was found by a morning bird photographer, the first autopsy was conducted on that day, and the forensic doctor concluded the cause of death as mechanical asphyxia apanied by water-rted pulmonary edema. Combining age and report information, the identity of the deceased was confirmed, and the parents were invited for identification." After Cao Chujun finished speaking, he put away his notebook and continued: "After finding the body, our officers conducted visits and inquiries, discovering Zhang Xianyao had prior acts of wild swimming, not frequently but about ten times each summer. Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School is about a kilometer in straight line from Tai River, two kilometers upstream under the bridge frequently sees gatherings for wild swimming, and there¡¯s even a self-built changing wall..." Cao Chujun: "Furthermore, from interviews with schoolmates, Zhang Xianyao rarely had conflicts, had no girlfriend nor any dating history, never worked, had little interaction with people outside school, and his daily expenses were basically adequate. Based on these, we decided the deceased initiated wild swimming himself and identally drowned." After he finished, Yu Wenshu coughed a couple of times, inquiring: "What about the nose injury situation?" "This... was previously judged to have possibly urred post-mortem due to water flow impact, hitting stones and such." Wan Baoming, responsible for the Criminal Science Center including forensic aspects, had to step up and exin. "Well, indeed the facial damage is quite severe, making it difficult to determine." Jiang Yuan stood by the corpse, firstforting with a sentence and then said: "However, the nasal fracture indeed shows injuries sustained before death, so it¡¯s necessary to open a case for investigation." In reality, floating corpses often appear damaged. They rot, collide with rocks or other hard objects, are pecked at by aquatic or avian creatures, and sometimes hit by boat paddles is not umon. Comparatively, the floating corpses often seen in movies or TV are ratherplete, mostly due to limited prop budgets and actors have basic life rights. Cao Chujun nodded naturally, asking: "With all procedurespleted, where do we start?" "His nose, and the eye sockets..." Jiang Yuan did not immediately answer, talking on-site and amidst everyone, he suddenly made a cut, neatly stripping the already shredded flesh on the bone. Jiang Yuan signaled to Miao Ruixiang to take photos, meanwhile saying: "The eye sockets also show bone fractures, considering this thin line, here too is pre-death damage, the deceased seems to have been beaten up before death..." He looked up at Cao Chujun. Cao Chujun nodded: "From the injuries, it¡¯s either an idental conflict or vendetta. Shall we start investigating from these two leads?" "Alright. After I conduct aplete autopsy, I¡¯ll inform you of specific injuries and scars." Jiang Yuan coughed twice, more seriously saying, "I¡¯ll test the lung slices and silica samples from the upper respiratory tract again, confirming the specific drowning location and whether it aligns with the wild swimming ce." "Okay." Cao Chujun found Jiang Yuan¡¯s slightly raised tone intriguing, yet like everyone else present there, had no idea how impactful Jiang Yuan¡¯s concluding statement would eventually be. Chapter 1390 - 1314: Upstream and Downstream

Chapter 1390: Chapter 1314: Upstream and Downstream

Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School is located in the southern suburbs of Changyang City. It¡¯s neither Changyang, nor science and technology, not even vocational, and it doesn¡¯t resemble a school. However, the campus management is very strict. You have to use facial recognition to enter and exit, and you need to clock in for sses. The pressure isn¡¯t as intense as high school, and the density of the school is slightly lower. Cao Chujun intentionally brought two female officers to the school for interviews, visiting the deceased Zhang Xianyao¡¯s dormitory, ssroom, ssmates, friends, and teachers, walking through everything. Meanwhile, the cyber security team began to check Zhang Xianyao¡¯s mobile phone andptop, from WeChat to browser records, eager tob through everything. Image Investigation, without waiting for Jiang Yuan¡¯s coordination, proactively started collecting surrounding surveince records. The folks in Technical Investigation were unusually cooperative this time, as long as the Criminal Police Brigade submitted a report, they started working without hesitation, unlike their previous reluctance and hesitation. The investigative effort in a homicide casepared to a non-natural death can be likened to a naked exam at Tsinghua University versus a sponsored arts student. A non-natural death might often just be a matter of a few police officers writing a report, but once it¡¯s discovered to be a homicide, all sorts of resources converge. Even if it¡¯s a crime of passion where the suspect turns himself in, the evidence and information collected are just as thorough. Just because the suspect decides to surrender due to emotional factors doesn¡¯t mean they won¡¯t retract their confession once in detention or court, or even write to the prosecutors after being in prison. This could happen two years, three years, or even ten yearster. By then, it¡¯s uncertain if the case officers will remember anything; seasoned detectives like Cao Chujun might have already retired. Ultimately, only the paperwork can transcend time. As for solving the case, no one feels there are too many difficulties. Not to mention having Jiang Yuan here; even without Datuk Jiang, Cao Chujun believes he has the capability to crack this case. Of course, drowning cases are generally quite difficult, but Cao Chujun¡¯s ability to solve cases is also above average. Previously, officers at the police station thought the deceased was an idental death due to wild swimming, so it didn¡¯t enter the homicide investigation process. Now with the third squad of the Criminal Police Brigade taking over, these are elite forces for solving challenging major cases. Solving a case of intentional injury leading to drowning wouldn¡¯t be... "Can¡¯t crack it." Upon returning from Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School, Cao Chujun expressed with a sigh. Being a veteran, he didn¡¯t feel embarrassed while saying this, just spread his hands and said, "He¡¯s just a normal kid, doesn¡¯t even have a girlfriend, not even an ex-girlfriend or a crush! What¡¯s going on with young people these days?" His deputy added, "The kid doesn¡¯t have money either, his rtionship with ssmates is neither good nor bad. It feels like he doesn¡¯t have any particrly close friends, at most he eats with roommates or ssmates in the cafeteria, there¡¯s no motive for murder." "So, officers investigating earlier thought it resembled a wild swimming ident," Liu Jinghui, sitting in the office, wasn¡¯t in a hurry, smiled and said, "Now there¡¯s definite evidence that proves the deceased had been beaten before death, so we must consider what caused the injury to ur, whether it was premeditated, situational, or...idental?" Cao Chujun couldn¡¯t help butugh: "You¡¯ve said it all. However, for a 17-year-old boy, the reason for getting murdered could only be about love. As for money, he probably didn¡¯t have more on him than a delivery guy." "Hmm... But still, random killing or robbery should be consideredst." Liu Jinghui concluded Cao Chujun¡¯s spection with just a sentence. The investigation route of the task force cannot always employ a brute force method. Whenever possible, everyone still needs to use intelligence and evidence to rule out unsuitable routes, then concentrate resources onto the logical ones. At times like this, investigators also need to understand the thoughts of the task force leader. For instance, whether to consider the route of robbery and murder, or whether to prioritize the consideration of this route. Because this path is the hardest to handle, potentially the most costly¡ªalthough, different investigative strategies will also bring different costs;mon strategies for investigating robbery and murder usually involve considering the situation of repeat offenders, often using informants or looking for stolen goods. Something like the deceased Zhang Xianyao¡¯s phone, which hasn¡¯t been found, could have fallen into the Tai River. But if connected with a fence, it can be suspected as a robbery. Of course, it could also be that someone else has picked up the phone, then we need to ask why the deceased was separated from the phone, where was it picked up, when was it picked up, especially why the phone was powered off in a certain location. Liu Jinghui clearly wants to choose an easy-first-difficultter approach for investigation. This isn¡¯t surprising; most task forces have and only have this choice. Opening multiple investigative directions at once requires resources, not just the question of investigative resources but also the input of arge number of personnel. If it can be easily investigated¡ªmost of today¡¯s homicide cases are actually like this¡ªthen throwing in a huge amount of upfront cost might seem a bit overly "confident." However, Cao Chujun seems to lean towards robbery and murder, hence he asked Liu Jinghui these questions. He¡¯s also speaking from his own experience, because apart from robbery and simr idental conflicts, there¡¯s no reason for Zhang Xianyao to be murdered. On another hand, Jiang Yuan¡¯s led task force definitely has enough resources to start a multi-threaded investigation, and regardless of necessity, no one will nag. It¡¯s like a child who is a grade leader in a provincial key school requesting to have extra tutoring from several teachers in different subjects, or even requesting additional teachers for a subject, will anyone oppose? Will anyone discuss the waste of tutoring fees? Knock. Jiang Yuan pushed the door open, dust on his clothes. "How¡¯s it going?" Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui asked each other simultaneously. "Let me first report on our current progress." Liu Jinghui then briefly described today¡¯s investigation, with Cao Chujun adding a few sentences. After listening, Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "I walked along the river section near the deceased¡¯s school, the diatom samples I took, I had theb directly photograph them under an electron microscope for me to see, basically confirmed the location of the deceased¡¯s fall into water." Saying this, Jiang Yuan looked at the map hanging at the scene and drew a circle with a red pen. "Two kilometers downstream from the school." Jiang Yuan marked the specific location and distance on the map beside the circle. This newly acquired skill is indeed very useful, eliminating theb as a go-between, doing it myself naturally doesn¡¯t require such a long wait. Cao Chujun immediately turned around to pick up a report, checked it over, and said, "This location doesn¡¯t match the phone¡¯s positioning location. The phone signal¡¯sst positioning point is near the school..." The phone positioning was obtained only after the task force was established; previously, when deemed a non-natural death rather than a homicide, they didn¡¯t use and weren¡¯t able to call upon technical investigative resources. Jiang Yuan merely murmured a light "hmm" and said, "The phone was separated from the body over a distance of more than two kilometers, further shows it¡¯s not about wild swimming. There¡¯s no surveince at the fall into water point, let¡¯s check around it, look through the ovep of personnel with the phone to see if there are any with criminal records, or anyone the deceased might know... Are there any eyewitnesses?" "Someone saw Zhang Xianyao leaving through the south gate headed towards the river path, and a couple walking near the river also saw him, but after that there was nothing." Cao Chujun said. "Did he head upstream or downstream?" Liu Jinghui interjected. Cao Chujun quickly checked, then said, "He went downstream." "There are conditions for wild swimming downstream. Theoretically, if he were going wild swimming, he could leave his phone in the dormitory, but to avoid the hassle of entering and exiting the campus, it¡¯s quite reasonable to store it at a shop outside." Liu Jinghui indicated this probability wasn¡¯t high, with many preconditions, but it¡¯s a costless suggestion, two officers asking around could solve it. Cao Chujun immediately responded, "I¡¯ll have people visit these shops to see if anyone saw Zhang Xianyao." "We also need to revisit students within the school, inquiry students from surrounding schools as well as nearby residential areas. Zhang Xianyao¡¯s nose was broken, and his brow bone had fractures. This isn¡¯t easy to achieve; it requires some strength and courage." Jiang Yuan considered and continued to n. Chapter 1391 - 1315: Robbery?

Chapter 1391: Chapter 1315: Robbery?

A group of people each had their tasks, instantly clearing out more than half of the office. The personnel from Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team and Cao Chujun¡¯s Third Brigade added up to about 60 people, but pursuing several targets in one go left them barely enough manpower. Of course, this was also the staffing for a major case, and even in the early stages it was like this; if neededter, increasing personnel was naturally expected. Liu Jinghui stood up to straighten his police uniform and asked Jiang Yuandao, "Do you want to go take a look together?" "Which area do you want to investigate?" Jiang Yuan asked as he stood up. As the King of Deduction, Liu Jinghui usually spent most of his time in the office handling cases through paperwork, and his frequency of field investigation was even less than Jiang Yuan¡¯s. Liu Jinghui was satisfied with thepliance of the giant dragon, then said in a mature middle-aged tone, "I want to see if there are any signs of a struggle at the scene. Hmm... although I mentioned starting with the easy ones, from the current investigation, the probability of it being a robbery-type of heat of the moment murder is increasing." "That¡¯s true, then let¡¯s go check it out again," Jiang Yuan replied, using the word "again." Liu Jinghui was quick to respond, "You¡¯ve already checked the point where the fall into the water urred?" "I didn¡¯t look closely. At the time, when collecting diatoms, I roughly inspected along the riverbank. I walked along the river, and near the river edge, I didn¡¯t see any chaotic footprints. But now that we¡¯ve determined the point of falling, thoroughly checking the surrounding area is a good idea," Jiang Yuan also realized that Liu Jinghui¡¯s idea was a good one. He said he collected diatoms along the Tai River, but actually, other scene examiners collected along the river, roughly taking samples every 50 meters over 8 kilometers. And Jiang Yuan himself took a walk along the river as well but didn¡¯t finish it, mainly taking a cursory nce. The focus was to see if there were any signs of struggle on the riverbank dikes, the road surfaces along the river, and the surrounding greenbelts. Because many of these ces are paved surfaces, on the grass no footprints would be left, and traditional methods like using static electricity to collect footprints weren¡¯t used here, so only particrly obvious changes would catch Jiang Yuan¡¯s attention. With this kind of observation, even for Jiang Yuan, only very apparent traces would be found; thoroughness was certainly out of the question. But based on Liu Jinghui¡¯s previous idea, now that the point of falling has been determined, it¡¯s clearly meaningful to thoroughly survey the surroundings once again. Even if the deceased hadmitted suicide by drowning, there might still be traces of passage left behind. If a robbery or simr situation urred, and the deceased¡¯s body bore obvious injuries, then a confrontation or altercation between both parties might have taken ce near the point of falling, leaving behind traces such as chaotic footprints or trampled nts. Although the probability isn¡¯t very high¡ªmainly because there are cleaners who sweep the area daily andndscaping maintenance workers nearby... Thinking of this, Jiang Yuan immediately reminded, "Try asking the sanitation department or someone if there¡¯s been any repair work on the greenbelt near the point of falling in recent days." "I¡¯ll call them." Wang Chuanxing immediately took on the task. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui then took a car to the confirmed location where the deceased fell into the water. The Level 6 drowning-rted nkton detection enabled Jiang Yuan to determine the location where the deceased fell into the water in just a day¡¯s time. Given that samples were taken every hundred meters, the location of the fall was narrowed down to within a 200-meter range. Two hundred meters¡ªrunning like Bolt would take only 20 seconds, but walking normally would take about 5 minutes, and to carefully inspect it would take at least half an hour to thoroughly cover. This section near the Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School on Binhe Road ranges from a stone river dike about two meters wide closest to the Tai River, followed by a greenbelt varying between two to three meters wide, then a walking path about two meters wide, an asphalt road with twones, and then again a walking path with arge greenbelt about seven or eight meters wide. On the outer side, there¡¯s scattered buildings, open spaces, and small hills. Buildings near the point of falling include a restaurant, a teahouse, and a small park, all very far from the point of falling. The restaurant also has its ownndscaping in front, with no public transport nearby; diners either live nearby or drive in and out, mostly overlooking the Tai River from private rooms upstairs tens of meters away. To see the situation on the riverfront, one would have to cross the road on foot. Overall, this riverbank route is just an extension of the Changyang South Suburb, with visitors mainlyprising students from the nearby schools and residents of two small residentialplexes. Police officers had already started visiting people nearby and collecting surveince footage, but nothing had been discovered yet. Liu Jinghui brought Jiang Yuan here in hopes that Jiang Yuan could find evidence of a crime near the point of falling, not even holding out hope for finding the suspect¡¯s footprints. The river was lined with sanitation workers sweeping the area, several days had passed, and even if Jiang Yuan personally checked, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t have high hopes of directly finding traces of the suspect. Jiang Yuan had walked mainly along the river dike earlier, and this time, he walked the 200 meters of the dike once again. Sanitation workers rarely clean the river dike, at least not daily or even every other day, so theoretically, the stone dike could provide some clues. For instance, finding the footprints of the deceased, Zhang Xianyao, would help in assessing his state on that day. In reality, it¡¯s almost impossible to find anything. Footprints on the stone dike are barely visible during the day, and examining with a shlight at night simply reveals a multitude of chaotic footprints. Analyzing them one by one... frankly, isn¡¯t practicable. After several days, the strong wind and high humidity on the dike, along with dposers continuously supplied by the adjacent greenbelt, rapidly eroded the footprints, causing significant deformation. To sweep the entire 200 meters of such footprints, even Jiang Yuan struggled to do so, at least meaningfully. Surprisingly, the greenbelt proved to be the most promising; Jiang Yuan hoped to find bent branches, deeply imprinted footprints, and the like¡ªif a conflict and fight urred and extended to the greenbelt, this would be the most likely evidence to emerge. Half an hourter, Jiang Yuan could only spread his hands to Liu Jinghui. "Nothing?" Liu Jinghui wasn¡¯t exactly disappointed; he just hadn¡¯t seen any hope. "Couldn¡¯t find any matching traces. What about the sanitation department?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Nothing. I spoke with the sanitation workers who cleaned this section, and they didn¡¯t notice anything unusual," Liu Jinghui frowned, ncing around again, "Guests with spending records at the restaurant and employees there also didn¡¯t see anything." "Alright, okay," Jiang Yuan was used to situations with no findings, as this was often the case in investigations. Liu Jinghui could only shake his head, "If it¡¯s not robbery or a conflict, this case is going to be tough..." "Let¡¯s take a look ahead," Jiang Yuan suddenly pointed forward, "The point of falling is here, but it doesn¡¯t mean that¡¯s where it happened." Chapter 1392 - 1316: One Finger Sets the World Aflutter

Chapter 1392: Chapter 1316: One Finger Sets the World Aflutter

Jiang Yuan walked with Liu Jinghui, two kilometers forward, 200 meters back, and still found nothing. Seeing this level of difficulty, both of them had lost confidence in finding any traces at the scene. Liu Jinghui, with nothing to worry about himself, simply treated it as a stroll and slowed down his pace, also advising Jiang Yuandao, "If we can¡¯t find it, let¡¯s stop looking. So much time has passed that there¡¯s likely not much trace left, and besides, not every robbery involves a fight nowadays." "Zhang Xianyao¡¯s nasal bone is fractured," Jiang Yuandao said. "Even with a fractured nasal bone, it doesn¡¯t necessarily mean he resisted. Kids nowadays have no experience fighting; they might get hit a few times and obediently hand over the money," Liu Jinghui said, shaking his head. "But the question is, why rob a 17-year-old boy? The passing women and elderly people have more money and are easier targets." Jiang Yuan smiled, "That brings us back to the initial theory." From the initial case analysis meeting, their discussions had led them here; now after stripping away all the extra details, they¡¯re back at the original angle. Liu Jinghui became interested, liking this return-to-the-source type of case discussion. After some contemtion, Liu Jinghui said, "Actually, we¡¯ve already extracted most of this case." "Oh? How so?" "We know the time period of the incident, which can basically be narrowed down to within one or two hours, right?" "It depends on how you calcte it, starting from Zhang Xianyao leaving the school to the time of death¡ªthis would be the broadest period, about 8 hours if extended. If considering when the mobile phone lost signal, it¡¯s 5 hours. If we include the time Zhang Xianyao walked from school to the riverside initially, we can further shorten the time." "There¡¯s such a long gap between the death time and when the phone lost signal?" "After soaking in water for so long, the estimation of death time is greatly affected, so it¡¯s better to give it a broader estimate." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t borate on the reasons; for simr bodies determining the time of death urately within half a day is quite challenging, requiring some special detection techniques like examining the pupils, which aren¡¯t necessarily urate either, so it has to be broadened out a bit. Liu Jinghui listened and nodded, then asked, "Then let¡¯s calcte based on the phone losing signal. But when Zhang Xianyao¡¯s phone lost signal, it was near the school, if this can be exined..." "Didn¡¯t you just say the case has nearly exhausted all possibilities?" Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t let Liu Jinghui continue further in analysis, as the reasons for phone and personal separation are numerous, and they¡¯d discussed them before. Even if Liu Jinghui provided a reasonable exnation, it wouldn¡¯t epass all subsets. Liu Jinghui also chuckled and shook his head, "I got caught up in details again, well, let¡¯s say, now we know the approximate time and location of the victim¡¯s death, actually no need to concern ourselves with Zhang Xianyao¡¯s mobile phone; let¡¯s identify all mobile users who appeared at the crime scene during that period and question them one by one. The killer should be among them, maybe even a witness." "If the killer had a phone with him," Jiang Yuan¡¯s logic was sound, and indeed it was a possible scenario. Just like the role of fingerprints was known to the public in the 1980s, and the role of DNA is well-known now, the fact that phones can be located isn¡¯t news to ordinary people either, so those from Changsha thinking ofmitting robbery might take precautions. "Makes sense too," Liu Jinghui said and then changed angles, "However, if the killer didn¡¯t bring a phone, there¡¯s a high possibility of premeditated murder. As we mentioned earlier, it¡¯s unnecessary to rob a 17-year-old male. Zhang Xianyao is quite tall too, almost 1.8 meters." "From that angle, you¡¯re right," Jiang Yuan continued walking with Liu Jinghui, strolling along the river embankment hundreds of meters away, noticing slight changes in the surrounding greenery, then waking up as if from a sleep, "Indeed, if we sift through phone users and can¡¯t identify suspects, we should then suspect there¡¯s bad blood or grudges between the killer and Zhang Xianyao." "Yes." "So the core issue is how to quickly and urately sift through these phone users. This is near a school and within several hours, there might be a thousand or more phones connecting in nearby base stations, it¡¯s unrealistic to record all their statements..." "The thief may very well have a criminal history. For murder, based on what we discussed, it might be someone familiar with the victim, carrying some grudges," Liu Jinghui summarized, "We should ask and see what they have to say." Such a method seemed very old-fashioned detective work. During an era when fingerprint identification wasn¡¯t avable, relying on witness statements was both characteristic of the times and a necessity. Though now there are still many people "forced" to conduct investigations in this manner. "I think we could refine it by sorting the stay duration of mobile signals at the crime scene; the longer they stay, the higher they rank. The killer attacked the victim continuously, even ifpared to Yip Man¡¯s speedy strikes, it took much longer than merely passing through; ranking them should put the killer theoretically at the top," Jiang Yuan slightly integrated the autopsy results to promptly provide a viable idea. Liu Jinghui nodded repeatedly, "That¡¯s great, the scene is only about 200 meters long, normally you¡¯d finish walking in a few minutes; those lingering longer can be asked about their reasons!" "Exactly. Hmm, the scope of the actual point of immersion can be shrunk slightly, although 200 meters is fine, they might not have fought right next to the water point, being one to two hundred meters away wouldn¡¯t be surprising..." Jiang Yuan rxedly added, "Let¡¯s go through this approach first, if it doesn¡¯t work, we can extend the scope around the water point to a radius of 1000 meters and perform a priority check on those in the front, it may not cost much more effort." "Sounds good," Liu Jinghui felt he was in perfect sync with the ¡¯giant dragon,¡¯ as if the case had already been solved. Jiang Yuan then picked up his phone and made arrangements with Wang Chuanxing. When ites to mobile signal base stations, Wang Chuanxing was more professional than Jiang Yuan; with just a brief exnation, he understood. Wang Chuanxing took notes on hisptop whileplimenting, "It all depends on Captain Jiang confirming the location of where the victim fell in; this way, the number of phones passing by is limited..." Jiang Yuan responded with a few "hms," hung up the phone, then noticed Liu Jinghui ahead had already arrived at a kiosk, buying milk tea. "Let¡¯s enjoy something young people like,e,e, my treat today," Liu Jinghui, in good spirits, intended to stealthily feed the ¡¯giant dragon¡¯ some snacks, while also waving to Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming behind, calling them over to choose their picks. With the case having a lead, everyone felt good,ughing and approaching. Just then, male voice came from across the kiosk, "Sweetheart, I¡¯m really not lying to you. We just helped rough him up a bit that day, but look where we¡¯re at now, the cops are here, I need to find a ce to hide for a while, and when things calm down I¡¯ll return; or otherwise, why don¡¯t youe with me?" "Where to?" replied a female voice. "No clue, wherever we end up. Let¡¯s just take a train. Didn¡¯t you want to visit Yun Gui? We¡¯ll travel along as we go. But to have fun, we¡¯d need some cash." "How to gather it?" "Doesn¡¯t your mom¡¯s store have a lot of cash stored frequently?" "That¡¯s the store¡¯s takings!" "Come on, just take a day¡¯s takings, we can exin to herter. I¡¯ll sell the e-bike too, we¡¯ll stake everything!" Upon hearing this, the four officers present immediately knew what was happening. Jiang Yuan pointed forward with his finger, catching Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eye contact. Mu Zhiyang¡¯s eyes widened, he reached with one hand for his gun, grabbing Jiang Yuan and pulling him behind himself; further back, Wen Ming silently drew out his bowl-sized gun, unhesitatingly flicking off the safety. Chapter 1393 - 1317: The Advantage Is Ours

Chapter 1393: Chapter 1317: The Advantage Is Ours

The bubble tea kiosk on Binhe Road is about 10 square meters, with two employees inside bustling around like spinning tops. The eaves extend outwards, providing a temporary spot for guests to rest and wait. Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui are positioned on the west side by the river, while a young couple is on the east side by the river, with the kiosk and two bubble tea employees in between. Mu Zhiyang signaled to Wen Ming, and they circled around from the left and the right. Both of them are armed. It¡¯s not difficult to shoot the small-time hoodlums on the opposite side, but the key is to make sure no one is caught in the line of fire. Ideally, they should form a pincer movement from the left and right, emptying two handguns to tten even two bears. Mu Zhiyang also disengaged the safety lock. At this moment, there¡¯s no room for the game of two cops versus one suspect when the advantage is clearly ours. As two armed officers, Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming don¡¯t even consider closebat a viable option. While the enemy situation is unclear, it¡¯s confirmed that the opposite party is a suspect in a fatal beating case. Not using their guns would be giving the adversaries a chance to seize them. Even with Jiang Yuan backing him up, Mu Zhiyang wouldn¡¯t act recklessly, let alone if he were executing the mission alone. Since they are armed and the opponent poses a substantial threat, the choice actually lies with the opponent. If they resist arrest, they get shot; if they kneel and beg for mercy, there¡¯s a way out. One step, two steps... Mu Zhiyang maintained a pace simr to Wen Ming¡¯s, rounding the kiosk from both sides and simultaneously shouting, "Police! Hands on your head, squat down!" As Mu Zhiyang spoke, his finger was already on the trigger. The young couple at the other end of the bubble tea kiosk, who were originally hugging, now clung tighter in fright. Then, the boy with the distinct jawline turned pale. He knew what he had done; he was already preparing to run. Naturally, he understood the gravity of the situation. If it weren¡¯t for ack of funds, he wouldn¡¯t waste time deceiving girls here. "Hands on your head! Squat down!" Mu Zhiyang¡¯s voice was harsh, repeatedly issuing the twomands. The sudden shock caused a buzzing in the mind, making it hard to hear others¡¯ words, with chaotic thoughts floating in the brain. Mu Zhiyang repeated it continuously, giving the other party a chance. At the same time, given the unclear situation of the case, shooting this suspect now wasn¡¯t the best choice, especially since he was holding an assumedly innocent girl. Not only the boy with the distinct jawline but also the sweet-looking girl he was holding turned pale with fear, nervously peering around and pulling out her phone. Wen Ming and Mu Zhiyang restrained themselves from emptying their magazines. "Kneel down!" When Mu Zhiyang shouted again, the young couple finally moved. The boy slowly raised his hands, pulling the girl along in a panic, and finally knelt down. The girl beside him also snapped back, pointing her phone at Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, questioning, "Why are you pointing a gun at us? I don¡¯t know you, and we¡¯re not bad people. What right do you have to point guns at us?" "I¡¯ll exin to youter!" Mu Zhiyang didn¡¯t want to provoke them further. His primary concern was Jiang Yuan¡¯s safety, fearing the two would act desperately and threaten Jiang Yuan. The rest didn¡¯t matter. If the couple turned and ran, Mu Zhiyang might not even fire. He held the gun mainly to prevent the other from charging at them. If they ran, there were plenty of policemen around the perimeter. It wouldn¡¯t even reach the point of a wanted notice. An internal report from the task force would likely suffice to catch them. Wen Ming stepped back a few paces, handed his gun over to Jiang Yuan, then took out his handcuffs and first cuffed the boy. Seeing this, tears welled up in the girl¡¯s eyes. With a sob, she pointed her camera at Wen Ming again, loudly saying, "I¡¯m recording now, and I¡¯ll post this onler..." Wen Ming sighed with relief after cuffing the boy, hesitating slightly as he nced at the fierce-looking yet timid girl, unsure of how to handle her. At this point, Liu Jinghui stepped forward and called Wen Ming over, saying, "Cuff her too." The girl was stunned. When both her arms were twisted, she immediately shouted, "The police are hitting us, help! Call the police, someone!" There were already students passing by watching, who now quickly took out their phones. Liu Jinghui, with considerable strength, cooperated with Wen Ming to easily cuff the girl. He then addressed the approaching students and the bubble tea employees, who also had their phones out, saying, "I¡¯m a senior police officer from the provincial department. We¡¯re investigating a murder case. Students, you can film, but if you post the video online, you must upload the full video, unedited." "Why are you arresting me?" the girl struggled, seizing the moment when her fellow students were around, saying, "I haven¡¯t done anything. On what grounds are you arresting me?" Liu Jinghui pointed to the boy beside her and asked, "Are you with him?" The girl hesitated for a moment and said, "What¡¯s it to you if I am with him?" Liu Jinghui nodded and told Mu Zhiyang next to him, "Note down that she admitted they are together." Mu Zhiyang pretended to make a note. The girl anxiously shouted, "We¡¯re together, but not aplices!" "You¡¯ll have time to exin the difference between ¡¯together¡¯ and ¡¯aplices¡¯ at the station." Liu Jinghui waved again, and Wen Ming lifted the boy from the ground. With Mu Zhiyang, each escorted one of them, quickly leaving the scene. Mu Zhiyang tucked his gun at his back and touched his bulletproof vest, feeling an intense sense of insecurity, regretting not bringing more people. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived quickly. The young couple encountered by Jiang Yuan and others naturally were sent to the interrogation center, where Meng Chengbiao personally took over. Nevertheless, there was no immediate breakthrough. The girl nearly broke down upon entering the interrogation center, not to mention she probably didn¡¯t know much information. The boy, though pale with fear, was knowledgeable about interrogations. He knew that once at the station, the most important thing was to get the first statement right, so he refused to admit to any murder charges and remained selectively truthful in answering Meng Chengbiao¡¯s other questions. In fact, regarding the final result, his first statement essentially invalidated most of his grounds for a reduced sentence. But in the short term, it didn¡¯t immediately provide the task force with new leads. Theoretically, the task force had to keep operating until the case was considered closed. However, Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t take it seriously. He immediately sought out Wang Chuanxing and asked, "The guys we brought back, are they on the list? Do they include smartphone numbers that went through the crime scene?" "Let me check... Yes, they¡¯re in." Wang Chuanxing operated swiftly. "Then add this condition in: list the smartphone numbers with them at the time and pull them up." "I don¡¯t have that authority. I¡¯m writing up a request now," Wang Chuanxing said, beginning to fill out an application. Soon, three names appeared before everyone. "Three against one, feels more usible? But why did they fight in the first ce? Bullying?" Liu Jinghui checked the information on the three, discovering they were all students and all first-ss. "We¡¯ll know when we bring them in for questioning," Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t specte. His approach was evidence-oriented. Jiang Yuan was also among the first to see the evidence. Two wounded right hands. Fighting could also result in injury, especially when mimicking the head-hitting style from European and American movies; the hands¡¯ skin would suffer severe damage. Conversely thinking, such severe skin damage on one¡¯s hands likely indicated involvement in the beating incident. Chapter 1394 - 1318: Unexpected

Chapter 1394: Chapter 1318: Unexpected

The two boys with injuries to their right hands were also students at Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School, sitting in the interrogation center¡¯s chairs with an indifferent attitude. Leaving one of them aside, Meng Chengbiao brought in six detectives, entering the interrogation room all at once and sitting in a row. Without saying a word, the sheer momentum immediately made the young ones realize the situation was different. Nevertheless, the inertia of their behavior could not be easily changed. When asked how they got injured, the boy lied without blinking, "I got hurt ying around with friends." Meng Chengbiao lightly lifted his eyelids. Ordinary people are like this, always thinking that police are like parents or teachers, that a simple lie can pass. Meng Chengbiao doesn¡¯t rely on loud scolding, which is a method used by ss or discipline directors with no investigative skills. Ordinary educators can only use pressure to force students or children to confess willingly; if they don¡¯t confess, there¡¯s no issue. Boys willing to fight have mostly received this kind of education in their previous life stages, creating a mentality that not confessing leads to no consequences, or that a simple lie will do, or even if caught lying, so long as one is thick-skinned, it won¡¯t matter. For minors, the biggest issue in the world is just losing face. Meng Chengbiao merely instructed the police officer beside him to take notes, then asked ndly, "ying around with friends at school?" "Yes..." "Who were you ying around with?" "Just a few people messing around..." "A few people?" "Just two or three." "Everyone got hurt, and you can¡¯t recall them? Name them one by one." Meng Chengbiao pressed further, forcing the youth in the interrogation chair to desperately fabricate lies. "Just Chao and me. Zuo Chao." He mentioned the other person caught with him, thinking he could cover it up. "Just the two of you?" "Mm." "Note it down, Liu Bin and Zuo Chao got into a fight. Liu Bin, where did Zuo Chao hit you?" Liu Bin stared nkly, "How would I remember that." This time, Meng Chengbiao exerted a bit of pressure, "Both you and Zuo Chao have injured fists, with scars all over your hands, yet apart from your fists, neither of you has any injuries on your bodies or faces. Where did your fistsnd?" Liu Bin instantly froze. If he didn¡¯t understand fighting, it would be fine, but he had actually fought before. Injuries to fists can¡¯t be exined away with an uninjured body. "Who did you hit?" Meng Chengbiao asked again. "I told you, if you don¡¯t believe it, that¡¯s your issue." Liu Bin decided to y the fool. Meng Chengbiao chuckled, not pressing further, continuing, "Where did the fight happen?" "I already said, it was at school." Liu Bin became irritable. Patiently, Meng Chengbiao asked, "Which building, what floor, what location specifically?" This question made the respondent tense up. As the saying goes, one lie requires countless others to fill the gaps. Liu Bin hadn¡¯t anticipated such detailed questioning¡ªfabricating on the spot required thinking. "Building 4, I don¡¯t remember the floor, who remembers those details." Liu Bin barely managed a response. Meng Chengbiao smiled, "Specify the exact time, and I¡¯ll have people retrieve the surveince footage from that day. Of course, the guys you were fighting with should remember the time and location too, correct?" The 17-year-old boy in the interrogation chair fidgeted, making clinking noises. The fabricated story he just conjured could never have consistent answers from his pals. Though, he believed for the part about fighting together, his mates wouldn¡¯t be dumb enough to not lie the same way; otherwise, it¡¯d be inexplicable to anyone else. But when ites to exact times and ces, there¡¯s no way they¡¯d align before agreeing on a story. Saying anything further was futile, so he instantly decided to shut up, refusing to answer a single question. Aware of such situations, Meng Chengbiao followed the core strategy of the entire interrogation: not aggressively confronting but merely smiling, standing up, and saying, "I¡¯ll go ask Zuo Chao. Someone exin the policy to him, let him know what he¡¯s missed." With this testimony, Liu Bin¡¯s foot was already half-stepped into prison. He wasn¡¯t turned in by others then captured, but was pinpointed through technical investigation tracking phone locations. This step alone had considerable impact. Because in China, sentencing is done by career judges. Criminal court judges have seen it all, so seeing the word "technical investigation," they know there¡¯s a pile of documents and records, meaning significant credibility. With such evidence, a judge can pass sentence confidently. Judges have also frequently encountered inadequate statements and recordings; in murder cases, they proceed cautiously. Currently, Jiang Yuan leads the task force pursuing juvenile death penalty. Beyond 16, and even beyond 14, one can be sentenced to death, though the requirements are naturally higher¡ªnot just for the crime but also for the evidence, demandingplete and clear evidence chains, because any doubts in the judges¡¯ minds could result in lighter sentences. To seek severe punishments, the task force must not only solve the case but also solidify the evidence. Meng Chengbiao exited one interrogation room and entered another, repeating much the same format, only with Liu Bin¡¯s pattern, making it considerably easier¡ªlike a monkey harvesting dates from one tree then hopping to another. Finally, Meng Chengbiaopared the testimonies of the two against each other, presenting them separately to Liu Bin and Zuo Chao, and without a prisoner¡¯s dilemma pressure, they enthusiastically confessed. Moreover, both unexpectedly confessed to the involvement of a third person. "Wang Shen was also involved in beating the deceased, and he was the mastermind." Meng Chengbiao returned with interrogation records, finally showing a hint of aplishment on his face. Liu Jinghui immediately asked, "Three people beat someone together; how can we prove who the principal is?" In court, saying "Hit him" doesn¡¯t make you the mastermind. In reality, the likely oue is all three being primary offenders. Meng Chengbiao pointed at the transcript, correcting, "Not a principal, but a mastermind. They had premeditated murder. The mastermind was this initially unseen Wang Shen. ording to their statements, Wang Shen even offered them 100,000 yuan. Wang Shen was the one who pushed Zhang Xianyao into the water." Liu Jinghui was taken aback, "Why?" "Simply put, Wang Shen¡¯s mother had an affair with Zhang Xianyao¡¯s father." Meng Chengbiao threw out a conclusion surprising everyone in the task force, watching their shocked expressions, he couldn¡¯t help butugh, "I was shocked when I heard it; Wang Shen confessed it himself. Zhang Xianyao didn¡¯t even know." "So Wang Shen killed Zhang Xianyao in revenge?" Liu Jinghui followed this line of reasoning, not without astonishment. "Correct." Meng Chengbiao nodded, then reined in his smile, saying, "Wang Shen is thoroughly scheming. He even stalked Zhang Xianyao. After gathering Liu Bin and Zuo Chao, he not only spent a significant amount on them but also promised them 100,000 yuan, aiming to execute revenge on Zhang Xianyao during their juvenile years. This time, Wang Shen didn¡¯t even bring his phone, learning a thing or two anding destined for murder." Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan exchanged a nce, both somewhat overwhelmed by the information. "The basic situation is that. I believe with proper evidence organization, Wang Shen could be liable for the death penalty." Meng Chengbiao, also supporting Jiang Yuan¡¯s pursuit of capital punishment, was always pleased if his interrogation findings could tighten the criminal¡¯s figurative coffin. "I agree." Jiang Yuan nodded, essentially fixing the decision. Chapter 1395 - 1319: Suspicion in the Prison

Chapter 1395: Chapter 1319: Suspicion in the Prison

The gentle breeze blew across the Tai River, bringing a slight chill. The river water rippled gently,pping against the anti-corrosion wood along the riverbank. Near the school on Binhe Road, they had built some water-friendly tforms at the slower sections of the river. The tforms were almost level with the river water, and during the flood control period in summer, the tforms would often be submerged. A few students were wearing light clothing, sitting by the river, posing and enjoying the blend of wind and water. A girl with snow-white skin deliberately took off her shoes and put her white feet into the river, swaying with the waves, a graceful smile on her face, as herpanion captured a series of twelve shots for her. Cao Chujun, captain of the third brigade, brought the suspect back to the crime scene. Watching the suspectplete the identification work, he lowered his voice and asked Wen Ming next to him, "The position where the victim fell into the water is just upstream from where they¡¯re taking photos, isn¡¯t it?" "Yes." Wen Ming also came to see the suspect identify the scene. After replying to Cao Chujun, he specifically added, "Also, it¡¯s within the range confirmed by Captain Jiang, only a few dozen meters from the central point." "That¡¯s already urate enough. I should say too urate. However, what I¡¯m talking about isn¡¯t the judgment of the falling position." Cao Chujun said, then pouted, exining, "I mean, the spot where that girl is soaking her feet is where the body flowed down, right?" "Probably." "With the water flow so slow here, it¡¯s very likely the body could have bumped into this protruding tform, right?" Though Cao Chujun was old and didn¡¯t understand much about criminal science techniques, he had abundant experience. Wen Ming nodded in agreement, "That¡¯s possible. After the victim fell in, their state would certainly not be good, drifting with the waves. They might either float past the girl¡¯s foot-soaking spot or possibly bump into the tform, make a turn or something, and then continue drifting down... These girls probably didn¡¯t expect that not long ago, a corpse had just drifted past where they were taking photos." Wan Baoming, from the Criminal Science Center, had always been very attentive to Jiang Yuan¡¯s case. Hearing their conversation, he immediately perked up and came over to take a look: "Although it¡¯s not the river water from before, it should have passed through." "A body bumping into this tform would leave DNA, right?" Cao Chujun pointed and asked Wan Baoming, "Get a brush, if we can collect DNA, it¡¯s an addition to the evidence chain." "It is." Wan Baoming found it difficult, as algae and such easily destroy DNA, but there was no need to exin this to a veteran officer like Cao Chujun, plus, what if they really found something? Wan Baoming didn¡¯t waste time, grabbed two people over, had them wipe the edge of the water-friendly tform to see if they could collect DNA, and specifically instructed, "Talk nicely to the photo-taking girls, don¡¯t scare them." Two minutester, a clear and sharp scream shattered the tranquility of the Tai River¡¯s banks. The one who screamed thunderously was the girl who had just dipped her feet into the river, swimming and swaying. Initially, they didn¡¯t mind what a group of police officers was doing, just like spectators watching a fight between people with weapons. While taking photos, the students didn¡¯t care what the police were doing, even wanting to use the officers as a backdrop, taking photos to post on social media. However, watching a lively scene is one thing, a corpse is another. Thinking that the spot where her foot had just touched might have brushed against a corpse not long ago, the students couldn¡¯t help but feel goosebumps all over. Cao Chujun couldn¡¯t help but smile with satisfaction. ... Back at the police station, Cao Chujun was at the forefront, heading straight to Jiang Yuan. As expected, Brigade Chief Yu Wenshu was apanying Jiang Yuan, talking. The investigative phase of the previous case had ended, and it was about to be sent for examination. During such times, if Yu Wenshu had spare moments, he would frequently be around Jiang Yuan, much like a Czech wolf approaching mealtime, not only fearing to miss something but feeling it¡¯s a loss to dy eating. Cao Chujun entered, first mentioning the on-site identification situation, receiving unanimous praise from everyone, then recounted the story of cleaning the water-friendly tform. On-site identification is a crucial part of criminal cases;pleting it smoothly not only aids prosecution and trial but also boosts investigation morale, simr to the logic of "why help if it¡¯s not you," with on-site identification being "why know so clearly if it¡¯s not you." The tform cleaning story was purely for fun, even Yu Wenshu, after hearing it, was pulled out from the serious atmosphere, cursing with augh, "Old Cao, you¡¯re a bit disrespectful to the young, you¡¯re somewhat bullying." Cao Chujun chuckled a few times, pleasing everyone, then casually remarked, "Just gave them a reminder. This generation of young people, too easily trusting everyone as good persons. Even when we¡¯re heavily armed, bringing suspects, they¡¯re thinking about which angle to post on social media." "Public safety is good now, different from your time," Yu Wenshu replied, smiling. "Good doesn¡¯t mean there¡¯s no crime left," Cao Chujun removed his gear, rubbed his neck, and said, "When I was a detective 40 years ago, there were murder cases daily, robberies, kidnappings... Every bus in Changyang City had thieves, not just one, and they¡¯d pull out knives when caught. Back then, young guys stabbed people who were even younger than me, I remember one scarred a girl¡¯s face and got ten years for it, he¡¯s probably out by now." Yu Wenshu took over the conversation: "It¡¯s different now. Not only has the method of social governance changed, but the situations we face also differ. Like the case I just presented to Director Jiang, the victim died in prison, with surveince, no staff interactions, yet we can¡¯t find the culprit." He steered the topic to a new case, and Cao Chujun immediately cooperated, also somewhat surprised, "A cellmate did it? How did they die?" "Without external injuries, found alone in a corner of the cafeteria, lips cyanotic, breathing rapid, died before reaching the hospital," Yu Wenshu said seriously, "The Procuratorate has already gotten involved, and the prison administration is very anxious, so they¡¯ve sought help from Director Jiang. "It¡¯s not an exaggeration. This case does seem peculiar. With the excellent prison surveince conditions now, if the perpetrator avoided detection, wouldn¡¯t they ensure the victim¡¯s death? Allowing medical assistance seems uncharacteristic." Yu Wenshu smiled wryly, "People in prison don¡¯t necessarily have murder experience, let alone professionalism. Some are inherently bold, but killing isn¡¯t that easy." During the conversation, Huang Qiangmin finished his call, returned holding his phone, nodded to Cao Chujun in greeting, then plopped down next to Yu Wenshu and said, "This case is not simple. There¡¯s definitely apse in prison management. The victim was imprisoned for two years and was a fraudster without a violent criminal record. ording to them, there was no grudge with anyone either. By this calction, it¡¯s unclear why they died." Huang Qiangmin: "Moreover, the victim behaved well daily, hence qualified to assist in the cafeteria, which is a good position in prison with more free time than others. But if this was prepared to kill him, the identity of the culprit bes problematic." Yu Wenshu nodded slowly, "Old Qin was just transferred therest year, so he¡¯s also concerned... But, no matter what, Old Qin supports our investigation. The Procuratorate is also fully backing Jiang Yuan, as per Old Qin¡¯s suggestion." "If we go now, can we ess all surveince videos?" Huang Qiangmin tossed an exam immediately. "Old Qin gave me assurances," Yu Wenshu unhesitatingly replied, "At least, we will ensure Jiang Yuan sees everything." Huang Qiangmin then looked at Jiang Yuan and said, "If that¡¯s the case, I think we can give it a try, but if we can¡¯t see the surveince or don¡¯t see it entirely, we turn and leave, no problem, right?" "No problem. I¡¯ll personally go with you," Yu Wenshu, more concerned about issues than Huang Qiangmin, promptly rallied his men, merging into Jiang Yuan¡¯s team. Chapter 1396 - 1320: Regulations

Chapter 1396: Chapter 1320: Regtions

Shannan Province Changyang Prison. On the massive stone signage over ten meters long, the seven characters in reddish-brown are striking, dignified, profound, and intimidating. However, the outermost retractable gate significantly diminishes the majesty of the signage beside it. Without reading the text, it resembles the gate of a school. In fact, the gate of Changyang Prison isn¡¯t even taller than the gate of Changyang Science and Technology Vocational School. It¡¯s just an ordinary retractable gate painted white. When cars need toe in and out, it retracts, otherwise, it extends out to only one and a half meters tall. Anyone with a certain degree of athletic ability could easily climb over this gate. Because it¡¯s a low retractable gate, the environment inside Changyang Prison, at least the external environment, is inly visible from the roadside outside. It¡¯sposed of a main road, with greenery in the middle, and stretches far into the distance as a broad, t area. The main road, spacious enough to be a sixne highway, is nked by low buildings, and further in, gray high walls enclose the living quarters of the inmates. The warden had been waiting outside for a while. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan and his team¡¯s convoy, he enthusiastically gave instructions and greeted them. Yu Wenshu, who was with them, quickly got out of the car. The parties involved weren¡¯t from the same system, so it was necessary to remain polite at this moment. Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin also got out and greeted the group across from them. The warden brought not only many of his administrative staff but also had officials from departments like the prosecutor¡¯s office waiting nearby. For the prison, the prosecutor¡¯s office is constantly a sword hanging over them. There are clear regtions for various acts and operations within the prison, and unexpected incidents¡ªmost of which are handled by the prosecutor¡¯s office. If an inmate has an unexpected death, it¡¯s stipted that the direct management personnel must arrive at the scene within 3 minutes. A dy would mean dereliction of duty, which could result in a 3-year sentence in court. Of course, if it is truly an idental death or suicide, and the direct management personnel arrive and handle it ording to regtions, at most they might be fined, and the sub-warden, warden, and even prison director could avoid punishment. The situation bes obviously moreplicated in murder cases. "This is Lin Qingyun, Inspector Lin." After shaking hands with Jiang Yuan, the warden immediately introduced the prosecutor beside him and said, "From here on, I¡¯ll ask Director Jiang to work with Inspector Lin. I¡¯ll avoid suspicion, but of course, I¡¯ll follow anymands you have." His words weren¡¯t very smooth, and indeed, it was somewhat difficult for him. Inmate deaths are nearly the most troubling situation for the prison. Before Jiang Yuan could speak, Huang Qiangmin stepped forward and said, "We¡¯re just here to lend a hand, help where we can. For now, should we take a look at the surveince footage?" Lin Qingyun solemnly nodded, "We¡¯ve been watching the surveince these past couple of days. Yes, let¡¯s take a look and talk afterward..." Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin exchanged a nce, rxing slightly. Liu Jinghui quietly rubbed his hands together, as if smelling an appetizing green fly. Whether the surveince footage is essible is a watershed moment for this case. In today¡¯s prisons, particrly in the past decade, domestic prisons have achieved full coverage. Professional personnel install surveince cameras to cover every corner, eliminating blind spots at the hardware level. If everything is in line with regtions, inmates¡¯ activities within the prison, including using the bathroom and showering, are monitored. Naturally, this includes the death process of an inmate. If this was a premeditated murder that even escaped routine prosecutor scrutiny, then it could indeed be called a locked-room murder. A modern locked-room murder, still exposed to everyone¡¯s eyes! With everyone seated in the prison vehicle, they quickly arrived at the office building. While walking inside, the prison staff passing by would, consciously or unconsciously, observe Jiang Yuan and others. Liu Jinghui and Jiang Yuan would observe them in return. Changyang Prison regrly detains over 4,000 inmates, with more than 600 staff. For a criminal investigation, neither number is trivial. Besides being extremely strictly managed, the scale and operational model of a prison is no different from arge factory or mine. In fact, the industries within the prison are not small in scale, like the copper coil factory and cattle farm in Changyang Prison, which strictly adhere to an 8-hour workday. In the past, many prisons had three shifts because the partial appropriation was changed to full appropriation, and once the prison enterprises¡¯ ie was fully handed over, the production motivation of the prison ceased. Now, with the separation of prison and enterprise, Changyang Prison has also independently established a grouppany. The general manager of thepany holds an equivalent rank to a warden and still has the status of a judicial police officer, making them a rather special presence. The atmosphere inside the prison inevitably affected Jiang Yuan and the others. The group silently walked into the surveince duty room, finding a wall full of screens and a separate area with smaller screens. "We¡¯ve been watching the surveince here for the past two days," Lin Qingyun exined, "After watching today, we¡¯ll need to take some hard drives back." "Then let¡¯s first look at the situation on-site, the surveince when the deceased fell," Jiang Yuan dismissed the pleasantries, focusing on immediately viewing the surveince. A prison officer silently stepped forward, waited a moment, and then started the surveince. The scene of the deceased copsing in the cafeteria had already been scrutinized. It was now presented in a nine-grid multi-angle view, with full views of the cafeteria from front to back and vice versa, pointing to the counter, the door, and capturing the happenings in the adjacent rooms. Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 3 technical defense monitoring skills could discern that the locations of these surveince cameras were ced ording to regtions, and the selected footage was conscientiously chosen, showing no signs of negligence. Of course, camera positioning is simply one convenience; as for the content... The footage showed the deceased initially rolling dough, suddenly clutching his stomach before staggering and copsing onto the floor. Immediately, a fellow inmate working in the cafeteria shouted, then a middle-aged man in prison uniform quickly ran over, called out to the deceased twice, then ran to call an officer over. The officer asked a question upon arrival, then called on the walkie-talkie and started performing CPR on the fallen prisoner. The entire process proceeded quickly. Despite the chaos in the cafeteria, they managed to maintain a semnce of order. The prison officer operating the surveince then exined, "The first person to call for help was on supervision duty, someone we select and train for good performance. The officer he summoned was the direct management personnel of the group, Wang Zhai..." He briefly introduced the individuals appearing in the footage before going silent. "What do you think?" Prosecutor Lin Qingshan asked impatiently. "From just watching it like this, poisoning, maybe? I must conduct a post-mortem examination before determining anything," Jiang Yuan responded with a slight frown. Determining a poisoning case isn¡¯t easy; the challenge lies not in solving it but in identifying the type of poison, particrly with obscure biological toxins, which could remain undetected for a lifetime if checked blindly. Liu Jinghui uttered an "hmm" and noted, "The entire video seems exnatory, except for the rescue segment where the cameras captured only the inmates¡¯ backs. Whether anything transpired during that interval remains uncertain." Chapter 1397 - 1321: Surveillance Analysis

Chapter 1397: Chapter 1321: Surveince Analysis

As soon as Liu Jinghui finished speaking, many faces around him changed color. Poisoning, and by a convict no less, in the cafeteria¡ªit¡¯s a full house of danger factors. Prosecutor Lin Qingyun didn¡¯t care about all that, he came to find problems and catch mistakes. As a prosecutor with many cases under his belt, Lin Qingyun asked with much experience, "Was the food in the cafeteria preserved that day?" Prison warden Old Qin immediately turned to look at the head of the internal investigation department. The internal investigation department is originally responsible for handling internal prison cases. With more than 4,000 criminals detained in a prison, no matter how tight the system is, they will definitely find ways tomit crimes. And before reporting upwards, the on-site handling within the prison is alsopleted by the internal investigation department. Director Wei Jinchuan was forced to step forward, frowning tightly: "When we arrived, Zhang Jifeng had already been sent to the hospital, and when we processed the scene on our side, there was no food left on site." "How was the food disposed of? What about the life hygiene department?" Old Qin shouted, and only then did someone squeeze in from behind. Work rted to eating and drinking in the prison is all handled by the life hygiene department. The life hygiene department of Changyang Prison consists of only 5 people: one director, two deputy directors, one senior clerk, and others. With these few people, it¡¯s impossible to manage everything in detail rted to the cafeteria; at most, they handle procurement and other businesses. Therefore, the director of the life hygiene department who was called also looked helpless, saying, "We were in the office building at the time and didn¡¯t know exactly what had happened. We just thought Zhang Jifeng had fallen ill, maybe a heart attack or something, since it was during dinner time and everyone wasing over to eat. The food in the cafeteria should have all been consumed. The problem is nobody reported things like stomachaches; everyone else is fine!" "The ambnce arrived, and you still don¡¯t take it seriously!" Old Qin thundered. "No one really told us anything. And there was no sound from the cafeteria at the time, no one expected something like poisoning." The director of the life hygiene department answered cautiously. Whether it¡¯s true or not is unknown, but how people really think inside is unclear. "Check the surveince. Let¡¯s see how the food was handled afterward." Liu Jinghui often visits the army, knowing now is not the time for a spectacle. If the investigation hasn¡¯t started, and there are rampant me-shifting within the prison, their subsequent work will be tough. The police officer sitting in front of the nine-grid screen adjusted the time under great pressure, pulling out more videos before and after the incident. This step was much moreplicated, unlike the previous videos that could be prepared in advance, making him somewhat flustered. Jiang Yuan stepped forward voluntarily, saying, "Shall I give it a try?" The officer first looked up at the prison warden for approval, then asked Jiang Yuan, "Shall I exin the use of this system to you?" "Sure, let me try first." Jiang Yuan actually knew how to use it. Although there are many types of surveince systems, most are non-standard products and are very simr. A professional image investigator might need time to adapt to a switch, but Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 3 proficiency in tech defense monitoring technology covers the entire range. Moreover, Changyang Prison uses Hikvision¡¯s centralized tender system. Even if there are special requirements, the basics of such surveince systems are still within the temte scope. Therefore, while Jiang Yuan said he will give it a try, his hands were already tapping the keyboard, fiddling with the console. Right in front of the officer, he first checked the system logs, then the device status, followed by categorizing videos by "time", "channel", and "event type". And the police responsible for the surveince onsite actually only have basic operational skills. If he had doubts about Jiang Yuan¡¯s quick log retrieval and reading methods, Jiang Yuan¡¯s skilled video categorization made him realize things were not simple. He couldn¡¯t help but look with pleading eyes towards the third-party maintenance personnel in the crowd. The other party also noticed Jiang Yuan¡¯s operation and gave an awkward smile. "Count off!" "One, two, three..." Jiang Yuan externalized the sound from the surveince and turned it up. Everyone¡¯s attention was immediately drawn to it. What Jiang Yuan yed was the scene inside the cafeteria at the time of the incident. The interior of the prison cafeteria is decorated identically to a school cafeteria. Changyang Prison has about 50 tables, all with four seats. Both the tables and chairs are made of steel and are built as a set, and both the legs of the tables and chairs are welded to the ground. The floor is a terrazzo floor, not very attractive, but functional. On the surveince screen, a team of convicts had just finished dinner, counted off and went to wash dishes. Simultaneously, another team of convicts lined up to enter, but after arriving, they didn¡¯t sit immediately. They also lined up to count off, then moved to their fixed positions, watched their bowls being filled, andst, with an order, sat down together, and then... started singing, and then counted off again. It was finally time to wolf down the food, totaling less than 5 minutes, eating as much as they could; if not, they had to get up and leave because another team from another area was already waiting with their bowls. Jiang Yuan watched several angle videos and finally confirmed, "The food made in the kitchen was indeed eatenpletely." Prison warden Old Qin breathed a sigh of relief: "Indicates that even if there was poison, it wasn¡¯t in the food cooked in the kitchen." "Not necessarily. Maybe it was evenly distributed, the dose too small, or the poison had conditional triggers, like mouth ulcers." Jiang Yuan refuted Old Qin¡¯s idea first, changing his tone: "However, I didn¡¯t see Zhang Jifeng eating anything." Saying that, Jiang Yuan started tossing various videos onto the screen before him, dizzying everyone around. Prosecutor Lin Qingshan, who regrly works with police, hadn¡¯t seen anything like this before either; he looked around, feeling Liu Jinghui was more reliable, so he asked, "I thought we were having a case discussion to determine the investigation direction." "If a direct investigation direction can be determined, isn¡¯t that faster?" Liu Jinghui naturally supported Jiang Yuan, although he also felt Jiang Yuan was a bit too eager in his approach. Jiang Yuan continued sifting through videos for about 20 minutes. Lin Qingshan simply pulled Liu Jinghui to discuss. Including Old Qin and Huang Qiangmin were all seasoned, since they couldn¡¯t manage Jiang Yuan, they went on with their tasks. Old Qin spoke about his internal investigation situation, while Lin Qingshan borated on several investigative conclusions from the past two days, primarily focusing on the information provided by the convicts. With a death in the prison, the prison police were tense, but for the convicts, it was nothing short of a carnival. Not celebrating death per se, but every one was thrilled and anticipatory for possible merits. Within two days, Old Qin and Lin Qingshan both collected arge number of testimonies and made many records. Whether it was Zhang Jifeng¡¯s cellmates or fellow inmates who asionally saw him, everyone seemed an eager close friend of Zhang Jifeng, vividly describing various situations of Zhang Jifeng, inevitably including guesses and fabrications. The prison¡¯s penal execution department handles affairs like sentence reduction, parole, and medical bail; Changyang Prison has a lot of serious criminals, and with good luck, one merit can reduce a sentence by several months or even a year. "Zhang Jifeng didn¡¯t eat anything." Jiang Yuan quickly finished watching the videos. He gave this conclusion, and immediately interrupted the discussions of Liu Jinghui and others, quickly sparking new discussions: "He didn¡¯t eat anything? Then he wasn¡¯t poisoned?" "There are not few toxic gases too." "Where in the prison would have these things." "Liquefied gas is toxic." "Clearly, it¡¯s not such things." Liu Jinghui was a bit more serious now, saying, "Personnel who came into contact with Zhang Jifeng need to be questioned carefully, especially the few convicts who had initial contact with Zhang Jifeng and the police who arrived first, should all redo their testimonies." "What worries you?" Old Qin had no choice but to stand out and ask. "Obstructed images ur at this time. Anything is possible; maybe someone bumped Zhang Jifeng¡¯s heart causing cardiac arrest could also be possible." Liu Jinghui frowned, asking, "What is Zhang Jifeng¡¯s cause of death? Was an autopsy performed?" "It was originally supposed to be autopsied yesterday. Now, will Director Jiang do the autopsy?" The prosecutor looked at Jiang Yuan, trusting Jiang Yuan more than other forensic doctors from the same system. Jiang Yuan nodded: "I¡¯ll go perform the autopsy now, Director Liu will continue to cooperate with you." Chapter 1398 - 1322: Criminal Record

Chapter 1398: Chapter 1322: Criminal Record

The forensic doctor of the Changyang City Bureau, Tang Feng, was waiting early in the forensic autopsy room. Simr to the Qinghe City Bureau, the Criminal Science and Technology Center of the Changyang City Bureau primarily exists in a supportive capacity, and does not conduct judicial autopsies for ordinary cases. It is usually used only for major cases and to support district and county bureaus below it. Of course, "unnatural deaths" in Changyang Prison are definitely considered reserves for major cases, and Wan Baoming originally appointed Tang Feng to perform the autopsy himself, because Tang Feng is a young and skilled forensic doctor in the Changyang Criminal Science and Technology Center. His skills are excellent, and he has ample physical strength and some experience in dealing with confrontations or passing the buck, unlike some of the ones about to retire, who indulge in non-professional activities all day long. However, now that they heard Jiang Yuan had been summoned to Changyang Prison, even Tang Feng had to halt the autopsy early to avoid wasting the first autopsy opportunity. Even Tang Feng himself felt neither dissatisfied nor unnatural about this. The Changyang City Bureau has cooperated with Jiang Yuan many times, and the Criminal Science Center is already adapted to Jiang Yuan¡¯s preferences. Just like today, Tang Feng had not only prepared the protective clothing Jiang Yuan liked but also his preferred shower gel and shampoo. In addition, three forensic assistants and two dedicated cameramen, one for photography and one for videography, are standard for Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsies. This number is not exaggerated at all. In fact, even for a regr forensic autopsy, at least two people are needed, and preferably three to perform the autopsy together. When the conditions arecking, it¡¯smon to pull over helping criminal police to assist with the autopsy. If it¡¯s an expert-level forensic doctor, it¡¯smon for them not to take hands-on roles. Even with full support, three more forensic doctors or forensic assistants are typically required along with a cameraman. Jiang Yuan prefers to have two cameramen. One reason is his high demand for evidence; photographing while recording achieves better results and efficiency. Moreover, since his autopsies are rtively fast, having an extra dedicated cameraman saves time instead of waiting for the cameraman when it¡¯s time to shoot. Both Tang Feng, as a forensic doctor, and Wan Baoming from the Criminal Science Center found no issues with this. Jiang Yuan is very hard to invite, not just requiring to get past Huang Qiangmin but also to secure scheduling. Once he is finally invited, if there¡¯s any hope for future coborations, they naturally have to serve him wholeheartedly. If not for Jiang Yuan¡¯s refusal, Wan Baoming would be eager to enter the dressing room to prepare a bath and clothes for Jiang Yuan! Exactly at noon. Jiang Yuan carefully inspected the surface of the deceased Zhang Jifeng¡¯s body three times, even checking between the toes, teeth, and private areas. Then he straightened up and spoke to the forensic assistant who was making notes beside him: "Let¡¯s start by writing a general overview: The adult male corpse shows normal development, good nutritional status, height 167 cm, weight 62 kg... There are no needle marks on the skin, the skin is intact, no abrasions, no infection, no obvious violent injury marks, no signs of struggle..." "This..." Tang Feng nced at the camera, signaled to stop, then said, "Director Jiang, regarding the traces of violent injuries, shouldn¡¯t we hold off judgment for now? After all, there are many traces that the current state of the body might not disy." He spoke very tactfully, seeming to question Jiang Yuan¡¯s judgment, suggesting uncertainty about violent marks. In fact, everyone present knew that Tang Feng intended Jiang Yuan to leave some leeway. Saying there are no traces of violent attack now¡ªwhat if subsequent inquiries reveal such possibilities? Surveince is not invincible, with two people passing by, one suddenly delivering a punch to another, especially if executed with Jeet Kune Do by a trained person¡ªthese scenarios are always possible. At that point, Jiang Yuan¡¯s forensic report would easily be scrutinized. Jiang Yuan hesitated for a moment, nodded, and said, "Then let¡¯s delete that part, I will discuss it with them privatelyter." Anyway, this is just a requirement for the investigation stage. When ites to case discussions, Jiang Yuan could even rify it over a phone call. Tang Feng breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Then shall you continue?" "Let¡¯s make it more detailed then. Head and face, the scalp is intact, lips are cyanotic, the eyelid conjunctiva has no petechiae..." Jiang Yuan continued sequentially with the head, face, neck, and torso, speaking out bit by bit. Even those unfamiliar with forensic work, like Wan Baoming and others, could understand that Jiang Yuan was being extraordinarily meticulous. The profession of forensic doctor is devoted to detailed observation; an autopsy is actually an exercise for examining, discovering, and contemting the deceased¡¯s final moments and significant life experiences, leaving their imprint on the body. After thoroughly reviewing the surveince footage, Jiang Yuan had already sensed theplexities of this case. The deceased could be said to have died right before the surveince camera, suggesting two possibilities: someone killed him beneath the camera¡¯s view or preparatory measures were taken in advance to poison or otherwise kill him. But either way, it could be described as a remarkably mysterious murder. Considering the victim first fell to the ground makes it evident, if this is a homicide, the perpetrator must have been extensively prepared beforehand. "Time for a cavity examination." Jiang Yuan scrutinized the body surface meticulously then signaled for the camera to follow along as he picked up a scalpel and used the conventional "I" incision to open the thoracic and abdominal cavities. "No bleeding or edema observed in the subcutaneous tissue and muscleyer." "Abdominal wall fat thickness is normal... the stomach seems a bit erged..." Jiang Yuan examined as he removed the deceased¡¯s internal organs. Tang Feng assisted in weighing the organs, stating, "I read the report, the deceased previously had ack of appetite, suggesting some gastric issues. A CT scan was performed but did not reveal any problems." "Prison hospital?" Jiang Yuan asked. "Yes. The prison hospital couldn¡¯t handle it and sent him to a public hospital." Tang Feng had dealt with these situations before. The prison hospital is not small, with over 100 beds, used not only for housing sick prisoners but also for ordinary criminal inmates. Of course, it¡¯s morefortable to serve time there due to the lower management pressure, making it quitepetitive. In contrast, their medicalpetition is rather weak. "Liver appears normal externally." "Spleen is somewhat necrotized." "The small intestine, colon, and kidney surfaces and cross-sections appear normal; no fluid, pus, or food residue is found in the abdominal cavity. The peritoneum is smooth, transverse colon... hmm..." Jiang Yuan¡¯s steady actions paused briefly, then he beckoned for the camera again, performing while instructing it to capture the abdominal cavity. ... Prison office building. A group of people shut the door to review the case files of the deceased Zhang Jifeng. The dossiers recorded by the reviewing staff over the past two days were allid out for the special team members to view. The amount of textual records was enormous, reflecting the effort of dozens of people working tirelessly for two days. Liu Jinghui and the others divided into teams to read separately. However, the first to finish was the silent Yu Wenshu. He spoke after browsing through all the documents, "This Zhang Jifeng participated in fraud schemes making off with millions, thergest being 6.2 million. It¡¯s no wonder he perished." Liu Jinghui, familiar with Yu Wenshu¡¯s photographic memory, first asked, "Did you read all this? Memorize it all?" "Temporarily noted it, partially at least. To remember everything would require some effort. My quick scan strategy focuses on reading speed, so less detail is retained... but I memorized the main structure. If you want to ask something, I can help search, and it¡¯ll be faster..." Yu Wenshu appeared calm, though he said a lot. "Then... which individuals possibly killed Zhang Jifeng?" Liu Jinghui treated Yu Wenshu like an AI. "Are you asking about the fraud scheme victims?" Yu Wenshu chuckled and shook his head, "It¡¯s not obvious, but we could list them by fraud amount or proportionate loss of property." "Might someone have secured a loan only to be scammed?" "Yes. If defrauded percentage exceeds 100%, we¡¯re saying... some loss percentages reach several hundred thousand percent." "So there¡¯s no property left?" "Pretty much." "Such cases actually make murder less likely." Liu Jinghui sighed, "My impression was that Zhang Jifeng¡¯s case involves other culprits too. Even for revenge, targeting just one is unnecessary. Moreover, could these fraud victims have the ability to hire a killer? They might be driven to kill out of desperation, but such a meticulous murder approach, even if defrauded, isn¡¯t typical for straightforward Ponzi schemes." Yu Wenshu nodded in agreement, "Makes sense." Prosecutor Lin Qingshan timely joined the conversation, "Those defrauded millions wouldn¡¯t risk their life to kill him unless the money could be recovered." "If considering motive, who else might have a reason to kill him?" Yu Wenshu asked. Liu Jinghui¡¯s gaze was sharp, "In that case, the group Zhang Jifeng belonged to, defrauding tens or even hundreds of millions for financial reasons, surely they weren¡¯t first-timers, right? Does Zhang Jifeng have a criminal record? If so, could there be enemies from previous cases?" Chapter 1399 - 1323: Diaphragmatic Hernia

Chapter 1399: Chapter 1323: Diaphragmatic Hernia

The surveince footage at the scene didn¡¯t reveal anything, so investigating from the perspective of crime motive is a very logical approach. Liu Jinghui and Yu Wenshu both agreed, and the prosecutor had no objections, so they pulled out all the information on Zhang Jifeng and re-examined it. This review took the better part of half a day, yet the more they looked, the more they found. Liu Jinghui and the others were not surprised. Fraud cases are like this; they target multiple victims, and theoretically, each victim represents a separate case. Throughout Zhang Jifeng¡¯s life, he gradually escted from being involved in cases in his twenties, starting as an essory to learn the ropes, andter bing a key member of the fraud gang. The gang would disband and reunite like a private undergroundpany, constantly scamming at different locations over time... Thus, the case wasn¡¯t just limited to Changyang City or Shannan Province but was nationwide. Fortunately, Liu Jinghui could reach out to Cui Xiaohu and also to the police liaison officer Chu Guanliang in Dama. Thetter, although still working in Dama, owed big favors to Jiang Yuan and the Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, so he was very proactive in offering help. His connections at the ministry level were even more useful than Cui Xiaohu¡¯s, and he could save considerable time with just a few phone calls. However, this also led to Yu Wenshu and Liu Jinghui having endless materials to review. They continued working until dinner time, when Yu Wenshu stretched and said, "I can¡¯t do it anymore, my mind is getting stuffed." "Please take a break then." A young person immediately came over to refill his tea, saying, "Chief Yu, after you read, you remember it all, which must be exhausting, but your efficiency is impressive. It¡¯s hard to imagine how convenient your case handling must be." It¡¯s well-known that you can¡¯t directly praise Chief Yu with "photographic memory," as it sounds clich¨¦d and unoriginal, and he¡¯s heard it too many times. So, people tried expressing "photographic memory" with different words and phrases, which was a skill everyone had to learn and innovate upon. Yu Wenshu was slightly pleased and waved with a smile: "Crime-solving ability is different from memory; having a good memory is innate. I¡¯m just a little luckier than others." In other words, his crime-solving skills and photographic memory should be praised separately. The young person next to him immediately understood and said, "Back in the day, Chief Yu would be like an AI that auto-corrects and performs wlessly." Yu Wenshu waved dismissively; being older, he found it harder to understand the young people¡¯spliments, which was a bit disheartening. Liu Jinghui saw through it all but didn¡¯t say much, treating Yu Wenshu like an AI, steering back to the case: "Many of these fraud cases back then were handled in a certain way. Some were filed, but in the end, nothing came of them; perhaps there are cases that weren¡¯t even filed. In terms of resentment, victims of the unfiled cases might be even angrier." Yu Wenshu chimed in, "That makes it hard to investigate." "We could call the local officers handling the cases to see if anyone remembers any victims from these cases distinctively. Considering today¡¯s societal context, the instant esction to murder is unlikely¡ªgradual esction is more probable." "Investigating like this would be quite resource-intensive." As the Criminal Police Brigade Captain, Yu Wenshu was very sensitive to case consumption. He nced at Prosecutor Li Qingshan beside him and said, "Even though we have ample resources, and since Jiang Yuan has joined, handling the case from this angle would incur substantial costs, not to mention various travel expenses and the possible need to revisit some previous fraud cases..." "That indeed won¡¯t work." Lin Qingshan quickly realized after hearing this. If the case were to be handled this way, the prosecutor¡¯s office might as well not exist. Liu Jinghui chuckled, "Got used to processing cases for Dama people..." Saying something half true, half false like this, Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and said, "However, the difficulty of this case is indeed quite high. The few clues we have now are almost negligible. If we don¡¯t give it a try..." "It might not be necessary to keep trying." At this point, Jiang Yuan pushed the door open and walked in. "Oh, forensic examination finished? So long?" Liu Jinghui was a bit surprised. "Why didn¡¯t you call back? Any findings?" "Yes, there are findings. I think it¡¯s hard to exin clearly over the phone." Jiang Yuan looked around and said, "Let¡¯s have a small meeting first. Lin Jian, can you select a few people?" Yu Wenshu immediately stood up, "Then you all discuss..." "Chief Yu, you can stay around; it¡¯s not that serious. It¡¯s mainly about the case ssification issue." Jiang Yuan hurriedly said. "Not serious, huh." Yu Wenshu mumbled a few words and sat back down, feeling relieved since it wasn¡¯t a political matter, which didn¡¯t concern him much. He had handled enough bizarre cases. Lin Qingshan was a bit puzzled as he hesitantly chose a few colleagues to stay behind but saw no opposition from Jiang Yuan at all. At the same time, Jiang Yuan cleared out all the prison staff he most wanted to remain. When Old Qin left, his brows were tightly knit, and he seemed to have aged. Lin Qingshan¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good either, guessing whether the prison staff were involved in the case. After all, thinking about it, it would be reasonable. Without an insider¡¯s help, how could such a murder be executed? But on the other hand, Lin Qingshan actually disliked handling such cases, which were troublesome and turned him into a nuisance within the system. Once the door was closed, Jiang Yuan motioned for everyone to remove any recording devices, turn them off, and ce them on the table. He then slowly said, "First, let me state the result. I believe this isn¡¯t a case." Those sitting and thinking all kinds of things widened their eyes. This result was indeed beyond everyone¡¯s expectations. Liu Jinghui¡¯s brain turned quickly, and he asked, "Not poison? No, drug tests are endless. Is it an unexpected death? How unexpected? Food poisoning? Not likely, can¡¯t be him alone while others are fine... Can¡¯t be heart attack or stroke either, right? One call to conclude the case with those, no need to discuss separately..." Liu Jinghui talked to himself to think and reason quickly, and then his eyes suddenly brightened, asking, "Is it an allergy? Some special allergen?" "Checked, it¡¯s not." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t make them guess further and directly said, "It¡¯s a natural death, so not even unexpected death. But it¡¯s not a heart attack or stroke, it¡¯s a dyed diaphragmatic hernia, likely traumatic." "What?" Most people at the scene hadn¡¯t heard of this. "Simply put, a diaphragmatic hernia is when organs from the abdominal cavity pass through the diaphragm into the thoracic cavity. There are congenital hernias, like holes in the diaphragm, and traumatic ones caused by injury, leading to perforation." Jiang Yuan briefly exined and said, "Diaphragmatic hernia itself has a strong covert nature and certain progressiveness. There are often cases where trauma from more than ten years ago forms a diaphragmatic hernia and eventually causes death after constant development." Jiang Yuan spoke and took out a tablet to show photos at the scene: "Look at the diaphragm here, the stomach has actually passed through already. This situation should have been urring for some time. Zhang Jifeng¡¯s gastrointestinal difort had led him to seek doctor advice and imaging, but the doctor didn¡¯t consider this possibility, hence it was undetected." Jiang Yuan continued: "At the incident time, Zhang Jifeng was kneading dough. Likely due to exerting too much force, a sudden action triggered the hernia. The post-mortem examination shows that the deceased died of natural causes, so this isn¡¯t a case either." Lin Qingshan understood then why Jiang Yuan asked the prison staff to leave. If the other side learned of this, should it resurface, the follow-up would be unmanageable. Lin Qingshan quickly asked, "Is this diaphragmatic hernia obvious? Is it easily found by an ordinary forensic doctor?" "It¡¯s still a bit difficult because there are changes in organs after death. In this case, the stomach and colon herniated into the left thoracic cavity, causing breathing difficulties and circtory dysfunction, in other words, reduced cardiac return leading to acute respiratory distress." Jiang Yuan broadly exined and said, "From the evidence level, the diaphragm¡¯s pores are visible, and the colon is incarcerated, but thetter could also be exined by colonic infarction..." After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, he said, "The conclusion is clear, but a dyed diaphragmatic hernia inherently has a covert nature, with difficulties, but it can still be discovered." "And the trauma?" Lin Qingshan breathed a sigh of relief. "That requires tracing back Zhang Jifeng¡¯s medical records. It currently appears likely from six years ago when Zhang Jifeng had a brawl, causing it. He was hospitalized then, but the hernia was not apparent." "All right." Lin Qingshan sighed and then smiled, "Old Qin is going to be thrilled." Chapter 1400: 1324: Urgent Case Chapter 1400: Chapter 1324: Urgent Case Lin Qingshan didn¡¯t immediately call Old Qin and others inside to exin the situation. Instead, he picked up his phone and started calling the leaders. Jiang Yuan and others voluntarily wanted to leave but were stopped by Lin Qingshan, whoughed and said, ¡°Regarding the autopsy, you might have to report in person. We¡¯ll see how the leadership decides.¡± Normally, decisions by leaders are naturally guided by the evidence. Lin Qingshan deliberately didn¡¯t avoid Jiang Yuan and others as he finished his call right in front of them, discussing the situation on his end. He replied twice with ¡°Hmm, hmm,¡± then put the phone on speaker and ced it on the meeting table. The voice on the other end was calm and said, ¡°Jiang Yuan, did you personally perform the autopsy? Is this hernia diagnosis urate?¡± ¡°urate. I personally did the autopsy, the initial dissection, from examining the corpse¡¯s surface to discovering the hernia, I did it all myself.¡± Jiang Yuan first gave a definitive answer. The other side, upon hearing this, immediately sounded more cheerful: ¡°Good, good, good, it¡¯s reassuring that you handled it yourself. Since it was you, I can rest assured. Xiao Lin, follow Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy results to close the case.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Lin Qingshan picked up the phone and quickly confirmed a few times. Jiang Yuan spread his hands to Huang Qiangmin, who smiled and nodded towards Jiang Yuan, his eyes signaling: That¡¯s the situation, such are the affairs. ¡°Okay, you stay busy¡­ alright, alright¡­¡± Lin Qingshan ended the call, put away his phone, and exhaled a long breath. Then he smiled at Jiang Yuan and others: ¡°Alright, let¡¯s handle it as a death by illness. Perfect!¡± Huang Qiangmin and Yu Wenshu also couldn¡¯t help butugh; they could really immerse themselves in Lin Qingshan¡¯s role. ¡°We¡¯ll head back then.¡± Jiang Yuan stood up, ready to leave. Lin Qingshan quickly grabbed his arm, unable to press down on his high shoulders, then said, ¡°Wait a moment, let¡¯s inform the prison director too, this is good news, he¡¯ll be happy to hear it. Today¡¯s case ended in a way that pleases everyone.¡± Jiang Yuan looked at Huang Qiangmin and sat back down. ¡°Have some tea, have some tea.¡± Lin Qingshan said as he directly went out to call the prison director. The prison director and his people were waiting in the next room, anxious and nervous. Upon receiving Lin Qingshan¡¯s summon, they hurried over to the meeting room, expressing relief: ¡°It¡¯s good to have a direction in the case, we¡¯ll handle the specifics ordingly¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s good news.¡± Lin Qingshan first closed the door, then smiled and said: ¡°Old Qin, Director Jiang haspleted the autopsy here, and after careful review, determined it¡¯s ate-onset diaphragmatic hernia. As for the specifics of this illness, let Captain Jiang exinter. On my end, I¡¯ve reported to the leaders, and based on Captain Jiang¡¯s judgment, decided to rule it as a death by illness, so it isn¡¯t considered a case.¡± ¡°Ah, well that¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s good that it¡¯s not a case, good, good¡­¡± Old Qin replied, wisely held back any questions he had, as ultimately, he wasn¡¯t curious about what a diaphragmatic hernia was, as long as the crisis was resolved. Lin Qingshanughed heartily, with just a couple of sentences, he shifted the topic to a positive note. With Old Qin¡¯s worries gone, he also adjusted his mood appropriately, chatting about interesting stories. They even intentionally talked about a few mutual friends, who were serving sentences in Changyang Prison, used to eat at the same table, but now with different identities, each unique in their own way. Considering Jiang Yuan¡¯s feelings, Old Qin also mentioned a few serious criminals captured by Jiang Yuan, some might barely conclude their first trial and are in the appeal process, others may be waiting for death penalty reviews. Changyang Prison primarily houses serious offenders, especially those with sentences over ten years, most serve time there, and death row inmates are an unstable factor in the prison. However, the greatest concern in the prison isn¡¯t them harming others, most of the time it¡¯s worrying they might find bizarre ways tomit suicide. After some rather rxed chatting, Jiang Yuan and others took a car back together. Along the way, Liu Jinghui was somewhat silent, while the others were quite excited. Especially the young detectives in Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, following Jiang Yuan to handle cases all over, everyone felt a sense of urgency and pressure, although this case did not punish any criminals, many saw the appearance of criminals they had previously handled in prison for the first time, feeling a sense of achievement. This sense of achievement is akin to farmers sowing seeds and reaping the harvest. A detective catching a criminal in spring, sentencing them to death in summer, observing them in the serious crime inmate zone in fall, and finally executing them inte fall, is like a farmer splitting open a watermelon, savoring the sweetness of the red flesh. Taking advantage of Yu Wenshu¡¯s slow reaction, Huang Qiangmin had the Coaster drive everyone directly back to Ningtai County. Those living in Changyang City who wanted to return home to rest got off along the way, while bachelors who didn¡¯t want to return and Liu Jinghui were naturally taken to Jiangcun Residential Area. That night, the dogs in Jiangcun Residential Area barked for 30 minutes! Jiang Yuan personally cooked, joining his father Jiang Fuzhen,pleting the feast from staple dishes to meat dishes to soup¡ªall focusing on beef. Everyone gave high praise, and Yu Wenshu especially praised Jiang Yuan with their talent: ¡°I dare say, Jiang Yuan is the best culinary forensic doctor in the country! The Jiang family father and son are the best culinary father and son pair in the country!¡± Yu Wenshu cameter on a prison vehicle, the vehicle was a diesel version of the new Maxus V80, just bought by Changyang Prison, stopped right in Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s new underground parking lot, then took a cab to Jiangcun Residential Area. Liu Jinghui and the detectives were dismissive of Yu Wenshu¡¯s logic and style, yet detectives borrowed from Changyang City started to speak actively: Wang Chuanxing: ¡°Chief Yu not only traveled around the country extensively, but their memory retention is truly extraordinary. Just mention a case from years ago, if Chief Yu saw it, they could almost recite it verbatim. If Chief Yu says it¡¯s the best tasting, then it¡¯s definitely true!¡± Tang Jia: ¡°Chief Yu is like an upgraded brain. Chief Yu has a unique skill, which I still remember. It¡¯s said that if Chief Yu scanned a suspect¡¯s license te, they could recall it no matter how many days passed. Should the suspect reappear, even if in disguise or with changed clothes, Chief Yu could identify them at a nce. I suspect Chief Yu will recreate tonight¡¯s meal once they return!¡± Shen Yaowei: ¡°Chief Yu is a human database, a meal Chief Yu finds enjoyable is undoubtedly top-notch!¡± Wei Shikan silently lit a cigarette, feeling a sense of being back home. After the pleasant dinner, workers specially invited by Jiang Fuzhen helped clean up the tableware, then arranged teapots, beef jerky, spicy beef snacks, and other small snacks, leaving to rest. Those who wanted to rest went to the guest rooms reserved by the Jiang family, those who wanted to go home or back to the dormitory left, while the remaining people brewed tea and chatted, feeling rxed. Yu Wenshu grabbed two bottles of cold beer andy down next to Huang Qiangmin. The two of them, under one umbre, with two lounge chairs, watched the sunset and sipped on small drinks, feeling quite content. ¡°Got big work?¡± Huang Qiangmin asked. ¡°There are plenty of cases, not just in Changyang City where people die every day, Shuidong District experiences deaths all year round. It depends on whether it¡¯s a major case or urgent work.¡± Yu Wenshu took a sip of beer, sighed heavily. ¡°Got urgent work?¡± Huang Qiangmin immediately picked up on it. ¡°To be honest, it¡¯s not our case. However, it is quite pressing. Mainly because they¡¯ve heard about Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation, went through various channels, and found me.¡± ¡°Is it not a Changyang case?¡± ¡°Pingzhou¡¯s.¡± ¡°You¡¯re asking for help then.¡± Huang Qiangmin smiled, knowing the feeling all too well. Yu Wenshu smiled bitterly: ¡°Our Shan Nan people, when in trouble, tend to flee to Pingzhou, it¡¯s be a habit. However, Pingzhou has a smaller poption, low average ie, yet police funding is fully safeguarded; the government is wealthy, and the police bureau doesn¡¯tck funds. Usually, they seem quite proud. But now they¡¯ve reached out, and the case truly needs Jiang Yuan.¡± ¡°What kind of case?¡± ¡°Kidnapping.¡± ¡°Executed already?¡± ¡°Just happened a few hours ago, the victim¡¯s family is frantically searching for someone.¡± ¡°An ongoing kidnapping?¡± Huang Qiangmin hissed, ncing at the already set sun, feeling another sleepless night ahead. Chapter 1401 - 1325: Targeting the Person

Chapter 1401: Chapter 1325: Targeting the Person

Huang Qiangmin made several phone calls, confirmed there were no issues with the case background, and then looked at Yu Wenshu, saying, "You¡¯re quiteposed, not even anxious about a kidnapping case?" "Honestly, I¡¯m also waiting for them to make the final confirmation." Yu Wenshu picked a piece of fatty beef jerky, tore a small bit, chewing until his mouth was greasy, and said, "We¡¯ve cooperated so many times, I know that Jiang Yuan handles cases needing control. Youe with over thirty people, iming to listen to them, but they can¡¯tmand, right? However, the victim¡¯s family isn¡¯t professional; if there¡¯s an extra technical expert, they¡¯d be grateful, but if they gain control of the case, they¡¯d certainly hesitate more." "I suppose they want to ask a few more people. Have they decided now?" Huang Qiangmin was not surprised; when it involves family, people find ways even when there aren¡¯t any, let alone when there are. "They asked around and confirmed. Of course, if Jiang Yuan doesn¡¯t want to handle this case, they have alternatives. I could say other cases have already been handed to Jiang Yuan, which would be reasonable." "If he doesn¡¯t do it, you will, right." Huang Qiangmin snorted twice, looked at Jiang Yuan, and said, "I just gathered some information: the incident happened at noon today. The victim is a 13-year-old boy in the first year of middle school. On his way to school with the driver, three people forcibly hijacked the car. His father is a major local gold shop owner in Pingzhou, and the kidnappers¡¯ demand is for gold equal to his weight; for every pound short, they¡¯d cut off a pound of flesh." Yu Wenshu continued, "The driver has been sent back; his right thumb was chopped off, packed in ice, and sent over as a show of attitude. The victim¡¯s family intends to pay the ransom, but it¡¯s too much, hard to gather, and they¡¯re afraid to negotiate, very passive... The ransom delivery location and method have not yet been determined." In kidnapping cases, police usually don¡¯t let families choose the ransom delivery terms, but if families insist, the police often cooperate. Correspondingly, the family also needs to prepare the ransom themselves, and it¡¯s possible funds are spent yet the person doesn¡¯t return. Seeing that Huang Qiangmin had confirmed this far, Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t say much more, stood up, and said, "Let¡¯s take the case. Where is the other side in Pingzhou?" "Anwan City in Pingzhou. Yin Feisong started in Anwan City, initially running gold mines until it was banned, then he focused on gold jewelry." Yu Wenshu briefly exined, then picked up his phone to reply to a few messages, soon receiving a message: "Yin Feisong chartered us a C909 business jet, called EMJ, with 48 seats. The flight route has been applied for, and it¡¯s in queue. If we depart now, it takes a little over an hour to reach Changyang Airport, and another forty minutes by jet." "Alright." Jiang Yuan responded, beginning to pack beef jerky. Huang Qiangmin pressed his hand down, "Pingzhou produces beef." "Most of their varieties aren¡¯t good." Jiang Yuan continued packing beef jerky. Liu Jinghui pulled the ready-to-persuade Huang Qiangmin, "We brought our own beef jerky, so they know to prepare cattle. Just like we brought our team, they know to grant control." "Okay then." Huang Qiangmin recalled about chartered flight arrangements; since they began chartering flights regrly, whenever invitations came from different ces, they considered business jet transportation, not necessarily chartering, but if not feasible, they¡¯d inform ahead of time. Huang Qiangmin couldn¡¯t help but think along this line. Wang Chuanxing gathered some people, starting to call team members who hadn¡¯t returned to the squad yet. Being a detective is like that¡ªthere¡¯s extra leave during quiet times, but during busy times, even the Spring Festival can¡¯t be spared. Of course, the reality is there¡¯s almost never a quiet time. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team, just on leave, some went home to rest and live life, others went traveling, now those who could be called back were and those who couldn¡¯t, had to take public transport to Pingzhou. During the car journey, the Cold Case Squad detectives began consolidating various materials, delivering corresponding documents to Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui, among others. The information from Pingzhou was partial; by now, Jiang Yuan had standard methods to acquire information. They had to watch out not only for suspects setting traps but also for victims and others with ulterior motives. Whether due to Jiang Yuan¡¯s reputation or the nature of the cases he took, enough people would n for it. Once on the ne, in front of Jiang Yuan were twoptops and three extended screens, as he began updating numerous photos, videos, and texts. Wang Chuanxing quickly sorted through the case details and updated Jiang Yuan and others: "The school the victim attends is Haisui Middle School in Anwan City, an international school built in Huangjia Bay on the city outskirts, surrounded by upscale residential areas like vimunities. All intersections are monitored, but the three kidnappers wore masks early on, and the car¡ªa Buick LaCrosse¡ªwas stolen a few days ago. Anwan police are checking rted surveince, no findings yet." "The involved Buick LaCrosse was abandoned 12 kilometers from the incident site, where other tire tracks were visible, suggesting they switched to another vehicle to leave. The incident site is nearly outside the city, with no surveince." "The driver released back to us had already seen the suspects in face-covering masks, two empty-handed, one holding a shotgun. He has been sent for a full-anesthesia surgery to reattach his thumb. The driver is a Yin family rtive, once a night-shift taxi driver, operated ride-hailing, served as a private driver for the Yin family for over three years, basically just driving; normally likes browsing his phone, enjoys some good food, financially stable without many unsuitable issues." "Kidnappers currently contacted the victim twice, once by phone, once through the driver. Anwan police estimate they likely will contact for a third time tonight, probably deciding on transaction time, ce, and method; they¡¯re asking for our thoughts..." With this, Wang Chuanxing paused to await discussion from Jiang Yuan and others. Real case analysis doesn¡¯t need many people; formally dressed in a clean, tidy meeting room is a performance. True case analysis only involves a few people, otherwise even if everyone spoke for two minutes, the time would be wasted. As for determining fake analysis meetings from real ones, observe if participants smoke. Just like now, Liu Jinghui already had a cigarette pinched between his fingers. Jiang Yuan, however, swiftly skimmed through some photos and videos, and said, "Get the car over first. Have they checked the traces on the car?" "Checked, currentlyparing fingerprints and traces found, but the car was stolen," replied Wang Chuanxing. "The car was stolen in advance; it can¡¯t be just used this once. For scouting, what other car was used?" After saying this, Jiang Yuan added, "Regr trace analysis is slow, prone to missing; ask if they have arge-space fingerprint fuming system; if not, find one, fumigate the car first, check for traces before anything else." Therge-space fingerprint fuming system sounds impressive but is essentially a tent or canopy with a decent 502 fuming setup that can coverrge items like vehicles for fuming, making all traces visible. Ordinary trace analysis, though, involves guessing¡ªguessing the suspect touched the trunk, the steering wheel, etc., before carefully dusting and brushing. Dusting is quick, taking just seconds; brushing dozens of points isn¡¯t time-consuming, but covering an entire car isn¡¯t feasible. Liu Jinghui instantly grasped Jiang Yuan¡¯s idea. Though Jiang Yuan had no experience with kidnapping cases, nor face-to-face negotiation skills, directly going after people was most suitable for Jiang Yuan¡¯s method. This might also be Anwan City Bureau¡¯s thought¡ªotherwise, truly handing over 40-50 kilograms of gold? That¡¯s over 30 million yuan, easily disappearing online. Buy some equipment for a couple of hundred bucks on Taobao, and these gold pieces vanish without a trace. "Have them start fuming now; by the time we arrive, it¡¯ll be done." Liu Jinghui snapped his lighter, enjoying the joys of chartered flights. Chapter 1402 - 1326: The Golden Kidnapping Case

Chapter 1402: Chapter 1326: The Golden Kidnapping Case

The Anwan City airport is a general-purpose airport, one level below the standard civilian airport. The airport facilities and runways are quite simple, and the frequency of takeoffs andndings is very low. After the charter ne carrying Jiang Yuan and othersnded, the receiving vehicles drove directly to the foot of the gangway. "Let me introduce you, this is Forensic Jiang Yuan. This is Liu Zhuangshi, Captain of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Anwan City Bureau." As the intermediary, Yu Wenshu was quite enthusiastic. Liu Zhuangshi, the Captain of the Criminal Police Brigade of the Anwan City Bureau, wore sses and looked schrly like someone from the inte security department. He first smiled at Jiang Yuan and then said, "When I was a child, my name meant ¡¯strong,¡¯ meaning robust. After I started working, my father said the name was too rustic and might be looked down upon, so he forced me to change it to the ¡¯oath¡¯ meaning. But whether it¡¯s ¡¯strong¡¯ or ¡¯oath,¡¯ we always try to do well and ensure good service for Director Jiang." "I don¡¯t deserve it," Jiang Yuan quickly replied politely with emotional intelligence. After lowering his posture, Liu Zhuangshi pulled a man from behind and said, "This is Yin Feisong, a top private entrepreneur from Anwan City. This time, with such a big kidnapping case, I feel guilty. I heard from a friend that Director Jiang just solved a case, so I quickly checked my contacts, thinking of someone who could help me get in touch. Unexpectedly, Brother Yu brought him to me directly." As Liu Zhuangshi said this, he shook hands with Yu Wenshu, fist-bumped, and hugged tightly without words. Yin Feisong observed Jiang Yuan with an apprehensive tone, then whispered, "Director Jiang, I¡¯ve prepared the gold. If worstes to worst, paying the ransom is fine, as long as the person cane back." Liu Zhuangshi waited for him to finish before saying harshly, "Boss Yin, as we discussed, there¡¯s no such thing as absolute certainty in the world. Kidnapping cases are even moreplicated, and no one dares to guarantee you anything. You shouldn¡¯t y these tricks. Honestly, I don¡¯t support paying the ransom, at least not before further understanding the situation. Don¡¯t mention these to Director Jiang either..." Jiang Yuan sized up Yin Feisong and asked, "Is it difficult for you to gather this gold?" Yin Feisong, although not one to lose his temper, was still caught off guard by Jiang Yuan¡¯s question, only managing a wry smile: "Of course it is difficult. I even pulled the stock from the factory, and the bank is giving me trouble. If it weren¡¯t for the gold jewelry I had stored and my wife putting our current house into the coteral, even with help from peers, I couldn¡¯t have gathered so much gold." Liu Jinghui stood out, coughed twice, and said, "Boss Yin, Jiang Yuan¡¯s asking is not to make trouble or just for the ransom. His question aims to determine if there¡¯s a mole around you. If the money falls within the range you can mobilize funds in a short period without much dy, it means the other side knows your situation well." Yin Feisong¡¯s cheeks drooped, then he sighed and said, "To be honest, in our industry, insiders know quite a bit about each other. At the very least, they can easily guess how many kilograms of gold we have and can exchange for." "Is the vehicle inspection ready?" Jiang Yuan nodded at Yin Feisong, deliberately changing the topic. Liu Zhuangshi was taken aback, quickly saying: "A little more time is required. If we go now, it should be almost time. Do you want to visit the victim¡¯s house?" "I won¡¯t go. Is Director Liu going?" Jiang Yuan rarely interacts with the families of victims, and besides, he doesn¡¯t understand expressions nor the insinuations of many words, so the cost-effectiveness of visiting victims¡¯ homes is low. On the other hand, Liu Jinghui always enjoys chatting. Liu Jinghui thought for a moment and said, "I¡¯ll visit the victim¡¯s home first, and we¡¯ll meet upter." "Take the main team with you." Jiang Yuan arranged with one sentence and urged Liu Zhuangshi to lead the way to see the suspect vehicle. The people who came to receive them at the scene were left dizzy by Jiang Yuan¡¯s rapid-fire conversation exchange. Liu Zhuangshi could onlyply, gently patting Yin Feisong twice for reassurance, then turned and got in the car. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team boarded the car one after another, and very quickly. Yin Feisong could only follow in a daze, getting into the front car. All previously prepared thoughts were not realized, leaving him to face Liu Jinghui and others in the same car with a forced smile. Liu Jinghui had a notebook on his knee, taking notes by writing and drawing. After finishing a page, he turned it over, and seeing Yin Feisong¡¯s drooped cheeks like a Bordeaux hound, patted him and said in a seasoned tone, "It¡¯s a good thing Captain Jiang isn¡¯t giving you set speeches." "Ah?" Yin Feisong was confused. "Our Jiang Yuan is quite young, only in his twenties. At yourpany, someone in their twenties probably can¡¯t even be a manager. Look at Jiang Yuan, leading dozens across provinces to pursue suspects. Let¡¯s just say, there aren¡¯t many police officers in the country with such qualifications, right?" "Captain Jiang¡¯s resume is indeed impressive." Yin Feisong had just read the relevant information. Thoughcking detailed content, it is easy to tell who is formidable by looking at thepleted work and assumed responsibilities among several experts¡¯ profiles. This is likeparing the profiles of two soldiers, where one is "served as staff of XX regiment, participated in major battles XX, yed a significant role," while the other is "as the captain of XX battalion, led the team to annihte XX regiment, captured the regimentalmander and 36 others alive, killed the chief of staff and several others," the strength of each is apparent. Liu Jinghui nodded and said, "Our Jiang Yuan is the type of person who is particrly focused on what he does. Without such focus, he wouldn¡¯t have achieved what he has today. So when I say Captain Jiang isn¡¯t giving you set speeches, it¡¯s because he¡¯s in focused mode, and he is more likely to get things right rather than say pretty words." Liu Jinghui smiled at Yin Feisong, "Our task in the uing event is, when we receive a call from the kidnappers, to try to keep the conversation pretty. As for the rest, let Captain Jiang handle it, alright?" "Alright... okay!" At his age and position, Yin Feisong no longer believes in love, much less in the promises of other men. But given the current situation, he could only look at Liu Jinghui with hope, like a foster child, hoping his words were true. ... Anwan City Bureau Criminal Science Squadron. Therge-space fingerprint fuming system Jiang Yuan requested had been materialized into a blue tent in the parking lot. The top of the tent isbeled with "502 Fingerprint Fuming Tent," and inside are two fuming devices resembling air purifiers, along with a portable box containing a specialized systemptop. From a civilian standard, the entire system seems quite primitive, but as professional equipment, it¡¯s something the Anwan City Bureau doesn¡¯t typically have on a daily basis, and the tent itself had to be temporarily borrowed from the provincial capital. Jiang Yuan and others arrived, first looking through the observation hole to inspect the vehicles inside, then waiting for the scheduled forced venttion. Forced venttion takes longer because 502 vapor is highly toxic and mmable. Even in a parking lot, it¡¯s feared it would cause harm, necessitating timing personnel exclusion at the entrances and exits. Jiang Yuan¡¯s urgency made it challenging for the Anwan side to find a more suitable location in a short period. Normally, there¡¯s a fuming tent that filters before venttion, albeit more expensive and time-consuming, somewhat extravagant in nature. When dealing with chemicals, toxicity is the norm, and venttion is the king. If you only think about beingpletely clean and non-toxic, you might as well be a chef. "Because we need to do fingerprint fuming, we¡¯ve already conducted a preliminary investigation on the vehicle. Photography and videography were synchronized, and we¡¯ve also extracted some evidence like hair, but we don¡¯t know if it matches any suspects," said Li Erlie, the hefty and blessed-looking captain of the Criminal Science Unit, reminiscent of a grasnd bokh wrestler in hister, fatter years. Li Erlie had, of course, heard of Jiang Yuan¡¯s name. More than just heard, as one of the leading technical investigation experts in the neighboring province, Li Erlie had practically grown calluses in his ears from hearing Jiang Yuan¡¯s name. However, when the kidnapping case arose and the brigade captain called for expert assistance, Li Erlie¡¯s first thought was Jiang Yuan. At this moment, looking at a face even younger than his son, Li Erlie was less contemting fate and the times and more curiously wanting to see Jiang Yuan conduct an investigation firsthand. "Alright. Let me take a look first." Jiang Yuan, fulfilling the wish, watched the recorded preliminary investigation on site, while waiting for the fuming tent to ventte and settle. He then donned protective gear and walked in. Li Erlie called over a young man to shadow Jiang Yuan, while he followed behind observing, feeling self-satisfied like a sparrow. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t employ any extraordinary methods; this was his first time using a fuming tent to find traces, the primary goal being speed. With Jiang Yuan¡¯s Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation skills and Level 3 Vehicle Trace Identification, if he meticulously inspected a vehicle, he could maximize various details, but the time consumption was unavoidable. Not to mention, the 502 fuming requires constant temperature and humidity for a certain duration, with venttion and settling time unavoidable, and each method has a technical timeframe involved. The key difference between a kidnapping and a murder case is that the perpetrator can wait, but the victim cannot. With the fuming tent¡¯s assistance, there was no need to agonize over fingerprint locations like the driver¡¯s side outer door handle, the 9 o¡¯clock position on the steering wheel¡¯s left side, the trunk release button, or the upper right corner of the front passenger glovepartment. Jiang Yuan nced over and left the fingerprint collection to others. For these fingerprints, experienced criminal science technicians could guess that they¡¯re mostly from the original vehicle driver. If fingerprints are still present, it¡¯s not a good sign, indicating a higher probability the suspect wore gloves, negating the need to wipe fingerprint-prone areas. Compared to not wearing gloves and then wiping, the suspect wearing gloves directly is less prone to errors. However, Jiang Yuan was not in a hurry, activating the skill "Crime Scene Reconstruction Temporary +1," and then "Temporary +1," both skills enhancing his Level 5 Crime Scene Investigation. Instantly, it felt like... there was no change! Even Level 7 skills cannot create something out of nothing. Nevertheless, Jiang Yuan¡¯s confidence was at least two levels higher. Level 7 might not create something out of nothing, but if anyone sat in this car, even an alien, they wouldn¡¯t leave without a trace. Jiang Yuan stood up, thought for a moment, and began focusing on the sides of the car doors. The car is a 5-seat Buick Lacrosse, with 3 perpetrators and 2 hostages, practically filled to the brim. In an ordinary sedan, regardless of how thin a 13-year-old middle schooler is or how tightly the driver is bound and curled up, if it¡¯s packed, the backseat is bound to be cramped. With arger contact area, traces are naturally more likely to be left. Jiang Yuan stretched a bit, did a couple of warm-up exercises, then bent down and meticulously swept the sides of the car door and seats. Around the same time, the phone at Yin Feisong¡¯s house rang. Liu Jinghui and others, as well as the negotiation experts brought in by the Anwan City Bureau, all paused their indefinite preparations and naturally gathered around the phone. The negotiation expert pressed one hand on the phone, pulled Yin Feisong over with the other, and said in a calm tone, "Remember what I said, make sure Yin Xiaofeng is alive before you promise any money, or we might never see him again." "I understand." Yin Feisong¡¯s eyes were bloodshot, urgently fixed on the phone. The negotiation expert waited until the next ring before picking up, pressing the speaker button. Chapter 1403: 1327: Calm Analysis Chapter 1403: Chapter 1327: Calm Analysis ¡°I am Yin Feisong.¡± After battling in the business world for 30 years, Yin Feisong had seen many storms, and even when opening a gold mine, he had held a double-barreled shotgun himself. However, it was still his own son. Yin Feisong could only maintain basicposure. On the other end of the phone, there was augh altered by a voice changer: ¡°Hehe, Boss Yin, you called the police, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°No!¡± Yin Feisong insisted, as was agreed beforehand. He needed to treat the kidnapper like a girlfriend, knowing that even a false promise was better than sincere confrontation. The kidnapper chuckled twice more: ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter if you can¡¯t find us. If I see the police, I¡¯ll kill your son. Is the gold ready?¡± ¡°I want to talk to my son.¡± Yin Feisong quickly replied. ¡°Answer me first, is the gold ready?¡± Yin Feisong hesitated for a moment: ¡°It¡¯s ready.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get back to you.¡± With that, the other side hung up the phone. Even for someone experienced like Yin Feisong, his expression faltered. The negotiation expert first confirmed the call was disconnected, then reassured Yin Feisong: ¡°It¡¯s okay, he¡¯s probably scared of being tracked.¡± After speaking, he nced at the technician beside him. The technician gently shook his head: ¡°Overseas number.¡± ¡°An overseas number, with a voice changer; this person is prepared.¡± The negotiation expert, having gone through many kidnapping cases himself, frowned deeply. He caught Yin Feisong¡¯s eye and didn¡¯t continue. Yin Feisong, however, had already snapped out of the terrible state and exhaled heavily, saying: ¡°Captain Qiu, feel free to speak your mind. I¡¯ve been through a lot. To be honest, my brother was beaten to a pulp trying to rob a mine. I was the one who got him back and handled the funeral. If things really go south, I¡¯ll bear it.¡± With that, the negotiation expert no longer held back: ¡°The thorough preparation indicates premeditation, which means they probably know you and your family well. From the vehicles to the voice changer, this kidnapper is more experienced than the usual ones. It¡¯s possible they¡¯vemitted simr crimes before. I want to point out that experienced kidnappers are often more decisive and ruthless. Correspondingly, we need to be more resolute and able to withstand the pressure.¡± He finished with some encouragement for Yin Feisong; otherwise, he feared Yin Feisong might copse. The pressure from a kidnapping is immense, regardless of Yin Feisong¡¯s experience in mining. During the Republican era, when bandits kidnapped people, among those kidnapped were majorndlords and wealthy individuals, none of whom were saints, yet they were still at a disadvantage in such confrontations. The more the kidnapped side focuses on responding, the clearer it indicates the emotional bonds with the kidnapped, making it easier for kidnappers to control them. An experienced kidnapper can leverage immense power. Famous ones like Zhang Ziqiang could still kidnap Li Ka-shing¡¯s son during the tense times in Hong Kong and Macau and sessfully take 1 billion dors because of this unbnced confrontation. Liu Jinghui coughed twice and said: ¡°The other side is prepared, but we are even more prepared here. Boss Yin, we¡¯ve handled many serious cases at Jiang Yuan. Not only are we working hard, but Jiang Yuan is also putting in effort. You never know who might solve the case first.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ yes¡­¡± Yin Feisong nodded repeatedly, but to be honest, it was impossible to feel at ease. As they say, concern leads to chaos. When it doesn¡¯t involve you personally, you can remain calm, but because the kidnapping involves close family, it disrupts the mind. Liu Jinghui said no more and took out his notebook again to start devising several feasible ns for the uing actions. From his perspective, the kidnapper¡¯s actions were one aspect. Their side actually had some fixed response strategies; they couldn¡¯t just focus on how to react to the kidnapper as Yin Feisong envisaged. In a way, the kidnapper also had concerns, which was the 30 million in gold. 30 million in gold, divided between 3 people, means 10 million each. It might not seem like much on the inte, but in the real world, it is indeed a substantial fortune. Considering the current public security conditions in the country, the kidnapper was risking their life tomit the crime¡ªYin Xiaofeng¡¯s risk¡ªor rather, Yin Feisong worried about Yin Xiaofeng¡¯s possible death. But simrly, the kidnapper would find it just as hard to survive aftermitting the crime. Therefore, the 30 million in gold was also a constraint on the kidnappers and the most crucial leverage in the kidnapping case. The negotiation expert had a different thought process, but the idea was simr. He offered psychological support to Yin Feisong: ¡°Our next important task is to confirm Yin Xiaofeng¡¯s life status, which is probably your biggest concern, correct?¡± Yin Feisong nodded: ¡°Of course, but¡­¡± ¡°Even if you give away all the chips, the other side won¡¯t suddenly be benevolent,¡± the negotiation expert interrupted coldly. ¡°I¡¯ve handled hundreds of kidnapping cases. Trust my experience; we can¡¯t give an inch in terms of the gold now. We must confirm Yin Xiaofeng¡¯s life status and have him speak before discussing ransom payment further. Otherwise, we¡¯d rather hang up the phone thanpromise. We don¡¯t have any room forpromise here, right?¡± ¡°Yes, I understand, but I¡¯m afraid¡­¡± Yin Feisong lit a cigarette, his eyes full of tears. The negotiation expert sighed deeply: ¡°You¡¯ve seen a lot of storms and waves, so I won¡¯t preach about the logic to you. The process we¡¯ve designed is your best weapon for protection. If you discard your weapon, the other side won¡¯t spare you either!¡± Yin Feisong lowered his head and listened as the negotiation expert and team leader Liu Zhuangshi took turns lecturing him. The negotiation expert was specifically invited by the Anwan City Bureau, with both a reputable record and enough skills to easily persuade Yin Feisong with his words. Buzz buzz¡­ As the phone rang, the room fell silent. ¡°It¡¯s a call from Jiang Yuan.¡± Liu Jinghui picked up the phone, announced it, and pressed the answer button. ¡°I found some partial fingerprints on the tire wrench in the trunk. Afterparison, there¡¯s a prior convict named Zhong Hailong, a Pingzhou native, who was sentenced to two years for robbery and seven years for intentional injury and released three years ago.¡± Jiang Yuan spoke quickly. Liu Jinghui¡¯s eyes glowed with excitement. As expected from their star performer, the impact was like a nuclear-grade bomb. ¡°How did you find it?¡± Liu Jinghui had to ask, after all, not every prior convict is a suspect in this case, and making a wrong guess would be troublesome. Jiang Yuan¡¯s voice slowed down: ¡°The perpetrator must have worn gloves throughout. I checked the vehicle; they switched a tire beforemitting the crime. The tire wrench was likely used at that time. They probably didn¡¯t wear gloves then but wiped it with a cloth afterward, though not thoroughly.¡± This analysis was based on crime scene reconstruction. Jiang Yuan¡¯s analysis included not just fingerprints but the entire situation inside the vehicle as if it were a crime scene. He had collected sweat from the cramped backseat, and even the different positions of the tools in the trunk meant different things to him. However, because Jiang Yuan had consistently used high-level skills throughout, he omitted the technical details when describing to Liu Jinghui. Though Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation was simple, Liu Jinghui could imagine just how unclear those so-called partial fingerprints were. In fact, what Jiang Yuan referred to as wiping with a cloth but not cleaning thoroughly was literally the case in the physical sense. For a standard forensic examination, such fingerprints would typically not be needed. But since Jiang Yuan was utilizing his Level 7 crime scene reconstruction skills, even the most unclear fragments allowed him to obtain a small, iplete fingerprint. Cracking and matching such a fingerprint, if entered into a nationwide fingerprint database, would rank among the most difficult challenges, yet Jiang Yuan had the capability to do it. Liu Jinghui didn¡¯t need to deduce; he just needed to confirm that Jiang Yuan had conducted a rational analysis, leaving no doubt, and immediately said: ¡°So we can look for him now?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already handed it to image investigation here. You should inform Liu Zhi to best start organizing a task force now, and if needed, call in the armed police.¡± Jiang Yuan continued, ¡°I¡¯m currently coordinating the image investigation, so make sure to coordinate swiftly.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± Liu Jinghui hung up the phone, exhaled a long breath, feeling refreshed, yet faced with Yin Feisong¡¯s expectant expression, gave a reassuring smile before calling Liu Zhuangshi outside. p. p p. Outside, amid whispered conversations between Liu Jinghui and Liu Zhuangshi, the sound of Liu Zhuangshi pping his thigh repeatedly echoed. Chapter 1404 - 1328: Departure

Chapter 1404: Chapter 1328: Departure

7:00 AM. Yuhu District. Zhong Hailong took breakfast from the courier guy¡¯s hands, tossed it on the table, and called his two aplices to get up for food. The two grumbled as they got up, rubbed their eyes, nced at the hostage, then sat around the table. The youngest, Wu Wei, while unwrapping the breakfast bag, said, "Why not just kill him? It¡¯s safer to go somewhere else and deal with them there." Hearing his words, the teenager tied up in the bup sack on the floor struggled desperately. "How can we take the gold if we go somewhere else? What do we do when the stink gets out if we kill him?" Zhang Xindong, the leader, an old hand at prison life, grabbed an oil stick and wolfed it down. Wu Wei first downed a bowl of soy milk, then ate the oil stick, saying, "Then just take Bitcoin, put the body in lime." "Bitcoin, I don¡¯t get it, do you?" Zhang Xindong leisurely asked, not in a hurry, except for his fierce appearance and not brushing his teeth, as if discussing business details in apany. Wu Wei wanted to say he understood, hesitated for a few seconds but didn¡¯t say it. He was only 30 years old this year, and he could understand a bit about Bitcoin, but using it, especially safely exchanging money, Wu Wei wasn¡¯t very sure. If it were just a little money, it would be okay, but not 10 million; he didn¡¯t want to take even a small risk. Simrly, the other two certainly didn¡¯t want to take risks either. They didn¡¯t understand Bitcoin or could control ounts through Wu Wei. What if he ran away with everything? "Forget it, gold it is." Melting gold is very easy, no matter what mark it has. Put it in a high-temperature crucible, melt it, and pour it out. If there are anyposition issues, mix a little other metal into it; full videos can be found online, it¡¯s not a hassle. If you don¡¯t even want to spend a few hundred bucks, just take a hammer or something and smash it repeatedly, fold it and smash it. You can disfigure the gold bricks equally. Neither Wu Wei nor Zhang Xindong and the others needed to watch videos; they had mastered this simple technique long ago, and what restricted them was not technical difficulty but where to obtain the gold. At this time, Zhong Hailong mediated, saying, "Killing isn¡¯t worth it. Now kidnapping gets you ten years, just endure it and youe out. I did seven yearsst time, fought with someone in the middle, so didn¡¯t get any reduction in sentence, and lived through it. Killing is troublesome; we¡¯re a gang, kidnapping and killing, easy to get a death sentence, I¡¯ve researched this." "Can¡¯t we run and be fine?" Wu Wei tried to retort. "You can¡¯t run away." Old bandit Zhang Xindong said: "It¡¯s best if his dad doesn¡¯t report it; we get the gold and go far, hiding our names. Next is if his dad reports it, we just drive to the grasnds and run for a few years, it¡¯s over. If we kill someone, Yin Feisong will fight us hard. Now with these monitors and everything, easy to get caught." "Screw him!" "Peace brings wealth." Zhang Xindong, as the kidnapper, soothed the young man, casually kicking the sack with the teenager inside so he¡¯d stop wriggling. "Call them?" Zhong Hailong fetched aputer, opened the software inside. They learned all this in prison; the three of them spent 20 years insidebined, each gaining a fresh understanding of life and deciding to change their lives before release. Earning 50 kilos of gold through kidnapping, this idea supported them through thest two years in prison. Zhang Xindong, with his hand all coated in soy milk, said, "No hurry." "Not urgent, it¡¯s been a day; don¡¯t let the police find us." Zhong Hailong was anxious. "It¡¯s eagle patience; if done right, you¡¯ll seed. If not, what¡¯s the point of calling?" Zhang Xindong had his own thoughts, ncing at the weather: "Eat and drink first, Yin Feisong probably didn¡¯t sleep muchst night; let¡¯s wait two hours then call, propose our demands then." "Alright." Zhong Hailong decided to listen to Zhang Xindong. He¡¯d only been to jail twice; Zhang Xindong had been three times, and rumors said he¡¯d done a kidnapping case, was truly experienced. Zhang Xindong tore open a packet of pickles and wolfed it down with oil sticks. In prison, that¡¯s what he craved most; after release, he ate them for two years without tiring. Ate three oil sticks quickly and finished a packet of pickles, Zhang Xindong then arranged: "Hailong,ter try checking the car again; this stolen car isn¡¯t like our own. If problems arise, we¡¯d be doomed. Likest time, you did great, spotting tire issues early; otherwise, a blowout on the road would beughed at even in prison." "That¡¯s right." Zhong Hailong felt slightly proud; he learned auto repair in prison, thought it¡¯d be useful afterward. But now society, cab and ride-share don¡¯t hire people with records, repair shops aren¡¯t hiring either, private driving is impossible, only kidnapped heists find it useful. Zhang Xindong: "Old third, don¡¯t rush, you¡¯re young, know technology. When calling, you watch the time and this route; if something seems wrong, cut it off. When the countdown begins, remind me. When calling, we¡¯ll all follow you." "No worries." Wu Wei straightened his back: "Even if the emperores, he can¡¯t find us here." "Great! That¡¯s the spirit." Zhang Xindong pped his hands: "When the appointed time to deliver gold arrives, I¡¯ll go ambush by the roadside; except for the gold transport car, if another car follows, the deal is off, old third here will sever ears." Zhang Xindong: "If everything goes smoothly, Hailong will pick up the car; once he does, call me, I¡¯ll take old third and head to the border location. Old third, once Hailong starts, you start the fire here, then bring the hostage over..." This time, he described the n more detailed than their previous n, especially the border route, individually nned and prepared by Zhang Xindong. Both Zhong Hailong and Wu Wei were counting on escaping, listening to Zhang Xindong¡¯s words, nodding repeatedly. ... 7:00 AM. Yuhu District. Criminal officers dressed in city management uniforms began dispersing breakfast stalls surrounding the district. The security was asked to open the gate, and a convoy with red ribbons entered the district, resembling a wedding procession, directly arriving at a building, though no one stepped out yet. Inside the vehicle, Liu Zhuangshi, captain of the Anwan City¡¯s Criminal Police Brigade, began a pre-battle briefing: "After Captain Jiang Yuan¡¯s confirmation, we believe the main criminal in the gold kidnapping case is currently in front of us, Room 202, Building 17 on the second floor. It¡¯s a four-room two-lounge apartment, facing the main street with two rooms and a bathroom, none with protectives that can directly jump to the main street... This part is handled by the Second Brigade..." Jiang Yuan, riding in the same vehicle, gently pulled out a 9mm Beretta pistol. He didn¡¯t bring a gun to Anwan City; when the operation was underway, he saw the gun in the Anwan City Bureau¡¯s gun cab and immediately imed it. After identifying one of the kidnappers, Zhong Hailong, Image Investigation took mere hours using software to pinpoint his past location and tracked through surveince until sunrise when Jiang Yuan found Zhong Hailong¡¯s hideout. At that point, the crucial issue was the critical bullet attempting to rescue the hostage through negotiations or such didn¡¯t align with the local criminal police methods ¨C since it didn¡¯t conform to the local criminal police methods, it didn¡¯t align with the local kidnappers¡¯ methods either. Only with bullets in key positions could the critical problem be resolved. Even Jiang Yuan¡¯s current greatest skill was Level 3 handgun shooting. Of course, Mu Zhiyang and others had different opinions, but under Jiang Yuan¡¯s persistence, they could only keep loading bullets into the guns and inserting ceramic tes into the bulletproof vests. The public spaces in high-rise apartments were too narrow, shields affected shooting range, and the police¡¯s action this time was not merely besieging; more importantly, it was rescuing, so assault and rapid attack were the only choice. Of course, the actual output wasn¡¯t these officers crammed in cars, but six snipers in three cars and their spotters. Six snipers positioned around Building 17 hoped to take down a suspect with two snipers, using infrared imaging and other methods to simultaneously eliminate the three kidnappers. That¡¯s certainly challenging, especially with concrete outer walls, simultaneous elimination probability isn¡¯t high, and by then thest ones that can make a difference would be the raiding officers. "Countdown 30 seconds, simultaneous exit." Liu Zhuangshi kept the time. Yuhu District was quite a distance from Anwan City¡¯s center, adjacent to the nearby county but closest to Anwan, making housing prices cheap and attracting a bunch of working folks and local herders. Thus, Yuhu District¡¯s popce was diverse and numerous, Liu Zhuangshi couldn¡¯t and didn¡¯t have the ability to clear such arge district. He didn¡¯t know if the suspects noticed downstairs; he wasn¡¯t detailed enough to discern it. Liu Zhuangshi just tightly watched the stopwatch and at the zeroing moment, issued an order many had awaited for long: "Move out!" Chapter 1405 - 1329: Broken

Chapter 1405: Chapter 1329: Broken

The three leading detectives were tall and strong; one held a breaching ram, another a shotgun, and the third was crouched, clutching a stun grenade, ready to throw at any moment. Amidst the trio was the owner of Xinxin Lock Shop, a 32-year-old professional locksmith, a top disciple of the former king of thieves, and amunity focal point. He obediently peered through the keyhole of the security door, his expression focused and muscles tense as if doing this for the first time. Wearing protective goggles, Liu Zhuangshi watched the locksmith¡¯s professional disy, unable to help but feel a bit worried. The three kidnappers had specifically chosen this apartment with a well-secured door when renting. If the locksmith couldn¡¯t open the door, it would take several hits with the breaching ram, which would be quite a dy. Crucially, there was no movement inside; the sniper¡¯s observer, via infrared, hadn¡¯t spotted any irregr actions from the kidnappers, suggesting they might not have noticed the police operation yet. At times like this, banging the door down was a secondary choice. ording to the n, this was already the best opening. If the locksmith could sessfully open the security door, the hostage rescue operation would be considered halfway sessful. The remaining half depends on the sniper and a bit of luck. "Number one has a chance!" "Number four has a chance." The voice of snipers in position came through the earpiece. Liu Zhuangshi gently took two deep breaths to calm himself. Today, there¡¯s no rappel team; one reason was the window faced the street, making it too chaotic, and another was to make room for the snipers at the windows. This required their team to enter swiftly, decisively, and also... with a little luck. Liu Zhuangshi nced back at his team, then turned back, his breathing now steady. The most troublesome aspect of an operation isn¡¯t the n, but the various unforeseen incidents during execution. Only by managing these can an operation run rtively smoothly. As the team leader, appearing here today, at the frontline, he was no longer worried about any surprises. As an outsider, Jiang Yuan was squeezed to the back. Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming leaned closely against him, wishing to cover his entire front for safety. Jiang Yuan gripped the Beretta in his hand, slightly lowered his head, eagerly awaiting a chance to prove himself. Not for anything else, but to experience the glory of being a cop. Click. In the silent hallway, the sound of the security door being unlocked was crisp, like the tearing of a tight skirt. All the detectives turned their fiery gaze towards Liu Zhuangshi. The detective with the stun grenade quietly opened the security door. Creak. The security door emitted a dry sound. At this very moment, many felt an urge to charge, sensing the kidnappers inside must¡¯ve heard it. Liu Zhuangshi resisted it. The snipers didn¡¯t have a great opportunity; ideally, they should kill two at once. If only one could be shot, the kidnapper next to the hostage should be targeted first. Time ticked away minute by minute. The detective holding the breaching ram started feeling shoulder aches as Liu Zhuangshi suddenly raised his hand. "Go! Get in directly!" Liu Zhuangshi didn¡¯t count down, nor had the chance, he just stepped forward, grabbing the detective with the stun grenade¡¯s hand. Half a secondter, a dull gunshot exploded. Manymunity residents involuntarily raised their heads, searching for the direction of the thunder. ... Inside the room. Zhang Xindong casually sipped tea, watching Wu Wei open software to make an inte call, silently learning while whispering in his ear, "When this call goes through, Yin Feisong will definitely want to talk to his son. Once he¡¯s done talking, we¡¯ll find a chance to finish off the kid. Whether it¡¯s when leaving or during the next call..." Wu Wei jolted in surprise, whispering back, "Brother Hai Long said no killing..." "He was fighting people in elementary school, stabbed someone critically in middle school, are you listening to his legal advice? The prison made him dumb," Zhang Xindong stated in a seasoned inmate¡¯s tone, "We cut the driver¡¯s thumb off; that¡¯s serious harm, also we¡¯re a gang, we stole cars, might trespass the border soon, and those IDs, phone numbers, bank cards you got,bined penalties, do you think ten years would get us out?" Wu Wei was a bit bewildered, "Not necessarily... not that..." "If caught, you guys likely would get a suspended death sentence," Zhang Xindong said tly, "I¡¯m the main culprit, a repeat offender, you¡¯re calling me boss, I might just get an immediate death sentence. So, once caught, none of us would fare well. The key is not to get caught." Wu Wei¡¯s lips trembled twice, "Suspended death means 20 years and you¡¯re out." "Can you endure it?" Zhang Xindongughed. Wu Wei swiftly shook his head. "Hack this kid up, they might never even figure out who we are. By the time they do, we¡¯ll be abroad," Zhang Xindong said, standing up, leaning down to whisper in Wu Wei¡¯s ear, "The hostage can hear us, we¡¯ve said too much..." "Just saying," Wu Wei turned to Zhang Xindong, then saw his eyes bulge, followed by his entire head exploding apart. Splut. Wu Wei felt it was more like the sound of a fart, the visual equivalent to a cooked watermelon, pierced by a punch, with flesh and juice sshing out, the white pulp hitting one¡¯s dizzy eyes. "Holy crap!" Zhong Hailong shouted, instinctively reaching for the short-barreled shotgun on the rack. Wu Wei, meanwhile, was momentarily stunned, subconsciously wiped his face. Blood droplets clung to Wu Wei¡¯s eyshes, tinting the world red. Bam! The wooden inner door shattered with one hit, but only half of it splintered. This was not like the movies, nor was it like training scenarios. Yet the front-row cops had no time to react; sidestepping the splintered wood, they crashed into the room, wincing in pain, rolling aside to clear the way. More officers flooded in, their gun barrels pointing left and right. Zhong Hailong hurriedly raised a gun. Wu Wei quickly crouched, trying to grab the hostage¡¯s bag. Bang. Bang bang bang bang... A string of gunfire rang out, akin to the fireworks on New Year¡¯s Eve. "Stop!" "Everyone hold fire!" Liu Zhuangshi shouted loudly after emptying the magazine. An officer silently stepped forward, began searching other rooms, stepping over the corpses on the floor. Jiang Yuan also entered. Sight fell upon pools of blood, bodies riddled with bullet holes. Fortuitously, the teenage hostage was crying loudly, adding life to the scene. "The victim is unharmed." The inspecting officer patted the boy down, covering his eyes, carrying him out directly. The 13-year-old trembled like a stray dog. "All¡¯s dead." Mu Zhiyang stepped over the blood, inspected the three corpses, confirming there¡¯s no chance of revival. Liu Zhuangshi swapped magazines for the scorching hot 92 pistol, lightly nodded, "That¡¯s how it is on our end." Chapter 1406: 1330: Unique Advantages Chapter 1406: Chapter 1330: Unique Advantages Jiang Yuan quite likes the style of Pingzhou people. Straightforward, generous, not concerned with cost-effectiveness. Just like at the dinner party, Yin Feisong publicly led out a cow and a sheep, and personally held a knife to slit the sheep¡¯s throat. The cow was ughtered by a professional butcher, hung up after being bled, allowing everyone to choose their favorite parts to boil, grill, or fry, with someone avable to do it. Jiang Yuan felt a familiar happiness, a bit like being home. So Jiang Yuan took out the beef jerky he carried and handed it out to the people around him. Liu Zhuangshi toasted two rounds, feeling slightly tipsy, received Jiang Yuan¡¯s beef jerky and looked stunned: ¡°When did you prepare this?¡± ¡°I brought it from home.¡± Jiang Yuan exined with a smile: ¡°My family also raises cattle, this is beef jerky from our own ranch, try and see if it¡¯s good.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± Liu Zhuangshi muttered through a bite, barely chewing, answering first, then asked with gleaming eyes: ¡°But even if it¡¯s really good beef jerky, why did you bring it here? We have plenty of beef in Pingzhou, plenty of beef jerky, don¡¯t you believe our Pingzhou beef can produce good beef jerky?¡± Jiang Yuan smiled but said nothing, in some sense, he didn¡¯t believe it. Liu Zhuangshi exploded on the spot: ¡°Brothers! Come and see what this is!¡± A group of Pingzhou detectives gathered around, seeing was Jiang Yuan with his beef jerky. ¡°Director Jiang brought beef jerky from his own home, Ningtai¡¯s beef jerky!¡± Liu Zhuangshi cried out in anguish. He didn¡¯t have to say more, everyone present was a policeman, with imagination definitely surpassing the main character of a little yellowic. For a moment, emotions ran high: ¡°This won¡¯t do!¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong with our Pingzhou beef? It can¡¯t possibly notpare to Ningtai¡¯s beef!¡± ¡°Ningtai¡¯s forensic doctor is great, but the beef isn¡¯t!¡± Yin Feisong, having drunk four decanters during the toast, came over looking groggy and fixated on the beef jerky in Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand. ¡°Director Jiang!¡± Yin Feisong said solemnly: ¡°You saved my son, my life should belong to you, but the cow is innocent, it can¡¯t just die for nothing.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that serious, it¡¯s not that serious¡­¡± Jiang Yuan waved his hands repeatedly. ¡°Director Jiang, look at this cow¡¯s eyes!¡± Yin Feisong dragged Jiang Yuan over to look at the cow¡¯s eyes, then said: ¡°I¡¯ll personally make you roasted cow eye!¡± Saying that, Yin Feisong picked up a small knife, cut out the cow eye along with some facial meat, then asked the barbecue master to regte the fire, personally stepping up to grill, singing all the while, asionally pouring Maotai on the fire! Hearing his singing, Liu Zhuangshi stomped his feet rhythmically, sang along slowly, eventually standing up and joining in the song and dance. With him taking the lead, many in the courtyard carried their wine sses, wine jugs, and bottles, drinking and dancing, the atmosphere lively as if it were a ball. Liu Zhuangshi danced for a while, even pulled Jiang Yuan along, loudly shouting: ¡°Director Jiang, solving cases with you is really great, I inspected the kidnapper¡¯s corpse earlier, I used 15 bullets, hitting 13, haven¡¯t shot that freely in years.¡± ¡°Actually, you didn¡¯t need 13 bullets.¡± Jiang Yuan recalled the bullets he found during the autopsy and said: ¡°He took more than just the 13 bullets.¡± ¡°I was afraid he¡¯d pull the trigger, wanted to shoot off his finger ideally. Because I was behind, I saw others aiming at the head and chest.¡± Liu Zhuangshi exined expertly. Jiang Yuan followed the ¡°dancers¡±, nced questioningly at Liu Zhuangshi, said: ¡°The kidnapper¡¯s fingers were intact.¡± ¡°Yes, no hits, all went into the belly.¡± Liu Zhuangshi felt regret, adjusted his sses, much like a student missing a perfect score. Jiang Yuan earnestly recalled for a moment, finally said: ¡°Then you hit 9 shots, the 4 on the chest were yours too.¡± ¡°Eh, how do you know¡­wait, how did you figure that out?¡± Liu Zhuangshi was greatly surprised. Jiang Yuan responded: ¡°I swept the bullets under a microscope. Also, among the shooters, only you used the old 92, others using the 92 type were 92G, new guns, your rifling was well-worn.¡± Liu Zhuangshi suddenly understood, then realized Jiang Yuan¡¯s autopsy wasn¡¯t just a casual exercise. He likely determined who shot whom and which shot caused the actual death. For this case, it wasn¡¯t useful, but for Jiang Yuan, it might have been as simple as skinning a sheep. Liu Zhuangshi was stirred, emptied his cup, hooked an arm around Jiang Yuan, dancing a steppe dance,ughing and said: ¡°Director Jiang, I say, stay in Anwan a few more days, I¡¯ll take you around, see our Pingzhou¡¯s beautiful sheep, beautiful cattle, beautiful people, really beautiful¡­¡± ¡°I do have that n, it¡¯d be best if Liu Zhi is willing to cooperate.¡± Jiang Yuan previously discussed with Huang Qiangmin about borrowing Anwan¡¯s location for cases. Liu Zhuangshi delighted: ¡°Cooperate, I¡¯d love to cooperate.¡± Finishing, Liu Zhuangshi shouted: ¡°Captain Jiang is staying in Anwan!¡± The singing and dancing crowd paused, then surged over. Mu Zhiyang yelled: ¡°Don¡¯t squeeze over, you¡¯ll see Director Jiang casually these days, don¡¯t crowd!¡± Jiang Yuan, slightly drunk, still had the spirit to wave his arms. Identifying a good coboration partner isn¡¯t easy either, whenever Jiang Yuan arrives in a new region, he solves several cases before leaving, partly because handling cases requires mutual trust, and concluding a case establishes that trust. Otherwise, for cases involving crimes, especially violent crimes, without mutual trust, many problems will arise. Today, with Yin Feisong willing to offer equal weight in gold for his son¡¯s ransom, someday Yin Dijin might be willing to offer equal weight in gold for his son¡¯s liberation. Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s bold personality and his high-ranking position as a brigade captain satisfy the basic conditions for case handling. Of course, most important is the unique situation of Pingzhou. Pingzhou borders Shannan Province, the nearest point is merely a few hundred kilometers from Ningtai County, easy to reach within half a day on the highway. Pingzhou is a border province, with vast grasnds and long border lines; with an off-road capable vehicle, crossing the border isn¡¯t hard. As for satellite scans, border walls, etc., even the Old Americans can¡¯t handle that. Ordinary criminals, don¡¯t receive such luxury. Therefore, Shannan Province criminals, whenever a crime urs, often flee to Pingzhou, using Pingzhou as a jumping board, either to hide or escape abroad. Handling a batch of Pingzhou criminal cases will absolutely improve Shannan Province¡¯s public security. Such mattersplement each other, simr to how Ningtai County once required yearly staff allocations to handle various cold cases, deal with inquiries from family, track leads outside of the region, etc. In parallel, dealing with some Pingzhou cases, especially ones with intense reactions, helps maintain Ningtai County¡¯s high-level public security as well. The chaotic vibe paused briefly. Liu Zhuangshi immediately asked Jiang Yuan: ¡°Which case do you want to handle? I¡¯ll arrange it immediately.¡± ¡°This time, I¡¯m considering, first looking into fingerprint-rted cases.¡± Jiang Yuan calmly exined further: ¡°I found Pingzhou¡¯s weather conditions particrly good, fingerprints preserve longer, plus, offenders tend to be more brazen, hate spending hours cleaning up crime scenes, feels suitable to catch them by fingerprints.¡± Liu Zhuangshi was dumbfounded: ¡°Didn¡¯t think our Pingzhou had this natural advantage.¡± Chapter 1407 - 1331: Anwan Fingerprint Campaign

Chapter 1407: Chapter 1331: Anwan Fingerprint Campaign

Zhang Limin hurriedly walked into the office building of the Anwan City Bureau. A group of leaders went out to wee the provincial department leaders. Zhang Limin exchanged pleasantries with everyone, then looked around and asked, "Who is Liu Zhuangshi from the Criminal Police Brigade?" "Uh, Liu Zhuangshi got drunkst night, and we¡¯ve already sent someone to find him." Director Yue Yong replied honestly. Zhang Limin¡¯s face darkened: "What are you guys doing? Drinking on a workday?" "They just solved a major case, so they were given a break." "Even if they solved a big case, that¡¯s no excuse!" Zhang Limin criticized sternly. Director Yue Yong nodded repeatedly, letting Zhang Limin express his anger, then said, "Mainly to apany Jiang Yuan." Zhang Limin¡¯s fiery demeanor softened considerably, and he said slowly, "If it¡¯s to keep Jiang Yuan in Pingzhou, then it¡¯s indeed understandable." "That¡¯s right." Yue Yong quickly said, "They drank several bottles of wine together, Jiang Yuan can really drink, then they washed it down with ox eye, and Liu had another half a jin of liquor." "Ox eye... hmm, we can discuss thister. I¡¯m here this time with a mission." Zhang Limin paused, then seriously said, "Considering the recent developments at your Anwan City Bureau, the department decided that starting from the 2nd, a fingerprint operation will be conducted in Anwan City, modeled after the previous fingerprint operations. Regarding the venue and staffing, we hope you can properly arrange and solve these issues..." Upon hearing this, Yue Yong understood immediately and said, "Are you seeing vinegar and preparing to make dumplings? No, are you nning a province-level fingerprint operation?" "Since it¡¯s called an operation, of course it¡¯s province-level." "Isn¡¯t this inappropriate?" "What¡¯s inappropriate about it? Anwan City doesn¡¯t have that many unresolved cases or fingerprints to work with. Jiang Yuan is willing to handle the fingerprints, and you¡¯d waste resources on such a small amount?" The director hesitated for a moment but still felt uneasy, saying, "Jiang Yuan said he liked the crime style here..." Zhang Liminughed in exasperation, "He initially said that about Pingzhou. Besides, what crime style do we have here? It¡¯s unrefined; many cases don¡¯t even require gloves, yet we still can¡¯t catch the culprits." "Our fingerprint collection rate here is already low... Also, Jiang Yuan said he likes Pingzhou¡¯s weather..." Zhang Limin pretended not to hear, continuing to ask, "You need to arrange the venue first. Do you have a suitable venue here?" "Anwan City only has a four-star hotel, which is a bit far from the city, about a 10-minute drive. However, the 2nd is tomorrow. That¡¯s too rushed, even if we ask, the other units might also need the venue..." Zhang Limin listened quietly; he wasn¡¯t familiar with Anwan City, but venue arrangements had to be finalized today... Yue Yong also understood the situation and didn¡¯t dispute with Zhang Limin. After some thought, he said, "How about we do it at the City Bureau? That way, facilities like workce, intr, and security are easy to manage. For amodation, we can use the dormitories for temporary rest, and if expertse from within the province, I can vacate some rooms in our family quarters." At this point, Yue Yong¡¯s ideas flowed smoothly, he continued, "I¡¯ll make a contribution. My house is a four-bedroom, two-hall apartment. I¡¯ll tidy it up, change the sheets and bedding, rece toothbrushes and cups with new ones, what we don¡¯t have, we¡¯ll request from hotels. We might not have time to clean, so I¡¯ll hire a cleaner to ensure everything¡¯s spotless, so the experts can move in with ease." As he spoke, the politicalmissar immediately stepped up to cooperate without hesitation. Zhang Limin nodded repeatedly in approval, "The Anwan City Bureau is indeed formidable. No wonder Jiang Yuan is keen on your unit. If you can think of such a method and make such decisions, I believe you¡¯ll be able to ovee any subsequent difficulties!" Yue Yong¡¯s face broke into a relieved smile as he realized thatpared to the whole province, Anwan City¡¯s cases were indeed fewer. "There are still anciry issues." Zhang Limin didn¡¯t rx, addressing one issue and immediately moving on to determine a new one. Yue Yong said dismissively, "What anciry needs do you have?" "It¡¯s not about what I want, it¡¯s about what you need!" Zhang Limin stated, "Arrests might still be required, followed by evidence collection, interrogation, identification, and evidence submission. As this operation kicks off at the Anwan City Bureau, I suggest that it be managed by your bureau." Yue Yong agreed without much thought. It¡¯smon practice, especially for cases crossing regions, where the victim or suspect is in different areas, for a higher authority to designate a specific bureau to handle the case, rather than sending notifications to countless city bureaus. It¡¯s like handling a certain adult website case is also designated to a single city bureau, which then sends officers on duty. Zhang Limin nced at Yue Yong and said, "Jiang Yuan previously participated in Shan Nan¡¯s fingerprint operation, reportedly solving ten or so homicides and several other heinous crimes." Yue Yong was taken aback, "I think I¡¯ve heard of it..." In an instant, he began scratching his head. If several dozen heinous cases are solved gradually, it would certainly be exhrating, but if they¡¯re handled within a few days or even a month, the Anwan City Bureau might really struggle to cope. Homicide evidence requirements are high, even if Jiang Yuan can lock onto fingerprints, there¡¯s still a distance from actually cracking the case. If the suspects cooperate, subsequent confession, identification, etc., would follow smoothly, but if not, a team of officers might be busy for half a month, and that would be the least of it. "Since you¡¯ve mentioned this, you must have a solution in mind?" Yue Yong pulled out a cigarette, handing one to Zhang Limin. He wasn¡¯t hoping for support from the provincial department or other city bureaus. The provincial department¡¯s personnel allocations are fewer than city bureaus, mostly office positions, with only one department primarily responsible for criminal investigation. Even if they wanted to help, Yue Yong wouldn¡¯t likely ept it. Other city bureaus wouldn¡¯t likely send support either unless there¡¯s a share in the credit, or adjustments to personnel allocations in advance... Zhang Limin smiled and shook his head, "Jiang Yuan is right here; what solution do you need from me? He has quite a few people with him, and the Ningtai County Bureau¡¯s staff isn¡¯t small either." Yue Yong, reminded, immediately realized something and hesitated a bit before saying, "Ningtai¡¯s Huang..." "The big ones are handled, there¡¯s no need to worry about the little ones." Zhang Limin knew what was going on, adding, "In this regard, the department can think of some ways to help you." ... Li Zemin got out of the car, ced his suitcase at his feet, lit a White Sand cigarette, and took a deep drag. "Haven¡¯t been to Anwan for a long time." His colleague behind him stretched and shook his head, saying, "This time, we took a new route. Last time I went from Li Yuan to Anwan, it was quite troublesome." "The old routes, that was seven or eight years ago." Someone next to him casually replied, taking a White Sand cigarette from Li Zemin. "Pretty much, we were here to look at fingerprints, there was a family murder case, don¡¯t know if you remember it." "Yes, National Day, an entire family of five got killed?" "That¡¯s the case. Later, fingerprints were extracted from the child¡¯s clothing." "Eight years ago, lifting fingerprints from clothing wasn¡¯t easy. Why did the killermit murder?" "A dispute over buying cattle. Ultimately, it was about money, but also a matter of pride. The breed of the cattle wasn¡¯t appropriate, not worth the price. Plus, here people often buy cattle without weighing them, just estimating with the eye, which led to a wrong estimation. Not embarrassed to bring it up, they picked on the opponent for feeding cattle something inappropriate in the morning; tempers red, and they ended up stabbing the person." As they spoke, smoking halfway, they were about to head inside when they saw a whole teaming out from within. "Old Li!" Jiang Yuan jogged over, smiling, "Your car is pretty fast, I calcted the time you¡¯d arrive." Li Zemin had supported the fingerprint operation in Shan Nan Province back then, forming a good rapport with Jiang Yuan. The two were likerades working in the same trench for a month. They also kept in touch regrly in a group, where Li Zemin often answered fingerprint-rted questions on behalf of Jiang Yuan. As Jiang Yuan started running, Mu Zhiyang and others naturally followed, then the whole team began running over. Li Zemin¡¯s colleague clicked his tongue, "You maintain quite the connection." "Jiang Yuan is quite personable." Li Zemin chuckled, weing him warmly. Several officers who had heard of Jiang Yuan nearby also burst intoughter. Chapter 1408 - 1332: United Like a Pack of Smokers

Chapter 1408: Chapter 1332: United Like a Pack of Smokers

Jiang Yuan handed a Zhonghua cigarette to Li Zemin, then distributed a few to the experts around him, and helped Li Zemin light it. The people who came along with him, like Mu Zhiyang, took out their own Zhonghua from the same source and lit them by themselves. Li Zemin took a deep drag, closed his eyes in satisfaction; 1% was because of the cigarette, 99% because of the pleasure. For those in technical work, the most enjoyable feeling is being respected like this. Whether it¡¯s because of seniority or the technology itself, ultimately, what they want is the favor of the leadership. And Jiang Yuan, today¡¯s Jiang Yuan, directly presides over the fingerprint battle, naturally also belonging to the leadership. The group smoked a cigarette at the door, then introduced themselves to each other before entering the office building of the Anwan City Bureau. The conditions at the Anwan City Bureau are much better than those at the Criminal Police Brigade, at least there are more conference rooms with higher specifications, and a variety of equipment inside is rtivelyplete. The basic configurations needed by fingerprint experts, such asputers, can be easily allocated, unlike in the Criminal Police Brigade where one might need to borrow from here and there. When Li Zemin and others entered, they saw that there were already twenty to thirty people sitting in the conference room, seemingly in a working state, facing theirputers. As for fingerprint experts, this number is already quite significant, almost representing the strength of a dozen municipalities. Even on regr days, these fingerprint specialists could dismantle a three-person criminal group in a week. Of course, on asions like a fingerprint battle, where there¡¯s no need to handle cases or attend meetings, work efficiency is much higher. Many experts enjoy this non-specialized task force mode, as they can settle into a ce where someone takes care of their meals and lodging, allowing them to work without distractions. Take Liu Jinghui, for example, who participated in so many task forces that he gradually didn¡¯t want to go home anymore. "Old Li is here." Someone spotted Li Zemin and greeted him. Some experts were busy and just gave a nod, first focusing on processing the fingerprints in front of them. Li Zemin responded one by one, taking a moment to smile at Jiang Yuan, "So many experts from Shannan? Have you transferred the provincial experts to Pingzhou? Won¡¯t the provincial department give you trouble?" "Mutual support, the cooperation between Shannan and Pingzhou has always been quite extensive." Jiang Yuan exined with a smile. He understood that the two regions were interlinked, strengthening Pingzhou¡¯s security benefits Shannan Province, so the Shannan Provincial Department naturally wouldn¡¯t have any objections. It was just a matter of avability, willingness, and how to cooperate. The provincial level is moreplex, but at least at the municipal level, Shannan and Pingzhou have a lot of cooperation, and even Ningtai County has frequentlye to Pingzhou to chase fugitives. Simrly, Pingzhou¡¯s thieves also like to flee to Shannan. As for why they don¡¯t flee abroad, that¡¯s because they haven¡¯t reached that level of crime. Many people still want a life and don¡¯t wish to be uprooted, plus many are afraid of smuggling. Li Zemin clicked his tongue: "You alone got two provincial departments mobilized, that¡¯s really something." "It¡¯s nothing, nothing at all, this fingerprint battle stuff, we¡¯re all ready-made, just changing the location and time." Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t want the credit, and changed the subject, "How about we sit next door?" Back when Jiang Yuan and Li Zemin worked on fingerprint battles together, they¡¯d have casual chats and smoke during downtime, it was a very pleasant work process. "That¡¯d be great." Li Zemin responded with a smile, arranging a few of his people to work on his side, nning for them to cooperate on cases. Fingerprint matching doesn¡¯t necessarily require one person to mark characteristics. Different people have different understandings and research on the detailed features of fingerprints. Regr fingerprint identification isn¡¯t a problem, but at the level of fingerprint battles, facing fingerprints after two or three transfers, the depth of study on these detailed structures bes very important, especially when making identifications, those who have studied deeply are more decisive. At this point, having two or three people work together to mark the features of a single fingerprint can be advantageous. Of course, overall, it¡¯s quitebor-intensive, and only those at major crime levels can enjoy such three-person treatment. "Shall we start now?" Jiang Yuan sat at his ce and called to Wang Chuanxing and others to log Li Zemin and his group into the intr, and served tea and water, among other things. The atmosphere in the conference room quickly influenced Li Zemin and his entourage, drawing everyone¡¯s attention to the fingerprints. It wasn¡¯t until Li Zemin lit up his second cigarette that he realized they hadn¡¯t even settled in before they had started working. When technical leaders handle matters, it¡¯s indeed a bit different. Of course, it¡¯s also because the Ping Zhou Provincial Department and the Anwan City Bureau cooperate well. They came with boxes full of dumplings, and as long as Jiang Yuan allowed them to dip in vinegar, they had no otherints. Jiang Yuan seemed to appreciate Pingzhou¡¯s way of doing things, somewhat rough but practical. At the same time, the criminals in Pingzhou were also consistent with the previous stereotypes, rough and direct. There were thieves who stole without gloves, robbers who didn¡¯t wear gloves, and even murderers who went gloveless¡ªin fact, thetter two are moremon in other provinces because killing and robbing are often decisions made on the spur of the moment, but stealing... in this day and age, thieves who haven¡¯t learned such basic counter-surveince skills are indeed rare. However, fingerprints that are too easy to match wouldn¡¯t have made it this far, and small case fingerprints wouldn¡¯t even be submitted. The most crucial point is that the local fingerprint database in Pingzhou is also quite rough, greatly reducing the likelihood of matching fingerprints. The first few fingerprints Jiang Yuan processed were very easy in terms of marking the features, yet there were no suitable targets in the system whenparison was attempted. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t anxious, as this wasmon even in Shannan. Those who frequentlymit crimes know not to easily leave fingerprints for the police, so unless they¡¯ve had criminal or administrative penalties, they avoid leaving fingerprints whenever possible. This includes when applying for new ID cards and passports; some people abandon the process because of this. And from a police perspective, the fingerprints recorded from ID cards or passports are rtively independent databases. To use them, a special application and approval are required, so normally,parisons are first made with the criminal database. If no matches are found, then other databases are considered. However, during fingerprint battles, the utilization of these resources bes much simpler, with specialized personnel formunication and application, followed by feedback. The first case Jiang Yuan solved was matched within this fingerprint database. The fingerprint came from a bull rope, about half of a normal fingerprint¡¯s size. Because the bull rope was rough, even this half turned out to be discontinuous, making many of the fingerprint¡¯s characteristic points unusable. Jiang Yuan, however, confidently signed off on the "identification match." Compared to thest fingerprint battle, his fingerprint techniques had improved from the Level 3 Chongqing Single Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method and Level 4 Qingdao Single-Finger Fingerprint Analysis Method to a Level 6 Fingerprint Analysis Method. At the same time, Jiang Yuan also had over 400 minutes of unused temporary +1 time. With this setup, even if a fingerprint battle were to restart in Shannan, they would face inevitable defeat. And in Pingzhou... well, that¡¯s just their bad luck! Chapter 1409: 1333: Gathering Together Chapter 1409: Chapter 1333: Gathering Together ¡°Captain Zhu, if you smoke, we can arrange for you to sit in this meeting room? This is the smoking area. Captain Jiang also sits in this meeting room.¡± The police officer assisting with the meeting arrangements was quite experienced with this process and introduced fingerprint expert Zhu Huanguang from Shan Nan with rapid words: ¡°Your amodation is arranged at our family residence, just a five-minute walk away. You¡¯ll be staying in our section chief¡¯s house.¡± ¡°This¡­ staying in your section chief¡¯s house, isn¡¯t that inappropriate?¡± Zhu Huanguang saw Jiang Yuan inside the door from the doorway. The two were oncepetitive yet mutually admiring opponents during the fingerprint battle in Shan Nan. Later, they also worked together on fingerprint analysis tasks for the Changyang City Criminal Police Detachment. This time, besides Zhu Huanguang¡¯s fondness for the atmosphere of the fingerprint battle, he also came in response to Jiang Yuan¡¯s call. Police officer: ¡°The house has been tidied up to meet homestay standards; after the battle is over, we¡¯ll have someone clean it again before returning it, so you don¡¯t need to worry¡­¡± ¡°I want to sit behind Jiang Yuan.¡± Zhu Huanguang interrupted the officer, adjusting his cor slightly. The officer was unsurprised; from his brief reception history, this request wasmon, as if it were some feng shui treasure spot. Officer asked: ¡°Thest two rows are full, would the third row from the back be okay? We¡¯ve staggered the tables, ensuring everyone can see Director Jiang¡¯sputer screen.¡± Zhu Huanguang didn¡¯t expect his intention to be exposed instantly, hesitated for two seconds, then asked: ¡°Is Jiang Yuan not worried about his screen being seen?¡± ¡°Director Jiang said it¡¯s fine.¡± The officer replied with the content he heard. ¡°Alright then.¡± This time Zhu Huanguang came over, having concentrated on researching in the past two years, feeling he made new advancements in fingerprints, hence wanting to challenge Jiang Yuan again. Years ago, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s fingerprint analysis skills roughly reached Level 3 mastery with some entry-level Level 4 specific specializations. In the past two years, Zhu Huanguang maintained practicing by examining at least 6000 fingerprints three days a week, and on other days, attending meetings and writing reports, looking at 2000 to 3000 fingerprints at least. With such umtion and asionally exchanging insights with Jiang Yuan in the trace evidence group, Zhu Huanguang recently felt he might have made a breakthrough. In technical matters like this, even if there¡¯s a breakthrough, it¡¯s hard to express directly, especially to those unfamiliar with the field, such as telling Yu Wenshu, who would just extensively discuss scenes beforeputer ubiquity where fingerprint experts sought to verify fingerprints, boasting his ¡°photographic memory¡± ability. Zhu Huanguang was long a deputy section chief, so how could he allow himself to be belittled like that? He practiced diligently to have others praise his fingerprint skills, so when he felt his fingerprint identification abilities improved, he could only demonstrate it in concrete situations. The fingerprint battle called by Jiang Yuan was the perfect tform for showcasing. Following the police officer, Zhu Huanguang navigated through theyers of office desks, chairs,puters, and experts, like a student entering a ssroom. Jiang Yuan was earnestly watching his screen, not noticing Zhu Huanguang. Without rushing to greet, Zhu Huanguang settled in, first listening to the police officer briefing him on basic information, while simultaneously familiarizing himself with the allocatedputer. The reception officer first covered the basics, concluding with: ¡°This time, some fingerprint cases aren¡¯t necessarily major or significant cases; there are also minor ones. Each area decides which cases to report or organize. Materials on fingerprint-involved situations are included beside them.¡± The fingerprint battle usually involves major cases to bnce technical discrepancies among regions. It¡¯s said that homicide cases are just the starting point. For such cases, fingerprints are meticulously scrutinized by each region, unconceivable ones are forwarded again for local fingerprint experts to tirelessly ponder solutions¡­ Such reasons also make bald results normal in a fingerprint battle, with thosepleting multiple fingerprint matches being truly capable, as was proven by Zhu Huanguang earning a third ss meritst time. Yet, Jiang Yuan and others organized the Anwan fingerprint battle, not initially high-level, with parties inadequately prepared, unlike conventional battles that umte and prepare a mass of associated fingerprints¡ªnot just any fingerprint rted to a case, but ones critical to solving cases that provide strong leads, allowed for participation. This sorting work naturally consumes police manpower. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan also wanted to address more Pingzhou cases, using it as a way to eliminate future concerns. Thus, Zhu Huanguang encountered ordinary-grade fingerprints¡ªseen from his Level 3 mastery perspective, some fingerprints seemed rtively easy. Unconsciously smirking, Zhu Huanguang casually opened a fingerprint and began identifying characteristic points. He didn¡¯t aim forplex or challenging cases; this time, chiefly for Jiang Yuan¡¯s sake. In this scenario, it seemed better to collect more minor cases, as the sheer quantity brought joy first. With such thoughts, Zhu Huanguang¡¯s fingerprint matching became somewhat rxed, appearing masterful to outsiders. Quicklypleting three fingerprint markings, Zhu Huanguang sessfully matched one, even if it was merely for a minor theft case, invigorating him temporarily. Fingerprints matched in a database of repeat offenders promised actual sentencing for future crimes, likely exceeding three years. Satisfied, Zhu Huanguang looked up and nced at Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen. Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach to fingerprint identification always intrigued him. Indeed, Zhu Huanguang wasn¡¯t the only curious one; many sat behind Jiang Yuan, eager to watch his screen. Jiang Yuan seemed unaffected, leaning back on his chair, one hand on the mouse, the other on the keyboard, not fast-paced but never stopping. Zhu Huanguang realized this mirrored his marking of characteristic points earlier¡ªPingzhou local offenders indeed left many traces, giving fingerprint marking little challenge. Adjusting his sses for clearer visibility, Zhu Huanguang then discerned Jiang Yuan marking an iplete fingerprint. It was a slightly blurry iplete fingerprint, indeed. Instantly recalling thest fingerprint battle, where Jiang Yuan also marked a blurry fingerprint, Zhu Huanguang noted even Jiang Yuan from back then wasn¡¯t as adept as he appeared today. ¡°He had an epiphany too?¡± Familiar with this sort of improvement, Zhu Huanguang mused, as previously, Jiang Yuan distinctlycked such proficiency, especially in matching iplete fingerprints to this remarkable extent. Compelled to rise, Zhu Huanguang moved past the adjacent desks to approach Jiang Yuan¡¯sputer for a clearer view. As he moved, several onlookers also got up and came over. Recognizing one another as fingerprint experts, they spaced out harmoniously, observing independently. Jiang Yuan marked characteristic points, handed them over to the system forparison, then went through candidate fingerprints for verification¡­ After a series of operations, a name emerged. Jiang Yuan slightly organized it, sent an email to Liu Zhuangshi, and began analyzing a new fingerprint. Those behind him watched for a while, then dispersed quietly. Before long, new experts were ushered in, encountering some struggles, they too stood behind Jiang Yuan, quietly observing for 30 minutes or less, bing humble afterwards invariably. A somewhat harmonious yet peculiar atmospherested until dinner time. Zhang Limin from the provincial department personally brought arge tray to reward the team, specially revealing to Jiang Yuan: ¡°I specifically had someone buy your favorite ox eyes. Fresh ox eyes were quite difficult to find, try this dish I made!¡± Chapter 1410 - 1334: New Technology

Chapter 1410: Chapter 1334: New Technology

The eyes are the most delicious part of an animal, but they¡¯re more suited to the locals. It¡¯s like in the Northwest, many people find fish eyes disgusting, yet think that sheep eyes cooked are incredibly delicious. In the Southeast, many people find fish eyes uniquely vorful but can¡¯t ept sheep eyes at all. Simrly, there are pig eyes and cow eyes, which are different from fish and sheep eyes; they both burst with juice and are tastier when roasted. Especially cow eyes, they are four times the size of pig eyes and are often cooked and then roasted. Moreover,pared to pig eyes, cow eyes are even fattier. They taste like Chinese fatty brisket or the strip of fat on a Western sirloin steak when roasted. If using themon merchants¡¯ phrase "This is the most exercised part of the cow" for evaluation, the meat around the cow¡¯s eyes is indeed the most exercised part ¡ª no meat understands activity better than me! However, the cow eyes roasted by Zhang Limin, or rather, by the Pingzhou chef he recruited, were only satisfactory at best for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t need to borate, stopping after a few bites already indicated enough. Zhang Limin, who was there with the provincial office¡¯s directive to support, couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Not to your taste?" Jiang Yuan candidly said, "Yes. I¡¯m used to the cow eyes my father grills. Maybe the Pingzhou vor isn¡¯t something I¡¯m ustomed to. It¡¯s no big deal; I usually eat a lot of meat and vegetables anyway." "I couldn¡¯t figure it out," Zhang Limin smacked his forehead. "I just listened to the Pingzhou chefs¡¯ stories. Could you give me your father¡¯s number? I¡¯d like to ask him how he grills and seasons it specifically." "There¡¯s no need for that; it¡¯s too much trouble for you," Jiang Yuan said, embarrassed. "It¡¯s no trouble at all. Whatever we¡¯re doing, it should be done well," Zhang Limin said sincerely. "Give me the number, and I¡¯ll organize the chefs to learn together." Jiang Yuan tried to decline, but couldn¡¯t. In the end, under Zhang Limin¡¯s fiery enthusiasm, he reluctantly gave out his father¡¯s phone number. Zhang Limin left in a rush. Jiang Yuan turned back and apologized to those at the same table, "I truly apologize..." "It¡¯s nothing, don¡¯t worry," the Pingzhou locals waved naturally. "Mainly, duringrge-scale operations, we can¡¯t drink. He wants to show appreciation but can¡¯t, so he¡¯s really anxious. Giving them something to do settles them down." "Like alcohol withdrawal syndrome." "In the past, they could just drink till they dropped. Now they can¡¯t, so they have to involve themselves with food. To be honest, it¡¯s justcking something." The group continued talking and grabbed a rib each, clinking them together and devouring them. ... Evening. As with previous operations, those experts who wanted to rest were off duty, while those who volunteered for overtime could return to their seats and continue fingerprint analysis. Meanwhile, police officers from the Criminal Police Brigade were on standby, ready to apprehend suspects based on the experts¡¯ findings. Jiang Yuan returned to his seat. With someone like the department head personally involved in roasting cow eyes, whether he did it himself or not, at least he was the one who brought the dish in. As an external expert offering non-free support, Jiang Yuan felt it was only reasonable to offer them a few more criminals in return. Taking advantage of the quiet evening, Jiang Yuan deliberately chose a murder case to ponder over carefully. The fingerprints came from a roadside corpse discovered three years ago. By the time it was found, the body was badly dposed, but the windbreaker remained in good condition, allowing the investigators to extract some fingerprints. Since the deceased had defensive wounds on the upper arm, with stab wounds concentrated in the chest and abdomen, all frontal, and there were signs of close-range blood spatter on the clothes, the forensic doctor concluded that there might have been a struggle with the murderer. Adding to this was the uncertainty about the deceased¡¯s identity, making it more worthwhile to identify the fingerprints. Jiang Yuan examined the files and concurred with the forensic report. Especially the close-range blood spatter, it couldn¡¯t have been sprayed onto the deceased by themselves; it could only have been flung onto them by the murderer¡¯s blood-stained arm during continued stabbing. The blood spatter also indicated that the murderer and the deceased were very close at the time, suggesting a potential struggle. Although the body¡¯s severe dposition made DNA extraction impossible, the fingerprints on the windbreaker could possibly belong to the murderer, or at the very least the deceased themselves or a close rtive. This provided a solid basis for fingerprint identification. Of course, it still didn¡¯t match the standard found in fingerprint battles, but it was quite decent. So, Jiang Yuan brought back the fingerprints, tried marking them once, then ran them through the fingerprint database, scanning the top 20 candidate fingerprints, and stopped there. If he were still at the level of a newbie to fingerprint battles, Jiang Yuan would have only two choices, and both would be cumbersome methods. One, mark the identifiable trait points as urately as possible; if you can mark seven, then do so. If not, six, or even five will do. Then, use the trait points to run database searches again, extending the list of candidate fingerprints,paring 50, 80, or even 100 fingerprints to see if there¡¯s a good match, and further analyze and screen suspects. The second cumbersome method, the mostmonly used, involves multiple attempts to mark trait points, even specting about some vague ones, to see if anything emerges. When Jiang Yuan was a beginner, he mastered Level 3 and Level 4 fingerprint identification techniques. His most advanced Level 5 skill was Image Enhancement. Now, fingerprint identification has upgraded to Level 6, and the new Image Recognition and Analysis at Level 5 is even moreprehensive than Image Enhancement... So, Jiang Yuan tried a few times and quickly determined... this path wouldn¡¯t work. At least, it was a very exhausting probability path that might take two to three days to squeeze out a slight chance using the cumbersome method. After a brief consideration, Jiang Yuan picked up his phone and called Liu Zhuangshi, asking, "I spotted a case I want to extract evidence from. Is it feasible?" Already home soaking his feet, Liu Zhuangshi looked up at the dark night outside the window and said, "Absolutely, no problem. Send me the case file number, and I¡¯ll have the evidence room staff report right now." The evidence room has a rtively fixed schedule, typically 9-to-5 on weekdays, but today since Jiang Yuan requested it, it became an extraordinary day. Jiang Yuan considered further, "I might also need to use the Criminal Scienceb, including high-resolution microscopes and the physical and chemicalboratory." Checktest chapters at Find¡ïNovel "No problem, I¡¯ll have the Criminal Science staffe in," Liu Zhuangshi said without hesitation. "See you soon," Jiang Yuan concluded the call. Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s feet were soaking in hot water, and he hesitated slightly, beginning to parse Jiang Yuan¡¯s words: Jiang Yuan said "see you soon," which logically meant to meet theb and evidence room staff soon, but could he have meant that I should also goter? Reflecting a moment, Liu Zhuangshi thought: Yes, Jiang Yuan is working overtime, and here I am at home rxing, getting ready to sleep. That¡¯s the sort of thing no responsible person would do. So, Jiang Yuan must be implying that I should act like a responsible person? Feeling Jiang Yuan¡¯s deeper meaning, Liu Zhuangshi wasted no time, pulling his feet from the tub, and called out, "Wife, I have to go to the office." "Now? You¡¯re asking to lose your hair!" His wife rushed over, cing a cup of ginseng tea heavily on the table. "Get your clothes yourself." "I¡¯ll get them myself, definitely," Liu Zhuangshi quickly drank the tea, then dressed and dashed out. Meeting room. Zhu Huanguang examined the fingerprint, suddenly seeing Jiang Yuan stand up and pack his stuff, and couldn¡¯t help checking the time, then smiled and stretched, nning to catch up for a chat. Just then, two officers walked in carrying evidence boxes, directly reporting to Jiang Yuan. Zhu Huanguang was taken aback and approached. Curiosity wasn¡¯t confined to him; several others gathered around too. Jiang Yuan didn¡¯t hide anything, opened an evidence box on the spot, pulled out the windbreaker, and said, "I n to try extracting a few more fingerprints from here." "What? Trying now? Isn¡¯t it difficult?" "This material... isn¡¯t it hard to extract from?" "If fingerprints were already taken, wouldn¡¯t the necessary parts be damaged?" The experts from various units naturally raised their concerns. Jiang Yuan nodded slightly, only saying, "I n to try some new technology." "You still have time to research new technology?" Zhu Huanguang first expressed surprise. He frequently followed Jiang Yuan¡¯s cases; not speaking of the difficulty and experiences required, the sheer volume surpasses most people. In this situation, where¡¯s the time for new tech research? Jiang Yuan had no exnation nor the need to exin, simply saying, "It¡¯s something I slightly acquired during past cases. I don¡¯t need to extractplete fingerprints; my idea is to pull out several partial prints, merge them, and run them through the database. Maybe there¡¯ll be a breakthrough." With the Level 6 fingerprint analysis technique, stacking a temporary +1 achieves Level 7, representing the world¡¯s top-level fingerprint analysis. You tell me, is this new or not? Chapter 1411 - 1335: Disarray

Chapter 1411: Chapter 1335: Disarray

Jiang Yuan inspected the evidence¡¯s windbreaker at the scene, intentionally taking a magnifying lens to examine several potential fingerprints. He then used new technology to refresh his mind and looked up, saying, "I need a high-resolution spectral imaging device. Do you have one?" Standing opposite him were two police officers from the archives room. Faced with Jiang Yuan¡¯s inquiry, they could only lift their overtime eyelids, feeling both mentally and visually dazed. "The provincial department has a Resonon push-broom type with a resolution of 5.5 nanometers; I borrowed it once before," said the rushing criminal science technician Zheng Feng, a "young" expert under 40. "Anwan City doesn¡¯t have one, right?" Jiang Yuan was somewhat unwilling to give up and tried asking again. "We have high-definition microscopes, but no high-resolution spectral imaging device. You want to use a high-resolution spectral imaging device to scan this jacket, right? We can¡¯t do it; the provincial department¡¯s one should work. I¡¯ve heard the high-end model costs 500,000. Our municipal bureau simply can¡¯t afford it," Zheng Feng was very familiar with his own equipment. With him was Liu Changchuan, captain of the Criminal Science Brigade, who bluntly said, "Even if we could afford it, we wouldn¡¯t know how to use it. Foreign software is veryplicated. I¡¯ve used Resonon¡¯s; the images it captures are different from those of a normal camera, requiring image enhancement. Oh, Director Jiang understands image enhancement..." It was unclear if he wasining about the technology or praising Jiang Yuan. "From the provincial department, it can¡¯t be borrowed today, right." Jiang Yuan was slightly disappointed. He had activated the system¡¯s temporary +1 skill, a total of 405 minutes, just over 6 hours. Once used up, it needed a 24-hour cooldown. Without the equipment, the skill was essentially wasted. However, he had no choice but to activate it; the new technology wasn¡¯t easy to grasp either. With fingerprint analysis at Level 6, he was great against current fingerprints. But using new technology to retrieve old fingerprints with rity for solving cases, even Level 6¡¯s fingerprint analysis was strained. The cost of new things is a bit higher. Zheng Feng, seeing the situation, nced at the time and said, "Even if the provincial department had someone on duty now and we could borrow the equipment, making a round trip, it would probably be by tomorrow morning. Today, it likely can¡¯t be borrowed." Captain Liu Changchuan gently licked his dry lips, "Even if the provincial department had someone on duty, they couldn¡¯t borrow it." The scene emitted augh of making light of adversity. "Oh, a bit of waste," Jiang Yuan was genuinely regretful. Fingerprint analysis at Level 7; now, if used for regr fingerprint verification, the firepower would definitely be over the top, wasting a day. "Is it very urgent?" Zheng Feng naively asked. Beside him, Liu Changchuan frowned, "Director Jiang is here to help us; how can you speak like that." After speaking, Liu Changchuan said to Jiang Yuan, "We¡¯ll tidy up now, try to borrow the machine from the provincial department by tomorrow morning, then drive back. Estimated time of arrival is around noon." This was already beyond the regr procedural speed. Jiang Yuan gently shook his head, "If it¡¯s tomorrow noon, then there¡¯s no rush." Readplete version only at ?ovelFind After speaking, realizing others might not understand, Jiang Yuan concocted another reason, saying, "My current state is still good. I can probably keep working for about 6 hours. After 6 hours, I won¡¯t be able to do fingerprintparison. I¡¯ll probably need a deep sleep, so it might be another day before dealing with this jacket again." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he ced the jacket back into the evidence bag. Even the veteran captain Liu Changchuan was moved. What kind of spirit is this... "Let me think of a way!" Liu Zhuangshi, stepping out from a cozy home, just walked in. Because of soaking his feet, his adequately supplied brain instantly thought of a solution. Regarding the provincial department, he¡ªa mere city Criminal Police Brigade captain¡ªcertainly held no influence. But this time, Zhang Limin, who came with vinegar to make dumplings, was from the provincial department. Most of the fingerprints handled in this Anwan fingerprint battle weren¡¯t even from Anwan, so naturally, Zhang Limin could be sought to solve the problem. Liu Zhuangshi didn¡¯t care about thete hour; he dialed Zhang Limin. Soon after, Zhang Limin appeared in the operations meeting room with arge iron basin, entering with a refreshing note, "Everyone, straight from Jiang Vige, a special roast beef eye from the Jiang Family is here. Ta-da..." The sizable cadre entered with self-generated sound effects, naturally evoking rounds of apuse. Unless particrly afraid, everyone came forward to take the roasted beef eye, giving them face. Meanwhile, others saw grilled beef skewers in the basin, so some simply took the skewers instead of the beef eye, which was also eptable face-wise. Zhang Limin cheerfully offered food to everyone, then took a beef eye skewer for Jiang Yuan, smiling, "Try it, made under Mr. Jiang¡¯s guidance. As for the high-resolution spectral imaging device, I called the department. They¡¯re already on their way with the machine and personnel. Driving a bit faster, they should arrive in a bit over two or three hours." "Ah, you¡¯ve sorted it out," Jiang Yuan was a bit surprised and couldn¡¯t help but add a polite "you." Zhang Limin smiled and nodded, "A trivial matter, borrowing an instrument was our oversight. If you have any other requests, just let us know. We¡¯ll fulfill any we can, and if there¡¯s equipment the department doesn¡¯t have and you feel it¡¯s necessary, I¡¯ll immediately contact someone for procurement." Jiang Yuan warmly thanked him, took another bite of beef eye, finding it indeed richly fragrant and tender, akin to the texture of muscles on cow shank, very chewy, yetpletelycking the rigidity of muscle. "Very fragrant!" Jiang Yuan gave Zhang Limin a thumbs-up. "d you like it; I¡¯ll go roast some more to try," Zhang Limin didn¡¯t hold Jiang Yuan back for conversation, allowing time for him to work, eagerly going off to roast more meat. At that point, it was unclear if it was due to work or preference. The experts remaining in the meeting room returned to their stations to scan fingerprints. During the fingerprint battle, one benefit was you could work overtime without worrying about being scolded by family foring homete, as one could opt to stay here instead of returning home. Although the unit¡¯sputer chassis emitted constant noise in the nighttime rooms, everyone¡¯s minds were very calm. Criminal Science Brigade Captain Liu Changchuan was carefully observing Jiang Yuan. Speaking of, forensic doctors were also part of criminal science, but when it came to convenience in doing things... "Bring the remains over for a look too," Jiang Yuan scanned all the evidence from this remains case again. More than 2 hours flew by. Two dusty police officers, apanied by Zhang Limin, entered with an enormous camera. The 500,000-value high-resolution spectral imaging device, in terms of appearance, wasn¡¯t asrge as a traditional camcorder, a ck and red rectangr box with a camera head protruding. One of the police officers hurried to introduce the instrument to Jiang Yuan, especially highlighting the subsequent pieces of equipment and software, particrly opening the instructions, "When we do sample collection, we first need toplete automatic exposure measurement, calibration focusing, and removing the dark background. For spectral imaging, the step is generally set at 1.33nm, allowing each sample acquisition to gather a spectral image set consisting of 462 images in one go... The collected raw data is processed by pectrononPro software and converted into reflectance data..." He briefly exined, then looked at Jiang Yuan, prepared to hear hismand and for self-operation. Jiang Yuan noticed, extended a hand for the instrument, saying, "Let me try first; you all help me observe." After speaking, Jiang Yuan requested the evidence jacket again and spread it out on the spot to start operating. This type of high-resolution spectral imaging device was inherently capable of outdoor sampling. Theoretically, upon discovering a body, the field investigation with the equipment could directly select fingerprints and other traces on the site for sampling andparison. This was the simplest use case. The technician hesitated for a moment, then seeing Jiang Yuan¡¯s skilled movements, couldn¡¯t help but ask, "Have you used the same model before?" "Something like that," Jiang Yuan ambiguously replied, extracting several fingerprints quickly. As the name suggests, the push-broom type high-resolution spectral imaging device samples by pushing and scanning tly. Once the equipment is tuned, using it is very convenient. The fingerprints obtained were transmitted to theputer, opened with pectrononPro, and the technician, with a probing gaze, looked over. Jiang Yuan unabashedly sat down. If it was ordinary fingerprintparison, letting someone else operate would¡¯ve been easier, but the fingerprints found on the evidence jacket were limited, and since he had the Level 7 skill active, using it now was worthy of their effort of driving several hundred kilometers at night. A few fingerprints quickly emerged, albeit heavily fragmented in appearance. "Are they usable?" Li Zemin, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, concernedly squeezed in. "They need some processing," Jiang Yuan contemted aloud. "How do you process them?" Li Zemin was curious. "HE or WT. Or BBHE and SEHE," Jiang Yuan mentioned Standard Histogram Equalization (HE) and Standard Wavelet Transform Algorithm (WT), as well as Average Brightness-Preserving Bi-Histogram Equalization (BBHE) and Two-Dimensional Space Information Entropy Histogram Equalization (SEHE). Li Zemin let out an "oh," seemingly understanding, turned his head to ask the two technicians, "What do you usually use?" "Ah... we usually... usually just default to HE," the technician responded somewhat flustered, looking slightly disarrayed. Chapter 1412 - 1336: Level 3 Features

Chapter 1412: Chapter 1336: Level 3 Features

What exactly did Jiang Yuan use for image enhancement? On site, only two technicians from the provincial department were concerned, because they actually knew how to use it. Yet, both of them were likely at a practical level, probably just Level 1, hardly reaching Level 2. However, when Jiang Yuan continuously changed the ns and eventually output several different versions of the same fingerprint, all the fingerprint experts gathered around. The same fingerprint with detailed line features became clear and rich, while the change in contrast also significantly improved the image quality. This was an undeniably clear change, apletely utilizable transformation. Anyone with even a little fingerprint research would realize how much this helps with difficult fingerprints. Li Zemin enviously took a whole pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from Jiang Yuan¡¯s table, took a heavy puff, shook his head, and went back to his seat to continue working. The other fingerprint experts nced around and then dispersed. "Oh, is it not going well?" Zhang Limin, watching with a smile nearby, became a little anxious. "It¡¯s going well." Li Zemin exhaled a faint smoke ring: "It¡¯s just boring." Zhang Limin sighed in relief upon hearing this and smiled, saying, "As long as it¡¯s going well. Fingerprintparison is inherently a bit tedious." "I don¡¯t mind tedious work." Li Zemin chuckled twice, saying, "We can¡¯t y Jiang Yuan¡¯s game. His ridge detail is clear enough for Level 3 featureparison." "Level 3 featureparison, what do you mean?" Zhang Limin asked curiously. Li Zemin took another slow drag, "Level 1 features are ridge characteristics, such as arch, loop, and whorl patterns, which ordinary people can distinguish with one nce. Level 2 features are the minutiae we normally use, like hooks, eyes, blocks, bridges, and dots. Level 3 features are the microscopic details of fingerprints, including ridge edge morphology, ridge width, specific point numbers, and pore characteristics, which can be used on a high-resolution basis." Li Zemin pouted again and said, "The rity of the fingerprint Jiang Yuan extracted is enough for that." Zhang Limin understood suddenly and then said rightly, "I seemed to have heard members of the ministry mention the promotion of this technology before, there should still be some difficulty, right? Is it the problem with high-definition resolution?" Li Zemin nodded, "The advantage of Level 3 features is that the fingerprint does not need to be so extensive. Even a broken fingerprint, as long as the rity is enough, can be used forparison even if it¡¯s just a small area. The problem is..." Li Zeminughed, "Our fingerprint database does not have such high definition. So, it can only be used for secondaryparison." "Secondaryparison works too." Zhang Limin instantly understood, and without mentioning further promotion, said, "So, we identify the suspect first and then use Level 3 features for aparison to see if it¡¯s the right person." The source of th?s content is Find¡ïNovel "Theoretically, yes." Li Zemin nodded slowly, hesitated a bit, and said, "Academically, there is still debate on this issue. Especially with Level 3 fingerprint extraction and matching, the difficulty is quite high, and regr technicians often make errors. You can see it from what Jiang Yuan did." Zhang Limin suddenly realized, "You all can¡¯t do it, so it¡¯s boring?" He grilled cow eyes because he only cared if people who liked eating cow eyes were happy, and didn¡¯t concern himself with those who didn¡¯t enjoy cow eyes. Li Zemin was amused by Zhang Limin¡¯s provocation, "I can do Level 3 fingerprint extraction and matching, but image enhancement is another craft. Apart from someone like Jiang Yuan, who else can you ask?" Zhang Limin looked around, realizing indeed no one else raised their head. "No need to look further; talent like that can hardly be found domestically." Li Zemin scoffed, "With such skills, inte giants, Hollywoodpanies, and gamingpanies are all vying for them, easily offering a million dors a year." Upon hearing this, Zhang Limin understood immediately, turned around and took out his phone, babbling, "Leave me all the cow eyes from the ughterhouse, and some beef too. Don¡¯t they ughter cattle at dawn? Send it over while the beef is still twitching. Why is it called jumping beef? Haven¡¯t you watched food videos? It¡¯s the kind of meat that¡¯s still twitching when the cow is freshly ughtered." Zhang Limin spoke loudly on purpose, and when he put down his phone, the experts around also heard it. He couldn¡¯t offer a million a year, so he could only resort to cow eyes aspensation. At this time, Jiang Yuan, havingpleted the fingerprint scanning on the screen, pressed print and turned around, "No more food for now, I¡¯ll get back to work for two more hours before going to sleep. Liu Zhi, please send someone to collect the fingerprints from these people. Once I¡¯ve rested, I¡¯llpare them. Follow Captain Li¡¯s instructions, collect high-definition fingerprints, capable of Level 3 fingerprint matching." Liu Zhuang rushed over. This arrest mission was all about the Anwan City Bureau, and the municipal bureau tasked the Anwan City Criminal Investigation Team with the job. Zhang Limin was waiting impatiently nearby. He had been up so long for this moment and hurriedly asked, "Is it a match? Did we match with the homicide case?" In any fingerprint battle, matching a homicide fingerprint counts as a sess. It¡¯s obvious that fingerprints entering into the fingerprint battle are often from unresolved cases, not freshlymitted crimes. Hence, they aren¡¯t typically easy fingerprints. Jiang Yuan handed the freshly printed document to Zhang Limin and said, "Based on the partial fingerprints, I listed 8 individuals. These 8 people have at least six or seven matching minutiae. Additionally, regarding the Level 3 minutiae that Captain Li mentioned, parts also match among these 8 people. Once Liu Zhi retrieves the high-definition fingerprints, re-matching will confirm if anyone was identified." Jiang Yuan continued, specifically telling Liu Zhuang, "The fingerprints were collected from the outer jacket of the deceased. Judging by the location of the defensive wounds, the fingerprints used forparison are likely the criminal¡¯s, so be cautious! On the other hand, they might just be pre-existing fingerprints from rted individuals. Therefore, even if someone among these 8 is identified, pay attention to the method when locating them." Zhang Limin immediately reached out, flipping his hand back and forth, and said, "Be measured, treat them politely, bring more people, be vignt." "Understood." Liu Zhush¨¬ nodded immediately, "One group of 4 people, 8 groups in total." He looked at the ID numbers on the printout, people from all over were included, but since the fingerprint battle had just begun, there was no shortage of people under hismand. Li Zemin specially urged, "Among the ones dispatched, ensure there are personnel trained to extract high-definition fingerprints ¡ª either trained detectives or bring a field examiner or trace examiner. How high-definition? 1000 PPI or above scanning resolution?" Thest question was directed at Jiang Yuan. This was the standard set by the Old American National Institute of Standards and Technology in 2005. Jiang Yuan responded with a nod, "Preferably at 1000. If no one is avable, and you must use non-contact fingerprint acquisition, a minimum of 500." "500 will do?" "500 allows recognition of pore positions in grayscale images." Jiang Yuan said. With their question and answer, Liu Zhuangshi didn¡¯t quite understand but immediately decided, "I¡¯ll assign a forensic specialist to each group." Chapter 1413 - 1337: See the Real One in Person

Chapter 1413: Chapter 1337: See the Real One in Person

The sun was high in the sky. In the Anwan Fingerprint Battle Operations Room (the smoking room), the air conditioning was as slow as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Wei Shikan sat sweating in his chair, staring nkly at the screen. On the paper in front of him were messy scribbles of forms, with some annotations like HE and WT, but they were all fragmented beyond recognition. Li Zemin pretended to pass by, nced at Wei Shikan¡¯s expression, and showed an inexplicable look offort on his face. If watching Jiang Yuan work was like sitting at a volcano¡¯s edge watchingva, then Wei Shikan was like a Muggle-sized ice cube¡ªapproaching him to cool down the room was always afortable presence. "Master Uncle, got a question for you," Wei Shikan suddenly lifted his head and called out to Li Zemin. Li Zemin¡¯s smile shed and disappeared, reced by caution: "I¡¯ve got cases piled up over here... What do you want to ask?" He wasn¡¯t skilled at fingerprinting, but understood Wei Shikan, a second-generation police enthusiast. These people ask questions not to make trouble, but because they truly have questions, and Li Zemin wasn¡¯t eager to answer any. Sure enough, Wei Shikan didn¡¯t pause at all and started spitting out math like a spider spirit: "In a model containing multiple convolutionyers, each pixel of the hyperspectral image contains multiple band information, so the size of the inputyer is H¡ÁW¡ÁBH... The activation function uses ReLU (rectified linear unit)..." Snap. Li Zemin flicked his lighter, lit a cigarette: "This question is indeed worth pondering. You should consider it carefully first, and if you still don¡¯t understand,e find meter, or I can introduce you to a professor..." With that, Li Zemin calmly left in quick steps. ... Jiang Yuan woke up and returned to the conference room; it was already afternoon. On the walls of the conference room, eight teams dispatched to various regions were reaching their destinations and started reporting the newly scanned fingerprints. Suspects living in big cities were found the quickest with direct flights; next fastest were cities with high-speed rail ess. The biggest headache was when someone returned to the countryside, forcing the team of detectives to rent a car and race, worried they wouldn¡¯t reach them before a phone call rang on their phone. Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t in a hurry. After each team found their suspect, they¡¯d take them to a nearby police station for "protection," not enter the interrogation room, just sit in a consulting room with tea and water. Among the eight people, five had prior records, naturally obeying. Others were also sensible,pliant under the persuasion of four visiting detectives and several local officers. To be honest, among these eight people, at least seven were innocent, their fingerprints just happened to resemble those of a criminal. Therefore, the detectives who traveled a thousand miles were very restrained, engaging in conversation after taking fingerprints. Jiang Yuan¡¯s temporary +1 skill was still on cooldown, though there was no need to use it. LV6 fingerprint analysis wasn¡¯t too difficult in one-on-one verification. The only requirement was having higher standards for fingerprint extraction, but that wasn¡¯t an issue because the fingerprint owners were right there in the consultation rooms of police stations. If Jiang Yuan found the fingerprint unclear, he could easily retake them. Li Zemin once again set aside his work and stood behind Jiang Yuan, eating melon seeds. Zhu Huanguang especially disapproved of Li Zemin¡¯s attitude, being a good fingerprint expert and not doing his own work, watching others do fingerprinting instead... Nheless, Zhu Huanguang ended up involuntarily lifting his head, his gaze passing over his screen andnding on Jiang Yuan¡¯s. Jiang Yuan had several screens in front of him, without restricting others from watching, filled with dense ck-and-white fingerprint lines. The tworgest screens simultaneously disyed high-definition details of a single fingerprint. The third-level fingerprint characteristics had been applied as early as 20 years ago, with fingerprint experts eagerly anticipating its nationwide rollout. Yet, poprizing a new technology proved extremely difficult. Simr to how the fingerprint concept was proposed over 100 years ago, criminals were only truly forced to wear gloves in thest 20 years. Correspondingly, fingerprint experts were irresistibly drawn to third-level fingerprint characteristics, as they might only need a tiny fragment of a fingerprint to identify a suspect. The eight feature-point requirement for second-level fingerprint characteristics was challenging; with third-level characteristics, just a few sweat pore formations might confirm a match. However, promoting this technology was akin to creating a new fingerprint system from scratch, requiring high-definition capture and extraction, needing each forensic investigation team equipped with a high-definition spectral imaging device at the very least... Of course, the most difficult part always involved people. Marking the difficulty of second-level fingerprint features wasparable to Level 2; marking third-level features raised the difficulty to Level 4. New technologies were indeed useful, but the chance of error was very high. In the criminal investigation industry, the cost of mistakes was often enormous, especially in countries like China or Japan, where conviction rates maintained at 90% or higher. While power was immense, the difficulty of avoiding responsibility in unison grew concurrently. "Number one is not it." Jiang Yuan habitually assigned numbers to the eight individuals, and once he had a definitive answer, he directly asked Wang Chuanxing to notify the other side by phone. After all, several detectives chatting away, the psychological pressure was substantial for both suspects and their families. "Number two is also not it..." "Number three is not it..." Jiang Yuan checked quickly, going through three out of the six fingerprints delivered initially. Upon starting the fourth fingerprint, Li Zemin quietly began cheering from behind. "Hit! Hit! Hit!" Li Zemin subtly swung his arms, his eyes bearing the agitation of a stockbroker watching the market. "Number four is not it." Jiang Yuan responded promptly. Li Zemin sighed regretfully. Jiang Yuan nced back amusedly, then opened the fifth fingerprint, saying, "There¡¯s no difference whether you cheer or not; the fingerprint has already been determined." "As long as you haven¡¯t looked, these are Schr?dinger¡¯s fingerprints. Even this person himself has never seen his third-level fingerprint characteristics," Li Zemin said, handing a Zhonghua cigarette to Jiang Yuan, while gradually leaning forward. Jiang Yuan chuckled, zooming in on the fingerprint details, adjusting and observing them. Third-level fingerprint characteristics posed another problem; they were so high-definition and minute that from a single fingerprint, you couldn¡¯t initially determine which area of the finger it belonged to. This wasn¡¯t like second-level fingerprint characteristics, with barely over a hundred feature points that could be identified with someparison. Of course, this difficulty only bullied the lower-level technicians, akin to certain leaders, it didn¡¯t affect experts like Jiang Yuan at all. "Number five is also not it." Official source is find?novel Jiang Yuan provided another negative answer. "Only number six is left; numbers seven and eight live more remotely, and neither team has reached them yet," Liu Zhuangshi gripped his palm beside him, almost sweating. Jiang Yuan nodded. Next to him, Li Zemin chuckled: "Here¡¯s a politically incorrect remark: living remotely boosts the probability, no worries, number six¡¯s not it, numbers seven and eight have better odds..." "Hit." Jiang Yuan cut off Li Zemin, casually sipped his tea, then instructed Wang Chuanxing: "Call group six, be careful, act cautiously, don¡¯t let the suspect hear!" Li Zemin froze mid-cigarette: "That fast? Aren¡¯t you supposed to take a good look?" "Once the handcuffs are on, then I¡¯ll look at the real person," Jiang Yuan responded directly. Chapter 1414 - Capítulo 1414: 1338: Zzt Zzt Cap¨ªtulo 1414: Chapter 1338: Zzt Zzt ¡°Shen Yaowei has started a video call, want to take a look?¡± Wang Chuanxing stepped forward and softly asked Jiang Yuan. ¡°Shen Yaowei went with Group 6?¡± Jiang Yuan looked up. ¡°Yes, quite lucky.¡± Wang Chuanxing was indeed a bit envious. Following a group to these 8 locations not only reduces some of the investigative pressure on the Anwan City Bureau, but also serves to im credit. This is essentially a joint mission between Shan Nan and Pingzhou; the provincial office in Pingzhou has their reward system, and Shan Nan has its own merit register, not going would be a waste. However, realistically only one person might share the spoils, basically relying entirely on luck. If Group 6 hits the target, then Shen Yaowei, who follows the group, will at least gain amendation, maybe even easily put together enough for a third-ss merit. ¡°Captain Jiang, we are now taking the suspect¡¯s fingerprints.¡± Shen Yaowei, dressed in a police uniform, saluted Jiang Yuan, then switched the video to the front camera. A man with a clean, non-greasy face and tattooed arms that showed bulging veins was ced at the center of the video screen. From a police perspective, such a person must have had aplex background. Anyone with simple experiences couldn¡¯t have such extensive and beautiful tattoos or the psychological stability to remain calm with ten police officers around. Two criminal investigators nked the suspect, and the person on the right held the suspect¡¯s hand, rolling his fingers on the palm print device. A person¡¯s fingerprints are not only on the front; the sides also have fingerprints, which are often overlooked areas. After all ten fingers were done, the on-site criminal investigators took his palm and side palm prints as well, operating on the same principle, only on a muchrger scale. ¡°Report to themand center, Group 6 haspleted fingerprint collection.¡± Shen Yaowei ced the phone on the table and respectfully saluted the camera. The apanying police all saluted as well. Everyone knew that Jiang Yuan was watching on the other side, and each person¡¯s expression and movement were extremely serious. The suspect, who had been re-handcuffed, looked a bit bewildered, his expression darkened, then suddenly changed as he shouted loudly, ¡°Leaders, I¡¯m wronged, they are viting my privacy rights, coercing me, and¡­ and even hitting me in the stomach¡­¡± ¡°Later, let the prosecutors get involved early. Deliver the files,¡± Jiang Yuan gave a brief instruction, also directed at Shen Yaowei. ¡°Yes.¡± Shen Yaowei quickly opened hisptop, connected the palm print device, and packed all the data¡­ The requirement of 1000dpi is not low, at least for current domestic equipment, most cannot reach it. Shen Yaowei and his team specially selected newer models for the task. The suspect, noticing something was wrong, shouted again. The officer standing by the video call phone silently turned down the phone volume. Meanwhile, a thousand miles away, Jiang Yuan had already asked someone to take the phone away. Once Wang Chuanxing adjusted the received files¡¯ format, Jiang Yuan immediately started the one-to-oneparison with the newly collected fingerprints. Theoretically,paring such fingerprints doesn¡¯t even require marking feature points. In the past, many senior criminal investigators mastered such fingerprintparison techniques; confronting a suspect, they¡¯d pull out a pre-prepared fingerprint card and have the suspect press a finger for onsiteparison. Why not use a mobile phone orptop? Because they hadn¡¯t been invented yet. What Jiang Yuan is doing now essentially isn¡¯t different, just using a high-definition system, observing the third-level fingerprint characteristics, thus elevating the cost of fingerprint identification from a 1-cent fingerprint card to a million-level expenditure, and¡­ He can use a smaller fingerprint area to prove it belongs to the individual. Among the third-level fingerprint characteristics, sweat pore features are the most useful; each pore on every person is unique. For example, no one can have two identical nostrils or eyes. Therefore, when a forensic technician acquires a fingerprint, if they can examine the sweat pore features, a very small portion can be used for verification. Additionally, and actually importantly, sweat pore features are about thergest category of third-level fingerprint characteristics. Beyond that, characteristics like ridge width, epidermal ridge edge shapes, etc., require higher magnification to clearly disy features. This means that 1000dpi might not be enough, necessitating 1500 or even 2000; otherwise, the error rate is too high¡ªespecially for countries like the United States, if a project has a high passive error rate, people both outside and inside the enforcement system will deliberately create a high active error rate to achieve undisclosed purposes. ¡°Confirmation: match.¡± Amidst the tense anticipation, Jiang Yuanpleted theparison. The fingerprints collected from the clothes were discontinuous partial prints, severely damaging the second-level fingerprint characteristics butrgely leaving the third-level characteristics unaffected. Jiang Yuan, although spending little time, chose several positions, verifying multiple times before confirming. After all, once he confirmed this side, the suspect over there would be arrested; making a mistake would be troubling. Waiting beside, Brigade Leader Liu Zhuangshi immediately picked up his phone to call the front-line Group 6. Shen Yaowei was only assisting there; it was naturally personnel from Anwan Criminal Police Brigade leading the team. Wang Chuanxing took back the phone, increased the volume, and showed it to Jiang Yuan and the others. The suspect¡¯s roars came again through the ongoing video call. He realized he was about to face punishment, especially when his initial fluke proved impossible, all the worst predictions about to be realized, his only fallback was strength! ¡°Ha¡­¡± On screen, the suspect strained his arms, veins popping, even making his tattoos seem like they were trying to be three-dimensional. Chapters first released on find¡¤novel At the early stage in a movie world, he might really have had a slim chance, but in today¡¯s scenario, the Chinese officers only worried he might hurt himself, so hurriedly reassured, ¡°Don¡¯t be agitated, it¡¯s fine, once we rify the situation here, you can go back first¡­¡± While deceiving him, the officers on each side discreetly pulled out their stun batons. Watching the stun batons approach, Shen Yaowei couldn¡¯t help but provide sound effects, ¡°Buzz buzz¡­¡± The suspect arched his back, thrust out his chest, then extended his neck, shaking from bottom to top like a mantis shrimp. Then, the room went silent. The suspect stopped yelling, and theforting officers ceased their falsehoods. ¡°We¡¯re taking the suspect back.¡± The leading criminal investigator reported to Liu Zhuangshi, and having received permission, escorted the suspect out the door. In the conference room at the operation¡¯s hub, Liu Zhuangshi, eyes sparkling until he lowered the phone, like his daughter asking for a toy at age five, extended his hands to Jiang Yuan, ¡°Director Jiang, we have lots more evidence containing fingerprints!¡± Chapter 1415 - Capítulo 1415: 1339: Distinguishing Fingerprints by Gender Cap¨ªtulo 1415: Chapter 1339: Distinguishing Fingerprints by Gender Since we¡¯re already here; it means that with the high-resolution spectral imaging equipment already delivered, it¡¯s only right to collect more fingerprints. One sheep or ten sheep ¡ª it¡¯s about sending one criminal to jail or ten criminals to jail. The person is dead; it¡¯s about a victim who¡¯s been killed, and the murderer shouldn¡¯t live. Liu Zhuangshi organized a team in one breath, each person carrying two evidence boxes to the conference room, presenting them for selection. Huang Qiangmin led his team, familiarly setting up a ry station, and said, ¡°Liu Zhi, it¡¯s almost time to get off work, why not pick a few important cases first, let¡¯s see if there¡¯s anything suitable, and Jiang Yuan can see if there¡¯s any breakthrough?¡± Liu Zhuangshi gave a brief smile, not out of politeness; he restrained the urge to blurt out, ¡°There¡¯s no time for meals now.¡± Unfortunately, Jiang Yuan wasn¡¯t his. If Jiang Yuan were his, he would only ¡ª of course, use him sparingly, but if he were his, a chance to solve a murder case now, who cares about eating? Eating in the dirt and funding tests himself isn¡¯t just rhetoric. To use Jiang Yuan for as long as possible, Liu Zhuangshi, akin to a scoundrel, teased lightly, ¡°How about getting off work first, giving Director Jiang a break? Once rested, efficiency will be better.¡± ¡°No need for that.¡± Huang Qiangmin answered on behalf of Jiang Yuan, saying, ¡°Didn¡¯t you just send out arge team here? There are still several teams on standby. If we make a breakthrough in a case right now, you deploy people immediately, tomorrow morning we could have preliminary conclusions, wouldn¡¯t that advance things better?¡± Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s smile almost slipped. It seemed Jiang Yuan nned to get off work while his team was to work through the night. He thought ¡°I am the scoundrel,¡± yet in the opponents¡¯ eyes, he was merely hot-blooded sheep. To manage his emotions, Liu Zhuangshi couldn¡¯t help but pat his own face, internally warning himself: hold it together, even if you¡¯re just a hot-blooded sheep, as long as the objective is met, it¡¯s a victory! Then, Liu Zhuangshi seriously said, ¡°Commissioner Huang is right, it¡¯s my oversight.¡± ¡°Not at all, not at all.¡± Huang Qiangmin was taken aback by Liu Zhuangshi pping himself. He had seen many captains in the criminal police, but emotional instability like this was rare. Huang Qiangmin hurriedly pulled Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s hand, ¡°Pick a case first, we¡¯ll discuss other matterster. We¡¯re not here for just a day or two. Tonight, you should investigate as needed, and if there are any breakthroughs tomorrow, especially significant ones, then it¡¯s great, we can move to the next case. If not, we continue to mull over it, right?¡± ¡°Alright, alright¡­ Thank you, thank you¡­¡± Liu Zhuangshi held Huang Qiangmin¡¯s hand back, both showing the intimacy of close friends who could sleep with their feet together. Huang Qiangmin gently patted Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s hand, ¡°We should also thank you. It¡¯s because of your cases that Jiang Yuan got inspired to apply high-resolution spectral imaging for capturing the third-level features of fingerprints. Such an imaging device finding great use is beneficial for the entire forensic system¡­¡± ¡°That thing belongs to the provincial office.¡± Liu Zhuangshi lowered his voice. He got what Huang Qiangmin meant, but couldn¡¯t promise what he didn¡¯t own. ¡°Since you can use such technology, you can¡¯t keep borrowing from the provincial office forever, right?¡± ¡°We¡¯re talking about 500,000.¡± Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s smile trembled. ¡°No need to buy such high-end configurations. One is certainly not enough considering yourrge criminal police brigade¡­¡± ¡°Our budget allocation for this year¡­¡± ¡°Allocations are just numbers, some get more, some get less, why is that? Part of the reason must be good performance, right? Those performing poorly might not even get this year¡¯s funds tomorrow, not to mention,panies selling equipment don¡¯t always ask for full payment, some don¡¯t even need a deposit. Just sign and they handle everything perfectly¡­¡± ¡°Next year, we might not even have that much¡­¡± ¡°Who says you must repay next year? Plus, repayment can be spread over several years¡­¡± Huang Qiangmin eyed Liu Zhuangshi like a fresh puppy in finance, still thinking of doing things within budget, clueless about leveraging financial tools. Anyone with some grassroots experience knows in a rtionship with installment payments, the period of installments surpasses the lifespan of the phone which ousts the romance. ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± Liu Zhuangshi mumbled,cking experience in such talks and actions. ¡­ Jiang Yuan ultimately chose an idental injury case. The case was fairly simple: during the selection of a campsite by the riverside, a conflict broke out. One side suffered a loss, with one person having a fractured knee joint and fully torn cruciate ligament, assessed as serious injury level two, and another having a piece of lip missing and six teeth knocked out, minor injury level one. At this stage, had the other party chosen to surrender, the criminal police brigade wouldn¡¯t be involved. The local police, or at most the district-level criminal police team, would have handled it. However, the suspect decided to flee, elevating it to a case potentially requiring a sentence of over 10 years, necessitating investigation by the Anwan City Bureau Criminal Police Brigade. But since the crime urred outdoors, there was no surveince assistance, and only the victim¡¯s description was avable. The investigation hit a bottleneck. This case was one of the major cases of the year for the Anwan City Bureau, regardless of whether Jiang Yuan was involved, the Anwan City Bureau had to focus its efforts to solve it. Of course, if Jiang Yuan could resolve the case, the pressure on the Anwan City Bureau would significantly reduce. Liu Zhuangshi brought the victim¡¯s jacket, an Adidas hoodie, with a long streak of blood trailing from the neckline. But since it was a fight first, then bleeding, the blood rendered any potential fingerprints unreadable. Extracting DNA from the blood without any matches wasn¡¯t surprising either. Domestic DNA databases are far lessprehensive than fingerprint databases. Collecting these fingerprints wasn¡¯t too difficult for Jiang Yuan. Especially with the high-resolution spectral imaging equipment, Jiang Yuan scanned a garment and managed to extract 1 whole and 2 partial fingerprints, each marked with core points or secondary features. As before, if a match is found, they send someone to find the suspect and capture their fingerprint¡¯s third-level features to further confirm identity. The reason for selecting clothing is that material significantly impacts fingerprint collection. For instance, fingerprints on a wooden or metal tabletop could be retrieved by teaching a child, but a rounded table leg might stump many entry-level forensic technicians. And items like coins, even experienced forensic technicians might struggle to extract usable fingerprints. Clothing material varies, making fingerprint collection easier or harder. This jacket was rtively difficult, giving Jiang Yuan a chance to collect fingerprints previously unavable. In total, 12 fingerprints were collected, belonging to 8 different fingers. Jiang Yuan focused on several fingerprints on the torso, as it was said a suspect had struck there. Ultimately, Jiang Yuan chose two partial fingerprints and included them in this fingerprint defensive range, allowing smoking or non-smoking fingerprint experts to participate together. Soon, after Jiang Yuan processed the third-level features of the fingerprints, he quickly deleted one of them. Li Zemin had been watching the entire time, and after Jiang Yuan was done, he quietly asked, ¡°Why delete one fingerprint?¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s a woman¡¯s fingerprint, and no women were involved in the brawl. Especially none of the opposing women touched the victim¡¯s side.¡± Jiang Yuan replied. ¡°Once a fight breaks out, don¡¯t the women help?¡± Li Zemin retorted, and then pat his head, ¡°That¡¯s not the point, how did you know the deleted one was a woman¡¯s fingerprint? Can fingerprints show gender?¡± Read full story at Find[?]ovel ¡°Yes, by the number of sweat pores. Women¡¯s sweat pore density averages 13 per square centimeter, while men¡¯s averages 9 per square centimeter, meaning women¡¯s density is 1.5 times higher. Hence, we can preemptively delete women¡¯s fingerprints on the scene and focus on the male suspect¡¯s fingerprint.¡± Jiang Yuan exined as he continued working on the fingerprints. The fingerprint experts still in the conference room, who had overheard Jiang Yuan¡¯s exnation, chuckled and lit up their cigarettes. Chapter 1416 - 1340: Then I’ll Just Move in with You

Chapter 1416: Chapter 1340: Then I¡¯ll Just Move in with You

Another 11 teams were dispatched to various locations, and Jiang Yuan finally went back to rest. At this point, it was naturally far past the normal off-duty hours, but the detective teams sent out rested eventer. As for the detectives from the Criminal Police Brigade of the Anwan City Bureau who had not yet been assigned tasks, they were making the most of their time to say goodbye to their families... As for Jiang Yuan¡¯s current progress, it¡¯s clear to anyone with discerning eyes that Jiang Yuan has no bottleneck in fingerprint analysis. With so many unresolved cases, even if only one percent aligns with Jiang Yuan¡¯s investigative direction, this side would need groups of people dispatched. Jiang Yuan¡¯s mood was quite high-spirited too. After working with fingerprints for so long, developing Level 3 features has significantly extended his range. If the fingerprint skills of Level 3 or Level 4 still fall within the understanding of ordinary fingerprint experts, Level 6 and even higher fingerprint skills have already entered a new realm, involving research achievements from the past 20 years or so. Of course, this is also due to equipment limitations. The high-definition spectral imaging device Jiang Yuan is using now is still standardmercial-grade; ten years ago, such research might have involved scanning electron microscopes, which were beyond the means or capabilities of typical universities. And slightly surpassingmon-sense technology happens to be excellent for capturing criminals. In the next few days, Jiang Yuan, driven by inspiration, simply activated skill +1 and began researching various new fingerprint-rted technologies. The first introduction was thetent fingerprint visualization technology based on nanofluorescent materials. Although the word "nanotechnology" has beenmonly misused by fraudsters in recent years, in realboratories, nanotechnology is slowly bing grounded. It¡¯s not as magical as rumored, but certain nanomaterials do indeed have better optical, electronic, and surface modifiability; inyman¡¯s terms, shine light on them, and they brighten, apply something on them, and they brighten, bake them, and they brighten. When fingerprints be visible, they can naturally be used forparisons. Jiang Yuan chose nanofluorescent materials coated with N-acetylcysteine as his first choice. The reason for this choice was twofold: one, it was suitable for stics, just right for a case, and two, there were readily avable materials for purchase. Anwan City Bureau was responsible for the purchases. Soon, two experts from the ministry¡¯s physical evidence identification center arrived upon hearing the news. They were originally responsible for promoting various fingerprint identification technologies, but within the system, without significant achievements, the detectives who were extremely busy were toozy to apply new technologies. Only when old technologies didn¡¯t work would they consider new ones. After all, for the vast majority of cases nowadays, old technologies are sufficient. To poprize new technologies truly, either criminals need to improve their personal skills, forcing the police to enhance technological standards, or new technologies need to demonstrate extraordinary breakthroughs or high efficiency. The most typical example is DNA technology, which is more revolutionary than fingerprint technology. Thetter took too long to be widespread and improved; during the nonputer era, just searching a fingerprint database consumed untold amounts of technicians¡¯ and experts¡¯ time. Experts from the physical evidence identification center also understood this, so upon hearing that Jiang Yuan was interested in their promoted new technology, they immediately came to visit. No matter how good the technology is, it needs someone to use it to demonstrate breakthroughs and high efficiency. Moreover, merely using new technologies to match fingerprints, speaking from a promotional perspective, cannotpare in effectiveness to solving major cases with new technologies. Jiang Yuan¡¯s current fame is also due to solving cases rather than technological breakthroughs. Purely iming good technology, which police bureau doesn¡¯t have a few? But saying how good to what extent, why it¡¯s better than others, is extremely difficult to quantify. Not so with solving cases. Only a few individuals across the country can repeatedly crack major and unresolved cases, and even fewer within the same timeframe. Anwan City Bureau organized a solemn wee ceremony for the expertsing from the ministry. Not only because they were from the ministry, but also because the two brought many rted materials, letting the Anwan City Bureau¡¯s strained budget breathe a sigh of relief. The two experts were very excited as well, slightly coordinating with the bureau¡¯s activities before joining Jiang Yuan in theboratory. Altogether, in theb, they experimented by swapping materials continually for two days. Meanwhile, the teams dispatched by Liu Zhuangshi were increasing in number. Jiang Yuan and others attempted to extract fingerprints from various materials like stic, currency, synthetic fabrics, and with three people working together, the results were naturally remarkable. Liu Zhuangshi was both in pain and ecstasy. These were technologies he usually could not ess or borrow, and now having experts work for him free of charge, or even ndestinely, was a joy, but the expenses were indeed significant too. Not to mention, just the various nanomaterials used by Jiang Yuan and the ministry experts were themselves custom ordered from externalpanies. Their prices were considerable, not to mention that increasing quantities also increased costs because they couldn¡¯t keep up with demand. Additionally, Jiang Yuan took advantage of the help avable to attempt replicating some mon" materials mentioned in papers, such as nanoparticles co-doped with Li, Na, and K elements, and moreplex rare earth doped elements like Eu, Sm, Mn nanoparticles, and so on... All these imaging agents, ultimately, were to make fingerprints shine, much like humanity¡¯s current way of obtaining energy is boiling water. However, the costs of making fingerprints shine vary wildly depending on the method used. Weekend. Liu Zhuangshi sat in the Bureau office and refused to leave. Chapters first released on FindN0vel The director saw him and was quite pained, knowing exactly why he was there, helplessly saying: "You spend recklessly, you know our Anwan City is a poor city..." Smack! Liu Zhuangshi picked up a package of files off the floor and ced them on the director¡¯s desk. "What¡¯s this?" The director asked, startled, lifting his teacup for a tactical drink. "The 617 and 1012 cases have been solved; this is basic information on some involved personnel and some case-rted matters. Once you¡¯ve reviewed it here, I¡¯ll send it over to the prosecutor¡¯s office." Liu Zhuangshi said, sitting back in the chair, stretching tactically. In China, numerical names are the most formidable, and with the two case names Liu Zhuangshi mentioned, the director recalled them after a few seconds. The director retrieved the materials from the desk and asked: "Is this the case where the injury ran away identally?" "Yes, people who went camping together fought over spots or something, with one party severely injuring the other and then fleeing. Weter visited many of the nearby camping enthusiasts, showing them sketches of portraits, but got no results." Liu Zhuangshi paused, then said, "Jiang Yuan found several suspects based on fingerprints; we checked, and confirmed one." "How confident are you?" The director asked professionally. "Absolutely!" Liu Zhuangshi said: "When our people went to his home, the other party immediately knew what it was about. They even said they thought we should have arrived sooner..." "Based on fingerprints?" The director asked. "Yes, both parties had scuffles during the fight, leaving fingerprints on the clothes. But we¡¯ve been extracting iplete fingerprints these past few years, unable to pin down suspects." Liu Zhuangshi paused, then said, "Jiang Yuan extracted them with new technology." Director: "So you¡¯re here righteously asking for funding?" Liu Zhuangshi: "My people are all dispatched, following up on 4 cases at once." The director slowly nodded: "How much do you need?" Liu Zhuangshi handed over a small note. The director opened his mouth wide, looking at Liu Zhuangshi. Liu Zhuangshi shrugged: "No matter what, having spent this much, if you don¡¯t give it, I¡¯ll just stay here in your office..." Director: "You¡¯re asking for way too much..." "If necessary, I have a n." Liu Zhuangshi said in a low voice: "You can contact the criminal police teams of a few other cities..." "I¡¯ve already tried that trick." The director said calmly. "You¡¯ve tried it?" Liu Zhuangshi was surprised, realizing the director¡¯s implication: "You already requested funds from other criminal police teams before Jiang Yuan agreed? You¡¯ve... that¡¯s fraud." "Jiang Yuan analyzed their fingerprints, didn¡¯t he? As long as fingerprints were analyzed, it¡¯s not fraud," the director firmly shifted the topic, saying: "In conclusion, that trick won¡¯t work." Liu Zhuangshi didn¡¯t care and sat down: "I¡¯m not returning anyway; without funding, thosepanies will trouble me. Director... Look at these cases, what do you say..." "I¡¯ll think about a solution, think of a solution." The director still focused on reassurance, carefully allotting some funds, finally sending Liu Zhuangshi away. Watching Liu Zhuangshi leave, the director didn¡¯t hesitate any longer, ordering subordinates to organize the files, then hurriedly headed to the city center. Soon, the courtyard of the city government was echoing with a mythical kind of superstition. "No matter what, having spent so much, if you don¡¯t give it, I¡¯ll just stay here in your office..." "You can contact the criminal police teams of a few other cities..." "As long as fingerprints were analyzed, it¡¯s not fraud..." Chapter 1417 - 1341: Family Massacre Case

Chapter 1417: Chapter 1341: Family Massacre Case

Bang! Shen Yaowei mmed the file onto Wang Chuanxing¡¯s desk and said, "We¡¯ve been waiting for half an hour, Brother Wang. Let¡¯s get a move on. It¡¯s really killing me." "Is the suspect eager to die?" Wang Chuanxing joked. Seeing Shen Yaowei didn¡¯tugh, he shook his head and said, "Yao Wei, you¡¯ve changed. You used to speak so nicely..." Shen Yaowei pursed his lips, "I was a privileged person before, so I had to speak nicely. Now I¡¯m a technical detective, I respectw and physics..." "There¡¯s something to that." Wang Chuanxing chuckled. Nearby, there were detectives from Anwan City Bureau also queuing, overhearing their conversation, they looked over amused and said, "Others transition fromw and physics to connections. Did you take the wrong path?" Find the newest release on F?ndNovel "The path is made by people." Shen Yaowei saw it was an unfamiliar detective, so he just replied softly, thinking: Director Jiang likes it, who are you! Gagaga... Wang Chuanxing printed a form for Shen Yaowei and said, "This case has been transferred to the South City District Bureau of Anwan City. Take this form, find their office for a stamp, and directly send the suspect to South City District Bureau. They also have their phone number at the office." "Why was it downgraded?" Shen Yaowei was displeased. The suspect he had worked hard to capture deserved a higher-level police bureau. Wang Chuanxingughed: "Thought it was a few days ago? The current situation isn¡¯t just good, it¡¯s super good. Hurry up and go. When the district bureau fills up, suspects have to be sent out of the city!" "Alright. Um... remember to call me for any search missions." Shen Yaowei was also eager to establish himself in the team as a "search expert." Just arresting suspects bitterly, although it doesn¡¯t require much brainpower, really isn¡¯t much fun. Wang Chuanxing agreed naturally. With many cases being investigated, all kinds of needs will arise; search-type tasks aren¡¯t few, and apart from Shen Yaowei, most people don¡¯t like these tasks. After quickly finishing the paperwork, Wang Chuanxing hurried to theboratory. He still had to attend to Jiang Yuan, if he wentte, Jiang Yuan might find someone else to serve. Laboratory. Experts Liu Changhe and Lin An watched Jiang Yuan with anticipation as he enhanced images on theputer. Their expertise was in fingerprint extraction technology, especially using different methods to bring out fingerprints ¡ª simply put, finding ways to make fingerprints glow and then extracting them. This was naturally a very important technical means and one of the cores of fingerprint technology. However, having obtained the fingerprint doesn¡¯t mean one can find the suspect. This process requiresplicated steps and superb techniques, otherwise, the two wouldn¡¯t be rushing to find Jiang Yuan. There are plenty of experts specializing in certain areas at the ministry, but the two of them can¡¯t integrate these parallel resources to serve themselves. In contrast, Jiang Yuan,ing from the grassroots, had moreprehensive technology, akin topany technicians ¡ª in smallpanies, technicians often have to be all-rounders, while inrgepanies, technicians need to stand out with specialties. Of course, a technician like Jiang Yuan, who is versatile and genuinely skilled, is rare in any industry, so even though Liu Changhe and Lin An were valued within the ministry, when they arrived in Anwan, they simply calmly apanied Jiang Yuan in his work. Now, they just wanted to use new technology to crack several major unsolved cases; everything else was unimportant. Jiang Yuan was also recklessly trying new technologies. After identifying six fingerprints in a row, Jiang Yuan cautiously yet boldly chose the major case "Cuiling 211." This was a particrly heinous mass murder case that urred six years ago on the morning of New Year¡¯s Day. The herbal products buyer Zhang Guoyi and his family of four, including Zhang Guoyi and his wife, their 15-year-old son, and 68-year-old mother, were killed with sharp des in their vi in Cuiling Town of Fangshan City. Due to local customs, people don¡¯t exchange visits on New Year¡¯s Day, and only start visiting on the second day, so the bodies of Zhang Guoyi¡¯s family were discovered on the morning of the second day. It is widely known that during the New Year period, the frequency of revenge killings and mass murders is the highest. When the joyfulughter from enemies reverberates, one¡¯s own anger will be stronger, more painful, and more undisguised than usual. And for those with premeditated intent tomit mass murders, the New Year period also provides a convenient timing. Police naturally followed the direction of revenge and investigated. As an herbal products buyer, Zhang Guoyi traveled often among nearby viges, had several economic disputes andpetitors, and was not a pleasant person, offending quite a few people. After an investigation, they couldn¡¯t find a suitable suspect. While the New Year favored revenge from enemies, it also enabled suspects to provide alibis; most people suspected were released home after just one round of questioning. Thus this case became the first major unresolved case of the New Year, yet it remained unsolved. Subsequent investigations suggested the case was most likely a robbery-murder, but this conclusion made the case fade quicker. Jiang Yuan chose this case partly because of the vicious nature of "Cuiling 211," a famous major unresolved case in Pingzhou in recent years, and still because the killer left some rtively blurry but distinct blood prints. The blood prints mainly came from curtains and towels, which weremon in knife murder scenarios. Friends who have never killed may envision a clean and swift murder, leaving no trace when constructing cases. But when they really practice, they¡¯ll realize that perfect scenarios are not easy, especially when killing four people; it tests the killer¡¯s stamina ¨C would your hands, covered in blood, be slippery? Using a knife to stab someone, those who know how to conserve strength are masters. Why do some knives have handguards set? If European swords have near-end defensive requirements, Chinese sword handguards are merely to prevent holders from sliding their fingers onto the de or preventing the sword handle from being stabbed. When people are excited, it¡¯s easy to overexert. Killing is probably an extremely exciting situation. On the other hand, victims stabbed or shed, may initially be fearful, but when knives and swords cut in, struggles before death be inevitable; fighting over knives is alsomon. Therefore, when actually using knives to kill, scenarios with blood on floors and walls often ur, fantasizing about wearingtex gloves isn¡¯t realistic and might even lead to being counter-killed. Comparatively, the cotton gloves often used by forensic doctors might be slightly better. However, after consecutive killings, for smart novice killers, after killing the second person, they should realize removing gloves and cleaning hands are very necessary. Unfortunately, the Criminal Science team in Pingzhou couldn¡¯t find the suspect¡¯s fingerprint or DNA from the curtain and towel blood wipes on the crime scene. After carefully observing the case photos, Jiang Yuan felt quite hopeful. Chapter 1418 - 1342: Cross-Reference

Chapter 1418: Chapter 1342: Cross-Reference

Blood fingerprints are almost the favorite type of fingerprint for forensic scientists. Compared to ordinarytent fingerprints, blood fingerprints are like the suspect actively applied y, almost disying the finest lines of the fingerprint, even more beautifully than y. But after wiping, it¡¯s a different story. If fingerprints are wiped while the fresh blood has not dried, the lines are soaked with blood, eliminating the basis for fingerprintparison. However, after carefully checking the photos from the "Cuiling 211" crime scene, Jiang Yuan was sure that after wiping their hands on the curtain and towel, the murderer left some fingerprint fragments on the edges. That is, when the fingers were almost dry but not quitepletely wiped, some residual fingerprints were left behind. Through a simple crime scene reconstruction, it is evident that the murderer wiped their hands with the curtain after killing two people and preparing to go upstairs. Due to excessive force, the murderer stabbed the victims Zhang Guoyi and his wife over a dozen times, causing the gloves to be soaked with blood, forcing the gloves off and re-cleaning their hands, taking a towel to bind the knife¡ªthis sequence was confirmed based on the state of dripping blood at the scene. Using conventional fingerprint identification methods, whether from the fingerprints collected from the curtain or the towel, they are basically useless. The fragments are too severe, possibly not even marking three to five characteristic points, and fingerprintparison software would yield a massive number of candidate matches. Using a high-definition spectrometer improves things; several fingerprints at the edge of the curtain captured more than 4 characteristic points. The quality of fingerprints on the towel was much worse, only yielding about 3, at best 4 characteristic points. Jiang Yuan thus focused on the curtain. Following the principle of 7 can be used, 8 is hopeful, the distance between 4 or 5 characteristic points is still a bit far. This is when image enhancement technology is needed to increase one or two characteristic points on the basis of 5. This process proceeds quickly, making the two fingerprint experts, Liu Changhe and Lin An, quickly feel dizzy. Image enhancement itself is a highly counterintuitive operation, with even the basic grayscale determined numerically, and non-professionals watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s process might find it confusing. Combined, Liu Changhe and Lin An have an LV0.5 in image analysis, but watching Jiang Yuan¡¯s operations, they felt both dazed and excited. They wanted just this kind of Jiang Yuan! If it were ordinary fingerprint experts, there would be no need to involve Anwan; the two of them could handle it themselves. Jiang Yuan busied himself at theputer for a while, then got up to pull the curtain for image collection. Liu Changhe and Lin An hurriedly stepped up to help pull the fabric. Amid their busy work, Liu Zhuangshi, head of the Criminal Police Brigade, walked in. "Ah, are you retaking fingerprints?" Liu Zhuangshi was relieved somewhat seeing their hard-working state. Although his situation was quite bleak, reliant on borrowed resources that were difficult toe by, they weren¡¯t being wasted, as a talent like Jiang Yuan was utilizing them. Thinking so, he felt particrly reassured. "There¡¯s a promising fingerprint here," Jiang Yuan exined briefly to Liu Zhuangshi. There wasn¡¯t any need for a long exnation. Liu Zhuangshi nodded repeatedly, saying, "Great, there¡¯s a high chance the Cuiling 211 case is a habitual crime spree, and if we find a fingerprint, the matching probability should be high." He was speaking optimistically. For Jiang Yuan and others, the most concerning aspect of the case was whether the suspect¡¯s fingerprint was in the database. But just as Liu Zhuangshi analyzed, since the Cuiling 211 case¡¯s culprit wasn¡¯t seeking revenge, the probability of it being a habitual crime spree is very high. This is because the murderer was bold yet cautious in the killings, finished off the upstairs couple, wiped hands, re-wrapped hands and knife with a towel, then painstakingly went upstairs to kill a child and a grandmother... It¡¯s hard to master such a process without a stint in prison training. Jiang Yuan just nodded slightly, saying, "It¡¯s not certain now if we can sketch out the characteristic points, if we can sketch 7, that would be excellent..." "Like the previous cases, you list a suspect list, and I¡¯ll have someone redo their fingerprints," Liu Zhuangshi began relying on a familiar path. Jiang Yuan let out a "Hmm," saying, "I n to first use footprints to filter. This way, even if only six characteristic points are marked, a usable list can still be made." Not only Liu Zhuangshi, but Liu Changhe and Lin An also looked over, saying, "Footprint can be matched too?" "This case is littered with bloody footprints, not using footprints would be a pity," Jiang Yuan said while marking the fingerprint again. Liu Zhuangshi pursued further, asking, "To what extent can the footprints be determined?" Jiang Yuan, without lifting his head, said, "From the time of the crime, the suspect should be about a 23-year-old male, around 1.75 meters in height, weighing 150 pounds. Shoe size 42, wearing slightlyrger shoes, out-toe gait." "This is good, this is good..." Liu Zhuangshi nodded repeatedly, visibly rxing, even briefly feeling that this case was not so serious. Of course, this thoughtsted only a moment. The Cuiling 211 case became a significant case because several investigations had failed to break through; merely looking at old photos and evidences and dering the case solved was beyond Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s bravery. The members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s Cold Case Squad were exceptionally positive in attitude and upon hearing of progress, eagerly volunteered in their small group chat: [Is it time for rotations, let¡¯s let others who haven¡¯t been there go, so they don¡¯t have to work too hard.] [Proactively applying for business trips to remote and economically disadvantaged areas.] [You are thinking too well, it¡¯s in remote and economically disadvantaged areas that one is most likely to seed!] During these light-hearted conversations, Wang Chuanxing initiated a lottery, initially sorting 8 people; if more teams are formedter, there will be another draw. Amid the friendly atmosphere, Jiang Yuanpleted the final marking of characteristic points. With 6 characteristic points, theputer ran the database, and at least tens of thousands of fingerprints matched the conditions; normally, filtering would be meaningless because behind these tens of thousands of fingerprints are more slightly lower simrity secondary fingerprints. But upon intersecting the footprint identification results, the matching fingerprints instantly reduced to a few dozen. This number, though not small, is manageable. Liu Changhe and Lin An exchanged nces, their eyes slightly excited; for Jiang Yuan, it¡¯s an ordinary case, but for the Anwan City Bureau, it¡¯s significant, and for them, it may represent a career breakthrough. "48 groups, if each group is still 4 people, I need to apply for some backup," Liu Zhuangshi said, feeling at ease; assigning 200 people for such a big case was no trouble. Of course, the detailed calction is quite horrifying; a daily subsidy for 200 people is 36,000, and a casual trip of three to five days costs about 200,000. Travel expenses alone, whether using police resources, could easily cost 2 million even when frugal. At this crucial moment, Liu Changhe, being an insider, immediately offered, "If there¡¯s a budget issue, I can help to apply for subsidies from the ministry..." Lin An also stated, "Any inspection project can be sent directly to ourboratory, and they¡¯ll use the lowest fees, which should save a bit." Li Zemin, experienced in the field, also knew how to save money, suggesting, "You could consider tagging these 48 people first, prohibit them from leaving the country, and look at their case history. If theye in two batches, it could significantly reduce manpower and travel expenses; within a province or city, there might be several suspects already. They don¡¯t know we are investigating Cuiling 211, so the timing might not matter." Jiang Yuan cleared his throat, offered a cigarette to Li Zemin, and looked at Liu Zhuangshi, asking, "What do you think?" Ultimately, it¡¯s the Anwan City Bureau handling the case; they are independent authorities and shouldn¡¯t be pushed excessively. At this moment, Liu Zhuangshi decided firmly, "Doing it all at once is the safest; we¡¯ve finally got an opportunity... Regarding personnel, we can detail some young people; as for money... I¡¯ll talk to the director!" Discover more novels at fin?novel Chapter 1419 - 1343: Heavy Responsibility

Chapter 1419: Chapter 1343: Heavy Responsibility

At 5 PM, Jiang Yuan chose to leave work on time. Seeing this, the police officers still at the city bureau packed up their things and followed to leave. The number of personnel on business trips from the Anwan City Bureau had already exceeded the limit, and more importantly, the budget was over the limit too. "Dinner will be mutton hotpot, sheep that grew up eating wild leeks and wild garlic on the grasnds, very aromatic, freshly ughtered and cooked." Liu Zhuangshi, the captain of the Criminal Police Brigade, was actually very busy. Each team deployed might need to contact him, yet he still felt he had to attend to Jiang Yuan first. Jiang Yuan was very experienced with this and smiled, saying, "Mutton hotpot sounds good, you don¡¯t need to apany me. Just send someone to lead the way." "That¡¯s not right." Liu Zhuangshi actually wanted to do just that but felt a bit embarrassed as he rubbed his hands. At this point, Zhang Limin caught up from behind and said, "I¡¯ll do it, I¡¯ll do it. I know Director Jiang¡¯s preferences very well, and besides, I¡¯ve just learned the technique for roasting cow eyes. I¡¯ll roast a sheep¡¯s eye for Director Jiang to tryter." Like all frontline cadres, Liu Zhuangshi personally didn¡¯t have much fondness for Zhang Limin, the administrative cadre, but at this time, Zhang Limin willingly took over the reception task, which made him feel that the presence of the provincial staff had some use. Liu Zhuangshi pretended to act simple-mindedly and said sheepishly, "That doesn¡¯t seem right..." Normally, his demeanor whenmanding subordinates was very decisive, and both Jiang Yuan and Zhang Limin had seen this. Seeing him pretending to be shy was somewhat hard to ept. Jiang Yuan was not interested in bantering with middle-aged men, so he turned and said, "Then I¡¯ll trouble Director Zhang, but it¡¯s better to boil the sheep¡¯s eye. Make a sheep offal soup with the whole sheep head boiled together, and roast the kidneys to eat." He was quite unceremonious in making requests, which instead made Zhang Limin and Liu Zhuangshi feel rxed. After a few more words, Liu Zhuangshi quickly returned to themand room, and Zhang Liminughingly took Jiang Yuan¡¯s arm, saying, "Roasting kidneys is fine, but honestly, I¡¯m best at roasting sheep testicles. Later, let them cut more from a few sheep, I¡¯ll roast them for you to try." Mu Zhiyang stood by, slightly curious: "A sheep has only two, right? Killing one sheep, I guess we wouldn¡¯t finish them." "We can borrow some from a few sheep first." Zhang Limin provided the solution. "Borrow?" Mu Zhiyang asked, "What happens if customers find no testicles when the sheep are soldter?" "Just say they¡¯re sterile sheep, just like the pigs we eat regrly. Aren¡¯t they all castrated pigs now? Later they¡¯ll encounter castrated sheep." Zhang Liminughed aloud, pulling out his phone, "I¡¯ll let them know in advance to borrow today¡¯s ughtered sheep¡¯s testicles. The ones here are definitely good, with Epimedium, Cordyceps in the grasnds, medicine already integrated!" Zhang Limin treated the truth as a joke while calling a few cars, and off they went in a grand manner to the mutton restaurant. The borrowed sheep testicles, without drinks, didn¡¯t hold out for long, and Jiang Yuan returned to the dormitory early, sleeping until 6 AM before heading to the Criminal Police Brigade. The first group of officers to "question" suspects of the Cuiling 211 case had mostly taken their people to nearby police stations, fingerprints naturally were taken, and some made records requiring detailed descriptions of activities before and after the crime. Jiang Yuan diligently matched the newly obtained high-resolution fingerprints, the process identical to before, only losing the initial novelty, seeming a bit tedious and silent, even slightly torturous. Due to the fingerprint¡¯s third-level details being so intricate, even with a high degree of ergement, it remained difficult and required full concentration to match. Unlike second-level fingerprint details with many reference techniques, dragging on time made it especially dull. Regardless of whether it was Jiang Yuan or the experts apanying, all soon fell into silence but found it expected. If solving a case is seen as sess, the struggle for sess indeed exists, asionally inspiring with passion, but most of the time, it¡¯s just suffering and waiting, whether technician in Criminal Science or Criminal Police, all the same. Three police vehicles silently drove into the Criminal Police Brigade¡¯s courtyard, and Liu Zhuangshi, receiving the message, hurriedly ran down, only managing to meet a few people at the elevator. "Director, why are you here?" Liu Zhuangshi was panting heavily, running down from the stairs. The director waved his hand, "I¡¯m afraid you¡¯ll ask for more funds, so I had toe myself to see how you are doing?" "We¡¯re currently discerning fingerprints of several suspects of the Cuiling 211 case," Liu Zhuangshi quickly updated, "Director Jiang confirmed 48 suspects, and our men have currently confirmed bringing in 14, and roughly 10 groups have already identified suspect identities, with over 20 teams left either on the way or further confirming suspect identities." The director nodded while listening, walking alongside Liu Zhuangshi and inquiring about the details. Liu Zhuangshi first talked about the sessful parts, which made everyone nod in agreement. The tertiary characteristics of fingerprints are still very well-received by the police system, akin to improving satellite resolution by tens or hundreds of times, or turning artillery into missiles. Annoying, expensive, but indeed effective. Upon entering the conference room, they saw Jiang Yuan and the others bustling with activity, the keyboard and mouse discussions resembling a marketce. The director said beforehand, "Don¡¯t disturb them; let¡¯s check it out ourselves first. Are there any difficulties now? Don¡¯t tell me about funding; I have none left either!" Th? link to the orig?n of this information r?sts ?n F¦ÉndNovel The apanying people chuckled softly. Liu Zhuangshi did notugh, "There are indeed difficulties present. Because the scope is rtivelyrge this time, with 48 suspects identified through crossparison. Some suspects may have their own issues or reasons that make their position and identity difficult to determine." The director suddenly realized there was depth to Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s "further confirming the identity of the suspects," with his expression changing slightly: "Has someone run away?" This is the most feared situation in investigating cold cases. After painstakingly narrowing down a circle of suspects, some of them are no longer within the normal social rtion, requiring tremendous effort to track, but avoiding it risks missing suspects. Ordinary suspects and almost certain suspects are different. Determined suspects are often one or two people, or arger group with mutual links, capturing the foolish ones usuallys the lot. But ordinary suspects can be numerous and unrted, and if temporarily separated from oldworks, the search cost for the police greatly increases. If someone trulymitted a crime, hiding with intent locally or abroad adds more searching cost. Liu Zhuangshi dared not make guarantees, cautiously saying, "The investigation is ongoing, but some suspects have criminal records, have be dishonest through small loans, no longer use their phones or ID cards; some can be contacted through family. We¡¯re trying to reach out, but several situations remain uncertain, and we¡¯re still pursuing." "Are we essentially on a fugitive hunt? How many like this? Any abroad?" The director sharply hit the key points. The people behind him also had grim expressions, as department funds had been spent on Liu Zhuangshi. It felt like the Dragon n¡¯s toughest scales had been made into armor for him, yet hearing now the enemy couldn¡¯t be found was distressing. Liu Zhuangshi swallowed, softly saying, "Currently, there¡¯s no discovery of anyone going abroad, but several people¡¯s statuses are uncertain; specific numbers are unclear." The director, excitedly visiting incognito, had a heavy expression, reluctant to speak. He felt pressured too, particrly regarding ountability for asking the higher-ups for money, unable to take funds upfront then talk reality and idealismter. Jiang Yuan then stood up, saying, "It¡¯s not yet at the stage of a fugitive pursuit." With his words, Liu Zhuangshi, about to bend over, suddenly felt spine relief. Jiang Yuan first said, "Fingerprintparison cost here is not high; let¡¯s first check if previous fingerprintparisons match. If not, we¡¯ll manage these unidentified suspects separately..." The director was not easily convinced, rationally stating, "As far as I know, the Cuiling 211 criminal is likely a traveling offender, so his potential is higher among these unidentified suspects..." "I¡¯m not necessarily needing real people forparison," Jiang Yuan responded, "Finding suspects first provides the highest credibility and lowest difficulty, also the cheapest confirmation method, preventing suspects from fleeing upon hearing..." Jiang Yuan noticed everyone intently listening, and continued, "But if real people can¡¯t be found, I only need to find ways to retrieve their fingerprints and footprints from ces like their hometown, amodations used before fleeing, or previous items. These can be used for secondaryparison as well." Lastly, Jiang Yuan looked at Liu Zhuangshi, "In the worst scenario, these solutions still may not confirm suspect identities, but should eliminate most people. The remaining ones... we have experience with fugitive pursuits, whether they¡¯re evading debts for other reasons, it¡¯s just opening another case, nothing too difficult." Different people speaking the same words have different effects. With Ningtai Jiangyuan endorsing "opening another case," everyone present felt extraordinarily reassured. A case, to Jiang Yuan, wasn¡¯t much to reckon with. The director first began pping, praising Jiang Yuan highly, "As expected of Director Jiang, Ningtai Jiangyuan, formidable and overwhelming. Seeing you today, it¡¯s indeed so!" The apuse suddenly erupted, as if the case was already cracked. Chapter 1420 - 1344: A Familiar Feeling

Chapter 1420: Chapter 1344: A Familiar Feeling

Jiang Yuan sat down with a calm demeanor and continuedparing fingerprints. The director first kindly and amicably inspected the work of others in the conference room. Then, after visiting the non-smoking conference hall next door to console a group of young experts, he began reporting the situation to superior leaders, particrly emphasizing the "guarantee" of "Ningtai Jiangyuan," while also detailing the recent efforts and achievements of the police station! The guarantees from Liu Zhuangshi, or the director himself, could not be vouched for due to historical precedents. However, Jiang Yuan¡¯s guarantee, because of previous history, appeared exceptionally reliable. With a face full of smiles, the director returned to Jiang Yuan in "Ningtai Jiangyuan." Just moments ago, he had introduced the "fierce ze" section to old leaders, receiving extra recognition and attention. Seeing Jiang Yuan at theputerparing the third-level characteristics of fingerprints that looked like "ghost scribbles," the director called over Liu Zhuangshi and began to carefully arrange: "The Cuiling 211 case special task force is formally established, let Old Sun be the group leader, you act as the executive deputy leader, responsible for actualmand... Knowing that you are currently understaffed, the bureau will fully support you, whatever requests you have, just send the report up, we will expedite the meeting..." Forming a special task force means additional people, money, and material support, but also additional responsibility burdens. Without a special task force, the investigation was limited to the internal Criminal Police Brigade, using its own funds and was also its own responsibility. However, with a special task force, various matters certainly be more formalized, ounting bes easier, but if the case cannot be solved, it will also be recorded. Liu Zhuangshi naturally agreed. Unlike usual, where the director would say a few words and stop, he continued: "Regarding personnel arrangements, you must also be focused... We are still undertaking the fingerprint battle task, although it¡¯s said to be Anwan City¡¯s fingerprint battle, with provincial department involvement, it¡¯s equivalent to a provincial battle, this part also needs to be focused, cases belonging to other cities should be transferred..." Director: "Recently, you have been working hard. As a leader of the Criminal Police Brigade, you should especially care about the health of the participating officers, not just the officers of your brigade, but also the experts participating in the fingerprint battle. I heard many were invited through Jiang Yuan¡¯s personal connections, this is remarkable, you should especially care for Jiang Yuan¡¯s life and work..." Director: "Jiang Yuan is still rtively young. Young people often rely on their good stamina, working overtime and staying upte ismon, but this kind of damage is too big, not conducive to long-term healthy work. My suggestions are a few points: first, rify the work and schedule, don¡¯t just think of using him because Jiang Yuan is from afar, think for the long term... Precisely because Jiang Yuan is from afar, we must especially take care of him, even if not as close as his maternal family, we should fulfill duties as inws..." Liu Zhuangshi listened carefully, exhibiting an eagerness as if his ears were newly bought, filled with an unstoppable drive. To him, what the director said summed up as: bring ten pounds of lean meat, finely chop it to makerd, no half-fat remains on top; bring ten pounds of fat meat... and ten pounds of cartge, also finely chop to makerd... After the director¡¯s reminders, without leaving yet, Liu Zhuangshi knew he had to personally cut... no, personally arrange the work. At this time, there was nothing much to say, Liu Zhuangshi started assigning tasks by naming names. Just the formation of the special task force alone had countless prerequisites to bepleted; especially the paperwork was indispensable, such as the "Special Case Filing Application Form" that needed to be supplemented with various appraisal reports, and couldn¡¯t be carelessly written... Adding to that the continuously summarized information from various aspects, Liu Zhuangshi quickly became so busy that he entered a state of self-forgetfulness. The director, observing from the side, was quite satisfied, it had been a while since he had been so closely involved with a frontline project, and he wanted to further understand. At this time, Jiang Yuan stood up again, took a few sheets of print paper over, and said: "This fingerprint just submitted by Group 12, after repeated appraisal, I believe it matches the suspect¡¯s fingerprint in the Cuiling 211 case, we can confirm it¡¯s the same and arrange for arrest and transfer." Liu Zhuangshi, who was reviewing the freshly printed "Special Case Filing Application Form," couldn¡¯t help but look up at Jiang Yuan, uncertain if he was so dizzy from work that he was hearing things. The director, who was also using words to boost morale, simrly raised his head in a daze, feeling that the voice he just heard was both familiar and unfamiliar. Liu Zhuangshi asked, "Earlier, did someone say there was a missing person?" Jiang Yuan: "Indeed, someone went missing, but we probably don¡¯t need to contact them anymore." Director: "No need to pursue and escape either?" Jiang Yuan: "As long as Group 12 can normally bring the person back, it should not be needed." Liu Zhuangshi then looked at the subordinates who were receiving orders in front of him. His orders were all based on the Cuiling 211 case, now with the perpetrator found through fingerprints... The subordinates standing opposite him were also bewildered, having received tasks, with the task BOSS down, could the tasks still be done? Or directly submit the task? A few momentster, Liu Zhuangshi cautiously took the print paper from Jiang Yuan¡¯s hand and seriously said: "Rest assured, for the mastermind of the Cuiling 211, I will immediately call over there to arrange." "Thank you." Jiang Yuan politely nodded his head. "It¡¯s all in a day¡¯s work." Liu Zhuang felt like he received recognition from a leader, feeling quite satisfied inside. Jiang Yuanpleted the fingerprintparison, his IQ need not be stressed anymore, naturally, EQ came online, and proactively took a box of backup evidence boxes, starting to study. In front of the director, feeling extremely satisfied emotionally, looking at Jiang Yuan, he couldn¡¯t help but reveal a captivating and enchanting smile that directors asionally show, thinking: Jiang Yuan truly is a heaven-sent genius, if I could get him... Huang Qiangmin, at some unknown time, slowly walked to the sidelines, just standing beside Jiang Yuan, blocking the director¡¯s gaze, yet remained silent. Jiang Yuan opened the backup evidence box, first reviewing the case description hosted and written by Wang Chuanxing inside, felt it was eptable, and then took out a few somewhat significant pieces of evidence, attempting to scan for fingerprints using the high-definition spectral imaging instrument. ording to the previous investigation by the Anwan City Bureau, this should be a car robbery and murder case from 15 years ago. After killing two people, the murderer abandoned the vehicle and bodies on the wastnd of Qinghe, skillfully removed the license tes, and incinerated the vehicle. Because the parking location was remote, by the time the vehicle was discovered, it had been over a month, and due to the incineration, even the chassis number could not be retrieved. Other evidence within the vehicle had also been rain-soaked, usable evidence was scarce. Wang Chuanxing and others filtered out this case because, although the vehicle was severely burned, the lower bodies of the two corpses were remarkably preserved, meaning there were two pairs of shoes, two belts, four leg bones, definitely not enough for ordinary criminal science technicians, but quite hopeful for Jiang Yuan. Jiang Yuan looked at the on-site photos and took out the two pairs of shoes. A pair of male and female shoes, the men¡¯s shoes were a fake pair of Nike, with the outeryers curled and deformed from being burned, the women¡¯s shoes were t square-toed leather shoes, also burned beyond recognition. Jiang Yuan focused his attention on the inside of the shoes, that is, the inner part of the shoe vamp. Due to temperature and corrosion, the inner of the men¡¯s shoes no longer held conditions for evidence collection, the leather used inside the women¡¯s shoes also deformed and damaged but was barely visible, however, previous forensic technicians failed to extract useful fingerprints from it. The source of th?s content is f?ndnovel Jiang Yuan meticulously swept with a high-definition spectral imaging instrument, especially delicately scanning the upper inner part of the shoe heel, since many have the habit of shoe pulling, this ce also concentrates rtively many fingerprints. With the technological gap of 15 years, in the camera lens of the high-definition spectral imaging instrument, materialized into several clusters of iplete fingerprints. Jiang Yuan was back at theputer, proficiently enhancing these images, observing their second and third-level characteristics in turn. Jiang Yuan watched, his hands naturally pausing. Just a while ago, he had seen the third-level characteristics of this fingerprint. That was when temporarily adding +1 for fingerprint analysis method (Level 6), Jiang Yuan habitually found a fewmonly viewed suspect fingerprints for calibration purposes. And this simr fingerprint came from the right index finger of Wei Zhenguo¡¯s wife. Chapter 1421 - 1345: Time to Keep Secrets

Chapter 1421: Chapter 1345: Time to Keep Secrets

When Jiang Yuan first arrived in Ningtai County, he worked on many cases with Wei Zhenguo. As the deputy captain of the Sixth Squad of the Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment, the disappearance case of Wei Zhenguo¡¯s wife not only caused a stir at the time but was also something Jiang Yuan always kept in mind. Jiang Yuan had memorized the fingerprint characteristics of Wei Zhenguo¡¯s wife, Li Huimin, very early on, and as his fingerprint technology improved, he also memorized the tertiary characteristics of Li Huimin¡¯s fingerprints. Therefore, even though the fingerprints Jiang Yuan collected were less than a third of a normal fingerprint, as soon as he saw the tertiary fingerprint features, Jiang Yuan immediately recognized them. Jiang Yuan raised his head, looked around, but didn¡¯t rush to exin. This matter is very serious for the police officers in the Ningtai County Bureau. Even though Jiang Yuan is extremely confident in his memory, he has to approach it carefully. Jiang Yuan first checked the evidence bag and thebels on it, then asked Wang Chuanxing to bring over his notebookputer, ready to cross-reference with the materials inside for a new confirmation. The internalwork naturally has fingerprint and rted information of Li Huimin, but the internalwork stores data ording to its rules, which is far less rich than what Jiang Yuan had previously collected himself. Just like the tertiary characteristics of fingerprints, they are generally not stored in a fingerprint database; like voiceprints and irises, they are used only for one-to-oneparison. Jiang Yuan only obtained very few partial fingerprints, so he needed high-resolution fingerprints forparison. On the other hand, Jiang Yuan¡¯s screen was always open for people to see. At this time, checking Li Huimin¡¯s fingerprints was not suitable for others to see; it should only be announced after confirmation. Wang Chuanxing quickly went to get Jiang Yuan¡¯s notebookputer and tactfully ced it in a corner, allowing Jiang Yuan to check with his back to others. The police present are sensitive and suspicious about this kind of matter; a heart that can sense everything except handling wives and daughters can virtually smell the scent of a case. Many people started focusing on their own tasks, asionally ncing at Jiang Yuan from the corner of their eyes. Having repeatedly verified Li Huimin¡¯s fingerprints previously collected, Jiang Yuan still did not immediately speak. Instead, he returned to the evidence box location and called over Wang Chuanxing: "Youe to film." "Yes." Without dy, Wang Chuanxing picked up the camera, adjusted the parameters, and signaled Jiang Yuan with his eyes. Jiang Yuan put on gloves again, and under the camera, took a female victim¡¯s shoe, and carefully detached the upper, leaving only the sole. In footprint identification, what truly gets identified is the pressure pattern; the pressure pattern not only exists on footprints but also remains on the sole itself. In fact, obtaining the shoe and observing the pressure pattern on the sole is a more authoritative trace than the footprint. All wear on the sole is due to the user¡¯s pressure. With this information, Jiang Yuan can easily determine the user¡¯s height, weight, age, gender, and walking habits. Jiang Yuan did not even need to match this information with Li Huimin; he only needed to match it with the old shoes left at Li Huimin¡¯s home, which he had long memorized. After multiple confirmations, Jiang Yuan had no more doubts. He got up and went to Huang Qiangmin, whispered: "The female victim should be Li Huimin, Wei Zhenguo¡¯s wife." He didn¡¯t use any titles for Captain Wei at this time just to be precise. Huang Qiangmin¡¯s pupils widened with shock, and after several seconds, he asked, "Confirmed?" It wasn¡¯t that he didn¡¯t believe Jiang Yuan; just like Jiang Yuan¡¯s approach to fingerprints, when faced with such crucial information, his instinct was to verify it clearly. Jiang Yuan nodded heavily: "Confirmed. Should we ask Captain Wei to confirm the shoe style?" "There should be a record of the shoe style in the file, right?" Huang Qiangmin said first, then slowly shook his head: "No rush. Let¡¯s first confirm, is the other victim a male deceased? Can we confirm the identity?" "I haven¡¯t started looking yet," Jiang Yuan said. "You go ahead and see what information you can find," Huang Qiangmin said, then turned to close the meeting room door, addressing everyone: "Jiang Yuan has a new discovery; the specifics are confidential for now. I¡¯ll reiterate the confidentiality discipline..." In the presence of leaders like the head of Anwan City Bureau, Wu Jingwei, and other specialists from Pingzhou Provincial Bureau like Zhang Limin, all listened silently as the politicalmissar of an out-of-town county bureau, Huang Qiangmin, spoke without questioning or refuting. Jiang Yuan motioned for Wang Chuanxing to continue dismantling the male victim¡¯s shoe upper and then checked the pressure pattern and photographed it. Shortly thereafter, Jiang Yuan returned to Huang Qiangmin, whispered: "Height is 1.75 meters, age 38 years, weight about 70 kilograms, likely frequently drove with these shoes." "Driver?" Huang Qiangmin shook his head and said, "That¡¯s not enough for now. Let¡¯s not inform Wei Zhenguo immediately. The information he knows, we also know here." As an experienced detective, Huang Qiangmin instinctively suspected everyone. Wei Zhenguo was his old subordinate and colleague. When Wei¡¯s wife disappeared, Huang also immediately organized a special task force to investigate. But now, having found his wife¡¯s body alongside a male body of simr age, Huang couldn¡¯t help but think more about it. With the wife dead, the husband is the first to be suspected. This doesn¡¯t mean Wei Zhenguo is the prime suspect, but Huang¡¯s primary task is definitely not notifying Wei. "Let¡¯s have a small meeting." After thinking for a moment, Huang added, "Invite Liu Jinghui over." Liu Jinghui, from the Shannan Provincial Department, is an old detective skilled in reasoning, making him suitable for this moment. While his subordinates went about the tasks, Huang went to Anwan City Bureau¡¯s director Wu Jingwei and said, "We¡¯ve encountered a clue regarding a cold case. Let¡¯s discuss it ourselves first. Subsequently, this should be our primary focus. It won¡¯t count under your cases." "No problem. No need to be that detailed. A 55-45 split will do." Wu Jingwei wasn¡¯t polite, as Huang had priced it so high; now that it was their own case, it was only natural to be calctive about it. "Alright. I¡¯d ask you to keep it confidential first." Huang agreed readily. "Okay." Wu agreed. The two quicklypleted their exchange. Huang picked a few people to go out, casually found a room, and shut the door to start nning. Liu Jinghui hurried over, having been in Anwan for a few days. Although he wasn¡¯t necessarily involved in any case, he didn¡¯t want to be home all day with his wife. A man, after all, finds little interest in spending days among the warmth of family life. Being led into a small room, Liu Jinghui was still smiling, but upon noticing the unusually serious expressions of Huang and Jiang Yuan, he quickly restrained his smile. Liu thought briefly and asked, "Did any cases go awry?" "Jiang Yuan, exin it to Liu," Huang said, holding his phone ready formunication with superiors. Jiang Yuan briefly described his findings without detailing Huang¡¯s concerns. Liu immediately caught on. Being from the provincial department and familiar with various criminal police teams, Liu deeply understood detectives like Huang. Initiallyforting, he smiled and asked, "Old Huang, you¡¯re worried about Wei Zhenguo¡¯s involvement? Does he have a motive?" Huang, in a bad mood, retorted, "Haven¡¯t you ever thought about killing your wife?" Liu paused, thought for a moment, and replied softly, "Not that far... No... You¡¯re muddled because you care too much. This is simple. Even if you consider Wei Zhenguo¡¯s involvement, I¡¯ll give a n. First, does Wei Zhenguo have time tomit the crime? If the car was driven from Ningtai, it¡¯s over 1000 kilometers. Half is on the national highway. Even driving nonstop, it would take over ten hours, plus return time. If hemitted the crime, he wouldn¡¯t dare fly, leaving at least a day¡¯s gap." Liu continued, "After Wei Zhenguo¡¯s wife disappeared, did Wei have a lengthy solitary absence? We have the information before her disappearance, right? The disappearance time is roughly established." Huang¡¯s expression rxed, as if something inside had been relieved. Chapters first released on findnovel He eagerly said, "Indeed, post-crime, old Wei was always with the task force. Even if he had solitary time, it was merely hours." Liu nodded, "Second, did the care from Ningtai? Can we trace the car information?" "Investigating the car is tough," said Wang Chuanxing. "It¡¯s an Anwan Bureau case. After the incident, the task force considered investigating the car¡¯s direction. The license te was removed, VIN erased. The perpetrator is experienced, meticulously handled." "Their car investigation failed because they checked Pingzhou vehicles. Do Ningtai County or Qinghe City have records of car theft? 15 years ago... This car¡¯s a Xiali, right? Even 15 years ago, it was valuable. Losing such a car, someone surely reported it. Check for matching report records, and we might confirm the male victim¡¯s identity." Liu¡¯s deduction unraveled the case, peeling ityer byyer. "I¡¯ll make a call." While Huang sighed with relief, the pressure of solving the case took over his anxiety. Jiang shot a look, and the Cold Case Squad officers, well-trained, immediately began investigating Liu¡¯s suggested information. As responses came in, Huang¡¯s expression gradually returned to normal but was terrifyingly stern. He soon picked up his phone to report to superiors. Jiang continued sorting through the evidence box. Besides physical evidence, there were numerous photos of the scene. Digital cameras 15 years ago were usable but not popr. Storage devices like USB or SD had corresponding retention times, typically 5 to 10 years. So to prepare for today¡¯s scenario, photos taken with digital cameras back then were burned onto discs, an expensive and troublesome process. Jiang focused on examining the scene¡¯s condition and the autopsy report, trying to think as a forensic doctor would. Chapter 1422 - 1346: The Carjacking Case

Chapter 1422: Chapter 1346: The Carjacking Case

Jiang Yuan repeatedly examined the photos of the crime scene. The clues to this case were not abundant, thus it remained unsolved for 15 years. As for now, there are actually more clues, especially since one of the victims¡¯ identities has been confirmed. Theoretically, there would be more directions for the investigation, yet in reality, the Li Huimin case had also been thoroughly investigated... "Communication is sorted, this case will be led by us. I¡¯ll go talk to Director Wu to confirm jurisdiction." Huang Qiangmin came over to inform Jiang Yuan and then went out to the meeting room to find the Anwan City Bureau¡¯s director. Jurisdiction is important, andmunication is equally crucial because the crime scene is in Anwan City, and the investigation will likely need to be conducted there. Cooperation from the Anwan City Bureau is essential; otherwise, they can outright refuse or even expel personnel from the Ningtai County Bureau. This situation is quitemon. For instance, if apany sells items to other regions or gets into a dispute with a person from another area, the opposing party files a report and establishes jurisdiction with the local police. If they need to apprehend thepany¡¯s leader locally, it usually requires agreement from localw enforcement. Previously, public opinion thought of this as outdated or a form of local protectionism, but the boom in deep-sea fishing has highlighted the progressiveness of this model. Jiang Yuan paid little attention to such matters and continued scanning for evidence. He rarely involved himself in administrative affairs since the system did not provide him with the necessary skills. However, at the heart of criminal cases is evidence to facilitate their resolution; reliance solely on political guidance is not ideal...right? Liu Jinghui also sat down and silently started perusing the files. There was no need to scrutinize; this case was absolutely difficult to crack, and even after reviewing the files, it further reinforced this notion. Follow current nov?ls on F¦Énd£Îovel Liu Jinghui couldn¡¯t help but nce at Jiang Yuan. Years ago, without the metaphorical dragon, encountering simr cases would likely lead to saying "PASS," expressed in English as it wouldn¡¯t conform to Chinese values. However, an unsolved case remains unsolved value systems notwithstanding. Now, with Jiang Yuan around, Liu Jinghui had a glimmer of hope. He diligently searched through the files, believing the metaphorical dragon would demonstrate its rightful dominance promptly. After a while, Huang Qiangmin brought along Zhang Limin, Wu Jingwei, and Liu Zhuangshi with solemn expressions. These three individuals were, coincidentally, representatives from the Provincial Department, Municipal Bureau, and Criminal Police Brigade, conveying tri-level perspectives to a significant extent. Among them, as the director, Wu Jingwei held the most power. He solemnly nodded and began to speak... Intercepted by Zhang Limin. Zhang Limin didn¡¯t have nearly as many preludes. Upon seeing Jiang Yuan, he promptly said, "Our police force has zero tolerance for victims within our ranks. On behalf of the Provincial Department, I resolutely support Director Jiang Yuan and wholeheartedly back the Ningtai County Bureau!" Wu Jingwei let out a hissing sound, unable to resist casting a sidelong nce at Zhang Limin, thinking to himself how he¡¯s indeed a bureaucrat with a natural ir for alignment, subtler than even swindlers at observing bodynguage. Wu Jingwei coughed twice and added, "Our Anwan City Bureau will also thoroughly support and ensure logistics, leading the charge and breaking through..." Zhang Limin hissed again aloud, turning his head to eye Wu Jingwei thinking about how he¡¯d do anything, regardless of appearances, with so many obligations. Before he processed things, Liu Zhuangshi from beside him interjected in a low voice, "Our Criminal Police Brigade fully supports!" Jiang Yuan stood up, looked at the three, nodded slightly, and said, "This case is intricate!" "Full support!" Wu Jingwei imed the first words this time. "Full support!" Zhang Limin and Liu Zhuangshi echoed without hesitation. Huang Qiangmin nodded appreciatively. The victims were from Ningtai County, while the crime scene was in Anwan City of Ping Zhou Province. Thus, support from Ping Zhou Province and Anwan City is immensely crucial. Jiang Yuan, with just one sentence, managed to gain provincial and municipal support, regardless of the specifics of that sentence, the support itself was the objective. Liu Zhuangshi, as a frontline leader, actively stated, "Director Jiang, what are your orders? We¡¯ll execute them immediately." His two leaders naturally nodded in agreement. "Regarding this case alone, our current clues are still somewhat limited." Jiang Yuan spoke, then looked at Wang Chuanxing and inquired, "How was the home investigation? Are there any records of stolen cars in Ningtai County or Qinghe City?" Wang Chuanxing had long been in touch with home and immediately brought over his notebook, saying, "Our Ningtai County did not record any car thefts on that day. In Qinghe City, there were two incidents; one reported a stolen SUV, whereas another simultaneously reported a missing driver, losing a ck Xia Li car." Once these words were spoken, silence pervaded the room. As often quoted in court with "high probability," any ordinary person could deduce that this was the stolen car itself! "borate, please." Liu Jinghui was invigorated. He needed clues for deduction. "The car owner was Shen Shun; aged 38 at the time of the incident, with a height of 1.75 meters, weighing around 140 pounds, matching the physical features of the male victim¡¯s footprints." Wang Chuanxing specifically nced at Jiang Yuan before continuing, "Fifteen years ago, Shen Shun was a driver for Yinhai Agricultural Production Materials Co., Ltd in Qinghe City; the car waspany-owned. Aftermunicating with his family, we learned Shen Shun frequently drovepany cars to other cities and provided illegal taxi services." "Was he the driver?" Huang Qiangmin breathed a sigh of relief. This further reduced Wei Zhenguo¡¯s suspicion. Liu Jinghui softly spoke, "A Qinghe City resident who traveled to Ningtai County to provide illicit taxi services and picked up victim Li Huimin? Why would they go to Anwan? Did Li Huimin request to go to Anwan?" "Were they forcibly sent to Anwan?" Liu Zhuangshi cooperatively added, "If it involved driving passengers, would this be a hijacking case? Since Shen Shun was driving illicit taxis for operations, this would resemble a taxi robbery case, considering it happened during the peak years of car hijackings 15 years ago." Liu Jinghui pondered briefly, saying, "If this was a vehicle hijacking, then the perpetrator was the passenger. Is Li Huimin¡¯s fellow passenger apanion, or could it be someone else entirely?" "Based on our investigation into Li Huimin¡¯s case, she disappeared after work, and the people surrounding her didn¡¯t have motives for murder..." Huang Qiangmin, having been the criminal squad captain back then, was well-versed with the case. "If it were solely a taxi robbery type of case, such a case would be challenging." Liu Jinghui frowned. "Indeed," Liu Zhuangshi, as the Criminal Police Brigade leader, instinctively scratched his head. For seasoned officers, taxi robbery cases were all too familiar. Officers from the 90s and early 00s could expect to encounter robbery cases at least quarterly, if not monthly, annually witnessing taxi robbery cases that escted to murder. Taxi robbery incidents surged primarily because taxi drivers had stable and approachable earnings. Taxi robbery cases fundamentally sought financial gain, and during the 90s and early 00s, taxi drivers were considered high-ie groups, with stable daily operational ie, sometimes surpassing the monthly sry of ordinary people in small cities. Robbers willing to act could secure a decent amount of money. Futhermore, taxi and illicit taxi drivers had "hail-and-stop" and designated destination factors, reducing the difficulty of proximity. Compared to robbing store owners, taxi robbery was much easier; randomly picking a car roadside could promptly execute the crime, even specifying a secluded location for conducting the crime. Moreover, in many areas, vehicles themselves could be sold for a sum, especially in Pingzhou. Illicit taxi operators like Shen Shun were prevalent, and openly conspicuous taxis maintained a market, with dismantled car parts also quite profitable. Consequently, robbing taxi drivers was once a favored choice for many financially constrained and skill-deficient criminals. With mere "courage," one or several individuals could efficiently execute a robbery. If aiming for greater profit, selling the vehicle might yield more earnings than a cash transit heist. Simultaneously, what appealed to the criminals yet troubledw enforcement was the considerable difficulty in solving such cases. Taxi robberies were inherently random; nonspecific vehicles and victims rendered investigations challenging. Perpetrators often demanded drivers navigate to assigned remote locations. Finally, in taxi robbery types of cases, the primary crime scene often urred within vehicles, especially involving fatal crimes where cars were either incinerated or sold away, essentially erasing the primary crime scene... For police, the conventional approach to such crimes was case consolidation. Individually, a single case oftencks sufficient information, and robbers typically struggle to abandon a lucrative modus operandi, particrly among criminalscking sophisticated skills, as direct violence methods for profit are sparse. Liu Jinghui quickly considered this and turned to Jiang Yuan, asking, "Can we consolidate the cases?" He was rather optimistic about this possibility. Unexpectedly yet understandably, Jiang Yuan provided a decisive answer, "Yes!" Such a resolute reply instinctively drew the attention of everyone present. Chapter 1423 - 1347: Possibility

Chapter 1423: Chapter 1347: Possibility

Jiang Yuan had already read through the autopsy report and various scene photos. He summarized in words: "Both victims were seated in the back seat with their hands tied behind them. Due to the concentration of the fire on the upperyer, their heads were severely burned, and the skin on the upper body was practically burned off. However, in the first autopsy, it was still easy to see that the fatal wound on the upper body of both victims was the heart¡ªone stab per person, very precise." Jiang Yuan: "I reviewed the photos of the rib bones after de-boning of the two deceased. Both had no knife marks on their ribs. This indicates that the killer inserted the knife very precisely between the gaps of the ribs. This is not just precision, it may also rte to the technique and experience." The few people present nodded as they listened. Talking about the technique of killing, it¡¯s a form of murder technique, with countless insights umted over thousands of years. Just the task of killing with one stab, those who act recklessly without understanding can¡¯t find the urate position, and those who understand butck experience also face difficulties in operation on-site. It¡¯s like killing pigs every year in the countryside. Even a very skilled butcher often touches the spot before stabbing, making it easier to avoid bones and good meat, and can stab the pig dead in one go. Because the pig is tied and controlled, even if the butcher¡¯s hand touches the ce to stab, it can¡¯t resist. Simrly, the bodies of the two victims were tied and controlled... This suggests that the killer was at least experienced, perhaps someone with a profession simr to a butcher, who understood killing. The so-called clean and swift stab requires many stabs to practice. For example, not just killing pigs in the countryside, even killing chickens, although one only grabs the chicken and slits its throat, in theory, anyone should be able to finish off a chicken with a sharp knife if they find the right spot. In reality, beginners rarely seed in killing a chicken for the first time. Let alone little girls; there are many big boys who can¡¯t bring themselves to do it. Even in schools with biologybs, you can see many students unable to kill frogs, twist small white mice to death, or finish off small fish... The civilized atmosphere of modern society has significantly reduced the barbarism of modern society, making the characteristics of murderers increasingly rare. Jiang Yuan counted on his fingers and said: "One stab at the heart is the murder method. Binding the victim¡¯s hands is the modus operandi. The binding method is also characteristic; the killer wrapped the deceased¡¯s pinky tightly. I think we can start from these three points to see if we can find connections with other cases." Liu Zhuangshi hesitated beside him for a moment and raised his hand: "Regarding the connection of cases, we did think in a simr direction at that time, but did not find any simr murder cases." "You didn¡¯t know at the time that this was a case of taxi robbery," Liu Jinghui said tactfully, "You probably considered identifying the victims and the vehicle identity first, before considering connections to simr murder cases." "That¡¯s roughly how it was." Liu Zhuangshi admitted without much embarrassment, as it was the routine procedure. "Having no simr murder cases doesn¡¯t mean there are no simr cases," Liu Jinghui smiled, "In taxi robbery cases, the perpetrators themselves have esction; had you known the case type at the time, you might have considered that taxi robbery and murder is often the perpetrator¡¯s final stage, and prior to this, they may havemitted multiple robberies without murder." Liu Jinghui¡¯s words not only made Liu Zhuangshi¡¯s eyes brighten but also did not provoke annoyance, fully demonstrating the high-quality traits of a provincial department senior officer. Liu Zhuangshi slowly nodded: "When handling this case, I was still working at the municipal bureau and have asked someone to contact the police officers who handled it back then. The responsible colleagues have retired... Considering from the perspective of taxi robbery cases, we can start by pulling a case list from that year to see if anything can be discovered." Liu Jinghui nodded slightly, thinking Liu Zhuangshi was indeed deserving of being a leader within the Criminal Police Brigade; in just a short statement, he managed to clear responsibility, exin the situation, and express personal vigor, showcasing strong leadership. Director Wu Jingwei, seeing the discussion reached a conclusion, decided: "Let¡¯s move forward ording to this n, and review the cases before and after this one..." Get full chapters from Find_Novel(. "I¡¯d like to add something." Liu Jinghui cleared his throat and said: "Some perpetrators from simr cases back then were not only involved in car robbery but also fencing stolen goods. Those with a ck Society background could be questioned. Since these individuals were adept inmitting crimes, and we suspect they have relevant experience, they certainly weren¡¯t living in a vacuum at the time, and there were definitely people who knew them in the past environment." Wu Jingwei nodded slowly: "This aspect is indeed where we were less thorough; there were issues due to inadequate meticulousness in handling the case... However, fifteen years ago, if these criminals were merely involved in robbery and fencing, they would have been released by now. This point... Xiao Li, organize a team from the bureau, liaise with colleagues at the judicial bureau, and alsomunicate with subordinate district bureaus and police stations, to see if we can find as many former offenders to question." If proceeding with Liu Jinghui¡¯s final proposal, it shows the Anwan City Bureau¡¯s investigative judgment in this homicide case was insufficient, at least it shows they were either not attentive enough or not smart enough. Nheless, given it¡¯s a case fifteen years ago, if speaking of policing and investigative capabilities of the two major super cities fifteen years ago, there would be relevant matters, but in ces like Pingzhou Anwan, it relied mostly on old-school detective methods; single-dimensional investigation wasmon,ckingprehensive consideration, much like they didn¡¯t attend the Criminal Police Academy back then, which wasn¡¯t due to ack of will. Director Wu Jingwei felt that he needed to acknowledge the error in front of Jiang Yuan, but he swiftly mask it with work arrangements. Jiang Yuan and others followed Wu Jingwei¡¯s thoughts and quickly delved into specific details. In a matter of minutes, orders began to beyered down. At this time, Huang Qiangmin¡¯s emotions suddenly had some release. Among the people present, he was most familiar with Wei Zhenguo, and he was the only police officer who had experienced the entire incident. When the image of today¡¯s task force ovepped with that of the task force from 15 years ago, his psychological burden also increased. "Should we notify Captain Wei?" Jiang Yuan walked over to Huang Qiangmin and asked in a low voice. Huang Qiangmin was silent for a few seconds and said, "No rush for now." "Then I¡¯ll go take a look at the remains." Jiang Yuan prepared to perform a thorough secondary autopsy. Although only skeletal remains were left due to the passage of time, there was still a chance to gain some information. Liu Zhuangshi quickly organized a few meeting rooms and had people move in a massive amount of file documents. The electronic filing at the Anwan City Bureau started veryte. Finding case information from 15 years ago or even earlier, like fingerprints, could be retrieved from the intr, but finding criminal patterns or tying methods, especially when sifting through minor cases from those years for criminal patterns, required more than just electronic records. After all, given the volume of incidents back then, cases of simple taxi driver robberies were given about the same level of attention as cellphone theft cases inter years. Liu Zhuangshi was brimming with enthusiasm as he immersed himself in the process of reviewing the old case files. Members of Jiang Yuan¡¯s umted Case Team were also brought in to sift through the files together. A group of leaders, to show theirmitment, simply stayed at the Criminal Police Brigade, drinking tea and boosting morale. ording to their understanding of Jiang Yuan, as long as the task force was set in motion, and Jiang Yuan entered the investigation state, the next step would be a celebration. As time ticked away, the taste of the tea became increasingly nd. Huang Qiangmin sensed a familiar aura, first had someone change a pot of tea, then said, "We¡¯re not likely to get results today. I think we should stop waiting and get back to other tasks first..." "That¡¯ll work." Director Wu stood up and said, "If there¡¯s any development, inform me at once. I¡¯m on standby at any time." "Certainly." Huang Qiangmin shook hands with Director Wu and others in turn. After seeing everyone off, Huang Qiangmin turned back and found Liu Jinghui, saying, "So many people investigating and we haven¡¯t had any feedback. Where do you think the problem lies?" Liu Jinghui, who had been pondering, said, "There could be many scenarios. What worries me the most...is the killer¡¯s significant esction." "From what extent, escting to murder?" "From non-injurious robbery directly to robbery and murder." Liu Jinghui gave a straightforward answer, then looked at Huang Qiangmin and said, "You lived through that time. When taxi robbery cases were rampant back then, some taxi drivers didn¡¯t even report the robberies because taking a statement takes time, which affects their earnings. Anyway, whether they report it or not..." "They couldn¡¯t catch anyone, and even if they did, there was nopensation." Huang Qiangmin added. Liu Jinghui nodded, "Let¡¯s assume a scenario where the perpetratormitted non-injurious robberies once or multiple times, and the victims didn¡¯t report them. During one robbery, the victim, Li Huimin, unexpectedly appeared. As a police officer¡¯s family member, her words might have provoked the perpetrator, leading to an esction of the crime..." "Ningtai¡¯s taxis have always been avable for carpooling. It¡¯s indeed possible that Li Huimin was unexpectedly in the car. But didn¡¯t you and Jiang Yuan both determine that the killer¡¯s murder technique was skillful and the modus operandi was practiced? If the esction was significant, how did he hone his skills?" "If we talk about possibilities, the perpetrator might havemitted other types of crimes like kidnapping, robbery, or homicide and found taxi robbery simpler, thus deciding tomit it. Also..." Liu Jinghui paused and said, "Taxi robbery, in the past, was oftenmitted by freshly released ex-convicts. If the perpetrator had done simr crimes long ago, served time, and then rmitted..." Robbing taxis requires no capital, no skills, and doesn¡¯t even require scouting the area. Many ex-convicts, dazed when they first enter society, if they decide tomit crimes for money, would unconsciously choose this pattern. From a logical standpoint, Huang Qiangmin admitted that Liu Jinghui¡¯s words made sense, but if the investigation scope had to be adjusted ording to his hypothesis, it meant expanding the types of cases and lengthening the timeline... "I don¡¯t want to hear possibilities, I want to hear certainties!" Huang Qiangmin dragged Liu Jinghui back to reality with one sentence. The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!